Authors Note: Happy Holidays Everyone! Last update of 2019! I can't believe the year is over already.

This is dedicated to Wordlet for being an awesome beta and wonderful friend!

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A Twist of Fate

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Loitering was an activity Sabo loved. Koala liked to call it "shirking his duties", but Sabo was adamant it was loitering. He would get where he needed to go at exactly the time he planned to, and do exactly what was asked of him at his own pace. And loitering afforded him the luxury of doing his second favourite hobby; people watching. It was a surprisingly soothing experience, sitting in a corner or hanging around on a roof and just listening. It never ceased to amaze him what one could learn by simply observing the goings on of others and Sabo liked to consider himself an expert.

So it was an unfortunate time indeed when he found himself near buried in work to the point he had had no opportunities whatsoever to stretch his legs and engage in his favourite pastime. Koala might like to joke he would do anything to avoid the paperwork, but she knew after many years of friendship, wandering was Sabo's way of unwinding. And he hadn't had a chance in nearly three weeks.

Dragging a hand roughly through his hair, Sabo dropped the quill to the table with a heavy sigh and collapsed back into his chair, the hard wood digging painfully into his tense shoulders.

In front of him, spread across the old oak desk he'd been forced to sit at for the last few hours, were messy stacks of paperwork; one for Koala, one for Dragon and one for himself. He was a little dismayed to realise the stack of papers for himself still towered over the others, but at least he had finally completed the task from hell Dragon had set for him.

Mustering the last of his motivation to look at the damn things, Sabo pulled Dragon's scrolls into some semblance of order, pointedly ignoring the CP agent's photographs staring back up at him in their black and white glory. He was sick at looking at them. They could induce more fury in him than the tenryuubito themselves some days. At least the tenryuubito were born into their world; the World Government's agents, on the other hand, nearly always had a choice in their actions. And the CP agents had always been unrepentant in following their orders.

Sabo sighed and clipped the final papers together, valiantly resisting the urge to toss the things across his room, and instead left them to one side for Koala to collect later.

He was so ready for that task to be over and done with. Dealing with the aftermath of the CP and Revolutionary clash several weeks back had been relentless. It had been a mess and everyone had been left on tender hooks, mourning the deaths of their colleagues and the innocent civilians who had been unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire, waiting for any fallout that might happen.

But it appeared that the Revolutionary Generals they had been saddened to lose had stood strong until the end – neither the World Government nor any further divisions of the CP had retaliated.

Although, Sabo pondered, glancing at a pile of old newspapers, that might have been because - by some luck or fortune - the attention of World Government had been captured by more immediate threats; namely Enies Lobby.

The capture and subsequent rescue of Nico Robin had certainly caught the world's attention. Every paper had been awash with the destruction of Enies Lobby at the hands of Nico Robin's pirate crew, who by their actions alone, had made themselves the newest fugitives of the World Government. Sabo hadn't had an awful lot of time to peruse the whole debacle but Koala had given him the highlights and the blond had to admire the pirates for their tenacity. Many would have given up long before they had even reached the shores of Enies Lobby. But they had done the Revolutionaries a favour. By all accounts, CP9 had been soundly beaten and Enies Lobby itself had been a left a wreck of its former self. Every member of the crew had earned themselves bounties for the troubles, a feat practically unheard of for a rookie crew from East Blue.

Sabo hummed thoughtfully. Koala hadn't shown him the bounties and the blond was curious as to what monetary value the marines had determined the crew deserved. The Strawhats is what Sabo thought Koala had called them. The image of a straw hat had caused a surge of fondness the blond hadn't been able to place and hadn't thought any more of but maybe now would be a good time to investigate a little more, Sabo grinned, heaving himself from his stiff slouch with none of the grace he usually exhibited. Their wanted posters should've been hung up in the communications rooms by now, alongside all the others the Revolutionaries liked to keep tabs on.

He was interested to see who the captain of the unruly crew was, Sabo admitted, stretching while he walked. Not many were brave enough to confront the World Government, let alone directly declare war on them. It made him wonder if there was more bad blood between the captain and the nobles than the arrest of Nico Robin.

The tapping of hurried feet appeared from behind him and Sabo had to plaster himself to wall in order to avoid being run over by a couple of his agitated colleagues. They didn't even appear to notice that they'd nearly toppled their Chief of Staff in their haste before they disappeared around the corner, leaving only an echo of their hushed whispers.

Sabo frowned and glanced around, suddenly attentive to his surroundings. The usual hustle and bustle of activity had disappeared, leaving the halls of the vast base bereft and near desolate. An uncomfortable knot settled in Sabo's stomach, and he couldn't help but think of the reports sat atop his desk awaiting Dragon's attention, their contents evidence of the last time Baltigo had gone eerily silent with grief and disbelief at their shock loss of three of their own.

Concerned, Sabo followed his original path to the communications room, hoping for some answers. It was often known for being a hive of activity and was usually a room Sabo loved to visit, with its walls of den den mushi and comfy chairs surrounding a warm fire that he could – and had – napped in for hours at a time. But today there was an unnatural throb of energy about the place that had Sabo immediately on edge.

He peered over the heads of the groups of people gathered in the usually tranquil room until he spotted Koala's familiar hat. He weaved towards her easily, apprehension filling him, until he reached her side.

"Hey." He nudged her shoulder. It was an indication as to just how distracted she was that she jumped at his appearance. He rarely, if ever, managed to sneak up on her anymore.

"What's - "

"Sabo!" He turned at the familiar voice to see Hack hurrying towards them. "I've been looking all over for you! Where have you been?"

"For once, exactly where I should've been," the blond replied.

Hack paused in surprise. "Ah, I didn't think to check your room."

"Obviously. What's going on?" he asked his friends, trying and failing to pick up on any of the hushed conversations happening all around them.

"One of the Whitebeard Pirate Commanders has been caught and handed over the marines for his bounty," said Koala, waving a newspaper under his nose.

Sabo stared at her, stunned and unable to uncomprehend her words for several seconds before they finally registered. "Seriously?" he gaped. He couldn't understand. None of Whitebeard's crew had ever been captured. Not while they had been a member of the crew, at least. There had been the odd one or two that had left over the years to start their own crews who had ended up tangling with the marines, but never had the marines managed to capture a Commander. The Whitebeard Pirates were captained by a Yonko who practically had an armada at his beck and call, to think of any member of the crew as easy to capture would be stupid. Each individual was dangerous in their own right, so the idea that one had managed to end up in the hands of the marines was as baffling as it was concerning. Whitebeard was well known to treat his crew like his family. It didn't bear thinking about how the old pirate would retaliate.

"They've arranged the execution already," said Koala, pulling out a wanted poster from the middle of the newspaper. Sabo caught a brief glimpse of orange before Hack snagged it from her hands to examine.

"The marines certainly aren't hanging around," Hack grumbled.

"Why would they? As soon as Whitebeard heard about this, I bet my goggles he called his entire fleet to him to try and get this Commander back," said Sabo, pinching the bridge of his nose. The very idea was enough to give anyone a headache.

"You think it'll lead to war," Koala muttered. It wasn't a question and Sabo nodded. "The marines have planned the execution for three days' time. At Marineford."

"Wow, they really wanna make a show of it, don't they? Which Commander is it, anyway?" Sabo asked and yanked the wanted poster from the Fishman's hand. He wanted to have a look at this man himself. He only knew of a couple of the Commanders by name, the most famous being the Phoenix and his devil fruit made an execution near pointless.

"One of the younger ones. He was originally captain of the Spade Pirates and merged into Whitebeard's crew a couple of years ago. He's the current user of the mera mera no mi and..."

The rushing of blood to his ears drowned out the rest of Koala's words.

At first glance, the man staring back up at him from the wanted posted was unassuming. Sabo could've passed him in the street and not given him a second thought. Dark, dishevelled hair poked out from underneath the bright orange cowboy hat, decorated with beads and a couple of badges. A second set of bright red beads hung around the man's neck. The top of a tattooed 'A' just barely poked into frame on the man's left arm, the hand obscuring the rest of the word aflame. A light dusting of freckles adorned the smirking face.

Twenty-six…

Unbidden, the random number raced through his head and Sabo frowned, unable to drag his eyes away from the photograph.

"Twenty-six?" he muttered under his breath, unheard by Koala or Hack.

Twenty-six freckles…

That was right. They'd counted one afternoon after he'd fallen asleep in the grove.

And the beads… they were just like hers… she never took them off. She always used to say they were the one nice thing that she owned. They'd wrecked a lot of her stuff, but they'd never touched the beaded necklace.

Were they actually hers, or had he found some identical to his foster mother's? That sounded about right. Heaven forbid that Ace actually showed that he…

Ace…

Sabo gasped at the first spike of pain behind his eyes. Koala's head snapped around to him. She stared at him.

"Sabo, are you okay? You look really pale."

"I'm gonna be a pirate! I'm gonna be a great pirate and show them all!"

He ignored her, blinking rapidly to try and rid himself of the black spots in an effort to keep starting at Ace's poster. He couldn't think straight. Images, sounds, smells… they were all a muddle. Everything felt too close and yet too far away at the same time. The room didn't have enough air. He felt like he was suffocating.

Another, sharper pain spiked again and he couldn't hold back the whimper that escaped. A bead of sweat ran down his temple.

"Sabo? What's wrong?" Koala's hand landed on his arm. It was trembling. He hadn't noticed that before, he thought absently. "Sabo!"

Someone was trying to pry the poster from his clasped hands but he held on tight. Ace's face was the only thing he could see beyond the darkness seeping into his vision. He didn't want to let it go. If he let go, he might not… remember…

"Hey, you know about this? If you exchange cups, it makes you…"

Portgas D. Ace… Fire Fist Ace… Whitebeard Commander…Son of the Pirate King…

He was called many things but Sabo had called him… brother…

His knees buckled. Blearily, he saw two sets of hands reaching for him, futiley trying to catch him.

"Hey, Sabo!"

"Sabo!"

Someone was screaming. It was only when the darkness fully engulfed him, did he realise the screams were coming from him.

xxx

Consciousness returned like a bolt of lightning, and with it, clarity he hadn't felt in years returned to him.

"I thought you were gonna die, Sabo!" Koala sobbed. Her punch to his arm lacked all of its usual force.

"You had a terrible fever. You've been under for two whole days!" Hack informed him, gruffly from behind Koala. The hand he had resting on her shoulder seemed to be the only thing holding her back from launching herself at the blond, which Sabo was grateful for. The pain was considerably less than had been but his head still throbbed. He glanced around, quickly realising he was in the infirmary. A room he had visited fairly frequently over the years and was familiar with but it felt like he was seeing it for the first time all over again.

He pushed himself up with a grunt, waving off Hack and Koala's attempts to help him. A crinkle had him looking down and he realised with a jolt he was still holding tight to Ace's wanted poster, the paper almost crumpled beyond repair. He could feel his friends' eyes boring into him as they observed him staring at the poster.

"The doctor thought something might've triggered your memory." Koala hiccupped and scrubbed at her face. "Were they right?" Sabo glanced at her. Her own eyes flickered down briefly before seemingly starting right through him. He wondered what she saw in his eyes that gave away his answer. "Are you… are you gonna leave the Revolutionaries?" she asked, hesitantly.

"Don't be silly," Sabo reassured her swiftly. "Wait, did you say I've been unconscious for two days?" Hack nodded.

Sabo cursed and pushed away the covers, ignoring the twin cries of alarm and reached for the shirt he could see hanging from the foot of the bed. He snatched it up quickly and shrugged out of the starchy white infirmary top, uncaring of Koala's presence.

"Just what do you think you're doing? You need to rest!" she huffed, trying and failing to capture his arm to stop him.

"Where's Dragon-san?"

"In his office - oh for goodness sake! Sabo, stop!"

He didn't. Barely remembering to button his shirt, he was out of the infirmary before either of his friends could grab him and force him back into bed. He didn't have time to lay around. Ace's execution was in less than twenty-four hours and Sabo would rather the marines didn't kill his brother. He'd quite like the opportunity to do that himself, he thought, unable to imagine what the hell Ace was playing at by letting himself get caught like he had. Sabo already had several strong words to share with his reckless brother.

"I don't understand," Koala panted, struggling to match his long strides. Ordinarily, Sabo would've slowed down immediately to allow her to keep pace with him, but he was too wound up for such considerations; Koala had made no further move to halt his progress, probably realising it would be futile, and he kept moving swiftly towards Dragon's office.

"Understand what?" he asked, somewhat shortly.

"I mean, you've never met any of the Whitebeard Pirates! We don't have anything to do with them, so what brought your memories back?"

"It was my brother," he said. Next to him, Koala stumbled in shock. "He finally gave me the kick I needed to wake up!"

"Brother?! You have a brother?"

Sabo didn't reply. They'd reached Dragon's office. Without knocking, and ignoring Koala's hiss of his name at his rudeness, he strolled straight in, knowing Dragon would've sensed their approach and time was too precious to waste on unnecessary pleasantries. Armed with what he knew now, three days would've been a tight deadline; now he had barely twenty-four hours until Ace headed to the execution stand. He silently cursed that his brain had needed two whole days to fully recover from the shock and trauma of ten years of lost memories suddenly emerging from wherever the hell he had managed to lose them, but he also felt liberated in ways in hadn't felt in years because he finally knew who he was.

He was the Revolutionary Army's Chief of Staff; brother to Ace and Luffy; foster son of Dadan; (unwilling) grandson of Marine Hero Garp and he had a rescue mission to carry out.

Across the room, separated by the large and imposing clawed foot desk, Dragon took one calculated look at the blond and nodded once. It felt very much like Dragon was greeting him as he would an old friend, Sabo thought, a little taken aback.

"It's been many years since I last saw that look on your face, Sabo," the older man said, rising from his chair.

"What look?" Koala muttered, appearing at Sabo's elbow and staring up at him thoughtfully. Dragon smirked, his eyes sparkling with undisguised humour.

Sabo felt his stomach jolt with gleeful clarity; he had met Dragon before, not long before he had nearly met his end at the hands of the Tenryubito, when he'd been – once again – desperately been trying to save his brothers from the flames of Grey Terminal. Brothers that Dragon had to have known about, he realised belatedly. But Dragon's name – his full name, the one only a handful even knew – was Monkey D. Dragon… Monkey D. Luffy…

He couldn't help but grin. Of course he had ended up with Luffy's father, and now he had an explanation for why the Revolutionary Army had been at Dawn Island. Dragon had probably wanted to know what interest the Tenryubito had in the island his son called home.

"Do I have your permission?" he asked.

Dragon's smirk softened ever so slightly. "Do you really believe you need my permission?" Sabo grinned, accepting the unspoken blessing and the small knot of remaining anxiety deep in his chest disappearing.

"Excuse me!" Koala cried, stepping between the two men. "But would one of you please explain what's going on! Sabo has permission to do what exactly?" she demanded, worrying her bottom lip.

"I have two brothers," said Sabo softly, dropping his gaze to her stunned face. "One is Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Strawhat Pirates and Dragon-san's son. The second is Portgas D. Ace, a reckless idiot who got himself caught by the marines. And I'm going to go rescue him before Luffy can try because believe me, any scheme I come up with to get Ace out of this mess is going to pale in comparison to the lengths I know Luffy will go to."

Koala gaped at him wordlessly for several seconds before she recovered from the barrage of revelations he had thrown at her. "How exactly are you gonna do that? Ace is going to be transported to Marineford in a matter of hours – if he isn't on his way already!"

"Not a problem," Sabo assured her. "We always have a fast ship coated in bubble resin on standby. I'll use that to get to Marineford."

"You're really doing this?" she asked, weakly. Sabo nodded firmly. She snapped her attention to Dragon. "And you agree to this? You're really going to allow our Chief of Staff to invade Marineford? One of the strongest marine bases in the world?"

"He wasn't able to reach his brothers the first time he tried," Dragon said, his voice gruff. Sabo winced. With his memories so recently returned to him, the anguish he'd felt at not being able to reach Ace and Luffy beyond the walls of Grey Terminal felt as fresh as if it had only happened last week. Which, Sabo thought, it may has well have to his mind. Dragon's sharp gaze on him snapped him back to attention. Steel grey eyes bored into his own. "I have every faith he will this time."

Koala sighed heavily at Dragon's words, before she slowly raised her head and smiled ruefully up at the blond. "So what's your plan?"

xxx

Despite the high surveillance that surely must have been in place, it was disturbingly easy to sneak into Marineford undetected in the safe shadows of one the marine's own battleships, no doubt called back from the Grand Line in order to defend the island from whatever Whitebeard decided to throw at it.

Sabo, Koala, Hack and the handful of Revolutionaries who had volunteered their assistance had been subdued as they passed underneath the gate, the enormity of the whole operation weighing heavily on all of them. They had counted the shadows of sixteen battleships floating on the surface above them at one point. Sabo found himself rather glad that the marines tended to overlook the Fishman as a species fit for marine service (mostly due to the animosity the Tenryubito felt towards the underwater dwellers) because if they had, there would've been no possible way Sabo's plan to sneak in under their own forces would've worked.

It was evident the marines expected the Whitebeard Pirates and that they were armed for battle.

"Hack," Sabo called. The Fishman appeared at his side instantly. "Where do you reckon the Whitebeard Pirates will be coming from?" Under the water was Hack's realm and he had been communicating with the marine wildlife for most of their journey.

"They'll attack from the front, without a doubt," he replied. "The old Yonko's gonna want to make a point."

"Think you'll be able to contact them?" the blond asked, relieved when Hack nodded confidently. If Hack could reach the Whitebeard Pirates, step two of securing their escape route was sorted. Step one would hopefully have been carried out already by Dragon. The man had promised to contact the Yonko personally and reveal the pirates had the full support of the Revolutionary Army and that someone would be meeting them on the edge of Marineford.

If Hack could get them to agree, the Whitebeard Pirates would emerge from the ocean just out of reach of the marine's canons, forcing them to their own battleships and drawing as many men from Marineford's shores as possible and in the process, hopefully leaving Sabo a clear path to escape back to his own ship with Ace.

Sabo hoped Whitebeard would listen to the plan he'd had Hack memorise. They needed a distraction if they were going to pull this plan off and the Whitebeard Pirates were their best bet.

"Sabo, this is as close as we can get," Koala said, stepping up beside him. She was dressed in a standard issued marine jacket in an effort to better blend in with the crowd. They were fully expecting everyone's attention to be focused out to sea, but if they were noticed, they hoped it would look like she was escorting Sabo who, if anyone asked, was a Cipher Pol agent. Sabo had fought against wearing his own fake marine uniform. He expected Ace was going to punch him when he saw him as it was; he wasn't going to give his brother another reason by having Ace believe he'd joined the very organisation that was currently planning to kill him.

"Good luck you two," Hack said, slapping Sabo's shoulder as he passed and nodding at Koala before forcing his way through the protective bubble surrounding them.

"Be careful!" Koala called after the fishman as he took off swimming at speed away from the small ship.

"You ready?" Sabo asked, adjusting his hat and pipe.

Koala nodded. "Let's go get your brother."

xxx

It was only when they were halfway to the lowest levels where the prisoners were kept during their time on Marineford that Koala raised a problem Sabo hadn't thought of until she happened to mention it.

"You don't know, do you?" she huffed beside him.

"Nope! Not a clue." He honestly had not thought about how they were going to get Ace out of his sea stone restraints. In his defence, though, Ace hadn't had any devil fruit powers the last time he had seen him so it wasn't something that immediately came to mind. It could be a problem. Sea stone was one of the few materials he wouldn't be able to break his brother out of.

"Honestly! I can't believe you didn't think of it!"

"Hey, I've had a lot on my mind recently! You try processing ten years of memories in only a few days and we'll see how well you do!" Sabo frowned, glancing around. There were a lot less people this far down in Headquarters, most of the forces having been stationed above at sea level to counter Whitebeard's expected attack. It did mean that the people left behind to guard Ace were more likely to know where the spare keys were, but it did risk alerting everyone to their arrival if they made a move against one of them and then they might never reach Ace.

"Okay, new plan," said Koala, stopping abruptly.

Sabo blinked. "New plan?"

"Yeah." She opened the door nearest to them and once seeing it was clear, started to push the blond inside. "You are going to wait here and you will wait here, Sabo! You will not go anywhere else in this building until I get back or so help you!"

Sabo allowed himself to be pushed into what looked to be a small communications room. It was completely empty save for the many den den mushi and papers spread across the surfaces. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get the keys, of course," she explained, rolling her eyes.

"And why can't I help with that exactly?"

"A young woman alone asking for help is going to be seen as less of a threat than if I have you skulking behind me, that's why. Now stay!" The door slammed shut behind her.

Sabo frowned at her departure. "I don't skulk," he muttered to himself in the now nearly darkened room. He was rather secretly glad for the lack of light and the short reprieve it offered. His head was still feeling very tender and throbbed whenever his heart rate spiked – which had been happening a lot since they had reached the Tarai Current and passed through the Gate of Justice.

He wandered over to the table, unable to curb his natural curiosity but keeping one ear out for anyone approaching the door as he did so. He flicked through the papers quickly and methodically. They were mostly wanted posters but there were a few reports scattered throughout that looked somewhat interesting.

"Purupurupuru!"

Sabo glanced over at the small cameko den den mushi and back at the door, hoping no one was close enough to hear. It whirled and clicked for several seconds before the small snail's receiver spat out a small piece of paper that fluttered to land on the desk beside Sabo's gloved hand.

The snail stared wide eyed up at him. "Um, thanks," Sabo offered, quietly. The snail blinked once before its eyes slid shut, obviously content to go back to the sleep now it had delivered its message. Sabo carefully picked it up and contemplated the sleeping creature at eye level. Its pale blue shell had a small swirl of yellow, mostly hidden by the receiver attached to it. It really wouldn't do for it to awaken with another message and possibly disrupt their delicate rescue operation, he thought. He gently slid it into the interior of black coat, letting it fall gently beside his own den den mushi.

He turned his attention to the piece of paper and the news it might carry. He skimmed the short faxed message briefly, fully expecting it to be a status report from one of the battleships floating above, only to almost drop the paper in shock when the words actually registered.

"What the hell?" he spluttered. "No. No way was he that stupid! I'm gonna kill him! I'm gonna kill both of them!" he practically hissed.

A soft knock resonated through his shock and he barely had a second to collect himself before Koala was slipping inside. She looked positively gleeful until she caught sight of his own face.

"What? What's wrong?" She hurried to his side and snatched at the paper he held out for her. "Break out at Impel Down; battleship pirated; many lost prisoners including Revolutionary Ivankov; leader Strawhat Luffy… What? Luffy was being held in Impel Down too? There were no reports he was caught as well," she said helplessly.

"That's because he wasn't caught," Sabo groaned. His brothers really would be the death of him one of these days. "The rubber idiot must've broken in to try and break Ace out."

"You can't break into Impel Down," Koala said weakly.

"You're not meant to be able to break out of it either but apparently him, Iva and a bunch of others just did. Please tell me you got the key to Ace's chains?" he practically begged, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Koala raised a brow, unamused. "Of course I got the key. Who do you take me for?" She passed over the stone key. Sabo weighed it in his hand – for its small size, it was a lot heavier than it looked. His fingers closed around the precious object tightly and nodded his thanks.

"What do we do about Luffy and Iva?" Koala asked, crumpling up the message and sticking it in one of her pockets. "The break out can't just have happened. I bet they had to get the prison under control before they could get out any sort of message. They could be nearly here already. Impel Down isn't that far away, and if they have a battleship, they won't have to worry about any of the sea kings slowing them down."

"We'll have to try and intercept them on the way out. Hopefully we'll be able to catch them before they even pass through the Gate," he said. "First thing's first though, let's go get Ace the hell out of here."

xxx

With the limited knowledge Dragon had been able to provide them about the layout of Marineford – and Sabo had no idea who his source actually was but he suspected Garp may have been an unsuspecting informant in Dragon's younger, less revolutionary driven years – they managed to locate Ace.

One sharp punch from Koala to the stomach had the lone guard outside incapacitated and allowed Sabo to silently slip inside the cell, which was actually one long corridor, much to his surprise. It was barely six feet in width but it must've stretched back for dozens of metres. It certainly offered the prisoners strapped down to the single chair at the very end a long final walk in their last moments.

In the dim light of the torches lining the damp walls, Sabo finally laid his eyes on his brother for the first time in a decade. His heart clenched at the site of the Ace slumped in the chair, his head tipped so far down his chin could only have been resting on his chest and the constraints digging into his bare flesh tightly. He could hardly bear the sight of his proud and strong brother so thoroughly beaten he didn't even react when Sabo's booted feet started tapping on the flagstone floor.

He did attract the attention of the four guards surrounding his brother.

"Who goes there?" one called, his voice echoing harshly off the stone.

Sabo kept walking forward. He didn't want to rush them all immediately. He was fast but not so fast that one of the guards wouldn't be able to reach the den den mushi stood silent atop the tiny table in the corner, awaiting the final call that would send his brother on his final long walk. Sabo needed to be as close as he could before he made his move. Haste would only lead to failure.

"Who are you?" Another guard asked, impatiently.

"I need a word," said Sabo, tipping his head so the rim of his hat obscured his face, but not before he caught two of the guards moving forward.

"About what? We were told we would receive a call when it was time," one of the guards grumbled.

"I didn't mean a word with you," Sabo clarified with a smirk as soon as they were within arm's reach.

Sabo didn't allow them a single second to contemplate his words, instead whipping the lead pipe from his back and catching them both in the ribs with one hard swipe. The space was limiting, Sabo knew, a second swing sending both of the guards into the nearest wall and knocking them clean out cold, but he could work with it.

"Portgas D. Ace," Sabo started, twirling his pipe easily in one hand and never letting his gaze leave the two remaining guards, their weapons now raised and pointed at him. They both carried guns but unless they wanted to risk ricochet of the bullets back onto themselves and their downed colleagues, they wouldn't fire in such a constricted space. "Captured by Blackbeard of all people."

He caught a brief glimpse of movement from Ace before his attention was pulled away.

"Who are you? How'd you get down here?"

"Are you a Whitebeard Pirate?"

"None of your business how I got in and no, I'm not a Whitebeard Pirate," he replied, ducking to the side as the third guard rushed at him. He shouldered him heavily, sending him sprawling head first to the floor. He groaned weakly, clutching his bloody face even as Sabo kicked away the gun, sending it spinning across the floor where it came to rest at Ace's feet.

Sabo grinned. "I see that rather bad habit of yours of not retreating finally got the better of you," he said to the pirate.

The final guard had finally decided calling for assistance might be his best bet but Sabo was ready. Lightning fast, he reached out and grabbed the back of the marine's uniform, yanking him back harshly. A vicious kick to the gut had the man dropping to his knees. A hit from the pipe had him falling flat to the floor. Sabo would've been much gentler had he now not been within mere feet of Ace and able to see the bruises darkening and mottling his brother from head to toe.

"Monkey D. Luffy," Sabo said, voice soft now the room had fallen silent. Ace frowned up at him, his stormy grey eyes coloured with confusion as he glanced between Sabo and the downed guards. "Captain of the Strawhat Pirates and the only man to ever break in to Impel Down."

Ace's gaze trailed over Sabo in partial disbelief, flickering from his top hat, to his pipe and back to the scar Sabo knew to be visible even in the dim light. Sabo knelt down at the foot of the chair, next to the padlock restraining his brother and pulling the key from his pocket and twirling it between his fingers for Ace to see.

"I certainly do have the most reckless pair of brothers, don't I?" He grinned.

Ace's eyes widened in shock. "Sabo?!" he spluttered, the chains rattling when he jerked forward.

"Yo! Long-time no see," he said, jovially.

Ace blinked once, before he slumped back into the chair. "I'm dead."

Sabo blinked once at the rather dramatic words and cocked his head to one side. He only really had one response. "Huh?"

"I'm dead!" Ace repeated, shaking his head in denial, eyes wide and almost wild. "They've had my execution and they killed me. That's the only explanation. There is no other way that you are here. You died. Dogra saw them attack you."

Sabo winced and tried to find his smile again but could only muster up a grimace. "Ah, I didn't realise that you knew about that." Ace scowled down at him and he tried not to flinch under the heavy gaze and he fiddled with the key in his hand, awkwardly. The thought that Ace and Luffy would've heard about the attack on his ship hadn't even crossed his mind. His heart clenched and his stomach twisted with the realisation that Ace and Luffy had believed him to be dead all these years. He had a lot to make up for. He'd take care of it on the first island they found; he figured that meant he owed Luffy meat and Ace a very, long overdue conversation.

"How could we not know about that? The whole island heard about it! Even if Dogra hadn't seen it, we would've made the connection, you idiot!" Ace raged above him and Sabo resisted the urge to cower under the other's anger. "Good grief… I'm arguing with my dead brother, what the hell is wrong with me? Is this what Hell is like?"

Sabo had had enough. He called on his haki and coated one hand before reaching up and flicking Ace hard in the forehead, right between his eyes.

"OW! What the hell was that for?!" Ace cursed.

Haki hadn't been strictly necessary given Ace was currently covered in more sea stone restraints than most prisoners were afforded but the pirate had seriously worried him. He deserved it, in Sabo's opinion.

"Will you quit your griping?" he huffed. "Gramps used to hit us harder than that when we were kids!"

His words finally made Ace pause and he squinted down at him, head tilted. Sabo could see him trying to reconcile his memories of the blond with the one now crouched in front of him. "You're really here," Ace whispered. It wasn't a question.

Sabo grinned again. "Yeah, and I come with a key!" he boasted.

Ace stared at him for a few seconds more before he finally broke out into his own grin. "Then what the hell am I still doing in this chair, huh?"

Sabo laughed, quickly and efficiently setting to work on the restraints. "Well, honestly? I figured you'd punch me as soon as you could so I thought I'd try and delay the inev – whoa! Hey!"

He stumbled back when Ace reared up, barely letting the chains hit the floor before he was on Sabo, yanking him to his feet and crushing his ribs and spine in an embrace Sabo was quick to return. Until Luffy had quite literally forced his way into their lives, they had never felt the need to hug, but their little brother was tactile and the habit of hugging regularly had soon spread to including one another. Sabo hadn't realised just how much he had obviously been starved of his brothers' embrace until he was wrapped up in one again. Despite their surroundings and the danger they were still in, Sabo couldn't help but feel invincible and protected all at once, breathing in Ace's familiar scent under the sweat and grime clinging to his skin.

"Where have you been, you idiot?" Ace asked, his voice thick with emotion and not relinquishing his grip at all.

Sabo chuckled weakly. "You're not gonna believe me when I tell you."

"Probably not," Ace agreed, finally stepping back and Sabo was surprised to discover that he had to look down ever so slightly in order to look his brother in the eye. He hadn't expected to be the tallest of the three. He didn't get a chance to gloat before Ace punched him the shoulder… hard. "I can't believe you were stupid enough to come to Marineford! How reckless can you get?"

Sabo scoffed, rubbing the dead spot on his arm lightly. "You think this is more reckless than Luffy storming Impel Down and possibly causing a mass breakout?"

Ace pondered his words. "Okay, Luffy might've won that one but you still shouldn't be here. What if you'd gotten caught?"

"Ace, of course I should be here," he insisted softly. "I'm not going to stand by and let you be executed just because of who your father is."

His brother sighed but didn't try to refute his words. He probably knew it to be a pointless exercise. Sabo and Luffy had both made the point to him many times that his father's actions shouldn't be seen as a reflection on Ace. Just like they didn't judge Sabo for Outlook's decisions, or Luffy for Gramps'.

"Hey." Koala's voice cut through the silence and echoed down the stone corridor towards them. "As touching as this reunion is, maybe we should get going now, before the guards wake up?"

Ace blinked once and glanced around at the fallen guards at their feet, like he'd only just remembered where they were. Before either of them could say anything else, a loud boom interrupted them. Dust and droplets of water rained down on them from the ceiling. A siren started screaming in the distance.

"The hell?" Ace muttered, glancing at the blond questioningly.

"That'll be our distraction so we can get out of here." Sabo smirked at the pirate. "You ready to bust this joint?"

Ace returned his grin with a wicked one of his own before the mera mera no mi roared to life.

xxx

"That had to be possibly the worst escape in the history of escapes! What part of quiet and stealthy is hard for you two to get? Honestly!"

"It's a mystery," Ace muttered, quietly so as not to be heard over Koala's verbal reprimands.

Sabo snorted at the phrase, Luffy's favourite go-to if he didn't understand something and received a swift kick to his foot in retaliation from a scowling Koala. Ignoring her ire, Sabo turned his attention to the surface of the ocean, meters above and watched the battle ships above them burn. Marines and debris littered the surface and barely audible under the waves, canon fire could be heard at irregular intervals.

Chaos reigned over Marineford.

A lot of the fire damage had been Ace letting the marines feel the full force of his Hiken, but the rest of the carnage had been caused by the Whitebeard Pirates. Ace's Hiken reaching into the skies above Marineford, the Whitebeard Jolly Roger ablaze high above the marine island, had been the catalyst for the pirates to unleash their own reminder on the agents of the World Government why the Yonko's crewmates were not to be trifled with.

It had been a humble thing to watch, Sabo thought, chancing a glance at Ace as they moved underneath the ships above, both pirate and marine, clashing without respite, but despite the fierceness, Sabo could tell the pirates were still holding back somewhat. He had to suppress a shiver at the thought of the bloodshed that could've occurred had the marines managed to get Ace to the execution stand.

"Whitebeard said he would let his men let off a little steam and have some fun before they retreated," Hack said from behind them. Sabo turned to see the fishman had returned and was also staring at the battles raging on above them, awed.

"This is a little fun?" Koala muttered weakly.

Ace smirked. "They'll have been geared up for a fight, they might as well cause some trouble for the marines." The commander didn't look at all concerned for his crewmates, but rather proud of the mayhem they were creating.

"I'm surprised you've not joined them," Hack admitted, raising an eyebrow at Sabo.

"We probably would've done, but we found out Luffy is on his way so we figured we'd better try and intercept him and his ship load of escapees before they find even more trouble," he said. It was a testament to their long friendship that the fishman didn't even bat an eye at the explanation and accepted it without question.

"Speaking of trouble," Ace interrupted softly. Sabo barely had a chance to turn to him before his brother's fist caught his chin and he stumbled to the ground, head spinning.

"Okay," Sabo panted, rubbing his aching jaw. "I deserved that."

"Yeah, ya did! You disappeared for ten years!" Ace snapped, but his harsh tone was damped by of the hand offered to pull the blond back to his feet. "You have got some serious explaining to do!"

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait," Koala called. "We're near the Gate and we need to keep an eye out for your brother."

"Lucky break," Ace teased, nudging Sabo playfully.

The fighting between the Marine and the Whitebeard Pirates had been fairly contained further out to see from Marineford and hadn't yet spread as far as the Gate, so Sabo rather thought Koala's cry of surprise was justified when they broke the surface to find a battle ship fast bearing down on the them.

"HACK!" she shouted, in a tone usually reserved for admonishing Sabo. "I told you check if anything was near us!"

"There wasn't!"

"What do you call that thing then?"

Sabo understood her frustration. While a battle ship full of marines wouldn't cause them to break into a sweat, it was a delay they couldn't afford. They needed to get Ace in particular as far away as possible and their small ship was still at risk of being blown out of the water. And that an experience he was not eager to repeat.

He reached for the pipe at his back, aware of Ace stepping up beside him on his left - one of his arms already ablaze - and Koala to his right and Hack at their rear, ready to fight their way out if necessary.

"Sabo-kun? Koala-chan?"

The familiar voice had them all jolting in surprise and raising their heads to see a wonderfully familiar face staring down at them from the rail of the battle ship.

"Ivankov!" Koala cheered, darting forward to wave gleefully up at their old companion. Several more faces popped into view beside the Okama King.

"Friends of yours?" Ace asked, somewhat bemused as the small crew around them all rushed to Koala's side and started shouting up at the small crowd staring down at them. Sabo could see amongst them Knight of Sea, Jinbe and the former Shichibukai, Crocodile. Luffy had certainly broken out with some of the most notorious inmates of Impel Down, he thought.

"Yeah, fellow Revolutionaries," he admitted softly.

Ace stared at him. "You're a Revolutionary?"

Sabo nodded briefly. He knew Ace would be connecting the dots in his mind. There was no way that Garp wouldn't have told Ace who Luffy's father was – if only so Ace could better protect their little brother.

As if summoned by his thoughts, the person Sabo had been wanting to see most beside the brother currently at his side appeared into view, having finally fought his way through the crowd lining the railing of the ship. His breath caught in his chest at his first sight of his little brother in ten years. He was still wiry and lithe but certainly wasn't so little anymore. He didn't look too worse for wear, considering, but Sabo knew first hand Ivankov's medical talents and he didn't doubt that Luffy would've had to have pushed himself beyond all limits in his effort to try and reach Ace in the very depths of the watery prison.

"What! How are you here?" Ivankov shouted down in disbelief, finally raising his voice enough to drown out the rest.

"Rescuing an idiot pirate!" Koala replied with a grin.

"Oi!" Ace exclaimed.

"Ace?" Luffy called down, momentarily confused at the sight of his big brother but he broke out into an impossibly wide grin. "ACE!"

"Uh oh," the older pirate muttered. "Luffy, wait! Don't - "

Sabo smartly stepped to one side, tugging Koala out of the way just in time to avoid the Luffy shaped rocket that barrelled into Ace, sending the pair sprawling across the desk and rocking the small Revolutionary ship with the force of the landing.

Ace groaned in pain, the wind completely knocked out of him, before he knocked Luffy around the head. "How many times have we told you not to do that across the water?" he chided.

"Ace! You're okay!" Luffy said, completely ignoring the elder's scolding, his rubbery limbs wrapped tight around his brother.

"Of course I am," Ace assured him. "And you'd better be too after being stupid enough to break into that hellhole or I'll kill you myself as soon as you are!" he groused, finally returning the younger's hug.

Sabo couldn't help but grin. Ace might be a very prickly individual but there had never really been any doubt in Sabo's mind that Luffy would eventually worm his way into the other's affection, and it was heartening to see the brothers' bond was just as strong – if not stronger – than before he had been forced to leave them.

"Seriously, between you at Impel Down and Sabo at Marineford, the two of you are going to give me a heart attack!" Ace grumbled, slowly rising to his feet, still trapped in Luffy's grip.

"Well I wasn't going to leave you there! You wouldn't have – wait. Sabo? At Marineford?" Luffy trailed off, confused.

Sabo stepped forward, finally capturing Luffy's attention. "Hey, it's been a while, Luffy."

Luffy froze, eyes blown wide in disbelief and shock, before his chin started to wobble and tears began to pool in his eyes.

"SABO!"

Learning from Ace's mistake, Sabo braced himself just in time to catch his little brother when he launched himself at the blond. Behind him, Koala giggled at the exuberant reaction, and he vaguely heard her start to catch a confused Ivankov on the situation, but he only cared for the brother sobbing loudly in his arms.

"Sabo! Ace! It's Sabo! You're not dead! You found us!"

The rest of Luffy's words were impossible to make out but it didn't matter. There would be time for words later. For the moment, Sabo was content to remain exactly where he was, trapped in Luffy's tight hug and Ace only a few feet away – laughing jovially at Sabo's predicament but safe with his brothers and far from the clutches of the people intent on ending the Pirate King's bloodline. They might both land themselves in more trouble than anyone else and they were both startlingly belligerent when it came to their own safety but Sabo honestly wouldn't have them any other way.

They were his brothers and his treasure; he would always find them.

XXX

I hope you all enjoyed and please remember to review!

I hope you all have an awesome New Year :D