It was the first night after the chaos of Dressrosa. After some heavy persuasion (read: begging) from Sabo and Koala (Sabo's reasons were obvious, and Koala had jumped at the slim chance of seeing Jimbei again), their ship was escorting the Strawhats and Trafalgar Law to Zou. Sabo and Luffy were sitting on the deck, trying to squeeze in some chatter before bedtime.

Sabo absently rubbed at his swollen eyes.

"You ok, Sabo?"

Sabo grimaced. "Fine, just fine."

Flashback:

"Luffy." Sabo stared at his brother, who'd already climbed onto the ship. Their exchange in the coliseum had been far too short. Finally, he could have a good look at Luffy, who was covered all over with bandages, a satisfied smile masking his exhaustion. Dammit, why hadn't he learned any self-preservation after all these years?!

"Geez, Sabo. You're such a crybaby."Luffy laughed as he watched Sabo climb up the gangplank.

Sabo sniffed. Loudly. "Shut up. You were crying too back then."

"Well, that was then, and now I'm not."

Yeah," Sabo chuckled. "Ace would probably laugh his ass off if he could see me now."

"Nah. Ace cried too. When we thought you'd died."

Sabo felt like a large boulder was crushing his chest.

"He also cried when I almost got killed by the Bear King."

Make that an anvil.

"Ah but don't worry. After you left, Ace became nicer. We got along fine, even without you," Luffy laughed, probably attempting to reassure his brother.

Sabo collapsed from the mountain of despair on his back, tears and snot all over the place.

"Huh? What's wrong, Sabo? You got a stomachache? Oi, Torao!"

Trafalgar Law blatantly stepped over the human lump on the gangplank. "Mugiwara-ya, there is no cure for stupidity. If there were, you'd be the first candidate."

Sabo tried to change the subject. "So I heard from Ivankov about what you've been doing these past two years."

"Who?"

"Ivankov. You know. Big purple afro, caked-up mascara."

(Elsewhere on the Grandline, Ivankov sneezed loudly, accidentally stabbing his fingers into the nearest two revolutionaries and turning them into the opposite gender.)

"Oh! Iva-chan! I heard Sanji mention him a couple times. Though he makes this really funny face when he does."

"I'm not surprised. Ivankov can be quite the sadist." Sabo repressed a shudder from memories of his training days.

Luffy went on without noticing. "All my nakama had been training to become stronger. They're amazing!"

Sabo could tell. The unspoken feelings of pride and gratitude were shining from Luffy's eyes. "It must have been lonely, those two years."

"Mm."

Sabo held an apology on his tongue.

"But it was fine. At night, I liked to talk to Ace."

Before Sabo's mind could even register any sense of grief, Luffy pulled him close and pointed up to the sky. "See? That one. Cuz Ace likes to stand out."

The Northern Star, huh. Its presence had guided Luffy during those two years. No; long before that. Sabo clenched his fist. He could feel the heat simmer just below his skin, ready to burst aflame at any moment. This was how his brother had lived his days.

He turned to Luffy, filled with a rare sense of romanticism. "If Ace is the stars, then you're the sun. You never stop shining brightly, never stop bringing warmth to everyone around you."

"Shishishi, then Sabo can be the moon! But wait." Luffy scanned the sky that blanketed them from every direction. "Where'd it go?"

Sabo looked around too: of all the days for a new moon. He smiled bitterly. Maybe the moon really was an appropriate heavenly body for him.

Since it wasn't always there.

"Ah, whatever." Luffy crossed his arms behind his head and fell back onto the deck. "Ya see, Sabo. Nami told me once that…what was it again? That the moon's not actually shiny. And… it's cuz of some mystery thing."

"Is that so..." Sabo dug around in his mind, trying to decipher what he'd just been told.

He forgot the fact that Luffy had nakama who had been his source of strength for close to three years.

He ignored the fact that he hadn't even spoken to Luffy for four times that timespan.

Think, Sabo, think. Luffy is your brother, always has been. You have to understand him. You're the only brother left who can. "Could it be…you mean that the moon doesn't shine by itself?"

Luffy tilted his head with a pout, testing the words for their rightness.

"Because it reflects the light of the sun."

"That's it!" Luffy catapulted toward Sabo, an echo of the once-eager seven-year-old. "It's something about the sun!"

And it was just like old times, when Sabo would patiently try to break down the mysteries of the universe for his one-man audience. He clears his throat. "Well, what happens is the Sun sends off 'mystery beams' that you can't see, and makes the Moon shiny and bright." 'Mystery' had always been Sabo's to-go phrase, when he didn't have the proper explanation. It was one of the rare times that he wished he'd studied harder. Not for his parents; never for them. Only for his little brother, who thought he had all the answers in the world.

"So that's what happens! Nami said something about mirrors and yoobi rays. It was too complicated."

"Yoobi rays, huh," Sabo grinned.

"So that's it," Luffy repeated under his breath. "Even when I couldn't see Sabo, Sabo was off glowing someplace else. And you said I'll never stop shining, right? Then no matter where I go, Sabo will always be glowing too!"

Luffy wrinkled his nose with worry. "Sabo, you're crying a lot today."

"I'm not crying! It's just my hay fever!"

Luffy swiveled his head left and right. "But there's no hay."

"It means there are mystery things in the air that make me sneeze. I'll be fine in a moment." Which would have been an adequate explanation for Luffy, but after a good few minutes, Sabo still couldn't manage to make his tears stop. If anything, they were getting worse.

"Saboooo." Luffy roughly bumped their shoulders together. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," Sabo whispered.

Luffy looked utterly baffled. "For what?"

"If only I had been there, then maybe things would have been different."

"…But you weren't. So stop thinking about it."

"I CAN'T! It's been two years, but it still keeps me up at night! If only I hadn't pretended I was dead. If only I hadn't joined the Revolutionaries. If only…before Marineford…" Sabo found himself revisiting his self-despising thoughts, approaching the edge of a nervous breakdown. But this time, it only took a quiet, clear voice to bring him back to the present.

"If only I had been just a little stronger."

Sabo looked up.

"If only I had just gotten out of the way."

Sabo caught a glimpse of two years of suppressed grief, before Luffy tilted his hat down with a finger. Just enough to hide the top of his face in shadows.

Just when had this little crybaby turned into a captain who could hold back his tears like that?

Sabo's arms automatically rose to give Luffy a hug. He desperately wished he could have been there for him…

No. He dropped his arms.

Idiot, Sabo cursed at himself. This wasn't a time for wallowing in regrets. Not when Luffy was right in front of him, after so long. This was a time to realize that there was still something important left. He swiftly pulled off his glove.

Luffy stopped wiping his nose with his bandaged arm when he saw the flicker of red in Sabo's palms. "Ace's flame."

"Told you I'd get it," Sabo smiled halfheartedly.

Luffy nodded, then burst into fresh tears.

Sabo immediately snuffed out the flame, wondering how his attempt to cheer Luffy up had failed so miserably.

"Sabo." Luffy gritted his words out between gasps. "The last thing he said… was that if it weren't for us, he wouldn't have even wanted to live!" Luffy pulled on Sabo's jacket, like it was the only thing holding him together. "He said…thanks for loving him!"

And Sabo couldn't take it anymore. He closed around Luffy in a death grip, feeling thin but equally powerful arms encircle his waist. He could hear a raw wail ripping through his throat, trembling through his entire body and blocking out the rest of the world. In the back of his mind, he was glad that Luffy was rubber. Because any other person would have been injured within his grief-tensed hands.

He cried. And cried.

In the midst of his despair, he could feel Ace's presence simmering through his veins like a fever. He pulled Luffy closer, pressing as much of his warmth as he could into the embrace.

Can you feel him, Ace?

This is Luffy, our baby brother. He's really become a sight to behold: the future pirate king. Not that either of us could have ever doubted him.

You protected him, just like I asked you to.

Now it's my turn.

And Sabo finally let go of the hypotheticals and the wishes for a different reality, consoling himself with the solid weight of Luffy in his arms.

That night, Robin and Koala briefly came out onto the deck with blankets from the sleeping quarters. They took a moment to stare at their boys, Koala with amusement and Robin with almost maternal affection.

They could scarcely tell that one was the second-in-command of the Revolution Army, and one was the soon-to-be Pirate King. They looked so innocent in their sleep, huddled into each other's arms. Dry trails of tears streaked their faces, faintly illuminated by pale starlight.