The name issue is finally solved, thanks to everyone who commented suggestions on Ao3! No longer will I have to awkwardly put "child me" or "his younger self" and I have never been religious but i could pray to a God for that.
Started college courses today, so updates might slow as I have less time to write. Thanks for reading.
"When are we going to train?"
Sabo blinked, looking up from the boar he was roasting. Ace crossed his arms, slouching as if to hide his embarrassment at speaking up. Beside him, Luffy perked up with interest. "You said you'd train us right?" He narrowed his eyes at his older brother when Sabo just stared at him. For all that asking made him visibly nervous, Ace looked almost alarmingly intense. He refused to break eye contact in a way distinctly familiar.
Sabo carefully pressed down the wary anticipation rising back up from the night before.
Luffy quickly swallowed his last chunk of meat and hopped onto his feet, nearly tottering right back onto the dirt in his hurry. "Sabo isn't awake yet today, but we can wake him up! Right?" He asked, scrambling closer to them. "Right?!" Sabo gulped as huge puppy eyes were turned on him. Ace scoffed at the scene, but the longer Sabo hesitated to answer the more fiercely his scowl looked like a pout, which was–
Oh god, my brothers are so cute. They're so cute, Sabo frantically thought, heart racing. Ace startled when he leapt to his feet and he forcefully had to restrain himself for the nth time since falling asleep not to just squeeze them into his arms. The difficulty of attempting to tamper down on his powers to avoid turning the small cooking embers into a bonfire was becoming a recurrent trend for this dream. "Yes that's– a good idea," he fumbled. He cleared his throat and tried again, smiling calmly. "Sabo can't train just yet, but if you wake him he can at least watch until he's well enough to join you two." Luffy cheered, racing off to fetch their brother from the treehouse.
Ace still refused to look away from Sabo. He only stepped back to scoop up his pipe from where he had left it stabbed into the dirt, carefully keeping his eyes pinned to his older brother as if anticipating a fight to the death. The intensity of his expression instinctively had Sabo's heart racing in anticipation. He remembered that look, remembered it from years and years of robbing criminals and dine-and-dashing.
It was the sort of intensity that, 98% of the time, preceded either petty crime or an international incident.
A shiver shot up Sabo's spine and he wasn't sure whether it was born of excitement or dread.
"It's just a spar Ace," Sabo felt the need to remind him. Ace hadn't been this openly wary since the Terminal fire, and he didn't honestly understand why it was reappearing now for what should– at least for them– be a safe and sane sparring session.
Ace didn't answer. The boy only hunkered down, pipe firm in his hands. Sabo sighed and just moved in a mirror of Ace's form, holding both hands out palms down. Haki flared up his arms under his sleeves. "One round," He warned. "It's been a long time since we've been able to fight like this." Despite everything, he found himself grinning like a fool. Adrenaline wisped into a familiar flame inside of him.
He was careful to contain it— his focus needed to be on gauging his little brother's needs, not rampaging with him.
Even if it did sound like fun.
Ace lunged just as Sabo heard Luffy crash back into the clearing with a confused Sabo in tow. The distraction didn't stop him from neatly dodged Ace's blow, snickering as their youngest whined "oh come on!" when he spotted them starting without him.
"No dodging," Ace snapped. Sabo could hear his teeth grinding even from several feet away. The boy anchored himself in the dirt, expression determined. "Don't you need to see how hard I can hit?!"
Sabo hummed, pausing out of his ingrained duck from a swing. "Yeah–" He admitted casually, planting his feet firmly, "–that's true." Ace charged him with a battle cry and he snapped out a hand to simply grab the pipe, stopping it mid swing with ease. Ace scowled when he failed to tug it free. Sweat dripped down his furrowed brow.
"First lesson," Sabo said, a glance to the side confirming both Luffy and his counterpart were listening, "is to always have a plan B." Ace yelped when Sabo used his free hand to grab him by the wrist, calmly disconnecting him from his weapon. He didn't have the chance to do much more than scramble to catch himself as he was tossed him back several feet.
He shot to his feet no worse for wear, but smeared with dirt; his hands clenched around empty air. Sabo contemplated the pipe in his hands before shrugging and just tossing it behind him without a second glance. The metal wasn't right, the length all wrong, the heft unbalanced. His fingers twitched for a hold he no longer had.
I need to find a new staff… one that's actually long enough for my body.
He broke out of his thoughts when Ace again leapt at him, fist pulled back. Sabo just let it connect, smiling fondly when Ace cried out in victory only to shout in alarm when Sabo simply plucked him up by his shirt.
"Second lesson," he said teasingly, "will be about gauging your opponents strength— and how not to leave yourself open to them."
Ace struggled furiously until Sabo put him down, huffing when the older smoothed his hair down gently. "You're strong, Ace," he soothed, smiling when the younger just turned away from him, refusing to meet his eyes. The fire constantly burning in his stomach flickered and flared with a burst of fierce protectiveness. "I will make you even stronger."
"Me next!"
Sabo jerked forward as a rubbery little body collided with his back, quickly coiling around his torso until he was fully tangled in a very stretchy bear hug. Laughing, he carefully detached luffy from him and shooed Ace back towards the sidelines. Occupied with wrangling their youngest, He nearly missed Ace's face when he turned away.
There was so much frustrated disappointment in his eyes.
Sabo frowned, opening his mouth to ask him what was wrong but Luffy moaned with impatience, tugging at his coat. "Come on, come on," he prodded. Sabo couldn't help but smile at his bouncy little brother. "I bet you can't beat me!"
"He can too," his doppleganger teased from the side. "You can't even beat Ace!"
"Hey!"
"I mean, I'm not wrong— wait wait I'm still injured! Foul play!"
Sabo laughed in delight, blood singing with adrenaline.
Two seconds later, he was still laughing as Luffy body slammed directly into his gut and sent both of them flying.
Luffy finally collapsed to the dirt, chest heaving. "One … I can do one more…"
He giggled weakly in protest when Ace poked at his side, the older taking advantage of Luffy not having the energy left to squirm away. "That's 100," he said, looking up at where Sabo was stretching languidly. "No more for today, right?"
Sabo grinned, warm with the realization that Ace was looking to him for confirmation. "Yeah, that's more than enough for today. We can go again tomorrow— I'll teach you some basic exercises to better adjust your bodies. You're too young for any real strength training still, but knowing how to move can and will save your life in a real fight." Both boys lit up. Luffy bounced in place, excitedly pumping his fist into the air with a loud shout of victory. Even Ace sparked up past the frustration that he had been trying (badly) to hide all day.
I'll have to talk about that with him, Sabo reminded himself grimly. Ace especially needs to know he can come to me for anything.
"Wow…"
All three looked up to see Sabo still sitting by the edge of the clearing. The boy fidgeted nervously under the attention. "Did I…. could I really learn to fight like that too?"
Both boys frowned. The atmosphere immediately nosedived and the blond flinched back, wondering if he had asked something wrong. The younger two brothers shared an equally offended expression, as if the question had scandalized them. "You…" Ace started, but quickly shut his mouth when Sabo bent to put a firm hand on his shoulder. Their injured brother swallowed nervously when Sabo approached him, but though his little fists tightened around the hem of his shorts he didn't move to step back or protest.
Gently, Sabo kneeled to be eye level with his child counterpart. "Sabo," He began hesitantly. "Do you know who I am?"
The boy scowled, confusion and even apprehension quickly giving way to frustration. "Why do you keep asking me that? You said you're my brother– what does that even have to do with this?" He swallowed, expression momentarily jolting as if expecting a blow for shouting. Sabo didn't have to look behind him to know that Ace had winced at the sight. "...I know I'm injured," His child self started again, much more slowly. "And my… my memories make things hard right now. I don't remember what I was like before I got… hurt, and I don't even know if I'll ever– if I'll ever remember it again." He swallowed roughly, head dipping momentarily in shame.
"But," He cut them off before they could speak, meeting all of their eyes with a gaze so blatantly challenging that they were left blinking in surprise. "I'm not stupid." He shot an accusing look at his brothers that made nearly all of them look away first. "What aren't you telling me?"
Sabo paused.
It's a dream. It's a dream.
It was still jarring seeing his own face, de-aged 10 years and frowning at him.
It's just a dream.
"Sabo," He started again, "What's my name."
The boy scowled at him, jaw clenching. "Stop asking me that! I already told you! You're name is–" He paused, face scrunching up. "Is––"
The forest was suffocatingly silent.
Sabo stared at Sabo.
"You're… you said we aren't related."
"Yes."
"You knew where I was, even when Ace and Luffy apparently didn't know I was alive."
"Yes."
The two stared at each other, faces completely blank, every movement suspended. Ace's gaze flickered between them nervously, not entirely sure if either were even breathing. Their eyes were locked, unblinking. As if waiting for the other to make the first move, whatever it may be.
"...You never told me your name."
Luffy, squirming in Ace's arms just behind them, finally pried the hand off his mouth. "He doesn't have a name yet!" He blurted out, ignoring Ace's "Ew gross, Luffy!" When he licked the elder's hand for getting too close to muzzling him again. Sabo winced at the lack of tact but still refused to look away from his counterpart's face. The child held himself carefully neutral, everything loose and perfectly still.
It could never hope to fool himself.
"That's impossible," the boy protested.
"You thought devil fruits were impossible before you met Luffy," Ace said quietly.
Luffy grinned like a shark from his arms. "You thought escaping your parents was impossible too!"
The future and the past stared each other down, one in disbelief and the other with caution.
"I don't know how I really ended up here," Sabo finally said, because what else was he going to say? That he's dead or asleep, and then have to consequently argue with a dream that it's not real? That he got sent back to the past due to crazy military scientist shenanigans? It was a waste of time he wasn't about to sacrifice. "I woke up in flames, and have been here since." Gently, he held out a hand. "I refuse to take your name from you. Not when you've already lost so much."
Slowly, his child self shook his head. "I… I haven't lost anything," he whispered. "You did, because you… because when you were me, you didn't have… you?" Squeezing his eyes shut, he gripped his head. "This is confusing," he whimpered.
Sabo silently counted to ten.
"Can I pick you up?" he then asked.
It took a few long seconds, but the child eventually nodded and Sabo carefully scooped him up to perch on one arm, leaning against his shoulder. "It's a lot," He conceded, "I know it is. I'm still really confused too. But I'm here now. I'm going to help for however long I'm staying."
In the corner of his eye, Ace twitched.
Gently, Sabo nudged at his small, so much smaller self, and the child looked up at him through eyes half lidded in pain. His hands hadn't left his head and Sabo reached for the painkillers, turning on his heels towards the treehouse without thinking. Ace and Luffy were close by the moment he moved, doggedly watching him shake a single large pill into his hand and passing it to the child in his arms.
Sabo smiled when his counterpart swallowed the medicine without arguing, waiting until he had the boy's full attention again before continuing smugly; "So when I say that yes, you learn how to fight and you become strong," he clenched one haki infused fist tight. "I'd think my claim sounds pretty credible."
He didn't get a coherent response from any of the boys besides a long, drawn out groan from both Ace and Sabo. Chuckling, he patted the kid's shoulder in mock sympathy. "Training can wait, though. Let's go take a nap."
They were all out in seconds despite the protests that they weren't tired.
When Sabo next woke up, his migraine had blissfully faded into a low pulse, throbbing at the back of his head. He was groggy enough to have been asleep for hours. The medicine always took a lot out of him– normally he'd take longer to sleep it off...
"Old Sabo."
"That's… the same name, but now you're also calling me old."
"Sabold."
"...Luffy I'm really starting to think that's not helping."
Sabo groaned, pulling the ratty blanket over his head in a useless attempt to block out his brothers talking. The grogginess was quickly being replaced by annoyance.
"How about Idiot?"
"Ace, that hurts…."
"Dammit," Sabo said, throwing the sheet off himself. "What the hell are you guys even arguing about?!" His future self– and what a trip that was, looking at who he was apparently supposed to become– rubbed at his neck sheepishly.
"We're trying to think of a better name for Nii-chan," Luffy said cheerfully. The expression quickly turned into a pout. "He doesn't like any of mine though."
"Yours suck," Ace reprimanded. "He's better off just pointing at whatever he sees first and making that his name than using one of your rubber-brained ideas!"
"What! No!"
"You callin' me a liar?!"
The two immediately began squabbling and Sabo watching his older self sigh, gesturing at them like 'Can't you see what I've been putting up with?' and couldn't help giggling. He only laughed harder when he got a big pout sent his way for his reaction. "What ideas do you have so far?" He asked curiously. "You didn't have any, I don't know… nicknames in the future?" He raised an eyebrow when the adult just looked away nervously.
"Ah… A few…. But they aren't ones uh, suitable, to use for a name…" The man was practically sweating. Sabo swore he caught him mutter Damn it, Koala, under his breath and frowned. What do Koalas have to do with anything? Did I really become this weird? "I thought about using Serpent, to match a job I used to have, but–"
Luffy laughed behind them, prying his head loose from Ace's noogie to whisper "Sheepent" conspiratorially.
"–that's out of the question."
Sabo snickered. "He'd have to grow out of it eventually, you know."
His adult self shook his head, expression melting into a weird combination of both exasperated and fond. "You don't remember this, but no, he wouldn't." He grinned at the look on Sabo's face and reached out to ruffle his bedhead, carefully avoiding his bandages. "Don't sweat it, kiddo." He only laughed when Sabo swatted at his hand irritably.
"Sabold!"
"Dammit Luffy, you already said that!"
"I think it's a good name!"
"YOU HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF A SINGLE GOOD NAME!"
Sabo pointed at the still arguing brothers. "Should we… stop them?" He raised an eyebrow when the adult shrugged noncommittally.
"Best to let them get it out of their system. We can't start training 'till this is figured out, since it's making everything confusing for everyone." Sabo winced. I haven't even known for more than a day and it's making things confusing.
"There's really nothing you can think of from the future that would double as a name? Nothing at all? Not a nickname, an alias, a friend, an object, a move–"
"I mean, I could name myself after the devil fruit I had, but–" Luffy immediately stopped fighting, head popping out of where Ace had wrestled him onto the floor to stare with eyes practically sparking at Sabo's older counterpart.
"You ate a devil fruit too?!"
Sabo's eyes narrowed suspiciously when the adult twitched, face immediately smoothing into a casual smile a little too familiar to be real. "Oh yeah," He said easily. "Seems it doesn't work here though, sorry I can't show you!" He laughed when Luffy wilted, ruffling his hair roughly enough that the youngest yelped and his head snapped back to where Ace had his neck trapped in a lock. Ace didn't start tousling with him again yet though, and Sabo watched his brother stare at his counterpart with an expression quiet and contemplative.
Eventually, he turned back to Luffy's whining and it was like nothing had ever happened– but one glance at his older self confirmed that under the carefully crafted facade his shoulders had pulled familiarly tight. His face was pinned in that same, contained smile that made Sabo's own face itch.
I'll find out more later. "...Well," Sabo began, trying to redirect the conversation, "You said your last job– if you haven't come and gotten me I'd still be with that Dragon guy right? So you must have been with him... Why not another dragon name?" He found himself subconsciously relax a little when his counterpart's expression softened a near imperceivable amount.
"I would," He admitted, "But it still doesn't feel right. I'm not with them anymore, I'm with you guys." He hesitated, as if unsure what to say next, but Sabo just nodded. "It just doesn't feel right," He finished lamely.
"How about Ryūsoken?"
His counterpart's eyes sharpened. He turned slowly to face Ace, who stilled under the gaze. "Where did you hear that?" He asked casually.
Ace fidgeted awkwardly, looking away. "You… we heard you say it before," He muttered. "When Bluejam… during the fire." The treehouse was almost uncomfortably quiet for a moment, Sabo's older self frowning at the wall for a couple long seconds.
"Huh. Wasn't aware I…" He shook himself briskly and smiled wide at his little brother, pretending not to notice Ace relax. "It's a good idea, but that's a bit of a mouthful. Maybe–"
"Ryū?" Luffy blurted out, "That's a cool one! I like that one."
Sabo watched amusedly as his adult self blinked, pausing mid sentence. He looked at Luffy with clear surprise written across his features. "...Ryū," he repeated.
"That one's not so bad," Ace grumbled begrudgingly. He looked away, flushing when Luffy grinned at him with his entire face.
"Ryū," Luffy sang. "Our biggest brother, Ryū-nii."
Sabo smiled at his eldest brother, snickering at the dumbfounded look on his face. "Sounds like we're not going to be confused anymore," He teased.
Ryū glared at him.
Luffy squealed in delight, scrambling out of the way as Ryū lunged for his cheeky brat of a little brother. There was nowhere to hide in such a cramped space— bough sabo doubted he would get anything more than a seconds head start anywhere. Ryū smiled with all his teeth and sabo felt sweat bead over his forehead as familiar black gloves clamped firmly around him and refused to let go. "H-hey," sabo said, giggling nervously, "at least we figured it out right? No need for violence—"
"There's always a need for violence. Especially for brats who need to get checked."
Sabo would never admit that he was laughing about more than being vindictively tickled until he cried.
