[ sabo stumbles into the room where koala and hack and some others are watching the broadcast by accident. he doesn't know why the far-off shape of fire-fist ace on the execution platform fills him with something cold and unpleasant, why the sight of his head, bowed in defeat, feels so utterly wrong. it must be because he looks so different in his wanted poster, carefree and grinning — sabo pushes the thoughts out of his mind as he grabs a report he was supposed to have turned in weeks ago and starts scribbling while keeping an eye on the broadcast.
when straw hat luffy, along with a veritable collection of impel down inmates, falls from the sky, sabo feels terrified.
there is no basis for it, absolutely none — and yet, when he watches ace yell from the platform for his younger brother to leave, his voice angry and eyes full of terror, sabo can relate. the same terror sits in his heart, too, except he's acutely aware that he's afraid not just for the life of the young pirate crashing into the execution with the force of an avalanche, but also for the life of the older pirate still in chains, and it makes no sense.
it continues to not make sense, up until the broadcast shows ace, facing akainu, shows luffy on the ground, akainu's fist of pure magma barreling closer; ace, jumping in the way, except luffy manages to scrape up his last vestiges of energy to push ace just a little —
the magma burns ace's side, burns luffy's side, the latter collapsing on the ground while the former screams —
and sabo, his feet staggering, thinks, no.
he misses what happens then, too busy clutching his head as the two voices he now remembers hearing in his dreams, sometimes, converge into something clear, beautiful and beloved, the voices of his two brothers (brothers, he has brothers, his brothers are dying and he could have lost them, could lose them still, any moment —) crystal-clear now, his long-lost memories slotting back into place, a whole ocean of them, each more precious than the last.
he's vaguely aware that he must be yelling, and his knees are touching the floor, and his head is on fire.
when he comes to, the broadcast still going. with wide, incredulous eyes, he watches the inferno that is ace, now, flames white-hot, the ground and air burning (an awakening, sabo's mind supplies helpfully) as jinbe and marco carry the unconscious luffy towards a yellow submarine.
before the broadcast cuts off, sabo can see ace running after them, or maybe he's flying, it's a flame in the shape of his brother — chased by two admirals, the submarine submerges, and sabo watches as kizaru and aokiji throw their attacks after them and hopes.
all he has, now, is a head full of new-old memories, and hope.
it is iva who makes sabo's hopes tangible, drags them from his heart into reality. it is the ringing of a denden, iva's voice on the other end, explaining to dragon that they followed the submarine, that they split up but that they were headed to amazon lily.
sabo leaves six minutes after the call is ended.
it takes him a day and a half to make it.
"I'm here for them," he tells the surgeon, who raises his eyebrows but doesn't protest.
it takes sabo ten whole minutes to gather the scraps of his courage from the pool of guilt he's scattered them in and approach the infirmary. he can sense two people inside — one unconscious, one awake.
he knocks, once, twice, and pushes the door open. ]
( truthfully? ace thought this was it. he really thought that this was going to be the end of the line for him and all he could think about was how he'd probably let the old man down getting captured like this because he was too hot-headed to let the murder of thatch go. they may be pirates, but there are rules to the sea that they all must follow and teach didn't. ace will never, ever forgive that.
and now he thought he was paying the price for being too stubborn to let it go.
it all happens so fast; marineford erupts into a cacophony of noise and anger and action that ace has never witnessed before in his life. even now, as he sits on the edge of the bed watching luffy drool in his sleep, he can't really remember everything that happened.
he looks down at his side; his torso is wrapped completely in bandages and he can feel the sting of a burn. a burn! he's not supposed to be hurt by fire, and yet he nearly just died from it. as a matter of fact, he probably shouldn't be sitting like this, but laying down is something he can't do anymore. there's a restlessness that he feels deep down to his bones and he'd be up pacing if he wasn't tempted to remain in the bed with a plate of food ( definitely not as good as luffy's cook, but it'll do ). as he watches luffy sleep, he thinks his little brother a complete idiot for doing what he did, but they both — somehow — made it out alive, so ace supposes he can't complain too much. there are so many questions he has, things he wants to know ( where are they? why's this gloomy guy helping them? most importantly: is whitebeard still alive? )
it crosses his mind to get up and go find that doctor, press him for details, but while in the process of weighing the pros and cons of struggling to get up, there's a knock at the door. ace is expecting said gloomy doctor to come inside ( though, he's never knocked before, so that's kind of weird? ), but it's someone altogether different.
ace freezes, his hand halfway to his mouth with a slice of apple, as he tries to make himself believe what he's seeing. who he's seeing. before he realizes what's happening, the plate slips from his hand and clatters to the floor, fruit skittering out everywhere; luffy gives a quiet, but annoyed murmur in his sleep but doesn't wake up. a shaky breath is exhaled that sounds more like a wheeze than anything else. it doesn't matter that over a decade has passed: ace knows who that is, instantly, standing in the doorway.
his mouth is so dry but he tries to wet his lips anyway; his slips off the edge of the bed, one foot landing on a grape and he falters for just a moment. his throat clicks when he swallows. what the hell is happening? )
Oh shit, ( he murmurs, his hand lifting to pinch his cheek hard) I did die.
the moment ace's eyes meet his, and he feels like the world is tilting beneath his feet, his ears ringing with an explosion only he can hear, he knows he's so, so wrong. he could never have prepared himself for this — ace, staring at him like he's seeing a ghost (and he is, because that's what sabo had been, all these years, a living, breathing ghost), the clatter of the plate against the floor, the way he can't seem to process what is happening.
that's okay — sabo can't process it, either, but at least he has a better poker face, drilled into him throughout his years with the revolutionary army.
and so he grips the edge of his hat, mostly for something to do, to stop his hand from shaking, and says, ]
No, but it was a close call. It's a miracle you're not dead, actually.
[ his boots click against the floor as he takes one step closer, then another, then another. the terror of what could have happened grips his throat, constricts it, and a fire like ace's own burns in his chest. ace could be dead. it had been so, so, so close.
the flames climb up, and push out the words, strangled and deathly serious, ]
Ace, you idiot, what were you thinking? Staying behind like that?
( this feels like some sort of dream. ace had thought he was awake — when he falls asleep suddenly he tends to stop eating and resumes once he's conscious again — but there's no way.
there's just.
no.
way.
maybe it's some sort of sick joke? he knows there's a fruit user out there that can change appearances and, briefly, ace wonders if that's what's happening. maybe he never left marineford, maybe this is some new kind of torture. he wouldn't put it past that shitty world government to pull some sick stunt like this. but, to make sabo so recognizable even though ace hasn't seen him for an age.
he feels sick; that's the first thing that finally flits across his mind. he feels sick enough that he might heave up that fruit he just ate and he really, really doesn't want to do that. and not only because he knows that it's going to hurt like hell if he does so. then he feels kind of angry, kind of really angry. not so much at sabo, but some non-present being who's doing this sort of torture to him. then he just feels a whole mix of things at once that he can't really pinpoint any of them.
no, hang on. he's back to angry again.
ace's brows dip down into an angry v-shape, his lips follow in the same fashion. he doesn't move from where he's standing just yet, surrounding by a broken plate and haphazardly fallen fruit bits as he is, and glares at this stranger with fire in his eyes as gentle flames lick at the tips of his fingers. )
How dare you wear his face and question me like that. If you were him, he'd know. Who are you?
[ the words, the accusation — it stings, and yet, sabo feels as if he's both deathly cold and burning up at once, like the floor beneath his boots could ice over at any second, like his veins might burst into flames and burn him alive.
suddenly, through the dull roar in his ears, sabo realises he is incandescently angry. ]
Oh, I know why, [ he says then, and his voice is feather-light and pleasant. his eyes burn as he lifts his gaze and looks straight at ace. ] I remember it all, now. You never run from an opponent.
[ by his side, his hands are clenched into fists, and absently, he wishes for something, anything, to tear through. ]
You never run, even when it might cost you your life! Even when it might cost you Luffy's life! Did you stop to think of that, for a second? You could have died! Luffy could have died!! Your refusal to compromise on your downright idiotic code nearly got both you and our little brother killed!!
[ oh, he's yelling now, and it's a wonder if the entire polar tang isn't hearing him, the way his voice echoes along the metallic walls, bounces from them like bullets ricocheting, undiscriminating of who they hit. slowly, step by step, sabo has been advancing towards ace, and when he finally comes to a stop, it's close enough for him to reach for ace — he doesn't, though, not least because his hands just won't stop shaking. ]
The only reason, [ he says, voice finding a semblance of a normal volume, though it shakes, too, like now that he's started he might just shake apart entirely, atom by atom, ] The only reason I'm not punching you in the face is because I'm so goddamn relieved you're alive.
( to say that spending time with the strawhats is never dull would be an understatement. in spite of all the horror-terrors that law was made not only to relive whilst being in dressrosa with doflamingo again and the strawhats ( mainly luffy, really ) not following things according to plan, he manages to make it out alive. somehow. considering everything that luffy and his motley crew have been through since they started making waves here on the grand line, it's a miracle all of them still have their lives.
the point of all this is to say: law is extremely tired and feels as if he's aged fifteen years just while being in this ""alliance"" with luffy. nevermind all the other baggage that came along with digging up his past with the donquixote family. that's a wound that will never fully heal correctly and at times will tear and bleed anew. the more he tells himself he's fine with it and he can live with it, sometimes he still feels like that child in the snow with nothing but the faint echo of affection keeping him afloat.
but, he'd be quick to shove that away and pretend that he's plenty well-developed and sane, especially in the face of others. it's something he does often enough, so he easily hides his feelings, thoughts, everything behind his usual grumpy mask. it's easier here than it is on the thousand sunny; none of the strawhats understand the meaning of personal space and law can't stand it. but here, thankfully, most of that simpering strange man's crew are obsessed with luffy and his crew so law is left to his own devices.
which is fine by him. the journey to zou could take a while. ( or whatever. who even knows what goes on with time in one piece??? i don't. )
tonight has everyone in a jovial mood, one that law doesn't share ( when does he ever?? ) so he finds his way to a quiet part of the deck and sits down with a small plate of onigiri and a cup of... beer, probably, he's not sure. someone just shoved it into his hand on his way out of the galley. he sits and immediately starts to eat, suddenly missing his own crew and ship; not that he'd tell anyone. from here he can hear the revelry and it's almost an easy thing for him to think he's on the polar tang instead, as if any moment bepo will show up to quietly sit beside him while they eat.
it's not like he misses any of them or anything. don't be stupid. )
[ being on barto's ship is both fun and weird at the same time. fun, because there's so much to see, and the crew's super nice to them, and there's plenty of good food to eat at any point during the day (and night, too, actually, sometimes he gets hungry and wakes up and wanders to the kitchen and there's always leftovers waiting for him) —
but it's also weird, because it's not the sunny, and luffy misses her just as bad as he misses nami, and sanji, and chopper, and brook; because the food isn't as good as sanji makes, and, most importantly, because barto keeps falling into something like fainting spells that remind luffy of hancock and hero-worship is totally stupid because he's not a hero and worship is a waste of time, anyway.
and so, after snacking through the entire preparation of the meal, and then eating twelve full plates, he grabs one more, piles it full of meat and wanders out to the deck.
his initial idea is go sit on top of the very large straw hat (which, also weird, but whatever), but his eyes settle on the solitary figure on the side of the deck. and here's the thing: he's not stupid, or maybe he is in the areas where people like nami and robin and chopper and law are smart, but not in this. not in the way he remembers the look in law's eyes, in dressroba; not in the way his shoulders had been tight with desperation and then turned tight with relief, after; not in the way you can sometimes be alone and not be lonely, but sometimes they're both the same thing.
tonight's one of those times, and luffy pivots, marches over until he's standing right next to law and then he just drops, ungracefully, into a heap on the deck while somehow still balancing the plate full of meat perfectly in his hand. ]
I wonder how everyone's doing, [ he says, starting a conversation from the middle, not even bothering with any kind of a greeting. ]
( to wish for peace and silence in a world with luffy is truly a futile effort. there's no way anyone would be left alone — lonely or not ( and, for the record, law would never, ever, ever, ever say he's lonely. not even under threat of death ) — with luffy is around. he has this annoying aspect of his personality that he seems to just know things and has intuitive feelings about things.
it's all very annoying in law's eyes.
so, it's no shock to him when he hears that quiet plap, plap, plap of flip-flops and sooner rather than later there's a warm body sitting next to him. sometimes law thinks to himself — kind of, not that he'd admit to thinking about Thee Mugiwara-ya at all — that it's only by sheer luck of the force of gravity that luffy doesn't just vibrate off the very ground they stand on. he's constantly in motion, even when he's still. law exhales a slow breath to beat the annoyance of being disturbed but finds he's... not all that annoyed to begin with.
not really.
not going to think about that, either.
he cheeks a mouthful of onigiri to take a pull of his drink — yes, beer — and swallows that before continuing to stare rather bleakly out at the dark water. )
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ACE 🔥 marineford au.
when straw hat luffy, along with a veritable collection of impel down inmates, falls from the sky, sabo feels terrified.
there is no basis for it, absolutely none — and yet, when he watches ace yell from the platform for his younger brother to leave, his voice angry and eyes full of terror, sabo can relate. the same terror sits in his heart, too, except he's acutely aware that he's afraid not just for the life of the young pirate crashing into the execution with the force of an avalanche, but also for the life of the older pirate still in chains, and it makes no sense.
it continues to not make sense, up until the broadcast shows ace, facing akainu, shows luffy on the ground, akainu's fist of pure magma barreling closer; ace, jumping in the way, except luffy manages to scrape up his last vestiges of energy to push ace just a little —
the magma burns ace's side, burns luffy's side, the latter collapsing on the ground while the former screams —
and sabo, his feet staggering, thinks, no.
he misses what happens then, too busy clutching his head as the two voices he now remembers hearing in his dreams, sometimes, converge into something clear, beautiful and beloved, the voices of his two brothers (brothers, he has brothers, his brothers are dying and he could have lost them, could lose them still, any moment —) crystal-clear now, his long-lost memories slotting back into place, a whole ocean of them, each more precious than the last.
he's vaguely aware that he must be yelling, and his knees are touching the floor, and his head is on fire.
when he comes to, the broadcast still going. with wide, incredulous eyes, he watches the inferno that is ace, now, flames white-hot, the ground and air burning (an awakening, sabo's mind supplies helpfully) as jinbe and marco carry the unconscious luffy towards a yellow submarine.
before the broadcast cuts off, sabo can see ace running after them, or maybe he's flying, it's a flame in the shape of his brother — chased by two admirals, the submarine submerges, and sabo watches as kizaru and aokiji throw their attacks after them and hopes.
all he has, now, is a head full of new-old memories, and hope.
it is iva who makes sabo's hopes tangible, drags them from his heart into reality. it is the ringing of a denden, iva's voice on the other end, explaining to dragon that they followed the submarine, that they split up but that they were headed to amazon lily.
sabo leaves six minutes after the call is ended.
it takes him a day and a half to make it.
"I'm here for them," he tells the surgeon, who raises his eyebrows but doesn't protest.
it takes sabo ten whole minutes to gather the scraps of his courage from the pool of guilt he's scattered them in and approach the infirmary. he can sense two people inside — one unconscious, one awake.
he knocks, once, twice, and pushes the door open. ]
no subject
and now he thought he was paying the price for being too stubborn to let it go.
it all happens so fast; marineford erupts into a cacophony of noise and anger and action that ace has never witnessed before in his life. even now, as he sits on the edge of the bed watching luffy drool in his sleep, he can't really remember everything that happened.
he looks down at his side; his torso is wrapped completely in bandages and he can feel the sting of a burn. a burn! he's not supposed to be hurt by fire, and yet he nearly just died from it. as a matter of fact, he probably shouldn't be sitting like this, but laying down is something he can't do anymore. there's a restlessness that he feels deep down to his bones and he'd be up pacing if he wasn't tempted to remain in the bed with a plate of food ( definitely not as good as luffy's cook, but it'll do ). as he watches luffy sleep, he thinks his little brother a complete idiot for doing what he did, but they both — somehow — made it out alive, so ace supposes he can't complain too much. there are so many questions he has, things he wants to know ( where are they? why's this gloomy guy helping them? most importantly: is whitebeard still alive? )
it crosses his mind to get up and go find that doctor, press him for details, but while in the process of weighing the pros and cons of struggling to get up, there's a knock at the door. ace is expecting said gloomy doctor to come inside ( though, he's never knocked before, so that's kind of weird? ), but it's someone altogether different.
ace freezes, his hand halfway to his mouth with a slice of apple, as he tries to make himself believe what he's seeing. who he's seeing. before he realizes what's happening, the plate slips from his hand and clatters to the floor, fruit skittering out everywhere; luffy gives a quiet, but annoyed murmur in his sleep but doesn't wake up. a shaky breath is exhaled that sounds more like a wheeze than anything else. it doesn't matter that over a decade has passed: ace knows who that is, instantly, standing in the doorway.
his mouth is so dry but he tries to wet his lips anyway; his slips off the edge of the bed, one foot landing on a grape and he falters for just a moment. his throat clicks when he swallows. what the hell is happening? )
Oh shit, ( he murmurs, his hand lifting to pinch his cheek hard ) I did die.
no subject
the moment ace's eyes meet his, and he feels like the world is tilting beneath his feet, his ears ringing with an explosion only he can hear, he knows he's so, so wrong. he could never have prepared himself for this — ace, staring at him like he's seeing a ghost (and he is, because that's what sabo had been, all these years, a living, breathing ghost), the clatter of the plate against the floor, the way he can't seem to process what is happening.
that's okay — sabo can't process it, either, but at least he has a better poker face, drilled into him throughout his years with the revolutionary army.
and so he grips the edge of his hat, mostly for something to do, to stop his hand from shaking, and says, ]
No, but it was a close call. It's a miracle you're not dead, actually.
[ his boots click against the floor as he takes one step closer, then another, then another. the terror of what could have happened grips his throat, constricts it, and a fire like ace's own burns in his chest. ace could be dead. it had been so, so, so close.
the flames climb up, and push out the words, strangled and deathly serious, ]
Ace, you idiot, what were you thinking? Staying behind like that?
no subject
there's just.
no.
way.
maybe it's some sort of sick joke? he knows there's a fruit user out there that can change appearances and, briefly, ace wonders if that's what's happening. maybe he never left marineford, maybe this is some new kind of torture. he wouldn't put it past that shitty world government to pull some sick stunt like this. but, to make sabo so recognizable even though ace hasn't seen him for an age.
he feels sick; that's the first thing that finally flits across his mind. he feels sick enough that he might heave up that fruit he just ate and he really, really doesn't want to do that. and not only because he knows that it's going to hurt like hell if he does so. then he feels kind of angry, kind of really angry. not so much at sabo, but some non-present being who's doing this sort of torture to him. then he just feels a whole mix of things at once that he can't really pinpoint any of them.
no, hang on. he's back to angry again.
ace's brows dip down into an angry v-shape, his lips follow in the same fashion. he doesn't move from where he's standing just yet, surrounding by a broken plate and haphazardly fallen fruit bits as he is, and glares at this stranger with fire in his eyes as gentle flames lick at the tips of his fingers. )
How dare you wear his face and question me like that. If you were him, he'd know. Who are you?
no subject
suddenly, through the dull roar in his ears, sabo realises he is incandescently angry. ]
Oh, I know why, [ he says then, and his voice is feather-light and pleasant. his eyes burn as he lifts his gaze and looks straight at ace. ] I remember it all, now. You never run from an opponent.
[ by his side, his hands are clenched into fists, and absently, he wishes for something, anything, to tear through. ]
You never run, even when it might cost you your life! Even when it might cost you Luffy's life! Did you stop to think of that, for a second? You could have died! Luffy could have died!! Your refusal to compromise on your downright idiotic code nearly got both you and our little brother killed!!
[ oh, he's yelling now, and it's a wonder if the entire polar tang isn't hearing him, the way his voice echoes along the metallic walls, bounces from them like bullets ricocheting, undiscriminating of who they hit. slowly, step by step, sabo has been advancing towards ace, and when he finally comes to a stop, it's close enough for him to reach for ace — he doesn't, though, not least because his hands just won't stop shaking. ]
The only reason, [ he says, voice finding a semblance of a normal volume, though it shakes, too, like now that he's started he might just shake apart entirely, atom by atom, ] The only reason I'm not punching you in the face is because I'm so goddamn relieved you're alive.
99 luftballoon 🍖
the point of all this is to say: law is extremely tired and feels as if he's aged fifteen years just while being in this ""alliance"" with luffy. nevermind all the other baggage that came along with digging up his past with the donquixote family. that's a wound that will never fully heal correctly and at times will tear and bleed anew. the more he tells himself he's fine with it and he can live with it, sometimes he still feels like that child in the snow with nothing but the faint echo of affection keeping him afloat.
but, he'd be quick to shove that away and pretend that he's plenty well-developed and sane, especially in the face of others. it's something he does often enough, so he easily hides his feelings, thoughts, everything behind his usual grumpy mask. it's easier here than it is on the thousand sunny; none of the strawhats understand the meaning of personal space and law can't stand it. but here, thankfully, most of that simpering strange man's crew are obsessed with luffy and his crew so law is left to his own devices.
which is fine by him. the journey to zou could take a while. ( or whatever. who even knows what goes on with time in one piece??? i don't. )
tonight has everyone in a jovial mood, one that law doesn't share ( when does he ever?? ) so he finds his way to a quiet part of the deck and sits down with a small plate of onigiri and a cup of... beer, probably, he's not sure. someone just shoved it into his hand on his way out of the galley. he sits and immediately starts to eat, suddenly missing his own crew and ship; not that he'd tell anyone. from here he can hear the revelry and it's almost an easy thing for him to think he's on the polar tang instead, as if any moment bepo will show up to quietly sit beside him while they eat.
it's not like he misses any of them or anything. don't be stupid. )
no subject
but it's also weird, because it's not the sunny, and luffy misses her just as bad as he misses nami, and sanji, and chopper, and brook; because the food isn't as good as sanji makes, and, most importantly, because barto keeps falling into something like fainting spells that remind luffy of hancock and hero-worship is totally stupid because he's not a hero and worship is a waste of time, anyway.
and so, after snacking through the entire preparation of the meal, and then eating twelve full plates, he grabs one more, piles it full of meat and wanders out to the deck.
his initial idea is go sit on top of the very large straw hat (which, also weird, but whatever), but his eyes settle on the solitary figure on the side of the deck. and here's the thing: he's not stupid, or maybe he is in the areas where people like nami and robin and chopper and law are smart, but not in this. not in the way he remembers the look in law's eyes, in dressroba; not in the way his shoulders had been tight with desperation and then turned tight with relief, after; not in the way you can sometimes be alone and not be lonely, but sometimes they're both the same thing.
tonight's one of those times, and luffy pivots, marches over until he's standing right next to law and then he just drops, ungracefully, into a heap on the deck while somehow still balancing the plate full of meat perfectly in his hand. ]
I wonder how everyone's doing, [ he says, starting a conversation from the middle, not even bothering with any kind of a greeting. ]
no subject
it's all very annoying in law's eyes.
so, it's no shock to him when he hears that quiet plap, plap, plap of flip-flops and sooner rather than later there's a warm body sitting next to him. sometimes law thinks to himself — kind of, not that he'd admit to thinking about Thee Mugiwara-ya at all — that it's only by sheer luck of the force of gravity that luffy doesn't just vibrate off the very ground they stand on. he's constantly in motion, even when he's still. law exhales a slow breath to beat the annoyance of being disturbed but finds he's... not all that annoyed to begin with.
not really.
not going to think about that, either.
he cheeks a mouthful of onigiri to take a pull of his drink — yes, beer — and swallows that before continuing to stare rather bleakly out at the dark water. )
I'm surprised they let you leave their sights.