(Very) Slowly bringing stories on AO3 to here...

Part of my ASLBrothersWeek2016 series.

He had forgotten how incredibly loud a Strawhat party was like.

Mixed in with the insanity of the Heart Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates, the Revolutionaries, and a fleet.

He was still trying to wrap his head around it. A fleet.

Trying. Key word was trying. It was a fleet.

"What are you thinking so hard for?"

Ace's mouth twitched upwards as he let a grin envelop his face. "Oh, you know. Menial things. Like how our little brother obtained a fucking fleet."

The man beside him laughed, clapping his back and sitting down beside him. Sabo ran a hand through his hair. "Really now? Truth be told, I wouldn't have believed it if it weren't for the fact that I was there when Luffy recruited more people into his fan club."

Ace raised his eyebrows. "You sure you weren't inebriated or something when you met up with him in Dressrosa?"

Sabo narrowed his eyes in mock irritation. "And aren't you thinking too hard for someone who suffered through a severe concussion and narcolepsy-induced hallucination just seven days ago? It begs the question if you really are fit to be out of an infirmary."

"Aren't you rude? And yes, I'm pretty sure I'm fine. I had Ana check on me, Chopper; Bay even dropped by for a bit just to make sure that I was still very much alive no matter what anyone says, and to make sure that even though the majority of the effects are gone, I wouldn't get myself killed because of it."

"Ah, right," Sabo mused, "Luffy had a veritable fit when you collapsed. And your crew." He furrowed his brows. "I'm pretty sure your captain was just about to smash his weapon into Blackbeard again when you collapsed, seeing that your last hit was apparently from him."

"Eh? So you're telling me that when Marco told me you pretty much flew over when it happened was a lie?"

"I was only checking to see if you messed up the plan and that he wasn't screwing with me; you should know that I'm always compo –"

"ACE! SABO!"

Something crashed into both males with immense force and nearly forced all three to topple off the cliff. Both Ace and Sabo hit face first into the ground, the figure that forced them into it sitting on their backs. With a grunt, Ace pushed his brother off him, grumbling and holding his head.

"Damn it, Lu," Sabo said softly, "you nearly toppled us into the ocean. I'm the only one who can swim and carrying both of you to the coast would've been too much for your bodies to handle."

"Shihihi, sorry!" Luffy laughed, grinning and moving back and forth in a tipping manner. "You guys just disappeared and no one's seen you and there's so much food! Oh," Luffy paused for breath, still grinning manically towards his brothers, "the blue chicken is back! I wanted Ussop to go catch it but Nami said it was a bad idea because it was with your crew so I wanted to ask –"

"No," Sabo deadpanned, face exasperated and a little worried, "No. Just, no. Ace, tell him –"

Beside Sabo, Ace looked like he was on the verge of choking. The sound of muffled laughter escaped his mouth that was clasped closed by his hand. Luffy didn't stop grinning.

"Oh – oh, ma – blue chicken – he though, he though he's escaped from those comments, but –" Ace managed to choke out, ignoring Sabo's immensely worried expression, "I – I can't wait to tell him."

"You sure Phoenix isn't go to be annoyed?" Sabo asked. Ace shook his head.

"Annoyed, oh yeah. Attack? Nah. He's put up with it for who knows how long so it's more of the fact that he's being called a chicken, not a phoenix. Calling him a pineapple causes more issues."

"FOOD!" Luffy shouted, and dragged both his brothers over to the main circle of the celebration. Koala laughed at the long suffering faces both brothers sported as Luffy happily brought them to his crew to 'officially' meet.

"I gotta ask, how did you three become brothers, anyway?"

Sabo blinked in mild surprise. "You mean he hasn't told you?"

Marco gave a flat stare. "We've learned more about him in the past week than we have in the four years he's been in the crew."

Beside him, Thatch pouted. "And it's a shame, too!" Suddenly, he leaned in and grinned. "'sides, I really, really want to learn the story behind that tattoo of yours, Ace."

Sabo's eyes found their way to Ace's arm tattoo, a feeling of warmth coil itself inside him. It was something he would eternally tease Ace on, but would let Ace forget that he appreciated it, as well. Ace's face reddened slightly at the mention of the tattoo, and he brushed his hand over the crossed-out S instinctively.

"Wow." Sabo paused, then turned to face Ace. "You really do suck at sharing, do you?"

Ace narrowed his eyes. "We grew up around a dump site and a forest where you won't survive unless you take it over. What do you think?"

Sabo blinked, then grinning as he heard Luffy laugh at the other side of him. It was clear to him that Ace had momentarily forgotten that he hadn't told anybody in his crew about his childhood, because Ace suddenly deeply reddened and ducked his head. Luffy had the opposite reaction, instead laughing merrily at his crew's reaction. Even Robin had a reaction: pure perplexity and surprise.

Sabo found it very fitting. Had he not been living with Ace and Luffy in a forest and a dump, he'd be extremely dubious as well.

"You're kidding," Nami said, "No way. Sounds like one of Ussop's lies."

The sniper in question looked offended, but Sabo merely shrugged in response. "Don't know what to tell you; take it or leave it. We had a very weird childhood."

"Weird?" Ace's voice came out, clearly muffled as he stuffed it with food in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. "For us, it's completely normal." He finally made eye contact with his crew since he started stuffing his face. "For you guys? It's weird by Curiel's standards." At the Sabo's, Koala's, Hack's and the Strawhat's blank stares, he elaborated. "You don't want to know. Trust me, it's better this way."

Sabo grinned as he watched Koala blanche, deep in her imagination of what could possibly be so horrendous that the infamous Portgas D. Ace, brother to the seemingly-insane Chief of Staff found it weird.

"Please. We're pirates who sail the New World. We've seen these little seal-like animals follow us around for no discernable reason, had rocks rain down like a light downpour, and you think that's not weird?" Haruta hotly challenged, which was met with maniacal cackling from Ace.

"I was eaten by alligators before!" Luffy added in, nonchalantly munching on pieces of meat.

"… Wha?"

The Pirate King nodded, only half hearing the question. "Yeah! Ace and Sabo always had to pull me out before!"

"By always, he means once every twenty-minutes. About. We didn't keep count." Ace supplied, thinking it was very helpful information which was met with immensely satisfying gobsmacked faces from pirates and rebellion-starters.

"Actually, they were crocodiles." Sabo mused, partially leaning on Ace's shoulder as his hands went to swat away Luffy's thieving set.

"That – that doesn't change the fact that he was eaten!" Koala half-shouted, doing her best to find some sort of logic that would make sense or even barely apply to the three brothers.

"You're right," Marco muttered, "it's weird. We should grab Curiel and get his opinion on this insanity."

"Actually, Ace and Sabo wanted to kill me the first time we met!" Luffy happily added.

…

"What is with you and trying to kill people who want to befriend you!?" Thatch cried out, pointing his index finger to Ace. "What is wrong with you people!? Is it a custom or something back in East Blue?"

Hack let out a long, deep suffering sigh. In all honesty, Sabo found it very enjoyable to watch their reactions. In that moment, the Strawhat Pirate's reactions were a gift to the world.

"Not possible," Zoro deadpanned, face incredibly unamused. "No. Both of you asked us to watch over him and make sure he doesn't get himself killed. With the exact same words. Within a two-year time gap." Zoro shook his head, crossing his arms. "I can't see it."

"Shihihihi! It's true!"

Sabo peered behind him only to see Koala's blank face. He poked her arm. "Koala, you alright?" He furrowed his brows. "None of your supposedly non-existential injuries from a week ago are coming back to haunt you, right?"

"Shut up," she said faintly, "I'm processing. I was trying to understand how your brother was eaten, and then…" her eyes hardened; she lunged towards the blonde who fell into the very middle of their incredibly messed up circle. "You have a brother complex, Sabo! You know, the term used for siblings that are incredibly close and care for each other a lot? The best way to describe someone's love for their sibling in a single sentence? Do you?"

Hack blinked. Then he met Sabo's eye. "Well done. You managed to do one thing that's occurred only three times. You've broken her."

Izou's mouth was slightly ajar. "If you don't mind me asking, who's done the last three times?"

Hack shrugged, and Sabo was suddenly filled with deep, deep betrayal. "Hack, don't you dare!"

"The last three times? Well. As of the moment, they're alive. However, I'm not quite sure I can speak for the next few minutes."

Sabo writhed as Koala tightened her grip on his arm. "Hack!"

"Ah, but of course…" The fishman tipped his head back to watch the sky darken, "they happen to be right here."

"Aw, but Sabo and Ace also helped me train! We sparred a lot, too!" Luffy added, leaving Koala momentarily distracted and Sabo took the opportunity to move behind Robin – something that amused the archaeologist – as he took in Luffy's words.

Sabo made brief eye contact with Ace.

It's getting worse. Control him.

Right. Riiiiighht. Because Luffy can be controlled.

You suck.

Well then, time to cancel all my plans and think about how to please the Chief of Staff. Boo-hoo.

Sabo ended their non-verbal conversation with a glare.

"Sparred? Care to indulge us, Luffy-san?" Brook asked, strumming his violin as he prepared for another song.

"Yeah! Hundred fights a day, fifty per person!" The rubber pirate chirped, clearly – and happily – lost in his memories. "They always beat me, though! Shihihihi, but I didn't care! Sabo and Ace are super strong, and Ace didn't even have a devil fruit back then!"

Thatch's eye twitched. "How old were you guys?"

"Ten, seven." Ace, Sabo and Luffy stated in perfect timing.

Ace shrugged. "We were actually pretty old, if you think about."

Haruta stared. "Yeah, no, Ace. You're twenty-two. Youngest in the crew. You're practically a kid."

Sanji raised a hand and lazily waved it around. "Regardless of that, I don't think any of us expected this. And I here I thought we knew a lot about our captain…"

Ace snorted. "You think this is bad? This is the minor stuff! Little detail and all that! We're not even brothers yet! If you guys can't handle this, then I'm afraid you guys won't be able to handle certain… things." The freckled pirate's face scrunched up. "… Yeah, no, that's the best description I can give you with causing some… things." He gave them a mischievous grin. "The tattoo doesn't happen until much, much later, you know?"

Sabo gave an unrestricted laugh at the sight of Thatch's devastated face; it was glaringly obvious that he wanted to know more about it. He contemplated making Ace not tell them, considering it was something only the three brothers knew about, even the moment they first laid their eyes on it.

Yes, Sabo mused. Today's a good day.

I want to think more about the holes in my memory, but for now…

I'll enjoy this time.