"So… why am I here again?"
"Because you promised Nami you'd play with us!"
"Well, if we're playing, why are we still inside your house? And what's with the empty cups and everything?"
"We're playing pretend!" beamed Nami, holding her empty teacup and taking a fake sip.
"Pretend," he echoed, unimpressed.
"Take it as training," suggested Brynlee with a small shrug. "You'll need to pretend to be other people once you start working undercover, right? Like you did when you and Koala pretended to be Miss Belo's niece and nephew."
Sabo shot her a flat look. "You still haven't told us how you figured it out, by the way."
"Sure I have."
"What? When!?"
"In like, twenty years."
"Then it hasn't happened yet! That doesn't count!"
"Sure it does. Future Brynlee told Future Sabo."
The poor boy looked on the verge of an aneurysm, and Brynlee couldn't hide her grin. Arguing with children was fun but riling up Sabo was particularly entertaining.
"Anyway, we're playing pretend," she then said before he could argue any longer. "Nami's pretending to be a ninja princess, I'm pretending to be a fairy—"
"—more like a demon," he grumbled under his breath.
"—who also happens to be a dentist, so watch out or I'll snatch your cute teeth away," she completed, earning a displeased squawk when she pinched his side. "As for you, you're pretending to be the missing son of a Noble from Goa Kingdom who ran away from home because he hated his family, but he ended up befriending two other boys in the jungle where they lived together for years and eventually became sworn brothers because they shared a cup of sake they stole even though they were clearly underage, and who spent his time hanging out with said brothers and accumulating treasure so that, one day, he could start his own pirate crew with his chosen family. But then, a terrible incident happened, and a fire broke out in the slums of the kingdom, and you were separated from your brothers before getting caught in a seemingly deadly explosion that severely injured you and completely wiped your memories, only for a special someone from the Revolutionary Army to save you and recruit you and, to this day, the sole memory you've regained is your name, which was sewn into your hat."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"… that sounds weirdly specific," muttered Sabo, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face.
"Oh, come on!" snapped Brynlee, hitting her hands on the table, and making her friends jump, startled. "Not even that triggered it?"
"What do you—"
"Nami, Plan B!"
"Huh?"
"Plan B!" screamed Nami, jumping on the table.
Sabo could do very little but scream in fright as Nami suddenly grabbed the small, wooden stool she was previously sitting on, picked it up, and swung it with all of the strength her eleven year old self could muster – and hit him right in the head. The boy promptly collapsed, his eyes rolling in the back of his head as his hat rolled away on the slightly dusty floor.
"… I don't think it worked," pouted Nami.
She didn't really understand what was going on, to be honest. Brynlee simply told her they'd try to bring Sabo's memories back, so she just agreed to do whatever her friend said – even if it meant hitting Sabo in the head with a stool.
"It's okay, you did a great job!" beamed Brynlee, ruffling her hair. "Now, let's see…"
She figured that, if outright telling Sabo his own story didn't work, then a harsh hit to the head might do the trick. She knew he originally regained his memories after seeing Ace's death announced in the papers, but she'd rather avoid such a dramatic outcome and, frankly, the three brothers deserved to be reunited again, no matter what.
Wait, this might work…
She crouched beside Sabo's twitching form and leaned close to his ear.
"Hey! Someone stole Dadan's alcohol again, so she's coming for all of you!"
His face scrunched up as he mumbled. "Wasn't- wasn't me… t'was Ace…!"
"Also, Luffy's getting eaten by a mountain lion again!"
"WHAT!?"
Sabo scrambled to his feet, suddenly wide awake, and it took him a few seconds to remember where he was, and what was going on. A moment of silence ensued as his own words slowly sunk in. He slowly bent down to pick up his hat, but his hand stilled halfway as his eyes went wide.
"Ace… Luffy…?"
Holding her breath, Brynlee gestured to get Nami's attention. Her friend nodded, and Brynlee silently counted down to three—
"I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!" they shouted as one.
Sabo stiffened, his eyes going even wider, if possible… and they quickly filled with tears as he started shaking.
"Ace…! Luffy…!" he choked, outright bawling by now. "I remember…!"
Nami cheered, immediately running up to hug him tightly, while Brynlee let go of the breath she'd been holding – as well as the stool she'd picked up, previously determined to hit him until it worked.
And work it did, she grinned, admittedly proud of herself as Sabo cried his eyes out in Nami's tiny arms. It's just too bad it wasn't a subquest. It sure would have made for an easy reward!
Boom, it's back! The good ol' "hit hit 'til it works" method.
I sincerely appreciate all of the feedback from everyone! It was pretty much unanimously voted that you all would prefer if a few more chapters following the more important events of Brynlee's life/growth happened before ultimately doing a timeskip, so I decided to round it up to a neat 20 total before moving on to the "canon" timeline! It'll also give me the opportunity to post a new complete character profile, so it'll be easier to compare her growth once I post a third one along with the 30th chapter.
Once again, I thank you all for your support, and feel free to put in more requests, too! However, DO NOTE that I've already written the remaining chapters for Brynlee's childhood, so if you happen to have an idea or a request for something happening during that time, I might not find a way to add it in, or it might only be shown in a flashback later on.
That's all! Thank you, and see you all soon!