Archive of Our Own

You'd think Garp would have known better than to bring another brat to her. Yeah, she and the boys were watching Ace and despite what she often said if anyone dared to try and take him from her they'd soon be explaining to God why that seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, the lives they led didn't exactly lead to good childcare. Not to mention the few of her men were forced to take… early retirement … after their unacceptable nature came to light. She might be the leader of a bunch of lawless badass bandits, but even she had lines you didn’ cross. Garp knew all this, too. She’d complained about it to him loudly just last year when he’d come to ‘visit’ the boy. More like scare the ever loving hell out of the brat under the disguise of training, but Garp never did really understand how to relate to people normally.

Still, he knew.

Which was why finding him at her door a whole month earlier than expected with another brat was unacceptable. Which she was telling him at great volume while the brat in question went to torment her other brat. She should stop him, but really, if he was going to be living here he’d have to learn to stay out of Ace’s way.

… Damnit. “You can’t do this Garp! The other one is bad enough! I’m not doing it! No! I won’t be responsible for another monstrous brat!”

“Isn’t that a little harsh, boss?” Dogra asked, probably catching Ace’s flinch.

It was but still, “If this one is anything like the other, they’ll eat us out of house and home! I won’t allow it!”

“Bwahahaha, all right.” Was Garp agreeing with her? No it couldn’t be… “I’ll just leave him here then.”

“I’M NOT TAKING CARE OF HIM!” she screeched at Garp’s back.

“Luffy, be good for Jiji.”

“No.” The brat was giving her a distrustful look, wiping what she supposed was spit off his cheek. At least Ace hadn’t hit him.

Garp didn’t listen to the brat any more than he’d listened to her for the last half hour. Instead he ruffled the brat’s hair, gave Ace a nod when the boy was smart enough not to get too close and walked off. For a moment they all stood around in disbelief, her new brat still looking at her with distrust. Totally warranted, even if she hadn’t heard about what had happened in the village. It wasn’t like she cared, either, she didn’t want him here in the first place. Ace was the first one to break the awkward standoff, hopping off the boar he’d brought and dragging it into the butchering shed. Right as he passed the new brat, Luffy, licked his lips, stomach growling.

“You don’t work, you don’t eat, brat,” Dadan told him firmly. He’d get a bowl of rice if he didn’t pull his weight.

“But I’m hungry.”

“Tough shit,” Ace grumbled, tugging the beast that many times larger than he was in such a way the tail slapped Luffy in the face.

For a second she wanted to laugh at his surprised look. And then he sneezed.

“GARRRRRRRP!!” she howled, torn between slapping out the flames that were threatening to engulf their storage hut and chasing down that old seadog and giving him a piece of her mind. A little warning that the brat was a logia devil fruit user would have been nice !

******

“I’mb bine,” Luffy insisted, weakly trying to push Dogra’s hand away so as not to take the medicine.

“If you take your medicine I’ll give you this dried fish I was saving,” Sabo bribed their youngest brother.

Naturally it was very effective and while Luffy pulled a face at the taste of the medicine the mayor had brought over yesterday the two elder brothers shared a look. Ace sighed, “Get some rest, Luffy. We’ll take care of the hunting today.”

“Bub…”

“Sleep. We’ll still be here when you wake up.” Sabo gently shoved their brother back onto the mat he’d slept fitfully on for the last four days and followed Ace out of the bandit’s hut. He waited, following behind as Ace aggressively kicked things out of his way and muttered under his breath. After they were a good half hour away from the bandit’s camp Ace finally stopped, shoulders slumping as he let out a deep sigh. “Well? What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know , alright? I wasn’t expecting Luffy to get sick! I mean, it’s Luffy! ”

“Well, I guess he’s not as much of a fool as we like to pretend,” Sabo replied, leaning against a tree.

“Very funny. Seriously though, he’s never been this sick before. I mean there was that one time he ate those funny berries, but I asked him and he swears he didn’t eat anything weird. Or well, weirder than normal.”

“He could have always caught something in Gray Terminal,” the blond replied. “Lots of people get sick there, and it’s not like you or I haven’t ever gotten sick because of it.”

“Yeah…”

“The mayor doesn’t think it’s anything too serious at least, so he should recover. That being the case, what do you want to do?” Ace glared at him and Sabo offered a mocking smile. “You’re the eldest, after all.”

“Fine!” The recently turned seventeen year old snapped, glaring at him. “I don’t feel right leaving Luffy like this. I know we said we’d set out on my birthday, but if Luffy’s sick enough he has to stay in bed, I’d rather wait.”

“Agreed. Besides, it’s not like Dadan or the Mayor will forgive us if we leave them with a stuffed up brat who occasionally sneezes fire.”

Ace pointed at him. “THAT! That, too! I’m pretty sure Makino would have Shanks hunt us down and kill us if we did that.”

“So we’ll wait?” Sabo confirmed. “We shouldn’t have to worry about Garp until at least a week before my birthday, assuming he expects us to set sail early. After all, he knows very well you won’t leave without me.” Especially since the three of them had made such a big deal of the two eldest heading out to be pirates on Sabo’s birthday. They’d hoped to use the head start of leaving on Ace’s to thoroughly lose Garp, but it wasn’t fair to Luffy if he couldn’t see them off. After all, the last time one of them had left without saying goodbye had been pretty traumatic, for all that it ended well.

“I guess that works. He can’t stay sick that long, right?”

Sabo shrugged, “Probably not.”

*****

“I ain’t telling you brats again, you’re not leaving him here! Not while he’s sick!” Dadan barked at Sabo and Ace as they packed.

“It’ll be fine, he’ll be fine,” Ace said mutationously.

“Ace-kun, it’s the dry season. If Luffy-kun sneezes…” Makino pointed out, her tone concerned even as she continued to pack Luff’s belongings.

“He hasn’t sneezed in days,” Sabo replied, throwing up his hands. “He’s getting better, anyway. It’s not like we can wait any longer, you guys know this!”

“Which is why you’re taking the brat with you,” Dadan snapped. “Just because he hasn’t sneezed in a few days doesn’t mean he won’t and I don’t have time to cover for your asses and watch him, idiots!”

“As much as I hate to agree with a bandit, I have to agree. Luffy-kun always poses some level of danger during this time of year, and while the lad has gotten much better at controlling himself thanks to you two, it’s not really worth the risk. Why, we’re going to be stretched thin as it is, distracting Garp so you get a head start and all,” the Mayor added, apparently finished boxing up the dried goods the town was sending with them and some bandits picked it up to bring to port.

“Luffy could act as a distraction, then.”

Sabo just gave his brother a look.

“What, he’s very distracting.”

“Ace. If Garp thinks Luffy needs a doctor, what’s he going to do?” Sabo asked, already resigned to the fact that their little brother was going to be coming with them whether the three of them wanted it or not.

“...take him to marineford and make him a cadet,” Ace replied at long last. “FINE! But I don’t have to like it!” he snapped, storming into the other room to pick up Luffy, who had blessedly slept through the whole thing.

Sabo sighed, picking up his bag as well as Ace’s and heading towards the door. “I suppose I’ll see you at the docks then.”

“We’ll be right behind you, Sabo-kun. Just want to make sure you don’t forget anything,” Makino replied with a smile, one she kept on her face as Ace stormed out of the hut and headed down the path towards town.

Next to her, the Mayor sighed, “That took longer than expected.”

“You’re telling me. I was starting to think those brats would never get the hint,” Dadan huffed, lighting up a cigar. “They’re not going to be happy about this for a hile.”

Makino just laughed, “No probably not. But it’s better this way, don’t you think? Our boys will be out there together, where they can keep eachother safe.”

The Mayor made a sound of agreement as the three headed after the group. “I do think the sea air will do wonders for Luffy-kun’s illness.”

Dadan let out a barking laugh. “I should hope so! We were running out of those damn berries anyway. Damn brat couldn’t pick something normal to be allergic to, could he?”

“Well, at least this way we know he probably won't have a reaction again. After all, those berries only grow on this island,” Makino pointed out, not even the least bit remorseful about what they’d done.

****

"If you end up in the water again Luffy, I swear I'll leave you there!" Ace snapped as their little brother darted past them, expertly avoiding running into the few crew members on deck.

"Liar," Sabo commented, glancing up from the map.

"Yeah well. I'd think about it," the other Captain huffed. "How's it looking?"

"Well, we're on course. We should make Logue Town by noon tomorrow. I suggest we stock up and set out for reverse mountain with the morning tide."

"Mm… sounds good. So. Who's on Luffy duty?" Ace asked in a joking manner. While both loved their brother dearly and either were just as likely to cause trouble as the youngest, if they didn't plan ahead for which one of them was in charge of wrangling him or whatever crew he dragged along out of whatever mess he end up in inevitably, neither of them would get any work done.

They didn't want to stay too long at the town anyway, as there was a strong marine presence. Having a sinking feeling that Luffy was probably going to end up in jail or worse at some point Sabo sighed, "Just be sure to get a log post. I'll try and keep him from wrecking the town. Or at least, the part you're in."

"I use it as an excuse one time …"

"Are you talking about the time Ace fell asleep and accidentally burned the inn down?" Luffy asked, coming out of nowhere, "Because that was really funny. Especially when Banshee pulled out the marshmallows."

"You only think it was funny because it wasn't your fault for a change."

"Hey!" Luffy pouted at Ace, "I haven't accidently set anything on fire in years!"

Sabo raised an eyebrow, "... So when you burned Makino's handkerchief while sick?"

Luffy paled dramatically, awkwardly looking to the side. "I don't know what you're talking about… that was definitely an accident from being sick… definitely. Oh look! Saber caught a fish! I gotta go bye!"

The two Captains looked at each other and sighed dramatically before Sabo handed Ace a wad of bellies. "Told you."

"What absolutely horrible parenting," Sabo sighed, not really surprised. Dadan was a bandit after all.

"Yeah well. Honestly? Better this way. You just know something would have happened. A fire… Marines… something." Both sighed deeply, because it was true.

****

Luffy hadn't been so excited to visit an island in a while. Logue Town was the place where Roger had ended his journey, though. He couldn't wait to see the execution platform, though he was really glad Ace was not going with him. He loved his brother, and because of that it wouldn't have been right to have gone there with Ace. Sabo on the other hand was probably going to want to talk to all these boring people about what had happened.

"Ready to go?" Dulce asked him, passing by on the gangplank.

"Just waiting on Sabo," Luffy admitted, anxious to get going. Still, if he took off without his brothers here he knew not getting dinner was the least of his worries. Especially since only certain islands were 'don't you dare run off alone, idiot!' ones.

"Forgot his notebook again?"

The teen sighed gustily, "Yeah… take care of Ace for me?"

Dulce faltered for a second, his normal cocky grin becoming softer. He didn't ask any questions, which was good, because Luffy wasn't going to tell him why. But Dulce knew that already. He was the first to join the brothers, and while he often teased the 'Cabin Boy' and the Captains as well about their weird dynamic. "I'll keep an eye on him. Not to worry, you go have fun  and we will see you tonight."

"Right!" Luffy chirped, waving at the default first mate even as Ace passed him with a weird look.

"If you break anything today, I swear…" his brother warned him.

"Shihihi, I'll try not to."

"That's not comforting, Lu. Just… stick with Sabo even if he's being boring."

"I'm never that bad," Sabo sniffed, coming up behind them. He flicked Luffy's hat. "Let's get going. I know there's some places you want to check out, and I've got a few leads to follow myself."

"Nerd!" Ace shouted, walking away.

"Moron!" Sabo called back, "See you tonight!"

"Yeah yeah! Whatever!"

******

"... and you let him near the platform," Ace said, arms crossed.

Sabo rubbed his aching head. "It was that or let him tackle a bunch of Marines, Ace. I thought we wanted to prevent him from getting a bounty while we were still on the East Blue. You know Garp's already looking for us, and there's no way the Mayor told him we have Luffy with us."

"You idiot! He burned down the execution platform! Of course he's going to get a bounty from this!"

"It wouldn't have been a problem if somebody could have managed to stay off the radar of the local Marines!" Sabo snapped back. "What the hell were you thinking breaking into their headquarters?"

"You said you wanted a log post. So I got us a log post… and some food."

"And a speedy Marine escort out of town," Sabo snapped. "How the hell did you fuck up stealing a log post? I doubt that they're exactly well guarded."

"Hey! I'll have you know they were in the locked treasury room! And so was...!" Ace defended himself, trailing off awkwardly.

"What?" Sabo asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Ace wasn't one to try and hide things from him.

"I… may have found a devil fruit," He admitted, looking away.

"Really? That's… fantastic! Wait. Did you leave it there? Ace do you have any idea how much those things are worth? I can't believe--"

"I didn't leave it behind, jackass! Of course I snatched it, and the log post. I'm not stupid!"

"So, where'd you put the fruit?"

Ace blushed. "I… ate it?"

"... Ace did you eat it on purpose or did you eat it accidentally ?"

"It wouldn't have happened if Luffy hadn't blown up the fucking execution platform!" Ace defended himself. "I panicked all right? The alarms were going, people were shouting thief, what did you expect? I had it in my hands and I just reacted! I couldn't even stop myself! You know how it is, there was food someone was going to take it away from me and I... Just swallowed it! If he hadn't angered all the Marines this never would have happened."

"Okay okay I'll give you that. If Luffy hadn't accidentally blown up the platform…" Sabo paused, seeing the flaw in the story. The Marines hadn't been looking for him and Luffy to begin with. They had actually been at the platform for a good 5 minutes, what with him trying to convince Luffy that he couldn't climb on it. And nobody had reacted. In fact, there hadn't even been any Marines in the area. He should know he had been watching. That is, until an alarm went off, a loud blaring sound that immediately had Marines swarming all over town according to the rest of the crew. Marines that had spotted the co-captain of the spade pirates and immediately had converged. Which had led to Luffy blowing up the platform. He narrowed his eyes at Ace. "Really? You're going to try to blame this on Luffy?"

"...maybe?"

"He's not that dumb you know."

"So? He'll still go along with it! Otherwise the whole crew is going to mock me forever. Sabo you don't understand, the fruit is so lame !"

"What is it?"

In response Ace grabbed his cheek and pulled it far out to the side, far past the normal human limits. As he let go it snapped back into place and he pouted. "Rubber. I'm now a rubber man, apparently."

Sabo laughed.

"It's not funny! I know we always mock Luffy for really sucking at his powers, and he definitely does suck, but it's a lot harder to control them than I thought. The number of times I tripped on the way back to the ship Sabo, over my own feet! This is horrible. I'm going to have to relearn everything, and if the crew learns that I panicked and swallowed it on accident, they're never going to let me forget it. Please, please can we just agree that this is Luffy's fault?"

"Oh all right fine. But you're still never living down the fact that you accidentally ate a devil fruit because of an instinctive reaction to food. At least Luffy was a little kid had never seen one before. You know better. As your brother it is my moral obligation to mock you for this for the rest of our lives."

"Fine. I deserve that. Just help me figure out how not to punch myself in the face when fighting anymore."

Mentally picturing that, and realizing that was probably the reason Ace had been especially late to return to the ship, Sabo once again burst out into laughter. "Whatever you say, brother. come on, let's go tell the crew. Wouldn't want you to accidentally fall in the ocean and drown because nobody else knew."

"You're lucky I love you."

"That's my line, idiot."

****

Luffy was definitely not having fun any more. Sure, the town had been really cool when they first got there, good food, new people. Alright, the fact most of the people kept hiding was weird, but sometimes that happened. Plus, it meant the food was free then. So, not that bad of a thing. Plus the fish guy had shown up, and he seemed super awesome. Ace was having a lot of fun fighting him, so much so that he wouldn't even let Sabo join in.

Which was why Sabo had been sulking. And definitely increasing the theft and property damage. Luffy was wisely not going to tell Ace that when the fight was over. Mostly because Sabo gave him a bunch of meat so he wouldn't.

Except now things weren't so fun. "Sabo, if we don't leave now , there's no way we will be able to outrun the Moby Dick ," Saber reported.

"You don't think I know that?" Sabo grit out, eyes focused on where the fight between Ace and the fish-guy was finally winding down. "You want to go tell him that?"

"... That's your job as the co-captain."

With a sigh, Sabo adjusted his hat before glancing at Luffy. "Make sure everyone gets on the ship."

Even though Luffy knew Sabo wasn't looking he nodded, trusting his brother despite the sinking feeling in his chest.

"You alright there, Luffy?" Saber asked, falling into step with him.

"Mmm. We should hurry, though. If Sabo doesn't think we can fight this old guy right now we should go, right?"

"Well, Sabo is the smartest of you three." Saber chuckled as the crew started to beat a hasty retreat.

Suddenly there was a bone aching thud and Luffy didn't even hesitate before running back towards his brothers. There, before Ace, was the biggest man he'd ever seen. There was no question this man was the Yonko Sabo was worried about, the intense look he had was exactly like Shanks's that day.

"Sabo!"

"Everyone get to the ship! Now!" His brother barked, eyes focused not on the giant of a man, but those appearing out of the dust around him.

"But--!"

"Captain's Orders!" Sabo spat out, arm thrown to the side as he stood tense between the enemies and their crew.

"Like we'd let you go that easily, yoi."

Oh no. That wasn't happening. Luffy had faith that his brothers would be alright, and he was even sure he'd be able to help. Their crew, though… sure Saber, Banshee, and Duce were super strong, but most of the crew weren't up to the kind of fight needed to even stand their ground against these pirates. Eyes narrowing, Luffy turned once more, grabbing Saber as he ran.

"Shouldn't we help?"

"Sabo said get back to the ship," Luffy replied, willing fire to bloom behind him, a hot unpassable wall that would buy the crew time. He ignored the shouts of surprise. He didn't think about the fact he was leaving his brothers on the other side of that wall. They were strong. No matter what, they wouldn't die. They'd promised, after all.

*****

Dulce eyed the Whitebeard Pirate Commander with suspicion. They hadn't made it back to the ship before the Phoenix had caught them, though Luffy's fire had stopped the other commanders. It unfortunately did not stop the infamous First Division Commander at all. The man had flown ahead, and with one solid kick that would have been honestly impressive in any other situation had destroyed their ship.

Now the pirate stood between them and what was left of the harbor. "Leaving so soon, yoi?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," he bit out, shoving Luffy towards Banshee. The Captains would kill him if anything happened to their little brother.

"You don't have to look so tense. I'm not here to fight."

"So you destroyed our ship just to say hi?" Saber spat, glancing back the way they had come.

"Think of it as a… recruitment pitch, yoi."

"Some pitch," Dulce said under his breath, feeling the air warm as Luffy glared daggers at the perceived threat. "Sorry, we go where the Captains go." And if they'd gone to the afterlife, the crew would do it's damnedest to send this man after them.

"Well then, you should just accept now. Oyaji's claimed those two brats as his sons."

"He might have claimed them, but they'll never accept him as their captain."

"Father," Marco the phoenix replied, smiling widely, as if mocking them.

"Fat chance!" Luffy growled out. "Ace and Sabo don't need any fathers. None of us do!"

The smile slipped slightly from Marco's face. "And who might this be, yoi?"

"I'm L---" Banshee quickly covered his mouth and judging by her grimace got bitten for her efforts.

"Our cabin boy."

"A bit young to be sailing with pirates."

Saber bit out a laugh. "Go on and say it outright, you're accusing us of kidnapping him, aren't you?"

"Did you, yoi?"

"Trust me, the kid is nothing but pigheaded, there's no way we could make him do anything he didn't want to do. He's un-kidnappable." Saber was speaking from experience, of course. There was always someone willing to do the underhanded thing to get the edge, and kidnapping the youngest crew member had been tried more than once. It always ended with broken bones and third degree burns at the least. If the elder brothers were involved, property damage and murder were definitely on the table. "He's part of the crew, whether you assholes like it or not."

Marco the Phoenix let out an aggrieved sigh. "Fine. We will find something for the kid yoi. I think Thatch said something about Moby II being short staffed in the kitchen..."

With the heat radiating on his back, Dulce had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before First Division Commander realized what a mistake that would be. Too bad, it would have been interesting to see what kind of mess Luffy made of their kitchen. Oh well, at least he didn't have to worry about food poisoning if they were on the same ship.

******

Ace groaned as he woke up. His head was killing him. Attempting to sit up, his body then informed him that the rest of it wasn't to happy with his dumb ass at the moment. "What the hell?"

"Welcome back to the land of the living, moron."

"Sabo? Why the fuck do I feel like I went a round with Garp with seastone on?" He looked over at his brother, making note of the bandages around his chest and head. Ace had a sinking feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.

Sabo for his part sighed. "Remember how I told you picking a fight with Jinbe was a bad idea?"

"Look just because you didn't want to pick a fight with any fishmen does not mean I'm going to overlook a Shichibukai picking a fight with us ," Ace pointed out testily.

"Is that what you thought I meant?" Sabo asked, shaking his head. "Alright, I suppose I wasn't clear enough. Ace, do you know why the World Government gave Jinbe the position?"

"To give the illusion of fair play?"

"Well, that, too. But mostly because the sun pirates not only are ridiculously powerful, but they also had the unofficial support of one of the most powerful crews in the world. One that still has close ties with Jinbe despite the World Government trying to constantly take advantage of that. A crew that showed up right at the end of your little grudge match."

Now it was starting to come back to him. "Fuuuuck."

Sabo sighed, "I know the plan was to eventually take on Whitebeard, but if this was your plan, it sucked."

"How bad?"

"Well, you and I are 'guests' on the Moby Dick , and as I only woke up a few hours ago I've got no clue where the rest of our crew is."

Ace frowned at that, vaguely recalling Whitebeard telling him to become his son of all things. "If they've hurt Lu…"

"Doubtful, he's still a kid. Newgate's a bit like Shanks, he won't allow his crew to harm children. Especially since Luffy's bounty poster has next to no information on him. I'm more worried about the rest of our crew. It'll probably look like they kidnapped him, trying to keep his fool mouth shut."

"All right then," Ace grunted, standing. He took a moment for the room to stop spinning before offering Sabo a hand up, "Let's go threaten some people, get a boat, and find Luffy."

Sabo nodded, rolling his shoulder. "Who knows what sort of trouble he'll get into on his own after all."

The door opened to an overly cheerful man dressed in white with a hairstyle that definitely took more work than it was worth. "Oh good! You're both up! Was starting to get worried there."

"Sorry to cause undue concern. Now, if you'll just excuse us…" Sabo replied, his 'noble BS' face on as he gently pushed past the other pirate.

"Right, I'm sure you've both got questions. Well, I'll do the best I can to answer them. I'm Thatch, by the way."

"It's a pleasure, I'm sure," Sabo absently replied, Ace dutifully following after his brother. He was sure to keep his eyes peeled for any life raft, skiff, even a buoy.

"So, welcome of course to the Moby Dick. I know it's a bit intimidating at first, but you'll get used to it. Oyaji wants to talk to you two as soon as possible, but I thought you might be a little more interested in stopping by the infirmary for the galley first. Just let me know what you need."

Ace deliberately ignored the look Sabo was giving him. "... There is one thing."

"What is it?" Thatch replied, waving at another pirate who was coming over. "Anything for our new brothers, right Marco?"

He twitched but didn't go off as Sabo put a warning hand on his shoulder. "Actually," his real brother began, "we would like a boat, if you'd be so kind."

Thatch pouted, "Running away from family so soon?"

"You're not our family!" Ace snapped.

"That's not what Oyaji sai--"

"Knock it off, Thatch," Marco cut in, apparently realizing Ace was about to attack the other man. "I told you what their crew said, yoi."

"Ah, yeah. The whole 'not big on family' thing. Sorry. I was just teasing." The jerk attempted to apologize with a smile on his face.

Sabo ignored him though he didn't let go of Ace. "You spoke with our crew?"

"I did. Interesting bunch. Loyal. Especially that cabin boy. Where'd you pick him up, yoi?" Though his posture was still relaxed the slight narrowing of his eyes told the two that Sabo had been right and their crew was now suspected of kidnapping.

"I don't suppose it would help to say his de facto guardians practically threw him at us, would it?" Sabo rubbed his bandaged head. At Ace's look he shrugged, "Look, they're obviously not going to believe me no matter what I say, and I'm sure he's been a real pain in the ass for the last…"

"You've been out three days, and yes, yes he has. Nearly gave the whole crew of Moby II food poisoning just last night," Thatch told them, " and he's horrible at chores. So excuse us for being a tad suspect as to why--"

"Well, if you'd just give our crew a boat we will get him out of your hair then." Ace cut him off. "We can pretend this whole kidnapping thing never happened."

That was apparently the wrong thing to say as now both Whitebeard Pirates were tense. "So you did kidnap him."

Sabo threw up his hands, "For the love of--" and was cut off by an explosion coming from somewhere on deck.

"What the hell was that?" Thatch pushed past them, eyes scanning the deck and the sea around them, hands resting on his swords.

The brothers just sighed and stepped a bit away from the rails. It wouldn't do for Luffy to knock the three of them into the ocean again . Watching as the Whitebeard Pirate crew reacted like a kicked beehive to Luffy's rather unconventional arrival was entertaining at least. Not that they knew it was Luffy as they rushed around putting out the fire, completely missing the fifteen year old that had infiltrated, instead focused on Dulce and Saber.

"Your crew seems to be attempting a rescue, yoi."

Just then Saber spotted them. Instead of battling his way to the Captains of The Spade Pirates like the other crew obviously expected, he waved, "Yo! Sabo, Ace! Delivery!"

"Sorry, we tried to buy more time but…" Dulce added with a shrug.

"What the hell are they talking about?"

"So about that kidnapping thing," Ace said casually, "You really should know better than that. Some people have families that might take offence."

“What do you me--"

"Ace! Sabo!" A warm body slammed into them, and it was only Ace's fast thinking and stretchy limbs that saved the brothers from landing into the water.

"Did you miss us?" Sabo grunted out, ruffling the smoldering hair fondly. Luffy had much better control than he'd had as a child, but when he was upset his flames tended to get away from him just a bit.

"No," he lied, "The crew was worried is all."

"That's right, it took longer than expected. Sorry about that, Luffy." Ace offered a rare smile.

"The cabin boy?" Thatch asked incredulously.

"The cabin boy, yoi."

Remembering they had an audience, both elder brothers shoved a protesting Luffy behind them. "We will be leaving now. I'd say it's been a pleasure, but…"

"It definitely hasn't." Ace finished.

"You're not going anywhere, yoi."

Luffy naturally ignored them, tugging on Sabo's sleeve. "You said the next time I got kidnapped," Thatch made a weird sputtering sound, "you'd be there before I got away. You lied. I got away first."

Thatch turned to Marco, "Is this Stockholm syndrome? I feel like it is."

"It depends if they kidnapped him first, yoi."

"We didn't kidnap him!" Ace spat.

"... actually, since we didn't have the old man's permission…" Sabo raised his hands in defense, "though Dadan, Makino, and Whoop would honestly be more to blame since they basically tricked us into taking him."

Ace rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to either slap Sabo or himself. "See? Not kidnapping!"

"Right…" and the Whitebeard Pirates didn't believe him, and the two commanders more or less forcefully encouraged the trio towards the large throne-like chair on deck. Sitting there like some kind of freaking king was Edward Newgate, the rival of the former Pirate King.

"What have you brought me, sons?"

Luffy spoke first, "Wow, you're huge, old man! Do you--"

Ace punched his brother in the head, "Stop asking people that!"

"I didn't even get to ask!"

"So apparently the rookies you were so interested in are kidnappers, Oyaji."

"Abusive kidnappers," Thatch muttered, ignoring Marco's elbow to the ribs.

"Is this true, boy?" Whitebeard asked the person least qualified to answer.

"Hhh? Oh. Yeah! That bird guy totally kidnapped me!"

"I didn't kidnap you, yoi!"

"Did too! Dulce said so!"

Everyone turned and looked at the first mate of the Spade Pirates. "The unlawful transportation and or confinement of someone against their will. Technically speaking you kidnapped all of us. Though as an adult I'd prefer 'unlawful imprisonment'." He pointed to the three brothers, "They're all minors, so yeah. Kidnapped them."

Whitebeard blinked slowly before laughing. "I see."

"It's not that funny, yoi." Marco glared at Dulce, "It's not kidnapping, and you're lucky Oyaji took a liking to your captains for whatever reason, or we'd have killed the lot of you."

"Oh, threatening to kill children, now?" Saber asked, grinning dangerously.

"I would allow no harm to come to the boy." Whitebeard said, unconcerned.

"Can we please get back to the concerning issue of the cabin boy with Stockholm syndrome?"

"What's that? Can you eat it?"

"No, and if we're being honest, it's something that doesn't exist." Dulce replied. "Basically, they think we kidnapped you."

"Oh. That's stupid. If I didn't want to be with Ace and Sabo, I'd have stayed in the forest," Luffy pointed out, picking his nose. "Or burned down the ship."

"Not with you on it!" Sabo punched him, "we've talked about this, burn ships after you're off them! I can't always be there to save your drowning ass! Wait. How did you get here?"

"Oh, I might have burned the kitchen and the mast…"

"And I stole a lifeboat while Dulce stopped Luffy from completely sinking another ship. And now we're here." Saber smirked at Marco, "We told you he was un-kidnappable."

"Were you really that worried about your captains?"

"Nope."

"Not at all."

"They're not my captains." Luffy stated.

"Oh?"

The teen nodded, "they're my brothers. And Sabo always says when I get kidnapped, wait for them to come get me, but that's boring and Ace said if I know where they are I can find them. So I did."

Even as Ace sighed in defeat at his brother's ridiculous logic he was relieved that Whitebeard found it entertaining at least. "You should become my son, boy!"

Not that relieved. "No way old man!"

****

"A thousand bellies on the old man," Sabo said, not feeling the slightest bit of remorse for betting against his brother.

"You sure about that?" the commander, Sabo thought he was the 16th but it was hard to keep all straight, asked. "Betting against your own brother like that…"

Sabo snorted. "We both know Ace doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. That doesn't mean your captain isn't going to have to work for it. The Quake-Quake fruit won't do much against a rubber-man , after all. Though if it comes to brute strength I'll gladly admit Ace is at a bit of a disadvantage."

"A bit? That's quite the understatement," the commander said with a grin. "Alright then, how about we sweeten the pot then?" Standing tall he shouted, "The brat says his brother can last against Oyaji for six hours!"

"Ha! Two minutes, tops !"

"Nah, a dozen!" another shouted, "Three hundred bellies on it!"

"Five hundred on the two!"

"Four hundred on twenty minutes!"

The commander sat, smirking at Sabo, who had to nod. There was no point in taking bets if everyone bet on the same thing...but this? This was a chance to win something back. "Alright then. The thousand on losing, and two thousand on holding out for three hours."

"Three hours it is." The commander held out his hand, "Haruta."

"Sabo. And just… don't tell Ace I bet on him."

"Haha, can do! I know it's a bit preemptive, but welcome to the family."

"I'd say thanks, but we were really doing quite well on our own."

"Not as well as you think…" the Commander's smile fell for a second before he forced it back, "Never mind that now, though. There's a fight to be had and bets to be made!"

Sabo narrowed his eyes, "Aye, but you'll fill me in later?" He received a slight nod and moved on for others to make their bets.

Something told him that the family secrets perhaps weren't so secret any more. In which case, Ace losing this fight might actually be a win in the long run. True, his slightly-older brother wouldn't see it like that at first. Not until he realized the protection this would give Luffy . Because Ace still didn't believe he deserved to be protected, to be loved, after all this time. He still hadn't realized Makino and Dadan sent Luffy with them to both keep their youngest brother safe and to make sure Ace and Sabo always had someone there who believed in them. Luffy was just one person, though. And if the world government was after the three of them… well. Sabo was a pirate. Taking advantage of the Whitebeard Pirate crew to protect his brothers wasn't above him at all.