Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Chapter 10: Crossroad Collision

The Sabaody Archipelago was the quintessential meeting point. Semi-neutral ground, the gateway to the New World, the place where all routes met before going on, and pretty much a commercial daydream.

In more ways than one.

Shady deals were made aplenty on the islands made from the roots of massive mangrove trees. Slavers, drug dealers, information brokers, arms dealers, even back alley doctors could be found at Sabaody... if you knew where to look. Obviously, the slavers and arms dealers were the easiest to find, the auction house being clearly marked and arms dealers being oh-so-close to legal. It was the drug barons and news rats that were harder to find. For a man like the Blue Gentleman, however, informants were easily scented. It was honestly amazing how people just seemed to spill their secrets to barkeeps and pretty shop girls, especially in a place like The Groves. Indeed, it was a simple matter for Sabo to collect quite a bit of news all on his own simply walking down the street. Still, it never hurt to get the opinion of someone who made their living off of selling information and so there he was, making the rounds. As he was walking, he was surprised to find a rubbery body colliding with him. "You okay? Geez Luffy, watch where you're going! I'm so sorry for my Captain," an unfamiliar, female, voice said. Sabo fixed his hat to find a rather pretty ginger giving him a worried look. He wasn't fooled. She had a hard glint to her eye that, while she did appear genuinely frightened, gave away her past (or was it present?) as a thief. She was playing him, albeit with an overtone of truth.

"I'm fine, miss," he told her, giving her a gentle smile. A smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Shishishishi~! Sorry sorry!" a young man sang from behind Sabo, causing the Revolutionary to turn. The first thing he noticed was the old straw hat. That was enough to identify who he'd run into... if the rubbery feel of his body hadn't already.

"Ah. Straw Hat Luffy," Sabo muttered, curious despite himself.

"And who might you be?" the ginger from before asked, also appearing curious despite herself.

"You may call me the Blue Gentleman," Sabo responded, standing to sweep her an elegant bow. The girl smirked at him and Sabo could have sworn her eyes flashed Beli signs.

"A gentleman huh? What do you say to helping a lady out?" she asked.

"Alas, fair maid, I cannot. I have business to attend to in Grove 41, which is, dare I say, no place for a flower such as yourself," Sabo declined, giving her a smirk of his own.

"Hey," Straw Hat said, eyes shadowed by his hat. "What's your real name." The ginger woman reeled as though this was highly out of character for Straw Hat. Going from what he'd read about the young Supernova Captain, Sabo was inclined to agree. Straw Hat was known more for his bullheaded recklessness and loud enjoyment of life than he was intimidation or information gathering. Intrigued by this new development, Sabo decided to indulge the pirate. 'Who knows,' the Revolutionary thought, 'having a wild card in the deck might come in handy.'

"Well, since you asked so nicely, my name is Sabo. A pleasure to meet you, Straw Hat Luffy," he said, giving the pirate a rough sketch of a bow, eyes never leaving the shadowed face under that (in)famous straw hat.

"Sabo... I don't believe you," Luffy answered, angry eyes rising to stare into the depths of Sabo's soul. Taken aback, the blond reeled. "I saw the wreckage. I heard the boom of the cannonball. My brother is dead," Straw Hat declared, ignoring the sharp intakes of breath and the shocked mutters of, 'he had another brother?! Why doesn't he tell us these things!' Sabo noted them, but most of his focus was on Straw Hat, a pirate who seemed to know about his past.

"I remember an explosion... but everything before it... All I know is I never wanted to go back," Sabo told the glaring captain. Luffy blinked, back straightening and shadows lifting from his face.

"You... don't remember?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Ah! He must have amnesia!" a cute creature that Sabo almost mistook for a tanuki piped up. Sabo nodded.

"Correct, though whether it was triggered by trauma or injury is unclear," he answered.

"If your earliest memory is an explosion, it could be caused by both," the... was it a reindeer?

"Pardon me but, what are you?" Sabo said before he could stop himself. That quirk was going to get him into some serious trouble some day...

"Ah! I'm Chopper! Tony Tony Chopper, doctor for the Straw Hat pirates. I ate the Human-Human Fruit."

"That didn't answer my question," Sabo remarked, feeling the tension drain from his shoulders. Just what were these pirates doing to him? He rarely ever relaxed like this on a mission!

"I'm a reindeer," Chopper answered, a blush somehow visible through his fur. Sabo nodded, mentally chuckling over how misinformed the Marines must be to have labeled the ship's doctor as the pet. That seemed to be all the pirate captain needed.

"SABOO!" he yelled, reacting with shock as he came to a conclusion.

"That's my name, yes," the blond answered, amused.

"I'm so glad! Sabo!" Luffy cried, launching himself at the revolutionary.

"Still a crybaby, huh?" Sabo once again found his mouth moving without him, but something told him... he'd said this kind of thing before.

"WAGH! SHUT UP! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! SABOOO!" Luffy wailed, clinging to his long-lost brother even tighter.

/*/

It wasn't until Sabo heard the news that Fire Fist Ace was set to be executed, roughly a week after his encounter with Straw Hat Luffy, that Sabo truly understood what he'd lost in the explosion all those years ago. "We're stealing Fire Fist Ace from the Marines," Sabo told his men quite firmly when he returned to his ship, face set like stone and haki crackling around him in fury. If his men hadn't known better, they would have said Sabo had the King's Disposition. Curious looks were shared, but Sabo remained tight-lipped as he set course for Marineford. Once it was locked in, the Chief of Staff went to the Snail Room and called Baltigo. "I remembered," he said as soon as it picked up.

"Did you now?" Dragon remarked, sounding singularly unsurprised.

"I'm taking my brother back and no-one; not the marines, not Whitebeard, not even you, can stop me," Sabo declared, a faint growl underscoring his words.

"And who might this brother be?" Dragon asked, still possessing his nigh-legendary calm.

"Fire Fist Ace." Silence filled the room, warring with Sabo's steely determination.

"Hum... hadn't expected that," Dragon remarked. Sabo smirked.

"I also ran into Monkey D. Luffy. Literally," he said. This seemed to catch Dragon's attention.

"And was this..." the Most Wanted Man asked.

"What lead to me getting some of my memories back. The newspaper did the rest," Sabo cut in, eyes darting to the window as anxiety burned within him. "He's my brother too. Imagine that; I have two brothers and they're both crazy."

"Imagine; I have three sons and they're all recklessly stubborn," Dragon shot back, causing Sabo to freeze. "Go. Do what you have to do, Sabo. You have my blessing."

To say that Sabo was shocked by Dragon's revelation would be an understatement.

To call Ace's reaction to not one but two brothers from Dawn Island trying to save him 'stunned' would also be an understatement.

Saying that the marines got their collective hides tanned and their greatest pride demolished while their records halls were picked clean and the world lost a good measure of respect for them would be... fairly accurate, actually. The Revolutionaries were quite pleased with their work that day, gaining not only large amounts of classified information but also cementing an alliance between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Revolutionary Army.

Yes, it was a good day to be a Revolutionary.

/?/

A/N: Okay, so Dragon was pretty OOC and the end could have been better, but I wasn't looking to make a full story out of this! These one-shots are supposed to be snapshots of how Sabo could have gotten his memory back earlier or revealed he was alive to Luffy and/or Ace sooner. (But this one would definitely make a good story, I must admit.)