Happy Thanksgiving!

I KNOW it's been a long time for this story! And I'm really sorry.😅 Water Lily took a lot of my time, but I'm going to try to catch up with LEF as well!

Thank you to all the new readers as well, I love that you've stuck with this and I love your comments and it is all appreciated.

This is a bit of a bridging chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy it!

Chapter 8 - Dawn Island Pt II–Advent of the Storm

The Same Day, Marineford

When the call came in, Fleet Admiral Sengoku had just sat down to lunch. The call had lasted only a few minutes, acknowledging that the call had gone out, the identity of the target, and that the forces were being scrambled to the given location.

Suffice to say, when it was over he was no longer hungry.

Instead, he placed his head in his hands, feeling both his age and the burden of his duty.

How did such things keep happening?

The reports from Ohara still burned in his mind and it was at times like these, he wondered exactly if the ends actually justified the means. Was this really the justice that he'd gone into the Marines looking for? Is this really what the Navy was supposed to fight for?

But just like every time such hard, complex issues came to the forefront of his job…just like every time he had cried and lost and screamed both outwardly and inwardly…the old veteran would press all of these things down deep inside, burying it in a place where it wouldn't interfere and where he could deal with it on some faraway date that may or may not come, on his own time—whenever that was supposed to be.

The truth was he had very little control over these kinds of matters. In this situation, he didn't even have to do anything except some concluding paperwork when it was all over. He was merely a cog in the wheel between the orders given by those whose word was law, and those who were tools, the dogs that would respond to a master's whistle.

And yet, Somehow it still felt like he was putting more blood on his already stained hands. Because the thing was he knew this target. He knew it very well. He also knew that above all, there was one vice-admiral who could not respond to the summons. It would probably kill him.

And so with a morose groan and a heavy heart, he picked up the transponder and placed a call. "Eastern Command, give me a status report on which high-ranking officers are in your area."

The officer took a few moments before answering, "Vice-Admirals Dalmatian, Doberman, Onigumo, and Bastille have been in the East Blue for a week, give me a few moments to check for any officers who have arrived in the last 36 hours."

Before the officer on duty could do so, he asked his next question. He kept his inquiry casual.

"Is Vice-Admiral Garp in the region?"

He shouldn't be, but that hadn't stopped the man from doing what he wanted before.

"No sir, he just called in from the South Blue, dealing with some pirate gang war down there."

He sighed. Good. It was better to keep this from the man until it was all over. As cruel as that might be.

He then asked his next question. "Which admiral is the closest to the East Blue?"

He already had a pretty good idea, but he wanted to (hope) make sure.

The officer responded promptly. "I just checked sir, Admiral Sakazuki is also in the area, sir. He and his fleet were completing emergency maneuvers near Logue Town and were about to return to the Grand Line."

Sigh…he hated being right.

"Patch me through to him."

"Yes, sir."

The phone rang for a few moments before the admiral in question picked up.

"I'm already on my way, several forces from all over the Blue will meet me at the target in the next 6 hours."

Sengoku rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Get a grasp of the situation, and use your best judgment."

The man's gruff automatic response came back. "I'll do what I was commanded to do. Just keep that old guard dog out of my way. It's his fault that that area is as lax as it is."

The man unceremoniously hung up, leaving Sengoku to wonder what the world was coming to. He was in charge of the largest military organization in the world, and yet he felt like he was only an observer on a ride he no longer had control of.

Some Hours Later, Dawn Island

Sabo groaned, his eyelids fluttering as he approached wakefulness. One of the first things he was aware of was that he felt horrible. His old friends, cuts and bruises, were immediately obvious, but his body felt more beat up than usual and his skin also stung from burns. On top of that, his chest felt heavy with a constant sharp ache. What the heck had happened?

Suddenly, what felt like a projectile launched by a cannon collided with his side, causing him to grunt painfully. But even with his mind muddled, he recognized a Luffy-shaped missile when he felt it.

And sure enough, right on-time, the sound of sniffly sobs butchering his name could be heard, muffled by his crybaby little brother's head burying itself in his abdomen.

Well, some things never change. And of course where one was, the other would be also. Now if he was true to form—

The sound of a fist hitting the smaller form glued to his side (not quite as hard as usual) followed by a "Leave him alone, idiot. He's hurt." nearly made him smile if he could. There he was–like clockwork.

His eyelids were heavy but after a bit of a struggle, he was able to open them. His vision slowly cleared and he blearily looked around, recognizing his surroundings. The wooden, rickety roof the Dadan bandits' cabin stared back at him, he was laying on a bed and turning his vision slightly downward, he could see a small head crowned with a giant straw hat crushed against him and above that sniffling head, the stern figure of his elder brother stood just behind him.

Sabo spoke slowly, his voice thick and dry. "Ace….? Luffy…?"

Luffy's head popped up and his drenched face showed the sorrow that had been there, but also the bright happiness that was beginning to break through.

"SAAAABOOOO! YOU'RE AWAKE!"

Ace hit Luffy on the head lightly, his face showed annoyance but the blond could see the worry and relief in his eyes. "Of course, you didn't think something like a tiny explosion was going to take him out, did ya?"

Luffy both nodded and shook his head, his huge brown eyes putting all of his true emotions on display. Sabo couldn't help but smile. While he was still trying to make sense of things, he couldn't help but feel relief to be in the presence of his brothers after so long. He had been so worried after the Gray Terminal Fire and he was grateful to now have proof that they had made it out okay.

He reached out and grasped at Lu's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Hey Lu…it's good to see ya."

The boy sniffed while nodding rapidly, his head bouncing up and down.

He looked up at Ace, and while the boy looked relieved, his face was shadowed and haunted. Though when he finally met his gaze, his mouth curled up into a light smile, which was a big thing for Ace. Sabo recognized the happiness that shined bright behind that small grin.

"I'm glad to see you too, Ace."

The grin increased by just a little bit before breaking down back into his usual exasperated facade. "As you should be after I saved your life. It's about time you woke up."

His head was a bit fuzzy and he was trying to remember exactly how Ace had saved him or how he had gotten injured. He couldn't even really remember how he had gotten back to the bandits' cabin? Hadn't he been at his birth parents mansion preparing for—

Sudden flashes of light, searing heat and flame appeared in his mind's eye. Loud concussive explosions loud enough to shatter eardrums filled his head and he cringed, closing his eyes from the mental onslaught of the memory's return.

A sudden incessant tapping came to his leg, "Hey, Hey! Sabo? Sabo? You're staying with us, right? You won't leave us again, right? Right?"

He looked up to his little ball of sunshine, whose eyes were waiting anxiously in anticipation of his answer.

He felt like his heart would break again to have to tell the boy, "no". To tell him that he had to go back, to disappear in order to protect them from his father's reach, he knew it would be hard for both of his brothers to understand and accept. God, it was hard for him to even attempt to say , especially now that he was back within their comforting, protective midst. But he had to do this. He had to leave. He had to get far from them, far from this island, and hope they'd understand why.

He swallowed thickly before opening his mouth to speak. "Well, Lu…the thing is—"

"Yes, he's staying with us from now on." His elder twin's authoritative voice cut him off and his eyes snapped up in shock at the other boy.

Ace's eyes though held a cold fire that told him under no uncertain terms, to hold his tongue. Sabo usually wouldn't hesitate to defy such a look, but he could see beneath the surface that this wasn't just about Ace being stubborn and defiant. He wasn't simply telling him not to argue, but rather that they needed to have an "elder brother talk".

And so deciding to wait, he watched a cheery, excited Luffy get shooed out the door and told to go and prepare the tree house for Sabo's return and then tell the other bandits he was awake. The ecstatic boy agreed, running out the room in excitement at having his family back together again, like it belonged.

Ace quietly closed the door behind him, before then wedging it shut with a chair. A simple measure for relative privacy.

Now that they were alone Sabo spoke up without any preamble, "I can't stay here, Ace. You know that."

Ace still wasn't facing him, his hands against the door, the blond could see the tension in his back as his spine was as straight as a lance.

When the other boy didn't answer, didn't even turn towards him. Sabo spoke again. "Ace, y-you know why I left right? I-If I stay, eventually my father will find me again…he'll threaten you and Luffy again. And I know you're strong Ace, but this is bigger than that. It's bigger than us!"

His voice became softer as the memory of having his beloved brothers' lives threatened came back to his mind. "If something happened to you two…I…"

He didn't know what he'd do. The guilt alone would eat him alive.

He'd have nothing left.

His brothers had to understand that he had no other choice! He had to leave Dawn Island. This was the only way he could both protect them and keep his sanity!

Ace was being stubborn as usual though and so even with every part of his body screaming for him to keep still. Sabo pushed himself to sit up, to move from off the bed to go to his idiot best friend and brother.

Of course he had greatly overestimated his own strength, and nearly the moment his feet touched the floor, agony shot through his system and instinctively doubled over. Which wouldn't be such an issue if it didn't also cause him to lose his balance and topple over.

He flinched, bracing for the pain of impact with the floor.

Only—he never made it.

He found himself held and supported by his twin's strong arms, The boy held him close, keeping him from falling, before pulling him back toward the bed. Sabo tried to look up at the raven-haired boy, but couldn't see his face from that position.

With a strange mix of rough force, and surprising care, Sabo was half placed, half-thrown back onto the mattress.

After so much time in silence, his brother finally spoke up. Not with the irritated, angry yelling that he was used to, but rather an intense raging quiet that scared him more than any of Ace's boisterous swearing ever could.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you really want to leave us that badly?"

Sabo's head jerked up as he finally settled on the bed, his body pushing against his brother's restraining arms. "Wait, what are you talking about? I don't want to—"

He didn't get far as he finally was face to face with his brother, and while Ace's trademark snarl was indeed present as expected…the tears welling up in his fierce eyes definitely weren't.

"Ace?"

The brunet's hands trembled slightly, "Why did you leave us?"

"Ace, you know I had no choice, my father—"

"I don't give a rat's ass about your bastard father! Why did you leave us?!"

"I had to protect you guys! It was the only way! You saw what happened. You guys were going to be killed if I didn't do what he said! Do you think I could just let that happen?"

"So what about after?"

He was thrown by that, "After? What are you talking about?"

The other boy got in his face, silver flaring through his eyes. "I'm talking about you , going out on a freaking dingy, all by yourself, leaving Dawn." Leaving us. "What was that about, Sabo?"

The blond looked down, at his hands, trying to think of the right words to express what had happened. Why he had had to leave. It had been so much easier to explain in a letter!

"After the fire, I…I just couldn't take it anymore. Do you know that everyone in the city, all the nobles, knew what was happening in Grey Terminal? They knew and just didn't care? They just didn't care! It was like an everyday event to them. To them those people were nothing. Nothing." He look up at his brother with pain in his eyes. "How can people truly think like that, Ace?"

Some of the fierceness and anger receded as he watched the raw pain in his brother's face. Ace knew very well that society deemed some people more important than others. That some people were judged to be worthless in comparison to others. That compared to others, some people shouldn't have even have been born.

He knew that intrinsically, his twin had probably already known this horrible fact about the world they lived in. Yet this had probably been the first time that Sabo had had it pushed in his face, and had been so affected by it.

The blond went on, "I was scared for you and Luffy. I tried my best to get back to you, but I couldn't get past the gates that night. I ended up getting returned back to my prison and I found that I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't stay any longer in such a rotten place that would treat human beings that way. I had to leave! During the celebration was my only chance!"

The raven folded his arms, "Why didn't you come back here? You would have been safe here with us."

Sabo looked at him incredulously, "Oh please, this would have been the first place my father would have looked. Either him or one of his paid lackeys."

Ace placed both of his hands on the bed, "So you think I'm not strong enough to protect us?"

He rolled his eyes, "This isn't about you, Ace. You're strong, yes, but you're not invincible. You're not going to be able to stop a bullet!"

Those silver eyes seemed to electrify and suddenly Ace's hands had grabbed his collar and he pulled the other boy towards him with a low snarl, "You'd be surprised…"

Sabo felt pain lance from his wound, but it was dulled when faced with the intensity and haunted visage of his brother's face and his trembling hands.

Something was wrong. He knew his brother. Something had happened after he had passed out from his wounds and it had rattled him beyond all reason.

He searched his eyes, "What happened Ace? How did I get here?"

Last he remembered, he had been falling unconscious in the water. Everything after that was a bit hazy. How did Ace get him all the way through the city and back up the mountain all by himself with every citizen of note crowding the wharf?

Ace bit into his lip, and Sabo could see the emotions dancing in his ash-colored orbs, the glossiness of his eyes quickly threatening to become wells of tears. Slowly Ace let go of him, putting him silently back down to the bed. He then began to back away a few steps before standing there, head down and trembling. Sabo thought for a moment that he was going to spill. But at the last minute he instead turned away, his back to him. "Just get some rest, Sabo. You got hurt pretty bad. Don't move from that bed."

He was walking away. He was avoiding the issue. He needed more than that, darn it! "Ace, tell me what's going on? Just talk to me!"

But he didn't stop. He didn't turn around. He moved the chair before opening the door. However, before he left the room he said one more thing. Words that left a sour ominous taste in the air.

"And just so you know? You don't have to worry about your bastard father anymore."

The sentence shouldn't have sent such chills in him to the point that it stunned him speechless. It shouldn't have made him wonder. It shouldn't have made him afraid….

By the time he was aware enough to speak, he was now alone in the silent cabin room, so his whispers echoed so much louder to the empty space.

"Oh Ace…what have you done?"

The raven haired boy moved away from the room, the cabin, and into the forest. He roughly wiped at his face, trying to remove all evidence of his emotional slip.

Why was his twin such an idiot!

Don't you understand? I almost lost you 'Bo. Not once, not twice, but three times! And now you want to leave us again?

In the back of his mind, the slightly calmer, more rational part of him knew that the blond had just been trying to do what he had thought best. That his brother had been suffering probably even more than they had because of their traumatic separation. However, Ace's mind was still too raw to be able to process everything yet.

Too many haunting images were seared to his brain from earlier that day. Sabo sailing away from the island…the artillery shot, blowing his boat to splinters…

Seeing his brother not breathing, covered in blood only for him to be dragged off…

Bodies being gunned down in cold blood….a gun being pointed at Sabo's head and him being completely helpless…

He felt himself begin to tremble as the images replayed once again in his brain.

Stopping, he tried to breathe only to fall back against a nearby tree, sliding down to the ground. Sitting in a crouch, his arms crossed over his knees, he buried his face in his bandaged arms, trying to keep his emotions at bay. And failing.

His shoulders shuddered as the dams cracked and broke and tears began to slip through. Everything felt like it was collapsing in on him all at once. He hated, hated, hated this! He should feel relieved. Everything had turned out right. His brothers were safe, they were all together again, they were all free.

So why was he crying? Why did he feel so bereft? So lost?

He sat silently sobbing as the cold of the forest floor seeped into his legs and the hard bark of the tree jabbed into his back. The wind howled and snaked right through his thin clothes, chilling him, as well as increasing the feeling of being lost and adrift.

It was just then that a pair of warm spindly rubbery arms began to wrap around his middle. His back went ramrod straight as he suddenly felt a small body cozy up to him, the arms holding on tight allowing him to snuggle close.

At first a flush fell over his skin at the idea of being caught in such a compromising position. His knee jerk reaction was to try to punch the boy away, asking where he got off sneaking up on people like that.

However, his little brother didn't say a word. He simply stayed by his side, his warmth providing support and a silent and steady presence. His embrace never wavered, but it wasn't restraining either. It just rested there, making sure to let him know that he wasn't alone.

It gave him reassurance in a way. It allowed him to take a breath and take a step back. To ground himself again.

If just for that, he guessed the little crybaby could stay…

They stayed that way for a few more moments before Ace felt himself calm enough to finally give Lu a little bit of push away. He took the hint and released him, though he still stayed close at his side. His head leaning against his shoulder.

"You okay now, Ace?" Luffy sniffed a bit.

The older boy took a deep shuddering breath before responding roughly, "Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Those knowing brown eyes glanced up at him. "You and Sabo had an argument, right?"

He didn't bother to ask how the seven year-old knew, only to shrug before leaning back against the tree apathetically.

Luffy tilted his head, "It's okay. Sabo's back. That's what's important. He's our brother. You'll make up somehow."

Everything that had happened in town—Sabo leaving them…that stupid fishbowl-headed bastard and everything he had done…whatever the hell he did in town that had caused everyone in town to fall out…having to watch them sew Sabo's body back together, only for him to want to leave them once again !

He took a steadying breath once again. What did any of that matter? Lu was right. It didn't matter now anyway. The problem had been taken care of and Sabo could stay with them like he was supposed to.

Luffy pulled on his shirt. "Neh, Ace. Something's wrong."

He roughly wiped at his face,"I kind of know that, Luffy."

"No,no." he chirped back in response. "Something's wrong in the jungle, it's too quiet."

Ace raised an eyebrow at that before taking the time to listen to his surroundings.

Indeed the jungle had become quite quiet, in fact almost eerily quiet.

The jungle was always full of verve, the sounds of animals, birds, and insects, all creating a soundtrack that had consistently played in the background of nearly his entire life. The only time it was silent was—

His brother was right. Something was very wrong.

He got up from the ground before heading off towards their tree house. "Come on, Luffy."

The younger boy scampered after him. The two climbed up the tree quickly into their house before ascending to the highest level at the very top of the foliage. Once he was able to see over the forest, Ace was able to take a look around. It was approaching twilight, the sun was low in the sky and it was quickly approaching evening. He scanned over the jungle. Nothing was moving. The wind was still, not a bird flying in the sky, even the beasts of the field had gone quiet.

He felt beads of sweat appear on his skin. What was going on? Everything was so still. It felt darn near unnatural!

Luffy hopped up and down next to him in the lookout, a look of abject fear suddenly appearing on his face. "Oh, no! Look, look! Ace look there! Out at sea!"

The boy turned to where his brother was pointing, beyond the mountain and forest, and out towards the ocean. Only to gasp at the sight on the sea before them.

Luffy was running around in circles, "We have to run, Gramps is coming! We have to hide Sabo, he's too weak! He'll get clobbered right now!"

The sound of shuffling came from behind them, "Who's too weak?"

Ace whirled around in anger at the sound of the familiar, unwanted voice. "What are you doing here?! I told you to stay in bed."

Sabo slowly shuffled up the ladder, pale, covered in sweat and obviously in pain but still determined. "And since when have I ever done what you told me to?"

Ace growled in rage, "You listen when your life's in danger, which it currently is."

Luffy looked up at Sabo with worried eyes, "Sabo, you were hurt really bad. You need to rest."

The blond met the eldest's eyes head on, silent communication going between them, however, he looked at the youngest a bit more indulgence. "I'm going to rest, Luffy, I promise. I just didn't like staying in that room all by myself."

He hobbled over the edge of the lookout, "What's going on?"

Luffy rushed up to his side before pointing out towards the ocean, "Gramps is coming! And he brought all his friends!"

Sabo looked out to the waters, only to be shocked to see the coast of the island was completely surrounded by Marine Navy ships! He'd never seen so many. There were so many of them, all different sizes and shapes, and not-a-one of them looked friendly.

Ace came to his side, subtly leaning against him, using his body to prop him up. His face though was dark as he looked ahead. "That's not Gramps, Luffy."

He was right. Sabo searched all the ones he could see and couldn't find Vice-Admiral Garp's ship anywhere. "What do you think they're all doing here?"

They could begin to see smaller boats making their way towards land. Ace had a bad feeling, worse than before, sinking into his stomach. He didn't like this. Not one bit. Every instinct in him was telling him a storm was incoming and they needed to find shelter.

"Let's get inside." he murmured as he began to shepherd his brothers back into the main part of the tree house. "We'll go back to the bandits' hideout. We need to put 'Bo back to bed and then we can go check things out."

The blond turned back to him in annoyance, "I'm not a baby, you idiot."

Ace only looked at him nonplussed, as his body was constantly shaking and trembling from pain and exhaustion. "I'm not the one who's two steps away from falling out and then getting even more injured. Who's being more of an 'idiot', you or me?"

"How about Sabo just rests in the tree house? I can stay with him!" Luffy chimed in.

The other two turned to him, surprised that he would rather stay with Sabo than go exploring with Ace.

Luffy shrugged at their reaction, "I missed Sabo. He missed us, and I don't want him to feel lonely."

The kid couldn't sit still for more than a few seconds. But then again, leave it to Lu to constantly surprise them. Sabo smiled and hugged Lu to his side, "Thanks, Luffy. I really missed you guys a lot."

Ace considered it, they were right here and Sabo couldn't go on for much longer. Though on the other hand, there was safety in numbers and until he understood what was going on and why the navy was here, he didn't want his youngest brothers isolated. Usually he was confident that they could handle everything on their own. However the memory and horror of almost losing both of his little brothers on more than one occasion during the last few days, continued to haunt him. Dadan and the bandits weren't much good, but they had turned out to be pretty helpful in getting them out of tight spots. He would rather be safe than sorry.

Normally, he'd stay too to make sure they were all safe, but the marines were a problem. They had never had such a large Naval presence at Dawn Island before. East Blue was well known as the sea with the least trouble, and his crappy Gramps' reputation had been enough to keep most away from the place. And the fact that he hadn't shown up himself was strange.

A chill went down his back. Could it be because of what happened in High Town? Had his actions brought in this kind of Marine response? But why now? The Marines hadn't shown up at all for the huge fire that killed so many at Gray Terminal, but they showed up a few nobles getting knocked out? Okay, maybe not a few, but come on! They had all just been standing there while that fishbowl jerk had been about to kill Sabo! They deserved it! He'd do it again if it ever came down to it!

Not that he understood what exactly he had done. Truly, he had tried to ignore the strange power that he had used to protect both Luffy and Sabo. He didn't know what it was, much less how to control it. He also hated how it only came out when he was so desperate. Also how it had made others look at him…not simply the people of the city, but also Dogra and the other bandits.

Was this power related to his demon blood in some way?

Shaking his head, he decided he could think about that later. Either way, he needed to go and see what was going on.

He took Sabo's arm and swung it around his shoulder, being mindful of his injuries. "No, let's go back to the hideout. It'll be warmer there, and if we need to move, we won't get cornered."

They then made their way out of the tree house. As Ace held his wounded brother as they climbed down, Sabo whispered to him. "Don't think you're going to get out of it by running away. You owe me an explanation."

Ace only glanced over at him before muttering, "Later…"

His blue eyes narrowed as if he was contemplating if the other boy meant it or not, but in the end he decided to trust that his elder brother knew he couldn't escape him forever. The two slowly finished climbing backwards down to the ground with Ace hopping down first and holding Sabo's arm as he came down next to him.

"Alright, come on let's get you back—" Ace turned around only to nearly trip over Luffy who was standing ramrod still right in front of him. He growled in annoyance, already pulling his fist back to bop the kid in the head. "Hey, what's the big idea? Are you tryin' to—"

Before he could even land the hit, Sabo yanked on his arm to get his attention. "What?!"

But Sabo's eyes weren't on him. They were now staring wide open to something that was right ahead…

Something that had also caused Luffy to freeze where he stood.

Ace followed their line of sight until he found himself looking into the dark void that was the long barrel of a gun.

And it wasn't alone.

Surrounding them on all sides in the brush of the jungle were Marine officers, their rifles and firearms aimed right at the three boys.

The eldest felt his breathing begin to speed up and he instinctively went on autopilot, yanking Luffy back so that he was standing behind him along with his twin. His eyes narrowed to slits and his hand curled up into tight fists, arms already up in a fighting stance. He already could tell by looking at them, that these weren't the usual pushovers that they were used to taking care of on the island.

These dead men were going to be a problem.

But dead men still.

Because he'd gone through way too much today and he had had enough of this shit.

A/N: And cliffhanger!

But don't worry, next chapter will be coming out very soon!

Oh, but the way, a ton of new content has been revealed about the Revolutionary Army in the most recent chapters and I'm going to be reworking some of that into this story. Especially of course with Kuma, Ginny, and Bonney. Dragon also will have some tweaks to his character, but I'm going to make it all work. 😁

Anyway, Let me know what you think! Thanks again!