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Ace and Sabo were a duo.
They were partners-in-crime from the day they met, a look at each other, despite Ace's freckles and simple clothes, Sabo's missing tooth and formal attire - once they saw the dirty, tattered state of each other's clothes, and the hidden sadness in each other's eyes - they knew they were the same.
It was them against Grey Terminal - against High Town - against Goa.
Against their parents.
Nobody knew what it was like to be them - children, living on their own and fending for themselves, either running away from a family that never loved them or running away from a world that hated them.
Expectations, judgment, adults - it all took from them something they treasured-
Freedom.
But once they had each other, freedom was being with each other, freedom was running in the forest together, freedom was feeling the wind that accompanied them, freedom was watching the sea from a cliff and wishing that one day they'd be out there.
It took another to realise that they were missing someone from the equation all along.
The strawhatted boy with the scar under his left eye, claiming to be Ace's brother showed up one day and broke through their tightly-woven shield and built another.
Ace and Luffy were a duo.
Ace thought he had made it clear he didn't want Luffy to chase after him - didn't want him to show him hatred, didn't want him to find out about his blood father and tell him that he should be dead.
Luffy wanted a friend - and he thought he could change Ace's mind. He withstood everything Ace threw at him, and still emerged relatively safe and smiling at the end.
I want to be your friend.
And he did, and it was after Luffy protected their secret that Ace believed, and they swore to become brothers.
Ace and Sabo were a duo.
They were older than Luffy by three years, and the age difference was enough for Luffy to be significantly weaker than them, physically and mentally.
It was their job as two older brothers to protect him, and keep him smiling.
When Ace lost his patience with trying to raise Luffy, Sabo would always follow by comforting him.
They had different ways of teaching Luffy, but they were both his older brothers.
And when Sabo was gone, Ace stepped up to take Sabo's role of comfort as well.
Ace and Luffy were a duo.
For about seven years they were together, even longer than when Ace had known Sabo.
Sabo was noticeably a missing presence, and Luffy felt it.
Ace had to come back to reality, and once the shock faded, they promised to leave at seventeen, just like Sabo had wished.
Without his partner-in-crime, Luffy had to fill in the shoes, and though Luffy was his little brother, he didn't have the dynamic he shared with Sabo.
And that was okay - because he still loved Luffy just as much as he loved Sabo.
Ace had to work harder to protect Luffy and get him out of trouble than if he was Sabo - but Luffy always had his stupidly bright smiles and clingy hugs to make up for it.
And when Ace had to leave Goa, he knew he would miss all of that.
An older brother can't help but to worry for his troublesome younger brother.
But Luffy found himself a trustworthy crew and true friends, and Ace himself a true father, and between all that, Ace knew that Sabo would be happy.
And in Marineford, Ace wanted to kick himself and more for not listening to his father.
Sorry, Luffy, Sabo.
Sabo and Luffy were a duo.
Sabo hadn't known Luffy for long, and yet his love for him was as strong as it was for Ace's.
That was why after he recovered, he made sure to meet up with Luffy again.
Would Luffy hate him?
He would stress, but Luffy's smile assured him that things would be fine.
After all, the smile of an angel couldn't ever harbor hate - much less when they were brothers.
And when they were reunited once more, Sabo wished he had the chance - no, wished he had come find him the moment the remembered, because he asked Ace to take care of him when he himself left Luffy alone for that long.
When he heard Luffy was in danger, he immediately rushed to the scene - because he was the older brother, always having to get his little brother out of the water because he couldn't swim- because he couldn't let Ace down- because he would never lose another brother to Blackbeard ever again - because Luffy, his little brother was in danger.
And after seeing that Luffy was fine, Sabo hated to part - but Luffy had his own adventure now, and Sabo had his own obligations.
He'd just have to wait until Luffy was done, and until then, visit from time to time.
After all, a bond bound by sake will never be eroded by time.
Ace, Sabo and Luffy were a trio.
When Sabo and Luffy had gotten a strange call from Marco to meet up somewhere, they had to take it.
And if they found a familiar face waiting for them, Luffy would have to jump onto his shoulders and hug him tightly, sobbing his heart out and Sabo wouldn't be able to blame Ace at all and instead just join in on the hug.
owari