Memories [ One Piece ASL Story]

Chapter 6: The Simple Truth

Sabo's POV

An endless pitch black void surrounded me. All I heard were trees swaying in the wind, as well as some birds chirping. Within those sounds, a sudden heartbeat began to edge closer and closer. Louder and louder, it echoed in my mind.

One of my eyes fluttered open to grass flowing across my vision. My other eye stayed closed because of how close my face was to the ground. My limbs were throbbing. I felt light headed, and my breath was heavy. I slowly got up and collected my thoughts.

Where am I...?

It suddenly clicked, Luffy and I were holding the object that got us here. I looked at the grass beneath me and saw him completely passed out.

I knelt down to Luffy and started shaking him.

"Luffy there's no time to sleep right now, Wake up!" I spoke.

Eventually, he opened his eyes and looked up at my face.

"Hey Sabo, what's going on?" He asked.

"I don't know.." I let him go and looked at the greenery surrounding us.

It was windy, the trees and grass were green. The sky was clear and the sun was out. The place felt familiar in a way, but that was more of a hunch.

Then Luffy got up, he smiled, thinking of all the adventure ahead.

"This place is awesome, I wish the others got to see this!!" He laughed.

"Speaking of which, where are they?" I looked around, specifically for Nami and Koala, who were next to us a few seconds ago.

As I was looking, I saw a particular spot within the trees that looked different to the rest of the scenery. I edged closer but suddenly realized how close I actually was to the edge. A few more steps and I would've fallen off a cliff.

This area was much more familiar, it was a junk yard filled with a gray fog. It suddenly hit me, It couldn't be.

"Luffy..." I spoke, my voice shaking.

"What's up?" He walked towards me.

He gasped from the sight of what was before us. There was no doubt in our minds now.

In unison, Luffy and I spoke. "Gray Terminal..."

We stood in shock, how could we have teleported all the way back here. We were just in The New World a few seconds ago.

"Luffy, you know what this means right?" I asked.

"We get to see Dadan, and Makino, and the mayor!" Luffy smiled.

I sighed and started walking towards the forest.

"Yeah, but this means that we're separated from our friends. Along with that, we have no clue what else that stupid thing did to us." I spoke, slightly annoyed.

I turned to Luffy . "Please just give me the object. I wanna get us back before anything bad happens."

He looked at me with a confused expression.

"Don't you have it?" He asked.

We stared in silence for a few seconds, processing the situation.

"I'm guessing that's a no..." he said.

We decided to make a plan, we went our separate ways to explore the area. Luffy went to the Windmill village while I explored the forest.

I walked around, thinking about how the device we held could've disappeared. Maybe once we were teleported it just disappears, but it was probably used once or twice before.

I kept thinking ways we could've gotten sent here, but as I was walking something caught my eye.

I looked to my right as I was heading to Dadan's place, and my eyes widened.

No way...

I quickly hid behind a bush. There was no way this could be happening. This is a lie, all of it, this isn't happening.

Please tell me this is a dream, please tell me this isn't real...

I felt my heartbeat and it was getting hard to breathe.

Why...why is this happening...

My head was swirling with thoughts. I had to hold my composure but at the same time there was no way I could.

My face got hot, I could tell tears started forming in my eyes. I stared at the endless forest in front of me, too scared to look behind at the heart wrenching reality. To be honest, I couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing. I was too in shock by the sight to even care.

I felt the tears slowly fall from my eyes to my chin. I was out of breath, and I couldn't move.

Suddenly, my body knelt down and then bent forward. My head hit the soothing grass as I covered the dirt beneath it with tears. I wrapped my hands around my stomach, clenching onto my clothes. If only I can scream. I wanted to cry and shout to express the pain I was in..

If he could hear my cries and screams, I could tell him how much I wanted to talk to him.

I could tell him how much I wanted to see him smile.

I could tell him how much I wanted to hear his voice.

I could tell him how much I wanted to embrace him into a hug.

Despite my feelings, I remained silent knowing the simple truth.

They were kids, alone in the forest like how it's always been.

Those kids were me, Luffy, and him.

Ace...