This was how I wanted to continue writing my other fanfic 'The Return Of Joyboy' but no, I had to develop another idea and change the whole story. I kind of liked how I wrote this and didn't want to simply delete it, so I thought of having it like a one-shot!
I hope no body minds it. But you are free to tell me your opinions!
If you haven't read 'The Return Of Joyboy' then you should not read this!
Plot: Luffy is the child of the sea. The plot takes place after Ace had returned from the fire with Dadan, but Luffy was sleeping that time when Dogra announces that Sabo is dead. After he wakes up...
It was afternoon when Luffy finally woke. He frantically searched for Ace. He needed to tell him. Right now. He heard the shoutings. Ace. He ran out and saw Ace tied up with a tree. He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Ace!" Luffy shouted. He wanted to tell Ace. He needed to. "Sabo is in danger. We need to go! Now!"
Ace bit his lips and was staring at the ground. What will he say to his brother? How will he say that Sabo is no longer? How will the happy cheery carefree boy react? He bit his lips in anger, and blood trailed from it. Dripping slowly. He refused to answer. He just couldn't. He just didn't have the heart to break it.
Ace heard the crying. He heard the sobbing coming from his brother, whose legs had given up already. Who's crying made Ace feel like he was burning alive. It made Ace feel like he was the worst brother ever. Luffy indeed understood the silence. He indeed understood that Sabo's no more. He's gone. He's gone. Got shot. Left them without even a goodbye.
"SSSSSAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The wail that left Luffy's throat was merciless. It was heartbreaking. He felt his own tears crawl out of his eyes. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Stop it! Damn it! Stop! Stop! S-Stop! Ace didn't want to cry! He doesn't deserve to cry! He- dammnit it! JUST FUCKING HELL SHUT UP! He couldn't see his brother's crying face, he couldn't see him crying so badly, that it will forever be engraved in his mind and heart and haunt him throughout his life, mocking him for not being able to protect his own brother. Sabo. He cried. His face hung to the ground, his bangs hiding his eyes. Damn it! Just stop! I am a big brother, I need to be strong for my little brother! Ace yells himself but it only causes more tears to flow mercilessly.
Storm calls itself. The rain waters hit like they are attacking, and burning their skin mercilessly. The thunders go off in a distance and unknown to them, fall on someone. Someone who didn't deserve to live after killing their brother. Someone who will be good to be dead. But Ace and Luffy won't know now. They won't know what is happening in the outside world like Sabo being treated in an infirmary or the Celestial Dragon roasted to death. They won't know.
The rain worked as the perfect tool to hide the tears which fell freely from Ace's face. It worked as a perfect friend to hide his hiccups and gulps for air. It worked as a perfect partner to erase the tear and soothe his burning body.
Dadan stands above Luffy, but Luffy pays no mind. He cries and cries and cries. He wails for a big brother, which got taken from him today. He weeps for his mistake of sleeping till late. He bawls his eyes out. He just whines. He screams, his throat feels like it will tear apart. With his screams comes thunder, comes lightning, falling mercilessly on the kingdom of Goa. If nothing would be done, then the whole of Goa Kingdom would be destroyed today. Ace knows that. Ace knows that it's Luffy's power that is making the lightenings clash. It's his powers that are making the rainwater flood the jungles and the animals roar. He just knows that.
"D-Dadan...?" Ace chokes out, his eyes red and puffy as he looks at Dadan. "Open it. I won't run anymore." He says with a pain-filled voice. Dadan obliges. Ace runs to hug his brother, to stop him, to save the Goa Kingdom, to save the country which indeed killed Sabo. But why? Shouldn't Ace let it happen? Shouldn't Ace think of it as his own revenge? No. There are countless innocent people, who are just afraid. Countless innocent children are holding their parent's hands to help themselves with some warmth.
Ace hugs his brother tightly, making him understand, he still is here. He is not leaving him and he is standing just in front of him. The thunders are nowhere to be heard. The winds are stopping to howl and the rain is residing. But the dark clouds still hover over the entire kingdom. The feeling that the rain will again fall never ends. The feeling that the merciless thunder will shatter the Island never leaves him. He knew when his brother will come into his mind, he will blame it on himself. So, he needed to make Luffy quiet. The loss of losing a brother is hard. He accepts it. But one should learn to let go. But how the heck was he supposed to tell that to a little kid? How the heck was he supposed to tell to forget his own brother to Luffy? He just couldn't. He doesn't have the heart to see the crying face, not anymore. Ace had lost his first friend. He has lost a younger brother. But he can't lose anymore. He is selfish. But he won't lose another. He can't. Just can't.
Luffy ultimately stops crying and when Ace checks on him, he founds him sleeping in his arms. The tear streaks are visible for everyone to see. He picks up Luffy slowly and carries him on his back. He places the sleeping child on the floor and carefully changed his wet clothes to fresh ones. He doesn't even take time to change his. He places the sleeping brother in the bed and tucks him in. He sits on the corner of the bed, his arms wrapped around his legs. He stares at his empty hands. His mind pulls him to the times when Sabo would stop the fight between the two raven-haired brothers and when he would be together with them and play pirates, pillow fights, spars, and whatnot. He will miss everything. He will miss his brother above all. He knows that it is wise to forget Sabo, to never touch the wounded part of his heart, but his brother deserves to be remembered. He deserved to be alive, but a bastard just killed him off.
He asks if it was because of him that Sabo had to die. Was it because of his blood luck that Sabo would never return? He cries all again. Trying his best to be low, to not wake his brother. But unknown to him, a person watches him. A person hugs him, but Ace doesn't look up He refuses to.
Ace finds himself on the bed beside Luffy with changed clothes. He opens his eyes and the wooden ceiling stares back at him. Magra enters this time and presents Ace with a letter. The letter belongs to Sabo. Ace bites his lips to not let any sound from coming out. He glances at Luffy, still sleeping peacefully. He stands up and leaves the house. He reads the letter on his way and at the end of the letter, he reaches the cliff and lets out his pain, despair and sadness and anger, and helplessness. He lets it all out.
The Gray Terminal is no longer the same. It is bustling with guards, looking for people, and survivors of the fire. The Gray Terminal no longer stank like before. It smelled of flesh, bones, and blood. The people who were killed. The people cried, screamed, and prayed to whichever Gods were present in the Universe to help them. The Gray Terminal stank more than before now of the wrong deeds committed by the Nobles. The Gray Terminal was erased to the ground. Nothing, no trash heap was present there. Everything was wiped off. No signs of any people present, nor their dead bodies.
"Ace...?" Luffy looks up at his big brother with a small smile on his face for the first time after Sabo's 'death'. Ace hums. He had seen Luffy crying the whole day, he didn't know his brother would bounce back this soon.
"Sabo is alive," Luffy sniffs. Ace thought he misheard it, so he turns around to hear Luffy again. Luffy gives a weak grin and sits up and looks at Ace with a bright smile on his face, he hastily rubs the tears on his face.
"Mom said Sabo is with Dad," Luffy replies again, this time on his feet. Ace feels a choke in his throat. Sabo was alive, he couldn't believe it. He just couldn't. But now the question lies in where is his younger brother. He will raise hell if he didn't find him soon enough.
"Do you know where your Dad is?" Ace asks and they make their way to Foosha Village. Ace thinks that they might need to set sail immediately to retrieve the blond. Luffy hummed at that, smiling again. "Mom will guide us," Luffy's face no longer had tears on it. Ace had a mixture of emotions running through him. 'What the hell Sabo?! First, make us think you are dead and then you survive! I couldn't believe it.' He was angry but he couldn't explain the joy he was feeling with the thought that Sabo was still alive. He just hoped he was alright.
They were sitting in the little dinghy and yet it felt like they were traveling at supersonic speeds to reach Sabo. Ace was awake the whole way, while Luffy fell asleep, exhausted from all the crying he had done. He just wanted to hold his other brother in his arms once again and never let go. He petted Luffy's hair as he saw them approaching a ship. He nudged Luffy to wake him up. Luffy sat up groggily and stifled his upper lip, probably thinking that Sabo is no longer. Ace ruffled his hair softly before making him realize where they were. The happy-go carefree child beamed. Without thinking, he rocketed himself to the ship. Ace followed soon after, he can't leave his little brother in an unknown place, even though that was his Dad's ship!
As soon as he steps on the deck, they are surrounded by guns pointing at them. But Luffy doesn't seem to mind those at all, as his eyes search for three familiar figures. One of them appears sooner. Luffy jumped onto the man, leaving the other revolutionaries indecisive about what to do. Some were half expecting Dragon to throw the kid soon and some were accepting the kid to be some spy, though that was a very off-chance possibility. In the middle of this, Ace stood, staring at anyone and everyone.
"Where is Sabo?" Ace finally asked. His hands curled tightly against the pipe and his eyes glared at anyone who came close.
"Dad!" Luffy finally looked up at his Dad, after sniffling. From the image, it did look like Luffy remembered his Dad and missed him. Dragon felt himself biting his lips, he hadn't thought of this possibility. He hadn't thought he would meet his son so soon. He could see his comrades gape at it. Almost not believing.
"You remember?" Dragon asked confusion in his voice.
"Yep!" Luffy nodded and went beside Ace, and squeezed his hands gently. "Mom told me all about you when I missed you and that is how I know Sabo is here." Dragon nodded at that and asked the boys to follow him. They were led to the lower deck of the ship and the infirmary. Ace gasped at his bandaged brother.
"Sabo?" Ace had accepted the fact that his brother was alive, but he hadn't taken into account that Sabo could be severely wounded. The left side of the body seemed to be completely bandaged. Luffy was beside him, holding his brother's hands in his own. Luffy always knew what Ace and Sabo needed and it always amazed him to the end. He gained the story from Dragon, who told him how they had found Sabo on one of the lone wood floating on the ocean, and courtesy of Ivankov, he acknowledged that by all means, Sabo would have not survived. By all means, his brother would have been truly dead. That made Ace choke on his tears. The bastard was alive and now everything will be alright. Everything will be alright.
Ace heard Sabo groan, as his eyes frantically focused on the blonde brother who slowly but surely began to open his eyes. His breath was caught up. He didn't know what to do. He was glad that his brother was alive and kicking. He was glad that he didn't have to look after Luffy all alone. He was glad Luffy will get the kindness he deserves, which mostly comes from Sabo. Ivankov and Dragon both were shocked, they hadn't accepted the blonde to wake up so soon. They hadn't. Dragon acknowledged that his son was not alone, he had brothers who look up to him and he was glad that they seemed overprotective of his little sunshine.
After Sabo got better, they thanked Dragon and Ivankov, for Ace that was tough, though he did it anyhow. He might have spitted some bad words, but he didn't care. All that mattered was his brothers were safe and in his arms. He will bring an alive Sabo back to Dawn and that was far more than a welcoming thought in his mind. Luffy was hanging on to Sabo's side for most of the day and to the amazement of Ace and Sabo himself, Sabo's wounds were closing soon than possible. Not that Ace was jealous of Sabo, of him being able to be close to Luffy, but he deduced as well as with Sabo, that Sabo's miraculous recovery had Luffy's hands. They couldn't help but adore their little shit, who was sleeping soundly on the little boat. Ace didn't mind carrying him back to Dadan's place when they arrived at Dawn past midnight.
They were both tired and sleepy and even contemplated the fact of staying with Makino, but they really didn't want to wake the poor lady now. But to their luck, Makino was coming out of her bar. They saw the young lady approach them and hug them tightly, minding Sabo's injuries. She picked up Luffy from Ace, who was very much exhausted from the day's events. She told them how Dogra had informed her a few hours ago that Ace and Luffy were missing with the pre-assumed death of Sabo. She was scared. But now nothing mattered as her boys were alive and safe.
That night Ace couldn't sleep. He kept on staring at his brothers and realizes he has people to thank. He realizes his brothers are with him, coz of some people. Ace feels the need to thank Shanks for being for his brother when he was alone. For being for him and telling him stories and his adventures. He wants to thank Shanks for giving his brother a dream, to which he is perfectly suited. He also never wants to fall into a situation where he needed to thank someone and instead of doing that ends up cursing them. He still remembers how Sabo and Luffy had laughed when he had tried to thank Dragon for saving Sabo but he had ended up calling Luffy's father a bastard. But Dragon had not minded. He will not see the end of it if it happens again. He would make sure that he thanks Dragon properly when he grows up.
The bandits and Dadan are happy to have Sabo back. It was written on their faces. The next day, Sabo is taken care of by Magra. They are amazed to find some scars leaving Sabo's body already, which Ivankov had told them that they will stay no matter what. At the end of the day, only the scar on Sabo's eye remains and Luffy claims it to be cool.
Ace asks Makino to teach him manners. There is Sabo, and he will follow the example of his brother and be a better brother to Luffy. Sabo did give him tips along the way. He even made Ace and Luffy sit for hours and teach them. Luffy only doing it coz of Sabo's and Ace's threat of him getting no meat, if he refuses. Ace wanted to do anything for keeping a smile on his brothers face. He will thanks Shanks and Dragon and if for that he has to learn to greet and apologize, he will gladly do it. He will do anything for his brothers, anytime and anywhere.
Whenever Ace glances at the scar on Sabo's face, he is reminded of his own failures. He had failed as a big brother and was unable to save and protect Sabo. But he feels happy that Sabo is alive and that's all he could ask.
The sun shines brightly on his face when he makes another mistake and Luffy and Sabo burst out laughing. For how long has he missed those carefree grins? How long has he missed Luffy laughing so hard? How long has he missed Luffy giggling? It sounds almost angelic to him, after hearing it after so long! Luffy had stopped being so carefree after Sabo was gone and met with the accident. He was stiff most of the time and he thought the same way of saving Sabo as in Ace. But they did get regularly bonked on their heads at such thoughts from Sabo. But he could see the effort Luffy started to make to become stronger, strong enough to stand with his brothers and not lose a single one of them.
But Ace felt like Luffy knew he needed to keep control of his powers because it would cost his life if he didn't. Ace partially doubted that he knew how many lives were gone in that thunderstorm. But he hopes his brother doesn't. Luffy woke up almost every night, crying for Sabo. Sabo had tried to coax him, trying to hug him to sleep, and even told his amazing stories but Luffy would cry like a crybaby at some nights without some legit reasons. Ace and Sabo could never figure out what Luffy was saying. It was not long after he started sprouting some names, some names of men and women they were sure, they had never met, which only indicated Luffy was remembering his past life, bit by bit. Whenever they would ask what he had dreamed, Luffy would essentially forget them. His nightmares had gone worst to the point that Ace promised to sing to him to bed, that was when he stopped crying. Ace didn't know what else to do. He had seen people singing to their babies, to make them sleep all again. So, he did what came to his mind. He sang. For the first time.
After Luffy had slept off, Sabo grinned at him and laid on beside Luffy asking for a song himself. Ace blushed hard at that and bonked Sabo's head. The chuckles which followed were embarrassing but Ace loved the fact that both his brothers were alive and well. The puppy eyes which Sabo was offering, were even not working. So, he did sing again for Sabo that night, Sabo sleeping on Ace's lap, but not after that. Sabo was also not far from getting nightmares. He would be scared of fire sometimes and would wake up sweating at times. And Ace was always there for his brothers to lean on him. He had learned from Makino that hitting on the heads of his brothers was not a wise choice when they cry. He would become a better brother to them, coz they are his life, they are his treasure and someone to whom he would love to give them his everything.
Ace chuckles when he thinks what his younger self would think of what he is becoming. But that Ace wouldn't know what had gone wrong and what had happened. This Ace was someone who accepted himself, who was out of the clutches of the bad-mouthing, who had finally accepted his Dad, the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. With every story he heard from Garp and Luffy at times of the Pirate King, he just was left amazed. He respected his Dad and wants to surpass him. He wants to be stronger than him and make his own name in the World. He wanted to honor Sabo. He wanted him to know that he was one of the reasons that he accepts himself.
The things which had happened, made Sabo's will to join the revolution of Luffy's Dad more stronger. He couldn't help but feel disgusted about how the Nobles, the Celestial Dragons, and The World Government were ruling. He couldn't believe the fact that all their mistakes could be erased only coz of the way they were born or only coz they had 'pure' blood running in their veins. He hated that idea. He hated how they were preaching justice and on top of that their gramps, who was using his strength to try and drill the idea of them becoming marines. He hated how the Marines work and how they were ready to take the lives of innocents in their justice. He hated the idea that Ace had to go through the hatred which was never true. He hated how Ace hated himself. He hated that the World government spread wrong and false news about Roger and how Ace believed them so easily.
He wants to change the world for his brothers. For people like Ace and Luffy to never suffer coz of their parentage. He wants to create a world where the Marines are for the civilians and not for the system. He wants to create a world where everyone is seen as equals and there is no slavery and what's so ever bad deeds. He wants a world where Pirates like Ace and Luffy, will become, will not be hunted for their quench of adventure. He wants to make a world where peace is valued above war and if for that he has to give up his dreams of becoming a pirate, so it be. He will be ready to participate in the war which will dawn on the horizon when Ace and Luffy will set sail. Coz he knows Luffy will create ripples and make people turn toward him. That's what the little sunshine is capable of. Turning people towards him, if they don't get a punch from him.
Sabo will join the revolution with Luffy's dad and work towards the betterment of everyone. He will be able to keep a watch on his brothers that way and will be able to come to their aid, no matter where he will be. That will be one hell of a fight to see. Sabo grinned at his thoughts and broke the idea of becoming a revolutionary to Ace and Luffy the next day. He was glad to know that his dreams were accepted by both of them, though he has to wonder if Luffy understands what he meant, but he is happy as long as his brothers are.