The A,S,L,R Pirates
Sabo gave his father a look he had never seen before; Pure, unfiltered, rage.
The top hatted boy was breathing heavily, as if the anger boiling inside him was seeking ventilation from its build up. Ace, Luffy and Robin watched their friend stare down his father, who along with the rest of his family, had been taken aback by his sudden outburst.
Ace shook the shock off and turned to Luffy. "Luffy, give me a hand over here!"
The straw hatted boy watched him walk over to the boxes and continue to build their escape, suddenly getting the idea. "O-okay!"
Robin kept the web of arms up, putting all of her concentration in keeping Sabo's noble family away from them.
Sabo's mother had her hand to her mouth, unable to even fathom that her son had spoke to his own father in such a frightful manner. Shelly started to sweat at the sight of the fuming boy, and Outlook just stood silent, looking back at his flesh and blood look him in the eye, without batting an eye.
"Let me ask you something…" The top hatted boy asked as calmly as he could, spreading his arms out to emphasis himself. "What do you see, when you look at me?"
At first, his father had trouble understanding the question until Outlook's face creased in anger once more. "…I see an ill-mannered, irresponsible and ungrateful child, who refuses to do what he's told and listen to what I say! You're my son, and you belong to me!"
Sabo looked down, the brim of his hat covering the pained look in his eyes. "…That's just it, isn't it?"
Outlook leaned in closer to the fence of arms, careful not to touch the grotesque abnormality. "What was that?"
"That's how you really see me, isn't it?" Sao trembled, his anger resurfacing as he looked his father in the eye, making the man step back in fear. "I'm not your son, I'm your'e property!"
Robin swallowed at the sound of those words, Luffy looked back at his brother with concern, while Ace continued to build the tower of boxes, now reaching half-way to the top of the wall. Even when he was still working, he still listened, letting Sabo say what he needed to say.
"Let me ask you something else?!" Sabo yelled, causing the man and the woman behind him to flinch, the big nosed child clinging behind her in silent fear.
"When was the last time you gave me a hug?!" He spat at the top hatted man, who gave a puzzled look at the odd sounding question, but no answer.
Sabo looked at his mother next, who flinched at his hard gaze. "When was the last time you tucked me in at night?!" Again, he received no answer.
Sabo looked down at the gound, hiding the tears forming in his eyes. "When was the last time you said you love me…?" This seemed to get a reaction out of both his parents, somehow striking a cord inside them.
Sabo shot his head back up, glaring at them both, unashamed of the tears flowing down his face. "Those things wouldn't have cost you a berry! But you still didn't do them, because you never loved me in the first place!"
Robin still held the fence in place, not allowing her grief for her friend to take her over and let her tears fall just yet. Luffy looked back at his brother, sniffing his tears back with a sad "Sabo…" while Ace carried on building the box tower in silence, but his heart going out to the top hatted boy nonetheless.
As the dark haired, freckled boy placed another box on top of the other, he realized that they were now at the top of the wall. "Guys! The boxes are finished, let's get out of here!"
Luffy looked back up to Ace, seeing the tower was indeed finished. "Okay! C'mon, Robin!"
"Right!" She nodded, holding her arms to get as she made her way over to the pile.
Sabo turned and started walking toward the tower, when his father called out to him. "Sabo! Don't you dare walk away from me!" Sabo ignored his order as he continued to make his way toward his grew so furious, he pushed his pride to one side and grabbed the fence of limbs before him and shook at it violently.
Robin gave a cry of pain, but still held the fence together. Luffy heard and saw this as he turned back at the man who was hurting Robin. "Leave Robin alone you stupid-!"
"Keep going!" The dark haired girl stopped his threat. "I'll hold the fence up for as long as I can!"
The top hatted boy nodded, then lifted Robin up to be handed to Luffy next, helping her to climb the box steps while she kept her hands locked together, not wanting to let the fence down just yet. The higher the boys and girl went, the more angry Outlook grew as he thrashed against the wall of limbs.
"Don't you dare walk away from me!" He roared like an animal in a cage, so much so that his wife and adopted son stepped back at his rabid behavior.
Outlook's grip on the arms grew tighter and tighter as he continued to shake at them. Robin couldn't concentrate any longer and let her arms down, the fence disappearing in a plum of pink petals. Outlook was stunned at first, before looking at the retreating children once again and charged for the pile of boxes.
"C'mon, guys! Hurry!" Ace reached the top and motioned for the rest to get up their quick, seeing the seething noble climb the boxes like a madman. However, Outlook's lack of climbing experience showed as he lost his grip on a ledge and nearly slipped off the makeshift tower.
Luffy reached the top of the wall next, then reached back down to grab Robin's hand. Robin pulled herself up with Luffy's help and turned to help Sabo up. Robin reached down to grab Sabo's hand as he reached out his own, only for Outlook to catch up and snatch his ankle in his grasp.
"You're not going anywhere!" He bellowed as he pulled on his son's leg, making him wince in pain. Luffy, Ace and Robin immediately grabbed onto each of Sabo's arms and pulled with all their might. Luffy and Ace pulled as hard as they could, but the mix between Outlook's grip and his newfound pull of gravity was making their hands slip on Sabo's. robin saw the pain on the top hatted boy's face, the strain of the three's tugging on his body getting to him. In a spur of the moment idea, Robin let go of Sabo quick and struck her pose once more.
Two small arms spout out of the side of Outlook's head and in a swift motion, grabbed each end of his mustache and pulled hard, hard enough for his face to stretch out and distort. Outlook gave a growl of anguish and let go of Sabo's leg, using his elbows to keep himself latched onto the wall's ledge, while using his hands to nurse his sore face.
Sabo fell forward onto his bothers and Robin, immediately getting up and running to the end of the edge on the other side.
"How do we get down?!" He called back.
"I've got an idea!" Luffy declared as he looked over the edge and then suddenly, jumped off.
"LUFFY!" Robin cried out in terror, running to the edge with Ace to look down at him as he fell.
"Gum-Gum Balloon!" Buffy announced as he sucked in a heap of air, expanding his stomach to a comically large size and holding it in as he gently floated to the bottom and bounced when he hit the ground.
Ace backed up from the ledge with a grin. "Luffy, for once, those powers are coming in good use!" He then ran to the end of the ledge before jumping and sailing down toward his little brother's belly, bouncing off him and landing safely.
"C'mon, Robin!" Ace called up. The straw hatted boy made an attempt to say 'You can do it!' but since he had to hold his breath, ti came out as a series of hums.
Robin glanced down nervously, looking over to Sabo who gave her a thumbs up, telling her that she'd be okay. The dark haired girl relaxed a little at this, then proceeded to jump off, screaming all the way down before plopping on Luffy's stomach and bouncing off onto the gound. "Thanks, Luffy!"
Luffy tried to sound out a 'No problem!' which only caused the girl to smile.
Now it was Sabo's turn to jump. One more leap, and he'd be free of Goa Kingdom once more.
"SABO!" His father called from behind, stopping the boy in his tracks."You leave this kingdom, you'll never be allowed back in! You hear me?! I'LL SEE TO IT YOUR NEVER SEEN AS NOBLE AGAIN, PERSONALLY!"
Sabo stood frozen for a second, the harsh words of his father striking him in his heart with a pain he had grown familiar with.
"SABO!" A call from down below brought him out of it, as he looked down and spotted his friends, his brothers and only girl in his life he'd known…his family.
"What are you waiting for?!" Ace called up, wondering why he was taking so long.
"You can come down! Don't worry! Luffy will catch you!" Robin shouted out, wanting to put any of his fears at ease.
'Let's go home, Sabo!' Luffy tried to say, but still held his breath to give him a safe landing.
Sabo was so beside himself, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of them. The three people that made his life worth living.
"You know something, Dad…" Outlook looked up from his struggling on the side of the ledge to see his son look back with a sad smile.
"…That's everything I've always wanted!"
And with that, he turned around and jumped.
"SABO!" Outlook began thrashing wildly at the ledge, accidentally kicking the footing of boxes out from under himself. The nobleman was now hanging onto the ledge for dear life rather than fury. His wife and adopted child gained a look of horror, seeing him in such a dire and humiliating situation.
The man's lack of physical strength caught up with him though, as he could no longer hold onto the ledge. He fell from the towering height, falling with a wail as he landed on the mess of wooden boxes, crushing them beneath him.
"Darling!" His wife cried as she franticly minced her way over to him, breaking out into hysterical crying as she did so. Outlook was dazed from his fall, answering his wife with a moan of dizziness. Shelly could only look as his new parents acted in such undignified manners.
Nobles wouldn't dare admit when they were in the wrong, or had made a mistake, afraid of what would happen to their precious reputation. But on this day, the reputation of Goa kingdom had been utterly and undoubtedly run through the mud, along with the now broken and disgraced Outlook family.
"We did it!" Ace thrust his fists in the air in triumph. "We totally did it!"
"We got Sabo back!" Luffy cheered with his freckled sibling.
The four reunited young ones were walking through the thick brush of the jungle. Ace was beaming at a mission accomplished, Luffy was grinning with glee at having his brother back, Robin was at the far back smiling at the three, but then noticed that out of them all, Sabo was the most quiet.
"Did you see the look on that little, big nosed chicken's face when I got into his?" Ace bragged, remembering the little runt that hid behind the noble woman.
"I thought he was gonna wet himself!" Luffy laughed out loud at that, clothing his stomach to sooth the ache.
Robin leaned over Sabo's shoulder so she could be heard over the boy's bellowing. "I'm glad your back, Sabo."
"Yeah…" The top hatted boy returned, a sad sort of smile plastered on his face. "Good to be back…"
"And hey!" Ace turned back to get the returned brother's attention. "Way to go on telling your old man off!" As the freckled boy chuckled at this, Sabo looked down at the ground, clearly not as enthusiastic as he was.
"Boy, what I wouldn't give to give my dad what for if he was still here!" Ace continued to laugh as he looked back. "I mean-" Only to stop when seeing the downcast look on his returned brother's face. "Sabo, what's up?"
"Huh?" The top hatted boy barely reacted to Ace as he looked up partly. "Oh! Nothing…"
After that, the children kept trailing through the woods in quiet, a mood of unease over them all after their victory.
Back at the Bandit shack, both Olivia and Makino couldn't stop pacing back and forth, darting their eyes to the forest, hoping to catch a glimpse of the missing children. Dadan sat on her porch with a bottle of whiskey in hand, too tense to drink but wouldn't dare admit it. The rest of her gang were huddled inside, all with looks of distraught on their faces. At the far end of the opening, tied to a different tree, was a still unconscious Bluejam and his crew.
A rustle from the bushes alerted everyone, bringing the two women whipping their heads in the noise's direction, the bandit leader to her feet and her men barreling out of the cabin.
With another rustle, four familiar faces made themselves known.
"Were back!" Ace declared proudly.
"We got Sabo!" Luffy happily cheered.
"Luffy! Ace!" Making ran to the boys and scooped them both into a hug, tears falling down her face. "Don't ever do that to me again!"
"Robin!" Olivia cried as she wrapped her arms around her daughter. Robin returned the hug just as intensely.
"I'm sorry I ran away from you, Momma!" The girl wailed, afraid of how angry her mother might have been. "But I had to! I just had to…!"
"It's okay, Robin!" Olivia put the young one's mind at ease. "It's okay! Your safe! That's all that matters!"
Over at the bandit cabin, the gang were balling their eyes out, happy the children were safe. "They're alive, Dadan!" One turned to their boos, who'd turned away to look the other way. "They're okay! See?!"
"Yeah, yeah! Happy days for all!" She grumpily chided, only to turn back and let silent tears roll down her face, her quivering lip barely keeping her cigarette in place.
Once the mother and bartender were finished holding the three, they looked over to the returned child. "Sabo!"
"Hi…" He half-heartedly greeted with a weak wave of his hand. This stopped the two women in their tracks.
"Sabo…Are you alright?" Making asked with concern.
"Of course I'm fine!" The top hatted boy smiled brightly, a little too brightly. "Ace, Luffy and Robin pulled by butt out of the fire, literally!"
The two women looked at each other, uncomfortable with how the boy was acting. The rest of the bandits caught on to the change in atmosphere, their cheers and tears dying down, even Dadan looking back from where she sat.
"Since I thought there was no way I was gonna see any of you again, I decided to set off out to sea and become a pirate early!" The gap-toothed child explained. "But when I got out in the harbor, this huge ship came out of nowhere, with this guy carrying a huge bazooka, and tried to blow me out of the water!" Everyone was unnerved by the upbeat manner that Sabo was speaking in, but didn't dare stop him.
"Then out of nowhere, my brothers and Robin save me from getting blasted! Luffy even managed to pull off aiming when he stretches!" The boy went on. "After my boat crashed and these guys saved me, we made our escape by building a pile of boxes up to the top of the kingdom's wall, when suddenly, my dad shows up!"
"He starts ranting and raving about how we've ruined everything, how much he hates me and wishes I was never born and how he just wants me to do as i'm told for the rest of my life!" Tears began to prickle in Sabo's eyes, but he just kept going. "Then, after for who knows how long, I finally manage to tell him to shut up, and how much I'd rather be dead than be a noble!"
"Robin held him off with her powers, and Ace and Luffy finished the box mountain! We climbed to the top, but my dad tried to stop me, again! He pulled at my leg and said that if I left this time, he'd do everything he could to make sure I never see the inside of Goa Kingdom again!"
Tears were filling up the eyes of Makino, her hands covering her sobs as all she could do was watch this small young boy have a breakdown. Olivia managed to work her way over to the child and take him by the shoulders "Sabo…?"
The top hatted boy looked up with tears in his eyes and a pained smile on his face. "I'll never have to see that horrible city or my awful parents ever again! Isn't that great?!"
Silence was the answer he was met with. Ace, Luffy and Robin only stared at their brother and friend after his recollection. Making clutched at her skirt, tears freely falling from her eyes. Dadan went back to staring the other way, keeping her remorse for the boy quiet.
Olivia was still holding onto Sabo's shoulders, looking into the painfully forced happy expression on the boy's face.
"Sabo…" The white haired woman breathed out, bringing the top hatted boy's attention to her. She tightened her grip on him as she leaned forward slightly, looking deeper into his eyes as moisture began to form in her own.
"Sabo…I'm sorry your father didn't love you."
The fake happiness left Sabo's face for a stunned one. Then soon enough, he couldn't hold back his turmoil any longer, and broke down crying.
Olivia immediately brought the boy into a tight embrace, letting him wail into her shoulder. Makino could sit beside no longer and tackled the two, wrapping her arms around them both. Ace walked up to where his brother cried and simply placed a caring hand on his shoulder, letting him know he was there. Buffy barreled into the back of Sabo, hugging him from behind and crying just as hard as he was. Robin walked followed suit and managed to squeeze past Luffy and hug the top hatted boy also.
All of them let Sabo know, that they were there for him. They cared for him.
They loved him.
"Do you think the boy was lying?" A large clocked figure said to another. The two were sailing on a ship outside of the Goa kingdom harbor, looking over the now shamed noble city.
"No," The smaller figure spoke back. "The pan in his eyes was too real to be faked. He was telling the truth."
"If that really was the case, then how come nothing has been burned?" The larger figure pointed out.
"I think I might have an inkling of an idea…" The smaller figure mused. "But it seems we are not needed here. Set course for home."
"At once, Dragon sir."
After the emotional recollection between Sabo and his surrogate family, the gathering was now in a state of quiet confusion. After surviving the last hours of life-threatening danger, it took some time for everyone to come down from the heightened emotions.
"So what do we do now?" Luffy asked out loud, breaking the silence.
Ace looked over to the still unconscious thugs tied to a tree and scowled. "I want to get some answers…" He said as he got up and made his way to the shack's outdoor steel drum bath. Grabbing a bucket, he filled it with water before making his way over to the out cold crooks.
In one swift motion, Ace dowsed the gang in water, snapping them awake from their mysterious stupor. Bluejam and his crew shook themselves awake, swatting water from their faces and spitting out what got in their mouths.
"What's going on…?" The toothless man groaned out, shaking off the darkness and cold water to take in his new surroundings. "What the-?!"
Bluejam took in the sight of a large gang of mountain bandits, their orange haired leader, two women and four familiar children, all glaring daggers at the down and out pirate. At the sight of the young ones, Bluejam's memory caught up with him.
"YOU!" The toothless thug roared as he began pulling at his ropes, wanting nothing more than to throttle the child in front of him. Olivia instinctively pulled Robin back and away from the rabid man as he thrashed against his restraints.
"Do you realize what you've done?! You ruined everything!" Bluejam barked as he continued to try and get free. "Grey Terminal should have been burned to a crisp! If it wasn't for you and that little freak girl-!"
"Don't call Robin a freak!" Luffy immediately snapped as Makino wrapped her arms around his was it to stop him from charging at the toothless thug.
Growling at the child, his attention turned to the last person he thought he'd see outside the kingdom again, the top hatted noble's son.
"What are you doing here?!" Bluejam asked, genially confused.
"I'm back where I belong!" Sabo proudly stated, looking the toothless bum square in the eye. "I'm never going back to Goa Kingdom again!"
"You…You can't be serious!" Bluejam struggled in his ropes before speaking again. "You had the world wrapped around your finger! Anything you wanted, you could have! But you threw it away?! For what?!"
Sabo kept his stare on the balding man as he stepped back to the people behind him.
"For them?" Bluejam retorted, the boy staying silent his only answer. "What's wrong with you?! They're nothing!"
"They're everything to me!" Sabo made clear. "You think I had the world handed to me on a silver platter back in that kingdom? Wrong! That place was nothing but a prison for me! I hated that place, and I hated my life!"
Olivia and Makino looked at the boy with sadness. Robin turned her head down at the ground, Luffy and Ace stared at their brother with devotion. As the mountain bandits stood at the back pitying the former noble child, Dadan took to drinking from a bottle of liquor. Even if she was feigning to pay attention to what was going on, she had a strong wish to put the toothless ex-pirate into another coma, just to make herself feel better.
Before Bluejam could say anything else, Olivia spoke up from where she stood with Robin. "So it's true then? You really tried to burn down Grey Terminal and forced these children to do your dirty work for you?"
The down and out pirate stopped his struggling to glare at the white haired scholar. "Yeah, so?! What's it to you?!"
The white haired scholar scowled at the repulsive man, disgust thick in her eyes. All this did was get a look of obscene pride from the ex-pirate.
"So I tired to burn down a trash-dump full of people, big deal!" Bluejam sneered proudly.
"But you didn't come up with that plan all by yourself, did you?" Ace spoke up.
"Say what?" Bluejam asked, a bead of sweat going down his brow.
"When you were losing it over the boxes failing to blow up, you said that the king would never let you in now," Ace pointed an amusing finger at the toothless man. "What did you mean by that!?"
"It was the noble's plan…" Sabo answered for him, making everyone turn their heads toward him.
"The kind of Goa must have hired Bluejam to burn down Grey Terminal." He looked at the man with great grimace.
"Why would the king of Goa want anything to do with the likes of Bluejam here?" Dadan spoke up, stepping forward from the crowd.
"Because noble's wouldn't be caught dead getting their own hands dirty…" The top hatted boy was clutching his fists in boiling anger again. "Their plan was to burn down Grey Terminal and everyone in it, all so they could 'look good' for when the Celestials arrive!"
Gasps of horror came from the bar-tender and archeologist, with Robin throwing her hands up to her mouth to stifle her own.
"Say what?!" Luffy shouted in shock, with Ace by his side grinding his teeth in rage.
The bandits were blown away by the frightening revelation, with their red-headed leader throwing her bottle to the ground with a smash at the utter audacity of the nobles.
"All those people…" Makino was close to tears for the lives in the junkyard.
"They would have done such a thing…? Just to…" Olivia said in a stupor.
Dadan interrupted her with a loud, spite-filled spit on the ground. "I knew those filthy high-society creeps were full of it, but this is just too sick!"
Ace directed his rage at the ex-pirate and his trussed up gang. "You were gonna be let into the kingdom once Grey Terminal was on fire, weren't you?!"
"That was the plan," bluejam growled as he began thrashing at his ropes once more, causing everyone to back up in defense. "Until you little freaks messed everything up! Now the king will never make us noble's now!"
"Like he would have in the first place…" Sabo ground out, catching the balding thug's attention once more.
"What was that?!" Bluejam growled.
"The king would never have made you nobles," The top hatted boy explained. "The nobles are too proud to let the likes of you into their kingdom! If you really did manage to burn down the terminal, the nobles would have just left you outside to burn, along with everyone else!"
"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Sabo had apparently hit a nerve in the ex-pirate, making him lose all composure and wrestle at his bidnings like a rabid animal, drool even flying from his mouth.
Makino grabbed Sabo by his shoulders and pulled him back for safety, Olivia doing the same with Robin. Everyone took a large step backwards as Bluejam lost what self-restraint he had left.
"Boss…" One of his underlings tied to the tree also spoke up. "You're crushing us…"
Bluejam either didn't here him or ignored him completely, as he continued to pull at the ropes and crush his men behind him.
Then suddenly, he stopped. He became as still as a statue.
The gathering looked on at the man's sudden change in behavior, wondering what happened to make him stop.
A dark chuckle came from the balding thug. Then another. And another.
Soon enough, Bluejam had erupted into a fit of unhinged laughter, throwing his head back as he cackled into the sky.
His own men were beginning to grow afraid of their leader, more so than usual. The gathering before him could only think back all the more, fearful of his new manic demeanor.
Bluejam began to calm down from his hysterics, lowering his head and breathing deeply to catch his breath. "If what you say is true, kid…then I'm not the only one that got nothing outta this…"
"What are you-?" Sabo made an attempt to step forward, but Makino held on tight to the boy, unrelenting to let him go.
"As we speak, the nobles are probably sweeping this whole 'cleaning up the terminal' plan of theirs under the rug, pretending like it never happened!" The toothless pirate grinned smugly. "They're gonna get off scot free for everything they tried to do…And all you're struggling was for nothing! It was all for naught! Everything you did, will be as if it never happened in the first place!"
Bluejam laughed once again, enjoying the crestfallen and angered faces of the children that had foiled his plans. The two women overlooking them were just as downtrodden and frustrated as they were. Dadan and her men were looking ready to beat him into unconsciousness again, but he didn't care, he knew that they knew that he was right.
"Now," He calmed himself from his maniacal cackling to speak like a normal person. "If you'd be so kind as to let me and my men go…"
"No way are we doing that!" Luffy barked.
"You don't have a choice," bluejam grinned for the up-tenth time that day. "Since everything that happened didn't really happen, you're just holding us against our will, making you the criminals…"
"Your'e the criminals!" Robin countered feebly.
"For what?" Bluejam smugly defended. "'Where's there's no smoke, there's no fire' right?"
"You've still hurt too many people in the Terminal to count!" Ace pointed out quickly. "We let you go, you'll just go back to make their lives miserable!"
"Then what're you gonna do, kid? Kill me?" Bluejam stared the freckled boy down, daring him to try something.
Ace stood frozen at the ex-pirate's words, unable to help himself but contemplate the notion.
He swallowed. "Maybe we should…"
"Ace!" Makino shrieked. "Don't say such a thing!"
"But it's the best option, isn't it?!" Ace turned back to the crowd. "Without Bluejam around, everyone can be safe! We won't have to worry about him anymore!"
"But Ace…" Luffy mumbled shakily. "I don't wanna kill anyone…"
"I don't mean you, Luffy!" Ace corrected, before turning back toward the toothless bum. "But…We can't just let him go…"
Bluejam grinned. The freckled kid may play tough, but he doesn't have it in him to take a life. Not like him…
The toothless man was enjoying the sour looks on the crowd's faces, but even their misery wasn't enough. No, they needed to pay for they're meddling in his business…
They had no choice but to let him and his men go. All he had to do was let them talk it out some more, just wait it out….
And the minute they did untie them, he and his gang would carve them into ribbons! Nobody humiliates him and lives to tell the tale!
"Spoken like a true marine, my boy!"
The new voice broke Bluejam out of his thoughts to look back at the newcomer, along with everyone gathered there.
"Garp?!" Makino gasped in surprise.
The hero of the navy was indeed standing before them, arms folded over one another with a toothy grin adorning his face. The trussed up toothless bum stared at the marine captain quizzically, wondering where he had heard that name before. when he finally did remember, his face went white.
"Garp…?!" Bluejam echoed dumbly.
"Grandpa!" Luffy and Ace announced ecstatically.
"GRANDPA?!" Bluejam's face turned his namesake.
"I see everyone's been busy while I've been gone!" The bearded man deduced as he walked toward the gathering. Once he reached them, the marine vice-admiral turned to the mother and daughter of the group.
"Robin, Olivia! You'll be happy to know that the upset to do with the Tree of Knowledge on Ohara has been al cleared up!" Garp beamed. "No one will be going after the tree, or the archeologists, anymore! Clover and the rest send their regards."
The white haired scholar's face showed great relief, while Robin smiled brightly, knowing her friends back home were safe and sound.
"How did you get back here so quickly?" Makino asked in her disbelief.
"The winds were just on our side, is all!" The marine man laughed out loud, before turning serious on a dime. "Now…what exactly has been going on since I've been away?"
The children were more than happy to relay everything that had happened to them in the past hours of turmoil and panic.
"…And then Sabo landed down with us, and we headed back here!" Luffy finished, breathing hard as the excitement of their adventure caught up with him once more.
Garp rubbed his head, absorbing the words spoken to him by the young ones.
"You're not gonna believe a bunch of kids, are you?!" Bluejam spoke up suddenly.
"Shut. Up." Garp didn't even look back to know that the balding bum was sweating bullets.
The vice-admiral stood from his spot, an air of authority radiating off him. "It seems I'll have to pay the king of Goa a visit…"
"And what about the Bubblehead that tried to blow up Sabo?" Ace pointed out.
Garp gave a sigh of reluctance, not looking forward to the reaction he would get. "I'm afraid…there's nothing I can do about that…"
SAY WHAT?!" The four children were aghast by this.
"The Celestials are of a much higher authority then the nobles, and certainly more than the Navy." Garp clarified. "They are the ones that created the World Government, the source of law and order across the seas…"
"So they say…" Olivia murmured to herself.
"They have diplomatic immunity, meaning that they cannot be punished for any committed crimes on their behalf." Garp concluded.
"THAT'S STUPID! TOO STUPID!" Ace roared in defiance.
"They tired to kill Sabo, and there's nothing we can do about it?!" Luffy questioned wide-eyed.
"To put it simply…yes." Garp nodded solemnly.
Luffy looked down to the ground in disatisfaction, while Ace ran off to punch a tree until the bark came off. Makino ran after him, not wanting the boy to hurt himself. Robin's eyes were to the ground as well, with her mother placing her hand on top of her head in sadness.
Sabo on the other hand, was as still as a statue. Wind blew in his face and it didn't even faze him. The top hatted boy was too trapped in his own thoughts to feel anything at that moment…
"The least I can do, is deal with what I can…" Garp announced as he made his way over to the trussed up gang, making them cower in fear once more.
Garp stood in front of the cowering Bluejam, staring him down with steel in his eyes. "I'm gonna enjoy bringing you in…but first!" He cracked his knuckles, making the doomed ex-pirate begin to sweat and shiver at what was in store for him.
"NOBODY FORCES MY GRANDKIDS TO DO HARD LABOUR, EXCEPT ME!"
Bluejam and his crew screamed in terror as the hero of the navy proceeded to beat them all back into unconsciousness.
After Garp had finished 'interrogating' Bluejam and his crew, many more things were handled by the hero of the navy, specifically to do with the kingdom of Goa.
Due in the 'interrogation' of Bluejam, the man spilled the beans on how the king of the noble city hired him to lay waste to the giant junkyard. He figured that if he was going down, he was going to at least take someone with him.
And since Goa wasn't recently blessed by the Celestials and not welcomed into the world government, there was no immunity for the king to hide behind. In a matter of days, the royal family of Goa was stripped of their title, the king arrested and the kingdom of Goa became a Navy governed state.
The nobles of the ex-kingdom were heavily taxed, their proceeds going to the homeless that lived outside of their walls against their selfish wishes. Anyone that disagreed with having their wealth confiscated didn't dare speak up about it, not wanting to be in the crosshairs of their new overseers.
The nobles wanted to be apart of the world government, now they were. Just not in the way they wanted.
Later that night, a celebration was in full swing in the bandit shack to welcome home Sabo, and forget the unfortunate news of the Celestial.
Olivia and Makino had cleaned up the young boy and brought him a fresh set of clothes. They tended to his injuries and prepared a large meal fro him, which turned into the full scale celebration it was now. At the centre of it all was Sabo, munching on the best pieces of meat and huddled between Makino and Olivia, treating him like mothers spoiling their own child. Ace and Robin laughed as they clinked bugs of juice, while Luffy scarfed down one hunk of meat after another. The party went on until late at night, laughs and songs echoing out into the clearing of the run down house.
Time seemed to return to normal for the young four, as if what had happened with Goa, Sabo's father and Bluejam hadn't happened at all. But after the treacherous and life threatening experience, their bond had grown all the more stronger and the young four became all the more inseparable.
Especially after one fateful day…
"Nico Robin!" The trio of boys announced loudly, taking Robin by surprise.
The four were currently standing in the middle of the brother's make-shift battleground, close to their treehouse where they were safe from any wandering wildlife.
"For helping to save Sabo's life!" Luffy bellowed.
"For showing that you're tougher than you look!" Ace shouted.
"For staying with us through thick and thin!" Sabo declared.
The two older brothers turned behind them to pull something out from behind a log, and pulled it open to reveal a large black flag with two bones crossed over one another, with a red 'A' in the top left corner, a blue 'S' on the right, a yellow 'L' in the bottom left corner, and a purple 'R' on the left.
"YOU ARE NOW A FOUNDING MEMBER, OF THE A,S,L,R PIRATES!" Ace and Sabo declared.
"YAY, ROBIN!" Luffy leaped high behind the flag, he was so excited.
The girl could only stand their in a stupor. She just stared at the make-shift jolly roger, and the boys that made it.
"See, your name is Robin," Sabo explained as he pointed to the 'R' on the flag. "So we put the beginning letter of your name here!"
"That way, you can be next to your boyfriend…" Ace pointed out mockingly, causing Luffy to rush out from behind fuming.
"I'm not her-" Luffy would have finished that sentance, had it not been for the surprise sniffling coming from the dark haired girl in front of them.
They all turned to see Robin's fists shaking, her body trembling, and her eyes leaking with tears like twin waterfalls.
"Robin!" The three resounded together in worry, sprinting up to her in a hurry.
"What's wrong?!" Sabo inquired desperately.
"Do you not like it?!" Luffy asked in a panic.
"We can do it over if you want!" Ace tried to put her at ease.
Robin lifted her face, showing the tears that freely ran down her cheeks, but she made no attempt to cover them up. Along with her tears, was a bright, happy smile gracing her face.
"I love it…" She sniffed. "Thank you…"
Taken back by her words, the two older brothers smiled at the newest member of their crew, while Luffy abandoned the two to rush over to her and wrap his arms around her, laughing and spinning, making the girl stop crying and begin to laugh along with him.
"Congratulations, Robin!" The straw hatted boy praised.
"Thanks, Luffy!" She beamed. "You really want me to be on your crew?"
"Of course we do!" He answered as he stopped spinning along with her. "We'd be stupid not to!"
Robin couldn't help but sniffle again at his words before tackling him with a hug of her own. "Thank you!"
As the two youngest members of the child pirate crew hugged and laughed, Ace and Sabo stepped closer together, enjoying the sight.
"We still up for tonight?" The top hatted boy whispered.
"Heck yeah, we are!" The freckled boy answered silently back, before rushing up to the two in front of him, Sabo catching up behind.
"Hey, Luffy! If you're done hugging your girlfriend, let's all go for a hunt!" Ace snidely chimed in.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Was the straw hat boy's angry remark.
It was the dead of night in Foosha Village on that same day. The townsfolk were long into their sleep. At the Nico household, Olivia peacefully slept in her bedroom, whilst Robin was deep asleep in hers. Suddenly, a pebble was thrown at her window, tapping against the glass, then another, and another.
Robin was drawn out of her slumber, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she went and opened her curtain. Looking out, she saw that Ace and Sabo were standing their, Ace bouncing a small rock in his hand and Sabo waving to her.
Robin opened her window and poked her head out. "What are you guys doing here?"
"We need to show you something!" Ace whispered, wanting to keep the conversation between the three of them and not wake anyone else up.
"Can't it wait until tomorrow?" Robin yawned, wanting nothing more than to go back to bed.
"Sorry, Robin, but we need to show you this right now!" Sabo desperately pleaded with her. Seeing the dire need in his eyes, Robin became a little more awake.
"Is it about Luffy?" She worried.
"No, this isn't about your boyfriend!" Ace drowned out, ignoring the scathing look the woman shot him.
"Look, would you just come with us, please?!" Sabo harshly whispered under his breath. "After that, you can go straight back to bed, we promise!"
Robin gave a huff of annoyance. "Fine!" She made a move to back inside and get some clothes on before she stopped. "But if you two are just wasting my time-"
"Trust us, Robin…" Ace smiled. "This'll be worth it."
The three children were trudging through a patch of forest that connected with the dense jungle of Mt. Colubo. Ace and SAbo were way ahead of Robin, who was still trying to wake up for whatever the two needed her for.
The dark haired girl stumbled over a stray rock, irking her along with her lack of sleep. "Where are we going?!"
"Hold on, Robin," Sabo turned back to reassure her. "Not long now."
"You've been saying that for ages now!" Robin groaned. "I wanna go back to bed!"
"Don't worry, Robin…" Ace spoke up as he placed a hand on a branch in front of him. "We're here."
Robin caught up with the boys in time for the freckled child to pull the branch back like a curtain.
Unveiled in front of her was the stump of a tree, with three small, red saucers and a pale grey bottle sitting on top of it.
"What's all this?" she stepped toward the display, looking at it from different angles.
"This is a ritual that me, Ace and Luffy did before we met you." Sabo answered for her as he walked around to the other side of the stump.
"A ritual?" Robin rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"When two or more people share a cup of sake together, they become brothers," Ace explained as he poured a cup of the drink into each of the saucers. "That's how me, Sabo and Luffy became brothers."
"You drank sake?!" Robin's eyes shot open, drowsiness now completely forgotten. "Luffy drank this?!"
"Sure did!" Sabo spoke as he took the saucer in front of him. "And if you want, you can too."
"Huh?" Robin responded confused.
"Robin," Ace took his own cup and smiled at the girl. "Drink this, and we wont just be friends anymore. We'll be you're brothers, and you'll be our sister."
Robin was frozen. Her? Having brothers?
She stared back down at the filled sake cup in front of her, then back at the two older siblings. She looked around for the familiar face of her first friend, a small frown appearing.
"Where's Luffy?" she asked in a downtrodden tone. "Did he not want to be here? Did he…not want to be my brother?"
Sabo and Ace looked at each other with a knowing smirk before turning back to her.
"Robin…" Sabo gently spoke. "We know how you feel about Luffy…"
Robin's head shot up when she heard that, her face lit up like a tomato. "W-what are you talking about?!"
"C'mon, Robin!" Ace laughed. "It's written all over your face!"
The little dark haired girl looked down again to hide her blushing cheeks as Ace continued to chuckle.
"You can't like Luffy the way you do if he was your brother," Sabo pointed out. "That'd be weird."
"Yeah…" Robin agreed as her face scrunched up in grossness.
"We'll drink these sake cups," Ace got back to the point. "That way, you can keep liking Luffy the way you do, and we'll be your brothers…that is…if you want?"
Robin saw the worry on the freckled boy's face. He was looking away, once again pretending not to care and hide his emotions. That only made him easier to read. Robin then looked over to the top hatted boy, who was looking at her with a small smile, but she could see the fear of rejection in him easily.
Looking back down at the red saucer, she gave a smile and picked it up in both hands, lifting it to her mouth. Seeing the smile on her lips, both brothers gave a beam of their own before hurriedly picking their own up.
And in one motion from all three, they drank the bitter taste down together.
"Ugh!" Robin grimaced after she swallowed her share. "That tastes awful!"
"Heh!" Sabo chuckled as he was hunched over. "Just like last time…"
"Why would anyone drink this stuff?!" Ace tried to spit the taste out of his mouth.
"But…" the dark haired girl spoke up. "We're siblings now, right?"
Ace and Sabo looked back at her, and slowly began to smile. They walked over to her and put an arm around her each.
"Yeah, Robin," Sabo answered. "We're your brothers now."
"And you're our little sister!" Ace grinned.
Robin looked at the two, moisture coming to her eyes once more.
Nothing and no one could wipe the smile that appeared on the girl's face that night.
