The Hideout

After the 4 became brothers, they became closer then ever. Even Usopp and Ace have an unspoken understanding of each other, though neither will admit that they care for the other.

Then the debate that was bound to happen came, who would be the captain. The boys argued day after day on who would lead them, the only exception is Usopp. He had had enough of wanting to be a captain and he told them this. The brothers were confused by his lack of ambition, but Usopp immediately said afterwords.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna follow anyone unless they can beat me and happen to be my brother. I just want to focus on being the strongest, I couldn't care less about who the Pirate King turns out to be." Usopp explained, to which the others nodded and were happy to have one less competitor. At least until he said, "I'll probably follow luffy though if he decides to start his own crew, he obviously can't take care of himself so I'll be his voice of reason."

The two older boys mood plummeted, calling Usopp a bad brother and lamenting about how a strong crewmate wouldn't be theirs unless they followed Luffy, which was impossible for them. But they understood, if anyone needed help it was Luffy.

While they were discussing and eating, Luffy laughed and said, "I'll be the king of the pirates and you'll be my first mate Usopp." Which made Usopp laugh , and Ace jumped up and butted heads with Luffy, "You think I'll let you beat me Brat."

Unbeknownst to them, a tall figure had appeared behind them. The figure cleared his voice and everyone with exception of Sabo turned pale. Usopp looked up and yelled in fear, "G-G-Garp!"

The boys tried to run but before their first step a fist hit them on their heads. Sabo looked at this panicking a bit, and thought, 'This monster is their Grandpa?'

"I thought I told you that you were going to be Marines!" Garp yelled. "Dadan get over here." The fat lady ran and military saluted Garp while saying, "Hai." Garp slammed his fist into her head, while she cried, "Why me too?"

"I don't like the way your raising the brats." He then noticed a fourth kid sitting with them. "Oi brat, who are you."

Luffy jumped in front of Sabo and said, "His name isn't brat it's Sabo, and we swore an oath to become pirates and brothers with him."

Sabo paled, and Ace and Usopp couldn't help but mutter, "Luffy you idiot."

A tick mark appeared on Garp's forehead and he said, "So what I'm hearing is their is a new brat that needs some attention from my fist of Love."

The boys took off screaming their heads off, while Garp dismantled them one by one as he chased. Once he finished and the boys were on the ground groaning, he said, "Make sure you get some rest because tomorrow your getting double this. Welcome to hell training!" He laughed as he walked off.

After the boys finally rested enough to move they gathered in their room. Sabo started it off by saying, "We can't stay here any longer."

Ace agreed and said, "We can leave tonight so we can have a head start, it'll be harder to find us after."

Usopp said, "One thing is for sure, if we stay here we will die before we become pirates."

The boys looked over to Luffy expecting him to weigh in, but all they got in response was snoring.

"So I guess we are all in agreement." Ace said. The other two nodded and Usopp picked up Luffy after gathering some supplies they took off in the cover of darkness.

The next morning the mountain bandits woke up and a yell was heard. Dadan immediately woke up and ran to see what the problem was and found a note that read: "Moving Out -ASLU".

Dadan sagged for a minute and said, "Garp is gonna kill us."

They woke up Garp and told them of the note. He looked at it and picked his nose saying, "Those brats." And left shortly after towards his boat.

This confused Dadan but she was happy nonetheless. The demon brats had left and she didn't have to worry about a beating from Garp, it was like Christmas!

Meanwhile, the boys had found a spot for their base and immediately set out to the Grey Terminal to gather supplies for building a hideout in the tree.

Usopp enjoyed building he didn't know why, but it gave him a calming feeling. He even built himself a side room so he could tinker with other projects that we wanted.

After a week the whole thing was complete, and surprisingly it looked good, at least to Usopp. It was built with 3 separate rooms. A crows nest, a common room that everyone would sleep in, and Usopp's pet project room that he built himself.

Seasons pass as the boys accumulate strength for their goal. Usopp and Sabo tie everyone they fight and both give Ace a run for his money. Luffy still can't win a fight against anyone in the group, but he lands a lucky punch or two which always keeps him smiling.

Overtime, Usopp modified his gun with tools he made from scraps in the Grey Terminal. Now all he needs to do is find rocks and grind them down to the appropriate size to use them. The only problem is the modification made his gun lose power so he will need a new one when he leaves Goa Kingdom.

They even met an old pirate that fought with Gol D. Roger at one point! He trained Luffy for a time and the boys helped build him a ship. He left the kingdom with a single sentence that struck the boys hearts. "You are never to old to dream!"

They even found out that Ace's dad was the pirate king. This got some weird reactions from Usopp and Luffy. They both loved Rogers ideals, while Ace hated the man with a passion. Usopp could understand, with his dad also being a pirate, but Luffy was bouncing off the walls wanting to know what Roger was like. Needless to say, but this brought a rift between the brothers but it didn't last long with a couple of apology's and explanations.

The boys continued to live their free lives for a year, until one day , a storm destroyed their peaceful home. The boys could only curse and begin gathering supplies to build it anew. While Sabo was in the Grey Terminal and while the boys were doing their daily rounds, two pirates visited him. They where apart of Bluejams crew.

Sabo was immediately on guard until one of them said, "If you value the other brats lives, you'll go see Bluejam by the gate." He took off before another word knocking them out and going to look for his brothers.

Sabo froze. His brothers were captured and his father was standing their talking with Bluejam. Plans ran through Sabos head, but before he could act a pirate had snuck up on him.

With Sabo captured he was brought to his father, who looked over in digust at the boy. "Sabo it's time for you to come home. This is the last time I'll warn you but these boys lives are in my hands."

Sabo stared at his father. He just couldn't believe he came from people who would treat children with malice such as him.

"I'll go-" Sabo started but Ace spoke up, "Sabo don't go just leave. Don't worry about us!" He begged his brother. Usopp chimed in, "We will figure something out but this isn't the life you have to live. What about your dream of freedom." Luffy just cried and was repeating, "Sabo don't leave!"

Sabo looked to his brothers and smiled, before turning back to his father with a cold look, "I'll go but you can't hurt them. If you do, I'll kill myself."

"Wonderful." His father exclaimed. "Thank you mister Bluejam, you can deal with the riffraff however you please, but don't kill them. We still have to talk about the big project later."

The boys each had a chill run down their backs at the mention of this deal but said nothing. They were in no position to say anything, they'd be lucky to have their lives.

"Of course I know just what to do with them." Bluejam smiled while taking a brown bag with what they assumed was money in it. "We will just let them work off their debt."

With that, Sabo left with his father despite Luffy's cries. The Ace and Usopp looked at each other and could see the heartbreak in each other's eyes, but it was replaced with a fierce determination. They had just lost one of their brothers, and they will get him back.