Brotherly Fondness

Before Luffy was born Ace was always so distant and antisocial. He would only speak when spoken to and when he spoke it would be polite and calm. His eyes would always seem so distant and spent most of his time training or fishing out by the docks with the fishing pole he had made himself. This was how Ace was before Luffy, his younger brother, was born. This was what Makino saw from Ace at such a young age. But when Luffy was born she saw a dramatic change in the boy.

Ace would carrying his baby brother around all the time; taking care to make sure his blanket was wrapped warmly around him, holding the infant as if he was scared he’d hurt the little baby. When Ace was alone, sometimes at the bar while she was warming up a bottle for him she would see Ace soften dramatically then how he would have been if people were there instead of her, Ace and the baby in his arms. Ace’s eyes would hold softness mixed with pride as he stroked his brother soft black hair or played with him. Ace would let Luffy tug on his hair without much of a complaint and let Luffy squeeze his fingers and chew on them.

Luffy was now a month old and become to babble a little bit.

As Makino stood in the Party’s Bar kitchen next to the stove with a pot of boiling water in front of her that had a warming bottle of milk she heard a soft sound coming from the front of the bar. Wondering what it was she took a tiny peek outside the round window of the kitchen door and was met with the most adorable sight. Ace sat on of the bar stools as he often did when waiting for Makino to warm Luffy’s milk. In his arms was Luffy wrapped in a red blanket with a picture of a monkey on one of the corners.

Ace was rocking Luffy back and forth while humming to him, a smile played softly on his lips. Luffy was kicking his tiny feet from under the blanket every so often all the while he had his big bright eyes on Ace the whole time. Luffy made a noise and raised a tiny hand as if in an attempt to reach his older brother. She saw Ace raise an eyebrow before smiling at the little infant and gave the baby his hand to play with. Luffy had grabbed it and started playing with Ace’s fingers before letting out tiny giggles making Ace laugh a little in return.

Deciding to leave the two alone, and to check on Luffy’s milk she returned to the stove. Those two were going to be near inseparable when they were older.