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Ace is searching. He always is. He is always keeping an eye out and listening in on conversations just to find that one person.
When he had set out to sea he had three goals in mind.
1 fight Whitebeard.
2 get an answer.
3 find that person.
He didn't need to find his own. He was unworthy of his love. The freckled man was certain of it. So he didn't want to find him, but all that was thrown out the window when he lost to Whitebeard and found his person, Marco the Phoenix.
Marco didn't know he found his. The age and the name didn't add up. Gol D. Ace was supposed to be 19/20 or older, not 17. Ace came clean eventually and told Marco. He was ready for a rejection or a fight, but instead Marco broke down, cried and embraced him. He had accepted Ace for who he was.
From those three goals, 1 remained. To find that person.
Ace, Sabo, and later Luffy would always speculate about their soulmates. Ace knew that it was a guy, but didn't want to think much about him. Why bother when he probably was going to hate Ace when he would figure out his secret.
However Sabo and Luffy loved the concept of soulmates, so he went along with it. Sabo always loved his. She wasn't a noble, because his parents had sought. No noble came up. She was probably going to be cool and a pirate captain or something, Luffy's too. He had some guy named Trafalgar D. Water Law. Fucking weird name, but you couldn't judge this Law guy when Sabo's soulmate had an even weirder name.
Koala
Who in their right minds would name their child Koala? Well Sabo thought it was cute. He would wonder where he would meet her, if she could fight, if she would join his crew, what her smile was like, how she would look like, what she was like and on and on. Sabo could ramble on for hours. He had made a message for her, along with the letter that he gave Ace and Luffy. But now...Sabo was dead.
So Ace made it his new mission to find this Koala. He would find her. Tell her about Sabo. That he died, but that he would have loved her. He would show her the letter. The one he always carried. Ace would protect her. Maybe she would join his crew or he could give her his den den Mushi so she could always call for help if she needed it.
Ace of course also kept an ear out for this Trafalgar guy name, but Koala came first.
The Whitebeards had docked on an island. He and Marco had got on land to walk around the town. After that they had bought some ice cream and sat on a bench. When Ace heard someone call someone else Koala, everything around him stopped. The name was yelled again. Ace turned and scanned the crowed, for anyone who reacted to the name. Then he saw her. She was beautiful. Short orange shoulder length hair with a hat and goggles. She was wearing a pink shirt with a maroon collars skirt, black stockings and brown high heel boots. She also looked around his and Sabo's age.
Koala turned to the person who called and ran to them. Ace's heart froze for a minute. She couldn't leave yet. He had not checked if this was the right Koala. He hadn't told her about Sabo. Ace stood up from the bench he was sitting on, turned to Marco who was sitting beside him, handed him his ice cream, said sorry and ran after this Koala.
This Koala person was hard to follow. She was fast and took all the sneaky turns and stayed in the shadows. As if she didn't want to be followed. One thing was for sure, she wasn't a normal civilian. Lucky for Ace that he also wasn't. The jungle, endless fight and chases had given him speed and agility. So he was able to follow her.
Koala grabbed something, a letter, from the other person. He almost hadn't seen it. Koala ran away, with Ace was still chasing her. Then Koala noticed him. She tried to lose him, but Ace would not give up. Not when he was this close. So when Koala realized that she wasn't going to shake him off, she dropped into a fighting stance, a fishman fighting stance. Shit, he could recognize that any day after the 5day fight with Jimbe.
"Wait, I don't want to fight you. I come in peace." Koala didn't seem to believe him. "I only want to ask you something. Can I see your soulmate tattoo?" Okey, that was maybe a bit straight forward. Nobody in their right minds would show their soulmate tattoo to some stranger, especially a stranger who was a wanted pirate. Koala didn't look so convinced either.
"No. I don't have any business with the Whitebeard pirates or you 'fire fist' Ace. Please leave me alone." She began to back away, her front still facing him.
"No, fuck wait. Your name is Koala, right? My late brother had your name. I just want to know if you're his soulmate."
"Late brother? I'm sorry, my soulmate is alive. I have already met him." She was still walking back.
Ace was getting desperate. He needed to be certain that if she walked away that she wasn't the one. He needed to see the tattoo. She could get away at this point and Ace would have missed his chance.
"Can you please show the name on your wrist. I need to know for sure."
"How about you tell me your late brothers name and maybe then I decide."
"Okay, his name is Sabo Outlook." Koala slightly stiffened. It was barely noticeable. "I thought your last name was Portgas." She was suspicious now. Koala on the other hand, knew that she had to find out how Portgas knew Sabo, if this wasn't a trick.
She couldn't let an complete unknown walk away when he could possibly know information about their second in command and her boyfriend. “It is. We are sworn brothers. We are brothers in every form, but blood. I need to know if you have his name." Koala needed to decide quickly. Saying yes meant getting more information about how Portgas knew Sabo, saying no would mean letting this information go. Koala thought that decision was quite obvious.
"The name Sabo Outlook is on my wrist." She showed him.
"So you were lying earlier when you said that your soulmate was alive." Koala was confused. She didn't know why Fire Fist would think that Sabo was dead, but she sure as hell wasn't going to tell him that Sabo was alive. "Yeah, I was."
Portgas grabbed a letter from his pants. "I have this for you. It is from Sabo." Koala took it and read it. It was Sabo's handwriting. "When did he write this?"
"He wrote it when he was 11. Just before he was killed. He gave it to us in the case that we met you before him." Koala was shocked. This could add up to Sabo's life, if Ace knew Sabo before he lost his memories. If this was true, she couldn't imagine what kind of damage it could do if Ace ever told this information to anyone else. They could maybe figure out that both Sabo's are the same and depending on the information the backlash could be huge. She needed to know how much he knew and then she would take care of 'fire fist'. She put on her best innocent face. "Can you please tell me about him?"
"Yeah, of course." And he told her, the amazing adventures, their talks, his looks and everything else. Everything he said she could see her Sabo doing that and everything Ace told her he told her with a warm smile. You could hear the fondness in his voice and body language. He eventually came to the point of the battle with some pirate name Bluejam, Sabo's noble parents the celestial dragon and...Sabo's death. Ace's voice cracked and there were a few tears that escaped his eyes.
Then he did something Koala did not expect. Ace got down to his hands and knees and apologized, over and over again. He promised that he would protect her, stumbling over his words. "Look, umm it's fine." Trying to calm down the distraught fire user. "How about you give me your den den Mushi number and we’ll be in touch. We can call once a month or something if you like." She needed to report this to Dragon and most importantly Sabo. She also needed to keep in touch with Ace. Taking care of Portgas didn't seem like a good idea now. Koala gave Ace a piece of pen and paper. Ace wrote his number on it and gave it back.
"So if I may ask, what are u?"
"Excuse me?" Ace realized how rude that might have sounded.
"Wait, I don't mean it in a bad way. I mean are u a pirate, bandit or something else. You don't move like a civilian."
"I am a merchant." Koala lied "I bring all kinds of cargo from island to island, many times we are attacked by pirates and I need to defend myself somehow. That is why I was so hostile." Ace looked a bit down. "So you probably don't like pirates, huh?"
"Oh I know that there are good pirates. "Koala said in a reassuring tone. "Like the Whitebeards and the Red-hairs. It is just better to be careful."
"Yeah, I understand."
"Look I need to go now. We'll keep in contact, okay. I will call you when I'm back on the ship. Oh, and here is my den den Mushi." She handed Ace a paper and then walked away.
Ace returned to the Moby Dick and Koala quickly ran to her ship and called Sabo. She told him everything. Dragon got involved and they formed a plan of action.
Over the few months Koala would talk to Ace. They would discuss all kinds of things. Koala still kept up her appearance as a merchant. She asked things about Sabo and the other people back on dawn island. While Koala would have these conversations, Sabo would sit quiet in the back and listen. Trying to see if anything Ace talked about sounded familiar.
It did.
It made Sabo curious about himself. Wasn't he a noble? Ace knew him, really knew him, like personally knew him. He needed to know more.
He confirmed to Dragon that it did sound familiar and that he would like to meet up with Ace. Dragon approved. Koala dialed Ace's den den Mushi number and discussed a meeting spot with Ace. They found an island where they could meet again.
The Whitebeards arrived first. They would stay a few days, per request from Ace. It took Koala a while longer to get here. Ace got a call an hour before she arrived. He was eagerly waiting for her on the shore. He really liked Koala. He knew that Sabo would have liked her too. A hole formed in his heart. He was chocking up a little. Sabo and Koala would have been perfect for each other, if only Sabo was alive. Trapped in his own thoughts he didn't see the oncoming ship. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud splash. He saw the ship before him and the little rowboat that just landed in the water. On the boat were Koala and...some blue clothed guy?
When Sabo saw Ace a feeling of longing began to form in his chest. This was his 'brother'. He knew more about Sabo than Sabo ever knew about himself.
In one of the conversations, he had said that a ramen was Sabo's favorite food. Sabo himself didn't know that. So he ordered ramen in the next restaurant he came across and it was the best thing he had ever eaten. He had eaten 15 bowls before he was fully stuffed. Then he realized that he indeed liked ramen more than all the other thing that he had ever eaten. That was just one example of many.
He was nervous. Would Ace really want to see him? What if he didn't like the 'new' Sabo. All kinds of worries flew through his head. Meanwhile Ace was just trying to make sense who this look alike Sabo fucker was. Did Koala try to replace Sabo with this dumb fuck. Did this look alike guy trick her? Is he the reason that she suddenly wanted to meet up. He was going to fire fist this guys ass. When they both came on land, Ace had ran up to 'Sabo' and grabbed him by his cravat. "Who the fuck are you!" He demanded.
"Stop, Ace!" Koala tugged on Ace's arm, but he wouldn't budge. Sabo didn't do anything to make the freckled man to let go.
"You're Ace, right? You're my brother." Ace was absolute livid. "The fuck you are! Sabo died years ago, dumb shit. You better tell me who you are right now and maybe I won't roast your ass!" Maybe they should have told Ace that Sabo was alive. They just didn't think that Ace would react that way.
"Wait Ace, he is really Sabo. I swear! We can explain, please!" Ace shot her an angry gaze, but did back down a little. "Explain."
"Well, to make it simple. He doesn't remember anything. Sabo suffers from amnesia."
"Amnesia?" Ace looked at Sabo. He did really look like his Sabo, the round green eyes, those stupid goggles and hat and the same stupid fancy outfit. The only difference was that Sabo a had burn-scar over his left eye. “So you didn't remember me or Luffy?"
"No, I still don't. Well, I mean I do, kinda. I have had some flashbacks, but not much else."
"Tell me something you can remember."
"Well, we met in the Grey Terminal and I annoyed you so much that you hit me and slammed my tooth out. I've had a gap tooth ever since." Yeah, Ace remembered that moment. Sabo looked absolute ridiculous. He had been laughing for 5 minutes straight.
Ace loosened his grip. “Tell me something else.”
"Um, they found me in the rubble of a sinking ship by Dawn Island. They saved me. I didn't remember anything except for that I didn't want to go home. So I didn't. I'm sorry. I didn't know I had people who cared about me."
"You better be sorry." Sabo and Koala noticed that Ace was trembling. There were a few tears falling from his eyes before he completely broke down, clutching onto Sabo for his dear life. Sabo also broke down and Koala had teared up.
After a few minutes of crying together they fell into a silence. Ace and Sabo had not let go of each other, but neither of them minded. Ace looked at Sabo and noticed that he had to look up a little. "You're taller."
"Yeah, I guess.”
Sabo realized something. “I am the older brother now, right? The tallest has to be the oldest or am I not remembering it well." Sabo's voice was full of playfulness.
"Hey, that's not fair! Go shrink, you shit!" Sabo laughed a little. "Sorry Ace, no can do." They playfully began to fight. Koala looked at them and smiled. She knew that it was all going to turn out fine. She just knew it.
Then she remembered that they hadn't told Ace that they were actually Revolutionaries.
"...Shit"