【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Does that still bother you?"

"I mean who cares if I'm avoiding your questions"

Sabo's smile fell, his blue eyes flashing with annoyance "So the answer is yes."

Ace sighed and glared at his friend "It's not exactly bothering me, I'm just still wondering if it matters?"

Lucci watched the conversation between Sabo and Ace quietly.

"Nothing has changed," Ace recalled their conversation the night before. "I think your word made us happy, but I guess it didn't make any difference to me."

"Your behavior has changed," Sabo shook his head.

"Nothing has changed" Ace snapped, glaring at Sabo "I'm not like you and Lucci, who dote on Luffy just because he's our little brother. If anyone asks, I can say that you three are my brothers, and that will never change. But that doesn't mean I'll act any differently than I did from the beginning."

"Ace, that's not true," Sabo said, taking off his hat.

"How do you know?"

"I know you better than anyone," Sabo said, looking at Ace, "and you don't have to worry about me telling Luffy about this, so why don't you admit it."

Ace sighed in frustration and ran his hands through his hair. He hated this complicated feeling. "Then explain to me why this matter is so confusing just because Luffy is our little brother."

Lucci chuckled "Ace, this isn't confusing unless you try to deny him"

Sabo smiled sympathetically and said, "Let me give you an example. When we were fighting Luffy today, did you hold back?"

"Of course not. Why, what about you?" Ace asked confusedly.

"Of course not, I mean we're still training just as hard as ever and other than taking precautions against his reckless behavior, we haven't stopped him to keep him safe."

"Like that time by the river?" Ace frowned.

"Yes, just like that time, because he couldn't swim, we didn't need him to help us catch fish, but in the forest, we still accepted his help in hunting," Sabo explained.

"So what's your point?" Ace leaned forward and asked impatiently.

"Remember the incident with Borjami?" Sabo asked.

Ace was at a loss for words at the change of subject, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond. "Yeah, so what?"

"Right after that happened, we could talk about him without getting worked up or anything," Sabo continued, "but think about it now."

Ace frowned, then shrugged, thinking back on the incident.

"Do you know how angry you look right now?" Sabo interrupted Ace's thoughts.

"What?" Ace felt his mood change.

"You're wondering how hurt Luffy is?" Sabo guessed.

"At the time, we just forgot about it because he recovered, and looking back now, we were more worried about the treasure than if someone was torturing our little brother. Looking back now, we were furious that someone was torturing our little brother. Before you try to deny it, don't forget that I'm with you, and we feel the same way about this matter."

Ace frowned and looked away.

Sabo smiled, albeit a little annoyed "Don't worry Ace, it's normal to feel this way, the only reason it bothers you is because we've never felt this way before."

"Ace, don't worry. This is the normal feeling of an older brother towards his younger brother. You will know after a while." Lucci understood something after listening to their conversation, so he patted Ace's shoulder and gave him affirmation.

.......

Ace was in a state of deep thought during Luffy's actions after he woke up. When he was sleeping at night, Luffy suddenly gave him a big hug.

"What the hell, Luffy?" Ace complained.

"Hehehe! Good night, Ace!" Luffy hugged him tightly again.

"Good night! Sabo!" Luffy turned around and hugged Sabo with a smile.

"Goodnight, Luffy" Sabo hugged Luffy back before releasing him and letting him return to his blanket.

Lucci fixed the blanket for Luffy, and Sabo approached Ace and explained to him, "I told him he could hug us because we are a family now, just accept it."

"You what?" Ace whispered "That's why he jumped on me this morning, isn't it?"

"It makes him happy" Sabo retorted "It's just a hug"

Now it made more sense, Ace thought to himself in frustration, he had never liked, wasn't used to any kind of physical contact, and it was obvious that Luffy seemed to prefer physical contact. So every time Luffy hugged him he just tried to push him away, but now there seemed to be no reason to push him away, and to be honest Luffy didn't seem to know how to tell the difference between if he was giving a hug or trying to take down a beast, but it wasn't like he really minded the hug Luffy had just given him. Ace suddenly thought of what Sabo had said today, Ace hated having to admit that Sabo was right, but there was no point in denying it. "

Talking about the incident with Luffy and Borjami more or less solidified Sabo's point of view, before they exchanged sake, he would of course be angry if someone hurt one of them, regardless they have come this far as friends.

Now... was that what Sabo meant by the mere reminder of Luffy's injury when he could have avoided it being enough to make him angry? The changes they had undergone, it was strange that the anger within him was tied to his protective instinct, which was different from the anger he had when he mentioned Roger to others. When it came to Roger, the anger was a way for him to vent his frustration with the person who made him live such a cursed life, and hatred and self-loathing would dominate his thoughts.

It felt different when his brothers were involved, when his anger was on their behalf rather than when he was angry at himself.

"Ace, Sabo, Luffy, it's great to have you as my big brothers," Luffy muttered softly into the mat.

Ace turned to look at Luffy, he clearly felt the weight of the words, his cheeks began to turn red, it was a simple statement but it filled him with warmth. Ace looked at the mess of black hair, he could feel the smile on his face and the relaxation in his body.

In the forest when they finished breakfast, they decided on the goal for today. Since they had done a lot of training recently, when they were about to count, they found that the soil usually used for counting had been smeared too badly and could no longer be counted. Sabo thought we should go to the waste terminal to find some chalk and some boards.

The four brothers were at the waste terminal, searching around for some chalk and a suitable board.

"Hey! Ace, there are some wooden boards stuck underneath. They should be able to be used." Sabo called Ace to look at some wooden boards stuck under a pile of garbage.

"We should move that garbage away," Ace said.

"I! I! I can take it out!" Luffy volunteered and raised his hand.

"Alright, Luffy, let's first..." Lucci didn't even finish his sentence when he saw a pair of outstretched hands reaching down, pulling hard at the planks, pulling them back violently, and the huge pile of garbage on top of them suddenly all fell down because there was nothing to support them.

"Be careful!" Lucci was startled when he saw the garbage pile suddenly collapse, and hurriedly pulled Luffy beside him to jump away. The four of them barely avoided being buried in the garbage.

"boom!"

"Idiot! Who told you to just pull it!" Ace angrily punched Luffy's rubber head.

Luffy squatted on the ground with tears in his eyes and his head in his hands. "This is faster!" Luffy retorted.

"Stupid Luffy! This is very dangerous, we will be buried under the garbage dump!" Lucci said viciously while pressing Luffy's head.

"Okay, okay, Luffy, just listen to us next time, okay?" Sabo said as they pulled apart.

"Okay!" Luffy agreed with a pout.

"Luffy, can you just help us collect chalk nearby?" Sabo said to Luffy with a smile.

"Oh!"

Luffy wrinkled his nose and searched around until he saw some chalk, he picked up the chalk and put it in his pocket when he remembered that one of his pockets was torn and he needed something to hold the chalk.

He looked at his brothers, Lucci, Ace and Sabo who were still digging at the plank, trying to rescue him, they told him not to go too far, but it was not like he couldn't take care of himself.

He looked around and saw some small baskets or round pieces of trash near the city wall that he could use to hold the chalk so that he wouldn't have to fill his hands with chalk.

Besides, they are always fighting the thugs in the city and the pirates in the bay, so we can handle everything, Luffy thought as he walked towards the city wall. He saw the small basket that he noticed at first, he picked it up and was disappointed to find that it was torn. Suddenly his attention was attracted by a shiny object closer to the wall. He put the chalk in his hand into the small basket and went there to check.

When he saw it was a pair of broken glasses, his little shoulders slumped in disappointment, and he wished it was treasure or something valuable so he could give it to his brothers to make up for the mess he had just made.

"Hey, kid!"