Chapter Text
Thunder boomed and lighting flashed against the water, illuminating the small caravel that had escaped the barrage of marines. Dragon smirked, a sense of pride filling his chest.
Pirate King, huh?
What a wonderful dream.
purupurupuru~purupurupuru
The most wanted man in the world paused in his musings as the sound of a Transponder Snail ring reached his ears.
Dragon removed the snail from its pocket in his coat and jumped from rooftop to rooftop until he reached the abandoned building outside of town that he and a small group had buckled down in. By the time he had crossed the threshold and removed his coat the snail had timed out and started to ring a second time.
He connects it to a small white snail before answering.
“Status. Report.” was the gruff order that came from his mouth.
“Commander Sabo, sir, new orders just came in from Mr.0, I'm to travel to Whiskey Peak with Miss. All Sunday and check in with the Millions group there.”
Dragon hummed. His son was bound to stop at Whiskey Peak, which meant that there was a chance of Luffy running into Sabo. Dragon couldn’t decide on whether or not that was a bad thing or a good thing.
“Sir?,” the 20 year old commander's voice cut through the man's thoughts, “Your orders?” was the question.
“Proceed. Go along with Miss. All Sunday and report back to me when you finish. I want a detailed recount of the events after it's over Sabo.” Dragon finally said, the affirming noise from the other end was all he got before the line went dead.
Sabo's life has been full of ups and downs. He doesn't remember the first nine to ten something years of his life, but he doesn't care. He's made new memories that fill in the blank spots.
Sabo was 10 years old when he was saved by Dragon and joined the Revolutionary Army. He was 12 when he met his best friend Koala. 15 when he was finally allowed to go on his first field mission (which he aced by the way. No matter what Koala says). 17 when he was named an official Commander.
And now here he was, 20 years old and undercover in one of the most dangerous organizations in Paradise.
He lets out a weighted sigh once the snail's eyes close. Mr.0, whoever he was, was really pissing him off. A knock at his door had him alert and drumming his fingers over his pipe.
“Mr. Top Hat? It's time to go.” came the cool voice of Nico Robin. That was the other thing, Nico Robin of all people was one of the top dogs. She knew everything about everyone and Sabo was constantly on edge whenever he heard whispers of sightings of her. Her Devil Fruit was a pain but at the same time would be useful for the army. Sabo would ask Dragon about possibly trying to recruit her while giving his report.
Sabo huffed out an embarrassed breath when he realized he hadn't given the woman a response.
“Of course, I’ll be right out.”
He opened the door and prepared himself for another unexceptional mission.
Sabo couldn't help but feel like he'd somehow jinxed himself. He watched the red and orange flames curl up into a dark plume of smoke and ash,
╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
If there was one thing the Revolutionary Army was good at, it was staying out of the spotlight. They couldn't afford to be caught when the information stored inside some of their minds could result in a ‘game over’ if the World Government ever got a hold of it.
So they had a rule. Once you get a bounty, you can't ever go undercover again. Most of the (somewhat proud) bounty holders in their ranks tended to be the ones who’s plans favored ’BOOM!!’, rather than the suggested ‘....’ of their more stealthy comrades.
Surprisingly, though Sabo tended to favor the former type plan, ( dine-and-dashes accompanied by ‘shishishis’ and half-hearted insults and feral grins and freedom ),he had never gotten caught by the bright flash of the cameras that would supply a photo for a poster. That never stopped Koala from lecturing him about subtlety and secrecy and ‘Sabo for the last time stop drawing dicks on their faces after you knock them out! ’
Some people just couldn't appreciate good art.
“Mr. TopHat, are you listening?”
The voice of Nico Robin, or Ms. All Sunday as her alias was, snapped Sabo out of his thoughts. The older woman stared at him from where she was sitting at the front of Banchi, brows slightly furrowed (in concern or annoyance Sabo couldn't tell) as Sabo got his bearings quickly.
Giving a sheepish grin and rubbing the back of his neck in practiced false embarrassment he answered her inquiry.
“Yeah I'm good, just bored is all, there's not much to do except daydream so..my bad?” Sabo shrugged his shoulders in a ‘what can you do’ motion, hoping that would keep her from asking more. Fortunately it seemed to satisfy the assassin as she just nodded and repeated herself.
“We are approaching the pirates ship, I was asking you if you were ready to engage as planned?”
Sabo’s mind wandered once more after giving her an affirmative reply, thinking about how long he'd have to pose as ‘Mr. TopHat’ before this mission ended, he'd already been here for almost a year and a half now and he was growing impatient. He had been feeding the RA all the information he could get his hands on, but he hadn't been able to meet Mr. 0 yet, and thus couldn’t figure out his identity.
The only one in Baroque Works that knew who Mr. 0 really was was the woman in front of him, and she was like a steel trap about the subject. Not that Sabo had asked, seeing as that might raise a few questions that he would rather not have to answer.
Sabo's attention was recaptured when they silently pulled up beside the Straw Hat Pirates caravel, and his gaze caught on the jolly roger of a skull and crossbones decorated with a red ribboned straw hat. A familiar weight on his head brought him back into focus just in time to see the last few petals of Robin's devil fruit dissolve from his shoulder. Sabo adjusted his tophatand took a deep breath, putting on the mask Ajax, or Childe as most RA called the adrenaline junkie, had given to him. He slid his trusty pipe onto his back before jumping up next to where Robin was now sitting watching…was that the fucking princess of Alabasta?! Sabo schooled his face as the young pirates finally noticed them, curses upon curses flying through his head.
The green haired swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, Sabo's mind supplied, was immediately on the defensive. He had one sword flicked partially out of its sheath, and had moved himself to be slightly in front of his captain who was just staring at them blankly. It was kind of unnerving actually, the way the young captains eyes seemed to just see right through Sabo and into his soul. He would have been intimidated if he was a weaker man.
"Who the hell are you two?!" Roronoa barked, his eyes were narrowed and he was tensed to spring into action at his captain's word. The Princess of Alabasta (and holy shit was Koala going to have a fucking ball with that once he contacts her.) seemed to have the answer to the man's question as she spluttered, trying to find her voice.
"You-You're-"
"We ran into Mr.9 awhile a go..." Robin smirked, making Sabo roll his eyes from under his mask at her dramatics as she continued with, '"Miss. Wednesday."
Ok,
The young royal's face morphed into a furious gaze, glaring daggers into the two intruders.
"Y-You two killed Igaram!" she spat, it looked like she was about to say more but was cut off by a loud voice shouting out.
"Who cares about that?", the young captain cried, his finger pointing at the agents in an accusatory manner. "What're you doing on my ship?! Who are you guys?!"
The boy's face was a mix between a pout and a scowl, and Sabo couldn't help the fond snort that escaped him at the sight of it. Once again the Princess spoke.
"What are you two doing here, Ms. All Sunday? Mr. TopHat?!"
The orange haired woman, Nami, sucked in a sharp breath before asking which number he and Robin were partnered to.
"As far as I know Mr. TopHat doesn't have a number agent partner, I don't know much about him other than he can do some real damage with that pipe of his and that he's never been seen without a mask and his top hat!" Princess Vivi admitted. Sabo smirked at that. Damn he was good at his job. Vivi went on to say,
"But Ms. All Sunday," she started, "She's the partner of Mr. 0 the boss!"
There was a moment of shocked silence, Sabo soaking in the amusing expressions while he could. Wow, maybe they should terrorize pirate crews more oft-
"Mr.Ze-You mean CROCODILE?!"
Sabo almost choked on his own spit.
What.
WHAT.
Sabo made a noise of surprise, drawing everyone's eyes to him as he leaned back on the balls of his feet in an effort to look calm.
"Well, then, I wasn't expecting that little tidbit of information, Ms. All Sunday is this true?" Sabo drawled, tilting his head to look at his temporary partner. Her face once again gave nothing away and she was saved from having to answer by the young captain asking whether they were bad guys or not. The Princess of Alabasta went on to explain how Robin was the only one who knew the identity of the Boss until Vivi followed her to find out who he was herself.
"More accurately, I allowed you to follow me." Robin corrected, her smile turned teasing and she chuckled as the Straw Hat captain deemed her good because of this fact. Sabo felt like he should be annoyed but he wasn't. For some reason???
"I know that! You were also the one who told Crocodile we knew who he was, weren't you?!" Vivi accused, and Sabo watched, more amused than he should be, as Straw Hat Luffy changed his tune about Robin after she confirmed this fact also to be true. Sabo didn't know why he was feeling these kinds of things when it came to Straw Hat, but he was too emotionally constipated to confront them at the moment so he was just gonna ignore them.
Somehow in his musings, Sabo had missed an entire conversation and suddenly found himself pushing the barrel of a gun up towards the sky with the tip of his pipe. The man on the other end didn't falter, and spun on his heel in an attempt to land a hit on Sabo's temple.
Yeah, fat chance of that.
Sabo thought as he leaned back and then quickly moved to the side as the curly browed man changed the direction of his outstretched leg to try to bring his foot down on Sabo's skull.
Sabo moved forward again, a nasty smirk on his face, to retaliate with an attack of his own. Sabo moved his hands down his pipe, one placed near the bottom and one half way down the pipe. He swung his pipe up from his left side, towards the other blondes temple, and waited to hear the sound of a skull cracking as it usually would when he used this attack. He felt the familiar vibrations that went up his arms as his pipe met something solid, but the sound was lacking. Because Straw Hat Luffy himself had just appeared in front of him and somehow blocked Sabo's attack. With a wooden staff no less.
Sabo didn't have time to question this as suddenly he was forced to go on the defensive when the young captain moved to disarm him. Sabo hopped backwards, backflipping onto the rails behind him. Straw Hat did not move from his position, standing firmly in front of his crewmates left side. Sabo took the time to study the young man's stance, and was shocked when he realized that it was almost a carbon copy of Sabo’s own. It wasn't perfect, he spotted some openings near Straw Hats shoulders and feet, but those could be protected the easiest from any attacks.
"Now, now, let's not point weapons at each other, yes?"
Robin's voice seemed to float over the deck as she bloomed hands from shoulders and disarmed the enemy crew, who all let out varying noises of shock at the sight of her devil fruit power. Sabo huffed but slipped his pipe back onto his back, spinning so he was facing the rest of the crew on the lower deck and slung his arms over his knees. As Straw Hat led the curly-browed man down to the bottom deck (and Roronoa yanked the long nosed man down the steps) Sabo pondered about how Straw Hat had looked at him when their staffs met, his eyes...
There was recognition in those eyes, grief too. Then there was the way Straw Hat had moved, it showed years of practice with handling a long weapon. Sure it seemed that the young man was a bit out of practice, but he obviously knew what he was doing. Sabo's head hurt, this day was only getting weirder and weirder, and he needed to get back to-
“HEY! Give me back my hat, lady!”
Sabo’s head snapped back up at the sound of the Straw Hat captains' shout. Robin had somehow managed to get the boys hat off his head and onto her own. Sabo stared at the boy's face, the pain in his head getting stronger. There was something in the back of his mind…something about this pirate and suddenly.
Suddenly Sabo needed to get that hat back to its owner because that's Luffys hat. That's Luffy's treasure and Sabo would always protect his little brother.
Before he could even realize what he was doing, Sabo had the straw hat in his hands and he was in front of the pirate captain. Wide dark brown eyes stared at him as he passed the hat back to the boy. He could hear the young man's crew spluttering in the background, but he ignored them in favor of watching as the boy's eyes went from his mask to his hat, to the pipe on his back. The young captain's eyes somehow got impossibly wider and Sabo could see the same shock and grief in them for half a second before it was gone and Sabo was being graced with a megawatt grin that could outshine the sun.
“Shishishi, thanks Masky Guy!”
The boy giggled, jamming his straw hat back onto his head. Instead of saying anything Sabo simply tipped his hat and then joined Robin at the top deck once more.
He watched as Luffy crushed the eternal pose in his hands, a strange feeling of pride filling him as he watched. Before he knew it it was time to go. And with a quick tilt of his hat he joined Robin in jumping over the rail and back on to Banchi.
He could feel the young captain's eyes digging into his back as he left.