Survivors Guilt

Chapter 22

The fights between the four parties - two sides - would have been epic if not for the bast of wind and sudden curtain of rain. It was hard enough to fight with the already might storm, but the weather was obviously against them fighting. The wind had picked up Zoro and Luffy and was launching them down the street. While Luffy was a bit grateful for his dad's interference, couldn't he have waited until he'd gotten at least a punch in?

Despite his inner disdain at the fight ending before it could really begin, Luffy was excited to get going. His crew - minus Zoro - were on the Going Merry and ready to set sail. With this wind, keeping the ship anchored down would be nothing short of disastrous from them, so he knew they had to go sooner rather than later. Thankfully, the wind dropped him and Zoro near the docks, so they managed to run the rest of the way and get on the ship.

"What took you so long?!" Nami demanded, despite the fact Sanji had boarded only seconds before the duo appeared.

Luffy giggled, though the sound wasn't heard over the roar of the wind and waves. "We ran into some trouble, but got some help out of it. What's the weather promising?" The looks his friends gave him were so worth the stupid question and the hit to the head.

"You should already know that, dumbass!" Nami scolded, "Raise the anchor! If we don't, we'll sink." Zoro was appointed the task. "Leave the sails down! We're gonna use the wind to get us out of here!" Usopp and Sanji nodded, but they both went to the rudder to try and gain some semblance of control over their direction, though both knew it was a vein attempt.

With the anchor raised, the sails down, the wind blowing them somewhere, and the rudder manned, it was now Luffy's turn to give an order. "Get in the cabin! These waves could knock anyone overboard and we'd never find you again." Nami and Zoro followed the order. Luffy was going to go into the cabin after them, but another presence on the ship made themself known and he cursed quietly for not noticing earlier. Being in the East Blue made him soft. "Who are you?" He called out to the person. He recognised the person, but he couldn't find a name for them at the moment.

"Wow," the person said with a smirk in their voice, "You don't even recognise your own brother?"

That's when it clicked for Luffy. "Sabo!" He shouted, the smile he wore spilling over into his voice.

The blond smiled back and hugged his little brother. "Hey, Luffy! Mind if I catch a ride?"

"Nope! Though, we should probably get inside before the others think I fell overboard."

"Only you would laugh at that, Lu."

The two brothers entered the cabin, surprising the other four. They had all thought for a moment that Luffy had been knocked into the water by a wave and were about to go out and look for him. Obviously, though, that wasn't the case. Though Sanji had been the only one to experience huge storms like these while out at sea, every one of the Straw Hat Pirates knew for a fact that people got thrown off of boats by waves, not thrown onto them.

"Um, Luffy?" Usopp asked, "Who's this?"

The grin on Luffy's face in this moment was for a variety of reasons. For one, he was just happy to have his brother with him. He was also happy that his friends had all made it back to the ship with the needed supplies without getting hurt or lost. The biggest reason, though, was the fact that he loved to mess with his crew by dropping bombs. He didn't get to do it very often, but when he did, he reveled in their expressions. "He's my older brother!"

***

On the ship of the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace had only just calmed down from the fact that his brother had a huge bounty already. For the most part, the crew found his brother complex to be quite amusing after they'd gotten over the initial shock of finding out that he had a younger brother. The Commanders, on the other hand, were less amused by this revelation. They'd had been the ones to deal with him and were not looking forward to meeting his younger brother, despite what Ace said.