Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Chapter 23: Old and New Allies & Older Brothers Reunite
(In The Previous Timeline)
In a remote secret laboratory was several bodies spread across the floor. One of the men that were present in the room was removing his arm from a person's chest. The light in the injured person's eyes faded away instantly.
"Damn it! So is this what the world has come to?" an old man yelled out in desperation. as he slammed his fist into the ground. The old man was kneeling on one knee as two figures stood over the man's body. A sinister grin formed on the larger man.
"Zehahahaha! So the old man is finally out of ideas now? Science has finally failed you. Science can't win against brute strength. Zehahahaha!" Blackbeard laughed hysterically. The old man's face flushed with anger.
"Is this what we become? His lap dogs?! Say something Sakazuki!" the man yelled out.
"This is the natural state of justice. It has been preserved for the past 2 years. You pirate lovers will understand True Justice Vegapunk." Akainu's voice was laced with absolution, "Justice will be served no matter what the cost is. This is farewell." Akainu raised his magma coated fist and slammed it down into Vegapunk. Akainu's fist pierced through Vegapunk's head.
"You're my last hope young ones. The government will not get away with this!" were Vegaunk's last words. What the two men didn't notice was several life essences were shooting into the sky and behind them in a tank were several more that were responding with reactions of the other life essences. Akainu took notice and turned around to Blackbeard.
"He has summoned us." was all he said. Blackbeard's grin disappeared.
"Can't keep him waiting. Let's move out." Blackbeard replied as darkness began to wrap around their body.
…..
(In The Tavern)
Charlotte Tiramisu is a tall medium built man whose face one could mistake for Sanji's if they don't notice the square-rimmed glasses, shoulder-length pink hair, and a perfectly straight nose, which has pretty narrow nostrils. Often seen wearing a large greatcoat.
"So that's the 'Lost Heir of Totto Land' Charlotte Tiramisu?" Robin pointed out. "I thought he would have been taller."
When he heard that, he pulled out a pocket watch to do some adjustments. The effect of those adjustments was soon noticed when he went from seven-foot, two inches (220 cm) to his native 14-foot, 5 inches(440 cm).
"Much better. Tiramisu said as he got used to the watch's effect. Now, Usopp, was it? How did you know who I am?" He asked, narrowing his eyes and releasing a bit of Haki, "and be honest with me."
"I saw your name with two other people under the Soru Soru no Mi." Ussop shivered a little bit due to the amount of Conqueror Haki was released.
"In a Bootlegger's Guide, I take it?" another voice said as the shadow that cast over as the remaining patrons were removed. Tiramisu sported a slight grin.
"Hello guys, meet the Straw Hat Pirates." he turned to the mentioned pirates. "Straw Hats, meet the Guns n' Coffee."
"Beretta Rambo, sniper, consumer of the Shouju Shouju no Mi." he tilted his head to the blond man to his right. Said blond man was 302 cm with a lean muscular build and a 3-day stubble beard wearing loose clothing that wouldn't be out of place in a factory and a newsboy cap.
"Salazar Poveglia, doctor," he introduced the only female of the team. She was an olive-skinned snake neck as tall Tiramisu himself with dirty blonde hair under a wide-brimmed sun-hat, a black long skirt suit that hugged her body nicely and black high heels. She had a dark purple sash on her waist holding a rapier with a golden snake-themed hilt.
He later pointed his hand at a tall black-haired man with a sharp jaw and a pointy chin, with a large burn scar on the left side of his face. "Piccu Manicotti, or 'Manny the Bistro' our chef, can go against the best in the cooking world." Dressed in a white chef's shirt with vertical striped pants, his lanky 400 cm frame was intimidating, to say the least, especially with the cleaver he was sharpening.
"Bruschetti Aleso, our inside to the Marines, and consumer of the Kado Kado no Mi" he turned to Robin with a grin, "Whom I believe you've met before." The man he gestured to was a not so impressive 312 cm when compared to his colleagues' heights, he had black hair, a matching Italian suit and a long face with amused yellow eyes. His demeanor was laid back as he kept shuffling a deck of cards between his hands to pass the time.
"Look, as much as I would love to talk about our crews, we got to see someone about getting to Sky Island," Luffy said in a bored tone as he was about to turn around and head out the tavern until..
"I guess Montblanc's where you're going right?" Rambo quirked a brow.
"How do you know about that?" Sanji asked with wide eyes.
"Anyone out of the North Blue knows about the 'Liar's legacy', right? Vinsmoke Sanji?" replied Rambo. A tic formed on Sanji's head.
Between the bickering of the two North Blue natives, and Chopper saying hi to Poveglia, Tiramisu saw Nojiko's sword and told her, "Tell you what, since you're probably going to Skypiea, head to a place called Charon's Hand and talk to the owner. Her name's Pierogi. She'll give you a few upgrades to your weapons if you need them.." He went over and hopped on a large golden boar, "Let's go, guys."
Luffy turned to Tiramisu and his boar and unleashed a wave of Haki of his own at him. His boar turned into a small locket which caused Tiramisu to fall. When he got up, he turned his attention to Luffy with a flushed and sweaty face and swirls in his eyes. Luffy just ignored all that and asked, "You failed to answer my question about the technique you used on Bellamy. What was that?"
When he heard that, his eyes lost the swirls, he simply chuckled out, "My Sword Pocus."
"Sword Pocus?" Luffy asked
"Imagine materializing a piece of your soul to take souls; Care for a demonstration"
Luffy saw Sanji frantically shaking his head, he wondered why for a second until he remembered Sanji's stint in Totto Land and probably seen Big Mom perform a Soul Pocus or two as punishment
"No, I think we'll pass," Luffy said with a nervous grin.
"Very well, we're going." With that Tiramisu and his crew was until Luffy unleashed another powerful wave of Haki. Tiramisu and his crew were instantly kneeling on the floor.
"Oh, by the way, if you use your powers on any of my crew again, I won't hesitate to kill you." Luffy's glare was icy and dangerous. Tiramisu took that as a hint to not cross him at all.
"What are we waiting for? We got a Cricket to get to" Ussop stated.
...
(2 Hours Later)
On the opposite side of Jaya, the crew was heading to Cricket's house when they caught sight of it.
"Is that…?" Nojiko began.
"Plywood," finished Gin.
"Yeah... his house is behind that, uh, display." Nami said with mundane.
"You mean half house," drawled Zoro.
When Zoro received a questioning look Ussop started, "Only half his house remains because the rest was blown into the sky. When all he got were two pairs of suspicious eyes, he screamed with sharp teeth. I'M NOT LYING!"
"Usopp is correct, you know," Robin said. "You see there is a monstrous current called the knock-up stream," she started explaining the details of the knock-up stream... so half the island ended up next to Skypiea." She finished as they docked. To say Gin and Nojiko was completely shocked again would be an understatement
"Wow!"
"That's crazy, I keep underestimating the Grand Line," Nojiko stated.
"This is just Paradise." Zoro retorted while walking to the tree stump in front of the house.
"There's more to come mellorine!" Sanji swooned in with heart eyes.
"Shut up, love cook."
"Say that again, idiot swordsman."
"I sai-"
"STOP!" Nami yelled as she slammed her heel into Sanji's neck causing him to fall into Zoro.
"Did I tell you guys about that one time I was fighting 3 million people on a flying island with a hammer, 3 rubber bands and one bullet." began Ussop in storytelling mode while everyone filed onto dry land.
"Really Ussop?" Chopper gave Usopp the sideway glance look. Ussop gasped in shock.
"Is that doubt I hear in your voice you raccoon dog?" Ussop asked in disgust. Before Chopper was about to launch at Ussop, Nojiko was the one to speak up while Luffy laughed loudly next to them.
"I can't find anyone inside," Nojiko said coming out of the half house.
"He's probably diving." Chopper replied as he was remembering Cricket's condition.
"He'll be here now." Luffy said looking at the water just as Cricket got out.
"Who the he-" he started shouting.
"We're want to find sky island," Luffy cut him quickly, much to the surprise of the other man. We were told you can help us." Luffy continued, slower this time.
Cricket cracked up laughing a storm when it died down and he was going to answer, he collapsed with a choked cry.
"Chopper," Luffy called.
"On it."
...
(3 hours Later)
"And how are we going south without a compass?" Nami asked although she knew the answer.
"Oh, you need a south bird. You'll find one in the forest. I recommend going early 'cause it'll take a while. Here, it looks like this," replied Cricket while showing them the gold statue of the south bird.
Suddenly Luffy appeared behind Gin and Nojiko and pushed them towards the forest. "Have fun guys. Also remember to rely on all your senses not just your eyes, to improve your Observation to help unlock your form of Hakii and get a better handle on it." somehow his innocent smile creeped them out. Now before we start prepping the Merry lets… PARTY! He screamed raising both fists in the air. "Sanji, FOOD!"
(2 Hours Later)
Gin and Nojiko came back with lots of dirt on their clothes, some bruises and a knocked out south bird to find the party still in food swing. Sanji was bringing out refreshments to the ladies before giving Luffy a plate of stacked up meat, which he promptly dug into. Zoro was drowning in booze with Shoujo while Masira and Chopper were listening to a tipsy Ussop recite an outrageous story with Robin adding a morbid joke every so often scaring all three of them. Nami was next Luffy and Cricket all three of them having fun and talking (eating).
Luffy noticed them first."Your back! And you caught it too! great! Come join us!"
"You bastard." Nojiko muttered.
"The Don's training methods are going to kill me soon." Gin panted as they took a seat and joined.
(Same time, Mock Town)
A fat, dirty and ugly man was sitting in a bar with 4 wanted posters spread out in front of him while sporting a toothless, sinister grin. At his table were 3 other men just as strange as the first. One had pale sickly skin and kept on coughing blood. Next to him on the ground lay a horse just as sickly. The third was a burly man much like the first, had a wrestler's mask and smile plastered on his face. The last man was tall and lean, had a long rifle resting against the table and a lens with a cross in front of his right eye.
"So, Captain, are we taking him out? Or should I say taking him in? WEEEEHAHAHA," shouted the masked man.
"Hmm. voiced out the toothless man. He was looking at three of the posters on the table with a contemplative look as his smile disappeared. "No. Straw Hat, Pirate Hunter and Blackleg definitely scream of power, and after his display of Conquerors haki I don't want to take any chances. These bounties are bull, they're worth more than that. Also, the rest are nothing to sneeze at, they all have powerful auras," he paused, then his smile returned full force, "Let's go after him," he pointed at the fourth poster. The picture had a tall lean tanned man with a white furry cap with black spots. He was holding a nodachi in one hand resting the hilt on his shoulder. The other had a head that seemed to be freaking out and so very alive. He had a bounty of 86 million belli.
"Looks like fate is on their side." said the tall man with the eyepiece.
"Looks like it, ZEHAHAHA!" laughed the first man, the captain.
(Back with the Strawhats)
The festivities ended by midnight with most of the crew out. They were woken up 3 hours before dawn to start preparing the Going Merry for her journey into the sky.
They set sail and braved the foul weather, which kept on worsening until they arrived at the designated spot and found a giant whirlpool.
"Guys? Why are we in a freakin' whirlpool?!" Nojiko screamed out nervously.
The ship entered the track of the whirlpool and kept sailing into it until they got in the middle of the whirlpool. And then everything went still. Before Luffy was able to issue out an order, Zoro, Sanji, and Ussop, and his Haki went off. A small vortex formed in the sky. Suddenly a couple of hooded figures appeared in the vortex.
"Now you two want to show us how much did your training improved?" the first hooded figure grinned in amusement. The figures nodded in response. Luffy tried to shave towards them and make them answer but his attack was blocked by a person holding a familiar weapon; a Seastone Jitte.
"Is that you Smokey?" Luffy called out as he was repelled back onto the ship. The second hooded masked figure decided to launch themselves out of the vortex. The weirdest part about this situation was the second hooded person launched themselves past Luffy and into Zoro, but Zoro was already launching a swift slash towards them. The person blocked the attack with their sheath. Zoro was completely surprised but what made him even more excited he knew the sheath belonged to someone familiar.
"Well if it isn't the cute little swordswoman." Zoro grinned in excitement. The cloaks fell off them the faces that were under the cloak were really Smoker and Tashigi. Robin smirked in amusement
"What an interesting development. As much I would like to see what happens, Smokey you're going to have to hold onto something" She said as she was taking her pose, a second later, pairs of hands came out of the deck holding everyone's feet by the ankles keeping them from falling overboard just as the water beneath the ship started rising unnaturally.
"What th-" that's as far as Gin got before the ship shot upward with the current as it roared to life.
Suddenly everything flipped 90 degrees and they were hurled upward towards the sky. If it wasn't for Robin's hands, some would have fell over even though most were expecting the sudden force.
Just as everybody got their bearing Nami's eyes lit up as she saw the ship sailing vertically like last time. She promptly shouted at the top of her lungs, "Set down the sail!"
As soon as everyone heard that they began to man their positions and started following Nami's orders. They flew to the sky, held their breaths and broke through the white sea and landed on the sea of clouds. Everyone was breathing hard, some harder than others. Obviously the first to recover were the monster trio. Followed by Smoker, Robin, Chopper, Ussop, Nami, Tashigi, Gin and Nojiko in that order.
"Even though it's the second time, this was incredible!" screamed Ussop after his breathing evened out.
"Nojiko-chwan, Tashigi-swan take it easy. It's harder to breathe 7,000 meters from sea level, just give it some time," Sanji said gently as he helped her up.
"So that's it!" Gin rasped out, still having trouble breathing as he stood up shakily.
"Don't be a wuss, you'll get used to it in no time," Zoro said.
"YAHOO! That was so fun guys!" cheered Luffy.
Nobody answered him as they all looked to the horizon and the beautiful sea of clouds.
They stayed silent for a couple of minutes until a giant sky octopus emerged from the water blocking the view and ruining the moment. Silently, Zoro jumped and sliced it, dropping a long sky sea snake next to them which Sanji promptly dealt with it.
"Usopp! Get the fishing rods! Sanji! Let's have a sky fish feast!" Luffy hollered.
"Alright, alright. Just deal with the idiot coming our way while I cook this," Sanji answered. "Oi, marimo, cut it and bring it here."
"Who are yo-"
"Just cut it or I will increase your debt!" Nami threatened.
"Tch. Witch."
"Wait so don't nobody want to ask the big question here?" Nojiko paused for a moment and looked around at everyone. Gin nodded in agreement.
"What is it?" Luffy asked.
"WHY ARE THERE 2 MARINES ON THIS SHIP?!" Nojiko yelled out in confusion.
"Oh. That's Smokey and Zoro's lover. They're cool." Luffy waved them off He was able to quickly dodge Zoro's sword coming at his neck. Zoro's face was completely flustered and bright red. While they were all still confused on why Smoker and Tashigi was on their ship, Smoker came back out from the kitchen with a chair in hand.
"So I guess the rumors that you went a sea above the sky were true." Smoker exhaled smoke from his cigar. Luffy and the crew's eyes widened in surprise.
"I knew there was something familiar about your aura. So you came from the future also?" Luffy's face was filled with curiosity and for some reason, hope. Smoker and Tashigi faces were also shocked.
"So that's how you were able to beat Morgan,the bike riding guy, and I so easily and said those things." Tashigi muttered that last part out. Zoro loved when she becomes embarrassed. As Zoro went to cut the sky sea snake, a man with a tribal outfit and a mask jumped from the sea attempting to land on the ship.
"Elimina-" he was cut short when Gin jumped in front of Nojiko to block the attack. Gin was barely able to block the attack due to the pressure in the sky. Luffy suddenly appeared next to and punched him away from the ship in no time.
"Ussoooooop, where are the fishing rods," Luffy whined.
"Here, here." Ussop handed them to Luffy.
...
(3 Hours Later)
After the crew ran into Gan Fall, an older woman named Amazon, the crew finally arrived at Skypiea. More specifically a fluffy cloud beach called Angel Beach.
On their way to Angel beach, Nojiko asked a question that's been bugging her since Little Garden.
"Guys, what did you mean when you said Tiramisu should be dead? Because he obviously isn't."
Sanji took a drag from his cigarette and began, "The four strongest pirates in the world are The Four Emperors. Of those four the only female is known as 'Big Mom' Charlotte Linlin. I don't accurately remember the number, but she has at least 90 family members consisting of her children and grandchildren. Together they are the Charlotte Family," Sanji explained, "They rule over her territory, Totto Land. They are basically a pirate crew with Big Mom as the captain. To Big Mom, her children are nothing more than pieces on a board. Every piece has its own use, from Commanders with high combat abilities and very smart tacticians to simply being a part of a political marriage in order for the family to gain a new ally. This is due to her policy of forming alliances in the form of weddings, more openly known as her 'Tea Parties'. One of her children is married off to one of the people in the other crew. Now as you should have concluded, such a dictator does not allow anyone the option of leaving, be it a child, ally, or citizen of Totto Land. Once you enter you only leave dead, if you aren't, they hunt you down till you are. Hence, Luffy's comment that he should have been hunted down by now. Honestly, I can't understand why he's not, he even has Conqueror's Haki, which is extremely rare in the crew as only Big Mom and her strongest Sweet Commander Katakuri possess it. In fact, he even said something about another one up here so it's kinda weird," he finished.
"The weapon's shop owner?" asked Ussop.
"Yeah, makes no sense." said Luffy.
"Wow that makes Arlong look tame in comparison." Nojiko quietly commented
"There's a 90% chance that anyone, anything, or anywhere in the New World defies logic and human understanding. That's the reason the first half is called Paradise over there," remarked Zoro.
Nojiko was about to comment on that, but Gin interrupted, "Is that an Angel?"
…
(Elsewhere in the Grand Line)
Ace was frustrated. With all the connections he made during his journey throughout Paradise, coupled with the connections of a Whitebeard commander and all he has is one lead. Only one lead. He even raided two Marine bases. Two. who thought it'd be so hard to pin down even one Revolutionary, let alone an outpost or some kind of base.
Also with what his brother had told him, his brain was already on overdrive. His cute baby brother had to hold him while he was dying. How could he do that to him? How could he break his promise like that? How can he be so weak? Not to mention his father and other brothers that died to free him and he still died regardless.
He shook his head to stop that train of thought.
'Even if he was Ace, he isn't me,' he told himself, 'I'll train and get stronger, hone my haki and master all the forms. For Oyaji, for all my brothers and most importantly for Sabo and Luffy. I promise. I won't break it this time.'
Anyway, back to the lead. Ace inferred that Pops knows for a fact that one of Jinbei's acquaintances is a revolutionary, and that's supposed to be his only lead. Apparently asking bartenders on two different islands, discreetly if I may, and raiding two Marine bases on said islands isn't necessarily going to get you a contact in the RA.
Ace had been on the third island for less than a day and he can already see that today wasn't the day.
Purururu…. Purururu…. Purururu
He was cut out of his musings when his den den mushi rang. He answered it with a Gacha and said, "Yes, who is this?"
"Ace, it's me, Jimbe," it replied, "Long time no see."
"Jimbe! 'Ts good to hear from you. Did Oyaji tell about my request."
"Yes, he did. I managed to contact a revolutionary and relayed that you are looking for someone in the army. He said he'll meet with you and decide for himself."
"Oh, he'll decide alright. Where do I go?"
"Flower Island. Go to Sunflower village in the south of the island, walk north east until you find the shore. 4 days from now, noon."
"Thanks, Jimbe. I owe you one."
"Anytime, Ace. I see you've met Luffy if you're already looking for Sabo. Don't worry I know. We'll talk about it when we meet."
He hung up leaving a completely stunned Ace staring dumbly at the snail, "Oh god, what the hell were you doing Luffy!" Ace shouted in exasperation, 'Even Jimbe,' he thought, 'You're one hell of a pirate Lu.'
(3 Days Later)
Ace arrived at the spring island at the sunset of the third day, 'Tomorrow at noon,' he thought, 'I'll have an answer.'
He walked through Sunflower village, taking in the beautiful scenery of the setting sun and all the types of flora in the streets, more abundant were obviously the sunflowers in this village. He looked for an inn to stay the night in, ate and spent the whole evening till midnight training his and infusing it in his flames, while using haki to give his flames better form. He also tried to adjust his fire to various temperatures. An idea he got recently when someone remarked how Marco's flames were not hot. Now, Ace had sufficient control over his raging element to not burn what he wants, but he got to thinking, can Marco produce flames hot like his own? So along that line, 'Can my fire be hotter than it is now?' he thought.
So when Ace found a clearing, he sat he sat down in a meditation pose, and lit up both his shoulders with small, warm flames. He kept his focus on their size and willed them to burn even brighter and raise their temperatures. The first hour was somewhat fruitless, as all he accomplished was a bigger fire, so he would return them to their original size and start again. Ace is hot headed by nature, but he knew patience and consistency is what he needed. Then he tried another approach, instead of infusing armament haki to his flames, he made a small flame at the tip of his finger, and coated the outside of the flame in haki, containing and enveloping it. Then he willed the flame to get hotter, to burn brighter. He smiled as his flame burned brightly. In fact it was so bright that it was like a beacon to anyone passing by at sea in view of the island. Yes, he could definitely work with that.
He spent the rest of the night experimenting, and trying attacks in that way. He concluded that he needs to have stronger armament haki for his new infused and coated attacks to have the desirable effect. So, he went back to the inn determined to wake up early and train his armament.
(The Next Day)
Ace was walking to the meet up point. He passed a couple greenhouses and dozens of fields with flowers he hadn't even seen before. 'No wonder Izo loves this island,' he thought. Truly the views and scents were a thing of beauty.
The walk took half an hour, he arrived at the shore 15 minutes early. He thought back to earlier this morning. He spent almost three hours training his armament haki. If he was improving, Ace didn't know it.
Something on the shore to the far right caught his eyes. He looked and saw three hooded figures in green cloaks heading his way. They were all of average height, same as him, although the one on the right was burlier and definitely had more muscle than the other two.
Two of the figures stopped about 10 meters away but the one on the right continued until he was in front of him. He removed his cloak and turned out to be a fishman with yellow skin, which has brown spots on the upper part of his head, along with scales under his eyelids and sharp teeth. He had with long light blue flowing hair and a thick blue mustache.
"Greetings," the fishman said, "My name is Hack. Jimbe-san said that you were looking for a family member in our ranks, how may I be of help?"
"Hello Mr. Hack, I am Portgas D. Ace, 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates, thank you for meeting up with me today," Ace returned the greeting while doing a small bow with his head. "Yes, I am actually looking for my brother, I believe he does belong in the Revolutionary Army."
"It's interesting for someone to have a relationship with a Whitebeard pirate and keep it hidden. If you tell me his name I can look into him."
"Yes, of course. His name is Sabo," Ace noticed the shocked look that passed the fishman's face, but it was gone so quickly that he thought he imagined it. "We were separated 10 years ago after he had an accident at sea. He used to wear a top hat with goggles and fought with a lead pipe."
"How did it come to your attention that he is involved with the Revolutionary Army?" Hack asked after a moment of silence.
"I am afraid that's for me to know," Ace replied curtly.
Hack had a contemplative look on his face for a minute, then he said, "Please wait for a second," he promptly turned around and walked to his two companions. After 30 seconds of discussing something, the cloaked figure in the middle made his way to Ace while Hack stayed next to the third person.
When the figure stopped in front of Ace, he took his hood off. Ace was startled. Under the hood was the face of a young 20-year-old man, with long blond hair, a top hat on of it and a burn scar over his left eye. More importantly, it was a face he thought he wouldn't meet for a while still. To say Ace was elated would be an understatement, proven by the big, wide grin that appeared on his face. Unfortunately, it dulled noticeably when he looked at his sworn brother's eyes. They held no recognition whatsoever.
"My name is Sabo, Revolutionary Army Chief of Staff. Why are you looking for me? Do you know anything about my past?" said the blonde.
Silence. Ace's grin vanished completely as he lowered his head shadowing his eyes under his cowboy hat. He gritted his teeth and lashed out with a right hook hitting the blonde in the jaw, throwing him two steps back.
"You piece of shit!" Ace shouted, "Of course I know who you are! You're my brother!"
He got fist to his face in retaliation and a shout of, "I'm sorry I don't remember you."
"You think that's enough?" he threw another punch that was dodged, he, in turn, ducked down narrowly avoiding a kick to the head. Ace rushed forward tackling Sabo to the ground where they kept on turning to get the upper hand. Just as Sabo was about to execute a hold to pin Ace down he brute-forced himself off the ground.
They were both panting slightly from the scuffle. "Can we ju-" Sabo tried to reason. Obviously it fell on deaf ears as Ace charged him again. They kept on trading blows and brawling it out. Bit by bit, blow by blow, Ace felt his anger dissipate as a fond smile kept tugging at his lips until it stretched from one ear to another. Although Ace failed to notice the same expression on his brother's face, he could feel his excitement as he returned his hits one by one.
It ended when both punched each other at the same time and fell to the ground panting and wheezing. They laid in silence for a minute to catch their breaths. It was broken when Sabo began chuckling. His voice kept on laughing till it became full blown laughter. Ace threw him an irritated glance, not catching onto any humor.
"You didn't change at all Ace, did you?" Sabo said after he stopped laughing making Ace's eyes widen.
"Wha-"
"You know, when Lu first saw me he hugged me and kept on crying. I always knew he was the nicer brother but I never thought we'd reunite with you punching me. I mean, you were always hot headed, but did you even miss me?" he cut him off with a teasing tone and a massive grin.
Ace felt his eyes water as he stared in the man's eyes. They weren't the eyes of the Revolutionary Army Chief of Staff, but the eyes of his brother, his Sabo.
Ace got up after forcing his tears back, taking Sabo in for a bone-crushing hug catching him off guard, "Of course I missed you, idiot!" he snapped.
Sabo felt his own eyes water a little as a couple tears escaped, "I missed you too, brother," he said softly. 'I'll be there for you this time, definitely.'
"Wait a second!" Ace pulled back, "When did you remember?"
"Oh, great Ace, way to ruin a moment," Sabo drawled, "I came back from the future, and since you're here looking for me, I guess so did Luffy."
Ace blinked, "Wait, you too?"
"So he really did. Yeah, me too. I suddenly woke up in Baltigo, which was supposed to be our old base, without my powers, when the last thing I remember is being executed with the Pirate Empress and three marines, all of us due to our affiliation with the devil's spawn Strawhat Luffy, and of course me with Dragon, the devil himself."
"Holy shit, that's messed up. Also, executing fellow marines? Really? And they say pirates are the bad guys, and what powers?"
"The powers of the Mera Mera no Mi," Sabo smirked.
"What?" Ace questioned.
"If you thought Luffy and I would leave Doflamingo to use your fruit for who knows what, you are sorely mistaken my dear brother," then a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes, "By the way, when do you plan on dying? I kinda need my powers back."
Ace bonked him on the head as he laughed loudly, "Asshole," he muttered as he smiled a small smile.
Sabo stopped laughing and took on a more serious tone, "So, right now you should have been tracking that bastard Teach, so I'm guessing this is a change of plans?" he questioned.
"Yes, I met Luffy. He told me everything about the fight, the war and my and Pops' deaths. He then said that you were alive and that I should seek you out so we can train together, same as before, me kicking your ass, those kind of things," Ace smirked at his sworn brother, who returned it.
"Oh, I'm game. Just remember you asked for it," he laughed as they made their way to the other revolutionaries.
….
Author Notes:
I am so excited and relieved with my new beta you guys. We've managed to cut my working time on a full chapter down from a month to literally a week. So it seems there will be faster updates than usual.
You guys still hanging on? Good because we haven't gotten to the interesting stuff just yet. Be looking out for another amazing chapter everyone :D
Shouju Shouju no Mi (EN: Rifle-Rifle Fruit or Gat-Gat Fruit)
Kado Kado no Mi (EN: Card-Card Fruit or Deck-Deck Fruit)
