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Ace was excited, now finally it was his time to leave the island and sailed on his own adventure.
He was filled with energy and Luffy was just like him, although for a different reason, Sabo and Zoro had promised to see him leave, so they would come visit them for a whole day and would drop off Ace on a ship the next morning.
Usually Zoro tried to visit them as often as possible, but it had been a while since the last time that they saw Sabo so Luffy was practically vibrating with excitement.
In all, Ace could barely sleep, it was going to be the best day ever!
.
"Do you think something happened?" Asked Sabo while they waited for Zoro, Sabo as he promised, had shown up first thing in the morning but Zoro was still missing which was odd because Mihawk was always on time dropping Zoro at their island.
"Is Zoro-Nii on troubles?" Asked Luffy who had caught up with his brothers uneasy.
"Zoro? On troubles? Please, you know that there's no one who can even compete with Zoro!" Ace exclaimed. "He probably got lost again, you know how easy he gets lost"
"Yes! He even got lost walking in a straight line!" Laughed Luffy.
"Exactly! You see, he'll be here soo—
"I see uncle Mihawk's hat!" Exclaimed Sabo and that was odd... Usually Mihawk just dropped Zoro on port and went around town to do his own thing. "Wait what is that on his arm—
"Is that—
"Holy shit—
.
So apparently when they were traveling Zoro and Mihawk crossed paths with some guy that wanted to be the world's greatest swordsman and decided to try to go against Mihawk.
Obviously Mihawk won but when he was cleaning his sword the idiot who apparently was a devil fruit user, had thrown some random light in his direction, that Mihawk avoided but Zoro who was taking a nap didn't.
"He promised that the effect would only last for a day" Mihawk said while Ace and Luffy looked in completely awe at the tiny Zoro behind Mihawk's legs.
"He is so precious, how old is he?" Asked Ace, Zoro was looking at them shyly while holding Mihawk's pants softly. "Look at his tiny hands, he is so cute"
"He said he was six" Mihawk answered and then decided to look at Zoro. "They are your brothers Zoro, and they want to play with you"
"Really?" Asked in a soft voice Zoro, who looked at the teens and then at the adult.
"Yes! We really want to play with you!" Cheered Luffy.
"It's fine, go" agreed Mihawk and Zoro left his hiding place to go with Luffy who happily took Zoro on his arms being followed by Ace. "How much do you know about Zoro's past?" Asked Mihawk, and Sabo was taken back for the question.
"I ... I know that his parents were shitty and that he had a difficult childhood" Said Sabo and the warlord nodded.
"Zoro was very... Confused and scared, but he was also very quiet, too quiet" Commented Mihawk.
"Oh" Murmured Sabo and he felt his heart clenching a little bit at the implications, children weren't supposed to be quiet.
.
True to be told, Mihawk had never questioned Zoro about his past, he didn't know if Zoro's parents were dead or alive but Zoro didn't seem to mind.
Although there were some things that clearly talked about neglect, the way Zoro even at a young age was so self-sufficient or never really made any fuss or throw a temper tantrum like other children his age.
And how quiet he was, like if he was scared of making any loud noise, Mihawk noticed all this but decided to not ask, because he understood that there were some things that were too difficult to talk about — and because sometimes Zoro would mention some things, carefully, not wanting to share too much but at the same wanting to explain why he had troubles with certain things —
Mihawk respected his son's privacy, and did his best to let Zoro know that he could trust him and that no matter what he would be there for him.
He hoped that that was enough.
"Sabo bought me cookies" Said Zoro walking to him, being closely watched by his brothers and Mihawk picked the younger one in his arms.
"That's very nice of him"
"He is very nice" agreed Zoro and took his hand leaving a cookie on his palm. "We can share."
"Thank you" He gave him a little smile and Zoro lit up happily eating his own cookie.
And Mihawk not for the first time thought he could understand why Shanks gave his arm for a child he barely knew.
Because Mihawk knew that there wasn't anything he wouldn't give, to keep that smile on his son's face.
.
"What are you looking?" Asked Ace when he noticed how Zoro was looking at him and Sabo.
"I just think you are so tall and cool" Zoro admitted with a little blush and both Ace and Sabo dropped to the floor holding their hearts, this was too much for their hearts, it was a cuteness attack.
.
Zoro was happy, he didn't know a lot of things, about how he got here or who these people were, but he was happy! People were never this nice to him!
Well, sometimes mommy was nice to him but even she got tired quickly, but Ace, Sabo and Luffy knew so many fun games! He had never had this much fun before, he never wanted for this day to end.
"Luffy be careful!" Said Sabo and Zoro looked up to see Ace and Sabo fight for the last plate of beef ending up throwing the plate against one of the walls with a loud crash that everyone ignored while Luffy and Ace kept fighting over the meat.
Oh that wouldn't do! They will get in trouble if the adults saw the mess they did! But it was fine, Zoro would help because they were so nice to him!
Zoro left his spot on the table and quickly went to pick the broken pieces of the plate on the floor ending up kneeling on the floor to be more comfortable.
"Zoro" someone called and he looked up to see Daddy — he didn't look like his father, but he was nice, and didn't scream at Zoro or make Mom cry, so Zoro already liked him better than his father — "what are you doing?"
"Oh..." Zoro looked at the plate suddenly starting to feel nervous, he didn't want for the boys to get in trouble but he didn't want the adult to be mad at him either. "I... Broke the plate, I'm sorry" he said holding back the tears, knowing it was worse when he cried but he really liked his Daddy and didn't want to see the disgusted look on his face while seeing the mess Zoro made.
But to his surprise he was lifted in strong arms.
"You shouldn't clean that with your bare hands, you can hurt yourself" Said Mihawk and Zoro blinked.
"You... Aren't you mad?" Asked Zoro with caution.
"I'm not" Mihawk said glaring at the teens who suddenly went quiet when they realized what happened and looked ashamed at not paying attention to Zoro. "Let me see your hands"
"I didn't cut myself! See?" He said showing his hands proudly. "Besides it's not such a big deal! I won't cry even if I cut myself! I'm very brave"
"You sure are" agreed Mihawk stroking his son's face while the boys apologize to Zoro and the blonde one cleaned up their mess.
.
"Come on Zoro, you should go to sleep, your Dad will come to pick you up really early" Said Ace watching how after a whole day running and playing with Zoro, Luffy slept like a rock and Zoro looked really sleepy too but refused to fall asleep.
"But I don't want this day to end... I never had so much fun before" murmured Zoro while tugged between Luffy and Ace with Sabo sleeping on the other side.
"Is that so?"
"Yes! Here everyone is nice to me, and they don't scream or cry" He commented and that made Ace pause. "And Daddy wasn't mad when I broke the plate, that had never happened before" Zoro said in awe and Ace felt his heart clenching inside of his chest.
And for a moment Ace wished that Zoro stayed this way, small and innocent, so they will get to rewrite all the painful memories he had, here Ace would make sure that he was safe and knew how loved he was.
But he knew that some things couldn't change no matter how much you wanted.
"Even if you have to leave tomorrow, you'll be fine, and you know why?" Asked Ace this time hugging his little brother on his arms closely. "Because we are brothers and brothers are always there for each other and that means that no matter how far we are from each other, we will always find our way back to our family"
"Promise?" Asked Zoro.
"Pinky promised" Nodded Ace happy at seeing how happy it made Zoro.
Zoro had once told him that there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for them and Ace really wanted Zoro to know that it went both ways.
Because after all that was what brothers made for each other.
.
They were all a little disappointed when Zoro turned back to normal, not really remembering what happened yesterday but they soon forgot about it when Zoro made breakfast.
And sooner than later it was time for Ace to go.
"I'm going to be the best pirate ever, you'll see" Said Ace with a grin on his face after saying his good-bye to the rest of his siblings and Zoro just patted his head.
"I'm going to say to you the same thing I told Sabo when I left him with the revolutionary army" Said Zoro and Ace looked at him curious. "I'm proud of you, and no matter what you do in the future or where life takes you, I will always be proud of you because you follow your heart and I know that you can never miss when you do that, and if you ever need me, don't hesitate to ask for help, I will always be there for you— Zoro said until he was trapped in a bear hug by his brother.
"Thank you for loving me all these years" Ace murmured because even if he knew this wasn't a goodbye, more like I see you later, still, he needed for Zoro to know.
"Thank you for being my Bratty little brother" Answered Zoro with fondness on his voice.
And suddenly Luffy and Sabo decided to join in the hug making Zoro giggle while his brothers cried their goodbyes and made promises to follow their dreams.
Zoro truly had the most silly and dramatic brothers and he loved them to pieces.