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one-idea · 3 months

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Tbh I'm with Zoro re:Nika v Luffy. Luffy is full of love for the world and adventure, almost as much as he loves his friends. Nika willingly staying separate from the world Luffy adores so much is a HUGE red flag that It's No Longer Luffy In The Driver's Seat. They're probably very, very similar, but would it be enough for the Straw Hats? I imagine it would be for some of them, but besides King of Hell over there I think Jimbei and maybe Brook would notice the difference and care.

I’m assuming this is for the madoka magica au. (My beloved)

And you’re completely right.

Luffy under normal circumstances would never leave the crew. He loves them and the world and adventure, why would he ever leave? He doesn’t remember the situation that lead to him fully becoming Nika in the first place so he doesn’t understand Nika’s incessant calling to leave this world behind.

As for the rest of the crew….

When Zoro fully became Asura and rewrote the universe, he also took the crew’s memories of the world without Luffy.

They have no clue the current reality is different. There are moments where awareness slips in. Where they go “something here isn’t right?” But they are all together and happy so it’s not that big of a deal. The moments are easy enough to sweep under the rug.

I think if any of the crew did remember the reality without Luffy they would agree with Zoro’s decision. They don’t know that Nika had made a plain of existence just for them. That they would reunite with Nika after death. For them Luffy was gone and he was eternally alone. They would agree with Zoro’s decision because of the information they had.

Jimbei and Brook probably have more “this isn’t right” moments than the others because they have been around longer. Their age and experience tipping them off more. Robin probably realizes it as well but I wouldn’t put it past her to put all the pieces together and agree with Zoro’s actions. The crew was willing to fight the world government for her, she to would rip apart reality for her captain.

No the problem is Ace

Ace who remembers it all. Zoro tries to block it out but Ace was in Nika’s divine realm. He was privy to information the Strawhats didn’t have. He knew that they would all be together for eternity. And Zoro separating Luffy from Nika could have major consequences.

Ace pulls Zoro a side to tell him this. But it’s Ace and Zoro and they aren’t the best at communicating.

And Ace is also so conflicted because on the one hand Zoro not only divided Luffy’s soul but he also took Luffy’s freedom. It’s a beautiful cage but a gilded cage is still a cage. It was Luffy’s choice to merge with Nika. Zoro is disregarding Luffy’s choice and freedom.

But at the same time how can he be mad. He has both of his brothers back and they are all free, as far as the other two know. Because Luffy has no clue he’s in a cage. He’s completely free to do whatever he wants in this plain of existence. Is it truly freedom if he can’t leave? But is he truly trapped if he doesn’t know about the cage?

Ace’s head hurts. Philosophy was never his thing and he desperately wishes Sabo, Deuce, or Marco were in his place because while Sabo is here he doesn’t remember the old reality either.

So Ace confronts Zoro about it. About how this is going against Luffy’s will. About how this could have consequences they don’t even understand yet.

And Zoro just smirks at him and asks if it’s not a demons job to go against their god?

Ace is immediately on the defensive wanting to know if Zoro will completely disregard Luffy’s wants and decisions from here on out.

Zoro responds with “of course not. He is my captain and I his first mate.” He would do anything Luffy asked him for. But Luffy would never ask him to release him. How could he when Zoro stand between Luffy and anything that could ever make him want to leave again.

Ace threatens to tell Luffy the truth. To which Zoro tells him if he does then that would make them enemies. But he’s not to worried because he knows Ace is having trouble remembering things. He might have failed to fully block Ace’s memories in the first place but the more time Ace spends in this world the more natural it will be. After all this is a new chance for Ace to be human. To be with his brothers. He wouldn’t want to mess that up, would he?

Ace knows all these things. Can feel the memories of before getting hazier. He knows his brothers are happy here and there is no reality where he would try to take their happiness from them. But Luffy’s freedom was taken from him and that he can’t forgive “even if I forget everything else I will always remember that you, Roronoa Zoro, are a demon.”

Zoro just smiles at him and starts to walk back to the others. As he passes Ace he pauses and leaves the freckled man with one final thought. “We should pretend to be on good terms. If you’re always attacking me, Luffy could end up hating you.”

It’s an empty threat, Zoro knows. Knows that Luffy could never hate Ace. But seeing the two of them fighting nonstop would upset Luffy. Zoro has no desire to fight Ace, as long as he stays in line. And he knows exactly what will keep Ace in line.

Because Ace is having a full meltdown down. Could Luffy hate him? He’s in the right! Zoro took Luffy’s freedom. Zoro cut Luffy’s soul in half. Is it wrong for Ace to want to restore Luffy’s soul? To bring back the divine plain? But Luffy loves his crew and adventure. Is his brother better off in this world where he can go on adventures forever with his loved ones. Where he’s not the only one responsible for the safety of the world? Would Luffy hate him for breaking this reality? For fighting with Zoro?

Could Ace survive without Luffy’s love?

It’s a moot point. Luffy will always love Ace. But Ace’s self hate has never been able to understand that.

Here’s the original scene from Madoka Magica for reference

Note. They are both right in their own way. They have different points of view and information the other doesn’t.

Zoro wants Luffy to be with the crew because Luffy hates being alone more than anything. And the crew loves him. Zoro loves him

Ace has knowledge of Nika’s true plan. Knows that Luffy wasn’t going to be alone forever. It would just take time. But he’s horrible at sharing this information.

Ace going to the literal devil who just rewrote the universe to have his way and standing in front of him like “you I have a problem with you and I’m going to fight you.” Like poor boy has a split devil fruit (now shared with Sabo) that’s not even awakened and is staring down the King of hell with no plan or back up. Keep bitting off more then you can chew Ace. Never change.

#one piece #monkey d. luffy #straw hat pirates #roronoa zoro #one piece zolu #zolu #fire fist ace #one piece ace #gol d. ace #portagas d. ace #sabo #madoka magica zolu au #Ace is Sayaka. I will take no argument. both are stubborn to a fault and won’t backdown. constantly bitting off more then they can handle.#and it leads to both of their deaths. stop and ask for help you selfless morons #Ace: I’m going to tell Luffy😡 Zoro: but what if I play on you insecurities🤔#asl brothers

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sashi-ya · 1 year

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𝑥𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡; 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡, ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 ⋆˙⊹ portgas d. ace x afab! reader

request: Anonymous asked: may I request a portgas d ace x reader sfw afab on we wish you a merry christmas ? :3 idk any details I can add on this 😭😭 that's all!!!! Thank you <333 again feel free to ignore or delete! kisses xxx 💋🔥 | tw: sfw. mentions of pregnancy. mentions of the covid pandemic | wc: 445 | masterlist | taglist: @zella07 @jin-supremacy01 @alexkanroji @jenwooly @owlham |

There was a time, where going out of home was kinda forbidden. It wasn’t the cold, neither the snow blocking the streets, but a dark time in human history. However, there is always a light that shines so bright...

“Ace, (Name)! Hi!! Merry Christmas!” family and friends chime. Luffy, with his mouth still stuffed of a certain amount of meat waves at the camera from the table.

“Hi dear family!” the freckled youngster salutes, sitting on a couch, to the screen of his laptop. You and him, wearing matching sweaters; you are sitting on his lap.

Before anyone else could say anything, the screams coming from Zoro and Sanji took over the videocall… them, always fighting, but always together, also joined the zoom meeting.

“Shut up you stupid marimo! (Name)-chwan, you look beautifully different!” the blonde cook says, making a little happy dance over the webcam.

You giggle, putting your hand over Ace’s that’s right over your belly. “I’m good, Sanji-kun! We are happy! How are you all?” you ask, taking a gasp of air as it’s a little difficult to breathe for you.

Nami and Vivi join the conversation, as well as Robin and Law. Bepo screams from the back, the white-haired young man hugs the doctor, and everybody laughs. Sabo and Koala, who had to postpone their wedding, have been taking care of Luffy (even if he is a grown up already). They tell everyone about their future plans and how they are going to visit Cuba when this is all over.

When the news of every family and home have been told, and laughter filled the night before Christmas, Brook proposes a toast. Everyone agrees, and so, Ace gets up to bring the cups. However, yours isn’t gonna have alcohol, but simple water.

To the women, the most observant of the group, that gave them already a little hint. They were surprised that it was Ace who make the call, but they weren’t sure if there was any other reason behind but to celebrate in family as they couldn’t reunite.

Ace seems to be getting a little anxious as he keeps bouncing on the couch. “Babe, calm down…” you whisper, while Brook sketches what you could say it’s a speech.

And as the cups chime one against the other and everybody start saying goodbye you stand up. “Uh.. guys, before you go… we wish you a merry Christmas…” you say, acting all innocent but with an internal revolution that isn’t easy to calm down.

“Thank you so much (Name)!” “Merry Christmas you all!”

But the many good wishes get cut all of a sudden, when Ace nonchalantly mumbles… “Also, we are pregnant… 💖”

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analogwriting · 5 months

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It Comes in Waves

Chapter 14: Corduroy Swell

Trafalgar Law x gn!reader word count: 1.3k a/n: ran out of wave names so now we're just gonna use ocean terminology lmfao first|next

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Later that evening, you, Law, and the rest of the Straw Hats were sitting in a cabin. Luffy was sleeping soundly with his head in your lap. You had helped patch him up earlier and couldn’t leave his side. You had been so concerned about him and you knew that he pushed himself well beyond his limits today. You wouldn’t have been surprised if he had shaved a few years off of his life with that stunt. But, he saved Dressrosa and avenged a lot of people.

A knock came to the door that startled most of you. It opened, revealing a face you knew and didn’t expect to see. “Sabo?” you asked in disbelief. He looked over at you, equally surprised. He chuckled, making his way over to the bed where you and Luffy were at. He sat down on the edge of the bed, next to Luffy. He looked down at him with the same fondness that you did. “What are you doing here?” you asked.

“Checking on…my brother.”

You stared at him. “Brother?” He nodded, noticing looks from everyone. He chuckled. “I suppose I’ll explain.” Then he did. He explained that he was brothers with Luffy and Ace since their times as children. They shared sake, thus making them so. You had heard the story from the other two countless times. A story that always warms your heart. Then he went into the accident. How after that day, he had lost his memory and how the revolutionary army picked him up and took him in from that point on. Only for his memory to only return after he read about Ace in the papers.

Honestly, your heart hurt. You couldn’t imagine how it must have been. To go all that time without knowing and you only be reminded when tragedy struck. Fate really liked to be cruel. This was something you knew well.

Once he finished his story, you thought for a moment. “You know, I think I remember Ace mentioning you once…I didn’t realize that his story of Sabo was the same Sabo as you.” You frowned slightly. He had only mentioned Sabo once on a night of drinking. It was one of the more somber nights the two of you shared. You wished you had remembered better. Maybe then you could’ve reunited them somehow and saved Ace.

But, you knew that thinking like that wouldn’t help anyone. The past was in the past and you knew better. You knew Ace wouldn’t want you to think like that.

You could only imagine how Ace probably reacted after finding out Sabo wasn’t in the afterlife waiting for him like he probably thought. But, you also knew that he probably found comfort in knowing that Luffy wasn’t going to be alone. He was probably looking down on you all right now, happy that you were all together. Even if you were going to go your separate ways eventually, you would always have each other.

After a moment of answering questions from everyone else, Sabo stood up. “Alright. It’s time for me to go.” He looked at you. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” You blinked, nodding. “Uh, yeah.” You moved Luffy carefully to not disturb him before making your way out of the door with Sabo.

As soon as it closed, you looked at him. “How are you Sabo, really?” Concern spread across your features and you put your hands on your hips. You had met Sabo a few times while on your own journey. Being in your line of work, it was only natural that you ran into the Revolutionary Army from time to time. You two had gotten along and worked together well. You never would’ve guessed that he was connected to Luffy and Ace…though…

Now that you thought about it - it made sense. They did act similar.

“I…” He looked at you and you narrowed your eyes. You knew he was getting ready to say he was fine, but you also knew that was a load of horseshit. He sighed, knowing that lying to you was useless.

“It’s a lot…I’ll be honest.” He took off his hat, running his hand through his hair. “I had an entire breakdown when I found out.” You frowned, nodding. “It makes sense. I mean…” Your words hung in the air and he nodded. You didn’t need to say anything for him to catch on.

“But, I will be fine.” He took a deep breath, smiling at you as he placed his hat back on his head. You returned the smile. “I’m sure you will. And I’m sure Koala will make sure of that too. In her own aggressive, caring way. Tell her I said hi, would you?” He nodded, pausing for a moment.

“You know our offer still stands.” You blinked before smiling softly. You looked back towards the cabin, shaking your head. “I already somewhat accepted another offer, so I can’t.” He had asked you a few times now to join their ranks. But, as you also had told Ace, you had things to take care of. That and the Revolutionary Army just didn’t fit your vibe, oddly enough. You liked everyone there and enjoyed working with them, but you didn’t want to join them. You were content with being allies.

He nodded. “Fair enough.” He followed your gaze before looking back at you. “Take care of Luffy for me, yeah?” You looked at him and nodded. “Yeah. I’ll take care of him.”

“Take care of whoever brought that smile of yours back too.” You stared at him. “Huh?” What the hell did he mean by that?

He laughed. “I have never seen you smile as much as you have in these last few minutes. It almost seems like there might be a personality in there.” You stared at him, mouth agape. “Why you-”

He held up his hands, laughing again. “Hey, you’re the one who suddenly decided to fall in love and develop a personality.” You swatted his arm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Your ears were positively burning. “C’mon no one changes that drastically just out of the blue.” You huffed, rolling your eyes. “You read too many romance novels.”

He was quiet for a beat. “So, who is it?”

“Sabo, please.” You groaned, covering your face. He just laughed, shaking his head. “Alright, you keep your secrets. But I’m going to assume that whomever it is is also the reason that you’re not joining us.” You didn’t answer him and he just grinned. “Got my answer.”

“Sabo-” Then he said something that made you stop in your tracks.

“You remind me of Ace, you know.” There it was. Again. You just stared at him. “He used to be really grumpy too, but he always cared about us.” You swallowed hard, looking down at the ground.

“Luffy said the same thing, actually,” you said. You sighed, shaking your head. “Next time we cross paths, we should share a drink…and you can tell me about Ace. The man he had grown to be,” Sabo said, a more somber look on his face. You nodded, smiling at him. “I’d like that.”

“Take care of yourself and don’t do anything stupid. You have a little brother to be there for now,” you said, grinning at him. He laughed, nodding. “You’re right. I’ll be more careful.” The both of you knew he could be reckless, but that was just like Ace and Luffy as well.

After that, you both bid each other farewell and you headed back into the cabin. Most everyone was asleep and you made your way over to where Luffy was laying, placed his head back into your lap, leaned against the wall, and fell asleep.

#one piece #law x reader #one piece x reader #one piece x you #trafalgar d law #trafalgar d water law #trafalgar law #trafalgar law x reader #iciw #am fics

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itsfrenchfornothankyou · 1 year

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Hey @spoonergodofspoons has gotten far enough in one piece for me to start recommending fanfics so I thought it would be easiest to post them here! Consider this my one piece fanfics rec list for people who recently got halfway through dressrossa

Part 1: early asl reunions

Look I am a sucker for these fics, and aren't we all a little in denial about marineford?

A present that's a mystery (giving you your history) by midnightluck you might see that name a couple of times here, I love their fics so much idk if they have a tumblr

Anyway this is about 5.5k of sabo getting his memories back early (because koala found embarrassing baby photos of him for his birthday) and reunion fluff, one chapter for Ace, one chapter for Luffy

Wish by spirit and if yes by midnightluck LOOK I TOLD YOU THEYRE REALLY GOOD AND I LIKE THIS ONE EVEN MORE THAN THE LAST!! it's an au where the RA send someone to keep in touch with the whiteboards every now and again, and now it's sabo's job! This fic has my favourite reunion of all time and I won't say anymore because if there's one fic on this list you should read it's this one - 32k

Twin flames by soccersarah01 , again, no idea if they have a tumblr

Ace calls sabo his twin while in impel down and this has .. consequences. Reunion! Gol D Sabo! Fucking with the government! What more could you ask for in a fic! 66.666k

Speak up boys! By @plantwithoutplot , a solid contender for just being one of my favourite fics ever, it's currently sitting at about 69k (nice) and chapter 9/31 and look I know it's incomplete but it's SO GOOD

it's a time travel au, where the asl bros end up on Gol D Roger's ship. Ace is trying to commit patricide, Sabo is trying to be the reasonable one and Luffy is... Luffy. Everybody is having a rough time of it and auuugggg the angst of being reunited but knowing you have changed so much and what if you don't know them anymore and what if you are no longer the person they loved and AHHHH go read it!! Read it now!!!

Chasing the remnants by @29rynoah sabo goes with dragon to loguetown! This one moves a little slower than the others in terms of how long it takes for the characters to actually be reunited, but the writing is really good!! The payoff when they finally get to see each other again? The character work? Incredible, 40k and I know I said it moves slower but when I was reading it I swear it only felt like 10k

Being together we are stronger than ever by starryyah

Body swap! ASL can have a little body swap, as a treat! I'm sure nothing will go wrong! 13k

Part 2: Lawlu!

Okay, I know I'm a big proponent of platonic lawlu and I cannot see Luffy in any kind of romantic relationship I really can't- however some people are writing really good lawlu and I am a little bit closing my eyes and saying yes it is queerplatonic. To me.

I Love Luffy by missdreamgirl32 you know what I just want to steal one of their tags to sell this to you: Law tries to play three-dimensional chess against two guys playing go fish and loses

The character dynamics in this are so fucking good, I'm also actually just going to steal the summary right from the work because I get way to lost trying to explain everything else which is cool about this fic if I try to synopsise it:

After hearing Luffy off-handedly mention he has a boyfriend, and worried there might be some misunderstanding, Ace and Sabo decide to track the guy down and invite him out to dinner

Anyway it's really fucking good check it out it's only 10k I have read it... Many times (could be read as romantic, I do not)

The mysterious Torao by spooky_vallimo

This one is romantic but it's so fucking funny, spare 3k words worth of time to read this drabble, au where Luffy and Trafalgar met as kids, if you enjoy it there are some more works in the series

Come to sea with me, where we can be free by siojo

This is the only au that's set in a completely different world on this list, I guess I love Luffy is a different world but it's not fantasy different, its more a modern au

Anyway siren AU!

this one is again, a lil different to the others on the list, which are largely character studies

This one is on the list because I'm a little obsessed with the story aside from one piece characters? It's just really well written and has interesting lore and world building

It's also kind of a sad/bittersweet fic, and some of the characters do eat humans (because siren) so yeah, this one has a different vibe to the other fics on this list but it occupies a certain space in my brain, only 8k

Part 3: Miscellaneous!

This is ASL stuff that isn't necessarily early reunion, or is only about one or two of them

The world doesn't deserve you by dezace

Okay so what if I told you there is an au where asl brothers are pirates together as children? And that it was 47k and had other works in the same universe?

Great, you're on board? Now, this is the only fic on this list to have made me cry

It is HEAVY ANGST and Spooner I know I'm making this list for you but it will HURT YOU and you may not want to read it, the ASL bros may be alive but they were the only survivors after a buster call was made on goa, and everyone else on the island died, and everyone believes the trio to be dead for a very long time

But if you do decide to read this fic which will hurt you, the emotional catharsis at the end is REALLY GOOD!! and there are many more short stories in the universe!!

But if this all seems a bit too ouch, the this author has a different, more light hearted series: Luffy was raised as a marine and makes it everyone's problem, which is a fun good time where Luffy knows marine codes and uses them to save ace, among other things

Man I wanna go reread the world doesn't deserve you again

On brotherhood by @ladycrimsonandblack

This is a lovely little fic where Luffy is the elder brother, just over 4k

There's this very specific fic niche where Luffy is older and he meets up with Ace while Ace is unwillingly being recruited onto the whiteboards and I just love it, this is the second one I've read and now I'm going to see if I can track down the other

Update this is it

Anyway yeah this is a very specific genre of fic, but it turns out I'm very fond of it

Whatever you can still betray by midnightluck

Have something short fun and fluffy! In this fic Haruta of the whitebeards thinks Ace is a marine spy, but that's fine they're going to keep him anyway! 6.5k, one of my faves

#fan fic rec list #one piece

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fairygeek777 · 1 year

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The amount of love I have for ASL though. Ace, Sabo and Luffy have such a wonderful bond as brothers and I adore it. I really wish Ace could have reunited with Sabo before his death. To see the three of them as adults teaming up would be so cool!

I'm also just a really big fan of Sabo too. He's such a great addition and I'm so glad that he can be there for Luffy in Ace's absence. Plus he's just really cool lol. I got a fictional crush on him. I want to see more of him in the series. Really curious what's going on with him in the current arc. But he better not die-

#one piece #asl one piece #portgas d. ace #monkey d. luffy #revolutionary sabo #manga #anime #ace sabo luffy #i really want to draw them #fire fist ace #staw hat luffy

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whirlybirdwhat · 3 years

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Is there any good one piece fanfic that you would reccomend to read?

SO MANY LETS GO

“stared at the sun and the sun smiled back and called itself pirate king (or: loyalty, on the high seas)” - by grainjew, a loyalty focused series of oneshots that absolutely devastate me every time I read it. My favorites are but the eternal pose points East (Lech L’cha)” and “a certain calmness” and - okay if I list anymore I’ll just list the entire series oops. Highly recommend!

In Which Higuma Doesn't Get To Get Drunk, Even Though He Really, Really Wants To - also by grainjew, Luffy goes back in time and everyone bullies higuma, delightful one shot, 2.5k.

The King's Will - my last rec (for now) by grainjew, a one shot focusing on Rayleigh and Luffy training on Ruskaina, and the application of conquerors haki, 2.3k, very, very good.

How it Should have Healed - by Wordlet, 36k, a hurt comfort series about Luffy’s numerous injuries over the years, and his crew taking care of him. Extremely sweet, hurts my heart, luffy please learn to take care of yourself, 100/10 reread all the time.

Coming Into Focus by DemonsLOver, 4k, focusing on Luffy’s trauma after Marineford, EXTREMELY good, I reread this one a lot as well.

Being there - by chali, 45k, another Luffy post Marineford fic that I love, focuses on his trauma and wounds left over in varying aspects and with each individual crewmate.

wish by spirit and if by yes - by midnightluck, 32k, in which sabo and ace reunite and they may have some issues but everything turns out alright in the end.

more under the cut!

Chasing Flowers by taizi - 4.7k, the Strawhats leave out gifts for luffy and he just has to follow, outsider pov, one of my absolute favorites of taizi’s fics!! Actually just gonna say rn go read all of taizi’s one piece fics, everything is so very good.

Already Forever by taizi - 1.8k, another of taizi’s fics that devastate me, nami realizing that the way luffy works will never be understood by any one else, really, really, really sweet.

Sea Shanties by Milo - 13k, luffy focused series of one shots, and the first one devastates me. zoro/luffy but it’s not romantic just platonic and this made me cry 100%, its just. So soft. Chapter 2 is with brook annd chapter 3 is with shanks and oh,,,, oh its so good. One of my absolute favorites of all time.

Twin Flames by SoccerSarah01 - 66k, a Marineford fix-it in which Sabo remembers, he and Ace call themselves not just brothers but twins, and everything changes. This is by Sarah whom I love and I 100% cannot rec this fic enough its so, so, so good. asl brother focused and the way the brothers are written im just the watery eyes emoji.

I'll be by your side (forever, always) by SoccerSarah01 - 1.5k this also by Sarah is another fix-it in which Luffy takes the blow for ace, and there aftermath and it hurts but ohh,,, its so sweet

Wind Beneath My Wings by SoccerSarah01 - 11.8k, last rec for me rn by Sarah, essentially the asl brothers celebrate Makino’s birthday and everything is good and wonderful and soft <3

Rising suns, free waters by Amazaria - 5k, vivi and shanks talk at mariejeoise fic how can you not fall for that like. Oh god the concept is so good, and amazaria executed it perfectly!!! 100% recommend, stays very true to the characters, and their like for one straw hat luffy.

Serendipity and other ordinary miracles by Amazaria - 2k, also by Amazaria, Straw Hat loyalty and discussion of dreams thats just so, so, so good. it hurts my heart, but luffy loves his crew and they love him so everything is okay.

All that we've yet to lose (burning, burning bright before us) by Amazaria - 1.9k, usopp and Gear 2’s effects on Luffy, dear god this makes me cry, like. Holy shit. Also some very good nami + zoro bonding in the background like!!! cries.

Who Knows (what could happen) by Chromi - 87k, the only unfinished fic on here but im putting it because HOLY SHIT! Essentially the journey of Ace and the Spades from Sixis to the Moby Dick, Ace/Deuce incredibly good writing I cannot stress that enough and also pining. So much pining. Deuce you are so gay. This fic is very lovingly and well written, does err on the more mature side than the rest of the fics I have listed here (just look at the tags) but not explicit by any means. Chromi also has like. Tons more ace/deuce fic, and I highly recommended checking out her Take My Breath Away [Tumblr SFW Prompt Fills] series!

Synthesis by KBstories - 4k, in which even Luffy has a breaking point and that breaking point Is sabo, but his friends won’t let that happen. I reread this fic so much and it’s so fucking good like all of KBstories like,,, cries??

I have so much more but I already procrastinated on the stuff I have to do today by writing this so - if u want more come back for round 2 and send another ask - in addition, check out the bookmarks of all these authors! I guarantee that you’ll find all the fics I would have recced that way haha. Enjoy!

(Also - Im sure u know as u sent me this ask, but I am also on ao3! My big works include Sea of Monsters, in which the east blue is the weakest sea because it is the demon sea, crown the king (with bloody flowers) in which luffy has hanahaki for the ocean, mother mother ocean (I have heard you call) in which luffy has the voice of all things from a young age, make a choice (turncoat hero), in which garp chooses his grandsonns over justice, and dearest brother (who you are) in which ace and sabo remember inn Alabasta and everything is okay. You can find my ao3 at Whirlybird70!)

#op #one piece fic rec #whirlywhat #whirlyanswers #bounty buddy #grainjew #taizi #soccersarah01 #amazaria #kbstories #chromi #wordlet #demonsLOver #opfic #fic rec #rec #one piece rec

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myonepiece · 3 years

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Omg! Hello! I just came across your monster trio as romantic book quotes and I am in LOVE lol. Thank you so much for writing them🖤. If it's ok, I was wondering if I could request the same thing, but with Ace, Sabo, and Smoker? If not, no worries! Hope you have a great day!

thank you love! <3

ace, sabo, smoker as romantic book quotes

description: ace, sabo, and smoker (separate) as romantic book quotes

"i’ve loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.”

-the notebook by nicholas sparks

there's always been a part in ace that felt like it was missing, broken from the rest of his being and thrown somewhere across the restless sea waters. at first he thought it was that. longing for adventure, the lethal flames that kept him alive for so long clawing at his insides to be released- only when he looked into his s/o's eyes did he realize what it was, because he saw that missing piece in their eyes, in them. over the years he grew full, he felt as if he had accomplished so much. some would say oncethey find their s/o they're scared to die then, but ace would never say that- he's complete, he's lived his dream, he's loved and been loved, he charges into tides of war knowing you've spent your time together- however long that may be, he still got to experience life with you.

“i’ve never had a moment’s doubt. i love you. i believe in you completely. you are my dearest one. my reason for life.”

-atonement by ian mcewan

when ace finds his s/o, it's like half of a bff necklace meets the other. with stubbornness and pride, rage and care, love and dreams, he carries his s/o with him. they plunged their hand into the coldest darkest of waters for him to take when he needed it most, andthey gave him air, they gave him life- he wasn't just alive anymore, he lived. their worlds, lives, dreams, hearts, and souls intertwined like they had been ripped apart in the heavens and reunited.

“her love was entire as a child’s, and though warm as summer it was fresh as spring.”

-far from the madding crowd by thomas hardy

despite years and years of awful experiencesthat would leave most the cold distant shell of a man, sabo's love is anything but. he loves you like a lovesick boy, giggling giddily when he grabs your hand and yanks you away from the other revolutionaries dragging you off to some closet to make out- or when he takes your arm in his and strides along the vast grassy field, twirling his pipe in his free hand and looking down at you with a smile that hasn't seen a third of what he has.

"every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear.”

-jane eyre by charlotte brontë

you're the biggest reason sabo fights, because he doesn't want to risk the monstrosities to poison you- no matter how long or how hard he has to fight he'll do it. he sees the horrors of the world instead of you, shielding you before you can see the squeemish sights, holding you tightly so you'll feel okay, assuring you he's fine when he stumbles through the door with practically a second skin of bandages hidden carefully under his clothes- and he'd do it again, a million times over, because you hug him and kiss him sweetly, making him wince in pain as your arms squeeze around his butchered body.

"i wish i knew how to quit you.”

-brokeback mountain by annie proulx

smoker hated that he had feelings for someone,that he had fallen in love, that he had let himself grow attatched to someone when he knew better than many that you could lose that within the blink of an eye. he tries to push you away no matter how hard you try, but the feeling of hollowness that creeps into his bones and very being, he finds can only be cured by you. once he gets a taste of you he can't stop, he might disppear for days or weeks, maybe months at a time, be it work or the fear of how much he cares about another person- either way resulting in overworking himself until he gives in and rushes back to you- because fear not, no matter how far he's run or how long he's gone, he always comes back to you

“all hopes of eternity and all gain from the past he would have given to have her there, to be wrapped warm with him in one blanket, and sleep, only sleep. it seemed the sleep with the woman in his arms was the only necessity.”

-lady chatterley’s lover by d.h. lawrence

smoker fights for justice, not absolute per say, but the justice that he knows, he fights for whats right in a world so wrong- and then when he found his s/o he found another thing to fight for. he hoped that he could make the world better for you. unfortunately every justice has a price, and smoker is forced to be away from you for months at a time. when he lays in the cold bed in the haunting darkness, his stomach growling in pain as the insomnia catches up to him dragging his soul down and burning the wounds -fresh and bandaged or old and scarred- the only thing he can think of is whether you're sleeping or not, if you're warm, do you need a blanket? are you safe? do you miss him? but it's all worth it, when he eventually falls asleep at the first light of daybreak, to the knowing thought that he's doing all of this to make the world a bit safer, for you, so you won't have to worry when he's gone.

#one piece x reader #one piece imagine #one piece #one piece headcanons #portgas d ace x reader #portgas d ace imagine #portgas d ace headcanons #portgas d ace #portgas d. ace x reader #portgas d. ace headcanons #portgas d. ace #sabo x reader #sabo imagine #sabo headcanons #sabo #smoker x reader #smoker imagine #smoker headcanons #smoker

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op-jessie · 4 years

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S/O being kidnapped on an island after a fight with the boys and then when they find her she's like barely alive and her eyes are emotionless? Tortured and stuff. Sorry if it's too disturbing >

(Angst city will be thriving for a while. Thanks for the request, anon! I had writer’s block but then i started writing and couldn’t stop so I hope you enjoy as much as I do after writing it for 5 hours)

Chief of Staff Sabo:

He hated arguing and fighting with you. You were one of the lights in his life. The one he can completely be vulnerable with and not be “the chief of staff.” You were his sun. But arguments were inevitable. This one was bad as it had struck a nerve that you brought up Ace

You didn’t want Sabo to have a devil fruit, it brought more danger his way than there already was, but he took as you didn’t want him to have even a bit of his brother.

Defensiveness took over and cutting words left his lips as he saw only red. It wasn’t until your eyes filled with tears did he freeze up. Before he could reach out to you and apologize, Koala called for his presence as they had finally docked and you fled from the ship.

Why? Why did he listen to his fellow officers? Even if you did need space, he knew you the best out of everyone. He should have followed. He should have been there to protect you. You, his sun.

He would have to thank the lower ranks for telling him of what they overheard in the bar. A bunch of idiot smugglers bragging about their latest “catch.” A catch that sounded so much like you it sent shivers through every cell in his body.

The flame in his hand burned in front of the man’s face, Sabo waited for him to give him an excuse to burn him to ash as he had easily taken out the rest of his gang. But he needed to find you.

Even when he was given your location, he didn’t hesitate to burn the whole shed before sprinting to where you were.

He called your name over and over as he searched through the crates on the dock and throwing lids off. His hands were shaking as he grabbed his crowbar and shoved it into the opening of the lid that belonged to the last crate and prying it open.

Your name came out choked and broken as he finally gazed at your form, tears slipping down his cheeks in two streams.

At the bottom of the crate, you were in a fetal position, hands tied behind your back and identical to how your ankles were tied. Your clothing was ripped all over and he almost retched at how the crate had spots of, what he assumed, was your blood. You were still bleeding. Were you breathing was the question that sent him into overdrive.

He turned the crate over and took you out as best as he could without causing you harm. The lack of sound or movement that came from you made him bite back a sob as he frantically untied your wrists, fingers also pressing against your pulse point. It was there. Barely but it was there

Words of encouragement and promises of you being okay left his lips as he untied your ankles as well and removed his jacket to cover you, encasing you within the fabric.

It wasn’t until he had you in his arms did he notice your eyes, emotionless and blank as you stared at nothing in particular, and his words died in his throat. A choked sob left him again but he had to get you help.

He sat outside the infirmary, in a fetal position against the wall like you were only hours ago, as he stared at the wooden door. His cheeks were tear-stained but his eyes had dried out. If he could cry more, he would.

He could only watch as shadows crossed the floor sometimes from inside the infirmary but, other than that, he was alone. Alone to think of the words he said to you, alone to think about your tears and broken expression, alone to think that you were afraid and that fear must have been the last emotion you felt before the light left your eyes.

He was finally let in by the doctor, something he was waiting for, but now he felt like he didn’t deserve such a thing. The doctor gave him time with you as you laid in the bed, your eyes no longer looking at him. He didn’t know whether to be grateful for that or not.

Your body was barely moving from your breaths and covered in bandages while also attached to machines. He could spot his coat against a chair, covered in your blood, and he couldn’t bear to look at it any longer.

He sat in the chair by your bed and the tears that he thought had dried out were back. As he clutched the bed sheets next to your hand, all he could do was mutter apologies into the air that didn’t reach your consciousness. When the sun would come up in the morning, would his sun also be there with him?

Monkey D. Luffy:

The carefree captain could be very stubborn and very insensitive. So, when you went off on your own, he went the opposite direction, pouting and looking for something fun to do, unaware of the people in the shadows following you.

You just wanted an apology. He had forgotten a promise to spend time with you and instead went off with Usopp to do something else. You kept it inside until you couldn’t handle the weight in your chest anymore. It wasn’t a fight really but it would have been better if he showed some type of passion.

You could feel yourself getting sadder with every passive thing he said. It was as if he was disregarding your feelings and that hurt more than anything he could have yelled.

Finally, you couldn’t handle his blunt words, words that showed his confusion on why you were upset. With a quick “never mind,” you turned and walked away from your love. He had turned too soon to see you wipe your tears away

It wasn’t until hours later when the crew reunited did he start to feel the first sensation of panic in his chest. He sat on the banister by the ramp that led up to the ship, asking each member if they had seen you

When Zoro finally made it and he got a negative from him, that’s when Luffy finally panicked and jumped off the banister. He turned to his crew and, in a voice they have only heard a couple times, ordered them to find you.

It didn’t take long as many of his crewmates could intimidate just from a look and they were led to a warehouse.

He busted the door down and his eyes immediately went wide. He didn’t acknowledge the men in front of him or the weapons they took out. His eyes went to you.

Your figure was tied up with a rope that was attached to a hook hanging from the ceiling. He couldn’t see your face because of the shadows and your hair but what he could see is the blood dripping from your body to a blood puddle just under you

His fists clenched tightly and, before he could take a step to you, there was a hand on his shoulder. He barely turned his head but he could see that Chopper had turned to his Jumping Point. The reindeer gave him a small nod before Luffy looked at the men in front of him who started to charge him. Havoc broke loose.

He had never had his vision be so red as he attacked ruthlessly; the moment they took his crew member, let alone his lover, they had signed their death wish

He was heaving as he threw punch after punch at the man who taunted him with what they did to you when he heard a desperate yell of his name from his doctor

Any thought of revenge escaped him, he ran to him and dropped to his knees.

Chopper was able to get you down and untie all the ropes before the severity of your condition shocked him into choking out his captain’s name. Luffy, himself, also froze at the state you were in.

The man’s taunts were real. You had bruises covering your face and body, cuts accompanying the dark flesh, and your blood-soaked through your clothes. Chopper got to work to do what he could but Luffy was focused on your face.

His wide eyes met your blank ones and his hands shook as they clenched tightly. A cold shiver went down his spine and he felt his eyes sting. He didn’t like that look in your eyes. He didn’t like it just as much as the look you had earlier before all this happened.

Chopper needed the equipment from the infirmary and they had to move you quickly. Luffy refused to leave your side while Chopper went to work, cringing and a small whimper leaving him at the particularly harsh wounds that he had to watch the reindeer stitch up or bandage up. There was silence after he had gotten every one of your injuries taken care of and the relaxant finally made your eyes close.

Luffy kept his eyes on your face, heart aching at the bruises and his grip tight on his ankles as he sat with his feet on top of the chair. Before Chopper left, Luffy decided to ask him what he did wrong in the morning, a voice so quiet Chopper wasn’t sure that it was his captain’s.

“You don’t have to do something physical to someone to hurt them, Luffy.” The doctor’s words circled for hours in his head as he stayed in the same position.

They had hurt you physically but the reason why you were in this position was because he hurt you in another way. He needed you to wake up so he could apologize and never break a promise again. You had to wake up… You just had to.

Red Haired Shanks:

Shanks really messed up. He realized way too late after you walked away. He messed up even more when he didn’t go after you.

You weren’t a pirate but he would come to visit you frequently. The last time he left, he had gotten too drunk the night before and didn’t bother to say goodbye. It hurt and a long-distance relationship was already difficult so you wanted to bring it up.

You greeted him and his crew before asking to talk to him in private. When you brought up his leaving and how you felt, he laughed. He just laughed. He only stopped once he noticed your hurt expression.

Before he could say anything, you left your own home, throwing a quick excuse to the others that you were going to buy groceries. Shanks sat with his crew instead and brushed off their inquisitive questions

Hours later and you still weren’t back. Before the crew could even mutter their worries, Shanks’ chair scraped as he stood up and left. It was a small island, people knew him and you. Whatever happened to you, he would find out and he would find out now.

And when he found out, there was a rage in his blood like no other. It was definitely towards the people that took you but also at himself. He really must have been the biggest idiot out there.

He found their hideout rather quickly but the first thing he noticed was you. Blank and emotionless eyes staring straight at him before noticing what your situation was.

You were tied to a stake and, since you were on your knees, he could see that your ankles were tied too. The puddle of blood under you was way too big for you to be okay.

He moved his gaze to the idiot that charged at him and he didn’t hesitate to use his haki. He didn’t have time to deal with them. When he saw your eyes close and slump over along with the rest of the men, he didn’t know if he felt relief or worry at seeing your eyes closed.

It was difficult to bring you back with only his one arm but he cradled you the whole way. He kicked your door down and yelled for help, sending his crew into overdrive.

When you were taken to your bedroom by the doctor, Benn made it very clear of his feelings for the captain when he pinned him to the wall and demanded what happened. After all, the crew cared for you as you were a dear friend to all of them.

Shanks told him about the organization that took you and stayed quiet when his first mate pressed harder on why you left in the first place. Benn let him go before taking a cigarette out and stomping outside to smoke his anger away. Shanks couldn’t blame him.

After an hour or so, he couldn’t stand his crew’s stares, although he deserved it, so he went to where your room was. He stepped in and the look the doctor gave him was enough to make him stop in his tracks.

He stared at you while the doctor talked with him, explaining your situation that was looking grim. In an uncharacteristically quiet voice, he asked to be alone with you.

He went over to your side and sat on the bed, careful to not touch you. He reached forward and pressed his hand to the top of your head, his fingers gently combing your strands.

You were barely breathing. But you were breathing. He found hope in that. But then he remembered your eyes. Those eyes that stared at him so blankly. Those eyes that usually glinted before he destroyed it that morning.

His fingers unconsciously gripped at your hair slightly as a horrifying thought entered his mind. What if the worst-case scenario that the doctor brought up happened? The last thing you experienced was nothing but pain. And the last thing you would experience from the man that promised never to hurt you was him laughing at you.

Without realizing, a few tears slipped past and trailed down his cheeks hitting your bedsheets. Would you even get to hear his apology?

Trafalgar Law:

Small disagreements were fairly common in your relationship but big fights… those were something to take cover for. And, because both you and Law were stubborn, apologies could take days and, in those days, the silent treatment would build tension for the whole crew

It was a dumb fight that became way too big. You had miscalculated the amount of supplies that were needed for the voyage so the ship had run out of oranges and other citruses. The crew was fine as they were close to the next island but Law was livid to the point of ignoring you.

When you confronted him before he left the sub, that was when it became a full on fight. He admonished you for your miscalculations, even having the audacity to imply that you wanted the crew to perish. A crew he knew you loved. Even as the words escaped him, he knew it was too much but he didn’t want to admit he was wrong

As he harshly reprimanded you one last time, your face turned cold and a lone tear slipped down your cheek before you left the submarine

He hated that he made you cry but pride wouldn’t allow him to follow you and apologize for his merciless words

Now, as he ran through the halls of the facility that you were taken to, he couldn’t even remember what the fight was about. He should have dropped it. He should have apologized. He should have gone after you.

The thought of losing you sent him into a frenzy, his devil fruit aching to be used against the idiots in the front hall.

Penguin and the others told him to go and find you, that they would give the proper punishment

He should have made that sadness disappear from your eyes when he had the chance.

He threw the door open and his body went cold at the sight of you.

Your figure was sitting against the wall with your top half leaning against a box. Your wrists were tied up as well as your ankles and there was a strip of fabric that was stuffed into your mouth and wrapped around your head. You were sitting in a pool of your own blood and you continued to bleed from the multiple injuries that were scattered all over your body

Your eyes were open but there was nothing in them. It was as if you were staring straight through him. When he snapped out of it and untied your restraints, you still gave no indication that you processed him or anything that he did to you.

He pressed his fingers to your neck and the only hope he had was the slight pulse. It also made his heart fall into his stomach at how light your pulse was

When he got you back to the submarine and patched up, he found more and more horrendous wounds.

He couldn’t decide whether he should throw up or go back and rip apart the people who did this to you, squeeze their hearts slowly and listen to how they begged. Torturing them as much as it looked like they did to you

Even with the amount of the relaxant he used, your eyes didn’t return to normal. They constantly stared up at the ceiling and no stimulant could get your attention

Your eyes finally shut after a stronger relaxant. You couldn’t verbalize but he didn’t want you to be in any pain

He sat by your bedside with his hands holding one of yours, the only part of your body that didn’t have to go through any cruelty. He could only stare at your face, hoping that in the morning you would wake up with your eyes shining. And before any sadness could fill them, he would apologize and make promises he intends to keep.

And if you didn’t… he would find any way to get you back. Because he couldn’t let the last feeling in your eyes to have been a sadness that he provided and fear that he lead you to.

like my work? a ko-fi supports me financially! thank you for the support regardless!

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yukipri · 4 years

Note

How do you think the ASL brothers would change if it was Ace that was separated and Sabo stayed with Luffy on Dawn Island?

Hey there! I’m so sorry for taking my time with this ask! It’s a really great question and I wanted to take my time thinking about and typing out my answer...and well. It got LONG ^ ^;;;;;

Bc oh man do I think things would change a LOT, but in order to answer this question, let’s first sorta picture the scenario itself. How did Ace end up the one separated?

This could go a number of ways, but here’s one that comes to mind.

The boys are running back from causing mischief in High Town, when Ace overhears some gossip.

Did you hear, the marines are coming! Apparently they found a terrible, terrible criminal, hiding right here in Goa, and they’re coming to get rid of him before the Celestial Dragons arrive!

A terrible criminal?

Oh dear, what terrible crime did they commit?

Well, nothing, apparently, or at least nothing yet.

What do you mean?

They say he’s the son of the most wanted, most terrible man in history. But don’t worry, the marines’ll take care of him before--

Ace feels like the world’s suddenly gone black and white. He feels numb, barely hearing Sabo shouting at him to hurry, barely registers Luffy tugging his hand and looking up at him with worry.

They’ve come for him. He should have known. Gramps may have tried to hide him, but there’s no escaping Gol D. Roger’s infamy.

Ace knows once he would have sneered, said See, Gramps? I knew this would happen. But now, he feels fear.

Ace doesn’t fear death, and will look it in the eye and punch it when it comes for him. But fear grips him now, as he stares blankly into the campfire Sabo’s set up, finally registering that Luffy’s calling his name and still tugging at his arm.

He doesn’t fear death for himself. But when they come for him, to end his life because of his blood, will they spare Sabo and Luffy? Will they spare the brothers of the Pirate King’s son?

Somehow, Ace doubts it.

And so he knows he’s got to go. He’s got to leave now, before they find him, before they find Sabo and Luffy, before they can steal away his family.

An adult Ace, looking back regretfully, would lament the timing of his brash actions. But Ace had never been a thinker, more of a doer, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing his brothers--even now, he can’t.

And he couldn’t have known back then that the island had had two boys considered the sons of the worst criminals in history.

So he doesn’t blame his younger self for writing a sloppy letter, tucking it under Sabo’s head, and then fleeing into the night to steal a boat that he’d use to leave the island on come daybreak. Running away, leaving his brothers behind, making Sabo vow to continue looking after Luffy like he always had, until one day, the three of them could be reunited once more.

Young Ace doesn’t even know what a Celestial Dragon is. All he knows is that an enormous ship, the likes of which he’d never seen before, is approaching--

And then everything is FIRE, and then, blank.

Dragon and the Revolutionaries had been in the area, but not just to rescue people from the Gray Terminal fire. They had intel, and Dragon had reason to believe that the marines may have found Luffy, and his connection to Dragon. The commander of the Revolutionary Army kept his distance from his son, but he wasn’t going to let the child get slaughtered for his relation to a father he’d never even met.

He’d briefly run into Ace while he was stealing a boat. He hadn’t stopped the child, but had been curious about his raw desperation, his bitterness towards his blood, and his determination to protect his found family.

Dragon is surprised to find the boy in the wreckage of an utterly destroyed sailboat.

The boy is terribly burned, and has no memory of anything, not even his own name--but he is immediately terrified at the suggestion that they return him to the island, shouting that he doesn’t know why, but he can’t go back there, they’ll find Them and kill Them if I go back there, and it’ll all be my fault--!

He decides to let the boy stay. His name is Ace, they think, the name found among his belongings. With the Celestial Dragons come and gone, marine presence on the island also fades, and Dragon concludes that Luffy is safe for the time being. He sends a coded message to Garp to be careful, and then disappears back to Baltigo with his new charge.

After regaining his memories, adult Ace grudgingly admits that while he still wishes it’d never happened, there were some perks to memory loss.

For one, he’d completely forgotten that he was the son of the late Pirate King. He still had a weird fixation towards fathers, but after getting attached to Dragon, and Dragon accepting his protege’s need for a father figure, the desperation fades.

While not the best at studies, Ace is physical strong, and takes to Revolutionary Army training like he was born for it. He masters both Armament and Observation Haki by fourteen, and with his private training sessions with Dragon, is becoming terrifyingly proficient with Conqueror’s Haki as well.

Ace is still learning, but the power he exudes when unleashing Conqueror’s Haki makes Dragon curious (and some of their peers, nervous). He’s only ever heard of one person exhibiting the kind of power Ace seems to have the potential for.

There are also other perks to being a member of the Revolutionary Army. Dragon isn’t the most wanted criminal in history for no reason. The location of the Army headquarters in Baltigo is a tightly kept secret, one that the World Government has desperately been searching for ever since it was built, but to no avail.

Even as the Marines track the rumors of Gol D. Roger’s child, as long as Ace remains in Baltigo, it’s like he vanished into thin air. And should they have discovered Headquarters, the Pirate King’s son would have been the least of their concerns.

And so Ace grows strong, no longer shackled by self-hatred of his blood, but also haunted by nameless whispers that keep him up at night, a sense of foreboding and aching longing that he’s forgetting something vital about himself, something that he both needs to remember, and doesn’t dare to touch.

On Dawn Island, on that fateful day, Sabo wakes up to find a letter written in a child’s familiar sloppy hand. He tries not to panic, knowing that Ace’s long gone, and tries to think rationally on how he should move next. Even with Ace’s clumsy words, Sabo understands what his brother had been trying to say.

They’d discovered Ace’s parentage. Ace felt that he would endanger Sabo and Luffy by staying with them. So Ace left the island early, by himself, entrusting Sabo with their younger brother.

Sabo doesn’t know how he can possibly tell Luffy that Ace left to protect them, and to convince him that they need to stay.

And then Sabo suddenly doesn’t need to, because suddenly there’s shouting below the tree house, and Luffy’s blearily sitting up.

Ace is dead.

Sabo tries to maintain a level headed facade in front of Luffy (even if he cries, screams his lungs out for Ace in private). He needs to support their little brother, now more than ever. Ace is gone. Ace entrusted Sabo with Luffy.

Sabo will not lose Luffy.

What next?

There’s the chance that Sabo would act as Ace did, continuing training and then leaving the island at seventeen as promised.

But what if he didn’t? Seventeen is a number that Sabo chose, because noble-born children become fully fledged nobles at eighteen. But now there are other, more important things at stake now.

Given what happened to Ace, and the possibility of the marines returning, Garp tells Sabo about Luffy’s heritage (he hadn’t told Luffy yet, at Ace’s request, Ace not wanting Luffy to hate himself as Ace did. Garp doubted Luffy would react that way to Dragon, but he lets Ace have this, this attempt at protecting his little brother).

Knowing that Luffy’s the son of a man rapidly growing to be as infamous as the Pirate King kicks Sabo’s overprotective instincts into overdrive.

Sabo will not lose Luffy.

From here out, there’s three possible routes. The first two routes assume that Sabo’s parents never end up coming for him (they forgot about their son for five years, who says they wouldn’t for more).

1) Pirates Route:

Sabo swallows his pride, and agrees to join Luffy’s crew, much to the younger’s delight. The thought of being captain of his own crew now seems pale in comparison to keeping Luffy safe and also keeping his last promise to his lost brother. And so Sabo vows to stay at Luffy’s side as his guardian. They leave the island to become pirates together.

2) Marines Route:

Sabo demands that Garp take him and Luffy to be trained as marines. Sabo feels nothing for disdain for both the marines and World Government, and has every intention of taking Luffy and ditching as soon as they’re safe. But right now they can provide several things that he wants and needs:

1) He feels it’s too dangerous to remain on Dawn Island with potential government eyes on them, and Garp is a relatively secure way of ensuring they can leave. They know too little about the outside world now, and carelessly leaving on a boat and getting blasted like Ace is the last thing they need.

2) He wants training for both himself and Luffy, not just combat, but on how to survive at sea. The marines, at least, should be able to provide plenty of that experience.

3) Sabo doesn’t want to be caught unawares ever again. Ace fled because he’d overheard a rumor. If Sabo had known, perhaps the outcome would have been different. Sabo’s always been the thinker, the planner among the brothers, and he wants information, especially if there’s a chance that the government will make a move on Luffy. Sabo’s goal is to work his way up the ranks until he not only has access, but is in charge of investigations hunting the Revolutionary Army, and more importantly to him, the existence and location of the Commander’s rumored child. As Chief of marine intel, Sabo will be able to control what information goes to the higher ups, and which information needs to be quietly eliminated.

(and if his investigations into the Revolutionary Army leads him to become curious about the powerful fire logia user who is their Chief of Staff...)

3) Royalty Route:

Sabo’s parents find him, shortly after Ace’s “death,” and demand he returns to High Town and his noble heritage. With Ace gone, abandoning Luffy to a life by himself isn’t an option, but neither is letting his little brother be killed. So Sabo decides that he’s got to do what he must. Protect Luffy at all costs.

He strikes a deal with his parents. He’ll return to them, and he’ll be their perfect little noble son, but ONLY with the condition that Luffy comes with them. His parents are unhappy with the deal, but grudgingly agree, warning that if Sabo doesn’t truly impress them, they have no problem with, ah, eliminating both Sabo and his tag along because they have Stelly as a perfectly viable replacement.

Sabo can excel when he puts his mind to it, and although inside he froths with rage and hatred, he will do anything to keep Luffy safe.

Luffy is his one and only saving grace who keeps him sane. Luffy, who is now trapped in this birdcage alongside Sabo, and it’s all Sabo’s fault. He’s called Sabo’s “servant,” despite being incapable of doing chores, and is ignored by the entire household other than Sabo.

And while Luffy’s clearly uncomfortable, he doesn’t complain. He senses Sabo’s pain, and his suffering, and takes it upon himself to soothe his older brother, to keep him company, to love him. Luffy will never leave here, if it means leaving Sabo. Because nothing is more terrible than being alone and Luffy knows that best.

So Sabo keeps moving forward, vowing to Ace every night that he’s going to protect Luffy, no matter what. If this is the hand that he’s been dealt, Sabo will just have to make do. Sabo wonders how far up the hierarchy he’ll have to climb in order to guarantee Luffy’s safety.

(or, Sabo eventually becomes King of Goa, and Luffy is his “servant.”)

Are just some possibilities I came up with! To anyone who made it to the bottom of this post, thanks for reading!

Do any of the three scenarios I came up with sound interesting? Which is your favorite/do you think is most likely? Should I write a follow up??

EDIT: >> Follow Up

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

#One Piece #ASL #Monkey D. Luffy #Portgas D. Ace #Sabo #YukiPri replies #sunsetsearcher #Text Headcanons #longpost #long post

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sarahwritesss · 4 years

Text

sabo + colosseum

“Come on, where the hell is it?”

Sabo paces through the hallways of the colosseum, cursing as he hits yet another dead end – the third in five minutes. The basement should not be this hard to find, Sabo thinks furiously as he turns violently on his heel and storms towards where he came from.

Not for the first time, Sabo wishes he could just punch through the floors to get to the basement – it would be a hell of a lot faster, that’s for sure.

(He then remembers Koala’s famous temper and her strict instructions to not cause a fuss, so he reluctantly releases the Haki on his hands and moves to search the more socially acceptable way.)

(They’re revolutionaries. By definition, they’re not socially acceptable. Why the hell does he have to act like it?!)

He wanders the hallways for a while longer, catching glimpses of the fighting that’s taking place (Block C is going at the moment, he remembers). There seems to be someone going absolutely wild, riding a bull of all things, and Sabo grins and laughs before turning to move on.

(Hack lost. Ace’s devil fruit is the prize, and now there’s nothing preventing some stranger from taking Ace’s fruit.

He needs to get it.

He will never be able to forgive himself if he doesn’t.)

(Luffy would never forgive him, either.)

(If he could forgive him in the first place.)

He turns from the balcony, intending to find someone to mug and take the place of in Group D, when a laugh rings above everything else, and he freezes.

“Shishishishishi!”

A D-shaped grin. A well-worn Straw Hat. Laughter, tears, joy, sorrow – all wrapped into one package. One little boy who smiled like the sun and laughed like joy was the only thing he ever knew. The laugh that brightened up his day without even trying. The laugh that made the boy who he is.

The laugh that he now hears echoing up from the colosseum.

He walks up towards the balcony again, not even daring to hope, and peaks out over, watching as this…old man? No, he looks younger, Sabo thinks as whoever it is takes down a giant in one punch. Sabo watches intently as the man turns slightly, and gasps as he sees his face.

Oh.

That’s his scar.

That’s him.

That’s Luffy.

Sabo watches in shock as Luffy continues fighting, not as joyful as he was earlier, but still free and wild (just like when they were growing up). He’s grown so strong, Sabo thinks with a bittersweet smile, pride rushing through him even as the years he’s missed prick at him.

“I guess our weak little brother isn’t all that weak anymore, huh, Ace?” Sabo murmurs, watching as Don Chinjao and Luffy launch themselves at each other, shaking the colosseum with the force of their willpower.

He doesn’t need them anymore, Sabo realizes as he watches his little brother hold his ground against a legend; as he watches his little brother shout back in annoyance as Chinjao goes on yet another monologue; as he watches his little brother launch himself into the sky and send Chinjao through the stage – with a newly-pointed head, Sabo notes with amusement.

Pride surges through him as Luffy celebrates, and he turns, a smile on his face. He heads back towards the basements, and feels some part of him relax.

Ace’s fruit will be in good hands. Luffy will see to that.

Luffy doesn’t need to be protected anymore. He’s strong now.

Luffy’s got everything under control.

(He really needs to find the basements quickly, though – he would really like to reunite with his brother before everything goes to shit.)

(He suddenly snorts at the thought of all the chaos he and Luffy could cause together.

Doflamingo doesn’t stand a chance.)

#one piece #opfics #sabo #my writing #dressrosa spoilers #*thinks about ASL thinks about ASL thinks about-*

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majoraop · 4 years

Text

Is Ace still Alive?

This is a collection of my theories concerning Portgas D Ace, written for “In Memoriam” event at @in-memoriam-one-piece. This post belongs to the Denial-Land category. I’ll be brief since I hadn’t much time to work on this, but feel free to ask me questions or add you own comments. ^^

As most of my followers probably know already, I believe Ace is still alive--even if in a way we could not expect to be. I got new ides after the recent manga chapters, but I won’t talk about my newest theories based on them since they would include spoilers for One Piece fans who only watch the anime. I’ll stick to my old Ace theories instead, and the short version of them is that Ace survived thanks to Marco’s powers. We learned only recently that Marco can use them on other people too, and not just himself. Even if when used this way his powers have limits, I can’t believe Marco didn’t try to regenerate Ace’s body after that it was recovered by Shanks. Possibly, that happened just a few minutes after Ace’s heart stopped beating, hence his brain didn’t remain without oxygen for too long hopefully. Before someone mentions them, I know: Ace’s Vivre card burned down and the Mera Mera no Mi became available again. However, we don’t fully know how Vivre cards work yet (and if they get destroyed when a person’s heartbeat simply stops for long enough or when a person’s brain dies--which is actual death). About Devil’s Fruits instead, there may be a way to take them from a living person. We don’t know all the details about them either so that’s a possibility. Anyway, I don’t believe Ace is still alive just because I wish he were. I believe it because I noticed some elements in the narrative that may be hints: of him being still alive, but also of him using his father’s surname in the future. The first “hint” is the title of chapter 574: “The Death of Portgas D Ace” (or, more literally from the Japanese title, “Portgas D Ace Dies”).

And then, the scene of his birth:

Rouge and Roger had planned to give the “Gol” surname to Ace, but then Ace was forced to use the “Portgas” one to hide his connection with the late Pirate King. Therefore, the fact that the chapter title includes Ace’s surname too and isn’t just “Ace’s Death” or similar may be a hint that he’ll come back as “Gol D Ace”. That would be a statement to the world: a powerful way to say that he’s back, and there to stay. I know Ace had conflicted feelings about Roger, but I think he never really hated his father or that at least he didn’t hate him anymore once he learned more about the world--but I would need a dedicated post to explain this in detail so I won’t elaborate further for the time being. A second “hint” of Ace surviving may be Sabo’s letter, and especially its last lines:

I believe the ASL trio will fully reunite again at the very end of the manga or during the last phase of the revolution, or so I hope at least. A final happy party with just Luffy and Sabo would feel incomplete in my opinion even if the Strawhats and other of Luffy’s friends and allies will surely be there too. Another suspicious scene and possible third “hint” is Ace using Conqueror's Haki in the ASL flashback:

What if Oda showed him using that power not only to connect Ace more with Gol D Roger, but also so that when Ace will be back he’ll be able to fight even without the Mera Mera no Mi? But the panels that really make me believe that Oda is hiding us something huge about Ace are in chapter 909:

Ace, his death, and his grave aren’t mentioned at all in this chapter, not even by the omniscient narrator. Is Ace alive but in a coma? Is Marco probably still taking care of him in that island? Is someone else keeping Ace hidden elsewhere in order to protect him? Did Ace physically disappear from the world but is somehow still alive? As I wrote in the beginning of this post I won’t write my newest theories not to spoil who isn’t up to date with the manga, but there are ways Ace may still be alive: the narrative itself is suspiciously elusive around his death lately, and in recent chapters only Luffy explicitly stated that Ace died. However, Luffy’s point of view is restricted and not omniscient, so it doesn’t really count. It’s all for now, but I’ll probably update this post later this year once the anime will have adapted more manga chapters.

#in memoriam: ace #ace #portgas d ace #onepiece #one piece #opanalysis #opheadcanon #opheadcanons #optheories #opmanga #majoraop

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admin-in-residence · 5 years

Text

To Lose you...Ace, Luffy and Sabo

Request: ASL have a baby sister around the age of 10, Ace and Luffy raised her and she joins Luffy and goes with him to Marineford, role reversal and their little sister takes Ace’s place and dies in his place.

Extra Note: Ooh boy...this one really got me...I was crying reading this request because honestly I can’t even imagine their reactions if something like this happened...anyways, proceed with caution...because we have so major feels over here.

A little extra warning: Very graphic blood and gore and graphic descriptions of death...please be advised this doesn’t have a happy ending and this may be triggering for a lot of people. I’m sorry in advance.

Ace

From the minute Ace set his eyes on you, all those years ago, he knew that he had to protect you.

You were so small...just a little baby when he, Luffy and Sabo found you whilst exploring out in the forest.

They all decided together that you would be their honorary little sister, and grow up alongside them.

They may have needed a little help from Dadan and the Bandits here and there, but they took it upon themselves to work as a team to raise you together.

The first time that they experienced a loss, was when Sabo “died” and that was unbearable, but it was the thought of you that kept Ace and Luffy going.

So the four of you became three, and Ace vowed to never let anyone he cared about get hurt...or even worse die...again.

Ace loved seeing you grow up, watching you become your very own person...brave and determined, you stood up for what you believed in and he felt his heart soar whenever you asked for his help.

Being the eldest brother, Ace took on a lot of responsibilities, most of which he had to leave behind when he left to sail the seas.

Ace had thought the most heartbreaking thing he would ever see in his life was when his beloved little sister stood at the edge of the docks, crying her eyes out as he sailed away.

He had promised to see her again, and although in his heart part of him wished that she would remain with Makino and Dadan on their home island, he knew that she would sail away with Luffy when he left. Luffy was far more lenient with rules when it came to their family.

But he never thought this would be the way to see her again...in Marineford, crying out to him to believe in her and Luffy.

Ace felt less worried about his own fate and more worried about how he could get you safely away from this battlefield whilst he was shackled and about to be killed...

Of course...everything seemed to work out, Ace, Luffy, and their wonderful little sister were only a little way of being safe, Trafalgar Law, standing upon his submarine after agreeing to allow them board and escape.

Ace had merely turned his head away for one second...away from watching his little sisters back to survey the path ahead when he heard a pained gasp and a grunt of surprise.

When he looked back, Ace had never felt more sick to his stomach.

His baby sister...only 10...was standing shellshocked, eyes were blown wide and mouth open in a silent gasp, blood dripping out of a hole through her small body. Flames and magma oozed around and out of it and Akainu stood behind her, his face a mix of anger and confusion.

It only took Ace a second to see what had happened, the minute he had looked away to the front, his little sister had looked back and taken the blow that had surely been aimed at himself.

There’s really no way to describe what this poor boy is thinking, his body completely shuts down...and it’s as if the entire battle around them comes to a halt. He can feel every person's eyes on them...looking at his little sister.

Akainu pulls away, if not somewhat guilty for what he has done to a child, pirate or not, and doesn’t make another move for either Ace or Luffy.

His little sister takes a small step, and one more before looking down, and then back up. Her face looks confused before she looks to Ace.

The minute she finds his eyes, her body collapses...and Ace is right there to scoop her up.

“You're ok! You're ok...!” Ace gasps, his mind is still shut down, and he can’t think, “Everything’s going to be fine...we can fix this...there has to be a doctor...Trafalgar...he’ll fix you.”

But Ace knows better, he watches as the light starts draining from your eyes, and you look confused...so confused but he can still hear your faint whisper as you say “I love you guys...” for the very last time...

Ace doesn’t scream, he doesn’t move...he can hear Luffy let out the most heartwrenching noise imaginable...but he just looks at you, your eyes still half-open, not quite shut...staring straight through him.

You don’t look dead...surely your just playing a small little joke.

But when he feels a hand on his shoulder and looks up to the Heart Pirates captain, Law, he sees the smallest bit of sympathy in his otherwise cold eyes.

He knows that he has one last job to do...one last thing before he can stop everything.

He takes his little sisters body over his shoulder, pretending that the red liquid dripping down his chest isn’t really your blood, on the other shoulder he scoops up Luffy’s immobile body and he races to Trafalgars ship.

He allows Law to take Luffy to the medical wing, hooking him up and begin treating him for shock, and then they bring his little sister's body to another room until they can find a place to bury her.

Then and only then does he allow his body to fall into the unconscious state he’s been fighting off for what feels like hours.

When he awakens, Ace simply lies in the medical bed that Law has dumped him off then, trying to process the information and everything that's happened.

Ace ultimately makes the choice to bury her next to Whitebeard, knowing that the old man will take good care of his little sister in whatever afterlife there may be.

He also makes the choice to leave the remaining Whitebeard Pirates ranks...choosing to now alliance himself with his brother, and vowing to never. ever. EVER, let anyone touch a hair on Luffy’s head.

Ace won’t be the same ever again, after this loss...but when he thinks of your smiling face, despite the sadness he feels at your memory, it reminds him to keep on fighting, for himself and his beliefs, and for Luffy.

Luffy

We know Luffy is goofy and immature, and sometime’s careless...but older brother Luffy is more serious. He observes everything that has to do with his sister, and he takes extra good care of her.

He didn’t put up a fight when it was time for him to set sail and his little sister wanted to go with her. He felt confident enough that he could protect her.

When it was time to go to Marineford, Luffy tried to get her to stay behind, but his little sister wouldn’t hear of it...she wanted to protect her older brothers as much as they protected her.

Luffy and his sister worked together to free Ace, and Luffy was overjoyed. Everything was going to work out, and they would be reunited again.

Luffy wouldn’t have to hear his baby sister sob Ace’s name or call for her brother in her nightmares.

Ace led the group towards the submarine, and Luffy follows eagerly behind.

Unlike Ace, who looked away from their sister the moment she was struck, Luffy is forced to watch the entire thing.

He sees Akainu coming towards them, and he watches his baby sister catch his eye, see’s his fist raised to strike Ace, and all but dives in front of the firey fist.

He is forced to watch the heated fist smash through his little sister's body, he hears the sizzling of their skin, he watches the initial blood crust over before new blood rises.

Ace turns his head back finally, but Luffy’s already seen enough. His voice is trapped in his throat, and everything is shutting down around him. He lets her name slip through his mouth, but it’s merely a noiseless whisper.

He watches her step forward, and collapse into Ace’s arms.

He’s never truly felt like a failure until this very moment, he’s never wanted to lay down and give up, he’s never wanted to think about giving up.

He’s never thought about living without his baby sister.

For a while, he was the youngest sibling in their ragtag little honorary family. And then when they found her...Luffy had never been excited...he was going to be the big brother...he could tease her, and train with her and protect her like he had been as the youngest

But he had done nothing...couldn’t do anything now.

He let out a scream, a scream that came from within him, making his own blood curdle. He saw the light leave her eyes, and the last thing he heard was her saying “I love you...”

Luffy although upright, was unconscious seconds after.

When he awoke, he was a mess.

He fought everyone aboard the Heart Pirates sub, taking off into the woods of whatever island they had landed upon.

He called his sisters name, willed her to come out so perhaps it would all be a dream after all.

When Ace finds him, he asks if he knows where their little sister is. Perhaps she’s playing hide and seek?

But when he sees Ace’s tears, he knows. He’s always known honestly. Luffy breaks down again, utterly heartbroken.

Luffy is grateful for Ace remaining by his side because after everything Luffy isn’t sure he would be strong enough to continue without their little sister by his side.

Extra: Sabo

Sabo didn’t get the same amount of time then the others did with you. But he still remembers the babbling little baby that he would get to hold in his arms when he was just a child. Who he would calm to sleep rocking her in his little arms.

To forget all about her was painful...

But to finally awaken these memories by a picture in a newspaper, was unbearable. They hadn’t named you, you being so young and not having any bounty.

But he could see it in your features, the shape of your nose, the color of your eyes, your hair, once few and short, now longer and full.

You were so young...and you were gone?

Sabo collapses instantly, and when he awakens he’s remembered everything.

He takes any lead, listens to anyone with information, and it eventually leads to your grave, buried beside Whitebeard, Ace’s former Captain. He sets out 4 cups, fills three of them with sake, and the fourth is filled with a sweet juice he recalls you like when you were little so long ago.

He spends the day there, thinking of you before he continues on his way.

He has a new goal in mind...he plans to find Ace and Luffy.

He wants to hear their stories, know all about how you grew up...your favorite things...what he missed when he was gone and had forgotten.

It takes some years, but finally, in Dressrosa he meets with his brothers once more, a tearful reunion that promises a little relief amongst the grief of three brothers.

#one piece x reader #one piece ace #one piece luffy #one piece sabo #straw hat pirates #strawhat luffy #firefist ace #revolutionary sabo #sister reader #Portgas D. Ace #monkey d. luffy #heart pirate #strawhat pirates #whitebeard pirates #one piece whitebeard #air writes #air writes one piece

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vannahfanfics · 5 years

Text

Desert Ghost

Word Count: 2,710

Romance, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Tragedy

Summary: Memories are important. Happy memories, sad memories, scary memories—all of them have the people that Nami holds dear. When it comes to some people, memories are all she has left.

EDIT: Check out this comic by @deliazeedork drawn for this story!

Nami inhaled deeply through her nose as she leaned herself against the creaky, barely-held-together boards of the ramshackle cabin. Within, she and her companions nursing their wounds from their newest venture—the arduous and catastrophic spat with Donquixote Doflamingo in the kingdom of Dressrosa. Most of their adventures usually concluded with some monumental battle or another, but to Nami, this had been one of their closest calls yet.

After deposing the tyrant and restoring Rebecca’s family to the throne, the crew had retreated to a safehouse of Sabo’s within the country for a bit of rest; on the morrow, they would set out to reunite with their comrades in Wano. It was deep into the night. Her crew had long since descended into slumber, with sleep evading Nami alone. It often was this way directly following a conflict. She simply could not dissipate all that nervous energy and adrenaline as quickly as they. So, she would wait until they slipped into their slumber before sneaking out to be with the stars and her thoughts. So there she was, reclined against the outside of the cabin and seeking solace from the heavens.

A chill wind blew across the ground, rustling the grass and Nami’s hair before skipping coldly across her skin to leave goosebumps in its wake. She drew her knees to her chest and hugged them with a slight shiver, but since she had not a hint of drowsiness in her, she remained huddled against the structure.

“You’ll catch cold like that.”

Nami jerked up, startled, at the sudden address. When she looked to see who had spoken, her vision was eclipsed as a cloak of black fabric was unceremoniously flung into her face. She wrestled it with a moment, her frustrated and confused curses muffled by the folds of the clothing, before she was able to pry it free from her tangled strands of tangerine hair and pull it from her head.

Sabo was standing beside her with a smirk on his lips and his hands on his hips, and Nami’s eyes widened slightly as she was struck by a sudden sense of dejà vu.

“You’ll catch cold like that,” a low voice purred in her head, and it brought a mild blush to her cheeks. As she clutched the cloak to her chest, not bothering to put it on for the ghosts of her past dancing before her eyes, Sabo frowned deeply and squatted down in front of her with his head tilted slightly.

“Nami? You’re making a weird face. Do you not want it?”

“Oh! N-no, thank you very much,” she stammered quickly and drew the cloak around her shoulders. She then smiled sheepishly at him. “You just… Reminded me a little of your brother.”

“Luffy?”

“No, Ace.”

At her answer, his eyebrows shot up his forehead; he then grinned awkwardly and scratched his head. Nami knew it must be a sore subject for him, as it was for Luffy, and she flushed darkly when she realized how tactless she had been.

“Sabo, I’m so—"

“No, it’s okay,” he sighed with a magnanimous smile and a wave of his hand. Then, he exhaled slightly and plopped down on his behind next to her, his knees drawn up on either side of himself with his arms slung lazily over them. “It’s not like we can avoid talking about him forever. I was just a little shocked that you had met him before, Nami.”

“Mhmm, we met him when we were on an island called Alabasta. Funny enough, we were kind of overthrowing a government there, too,” she joked weakly, crossing her arms atop her knees to rest her chin on them with a rueful smile. “… I wish… I had gotten to know him better,” she whispered quietly, and closed her eyes.

~Two Years Ago, in the Kingdom of Alabasta~

“You’ll catch cold like that.”

Nami glanced up with a slight haze of pink in her cheeks as she was suddenly addressed. She was greeted by the bulky silhouette of Portgas D. Ace, framed against the backdrop of the starry night sky and the pale moonlight. Nami was currently huddled against the wall of the canyon that they had decided to shelter in during the night; she sat near the entrance, looking upon the desert for any sign of monstrous creature or otherwise enemy that would disturb the rest of her sleeping crewmates. She was within sight of their camp, where her crewmates were strewn about in their sleeping bags—but she was too far to feel the gentle warmth of the flickering fire that burned at their center. Nami, though dressed in the Alabastan robes at Vivi’s behest, was not immune to the night chill, and the man had apparently taken notice.

“Can’t sleep?” he smiled as he sat cross-legged beside her, and Nami jumped slightly as his arm suddenly burst into roaring red flame without warning. Though she was startled thoroughly, the warmth pouring off the Flame-Flame Fruit user obliterated the desert cold, so she did not insist that he stifle it.

“No, I’m on watch,” she answered simply before casting her gaze out at the sandy desert. Truth be told, he had hit the nail on the head; the stress of saving Vivi’s country was admittedly getting to her. So she did as she often did and sought comfort from the solitude of the night and its celestial brilliance above. “… What about you? Can you not sleep?”

“Nah, I get kinda restless sometimes,” he grinned lightly at her, and if he had not been radiating flames, he would have been radiating sunshine with how bright and pure his smile was. Though Nami had been in a somewhat melancholy mood before, she found herself uplifted at his presence; for the past few days that they had been traveling together, she had found that she rather liked him. He was a lot like Luffy—magnetic, boisterous, arguably a bit daft, but capable and strong. There was something different about him, though, that made Nami comfortable around him, though she wasn’t sure what that was.

With a small smile, she laid her arms on her knees and her head atop them, gazing up at him instead of the night sky like she normally would.

“Is it because you’re leaving tomorrow?” Nami was not a fool; she had studied Vivi’s maps of the desert, and she knew that soon they would be approaching a major outlet to the ocean. Ace had found no sign of Blackbeard here, and though Luffy was his little brother, he was unlikely to abandon his search for the murderer to jump into their grand plan to stop Crocodile and save Vivi’s home.

Ace’s face turned a shade of pink, and he looked away shyly while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Eh, it’s that obvious, is it?”

“Not to most of the airheads over there, but it is to me. You don’t want to have to tell Luffy that you’re leaving,” she assumed, and assumed right, because he nodded with a small smile.

“Yeah… As much as I would like to stick around and see how much he’s grown… I have to find Blackbeard. He can’t get away with what he’s done.” His voice, normally upbeat, had a grim edge to it. His eyes burned like his arms as he stared out into the bleak, unforgiving desert. He then gave her a lop-sided smile. “I’m not terribly upset about it, though. I know we’ll meet again somewhere down the line. We gotta decide whose gonna be King of the Pirates, after all—him or Whitebeard.”

“Sorry, it’s gonna be Luffy,” she responded without hesitation.

“You sure have a lot of faith in him, don’t you?” he snorted in laughter, leaning back against the coarse stone with wiggling eyebrows.

She smirked playfully back at him before looking back at where her captain was snoring, fast asleep.

“Yeah. He’s a handful sometimes and makes a lot of rash decisions, but I always know he’s gonna pull through and keep his word. He always does what he thinks is right and beats down any obstacles that get in the way of it. That’s the kind of guy he is… And he’s just the kind of guy I can’t help but follow,” she mused quietly. All of them, her rambunctious captain included, gave her plenty of headaches, but she couldn’t deny that it was a lot of fun, too. She had grown stronger than she ever thought possible and had met amazing people, like Vivi and Ace.

“I owe Luffy a lot,” she smiled up at him. “He gave me my dreams back, and so I’m gonna make sure his come true.”

“That’s too bad,” he sighed woefully, and she blinked up at him in confusion, having not expected such an answer. He cracked his eye open to look at her, and the smoldering gaze that burned in his dark eyes set her heart a-thumping.

What’s that look…?

“I was hoping I could convince you to come with me, Nami.”

Once more thrown by his wild comment, she just stared blankly at him with her face afire and the gears whirring wildly in her mind. Nami wasn’t totally oblivious to what he was implying, but it was so outrageous; they had known each other for only such a short time, and that wasn’t nearly enough to form some kind of romantic attachment, right? Despite her attempts to convince herself of that, her heart was tugging slightly, inclined to agree in some fit of lunacy. She turned her head away as her face burned like the heat of the desert sun, and half-expected him to begin laughing as if it were some cruel joke—but he didn’t.

“I’m sorry, was that too forward? Are you mad at me now?”

“A bit sudden,” she admitted quietly, still refusing to look at him, “but I’m not mad…” Her arm was burning too, cast in the warm flames of Ace’s body, and that lunatic part of her wanted to scooch forward to bathe herself in that heat. She couldn’t, though.

“I can’t go with you. No matter what, I’m loyal to Luffy. Everything else comes second… everything.” Her voice sounded hollow as she spoke the words. She had not known how much she wanted it until he had hinted at it, dangled the bait in front of her hands with her close enough to grasp it. She couldn’t, no matter how much she wanted to; it was a phantasm, a desert mirage.

“You’re not dating him, are you?” he asked with a sudden gasp, and she whipped around to glare at him with her hair bristling like a cat’s fur.

“Of course not, you idiot!” she hissed through gritted teeth. She then realized that that had been the joke, as he was holding his stomach while he hit the sand with his palm and laughed uncontrollably.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that was in bad taste,” he giggled when she puffed out her cheeks to stare angrily up at him. After his snickers died down, he exhaled deeply before leaning his cheek in his hand and looking down at her again with that same blistering heat burning deep in his eyes.

This time Nami did not have the strength to look away; she just let it blast over her, consume her, leaving her aching and wanting.

“I’m glad that Luffy has people like you to look out for him… But that really is too bad.”

Nami hadn’t noticed his face drawing closer as he spoke until it was virtually on top of hers, but by then it was too late; she was utterly helpless as he tilted his head to press his lips against hers, softly, lightly, but not without feeling. Under the intense heat of his body and the emotions writhing inside of her, Nami melted. Without thinking, she reached out a trembling hand to press it against Ace’s chest, simultaneously trying to push him away and keep herself anchored to him. As she squeezed her eyes shut, her face contorting slightly into the visage of misery because she knew she shouldn’t be doing this, because no matter what they had to go their separate ways and it would only be miserable for the both of them if they entertained this ludicrous idea of them, tears spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She felt Ace’s hand brush over the skin of her face, sending the crystalline tears fluttering into the desert sand, and she so longed to reach up and grasp that hand and hold it forever.

Then he was gone, like a desert sandstorm, leaving Nami’s heart destroyed and yet reborn in its wake. When she opened her eyes, though her vision was blurred by tears, she saw his silhouetted form tromping back across the canyon floor towards the camp, his shoulders drawn up and his hands in his pockets against the cold wind that was blowing through the canyon. Beside Nami was a little pile of burning brush, but that was not the only thing that kept her warm that night.

~Present Day, Kingdom of Dressrosa~

“Nami?” Her head shot up as Sabo’s timid voice ripped her from her memories, and for a second, she was unfocused. She felt something brush over her left cheek, and she turned to see that Sabo was very hesitantly drawing his gloved hand over her face to catch the tears that had spilled from her eyes. He had a complicated expression, probably expecting her to get mad; instead, she exhaled deeply and smiled sweetly at him.

“Thank you, Sabo… Sorry. I just got lost in the past,” she murmured, then straightened up and wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands.

His hand fell back to his side, and he gave her a bashful smile in return.

“No problem. I hate seeing pretty girls cry.”

Nami laughed at the unabashed compliment and ducked her head down, her tangerine hair falling into her face. Sabo was too nice to ask about what she was crying about, but had at least a few more active neurons than his brother sleeping inside. He was easily able to figure out what had the woman so despondent. She heard him mutter something incomprehensible under his breath and then stiffly scoot closer to her, their arms were just barely brushing. When she looked up at him, he flushed pink and hurriedly waved his hands.

“I-it’s not like that, I just, I don’t want you to be sad, you know? I feel bad because I made you remember something sad, it’s kinda my fault. Erm, I’m sorry, am I making you uncomfortable? I’ll move back—" he spluttered bashfully.

“No, you’re fine. Thanks—and it’s not your fault, really. It was bound to happen one of these days… Truthfully, I’m glad someone’s here with me.”

He relaxed into a puddle of mush beside her, flopping back against the outer wall of the shack with a relieved grin.

“Besides… Even if it’s sad now, it’s still a memory, and it’s important,” she added as she tipped her head back to gaze up at the brilliant landscape of glittering stars stretching above. “Happy memories, sad memories, scary memories… All of them have the people I care about, and I want to keep all of them close to my heart forever. So, thank you for not letting me forget, Sabo.”

“Ehehehe, you’re welcome, Nami…” As he chuckled awkwardly next to her, Nami slipped out of the cloak, folded it up neatly, and handed it back to him. “Oh? But it’s still so cold out here, Nami. Will you be okay?” he asked with wide eyes as he took it back.

She smiled serenely as she shook her head.

“No… I’m all warmed up now. I’ll be just fine.”

He respectfully left her to her devices and bade her goodnight, disappearing back into the cabin to rejoin the rest of the sleeping crew. Nami remained bound by her insomnia, joined only by the heavens above. She was now shielded from the cold by the gentle ghost of Ace sitting beside her, and the wind carried the echo of his laugh away into the stars…

Did you enjoy this oneshot? Consider requesting from me by visiting my rules, then either commenting on this story, submitting an ask, or contacting me via DM!

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cheswirls · 5 years

Text

tether notes 2/3

pt. 3

i mentioned this in the last part, but i used muroran as basis for veilstone, not abashiri. actually, if you want my opinion, i think shari, hokkaido, is a better depiction of veilstone than abashiri. mostly, i used muroran bc i could find pictures there that were more than just boat-icebreaker-drift ice-boat. abashiri is cold. and full of drift ice. if you need context, it’s level with toronto, canada. a pretty cold place to live. muroran is further south, and it’s also a port city, so i jus used that.

shari looks nicer, but it’s more into the hook of hokkaido (that piece on sinnoh map that jutts out right below battle zone) and not nestled into the mountains, so. mostly it was out.

makino’s cafe/bar is based on the diner in veilstone. so, walk in, counter bar to your left, tables to your right, possibly a happiny underfoot carrying trays of food.

but, compared to the more rustic and colored veilstone, i wanted to depict more of hokkaido city here. so, more rundown, rusted due to sea breeze, older things without much repair. passable, sure, for daily life. but new and extravagant? no. far from.

if makino is so close with luffy, how come she doesn’t know sabo?

simple. she’s not close with luffy. makino has a fulltime job running a diner in veilstone, sinnoh. luffy grew up on the sevii islands, kanto. when he was in sinnoh, he was training with shanks. yeah, sure, they would come by for food, and makino is good friends with shanks, so of course she and luffy have a relationship. but, also at this point where shanks began to bring luffy around, instead of teaching him out in nowhere, sevii islands, they began to keep things secret. luffy was here “just visiting” to anyone who asks, but they wouldn’t seen him much around, not in the isolation shanks trained him in. also also at this point, because i derailed that sentence completely, ace and sabo were already out traveling. it just never came up. makino is friendly with luffy, she knows luffy, but she doesn’t know him, not really.

pokemon hunters is another anime concept i wanted to use, again to make the story more gritty. no evil teams here with world-domination plots, just poachers. pretty standard. still awful, especially if they’re poaching people, now, but nothing as wide-scale as team galactic.

i had so much fun writing ship captain jinbe. i wished i got more of a chance to write his crew, too. at this point i think i had just caught up reading blackbird by milo, and i was hooked on the idea of biker fishman gang and leader jinbe, so i adapted it into ship crew here. praline is there, yes. she’s badass. i said so, you heard it here.

i talked a lot with my big bang partner, and we eventually decided jinbe’s a mix of hoenn and sinnoh descent. so, darker skin, almost polynesian, from hoenn’s more pacific island vibe. dark, curly hair. i drew a picture once? oh, here it is. jus a little sketch. he probably actually comes from hoenn, but he does cargo runs throughout sinnoh now. [i should probably say around, since there arent rly canals thru sinnoh?]

regarding law’s map error, i really jus wanted to reference flower paradise. of course the map he got was a tourist version, so of course it’s gonna include the magical pathway connecting the sinnoh league to an island of flowers. but it doesn’t actually exist, or if it does, it’s not always there, since they sail through the space with ease. just another fun easter egg.

the marsh scene was another i’ve known i wanted since the beginning. i had so much fun drawing the map for it. i actually based the scenes entirely off the map, so while i knew the general direction i wanted it to go in, and that they would run into sabo, the part about wandering into the rain and encountering volcarona spawned while marking the map. crazy how things work, huh?

i think i made the chase move a little too fast, so most of the time out of their 12 hr limit is spent after departing from the marsh, wandering thru route 212. don get me wrong, the marsh scene spans over the course of hours, but its still less time from leaving the ship to leaving sabo than it is to get back to the ship.

the aegislash scene is the first one i conceptualized, of the marsh scene series. introducing law’s team was strategic, especially once i revealed luffy only had four pokemon. it was always meant to be a readers gamble how many law had. at the end of part 3, it’s pretty easy to gauge how many, but still, the surprise of the sixth pokemon in pt 4 is something im still proud of c:

anyway, yes, the first sense of real danger. poachers have no qualms in using their pokemon to harm other people. they’re there for the money, which they get from capturing and caging rare pokemon. who cares if they hurt a few people along the way? who cares if they brutalize them to take a particular pokemon, a-la mr. cleffa sir? law reacts to this very quickly, in part because he’s used to it, as explained in tragic backstory number 2, right behind one-brother-dies-and-the-other-runs-away from protag #2.

actually, i guess the first danger was the wild kadabra, but this is the one in which someone gets hurt! . . . or, worse-hurt, because law’s scratch doesn’t count. luffy’s gash in his shoulder? that’s a big injury. especially when they can’t just stop to treat it, especially when law still has blood on his face from it, especially when they have to go right back to running around the marsh.

and then sabo appears!! i lied, this was the first marsh scene. i drabble-wrote it in my series-of-drabbles-to-add-to-the-outline before i made pt 3′s outline, and then wrote it for real. the aegislash-being-badass-therefore-law-also-by-proxy was the second. one of the first sentences i ever wrote for tether was law realizing the face from luffy’s picture was right before his eyes.

so why do the hunters ignore luffy calling for sabo while running away?

yes, why the no consequences? i realized at this point they were too far away to hear and law too out of it (its law’s pov, still) to figure what they were saying, to i had to play it off. it’s another scene where i almost wrote a few paragraphs from a different perspective [the other two were the tsuru-caesar confrontation and the mr. cleffa dude ft. sabo scene, both of which i had to expand upon by talking, instead of a flashback to show it. i rly went full soul-eater approach here, huh? explaining everything through present means. well. save for law’s backstory, but that’s about the only thing.] but decided not to in the end.

here’s how the scene plays out, full disclosure. law and luffy spot the two hunters. a third person, sabo comes into view. the hunters tell sabo the situation, that they were being chased. law recognizes sabo, luffy does too, and calls out to him, loudly. this causes the hunters to panic, and they tell sabo, there, there’s the people chasing after us. law figures sabo has some secret reason for posing as a hunter and pulls luffy again out of view, not wanting to give him away. all three hunters take off running in the opposite direction. luffy calls out for sabo again, and sabo turns to question the other two, asking which pokemon they stole that was named ‘sabo’. he has a fake name, obviously. they don’t know he’s sabo. before they can figure it out, he derails the topic. but then he slips crossed fingers behind his back at the same time, signaling silently to luffy, who stops calling out.

so, tldr, sabo’s not using his real name while with the hunters and is smart enough to cover his ass from luffy’s mistake.

i wanted law carrying luffy, on their way down the route, to the stormclouds, and i’m pretty sure the one reason i didnt go thru with it is because law’s backpack. and, y’know, luffy being caked in mud.

okay, do. panic attack time. ptsd time. a mix of both, ig. whatever you wanna call it. originally, this scene was going to be a bit different, and happen way earlier in the story. it didnt bc of sinnoh’s lack of fire types [there are only 2 i think, 2 lines i mean, so like 5] and the fact that ace’s team featured none of them. and then i thought, oh, i’ll jus make the same thing happen w sabo, except none of sabo’s team were one of them as well.

originally, it was going to be that law/lu encounter a clan of a specific type of wild fire pokemon. i think for the longest time it was talonflame, not sure anymore. anyway, so it was gonna go that luffy recognizes ace’s former pokemon outta the bunch, and they recognize lu as well, and the two reunite and all that jazz, and meanwhile law has his attack bc the group they encounter are one of the pokemon that tormented him in alola.

and, nope, now i remember why it didnt happen. as much as i hate dof, i had to craft a team for him for plot purposes, and that ended up being a bug team to go w the whole string motif. the problem was i had this scene planned for a looooong time, and it needed to be w a fire type, one of ace’s pokemon. except there are like no fire/bug pokemon, except for volcarona, who wasn’t on ace’s already-planned team at this point. i debated for foreeeeever and finally decided to screw it, and i made it sabo’s unova pokemon. so, instead of getting a unova dragon, in the land of dragons unova, sabo gets a volcarona and ace a darmanitan. all for plot purposes. no sense here. none at all.

[not that it matters, since sabo morphs into a fire trainer anyway after ace dies]

so, after i decided it would be sabos pokemon, the point came back to how they would encounter it. no hordes of wild volcarona in sinnoh. i sadly had to scrap the idea. this is what i came up with instead: volcarona coming to luffy to deliver a letter, and scarring law in the process.

Law has a chocolate bar, because he’s ten and anxious and chocolate seemed good at the time.

-aka my favorite line of the whole entire story!!!

and then law’s backstory time. so!!! for the longest time i was torn between setting the story in sinnoh or alola. this was my big compromise. i wrote a draft-outline for law’s alola backstory before i wrote a real outline for tether as a whole. this was the first part of the story i really wrote. i was done with it before i started pt 1, because i wanted to outline before i started writing.

the thing abt law is that his life is so much of a tragedy. oda writes it so well, to the point where you’re thinking this can’t get any worse and then it gets worse, every time. i wanted to mimic that here. i didn’t do it justice, but i at least tried.

law’s life is filled with mistrust. his whole village dies, he nearly does as well, and so he packs up and runs away, and hides his one pokemon abra because he’s not a registered trainer and he refuses to abandon abra so theres mistrust towards everyone who can turn him in, and everyone who didnt care enough to help with the water crisis. he’s done with sinnoh. so he spends a bit holed up in a library, and once he reads about alola, he’s sold. he’s so mistrustful it’s not a matter of ‘anywhere is better than sinnoh’, its a matter of ‘i can’t end up in another place just like this’. alola is the solution.

except, he’s still mistrustful. so he hides abra, and he hides his money, and he doesn’t speak with anyone, and he leaves the city as soon as he can. he doesn’t know the rules of this place, but abra is all he has. he can’t lose abra. and then things go wrong.

because he’s out of sinnoh, but alola is different. he’s ten, and he’s never had a real pokemon battle, and all the wild pokemon of alola are too eager. he’s ten, and a pangoro attacks and he loses all his supplies on his very first day, because abra’s too exhausted to teleport them away this time. [in hindsight, i did a really bad continuity error here, throughout the entire flashback. it’s thru law’s eyes, so i describe the pokemon he doesn’t know about, and yet sometimes i name the pokemon he really shouldn’t know about. my bad.]

he’s ten, and the only food he finds is being guarded by a giant sumo crab, so he crawls to the other side of the beach and falls asleep on the sand, hungry. he’s ten, and he’s living off berries because money is only so good when you can exchange it, and he’s far away from civilization. he’s ten, and he spends the very last of his money on money for abra, for his only pokemon and his only ally, because going to a pokemon center would mean being seen and asking for a license to verify and its too risky, he can’t risk it.

he’s ten, and he’s hungry, and he has nothing but the abra clutched in his arms and his ripped clothes clinging to his body, and he witnesses a murder. and they catch him in the act, and then he’s stuck, because he shouldn’t have a pokemon so young, and he’s a witness to a crime, and too quickly he’s in a very bad position.

he’s ten, and to keep abra alive, he joins a gang in alola.

he’s ten, and he’s blackmailed into working or risking abra being taken away. he’s ten, and he has morals, and there’s some tasks he won’t do, but the family boss punishes him for it, harshly. he stops having morals. it wouldn’t do him good here.

law turns eleven, and suddenly gang tasks involve pokemon battles. law’s eleven, and doflamingo trains law himself, beating the weakness out of him, burning him, scarring him, terrorizing him because he can, and because law can’t refuse.

law’s eleven when he realizes his picture-perfect alola was nothing but an illusion, because the lack of monopolies and corporations and factories actually had nothing to do with how much the natives cared about their own, or cared at all, about anything. just because alola didn’t have a pokemon league didn’t mean it wasn’t a bad place to be.

he’s eleven when he meets corazon, and finally, finally, gets a breath of fresh air, gets a taste of a person who isn’t there to ridicule him or abuse him. he’s eleven when he meets his first real friend since his sister died, meets someone that finally treats him like a human being. and it doesnt matter that he’s doflamingo’s brother, because he’s kind to law.

law’s eleven and corazon works to repair the damage done by the gang, little by little. he gets law out on an island challenge, and he wanders through melemele and akala and meets kind people and has fun and experiences the real alola. and he realizes, somewhere along the way, that he never wants to go back to the family ever again.

law’s eleven when he realizes he has no choice. because he belongs to doflamingo, because he has to skip out on ula’ula to accomplish a task for the family, because corazon sits there and lets it happen.

law’s eleven when he’s given a pokemon egg, and when he’s given hope.

corazon was going to take care of everything. he was going to get them out, safely. they were going to rescue a captive pokemon. law was going to be free. law was never going to be hurt by the family again.

except, that’s not how it goes. corazon dies. corazon’s pokemon are tortured in order to lure law out. corazon’s pokemon all die for him and law has no option left but to run with all his might, all the way from one tip of ula’ula to the other. and then, because he can’t trust anyone, anyone, law runs away into a desert with no supplies to speak of.

law’s eleven when he comes face to face with the most temperamental tapu in the alola region, and even with all he’s been through, it’s the most scared he’s even been in his entire life. and then, when he comes to, he finds himself stranded in the kalos region. he’s eleven. he goes through all of this and he’s not even a teenager yet.

so, backing up just a bit, you can see how seeing a volcarona is going to invoke some rather strong emotions in law. he panics. he passes out. luffy puts volcarona away, because me might be oblivious on a lot of things, but he can understand the pure terror in law’s eyes.

alright, what else. the letter. of course luffy disavows the letter, he’s luffy, he can’t follow a plan to save his life.

#tether #pt 4 notes whenever i get around to formatting pt 4 #ill link the maps there too #and ill probably throw together a quick timeline too ive been thinkin abt it

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marcoacesabo · 7 years

Note

Hi!! I love your writing so muchhhh! Could you do more about Slave AU? I really want to know what's gonna happen next >

“We reserve the right to serve customers in this establishment.” the clerk sneered picking up the fruit he was trying to buy and putting it back in the bins. “Go find somewhere else to get fruit from, slaver.”

Ace’s lips thin into a straight line but he moved on none the least as the woman would not budge. This was the fourth vendor who refused to sell him any food today and he was getting really tired of it all.

The worst was he knew that one wouldn't be the last. Sighing he turned on his heel returning home, ignoring the heated looks others send him as he walked by.

The villagers have been giving him and Sabo the cold shoulder ever since he bought Marco. It wasn’t like anyone had tried to raise their hand on them but the glares, cold whispers and refusal to treat them like a human was starting to get to Ace.

Yet, on the other hand, he was oddly proud of his community. Even though he was on the receiving end of their scorn they were only doing it because they despised slavery.

If it were anyone else, they would have cracked by then and set the slave free. Especially after nearly two months of such treatment. But they couldn’t do that, not until they knew Marco would be safe, and that was taking time seeing as the target was moving.

Sabo’s contacts were searching for his traveling family as that was the only place the blond slave wished to go. The couple promised him they would reunite the blond man with his loved ones if it was the last thing they did so they were willing to wait the search out by keeping Marco around.

In the past two months, they have been slowly working on Marco’s trauma and habits that developed over the years in captivity. So far Ace thought they were doing good.

Marco was showing more emotion lately and he started to eat without asking for permission, plus he was even talking.

But there were still things that Ace wished he could help more with. Sabo claimed it wouldn’t be that easy, no matter how many years they spent working on returning Marco’s humanity to him.

The blond would forever have scars- both physically and mentally- that may never heal.

It made him sick.

It didn’t help that Marco wouldn’t leave their fields, too afraid of drifting too far from the property- Sabo said it was common among liberated slaves, it would take time before the blond could bring himself to stop thinking like he belongs to others, and walk freely again.

“I’m home!” He shouts just as he steps on his property. Marco- who was helping Sabo plant in the herb garden- looks up briefly then ducks his head as he mumbles back.

“Welcome home Master-Ace.” He corrects himself like he has to remind himself with that word, twirling his thumbs around one of the gardening tools in his hand. “Welcome home Ace.”

“Thank you Marco. It’s good to be home. The villagers refused to sell me stuff again.” Ace sighs kneeling down beside the larger man. “Sabo’s going to be mad.”

It because of Sabo’s lessons that he catches the way Marco stiffens. The raven hair man casually scoots away, keeping an eye on the other as he does so. When the blond’s shoulders slouch again he stops, a good foot or so from his original spot.

He pretends he doesn’t see the gratitude in Marco’s gaze. Sabo is right, he doesn’t need pity he needs understanding. Instead, he says “I’ll plant this one so we can be done faster.”

Together they work on planting new seeds in silence, Ace not making an attempt to start a conversation even as Marco takes glances of him every so often.

He can tell there is something the blond wants to say but he will wait until he’s ready to do so.

“I can make us more soup yoi.” Marco says after a short pause. “There is still enough food for it.”

“More of that yummy soup? that sounds great-” Ace starts smiling at the blond only to jump back as Marco turns around to face him with a desperate look.

“Sabo found my family. I’m going home.” Marco blurts. He swings wide eyes of horror at him like he just realized what he did and apologizes fall from his mouth before Ace can answer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cut you off- I’ll be more careful. I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad, I-”

“Marco.” Sabo’s warm voice surprises them both. They turn around to see the smaller blond carrying a tray of some kind of drink “It’s okay. He’s not mad, right Ace?”

“Nope. In fact, I’m happy!” The raven hair man cheers giving the ex-slave a dazzling smile “They found your family! I’m so happy for you Marco.”

Blue eyes gloss over with unshed tears. “Thank you. Thank you for everything...I want you two to meet them...if that’s okay yoi?”

“We be delighted to.” Sabo says handing him a cup “From what you told us of the Whitebeards I think we like them very much.”

Marco nods, staring into his cup while the other two start talking about Ace’s lack of groceries. Since they aren’t paying attention to him he whispers to his drink so softly he can’t even hear himself, much less them.

I think I love you.

He hopes someday he’ll be able to say it as loud as possible. Because these two saved him, in more ways than they will ever know.

#MarcoAceSabo #Slave Au #part 2 #Marco as Slave #Ace and Sabo as Masters #Angry village #Freedom #Anonymous

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fwips · 7 years

Text

I wrote a quick interaction of an AU in which she hadn’t died, but had been put to rot in Impel Down, Rosa reuniting with Dragon from Sabo’s perspective after being freed. I meant to turn it into a comic but i have no time lately :’<

She met his eyes and stared hard, disbelieving, up at the man who lead the Revolutionaries.

“You left Luffy? You left our son?” she whispered.

Sabo’s eyes darted between the small woman and his towering mentor. Dragon suddenly didn’t look so large under the loaded gaze of this weary, worn looking woman.

“I left him with my father to hide, Rosa. To keep him safe and give him protection that I couldn’t give him. Ace was put with Dadan’s group to hide from the Government until he was-”

“Dragon.”

Rosa’s voice was so low and rough, and Sabo wondered if it had always been that way or just worn from disuse after years of isolation. It sounded so desolate, the way she said the man’s name. His name had probably been on her lips many times before, but Sabo couldn’t imagine she’d ever spoken it with that tone before. Dragon’s body language suggested as much, entirely tensed like he had one foot on an activated landmine.

“When i was taken, when you thought I’d been killed, did you leave them and run? My child, and my brother’s child?” she spoke every word with heavy infliction and a rough accent wearing at the edges, her hands fisted at her sides and trembling. Dragon sighed.

“I had to. To keep them safe. They were children, they wouldn’t have been safe with me, Rosa.” he said.

“And yet you took in another child, and brought him to be raised with the Revolutionaries?”

Sabo flinched, moving to step away. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him in a way he’d not felt since his memories returned.

She was correct. Dragon was Luffy’s father, what right did he have to be raised under his command and watching eye, when Luffy hadn’t even known he had a father? Or a mother. None of them knew, and when he had realized it all those years ago, the self-conscious guilt that he’d robbed Luffy of something without the boy even knowing, ate at him.

He wanted to leave, it was too clear now that this woman, Luffy’s mother who had her freedom and family stolen from her more times than anyone should, could very well hold Sabo in contempt for her husband’s choices. He moved to dismiss himself, but his arm was suddenly held in a vice-like grip, nearly as strong as his own hardened and practice Claws. Rosa’s palms, black with haki, were full of his coat sleeve, and without looking away from Dragon’s face she kept Sabo beside her.

“You left two of my children behind, but took in and raised their brother?” she continued to interrogate quietly. “You separated my son from his brothers, Dragon?”

Her thumb rubbed absently across Sabo’s wrist, maybe like a mother’s would. His eyes suddenly felt hot.

“Rosa, I hadn’t know Sabo knew Ace or Luffy. He was a noble's son without memories, he would have died if we didn’t take him. Luffy and Ace were different cases, they were safe, they wouldn’t have wanted to come with us.”

“Have you seen him since you left him.” Rosa asked. Dragon hesitated but after a moment, nodded.

“Once. Before he entered the Grand Line. He looks like you.”

“Did he remember you?” Rosa whispered, and Sabo could feel her strong grip trembling.

“...No.”

Her eyes very slowly grew wet with tears that were too heavy to hold as she turned her head up to Sabo with great hesitation.

“W-would… he remember me?”

Sabo bit his lip and shut his eyes with such force that his own tears threatened to spill out. He pulled the small woman into his chest and held her close, her hands so much smaller than his dug deeply into the fabric of his coat on his back.

“He would! I know he would, he’s my little brother- mine and Ace’s! He’s your son! I’m sure he’s wondered about you all this time. He won’t be sure at first, he wasn’t with me either, but I promise you he knows you! He’ll see you, and he’ll know you!” he swore, feeling his shirt soaked through where her face pressed into his chest. Dragon was silent, and he supposed the man didn’t really have much he could say to reassure her. Dragon hadn’t been there for Luffy or Ace, and Sabo had done his best but his own memories had stolen their bond for so many years. And Ace... was gone.

“I want to see Luffy!” Rosa’s voice was muffled in Sabo’s shirt, strained and weak from too long without use.

“You will.” Dragon promised.

“I want to see Ace!”

Dragon remained silent.

Sabo winced, and tasted copper from where his teeth split his lower lip. He wondered how many times in the two years since gaining his memories back had he wished for the same thing. Seeing Ace again. How many times had Ace wished to see him again?

How many times, in how many years, did Rosa wish to see everyone she loved, while she sat in that pitch black cell, miles deep beneath the ocean she’d once sailed freely on. Did she cry like this when she thought of them, without anyone to hold her and tell her she wasn’t forgotten, when this whole time, she had been.

Sabo pulled back from her and bent to one knee, holding her arms gently but firmly in his hands so she could look at him clearly. He took in the look of her, hair a mess of short black spikes he knew she’d cut in mourning after learning about Ace. Large eyes like Luffy’s, with a small nose and wide chapped lips that made her mouth look too big for her face. She looked fragile, like a woman left wanting and waiting for too long for something that never came. While Sabo wasn’t one to hold much stock for beauty or what made a person physically attractive, he could tell even now that in her prime Rosa’s plain appearance probably wasn’t what made her beautiful.

He wanted to see what did.

“My name is Sabo, thats it. I threw away my family name when I met your nephew.” he started, and immediately was fixed with her sad eyes full of fondness.

“Ace and I really weren’t big fans of Luffy at first, he had to grow on us and earn our trust. Once he did, you couldn’t separate any us from each other. Ace always said I was too soft on Luffy, but how could anyone not spoil him when he’s so cute?”

Rosa let out a weak bark of laughter that cracked in the middle, wiping her nose and eyes with her sleeve ends.

“I was taken from them, all my memories I had with them and the happiness they gave me, was taken from me. Dragon took me in to keep me alive, to give me the skills and strength to fight to save kids like me and my brothers. I can’t understand how you must feel right now, not about me or Dragon or any of this. I didn’t know about you, and it’s true Luffy and Ace may have forgotten you were there for them, but you’re their mother and you’re alive and you will see Luffy again.”

He reached into his vest pocket, right over his heart, and pulled out a small square of paper with his little brother’s name neatly written along one edge. Rosa’s eyes teared right back up again as she stared at it, seeing it flutter softly in a breeze of its own, lilting slightly to the south-east. Sabo pressed it to her palm then held her hand closed in his.

“I promise you, you will see him again.” he swore, eyes determined while the mera mera flared along his shoulders and wrists.

Rosa watched the flames dance along Sabo’s arms with an expression he couldn’t say he’d ever seen before. A softness in her large brown eyes made orange from the reflected light off his fire, a tender sort of relaxing of her posture as she regarded him at an arms length.

She stepped forward and fell to her knees to wrap her whole body around Sabo’s much larger torso. Her small hand at the nape of his neck brushed through his blonde curls endearingly.

“I don’t remember how long I was in the dark for, but it doesn’t matter to me now. I’m so happy, I gained another son! A kind, sweet boy who loved my family when I couldn’t.” she said roughly against his collar, he couldn’t see her face but he could hear the deeply affectionate smile in her voice. “My son’s brother, the brother of my blood, makes you my son too, Sabo. I have another child! It’s a mother’s pride to have a son who can protect the people he loves. Let mom protect you now, too.”

Sabo’s eyes felt hot.

#Gol D. Rosa #my headcannon luffy's mom #ficlet #sabo #AU

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