Chapter Text
“So you’re sure this’ll work?” Sabo questioned the man, resting his head on his fist.
“Absolutely!” The man replied, a grin spreading across his aged face, “Although, I’ve only ever tried this with physical, sentimental objects; these things you call ‘devil fruits’ are a new game altogether, let alone already eaten ones.”
Sabo sighed, his gaze averting to his younger brother; crouching and staring intensely at the old man. The blond had recently acquired information trickling through the lower ranks of the Revolutionary Army of an artificially manufactured devil fruit, stolen from one of Caesar Clown’s defunct research laboratories. Word on the street was that this devil fruit could restore lost souls to their original form, simply through the user making contact with an item that was closely linked to the deceased. As far as Sabo had been concerned, this must’ve been no more than a rumour, a lie spread around to bring false hope to those who had lost loved ones to death!
That was, however, until Sabo met David.
🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
Sabo had been patrolling an area known to be frequently exploited by the Celestial Dragons when he’d first heard David’s name. As he wandered through the forgotten suburbs, two (presumably orphaned) children ran by, glimmers of hope in their eyes as they excitedly conversed,
“Quick!! We need to get there before David brings her back!”
“I know, Ferris! He can’t do anything without this at least though!” As the second child announced this, he pulled a tarnished, silver locket from a ripped pocket on his shirt, the name ‘Daria’ scrawled crudely into the metal. Sabo’s eyes darted towards the locket, his interest piqued. Why was the locket so significant in bringing this woman ‘back’? And what did ‘back’ even mean in this scenario? His inquisitive nature compelled his feet to follow the young children from a distance down the tight alleys, slowly approaching whoever this ‘David’ may be.
Eventually, the children reached a crowded corner of a street, the hoards of residents circling a middle aged man whom Sabo guessed was, in fact, David.
David was a skeleton of a man, balding slightly, but with a long, ratty grey beard that reached his waist. He wore a baggy, floral shirt, complimented by dark green baggy trousers, seemingly to flesh out his small frame. Sabo continued to assess this man from appearances alone; he didn’t seem to be a threat, albeit a bit eccentric. With how the crowd seemed to revere him, the blond joked to himself that this man must’ve performed miracles.
“Friends!” The man announced, raising his hands to the air, “Today, I present to you, a miracle!” Sabo rolled his eyes at the irony.
The man scanned the crowd, as the two children from earlier pushed through the hoards and emerged in front of him. David extended his hand, a warm expression on his face, urging the children to come closer.
“Mr David!! We’ve got Mother’s locket!”
‘Ah, so that’s who Daria is!’ Sabo internally noted, his mind quickly flitting back to his surroundings.
“Brilliant news Ferris!! Now, does your brother have it on his person?” David asked, turning to the boy who carried the locket.
“He does, he does!! Matthias, show Mr David the locket!!” Ferris excitedly exclaimed, shaking her brother’s arm. Matthias tore away from his sister’s vice grip, pulling out the locket from his pocket. He held out his hand, presenting the object to the older man.
“Please bring her back.” The boy murmured quietly, tearing up as he spoke. Sabo’s mind froze; was this the man his soldiers had spoken of? Was he about to witness a soul being torn away from the afterlife to continue their life on Earth? He shook his head and continued to watch, intrigued for what he was to uncover.
David calmly reached out towards the locket, gently touching it with his index and middle fingers. Within seconds, a white light emerged from the locket, quickly engulfing the area around David, Ferris and Matthias as the crowd watched on, mesmerised by what was happening. As swiftly as the light had appeared, it shrank back to the point of touch, pushing David’s frail body to the ground; the locket gone, a middle-aged woman lying on the floor in its place.
The crowd watched in silence, trying to determine the outcome of what had just happened. Sabo couldn’t help but let his jaw drop, astounded at what he’d just witnessed. Had this woman been resurrected from the locket alone? If so, it definitely seemed to be the rumoured devil fruit. The crowd, along with Sabo, continued to watch with bated breath. David staggered to his feet and seemed to be in the same mindset, watching the body of the woman for any sign of life.
“Daria?” David questioned softly, leaning down to pat the woman on the shoulder, “Ferris and Matthias are here.”
Without warning, the woman jolted upright, inhaling violently as she did so. The crowd jumped in unison at the sudden movement, continuing to remain silent until their suspicions had been confirmed. Daria exhaled as her posture softened, holding her hands out in front of her, her dark hair slightly blocking her view. Matthias leant over to his mother, tucking her hair behind her ear as she slowly turned towards him with tears welling in her eyes.
“Matthias?” She croaked, her voice presumably hoarse from not speaking for so long. Matthias broke into a smile, trying to hold back his tears,
“And Ferris!!” He smiled broadly, his voice cracking as he gazed over at his sister. Daria turned her head towards her daughter, her weak face breaking under the force of her tears.
“Come here, you two!!” Daria exclaimed, opening her arms wide as the two pounced on her. Simultaneously, the crowd erupted into applause, overjoyed at the miracle they’d witnessed. Sabo proceeded to overlook the crowd, desperately trying to make sense of the situation. Surely this woman couldn’t have been truly resurrected? The only devil fruit known to be able to resurrect people was the Revive-Revive fruit; even so, that fruit was only able to revive the user, and (as Luffy had informed him) was currently wielded by the Straw Hats’ musician, Brook. Sabo’s mind raced thinking of multiple possibilities, when all of a sudden, his eye caught the nimble movement of David creeping into the shadows. Shaking his head, Sabo slipped through the crowd, pursuing this devil fruit user.
David, although obviously revered by the locals, did not appear to know the area well, not too unlike his brother’s first mate. Sabo watched from a distance as the man snaked in between passages, constantly hitting dead ends and retracing his poorly thought out steps. After what Sabo counted to be the tenth wrong turn, David finally came to a halt, pulling a crumpled map from his shirt pocket. As he vigorously scrutinised the map, Sabo emerged silently from the shadows and approached the old man. He had recognised that David had no real sense of his surroundings, so proceeded to approach David in a direct manner.
“Yo!” Sabo greeted, holding up his hand to wave. David jumped, dropping his map to the floor. Once he had regained his composure, the miracle man scooped up his map and stuffed it back into his shirt pocket, muttering as he did so.
“S-so, who are you, my finely dressed fellow?” David stuttered, attempting to hide his apprehension with compliments. Sabo sighed, bringing his other hand up to create a surrender motion,
“Relax my friend, I’m just curious about the nature of your miracle that you performed back there!” He smirked, bringing his hands back down, “The name’s Sabo; I mean no harm. Now, was that, perhaps, the work of a devil fruit?”
David recoiled at Sabo’s statement, seemingly offended by a simple phrase.
“Devil fruit?! I’m afraid you’re confused, my boy,” David replied, his attitude shifting, “This is by no means, the work of a devil, but the work of an almighty force!” He announced, a grin spreading across his face. Sabo’s eyes rolled at the naivety of this man, but nevertheless, decided to entertain his delusions,
“Ah, apologies my friend!” He smiled, once again holding up two hands, “In that case, how did these miracles start to occur?”
“Well it’s odd, really,” David started, seeming more relaxed, “I come from a very poor village you see; food’s incredibly hard to come by. Well, one day, I was at the brink of death - starving. I begged and prayed to whoever was out there for just one thing to satisfy my hunger.” He paused, his face sombre, finding a place to perch before regaining eye contact with Sabo, “Then I found it! This weird lookin’ fruit just sat in an alleyway; looked amazing but tasted foul. Next thing I knew,” David gestured to himself, “I could resurrect folk. I believe it was a reward for not giving up!” He smirked, his hands on his hips in a triumphant pose.
Sabo crossed his arms, summarising what had happened to this man;
- The artificial devil fruit had, presumably, been stolen and abandoned once the thief realised he was being pursued.
- A random guy finds said devil fruit, eats it out of desperation.
- The random guy gains the devil fruit powers.
The only apparent difference in the abridged story was that David was convinced that it was some sort of prize he’d achieved through perseverance of will. Sabo racked his brain for what to do next; there was definitely a ‘conventional’ route to take with this, but Sabo wasn’t exactly known for being conventional. He scratched his head in an attempt to make his brain function faster, all the while David cautiously edging towards the blond.
“You know, I really don’t want some big wigs governing my every move,” David smiled awkwardly, beginning to hold out his hand.
‘Ah,’ Sabo thought, breaking free from his brainstorm, ‘So he’s clocked I’m not some average guy.’
“If you promise to leave me to my own devices, I’ll happily pay my way. You got a friend you want resurrecting? A family member, perhaps?”
Sabo froze; the thought hadn’t even entered his head. It’d only been a few months since he’d regained his memories prior to meeting with Luffy, but during that time, he had mourned Ace like nothing he’d ever known.
‘You could bring him back.’
‘No, the dead should be left in peace.’
‘Clearly not all of them want to be.’
‘It’s a selfish desire.’
‘If not for you, for Luffy.’
Sabo argued back and forth with himself, his head starting to pound. He could feel his chest tightening, his breathing starting to quicken. His heart thumping in his ears.
‘Calm down, you idiot!’ Sabo’s thoughts echoed through his head, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead, teeth gritted, ‘It’s just a simple question!’
“Um, Sabo, was it?” David questioned, either oblivious to Sabo’s current mental state, or physically blind, “We have a deal?” He outstretched his hand, gesturing to seal the deal.
Sabo’s mind clutched the raised question, as his hand moved to grab David’s hand. Before he was able to ponder further, his voice acted on instinct,
“Yes!” He paused, regaining some of his rationality, “But first, I need to make a call.”