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sabokunsmalia · 6 months

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄, part one " the return of hiken,"

featuring: flame emperor sabo x fem!reader content warning: mentions of child's death, mdni!! hi it's malia: finally, i finished part one, i'm so glad and so devasted for her reaction towards sabo. excuse the she usage, but it was easier to write for me than using the you! it's still female reader.

tagged: @dimplesjaehyuniie & @96jnie

Equipped with a small mechanical crossbow on both wrists, she watched how the steel arrow slid in and out. Preparing her weapons for a fight if Zoro and Luffy would be followed by enemies. It was the worst-case scenario. A fight in the corridors of the Corrida Colosseum might not be the greatest idea to avoid unwanted attention, but she would not allow any others to hurt her friends.

Winning the Devil Fruit, which once belonged to Portgas D. Ace, was an important task for the Straw Hat captain. At the same time, he would feel responsible if one of his friends could receive deadly wounds from an enemy. Most likely because Luffy could have prevented the intensity of the damage. And in the moment where Ace's image popped into her mind, the loud cries and angry screams coming from the end of the corridor required her undivided attention.

Luffy tugged underneath his muscular arm, dressed in his usual attire again without the costume for the contest. Storming down the corridor, she raised her eyebrows in confusion. No one followed them, at least, she could not see any enemies closing in on the duo. Shaking her head at their unexplainable behavior, she felt the gentle breeze of the wind as the two passed her before turning and following. With slow steps, she walked through the Colosseum towards the exit. One that wasn't known to most contestants, who entered a fight, and were forced to stay as prisoners. A departure was not an option for strong people who once signed the contract.

Tricky, but fitting for a cruel person like Doflamingo.

"Take that!" The swordsman with the green hair shouted, throwing a blue caterpillar costume at the approaching markswoman. She caught it with one hand, staring at the ridiculous large eyes until Luffy's whiny sounds became the center of her undivided attention. "What happened to him?" A slender finger pointed at the crying man, who mumbled word after word between the tears streaming down his cheeks, and the drool running down his chin.

"No idea," Zoro shrugged his shoulders to strengthen his words. "Found him on the ground close to the cells, crying and without the clown costume,"

Luffy was lost deeply in his emotions, uncountable waves of tears ran down his flustered cheeks. Unable to move a heavy limb, Zoro helped his captain and certainly best friend to step into the costume, he brought along. If they wanted to walk through the streets of Dressrosa without being captured or attacked, the dress-up was a necessary change of clothing.

“Captain, are you good to go?” She spoke towards the boy with the inky strands, and the head thrown back. It was obvious that the scene he went through, must be almost as painful as watching his brother die. Something so similar that Luffy’s entire personality shrunk into a whining boy. “For fuck’s sake, who the hell did he see?”

The markswoman chuckled to herself, shaking the head from left to right as she kneeled down. Thick fabric of the caterpillar costume between her fingers, she imagined any kind of animal or enemy as the thing that straddled Luffy to such immense. While the Captain’s face was almost hidden as Zoro pulled on the zipper, she stepped into her own costume.

“S-Sabo,” Luffy stuttered between the sobs and whines. And the head of the markswoman snapped towards her last standing childhood friend. “What?” She questioned, thinking she must have heard the wrong name. It was impossible. “Sabo!” Luffy shouted, but Zoro’s large, scared hand was quick to cover up their Captain’s wide-open mouth before any danger found them.

She felt a pinch in her chest, a breath tangled between her ribs like the sharpened blade of a knife pierced through skin and bones without resistance. The name Luffy repeated while crying out of happiness caused too many unbearable emotions for her severed soul. Stopping in her tracks, the ridiculous animal costume Zoro brought along, slipped out of her grip and bunched around her ankles. Luffy would never speak his name again, if he would not tell the truth about the encounter.

The pain caused by his early and unexpected death was certainly enough to never repeat the memories with words. Something, the three had promised each other, even more so after the happenings at Marineford. “Hey!” Zoro waved his hand in front of the markswoman, demanding her undivided attention. And it was a coincidence that she heard his voice over the loud thudding of her heart against her rib cage. “Get dressed, we have to leave!”

Instead of following the instructions, she stepped out of the costume. What Luffy spoke, made her question the escape, question the current life they are living, question what happened that day when the ship got destroyed by the cannon balls of a World Noble. Dry lips pressed together in a tight line, fingers clenched into fists, she turned away from her friends and towards the secret entrance to the colosseum.

“We don’t have time for this! There’s nothing left in there for us!” Zoro shouted, pulling the costume higher to hide his signature hair color and his well-known face from the people of Dressrosa. “Maybe not for you, but I need to know if Luffy’s speaking the truth or if someone decides to play a distasteful game with us,” She stated, already walking slowly back into the Colosseum and leaving Zoro back to carry Luffy away.

Thoughts scattered in her mind, the reminder that he couldn’t be alive after his small boat got attacked by a World Noble’s crew. Caught in the fire, the explosion didn’t allow him to escape, and they held a funeral in Foosha Village for the boy. She cried many nights, almost each night she fell asleep with wet cheeks and the burning red color in her eyes.

“Sabo,” She whispered to herself, the head hanging lower than usual as she inspected the crossbows in her wrists. “Is that really you,”

Steel arrows prepared in the mechanism, she already expected to be disappointed again. A person, who could imitate another, or maybe Luffy’s idiotic behavior caused him to forget that the blonde boy couldn’t be alive. Still, she wandered through the corridors, following the shouts of an excited commentator about the next match-up. It was easy to find a way to the stands, which were filled with multiple people who eagerly watched the competition.

The people clapped and watched as the competitors of the finale started to fight in the middle of the arena. Names, which were known ones across the sea. And the markswoman did not seem vaguely interested in the fight until a familiar costume caught her eyes. It looked exactly like Luffy in disguise except for the signature scar on the chest. The person underneath the costume was paler than her Captain, and the x-shape was definitely drawn across the muscular chest.

Also, Luffy just escaped the Colosseum with Zoro to save Law from being executed by Doflamingo. Running a hand through her hair, she stared exactly at the person who acted as Lucy, fighting with a steel pipe before focusing on the middle part of the arena. Fingers clenched in the brown leather gloves, he punched the ground and the platform broke apart in seconds. "What the fuck," She whispered underneath a breath, eyebrows raised and pupils dilated in shock. The power was unbelievable.

The people scattered in the arena, running towards the exits to leave the Colosseum as the water underneath the arena caused chaos. Pieces of the ground floated around, contestants drowning in the water as Devil Fruit eaters weren't able to swim. Large fishes swam with the currents, one of them having a chest bound on their back. The man in the gladiator costume jumped straight to the treasure, while others cursed underneath their breaths. "This can't be," The markswoman muttered again, placing her feet on the railing and preparing herself to fight against the costumed lad to receive Ace's legacy herself.

One person stayed in the stands with her. A woman, dressed in a short skirt, and a very bright, pink blouse with a brown hat. She looked cute, especially with the stockings, and she held onto the pile of clothing in her arms. The chest was ripped open by the man who took Luffy's disguise and showed a smile when the Mera Mera No Mi was tightly in their hands. "I've won, this is mine," He declared, a deep. and almost too familiar voice rang in her ears. So familiar, she almost ended up starstruck and rooted to the railing of the stand around the ring.

Seconds too late, the second Lucy took a bite out of the Fire Fruit, and immediately regretted doing so. "How disgusting," He shouted, his tongue hanging out of his mouth while forcing the last pieces of the valuable Logia into his burning mouth. The woman in the cute costume beside the markswoman watched, a giggle leaving her mouth as she witnessed the facial expressions.

Within seconds, and still caught in the wave of memories and the simple glimpse of a familiar voice, the Straw Hat's markswoman stumbled into the ring. In mid-air, the Lucy duplicate proudly presented the growing fire around his fist. A strong attack, a loud word echoed through the arena above the gasps of surprise. "Hiken," He shouted, losing the fake beard and cheap, golden helmet while destroying the entirety of the ring. Enemies drowned in the floating waves, and got hit by the crumbled platforms and thick pieces of stones hitting their bodies.

Landing safely on the ground underneath the ring, the Lucy duplicate smirked to himself and placed a saved Rebecca on the ground. After him, the woman with the folded clothing followed quickly after him, jumping confidently from one piece to another. And while, the markswoman attempted her best to stand tall while sliding down the side of the ring, she landed on her ass on the hard stone ground in one of the tunnels. Eyes squinted together, the footsteps of a group of people running close to her caught her attention, and helped her to receive the power over herself back.

"Fuck," She cursed, standing up and letting the span of her soft palm rub over her aching lower back and the curve of her butt cheeks. "What's going on," She muttered to herself, looking around to at least find out where she was. No one knew about the secret tunnel system underneath the town, at least, none have told her about what was going on in those bunkers of Dressrosa.

Surely, the SMILE factory must be hidden in such a place. One of the many reasons why the Straw Hats came to this forsaken land, and decided to help the tortured folk regain their freedom from Doflamingo.

"Who the hell are you?" The voice of the female gladiator, the woman with the pink hair and the sword, echoed through the quiet tunnels. She was saved by the man who disguised himself as Lucy, taking the costume away from Luffy and eventually telling him important information about Sabo. Shared secrets that caused the emotional damage to the Straw Hat, and even rendered him unable to speak a full sentence without repeating the name of a long-lost brother. "We're from the Revolutionary Army," The man explained, chuckling about the change of emotion on Rebeka's face.

And suddenly, the markswoman, who was just straddled by the destruction of the fighting area, felt her heart thudding against her rib cage. Quickly, and even harshly which almost caused unbearable pain to her body. Such a familiar glint in the voice of the adult, such a sweet hint in the melodic sound of the man's tone. "I'm Sabo,"

Eyes dilated within seconds, tears gathering on her lower lashline as the name easily left the male's mouth. Spoken without hesitation, without fear and without regret of acting as if he was someone, who couldn't be alive anymore. Couldn't have survived the attack on his small, wooden boat about twelve years ago. Fingers clenched into fists, she reloaded the crossbows on her wrists and ran toward the spot between the multiple barrels. Fast steps allowed her to witness the moment as the girl with the goggles placed an all-too-familiar hat in a larger version on top of the blonde's hat.

"You're not the original Lucy," Rebeka stated, pointing a finger at the man who was busy controlling the fire in his palm. He still had trouble, attempting to pull his brown leather gloves over his digits. " The original Lucy is a pirate. A chaotic but brave one, who will become the King of the Pirates, he's my little brother," The man in his noble outfit chuckled, pushing his hands into the pockets of his coat after finally hiding his soft digits in the leather material of his gloves.

Stopping in her tracks, but already in sight for the group of three and the former female contestant to see, her fingers released the clenched fists at the sight and the explanations he was giving.

There might be a chance that someone could imitate Sabo to mess with Luffy's head, but none could talk about the Straw Hat with such pride and belief. From the first day on Luffy revealed his dream to his older brothers, the noble-born boy with the pipe on his back believed in the dreams of the crying boy. It was possible, it all seemed so possible for them. She remembered those moments, those little, beautiful moments of a carefree past so perfectly.

"S-Sabo," She stuttered out the name of a man, who gave her enough as a ten-year-old. Who offered her love before she could even describe the word or emotion before she even experienced the positive and negative aspects of it.

Tears dwelled in the corners of her widened eyes, blown pupils stared at the trio of the revolutionary army as the one in the middle lifted his head. Tilted to the side, the brim wasn't hiding parts of his face anymore. A breath, she took seconds ago, stuck in her tightened throat at the sight. Words mixed between spit and air, a confusing mixture of syllables on the tip of her tongue. Eyes, she remembered so dearly. Eyes, so innocent with a glint of courage hidden in the depth. Eyes, who presented a deep love and caring for the young, noble-born girl around twelve years ago.

Eyes, which burst open at the sight of the brave warrior. The burned skin around his eye stretched as he raised his blonde brows at the female, whose gentle features with the sharp twist were a familiar picture to him. Sabo, who froze while playing with the insides of his pockets and watched the droplets slowly roll down the span of her flustered cheeks. "This can't be true," A whisper so sincere, so quiet it only belonged to her and couldn't be carried by the gentle blows of wind towards the revolutionaries in front of her.

"Sabo-kun," The woman in the light pink blouse wrapped her slender arms around the blonde's arm, shaking him hesitantly from left to right. "What's wrong with you? Are you alright?" She was almost whining, whimpering at the state of her superior. Almost fearing that the Mera Mera No Mi consumer froze in place.

"How," The stunned markswoman spoke again, comprehending the confrontation of a moment, she doubted since Luffy spoke the forbidden name. A scene, she dreamt of. Meeting him again, seeing him all grown up and becoming the person he talked about while watching the sun hide behind the horizon. "How are you alive? This must be a cruel joke," She shook her head, outstretching her arm and showing him her flat palm while stepping back. Some devil fruit user must be playing a very twisted, and sick game.

So, she aimed her crossbow at his figure. The steel head of the arrow pointed at the man's chest while being released with the simple twitch of her thumb and pointer finger. No, Sabo was dead, he was killed when they were still children. He never reached the first island, he never left the boat. They saw him and witnessed how the boat sank after burning. No, this wasn't Sabo, this couldn't be him. "You died! You fucking died twelve years ago. Stop using Sabo's image against us," She shouted, firing another one of her deadly arrows but it was no use. After eating the Logia Devil Fruit, his body was made of pure heat. Flames closed the hole in his stomach without pain and blood, and she stared at the sight. A familiar view, she witnessed when Ace toyed with his enemies until destroying their existence.

"No, you're not real,"

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chenziee · 2 years

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The Markless

Another series? From me? It's exactly as likely as you think. Soulmate AU, Lawlu Edition, with a side of post-Dressrosa comfort fluff (because I don't have enough of those) ❤️🖤

[ Read on AO3 | Ko-Fi ]

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They say that everyone has a soulmate out there somewhere. There will always be a person matching the mark decorating your skin, you simply have to find them.

Sounds easy enough.

But nothing is ever as easy as it seems when the world is separated into five seas, when it’s nearly impossible to travel through freely unless you have government permission to cross the Red Line and a Navy warship to get you through the Calm Belt. Only the strongest—or absurdly lucky—people go wherever they want and survive.

And, even if you overcome all those odds and are able to travel across all the seas, there can be other obstacles to stand in the way.

Stubbornness is one.

Blank skin another.

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Monkey D. Luffy didn't have a soulmate.

He knew this long before Chopper had wondered about the lack of a soul mark on his skin. After all, Ace and Sabo had searched every inch of Luffy's body when they were young, going as far as to nearly shave his hair off to make sure the mark wasn't hiding anywhere.

According to them, they didn't want to think their little brother was one of the unlucky people with no soulmate in the world.

Luffy didn't understand what part of not having a soul mark made him ‘unlucky.’ He didn't back then, and he certainly didn't get it now, twelve years later. He just honestly didn't care that he didn’t have a soulmate—hell, even if he did, he wouldn't have cared.

He had his brothers, his crew, his friends. He didn't need or want anyone else 'special' and he most definitely didn't want that special someone to be picked for him by ‘fate’. He was the captain. He was the one to judge who was a good person, who was going to be a part of his family.

And he didn't need any mark or soul connection to decide that for him.

He had always believed so but he became certain of it as he stood at the window of Dressrosa's Corrida Colosseum, his talk with Zoro and Kin’emon interrupted by Mingo, who had landed a few metres away from them. It was like he was watching it in slow motion; a building crashing to the ground, people screaming, Mingo taking a step forward to loom over Torao for a moment before he raised his gun. He was saying something but Luffy couldn’t hear him through the white noise in his ears as a pang of panic stabbed through his stomach. He did hear what came next though.

Bang.

“TORAO!!”

Luffy screamed as bullets were shot straight at Law, not one missing its target. Luffy lunged forward. He grabbed the bars to break them, to squeeze through them, anything… But he could do nothing but watch, helpless against the sea prism stone as dark, deep red blood pooled under Law’s lifeless body.

He hadn’t felt this scared in two years—not since he saw Ace kneeling on that platform at Marineford. Nor had he felt this much rage in equally as long.

Two years of getting stronger—for what? To be unable to save yet another person, yet another special presence in his life?

Because right then, Luffy knew. Torao wasn’t his brother, he wasn’t a part of his crew, and he wasn’t just his friend. It had been just a few days since they had met again on Punk Hazard but even so… he knew that Torao—that Law— was special. And that was all that he needed to know.

All that he needed to feel.

“Mingo!” He pushed and pulled on the bars, fighting tooth and nail to stay on his feet, to not let the sea drain all his strength. “How dare you shoot Torao!”

Mingo was talking again. Probably trying to provoke Luffy; even just his maniacal, impossibly wide grin was enough for him to know that. But… he still couldn’t hear a single word. He only needed to know if Torao was alive, if he was safe. Nothing else mattered; least of all Doflamingo.

“Torao, you better be alive,” Luffy muttered through gritted teeth.

“Luffy?” Zoro asked then, voice quiet and uncertain.

Luffy tore his eyes away from Law’s broken form, turning to look at his first mate instead. “Zoro…” He wanted to say more but he didn’t have the words, didn’t know what to say. There was only a wordless scream at the tip of his tongue.

Even so, it looked like Zoro didn’t need him to say anything. He paused for a split second but then, something like a realisation appeared on his face and he huffed, nodding slightly before charging at Mingo. “Kin! Get Torao out of here!”

It didn't take more than a few painful, frustrating moments for Zoro and Kin’emon to be shoved aside by the gambler old man, far enough for Mingo to grab Torao and take him away, out of Luffy’s sight and reach.

“Torao!” Luffy called after them. He didn’t know if Law could hear him but he still needed him to know. “Wait for me.”

Luffy didn’t like letting go of Ace’s fruit; he absolutely hated the idea of any of the people in the Colosseum even touching it. He didn’t want anyone who knew nothing about who Portgas D. Ace really was to inherit his power but…

Torao’s Voice was weak, getting weaker with every passing second, and that was the only thing that mattered to him right then. He needed to get out of there, he needed to go to the palace immediately. He wouldn’t let Mingo chain Law down any longer.

He would save his chosen soulmate, no matter what.

[ Read the rest on AO3 ]

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Note: for Soulmate AU, Zosan Edition, go check out the Always with you ZoSan AU zine!! It's going to be a part of the main zine so if you have bought it, you can look forward to reading it there! But if you haven't, there will also be aftersales :D (I will post the story on AO3 too, once the project is over <3 )

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