Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece; that belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

A/N: A lot more Ace in this chapter! Hope you enjoy it.

WARNING: Child living alone in the Grey Terminal. I don't go in-depth, but stuff is alluded to. Like Child Slavery. Also, some fights and kids being touch starved.

Chapter 2

Ace was definitely stronger than Sabo, at least in physical strength. His fighting style was pretty straight forward though. Keep hitting his opponent until they dropped. They couldn't match him in the physical department, but maybe they could outwit him.

They kept their gaze fixed on three parts of him. His eyes, his stomach, and his hands. They wished they could try to keep an eye on his feet too, but it was a recent bit of progress to be able to keep sight of these three points of interest. It allowed them to dodge the majority of Ace's strikes, and counter a few they couldn't.

That's not to say they evaded every blow. Sometimes, the hit would connect, and they knew there would be a great big bruise there later. Sabo wasn't as strong as Ace, so they kept their own attacks focused on the joints. They're especially proud of the blow to his left elbow. He tried to retreat for a bit to recover but they didn't let him, and he was unable to use both arms to power the pipe's swings afterwards.

The fight became a lot more even then.

It ended in a draw, both collapsing to the ground at the same time, clutching their hurt parts.

"Wanna share?" They asked. "It'll probably be burnt now though."

Ace glared at them, but his gaze flicked to the still cooking meat and his stomach growled again. It really sounded like an animal. He wanted to eat it, but the five-year-old had already developed some pride. Sabo didn't know how to get him to eat with them, so they shrugged at the lack of an answer and returned their focus to the meat. They grabbed the smallest chunk that's already started to char and threw it at Ace's face.

He instinctively caught it and almost took a bite out of it but glanced at them untrustingly. "What did you do to it? What do you want?"

Sabo shrugged. "It is my first-time cooking meat like this, so I am unsure if it is actually edible. I don't want to get food poisoning from my own horrendous cooking." Ace frowned at the words they used. They made a note to themself to limit their vocabulary and speak a little more casually in the future. It made them a little sick to realise they'd gotten used to how Nobles were supposed to speak. "Eat it and tell me if it's okay."

The meat vanished and Ace made a bit of a face. "It sucks. Uneatable." Their shoulders dropped at the criticism. "I'll throw it away for you."

As if her brothers had never tried that. Sabo grabbed a random stake and took their own bite. It's dry, tough and it crunches where there's charring. It did suck but it was still edible. They stuck their tongue out at Ace. "I'm not falling for that. Now help me finish this. I can't actually eat all of this, unfortunately, and I don't want to waste it."

Ace took the permission and grabbed another stake with the largest chunk of meat on it. So predictable. Together, they made quick work of the meat. Sabo actually had to hasten the rate at which they ate to be able to stuff themself before Ace could eat too much. Their stomach was going to complain later on but at least it'll be full for once.

They lay on the ground again, this time from a decent meal instead of a fight. Sabo groaned as they got up and put out the fire. Ace made no effort to help, but even having some kind of friendly company near them relieved something within them. Now that the fire was dealt with, they just flopped back down.

It's silent for a bit before Ace got up and started to walk away. They couldn't keep him here, but they didn't want him to leave and never see him again.

"My name's Sabo." They called out.

"Whatever." Was all Ace said. Uncaring and neglecting to offer his own.

Sabo let their nails dig into their palms as Ace walked out of sight without even a backwards glance. It won't be their only meeting. They could look for him in between surviving. Also finding a skirt. Their hair had finally grown out of the cropped style their biological parents kept it in. It's not much, but it's something.

Having control over their own hair filled them with comfort. It almost felt like a way to show how long they were staying out of their parents' control. It's freeing.

Their next meeting was near the beginning of winter a month later. This time though, they're the one to sneak up on Ace. The kid was already in a fight against some people in the Grey Terminal. One person was sneaking up behind him to attack in his blind spot.

Sabo didn't let him, appropriately striking from the man's own blind spot. His partner squeaked at the intrusion and was momentarily distracted enough to get knocked out by Ace.

He turned to glare at them. "I didn't need help." He stated.

"Well, you got it anyway." Sabo shrugged.

"I had it under control, I owe you nothing." Ace continued.

A small part of Sabo wanted to shake their head and leave the prideful kid. But this was the first time they got to talk to someone in a month. The last person was Ace himself too. "You don't owe me anything, that's fine."

Ace paused at that, glare loosening by a fraction via incredulity before increasing in intensity with suspicion. "What the fuck do you want, Top hat?"

So, either he didn't care to remember their name, or he's deliberately not using it. Either way, it hurt a little. But they're used to it already. It didn't matter.

"I don't want anything." They stressed. "I just saw you, two on one and that guy coming from behind. So, I came up behind him too, see how he liked being sneak attacked."

They consciously ignore the fact that they liked doing sneak attacks, but at least they only do it at the start of a fight and when they were against adults. Not during one or when ganging up on a child. Which was what they were doing.

The freckled jungle child didn't seem to accept the answer and reached out to grab them by the collar. He screamed into their face. "I know you fucking want something from me. So, what the hell is it?"

They reached out and grabbed Ace's collar too. "I just wanted to talk again! I don't like being alone and you were the first person to talk to me in months. There! That's why. That's all I wanted."

Ace dropped their collar, so they did too. He considered them for a bit, the silence stretching on. Sabo said nothing though, letting their hopefully future friend do whatever he wanted. He came to a resolution and looked back into their eyes.

"That's stupid." He simply said.

"So? Doesn't stop it from being true." They retorted.

Ace shook his head and started walking away. Again. His pipe was propped up on his shoulder and he strode with the confidence of a predator atop the food chain. Already, Ace was kicking the arses of adults. He did hit harder than most do already, so it's not surprising.

"My name's Sabo, not Top hat." They called out.

"Whatever." Ace replied again.

It's only been two meetings. They're both still five. There's time. There'd be more meetings.

"What the hell are you doing?" Started their next meeting.

It's near the end of December and Sabo was doing their nightly stretches before settling down to sleep. "Stretching." Was all they said in reply before proceeding to do the splits. Their face may have been blank, but they were, without a doubt, smirking on the inside.

They kept their eyes on Ace while they did so. His eyes had almost bugged out for a second at the display, but he hid the reaction quickly. Scowling, he came a little closer to get a better look. They bent over their forward leg, reaching for their foot. There's a bit of hope that maybe they'd be able to snap their legs up as vertically as Sanji seemed able to. Though they knew they'd also need some more core strength and balance to accomplish that.

Ace sat and poked him with his pipe as they were transitioning out of doing the splits. They couldn't help but be tense when they saw the weapon approach. When the tap was light and didn't hurt though, they couldn't help their reaction. Wonder coloured their face and tears collected in the corners of their eyes. The boy recoiled at the reaction, standing up and getting ready to run from the look of it. Sabo didn't want the only person to have touched them (and him) and not hurt them to leave.

"Wait!" They cried out, quickly getting out of the latest stretch and removing any signs of tears. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

Their mouth was dry, and their heart was racing. They were barely keeping their breath under control. Ace stopped though, even as he kept glancing at his escape route.

"You looked at me weird." He said. "Why the hell did you start crying, you bastard?"

Maybe bastard shouldn't be a compliment in their personal dictionary. But some of her brothers were bastards in the literal meaning, and bastards were insults to the nobles they hate. Being one feels so much like a compliment they had to stop themself from crying again, though they couldn't fully restrain their smile. Their hopefully future friend took another step away.

"You didn't hurt me." They managed to get out. The absurdity of that statement shocked Ace enough to make him stay a little longer.

"Whatcha mean?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion.

They showed and poked a bruise from a recent fight, that one was now yellow, but there're some deep purple fingerprints, clearly from an adult, near it too. "It's been a really, really long time since someone touched me and didn't try to hurt me. So, my body tried to make happy tears when you tapped me but didn't hurt me." They grinned at him. "So sorry about my reaction, but thanks!"

The jungle boy shoved a finger up his own nose. "That's stupid." But they could just hear the badly hidden awkwardness in his voice.

"Yeah, maybe." They kept grinning. It didn't stop it from being true.

The two stared awkwardly at each other and their surroundings for a while. They were just inside the edge of the forest, close enough to the Grey Terminal so that most animals would steer clear of the disgusting smell, but in far enough that the inhabitants wouldn't come in for fear of those animals.

Sabo decided to at least try and end the awkwardness. Having someone near that didn't seem to want to hurt them was really soothing, but it could be better. They were willing to take the risk. Even if it meant they wouldn't see him for another month.

"So, uhh." They started; Ace's gaze immediately locked onto them. "Want to learn some stretches?"

The jungle boy was silent as he considered the offer. "Whatcha want in return?" He asked, steeling himself.

"A hug." They asked.

That sends the boy wheeling back in shock. He fell to the ground and looked at them as if they were the craziest person alive. She would have said he looked at them like they said pigs could fly, but in this world, it wouldn't surprise them if some could.

"A fucking hug? That's what you want?" he shouted at them.

They nodded. "Yep. Never got one before. I want to see if it's as good as people say it is." Well, she got lots of them. But he never did and so far, they never did either. If hugs were as good as her memories suggested… they really, really wanted a hug.

"That's fucking stupid, Blondie." Ace remarked but he sat his arse down next to them. "Show me those stretches first."

They grinned at him. "My name's Sabo, not Blondie. But okay."

"Whatever." Was the expected response.

They showed him the stretches. The 'lesson' was full of yelling, pokes that didn't hurt unless they accidentally hit a healing bruise, and little bouts of competitiveness that Sabo all won. They were more flexible than their friend(?) and it was obvious.

Doing the scorpion stretch where you lay on your stomach and splayed your arms out perpendicularly to their sides continued to be Sabo's favourite. Especially after the poorly disguised impressed expression that Ace had as they lifted a leg to touch the opposite hand. Their hip still lifted a bit off the ground, but their shoulders stayed flat. The jungle boy couldn't do that.

Ace seemed to enjoy the dynamic stretches more, probably because he could move more. But he continued to call everything stupid. He accepted them a bit more after Sabo displayed how much higher they could jump than him. Challenging him seemed to be the way to make him do things.

Ace flopped to the ground afterwards, breathing harder than he was before it. Sabo was still raring to go but decided they could hold off on the rest of their exercises for today. This evening had to have made today the best day of their life so far. And they were even counting the day of their escape in that!

They sat next to the jungle boy and grinned at him. He glared tiredly back but a small, honest smile was there for a split second. They turned away as to not freak him out with their tears again. They're poked and it hit an old bruise, so it aches, but they really don't care. They're still really happy.

Ace sat up and awkwardly looked away, crossing his arms over his chest. Now would be the time for the promised hug but…

"You don't have to hug me if you don't want to." They offered. "It was nice getting to do this with someone else."

They didn't mean for it to be a challenge, but Ace clearly saw it as one, or maybe as pity. He stood up and glared at him, grey eyes steeled with determination. "Nope, the deal was for a hug. I'm not letting you hold this above me, jerk."

"Wasn't the idea, but okay." They stood up and before the awkwardness of trying to do a hug could set in, they hugged each other.

It was so warm.

Sabo gripped Ace a bit more tightly and they really did try to hold back the tears. A few definitely escaped, but they could hold the rest until the jungle boy inevitably left again. Then they could cry their heart out at finally feeling a comforting touch.

"Thank you." They whispered. Ace just grunted but it sounded a bit like agreement.

They hid their face in his neck and he took it to mean he should do the same with theirs. It got a little wet. Being raised by bandits and Garp, their friend probably hadn't got many hugs himself. They hoped he was feeling what they were. It was different, but so, so nice.

But unfortunately, it was late. Ace had to leave. The hug ended and neither of them made any mention of the tears in each other's eyes.

They nodded at each other, and Ace picked up his pipe and started to leave. "Don't die." Was all he said to them.

A smile took over their face. "You better not die either." They replied.

He didn't look back, but he did nod. He heard them. Then he was gone.

Sabo could easily say this was the best day of their life so far.

Their fourth meeting was after New Year's.

There was a commotion on the other side of a garbage heap and curiosity was not something Sabo had learned to ignore yet. By the time they got around it, Ace had already knocked out a small group of weak arseholes that Sabo had been avoiding for the last few weeks.

You hear some guys talking about grabbing some kids and selling them to slavery and you knew they were the worse sort of arseholes. They weren't sad to see them unconscious or possibly dead.

Ace didn't seem to be hurt but it was clear he wasn't alright.

"I'm going to hug you right now." It was the only warning they gave him before pulling him into one. They made sure to leave his arms free, they weren't trying to trap him.

He almost ripped himself out of it, but he accepted it when he realised that he could. Ace was still so much stronger than them that if he actually wanted to get out, it would be easy for him.

"The hell do you want now, Blondie?" He asked.

"A hug. You give really nice ones." They stated. He stiffened in their arms, but he brought his arms around them. They have to quickly stifle their tears at the affectionate touch, but they had a lot of incentive and willpower really did matter in this world. "Thank you."

He stiffened again at the thanks before fidgeting in their grip. As soon as Ace loosened his own grip though, they let him go. They decide to look over at the unconscious arseholes and confirm they were the child slavers to give Ace some time to collect himself.

They winced when they realise just how close these guys were to them without them noticing. They could have easily snuck up on them without them noticing until the last second. Or worse, waking up already chained and ready to be sold.

"I didn't realise they were so close." They deliberately muttered loud enough to be heard. They turned to Ace and grinned at him. "Thank you, these guys are child slavers. I've been trying to stay away from them, so thank you for warning me they were getting close and for dealing with them."

"They were weaklings. You could have taken them." He said, rubbing his elbow. Was he wearing that brace the last time they met?

"Maybe so, but I wouldn't have been prepared for a sneak attack." They shrugged. "I really owe you now."

"I didn't do it for you!" He shouted, grumpy.

"Don't care, you still might have accidentally saved my life. Either way, you gave me a hug, so I would owe you for that." They shouted back.

There's a staring contest but they're interrupted by some of the arseholes' friends coming out behind corners.

Fighting with Ace wasn't perfect, but they were damn good together. They knew it was mostly because of her memories. She'd done a lot of team sports. Keeping track of a lot of people and reading both your teammates and your opponents was a very important skill. Some of it came over, but fighting wasn't something she'd ever done in her life. It was still very useful for them now.

Ace was really strong and would only fight head-on. Sabo fought more reserved, waiting for openings rather than making the first move. They both took care of the half a dozen arseholes easily and agreed without words to get out of the area before any more of their friends could appear.

They went into the forest near where Sabo would sleep but they followed him further in. Ace didn't seem to like feeling like he owes someone, and they're determined to pay him back for what he did for them, even if unknowingly.

They're ambushed by a large tiger, not the largest they've seen in these woods, but large enough. Taking it down was easy enough with help, though still a great challenge. Their back ached from when they were tossed into a tree, but they did keep its attention long enough for Ace to land a hit on the back of its neck.

They both hit it again to be sure it's dead before Ace finally talked to them again. "Cook it. Then we're even."

They grinned and accepted the deal. They've managed to successfully hunt and cook some meat a few more times since their first success and meeting with Ace. Only predators so far though since the prey was smart and fast enough to always get away from them. The jungle boy complained during the process about the time it took them to cook it but it's easy enough to talk back to him about it.

The smallest piece they left started to burn, signalling that it should all be ready. Kind of hard to know when there wasn't a way to keep track of time. Even counting gets interrupted by stray thoughts usually. Though Ace made for a nicer distraction.

"Your cooking still sucks." He said after they finished their meal. Sabo nearly managed to keep up in pace this time. The threat of losing food in the wasteland or being besieged by carnivores in the forest had been a very painful lesson for their stomach. Winter was much worse with food being even scarcer. A part of him acknowledged that leaving High Town at the beginning of Autumn could have been better timed.

Late spring or early summer would have been the best time, but they couldn't stay in that hell hole for any longer than they already had. If they hadn't resisted leaving sooner, then they wouldn't have been able to convincingly kill themself.

"Yeah, well. Most cooks get a kitchen and herbs and spices. Does this look like a kitchen to you?" They responded.

Ace grunted in begrudging acknowledgement. Sabo hummed smugly back, earning a glare.

"You wanna go, Top hat?" He asked, readying his pipe.

"It's Sabo, not Top hat." They automatically replied readying their own pipe.

Their fight ended in a draw again.