Hey there guys ;)

First of all, I am praying for everyone's happiness and well-being during those hard times! I AM CHEERING ON YOU ALL! Also thank you to all the lovely readers who took the time to leave me a review on my one-shot! It was so kind and means the word to me! SENDING YOU ALL MY LOVE

Here is a multi-chaptered fic I wrote for the sweetest aokkun the most talented artist you will ever find in the world! My dear bean even did a comic to illustrate this story so please go check their gorgeous account on instagram! This story is dedicated to sunshine Ao and inspired by their art!

I hope you will enjoy this new story ! Please review if you do so!

Chapter one: What is gone and what remains

The two raven haired boys were fiercely standing in front of their treehouse. It was their home not so long ago. Neither big or sumptuous but still a warm feeling of love and safety used to come from within those old damaged wood walls once occupied by a little yet caring family. Before all lived. Now all was dead, all was empty, all was gone and dust came from everywhere.

Only memories from a joyful time forever lost still remained. Memories and a bunch of little, ordinary and messy, stuff that would mean nothing for anyone else but them: a broken clock once found in a junkyard during a warm summer day and some shattered oil lamps all over the place; but also three worn mats lying next to each other, three weary grey pipes and three sake red cups symbols of a brotherhood's bond forever unbroken. Poorly drawn paintings were also pinned up all across the wood walls, most of them depicting three little boys who looked freer and wilder than the ocean itself. And, standing at the top of this unusual treehouse, a childish pirate flag painted by the brats a long time ago was dancing along with the east wind.

The freckled boy who was now aimlessly staring at this old yet familiar treehouse seemed to be having quite a hard time hiding his sadness and melancholy caused by the view of his former home but his eyes remained those of unbreakable iron: his bitter defeat was still anchored in his grieving mind and somehow he had learned to come in terms with it. However, he definitely had not dealt with his anger yet. Because a fire was still burning inside those iron eyes. A furious fire craving for a revenge he couldn't have right now. A cruel fire who wanted to watch the world crumble. And a frail fire who only wished he had the raw strength to crush it by himself.

"Please, take good care of him"

Call it irony or whatever but Ace never thought he would one day become a big brother, let alone a protective one. Neither would he have ever imagined that a weak cry baby would be under his care and that he would have to raise the little brat with all the love he has got.

However, those were Sabo's farewell words and the only legacy his brother ever had the chance to leave behind. Those were the words of a caring friend, the words of an irreplaceable brother who trusted him more than anything else. And for someone like Ace who never thought he was worth existing to begin with, those words meant the world. They were craved in his mind alongside his anger and over time they had become his reason to live.

Because things had change without him even noticing it. He was no longer the lost grumpy orphan boy wandering in the filthy streets of Goa Kingdom, looking for trouble and death. He was no longer living for himself. He finally had found people he wanted to protect at any cost.

And he had lost one of them.

All because he had simply forgotten that Sabo was a protector too, in his very own special way. No, on the contrary, Ace had always stupidly assumed that he would be the only one to die one day and certainly not stupid cry baby Luffy or kind freedom-fighter Sabo. Ironically, he had never realised the full extent of the sacrifices the runaway noble boy was willing to make in order to save his precious siblings until it was too late.

And to be honest, Ace had never truly grasped how deeply he actually cared about his blonde brother either. Thinking about feelings and all that emotional stuff wasn't really his thing. Until the day he lost him, of course. They say you never realise how much you love something until you lose it right?

After all, Sabo had always been there, how come it will have to change someday?

Ace didn't even exactly recall their first meeting. For him, they had been outsiders who shared the same dream and had somehow crossed paths due to a fate's smirk and that was it. Sabo had accepted him just how he was and it had warmed Ace's thunderstorming heart in some way. They had run together through Goa's dirty and perilous streets, explored Grey Terminal side by side and protected each other's backs while hunting wild beasts in the chaotic Mont Columbo's forest.

Eventually distrust had turned into mutual care and interested glares shared in between Goa's kingdom streets had become an enthusiastic friendship. Overtime what started by an untold deal of survival had grown into something much, so much, stronger.

A bond remained unbroken.

Sure times were still harsh and dark but they were now shared. Sabo was the brightest dreamer Ace had ever encountered and talking about his ambitions with the blonde almost make it feel real. It seemed almost possible. Or at least not so dumb as it may have sounded coming from the mouth of a simple-minded, rude brat like Ace.

In return, the runaway boy would tell him everything he knew about navigation in Grand Line's stormy oceans and the exciting old pirate legends he had heard from the Grey Terminal guys. And even though he didn't understand everything (too much information for his attention spam), Ace still enjoyed quite a lot those moments spent together, sitting on the top of the biggest tree of Mont Columbo's forest, laughing without a care for the world.

In fact, this tree meant a lot for the two of them. Their pirate founds were once hidden there.

If we want to leave this crappy country behind someday we better have some shinny money with us! All great pirates have big treasures with them, right Ace?

Pirate founds which were Sabo's idea, of course. And pirate founds which weren't even there anymore, probably taken away by some random greedy soldiers who would surely use the money for much less noble reasons than theirs.

But this was also the tree were their precious treehouse was built in.

The oldest boy sighed and clenched his fists out of raw frustration. There was no use in keep recalling those memories. Sabo wasn't going to come back never, ever and….

And the sound of a painful muffled cry immediately woke him up from his everlasting daydreaming.

Beside him, a little straw-hatted boy was miserably trying his very best to wipe endless tears away from his bruised face. But as soon as he noticed that his big brother was staring at him, he startled and pinched his lips in a desperate last effort to hide his painful sobs.

"I hear you crying, you moron that's no use in hiding it, y' know?" Ace tiredly sighed

His little brother only pouted in response and hugged his precious hat to his chest, attempting to look as manly as possible.

"I'm…I'm not… I'm…. not ccc.. ry cry crying at all!" the little boy mumbled between two moanings

Oh, yeah, the brat sure was a bad liar and Ace surprised himself to wonder if his little brother even had the ability to do so. Probably not. Luffy couldn't even lie to save his life, after all. Was it too much blunt honesty or just stupidity? Ace concluded that he would most likely never know…

However, seeing Luffy striving to sound like a brave pirate while still being such a weak cry baby had always amused Ace to some degree. He guessed that Sabo's feelings towards their little brother when he acted like this were just the same. Because, while the brat may one day become a great pirate (or the Pirate King like he kept bothering everyone about), for now he was just a dumbass who need to be protected. And to be taught a lesson.

Ace snickered, letting a smirk play on his lips. The freckled boy took a deep breath, prepared his punch…and smacked the little moron in the head.

Luffy's reaction was predictable as he yelled and cursed Ace like he always did.

"AHHHHH IT HURTSSS! You meanieeee…y' are worse than Grandpa!" the little boy whined

"Pfff…that's hard to believe!" Ace chuckled "If it were shitty Gramps, you would be dead by now. You just stop your damn crying already!"

There was a sharp silence as Luffy, who was now visibly annoyed, tried to find some response that would shout Ace's mouth.

"But I wasn't even crying about Sabo or our home or whatever! You just got sand in your damn eyes!" he finally spitted out

"Sure… I totally believe you"

"For real!? Ohhh… y' know that's just 'cause I'm really tough like Shanks !"

Luffy's eyes were bright and wide with excitement and pride, as he assumed that Ace was acknowledging his strength for once. That only caused the oldest boy to roll back his eyes. Honestly, his little brother's naivety could sometimes be endearing but Ace just prayed that Luffy would learn to trust the right people otherwise marines would easily be able to catch him with some chunk of meat without making that much effort.

His latter exasperation soon faded as he took a last glance at the near abandoned treehouse. He had made his decision.

"Luffy…I…I think that we should leave this place forever. It isn't home anymore y' know?"

His little brother startled, looking destabilized by Ace's sudden and harsh resolution, but finally gave up and nodded.

"Let's go?" the little boy asked

Ace's look slightly softened as he heard those words. Because, even if he wouldn't admit it, the older boy was afraid that Luffy wouldn't understand his choice. After all, this had been the house where they had been happy for so long: the house where they would always play, pretend being pirates freely sailing the four Blue seas while fighting mischievous enemies. It was also the house where Sabo would read them night-time stories. And it was the house where they would feel like the Kings of the world while watching the vast blue ocean lying at their feet.

But the house was now empty and somehow Luffy seemed to understand it.

"Yeah…let's go together. We will pack up our stuff and then leave, okay?"

Determined to finish with this once for all, the older boy started to climb the massive tree where their cursed house lied when he suddenly felt a tiny yet warm rubber hand holding his own usually cold one. Annoyed, Ace blushed and prepared his fist. He was gonna beat up the moron for this!

Instead, at the sight of the little brat's cheerful smile, the usually grumpy boy surprisingly felt his heart a little less heavy. He let out a long sigh of exasperation and took his dumb little brother on his shoulders. He was growing softer, wasn't he?

But as Luffy's loud and lighthearted laughs echoed into the wild Mont Columbo forest just like a bright rays of sunshine, Ace realised that it didn't mattered that much.

Back when he lived in Windmill village, the straw-hatted boy would often beg gentle Makino to read him some of her best gloomy ghost stories. And at the sight of his adorable puppy eyes, the young girl would only chuckle and do so for she knew Luffy had always loved a good thrill. One day he had even confessed her that he wouldn't mind having a ghost, a zombie or why not a talking skeleton in his incredible pirate crew once he finally set out on his journey to become Pirate King.

The inside of their former home now felt just as hollow as the usually cool phantom houses in Makino's stories but this time Luffy couldn't bring himself to really like it. Something was definitely out of place: this house was supposed to feel warm and smell delicious meat as well as wonderful adventures, right? So why was the air so thick and full of dust? How come that a place once so full of life and love could now smell like death itself?

Oh right, he isn't here anymore

Even if it had already been a rough couple of days since his brother's death, Sabo's absence was something that Luffy still found quite difficult to grasp. Eventually, he had understood that his older brother couldn't return home, even if he had wanted it very badly. Dadan had once say it was because "some bastard had cut off the blonde brat's wings" and Ace seemed to agree with the old hag for once so the straw-hatted boy just went along with it. That was just the way things were so he dealt with it and kept moving forward. And while he didn't get every detail concerning all this "boring death sad stuff" yet, he had seen it happening enough times in Gray Terminal to know that once you are dead things just don't go back the way they were before.

He had long accepted the fact that his brother was gone but couldn't still believe it. The simple idea that he was not going to see Sabo's sheepish smiles, hear his excited laughs, hold his warm hand or spar with him ever again seemed almost unreal to him. At least for now.

And as he watched Ace playing with the broken helm they had used so many times during the cheerful afternoons they spent fantasizing about piracy, an unreadable look on his freckled face, he wondered if his older brother ever felt the same way he did. Yet, the little boy highly doubted that: Ace was much stronger than him so he probably just had taken a break to look at their beloved helm while packing up their few remaining belongings without thinking about such useless crap

A squeaky noise suddenly broke Luffy's thoughts . He shivered hoping that it wasn't some zombie coming from behind the barrels they used to stock winter food. Under other circumstances, he would have love to meet up with a monster but here the atmosphere was so bleak that it kind of scared him. However, as he slowly turned back to the sound, his brown eyes were sparkling with excitement.

It wasn't some sort of creepy creature. This was Sabo's beetle!

The little boy moved forward, excited at the sight of the shining bug when he felt a harsh hand on his wrist.

" Stop fooling around for once you damn moron! You were supposed to help me out remember?" the older boy yelled as he began to raise a dreadful punch before being interrupting by the brat's high pitched voice

"But look Ace, this is so freaking cool ! It's the beetle we caught on the sunflower field last spring! Don't you remember? Sabo said I could have it and I even gave him a name! I can't believe my treasure is alive after all this time!"

The little boy's fond smile definitely caught him off guard as he slowly put down his fist. Unconsciously, the brat's words had made Ace recall the good times where they would just lay done, bouncing their legs in excitement while talking about their projects for the future, gesturing in the air with wild grins in their bruised faces.

And by the way that beetle looked really damn cool…

"I named super mega shining bug!" Luffy proudly shouted

That only caused the older boy to laugh as he couldn't fight the urge to tease the little rubber dumbass:

"What a shitty name! I bet even the poor insect doesn't like it."

"IT'S ALWAYS BETTER THAN YOURS!"

Ace was just about to state that big brothers were always right no matter when he noticed a blue book lying next to the shining beetle. Out of curiosity, he grabbed it and as he slowly began turning the colourful pages full photos and ink stains, he couldn't help but gasp.

This …this was Sabo's messy handwriting.

The freckled boy remembered the smooth nights when his brother would light an oil lamp and take a feather pencil to write down all the adventures they had have during the day on a weary notebook. Sometimes Luffy would also wake up and they would both stay awake a few minutes, enlightened by the moonlight and watching their blonde brother rambling about how he was gonna write the best adventure book ever. And even though Ace was exhausted by their days spent sparing with each other and hunting , Sabo's sheepish smiles and Luffy's contagious laughter never failed to fill his heart with a love he felt unworthy of.

Before he could utter any word or even move, Luffy clumsily leaned on his shoulders. The little boy was narrowing his eyes, probably trying to understand what the hell his brother was reading. It took him a while to realise but he eventually put pieces together and pulled back, looking visibly shaken:

"But….but Ace….this….it's Sabo's diary!"