The waves gently rocked the ship, lulling him into a doze where he sat on the lion-like figurehead. There was a familiar and comforting weight against his right side, belonging to his youngest… Brother? Ace blinked his eyes open, his lips tugged into a faint frown while the thought that he had a brother processed in his mind. He turned his head to glance in his brother's direction and was met by the sight of a worn straw hat, mere inches from his face. He could barely make out the short golden curls of another, his other younger brother, sitting on the other side of the hat wearer over the brim.

Ace opened his mouth to speak, to draw their attention to him, yet no sound would come out. He silently floundered for a moment then closed his mouth with a scowl replacing his frown. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he speak?

He stared at the worn straw hat donning the head of whom he knew to be his youngest sibling for a moment longer, a sense of peace and happiness finally replacing his confusion. He finally relaxed and let his gaze fix on the horizon ahead of them. He took comfort in the sight of blue on blue on an even deeper blue where the sky and ocean met, stretching on as far as his eyes could see. A delightful tune, played on a violin, started up behind them and he couldn't help but to hum along as his little brother's weight shifted and a new pressure became noticeable on his shoulder.

"I'm glad that the both of you are here," came the hushed whisper from his youngest brother, the idea of which he was starting to accept. "It means everything to me."

Ace wasn't sure what his youngest brother meant at that, his mind working to piece things together, which was understandably difficult since he wasn't sure what was going on. He didn't have time to ponder it any further, as the ship seemed to lurch and the next thing he knew he was falling. Falling towards the sea. All at once he immediately panicked, because he was little more than a dead weight in the sea, but the idea of that was strange to him. He was certain he knew how to swim.

As soon as he impacted with the water Ace jolted awake, a thin sheen of sweat covering his body. For one explicable moment he could recall the dream in vivid detail, his heart racing with the remnants of the terror he felt as he had fallen towards the sea. Then it all suddenly faded and he couldn't recall what the dream had been about.

"Ace, sweetie, are you up yet?" His mother called to him from the bottom of the ladder that lead up into the small loft-like addition to their home.

Ace laid there for a moment, his mind still fuzzy with sleep, before he rolled onto his stomach and crept to the edge of the loft. He peered down at his mother, who gave a brilliant smile as soon as she saw him, and gave a jaw-popping yawn.

Rouge's eyes crinkled at the corners and sparkled with retained amusement as the sight of her son, her smile widening. "We're going to Goa today to deliver more tea leaves to our shop in Edge Town, Ace. Would you-" She didn't even get to finish her sentence, her amusement growing as her son's face lit up with excitement and he quickly shook off the lingering vestiges of sleep. "I'll take that as a yes," she stated with a laugh and turned to leave their bedroom. "I'll have breakfast ready for you, so hurry up and get dressed."

She barely left the room as Ace all but vaulted down from the loft, his thoughts swirling excitedly for trip to Goa. It was a rare treat that his mother took him with her on her monthly trips to replenish the tea leaf supply for the shop that Dadan and her bandits ran out of Edge Town. He was usually left behind in the care of the bandits at their mountaintop home, but being a highly energetic five year old often proved too much for the bandits to handle.

The Strongest of Bonds

Gray Terminal had hardly changed since the last time he had been allowed to accompany his mother to Goa. Sure, some of the trash heaps were a little taller, and there were a few new faces among the vagrants that inhabited the heaps, but it was still the same drab and smelly Gray Terminal.

Carefully picking their way through the piles of refuse, most of it junk as opposed to actual garbage, Ace curiously gazed around as he followed behind his mother. He spied some of the inhabitants eying them with wary gazes while they kept to themselves and plucked through the heaps for odds and ends that might still be worth something.

His pace slowed considerably as he turned his attention to the surrounding heaps of trash and inspected them without approaching. A budding and vaguely familiar curiosity filled him as he swept his gaze over the piles, trying to spot things that would still be of value.

It was only for a brief moment, but that moment was enough. Something, rather someone, of similar size and shape to him slammed into his side and with two resounding cries, one of surprise and the other slightly pained, Ace and his accidental attacker were sent to the ground. With reflexes honed from training imparted to him by his mother, Ace rolled with his tumble and ended up in a haphazard crouch while the other person, a boy nearly his own age, ended up face first on the ground.

"Ace?!" His mother immediately turned back and rushed over to them, worry evident on her face.

"I'm okay, mom," he replied to her silent question, and watched as she knelt next to the fallen boy.

Rouge gently helped the boy sit up and pulled a handkerchief from one of the hidden pockets sewn into her dress so she could clean off his face. She said nothing as to the cleanliness of his clothes, or that they looked too new for someone to be running around in Grey Terminal. Instead, she simply smiled at him while he scrunched up his face through her efforts to clean it. Once she finished she tucked the handkerchief back into the pocket it came from then helped the boy to stand up.

"Thank you very much, ma'am," the boy said with a short bow, a smile that looked like it was forcefully pasted onto his face. He turned to regard Ace, his expression becoming less forced as he realized that he was with someone else his own age. "I'm sorry for running into you."

Ace blinked a couple of times in surprise then gave a smile of his own and absently rubbed at the back of his head. "It's no big deal," he responded as he got a better look at the boy. He wore a top hat with a pair of blue goggles fitted around the crown of the hat where a band would usually go. It was obviously too large for him to be wearing, because it slid down over his eyes, making the boy give a soft groan of exasperation and causing Ace to softly snicker.

The boy tugged the hat off, revealing the short and curly blond hair that his headgear obscured. He fidgeted with the hat as his gaze went from Ace to Rouge, his nervousness palpable. The silence that stretched on between them was starting to become uncomfortable, and the boy opened his mouth to say something, likely an excuse to run off and not stand here looking like he was being scrutinized.

"Can he come with us, mom?" Ace asked, effectively startling the blond boy into silence.

Rouge looked between the two boys, a warm smile blossoming on her face. "Of course, but only if he wants to."

"Would you like to come with us?" Ace focused his gaze on the blond, who stared at him in dumbfounded silence. "Well?" He added after a moment had passed without the boy answering.

"I- You don't even know me, but you want me to come with you?" The boy's shock had quickly turned to disbelief and he looked between Ace and his mother with a measure of distrust in his expression.

Ace gave a soft huff of exasperation then stretched out his hand toward the boy. "I'm Ace. Would you like to come with us."

The boy shifted his gaze to Ace's hand and stared for a few seconds before he slowly took it with his own and raised his gaze to Ace's face. "I'm Sabo, and I'd love to come with you." A small smile worked it's way onto his face while Ace outright grinned and Ace's mother hid a gentle and bemused smile behind her hand.