Chapter 9: Meeting

Sabo's eyes widened as he stared at the man before him; Edward Newgate a.k.a. Whitebeard. Despite his name the older pirate didn't sport any beard but a broad mustache. He was a giant of a man. No wonder his ship is so big. He thought as he reached up and pulled his hat from his head. "Sir. Thank-you for seeing me." He bowed. "I apologize for the trouble my brother has caused you and your sons."

"I hear you are his twin." The older man stated sounding amused. "You look nothing alike."

"It's a joke between us." Sabo reassured him. "The truth is Ace was born in January and I in March, but because our ages were so close we decided to share Ace's day and I partly didn't want Ace to ever to feel alone." The older man gave him a gentle smile.

"I've been informed that you are going to explain to me," Newgate then looked at his gathered men. "and my sons why your brother and his former crew have gone missing for the last several weeks."

"Yes sir, I will." Sabo looked over his shoulder catching sight of the one that Ace had warned him about. Marshal D. Teach. The man didn't look dangerous but as Sabo stretched his senses he could feel a darkness in the man and something…something else too. He frowned before sitting on the deck in front of Ace's pops. He felt like he was the one being judged here and he really didn't like it.

"Ace told me everything that happened to him over a month ago, but before I divulge into that, how much about Ace's past do any of you know?"

"Why do you need to know that?" Izou inquired getting slightly annoyed by the younger man.

"Did you know about him having a brother?" Sabo inquired from the man who was obviously from Wano. The dialect giving him away. Gaining no answer from anyone was his answer. "Ace is the oldest of us. We are three brothers. I'm the middle. Our youngest brother ate a devil fruit years ago. Only thing we knew it could do was rubber based attacks." There were a few chuckles at this. "Keep that in by the way." He turned his attention away from the men back to their pops. "Ace went to visit a friend in Wano. Some guy named Yamato. While they were talking he said that someone began falling from the sky. He thought the person was from one of the Sky Islands or something." He chuckled. "It turned out to be an older version of our little brother."

A tall muscular, broad-chested, tanned man with a curly, black mustache, a dark blue top hat, and an earring in each ear, wearing a semi-open dark blue shirt and hairy chest spoke. "What do you mean by older version?" The man sounded confused.

"I mean sometime in the future our brother either finds another fruit user that's able to send him into the past or awakens in fruit that able to send him into the past. We don't know." He saw that most were unbelieving of this happening. "I was skeptical too. However I have never known Ace to flat out lie about something like this." Of course he was leaving out the fact that he and Ace haven't seen each other in almost eight years because he had amnesia. "Ace stated that our brothers future self told him that Ace was going to die and that a traitor to his pirate family, you all, was going to cause the deaths of his pops and most of his new brothers. That this would cause a war between this traitor, who will side with the World Government, the remaining Whitebeards and the Navy. That the territories you hold with be decimated." He could feel the sudden fear of the men onboard. It was then that Sabo felt anger rolling off of the older pirate in waves of haki. He swallowed hard. So this is the Conquerors Haki of Edward Newgate. It was barely bubbling to the surface in contained waves of energy. He saw a few newbies suddenly fall. Others grasping the side of the ship for support. Their wills not up to snuff as their pops anger came to the surface.

"Who is this traitor?" The old man demanded the older teen.

Sabo was never so thankful to have gone through some haki training once his own had started to form. His will was stronger than most but even he was having trouble breathing with this man's haki being released. "I-I don't know." He stuttered. "Lu didn't tell him." He turned to see Marco's hard gaze looking up towards his pop. "However, as much as that hurts Ace what truly hurt him was seeing a large scar across our brother's body along with fresh blood on his person. Ace felt that it was his duty to ensure our little brother's safety. He stated that it was because he couldn't stop Ace from dying, couldn't stop the war, couldn't stop everyone from being hurt that he, our little brother, almost died." Sabo rubbed the back of his neck. "Ace has always been stubborn. He doesn't care that in less than a year he will die. He doesn't care about the traitor. What he cares about is our little brother. So he's gotten it in his head that he's got a year to get his brother some allies that'll keep him safe. He's got a year to prepare for a war that's going to kill most you and that includes finding a way to protect you sir." Sabo nodded towards Whitebeard who was astonished. "Ace came looking for me to help. I've got some connections that can help, not many; but we'll do our best in keeping our eyes and ears out for this traitor of yours."

Whitebeard suddenly slammed the butt end of his naginata that was named Murakumogiri to the ground causing waves of residual energy to go out from the butt end of the weapon. "We will find this traitor and deal with him in our own ways."

Sabo was so glad he was sitting because of the shockwave of that energy had hit him, he would've been on his ass anyways. His hands were gripping his pant legs, shaking slightly, most from terror. The anger coming off of Newgate wasn't something he'd ever experienced before, even from Dragon. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Sabo gave a nod. "Yes sir. However, I'd still like to assist. This traitor, who ever he or she is, will cause harm to both of my brothers through their actions."

The older man hummed as he thought about this. Having another set of eyes may be a good thing, no matter if that person was a kid. "Perhaps you'll be of use to your brother's pursuit of this traitor." Whitebeard looked out towards his sons. "We will stop this travesty from happening." He assured them. "The traitor will be found and disposed of in our way. We won't be going to war today but if it comes we will greet it in the way of the Whitebeards."

"Head on and through the heart, yoi." Marco joked lightly before turned towards his brothers. "We don't know who the traitor will be so that means we will have to keep our guards up around any new faces. Be aware of where you are and who you are with! I don't need to burry any of you idiots, yoi." Laughter erupted across the ship at the last part of Marco's speech.

Afterwards most of the men began filtering off and away, others had questions for Sabo, wanting to speak to him. However, Sabo didn't leave Whitebeards side even after the men began leaving him alone. The reveal of Ace having not one but two brothers had finally seeming to have the curiosity leave it when only an hour before most would've had questions for the young man.

The older man and first mate looked at the mysterious young man. "Was there something else?" Whitebeard inquired.

Sabo stood before walking closer to the two. He bowed once again to them. "I just want to say thank-you to both of you." He stood straight once more. "Ace has always had a hard time finding his place in this world because of his blood father. He told me how you all accepted him and made him feel welcomed and loved here. That he finally has found a sense of purpose. So thank-you. Thank-you for accepting my brother with all his flaws and quirks and everything that Lu and I have been trying to make him see for years." Marco smiled only then did he heard his pop's laughter.

"That boy has such promise." Whitebeard said with a softness to his voice that only a father held for his child. "I want to see him shine, but this world wants to squash the fire that burns in his soul."

"I'll try my best to ensure it stay lit." Sabo promised. "It's because I see how much you care that I want to give you one last warning." Both men raised their eyebrows at him. "Lu's future self didn't say the traitors name but he did warn that Teach is the cause of the downfall of the Whitebeard pirates. Take that with what you will but I don't want to any of my brother's friends hurt. Be careful sir, that man isn't who or what he says he is." With those words Sabo quickly left the ship for his that was anchored next to the overwhelmingly large Moby Dick.

Meanwhile Edward Newgate was left to ponder the fate of one man that he'd been warned three times about now. First from Roger, then by Shanks and now by a boy from the future. If he was to believe everything that he'd been told, then all roads for the destruction of his family led straight to Marshal D. Teach. His mind told him one thing but his heart told him another. For the first time in a very long time, the world's strongest man didn't know what to do and could only pray to the sea goddess to give him some guidance.

M-Angel: As promised, another update. ^_^

N1cok - Nice catch on the twin thing. I hope this helped. This is an alternate timeline from the original. So in this timeline Ace adopted Sabo as his brother but as a joke between them they told people they were twins because they're technically the same age.