Chapter Text
Ace and Sabo find their little brother, Luffy, acting strangely lately.
It all started from that night, Ace woke up from his sleep right in the middle of the night after Sabo shouted to wake him up. Not just shout at him! He even slapped both of his cheeks! And who knows how many times he slapped him just to wake him up because, when Ace woke up, he felt his cheeks stinging and burning!
“The heck, Sabo! What’s your problem?!” Ace complained while stroking his cheeks.
“It’s Luffy, Ace!”
Ace noticed Sabo’s gaze which looked very worried and panicked, Ace raised his eyebrows wondering what is happening.
“Huh, Luffy? What’s wrong with him?”
“He disappeares!”
“Disappear?”
Ace frowned and sighed before he lay back down and turned his back to Sabo who was sitting next to him. He closed his eyes, forgetting the stinging feeling that still felt on his cheeks as drowsiness began to envelop him again.
“You woke me up just for that? He probably just go to take a pee, calm down.”
“Dammit, Ace! Why are you acting so casual like that?! This is Luffy we’re talking about!”
“Did you really think our crybaby, wimp little brother would come out in the middle of the night to pee without waking any of us?!”
After hearing Sabo say that realization hit him like concrete, his drowsiness immediately faded away. Ace immediately sat up and looked at Sabo with wide eyes.
What Sabo said was true, Luffy often woke up in the middle of the night to pee and every time he felt he had to do it he always woke one of them up because he was afraid to go out alone. But tonight, Luffy disappeared from his bed and for some reason, he left without waking any of them, Ace was immediately being worried.
He stole a glance at where Luffy usually fell asleep, right in the middle of the two of them, that little brat even left without taking his pipe with him!
Luffy, their youngest brother, who still needed their protection and help, went out in the middle of the night and who knows how long he’s gone, alone, in a forest filled with wild animals without carrying any weapons to protect himself! What was that idiot thinking?!
He looked back at Sabo, “Have you checked outside?”
Sabo shook his head, “I just woke up when I realized he was gone. And reflexively, I immediately woke you up.”
Without saying anything else, the two of them immediately took their respective pipes before leaving the tree house and going down from there using the ladder.
The forest on Mt. Corvo is very dark and has minimal lighting at night, but Ace and Sabo are used to the darkness in this forest after living there for so many years, the sky is also bright enough that the moon is not covered by clouds to give his light into the forest and their vision.
Arriving at the bottom, Ace and Sabo immediately paid attention to their surroundings, increasing their vigilance in case a predator wanted to attack them. They can hear the sounds of random insects, the howls of wolves in the distance, and the rustle of leaves blown by the gentle breeze in the cold night, but there was no sign of any sound coming from their noisy little brother.
“Luffy!”
Ace shouted, while constantly turning from one side to the other, but he was greeted with silence, without any answer from Luffy.
“Oi, Luffy! Where are you? If you hear us, please answer!”
Now, Sabo was the one shouting to call him, Ace could tell how worried his blonde brother just from his voice. Ace started to get frustrated when there was still no answer coming from Luffy even after Sabo called him.
Where did he go?! Did he go into the depths of the forest? How far did he go?
If he comes out just to pee, he shouldn’t go too far from their tree house, after all, around them there are only trees and grass everywhere that can be used as a place to pee!
The tension hung in the air, the worst scenarios kept playing in their heads, like... Did something happen to him? Does Luffy eaten by a wild animal? Or did someone kidnap him? Why didn’t he answer his brothers’ calls?!
Damn it, Luffy!
He gritted his teeth, the worry, fear and tension building up more and more until a gentle touch tapped his shoulder and Ace snapped out of the bad scenario in his mind.
He turned, finding it was just Sabo, his brother’s demeanor had clearly become calmer now than a few seconds ago while Ace was starting to panic. But behind Sabo’s calm face, the gleam in his blue eyes completely conveyed worry and fear for their brother’s safety.
“Ace, let’s split up—”
Before Sabo could finish his sentence, there was a rustling coming from the bushes on their right, immediately, the two of them took a defensive position to prepare for an attack. However, what came was not an attack from a wild animal or other threatening thing, but Luffy who appeared from behind the bushes, surprising them both.
“Hm? Oh!” Luffy’s flat expression turned beaming when his round eyes met his and Sabo’s, “Ace! Sabo!”
“Luffy!” Ace and Sabo said in the same time.
They both immediately ran towards Luffy, Sabo even jumped up to hug him.
“Thank God!”
Luffy raised his eyebrows and looked at Sabo with a confused face as if he hadn’t almost taken 10 years of their lives out of worry.
Right after they saw Luffy appear from behind the bushes and definitely alive, all the worry, fear and tension throughout their bodies faded away. Ace’s tensed shoulders slowly relaxed, then he quietly blew one fist that he raised into the air.
“Sabo? What’s wron— OW!”
Before Luffy could ask, Ace immediately landed a fist on his head. Luffy groaned as if Ace’s punch hurt him — Luffy was a rubber and fists didn’t work on him, well.. All fists except their granpa’s cursed Fist of Love — Luffy touched the bump that had appeared on his head, grimacing in pain.
“Idiot! How dare you leave without saying anything to any of us, Luffy!”
“Going into a forest filled with wild animals and being alone, right in the middle of the night?! Are you courting death!?”
Ace’s worry which peaked a moment ago now transformed into anger and he ended up yelling at Luffy. He didn’t care how loud his voice was, no matter how Luffy flinched from his outburst, he clenched his fists and felt his knuckles turn white because of how tightly he clenched them.
Ace could see a tear at the corner of Luffy’s eye which slowly began to drip down his cheek, immediately flooding his face.
His mouth clenched and his body shaking, he lowered his gaze to the ground, “I-I’m so..— I’m sorry.”
Ace clicked his tongue, he knew his anger was too much this time but what could he do? He was so worried, and Luffy really scared the hell out of him. Also Ace was.. Bad at expressing his worries, unlike Sabo.
Great, now he’s actually making Luffy cry even though that wasn’t his intention. Ace really couldn’t stand seeing him cry — To be exact, he hated crying and a crybaby, “You—!”
Sabo stopped himself as he was about to yell again at Luffy by reaching out his hand to gently tug on Ace’s arm, Ace immediately turned his gaze to Sabo. Sabo just stared and firmly shook his head, Ace understood what he meant and he immediately pull back his arm, took a deep breath to calm himself, and folded his arms in front of his chest.
Sabo smiled and looked back at Luffy, let go of his hug and grabbed his shoulders, Ace could see his hands moving to give gentle caresses to his skin. And Luffy’s shaking body began to calm down.
“Lu, did you get any injuries?” Sabo asked in a low tone that sounded soft to the ear. Luffy raised his gaze to look at Sabo then shook his head.
“Other than the bump Ace caused, I’m fine so far.” His voice trembling as he answered, Luffy tried his best to stop his tears.
Ace rolled his eyes and a snort of amusement came from Sabo, “That’s good then as long as you’re fine, ‘aight! Let’s go back to the tree house and sleep, the night is still long.”
Sabo stretched out his hand for Luffy to take, Luffy wiped his tears then his mouth returned to a small smile, and he lovingly took Sabo’s hand. Sabo led him back to the ladder of their tree house and Ace followed behind them.
Luffy looked over his shoulder to look at Ace who immediately looked away, avoiding Luffy’s gaze, “A—.. Ace?"
Ace didn’t want to look at him, he was relieved that Luffy was okay but he hated it when he made him worry and he was still annoyed about Luffy leaving without saying anything, a lot of bad things could happen to him. Luffy had quite a lot of luck, and this time, luck was once again on his side and didn’t let him die tonight.
Luffy was still looking at him, as if to ask for Ace’s forgiveness, and Ace looked at him from the corner of his eyes only to find his puppy dog eyes. Fuck, he regretted his decision to look at him. He, - didn’t want to admit it – was weak against Luffy’s puppy eyes and he himself hated that fact of him.
He bit his bottom lip, no, he won’t fall because of that this time.. No .. Fucking .. Way
God dammit.
He give up and let out a long breath, he took a step next to Luffy and reached out his hand to him but his eyes still avoided Luffy’s gaze.
Luffy’s face lit up immediately and he giggled ‘Shishishi’ before taking Ace’s hand and holding it tightly — Shitty little brat, Ace swore Luffy’s smile could rival the sun.
On the other hand, Sabo just glanced at them, Ace knew he was holding himself back from laughing. But c’mon! Who can stand for 5 minutes when Luffy staring at them with those damn puppy eyes?! He knows Sabo is also weak against that too!
“Lu..” Ace called, his tone softened now, calm enough not to yell at Luffy anymore.
Luffy responded by simply humming.
“Don’t ever leave again without telling us anything, you understand?”
Ace could feel Luffy’s grip on his hand tighten, Luffy nodded quickly, “’Kay!”
“Promise us...” He added.
“I promise!”
Ace snorted, “Good boy.”
He knows Luffy always keeps his promises and always sticks to his words. Ace looked back at Luffy with gentle eyes, squeezing Luffy's small hand on his.
“Glad to know you’re fine, little brother.”
The next morning, at breakfast, Sabo asked Luffy the question that was left unanswered last night, about why Luffy didn’t wake them up and instead went outside alone.
“Yesterday was quite a tiring day, right? Especially for both of you, not just sparring for one hundred matches, but in the same day we were chased by Bluejam’s man, fighting with thugs, hunting, and in every way Ace and Sabo always help me .. Always protect me.”
“Last night Ace and Sabo both fell asleep soundly and I... I don’t want to disturb your sleep, i want to be more independent, more strong so I don’t bother Ace and Sabo all the time!”
“So, first, at least I have to be able to pee alone!” Luffy explained while eating the crocodile meat they hunted in the lake yesterday.
Hear this, both Ace and Sabo’s eyebrows rose, they were quite surprised because Luffy paid a lot of attention to them and not only that, he wanted to be independent so he would no longer bother them and for his own good.
Well, his words were very sweet and Ace was quite happy to hear them, he had never heard Luffy say this or even thought Luffy could say something like that. They also didn’t feel like it was a made-up reason, it was sincere and there were no lies, so this was quite something—Very good and he knew Sabo felt the same way as he could see him smiling from the corner of his eye.
Sabo’s smile immediately disappeared as his serious expression returned, “But, Lu, you could have told us first instead of sneaking out alone, you know?”
“And remember this, Lu, you’re not bothering us at all.” He held his breath, took a pause, “Okay, maybe sometimes, but we’re fine with that.”
Sabo looked deeply into Luffy’s eyes while Luffy pouted a little,“You’re our little brother, that’s our duty as your big brother.”
Ace nodded, agreeing with Sabo, “And that’s not the only problem, why didn’t you answer when we call you? How far did you go from oir tree house just to pee?”
“You even left your pipe at the base, what if someone attacks you when you don’t have something to protect yourself? That’s not courage and independence, that’s stupidity.”
“You are weak and still not strong enough to fight with bare hands, idiot.”
Luffy pursed his lips with a frown, his eyes alternated between him and Sabo, there was a conflicted expression on his face that Luffy usually showed when he was thinking.
Are they talking and asking too much at the same time? They were used to Luffy’s stupid brain which was quite slow in reacting. And not only that, Ace and Sabo also taunted him in their sentences, Luffy must have been quite annoyed but didn’t know which question or words to focus on.
After a moment of silence, Luffy immediately swallowed all the crocodile meat in his hand and wiped his mouth, “Listen, Ace, Sabo, I’m really sorry! I promised not to do it again so can we not talk about this?”
Ace and Sabo shared a look before looking back at Luffy, really? He didn’t even answer anything instead he clearly avoided it, why?
“Why?” Sabo asked, as his and Ace’s eyes noticed Luffy’s suspicious movements. Luffy’s eyes moved here and there and his mouth opened and closed while searching for an excuse to give.
“I-It’s .. B-Because ...”
Ace and Sabo both narrowed their eyes, looking at Luffy suspiciously, “You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”
Luffy gasped when the two of them spoke in unison, he pursed his lips to the side, “I’m not hiding anything.” Then started whistling.
Alright, this little idiot trying to lie. Why did he never learn that he was bad at lying? And what is he trying to hide from them?
“Just say it, Lu.” Ace demanded, trying to get him to say whatever was hiding inside his head.
“S-Say what?”
“Something you’re hiding right now, just spit it out, Lu.” Sabo added.
“I told you I have nothing to hide, Ace, Sabo!”
The corners of Ace’s eyes twitched in annoyance when Luffy started talking to them in a high pitched voice.
“Stop lying as if we will fall for your lies! You’re a bad liar and you know that!”
Luffy’s mouth curved downwards, he jumped up from his seat, and clenched both fists in the air, looking at Ace with a frown, “I can lie, but I’m not lying this time!”
“Luffy stop your bullshi—“
Sabo stopped him by pushing his chest lightly as he was about to stand up to argue with Luffy further, Ace’s gaze shifted to Sabo who was sitting next to him.
“Chill out both of you.”
“And Ace..”
Sabo gave him a look before he quietly jerked his head towards Luffy in a gentle motion so the younger wouldn’t notice, Sabo seemed to be telling him ‘Look at Luffy’.
And Ace looked at Luffy again, this time more carefully and finally, he noticed. Luffy looked at them with a wrinkle in his nose while pressing his trembling lips, there was clearly something he wanted to say to them but he restrained himself from saying anything.
It’s not that Luffy doesn’t want to say it, for whatever reason, he can’t say it. Ace sat back calmly when he realized it, his irritation fading.
“Okay, Lu. We understand, sorry, let’s forget about the matter for now as long as you don’t repeat it.”
Sabo got up and walked towards Luffy who was snorting, pursing his lips and muttering ‘I told you I promised’ under his breath.
A moment after Sabo gave his head a gentle caress, ruffling his raven hair, Luffy’s expression immediately relaxed, from frowning to beaming in just a seconds as he melted into Sabo’s hand.
Looking at his youngest brother, Ace could only sigh and move to stand beside them, “Let’s go training.”
Luffy immediately grinned and raised two fists in the air while shouting, “Today I will defeat you guys!”
Ace and Sabo just looked at him while chuckling in amusement but at the same time feeling challenged, “Keep dreaming.”
A week has passed since then, and Luffy kept his promise well, in the last week he never went out alone in the middle of the night again without waking one of them up.
It’s not that they don’t believe Luffy’s promises, but he and Sabo have often taken turns over the past week to stay up until midnight just to make sure Luffy doesn’t leave without saying anything.
However, because he wanted to be independent, they allowed him to go out alone, but with the condition that he had to come back within five minutes, and he did it well.
But as time went by they became aware of Luffy’s strange behavior. He who usually always sticks to them like a duck with its hen, during the last week he has often looked for opportunities or made excuses to get some alone time.
The most common example is that he will ask permission to go home to the tree house first after they hunt, or he doesn’t want to go hunting at all and prefers to stay in the tree house.
And that happened everyday for the last week, once a day, indeed most of his time was spent with them because they also hunted more than three times a day, Luffy never even missed their sparring time, but still this behavior was quite strange for Ace and Sabo.
Besides, as far as they knew, Luffy didn’t like being left alone. He gets lonely easily. They were certainly curious as to what was the underlying reason for Luffy’s sudden change in behavior but they didn’t mind it too much if that's what Luffy wants.
Maybe that's one of Luffy's many ways to become independent? With all honesty, the two of them will never know what's inside Luffy's head.
Until one day.
That day the sky was already orange as the sun began to set over the horizon, Sabo and Ace managed to catch a big fish from the river for dinner, and were now holding it together so they could eat it under their tree house.
Luffy asked not to come hunting for dinner this afternoon, saying he was sleepy and wanted to take a nap, so he stayed in their tree house.
“Lu would be surprised and happy to know that today we caught fish for dinner, right, Ace? However, he said he wanted to eat fish today.”
Sabo said as he thought of Luffy’s beaming face when they got the food he wanted. He was happy just thinking about how Luffy would praise them and say that they were both the best brothers in the world.
“Seriously, Sabo, you spoil him too much.”
“Look who’s talking, as if you didn’t do the same thing, Ace~”
Ace just rolled his eyes, Sabo knew what he said was true with the way Ace didn’t even try to deny it! Sabo just chuckled in amusement at the reaction he got.
It was fun teasing Ace all the time, he pretended to be a strict brother when he also spoiled Luffy more than he realized and it was really cute whenever he watched him act shy when Luffy or himself gave him affection.
Without a doubt, his brothers are very cute, sweet, funny and entertaining. Sabo loves them even though he is still embarrassed to admit it directly.
When they arrived under the tree house where they lived, Sabo and Ace immediately gathered wood to make a campfire. After the preparations for grilling the fish were finished Sabo and Ace shared a look and nodded.
They then looked up at the tree house above them, because there was no noise, Luffy must still be asleep, they had to call him.
“Hey, Lu—“
“Ahahaha! S-Stop! I-It tickles!”
Sabo and Ace gasped at the same time, it was Luffy’s voice. Strange, is he awake? And more importantly.. Is he with someone?
“Is he with someone?” Ace said, repeating the same question that had just crossed Sabo’s mind.
“No way, he wouldn’t bring someone to our secret house without telling us anything.. Right?” Sabo said in a voice full of doubt.
Sabo and Ace heard their younger brother chuckle again, they shared a glance, and without saying anything they immediately climbed the ladder, Ace went up first while Sabo followed him from behind.
Luffy’s voice could no longer be heard after his chuckle just now, but as they got closer to their tree house, they both could hear Luffy whispering.
“Shishishi! Sorry! But what can I do?! You tickled me so much that i couldn’t hold back my laugh, Nika!”
Sabo raised an eyebrow, it was a new name he had never heard before. He didn’t know that name, and from Ace’s look when he looked down at him, it could also be concluded that he didn’t know the name either, so, who is .. Nika?
Who is their little brother with? Who was the person that Luffy let into their tree house, their secret base, without saying anything to either of them, his older brother?
Is ‘Nika’ the reason for Luffy’s recent change in behavior? Is the reason Luffy always looks for excuses and sometimes doesn’t go hunting with them because he’s actually... with whoever this ‘Nika’ is?
Why did Luffy never tell them anything about ‘Nika’? No, he’s not jealous. If Luffy makes new friends, that’s a good thing. But, shouldn’t he at least tell them?
Sabo and Ace peeked out from under the entrance of their tree house, careful not to let Luffy notice their presence. And when they looked inside, what they saw was nothing like what they expected or thought.
Seeing that scene made their eyes widen and shock filled their bodies, couldn't help the goosebumps they felt on their necks.
Sabo didn’t really pay attention to what Luffy was saying when he spoke, because he was too stunned and fixated on the scene in front of them, where Luffy was sitting on the wooden floor of their tree house, talking and laughing...
Alone.