The Legend of Kintaro (and Gintaro and Dotaro)

CRASH.

The midday shoppers on Goa's most prestigious high street whipped up their faces in alarm, as above them three boy-shaped blurs burst threw a fourth-storey window, taking with them a rain of shards. Instantaneously, the scene transformed itself into one of utter panic, as people ran to take cover from the falling glass, some of them shouting in fright, some of them pointing in horror at the shapes of the poor boys who were plunging to their certain deaths …

By contrast, the three boys could not have been less concerned about their imminent fate as human pancakes on Goa's high street.

"I told you Luffy! Don't use your gum gum ability in front of strangers! It freaks them out!"

"But it wasn't my fault they found us out! It was you who fell asleep and dropped to the waitress' feet!"

"Hey, I-"

"It was both your faults, okay! Now, can we focus?! We're about to have a very unwelcome meeting with the ground."

Worriedly, Sabo looked downward at the ever approaching pavement, eyeing the cobblestones warily. This was going to hurt very much in less than three seconds … unless …

"Ace, Luffy!" he called urgently, "Try catching one of these wires with your pipes! It might slow us down!"

Interrupting their argument for the moment, both Ace and Luffy stuck out their arms, for once following Sabo's advice without any protest. As Sabo's pipe caught on one of the wires, the sudden decrease in speed wrenched painfully at his arms, but he kept a tight grip on his weapon. Bouncing up and down in mid-air, he saw that both Ace and Luffy had managed to copy him without any issue, dangling in the air as they were - when all of a sudden Luffy's wire broke.

Hurriedly, Ace tried to grab onto him, freeing one hand from its tight grip on his own pipe in the process, but it was too late. By the time either of them could even find their voices to shout, Luffy had already crashed to the ground, face first.

"LUFFY!"

Hastily, both Ace and Sabo followed after their brother, wincing at the pain that shot up their legs as their feet made contact with the ground. They need not have worried, however. Luffy was already bouncing back to his feet as they hurried over to where he had fallen.

"I'm made of rubber, did you forget?" the little boy grinned up at them, his smile so wide it made Sabo think of a cat, "A fall like that doesn't hurt me one bit!"

Rubbing a hand across the back of his neck, Sabo sighed in relief, "Yes, I suppose that's true."

Instead of replying, Ace gave Luffy a bop on the head.

"Hey!" Luffy shouted indignantly, turning to the black-haired boy with an angry look in his eyes. "What was that for?"

"I thought you couldn't feel anything," Ace said, folding his arms in front of his chest.

Luffy's angry response was cut short by the sound of a whistle and the shouts of the owner of the restaurant they had just tricked into a free meal … or rather thirty-three free meals.

"I think we better scram …," Sabo said, disliking the look of angry determination on the face o fthe policeman that was heading their way.

Wordlessly, the three youngsters turned tail, trying to lose their pursuer in the maze-like alleyways of Goa's downtown. Running after his two elder brothers, Luffy kept an angry glare levelled at Ace's back, perhaps hoping to eventually burn a hole in it. Soon, his attention however got caught on the brightly coloured strips of cloth that were hung from flagpoles all around town. He had never noticed them before.

Slowing down, he walked over to one of them, squinting against the sunlight as he looked up at the red, blue and black strips.

"What are you doing, Luffy?" Sabo shouted, having turned around to look for his younger brother when he couldn't hear his steps following after him anymore. "Come on!"

"What are those things, Sabo? They look funny!"

Shielding his eyes against the sunlight, Sabo looked where Luffy was pointing.

"They're carp streamers. It must be children's day soon."

"Children's day? What's that?"

"It's a holiday. Families fly these carps for their children, to celebrate their happiness. They buy Kintaro dolls too, and helmets."

"Kintaro dolls? What are those?"

"Umm …," Sabo said, rubbing his forehead in thought, "They're just dolls … of Kintaro." At Luffy's blank stare he frowned. "Haven't you ever heard the story of Kintaro?"

"Nuh-uh. Has it got to do with meat?"

"No." Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Sabo turned to Ace, intending to ask for his help, but stopped short.

"… Don't tell me you have no idea who Kintaro is, either?"

The impassive look he received was more than ample in terms of an answer.

"But … how can you two not have heard it? Everyone knows it!"

The scowl the incredulity in his voice produced on Ace's face made Sabo immediately regret his words. He supposed that life with the mountain bandits was probably pretty secluded, keeping Ace from seeing any of the usual decorations on children's day … plus, he could not really imagine Dadan as the storytelling type of carer. Or any type of carer, really.

He sighed.

"Okay then, let's find some kind of shop where they sell them …"

"Wooooow …"

If nothing else, the look of absolute wonder on Luffy's face made coming to the doll shop completely worth it. In spite of himself, Sabo had to smile. He was not a big fan of dolls himself, finding them slightly creepy, especially in the dark … but Luffy's astonished eyes made him laugh.

"Well, go on, don't just stand there. Have a look around if you like."

Luffy didn't need to be told twice. He took off to the other end of the store within moments, leaving Sabo at the entrance to the store with Ace, who was wearing a far less enthusiastic expression on his face. Frowning, he walked over to one of the little display tables, picking up a doll at random.

"So that's him. This … Kintaro guy."

Sabo followed after Ace and looked at the doll at his hands. "Yes. He became a samurai in the legend, that's why he's wearing all of that armour."

Doubtful, Ace looked from Sabo to the doll and back again. Sabo had to concede the point. He had never seen anything less likely to pass as a samurai as this chubby-cheeked, cotton swathed, fat doll with a bad bowl haircut. It looked like it would trip over its own clothes if it tried to take one step.

"… It's a legend …"

There was a sudden crash from the other end of the store and Sabo winced.

"Uh-oh."

Thankfully, the owner of the store seemed to be a little hard of hearing, turning over to the next page of his newspaper and yawning without even so much as sparing a glance in the direction the noise had come from.

Exchanging a worried look, Ace and Sabo hurried to their little brother, who was sitting on the floor amongst porcelain shards, clutching another figurine to his chest. Noting the two suspiciously empty, doll-free spaces on the topmost shelf behind Luffy, Ace and Sabo could just imagine what had happened.

"Sabo! Ace! Just look at the armour of this doll - it's amazing! And the helmet! I want one just like this! It looks so cool!"

"But what will you do with your straw hat then, Luffy?" Sabo asked, amused at the look of sheer bewilderment this earned him, as though Luffy could not quite believe that Sabo could ask such a stupid question.

"I'm going to wear it underneath, of course!"

Sabo chuckled, while Ace shook his head. "I think we better make a run for it," the black-haired boy said, carefully eyeing the store owner. "He's not going to be too pleased when he finds out we broke one of his dolls."

"Hm, you're right …," Sabo murmured, following the line of Ace's gaze.

"Ace? Sabo?"

They both turned back to the youngest member of their group, slightly taken off-guard by the unsure tone in his voice. Luffy was biting his lip and frowning at the doll in his hands.

"Yes?" Sabo finally asked, when Luffy did not continue his question. The other boy kept his strange silence for another brief moments, until finally, almost imperceptibly, he shook his head and beamed up at his brothers. "Nothing! We should go!"

A few seconds later they had left the shop, the door falling shut behind them, as both Sabo and Ace tried to suppress their guilty consciences. Of course they had known what their youngest sibling had wanted to ask. It had been written all over his face. They had just fervently hoped that he wouldn't, so that they wouldn't have to say no. It was not that they had no money for it, or even that they did not want to buy the doll for Luffy - it was just that they needed all of their savings for when they would all eventually set out to sea. And Luffy understood that as well.

The silence that stretched between the three brothers as they headed back to Mount Corvo was deeply uncomfortable, each of the boys dwelling on their own thoughts.

"Alright," Sabo said eventually, when he felt like he couldn't take it anymore. "So … you two really have never heard about Kintaro before?"

"We already told you we hadn't," Ace said, a slightly irritated tone in his voice at Sabo's insistence of going on about the topic.

"I know," Sabo said, even though strictly speaking Ace had not atually said anything to that effect, "I just … didn't you ever notice any of the decorations and wonder? Have you never been to the city in early May?"

"Early May?" Luffy piped up before Ace could answer. "My birthday is on May 5th!"

"Oh, really? That's children's day …," Sabo murmured distractedly, before his head whipped around to face Luffy.

"Your birthday is on May 5th?!"

Luffy stared at him in astonishment, his eyes wide at the forceful tone in Sabo's voice. Ace had turned around as well and was looking at Luffy with a frown on his face.

"But why didn't you tell us that before? That's today!" Sabo yelped.

"Oh, is it?" Luffy said interestedly, as if asking about the weather, "That's cool!"

Sabo could only stare. "Yes, very cool …," he murmured distractedly, trying to think of what to do with that unexpected piece of information.

"Hey Sabo, when's your birthday?"

"March 20th."

"And Ace, when's yours?"

The prolonged silence forced Sabo from his thoughts and he turned to look at the freckled boy, who had his arms crossed in front of his chest in an obviously defensive posture.

"… That's not important."

"Why?" Luffy asked, not missing a beat.

His jaw locking, Ace tried to stare Luffy down. "Because … it's not."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"Why?"

"Because!"

Sweatdropping, Sabo watched as Ace levelled a death glare at Luffy. There was a definite storm, wind force eight … or possibly nine … brewing, and he did not intend to get caught up in it. Luffy could handle it.

Angrily, Ace turned on his heels, trying to get away from his younger sibling - to no avail.

"Come on, Ace, tell me!"

"…"

"Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"…"

"Pleaase, tell me!"

"NO!"

January 1st.

Secretely, Sabo made a mental note, filing that information away for future purposes, as he watched Luffy rubbing one of the numerous bumps on his head. It had taken nearly an entire afternoon of badgering (not to mention a number of tussles) to wrestle that information out of Ace, but in the end he had finally succeeded. After all, Luffy was nothing if not persistent.

The unfortunate result of this, on the other hand, was that both of the two squabbling boys were now sulking in opposing corners of their treehouse, Luffy pouting underneath the shelves at the far wall, while Ace was leaning out of the window, glaring at the multi-coloured sunset in the distance.

Sabo sighed. If he was being honest, this was sort of his fault.

Fishing a band-aid out of their first-aid kit, he decided to head over to Luffy first to try and smooth some ruffled feathers. Even if Luffy himself did not seem to care about it, Sabo still hated to see his younger brother upset on his birthday. He would have to make up for it, somehow.

"Here," he said, ripping away the protective foil and crouching down next to Luffy to stick the band-aid to the thin cut on the boy's cheek, "Hold still."

"Ace is a big meanie," Luffy pouted, once again displaying his astonishing skill at never listening to anything Sabo said by turning his head.

Grabbing a hold of his chin, Sabo tried to catch Luffy's eye, as he carefully stroked the band-aid over the cut, "Now, don't say that, Luffy. Ace is just …" Sabo trailed off, trying to find an explanation that would both satisfy Luffy and at the same time save him from Ace's temper. He was all too aware of their close proximity, despite the fact that Ace was standing at the other end of the treehouse. Plus, the other boy had surprisingly good hearing whenever the conversation turned to him. Sabo was not for a moment fooled by his determined stare out of the window.

"Ummm …" He was just about to try for a change of topic, when suddenly an idea struck him.

"Ace is just like Kintaro!"

Luffy turned a confused look on Sabo, finally looking him in the eye, but it was Ace's reaction, which Sabo noticed at the edge of his vision, that caught his attention. The other boy had turned around, shooting Sabo a look of utter incredulity that seemed to scream: 'You think I'm a fat samurai?!'

Sabo winced. On second thought, maybe this idea had been less of a stroke of genius than he had thought. "I mean …," he said haltingly, trying to get back on track. "Kintaro was a hero even when he was a boy, long before he got to be a samurai. He lived alone in a forest and used to fight with the big animals, but he would always come out on top. He was really strong."

Luffy's eyes shone, as he raised his clenched fists in excitement. "Wow, cool! That's just like us!"

Sabo couldn't suppress the smile that was tugging at the corners of his lips at Luffy's sudden enthusiasm. "Hey, you know what," he said suddenly, another idea occurring to him, "How about I tell you the story of Kintaro for your birthday? How would you like that?"

The look of pure happiness Luffy got on his face rivalled the one he had worn when he had seen his first firework a couple of weeks ago, displayed in honour of the king's birthday. "Really? Would you do that?"

"Of course!" Sabo grinned, "Let's just get ready for bed first, I'll tell it to you before we go to sleep!"

"Awesome!"

Sabo didn't think he had ever seen Luffy going about his bed routine more quickly. His day clothes were off in less than a second and it seemed like sheer luck that they didn't rip in two in the process. Then he took off to the bucket of water in the corner, where the three of them brushed their teeth.

Ace meanwhile rolled his eyes. Nevertheless, he walked over to join Luffy at their makeshift wash basin.

"You're can join us too, of course," Sabo said to the boy's back, as he got changed himself.

"And listen to a kid's story? I think I'll pass."

"It's not just a kid's story," Sabo countered, hopping on one foot as he struggled out of his trouser leg. "It's actually pretty thrilling. Plus, like I said, there are a couple of funny little similarities to us."

Ace made a garbled sound, his toothbrush already in his mouth, but the disbelieving look he directed at Sabo was more than ample to tell the other boy what he thought.

Sabo shrugged.

Ten minutes later, they were all lying in the middle of the floor of their tree house, wrapped up tightly in their futons.

"Good night," Ace said, turning over on his shoulder so that he faced away from Luffy and Sabo.

"And you're sure this won't annoy you?" Sabo asked, thinking about how annoying he would find it when he was trying to fall asleep and someone else would not stop talking.

"I told you it was fine, didn't I?" Ace said unconcernedly. "You've seen me fall asleep before, haven't you?"

Yes. On multiple occasions, and with worrying frequency into full plates of food. But not when they were purposely trying to go to sleep.

Still, Ace had to know best - and besides, Luffy was already beginning to shake his arm in impatience, begging for the story. "Come on, Sabo, you promised!"

"Yes, yes," Sabo said, gently freeing his arm from Luffy's grip and folding his arms behind his head.

"Alright, so, there once was a boy named Kintaro who lived in the wild Ashigara mountains with an old hag who had been asked to raise him-"

Luffy giggled. "That's Dadan!"

Smiling wryly, Sabo had to concede that point. Even though there were few characters in legends who were chain smokers.

"He didn't know who his parents were, because he had been brought to live with the old hag when he was just a little baby … but I can tell you that they were a brave lord and a beautiful lady …," Sabo said, trailing off slightly at the end as he kept a watchful eye on Ace's back.

"Why did his parents give him to the old hag?"

"Hm?" Sabo murmured, his mind obviously somewhere else. "Oh! Ummm … it was because his father had a lot of enemies, I think. So when he was killed, his mother wanted her son to be safe, so she hid him with the hag. Anyway, " Sabo said hurriedly, wishing that he had skipped that point in the story, "So Kintaro grew up alone in the wilderness of the mountains-"

"Alone?" Luffy's voice interrupted him again, pronouncing the word slowly as if tasting it and finding that it had an awful flavour to it.

"Well … no, not completely alone. There was the hag, as I told you. And soon-"

"But what about his brothers?"

Sabo shot Luffy a sideways glance, slightly taken off-guard. "… There were no brothers. Didn't you listen?"

"Yes, but that's rubbish. He's got to have brothers."

"That's not how the story goes though …"

Luffy just looked at him, pouting, as if that was the most ridiculous excuse he had ever heard.

"Well … that's stupid."

Sabo sighed and was just about to continue the story when another voice unexpectedly rose up.

"Luffy's right," Ace said, not a trace of sleep in his voice. "He should have brothers."

"But-"

"Two of them."

Delighted at Ace's support, Luffy took up his badgering again. "Come on, Sabo! Please!"

Sabo shook his head slightly in disbelief. "Alright, fine," he said, sounding a tiny bit exasperated. Who knew that telling a story to Luffy would be this much work? "He had two brothers."

"Yay!"

"And they were called …" Sabo thought for a moment before inspiration struck him. "Oh, I've got it! Their names were Gintaro and Dotaro!"

"Cool!" Luffy interjected, "Who am I? Can I be Gintaro?"

"No, Sabo is Gintaro."

"Why?" Luffy pouted.

"Because 'kin' means gold and 'gin' means silver. Sabo is obviously the second in command in our group - after me," Ace said, by way of explanation.

"So what's 'do'?"

"… Bronze."

"Eeeeh?" Luffy shouted incredulously, right in Sabo's right ear. "No fair! Then I wanna be Kintaro!"

"Too late, that's me!"

Distantly wondering how even in his own modified version of the tale Sabo had managed to be bested by Ace, he quickly cut across his two siblings before their squabble could turn into another full-blown fight, "Alright, stop it! Nobody is anybody, okay? It's just a story!"

"But-!"

The evil eye Sabo directed at him was sufficient to stop Luffy's protests in a heartbeat and a moment later, the younger boy had settled down in his futon again, though not without some grumbling.

Tapping the floor in thought, Sabo tried to think back to where he had left off telling the story. "Anyway … where were we? Ah, yes, so Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro grew up in the mountains, raised by the old hag. All in all, life wasn't so bad for them, really, despite their isolation - that means living alone," he quickly explained as an aside to Luffy. "The old mountain hag was kind enough to the three brothers and they had everything that they could need …"

There was a quiet rustle of sheets to his right, as slowly Luffy inched across the floor in Sabo's direction. As inconspicuously as he could manage, Sabo tried to shift a little, trying to prevent his arm from becoming trapped in between them when Luffy eventually reached his side.

"As the three brothers grew older they became stronger and stronger, until eventually they were able to smash even rocks with their bare hands. For their training, they wrestled with their friends, the animals of the mountain. They were very popular with all of the species, but they were especially good friends with the bear, the deer and-"

A distinctive snort, coming from Sabo's left side, broke through the narration all of a sudden, "What?" Ace scoffed, as he finally turned around to face his brother. "Since when are bears friends? Do you remember that monster we fought last week?"

"I do! It tasted delicious!"

"It's a story, Ace," Sabo said. "And anyway, smashing rocks with your bare hands is perfectly believable, but being friends with a bear is not?"

Ace just looked at him, obviously failing to see the point.

"Alright, fine, I take it back," Sabo said, "The boys fought with the animals, their deadly enemies, every day and it made them stronger - as did fighting against each other.

Then one day, on their way home from one of their training sessions, they discovered that the bridge they usually used to cross over the river was destroyed. What were they to do now? Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro were baffled."

"Dotaro could use his gum gum powers and sling them all across!"

"No, thanks," Ace quickly butted in. "I'm sure they'd like to keep all their bones intact. Besides, Dotaro doesn't even have any gum gum powers."

"Does too!"

Ace just rolled his eyes. "They could build a couple of long poles and jump across."

"Hmmm …," Sabo said, "That's actually not that far off from what Kintaro - I mean, Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro - did in the story. Through all of their hard work they were able to rip a tree, roots and all, out of the ground near the riverbank." Sabo shot Ace a quick look, but no ... it seemed that children pulling 500 kg trees out of the ground were perfectly within the realm of the believable. "They then laid this tree across the river and were able to go home. But what they didn't know was that they had been watched by a vassal of the powerful samurai lord Yorimitsu Minamoto-"

"What's a vassal?" Luffy interrupted, confused, his nose finally bumping into Sabo's side as he curled up next to his brother.

"A vassal is …," Sabo said slowly, as he thought of a way to explain the word to Luffy, "… someone who has sworn a vow to someone else."

"Oh … am I your vassal Sabo?"

In spite of himself, Sabo had to laugh. "No," he said, patting Luffy on the head. "It's a vow between lords, and the vassal usually has to give his lord soldiers and weapons when he asks for them.

"Anyway, so this vassal was on the look-out for strong and brave young boys to join in the army of his lord. When he saw the three brothers tearing out that tree he immediately knew that they would become great samurai if only he could convince them to come with him. So he decided to follow them to their home in order to talk to them."

As he was talking, Sabo felt a weird shiver travelling up his spine, which he could find no explanation for at first. It could not be the temperature. Luffy was like a miniature hot furnace against his side, and the early evening air was yet warm from the day's sunshine.

"Hey …," Ace's voice broke hesitantly into Sabo's thoughts, "Is anyone else reminded of … gramps?"

Sabo swallowed. That would explain it.

"EEEEH?" Luffy shouted, and Sabo screwed up his face in pain at the volume. "Oh shit, Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro have to make a run for it! They're gonna get killed!"

"They're not, don't worry, Luffy," Sabo said reassuringly. "The vassal only followed after them to ask them if they wanted to join the samurai army - there was no fighting involved. They very gladly said yes, went with him to join Yorimitsu Minamoto's army and ended up becoming great samurai heroes that are remembered even today for their enormous strength. And that's why their story is told at children's day - so that all the children will want to try to become as strong as them. The end."

Silence ensued in the treehouse after Sabo finished the story, as each of the boys seemed to dwell over the conclusion.

"I don't like that ending," Luffy eventually said, pouting slightly.

"Yeah," Ace agreed, frowning, "It's a bit like … gramps making us join the marine, isn't it?"

Slowly, Sabo nodded. If he was absolutely honest, it felt like a bit of an anti-climatic ending to him, too. Who in the world would give up their freedom to go and join an army? It was crazy! "Alright, I agree," he said, "We need to change that. But one of you tell the story now, because I am done."

Luffy immediately sat up ramrod straight, raising both of his hands in the air. "Me! Me! I'll continue it!"

"No, it's my turn."

Eyes as big dinner plates, Sabo turned his head to look at Ace, who immediately started scowling when he saw Sabo's incredulous look.

"What? You said that either of us could carry on," the other boy bit out defensively.

"Yes, but …"

'I didn't think that you would actually want to …'

He refrained from actually voicing that thought aloud, however, as he noticed the determined glint in Ace's eye, hidden behind the mask of annoyance. For some reason, in the span of only half an hour, the boy who had initially scoffed at the mere idea of listening to a story had made the transition to actually wanting to finish telling it. Sabo was baffled to say the least.

"Meh, but-"

"Whoever heard of someone telling themselves their own birthday story," Ace interrupted, a slightly exasperated tinge to his voice. "That's just stupid."

Crossing his arms behind his head, Ace tried to avoid the sudden understanding look that crossed Sabo's face. But there was no escaping Luffy's reaction, who in spite of his cluelessness regarding most things was surprisingly perceptive when it came to his elder brother's emotions.

Painfully digging his elbows into Sabo's stomach as he half threw himself over the blond boy's body in his attempt to get closer to Ace, Luffy smiled up at his brother. "Okay."

'Not okay,' Sabo thought, slightly peeved, as he pushed his younger brother's body all the way into the spot between Ace and himself. 'That bloody hurt.'

"Right," Ace eventually said, when Luffy had settled down, still looking up at him with an expectant expression on his face. "So … right, the vassal guy."

"Very eloquent start," Sabo commented, earning himself a glare from the other boy. It had the desired effect of snapping Ace out of his embarrassment, however, as he finally seemed to find the words.

"Right, so, after the three brothers had crossed the river, the vassal guy tried to follow them as secretly as he could - which was really secret, because the guy was a top level marine - I mean samurai - so he knew his stuff. What he didn't know though was that Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro had spent years preparing for just this moment, since they had known that he would come for them one day."

"Shihihi," Sabo could feel Luffy's laughter reverberating through the blankets next to him as his brother giggled. "The guy better watch out!"

"The brothers were used to paying attention to their surroundings because of all the wild animals they had to be careful of, and so it had become impossible for anyone to sneak up on them. Instead of leading the way home, they therefore led the samurai to one of the traps they had set for just such a moment - and because he had no idea about the brother's plan, the samurai walked right into the trap and was swung up into the trees in a large net.

'Why the heck are you following us?' Kintaro asked, after the guy had recovered from his shock.

'Let me down you shitty brats!' the samurai shouted furiously, instead of answering."

Sabo almost choked on his own spit, as he struggled to keep from laughing. He could not help feeling that the story had changed somewhat in tone ever since Ace had taken over telling it.

"'Not until you've told us what you want from us!'

The samurai growled at them, but finally answered. 'I've told you before! I want you to become strong men and join the army!"

"The vassal didn't know the boys before he met them, Ace …"

"Yeah, he did," Ace said, waving Sabo's protest away. "How else would he have found them?"

"… Coincidence?"

Ace ignored him.

"Anyway, so Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro told him that they would never join his army, because they wanted to live free - freer than anyone. And they promised that when they were old and strong enough they would set off to form their own armies, which would become the most famous and strongest in the world."

There was a bump against Sabo's chest, as Luffy raised one of his hands to rub at his eyes. "But they stayed together, right? Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro."

Sabo could see Ace hesitating as he kept himself from answering with his stock response. "… Yes, they did. They each had their own army, but they worked together most of the time."

Sleepily, Luffy nodded against his arm.

"The samurai did not like their answer at all, of course, but nothing he said could convince the boys to change their minds.

'You will get rich,' he promised, but Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro said that they were okay with what they had - and the rest they could always steal.

'You will be powerful,' he argued, but the three boys said that they would get strong through their own training.

'You will be safe,' he finally said, but this the boys seriously doubted, since they were born as outcasts, and knew they would never be safe for as long as they lived."

At this, Sabo looked over the drowsy Luffy's head at Ace, who had a faraway look on his face. His heart squeezed painfully for the other boy, whose whole life had been determined by the mere facts of his birth.

Perhaps sensing his brother's turmoil, Luffy buried deeper into his blankets and scooted closer to Ace, giving a contented murmur when he reached his side and managed to bury his nose in his arm.

"Eventually, the samurai gave up and left the three boys. But that was not the last that he heard of them. For years later they became so powerful and famous that everyone in their world knew and recognised their name - and nobody would deny their existence anymore. So they carried on living, without any regrets and freer than anyone, for the rest of their lives."

It was quiet in the treehouse for a little while after Ace had finished the story, the two elder brothers listening to the breaths of the younger one as they gradually evened out, until they were sure that he had fallen asleep.

"We really should've bought that doll today …," Sabo eventually said, his guilty conscience getting the better of him.

There was a long pause, and Sabo almost thought that the other boy had fallen asleep, when suddenly Ace's voice broke through the stillness of the night.

"… He was fine with the story," he murmured. "Besides, did you see the price tag on that thing?"

That was true ...

"Maybe …," Sabo sighed. "But it makes me worried that he didn't expect his birthday to be a big deal, at all. Not even to us."

"Hm," Ace made a non-committal sound at the back of his throat, and Sabo could feel the sheets moving as he shrugged. "Birthdays are nothing special. Just another day in the year. He was fine, I'm telling you."

That made Sabo feel even sadder for Ace than for Luffy, but he chose not to argue the point, settling for silence instead. After a moment, there was a quiet rustle of sheets as Ace settled down to sleep, turning on his side again. A few seconds later it was completely quiet in the treehouse.

Sabo lay awake for a long time still, thinking.

The next morning - Was it morning already? Sabo felt like he had hardly closed his eyes. - he was violently dragged from his dreams by an insistent poking in his side.

"Saaabo …"

Longing for a few more minutes - or hours - of sleep, Sabo lazily tried to wave the poking finger away. Rather than giving him the desired peace, this however only resulted in more poking.

"Saaabooo …"

Forcing an eye open, Sabo saw the face of Luffy hovering slightly above him. The little boy seemed to be crouched next to his brother, his head slightly tilted to the right, still insistently poking Sabo with a short stick at the end of which … at the end of which ….

Faster than lightning, Sabo was at the other end of the tree house, staring at his little brother, who now had half of Sabo's sheet draped over him, in incredulity.

"Is that crap?!"

The nonplussed look at Sabo's reaction falling from his face, Luffy gave a slow grin. "No," he said, and Sabo almost sighed in relief … before Luffy continued speaking.

"It's a slug."

Sabo could almost feel his heart stop.

"A-?!"

The next few moments saw a quickness of movement which would have put even Garp's Fist of Love to shame, as in quick succession Sabo got rid of the offending object ("Hey, no-! What're you-?") by flinging it out of the window, grabbed hold of both his sheets and his little brother and rushed over to their makeshift wash basin in the corner - much to Luffy's protests.

"No, no, no!" the little boy shouted, struggling, as Sabo took hold of his hands and started wiping them clean with a washcloth. "Stop it, Sabo!"

But the older boy was not listening, a thoroughly disgusted expression on his face. "Yuck, yuck, yuck!"

Finally releasing Luffy, who immediately put a few metres of safe distance between the two of them, Sabo then stripped out of his pyjamas and proceeded to furiously scrub them clean along with his sheet. "A slug! A slug! The things you touch in a day, Luffy! Ugh!" he shuddered in disgust.

Pouting, Luffy looked at his now clean fingers, regretting the loss of at least five weeks of carefully collected dirt and grime.

"You didn't have to throw Mr Slug out of the window," he complained, balling his fists at his side in indignation, "I just wanted to show him the treehouse."

That … didn't make any sense. Turning baffled eyes on Luffy, Sabo almost did not dare to ask, "And why in the world would you want to show our home to a slug?"

Luffy fixed him with a look as though Sabo was the one acting weird. "Because he's my friend."

"Luffy, slugs are not friends."

"Sure they are!" the younger boy protested. "You said so yesterday! Kintaro, Gintaro and Dotaro were friends with all the animals of the forest!"

Staring in stunned silence at his little brother, Sabo was lost for words for an eternally long moment … until he started laughing. It started out as a quiet chuckle at the back of his throat, then quickly turned into a chortle before finally becoming full-throated, belly-shaking laughter - which was a relief, since the other option would have been for him to break down into sobs.

None too pleased with his brother's reaction, Luffy folded his arms across his chest and demonstratively turned his head away, pouting.

"I-I'm sorry, Luffy …," Sabo eventually said, holding his stomach. "I had no idea how-" literal "- serious you would take the story." Finally calming down, he wiped his eyes. "But why a slug, Luffy? Couldn't it have been, I don't know, a rabbit? Or a squirrel?"

"All of the other animals ran away - even though I told them I wouldn't eat them!" Luffy said, clearly indignant that anyone would refuse his offer of friendship. "Mr Slug was the only one who didn't."

Or couldn't.

Sabo supposed that he should count himself lucky that Luffy had not ended up catching anything more disgusting … or even dangerous. He shuddered at the image of his little brother trying to convince one of the big grandfather pythons living in the forest to be his friend. If worst had come to worst, he and Ace could have spent the morning checking the stomach of every wild animal on Mount Corvo in search of their younger sibling. He supposed he would have to address the issue of 'Why animals are only friends in stories' later on today. But speaking of Ace …

"Hey, Luffy …," Sabo said, finally noticing the absence of the other raven-haired boy. "Do you know where Ace is?"

"No," Luffy said, giving up his sulking and finally looking up at Sabo's face again. "That's why I woke you up. I wanted to ask you where he went."

"Well, how should I know, if I was sleeping," Sabo said, frowning. It was not unusual for the other boy to go off on his own sometimes, but he had agreed (grudgingly, and under duress) to at least let Sabo know when he was leaving.

"I suppose we better go look for him …"

They were climbing down the rope ladder leading up to the house, when Luffy suddenly started shouting excitedly. "Look, Sabo! There he is! Aaaace~!"

"Okay, okay!" Sabo shouted back, holding onto the shaking ladder for dear life. "But can you stop that please?"

Throwing caution to the wind, Luffy jumped the remaining three metres to the forest floor and started rushing towards Ace, who had just emerged from behind a line of trees at the other end of the clearing. Sighing and rolling his eyes at the little boy's carelessness, Sabo followed after him at a more careful pace.

"Ace! Where did you go? We were just-"

Confused, Luffy broke off, staring at the object that had unexpectedly been thrust into his chest. As Sabo drew nearer, he saw that it was a box of some sort which the older boy was holding out to their younger sibling, his gaze carefully averted.

"What's that?" Luffy asked, nonplussed but inquisitive.

"… Just take it," Ace said uncomfortably.

Full of curiosity, Luffy carefully took the box out of his brother's hands, a wide-eyed look on his face.

"And open it," Ace added, when ten seconds passed without any movement on the younger boy's part.

"Is that …?" Sabo murmured, astonished, his gaze flicking between Ace, Luffy and the square box the little boy was now carefully opening, as though he fully expected explosives to be hidden inside. The apprehensive look however quickly changed into one of absolute wonder, as Luffy pulled the doll he had fallen in love with in the shop the day before out of the box.

Turning stunned eyes to Ace, the only thing that Sabo could think to say was, "But I thought it was too expensive?"

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Ace stubbornly tried to avoid Sabo's gaze, as he struggled to answer. "… I-"

But Sabo would never get to hear the doubtlessly well thought-through excuse that Ace had come up with, as out of the blue a little bundle threw itself at the boy, nearly knocking the both of them to the ground.

"Luffy!" Ace growled in annoyance once he had steadied the both of them, tugging at the younger one's arms which had wound themselves around his waist in three tight loops.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Luffy shouted, grinning up at the raven-haired boy with an impossibly bright grin.

Sabo had to smile at the discomfort on Ace's face, as he gave up on trying to free himself from the little boy's hug and instead chose to suffer Luffy's show of affection for the moment.

"Yes, well …," Ace murmured, obviously unsure about how to proceed. "You wanted it, didn't you?"

"I think what Ace means," Sabo said, deciding to help his brother out, "is 'You're welcome, Luffy.'" He affectionately patted their younger sibling on the back. "Guess that means you got a real present for your birthday after all."

"Two presents!" Luffy protested, finally freeing one arm from around Ace's waist only to snake it around Sabo's and drawing the other boy into the hug as well.

"Wait-!"

"Watch out-!"

The resulting headbutt of Ace and Sabo was enough to make the two of them feel like something had been knocked loose inside their skulls.

"Luffy …," they groaned, and there was a definite sign of a vein popping on Ace's forehead.

"Sorry," the little boy giggled, before finally releasing his two brothers, picking up his doll and beginning to play with it. "Come on Kintaro, we have to go and find Mr Slug!"

"Mr Slug?" Ace asked in confusion, turning to Sabo.

"Don't ask …" Picking up the abandoned box, Sabo casually said, "So does that mean we'll get Gintaro and Dotaro for our birthdays?"

"If you buy me a doll for my birthday, I will kill you."

That wasn't an outright rejection of birthday presents in general though. Smiling, Sabo nodded, "Deal."

He then looked over at Luffy, who seemed to be crowing over his reunion with his friend.

"Come on," he sighed. "I think I still have some explaining to do to our little brother about that story …"

THE END

A/N: Just a little story idea that popped into my head ... like a year ago now xD! Hope you enjoyed reading it :)!

And if you're reading my other story ... the new chapter is coming, I promise! Got about half of it written! (I know I'm slooooooooooow~! Sorry! :(!)