Closest Thing to a Brother Ch 4

Sorry it took so long, I was having computer problems. But I have it up now, so enjoy

Ch. 4. Something Wrong

"I think we were too hard on him." Sabo finally said after an hour of hunting.

"What?" Ace said lazily.

"Luffy; I think we were too hard on him."

"You're taking his side now? It was your secret he told!"

"You have to keep in mind, Ace, who this was we were yelling at. We should've expected this."

"Whatever, that rubber brained idiot's opened his mouth one too many times, and this time, it bit him on the ass, hard."

"But, Ace-"

"Besides, like you said, this is Luffy we're talking about."

Sabo looked over at Ace. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Knowing him, he'll probably be back to his usual, smiling, annoying self by the end of the day, maybe sooner."

Sabo gave his brother a look that told him that he wasn't convinced.

"Oh, come one, Sabo, you and I both know Luffy's bounced back from worse; it's one of the only advantages he has of being made of rubber."

"I dunno, Ace. There was something different about this time."

"Yeah, the fact that there was someone else to scream at. Now come on; we've got lunch to catch!"

Sabo sighed and kept pace with his brother as they ran, but still couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something important

The two brothers arrived back at the Dadan House with the deer they had bagged, both expecting to be greeted by their little brother at the door. But when they went inside, the first thing they saw was a confused Dadan, who they tossed the deer to as they walked past.

"Ace, Sabo, where's Luffy?!" she demanded.

Ace and Sabo looked back at her.

"He's not back?" Sabo asked.

"No, he's always with you two." Dogra said. "Why wouldn't he be now?"

"We had a little argument earlier today and we left him in a huff." Ace said.

"Alone?!" Dadan yelled.

"We thought he came back here." Sabo replied.

"Well he didn't, so where is he?!"

The two 10-year-olds looked at each other then back at Dadan before answering.

"We don't know."

After dinner, Ace and Sabo went to get ready for bed, both feeling uncomfortable about the empty spot between them.

"Still think he'll bounce back by the end of the day?" Sabo said.

"Oh, shut up, Sabo!" Ace growled as he turned under his covers away from the blond.

The last thing the two of them thought before falling asleep was to wonder where their little brother was.

3 days later…

The two 10-year-olds headed back to the Dadan House, a huge ox in tow, neither of them saying a word to the other.

"I'm getting worried Ace." Sabo finally said.

"About what?"

"About Luffy, what else?"

"Why would you be worried about him?"

"Ace, it's been three days since we last saw him; why wouldn't I be worried?"

"So? He's probably with that Nati kid."

"Even if that's true, Luffy's never stayed away from us for more than a few hours, let alone three days. And certainly not just because we yelled at him."

Ace looked back at Sabo out of the corner of his eye. "What are you getting at?"

"Ace, what if there's more to it than that? I mean, we both know when it comes to Luffy, nothing is ever that simple. What if we missed an important detail?"

The raven haired boy let the thought roll around in his head. Admittedly, Sabo was right; Luffy's actions rarely, if at all had one reason behind them and if it did, it was always an extremely good reason. And even for Luffy, this behavior was too unusual. But Ace, being Ace, wasn't about to admit that out loud.

"Tch, whatever, he's just being stubborn."

"Are you sure he's the one being stubborn?" The blond sneered, only to get no answer.

Sabo couldn't believe his brother's coldness. How could he not see that something was wrong with their little brother?! He was about to say something when he noticed that Ace was a little more tense than he was a few minutes ago and sighed in annoyance.

6 days later…

It had been over a week since the two brothers had seen Luffy. Sabo was by this point scared that something had happened to him and although he would never admit it, even Ace was starting to get worried. Finally they decided that, after they took the three boars they had just killed back to the Dadan House, they would go out looking for him. But what they didn't expect was an angry looking Dadan waiting for them outside the door when they got back.

"You two better have a good explanation for this one." She growled.

"For what?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah, we just got back." Ace tossed the two boars he was carrying towards Dadan and turned to leave as Sabo did the same with the one he was carrying. "Those are for dinner." He continued.

"We're gonna go look for Luffy." Sabo added before following his brother.

"He's been here since this afternoon." Dadan said.

Ace and Sabo stopped in their tracks upon hearing this and spun around.

"WHAT?!" they exclaimed before bolting inside.

Sure enough, there was Luffy, sitting in the center of their room with a blanket wrapped around him, sniffling silently. Aside from the fading bruise in the middle of his forehead, the 7-year-old seemed unharmed, but that didn't mean the two brothers didn't notice that Luffy's eyes were lacking their usual playful glint that they always had, even when he was sad or scared.

"He's been like that since he came in." Dadan said. "Now what did you two do?!"

"Hey, don't blame us, this is the first time we've seen him all week!" Ace complained.

"Has he said anything?" Sabo asked.

"Not since the boss asked him where he's been." Dogra replied.

"Which was…?" Ace said.

"His exact words," Dadan said, "'nowhere'."

The two brothers looked at each other for a moment before Sabo walked over to Luffy, crouching down to his level. Ace looked at the bandits and motioned for them to get lost before joining him.

"Luffy?" the mentioned raven haired boy didn't look up until Sabo placed a hand on his shoulder. "Lu, are you alright?"

Luffy only nodded and looked back down as if scared to look his brothers in the eye.

"C'mon, Luffy, what's wrong?" Ace groaned, causing the 7-year-old to flinch and earning a glare from Sabo.

"Luffy," the blond tried again, "where were you all week?"

The 7-year-old curled up into his blanket but didn't even look up.

"Luffy." Ace growled with a warning tone, which caused their little brother to curl up even further into his blanket whimpering and this time earning a smack upside the head.

"Lu…" Sabo moved his hand on Luffy's shoulder to cup his cheek. "It's alright. You can tell us."

Luffy glanced up at his brother with sad and scared eyes for a moment then looked back down.

"I was with Nati;" he finally muttered. "He said I could stay on his ship."

"Why?"

"Well, after you guys left, I asked him if I could-"

"No, Luffy;" the 7-year-old looked up at Sabo. "Why did you stay with him? Why didn't you come back here?"

Luffy closed his eyes tightly and turned away from the blonde's hand.

"I didn't think you guys wanted to see me again."

Both brothers felt their hearts skip a beat upon hearing this. They couldn't believe that Luffy would think that.

"So, why aren't you with him now?" Ace said.

With one hand, Luffy shifted his straw hat forward to try and hide the tears forming in his eyes.

"He finished resupplying today;" he sniffled. "He left for home this afternoon."

Sabo was about to say something when he noticed something on Luffy's hand. He slowly and gently eased it into his own and was surprised to find a bandage wrapped around his index finger.

"Luffy, what happened?" Sabo asked.

The 7-year-old twisted his hand away. "Nothing; I just pricked my finger."

The two 10-year-olds looked at each other then back at Luffy, who had pulled his head into the blanket, leaving only his straw hat showing. For the rest of the evening, Luffy didn't say anything to anyone, and later that night, as the three of them were getting ready for bed, Sabo decided to try again.

"Lu…" The 7-year-old hummed in acknowledgement. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Mmm-hmm." He only replied.

"Well y'know if there's anything wrong, you can tell us, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, goodnight, Lu."

"'Night."

Before he fell asleep, Luffy looked at his bandaged finger and thought back to his friend's departure.

After rolling the last barrel of supplies onto his skiff, Nati walked up to Luffy, who was sitting with his feet dangling over the side of the docks, and ran a hand through the younger's hair.

"You gonna be okay here without me?" he asked.

"Mmm-hmm, I'll be fine." Luffy replied, looking up at him.

"You sure?"

"Nati."

"… Okay." Nati helped Luffy to his feet, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Don't worry, little buddy, we'll clear everything up with them when I come back…" Nati pulled the 7-year-old into a hug. "I promise."

Luffy hugged the maroon haired boy back tightly, snuggling into his vest.

"Y'know, Luffy, you could tell them while I'm gone."

Luffy looked up at his friend with sad eyes then back down. "I don't think they'll listen to me."

Nati felt a twinge in his stomach and hugged Luffy tighter.

"Gah, I feel so guilty leaving you here alone. I just wish there was something I could do for you in the meantime…" Nati then pulled away, his eyes wide and distant.

"Wait…" he said, a smile slowly stretching across his face, "there is something I can do!"

"What?" Luffy asked.

Nati let go of his friend and jumped back onto his skiff. "Wait here!"

It had been three weeks since Luffy came back and he barely said anything to his brothers since then. What worried them even more was the fact that he seemed to be keeping his distance from them and even shutting them out at times. Finally, Sabo couldn't take it anymore.

"Luffy, what's wrong, really?" he asked after dinner that night.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Lu, you've clearly been upset about something for the past few weeks now. What is it?"

"Nothing." Luffy was about to duck into his covers again, but stopped when he felt Sabo's hand on his shoulder.

"Luffy… I'm worried about you."

Luffy looked over at the blond when he heard the sadness laced in his voice and felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the pain in Sabo's eyes. He wanted to tell his brother the truth, but…

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." The 7-year-old pushed Sabo's hand away from him.

"About what? Luffy, what has you so upset that you would stay so far away from us?"

"I just don't want you guys to get any more upset at me?"

"Since when have you cared about that?"

"Sabo-"

"Luffy, does this have to do with that argument we had before?"

The 7-year-old tensed up and burrowed deeper into his covers which only confirmed Sabo's suspicions even more as he placed his hand on Luffy's shoulder again.

"Lu, what am I missing? You would never be this upset over a simple scolding unless there was more to it than that. Please, tell me what it is; I want to-"

"Sabo, I'm tired; I just want to go to sleep." Luffy groaned as he shrugged his brother's hand away and ducked under his covers.

Sabo retracted his hand looking down in defeat.

"Okay, Luffy," he sighed, "but could you please tell me tomorrow morning?"

"… Okay."

"Promise?"

Luffy hesitated for a minute. "Promise."

Finally satisfied, Sabo tucked himself into bed.

"Goodnight, Luffy."

"'Night."

As they both fell asleep, neither of them were aware that Ace, who had turned in before them, had heard their entire conversation. Although he never voiced it, he was just as worried about his little brother as Sabo was and wanted to know what was wrong just as much as he did.

Maybe we'll finally get our answer tomorrow morning. Ace thought before he fell asleep.

"Ace, wake up!" Sabo yelled, frantically shaking his brother's shoulder.

"Nnuuunngh, Sabo, you better have a good reason for waking me up." Ace groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Otherwise you're gonna find yourself missing another tooth."

"Luffy's gone!"

Ace was wide awake now.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE'S GONE?!" he yelled as he bolted upright.

"I mean, he's gone!" Sabo enunciated, motioning to the empty spot where Luffy should have been. "I've checked all over the house; he's not here!"

"Well then, where is he?!"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be waking you up THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

"ACE, SABO, KEEP IT DOWN UP THERE!" Dadan yelled from her room underneath them as she banged the ceiling with a broom handle. Not wanting to hint something was wrong, the two brothers stopped arguing for a minute.

"Ace, even you have to admit by now that something isn't right." Sabo whispered. "Luffy disappeared for over a week, he's practically been keeping his distance from us since he came back, and now this!"

"I'm well aware of that, Sabo. What, you think I haven't noticed how Luffy's been sulking around us for the past…"Ace trailed off as he remembered something Luffy had said. "Sabo, how long has it been since that Nati kid's last visit?"

"Uhh… About a month." The moment he answered, he remembered the same thing Ace had;

"Nati comes here once a month and he stays here for an entire week!"

The two brothers looked at each other and said in unison the same thing that was on their minds;

"He's at the docks!"

to be continued

I know, I know, not my best work and I barely had Nati in here except in a flashback, but I promise it'll get better next chapter. Until then, Happy Halloween!