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Ace hit the ground from where he was hunkered down on the cliff overlooking the sea. The same sea that had taken Sabo from them, which had given the blond a watery grave away from all of them.
“You can’t be gone. I need you, Luffy needs you. I can’t… Sabo, I can’t look after Luffy, not in the way that you could - can - should be doing.”
Tears streamed over freckled cheeks as Ace let go of all the hurt he was feeling, he couldn’t believe that their blond brother wasn’t here anymore. He had set out, trying to escape the life he had once before escaped to the Grey Terminal.
But his father had found him, had taken him away and threatened to hurt Ace and Luffy if the blond ever did return to them.
So, Sabo set out to sea, trying to escape from everything that had happened to him. In an effort to find the freedom all of them craved, and to protect his precious brothers.
But, in doing so, he had done it on the same day a Celestial Dragon had arrived at port in Goa Kingdom. The World Noble hadn’t thought twice about it, shooting at the small vessel Sabo had used. It had after all been flying the colors, and for that and for sailing the seas at the same time the World Noble had done so, Sabo had been shot.
The letter that Sabo had sent to them didn't help the matter.
The blond had asked Ace to look after their little brother, to come and find him on the seas after he too set out. To have no regrets as they each went their own ways.
Only in this, Sabo would never meet any of them. He’d been given back to the sea, in a way that most sailors lost their lives. He had lost his life before it even began - and in a way he had found his freedom, but it wouldn’t comfort his brothers, who needed him here still, but who wouldn’t see him ever again.
Ace sniffled, “I need you, but I’ll learn. For you, and for Luffy, I’ll learn how to be a better brother and I’ll look after Luffy. Look out for me, Sabo, I’ll be one of the best pirates on these seas once I set out.”