Arlong Park looked familiar and not in a good way. Not like recognizing Nami had been.

It looked remarkably like Sabaody park. A gated, large building, fantastical and colorful in a way openly removed from the silent and suppressed air of the human town. Ryū had never seen the place himself in person before. He only had Luffy's somewhat skewed accounts, and none of them described it in detail enough for such a… polished image. Maybe he was subconsciously drawing comparisons from Sabaody. It would make some sense, with how quickly his mind had connected the two– the same sort of behind-the-scenes violence and control.

It didn't matter. It wasn't as if this was the first time his dreams had built up images he shouldn't know. It was just doing as dreams do, expanding on what little he did know.

(But wasn't it weird, to see it all in such startling clarity? Ryū had never seen a picture of Nami as a little girl. He had never seen Nami, just as he had never seen Arlong Park, just as he had never seen the Orange Islands, just as he had never met Genzo or Nojiko.

Here they were, every crack in the cement and wrinkle on their faces.

Ryū carefully, as he did all things, folded his nervous suspicions and tucked them carefully away.)

Even in the here and now, there was enough to be disconcerting. No one had stopped him so far. No one had even tried, and Ryū was well aware that there had been plenty of opportunities to try. His stance was relaxed. Shoulders loose, gait quick but wide. None of koala's tightly controlled movements, or Hack's watchful stare. To any onlooker, he was no doubt recklessly normal. Naively arrogant of his abilities; terribly self-assured. Human in all the worst ways.

Ryū was armed to the teeth. But no one who knew was around to expose that.

Still, he walked alone. He could sense the presences of the Fishmen stalking him. They weaved in and out of the passing buildings. Always on his heel, ducking out of sight when he turned a corner too quickly. If he was anyone else Ryū might have felt pleased to be regarded so warily.

Instead, he was just all the more paranoid. What Sun Pirate would hide from a human? Ryū was, at a glance, no threat. Just another human who believed themselves so far above repercussion. He hadn't shown his hand. Technically there was nothing to fear. He should have been easy bait— shouldn't have to scour the island just to have a conversation.

Grandline-born or not, Ryū kind of doubted that these people had the depth of haki to gauge anything about him.

At least it made his work fairly quick and painless.

Ryū stepped within the waiting silence of Arlong Park. Immediately, several pairs of eyes turned towards him– eyes and weapons. Several weapons. "Hello," He waved, expression pinned into something gentlemanly.

There they all were. All those presences, having ducked into the water and through back doors to settle around their boss before he could enter. All except the much larger one, tucked away in the deeper coastline. If the circumstances weren't as they were, Ryū would have laughed at the sheer theatrics of it all– he had kind of missed the easy, less-bloodied drama of the Blues. "Good day to you. May I have a word?"

He had known directly from the beginning but there was no coincidence to the positioning of the crew. Their boss sat still and silent, framed by his large and imposing men. It was oddly reminiscent of something older. Like staring at a yellowed photograph in the flesh.

Ryū took a longer look.

...The name of the park had been familiar from the start, but this was the first time he had actually bothered to think on that further than just an acknowledgement. Ryū had never actually seen the man outside of pictures, nor heard of him outside of secondary stories. But he was no stranger to Koala's annoyed and yet fond stories of the varied crew of her childhood. He never forgot even the messy and vague recounting he ever managed to squeeze out of Luffy and his crew.

A name with sudden clarity. Ryū stared. "Arlong?"

One of Koala's childhood rescuers stared back at him as if he was crazy. Frankly unfair, considering that Ryū was pretty sure it wasn't him who was the crazy one here– "Of course," Arlong snapped, "Who else would I be?"

This is all kinds of wrong. Ryū made a point of always paying attention to all things Koala, but this was ridiculous. No amount of wracking his brain was giving him any sort of useful conclusions. "No, that–"

He needed to be calm. Efficient. Ryū breathed in sharply and walked directly up to Arlong without giving his crew a glance.

Just as he expected, none of them stopped him. Fingers tightened on triggers and swords, but none of them twitched towards him. It was like watching a cat waiting to pounce. It was a shame he wasn't able to dig up even an ounce of the excitement sparring his brothers would give him for it.

"What are you doing here?" Ryū asked. "I don't mean to be rude to a Sun Pirate, of course, but this isn't exactly the kind of place– nor the kind of environment– in which I expected to find such a complacent group of fine men..." Arlong's pupils were slitting. His jaw was tense, clenched tightly enough for veins to visibly strain. A very trigger-happy man, clearly. Or maybe it was just his own biases making a persona for a man Ryū had never met. Either way he found himself subtly shifting his grip on his pipe, preemptively apologizing to Koala. "...So do mind my manners but I am just so curious why the entire island seems to be in hiding."

The tension was thick enough to grip. Just thick enough to force Arlong onto his feet. His men all shifted with him, jerky, twitching movements as if they were forcing their bodies through them. They watched him as if unsure what he even was. It wasn't the first time Ryū had gotten that specific brand of wariness before but here and now, with a balance so heavily and unknowingly skewed…

"Are you a human?" Arlong finally asked.

Ryū blinked, carefully shelving his confusion. "Yes."

It seemed to be all the crew needed. Hesitation forcefully shaken off, what was a rigidly watchful crew became relaxed and loose-limbed. Sharp grins were shot his way. Despite the tightness Ryū could still easily pick out of their bodies, they held themselves at ease.

(Almost painfully so.)

Arlong was smirking at him as if he had already won a battle. It was honestly all Ryū had been looking, by that point. Whatever he said next would be a waste of time.

The boss stood. His hands splayed wide and open, brandishing his unprotected chest like a brag. "Another filthy human," Arlong snarled, "Here to pretend like it has any power over me and my territory." Ryū shifted his grip on his pipe. It was times like now that he kind of missed his top hat, honestly. Even after some time had passed he felt strangely naked without the garment. "I should kill you. It would be my right after all, with how much you have already taken from us."

Haki raced up Ryū's arm and into his weapon. Just an instinctual push of power— casual and unthinking enough that it took Ryū a moment to let it fizzle out. He was not there to start a fistfight.

Yet. "You should know better than to mirror your history." A few flinched. Very few, few enough that the select Fishmen who did were the ones that drew Ryū's eyes. One of them was even familiar— enough so that he was willing to pay attention.

Ryū narrowed his eyes at the octopus Fishman. He vaguely recognized him as a friend of Luffy's. It had been a long time since he had heard the stories, but disjointed as they had been, Ryū never forgot something his dearest little brother told him. "What the hell do you think you're doing, enslaving humans just to get back at the ones who have nothing to do with them? do you think the Celestial Dragons–" Several more flinches, this time. Ryū did not relent. He refused to allow something gentle and courteous and undeserving like understanding to make him soft. "– would even notice if you killed everyone in these islands? Do you think the enslavement of a couple of citizens will make them bow to you? The torture? The murder? Do you think ransoming a stranger or two or two million will make you feel better?"

Luffy's future navigator was here. A spry and wary little spitfire already, without Ryū's natural disaster of a little brother. Her history stemmed from this one. It was all adjacent.

It started here, with the death of her mother and the entrapment of her dreams. Another sparrowkeet kicked into a cage.

He knew the feeling well, and well enough to be sickened. "You're disgusting," Ryū decided calmly. Too calmly. Calm enough to make jerky movement and off-kilter ease go stiff and cold. He turned on his heel, flaring his aura so brightly that any yonko within miles would have paid attention.

The presences behind him came to a tangible, stumbling halt. Ryū pointedly twirled his pipe at his side as he walked, humming all the way. If any were smart, they would stay where they were. Even someone untrained would be hard-pressed to breathe in the miasma of passive haki. Ryū trusted in a Grandline Childhood to at least bring them to heel, and yet–

"Where– Do you think we'll just let you–" The pirate jerked into uneasy silence as Ryū calmly sidestepped him. He had promised himself not to start a fight, but he had never chosen not to hold his ground– even to a man largely outmatched. Even to a man among men Koala might have thought fondly of, once. His pipe made a home jutting into the pirate's gut. Just out of view to Arlong. But he doubted the abrupt rise in tension could be missed regardless of training.

He could feel his brothers, all rushing towards the park with single minded focus. Ryū had been careful to teach them the little signals— the ones Dragon had drilled into him. Soundless, sightless signals that, if not Ace or Sabo, Ryū knew Luffy would instantly flag and fixate to.

There was no way to get lost with a beacon like Ryū standing in place– and they were going to be outside the gates very quickly.

"Pardon me," He said amicably. After all, Arlong had not given any orders. A rogue action was one responsible only by the Rogue. Ryū didn't need to break any internal pacts just yet. "My siblings are on their way. My youngest is a big fan, you see."

A big fan of never letting his crew members be hurt, at least. Ryū bet the real Luffy would be happy to hear that he let him get Nami's revenge twice over whether it was a dream or reality.

It just happened to be a bonus, that they could get a little extra training in against what was probably the biggest current threat in the East Blue.

An extra little nudge for good measure, and Ryū was stepping out of the clearing. He was less surprised by how easily he was allowed to leave this time– although he wasn't truly "leaving" of any real sense. Still in sight, just outside the walls. Hopefully, Arlong's crew being born in the Grandline gave them a stronger disposition for danger.

Or maybe they were naturally wary of the sudden and armed stranger who knew who and what they were. Ryū couldn't take credit for everything or Koala would smack him.

(To the untrained eye, Ryū was less than unsettling. Even in a ransacked town like Cocoyashi, Genzo had willingly approached him, hadn't he?

It was strange, not having a bounty again.)

Three little auras skid into view, nearly tripping over each other in their haste, and Ryū plastered an easy smile across his face. He was almost surprised at how real it still managed to be, despite the circumstances. "I hope you three left Nami's tangerine grove in one piece."

Ace and Sabo both gave him an odd look, but Luffy just nodded. "She would be really mad at us," He confirmed solemnly. As if he had years of firsthand experience. "I didn' let Ace 'r Sabo touch any." The tiny kid was so ridiculously serious even in a dream. Ryū hid a snort behind his gloves when said older brothers glared at him.

...They were probably more unhappy to be left out of whatever secret they assumed Ryū and Luffy had, but Ryū was fine with keeping this one to himself. What was one more secret? At least this one wouldn't cause a fire.

"Good job," He praised, and Luffy glowed. "Now, are you three up to training before we go?" It was useless to ask but he always did anyway– just to see how each pair of eyes snapped to new attention.

Sabo leveled his glare to something more cautiously curious. Always the reasonable one– Ryū would have been disappointed in losing his advantages if he wasn't so proud. "You said that we wouldn't stay long," He pointed out, "An' that there wasn't much left to teach in the Blues."

Both true. Ryū was sure he had mentioned either at some point, even if he didn't remember it. There was little use left in staying within East Blue. The bigger fish had been fried. Taking on entire crews had quickly become boring and mundane— didn't even manage to make a dent in the trio's collective energy, anymore. Ryū was starting to count down the days before Luffy would try to chew through the deck. The boys had all advanced painfully quickly– literally so, as they seemed to hone more and more onto defeating Ryū every single day over endurance exercises or basic strength build-up.

I should have expected them to latch onto me as the biggest threat, he supposed, but it really is as if I were training piranhas.

"Don't sass me," Ryū chided instead, "I've got you some new sparring partners." He paused. "...Sparring partner." With as far along as they were in haki by that point it would probably just distract them and waste time to deal with Arlong's men on top of Arlong himself. They could work on multiple targets later. Besides... he wanted to talk to the crew a little bit more. Dig into the wound that made them flinch. "How would you three like to fight Arlong?"

He really should have been surprised to see the way Luffy's jaw clenched. Even behind his lips, there was the loud squeal of grinding rubber.

The air grew chokingly heavy. "I want him," Luffy said.

No room for argument. Ace and Sabo shot a look down at their youngest and frowned.

He should have expected it, which how weirdly attuned Luffy seemed to be, in his dreams, but– Ryū shifted plans. "Okay, Luffy got dibs on finishing him off," He announced casually, and dutifully ignored the face his two oldest shoved at him. Keep it light, keep it easy. Questions and answers could come up later– or never. "Sabo, Ace, you two should go in support. Luffy is still the youngest, and you two have too much experience in playing the frontline. Besides, we haven't gone over multiple attackers as much as you probably need to fight several enemies at once just yet."

A massive tiger, or boars, or bears, even against Ryū it wouldn't be the same as fistfighting half a crew at once. That kind of chaos took time to adjust to no matter the individual skill, and Ryū wasn't about to leave it up to the Grandline to teach them.

He would like to avoid one more nightmare of watching his brothers being slaughtered.

Systematically taking down entire ships could come later. The Fishmen would at least make a good buffer for it, if Ryū couldn't just let them go. Maybe that was just something left to the real Luffy's expertise.

There is never the possibility to save everyone. Especially the ones who refuse to be saved.

Three little hands touched him, pulling him out of his thoughts. Ryū looked up in time to see they all fling them up into the air, cheering in sync. Despite the circumstances, he couldn't help but think they looked appropriately vicious.

"Don't forget your armament," Ryū stepped to the side to let them charge past him and into the park., "Arlong's got some real teeth in him!"

There was no response, but someone screamed and Ryū heard a definite shattering sound.

He stalked back within the manufactured walls and headed straight for the Fishmen while they were still frozen on the sidelines.

"You know you shouldn't be here, Hatchi," Ryū said quietly. For once, he meant it. This was someone he recognized. Not for pride as a revolutionary– not even as a living bank of information– but as a brother. Hatchi was a name he knew, and Ryū settled back into his job with a familiarity he hadn't realized he had been missing. "What are you doing so far from home?"

The fishman finally met his eyes. It took visible effort to drag his stare up from where it had settled on the bodies at Ryū's feet. Ryū wasn't all too sure what he had expected, but to not have to fight at all– or more– wasn't a bad outcome. It had been a long time since the people he fought had the foolishness to freeze up.

"I had to," he whispered. "I-It's– I thought–"

Ryū stared.

"– know that this isn't right. But Arlong–"

The stench of smoky, salty meat only seemed to thicken. It wasn't appetizing. Hatchi's skin looked raw from heat. There was no sense in faltering. Ryū hadn't had that sort of luxury in a long time. It probably wasn't kind of him, to take that same joy from Hatchi. "What are you doing so far from home?"

Hatchi's eyes hit the floor again. "We're enslaving humans." His swords shook in his hands.

"Right."

"It's– I know it isn't right. I know. I know! Arlong shouldn't– I shouldn't be following this. Him. We're no better than..."

Hatchi trailed off, and Ryū allowed his hands to stop burning. His lungs, as they always did, carried the phantom ache of smoke.

He was a good big brother, after all.

(Luffy loved to talk about his friends. All of them. For as difficult as it was to get the pirate's account about any event, he was all too ready to talk about the people he met along the way. It had been a while since he had heard it but Ryū never forgot. He would write it all down once, twice, five times if it meant he never forgot something again.)

(Koala would have been happy to hear he let the man go. That tended to be against both Revolutionary and Koala's policies– but even she had some soft spots. ...It admittedly helped his decision that Luffy had made the same one himself once.)

Which was the only reason he turned his back to address the approaching figures instead.

Nami skid to a stop, eyes pinning just past Ryū. He dutifully ignored the quiet splash behind him. Nojiko was close behind her sister. Unlike Nami, she hesitated before the massive park gates. Ryū wasn't surprised to see her run to her sister's side regardless, looking more than ready to shove Nami behind her if Ryū so much as twitched. But in the moment his brother's crewmate only had eyes for him.

...and him her. His brother's nakama deserved the respect of his attention.

"You let him get away," she accused quietly. Despite her sister's attempts to stop her, she marched right up to Ryū. Face him head-on, toe to toe. Even when she was forced to tilt her head way back just to catch his eye, she stood as firmly as he knew she would have in her real, adult body– brimming with fire hot enough to try to challenge him. He had always admired that sort of ferocity of Luffy's crew. It was nice to know that trust extended to his dreams. "Why did you let him get away?"

Because out of all of them, you still call Hatchi "him".

Ryū smiled pleasantly. "Let who get away?"

She stared at him. Her face twitched, as if unsure whether she was free to scowl or not. He was unfairly excited to see her settle on a glare.

Nami didn't get the chance to say whatever she clearly wanted. Genzo finally reached his daughters, warily picking his way past the bits of rubble that had gotten hurled near the gates. It was only his heavy panting that stopped him from immediately yelling the way he looked like he wanted too.

Genzo glared Ryū down suspiciously– looking equally torn between scolding him or the girls.

He turned on Ryū. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" Genzo snapped. "Leaving like that, causing a– your boys just ran out, and I don't know what the hell you've been teaching them but–"

Somewhere further into the park Ryū heard the distinct crack of concrete. Something snapped violently. A feral sounding noise came from the higher floors, followed by three more. Genzo looked seconds from reaching for a gun. He only looked sicker when he remembered that it wasn't there.

Ryū just continued to smile blithely.

Genzo gaped for a moment, eyes darting between him, the girls, and the rubble. Every so often, Ryū was sure there was a rubber fist flying free of the tower. Luffy's haki always had an odd little ripple in it whenever he stretched. "I– you– are they in there?"

Out of all the things to focus on, and the man chose Ryū's (admittedly less-than-stellar) child rearing decisions? Ryū had no idea he cared so much for his subconscious to scold him. He... wasn't actually sure what to say to that.

It didn't seem to matter. Genzo clearly had plenty to say. The man was seething. It was only Ryū's training that stopped him from lighting up the moment Genzo's fists twisted into his lapels. "You let them in there?!" He snarled. "Do you have any idea what– they're going to die!"

Another chunk of rubble hit the pavement and Ryū wondered who Genzo was trying to fool. He was halfway certain that that was Ace he had just heard cackling. "They'll be fine. I'm keeping an eye on them."

"Keeping an–" His eyes twitched, pulling at scar tissue. Ryū was starting to worry Genzo was going to burst a blood vessel somewhere. "This is what you call– What kind of–"

"Ryū-nii!" Ryū immediately spun on his heel, hand flying to his pipe. Genzo thankfully kept the girls back as he blocked Arlong's body from smashing into them, allowing him to freely focus on the teeth biting into the metal of his weapon.

Luffy bounced to the pavement a moment after Sabo's shout. Ryū would have given anything to be able to turn and see Genzo's face at that moment.

Instead, he looked at Luffy.

It was unfair for something so adorable to look so intense. Luffy's entire body was rigid. He didn't look up to acknowledge Ryū beyond edging around him to get to Arlong, his gaze singularly trained on the Fishman. Even with him bloodied and bruised Luffy watched Arlong as though staring down a hissing cobra.

Nami made a bitten off noise behind him. Ryū didn't turn even as Luffy's eyes immediately flicked up.

Rubber arms wound around Arlong's torso and Ryū watched as his face went pale. His teeth wrenched out of Ryū's pipe. "No," he managed to choke out, eyes huge– and then Ryū was left trying to block out the sun enough to see wherever the Fishman and his littlest brother landed.

A hand tugged on his sleeve. Ryū smiled down at Ace as he stumbled out of the rubble, ruffling what looked like a bucketful of cement dust and wood splinters out of his hair. "Welcome back," He greeted easily. "Did you see where Luffy landed?" His brothers had good restraint. It was one of the first things Ryū had bothered with when he worked past the basics. The kind of restraint that couldn't be learned with a little brother made of rubber. The kind Ryū wanted to make sure they demonstrated when it came to what happens to someone you've beaten.

Ace gestured vaguely off towards the remains of the building. "Sabo's still with 'im," he added. "Are we gonna stay for lunch before we go?"

Ryū shrugged, already nudging rubble aside to get towards where Ace pointed. He could vaguely hear Genzo hissing behind him, his presence erratically jerking forward as Nami darted away from her family and picked her way after them.

As long as he didn't react, neither would Ace. Ryu kept his eyes forward. "yeah, if you want to. I wouldn't mind– these guys probably have some cash stashed in here." The park was still fairly intact. Ryū did not doubt that whatever money they stole was still stored somewhere inside. Most of it would go back to the people, but they wouldn't miss what Ryū took. He would use it while still in the Isles anyway. "Was Sabo worried?"

Sabo was always the more watchful of the boys, but even he knew they would be fine. Ryū trusted them implicitly to handle Arlong. With the way the fight had panned out, Ryū doubted Sabo truly felt the need to keep an eye out for Luffy.

Ace shrugged. He kicked lightly at the ruins, coughing when he accidentally inhaled some dust. "He was actin' kinda weird," He admitted. It was said quietly, grey eyes scanning the rubble as if checking Sabo wasn't about to pop into hearing range. "Like back at... Back in the city. Back in Goa."

Ryū wasn't entirely sure what that meant yet.

He used his pipe to knock away a large chunk of debris in his path. "I see."

I'm sure it's fine. Sabo was almost always fine. All of the boys were. For all that Ryū worried, they were largely independent. Not that he ever expected them to be dependent on him– Ryū remembered his childhood enough to know "dependence" wasn't a word that ever seemed to apply to him or his siblings. A dream wouldn't change that. Even if they did manage to stick their hands into every wasp nest while looking for honey.

They were just another slab of fallen concrete away. "Luffy," Ryū called. Immediately, the smallest sibling looked up from where he sat, legs swinging off the chunk of rubble he sat on– but he wasn't the one Ryū was worried about. Despite Luffy's earlier posturing, the boy's eyes were clear of anger. The sheer innocence, in the way he blinked at his two older brothers, was almost as if they had just stumbled in on him watching bugs.

Ryū continued to stare, face neutral and body silent. "Sabo." He did not comment on Ace latching a fist onto the back of his shirt. "Stop. He's had enough."

Sabo refused to raise his head. Luffy had been allowed to shoulder most of the brunt work, but Ryū recognized the thin, almost slice like marks among the blunt trauma of bruises to be his counterpart's handiwork. Even with a pipe, Sabo had loved precision.

It wasn't the time for that. Arlong was not a threat. Not any longer– and never had been, to them. The Fishman practically dangled from Sabo's small grip, broken and beaten beyond awareness.

Sabo's grip shined with the obsidian of haki spotting up into his sleeves.

"Sabo," Ryū repeated, "Come here, please."

He knew the look in his eyes. Saw it constantly, if he got the chance to look in a mirror. He saw it in every dark window he glanced at, at every puddle of rain he stepped past. It had become even more familiar than even a smile, at some point.

That did not mean it was comforting when carved into his younger self's face. Was that what he had looked like, before Dragon found him? It was how he looked now, certainly, but Sabo was still a child. They were all still children. Ryū had taken them to allow them that, to give them what he had never gotten, so why–

"We can't let him go," Sabo finally ground out. The words grit between his teeth as if he was fighting the urge to chew on them. Spat out like blood on his gums. "He hurt these people. They didn't do anything to him. He was..."

"He'll never hurt Nami again," Luffy murmured. Ryū looked down as his littlest brother trod slowly over to join him and Ace, movements uncharacteristically sluggish with satisfaction. "Never ever."

The words should have been reassuring. Their work was done. Luffy's future navigator was healthy and happy, and her isle freed.

Ryū watched Sabo's shoulders tighten and wondered how he could have pretended this wasn't bound to happen.

"He was hurting people," He snapped. "He was treating them like slaves, like..."

There was nothing fun or exciting in watching his little brother flinch under a touch to his shoulder. Ryū didn't pull away regardless, though he waited until Sabo relaxed into his hand to speak. "Trauma can sometimes make you into what you hate," He said quietly. It always, always hurt to hear. "You know this, Sabo."

The apple never falls far from the tree.

Sabo shuddered violently and dropped Arlong's body like a tank of brinks. Ryū caught his arms as he recoiled, kneeling in time to just barely stop him from curling into himself. From exposing them both. Ace and Luffy knew a lot, and brothers did not keep secrets.

(But they never needed to learn every scar's story on their shared bodies. Ryū still had the silver slivers from expensive wine bottles shattering across his skin, thrown books and cane welts. The studded, faded remnants of a hand ringed in glittering jewels.)

"Sabo?" Ace abruptly broke Ryu's focus. The hand tightened against his back. Sabo stiffened in his grasp. "Why–"

"Ace, go with Luffy back to where Nami is," Ryu ordered firmly.

"But–"

"She's going to find us." He could feel her little light, inching closer and closer over scattered ruins and around dented pathways. Towards them. Towards where Arlong's body was still laying, unresponsive, against the crumbling concrete. "She shouldn't have to see this."

Unlike Luffy, she would know exactly what Arlong was.

He just barely allowed himself to relax when Luffy grabbed onto his older brother and dragged Ace away. It didn't last– one look back down at Sabo and Ryū was tense all over again. "Hey," he said quietly, "it's been taken care of. There's nothing more to be done."

Sabo's fingers were still a solid black where they dug into Ryū's forearms– but at least now they shook. A little hairline tremble, shaking apart the black until only his fingertips were off-color. Ryū wasn't entirely sure yet whether he was to thank exhaustion or surrender. "He was trying to enslave them, Ryū-nii," He whispered. "He locked up the whole isle. Did you know he shot Nami's mom?"

He did. Sabo held him a little tighter. "He shot her," He continued to whisper, "He killed her in cold blood because of– because they couldn't, couldn't pay him to live in their own home."

His eyes were dark. Ocean blue, the kind that drowned. Sabo finally met Ryū's eyes and he burned. "I don't regret killing him," He hissed. "He deserved it. They all did."

How was Ryū supposed to argue a concept he agreed with? Somehow, it didn't feel right to watch a child with his own conviction– even if the child was himself. Even in a dream. Something about it felt too heavy for a child to decide to swallow.

(Hadn't Ryū taken them specifically so they wouldn't feel the need to bite these sorts of bullets?)

Sabo relaxed fully into his arms as he hugged him close, uncaring that Sabo had to step up onto his thighs to manage it. No one was around to watch him tuck his little brother, himself, under his chin. "I know," He whispered conspiratorially. "I get it. Trust me."

Arlong's body was cold and empty of light and presence. Nothing more than another piece of rubble.

Ryū pressed Sabo's face to his shoulder, standing with him in his arms. The boys had seen plenty, over the years. Disgusting things. Ryū couldn't even recall half the crimes they had already borne witness to, at such a young age– he only had the ways they remained to fuck him up later. If he had his way, Sabo wouldn't look, and Luffy wouldn't know.

Ace wouldn't say a word. Unlike Sabo, this wouldn't be the first time.

"I get it."

Let me handle the disposal next time.

its been a solid coupla months, hasnt it... I'll be real it partially took so long because I flat out forgot my own characterizations ajdbxhbffb

thank you for your patience! I hope everybody be doin okay in this quarantine. ill try to keep up momentum and work on the next parts once i finish editing my OPBB so that there isnt such a long wait next time lmfao

As always, you can find me over at my tumblr, Leviathiane