I deeply apologize for breaking my promise from the last chapter...life happens. I tried to make it extra long and satisfying, but not sure if it will be liked by everyone. In any case, this is my ideal end for the 3 brothers of Ace, Luffy, and Sabo. I am aware that in the original work, Oda has pulled yet another stunt and brought Sabo back into the picture. I am extraordinarily happy at this development, and hope you all are too (Yay, Sabo is alive!) Even so, this is a work I started when Sabo was still considered dead, and I don't have any plans to delete or revise this story. Soooooo please enjoy! Leave comments!


.

.

.

Epilogue

.

.

.

.

Marine Headquarters.

In a large meeting room situated in one of the highest floors of the Marine HQ, a group of grim-faced officers sat around a long table. Each sported identical white uniforms and hats, with the word "justice" printed in bold, black letters on the back of every man's cape. A lone man stood at the head of the table, his flinty gaze steeled towards a lofty point on the far wall, his arms crossed in an immobile stance as he contemplated the question that hung silently in the air. A normal human being may already have passed out if they had been standing anywhere inside the hall. The atmosphere weighed down heavily onto the shoulders of every officer.

Admiral Akainu slowly lowered his eyes, sweeping them over the top-ranked men of the marines. Elites, all of them. Known for their battle prowess, their strategy, and most of all, their ruthlessness in carrying out "Justice."

He opened his mouth and began to speak, slowly, in a deep voice. None of the others dared even to breathe.

"It has been one year since the Battle of Marineford," Akainu began. "At that time, the people celebrated the Marines' victory as the pirates turned tail and fled from battle."

Silence.

Bam!

Akainu's heavy hand pounded the table in front of him. The force of a 100-pound block of metal cracked the table straight down the middle—some of the lower-ranking officials standing guard against the walls flinched at the terrifying aura emitting from their Admiral.

"And yet! You and I know the truth! That battle was our loss! Not only did we fail to carry out the execution of the Pirate King's son Portgas D. Ace, we also let Monkey D. Dragon's son, Straw-hat Luffy, and the most dangerous pirate in the world, Whitebeard, escape the front yard of Marineford without a scratch. That battle, officers, was the most humiliating event in all the history of our proud marine heritage!"

His voice rose steadily in volume, fluctuating slightly at each mention of the pirates who had gotten off scot-free after they set foot on Marine territory. Akainu seethed in righteous indignation. Those filthy, bloodthirsty pirates! They dared to make a mockery of the marines!

He looked up.

"…But now, gentlemen, I would like to pose to you a question," Akainu whispered dangerously, eyes narrowing and shifting onto the wall to his left. In ordinary circumstances, that wall sported a large, oblong window that spanned the length of the room, allowing the officers to look out onto a scenic view of the marine HQ island and the surrounding ocean during their meetings.

But currently, the wall sported a gaping hole. A huge hole, right in the middle. Shattered bits of glass and crumbling pieces of cement were tumbling off the broken window pane, crashing several hundred yards below. A light sea breeze wafted through, providing a refreshing cool air to the otherwise stuffy, enclosed space.

"Why . . . in the world! Was the man responsible for that miserable defeat two years ago…allowed to escape from the Marine HQ once again!?"

.

.

.

.

.

Far out on the ocean, Sabo sat atop a sizable marine ship, twiddling his thumbs. The vessel stood void of all signs of human life except for himself as he slouched on the riggings of the main mast. He eyed the island of the Marine HQ in the far distance. The gaping hole near the top of the building kept catching the corner of his eye. Even though he was trying his best to ignore its presence.

The dozens of broken marine ships and soldiers floating haphazardly in the waters nearby did nothing to distract his mind.

They were all sinking. Ships large and small, panicking soldiers clinging onto their useless watershod guns. Heavy cannons and soaked artillery. All of them bubbling as they sank lower and lower.

A smattering of small holes decorated the sides of the downed ships.

He sighed, scratching his head ruefully.

"Sorry about that…"

Muttering apologetically under his breath, the tall blonde hopped onto the main mast riggings to tighten the ropes one last time. Below him, on the deck, lay a gigantic state-of-the-art machine gun. Model number DX-13.05.

Sabo had filched it off the French Naval Headquarters Weapons Storage Base right before he hopped through the portal. Ransuki had looked absolutely furious, bellowing and charging at him as his head disappeared through the swirl of colors.

"Sabo! Don't you dare disappear on us again. And how dare you steal that gun! Come back! Come back this instant! Do you know how long it took for us to find that thing and get it running after what you did! Come . . . !"

He sighed, rather regretfully.

But then again, it was a DX-13.05.

"Worth it," he decided.

Small enough to fit snugly on his shoulder, but with enough firepower to decimate a large fleet of under-equipped battleships.

He pondered the simple, gunpowder rifles that standard Marine soldiers used in this world, and felt a twinge of guilt. Maybe.

Just a twinge, mind you.

"Not like pirates are supposed to fight fair anyways…ahahaha."

With an easy leap, Sabo somersaulted through the air to land onto the main cabin's rooftop, then right in front of the ship's wheel. It was time to steer this baby to the ... uh…

"Wait, the Sabaody Archipelago is West from here, right?"

It was time to steer this baby in the Westward direction.

He gave the wheel a turn and a half to the right. A glance at the log on his write gave him a sense of where he was going—it pointed towards Mariejois, which lay between himself and the Archipelago. Satisfaction drew onto his face as he felt the ship beneath him groan into position. Navigation had always been his strong point.

The waves were unbelievably rough. The light drizzle that had been steadily buzzing onto his skin suddenly turned into a curtain of steel, pounding down on his shoulders with supernatural force. He clutched the helm tighter and held it steady. Despite the rain, the sky was sunny and clear.

Raising his goggles from his eyes, Sabo first eyed the helm of the ship, then the ocean beyond. And then the strip of barely visible land at the edge of the horizon. There was a bunch of fire and lightning and hail and rainstorms all whirling into a decent-sized hurricane between him and that edge, but he didn't really care about that.

What he was looking at, was the Red Line.

His next obstacle.

The others, he could navigate through. No problem. They were just forces of nature—he could work with that.

The real problem was the security checkpoints at the Red Line.

He only had one option, really. He couldn't exactly find someone to coat his ship for an underwater trip; not if he didn't want to get arrested for illegally possessing a Marine vessel. So he'd have to go over. Abandon the ship, somehow get past the guard points around Mariejois.

…Or find a smaller ship. But finding a small ship that could survive the rough waters of the New World, even if it was just long enough to last to the Red Line, was pretty risky at best.

Only a steel-enforced vessel like this one could handle the weather with only one man to steer.

"Hmm, alright then," keeping one hand on the wheel, Sabo rummaged through the inner pocket of his coat and tugged on the newspaper he'd snuck away earlier. He took a peak at page 4 again. On it was the special edition coverage of the Battle of Marineford, celebrating the Marine's victory and their success in driving back the pirate Whitebeard's forces a year ago. Phrases like "esteemed Admiral Akainu," "shameful retreat of the greatest pirates," "one more milestone in the eradication of evil" and "Pirate King's son escapes?" stood out in bold black letters amid the fine print.

Sabo allowed himself a small smirk at the top right corner, where a small section was dedicated to a snapshot of a sizable photo of Straw-Hat Luffy, standing right in the center of the battlefield.

The little brat.

He'd had the audacity to march straight onto the previous Marine Headquarters and stick a tall flag into the ground. Luffy's right hand gripped the flag pole, his left hand placed stubbornly on his waist—to match the stoic expression on his face. He actually looked pretty serious in the picture.

Haha.

Though the picture was ruined by the rabid herd of furious marines charging towards him in the background.

But what had Sabo really cracking up was what was on the flag itself.

It wasn't his standard straw hat jolly roger. The small article below the picture tried briefly to interpret the meaning behind the flag, but the best it could conjecture was that someone had stolen Luffy's hat.

On the flag, flapping wildly above Luffy's bare head, was a jolly roger wearing a gigantic black top hat. It was crudely drawn. The two blue circles near the bottom of the shape vaguely resembled goggles.

Below the jolly roger were the messy handwritten words: "Give me back my hat."

"You got it, little bro," laughed Sabo, storm raging around him. The merry baritone lost itself quickly in the crashing waves. A straw hat flapped behind his neck, battered madly by the howling winds.

The corner of the newspaper that was sticking out quickly got drenched in the pouring rain. The date in the very top corner became blurred as the ink dripped wet, but Sabo had already read the first line of the article, which was all that mattered.

"Exactly one year ago, in the memorable Battle of Marineford…"

.

.

.

.

.

One year later.

The island of Archipelago was in the midst of an uproar.

"So that's the infamous Straw-Hat Luffy!"

"He's worth 400 million berries!"

"The son of Dragon the Revolutionary!"

"I heard his crew there is unbelievably strong!"

"And we'll be joining his crew from now on . . . heh, with Straw-Hat Luffy backing us, we'll be able to rule the world as pirates!"

"Excuse me."

The cackling pirates continued roaring at each other excitedly. Monkey D. Luffy, the most infamous pirate this side of the Red Line, was currently standing in front of an enormous crowd of villains, ruffians, and pirates, giving an inspiring speech about their grand plans for the New World. The excitement could be felt in the air, seen on every leering grin. The baddest brutes of the Grand Line had assembled for the honor of joining the Straw Hat pirate crew.

"Excuse me!"

Feeling a hand tap his shoulder, one of the men slapped it away angrily before turning around. He wanted to listen to Straw-Hat's speech, dammit!

"What do you want? Joining Straw-Hat Luffy's crew too?" he growled, putting on his most intimidating glare.

"Er, no actually. I was just wondering if you knew the way to Grove 42?" Sabo asked, holding his hands up in a passive gesture.

"Ah? Grove what?" the pirate cocked his head as the cheers around them reached a new crescendo. Apparently the Straw-Hat had said something especially interesting.

Sabo cupped his hands to his mouth. "Grove 42!"

"What!?"

"Grove 42!"

"Pacifistaaaaaaa!"

". . . ?"

Sabo turned around just in time to jump out of the way as a ray of light struck the pirate he had been speaking to. The unnamed pirate, and two dozen men behind him, blew away into the sky as if they weighed nothing.

Oops.

Waving an apologetic hand to the now-unconscious man, Sabo mentally noted the arrival of the unit of pacifistas with their leader Sentomaru. That meant that Luffy's identity would be revealed soon. Doing his best to remember what had happened in Oda's latest arc (he'd lost the copy of Volume 61 he had brought into this world. Those Sea Kings will eat anything). Sabo tugged on the brim of his top hat and peaked out onto the stage at the far front of the plaza.

He could barely make out a tiny form carrying a ridiculously huge backpack.

Yup, that was Luffy. With all the food Boa Hancock had packed for him.

"To think even Luffy would turn out to be a lady-killer," Sabo chuckled, recalling how popular Ace had been with the little ladies around Goa Kingdom.

Sabo had half a mind to stick around long enough to see Luffy in action, but he knew he'd have to run if he wanted to find Grove 42 on time. Especially because he had no idea where that number actually was. Normal compasses were no help around these parts.

With a lingering look at the small figure, Sabo turned around and ran towards the next grove over, stopping a nearby fisherman to ask for the way to . . .

"It's that way!"

The old man gestured in a general direction to their right before hurrying off. More explosions and gunshots were heard in the grove Sabo had left behind. The citizens were clearing out fast, but none of them seemed too scared or worried—actually, they seemed pretty used to it. All these marines and pirates facing off on their island all the time. It was just another happening in their daily lives.

"Must be pretty tough around here . . ." he noted absently, before hurrying off himself in the direction the man had pointed.

As he passed by a sign marked "Grove 61," then "Grove 60," he was starting to feel a bit hopeless of ever reaching the ship before Luffy did. They had flying fish, for pete's sake! And Sabo couldn't even tell where he was in terms of actual distance . . .

"Negative Hollow!"

Sabo skidded to a stop and whipped around, just in time to see a grinning ghost pop out of the chest of a terrified marine soldier. A second later, the soldier and his entire brigade had dropped to their hands and knees.

"Leave me alone to die . . ."

"I'm a piece of algae on a rock. Just kill me now . . ."

"I'm a worm. A speck of dirt . . ."

"These stupid marines. How dare they try to attack me!" a high-pitched voice huffed.

Sabo forced his eyes away from the fascinating sight of a bunch of grown men sinking into despondency, to see a girl clad in a frilly pink dress floating in the air. Their eyes met.

It was Perona. If Sabo recalled correctly, she had helped Luffy and his two crewmen escape after they left the defeated pacifistas behind.

"And what are you looking at?" Perona demanded. Three ghosts rallied to her side, looking threateningly down onto Sabo from their weightless height advantage.

"Whoa, easy there, miss," Sabo told her, gently, while shifting slightly into a readied stance. He'd rather not risk a face full of ghost, thank you. "I just want to ask you something. Did Straw-Hat Luffy pass by here yet?"

If they had, that meant he was behind them. If they hadn't, he was ahead of them.

"And why should I tell you?" her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Two of ghosts began inching closer.

Sabo answered without missing a beat. "Well, I have his hat. I'd like to return it to him."

As proof, he turned his body slightly so that she could see the straw hat hanging on his back. For a few terse seconds, she stared at the hat, then at his top hat, then back at the straw hat.

"Why are you wearing two hats?" she asked at last.

"That's not really the point here," Sabo laughed, a bit amused. Honestly, the people in this world were so much more nonsensical than the people back in the other world.

"Hmph," Perona sniffed, and twirled her parasol to her left. "They just left that way. But you won't be able to catch them going as slow as you are."

Drat. They had gotten ahead of him. Without losing another second, Sabo shot off from where he had been standing, yelling out a "thanks!" behind him as he disappeared around the next bend marked "Grove 57."

" . . . who the heck is he?"

It took Perona two seconds to decide she really didn't care. She twirled her parasol once before flying off towards another troop of marines, who began screaming and running away when they caught sight of the negative Hollows.

Sabo soon forgot about her, too. He concentrated on giving his legs a burst of speed—he was strong, but not superhuman enough to leap across miles at a time like some of the outrageously strong characters in this world tended to do. Especially those ridiculously powerful ones, with the Devil's Fruit powers.

'It's a good thing for Haki, or else all us regular folks would be out of a job…' he pondered absent-mindedly, and decided this would be as good a time as any to put on a burst of speed.

A faint glow enveloped his calves and heels, concentrating into a dark blue aura over his pants. Most likely, nobody could tell it was there. He preferred long, black pants as his choice of fashion.

"Here, we, go!"

With the help of some Busoshoku Haki, Sabo managed to zoom by most of the 50s in a flash. He had only recently acquired some training on this, so his control wasn't too great yet. Usually, when he burst into high action like this, he would easily lose control of direction and…

Whump!

"Ow…"

He kept going, thanking the large tree in the middle of Area 49 for the new bump on his forehead. This time he tried not to get too excited, and timed his jumps carefully.

"There has got to be some physics in this…" he muttered as he dashed by '46.'

How do all these monsters use Haki to move at the speed of light like it's a walk in the park!? Especially that one Admiral, the Kizaru dude who had eaten the light-light fruit or something.

As if those Marine Admirals weren't OP enough.

Swearing at his brothers' sworn enemies with some colorful, 21st-century Japanese, Sabo reached behind him and gripped the straw hat on his back in his hands. The number '43' whipped by the periphery of his vision.

Shouts of excitement could be heard ahead. A tall mast, with a luxurious, circular room attached to the top, could be seen sticking out above the trees and bubbles that filled the air.

"…Brook!"

"…all here…! Let's…!"

"To Fishman Islaaaaaand!"

Ah.

There it was.

Sabo gave a smirk. He had this manga business down pat, showing up at such great timing. With a little more practice, he could probably help save Fishman Island too, with an entrance as nicely timed as this one.

He took a deep breath, and prepared the muscles in his left arm. The voices were a lot closer, and the number '42' loomed above his head – then disappeared behind him in a flash. He took a sharp right, miscalculated, almost bumped into a huge cascade of boulders, then righted himself and skirted around them to climb to the top of a steep incline. He had read through these manga panels enough to memorize the geography of the scene with picture perfect clarity: at the top of this incline was a cliff, and over the cliff he would be able to see…

"Heyyy, LUFFFYYYYYY—!"

Nine heads turned towards him from on top of the Thousand Sunny. He saw quite a few more heads turn his way from the dragon boat, which he assumed belonged to Boa Hancock.

"….SABO!?"

"Here, there's your hat back!"

He called out to them from his vantage point on the cliffs. With a few waves of the straw hat, Sabo tossed the hat into the air, completely ignoring Luffy's cries to "wait" and "hang on" and "how did you get there!?" and "why didn't you come sooner!?" and the like.

The gales roared a bit high today, and the winds blew roughly, but the hat spun through the swirling winds and landed right into Luffy's hands. The rubber man took the familiar object and placed it on his black hair with a quick motion – Sabo could see the kid's wide grin from all the way over here.

"Thanks, Sabo!" Luffy called back to him. The Thousand Sunny began to sink – his crew began panicking, wondering how Sabo was planning to come on board.

"Have a fun trip, Luffy!" Sabo yelled back, grinning from ear to ear.

This gave the Straw Hat crew pause. But Luffy only froze for a moment, before laughing in his typical carefree way.

"Shishishi, you too Sabo! See you on the other side!"

"I've already been there and back, you slowpoke! Still got a long way to go!"

"I'll definitely beat you! And Ace! And I'm gonna be…"

The Thousand Sunny tipped fully into the waves, the bubble surrounding it insulating Luffy and muffling his voice. The entire body of the ship disappeared into the water, the deck and the masts to follow soon after.

Sabo pressed down on the brim of his own hat, hiding the suspicious glitter of his eyes. "Go get'em, kiddo…"

"I'm gonna be…the PIRATE KING!"

.

.

.

.

.

"…and what? That's it? You just gave him the hat and left him?!"

"I didn't really have time to have a touching reunion or anything. Besides, wasn't it pretty good? Emotionally charged, bittersweet yet fulfilling, promises of a new adventure…if I were a mangaka, that would have been how I ended that arc."

"I have no idea what you're talking about…if Luffy heard you talking like that, he'd whine at you for days, thinking it was all a joke to you. You didn't see how much Luffy missed you during those 2 years."

"I did."

"…"

"Something had changed. The manga was different."

"Like I said, I don't even know what this Mang-gah thing is…"

"Whitebeard survived the war."

"…"

"I came back after a long absence, and helped end the Marine War, and—"

Sabo smiled. "You're alive, Ace."

Ace grinned back, tipping his orange hat back to reveal wavy black hair, which had gotten long and unruly over the past few years.

"Yup, still alive and kicking. I beat Marco in a drinking contest yesterday."

"I thought he said he couldn't get drunk because of his devil's fruit powers."

"Snuck some seawater into his first few shots. He went out like a light."

"That is some dirty playing right there."

"Whatever, I won."

Ace waved him away, and stood up to take a look out over the deck. A little distance away, the Moby Dick was preparing to submerge underwater, anticipating a storm of hail and meteors within the next 3 minutes or so.

"You're sure there's a storm coming?" Ace glanced up at the fluffy white clouds decorating the horizon.

"You're the one that was whining that you needed a new navigator," Sabo quipped back, not bothering to study the waters or the sky. "You wanted a navigator, you got yourself one. Now shut up and get below deck if you don't want to burn and drown in the ocean at the same time, Ace."

"That's Captain to you."

"You're the Second Commander, not Captain," Sabo replied, rolling his eyes.

"Nah," Ace replied, laughing joyfully. "If you're my navigator, then I'm your captain. Am I right?"

A sudden blast of icy wind sent them sprawling over the sloop, and they quickly righted themselves and yelled at the crew to dive for cover. The men hurried into the open doors, lashing the ropes down one last time before taking shelter from the darkened clouds overhead. Thunder, lightning, and all manners of chaotic sounds rose up, accompanied by a screeching wind.

"Aye, aye, Captain," Sabo laughed back at him, and they ran into the cabin and slammed the door behind them.