It was time. The day had come.

Makino insisted on taking a picture of him and his siblings before he left.

It started out tame enough, the three of them standing together with arms around each other's shoulders.

Click!

Then Luffy stretched his arms and wrapped them tight around the other's waists.

Click!

Locks objected to suddenly being squished against the other, changing into her half form, tail swinging, wings swishing as she bared her pointed fangs.

Click!

When's Luffy's response was to pull the other's even closer, causing Ace to yelp at the constricting rubber grip, Locks took more drastic measures and went full dragon-

Click!

- electrocuting both her brothers before trying to set Luffy on fire to get him to let go.

Click!

Makino thought the whole thing was hilarious. Locks huffed crossly at her, still wrestling with Luffy's grip, and Ace smiled fondly at his siblings as he stepped out of their immediate range, patting his hair down from where the lightning had made it stand on end.

Click!

Makino finally put her camera away, laughing at all of them.

oOo

Makino got the pictures printed in record time. She handed one of them off to Locks, who started scribbling on the back of it. Ace drew the dragon aside while Makino distracted Luffy with food.

"Take care of him for me. Please?" he asked, wanting to make sure his idiot little brother would be safe, "Stay with him, set sail with him, make sure he finds a good crew."

Locks looked at him incredulously.

"You want me to stay? For three years? With Luffy? By myself?"

Ace nodded.

"You want me to sail with him?"

Ace nodded again.

Locks eyed him for a long time. Finally, she held up a finger.

"One condition. He finds good crew, I leave and make own crew. I am not having Luffy as my captain for rest of life."

Both she and Ace shuddered at the thought of such a thing.

"Agreed." Ace said. Locks sighed with a doomed expression.

oOo

Even Dadan was there, though she was watching them all with a wary expression. She stood slightly behind Makino, as if the bartender was a human shield against 'the demon brats', as the bandits had dubbed the siblings.

"Is she going with him?" the bandit leader asked her green-haired companion, gesturing at Locks and crossing her fingers in hope that the answer was 'yes'.

Makino just smiled, watching the three teens ready Ace's boat for his departure.

oOo

As Ace was about to jump aboard, Locks pressed the photo Makino had given her into his hand.

"Live a life of no regrets, yes?" she said, recalling him muttering something along those lines before. Her older brother beamed at her.

"I will." He promised. She smiled in return.

"Good. But if you forget, look at back of picture to remind you, okay?" she said seriously, before stepping back.

"Okay." He said, tucking the picture (which was the second one Makino had taken) into the pocket of his shorts.

Satisfied, Locks went to stand beside Luffy.

oOo

Know there's a ticket with my name on it
Know there's a ship* leaving any minute
Know there's a past that is full of fear
This ain't a chance that I can forfeit . . .

The little ship started to move away from shore, Ace working the sails to get out of the small bay.

Spend a lotta time thinking about the situation I'm in
Get it once in every while but I never really make sense of it
Should've ink the lyric down, like the figure 8 on my wrist
One day I'll figure it out then drill it into my head . . .

Moving past the sandy arms of the beach, Ace turned back towards shore. Seeing him do so, his sibling started waving their arms like mad. He waved back, equally demented.

Moving on . . .

"I'll see you on the Grand Line!" he bellowed.

Manning up . . .

"We'll hold you to that!" Locks bellowed back.

"See ya, Ace!"

Man enough? . . .

Ace grinned, and turned his head to the sky.

"Look at me, Sabo!" he yelled. He hadn't forgotten the blonde, not by a long shot. "I'm setting sail, just we planned!"

Moving on . . .

Spent 2 years cleaning up the mess that I made
Still don't believe but I'll take the leap anyway
I feel the nerves swirl around my body
Take all I learned and hit the ground running

He'd gather up a crew and go to the Grand Line. He'd make a name for himself, and watch for his little brother coming up the rear with his sister in tow.

Moving on
Manning up
Man enough?
Moving on . . .

He'd live a life with no regrets.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lyrics from 'City' by Cieran McMeekan. Ship* is plane in original lyrics.

The end.

A sequel is coming. I'll put something up here to let people know when it's posted. It'll be a couple of weeks before I do, though.