11This was my entry for the 2019 OP Big Bang. It's more or less a DCMK fusion, and it is the longest thing I have ever written on purpose. It is a mess and needs editing, and one day I will have enough distance to do that. The magic is all real and accurate, to the best of my 10+ years of magic experience. Thank you to everyone who helped me get this far. Chapter titles are from "gonna go far kid" by the Offspring.
Enjoy!
Once upon a time, on an island far away...
"Ugh," Sabo says, letting the book fall to cover his face. "I'm so done with these detective stories."
Ace hums, only half paying attention. The elastic on his favorite pull is coming loose and that's far more important.
"It's so stupid. Devil fruits are the dumbest plot device," Sabo tells him anyway, and then continues with a sing-song mockery, "Oooh, it wasn't a machine that crushed him but this character who ate a devil fruit and is a Crush Crush human and you should've known because he said he didn't like baths!"
"Uh huh," Ace says, squinting. The elastic isn't fraying, the glue is nearly dry, and it should be all fixed. He snaps it into place on his belt and then looks up and yells, "Hey Luffy!"
Luffy pops his head in from up on the deck, and he hangs upside down to look at Ace, a piece of jerky hanging out of his mouth.
"C'mere," Ace says, gesturing, and swivels around to put put both Sabo and Luffy in front of him, palming the pull. "Check it out. Sabo, toss me that-no, the other that-yeah, that that. Thanks."
He grabs the gaudy glass jewel out of the air and displays it with a flourish. A pass, a sleight, a French drop, and the pull retracts just like it should, silent and quick. He twists both hands outward to show them both empty.
Sabo's watching with narrowed eyes and his gaze darts from hand to hand to pocket to shirt, and Ace grins back at him. He frowns and says, "You have patter with that, right?"
"Wahhh!" Luffy's already bouncing in his personal space, grabbing both hands and turning them over and over. "Hey! Where'd it go! How'd you do that!"
"Ah, now," Ace says, and reaches up to tug at Luffy's hat. "It's a mystery!"
