please don't mind him as he slowly starts to tear up.]
I... it's really you, isn't it? I- I hoped I would see you! [Because, you know, he still thinks they're both dead, so even if he wasn't consciously aware of it, didn't have much time to think much else but Luffy and no and I promised and then there was a burning hole right in the middle of him and he didn't have enough time to say what he needed...
... even then, he thought that maybe, when he died, he could see him. Sabo.]