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Sabo needs to get through the gate, he needs to, his brothers are out there-
“HEY!”
The guards hitting Sabo pause. He gasps for breath, blinking through the tears, through the blood smeared across half his face.
“Leave him alone!”
Does he know that voice? It feels like Sabo knows that voice, but the ringing in his ears isn’t helping, nor the tunnel-vision keeping him focused on the stupid gates and the fire beyond-
“Gum-Gum GATLING!”
-wait. What?
In an instant, guards are falling down around him, screaming. The air is filled with a dozen blurring fists, striking and knocking them all away, moving too fast for Sabo to even think about tracking the hits. And then, just as suddenly as it started, the attack ends. Not a single man remains standing; it’s just Sabo, more or less upright, surrounded by prone, groaning forms.
“Shishishishi!”
He does know that voice. That attack, that laugh-
Hands scoop him up. Sabo yelps, grabbing instinctively, only to stare as the person holding him by the armpits laughs again, that distinctive, wheezy, high-pitched delight that is undeniably: “Luffy?”
“Sabo!” His brother cheers. His- adult brother. Or at least a lot closer to adulthood than being seven years old. Same smile, same hair, same little scar curving under his left eye, and above it all is the straw hat Sabo could never forget, just for the sheer number of times he or Ace have needed to grab the stupid thing before it could be blown away on the wind. “Hey, are you okay? Those guys were hitting you pretty hard!”
“I- uh-”
Luffy hums, and lifts him a little higher, squinting. “MmmmmHM! Well! Looks like you’re still in one piece! If Chopper was here he could do better, shishishi!”
“Who?” Sabo asks, baffled, instead of any of the questions he should be asking.
“He’s the doctor on my crew!” What? What-? “But I wasn’t with him when that weird lady showed up, I was with- oooh, hold on-” The world spins. Sabo finds himself tucked against Big Luffy’s chest, and- there’s a huge scar, two diagonal slashes across his chest, the skin gnarled and burned- “Dragon! Hey! Were you coming to help? It’s okay, I got here first!”
Shadows move. Someone much bigger than Luffy steps forward out of an alley, their whole body hidden by a dark cloak. “...you know me?”
“Mmhm!” Luffy nods several times, before looking back down at Sabo. “This is Dragon, he’s cool! He’s got an army that fights the government! My Sabo says he’s a really good boss, and- oh, yeah, he’s my dad, but also-” He rambles on a bit longer, but Sabo’s a little stuck on the dad remark, staring up at this guy. Despite the hood casting most of his face in shadow, he’s pretty sure ‘Dragon’ also looks stunned. “Anyway, you should go with him! Before that stupid World Noble blows you up! This way you won’t lose your memories of me and Ace, and you can still go be Chief of Staff!”
Me and Ace
“Wait-” Sabo squirms as he’s held out, he can’t just leave- Luffy’s stretchy hands let go, and bigger, rougher ones catch Sabo as he drops, a noise of surprise coming from Dragon- “Wait, Luffy- my Luffy, and Ace! They’re out there! In the fire!”
The grin on Big Luffy’s face vanishes. His head turns, towards the wall that surrounds Goa, and the intense glow reflected by the clouds overhead casts his eyes in darkness. “Not for long.”
He moves away a few steps. Pushes up the sleeve of the red shirt he’s wearing. Cocks his fist back to throw a punch, and then-
Then
It’s like the world shifts.
There’s a pressure, spreading outward, and Dragon grunts, folding his arms around Sabo. There’s a flicker, like an electric spark, a glow like the one of the nearby flames, except it’s coming from Luffy, fiercer and brighter until it bursts into light-
“Gum-Gum PISTOL!”
It’s his stupid move. The one he can never land against his chosen target, instead hitting random trees, or rocks, or his own face on the rebound. Except- that’s seven year old Luffy.
This version of him doesn’t miss.
This Luffy punches the Great Gates, right in the center of all that reinforced steel, and the Gates-
crumple
and in an instant
collapse
The massive impact as they hit the ground drives back the flames directly outside, unleashes a shockwave that would’ve knocked Sabo right off his feet if he wasn’t being sheltered by arms as big as Garp’s. Elsewhere in Edge Town, he can hear startled shouts, barking dogs, yowling cats.
Luffy’s extended fist comes back to him with a quiet, deafening snap of rubber.
And yet, when he looks over his shoulder, it’s the same wide grin and gleeful snicker. “Man, I wish I could have done that ages ago! Come on, let’s go find Ace and Little Me!” And with that he’s off, bounding away into the landscape of burning trash heaps, laughter echoing in a manner more alarming than not.
Sabo glances up at Dragon. He’s still a bit stunned, like Gramps just got him with a Fist of Love, staring after Big Luffy with wide eyes. “...are you really his dad?”
“He’s my son,” the man answers after a moment. “But I can’t claim to be his father when I’ve been gone his whole life.” Huh. That’s, honestly more nuanced than Sabo might have expected, from what he knows about Luffy and Garp. “I supposed we’d better follow him.”
And just like that, there’s a chink opened in the shock surrounding Sabo’s brain, letting a bolt of his earlier panic strike. “Please- my brothers- Ace and, and our Luffy, they’re nowhere near that strong-”
Large fingers gently squeeze his shoulder, cutting Sabo off before he can spiral further. “Then let’s go find them.”
A strong breeze stirs, whipping up Dragon’s cloak, and then he’s off and running, Sabo held carefully secure and hoping they aren’t too late.
Ah. This again.
“Hot! It’s too hot!”
The heat, the screams-
“Shut up, I’m cutting as fast as I can!”
He’s hated this dream ever since his unconscious mind first came up with it.
“Hurry, Ace!”
The name jolts him into action, for all the good it will do. A raised hand draws forth all the nearby flames, pulling them out of the structure that served as Bluejam’s hideout, bringing them under his control. It would be easy enough to simply snuff them, but- far more satisfying to turn, and unleash a massive blast with one punch, flattening the nearest burning heaps and wiping out all their fires too.
It’s quiet, now, as he steps forward. Pushes aside the busted door. Enters the dark, soot-filled space, and stops short at the pair of little, wide-eyed faces.
(Fuck, were they really that small?)
“I’m sorry,” Sabo says first. It’s what he says every time. Usually there isn’t an opportunity to say more, before his brothers vanish, or morph into older, dead versions of themselves. But here and now, he’s able to snap his fingers and unleash a tightly-bound whip of flame, burning a neat slice through the ropes holding Ace and Luffy to the support pole. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here the first time- I tried, I swear I tried, but I couldn’t- get out-”
The memories swirl, taunting, and any moment this scene is going to shift, the Great Gates slamming shut and guards surrounding him and then the clean, sunlit streets of High Town, the invisible chains dragging Sabo back into that house and that room and that empty pointless life-
Ah. He’s on his knees.
Ace is in front of him.
Ten years old, bruised, wary, one hand behind him to hold Luffy back. “Who are you?”
He smiles. “It’s me, stupid. I’m your brother.” Ace sucks in a sharp breath. Luffy peers around him, face scrunched. “I’m sorry it took me so long to remember, Ace. To come back. I’m sorry I didn’t get there in time.” A photo in the newspaper, a body on the ground, a hole where a living soul should have been. “I’m still your brother, I swear, I swear-” And now he’s crying, too, bent forward, gloved fingers digging into the ash-coated dirt.
“...Sabo?”
Smaller fingers grasp at his hands.
“You’re- you are Sabo. Right?”
It’s all he can do to nod.
And then there’s a small body burrowing in next to him, stick-thin arms stretching to wrap around his chest, hugging tight, while another shoves in front and center, pushing his shoulders to make him sit up, a scowling little face ducking under the brim of his hat to press their foreheads together. “You’re big,” Ace accuses, and this isn’t the usual formula of his nightmares, “I dunno what happened or why you’re big, but quit crying and help us get out of here, okay? We’ll- we can figure out the rest later.”
Huh.
Huh.
This- isn’t the script. This isn’t loss thrown in his face, surrounded by devouring flames, until he jerks awake with a cry for his dead brother.
This... feels almost, possibly, suspiciously real.
Sabo lifts a hand, runs it over dark hair, pauses with his thumb oh so gently brushing the few freckles not hidden by grime. “Are you- alive?”
Ace’s scowl gets deeper. “As much as you are, idiot.”
“Me too!” Luffy adds, muffled where his face is buried in Sabo’s coat.
Huh.
Definitely not the usual script. Maybe this is something else entirely. Either way - Sabo has both his brothers in his arms, one smiling and one scowling but each alive, and a Devil Fruit eager to devour anyone who tries to change that.
Might still be a dream.
But certainly not a bad one.