(Toy AU)
Ace stretched his fingers, staring at his hands, studying his fingers, the small scars he had collected on them from years of training and fighting. He could see his nails, the bends on his fingers, how much stronger they were than his paws.
His paws had been soft. Ace had been soft everywhere. He had fur, not real fur, but still. His eyes had been some kind of glass, instead of flesh.
He didn't know what to do with himself. His limbs were so much longer, he didn't feel as agile, or as small, he kept misjudging things, like the heights of things. Sabo had been forced to drag him aside or down more than once, because he forgot he was human again.
He could pick things up with so much more ease again. Ace didn't have to walk on four paws anymore, he had two feet now. He kept getting hungry, and needing to eat, but the taste of food made him want to cry most days because it was all so different. Ace wasn't used to all these tastes and smells and everything felt stronger and overwhelming.
Nothing felt right anymore. Not that it had before, but his human body no longer felt like his own.
Ace felt so confused and disorientated.
He could even feel his own heartbeat again.
.::.
Sabo frowned, staring as Ace quietly stared at his hands, clenching them only to stretch them out again, looking absolutely fascinated and terrified.
"How is he?" Koala asked, approaching his side.
"Overwhelmed."
Ace hadn't slept last night, Sabo had listened to him toss and turn for hours. Sabo had actually gotten up and dragged Ace into his bed to sleep, just like they had when they were kids. Ace had stopped squirming about but he had spent the rest of the night picking at his nails. Unfortunately Sabo had fallen asleep, and had woken up to Ace still awake.
Ace had mumbled about his heart beat when Sabo had asked if he had gotten any sleep.
Sabo really wanted to go back to Dressrosa, find Sugar, and beat her black and blue with his pipe. Sure, she looked like a little girl, but she wasn't and he knew he could ignore that. He could ignore that after seeing all the confusion and stress Ace was going through.
"He didn't sleep last night," Sabo admitted. "He stayed awake, listening to his own heartbeat the entire time."
"And who knows if there were any victims that had been trapped in toy form longer than Ace had," Koala winced. "There will be a lot of traumatised people..."
"Sugar won't be touching anyone again," Sabo gritted his teeth. "Ace made sure of that."
"That is such a horrible fruit... Making people be able to forget all about you..." Koala grimaced. "If the Marines manage to use it..."
"Dragon-san said he's having someone deal with her."
"As in capture or assassinate?" Koala asked hesitantly.
"I really don't care either way what happens to her," Sabo growled. "Which is one of the reasons I'm not on that particular mission right now."
"That and Ace is here."
"Yup."
"What will happen with Ace now?" Koala asked.
"First we'll be paying Luffy another visit, since we made a deal, otherwise he would never have let me take Ace away. Then I plan to find the Whitebeard pirates," Sabo said. "I would love it if Ace would stick with me, but what we're starting soon is going to be far too dangerous with him trying to relearn his entire body, along with his powers."
"True," Koala frowned. "We're finally doing it. Declaring war on the Celestial Dragons."
"You are you feeling?" Sabo asked softly, he placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently, and she grabbed his hand, squeezing it back.
They both wore gloves to hide their scars, both from training and both from being hurt by the Celestial Dragons. Koala's eyes met his though and they held that burning determination that was in every single Revolutionary, hers was just even more fierce than most.
"I'm ready," Koala declared, facing him properly. "I'm ready to go to war and stop anymore people from going through what I did, what Fisher Tiger did. I want to finally make a proper start."
Sabo nodded, because for all the slaves they had managed to free, for all the auction houses they managed to destroy, there were still people being torn from their homes, ripped from their parents arms, then chained and beaten into slavery. There were the people who would see Ace murdered for having been born, the people who would have everyone think that the fishmen weren't people, that they were monsters.
These were the people who destroyed Ohara, had a Buster Call looming over Baterilla's entire island if the people so much as mentioned their lost generation of babies to any other island.
The crimes they committed and were allowed to get away with infuriated him, and they would pay for it. They would pay once the Revolutionaries brought them down and changed the world.
"I'm ready too," Sabo nodded, glancing back into his room, where his brother sat, overwhelmed and distant to the world around him. "But there's enough time for me to see to Ace's safety."
Koala smiled. "I'm glad you've got all your memories back now."
Sabo grinned. "Nothing's missing anymore. Ace filled in the last of the gaps."
"Sabo, your brother has made his way off the island in one of his allied ships," Hack called out, hurrying over. "He had Admiral Fujitora right on his heels."
"That was close," Sabo whistled. "Guess we better head round and meet them then."
Sabo walked back into his room and nudged Ace's shoulder. Ace startled, instantly throwing his hands down and looking at him with wide eyes, like he had been caught doing something wrong. Sabo merely ruffled his hair.
"Hey, Lu' has finally left Dressrosa," Sabo smiled. "We're going to go and meet up with him, alright?"
Ace nodded, he still looked distracted though. "Yeah... Yeah that sounds good."
"How you feeling? Are you hungry at all?" Sabo asked.
He had to ask, because Ace got so deep in thought that he didn't always realise what time it was. Honestly his brother probably was still trying to remember he needed to eat. Ace who was tilting his head, considering.
"Maybe?"
Sabo shrugged. "Good enough for me, c'mon, let's go eat."
Hopefully Sabo could sort out Ace's eating and sleeping habits before he returned his now baby brother to the Whitebeard pirates. Reuniting with Luffy again should probably help to, Luffy who loved to eat and was so cheerful and happy all the time.
Yeah, for me I can't imagine it would be easy being a toy for years that didn't need to eat or sleep (as far as I'm aware at any rate), then go back to being human. Just the sound of your own heart beat much be intense.
