chapter 10- goodbye and determination

As me and Sabo walked towards Ace, Sabo began to have second thoughts. "I don't know if I can do this Luffy, maybe it will be best if I disappear without Ace knowing? he will hate me for leaving so it will be for the beast wouldn't it?".

Sabo was so worried about Ace's reaction that he kept asking me to reassure him that everything will be alright. "don't worry Sabo, you know more than anyone how caring Ace is. He will make a little scene, sure, but if you tell him about your dream and then tell him you've forsaken that dream just to stay with him he won't forgive you".

After thinking about what I said, Sabo finally made up his mind to go and say goodbye to Ace. We found him resting in our base on top of the trees, Ace looked at us and understood that it was something serious when he saw Sabo's expression.

"Sabo you look sad did something happen to you?! tell me a name and they won't live another day", "Ace I'm fine it's just that..." Sabo took a deep breath before continuing.

"As you know I am a noble, however, I am so furious about how the nobles treat the commoners and how this broken system was allowed to exist in the first place! I know we dreamed about being pirates together but I found an opportunity I never knew existed. I am really sorry but I can't pass this up, I understand if you hate me but plea-".

"Shut up!" Ace suddenly cut Sabo in the middle of his speech, "if you found an opportunity to make your dream come true then you should go, and instead of seeing who can become the pirate king first we will just change it. I win if I become the pirate king while you haven't cleaned the noble system and you win if the opposite happens."

Ace said while having a big smile on his face. "Just don't forget to come by here every so often so I'll kick your ass!", Sabo seemed to forget his worries as he fell for Ace's provocation "oh you wish, I'm going to be trained by Luffy's dad so I'll beat you in out next spar". Ace laughed and suddenly changed the subject "so when are you going?".

Saddened by the sudden reality Sabo answered "now. a celestial dragon is supposed to arrive and we definitely don't want to fight them just yet" "so this is goodbye for some time ha?" "yea" suddenly a soldier came running.

"Sabo, Dragon calls you, we need to go". Sabo looked at Ace with a sad expression but the latter smiled and said "well what are you waiting for? you have a six-year head start on me on our competition and god knows you'll need it. I'll be fine I have Luffy".

Sabo hugged Ace tightly and went with the soldier. The moment Sabo was out of sight Ace broke down crying, normally he wouldn't even shed a tear while around me so I understood how much pain he felt.

"Hey, Luffy?" Ace said between sobs, "yea?" I replied, "I want to win my competition with Sabo, I want to show Sabo that even if he is part of the revolutionary army he won't be able to beat me! since your dad is training Sabo can you train me even harder then you did before?" Ace now had pure determination in his eyes.

"I can but it will be far from easy. If you really want to be that powerful I will put you through hellish training that will make you wish you were dead. knowing all that do you still want me to train you?" I didn't even need to hear his response as the look in his eyes gave me the answer. "then if you are ready, let's not waste any time. by the time I'm done with you, even the greatest pirates will fear you!"

*9 years time skip*