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~*~
if you’re lost you can look
and you will find me
~*~
In the days that followed the Lucci incident, Ace and Sabo were careful to shower their little brother with as much affection as they possibly could. And much to their pleasant surprise, they were far from being the only ones, as Nami, Sanji, Zoro, Chopper, Robin and the friend group's most recent addition, a blue-haired boy named Franky, successively turned up on their doorstep, ready to whisk their little brother away for a day's adventure. If not for Makino’s talk with Ace, the two elder brothers might have been stricter about grounding Luffy while he was suspended from school - but seeing their little brother’s happiness at this continued attention made them open their door to every persistent ringing in the days following Friday.
So it was with no sense of trepidation at all that Sabo patiently went to answer the door on Wednesday morning - only to suffer a small heart attack. "Old man?!"
For looming in their doorway, looking as threatening and forbidding as ever, was Luffy's grandfather Monkey D. Garp. At Sabo's instinctive reaction, there was a definite pop to the vein on the older man’s forehead. "How many times have I told you to call me Grandpa, you shitty brat?!"
Sabo could only splutter. "W-what are you doing here?"
Alarmed by the noise at their front door, Ace and Luffy came rushing to the hallway - only to skid to a halt and carefully peek around the doorframe, once they realised who it was.
"Is this any way to greet your grandpa?" Garp complained and then, spotting Luffy, raised his fist. “Luffy! What do I have to hear about you being suspended from school? You’re not supposed to turn into another delinquent like your brothers!”
Shoving Luffy (who did not need much convincing) behind him, Ace bravely diverted Garp’s attention to himself. “You got a problem with me, gramps?”
Growling, Garp tried to push Sabo aside, meaning to advance on Ace who had a mulish - if at the same time recognisably frightened - expression on his face.
“Hey, hey,” Sabo nervously waved his hands, trying to soothe the flaring tempers. “Wait a second, I think you’re missing the whole picture, old man-”
“IT’S GRANDPA!”
The screaming could be heard down the hallway, resulting in numerous heads poking out of their apartments and staring in wonder at the still open door to number 56.
~*~
It seemed that Makino, in what had undoubtedly been meant as a kind gesture, had alerted their grandfather to Luffy’s recent issues at school, prompting the former policeman to break off his world tour with the Marine Monkeys and hurry back to Dawn City in order to check in on his grandson - not necessarily to said grandson’s appreciation. For while there was no doubt in the brothers’ mind that Garp loved them in his own way, it was the expression of his love that they had issues with - seeing as it primarily involved shouting at them and trying to make them join the police force. Plus, there was this one other thing, that was even worse than Garp’s anger …
“Fist of love~, fist of love~, oh your love~, it came from above~ … ”
“How long did he say he was staying again?” Sabo muttered to Ace, his hands pressed against his ears as they were watching their grandfather prepare breakfast from a safe distance.
“A week,” Ace said, a look of despair on his face. “Apparently he managed to wrangle a short vacation out of Sengoku before their next gig in Logue Town.”
It was almost five years ago now that Garp, following a rather heated argument with the police force’s current chief constable Akainu, had gone into early retirement, leaving his post as assistant chief constable in a rather abrupt manner - only to reveal that it was now time to pursue his lifelong ambition of founding a rock band. The announcement had come as a huge surprise to everyone - except to the three boys closest to him who had been the unwilling first audience to many of the group’s subsequent smash hits, including their signature song ‘Fist of Love’ and lead guitarist Aokiji’s breakthrough solo ‘Ice Time’.
“More gentle still~, than the wings of a dove~, fist of love~, fist of love~ … ”
“Don’t most rock stars get tired of hearing their own songs?” Ace wondered aloud. Sabo shrugged.
Breakfast was a mercifully song-free affair, though not without its own issues, as Luffy had overslept and was now wolfing his breakfast down in order to make it to school before the ring of the first bell.
“There’ll be no breakfast for you tomorrow, Luffy, if you don’t get up on time!” Garp scolded, prompting a fearful look in Sabo’s direction, which was answered with a minute shake of the head. “Lateness isn’t tolerated in the Force, you should know that!”
Said by the man who always comes and goes as he pleases, Sabo thought, but wisely kept his mouth shut. “Seeing as tomorrow is Saturday, there won’t be much of an issue,” he said instead.
“Oh, is that right?” Garp blinked and then broke into a joyful smile that put the brothers on edge. “Meaning the three of you will have all the more time to spend with your grandpa! How about a trip to the zoo?”
Ace winced, even as Luffy cheered. Although he knew that his younger brother loved the zoo, adoring all creatures big and small (and disgusting), he could not imagine a more stressful way to spend his Saturday. It was no secret that the zoo was number one on the list of weekend outings for families - meaning lots of children, prams, stressed parents and above all chaos in which it was easy to lose a certain hyperactive little brother.
Before he could say anything, however, Sabo spoke up. “Alright, but we’re taking Luffy’s friends along.”
“What?!” Garp spluttered. “All seven of them? You think I’m rich, boy?”
“Yes, actually,” Sabo said, raising his eyebrows at his rockstar grandfather.
Ace, meanwhile, was levelling a wide-eyed look at Sabo, which the blonde, unfortunately, could not decipher for the life of him. ‘What? ’ he mouthed at his sibling, when Ace slapped a hand to his forehead.
Seeing Luffy’s happy expression, Garp could only roll his eyes in defeat. “Alright, fine, the brats can come along.”
“YAY!”
“Sabo,” Ace hissed over Luffy’s loud cheering. “Did you think this through? Now we’ll have to watch not only one hyperactive kid, but seven of them!”
Feeling as though he had been doused with a bucket of ice water, Sabo gulped.
Oh.
~*~
“NAMI! Come on, we’re heading to the monkeys next!”
“Stop pulling at me, Luffy! I’m going to-”
“Ouch!”
“Whoops, sorry, Zoro!”
“Apologise to me, damn it!”
“Guys …”
As he surveyed the harmonic scene playing out in front of him, Ace could feel a definite headache forming behind his temples. Not for the first time that day, he threw Sabo a look that had ‘I told you so’ written all over it. His blonde brother could only shrug helplessly in reply.
Fortunately, there was at least one advantage to having Garp around.
“Brats!” the ex-police officer growled and the silencing effect his voice had was instantaneous. “Did I hear one of you curse just now?”
There was a heartbeat of silence and then the voices of seven children chorused, “We’re very sorry, Garp-san!”
Garp gave a satisfied nod. “That’s better. Now, did I hear my grandson wanting to go see the monkeys?”
Still too frightened, the children barely had the courage to nod, as Garp started leading the way to the monkey house. After a moment, a surprisingly orderly friend group followed after him.
“Hate to admit it, but that was sort of impressive,” Sabo muttered.
Ace could only nod.
~*~
Unsurprisingly, the monkey house turned out to be the definite highlight of their trip, as their little brother simply loved monkeys. Having never asked Luffy, Sabo could only guess at the reason behind his fascination with the species, although he strongly suspected it had something to do with their energetic and mischievous nature.
Smiling at the small boy, who was currently tugging his friends from enclosure to enclosure under the watchful eye of Garp, Sabo turned to Ace. “They’ll be hungry soon, I’ll just step out and get some snacks. Will you be alright for a minute?”
Ace shrugged. “Gramps seems to have a handle on things.”
“Alright. Be back in a sec.”
With Sabo gone, Ace strolled over to Luffy’s group and sat down next to his grandfather, who had kept a surprisingly careful eye on his littlest grandson ever since they had entered the zoo.
It was Garp who eventually broke their comfortable silence.
“So,” he grumbled from behind folded arms, "what’s going to happen with the Usopp situation?”
Ace sighed. There were quite a few topics that he was reluctant to discuss with Garp, but the way he was continuing to fail his little brother in that matter certainly ranked as number one. He avoided his grandfather’s gaze.
“I don’t know. Sabo and I tried talking to Yasopp about it, but he’s never available. We’re still hoping he’ll get back to us, but failing that I suppose Usopp’ll have to come around on his own.”
“Hm,” Garp grumbled. “Well, it might be painful, but perhaps it’s time for Luffy to learn that some friendships aren’t forever.” Shaking his head, the old man sighed. “He’ll be alright in the end.”
Ace grimaced, not sure if he agreed with the sentiment. “He still gets sad at nighttime, and he feels lonely a lot. His friends are helping, but-”
“You’re helping,” Garp interrupted him, and there was a seriousness underlying his voice that Ace did not hear often. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you and Sabo watching him like a pair of hawks. Or that you’ve become even more of a pushover to his every whim.”
The indignant response was at the tip of Ace’s tongue, when he finally looked up and noticed the pride in Garp’s gaze. Dumbstruck, Ace could only return the look. Just before it could get uncomfortable, however, Garp broke into a laugh. “But I suppose that’s an older brother’s job.”
Unsure how to respond, Ace returned his gaze to Luffy who was currently making faces at a pair of emperor tamarins, thoroughly amused by their white moustaches.
“... I thought I was turning him into another ‘delinquent’.”
There was a dissatisfied grumble from Garp. “Don’t remind me,” his grandfather ground out, but then seemed to settle again. “To think of the bright future the three of you could have had in the Force …”
Ace could barely refrain from rolling his eyes, not wanting to provoke another argument.
They both smiled as Luffy turned around and excitedly waved at them, before he was tugged along by Chopper, who had just noticed the freely moving squirrel monkeys above them, climbing along the net of ropes that was hung along the circular walkway of the upper gallery.
“He seems happy.”
Garp’s surprisingly soft statement concluded their conversation, as they went back to watching their youngest family member in silence.
~*~
When Sabo returned, carrying two armfuls of snacks, it was to a definite heart attack.
“I can’t believe you - WHY THE HECK ARE YOU TWO SLEEPING?”
There was an audible pop to their respective snot bubbles, as both Ace and Garp were startled from their sleeping fits - with at least one of them having the appropriate reaction and going into full panic mode.
“Oh shi- what’s-? Did we fall asleep?! Where’s Luffy?!” Ace rattled off his questions in quick succession, looking around frantically.
“I don’t know, you were supposed to watch him!” Sabo yelled, turning on the spot. “I don’t see any of the others either …”
“This is really bad …,” Ace muttered, dragging both hands through his hair.
He was distracted by his grandfather who inexplicably started laughing of all things. “The brats got lost? Haha, what a great opportunity for survival training!”
Thinking they must have misheard, both Ace and Sabo turned wide-eyed looks on Garp.
“Survival training …?” Ace echoed and then clenched his teeth. “Luffy’s seven years old!” Seven years old and currently going through a shitload of abandonment issues, he thought, barely keeping from burying his face in his hands.
Before Ace could give in to the urge to storm at their grandfather, Sabo grabbed the back of his shirt. “Leave it for later,” he snapped at his brother. “We need to start looking for them!”
They decided to split up, with Sabo taking the eastern part of the zoo, while Ace would comb through every nook and cranny of the western part, having ample experience with Luffy’s explorative nature. Garp, meanwhile, was sent to the visitors’ centre, with strict instructions of calling for the children and sending them to a meeting point near the entrance via the public announcement system.
As it turned out, the children had had enough sense to stay together in groups of two or three at least. It was easy enough to find Nami and Sanji in the Big Cat House, as the blonde’s fawning over the orange-haired girl could be heard all the way from the entrance. They were none too amused when Ace took them to stay alone with Garp, although the raven-haired teenager could not care less, considering it quite the appropriate punishment.
Sabo meanwhile found Franky and Robin near the rhinoceros enclosure and managed to stumble over Chopper through sheer coincidence at a cotton candy stand. As it seemed, the little boy was already in the process of charming himself into his third free cotton candy stick, the owner of the stand appearing equal parts exasperated and enchanted with his adorable but nevertheless cashless customer.
That only left Zoro and Luffy - and between Zoro’s lacking sense of direction and Luffy’s impulsivity, the two of them had to be the worst possible combination to get lost together. Even worse, none of Luffy’s friends could be of any help in finding the two boys, as everyone could only remember last seeing them in the monkey house. So it was that even after an hour of searching neither Ace nor Sabo had come up with any leads when they finally met up at the central fountain.
“Did you check the aquarium?” Ace gasped, bracing his hands against his knees.
“Of course I did.” Sabo looked affronted.
“Only there is this little space behind the slide near the piranha tank-”
“I checked, Ace! What about the meerkat enclosure? They might’ve climbed into one of the viewing bubbles-”
“Checked all of them. Short of them climbing into the meerkat tunnels, I can’t think of a place they could be.”
There was a brief pause as both brothers considered the possibility and then immediately scrapped it. Although still tiny, both Zoro and Luffy had thankfully outgrown meerkat-size quite a while ago.
‘Attention, dear visitors! Dawn City Zoo will be closing in half an hour. We thank you for your visit-’
“Damn it!” Sabo cursed, trying to tamp down the rising panic he was feeling. "We've looked everywhere and-"
He paused when he noticed the glazed look that had suddenly appeared on Ace's face. "I think we've been stupid, Sabo …," he mumbled. "I've just remembered …"
Abruptly he turned on his heel, hurrying back the way he came.
"H-hey wait, damn it!" Sabo called and started after his brother. "Why can't you ever explain?!"
"Come on!"
~*~
The doors to the monkey house swung wildly back and forth, as Ace and Sabo stormed inside, quickly moving into the central area where the squirrel monkeys were still climbing the rope net that was hung above them - and breathed a sigh of relief. For there, in the far corner of the net, slightly concealed by some bit of shrubbery that was hanging off the gallery, was their little brother - fast asleep by all accounts.
“Luffy …”
There was a definite shake to the laugh that escaped Sabo as he once again followed after Ace, though this time on slightly wobbly knees. The moment he had spotted Luffy, his brother had hurried up to the gallery, taking two steps at a time. By the time Sabo reached his siblings, Ace was already climbing over the railing, trying to get a hold of their little brother even while he was beginning to stir.
“God you scared me …,” he breathed, reaching out to run a hand through Luffy’s hair once Ace had returned, needing the reassurance that their little brother was really safe and sound.
Barely aware and blinking, Luffy looked sleepily up at them. “Ace … Sabo …,” he murmured, rubbing his eyes.
Carefully, Ace moved the still stirring boy from his chest to his hip - no doubt so that he could look him better in the face during the historic scolding Luffy was about to receive - when all of a sudden two small arms were wrapped around his neck, a little face coming to rest underneath his chin. “You came!”
Fearing that his earlier hunch about Luffy’s abandonment issues had been right, Ace quickly returned the hug, deciding to leave the scolding until later. “Of course we came,” he murmured, throwing Sabo a distraught look. “We’ve been worried sick.”
Desperate to comfort their little brother, Sabo put a hand on Luffy’s back. “We’ve been looking all over for you.”
A confused look was turned on Sabo. “All over? But I’ve been here the whole time! Chopper showed me the squirrel monkeys and I thought that maybe I could catch one. It was fun climbing with them! But when I looked back everyone was gone …”
Ace had already figured as much. It was hard to know whom he felt more frustrated with - Luffy for always, always following his impulses without thinking things through or himself for not figuring it out sooner.
Meanwhile the guilt Sabo felt at the troubled look on Luffy’s face was crushing. For a moment, the little boy seemed to stare off into space and it was hard to guess at what he was thinking or feeling. As Sabo reached out, however, a brilliant smile was suddenly turned on both him and Ace. “I knew you would find me though!”
“You did?” Sabo carefully asked, as he once again carded his hand through his little brother’s hair in a reassuring gesture.
“Yeah!” Luffy confirmed with a hundred percent certainty in his voice. “No matter how scared I am or how much trouble I get into - Ace and Sabo will always find me.”
Tightening his hug on Luffy in relief, Ace swallowed. “That’s right.”
As Sabo moved to join their embrace, they stood in silence for a couple of moments, just glad of each other’s presence. It was not until Luffy’s voice piped up that the moment was eventually broken.
“But Ace, Sabo … it took you so long to find me that I fell asleep! Next time can you be quicker?”
Sabo cleared his throat.
“What was it again you said about the amount of trouble you get into, Luffy …”
~*~
Even though Ace and Sabo felt like they could hardly handle any more excitement that day, it appeared that there was still one more surprise in store for them, as their little group finally made it to the exit of the zoo. It appeared in the shape of a little green-haired boy - one who Ace and Sabo guiltily realised they had briefly forgotten all about - who was standing near the revolving door, arms crossed in front of his chest and glaring at them.
“I’ve been waiting here for you for hours,” Zoro complained, shooting Luffy's elder brothers an annoyed look. “I came here when the speakerphones said to meet at the entrance. Did you get lost or something?”
Dumbfounded, Ace and Sabo could only stare at their little brother’s directionless friend, the only one to have followed their instructions, while Luffy himself collapsed into giggles.
They were never taking Luffy and his friends to the zoo again.
~*~
if you fall, I will catch you
I'll be waiting
time after time
~*~