Iva decided to head his ship towards HQ, instead of the Kamabaka kingdom like he originally planned. He just couldn't get what the Bosses kid said to Ace out of his head. "Don't make me lose the only brother I have left! Don't leave like Sabo!"
Iva knew two things. One: The D brothers were from Dawn Island in the East Blue. They found Sabo on Dawn Island in the East Blue. Two: The D brothers had a brother named Sabo who they thought died years ago. They found Sabo after he nearly died years ago.
That was way too coincidencadental for his liking.
So, he was going to go and try to spark some kind of memory. Hopefully, it would be the memory of having brothers, or maybe the next best thing of having him remember something positive enough to send him to Dawn Island trying to find answers. He'd been avoiding that island like the plague since he first woke up on their ship with amnesia telling them that he couldn't go back there, ever. That was the only thing he ever remembered. The best thing, of course, would be if Sabo remembered his brothers outright and went to go find them. Wouldn't be hard to do, Iva knew exactly where they were right now.
He hoped he succeeded though, because he hated watching his young friend tearing himself up over getting his memory back, and this was the best chance they'd had in years!
After all, who best to jog the memories, then the brothers that he apparently meant everything to?
There wasn't a known method in all the New World that could possibly get one Portgus D. Ace, a man with a reputation for never backing down from a fight that was almost as big as Edward Newgate's was, to get him to back down from a fight. But all this scrawny kid had to do was face Ace with the possibility of leaving his little brother behind while merely saying Sabo's name.
He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice that they'd docked, let alone that his Boss and Sabo were standing right behind him until a gloved hand grabbed him by the shoulder and swung him around to face them. He was going into defense mode, when he noticed the worried blue eyes of his Bosses second in command and the as-per-usual stoic face of the boss.
"Iva, you alright? You look pretty good for just breaking out of Impel Down. Hey, you look like you've seen a ghost, are you alright?" Sabo asked, he was worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine... I need to talk to you about something though, something Monkey D Luffy said on the battle field when his older brother Ace almost got into a fight with Akainu instead of running with the rest of them." He said, watching Sabo carefully. He saw the slightest of twitches on his face, which was usually his sign that he developed a sudden headache. Iva was relieved. Despite the fact that getting those memories back would hurt Sabo, it would be better in the long run.
Everyone could tell, that no matter how much he tried to pretend that not knowing his past or who he really was didn't matter much, they all knew that he wanted nothing more than to remember.
"Oh, and what did he say?" Dragon asked in a measured tone. He saw Sabo's face twitch, and he had a feeling he knew what Iva was trying to do, Iva was trying to trigger Sabo's memory, Iva must have learned something. He eased behind the boy so he could catch him should the boy pass out or become too nauseous to stand. Iva handed Sabo an old newspaper clipping he found of Ace in the Marine warship they took from Impel Down to Marineford. It was the clipping announcing Ace's capture and the date of the execution.
"Ace was going towards Akainu, refusing to let the man get away with insulting Whitebeard, despite the fact that everybody was yelling at him to run, when Luffy muttered 'not again.' Like it happened a lot, especially before the boy set sail and formed a crew, later on joining Whitebeard." Sabo's face was getting screwed up in a grimace as he stared at the picture of Ace's beaten up, defiant looking face. "He wasn't going to stop, in fact, he was just about to leap the rest of the distance between them when Luffy suddenly yelled, 'Don't make me lose the only brother I have left! Don't leave like Sabo!'" Sabo was now raising his hands to grab at his head, the clipping floating to the deck, and Dragon moved to brace him from behind.
"Sabo... Ace wasn't stopping, until Luffy mentioned you. Until he mentioned your 'death'. Only the closest of brothers will let go of their stubborn streak for the mere memory of somebody." Iva finished, slowly. Inwardly, he was both patting himself on the back for his success, while at the same time he never hated himself more for putting the young Commander through so much pain.
He was bent over, screaming, his hands clutching his head, finally, he passed out, but not before he breathed, "My brothers."
Dragon breathed a sigh of relief and quietly thanked Iva, before he waved one of the medics who came running when they heard the screams off. "Put him in his room. Keep an eye on him, but I think he'll be fine," He grinned suddenly, "Once his mind finishes processing the memories he just remembered." Everyone was silent for a moment before they cheered. Sabo was finally going to know!
He was finally going to know if he had any dreams before they rescued him, he was finally going to remember if he left somebody behind, he was finally going to know who he was.
Up until now, all he'd known was that his name was Sabo, and he was the son of a Noble of the Goa Kingdom. And he only knew that because that was how much he told Dragon when they met briefly, it was when the kid warned Dragon about the fire the nobles had set, and before the kid was stupid enough to sail right out in front of the ship of a Celestial Dragon. He didn't even know which Nobles were his parents, he didn't know what he'd been doing all those years, because while his memories of events and people were gone, his muscle memory was not. The fact that a metal pipe felt so natural in his hands was not gone. So, just what had he been doing?
Knowing the reputation of the Goa Kingdom nobles, his parents, whoever they were, wouldn't have been letting him run around fighting with a pipe.
For now, everyone watched as the doctors ran forward and picked Sabo up between them to carry him to their room. Dragon clapped Iva on the back. "It's good to have you back, Iva. How was my son when you left?" He asked.
"I don't know, last I heard he was being taken to Amazon Lily by Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death. He needed immediate medical attention, Jinbe shielded him from the worse of the blow, but Akainu's fist still punched completely through Jinbe and managed to make contact with Strawhat." Dragon frowned.
"We'll wait until Sabo is awake, see how much he really remembers, I think its safe to say he at least remembers Ace and Luffy. I never imagined... I really should have known, I suppose." He said as he left, shaking his head.
He slept for almost three days.
The doctors were starting to get worried that the memories might have actually returned to him too much too fast and caused some brain damage, until he woke up and started yelling at everybody that was within earshot, which just so happened to be the poor doctors that were trying to determine if he actually had brain-damage or not, that he had to find his brothers, he had to let them know he was alive.
Then he seemed to freeze for a moment before he started counting off on his fingers and listing people who he should probably send a letter to as well, like Makino, and the bandits...
Dragon heard the last comment, "Bandits? Why on earth would you have to send a letter to bandits?" He didn't like bandits all that much...
"They raised me, Luffy, and Ace! Although I was only with them for a few months before the Fire at the Grey Terminal..." He said thoughtfully. "And we spent pretty much most of that time in our tree-house, dining and dashing, robbing nobles blind... or scrounging stuff we needed from the Trash Heap... beating up the idiots in town who thought they could challenge us... How stupid could they be, we were called the Demon Trio of MT. Corbo for a reason after all..." He trailed off, lost in happy memories of much simpler times.
All the Revolutionaries in the room with him stared and blinked. Their Chief of Staff had an interesting childhood... and that was without taking into account how on earth he got there from living as a Noble Heir in the first place.
"Ah, enough talking, I need to find my brothers! They still think I'm dead!" Sabo suddenly yelled, getting up and running out of the room before the doctor's could say anything about running tests.
"Should we tell him that Iva got us in touch with the Whitebeards and Reyleigh before he left, so we know exactly where his brothers are?" Koala leaned over and asked her Boss.
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "I suggest you get to the ship, he's probably found the map I left on his desk with the island they're at circled by now. I would hate for him to sail off without anybody crewing the ship... And before you say anything, he's desperate to find those two, so he'll find a way." Dragon said. Everybody looked at him for a second before they started scrambling to get out the door and to the ship.
Sure enough, when they arrived at the docks, Sabo was working on (and making quite a bit of progress by himself) getting the ship ready to sail. Everybody sighed and quickly boarded, either taking command or running to make sure their orders were carried out depending on where they were on the Revolutionary chain of command.
Dragon stood on the docks and watched them set sail, before he did though, he gave Sabo his Vivre card to give to Luffy and Ace.
It took a couple of days before they reached the island where Ace and Reyleigh were currently at with Luffy.
From what they heard when they called Shakky, she said that Ace sent the Whitebeard's on ahead to the New World, (they couldn't be gone long after all, they had islands to protect and they knew the perfect spot to bury their dead at). He would catch up. For now, he was just a worried, over-protective older brother whose baby brother nearly died right in front of him. Sabo knew that Ace would be blaming himself for every single pirate who died at Marineford. Including the fact that Luffy was there and almost died, several times if what he overheard was correct.
Sabo figured that Ace would try and stay by Luffy's side until Luffy either forced him to rejoin his crew, or Luffy rejoined his own crew at Sabaody.
Which would apparently take a couple of years if the newspaper article and accompanying picture of Luffy ringing the Ox-bell and then paying his respects to the dead by the giant fissure now gracing the Marineford execution yard were any indication. The men on Timber Wolf who called in about finding Nico Robin there said she confirmed it. As did Iva when he got back to his island only to find Luffy's cook, Sanji, there. Apparently, both of them saw a message in the picture and decided to stay where they were, even asking if they could receive training. The rest of the Straw-hats were still missing. With no word of where they were or if they even survived the trip Kuma sent them on.
Sabo was particularly worried about Luffy's first-mate, Zoro. Kuma told them about some to the injuries the man sustained (at the hands of Kuma) on Thriller Bark. There was no way he had been anywhere close to fully healed yet when he was seen fighting on Sabaody.
Sabo felt sorry for Sanji though.
From what the Revolutionaries observed and heard, the man was a die-hard ladies man. And he was currently surrounded by Okama. That had to be his own personal hell.
Currently, Sabo was in his room, going from being calm and knowing he could handle Ace if he flew off the handle, and panicking about what his brothers would do. He was especially nervous over how Luffy would react. Luffy had always been more emotionally connected to those around him. To learn that your brother who you thought was dead for the past ten years, wasn't really dead... The kid would be an emotional wreck for a while.
"Hey, Sabo! We're here." Koala called as she knocked on the door. "Hack is already talking to Luffy and Ace, trying to get them prepared, but..."
Sabo looked up, said he was coming, then he slowly stood up from where he was trying and failing to concentrate on a letter to Makino and the bandits back home. This was going to be... emotional.
When he stepped out onto the deck, he took a deep breath before he went to the plank so he could go on shore, he hesitated at the top, his eyes easily finding his brothers, and for a moment, he just stood there, staring at them. They were staring at him too, they seemed frozen, although the tears were already starting to gather in Luffy's eyes. And, wait a minute... was Ace starting to cry too? Ok, he was not expecting that one.
He smiled softly and slowly walked got off the boat, never looking away from his brothers, as he nervously made his way towards them.
He was expecting yelling, or something on Ace's part, and a lot of crying on Luffy's. Instead, what he got when he finally stopped in front of them was both of them staring at him for a moment before finally grabbing him a hug, all three of them sobbing on each others shoulders, happy to be back together again, and all of them alive.
Just like Ace, Sabo was happy that Luffy mentioned his name at the battle of Marineford.