Hey guys! Sabo here! I know it's been a while but here's the next chapter! I know replies have been slow, but I promise I will be dedicating more time to getting this story rewritten and up to date. The plan is to have all 40-something chapters rewritten by the end of this year, then starting next year carry on. I'm also gonna be starting up the Omake again, which is a Modern AU! Collab between myself and Fairy of the Friz featuring Leo and Lami...not sure when but I will!...eventually.
Without further ado, here we go!
It took them a good couple of hours of trekking through the jungle to find their way back to Dadan's hideout. Not that Leo was really conscious for most of the walk, the heaviness in her head beating her will to stay awake. It didn't help that Ace's back was very warm, and his shoulder was very comfortable, she couldn't help but nuzzle into the tips of his black hair, breathing in the wonderful combination of sweat, dirt and blood. The boys weren't much better, shoving open the door before shuffling into the middle of the room, Luffy immediately dropped to the floor, landing face down beside the glowing fire pit. Sao chuckled fondly as he set about opening random cupboards, what a funny boy. After the third cupboard he found what he was looking for, pulling the thick blanket into his arms he turned back the others to show them his new treasure. He couldn't help the warmth that spread through his chest as he watched Ace gently place Leo in the ground next to her brother. Luffy's arms immediately wrapped around his little sisters battered body, dragging her into his, his body visibly relaxing once she was finally safe within his arms.
Ace dropped to the floor next to them, putting a little distance between himself and the siblings. Sabo could understand, as he dropped down between Ace the the siblings, keeping distance himself. Not as much as Ace granted, but enough, before throwing the blanket over the lot of them. He vaguely remembered someone pulling his hat off as he let himself slip into the unconsciousness of sleep.
The respectable, and slightly awkward space between the children didn't last very long, throughout the night they gravitated towards each other. Then on top of each, each doing their best to steal as much body heat as possible, getting themselves nicely tangled in the process. During a brief period of half waking Ace become aware that he had somehow ended up in the middle of Sabo and Luffy, one leg nudging Luffy's shoulder with one arm practically hugging Sabo's leg...when did he end up upside down?...Where on earth was the tiny one? his sluggish brain urged him to locate the youngest of their group.
After a moment of wriggling he found her, rather he found her feet, which were tucked into his arm pit. Running a hand up her leg he followed the limb to find the rest of it's owner. Sabo's legs were laying over her middle, held in place by Ace's own grip. It took a little more effort to locate her head, tucked neatly away under luffy's own arm. Satisfied the weakest of their little pack was safe and in one piece Ace let himself drift back into slumber, forgetting he was ever awake to begin with.
This was how Dadan found them when she lumbered in from her room, she glanced at the pile of children before brushing it out of her mind. Coffee, she needed coffee before she could deal with four brats. She turned towards the cupboards with the full intention of locating some coffee beans when her brain finally caught up with her thoughts. Four...brats? Turning violently she stared down at the pile of children, counting the heads in her own. One, two, three, four...no that can't be right, one,two,three, four...no she must be counting wrong!
Leo was pulled from her wonderfully warm dozing by Dadan's gravelly voice, what on earth was the woman muttering about now?
"Ace...Luffy...Leo..."
Her ears perked up when she heard her own name, should she push her minds into the world of the waking? Was Dada's mutterings interesting enough to actually wake up for?
"Ace...Luffy...Leo"
...this was actually the first time Leo had ever heard the bandit say their names, usually it was just 'brat'...maybe she was trying to memorize their names? yeah that made sense
"Ace! Luffy! Leo! Who is that?!" Dadan screamed at them, jolting Leo awake, what was who? the shifting legs over her belly reminding her there was a fourth member to their pile, oh yeah, what's his face...
"Who's who?" Luffy mumbled as he sat up, Leo whined at the loss of her pillow, having decided it was way too early to be alive Luffy ressumed his previous position as 'pillow' fully prepared to return to his dream.
"You're so noisy this morning...do you know what time it is?" Ace grumbled yanking the blanket over him as he turned his back to Dadan,
Sabo sat up groggily. He blinked a couple times, no fully registering what was going on. He opened his mouth, then let his body fall back onto the floor, careful to to squish the young girl under him.
"Why's there suddenly a fourth kid here?" Dadan questioned loudly, boarding on hysterical, "Who are you?!"
Leo let out a long, loud whine of displeasure, it was way too early for noise, too early for thinking...what time did they even get back last night? It was late, if the ache in her body was any indicator, they really didn't get that much sleep.
She whined again, like a sad puppy, obviously they weren't going to be getting any more sleep, maybe if she ignored the noises they'd go away and leave them?
"Who, me?" Sabo seemed to have given up on sleeping, damn his politeness!, "I'm Sabo...Hi! You're Dadan right?" Leo whined again when Sabo pulled himself up, leaving her belly cold and exposed. Traitor.
"Sabo...I've heard that name before" Dadan narrowed her eyes at the blond boy, her eyes scanning him up and down as she tried to figure out where she knew that name...no he couldn't be..
"Really? That makes it easier for me then" he reached out to shake her large hand with his smaller ones, "Let's try to get along starting today!" he gave her what he probably considered a charming heart grin,
"Get along?" Dadan slapped his hand away, "Don't tell me you think you're staying here?" The grin obviously hadn't won the bandit over.
His only response was a loud fart. That woke Leo up, gagging she covered her face, oh gods that was foul
"Don't answer with a fart!" Dadan screamed in fury,
The boy chuckled sheepishly, farting again.
"Oh that's so gross" Leo groaned, rolling away from the boys, why were boys so gross?
Something in Dadan's head finally clicked, a cold wet feeling dripped down her spine, she knew where she'd heard the name before,
"You've gotta be kidding me! If you're the Sabo I heard about, then you're supposed to be one hell of a brat!" why did she have to shout everything? they were standing right there.
"Really? And I heard that you're an old hag!" Sabo continued to grin brightly, Leo wasn't sure he quite grasped the concept of being 'charming'
"You shouldn't say things like that!" Dadan growled, "I don't want to deal with any more unruly kids!" One had been more than enough, three was out of the question, but four? Nope no deal, she wasn't even being threatened to take this one in! He just showed up! This wasn't an orphanage!
"But you're a nice old hag hag who can't turn down any requests from other people too, right?" Sabo continued, still smiling warmly up at Dadan. Leo took back her previous thoughts, maybe the older boy did know how to be charming,
"I heard that you're an old hag who's like a man among men!" Sabo added on.
No she was right, he sucked at this 'charming' business, he should leave it to the professional.
"'A man among men'...I'm a woman! Can't you tell" Dadan shouted, Leo bit her lip to fight back the urge to chime in a 'Nope'
The mountain bandit leader tried staring the blond boy down with a hard glare, trying to intimidate him or something probably, Sabo continued to smile up at her, not wavering for even a moment, someone had to cave eventually. Leo didn't even have to watch to know who crumbled first.
"Ace! Luffy! Leo! Sabo!" Dadans shoulders sagged for a moment, before she collected herself, "Since you're all under my care, you'd better hurry and get to work!" she shouted in an attempt to scrape together some dominance, she couldn't very well let the brats walk all over her.
Sabo laughed happily, "Thank you Dadan!" his smile grew even brighter, Dadan glared at the blond brat, crafty little bugger.
"Come on 'mouto!" Luffy turned to poke his sister, "We've got adventures to be having!"
The 'excitement' of gaining yet another young charge quickly faded, the bandits quickly starting their usual daily business, and currently Leo's business was hiding from the world under her blanket,
"Don' wanna" she whined as she pulled the blanket over her head, Luffy pouted poking her shoulder again. As happy as he was that Ace had finally accepted them, he didn't want to go without his sister, it just wasn't the same without her.
"Tch just leave her if she's going to be a baby" Ace growled impatiently as he leaned against the door, itching to get away from the hut as soon as possible,
"What's wrong with her?" Sabo frowned as he asked Ace, watching as Luffy continued to try and poke his burritoed sister.
"She doesn't get out of bed some days" Ace shrugged, not really knowing the reason himself, he didn't really care to know "She's just being a baby,
"She is not!" Luffy snapped at them, surprising the older boys by the sudden aggresion in his voice. It probably wasn't wise to be insulting his sister in front of him, the boy did seem rather protective of her.
"Just because 'mouto has bad days doesn't make her a baby" he defended his sister, pouting in frustration"She just gets tired"
"We're all tired, but you don't see us laying around!" Ace snapped back
"Not physically tired dummy!Her soul gets tired!" he tried hard to explain, although she was probably physically tired as well...and sore...maybe it'd be better if she did stay home today.
"If I get up will you stop arguing?" she quickly interjected before the two could spark a proper argument, when neither boy made a noise she took it as a confirmation, groaning as her body protested as she pushed herself up. She could move at least, that she was thankful for, sure every twitch was agony, but it was an agony she could live with,
"Give me five minutes to change and grab my bag" she grumbled, and maybe wash her face...she raised a hand to pat the bandages on her face...ok maybe not wash her face, but she was definitely changing her clothes,
"Fine five minutes or we leave without you" Ace threatened
She flipped them a hand gesture she saw Shanks use once at Benn. It did the trick as Ace's face grew slack in shock and spluttered, Sabo burst into laughter, falling to his ass. Ace watched disbelievingly as the supposedly innocent little girl limped towards the room she shared with her brother. Where the fuck did she learn such dirty gestures! Luffy just watched on in pride, having no idea what the hand gesture meant, he just knew Shanks used it, therefore it must be some cool. The older boys were starting to get the impression that maybe they had judged the younger two a little bit early.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
It wasn't until she limped into the closet she called a bedroom did Leo realize that she didn't actually have any spare clothes to change in to. When Garp decided to relocate his grandchildren he hadn't thought that far ahead, all she had was the dirty clothes on her back...and her sash, which she kept safely tucked under her shirt. Sniffing back tears she limped back towards the boys,
"What happened to changing your clothes?" Sabo asked confused when she walked back wearing the same bloodied clothes she was wearing when she left them,
"Don't have any spare clothes" she sniffed, before shrugging, "So we might as well just go"
"Oh for gods sake" Ace growled in annoyance stalking into the hut. The other three watched in confusion, what on earth was he doing? They soon had their answer as he marched back towards them, holding a crumbled pile of clothes,
"Here" He shoved them into Leo's arms, "They don't fit me any more so you can have them"
Leo stared down at the clothes in her arms, before smiling up at Ace brightly, bouncing up to kiss his cheek,
"Thank you!" She grinned at him before quickly hobbling off to get changed. Ace reached up to touch his cheek, staring at the empty space where Leo had just been standing.
He didn't even realize he had been lost in thought until Leo reappeared by his side, the shirt hung loosely on her frame, almost falling off one shoulder and the only thing holding the pants on her narrow hips was the red sash she seemed to wear with everything. Yet somehow it suited her, like the bright grin on her face.
"Right then!" He shook the strange feeling, "We're off!" he shouted into the hut, tugging the annoyingly bright girl behind him, with Sabo and Luffy following close behind.
"Oi! Luffy, Leo!" Dadan stormed back into the room, "You're supposed to do the laundry and clean the house!" she shouted after them,
"No way!" Luffy stopped to turn around to face Dadan, pulling his eyelid down and sticking his tongue out, then turning back, effortlessly swinging Leo onto his back. His sister let out a whoop of joy, wrapping her arms around his neck.
When Sabo suddenly stopped running, Luffy wasn't quite fast enough to stop, crashing into the back of him, Luffy running into his back, Leo managing to twirl to the side to avoid collision. Ace held his arms out, catching Leo before she hit the ground,
"This better not become a habit" He muttered, pushing her back up onto Luffy's back.
"Oh yeah..." the Sabo muttered to himself, "I forgot to say..."
Spinning on his heel he started to wave at Dadan and the bandits, who were catching from the hut entrance,
"Hey Dadan!" He shouted back at the bandits, "We kinda pissed off Bluejam! so his crew might come around! Be careful if they do!"
Before Dadan had any time to process or react to the news, the children quickly made their escape into the forest, with Sabo and Ace taking the lead. Luffy tried his hardest to keep up with the older boys, but their legs were longer...and he did have the extra weight of Leo and her bag to carry, so of course he was going to be a bit slower! It just meant he'd have to train and get faster.
"When I'm better I'll show them up for you" Leo quietly grinned beside him, he turned his head a little to grin back at her.
"Dadan sure is an understanding old hag" Sabo commented as they slowed into a jog,
"But she's still an old hag" Ace shot back
"True!" Luffy added, "She's a bandit, after all." Leo nodded in agreement "And her face is scary!"
"And she's loud" Leo frowned, she didn't like loud people.
Leo narrowed her eyes at the jungle around them, over the last few months she had come to know the jungle path's very well...this path was unfamiliar to her,
"This way is different from your usual path" She spoke up casually, "It's a lot more tame than your usual route"
Ace glanced back at her, meeting her gaze for a moment before turning his eyes back to the path before them, looking a little more pink than usual,
"Yeah..." He awkwardly muttered, "I liked the...scenic...route"
"Yeah, sure" she glared at his back.
They soon came to a clearing, the older boys slowing to a stop. Luffy managed to stop in time, letting Leo slide off her back. After readjusting the satchel hanging by her side, she joined the boys in the circle they had formed. She bitterly noted they were at least several inches taller than herself. Bastards.
"So what now?" Sabo asked after a few moments of silence, unsure of how to proceed, this was new territory for them after all.
"Well first off..." Ace began
"Food!" Luffy cut him off, throwing his arms into the air, almost whacking Sabo in the face, Leo had moved out of his arms reach before he even moved.
"I second that!" Leo nodded her head in agreement.
"Alright! Let's get some food!" Sabo turned to Ace, who nodded. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day after all.
"Food it is"
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
They quickly found a narrow but deep river, the perfect spot for a bit of fishing. The original plan was for all four of them to wade into the water, scare a fish into a corner and bash its brains out. At least that was the plan until Leo pointed out neither she nor Luffy could swim at the moment.
"What do you mean you can't swim?" Ace demanded to know,
"Well I'm still too injured to keep myself afloat" Leo waved her bandaged arms, "And Devil Fruit users sink in water like anchors"
Luffy pouted at the nickname
"Really?" Sabo blinked in surprise, "I thought that was just a myth" His voice rose in curiosity, "Then again I always thought Devil fruits themselves were a myth..."
It fell upon the older boys to catch breakfast it seemed. Luffy watched in innocent curiosity, eyes bright with awe as he watched as Sabo and Ace waded into the water, waiting for some poor stupid fish to swim right into their trap. As fascinating as it was to watch the boys freeze themselves, Leo decided to use the opportunity a bit more wisely. Finding a nice comfortable spot she settled down, pulling her satchel in front of her, pulling out a couple thin books. After a moment of consideration she picked one, setting the others beside her and began to intently study the pages, read the words quietly under her breath.
She was so focused on her studying she didn't even notice the passage of time until a Shadow fell over her. Blinking in confusion she looked at Sabo,
"Were'nt you..." she leaned to the side, looking past him, frowning even more when she saw the massive fish now being spit roasted over an open fire...when on earth did they do all that? She hadn't been reading that long...had she?
"So what'cha reading?" Sabo asked as he leaned over her more, trying to catch the title or at least a glance at some of the pages.
Suddenly aware of just how close the blond was, Leo flushed bright red, shoving the book down into her open satchel, shoving the small pile of books beneath her with her other arm,
"Nothing!" she squeaked
"That's certainly not nothing" Sabo insisted reaching for the books, Leo kicked a leg out, planting her foot firmly into his cheek pushing him away as she tried to keep the books out of sight.
"It's nothing really!" she squeaked again.
While she was preoccupied with keeping Sabo at legs length Ace made his move, darting his hand underneath her, grabbing the books right out from out her,
"Got it!" He announced with a grin, stepping back out of her swinging arm range,
"Oi give it back!" she shouted, pushing herself up, swiping at Ace while still trying to keep Sabo from grabbing the book in her bag.
Ace ran his eyes over the book cover, a grin growing across this face as he quickly flipped through the pages, bursting into laughter as he tossed it to Sabo,
"That's a baby's book!" he laughed, "Parents read that to toddlers!" at least that's what he saw parents reading to their children.
Sabo couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he opened the book, flicking through the pages, stopping somewhere in the middle, the words where simple and large, accompanied with a picture of a farmer and their dog.
"The farmer has a dog" he read aloud in a fake pompous voice, "Her name was Stella, Stella was a very agile dog"
Leo's face was bright red now, gritting her teeth in both frustration and shame, fighting back the urge to burst into tears. How dare they mock her, they didn't even know her!
"Why are reading something as babyish as this anyway?!" Sabo chuckled as he continued to flip through the picture book, she was only a few years younger than them, there was no need for her to be reading such simple books.
"Because I can't fucking read that's why!" she spat at them, fury bubbling over the top of the tight lid in her chest.
Sabo felt his fingers go lax, the thin book slipping from his fingers, hitting the river stone with a soft thud, both he and Ace stopped laughing instantly, the teasing atmosphere crumbled immediately. Guilt immediately filled the empty space in his chest,
"Are you being serious?" Sabo tentatively questioned, hoping she was joking,
"Yes I'm being bloody serious!" she spat as she snatched the book from the ground, furiously rubbing the stray tears from her eyes. Sabo shared a glance with Ace, swallowing thickly. They'd fucked up
"I'm six!" she reminded them "And we never went to school! gramps was always too busy with Luffy and his 'Marine training'. When the hell did you expect me to learn" she hissed. "Turn the fish it's going to burn!" she snarled at them before stomping away from the boys, refusing to let them see the tears she could force away.
She found a nice boulder to hide behind, throwing her satchel to the ground, dropping down next to it. As satisfying as it was, the pain that shot through her spine reminded her she couldn't be so rough with her body, not yet away. She viciously stuffed the books back into her satchel, shoving it back down beside her as she pulled her knees into her chest, hiding her face away. She couldn't stop the tears, nor the hollow ache in her chest, but she would be damned before she let the boys hear her cry. She didn't move from her position until the smell of cooked fish filled her nose, lifting her head slightly she caught sight of several slices of sligtly charred fish fillets being held out in front of her on a broad leaf. She followed the arm up to Sabo's apologetic face. She glared, shoving the fish away from her,
"Not hungry" she spat. Her stomach rumbled, giving her away,
"You sure about that" Sabo mentally cursed himself, now was not the time to be teasing.
With another glare she snatched the fish away from Sabo, shoving the fish into her mouth, turning her side away from Sabo. He sighed, it was something anyway. He glanced back at Ace, who urged him on. Sabo was much better with words than he was after all,
"We're sorry about before" He finally spoke up and watching her chew furiously for a few moments, "We didn't know..."
"You were still asses" she cut him off with a glare,
"We were." he admitted lowering his head in shame,
They fell back into silence, the only sound was Leo's angry chewing,
"If you want..."Sabo started cautiously "I could help you...with reading I mean"
"I don't need your pity!" she spat, This was not going the way Sabo had hoped,
"It's not pity!" he tried to calm her, "You don't have to take my offer But it's there if you want it"
With nothing more he really could say he made his way back to Ace, who had started on his own portion of the fish. Luffy had been watching the whole scene in conflicted agony. Every fiber of his being urged him to rush forward and defend his little sister, to shout at the boys for making fun of her...but something held him back. The looks Leo threw his way through side glances, the way she held her shoulders...she'd been shamed enough without having someone try and fight her battles for her, and Luffy would be damned if he shamed his baby sister...but he wanted to hit them so much!
It was only when Leo strode back into their group, sitting next to Luffy, still chewing a little more violently than she would normally, did Luffy let it go. He had more important things to focus on now, like his empty stomach. The wonderful smell of cooked fish filled the air, making his mouth ran wet with saliva and his stomach rumble sadly,
"So Devil Fruit users can't swim?" Sabo tried to make conversation, the air was way too thick for his liking,
"Yeah!" Luffy nodded in confirmation, it seems the older of the siblings had easily forgiven him,
Sabo nodded in understanding, "That explains why you were scared of being thrown in the river yesterday..." His gaze returned to the layers of bandages adorned by both of them, guilt seeping into the empty cracks of his soul once more. Grabbing the tail fin of the fish he tossed it to Luffy, "Here, you can have some too" He offered.
"Thank you!" Luffy cheered as he stuffed the entire fin into his mouth at once,
"You're meant to chew your food niichan" Leo muttered beside him, her words holding no heat as her anger quickly evaporated.
"You're too soft Sabo" Ace muttered through a mouthful of food, luckily only Sabo heard him,
"It's no big deal" the blond brushed him off, it was no big deal and besides they did kind of owe the younger children, as much as either boy hated to admit it, "So which fruit did you eat?" he turned his attention back to Luffy,
"The Gomu Gomu fruit!" Luffy replied happily as he patted his belly in satisfaction,
"Gomu Gomu? You're made of rubber?!" Sabo asked curiously, what a strange power
"Yeah!" the rubber boy nodded enthusiastically,
"So you exchanged your ability to swim to become a rubber man?" Ace frowned before snorting "That's stupid"
"It's not stupid!" Luffy shouted back, puffing up in defense.
Sabo and Leo both let out a sigh of defeat, they couldn't even go a few hours without the two boys arguing...although to be fair Ace was being as ass, and if he continued to be an ass then Leo would have no choice but to hit him.
"I've got bunches of unbeatable techniques! And besides I don't need to be able to swim! 'Mouto can swim for me!" Luffy declared confidently,
Sabo turned back to Leo, with a questioning look,
"So you didn't eat the Devil fruit as well?" he asked, the two seemed to share everything, he was a little surprised to hear they didn't share this,
"Nope" she shook her head, still not really wanting to talk to them after their dick move from earlier,
"How come?" he probed, obviously he wasn't going to leave it alone until he got an answer, but what was her answer? She had actually put a fair amount of thought into it, Luffy had offered the fruit first...what would have happened if she had taken it? if she was the one who gained rubbery powers instead of her brother? How different would the world be...how different would she be? And if she knew what it was, knew she could gain unimaginable power with just a single bite of a fruit...would she have taken it?
"Because not being able to swim ever again would be torture" she finally concluded, a little surprised by her own answer, "Giving up the ocean like that? I couldn't do it. The ocean is freedom...to give up my freedom like that...I don't even know if I'd give it up for Luffy"
She would, that Sabo was certain of. He may not have known her for very long, half a day a best...but he knew she'd throw away everything in a heart beat for her brother...like she had the day before.
Leo and Sabo were pulled back into the other dark haired children's argument, Ace snorted and continued to mock the younger boy,
"A guy who can't even catch a fish shouldn't talk big" he turned so his back was facing the others, using a thin bit of bone to pick the meat from his teeth. He didn't particularly want to see Sabo's disappointed look.
Luffy puffed himself up, marching towards Ace with the full intention of showing off his 'super powerful' techniques and teach the older boy a lesson. Sabo saw the disaster in progress, not really wanting to deal with the aftermath he grabbed Luffy's cheek to stop him...Luffy kept on walking until his cheek reached the point where stretching hurt, forcing him to stop just shy of Ace's body...maybe if he kicked out...
"You really are made of rubber huh? That's cool!" Sabo watched in awe as the skin stretched with his pulls,
"Don't play with me like that!" Luffy growled as he swiped at Sabo's hands, wincing internally as pain shot through his face with every tug,
Sabo laughed cheerfully before letting go of Luffy's cheek, the recoil of skin snapping back into place sent Luffy stumbling backwards, landing on his ass. Leo let out a noise of concern, reaching over to rub her brothers face.
"Still" Sabo continued with a thoughtful look, "Rubber can stretch, shrink and expand...It might be pretty useful in a fight"
Luffy went from pouting to excitement in an instant, his entire face lighting up as he puffed up in pride, finally! someone else who understood just how cool and useful his power was!
"I know right! Oh hey! I thought up a new technique yesterday!" He announced proudly.
Leo's head shot up as her stomach dropped, a new technique? Oh this wasn't going to end well...it wasn't that Luffy's ideas where bad, most of them were actually really good ideas...he just wasn't so good at figuring out how to make his ideas work outside of his head. Sure he almost always managed to figure it out in the end...but at start of the idea's life? she very quickly, and in her opinion very discreetly, inched her way towards Ace, who still lay with his back to the others, stepping over him and taking a seat a meter or so in front of him. Putting the older and stronger boy between her and her enthusiastic brother, the older boy didn't bother opening his eyes when he heard the smallest of them settle in front of him. He didn't tell her to stuff off either, he didn't want to look at her, let alone talk to her, anger still boiled in his belly. He shouldn't feel this shit for teasing her, he didn't feel like shit when he teased Luffy, the fact he couldn't even make fun of the tiny brat infuriated him, what the fuck was wrong with him?
"It's called Gomu Gomu no Fuusen! It can deflect anything, even cannonballs!" Luffy declared proudly
Yeah this was not going to end well, Leo inched back a little bit more,
"Really? Show me!" Sabo sounded very interested, as much as she was pleased someone was encouraging her brother rather than shooting him down, maybe a little shooting down was good"
"Alright! But this is a special show! I won't show you Ace, so don't watch!" Luffy glared at Ace's back
"I didn't want to watch anyway dumbass" Ace muttered
"Here I go!" Leo tried not to squeeze her eyes shut.
He spread his legs getting into the stance he'd developed
"Gomu Gomu no..." he started to suck in air filling his lungs with as much air as possible, his rubbery body filling with air like a balloon,
"What?! What's this?! It's incredible!" Sabo gasped, his eyes shining in amazement "He keeps growing bigger and bigger!"
"Fuusen!" Luffy finished, now at least five times his original size, round like a balloon...with tiny arms and feet...
He started to bounce up and down, unable to keep himself grounded, his body too light and bouncy now.
"What do you think? Amazing right?" he grinned while holding his mouth shut with his hands, trying to keep all the air in,
Leo closed her eyes when Ace finally stood up, really not wanting to watch what was about to unfold. She saw the spark of mischief in Ace's eyes and was pretty powerless to do anything, he was much bigger and stronger than her and until she was fully healed she could do piss all to stop him. As predicted he was up to mischief, kicking his leg out, Ace launched poor Luffy into the air like an over inflated ball.
"Some exercise will help me digest my food!" he grinned, "Sabo! Kick him back!"
The blond just nodded, "Uh...Sure" he looked unsure, but still did as he was told, kicking Luffy back towards Ace when he bounced close enough,
"Cut it out!" Luffy cried through his hands, trying really hard to keep the air in.
"Come on you guys" Leo protested as she stood up, "That's enough"
They ignored her pleas, continuing their little game of 'kick ball'
"This is supposed to be an invincible technique to deflect cannonballs?" Ace mocked as he ran towards Luffy "then try deflecting my kicks!" he landed another kick firmly in Luffy's swollen belly, sending him flying, right into some rocks, which he bounced off a few times before landing in the middle of the water. By some miracle, and probably because he was filled with so much air, he floated rather than sinking to his death.
"Nii-chan!" Leo cried startled, throwing off her coat, about to dive in to save her brother, her body protesting but her body be damned!
Ace grabbed her arm just as she was about to dive in, was the idiot trying to drown herself?! She was in no state to be swimming let alone trying to save someone! It was a good thing he did, before she even had the chance to shout at him a massive crocodile burst out from the water, Luffy right in the middle of it's open jaws. And just like that it swallowed him whole, spitting out the hat. The three of them cried out in horror
"Wait up you! We won't let you just eat him and run away!"the boys shouted when the crocodile went to sink back into the river's depths.
When the beast turned around to snap it's jaws at them,Ace and Sabo leaped forward, tossing their pipes so they jammed into the crocodiles mouth, keeping it from snapping his jaw shut and making them breakfast as well.
"Here we go!" they shouted, ready to literally jump into the belly of the beast
But Leo was faster, shooting past the older boys she slid down the beasts throat with ease, grabbing hold of her brothers hand with one arm, she threw the other one out hoping the boys caught on to her plan. Sabo grabbed her wrist, while Ace wrapped his arms around Sabo's waist, the two boys yanking back to pull the younger two out of the crocodiles throat
"Ew ew ew ew ew ew" Leo whimpered as she lay on the rocks covered in crocodile spit and god knows what else,
With Luffy rescued they decided they may as well make use of the crocodile, no need to waste an easy meal after all. After tying it's jaw shut, and securing it's legs, stopping it from mistaking the three boys heaved the beast over their heads, making the long trek back towards Dadans house. Leo was too short to be of any real help, so she sat on top of the crocodiles back, giving directions and acting as a look out.
"Well you know...don't be mad" Sabo tried to soothe her fuming brother,which for the record she was rather pissed off they nearly got her brother eaten as well,
"Of course I'm mad! I was almost eaten!" Luffy shouted
"Oh Shut up" Ace shot back, "You can eat as much as you want when we eat this crocodile for dinner"
"Ok I forgive you!" and just like that they were forgiven. Leo pouted as she sulked on top of the crocodile, if Luffy forgave them it meant she had to as well, some days she hated how forgiving he was, sometimes she just wanted to be angry for awhile.
"You're just going to forgive us?" Sabo turned his head to stare at the strange child in confusion, they'd almost gotten him killed and he forgave them just like that.
"I wanna eat that crocodile now!" Luffy moaned, completely forgetting his previous anger, his grumbling stomach needed tending to"I want to eat dinner now!"
"Ace!" Sabo called out, "There's something I want to check on!"
Leo sighed, so the boys weren't done adventuring for the day yet...she however had reached her limit for excitement, sliding down from the crocodile, she landed hard on her feet, the noise catching the boys attention,
"You guys do what you need to, I'll head back ahead of you" she informed them as she straightened her satchel
"eh? You're not coming?" Luffy pouted, upset that she didn't want to come with him,
Her shoulders dropped as she rubbed her face, trying to find the right words to explain it,
"I just don't have the energy Nii-chan" she offered, "I'll head back and take a nap, and once you guys get back I'll be ready for whatever we have planned next."
Luffy nodded in understanding dropping the matter instantly, Ace and Sabo shared a curious glance, not entirely sure what conversation was going on between the two, but decided to drop it, after all they didn't really need four people for the task the had planned...
"I'll let Dadan know you're coming with food!" she called behind her.
When she did finally reach the hideout Dadan had her entire bandit family in a meeting discussing what they were going to do about Bluejam. Too tired to care Leo made her way to their room, curled up on Ace's futon, and let herself fall into a doze. She woke again when she heard cheers, indicating the boys had finally returned with food. She lay there fore a few minutes, the weight on her chest was still there...but she didn't feel as hollow as she used it...as if something was filling that hole.
Pushing herself up she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face when Luffy and Ace's arguing reached her. Rather someone, three someone's were filling it.