Author's Note: So I guess there are pretty obvious differences from canon. I don't really want to rewrite it, so things that aren't so different... I didn't write in. Sorry. I know that it'd be cool to read about them since Luffy is pretty different, but this is just a story for me to relax with. I might write something like this again, something more serious, but so far… No promises.

Also, thank you so much for your reviews and favorites and follows! I really appreciate them. I'm so sorry I haven't updated, and that this chapter isn't as great as it could be. I've been trying to write it for a while but I just couldn't get it right, so I finished it even if I'm not entirely pleased.

Chapter Three

"I can't stay here anymore."

"You can live with us!"

The more the merrier, right? Neither of the boys give a thought to the bandits they share a home with. Even if they did say no, Sabo's important and Luffy won't leave him behind.

Luffy lets Ace pull him along by the wrist because he already forgot the way back, and listens while he and Sabo talk about treasure and Gray Terminal and Goa, and they're so much more familiar with each other than Luffy is with them. It makes the boy a little uncomfortable, to be honest, and he's glad that they can't see him. He doesn't want to let them know that he feels left out, and wonders if the original ever felt this way.

They end up sharing Ace's room because Ace insists in a way that makes him seem like he doesn't actually want to be near them and Sabo is laid back enough not to care. They don't invite Luffy, but when he tries to go to his own room, Ace follows him, grabs his futon, pillow, and blankets. He almost thinks that Ace is stealing them from him before a callused hand closes around his wrist and drags him to the bedroom where Sabo waits.

Luffy lets Sabo borrow his pillow until they can get another one, and Ace ends up shoving his own in Luffy's face. Sabo slips the pillow under Ace's head as soon as the older boy is asleep and shoots Luffy a toothy grin before plopping down next to Luffy. Their heads are small enough to share.

He doesn't know them yet, but… Does it really matter?

Luffy falls asleep with a smile on his face.

(Friends. Brothers. He hopes.)

Dadan accepts Sabo into her home with the same ease she accepted Luffy.

They wake up to her screaming.

Luffy, who has just learned he cuddles in his sleep, laughs until his ribs hurt too much to laugh anymore, and then he wheezes because Sabo farts and Ace picks his nose and it's too much. She keeps yelling at them even when it's obvious they're not really listening.

He thinks maybe- just maybe- that Dadan is growing on him.

Luffy learns to fight for his food. With Sabo, there's less food to go around and for some reason that makes the bandits a little more vicious and a lot more protective. They steal off each other's plates, fight with one fist while the other clings to what they have. Luffy is used to this; what he's not used to is joining in.

The first breakfast with Sabo is a war zone that Luffy is unwillingly thrown into when someone reaches for his meat. He kicks the hand away before he can even think about it. Everyone looks at him in surprise because he's never done something like this before, but he thinks that one more bowl of rice might just kill him. He holds the bone tight in his hand after that, daring anyone to try and take it from him. No one does.

Luffy thinks they might be a little proud. (Dadan insists that she is not crying. She just has something in her eye.)

He hates the way Dadan's sake makes him feel, but-

Brothers. Brothers. It's one of the best feelings in the world.

A smile, shared dreams, and a promise.

"I'm gonna be Pirate King!"

They fight a lot. Luffy remembers in one childhood that all of the boys in the neighborhood used to do that for fun, except they had boxing gloves and they weren't nearly as violent or skilled. Ace and Sabo are kinda terrifying for ten year olds, at least to other people. Luffy just thinks they're cool… when they're not totally dominating all of their fights with him, anyway.

It's been sixty fights so far and he hasn't won a single one.

He likes hunting for bears a lot better, even if they're huge and he can't kill them on his own. (Neither can Ace or Sabo, though, so at least this knowledge doesn't kill whatever confidence he had in his strength. He still wants to be like them. So much. Maybe original Luffy wanted that, too.)

He "finds out" about Ace's father sometime around their hundredth fight. Sabo tells him, and Luffy doesn't know how he's supposed to react. He decides to be blunt; it'd be pointless to try and talk out feelings. Sabo's not that kind of person. Kinder, yeah, and more willing, but he's still very much a little boy.

"So?" Luffy asks, tilting his head a little. "He's still Ace."

Sabo smiles a little. It's not as happy as usual, but it's still there.

Luffy remembers that Sabo is a noble, but it still comes as a surprise when he's recognized. By his apparent father, no less.

It's even more of a surprise when he finds himself underneath someone's boot, head smashed against the ground in a way that reminds him of bandits, before he met Ace and Sabo and Dadan. He wishes for Shanks to show up, anytime now, so he can kill all of these people. He knows Shanks won't, but it's a nice thought, if not a tad morbid. Luffy finds he doesn't care when the foot presses a little harder and the idiot noble forces Sabo's hand.

He screams for his brother to come back, anyway. He still doesn't know what freedom really is, not completely- he thinks he understands, though, when his brothers are around. He thinks Sabo feels it, too, and he doesn't want his big brother to lose that. They're all helpless in this situation; there's nothing he can do for Sabo and he hates it.

Luffy just wants them all to be happy, and free. They promised.

(Sabo didn't look them in the eyes at first when he told them of his heritage, and how much he hated it all, how he would rather be poor than live with those people. Luffy doesn't know what to say, so he follows Ace's lead. He doesn't stick his finger in his nose, though. Gross.

Luffy didn't understand, not really, what that meant. He does now. He wishes he doesn't.)

The fire is his fault. Not entirely, but he can't bring himself to blame Ace and knows that- if he knew- he wouldn't have agreed to working with Bluejam. It's not like they had a choice, either. It was work or die, and while Luffy wishes he could stay on his high horse and never associate with shitty men like Bluejam, he realizes that he might need to in order to survive. Still, though. Still.

Ace isn't dragging him by his wrist this time. He has a tight grip on Luffy's hand and is pulling him along as fast as he can. Luffy knows that he's slowing the both of them down, but he's having a hard time breathing and doesn't know if it's because of the flames or if he's having a panic attack. He hasn't had one in a long time, but he thinks this situation warrants one. It's not the most convenient time to freak out, sure, but it is his fault and-

He can hear people screaming. They're burning alive. It's horrible; one of the worst sounds he's ever heard and it's terrifying. He wants to help them, but there's nothing he can do without placing himself in that same situation. He doesn't want to burn alive. Luffy stares at the back of Ace's head and tries to speed up because he especially doesn't want Ace to die like that. He doesn't want to watch it, or hear it, or be the cause of it.

The heat from the fire burns his exposed arms and legs and he's sure he's been caught by it a couple times, but Ace always pulls him away quick enough. He's- he's dragging Ace down. Wants to tell Ace to leave without him, but he already knows that he won't.

Either they both die, or they both live.

Someone's blocking their path and Luffy can feel his dread; a stone in the pit of his stomach. Bluejam. They can't fight him; he's strong; they're tired and hurt; he's-

Luffy furrows his brows and sets his shoulders. He looks at Ace and the determination in the ten year old's eyes. Luffy balls his free hand into a fist, digs his nails into his skin. Because, even if they are going to die here, Luffy refuses to go like a coward. He refuses to give up. He sucks in air until his breathing mostly settles. His lungs still burn and his chest hurts but it's fine.

Dadan and the bandits are the ones who save them, in the end. Luffy passes out as soon as they do, and he realizes then that he trusts them. He trusts them enough to take care of Ace, and enough to make sure that Bluejam is dead.

Luffy wakes to the news. Ace is tied to a tree, covered in burns. Dadan is hurt as well, but Luffy doesn't register that- not really. He doesn't register very much at all.

Sabo is dead.