Chapter 6
The crowds were huge. Stuffy nobles and commoners were gossiping excitedly away, all bright eyed and eager. Rouge snorted, still fiddling with her bazooka. It was such delicious timing. The nobles burn down Gray Terminal, and forced her to break out of her shadow form.
Now she could appear at will, despite still relying on Ace's magic.
And right now? She was tempted to blow up another Celestial Dragon's ship. One little explosion just to make people panic and cause some chaos.
Sadly Dogra was crying.
"Why do you do these things? What's wrong with you?"
Rouge snorted. "Do you want me to work my way from the top to the bottom? Or list those problems off in alphabetical order?"
"Never mind that! Why do you have a canon?"
Rouge grinned wickedly. "I haven't blown up a nobleman's ship in a long time."
"DON'T DO THAT!" Dogra screeched.
"You're lucky people can't hear you over their own cheering," Rouge teased. "Otherwise they might just think you're crazy."
"You're driving me crazy!"
"I've been known to do that," Rouge conceded.
The amount of Marines who retired because of her was hilarious, that or just quit outright. Poor, but smart folk, they were.
The Celestial Dragon's ship began to grow as it came in closer. The cheers echoed across the sea, fireworks going off and World Government flags waving. Rouge snorted.
A lovely, beautiful day. A shame if someone ruined it with a bazooka.
The idea made her cackle.
"You're insane!" Dogra sobbed.
"Hey, wait!" a man startled them, making them both jump.
She hadn't expected someone to speak up. Rouge had cloaked them in an invisibility spell. Yes, Dogra too, because she nice like that.
"There's a fishing boat out there!" the man continued.
Rouge frowned. That was bad. The Celestial Dragon's fragile ego would probably take offence to a tiny ship cutting him off or something.
"There's a child sailing that thing."
Rouge sighed, and pushed out more of Ace's energy into using her observational haki. Her kid was going to need a long nap after this ceremony was said and done.
The energy was familiar.
Sabo.
"That's not Sabo, is it?" Dogra startled.
"You've got the binoculars, not me," Rouge snorted.
She was not bothered explaining haki to a mountain bandit.
The little boat moved out the way. But Rouge knew that wouldn't be the end of it.
"Oh thank goodness, the ceremony won't be disrupted."
"An exalted one! Most people go most of their lives without ever seeing one!" a woman cried.
Lucky for them. If people had common sense, they'd run from the Celestial Dragons.
The tiny boat exploded.
She could feel Sabo's startled shock, confused why this was happening. He was panicked, trying to put out the fire frantically.
He'd have better luck jumping ship.
.::.
Dogra couldn't speak. He was frozen in shock. He barely managed to scream Sabo's name.
"Is the child alright?!" a man asked.
"He must have angered the Celestial Dragon!" another cried out.
"That naive fool," Rouge sighed, shaking her head.
Dogra flinched, but before he could ask, Rouge disappeared in a crackle of lightning. He barely caught sight of the lightning strike Sabo's little fishing boat just as a bazooka hit it a second time, exploding it into pieces.
.::.
Sabo's world disappeared in a flash.
One moment he was on his burning ship. The next he was out in the outskirts of Goa with an arm hooked securely around his waist. Sabo startled then squirmed.
"Let me go-" He froze.
A live photograph stared down at him, not grinning, no, instead Portgas D. Rouge looked bored, and almost annoyed.
"That was dumb, Sabo. Don't you know what crossing a Celestial Dragon means?" the strawberry blonde asked sharply.
"A-A-ACE'S MUM?!" Sabo screeched. "SHADOW LADY?!"
"Well, at least you still retain some braincells." Shadow lady, Ace's mum, Rouge? Dropped Sabo on to his feet. "Damn, Ace was finally recovering from the magic drain. He's going to be tired again. And call me Rouge, Sabo. I'm no longer shadowy."
"H-How?" Sabo asked shakily.
"Bluejam found out that Ace is a Portgas witch and tried to kill him to active his magic or some shit like that to save his ass from the fire," Rouge began.
"What?! No! Bluejam was supposed to leave Luffy and Ace alone! Are they okay?"
Rouge snorted. "They're fine. I dealt with Bluejam. But I had to use up a lot of Ace's magic to do so. Some of it remained to give me my old shape back."
But her form was wavering. He could see through her, and Sabo now had the feeling she hadn't meant to drop him. No, Rouge had meant to hold on to him, but hadn't been able to.
"You're going see through." Sabo frowned.
Rouge cursed. "Shit. I really did use too much of Ace's magic then. It's his energy that tethers me, or at least allows me to tether myself as a physical being rather than a ghost."
It all sounded rather complicated to Sabo. But then again, magic and witches were a complicated subject in the first place, never mind adding their deaths to the equation.
"I didn't realise ghosts could come back from the dead," Sabo admitted.
"I'm not alive. Just physical," Rouge corrected him. "Most cannot do it, but Ace is a D. a D. who has a lot of energy and strength to him. So he can maintain a hold on me, just as I use my strength and energy to maintain my hold on his magic."
"So most of the Head Witches can't do this?"
"Yeah, I'm rather unique." Rouge smirked, but wavered again. "Shit. I was hoping to bring you back to Ace-"
Her form wavered even more. She was in fact disappearing, and that made Sabo twitchy.
"Ace needs to rest." Rouge scowled, staring intently at him. "Sabo, the guards all know your face-"
"I'll be fine." Sabo grinned. "I'm sneaky enough."
"Just don't get caught-"
"I won't."
Rouge opened her mouth to speak, her brow furrowed, but this time her form faded away entirely. Sabo grimaced. If he knew anything about the Shadow Lady- Rouge- was that she did not like to be interrupted, even by herself through magical means.
She wasn't going to be happy about any of this.
But that was a future Sabo problem. Sabo right now wanted to go home and reunite with his brothers. He grinned and happily moved off. The last time he had seen Luffy his baby brother had been terrified, screaming and crying, and the last time he had seen Ace was after the storm that wrecked their tree house. When they had convinced Ace to go train his magic.
Now, his current problem was that Rouge had dumped them on the otherwise of Goa, where nobody lived because it consisted of mostly mountains. That meant he had to go all the way around or sneak through the Town Centre. It would be chaotic there with the gathering for that Celestial Dragon, so Sabo could slip through unnoticed.
He smiled at the thought and rushed off.
It was hard getting through the crowds. But he had to in order to get to Edge Town. Sabo's heart raced as he got closer and closer to home, and he couldn't help but grin. The crowds were beginning to thin down, and he broke out of them and raced into Edge Town. It didn't take him long to see the gate, and he laughed.
"Ace, Luffy, just wait!" Sabo beamed.
A man in a black suit suddenly appeared before him, halting his way. Sabo jerked back, but the man instantly snatched up his wrist.
"You're Outlook's son, Sabo," he said blankly, frowning.
"Let me go-" Sabo hissed.
"Sabo!" Father called out.
Sabo glanced back over his shoulder, seeing his father hurrying over, mother right at his side. They both looked gleeful and hungry, and that made Sabo's blood run cold. They were after something, or had something, and whatever it was wouldn't be good.
"You've done well, my son!" Father said happily. Once he reached their side he patted Sabo's back. "I saw it all happen. You lured out a Head Witch-"
Sabo froze.
No. No. No. No-
"Your pulse quickened." The man holding his wrist frowned, before glancing up at father. "Most others hadn't noticed the lightning strike during the blast of the bazooka. You seem to have quite the observational skills. A good trait for those who wish to do well in their life."
"Thank you, Laskey. I am honoured you think so highly of me." Father smiled. "Sabo, this is a member of Cipher Pol, the shields of the great Celestial Dragons themselves. You must tell him who the witch is. Saint Jalmack is waiting for them-"
"I won't!" Sabo spat. "Never in a million years-"
"Sabo!" Mother gasped. "What has gotten into you-"
Laskey snorted. "You believe you are protecting them? A lightning strike is the sign of the Clan of the Elements. The Portgas Clan. That Clan is dying out and must be protected, surely you can see that?"
Sabo snarled. "You won't take their freedom away! I won't let you!"
Sabo had to be very careful. He couldn't afford to give this guy any hints as to Ace's identity. Not even if he was a guy or a girl. This bastard could torture him for all he cared, he would not give up Ace, especially not to the guy who just tried to murder Sabo for sailing past him.
He would protect his brother, no matter the cost.
"Smart children do as they are told," Laskey said coldly.
"Piss off-"
But Father was the one to react, he grabbed Sabo and yanked him around. Sabo's arm throbbed, his wrist was still held by Laskey, his fingers digging right against his pulse. Sabo head snapped back when his father slapped him. Sabo spat some blood out on the ground, wincing as his cheek throbbed.
"You are embarrassing the family name!" Father snapped. "And I shall not tolerate it. Those wicked little brats have brainwashed you into-"
Father froze, and Sabo reeled back at the slow smile that grew upon his face.
"Ah, I see now," Father mused. "It's one of them."
"Like hell-"
"His pulse quickened again." Laskey's grasp tightened on his wrist, earning a creak of protest from his wrist. Sabo gritted his teeth and fought against the grasp, but the man only twisted his arm further, making him hiss in pain. His father tutted at him for the action. "Who are these 'brats' as you called them?"
"Two orphans that roam the streets who lured Sabo away from home and brainwashed him. But now I think I see a larger purpose in all of this." Father's voice softened. "Sabo has found a Head Witch in one of them, haven't you, my son?"
"No!"
Mother gasped. "But the fire-"
"Fire won't kill a Portgas. No element would," Laskey said. He raised his free hand and snapped his fingers. Instantly twenty men in black suits were around them. "Go and search for two boys, they should look like?"
He stared at Father intently.
"Two dark haired boys. One carries a Straw Hat, and the other has some kind of brace around his arm." Father grimaced. "The guards might have a better description than me-"
"A straw hat?" Laskey murmured, but nodded. "That will be enough." He turned to his men, eyes hard. "Go, and do not stop until they are found. Search everywhere. One or the other shall do."
"You've disappointed me greatly, Sabo," Father said gravely. "You're trying to hide a Head Witch from us who must be by the Celestial Dragon's sides. We must make them happy, Sabo. They are the esteemed rulers of our world, with a glorious lineage that dates back countless years."
"I won't let them enslave my brother!" Sabo spat.
Laskey frowned. "What age are these boys?"
Father paused. "A bit younger than Sabo perhaps? Or maybe the same age? No older than ten."
"Then the boy will not have the urge yet..." Laskey murmured, before shaking his head. "You don't know anything about the Celestial Dragons and the Head Witches, boy. All witches seek to reunite with them. It's within their very souls."
Sabo frowned. The urge for what? He gritted his teeth, because that didn't matter. He struggled again, and screamed. Luffy and Ace wouldn't hear him in the forest, but Rouge was another being entirely.
Sabo had no idea what she could do.
"SHADOW LADY!"
Father and mother looked horrified at his 'insanity', but the agent was amused.
"You've spoke to a ghost, haven't you?" Laskey chuckled. "They only linger around little witches to protect and guide them. And always at first appear as shadows. Some manage to flicker into their original looks, but that it much more rarer."
Sabo gritted his teeth. "She won't let you touch my brothers."
"She's a ghost, and the dead can only haunt you," Laskey said, sighing. "You may take your son back home. We might speak again soon."
"Thank you so much!" Father smiled.
"It's been a privilege to help an esteemed ruler!" Mother simpered.
But Sabo felt an overwhelming hatred for himself at that moment. Because he might be the reason Ace lost his freedom. Dadan was right. They should never had told him about Ace's linage. He had just put Ace in danger, even when he had tried to lie and protect him. Tears burned his eyes. They couldn't take Ace. Not Ace. His brother was wild and free and they were all happy together-
Sabo fought, screaming and shouting and kicking but his father's guards grabbed him and dragged him back home. To that damned gilded cage.
He had been so close to freedom.
And it had been torn from his grasp yet again.
Just like it could be torn from Ace's, all because of him and his family.
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