The Greatest Treasure

by ScarletteSorceress

Life is a troublesome thing. It can send you miracles like baby brothers and bringing brothers back to life. It can also send you disasters like having Gol. D Roger as a father. Nothing however could have prepared Ace for this. Let's hope the Moby Dick survives the ASL brothers. AU. ASL brothers on the Moby Dick. Possible Pairings -Temporary Hiatus until I get my muse back-

14. Bonus Chapter 3: I'm Back

A/N: Hey guys! Guess who's back?! *insert fanfare here if you want* Yes I am back, my coursework has been handed in and hopefully I will be able to get back to my normal writing schedule again. Thank you guys so so much for being so understanding and so amazing with the two week break I had to take from this fic to get all my coursework done and I hope you enjoy this chapter as a massive thank you from me. There may or may not have been five other segments to this chapter that I may have planned but ran out of time to complete because a certain trios makeover was taking too frickin long!

All the same I hope you enjoy the parts that you do get to see and I will warn you now the last segment is what happened to the bounty hunters from last chapter so if you don't want to hear what happened to them, I advise you skip it (it's right after the makeover, just as a heads up). It is in chronological order just to warn you guys in case you get confused.

Again guys, thank you so much for all your support it means so much to me and I hope you enjoy this bonus chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Ace didn't regret many things in life (it would be going against the promise he made his brothers) but he was seriously starting to regret getting into this fight. It had been going all fine and dandy until Luffy was shot.

The bullet had torn straight through his leg, causing him to collapse with a cry of pain. Sabo had been by his side in seconds, blocking more bullets with his staff as he covered their little brother's back. Ace wanted to be there too, protecting their downed brother with all his might and frying every damn marine to a crisp, but unfortunately he had his own problem to deal with. That problem mainly being a marine that seemed to know a way to hit him even though he was made of fire.

A black, metallic sheen coated his fists as he charged at Ace again, making the fire wielder to bring an arm up to block the attack and squash down the panic he felt when the fist actually made contact with his flesh. He really did not like this battle and he needed to end it so he could get Luffy to safety.

With that in mind he quickly brought his leg up to send a flaming kick right into the marine's unprotected stomach, using the man's overextended arm to pull the man forward into his attack. The marine crumbled into a heap of wheezing as Ace started to run to where his brothers were, sending out waves of fire at every marine who thought they could get in his way.

"Spade Pirates!" he called, making sure every single one of his nakama could hear him through the clash of blades and the roar of gunfire. "I want you all to retreat back to the ship. Protect my little brothers; that's a direct order."

A resounding cry echoed from the Spade Pirates as they rushed to finish their own fights and take up their captain's orders. Soon enough they were in a full retreat, Makou covering Sabo's back as he swung the injured Luffy into his arms.

"Ace come on." Sabo yelled at him when he noticed the raven was watching them all leave with shadowed eyes, sending wave after wave of fire at the advancing marines.

Ace caught his eye and shook his head slowly, clearly conveying that he was going to stay behind to make sure the marines didn't pursue them and end up hurting another one of his precious people.

Sabo glared him before shoving Luffy into Makou's arms and rushing back to stand at his brother's side, smacking him over the head once he had reached him.

"What was that for?" Ace grumbled as he turned to face the incoming marines.

"For not knowing when to give up." Sabo snapped back, raising his staff in a defensive position as Ace sent out a ring of fire to surround the two of them, creating a protective barrier against most of the swordsmen. Guns however could still be used. Not that that bothered Ace too much, it just meant he had to keep an extra careful eye on Sabo. For all the blonde's intelligence he still let his instincts over rule his brain once Luffy got hurt.

"Is it just me or have we had this conversation before?" Ace smirked as fired his flame pistols at the assembling marines. It looked like they were trying to protect something as they took aim with their rifles. If Ace didn't know the marines were rubbish shots he may have felt a little bit more concerned.

"That's because we have dumbass. In almost the exact same situation." Sabo retorted, smirking as he watched the marines panic and scatter in the face of his brother's bullets. He quickly brought up his staff to block the barrage of steel bullets that were being shot at him, flipping out of the way as the marines reloaded.

His eyes zoomed in on the one marine that was being covered by the others. This one had a rifle that looked different somehow and Sabo identified him as the one who had shot Luffy due to his distinctly purple hair. He wouldn't be forgetting that colour anytime soon.

He watched as the purple-haired man took aim and fired directly at his other brother. Normally this wouldn't have been a concern to Sabo but a gnawing feeling in his gut told him that he did not want Ace anywhere near that bullet. But it was too late.

With a cry of shock Ace fell forward, a hand coming to press at the wound in his stomach that had sprayed blood on the ground. Fire raged out of control around them as though Ace's connection with the flames had broken. Sabo rushed to his side and stared, wide-eyed at the bullet hole that had ripped into his brother's lower abdomen.

Ace's faced was screwed up in pain and a sickly pallor had flushed his skin. That bullet shouldn't have hurt him...

Sabo glanced up at the marines in hate, watching them celebrate their 'victory' before realising that it had only been Ace's control that had stopped the fires engulfing them. Their screams ripped the air apart as the flames licked their clothes and spread across their flesh, smoking and burning until it reached the bones. The purple haired man looked through the flames into Sabo's eyes and smirked at the rage he found there.

Sabo continued to watch as the man was engulfed in flames with his comrades, the fires burning the ground black with ash. With a determined glint in his eyes Sabo reached around his brother's body and lifted him up into his arms, grunting at the weight of him.

"You need to lay off Khaled's cakes." He muttered as he pulled his brother into his chest and stared at the flames surrounding them.

With a deep breath he charged, flying through the flames with a single thought of getting Ace back to the ship and getting both his brothers taken care of. The flames stung and burned his face and the smoke worked its way into his lungs and made his eyes water painfully. But he did not slow down. He needed to get Ace to safety and that was what he was going to do.

It was only after the bullet had been extracted from Ace's stomach and both his brothers were wrapped tightly in blankets and bandages that Sabo allowed himself to relax again. He studied the stone bullet in his hand carefully, rolling it in his fingers as he thought about its implications.

...Seastone, huh?...

And judging from the shiver of loathing he felt when he touched his bare fingers against the cool grey rock, he felt he was going to have reason to fear it in the future.

XXXXXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXX

It had not been an uncommon thing for someone to be seen sitting with Whitebeard during the day. It was uncommon for one of the newest brats to be doing it however. While his eldest brother was recovering from another failed attempt on Whitebeard's life and his other older brother was talking to Namur about Fishman Island, the youngest brat had plopped himself down on the deck in front of Whitebeard and was now staring at him with a frown on his face.

After ten minutes of solid staring even Whitebeard was ready to confess he was slightly unnerved by how little Luffy seemed to blink.

Another few minutes of staring went by before Whitebeard finally had enough.

"What's the matter brat?" he asked, leaning down in his chair to stare back at the little boy who was gazing up at him.

Luffy's frown melted away to be replaced by an impossibly wide grin that was becoming a common sight on the Moby Dick.

"If your name is Whitebeard why do you have a moustache?" he asked with a curious tilt to the head. He continued to beam up at the large man, even when said man leaned back in his chair with a booming laugh.

Let it be known that Luffy was not the first to have asked that question.

Gentle golden eyes stared down at the small brat as Whitebeard lifted a mug of sake to his lips and took a long drink, tuning out his nurses usual complaining. After he set the mug back down he leaned forward again to give of the air that he was about to impart some great secret to Luffy.

"It has special powers." He whispered, a laugh rumbling in his voice at the awestruck expression that dawned on Luffy's face.

Luffy leaned in to whisper back, oblivious to the chuckling Vista and exasperated Marco that were observing them.

"Do all moustaches have powers?" he asked excitedly, beaming when Whitebeard nodded solemnly.

"They do. The more impressive the moustache, the greater the power is."

Stars literally shone in Luffy's eyes at this great wisdom before he was off, shooting across the deck like an out of control shooting star, shouting about how he wanted to grow a moustache for the world to hear.

XXXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXXXX

A strange bird had appeared on deck fifteen minutes ago and still no one in the crew knew what to do with it. That may be because no one in the crew was too willing to go near it, not after Ace and Sabo had taken what it was carrying, burst into raucous laughter and then disappeared below deck.

Call them paranoid but when any of the ASL brothers start laughing for no apparent reason it usually meant that the aftermath would make them wish brain bleach was a manufactured item.

Unfortunately for the crew the production of brain bleach was non-existent.

They were just about to get desperate and force Marco to interact with the mysterious bird when Ace and Sabo re-emerged on deck, satanic glints in their eyes that did nothing to reassure the crew that this bird was just a bird and not some unholy spawn of hell and the Okama Queen. Neither did the demonic grins or the malicious giggling.

They quickly crossed over to the bird and tied a scroll of parchment to its leg. Sabo carefully picked up the bird and carried it over to the side, releasing the bird into the air and allowing the crew to relax again.

"I can't believe he actually went along with it." Ace chuckled as he watched the bird fly away with an eager grin.

Sabo laughed along as he walked back to stand with his brother, watching the bird's silhouette be swallowed by the open summer sky. The weather on the Grand Line really did amaze him sometimes.

"Who went along with what, yoi?" came a voice from behind them.

The brothers turned, grinning up at Marco before Ace pulled out the pictures the bird had dropped off a little while earlier.

"Shanks." He explained, watching the tick mark appear over Marco's eyebrow with a small feeling of pride. Usually it took a lot to get the phoenix pissed off but whenever one of the three brothers mentioned Shanks it immediately sent him into a mood.

Marco narrowed his eyes and took the pictures being offered to him with barely concealed disdain.

All that changed however when he saw the content of the pictures. His face went from disdainful to shocked, to amused, to horrified, before finally settling on disgusted. A green tinge entered his face and he threw the pictures back at Ace like they were a pair of Thatch's underwear. He glared at the two brothers that were rolling around on the floor, laughing their heads off at Marco's reaction.

"That is not funny, yoi. That is disgusting and they need to be burned."

Ace propped himself up on his elbows, trying to get his laughter under control as he gazed up at the horrified Phoenix.

"Hey now, he doesn't look that bad." He teased, sticking his tongue out at the glare he got in response.

Seeing that Sabo would be no help to him at the moment, he leaned across and scooped up the pictures before showing them to a laughing Thatch.

"See?"

Thatch's laughter caught in his throat as soon as he saw the pictures. Instead he ended up chocking, eyes wide in disbelief.

"I know you two are friends with him...but how the hell did you get him to agree to that?" he spluttered once he recovered the use of his voice.

Ace and Sabo grinned innocently up at him causing a shiver to go down his spine.

"What you don't know can't hurt you." They sang together, reminding most of the crew about the legends of grinning children that sung nursery rhymes as the ripped your organs out of your eye sockets.

By now most of the crew had gathered around the two brothers, wanting to know what it was that had made Marco lose his composure like he did. What they saw really made them with they weren't one of the most curious crews around.

There, on the deck, lying innocently beside Ace, were two pictures. Both of them featured a red-haired man that they all knew very well, though by now most of them really wished they didn't.

The man in question was photographed wearing a pale green dress that barely went to his knees, with puffed up sleeves that looked like they belonged in a princess book. In one of the pictures he was glaring at the photographer as what looked like a reluctant Mihawk helped him into three inch golden heels. The other one captured him dancing what looked like the funky chicken, but it was hard to tell due to him only having one arm.

They could now understand why Marco looked so nauseated. It was a well known fact that the blonde did not get along with the redhead so seeing him in a short dress would have been enough to turn anyone's stomach. Add this to the fact that Shanks did not suit the short frilly dress in any way and you would understand why most of the crew had fled the deck, tears streaming down their faces as they tried to get rid of the frightening image.

They knew they were right to be wary of that bloody bird.

Ace and Sabo just sat back and laughed as they watched their siblings run for cover as though Shanks was going to spring up from the photos and start twerking in front of their faces. Their laughter was soon drowned out by Whitebeard's unmistakable chuckle and they raced up towards his chair to show their father the pictures.

When Whitebeard saw them he laughed even harder, giving both boys a celebratory clap on the shoulder.

"I don't think your siblings agreed with your taste in amusement." He chuckled, looking down at his sons with gleaming eyes.

Sabo and Ace laughed sheepishly, scratching their cheeks in embarrassment.

"They don't seem to, do they?" Sabo agreed, watching as Thatch tried to beat the memories out of his head against the main mast.

"How did you manage to convince Red Hair to go along with that?" Whitebeard asked curiously, observing his sons with a curious eye. He of course knew the connection they had with the brat through Luffy, and understood that Ace had another connection with the man through his father (whether Ace realised this or not he did not know) but he didn't think that Shanks would agree to do something like cross-dress just because of that.

Ace grinned secretly up at him, confirming those thoughts.

"Just a tiny bit of emotional persuasion is all."

Whitebeard snorted, understanding the meaning behind that phrase in a second. So the brats had blackmailed him, eh? Well he couldn't exactly discourage them from that. As long as they knew not to blackmail any of their siblings like that then he supposed it would be okay. He already had enough to deal with when Izo decided to blackmail to crew into dresses.

XXXXXXXBREAK LINEXXXXXXXX

"Please tell me it isn't true." Ace pleaded as he burst into the Second division sleeping halls.

Sabo looked up from where he was bent over a clothes chest, pausing in his packing as he stared at his pale brother. Ace's hair was a ruffled mess, his skin several shades paler and a light sweat shone on his forehead. Sabo stood up with a concerned frown and crossed the room to place a gentle hand on Ace's forehead, checking to see if his temperature had risen. He really hoped his brother wasn't getting sick.

"Are you feeling okay Ace? Do you need to go see the nurses? I'm sure Hanna won't mind checking you over."

Ace swatted his hand away with a scowl.

"I'm perfectly fine." He snapped, his eyes drawn to the bag of clothes that was lying innocently on the floor.

Sabo noticed the look and sighed. He had really hoped to avoid this. But if Ace knew then there was no doubt Luffy knew as well which pretty much guaranteed his chance of a quiet escape was all for naught. He really hadn't wanted them to know about this.

"Where are you going?" Ace demanded, marching over to the bag and snatching it up.

Sabo threw an exasperated look at him before reaching out to grab it back, only to grow annoyed when Ace used his new found height advantage to hold it out of his reach. Needless to say Sabo was really starting to hate his brother's growth spurt.

"Ace give it back. I'm going on a mission for Pops as you are well aware of."

"I'm also well aware of the fact that Izo is the one leading it." Ace retorted, moving out of the blondes way as he continued to hold the bag out of arm's reach.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Sabo demanded, almost ready to give up and start jumping for it (stupid older brothers and their godforsaken growth spurts.)

"Pops told me there was a high chance that you would be cross-dressing for this mission and the whole crew has already voted against you going off this ship wearing makeup."

Ace caught his reaching arm and used it to steady his blonde brother, looking at him seriously as his words seemed to frustrate his little brother even more.

"For the last bloody time; I do not need protecting!" he seethed, glaring up at Ace with a threat of painful repercussions if Ace continued to think that way. "I am perfectly capable of dealing with any perverts that I encounter and, may I remind you, I will have a division commander with me at all times. Nothing bad is going to happen to me and if you keep on persisting that I need to be kept on this ship at all times, I will not be held accountable for my actions."

Sabo finally managed to snatch the bag out of Ace's loosened grip before turning and storming out of the sleeping deck without so much as a backwards glance.

Ace stood in there, alone, for quite some time, thinking over his brother's words with a frown on his face. He didn't think it was so unreasonable that he wanted to protect his little brother's innocence. It wasn't like with Luffy; he would kill anyone who even looked at him strangely let alone approached him. Luffy's innocence was precious in a way that even though the world had tried to get rid of it, Luffy was still as innocent as sweet as he had been when he was a seven year old boy chasing after the angry child that would one day become a loving, doting older brother.

Sabo wasn't like that. The world had robbed him of a lot of his innocence. Was it wrong then for Ace to want to protect and cherish what had remained? Sabo may be disillusioned to a lot of romantic concepts but even he did not know the true extent that some people were willing to go to to disguise their lust for beauty as love. And his brother was beautiful, there was no mistaking that.

Why couldn't Sabo understand he didn't want to the world to take away the very last vestiges of innocence from him?

That was how Luffy found him later, sitting in his hammock brooding about his brother's anger.

Luffy stood in front of him for a few minutes before Ace finally acknowledged his presence, raising his head to stare at him with detached eyes.

"Is it true? Is Sabo really going on a mission?" Luffy asked in a meek voice that he never wanted to hear from his brother again. It wasn't like Luffy to be meek, or quiet, or nervous in any way. Yet Ace watched as his baby brother shuffled his feet and glanced towards the doorway, clearly torn between staying out of concern for his brothers and leaving to track down answers from another person.

"Yeah, it's true." Ace sighed, running his fingers through his hair in an agitated way as he leaned back, looking into his brother's eyes with a grim smile. "He's going on a mission with Izo and we're not allowed to go with him, despite the fact he is going to be dressed up and most likely unable to hide his staff so he won't be able to clobber any pervert that he comes across."

Ace let out a frustrated huff as he flopped back into his hammock. He was not pouting, not at all. He was being a concerned older brother and his concern was perfectly justified.

Luffy bit his lip and sat down on the other end of the hammock, sliding slightly towards Ace's chest as he tried to get comfortable. Ace watched him with a raised eyebrow, wondering what he was planning on doing. When Luffy made no move to do anything however Ace sat back up and turned in his hammock so he could cross his legs, knees resting against Luffy's.

"What's the matter Lu? You're never normally this quiet."

"Ace and Sabo are upset." Luffy mumbled as he starting picking at the hems oh his shorts. "Ace wants to keep Sabo safe but Sabo wants to be free to make his own choices."

Luffy looked up at him with serious eyes.

"Didn't you always tell Sabo to let you make your own mistakes whenever Sabo wanted you to be safe? Why don't you let him do the same?"

"It's not the same Lu." Ace explained with a tired sigh, leaning over to ruffle his baby brother's soft hair. "I'm the eldest. It's my job to protect you both; I'll never be able to live with myself if something happened to you two."

"But that makes you a hippo." Luffy stated, looking at him sadly.

Ace was temporarily confused before snorting slightly at his brother's mistake.

"You mean hypocrite, silly."

"Yeah." Luffy agreed with a sad nod before jumping out of the hammock and trailing towards the door. He bit his lip and looked back at Ace with disappointed eyes, causing Ace to flinch as if he had just been struck. He hated disappointing Luffy.

"Sabo hates hypocrites Ace. You know that better than I do."

With that statement Luffy left, leaving the halls with every intention of wishing his brother good luck and telling him to come home safely.

Ace sighed, battling with himself before tumbling out of his hammock and rushing to catch up with Luffy. He understood why Sabo was angry but he was willing to put his own anger aside for once, so long as he could make sure his little brother knew to come back quickly.

When they arrived on deck there weren't many people about, most of the crew too busy with chores to spend much time watching the waves and clouds sail past. Luffy's eyes darted about, worried that they might have missed them until an amused voice drifted up from behind them.

"Could you two move please? While you are lovely to look at you are blocking the exit and we need to leave soon."

They turned around to see Izo standing there, grinning in excitement. His usually elaborate hairdo was not in sight, leaving his hair to flow freely down his back, swaying gently around his face in the sea breeze. His geisha makeup was gone, leaving subtle eye-shadows and pale pink lip-gloss in its wake. He looked like a young women in her early twenties, youth and laughter shining from his every movement. The kimono had been replaced with a frilled blouse that covered up his lack of breasts and a pair of denim shorts. It also looked like he had stolen a pair of Marco's sandals to strap on his feet.

And behind him was their brother, looking over Izo's shoulder with cautious eyes. His scar was covered up and very pale pinks coated his eyelids. A crown of daisies twisted through his curls, making him appear even younger than he actually was. He looked like he could be Luffy's age. A hesitant smile graced his lips as he caught sight of the surprise on Ace's face.

Luffy and Ace moved out of the way for them and let them come up onto the deck and into the sunlight. The light caught on the shimmering eye-shadow and made the blue of Sabo's eyes twinkle.

"You look beautiful." Ace murmured, falling in to step beside his brother as they made their way across the deck. The white sundress twirled around Sabo's knees as they walked, swaying gently in the breeze.

"Thank you." Sabo murmured back, a hesitant smile gracing his face as he pulled on a pale yellow cardigan to cover the burn scars on his left upper arm.

They continued on in silence, watching their little brother run around Izo with an excited grin and a contagious laugh. Ace bit his lip before turning to face his brother with an apologetic expression.

"Look, I'm sorry if I offended you earlier. I just want to keep you safe."

Sabo looked at him out of the corner of his eye and smiled gently before walking over to the ship that he and Izo were going to use to get to the island. It should take them about an hour to get there and an hour to get back if the weather stayed good. The again this was the Grand Line and the New World at that. The only saving grace was the island they were going to was constantly in a state of late spring so it should be nice and warm.

He tossed his bag to Izo so he would have something to change in to later before turning to look at his brothers, accepting a hug from Luffy and finally looking Ace straight in the eye.

"I get you want to keep me safe Ace, but I'll be fine."

He grinned widely, a cheeky glint entering his eyes again as he pulled up the side of his dress, baring his thigh to them and causing the few on deck to turn away with heavy blushes on their faces. Strapped to his thigh was a holster that contained parts that Ace recognised as a collapsible bo staff. It was different from his usual staff though.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Sabo smirked, letting his skirts fall back around his knees. "You'll have to thank Armando from the fifth division for it. There are all sorts of tricks stuffed in to it and it can work in its separate pieces. So now you don't have to worry about me not having a weapon on me."

Ace nodded in acknowledgment, thankful for this small relief and reminding himself to go and thank Armando later. The smirk slid slightly on Sabo's face as he took in the worry that still lined Ace's eyes. With a sigh the blonde stepped towards his brother and hugged him tightly around the waist, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

"I'll come back soon this time. It won't be like it was seven years ago."

With that final reassurance he slid out of his brother's arms and jumped over the railing to land on the ship beside Izo, turning back to grin up at his brothers as they dangled over the side. As Izo cast off from the Moby Dick Sabo called up one last remark that he knew would make Ace's blood boil but he couldn't resist anyway.

"I'll be sure to tell you all about the pickup lines I hear when I get back."

Izo joined in with Sabo's laughter as flames hit the clouds, Ace's screaming making all the crew come running to see what the commotion was.

XXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXX

"Why are we doing this again?" Ace groaned as he was led the way to Izo's room by a triumphant Thatch.

"Because you lost the bet." Thatch sung in a voice that was much too happy for Ace's taste. The fire-user made sure to make his feelings perfectly clear though. Soon enough Thatch had pulled his arm away from Ace's shoulder, yelling and waving his arm around as he tried to extinguish the flames that were now burning his sleeve away.

"HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!"

Ace laughed, watching with barely concealed glee as his friend danced around in the hallway, waving his arm around and generally making a mess as he yelled about how hot it was. Sabo sighed before emptying his water bottle onto the frantic man's arm, ignoring the way the cook latched onto him, crying dramatically about how mean Ace was to him.

Ace cracked up again as Sabo turned to look at him with a bland glare and a raised eyebrow, encouraging Luffy to break down into giggles too as he watched his elder brother make frantic surrendering motions with his hands as he tried to get his laughter under control.

"Sorry, sorry. Don't kill me because he can't take a little heat."

"You set my arm on fire." Thatch protested from the ground, still clinging to the blonde's leg like an overgrown koala.

"You reminded me of the bet we made." Ace fired back, scowling slightly at the reminder. Really, what had they been thinking? Oh right, they hadn't been.

What had possessed him to agree to Thatch's bet he would never know, but now it was ASL-proved that Namur could not be forced to say the word 'cute' in one day alone. Not even Luffy's puppy dog eyes had made that evil word slip past Namur's lightly sealed lips. And as a result Ace was now making the dreaded trip to Izo's room with his much less reluctant brothers.

Sabo was completely calm as he was led to the room from Hell (as Ace liked to call it in his head) but then again, this wasn't the first time this had happened to him. Ace supposed Sabo was becoming used to it, given Izo was obsessed with making him try out new looks and with the missions he had somehow convinced Pops to let him take Sabo on.

And Luffy was Luffy. Gender of clothes really didn't matter to him. As long as Izo didn't make him wear anything too frilly right away Ace could easily see Luffy getting used to wearing women's clothing as well. Ace chuckled and shook his head in exasperation. His little brothers really did not care about anything to do with gender, did they?

Then again, who was he to talk? He just didn't want to go to Izo's room because he knew the crossdresser would most likely put him in a dress and that was the one thing Ace would protest against; shorts, t-shirts, skirts, and blouses were fine, he could deal with those, but he would have to draw the line at dresses. At least at the moment. Marco had told him that Izo had a goal to get every member of the crew in a dress at least once and he had filled an entire collection of photo books dedicated to that goal.

It was one of the reasons everyone was determined to stay on his good side. The amount of blackmail Izo had over everyone was frightening.

Marco pulled Thatch off of Sabo's leg before continuing down the corridor, leading their brothers to the room where beauty happened.

Izo met them with a malicious smirk and eyes that shone with evil intentions. He grabbed the fronts of Sabo and Luffy's shirts before dragging them into his room and turning back for Ace.

Ace quickly held up his hands in the sign of surrender before hurrying into the room to avoid the crossdresser's grabby hands. Izo turned to look at Thatch and Marco with a raised eyebrow, clearly asking what the two of them were still doing there. Thatch grinned and bolted back down the hallway, throwing a cheerful "good luck" over his shoulder to the brothers. Marco gave them an encouraging smile before turning to head off as well, only to be stopped by a rubber hand stretching out and grabbing hold of his trouser leg.

Both men followed the hand back to see Luffy pouting at them with wide, teary brown eyes.

"I want Mama Pineapple look pretty too." He whined softly, tugging at Marco's trouser leg to try and get him to join the three brothers in the room.

"No Luffy, yoi." Marco sighed, looking away from those damn eyes.

Must. Resist. The. Cuteness.

"But pleeeeease? Mama Pineapple would look even prettier." Luffy begged, bottom lip jutting out until he was the perfect picture of a sad, dejected puppy that had just been thrown out by its owner...on a rainy day...in December.

Marco turned to look away from the heartbreakingly cute picture only to see two glowering brothers behind Luffy, one glaring with all the flames of hell and the other sending shards of ice through his heart from his glowering.

Marco let out a defeated sigh, sending a glare of his own to a smirking Izo before grinding out a tortured "Nails only."

Izo giggled before forcing Marco down onto the stool as Luffy cheered behind them, leaning over to watch Marco get his nails done.

"You're the devil, yoi." Marco commented, staring at the grinning idiot beside him, determined to ignore the two snorts that came from behind him. He knew if he turned around now he would be faced with two brothers grinning like the Cheshire Cat. The analogy certainly fit with how he was feeling at the moment; 'cat that ate the canary' definitely described the three grinning devils he was currently in a room with (not counting Izo but he was in his own league of sadistic evilness).

"So Luffy, what colour do you think would look best on Mama Marco?" Izo asked with a gleeful look towards his older brother. It wasn't often he managed to trap Marco in his room but he would treasure every second of it. He would need to remind himself to buy a mega pack of bubbles for Luffy at the next island they went to.

"Hmm..." Luffy looked at the different coloured bottles with a deep frown of concentration. There were all sorts of colours ranging from matte shades to iridescent and neon shades too. There were shimmery ones and sparkly ones, and there were even thin ones that could be used to draw designs onto a background colour. Luffy's eyes caught sight of the yellow one and let out a hum of contemplation before snatching up the yellow and green detail polishes and a bright, shimmering turquoise polish as well. He handed them over to Izo with a bright grin.

"Can you paint pineapples onto the blue?" he asked excitedly, not seeming to see the tick mark growing over Marco's left eyebrow.

Izo grinned at the idea and nodded, taking the colours out of his hands and setting them down beside him so he could easily reach them.

"No problem Little One." Izo gently patted Luffy's head before turning to look at Sabo.

"It will take a while to dry in between coats so while I do this would you be okay in getting these two ready?" he asked with a gentle smile, nodding encouragingly when Sabo pointed to himself in confusion.

"Alright." Sabo agreed reluctantly. "But I'm nowhere near as good at this stuff as you are."

"I've had years of experience." Izo reassured him before unscrewing the lid of the turquoise and running the brush smoothly along the first of Marco's nails.

Sabo got up off the bed and quickly went to grab the tweezers, turning to look at his brother with an apologetic look that did not match the smile that was tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Sorry about this Ace." He said before quickly straddling his brother so he couldn't run away and bringing the tweezers up to his eyebrows.

"Wha-? Sabo what are you- Ow! That hurts!"

"I know it hurts you big baby. Stop struggling it will only make it worse."

"Ow! You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged, now stop squirming."

"Sadist."

"Baby."

"Meanie."

Luffy sat back and giggled as he watched his brothers arguing with each other. He knew it wasn't a serious argument so he felt that he was allowed to laugh at them. They were acting really silly. Izo laughed along with him and even Marco cracked a smile, watching the two brothers playfully argue back and forth with childish insults, forgetting the fact he was getting his nails painted as he watched the banter unfold. He had to hand it to Sabo; drawing Ace into an insult competition was certainly an effective way of distracting him from the eyebrow plucking.

Soon enough Ace's eyebrows were finished and Sabo got up off his lap so he could move to the mirror and see the difference.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" Sabo teased, watching his brother's wonder with a proud grin on his face.

"Shut up." Ace mumbled with a tiny smile, looking in the mirror again before sitting back down beside his blonde brother, rubbing tenderly at the aching skin around his eyebrows.

Sabo laughed softly before turning to look at Luffy with a gentle smile.

"I don't think Lu needs his eyebrows done, do you Izo?"

Izo turned to look at him with a critical eye before shaking his head and turning back to Marco's nails, willing them to dry faster so he could start painting the pineapples onto them.

"I don't think so. His eyebrows are already really thin and they definitely don't hide his eyes. He should just be fine with the moisturiser and primer."

Izo finally deemed the blue dry enough and started to delicately paint the pineapples on top, being extra careful not to mix the green and yellow together. Whilst he was doing this Sabo was carefully rubbing moisturiser onto Ace's face, making sure to make it as pleasant as possible (even though he knew from personal experience that the first time this was done was never pleasant). Thankfully it didn't take very long for the moisture to dry while Sabo turned and started on Luffy's face, laughing along with his brothers giggling.

"Shihihi its cold!"

"I know it is Lu but just bare with it a little while longer, okay?"

"Okie-dokie."

Ace leaned back on his hands, watching his brothers with a smile before leaning over to have a look at Marco's hands. He gave a low whistle of appreciation when he saw the delicate work.

"They look really good Izo." Ace complimented, sending a grin at Marco. "It's like a self-portrait on his nails."

"Shut up brat." Marco grumbled getting up and shaking his hands about to try and speed up the drying process.

"Well if that's all you're going to be here for-" Izo straightened up before shoving Marco towards the door "-then get out! I want these three to be a surprise!"

Marco barely had time to throw a pitying look at Ace before the door was slammed in his face. Izo turned back to the brothers with a (demonic) grin.

"Now the real fun begins."

He quickly made his way over to the brothers, looking at each of them critically before pulling Luffy up and towards the stool. He knew Luffy didn't like to sit still for too long so he decided he'd start with the fidgety one first.

"Sabo, would you be a dear and get yourself ready? Thank you." Izo didn't give the blonde any chance to reply apart from the soft sound of laughter as he bent over to examine Luffy's face better. He ran a gentle finger over the thin scar that ran under his left eye, contemplating whether or not he should cover it up like he would with his older brother's burn scar.

"Where did you get this scar Little One?" he asked curiously. A chill ran down his spine and he turned to see two very angry brothers glaring at their littlest who was sweating nervously.

"N-nowhere. It's not like I stabbed myself in the face when I was seven to prove I was brave or anything like that." Luffy squeaked, determinedly looking away from the ever-increasing negativity that was being radiated by his brothers.

Izo stared at him, convinced he had heard wrong. He turned to look at Ace and Sabo, only to see the scowls on their faces that only came when Luffy had given them a heart attack.

"I really heard that, didn't I?" he asked, just to make sure he really wasn't hearing things.

"Yes. You did." They both ground out together, looking at their brother with mutinous eyes.

Izo sensed there was unresolved issue in between those three when it came to the subject of Luffy stabbing himself. And why wouldn't there be? He could hardly believe Luffy would do something so stupid. Didn't he know he was lucky to be able to even see out of that eye now? Did he not think about how it would have affected his brothers when he committed such a stupid act of recklessness? There were other ways to show your bravery than actively getting hurt.

There had been a chance that he might never have known the gorgeous ray of sunshine that Luffy was. It was a slim chance but the fact remained that there had been a chance of that happening.

Izo let out a long sigh before punching Luffy solidly on the head. Of course it didn't hurt him (he wasn't mean enough to use Haki on his baby brother) but it got his point across and let him get out his frustrations before they built up inside him.

Luffy whined and pouted up at him.

"What was that for?"

"It was for not thinking." Izo snapped before going over to his dresser and picking up his primer and finally getting to work, leaving no room for arguments.

Izo gently swept the translucent gel across Luffy's face, smiling lightly at how Luffy was trying hard not to giggle as the brush tickled his face. He knew the boy was ticklish but he had no clue it was to this extent.

He quickly set down the brush as soon as Luffy's face was covered, moving over to try and find the right shade of foundation for Luffy's richly tanned skin.

"You know, it's really lucky that I have other shades of foundation apart from my own." Izo commentated, getting Luffy to hold out his wrist so he could test for the right shade.

"How is that lucky again?" he heard Ace mumble, causing Sabo to laugh softly at his brother's disgruntled expression.

"It's lucky because it means that the foundation matches your natural skin and it will make you even more beautiful." Izo remarked, turning to smirk at Ace as the freckled teen lit up with a dark blush. Obviously someone was not used to getting compliments about his looks.

Izo quickly selected the foundation that matched Luffy's skin and set about spreading it evenly across his face and down his neck, making sure that he got an even coverage and that he blended the edges into the skin. He decided to cover the scar up, wanting to know what his little brother would have looked like without such a defining part of his appearance. It had shocked him what Sabo looked like without his scar so maybe it would be the same with Luffy.

"Now Little One, do you mind if I get you to close your eyes for a little bit? I need to put your eye-shadow on and then line your eyes as well."

"Okay." Luffy chirped before closing his eyes obediently and grinning in excitement.

Izo quickly put a tissue underneath both of his eyes to catch any residual powder before turning his attention to his wide colour collection. Luffy had naturally dark eyes so the real question was, did he want to lighten his eyes, or make the brown shine through the black?

A purple palette caught his eye and he smiled giddily before snatching it up and turning to Luffy's eyes with a determined expression. He was going to make sure this worked for him.

Ever so gently, he started to brush on a little of the pale lilac powder, sweeping it carefully over the inner corners and the middle of his eyelid. Several times he had to stop and get Luffy to relax his eyes again, as the ticklish sensation of the bristles was making Luffy scrunch up his eyes in an attempt not to laugh. Eventually though he managed to add a little of the shimmery lavender to the outer corner, blending it together with the lilac in the middle.

"Can you open your eyes for a second Little One? I want to see how it looks."

Luffy quickly opened his eyes, staring up at Izo for approval.

The purple had certainly done the trick.

Luffy's eyes seemed much brighter than before, the browns shining through the black and pooling in his eyes like the hot chocolate only Thatch managed to create; sweet, captivating, and managing somehow to still withhold a Christmas spice to it even though it was no longer the festive season.

Izo noticed the other two trying to get a look and waved them away, telling them to be patient and wait until his whole face was done. With nosy brothers grumbling in the corner Izo went back to work. He quickly binned the tissues and went about brushing on a thin layer of blush to the apples of Luffy's cheeks, making his whole face glow merrily.

Resisting the urge to squeal, Izo swiftly went about contouring his cheekbones, laughing slightly at the ridiculous duck face Luffy pulled when he asked him to suck in his cheeks.

Repressing his giggles he quickly finished off with a dark red lipstick, grinning when Luffy clapped his hands happily, chanting about the colour red. Izo knew that red was Luffy's favourite colour but he didn't think it was to this extent.

Luffy quickly tuned his head around as Izo went to select a burgundy nail polish, showing his face to Ace and Sabo.

"Wow Lu, you look amazing." Sabo exclaimed, grinning at his very pretty little brother. While the makeup didn't make Luffy appear more feminine (like it did to Sabo) it certainly highlighted the cutest parts of his face. His eyes were shining and had more colour depth in them thanks to the eye shadow and the deep red lipstick complemented his round, plump lips. The blusher and bronzer had softened his face, making his skin glow with health and happiness. He looked adorable.

Ace stared. It never occurred to him how different Luffy might have looked if he never had that scar beneath his eye, or how much brown his baby brother actually had in his eyes. The purples had melted the irises into warm, dark pools and sent warmth and love rushing through his veins in a way only his family had ever been able to do. He returned the smile that Luffy was giving them with his own, love and surprise shining on his face.

"You really do look fantastic Luffy."

Luffy giggled, glad that his brothers thought he looked pretty. He turned to look in the mirror and grinned at his reflection. He really did look pretty. He suddenly remembered the manners that Makino had tried to teach him and faced Izo with a grateful smile.

"Thank you Izo."

Concealing his surprise at the uncharacteristic show of manner, Izo smiled back at him.

"It's not a problem Little One. Now, let's do your nails so that while they're drying I can do one of your brother's makeup, okay?"

Luffy nodded eagerly and settled back into his place on the stool, extending his hand forward for Izo to quickly get to work. He remembered how long this took the last time and hoped it wouldn't be as boring now he had his brothers with him. With that thought in mind he quickly turned to look at Sabo and Ace while Izo continued with his nails.

"Ne, which one of you is going next?" he asked curiously, looking from on to the other.

Sabo and Ace traded looks.

One the one hand Ace wanted to get this over with, but on the other hand he really didn't want to be doing this at all. Though given Izo's previous work on Sabo and Luffy's new look, he was grudgingly curious as to what the crossdresser would make him look like.

Sabo couldn't care less. He had by now gotten used to the makeovers that Izo would give him; for the man's own curiosity and for missions. He did want to know what Ace would look like though. He had already been drawn into a discussion with Izo about his brother's face shape and how his freckles complimented his appearance in so many ways, and many other things he never thought he would ever discuss with anyone. The conclusion they had drawn was Ace was beautiful but in the pure, holy way that Sabo was; no, Ace was sinfully beautiful and Izo was dying to draw out that dark beauty and give the crew something to really worry about.

So while Ace and Luffy were under the impression this was happening because of a lost bet, Sabo knew the real truth. Izo had blackmailed Namur to make sure he wouldn't say the word 'cute' today all for the purpose of getting Ace in the makeup chair. Why had Sabo gone along with it, instead of watching out for his brother?

Because he was curious.

(And because of the uproar the rest of the crew had made when they found out about the mission he had to go on with Izo.)

He wanted to show them that things could always be a lot worse and he was going to use Ace as an example. It was also payback seeing as the rest of the crew would never have made such a big deal out of it if it wasn't for Ace screaming to the heavens about it. At least, he hoped they wouldn't have.

"I say we let Ace go next. Izo knows what looks best with me and I'm used to this by now so it shouldn't take very long. However Izo needs to work round Ace's freckles and making sure he doesn't cover them all up is going to take a lot of concentration."

Luffy nodded in agreement while Ace groaned but complied, knowing that there was no way he stood a chance if both his little brothers were ganging up on him. He knew he wouldn't be able to withstand combined puppy dog eyes.

Izo laughed delicately before blowing gently on the gleaming nails, causing Luffy to look back at him and beam when he saw all his nails covered in the pretty dark red polish.

"Thank you Izo." He chirped before standing up and jumping on to Sabo's lap, intent on watching his eldest brother have his first ever makeover.

Sabo let out a soft hiss as he suddenly had a lapful of wriggling little brother but after a while he wrapped his arms around Luffy's waist, grinning at the scowl Ace sent him as he rested his chin on his brother's shoulder. Neither of them wanted to miss this after all.

Ace bit his lip as he sat down hesitantly on the stool, eyes darting across the dresser as he took in all the different pots, tubes, and palettes that littered the surface. He was torn between curiosity and dread as Izo picked up the primer for the second time and started to brush it evenly onto his face.

It was cold; much like the moisturiser but it wasn't as slimy. That came as a relief. He really hadn't enjoyed that at the start. Though the way Sabo had massaged it into his skin had become soothing after a while. Now he just had the slight tickling sensation of the bristles sweeping across his face to get used to.

Ace looked up through his lashes to see Izo frown slightly in concentration as he worked of spreading the thinnest layer of primer over his freckles. There was no way he wanted to cover those up. They made Ace appear more childish and innocent, even when he was scowling. He couldn't cover them up; to him it would be equivalent to admitting that Ace's innocence was almost completely gone.

He gently set down the brush and went to check the foundation against his skin tone; thankfully he was the same as Luffy.

"I suppose you two take after one of your parents more than Sabo does." He remarked, noticing how the muscles in Ace's arms tensed at his observation; how strange.

A startled laugh stopped him from commenting further and he turned to look at the sole blonde in the room.

"Something funny Sabo?"

Sabo shook his head, curls flying into Luffy's face causing the younger of the two the squeal and squirm slightly in his place on his brother's lap.

"Sabo doesn't look like his parents though." Luffy commented with a thoughtful look towards the still chuckling blonde. "They're both butt-ugly and Sabo's really pretty."

This only caused the blonde to laugh harder only now it was Ace joining in.

"You said it Lu." Ace cheered, grinning at the confused look on Izo's face. "See, we're not technically blood related."

Comprehension dawned in Izo dark eyes, turning to look at all the three of the brothers in turn.

"But you look so similar." He said, baffled.

And it was true. Ace and Luffy looked like they could be blood siblings with their similar skin tone, similar dark hair, and similar infectious smile. But Luffy also looked a lot like Sabo; they had a very similar face shape and their eyes sparkled in the same way. They looked like they could be blood brothers too if Sabo took after their mother or the other way around. And then Ace and Sabo had very similar mannerisms that would usually only be explained if they grew up together.

"Besides, it would be physically impossible for me to be Ace's blood brother." Sabo chuckled, looking at Izo with understanding eyes. It would not surprise him in the least if others in the crew made that mistake.

"He's only two months older than me."

Izo made a noise of comprehension as he started to brush the foundation carefully onto Ace's face. It really would be impossible then; unless you were some kind of super woman with a high pain tolerance it would be impossible to conceive and develop a baby in two months.

"When's your birthday then?" Izo asked, shooting a small look of warning over to the blonde. He was not going to let Sabo do what Ace did and make them rush around in a last minute panic.

Sabo held up his hands in surrender before wrapping them back around Luffy's waist.

"March twentieth." He replied with a grin. As if he was going to do the same thing Ace did. He for one, did not mind his birthday that much as it had gotten a lot more enjoyable with his brothers to celebrate it.

Izo made a mental note of the date before turning all his concentration back on to Ace. His face had been successfully covered but the foundation was spread thin across his freckles so that they were still visible. His eyebrows were already dark so there was no need to pencil them in. With that in mind Izo turned his attention to Ace's eyelids. He already knew exactly what he wanted to do with those.

He quickly snagged up a smoky black powder, a tarnished gold dust, and a dark bronze powder. Securing a tissue underneath both eyes, Izo smiled reassuringly down at Ace.

"This isn't going to hurt and I'll be extra gentle, alright?"

Ace nodded his head reluctantly, eyeing the brushes with something close to fear. All the same he closed his eyes, remembering that it hadn't hurt Luffy so it shouldn't really hurt him.

It didn't stop him flinching from the tickling sensation the brush made when it danced across his sensitive eyelids. Izo laughed lightly before patting him on the head and continuing with his plan. Carefully he swept the black matte powder across his eyelid in a line, brushing it all the way from the inner corner to the outer corner. He then added a little bit more, sweeping it from the inner corner up towards the crease. Then he took the tarnished gold and gently started to pat it onto the centre of his eyelids, being careful not to touch the black too much. Once the gold was in place the bronze was brushed into the crease of his eyelid and blended out towards the brow bone, the light catching the shimmery metal.

Izo quickly went about blending the gold and the bronze, being careful not to mix the two colours too much but just enough to create a gradient effect. With that done, using the bronze brush, he carefully started to sweep the black from the inner corner back up to the crease, blending it with the gold to create a smoky eyed effect. He had deliberately not used any silvers or greys so that Ace's unique silver eyes would really stand out.

He carefully swept a thin line of black gel eyeliner along the tops of his eyes before Ace knew what he was doing. That way he wouldn't be nervous like Sabo had been when he had first seen the eyeliner.

"Open your eyes." Izo wanted to see what the overall effect would look like.

Slowly, Ace carefully opened his eyes, blinking slightly at the odd feeling of having powder pressing down on his lids. A gasp from above alerted him to the fact that Izo was still watching him like a hawk and he turned a questioning gaze to the crossdresser.

"What is it?"

Izo shook his head before pointing to the mirror. Slightly nervous of the man's silence Ace hesitantly tuned towards the mirror and let out a tiny gasp of his own.

The dark powder had defined the shape of his eyes, giving them a sultry, sexy shape that Ace didn't know his eyes were. The gold and bronze made his silver eyes smoke and shine, shimmering in the light from the windows. It looked a touch incomplete however and Ace thought there should be some form of black underneath his eye as well. He turned a questioning gaze towards Izo, unaware that every look he gave now had an undercurrent of desire flickering in his gaze created from the dark wealth that graced his eyes.

Izo swallowed down his voice and smiled; it was rare that he impressed himself with his work but this was certainly one for the memory books. He quickly held up the brush of gel liner with a reassuring smile in the face of Ace's dawning apprehension.

"I'll be very careful. Just remember to look up and you'll barely feel it."

Ace's eyes darted over to wear Sabo was watching them, wanting a second opinion and one he was sure wouldn't lie to him about whether or not it was painful. Sabo smiled in reassurance after getting over the shock of seeing Ace's eyes directed at him.

"It's really not as bad as you're imagining it to be. It's gel liner so it just glides on; be thankful it isn't pencil because that does hurt the first time you do it." He advised, ignoring the way Luffy still hadn't picked his jaw up from the ground.

"It only hurt because you couldn't stop squirming." Izo reminded him with a teasing grin, laughing when Sabo had the decency to look embarrassed. He really should have known better than to ignore Izo's words when it came to makeup.

With those words Ace froze in his seat, determined not to move an inch just in case Izo 'accidently' poked his eye out or something. What an embarrassing way to lose an eye that would be. He quickly looked towards the ceiling when he noticed the brush getting closer to his eye and tried not to blink when he felt the bristles brush over the sensitive skin. It was dangerously close to his eye but Izo seemed to be keeping his word. It wasn't painful, just a bit unpleasant; like the moisturiser at the start.

Soon enough his entire eye had been lined in black but before he could think about moving Izo was already sweeping his lashes with mascara, not giving him any time to build up a fear of the bristled wand. In a way he was glad of that; out of all the brushes, pots, and tubes the mascara wand was the one he had a genuine fear of. He could vividly remember the one time he had surprised Makino when she was putting on her mascara and how scared he was that he done some serious damage to her eye when she poked herself with the wand.

But it was over as quickly as it had started and Ace supposed it was easier when someone else was doing the mascara because they knew not to poke you in the eye. He blinked a few times to get rid of the weird sticky feeling that his lashes had been coated in before looking up with slightly curious eyes.

"What next?" he asked hesitantly, hoping to every god he knew that he wouldn't have to go through something like that again.

Izo smiled wicked and held up two containers of what looked like pressed powder.

"It's time for contouring."

He quickly but carefully pulled the tissue off of his cheeks and threw it in the bin before picking up an angled brush and starting on the bronzer. Ace threw a helpless look towards Sabo, confused by the strange new makeup term.

Sabo laughed slightly as he watched his friend start to work on defining Ace's cheekbones.

"It means he's going to define your facial structure by defining your cheekbones or adding shadows to parts of your face that normally wouldn't be there. It allows him to change the shape of your face to something either more masculine or more feminine." He explained, watching comprehension filter through his brother's stunning eyes.

Luffy turned to look at him with a glowing smile, twisting in his lap so he could remain comfortable and talking to his brother.

"Ace looks really pretty." He whispered in a hushed awe, excitement bubbling in his eyes.

Sabo laughed lightly and nodded his head in agreement.

"That he does Lu, that he does."

Izo made quick work of the blush and bronzer, bringing out the high cheekbones and adding a rosy glow to the tanned cheeks. A coat of deep red lipstick completed the look and for a second Izo stood back and marvelled at how Ace looked.

"Were you a Latin dancer in another life?" he asked, completely serious. Ace looked like one of the girls that would dance rumbas and salsas with the crew whenever they stopped at a party island.

Ace gaped at him, not sure how to take that comment. On the one hand he could take it as a compliment as he had seen girls like that and they were drop dead gorgeous, but on the other hand he was as pretty as a girl and he wasn't sure what to think about the comparison. When it was obvious that Izo was expecting an answer Ace threw a pleading look towards his brother to get his clearly crazy friend away from him.

It was that look that made Sabo released the laugh he was holding back, clutching on to Luffy's waist for dear life as he laughed his heart out. Luffy however looked confused, eyes darting in between the three of them with a mystified expression.

"Why are you laughing? Ace is good at dancing."

"Wait, you can actually dance?" Izo asked, turning wide eyes to the blushing teenager in front of him. Well that was something he hadn't expected. Though if he did dance it certainly explained the insane flexibility he occasionally showed while fighting (Luffy had the excuse of being rubber; Ace and Sabo should not have been as flexible as they were).

"Sabo taught me how to when we were kids." Ace grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away from them all to try and hide his blushing face. Not that it worked very well. The natural blush only made the makeup darker and more obvious. It really was adorable when Ace would get all huffy and embarrassed.

"Sabo can dance too?" Izo asked, turning curious eyes to his blonde friend. He wondered why the blonde boy had never told him that; it would have made party islands so much more fun.

Sabo nodded, smiling brightly. He had really enjoyed teaching Ace and Luffy how to dance when they were kids, and it had been interesting to see Ace incorporate it into his fighting style for when he was dodging and evading larger attacks.

"Dancing is fun. We barely get to dance professional dances but we know how to. Ace is best at dances like the tango and foxtrot."

"And Sabo's best at the salsa and the waltz." Luffy chipped in with a beaming grin, getting off of Sabo's lap to pull his blonde brother to his feet and spin himself under his arms. Sabo went along with it, laughing gently as he guided Luffy around the room, twirling him under his arm gently as the danced to the sound of their laughter.

Ace watched them with twinkling eyes, looking at Izo for a second before getting up and joining the impromptu dance. Just as Sabo was about to twirl Luffy again, Ace came up and caught his youngest brother around the waist, pulling him into his chest as they danced away from the blonde. Izo watched them all with a gentle grin. It was nice to see them so relaxed and happy. They seemed so childish and carefree when they were dancing with only the sunlight and laughter to accompany them. He didn't want to disturb it in any way.

Carefully, making sure the brothers didn't notice him, he pulled out his camera and froze the memory of sunlight and children for years to come. He wanted to keep the photo to add to the scrapbook that he and Thatch were compiling (they had gotten the idea from Ace after he had mentioned how his foster mother had kept scrapbooks documenting their growth under her care). Of course the brothers weren't to know about the scrapbook so the whole crew was enjoying keeping a secret like this from them.

Izo hated to break up such a happy scene but at the same time Sabo still had to get his makeup done and they still had hair and outfits to do. Thankfully Sabo had recognised the crossdresser's growing impatience and had hurried over to the stool, leaving his brothers to collapse on the bed, joy shining in their faces.

Izo set straight to work, having already planned everything out with Sabo. Plus, he had already done this three times before so by now getting Sabo's face primed and covered in an even layer of foundation took no time at all. The scar still slowed up the process but eventually it was all covered. Then came the tricky bit.

Izo carefully started to pat down white eye shadow along the whole of Sabo's eyelid, right up to the crease from both the inner and outer corners. After that he lined the top of his eye with gold gel eyeliner, giving him a slight cat flick at the sides.

"Okay darling, you're going to have to open your eyes now." Izo warned, knowing how nervous the blonde was about this step.

Never the less, blue eyes opened slowly and Sabo stared up at the ceiling without being told. Izo carefully trailed a line of eye shadow primer along the bottom of Sabo's eye, making sure to be very delicate over the sensitive skin and over the burn scar. Then, before the primer dried completely, he gently pat champagne gold glitter dust onto the line of primer, underlining Sabo's whole eye in pale gold glitter. It twinkled gently in the light from the windows and reflected across the shimmering blues of his irises. The glitter was the reason Izo hadn't placed tissues under Sabo's eyes like he had with the other two, knowing that minimal powder was going on to the lids. Instead the sparkling dust would bring all attention to his eyes and the white powder would make them appear rounder and more innocent.

He quickly dusted a pale coat of white face powder over Sabo's face, giving his face a shimmering glow and with a sweep of pale pink blush he looked just like a pure, innocent angel. He left his lips bare apart from a small coating of transparent lip gloss, adding a shine to his plump pink lips.

Sabo quickly took a look in the mirror and beamed his approval for the look. If he stood next to Ace they'd look just like the devil of desires and the angel of conscience that were constantly at war over every persons decisions. As Sabo was the one sitting down he was the one who had his hair done first though to speed things up he gestured for Ace to come and sit on the floor in front of him so that while Izo was doing his hair, Sabo could paint Ace's nails. Izo had already cornered the blonde earlier in the week and given him a French manicure so his nails were already set.

With a sigh Ace sat down in front of him and watched as Sabo carefully started to brush on black polish, being carefully to stay on his nails while Izo brushed out his golden ringlets. Carefully, Izo started to slide in jewelled clips fashioned to look like daisies, using them to pull some of Sabo's curls to the top of his head so they cascaded down in layers of golden waves. The light caught on the gems of the daisies, splitting the light in a shimmering halo around the blonde's head. It was truly beautiful to watch. It was so mesmerising that Ace didn't even notice his nails were finished and dry until he felt a brush run through his own hair.

He looked up at Izo in surprise, not having realised the older man had moved, and unconsciously leaned into his soft touch as he brushed his wavy hair out. With a swift movement Izo had pinned half of his hair to the side of his head and slid a deep red hibiscus flower into place over the clips, securing it to the side of his head. Ace reached up to run gentle fingers of the delicate blood red petals and looked to Izo with curious eyes.

"So, what does this flower mean?" he asked, interested in what meaning Izo could be trying to get across to them now. It had become a fun game for them all in their attempts to learn the language of flowers; everytime Izo mentioned a flower they had to try and guess the meaning behind it and why the other man had mentioned it. It was a fun game full of codes and secrets and it was amazing to learn the variety behind every colour and every petal.

"Delicate Beauty." He confided with a soft smile that made Ace's face heat up again and he looked determinedly away from Izo's soft brown eyes.

He scowled as he heard Sabo snickering at him.

"Oh shut up Innocence." He snapped causing Sabo to grin at him and finger the daisy claps gently. He really hated to admit how much the daisies suited the way Sabo looked at that moment.

"I want a flower too." Luffy pouted, coming over and sitting down to get his own hair brushed. The fluffy spikes refused to flatten but Izo could work with that. He carefully took a box of fake hair flowers and gently started to braid them into Luffy's soft raven locks, creating a braided crown of flowers that ran around his head.

"White Jasmine for amiability, Yellow Jasmine for modesty and grace, Honeysuckle for generosity, White Heather for wishes." He whispered as he thread the flowers carefully into his hair, dropping a gentle kiss to the top of his head as he stood up to go to the wardrobe.

Luffy and Ace watched him with curiosity while Sabo got to his feet to join him, looking through the wardrobe in order to help Izo find the right outfit that his brothers would agree to wear.

"These black shorts for Ace, definitely." Sabo decided, pulling out a pair of high waisted, thigh length shorts that were designed to hug the hips and show off a person's behind in the best possible way. Sabo had heard too many guys checking out his brother's are not to make him wear those shorts.

Izo nodded his agreement and threw them over for Ace to start getting dressed before turning back to the wardrobe. He pulled out a cute lilac pleated skirt that he hardly ever wore anymore and raised it at eye level before looking back towards Luffy with a considering gaze.

"Do you want to wear this Little One? It'll match the colour on your eyes."

Luffy beamed and ran up to grab the skirt in question, tugging off his shorts with no hesitation and pulling the skirt up to his waist. It was a bit too big for him so Izo handed him a white belt for him to secure the skirt to his tiny waist. As soon as it was secure Luffy twirled around and watched the skirt flow around him with glee.

"Look Ace, it's flying when I spin!" he exclaimed, turning and beaming at his brother who was sitting on the stool with the shorts on and his legs crossed. Ace smiled slightly at Luffy; hiding the surge of protectiveness he felt when Luffy displayed his blatant lack of modesty. The skirt looked cute on him, there was no denying that (then again Luffy looked cute no matter what he was dressed in) and Luffy seemed to really enjoy how the skirt flowed around him with every movement.

Izo laughed with Sabo over Luffy's joy before bringing out a short white blouse and throwing that over towards the excitable raven.

"Put that on too and there's a pair of white boots over by my bed that should fit you."

Luffy smiled happily before slipping the blouse over his head. There were no frills on it, otherwise Sabo had a feeling he might have protested a little bit, just cute cupped sleeves and darts that flattered Luffy's slim waist and narrow shoulders. The boots in question were lace up white leather that came to his knees with barely any heel to them so Luffy would still be able to run around with no problem. Sabo doubted Luffy would have made it two steps if Izo had asked him to wear heels right after wearing nothing but flat soled sandals for the whole of his life.

Izo left Sabo by the wardrobe to help Luffy with the laces while Sabo continued to try and find a top for his brother. In the end he finally found the perfect one. It was a black halter top made of slightly see through fabric and had a low dipping back that was hardly there at all. It had been stuffed out of sight behind a pile of warm looking jumpers and it was perfect for Ace because it would still allow the Whitebeard tattoo to be shown.

With a grin he turned and held it up for Izo's inspection, gaining a grin of approval and a thumbs up from the crossdresser before he passed it over to Ace.

Ace carefully slipped it on, being mindful of the hibiscus flower in his hair as he let the fabric settle on his skin. It was a good fit, which was surprising. He looked in the mirror and felt like he should be getting ready for a night of clubbing rather than paying for a bet gone wrong. The final touch was a pair of lace up boots that were identical to Luffy's except they were black. Surprisingly it looked good on him; all of it looked amazing. For once he could actually see where people were coming from when they said he was attractive.

All that was left was for Sabo to get dressed which he quickly did, slipping a white, knee length dress over his head and pulling his arms through the translucent chiffon sleeves. A jewelled belt flashed at his waist, pulling it in to make him appear more curved. Sabo quickly pulled on a pair of strappy silver heels and walked over to Ace with a grace and confidence that the raven felt he would never be able to pull off in those death traps. Annoyingly the heels made Sabo the same height as him again and he glared sullenly at his brother for pulling out that unfair trick.

Sabo giggled lightly before changing the pitch of his voice until it was a floaty, melodious tune that invited all to listen to him and convinced you that he was the most innocent being in the entire universe, even if you knew for a fact it wasn't true.

"Aww don't be mad. Please Big Brother?" he said sweetly, tilting his head and batting his lashes towards the scowling raven.

Ace snorted softly before pushing him away with a grin.

"I still hate how you can change your voice like that."

Sabo laughed and the spell of sweet innocence was broken as Sabo returned to his natural voice.

"I know you do."

Izo gaped at him, baffled by the talent Sabo had just revealed. Turns out he was learning all sorts about the brothers; first Luffy stabbed himself, then Ace can dance, and now Sabo can manipulate his voice to sound completely different. He wondered what else he might learn about the brothers as he snapped some quick photos and led them outside. Marco and Thatch were waiting outside for them, leaning against the walls and engaged in what appeared to be a very boring round of eye-spy.

"Ta-da!" Izo exclaimed as he moved out the way, letting them catch their first views of the brothers.

Thatch's face lit up in a bright blush and he seemed to choke on air for several minutes as he looked at the picture the ASL brothers made. Even Marco's eyes had flown wide, seemingly unable to believe the vision they were presented with.

Izo supposed he couldn't blame them. With Ace looking like a demon temptress that oozed desire and lust standing next to Sabo and Luffy who radiated innocence and virtue it was hard not to go dry at the mouth. He wouldn't be surprised if the nosebleeds started as soon as they were on deck. All he knew is that his brothers could put any professional beauty to shame with the way they shone in their outfits and that if the crew had complained about Sabo being allowed to wear makeup outside the ship there was no way in hell they were letting Ace or Luffy out of their sights either.

XXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXX

The walls shook around them as they steadily started to back away, watching the retreating shadows of their prisoner and his brother fade down the corridor out of the corners of their eyes. Dust and rubble fell in soft waves through the air, obscuring their vision and creating a slightly silver haze that drifted lazily around them. It settled softly over the figure in front of them, caressing his pale skin and shimmering over his icy features. Even if they wanted to they were unable to take their eyes off of the boy in front of them.

Though 'boy' did not really do the individual justice.

No justice could be done in light of those cold, arctic eyes.

They pierced through the air like broken mirrors, slicing cleanly through their hearts and reflecting the venom that oozed from the seeping wounds. Ikram felt a shiver run down his spine as the dim lamplight reflected off of that pearly-sharp smile. Wibo clutched fearfully at Ikram's waist, fingers trembling through the thin fabric of his shirt.

"Now then gentlemen." A soft whisper echoed through the silver mist, lilting and enticing them to listen to its haunting melody. "Any particular reason you felt like taking my baby brother away from me?"

Sweat trickled down Ikram's brow as he opened his mouth to try and deny they did any such thing, his survival instincts screaming at him that he did not want to anger the blonde even more than he already had; only to stop short when those deep blue eyes sharpened dangerously and a soft hiss escaped the deathly pale lips.

"And I don't suggest you lie to me." He whispered, pushing himself off of the wall gently and sliding out of the shadows towards them. The brim of his top hat cast shadows across his face in the dim candlelight, illuminating the whites of his eyes.

Ikram could barley breathe from the force those eyes held over him. The cavernous blue dragged him under their surface and through their icy depths, suffocating and drowning him in their cold loathing and distant distaste. Those eyes despised him yet as soon as they flickered down to look at Wibo, Ikram craved the terror they had inflicted on him. He wanted this boy's attention to be on him and only him.

"We took him because that's what we do." He spat out, hiding the sense of deep satisfaction that welled inside him when those glacial eyes were focused once more on his face. "We go out to islands and take all the kids younger than fifteen. The nobles pay us a pretty penny to get them new toys and what better than a kid with a Devil Fruit already?"

He grinned at the flash of anger that seared through those eyes. So the boy had fire behind his ice after all.

"I mean, he was practically gift wrapped for us." He continued, no longer paying attention to how Wibo's fingers tightened their hold on his loose shirt, or how the boy's face was beginning to appear more and more like marble.

"All we had to do was add the seastone; it was like the icing on the cake! After that he became as weak as a fish out of water. Sure he may be banged up a bit but I'm sure the nobles would have still bought him. Heck, it would most likely increase his value if they didn't have to break his spirit all by themselv-"

An elbow slammed into his waist from the side, cutting off his tirade and making him glare down at his companion. Didn't Wibo see he was talking to the blonde boy? He refused to let that prehistoric wrinkled man have even the slightest bit of the teenager's attention.

Wibo's terrified eyes darted from his face to Blondie's, ashen faced and sweating slightly from his fear. Ikram followed his gaze and the sight that greeted him froze the breath in his chest.

Eyes that used to be frozen were now blazing with icy blue flames. The teenager's skin had been bleached of all colour and the shadows cast over his face had turned the calm facade into a tempest of quiet detestation. A trembling hand reached up and tucked a shining curl behind his ear as he let out a long, calming breath.

"...just because nobility pay for it doesn't make it right..." he whispered, casting his eyes to the ground as he took a measured step towards the two men. He glided gracefully through the dust towards them as another explosion shook the foundations of the cellars.

"...they have no control over you...you were the ones who decided you would steal children...you decided to rip families apart...sending children to a life of torture, humiliation, and pain...until you go through what they do, you have no right to condemn them like that; and if you did you would never let that happen!"

His soft voice steadily grew louder and louder until it crashed against their hearts like the sea crashed against the cliffs, ruthless and unyielding in their assault on the stony hearts. He had crossed over to them now; he was barely a foot away from them and the haunting words twisted their souls and bent their stony hearts until they wept from fear and worship of the noble being in front of them.

A cruel smirk twisted across his heavenly face as his eyes caught sight of the tears. He reached up to caress Ikram's cheek, wiping away the tears and delighting in the way Ikram flinched away from the frosty skin of his slender fingers.

"Hush now. You'll be with the children soon enough." He whispered, cold breath fanning across his face like the salty spray of the sea on a winter day.

Ikram's eyes widened in fear, wanting to take a step back from him but his legs were trembling and his heart was disobeying his brain, only wanting to get closer to the blonde who's murderous gaze had levelled with his own horrified one.

"If I am to die by an angel's hand then I shall be happy..." he whispered hoarsely, leaning in to the icy fingers that were trailing down his cheek to cup his chin. "But why would you soil your hands with my blood?"

A bitter laugh rang through the hallway as the boy drew his hand away to cover his mouth in resentful mirth, trailing a long golden chain in his fingers as he pulled the hidden key away from the captivated man.

"I am no angel." He confided with a wink and a pitiless smile. "The real angels are the ones that are born to be devils. You were the one who harmed my liberating angel and enraged my avenging angel. Out of all of us, you were unlucky enough to meet me."

He reached up and twisted his fingers through Ikram's hair, pulling him down to his levels and slipping a cold, metallic cylinder down the front of his trousers.

"And I'm the demon wearing an angel's face."

With a fleeting smirk and a vicious punch to the face, the blonde boy turned and flew down the corridor, leaving only the imprint of icy eyes and a terrifying smile as the grenade in Ikram's trousers exploded.

A/N: And that's it guys! Thank you so much for reading this chapter and don't forget to R&R~ I will now be replying to reviews and If you left a review when the authors note was published then I will be answering that and then the review from the last chapter beneath it!

Nadeshiko Fullbuster-Sama: Thank you very much. They are the best family in the world. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Marion: Thank you!

Girlsofmanyhandshakes: Thank yuo very much! I hope the reactions to Shanks in drag live up to your expectations XD

SisterAssassins: Oh Nooes! Poor you if you're reading this in six months time XD I should have finished this story by then (hopefully unless I have to take time off for exams which is highly likely) I will try and have at least five more chapters for you to read by then, okay?

Also I have recommended Taisi to one of the reviewers before and if there are any readers reading these replies I still recommend them; they are brilliant for Straw-hat Nakamaship and general Protective!Straw-hat feels. And I'm glad you're enjoying those fics so much; I know I had so much fun reading them!

Sessha Lebeau: Thank you very much for the luck, I needed it.

It would have saved a lot of heartache and it would certainly have saved me from the inescapable Ace jokes at collage :'( Unfortunately I wasn't able to include all the father/son moments I had planned so I am sorry about that. I hope you enjoy the other stuff though! Also, no-one but Ace and Sabo know who Luffy's father is. Dragon was only ever known as Dragon in the manga and it wasn't until Garp let the cat out the bag did anyone know Dragon's last name. They're hesitant to tell Whitebeard because they haven't even told Luffy yet and they feel that Luffy should be the first one to know and if Luffy wants to tell Pops they will.

TheCaptainOfShips: Thank you! I am back now so it should be smooth sailing until May.

MissJenca: Oh Gosh I wanted to do that sooo badly! Curse time limits! No you don't need to worry about me quitting this fic seeing as I need it written to write the sequel (which I really really really want to write!) It's not like I only started writing this fic to give the sequel context, what are you talking about? Hehehehe...heheh...he...he...Sorry. Ah if only Mr. Prince would come and save my hands *swoons* pfft, sorry, I couldn't do that seriously. It's a nice thought though' thank you!

I'm sorry for all the emotions! I'm kinda glad you didn't notice the length (especially when I compare it with this frickin monster) He was very strong and I'm proud of him too but he'll want to get stronger so that people don't take him for a weak link any longer! It's the only kind of science I am enthusiastic about! I don't think he's stupid, I agree with the theory of tunnel vision because if it is something that doesn't directly affect/interest him he shouldn't need to pay that much attention to it. Add that in to how he's practically a genius on the battlefield (cough- second gear-cough) and it's impossible for him to be unintelligent. I think it also fits in to how he was raised as well; living in the jungle you had to rely on your instincts and it didn't really help you to be book smart. A simple life of eat, sleep, survive, would have very little use for book smarts. Well you get your answers~ And Marco goes back to being Mama Pineapple for now (or at least until Luffy wants something really badly XD). And lots of people seem to be looking forward to pissed off Luffy (I'll give you a hint; it's in a Shanks chapter)

Thewibblywobblywolf: I'm sorry! Have a stupidly long chapter as an apology! Oh there's always going to be more crossdressing especially when you guys ask so nicely for it (who am I kidding; they'd be crossdressing even if you guys didn't ask for it XD)

Oh yay, all the angst then! I'm glad you liked the action in the last chapter; I want to get better at writing it. And no, no one has actually told me that the writing has improved. I know the chapters have gotten longer if that's what you mean. I'm really flattered that you think my writing's any good, thank you so much! And I suppose if you guys are happy with the length then that's alright~

PsychoRien: nothing wrong with that XD Oh I really hope you enjoy what happens to them in the end then~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

MaskedPyro: I know I said it before but I will say it again: HAPPY LATE BRITHDAY! I'm glad I managed to make you happy on your birthday and I'm happy you enjoyed your accidental birthday present XD Whenever Luffy calls Marco by his name it's going to be shocking. Everyone's protective of Luffy and they're all such sweeties about it~ Isn't Demon!Sabo canon by now? XP If not it should be because he totally is a complete sadist behind those wide, innocent eyes~ Sorry you had to wait so long!

Catflower Queen: That is very true and it is pretty cool but I already spoil this story enough for you guys; you don't need more ways of knowing what's going to happen! Just curious though, what do your 'psychic' senses tell you is going to be happening soon? I want to see how accurate it is XP

Protective people are just the best. It was supposed to be in this chapter along with so many other things so I'm really sorry you couldn't get to see it But he does tend to blurt things out which will end up causing more than a few grey hairs for our beloved pirates. Oh yes, you would not be the only one to call him a hypocrite, don't you worry about that. And Marco has had plenty of time to relax (well no not really but he will soon hopefully) and he needs to use his mug more often~

Thank you so much, I'm flattered you think my writing is worth waiting for. I hope you didn't mind the two week gap too much and I hope this chapter makes up for it.

And yes there's going to be a sequel. It will be called 'Not Friends: Family' and I will post an author's note at the end of this story to inform you all of when the first chapter is up!

DMCP: Maybe that's a hint you need more sleep XP And the Marineford arc will not happen in this story as Luffy is not yet seventeen...whether it will be in the sequel...well that's for the future to decide~

Argh I don't want to give you too many spoilers! But yes Shanks will find out that Luffy is on the Moby Dick and that's all I'm saying about the matter. Must. Resist. The. Urge. To. Spoil. Things. And yeah the sequel will be about Luffy's adventures with the Strawhats and how those extra years with his brothers on the Grand Line would affect his own adventure.

Chibi's are the best thing ever! And I'm okay when drawing with paper and a pencil but as soon as I go digital I flail like a dodo from Ice Age. Thanks for the encouragement though!

Oh No! You're going to know the plot of the entire thing! Wait a sec, if you know what's going to happen then what the heck are you doing still reading this?...I'm watching you DMCP...always watching...

(GAH! Too many references to childhood movies in this reply already!)

Your wish has been granted~

Zelga Lim Li: Noooo. I think you might have tumbled down the wrong rabbit hole my friend. Sorry.

mks 12 98: Not a problem, thank you for reading my fic!

DragonFire Princess: Thank you, I hope you enjoy this one too!

Shiningheart of ThunderClan: Well it wasn't burnt to ashes but Whitebeard did smash it up pretty badly~ And I'm sorry but his fashion sense really is dreadful; mustard yellow trousers with a dark maroon cape thingy? Why does Killer let him go out like that?!

I know, it struck me as a bit odd too but then again I have been having them dance around each other for a while now. And that's the point. When Luffy does find out about this, how do you think he's going to react?

general yumi: Thank you very much, be prepared for more cuteness coming your way~

mapplepie: If you say so~ Luffy is everybody's little baby who needs to be protecting even though he could beat almost all of us in a fight XP

AaliyaIronHeart: I hope you mean this chapter and not the next one XD because if so, you're out of luck. Sorry!

JadeOccelot: I hope you got what you wished for~ Is it bad that I'm enjoying making you wait for that chapter? XD