293 Three Brothers

"How many years has it been since we were all together?" Ace wondered aloud, flushed from intoxication.

"Twelve years? Feels like longer…" Sabo answered with a nostalgic expression.

"Feels like yesterday to me." Luffy burped.

"Of course it did, you only ever live in the moment." Ace poked his overinflated gut teasingly. "Speaking of living in the moment, I saw the way Boa Hancock was making eyes at you at Marineford~ Did anything happen between you two~?"

"Haaah?! Boa Hancock?! No way!" Sabo didn't believe it at all.

"It's true, Sabo! I saw it with my own eyes, and I've seen that look sent my way on many occasions so I'd recognise it anywhere!" Ace insisted.

Even though he said that, this was Boa Hancock they were talking about. She had wealth, power, beauty, and more pride than anyone. On top of that, she was notorious for hating men! Could she really have any romantic interest in their goofball of a brother?

They both looked at Luffy, expected an answer and perhaps… some details~!

Luffy looked contemplative before saying "Was she glaring at me there? Did I piss her off or something?"

""..."" Sabo and Ace were rendered speechless for a moment, then they huddled together conspiratorially.

"Is he really that dense?" Sabo whispered.

"I think he might be, but then again… he's never really shown much interest in women at all." Ace whispered back.

"Does he like men?" Sabo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"No, I don't think that's it. Maybe he's a eunuch?" Ace suggested.

They both looked at Luffy with pity.

"Why are you looking at me like that?! Hancock is just a weirdo, I didn't do anything to her!" Luffy defended himself.

Ace and Sabo shook their heads. ""That's the problem…""

"???" Luffy didn't get it. Hancock was nice to him, so he wouldn't do something bad her to; at least not on purpose.

"Nevermind all that. Tell me about both of your adventures! I didn't even research your exploits because I wanted to hear about them from the source!" Sabo said eagerly. "I never got to go on my own pirate adventure, after all."

He said that last part with a tinge of regret, so Ace and Luffy were more than happy to share their stories to let their long lost brother experience them vicariously. Sabo even told them about a few wacky events he was involved with in the Revolutionary Army.

The three brothers laughed and joked as well as raged and cried at the tales they told one another.

"Wait wait wait! THAT Buggy the clown, Shichibukai, leader of the massive Cross Guild, and former member of Roger's crew, was a small-time pirate in East Blue? And you just kicked his ass and moved on?" Sabo snickered. "I guess he's nothing if not a showman. A lot of people think he's a big deal, you know."

"Buggy Balls. Heh." Ace snorted.

They continued well into the night until they passed out.

The party went all night long, and would have gone well into the morning had the more sensible people who had gone to bed early not put a stop to it. Dressrosa had a lot of work to be done to get back to normal, and they couldn't do that with a bunch of drunkards.

Well… they could try, but that was a recipe for disaster.

Whitebeard and his men left just after dawn, with the exception of Ace who wanted to give a proper goodbye to Luffy. That was a great relief to a certain someone who was feeling a little pressured by the presence of one of the Four Emperors on Dressrosa.

Admiral Fujitora sat with his marines. He held up a six sided die and the marines around him held their breaths, as this dice roll would decide their fate.

Fujitora rolled the die with conviction, determined to follow through with the result no matter what.

*CLACK Clack clack cla-cla-clack*

The die teetered on the edge of six and four at the last moment. As it started to tilt towards the four the marines' eyes bulged and grit their teeth, trembling hands gripping their weapons.

Then a miracle happened. Instead of continuing its path toward the number four that spelled their doom, it unnaturally swung back the other way and landed solidly on the number six.

A collective sigh of relief broke the tense silence. They were so elated in escaping their fate that they didn't notice the cold sweat on Fujitora's forehead.

'J-just one time, that's all. A small favor as my thanks on behalf of the World Government for cleaning up our mess. No more cheating after this one.' Fujitora thought to himself.

Since a six was rolled on the die, it was decided that they wouldn't chase after the Straw Hats today. Even his most hardlined subordinates thought this was for the best, if only to wait for reinforcements from Marine Headquarters.

"Purururururu- Gacha." Fujitora answered his den den mushi after having ignored it since the birdcage dropped after Doflamingo's defeat.

"Oh good, you answered. For a while I was starting to think you actually kicked the bucket." Aokiji's voice came through.

"I was quite busy." Fujitora excused. Not exactly a lie, he spent no small amount of time moving rubble for the people of Dressrosa as did his subordinates.

"Well you aren't busy now, are ya? Give your report." Aokiji said lazily.

"Doflamingo was exposed for turning a significant portion of the population of Dressrosa into toys and enslaving them for as long as ten years, as well as a number of pirates and marines. The allied Straw Hats and Trafalgar Law defeated him." Fujitora summarized. "Oh, and Harpin D. Cherry sent Akainu flying into the ocean. Not sure how that turned out, but my men reported that they saw a Neo Marine fleet off the coast not too long after Akainu was seen flying in that direction. Whitebeard was here for a bit too."

"... What?" Aokiji said. "How did that happen? Since when was Cheapshot strong enough to fight Akainu?"

"She seems to have copied and drastically improved the charge up time of King Elizabello the Second's King Punch. I was present for a demonstration of it on two occasions yesterday, and I'm pretty sure there was a third at some point as well." Fujitora explained. He stifled a chuckle when he heard Aokiji suck in a breath with a hiss.

"Seriously?" Aokiji asked, clearly hoping it was a joke.

"Seriously." Fujitora confirmed.

"Well… Shit." Aokiji paused. "I guess we gotta raise her bounty. I almost feel bad for Straw Hat; he's the captain but one of his crew keeps upping the ante. Anything else of note before you send in the detailed report?"

Fujitora considered something for a moment. Opening his slashed out eyes, he still could not see the world in all its ugliness, but they could see something. Something no one else could see, he was quite sure.

In little streams, some manner of energy flowed through the world. Though he could not see the people around him, he could see the way the energy interacted with them and was influenced by their hearts or souls or both. It was… beautiful.

"Nothing that's urgent, no." Fujitora said.