The A,S,L, Without the 'S'

Sabo continued to look up at the starry night sky, without a cloud to be seen. He couldn't understand it. He felt the shake of explosions only a minute ago, so how come there was no smoke in the sky, or even screaming in the distance?

"Young man?" A gravely voice spoke behind the gap-toothed boy, making him switch his head back in an instant. Standing at the end of the alleyway was a shadowed figure, wearing a dark green cloak obstructing his identity and keeping his face hidden.

"What are you doing in a place like this?" The stranger asked.

Sabo looked at the newcomer, then felt anger boil up in his body.

"What's it to you?" He spat as he managed to walk out of the dirty dead end, noticing he now had a limp in his step thanks to the police roughing him up.

"I was merely wondering why a noble child such as yourself would be wallowing in trash at this time of night…" The cloaked figure explained himself, appearing unfazed by the boy's tone.

"Well, not that it's any of your business, or that you'd even care," Sabo's speech turned to full blown yelling. "But I was trying to pry the front gates open so I could stop the nobles from burning down the Grey Terminal outside!"

"The nobles were going to…?" The stranger whispered, seeming to be surprised by this information, but Sabo was not in the mood of caring how he felt as he continued his rant.

"The police stopped me and beat me till I past out and threw me down that dark alley!" The gap-toothed boy clenched his fists as the rage overtook his senses.

"But, why would you want to stop what was happening? Surely a boy of nobility such as yourself wouldn't think about the sake of common folk?" The figure pointed out. That was the last straw for Sabo's anger.

"I WISH I WAS NEVER BORN A NOBLE!"

The man was beside himself with shock. Never had a noble, a child noble at that, had ever said something so unheard of.

He was brought out of his shock when he noticed the blonde boy walking away from him, his hat shadowing his eyes. "W-wait! Young man! Where are you going?!"

Sabo stopped and without looking back, answered his question. "It's great that Grey Terminal wasn't burned down, but I won't be able to go back, even if it was saved…My family is awful and won't let me run away again, and even if I did, my brother's may never want to talk to me again after I betrayed them. Not to mention, if my father caught up to us again, he might actually have them…" He didn't dare finish.

He looked up from under his hat and looked out towards himself, with a steely gaze of determination. "There's only one place left where I can be free…"

Sabo then began walking forwards once more, leaving the cloaked man behind to watch him march toward his fate.


Robin remained standing straight, staring the seething down-and-out pirate before her. Ace and Luffy were still trying to break away from their holders with all their might, but to no avail.

Bluejam was so furious, he almost didn't think before opening his mouth again. "T-that's impossible! How could a little girl like you get rid of a haul of boxes in such little time?!"

"Like this!" The dark haired girl announced as she swept her hand out and two small arms sprouted out of the man's head and grabbed hold of his eyelids and pulled them as high as she could.

As the captain cried out in pain, two simultaneous hands bloomed on top of Luffy and Ace's captors heads and proceeded to reach down and hook their fingers in their nostrils, pulling as hard as she did with Bluejam, making them drop the two brothers.

"RUN!" The girl shouted as she and the boys broke out into a sprint, but not before getting scooped up by the still remaining crooks surrounding them.

Once Robin was caught, she panicked and lost her focus, making the hands she created disappear and releasing the distracted men.

If Bluejam was furious before, he was livid now. He pulled his rusty blade from its sheath and held it out to the captured young ones, eyeing Robin especially.

"You…little…brat…!" The wild eyed bum hissed out. "You've ruined…everything!"

Luffy caught on to who the man was looking at and began to thrash around like never before. "ROBIN! NO! RUN! USE YOUR POWERS TO GET AWAY! SOMETHING! ANYTHING!"

Robin was too stunned in fear at the approaching man coming her way, her boost of bravery leaving her to what could possibly be her demise.

"DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER, YOU TOOTHLESS COWARD!" Ace roared as he began to struggle harder then before himself, even giving his captor a hard time holding him.

Tears started to prick at the girl's eyes as she could only stare at the blade-wielding brute stalking closer to her.

Luffy couldn't take watching any longer and followed his instincts; he bit down hard on his holders arm around his waist, who instantly let go to nurse his injured skin, as Luffy fell to his feet and made a beeline to stand in front of Robin and hold his arms out in protection. "I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!"

"Luffy?" Robin snapped out of her fear as she saw the boy defend her from Bluejay's advances.

"Like you can stop me…" The man growled as he brought his sword back into a stabbing motion. "I'll run you and your little girlfriend through!"

At those words, something in Ace snapped.

"LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!"

One moment, all of Bluejam's crew was on their feet and wide awake. The next, they were out on the ground, passed out and with foam coming from a few of their mouths. After Ace had given his cry, the man holding him had lost all power in his arms and let go of him as he fell to the ground, along with the thug that had grabbed Robin.

The three children stood in their places in bewilderment, looking around at the unconscious crooks splayed out in front of them, until the last one standing of the gang, Bluejam, slammed Ace in the back of his head with the scabbard of his sword.

"NOW WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He thundered.

Ace nursed the back of his head as Luffy and Robin ran over to him, falling to their knees in worry before looking up at the beyond angry ex-pirate.

The man lifted his sword high above his head, ready to bring it down on the helpless young ones in one fell swoop.

"You're all a bunch of freaks…!"

Ace shielded Luffy and Robin with is body, whilst Luffy and Robin clung to each other with their eyes closed tight, waiting for the sword to come down.

Before Bluejam could gain his satisfaction, a large wooden club smashed across his face, sending him to the ground and falling into the dirt.

As the balding brute pushed himself from where he lay, he looked back up, ready to give whoever stopped him what he was going to give the kids. Only to stop in his movements when he caught sight of who it was that had attacked him.

"Dadan?!"

The large, orange haired bandit leader herself stood before the downed bum, patting her club in one hand, while all her men stood behind her, brandishing their own weapons and looking ready for a fight.

"Hello, Bluejam," Was the last thing the ex-pirate heard as she and her men came upon the down-and-out pirate and began to beat him into submission.

The young trio could only watch as the bandits bludgeoned Bluejam to a pulp, before immediately getting wrapped in a multitude of arms out of nowhere.

"Robin!" The mother cried as she clung to her daughter desperately.

"Momma?!" Robin gasped as the white haired woman pulled her face back to look at her.

"Thank heavens you're alright!" The woman weeped, as her little girl realized who it was before burying her face into her shoulder to cry her eyes out.

"Ace! Luffy!" The green haired woman squeezed her boys tightly, never wanting to let them go. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, we're good!" Ace said, acting as if what had just happened never did.

"I was so scared, Makino! I thought we were gonna die!" Luffy wailed as tears and snot leaked from his face.

"Stop crying, Luffy! It's not manly!" Ace ordered, only making the boy cry harder. The bar-tender sighed happily, glad that her boys were still as rambunctious as ever.

After giving them another strong hug, Makino leaned back and placed her hands on both their shoulders. "What happened here?"

"What are you doing all the way out here?" The bar-tender fretted as she pulled away.

"Why are you with these men?!" Olivia asked in a panicked tone.

"It's a long story…" Ace breathed out as he began to relax from the danger he and the younger ones were in.


After the beating was over, the band of crooks were tied to a tree, all of them still unconscious from whatever Ace had pulled, along with an out cold, black and blue Bluejam.

"They were going to burn down the junkyard?!" Makino brought her hands to her mouth in horror.

"And made you carry that cargo without you knowing what it was?!" The white haired mother seethed at the criminals actions.

"Pretty much…" Ace mumbled as he looked over at the battered and bruised bum that had him and his little brother at blade point. Oh, how he wished he could have gotten a shot in himself!

"Poor Sabo…" The bar tender then brought up. "I can't believe he did that for you."

"We gotta get him back!" Luffy demanded desperately.

"We can't do that, Luffy! Sabo doesn't belong with the likes of us!" Ace spoke up next, yet his words lacked any resolution behind them. "He'll be happier back at home with his family…his real family…"

"That's a lie and you know it!" Robin bellowed.

Everyone was frozen in place from the little girl's outburst, Ace and Luffy most of all.

"Sabo could never be happy if he lived with his parents!" Robin continued to shout. "He ran away from home for a reason in the first place, didn't he?! He didn't go home for his own good, he sacrificed himself for you!"

"You saw that?!" Ace questioned in surprise.

"I came back to say sorry for beating you up, until I saw those pirates and Sabo's dad, so I hid behind a tree." Robin admitted.

Luffy couldn't help but smile as he walked over and took the dark haired girl's hand in his own, bringing her attention to him.

"Thanks for coming back, Robin." He beamed.

The young book lover smiled warmly at the straw hatted boy and blushed at the contact between their hands.

"Wait…" Ace mumbled, drawing everyone back to him. "I just remembered something, something that Bluejam said before you arrived to save us…Bluejam said that the king wasn't going to let them into the kingdom…"

"Did the king hire Bluejam and his crew to burn down the terminal?" Olivia deduced.

"Hmph!" Dadan huffed as she crossed her arms in disgust. "And people say bandits are bad. The nobles just keep proving their even worse than us, and they still have the nerve to stick their noses up at us!"

"Why would the nobles want to burn down this junkyard?!" Making asked in horrified curiosity. "Don't they know that there are people living here?!"

"You ever known a noble to care about what happens to people that are beneath their form of living?" Dadan inquired darkly, making the notion all too clear for the innocent bar tender.

As the green haired woman bowed her head in uncomfortable understanding, Olivia was next to speak up. "No wonder that poor boy ran away…"

"We've gotta get him back!" Luffy announced determinedly.

"Darn right, we do!" Ace agreed. "We'll break in to the city and look all over for-"

"No!" Makino put a stop to the boy's plans. "After everything you've been through already, I will not let you go charging off into more danger!"

"You too, Robin!" Olivia spoke up, taking motherly authority.

"But Momma!" Robin pleaded. "What about Sabo?!"

"Garp should be coming back to the island soon after visiting Ohara," Makino explained. "as soon as he does, we'll tell him about what's been going on here and have him take care of it. He can even find Sabo and look after him too."

"That'll take too long!" Ace seethed, anger boiling up inside him.

"Ace, please…!" The bar tender reached out to him, only for him to flinch back, away from her hand.

"Screw this!" The freckled boy spat as he began stomping in the direction of the walled off kingdom. "I let Sabo go once, I'm not gonna abandon him now!"

"Me too!" Luffy declared as he and Ace proceeded to break off into a sprint toward the city.

"ACE! LUFFY!" Makino called out to them, only for her calls to fall on deaf ears.

"It's no use." The orange haired bandit leader spoke up as she walked over to the bar tender. "You of all people should know how stubborn those boys get when an idea pops into their heads. If we go after them, we'd only get in their way and make things worse."

Makino wanted to go after them, regardless of Dadan's words, but had to reluctantly admit that the large woman was right.

"All we can do now is go back and wait for them." Dadan and her boys began to head back through the jungle to return to their run down shack of a home. Makino had no choice but to follow them, whilst Olivia took up the rear of the group, but not with her daughter beside her.

She turned back to see Robin staring off at where the two brothers had run off to and felt a deep pit in her stomach of what might be going through the young girl's mind.

"Robin…?" The ex-archeologist hesitantly reached out to her.

"I'm sorry, Momma," Robin spoke before she turned back to her mother. "But I can't leave Luffy and his brothers behind!"

"Robin, don't!" The white haired woman tried to stop her, with pleading thick in her voice.

"I'll be back soon!" was the last thing Robin said before sprinting off to follow Luffy and Ace.

"ROBIN!" Olivia called out to her desperately, only to watch her run off into the darkness.

Her mother's intuition was split in half. Part of her wanted to run after her and drag her back home to safety, while the other wanted to support her and let her help her new friends.

The internal struggle within her made her body freeze in place, making her watch her daughter disappear.


"Are you kidding me?!"Ace yelled as he and Luffy were stopped by a mess of boulders and cement, blocking up what used to be their only path way into Goa kingdom.

"Now what do we do?" Luffy panicked. "How are we supposed to get in now?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking…!" The freckled boy growled rubbing a hand through his hair frustratedly.

Suddenly, a series of hands began to bloom out of the wall in front of them, trailing all the way up the vertical surface to the very top of the wall.

"Need a hand?" The young female voice drew the boys to turn their heads back to see the dark haired girl.

"Robin!" Luffy chirped happily.

"We thought you went back with your mom!" Ace was just as surprised as his little brother.

"I ran after you before Momma could stop me…" Robin sadly said, not looking forward to when she'd see her again. She shook her head out of what was to come and focused on the now. "I'm not gonna leave you on your own to find Sabo! Your'e my friends!"

Surprised by the girl's words, smiles broke out on the boys faces.

"Thanks, Robin." Luffy showed his large toothy grin.

"We could use all the help we can get!" Ace gave her a thumbs up, showing his gratitude.

Robin beamed at the praise, feeling happier than ever before that she now had true friends to call her own.

After the pleasantries were dealt with, each of the three young ones took turns climbing up the ladder of limbs to the top of the wall, where they saw the beautiful sight of the Goa kingdom at night, lit up with sparkling lights as if they were having a festival.

"It's so pretty…" Robin stood in awe of the sight.

"Too bad about the people who live in it…" Ace pointed out with disgust.

Once all three of them were at the top of the wall, Robin made another ladder for them to climb back down to. They landed down a dark alley, hiding them from the sight of any noble of police officer.

"So, where does Sabo live?" Robin asked, looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings, only to be answered by both Ace and Luffy going "Uuuuuuuhhhhh…"

"You don't even know where his house is?!" The book lover chastised them.

"Sabo never wanted to talk about his life back here, so he kept it to himself." Ace shrugged his shoulders.

"We didn't want to upset him." Luffy defended.

Robin gave a sigh, understanding how Sabo felt. "Okay, but if you guys don't know where he lives, then where should we start looking?"

"Don't know, don't care!" Ace announced as he marched forward from Luffy and Robin. "I don't care if I have to search all night and look all over this place; were finding Sabo and were bringing him back!"

"Darn right, we are!" Luffy shot his fists in the air.

Robin was uneasy about the short sighted plan, but knew it was the only one they had to go on before giving a determined nod.

"Alright, let's go!" Ace declared as he lead the charge down the alley, with the two young ones following behind him.

"WE'RE COMING, SABO!" The straw hatted boy shouted at the top of his lungs.


It would only be few hours before the sun began to peek up over the horizon of the sea, as the sound of hammer meeting nail echoed out across a lone harbor at the far edge of the kingdom.

After a few more strikes, the hammering stopped and a young boy wearing a top hat and petty coat stood up from his spot and wiped his brow after a job well done.

"It might not be the best looking ship, but at least it will stay afloat…"

Sabo looked out to the Goa Kingdom's open bay, leading out to the vast ocean.

"As soon as the sun rises…I head out to sea…"

He wiped his eyes as he felt fresh tears begin to form.

"Sorry, Ace…Luffy…But I'm gonna become a pirate first…"


Luffy gave a long, drawn out yawn as he walked with his friends. "I'm tired…"

"We've been up all night…" Robin groaned as she slumped against a wall.

"We can't give up now…" Ace growled as he heaved himself off from the ground with his pipe. "Sabo's gotta be around here somewhere!"

Suddenly, an uproar from far off caught their ears, drawing their attention to where the noise was coming from.

"What's going on?" Robin asked quizzically.

"Let's go check it out!" Ace declared as he and the others made their way toward the ruckus.

The kids ran to the noise, which led them to the edge of town overlooking the bay harbor of the kingdom. Far off from their location, they could see the gathered multitudes of nobles crowding around the harbor, looking out to the open ocean.

"What's going on?" Luffy asked as he looked over the sight of the crowd. "Some kind of party?"

"I think there all waiting for something…" Robin deduced as she peered over the guard wall from the high payment to the deep waters below.

"Maybe Sabo's somewhere in that crowd!" Ace deduced, suddenly clenching his fist round his lead pipe. "With his family…"


Unbeknownst to the searching three, the nobles at the other end of the harbor were discussing something else altogether.

"What happened last night?!"

"That dirt-hole should have been burned to nothing!"

"The celestials will not be pleased!"

"What do we do? What do we do?!"

All the nobles were in a panic, wondering why Grey Terminal hadn't been purged as their king promised he'd do. Now with a humongous junk-pile right outside of their kingdom, how will the celestials ever find them worthy of their anointment now?

Their fears were about to come to fruition when the sight of a Navy Battleship came into view to the gathered masses. The nobles didn't know if they should clap and cheer as they planned to, the excitement they felt the day before had been torn away from them, leaving behind a feeling they had a rarity of experiencing; failure.

This time, the noble's we're not going to get what they want.

Among the crowd, Sabo's father, Outlook, was just as nervous as the people surrounding him.

"Father?" His adopted son, Shelly, attempted to gain his attention by pulling on his pant leg. "What's going to happen? I thought the filth over the wall was supposed to be gone."

"Shut up, boy!" Outlook vented his frustration by pulling his pant fabric away from Shelly's hand.

"Husband, please!" His wife pleaded. "Don't make this any worse!"

"It's already as worse as it can be!" The top hatted man growled as he went back to brooding. "I can't believe this is happening…Goa will be appalled by the celestials without a doubt once they look over the wall! And where's that stupid boy of mine?!"

The answer to that question came to him in the form of spotting his son, his true blood son Sabo, coming into view whilst sailing a make-shift, barely holding boat, with a flag with a bright blue 'S' with two crossbones behind it. Outlook was wrong, this situation could get worse!


As the small boat made it's way through the open bay, Luffy and the others were too distracted by the large ship that had come in.

"Hey! That's a marine Battleship!" Luffy jumped with joy at the sight of the large vessel.

"Do you think it could be Garp?" robin hope out loud. "Did Makino get in touch with him after all?"

"I don't think so…" Ace spoke with an edge. "See that big fat guy wearing the weird bubble on his head?"

"Yeah?" Luffy peered closely at the strange person. "Wonder who he is?"


"Saint Jalmack!" A marine saluted. "We are about to make dock with Goa Kingdom!"

"About time!" The overweight rich man thundered. "It shouldn't have taken this long to get here! Go this slow again, and I'll see to it your made my slave on the spot!"

"Y-yessir…!" The marine returned weakly, not wanting to anger the man anymore than he unintentionally had.

Jalmack made his way over to the side of the ship, taking in the sight of the kingdom and the gathered crowd of nobles there to meet him. As he gazed at the crowd, he noticed how unenthusiastic the people there seemed to be.

"Why aren't they cheering for my arrival?!" The celestial questioned hotly. "Don't they know how to treat they're superiors?!"

"Saint Jalmack, sir!" A marine called his attention. "There seems to be a small sailboat on the water on the side of our ship!"

"WHAT?!"


As the children took in the sight of the ship, Luffy was lucky enough to look away back at the crowd, only to spot something else in the water.

"Hey, look!" He pointed to the foreign object. "Another ship!"

Ace and Robin looked to where the straw-hatted boy was pointing and with a closer inspection, Ace's eyes shot wide open. "THAT'S SABO!"

"SABO?!" Luffy and Robin chorused together as they leaned they're heads over the side, trying to get a closer look. Seeing the familiar blue petty coat and top hat, Luffy and Robin broke out into wide spread grins.

"It is Sabo!" Luffy hollered with glee, before he sprang to his feet on top of the wall and began waving his arms over his head. "HEY, SABO! OVER HERE!"

Unfortunately, Luffy's calls weren't able to reach the noble child. He was too far out in the bay.


"Well, this is it," Sabo spoke to himself as he turned his ship's helm. "My first day out at sea! Ace and Luffy would be so jealous!" He chuckled to himself at the thought, before giving a wistful sigh. "I wish they were here to see me off…"


"SABO!" Luffy called again.

"It's no use, Luffy," Robin attempted. "Sabo's too far out; He can't here us."

Ace looked back to the marine ship. "looks like the big guy noticed Sabo to, and he's getting all wound up for some reason. He's yelling at his men and everything."

"Why would Sabo being out their upset him so much?" Robin asked.

Luffy looked closely at the man in weird clothes, watching as a marine came over to him, carrying something strange. Upon closer inspection, the boy's face fell when he realized what the device the marine handed the plump man was. "IS THAT A BAZOOKA?!"

"A WHAT?!" Ace and Robin hollered as they watched the man inspect the fire arm before hoisting it on his shoulder.

"Why would he want something like that?!" Ace questioned out loud, a deep pit forming in his stomach.

As soon as the man took aim at his chosen target, Robin realized the worst. "HE'S GONNA SHOOT SABO!"

"SABO!" Ace called out with all his might. "GET OUT OF THERE!"

"He can't hear us…!" Robin whimpered, unable to look away from what was about to happen.

"Sabo…" Luffy followed, tears beginning to brim at his eyes.

Luffy then sniffed up his tears and looked ahead, determination blazing in his eyes. He hopped up on the wall and clenched his fists tight.

"Luffy…?" Robin looked up to the boy quizzically.

"What are you doing?!" Ace wondered, desperation clear on his face.

Without answering either of the tow, Luffy placed his left hand on his right shoulder and began to swing his arm round and round like a pinwheel, his focus on Sabo's boat and nothing else.

"GUM GUM…!"


"Saint Jalmack!" A bold marine stepped forward. "Is there really a point in firing on a pedestrian boat, with a child on it no less?!"

Jalmack turned back with a dark scowl on his face, making the marine regret his actions immediately.

"Of course!" The man bellowed, as he turned back and took aim. "I can annihilate anyone I please…AS IS MY RIGHT!"


"PISTOL!"


Before Jalmack could even pull the trigger, a sudden jerk rocked Sabo out of his thoughts and looked to wear the source was coming from…

A lone hand had latched on the broadside of his ship.

Scanning the hand, he followed the extended forearm all the way back to an abandoned side of the harbor and his eyes widened at who he saw.

"Luffy?" Sabo whispered in disbelief. "Guys?!"


A bright smile shown on Robin's face. "YOU DID IT, LUFFY!"

"WAY TO GO!" Ace praised the rubber boy. "NOW WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! PULL HIM IN! PULL HIM IN!"

Before Luffy could do such a thing, the strain of his stretched arm began to drag him across the wall. Before he could fall into the sea below, Ace and Robin noticed his panicked face and immediately grabbed hold of him.

"AHHHHH! PULL ME IN! PULL ME IN!" The straw-hatted boy wailed in fear.


"What the devil is that?!" Jalmack roared as he followed the freakishly long limb all the way to its owner, spotting the young trio at the end of the harbor. "Children…With Devil Fruit powers?!

Looking back down at the ship below him, he noticed that the small vessel was being puled back toward the children and away from his ship.

"YOU DARE?!" He bellowed, his face red with rage. "YOU DARE TO DEFY ME?!"

The crazed Celestial aimed once more at Sabo and pulled the trigger. Right before the blast could strike the boat, Sabo was pulled out of the way and the resulting explosion hit and missed nothing but open water. The shockwave of the blast rocked Sabo's ship, causing him cling on to the closest stable thing he could get ahold of.

Luffy, Robin and Ace kept pulling with all their might, dragging the boat across the crashing waves caused by the rich man's weapon. Every time Jalmack had a beed on the top hatted boy, he'd miss by mere inches thanks to the young ones at the harbor.

"What is going on out there?!" A noble cried out as he and the crowd watched the display going on out at sea.

"The Celestial is trying to shoot that boat out of the water!" A noble woman exclaimed, waving herself with a fan to clam herself of the intense situation. Outlook and his family were stunned at what was taking place. They couldn't take their eyes off of it.

Jalmack was furiously firing at the small vessel, seething with every missed shot. Luffy and the others kept pulling Sabo in, and with one last heave, and one last shot from Jalmack, Sabo's ship was rocketed into the air from the shockwave of the blast and began sailing through the sky toward his rescuers.

"SABO!" Luffy happily cheered, tears falling from his face.

Ace was the first to realize what was about to happen and grabbed Luffy by the back of his collar and Robin's arm and began making a run for it. "MOVE!"

The makeshift pirate ship collided right where Luffy, Ace and Robin once were, debris flying everywhere as the ship grinder against the stone ground, chasing down the fleeing children, all the while Sabo clinging on for dear life. The ship then came to a sudden stop, flinging Sabo from his perch and sending him crashing on top of his friends.

"Ow…" The top hatted boy groaned.

"Uuuuh…" Robin moaned.

"Everyone okay?" Ace asked while he pushed himself up.

"No…" Luffy's voice was muffled as his face was flat on the ground.

Once the children got back up and dusted themselves off, they had a moment of silence as they all looked at one another. The staring contest between Sabo and the trio went on for a little while, until Ace and Luffy shouted in joy, tackling Sabo in a hug.

"SABO!" Luffy wept, clinging on to the boy's petty coat, not wanting to let go.

"THANK GOODNESS YOUR ALRIGHT!" Robin wailed as she wrapped her arms around the boy, not daring to let go.

"YOU SCARED THE HECK OUT OF US!" Ace shouted, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Guys! Guys!" Sabo called out over Luffy and Robin's crying, managing to push them off. "What are you doing here?!"

"Saving your life, apparently!" Ace replied hotly, crossing his arms as he glared at the gap toothed boy. "What were you doing out there?!"

"I…" Sabo tried to find an excuse, but found none as he lowered his head. "I was trying to set out to sea…"

"WHAT?!" the trio yelled in union

"I couldn;t take it!" Sabo relented. "When I found out about the nobles plans to burn down Grey Terminal, I tried to open the gates to get to you guys. Next thing I know, I'm getting knocked out by the kingdom's police," Luffy and Ace growled at this while Robin threw her hands up to her mouth in shock.

"I hat this place too much to stay and I couldn't go back to you guys because my dad might find us again and actually…" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "And…I didn't think you guys would want me back…Not after everything that's-"

Sabo was interrupted by a punch to the face, curtesy of the hot-tempered freckled boy.

"ACE?!" Luffy and Robin exclaimed in outrage.

Sabo rubbed his face before looking up at the one that hit him. "What the heck was that for?!"

"For being stupid!" Ace bellowed, shocking everyone present.

He took a few deep breaths to try and calm himself, but it didn't work. "You think we wouldn't want you back?! Don't you dare think that! Luffy couldn't stop crying about you when you left, and Robin had to knock some sense into me to come get you!" He the scratched the back of his head, his next words being a little hard for him to say. "…How can we be the ASL pirates without the 'S'?"

Sabo looked up at Ace, who was looking away to hide his embarrassed face, and couldn't help the moisture that came to his eyes. He wiped the close to falling tears away and beamed at his fellow older brother. "Thanks, Ace…"

The freckled boy looked back and cracked a cocky grin as he reached his hand down to help the top-hatted boy up. "Anytime…"


"Ungrateful greeting party…ships blocking my path…and children with Devil Fruit powers! What kind of kingdom IS this?!" Jalmack roared as he looked out over the bay, making the crewmen of the ship backpedal to avoid his fury being directed at them.

"S-Sir…?" One brave government agent spoke up, making the seething saint turn his head back at him.

"TURN THIS SHIP AROUND!" He bellowed, throwing his bazooka to the ground in anger. "WE'RE GOING BACK TO THE HOLY LAND THIS INSTANT!"

"Y-Yessir!" The agent saluted and began ordering the crewmen to turn the ship around immediately.

"If this kingdom thinks they're getting any sort of blessing from the Celestials after this…" Jalmack spat in disgust. "They're sorely mistaken…!"


As the navy ship began to turn itself around, heading back to the entrance way to the Goa kingdom harbor, the nobles already fragile hope were completely dashed.

"THEY'RE LEAVING! THE CELESTIALS ARE LEAVING!"

"NO!"

"EVERYTHING'S RUINED!"

"WE'LL NEVER BE BLESSED NOW! NOT AFTER THIS!"

As the crowd fell into despair, one by one, they looked to the wreckage of the small boat that was out at sea before. Their grief turned to anger, spiteful vengeance clouding their judgment.


The four children were brought out of their reunion by the sound of furious shouting. Looking back, they saw an angry mob of nobles, heading straight for them.

"THIS IS ALL THEIR FAULT!"

"THOSE KIDS! THOSE…THOSE DEVIL FRUIT FREAKS!"

"THEY CHESED THE CELESTIALS OFF WITH THAT LITTLE BOAT STUNT!"

"GET THEM!"

"MAKE THEM PAY!"

"I think its time to go…" Sabo's words earned a nod from the others. The four young ones broke out into a wild run for an exit, any exit.


Luffy, Robin, Ace and Sabo ran down an alley, hiding behind the wall to avoid the detection of the raving nobles scouring the town for their blood.

Ace gave a huff. "Now they decide to do something for themselves…!"

Sabo looked around the alley, looking up and down the large, white brick wall that made the alley a dead end. He recognized it in an instant. "Hey, guys! This wall leads right over to the outside of the kingdom!" He spotted a large pile of boxes and got an idea. "Luffy, Ace! Help me with these boxes! We'll pile them up and climb out of here!"

"Good idea, Ace!" Luffy chimed as he and his brother went to work on building their make-shift escape.

"Keep an eye out for us, Robin!" Ace advised as he lifted a box with Sabo's help. Robin gave a nod and poked her head around the corner of the alleyway. The minute she did, she gave a horrified yelp and ran down to where the boys were.

"What's up, Robin?" Luffy asked.

"YOU!" Was the answer he got, but not from Robin.

The boys shot there heads back at the entrance to the alley. Ace glared at the figure, Luffy stared in disbelief, but Sabo was shaking like a leaf.

"Dad…" He breathed.

Outlook stood at the end of the alleyway, panting for breath, with a wild and crazed look in his eye. "You little brat…" He ground out. Soon enough, Sabo's mother and his adopted 'brother' showed up behind the top hatted man, spotting Sabo and his friends against the wall.

Outlook took a step forward. "You've ruined everything…" he was suddenly stopped a by a multitude of hands forming along the narrow closing of the alley and forming up into a web of limbs, keeping the children and the nobles separated. Sabo looked behind him and spotted Robin holding her hands together and giving the adults a scathing glare.

"I won't let you hurt him!" She declared.

Outlook was aghast at the phantom armed fence. Soon enough, Sabo's mother and his adopted 'brother' arrived behind Outlook, spotting the boy and his saviors down the dead end.

"Sabo!" The mother cried out. "What were you thinking, sailing out on that boat?!"

For a moment, it seemed like she showed true concern, until…

"You've cost us the blessing of the Celestials! How could you do this to us?!"

"You son nearly got blown up by that rich fatso!" Luffy barked, dropping the box he was carrying without a second glance."And you don't even care?!" The woman backed up in fear of the straw-hatted boy.

"So these are the friends you spent your time with outside the kingdom…" Shelly sneered as he looked to each one of Sabo's saviors. "Not only poor, but freaks too…"

Ace stepped toward the fence of limbs and glared at the big nosed boy through the gaps."Don't make me come over this fence, you turd…"

Shelly panicked at the ferocity behind Ace's words, and hid himself behind his adopted mother, his knees visibly shaking.

Outlook wasn't about to let these children intimidate him though. He looked back at his son, who was only frozen at his presence.

"Do you realize what you've cost us?!" He ranted. "Goa Kingdom's future has been jeopardized by your'e selfishness!"

Sabo's eye ticked.

"Our home will never be blessed by the Celestial's now, all because of you, and your stupid friends!"

Sabo's brows creased down.

"Sabo, please!" His mother spoke up next. "Haven't you caused us enough pain as it is?"

Sabo clenched his fists.

"As for you!" Outlook roared as he cast his eyes on the three with Sabo. "If it was't for your you three, that discussing junkyard would have been burned off the face of the earth, which it deserves, and we'd be rich beyond our wildest dreams!"

Sabo's jaw locked.

"There's people living in there!" Luffy defended. "You would have killed them all, just to make yourselves look good?!"

"WHAT'S A FEW LOWLIVES ROLLING AROUND IN FILTH, COMPARED TO THOSE QITH NOBLE BLOOD?!" Outlook bellowed, earning him a horrified face from Robin, a furious stare from Ace, gritted teeth from Luffy, and Sabo just stayed where he stood, slightly shaking.

"I have had enough of your rebellious behavior, Sabo!" Outlook looked back down at his son. "You are going to tell that little freak girl to take down this down! And then you're going to come back home with us, AND YOU'LL NEVER DISOBEY ME AGAIN-

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR ONCE IN YOUR MISERABLE LIFE, DAD?!"

Everybody stopped.