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“Stop squirming, you're gonna mess up your face paint!” Sabo yelled while grabbing onto Luffy's chin for better stability.
“You’ve been doing it for ages .” He whined, trying to turn his head to the side to pout, but was stopped by Sabo's firm grip on his jaw. He kicked his feet back and forth against the counter from where they dangled off the edge. He and Sabo were in the bathroom getting ready to go out for the night. When they had started to get ready it was still light out, but now barely any light shined into the bathroom and they could hear the beginnings of trick or treaters outside. Worst of all, Sabo hadn't even started on his makeup yet.
In a rush to finish, he sloppily applied the details to the black nose and then did one final look over to check his work. He turned Luffy's head back and forth before ruffling his hair and adding the final piece: a headband with two black wolf ears.
“There you go. Now you're a werewolf.”
Excitedly, Luffy craned his neck around to see himself in the mirror behind him. In his reflection he could see the nicely applied makeup, a sleeveless red flannel, a black collar around his neck, and the gray fur paws that come up to the crook of his elbow. They were actually really uncomfortable—along with the collar which he wasn't able to scratch because of the paws—but he was determined to keep the full look.
“Wow! Looks great, Sabo!” He exclaimed, turning back around to smile at him.
Sabo smiled genuinely at him before wiping the look off his face to be replaced with a faux-stern one.
“Yep. Now shoo!” He said, gesturing with his hands as if he were trying to push him out. But before Luffy could run off, somebody else poked their head in the doorway.
“Are you almost done, Sabo?” He sighed exasperated, before turning his attention to Luffy. “Oh, hey Luffy! You look great!” He put a thumb up for emphasis.
“Wait, Ace…you're not dressed like a werewolf!” Luffy yelled, shocked and angry.
The only reason Luffy dressed up as a werewolf instead of a pirate (again, for the 7th year in a row) was because he wanted to match Ace who had said that he would be dressing up as a werewolf. But instead he was…well, neither Luffy nor Sabo could actually tell what he was supposed to be.
Ace looked guiltily to the side, scratching his neck and grimacing. “Ooh, yeah, my bad. It's just that Marco is dressing up as a firefighter and you know he never dresses up. This is like my only chance for a matching costume!” He finished his sentence with pleading eyes, doing a better puppy impression than Luffy.
Luffy just crossed his arms and clicked his tongue, “Tch.”
“Wait…you're supposed to be a firefighter? In what world?” Sabo asked, equal parts judgemental and genuinely curious.
Sabo guessed that any real firefighter worth their salt would not be half naked on the job. But Ace was clearly not going for realism. He was wearing tan cargo pants, red suspenders, and a red hard hat. But his chest was left completely bare. Sabo rolled his eyes. Ace could be so full of himself sometimes. He knew this was just an excuse for him to flex and show off.
Ace saw this and correctly guessed what he was rolling his eyes at. “Hey, I'll have you know that I have a full jacket and everything. This is a real costume.”
Sabo wasn't convinced. “Where's your shirt, then?”
“...It's an unusually hot Halloween.” He replied, obviously lying.
“Whatever. Do what you want, but don't lose that jacket because you're gonna get cold.”
“Will do!” He chuckled. “Are you done, Luffy?”
Luffy only gave him the silent treatment, still upset about earlier. Ace thought for a moment before coming up with an idea.
“Hey, Lu. Stop ignoring me and I'll get you into the party.” He said, smirking, knowing it was an offer that he wouldn't resist. Luffy had begged to go with them every year, but they always said he was too young. He was proven right a moment later.
“Really!?” Luffy exclaimed, previous anger completely forgotten.
“ Ace. ” Sabo sent him a look.
“Oh, come on Sabo, don't be a party pooper.” He said, throwing his arm around his shoulders.
“Yeah! Don't be a party pooper!” Luffy yelled trying to jump onto his back and succeeding in almost knocking all of them over.
Sabo finally relented as the combined weight of Ace and Luffy dragged him down to the ground, holding on to the counter to keep himself upright. “Ugh, you're both so annoying. Fine . But no drinking, Luffy.”
“Yes!” Luffy celebrated, finally getting off of him.
“What, no warning for me?” Ace asked smugly.
“I mean I would, but I know you won't listen to me anyways. Underage drinking will fuck up your brain, but I guess yours can't get any worse, huh?”
“Oh, like you're one to talk. Last Halloween you were pretty-”
Sabo slapped a hand over his mouth, cutting him off. He glared at him. “We don't talk about last Halloween.”
Ace just raised his eyebrows innocently and put his hands up in surrender.
“Anyway, you're both distracting me. I still have to finish getting ready!” He said, resorting to physically pushing them out of the bathroom.
Once Ace finally stumbled out he turned around and showed his phone screen to Sabo. “By the way, we leave in 8 minutes.”
“8 min-.!?” Sabo’s eyes widened before rushing back to the mirror to finish his makeup and put his fake fangs in. “Shit!”
Ace only laughed in the background.
—---
The party was in full swing by the time they got there. They had also managed to pick up a couple strays on the walk there—Luffy's friends apparently. Originally they were supposed to go trick or treating, but instead decided to follow Luffy to the party. Sabo had a feeling this is not what Marco had in mind for his “get together”. He was tired of the house being trashed every year and insisted that this year would be different. However, as they approached the large frat house at the end of the street, the strobe lights and music blasting throughout the neighborhood told a different story. To be fair, Sabo wasn't innocent either. Marco said he could bring some friends so he agreed to meet Koala and Hack here, but then he heard that Koala was inviting some of her friends as well from the neighboring Fisher Tiger frat.
Once they got through the door. Ace immediately broke away from them to look for Marco and his friends. Luffy tried to head off too—straight to the kitchen, of course—but Sabo grabbed his shoulder before he could.
“Meet out front by midnight, okay? And no drinking or taking drinks from strangers.”
“Shishishi, okay!” He said, holding both thumbs up, eager to get away.
Before Sabo could impart any more advice, Luffy ran off. Sabo pointed at his green-haired friend, Zoro, who was making to follow Luffy.
With his best protective older brother voice he said to him, “Hey. Make sure Luffy stays out of trouble.”
Zoro just nodded seriously before walking off.
Sabo sighed before pushing his way through the crowd to go find some of his friends.
—---
As the night went on, the chaos only increased.
Out back, Ace was multiple drinks down on the beer bong, competing against Thatch. He was starting to stumble while standing still and knew he was gonna hurl right after, but the spirit of competition and drunken stupidity kept him going.
In the house, Luffy and his friends were gathered around Usopp and Nami who were in a sort of dance off. Except the dancing was limited by the fact that they both kept stumbling into the ground and each other from the amount they had to drink. Right before this they had a drink off, with Zoro the obvious winner, but Nami a close second. Just because she could stomach the liquor didn't mean it didn't affect her though, seeing as she kept breaking into raucous laughter at seemingly random moments and messing up her dance moves. Luffy finally decided to join in too, movements looking just as bad as theirs, despite being completely sober. He had kept his promise about not drinking (all the liquor tasted gross anyway), but his normal level of stupid excitement resembled that of a drunk. He started doing his take at breakdancing—ripping his wolf gloves off and throwing them into the crowd—as they hyped him up, and the music thrummed through all of them.
In the kitchen…Sabo did not follow his own advice. Koala watched as he ungracefully climbed on to the kitchen island, knocking all the cups over before standing up on unsteady legs. He started doing a strip tease to the excitement of a cheering crowd, Billie Jean by Michael Jackson playing through a speaker. He messed up his gelled hair and started to unbutton his ruffled poet's shirt, running his tongue over his fanged teeth.
Koala only sighed and stared up at him in disappointment. “This is just like last year.”
Hack only stared, equally unimpressed, as Sabo started to do some truly sinful moves. “He's gonna be so embarrassed in the morning.”
Koala stared at him for a moment before grinning maniacally and pulling out her phone. “Good idea, Hack. We should record this for blackmail.”
Hack only shook his head disappointedly.
—---
Only a couple minutes before the clock strikes midnight, they hear the sound of sirens approaching.
A wave of fear travels through the party goers as many of them suddenly sober up and start to realize what they're hearing.
But complete chaos only breaks out when somebody yells above the thrum of the crowd: “Scatter!”
Some of the Fisher Tiger members run towards the pool and jump in (who knows what the plan is), some run for the fence, desperately trying to make it over, most run out towards the front yard. That's where Ace meets up with Luffy. Still definitely drunk, he stumbles as he runs, only to be caught on the suspenders by Luffy.
“Heya, Luffy! Have you seen Sabo?” He yells to be heard. As they talk, he grabs Luffy and they continue running as they can see the flashing red and blue lights coming up the street.
Before he can answer that, they run right into him. He appears to have just finished puking his guts out in the bushes, shirt completely unbuttoned, hair disheveled, and makeup half smeared off.
Ace stops running to put his hand on Sabo's back. “You alright?”
Sabo definitely doesn't feel alright, but he knows he's not gonna puke again, so he fully stands up. “Yeah, I'm fine.”
“Get drunk again?” Ace asks, eyebrow raised.
“I'm not drunk.” Sabo says, slurring his words.
Ace laughs in his face. “I'll have to get Koala to send me the video for this year.”
Their conversation is rudely interrupted by the cop cars finally reaching their destination and pulling into the front yard on the grass and over the flowerbeds. The car door flies open and none other than Monkey D. Garp comes storming out.
"I see you, you little shits!" He seethed.
(Somewhere in the background Marco can be heard yelling: “My landscaping!”)
“Oh shoot! We gotta get out of here!” Ace yells, practically dragging Sabo along until he finally gets with the program and starts running.
They can still hear Gramps yelling at them and Thriller playing from inside the house as they make a break down the street and through the neighborhood, passing little kids trick or treating accompanied by scandalized parents. As they're running, Luffy also takes a detour everytime he sees a house with the candy bowl set outside, definitely grabbing more than one at each bowl.
As they finally get far enough away, they slow down to catch their breath before stopping to look at each other and breaking out in laughter. They keep it up the whole walk back to the house.
—---
As they're sorting through all the candy Luffy managed to shove in his pockets, makeup smeared, pieces of costumes lost, and hair wild and sweaty from the run, Ace asks Luffy, “Didja like your first party?”
“Shishishi, yep!” He smiles, shoving a sucker in his mouth.