The night is dark but Luffy runs down the nooks and crooks of the alleys with an ease of one who grew up in the neighborhood. His destination is close; when he reaches a steel entrance, he presses his palm against the lock and leans forward to let the sensor recognize him.

The doors slide open and Luffy runs inside, past a rock garden and into dark corridors, gliding up flights of stairs. His destination is the rooftop, where everything began for him and where everything should end.

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Robin, when she arrives with Sanji who ignored Chopper's protests, agrees with Brook that the gated, high-walled mansion Luffy disappeared into will be near-impossible to breach. The house right beside it, however, is not as heavily guarded and she makes short work of its security system. Trusting the other two to follow, she climbs over the gate and into the house, up the stairs that lead them to the rooftop terrace, in hopes that they will be able to leap over to the mansion, or at least gain a better visual.

Robin freezes past the terrace door, pulling Sanji and Brook up short; Luffy is in plain sight before them, sitting at the edge of the mansion's roof with his legs dangling off and both hands in his lap. There is no hint that he noticed their arrival twenty steps and a building across from him; his intensity reminds her of men who stood at the edge of despair, and suddenly, Robin can't breathe.

"Luffy," She forces out.

"Did you know that if you stand somewhere high enough in this city, you can see the sea that surrounds it?" Luffy asks, his gaze never leaving the darkness hanging under his feet. He doesn't give any of them a chance to answer. "I haven't seen the sea before and Ace told me one day we'd live somewhere we could see it every day… that it was the greatest sight in the world. That nothing under the skies could compare…

"This roof was our hideout. We became brothers here. Sabo and Ace and I exchanged drinks here promised to always be…" Luffy exhales. "This is my brother's house and if I wait here long enough, the police will find me. Then it'll all end."

It will be a while before the police even realize this mansion exists. Newgate's meticulous protection of his son's privacy over the past decade has ensured this.

Secure in the knowledge that they have time, Robin tries, "Why does it need to end? I thought we had a plan."

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"I'm tired," The confession is barely audible but Sanji hears it; the quiet resignation, the meek acceptance, the fear. "I'm tired of hiding and running and looking over my shoulder. I'm sick of being afraid when it's not even my fault. It was all only ever bearable because I had Ace and Sabo, but what now? They're gone. I'm alone… I have no reason to fight."

Sanji recognizes what Luffy is doing; it's one of the oldest tricks in the book, a last resort, a reckless ploy. It still feels like a stab to the gut and Sanji has to swallow the knee-jerk question: what about us?

He could shout. In fact, his hands are balled into fists, because for the first time in his life, Sanji is angry enough to want to hit a wall with his bare hands. He wants nothing more than to shake Luffy by the shoulders or maybe slap the boy upside the head and shout about the sheer idiocy.

However, anger will not get through to Luffy who is brittle and desperate. Not when Luffy thinks he is doing the right thing.

Sanji raises an arm and quells his friends' protests. He waits until the silence stretches and Luffy finally meets his gaze. This time, it is with defiance. Yes, Sanji knows exactly what Luffy is doing.

"You're lying."

Luffy bristles at being seen through, clenching his fists though it doesn't stop his shaking.

"Zoro-" Luffy takes a deep breath, and when the words come again, they are slower, more measured. "Zoro got hurt. Brook, you lost your home forever. Sanji, Robin, none of you get what you got yourselves into. None of you understand who's after me, who you're going up against! You can't- you can't survive after turning the entire world into your enemy! The people who came after me today are just the beginning. They've been after me my entire life so I know: they will never stop trying to hurt me, never stop trying to find me, never stop trying to get me and you," Luffy looks at Sanji. He looks at all of them.

And Sanji realizes that sometimes, faith does not look too different from fear.

"You'll never leave me."

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This is the conclusion Luffy reached when Usopp shoved him to the ground and demanded that Luffy believed in them. When Luffy got a glimpse of the maddening devotion to Luffy for Usopp to decide to leave Zoro behind.

"They will never stop, and you will never leave so this will never end," Luffy raises his chin. "That means I have to leave you instead. It's the only way I can protect you."

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It's the stupidest thing Robin has ever heard someone say.

(She wonders though, in a different life, in a different time, if she had something worth protecting, if she would have done the same.)

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Of course, Sanji thinks, because the kid is standing with a steadiness and strength that could have conquered seas. They should have known that Luffy would be his bravest when it was for them.

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Brook is having none of it.

"Your brother died for you," Brook tilts his head and the lump caught in Luffy's throat grows; the musician says it without the slightest hint of blame, with the candor of someone who wouldn't hesitate to do the same. "And you would repay that by willingly walking into your enemy's arms? Death is no apology."

"I know that Brook, but I have to let them have me," What other choice did Luffy have? "I have nothing else to give."

For sixteen years, he lived under his father's shadow, fearing he could never escape from it. Now he knows for a fact that he won't, not when he has to drag his friends down into his mess to do so. He will gladly go back to be used as leverage because the world could have him and his father, but it took his brothers and he was never going to let it touch his friends.

"Enough about what you should do or what you have to do. Enough about what's right or what's safe," Brook tilts his head. "What do you want, Luffy?"

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Luffy stills.

He doesn't want to have to run. He doesn't want to have to hide. But that's not what Brook is asking, is it? What does he want? What has he really only ever wanted?

"I want…"

He stops. He can't possibly say it. He remembers the darkness in his grandfather's eyes, the way Dadan used to freeze at the sound of sirens, the reason why Ace was killed.

He can't have his friends looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives. They deserve better. They deserve more.

"I want you all to be safe," He says. "I want you all to get as far from me as possible and stay that way. I want you all to follow Nami's plans without me. This is too dangerous and I would never forgive myself if something were to happen. I want to end this on my terms, and I want this to end now. I'm not gonna to go back with you guys, so tell the others-"

"No, Luffy," Sanji snaps for the first time, and the quiet night carries his words like an order that was shouted out into the rain on a deserted battlefield. "Tell us the damn truth!"

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Luffy freezes. He trembles.

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He crumbles.

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"Take me with you too," Luffy finally whispers. If he is truly allowed to say his one selfish wish, it was and always will be this: "I wanna be free."

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Robin thinks for a second that the world is roaring, but then realizes it's just the sound of her heart soaring.

"Of course," She hears herself say. "Leave the rest to us."

And her promise is as fierce as a declaration of war, as bright as fire that burned a five-dotted flag against a blue sky.