I can't believe the response I got for the snippet. :) It really helped me push through the urge to just push off what I had done and work on it later. Having a firmer idea of what I want to see happen in the future helps a lot as well.

I read a lot of great suggestions and I did borrow one or two to help me 'fill' some spots that were a lot shorter than I wanted them to be, so thanks a lot! I hope you enjoy this chapter – I think it's one of my favorites so far!

o0o

Chapter 8

o0o

Sabo glared spitefully at the ground, never hating his lineage more-so than he did at that moment. Ace had Luffy in a re-purposed backpack they'd cut holes out of for the child's legs, and the eighteen-month-old was peering curiously over Ace's left shoulder. The set-up left Ace's hands free to slam the blond up against the base of an old oak tree that marked the end of the forest at the cliffs. If nothing else, the blond mused while staring at his brother's angry eyes, at least he had a fine view for his death.

"Spill it, Sabo! That man knew you! How?"

Sabo squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to say. He could handle just about anything except Ace being angry at him. He didn't want to lose this thing, this sense of... dare he say family?...to something as vile as his birth status. His hands clenched into tight fists. He opened his mouth. "I..."

And stopped, because he couldn't. He just couldn't. This kind of information could tear a rift between them, could ruin everything, and Sabo just couldn't risk that. He couldn't.

"Sabo."

There was a slight change in tone. Sabo looked up and saw both anger and worry in Ace's eyes. There was also something in his face, almost like trepidation – was Ace scared? The very idea was hard to believe – this was the kid who been beating up grown men since he was eight, and hunting for his own food since he was six. What could possibly scare Portgas D Ace aside from the possibility of losing Luffy? "Ace..."

"You're trying to hide something," Ace said tightly, his own fists clenching like Sabo's. The shadows grew in his eyes as he swallowed convulsively a couple of times before continuing. "Sabo, I... we... Sabo..." His eyes closed for a moment and Ace mimicked Sabo's earlier actions and glared heatedly at the ground. "Look. It's just us three, right? You and me and Luffy. You two are all I have. Dadan and Jiji don't care, not really, or else they'd actually be raising me and Luffy. We're parents and we're only eleven, Sabo. I can't do this by myself and I don't want to."

Sabo gaped at the normally taciturn boy. "Ace..."

"No matter what secret you have, it can't possibly be worse than mine!" Ace shouted angrily. On his back, Luffy gave a small whimper and buried his head behind Ace's shoulder. Ace automatically patted the toddler's leg in apology but didn't take his eyes off the blond. "I don't have one brother Sabo, I have two. But we need to trust each other. I trusted you with my secret, Sabo."

The unspoken, 'will you trust me with yours?' rang in Sabo's ears as loudly as if Ace had screamed it at the top of his lungs. But before he could deal with that, there was something more important he needed to address first. "Brother?" he managed to gasp out, unsure if that was what he'd truly heard. "R-really?"

Ace blushed, the red highlighting the freckles on his tanned face, but the glare didn't let up. "Well, yeah," he grumbled somewhat awkwardly. His attempt to drill a hole in the ground by his stare alone was broken up by a quick glance to Sabo's face before he determinedly stared back at the leaves littering the cliff-side. "You're as much Luffy's brother as he is mine, considering how much you help with him. And if he's your brother, then that must make you mine... right?"

That last bit was a bit quieter and tinged with doubt. Sabo tried to swallow but his dry mouth and throat wouldn't cooperate. "Y-yeah," he managed to get out. A small smile grew on his face and he stood up a little straighter, staring at his friend – no, his brother, in wonder. "Yeah, Ace. It does. All three of us."

A small smirk replaced the grim line and narrowed brows that had been Ace's primary expression ever since that man in town had shouted Sabo's name. "Okay then. We're brothers. All three of us. We'll make it official later."

Sabo was about to ask how when Ace continued.

"So, now that we're brothers, you're going to tell me what the hell was up with that man in the city. How did he know you, Sabo?"

Sabo sighed, face dropping, and his hat slid down to shadow his eyes. He wondered vaguely how long this new-found brotherhood would last once he spilled this particular secret. "He's my father," he admitted quietly, after about a minute of silence had gone by. Sabo rubbed at his face, feeling older than his eleven and a half years. "He's a noble who runs a shipping company. I was born the son of a noble."

He shut his eyes and waited.

"...And?"

Sabo blinked, and looked up to see Ace standing there, hands on his hips, foot tapping impatiently. "What?"

"I'm waiting for the rest of it," Ace snarled, eyes blazing.

The blond knew he was gaping again but he couldn't quite help it. "Uh... that was it?"

Ace rolled his eyes and stomped towards him, fingers curled into claws. Sabo shut his eyes again, waiting for the punch or slap that was sure to come – only to have them fly open when Ace smacked him upside the head instead. "What the-"

"Idiot!" Ace shouted. A vein was throbbing in his forehead. "That's your big secret? Scaring me—er, Luffy, over that?" Ace glared hotly at him. "You idiot! I already knew you were a noble!"

Sabo was fairly certain he'd forgotten how to breathe. The idea that Ace had known his secret already had him gasping dizzily, his back sliding down along the rough bark of the tree he was still braced against, until he hit the ground with a thud. He sat there, feeling numb as he stared up at his friend – no, he reminded himself again, his brother. "You... you did?"

Ace plopped to the ground across from him, checking quickly to make sure Luffy's legs didn't get smushed before focusing back on the newly revealed noble. Luffy's head had popped back up over Ace's shoulder and he was clapping his hands, chanting 'Spo, Spo," over and over again. Then he yanked on Ace's hair and shouted, 'cook, cook'.

Ace sighed and rummaged through the small pack he used to carry stuff for Luffy, pulling out one of the biscuits Makino had sent up and handing it over his shoulder. Luffy's teeth were almost all in but he liked to lick the hard cookies and suck on them for a while instead of chewing them. It was a quick way to distract him for a few minutes at a time.

Luffy gleefully accepted the cookie with a loud squeal, hit Ace over the head with it as a thank you, and then shoved one end in his mouth.

Ace meanwhile, had folded his arms and gave a mild glare to Sabo, who thought it also looked a bit tired. "Of course I knew," he grumped crossly. "How many pure blondes wearing top hats with crystal plated goggles can you find in Grey Terminal? Not to mention you can read fluently. How many people can even spell their name there? I figured out you were born a noble a couple of years ago." He shrugged one slim shoulder, his gaze turning a bit distant. "Actually, I thought you'd tell me when I told you I was the son of Gol D Roger."

Sabo flinched, chagrined. "I..."

"Anyway," Ace continued, not letting Sabo dwell on that. "So your dad saw you. What should we be worried about? It's not like a noble like him would ever think about going through Edge Town to look for you, much less Grey Terminal, right?"

That much was probably true. The nobles of High Town considered the lesser areas of Goa Kingdom to be rundown and practically diseased – there was no chance of his father coming to search for him there, much less the forest known for its plethora of predators. Sabo simply couldn't see it. A small knot of anxiety in his finally loosened, and a weak smile came to his lips. "I guess we should avoid High Town for a while."

Ace shrugged and nodded. "Probably a good idea."

Luffy crunched down on his biscuit and began to bang the remainder in his hand against Ace's head. Sabo chuckled, feeling better as he watched the toddler use Ace as his own personal drum. "He's getting crumbs in your hair again." He grinned impishly. "They look good on you. Like spotted, blond highlights."

The dark-haired boy glared at him again – but it was his normal glare, the one Sabo had gotten used to years ago. "You're changing the next ten dirty diapers."

Sabo gawked at him in horror. "But-

"That's your punishment for thinking...whatever it is you thought I was gonna do when I found out your so-called secret."

Sabo dropped his head. He deserved that.

"C'mon. We have to make our claim as brothers official, and I know just how to do that."

"You do?" Sabo asked, still glum about his punishment, but feeling happiness start to wedge its way back as he realized his thoughts of family had been echoed by Ace, even if he hadn't known it. "How?"

"First, we need to pay Dadan a little visit..."

o0o

Ace didn't particularly want to wake up.

As far as he knew, everything hurt. From his toenails to his eyebrows and everything in between, it was all screaming 'don't move' at him in very loud shrill voices. Oh wait – that was coming from outside his head.

Ace very slowly opened his eyes somewhat dazedly and saw a lady in pink scrubs with nurse's hat about to fall off her head, snapping something out at a guy wearing mascara and more makeup than she was. The guy was snapping back just as viciously and loudly in between her barking. "...'th' hell?"

The two fighting over him froze, both staring at him. The nurse broke the silence first. "Ace?"

Ace blinked a few times, and then suddenly remembered.

The Mystic.

His crew.

The firewall.

Whitebeard.

LUFFY.

Suddenly the pain wasn't such a concern to him anymore, and he heaved himself upright, gripping the railings of the medical bed to keep himself from falling back down. His hair was falling into his eyes, his throat was as dry as the Alabastan desert, but none of that prevented him from glaring at the two of them, his free hand balling into a fist and setting itself on fire. "Where is my little brother?" he snarled.

The nurse gasped and made as if to step back, but then her shoulders squared and she moved forward instead. "Ace, right? Ace, Luffy is fine-"

"Where is he? Where's my crew?" Ace felt his breath growing shorter. The distant pain in his head was growing. He tried to ignore it and focused on keeping the flames going on his fist in case he needed to perform an emergency hiken. Odds were he was going to pass out again, but if anything had happened to his loved ones, he'd be taking the two in front of him with him. "What did you do with my brother?"

"Of all the times for the kid to take a potty break," groused the he-she?- standing next to the nurse. "Look, kid-"

"Ace."

"Right, Ace. Your brother is fine, he just had to run to the bathroom. Our first commander took him. They'll be back in—oh, thank god, here they are." The okama pointed across the room.

Ace slowly turned to see the first commander. He vaguely recognized the fruit-shaped head and matching haircut, and the lavender jacket was not something one easily forgot. But then he saw movement behind the commander's legs, and he felt the breath freeze in his lungs.

"Luffy," he breathed out, feeling light-headed with relief.

"Ace!" His dark-haired bundle of sunlight raced towards his bed, crouching down and springing up to land – in the he-she's arms, instead of on Ace's stomach. "Whoaa!"

Ace felt another snarl building, but Luffy was laughing, swinging back and forth in the-"What the hel-heck do I call you?"

He/she smiled coolly. "My name is Izou."

"Good to know, but I meant, what do you want to be referred to as?" Ace ground out. His head already hurt – he didn't need any additional confusion. He just wanted to know how to address the person whose limbs he was about to roast to a nice crisp.

Izou looked surprised – but the next smile he gave Ace was considerably warmer than the one before it. "I identify as male," he said. "I may happen to enjoy wearing makeup and kimonos but I am still a man with no desire to be otherwise." He set Luffy down, still watching Ace with an intrigued look. "But thank you for asking. Not many people do."

Ace grunted, uncaring of the explanation. At least he had an answer and could stop mixing pronouns in his spinning head. It was only because he was feeling dizzy and Luffy was laughing that he decided to postpone the man's eventual frying. "Luffy, c'mere."

His little brother clambered up on the bed and settled carefully into Ace's arms. Ace ignored the pain his body was starting to issue stern complaints about, and squeezed his little brother tight, leaning his head down to nuzzle the soft black hair. His racing heart began to settle somewhat, a result of having his boy back. He inhaled deeply. "Are you okay?"

Luffy nodded, beaming his usual wide grin, squinching his eyes shit. "I'm okay, Ace! Everyone's really nice here! Thatchy keeps giving me lots of good food! And Bluebird lets me fly on his back!"

"That's great, Lu." Ace said lowly, his grip tightening on his brother again as he looked uneasily at the people staring at him.

Izou in his flowery kimono and matching hairpiece (with enough makeup to coat the faces of half the Grand Line), some guy standing by the door with hair that added an extra foot to his height (twin sabres, good reach), the guy that had taken Luffy to the head (tall, blond haired and blue-eyed, looked familiar and had a strong aura to him), a nurse – or maybe a doctor, she was looking at him with the kind of evaluating glance Biggie used to give him after his 'spars' with other pirates-

"So where is my crew?" Ace snapped out as he abruptly remembered the other, non-Luffy people on his ship. "What did you do to them? Are they alright?"

Izou and the doctor looked at Blondie who gave Ace a smile and held up his hands in what Ace supposed was supposed to be a peaceful gesture. "They're currently on Moby 3 for now. They're fine, yoi. Well, the little guy in the turban has a broken leg but your own doctor said it was no big deal."

"Tyger jumped out of the crow's nest but Spooky forgot to catch him," Luffy chirped happily.

"That... sounds right," Ace muttered, still glaring warily at the people apparently intent on staring at him forever. He squeezed Luffy one more time – and then paused. He picked up Luffy – despite the nurse giving a quick 'No! Your ribs!' which he easily ignored – and stood the kid up on the bed so he could get a good look at him. "Lemme check, Lu."

Luffy giggled and held out his arms, remembering the routine, and gave a slow spin so Ace could see if he had any injuries. Mid-spin, Ace stopped him. Stared.

Ace ran his fingers gently along his brother's spine, tracing bumps he hadn't been able to see before.

There was a cough from the guy at the door. "Uh-"

"Shut up," Ace said coldly, not taking his eyes off the little bumps and ridges along Luffy's side. Luffy giggled as he ran his fingers along the child's ribcage. He did not like what he was seeing. The rage that had been simmering at a low boil began to overflow. "What the HELL-"

"Wait!" shouted Door Guy, and he rushed the bed, hands up. Ace snarled and grabbed Luffy, pulling him back to his side, leaving his other hand free just in case. "I know this looks bad but we didn't know how much food your brother needed to eat!"

Ace felt his flames flickering under the skin of his right arm. It would only take a whisper of a thought to send out a hiken that would take out the entire infirmary. His observation haki was sketchy at the best of times, but he could always recognize Luffy and his fire wouldn't touch him as long as he was lucid.

Door Guy kept talking, not even registering the growing heat in the room. "He didn't tell us anything while you were sleeping, almost a week! We only found out when Marco brought him to the galley because we could all hear his stomach rumbling, and he ate like five huge trays of food!"

That paused Ace for two reasons, and his fire died down for a moment. The first... he looked down at Luffy, who was totally immune to the tension in the room and was snuggled up against Ace's left side, head resting on Ace's chest so he could listen to his brother's heart beat. It was one of the things he had discovered when Luffy had still been a baby that would calm him down quickly.

Ace smirked and jostled the boy lightly. Luffy peered up at him quizzically, his hair rumpled and sticking straight up. Door Guy opened his mouth to say something but Blondie held up a hand to stop him. Good move. "Luffy?"

Luffy tilted his head to the side in question.

"Did you really not tell anyone anything about yourself for a week?" It was hard to believe. Luffy had a habit of belting out his life story within minutes of making a new 'friend', no matter how questionable said friend was.

Luffy nodded enthusiastically. "You said I should never tell other pirates anything until you say its okay, right? But you were sleeping and you didn't wake up..." At this point, Luffy suddenly shut his mouth, scrunching his cheeks for a moment, blinking faster. Ace was horrified to see tears starting to well up. "I thought you'd never wake up, Ace..."

Ace tightened the grip he had on the boy and leaned his head over to press a kiss to Luffy's raven hair. "I know, Lu, I know. I'm sorry I scared you, baby boy."

Luffy sniffled, but didn't let the tears fall. Ace was so proud of his bravery that for a moment he forgot their every move was being watched and studied like laboratory mice. Then Ace saw the slight shadows in the kid's cheeks, and his memory returned.

He glared back up at Door Guy for his second reason. "So why wasn't he eating in the galley to begin with? He would have just gone and asked for more food if you'd have let him!"

"Because he wouldn't leave your side," said Marco, cutting Door Guy off and recapturing Ace's attention. "He sat by you for six days straight, only leaving for bathroom breaks. But by then no one could possibly miss the sounds that tummy was making-" the blond paused for a moment to grin at Luffy who giggled back and whispered something that sounded like 'bears 'n lions', "-and we managed to convince him to come to the galley. Which was when we discovered your baby brother is a bottomless pit, yoi."

Ace nodded tersely. He could accept that, and if he really had been out for a week, then aside from not knowing how to feed a D (or a Monkey but they didn't know that), they must have taken pretty good care of Luffy. Apart from being a bit on the skinny side, which was fixable with a week or so of good feeding, Luffy was in perfect condition, in clean clothes, and was pretty happy to boot. It was easy to see the sprat liked these people. They certainly seemed to like him in return.

Ace was of a different opinion. This was the crew of Whitebeard – the man that rivaled his father. While the crew may be benevolent towards children, there was no reason for them to be the same to someone who shared the blood of their hated enemy.

"Heavy thoughts?"

Ace blinked and glared up at Marco who was staring back at him, one eyebrow raised. "What?"

The man shrugged. "Looked like you were having some heavy thoughts. Anything you wanna share?"

"Not to you," Ace snapped, feeling cold all of a sudden, despite his powers. He shivered once and then forced himself to calm down. They didn't know. No one in the Spades would ever tell his darkest secret, and Luffy... well, Luffy had once proven he wouldn't share any of Ace's secrets, even when Ace would rather that he did in order to save himself. The reminder of Luffy being in the hands of enemy pirates brought the chill back, and Ace felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead.

"Hey, you don't look so good. Whiskey?" Marco reached out a hand to Ace.

Ace flinched and sat back, growling at Marco. "Back off, Blondie," he warned, eyes narrowed.

Marco held his hands up peacefully, and put his hand out to prevent the nurse from coming closer. On the bed, Luffy blinked wide-eyed, looking from Ace to Marco to Ace again before dropping to his knees and crawling forward along Ace's side until he got to Ace's face. He put his little hands on either side of Ace's head. "Ace?"

Ace instantly dropped the glare. "I'm okay, Luffy."

Luffy frowned at him, looking worried. "Why are you angry?" he asked, staring his brother in the eye. "Everyone's been really nice to me, and they fixed up all your ouchies and made you all better."

"That's good, Lu," Ace said quietly, suddenly feeling exhausted, mentally and physically. "But that doesn't mean they're going to be really nice to me. I attacked their captain, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Luffy let go of Ace's face, and turned around, standing up to point at Marco. "Bluebird!"

Ace couldn't stop the perplexed look from appearing on his face. Bluebird?

Marco rolled his eyes at the nurse and Door Guy who were both snickering. "Yes, Luffy?"

"You're not gonna hurt Ace, right? 'Cause I won't like you if you do." Luffy folded his little arms and levelled what he probably thought was an angry scowl at Marco, but Ace – and everyone else in the room, judging by the smiles trying to be hidden – considered adorable. Izou was the only one who smiled outright, not bothering to hide it.

Marco coughed lightly into his closed fist and then gave them an amused smirk. "No, Luffy. We're not going to hurt your brother. We're not going to hurt either of you."

"You mean it?" And suddenly Luffy was frowning with an intensity only Ace had seen before. Ace knew Luffy hadn't been too serious yet because everyone was suddenly staring at the kid like he'd grown a third head. Luffy's aura was suddenly rising – you didn't need observation haki to feel the heavy pressure the kid was exerting with his gaze.

Marco blinked twice, and looked at Ace, who ignored him and kept his eyes on Luffy. The blond looked back at Luffy and nodded slowly, eyes sharpening in interest.

"And Ace gets good food too, right?" Luffy looked a little worried. The pressure was suddenly gone, and a regular six-and-a-half-year-old was back, beaming owlishly up at his watchers.

Door Guy shook his head as though shaking off the pressure, and grinned widely. "Yep, he sure does, kiddo!" He looked around Luffy to Ace. "Hey there. My name is Thatch – I'm the head cook and fourth division commander of the White Beard pirates. I've heard you've got the same kind of appetite as Luffy."

Ace stared at him, surprised by the sheer friendliness radiating off the redhead. "Uh.."

"I'll take that as a yes." Thatch grinned and turned, heading for the door. "I'll get something up here right away to start you off. Sound good?"

Ace was about to shout back he didn't need their pity when he saw Luffy watching him curiously. He swallowed back the angry retort and gave a short nod instead. "Thanks," he said gruffly, inclining his head just enough to appear polite. His fingers trembled, but he didn't clench his fists. He couldn't make them angry at him.

Izou gave him a curt smile and followed Thatch out of the room.

Ace swallowed hard. If it was just him, he wouldn't care, but Luffy was his number one priority, and no one else from his crew was even on the same ship as him. Hell, he didn't even know where in the New World the other ships would even be. He had to play nice – had to be agreeable, polite, whatever it would take so they wouldn't hurt either of them. He didn't know exactly what they wanted from him, but whatever it was, it was enough for them to treat Luffy well, and help him heal.

At the very least, he owed them for that. And he refused to let Luffy get hurt because of him. It was a hard-learned lesson, but Ace had long since trained himself to keep a lid on his explosive temper when he needed to. Lashing out when you had an infant strapped to your back, or a wobbly toddler following your every move taught him that pretty damn quickly.

And Luffy had just shown the First Mate and first division commander (and yes, he had recognized Blondie as soon as his head had cleared, regardless of Izou's introduction – he followed the news bounties like any good pirate did, keeping tabs on those he would consider rivals) that he was no normal child, aside from his Devil Fruit. Ace was shocked that no one had mentioned it yet. But the strangely interested look in Marco's face somehow told him that he'd be having a conversation about Luffy in general, sooner or later.

Ace didn't know what to do. His ship was gone. His crew was gone. Luffy and he were in the care and keeping of the same pirates whose captain he tried to kill. Everything suddenly looked so hopeless. He lowered his head, trying to breathe normally.

"Ace?" Luffy was crawling back to him, trying to peek under Ace's bangs. "Ace?"

"Sorry, Luffy," he breathed. "I'm just a little tired. S'all." His words were slurring. He knew what that meant. Haziness was settling over him and he knew he only had a few seconds. "Shit..."

"Bad word," he could hear Luffy saying triumphantly, but the kiddo would have to wait for him to pay up later. White blanketed his vision, and he instantly fell asleep.

o0o

"Whiskey!" Marco watched as the teenage pirate fell back against the pillow. "I knew he was feeling worse than he said."

Whiskey moved forward briskly. "Marco, get Luffy off the bed-"

"No!"

Marco froze at Luffy's shout. The little boy was glaring at them. "Ace is sleeping. Don't wake him up."

The doctor was frowning, still moving towards them. "I'm not going to hurt Ace, Luffy," she said calmly. "But I do want to check him out, and it would be easier for me to do that if Marco carried you for a moment. Okay?"

Luffy pouted, puffing his cheeks out like a chipmunk with a mouthful of nuts. "But Ace is sleeping!"

"Sleeping?" Whiskey wrinkled her nose. "You mean he just fell asleep? Just like that?"

"Yup!" Luffy sat on his crossed legs, gripping his feet so he could rock back and forth. "Shihihi, Ace does it lots of times! Sometimes he'll fall asleep while he's talking an' finish his sentence when he wakes up!"

Marco blinked at that and looked at Whiskey. "You know about this kind of thing?"

"Possibly," Whiskey said musingly. She focused back on the tiny rock-and-roller. "Sweetie, does Ace take special medicine? To help him stay awake more?"

"Mmmm," Luffy said, nodding his head. "He has'ta take a white pill every morning at breakfast." Luffy's eyes opened wide. "Ace missed six days!"

"Well, that explains why he passed out," Whiskey said with a sigh. She turned to Marco. "Sounds like the kid's a narcoleptic. I'd have to confirm it with him first, and see what he's already on and what his schedule is like-"

"Schedule?" Marco was confused.

She looked at Luffy again. "Does your brother have to do things at certain times?"

Luffy cocked his head so far to the left he fell over but kept his legs crossed. "Like naps and stuff?"

"Yes."

"We take a nap every day after lunch," Luffy said, nodding his head. "Sometimes in the morning too, but that's just a little one."

Marco smirked. This little routine sounded adorable to him.

Whiskey nodded and lowered her voice. "Definitely fitting the profile of a narcoleptic." She frowned. "Narcolepsy is strongly tied to depression among other things. It's a little worrisome. And there's lots of other symptoms that could be present that Luffy might not recognize." She moved over to the bed, ruffling Luffy's hair as she did so. "I'm gonna give your brother a quick check-up. I promise I won't wake him up. Do you want to help me, Luffy?"

The little boy cheered and Marco took that moment to slip out of the room. Pops wanted an update, and he had quite a few things to share with him.

End Chapter 8

Three straight hours of typing, erasing, re-typing, three read-throughs and this is what you get. :) Please let me know what you think!