What Protective Pair Of Brothers
It shouldn't bother him anymore.
("Have you heard of the rumor that Gold Roger has a son!?" Cruel whispers and hushes voices.
They follow his every step.)
It's nothing new. He's used to it.
("Yeah. Hear dat da whole marine's lookin' for 'im, too! Hope dat they'll lynch 'im when they find 'im!" Bloodthirsty exclamations and hateful spite.
They terrorize him in his sleep.)
He should know better than to cry over it. He knows crying won't make it better, knows that it won't stop the world from hating him.
("I hope they'll find him soon. As Roger's son, he must be a good-for-nothing like his father!" Untrue presumptions and painful accusations.
They leave him breathless in sorrow and sadness.)
"Heard that it's been confirmed dat Gold Roger had a son? For real dis time, not jus' a rumor" a man whispers from outside of the alleyway, and Ace clenches his teeth, his anger bubbling to the surface.
"For real?! Not jus' a rumor?" another man, younger this time, whispers back excitedly.
"Nuh-uh! Heard it with ma own ears, I tell ya!" the older man whispers, enjoying being able to talk to somebody, because Grey Terminal is a very lonely place at times. "But no one knows what he looks like, or what he's called."
The younger man laughs cruelly. "Hope they'll find 'im soon. That son-of-a-bitch deserves to die! Shouldn't even be allowed t' live, I tell ya!"
Ace feels his eyes burn, but keeps them back and instead starts to stand up to beat those two men into the dirt. However, a small voice just a few steps to the left of him outside of the alley are faster than him, and Ace and the two older men turn to a eight-year-old boy with his little pudgy hands on his hips defiantly.
"That's a really mean thing to say, you meanies!" Luffy says childishly, pouting, his black eyebrows furrowing together in a comical fashion. "And it's Gol D. Rodger, not Gold Roger! Don't say that he was a bad man, 'cause I'm gonna be the next Pirate King, and I ain't bad!"
Luffy's reasons are twisted and childish and unreasonable, and have no logic whatsoever behind it, but Ace is speechless nonetheless. Luffy, his little brother who follows him around and who is a crybaby, is standing up to two grown men and declares his dream, his ambition, so socially unaccepted, for all the world to hear.
It is somewhat inspiring, Ace thinks.
"What does a little squirt like you know 'bout 'em pirates?" the older man grumbles, glaring. "Pirates're brutal criminals who are an' always gonna be criminals."
"Uh-huh!" the younger man agrees, his hollow face bobbing up and down in fierce agreement. "They kill people an' rape 'em an'-an' torture 'em an' steal from 'em! They're bad people! They're the worst!"
Ace feels like he should punch them, but he does not move because there is a fire burning in Luffy's eyes that mesmerizes him in a way. He does not know that he's holding his breath in anticipation.
Luffy puffs out his cheeks in defiance, which makes his pudgy face seem rounder and even more childish. "Not all pirates are like that! There are good ones, too!" Luffy tries to glare, and although it seems comical on an eight-year-old's face, it brings Luffy's point across (a person can't be Monkey D. Garp's son and not know how to glare properly). "I won't let you talk like that about the good pirates!"
The older man glares back, his dark eyes murky and dark, and Ace realizes that the man is probably drunk. "You're really startin' t' annoy me, yer brat."
"I'm not a brat!" Luffy shrieks back childishly.
The younger man glances nervously between his otouto and the older man. "Um, how 'bout if y'all come down for a sec, 'kay? This ain't nothin' to get angry over, right?"
"'Course it is!" the older man yells back, and it makes his little brother and the younger man jump in surprise. "The fire jus' a while ago was 'cause of pirates, and this kid has the nerve t' say they're not evil?!"
"W-well, I guess..." the younger man says uncertainly, hesitating. "We ain't got a clue why they done it, so we ain't got da right t' judge 'bout it."
"Bullshit!" the older man hollers back, his cheeks red from the lack of air. "I lost ma wife in dat fire! I lost ma house! I lost all ma stuff, all ma money! And dat little brat over dere is tryin' t' say that pirates ain't evil?! I have got nothin'! Pirates are evil, and dat's dat!"
The younger man looks stricken for a moment, his eyes hurt and pained as if remembering something, before bares his teeth and his eyebrows come together in anger. "Ya know, if yer sayin' it like dat, I can see where yer comin' from. That little brat ain't got any right t' talk 'bout pirates if he don't know what they can an' can't do."
"We should show 'im what pirates can do," the older man says sadistically, and it makes Ace's neck hairs stand on end and it leaves his brother sensors ringing in alarm.
And suddenly, Ace remembers that his otouto is still there, and his head turns so fast around that he hears something crack in his neck. His otouto does not look frightened, but he looks weary, and Ace can see that his little brother does not know why. It doesn't surprise him anymore, because although Luffy has very bad observational skills, he has instinct; he's just too stupid to know what his instincts are telling him.
Ace sees his little brother tense as the men advance, and Ace's eyes widen when he sees the older man pull out a knife from his belt while the younger man gracefully swoops down to grab a pipe on the floor without breaking his stride. His head snaps back to his otouto, but Luffy only widens his stance and glares harder, and Ace's brother senses are yelling at him to bring Luffy the fuck away from there!
"I think dat's a real good idea," says the younger man, grinning manically and casually smacks the pipe into his other palm. "We should show 'im that he ain't got no right to talk about pirates if he ain't got any idea."
"An' we should punish him for wantin' to be 'Pirate King'," the older man spits the two words out like a curse, his eyes shining in hatred. "He probably ain't no better than Gold Roger and his son."
Ace knows he should feel angry at the insinuated insult, but it is hard when he sees his brother practically fly into the two men, punching both of them in the face as he did so, and Ace is screaming at his body to MOVE, because he knows this won't end well, but his body doesn't move and Ace continues screaming, screaming and screaming at it because oh my God, LUFFY!
"DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT GOL D. ROGER AND HIS SON!" his otouto screams furiously, but Ace barely hears it because his head is this screaming at him, MOVE!
"Son of a—!" the younger man slams his pipe into the back Luffy's head, twisting around and skidding backwards, while the older man takes the knife and stabs Luffy in the stomach.
Time seems to slow down, and all color seems to fade away like rainwater draining into the gutter. Ace looks on helplessly as his little brother coughs out blood, and watches horror-stuck as the man rips out the knife with a sadistic grin.
Sound is nonexistent as his otouto's small body drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes and Ace's mind and brother senses are screaming, oh God, please no! And Ace runs over and thinks of Sabo and his promise to him and of that night with the fire, and Luffy being in danger and hurt and nonononononopleasedon'tletthisbehappening!
It is slow motion where Ace sees the knife coming down, with droplets flying behind it (Luffy's blood! Ace's brother senses scream at him), and Ace feels like a blur when he yanks his little brother off the floor, hefting him into his arms and running another short distance, away from the two men.
Ace is sure he is hyperventilating, but he isn't sure because he can't hear anything beyond his heartbeat pulsating in his ears like drums every second, and he doesn't care either because he is not important right now but Luffy is.
Ace dares himself to look at his little brother, and feels the little blood in his cheeks drain away completely at the paleness of Luffy's face. Luffy's eyes are unfocused and it takes his little brother a few minutes before he can focus onto his eyes.
"Ace?" he still hears his little brother's voice despite the drumming in his ears, and it sound so wrong, because it's pained and strained and quiet. His head is swimming and he feels like he's going to vomit from the horror of it all but doesn't because Luffy is more important right now. "...Ace? Ace, are you... alright? Ace?"
You ask me if I am fine?! Ace wants to shriek at his idiotic little brother. You're bleeding all over my clothes and you're hurt and you ask me ifI am fine?! OF COURSE I'M NOT FINE! What about you?! TAKE FUCKING BETTER CARE OF YOURSELF, YOU IDIOT! Sabo would kill me for this! Hell, I am going to kill myself for this, you stupidstupidstupid little brother!
But he doesn't, because his brother senses are screaming at him (don't you dare say anything that could hurt his feelings!) and Luffy can't even speak properly because of the pain, so Ace just says quietly, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
Something must be showing in his face that contradicts what he is saying, because Luffy looks very doubtful and Ace can't blame him because it feels like all his blood is flowing everywhere but his face. His otouto opens his mouth to say something but coughs out blood again before he can.
Ace feels the blood on his face, each and every single droplet, and suddenly, he is so overwhelmed with pure and hot fury that his mind becomes blank and all he can see is the blood on his little brother's chin and feels an overtaking want to destroy whoever had done this.
"—ey, HEY! YOU BRAT! What do ya think yer doin', ya punk?!" the voice of the older man slowly seeps into his ears, and Ace feels all of his feelings of anger and destruction being cooled over by an intense feeling of resentment and hate, and knows that those men will not get away with what they have done. "We ain't finished with dat brat yet, ye hear?! We gotta punish 'im for wantin' t' be a pirate! Save the Marine the trouble and kill the pirate-wannabe!"
Ace puts Luffy onto the ground gently, ripping off the hem of his shirt and trying it around the gushing hole on Luffy's stomach, feeling oddly calm. Ace knots together the two ends and says quietly, without looking back, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"What ya say?!" the younger man says brusquely, and Ace can feel the glare on him. "I can't hear ya, yer not talkin' loud enough!"
Ace looks at his otouto, taking in the form of his face, the determination in his eyes and the paleness of his cheeks, a smiles softly at his little brother. "Don't worry Luffy, I'll get you to Dadan in no time. Go to sleep, okay? You're not going to die, alright? I'm going to make sure that you're going to be fine, so don't worry about anything. Go to sleep."
Ace can see that his little brother wants to disagree, badly, but Luffy looses the fight against consciousness and only manages to nod once. Ace waits for only three seconds before half-snores, half-moans of pain start.
He stands up, casually brushing the dust off his knees before turning around. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he repeats his earlier statement, louder this time, leaving his face carefully blank and hides his eyes underneath the shadows of his hair.
The two men laugh cruelly, as if his statement was the most ridiculous thing in the world. The older man giggles drunkenly a few seconds longer, before he mock-imitates Ace's voice, "'I wouldn't do dat if I were you,' he says! What an idiot!"
They laugh again before the younger man looks at Ace down his pointy nose, smiling sadistically. "An' why shouldn't we do dat?"
"Because," Ace looks up, and his glare is vicious and is promising pain far beyond the point of sanity. "If you would do that, I would torture both of you until you would be screaming for the Devil to help you."
The younger man takes a step back in fear, but the older man only smiles lopsidedly, oblivious to the rising tension in the air. "Is dat so? Well, I don't care no more 'bout ma life anyway. This is already Hell for me, so there ain't a difference for me if I ask the Devil for help."
"Oh?" Ace smirks cruelly, his hatred, resentment and fury bubbling to the surface. The older man loses his grin and narrows his eyes at him, adjusting his hold on his knife in his hand. "That's good, because I plan to send you to Hell anyway. I dearly hope for you that Hell is a better place than here, because you won't even have a chance to regret that you hurt Luffy."
And Ace is on the older man in a flash, knocking him to the ground and ripping the knife out of the man's hand. He grabs the man's hands and holds them above his head, palms up, and rams the knife into them. He relishes the pained scream and grins, satisfied with himself, before twisting out of the way to avoid the younger man's attack with the pipe.
Ace grabs the pipe and heaves himself above the other man's head, the blow of the pipe landing on the older man's stomach instead of him, and Ace supports himself on one arm on the younger man's left shoulder. Ace slams the side of his other hand into the back of the man's neck, flipping over his head and landing in a graceful crouch, eyes closed, as the younger man's body goes slack.
Ace opens his eyes, and hears the thump of the younger man's body hitting the ground, before in his peripheral vision he sees shards of glass. Ace smirks to himself, his mind coming up with various different ideas.
He strides over to the glass shards, and his eyes sweep over them, dropping down into a crouch again and taking the sharpest one. He turns the glass shard, looking at it at all angles, before bringing his other hand up and cutting one of his fingers. The skin immediately opens and spills out blood, and Ace nods to himself, satisfied, and stands before turning around quickly and striding back to the older man.
The older man is wiggling and is trying to heave himself off the floor, clenching his teeth to keep quiet. Ace flips the glass shard in his hand casually, and whistles to himself, and has to smirk at the older man's horrified look.
Ace squats down next to the man, smiling calmly at him, before he shows him the shard, glistering in between his finger tips. "I should kill you for hurting Luffy, I really should. I wouldn't have a problem with it, either. I really, really want to torture you right now and make you feel so much pain that you can't even scream anymore because the pain is overwhelming you. I really want to. Unfortunately, I have little time and you are damn lucky that I am not going to kill your pathetic ass because Luffy needs medical attention. It's the only reason why you are going to live a few more years, understood?"
He rams the glass shard into the man's stomach, right in the place where Luffy's wound is, and twists it around once. The man screams but still manages to nod, tears shamelessly rolling down his face, and Ace looks at him in disgust before spitting him in the face. He stands up, brushing off nonexistent dust from his trousers, and glares at the man one last time before smirking down at him cruelly. "My little brother would be disappointed in me if I would kill you, and you're lucky that his opinion is the only one I care about, got it? So I can't kill you."
Ace waits as the man sighs and sags in relief before he smiles calmly at him again. "That doesn't mean that I can't abandon you here and leave you to rot, though. So, have a good night, sir."
Ace starts walking immediately, his steps large and quick. He scoops up his little brother carefully, noting how bloody the make-shift bandage is, and continues walking, faster than before. Luffy's head is moving around and Ace hears the half-pants, half-moans of his brother like his own, repid heartbeat that feels like it's going to explode from his chest in panic.
"H-hey! Ya can't let me here! I swear I won't do it again, I promise! Hey, come back, please! PLEASE! I'm gonna die if ya leave me here! Boy! BOY!" Ace hears the man yell behind him, and he stops for a moment, looking over his shoulder. The man's face brightens with hope before it crumbles again at seeing Ace's cruel smirk again.
"The name's Portgas D. Ace," he says calmly, holding his little brother tighter because he is losing time means being a step closer to losing Luffy and that is unacceptable."I'm the older brother of Monkey D. Luffy. Whoever hurts my little brother in any sort or way will have to deal with me, got it? I don't care who the Hell you are, but if you hurt Luffy, no God, angel, human, demon or whatever will be able to help you."
Ace turns around again and starts running, ignoring the desperate pleas from the man behind him. He focuses more on the pale face of his little brother and listens to the weak breathing because he knows he will never forgive himself should his little brother die.
Ace never regrets leaving that man there.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
Luffy sleeps for three days straight, breathing shallow and not waking up once, not even half-opening his eyes. Ace sometimes hears Dadan discuss his otouto's condition with her bandit members when they think he isn't listening.
Luffy is starting to develop a fever, and although Ace is not a doctor, he knows that three days without food or any real amount of water is bad. He hears Dadan say that night that, should his condition get worse over the next two days, they will have to bring him to the Foosha Village. There are no real doctors around, only herbalists with some medicinal knowledge that does not really go beyond salves and medication because of the diversity of plants on the island; but usually there are no wounds like this in a peaceful village like that, and Ace doubts that they can actually do anything. Ace worries for his little brother.
Ace is scared for his little brother.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
It takes a week for Luffy to wake up.
It's his third day in the Foosha Village when Luffy opens his eyes. Ace swears that he's never been any more relieved in his life than at that exact moment. The doctor—who has been constantly nagging and reprimanding him for ignoring what she says because he won't leave his otouto's side even if it killed him—ushers him out far more efficiently and quickly than Ace remembers, but that could be because he does not care about anything beyond the fact that Luffy is going to be fine now.
"...Ace?"
And Ace immediately whirls around—the doctor doesn't even have a chance to react—and sprints to his little brother'sside. He sees a pudgy hand reach out in child-like desperation (don't go, stay here, I'm alone please give me company, come here, his otouto's gesture speaks volumes) and Ace immediately grabs it and squeezes it briefly (I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying, you're not alone, I'm here, he hopes that his gesture speaks just as much), falling to his knees (because the relief is getting too much).
"Are you okay, Luffy?" Ace asks because it has been seven days silence under the low timbre of weak pants and pained moans from his otouto, and his brother senses are screaming and shouting in concern. "Does it hurt?"
"I'm fine," Luffy says quietly, his eyes dropping. He yawns one time before he brings up his other hand to rub at his eyes. Then, his eyes widen comically and the idiot tries to sit up frantically.
"OW!"
"IDIOT! Don't do that!" Ace screams (screeches, his mind snickers, but Ace mercilessly squishes that thought down), jumping to his feet in a flash. "You're not healed yet!"
Luffy's expression is almost bewildered when he looks at the bandages around his stomach, and his otouto blinks a few more times, tilting his head in confusion, before he grins foolishly and laughs loudly. "Huh. Can't remember it hurting this much, ha ha."
Ace isn't sure what it is that makes him so angry: the fact that Luffy has no self-preservation or the fact that Luffy got hurt because of—
Him.
Him, Ace. Luffy's older brother who gets angry whenever somebody says anything insulting towards his father. Him, a person Luffy loves and cares for and who he doesn't want to get hurt.
Him, the person who gets upset whenever they talk about his father, who feels hurt by it.
Luffy got hurt because of him. Because Luffy wanted to protect him.
Him.
"...Ace?" Luffy says worriedly, reaching out with his other hand to touch his face, ignoring the pain in his other one because of how hard Ace is squeezing it. "Ace? Are you alright? Ace? Ace?"
There is a plea in that last word. Panic. Worry. Ace's heart squeezes and he doesn't have time to wonder why because the room is spinning and blurring out of sight, and all he can see is Luffy's concerned eyes and all that goes through his head is it's his fault. Him.
HIMSELF!
"Gold Roger's son is probably like his father: he will only bring trouble!"
THEY WERE RIGHT!
"Luffy," he whispers, gripping his otouto's hand tighter. "Why did you attack those guys?"
Luffy looks at him for a moment, and Ace isn't sure what his otouto sees because Luffy smiles at him so widely that his eyes close. Somehow, it looks sad. "Because they were insulting you, Ace."
"But that's my problem, not yours!" Ace's patience is short and he honestly feels like crying, but he doesn't because he is a man and men don't cry. "Don't put yourself in danger because of me!"
Suddenly, the smile is gone and Ace is left breathless with the intensity in his brothers eyes staring into his own. The pale face is open and despite the round face, Luffy looks so old. "They were insulting Ace and they said you are mean." Luffy keep the eye contact and Ace lets out a shaky breath. "But you're you Ace, and I know nii-chan isn't mean, and I know Roger wasn't, either."
"How do you know that he wasn't evil, that he wasn't a criminal?!" Ace screams at him, and it's not because his eyes are moist because they are not!
But Luffy only grins widely, his eyes closing again from the wideness of it. "Because Ace isn't evil. Ace is the best nii-chan in the whole world, even if you hit me and make fun of me."
No, they weren't right.
They never were, they never will be.
Ace's eyes are wide and he couldn't have stopped that tear from rolling down even if he wanted to, or the next one, or the one after that; so, he just lowers his head onto their joined hands and starts to cry silently, his shoulders heaving and shuddering in barely-repressed sobs, and bites his lips so hard until he bleeds so that he doesn't wail, but it's for nothing because his breaths shudder and rattle in his ribcage whenever he takes in a breath of air.
"Ace?" his otouto asks again, and Ace hears the worry in there, for him, and he bites his lip harder, because Luffy is upset because he is upset; he shouldn't be upset—it doesn't suit him (or maybe it's just him thinking that). "Ace?"
"Don't—" Ace chokes on his own words because there is so much to suppress and so much gratitude and too many words to say, and he takes a deep breath before he dares himself to talk again. "Please, don't say anything. Just—just for a minute, okay? I'm fine, really."
He knows that Luffy isn't convinced and he doesn't blame him, either, because he is whispering and he knows that Luffy can probably feel the teardrops landing on his hand; but his otouto doesn't say anything anymore and he is grateful for that, because he isn't sure what he would say at this point.
Ace continues to cry and he doesn't stop until late into the night.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
When Doctor Hayashi enters her patient's room again—she left it after Ace-kun started asking about his brother's health (because she knew she couldn't bring him away even if she tried with all her might)—it's close to midnight and she is ready to go home.
She silently opens the white door, flipping through the papers on her clipping board, and adjusts the glasses on her nose. She is already opening her mouth to (pointlessly) tell Ace-kun that he should go, when she looks up and sees the sight in front of her. She pauses, closes her mouth and smiles.
Ace-kun—the boy who will glare at her whenever his brother moaned in pain when she changed his bandages, who refuses to go home even when she screams, punches or hits him, who will refuse to eat when his brother is panting in pain—is lying in the hospital bed with his little brother, his left arm thrown over his otouto's hips, the other one clinging onto the boy's left leg, while her patient Luff-kun is hugging Ace-kun's head to his chest. Ace-kun's face looks painfully young with the freckles in his face and his expression so open for the world to see, while Luffy-kun is drooling in his sleep, looking peaceful and content.
They look so protective of each other.
Doctor Hayashi moves silently towards the bed, already taking the white sheets to tuck the two brothers in, when she notices the wet droplets on Ace-kun's eyelashes, making him seem even younger than he already is. She wonders what caused the cold boy to cry, but she rolls her eyes at herself for even wondering, because the answer is clear to her.
When she's tucked them in, she turns the light off and closes the door, hugging her clipping board, and smiles to herself again. Just this once, she would let Ace-kun stay here without making a fuss (he got his way in the end anyway, so it was pointless either way), but only because she does not have the heart to separate them today.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
The next day, Doctor Hayashi is rudely woken up by somebody shaking her. She blearily opens her eyes and sits up, adjusting her glasses. When the world comes into focus again, the bane of her existence is standing there with his hands on his hips, glaring at her. She smiles amusingly—the image of him clinging to his otouto coming to her mind—and casually leans her head into her palm, mostly to annoy the boy Ace-kun because she knows that he's going to be a horror to deal with again; it was early payback.
"Yes?"
His eyes flicker to a door—ah, not just any door, she notices, but the door to her patient's room, Luffy-kun—before straightening and looking at her in the eye with the superior air he had around him. She only tilted her head in response, further leaning it into her palm.
Ace grunts in displeasure. "I need food."
Doctor Hayashi only lifts and elegant eyebrow in response.
But then, Ace-kun blushes a bit and bares his teeth at her, daring her to comment on it. "Luffy's going to wake up soon, and he's going to be hungry because he is a bottomless pit; so, I need food."
After blinking a few times—because seeing the normally cold and glaring boy blush is something she never expected to happen—she genuinely smiles, but remains seated and looks on as Ace-kun gets redder and redder with each passing second.
"WELL?!" he finally shouts at her, red with embarrassment and anger. "Why aren't you moving?!"
She tsk-tsks disapprovingly, her smile turning smug. "Didn't your parents teach you any manners? When you are asking for a favour, you're supposed to say a certain, special word, you know?"
Doctor Hayashi fights down the laugh when she sees Ace-kun's blush deepen even further, and cocks an eyebrow in a silent challenge. They both know that he himself could easily catch something to eat, it is just that he doesn't want to leave his brother's side although she knows he will never admit it. They also both know that she will get her way in the end, because Ace-kun here is the one with the disadvantage, he is just being stubborn and she wonders how long it will take until his love for his brother will beat his pride.
She doesn't wait as long as she'd thought she would.
"I need food, please." Ace-kun mumbles, glaring at her darkly.
She scoffs. "Well, that wasn't sincere at all. You should practice that—"
"SHUT UP AND TAKE WHAT YOU GET, YOU HAG!" Ace-kun yells at her, a fist coming up in warning. "I'M WORKING ON IT ALREADY, SO JUST GET THE DAMN FOOD!"
Doctor Hayashi scowls fiercely, a vein popping on her forehead. How dare he! "If you talk to people like that they're even less likely to do what you say, you brat!"
The doctor sees how Ace-kun's lip thins into a grim line, before he slams his heels together like a Marine and locks his hands behind his back, bowing forward slightly. The sight makes her eyes widen in surprise and she is speechless.
"Please give me food so that my little brother can eat, Doctor Hayashi-san."
Doctor Hayashi thinks that her jaw is hitting the floor, but she isn't entirely sure because she is a little overwhelmed by it all. Ace-kun is a cold, distanced and introverted boy, and she found out just minutes after knowing him that he never says the words 'thank you' or 'please' without having a very good reason to, his pride and stubbornness not allowing it. She briefly wonders what could make a boy like Ace-kun bow his head to somebody, but rolls her eyes at herself for even wondering.
She knows that he will do anything for his otouto, really, even if it doesn't seem like it at times.
And so, she smiles and stands up, ruffling his hair as she passes him, and gathers together the food for Luffy-kun.
She puts in a lot more meat at the request of Ace-kun.
Because Luffy like meat a lot, he said.
It keeps her smiling for the rest of the morning.
.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.
Author Note:
Phew, this took a while! I'm sorry that this started out so angst-y and then turned to somewhat-cute to dramatic to cute-ish. I'm not too sure about this chapter since it isn't like the other two and because it revolves more around the fact what both brothers would do for each other. Besides, I wanted a scene where Luffy stands up for Ace, although I'm sorry if this didn't come out right.
I'll try to compensate for this by posting a more fluffier theme next time, 'kay? As always, I'm eager to know what you guys think of this chapter. So far, I got enormous feedback through Favorites and Followers (both for this story and my account) and especially Reviews, and it encouraged me to write for more than you would believe (I managed to write 7 pages on this one because of your support!).
My incredible thanks to everyone who reviewed so far on this story, especially "Guest". All comments made my day brighter and made me extremely happy and motivated to keep on writing. "Guest"'s comment especially, since it pretty much summed up everything I ever wanted somebody to say about my writing. You guys all rock!
As always, I am open for ideas and suggestions for future chapters.
Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed! Please review!