So yeah, from what I can tell you guys weren't too excited by the last chapter. I figured, but I wanted to write this backstory and it has to come at some point, so yeah...

Also, as always, thanks for all your reviews. If we can keep up the effort on that front I'll be very happy.

Nami glared at both the grinning Luffy and Sabo, who was telling the story. "Just because you say you're brothers, doesn't mean you actually are!"

Sabo shook his head. "Despite what we said then, it was only a little later that we truly became brothers. There's still a bit to go before that though."

Rather than go to Mr Shanks' classroom, Sabo had taken Luffy and Nami outside, the three skipping morning registration/homeroom. The three were currently sitting on the grass outside next to the soccer pitches, Sabo narrating the tale with Luffy occasionally chipping in with his own contributions.

Sabo chuckled. "Anyway, where was I…"

######

Garp nudged both of his reluctant sons forwards. "Luffy. Ace. This is Dadan."

Ace scowled up at the giant orange haired woman, a couple of smaller men, probably her farm workers, hiding a little behind her. His immediate thought was that she looked very masculine, although he figured he shouldn't say that aloud. The woman's expression mirrored his and Ace couldn't help but wonder just how willing she had been to do Garp this favour.

Luffy, on the other hand, wasn't as 'tactful' as Ace. "You look like a man, lady!"

Dadan growled and lunged at Luffy, it taking two of her workers to hold her back and stop her from pulverising the little boy. Garp sighed, and punched Luffy hard on the top of his head. "Anyway. Unless you two want to say anything, I'll be going now. I'll be back soon, be good, blah, blah, blah…"

With that Garp turned around and began to walk off. Ace just scowled at his retreating figure, whilst Luffy grinned and waved wildly at Garp. "Bye Grandpa!"

Garp raised his hand to give one single wave back as he walked off, eventually disappearing from sight. Suddenly, Luffy's stomach growled loudly. He turned to beam at Dadan. "I'm hungry! Do you have any food?"

Dadan turned around and made her way back towards the house. "No food. First thing's first, I want you two brats to clean the barn. It's that big red building over there. When you're done with that, you're gonna feed the animals and then you're gonna plant some crops. Then, if I haven't found anything else for you runts to do, I may feed you."

Ace glared at her. "What the hell? We ain't your slaves lady!"

"Garp left me in charge of you, which means you'll do as I say, or I'll kick you out… understand?"

With that, Dadan entered her house, leaving a speechless Luffy and Ace behind.

######

Luffy grinned, stroking the cow in front of him affectionately, the cow mooing happily. He was meant to be milking it of course, but Luffy had gotten a little sidetracked.

Ace glared at him. "What are you doing?"

Luffy continued to pet the animal's lower neck. "Moocy likes it when I stroke her here!"

"That's such a dumb name… Anyway, we need to go now."

"Huh? Where?"

Ace rolled his eyes. Had Luffy forgotten about their plan already? "We need to go get Sabo. I don't want him spending a minute longer with that jerk family of his than he needs to."

"But it took Grandpa such a long time to drive here. How will we get back?"

Ace opened his mouth to reply before pausing, realising Luffy had a good point. "That's right… It'll take a while to walk there. So… I guess I better get going now then."

Luffy got to his feet. "Yosh. Let's go!"

Ace shook his head. "You need to stay here. If I'm gonna be gone for so long, I'll need someone here to cover for me. If ugly asks where I am, you need to make an excuse."

"But Ace! You know I suck at lying!"

Ace was about to retort before he sighed. Once again, his little brother made a very good point. "Well… can you just not suck for once? Just say I went outside or something."

"O… OK! I'll do my best!"

Ace smirked slightly. "Good. I'll be back as soon as I can. When Sabo's here, then we can begin teaching you how to stand up for yourself."

######

Luckily for Luffy, Dadan didn't care enough about Ace's wellbeing to even ask him where his older brother was when she noticed him alone. Garp had dropped Ace and Luffy off in the morning and Ace had left just before midday. It was getting dark by the time the exhausted ten year old returned with a slightly less exhausted Sabo, since he had only travelled half the distance. Ace had been both there and back.

The first thing they did was go to the barn where Luffy seemed to have genuinely built up a strong rapport with the animals, the horse he was now petting neighing happily. Ace looked exasperatedly at Sabo, who laughed. "Lighten up. Your brother really gets along with everyone, huh?"

"You say that like it's a good thing. It's so annoying…"

Luffy, only just noticing Ace and Sabo enter, smiled at the two. "Ace! Sabo! Hey!"

"Hey Luffy!" Sabo cheerfully replied. "You look like you've had a busy day, huh?"

"Yeah! These animals are really nice though!"

Ace rolled his eyes. "Ugly doesn't suspect that I was gone, does she?"

"No. She didn't ask."

"Figures. That hag doesn't even care, does she?"

"Oi, Brats!"

Luffy, Ace and Sabo looked to the doorway, where Dadan was standing. Her gaze was rested firmly on Sabo. "Who the hell are you?"

"Uh, I…"

"He's our brother!" Ace cut in, standing in front of Sabo protectively. "He just wasn't there this morning when Grandpa introduced us to you."

"Oh? And where was he?"

"He was, uh…"

"He had to go pee!" Luffy grinned, proud to be 'helping'.

Ace glared at him, not thinking that was a great excuse. "Uh, yeah…"

Dadan turned around and began to walk off. "You two suck at lying. You need to work on that. Garp only mentioned two brats, so I don't know who you are brat number 3, but I'm sure you must be running from something pretty bad if you'd voluntarily choose to come here. I ain't got any problems with you staying here as long as you pull your weight. Just don't expect any 5 star accommodation or anything."

Sabo nodded, bowing down slightly after a second. "Th- thank you!"

Dadan chuckled slightly. "Let's see if you're still thanking me after a week…If you're not gone by then."

######

Much to Dadan's surprise, Sabo was still there after not just a week, but a month. And what surprised her even more were that the three children weren't completely miserable, crying for Garp to come back. In her eyes, they woke up early morning, spent the whole day working, were fed scraps in the evening, went to bed, and then repeated the same process day after day.

What she didn't know was that that wasn't quite Luffy, Ace and Sabo's routine. Every morning they'd wake up early, before Dadan did, sneak into her house, and 'steal' the breakfast that Dadan didn't realise they had. Then they'd go back to the living quarters before the rest of Dadan's workers got up. They'd then 'wake up' at the same time as everyone else and get to work.

Dadan was pretty lazy in terms of assigning jobs to the three. All they were really responsible for was feeding the animals which they could do in under an hour. They were also meant to plant crops and clean the living quarters, but Dadan's workers did that stuff as well, so no one noticed that they didn't do those tasks.

So after feeding the animals every morning, Luffy, Ace and Sabo left the grounds and wandered the area around Dadan's farm. It was actually a very beautiful part of the countryside. There was a large forest nearby with a creek with beautiful blue water in which the three boys often swam. They spent all day in the forest before returning to the farm in the evening, pretending they'd done a hard day's work.

So what did they do in the forest all day? There was a lot of exploring, climbing trees, talking about their dream, the one in which they'd all become rich pirates. But there was also Luffy's training, with Sabo and Ace teaching Luffy what they knew about fighting. This was a lot for kids their age. After just a week, Luffy was already in a position where he could probably fight off Porchemy, a boy twice his age and size.

######

Ace grinned, producing the bottle of sake from behind his back. "Look what I got!"

Luffy cocked his head to the side, not sure what all the fuss was about. "Does it taste good?"

Ace rolled his eyes. "It's not about what it tastes like idiot. This is sake. I found it this morning when we were looking for food."

Sabo frowned. "But why did you want it?"

Ace reached into his pocket and produce three small cups. He placed them on the chopped down tree trunk and poured some of the drink into each of them. "Don't you guys know? If you exchange drinks of sake you can become brothers! For real!

Luffy gasped. "Brothers? Really?"

Ace nodded, lifting up his cup and raising it in front of him. "No matter what happens from this point on, if we do this… then the bond of brotherhood we share will never die!"

Sabo and Luffy looked at each other before grinning. They mirrored Ace's action, the three touching their glasses together.

"Brothers!"

######

Unfortunately for the new brothers, they had a little surprise waiting for them when they returned home that evening…

Luffy and Ace's eyes widened as they stared at the man sitting in front of the barn, alarming Sabo. "What is it?"

"G.. Grandpa!"

Garp frowned when his two grandchildren just stood there in shock. "I was hoping you two would be happier to see me…"

Ace sighed. "We don't want to go back yet. Can't you just go away again…"

A vein popped on Garp's forehead. "Ungrateful little shit! I go out of my way to come visit you two and this is the thanks I get?"

Ace glared at him. "Why would we thank- wait, come visit?"

"Yeah. I'm only here tonight, then I'll have to leave again, so yeah, you're not going back home now. I thought you'd be disappointed, but apparently not…"

Luffy grinned. "Yay! Thank you Grandpa!"

"Yeah yeah… so who's this? Dadan doesn't have a brat of her own."

Ace was about to respond, but Luffy got there first. "This is Sabo! He's our brother! We're gonna grow up and be pirates together one day!"

Garp thought Luffy was joking. When it was clear he wasn't, he shook his head. "I don't think so. No brat of mine is going to end up as a filthy pirate."

"No! We're definitely going to be pirates!"

"I said you're not!"

"But we've already decided!"

Sabo watched the back and forth whilst Ace gulped, knowing what was coming next. "He and that mouth of his…"

Garp cracked his knuckles. "Well then, guess I'll need to beat some sense into the three of you…"

######

A couple of weeks passed, it reaching Mid-August. It had been an amazing summer for the three brothers, spending every day together training, fighting (Luffy was 50-0 down against both of them, but Ace and Sabo were tied at 25-25), playing, exploring… dreaming…

After the first few weeks, life with the farm workers had gotten better. They had gotten more used to the kids and respected the fact that they were a lot tougher than most children their age. Even Dadan felt herself feeling strangely attached to the three, not that they noticed. Ace had stopped referring to her as 'ugly' though, so that was progress.

However as great as it had been, the question of what was going to happen when Garp did eventually come back for good to take Luffy and Ace home was beginning to become an important one. Garp had since that first visit come by the farm a couple more times and had fixed the final Sunday of August as the date when he would pick up Luffy and Ace and take them home.

This was an issue for Sabo. Garp wasn't going to take Sabo home with him. That was a non-starter. It wasn't even because Garp didn't like Sabo, thinking the whole pirate dream was his idea, it was just the fact that Garp couldn't take someone else's kid. The only thing they could think about was Sabo continuing to stay on Dadan's farm until they could come up with some way of bringing him back to them.

Luffy grinned. It was the morning and he was petting Moocy. Ace had gone to look for Sabo, who wasn't there when they woke up. Ace was worried, but Luffy figured his older brother would be OK. Sabo was really tough after all.

"Luffy!" Ace cried, running into the barn. "I can't find Sabo anywhere! And I just overheard Dadan and Dogura talking… Apparently someone broke into the farm yesterday but didn't steal anything! Don't you see… they stole Sabo!"

Luffy's jaw dropped. "What?! Oh no, what do we do?! Let's go find Dadan!"

Ace gritted his teeth. "No point. She doesn't care about us. If we're gonna get Sabo back, we'll need to do it on our own. Let's go Luffy!"

"Yeah!"

######

Sabo's father fiercely slapped his son, the first time he'd done that in a while. He couldn't help but feel a certain amount of satisfaction. "And if you ever think of running away again… This punishment will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you. Understand?"

Sabo scowled down at the ground, not wanting to give his father the satisfaction of eye contact. The slap didn't hurt. Ace hit fifty times harder.

For a long time after Sabo had first run away from home, Sabo's father had had no idea as to the whereabouts of his son. He had hired a gang leader, Bluejam, to search for his son, figuring he'd be able to search even the lowest parts of town for him. However it wasn't in town that he'd found him. He'd had to wander out as far as Dadan's farm to finally find Sabo. He'd been pretty lucky as well, happening to see Garp one day and wondering where he was going out of town. Following him had led him to Dadan's farm and Sabo.

Bluejam, a giant man with messy black hair, smirked slightly. "So… my payment?"

Sabo's father was about to respond when he heard a voice outside. "Sabo!"

Sabo's eyes widened. There was no mistaking that voice. "Ace…"

"The vermin…" Sabo's father growled. He looked at Bluejam, who grinned.

"Understood."

The criminal exited the room. Sabo was about to follow him when his father quickly locked the door. An evil smile grew on his face as he gestured towards the window. "You'll probably be able to see everything from there. Wanna watch?"

######

"You!" Ace roared, seeing Bluejam open the house's front door. He lunged at the criminal, who caught him and lifted him up in the air. Ace attempted to swipe at his face, but Bluejam held him just out of reach.

Luffy, who had been trailing behind Ace, increased his speed. Bluejam, too preoccupied with Ace, didn't notice Luffy. The smaller boy punched Bluejam as hard as he could in the stomach. However Bluejam was a hardened gang member, and the punch wasn't able to significantly hurt him, although it did stagger him slightly. Ace took his opportunity to bite his hand. This caused Bluejam to release Ace, who tried to enter through the open door. However Bluejam's men were waiting inside and two of them easily restrained Ace.

Bluejam looked at his bitten hand for a second before turning to Ace. "You brat…" he growled, pulling his fist back.

However before he could he was tackled to the ground by a new arrival, who proceeded to repeatedly punch him in the face. Luffy, Ace and Bluejam's men all watched in shock.

Luffy grinned. "Dadan!"

Dadan just continued to punch Bluejam. "Don't! You! Dare! Touch! My! Brats!"

Behind her, Dogura and the other farm workers were waiting, deterring Bluejam's men from intervening. Ace used this confusion to wriggle out of their grip. Suddenly Bluejam, at last recovering from the shock, forced Dadan off him. Ace, seeing this, charged at Bluejam, wanting to help Dadan. "Luffy! Go get Sabo! Leave this to me!"

Luffy, slipping behind Bluejam's stunned men, nodded. "Yeah!"

Luffy sprinted through Sabo's mansion. "Sabo! Where are you!"

"Luffy!" a voice came from behind a door to the right. "I'm in here!"

Luffy's face lit up. "Sabo!" He reached for the door handle, but it was locked.

"Looking for this…?"

Luffy turned around to see Sabo's father standing there, dangling the key. "To have a vermin child in my house…. how disgusting. I'll have to disinfect the whole place"

Luffy's punch may not have hurt Bluejam, but Bluejam was a gang leader. Sabo's father was a pampered noble who had the physical strength of a 12 year old girl. Luffy punched the weak man right in the gut, sending him falling over. "I won't forgive you for hurting Sabo!"

Luffy repeatedly punched the shocked rich man in the face. Sabo's father groaned weakly as Luffy took the key out of his all but unconscious hands. Luffy quickly went to the door and unlocked it. He opened the door and Sabo burst out of the room. He smiled at Luffy.

"Thank you Luffy! You saved me!"

Luffy grinned. "No problem! I'm glad you're OK Sabo!"

Just then Dogura appeared in the corridor. "Luffy! Sabo! We have a problem!"

Sabo looked at him. "What is it?"

"I just overheard someone, your mom probably, calling the police. They'll be here soon. We need to get the hell out of here!"

Luffy nodded. "Yosh! Let's go!"

Dogura and Luffy began sprinting towards the staircase, but Sabo remained put. He stared at his groaning father. Luffy stopped and glanced back at him. "Sabo?"

"I can't go with you."

Luffy blinked. "B… But why?"

"They know where Dadan's farm is now. It doesn't matter if I go back, he'll still know where to find me. He'll probably send the police, and that will just get you all in trouble, even though he's the only evil one here…"

Luffy bit his lip, feeling himself starting to cry. He wanted to go back to Dadan's farm and for things to be the same as they were before. "But Sabo! We're brothers!"

"Luffy…. I don't want to cause you or Ace anymore trouble. I think… it would be best if we didn't see each other again. For your own safety."

"But Sabo!" Luffy wailed.

"Luffy…" Dogura muttered, resting his hand on the small boy's shoulder. "He has a point…"

At this point however, tears were streaming down Luffy's face. Sabo smiled sadly, walking up to his little brother. He gripped both of his shoulders. "Don't you remember what Ace said Luffy? No matter what happens from this point on, even if we never see each other again… we'll always be brothers. That will never change."

"Sabo!" Luffy cried, tackling his big brother into a hug. Sabo patted Luffy on the back comfortingly, it taking everything in him to stop himself from bursting into tears. He wanted to stay strong for his little brother though.

The sounds of sirens were heard in the distance. Dogura's eyes widened. "Luffy…"

Luffy sniffed, reluctantly pulling away from Sabo. "Y… Yeah. I'll miss you… Sabo."

"I'll miss you too Luffy. Thank you for everything. Oh, and…. say goodbye to Ace for me."

"Y… yeah."

With that Dogura bolted down the stairs, Luffy following after him. He glanced back once at Sabo before going out of the front door of the mansion. There, Bluejam was on the ground, unconscious, Ace standing over him, Dadan a little bit away looking not much better than Bluejam. She looked up at Dogura and Luffy. "There you are! We need to go!"

Ace looked between the two worriedly. "Where's Sabo?"

Luffy sniffed. "S… Sabo can't come with us. He… He said he didn't want to cause us any more trouble."

Ace's eyes widened. He glared at Luffy. "And you just accepted that?! Sabo's our brother, we can't just leave him here!"

"Ace…" Dogura sighed. "It… It's for the best. It's just not possible for us to take Sabo away from his family, even if that is what's best for him."

The blaring of the police sirens was getting louder. Dadan glared at Dogura, Ace and Luffy. "Listen, we can talk about this later, but we seriously need to get the hell out of here! Now!"

With that, a couple of Dadan's workers helped her to her feet and began running towards the mansions front gate. Dogura and Luffy followed. Ace glanced back at the mansion, his eyes widening at the sight of a familiar face in one of the windows.

Sabo waved at Ace once before turning around and disappearing from his brother's sight. Ace sighed before turning around, following Dogura and Luffy.

"Goodbye… Brother."

######

Dear Ace

By the time you read this letter, I'll be long gone

I've decided I'm going to run away from home. You were right, I can't live this way. I want to be free.

To do that I need to get far away from father and my family, so I'm going to leave this city. If you don't mind, I've borrowed enough money from our treasure chest to buy a train ticket. I don't know where I'll go, I guess I'll decide that when I reach the station.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for showing me what it means to be free. This summer I've spent with you and Luffy has been the best time of my life. I'll miss you both so much and I hope one day we'll meet again.

Oh, and that reminds me, about Luffy….

He may be a lot weaker than us, and he may be a crybaby, and sure he can be stupid some times, and a little annoying…

But he's our little brother.

So look after him for me.

Thank you for everything,

Sabo

Ace bit his lip, trying his very hardest to hold back his tears. Luffy on the other hand was making no such effort, wailing freely besides him. When he saw this, Ace could no longer hold back. He fell to the his knees.

And the two brothers cried together.

So ends the backstory. I don't know how much you guys like reading it, but I loved writing it. I just found the whole story of Luffy, Ace and Sabo so emotional in the anime, so I really wanted to included it in the story.

Btw, a couple of people were surprised that Luffy, Ace and Sabo wanted to be pirates. And I dunno, like, is it really weird for little kids to want to be pirates? I didn't think so, but I dunno now...

So yeah, as always, thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can. We'll be back to the other characters next chapter.