Goodbye Sabo, My Brother 2...

Chapter 9.5 - Goodbye Sabo, My Brother 2...

Ace was slowly approaching the house, covered in burns, ash, and mostly destroyed clothes. He was missing a shoe as he continued to walk closer, gasping under Dadan's weight, who he was carrying on his back. Dadan looked, if possible, even worse. She was covered in bandages, her hair singed and coughing, she seemed barely aware of what was going on around her. But still… both of them were alive.

"This is bad!" Chopper cried out, looking over their conditions.

"No kidding," Sanji muttered, a little green in the face, "They look half dead on their feet."

The bandits however were all cheering, all of them so happy that they finally came back.

"Ace… Boss…" Magra croaked out, tears of joy in his eyes as they ran forward to help.

"Those wounds look terrible! Hurry! Tend to the boss's wounds!" one of the bandits yelled as they helped her off Ace's back, and led her back to the hut. Ace, still struggling for air, followed after them. As for Luffy, he was just standing there, looking too stunned to speak; he stood there in a kinda daze as they were taken inside and it wasn't until Dadan was being treated did he come back to reality.

"Is he ok?" Usopp asked, looking at Luffy, who never stopped staring at Ace as if he was afraid that he'd disappear.

"He'll be just fine," Robin smiled. "Luffy's just happy that Ace came back. Watch…"

And as if she had said the magic word, Luffy charged Ace from behind, crying out his name and hugging him so tightly they almost wondered if he intended to ever let go.

Ace, who was changing shirts, looked down at him. "Luffy…" he said in a tone they knew all too well, showing that he was annoyed. "Did you think I was dead?"

"He didn't want to," Brook said, "He was just worried."

"I see how this is gonna end," Zoro said, shaking his head, though there was a shadow of a smile on his face.

Luffy let go and croaked out, still crying hard, "But…"

"What are you crying for?" Ace demanded, suddenly angry as he gave Luffy a hard punch to the head. "Don't act like I'm dead when I'm not, you idiot!"

Nami sighed as Luffy cried even harder, rubbing his head where it was starting to swell already. "Not even five minutes and he's already hitting him. What more does he want? They're both back and alive aren't they? Why's he trying to pick a fight? You know it was his fault for refusing to run. I still think they should've knocked him out and made a run for it while they had the chance."

"It's nothing to worry about," Robin smiled. "It just proves that things are back to normal. I suppose that we should just count our blessings that they're dealing well, considered everything that happened."

"And I'm guessing that Ace still doesn't know how to react to someone caring about him," Sanji said, remembering how he had tried to pick a fight with Luffy after they rescued him from Porchemy.

"Now, now, let him be," Magra scolded Ace lightly, a small smile on his own face. "Luffy is just happy."

"He doesn't look like it to me," Chopper said, watching.

"Now," Sanji said, breathing out smoke. "We all have our ways of showing how we care." He then turned to Nami and Robin and cried out, hearts flashing in his eyes, "My loves! I hope you always know how much I care for you both! I'll gladly go to the ends of the earth for both of you! No matter how hard or long the journey will be, I'll be there to protect you the whole way!"

Nami rolled her eyes as Robin smiled politely. Now that the danger was over and Ace and Dadan were back, everything seemed to be looking brighter.

Ace glared at Magra for a second before he looked down at Luffy, as if wondering just what he was supposed to do now. Finally, he ruffled Luffy's hair in an awkward, but oddly tender way. At his touch, Luffy ran back to him and hugged him tightly, as he cried harder than ever.

Ace was startled by this, but didn't say anything as Luffy clung on strongly.

"That's just too sweet," Robin said, once again, feeling jealous of the bonds that brothers had.

"Yeah," Usopp agreed, also smiling again. "So sweet I think I'm getting a cavity just looking. I'm glad that things worked out."

Once Luffy had calmed down enough to stop crying, and let go of Ace, Dadan was properly treated and they were all surrounding her bed.

"How bad is she, Chopper?" Sanji asked, not liking to see any woman in pain.

Chopper looked over them at the wounds that Magra was treating. "She was seriously burned," he informed him. "And from the look of it, she inhaled a lot of the smoke. But I think she has a good chance at pulling through without any long-lasting effects if she lets herself rest."

Nami sighed in relief. "That's good to hear. I was worried."

"Ace… about the night of the fire…" one of the bandits said as they finished bandaging Dadan's hands up, "After we took Luffy and left… what happened to you and the Boss when you stayed behind?"

"That's what I wanna know," Zoro said interestedly.

Ace sighed, and explained the whole thing. "After you left, we stayed and fought Bluejam," he stated simply. And then he went on to explain how they were able to defeat him, but when they did, they were surrounded by fire. He told them all how it was Dadan who went running through the fire to get them out, how they hid in the Middle Forest near the river as Ace struggled to keep Dadan alive. He told them about how he had been forced to steal food and medicine from High Town and was able to stabilize her—all the while, hiding from the soldiers who were still looking for survivors.

"What a brave woman!" Franky cried out. "I take back everything I said about her! What a lady!"

"Looks like she does have a kind side to her after all," Nami smiled, glad to see that she'd been wrong about her.

"Now, now," Magra said with that same kind look on his face, looking down at his boss, "so that's what happened? Well, I'm glad that you both made it out alive."

"I think we all agree there," Usopp whispered, feeling much more light-hearted than he had been for such a long time.

"I'm sorry I made you worry," Dadan said softly.

"Did she just apologize?" Zoro asked in surprise.

"Is it really that hard to imagine that she cares about the bandits?" Brook asked, though it was hard to tell, the bandits were a family… much like how the Straw Hat Pirates were. Was it truly hard to believe that they did for one another?

Ace looked ahead, lost in thought as he muttered to himself, "I never thought that something like this could happen to the Gray Terminal… I'm sure Sabo's worried."

"He must know by now about the fire," Sanji said, his own eyes narrowing. "No one could've missed that. And he would be worried sick over wondering if his brothers being hurt or not."

As Ace continued to talk with the others, Luffy decided to go outside with the white dog that acted as the mountain bandit's mascot, Pochi.

"Wow," Usopp said, looking up at the sky, "I didn't realize just how much time had passed, it's almost night."

Luffy looked up at the sky as well with a melancholy face and asked Pochi, "I wonder what Sabo's up to." But he down looked at him with a small smile, "Still, I'm glad Ace came back and Dadan's getting better."

Pochi barked in agreement as Brook said, "I too am glad. It was all so frightening, I felt as if my heart would stop! Ah! Not that I have a heart to stop! Yohohoho!"

"Well, at least we know that Brook's feeling better," Sanji chuckled.

As Luffy wandered around the hut, he found two large beetles, which caused Nami and Sanji to stand far back from. But Luffy's eyes began to glow at the sight of them and brought them both to a small barrel where he put them there, trying to get them to fight each other.

"Isn't that cute?" Robin smiled.

"Boy, he's acting just like he did when we were at Jaya," Nami sighed, but even she was having a hard time not to beam.

"An Atlas and a Hercules beetle!" Chopper proclaimed proud that he could recognize them, "Luffy talked all about them when we were looking for that South Bird."

"There's just something about little boys that just love playing with bugs," Nami sighed.

"Hey, be nice," Franky said grinning.

"Alright, who's going to win?" Luffy asked cheerfully, poking them both with a stick.

"I see that he's recovering from the fire quickly," Brook said happily. "That's good to see."

"He's resilient," Sanji reminded him. "He just bounces back no matter what happens."

"You think he'd be a little more upset to what happened though," Usopp said softly.

"Ace and Dadan came back," Zoro answered, watching the happy shine in the boy's eyes. "That's enough for him for now."

As Luffy continued to play around with the beetles, they heard rustling coming from the trees, and that was when Dogra came out from the forest. He was pale and shaking—obviously tired from his long search for Ace and Dadan.

Luffy heard him, and when he spotted him coming, he got up and cried out, "Dogra!" waving the stick around happily. "You went looking for Ace and Dadan, right? They've both came home!"

Dogra looked a little relieved, but the nervous, pale look on his face didn't fade at that. "R-Really?" he stuttered, for some reason not really able to look at Luffy. "They have? That's great…"

"What's his problem?" Franky asked annoyed, "You think he'd be happy to hear that they're alright. That's why he went out to look for him right?"

Zoro narrowed his eye, watching Dogra smile a little too forcibly at Luffy, a little too cheerful, "Something happened."

"Yes, and if he was out at the Gray Terminal, there's a chance that he saw the soldiers there and…?" Robin offered before she trailed off. But no one needed or wanted her to finish that line. Luffy, not noticing Dogra's behavior, lead him inside the house, happily telling everyone else that Dogra had come home.

It was a relief to see that Dadan was already sitting up, looking pale, but much better as Magra poured some Sake for her.

"This is all the medicine I need," she told him firmly as she drank it down, "When life gives you lemons, buy more Sake if you ask me."

"Words to live by," Zoro smirked, now dying for a hard drink himself.

"Oh, Dogra!" Magra said, smiling when his friend walked in, but it soon faded when he saw the shocked look on Dogra's face. "What is it?" he asked.

"Yeah, you look like you just saw a ghost," another bandit told him.

Luffy finally noticed and asked, "Dogra?"

Dogra didn't say a word as he stood there in front of them all, it was then that Zoro noticed that his hands were shaking, and his face was working hard as if trying to find the words to describe what happened.

"Dogra?" Dadan said to him loudly, helping herself to another swig of drink, "What is it?"

Dogra was shaking all over now, but he finally spoke, his hands curled into tight fists at his sides, "I went into High Town earlier. I heard that there was some kind of ceremony going on. I snuck in and I overheard some of the guards talking about it." He was gritting his teeth together, his eyes suddenly shadowed over so that they couldn't see the emotion in them. "The King and the nobles were the ones behind the fire the other night. The Nobles planned it all… they spread the rumor to Edge Town that it was Bluejam who had caused it…"

"What kinda king would do this?" Brook demanded in outrage.

"Those lousy, pieces of shit," Sanji growled.

"They really are all real monsters," Nami croaked out miserably.

"But they call us monsters," Chopper reminded her, suddenly fretfully.

"There are two kinds of monsters," Sanji said looking down at him. "The strong and powerful kind… and the ones who do horrible things like this. We've all done a lot of—ah… questionable things in the past that we aren't proud of, but we never hurt people like this."

"So the people in Edge Town didn't know anything about it?" one of the bandits asked.

"They were in danger too last night," Dogra explained, "If the fire was any higher, the wind could've blown the flames inside the wall. No, they were all as surprised by it as the rest of us."

"But why?" Dadan asked the million beri question. "The nobles never bothered with the Gray Terminal before, why go through all this now?"

"What was so special about this stupid ceremony?" Ace asked angrily.

Dogra was now shaking, "They were welcoming the Celestial Dragons at port."

At that name, the Straw Hats eyes all widened and the air seemed to catch in their chests. Suddenly it all made complete sense. They all understood everything now.

"The… the Celestial Dragons?" Nami repeated, oddly numb.

"You mean the same ones that we saw at Sabaody?" Chopper cried out, "The ones that tried to take Camie from us?!"

"So that's it," Robin said softly, her eyes narrowing. "The nobles wanted to impress them so they decided to get rid of everything—undesirable in their kingdom. So rather than spend so much time and money cleaning up the mess they decided to burn it all as a cheap and quick escape."

"You mean they did all this for the world nobles?!" Nami cried out, "They killed everyone in the Gray Terminal just for something like this?"

"Why those…" Sanji growled. "Just when I thought that they couldn't be any more rotten. This whole kingdom's rotten to the core!"

"But why would they come here?" Usopp demanded, "Why would they come all the way to a kingdom this far out in the East Blue?"

"Why would they be here?" Magra asked, thankfully asking Usopp's question.

"I don't know," Dogra went on with a shake of his head, "Apparently they were here to inspect the kingdom."

"Inspect?" Dadan asked, thinking something over. "Oh, right…" she said, "I remember reading about something-or-other about an inspection of Goa."

"Who are these guys anyway?" Ace asked grumpily. "What makes them so special?"

"Nothing at all," Franky shouted out, "They just think they're special."

"Think of them as like nobles of the World Government," one of the other bandits told him. "You think the guys here in Goa are rich with a lot of influence? Well, they're nothing compared to the Celestial Dragons. They have influence everywhere in the world! Not just on this island."

"Dogra?" Luffy asked innocently, not understanding what was going on. "What's wrong?"

Dogra was shaking worse than ever.

"Seriously, what's with him?" Franky asked, folding his massive arms, "You think that he saw someone die or something."

"I don't know how to say it…" Dogra said, his voice now trembling, "I was there at port watching the Celestial Dragon's ship coming in… but as they got near, a small fishing boat set out from out of nowhere!"

"A fishing boat?" Dadan repeated in surprise, "What's that got to do with anything."

"The Celestial Dragon's ship fired on it and killed the person on board. It was a child…" Dogra cried out, shaking his head hard and he finally cried out, "It was Sabo! It was him!"

The Straw Hat's felt as if the world was closing in around them making it hard to breathe… each one of them felt as if they had just been punched in the gut as Dogra finally screamed out, "SABO'S DEAD!"

No one spoke, they were all petrified by what they learned.

"This can't be," Brook whispered, now falling back, unable to believe what he just heard.

"Sabo… he's…?" Usopp could bring himself to say it, shaking from head to foot.

"Gone," Robin whispered, her eyes wide as she was forced to accept everything that happened.

Chopper was crying as he thought about the boy that he had grown to like so much. Sure, he never met Sabo, but he had learned a lot about him through these memories and he couldn't help but feel as if he lost a dear friend. Nami's hands were over her mouth as she stared at Luffy's and Ace's face. They looked as if they had just had their hearts ripped right out.

Sanji actually fell to his knees. "Damn them… Damn them… DAMN THOSE BASTARDS TO HELL!"

"Sabo is…" Ace whispered in disbelief as he stared at Dogra, not believing it. Luffy and the bandits were each staring at Dogra with identical expressions of shock. They couldn't believe it either.

"You liar!" Ace screamed out as he charged ahead. Ace's eyes suddenly burned with rage and he tacked Dogra to the floor. "Don't even joke about that!"

He held his fist up, looking ready to strike until Magra called out, "Don't do it, Ace!"

"He's just delivering the message," Zoro said enigmatically, "There's no point in taking his anger out on him. He's not the one that should pay."

"It's not a lie, nor a joke," Dogra gasped out. "It was so sudden, I barely realized that it had happened. I doubted my own eyes! I wondered if it was a dream or an illusion!"

"A common response if it's so sudden," Robin whispered, these last few memories kept bringing back more and more of her own memories of Ohara… how it had all happened so quickly that she couldn't believe her own eyes. It was like she was in a sort living nightmare. Even now, she could almost swear that it had all been a bad dream.

"Shut up!" Ace screamed out, now shaking Dogra, looking like he was going to seriously hurt Dogra if he kept talking. "Sabo went back to his noble born parents! There's no way he would sail out to sea!"

"That's right! Sabo went home!" Luffy yelled out in agreement, refusing to believe that Sabo was dead.

"They're in denial," Brook whispered.

"Of course," Robin told them, her hair hiding her own face, "Sabo was alive and just fine a few days ago. They decided to leave him alone and wait for him to come back… but now he can't ever do that. And now the last memory they have of him is of him being taken back to the place that he was so desperate to escape from. On top of everything that happened in the last few days… it's too much for them to accept. Especially when they thought that they were safe…"

"Outlaws like us understand how he must have felt!" Dogra yelled, "We all have places we really don't want to go back to!"

With a great effort, he was able to push Ace off him. "Do you really think he would go out to sea if he were actually happy?" he bawled him, finally looking up with tears now streaming down his face as he cried out, "Do you really think he would fly a pirate flag and set out on his own!?"

Ace froze where he was, as if those words had struck him dumb. Like a curse, they fell over everyone in that room so that no one could move. The wind blowing through the window, ruffling the curtains was the only noise that they had as they all stood there as the rest of the world stopped.

"No one could do that on their own unless they were truly miserable," Zoro whispered.

"Why?" Usopp whispered, tears now in his eyes. "WHY WOULD HE DO THAT? WHAT WAS HE THINKING DOING SOMETHING SO STUPID?!"

Luffy stepped forward, almost staggering, his expression of shock now turned to pain. "Sabo…" he croaked out, tears forming in his eyes and now quickly falling from his face, "HE REALLY WASN'T HAPPY!" he screamed out.

At his words, the bandits all bore similar expressions of grief and sorrow, but Ace was on his knees, twisting his hair around so violently that it looked like he was trying to pull it out. "Why…?" he cried out, "Why didn't we try to break him out of there!?"

When his eyes opened, Zoro saw at once that something snapped inside of him.

"He's going to do something stupid," he said. And knowing Ace, he was going to charge in head first.

Filling up with a rage, Ace grabbed hold of Dogra again. "Where is the person who killed Sabo!? I'm gonna murder them!"

"EHHHH?" Usopp cried, his eyes now red and puffy. "He's gonna kill himself! Remember what happened when Luffy attacked that one at the auction house?" He stopped at that, suddenly realizing that when Luffy attacked that Celestial Dragon that day, there was much more to the story than he had ever thought. When he did punch that guy, was he thinking about Sabo at the time? Was it also possible that Luffy was taking revenge for when his brother was killed?

"T-the Celestial Dragon!? There's no way you can do…" Dogra cried out, but Ace was passed listening. Going for his staff, he went running to door, screaming out that he was going to avenge Sabo's death.

"Someone stop him!" Nami cried out, suddenly realizing how close Ace had come to getting killed. But this certainly proved to her once and for all that Ace truly was Luffy's older brother. They were both fearless and protective of those they love. The fact that they both were willing to attack a Celestial Dragon and risk the idea of an admiral was enough. Though now that she thought of it, Ace probably had no idea how dangerous it was to go after the World Nobles.

Thankfully, her plea was answered. Dadan was on her feet again, and tackled Ace—slamming his head into the floor so hard that it was smash into pieces. "But she didn't have to do it like that," she added, wincing in pain.

"Drop it, you damn brat!" Dadan yelled out as Ace fought to get up.

"Get off me!" Ace shouted out as he swung around to glare at her. "Don't get in my way!" he cried out at the blood that was falling from a gash from one of the boards. Luffy and the others only stood there, staring in alarm at what was happening, unsure as to what to say or do.

But Dadan had only gotten started. "You keep acting tough, even though you don't have any real strength!" she shrieked out, shoving his head down even deeper into the floor. "What the hell do you think you can do now!?" she demanded. "You'll just end up dead! You will die and everyone will forget about you by tomorrow! That's all you amount to right now!" She took several deep breaths as she glared at him, his eyes wide with desperation. "It was this kingdom that killed Sabo! It was the world itself! What can you do!?"

"Nothing," Franky whispered, thinking of how helpless he Tom was been taken away. "That's what he hates! The idea that he can't do anything to avenge his own brother's death is more than he can stand."

"But you know that's not completely true," Robin said softly, her eyes going to the still crying Luffy. "There's one person who'll always remember him."

"Your father's death brought about a new era!" Dadan yelled, holding him up and shaking him hard. "Once you have become a man of that caliber, then you're free to live or die as you like!"

Ace was still struggling, fighting to get free. And they could see that he knew that Dadan spoke the truth, but to admit to it would be like admitting that he couldn't do anything.

"I can't imagine how hard it would be for Ace-san to except that," Brook whispered.

"But it's true," Sanji responded bitterly, "After all… weaklings can't protect anything. You don't get to pick how you want to die."

Seeing that he wasn't going to calm down anytime soon, Dadan yelled to the other bandits as she threw Ace at them, "Go tie this moron up!"

Shaken, the bandits handled Ace—carrying him outside to the nearest tree to tie him up—the whole time he fought back, cursing at them all, but too tired from his ordeal to do much. The whole time, Luffy was there crying, tears quickly forming a flood as he screamed out his lost brother's name. Ace screaming outside at Luffy to shut up, at how men weren't supposed to cry.

But no matter how much he yelled, Luffy kept crying, and the cries of pain and lost filled their ears as the darkness came back. Nami had been unable to hold back her own tears as she thought about how that little boy had been so brutally killed for no good reason.

"So that's why we never heard about him," Zoro said quietly, feeling oddly numb from the whole thing.

"Don't you realize what this means?" Usopp cried out, running his nose along his arm. "Luffy lost both of his brothers! First Sabo, and then what happened to Ace…?"

"Poor Luffy," Chopper whispered as he bawled too. "It's not fair! How could this happen?"

"The government is never fair," Franky hissed out, blowing his nose as he fought the urge to break something big and heavy. "They don't care how many innocent lives they kill so long as they get what they want! This is what the government really is like! They go on and on about how they uphold justice while they're the ones behind all the suffering in the world! What makes those nobles so damn special?"

"But why would they kill him?" Nami cried, going to Robin to bury her face in her friend's shoulder. "Sabo didn't do anything?!"

"Most likely the Celestial Dragons were offended by him ruining their entrance and decided to take care of him," Robin whispered.

Tears were also falling from Brook's empty sockets as he and Zoro kept their heads down, silently paying their respects to Luffy and Ace's brother.

"Man, and I thought that Ace dying was bad enough," Usopp said, sniffling, "But then there was all this mess with Sabo! How was Luffy able to deal all this on his own?"

"He wasn't alone," Robin whispered to him. Usopp looked up at her to see her empty eyes—she looked as if her thoughts were a million miles away right now. "It was different with Sabo than it was with Ace," she told him. "Luffy never saw Sabo die. He only ever heard about it. And even then, he still had Ace there to help him through it. But Ace died right in front of him and, in a way, he was all alone after that."

She glanced at them all and knew they were all wondering the same thing. Just what happened in that warzone? None of them new the whole story to how Ace died, or exactly what Luffy had to go through that day… but they all noticed it. Though Luffy had grown a hundred times stronger than ever before, and he still went on through life with a bright smile and simple attitude… but he wasn't the same person as he was before they were separated by Kuma.

It was almost as if he was carrying around a heavy burden on his shoulders… as if he was struggling underneath a great weight.

The darkness disappeared, and now they were all standing out on the cliff that overlooked the sea. They knew where they were at once—it was the same place where the three brothers had once talked about their dreams shortly toasting their brotherhood. That memory seemed like a lifetime ago…

For a moment, they didn't see Luffy, but soon spotted him lying on his stomach on the soft grass, but his hat was covering his face as he gazed out at the sea.

"Luffy," Usopp said softly as he carefully approached him, wanting to comfort him, but instead, his hand went right through. He never felt more useless in his life. How could he be sitting here watching this while his captain was suffering? Even if it was years ago, he felt sick with himself for not being able to do more here.

"Ace-san…" Brook said softly, and they glanced up in time to see Ace walking towards them. His face was grim and cold… yet much calmer than he had been before. His burns from the fire seemed to have healed, as well as the cut on his forehead; meaning that it had to have been a couple days since they got the miserable news about Sabo.

He didn't seem surprised at all to see Luffy there as he slowly approached, not saying a word, but making enough noise that Luffy could hear him. When he was close enough, he made a fist and blew on it before he gave Luffy a quick bonk on the head. "How long are you gonna mop around like this?" he demanded.

"Was that really necessary, Ace?" Usopp asked him sadly.

"Yes, we all need our time to grieve," Brook whispered softly. But Luffy didn't complain, he merely gripped the rim of his hat tightly, refusing to look at anything.

Ace stood there for a minute, just gazing out at the sea before he began to speak. What he said next, was in an indifferent tone, as if he couldn't care less about it, "All the treasure we hid in the Middle Forest is gone now."

He shrugged grimly as he folded his arms, "Maybe it was stolen by the survivors of Bluejam's crew, or maybe the military found it… I don't know where it is now."

"That doesn't matter anymore anyway," Nami said softly, her mother's smiling face coming to mind once again. "Even with all the treasure in the world, you can't bring back someone you love."

Apparently Ace agreed.

"But that pile of loot doesn't matter anymore," he said to Luffy, "Sabo and I were gonna use it. It was our Pirate Fund. But in the end, Sabo didn't use it. So I'm not gonna bother with it either. Not much point in gathering treasure if we can't look after it."

"He's handling it all well," Brook said kindly.

"On the outside," Robin said sadly, "But I think on the inside he's still in a lot of pain. After all, Sabo was his best friend before he became his brother."

"A-Ace?" Luffy asked, his voice thick with emotion. "I… I want… I want to become stronger!"

He sniffed, and they could tell that he was fighting tears, "Stronger and stronger… stronger and stronger… stronger and stronger…" This went on for some time as Luffy continued to repeat the word 'stronger' putting much emphasis on how strong he wanted to be. Even while stating this with much vigor, he was still crying. "Stronger and stronger… and even stronger than that! And then, I'll be able to protect anything! I won't have to lose anyone ever again!"

The Straw Hats all kept their eyes firmly on the little boy. They all knew full well that he would, indeed, become stronger than anyone could imagine. Now here, it all made complete sense.

"So that's why he's so protective of us," Nami whispered.

"I get it," Franky hissed, his robotic hands curling up in tight fists. "It was never just about becoming Pirate King."

"He can understand the pain of losing someone," Brook whispered, "He went through it and he never wanted to go through it again."

Zoro didn't say anything, but he now felt like he understood Luffy so much better than ever before. He knew that same feeling after all. After Kunia died, he too wanted to become stronger than she ever was. Strong enough so that his name could reach up to the heavens where she could hear him. Letting her know that he carried on her dream and that he hadn't forgotten her. Luffy had been doing that exact same thing all this time… he was carrying on his brothers will. But he felt sick with himself for finding out this way… if Luffy had ever wanted to talk about his past, he would've mentioned it. Watching all this suddenly felt like a betrayal of the deepest decree and he was having trouble breathing.

"Please…" Luffy suddenly begged out. "Ace… don't die too!"

They all caught their breath.

"Luffy…" Nami cried in hardly more of a whisper.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ace yelled, punching him in the head again. "You should be more worried about yourself than me! You're way weaker than I am!" he stood up straight and declared, "Listen up, and remember this, Luffy! I WON'T DIE!"

"Too bad that he couldn't hold that promise…" Sanji muttered bleakly.

"No one can forever," Zoro said quietly.

"He was promising that he wouldn't leave Luffy alone," Robin whispered as Chopper burst out in tears at that, "That he would always be there for him when he needed him."

"Oh, man," Franky called, covering his face with the hanky. "I'm all torn up inside! I knew that they were close, but I never knew how much!"

Luffy slowly sat up as Ace went on, "Sabo made that request too. I promise, I will not die! There's no way I'd die and leave behind a weakling of a brother like you."

"Well, that's mean," Usopp cried out.

"Ace still isn't good with being gentle," Robin said softly. "He's dealing with it as best as he can."

"I'm not that smart," Ace went on, still staring out at the bright blue sea. "So I don't know what it was that killed Sabo… but whatever it was, it was the opposite of freedom! Sabo died without ever gaining his freedom."

"But what's the opposite of freedom?" Chopper asked.

"The world," Robin answered grimly. "It's always been the world."

"But the two of us, who shared a toast with Sabo, are still alive!" Ace finished. He never once took his eyes off the sea, and his resolve appeared in his eyes. A light breeze picked up and he breathed it in, as if Sabo was there telling them this. "So, listen up, Luffy! We will definitely live life without regrets!"

"So that's it…" Sanji said, breathing hard on the cigarette. "That's why Luffy can act selfish when he wants to. The last thing he wants is to leave this world with… with regret. He wants to live to the fullest."

Ace looked down at Luffy and told him, "Sabo once said to me that in this country, Noblemen only become true nobles when they turn eighteen. That's why he had planned to leave when he turned seventeen! So that's what we're going to do!"

Luffy nodded firmly as they both looked out at the sea together. "Someday, we will set out to sea and live life the way we want to! With more freedom than anyone else!"

"Freedom…" Nami whispered to herself almost in a dream-like state. Just what was freedom in this world of prisons and boundaries? Her eyes widening as she remembered what Luffy once said to Rayleigh.

"I don't wanna conquer anything! It's just that the person with the most freedom on the seas is The King of the Pirates!"

She smiled, closing her watery eyes, now fully understanding.

Luffy merely nodded with his brother. It was really all they could do. Sabo may be gone, but the two of them were still alive. The three of them once shared the same dream, and if Sabo couldn't fulfill his, then they were willing to stand up and do it for him.

"I'm sure that we'll make a lot of people are enemies…" Ace said, "Gramps will become our enemy, too. We'll be risking our lives! We'll cast off when we turn seventeen!"

The two remaining brothers looked out at the two seagulls flying over the waves. "WE WILL BECOME PIRATES!" Ace declared to the heavens, as if hoping that Sabo could hear him.

"RIGHT!" Luffy called out firmly. "And one day I will become the King of the Pirates!"

Ace merely smirked. "So long as you don't regret anything that you do from here on out that's all that matters. From this moment on… we live how we want to! For Sabo's sake if nothing else!"

Franky cried harder than ever, feeling as if his heart was being torn out.

"I gotta admire their dedication," Sanji said.

"It's incredible," Usopp whispered. "Even after all these years, they held true to their promise. They never once stopped!"

As they sat there, Ace reached down the front of his shirt and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper.

"What's that?" Luffy asked as Ace carefully unfolded it and stared at it.

"A letter…" he said softly, "From Sabo."

Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats gasped out. "But how?" Luffy called loudly, "Sabo's…"

"Sabo sent it before he set out to sea," Ace explained, "When he knew that he was going to take his chance at freedom. I get now why he didn't come back. He couldn't come back to us without worrying about us getting killed."

He held it out to him. "You wanna read it?" he asked.

Luffy looked at it before he shook his head. "I don't need to," he said firmly. "Sabo was our brother and we're gonna become pirates and live out his dream! That's all I need to know!"

Ace smirked. "I knew you'd say that. Sabo was just writing to tell me to keep you safe."

But Robin was curious as she leaned over Ace's shoulder to look at it and read it out for them as Ace gazed long and hard at the paper, as if trying to memorize the words.

"Ace and Luffy," she read out to her crew. "I hope you weren't hurt in the fire. I'm worried, but I have faith in you. I'm sorry about this, but by the time you get this letter, I will be out at sea. A lot has happened, and I've decided to set sail ahead of you."

Franky's lower lip was quivering as Chopper kept rubbing his swollen eyes and Usopp sat on the ground, staring at his feet, unable to say anything. The rest of them merely stood there and listened to Sabo's final words to his brothers.

"My destination… won't be this kingdom, but elsewhere," Robin continued on, feeling tears burning her own eyes as she read the sincerity in each word. Sabo truly wrote these words from this heart. There, I'll get stronger… I'll become a pirate. Let's become pirates with more freedom than anyone else, and then meet up again someday. The three of us. Somewhere out on the wide, free ocean… I'm sure that someday, we'll meet!"

Now Sanji and Nami had joined in on the crying as Brook kept his boney hands over his ribcage, where his heart would be normally. It was cruel to think that the brothers were never to meet again.

Oh, and Ace, I wonder who's the older brother between the two of us. Two eldest sons, and one younger brother. It might be strange, but this bond between us is my greatest treasure.

"They do say that not all treasure is silver and gold," Sanji said softly, looking down at his hands, his own treasure. For most pirates, they consider things like gold to be the only kind of treasure. However, the true treasures were the ones that you held to your heart. So long as it is something that you were willing to fight for, it was a treasure.

"Luffy might still be a weakling and a crybaby, but he's still our little brother," Robin finished up, "So take good care of him for me!"

She stood up slowly, as Ace sighed and forced a smile.

"It's gonna be ok," Ace said to Luffy softly as he held out the paper and let the wind carry it away from him. They all watched the letter drift on the wind, over the ocean, fluttering almost like the wings of a bird as it continued onwards to the horizon. "You're right. We don't need a letter to know what Sabo wanted… Sabo just set sail ahead of us that's all. We'll leave when we become stronger! Stronger than anyone!"

*Luffy*

"So that's what's going on," Luffy said thoughtfully after he listened to Ace's explanation to what where he was and why he was here.

"You didn't understand a word I just said did you?" Ace asked him with a knowing smile.

"Nope," Luffy answered truthfully, actually laughing a little as he rubbed the back of his head, "But it sounds like I'm not dead."

"Well, you attained more than I thought you would," Ace said, laughing alongside him. "You really are the same as always… little brother."

At the word 'brother' Luffy stopped laughing and gazed long and hard at Ace. Ace looked a little surprise by Luffy's sudden change in attitude and asked what was wrong.

"Nothing," Luffy said, before he launched himself at Ace, hugging him as tightly as he did when Ace had come back to the house after the fire. He had thought that he'd see him again both times… but he was proven wrong.

He didn't care if this was only temporary or not. Ace felt so real… so solid against him. For the last two years he often dreamed what it would've felt like to see his big brother again. To talk to him, to touch him… even to feel Ace punch him… he had been willing to trade all the treasure from the One Piece just to see Ace one more time. To just feel safe again… "I'm just so happy I got to see you again!"

Ace must have understood, because he smiled gently, ruffling Luffy's hair as he hugged him back tightly. His arms were clasped around Luffy, securing him to his chest, as Luffy started sobbing in earnest.

"There were just so many things I had wanted to tell you!" Luffy's voice grew louder and throatier with each word, not ashamed at the flood of tears that were falling thick and fast. "I can't tell you what it felt like to just sit there and watch you die."

"It wasn't your fault, Luffy," Ace sighed heavily, and Luffy felt Ace's rib cage rise and fall with the air flowing through his lungs, as though he were organic and alive. "I wasn't thinking about it. I just acted… but I thought I told you that I had no regrets about how I lived my life."

"I know but…" Luffy croaked out, "But that moment's been haunting me all this time. Even after everything that's happened, it's like a part of me just can't move on from that!"

Ace made a soft, soothing sound, patting Luffy on the back as he continued to hold him tightly, letting the tears drench his skin.

"I was so angry at you," Luffy told him as his voice hitched, "For a long time. You promised me that you wouldn't die! I'm so sorry!"

He suddenly felt the world tip slightly, first one way, then the other a couple of inches up and then down, like a see-saw. He realized that this was because Ace was gently rocking him.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" Luffy went on, "I wanted to see you so much! There's so much I want to tell you!"

Ace grinned, "Sabo will be glad to hear that."

Luffy's eyes snapped open and he pulled back to stare at him. "Sabo…?" he croaked out. "He's…?"

"Here?" Ace smiled, bumping his knuckles against his brother's forehead again. "Duh. Want to see him?"