Sabo was blond.
Sakura had to blink an unholy amount of times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating this but after giving a long stare at the kid, the pinkette had to take another look at Ace too, then at Sabo again, until she found herself convinced enough that this was real and that the line of coincidence she found here was now in the dangerous zone of creepy.
Because the green-eyed girl found herself, once again, making friends with a blond boy and a dark-haired brat.
What were the odds?
The incident with the gang of drunks at the Gray Terminal had established a new start for her and Ace, both trusting each other little by little with some of the usual stubbornness that accompanied most children. Sakura had let the freckled kid dictate the pace of their still blooming bond, making sure to be open and understanding when he could be ready to let his vulnerabilities out in the open.
That's when she learned of Ace's mark to bear.
Honestly, there was little she could do with the information of who the parents of Ace were and it wasn't like she cared that much, but her lack of reaction at that confession had been perceived wrongly (and ridiculously too) as judgment.
The pink-haired girl had to deliver a devastating punch over her little brother's face to get his head out of his ass with those stupid assumptions.
"I don't even know what you want from me?! I do not care who your parents are!" Sakura had screamed in frustration and annoyance right in front of the boy's face. "If you were expecting me to curse you or hate you, you better get those dumb ideas out of your brain, idiot!"
"Who are you calling an idiot?!"
"The only other one making me company in this tree house, bleh!" the girl had given the most childish response at the end of that sentence by sticking her tongue out. Who could care anyway since she was supposed to be nine years old. "You are just you, Ace! Who cares what others think?"
It seemed that her nonchalance about the topic had been the right response about the ordeal, since the boy had simply pouted in an attempt to stop the tears and snot sliding off of his face. It even felt a little vindictive considering how the green-eyed girl used to cry all the time for people picking on her too, now realizing that she was giving some of the same comfort that she had needed back then.
Ino had been a good influence in some aspects that made her feel proud of.
With that sudden bridge having been crossed, Ace had taken it upon himself to invite her to hunt down the next meals they would share together, both laughing and joking about Garp's notorious insane behavior on the daily; talking of anything and nothing at the same time with the passing of the days.
That had been just a month ago… and now Ace had decided that he felt comfortable enough with her to present his best friend Sabo.
The boy looked just as scrawny and ragged as her little brother, a pipe too in his hand, but the difference lay in how shy the blond seemed to get at the idea of just being right in front of her.
It seemed that it fell on her to break the ice here.
"Hi! Who are you?"
"Are you dumb? I told you that I was going to bring Sabo here today" said Ace with so much snark that a thick vein stuck out of the girl's forehead in anger.
A loud smack was heard around the forest as a result.
"I know that, you dumbass! I was trying to be nice and let him present himself!"
"That hurt!" was the only response she got from her brother.
"Um…" that's when both realized that the blond kid was still there, looking at them with a mix of amusement and confusion. "Hi! I'm… I'm Sabo"
The pinkette simply nodded and smiled as a welcome to the boy. He wasn't noisy or a knucklehead like Naruto had been at that age (an incredible contrast) but he seemed like a good kid and if he was friends with Ace way back before her, then it meant that he was trustworthy and that was enough in Sakura's opinion.
"It's nice to meet you, Sabo!" she said with infectious pleasantness. "I'm Sakura. Ace's big sister"
"Don't go saying that!"
Yeah, even if the freckled boy and her had managed to get better in their relationship, she was unable to understand why he still seemed to get flustered at the idea of having an older sister. Not that she would stop any time soon, since it was still funny as hell watching his face go all red and angry like that.
The only response to Ace's embarrassed shout was the clear and contagious laughter of Sabo, at which point both siblings just joined too.
That night, they finished the last wall of the tree house.
Garp's training, as she had promised in their deal, had been nothing short of torture.
It was actually nostalgic and it hurt the very same.
Ace, though, hadn't been that lucky at dodging the man's attacks and ended up like a pound of swollen and purple flesh in the forest floor, probably barely conscious at that point.
"Good training, kids!" shouted the crazy marine while dusting off his hands. "I'm expecting you both to get faster next time!"
This bastard was even beyond the concept of insanity.
This couldn't even be called training as it had involved mostly the two of them getting their humanity hauled around like rags to the wind under the unforgiving force of their grandpa's fists, Sakura having been the only one to not end completely punched into a giant bruise by sheer miracle (because, to her horror, Garp had been faster than her).
This is when Ace was witness to the very ability she had been practicing non stop in secret.
"So awesome!"
It was so cute how his eyes practically shined like stars in wonder.
The gentle green glow of her chakra finally flowing in the most familiar and nostalgic way was a comfort that she rejoiced everyday, making sure to store and grow her supply as much as she could for the sake of getting a little ahead to start the making of her byakugou. Back in her genin days, Sakura hadn't been that attentive to her growth as a shinobi even after their first serious mission and that, in consequence, left her to bear the heavy notion that she was a liability in the long run among her teammates.
She promised to not make the same mistake twice.
"It barely hurts!" exclaimed Ace in astonishment, already twisting his arms to test if there was any pain. "How did you do that?!"
"Um… A trick I learned somewhere" she said lamely, the amazed look on her little brother's face turning instantly into a sour pout.
"You're seriously lame"
"Hah?!" It seemed her temper had stayed very true to her past self, because even now the pinkette would punch the freckled kid in the head with simple muscle memory as she did back with Naruto. "Then next time the old man trains us I wanna see you go back to Dadan on your own, idiot!"
"Where the hell do you get that gorilla strength?!"
The green-eyed girl simply huffed in annoyance.
"Whatever" she helped the boy to get up and dust both of their heads. "Let's go for Sabo so we can hunt. I'm starving!"
Usually the mention of food did the trick to distract Ace, and this time it wasn't that different.
One of the wonders from the surrounding jungles and forests at Goa Kingdom was that the fauna and flora, half or most of the time, wanted to kill you on a personal level. It had actually surprised her how similar this place seemed to be to the Forest Of The Death back at Konoha; the animals of strange sizes or smart behavior, poisonous plants of any kind, ravines so horribly hidden by bushes that you could easily fall through them on the daily were a few to mention.
Sakura had been quite lucky that both Sabo and Ace knew the place like it was just their backyard, because even she had a hard time finding the bandits' cabin when using tree-walking on the best of days.
"I still don't understand why you accepted to be trained by gramps" the dark-haired boy gave a huge bite to his fried fish, eating half of the enormous animal in the process. That didn't stop him from talking with a full-mouth. "He's already crazy and you are just egging him up"
"I really underestimated the brute" the girl admitted with a defeated scowl, throwing the stick she had in her hand and going for the next fish that looked cooked enough. These past days she had found her hunger to be borderline ravenous, probably having to do with her metabolism catching up to the amount of energy she kept losing by running around with both of her idiots. "I really need those books if I want to be a great doctor of the Grand Line"
"Books?" asked Sabo with genuine curiosity.
"Yeah! Sakura is a huge nerd!" Ace made a wild scale with the now clean stick on his hand while smiling jokingly. "If you pile up only three of them, they are as tall as you!"
That comment only earned the freckled boy a punch square on the head that sent him down to eat sand.
At that point of knowing each other for a whole year, Sabo was already used to the girl's short temper and knew better than to poke at the awakened tiger.
"Are you sure about this?" asked the dark-haired boy, a light blue paleness decorating his face, to a very determined Sakura.
After learning about the girl's passion for knowledge, Sabo had made the passing comment of how most nobles at Goa Kingdom had so many books in their study rooms that they just forgot they had them in the first place.
That had only earned a very wicked and excited smile over the pinkette's face that made both kids suffer a cold shiver over their spines, like some dark omen was making its way over their heads.
None of them could have ever expected that their big sister had this particular devilish side.
"Stop worrying, Ace!" chided the green-eyed girl, all three of them hiding in one of the less guarded alleys at the central district, very close to the wall that barricaded the elite district. "Didn't you say that you want to be a pirate? Being sneaky is a good trait to develop for that too"
"Why would a strong pirate need to be sneaky?!" whispered the boy in annoyance, ignoring the small blush over his cheeks at the fact that his sister encouraged his dream of becoming a pirate. "You'll only need your fist to take whatever you want!"
"That's a brute's line of thinking, here I thought you could be smart sometimes"
"Hey!"
Heavy steps close to their hiding spot made them stop their bickering, the three kids on high alert at anything that could be a potential danger only to immediately relax with a simultaneous release of air once they heard what seemed to be some ridiculous exchange between two noble men.
"Stay close to me" said the pinkette, running with impressive speed and light-feet that the boys hardly managed to keep up with.
Before even Sabo could take the rope he had prepared to help Sakura climb up the wall, the girl was already pulling them both by their shirts to tag them along and started to run over the stone as if defying gravity was a simple technically for her. Neither of the two had a chance to shout in bewilderment and panic because the speed the young girl gained gave her the impulse needed to do a high jump, a sudden feeling assaulting their stomach at the drop but not fully falling to the floor; instead, Sakura hooked both her arms around their waists and jumped over a few roofs thanks to the momentum gained.
They only touched solid ground once Sakura found an empty balcony with the glass doors fully open, a light wheezing coming out of their throats along their souls after such terrifying acrobatics.
"W… wh… what kind of freak are you?" muttered Sabo between the chattering of his teeth, a hand over his chest to keep the heartbeat in check. "How did you do that?"
"A trick I learned somewhere" answered both Ace and Sakura at the same time, the boy making a high-pitched tone to imitate his sister's voice in mock. At least that managed to distract him from the feeling of his heart right up his throat.
The balcony led to an incredibly pompous living room, a small tea table with too much embroidery and chairs that seemed to be more useful as decoration than an actual seating furniture.
The room screamed bad taste, but luckily it was empty.
"Come on, boys"
Sabo hadn't been wrong; this single mansion had a study room that could easily fit a small house. The pinkette could barely find the end of some of these bookshelves and all of them were filled to the brim with so many diverse tomes that even Sakura wasn't even sure where to start.
There was just too much of anything, from an entire encyclopedia dedicated to devil fruits (the concept of those had blown her mind, honestly) to a botanical diary. It would be a waste to let such fine and incredible books stay here and be eaten by the time.
"Come on, bookworm! We already raided the kitchen" hurried Ace with a big victorious smile over his face, a heavy bag that both boys improvised with a stolen blanket being carried over his back.
'Fine, to hell with it' thought the pinkette, doing the exact same thing as her brother and used a near tablecloth to carry all the books she saw with interesting titles.
"Woah! All those?" asked Sabo with a nervous glance at the bag Sakura had decided to carry (double the size of the one that Ace had) but the girl didn't look at all bothered by the weight.
Going back to the safety of their tree house had been less difficult than expected, mostly because at the end they actually used the blond boy's rope to hold onto Sakura while the girl did her strange trick of wall-walking, still carrying tightly their loot of that night in excitement. While the green-eyed girl went to find a good place to hide her new collection of books, trying to keep them protected from any damage, the two boys went and dug in the food they had brought after tearing down the bag like starving beasts, as if they hadn't eaten fried fishes not long ago at the beach.
That had been one of many nights of adventures that the trio shared.
Luffy was an airhead, and she didn't mean it as an insult mind you, but what he lacked in the brain department, the kid compensated for it with his impressive stubbornness.
It was actually a bit amusing how he tried each day to follow Ace (unsuccessfully too) to try and befriend him. Not a single day passed with the dark-haired kid egging her brother to try and play, even if he still got hurt in the process.
Sakura had tried to convince the freckled boy to give Luffy a chance at least, since it was stupid to act like that when he didn't even know the poor child and it was obvious that he ended up there at Mt. Colubo not by his own choice just like them both (thank you, Garp).
But sadly her little brother was just as damn stubborn and he wasn't willingly to let Luffy get near them each time they went and gathered with Sabo at Gray Terminal.
She supposed that in some degree, the boy was also a tiny amount jealous because, more often than not, Sakura had found herself rescuing the straw hat boy a few times and took him back to Dadan's cabin to heal him, ditching their day of adventure for what Ace had called 'a crybaby'.
"Come on, Ace" she said quietly to avoid waking Dadan, tucking Luffy with one of the few blankets she managed to smuggle out for them. "You are being a bit hard on him. He just wants to be friends with you"
"I don't need to be friends with weaklings like him, besides…" there was an obvious pout on his face even when he wasn't facing her. "You seem to be good friends with him now so why bother?"
"Oh my god, are you jealous?!"
"I am not!"
A gurgling sound interrupted their childish quip, both kids looking down where Luffy slept soundly.
"Mmmm… meat"
The two siblings had to bite their tongues to stop the giggles that wanted to escape their throats at the ridiculousness of the younger kid.
He truly was Garp's grandchild.
"Look, Ace…" started the pinkette, now gaining some semblance of calmness that she only used when she wanted to make her words serious. "I'll be going to collect some herbs that I need for more medicine and you know it will take me days to come back. I'm not asking you to play house with him… just try and give him a chance and have some patience"
The only indication she had that the boy listened to her was the small blush over his cheeks and how much his frown dipped at her words, as if she had asked him to go and call Garp 'Grandpapa'.
"Besides, I'll not be around to heal you brats and god knows how much you get into fights when you get in a bad mood" this last statement managed to at least give some sense of shame on the freckled kid, to her satisfactory vindication.
"Fine, I'll try to stop to throw the crybaby into another ravine"
Probably the shitties promise that Ace could muster, but it was better than nothing and at least it gave Sakura the security that her brother was being honest.
He will try and avoid being too mean to the poor straw hat boy, and the pinkette can only hope that things wouldn't get too out of hand before she arrives from her trip into the deeper parts of the jungle.
By the time the older girl makes it back to the bandits' cabin, her three boys are bruised black, scraped raw and dirty as hell while trying to come up with ideas about what kind of story they will try to give to her when she asks about their state.
Just right in front of her at the entrance of their room.
"Do you understand, Luffy?!" said Ace with urgency on his voice, making sure to tie correctly the bandages on the younger boy's body the way Sakura had teached him. Not too tight but not too loose.
"Why don't you guys want her to know that the ugly bastard almost killed me?" asked the straw hat child naively, unable to notice the paleness that took over the other two kids at the image of their furious older sister. "Big sis looks like a nice person! I bet she will only hug us and say that we are really brave! Shishishishi!"
"That sounds like a good idea, Luffy" the voice of Sakura cut through the air like a heavy and deadly knife, the calm laced over her words only promised an unnerving end.
The scream both boys let out echoed around the entirety of Mt. Colubo and probably beyond.
Even when the start wasn't the ideal, at least Sakura got her wish of the three boys getting along.
Small wins indeed.
Thank you for reading!