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"A kid almost got kidnapped this morning. Parents managed to intervene in time, but the suspects are still at large. The abductor tried to persuade the child with candy…” announced the morning news.
Looking bored, Ace turned off the TV and stretched out on the couch, enjoying the sunbeams that lit up the room, bringing warmth to the winter air. It was the perfect day to relax while playing video games.
“That’s horrible,” Sabo muttered, visibly shaken beside him.
"What’s horrible?"
"The abduction attempt! It was in the neighboring town, doesn't that make you uneasy? A guy out there, trying to take kids."
Ace shrugged, picking his nose.
“Honestly, only an idiot would fall for that.”
“Ace!” Sabo scolded.
“What? It’s true!” He scoffed. "What kind of person follows a stranger for a lollipop?"
Sabo shook his head in disapproval of his brother’s lack of tact, but soon sighed and made himself comfortable. Well, at least it wouldn't be a problem for him, who was always alert to everything around him. Nor for Ace, who never left the house without a knife hidden in his shoe. At fourteen, both of them already knew how to take care of themselves.
"Yeah... I guess even a child would have to be really innocent to do that..." Sabo agreed.
"Or love food a lot," Ace laughed.
"Imagine a kid who was a mix of both? Poor parents," Sabo joked.
"Yeah, imagine..."
Silence fell over the room, only the ticking of the clock filling the air. For a few seconds, the ironic smile lingered on the boys' faces...
...Until, little by little, the cheer faded, and a look of pure realization started to spread across their faces.
Ace and Sabo's eyes slowly met, and in mutual understanding, they both realized the same terrifying reality.
"Luffy."
"What should we do?" Sabo asked.
Ace made a face. Two hours passed since they watched the news, and of course, their minds could only think of one thing: Luffy. Their sweet, cute, and innocent little brother.
Who loved making new friends.
Who loved candy.
Who had no sense of danger to notice ulterior motives.
Who, if a suspicious stranger, dressed in a trench coat and sunglasses, standing next to a black van, called him over to "come eat candy at his house," would follow without a second thought.
"I think we can buy him a gun," Ace suggested seriously.
Sabo stared at him, incredulous. "For a five-year-old ?! We don’t even have a gun! I don’t even know how to buy one."
"Uh… Maybe one of those stun guns?"
"Great. Then he trips and shocks himself."
"A baseball bat?"
"How’s he supposed to walk around with a bat in his pocket?"
"...A knife?"
"Did you forget he’s already stabbed himself in the face?"
Ace groaned and sank further into the couch, wanting to punch someone. Maybe Luffy, for giving them so much trouble.
"What do you suggest, then? Let our adorable little brother out there, at the mercy of anyone who offers him ice cream? That kid from the news only escaped because he screamed for his parents. You know what Luffy would do if it were him?"
Sabo shuddered at the thought.
"It’d be like watching a little mouse walk straight into a mousetrap with a smile on its face," Ace clarified, disgusted.
"Like seeing a baby duck happily walking into a crocodile’s mouth," Sabo agreed.
"Like watching a moth cheerfully flying straight into the flame."
"Like a little fish jumping out of its aquarium."
Both of them sighed, defeated.
After a moment of silence, it was Sabo who finally lifted his head with a focused expression:
"Let’s act like rational people ."
Ace raised an eyebrow. "And that would be…?"
“We’ll have a stranger danger talk with him.”
Ace snorted, shaking his head. A talk with Luffy? The kid who couldn’t pay attention to anything for more than two minutes?
"Fine. But if it doesn’t work, I’m giving him a knife."
Luffy swung his little legs back and forth, while his brothers watched him with expressions like they'd just lost the last piece of meat — and this time, Luffy was SURE he wasn’t to blame!
“Look, Luffy, we need to talk to you…” Sabo finally spoke, letting out a sigh as he sat next to Ace, both of them staring at their younger brother.
The serious tone in Sabo’s voice made Luffy furrow his brows. Oh no. Was it… Was it possible they ate all the meat? The image of an empty fridge flashed in his mind, and he felt a lump in his throat.
Luffy swallowed hard, his eyes starting to sparkle with unshed tears, his hands gripping his legs and trying to hold on to his dignity. He was five years old, he wasn’t a crybaby anymore!
…Even if he really, really wanted some roasted meat for dinner.
“…Is it about food?” He asked, his voice trembling but still trying to keep his composure. He wasn’t a baby, no way.
“Partly, yeah.” Sabo scratched his head, looking thrown off.
The answer broke Luffy’s heart.
“So the meat really is gone…” he murmured, his face full of pure sorrow.
“What? No!” Sabo exclaimed, while Ace rolled his eyes and muttered quietly, “I told you so,” behind him. Luffy sighed deeply, relieved.
Sabo groaned, massaging his temples, gathering all the patience he could muster. “It’s for Luffy,” he kept repeating to himself. They needed to do this.
“Luffy…” he tried again. “We need to talk about the dangers of talking to strangers.”
Luffy looked at Sabo, his expression excited, as if they were announcing the discovery of legendary treasure.
“Strangers?” he repeated with enthusiasm, not noticing the tension in the air.
Stranger… meant adventure, right?!
Seeing his brother’s reaction, Sabo groaned again, and Ace let his head fall back as if the whole universe was conspiring against him.
But the blonde wasn’t ready to give up yet. He shook his head, trying to compose himself.
“Luffy,” Sabo called more seriously. “Remember when Makino taught us not to go with strangers? That’s what we need to talk about.”
Luffy's brows furrowed. “But all my friends were strangers before I met them.”
“We’re talking about bad strangers, Luffy. The kind that might try to kill you."
“But Ace tried to kill me before,” Luffy replied.
“That’s not the point!” Sabo grumbled, about to lose his mind, before feeling Ace’s hand push him.
"Luffy," Ace intervened. "Let’s start with an experiment. If an older guy shows up and offers you candy, what do you do?"
Luffy blinked a few times before his expression lit up and a smile spread across his face.
"I eat the candy!" he declared without hesitation, already thinking about chocolates, puddings, ice creams, and everything else!
Ace and Sabo threw their hands up in the air.
"Wrong!" The blonde grumbled. "Try again, and remember what Makino taught us!"
Luffy furrowed his brow again, closed his eyes, and puckered his lips in thought. Then, a realization hit him.
Ah! That’s right, I almost forgot!
"I understand!" he said, and his brothers’ eyes sparkled with hope.
Maybe their brother was smarter than they thought. Maybe Sabo was worrying for no reason, thinking about all the dangers the poor kid was exposed to; and Ace was just too stressed out researching how to buy weapons.
Luffy puffed out his chest, full of himself, while his brothers stared at him, expectant. And then...
...he proudly said:
"...I’ll say to him... Thank you so much , sir!"
The brothers fell out of their chairs.
Luffy’s smile was huge, proud of himself for remembering what he had been taught. He remembered the magic word!
"I don’t want it..." Ace said grimly as he stood up, veins popping from his forehead. Luffy made a questioning sound, and then Ace repeated: "You say 'I don’t want it,' Luffy! If a stranger offers you something, you say you don’t want it, yell, and tell them to go away!"
Luffy gaped. "But I want the candy!"
"It doesn’t matter, you idiot!"
"You’re the idiot for saying 'no' to food!"
"Luffy," Sabo intervened, looking exhausted. "Please, trust us, okay?" He pleaded. "Just do what we say. If a stranger offers you something, you say 'no'."
Luffy crossed his arms, pouting to make it clear that he didn’t agree with any of it. Still, reluctantly, he gave in with a "fine."
"Okay, let’s try again. If a stranger offers you candy, you say...?"
"No," Luffy grumbled.
"Exactly!" Sabo cheered. "If a stranger shows up beside you and says 'Let's go home and eat pizza,' what do you say...?"
Luffy's eyes lit up again, drool starting to drip from his mouth. "Yes, please!" He whined.
"No! You say no! Come on!"
"’ No’..." Luffy repeated with tears in his eyes.
"Luffy," Sabo continued, sternly, "if a stranger offers you cookies, what do you say?"
"I say no," Luffy sniffled, squirming in his seat. Ace's expression shifted to surprise at how well Luffy was getting it.
"That's it!" Sabo praised. "And if a stranger invites you to the playground for ice cream?"
"I say no," Luffy sobbed.
The older brothers' faces lit up.
"Amazing, Sabo, you did it!" Ace congratulated him, and Sabo puffed up with pride. "Well done, Luffy! Now, what if a stranger says 'Let’s go home so I can give you some meat,' what do you say...?"
Luffy raised his eyebrows at the question, his face twisting as if they asked him to choose which brother should die. Ace and Sabo watched with anticipation, barely breathing. This was the final test. If Luffy could get this right...
Luffy squirmed in his chair, his face turning red as if he were going to explode...
...Until he filled his lungs and declared, with all the might of his five little years:
"I say: yes, yes, please, yes!"
The room fell silent at the declaration. Ace and Sabo stared at their younger brother, their faces blank, like their souls had been ripped from their bodies.
After several long minutes, Sabo sighed, throwing himself into his chair and turning to Ace. "Alright, buy the knife."
Almost fifteen years after that day, Ace and Sabo were proud to say that their brother had never been kidnapped and he always carried a knife with him — and, for a long time, a tracker in his straw hat. Just in case.
They thought everything was fine, they had done their part as brothers and solved everything, and Luffy had learned his lesson — or almost. At least now, being older, he could take care of himself.
Or so they thought. Until, on Luffy’s birthday, during a dinner just between them, the youngest showed up with a guy.
An older guy.
An older guy with "DEATH" tattooed on his fingers.
An older guy with "DEATH" tattooed on his fingers who Luffy claimed was his boyfriend.
Ace nearly broke the glass he was holding when Luffy delivered the news. The man next to him looked like he wanted to disappear. “I can help with that,” Ace thought grimly, wondering how deep he’d have to dig to hide the body.
Sabo, of course, had always been the more rational one.
He insisted they have a damn conversation.
"Luffy… How did you say you met him again?" Sabo asked.
"At a party," he replied, looking more interested in the dinner that was almost out of the oven.
"…And you don’t know any of his friends?"
"Nope."
"Do you know what he does for a living?"
"Something with bodies and blood, I think?"
Sabo felt his blood pressure rising. Not caring about the man next to them, he asked directly:
"Luffy, are you sure this guy won’t kill you at the first opportunity?"
Luffy blinked slowly, the question seeming to echo in his mind. Ace, who was on the verge of pulling his hair out, felt a spark of hope. Maybe, just maybe, Luffy would finally realize how weird, scary, and terrible this "boyfriend" idea was.
After a few seconds of intense reflection, Luffy’s eyes lit up, and he turned to his boyfriend.
"Are you going to kill me?"
The boyfriend looked at him, completely serious, and simply replied:
"No."
A huge smile appeared on Luffy's face, as he looked at his brothers like he had solved an impossible equation.
The room fell into complete silence, except for the sound of the oven in the background, which seemed to be the only thing still working in the house.
Ace and Sabo exchanged a long, heavy stare. The exhaustion on their faces said it all. Finally, Sabo let out a deep sigh, lowered his head, and, without any emotion, turned to Ace.
"Buy the gun."
Ace nodded as if it were the most logical decision in the world.
"With a silencer?"
"With a silencer."
(When dinner was over and Luffy seemed happier than ever, they decided to wait a little longer before killing the guy — they could spend a few more years keeping an eye on their little brother.)