Ominous
Separation
Sabo rubbed his hand across his eyes in a vain attempt to chase off the sleepiness. It persisted to cling around the edges of his consciousness constantly for these past several days. As far as he was aware, it started after the siblinghood ceremony. The ache deep inside his chest also stayed, occasionally intensifying to the piercing pain, but otherwise remained only as dull throbbing.
He also felt exhausted.
It was beginning to scare him.
Maybe consuming D's blood, even such a small amount, made humans sick? Luffy and Ace wouldn't have allowed him to do it if they knew about it. That, he was sure of. He had absolute trust in these two.
Sabo's chest warmed at the thought.
"Hey, Sabo!"
Sabo jerked back at Luffy's loud voice right in front of him. He blinked once, then twice.
They were standing in the middle of the side road that went in parallel with the main one through the entirety of the Gray Terminal, but had less traffic, and thus three siblings always preferred to take it on their journeys to Goa City.
"What?" Sabo asked as he took note of the girl's furrowed brow. Ace watched him with narrowed eyes and didn't look pleased either.
Luffy's black keen eyes observed the blond, cutting right to his core. "You don't look well," she said, her expression darkening further. "Are you okay?"
Sabo forced a smile on his face, if a bit wobbly around its edges, and replied, "I'm fine." He didn't wish to worry his new siblings. Ds were extreme worrywarts about their Pack and could get zealously invested in taking care of someone. "Uh, a bit sleepy."
Luffy scrunched her nose in an obvious sign that she wasn't buying into his bullshit.
Ace crossed his arms, doing a quick once-over on the blond boy. "We should go back and let him rest," he concluded.
Luffy agreed, "Yeah, definitely. He looks like he's about to keel over."
They were talking as if he wasn't even here. It ticked Sabo off. What did he say? Zealously invested in taking care of someone. "Hey! I'm also here."
"Maybe we should bring him to the doctor?"
"We should."
Sabo sighed, his shoulders drooping in defeat. The fact that these two were cooperating and agreeing with each other meant that no matter what he did or said or how against he was, they were going to do what they decided upon by themselves.
The pain inside his chest ripped through him from a slight ache all the way to searing, blinding agony faster than he could blink. Sabo's breath hitched. His hand shot up and clutched at his chest, nails digging into the flesh until his knuckles turned white.
Pain felt like a sharp-toothed creature was eating and clawing him from the inside, trying to dig its way out. He could hardly process what was happening within his body. He staggered, a feeling of intense wrongness overwhelming his mind in an instant. The surroundings kept sliding in and out of focus all around him, but he was acutely aware that his knees never hit the ground, that two pairs of hands were holding him. Voices spoke to him, but all sounds that reached his ears were garbled like a damaged recording.
And then, as quickly as it came, the pain vanished. The feeling of wrongwrongwrong continued to niggle at the back of Sabo's mind, but at least weak enough to be ignored for now.
Sabo took a shaky breath and straightened up, blinking rapidly as he found himself staring at the multiple barrels of guns pointed at him, Ace, and Luffy. His father stood behind the line of soldiers, glaring straight at Sabo with utter disgust and disappointment. "F-father..?" he stammered.
"What do you mean you won't give Sabo back?" the man demanded. "Sabo belongs to my family! Every child must live his life according to the wishes of his parents!" He sneered down at them. "How dare you filthy urchins take him away from me?!"
Luffy growled. A deep, vicious sound that sounded too inhuman to come from a human's, much less a child's, throat. "Damn this stink, couldn't smell them at all…" she cursed quietly before her eyes flicked towards Ace.
The latter looked at her too. Their shared glance lasted only for a few seconds before they turned back to the men with guns surrounding them. "Can you stand on your own, Sabo?" Ace murmured to his friend.
Only hearing that question, Sabo realized that he was still leaning on Ace for balance. "Y-yeah…" he muttered, standing on his own two feet. Gulping his guilt over getting his siblings into this kind of dangerous situation, he asked, "What are we going to do?"
"Stay here," Luffy replied in a hush, her voice a shade deeper than normal and irises bleeding into scarlet with Ace's following suit. "We'll take care of it."
The moment she finished speaking, they both bolted from their spots.
"Shoot them!" Sabo's father screamed. "Kill them!"
Shots echoed.
Blood splattered.
Sabo's heart skipped a beat.
Two men clutched at their necks as if they thought they could keep their blood from spilling out if they only pressed tight enough.
Ace and Luffy didn't stop, rounding on their next targets, going for another kill. And another after that.
The formation fell into disarray. Guns went off again, but none hit the two kids, weaving around the adults like predators among the harmless prey.
And all Sabo could see was blood. All he could smell was blood. All he could think was blood.
Blood, blood, blood.
He gulped, his throat suddenly feeling drier than the sand.
"Take that, you damn demon!" one of the soldiers yelled as he winded his arm and chugged something at Luffy.
It hit the ground with a thud a few feet away from the girl, drawing her attention, and a second later exploded into harsh, blinding light.
Sabo instinctively jerked away from it, covering his eyes and still seeing bright spots in his vision.
Luffy shrieked.
Sabo blinked, squinting in the direction where he had seen his sister last. The moment his eyes landed on her, his heart almost stopped.
Luffy still had her eyes covered with her hands, soft whines tumbling out of her as if she was in pain. A man put a pistol to her head, a wicked smirk on his face, as his finger started pressing the trigger—
Sabo wanted to scream, to warn her, to go to her, but all that left his mouth was hoarse, "Luffy…" as he suddenly felt completely out of breath for no reason. He grabbed at his chest again, the pain piercing his heart like someone stabbing a knife through it. "Run…"
A blur flashed across the field.
The shot rang out.
Bullet impacted the ground.
Luffy was gone. Ace was nowhere to be seen either.
Sabo breathed out, relief flooding his veins. His vision blurred, consciousness slipping away. And this time, no one was there to catch him when he stumbled.
High up in one of the gigantic trees of Mt. Colubo at the edge of Gray Terminal, Ace pressed his back against the trunk and carefully peeked around it. He had to immediately retreat, a hiss escaping him at the sting in his eyes the moment he looked at the sunlit area below. He rubbed at them, angry and desperate, and then tried again, squinting in an attempt to keep the sunlight away as much as possible.
He saw the noble and his entourage of soldiers marching back to Goa City. And Sabo was with them, thrown over the shoulder of one of the soldiers, limp and defenseless.
He had no choice, had to flee. Had to get Luffy out of there as she took the brunt of whatever that attack was. It seemed almost like those people knew who they were and had specific methods to fight Ds. Sabo would understand, would have done the same if it had been him in Ace's shoes. Right?
Ace's lips pulled up into a sneer, claws digging into the bark of the tree. They shouldn't hurt Sabo. That man was supposed to be his father, he wouldn't harm his son. Ace never had a parent or anything similar, but that was a piece of common knowledge. Right?!
A rumble reverberated throughout his head, low and menacing, full of unbound power and unshackled rage. Hatred against those who dared to touch what was theirs.
Ace understood. His demon wanted Sabo back. He wanted him back just as much.
Hands touched his back, fingers fisting around the cotton fabric of his t-shirt. "Ace…" Luffy uttered, her voice wavering. "What about Sabo..?"
Luffy's hands let go as the boy turned, but then latched onto his front. Ace frowned down at his sister. She kept her head low, black hair covering her face. If his eyes stung from a single sideways glimpse of that blinding explosion from the distance, Luffy must be in so much pain right now. "What about your eyes?" he asked instead of answering her.
Luffy bit down her lip, but couldn't quite stop a quiet sniffle that slipped out. "It hurts…" she croaked out. "Where's Sabo?"
Ace looked back at the empty road, clenching his teeth. "They took him with them."
"We have to get him back."
"I will get him back!" Ace snapped. "You're blind now! What can you even do?!"
"Ace," Luffy growled back. "You can't find Sabo on your own."
Ace snarled, pushing the girl away, and threw his fist into the tree. Luffy was right. She might be blind at the moment, but she was the only one who can sense the protection mark on Sabo and find him in that damn city.
Ace's fist landed against the tree again, the skin around his knuckles splitting and blood seeping out. Resting his forehead against it, he took a deep breath to calm himself.
He was too weak to protect his Pack. Useless. He finally found them—the ones who accepted him for who and how he was despite everything—and now he was about to lose them because of his own weakness.
His demon stayed silent. Observing, judging.
How unhelpful.
"Ace…"
Luffy sounded so cautious, so unsure, it made Ace feel like an absolute ass. He swallowed festering guilt over his flaring temper. "We'll wait till night," he said. "Maybe your eyes will get better."
The girl didn't answer right away. "…I can do it, Ace."
"I know," he replied. He wasn't lying. Luffy was always better than him.
Looking back at the Goa walls looming in the distance, Ace scowled. If those men really knew who they were—they did call them 'demons'—they couldn't stay on this island anymore. Who knew when that damn geezer would show up, it had been a while since his last visit, but they couldn't wait.
Luckily, after Ace and Luffy teamed up to get rid of Bluejam months ago, they also recovered all the treasure that the idiot stole. It would come in handy now.
They just needed to get Sabo back. And then, they would flee.
"We'll get him back," Ace muttered, resolute.
"Mm," Luffy agreed from beside him.
Just wait for us, Sabo!
A/N
So, uh, I know I said this will be the last chapter before canon starts, but I oversimplified these events in my head, and because I want to keep chapters relatively short for this story, I'm splitting it in two (as was the initial plan). Sorry about that. But the next chapter is definitely going to be the last of the Childhood Arc! I promise.
