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thegreatcaptainusopp

May 1

thegreatcaptainusopp

The Separation

Ao3 link

The Seer, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8

Chapter 9: Luffy

The tears don’t stop coming.

He’s screaming as hard as he can as he flies through the air, and he can feel the tears running down his face and his head and his neck and that’s it, that’s everything, that’s his whole world because…because…

He can’t think it, he can’t think anything. It’s just one scream, one big scream, over and over and over until…

Until…

Luffy lands with a crash, gasping as his scream (barely there anymore) is cut short. He just lies there, trying to breathe his voice back to life, unaware of anything other than the pain of the air in his lungs and prickly sensation of ground against his skin.

Time must pass, because he starts being able to breathe again without it hurting too bad. And with that, everything else floods back in, and Luffy frowns as he feels something against his back.

That thing is wetness, he discovers, and instantly shoots up into a seated position, trying to shake off the water clinging to his clothes and skin.

The second thing he feels, which hits him like a punch to the gut, is the cold.

Luffy shoots up to his feet with a cracked “YEOUCH” as the cold hits him fast, leaping around and trying to warm up. It’s cold, and he can feel his teeth chattering (were they like that the whole time?) as he jumps, arms waving around as he tries to bring some sort of warmth back into his body.

“Okay!” Luffy says out loud, voice cutting out with a hoarse grunt at the end of the word. “Okay, let’s get warmed up! Let’s get all warm and then go and find everyone and then…and then go ahead to Sabaody again!”

His voice trails off and doesn’t return by the end of that sentence again, so he clears his throat, still hopping around. He’s still wet, but the cold is getting a little bit better, which is great. It’s great, but…

The new warmth is reaching his head and digging into his brain and…and the things that are there, just below the surface, of everything that just happened and what he saw are threatening to explode out here and now and that can’t happen. If that happens Luffy won’t be able to do anything and if he can’t do anything then he can’t get anyone back and if he can’t get anyone back, then…then…

Luffy shakes his head vigorously, even though it makes him kind of dizzy. “No!” He says, finally stopping in place. “Let’s go! Let’s go find my out of here! Let’s—”

“Hey!”

A short bark echoes into his ears, and Luffy’s head shoots up from the ground. He blinks, finally taking in his surroundings, and finally realizes that the wet and cold is from the snow he’s surrounded by.

Luffy laughs, rubbing the back of his head. “It’s the snow, huh?” He says out loud, trying to swallow around his aching throat. “Makes sense!”

He hears the “Hey!” again and focuses on the sound. A figure is approaching in the distance, getting faster and faster as he approaches. “Who are you?”

Luffy waves at the figure. “Hi!” He says. “I’m looking for a way out of here. Can you help me?”

The person finally gets close enough that Luffy can see them a bit better around all the coverings and coats. It’s a short, stocky man, and he looks a little angry.

Well, not like Luffy isn’t used to that. “I need to sail out of here,” He tells the man as he approaches closer. “Where do I go?”

The man gestures at him to come closer. “Sure,” He says. “I can help you get to where you want to be. I’ll show you what you need.”

“Great!” Luffy bounds over. “What do I—”

He feels a click and something tight settle on his wrists. He looks down at the handcuffs on his hands, and his eyes bug out of his head with an “EH?” of confusion.

“Who are you guys?” Luffy tugs at the cuffs, trying to shake the familiar woozy feeling of seastone out of his head. “Come oooon, tell me! And let me go!”

He’s just tugged harder, so hard he nearly falls flat on his face. “Okay, fine!” Luffy says as they turn a corner. He blinks fast, trying to stay awake. “You don’t have to tell me. Let me go, though! I have stuff to do!”

A sudden gust of wind comes in, hitting him deep in his bones. “It’s cold!” He squeaks, brain clearing in a second from the shock. “Come on, let me go! Or I’ll do it myself!”

His thoughts are interrupted again by a smack to the back of his head. “Ouch!” He says, more in surprise than pain.

“Shut up!” A gruff voice barks, bounding around his head like a headache. “Keep moving!”

Luffy shakes off the hit, feeling his body start to shake from impatience. He’d warned them. He has a crew to save and no time to waste at all.

He stands straighter, stopping in place. “Guess I’ll do it myself,” He says, lifting his arms and swinging them towards the hard, frozen ground.

“What on earth…”

Luffy looks up, dusting his hands enthusiastically. “Hm?”

Four men stand there, staring at the scene around them with wide eyes. A small, cut-off groan echoes from somewhere along the sea of injured and unconscious bodies tossed here and there.

Across from them, the rest of the now freed prisoners huddle together, wide-eyed and unsure.

“Oh!” Luffy puts his (now handcuff-less) hand behind his head, smiling uncertainly. “Hi! You’re not gonna fight me too, are you?”

He sees the men look at each other. One awkwardly clears his throat. “Um. No.”

“Great!” Luffy spins towards them, grin firmly fixed on his face and mind firmly fixed on his goal. “Can you show me the way out of here? I have somewhere that I have to be.”

The men look at each other again. One nudges another, who steps forward. “Actually,” the man says, voice wavering slightly. “Are you…are you Straw Hat Luffy?”

Luffy’s hand rises to his head automatically, getting a handful of hair instead of beat-up straw. “Oh,” He says, remembering that Hat is in Usopp’s care for now. “Um, yeah. I am. Is that a problem?”

If it is, no problem. He’ll fight out of there and keep going. He needs to keep going.

“No!” The man says, so quickly that he stumbles over his words. “No. Um. Actually. We’re with the Revolutionary Army. You know them, I’m guessing?”

The words whizz through Luffy’s head, and it feels familiar and mostly good. But he doesn’t have room for familiar and good right now. All he has room for is to go now. “Okay,” He says. “Are you leaving here? I’m coming with you. And show me how to get to Sabaody.”

The men look at each other again. “Yeah,” Their agent says carefully. “We’re leaving…we’re going back to headquarters. I think we can help you from there. I think we can help each other.”

And that’s all Luffy had needed to hear.

“Where’s your ship?” He asks, readying his stance.

The man cautiously points. “There?” He says, practically a question.

“Okay!” Luffy says, winding up his arms. He stretches out, grabbing the group in one sweep, then gallops towards the direction they pointed in. “Let’s go!”

He ignores the shouts of protest and takes off as fast as he can.

It turns out, the place they’re going to isn’t really that far away. The group that takes him there tells him a whole bunch of stuff about their base and how secret it is, but Luffy isn’t really paying any attention. Honestly, he can’t even bring himself to care about it at all right now.

Instead, he sits there on the ship, knee jumping impatiently and fingers tapping onto his thighs. Sitting still feels impossible, not when there’s so much to do and his crew to get to. Everything is slow slow slow when it shouldn’t be.

He doesn’t know how many are we there yets it takes, but eventually they approach shore. He makes his way to the deck and, at the startled sounds of the other sailors with him, launches himself to land before the ship has fully docked.

He turns around, fists on his hips, tapping his foot. “What’s the holdup? Let’s go already!”

One of the group shakes his head. “D clan,” He mutters. Then, more loudly: “We need to bring the ship around first. Then, we’ll get you to where you need to go.”

Luffy lets out a loud huff. And waits. And waits. And waits.

When the rest of them finally make it to shore, they start leading him across the island and Luffy can finally start to notice his surroundings.

For a moment, he thinks they’re back to where they came: it’s all white and powdery and it crunches under his feet as he walks. He blinks a couple times, then realizes he isn’t cold and that the powdery stuff isn’t cold either.

One of the group notices his confusion. “We’re in Baltiago,” He says. “It all looks like this. It’s main headquarters, by the way…normally, we wouldn’t bring any outsiders here, but these are special circumstances, as I’m sure you know.”

Luffy doesn’t know, and doesn’t particularly care. “This is how I can find my way to my crew?” He asks impatiently, bumping up his walking speed.

The man nods. “Boss’ll be able to get you anywhere you need to go,” He says. “Considering the circumstances, you’ll need to go about it carefully.”

Luffy nods without really thinking about it. “Okay,” He says. “As long as I can go back, I’ll do it.”

He walks, letting himself just move forward step by step, until he runs into someone’s arm. He looks up, blinking, and notices they’re in front of a large, closed door.

The man who put his arm up to stop him taps him. “We just need to make sure the boss is ready to talk to you,” He says. “Give us a minute, and we’ll call you in.”

Luffy sighs, but allows them to walk ahead, open the door, then slip through and close it again.

A minute? Well, all right then.

So, Luffy counts silently under his breath. Once he reaches 60 seconds, puffs up a breath, then strides forward and flings the door open.

“Minute’s up!” He announces to the room, striding in. “So when can you get me back to Sabaody?”

Everyone in the room looks up at him instantly, startled. It’s a huge room, with a large table in the middle with a bunch of chairs. Would be great for a banquet, with a lot of food.

Oh. Food.

Luffy realizes that he’s actually kind of hungry. It had been a distant instinct, overcome with all the…situation of everything, but he kind of feels it distinctly now. That’s probably good, right?

“I’m kind of hungry,” He tells the group, walking towards them. “Do you have any food too?”

The guy who walked him in straightens, “Luffy,” He says. “Well—”

“Luffy.”

A deeper voice interrupts him. Luffy glances over at the man who talked, who until now had been seated quietly at the head of the table.

Slowly, almost carefully, the guy stands up “Luffy,” He says again, “It’s been a while. It’s nice to see you again.”

What?

Luffy squints at the guy. He’s tall, with long spiky hair and a tattoo over his eye.

“Whoa,” Luffy says, “Nice tattoo.”

Wait…there’s something about it…

The guy smiles slightly but he almost looks…scared? “Thanks.”

Then it clicks.

“Hey!” He points at the guy. “It’s you! I know you! You were at Loguetown!”

The guy’s smile widens a bit. “I was,” He says. “Good to see you’re doing well.”

“Yeah,” Luffy says, then shakes his head. He needs to focus! “But…I’m gonna need help one more time. I’ve heard you can take me back to Sabaody, and I need to go. I need to get to my crew.”

The guy nods at the rest of the group, and they quietly back out of the room. “Luffy,” he says. “I’m sorry, but we can’t take you there now. We have to wait.”

Luffy’s jaw drops. “But they said!” He insists. “They said you can get me there!”

“The situation is—”

“Fine,” Luffy interrupts, folding his arms. “If you can’t help me, I’ll get there myself. I’ll just get on the closest boat and—”

“Wait!” The guy says, standing up. He’s tall, like really tall. “You can’t yet, Luffy. You have to understand what you’ve just done. The government is out to get you, and they’re not going to hold back. If they find you now, they will kill you.”

Luffy frowns. “And? I’ll fight back, no problem!”

The guy shakes his head. “Not as you are now, you’re not.” He says. “You won’t be able to handle what they have. They’d kill you in a heartbeat.”

“But I—”

“If you can’t defeat Kuma,” the guy interrupts, voice stern. “How can you think of trying to defeat the world government?”

Luffy feels himself oomph, like he’s been punched in the stomach. His mouth opens, but the words don’t come out.

“Luffy,” The guy says, his tone kinder now. “I’m not saying this to make you feel bad, or make you upset. I’m saying this in order to give you the best possible chance you have. If you want to win, you have to be ready for it. Otherwise, you’ll die. No second chances, nothing.”

Luffy feels his breathing start to go funny. “My…my crew—”

He feels something heavy on his shoulder, and startles. He looks up and sees the guy’s hand perched firmly on his shoulder, looking determined but kinda awkward too. “They’re safe,” The guy says. “I’m sure of it. Kuma sent you to me, so I’m sure he sent them to safety too.”

“Wait,” Luffy says, his breathing still not back to normal. “How do you know that? That they’re okay? How do you know that for sure?”

“Because I know Kuma,” The guy says. His hand is still on Luffy’s shoulder. “I know this is hard to believe right now, but he’s on your side here. He was helping you all out. Did he give you anything before he sent you off?”

“Give me—?”

The hand on Luffy’s shoulder gets removed. He kind of misses the pressure. “Check your pockets”.

Luffy sticks his hands in the pockets of his shorts, rooting around until…

He pulls out a piece of white paper. “This is Ace’s Vivre card, I don’t know what that—”

He pauses. He distinctly remembers putting that card in his vest pocket. This is…

The guy nods knowingly. “There we go. Kuma will have given you that, and to all your crew, so you can find your way back to each other.”

Luffy stares at the card til his eyes start to blur. “How do you know that?” He asks, feeling fuzzy. “How would you…why would Kuma do this? Any of this?”

“Like I said,” The guy replies, like he’s somewhere far away. “I know Kuma. I know that this was…probably difficult for you to endure. But for whatever reason, he did this to help you. You can trust me on this.”

A sudden rage floods his insides. “Why should I?” He demands. “You’re just some guy. How am I supposed to believe you?”

He expects (wants) the guy to get mad at him, to yell back. He needs to move right now, he needs to fight. He needs to do something that’ll at least get him moving forward because…because…

The guy doesn’t get mad though. Instead, his face goes all weird, like he’s sad. But not really. “Luffy,” He says, then pauses. “I know—I know this might not be enough. But. The thing is—”

Whatever the guy is about to say is interrupted by a loud crash of the doors flying open. A small echo of “stop! Don’t go in!” floats into the room, but Luffy can’t really hear it.

He can’t hear anything, not really. Because through the doors, running and panicked, is another guy. He has a tall hat and goggles and blond hair and a large scar on the side of his face that…that…

The blond guy’s panicked eyes lock onto his own, and they go wide. Luffy is just as frozen, and something is screaming at him in his head because this is—

And then the screaming gets louder and louder and all white and that’s all Luffy knows for a while.

Luffy comes to with a gasp.

He doesn’t know how much time has passed, but it’s gotta be a fair amount because he’s in a new place now, some sort of bedroom with a huge bed and high ceilings. He has new clothes too, and he can see his vest and shorts propped up on a chair in front of the bed.

He doesn’t have time for more though because—

Luffy jumps out of bed so quick he almost faceplants. He has so much to do but first. First…

“Luffy.”

He startles, and whips around to the side. The tall tattoo guy is there, looking just as surprised. He hadn’t even realized that guy was there.

“Take me to him,” He demands, feeling the frantic energy begin to overflow in his chest. “I need to see him.”

Tall tattoo guy doesn’t fight him on it. He just nods. “I thought you might,” He says. “He’s awake now, so it’s fine. He remembers now too.”

There’s a lot of questions he could ask, but he’s beyond that right now.

The journey passes by in a blur, and before Luffy knows it he’s flung open a door to another room, and sitting there on the bed in the corner is—it’s—

He meets a startled gaze, which softens immediately. “Luffy. I’ve missed you.”

Luffy feels himself start to breathe funny again. “Sabo…?” He chokes out.

And Sabo (it’s him. It’s him it’s him it’s him it’s him) smiles at him.

“I’m sorry,” Sabo says, and his voice is shaking, just a little. “I…I wish I remembered sooner. I promise, I promise, I would’ve come and find you if I could. I’d…I’d forgotten you. Both of you.”

There are so many things Luffy could say right now. He could say how could you have forgotten or where have you been or how did you remember or are you coming with me now but he doesn’t. He doesn’t say any of it. He can’t. He can’t.

And then. Sabo’s smile starts trembling too. “I heard you saved Ace,” He says. “Thank you, Luffy. Thanks to you, I can see him again too.”

Something shatters, and before Luffy knows it he’s running, running and jumping into Sabo’s arms, crying and crying and crying and crying.

Sabo hugs him back just as hard.

Luffy doesn’t leave Sabo’s side for a while.

He sticks to him like glue. For a few days, he’s wrapped around him almost everywhere he goes. Sabo doesn’t say anything, just walks around doing whatever work he’s doing with Luffy stuck to his back or on top of his hat or hanging off his front. Nobody says anything about it either, which is good because Luffy doesn’t think he can let go.

When he can stomach doing that, he still tags along for most of the day, trying to get the Sabo-time that he missed all those years back again. He knows that it won’t really help no matter how hard he tries, but he’s going to try.

The most helpful part about it is nights. Luffy had never really gotten used to sleeping on his own. Ever since finding Dadan and the others, then Ace and Sabo, then his crew, he had never slept a night not surrounded by his family and friends. Here, he had Sabo, which helped tremendously to fill the hole left behind of his crew. Sabo didn’t have Zoro’s deep snores, or Chopper’s soft fur, but he’s familiar and family and Luffy finds that he can still sleep at night if he can hear him nearby.

Sabo also helps in convincing him that his crew is okay. He might not trust tall tattoo guy, but he knows Sabo wouldn’t lie to him. If Sabo tells him that they’re okay, that this Kuma guy was actually helping them, he’ll believe him. Of course he will.

Still. He does need to contact them. He needs to figure out how they’ll reunite.

The good thing is, it doesn’t take long to figure out. Only a few days in, right after he can handle not needing to be physically attached to Sabo all the time, Tall Tattoo Guy comes to see him again.

He hadn’t been around for a few days (Sabo had said he’d been busy or something), but he’d just walked in one day, when Sabo was sitting in one of the meeting rooms doing some reading, and Luffy sitting on his shoulders, peeking over his hat at the documents. Just because he didn’t need to be stuck to Sabo didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it sometimes.

Sabo looks up in surprise, almost dislodging Luffy from his head. “Boss!”

Tall Tattoo Guy nods at them, then sits down across from them. “Sabo, Luffy,” He says. “I think it’s time to move onto the next step.”

Here, he looks up at Luffy, directly meeting his eyes. “You said you wanted to contact your crew, correct?”

Luffy nods so hard he almost overbalances off of Sabo. “Yes!” He says. “I need to tell them when we can meet again.”

“I thought so,” Tall Tattoo Guy says. “There’s a way I came up with. Can you craft a message only they would understand?”

“Of course,” Luffy responds, without hesitation.

“Then comes with us on our next operation,” Tall Tattoo Guy says, glancing down at Sabo. “He’ll need to be out in the field anyway. This way, you can stay with Sabo and also do what you need to do. I can make sure you’re photographed and on the front page of every newspaper on the grand line and beyond.”

Luffy yahoooos and leaps off Sabo’s head. “Let’s go!” He says, heart lighter than it’s been since his encounter with Kuma. “I need to get the message to them!”

As he runs off to grab what he needs, he hears Sabo’s quiet voice in the background: “You need to tell him.”

And, a faint response. “I know.”

To his surprise, they board a ship.

He hasn’t thought they would let him leave the island, and he instantly perks up as it departs towards the open sea. It’s where he’s felt most at home, after all.

Sabo stands next to him at the side of the boat, watching the waves slap gently against the dark wood. “We’re going to a raid site,” He tells him. “A minor one. You know, mostly inconvenient for the marines than anything. Some cut power and stuff. They won’t expect it for something so small, and it’ll give us enough time to get pictures of you. The government’ll hate you for it, but they already do so it doesn’t matter really.”

Luffy nods. He gives Sabo a wide grin. “Can you be in the picture too?” He says. “I want my crew to see you!”

Sabo gives him a grin back. “We’ll see,” He says.

A small cough nearby interrupts them.

Luffy cranes his neck to see Tall Tattoo Guy standing nearby. “Oh! Hi!”

Tall Tattoo Guy nods. “Sabo,” He says. “Can you give us a moment?”

Sabo nods, then ruffles Luffy’s hair. “When I come back, you need to tell me where your hat went.”

“Deal,” Luffy says.

He can hear a quiet “good luck” as Sabo passes Tall Tattoo Guy, but he doesn’t really know what that means.

The guy looks at him for a bit, and then walks stiffly next to him. He leans against the side of the ship, and Luffy shrugs and does that too.

The sun has just about hit the top of the sky, and there isn’t a cloud in sight. The sea breeze is gentle, and Luffy can feel it ruffle through his Hatless head. It’s kind of a weird feeling.

“Luffy,” The guy says. “You know how I told you there’s a reason I wanted to help you?”

“Yeah,” Luffy says, half paying attention.

“This is the reason,” The Guy says. He swallows, then continues. “My name is Monkey D. Dragon.”

Luffy nods. “Okay…?” He says. “What does that mean?”

There’s a short silence. “Maybe your grandfather didn’t tell you,” the guy mutters, then. “Luffy. I’m your father.”

“Oh,” Luffy says. He scratches his ear. “Okay.”

Another silence. “Um,” The guy—Dragon—says “Did you…did you have any questions? Or anything to say to me?”

“Not real—oh!”

“What is it?” Dragon sounds a little anxious now.

“Grandpa did tell me! When we were on Water 7. I guess you were right.” Luffy leans back against the ship again. “Cool name.”

Dragon just stares at him. He doesn’t seem as put together as he usually is. “Are you—are you upset?”

“No?” Luffy says. “Why? Should I be?”

“Well,” Dragon says slowly. “I guess…we’ve never met before now, and we’re family, so…”

Luffy shrugs. “Not really.” He says. “But, hey. I heard you took care of my brother all these years. I guess I have you to thank for that.”

Dragon just stares at him, then sighs. Then, with the faintest of smiles, says “You’re welcome.”

After he comes back from sending his crew a message, Luffy knows he has to make a choice.

Dragon had been right, that first time. As he is now, Luffy wouldn’t be good enough to take down anyone who’d want to hurt them. He had been beaten by Kuma, resoundingly. And that couldn’t happen again. It just couldn’t.

So, when he gets back, he speaks to Dragon about it.

“I want to get stronger,” He tells him. “Teach me how.”

Dragon just nods. “I thought you’d ask,” He says. “I already have a plan for you, should you want to go through with it.”

Luffy feels a grin spread across his face. “What is it? They better be strong, or I’ll pummel ‘em into the sky!”

Dragon looks at him kinda funny. Not funny-bad, but not necessarily funny-good either.

“What?” Luffy demands. “What is it?”

“It’s just…” Dragon gives a small smile. “I can tell he raised you. You’re so much like Garp.”

Luffy wrinkles his nose “Ew.”

Dragon bursts out into a laugh so sudden that Luffy nearly jumps. He’d never heard him be so loud before. “Damn right,” He says. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”

Luffy pulls a face. “He’s your dad, huh,” He says sympathetically. “That’s so weird. I can’t imagine him as a dad.”

“He’s your grandfather, though?” Dragon says, sounding kinda amused.

“So?” Luffy says, tilting his head. “What’s that got to do with it?”

“It’s—” Dragon stops himself, then shakes his head. He seems to do that a lot. “Never mind. So, you want to hear my training plan for you or not?”

Luffy immediately forgets about the conversation. “Yes! I do!”

“Have you ever heard,” Dragon says, “Of Silvers Rayleigh?”

It’s not a reunion Luffy expected, but he’s happy about it.

The old man from Sabaody turns out to be really, really talented in the Haki stuff. Which Luffy had kind of already known, but it definitely feels different when he’s being smacked around with it for training.

It’s nice, though. The first time he feels the thrummm that Rayleigh tells him is Observation Haki, Luffy almost falls over himself in delight.

“That was so COOOOL,” He yells, leaping up and down. “Hey, old man? When am I gonna do what Usopp can? The stories thingy?”

Rayleigh shakes his head. “Never,” He says bluntly. “That’s level is nigh impossible to reach. You better give up on that.”

Luffy feels his eyes sparkle. “Really?” He asks. “Whoa. I have the coolest crew ever!”

Armament Haki is just as fun. Conqueror’s, though…

Well. It’s effective. Very effective. But it’s not fun. It’s kinda chilly, even.

Besides the Haki stuff, Sabo helps him train too, which is just so much fun! He brings his friend, Koala, to help a lot, and she’s really nice and cool too. And super good at fighting!

Dragon is gone a lot. But when he’s around, he starts training Luffy in things too. Simple things mostly, not martial arts like Sabo and Koala, but more on how to use his devil fruit and stuff.

It’s all fun, until it isn’t.

Almost half a year in, Dragon shows up while Luffy is doing some training with Rayleigh. “We have a mission,” He tells Luffy. “Would you like to join? It’s for the Revolutionary Army, but we might get into combat. It’ll be good practice.”

Luffy’s up immediately. “I’m in!”

“Just so you know,” Dragon says. “This means you’re gonna be aiding and abetting the Revolutionary Army. If the world government gets wind of this, you’ll be in a lot of trouble. Are you okay with that?”

Luffy doesn’t think twice. He’s already in trouble with the Marines anyway. “Yeah! I’m in for sure!”

His enthusiasm dies down the minute they get to the site.

Dragon had told him it was a small village, right around the corner of Baltiago. They’d been terrorized by the Marines, something about taxes and not paying them. And the Revolutionary Army was going there to help them out.

Luffy had been okay with that. It kinda felt like when they went to Arlong Park so he’d figured it would be the same.

It had not been the same.

Because when they arrived, there was nothing left. They’d been too late. For one reason or another, the Marines had decided to…to…

When the village came into view Luffy had stuttered to a stop. Once he’d realized what he was seeing, he—

He whirled around, dropped to his knees, and started retching right then and there.

He feels a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Why—” He gasps. “Who’d…why’d they…”

The hand squeezes his shoulder. “There isn’t even a why, I find,” And that’s Dragon, because of course it is. “That’s just…that’s what happens, when this government has power. They hurt people. Just because.”

Luffy tries to stop himself shaking. It doesn’t work. “I don’t understand.” He says.

“I’m glad you don’t,” Dragon tells him. He sounds…kinda sad. “But…this is the other side of it, you know. You have the Marines, and the world government. They do this. You have pirates, and they grasp life with everything they’ve got. Me, I could never be a pirate. Not when this is happening. I don’t have the strength for it.”

Luffy snaps his head up in shock “I—”

“I’m not blaming pirates or anything,” Dragon says. “I’m just explaining to you why I’m here. The freedom of it is promising. But after things like this…I can’t. I can’t search for freedom when so many live in fear.”

Luffy breathes silently for a while, then—

“This is wrong,” He breathes out. “This is so wrong.”

Dragon pulls his hand back. Then, tentatively, rests it on Luffy’s head. “I know,” He says simply.

“The pirate king,” Luffy says slowly. “The pirate king would be able to fix this, right? He’d have the power to fix this?”

“I can’t say, Luffy,” Drgaon responds. He removes his hand from Luffy’s head.

Luffy feels his face tense up, determined. “He can,” He says. “And if he can’t, then I’ll make it so that he can.”

Dragon gives him a look. Luffy doesn’t know what it means until he says: “I was wrong. You’re not like him, you know?

Luffy frowns. “Who?”

“Garp. You’re not like him,” Dragon stands up, and offers a hand to Luffy “You’re like me.”

Luffy reaches up and takes his hand. “Oh,” He says, not really getting it. He gets pulled to his feet. “I guess…maybe I am.”

With half a year to go, Sabo begins to get antsy.

He tries not to show it, but Luffy can tell. He can see it when his eyes go distant, when he can never sit still, when he spaces out of conversations, when he gets caught staring out the window towards the sea.

It’s a look Luffy is familiar with. It’s one that stuck to Ace for weeks, right until he left Luffy behind that first time to start his own adventure into the unknown.

He knows what’s coming, but he decides to wait. He’s not very good at it, but he tries. He ignores the clear signs and keeps a clear gaze on Sabo, waiting for him to finally break and tell him already.

But Sabo isn’t Ace. And Luffy finally realizes, after days and days and days, that he can’t wait for Sabo to tell him on his own. He has to say it first.

He does it when Sabo, during a sparring session, spaces out and gets hit smack in the face with a rubbery kick.

Luffy pinches Sabo’s nose with a napkin, helping him staunch the blood, and asks: “So, where is it?”

Sabo blinks at him over watery eyes, voice muffled over his blocked nose. “What?”

“Where is it that you want to go?” Luffy asks, squeezing the napkin a touch harder.

Sabo lets out a muffled chuckle. “You knew, huh?”

Luffy just stares at him, waiting for the napkin to stop staining red.

Sabo gives a cut-off sigh. Luffy feels it under his hand. “You know,” He begins. “I’ve been so so grateful to have had time with you since you’ve been here. And to help you get stronger. God, Luffy, you’re so much stronger now. I know you’re going to achieve your dreams, you’ve got everything that it takes.”

Luffy lifts the napkin off to check for blood. It looks like it’s stopped bleeding.

“But,” Sabo continues. “I don’t think there’s more you can learn from me. And…and I need to catch up with him too. I need to find Ace.”

Luffy tosses away the bloodied napkin as a thought occurs to him. “He knows, right?”

They hadn’t taken the picture together for his crew, because Sabo said it might be too dangerous to have them connected in the world government’s eyes. But that might also mean…

Sabo’s eyes look haunted now. “I don’t know,” He says. “I don’t know if my face has made it to wherever he is. And I need to find him. So that one day, we can all reunite together again.”

Luffy collapses into the seat in front of Sabo. He curls up, hugging his knees, keeping his gaze on Sabo’s face. “Are you bringing Koala with you?”

Sabo gives a choked laugh. “Nah,” He says. “She needs to be here. But I’ll bring Ace back here eventually. I need to come back one day anyway.” He smiles at Luffy. “Look after her while you’re here, will you?”

Luffy smiles back. “Yeah,” he says, then “Bring back Ace for me?”

“Yeah,” Sabo ruffles his hair. “I will.”

“Are you ready?”

He smooths a hand over his hatless head. “Yes!”

Taking a huge leap, he bounds onto the ship, landing at a perfectly balanced stance, facing the open sea.

“All right!” Luffy says, arms up, looking towards his crew, the reunion he’s waited for for two years, and the journey to come. “Let’s go!”

Now, he knows, it’s time for the real adventure to begin.

#self rb