Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda owns everything related to One Piece. I own my words and the plot.

When they met for the first time, Ace had been six for a few months and Sabo had turned six the week before. They met at the border, where green grass and tall trees met silver steel and putrid trash.

Ace was alone. Luffy was sick, so Dadan and Magra were watching over him. Ace had been kicked out for the day. They didn't want him to get sick either. So there Ace was, far from the cabin atop Mount Corbo.

Some nine year olds were bullying Sabo when Ace stumbled upon that area of the trash heap for the first time, where all of the trash and the wall met the sea. With a fierce, practiced glare and a rusty pipe he had just found, Ace had scared the older kids away. Sabo wiped the dirt off his cheek and the blood from his nose and sniffled. He scrubbed at his eyes to wipe away the tears.

"Thanks," Sabo mumbled. Ace said nothing in reply. He mustered a grunt and began to walk away. Sabo shuffled his feet and then ran after him. "What's your name?"

Ace stopped. "Why do you want to know?"

Sabo shrugged. "I thought we could be friends," He stared at Ace with genuine curiosity. Ace's lips twitched.

"Roger? No one was friends with Roger!"

"No one liked that bastard, the fucking murderer."

"Ah don' like him, tha' fucker killed ma' friend ya' know."

"Yeah yeah, you've told us ovuh and ovuh and ovuh again."

"Point is, kid, no one was ever friends with Roger. Everyone celebrated his death."

"Damn, wish I could've killed him myself."

"Ah would'a killed 'is whole family! An' then him!"

"Yeah right," Ace walked away. Sabo stared at him, gaping, and then scowled. He stormed after the other boy.

"Well it's true you asshole!"

Ace froze and turned, glowering. "Hey, I'm not an asshole you fucking pipsqueak!"

"Pipsqueak?"

"Yeah!"

Sabo pounced, punching. The two fell to the ground, punching and kicking and biting each other. They grunted and swore at each other, rolling around in the dirt and mud. It went on for ten minutes before they finally stopped. They panted, staring up the sky as they laid on their backs.

"You're pretty strong," Ace huffed, grimacing. Sabo grinned and chuckled.

Ace continued to meet with Sabo, even after Luffy got better. He would leave the toddler at the cabin. Luffy would watch him go, always being held back by Pochi or Dogra or another bandit. He didn't understand why his big brother always left.

That was when Luffy's nightmares began. Dreams of fire. He always woke up wailing. Ace woke up sometimes, others he was up, and then there were the times when he was sleeping so deeply only the sun could wake him. On those nights Luffy would curl up against his side and come morning the two clung to one another.

March passed, and April flew by for Ace. Unlike Luffy, the days felt short for him. He would meet with Sabo and the two would spar. And talk. And that was how they learned that they both wanted to become pirates.

That was when the stealing began. It was hard to find goods foraging, so instead they would steal from the worst of the trash heap. Gold, silver, money, old crowns and jewels thrown out by the rich people behind the wall. Neither boy had reservations about stealing. Sabo lived there two years ago and hated their arrogance, their selfishness, and their wasteful habits. Ace hated the people of the trash heap, he hated his father, and he wanted to break free. That was what they both vowed to do once they could buy a ship. Find freedom.

For the first time since Luffy had shown up at the cabin, Ace didn't return that night. Luffy was confused when he was put in his room alone. The bandits didn't do much, they just remarked that Ace was acting like before. Dadan said she wasn't surprised, but Luffy was. He didn't understand. Did Ace not like him anymore?

Luffy cried silently to himself that night, clutching his and Ace's pillow. If the bandits had heard they would've comforted him with a pat to the head and some food, but their partying was too loud. Luffy buried his face in the pillow, his and Ace's only pillow that Ace had stolen from the bandits. Luffy took many shuddering inhales and after an hour, he fell asleep.

They were on top of the world. All of the kingdom lay before their eyes, the city and the trash heap and the village where he spent the first seven years of his life. They were all laughing and staring in awe. Luffy pointed out at a ship.

It all disappeared.

Red burst in front of his eyes. Flames formed like flowers and exploded like stars. It burned, the consuming heat that he couldn't escape from. He was surrounded on all four sides, above and below. It felt like he was running slow motion. There was a door, but he knew he wouldn't reach it when he fell, and then felt a weight and it hurt, he couldn't handle so much pain at once, it was too much-

The sun was shining through the window and Ace still wasn't there. Luffy was crying, chest heaving and vision blurry. The bandits were still asleep. It was early, maybe six. Luffy trembled and sat up and decided he was going to go find Ace.

"Oh no," Ace woke up in Sabo's makeshift tree house. He had several and moved from one to the next every week. The curly haired blond boy looked to his friend with a cocked eyebrow.

"What?"

"Luffy."

"Luffy?"

"My baby brother."

"Woah, woah, wait, hold on a second," Sabo scrambled to his feet, pointing at Ace with both hands and wide eyes. "You have a baby brother?"

"Yeah," Ace looked at him. "He's two and he hates being alone."
"Then why did you sleep over?" Sabo stares at Ace with a raised eyebrow. Ace grumbles and flushes, muttering about narcolepsy.

"Wanna come meet him?"

"Yeah, let's go!"

They set out when the sun was barely in the sky. Golden tendrils surrounded the rising sun and warded off the gentle blue that flooded the expanse of space above. The whole time they walked, they talked about nonsense and stories that they hadn't told each other before. Stories of Luffy, stories from Gray Terminal, stories about fighting the beasts of the mountain. Despite climbing steep hills, scaling boulders, and scampering over large tree roots, they weren't out of breath. Each story was accompanied by relaxed laughter and easy smiles.

Then they heard the cry.

"That's Luffy!" Ace ran into the brush. Sabo cursed and followed. He looked up, noting that they had probably been walking for two hours. He didn't think they were anywhere near the cabin, which Ace had said was far from the Terminal.

It was, indeed, Luffy. Ace sprinted to the toddler and lifted him into his arms. Luffy clung to Ace like a koala. Snot dripped from his nose as his body shook with sobs. "Asce! Asce!" Ace was horrified that he had actually been able to leave the bandit's hideout alone. Sabo was horrified that the boy was so small and out in the middle of nowhere alone. He was lucky no hungry beasts had found him.

"I'm here Lu," Ace repeated over and over. He turned to Sabo and smiled. Sabo smiled back and stepped closer when Ace kneeled down with the child. Luffy's feet hit the ground, but he still clutched Ace's shirt in a tight grip. He sniffled and looked up at Ace when the older boy ran a hand through his hair. "Hey Lu, look at this, this is our new friend Sabo."

Luffy scrubbed at his eyes with one hand and turned his head. Sabo smiled at the child and held up a peace sign. Luffy blinked his eyes and licked at the salty water on his lips, then smiled widely. "Hi Sabo! I's Luffy!"

Sabo's smile widened and he reached out to ruffle the little boy's head. Ace grinned. "Hi Luffy! It's nice to meetcha! What're you doing way out here?"

Luffy squirmed a bit and clung to Ace. "I's look for Ace!" Ace pulled the younger boy closer and sighed with a frown. He ran soothing circles over the toddlers back. Luffy buried his face into Ace's stomach. Sabo's eyes widened upon seeing the display of affection. He hadn't seen Ace act like this before. It made Sabo smile, though, and wonder just how special the toddler was to Ace.

Luffy yawned against Ace's stomach. "Get on my back, Lu." Ace let go of the child and turned around to crouch. Luffy crawled onto his back, burying his face against his hair. He was asleep in seconds. Ace looked at Sabo. "Wanna walk back with us?"

Sabo blinked and smiled. "Yeah!"

Sabo couldn't help but feel like this had happened before, except he was on someone else's back. He could picture it in his mind as if it had happened yesterday. He shrugged off the feeling and followed Ace with a grin.

A/N: Thank you for reading! :) I love all the comments, they make me smile! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!