Chapter Text
To be waking up in some dark alley wasn’t something Sabo usually considered weird.
As the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, he had had his fair share of missions going south – Seas know how many nights he had spent outdoors, even before joining.
To be waking up in some dark alley with a pounding headache and two unconscious strangers by his side, when he clearly remembered falling asleep at his desk last night?
Now that could enter his definition of weird.
Sabo looked around, searching for clues. The street was a narrow and dirty path, and the sky was still dark. The scenery was an unfamiliar one – if not for the salty smell carried by the wind, he wouldn’t have guessed that this was a port town.
Despite the apparent wounds the two strangers were sporting – some deeper than others, but none requiring immediate attention – there was no trace of blood on the paved ground. As it was, those men had more reasons to fear dying from an infection than from blood loss. If they had taken part in a fight, it hadn’t happened here. The pale tiles of the ground were still as pristine as it could be in such a dirty street. No blood stains, no traces of a fight, nothing.
Then how did they end up here? Why was Sabo present? Why couldn’t he remember what had happened between the moment he had fallen asleep doing paperwork and now?
Why–
He heaved a sigh of relief at the weight of his pipe on his back.
Calm down. Breathe.
Placing his hat back on his head, he quickly checked his surroundings. Bar the few drunks being chased out of the closing bar around the corner, they were alone.
And that piece of information didn’t sit right with him.
Silence never was good news. No town was ever that calm. Sabo had traveled around the globe for the past decade – he knew that there always was noise or people around. Especially this late at night. Unless he had found himself lost on some tiny island with barely any population, he could be in immediate danger.
In the wild, silence was synonymous with predator.
He could hear his heartbeat fasten as seconds ticked by, blood flow echoing against his eardrums and filling his mind with too many thoughts. Suspicion arose deep within and his guts clenched at the lack of explanation.
Usually, one could gather clues and retrace the events that led back to the present, even if they had no recollection of what had happened. However, the street Sabo had ended up in was as blank as his memories.
Seas, he had never wanted to feel that again.
Turning around, he grabbed his pipe and held it steady as he crouched before the two strangers. Despite their respective wounds, they were breathing slowly, only wincing from time to time. They made no sign to wake up, though.
“What the hell happened…” Sabo mumbled. “And who are you?”
Ever so careful, he rolled them over on their sides. Koala and Hack had drilled first-aid in his head years ago – it wasn’t the first nor last time that it came in handy.
Sabo put a knee down and observed them. Something was weird… yet, not uncanny.
The straw hat wrapped with a silky red band. The familiar dark hair underneath. The curved scar on the too-young face.
Familiar?
Hands trembling, Sabo reached out to the other man and carefully tucked his hair behind his ear. The motion was so mechanical it hurt – his lungs clenching and squeezing his heart so tight it might as well have stopped.
Tattoos that seemed out of place and new – despite the slightly fading ink, attesting that they weren’t. Wavy dark hair. The sunkissed freckles – twenty-seven, if he remembered right.
If he–
–what?
Sabo’s heart skipped a beat. Running his hands through his hair and curling in on himself, he tried to ignore his worsening headache. Images kept flashing before his eyes. A forest – no, a jungle – filled with giant animals and numerous adventures. Children laughing – warning him to run faster before some old man caught them.
Wait–
A junkyard and an angry child.
Who–
A stubborn kid who never took no for an answer.
Too much–
A treehouse, a home–
Bile rose up his throat.
Sabo barely got the time to turn around before spilling out the contents of his stomach. His headache went from bad to terrible. All he could hear was the pain pounding down directly onto his brain, forcing forgotten memories out of their hiding place. Seas knew they had made themselves comfortable in the nooks and cracks of his mushy brain these past ten years.
Taking deep breaths only amplified the spikes of pain, drilling into his head like it would into resilient cement. Acid took over his taste buds and electricity rolled underneath his tongue.
Another wave of nausea hit him, his nails scraping sharply against the wall.
You know, you really have the devil’s luck, Koala had told him once, And yet, you always screw it up with the worst timing in history!
She couldn’t have been more right.
Well, Koala was always right.
Sabo took a deep breath…
… and slammed his head against the wall.
“C'mon, this is just a headache… Think, Sabo, think…” He said through gritted teeth as he forced himself up, ignoring the blood running down his face. “You don't know where you are, you don't know why you're here, and you don't even know how the three of you ended up together again…”
Despite his shaking legs, Sabo went to the two he had recognized – Ace, Luffy – and dragged them to the darkest corner of the alley. He ignored his raging headache and burned throat to settle them close to each other with all the delicacy he could muster.
He hobbled around the trash, searching for anything he could use to hide them. He wouldn't leave for long – just a few minutes – but he didn't want to take any risk. Not with them.
Never with them.
“What you do know,” Sabo went on, talking himself through his plan, “Ugh stupid headache–… What you do know is that we all have bounties and that none of us could fight back if civilians were to call the Marines. First, we need to hide our identities – sorry Lu, these card boards stink, ew–”
Once he was certain that any passerby would only see a pile of trash in the alleyway, Sabo sat his hat a little lower on his head and hid his presence as much as his migraine would allow.
From a few streets away came the song of drunk sailors singing off-key. Pirates, Sabo guessed as he recognized Binks no Sake's chorus. He abruptly took a turn to avoid a wandering man, bitter about the fact that he couldn't just hide his Haki like he usually would.
Koala was right – she always was. He did have the worst timing on all six seas.
Each step he took echoed in his brain, pain exploding behind his eyes. Shouldn't his headache have subsided by now?
Sabo walked faster.
He wasn't searching for the perfect disguise. Some dark coats or plain shirts would already be helpful enough to change their appearance. If he could find anything with a hood, that would do.
Sabo strutted by yet another shop that only sold fishing gear – it was the fifth one.
Was he taking too long? Had someone stumbled upon Ace and Luffy? Had he wandered too far?
Stupid, stupid migraine–
Thoughts rushed through his mind, crashing into each other and never staying for too long. Focusing was an almost impossible task, his sole motivation being to keep Ace and Luffy safe – and hadn’t that always been the case?
Another storefront.
Another filled with fishing gear only.
Walking faster, he kept his glances sharp and quick so that no detail would escape him. He pushed through the pain, as he had always done when it came to them (for Ace, for Luffy, his mind chanted). They were in danger and he was to make sure that nothing would happen to them.
Not on his watch, not when he had finally gained a handful of memories back.
Sabo stopped and a grin finally bloomed on his face.
This. Right here. Perfect.
Living as a spy for the past ten years had granted him a fair share of skills, among which one of his favorites: lock-picking. Sabo should have felt guilty for stealing from a humble little shop. However, he was currently obsessed with the idea of keeping Ace and Luffy safe. So much for telling Koala just yesterday that no, he did not have tunnel vision, thank you.
First, disguises, Sabo thought as he entered the shop.
He tiptoed around the place, gathering items his foggy brain deemed necessary. Sabo was in-and-out, not even registering what he had grabbed nor how much he ought to have left on the counter. As soon as he had gathered what he had sought, he was back on the street.
Second, a doctor. Ace and Luffy will need more than just first-aid.
Weirdly enough, going back to the alleyway went a lot faster. Maybe it was because he didn't need to check out all the storefronts. Maybe it was because he had run, forgetting all about the stealth lesson the Revolutionaries had taught him.
But Sabo wouldn't forget basic training, right?
Right?
… Seas, Koala was going to murder him.
Well, she’s probably already planning to kill me if she’s noticed I’m not in Baltigo anymore, Sabo inwardly lamented.
Kneeling down by Ace and Luffy's side, Sabo took down the trash shelter he had built and helped them into their new outfits. Luffy's blue shirt was too noticeable – a white one would do. Ace's lack of shirt made it easy to dress him in a black one – hiding his Whitebeard tattoo was a must. Sabo also took the time to wrap them in similar hooded cloaks, like the gray one he had picked for himself.
“Just one more thing–”
His breath was laborious. Painful, even. But he had to push through.
He would push through.
For Ace.
For Luffy.
“–look what I found!”
Sabo took out three masks from his breast pocket with a beaming smile and wheezing lungs. Sure, they had a pretty simple design and would only cover the top half of their faces, but there was a thin, dark veil over the eyeholes, and were painted in primary colors.
Their colors.
One by one, he put the masks on.
Red for Ace. Yellow for Luffy. Blue for him.
Sabo let out a relieved sigh. Now, he knew that most civilians wouldn’t recognize them. Sure, it wasn’t easy to stay incognito while wearing such bright colors, but it was better than to have their faces out in the open.
Engrossed in his work, he didn't notice the man standing at the end of the alley until he had walked up to him.
“Who–”
Black spots danced before his eyes.
The floor was a lot closer than before – why was the floor closer? Had he been attacked?
No… No, the man hadn't moved.
Not yet.
Sabo felt the pounding in his head worsen. He couldn't think straight anymore – couldn't move without immediately wanting to retch and cry out.
He would have begged for the pain to stop.
He would have–
–if not for Ace and Luffy.
“Don't–”
Pushing through his limits one more time, he ignored the reasonable part of his mind – that sounded strangely like Koala – and sat up to shield the two unconscious men.
“Don't touch…”
The stranger didn't move.
Sabo gritted his teeth together.
“My brothers–”
And promptly passed out.
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“Wait. Who's that?”
The few men already on deck looked up at the question, turning their gaze to the newcomers. Usually, morning chores were on the quiet side – everyone would be sleepy until the cooks called them for coffee and food in the galley. So when Gaban raised a hand and stopped Oden as he was about to walk by him, everyone paused and watched attentively.
The pirate shrugged, holding up three unconscious men as well as a few bags of food.
“No idea. But–”
“Oi, Oden!” Shanks' young voice rose above that of the crew. He and Buggy stood side by side, chins up and fists on their hips. Shanks pointed an accusing finger at the man. “You can't keep on bringing new people aboard! The Captain accepted you and your family! You already brought the cat and the dog too! And now you want us to accept these strangers on board?!”
“They're kids!” Oden defended with a frown. “And they need to see a doctor!”
“Then bring 'em to one, not here!” Buggy replied, heat in his eyes.
Rayleigh looked at the scene and sighed.
He was too sober for this.
Gaban chuckling at his suffering was also not helping.
“Can't!” Oden announced as he dropped the three strangers and bags of food on the ground. “I went around to find us breakfast, and now the Marines are coming this way! Wahahahahah!”
“DON'T LOOK SO PROUD!!”
“How many times do we have to tell you to pay for the groceries, Oden?!”
While the pair of teens engaged in a yelling match with the samurai, Crocus walked to the three stowaways. It didn't take much to see that they were in no shape to fight back. Where had Oden found those kids?
He glanced at Rayleigh, waiting for instructions.
The first mate sighed for the second time today, and the sun hadn’t even risen yet.
“Okay– shut up. NOW. ”
The deck went silent.
Buggy was hanging from Oden's arm, knives in hand. Shanks had wrapped himself around the man's back, biting off his head. And Oden? Well, the man was showing off his brightest smile.
Of course he would.
“Weigh anchor and get ready for the next island.” Rayleigh ordered, annoyed enough that no adult would talk back.
“But Rayleigh-san–” Came the twin shouts of the cabin boys.
“No. Captain's asleep and I am not waking him for something this dumb. I will not deal with him so early in the day.”
“I'm surprised as well, Rayleigh,” Crocus said as he examined the newcomers, professional as always. “'Didn't take you for the type to accept stowaways.”
The first mate ran a hand through his hair and pinched his nose.
“Those three… They're young, aren't they?”
“And beaten up.” The doctor confirmed.
Just his chance.
“Captain would kick our asses for leaving them to die after Oden brought 'em back.”
“Oh, yeah, that he would,” Laughed the old man, glasses shining with mirth.
“Counting on you to nurse 'em good, Doc. Bring those defenseless kids back to life, would you?”
A few days later, Silvers Rayleigh would regret ever using the term defenseless.