Chapter 4
Once upon a time, Sabo was brave. He broke out of his parent's cage and made a home among hungry tigers and bears. He stood against Fists of Love and temperamental mountain bandits. He stole from fearsome pirates and faced Mother Nature's wrath with only a rickety tree house to shield him.
Once upon a time, Sabo would've died before letting someone take his precious brothers.
Now, he can barely stop tears from sliding down his cheeks as he races through the forest, following Ace's russet wisps with a thundering heart.
He has to tell Ace that Luffy is gone.
He has to tell Ace that he let them take their baby brother.
Sabo skids around a tree trunk and smacks into the dark-haired boy. The two stagger back, grunting at the impact.
"What the hell..." The older boy's question fades away as he takes in the blonde's expression—the flushed cheeks, trembling hands, and watery eyes.
In the end, he doesn't have to tell Ace anything. All it takes is a look.
"Where is he!?"
Sabo opens his mouth to answer, but Ace's tone, the simmering anger, the careless aggression that says this is beyond a normal spat—it unlocks the door to before and shoves Sabo inside.
He feels razor sharp nails digging into the soft flesh of his cheek. A whimper worms its way out of his tummy, and the iron clad grip around his arms tightens. There's a flash of sickly yellow eyes, then his mother's voice whispers against his ear.
"Not a sound, spare. Not a single sound."
Sabo chews his lip, trying to trap any noise inside his throat. The claws come back, and they scrape down his forehead and through his eyebrow, coming to a stop inside the soft flesh of his eyelid. Silent sobs rack Sabo's shoulders. Slowly, like a clock hand ticking, she rotates the claw, scraping the edge of his eye socket and pushing against his eye so hard, he fears it's gonna pop out.
"If your brothers were better at following orders, I wouldn't have to do this, you know," she says, those puss-colored eyes watching as blood dribbles through Sabo's golden lashes. The claw pushes deeper, and it's going to cut his eye, it's going to blind him, it's going to rip his eyeball out of his skull and it's going to roll around this dirty cave floor like a cat toy—
"Please." The word rips through his lips, and it's too late. He can't take it back.
"What did I say," she hisses in Penelope's voice.
You said don't go in the jungle. You said there's worse things than scraped knees and beatings. You said there's things that want to eat me out there.
"Sorry! I'm sorry, sorry, sorry," Sabo sobs.
A hand clenches around his throat, turning his apologies into gasps and gargles.
"NOT A SOUND!"
"We don't have time for this, Sabo! WAKE UP!"
The door to the past is firmly shut with Ace's shout. Grass and trees replace cave walls and chains. Tremors race up Sabo's body. Breath shudders through his chest. He reaches for his eye. Rough scar tissue rubs against his fingertips, reassuring the boy that his eye is intact.
"Where's Luffy, Bo?" Ace asks. The nickname, the soft tone—it's an apology. The glimmering in those narrow eyes—it's anger. But not at Sabo. No, the raven-haired boy's self-loathing is nothing if not predictable. And Sabo can read it like a map.
He's spent years trying to fix it, trying to heal the jagged wound that festers around Ace's heart. A hug, a joke, a shoulder bump, even dreaded late night discussions about their feelings—those were Sabo's normal remedies. Most of the time, they work like band-aids, like temporary shields that give the wound time to heal.
Now though, Sabo doesn't even know how to heal himself. He can't muster the energy to speak, to get his mouth, and tongue, and lungs, and vocal cords to work, much less make Ace feel better about himself.
"What happened?" Ace asks again.
Breath rattles through the blonde's lungs. Tremors race up and down his body so hard, his teeth clatter.
Ace won't hurt me, and She's far, far away.
(But not gone. No. Never gone.)
Sabo's mouth opens and closes as he tries and fails to force the words out. There's a lock around his tongue, forged by pain and blood and eyes rolling around like cat toys—
No! It's safe. You can talk. He won't hurt you, he won't hurt you, he. Won't. Hurt. You.
He just has to find the key. He's found it before. He can do it again.
You're safe. It's just Ace. It's just Ace. It's just Ace.
Playful sparks. Protective inferno. Loyalty steadier than steel.
Sunshine, smiles, and stretchy armed hugs.
Luffy needs you. Speak!
Sabo knows he isn't brave. Not anymore. But he can talk. If babies and goddamn birds can do it, then so can he.
Talk. Just. Talk!
"Th-there was a bunch...of them," Sabo stutters, face burning with shame and fear. He swallows the bile bubbling in his throat before croaking, "Chains. Felt. Sick."
Ace nods, a frown marring his face.
"Her kinda sick?"
It takes a moment for Sabo to answer—a moment in which he focuses on Luffy's giggles and Ace's steady prescence.
"Weaker, but...yes."
The older boy takes a shuddering breath, no doubt thinking the same thing Sabo is.
What are they? Are they worse than Her? Do they work for Her? Are they strong? Stronger than us?
It keeps Sabo up at night. The not knowing. If there was one thing the Outlook's had taught him, it was the value of knowledge. They used it in social and economic warfare, but a fight was a fight. In a battle of swords or words, knowing what the enemy has, what they want, and how they'll try to get it could be the difference between life and death.
And Sabo doesn't know the answer to any of it.
How can they survive if they don't know what monster hunts them?
(How can they survive when they don't know what monster they've become?)
"Can you see Luffy?"
Sabo shakes his head, then closes his eyes. He pulls on that instinct buried inside him, the one that whispered warnings when they entered the cave, that screamed when they were in Her prescence. Sabo opens his eyes, and even though he can't see it, he knows they're white and otherworldly.
(Evil. Demonic, Sabo's mind whispers.)
(Like cheese balls! Luffy crowed, the comparison so ridiculous it drags Sabo's eyes away from his watery reflection.)
He doesn't know why his powers appeared or what they are. It scares him, makes Sabo feel like a freak. A monster. (Like Her.) But it's the best chance they've got at finding Luffy.
As color leaks from Sabo's eyes, it fades from the world around him. The emerald leaves, the navy night sky, the tan of Ace's skin is bleached into shades of gray. It's a bland world, except for the specters of colorful...something pulsing around the boys. Familiar russet wraps around Ace's limbs, ebbing and flowing like flame and tide. Traces of the orange material fall away like fire sparks, becoming entangled with nearby grass and bark.
There were no wisps around the people that'd attacked, so Sabo searches for Luffy's. He spins in a slow circle, looking for the warm, buzzing scarlet that soars around his little brother like a breeze. Ace's wisps disappear to the east. Sabo's own navy speckles the earth to the west. He focuses on where Luffy was taken, but there's no trace of him. Sabo's gaze drifts inland, where there's a mishmash of colorful specks glittering like distant stars.
They're hundreds of rope threads that Sabo is too far away to detangle.
A stone settle in Sabo's gut. Those threads belong to people, lots of people, and people equal danger. They equal fear, suffering, blood, and chains and you're mine.
But Luffy's out there. And Sabo isn't brave anymore, but he's still a brother. And brothers don't just give up. He has to try. Even if that means walking right back into the demon's nest.
"G-go. There," Sabo says, the two words falling from his mouth with the grace of rocks.
Ace nods, and for a moment, he looks like he wants to say something. Sabo waits, head hanging, because he knows that he should be over this, that he's pathetic and he used to talk all day without a problem. He knows they've already worked through this in those terrible first days after their escape. He deserves to be yelled at, to be damned for wasting time when Luffy is missing and hurting.
Instead, there's a brief pat on his shoulder as Ace walks by, the gesture so light and quick it could be a ghost's touch.
Sabo's head jerks up at the feeling. He stares after Ace, trying to remember the last time the raven-haired boy had accepted, much less initiated, any form of physical contact that wasn't one hundred percent necessary.
Ace runs before Sabo has a chance to comment. After a beat, he scrambles to catch up. Thudding footsteps and racing heartbeats fill the silence between the two boys as they race through the trees and grassy hills, once again venturing into the unknown to find their baby brother.
X
It takes ages for the witches to stop poking and prodding the poor kid. Thatch could only watch as they plucked feathers from his back and hair from his head. He could only yell as they took vial after vial of his blood, leaving the boy barely able to lift his head. He could only watch as the witches crowed and cackled at the tears streaming down the kid's cheeks
No. Thatch couldn't do anything then, and now that the witches are gone, there's little he can offer but words.
"Hey, kid. You alright?" Thatch's voice is scratchy—from dehydration, screaming, or a combination of the two, he isn't sure—but the kid's eyes snap towards him. The cherry eyes glitter with tears, making them look even more like blood, but there's a determined tilt to his mouth that surprises the older man.
"Who're you?" the kid asks, wings twitching.
"I'm Thatch. What about you?"
"Lu —"
Thatch watches as those bright eyes widen and the little boy stumbles over his words.
"I mean...my name is...I'm not telling you!"
The old chef chuckles at the boy's stuttering, watching as his feathers ruffle and rise like a panicked cat's fur.
"Alright," Thatch says, unwilling to distress the boy further. "You don't have to tell me anything, Feathers."
The kid starts, then looks over his shoulder at the fluffy plumage. Panic fills his eyes again.
"Those aren't feathers!"
"Whatever you say," Thatch says, trying not to laugh at the worst lying face he's ever seen.
"They're really not!"
"It's okay, kid. I've seen plenty of people with wings before."
The little boy perks up and tilts his head like a bird.
"Really?"
Thatch frowns. He'd assumed Feathers was from Skypiea, where he would've been surrounded by winged people.
"Yeah. You've never heard of the Sky Islands?" Thatch asks.
Feathers shakes his head, making raven locks fall into wide eyes. It's the first time Thatch has seen an expression other than fear or anger on his face. And so, determined to keep that wonder shining, the old chef tells him about islands and seas made of clouds, about currents of water that shoot straight to the sky, about people with pearly wings and the ability to fly.
Thatch tells his story, pretending that blood doesn't drip from both of them, that chains don't shackle them, and that a trio of witches don't stand nearby, guarding them like mice caught in a particularly nasty trap.
X
"He's in there?" Ace asks, leaning over Sabo's shoulder to get a better view. The two boys crouch behind a tree, staring at a ship moored inside the river.
The blonde boy nods, watching Luffy's red energy buzz from deep inside the bowels of the ship. It's a hulking vessel, with a grotesque gargoyle poised at the front and jagged black sails.
"Can you see anyone else?"
"O-only one. By Lu," Sabo says, watching the amber wisp drizzling near Luffy's. "But I c-couldn't see them...before."
No. He hadn't been able to see them. Not until it was too late. Not until a dozing Luffy was wrapped in a chain and yanked from Sabo's arms.
"Alright. Let's go," Ace says as he steps out of the trees shadow.
"W-wait," he says, grabbing at Ace's hoodie and stopping him in his tracks. "We can't just go in."
"Do you have any better ideas?"
Sabo's brain scrambles for a solution, but it comes down to the same thing. They don't have enough information to make an effective plan. He doesn't know who their attackers are. He doesn't know why they want Luffy. He doesn't even know what the wisps really are or why their attackers don't have any.
"We go in s-slow and quiet, Ace," Sabo says with a frown. The older boy nods and tries to step away, but Sabo refuses to let go.
"P-promise?"
Ace scowls. After a few heartbeats, he tugs the dagger out of his belt and hands it to Sabo.
"Fine but take this. Just in case."
Sabo takes the blade and lets Ace go. Together, the two boys sneak down the valley, heading straight for the ship and their little brother.
X
"He's in there?" Namur asks with a scowl. The fishman is chest deep in the river, only a few feet away from where Marco lounges against a tree. The blonde man nods, watching the scrap of paper in his palm twitch towards the dark, rickety ship.
They've been looking for their wayward brother for the past week, watching as that paper smoldered and crumbled away. The vivre card is about half the size it originally was.
Whoever is responsible for making the card burn is going to pay.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Namur says, his jagged shark teeth barred in a viscous smile. Marco's mouth stretches into an answering grin. Turquoise flames dance across his shoulders as the two men make their way towards the ship.
X
The ship creeks as Sabo and Ace crawl over the railing and land on the deck. The two boys freeze. Their eyes skitter across the deck, desperately hoping they hadn't alerted anyone. Luckily, the ship is silent and still except for the wind rushing past. Sabo meets Ace's gaze, then nods towards the cabin. They slink towards it, drifting from shadow to shadow until they reach the doorway.
Sabo presses his ear against the worn wood. The ship groans and the wind rushes, but he doesn't hear anything else. The door opens with a click, and the boys slip inside. They enter a hallway that ends in a stairwell, then follow the stairs down into the bowels of the ship, inching closer and closer to Luffy's wisp.
Another long hallway looms in front of them. It's stuffed with teetering bookshelves and stacks of books taller than Sabo. The blonde leads the way, searching for another staircase or ladder that would take them farther below deck. Red energy flecks the ground, telling Sabo they're getting closer. There's faded flecks of other colors too. The warm amber from before is the brightest, but there's trails of gray and umber, little speckles of flower petal pink and moss green.
Sabo is so busy tracking the energy, that he doesn't hear the footsteps thudding closer and closer.
But Ace does. He grabs the distracted blonde's arm and tugs him behind the closest bookshelf. Sabo tries to calm his thundering heart—it's Ace, it's just Ace, you're fine—while Ace tugs at the nearest doorknob.
It's locked, and the next door is across the hall. There's no way for the boys to get to it unseen.
They're going to get caught. There's going to be a fight.
From the battle stance Ace falls into, he must've come to the same conclusion. He's ready for a fight. But Sabo isn't brave anymore, and the thought of a battle makes him want to curl up underneath a blanket and hide.
There's got to be another option. Somewhere they can hide or run away to. A distraction. Anything.
"Over here."
Sabo jumps at the quiet voice. He turns towards it and stares with wide eyes as the once locked door silently swings open.
There isn't time to question it. Sabo grabs Ace's hand and pulls him into the room. Sabo gently shuts the door, while Ace stands on his tiptoes to slide the deadbolt into place. The boys share a wide-eyed glance—one that said what the hell just happened and holy shit we're still alive all at once—before taking in their surroundings.
It's a small room lined in dusty velvet curtains. There's a giant, old desk with ornate carvings and a crystal ball at its center. A chandelier made of candles and bones hangs over a fur rug. A bed bigger than three of their rowboats is nestled into the corner, covered in a blanket patterned with the same old lady florals that Sabo's mother loved.
He registers all of that in the handful of seconds it takes his mind to register the transparent figure hovering above the rug. It takes even longer for him to realize the figure is a girl no older than them, and that she's short and stubby with wild curls and a set of black lines stretching from just beneath her jaw all the way down to her collarbone.
Ace and Luffy have the same mark, in the same place.
And just like his brothers, she has a pair of wings sprouting from her back.
She uses those wings to hover only inches away from Sabo's face, making the blonde stumble back into the door. Ace jerks Sabo away from the it, completely unphased when he steps through the strange flying girl.
"You're a ghost!" Sabo says seconds before his big brother clamps a hand over his mouth.
"You're a Hunter!" she says, grabbing at Sabo's face with ice cold hands to get a closer look at his eyes.
"Bo?" Ace whispers, his face painted in bewilderment. Sabo looks between the two, wondering why Ace isn't interrogating the mystery ghost girl.
"You can't see her?"
It's only then that the girl seems to register there's another person in the room. Her face melts into wide eyed wonder, then tense determination so quickly, Sabo would've missed it if she hadn't been so uncomfortably close. Without a word, she lets go of Sabo and grabs Ace's forehead.
The pair freezes the second they touch. Ace's orange energy focuses on where her hand meets his skin and tangles with the coral wisps that pulses from her hand.
"Ace?" Sabo whispers. There's no response. Not a word. Not even a twitch.
There's no response when Sabo shakes him. No acknowledgement when he lightly slaps his face. Finally, Sabo tries to pry the ghost's hand off Ace, but her grip doesn't waver.
"Ace? Are you—"
The door slams open so hard the walls rattle and Sabo jumps.
A woman with blazing red hair and lips stands in the doorway.
"What do we have here? A couple of rats?" she says, her lips curling into a nasty snarl.
White noise replaces all thought. Sabo's mouth opens and closes, but no sound escapes. What's there to say anyway? Sorry we snuck on your ship? I know it's the middle of the night, but we weren't doing anything, honest? Can you give us our baby brother back? Please?
Sabo might not be brave anymore, but there isn't a choice. It's the first rule of survival, the first rule of Goa's jungle: kill or be killed.
(Kill or let both of your brothers die.)
His trembling hand closes around the dagger just seconds before her pale hand rises.
An invisible force sends Sabo flying into the desk. There's a crash and clatter as the crystal ball falls to the floor. Before he can get on his feet, that same force grabs him, and tosses him into the ceiling with the strength of a dozen Fists of Love.
Pain explodes all along his back. Black dots speckle his vision.
Instinct takes over, and Sabo tries to move, to get out of the way of the surely incoming attack, but he can't. The force pushes against him so hard, he can't even turn his head to get a better view of his attacker.
He can hear her though.
"Another Fledgling..." the red-haired woman whispers, her eyes focused on Ace's still form like a raptor.
Fledgling.
"You will get the blood and undo the sigils, Fledglings," She whispers in Makino's sweet voice. Her claws dig even deeper into Sabo's face. He dangles from her grip like a doll, not strong enough to do anything other than grab at her wrist. Blood dribbles down his face in rivers before pattering against the cave floor as She waits for his brothers to answer.
"Either you break the sigils, or he screams."
The claws dig even deeper, and the sound of Sabo, Ace, and Luffy's screaming whirls together into a tornado of sound. Her laughter flutters at the top of their cries, creating a twisted harmony that echos throughout the cave.
And then there's fire and a rush as Sabo falls from the ceiling onto the floor. He lays there, coughing and gasping as his nose is smashed on impact.
"Go, Sabo!"
It's Ace, glaring at him with wild, rattled eyes. Glaring at him with russet eyes lined in the ghost girl's coral. When all Sabo does is blink at him, the raven-haired boy shouts again.
"Go get him!"
Go get Luffy.
Leave Ace to get Luffy.
Leave Ace, get Luffy, and hope that Ace makes it back to them.
It's an awfully familiar story. Leave Ace to the death and danger, the blood and pain, while he watches over their little brother like a glorified babysitter.
"I SAID GO!" The older boy shouts before unleashing another wave of flames at the woman.
Once upon a time, Sabo would've stood his ground and fought side by side with Ace. He would've demanded they fight together, they win together, then go rescue Luffy together.
But Sabo isn't brave anymore. He isn't the same little boy who wandered into Goa's jungle alone to look at trees and chase butterflies.
So, he stumbles to his feet and runs as fast as his dazed feet can take him around the wall of fire and back out into the hallway.
His footsteps thunder as he follows the familiar, buzzing red energy. There's other footsteps too, and shouts. One time, he even feels the same kind of invisible force grab at his ankles. But he doesn't stop. Not even when there's a loud BOOM that sends the ship rocking to the side.
The impact sends Sabo skidding to his knees, but he picks himself up to a symphony of crashes and creeks. Books and fallen shelves cover the hallway. Dust fills the air so thickly, Sabo coughs. But he keeps going, because if Ace can stay behind to fight, then the least Sabo can do is run and save Luffy.
Finally, Sabo finds another staircase leading down to the bottom of the ship. He takes as many as his short legs can, his iron grip on the railing the only thing keeping him on his feet at times.
It's as Sabo starts to go deeper into the ship that he sees them. A transparent figure huddled on a landing. Another one sitting with its legs swinging through the railing. Another one leaning against the wall. A tiny little boy pointing Sabo in the right direction.
Ghosts. Lots of ghosts.
And then, when he finally reaches the lowest level of the ship, bodies. All women. Some bloody and bruised. Others still burning beneath turquoise flames.
The stench of burning flesh is enough to send Sabo's queasy stomach over the edge. He pauses just long enough to hurl, the words "it's you! Makino's boys!" rocketing from his brain down to his gut and making the nausea even worse.
He stumbles down the last few steps before coming face to face with a steel door hanging open. Ash coats the handle and nearby wall. One of the floorboards smolders with blue flames.
Sabo tiptoes to the door and peeks inside. His eyes immediately zero in on Luffy and the two men kneeling over him.
The ghost of old Sabo appears long enough for the boy to stomp through the doorway and brandish his dagger, but memory is its own kind of ghost, and bravery leaves Sabo the second he opens his mouth.
Luffy doesn't have that problem.
"SAB-B-B UM...YOU'RE HERE!" The little boy cries.
"You know him, Feathers?" The man with warm amber energy asks. He's pale, drenched in blood, and slump spined. Sabo isn't sure the man can rise from his kneeling position, much less walk.
"That's my brother! I told you they'd come," Luffy says with an excited flutter of his wings. Sabo gives him a once over, but besides the cuts on his arms and those damned dark circles haunting his eyes, Luffy appears to be alright.
"Brother?" the blonde man says, looking between the two of them and seeing what most people do—two kids that don't share a single physical feature. But unlike most people, he doesn't seem to question it. Instead, he gestures Sabo forward with a tilt of his head.
"We can't get any closer," he says, raising his hand as if he's going to touch Luffy. Instead, his palm flattens in midair like he's touching a wall.
"Let me out!" Luffy shouts before smashing his head against the invisible wall. Sabo steps forward, wanting to stop the little idiot from hurting himself, but the only sound that comes out is a stuttered breath.
"We're working on it, bud! Calm down!" The first man says.
"But I want out now, Fluffy!"
The two men share a bewildered look, before a smirk graces the blonde. Who can argue that the drooping mass of pompadour is anything but fluffy?
"Kid, I told you, that's not my name. Say it with me: Thatch. Thatch."
"Yeah, yeah," Luffy says with another yawn before his cherry eyes find Sabo. "Can you get me out?"
Yes, I'd love to get you out, but my knees won't stop shaking and the thought of getting anywhere near these two strangers makes me want to disappear.
Another BOOM echoes throughout the ship, sending Sabo and Thatch on an impromptu trip to the floor.
"We need to get out of here before Namur accidentally sinks the ship," the blonde says, pushing against the forcefield again. Sabo watches with wide eyes as his hand ignites in flame.
That's not going to work is what Sabo wants to say, but the only sound that comes out is teeth clacking. The lock is in place, and even the sight of Luffy, the memory of sunshine and giggles and stretchy armed hugs isn't enough to unlock it.
Stop shaking like a big baby and go help him!
Sabo takes one stiff step, then another, until finally he's at Luffy's side, positioned as far away from the men as he can get.
You're alone. It's just Luffy. You're alone. It's just Luffy.
No one else is here. It's just you and Lu.
The shape of the circle isn't familiar, but the figure eight sigils, the intersecting triangles and circles, the jagged E shape—he recognizes them.
They match the symbols in the cave. The ones that trapped Her.
She doesn't sleep often.
Her golden eyes are closed. She sits cross-legged inside of the circle, looking at peace despite the dozens of chains coiled around her body. Sabo lies tangled in her tails. They don't grip him, but he doesn't dare move. Sabo knows from painful experience that if he does anything more than twitch, she'll wake. Even if She'd stay sleeping, he wouldn't make it very far. Not with the fresh slices gouged over his eye and face.
No, Sabo wouldn't make it far at all.
But his brothers might.
They curl together near the entrance, only a meter away from what was once a pool of water. Ace and Luffy had been working at it for weeks. Bucket full by bucket full, the two raven haired boys had emptied the pool.
She calls it a fountain. You must break the fountain, then the sigils.
Sabo doesn't know what the fountain is or what it does.
But he's pretty sure he knows what the markings circling Her mean.
After She's been still for a long while, Ace's eyes snap open and land on Sabo's. They're rust colored and strange and have no place on his brother's face, but Sabo is still glad to see them. With a cautious glance at Her, the blonde slowly raises his hand and traces a figure in the air.
It's a corkscrewed Z, followed by a cyclone. Ace repeats the gesture back. Sabo corrects the angle of the first one, unwilling to risk the sigils being even slightly off. Ace nods, mimes the mark correctly, then repeats the circle back in its entirety.
There's normally only enough time to learn a few symbols before She wakes, but they work on it every chance they get. And as Ace mimes back the last cyclone symbol, Sabo feels a strange stirring in his heart. The feeling is so foreign, it takes him a moment to place.
Hope.
With their memorization of the circle that traps Her, hope flutters in his heart like butterfly wingbeats. Sabo isn't naïve enough to think they'll be able to stop her. He doesn't even think there'll be time for himself to escape. Not with how close She keeps him.
But Ace and Lu will have a chance.
And his brothers are known for turning chances into miracles.
This time, the miracle is on him.
Sabo traces the corkscrewed Z drawn onto the ship's floor. He thinks of how much effort it'd taken to free Her. How much time. How many ingredients Ace and Luffy had barely survived getting the first time.
This one has to be easier to break.It has to be.
Without warning, Sabo's stomach gives a mighty heave.
"You alright, k—" Thatch's question is cut off by a razor-edged voice.
"I don't remember inviting pirates aboard my vessel."
It's a tall woman with willowy limbs and gray hair so long, it's centimeters away from brushing the floor. Going only by appearances, she could pass as a sweet grandma. But Sabo knows better. His gut wouldn't be howling at him if she was a normal old lady.
"Just taking back something you stole," the blonde man says as he rises to face her. He doesn't look threatening. Not with that slouch or the way he keeps his hands in his pockets. If his wisps hadn't transformed from a gentle stream into a turquoise typhoon, Sabo might've mistaken him for calm.
The woman raises a hand, and the fight begins. Blue and black flames clash, the heat of which is so powerful, Sabo and Thatch shy away from it. Luffy coughs as smoke begins to fill the hull. Creaks and groans echo around them as the ship catches flame.
They're running out of time.
Sabo tries to wipe the circle away, but despite their wet appearance, the markings don't even smudge. He tries to chip the marks away with the dagger, but it does nothing but chip at the wood around the marks. Smoke catches in Sabo's throat, sending him into a coughing fit. He stares at the red speckling his hand before remembering the beating his nose had taken. The sight ignites another memory.
The spiral sigil in the cave. The one that'd opened and glowed beneath Sabo's bloody touch. The one that'd stopped when Ace touched it.
It's worth a shot.
The blonde boy grips the dagger tight before slicing his palm. Thatch tries to stop him, but his touch makes panic race through Sabo's veins. He shoves away from the older man, head and hand shaking.
"Leave him alone, Fluffy!"
"Why're you cutting yourself, kid!?"
Sabo can't answer, so instead, he smacks his palm onto the circle and traces it, leaving behind a scarlet smear. After a heartbeat, the circle begins to glow a soft, seafoam green. It gets harder to move the farther he goes, almost like energy is seeping out of him instead of blood. His vision flickers between color and gray scale before his powers completely turn off.
But Sabo won't stop. He might be a coward, but he's a brother first, and he will not stop until Luffy is free.
Sabo finishes tracing the circle, and it feels like every ounce of strength he's ever possessed has been sapped away. Dots speckle his vision. He wobbles, then falls. The last thing he sees is Luffy stumble towards his prone form, finally free.
The blonde boy falls into oblivion with a soft smile on his face.