I apologize for my chapter 2. I would go back and change certain things about it, but I think I'll just keep it the way it is. I'm already booked with school and I'm honestly stressing. I don't know how often I'll be updating this and I don't know how long this will be (I don't plan on making it too long anyway). I have everything planned out and many ideas written, but I like to change stuff around when I type it out so it takes longer than usual. I had the hardest time getting the will to type out this chapter, but I am honestly having fun with this story despite my complaining. I love the ASL babies, and I'm glad there are people who love them too! So, here you go.

There was he was. The boy Ace had hoped to never run into again, Monkey D. Luffy. Garp was the man who was taking care of him since before he could remember but decided to run away from, about a year ago. He didn't believe it was Garp's job to look after him even if his own nonexistent father handed him over before he came out of his mother's womb. It was obvious to him that he was not wanted and had zero importance.

If he were so important, he'd still have a father and a mother, but instead he was born under some crappy and rather unfortunate circumstances. He thought maybe there was a deeper meaning behind his father. He would ask around in town but all he would hear were terrible rumors of a cruel human being who deserved death. The fact he was a criminal in itself didn't faze him, it was the cruelty in people's words. People cursed Ace for being born and breathing. They wanted him dead. They did not want any of his father's blood existing.

Ace only wanted a spark of hope. Someone to say something decent about his blood, but enough was enough. The boy had already lost faith in the possibility of being accepted. The only people who could have fulfilled that for him were dead. He grew to hate human beings. He saw how quick they were to step all over each other, to turn against their own, how quick they were to run their mouths and he saw how easily they shunned and condemned one another.

He didn't dare blame his mother. He knew she fought hard to bring him to life in secrecy, but for what? The price of her own life in exchange for his existence? It still tormented him to this day. People were extremely vocal on how they felt about him and his parents. His mother didn't deserve any of the bad mouthing. He much rather would have not been born and had her live. She deserved life, not him. He truly believed that. But something inside him wanted to grow stronger. He wanted to fight, fight this vile world. He wanted to fight for his life despite the so called unfortunate fate that awaited him.

He wanted to prove everyone wrong. He wasn't sure where the hell his future would take him but he wanted to live life by his own standards, whether he was a demon's child by blood or not. Ace already knew how to manage on his own. He was strong, stronger than any typical person. He grew up training and accepted the freedom of the wilderness. He didn't need to go back to the old man or get lectured on becoming a marine. He was better off alone instead of receiving unwanted pity.

What he never did grasp was why the hell this Luffy kid clung onto him constantly while he stayed with Garp. He spat at Luffy, led him into fatal situations when he followed him around yet he still came back (in one piece and miraculously alive). It was like the boy was asking to die. Ace came to the conclusion that the kid was plain stupid. He never bothered to speak to him, but Luffy always called Ace his friend with an honest smile. Luffy always followed him and wanted to have adventures with him. Ace was so certain he would never see him again after he left, despite only being on the opposite side of where him and Garp stayed. Ace knew how to hide, but this was completely unexpected to him. It felt like fate was toying with him.

He simply didn't process what the other boy asked him. Luffy tilted his head a bit confused but he asked once more.

"Where have you been, Ace? I missed you!" Luffy said with a grin.

This pissed Ace off beyond belief. Missed me? Why? He truly did not understand. He glared at the boy menacingly.

"Missed me? You missed me?!" He chuckled, not really knowing how to even respond as he hid his expression in his hair.

"Yeah... I got really lonely without Ace around. I thought he left because of me…" The boy's expression grew gloomy and this puzzled him more. Luffy wanted to tell him about Sabo and how met him in the town of mean nobles and how Sabo was different, was a breath of fresh air, Sabo was a new friend, but he didn't get the chance to even speak as Ace yelled.

"What the hell is your problem?! You think I left because of YOU!? You're right! You're a pain in the ass!" Ace got up shoving Luffy aside and started walking away as he tried to play off that he wasn't fazed at all.

Luffy honestly scared him. He didn't want a friend. He'd simply end up being hated just like he always had and why set himself up for disappointment. If Luffy found out more about him, it'd be the end of that story. He was almost tempted to tell the boy about his true identity but he held back. Ace thought the kid was probably faking everything, but that's when the simple question rose up.

Why would he be enduring all of his torment for a simple friendship?

Luffy quickly got up off the ground and chased after Ace. "ACE! Wait up! You don't have to tell me where you've been. I'm sorry! Just let me come with you!"

Ace winced and started to run. Seriously, what the hell is this kid's problem! I just told him he was a pain in the ass!

Ace ran and ran until he saw the same huge bear from earlier near the river and an idea ran through his mind. He mischievously smiled and hid in some nearby bushes seeing as he lost sight of the other.

Luffy wasn't as quick as Ace but he was certain he saw which way he headed to. When he arrived at the nearby location he looked around and was confused when he saw nobody around but a bear, a huge and aggressive looking bear, surprisingly minding its own business. He wanted to test out his strength some more despite the injuries he received to get to this part of the forest.

Ace couldn't believe what he saw though, who was stupid enough to do this? Apparently this kid.

This kid's an idiot! He's gonna die.

Ace figured it wasn't his fault if the kid died or not, seeing as he wasn't his responsibility. When Luffy tried attacking the animal by running at it to hit it with his bare fists, it simply flung him away with hardly any strength necessary. The animal seemed distracted by the fishes it was eating from the nearby river, but Luffy was frustrated and continued his attempts until the bear sent him flying one last time. When Luffy got up this time around and walked back angrily to the river, the bear was gone.

"Ehhh? It's gone?!" He said with a pout.

A loud grumbling noise came from his stomach alerting him of his hunger. It also didn't help that the bear was eating right in front of his face before he decided to attack it. Luffy started wondering what he could have for dinner. Maybe he could catch some fish. He walked over to the nearby body of water and looked at his clear reflection. He wasn't a good swimmer to begin with. No matter how many times he tried, he'd somehow end up drowning. He just couldn't get the hang of it. It also didn't help that he wasn't properly taught. He tried to self-teach, but failed many times before.

Luffy's stomach growled once more and he heard another nearby grumble. Luffy turned to see who else was around and Ace panicked. He just ate with Sabo a while ago, why did his stomach grumble again? Ace decided he had no reason to stick around anymore. Before he walked away completely, he heard someone yell out.

"L-Luffy? LUFFY!"

It was Sabo. Ace's eyes widened.

So he did know Luffy. But how...?

He wasn't exactly sure on how to feel. Ace was curious, but he wouldn't admit it to himself. He wanted to walk away, but something glued him to his current spot and eavesdropped some more. Maybe he'd figure out where Sabo was staying. Yes, this would work out in the long run for him and he wouldn't have to befriend the boy. That reward money was looking more tempting by the minute. He never did say he'd be Sabo's friend. He refused to be. As he continued to eavesdrop, the sight started bothering him more and more.

"SABOO!~" Luffy jumped into his arms. "It's really you, Sabo!" His words almost choked him. He could feel a lump in his throat but he called out the Sabo's name again. "Sabo, Sabo! I missed Sabo so much!" Luffy started tearing up as he looked into the other's eyes.

He was so happy to have met up with his friend again, despite the many months that had passed. It had been torture for him. Sabo was the only person who accepted his friendship. He still considered Ace a friend, despite him running away and saying those mean things. Luffy just really wanted to be happy with Ace too. He wanted Ace to be there with them, but for now he was ecstatic at finally reuniting with the one person he felt he abandoned. He knew he'd get Ace to be with them soon enough. Maybe Sabo would help.

Sabo didn't know how to react to the boy's tears. "L-Luffy? Are, you… alright? What's wrong?"

"I-I…missed Sabo…I was lonely and scared but I got stronger! I got stronger to see you again, Sabo!" Luffy sniffled as the tears wouldn't stop along with a few boogers.

This made Sabo want to cry too, seeing the pain and relief in the other's face. He knew Luffy would still be alive and well, but seeing how much pain was reflected in his eyes hurt. It hurt. He wanted to stay with his friend and protect him, but he couldn't even do that. He even noticed the bruises on the other's body. It wasn't just on Luffy's hands. His face, arms, legs, they were all visible. What exactly did he go through to get here? And how far did he go? Where the heck was he staying? He stopped himself from blurting out the questions all at once and decided to enjoy the moment.

Sabo lightly chuckled, "Luffy, your boogers are showing."

"I-I dunnn care." Luffy sniffled again.

He just wanted to tease the boy a bit to lighten the mood but Sabo opted for patting Luffy's head and tightened the embrace they were in. It was the only thing he could truly think of doing to comfort him and it felt really nice. It was warm and secure, something he wasn't used to with his family. Sabo was hurting as well, but he wanted to comfort Luffy more so than give into his urge to cry, even if they were tears of relief and happiness. He was able to meet his friend again. Life was giving them another chance. He wasn't sure when he'd see him or if he'd ever be seeing him again but there he was.

Luffy hummed happily when he felt Sabo's hands in his hair. Sabo didn't know where he picked up the strange habit, but it felt so natural to run his fingers through Luffy's dark strands of hair. It made the other relax and they both stayed there for a little while longer as they enjoyed one another's company. Simple laughter accompanied them both and they didn't need to say much after that.

Ace couldn't take all that emotion on display. He had never seen two people who weren't related at all to one another have so much feeling for one another. He thought they were both stupid, but if being stupid meant being happy then he must have been doing something wrong. He felt a strong ache in his chest. He felt lonelier in that small instance than he'd ever felt in his life. It confused him. Ace really wanted to leave, but now more than ever he decided he'd turn Sabo into his parents. The thought of those two being happy made him truly sick. He wasn't even sure why. Was it jealousy? Or possible envy? Luffy seemed to really cherish Sabo. Could that have been him instead of Sabo if he had accepted the boy's friendship? He shook his head to rid those foolish thoughts out of him. Why would he want something like that in his life in the first place? He didn't deserve any of it.

A loud grumble interrupted their emotional scene and Sabo laughed. "Oi, Luffy, is that why you were staring at the water?"

"I was hungry! And I can't swim either." Luffy frowned.

"Well, I'll help you catch some fish so you could eat." He patted Luffy's head once more and the boy's eyes gleamed with happiness.

"Sabo's the best! Shishishi~"

This made Sabo blush a little. "I am aren't I?" He grinned with confidence.

When Sabo caught quite a handful of fish, Luffy wouldn't stop staring at him with amazement in his eyes. Ace rolled his eyes from afar. He compared himself to Sabo and knew he could beat the other if they were to compete. Ace shook his head once more. He needed Sabo to go back home as soon as possible. He was scaring himself with how sucked into their own little game he was getting.

"Sabo caught so many fish!" Luffy said in excitement.

"Well you eat a lot!"

Sabo found the other's metabolism quite interesting. He thought he ate a lot, but Luffy was like a dark hole that ate anything and everything at any time. It was quite a sight to see.

Luffy grabbed some fish and stuffed them down his mouth. He asked Sabo (with a mouthful) if he wasn't going to eat.

"Nope, not right now. I already ate earlier. If I get hungrier later on, I'll just go hunt something." Sabo smiled as he gestured for Luffy to keep eating.

"Ohhh! What did Sabo eat? Was it really good?" Luffy asked with curiosity.

"I actually ate with some company this time around. I ate a lot of different foods."

"Sabo made another friend?! That's not fair... Can they be my friend too?"

"Hm, something like that—Actually, yeah. He's my friend. I'm sure he'll be happy to know that another person wants to be his friend toooo~" Sabo said as he chuckled. He wouldn't want Luffy to get attacked for wanting to befriend the angry boy, but he was there with him now and he knew Luffy wouldn't back down from friendship. He felt he was getting closer to actually befriending that angry freckled boy and Luffy would probably be that extra push they needed.

"YAY!"

Ace couldn't believe it. Sabo was already calling him a friend?

He dragged me to go feed him and we ate together, once. Now he thinks we're friends? I'll show him what a friend I am.

"So how the heck did you get here? And listen, Luffy… I'm sorry." Sabo said with a saddened tone.

"It's not Sabo's fault. Grandpa took me away and said I couldn't be your friend. But I didn't care! I want to be Sabo's friend so I had to get stronger to get here." Luffy grinned at Sabo, feeling rather proud.

Sabo returned a light smile and patted Luffy's head again. It was such a Luffy thing to simply not dread on things. If he was okay with everything now, then so was he. He felt like apologizing for so much more but Luffy just simply looked at him with an honest smile. "So your grandpa doesn't know you're here? When are you going back? I'm sure he'll be looking for you, Luffy."

"I'm bringing Sabo back with me! Shishishi~"

"WHAT? I guess I could do that... I've got nothing here, just living around on a tree." Sabo said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Really? Sabo's coming back with me then?" Luffy jumped up happily. "Oh, but I also wanna bring Ace back with us too." He quickly lowered his head. "But he keeps running away from me…"

"Ace?" Sabo asked with piqued interest. "Who's that?"

Ace felt extremely silly. Why did he convince himself that everything Luffy was saying was a lie? Why was he even caring about this? Maybe because for once in his life someone wanted to actually get closer to him, but he pushed them away, pushed any chance at friendship. No, he ran away and that part was starting to get to him. Luffy had Sabo as a friend now, so there was no need to follow him around. Of course, that's how it would always be. Even if Luffy were to run into him again, he'd just run away, or maybe knock him out cold. He and Luffy could never be friends. He'd just get easily replaced. Luffy was just a ball of sunshine, while compared to him, he was just a ball of dark negativity. It was stupid in his mind. So stupid.

"He's my friend!" There it was again, that genuine smile Luffy would make. His whole face would light up like fireworks.

"Oh? So you had a friend too and never told me?" Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"Ace ran away from me and gramps… he said, he said he didn't need people who pretended to care." Luffy frowned, "I care about Ace a lot though! But he was being stupid and never let me play with him! When I got here I saw him again. I was really happy but he ran away from me again!"

Sabo could already tell how much this Ace person meant to Luffy, and how hurt and riled up it was getting him. Oddly enough, just seeing how much it hurt Luffy made Sabo want to go kick the kid's ass and make him realize that Luffy did care.

Sabo ruffled up Luffy's hair once more. "There, there, Luffy. We can look for this Ace kid in the morning alright? If you saw him around here, it means he must be living around these parts. Maybe we could get my friend to help too." He smiled and Luffy looked at him a bit more intrigued leaning towards his face.

"Sabo, you're missing a tooth!" He pointed in wonder.

"Oh this? Haha! About that…" Sabo scratched his head sheepishly. "I uhhh, well, my friend sort of punched me."

Luffy started laughing and said the missing tooth looked cool. Only Luffy would think of something like that. For some reason the image of the freckled boy came to Sabo's mind after hearing Luffy's little talk. After all, it did sort of explain some things, but he wouldn't make quick assumptions just yet.

It got dark quickly. The evening appeared a lot sooner than expected. When both boys were done talking, Sabo told Luffy they'd be going to his tree house where they'd be safer to sleep in. As they were on their way, Ace followed closely behind relieved that they finally decided to head out.

It was strange to Ace, he was slightly enjoying being able to simply watch from afar at how Luffy acted around someone else. He could also see why Sabo was so fond of him. Luffy simply filled the missing pieces. But it also made him a little sick seeing the displays of friendliness towards each other. How could they be so carefree? He didn't know either of their reasons or backgrounds and he didn't plan on it but—

It wasn't until a random straw-hat flew right into his hands that broke him out of his thoughts. He stared at it awkwardly for a bit and it suddenly dawned on him that this was Luffy's. Before Ace could run off and leave the hat there, an arm grabbed him firmly. It was Sabo.

"What the heck are you doing here? Spying on us?" Sabo said in an all knowing teasing tone and Ace really wanted to punch him for that look of arrogance.

Ace didn't know what to do at that moment though. In all honestly, he wasn't sure what was stopping him from punching Sabo and running but he figured his brain just shut down from shock. He fell on the ground out of sheer surprise and yelled.

"Ehh? Would you look at that, Luffy's hat." Sabo smiled at him and called over the other boy, the boy Ace had been avoiding like the plague. "OI, Luffy! Found your hat and a friend!"

Ace winced at the unnecessary label.

"REALLY? YA-HOO!" Luffy ran over to both of them.

Ace chose to stay quiet as Sabo tried to give him a hand but Ace pushed the other's hand away. "I don't need help getting up." He grumbled.

Luffy stared at Ace and saw the hat in his hands. He gave wide grin as he took the hat and put it back on his head. Luffy looked over at Ace and yelled, "THANK YOU, ACE!" He walked over to get closer and hug him.

Ace blushed at the gesture and couldn't believe Luffy, whom he had hurt more than enough times, was hugging him.

"Shut up will ya?! AHH LET GO OF ME!" He tried to get out of Luffy's suffocating embrace.

Sabo laughed at the sight, "I think he's just embarrassed, Luffy."

"Oi, you, don't talk for me like you know me!"

"Really? Shishishi! Silly Ace~"

Ace couldn't believe they were both ignoring him and why was Luffy still holding him?! He had never felt more embarrassed in his life.

"LET GO!" Ace yelled once more, making sure he'd get the point across.

Luffy pouted up at him, "But I don't want Ace to leave again…"

"Luffy," Sabo interrupted before the mood got gloomy, "Come here?" Sabo extended his arms out.

"SABOOO!~" Luffy let go of Ace and ran over to Sabo as he jumped into his arms. Sabo then smiled over at Ace as he patted the boy in his embrace. Ace simply glared at the display. He knew he wouldn't get along with this cheeky kid.

That little bastard—

"So your name's Ace?" Sabo asked as took the personal victory and continued the conversation. "Who would have thought we knew the same person, Luffy!"

"He was your friend from your story huh!" Luffy asked, his expression, full of amazement.

"Yep! The one I saved." Sabo teased trying to get a different reaction from Ace who just stood there in shock and obvious jealousy.

"You didn't save me!" Ace smacked Sabo's head and Luffy just laughed at Sabo rubbing his head, but Ace then smacked Luffy's head in return.

Ace sighed afterwards because what predicament did he get himself into? Why was it that even if he didn't consider them friends, he was still sticking around? They treated him like he was one of their own. He was so confused.

The wind started getting stronger as the three of them stood around and Luffy looked up at the visible darkened sky pointing to it. "Eh? It's really cloudy now! The sky looks cool!"

"It's going to rain. We should head to my tree house. We'll be safe there for the night!" Sabo said to both boys.

"I'm just going to go back to—OI" Ace didn't get a chance to walk away as Sabo and Luffy happily pulled him along.

A/N: If anyone read this chapter, thanks a bunch!