Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Out in the jungle, when the light is running low, and the shadows seem to grow, the chosen child will present.

Dragon knew what those words meant and yet... He couldn't shake the feeling the vision - or rather prediction would come true far too soon.

'My son...'

◇

Out in the jungle, Lays the chosen child, calmy sleeping among the tree branches.

"Luffy? Where are you?!" Garp shouted, walking below the tree branches.

"Eh? gramps?" Luffy muttered, waking up from his slumber.

Garp paused and instantly zeroed in on where his grandson was.

Garp smirked, "Luffy! There you are, come down here!" Luffy shot him a quizzical look but climbed down as asked.

☆

"Ne, So when I think of a tree, as well as the other trees and the earth around it - I'll become mindful of the entire jungle?" Luffy muttered, repeating Garp's words.

"That's exactly right Luffy! Now, let's head back to Makino's place yeah?" Garp grinned, already getting back up.

Luffy smiled and followed after his grandfather.

"Ne, gramps, once I'm not 3 anymore I'll definitely have friends! Shishishi!"

Luffy saw how Garp's smile faltered. he didn't comment on it.

As Garp walked the path to Foosha Village, he didn't once think of how instead of giving his grandson an inkling about observation Haki, He instead gave Him a puzzle piece to learn The Voice Of All Things.

♡

"If I become mindful of myself and the others around me...does that mean I'll be able to hear the entire world?" No one heard Luffy as he uttered those words by the ocean. 

No One But The Universe Itself.

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All around him, he heard murmurs of worry. Startled by that thought, he awakes. "Sabo? Ace?" He mutters, moving to get up. The brothers instantly move to lay him back down in the nest.

The action worries him even more, "Hey Hey! Stop it!!" He yells, wiggling in their hold.

Ace and Sabo recoil, and shout in unison, "You're sick Luffy!! Lay back down!" The two huff, struggle with their youngest brother.

Luffy pauses at the shout, "I'm not sick though!!" He whines, finally managing to slip out of their grasp.

Now away from his brothers, he sniffs the air and instantly recoils from it. "Ne, what's that smell!?" He asks, looking at his two brothers.

They sigh, exasperated by their brother. "The smell is coming from you Luffy!! Your scent gland is swollen and you're sweating!" They yell, noses scrunching up as they're reminded of the smell.

Luffy ponders over the words for a bit and perks up instantly. "Oh! Shishishi, I'm just presenting! Silly Ace an' Sabo."

Ace and Sabo pause at that, and promptly collapse on the floor in shock.

♡

Ace didn't think much of it, Sabo didn't really...have anything to go off of, so he didn't ponder it.

Sabo and Ace only thought on it? "He's probably gonna end up as an Alpha right? Garp is..."

That was their only mistake, a forgivable one.

They spent the whole week fussing over Luffy, with him much more tired but nonetheless hungrier somehow. 

Sabo noticed how by the end of the week, he and Ace had less control of their own scents. He brushed it off, assuming his instincts merely wanted to comfort Luffy.

Ace noticed how he felt even more tired lately as it got closer and closer to Luffy presenting, but he shrugged it off as he had been hunting more without their third brother.

At end of the week though...Luffy was still Luffy, but he had presented.

.

.

"Ace! Sabo!! I'm an Omega!" Luffy exclaimed happily, excited about it.

Ace and Sabo gained a look of fear on their faces and ran up to their youngest brother to smother him in a hug.

"Eh!? What's this?" Luffy exclaimed, unable to move, "L-Luffy you're an omega..." Ace and Sabo said in sync, fear gripping their voices.

"So?" Luffy prompted, slowly relaxing into the hug he'd become trapped in. "People will want t- to take you away from us..." Sabo muttered, explaining why he was so terrified.

"What...? He asked, confused without a doubt, and terrified at the idea of him being taken away from his Brothers, Makino, and The Bandits.

Until, he remembered something the 2nd strongest person he knew once said. "Oh, Gramps told me about it once, Ne he said not to worry about it Shishishi!" Luffy laughed, bright and cheerful as ever.

He didn't notice the look of worry Ace and Sabo shot at each other.

........................................................

The Next day, however, Ace and Sabo woke up sweaty, dehydrated, and with swollen gland marks. Noticing the signs, Luffy snickered into his hand as Ace downed one of their re-purposed glass beer bottles, that now held water, in 2 seconds. Although, Sabo appeared to be in much more pain than his other two brothers are/had been in. Luffy settled for embracing his two brothers as they underwent their changes for the 1st day.

On the 2nd day, none of the brothers noticed Dadan and her pack near the treehouse. As Dadan picked up her binoculars and peered in through a window, she saw the three brothers asleep, all curled up together. With a sigh of relief, she and her pack left the boys knowing they were safe.

On the last day, The two brothers had presented at last. "Ne, Ace, and Sabo are both Alphas!" Luffy shouted excitedly hugging his 2 brothers, Ace and Sabo breathed a sigh of relief, and as they looked at each other the same thought racing in their brain on repeat was, 'Now they can protect Luffy'

Unaware of his brothers' silent communication, Luffy merely enjoyed the fact that his two brothers were letting the hug go on this long.

However, the next day would test their bond.

.

.

"Ne, Sabo who was that guy? Why'd he know you?" Luffy asked once they were back in the treehouse, Sabo tensed and looked away. "I l-lied my parents are alive--" Sabo pauses, and Ace momentarily gains a look of envy, before it's gone in a blink of an eye.

"They're horrible! So I ran away, they treated me as if I was a puppet..." Sabo rants, gaining a pleading look in his eyes.

"Well, Shishishi! Okay!" Luffy laughs, accepting Sabo. "Idiot! Why didn't you say anything before?" Ace huffs, moving closer to the blonde. Tears pool into Sabo's eyes as one thought echoes throughout his mind, 'They accept me...'

As dinner came and went, the time came for the brothers to lay their heads down and sleep. Sabo's final thought as he went to sleep was 'I'm so happy I have my brothers' And with that, all 3 brothers were out like a light.

The next week would be hell.

Chapter Text

"We have to leave!!" Sabo shouts, bursting into the room. "EH!?" Luffy and Ace exclaim, startled by Sabo's barging in. Before any of the two can do much of anything, Sabo has already darted to the other side of the room, where the closet is located, and is rapidly tossing clothing into a bag.

"Sabo!? Weren't-" Sabo cuts off Ace from his sentence with a shout, "We don't have time for that! Help me pack!" He orders, already tossing a bag to Ace.

Confused and slightly angry, Ace does as told, and starts rapidly putting clothing into the bag alongside his brother. Luffy stands and watches the two pack, and eyes the floorboard that holds something dear.

Very sneakily, before his two brothers can even think of shifting their attention back to their dear little brother, Luffy carefully shifts the floorboard up. He doesn't bother lifting the box, instead, he opens it instead and retrieves the item hastily.

The three brothers leave the room in a hurry, using the window to their advantage.

"Sabo, where are we going?" Luffy asks impatiently, "Luffy...my parents are after me." Sabo admits, not slowing his pace, but he speeds up.

Ace looks at Sabo in irritation, "Sabo, where are we going?" Ace demands, keeping pace with his twin. "Off this island." Sabo responds truthfully. 

Luffy skids in shock, "Off the Island..?" Luffy whispers. Sabo and Ace stop running, and before the two can even turn around-

*BANG!*

Luffy startles into motion at the noise. He begins running once more, and as soon as Luffy passes his brothers, they resume their running.

"That was in the direction of our treasure..." Ace mutters, his brows furrowed in anger. "Don't worry Ace, I snagged our treasure before they found it!" Sabo whisper yells, grabbing ahold of the sack on his shoulder tighter.

Ace sighs in relief, adjusting the sack on his own shoulder.

A second gunshot goes off, *BANG!*

but this time the trio only speeds up, and there between the trees is the ocean. Twinkling in the distance, and if Ace squints, he can see a brown blob that isn't a tree as well.

Luffy is holding his tears back bravely, but Ace knows that as soon as another gunshot goes off the waterworks will appear.

They're running, rushing to get off the island.

Their home.

*BANG!*

"Ace!" Luffy shouts, tears pricking his eyes. Ace grits his teeth, mentally urging Luffy to hold on. They burst through the treeline and Sabo wastes no time unhooking the boat. Ace grabs Luffy and throws him onto the boat. Sabo and Ace push the boat off the sand, Sabo shivers a little at the cold water, but shakes his head and continues pushing.

The water sweeps in underneath the boat, the waves lapping against the brother's ankles, urging them onto the boat.

The two brothers jump in, and Sabo doesn't waste a single breath to grab an oar and start paddling. Ace grabs the second oar and joins his twin in paddling. "Sabo...what's? going on?" Luffy asks, pulling his feet to himself quietly. 

Sabo stutters in his paddling, "Bluejam was hired to catch me." Sabo admits, Ace minutely slows down his paddling, clenching his teeth.

Luffy turns to look at Dawn Island, small tears drip down his face.

"Goodbye Makino...Dadan..." Luffy whispers, the wind carrying his words across the waves.

<3

Makino jerks awake, feeling her imprint bond with Luffy suddenly drifting away. 

Stumbling out of her bed, she jumps out her window and rushes towards the shore.

"LUFFYYY!!!" She Shouts, she yells and yells. Unable to think of doing anything short of jumping into the ocean and swimming to her boy- a likely impossible feat at this point. Tears begin traveling down her face, and her yells turn into wails, as she feels her bond with Luffy getting farther and farther away.

Suddenly, she feels her co-parent come up behind her.

"Makino...our boys-" Makino growls, side-eyeing her best friend, "Dadan, do you know why our cubs are out at sea right now?" She snaps, standing a little straighter. Dadan does a stiff nod, handing her a piece of paper.

Makino smells Sabo's scent on it and grabs it a bit too harshly. She reads it, as fast as she can in the darkness of the night, with only the moon as a source of light. 

Makino hands the note back to Dadan, not saying a word. She looks towards the sea, where she can feel her bond telling her that her cubs are getting farther and farther away. She looks at the tides of the ocean, and whispers. "Please don't harm my sons."

She begs the sea all night, until dawn, she can barely speak anymore as the sun rises overhead.

She finally pulls away from her stop with Dadan and Mayor Woopslap's gentle words.

~

Luffy shivers and curls into one of the only blankets they brought, and he holds himself close as he feels his bond with the first mother he ever knew gets far, far away.

Ace and Sabo had tirelessly kept rowing away, even though the sounds of cursed yells and gunshots had long since stopped.

"I wonder what the closest island to Dawn is..." He says sleepily, yawning and clutching the item he pulled out from the floorboards.

The Gold shimmers under the moonlight, and Luffy doesn't dare let it go.

Chapter Text

"Ne, where are we going?" Luffy prods, draping himself on his brother's.

"Who cares?" Ace huffs out, pushing the rubber boy off.

"To the second nearest island or something." Sabo sighs, staring down at dark ocean waters.

Ace and Luffy raise an eyebrow simultaneously at that, "Why the second?" The two ask with clear confusion.

"We went in the opposite direction of the 1st one, so we're on course for Shimotsuki village." Sabo answers demurely, the image getting ruined immediately as he passes out.

"Huh." Ace blinks, slowly inching towards his blonde twin.

He hears another thump behind him, and realizes that both his brothers decided to go to sleep.

'Great,' Ace grumbles, dragging his two brothers inside the tiny-shack-shed-small-thing whatever, and places them on the twin mattress lying on the floor.

And hey wait?--

Didn't Sabo say something about going to look for one once?

How long has his brother been planning this?

He decides not to think too much of it for now, and collapses onto his sleeping brothers without complaint.

⁠｡⁠ﾉ＼⁠｡

Sabo awakes slowly, the afternoon heat getting too him. Sabo chuffs, gently pushing Ace and Luffy off himself. 

Sabo quickly checks his compass, grabbing an oar in the process as he gets up. He steps out the door, twirling the oar as he checks the boat's direction.

"We steered a little off course, but not enough to damage us." He sighs in relief, using the oar to lean on as he gets out the old cracked pocket watch he picked up.

He notes the time in his head and starts paddling to put the boat back on the right course. Absentmindedly humming under his breath while he does so.

He sets the compass back in his pocket, and notices how the sun is high in the sky but slightly dipped. "I guess it's noon..." He trails off, setting the oar down.

He goes over to the one of the bags he packed, pulling out a book and an ink pen. Sabo stares down at it, and starts writing about what they packed, how long it may last, and what they need to get.

"Stealing ain't nothin' new, may hafta be careful near and there as we travel." He says aloud, his Grey Terminal accent slipping through.

"Ne, Sabo!" Luffy exclaims happily, his scent of honey, rosemary, and sea mist rolling off him in waves.

Sabo smiles softly at his brother, "Hello Luffy, is Ace up?" He asks, releasing his own calming pheromones in response to Luffy's. His scent of old books, mango and smoked wood gently wrapping around Luffy's.

Ace yawns, closing the door to their room-thing atop the boat, now coming up behind Luffy. "Hey Bo, we still good?" Ace questions, cracking his neck.

"Yeah, we're on track." Sabo hums, leaning against the sides of their boat.

Ace slides down Infront of Sabo, resting his head back against the wood. Ace releases his own calming pheromones, of jasmine, campfires, and ginger joining Sabo's and Luffy's.

Luffy lets out a small huff as he sits down, stretching and looking up at the sun.

For once, the three brothers sit in comforting silence, the sounds waves merely in the background.

｡⁠ﾉ＼⁠｡

Eventually, Sabo gets up, shaking off his limbs as he checks their course once again.

Ace groans in annoyance at having to get up, but joins his twin.

Luffy rolls over, mumbling at being hungry. He jumps up to follow his brothers, glowing brightly under the sun at the thought of adventure.

"Sabo! Sabo! When should we end up at Shimm whatever island?" He asks excitedly, looking over his brother's shoulders too peer down at the map he can't even read.

Sabo shrugs Luffy off his shoulder, "Almost by sunset tomorrow, hopefully." Sabo answers, rolling the map back up.

Ace stops to consider and process that in his mind, but before he can say anything to that, Luffy does.

"What!?? Awhhh..." He whines petulantly, sad about not getting to explore new islands as soon as he'd like.

Sabo and Ace twitch at that, their instincts telling them to quickly comfort the pup- their brother-

"Luffy! Shhh!" Ace hushes, grabbing Luffy by the shoulders, momentarily forgetting what he usually does when Luffy whines- i.e - hit him.

"Ace, Luffy, stop it!" Sabo shakes his head, pulling the two away from each other.

Luffy shuts up, looking at his older brothers confusedly.

"Luffy, your whining is setting off our instincts dummy." Sabo explains, huffing at his younger brother.

Luffy pauses at that, "Ohh! Okay Shishishi! Gramps explained that this might happen, I think? I dunno know, are Ace-nii and Sabo-nii okay?" Luffy checks, tilting his head at the two.

Ace and Sabo look at each other in pure confusion at the random information Luffy tends to know sometimes.

Before the two can speak, Luffy shrugs and rocks on his heels. "Sabo, I'm hungry!" Luffy smiles, waiting for a response from his brothers.

Sabo sighs, forgetting his shared train of thought with his twin momentarily.

"There should be some apples in that barrel over there..." Sabo trails off, leading his brothers to the right barrel.

"Ne, Let's Explore the Sea's to the fullest!!" Luffy laughs, already skipping over to Sabo and Ace.

Ace chuckles at that, already handing over some apples to the younger. "I thought we were going to do that already?" Sabo teases, grabbing his own share.

Luffy sticks his tongue out at Sabo, already happily munching on his apples. Ace rolls his eyes fondly at Luffy, eating his own apples without any comment.