Chapter Text
Sabo was growing more and more concerned by the minute. He focused on Luffy's haki which was weak and fading away dangerously by the minute.
However, he doesn't reach him in time to save him from Burgess' attack.
He finds Luffy alone, with a haki so vague, Sabo could barely identify it. No one is around to help him. A smug Burgess towered over him. His little brother lay at the centre of the street, while people fled in every direction. No one stopped to help the very person who had been fighting to save them.
He scoops Luffy up as his head lolls back, dangerously. Luffy is unresponsive, but he is breathing. His haki is just barely there too.
Burgess is standing near them, smirking.
"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK MY BROTHER?" Sabo yelled, furiously.
"Oh? So he is your brother too? You must be pretty pathetic if you couldn't save him. Your other brother, Ace too."
Sabo felt the fury he had felt 2 years ago rush back.
Sabo fought Burgess with the rage he felt when he found out he lost Ace. It was Ace's will beating him up, not Sabo's alone. After a few seconds, Burgess drops, defeated. Luffy is still lying where Sabo left him, except he feels a presence coming towards them, rapidly. Doflamingo!
Sabo rushes to Luffy and holds him up closely, bridal-style. Glancing at him as Sabo ran, he noticed Luffy was bruised and beaten up really badly. His hair was disheveled, and his clothes battered. Sabo silently apologized to his baby brother for being so late. After a while, he found a good hiding spot behind debris.
He set him down carefully near an empty clearing, a bit farther from the place they initally were in. Sabo caressed his little brother's small face. Brushing his bangs away, he tore a part of his coat to cover some of Luffy's wounds which were bleeding dangerously.
After a few minutes of wrapping Luffy up, Sabo breathed a sigh of relief. Then he glanced at his own hands, which were trembling. Sabo felt fear. He was afraid of losing another brother, but this time he will not just stand by. Never!
"I'm here now, Lu. Your brother will always protect you. I'll never leave you alone again. I'm so so sorry about Ace, my dear bungling brother."
Luffy stirred a bit, but remained unconcious.
After satisfying himself that Luffy won't bleed out anymore, he walked to the same place they were in before.
There he finds him. The problem.
The one who hurt his brother.
Donquixote Doflamingo.
Sabo attacked him.
"Hiken!!"
---
Luffy stirred.
He felt heavy for some reason, like his body turned to stone or something.
So annoying.
He opened his eyes, and he saw grey. The sky was still dull.
That was when he remembered. He was supposed to be fighting Mingo.
Luffy felt tired, and his haki hadn't returned yet, but he could stand. However, he needed a few more minutes to fight at his best. He glanced at his stomach. It had cloth tied around it. His arms, too.
He wondered who did all that.
Then he saw.
His brother, the one he reunited with just recently, was fighting Mingo.
And he was fighting him with Ace's powers!
Luffy missed seeing Ace's fire fist. The last he saw it was 2 years ago. In that battle.
Luffy smiled.
However, his smile vanished when he saw Sabo had been smacked to the wall with Mingo's strings.
Ugh, that guy! Luffy wanted to beat him up! He wouldn't let anyone harm his brothers anymore. Sabo was all he had left.
In a heartbeat, he stood in front of Mingo, ignoring the throbbing of his stomach.
It felt hot.
He glared at Mingo, and launched a variety of attacks from Gear 2 and 3, but couldn't get into gear 4 yet. He still needed some time.
Mingo smiled wide.
"Mugiwara, your brother is pretty interesting to fight. Oh, what if..."
Luffy frowned, panting. His punch from gear 3 hadn't landed well.
Sabo walked up from behind Luffy.
"Luffy! Let me handle him. You need to rest!" he exclaimed.
"No way, Sabo! I will deal with him!" Luffy replied, feet wobbling.
Mingo smirked, and suddenly Sabo stood still. He raised his fist, and swung at Luffy with his pipe.
"LUFFY! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Sabo yelled, panicked.
Luffy dodged, as the pipe landed on the ground, cracking it.
Doflamingo smiled, licking his lips.
"Now this gets even more interesting, Mugiwara. Trying to beat me, eh? Try to defeat your brother first!"
Luffy bit his lip.
He couldn't attack Sabo. This was just like the thing with Bellamy all over again. He was ready to use Gear 4, but he couldn't last long. One punch to take down Mingo would be it.
He dodged all of Sabo's attacks as his face was contorted with pain.
Sabo had tears in his eyes as he kept yelling at Luffy to run away.
Luffy smiled. No way could he run away from his only brother left in the world. Never.
He decided to dodge Sabo's attacks for now. Sabo had gotten really strong in these years. Luffy felt proud of his brother.
---
Sabo felt angry. He wanted to pummel Doflamingo to death. How dare he attack his brother, and make Sabo raise his arms against him too?
He felt tears sting his eyes as he felt his body being controlled over and over against his will.
The only thing Sabo felt relieved about was, Doflamingo couldn't make Sabo use his devil fruit powers. He could only make Sabo attack Luffy physically. Even then, he managed to land a few hits.
Sabo felt the same helplessness he felt that day when he found out about Ace's death in the papers. He felt so useless and hopeless. He lived with that feeling everyday.
Sabo shut his eyes as he heard a loud thunk - he had hit Luffy again.
He prayed this would stop soon.
Eventually, Sabo felt his body slow down.
It felt like forever.