I was/am pretty busy with my October writing challenge, which is why this story had to wait for chapter 3 though I had it done. Well, that being said: Enjoy!

For as long as Luffy could remember, Sabo had been there for him. His brother was his everything and the seven year old had a hard time imagining what it would be like to be on his own with the bandits. For one because Sabo was there when he stood up and he was there when Luffy went to bed again, Luffy was rarely without the blonde. The other reason was much simpler: Luffy wasn't as optimistic as that he could believe he would actually have survived without Sabo. Dogra always pointed out how often he had ran away and how the bandits only managed to find him in the last second. One day that would have gone wrong, Luffy was sure.
Thus he couldn't imagine what it would be without Sabo and frankly he also didn't want to. He preferred listening to Dadan as she complained about Sabo and him not letting go of each other. Besides, it Luffy was pretty sure that she didn't meant it and secretly was glad that Sabo was there, she didn't have to watch him then. But perhaps it was because of Dadan's carelessness that his grandfather had visited more often in the past months.

"Hi, shitty gramps!" Luffy greeted the marine and immediately got hit with a rather halfhearted Fist of Love. Not that it didn't hurt, but it wasn't as enthusiastic as usual. Gramps hadn't even shouted! Luffy stared in wonder at his grandfather's back as he marched into the bandits' hideout. He hadn't been aware that gramps could be so silent.

"Ne, Luffy! Help me with the food!"

Luffy stared at the door the marine had closed behind him for just another second before shrugging the incident off and running after Sabo. They had lunch to catch after all!

Hunting was by far Luffy's favorite activity. Sabo taught him how to make clever traps and, in case they failed, how to beat an animal ten times their size with brute strength. Luffy wasn't as smart as his brother and while the traps were super awesome, he preferred a direct approach. His hits were just as strong as Sabo's! The blonde blamed it on his 'crazy marine genes' and 'that D in your name' but Luffy couldn't care less. All he knew was that he was super strong and would one day become the strongest and freest person in the whole world! Sabo had laughed at that, saying that he would be the strongest because he was older brother and it was his job to protect Luffy. The seven year old thought it was stupid. He wanted to do the protecting, just once! His brother always did everything for Luffy, he wanted to be able to give something back.

After a successful hunting trip the boys returned to the hideout together with today's lunch, the bear they caught. Good-natured they walked into the wooden shack, only to be surprised when nobody was outside to greet them.

"Maybe they are all in the main room?" Luffy wondered out loud and looked at Sabo for confirmation of his theory.

"Could be." Sabo shrugged.

The closer they came to the main room the louder the voices became. But no laughing could be heard, nor sounds of pain. What were the grownups doing?

"They found out about Roger's kid," Luffy then heard his grandfather say.

He already wanted to storm inside but Sabo hold him back. Confused he looked up to the ten year old, only to find Sabo appearing quite nervous as he shook his head. He placed his index finger on his lips to signal Luffy to be silent. The boy didn't really get what his brother was trying to achieve with spying on the adults, they always talked about stupid and boring stuff, but he went along with it anyway.

"Directly put a bounty on him," the marine continued. "Brat's ten and his bounty is already at a hundred million. He can't even properly fight yet and they're already afraid of what he could become."

Silence followed and Luffy wondered who his grandfather was talking about. Glancing at Sabo though, gave him the impression that whatever his grandfather was so worried about didn't mean good news.

"Why are you telling me this, Garp? That's none of my business," Dadan spoke up, sounding surprisingly tense. Nothing could get Dadan to be nervous. She would get angry when things didn't go her way but not once had Luffy seen her nervous.

"Roger isn't out to bring down the government. Dragon's bounty is as high as Roger's. What will they do to Luffy if it's ever found out who his father is? He's just seven, Dadan. He won't be safe here forever."

His father was a dragon? Luffy eyes widened. The most awesome news ever! Why hadn't his grandfather told him that before? The boy wondered if he could transform into a dragon. If he could spit fire and fly, nobody could stop him and Sabo from going on adventures!

"Sabo! My dad- hmpf!"

Sabo's hand on his mouth prevented Luffy from going on. The boy struggled against the blonde's iron grip but the attempt was fruitless.

"Lu, this is important," Sabo whispered. "Stay silent."

Luffy frowned but stopped thrashing around. For his brother's sake he hoped that there was a good reason for his behavior or Luffy would eat his portion too!

"What's your plan then?" Dadan asked.

"I'm gonna take Luffy with me to the marine headquarters. He'll be a good marine and by the time they know who he is, they won't be able to do without Luffy."

Why was his grandfather going on about that again? He knew that Luffy didn't want to be a marine, he had told this his grandfather countless times. He and Sabo would be travelers, explore the world and discover amazing places. They sure as hell wouldn't end up stuck behind a marine desk!

"What about Sabo?"

Luffy heard his grandfather sigh. It sounded far too tired to come from the man.

"The kid has a good heart but I don't think he's cut out to be a marine. He doesn't care about the marine's absolute justice in any shape or form and I can't imagine getting him to care. Can you imagine him having to escort nobles? He'd make short work with them."

"So you're gonna leave him with us?"

"For three years," Garp decided. "Until Luffy has grown a bit more independent. If he wants to join the marines then, even if it's just for Luffy, I won't stop him."

Luffy couldn't believe what he had just heard. His grandfather wanted to take him to the marine without Sabo? He turned to his brother, who looked equally horrified at the prospect of being separated. Luffy couldn't even imagine how he was supposed to go about his day without Sabo. They couldn't let the shitty gramps separate them! Without Sabo everything would be just boring and dull and lonely and painful and-

"Breath," his brother muttered though he didn't seem any calmer than Luffy. The seven year old tried to concentrate on his breathing but it was so hard when all he could think about was being forced to leave.

"We're gonna be fine, Lu. We're gonna be fine."

The rest of the conversation between his gramps and Dadan was nothing more than simple background noise to Luffy as he hold back his tears.

"Alright again?" Sabo asked and Luffy tried to deny, he didn't want to cause any more trouble so he nodded.

The ten year old didn't seem convinced but let it go. They had to do something after all or everything would fall out of place.

"Come," Sabo muttered and carefully led Luffy out of the bandits' home. They avoided stepping on all the parts of the wooden floor that cracked to not draw any attention to themselves. As soon as they were out of the house they ran into the jungle.

They had countless little hiding places all over the jungle. The closest to the bandits' home was stuffed with emergency money and some first aid supplies.

"Sabo, what are we gonna do now? I don't want to go with gramps!" Luffy spoke up again, tears nearly falling, while Sabo pulled two bags out of a tree stump.

"You're not. I promised you, didn't I? We'll have each other's back until death does us apart."

Luffy nodded, taking comfort and strength from the statement. "What will we do then?"

"Run away of course! To the Grand Line!"

And Sabo said it with so much confidence, Luffy had to believe him. He was the older brother after all and Luffy found it hard to doubt him, even if he knew how dangerous and far away the Grand Line was. If Sabo said they could do it, then they would.

(They set sail on a stolen boat, leaving their home behind without a second thought if it meant that they were together. They saw the huge ship but paid it no mind, ships always came and went to Goa Kingdom. They were in high spirits until the first shot hit their boat. A second followed and soon flames began to devour the boat. They tried to save their way to freedom, tried to put out the flames but it was no use. Tears fell and screams were let out as the fire began to bit at their bodies. A third gunshot rang through the air, hitting flesh and drawing blood. Desperately they clung to each other, praying that someone would come. Nobody did as their boat capsized and they were thrown into the ocean. It was a painful day.

Somewhere else a boy played a prank.)

Writer's ramblings:
So, that was chapter 3! Here are some thoughts I had in mind while writing:
I feel like Luffy has a lot more energy than Ace. Luffy can't sit still - so why should he as a baby? And the bandits have no experience here before getting baby Luffy dumped on them. Therefore I thought that without somebody who constantly focuses on Luffy, likes him and does it out of his own motivation (Sabo), chances are high Luffy would ran into serious trouble.
Death is also no stranger to him here, he didn't grow up in peaceful and calm Foosha (Shanks with his stories aside) and knows/has seen real life pain. So that he thinks about his own survival like that is given. But he isn't hurt like Ace because he didn't know anything about his dad and always had Sabo. The emphasis on always is pretty important. They basically spend 24/7 around each other for five years now as they are pretty much on their own as children. Normally you don't spend that much time with just one person. That's the reason why some phrases here might seem weird and like they are most likely unhealthily dependent on each other: they are. Their world is pretty small, even if they dream big, so the thought of being separated kind of breaks their world in a way, which is why they react so extreme.
Garp is worried so he visits more, you can't keep the son of the Pirate King a secret for long if he lives on the ship, marines are stupid, enough said.

ABCDEFWhee and sapphermine : I always reply to guest reviews, given that they are more than "I like it" :D So, as you guessed: they got shot down. And yep, Ace is pretty happy, probably striving to become stronger than his father because he admires him and thinks "woah, he's cool! I wanna be like that!" He has his vague goal in mind and otherwise just wants to live, have fun, enjoy the day and don't regret anything. No problems there. Sabo here is sneakier and unlike canon Sabo would never leave on his own. Canon Sabo, while meeting up with Ace, lived on his own until Luffy came - that's 5 years. This Sabo didn't.

So yeah. Enough rambling here xD
Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear what you think!