A.N: Did it take too long? If it did: sorry. But at least this chapter is long. Btw, how many of you knew that Killer wears high heels?
Chapter Ten: Sabo´s past; Moon Star pirates
"This?" Sabo asked, touching his left cheek where the mark was. Luffy nodded.
"Well I got this in a pirate ship", Sabo said, starting to tell about his past again.
Twelve years ago, Sabo´s POV:
I sailed with my small boat, not knowing where I was at all. Oh well, that probably happens to everyone at some point. It was starting to get late, so I decided to take a nap. The sea was calm, so I didn´t believe that anything could happen to me.
XXXXX
When I woke up my boat had come to the beach of some island. Lucky, don´t you think?
I didn´t know if the island was inhabited or not, but I hid my boat just in case. Then I started walking towards the center of the island, which luckily did have a town that was just been hidden by the forest.
I´m hungry so I could pull eat and run. I mean I did have food on my boat, but it wouldn´t last forever, so eat and run would be a good option. I went to the nearest restaurant and ordered a lot of food. And when I had eaten, I ran and got an angry cook after me. Luckily he gave up soon, though.
Now what next? I could go look members for my pirate crew but nah, I won´t bother. You know the saying right? When something´s lost you find it when you stop looking for it. And that´s why I won´t look for a crew. I decided to just walk around the island and check what kind of place this was. I mean this was my first time outside of Goa, so I had a right to be curious, right?
After about five hours of walking around I decided to take a nap. I returned to the forest between the town and the beach and climbed to a tree. Seriously, who would be smart enough to look for me from there? It didn´t take long for me to find a good position in the tree and so I fell asleep.
XXXXX
I woke up to huge pain in my head. I looked up and noticed that I had fallen down from the tree.
"Well there´s a first time for everything…" I mumbled. That´s when I noticed that it was pretty cold. It was raining and very windy. There was a storm.
"Oh shit!" I cursed, suddenly remembering my boat. I´d be in trouble if the waves washed it away. I jumped up and ran towards the beach. When I got there I noticed that my boat was already at the sea.
It´s not that far away tough, so I´ll be able to get it back by swimming! I threw off my jacket, hat and shoes and ran to the sea.
When I was on halfway to my boat I heard someone calling for help. The voice came from my right side, so I looked there. There was a young man who was about to drown. I should help him, but if I did, I would not get my boat back.
What the hell am I thinking! Human life always comes first, no matter what!
I turned and went towards the man, hoping that he wouldn´t go under the surface because of the strong waves. Just a little more…
"I got you!" I yelled o the man as I got a hold of his arm. I quickly glanced at his face; he was still conscious, but only barely.
"Stay awake!" I screamed, swimming faster than ever.
When I finally got back to the beach I was really exhausted, but I knew there was no time to rest. The guy I saved was unconscious, so I checked his pulse. It was there, but it was weak.
I need to get him to a hospital.
XXXXX
It wasn´t hard to find the hospital from the town, so the guy got the prober treatment soon enough.
"What exactly happened to him, kid?" one of the nurses asked. I shook my head.
"I don´t know, I just saved him from drowning." I said.
"So you don´t even know his name?" the nurse asked, but I shook my head again. She sighed.
"Well kid, let´s get you some dry clothes. Come with me", she said, walking away. I shrugged and went after her.
XXXXX
I had dry clothes on and my own clothes were drying at the very moment, but that didn´t matter ´cause I knew they were ruined already. I decided to wait in the hospital until the storm ended and then leave the island by either boarding someone´s ship or stealing a small boat. Both options were fine with me, even though I liked the second one more than the first one.
"You aren´t from around here, are you kid?" an old man who was sitting on the same couch as I asked.
"No, don´t think so." I replied and the old man raised an eyebrow.
"I don´t really know where I am", I explained.
"Well then where are you from?"
I thought his question for a moment. Should I tell him? Ah well, it can´t do any harm can it?
"The Goa kingdom", I told. The man seemed to be deep in thoughts before replying: "Nope, you´re not from around here."
"Though so", I said. Then there was a silence again; the only sound coming from the falling rain. I didn´t even notice when the old man left.
I must´ve fallen asleep at some point ´cause I woke up when the nurse shook me.
"What?" I mumbled, still sleepy.
"The man who you saved is awake", she started cheerfully "And wants to thank you."
I got up, deciding to go see him. It´s not like I had anything else to do anyway.
"Could you show me the way?"
The nurse nodded and we left towards his room, which was actually pretty close. We just went straight one hallway about twenty meters, turned left and there the door already was. She opened it and let me in.
"Call me if you need anything", she said and closed the door. I looked at the guy in the bed who was staring at the ceiling. I sat on the chair next to his bed, waiting that he would say something. It had been about five minutes when he spoke: "Not many people would put their lives in danger to save a stranger."
"Well I´m not like most people", I said "And truth to be told I was first trying to get my boat back, but then I saw you."
Guess what happened? He started to laugh. Seriously, why do I always meet people who laughed for living!
"And most of the people aren´t so honest either!" he laughed "Seriously, you´re a strange kid."
Strange kid, huh? I save his life and what does he do? Laughs and makes fun of me! …not that I´m really one to talk, but still.
"Well if that was all you had to say", I said, standing up. He was really getting on my nerves.
"Gee, kiddo, don´t get mad!" he said with a laugh. I really wanted to punch him, but for some reason I knew it would get me in trouble, so I didn´t do it.
"Stop calling me a kid!" I hissed. I was a kid, sure, but I still didn´t like to be called one.
"Okay then. So, brat, how old are you anyway?" the man asked with a smirk, knowing perfectly well that I would snap soon.
"Don´t call me a brat either, old man." I said.
"Then you better tell me your name, brat."
"Or then I can just leave"
"The island´s small; I´ll find you easily."
"Then I´ll leave the island", I said, confident that he didn´t have a response to that.
"How? The waves stole your boat!" he said with a laugh. I paused to think. God damn it, why did I tell him that!
"I´ll figure something out", I mumbled.
"Sure", he said, rolling his eyes. Didn´t he believe me?
"Anyway, kid", he deserved himself a glare for that "What´s your name?"
"Why should I tell you?" I asked.
"You will or I´ll call you kid or Blondie", he answered.
"And why would that matter, old man?" I asked.
"No reason Blondie", he said.
"It was nice seeing you" I said sarcastically, leaving before I would lose my temper.
"It was nice to see you too!" he yelled after me as I closed the door.
XXXXX
I sighed; walking in to a restaurant. Not the same one as earlier, of course. I ordered and started to wait for the food. I was really hungry. Soon I noticed marines coming in out of the corner of my eye. Well as long as grandpa wasn´t among them I should be safe.
"Excuse me little boy" I glared at the marine for the little boy –thing "But have you seen this man?"
I looked at the wanted poster he was holding and there was no doubt about it; the man in the poster was the same one I had saved!
"No, I haven´t." I lied. That´s what he gets for calling me a little boy!
"Well, keep your eyes open, he´s very dangerous." the marine said. I didn´t believe him; someone who couldn´t even swim couldn´t be that dangerous. But then how did he get a bounty of 19 million? Well, it´s none of my business.
"Your food, kid." the waitress said, bringing my food. I mumbled a thank you and started to eat. When I had eaten I ran off, laughing when I heard the restaurant owner yelling at me.
I ran all the way to the beach, deciding to look for a lonely boat that I could "borrow."
"Aha!" I said, seeing a boat with no one in it. It looked pretty much like the one I set out to the sea in Goa and was about the same size as well. I walked closer and stepped in to the boat. Yep, this would definitely do. But I should leave soon or I might lose the change.
"What are you doing in my boat, Blondie?" I spun around, only to see the familiar pirate behind me. Oh crap. If he really was so strong that he deserved the bounty of 19 million I was in trouble. Okay, now how to get out of this? He wasn´t that big, but it didn´t mean that he was weak. And he was probably pretty fast, too. I knew that he couldn´t swim, or at least not very well, so I could jump in to the water. And then there was this other thing: his hair. They were long and brown; it would be easy to grab them if necessary. It´s pretty much the same as catching a tiger by grabbing its tail.
"Hey, Blondie! Anyone home?" the pirate asked, waiving his hand in front of my face. Now was my chance! I jumped of the boat and started running towards the woods, but then someone lifted me up. I didn´t need to think twice to know who it was.
"What are you running away from?"
"…"
"Not gonna answer?" he asked. Nope, I wasn´t going to answer. All I wanted was to find myself another boat and take off.
"Hey you!" yelled a third voice. We turned our heads and saw at least twenty marines coming towards us. Was it a good or a bad thing, I didn´t know. And I wasn´t even sure that did I want to find out.
"You are under arrest! Now let that kid go!" the group´s leader yelled. I´m not a kid, damn it!
"Sorry, can´t do that." he said.
"Then we´ll shoot", one of the marines said.
"If you shoot you might hit the kid", the pirate said. Well at least he didn´t call me Blondie anymore. The marines seemed to think that they would be in big trouble if they shot an innocent civilian. …well I was a pirate too, but they didn´t need to know that.
"Let the kid go and we won´t come after you", one of the marines, probably the boss, said. I don´t think that this guy was stupid enough to fall for it, though.
"I´m not stupid enough to fall for that", he said. Heh, I knew it. I blinked when he started to back off, still holding me.
"He´s going to keep that kid as a hostage!" one of the marines yelled. Well that sucks, but I should be able to escape at some point, so would it be a good idea to just stay still? I mean he didn´t seem like a bad guy like Blue Jam, so I should be okay, right? Well agues I can´t know without trying.
"If you have a problem with it, shoot." he said, knowing that they wouldn´t shoot. I sure am pathetic, aren´t I?
He jumped on his boat, still holding me. He took out a gun and pointed it at my head.
"No sudden movements", I wasn´t sure did he say that to me, them, or both, but I didn´t move anyway. He dropped me on to the boat and untied it while still pointing the gun at me. I could probably jump off before he shot, but I wasn´t going to take any risks.
Ten minutes later we were already so far from the beach that the marines couldn´t shoot us.
"They sure are idiots", the man said with a chuckle.
"Yep" I agreed. He looked at me and asked: "And you´re so calm because…?"
I was lying down, hands behind my head.
"It´s not like you´re gonna kill me or anything", I said. I wasn't completely sure, but he probably wasn´t.
"What makes you say that?" he asked, obviously surprised.
"One: I saved your life and two: if you were going to kill me you would have done it already or at least shot me that I couldn´t move." I told. He blinked and then laughed.
"Well you do have a point Blondie!" he said.
"Don´t call me Blondie", I hissed.
"I´ll call you that until you tell me your name", he said, sitting down.
"Fine, you stupid old flower!" I said. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and asked: "What was that supposed to mean?"
"I saw your wanted poster and it said: "Speedy Dandelion." Pretty girly name by the way", he seemed annoyed by that, but then again so would I be if I had a flower´s name.
"Well now that you know my name it´s only fair for me to know yours", he said.
"True, but I´ve never been really that fair." I said. It was true; I wasn´t fair to anyone except my brothers.
"I´ll throw you off of my boat", he said with a smirk.
"Go ahead, unlike you I´m a good swimmer", I said, smirking. We glared at each other and then he started to laugh.
"You sure got guts, Blondie! You´re not an ordinary kid!" he said.
"I´ll take that as a compliment", I said.
"Well Blondie, where are you from?" Dandelion asked.
"Huh?"
"You´re obviously not from the island we just left from, so I´ll return you back to home." Dandelion said, earning a glare from me again.
"One: it´s pretty far and two: I won´t return"
He raised an eyebrow, asking: "Is that so? Did you run away from home or something?"
"Yeah, got a problem with that?" I asked, annoyed.
"Not at all" Dandelion said "So what have you been doing since you ran away?"
"Pirating", I replied, even though I had been recovering almost the entire time.
"A pirate? You?" Dandelion asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don´t care whatever you believe me or not", I said, and I really didn´t. After this guy drops me off we´ll probably never see each other again.
"No no I believe you" he said "My parents were pirates, so I was born as a one."
"So Blondie, where´s your crew?" Dandelion asked from me.
"Don´t have one", I said "What about you, Flower, where´s your crew?"
He glared at me; looks like it was his turn to get annoyed.
"On the ship. I just left for a while to gather information", he answered.
"Are you sure they didn´t kick you out?" I asked with a smirk, sure that he would get annoyed. But he didn´t.
"No, it was just because one person doesn't get noticed so easily and it´s faster that way."
"Unless he drowns", I added, smirking at his reaction. He didn´t seem all that happy.
"If you had been out on the sea your boat would have sunk too you know", he said. Heh, so his boat sunk. …wait a sec!
"If your boat sunk then what´s this?" I asked, pointing the boat we were on.
"This? I don´t know whose boat it is, but it´s fine." Dandelion said. I clenched my fists.
"You tricked me!" I yelled.
"You sure are easy to fool", he said with a smirk, clearly happy that for once I was the angry one.
"Whatever", I mumbled. For a while neither of us said anything, the only sounds coming from the waves and birds that were chirping in the sky.
"So you don´t have a crew?" Dandelion asked suddenly.
"Nope. Why are you asking?" I asked.
"You could join our crew; it´s hard to find strong people at these days." Okay, that request took me by surprise. Well whatever, I have to refuse anyway.
"No thanks"
"And why not?" Dandelion asked. Hasn´t he ever heard of personal reasons or privacy?
"´Cause I don´t want to be bossed around by anyone"
"Meaning?"
"I´ll get my own crew and become a captain. That way I don´t need to take orders", I told. Not being forced to take orders was the first thing that had motivated me to become a pirate, but right now that wasn´t the most important thing. Now I wanted to become a famous pirate so that Luffy and Ace would know that I´m alive.
"I used to think that way too", Dandelion said "But the position of a captain wasn´t for me."
"How could you know that without trying?"
"I did try" he said "But it really wasn´t for me."
Wasn´t for him, huh? I wonder what happened...
"So what happened?" his face saddened when hearing my question, making me almost feel guilty.
"You´ll experience the same thing sooner or later if you really become a captain" he said and looked at me "But you´re a strong kid; agues it wouldn´t be so surprising if you would be able to handle it."
"What happened to your crew when you quit being a captain?" I asked. Rude, yes, but I wanted to know!
"I gave the position of the captain to my first mate", Dandelion said "He was and still is calm and friendly. Everyone agreed to it"
"So they didn´t kick you out?" I asked.
"That was pretty rude, you know." Dandelion told me. Whoopsie, manners.
"Sorry"
"I wasn´t kicked out because they still trusted me" he probably noticed my confused face since he continued: "They trusted me, but I didn´t."
"Hard situation", was all I could say.
"Sure was", he said "So Blondie, what´s your story?"
"Do you actually think I´ll tell you?" I asked.
"Nope, but I had to try." he said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.
"You hungry?" he asked.
"A little, agues." I admitted. It hadn´t been long since I last ate, but I got hungry fast.
"Well let´s see if there´s something to eat on this boat", he said, standing up.
"Isn´t that pretty unlikely?" I asked. He just shrugged and went inside to look for food.
XXXXX
We have been sailing about two days now with no land in sight and I was getting bored.
"You sure you know how to navigate?" I asked from Dandelion. I wouldn´t have doubted him earlier, but it had been two days already!
"You have to be patient on the sea, Blondie." was all he said. He was lying down and looking up at the sky, which made me wonder if really listened or not.
"But didn´t you say that your crew would probably come to look for you?" I asked again. He chuckled.
"So you want to get rid of me and keep the boat to yourself?" he asked. I smirked and replied: "If I´d want to get rid of you I would have thrown you off of the boat long time ago."
He laughed and said mockingly: "Thanks for letting me live!"
"You´re welcome" I said "You sure your crew didn´t just want to get rid of you?"
"Yep", he stated simply. I frowned; looks like I wasn´t able to annoy him anymore.
"Are you absolutely sure they didn´t throw you out?" I asked again. Childish, yes, but I was bored!
He sat up and said: "Well if you don´t believe me, then take a look behind you."
I raised an eyebrow and he pointed behind me. I shrugged and turned around. And there it was; his ship. It was huge (not as big as Dragon´s though) and it had a rabbit figure on the front holding a star in the other hand… was that a ball of cheese on the other one? Well anyway, the ship was colored mostly in silver and gold, with some black or blue here and there. The sails were silver, too. And of course, on the top of the mast, was a pirate flack. The flack was black and it had a silver ball with a golden star on it.
Was that even counted as a pirate flag? Well agues it was since Dandelion called himself a pirate.
A ladder was dropped from the ship and Dandelion walked up to it.
"You coming?" he asked, laughing at my apparently surprised face.
"Why would I come?" I asked.
"Do you know how to navigate?" he asked. What did that have to do with anything?
"Not really"
"Then you´d probably die at sea", Dandelion said "We can give you a ride to the next island."
"Are you really one to decide things like that?" I asked.
"Yep", he said. I shrugged; I didn´t see any harm in it and it probably wouldn´t be so boring.
"Okay", I said. Dandelion nodded and started to climb. I came a little behind him.
"Welcome back, Dan!" I heard a group of people yell when Dandelion got on board.
"We thought that you might´ve died in that storm awhile ago!" someone yelled. It´s funny, he almost did die in it.
"Very funny" he said at the same time as I got to the end of the ladder.
"One question Dan: why do you have a kid with you?" a man with blond hair asked. He was quite skinny and had an eye batch.
"Blondie? I just said that we could give him a ride to the next island." Dandelion told. Mr. Skinny raised an eyebrow, saying: "Oh really? That´s not like you at all, Dan."
"Can´t I just be nice without a reason for once?"
"Yeah, of course after I saved you from drowning." I mumbled, earning a glare from Dandelion. I have to admit that the look on Mr. Skinny´s face was priceless.
"You got saved by a kid? Shame on you, Dan!" he said with a laugh. Dandelion´s face went deep red and he glared at me again.
"What? It´s true!" I said lamely, getting everyone around me, minus Dandelion of course, laugh.
"Well it can´t be helped since he saved the idiot´s life", Mr. Skinny said "Guys; the little guy´s going to stay with us until the next island!"
"I´ll go tell the captain!" a fat man with blond hair said and left.
"So what´s the kiddo´s name?" even fatter man with brown hair asked.
"He refuses to te-"
"My name´s Sabo", I said. I didn´t want them all to call me `Blondie´ or `kid´ and this was a good way to annoy Dandelion. And he seemed really annoyed now.
"Why did you say it so easily now even though you refused before?" he asked. I blinked.
"What do you mean? I told it to you before; you probably just forgot." I lied. He had been right; it wasn´t as boring in here as it was in that little boat.
"No you didn´t"
"Yes I did"
"No you didn't!"
"Okay you two; cut it out!" Mr. Skinny ordered, coming between us.
"So Sabo, want a tour around the ship?" he asked.
"Sure", I said, leaving the pissed of Dandelion behind.
XXXXX
The ship had been huge, and it was already late at night when the tour had ended.
"Impressed?" Mr. Skinny, whose name I had learned to be Tony, asked.
"Agues", I said with a shrug.
"Agues?"
"Well my father owned pretty many ships and they were pretty fancy", I explained.
"A kid of a rich family, huh?" Tony asked, which made me realize that I shouldn´t have said it. Oh crab!
"Hehehe, well sort of…" I mumbled, hoping that he would think that I was joking. Apparently he didn´t but he still left it to that.
"Well it´s getting late. Time to go to sleep, kid." Tony said.
"My name´s Sabo", I said.
"I know, but you´re still a child." he said. I fought the urge to punch him.
"Hey, Blondie!"
"My name is Sabo, damn it!" I snapped to Dandelion who came down the stairs.
"I know, but Blondie sounds better." Dandelion said with a smirk. So now he was the one annoying me huh? Well we´ll see about that!
"Whatever, Mr. Flower." I said, making Tony laugh.
"Looks like the idiot Dan has finally found someone as stupid as him!"
"HEY!" both I and Dandelion yelled, but Tony just continued laughing.
"Anyway, Sabo" Dandelion started "You should go to sleep; a boy your age needs a lot of sleep."
My eyebrow switched; I´m not a kid!
"He´s right Sabo", Tony said, finally stopping from laughing "You might be smart and strong, what I think you are since you were able to save that idiot from drowning-"
"Hey!"
"-but you´re still a child and your body needs more rest than ours." Tony finished, making me roll my eyes.
"I´m not like most kids", I told them. Dandelion laughed and Tony said: "If you were you wouldn´t have boarded our ship; for one reason or another."
"Whatever", I mumbled.
"I´ll show you the way to the guestroom", Dandelion said. I could have walked there by myself since we had passed it on the tour, but agues it would be a good thing to let Dandelion show me the way.
"Actually, Dan, since you brought him to the ship he´s going to sleep in your room." Tony told.
"What! Oh crab, Captain´s doing this on purpose; he knows I hate kids!"
"Hey!" I yelled.
"Yeah yeah, you´re not a kid." Tony laughed. Dandelion shook his head, clearly annoyed. But seriously, he hates kids? Never would have guessed that; he doesn´t seem like it at all.
"Let´s go, Sabo." Dandelion said, getting me out of my thoughts. He started to go up the stairs again and I followed him.
XXXXX
"We´re here", Dandelion said and opened the door in front of him. The room wasn´t that big, but you couldn´t call it small either. It had a desk, bed and some weights on the left side. And a small door, too. On the right side on the other hand had only boxes and barrels that had who knew what in them. But then again it could just be some beer and explosives that was in them.
"I always thought your room would be full of flowers", I commented and walked in. I could feel his cold glare on my back as I walked.
"Very funny" he said and walked to his bed. He took something from under it and threw it to me; I caught it easily. I looked at the item he had thrown and noticed that it was a hammock.
"Do you know how to put that up?"
"I´m not stupid", I replied. Of course I knew how to do it!
"That was completely new information", Dandelion said, earning a glare.
"Try not to wet your bed, kid."
"Shut up, old man!" I hissed at him. I had never done that! Well, maybe sometimes as a baby, but that didn´t count. Dandelion just laughed and walked out, shutting the door behind him. I sighed and started to put the hammock up.
XXXXX
"Wakey wakey!" I heard Dandelion yell as I fell off of my hammock. That bastard had dropped me!
"What the hell was that for!"
"In this ship we don´t sleep in!" was his answer. I glared at him.
"You old-"
"SHUT UP, DAN! WE´RE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" came a loud shout from all around us.
"You just wanted to wake me up, didn´t you?" I asked, getting up from the floor.
"Yeah", he admitted. A vein popped in my head.
"Did you at least have some kind of reason for it?" I asked.
"Well the cooks just got the breakfast ready, and the earlier you go there the more there´s left for you." Dandelion explained. So he did have a reason.
"Okay, let´s go." I said.
"Children first", Dandelion said.
"The saying goes "women first" you know", I corrected.
"True, but you´re not a woman." he said and came after me. I rolled my and we started to walk to the kitchen. I almost made a wrong turn once, which was the reason Dandelion started walking ahead.
XXXXX
At breakfast Tony had remembered that I hadn´t met the captain yet, which was the reason me and Dandelion are going to see him now. I was wondering what kind of person he was, ´cause the only pirate captain I have met is Blue Jam. But I don´t think that they´re alike, because this crew is nothing like Blue Jam´s.
Dandelion stopped in front of a large wooden door and knocked on it.
"Come in", came a voice from behind the door. Dandelion opened the door and I saw a bald and quite small man sitting at a desk, apparently writing something. He turned to look at us and I needed to hold my laughter. Why, you ask? Well here´s the reason: he had small, I mean really small eyes, his nose was like bird´s and his mouth was completely covered by a grey beard.
"So this is the kid who saved you from drowning?" the captain asked, making Dandelion frown.
"Why can´t you just say "the kid that I brought on board?"" he asked.
"That wouldn´t be fun", the captain replied. Then he looked at me and said: "Your name is Sabo, right?"
I nodded.
"Well welcome to the ship. It´s going to take two weeks before we get to the next island, so try to get along with that idiot." he said, pointing at Dandelion.
"That long?" I asked. I had thought it would only be couple of days or something. Looks like it was a good thing I accepted Dandelion´s offer; otherwise I might have starved or something.
"Yeah, and if the weather is bad it might take even longer." the captain said. I sighed; this was not going as I had hoped.
"Scared of being in a pirate ship?" the captain asked.
"As if!" I yelled. The captain and Dandelion both laughed.
"Well that´s good!" the captain said "Now if you excuse me; I have work to do." and with that he turned to his table. Dandelion pointed at the door and we both left the room.
XXXXX
I had been on the ship for a week now and knew pretty much everyone, although I was usually with Dandelion, Tony or both of them.
"Hey Sabo, could you give me a hand?" I turned my head and saw Edward, the smart but weak cook. He didn´t get the heavy nets out of the water alone, as usual.
"Sure", I replied and walked over to help him. The others had made some jokes about how weak he was when I had first helped him, but since he was a calm man he didn´t mind. We pulled the nets up with ease.
"Thanks again", he said.
"No problem"
"Hey, Blondie!" Dandelion called from the upper deck. I still didn´t get it why he called me Blondie even thought knew my name.
"Coming!" I yelled and ran up to Dandelion. When I got next to him he motioned me to follow him, so I did.
We went to Tony´s room, where I had never been before. It was full of flowers and fruit trees that grew out from vases.
"Don´t you dare to make any comments about my name", Dandelion warned me.
"What are we doing here?" I asked.
"Well somebody has to peel the potatoes, carrots and everything else for the dinner." Dandelion started. I did not like the direction this was going in.
"That somebody is us, right?" I asked. Dandelion sighed, saying: "Unfortunately, yes. Everyone has to do their part"
"But why do it here?" I asked. Dandelion just shrugged.
"I don´t know; Tony just wants it to be done here." he told and sat down, taking some potatoes and handing them to me.
"Don´t forget to wash them first", he said.
"I´m not an idiot", I said and he chuckled.
"I never expected Tony to be a gardener, tough." I said after a while.
"Everyone has their secrets", Dandelion said. I smirked and asked: "So what´s your secret?"
"A question like that isn´t allowed on this ship", he said seriously, making me confused.
"Meaning?" Dandelion turned to face me and explained: "On this ship we don´t care who you are or what have you done. Everyone is equal and you are not allowed to ask about anyone´s past from the time they weren´t on the ship yet."
That must have needed a lot of trust. Well to me this all was a good thing; now I knew that if someone asks where I came from I don´t need to answer. Now I also understand why Tony didn´t ask anything when I told him about dad´s boats.
"Okay, now let´s get to work!" Dandelion said and turned around. I nodded and started to wash the potatoes.
XXXXX
I had been on the ship for two weeks now and Goly, the ship´s navigator, told me that we would reach the next island on the next morning. I was finally able to start my own adventure, but I knew I would miss these guys. And I hated to admit it, but especially Dandelion.
"So you´re leaving tomorrow, huh?" Edward asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"Yeah" he patted my shoulder and said: "Don´t get yourself killed out there, then."
"I won´t", I said, a small smile forming to my lips. Edward nodded and left to his work.
The rest of the day went in a pretty similar way, but it felt like something was wrong. And then suddenly, at dinner, it clicked. I hadn´t seen Dandelion in the whole day! And now that I thought about it; he didn´t wake me up with his usual way this morning. Was something wrong?
After a moment of thinking I decided to ask him when he gets back for sleep.
XXXXX
I sat up in my hammock when I heard the door open.
"Blondie? You shouldn´t be awake anymore!" Dandelion barked after noticing that I was still awake.
"Yea yea; kids should go sleep early" I said "I just wanted to ask you something."
"Go ahead" he said, raising an eyebrow.
"Where were you today? I didn´t see you even once!" I asked. He looked at me and then burst out laughing.
"What´s so funny!"
"Was the little kid lonely without me?" Dandelion asked. My face probably went red since he laughed even more.
"Like hell I was!" I yelled, throwing my pillow at his face. I lied back down and closed my eyes. I could hear Dandelion´s laughter stop and then his footsteps. He stopped next to my hammock and dropped my pillow on me. Then he walked away, probably to his own bed.
"Are you sure nothing´s wrong?" I asked. There was a pause and he said: "Yeah. Now go to sleep."
XXXXX
When I woke up in the morning, Dandelion wasn´t in the room anymore. I shrugged it off and went to get some breakfast. On my way to kitchen I saw Tony and walked up to him.
"Good morning", he said.
"´Morning" I said back "How far is the next island?"
"We´re already there" he answered. I blinked.
"We are?" he nodded.
"Yeah, but don´t you even think about skipping the breakfast on the ship." he said, making me laugh.
"I won´t"
XXXXX
After the breakfast most of the crew was standing on the deck with me.
"Take care, Sabo." the captain, whose name I had learned to be Logo, said. I nodded with a smile, but one thing was bothering me.
"Where´s Dandelion?" I asked. The others looked at each others, not saying anything.
"Guys?"
"Dan is… busy at the moment." Goly muttered. I raised an eyebrow, not really buying it.
"Oh really?" I asked. Tony sighed.
"Okay, the truth is-"he started "Dan´s really sad about the fact that you´re leaving."
"He´s going to kill you", Logo muttered to Tony, who just looked at me with a smile.
"I´m going to miss him" I said "I´m going to miss all of you."
Then I turned around and stepped on the railing.
"We´ll miss you, Sabo."
Tony´s words brought tears to my eyes; I couldn´t take it!
"Logo" I said "I have a favor to ask."
XXXXX
It was the next morning after the ship had reached the island, and I walked on my toes. I tried to be careful to not spill any water from the bucket I was carrying. I got next to the bed, and then-
"Wakey wakey!" I yelled, dumping the bucket of sea water on Dandelion´s head.
"What the hell!" he yelled, sitting up.
"Huh? Blondie?" he said when he saw me. I smirked.
"Yeah, it´s me. Now get up; it´s time for breakfast!" I said. He seemed really shocked as he stared at me, his eyes finally landing to my left cheek.
"Blondie, don´t tell me that you…"
"Yeah" I said "I joined the crew."
And on my left cheek was a prove about it; a circle with a moon on it. The Moon Star pirates had three different marks: a circle with a moon on it, a circle with a star on it and a circle with them both on it. And I had chosen the first one, but for no special reason.
"Let´s go", I said and started to walk towards the door, but Dandelion didn´t come.
"What about your dream?" he suddenly asked, making me chuckle.
"Being a pirate captain isn´t really my dream", I said "My dream is to sail on the seas and write a book about everything that has happened to me" I turned to face him "And I can do it on this ship."
XXXXX
Six months later, when we were eating lunch, I decided to ask Dandelion something that had bothered me for a long time: "How come you can´t swim?"
Everyone turned to our direction, and then they burst out laughing.
"So you still haven´t realized it?" Dandelion asked with a funny face. I shrugged; wondering what he was talking about.
"I ate a devil´s fruit", he said. I chuckled.
"Not possible"
"How so?"
"Because" I said "You didn´t drown right away back then."
The others laughed again and Dandelion shook his head. Now I was confused.
"I always wear a really thin life jacket"
"Always?"
"Always"
"Why?" to this question everyone burst out laughing louder than I had ever heard.
"Shut up!" Dandelion snapped, making me really curious.
"He fell off of the ship once", Goly started, earning a glare from Dandelion "And was rescued by Tony."
"And?"
Goly looked at Tony, who was shaking his head and Dandelion, who was glaring daggers at him.
"And he needed to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." Goly finished, making everyone except Tony and Dandelion laugh.
"It was a life and dead situation!" Dandelion yelled. I laughed too and got hit by Dandelion, but I didn´t care. It sure was fun to be on this ship.
XXXXX
Three years after I had joined, our ship was attacked by marines. That wasn´t anything new of course, but they had never been this strong. I was already pretty badly hurt, mostly because I had once pushed Edward out of the way just when a cannonball was about to hit him.
As I fought I could see Tony dragging some of our hurt friends inside. Goly was on the upper deck with the captain and Dandelion was killing marines after another a little behind me.
I heard a cry of pain from the upper deck and saw Goly´s body fall down from there. I ran over and caught him just in time.
"Goly? Goly, answer!" I yelled, shaking him. He opened his eyes and said: "I´m all right Sab- LOOK OUT!" he yelled just as I turned around and got stabbed in the shoulder by a marine. Without Goly´s warning I would probably be dead now.
"Bastard", I mumbled and kicked him on the stomach so hard that he flew to the ocean.
"Are you okay Sabo?" Goly asked.
"Better than you" I replied "Edward!"
A moment later the said man ran to us.
"Get Goly below the deck", I said.
"What about you?" they both asked. I rolled my eyes.
"I can still fight", I said and stood up. Then I dashed to the fight again.
My shoulder was bleeding, and it wasn´t the only place. I started to feel dizzy, but I kept fighting. And then it happened, and it happened fast. First there was a huge cannonball coming towards me and I couldn´t dock it. And the next thing I saw was Dandelion standing between it and me.
"Dandelion!" someone yelled, and later I realized it was me.
"You okay, Blondie?" he asked, coughing blood. After that everything happened so fast again; the others coming over, trying to save Dandelion, but his end was coming and we all knew it.
But I will always remember his last words.
"Don´t forget to mention in your book how you cried like a baby, Sabo."
End of flashback and Sabo´s POV
Luffy looked at his older brother, who had started crying.
"He was like a brother to you, wasn´t he?" he asked finally, making Sabo freeze,
"Luffy, I-"
"No, I understand. You needed someone to your side, too." Luffy said. Sabo nodded, wiping his tears.
"And you got to experience what it feels like to be the little brother that is bossed around!" Luffy added, making his brother laugh lightly.
"Yeah" he agreed "Dan´s also the reason why I let my hair crow."
"Why did you leave the rest of them?" Luffy asked and Sabo looked at the floor.
"Two years later the marines attacked with really strong soldiers again", Sabo told "And I flew overboard and lost my memory. This all happened in South Blue and I ended up on Kidd´s home island."
"What happened after that?" Luffy asked. Sabo smiled.
"Sorry Luf, can´t tell you. Kidd would be mad"
Luffy pouted at this, making his brother laugh. Soon Luffy laughed too.
Luffy looked at his brother weirdly as his mouth fell open and he stared at the table.
"Luf?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I ask something?"
"Sure" Luffy said, wanting to know what was wrong with his brother.
"Does your doctor usually keep body parts on his table?"
"Huh?" Luffy said, confused. Sabo pointed at the table, saying: "There´s an ear on the table"
Luffy turned to see what Sabo was pointing at, and there really was an ear. Just after Luffy had seen it, it disappeared.
"Well?"
Luffy thought. An ear? He thought for a moment more, and then it clicked.
"ROBIN!"
A.N: Nice ending? Heehee… well anyway, here´s a couple of words about Moon Star pirates: I made them up just for this story, but started really to like them, especially Tony and Dan, so I might use them later, too. Their names don´t really have meanings, except Dan´s. I wanted to give him a funny name so that Sabo could make fun of him. Oh, and sorry if Sabo was OOC. Anyway, I gave you a long chapter, so you´ll give me a lot of reviews, right?