【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 375 Memories

That's what happened when Makino came to visit them with the clothes, and after they shared with Makino in detail how they became brothers, Makino asked them a question.

"Do you know who is the oldest?"

Ace, Lucci, and Sabo all froze in their expressions, because they had never actually asked this question, even though they had thought about it in their minds. But two of them were cunning and wanted Ace to ask it first, because that way they could seize the initiative, until Makino's question broke the deadlock.

"You never told me your birthday." Sabo was the first to accuse.

"I don't like my birthday, so it doesn't matter. Why should we use it to figure out who's the boss?" Ace retorted, crossing his arms, easily falling into Sabo's trap.

Sabo grinned "Well, if you refuse to tell me your birthday, then I'm the biggest one!"

"How is this possible? I'm definitely the biggest!" Ace said loudly. He was definitely the biggest based on his birthday, but he didn't want to be associated with it because he remembered that it was the day his mother died, so he changed his tone to "Because I'm the tallest!"

"I think it's me. I'm more mature!" Lucci also started to interrupt. His birthday and height would be disadvantageous to him, and he didn't want to fall behind in this matter.

"I am the one who knows more!" Sabo retorted.

"I'm a better fighter!" Ace was also dissatisfied and presented another piece of evidence.

"Sorry, Ace, I won one more game than you yesterday!" Lucci grinned.

"That's because you used the devil fruit to attack!" Ace immediately retorted dissatisfiedly.

"Sorry, Lucci, the number of games we won yesterday was a tie!" Sabo also retorted.

"Okay, then Ace gets one vote less now!" Lucci said immediately.

"What!? That's not right. There was a scene yesterday where Sabo said Luffy was injured and distracted me!" Ace shouted angrily.

"Oh, so you are a gentle person. Is that what you want to tell us?" Sabo laughed.

"come over!"

Ace tackled Sabo, who grabbed Luffy, causing all three of them to tumble into the mud, where they began to attack each other until Luffy noticed his brothers having fun without him, so he happily jumped on top of the three of them, joining the melee that had started inexplicably.

"Luffy!" Lucci sat up and grabbed Luffy's collar and dragged him off him "Don't do this!"

"You guys are having fun without me too, I want to join in too!" Luffy said with a pout.

Sabo coughed and explained, "Luffy, we're fighting."

"We are arguing, not playing." Ace said the same.

"What are you arguing about?" Luffy asked innocently, looking at them with wide, pleading eyes.

"I'm the eldest brother." Lucci looked at Ace and Sabo provocatively.

"No, it's me. I'm definitely the big brother!" Sabo stuck out his tongue at Lucci and retorted, while dodging the mud thrown by Ace.

"You are wrong, I am the one who is wrong!" Ace argued dissatisfiedly, throwing mud at the two of them.

"No, I am!" Lucci smiled and dodged the mud thrown by Ace and threw it back.

"Why don't you all be brothers?"

The four turned to look at Makino, confused expressions on their faces.

"Can we do this?" Ace said uncertainly, looking at the other two brothers who had pensive looks on their faces.

"Who cares if you're from the same parents? You're already brothers, so why can't you be the same age? It's not like there aren't triplets or anything like that."

"I think so." Sabo smiled. "Who says a family can't have three older brothers and one younger brother?"

"That sounds okay." Ace nodded.

"I agree, but we have to use Ace's birthday," Lucci said cunningly.

"Why?" Ace looked at Lucci in shock.

Sabo immediately understood what Lucci meant and grinned "You can't hate it if your birthday is ours too, right?"

Ace blushed but admitted it was a good plan and he couldn't refuse, his brothers saw right through him "That makes January the first of it!"

"Can't you let me be the big brother?" Luffy surrounded them and laughed.

"Absolutely not!"

This sparked another debate.

Ace grinned at the memory, sharing that day with others meant a lot to him. "So we ended up being three older brothers and one younger brother. Maybe it seems like a strange family to others, but this is our most precious connection."

Then Ace frowned again, because the joy of that day didn't last as long as they thought, memories flashed through his mind, finally settling on that terrible day "In the end Sabo had to go back to his family."

"His family?" Jinbei asked doubtfully.

"Yes, he was originally a noble." Ace said. This wasn't the worst part. "It was one day after a storm. Sabo's father found us in the garbage dump. He threatened Luffy and me. Sabo went back with his father to protect us."

"That must be very uncomfortable." Jinbei frowned and said sympathetically.

Why am I saying this? Ace cursed himself in his heart. All this would only make the pain resurface, but he still forced himself to finish the story. "After that, we don't know how Luffy managed to rescue Sabo, but they encountered an enemy that attacked them that night, and then... a lot of things happened, and I don't want to talk about it now... Anyway, for the next seven years, Luffy and I only had each other."

It was at the naval base last time that he learned what Lucci had been through, but they still didn't know exactly what happened that night. It was their greatest luck that Lucci was still alive, and he didn't dare to hope that Sabo was also okay.

"I'm sorry, Ace," Jinbe said worriedly.

"That was a long time ago." Ace lowered his head and said, "It's okay now."

Jinbei didn't say anything else, he knew it was a hint that Ace didn't want to talk anymore and their conversation was over, so he also fell quiet, not wanting to disturb Ace anymore.

……

"We're finally here!" Luffy shouted excitedly as he looked at the towering red earth continent in front of him, "We're finally here!!"

"It's so unforgettable..." Nami sighed as she looked at the Red Earth Continent.

“I remember it was a very stormy day!”

"We've all grown a lot since then!"

"It took me 50 years to get here... Yo ho ho ho!"

"This way we're halfway there." Qi sighed, thinking of the scene when they first saw the Red Earth Continent.

"I can't see the top of the mountain. It's so big!" Chopper said in shock. It was the first time he had seen such a high mountain.

"I can't help crying. It's been such a bumpy road..." Usopp couldn't help but wipe away his tears when he thought of the hardships along the way.

"The last time I saw him was more than 30 years ago," Franky sighed.

"I came to this sea from the West Sea five years ago..." Robin couldn't help but sigh.

"If we go around half a circle, we'll see this mountain wall again. Then..." Luffy grinned and looked at the red earth continent with a firm look in his eyes, "I'm the Pirate King! Nihehehe!!"

Everyone looked at Luffy with a smile.

"Everyone, please pay attention. This place is very close to the Navy Headquarters and the World Government's holy land, Marijoa!" Nami reminded, "We need to find a way to get to Fishman Island."

Not long after Nami finished speaking, a huge sea monster suddenly emerged from the sea, opened its mouth wide and rushed towards the Sunshine.