19 Chapter 19: The Bond of Brothers, Ace Sets Sail!
"After this toast, we shall be brothers."
Atop the cliff's edge, Ace stood with a bottle in hand, pouring wine into three cups arrayed on an old wooden crate. Sabo and Luffy, flanking him, watched with eager anticipation. The setting sun casting long shadows behind him, witnessing this soon to be legendary oath.
"From this day forth," Ace declared, lifting his cup. Luffy and Sabo followed suit, their faces alight with joy.
Clang!
"We are brothers!"
The sound of their cups clinking echoed, sealing their bond. Ace's laughter rang out, pure and free. "Ha!" Luffy and Sabo's grins mirrored his own, their joy palpable in the crisp evening air.
...
"Hey, Luffy." Ace intoned, turning to the boy who was still basking in the glow of their newfound kinship.
"What's up, Ace?" Luffy replied, his grin never fading.
"Do you want to become the Pirate King?" Ace's gaze was an ocean deep, probing the depths of Luffy's ambition.
"Oh! The Pirate King is the freest man on the sea. I will definitely become the Pirate King!" Luffy grinned and said loudly.
"Ace, you don't want to become the Pirate King too, do you?" Luffy's tone shifted, a sudden edge of nervousness creeping in.
"I have no interest in One Piece." Ace replied, his smile a calm bay.
"What I want to be is king of all under the heavens … that's the dream I harbor."
Ace's arms unfurled like sails in the wind, his silhouette a promise against the canvas of the sky.
"King of all?" Sabo's voice was a whisper on the wind, the gravity of Ace's ambition dawning upon him.
Raised among the elite, Sabo knew the implications well. Was Ace daring to defy the world's very order, to challenge the untouchable Celestial Dragons?
"A king may command, but his freedom pales beside the Pirate King. The truest liberty is found upon the waves!" Luffy's laughter was a storm breaking, dispelling any shadow of doubt.
"So, Luffy, when you stand atop the world, will you lend me your strength if I call upon you?"Ace's question was direct, his eyes locked on Luffy's.
"Aid you?" Luffy paused, then his smile returned, sincere and unwavering. "Then, by the stars above, I'll sail to the world's end for you. For we are brothers, bound by more than mere words."
"And me! I'm your brother too, Ace," Sabo added,his voice a bastion against the fears of his noble birth.
"So it is decreed," Ace affirmed, his laughter a flag unfurled as he looked upon Luffy and Sabo, his brothers in arms.
"Yes!" Luffy and Sabo's voices thundered, their pact echoing into the future.
.....
As the seasons turned their wheel, the bonds forged in the fire of their brotherhood remained unyielding.Sabo, brought to Dadan's by Ace, was eventually reclaimed by his lineage. Despite his newfound strength, Sabo chose to return home, not wishing to burden Ace and Luffy.
Ace honored his choice; for each man must navigate his own course through life's tempestuous seas.
When calamity struck, igniting the Gray Terminal in a blaze to appease the Celestial Dragons, Sabo, having entrusted his hopes to a letter, braved the unknown alone, only to be ensnared by fate's cruel snare.
Yet destiny had other designs. Sabo was plucked from the jaws of demise by Monkey D. Dragon, Luffy's father.
....
The News quickly made its way back to Dadan's house.
"Sabo! This can't be the end! No!" Luffy's tears were torrents, his sorrow a tempest. Ace stood as an unyielding cliff against the tide of grief.
On that fateful day, Ace had been a silent sentinel, his Haki a lighthouse for Sabo. Had Dragon's hand not intervened, Ace would have shattered the chains of fate himself.
"Ace, this is from Sabo," Dogra said, offering the letter to Ace, whose thoughts were an ocean deep."Luffy, hold back your tears. Sabo is our brother; I believe Sabo won't die."
Ace's touch was a balm to Luffy, his hand a steady anchor.
"Really, really not died?" Luffy sniffed.
"That's what I believe." Ace said.
"Promise me, Ace. You won't leave us either. You're my brother too,"
Luffy looked at Ace with tears on his face. ...
"Ah, I won't die." Ace's promise was a compass true, his hand still a comforting weight on Luffy's shoulder as he turned to face the beckoning horizon.
....
At the cliff's edge, Ace unfurled Sabo's letter, his eyes tracing the lines.
{Ace, Luffy, I trust you're safe from the flames. Ha, Ace, you're immune to fire.When you read this, I'll be charting my course across the seas, seeking the strength to rise above this land. I must forge myself anew, become a pirate, the freest spirit to ever catch the wind. Then, I can stand beside you, Ace, as the brother you need. We three will cross paths again on this boundless, liberated ocean. And Ace, you've always been a brother to me. Thank you for everything. Our bond is my greatest treasure. Take care of our crybaby brother for me. Until we meet again, Sabo.}
Tears welled in Ace's eyes as he read.
"You wish to be free, to aid me? Then grow strong, brother" Ace whispered, gazing into the horizon, a smile on his lips.
"We will meet again…"
.....
...
Time's relentless march brought another seven years to a close. Ace, now seventeen, stood ready to chart his own odyssey.
The Dadan family....
"Hey, boss! Ace has something to say!" Magra called out to Dadan, who lay with his back turned.
"What's he up to? Is he going to give me a piece of his mind before he leaves?" Dadan grumbled, not facing Magra.
"No! Ace said, thank you for taking care of me all these years." Magra's voice carried a note of respect.
"....!!! What, what, that damn brat, what are you saying about taking care of me!"
Dadan instantly burst into tears , and all she recalled in her mind were Ace's appearance from when he came here as a baby to when he grew up. ...
Dadan had come to love Ace as her own.
...
On the shores of Foosha Village. ...
"Ace! You've got this!"
"Ace! Aim to be a legendary pirate!"
"Foosha's pride sails with you, Ace!"
....
The villagers' chorus was a warm gale, their mirth and well-wishes a tide lifting Ace's spirits.
"Enough, all of you! Aspiring to piracy is no honor for our village!" Woop Slap, the village chief, chided them, yet his gaze upon Ace was filled with nothing but fondness.
"Ace! I'll set sail in three years, so wait for me! I will definitely become the Pirate King!" Luffy looked at Ace standing on a small modified sailboat and said loudly.
"I'm looking forward to it, Luffy." Ace, who was wearing a sun hat, raised his head, a smile on his handsome face. ...
"Well, everyone, thank you for taking care of me over the years." Ace bowed to everyone.
"And please, look after this knucklehead brother of mine." With a final smile, Ace turned to face the endless blue yonder.
Whoosh!
Flames surged from Ace's soles, propelling him forward with a burst of power from the modified sailboard beneath his feet and sailed toward the horizon.
"The voyage has begun." Ace's expression was a canvas of hope and anticipation as he sailed into the vast embrace of the sea.
