So. This chapter's shortness is because I posted this on my birthday, the the next part just didn't fit with the chapter. As promised on my AO3 account the next one will be longer. And fluffier. And things.

Sabo was pouting – Luffy could tell when they had just fought off another round of opposing pirates and had retreated to another part of the forest. He was about to voice his concerns when they'd been attacked again - Luffy just wanted some family time, damn it – and had been cut off from Ace due to the hellish amount of pirates that had decided to gang up on them.

"Neh, Sabo," Luffy began, ducking a swipe from an enemy and retaliating with a haki-coated punch to the face, "why do you look upset?"

"What?" Sabo strained out and Luffy twisted his head to see Sabo gritting his teeth determinedly, an thy scaled backwards as they dodged dark-tipped spears. "What do you mean?"

"Well –"

Luffy turned his head to spot Ace's frantic face, just a mere thirty-feet difference between them. He didn't get to finish his sentence, and ignoring Sabo's confused words, he squinted as he tried to focus on the freckled pirate's mouth, trying to decipher what he was saying.

Watch out.

Luffy's eyes widened, and he swerved to grasp at Sabo's cloak and pull him down; he frantically looked up, and –

– and Luffy blacked out.

He groaned, fingers twitching as he remembered what had just happened and –

His hands frantically grasped at the ribbon on his hat, and his fingers twitched the moment he grasped the small sheets of paper. He swiftly got them out of the ribbon; he needed to find them, he needed to find them, he needed to find them –

Ace's card wasn't moving; it was smoldered on the edges but the paper was growing larger every few seconds, and Luffy decided that Ace would be able to handle himself. Looking over to Sabo's –

Sabo's card was burning.

(Something slipped from his hands as he watched the paper of life burn right before his eyes, and then Hancock was saying things but he didn't care –)

Oh, hell no.

Luffy grit his teeth determinedly, throwing his arms back far – far, farther than ever – and when he pulled back, his arms were larger than the thick forestry around them, and smashed everything in its path. "Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

Some were sent flying away, pieces of otherwise, while some simply splintered into minuscule pieces. Luffy was pretty sure that some were just flattened pieces of wood, but he didn't care as he intently watched the uprooted trees fly towards the direction Sabo's vivre card was pointing to.

"Wait for us, Sabo," Luffy whispered, and he threw an arm to latch onto one of the last trees to start flying. He squinted to minimize the amount of splinters affecting his vision, and he felt as if he was being purposefully slowed down – it was taking too long.

He saw a clearing and a streak of blue nimbly moving around, and, without waiting for a safe landing, he hopped from the tree and, in a fit of anger, struck the ground with Red Hawk, coating everything nearby in either flames or soot. He crouched, scowling in anger as Blackbeard Pirates scrambled away from Luffy. He heard Sabo yelp in surprise from the fire, but a sharp, yet distant, warning from the blond made Luffy focus on the encroaching darkness. Jumping back to Sabo, he frowned as he observed Sabo's blood drip from his left arm, sleeve almost completely torn off. "Sabo!" Luffy exclaimed. "You alright?"

A hand ran its way through his hair. "Yeah, Lu," Sabo said hoarsely, frowning at himself. "Thanks."

At that point in time, everything was an indescribable blur, because all he could eel was pure annoyance because these assholes attacked his brother. Luffy had gegan to worry about Ace, since he couldn't check his vivre card nor could he feel his haki.

"Hiken!"

Never mind then. Luffy grinned.

A large blast of fire made a deep, giant crater, separating Sabo and Luffy from the rest of their enemies, and if one was actually stupid enough to try and get across, they'd be kicking their ass. Sabo heaved a sigh of relief when Ace jumped down from an ash-coated tree, but Luffy looked worried as he noticed that Ace looked almost as bad as Sabo.

And they called him reckless!

He was enveloped in a hug by Sabo, and was comforted by the soft sigh Ace let out. Sabo was muttering things such as "Covered in mist," and "blown away," but all that really muttered to Luffy was that his brothers were safe.

Hurt, but safe.

That's all that mattered.

Luffy could confidently say that they stayed like that for a good hour. Nami had said he was great at tracking time (Only to be retorted by Sabo that they were only like that for half-a-minute, Ace).

The sudden burst of loud and cheerful cries caught their attention; the trio swerved to face the direction the cries came from.

Sabo swallowed. "I – I don't recognize anybody's voice." Luffy could pick up the feeling of worry at Sabo's words, and he felt something malicious crawl around him at the thought.

Then, another burst of cries came through – muffled and distant, but Ace's face lit up at the sound. "That's them," he breathed out, and beside Luffy, Sabo sagged in relief; the youngest brother could relate to them. "Let's go before -"

Ace was cut off the by the ground shaking dangerously, and Sabo and Luffy nearly toppled to the ground, if not for Ace holding onto them. Luffy remembered the feeling of the earthquake. "Was that your dad, Ace?" Luffy asked, legs a tad jittery. He glanced at Sabo's pale face, worried.

"Yeah." Ace looked distracted and Luffy swiftly looked around for any sign on the darkness that had been following them. "Oyaji's pissed; he's probably worried."

Sabo snorted, and Luffy giggled. "With what's happened to you, he has every right to be," Sabo said, teasing Ace. Luffy peered over to his freckled brother, anger rushing through him when he was reminded of how terrible Ace looked, clothes torn and parts of his body bleeding. Luffy bit his lip hard, and he barely registered the blood that had come from it as he observed Sabo., looking as equally bad – if not worse – as Ace.

Ace narrowed his eyes when his met Luffy's black pair. "You two aren't much better," he argued; beside him, Sabo huffed resignedly and Luffy grinned – he was looking and feeling much better than either of his brothers. "Let's go." Ace ran his fingers through Luffy's hair, tapping Sabo on his head.

Sabo faked a scowl and Luffy giggled; he remembered that it was one of Ace's habits when they were still at Dawn Island. "Keep an eye out. There's bound to be stragglers around, waiting to pick us off, even with Whitebeard causing an earthquake – they isolated us for a reason," Sabo stated, one hand playing with his pipe.

Ace narrowed his eyes, but Lufy took it all in stride and wrapped an arm around his brothers, pulling them close, chuckling at the yelps they gave. "We need to talk!" He chirped.

Sabo wiggled free from Luffy's grip, and the rubber pirate reluctantly released his logia brother too. "About?"

"Anything!"

Ace hummed. "What've you been up to, Lu?" He asked, and Luffy blinked when he noticed Sabo stiffen. "How's the last two years been?"

Ignoring Ace's question in favour of Sabo, he watched the blond's face travel through a variety of emotions, sporadically twitching, "Well, Rayleigh was a super strict teacher! But I learned haki and it was worth it and I can protect you guys now!" Luffy exclaimed happily, and he heard Ace's voice drift back just as they reached the outskirts of the forest, the sandy beach underneath their feet. Luffy stopped walking – right now, he could only focus on Sabo.

Sabo had stopped walking, head tilted down and his hands clenched. Luffy eye's widened in surprise, and he felt Ace turn around as well as Sabo raised his head slightly, just enough to meet Ace and Luffy eye to eye.

"I'm sorry, Ace, Luffy! I – I had amnesia and Dragon saved me and I forgot about you two and – just – I'm sor –"

Ace smacked the back of Sabo's head, and the blond flinched, looking surprised at the elder pirate's action. "Stop that," Ace said, and Luffy blinked at the shakiness in Ace's voice. "Just – stop." Ace's voice was full of emotion, and Luffy saw Sabo shake and the paramecia felt something drip down his face.

In a moment, Luffy realized he was crying and Sabo was crying and then they were all entangled with each other. Luffy let out a loud wail, because he was so damn happy. Ace's arms were wrapped around them, and Luffy didn't care that something dripped into his hair and that Sabo had disappeared under their hug; they were all alive and happy and free.

They were free.