"When the world shoves you around, you just gotta stand up and shove back. It's not like somebody's gonna save you if you start babbling excuses" -Zoro

The walls creaked as the hammocks shuffled about. Each crew member slowly rolled out of their respective sleeping areas and made way to the deck. It was odd, but, for some reason, everyone aboard had an internal alarm that woke them up after sunrise.

Luffy folded his arms behind his head as his eyes darted around the grassy deck. A wide grin grew on the rubber boy's face when his gaze meet the familiar top hat of his older brother. "Sabo," he cheered and raced to the older male.

Said blond spun around with an amused chuckle. "Still hyper in the mornings as always, eh, Luffy," he sighed as rubbery hands latched onto him and tumbled him to the floor. Sabo refused to let his eyes shut when the urge to sleep came over him. If his eyes shut now, he wouldn't wake up for a while, and dammit, he would not let Luffy eat his breakfast.

"Shishishi," the younger brother laughed and pulled both himself and his brother up, "Sanji! Meat!" He ran towards the blonde cook in the kitchen.

Sabo sighed at the raven haired teen. No matter what happened the previous day, his kid brother always awoke with the sugar high of a five year old. Well, at least breakfast would be soon.

It had only been a few days since the Dressrosa, and the crew could only ponder what let their captain run around like caffeinated child. Dressrosa was a long ordeal that no one on board wished to bring up. Needless to say, Luffy being Luffy, asked the revolutionary to join his crew when it was all over.

Luckily, Dragon, showing his human side, allowed the twenty two year old to travel around with his son for a few weeks. He had jumped for joy as he was able to fulfill his younger brother's request.

"Breakfast!" The shout resounded throughout the Thousand Sunny, and nine bodies raced towards the kitchen.

As Sabo entered, he heard a mix of various loud phrases. It manly contained: "Luffy!" "Mademoiselle~" and "Luffy, keep your hands away from my food!"

All Sabo could do was laugh at the scene. If this had been any other crew, he was pretty sure everyone would be kicked off the crew. His brother's crew was defiantly fitting for one such as his brother.

"Oi, Nami," Luffy called to his navigator after the meal, "When is the next island?" In the distance, an island shaped blob could be seen.

Truth be told, the boy hated long trips. He thrived on adventure, and only the new islands to explore gave him that. After the first few days on long trips, the crew often grew irritated at Luffy's moaning and boredom- not that they would voice that out loud.

"A few hours, Luffy," the red head answered as she peered into the horizon.

Luffy cheered in response and placed his beloved straw hat on his head.

A few hours lasted an eternity for the exhausted straw hat crew. No one had the energy to shout a protest to the rubber boy when he flung himself onto the island.

Sabo could only sigh as he disembarked the ship and followed after him. "Luffy," the blond called out, "wait up!" The revolutionary ran up to the jumping teen. They then made their way into the forest that rested on the edge of the beach.

The teen bounced around the trail, and the older tapped the pipe against his shoulder. Out of the three, Sabo was the only one who kept to their favorite weapon.

The thought of the pipe brought up a memory that the older male thought he had forgotten for the past years.

"Hey, Sabo," ten-year-old Ace said. He reached the blond boy and sat down beside him below a tree.

Sabo glanced at the raven haired kid before speaking up. "I was thinking," he stated, making sure he had the other's attention, "fist fights don't tend to be in favor of those our age, so why don't we start using a weapon of sorts."

The freckled kid looked at the blond with some sort of shock. "I thought we were doing fine," he mumbled, slightly offended that his fighting skills were not enough.

"No, that's not it," Sabo defended while shaking his hands in front of him, "it's just that they are twenty plus and we are ten. No matter your superhuman strength, the odds are not in our favor."

Ace lost his heated glare and took on a look of confusion. "Well, what were you suggest we use?" He questioned.

The soon-to-be-revolutionary smirked. "I was thinking something around the lines of a pipe or pole," he answered as he leaned back on the tree.

The freckled thief blinked in confusion. "Why a pipe? A gun or sword would be more dangerous-" he began.

"For a normal person," the runaway interrupted with a hand on the raven's mouth, "but for you, it would be an extension of yourself. Unlike a gun, you increase your strength through it, and it's like a hard metal slap."

Ace grinned, letting the boy see one of his rare smiles. "Sounds like a plan!" He said as he grabbed the blond's wrist and dragged him away.

Sabo bit back the tears that threatened to fall. He would not let one escape, Luffy needed someone strong.

The blond was not deaf; he had heard the whimpers that sometimes came from the boy's hammock. Sadly, like the rest of the crew, he could not just ask the Straw hat captain what was wrong. Luffy was not someone who let others know what was bothering him- he preferred to keep those things away from those he loved, so he did not bother them with his 'measly' issues.

One of these days, he was going to show that boy that they were not bothered by helping him.

Twirling the pipe, the revolutionary ran to catch up with his brother who seemed to get far ahead as the older went down memory lane. Luffy was swinging tree to tree, literally. Sabo sighed once again at Luffy's bubbling energy at the quite early hours of the day.

What was his kid brother on, because he sure as hell needed it.

He whacked a nearby tree with the pipe. The noise startled Luffy, for he twisted half his body around to face his brother. "Yo," is all that came out of the pirate captain.

"I have an idea," Sabo exclaimed and caught up with the hyper active teen, "how about we chase down some food for old times' sake?"

Luffy's eyes sparkled when he heard those words, and rocketed towards the blond who only stood a few feet away. Said blond groaned as he fell to the floor.

"Luffy," he scolded, "how many times do I have to tell you not to 'Gumo Gumo no Rocket' at people who are right next to you." The straw hat captain only stuck his tongue in response with arms folded in a childish manner. "Luffy."

"Fine," the younger whined. He stood up, and for the second time that day, helped his brother up.

"Promise," Sabo pushed.

"Yes," the boy grumbled, letting his stubbornness slide for a moment.

"Good," the adult sighed before they headed in a random direction in the forest. He knew anything in this forest would be easy game for the duo and that not many large animals would be lurking around so close to a village, but it would not hurt to bring in some small creatures. Only God knows how the chef survived the bottomless pit that is his captain.

It did not take long to catch a few small rabbits and a fox that fell into their path. Much to Luffy's displeasure, Sabo had taken the job of catching those. His little brother could wait for bigger game.

Looking over at the horizon, the revolutionary could see the sun making its way past the trees. Time on this island must be different than most because he was pretty sure they had not hunted for almost five hours- more so two. Well, this is the New World, anything was possible.

"Hey Lu," Sabo called out to the teen who was shouting for a 'tiger lord' to come out, "I think it's dinner time."

The reaction was spontaneous. Almost immediately, the rubber teen pounced up, grabbed his brother's wrist, and dragged him towards the beach chanting 'meat, Sanji, meat!' Sabo simply rolled his eyes at the boy's antics. After one gets to know the boy, one would wonder how on earth he became such a wanted pirate.

Truth be told, Sabo knew some people thought the raven haired kid was just a figure head of the crew. Oh how wrong they are. Luffy was childish, but he was strong. Just hit the right nerve, and there is no mercy.

Before they reached the edge of the forest, Sabo noticed his brother was no longer following him. Looking back, the twenty one year old could spot the teen with his head twisted backwards. "Lu?" He asked, approaching the pirate.

That's when Sabo spotted it, a hand on Luffy's cardigan sleeve. The only thing that stopped him from rushing and slamming his pole on the opposing figure was the other's figure. Sure, he could not see the head, but he sure as hell would never forget that figure.

"Ace," slipped through the rubber boy's faraway look. Sabo then walked closer to Luffy (but still out of sight of his deceased brother's look alike) and clearly saw the confusion written all over the familiar male's face.

"Luffy, what the hell are you doing out here?" The man demanded, "I thought you were on the ship with Oyaji. And when did you get that scar?" The grip on Luffy's arm tightened as the Ace look alike decided to drag him away.

The straw hat boy's eyes widened before ripping his hand out of the older male's grasp and ran. This wasn't like his usual care free run, this was one dead set on getting away, and nothing could distract him.

Taking one last look at the man who looked like his brother, Sabo ran after Luffy. The look of pure and utter heart break that was on the freckled man's face would probably never leave his memory. His brother might be dead, but that face was his and that look did not belong on his face.

"Lu, wait up!" The revolutionary shouted as he took to running faster. The pace of the boy slowed a tiny bit, but he was not going to stop. He would just have to wait until they hit the ship to calm his baby brother down.

Fortunately, the ship came into view only a few short (or to Sabo, an eternity) minutes later. He picked up the pace when he noticed Luffy slowing down to almost a complete stop. The blond soon found his way to a puffy red faced Luffy.

"Lu..." He trailed off, taking the soon-to-be-crying pirate into his arms.

Again, he was no idiot; he knew that Ace's death took a greater toll on his kid brother. He still hated himself for not being there to comfort the teen, but he was going to make it up. His brother needed him.

"Sabo," the boy sobbed, "I saw him," there was a sniffle, "I saw Ace, and he was mad. Do you think he was mad at me for not saving him?"

That sentence shattered the blond's heart. "No, Lu, he would not be mad at you," he soothed, rubbing circles on the younger's back, "he would be so proud of you for coming so far. I know what he would be mad at though."

He bent down and looked the rubber boy in the face. "What?" The pirate asked softly, not losing eye contact with the revolutionary.

"The fact you are crying and not running around having fun. He would hate to see you like this," Sabo explained truthfully. He may have not been with them for most of their life together, but he knew full well that his brother hated seeing the youngest crying. It did not take a genius to know that his punches were just so he would not have to see the kid crying.

Luffy rubbed his eyes. "I know," he sniffled, "but why was Ace here?"

Sabo frowned a bit at that question. What was a dead person doing here?

"Probably something that happens on this island," the blond thought aloud, "It most likely a trick of the eye that happens around here. We can ask your crew when we get to the ship, okay?"

Luffy nodded. A loud yawn escaped his lips as they made their way out of the forest.

"You're tired," Sabo pointed out. "Here, you can sleep on my back."

"But, dinner..." The boy yawned again, his energy spent.

Sabo smiled fondly. "I'll wake you up when it's ready," he offered. Luckily, the rubber boy did not protest and climbed his way into a piggy back ride from his older brother.

Soft snores soon came when the duo found their way to the Thousand Sunny as the sun was setting.