Descent
Chapter 32: Brothers
"There's so much to do once we land on Alabasta… It feels like it's been forever since I was there. We haven't even been together long but it feels like a lifetime," Robin muttered.
Rosan's eyes seemed to glow a little brighter at that and a wry smile made its way on his face as he dragged her into what had to have been the millionth hug since they met.
She easily returned it because no matter how many times they hugged, each one felt as good as the last.
"It has hasn't it? We'll make every moment count from here on out," Rosan assured, humming a gentle tune as the two just relaxed in each others presence.
The redhead stopped humming for a bit. "Speaking of which, since we're so close, you shouldn't show your face so freely. Let's stay in the shadows for a bit."
"That sounds good. I imagine Crocodile would immediately attack me if he heard I was alive and well so we'll lie low and I can wear a disguise."
"Alright, I'll give you red hair and purple eyes this time."
Robin and Rosan, along with Mod and Ram were in the man's mindscape and discussing their course of action for when they eventually landed on Alabasta.
They came in here every night to view Rosan's memories and discuss many things.
Due to there only being two rooms on the ship (and Rosan not wanting to invade on the other girl's privacy… and neither wanting to sleep separately from each other), they chose to sleep inside of his pocket dimension.
Robin quite liked having a castle to sleep in so she didn't mind. It was spacious and well designed, had a training ground that they (along with Zoro and Luffy) used, a luxurious shower and many other things that enhanced comfort.
It also had a fantastic color scheme. Black and purple? It was a great choice from her closest companion and one she heavily approved of. She didn't often see black walls, but they truly gave a unique and pleasant spin on the interior.
The Devil Child idly pat the silver head of the woman resting said head on her lap, who let out a sigh of bliss, and contemplated what they were going to do on Alabasta.
Robin had a good idea of just how strong Luffy and Rosan were from training and they were strong. It was humbling to see those two let loose a little in a spar.
If the two teamed up to fight Crocodile and utilized his weakness, it would not be a difficult battle and they'd quickly overwhelm him, regardless of his help or advantages in the desert.
Unfortunately, the three brothers (and Maro) had a strong rivalry going on and if they didn't have to team up, they wouldn't.
Any form of teaming up, was honestly reported between them all (they never lied to each other) and resulted in relentless teasing.
Rosan was very keen on avoiding that.
"Luffy has dibs. If he loses, I'll intervene but we at least want to gauge his strength before jumping to such catastrophic measures like teaming up," Rosan informed her.
Robin withheld a sigh.
Boys (and Maro).
"Boys and Maro," Mod agreed, nodding sagely. She was so glad that the sensible Robin was back so that they could readily agree on topics.
Nami was another good one but she wasn't permanently linked to Rosan, and likely never would be, so there was that.
Rosan shrugged. "We aren't arrogant enough to completely refuse help if needed. Maro and I were a team at one point but this way makes it more fun and helps with our competitive streak. Especially Luffy, who won't take fights serious for the life of him."
Robin snorted at that. Little Luffy was adorable and to see how much he had grown, brought a smile onto her face. He was no longer as helpless as before and had become quite the force over the years, all due to desperately wanting to catch up to his much stronger brothers.
"Our crew should be able to handle those agents as well… I've already picked out Zoro's opponent. Do you want to read the Poneglyph in Alabasta?" Rosan suddenly asked.
Robin blinked. "It's not easily accessible but I wouldn't mind reading about it. Why? Are you interested in Pluton?"
Unlike Crocodile, she wouldn't mind telling Rosan where the ancient weapon was located. She truly didn't care about them but if Rosan did, she knew it'd be best in his hands (which would never turn on her)
"No," Rosan replied bluntly. "I just know how much you enjoy finding and reading Poneglyphs. This is solely for your indulgence because the three ancient weapons don't mean anything to me."
She blinked at his words before rolling her eyes with a slight flush. "In that case… Yes, I do want to read it."
Rosan snorted while Mod and Ram laughed, making her flush just a little more at the clear amusement in their eyes.
They were so annoying but they were always putting her wants first… Rosan was so unbelievable sometimes in the best ways.
Rosan's eyes narrowed slightly and he held out a hand to prevent Robin from leaving the room they just transported to, much to her surprise.
"Someone unfamiliar is on the ship right now, tell me if you recognize them."
Someone unfamiliar? Robin nodded her head. Perhaps she'd be able to recognize them.
"Modification: Stream."
Watching from the screen that projected out of Rosan's hand, it didn't take Robin long to instantly identify who the "unfamiliar" person was.
"That's Mr. 2," she informed the redhead, watching as the okama shamelessly displayed his abilities to the Straw Hats.
"So he just needs one touch and he can completely mimic someone's face and physique?" Rosan muttered, interest clear in his eyes.
That was incredibly useful and far easier then Rosan painstakingly modifying his appearance, which would still probably net some errors unless he fully studied that person.
"If Crocodile were aware of this, he'd probably have Mr. 2 killed for showing off his abilities so readily," Robin snorted. He wasn't the brightest of agents but he was certainly effective.
The duo watched as he quickly made friends with the idiots of the ship, while flashing Nami's body to them in the process and getting everyone assaulted for staring at her boobs.
Eventually, his original ship came to retrieve him and it was only at that moment, when they referred to him as "Mr. 2, Bon Clay!", did his crew realize he was an officer agent.
"Vivi is pretty stupid," Rosan commented idly, getting Robin to giggle.
With his exit, the two finally chose to reveal themselves and entered the crew's vision with short waves.
They all groaned at realizing the redhead saw the entire thing and stayed hidden.
It wouldn't kill them to be just a little more wary.
"Seems like you two had fun meeting an officer agent who now has all your faces," Rosan greeted.
"I'm surprised you didn't recognize him, Vivi. His appearance is no secret and he's rather easily noticeable," Robin chided, staring at the dumbstruck straw hats with amusement.
Vivi for her part, just held her head in shame at her oversight. She had always been bad at figuring out the identity of people...
"He transformed into my father as well…"
The straw hats quickly sobered at that detail.
He had Vivi's Father's face?!
"Nothing good can come out of an enemy having the face of your country's king," Zoro grunted.
He also had the crew as well… It would be bad if he used it against them. They'd need an insurance to make sure they weren't fooled.
"A fake Luffy would never be able to trick me. I know him too well and I can confidently say, no one is stupid enough to properly mimic him," Rosan grunted, getting a grin out of the rubber boy.
He had known his little brother for too long and had raised him for more than half his life.
They all sweat drop at that truthful statement from their scout and nodded in agreement. Luffy would be easy to spot but as for the rest of them…
"I've got an idea," Nami said, grabbing some bandages for them all and enacting her plan.
"We don't need this. Mr. 2 doesn't have Rosan and I's face," Robin told her, accepting the bandages without complaint despite what she said.
"If you ever see me without my accessories, it's not me. I will never take them off," Rosan added, also accepting the bandages on his right hand (his left was already wrapped up in the armband).
Nami beamed at the two adults. "That's true but it gives us a type of unity between us!"
Rosan raised a brow at that but sighed with a small smile. "You're such a kid," he insulted, much to her annoyance.
Nami was about to respond, but smiled smugly instead. "I could say the same to you, considering you were actually a kid… But then again, I don't think I could ever call that woman you transformed into, a child. Seriously, you sure are stacked, Rosan. I couldn't believe how effortlessly sexy you were."
"..."
Robin couldn't help the chuckle that erupted from her body, at seeing Rosan open then close his mouth, unable to muster up a response due to being caught off guard by her statement.
"Sorry Nami... me laughing means you're in trouble now," Robin sent out a short prayer to their poor navigator.
"P-Please don't mention that transformation," a strained Sanji bit out. His mind was still stuck on the part where Robin shamelessly groped the—
The blonde let out a gurgle as his mind fried once more.
"I… I agree," Vivi squeaked, face turning red instantly at the memory. Robin made it abundantly clear that the female version of Rosan was blessed...
The redhead himself was gazing at his annoying little sister figure with a serene expression.
"Well played, Nami," Rosan said, much to her joy. "You actually got a win over me… but remember…"
The orange haired woman let out a startled shriek at seeing him suddenly appear directly in front of her.
"...I never make anyone feel good about beating me. Such is the nature of a vindictive person."
Rosan smiled and honestly it might have been the most terrifying expression she saw on his face yet.
The crew watched in confusion, as the redhead grabbed their struggling navigator's hand and hoisted her up.
"You seem to be overly smug about witnessing my female form and I don't think that's very fair so how about I return the favor?" Rosan offered.
Nami's eyes widened in horror. "You… You wouldn't."
Rosan smiled and she would never be able to piece together how such a handsome face could look so demonic with such a gentle smile.
"Oh Nami… we've known each other long enough now. You know I absolutely would."
She knew that. She just hoped he had at least a little mercy.
With that, Rosan uttered the dreaded words and Nami went white.
"Modification: Swap."
"Still as big of a demon as ever, Rosan," Robin said, taking a step back to ensure he didn't have any funny ideas with her. She had been the reason they all saw the transformation in the first place after all.
"Remind me to never get on Rosan's bad side," Usopp whispered to Chopper.
"He really is a monster," the reindeer replied, gawking in fear.
"I think I can actually agree with you two for once," a sweating Zoro joined.
Once the process fully finished, every single straw hat dropped their jaw in disbelief and took a step back
Rosan released Nami's hand and stepped back, satisfied with what he had done. "Wow, you're rather good looking regardless of gender too aren't you, Nami?" He questioned with a raised brow.
Their navigator in question, had shut her eyes at the strange sensation and when she opened them, her jaw dropped to the floor.
Well, his.
A collapse on the floor, signified Sanji fainting again and Vivi's eyes went wide in disbelief, keeping one eye on the new figure in horrored fascination while making sure the chef was alright.
Nami was taller now, having grown 4 inches and standing at a 5'10, with a lot more muscle that translated from years of working under Arlong (that didn't seem to be on her female figure).
The man's chin length hair had grown shaggier and looked more unkempt then when a woman. His features sharpened and became more masculine in nature, giving off a rugged and handsome appearance.
"W-Wha," the man stammered. Their voice had gotten deeper and Rosan mercifully changed her outfit as well because there was no way the shirt and short skirt combo were going to fit this one.
"You… I can't believe you," Nami hissed, torn between glaring heatedly at Rosan and balking at the changes to her body.
Wait, was that a —
She went white.
"Well, at least he was right. You are rather good looking," Robin supplied helpfully, making a reminder to herself to not push Rosan's buttons too much, lest he direct this ire towards her.
It was a small mercy he never thought to do this when they were kids, too annoyed by the first time to ever attempt or hone the technique again.
"I don't see the big idea," Rosan shrugged, tilting his head to the side. "It was so funny when I did it but I guess you can't handle the same heat," he finished, looking incredibly infuriating despite having that neutral expression.
"He did this to me too!" Luffy laughed, looking completely unbothered by the memory.
"Don't worry. I have other ways to get you all besides Swap, just don't make fun of me for transforming into a woman when I can do the same to you all," he warned, looking at the crew now.
They all, barring Sanji, nodded fearfully, inching away from the demonic redhead.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Nami apologized.
There was no way she was going to stay like this.
Rosan snorted at the man. "I don't see the problem. You don't look bad but if you insist."
With a touch, Nami was back in her original form and she quickly checked to see that everything was back in place, sighing in relief when she found no issues.
"You're an ass, Rosan," she groused, glaring at the redhead with contempt.
"To your credit, it was a good retort. I just never make victories feel good for people and you made a comment on my female form to boot," he countered as he pat her on the head.
She grumbled in defeat and slapped his hand away. That was fair, she kinda deserved it.
"Now… is anyone gonna help Vivi in waking Sanji up? He's been rather unresponsive since I used that technique on Nami."
Zoro grinned viciously.
The following brawl that ensued, due to their swordsman pummeling Sanji awake with the butt of his pommel, left them all sighing in exasperation.
"FOOOOOOOOOOOD!" Luffy roared, sprinting off the ship without any hesitation and disappearing into the crowd of people.
"Don't worry, Robin and I will find him eventually. We just need to change," Rosan assured the crew yelling for their captain to wait.
He grabbed an expensive bag and handed it off to Nami.
"If you buy anything or see something nice, just place it in that bag and it'll go to my dimension for me to sort it later. You can keep it too," he informed her, dragging Robin off. "Come, we don't need anyone to recognize you just yet so you'll be my little sister today."
"I am four years older than you," Robin replied flatly, staring unamused at the redhead.
"Can you beat me in a fight?"
"That has nothing to do with anything!"
"Sure it does, little sister."
"No it doesn't and stop dragging me!"
Rosan hoisted her up instead and slung the tall woman over his shoulder instead, much to her displeasure and she began struggling unsuccessfully in his grip.
"Honestly, you and Mod-chan should have learned by now what you can and can't say around me."
"You are a bully. I hate you."
"You'd be #1209 to say that."
"Only an egomaniac like you would remember the number."
Nami looked at the bag and her eyes gleamed at the potential behind it. If Rosan was just giving this to her… Oh there were a lot of things she could do with that.
"P-Please keep in mind that this is my country," Vivi stuttered, not liking the unsavory gleam in the navigator's eyes.
"Don't worry, he gave me money too!" Nami grinned eagerly.
Rosan was so incredibly useful! He had been doing a lot for her lately based on her requests and she needed to think of a way to repay him.
Hopefully she could find useful things to steal for him... it had been quite a while since she had committed large scale acts of theft.
"I can't believe I still don't know what his Devil Fruit is," Vivi muttered.
"You haven't actually asked him what it is and he's the type to not tell you things unless you do," Nami replied.
Vivi blinked. Surely it wasn't that easy, right?
It was that easy.
Vivi tentatively asked the redhead what his abilities were and, after telling her not to tell anyone about it, he explained Modification to her.
It was incredible. Vivi didn't think a more resourceful Devil Fruit could exist. The ability to modify seemed like such a boon to have and it explained why Rosan was capable of doing so much!
"Y-You trust me enough to tell me about it…?" The princess couldn't help but ask.
Robin and Rosan both raised a brow at her.
"Despite getting shot in the arm, you fought hard for me to get treated by a doctor and without you, I'd probably still be sick," Rosan said softly.
"You sacrificed your pride for someone who didn't even want to sacrifice their own. You are a good person, Vivi so of course we trust you," Robin added, adjusting the hat on her head a bit.
The princess' eyes turned a bit foggy at their statements and she stared at the two in awe.
Despite treating each other with so much animosity… their relationship had managed to evolve into this? Even after Vivi refused to trust them herself and continuously tried to throw suspicion on them?
"Y-You guys are the best!" Vivi sobbed, hugging the two tightly, much to their surprise.
She could now see that these two meant her no harm from the start. She acted aggressive to a redhead that just got reunited with his best friend so of course he wouldn't care about how she felt...
If she just waited a bit, Vivi was sure she would have gotten some answers without this hostility...
"She's such a kid," Rosan snorted, patting the princess' hair gently. "Sorry for choking you out."
"I agree but it's a little endearing," Robin smiled, returning the hug slightly. "And I'm sorry for allying myself with Crocodile."
"It's okay! You didn't have much of a choice and now you're helping! With you two and the rest of the crew, Alabasta can be saved," Vivi smiled determinedly.
Rosan and Robin both nodded. "We'll do our best to help."
With that, Vivi dashed off the ship to go catch up to the rest of the crew, leaving Robin and Rosan as the sole inhabitants.
Under Ram's, incredibly unsubtle but still somehow too subtle for her parents, insistence (whining), Rosan discarded the idea of the sibling disguises and they were now pretending to be a couple.
"Yes! Now I'm satisfied," Ram preened. She had no clue how anyone could be so oblivious but Auntie Angel had to have inherited it from someone...
"You are so unbelievably spoiled," Mod chuckled, watching the twin looks of exasperation on her children.
"Maybe I should have been more strict during your upbringing," Rosan muttered.
He should have been strict to all of his family honestly... or at least the girls. Maro, Ram and Angel were all brats that used his perks religiously.
The redhead grabbed a strand of Robin's black hair and glanced at it. "Color?"
"White," Robin replied after a moment, amused to see a flash of displeasure appear on Rosan's face.
"Like Olvia," he grunted, doing it regardless of his desire not to. With a quick flash of his eyes, her hair swiftly turned into the color of his desire.
"He's gotten so much faster at doing that," she mused.
In fact, Rosan seemed to use Modification in general much faster. When he was younger it would take him much longer but now it looked as easy as breathing for some techniques.
"You still hate my mother? You know I don't so you don't have to," Robin chided, looking at the white strands. Right now, she looked almost exactly like the woman who birthed her, barring that single red strand in her hair.
Rosan shook his head immediately much to her amusement. "That's because you're too passive. You don't typically get angry with people you should be angry with so I'll do it for you. I'll hate Nico Olvia in your stead because she's a bitch."
The parents in this world were far too selfish for their own good and Nico Olvia was a prime example. It was even worse because she went to the trouble of giving birth to Robin and still abandoned his companion to a life of misery.
She was oh so lucky she was dead because if Rosan ever met her... he'd show her enough anger to make up for the lack of anger on Robin's part.
Robin couldn't help the abrupt snort at hearing Rosan call her mother a bitch right in front of her.
Even as a child, Rosan made his displeasure for her mother very known and had never complimented her even once besides saying she was the reason the Devil Child was so pretty (much to her embarrassment). As far as he was concerned, she was in the same boat as Roger.
The Devil Child truly didn't have a problem with Olvia... but she couldn't find it in herself to truly dissuade Rosan from thinking like that because he raised a very fair point. At the very least, Robin knew she desired no children until her journey was over because no one deserved to be abandoned by their parent.
Why Olvia had her in the first place despite not accomplishing her goals? Robin would never know. She didn't even know who her father was so perhaps it was an accident and the Devil Child was unplanned.
She shrugged. It was a bleak look at things but Robin was jaded anyways and she had Rosan so none of that mattered to her.
Speaking of which...
"Is that why you're angry at yourself? Because I refuse to be?" She asked with a raised brow.
"…" Rosan said nothing, releasing the strand of hair and staring at her.
"Rosan," Robin pressed insistently.
He was right, she was passive almost to a fault but her first friend also knew that when it came to him, that same passiveness flew out the window.
The redhead raked a hand through his hair and tugged at his bun.
"I'm getting better but yes. You guys have an insane habit of not staying mad at me when it's deserved," he sighed, leaping off the ship with Robin behind so they could track down Luffy.
"We'll get mad at you when you genuinely deserve it," Mod assured.
"I was incredibly upset when I realized you were alive after all this time, believe me. But, once the situation was revealed to me, how could you ever expect me to stay mad at you?" Robin sighed, holding the redhead's hand as they walked to keep up appearances.
Because Rosan held his loved ones on such a high pedestal, he was incredibly self critical and this was a trait of his he had at even four.
"Could you at least hit me? When you guys hardly react to things like this, it makes me feel even worse," he sighed, turning a corner with the woman before pausing slightly.
Luffy's save point was moving very quickly so that meant his brother was running from something.
"I hit you all the time when our arguments devolve into a brawl. I won't hit you because you were tortured and led astray," Robin admonished.
What was the commotion all about?
"You should... just one punch to the face. It made me feel much better when Ace punched me in the nose. Come, let's speed up. Someone is chasing Luffy."
"Act more like a couple!" Ram barked.
Robin easily kept pace with him as she grasped his hand. "Well I don't fancy punching and I definitely won't punch you so just understand that we aren't mad at you and stop being so self critical, dear."
Rosan glanced at her and planted a mocking kiss on the hand he was holding.
"I'm trying so bare with me, darling."
"That's all we can ask for," an amused Mod said, eyeing the beaming Ram with exasperation.
Maybe she needed to teach the girl a few things about subtlety.
As they got closer to the commotion, Rosan saw billowing smoke and black shackles flying out and tutted his teeth.
"That smoke man really followed us all the way here? Unable to leave Loguetown to deal with troublesome pirates but incredibly willing to leave to an entirely new sea just to stroke his own ego…"
Rosan didn't like this Marine already. That Smoker better hope he didn't find an answer to his smoke, else he wouldn't be leaving this island alive.
Robin hummed at that. A Marine that Rosan didn't like? That didn't bode well for this Smoker at all.
That poor man. It didn't matter if he was a Logia, Rosan could always target other things.
He explained who Smoker was to Robin, who in turn explained that the black shackles had come from a Marine named Hina. She had a Devil Fruit called the Ori Ori no mi that had helped give her the epithet, Black Cage Hina and was the one in charge of patrolling Alabasta.
"That fruit is no problem to me," Rosan grunted, causing Robin to roll her eyes.
Modification was such a nonsense Devil Fruit that was made absurd in the hands of the perfect wielder and Rosan just so happened to be its perfect wielder.
"I take offense to that young lady," Mod glared.
Robin steadfastly ignored her, unwilling to incite her wrath any further.
"D-Don't ignore me!" The woman glared harder but Robin refused to comply, knowing that this was one of those things where there was no right thing she could say.
Ah, she was definitely going to get a piece of the woman tonight in the mindscape. Maybe she could use Rosan to shield her... the redhead had gotten very good at bullying them all especially with that height of his.
Her very own bodyguard... it was a nice thought.
It didn't take them long to see what was happening and Rosan was already on the move once he took full stock of the situation.
Smoker and Hina were, in tandem, trying to cut off all of Luffy's exits with a combination of their devil fruits.
The rubber boy in question, was dodging the smoke and chains to the best of his abilities (and his mouth full) but there was too much to account for and soon, a ring of black and smoke converged on his position.
"Our crew is over there, go with them for a bit," Rosan ordered, vanishing from his spot in a burst of speed.
"Right," Robin nodded. She swiftly spotted the crew and made her way over to them.
Smoker and Hina's victorious glint, turned into confusion at watching a wall erect under Straw Hat, pushing him well out of range of the double attack, along with a redhead who stared at them with an unimpressed gaze.
"Rosan!" Luffy beamed.
Smoker snarled in annoyance. There was no way they were getting away so soon.
"White Fist!"
Rosan prepared to neutralize the attack with one of his own but stopped as a flash of orange appeared from the corner of his eye.
"Heat Haze!"
The collision course of the smoke, was intercepted by a burst of flames that made the onlookers scream in confusion.
Once it settled, Rosan felt a rare surge pulse through his body and his eyes glowed brighter.
"!" Mod let out a noise of joy and her face split into a wide grin, eyes glowing even brighter then Rosan's.
"Oh!" Robin gasped in genuine surprise, a happiness flitting through her at such a long awaited meeting.
Was he really here? What was he doing on Alabasta? She wasn't aware of his presence so did he just arrive?
"You know that guy?!" The crew asked Robin in confusion, looking at the great blaze of flames in apprehension.
Those flames were huge reminiscent of the fires Rosan casually spat out but looking a more natural hue then the red of their scout.
He was a tall muscular young man with curly black hair and freckles. He had on no shirt, showing off a terrifyingly familiar tattoo on his back and another on his arm that they couldn't quite make out, but looked like a name.
"Still having Rosan clean up your mess, Luffy?" The man grinned, turning to face the duo with a happy glint in his eyes.
The rubber boy's eyes bugged before a massive grin made its way onto his face.
The straw hat's eyes bugged watching the tiny grin make its way onto Rosan's face.
He was capable of doing that?! They never saw his teeth when he opted to smile!
"After all that talk about Devil Fruits and listening to me complaining nonstop about them, you went and ate a Logia of all things. Guess you realized how cool it was to have a Devil Fruit and tried to one up me," Rosan mused, eyes glowing a bit in pride.
"It's way better then yours!" Ace barked back, amusement clear in his eyes.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Mod shouted, mouth formed into a scowl that did nothing to hide the happy gleam in her eyes.
"Ace?! You ate a Devil Fruit?!" Luffy gaped in surprise.
Ace's grin widened at seeing the looks on both his brother's faces.
He was damn happy to see his brothers but for now…
"We have a lot to catch up on but you guys run while I hold them off!" The freckled man said, shooing them off.
"Right, let's go!" Luffy ordered to them all, dashing off to their ship.
"There's things I need to discuss with you as well," Rosan murmured, getting a curious nod out of his freckled brother.
With that, he vanished off the rock construct to meet up with his crew, leaving Ace alone with the squad of Marines.
"Wait! How do you to know him?!" Nami asked in confusion, as they all ran away.
Who was that guy to make Rosan of all people grin?!
Also that tattoo on his back... was that who she thought it was?! Did these two actually know someone from the legendary Whitebeard Pirates?!
"Is he an acquaintance of yours?" Vivi asked curiously.
"Yeah!" Luffy grinned, laughing all the while as he jumped in excitement.
"He's our middle brother, Portgas D. Ace," Rosan replied fondly.
…
There was a brief silence that was broken up by Robin's quiet giggles as she witnessed their jaws slowly fall to the floor.
"WHAAAAAT?! YOU TWO HAVE ANOTHER BROTHER?!"
A lone raft pulled up to land and on it, a top hat wearing figure glanced into the distance with a curious gaze.
"My outfit might not be the best for this place," Sabo muttered, adjusting his top hat and getting up with a light stretch.
Eh, he suffered worse. If it got bad he'd just start removing clothing.
"So I'm looking for Straw Hat Luffy and a redhead in his crew named Rosan, while observing what's going on in Alabasta and making sure it doesn't spiral out of control… Should be easy enough."
He said that last part sarcastically, considering this kingdom was fucking massive.
Where the hell was he even supposed to start? He couldn't even use his Observation to pinpoint the specific people because he didn't know how they felt.
It seemed like luck was on his side because after about 20 minutes of walking, a bird landed on his shoulder and began chirping, jumping up and down excitedly.
Sabo raised a brow at the little blue guy and accepted the note that it was holding.
"If you are reading this, you're probably who I'm looking for but I won't reveal your identity for obvious reasons in case I'm somehow wrong (I'm not). Follow my bird until it stops moving then I'll retrieve you."
This must have been Rosan. How insightful of him to already have a note and messenger prepared for him.
He was also very confident in himself. What a neat guy.
"Lead the way then," Sabo told the bird, who rubbed his body against the blonde's cheek and chirped happily, flying off.
The blonde idly rubbed his cheek before shaking his head and following after the admittedly adorable bird.
Links to his past… he had a strange sense of anticipation at the thought of meeting two people who claimed to be his brother.
"So that's where I recognized your name," Nami muttered in shock.
When Rosan had introduced himself as Portgas D. Rosan, she could have sworn the name sounded familiar but she had written it off as him just having one of those names.
But no, the reason it sounded familiar was because Rosan and Luffy were literally the brother's of Portgas D. Ace, a pirate who was worth 650 million!
That was ridiculous... what was wrong with their family? Were all of them complete monsters?!
Not only that, he was apart of Whitebeard's crew, the world's strongest pirate! These three were all monsters...
The crew was still running from the battle and were headed straight to the ship while they discussed the relationship between the three.
"That's right. Rouge was Ace's biological mother but she raised me like I was her own," Rosan explained. "He's three years older than Luffy and four years younger than me."
"I didn't expect him to have eaten a Devil Fruit though!" Luffy awed.
He always talked about how stupid Luffy's own fruit was and how he liked swimming.
(Luffy didn't realize that Ace just thought his Devil Fruit was useless, their middle brother never once insulted the Mod Mod no mi)
"And it's a Logia too," Rosan sighed. "There goes my win streak if we ever fight."
Eating a Logia and spending that long in the Grand Line? His brother had certainly earned that 650 million. A fight between them would put Rosan on the backburner for once.
"Win streak?" Usopp asked in wonder.
Surely Rosan didn't have some sort of win streak against that monster right? He was apart of Whitebeard's crew for crying out loud!
Luffy nodded eagerly. "We used to fight all the time! I never beat Ace or Rosan or Maro in a one on one."
"Ace and Maro never beat me as well," Rosan added calmly.
They gawked at the admittance, staring at the redhead in disbelief. That was nuts! How strong was he?!
Robin sighed fondly. "That reminds me of when we used to spar, Rosan. I used to enjoy destroying you until you adapted to me."
"If it makes you feel better, our score was much more even then with the others. Your Devil Fruit is really not fair to fight when you can spawn it on top of a person," Rosan smiled in return.
Their eyes bugged. "YOU TWO USED TO FIGHT TOO?!"
Robin nodded, smile making its way onto her face. "Outside of our arguments, yes. It's not as obvious now but Rosan is an adrenaline junkie and he forced me to spar with him all the time so we could get stronger. That boy loves nothing more then a good fight that gets his blood pumping."
"I plan to get us back up to snuff too," he muttered. He already had a good regimen going for Robin and after Alabasta they'd begin in earnest.
"Your training is already hellish and you have more?" Robin didn't whine. She was much to dignified for that.
"You're telling me," Zoro grunted. The redhead was a psycho.
They looked at the redhead who opted to stay out of fights unless dragged into it, in disbelief. "Him? Really?!"
"I probably don't have to say this… but I am a very different person with my emotions," Rosan said dryly, getting nods of agreement out of Luffy and Robin.
They distinctively remembered the version they saw at Syrup Village and both Nami and Usopp couldn't stop the chill from crawling down their spine as they remembered that terrifyingly dangerous redhead.
That version of Rosan... doing what this version was capable of doing.
Wow, new fear unlocked.
The group, led by Nami, continued to dash towards their ship until they reached a crossroad.
"Turn left right here!" The navigator ordered.
The crew chimed in unison and followed after her.
Robin and Rosan lagged behind in case anything happened... so they got to watch in amusement, as Luffy, who was still watching the battle unfold between Smoker and Ace, went the complete wrong way from the crew, separating himself from them unknowingly.
They decided to follow the rubber boy, knowing he'd get lost if they didn't and would spend more time looking for him.
"Hm? Where is everyone?" Luffy muttered in confusion, tilting his head to the side as he cupped his chin.
Did they get lost? His crew could be so stupid sometimes...
"You ran the wrong way," Robin supplied helpfully.
"You need to pay more attention," Rosan chided his little brother who was sitting on a barrel.
"Oh, Rosan!" Luffy grinned, waving cheerfully at his brother. "I knew you'd find me!"
Of course he did... Rosan didn't know when Luffy became the most spoiled but it happened.
Privilege as the youngest he supposed. Everyone in the family spoiled the future Pirate King.
"One of these days, you're gonna stop relying on Rosan so much, Luffy!"
The three looked up and Luffy's grin widened.
"Ace!" He cheered.
His older brother grinned back and jumped down from his perch on the roof, landing neatly in front of the three.
Ace's eyes roamed over his two brother's for a moment, taking in all the changes with a fond grin before landing on Robin. His eyes widened in surprise, instantly recognizing her from his older brother's memories and he grinned a little wider.
"You're—"
Whatever he was about to say, was interrupted by the rubbery arms grabbing both Ace and Rosan in a group hug.
He struggled for a bit but there was a large smile on his face and he eventually returned the hug.
"I missed you guys, all of you," Ace said warmly. In his time gone, it seemed like some life returned to Rosan's eyes.
It must have been because of Robin here. He was glad the two managed to meet up... Ace actually wanted to look for her because Rosan mentioned that he wanted to find her but she was in the Grand Line and he already agreed to set sail with Luffy.
Good to know that they met up already and managed to make up by the looks of it. He was more happy then he would admit to his insufferable older brother, that there was a slight glow in his eyes that signified his emotions slowly returning to him.
"Look at you… joining another person's crew and eating a Logia. You shoulda just came with Luffy and I. It would have been fun if all three of us traveled together," Rosan chided, mussing up his brother's hair, much to his chagrin.
He shoved the hand away and glowered at his older brother. "Fuck off, I'm 20 now so stop harassing me!" Ace barked, rubbing his hair with a glare.
"You could be 50 and I'd do the same thing, little brother," Rosan muttered smugly, eyes glowing in mirth.
"Also, you really think I'd ever join my kid brother's crew? Things got complicated during my journey... I didn't join Pops crew by choice at first but it kinda ended up good for me," Ace said sheepishly.
"Pops, huh?" Rosan repeated, a true smile making its way to his face.
It sounded like Ace managed to push Roger out of his mind, if even a little. If he was so willingly calling Whitebeard Pops... the man had taken up place as his little brothers father.
"I'll have to meet this Whitebeard and thank him... both for holding the title of strongest for little me and for helping you," Rosan decided.
Ace sweatdropped at that. His brother was so twisted.
"Oh by the way, I ate this fruit by accident..." he grinned sheepishly.
Robin, Rosan and Luffy all smiled knowingly at the freckled man, much to his confusion.
"Ace... we ate our fruits by accident as children," Rosan informed him. "I was 4, Robin was 6 and Luffy was 7... How did you accidentally eat a Devil Fruit at 17 years old?"
Neither of the, then children, realized what they were eating was a Devil Fruit.
Robin was hungry due to her cruel aunt.
Rosan thought it looked good.
Luffy was a gluttonous idiot.
"So that makes you stupid!" Luffy laughed cheerfully, getting a snort out of both Robin and Rosan.
Ace felt a tick forming. "IT'S BEEN 20 MINUTES! WHY DO I ALREADY WANT TO KILL YOU BOTH?!" He roared at his insufferably stupid brothers.
"That's just our brotherly bond," Rosan retorted. The redhead looked far too smug right about now.
Out of the three, it was always easiest to rile Ace up and it was something both he and Luffy, as the youngest and oldest respectively, abused religiously.
The amount of brawls that broke out between the three of them might have played a big part in why they were so strong now...
"Still, I didn't think you'd eat a fruit! You liked swimming and making fun of my fruit!" Luffy exclaimed.
I didn't think I was ever going to eat a Devil Fruit... but eating one has opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities," Ace admitted. He could now see why Rosan and Luffy both didn't mind not being able to swim at all.
A Devil Fruit wasn't just a power... Ace was quite literally fire, in the same way that Luffy was rubber or Rosan was a computer.
It was eye opening. Devil Fruits were their own type of world to explore.
"Besides, being a Logia is awesome because now I get to hear you bitch and moan about how the world is unfair and you just want a way to hit them," Ace grinned.
He was never planning on eating a Devil Fruit but he'd never turn down a useful one. He just thought Luffy's was useless. Offer him Rosan's and he'd take it in a heartbeat.
"Tch," Rosan scoffed, refusing to admit that he would bitch about Ace being a Logia.
Robin placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and shot him a sympathetic smile.
"Hey don't worry about it. Remember how you kept pondering to us how there has to be a way to hit them?" Ace asked curiously, getting a nod out of his brother. "Well, I found out how. I'll tell you about it later."
Rosan and Robin's eyes glinted in clear interest at that. A reliable way to hit Logias? That sounded too good to be true.
"I'm not moaning, by the way," Rosan grunted.
"Can't hear you over all the moaning your doing right now," Ace replied, a shit eating grin on his face.
"I'd love to hear you guys catch up more but I have to ask, what are you doing in these parts of the ocean, Ace?" Robin interrupted politely.
The two stopped and glanced at Robin. Ace's smile turned into a more easy going one as he regarded the woman.
"I'm looking for a traitor in the crew that killed a member then jumped ship," Ace explained easily. "Robin, right? You have white hair but I'm pretty sure Rosan just modified it. It's nice to finally meet you! Rosan never shuts up about you."
"What are you on about?" Rosan questioned with a raised brow, only to be completely ignored.
So he mentioned Robin a lot of times... was it that bad? Ace was the person besides Mod he confided in the most so maybe it was...
Ram's grin turned feral at Ace's assistance. Somehow he already knew the mission and that was absolutely perfect!
He could say whatever he wanted, freckles was just as infected by their chaos as anyone else!
"I could say the same to you," Robin smiled, bowing in return. "You should have seen how much times I had to make this guilt ridden child understand that he wasn't put in a reasonable situation."
"Tell me about it. I told this dumbass over and over again I don't blame him for what he felt like he had to do and when I saw the memory, I felt terrible for even blaming him," Ace sighed, grinning fondly.
Robin nodded quickly, smile growing. "I was the same way! Can you believe that he tried to take all the blame and pin it on himself? He was fully intending on making me hate him!" She exclaimed.
"You too?!" Ace gaped. "This guy told me he hated me and didn't mention that it was right after seeing Mom die... and it was for half a second!"
"He's ridiculous! I don't know why he feels the need to omit such important details! I've never met such a confident person, who is also so self critical and harsh," Robin sighed.
"You and me both," Ace nodded sagely. "It's a good thing he has Mod. She's way smarter then him."
"I agree," Robin nodded along. She very much liked Ace. These two had such similar experiences when it came to Rosan.
"It's true. Without me, Rosan would be the most isolated person on the planet," Mod said, grinning happily at seeing the little boy all grown up.
"Mod, Ram! How have you two been?" Ace asked, grinning at the duo. Man there was so much people he had to catch up too and it made him feel a bit stupid for waiting so long to visit his family.
"What's up Mr. Big Shot Pirate?" Ram greeted cheekily. "You wanna hear a funny story?!"
"Hit me," Ace nodded easily and he watched as the ring transformed into his... niece?
They never did figure that out.
The silver haired woman easily engulfed the taller man in a hug, grinning all the while and stepped back to tell her story.
"So we were at Loguetown... and we ran into this lady, right? Her name was Alvida and we met her a while ago before running into her again. She was a huge whale!" Ram exclaimed, holding her hands out to emphasize her point.
Luffy, Ace and Robin listened with blatant interest, especially after hearing Rosan sigh.
"But she ate a Devil Fruit... and it turned her from fat and ugly to skinny and hot. Father was the one who beat her ass so she gained a crush on him!"
Robin raised a brow. "A crush? From losing a fight?"
Ram's eyes widened a little nervously. "Y-Yeah but don't worry! Father wasn't even remotely interested in her!"
"Why would I be worried?" Robin tilted her head to the side.
Ace's eyes glittered in mirth. Was Ram trying to play matchmaker? Her? She was as big of a dumbass as Rosan was.
"Keep going" Luffy demanded, caught up in the tale.
Ram nodded eagerly. "So after we ran into her again... we didn't recognize her because she looked really different but she was talking and flirting really hard with Father like they already met. Even despite that, Father couldn't tell who the hell she was..."
The ring's grin turned shit eating. "When Father gave up on finding out who she was, she mentioned losing freckles and that made him freeze right in his tracks."
Ace's grin was immediately wiped off his face at that detail.
There was no fucking way...
"Rosan..." Ace said, voice set in a warning tone as Robin tried her hardest to stifle the laugh that wanted to escape her.
"Kahahaha! She had a cowboy hat on too!" Ram added, clutching her stomach as she keeled over.
"Rosan..." Ace hissed, glaring at his oldest brother.
"F-Father turned around a-and with the most serious face ever... he asked if she was Ace! Kahahahaha!" The ring finished and she howled in laughter at the memory.
Robin could contain it no longer. The woman let out her own laugh. "Fufufufu! Rosan, are you serious?!"
"Shishishi!" Luffy burst out laughing as he collapsed on the floor right next to Ram.
"ROSAN!" Ace roared, tackling his brother with a scowl that looked terribly similar to when he was 10.
"I thought you got cursed," Rosan replied, face neutral even as his brother tried to strangle the life out of him. "I was just as mortified as you. After all, I thought my little brother had become my little sister and was trying to commit questionable acts with me."
"ROSAN SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ace roared, face red in embarrassment as he began throttling his older brother. He was seconds away from burning the raging dumbass!
Everyone began laughing even more.
Finally, Robin mercifully pulled the fuming Ace off of Rosan and the redhead simply dusted himself off.
"I hate you," Ace said flatly.
"...Yeah that's my bad... I already know how you look as the opposite gender," Rosan muttered.
The freckled boy gained a tick at that.
Damn stupid brother of his and that nonsense Devil Fruit.
"You look happy, Ace," Mod said softly, face flushed from how much he laughed.
Ace blinked before a small smile made its way to his face.
"…Yeah, I am happy. I found out a lot of the answers I was looking for while sailing the seas," he replied eventually.
He found another family in the Whitebeard pirates, his first family still accepted and were proud of him and after finding and beating the shit outta Teach, Ace would go back to his normal life of being a commander and make sure to integrate his original family in that because dammit he missed them way more then he thought.
"I'm so happy to hear that... Oh I just feel myself growing so sappy right now!"
Without hesitation, Mod took over Rosan's body and rushed the commander, hugging him fiercely with a proud smile.
"Look at how much one of my little boys have grown. I'm so proud of you," Mod said, eyes brimming with tears.
To think their relationship had evolved so much over the years... From her threatening Ace, to her seeing him as just another one of her problematic children.
Ace smiled at her and easily returned the hug, engulfing the woman with a warmness reserved only for a mother (he would hug Dadan like this too). "I'm just trying to live a life with no regrets."
It was a good thing he was so much taller then her now... he was still embarrassed about that time she nearly crushed him in her boobs.
Eventually, the woman stepped back and allowed herself to transform with a small wave, returning back into a thoughtful Rosan.
"You mentioned a traitor?" Rosan prodded, eyes narrowed in contemplation. "What are the details and do you need help?"
"Nah, I got it," Ace replied confidently. "His name's Marshall D. Teach or Blackbeard… He killed the commander of our 4th division, Thatch, one night and fled."
Luffy and Rosan's gaze darkened.
For Luffy, this Teach had committed the greatest sin a pirate could do. He had killed a nakama.
For Rosan, just the act of betrayal was enough to irritate him.
"Any reason why?" The redhead prodded.
Ace's gaze darkened as he thought about it. "The only thing that makes sense is for the Devil Fruit he found… we didn't recognize it but Teach might have and he killed him as a result."
To kill one of your family for a Devil Fruit... Teach was no better then if Ace chose to kill Rosan for his own.
"He would go as far as to kill a commander of Whitebeard's crew for one Devil Fruit?" Mod questioned in disbelief.
That meant… that Devil Fruit had to have been exceptionally dangerous.
"Ace, please tell me you remember how it looks? Can you describe it to us? Though some fruits are not documented in the encyclopedia, I will still probably be able to identify it."
Ace nodded, recalling the odd shaped fruit. "It was purple and round and it looked like it was made up of a bunch tear drops. It kind of reminded me of a bunch of grapes," he finished.
Rosan's eyes were closed in contemplation as he formed a mental imagine of the fruit, before suddenly snapping open.
While Ace's description wasn't the most detailed, there was only one fruit with a description like that, that would make someone risk attacking a Whitebeard Commander.
After all, it would need to be a fruit on the same calibre of the best of Devil Fruits.
Moving with an urgency they didn't expect, he grabbed a nearby rock and picked it up. Then he began to carefully mold what he was thinking of and applied it to the rock.
"Modify: Appearance."
Dragging the image from his mind, Rosan quickly applied it to the rock and showed them all the finished product.
"Ace… did the Devil Fruit look like this?" He asked softly, presenting the Devil Fruit that he thought it was.
It didn't take Ace more than a second to verify and that was alarming in itself to the Whitebeard Commander.
Rosan, as a wielder of one of the best fruits Ace had seen period (it was hard to think it was just a Paramecia), didn't really concern himself over other fruits unless they were Logia or Mythical so the fact that he had been able to identify and pinpoint the exact fruit Ace was talking about, with just that brief description, was bad news.
"Yeah, that's it. You know what it is?"
Rosan nodded gravely. "It's the —"
"Yami Yami no mi," Mod finished quietly.
Everyone straightened at the two's tone.
What did they know about that Devil Fruit?
Rosan was the expert on Devil Fruits, not Robin so she raised a brow and said, "Yami Yami no mi? Darkness?"
The redhead nodded with a look of displeasure.
"That Devil Fruit… it's the one Rosan and I are most wary of," she admitted. "It's a Logia, considered the most evil to exist and… it has the ability to control darkness… and negate another's Devil Fruit ability."
Their eyes widened. A Devil Fruit that could negate abilities and it was a Logia?
"It should be the Devil Fruit that counters me the hardest," Rosan admitted with a frown. "Not because it completely nullifies Modification, but because it would forcefully cut my connection to Mod-chan."
Rosan and Mod had only ever been forcefully cut off from each other once and it had lead to the redhead having a mental breakdown. That had been around 16 years ago and the two only became more intertwined as time passed.
Separating the two of them… it wasn't the smartest idea and if you couldn't put them down afterwards, Rosan would do everything to bring hell upon them.
"You need to be careful, Ace. You're more than strong enough without your Devil Fruit, considering you've had no ability for a majority of your life but this Teach is not to be underestimated," Rosan advised.
"Kick his ass!" Luffy growled, eyes smoldering just at the thought of killing your own friend.
Ace had a contemplative expression on his face but nodded.
It was still the greatest treason someone could do, but it put it into perspective why he did it.
"How long did you plan on staying?" Rosan asked. "I know you've gotta continue hunting this Teach but… there's something important I need to tell you and Luffy."
Robin gazed knowingly at that. It would be a lot to take but they deserved to know.
Both his brother's stared at him, puzzled. "Something for the both of us?" Ace pondered, raising a brow. What could that possibly be?
"I wasn't planning on staying for too long but I'll always hear you guys out," Ace said eventually. "We should probably go find your crew while we're at it."
Rosan nodded. "Good. If I told Angel I encountered you and you didn't want to visit them, she'd kill me and then you."
Ace sweatdropped at that. "You're right… I definitely should pay them a visit before leaving."
"Good. I'd hate to have to restrain you. I don't want to die yet."
"Surely Angel wouldn't kill you?" Robin said in amusement.
"Ace is her favorite brother besides Demon. I don't know when it happened, I don't know how it happened but it happened. She would be mad at me for days after failing to kill me," Rosan replied.
Ace shrugged. "When Luffy and Maro are up to something stupid, it's up to us to go stop them and we just bonded from there. We actually have a lot in common!"
Ace and Angel got along fantastic. It must have been because they were both so headstrong and stubborn (and instinctively hated everyone at a glance). Those two never had anything nice to say to a person they were seeing the first time and were by far the most antisocial...
They got better though. Makino gave them both lessons when Angel realized Ace was taking them and thought it was a perfect opportunity to be more presentable as a Queen... huh that's probably why they did get along so well. Those two probably had to moan and groan about how hard it was to be polite and nice and not rude to everyone.
Whatever it may be, Angel adored her younger, freckled, brother and spoiled him rotten. They did have a lot in common, like how utterly overprotective of their family they were.
If she found out that they had met up…
Well, his sister would go to the Grand Line and begin hunting Ace down herself.
"Haki?" Rosan muttered.
"Yeah, it's a technique that any pirate who wants to survive in the New World should know," Ace replied to the three listening.
They were currently walking back to the ship and Ace took that time to explain to them all, the most important source of power to have in the second half of the Grand Line.
As Rosan learned more about Haki, things that didn't make sense, suddenly did and his mind was already thinking of greedy ways to implement this into his style.
How Judge was able to dodge and tank their attacks (he truly did rely on his suit too much if he still lost that battle... the man needed to train more), how Shanks was able to find Luffy in the sea or him on the tree, how Garp casually stomped them into the ground every single time...
"Vegapunk explained many things to me… but this one wasn't one of them," Mod frowned.
She knew why. The scientists didn't believe handing out answers was the solution to everything and wanted her to find the right wielder to learn with.
Guess things went exactly how the genius planned it... What exactly was his plan? What did he intend for her...? They were stationed in the New World yet she never once heard about Haki...
"There's three different types of Haki. Observation, Armament, and Conquerors," Ace explained to the trio. "Everyone can learn the first two but only a select can learn the last."
Armament was the one Rosan desperately needed. It allowed him to harness his spiritual energy and use it offensively, bypassing the immunity some Devil Fruit's granted, like a Logia's intangibility or Luffy's rubber body.
Not only that, it allowed them to put an invisible armor over themselves, so to say, that allowed them to block damage...
"That's how Garp manages to hurt Luffy and come out completely unscathed by my attacks," Rosan said in realization.
"Yeah, Gramps was cheating," Ace nodded sagely, holding out a hand and pinching Luffy to show them.
"O-Ow!" The rubber boy exclaimed in surprise. So that's what Gramps did? He was such a cheater!
"Armament sounds incredibly useful," Robin mused. "Rosan, considering Modification gives you so much control over your inner body, this might be the easiest one for you to learn as well."
"I think so too," Ace nodded in agreement. Rosan was a master of his body so if he did manage to learn it, Ace wouldn't be surprised if it became the one he mastered the quickest.
That was true… but he doubted it would be that easy.
"I'll try my best to make it easier on you. We'll figure this out together," Mod assured.
"The best way to unlock it is in the heat of battle but it's still pretty difficult," Ace informed them. "Intense training and high stress situations. I'll give you guys methods to try and learn at least armament and observation."
Looks like he would need to begin training in earnest again. He'd drag Luffy into it more often as well because he was already sparring frequently with Zoro and Robin.
Armament would be incredibly useful for Robin's Devil Fruit too. Her fruit was already quite strong considering it was impossible to dodge, so that just left resisting it... and if her armament was good, it'd be impossible for her to do that...
He wanted her to learn it.
Robin smiled at his resolve to make sure she learned it. "I'll put my all into training then. I would like to learn it as well."
With that settled, they quickly moved on to the next one.
Observation allowed users to have a sixth sense that allowed them to sense the presence, strength, and emotions of others, as well as gain limited precognitive abilities.
It worked best when calm, which was good for Robin and Rosan but Ace still thought this would be the most difficult one for the redhead to learn.
"You're active, Rosan... I think Luffy and Robin will have an easier time learning it then you," Ace explained, demonstrating the ability to them by dodging precise swings from Rosan with his eyes closed. "Your mind is almost always moving, no matter what and you have three voices up there."
His brother, even without his emotions couldn't stop thinking for a second and that wasn't including the fact that he had both Mod and Ram up there too. Observation would be absurdly difficult for him to learn but then again, his brother was also a prodigy.
"Your calmness is also relatively artificial," Robin added. "It's more so related to the fact that you have no emotions at the moment. You're like an actual computer, one that's never in rest mode and with emotions, your mind doesn't stop for even a second."
That… made sense in theory but Rosan was stubborn and so, he'd need to actually try it himself.
"I don't like being told that we'll struggle with something," Ram grunted, crossing her arms in disdain.
"Knowing that it's my abilities fault too rubs it in even worse," Mod agreed, pouting in slight discontent.
Rosan had also seen observation in action before. Judge and Garp utilized both forms of haki against him… but those were the only ones he noticed.
What was Conqueror's?
"Conqueror's should be the easiest and the hardest for you to learn," Ace said, glancing at his older brother. "I don't know if Robin and Luffy have it, but you and I do."
Rosan raised a brow. How did he already have Conqueror —
Oh.
Conqueror Haki allowed a person to exert their own willpower over others. Doing this could lead to dominating their psyche or incapacitating someone.
It sounded exactly like —
"Pressure," Rosan whispered in realization, actually stopping in surprise.
His pressure technique… was Haki? Wait, he had unlocked such an overpowered technique since he was 9 and never paid it any mind beyond saturating the air with it?
He knew the technique wasn't unique to him but he only ever saw a 10 year old Ace do it, while utilizing a different version as well.
Rosan's pressure was only used as a way to root and overwhelm people. He had never knocked anyone unconscious with it and it had gotten so much weaker after Meiko died, that he hardly used it anymore.
But that made sense... not once did Rosan ever use the technique with his full emotions. His first use of it was after the castle formed so by then... it should have already lost power.
"You mentioned it being the easiest and the hardest for me," Rosan said. "It's the easiest because I already have it unlocked but it's the hardest because my emotions are still locked away, right?"
Ace blinked before scowling lightly.
Right, he forgot how smart his older brother was.
"Yeah that's right. Conquerors manifests your willpower and we all know how much you're lacking in that... if you reach your old ambitions, it'll be really strong though," he informed the group. "If you want to get proficient in all of them, you'll need your emotions back."
Extra motivation… Well he had even more of a reason to get them back now.
"Oh, I see the ship!" Luffy beamed, waving at the Going Merry in the distance.
"You three go ahead, I need to get my raft," Ace said, already walking off to do that. "I'll catch up soon!"
The three nodded in unison, before Rosan grabbed Robin and Luffy. His wings burst out of his back and he quickly soared over to the ship, landing in front of his resigned crew.
"At least Rosan noticed you went missing," Nami sighed miserably. She knew damn well that Robin and the redhead wouldn't randomly go missing without telling them, so they probably noticed that Luffy did and followed accordingly to save them the headache.
"We got lost and talked to Ace!" Luffy beamed, completely unbothered by their annoyance.
"We?" Robin raised a brow. "Luffy, you were the only one who got lost," she chided the rubber boy.
The straw hats sweatdropped at that.
Zoro jumped into the conversation with a raised brow. "Rosan, you mentioned having siblings named Angel and Demon but you never mentioned an Ace or the fact that he was the second commander of the Whitebeard Pirates."
"I don't mention random facts about my life," Rosan retorted. "If asked, I might answer but I won't bring it up on my own volition."
The crew sighed at his very typical Rosan answer.
"You sound like as much of a handful as always," Ace snorted, landing on the railing and staring at his crew with a polite smile. "I feel bad for your crewmates having to deal with you and Luffy at the same time."
"They get used to it. I believe making your intentions clear from the start helps people with understanding... so they understand that I am like this," Rosan hummed.
They groaned. "We still hate you for it."
Ace let out a hearty laugh."Sorry for any trouble my two brother's caused. They can be a bit much and cause me a lot of worry... when I don't want to strangle them to death," the middle brother bowed to the crew.
"Oh, don't mention it," they all said in unison, waving him off.
...
"He's so polite!" Zoro gaped. Luffy was anything but and Rosan was even ruder then their captain! He only spoke polite to subvert expectations!
"He's caring too," Sanji's jaw dropped comically. Why couldn't Rosan and Luffy be this considerate to them? The two just did whatever they wanted!
"This sensible man can't possibly be Rosan and Luffy's brother," Nami decided right then and there. There was just no way. Rosan and Luffy were walking headaches and never failed to give her a migraine.
This polite brother of theirs was anything but. He was polite, caring and didn't demean her any chance he got.
Rosan listened to them with a raised brow.
His crew thought he was as bad as Luffy and worse than Ace? If only they knew the boy when he was younger.
"I would have expected him to be almost as reckless as Luffy and nearly as cruel as Rosan. Like a middle ground," Usopp whispered in surprise.
That made Rosan snort. Rather loudly.
"Ace? Not as reckless as Luffy? You must be joking," the redhead scoffed. "The only thing stopping my little idiot brother from being on the same level as my littlest brother, is the fact that my littlest idiot brother doesn't think and my little brother thinks slightly more."
They watched in surprise as Ace glared over at his older brother in indignation.
"I'm not as reckless as I was when we were kids and I think way more then Luffy! Don't do that to me!" Ace barked in annoyance.
"I'll believe you when Maro and Angel divorce," Rosan grunted, causing the freckled boy to splutter. "How many fights have you backed down from since setting sail?"
"…I don't see what that has to do with anything," the commander muttered.
"Shishishi! Ace still never backs down from fights?! He's so stupid!" Luffy cackled, eyes shining with mirth as the middle brother began spluttering at the two.
"Right?" Rosan nodded, looking smug with his neutral expression. "Speaking of which… That treasure I gave you at the start of your journey. What did you do with it?"
"I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T NEED THAT!" His freckled brother roared, remembering how much he had been given.
Rosan literally waited for him to be well out of sight before making Maro drop the illusion! What a scummy tactic to make sure he didn't return it!
"You refused to let me modify your ship so I decided to give you another gift," Rosan shrugged.
"I said keep it! I lost it and you got it so it was yours!" Ace growled.
"What type of brother would I be if I didn't give you a farewell gift? What did you do with it?" He pressed, knowing Ace couldn't lie to him.
Ace glared at the floor. "You know I can't turn away gifts from you idiots. It helped me secure food and a ship."
Rosan smiled at that. "Good... but you aren't even wearing your pink Mama's Boy shirt."
"I OUTGREW THAT SHIRT 7 YEARS AGO BUT YOU KEPT MODIFYING IT!" Ace shouted, before sobering up with a guilty expression. "And I accidentally burned it after eating my Devil Fruit... sorry about that."
"Accidentally?" The redhead repeated.
"You know I'd never get rid of any of you guys gifts! No matter how much I hate them!" The Whitebeard pirate retorted. "I even still have that stupid rock Luffy gave me."
"THAT ROCKS NOT STUPID! YOU'RE STUPID! ROSAN LIKED MY ROCK!" Luffy roared. He went through a lot of pain getting that rock!
"It was a good rock and I am honest with my feelings," Rosan nodded sagely. Perfect smoothness with no cracks. Truly a nice rock.
"Honest with your feelings?! I am being honest. It was a stupid rock!"
They watched in awe as the three began bickering with each other.
"They really are brothers..." the crew thought in disbelief. Those three were really going at it and it looked like a brawl was only seconds away from breaking out.
"Hey wait, you didn't give me a gift when I set sail!" Luffy pointed out in shock.
"I am the gift," Rosan replied, much to Luffy's satisfaction.
"Oh, right!" The rubber boy laughed.
Everyone face planted at that blunt and serious statement.
"You are an egomaniac, Rosan," Robin giggled.
Ace snorted in agreement. "You're right about that. He tries to mask it behind that cool and collected mask of his but he's way too arrogant for his own good."
"He gets jealous if we think anyone is better then him too!" Luffy nodded sagely, traitorous little captain that he was.
"They have a point. Sometimes, you really do act like your the best thing to happen to a person's life," Mod added with a teasing smile.
"I will not tolerate this slander, no matter how true, against Father!" Ram barked, unintentionally going against him as well.
The straw hats watched all of them pile up on Rosan with amused expressions, not expecting that to happen to the infallible wall of their ship but it was awesome.
He was always so composed and, besides the time he got sick, it was rare to see him be at the receiving end of something like this because he always had a response...
It was awesome. Screw Rosan!
Rosan cupped his chin in contemplation at their words. "I could say you all have a point… but I'd rather dish out revenge on you guys for ganging up on me."
"W-Wait, I'm sorry! Please don't tickle me!" Mod pleaded, eyes going wide in horror.
"Don't you even think about swapping me," Ace barked, lower half already turning into flames so he could take off.
There was no way he was letting Rosan transform him into a girl again.
"That's a great idea, idiots," Rosan decided, taking a step forward to dish it out on the three who thought it was funny.
Robin had already managed to position herself behind the crew, completely aware of how he'd react, and was using Sanji as a shield (to his mixed glee and horror).
Luffy blinked before his expression turned into one of horror as he realized he was the closest to his oldest brother.
Mod and Ram never stood a chance, they lived inside of him after all. He'd go after them later tonight and no apologizing would stop.
Before Rosan could mass swap the 3 idiots, the crew was interrupted by the sight of 5 ships appearing to block them off from sailing any further.
"WE'RE HERE TO COLLECT YOUR BOUNTY, FIRE FIST ACE!"
"WE'VE GOT FIVE SHIPS, JUST TRY TO ESCAPE!"
"I'll clean them up," Ace offered with a small shrug.
"Don't worry, I can do it. They interrupted me," Rosan said calmly, much to the shock of the crew.
Rosan... He was offering to do something?! Seriously?! The one who would let them sink for fun was offering to clean up 5 ships?!
These guys must have really riled him up!
"Spoiled as ever. No wonder Ram's so bad," Ace laughed.
"Fuck off! Father's just offering because he knows he can do it faster and he wants to punish us all as soon as possible!" Ram barked, despite her fear at being tickled.
The second division commander paused at that. "Faster?" He said incredulously, raising a brow.
Now it was Rosan's turn to raise a brow, ignoring the 5 ships taking aim at them momentarily. "Why do you sound so surprised? You don't actually think you can do it faster than me, right?"
"Wait, you think you can?" Ace challenged gazing at his brother in disbelief.
"Oh dear, look at what you've gone and done, Ram," Mod sighed.
The years had done nothing, these two were still the most competitive by a mile.
Ace must have gotten so strong over the years because he wanted to deliver sweet retribution to his brother who he never defeated.
"Your flames probably don't even burn hotter than mine," Rosan taunted, fangs sharpening dramatically as a reptilian tail slow snaked out from behind him. "You've only had them for about 3 years compared to my 16."
"But I can still do more things then you could ever dream of," Ace retorted, lighting his body up with an eager grin. "Don't think those flames compare to me. The only thing your fires are good for, are giving me inspiration for some of my techniques!"
"Wanna bet?" Rosan challenged, eyes transforming into slits.
Ace's response was to leap clean off of the Going Merry onto his ship, Striker, and fire off. "YOU'RE ON!"
Without wasting a second, Rosan leapt once on the railing, and rocketed off, draconic wings bursting out of his back immediately as he soared through the air.
"They're so competitive," Nami gawked in disbelief. Just like that... these two were going to make a game out of 5 ships...
That was insane. What was wrong with this family.
"Yup! Ace and Rosan get in the most competitions," Luffy beamed.
"Followed by Maro and then Luffy," Robin finished, smiling at the story. "It all started when Ace and Maro teaming up, couldn't beat Rosan and Luffy. Luffy bragged so much despite Rosan doing everything, that it sparked all of their competitive auras to unreal levels."
That day was rather funny to witness. Luffy had contributed nothing, besides being a general pest to Ace, who tried to tip the favors in Maro's scale. His annoying presence was enough to distract Ace long enough for Rosan to eventually deal with the Dokkaebi, then he focused his attention on Ace.
Him allowing Luffy to get the final hit, is probably what made their competitiveness flare so strongly. The little boy did not care whatsoever about the details, he just knew he hit Ace to win the match and that had pissed Ace off something fierce.
Ever since, their competitive streaks slowly rose higher and higher until they turned nearly everything into a competition!
Somehow, learning that Luffy had been the one to make them all so competitive, while being the least competitive in the process, sounded exactly like him.
"Our captain is so hopeless," they sighed in unison.
Ace rocketed towards the ship with a cocky grin on his face, hands in his pocket as Striker got closer and closer to the ship.
Once it got close enough he leapt off of it with enough force to send it underwater.
As he soared to the opposite side of the ships, his flaming figure caught a black and red one floating in midair, standing parallel to where he was about to land.
That damn cocky son of a—
The flame man landed on his resurfaced Striker and took aim at the five ships, cocking his fist back. If he was right, his brother was about to do the same thing.
Rosan stared at the five ships as he gathered the necessary energy in his serrated maw.
Gathering the flames, he condensed it until it was razor sharp in nature and turned the fire into something much more lethal and sharp.
"Fire Fist!"
"Raze."
A fiery orange fist launched from Ace at the same time a massive red laser launched out of Rosan's mouth.
The second commander's attack crushed two ships in its path, while Rosan's attack ruthlessly razed through two more.
Then, both attacks collided on the 5th ship in the middle, obliterating the poor boat at the moment of contact and causing a massive explosion to take place.
The straw hats watched the explosion in terrified awe.
"Those two just destroyed 5 giant ships for the sake of a competition?" Vivi gaped, taking a step back in terror at the two monsters claiming to be Luffy's older brothers.
The rest of the straw hats, sans Robin and Luffy (who were smiling), were just as surprised, if their open mouths were any indication. They began sweating at the casual destruction displayed by the two.
"I have to wonder… Why didn't Rosan just become his own captain?" Sanji said, least surprised out of all the surprised ones there.
He knew that the man was Reaper, displays like this were expected and he was well aware that the redhead was holding back often.
He was a lot more destructive then the clinical Reaper though. The Angel of Death fought very differently from Rosan...
Reaper fought like an Angel and well, Rosan fought like a Demon.
"Rosan has no interest in leading a group of people," Robin replied to the chef. "That's why just the two of us traveled with each other. That boy is incredibly selfish and doesn't want anyone to overly rely on him."
She smiled fondly as she explained.
Personally, Robin enjoyed that part of him. It made them feel like true equals and Rosan hated following people as much as leading them so he never forced her to be the leader. Sure there were times where she felt like the leader, but with his outgoing and natural personality, Rosan felt more like the leader to her at times.
Whenever one was in a vulnerable position, the other had no problem taking charge. When they were both fine, they had no problem bouncing off ideas or following the others lead.
It was a healthy, equal, relationship, one that Robin very much liked and missed and she was glad things hadn't changed. Rosan still listened to her as much as she listened to him.
Besides, if anything, Mod-chan was their leader. That woman helped them with everything and put the final stamp on if it was a good idea or not.
"Ace is also his brother… why did he choose Luffy? No offense," Usopp questioned. If those two were apart of the same crew… hell they'd be absolutely terrifying.
Imagine if all three of them joined under one banner...
It was scary to think about!
"I asked Rosan first and he said yes," Luffy beamed, flashing them all a thumbs up.
"Translation: Luffy asked Rosan to be his first friend, Rosan said no, Luffy refused to accept that as his answer, Rosan said yes, Rosan saying yes meant that he was somehow apart of his crew, Rosan joined the crew, Rosan is now a Straw Hat," Robin translated, smiling gently at the grinning rubber boy.
They sweatdropped.
Yeah, that sounded just like Luffy.
"Hina wonders what Smoker plans on doing now?"
Smoker grunted at the pink haired captain as he glared into the distance.
Who was that redhead? He distantly recalled seeing him flee with straw hat but he hadn't done much else… What was his Devil Fruit ability? Did he have an Earth Logia?
There wasn't much he could do against an Earth Logia but he wouldn't let that deter him.
Not to mention the fact that Fire Fist Ace of all people was here.
Equal their fruits may be, if that man intended on fighting him, he'd make quick work of Smoker, Hina, that town and just about everyone else on Alabasta.
That's how overwhelmingly stronger he was then everyone here. He had earned his title of Whitebeard's second commander after all.
Besides that though, there was the issue that the Straw Hats were still alive. Either that agent whose call they intercepted hadn't checked to see if the job was done, or he had lied.
If the Straw Hats were still alive, everything was being thrown in disarray and he was effectively going in blind again.
Whatever, he'd deal with that when the time came.
Tashigi nervously watched him brood before prodding. "I agree with Captain Hina… what now?"
"Princess Vivi was with the Straw Hats," Smoker eventually said. "And it doesn't look like they kidnapped her either. She acted like she was one of them."
Hina's brows furrowed at that. "Did they brainwash her?"
They'd have to be extra careful around them then.
"Whatever it may be, I know where to go," Smoker grunted, pushing himself up and taking a puff of his multiple cigars.
"Let's go see Crocodile."
"What are you on about? I won."
"You don't seriously believe that right?! I clearly won!"
"Are you that desperate to get a victory over me? I knew you still held a grudge from when we were kids."
"STOP MAKING UP BULLSHIT!"
Rosan and Ace argued back and forth about who was winning as they made their way back to the Going Merry. The redhead was flying next to Ace's raft as they debated the victor.
"Fine. We can ask a reliable source," Rosan decided, ascending upwards and landing on the rails. Ace followed soon after and soon, the two stared at Robin with their arms crossed.
"Robin, can you tell Ace I won?"
"Tell Rosan who really won, Robin!"
Robin quirked a brow at the sets of glares, a slight sweatdrop forming, and had to wonder how she had to deal with two wildly competitive children now.
It was always her… perhaps this was her curse for being the most sensible person around.
"They would have asked me but Ace is convinced that I have a complete bias for Rosan," Mod sighed fondly.
"It's a tie," Robin eventually replied, holding a hand up before they could protest.
She knew they were going to do that.
"Despite his head start, Ace decided to show off and leapt to the opposite side of the ships to deliver his attack," she began, glancing pointedly at the Ace who scratched his head sheepishly.
"As if wanting to one up you, Rosan, in his arrogance, waited for you to land before firing his attack, confident that no matter what, he'd beat you."
This time she glanced pointedly at the redhead, who simply grunted without denying anything.
"Shit," Ace cursed.
"...Drinking contest?" Rosan asked.
"You can't get drunk, asshole. How about a bounty contest?" The commander retorted with a grin.
"Sure, if it's first ever bounties," the redhead replied smugly.
The Straw Hats, sans Sanji, blinked.
First bounties? But… But Rosan didn't have a bounty?
...Right?
Robin held her head. Rosan was about to reveal his identity just because of his competitive streak.
At least it showed that he trusted his crew.
No, it was definitely because he was too competitive.
"Rosan, you have something you need to tell Ace and Luffy," she interrupted, dragging those two sets of eyes back to her.
"Oh, that's right," Ace said, gazing at his brother curiously. "What is it that you wanted to tell the both of us? That's rare because we just figured out it's not worth telling Luffy."
Rosan took a deep breath. "Yeah normally there isn't much the both of you have to know but this is one of them and I'm just going to say it outright…"
Ace and Luffy looked at their oldest brother in interest.
"Sabo is alive."
...
A deep silence washed over everyone there.
For the Straw Hats, who weren't aware of their supposedly dead brother, this only confused them greatly.
But for Ace and Luffy, everything around them froze and they stared at their brother's mouth in raw disbelief.
The only thing the two could feel, were their own pulsing heartbeats slamming into their chest over and over again.
Their crew was about to speak up but Robin shushed them, eyeing the frozen brothers with soft eyes.
…
…
…
"W-W-Wha," Ace stammered in confusion.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Luffy screeched, jaws dropping to the floor.
"I… I was shocked to hear it too," Rosan said softly. "Sabo's alive and thanks to an ally, he's currently on Alabasta waiting for me to go retrieve him."
As expected, tears began to surge in Luffy's eyes, while Ace snarled in anger.
"S-Sabo's alive?!" Luffy whispered in shock.
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Ace barked. "How are we just now finding this out? How long did you know?!"
"I didn't find out until recently, when we were at Loguetown preparing for the Grand Line."
The Straw Hats remembered how he had shown up on the ship late and their eyes widened in surprise.
So that's what had held him up!
Ace calmed a bit at that.
If Rosan had known for years, he might have never forgiven him but his brother seemed just as caught off guard as they were.
Sabo was important to all of them… Rosan wouldn't lie about something so grave and the redhead didn't hold back information from him either.
"Why didn't he ever reach out to us? It's been 10 years," Ace snarled, glare settling on his features.
When he got his hands on that sunnova—
"He has amnesia," the redhead responded. "He doesn't remember us at all from what I gather and after the attack by the Celestial Dragon… it took away his memories."
The second commander blinked in shock at that, anger draining out of his body as he slumped a bit.
He had… He couldn't remember them...? That Celestial Dragon robbed Sabo of all his memories that he had with his brothers?
How dare he?!
"He's here right?!" Luffy sobbed, tears still falling. "Bring him! I want to see Sabo!"
Their crew was understandably very confused by the events transpiring currently.
While Rosan was a stone wall, Luffy was enigmatic in a different way. They never expected to see him crying so freely because… well, their captain was also pretty infallible!
Sure he showed his emotions much more freely then Rosan but it was rare to ever see him as anything but happy.
The two who started the crew were full of mysteries that they never really delved deep into!
They just figured out that the two had a middle brother who was apart of Whitebeard's crew! And now, their captain was freely crying over another name?
It was expected that they didn't know much about Rosan… but they realized that they also knew startlingly little about Luffy...
"I'll go retrieve him… my scout already found him and he's currently waiting for me," Rosan said, nodding his head and summoning his wings again. "Remember you two, he has amnesia. He will not remember us so don't react too negatively."
Ace nodded tightly.
Luffy nodded eagerly.
With that, the oldest brother stepped onto the railing and flew off into, presumably, Sabo's direction.
They watched the redhead go with mixed reactions, before turning towards the other two brothers.
"...This might be a bit personal… but who's Sabo?" Nami asked softly, eyes furrowed as she dwelled on the longest members of the Straw Hats.
Ace jumped a bit and turned towards the confused crew. He gazed at them all and realized that only Robin seemed to have a clue about who he was.
That made sense, her and Rosan looked like they were practically glued together and his older brother had always trusted her with everything when they were kids.
The Whitebeard commander bowed to them. "Sorry about that, you must all be confused. "
"So polite!" They thought with comical tears. Rosan would have mocked them for being stupid and Luffy would have laughed merrily.
Ace took a steady breath. "Sabo… Sabo is our other brother. We thought he died a long time ago so we're a little surprised to hear that he's alive."
They flinched at that. A-Another brother? And this one was supposedly dead?
Robin placed a soothing hand on the commander's shoulder. "I know that you're thinking this is your chance to make up for your mistakes, but it's not your fault, Ace. No one could have predicted what was going to happen that day," she assured.
The commander stared wide eyed at Rosan's closest friend. "He really does tell you everything, huh?"
She smiled softly. "It's a privilege that I'm honored to have."
Sabo accepted the water from the bird with a polite smile, getting a trill of happiness out of it.
This bird was incredibly useful. Not only did it guide him to a spot with shade, it gave him some water to drink too!
It made this heat a lot more tolerable.
The blonde had removed his jacket and hat long ago and they rested haphazardly next to him. His vest was going to be next if he stayed out here any longer.
Seriously, the heat was scorching and he really should have listened to Koala's advice about changing his outfit to accommodate the weather.
Eh, he'd never admit to her that she was right. It'd make her insufferable.
His eyes caught something in the distance and Sabo glanced upward to see a figure rocketing towards him. He was about to put his guard up, but the excited chirping and jumping of the bird, at the arrival, stopped him.
The soaring figure stopped neatly in front of them and Sabo gazed at the figure in confusion.
"Aren't you hot?" He couldn't help but ask.
"...No, the weather doesn't typically affect me," he replied softly, staring a hole into him.
"Huh, neat," Sabo commented idly, gazing back with an appraising eye.
It was a tall man with bronze skin, almost like it were kissed in this desert heat, and a striking shade of spiky red hair, tied into a messy bun that left the spikes in the front of his head free.
A set of blood red and royal purple eyes stared into his own with a somewhat lifeless expression, with the most notable thing being the slight glow in them that seemed to get a bit brighter looking at him.
"Sabo… you've grown," Rosan said eventually, listening to Mod's breath hitch slightly.
The Devil Fruit had become such a sap over the years but he supposed this was a good reason...
He was much taller now, barely beating Ace out by a few centimeters and his features had matured greatly, losing the roundness he had as a child and having far more hair too. His missing tooth had grown in now, giving him a row of even teeth and Rosan noticed the horrific burn scar over his left eye that probably resulted from the Celestial Dragon attack.
Sabo tilted his head in confusion. "So you're Rosan, right? Dragon said I'd probably meet you first. Nice to meet you, I'm Sabo!"
Even after seeing him, Sabo had no recollection of anything? It was to be expected but it was still a little surprising.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Sabo. Something unexpected came up," Rosan informed him, talking about Ace. He hadn't been expected a full brotherly reunion in Alabasta but this worked out fine.
He wasn't sure when he was ever going to run into Ace again on the high seas so lady luck was smiling down at him.
How rare of her.
"I'm Rosan," he introduced eventually. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions and I'll answer them to the best of my ability."
Sabo hesitated for a bit.
Looking at the redhead before him, invoked a strange feeling throughout the revolutionaries body that he couldn't describe.
"You're… one of my brothers? Along with Straw Hat Luffy and Fire Fist Ace?" Sabo began immediately.
Rosan nodded. "We… We aren't blood related. The four of us made a pledge over sake to become brothers. I'm the oldest, followed by Ace and then you and Luffy."
Sabo wasn't sure why he got annoyed to hear that Ace was older than him.
"So what happened to me…? Besides being attacked I mean," the Chief of Staff couldn't help but ask.
"Your actual parents… you ran away from them and they retrieved you," Rosan said eventually.
He explained everything that happened that day to the amnesiac. About how his father had hired pirates to subdue the three and Sabo gave up his freedom so that Ace and Luffy could be safe at the cost of him returning to life as a noble, how Rosan had tailed him and offered to set him free, after pointing out that he obviously wouldn't stay here.
That part made Sabo shudder.
He learned that despite the offer, Sabo had refused the redhead's help, even with the knowledge that he could resolve the entire issue, how they had both figured out about the fire that the nobles planned on setting… and how Sabo came to the disgusting realization that the nobles were less human then the people they scorned.
"That would explain why I wanted to avoid Goa at all cost," Sabo muttered, cupping his chin.
Rosan frowned internally.
"He still doesn't remember."
"It's been 10 years of no recollection… it has to be very severe."
Well, Rosan and Sabo were close but he wasn't the closest to the boy. Luffy and Ace had a special bond with the blonde so they might have a better chance.
"You're underselling yourself, Rosan."
He wouldn't be surprised if he was. He had periodic moments where he was negative about himself without meaning to be.
"I'll take you to Ace and Luffy now?" Rosan offered, getting a surprised blink out of Sabo.
"Fire Fist Ace is here?" He asked, bewildered.
Rosan nodded. "It was good luck. I didn't inform him of this. He just happened to be here for Luffy and I."
"How convenient," Sabo muttered, pushing himself up and grabbing his things. "Alright, I've been here long enough so let's go."
That information was a lot to digest but it lined up well and it was way too specific for him to doubt it. At least he now had a reason as to why he had recklessly began sailing the sea at 10 before getting sunk and found by Dragon.
"Be warned… Ace and Luffy, especially Luffy, are not as composed as I am," Rosan advised him quietly. "It's been 10 years of us thinking you were dead and I have some of my emotions locked. They don't have their emotions locked."
The chief of staff nodded warily, temporarily ignoring how his emotions surged at the redhead's words in favor of focusing on the part where he said his emotions were locked.
Seriously? What happened to him?! Is that why Sabo felt oddly determined every time he looked into his eyes?
It was a question for later. It's not like he was in a rush to leave. He needed to stay here until Crocodile was dealt with.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," Sabo said good naturedly.
Rosan caught a glimpse of his weapon and he tilted his head. "Ah, you still use the metal pipe? You were always the best with that weapon and true to my words, Ace and Luffy ditched their own before even setting sail."
I think you're the best of the three with that metal pipe.
Sabo shook his head harshly, which Rosan didn't miss and the blonde waved him off at the questioning look.
"It's the only thing I knew how to use so I stuck with it. Now, let's go," he said in hopes of changing the subject.
Rosan stared at him with that blank gaze almost knowingly before nodding his head and outstretching his hand.
After a moment's hesitation, the revolutionary grabbed the limb and they both vanished.
When Rosan warned him about Ace and Luffy, Sabo had prepared himself to the best of his ability for the inevitable meeting.
But there was no way to prepare for a speeding, crying, missile crashing into him.
"SABOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Luffy sobbed, bowling the blonde over completely.
"YOU'RE ALIVE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" The captain of the Straw Hats cried in relief, clutching the revolutionary with all his might.
Sabo flailed helplessly, shooting a confused, if not pleading glance, Rosan's way and getting an, "I told you so," as a response.
Ace's throat locked up at seeing the aged up blonde, drinking in all his details and comparing them to the Sabo that he knew.
He still had that goofy top hat on (Rosan and Ace enjoyed teasing him about it after finding out about his noble heritage) and his hair had gotten much longer over the years.
His outfit choice was largely similar as to when he was a kid, just fitted to his significantly taller (he looked like he was the same height as him now) frame.
He was currently shooting a wide eyed look at Luffy that made Ace's gut curl.
His eyes…
There was a burn mark over his left one. It was probably the aftermath of getting attacked by that damn Celestial Dragon.
But that wasn't the most concerning thing about his eyes.
No. The most concerning thing about his eyes was the fact that despite seeing three of his brothers... his best friends, there was no hint of recognition in them and that knocked the anger right out of him.
Robin and Rosan saw Ace deflate a bit and their eyes softened. "It sucks, not being recognized by someone you love," the redhead said.
Ace nodded tightly. "Yeah, it sucks a lot but we won't give up will we?"
Rosan nodded in return. "Of course not. Sabo is our little brother after all."
The Straw Hats watched with their own soft gazes as Sabo eventually gave up and hesitantly wrapped his hands around their crying captain.
"Rosan…" Nami said hesitantly. "Could you… could you tell us a bit more about you and Luffy's past after this is over with…?"
The redhead glanced at them for a moment, before nodding. "Sure. I can even share certain memories if you want."
The crew looked appreciative of that and nodded hesitantly.
Eventually, Luffy had gained enough coherence and he let Sabo go. The blonde didn't look too bothered at the fact that his clothes were soaked, pushing himself to an upright position with a confused expression.
The Straw Hat began grinning excitedly, energy radiating off of him palpably.
"Sabo! Where were you?! We were all so sad when we thought you died but you weren't dead! Why didn't you come at least say hi! I knew we should have saved you but Rosan and Ace were both being dumb!"
The Chief of Staff wasn't even sure where he could begin with that questioning. He wanted to answer the pirate because everything about Luffy was so… genuine but he really couldn't because he didn't know how.
"Luffy..." Ace sighed, pulling the youngest off of Sabo. "Rosan just said he has amnesia. He can't answer you because he doesn't know the answers to your question. You're being overwhelming right now."
"Oh right!" Luffy gasped. He totally forgot!
Ace offered his hand to Sabo, who gratefully took it and hauled him up.
"Gotta say, never expected Fire Fist Ace to be one of my brothers," Sabo muttered, appraising the commander before him. Looking at the commander invoked a different feeling then when he looked at Rosan or Luffy...
It was almost like he was looking at a partner in crime... Ace filled him with fondness, happiness and exasperation all at once and he hated that he couldn't explain why.
But for some reason... when he looked at the tattoo on Ace's arm... the one that said ASCE with the S neatly crossed out, Sabo felt his insides screaming.
It was like he lost his breath and the revolutionary did a admirable job not showing it on his face.
"What the hell was that?" He thought in shock.
"Not just brothers, the best of friends," Ace sighed, smiling wryly at the blonde. "It sucks that you have amnesia but I'm just happy that you're alive and well... Your death hit us all hard but knowing that you survived... it makes me feel relieved."
Luffy and Rosan nodded at the same time and Sabo felt a strange happiness at seeing them so happy to see him.
"I don't know what will bring them back… but I do want to remember you guys. You three are pretty cool!" Sabo laughed, rubbing the back of his wavy hair.
"How long will you be staying?" Rosan asked calmly.
"Yeah how long?!" Luffy prodded.
Sabo hummed. "My mission is to stay here until Alabasta's problems are dealt with and I assume you guys are the ones dealing with it. So when you guys win, I'll be done."
"Mission?" Vivi asked in confusion.
Everyone else, barring Rosan and Robin were also confused. Who would send him here on a mission?
"Yeah, mission. I'm a revolutionary. Chief of Staff to be exact," Sabo replied easily.
There was a brief silence at that.
"WHAT?!" They all roared in shock.
Seriously, what was up with these brothers?!
Ace, Sabo, Rosan, Luffy… they were all monsters!
Not only did they have a brother who was the second commander of Whitebeard's crew… they had another brother who was second in command to the Revolutionaries!
Ace's eyes were especially wide because he knew what that entailed.
The freckled man shot Rosan a sideways glance that the redhead caught and he imperceptibly nodded.
"I met Luffy's father, Dragon. That's how I was able to learn that Sabo was alive," he confirmed.
So that's how he learned…
"When did you meet Dragon?"
"The first time was right before I killed Bluejam. He was on Goa the day of the fire and Sabo and I met him."
The day everything went wrong… at least something good came out of it.
"S-So you're not only a Revolutionary, but your the second in command?" Usopp stammered in disbelief. The liar was looking rapidly between the four brothers in surprise.
One was a super important pirate. The other was a super important revolutionary.
Luffy was trying to become the Pirate King too… What would Rosan have been doing if he decided to sail on his own?!
If only they all knew that Rosan had long since made a name for himself as the most infamous bounty hunter alive.
"I'd like to stay longer… but I can't," Ace frowned.
As much as he'd like to catch up with Sabo, after staying here for a bit more, he'd need to continue his search for Blackbeard.
It was his duty as second commander to bring him in and that wasn't something he could delay.
The oldest brother nodded in understanding. "I should let Angel and co see you then. They'll try to keep you for days and it gets increasingly difficult to deny that woman."
"That's you and Maro's fault," Ace grunted in annoyance, a fond smile on his face. "Always saying yes to her and agreeing to her demands. I told you guys to stop."
"I spoil all my family and Maro spoils everyone she likes period," Rosan said shamelessly. "It's my job as the oldest and I have to do something with all the money I managed to secure."
They sweatdropped at his blunt statement. Based on how he treated Luffy, they believed him wholeheartedly.
"We have more family?" Sabo asked in confusion. He didn't think there was more than his three apparent brothers but guess he was wrong.
Ace and Rosan shared a look, before nodding.
"Maybe seeing everyone will help you?" Rosan muttered in contemplation.
"I wanna see Angel, Demon and Maro too!" Luffy jumped in, smiling eagerly. It had been way too long since he saw them!
"Angel, Demon and Maro… Those are your clones and the queen, right?" Zoro recalled correctly. He mentioned them a while ago and the swordsman was curious to see what clones of Rosan were like.
"A queen?!" Vivi repeated in surprise. Not only was Rosan's mother a queen, he personally knew another?!
Wait a second... did they just say Queen Maro?! Wasn't she the young Queen of that incredible island in the North Blue?!
"Can we meet them?" Nami asked curiously.
She… She wanted to know more about the first two member's lives. It sucked not knowing anything about the two who had helped her so much.
"I'd like to see them too!" Sanji interjected.
He mostly wanted to see the queen and Rosan's sister for his own reasons (Rosan mentioned them being very beautiful) but… Queen Maro was also Grim and he wanted to show his gratitude to her somehow.
Rosan cupped his chin and after some contemplation, he nodded. "Where are we headed? We should land there first or it might get crowded. Maro has wanted to meet you guys for a long time so I guess now's as good as any."
"Maro's gonna be pissed when she realizes I'm stronger than her now," Ace sighed fondly.
"I'll concede first place to you for now," Rosan grunted. "Enjoy it while you can, once I learn Haki and travel more of this sea, you'll lose it."
Ace had a three year head start in the strange ocean known as the Grand Line and was apart of the World's Strongest Pirate crew to boot.
Give Rosan and Luffy more time to sail this sea and they'd quickly catch up… Huh, Maro was going to be pissed wasn't she?
"You guys know about Haki?" Sabo raised a brow in wonder.
Ace at least, seemed like he knew it.
"Haki?" Zoro prodded in curiosity.
"I'll tell you all about it later," Robin assured the crew. It would be less of a headache if she did it instead of Rosan or Luffy.
Ace and Rosan both stared at Sabo. "Ace just told us about it. Do you have it as well?" The redhead replied.
Was he in third now? That was… not very desirable but he guess that was to be expected.
There was a reason young Rosan wanted to go to the Grand Line so badly… He knew how strong he could get there and now his little brothers were stronger then him.
Ace was wondering if Sabo was stronger than him now... Though their fights had been relatively close, he generally had the edge and was confident he was slightly stronger than him as kids.
He wondered how a spar between them would go now… Actually, a spar between all of them sounded like it would be fun! He would finally be able to give his eldest brother a good fight.
"Yeah, I have Armament and Observation…" The revolutionary admitted. Both were quite exceptional but his Armament was a tad better.
"No Conquerors?" Ace and Rosan asked in unison, looking incredibly smug to be asking that.
For some reason, that annoyed Sabo to no end. "You two do?" He asked with pursed lips.
They nodded and that smugness seemed to amplify and Sabo scoffed, annoyance rising.
"You don't even know how to use it yet!" Sabo barked, pointing at Rosan. "What are you so smug about?!"
"I've never failed to learn something I put my mind to," Rosan replied, smirking slightly. "It's only a matter of time before I learn all three and have one more extra then you do."
"Imagine if Luffy has it too," Ace snorted. "Then Sabo'd be the only one without it!"
The Straw Hats watched Sabo's expression shift into one of deeper annoyance and realized that he was definitely their brother.
Sabo himself was beginning to see how annoying having siblings could be because right now, he wanted to throttle both Ace and Rosan. It wasn't even something he could control and they were being this smug about it!
Robin patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Don't give them fuel. Rosan thrives on annoying people, Ace picked up his trick and Luffy is also a natural at it."
The blonde sighed at her advice and thanked the woman before blinking.
"Wait, are you Nico Robin?!" Sabo gawked.
The revolutionaries were incredibly interested in the sole survivor of Ohara and it was an interest that was personally cultivated by Dragon himself.
"Is that man interested in her?" Rosan asked, possessively grabbing Robin, who rolled her eyes at his actions. "She's mine and I refuse to let anyone use her," he explained, eyes narrowed.
"So possessive," Sabo sweatdropped, backing away slightly.
"I'm so glad your possessive tendencies have gotten better over the years. No, really I'm so very proud," Robin said dryly as she sunk into his frame, filing the information that Luffy's father was interested in her.
When the world's most wanted man was interested in you, that was something you would never be able to ignore, whether good or bad. She wouldn't mind hearing him out if his intentions were good but if not...
"You can't just claim people!" Sanji roared, getting ready to kick Rosan through a wall for shamelessly laying his claim on Robin-chan.
"Yes I can," Rosan replied like it was obvious.
"SAYS WHO?!" The blonde roared.
"...Me? Everyone in my family belongs to me. This is a fact," Rosan muttered, confused as to what Sanji didn't understand. "Ram, who do you belong to?"
"You!" The ring chimed aloud like it were obvious.
They didn't even know she could speak in ring form...
"Luffy?" The redhead continued.
"You!" The captain beamed, nonplussed by the question.
"Mod-chan?"
They watched as Rosan's right eye turned blood red... and a tired woman's voice sighed, "You, Rosan," before shifting back to the purple they were used to.
"What was that?!" Chopper, Vivi and Sabo thought in confusion. Did Rosan just... partially transform into a woman?!
"Robin?"
"You are absolutely ridiculous, Rosan," Robin rolled her eyes.
"...Robin."
"...You, Rosan," she sighed tiredly.
Before Rosan could open his mouth again, his fiery brother immediately shut it down.
"Don't even think about asking. Fuck off, Rosan," Ace said with a glare.
"...Tsundere," Rosan muttered. The freckled boy just wasn't being honest with himself. So rebellious for no reason.
"S-SHUT UP!" Ace shouted, shooting a small flicker of flames at the redhead that he effortlessly ignored.
The crew watched with slack jaws, as everyone admitted to being Rosan's with only the slightest of resistance out of some.
Sanji spluttered at hearing the 3 beautiful woman answer yes and collapsed on his knees in despair.
"We've gotten used to it," Ace replied, resigned. "There's no point telling him otherwise. I've been fighting a losing battle for years that no one else wants to help me with but Aiko."
Ram, Angel and Maro were the worst offenders. While Mod, Luffy, Demon and Akemi also had no issue with Rosan's possessive streak, the first three actively encouraged it.
Mod knew it was his selfishness and long gave up on trying to tell him otherwise, Luffy was his captain and saw no problem with it while Demon and Akemi were in the middle where they both wanted to encourage and stop him from being like this.
Only Ace, Aiko and Makino were actively against Rosan's toxic trait but that had suspiciously transformed into just Ace and Aiko after Rosan turned 18…
The less he thought about it, the better. Whatever his brother and Makino did, could stay between them.
Maybe Robin would help the selfish redhead see reason.
"Oh, Ace," Robin sighed with a shake of her head. "I'm flattered that you think I can fix him, but I gave up when I was eight. It's an impossible mission and I've had to deal with Rosan when he was in full spoiled mode."
Ace groaned in defeat.
"Yeah, I figured."
Rosan smiled slightly.
"Master! Robin! You're back so — AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Maro shrieked in shock.
"Maro?!" Angel barked, sprinting into the room in record time with Demon right behind her. "What's wrong?! What — OH MY KAMI, ACE?!"
Ace shot the three a wide grin, that turned into a wheeze at the blue and red missile launching themselves into him. Demon followed at a much more sedated pace but his excitement was clear as day and soon they were all crushing the commander.
"What's up you three?" He laughed, squeezing them all back to the best of his abilities. He was taller then all of them now so it was much easier then it would have been three years ago.
"Same old, same old, Mr. Whitebeard Commander," Demon smiled.
"It's a long story," Ace replied sheepishly. "I'll tell you guys all about it."
"I can't believe you were so inspired by Master and I, you decided to get a Flame Logia to one up us," Maro snorted. "I hope you stole some of our techniques to use as your own."
"You bet I did. All that fire you guys use and you thought I wouldn't?" He snorted.
"It's been three years and now you're walking around shirtless," Angel said flatly, staring up at him with a neutral expression.
Ace held his hands up to appease his overprotective sister. "It's comfortable like this! Made of fire and all that you know? The first few weeks of me having this fruit ended up with a lot of burned shirts so I just decided to get rid of em until I master the flames!"
By the time he was comfortable with them he had gotten used to going around shirtless (he admittedly got used to being shirtless very fast but he wouldn't tell her that).
Her staring lessened and warmed up significantly. Hugging him tightly, Angel murmured, "I missed you, Ace. I can't believe we haven't seen you for three years."
"I missed you all too," Ace replied warmly and he meant it. He missed his entire family and was so excited to see them all.
There was no way he could go another 3 years without seeing them. He would go crazy.
"You three get ready to go," Rosan informed the three.
Maro's eyes glittered excitedly. "REALLY?! ARE WE FINALLY MEETING YOUR CREW?!"
"Not just his crew…" Ace said, turning serious for a moment. "...Sabo too."
There was a long silence, as the three leaders of Celadon processed that bombshell.
...
"What did you just say...?" Angel whispered, heart dropping to her stomach as she checked her ears.
"Sabo's alive?" Demon said eventually, unable to believe what he was hearing.
"B-But how?" Maro stammered.
That... that wasn't something that they could just spring on them.
T-This was a bad idea of a joke! W-Why would they joke like that?
They wouldn't... Rosan and Ace especially, would never joke about Sabo's death like that.
"Why didn't he ever visit us?" Angel snarled in raw anger and hurt. Despite the glare on her features, there was a wild panic in her eyes as she tried to process the situation.
Demon steadied her as she swayed a bit and shot his brothers a look, begging them to explain what was going on.
Maro gnawed on her lip as she glanced at her wife and master repeatedly.
Rosan explained the situation to them and their confused expressions slowly melted away into one of understanding.
To get amnesia that severe… all of them felt their disdain for the World Government increasing far past what they were used to.
The Queen clenched her fist angrily, skin turning a green hue as her sharp fangs began poking out of her mouth.
Angel wrapped an arm around her, shaking herself and calmed the queen down. "It's okay... we can see him... we can actually see him!"
Demon's brow furrowed sadly.
Amnesia didn't have an actual cure. There were many methods to regain lost memories... but sometimes the effects could be permanent.
If Sabo had forgotten for over 10 years... there was a very real chance he may never remember them and that nearly brought the kind doctor to tears.
"Alright… we'll take a bit to get ready but we'll try and be fast," Maro said seriously, a look of anticipation set on her features.
Turning towards Mr. 13 and Miss Friday, who had been listening quietly to their conversation on their comfy beds, Maro instructed them to go retrieve Kanna, all the agents and Kaori for her. The two saluted and flew off to do just that.
"Where are we going?" Angel asked.
"The Alabasta Kingdom. It's a desert," Robin replied. She was currently rubbing a soothing hand on Demon's shoulder to calm the doctor down.
Maro perked up at that. "I've heard of that kingdom! They were supposed to be at my World Government business two years ago but they missed it. Is that where you guys are fighting Baroque Works?"
"That's right, Maro-sama," Gem replied, bowing to the queen after his arrival. "Baroque Works has been sabotaging Alabasta for unknown reasons these past few years... Rosan-sama. Robin-sama."
Rosan nodded as greeting and turned to face his student's subordinates. Kaori shot a respectful nod towards him, which he returned, Marianne followed in her footsteps and hesitantly waved, surprised to get one back from the redhead and Mikita stared fearfully at him, inching a little closer to Demon and Maro.
He tilted his head at her slightly, dual orbs piercing her and getting her to flinch, before the redhead glanced away in disinterest, making her wilt at his casual dismissal.
"Don't be so mean to her, Master," Demon chided, sighing softly.
He wasn't sure what his older brother had said, but Mikita was a mess with severe confidence issues and was trying too hard to prove her worth, hurting herself in the process and giving her rather frequent trips to the hospital.
When she came in for the 5th time, he had put his foot down and questioned why she was going to such extents.
The Kilo woman burst into tears at that and claimed she didn't want to die for being useless, which caused Demon to sigh because dammit his older brother always made things so difficult.
Now, he was trying to build her self worth up because he felt bad for what their former leader did and it was working slowly but surely.
Mikita shot the doctor a grateful look and hid directly behind him.
Rosan hummed but didn't outwardly acknowledge him, patting a curious Kanna on the head instead and getting a scowl of annoyance out of the 18 year old, though she had long learned that slapping his hand away only caused him to further ruin it. "Maro, tell them what you wanted to say."
Maro nodded eagerly at that. "The three of us are going out for a bit for something really important. Kanna and Kaori are in charge! The rest of you can stay in the castle until we come back and if things get bad, let Gem and Kaori handle it."
"Make sure Gladiolus and Anemone are well fed," Angel interjected.
She had been reluctant to accept them but they were too fucking adorable.
After trying to explain to the little dinosaurs that Maro belonged to her, Angel quickly gave up on that and took it upon herself to care for the animals so they wouldn't hog her wife's attention... Then she ended up falling for their adorable charms and now she took care of them more then the Queen did and it was genuine.
"Right!" They saluted in unison.
"No instructions for Jango?" Demon asked in amusement.
Maro seemed to be the only one who had a problem with him. He found the hypnotist very useful for making his more rowdy patients more complacent and his value to the clone army had practically made him attached to them in case of attack.
"I'll throw you... but just tell him to be on standby for buffs if you need it," Maro said calmly, removing her tiara and handing it to Kanna for safekeeping. "Good luck you guys, don't hesitate to call me if things go south, alright?"
"Don't be such a worrywart, my queen," Kanna chided. "They are strong. Take a little break, won't you?"
The Queen glanced over at her and replaced Rosan's hand with her own, effortlessly ruining the perfectly cared for hair.
"I miss when Angel didn't make you so sassy," Maro sighed.
"M-My Queen!" Kanna gaped in horror.
"Learn a little bit of respect," the Dokkaebi replied, winking with a pleased smile.
Kanna was right though... She could leave for a little bit and things wouldn't go to hell if her island got attacked.
Gem and Kaori especially, would be more than enough to deal with any invaders from the North Blue... Unless Germa decided to show up unannounced.
Mr. 5 had quickly risen up the ranks of her army with that Devil Fruit usage and only Kaori was stronger then him now.
Seriously, it was a strong fruit... Just how was he using it before that made Master so disappointed in him?
"That reminds me, Ace taught Luffy and I about something that should make us stronger once we learn it. We'll tell you about it once we head over there," Rosan informed her.
Maro paused for a bit, before a look of horror crossed her features. "Oh no... What place will I be in now?! I-I'll die if I'm knocked down from second!"
The Queen made a show of collapsing on the floor and she clutched her heart in agony.
"So dramatic," every single person, barring Rosan (who thought her reaction was normal) thought.
"Of course you think it's normal… you were this exact level of dramatic as a child."
"I missed it when you weren't talking."
"I missed it when you had unconditional respect for me, brat."
"Using words like brat? You may look 18 but I wouldn't be surprised if you were —"
"It would be unwise of you to finish that sentence, Portgas D. Rosan."
The tone in her voice sent Ace, Maro, Robin, Ram and Rosan straight, much to the confusion of everyone who was not privy to her thoughts.
"Yes Ma'am," they all said, despite it only being Rosan who was in trouble.
Mod blushed in embarrassment at that.
There was a mole in Baroque Works and they were actively sabotaging him.
As Crocodile stared at his Bananawani, that was the conclusion he came to.
Why did he come to that conclusion? Because Mr. 13 and Miss Friday were nowhere to be seen after their last report.
He explicitly told them to come back quickly for orders but they were nowhere to be seen. Something could have happened to them but too many things were happening to too many of his agents in a short period of time to be random.
There was only two possible choices of people who had betrayed them. Mr. 3… or Nico Robin. But it was even more likely that it was both.
Mr. 3 was an idiot. No matter what claims he made, the wax man wasn't capable of doing something like this alone. It was more then likely that he was being used by Miss All Sunday because that was a woman whose intellect made her worthy of being his partner.
How had he come to that conclusion? It was easy.
During his conversation with Mr. 3, the man slightly hesitated when asked about Miss All Sunday and took a second too long to reply.
Mr. 2 had not yet informed him of the results of his mission but that was likely because he had no one to report it too. Once he got the information from the agent, it would verify some of the information he was lacking.
For some reason... Nico Robin had allied herself with Mr. 3 of all people but that didn't make any sense.
Why would she ally herself with that useless man? Crocodile could offer her far more and would provide her much more protection then the agent she was almost palpably stronger then.
No, Nico Robin didn't need to ally with any of his agents if it was strength she needed because she was strong.
There was a key detail he was missing. A detail that caused the Unluckies to so boldly betray him with no regrets at all.
A detail that had informed them of Cipher Pol…
Nico Robin and Mr. 3 had another ally. One who was potentially a larger threat then himself.
Well, that mattered little. He dared anyone to try and fight him in his domain of the desert.
Now, it was time to meet his remaining agents face to face. Nico Robin may not have been here but Utopia would proceed.
Sabo should have probably accepted Rosan's offer to go with him, Ace and Robin but he figured getting more information from the princess (wasn't that a shock to see Princess Vivi traveling with pirates) on the situation in Alabasta would be better.
"Do you plan on helping?" Vivi asked hopefully, handing him a robe that would withstand the scorching desert heat. If the Chief of Staff was here to help, that would make things much easier!
"If I'm needed," he answered truthfully.
To be honest, he was surprised that Dragon even wanted him to assist a government affiliated country like Alabasta but it was probably more so to do with reuniting with his family and masking it behind a mission.
"You don't gotta do anything, Sabo!" Luffy beamed, invading Sabo's personal space for the millionth time. "You can see how strong I got over the years! You can tell Ace that I made the Gomu Gomu no mi useful!"
Luffy was… hyper and carefree.
Emphasis on the hyper.
Sabo was carefree too, much to the annoyance of his allies so he liked that about the rubber boy. But, he dialed it up to 100 and Sabo was the direct target for it, considering the pirate hadn't seen him in ten years.
They were currently traveling through the desert to a place called Yuba and Luffy took it upon himself to talk to Sabo the entire time, completely forgetting that he had amnesia multiple times.
Most of the time, he couldn't even muster up a response because he didn't know what the rubber boy was talking about but that never deterred the rubber boy who could have a conversation on his own!
He couldn't keep the thankful expression off his face, much to the amusement of the Straw Hats, as the scout showed back up with extra company, successfully managing to distract Luffy.
"It's soooo hot," Maro complained, tugging her short, but regal, kimono.
"What? Can't handle a bit of heat?" Ace retorted smugly, looking wholly unbothered by the scorching desert heat.
"The spoiled queen can't adapt I guess," Rosan shrugged, looking just as unbothered despite his long sleeved clothing that should absolutely make him suffer the most.
"Kami you two cheaters are so fucking annoying," the queen snarled.
Rosan was constantly modified to be immune to changes in weather and Ace was literally made of fire! How was she supposed to be immune to the heat?!
"You're so easy to rile up," Angel sighed fondly.
"It's no wonder they do it so often," Demon chided.
Maro glared jealously at them as well. She was the only one in the group bothered by the desert heat and it was seriously annoying!
The queen squinted her eyes and a large grin split her face as she heard, "MARO!"
"LUFFY!" She squealed, rocketing and colliding with the other missile.
The Straw Hats sweatdropped at the impact and how neither seemed affected by the force of it.
"I missed you!" Maro beamed, squeezing the rubber boy affectionately.
"I missed you too, Maro!" The rubber boy beamed, glancing at Demon and Angel and dragging the two into the hug as well with his rubbery appendages. "Angel! Demon!"
"Luffy!" Angel gushed, squeezing his cheek cheerfully. "How's our little 35 million pirate doing!"
"I hope you and Master haven't caused your crew too much stress," Demon sighed, patting his head.
"You should have seen the party we threw when your bounty was revealed! Let's shoot for 1 billion next!" Maro cheered.
"Yeah!" Luffy agreed, nodding eagerly
.
"Master! Don't just let him build such a lead!" Angel barked, rounding on Rosan with a glare. "You should get 2 billion!"
"That's a bit much, don't you think?" Rosan hummed.
"I don't care!" She scowled.
"You heard the lady," Ace teased. "Can't go around being the oldest with the lowest bounty can you?"
"You guys know that I would rather not go making a fuss in the world yet, but you still do this," Rosan sighed in annoyance. "I didn't bring you guys here to talk about my lack of bounty. I wanted you to meet our crew."
His family was too much sometimes. Always so demanding.
"Oh!" Maro gasped in realization, glancing over at the Straw Hats. "Where are our manners?!"
Facing them fully, the queen of Celadon smiled brightly at them all and waved. "It's nice to meet you all! I'm Maro and I'm the queen of Celadon as well as Master Rosan's student!"
The Straw Hats blinked at that. "YOU'RE HIS STUDENT?!" They barked in confusion. They thought she was just married to his sister!
Much like Rosan said, Queen Maro was stunningly beautiful, with shoulder length azure blue hair donned with white streaks and wide orange eyes that stared at them all with compassion.
She was donned in a simple black kimono that showed off her curvy and strong figure, most notably the long fair legs.
Maro blinked at their confusion. "D-Does he not talk about me?" She stammered, shooting him a betrayed look. "BUT YOU SAID I WAS HOT?!"
"I never said that and you are allied with the World Government, Maro," Rosan grunted, flicking her on her forehead and getting a whine out of her. "Just bringing you here is a risk. I don't want anyone to associate you with us."
"I hate when you use logic on me," Maro scowled, glaring at him.
"So you really are that Queen Maro?!" Vivi asked in shock, eyes going wide. "The same Queen who rules Celadon?! You managed to increase the prestige of that island so much! It's astonishing how quickly you rose to fame!"
She was Rosan's student?!
"That's me~," Maro sang cheerfully, waving at the bluenette. "You're the princess of Alabasta, right? I'm glad someone recognizes me! Oh! But don't tell anyone that Master and I are allies… I could get in a lot of trouble!"
They sweatdropped at that. Everyone related to Rosan and Luffy had their own eccentrics it seemed.
"I don't think you have to worry about that, Maro," Demon smiled, grabbing their eyes and causing their mouths to open at the… softer looking Rosan, to be blunt. "After all, Princess Vivi is traveling with a group of pirates. It would be bad for her if she revealed how she knew that information."
Softer Rosan was the best way to put it... He looked like a dolled up version of the redhead with inverted hair and eyes, a small smile on his pretty face as he soaked the attention. He lacked the spikes Rosan did and he looked softer around the edges as well.
To top it off, the purple haired man wore a purple yukata that covered most of his bronze skin, giving him quite the regal and wise air.
"What a pretty person," they thought.
Despite looking like Rosan, they were finding it hard to believe that the two were related because of just how much kinder he looked.
"Dumbass. You think Master would have risked our position that easily?" Angel scoffed at her wife.
The surprised Straw Hats, only grew more shocked at seeing another Rosan, except it was a woman!
She was not as… blessed as Rosan's female transformation but she was just as gorgeous and much less wild, despite the haughty demeanor she exuded that would fit oddly well on the woman they saw the other day.
It was like looking at an inverted Demon. They looked just like twins (their features were far more similar to each other then Rosan) but where his hair was purple, hers was red and where his eyes were red, hers were purple.
Despite that, they were just as pretty as each other.
The woman's sense of style seemed more align to Rosan's as well, considering she was wearing white leather pants, a white crop top and a red bomber jacket.
"These are Angel and Demon," Rosan introduced, pointing at the twins. "They're my younger twin siblings and my clones. Demon's a doctor and Angel's a blacksmith."
"Angel's also my super hot and gorgeous wife!" Maro beamed, grabbing the slightly taller woman and hugging her gleefully.
Angel blushed scarlet at her words and returned the hug, kissing her on the cheek happily and getting a pleased grin out of the queen. "O-Oh you!"
Sanji could no longer resist staring at the two stunning beauties and soon, he was kneeling in front of the duo with two roses, offering them up to the both of them.
"It's truly rare that I get to see beauties such as you two —"
"NO WAY! SANJI?!" Maro gaped, making the chef jump in surprise and glance up wildly.
She was looking at him with clear recognition in her eyes and he was suddenly reminded that this was Grim.
"Oh right... I was distracted by her beauty," he thought to himself.
"Is that really you?! You've grown so much and you're a little pervert too, flirting with me and my wife right in front of each other!" The queen awed, forcing the blonde up to get a good look at him.
She moved his head back and forth, doting on him like a gushing mother and Sanji would have heart eyes at being pampered by such a beauty, if not for his embarrassment at why she was doing this.
"You guys know each other?" Zoro asked in amusement, watching Sanji's mortification with a large grin.
He remembered Rosan recognizing the chef's name when they first met and it seemed like Maro knew him too.
The other Straw Hats were also confused. Normally, Sanji should be on the moon at being the attention of such a beautiful woman but right now, he was frozen in his spot and looked like he wanted to disappear on the spot.
"Master and I met him a long time ago!" Maro exclaimed in joy. The two had shared a quick glance after she recognized him and he nodded his head, letting her know that Sanji knew his identity as Reaper.
"He was such a small and cute little thing and now look at him! I can't believe you guys managed to find each other again! Small world huh?"
The chef laughed nervously. "Y-Yeah... I just wanted to thank you."
"Thank me?! But I barely did anything! Aren't you just the cutest! How old are you now?" She asked eagerly, patting his head excitedly.
"1-19," he stammered, praying to anyone that she didn't go into detail about how they met.
She hummed at that, orange eyes glinting manically.
So Grim really was totally insane. He got that vibe from her for the few minutes that they met.
"Look at you! Thinking you're old enough to be smoking cigarettes! Those are bad for you, you know?! Have you stopped crying so much?! You could fill a whole room with your tears," Maro prodded, grabbing his cheek with one hand and squeezing curiously.
In her eyes, he may as well have been 8 again and Sanji blanched in horror at the realization.
"Please stop talking about the past!" Sanji begged. He knew that based on their short meeting, Grim was definitively the more outgoing of the two but he didn't realize just how bad she was in person.
This was one of the few times someone so beautiful was touching him and he couldn't even be happy about it! He wasn't expecting Reaper's right hand to be so gorgeous but he couldn't even soak it in because he wanted to crawl into a hole and die at her antics!
Zoro's eyes gleamed viciously at the visible embarrassment on Sanji's face.
This sounded too good to be true.
"I've never seen a girl do this to Sanji," Nami mused, glancing at the eccentric queen with an impressed gaze.
"I was about to stomp him to the ground but luckily for him, Maro recognized the perv," Angel sniffed, crossing her arms petulantly under her chest before gazing at the crew.
She shot them a short wave and said, "Hi all of you! I'm Angel and like mentioned before, I'm Master's younger sister and Maro's "super hot and gorgeous" wife."
"Rosan mentioned that you like to craft," Usopp said warily, stepping up slowly to the kinda scary girl.
Angel flashed a cocky grin and pat her impressive abs. "I'm pretty damn good at it too! Bet you didn't expect someone like me to be into such physical labor, eh? What type of gizmos do you make?"
Usopp puffed up at that, wanting to show off to a fellow craftsmen. "The great captain Usopp can make anything! I've been crafting since I was only three years old!"
The redhead shot the liar an unimpressed glare. "Lie to me again and I'm going to crush your nose small, dumbass. Now, tell me what you can really do and maybe we can trade ideas!"
The sniper whittled instantly at that and nodded hastily. "S-Scary…" he whispered.
This was definitely Rosan's sister.
Demon watched the exchange in amusement, before he felt something tentatively touch his yukata, causing him to glance down.
"U-Um… Did you say you were a doctor?" Chopper blurted out, clearly interested despite his hesitance. "I'm one too! My name's Chopper!"
"Oh, you can talk and you sound so intelligent!" He gasped, bending down slightly to regard him. "It's nice to meet you, Chopper. I'm Demon and I'd love to exchange information with you! Did you eat a Devil Fruit?"
Chopper nodded, surprised that he was being treated so normally. "I did! The Hito Hito no mi!"
Maro abruptly stopped pinching Sanji's cheek and her gaze snapped towards the voice that said that.
"YOU ATE THE HITO HITO NO MI?!" She gaped, vanishing and appearing right in front of a frightened Chopper, hoisting the tiny guy up with a manic gleam in her eyes.
"Y-Yes?" He said in confusion, blushing at the awed look in her eyes.
"Wow! So we're like Devil Fruit siblings now! From now on, you can call me Maro-nee!" Maro gushed happily, hugging the adorable little guy into her bust, much to Angel's outrage. "I also ate the Hito Hito no mi! Mine is Model: Dokkaebi!"
Chopper's eyes widened at that. "Really?!" He gasped in clear fascination.
She also had the Hito Hito no mi?! He wondered what a variation of his Devil Fruit would be like!
Would the rumble balls work on her? So many questions! Ah, it was so interesting to think about!
Maro nodded in excitement, placing him down and stepping back with a glimmer in her eyes.
The Straw Hats were all watching in interest after Maro's exclamation and she flashed them a peace sign.
Chopper couldn't stop the terrified screech that escaped him as a massive green monster suddenly loomed over him and he instantly jumped behind Rosan, failing to hide himself in the process.
The Straw Hats fared no better, letting out surprised yelps at the 8ft tall green goblin wearing the same kimono that Maro had on.
Muscular, terrifying and otherworldly in appearance, Maro's Dokkaebi was a sight to behold and looked much more developed then when she was younger.
Everything about her transformation had enhanced with age, which had the benefit of making her naturally stronger and all the more terrifying.
She lamented the fact that her Dokkaebi went through more puberty then she did all the time.
Usopp was shaking at the glowing orange that were Maro's iris-less sclera and he inched behind an equally quivering Nami.
"T-They're all monsters," he whispered.
The sniper let out a yelp of pain at the harsh grip on his nose and he stared into the menacing purple of Angel.
"Don't call my wife a scary monster! She's a gorgeous queen!" The woman snarled, threatening to yank off his appendage with her wild hand movements.
"Sowwy," Usopp moaned in pain. He didn't even say scary, she just added that! Angel was the most terrifying one in the group!
"Aww you don't gotta defend me! It's embarrassing," the giant Dokkaebi swooned, hugging the much shorter redhead and nuzzling her cheek gleefully.
Angel beamed and nuzzled her back, utterly unbothered by the terrifying visage of the Dokkaebi.
Sabo was impressed. "So the queen of Celadon is your student? I think I heard mention of her forcefully claiming the throne in one of my meetings…"
He normally rarely listened to those meetings, preferring to doze off, but the one about Celadon was rather interesting, considering the current Queen was an usurper of an island that had been on the Revolutionaries radar.
Despite forcefully claiming the throne, it seemed like Queen Maro had no interest in subjugating her citizens and Dragon himself claimed that the island was in good hands, so there was no need to bother it.
Who woulda thought that he and Queen Maro had some sort of connection?
The three leaders of Celadon froze at the unfamiliar voice, turning towards it and being reminded of the main reason why they had chosen to show up.
"Sabo…?" Maro whispered in surprise, looking at him with wide eyes and transforming back into her human form from the shock.
"So you really are alive," Demon whispered, tears brimming in his eyes at seeing actual proof in front of him.
This was... How could they process this? They thought he was dead for 10 years...
Sabo saw the redhead rush him with a wide gaze and resigned himself to being tackled again, not even grunting at the impact.
"Y-You," Angel scowled with tears in her eyes, crushing him to the best of her ability and glaring up at him. "After 10 years, you just show up again?! We all cried so much for you a-and we really thought you were dead!"
Sabo opened his mouth to say something but Angel wouldn't let him.
"Why? Why couldn't you just have accepted Master's help?! He was about to go kill that Celestial Dragon because we thought you died and I had to stop him from getting us all killed, Sabo… and now you have amnesia and all my anger is just so misplaced and I feel terrible for even ranting because you're so genuinely confused," Angel sobbed, clutching him desperately as her tears over spilled.
Angel's words had caused all the chatter to die down and, looking at his supposed family, he saw that they were all subdued in nature.
"...I'm sorry," Sabo said softly, feeling horrible.
Even without his memories, it seems like his body just couldn't forget these people and it was making a different type of pain wrack his body.
They must have been really important to him...
"I never minded that my memories were gone," he admitted. "After all, they must have been really terrible if I risked my life to get away from my home."
That irrational fear to stay as far away from Goa as possible had dominated him for a long time until he got used to the Revolutionaries. By then, he stopped dwelling on that small part that was curious about his life before and focused on the life he had now.
"I didn't know I had so much people who cared for me… who'd miss me. It never occurred to me that I had a loving family who thought I was dead and the worst part is… I still can't remember."
Sabo removed one hand from the crying woman's back to touch his scar. "I won't lie to you guys. I'm happy. I'm happy to be a revolutionary and I get to help people from the corruption of this world. I won't stop doing this because this has become my life..."
While Ace and Rosan had measured, masked, expressions, the others were far easier to read with the way they slumped over at his admittance. Tears brimmed in Maro's eyes and her lip began wobbling in defeat.
"But."
They perked up in interest.
"I want you guys to be apart of my current life and that can't happen while I still don't remember you all," Sabo grinned, returning the hug tenderly and patting the crying redhead.
"I don't know how, but I'll try to gain the memories I lost… I think... No. I know I'd regret not remembering you guys!"
Maro's lips began wobbling even harder than before and the Queen leapt onto the blonde, joining the fully sobbing Angel, both overwhelmed by his heartfelt words.
Luffy was quick to join. It was as if the Straw Hat captain went out of his way to make the blonde collapse, causing the four to drop to the floor.
Demon wiped his eyes of tears and smiled determinedly. "If you'll let me, I can run a diagnosis on you and see if there's anything we can do to help you regain your memories," he offered.
Sabo let out a deep gasp from nearly dying of suffocation and turned towards the purple haired doctor to the best of his ability. "Sure! I had some a long time ago but I wasn't interested in delving deeper into it so it was just the bare minimum."
"Can I help?" Chopper asked surprisingly. The little reindeer was visibly nervous but the touching scene had evoked all his passion as a doctor.
"I'd love that," Demon smiled kindly. "I wouldn't mind exchanging knowledge with you, I'm sure there's things we can teach each other!"
The reindeer jumped in excitement and nodded eagerly.
"Demon and Chopper are both awesome! You're gonna get better Sabo!" Luffy cheered ecstatically.
"There's no way he's gonna get better if you two keep choking him out like this!" Angel roared to the two idiots practically strangling the blonde.
Maro stuck her tongue out childishly. "It's been 10 years so let me enjoy this! Besides, you're no better! If he dies here, it's all three of our faults!"
"WHAT? YOU'D PIN THE BLAME ON ME?! WHAT TYPE OF WIFE ARE YOU?"
"THE ONE WHO KNOWS HER RIGHTS! I CAN'T TAKE THE FALL FOR YOU!"
"YOU CAN AND YOU WILL!"
Sabo wheezed at the increasingly tight grips. "I'd really rather not die like this so if you all could just —"
"SHUT UP, SABO!" They both barked.
"O-Okay," he wheezed.
Luffy laughed happily, pleased at all the chaos around him.
The Straw Hats finally realized exactly why Rosan and Luffy were the way they were. Their whole family line was crazy so it was expected of them to also be just as crazy.
"Rosan is responsible for making nearly all of them this crazy and Luffy's been this way since before he met our dear scout," Robin informed them, making them collapse on the floor.
S-Somehow it didn't surprise them that they were stuck with the two craziest.
Ace and Rosan watched all of this with small smiles of their own.
"Is that relief I feel?" Rosan asked quietly.
Ace raked a hand through his hair. "Yeah… I'm just glad he's here with us and willing to reconnect."
"We… we let our childish spat get in the way but this time, things will be different. I know you blame yourself but I was even more at fault."
The freckled man shook his head at that. "We were both being stupid and I took advantage of your guilt and lack of emotions. Things would have been really different if I could just get my own head out of my ass."
"Mom would probably have hit us both for being so dumb, don't you think?"
Ace barked out a laugh at that. "She definitely would but she'd also tell us not to let this opportunity slip by."
Rosan smiled wryly and held out his hand. "You aren't wrong about that. No more regrets, remember?"
Ace returned the smile and high fived his brother easily. "I'm honestly surprised you still follow those words."
His older brother simply snorted and sprouted Ragnarok's tail, dragging the three idiots off of Sabo with the reptilian appendage.
"Stop trying to kill Sabo. We just got him back."
"FUCK YOU, MASTER!" Maro roared. She had definitely not let out a girly squeal at the scaly appendage wrapping around her waist.
"You've been married to Angel for how long and you still want to do such things to me?" Rosan retorted calmly.
Maro was about to retort, but froze at the chilly air right next to her.
"Really, Maro? My brother?" Angel asked calmly, smiling serenely as she cupped her wife's body shamelessly.
The crew gaped at her actions, blushing scarlet at the redhead's actions.
The Queen squeaked. I-In public?! How bold!
"You don't seem to understand, honey. You are mine. These are my lips, my boobs, my ass. Your body is mine. Not even Master can have them!" Angel growled.
"Y-Yes dear!" Maro saluted hastily. She ignored the fact that she was being groped in broad daylight and glared at Rosan.
Damn him... He knew just what to say to trigger and turn Angel against her... he abused the fact that her wife was possessive to full degree.
Oh just wait until she got him and Robin together. Then she'd be able to give him a taste of his own medicine!
"What dangerous things are going through your head right now and why does it involve me and Robin?" Rosan wondered.
Robin looked over at that, raising a curious brow at suddenly being called.
Everyone aware of Ram's plan froze. "Ah just thinking about how cute you guys look with matching outfits!" Maro said.
She contemplated going into detail but Rosan would catch her lie immediately.
"Matching? I suppose we are..." Rosan muttered, glancing down at his predominantly black and purple outfit.
Robin was also wearing the exact same colors and smiled at that. "I guess we instinctively just started wearing the same thing... maybe I should add red to my wardrobe."
The redhead nodded in approval. "I already bought some red for you. You'd look great."
The Devil Child raised a brow in confusion. "I haven't seen a single article of red clothing?"
He shrugged. "You made me put everything away and the closet I gave you is massive and filled to the brim. Of course you don't know..." He grunted.
"...Touche. Okay, I'd like to see what red outfits you picked out..." she responded back.
Rosan nodded, fully taking his attention off the queen.
Maro let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't a bad liar by any means (Master made sure she could tell a good lie) but he did not teach her how to lie to him.
He also seemed to have a supernatural sense when it came to reading a person. That's why she made up a truth on the spot.
A tap on her shoulder, brought her attention to the orange haired girl smiling coyly at her.
"Whatever you have planned for those two, I'm in," Nami whispered.
Maro grinned eagerly, shaking her hand. "You must be Nami. Master and Kaori told me about you! Oh wait… you don't mind that Kaori is on my island, right? Please say you don't... I kinda really like her being my soldier."
Nami was a bit surprised to hear that but the woman had just vanished. "I don't mind, really! Kaori isn't a bad person and she… treated me normally. If she has any lingering regrets, tell her that I forgive her."
Her and the female fishman didn't have a single negative interaction that she could remember. In the first few years, it's because Kaori just didn't care about anything but her father but later, the woman actually began to like the navigator.
Maro appraised the girl with wide eyes. "You are so mature and rational and I'm so sorry for the headache Master and Luffy must give you all the time."
Nami waved her apology off. "You get used to Luffy at least… Rosan gives me more headaches then I care to remember. Now what exactly is your plan? I need all the details so that I can assist while you aren't here!"
Maro's grin was blinding. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship. Alright, follow me… Master's hearing is way too good. ACE COME HERE REAL QUICK!"
The commander, who had been conversing with Sabo, glanced up in curiosity.
"WHY?"
"FIRE TECHNIQUE IDEAS!"
"WHAT THE HELL COULD YOU POSSIBLY TEACH ME?!"
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY? YOU DUMB LITTLE WHITEBEARD BRAT, DON'T GET A BIG HEAD! YOU WANNA FIGHT?!"
"BRING IT ON! I OWE YOU AND ROSAN AN ASS KICKING FOR ALL THOSE YEARS I LOST!"
"LET'S GO RIGHT NOW!"
Nami sweatdropped but smiled cheerfully at the queen.
Honestly, Rosan and Luffy's entire family was so interesting!
"Is this really necessary?" Sabo asked with a sweatdrop.
He was learning some very interesting things about his family.
One thing he was learning right now, was that they were unnaturally competitive.
"Of course. I've knocked Rosan off the throne, now it's time to figure out who's the undisputed #1," Ace grinned, stretching in anticipation.
Rosan snorted. "Keep my seat warm for me. I'll take it back sooner or later."
Ace and Sabo stood parallel of each other on the battlefield erected by the Computer Man.
The Logia snorted. "Yeah, I'll keep it warm indefinitely. You ain't catching up to me!"
"I'm glad you genuinely believe that... it's gonna be all the better when I rip it from you," Rosan retorted, standing in the middle of the two.
"Why are they all so competitive," Sabo thought with a sweatdrop.
Despite thinking that, the blonde couldn't help the excited thrum pulsing through his body at proving that he was #1 in terms of strength.
Guess he was just as competitive as they were...
"Still use the pipe, eh?" Ace grinned, lighting up in preparation.
"From what I heard, I was the best at it already so maybe its a good thing you go rid of yours," Sabo grinned back, clenching his weapon tightly and tossing his hat aside.
"Begin," Rosan muttered, vanishing to sit next to his family in the seats he erected.
Ace wasted no time. The freckled man grinned and rushed forward while saying, "I haven't needed that pipe for years!"
Sabo's eyes widened for a split second before the man held up his weapon and clashed with the fiery fist.
"Didn't expect a Logia to start off with close combat, huh?" the commander asked cockily, igniting the fire on his arms to spread even further.
The revolutionary leapt back to avoid the flames licking his skin and narrowed his eyes as the whole field erupted in flames.
"He knows I can sense him, so this is just to give him more of an advantage by cutting off where I can run..."
That... was smarter then he would have given Ace credit for.
Well, he wouldn't let the pirate dictate the fight all the way.
Sabo calmly pinpointed Ace's location and rocketed forward, swinging his metal pipe with expert precision.
Ace applied armament to his arm and blocked the attack, eyes going wide at the power behind.
"His armament is a bit better then mine," the Logia thought with a slight grimace.
Using his free arm, Ace formed a concentrated orb of flames and held it between him and Sabo.
"Flame Orb."
The revolutionary leapt back before the deceptively massive explosion captured him.
The moment his feet hit the floor, the ground erupted.
"Flame Geyser!"
Sabo grunted as he was launched into the air by the pillar of flame and he gazed at his brother just in time to see Ace cocking a fist at him.
"Fire Fist!"
"He's fighting way smarter then he normally does... looks like our spars really helped out," Maro grinned, eyes proud.
"Overwhelming and manipulating the terrain? He really took a page out of your book, Rosan," Robin observed with an impressed gaze.
Rosan couldn't keep the smile off his face as he made the same observation. "I knew he was a tsundere. The moment he ate that Devil Fruit, he was probably thinking of ways to use it like we use ours."
Impressive. He was proud.
Sabo gripped his pipe tightly as a massive fiery fist approached him and with a huff, he dispersed the wave of fire with a mighty swing.
Everyone's mouth opened, as the swing of his pipe summoned a gust of wind strong enough to put out some of the flames.
Then, the blonde landed on the floor and rocketed forward at immense speeds.
He reached Ace immediately and swung his pipe with one hand to the side of his head.
As expected, Ace blocked the attack with his enforced arm but Sabo's eyes sharpened with a gleam.
Ace's eyes widened, as Sabo lashed out with his fingers and gripped the pirate with crushing force before delivering a brutal kick to his gut.
He doubled over but still Sabo did not release him.
Clutching his brother, the revolutionary hoisted him up and body slammed him on his back.
Ace grunted in pain and before Sabo could repeat the process, he ignited his entire body in flames, forcing the blonde to release him.
Not stopping there, the fire roared as it expanded and momentarily blinded Sabo.
That was all Ace needed.
The construct of fire dashed forward and tackled Sabo to the ground, making sure not to burn him.
He wrestled his brother down and used his flames to form makeshift handcuffs.
"Sabo is properly restrained, that's game," Rosan announced, calling the match.
Ace grinned at that and banished his flames, before holding out a hand for Sabo to grab.
The revolutionary looked a little shocked at the results until a wry smile formed on his face and he grabbed the hand.
"If that fight kept going I would have won," Sabo told him.
Ace snorted. "You keep telling yourself that."
"Next time it'll be different..." The blonde assured, competitive glare on his face.
The pirate's cocky grin widened. "Maybe in a few years all of you will catch up to me but until then, I'll be enjoying #1."
They heard a snort and regarded their older brother who said, "You guys are real confident. Don't be too sad when you suddenly lose your #1 and 2 spot."
The middle brothers grinned eagerly. "All of us being close to each other, just makes our fights real fun!" Ace exclaimed.
Sabo nodded along. "I've suddenly gained a lot of motivation to get way stronger so it might take you all a while to catch up."
"I doubt it," Rosan responded.
"Yeah! We're gonna get way stronger then you two!" Luffy exclaimed, bounding up to the three with a wide grin.
Maro scoffed and crossed her arms. "It'll be real embarrassing when the only one not travelling the Grand Line becomes the strongest. Don't be upset when yours truly takes another throne!"
"It was so easy to rope Sabo into their competitiveness," Demon muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
Angel's eyes gleamed in excitement. "Imagine a free for all between the five of them and their all close to strength? Wouldn't that be so fun to watch?!" She asked, shaking in her seat at the thought.
Everyone began thinking about an all out brawl between the 5 monsters and couldn't help but shudder.
"We would probably have to watch it on a different island," Robin suggested with a tiny laugh.
They all nodded sagely.
There was no way they wanted to be remotely close to that.
"You're leaving already?" Angel frowned sadly.
"Yeah, I stayed long enough but I have to continue the search for Blackbeard," Ace smiled apologetically, hugging his older sister to make her feel better.
"I wish the circumstances were better but at least we got to see you," she sighed, returning the hug.
Luffy didn't look put off by that at all. "Ace has his own journey! We'll see him again," he explained like it were common sense.
The freckled man nodded and affectionately pat the rubber boy.
"I'm gonna miss you," Maro sighed, joining the group hug and squeezing the freckled man affectionately. "Make sure you visit us sooner then 3 years, you dick!"
"You bet. No promises on how soon but since Rosan's in the Grand Line, it should be much easier," he assured.
"A Devil Fruit and narcolepsy… I'm surprised you're even still alive," Demon sighed, finishing off the hug with his presence. "Have the attacks slowed down any?"
He nodded sheepishly. "They still come but they aren't as frequent as they used to be and I did nearly die one time. Caught an attack and fell straight in the water."
The doctor snorted. "Fire Fist Ace… 2nd Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, dying to a narcolepsy attack. I don't think Master and Maro would ever let you live that down."
"That's why I survived!" Ace laughed easily, facing his brothers.
The freckled man dug into his pockets and pulled out two pieces of paper.
"Luffy, Sabo. Can you hold onto these for me?"
The two perked up at being mentioned and easily caught the pieces of paper Ace handed them.
"A piece of paper?" Luffy asked, puzzled.
"A Vivre Card? You want me to hold onto yours?" Sabo asked in surprise.
Rosan raised a brow and asked, "What is that?"
"I don't know the full details, but a friend made it with my fingernails," Ace explained. "It lets you guys know if I'm doing well and you can even find me. Watch."
Ace turned into fire and instantly dashed off into a random direction.
Sabo beckoned for them all to look at the Vivre Card and their eyes widened as it began inching towards the same direction the commander had disappeared into.
"Useful," Rosan remarked in interest, watching Ace reappear in front of them. "Do you know how to make one?"
Unfortunately, Ace shook his head no. "I don't know the process. My new friend at the time just asked for my fingernail and gave me a huge piece of paper afterwords."
The redhead hummed and nodded his head, not too put off by that fact.
It was a slower Save Point but his usage of the technique wasn't infinite. This could be a good way to keep tabs on people without using up a slot and considering he could fly, it would just take some a little longer.
"I know someone who can," Sabo interjected. "I can have some made for you guys and give them over when we meet up again."
His eyes glinted in interest at that and Rosan nodded. "That would be ideal. I want a Vivre Card for a lot of people if you don't mind... Including you."
The Revolutionary nodded with a small grin.
"Do you need anything before you go?" Angel fussed like a concerned mother as she smoothed out Ace's hair that got a little scuffed from his fight with Sabo. "Food? Money? Ship repairs? The talk?"
Ace flushed and scowled. "I don't need the talk, Angel. You already did a fantastic job explaining it to me when I wasn't ready!"
His older sister stepped back in shock.
"But I turned 18!" She exclaimed with wide eyes, not understanding what she did wrong.
"I'M THE ONE WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE 18!" He roared, pinching her cheek and shaking her head rapidly.
"O-Oh, right," she mumbled, whining at the sensation of being pinched.
Everyone sweatdropped.
"I'll give you some food really quick. I just finished harvesting a bunch of new fruits," Maro chimed, patting the depressed Angel's head soothingly.
"Let me inspect your current meds to see if they are good enough," Demon interjected as well.
"Sure, sure!" Ace laughed, allowing them to fuss.
The Straw Hats watched in awe.
"So this is what it's like to have such reliable people in high places," Nami gaped.
They were all so incredibly useful! W-What the hell was this?!
"This feels like cheating," Zoro muttered in agreement.
"How did we get stuck with these two?" Usopp lamented.
...
A silence washed over the field that made everyone stop.
All the non straw hats, barring Sabo, paused in disbelief, turning towards the pirate crew lamenting with brows raised to the roof.
"Luffy I can get, but you're upset that you're stuck with Master?" Angel gaped, scratching her head in confusion.
"I would literally kill to have Master stay on Celadon you lucky bastards," Maro pouted.
"He's the most useful out of all us of… I get he's an ass but just what is he doing to you guys?" Demon couldn't help but wonder.
"Honestly, Luffy's lucky he got first dibs on him. I wouldn't have any complaints about having him join my crew," Ace snorted.
Their redheaded oldest brother was unmatched when it came to sheer versatility. If anyone knew the full scope of what he could do, people would be chomping at the bits to coerce him to their side.
Rosan shrugged at their praise, smirking slightly. "I'm flattered but I don't spoil my crew as much as I spoiled you all so they don't know just how useful I am. Their growth is important so I try not to interfere with it. It builds character."
The Straw Hats blinked at that.
"THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T DO ANYTHING?!"
He tilted his head. "Wasn't it obvious? Of course if I think you're in danger of dying, I'll interfere."
"IT WASN'T OBVIOUS AT ALL!" They roared in disbelief. They just thought he was a dick!
"He did that to me too... but he also spoiled me at the same time, then I got strong and he stopped torturing me and only spoiled me!" Maro beamed.
Luffy nodded rapidly. "Me too!"
"He's sick!" They cried. He only tortured them!
Rosan hummed. "I mostly didn't interfere in the East Blue because they were all weak and well within your capabilities but don't worry, I won't allow you guys to die yet."
Ace laughed at the look of relief on their faces. "Rosan's a dick but he's only cruel to his enemies. We've done a pretty good job taming him over the years so he's much better than when he was 14 or younger."
Young Rosan was a demon. It was a good thing he was not currently like that. No emotions he maybe, they definitely still managed to tame and make him more tolerable.
"Don't speak about me like I'm some type of animal," Rosan scoffed.
"Mother, pet, teacher, brother… Rosan the extraordinaire does it all!" Maro teased.
A grip on her right cheek, ceased all laughter from her and Rosan calmly said, "Should we resume our training from when we first started? Perhaps I've been too lax with you all."
The queen went white and desperately began shaking her head. "No Master! I'm sowwy, Master!"
They all began laughing at the woman's plight and eventually, Rosan let her go, patting her on the head to calm down her grumbling.
"C'mon Ace, I'll take you to your raft," Rosan offered. "We'll be right back."
After shooting Robin a glance, to which she rolled her eyes at, the trio flew off to Striker.
"BYE ACE, TAKE CARE!" Luffy shouted, waving eagerly. "Next time I see you, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY WEAK LITTLE BROTHER!" Ace shouted back.
The trio vanished and they watched them go with a fond smile.
"You remember all the methods of training your haki, right?" Ace questioned, already knowing the answer.
Rosan's memory was damn near perfect and anything he possibly forgot, Mod remembered... or they just watched it.
It's how Ace was able to learn so much about his mother... He really loved that woman and to see himself how stout she was in keeping him alive, made him reevaluate many of his previous thoughts.
"Of course. I'll be sure to start training immediately with Robin and Luffy," Rosan nodded.
"Based on what Maro said and what I saw… I'm not too sure I want you to train me," Robin teased with a shake of her head.
"He's brutally efficient," Ace laughed.
It was harsh at the time, but it had bore fruit and the commander had been more than strong enough to steamroll most of the ocean.
"No pain, no gain. Blame Mod-chan, she was a slave driver," Rosan said.
"Y-You're the one who asked me to train you!" Mod gawked at his audacity. "Don't you dare try and blame your sadism on me!"
"My apologies, mother," Rosan replied, causing the woman to blush in embarrassment. She always got like this when they called her mother.
"Y-You…"
Ace laughed at the interactions. "I missed this, y'know? Being out on the sea and becoming a pirate was great but there were some nights where I really wanted to see you all again."
"If you accepted my Save Point, that wouldn't have been a problem," Rosan countered.
"You aren't apart of my crew! I don't need it," he snorted stubbornly.
"I know, I know… Just be careful alright? Focus everything onto defeating Teach, you can trust me with Sabo… I won't mess up again," Rosan said softly.
Ace sobered up at that, expression turning serious at his brother's tone. "You know I trust you but that does put me more at ease. After I wrap up this business, I'll try and visit you guys again and maybe then I'll let you place a Save Point on me."
Rosan landed right in front of Striker and shot his brother a wry smile. "I'll hold you to that and Angel will actually hold you down."
He snorted at that. "That means you'll have haki by then, eh? Aren't you a bit too cocky for your own good?"
"He's Rosan, of course he is," Robin supplied helpfully.
"Hmph," Rosan said, not deigning to acknowledge them and causing the two to snort.
The commander then turned to Robin, much to her surprise, and bowed to the taller woman.
"This is a bit much but, please continue to take care of my older brother, Robin," Ace requested.
She was Rosan's best friend and the catalyst to many moments in his life. Robin shaped Rosan in many ways and it was why the redhead loved her so much.
The only person who affected Rosan on the level of Robin, had been Meiko so their whole family held the woman in high regards.
"I'm glad you're not as stubborn as I am and you two made up quickly. You're good for each other and it puts me at ease knowing someone as reliable as you, will keep this guilt ridden idiot in check," he said truthfully, rubbing the back of his hair with a small grin.
Robin flushed at the sincerity in his tone, not expecting it, and delivered a short bow herself. "I'll do my best. I love Rosan and all I want is for him to gain what he's lost."
She then gazed at him with a small smile. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Ace so I want to thank you for forgiving him and allowing us all to make progress. If you never did that, Rosan would be a very different person. Take care of yourself, Ace."
The woman smiled warmly at him and Ace could see why everyone wanted them together now.
She had his firm approval.
"I'm not enjoying being insulted so frequently lately," Rosan muttered with a shake of his head. "Once I learn haki, I'll have to start enforcing my older brother privileges in earnest."
"I'd like to see you try," Ace grinned challengingly.
The two stared at each other for a long moment before it was broken up by twin smiles from the two and they exchanged a brotherly hug.
"Teach that traitor a lesson and then introduce us to your crew. I'd like to meet and thank Whitebeard for taking such good care of you," Rosan muttered.
"I want you all to meet Pops as well. I may or may not have talked about you guys a lot so he knows who you are," Ace replied, breaking the hug off so that he could depart.
Rosan sighed. "I would say I'm annoyed, but far too many people already have their eyes on me. You know I met and fought Hawk Eye Mihawk in the East Blue and he gained a personal interest in Ram and I?"
Ace and Robin's eyes shot open at that.
"You fought who?!" Robin hissed in disbelief. The World's Strongest swordsman?! What?!
Ace whistled. "I bet you were trying to stay low too and it failed," the commander cackled at his brother's plight.
"I don't know what I did wrong," Rosan sighed once more. "Why are so many important people interested in me? Can't I just be the humble scout in peace?"
His freckled brother snorted. "You're actually walking around calling yourself that? I thought it was a joke!"
"We need to talk later about that Mihawk fight you just mentioned," Robin said, crossing her arms with an even stare.
"...Why does it sound like I'm in trouble? You were going to see it eventually and a lot of things happened in my life," Rosan muttered.
Robin's gaze remained even.
"...Fine," he eventually said.
Ace threw his head back and laughed. His brother was so whipped and he didn't even realize!
To be fair, he was whipped by their whole family. Rosan was just as much of a mom as Mod was.
"I'm so glad to see how much you've grown, Ace. It makes me so proud," Mod smiled brightly.
He had stopped being so angry long ago but there was always a certain… loss in his eyes. It was a look bred from years of being told he shouldn't be alive and even after all the years being surrounded by love, there were times where it would randomly surge.
But now it was nowhere to be seen, replaced by genuine happiness and a charming confidence.
Ace had grown so much in the three years he had sailed and it made her so proud.
"I'm glad you're proud, Mod. We may have started off on the wrong foot, but I really do love you like a mother," Ace replied sincerely.
Mod turned scarlet at his admittance because Ace never said that before. "I-I... you do...?! T-That, that makes me so happy!" She sobbed.
The woman was so happy and embarrassed right now... she abruptly cut the connection and fled to go celebrate in peace.
"Father will be stronger than you next time we meet!" Ram barked in annoyance, smiling despite it.
"I'm looking forward to it. I want us to have a fight, no holds barred as close to each other in strength as possible," Ace laughed as he easily landed on the raft.
"Love you," Rosan said, waving bye to his brother.
Ace flushed at his older brother's bluntness. "Stop being so embarrassing, Rosan!"
…
…
…
"Love you too," he mumbled, igniting his lower half and setting off.
Ugh, Rosan was the worst.
Robin giggled at Ace's embarrassment and joined in the farewell. "I hope to see you again, Ace!"
"You too Robin!" The pirate making distance yelled.
"You never mentioned a girl in your life… I hope you aren't hiding her from us. You shouldn't be ashamed of your family," Rosan advised.
"IF I HAD A GIRLFRIEND, I'D HAVE EVERY REASON TO KEEP HER AWAY FROM YOU ALL!" Ace roared in fury, speeding up his ship and vanishing from their sight.
Angel alone would have been too much… Meeting all of them would have been nothing but disaster for Ace.
Honestly, his family was embarrassing at the best of times.
Damn it, he missed them already. He needed to find Teach and get rid of him quick, then he'd report it to Whitebeard and go meet up with them again.
When did he become such a family guy? Well, he couldn't say he hated it.
"He seemed eager to go," Rosan commented idly.
"You never struck me as the type to embarrass your younger siblings but now that I think about it, you 100% are," Robin replied, smiling at the thought.
The redhead shrugged. "Ace makes it too easy. It's impossible to embarrass Luffy so he gets all of it until I'm around the twins and Maro."
Robin giggled at that. "You're still as much of a menace as ever."
"That's good because right now we can begin being menaces to Sir Crocodile himself," Rosan hummed, eyes glowing in preparation.
It was about time now for him to completely annihilate the organization known as Baroque Works.
Ideally, he'd get Mr. 1, 2 and Miss Doublefinger but those were all secondary to his goal of making the Warlord submit.
Would he send Crocodile to Maro? No, too risky. The sandman would be Rosan's personal servant by the end of this trip.
"I still can't believe you're going to try and recruit Crocodile himself," Robin sighed fondly. He was genuinely insane.
"Once we defeat him, it will be easy. I have ways of forcing obedience that don't involve using Overhaul. Can't expect everyone to have a weak will."
Rosan grabbed the woman and his eyes began glowing. "Let's head back to the crew, it's about time we commence our plans."
Crocodile puffed out a smoke as he stared down his remaining agents.
Each one looked remarkably shocked at seeing who exactly was their boss.
They were clearly not expecting him to be Mr. 0 and it didn't look faked so that meant these agents were likely still on his side.
"Things have gone a bit awry but that doesn't matter. We've spent years sending Alabasta to its ruins so now, lets reap our benefits," Crocodile drawled.
He wasn't sure what Nico Robin's plan was but if she did deign to come back, he'd show her what it meant to cross him.
But that would wait.
For now…
"It's about time we finally commence our plans."
Memory Viewing With Robin and Rosan - 2
Continued!
Robin frowned deeply at the redhead, as she continued to watch his memories.
She wasn't just displeased with him. No, she was displeased with every single one of them barring Demon.
They must have sensed her displeasure because no one said a word to her and for the moment, that was fine.
But she would be having a word with them.
Their treatment of Maro... it was completely unfair to the girl. It did not matter if she was better now, dragging her into such a toxic environment right after taking her out of one was unacceptable.
Maro was a human, not some toy to discard if they proved useless.
Soon after recruiting the tiny girl, Rosan wasted no time vanishing with her and bringing her on the ship where they met Angel first.
It was natural for the female redhead to treat her with hostility but it was Rosan's job to nip that in the bud immediately. Unfortunately, because of his disposition, he didn't feel the need to lay a heavier hand and poor Maro wouldn't have possibly been able to defend herself.
The little child couldn't even speak properly... it was like taking a baby and throwing them in the lion's den. All she could do was flail about helplessly as Angel tore into her.
Thankfully, Rosan finally did intervene when it looked like Angel was going to go too far and the female twin was at least rational enough to realize she had stepped far out of line.
Angel should have honestly been the biggest obstacle when it came to Maro's livelihood on that ship but no.
She wasn't even close to the biggest problem because right after realizing she was being a prick, the redheaded twin managed to make some amends with Maro and took it upon herself to teach the orphan.
No. The biggest problem on the ship was Rosan himself.
To be completely blunt, little Rosan wasn't fit to be anyone's teacher in his current state, especially someone as vulnerable and compassionate as Maro.
But no, instead of realizing that their ideals were just not compatible enough, Rosan forced it to be.
Robin watched in horror as Rosan traumatized Maro without a care in the world.
He... He tried to force the child to kill someone because she was too kind?! Then when she couldn't do it... he ruthlessly murdered them directly in front of her?
"You are my weapon yet, you have a set of values that contradict my own. That is unacceptable. As you are now, I have no use for you."
"Discard your current values because they are not my own. You fight for me, you live for me, you kill for me. This is what it means to be my weapon. You exist for my sake. You are Grim, the right hand of Reaper."
Robin couldn't believe it.
"This is unacceptable," she said finally, standing up so that she could regard all three of them. "You guys have no idea how disappointed I am in all of you right now."
While Rosan held her gaze, Mod and Ram immediately averted their own.
"Do you think anyone deserves what you all have done to Maro so far?" Robin asked with a frown on her face. "It doesn't matter if it worked, you took an orphan who didn't even have a name and traumatized her! The only person who went out of their way to make that poor girl feel accommodated was Demon!"
"Taking that girl and shoving her into such a toxic environment... you should be thankful that Maro is so exceptional! That was completely irresponsible of you," she finished, directing a stern look at the three.
What they did to her... it was inhumane. The fact that Maro still ended up the way she did, spoke volumes to her character and Robin felt her respect for the queen only increasing.
Mod and Ram shrunk into themselves at her accusing stare and Rosan sighed.
"I... I know more then anyone else, what I did to Maro. I realized how terribly I treated her the moment I began to care for her," Rosan admitted. "I thought just because she was a blank slate, I could fill her with whatever I wanted. I ignored her wants because like I said, she was a weapon for me. Even her name signified that."
"I didn't need a kind weapon. I didn't want someone to take advantage of that kindness and kill another thing that belonged to me..."
The redhead frowned. "But as I spent more time with her... As I taught her even basic things that she didn't have the luxury of knowing, I realized that Maro wasn't my weapon. Maro was my student who shouldn't have gone through what I made her go through."
Robin's heavy gaze lessened. "Did you apologize to her?"
Rosan nodded. "I did. Even now, I'm trying to make it up to her in anyway I can..."
So that's why he was always thinking of ways to help Maro.
The redhead raked a hand through his hair. "I hate what I did to Maro, Angel and Demon. I really do. I let such a toxic environment fester for far too long and I realized too late that this wasn't the right way to do things. That's why we don't travel with each other anymore."
Her frown vanished fully at the remorse in his tone and she put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you realized that you made a mistake. I don't have all the details yet, but it looks like it turned out for the best."
He nodded. "I tried to salvage it to the best of my ability and I'm glad it worked. Let's continue... after this I do start treating her better."
Robin nodded and sat back down to focus on the screen.
True to Rosan's word, he did start treating her better... by giving the girl a Mythical Zoan.
After assuring her teacher that she wouldn't let him down anymore, the orphan had requested that Rosan give her a Devil Fruit and he had given her one of the best to help her along the way.
A Mythical Zoan that even Robin didn't have much info on...
From there, the redhead took it upon himself to make sure Maro wouldn't be going in blind with mastering her Devil Fruit.
Despite not being well suited on the emotional aspect of being someone's teacher, Rosan was fantastic when it came to the technical side.
"You really are effective," Robin commented, watching as Maro got stronger at an incredible rate.
It took no time at all for Rosan to feel confident taking her with him on missions and when they went on the first one...
It was amusingly disastrous.
Rosan and Maro had no synergy with each other.
Robin couldn't stop the giggle at seeing the both of them get in the way of each other nonstop.
The Dokkaebi was convinced that she was the main aggressor and acted accordingly...
Unfortunately, Rosan had been the main aggressor in all his fights for as long as he could remember. It was an oversight on his part for not making that clear.
"Get out of my way, Master!" Maro barked with a growl, as her giant body smashed once more into Rosan by accident.
"There are dozens of enemies, how are you constantly picking my target?" Rosan intoned emotionlessly.
"You're doing it on purpose!" she snarled, dashing off to smash the head of another poor victim who could only watch the slaughter with confused and helpless gazes.
Despite their complete lack of teamwork, the two still completely overwhelmed their meager opposition.
"Man our teamwork was terrible," Ram complained, scratching her head in awe at how bad it was.
"I didn't imagine you two had such horrible synergy," Robin giggled, watching as Maro argued with the calm Rosan.
"You're the one with the versatile Devil Fruit! Take a backseat and let me be the aggressor," Maro barked.
"I'm far stronger then you. Why would I support someone weaker then me?"
"YOU'VE BEEN FIGHTING WAY LONGER, CAN'T I ENJOY MYSELF?!"
Robin sweatdropped at Rosan. "You really didn't want to concede to your own student? What is wrong with you?"
Mod sighed sadly and said, "I couldn't tell you."
"We worked it out... I realized I was being unreasonable so we made adjustments," Rosan muttered.
And adjust he did. The redhead postponed missions for 2 week straight, just so he and Maro could learn the importance of actually having good teamwork.
"You're so used to me supporting you that you thought Maro would just slot right in," Robin laughed, watching the two slowly but surely understand how the other worked.
"It was a different kind of challenge... but not one I disliked," Rosan admitted. "We eventually settled on balancing our aggression and reacting with each other but I can turn fully supportive in battle if I need to."
She smiled at that. It was a different kind of growth for Rosan.
Robin watched as they tried to implement the new fighting style... to little success but slowly, they began to get more and more comfortable with each other. The more they fought with each other, the more they began to realize each other's habits and the more they began to anticipate what the other was going to do.
She watched with a proud smile as their clunky teamwork, shifted into something more and more seamless... and in the process she watched as Rosan's perception of Maro began to change.
The more comfortable they got, the more Rosan taught her, the less the redhead saw her as a weapon and the more he saw her as a human.
Soon, Grim and Reaper began to actually look like a terrifying duo who could bounce off each other's style with startling ease.. and Rosan began to care for Maro.
Robin could see exactly when he realized what he did to her was too harsh. He began to spoil her more and give her random gifts. He listened to her requests without ever saying no and gave her far more break days.
He began to encourage her to begin thinking for herself and allowed the girl to hang around Angel, Demon, Aiko and Akemi far more then himself.
Robin was proud to see that Rosan was trying to make amends in his own way. He didn't even realize that the more he tried to make up for what he did, the more he began to care for Maro.
"You really did realize your mistakes," Robin commented, as the two effortlessly finished yet another mission.
Maro looked much healthier, mentally and physically and the little teen no longer shrunk into herself when she thought she was failing Rosan in some way. She carried herself with confidence because Rosan had been instilling it into her for a few months now.
Rosan nodded as he watched the memory. Any moment now and she was going to recommend they raid Germa.
"I tried to make it up to her in any way I knew how... but I knew that there was no taking back what I had done. In order to truly make amends, I needed to make Maro realize that I am not #1 in her life."
Robin nodded in approval as she idly watched Maro suggest actually raiding the Germa kingdom. "You salvaged a bad situation well... hold your head up, Rosan. Remember, you only found Maro when you were 12 and you were still so young when you realized the error you made."
He hummed. "I think that was more on Maro then me... If I never have a child, I can be content with how she ended up."
Robin couldn't stop the shock at hearing that statement and looked at Rosan with wide eyes. "If you ever tell Maro that, she might burst into tears for a few days."
"It's my trump card for embarrassing her," Rosan admitted with a wry smile.
Ram's eyes gleamed as she saw an opportunity. "Father, you want kids?"
Robin raised a brow at that and glanced curiously at the redhead.
He tilted his head to the side. "Yes. I wanted at least 4 children. 2 boys, 2 girls."
Rosan had always wanted a big family. It must have been the desires of being a lonely child. Two kids could still be lonely if it came down to it and if there were three, one could potentially feel isolated.
But 4? They could form a group and not grow tired of the other... most likely.
Meiko had wanted 6. Both Rosan and Mod had gawked at her admittance.
"Four little Rosan's running around... I shudder at the thought of them being exactly like you," Robin said with slightly horrified eyes.
Four cute little gremlins causing ludicrous amounts of chaos with a father like Rosan to encourage them... what a terrifying thought.
Rosan rolled his eyes. "You'd love them."
"Of course she will!" Ram thought with a wild eye. They'd be hers after all.
"What about you, Mother?" The ring asked.
Robin blinked and pointed at herself. "Me? I've always wanted at least 1 but I wouldn't be opposed to more," she replied truthfully. "It would need to be after I finish my journey though... I have no interest in abandoning my child or taking them with me on such a dangerous trip."
Rosan blinked in return. "I'm the exact same way... I wonder how old we'll be when we achieve our goals..."
The Devil Child shrugged and smiled jokingly. "If we get too old, we can just have children. Though... four might be a bit much," she informed him jokingly.
Mod and Ram's eyes bugged out of their skulls at her words.
Rosan let out a small snort at her joke. "And here I was thinking you were fine being the lame auntie. Are you that attracted to me?" He asked with a raised brow.
Robin snorted in return. "Don't flatter yourself. This is more for my sake because I'm sure anyone I show even a hint of interest in, is going to be killed and or scared away by you."
The redhead nodded slowly, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Okay, four kids then and we have to name the first one after Mod in some way... Any ideas?"
"None. We'll have about 9 months to decide," Robin shrugged.
"Better then 20."
Thud.
The two stopped joking with each other and glanced over at the unconscious Ram. The ring had a happy smile on her face and Mod was urgently fanning it.
"Ram?" They called in confusion.
Mod's wide red eyes gazed up at them and she urgently said, "I-It's okay! Ram just never thought she was going to have siblings and even though you were joking, the idea made her very happy!"
She herself nearly had a heart attack at hearing the two discuss their plans and the fact that Rosan remembered one of his children needed to be named after her, sent her over the moon.
The two moved over at once to regard the ring.
"Big sis Ram, teaching all her lil siblings how to be awesome~," the sleeping ring sighed happily.
"...She wants siblings?" Rosan muttered.
"Maybe we should have them then," Robin couldn't help but joke once more.
Rosan hummed. "...How's Modest or Modesty for our first born? Then on our second we can decide who it gets named after based on gender."
"Sounds good to me," she replied with a short nod, smoothing out Ram's hair.
Thud.
The two paused in disbelief, as Mod fell unconscious next, smile on her features.
"...Maybe she's still tired after tending to me for so long," Rosan muttered, hoisting Ram up after a quick glance at his best friend.
Robin gently lifted Mod up. "We can continue next time then... though, sleeping right before seeing what happens with Germa is quite a cliffhanger."
Rosan snorted. "You read a lot, you get used to it."
Mod sighed happily in her sleep. "Little Modesty following Auntie Mod around everywhere~."
As promised, early chapter 32!
The brothers have reunited but unfortunately, Sabo still doesn't remember them... Sorry, can't make it that easy now! Amnesia for 10 years is quite severe and probably implies that it's difficult to remember.
Next chapter will be action packed and long... I know this chapter wasn't too action heavy so I hope that the Ace vs Sabo fight was good.
I do think Canon Ace at 20, has more going for him then Sabo does and though I think Sabo at 22 is a fair bit stronger then Ace at 20... 2 years is a hell of a difference and my Ace is far more competitive, which means he throws himself into training a lot more. Therefore, if a serious fight broke out I do think, at least here, Ace would comfortably win.
My Ace is more in tune with his haki, physically stronger, much more willing to engage in close combat and though his journey was the same, the outcome of a lot of his fights were different. The most obvious I can name that should give you a good sign is that instead of tying with Jinbe, after 5 days he came out victorious by virtue of being stronger then his counterpart!
That's all from me! Chapter 33 is the end of Alabasta and I'm forcing it. There will be no Alabasta part 3 so here's the chapter title (might be subject to change)
Chapter 33: Too Much Sand
