SailorStar9: Well, with Chapter 138 up, this is Chapter 139 this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.

Pairings: Ace/Sasha, sibling Luffy/Sasha and Sabo/Sasha, Background Protector!Law/Sasha

Disclaimers: One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichirō-sensei. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except my OC, the pairing and the fic idea.

Chapter 139: Arc 11: To The Sea Someday! The Pledge of the Three Brats!

"I'm going!" Luffy charged at Ace, his fist swinging. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

"I told you..." Ace sighed, the extended punch bounced off the ground and hit Luffy squarely on the face. "What the hell are you trying to do?" he slammed a kick onto Luffy's cheek.

"It's over." Sabo nodded.

"Again?" Sasha echoed, already on standby with a smaller medical kit. "What's the score now, Sabo-nii? Close." she blinked when Ace and Sabo met each other in mid-air, both punches extended. Sabo's attack missed its target as it went over Ace's head.

"I win, Sabo." Ace grinned, his next punch sent Sabo flying backwards.

"Crap." Luffy cursed. "I always lose to Ace and Sabo. I'm next, Sabo!"

"Are you sure?" Sabo accepted the challenge as he charged at Luffy. "I'll not hold back."

"This is going to end badly." Sasha predicted.

"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy grinned. "Shield!" he stretched out his fingers.

"This is funny." Sabo beamed, tugging the extended fingers and released them, smacking Luffy backwards and sending him rolling up a tree.

"I knew it." Sasha sighed.

"I've already told you many times." Ace chided. "Is your fruit useful for anything?"

"Crap, it won't work!" Luffy fumed. "Just a little more... again!"

"No, we can only fight 100 times a day." Ace reminded. "Wait until tomorrow."

"Ace and I beat Luffy 50 times." Sabo wrote on the scoreboard as Sasha patched up Luffy. "Ace and I were at 26 to 24. He beat me by 2 fights..."

"When I'm ten, I'll kick your ass!" Luffy snapped.

"By then, we will be 13 years old." Ace reminded. "We'd better look for some food. Sasha, what about you?"

"You three go on ahead." Sasha packed up her kit. "I spotted the plants I've been looking for on the way here."

"Ace, you're really worried about her." Sabo gave the freckled boy a knowing smile.

"Shut up." Ace muttered, turning to hide a flush.

After the boys' unfortunate run-in with Sabo's father in town, Ace and Luffy cornered the blonde boy for an explanation.

"What's wrong?" Sabo asked. "I'm not hiding anything."

"Really?" Luffy blinked.

"It's obvious that you're hiding something." Ace insisted. "Spit it out, Sabo! Do you think it's okay to keep secrets between us?"

"You know it'll come out eventually, Sabo-nii." Sasha pointed out.

"Sasha knew?" Ace exclaimed in betrayal.

"For a while." Sasha nodded.

"Then why..." Luffy looked at his sister.

"It wasn't my place to tell." Sasha defended. "Doctor-patient confidentiality and all."

"A noble's son?" Ace echoed after Sabo related his story.

"The truth is, my parents are still alive." Sabo confessed. "I'm not an orphan of the Grey Terminal. The man we met today is my father. I'm sorry for lying to you."

"You've apologized, so I forgive you." Luffy relented.

"To be honest, I'm surprised." Ace admitted. "Why would you do all of this is you're a noble's son?"

"I had to run away from home." Sabo replied. "They care only about money and social status. Not me. If I don't marry a girl from the royal family, then I'm crap. I had to study ever day, just for that. I was always arguing with my parents because of my poor results in school. For that family, I'm just a nuisance. Sorry, if I offend you, but even though I had parents, I felt lonely. The people of the Grey Terminal were not like the nobles. But for me, it was better than living for decades in that place, with the nobles."

"Now I understand." Ace noted.

"Ace, Luffy." Sabo declared. "Definitely, we'll set sail and leave this country. I wanna know the world and write a book about my adventures. I don't mind having to study navigation. I'll be stronger, and I'll be a pirate."

"I know, you don't need to tell me." Ace walked over to the edge of the cliff overseeing the sea. "I'll be a pirate and fight until I'm the most famous. That's the way I'll prove my existence. I don't care if the bastards of the world don't recognize me. I don't care how much they hate me. I'll become a great pirate and I'll see them face to face. I won't run away from anyone, I won't lose against anyone. I won't be afraid of anything. Everyone will know my name."

"I see.." Luffy grinned and ran up next to Ace. "I'll be...!" he took a deep breath and shouted.

"You're talking nonsense." Ace sighed, after Luffy's declaration.

"Sasha?" Sabo blinked when he heard the younger girl giggle before she rolled on the grass, bursting into laughter.

"Aniki," Sasha beamed at her sibling. "Never change."

"You two are funny." Sabo laughed. "I can't wait to see what will happen in the future with you. It's okay if we'll be pirates." he stated. "But is it okay if all three of us want to be captains?"

"I didn't think about that." Ace admitted. "Sabo, I had planned that you'd be my navigator and Sasha be the ship's doctor."

"You will be on my ship." Luffy declared.

"I refuse!" both older boys chorused.

"Come on, do it!" Luffy whined. "Join my crew!"

"That will never happen." Ace insisted.

"I think the same." Sabo agreed.

"What?" Luffy snapped. "I don't care." he shrugged.

"Just like that?" Sasha exclaimed. "Before I forget," she then dug into the medic kit. "Hold out your hands please, all three of you."

"What the..." Ace looked at the carnation and snowdrop bracelet now entwined around his wrist. "Hey Sasha, take this off!"

"Sasha, don't you know how embarrassing it is for us to be seen wearing this?" Sabo asked, a daffodil and jonquil bracelet was now around his wrist.

"Sasha," Luffy started, after the lily of the valley and hawthorn bracelet was attached to his wrist. "Do you have a reason for this?"

"Yes, I do." the younger girl nodded. "It's a protective charm; made from flowers representing each of your birth months."

"So, that's why you asked about my and Ace's birth month yesterday." Sabo realized.

Sometime later that day...

"Well, we will decide the future things in the future." Ace remarked, the three boys were now gathered around a wood stump. "Maybe we'll end up in three different ships."

"Did you steal that liquor from Dadan?" Luffy asked, when Ace placed the sake bottle on the stump with three sake cups beside it.

"Did you know?" Ace uncorked the sake bottle. "When men drink together, they become brothers." he poured out the sake. "Maybe we'll not be pirates in the same ship. But we're united by our bond of brotherhood. No matter what we do or where we are, no one will break that bond. From now on, we're brothers!" all three raised their cups.

"Wait," Sabo voiced, after drowning the sake. "What about Sasha?"

"It doesn't matter whose ship she ends up in, all three of us will protect her." Ace replied.

SailorStar9: Any OOC-nes is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.