Chapter 6: Brothers
"Huh?" they asked stunned. Oh, the kid had a big dream.
Luffy laughed loudly. The wind was ruffling his hair as if it was trying to say 'Go for it!'.
Ace scratched his head.
"Moron... I was afraid you're gonna say something like that..."
Law smirked.
"You have a big dream, don't you?"
Sabo burst out laughing.
"Blue, aren't you funny, Luffy? Can't wait to see you in the future." he smiled brightly and then blinked in realization. "But we have a problem, guys..." he said and others looked at him curiously. "We all can be pirates but we all can't be captains."
"Eh... didn't think 'bout it... I thought you're gonna be my navigator, Sabo." said Ace
"You can all sail with me, guys!" yelled Luffy and grinned happily.
"NO WAY!" replied Sabo and Ace.
The boys started to shout at each other as finally, Luffy pouted.
"Okey. It's alright."
"You're not fooling anyone." teased Ace
Then they looked questionably at Law.
"What about you, Trao?" asked the youngest one.
"Nope. Not joining anyone... and as much as like you, you wouldn't match in my crew anyway." he shrugged. "For example, the bloody ape here is too weak, ya know?"
"Oi!" shouted Ace probably offended, but no one took it seriously.
"Why so?" asked Sabo and looked at the oldest one curiously.
Law smirked.
"My crew will be a crew of doctors, scholars, and scientists... mostly doctors thought."
"That's... that's one cool idea." said Sabo after a short minute of silence.
"Trao so cool!" shouted Luffy with stars in his eyes.
"Nah... lame." muttered Ace, although like others he found Law's idea amazing. He himself wouldn't match but it was something... 'traffy' as Luffy would saw. Not like he would ever tell that to stupid creepy-dalmatian. As if...
XxX
"Hey, what's your favorite color?" asked Ace.
The other looked at him with a silent question.
"Just wanted to know. I know Luffy likes red but since it's my color, you need to tell me another color."
"Ha! Not fair!" yelled the youngest of the boys.
Law couldn't understand what would that matter if they both liked the same color but decided not to comment on it.
The two fought for a minute but it ended with Luffy on the ground.
"Yellow." the boy pouted.
Ace looked at Sabo and Law.
"Blue."
"Main is yellow-"
"Haaaa!" Luffy didn't like it. His third favorite color was blue. He couldn't fight with other two!
"-but don't worry, Lu. My second favorite is purple." said Law and ruffled Luffy's hair. Purple was Lami's favorite color after all.
XxX
"It suspicious..." said Law.
"Very suspicious..." agreed Sabo.
"Yhmn..." nodded Luffy.
You see, for the past few days Ace leaving them to do something. Alone. And if they asked him what he did he would change the topic. Today he dumped them by asking them to catch the dinner alone. Asked why he replied he needed to take care of something and it would only take him a minute. Before they could reply he disappeared in the forest.
"He went southwest..." said Sabo. "The direction of the shortest path to Goa."
The three looked at each other and simultaneously nodded.
It was the high time to spy on Ace.
Catching up to Ace wasn't easy. When they got at the edge of the forest they saw Ace crossing the Great Gate. They speeded up so they wouldn't lose him in the crowd, but when they finally reached the city, Ace was nowhere to be found.
"Shit!" cursed Sabo.
"There is no way we're gonna find him now!" said irritated Law.
"Sabo..." Luffy wanted to say something but they ignored him.
"Maybe we should split up..." wondered the blonde, but his older friend shot his head.
"Law..."
"Bad idea." he disagreed. "None of us can fight the whole gang by ourselves. Together there is no problem, but alone... especially Luffy."
Sabo sighed. Law was right. Even at the very beginning, it was him and Ace. They never fight alone and if there was any one-man action it was rob-and-run.
"You're right." he agreed.
"Guys!" they both looked at the annoyed youngest boy.
"What?" they asked flatly.
"Ace went that way." Luffy pointed the direction to the High Town.
"Snob-land?" asked Sabo "You sure?"
"Yeah, how do you know?" Law was skeptical.
Luffy tensed as he looked at the side.
"Just know."
Law and Sabo sighed. Whatever it was Luffy could tell them later. He never was good at keeping secrets. Besides, it was the closest clue they had.
The three boys ran. They passed through the crowd, sometimes people would shout at them, probably because they ran over them or stole from them once. They almost reached the wall that surrounded the High Town, when Luffy felt chills going through his spine.
"Oh no..." he muttered.
"What?" asked Sabo.
"Something happened to Ace!" Luffy answered and scurried. He passed the gate to High Town and suddenly turned left.
Sabo and Law looked at each other and nodded. The questions could be answered later, now thought they needed to save Ace.
They ran after the youngest till the boy stopped. From the corner, they heard yells.
"Damn, brat!"
They winced when they sound of kick reached their ears. They slowly looked out from the corner. Ace was on the ground. Two guards of Goa city above him. One was pointing the gun at boy's head when the other was kicking him. Few feet away was standing some noble.
"How dare you stole from Master Alexander" shouted the guard.
"Just kill him." spat the noble. He looked bored and annoyed by the whole situation.
The eyes of all four boys widened. Law cursed quietly.
"But sir...!"
"I'll pay you double. The body can be disposed of with the trash. Nobody stole from me and get away with it!"
Sabo jumped from they hiding place and charged at the guards. Law and Luffy just after him.
"Guys?!" Ace was shocked.
Sabo hit one of the guards with his pipe. He hit the center of his head. As the man fainted from the impact, the gun in his hand fell to the ground. Luffy attacked the other man and sent him flying and crashing into the wall. The other three didn't realize it but it was the first time Luffy hit something with one of his devil fruit attacks.
"You're alright, Ace?" asked Law as he kneeled near the boy.
"Yeah..." he answered a bit embarrassed.
"Let's get out of her-"
*KACHOOOO*
The sound of the gun. They looked around. The noble was standing in front of them. The guard's gun in his trembling hand. It was smoking. No one of them was shot.
"Stop, you little animals." he hissed. His voice was full of disgust, anger, and fear. "Such disgusting things like you should never have existed. I'll end you now, fucking brats!"
He was pointing the gun in Law's and Ace's direction.
They were all tensed. The noble was trembling so hard so he probably would miss, but they didn't want to take the chances. Law only hoped that he could be fast enough to use his powers, but he wasn't sure if it would help at all. He never tried to stop the bullet before.
"You... you won't shoot." he said. His voice was as calm as it was possible in such situation. During his stay with Donquixote it happened from time to time, but then he, at last, had Baby 5, the Miss-walking-machine-gun not to mention that people were freaking afraid to do anything to Donquixote kids. Here, on the other hand, neither Sabo nor Ace was ever in the real about-to-get-killed situation. And Luffy? Law looked at the youngest boy. To his surprise, as much as Luffy was scared he was also angry. He looked at the man as bravely as he could. Law almost smiled.
Seeing his look, the noble pointed the gun at Luffy.
"Let's start with you, you fucking Straw Hat."
He shot.
"Room!"
The operation room appeared in front of Luffy as the bullet went through the bubble. It happened in barely a second and yet Law could feel sweat rolling through his forehead. The bullet barely left operation room and stopped just before Luffy's skin to fall down to the ground.
Law's knees hit the ground.
"You... you mons-!" the noble didn't end his sentence as he fell down. Sabo jumped at him the moment he saw Law using his fruit.
"Luffy, you alright?" asked him Ace. Luffy nodded his head. His eyes were now watering because of his cumulated emotions. Then the attention of three boys went at the oldest one. "How about you, Law?"
"Yeah..." he said weakly "I'm good. Just never used my powers so quickly." he admitted. He breathed slowly to calm his heart. Then he stood up.
For a minute there was only the silence.
"What the fuck were you thinking?!" Law looked at Ace. His look was disappointed.
Ace looked at his feet.
"You could get yourself killed! For Blue's sake, you would be dead if we weren't here and we wouldn't even know where you were!"
Ace bit his lip as he whispered.
"Sorry."
"'SORRY'? What the f- 'Sorry'?!" he yelled frustrated and hugged the younger boy. "Don't you dare do such a thing ever again!"
Ace stiffened and his eyes widened. He rarely was ever hugged. Then he felt as someone embracing him from behind. He looked back to see Luffy's greening face, although his eyes still watered a bit. He probably thought that he would use any occasion to hug anyone. Ace felt as someone hit his arm gently. It was Sabo who smirked at him and joined the embrace.
"Be careful or Luffy will see you cry." he heard blonde's whisper and he realized he really was crying. He started rubbing the tears away. He wasn't a cry baby!
Sabo almost laughed. Ace was never good with showing his emotions, not like Sabo was the one to talk although he was a bit better. Ace was used to the idea that there wasn't anyone that cared about him. Dadan and the bandits, as much as they loved the four troublemakers, were the laid-back type of people.
Finally, Law let go and so did Sabo. Only Luffy was still hugging Ace but the boy decided to let him... for now.
"Why did you need the money." asked Law firmly.
"I... I wanted to buy something..." admitted Ace as his cheeks turned scarlet.
Sabo shot his head.
"Then why didn't you used our pirate fund?"
"It's for when we will be pirates! I shouldn't-"
"Okay, stop right there!" said Law. His voice was showing his disappointment. "Do you really think that we would rather have you dead than less money? Ace, we have at last another 5 years till I leave at 17. If we need something, there is no problem to take some money."
Ace turned his head ashamed. It was probably the first time he ever felt like this.
"At least tell us what did you need this money for?"
"It's a present..." he muttered.
"A what?"
"It's a surprise, okay?!" Ace's face became scarlet again.
"For who?"
"No one!" Ace started being really defensive.
Law sighed.
"Okay, let's go. You can go buy whatever it is, we won't look. Just promise me, that you won't ever do something so stupid again!"
"Okay, I promise!"
XxX
"How long do you know, Ace?" asked Law.
"I guess... almost 5 years, why?" answered Sabo.
They were waiting for Ace near the Great Gate on the Fletcher Square. Luffy was sitting near them eating the cotton candy. As much as he loved meat, the sweets were a rear treat since then often enough needed to pay for them. Dine and dash only really worked for restaurants, not small shops.
"Wait, you ran away from home when you were 5?"
"Umm no... I ran away when I was 8. Before I was just sneaking out."
"Sneaking out to the place full of thugs, murderers, and kidnappers..."
"Weren't we talking about Ace?"
Law rose an eyebrow but decided to let it slide. It's not like he could do anything about the past.
"Did he ever buy a present for Dadan or any of the bandits?"
Sabo thought about it but no. Ace never did such thing. Not like it was surprising.
"No... you thought it was something for them?"
"Nah, but none of us have the birthday in next few months. Hell, May is about to end so mine are the closest ones, but they are in October."
"And for Luffy's birthday we worked all together and it still was just a feast with a lot of meat." agreed Sabo.
"I guess we just need to wait till he tells us himself. He's not Luffy. Whatever it is he won't spill."
Just as they end the conversation Ace was running their direction. He had something in his hands. The item was covered in gray packing paper so whatever it is they wouldn't know.
"Okay, let's go!"
As they went back to the forest, Luffy asked Ace million times if he could look at the 'mystery pack' but was denied all the time.
XxX
It was Saturday. May 24th. This date was about to become the most important day for three boys from East Blue. Ace took them at their favorite coast, as Luffy called it, the Dream Cliff.
"Do you know, what they say?" he asked them "If you drink sake together you become brothers."
Law almost laughed happily when he saw the tree trunk and four china sake cups. Suddenly everything made sense. Especially Ace's question about their favorite colors. Each cup was red but have a thin stripe at the edge, each cup in different of their favorite color: blue for Sabo, purple for Law, yellow for Luffy. The last one with orange stripe must have been Ace's.
"You stole sake from Dadan?" asked Sabo.
"That was the plan but... I bought it. It's from Grand Line and since we all wanted to go there..." he went a bit red. "One day we may be captains on different ships but... we'll always be brothers.
Law finally giggled a little and after him both Sabo and Luffy.
"Stupid dalmatian." muttered Ace.
They filled the cups.
"For today forward we're brothers."
XxX
A/N: You know I always wondered where did Ace get this cups and so this chapter exist xD. If any of you wonder why did Law stopped the bullet if Luffy is bulletproof, the answer is they still don't know about it. Luffy would need to get shot. Btw, am I the only one who thinks that kid Ace was cute. And Older brother Law is the best Law. Since he is the most mature, cuz let's face it, as much as Ace and Sabo know the hardship of life, they weren't mature. They were just kids. Law on the other hand is. But I'm trying to give him more time to play. The guy had awful past, he deserves joys of childhood.
If you liked it, please review!