Ace had to admit that he never actually considered the real implications of what it meant to have a little sister; let alone, one as wild and stubborn as Luffy. Being honest here, he knew that part of it laid on the fact that the young girl behaved more like a rough snotty boy than an actual female her age, always running around fighting with her bare fists covered on mud and picking her nose the same way he and Garp did. It had been easy to forget the real gender of his sister when her body was that of a scrawny and small child, her strength increasing and outstanding thanks to their constant training (and the occasional visit of the old man kicking their asses) while hunting their dinner and eating like bottomless gluttons.
No, the actual metaphorical punch of realization came when Luffy hit her thirteen years old birthday that Ace knew that he will never know peace as long as he was the big brother of the little brat.
The psychical changes were the most notorious, and yet, Ace only noticed them when he accidentally eavesdropped a pair of boys at Foosha Village talking about Luffy, tone laced with nasty lasciviousness when they mentioned her budding curves that were barely showing even under her baggy clothing. Of course, like a good big bro, he kicked the shit out of them and made sure to leave them as an example for the future idiots who decided to try to make the same mistake.
But now he couldn't unseen what had been pointed out, and Ace could only fret as there was one year left for him to finally go and sail to the ocean as a pirate… leaving a very much growing and naive Luffy to her luck.
His sister was dense at best and an absolute oblivious idiot at worse, with zero sense of shame or even sense of personal space. It was just the worst possible mix for a problem to happen, leaving Ace worried with the passing days until Makino herself arrived to her weekly visit for a private 'lady talk' with Luffy, carrying with herself a bag bursting with its contents and not letting a single peak at it until they were alone in one of the rooms of the shack.
Whatever had happened in said talk, the black-haired teen came out only after hours with an irritated pout and a pink flush on her cheeks, grumbling under her breath until dinner was finally served, food doing its magic in making the rubber girl forget all the reason behind her moodiness.
Months before leaving to fulfil his promise to Sabo, Ace had begged Makino to keep a closer eye on Luffy just as much as Dadan does on the daily. Not that it was that much necessary since the kind woman saw the young girl on the same light that a mother does. She adores the black-haired teen and had made sure to teach her as much as she could about what could await her out there just as much about her changing body.
That at least gave the boy some peace of mind, trusting not only on his little sister's own strength to take care of herself when he isn't around anymore, but in the fact that Luffy has good people looking out after her and cared a lot, making sure to do their best to at least prepare her for 3 more years before sailing.
But of course, he still wanted to make sure that he could at least leave some lasting words on her thick head. Even if Luffy rarely obeyed anyone, she always listened to her big brother, trusting his experience and care no matter what.
"I know that you are excited at the idea of sailing too" he started, warm bonfire illuminating the starry night outside the shack of the bandits. "So promise me that the day you do, you'll get the strongest and best crew ever. One that you can be sure to lay your life on their hands without second thoughts".
It was a risky promise, the second she'll have to make to one of her brothers, but while Luffy was probably dense and sometimes naïve, she wasn't an absolute idiot. She recognized the concern in her brother's voice, just as much she had seen some of the boys back at the village sporting bruises the same days that Ace had bloody knuckles. She could do one plus one and know the answer.
"Silly Ace!" she smiled bright and big just as she always did, hand smacking hard on the back of the black-haired boy and making him wheeze out a little at the force on that hit. "My crew will be the strongest and mightiest if they are going to be the ones under the command of the Pirate King herself!"
At that, she pointed herself with both thumbs up and a loud and warm laugh, ignoring the relived look on Ace's eyes just as much as the fond smile tugging at his lips.
This night and the promise made in front of the bonfire served only to remind him that if anyone should be careful, it was the world; because Luffy was a force of nature ready to shake everything on her path.
'You'll be so proud of our little sister, Sabo'
Dadan had knew, almost like a warning carried on the wind, that the instant Luffy grew to be a pretty little thing at her 16 birthday, things would only get horribly hard.
It wasn't like the rubber teen needed to be shielded like some fragile glass (anyone would laugh at such notion, really), but the actual hell started when Luffy's body just suddenly exploded in maturity with the force of a tsunami, but her mind didn't seem to catch quick enough about it. The dark eyed girl wore some of the clothing that Ace left behind, mostly out of some weird nostalgia and because her abrupt growth spurt had made most of her shorts and shirts be awfully tight.
One thing anyone learned about Luffy with just a few days of meeting her was that the girl never did or wore anything she didn't liked, a trait that made her honest to the point of bluntness all the time. So when Makino and Dadan had tried to introduce her to the uncomfortable reality of using a bra, Luffy's first complaint was that the damn thing was too constricting and chafing her terribly on her under-boob; that coming from a literal rubber human being, was quite the concern.
But considering the very big and very growing two problems they had here, Makino didn't gave up. Dadan could give the young lady some credit in her stubbornness and non-stopping attempts, but while she tried to present some pretty, lacy and fitting bras (each made with different materials), the voiced objections in each of them were always present. At this point, it looked more like the girl was only trying to pull on their legs, but one day when the rubber girl had accepted to wear at least one of the bras that she didn't minded too much, that very same night she came covered in a hideous mix of twigs, dirt and scratches and part of her shirt destroyed just as much the pretty bra. The thing was beyond any possible repair and when she had been asked about it, the brat had only shrugged her shoulders in apathy with one finger picking on her nose.
When it was the turn of the ginger woman, she had tried the most practical option: bandages.
At first, it seemed the perfect idea since Luffy could choose how tight she wanted them while still doing the job of keeping everything on its place, but after a few hours wearing them, the black-haired girl came back with her breast barely contained inside one of Ace's button-up shirts while the bandages dangled on her fist.
"This damn things are too itchy! Why I have to wear them anyway?! It's stupid!"
Dadan could agree at least on that, irritated look on her face just as much concentration in trying to come up with a solution.
Most of her bandits did everything in their willpower to keep an straight face and flushed faces hidden from the little punk and herself, the looming death treat that was not only the ginger woman over their heads but to answer to the wrath of Garp too was enough motivation to keep them in line.
So, the answer to this problem came mostly at the memory of one of her favorite dresses that she owned when she had been a young beauty years back, and as fast she could, took all the discarded bras along some shirts and vest of the rubber girl.
Makino will have a field day sewing this things, because Dadan only knew how to make a poor job repairing shirts and pants.
Coby could count with one hand the times he had considered himself lucky and still have fingers to spare. It was as sad as it sounded.
Meeting Luffy had been counted as two fingers in said hand, and even when they were on their way to Shells Town in a boat given by the very crew that used him like a dirty rug, it still felt surreal this new found pride and freedom. His dream of becoming a strong marine now felt way closer, not caring too much on the harsh words of the black-haired girl about his cowardice and wimpiness (even if there was still a small part of him doubting his self-worth).
Luffy was exactly the kind of person that Coby felt absolutely inspired to do greater and beyond, doesn't matter if she aimed to become the Pirate King ("Don't you mean Pirate Queen?" "No! The Pirate king you idiot!") While he aimed to become an incredible and strong marine. The very opposite of each other and yet the young boy couldn't see into the girl's eyes with nothing but admiration and warmth… and really, her eyes and face were the only safe place to keep his stare since her legs were showed off by a pair of shorts that came up barely to her hips, still showing some hipbones and with a length that managed to stay half to her thighs when sitting, and then there was the cleavage contained by just sheer luck and the two stubborn buttons of her vest.
He worried that she only needed to take one deep breath to have her vest suddenly popping open and the horrible embarrassment left him almost feeling dizzy with how much blood was going up to his face.
Coby knew he could survive this trip to the island, just needed some time to calm down and keep his own mind focused on going to the marine base at Shells Town. After all, if someone like Luffy told him with confidence that he could fulfill his dream, then he no longer will need to count his luck with his hands.
Thank you for reading!
