Chapter Text
Waking up in weird places is a kind of personal brand for Ace. He usually falls asleep anywhere thanks to his narcolepsy, so he's always a bit disoriented when he returns to the living world. It usually takes little time to find out where he is since he usually wakes up in the same place where he falls asleep.
This is not the case.
Ace wipes the slobber off while he blinks a few times to shake the mist from sight. His body feels too strange, aside from the pain in his back from sleeping hunched over all night. He is sitting at a work desk, the papers under him have some drool patches.
The room is completely unknown. It is very neat, almost devoid of personal items at all. There is a bookcase with lots of books, a built-in wardrobe, and a black top hat with blue glasses attached to it on top of the bed.
Ace's gaze lingers on the hat for a few seconds before getting up. Strangely, he is not as upset as he should be in such a disconcerting situation. Knowing that he is not tied up or in a cell is enough to reassure him.
He ignores the papers on the desk and heads straight for the closet. He is sure that the clothes of the person who has abducted him say more about him than any paperwork he's doing. When opening the closet, Ace sweats. He is not a fan of fashion, in point of fact, he has little more than three pants since he gave up the shirts forever. However, the owner of this room is a bit excessive.
There are five baggy pants that only vary in color, different shades of dark blue or black. The same thing happens with the shirts, seven or eight shirts of royal blue or lighter. There are two neat white handkerchiefs on a shelf and a pair of black boots on the closet floor. Now that he looks down, Ace finds that he is wearing one of those pants tucked into black boots almost identical to the ones in the closet. He feels his chest to find a white handkerchief tied around his neck over his sky blue shirt.
Well, that's coming out.
Ace takes off his shirt and handkerchief without noticing anything else. His captor must be a psychopath to dress him in something like that. Ace goes to find his clothes, get food, and go back to the Moby Dick. Not in that order necessarily.
He leaves the room and finds himself in a long hallway. His body automatically moves to where his stomach and nose indicate. He runs into a few people on his way and mostly ignores them. Although they look at him in a rather disconcerting way, none of them try to stop him and Ace doesn't think they pose a threat to him.
He reaches what he thinks is the lunch counter in no time. It isn't very crowded but, like the people in the hall, they all turn to look at him when he enters.
"Uh... General Officer?", the chef gives him a strange look. "Why are you showing off?"
The pirates in Ace's division always call him 'commander', he doesn't even know exactly what the job of a 'general officer' is. He deliberately ignores the question and simply points to a very good looking ribeye.
"Put that on me," he demands. When the chef raises an eyebrow in surprise, Ace blushes. "Please, I mean."
The man turns around muttering about a possible lost bet and the typical 'today's youth'. He serves him the delicious ribeye and a couple of sandwiches, as if that's enough to satisfy his appetite. Ace rolls his eyes and reaches over the bar to reach for a basket of fruit to take along with the tray. Unaware that all the attention is on him, he sits down at a table and smirks before beginning to gobble.
His lunch is fine, not as delicious as Thatch's though. He's so focused on eating that he doesn't hear the female shriek and hurried footsteps coming down the hall. A man walks up to Sabo and pats him on the shoulder in pity.
"I don't know what's wrong with you but you should fix it, Koala is coming."
Ace only has time to raise an eyebrow before a pretty girl stops in front of him. Her short hair is orange and her big eyes are dark. Like most people in the dining room, she wears a hat with glasses hooked around her. Ace remembers seeing one also in the room he woke up in and wonders if it's a new trend. Or maybe he has been kidnapped by the 'Pirates of the Hat with Glasses' or something like that.
Cutting off his ramblings, she gives Ace an offensive slap on the wrist and yells at him.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Ace gives her a bored look and tries to break free of the girl's grip to continue eating. She becomes enraged and leans closer to his ear.
"Sabo!"
Ace freezes.
Despite what anyone would think of a group of young people like them, the Straw Hat pirates are not big sleepers. Some of them are early risers out of necessity, like Robin or Nami, who got used to being alert even at night. Zoro takes more naps than necessary so the night is usually not very long for him. Brook has spent too much time alone and lost, so much so that he can no longer create a schedule. Luffy has too much energy to spend much time lying in his hammock.
Sanji grew up on a strict schedule. It's not that he doesn't like to sleep or doesn't need it, but as the crew's cook, his duty is to have breakfast prepared before anyone else wakes up.
He walks into the kitchen and starts with a coffee to wake up. As a belated reminder, he adds a second cup for Robin, who has been on duty tonight. He hears footsteps and goes to find a clean cup for tea, knowing that it’s probably the newest addition to his crew, Brook, who has shown himself to be as much of an early riser as any other member.
Apparently he is wrong. Luffy walks through the Sunny's kitchen door without his trademark hat. If that's strange enough, seeing him wear one of Sanji's neatly pressed button-down shirts with one of Usopp's baggy pants is quite a sight. Sanji doesn't even have the guts to complain about his stolen shirt, he just blinks in surprise waiting for the illusion to fade.
Luffy's illusion or whatever it is that Sanji is seeing doesn't go away. Instead, he looks at Sanji with a calculating air that doesn't suit the young captain's face at all and sighs at the surprise on his face.
"I can say you are as surprised as I am," says 'Luffy' in a soft and formal voice. "I honestly don't know if that's a good thing or a worrying one."
Sanji opens his mouth to reply but no sound comes out. The captain continues.
"You look nothing like the image on your bounty poster but you must be Black Leg Sanji. I saw your name on one of the lockers in the boys' room. Excuse me for taking your shirt without permission. The clothes belonging to the owner of this body are not exactly my style”, he bows not very deep but equally formal.
The cook carefully sets the cup he's holding on the table before slowly approaching his captain, ignoring the way the boy tenses. He grabs Luffy's arm and sits him gently on one of the chairs.
"Whatever is happening with you, just breathe," advises Sanji. "I'm going to find Chopper and we'll fix this, I promise you, stay here."
Luffy frowns in a different way than his usual pout and Sanji doesn't linger long enough to know what kind of expression his captain's face now has. He runs like a condemned man to the boys' quarters, barely able to contain a shout.
"Chopper! It's Luffy, you have to come as soon as possible."
The reindeer rises like a spring. Zoro also opens his eyes wide and the first thing he does is take one of his swords. The others must not have been sleeping very soundly because they all wake up in less than two minutes. Neither of them ask what the emergency is, but instead grab their weapons and flock out of the room, stopping at the girls' quarters to wake Nami up.
Sanji and Chopper are the first to reach the kitchen, they stop when they see the image.
Luffy menacingly points a butter knife at Robin and frowns in a different way than he uses when facing an enemy who has pissed him off. The girl, on the other hand, has grown arms all over the kitchen to keep the captain in his place.
"Who are you?", she asks with a cold tone.
"Nico Robin", Luffy acknowledges without the typical warmth in his voice. "I am not here by choice, if neither of you have brought me here then we will have to work together to bring your captain back."
Seeing that everyone is frozen, it is Zoro who takes command. "Answer her question. Who are you?"
"Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro", Not-Luffy looks at the rest. "You are all here except your captain and my body. The only possible explanation is that Straw Hat is on my body, hopefully at our base."
"Base? Are you a marine?" Zoro tightens his grip on Wado Ichimonji.
Not-Luffy lets out a soft laugh that sounds creepy in his body. "Marine? Never. I am a member of the Revolutionary Army."
Everyone's eyes widen before Usopp mutters, "Luffy's dad?"
"So you're on our side?" Nami asks curiously.
Not-Luffy's face turns into a pensive grin. "Not exactly on your side. We, revolutionaries, are free," he says. "Although I admit that your last show at Enies Lobby has gained recognition and admiration in our ranks."
"Then…", Robin insists. "Who are you, Mr. Revolutionary?"
The boy sighs and drops the knife, causing Robin's grip around him to loosen. He bows in the direction of the pirates. "My name is Sabo, a member of the Revolutionary Army."
"Recently appointed second in command”, Robin ends.
"As I assumed, you are well informed”, Sabo tells her. "We have been looking for you for a while, we think you would be an interesting addition to our ranks."
"Thanks but I'm not interested”, she politely declines. "I'm happy being where I am."
"And besides”, Usopp interrupts a little pale. "Stop talking formal and bowing, it's creepy to see Luffy do that."
Sabo rolls his eyes at how simple pirates are. "Could you borrow a Den Den Mushi? The sooner we fix this out, the better for everyone involved."
A chill runs through the pirates at the thought of what will happen if they leave Luffy alone in a foreign body and in a strange place.
"Follow me, we are in a hurry!" Nami says with a horrified expression.
"Luffy may not have woken up yet, maybe it's not too late..." Usopp mutters.
Whether out of agitation or mistrust, all the pirates follow Nami and their uninvited. Sabo is internally grateful to have learned all the important numbers of the organization. Dial his boss's number and wait.
"Who’s this?"
Koala has never seen that kind of wild fury on her best friend's face. She doesn't know exactly what the trigger was, she just started her usual scolding until he jumped like a wounded animal.
Some men hold Sabo's arms to prevent him from launching himself at Koala again. She breathes a little scared yet.
"What...? What's going on?", she asks eloquently.
"How dare you say that name bitch?!"
Koala gasps and she doesn't even know where to start. The only name she mentioned was Sabo and ... Bitch? Have she ever heard her friend say a word like that? And even worse, directed at her?
Betty's cigar falls from her mouth in surprise and she walks over to the young girl, as if to give her support.
"What did you tell him, Koala?", she asks out loud.
"I don't know!", she feels like she's about to cry. "Sabo-kun has never talked to me like this before, and I've done worse things to piss him off than calling him by his name..."
"Again!",Sabo exclaims wriggling like a mad dog.
Hack, who is one of those holding Sabo, uses a little more force to placate the boy.
"We cannot understand why you get upset if you behave like an animal," he explains. "What is wrong with your name?"
"My name?!" he bawls, increasingly furious. "Sabo's name should never come out of your fucking mouths!"
Koala raises her eyebrows. The sob she was holding comes out almost with a groan. Soon, her sadness turns to anger.
"What do you mean? Do you think you are too worthy to be with people like us?!"
"Obviously! What do you think you're doing?! First by abducing me, then by mentioning my dead brother! Are you from the Government?!"
The revolutionaries freeze, so much so that Hack and the other two let Sabo go. Koala blinks at the boy who, now released, looks at everyone like he's about to burn them.
"From the Government? Abduced? Dead brother? Sab...", she shakes her head, trying to keep the name from coming out of her mouth. "What are you talking about?"
"I was on my ship and then I woke up here”, Sabo narrows his eyes. "And now you just say 'Sabo this, Sabo that'... I will not allow anyone to dirty my brother's name."
The dining room is completely silent now. Sabo is also somewhat mollified when he sees the completely bewildered faces of the people around him.
"You... Did you hit your head?", Koala asks in a completely seriously tone.
"I think I can explain this," interrupts a new voice from the doorway.
Koala turns with a sigh of relief as she sees her boss walk into the dining room. Dragon's expression is blank as he walks towards them.
"Dragon-san!", she exclaims. "Sabo-kun is behaving strangely!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Sabo about to jump on her neck to choke her or something. Luckily, a new voice interrupts him. It is a young and unknown voice that stops Sabo on the spot.
"That is because that's not me, Koala," says the Den Den Mushi in Dragon's hand.
Koala blinks and sees Sabo scowl at the snail.
"That isn’t... you?", she asks slowly. "And you are...?"
The voice on the line sighs. "I fell asleep in my room last night, while finishing the paperwork”, Dragon clears his throat, the voice giggling apologetically. "And this morning when I woke up, I was in a different body in a pirate crew."
"And how do we know that what you say is real?", asks Belo Betty looking at Dragon more than anything.
The boss nods. "He has confirmed it with information that only he and I know”, he says and then looks at Sabo's body. "Then you are..."
The person in Sabo's body, who had been looking at the snail as if it were capable of poking a hole in it with his eyes, brings his gaze to his hands. Then he touches his bare chest, which makes Koala blush a little. He pushes a lock of blonde hair forward so he can get a better look at it. Then he frowns.
"I am Portgas D. Ace, Commander of the Second Division of the Whitebeard Pirates."
The dining room is silent again. Dragon raises an eyebrow, as if it is not the answer he was expecting. One of the men who had been holding Ace flinches a bit, suddenly scared to be in front of a big fish.
"What?!", a female voice cries in the Den Den Mushi. "A Whitebeard commander is in your body? But that's not possible!"
Sabo-Ace frowns. "That doesn't sound like any of my nakama”, he says.
"That is because they are not. I am not in your body”, the voice of the person whose body Sabo is in sighs in frustration. "It seems that things are more complicated than we thought."
Koala nods as she sees the Whitebeard pirate whisper something to Betty politely.
"Sabo-kun, do you remember something strange happening yesterday? Maybe it was an Akuma no Mi.”
"It is not possible, at least not to me directly. I spent the whole day at the base."
"Not our shitty captain either”, another voice mutters. "We were together all day and we didn't meet any other ships."
Koala turns to ask the Yonkou commander until she sees what he's doing. He has asked Betty for a mirror and now he looks at his reflection with a horrified expression, tracing his fingers across the scar on his eye. She's about to challenge him to say shit about it, but the boy knocking the mirror to the ground stops her.
"What the fuck is this?!", he stomps towards Dragon and snatches the snail from him. "Are you Sabo?! The owner of this body?!"
"I am”, Sabo replies in a peaceful voice. "And I would appreciate having my throat intact when I return to my body. You could stop screaming, please."
"Stop fooling around!", Ace exclaims. "Where have you been all this time? Is that funny?! We thought you were dead!"
The line is strangely quiet for a few seconds. Then the voice sounds choked.
"What are you talking about?"
"Sabo", the name comes out of his mouth almost reverently. "We thought you were dead, Dogra saw you explode. We cried for you, our stupid little brother didn't eat for days. You've been alive all this time!"
The heaviness of the pirate's words slowly begins to settle on them. Dragon has moved away from the explosive boy a bit, deciding to watch this debacle unfold. The answering voice sounds shaky.
"Do you... know me?"
That’s all. Before the man they know as 'Fire Fist' spontaneously ignites in Sabo's body, Koala takes the Den Den Mushi from his hands and places a hand on his chest to stop him, staring into his uneven eyes.
"Listen to me for a second, okay?", the boy nods with a frown. "I don't know if you're talking about our Sabo. If so, if you knew him before the accident... You must know that our Sabo lost all the memories of his first ten years of life."
For the first time since he woke up, Ace is strangely silent. The face of Sabo's body slowly pales as a heavy sigh leaves his mouth. Seeing him a bit calmer, she urges him to explain.
"Who is Sabo to you?"
Ace looks to the side before turning his gaze to the Den Den Mushi.
"Sabo is my brother", there is a little gasp on the other line. "We are not biological brothers, we took an oath with sake. We wanted to be pirates, but since we were going to be on different ships, we decided to form a stronger bond. Then... Sabo went out to sea first, he was attacked by a... "
"Tenryuubito", ends the voice from Den Den Mushi. "I was attacked by a Tenryuubito. Dragon-san saved me but when I woke up I had already lost all my memories."
"We thought you were dead”, Ace repeats. "We cried for you."
Sabo is silent for a while. Then he mutters, "‘M sorry..."
"This is SUPERRR heartwarming guys”, a voice sobs through the snail.
"Yeah, and I don't give a shit”, says another. "Where the hell is our captain?"
"Zoro! Don't talk like that!", scolds another male voice with a shaky touch. "These are big guys! If we piss them off they'll kill us!"
"You said you were on a pirate ship”, Ace says suspiciously. "I've thought about it from the moment I heard that voice, is it the Straw Hat pirates' ship?"
"Oh yeah," Sabo replies. "How do you know?"
Ace giggles. "Luffy is our brother too."
The revelation hits them all like the moving Umi Resha. If knowing that Ace and Sabo are sworn brothers is surprising, knowing that the flashy and troublesome new rookie is also part of their brotherhood is extraordinary.
"Luffy have brothers?!"
"His brothers are the second in command of the revolutionaries and Whitebeard's second commander?!", exclaims the one who scolded Zoro, even more scared now.
"No wait, do you remember what happened in Water 7?", says a shrill voice.
"Oh yeah. His grandfather and his father..."
"What's wrong with this family?!", exclaims a female voice.
"I need time to take in all this”, admits Sabo.
Ace snorts. "Better do it before we meet again. I'm going to hit you like never before but that's nothing compared to what Crybaby-Luffy will do when he finds out about all this."
"Crybaby?", asks one of the pirates in a low voice.
"We will have to find it first, don't you think?", says a calmer female voice from the snail.
Ace's eyes slowly widen. "If I'm in Sabo's body and Sabo is in Luffy's body... Luffy is..."
Realization comes to all of them at the same time.
"Shit!"
Luffy wakes up completely hungry, which is nothing strange. Almost without taking his eyes off, he yawns and walks half sleepwalking to the kitchen, already savoring in his mind the delicious food of his cook. He hears some voices and notices someone ruffling his hair. He ignores them all in favor of gobbling up everything in his path.
"It seems that someone has woken up hungry", laughs an old voice from the other end of the table.
The young man opens his eyes slowly, continuing to put food in his mouth. He looks curiously at the giant elderly man in front of him.
"I'm always hungry", he admits.
Another voice approaches laughing. He is a man with a strange bun hairdo and a kind and teasing smile at the same time.
"We already know, kid, but if you keep eating like this there won't be any food left for dinner."
Luffy stops midway to get a rice ball. His hand moves in slow motion, picking up the onigiri and raising it to his mouth under the amused gaze of the men around him.
"Have you made this food, bread boy?"
The bread boy chokes. "Bre... Bread boy?!"
The close people laugh at the nickname and the expression of the man at the comment of the youngest of his brothers. Ace's face, however, remains curious as he waits for the man's response.
"Of course I did it, idiot", he responds when he realizes that the boy is waiting for an answer.
Satisfied, Luffy gives everyone the brightest smile that any of them have seen in their entire life.
"It's great! Not like Sanji's food but still delicious, bread boy!"
Some are still laughing but more and more people are frowning at the boy. The giant man calmly drinks from his mug as he patiently watches. It is the first commander who approaches first.
"What's wrong with you today, Ace?"
Luffy gives the man a blank look. Then he points to it. "Pineapple."
A vein pops out on the man's forehead. "Your little..."
"Alright, alright," another man, one in kimono and makeup, sits next to Luffy and looks at him sternly. "What is going on?"
"I don't know”, he admits. "Do you know me? I don't know where I am."
"It is what I was afraid of”, agrees the pretty boy looking at the others. "He may have lost his memory or something. Maybe he had a narcoleptic attack and hit his head again."
"Have you lost your memory?", the bread boy opens his eyes in surprise. "What is the last thing you remember?"
"Was on my ship with my crew, had dinner and went to sleep."
The pineapple boy makes a face. "Is anyone from the Spade pirates on the ship right now?"
"Didn't you send Deuce with the ninth division? I don't think there's anyone else here."
Luffy just lets them argue with each other while looking curiously at the giant man. All the boy's attention to the captain puts the pirates on alert.
"Oh no, do you think he's going to...?", the bread boy whispers.
"I don't know, he's been very calm so far," says the guy with the balls on his head.
"Let's try it”, the pretty boy shrugs. "Hey Ace, are you going to attack Oyaji? Because you shouldn't, you're now part of our crew."
Luffy frowns, still not understanding. He points to the big man and asks. "Are you Oyaji?"
Oyaji raises his eyebrows in amusement. "Well that's what my sons call me. I guess you already know people call me Whitebeard."
The young man blinks. "Do they? It's stupid, you don't have a beard", then cocks his head. "I don't know any Whitebread."
Whitebeard looks as surprised as he is amused after the statement. The other pirates look a bit horrified.
"I'm sure Ace wasn't like that before”, says a short man. "He was like more mad dog and less adorable puppy."
"No wait, this makes no sense”, says the pineapple boy. "Ace knew perfectly well who Oyaji was from the beginning. Hell, everyone knows Oyaji", he rubs his forehead and points to Luffy. "Who are you?"
"I'm Luffy”, he says.
Whitebeard looks more and more fun. The pan boy chokes again.
"Luffy?! Who the hell are you?!"
The boy looks at him like he's stupid. "I'm Luffy”, he repeats.
"That's not what I wanted to say!"
"Luffy," calls the pineapple boy. "How did you get here and what are you doing pretending to be our brother?"
"I never said I was your brother”, he replies, wrinkling his nose. "I only have a brother."
"Then why are you dressing up as our brother?"
"I'm not disguised as a brother!", he complains.
The pretty boy snorts and takes a hand mirror out of his kimono pocket. Luffy looks at himself in total amazement to be greeted by Ace's face.
"I'm disguised as my brother!", he chirps happily.
"He's not your brother, he's our brother!", exclaims the offended pan boy.
"Ace is my brother", Luffy says with a frown on his brother's face.
"Ace isn't your...", the pineapple boy frowns. "Wait, Ace is your brother?"
"Yes!", the boy nods, happy that someone finally understands.
"But he's our brother too", says Pan boy, then turns to Whitebeard. "Oyaji, do we have any Luffy in our crew?"
Whitebeard just smiles mysteriously and drinks from his mug.
"To be honest, the name is very familiar to me”, says another pirate.
The pretty boy gasps and slaps his palm against his forehead. "Of course he's familiar, Ace spent days talking about his brother after his first bounty and then Enies Lobby."
The pirates jump at the mention of Enies Lobby and they all turn to look at Ace, Luffy, in surprise.
"He is..."
"Monkey D. Luffy, Ace's little brother!"
Luffy stands with his arms akimbo and smiles. "And the future King of the Pirates!"