After breakfast Sabo figured that the pirates would continue their interrogation, but they let the issue drop pretty easily, seemingly unbothered by Sabo's secrets. For now, at least. He figured it would come back up in the near future.
He felt exhausted, his feet dragged against the wooden floor of the ship, and he felt every step vibrate up his frame. Sabo was not up for this right now. He felt as if he could sleep for a week if they let him. He had managed to stay out of the infirmary but only as long as he didn't collapse.
Luffy skipped ahead of him happily, keeping up with the pirate- Thatch- easily, as the man led them through the stubby halls of the ship. A few pirates glanced their way as they passed, and Sabo felt all of their stares pierce through him like knives and his shoulders never failed to tense. But Thatch gave them easy smiles and they kept on their way, and that was that.
He stopped in front of one of the doors, giving it a double knock. When no one answered he risked sliding it open. "Izou cleared the showers for you guys earlier. You better hurry though."
"Shower?" Sabo echoed his brain struggling to keep up. "You want us to shower?"
"Uh, yeah… no offense," Thatch told them. "I was only on that ship a day and I still smell like charcoal and- what is that-" he sniffed the air, "-fish?"
Luffy giggled, and Thatch winked at him.
No offense taken; Sabo was no stranger to smelling terrible. A childhood living in a garbage dump had seen to that. He had rinsed off in the bathroom yesterday, scrubbing as much of the dirt off his face and skin as he could before giving up. Being clean was the least of his concerns right now. If only his parents could see him now, they would have a heart attack.
"Can we go see A- ah- the other slave?"
"Huh?" Thatch looked at him. "You keep asking that. Is he a friend of yours?"
Sabo didn't flinch under the man's questioning stare. "Please," he said after a minute.
"Hm," Thatch leaned against the bathroom door considering. "What's it worth to you?"
"I told you, I have nothing for you," Sabo said feeling too exhausted for all of this.
"Tell ya what, I'll ask the nurse for you, if you do something for me?"
Sabo eyed him wearily, taking a small step back, catching Luffy arm in warning.
Thatch made a face. "Don't be gross. You can cool it with that look of yours. If you could light me on fire with a stare, I'd be ash by now. Just give me five honest answers, and I'll see what I can do about your friend… oh and take a shower first yeah?"
Sabo shifted, thinking about it. He let go of Luffy's arm when he started to squirm in impatience. For his part Luffy stepped back, looking around the darkened ship halls, clearly bored with the two of them. "I smell fine, can I go?"
"No, you don't," both of them told him at the same time, making Thatch grin at Sabo. "See, same page."
"Fine," Sabo caved. "Three answers."
Thatch nodded, "I can work with three," he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Real answers, that was the deal."
"How will you know if I'm lying or not?" Sabo asked.
"The same way you'll know if I'm lying, you have to trust in me."
"Yeah well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Sabo asked. And he had a lot more to lose.
"Ready for the first one?"
Sabo nodded as Luffy groaned, clearly bored by their continued talking. "Was that the first question?" Luffy asked rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet impatiently.
"No," Thatch told him. "One is a tough one, really think about this." Sabo rolled his eyes. "What's your guy's favorite colors?"
It was right then and there that Sabo decided the man might be an idiot.
"Are you serious?"
"You said three."
"Uhh, blue I guess?"
The pirate nodded as if mulling over the information. He pointed to Luffy. "And this one?"
"Um…I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"
"Because I asked you," Thatch said. "Be honest."
Sabo huffed, annoyed by all of this, and desperately wanting to sleep. But first- Ace. "Red, I guess."
Thatch looked down at Luffy. "You like red buddy?" Luffy nodded enthusiastically. "Well, that's one mystery solved. He looked at Sabo. "Would you answer if I asked how, you knew that?"
"Is that one of your questions?" Sabo asked?
"Do I get a goodwill freebee?"
"This isn't a game!" Sabo told him.
"Fine- fine. Keep your secrets. This one, so serious right?" he told Luffy, and the kid grinned broadly.
"Shi-shi, Sabo always looks like…" Luffy tried to copy Sabo's worried face, using his hands to push back his cheeks into a stern expression.
Sabo rubbed his temple, feeling a headache forming from them. "You guys deserve each other." And not that it mattered, but he used to be fun damnit! Before all of this. Luffy would know that if…. "What's your next question?"
"Hm," Thatch thought again. "What were you actually doing in the hull yesterday? Did you come to kill the captain? Or…?"
"We went there to save Luffy," Sabo answered softly, meeting Luffy's curious eyes.
"Hm," Thatch said once again as he mulled his answer over.
"Aren't you going to ask why?" Sabo said as the silence stretched on long enough to make him nervous?"
"Uh, no," Thatch decided. "I guess if you don't want to tell me you don't have to. In time, I hope. But I have a better use of my questions- tell me about Rose. What was she like when you knew her?"
Sabo cast his eyes down. Another thing he didn't want to talk about. But he owed them this. "She was amazing," he told the pirate and he smiled. "She was kind to everyone… and brave. I would try to sneak her extra food and she never took it. She always tried to make sure everyone else got some instead." That was probably how they lost her- the hunger. "I'm sorry I couldn't save her." Sabo looked down at the floor, feeling his stomach curl unpleasantly at the thought. Rose deserved to live-
"Kid," Thatch's voice was soft, and there was no hint of his usual humor. "That's so not on you alright. We should have saved her. She was our sister. Our responsibility. Do you understand?"
Sabo nodded reluctantly, allowing his eyes to meet Thatch's. "Yeah," he said softly.
"Good," Thatch nodded, "You two go shower, I'll talk to the nurse, okay?" The man turned to leave but Sabo stopped him.
"Anytime," he said softly. "I'll tell you anything you want about her- anytime okay."
The pirate's infectious grin was back. "Thanks, kid."
Sabo nodded, tugging Luffy with him as he disappeared into the bathroom. He thought about ducking out while Thatch was gone about exploring the ship, going to see Ace on his own. But he decided against it. He would almost certainly get caught, and there would be other chances. Besides, right now a shower sounded too tempting. He bolted the door behind him, looking around the tiny room.
"Come on," he told his little brother as he started with the button of his shirt. "We should hurry."
"Your no fun." Luffy told him, happily poking around the room.
Sabo frowned. "I am too."
Luffy shrugged, clearly not believing him. Once again Sabo was struck with the ever-present feeling of wrongness- of how unfair this all was. "Okay, I'll tell you a story yeah? And you can see how boring I am."
Luffy perked up a little at that. "Is it a boring story?"
"You tell me."
The two finished undressing, leaving their clothes in a little pile in the corner of the room as they made their way to the showers against the other wall. The pirates had left one of the shelves stocked with cloths and soap, which made Sabo hesitate, only for a moment. He didn't know if they were allowed to use any of this stuff, or what the penalty was, but he was so tired of asking for permission to do everything.
"One time, a couple of years ago," he started, as Luffy turned one of the showers on, splashing the water happily. "Me and my brothers were hunting in the mountains, and we saw a tiger."
Luffy leaned forward, suddenly very interested as Sabo came to sit by him. "-and my stupid older brother dared me to ride it."
"Did you do it?"
Sabo nodded, and once again Luffy smiled.
"I tried. It threw me off- and nearly ate me. Our- my stupid pain in the ass older brother had to throw a rock at its head to get it to let go of my leg." He still had the scar.
"Wow," Luffy said happily sitting back.
Sabo leaned back as well, enjoying the feeling of clean water against his skin, washing away all the dirt and grim he had been forced to carry with him. He scrubbed hard on his face and hands, trying to get rid of all of the black flecks underneath his fingernails. At this point, he would probably never be clean again- but this was a start.
"I guess you were cool," his little brother lamented, and Sabo felt compelled to tell him that throughout that entire time Luffy had been acting as bait to lure the tiger. He had looked so stupid, zig-zagging through the woods, carrying a giant deer leg above his head. Not their brightest moment. But it had been fun. Back when they were still allowed to be stupid kids.
"I'm just trying to look out for us," Sabo told him.
"Hm," Luffy thought about it. "You said you wanted to save me the other day. Thanks."
"You don't need to thank me," Sabo told him.
Luffy thought about that for a moment, before taking the cloth, moving behind Sabo so he could wash the others back.
"Oh, thanks," Sabo said as he sat up a little straighter.
"Mn," Luffy agreed happily. "We're friends."
Sabo nodded. Friends was fine with him. Better than strangers.
They finished washing up, then they dried off and re-dressed. Luffy found a toothbrush in the back of the supply closet that they took turns using, and Sabo tried his luck at trimming back both of their hair which had gotten a little shaggy during their confinement.
Feeling better than he had in a long time the two of them met Thatch outside when he knocked. "Hey, you guys," he greeted looking the two of them over. "Have you seen two dirty boys; I think they went this way."
Luffy went down the hall to look for the boys, the joke flying right over his head.
"You're not funny," Sabo told him and Thatch grinned.
"Come on," the pirate smiled. "You want to see your friend, right?" Picking up the pace Sabo followed him, motioning for Luffy to do the same. "Nurse said thirty minutes only! Then back to bed with you guys?"
"Thank you," Sabo told him.
"No problem kid. It's Ace right, that's the boy's name?"
Sabo nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"Anything you want to tell us about him?"
"He's going to freak out when he wakes up," Sabo frowned. That was why he wanted to be there, to try and calm his brother down. It would be easier if Luffy was there too… Luffy was right. Sabo wasn't fun anymore. He was probably going to get frown lines from all this worrying.
"We can handle his freakout," Thatch told him. "You kids don't really scare us."
"If you say so," Sabo muttered as Thatch dropped them off at the sick bay. Sabo knew where to go, he had been here just last night. But he forced himself to wait for the nurse to instead show him where his brother was.
As soon as she stepped away, Sabo moved to sit on the edge of Ace's bed, taking in the progress. Ace looked very much the same. Still out cold, with a tube in his arm and a little clip thing on his finger. He let out a sigh of relief looking over his shoulder for his other brother.
Luffy was standing in the doorway, staring at them.
Sabo frowned, gesturing him over. To his surprise, Luffy shook his head. Thatch had lingered in the room as well, clearly seeing that Luffy was not as excited at the idea as Sabo was.
"Why doesn't Luffy come with me," he offered. "He can help me get started on dinner for everyone."
"That sounds like a lot of work," Luffy frowned.
"No!" Sabo insisted getting off the bed. "He's fine." He grabbed Luffy's arm, guiding him back over to the bed. He was lucky Luffy didn't like either of his options or he would have tried to leave.
"This is Ace," Sabo told him, wanting to put this in terms Luffy would understand. "My friend." Luffy blinked up at him.
"Luffy?" Thatch asked. "You coming bud?"
"Will you stay," Sabo asked him. "Keep me company?"
"I don't think your friend likes me," Luffy told him.
"Course he does," Sabo promised. "If he's my friend, and you're my friend then that means you guys are friends, right?" applied Luffy logic at its finest. Did Sabo know how to outsmart his brother or what?
"I guess," Luffy came a bit closer, poking Ace's cheek with his finger.
"Luffy?" Thatch asked.
"Please," Sabo pushed.
Luffy nodded. "Okay."
Thatch shrugged, looking a bit unsure as he left. But Luffy had made up his mind as he sat down next to Sabo. "Why did your friend attack me?"
"That's not what he was doing," Sabo told him. "He tried to save you."
"Why?"
Sabo sighed. He didn't want to have to think about Luffy not remembering who they were. All he wanted to think about was that all three of them were together again. That was all that mattered. Finally…
He picked up Ace's hand, holding it in his own, feeling the warmth of the other. The brother that actually knew him. "He… both of us want to protect you."
"I don't need people to protect me. I'd rather die than have to sit in a room all day or get stuck in a box. Safe is really boring."
"No, just no Lu- er Luffy. That, what he did, isn't protecting you. It's controlling you, they're not the same thing, okay? Even if he pretended, they were."
"They're both just words," Luffy told him, clearly having gotten lost early in the explanation. "How's it any different?"
Sabo wanted to explain it, he really did. But his headache was back, and he couldn't think of a way without sounding like a hypocrite. Wanting to keep Luffy safe after that hell wasn't wrong, he knew that, even at the expense of his brother's boredom. But how did he explain that when he did it, it was okay?
"It's not for you, it's for me," Sabo decided. "Like now, I wanted you to keep my company, even though you don't want to. But you did." He smiled at Luffy. "Let's keep it at that okay. If the pirates get mean, you said you'll protect me right?" Luffy nodded. "And if my friend tries to attack you again, I'll protect you."
Luffy nodded, as this was slowly making sense to him.
"And if I, or anyone ever tries to chain you up so you can't leave tell me and I'll beat them up kay?"
Luffy smiled at him. "Okay!" He agreed, liking the concept of not having to go back to captivity. "I wish we were friends sooner," he giggled again. "You could have saved me."
Smile gone, Sabo looked down at the white bedspread beneath him, his grip tightening on Ace's. He didn't know what to say. "Would you ever forgive me… if I let you down."
"Course," was Luffy's easy-going answer. And that was that.
Sabo brushed his thumb past his little brother's cheek, forever amazed by him. "I really missed you, Lu."
"Your still really weird Sabo," he laughed.
He spent the rest of the time re-teaching Luffy how to play tic-tack-toad, their made-up game that they used to play in their cell every night, with Rose watching them and occasionally laughing at how terrible Luffy was. It was stupid and pointless, but it bothered Sabo that Luffy didn't know how anymore. It was odd, the type of things that got to him right now of all times. But for whatever reason, that was on the top of the list.
The nurse kicked them out eventually, and Sabo dragged his feet, as he tried to find excuses to stay with his brother until she promised he could come back tomorrow. Little did she know, he would undoubtedly be back again tonight.
Thatch took them back to their rooms as he had promised. Trying to convince Luffy to go back to the room Sabo found him in, but before Sabo could even open his mouth Luffy answered for him.
"I'm staying near him," he explained to Thatch.
"Oh yeah? Why's that?"
"Cause Sabo gets scared at night," Luffy explained to the other's horror.
"I don't," he said feeling his face heat up.
"You did last night," Luffy told him.
Sabo looked down at the ground, clearly embarrassed.
"Well, why don't you guys go lay down? I'll come get you for dinner."
"I'm not tired," Luffy whined.
"Hm," Thatch said. "You can help me. I'll let you eat the scraps."
Luffy looked excited at the idea, he opened his mouth to accept, then seemed to think better of it.
"No."
"No?"
He shook his head, faking a yawn. "I'm really tired too." He beamed up at Sabo, and the older boy returned the look with a small smile, patting his head. "Thanks."
Luffy nodded. "We're friends right!"
"Right."
"Shishi."
XXX
So this chapter Luffy learns the difference between Sabo and his 'dad. While one was trying to control him, Sabo was trying to be his friend. At the end Luffy realizes that rather than forcing him, and overpowering him, Sabo was willing to go with him despite being so tired and sick. So Luffy returns the favor, not because he has to, but because he is honestly wants to take care of Sabo.
XXX
94Insane: Why thank you! It will just get better.
Cioup: Thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked it!
Wishfull-star: I'm glad. Stay safe as well.
Aquarica: Don't worry, even if he can't remember, all versions of Luffy will melt before Sabo's niceness. They will eventually start acting more like kids again.