As you all probably know, the next chapter for Stronger Than Titanium has been delayed and I was going to take a wee break and do some writing over here.

FireD Rin, this one's for you. The 'reading and writing' request you had is in. Any more requests, you guys know where to leave them. Either in the reviews or PM me.

Catlover4536, Thanks for reviewing. Yes, ::sninkers:: Ace and Luffy can cause a lot of trouble and that can only be topped when all three of them are out causing mayhem. PS. love the name, may I ask how many cats you have?

FireD. Rin, thanks for reviewing. You can continue to leave requests here or PM me if you prefer. Either way is fine with me. I probably will do something with Ace reveling his heritage to them, most likely a two part since Ace told Sabo first(in the cannon and then Sabo accidentally let it slip to Luffy, or something like that) and then Luffy found out after.

Wolf Riddle, aww yes and more cuteness. I like popping over here to write cuteness since things are not so cute right now in the main story.

"No! Luffy don't eat the pencil!" Sabo half shouted.

His logic for working on Ace and Luffy's reading and writing skills seemed so... well, logical at the time.

"But, I'm Hungry!" Luffy complained.

Ace had taught them how to hunt, fight, and live in the jungle, among other helpful skills. Ace could figure out how to make and repair things. Ace and Sabo had traded knowledge about pick-pocketing. Luffy was hopeless at it but he did prove to be a great distraction, making pick-pocketing all the easier for the two brothers.

"We just had lunch three hours ago!" Sabo retorted.

Luffy... Luffy had showed them how to care for someone, how to support each other and be a family. He showed them what it was like to not be alone and have a real family that loved you no matter what and always looked out for you without any kind of selfish motive behind it. A family made up of people you wanted to be with and not because society said you should and it was what was expected. A family that let you be yourself and love you for it. It was something that he and Ace craved and yet didn't know they wanted it until they met Luffy.

Other than some practical advice on what plants to eat after the mushroom fiasco and what medicines were good for different ailments, Sabo felt like he hadn't done enough for his brothers.

"But, I'm hungry now!" Luffy whined.

It was during a trip up to high town, with all the fancy shops, that Sabo realized his brothers could not read. They would look at the signs over the shops in confusion before turning to Sabo. Luffy could make out a few syllables, enough to know that someone had at one point worked at teaching him.

Ace was completely lost. He pretended that it didn't bother him, saying that 'reading was stupid and a waste of time' but, Sabo could see plain that it did bother him.

"Ace, don't put so much pressure on the pencil, you'll keep breaking the tip off."

So, Sabo had taken it upon himself to teach his brothers to read and write efficiently.

"You can wait a bit longer, Luffy. Then we'll get something to eat." Sabo said

Both Luffy and Ace grumbled in protest but went back to their writing practice.

Getting either of his brothers to sit still long enough to practice reading had been a challenge until he found that Luffy could be bribed to do it with meat.

Sabo found it harder to get Ace to start reading until he pointed out that Luffy would learn more than Ace and he wasn't about to be outdone by his little brother on such a 'stupid' thing as reading and writing.

Writing was proving to be more difficult.

"No Luffy, try holding the pencil like this. It's not a pipe."

Luffy's rubber abilities tended to cause his pencil to be everywhere except on the paper.

Ace was alternating between looking at the paper as though it mortally offended him and glaring at the pencil in his right had as if it were the root of all evil.

Pencil in his right hand...

A thought slowly formed in Sabo's mind. He, himself was right-handed but, was Ace left or right handed? He tried to think...

The more he thought about it...

The more amazed Sabo became...

He couldn't believe he hadn't realized until now. Ace alternated the use of his hands. He wasn't left-handed or right-handed. Ace used both with equal dexterity.

Ace held a pipe in his right hand but, liked to use a knife in his left. He would use a fork, kitchen knife, or spoon in either hand and sometimes held a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other, only now did Sabo realize that Ace didn't swap out the fork for the soon or vice-versa but kept on eating as he was.

"Why the hell do you need capital letters and lower case ones!?" Ace exclaimed.

Sabo sighed and put the thoughts of his new found revelation to one side. Ace's question Sabo knew, would lead to an argument. Ace hated having to follow any kind of rules without good reason and this wouldn't be considered good enough in Ace's opinion.

Maybe a snack wasn't such a bad idea