A Black Heart Does Not Always Stay Black

The Mystery Solved

Sabo and Ace sat on the double bed against he headboard, Luffy drooling on Sabo's pant leg as he slept. Ace had come back in a much better mood than Sabo expected, smiling although his cheeks were a shade of pink in the lamplight.

"Mind telling me why you're so happy?" Sabo whispered, closing the book he'd started reading after finishing the first. Ace looked away, a bit embarrassed.

"Just... These are good guys," Ace replied simply. Sabo snorted.

"It took you this long to figure it out?" Ace nodded. "What changed?"

"Marco talked to me. Said really nice things, I think we can trust these pirates. Even if Luffy doesn't like one of them, they seem to all be really treasure each other, right? They can't have one bad guy. Whitebeard is smart, right? Wouldn't he have noticed?" Ace wondered, suddenly having extreme trust in the pirate captain. It had taken him awhile.

"Maybe Luffy just doesn't like how bad he smells. He hasn't given me another reason," Sabo replied, smiling that Ace found someone other than Sabo he could trust fully. Ace loved Luffy, but until recently the boy was doing the bidding of other people, and hadn't been completely trustworthy. He was now, though.

"Maybe. Anyways, we should wake him up so he can sleep tonight," Ace said, and they both gently shook Luffy awake. He looked up, drool dried on his cheek and Sabo's pants. "Wake up, Lu," Ace insisted. Luffy flopped back down.

"Noooo," he complained.

"Do you want a midmorning snack?" Sabo offered, and of course, Luffy shot up.

"I do!" Sabo and Ace chuckled. They had gone to breakfast, but Luffy had still been sleepy and returned to the room to nap some more. Luffy ran to the door and put his shoes on and fixed his shirt, wiping the dried drool off of his face. Both boys put their shoes on, too. Ace didn't catch fire the whole walk to the galley. They wanted some snacks before lunch. And Thatch would definitely give them some.

Thatch was more kid than adult, anyways, so they could relate to him easily. He was the guy who pranked all of the commanders by switching out their ink with invisible ink that faded when dried. All those reports ruined, and then Thatch punished for two weeks. Even commanders have to have consequences for their actions.

"Thatch, snacks please!" Luffy declared when the three walked into the galley.

"Coming right up, m'boys!" the chef called, already getting the ice cream out to make them some milkshakes. On their way to the bar counter, Ace caught fire and Luffy put him out. The three enjoyed the shakes, with Thatch asking Ace about his fruit and what he looked forward to learning the most.

"Well, learn to not catch on fire on accident is first and foremost. But, I want to be able to protect myself, and Sabo. I don't want Luffy to have to protect us anymore. He's our little brother, so we gotta look out for him," Ace said fondly. Luffy smiled and hugged him tightly.

"Awwww!" Thatch cooed. He did that every time the brothers showed physical affection. After over a week of it, it didn't bug them so much anymore. Sabo snickered but was looking at them fondly, too.

"What, do I not get any hugs?" Sabo said, faking a hurt voice. Luffy jumped up and ran around Ace to hug is other brother tightly. They both knew they were a little two old to engage in banter like this, Luffy liked it and was used to it, acting like he was younger was always what he did.

Thatch cooed again, and hurried back to the kitchen to start lunch after glancing at the large clock on the galley wall above the door. The boys ate their snacks enthusiastically and then began to talk about Ace's fruit, and Sabo saying he liked the jitte weapon. He wasn't at risk of cutting either of his brothers or the pirates but it was a weapon other than a gun.