VERY VERY IMPORTANT A/N: Important questions! 1) Do you want Koala to have a somewhat important role, cause she's gonna be in the story. 2) Do you want the Straw Hats to have their memories back?
Luffy had refused to elaborate on the pendant promise no matter how much Sabo insisted, so he left the subject, knowing from first hand experience that Luffy would go through torture in order to keep a secret. So, he decided to stare quietly at his little brother instead, while a massive amount of endless thoughts clouded his mind. He took in the grown form of his little brother, noting how little he had changed and yet so much. He was taller, but still small for his age, his hat that once seemed to swallow his head when he put it on, now had the right size. When had it gotten so small? Small enough to fit perfectly on the head of sweet, little, weak Luffy?
When had his arms become so bigger and probably stronger enough to make him capable of sailing out in the sea? When had his grin begin to fit his face, when once it was considered too big for it?
Sabo sighed, accepting the fact that he had missed it. He had missed Luffy's childhood, not mentioning how he had left him grow up while thinking his big brother was dead. And he couldn't help but feel guilty when he thought of Ace. Sabo had been the only one who had understood the situation he was in, yet accepted it and also became his brother. In his mind, Ace had lost his first friend, first family, and had had to raise Luffy alone. Ace, who knew nothing about growing up like a normal child should.
Where had the years gone to? Disappeared. Vanished. Banned from existence.
'Truth hurts.' Sabo had never truly understood the meaning of that till that day. Sighting again, he turned to the straw hat captain. "Luffy."
Luffy gave him a side glance while grinning cause he was simply happy and showed he was listening. "What's up, Sabo?"
Sabo couldn't help the tips of his lips curl upwards. "Do you want to meet Dragon-san first or do that after visiting the platform?"
Luffy titled his head in thought. "Hmm...After. I want to see the execution platform where Gold Roger died first."
Sabo still didn't see the point in seeing the platform where the Pirate King died. Now that he thought about it, he wondered what had Ace's crew done to prevent him from razing it to the ground.
"Alright, but I must say I'm surprised!" When noticing Luffy's puzzled look, he elaborated. "The platform is in the middle of the city, every citizen would be capable of giving you directions, so how come you can't find it?"
Luffy instantly pouted. "I asked Smokey, but his stupid smoke couldn't even go in a straight way! And then that old man told me stories and when I asked him he kept saying things like 'go left, run north, turn right to the statue' and blah blah blah, I think I fell asleep past that."
Sabo groaned, rubbing his forehead. He wasn't going to ask. Nope! He didn't want to even try to understand Luffy's brainless way of thinking. He probably should be overjoyed that Luffy even thought of asking for directions.
Luffy spoke again, though on a completely different subject. "Ne Sabo, you wanna meet Ace after this? I sooo want to see his expression when he finds out you're alive! Do you think he'll be upset you're the second of the revolutionaries instead of a pirate?"
To be completely honest, Sabo didn't feel like being punched by Ace for the time being. And was it really his fault he had amnesia after the incident and Dragon was the one who-!
Sabo then realized something. His eyes began to get wider and wider, his color slowly leaving his skin.
"Sabo?" The current concerned voice of Luffy made Sabo lift his head from his hand and stare at Luffy. His shock turned into confusement and then to anger, slightly scaring the other teen.
"Luffy...?" Sabo muttered, too calmly for Luffy to like it. Said pirate nodded. "I think I forgot to ask you a question."
Luffy gulped, wordering just what Sabo wanted to ask him. When he found out, he sure as hell wasn't happy.
"I had amnesia and you thought I was killed ten years ago. So it had me wondering...Just how could you recognize me immediately, just from hearing my voice? What convinced you that I wasn't a look-alike and how come you weren't shocked to see your 'dead brother' breathing, still flesh and blood?" Luffy became pale as Sabo started at him with narrowed eyes. Alas, he wasn't quite finished.
"Also, this confuses me more than anything else: How could you know who your father was and how could you possibly know that I had met Dragon-san before, let alone that I was part of his organization?"
Knowing he couldn't get away from his brother's questions, Luffy did the only thing he could do: Run for it.
During the same time, miles away from the island Luffy was currently on, his ship was slowly sailing the waters of East Blue after having battled the Arlong pirates. Sanji was off in the kitchen, Nami was sitting her chair, calmly reading the newspaper, Ussop was working in some kind of new substance to use as an attack, while Zoro was training his body, determined to have it in good shape if he wanted to secure the safetly of his crewmembers. He often noticed the curious, conflicted looks the others sent him every now and then. Zoro was certain they were wondering about the future, about their captain and surely about their deaths.
How did it happen? What caused it? Had they achieved their dreams? Where was Luffy in the meantime? What were they supposed to do now?
The Observation Haki had allowed Zoro to hear all the questions that plagued his friends and stubbornly told himself he couldn't say. As much as he wanted to ensure them, answer them, comfort them and come clean about all this...he couldn't.
'Damn Luffy, now of all times you decide to make your crazy plan crazier! I hope this all settled down soon.' Zoro thought, his gaze focused into the sky. 'I also hope you're not drowning somewhere in ocean.' He added. His thoughts were interrupted when Nami's voice pierced the air.
"WHAAAAAAT?!" Zoro dropped the weigh on his hands and swiftly jumped on the deck, Ussop was already at Nami's side and Sanji slammed open the kitchen door.
"How did this happen?!" Nami shrieked while Ussop gaped at the newspaper.
Whith raised eyebrows, Sanji and Zoro exchanged a look and joined their friends. Sanji's only visible eye widened while Zoro smirked.
"Well, well, who knew? Marines sure do work fast."
Luffy cursed under his breath for his carelessness. He thought he was past that phase! Now with his brother on his tail, he was forced to roam the streets of Louge Town with no idea where he was going. But one thing he knew for sure, he was in for deep shit once Sabo got his hands on him.
'I'm not gonna tell him, I'm not gonna tell him, I'm not gonna tell him!' Luffy repeated like a mantra in his head, as he took another turn right, only to find the one place he had been searching for. The platform execution.
"LUFFY!"
Luffy yelped and started running towards the platform. As soon as he was two feet away from the platform, he shot himself up and started climbing as fast as he could. He was barely halfway to the top when one awfully familiar figure neared the platform and shouted at him.
"Monkey D. Luffy of the Straw Hat Pirates!"
Luffy automatically turned around to see the Marine Captain Smoker glaring daggers at him. He glared back. "What do ya want, Smokey?! I'm a bit busy at the moment, I wanna see the platform before my older brother kills me!"
Ignoring Luffy's comments, Smoker got into a fighting stance. "So you really are Straw Hat Luffy, huh?" 'Of course he'd be a pirate if he wanted to see the place Gold Roger died.'
"As a marine, I put you under arrest!"
Luffy, for his part, was confused as hell. This time he had only defeated the Krieg Pirates, so how had he been acknowledged as a pirate!? (And as usual, Luffy cannot understand the ruckus that he makes)
Before he could yell back though, his leg slipped and while trying to avoid falling, he accidentally kicked the platform supports and as you can guess, that just sent him in the air, farther from the platform and directly above the marine. Smoker sees the opportunity and refuses to let it get away. Using Luffy's distraction and unfavorable position as an advantage, Smoker turned his lower body to smoke and shot up.
Luffy barely noticed the marine, but even when he did, he couldn't find a way to get out of the attack without revealing his powers and with the revolutionaries, marines and journalists nearby, he was bound to be noticed by two of the strongest forces of the world.
'Someone up there really must hate me, right?' Luffy thought, totally upset as he closed his eyes tightly, awaiting the blow.
"STRAW HAAAAAT!" Smoker's battle cry echoed through the sky and time seemed to slow down for the duo on the air. As Smoker's fist was mere inches from Luffy's face, a blue blur got between them and, before Smoker could register what happened, a black stick hit his stomach and he was flat on the ground.
Luffy landed on his feet and immediately lifted his face to see none other than his best g brother standing tall and protectively in front of him. In his right hand he held a black pipe which he started swinging every now and then. His face had mixed expressions. Angry, irritated, confused and again angry.
Smoker got up and dusted his clothes and lit two puro's. He then glanced at Sabo.
"Are you one of Monkey D. Luffy's crewmembers? If not, then I'm afraid you know the consequences of protecting a pirate."
Sabo couldn't help the smirk in his face. 'If only he knew.' "I'm so sorry, marine-san." Sabo apologized politely and anyone with two eyes and half a brain could literally see the mocking tone. "But I simply cannot allow you to harm my little brother, so would you mind to let him go? The White Chaser, Captain Smoker?"
Smoker's eyes narrowed, but he didn't comment.
"Sabo!" Luffy exclaimed but quickly shut up after seeing the glare Sabo was throwing him that clearly said 'we'll talk later'. Swallowing, Luffy decided to keep up the cheerful act. "Now that you are here to hold Smokey on, I've got something I have to do."
And with that, Luffy got back to climbing the platform supports, while Sabo stared tiredly. Instead of scolding him or asking what the hell he was doing, Sabo sighed tiredly before turning to Smoker, who had been scowling at Luffy, and could only smirk.
"So," He started, and in his voice could be heard the amusement he was trying to conceal. It was hard. " 'Smokey'?"
Smoker hissed and launched at Sabo, who swung his pipe once more and turned it black on Haki. "Come."
Smoker's transformed fist was aimed perfectly at Sabo, who jumped up in the last moment. Either way, Smoker had expected that and wasted no time at all to sun has himself on the air. Sabo blinked before blocking another fist, this time against his chest. The pipe would have gone through the smoke and fell right into Smoker'z trap, were it not for the Haki cladding it. Smoker's lower body turned to smoke and surrounded Sabo, who inwardly cursed.
Only one option. Sabo pulled his hand back and used the Dragon Claw to grab the smoke, smirking at Smoker's surprised reaction. Pulling the smoke, he shot down and brought the marine with him, managing to slam him with the ground. Smoker groaned before standing up.
"Not bad." He commented and Sabo could shoot those words right back.
Meanwhile, Luffy had almost reached the top. He needed to be there, he needed to see what Roger did when he died. The time flew by for those two decades, so the crowd was not the same. Though Luffy had another reason to reach the top.
'I will wait for you at the top...' Ace's words repeated inside his mind. When he finally got there, he stood silent for some moments, facing the people, all of them looked the same to Luffy. No matter if marines, pirates, revolutionaries or citizens. They were all the same. All had stopped to watch what the boy would do.
Luffy clenched his fists. Taking a deep breath, he shot his arms up and yelled.
"I'M THE MAN WHO'LL BECOME PIRATE KING!" 'I'm gonna get to the top Ace, and this time, you'll be there to watch me. This is the first step to your rescue.'
And at that time...a storm would swallow the place, rain started pouring and lighting fell. Sabo just smiled. "Well said." He whispered.
Somewhere on the town's streets, a green cloaked man roamed like the unpredictable leaf in the wind...Silently like the ghost. On the man's features, the smirk was noticeable.
"Pirate King, huh? Well well, I expect no less."
A/N: Hey! I was a bit conflicted., you know? Didn't know if I should let Sabo know. Anyway, that's all! See you next time and do leave a review!