Puddles of Ocean

Luffy was drooling in his sleep again.

That had to be it, since Sabo's shorts were soaked. Sleepily, he kicked out, trying to shake Luffy off or something. He could drool all he wanted, but Sabo wanted his shorts left outta it. This was the only good pair he had!

Except when he kicked, it made a splashing noise. Now normally, when he kicked things, he didn't make splashing noises. Odd. Sabo tried opening his eyes, just to check and make sure that Luffy hadn't flooded their room with his drool or something.

Except that it was just as dark when he opened his eyes. Double odd. Blinking didn't seem to help the problem any. Their lantern must have gone out. And the stars and moon had gotten hidden somewhere along the way. Though, now that he thought about it, it felt a lot like there was something pointy digging into his back. Too sharp to be one of his brothers' misplaced limbs, it kinda felt like…

Rocketing into a sitting position, Sabo suddenly realized that this wasn't their tree fort. It wasn't home. It was pitch black, and he was sitting in what felt like a shallow stream. Those were rocks under his hands, and he had no idea where he was. He had no idea where his brothers were.

"Ace! Luffy!" He called immediately, frantically trying to look for them in the darkness. They had to be here. Wherever here was. Shakily, the soaked boy stood, feeling around blindly in search of dry land, or at least something to tell him where he was. In the dark, he stumbled over rocks that he couldn't see, scrambling madly to regain his balance every time. And he was just getting the hand of it too, when he finally tripped.

Flailing wildly, Sabo landed face first in the water. Great, now he was soaked on both sides. Wonderful.

"Wha?" Sleepily questioned the not-actually-a-log that he'd tripped over.

"Ace!" Never before had Sabo been so glad that Ace took up so much space when he slept.

"How's there…What the…When did it start flooding?"

"Not a flood." Sabo corrected as he dug himself out of the muck with a squelch. "I don't think we're in the fort anymore."

"Gee, you think?" Ace groaned as he sat up, holding his head tenderly. "Ugh, I'm soaked. What the hell is going on? Who turned out the lights?"

"Why would I know? I'm just glad I'm not alone." With a grunt, Sabo helped his brother off the floor. Though, not before accidentally elbowing him in the face; being in the dark wasn't all that great for coordination. "This place is creepy enough as it is without being alone." He muttered sullenly, wringing out his equally soaked hat.

"Alone?" Ace paused, gears turning in his head. There was someone else he knew who didn't like being alone. Someone who was very vocal about hating loneliness. Someone who had the god-awful habit of needing to be bailed out by his brothers.

Ace swore.

"Where's Luffy?" He groaned.

"Nearby? Maybe. You were pretty close."

"Then let's find him before he gets eaten by a gator or something." And that was being optimistic. Highly more likely: Luffy was dangling over a ravine with a lion, a tiger, a bear and Garp waiting at the bottom. That was just how his luck ran. Shakily, Ace picked a direction and felt his way forward through the darkness.

"Maybe, I feel like he's a bit overdue for getting eaten by a gator." Sabo mentioned as he waded off in what might have been the other direction, feeling the water for his lost brother. "What's it been, a month?"

"Five weeks and two days." Ace muttered, trying very hard not to trip over some of the larger rocks and fall flat on his face. It was a losing battle. He was gonna have a black eye from that last fall. He knew it. Huh, at least the dark meant no one would see it.

"Not that you're counting or anything."

"Of course."

Sabo found him first, leaning against what felt like a rockface. Their youngest brother was still asleep then. He hadn't spoken a word when his older brother had tripped over him.

"Got him. Not a gator in sight either. Lucky." Maybe no gators, but Sabo's voice still shook. Luffy was too quiet, too cold, and his breaths were too shallow. He wasn't even snoring. And considering that Luffy's snores were confused for earthquakes on occasion, that was saying something.

Ace scuttled over as quickly as he could in the dark, hearing the tremor in Sabo's voice and kind of terrified in a way he would definitely be denying later. Sabo was already on the floor, checking the youngest brother over as best he could without any light. And it wasn't that Ace didn't trust Sabo to be thorough or anything, but it was just that he felt a little better by personally making sure that all Luffy's limbs were where they were supposed to be.

And the oldest brother definitely didn't sigh in relief at the end of his checkup. Really. "The idiot's fine. Nothing broken or bleeding." He grumbled almost happily. "Wake up already you lazy-ass." When nothing happened, Ace resorted to the oldest trick in the book.

Bonk him over the head.

"Huh?" Luffy spluttered, hands flying up to nurse at the bump forming.

"There we go." Sabo grinned. "Now we can all be wet and cold and conscious together!" Greedy for the contact in this strange place, the younger brother latched onto Sabo, who hadn't hit him today. Yet.

"Where are we?" Luffy asked in a too-tired voice, face half-buried in Sabo's jacket.

"Hell if I know." Ace muttered. He'd used up too much worry on Luffy, and now hadn't any left to worry about the fact that he had no idea where they were.

Ah, that was it! Sabo suddenly realized as Luffy tried and failed to pull himself up. It had to be the water that was causing this not-quite sleepiness, the shallow breaths and the general lack of noise. Otherwise, Luffy would have been complaining of hunger already. Devil Fruits and water hated getting along.

"It sounds like we're inside." Sabo offered finally as he stood and felt his way along the rock wall that Luffy had been sitting against. "Maybe a cave, these walls feel natural. Oi, are you just gonna sit there? Or are you actually gonna help?" This last bit had been directed at the oldest brother, still sitting. Ace grumbled a bit at the jab, but Sabo still heard him dutifully splash over to the wall.

The three of them felt their way around the perimeter, with Luffy still half-clinging to Sabo like some kinda monkey the whole way. The darkness didn't make it easy, and the youngest brother kept on tripping and falling, usually resulting in a three brother pile-up.

By the end of it, Sabo felt even more soaked, if that was possible.

The investigation yielded little about where they were, but a bit more about their situation. There were a few larger boulders that jutted up out of the water, but the rest of the floor was submerged up to their ankles. Most of the enclosure was natural, except for the unnerving discover of an opening on one side covered by a metal grate. No lights, no exits, no furniture, and nothing but them and some tiny crabs and a starfish.

In short: A cage. A cage with elbow room, but still a cage.

"What the hell?" Ace roared as he tried to shake the bars loose. The metal barely rattled, taking the abuse without complaint and without signs of yielding.

Luffy, obviously feeling a little more awake now, was instead gnawing on the bars. He fared no better. Sabo kicked the grate pointlessly, more for something to do than an actual escape attempt.

"I bet it was Bluejam." Ace muttered, hopping down from his perch on the bars when they failed to move.

"Bluejam is too dumb to catch us." Sabo dismissed the claim quickly. Though, it definitely was a thought. Bluejam might have been dumb and stupid and old, but he'd been a pirate for a long time. Longer than Ace and Sabo and Luffy had lived even when you added their lives all together.

"Then who? Someone had to put us here." Ace continued, this time trying to jiggle the bars closer to the ground.

"I bet Ace was sleepwalking again." Luffy giggled.

"Yeah, then why'd you follow me, moron?" He bit back.

"Sleepwalking is contagious! We had no choice!"

"It doesn't work like that!"

"How do you know?"

"Cuz I'm ten, and you're seven! Talk to me when you grow up."

"No fair, you always say that!"

"Of course it's fair, that's why it always works!"

Sabo held up a hand, then realized that the gesture did no good in the dark.

"I hear someone!" He hissed, breaking up the fight in a moment. He could hear Ace yank Luffy away from the grate, and hoped that they were hidden. Sabo ducked behind one of the larger boulders, and watched as light slowly crept into their room.

Whoever it was, they were walking down a hallway that Sabo could only see now that there was light. On the bright side, that meant there was actual solid ground on the other side of the grate. On the not so bright side, this meant that this wasn't just sleepwalking or something, and that someone actually wanted them here.

The footsteps continued down the hallway, stopping every once in a while. Metal would creak, like a hinge being opened and shut, and Sabo hoped that meant these things could open. If they could just take this guy by surprise, it'd be no sweat to just knock him over and run. So long as Ace didn't try picking any fights, they'd be fine.

A lantern appeared through the grate and Sabo ducked immediately, hoping that they hadn't seen him. Getting caught so soon would be such a Luffy thing to do. He waited, legs tensing as he got ready to sprint; then finally, the click of a key in a lock.

That was his cue.

Leaping over the boulder, Sabo made for the newly opened grate, focusing only on running as fast as his legs could carry him. Just run, run fast, run away and don't look back until you're clear, he told himself. Don't trip, don't falter, just move! He'd make it, he was gonna make it, he had to make it!

He didn't make it.

A hand grabbed Sabo by the scruff of his neck before he could get too far, and the middle brother suddenly found himself staring down a rather amused-looking-bandit-type figure.

Ace and Luffy, halfway to the door, stood frozen in horror.

"Oh, you're up." Said the bandit with a smile that showed far too many teeth. "Dinner?"

In a brief and terrible moment, Sabo came to the conclusion that he was dinner.

I don't own One Piece, and I'm not making any money from this fanfiction.

Here's my attempt at Ace and Luffy and Sabo being brotherly and having an adventure. Woo. Man do I wish you could chose three characters though. (This seems to be a recurring problem with me and the One Piece fanfics) But alas, I think the spotlight might focus on Ace and Sabo just a teeny-tiny bit more than Luffy here, if only because of the fact that Luffy is only 7 here. Plus, come on, there aren't enough Sabo fics. (Actually, I think there aren't really enough fics in general except for OC-centered ones in this section, but that's another kettle of fish)

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!