Chapter 7: Setting on the Trail
It’d been a wild night, honestly the only kind of night to capstone the absolutely insane day Koala had had since waking up. Sabo’s strange behavior coming to the explanation that ‘Fire Fist Ace’— weather through a touch of madness or genuine spiritual possession— had come to reside within her boyfriend’s heart in a quite literal way.
His ‘brother’ in spirit, suddenly rocketed to control of the body for the entirety of their big mission hunting down the boogeymen of Koala’s past. Vengeance, strange spiritual tangles, and the presence of a man she had to admit was VERY different from Sabo in quite a few ways residing now in her intimate company.
The only way to end a night like that was with a loud and chaotic trip to the bars of Sabaody in the darkest hours of the night for a well deserved dinner. The crowd was as rough as promised, and aside from one overly flirtatious drunk pirate, not a problem in the least. Especially after a snub and a ‘light tap’ from Koala sending him reeling to the teasing of his crewmates.
The two of them tucked into the hearty food and stiff drinks of the common bar, as they chattered the night away. His arm slung over her, she found he was physically touchy, close and clearly increasingly comfortable in her presence, just like she was in his, she had supposed as she’d let him lean in her space as he asked her all sorts of questions.
About her, her past, her passions and hobbies, training with Sabo—- and he practically was enraptured when she started into her glory tales of the Army and their exploits fighting the good fight the world over.
Almost enraptured enough to stop eating. But not quite. No, he’d put a bit of a dent in the Revolutionary Budget as he ate the bar out of house and home, and sort of drove her to do the same with his spirit. Eventually, with stories shared and the buzz of alcohol in her system, they’d walked back to the hotel as she nearly fell against him and the moment he hit the bed, he was out. After only a moment of quiet contemplation of his sleeping face, she let the drink and the comfort of bed take her as well.
The next morning when Koala woke up, somehow she knew that Sabo was the one laying beside her, curled up half-way in her arms. The gentle pattern of his breathing was familiar, and unlike the one that she’d heard the night before, when Ace fell asleep before her— almost as fast as his head had hit the pillow, in fact.
She entwined her arms around him, pulling him closer and nuzzling in close with a quiet huff of breath, “g’morning sleepyhead. You were out through the whole mission.”
Sabo ground and squirmed against her, slowly moving to press a hand against his temple. “Sorry about that, Koala. Oof— did Ace get me hit in the head?”
He absolutely had not. He had, however, put back a few more and stronger drinks than she often saw Sabo indulge in.
She squeezed him tighter— before giving him a really tight squeeze as a playful ‘good morning’.
“He somehow, bafflingly, had a better alcohol tolerance than you Sabo…at least until you woke up with a hangover.” She laughed, leaning heavily against him. “We went out for a late dinner.”
“Oh.” He huffed a soft laugh and scooped her into his arms, giving her a sleepy squeeze in return. “Really that shouldn’t surprise me. The dinner or the drinking. Ace could always put it away when we were kids…”
Seeing Sabo back in control again really brought home how visceral the difference was between the way the two of them moved— the way they spoke. If what was happening was only in Sabo’s mind it was certainly as powerful as any spell.
She brushed her fingers over the curve of his smile. If it was all in his head…then the human mind was even more shockingly powerful than she’d thought.
Ace…and Sabo…it was striking enough that she was sure in no time at all she’d be able to tell them apart by simple expression and movement.
“Trust me, he still can. He blew basically the whole operation’s budget except our hotel fee for the next half a day.”
“Good thing we’re getting ready to head back today then.” He poked his finger against her nose gently, and paused. “We are planning to head back today right? My memory’s a little fuzzy, it seems.”
Koala brushed her fingers through his hair, and he arched gently against her fingers.
“Now that’s interesting, but don’t worry darling.” She leaned in to kiss his cheek. “We’re heading back today. Disco’s taken care of, and we’ve got our…slightly troublesome…intel.”
“Troublesome,” he murmured, stroking his fingers down her sides. He closed his eyes, maybe trying to recall. “Joker, yes?”
“Joker. Our Black Market giant whale,” she sighed softly. “We got more info about the way he’s operating…as well as the intel that he’s pulled out of the slave trade, at least in this area. And we’ve got a little information that he’s supplying weapons to the same sorts of people we’re supplying aid and soldiers to.”
Sabo’s lips tightened. “Yes, that is troublesome. Sounds like a potential double edged sword…” He took a breath and sighed. “Well, unless I misunderstand, it’ll be someone else’s problem to follow up on for a while. We’re going to be taking a leave of absence?”
Koala flashed a bright smile at Sabo as she nodded. “That’s right. We’re going to be cashing in our good will with the organization to take a little ‘us’ time. And by ‘us time’, I mean hunting down this first mate of Ace’s so we can figure all this out.”
“Well. Normally you know I’d protest but I don’t think I can in these circumstances. We need to do this. The Revolutionary Army is simply going to have to do without us for a little while.” He smiled a little back at her, but mostly he looked pensive. “I don’t think I could concentrate on missions with this ‘in the back of my head’ the whole time— so to speak.”
Koala nodded slowly. She’d seen it yesterday, after all. Sabo was lost in his own head with Ace, drifting in and out of the mission almost long enough to leave her in the lurch among the crowd.
No. It wasn’t feasible to keep fighting for liberation while he was like this at all.
And Koala and Sabo were a set.
Everyone knew that. So where he went, she went.
“It’ll be fun, Sabo! We’ll see some new sights, learn some new stuff— figure out what’s going on in your head— meet some guy we’ve never met before…”
“Deuce, you mean?” Sabo leaned his head on her shoulder. “Assuming he’s real. If there’s no such person, we’ll know immediately that there’s— we’ll. We’ll know.”
She nodded with a smile “…I think he’s real, at least, I think Ace had a first mate who coulda been called Deuce. That’s pretty easy to verify information.” She ran her fingers through his hair “it’s just a matter of if the memories in your head match up with the reality of him.”
He leaned into her again, looking at her with a deep, penetrating gaze with which she was very familiar. “You’re right of course. Honestly, I don’t know what to think. I keep thinking I must be crazy of course, but— thinking of yesterday really it feels strange, absent. Patchy. And of course it feels cruel to disbelieve that Ace is there when I can feel him just behind me. Even if he says he understands why.”
She understood why too– but she also felt the same as Sabo. It felt cruel to think that somehow he was a figment of the mind when she’d shared drinks with him the night before and laughed alongside him.
“You really were out, Sabo, and I’ll be honest, his body language and everything is completely different from yours.”
“Was it?” he asked, nuzzling her. “It’s so strange to think about but— having him here with me. It feels. Warm, I suppose. Even if I’m embarrassed to say it because he is damned well listening to me.”
He chuckled and pushed his head against her shoulder.
Koala drew him closer, half pulling him down into her as she closed her eyes.
“Warm huh?” she asked curiously.
It was a sensation she couldn’t even imagine, the warmth of someone you love not just close but within you.
He nodded. “I can hardly even explain it fully, I wish I could. If I can think of a better explanation, I’ll definitely share it with you. But it’s just… it feels nice. The opposite of loneliness, I suppose. Not that I was feeling lonely, but that’s the best way I can sum up the sensation.
She pouted up at him with a puff of her cheeks, but it dissolved into a fond smile soon enough.
“I should hope not! If you were feeling lonely this whole time we were together well…I might very well cry! But I think I understand. It kind of feels like no matter what there’ll be that glow, right?” Her eyes met his. “even when you’re all alone.”
He smiled softly back at her, and tugged at a lock of her hair. “Yes, like that I think. It’s hard to make sense of, but I can’t quite be unhappy about it.”
He leaned in and kissed her hair. “Thank you for helping me with it. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Koala clung to him a little tighter. “Let’s hope you never have to find out. It’d be a disaster, Sabo. You’d be hopeless.” She looked up at him as both arms snuck around him like her namesake– like he always teased her for. “I’ve been by your side since we were barely more than kids,right? Of course I’m gonna help.”
He kissed her gently over the face in repeated little kisses. “You’re a treasure, Koala. No, you’re my treasure.” He paused, and then chuckled, glancing to the side.
Koala’s heart fluttered as she nuzzled against his gentle kisses. “Your treasure huh? Well I—” she started to ask…until she saw him glance to the side and tilted her head. “Hmmm? Did Ace say something?”
He huffed softly and smiled, looking a little caught, and perhaps embarrassed. “So he did, yes. He wanted to know if since he and I are stuck together he gets an equal share of treasure. Oh and now he’s annoyed with me for telling you.”
Koala’s eyes went wide as she turned scarlet and sputtered. An equal share of the treasure— what an absolutely pirate thing to say. Still, she felt her face going bright red as she did the only thing she could think to do.
She lightly pounded her balled up fist against his arm as she stuck out her tongue until she found her voice again.
“So he wants an equal share, does he?”
Sabo laughed and fell back against the bed, taking every little ‘punch’ with a giggle. “His fair share, he said. He’s goofing around, Koala. My brother’s an idiot.”
“I’ve noticed that! And frankly that makes a perfect compliment to you dear.”
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You’re also an idiot.”
As she leaned back, she put her hand to her chest with a mischievous smile. “He may be goofing, but with the handsy way he was acting last night, I’d almost believe him!”
“He does seem to have gotten a bit handsy,” Sabo huffed with a chuckle. “Well, how about I share some gossip with you then.”
Koala tilted her head with a broadening of her smile.
“II’m listening, Sabo dear.”
She could only imagine it was a little ‘internal’ gossip between them. No matter what the resolution to this mystery was– that internal communication, that way of theirs, was so, so, so fascinating to hear about.
Sabo grinned conspiratorially and seemed to have to force himself forward to her ear. She noticed that he had started flushing red. “That little kiss you gave him was the first time he’s kissed a girl.”
Koala felt her face flushing as well as her eyes went wide. Now that— that was a bit of a surprise. She’d stolen the man’s first kiss with a woman. If all this was true, she’d stolen the infamous Fire Fist Ace’s first kiss with a woman.
And it wasn’t even strictly on purpose.
“Oh???? I wouldn’t have expected th—.” She paused before she asked. “Is he celibate? Or perhaps only kissed guys? EIther way— his first kiss with a woman, wow. I hope I didn’t disappoint, then!”
Sabo giggled and covered his face. “Oh you should see him, he’s so embarrassed. No, no he’s not celibate, apparently. And I don’t think you disappointed.”
Koala giggled with him, her hand over her mouth.
“I can kind of see him through you, actually. You’re as red as a tomato!” She grinned widely. “Good to know— .and I’m glad. It may have been a case of mistaken identity, but I’m glad I can say I was the one who stole Fire Fist’s first kiss with a girl~.”
Sabo laughed again, getting even redder apparently from the fact that Ace had been called out. “He’s so embarrassed. But not displeased, dear.”
Koala was still flushed herself, even as she lightly jabbed his chest with her fingertip, laughing. “Poor man. Well. Tell him I’m far from displeased too! Perhaps, perhaps, if he plays his cards right he’ll get another!”
Sabo dissolved into laughter for a moment, squirming on the bed, and half on top of her almost as if he was at war with himself. Eventually he caught his breath. “In-indeed, perhaps. But we can’t stay in bed all day, now can we?”
“Not with the way Ace ate last night,” Koala drawled. “They’re going to kick us out by noon.”
“Speaking of which, Ace says we’re going to need breakfast. But I think what I need is a big glass of water and a bottle of painkillers.”
Koala shook her head with a wry smile. Her own head was clear, though the barest trace of a hangover did pulse at the corners of her perception. But Ace— Ace had taken Sabo’s body and put it through the alcoholic wringer.
“Well. Lucky for you boys, I think I can provide. Let’s get some pills in you, we’re gonna need them.” She pointed to them with a smirk, “because getting that leave of absence for the Chief of Staff and his partner is going to be a headache all by itself!”
They had a couple of quiet days together sailing the ship back to their rendezvous point with the revolutionary army. Koala had bustled around the ship, ensuring their heading never strayed as the tw…three of them kept in one another’s company.
Sabo’s behavior had never quite gone back to the way it was before the incident with his memories— and with Ace— still having those moments of distant glances and distraction. But frankly, knowing that the reason was someone she could actually talk to made all the difference.
It was almost, unbelievably, becoming normal to her as she pulled on the rigging and chatted with Ace on the few occasions he popped into full consciousness for a few minutes here and there. But broadly, predominantly, it was Sabo who remained in control of their body.
And he seemed in much better spirits than he had been on their outward journey. It wasn’t to say that good cheer completely overwhelmed the seething, brooding nature that she knew he could sometimes fall into– but it wasn’t at the forefront. Instead he was happy to laugh and joke with her as they carried on the work of sailing.
Though in the morning of the last day of their journey he grew a little more sour, and distant.
Koala looked over at him, her hand on the wheel of the ship with a concerned glance towards the frown etched across his face. “Sabo…can we talk?”
He turned to face her immediately and she watched him force a small smile on to his face. “Of course. What’s up, Koala?”
She narrowed her eyes at him with a slight frown. She could tell at a glance that something was wrong— Sabo had always been an open book to her.
“Sabo, don’t think I haven’t noticed, something’s bothering you. Can we talk about it?”
“You caught me,” he chuckled, shaking his head. He stepped toward her and put his arm around her shoulder. “It’s nothing serious. I’m just not looking forward to the conversation with Dragon, that’s all.”
She tilted her head at him, leaning against him with one hand still on the wheel. The conversation with Dragon, yes, Koala had worried that maybe it wouldn’t be as easy as she hoped. That there’d be a stressing that the Army needed its Chief of Staff and her to be around in ‘these important times’.
But that was average stress— would it really cause Sabo to withdraw into a sour mood like this?
“Not looking forward to it, huh? Think he’s going to give us trouble about it?” She asked in opening.
He took a breath, leaning against her, and turned his dark gaze on her.
“Koala. I–” he paused for a moment and gathered himself. “I’m not going to tell him about Ace. As far as anyone aside from you and me are concerned, this is about closure for me, in regards to Ace’s death.”
That wasn’t untrue. Even if it did leave important details out.
A lot of key details, even. Kept from the man who’d all but taken them in when they were children. A traumatized runaway and a boy without a past.
She had to wonder why, it was an odd situation certainly— hard to explain, but, still. Dragon was a man who held information from across the great blue seas— surely he would have heard of similar situations. But Sabo was going to keep it a secret? She wondered if Ace didn’t trust him, or if it was simply too private to reveal.
Wasn’t she lucky then? To be so trusted and cared about that he’d tell her when he wouldn’t even tell their leader?
Her arm tightened around him. “You want to keep it a secret between us then?” she asked. “Is Ace okay?”
“Ace is alright,” he assured her. “It’s just…” He fumbled and trailed off, shaking his head.
She reached up and pinched his cheek, the ship’s wheel steady for the moment as she gave it a tug. “It’s just what…come on, Sabo. You said no secrets between us, didn’t you?”
“No secrets between us,” he promised. He held her a little tighter as she pinched him. “This feels very– very vulnerable, Koala. There are a lot of what ifs. For one thing, I don’t want Dragon to jump to the conclusion that I’m insane. If that does turn out to be the case, I’ll break the news my own way. The other thing is…”
Sabo paused again, and took a breath. “If Dragon believes that Ace is real, on the other hand, he may consider him a security risk. It’s not that I don’t trust Dragon. It’s that I think Dragon won’t trust Ace.”
Koala listened carefully, letting go of his cheek to lean firmly against his body. “He might not, admittedly. Even if he did believe you— which you’re right, he may not. He may just assume you’ve gone mad…but even if he did…”
He was always cautious around pirates. It was a rare thing that the Revolutionary Army trusted them beyond what was necessary for intelligence work. Ace was an infamous pirate, and an unknown quantity.
Dragon would put Sabo and Ace under intense scrutiny until that trust could be established, at best.
“I see why you’re a bit upset. Dear.” Her fingers trailed against his back. “I promise I’ll keep your secret, from anyone and everyone…even our leader.”
“I don’t like asking that of you, Koala.” He glanced at her, and then away– not towards their destination at the horizon, but out to sea. “I’m sorry that I have to.”
Koala leaned up to kiss his cheek.
“I know. I forgive you, Sabo…” She shook her head. “I hope you know I meant it when I said that if you’d left the Revolutionary Army— I’d have left too. We’re a set, right? I want you to remember that when you have to ask these sorts of things from me.”
She looked out towards the open sea “I love you, you know. You’re more important to me than the Revolutionary Army, or anything else in the sea.” She gave him a significant squeeze “and you know how important the Army is to me.”
He smiled and leaned his cheek against the side of her head, squeezing her hand.
“I know, Koala. I know how important it is. And it does remind me how important I am to you– not that I can ever forget. And I know you know you’re just as important to me…” He trailed off again, nuzzling the top of her head with a sigh. “Thank you, Koala.”
“You’re welcome, Sabo…” She pressed her face gently to the space between his shoulder and his neck, closing her eyes with a sigh of her own. “I’m just here for you. And tell Ace that even if we just met, I’m happy to be there for him too. Okay?”
Sabo nodded against her. “He says thank you, too. We both appreciate it. And you know I’d do anything for you, too, right?”
Koala shifted to look up at him, one hand returning to the wheel as she nodded her head. “I know, Sabo, I know if there was ever anything I had to do…secret or not…you’d be right there with me through it all.”
“Without a second thought, I promise.”
“Doubt I’ll ever get into a situation as weird as yours,” she teased playfully, before her expression grew warm as the feelings bubbling inside her “…but some day, I’m sure I’ll need that support just as much as you two need now.”
She smiled up at him. Sabo and Koala. The bright sparks of liberation entwined at the hip for years. They were a set— inseparable. Pillars in one another’s lives, there for one another no matter the situation.
And now there was Ace. As long as he was there with them, Koala knew she’d do what she could to be there for him too.
He was important to Sabo, and he’d made a good impression on her anyway. She resolved to support them both with everything she had, knowing that when the push came to shove— when her own past came to haunt her or struggles loomed, they’d be there for her.
Deuce hadn’t gotten quite as drunk as he’d gotten during the first two weeks of his journey with Crocodile and the rest of the escapees. He couldn’t hold himself back from the bottle, not with the memories of Ace’s lifeless body still etched into his mind, but he’d made an effort to sober up enough to survive the trip.
He’d made himself useful, patching up the occasional wound with what you could charitably call ‘his medical expertise’, assisting the navigator with the heading but mostly trying to stay out of the way and unobtrusive as the ship sailed along.
Still, even with his attempts to be reclusive, he’d been cornered by Crocodile again at one point, joining the man in the galley for dinner as they chatted about all sorts of things. He told him about the Spade Pirates, and in exchange, well…
He heard enough about Baroque Works and its sordid dramas to pen an absolutely fascinating biography. He’d actually found himself getting excited, almost demanding that Crocodile tell him his whole story the next time they met.
Maybe he’d even write it.
Two days passed like that, quiet interposed with surprisingly pleasant conversation. Intoxication interrupted by good sense and a bit of busywork.
When Crocodile’s stolen marine ship finally arrived at some unaligned island that Deuce hadn’t bothered to learn the name of, he was surprised to find Shanks’ Red Force anchored at the very same port.
Deuce remembered that ship well from Ace’s little misadventure. That docking on the slushy , unpleasant Winter island where Ace had met with a pirate emperor and walked away unscathed and smiling.
What the everloving fuck was it doing HERE? “…shit.”
Shanks had a reputation for being a bit, well. Capricious.
Deuce also knew that he was the one with Ace’s body. Whitebeard’s too, but Ace’s body was the important one.
He found his feet walking in the direction of the feared Emperor’s ship, unthinking even in the face of his own fear.
He had Ace. He had Ace. No matter the danger of approaching him might be, Deuce had to be there. It was his only chance, wasn’t it? His only chance to get to wherever Ace would be buried to say goodbye, one way or another.