Chapter Text
“Are your bags packed?” Sabo pokes his head through the doorway of their old bedroom, which is now just Koala’s bedroom.
“No, why would I?” Koala herself is sitting on the bed going over the recent newspaper delivered that morning.
“We have a trip planned out,” Sabo says, giving her a confused look. She looks up from the paper.
“What! We have a mission and no one told me? How irresponsible can you be, Sabo?” She throws the paper on to the bed, standing, her arms in the air probably warming up to smack him. “You can’t be serious! Ugh, your communication skills are just awful. You don’t answer the Den Den, you hang up, you can’t follow a simple plan!”
Koala continues on ranting, doing gestures of fake choking Sabo even though she would rather really choke him for his stupidity. All the while, a grin is growing on Sabo’s face as she goes on and on.
When she finally does stop to take a breath, before she can continue Sabo speaks.
“Who said anything about a mission?”
“You did, idiot!” Now Koala was just confused, what the heck was Sabo talking about.
“I said a trip not a mission,” Sabo was fully in the doorway now, leaning against the frame, “No one told you, because it was supposed to be a surprise. We’ve only got ten days off so hurry and get your bags ready, I don’t know how long it’ll take to get there.” Sabo walks off, letting the words hang in the air behind him.
“To get where? Wait- To get where!? Sabo! Ugh,” By the time Koala processes his words, and has more questions than when the conversation started. Sabo is gone down the hall and out of sight.
–○—○–
“I hate you, you know that right?”
“You love me and you know it!” Sabo says from his perch on the sails, he’s upside down to look at Koala, while the girl stands on the deck. Hands on her hips.
“I sure am excited for this trip,” Hack walks up next to Koala, arms crossed.
“Will anyone tell me what's going on!” Koala yells, throwing her hands up.
“No,” - “Afraid I cannot,” Both Sabo and Hack say respectively.
There are a few other revolutionaries around to help sail the ship, although not very many. Some are friends from years past who they grew up and trained with as children, others are fishman. The day seems to pass quickly. With everyone taking the time to enjoy the clear sunny sky that’s hard to get in the underground of Baltigo.
The weather is surprisingly calm for the New World. But it doesn’t deter Sabo from causing trouble. Cackling on the floor as a water bucket falls on to one of their friends, drenching them.
Sabo practically eats them out of their food stock within the first day. Koala smacks him for that one, but he’s just lucky that they all know him well enough to stock double.
It’s later that evening that things really settle down. With Sabo’s pranks and everyone's training even on their days off, the deck still seemed busy. But now it’s calm, the sun casting it’s last glows of orange, the galley echos voices across the deck. Sabo watches the last of the sun set.
“It’ll be eight years of you being a Revolutionary this week,” Sabo comments, he can’t see her, and she didn’t make a sound. But he can feel her presence approach him.
“Yeah, I know.” Koala leans on the railing next to Sabo. Except she leans to rest her face over her arms, while Sabo mainly stays upright. “It’s crazy to think it’s been that long, that everything happened… so long ago,”
“Just because something happened a long time ago doesn’t change how it affects us today,” Sabo doesn’t look at her. But she swats his arm.
“I know that, it’s just- huh how do I explain this,” She sighs. “My lifes changed so much, so many times. The revolution has been the most stable, longest, and supportive place I’ve ever been. I’m grateful to everyone, and I’m proud to call myself one of them. Even if I bear the mark of pirates,” Koala smiles softly at the memory. She knows Sabo’s smiling with her.
“Yeah?” He says, the wind tousling through his hair. She elbows him in the arm this time.
“Don’t tease, in a month or so it’ll be your eight years too you know, how are you gonna feel then?”
“Probably the same as I feel now,” Sabo says, he hasn’t turned to look at her, and that’s how Koala knows he’s being serious. He’s being introspective. His brows furrow slightly. She hits him again for good measure.
“You’ll always be our troublemaker,”
There are things Koala wishes she could forget. Memories that haunt her nightmares. But there are those that she wouldn’t ever want to let go of. Her time in Mariejois can burn to ash, but being a part of the sun pirates, and meeting Uncle Ty are some of her fondest memories. At one point she hated the mark on her back, but they made it a symbol to be worn with pride.
Even her home village has bitter and sweet memories. She’ll never forgive them for what they did to the Sun Pirates and their old captain. But she knew they were trying their best. That they didn’t know any better due to their ignorance and neglect of the World Government.
Doesn’t mean she’ll go back. Her place is forever with the Army and its members are her family.
Although, Koala recognizes anniversaries like this are different for Sabo. While she reflects on her life as a whole. How the Revs have changed her and how they helped her through her dark times. Baltigo is all Sabo knows.
It doesn’t matter how long ago it was. Sabo lost ten years that he’ll never get back. The different doctors amongst their ranks have all told him the likelihood. Every year that goes by the further away he gets from those days, the further away his memories go.
To Koala, it doesn’t matter how bad Mariejois was, she’d never want to forget those who helped her escape it.
Sabo was trying to escape something himself. Something none of them are truly aware of, just the vague idea it has to do with his family and nobility. But Koala knows better than anyone that there’s always been more to Sabo than that.
He wasn’t a noble when he joined them. He was never, and has never been a noble. Stronger than all the others around their age. An instigator for sure, but he never had any ill will. He welcomed all with open arms, former slaves, fishman, peasants, okama, and all.
Why is he like that? Who saved him? Why did he cry when Grey Terminal burned?
Questions that will never be answered. Koala couldn’t imagine what it would feel like. It hurts her just thinking about how it would feel to forget the Sun Pirates.
The sun is gone, it’s orange and red hues are gone. All that’s left is the dark black and blue, and the shining bright galaxies that will guide them.
“I think they’re gonna start another round of poker in there,” Sabo is looking at Koala now, the Cheshire grin back in place. “Want to join?”
She sighs, but smiles and starts toward the galley.
“You’ll never change will you?”
“Nope!”
I’m the only thing I have from a time long past.
–○—○–
Sabo’s cheeks sting from Koala’s pinching fingers.
“Why is no one worried about this?” She says, glaring at their motley crew of vacationers.
“Well, I would’ve explained if you let me,” Sabo says, rubbing his cheeks.
“That’s the Moby Dick on the horizon and no one seems worried! Hell yeah you should explain!”
“That’s our destination. Happy eighth anniversary in the Revolutionary Army Koala,” Someone in the background blows a party noisemaker, although it saddens at the end when no one else joins in. Koala looks about ready to kill Sabo, face red and steam coming from her ears.
“I’m going to kill you!” Oh she’s not ready, she is just gonna kill him. She tackles Sabo to the deck. They struggle till she punches a hole in the deck where Sabo’s face would have been a half second sooner.
“They know we’re coming!” He shouts as he dodges another punch.
“Why the hell are we going to meet pirates at all!” Koala throws another one, Sabo winces as she catches some of his hair in her punch and rips it out by accident. But she’ll say it’s on purpose if anyone asks.
“Says the one with the mark of a pirate,” Sabo snips back, this time she lands a direct fist to his face.
“Koala?” Whipping her head around, she looks to Hack, “Do you know who protects Fishman Island?”
“Of course I do,” her features scrunch up and her eyes glare at Hack, “It’s Whitebearrrrrrrd….” She stares off into space for a minute. “What’s going on?”
“I’m trying to explain that!” Sabo yells from under her, his face is red from her fist, but his hands grip the arms of her shirt.
“Well you’re not very good at it,” Koala crosses her arms.
“Well you’re not very good at listening,” He bites back. The two sit in silence, arguing with each other in their heads.
“The Warlord Jinbei is on board,” The tension in Koala loosens, as she slack jaws stares at Sabo.
“What?”
Sabo chuckles, his hands drop to his sides, he smiles wide up at her.
“Sabo,” She whispers, tears forming in her eyes.
“Surprise!” He says.
“Happy eight years Koala!” Everyone yells, there are cheers, and this time multiple noisemakers go off.
Koala laughs, and Sabo lets loose with his own laugh. She gets off of him and when they’re both standing the two start off the group hug.
“You’re ridiculous, you know that?”
“Yeah, and I’m never gonna change,”
“How’d you manage to pull this off anyway?” Koala asks him. Everyone’s gone back to either excited chatting or rigging the ship to sail toward the Moby Dick.
“Apparently, Whitebeard’s pretty chill, and also not that hard to get into contact with. Once I told him about you and Jinbei, he offered to host a party. Although, there are some ulterior motives.” Sabo glances to the side.
“Like what?”
“Well,” The boy smiles mischievously, “Apparently one of the pirates is really curious about our communication systems, he's obsessed with the RA. Also, Whitebeard just wants an excuse to party and drink so his firstmate can’t yell at him. His cooks are also apparently amazing. So I think he wants to show off.”
“Did you really talk to Whitebeard personally?” Koala asks, her face softens.
“Of course? I mean, Dragon helped and approved everything. But who would pass up the chance to talk to an Emperor?”
Koala sighs fondly, “Lots of people would probably, but you’re kind of insane,”
Sabo grins, teeth and all.
When their ship pulls to the side of the massive home base of the Whitebeard Pirates. There’s already crew members there to help rig the two boats together. They then help pull each of the Revs up onto the deck.
Whitebeard sits in the middle of the enormous ship, which perfectly fits the enormous man.
“Which one of you brats is the one I talked to before?” Whitebeard's booming voice gathered the attention of the whole deck.
“That would be me,” Sabo says, stepping forward.
“Guarararara, well aren’t you a spry young brat,” Sabo smiles at the old man, hands on his hips pride and confidence rolling off him in waves.
“Marco’s already on his way to get Jinbei,” The man leans down and tries to whisper, “We’ve tried to keep it a secret,” But his whisper is pretty much a regular volume to a normal person.
“You didn’t tell him,” Koala shrieks, her cheeks slightly reddened by the fact.
“It was a surprise for both of you,” Sabo shrugs.
“What if he doesn’t even want to see me, I mean- because of me his captain-”
“Nonsense little one,” Whitebeard turned to Koala, hand out in her direction, “If I know anything about the fishman, and if my children have managed to pry anything from him, then it’s the fact that he’d be delighted to see you again.”
“But you didn’t spoil it right?” Sabo asks, his arms crossed leaning to one side as he scrutinizes the Emperor.
“Guarararara, they all have their special skills, and prying is one of them. Enough gossip goes around on this ship that our friend shouldn’t have thought any of it. Not if he knows what’s good for him that is,”
Sabo raised an eyebrow at that last part. But Koala just lays her hand over one of Whitebeard's fingers.
“Thank you for helping in this,” She smiles up at him. He gives her a grin in return.
“You didn’t thank me,” Sabo gasps out, offended. Everyone ignores him.
Whitebeard nods towards his hand, lowering it all the way to the floor. Koala seems to understand, when she climbs in his cupped palm and sits. He picks her up and gets up from his chair.
The crew starts to run at him, hands up with worried shouts of Pops! And Oyaji! As if any of the crew could help stabilize the giant of a human.
Sabo and the rest of the Revs have to run to keep up with him as Whitebeard brings Koala to the other side of the Moby Dick; they get there right when a door to the lower decks opens.
Out walks a blue fish-man with black hair. A bright red sun burned into the center of his chest. He is adorned with a red and yellow kimono, sandals clacking on the wooden deck.
Jinbei looks up to see Whitebeard holding a young woman. She‘s in pink frills and a hat with goggles on her head. But her dark blue eyes, which are watering, tell Jinbei exactly who she is.
“K-Koala?” The fish-man says dumbfounded.
“Uncle Jinbei!” She shouts before she’s flying into Jinbei’s arms.
–○—○–
The party is in full swing. After the huge feast they had, the drinks came out. Sabo has never partied with pirates before, but it’s about what you’d expect.
There’s plenty of drunk singing and dancing. Storytelling circles the deck of the Moby Dick. And, of course there’s still more food.
Sabo has drifted around the tables filled with delectable goods for the duration of the party. He can’t seem to stray too far anyway with how many people come up to talk to him. Sabo finally catches a break from prying pirates when Koala comes over.
“Thought you were catching up?” Sabo asks with a grin, he shoves the rest of the chicken leg he was eating in his mouth and then licks the bone.
“Oh yeah, we’ve been doing that for hours, I mean there’s about eight years to catch up on and all.” Koala glances to the side, scanning the buffet. “Thought I’d come see how you’re doing,”
Sabo chuckles, “I’ll admit, this type of partying seems to be my type,” Sabo reaches for another leg when arms wrap around him. He freezes, and slowly turns around to hug Koala back.
She lifts her head to look him in the eyes. They’re watering again.
“Thank you, Sabo, I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“You’re not supposed to repay me, that’s the point of a gift.” He says, with a teasing grin. Koala huffs and pulls away.
“Yeah, but I have to one up you to show that I’m better,” She crosses her arms and grins at him, all sight of tears gone.
“Sure, like that’ll ever happen.” Sabo rolls his eyes playfully and again reaches for a chicken leg.
Only, he finds that they’re all gone.
He glimpses around to find the culprit who took the last one. A few people away a black haired head is holding a chicken leg up triumphantly. Sabo can hardly see who the person is, but he pouts at the loss of food.
Koala tilts her head and furrows her brow for a second.
“Well I suppose I can start now,” She puts on her serious face and strides over to the offender. Tapping on his shoulder the fellow turns to talk to her.
Sabo can't hear what they're saying, and his view is a little obstructed, but the meat hogging offender has short cropped hair with slight waves. Similar to Sabo's own hair if only a little longer. Unlike him though the pirate has a constellation of freckles across his cheeks that cross the bridge of his nose.
Something about freckles is familiar, like it's on the tip of Sabo's tongue but can't come out. Sabo appoints it to newspapers, the Whitebeard pirates always have headlines.
Koala speaks to the man, and he nods back while listening. She gestures back at Sabo and the pirate turns and freezes.
Wide eyes stare at Sabo. The color is unknown from this distance but they must be dark. As the offender stares, Sabo takes in the rest of his appearance.
He's shirtless with a tattoo of lettering on one bicep. Black shorts with an orange belt and black combat boots.
There's a string with a skull emblem resting in the center of his chest. A red beaded necklace wraps around his neck and the sight of it causes Sabo to inhale sharply. Although he's not sure why, something in his chest aches.
The pirate stares, and finally he slowly turns back to Koala when she starts speaking again.
He seems distracted, but that’s not Sabo’s problem as Koala comes back with a grin.
“The chef should be back any-”
“You called for a chef?” A man in white with a pompadour smiles at them, with a platter of chicken legs in one hand.
–○—○–
Holy shit
That was Koala, their special guest, who just came to talk to Ace. But the thing that’s got him lagging is the man she was with.
The blonde hair, and those blue eyes that reflect the free sea. The dark blue top hat with those trashy goggles, the cravat, the nose, the cheeks, the eyebrows, the name.
It’s an illusion, a play of the mind.
Ace stumbles absentmindedly to go down below deck, away from people, from the stimulation of the party that surrounds him. His mind is going in whirls.
She had said her friend, her friend Sabo. With that hat, that hair, those eyes, that nose, those-
“Woah Ace!”
Breaking his spell, Ace whips to the side to see that he ran into Haruta.
“Haruta,” Ace whispers distantly.
“Don’t tell me you’re hammered already,” Haruta slaps him on the shoulder, grinning, “We still have the whole night,”
Ace stares at his friend, what does he say, what’s he supposed to say. He inhales and tears fill his eyes. Ace is lost, so lost. The last time he felt lost was…
When Sabo had died.
When he didn’t know what to do, didn’t think there was anything to do. Starving on Sixis didn’t feel this way, even with nowhere to go and slowly dying. When he was up against the strongest man in the world, too weak to beat but too stubborn to start over wasn’t like this. Ace hasn’t felt this lost in a long time.
Haruta seems to sense something is wrong. “Ace?” he questions, reaching up to the taller shoulders.
“Haruta?” Ace asks, for anything, for guidance. What does he do? For once he wants someone to tell him.
Haruta glances around, and lightly guides Ace below deck. Which isn’t hard since Ace is completely compliant.
He pulls Ace into the nearest room, a storage room filled with paper and ink for their navigators.
Haruta pushes Ace onto the only stool in the room.
“What happened?” Surprisingly, for their head communications, Haruta has never been subtle. He can pick up people's cues, second meanings, and high context ways of speaking. But he himself isn’t one for using them.
“Sabo’s alive,” Ace says simply and to the point. Haruta raises a brow and quirks his head.
“Sabo? You mean the Revolutionary, I mean I would sure hope he’s alive since he set this whole thing up.”
The new information snaps Ace back to reality, his thoughts shifting from seeing his dead brother again to the fact that his dead brother set up the meeting between Koala and Jinbei.
“He set this up?”
“Yeah, got in contact with us from one of our territories. I’ve talked to him quite a bit, nice guy really. Wanted to do something nice for Koala and since they aren’t able to go all the way to Fishman Island just to get into contact with someone, much less a Warlord, he went through us. Of course then the prospect of not only making an ally happy but also throwing a party enticed Pops too much.”
Ace turns to the side, the gears in his brain spinning again, “Why? What?. . . Revolutionary,” Ace whispers half thoughts.
“Yeah Ace, our guests are part of the Revolutionary Army, thought you knew that?” Haruta deadpans.
“I did. That- that’s not what I meant. I mean, how- like,” Ace scrunches up his face like it’s painful to say, how does he speak again, words are so hard right now. “How the R Army?”
“Did you just try to say Revolutionary Army and RA at the same time,” Haruta asks, still with a neutral face, yet somehow also giving Ace a disappointed look.
Ace scrunches up his shoulders slowly, in a half hearted awkward shrug.
“Damn, whatever's going on has really messed you up,” Haruta comments, then sighs, “I got to know him pretty well by being the man in the middle for him and Pops so to speak. He mentioned once about having an accident, the one that gave him the scar on his eye, and the Revs saved him. That's how he joined them.”
An accident, the Celestial Dragon. Ace’s brain fills in the rest. Creating a picture of what likely could have happened that day nearly eight years ago.
“But I didn’t tell you all that. Pretty sure it was supposed to be personal.” Haruta says, thinking, lips pressed in a line.
“You seem pretty calm about all this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You love the RA, like, obsessively, I’ve seen your room Haruta. How many hours have you spent doing research to uncover all their secrets? And so you meet some, and are completely nonchalant. I would have thought you’d be more excited and braggy about everything.” Ace questions. Haruta has boxes of articles, newspapers, notes and theories of where, when, why, and how the Revolutionary Army works.
“Ace, are you alright?” Haruta throws back at him. Ace stares at him thinking before answering.
“No,” He says, and Haruta smiles.
“I kept a lot of things a secret this past month or so, like I said, found out some pretty important stuff. The RA has all their secrets and puzzles because people keep those secrets. I’m ecstatic, thrilled and have been on a high this past month. I’ve been waiting patiently to talk nonstop about many things. The things I can talk about, especially now that everyone’s met our new friends.”
Haruta looks at Ace, that same soft smile that seems to come easily to the Whitebeard Pirates. “But, more important than my love for the RA, more important than their secrets, is my family. I think I can hold all that excitement a little bit longer if it's for my family.”
Haruta is one of the biggest pranksters on board. He cheats when they make bets or gambles. But he’s the Commander of the Twelfth division, their commander in communication and somehow knows exactly how to act.
Looking at his brother's grin, Ace is reminded about why he joined the Whitebeard Pirates, about the family that surrounds him every day.
Ace has always been the big brother growing up, but he’s reminded here, that he’s younger, and has a lot to learn.
Ace relaxes and sighs with content, he’s not alone, his family’s got his back.
Literally with his tattoo!
“Sabo’s my brother,” Ace says. Haruta cocks his head to the side, confused but not accusatory.
“Sabo swore brotherhood with me a long time ago. It’s just-” Ace turns away, hesitant and tense, “He died when we were younger, almost ten years ago because- well- he was shot by a Celestial Dragon.”
Haruta’s eyes become dinner plates as he gasps.
“So your brother lived, but didn’t remember anything about being brothers.” Haruta supplied he glances up and away from Ace thinking.
Ace looked at Haruta, brows furrowed. “What?”
“So, I'm really not supposed to be telling you this, like I said, kinda personal. But this whole thing seems pretty personal to you too. From what I've gathered, that accident that led Sabo to join the RA also caused him to lose all of his previous memories. He has amnesia.” Haruta supplied, he glanced at Ace to check his reaction. They sit in silence for a minute, occasionally Ace mumbling incoherent words even to Haruta’s keen ears.
“What am I supposed to do now?” Ace brings his hands to his face and runs them through his hair. “I mean that’s- that’s Sabo out there. H-he was my everything.”
Ace’s voice starts to wobble, strained and watery with unshed tears.
“Then you’ll just have to make him that again, or make him remember,” Haruta says, and when Ace looks up, the shorter is in a victory pose, hands as fists on his hips. Strong and confident.
“This is good news Ace, so what are you all sad about? If I could bring back any of the siblings we lost on the Moby Dick I wouldn’t sit around crying about it. You’re a pirate aren’t you? Go take what's yours!”
And isn’t that exactly what he needs to hear. Ace is free, Sabo is here, free and alive. Ace has a second chance, he can’t waste it.
“Sabo’s part of the Revolution right? And he’s here for a friend?”
“Yup,” Haruta confirms.
“Hmmm, well a brother coming out of nowhere is a little suspicious, the Revs are pretty secretive and don’t trust very easily. But-” Ace talks as he thinks, “We were friends before brothers. Sabo was my best friend and I was his, we didn’t trust anyone else like we trusted each other.”
Haruta nods a knowing look on his face. “So, what’s the plan now?”
“I’ll become friends again, rekindle what was once there and hope that it’ll help him gain his memories back.”
“Hope?”
Ace looks up at Haruta, and then his face sets into a determined look, he jumps up from the stool. “He will! He will get his memories back!”
“That's the spirit!” Haruta jumps with Ace as the two share energy levels like they usually do. Hyping one another up.
“This is it,” Ace says and thinks. This is it, to change his only regret. To get Sabo back.
–○—○–
“Hey!” A voice shouts, Sabo turns and sees it’s the man from before that stole his meat.
“My name is Portgas D. Ace, the second division commander,” The man- Ace, holds out his hand to shake. He has an easy going smile on his face, and confidence pouring in waves off him.
Sabo sticks out his hand to take Ace’s.
“Sabo,” He says, something about Ace makes this easy.
“I heard you were the one who organized all this,” Ace says.
“I suppose, but there were a lot of others too. I mean you all are hosting the party.” Sabo smiles.
“Yeah, but we do this all the time, really, this is more like fun than work,” Ace laughs. Sabo chuckles with him.
“Yeah, I can see that,” he gestures to the crowd of rowdy, and very drunk pirates. Ace looks over at them, and a smirk slowly grows on his cheeks.
“Yeaaaaaahhhhh,” He turns back to Sabo, “Say, Sabo, do you dance,”
Sabo’s eyes widen, he already knows he’s stuck in a corner. If not by Ace’s grin, then the fact that the pirate hasn’t even let go of his hand from their handshake. It was a little awkward during their small talk, but Sabo has to wonder if this was the pirate’s ploy all along.
Before he can even say anything, Ace is dragging him to the dance floor.
“I really don’t. I mean we don’t do parties like this in the Revolution. I don’t really know-”
“It’s all about being free,” Ace turns to look at him, that easy smile on his face again. Something in Sabo relaxes, almost instinctively.
‘‘Being free?”
“Yeah, just letting yourself move like nobodies around,” Ace lets go of him and then wiggles his arms in an almost wave to make a point. It causes Sabo to grin. When has Sabo ever cared what others thought anyway? He’s always paved his own way, whether he throws out infiltration plans, or hangs up on his colleagues.
The Whitebeards have a band of jolly pirates playing. A probably drunk band considering how they sway, but the music is good nonetheless.
Sabo laughs letting the song and carefree atmosphere sink in. He starts to sway.
“Oh come on, that’s nothing.” Ace grabs his arm again, but before he can pull Sabo around, Sabo pulls him, making the pirate do a twirl.
Ace stumbles but manages to catch himself. He looks over at Sabo surprised, and then the smile from before brightens.
It takes a few choruses, but Sabo gets the lyrics just fine.
Suddenly, he’s dancing with Ace like there’s no one else in the world but the two of them. Both belting out the lyrics. Feet clashing together in sync and hands matching like mirrors when they want. Then they separate, Ace goes down for more break dance moves a few times. While Sabo prefers a more gymnastics take, using his pipe to launch through the air.
They’re feet tap with the beat of the music. Stomps, shouts, laughs, bellows, spilled liquor, and joy surround them.
Sabo isn’t sure how long he’s there, it’s like the world stopped, time, and people are irrelevant as he and Ace enjoy themselves. He only focuses on Ace’s moves to match and compete against, and his own moves to stay upright even as the world spins from flips and body heat.
Eventually Sabo’s cheeks hurt too much to stay, his grin was too wide for his mouth. It’s hot in the center of the dance floor, and he doesn’t think he even sweats this much in training. Sabo grabs Ace’s arm, and pulls him out of the fray to the edges, both of them laughing.
“Where did you learn to dance like that?” Sabo asks, trying to imitate Ace’s dance moves with his fingers.
“I didn’t learn from anywhere really, just gotta feel it.” Ace does the arm wiggle again. Sabo slaps his arms with a laugh. “Besides, you're the one who was gonna say they don’t dance, what was that!”
Sabo shrugged with a smug grin, “What can I say, you just gotta feel it.” Ace gives him a deadpan look for that one.
“Hey! It looks like Thatch brought out even more food!” Ace points over to the long buffet table behind Sabo. The blonde turns to see that everything's been restocked, even this late in the night. With how much he’s eaten already you’d think he’d be full, but his stomach growls and a little saliva starts to drip from the side of his mouth at the smell. All that dancing sure did make him hungry.
“Let’s go!” Sabo grabs Ace’s arm again and pulls him to the buffet. The two both hover over everything, eyes glancing at all the different options. Then they suck up their own drool, causing them to glance over at each other surprised. A mirrored smile stretches across both their faces, then they dig in.
By the end of the night, the table was practically empty. The two young men sitting in front of it, surrounded by bones, wrappers, and peels alike. Both content and full.
“How in the world did you find someone who could eat just as much as you Ace?” Looking up from his drowsy food coma state, Sabo sees the man who brought the chicken legs from earlier, with the pompadour.
“We food lovers exist and deserve to be recognized,” Ace presents his hand as if giving a dramatic speech, but his tone is fully relaxed and a little teasing.
“I’m literally a chef, you don’t think I love food? You’re just a little too obsessed with it. And if Sabo eats as much as you do, I’m gonna have to tweak the menu a bit.” The man, who Sabo could guess was Thatch from what Ace said earlier pouted, and looked longingly at all the empty plates.
“Hey, who told you my name?” Sabo glared up at him, but there wasn’t any heat.
“Literally everyone here knows it, you set up this whole thing.” Thatch then glanced between the two of them. “You guys are worse off than the band, and they’ve practically had a barrel of whiskey each.”
“I have not had a drop of liquor this whole evening, and I swear on my honor as a pirate to that!” Ace said, giving Thatch a finger gun, but making no move to get off his lazy bum.
“I second that!”
“You’re not a pirate Sabo,” Thatch said, crossing his arms.
“I still swear on it!” Sabo shouts, then starts cackling. By the time he regains his composer, Hack is next to Thatch. Then without warning, Thatch scoops up Ace and throws him on his shoulder. Ace starts yelling out profanities, causing Sabo to laugh before he also gets yanked up and thrown over Hack’s shoulder. Sabo also starts yelling out.
Hack and Thatch carry them inside and down into the depths of the Moby Dick. Hack turns down the left side of a hall while Thatch goes to the right. Ace and Sabo stick out their hands and whine, trying to grab each other but they only get carried further away.
“Saboooooo,”
“Accccceee,”
Both of their voices can be heard echoing down the hallway.