Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was hard to think through the pain.

Even more difficult to speak when your lungs had been cremated and your ribs forcefully turned to char.

Ace could feel his body going numb, a cold overtaking his limbs that conflicted with the burning in his chest and pain that made him woozy. He was distantly aware of the fighting happening around them, but it all felt so far away.

He could feel Luffy trembling under his weight. He pulls his brother into a tight hug with what little energy he has left.

When he tries to speak, he feels blood gurgle up into his throat. He chokes, feeling it dribble down his chin, and squeezes his eyes shut as he tries to inhale. All this accomplishes is making him cough up more blood, panting as his vision begins to go white.

“L… listen, Lu,” He says, voice so quiet it's barely a whisper. “I can barely speak anymore, but could you tell everyone something for me?”

If Luffy answers, he isn’t sure he could hear it over the faint buzzing in his ears. He doesn’t think he could will his body to move right now if he wanted.

“Tell Pops… e.. every…” he takes a shuddering breath, “Everyone, and you, Lu. Tha… ah… ank you, for loving some… one like me.” Shadows eat at the edge of his vision, his own voice sounding far away.  “Someone… with….” he trails off, heaving. There’s more blood pooling across his lips. “Such bad blood… in their veins.”

He uses the last of his strength to tighten his grip on Luffy, wearing a weak smile as tears begin to spill.

“Thank you for loving me.”

And then the world went dark, and the pain gave way to nothing......

Yet somehow, he wakes up.

Ace awakens with a strangled scream, clawing at the air. He jerks up, feeling like he’s falling, and manages to stumble despite lying down. He clutches the grass like it's going to give out from under him, taking in gasping breaths as if the air’s been stolen from his lungs.

It had been. His lungs were gone. How was he breathing?

All he can do for a moment is just sit there, nails digging into the dirt. His body trembles uncontrollably, still remembering the sensation of giving out completely.

Of dying.

He isn’t sure how long he has been sitting like that, taking quick, shallow breaths. The adrenaline pumping through his system makes his heart race.

How was it still beating?

He looks around wildly, eyes still adjusting to the light, trying to make sense of what he is seeing. As he collects himself, a new, frantic thought pops into his head, the only cohesive thing he can really think right now through the pain.

Where is Luffy? Is he okay? 

“Lu-” He tries to call out, but immediately devolves into a coughing fit, hunching over onto one side. His body shakes uncontrollably, and his lungs burn. His vision blurs, splotches of white dancing across his eyes as his body spasms involuntarily.

He isn’t sure how long he sat there, waiting for the coughing to subside. Trying to breathe in deeply feels like he’s just going to start choking again.

Finally, after a few more moments of stillness, Ace starts to try to look around. Where…. Where was… why was he here?

Ace looks around wildly, blinking in confusion. Marineford… that had definitely felt like he was dying.

I mean, I could have sworn I had my organs destroyed…. Ace thinks, baffled. I couldn’t have….

Slowly, he glances down at his chest. What greets him is a gnarly, massive scar across his chest. He tentatively, gently traces his fingers across it, and winces. 

How is that…? Did someone heal me? Ace wonders. It certainly looks that way. But how?

The Grand Line is full of mysteries. You always have to expect the unexpected. It’s not like.. It was impossible that there was some kind of fruit or power out there that could have healed his injuries.

But why would someone… the thought lingers in his brain, Waste something like that on me?

It… could have been Marco, his brain argues, but that didn’t sit right. Marco’s fruit was strong, but its healing properties on other people had never been that strong. Could have been an awakening, he thinks, but shakes his head. He’s getting ahead of himself.

Which reminds him… where even is he? Now that his head isn’t buzzing, he can properly take in the scenery.

Definitely not Marineford, that much is obvious. 

If he’s… somehow not dead, it would make sense that he was taken somewhere else. 

But… he’s in the middle of a forest? If he were injured and taken somewhere to heal, wouldn’t he be in a medbay? That made the most sense to him, at least, but his head still felt kind of woozy.

Actually, this forest seems oddly familiar. Almost like…

He feels his breath catch in his throat when his eyes land on something he recognizes. That’s a laughing mushroom, he thinks, but I’m pretty sure those only grow on….

Was he… back on Dawn?

That was impossible. For well, a lot of reasons. He had too much of a headache to bother sorting through them all. He couldn’t think of a single good reason he should be here. Pops wouldn’t bring him here. 

It could have been- 

No.

He shuts that thought down almost immediately. There’s no way the old man would have helped him after everything. Thrown away everything just for…

Maybe… maybe I’m dead after all… he wonders. if he’s here on Dawn.. well. Things just didn’t add up. Not to mention, he’d been so certain he was dying before.

He continues to look around, and the more he focuses on his surroundings, the more familiar it all looks and the more certain he is that he’s back on Dawn.

And with that, the chilling realization that maybe he hadn’t survived after all.

Still doesn’t explain why everything hurts though. Ace thinks, biting his lip. It hurts to breathe, it even hurts just to sit up. It certainly felt like he’d had his organs cremated.

Then again, who’s to say stuff wouldn’t still hurt when you’re dead? Considering my luck... He grimaces. Who could say anything about death, really? It's not like you could come back and tell people what it was like.

But still, everything felt so… real? So mundanely normal? The soil underneath his nails, the breeze blowing gently through his hair. That earthy smell just after a fresh rain shower. The distant call of birds echoes through the trees.

Maybe. Maybe that’s just what the afterlife is like, he thinks absently.

Still possible I’m not dead. He thinks, glancing back at his scar.

But maybe I am. And if that’s the case….

Ace stiffens. If he were dead… did that mean Sabo would be here?

The thought stirs him into action. That’s how he can tell if he’s dead or not. If this really is the afterlife, and it has taken him back to Goa, then wouldn’t that mean his brother was here with him? Maybe that’d be too optimistic. Even if he were dead, who’s to say the universe would be kind enough to let him see his brother again? 

With my cursed blood… Sabo’s probably in a much better place than I am.

Then again, a small voice says, I don’t think Sabo would like fancy golden arches and pristine chapels all that much.

He would snicker at that idea, but laughing, he finds, hurts. Just like everything else, it seems. Instead, he devolves into a wheezing cough, covering his mouth with his hand as his body shakes.

When he pulls his hand away, he notices little specks of blood in his palm.

Hmm, that doesn’t seem normal.

I can worry about that later, he thinks to himself as he drags himself to a standing position. His legs shake as he tries to balance himself, awkwardly falling to one knee. The sudden movement made his head spin.

Ugh, c’mon. Just get up already. He hisses at his body. He’s had to deal with worse pain than this before. This was nothing compared to-

He shakes his head, a chill running up his spine. Not the time to think about that right now.

Alright, okay. Well, if he’s really dead, and this was some kind of purgatory, hell, or whatever, how would he figure that out? Sabo’d probably be here, unless, of course, he’s somewhere else. Would Sabo go to hell? Probably not. He’d like to think not anyway. 

He could try looking around for answers. If he were alive,  then… he glances up at the skyline. Through the trees, he can clearly make out the peak of Mt. Columbo.

Don’t think the old bandit hut is too far from here, he muses. Could make the hike over..

If he were alive somehow, in a way that defied logic, Dadan would be there. She’d know how he got here, probably. At the very least, she’d be the most likely person on Dawn to have some clue of why he was here. It’s not like he had any idea where Gramps was…

If he was the one who brought him.

And well, if he were dead, the cabin would be empty. Probably. His face morphed into a slight frown. He hoped, at least.

He isn't sure death follows rules, though. Who’s to say what he’d see if he were dead? He’s been all over the grand line and heard all kinds of stories about what the afterlife might be like. As he begins to walk vaguely in the direction of the old cabin, his mind drifts to the thought of death. He vaguely recalls a conversation he had with his crew back before everything went to shit.

It had been a pretty successful day. Apparently, the 4th and 10th divisions had scored the crew a new territory, arriving with boxes full of supplies and gifts. Ace frankly couldn’t recall any of the details, just heard Curiel mention something about “heavenly tribute” and some other stuff, mentioning some king Ace couldn’t remember the name of. 

So suffice to say, the energy was pretty hectic. Definitely lively. Then again, most days on the Moby were.

Thatch had decided to set up an impromptu barbecue with the food they’d gotten. After some boisterous conversation and rowdy setting up, things had settled down into quieter, casual conversation. Ace had sat down between Vista, Marco, Thatch, and Blenheim, happily tearing into the leg of… some kind of animal.

“Hey, do you guys ever think about death?” Thatch had asked out of the blue, prompting Vista to choke on his drink. Marco just gave him a tired look.

“So morbid!” Someone had shouted, and Ace snickered.

“Can you not lead sentences like that-yoi?” Marco had asked. 

Thatch had waved his hand dismissively, “I just mean in regards to what comes after all this, you know?”

“What brought this on?” Vista asked.

Thatch had shrugged, “Just food for thought, I suppose. Visiting new places, learning about new cultures. It’s interesting, ya?” 

“Sure,” Vista had hummed, taking another sip of his wine, “Learn something new while you were at Navin?” That had been the name of the new territory, if Ace was remembering right.

“Not anything specific really. They just happened to be having some kinda cultural festival honoring the dead, so that’s what got me thinking about it.”

“Hmm… Well, where I’m from, they believe in the idea of reincarnation. Upon death, our souls are recycled back into the world to experience it anew,” Vista had responded.

Reincarnation, huh? “Could you be reincarnated as anything?” Ace found himself asking.

Vista gave an amused laugh, “Typically, you'd return as a human. Though if you had done enough bad in your past life, they say you'd be reincarnated as a beetle.”

“A beetle?” Thatch had laughed, slapping his knee, “Well, at least you don’t gotta worry about human things as a beetle. No wars, no politics. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.”

Ace snickered as he reached for another piece of meat. Vista had only amusedly rolled his eyes.

“You won’t be saying that when you get eaten by a bird, my friend.” Vista had said, placing his glass down, “Tell me, what is your idea of the afterlife like?”
“Let me see…. I suppose I imagine a paradise, I guess. That’s what I grew up hearing, anyway,” Thatch said, humming, “All the food you could want, all the luxuries of life, etcetera, etcetera.”

“That is, if you’re judged to be good. Bad people were said to go straight to hell!” He good naturedly smiled, “Don’t reckon they’ll let a pirate into the pearly gates. But what’s the point of life if not to live it, am I right?”

A round of “here here’s” was spoken by the crew. Next to Ace, Blenheim taps his chin.

“In Alabasta, we believe the afterlife is a mirror of the living world. You would be judged by the great guardian jackal upon entry. He would weigh your heart against a feather, weighing your sins. If you were judged to have a good heart, you’d be allowed into a paradise where you could live much like you lived here on earth.” Blenheim explained.

“Huh, well, I wouldn't say no to getting to sail with you lot for eternity," Thatch had said with a grin.

Blenheim raised a glass, “Aye, I definitely wouldn’t complain about getting to spend my afterlife sailing the seas with my brothers, Gods willing!” he laughed, and the rest of those present joined in. 

“What about you, Ace, any thoughts?” Thatch had asked.

“Oh, uh, not really something I have thought about too much, I guess,” Ace had said, mumbling into his meat as he took another bite.

Well. Not for himself, anyway. He wasn’t sure what awaited him upon death, but he was certain it wasn’t anything good.

“Hmm, that’s fair. You’re young and spry. Don’t gotta worry about that kinda stuff like us old men,” Thatch had joked.

Marco groaned, shaking his head, “Don’t call yourself old, you’re only three years younger than me. That makes me feel old-yoi.”

That memory faded as a rustling in the bushes snapped Ace out of his thoughts.

He tenses, quickly lowering himself into a fighting stance. He’s injured, sure, but if he’s on Dawn, he doubts there will be anything that’s much of a threat…. Here…

His thoughts trail off as he watches the thing emerge from the underbrush. His eyes grow wide, breath catching in his throat. Not from fear, no, this is an entirely different emotion. Surprise.

Because that thing shouldn’t be here.

It was a tiger. A massive tiger, its fur bleached a faded brownish orange, patches of fur missing in some places, revealing many scars. Its most prominent scar, however, was the one underneath its chin, tearing under its jaw and across its neck.

All Ace can do is stare as the massive creature roars at him. He would recognize that scar anywhere. It was from an, at the time, terrifying tiger that had practically ruled over the mountain when he, Luffy, and Sabo were kids.

A tiger they’d killed ten years ago.

Ace just barely has the presence of mind to dodge out of the way of the tiger’s claws as it lunges. He knows he doesn’t have to dodge, being a logia and all that, but that thing brings back some not-so-pleasant memories. 

Specifically, of needing to learn how to sew up a bleeding gash in one’s arm.

He doesn’t have time to linger on that thought, though, as the beast swipes again. This time Ace ducks underneath, a feral grin spreading across his face.

Back when they were kids, this thing used to terrify them. Not that Ace would have ever admitted that to his brothers. It had been a near-immovable object back then.

But now…

Ace’s hand alights, and the tiger barely has time to register the sudden burst of heat before Ace uppercuts it in the chest. Flames swirl forward in a powerful blast, knocking the tiger back and slamming it against the row of trees.

It slumps over, charred body still smoldering. Ace can’t focus on that, though, because as soon as he threw that punch, he felt the urge to reel over. He collapses to one knee and begins to cough up blood and bile. He shivers, clutching his hand, which feels like it's covered in pins and needles. 

Eugh. Okay. Maybe that kinda force was unnecessary. But in his defense, normally he can pull that kinda move without breaking a sweat.

He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, grimacing as his vision slowly clears. He glances over at the body of the tiger, frowning.

Why was it here? Wait, was this like the time Blamenco told him that a person would have to fight every animal they had ever eaten once they died?

No, he decided, that was still stupid.

He sat on his heels, eyes tracing the tree line. The fact of the matter though, was that that tiger was very definitely dead. 

Then, he thinks slowly, I’m probably dead. If I’m seeing dead tigers.

Dead, and ten years in the past apparently.

Wait.

Ten years in the past.

The memory returns to him.

“I think,” Marco had hummed, “It would make sense if the afterlife let you relive your most cherished memories. Meet people you’ve lost, experience the world from the eyes of when you were happiest, you know-yoi.”

Could that be it? Could he be…

He chokes on his breath, jerking upwards.

He needs to get to the treehouse.

Ace ignores the burning in his chest and hands as he sprints through the forest. He distantly notices, as he ducks under branches and pushes aside foliage, that he’s actually closer to the treehouse than he realized. Had he been subconsciously going in that direction while he’d been lost in thought?

He bursts into the clearing surrounding the treehouse, and just barely has enough peace of mind to remember “oh right, this is a past memory” to dodge the log trap that swings down in front of him. 

The log barely manages to phase him, though, as he approaches the treehouse. This time, he approaches a bit more slowly, taking the time to weave his way through the traps. They’re fairly cleverly hidden, but Ace has the benefit of having been the one who set them.

… Though, as he almost trips into a spike pit, it has been a long ass time since they’d set these up.

After Sabo was gone, spending time at the treehouse had just brought uncomfortable memories, so the traps had fallen into disrepair.

Ace felt a wave of nostalgia rush over him. He felt choked up, glancing up at the treehouse. It was… like new. He knew he’d been expecting that given his current theory of being dead, but still.

Everything looked exactly like it had ten years ago.

A budding feeling of hopefulness blooms in his chest, overpowering the achiness he’s been feeling since he used his fire on that tiger.

If he climbs up those stairs, would Sabo be there? Would Luffy? Would he be able to get to see them again, as they all were when they were kids?

He isn’t sure the universe is kind enough for that, but decides to climb the ladder anyway.

He hesitates for a moment when he reaches the trapped door. What exactly is he expecting to see when he opens it? What will Sabo say to him? Will Sabo even be there? Will anyone? He can’t hear any voices coming from inside.

He bites his lip. Quit being a coward and just open it already. 

Steeling himself, he pushes the trapdoor open.

Only to be greeted by an empty room.

He… tries to swallow his disappointment at no one being here. But it's strange, because part of him is…. Relieved? No, that isn’t the right word. Trepidatious? Is that the right word?

Geez, now he sounds like Deuce. 

He pushes himself up into the treehouse anyway, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He is… well. The thought of seeing Sabo again had definitely made him excited, but…

Would Sabo even want to see him again?

It’s your fault anyway. You weren’t strong enough.

He squashes that feeling down and looks around the treehouse. Much like the outside, the inside is covered in memories of a simpler time. Furniture they’d just pulled from the trash heap at the Grey Terminal. Items strewn about that showed kids had been living there. The smell of-

Ace perks up, darting over to the corner of the room. He grins when he spots the old icebox. By the time they were adults, that thing had failed ages ago. Hadn’t really been necessary considering their appetites and how quickly they ate through what they caught.

He still had no idea how Sabo had managed to fix the old thing up. Like everything else in the treehouse, it had been found at the Grey Terminal, looking more like scrap metal than something functional.

A smile of fondness tugs at the corner of Ace’s mouth. Sabo had always been so clever about things like that…

He pushes the door of the icebox open and sees several pounds of meat stored inside, practically jammed in there. Probably wouldn’t last long, knowing Luffy. Honestly, it was a miracle there was anything left after their hunts with his seemingly bottomless appetite.

More importantly, this shows Sabo and Luffy must have been here, at least.

Or it's just a memory of how things were before. His brain supplements. It doesn’t mean anyone’s here.

He sighs and closes the icebox. He leans back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. Well, he’ll give what is probably a death hallucination credit. They got all the details right. At least, as right as Ace can remember them.

As he moves to get up, though, he feels himself sway on his feet. He leans on the icebox for support, vision blurring. Shit, he’d forgotten he’d basically been running on adrenaline since he got here. But if he was dead, wasn’t stuff like doing health checks unnecessary? It's not like you can die twice.

…. Can you?

He tries to stand up again, and his legs nearly give out from underneath him. He wobbles uneasily and pants heavily as he falls to his knees. Why does his chest feel like it's burning? He manages to drag himself to rest against the wall of the treehouse, shivering despite the humidity of the forest.

This is so strange. He thinks, his internal voice feeling far too loud with the pounding headache he’s starting to develop. I thought pain was supposed to go away when you’re dead. Guess I’m not lucky enough for that.

He closes his eyes, grimacing. God, now that he’s sitting down, he is starting to realize how horrible he feels.

Very reluctantly, he opens his eyes again. His vision is still blotchy, probably worse than when he came up here. Despite the pain, he forces himself to keep his eyes open, glancing down to try to inspect the damage.

On the surface, everything seems fine. Aside from the massive scar on his chest, of course.

He runs a hand across it and immediately regrets doing that, as a sharp stab of pain shoots through where his heart would be. Ow ow shhh- !!

Ace grits his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut again. He isn’t sure how long he sits there still for, but the pain gradually goes away after a bit of waiting, and once it does, he lets out a breath, slowly opening his eyes.

It doesn’t seem entirely healed, if the pain is anything to go by. Still, the fact that it scarred over means it's been healing for a while, right? He checks it over again, this time being careful not to touch it.

The scar doesn’t look new. Or at least, not in the sense that the skin is still raw. It certainly doesn’t look old either, like many of the little scars littering across his arms, chest, and back from various fights he’d gotten into over the years.

He tries checking over the rest of his body. Aside from the scar, it seems like there isn’t anything off, at least externally.

Then the damage must be internal. He thinks with a grimace. That made sense, even if it complicated things. Considering how he died… probably busted up his internal organs pretty bad. Based on how breathing hurt and the sharp stabs of pain in his chest, he figured his lungs and heart were probably damaged.

That, however, raised another question: Did the afterlife have doctors? Or was he just supposed to deal with this forever now?

The universe has never been kind to me before, so why start now? He thinks morosely. Maybe that’s why Luffy and Sabo weren’t here. The treehouse was just here to taunt him with nostalgic memories and ghosts of people he wishes he could see again. Divine retribution or whatever.

He closes his eyes again and leans his head back against the treehouse wall. He focuses on his breathing, taking in the dewy, earthy scents of the forest. 

Well, whatever. Even if they aren’t here, seeing the treehouse again, like.. Like this, it has been nice. Lived in, lively. It did make him happy-

“Sabooo, Ace, c’mere! Something triggered the traps!”

Ace jerks up, heart hammering in his chest when he hears that voice. Luffy! So Luffy was here after all! Momentarily, a rush of panic shoots through him, as a paranoid part of his brain worries about whether Luffy escaped Marineford alive or not. He hadn’t even wanted to consider that possibility in his mad dash to the treehouse, but now, hearing Luffy’s voice again, he can’t help but fear the idea.

He scrambles to his feet, practically tripping over himself to get to the balcony of the treehouse. His fears prove unwarranted when he pokes his head over the railing.

It is Luffy, but a younger Luffy. Luffy from ten years ago, to be exact.

Geez, was he always that small? Ace can’t help but wonder, staring down at his even littler brother. It’s… Ace has memories of when Luffy was small, obviously, but now, as an adult..

He can’t imagine ever putting him in danger. Can't imagine treating him the way he did back then. 

Memories of Marineford rear their ugly head again. Memories of that same reckless little brother charging in to save him. Putting his life in danger because of Ace’s reckless mistakes. Staring down at this even smaller version of Luffy, even more unburdened and innocent, Ace’s brain unwillingly conjures up images of him at Marineford…

He shakes his head, scowling, and choking down that uncomfortable feeling. 

His Luffy was probably fine. His crew would have done everything to protect him, he hopes. He was his little brother after all.

Even though the kid is currently frowning and gesturing to the busted log trap, Ace can’t help but smile at him. Luffy has always had a way of lighting up a room. Just seeing him like this again…

Maybe the universe can be kind after all.

“Shit, Ace, he’s right.”

Oh.

He’d almost forgotten what his voice sounded like.

When he sees Sabo emerge from the trees, Ace is pretty sure his heart stops. All the noises of the forest seem to fade away to nothing, and all Ace can focus on is Sabo.

He’s right there. He’s alive.

He knows he isn’t, not really. Logically, he already accepted that he must be dead, that this is some kind of purgatory, maybe.

But seeing Sabo again, unchanged from how he remembers him. Alive. He’s overcome with so many emotions at once that he barely cares to consider that this version of Sabo isn’t real. All he sees in that moment is his brother, alive, talking with Luffy like nothing had ever happened. A beautiful, wonderful other reality where there had never been a fire, and that damned celestial dragon hadn’t ever shot him down.

A world where Sabo is alive.

Suddenly, Ace couldn’t care less about any of his phantom injuries. Couldn’t care less about much of anything, really. All that matters right now, at this moment, is Sabo.

He doesn’t hear what little Luffy or Sabo say next. He stands up from where he’d be watching them over the balcony of the treehouse, and effortlessly vaults over. He lands on the ground with a soft thud, startling both boys out of whatever conversation they’d been having.

For whatever reason, both Luffy and Sabo whip out their pipes almost immediately, taking on defensive stances. Sabo even puts himself a little in front of Luffy, who keeps glancing between Ace and Sabo.

“Who are you?” Sabo snaps, raising his pipe in a threatening display.

In lieu of an answer, Ace takes a shaky step forward. Luffy and Sabo both step back, stiff and uneasy.

“Sabo.. is that… really you?” Ace asks. 

This, evidently, was the wrong thing to say, because it only makes Sabo’s grip on his pipe tighten more, as he watches the kid’s eyes widening in… was that fear? 

“How do you know my name?” Sabo asks, gaze sharp. 

The question leaves Ace feeling confused and wrong-footed.

“You don’t... Recognize me?” he asks softly, crouching down so he’s eye level with Sabo.

He finally notices it. The total lack of recognition in Sabo’s eyes, and as he pulls his gaze away from Sabo, he notices it in Luffy, too. They don’t know who he is, he realizes with dawning horror.

With that realization, the dull pain in his head that had seemed so muted when he’d first spotted Sabo returned with a vengeance. He’s glad he crouched down because he’s pretty sure he would have stumbled over his own feet if he’d still been standing.

“No,” Sabo growls, voice cold, defiant, and cautious. “Now answer the question. Who are you? ”

Behind him, Luffy has lowered his pipe slightly, tilting his head with a curious yet wary expression, pouting. He looks like he’s trying to figure out if he’s seen Ace somewhere before.

“I’m-” Ace doesn’t have a chance to finish that sentence, because as soon as he tries to talk, he’s seized by a coughing fit. He collapses, falling to his knees as coughing turns to choking. When he stares down at the grass underneath him, he sees it stained with blood. 

Not a great sign.

“Woah, hey-” Sabo takes a step back, having gone from wary to alarmed.

He hears Luffy shout something, but he doesn’t hear it because his ears feel like they’re full of static. The white noise is the last thing he hears before he slips back into darkness.

Chapter Text

When Ace wakes up, the first thing he notices is that he's been tied up. As he tries to move, he can feel the rope tightly wrapped around his wrists and chest restraining him to what feels like a tree.

The next thing Ace notices is the sound of voices. He blinks the spots out of his vision, and as the world around him comes into focus, he feels his heart nearly stop.

Oh, right.

He was probably dead. This was some death-induced hallucination. Or maybe some kind of afterlife. The jury was out on which one exactly.

Standing a couple of yards in front of him was Sabo. A version of him, anyway. Seeing him made all his memories come flooding back. Marineford, his execution, his family coming to rescue him, Akainu going after Luffy, the searing pain of death, and then-

Waking up here, in the forest he grew up in, and seeing his brothers as kids again.

Ace swallows the lump forming in his throat. It was strange, though, he thinks to himself, that Luffy and Sabo hadn't seemed to recognize him. He would think that afterlife-induced visions would recognize him, despite his being older, since he figured stuff here would operate on dream logic.

Maybe this was the universe's way of punishing him. That look Sabo had given him had certainly hurt. The way there had been no recognition in his eyes....

Would it have hurt less if he remembered? If he had looked at you with contempt for not being strong enough to stop his death?

He should have known there’d be a catch to being able to see his brother again here in the afterlife. Men like him don’t end up in eternal paradise.

Ace shakes his head, trying to get rid of that train of thought, and returns his attention to Sabo.

He isn’t alone, he is only just now noticing. Luffy is there too, and…. Oh, that’s pretty trippy. It’s him . Well, not him him, but a version of himself from when he was a kid. Ace vaguely recalls having noticed him too, before he passed out earlier.

Hmm, so it seems like the three of them tied him up. This knotwork is pretty good . Ace thinks, a mix of bemusement and pride swelling in his chest, It’d probably be pretty effective against most people.

Unfortunately, “most people” are not made of fire.

Of course, Ace won’t break the restraints yet. He’s not in any danger, so he doesn’t have a reason to. Plus, it’d be pretty rude to burn up the ropes after his brothers put so much effort into tying him up.

…And by his brothers, he mostly means Sabo. Luffy couldn’t tie a knot to save his life.

Now that his head is a bit clearer, he decides to try to focus on whatever the three of them are talking about…

“-we just kill him?” He catches the tailwind of what his kid self is saying, sounding pretty agitated. Oh, they’re talking about him, that made sense.

“Because, Ace,” Sabo says placatingly, arms crossed, “I still want to know why he knew my name. We can’t find out if he’s dead.”

“Plenty of people know your name, ‘Bo,” his kid self mutters, “Bluejam probably knows it. He could be with him.” Ace scowls at the memory of that man. Why did the afterlife have to remind him of that scumbag.

“I dunno, Ace…” Sabo trails off, biting his lip, “He didn’t react like a Bluejam pirate would. Actually.. He didn’t really react like anybody I know would.”

“Because he’s obviously a crazy person!” His kid self shouts, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Crazy people don’t act like you expect because they’re crazy !”

“You know, it's really rude to talk about people as if they aren’t there.” Ace pipes in.

All three kids whirl around, jumping in alarm when they hear Ace’s voice. They all take defensive steps back, raising their pipes in a defensive display.

“How long have you been awake?” His kid self snarls at him.

Ace hums, glancing at the canopy, “Dunno, a few minutes? I heard you guys talking about killing me, though. Just a heads up, might be kinda hard to do considering I’m already dead.”

He offers a lopsided grin, “Though, you’re welcome to try. It’d be fun to see if I could die twice.”

His kid self stares at him for a very long time, before gesturing to him while looking over his shoulder at Sabo, “See? What’d I tell you? Crazy person.”

Sabo ignores him, stepping forward. He’s got a determined look in his eyes. It's admirable how collected he looks. But Ace had known Sabo for so long, it'd be an insult to think he couldn’t tell when his brother was nervous. He hates seeing that look on Sabo being caused by him, so he tried his best to look less threatening. Granted, this was hard to do when tied up against a tree, so he mostly just settles for leaning back, offering a reassuring smile.

“Alright, I’m going to ask this again. Who are you , and how did you find our treehouse?” Sabo asks, eyes narrowed. He’s brandishing that pipe like a sword, but Ace can hardly find it intimidating when it fills his chest with a painful wave of nostalgic fondness.

This fondness is broken when his kid self steps forward, glaring at him, “More importantly, what do you want with us?” He asks.

Ace decides to ignore his kid self in favor of giving all his attention to Sabo. 

“I’m still not sure why you don’t recognize me,” Ace says, chuckling softly, “Why would the afterlife give me visions like this and make you guys not remember me? Seems pretty cruel.” His lips curl into a slightly bitter smile, “Not that cruelty is so surprising given my life.”

“What are you-” Sabo starts.

Ace continues, keeping his gaze locked on Sabo, “It’s me , Bo. I’m your brother. Ace.”

The forest plunges into silence, a tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. It is swiftly broken when his kid self starts snickering.

“Yeah, okay, that’s funny,” Mini Ace says, voice dripping with sarcasm and condescension as he turns to Sabo, “C’mon, ‘Bo, help me get rid of this guy, he’s pissing me off.”

Sabo is wearing an oddly neutral expression, head tilted slightly. His kid self raises an eyebrow at him when he doesn’t move.

“‘Bo, don’t tell me you believe him?” Ace asks in disbelief.

“What? No, ‘course not,” Sabo says, shaking his head, “Just kinda wanna hear him answer your question.” Sabo narrows his eyes at him, “Just to see what he comes up with.” 

Ouch. Well, Ace supposes he hasn’t exactly done anything to earn their trust.

“Are you happy, ‘Bo?” Ace finds himself blurting out before he can stop himself. It seems to catch Sabo off guard for a moment, but he doesn’t look any less tense. In fact, he looks kind of suspicious.

“Why would you care? I don’t know you,” Sabo bites back. Ace feels his chest constrict painfully, but refuses to let it show on his face how much that statement hurts. He swallows down the emotion, trying to find a response, but quickly finds himself caught off guard when Luffy comes barreling into him.

He blinks in surprise when he finds himself mere inches away from Luffy’s face, who appears to be inspecting him like one would a weird beetle.

Ace tilts his head, which is being squished by Luffy’s hands, “Whatcha doin there, Lu-?” he starts to ask, but then Luffy’s eyes go wide, and Ace realizes with a start that Luffy has begun crying.

“A-ace?” He whimpers out, “Is that really you?”

“Luffy! Stop being stupid!” Ace feels his hair stand on end when his kid self roughly grabs Luffy, dragging him away.

“Eh! Ace, let go of me!” Luffy whines, squirming. His kid self glares at him, which Ace is happy to throw right back at him.

“Look at what you’ve done, you’ve confused him!” His kid self snaps.

“Luffy, stop , this guy is clearly insane,” Sabo attempts to placate Luffy by placing a hand on the shoulder that his kid self isn’t holding onto. “Just let me and Ace take care of him.”

Luffy yanks himself out of his kid self's grip, expression determined.

“No, he’s telling the truth!” Luffy insists stubbornly, placing himself between the three of them, with Luffy stretching his arms out in a protective gesture. Ace would feel touched if he weren’t feeling annoyed at Luffy feeling like he needed to protect him.

“Lu, stop that, it's fine,” Ace says, trying to sound dismissive instead of annoyed, “I’m not in any danger.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you knew anything about us,” His kid self growls at him, raising his pipe. Ace resists the urge to roll his eyes.

“C’mon and try it then, pipsqueak,” Ace bites back, a teasing, vicious grin on his face.

“Pipsquea-!? Luffy, get out of my way !” His kid self snaps at Luffy when he tries to get between the two of them again.

Ace watches as his younger self roughly shoves Luffy to the side, making him bristle. He knows, deep down, that this was just the way they were as kids. He and Luffy had always roughhoused with each other. He never held back with his kid brother just because he was younger than him.

But this Luffy is so much younger than him, so small. And memories of the chaos of Marineford are so fresh in his mind, the fear for his younger brother is still at an all-time high. Forgive him for being a little on edge.

“Don’t push him like that!” Ace snaps.

His kid self, who looked ready to lunge at him, quickly recoils, taking a few hesitant steps back. Sabo has also raised his weapon, reaching over quickly to grab Luffy by the hem of his shirt and pull (or more accurately, drag) him behind them. Both of them are staring at him with wide eyes.

Ace deflates, a bit confused why they’d react like that, until he glances down at the ropes… oh. He burned through them. He hadn’t meant to do that. When he looks back towards the kids, Sabo and Ace look ready to attack him.

He puts his hands up placatingly, “Hey, hey, easy now. I didn’t mean to do that.”

“You mean you could have broken out at any time?” His kid self hisses out, white-knuckling his pipe.

“Well, yeah, but I was trying not to freak you tw-three out,” Ace says, correcting himself as he speaks, casting a sideways glance at his kid self. That is still taking some getting used to…

“Were you mocking us?” His kid self growls.

“What? No! God, was I always like this as a kid?” Ace says, mostly to himself, but his kid self looks angrier at the comment.

Ace watches Sabo and his kid self share a look. It doesn’t last long, but it's one Ace would recognize anywhere. He knows exactly what it means.

You go low and I’ll aim high.

So when the two of them strike forward like cobras, Ace already knows what they’ll do. He shifts to the side, moving to catch his kid self by the wrist and toss him. When Sabo aims his pipe at his legs, Ace redirects his kid self to send him flying at him. The two collide in midair, but this doesn’t deter his kid self for long, who falls into a tuck and roll, pushing himself up off the ground.

He jumps at him again, which Ace effortlessly dodges. 

“You know, I only came here to talk,” Ace says, aware of the fact that Sabo has also recovered from the toss, circling behind him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

When the two try to lunge at him again, this time his kid self coming at him from the front and Sabo from behind, Ace leans back. He briefly makes eye contact with Sabo, as he (very gently!) redirects the force of the attack away from, angling Sabo so that when he jumps, he can harmlessly roll across the grass.

His kid self isn’t so lucky. He kicks the pipe out of his kid self’s hands, then grabs him by the wrist, twisting it behind his back as he roughly pins him to the ground, making him grunt in pain. He then places his knee on his back for good measure, because lord knows how persistent he was as a kid.

Well, his crewmates would probably say he was still stubbornly persistent when it came to a fight.

Even to his own detriment.

His kid self snarls at him, “You jackass, I’ll kill you!”

Ace frowns at him, “Yeah, good luck with that. How about you stop being a brat and calm down instead?”

“Fuck you!”

“That’s what I figured.”

He glances away from his kid self, who continues to writhe and shout at him, to make sure Sabo is okay. He really hadn’t wanted to fight him. The last thing he wanted right now was for Sabo to get hurt.

Fortunately, Sabo was fine, now crouched on the grass, looking mostly unharmed aside from being a bit dazed. In fact, he looked like he was about to lunge right back into the fray.

Ace was about to shout something to try to calm him down, try to reassure him, but Luffy beats him to it. He coils his arms around Sabo, stopping him in his tracks and preventing him from raising his pipe. Sabo stares down at Luffy with a mix of shock and annoyance.

“Wha- Luffy! Let go of me!” Sabo yells, trying to shove Luffy off.

Luffy only holds on tighter, though, shaking his head stubbornly, “No! You guys gotta stop try’n to hurt Ace!”

“ I’m Ace, you idiot!” Mini Ace hisses from where he’s being pinned down. He keeps trying, and failing, to break from Ace's hold, but Ace’s grip is like iron. “We told you, this guy is crazy!” 

“He’s right, Lu’,” Sabo says, still trying to push Luffy off while maintaining wary eye contact with Ace, “We can’t trust him.”

“Yes we can!” Luffy insists, putting on the biggest, saddest pout he could muster. If puppy dog eyes could kill, Ace was pretty sure he’d be in like, the next level of the afterlife right now. Afterlife two.

“Big Ace!” Luffy says, now looking at Ace, “Say something to make Sabo and Ace believe you!”

Eh! “Eh? What?” Ace blinks, put on the spot. He hadn’t exactly anticipated having to prove his identity to people after dying.

He flounders for a moment, trying to think of a good answer. Sabo is still giving him that icy look, and when he looks down, his kid self has briefly stopped struggling to glare up at him.

“Okay, let’s see… uhm…. oh! There’s that time when me ‘n ‘Bo were little. ‘Bo had only just started livin’ in the Grey Terminal, I think. Cuz’ he was kinda terrible at it, no survival skills back then…” Ace says, mostly thinking out loud.

“Hey!” Sabo says, looking offended.

“There was this time when Sabo ate this super toxic plant. I remember panicking and punching him in the gut to make him throw up. There was also that time he pissed off that goose and it chased him up a tree.”

Sabo is blushing now, while Luffy snickers, “Wow, Sabo was stupid!” He laughs.

Sabo thwacks him over the head, “As if you were one to talk!” he says, red still tinting his cheeks.

Ace makes a kind of half-scoff, half-laugh noise, “Yeah, you were way worse than Sabo ever was. At least he had self-awareness. Luffy, it’s like you want to get eaten sometimes.”

He shakes his head in amused disbelief, “I still remember the time Sabo and I had to cut you out of that alligator’s stomach.”

Luffy just giggles at him, the little menace. “Yeah, that was gross! I thought I was gonna die!”

Ace sticks his tongue out at him. “Then stop charging into danger, you brat.” He chastises, but it’s lighthearted. Mostly because he knows better than to expect Luffy to do what he’s told.

“I’m gonna be king of the pirates!” Luffy says, placing his hands on his hips, “I gotta be strong!”

“You also gotta be alive to do that, Lu’.” Ace remarks.

Next to Luffy, Sabo’s gaze has lost a bit of its bite. He has shifted closer to Luffy, though, for some reason. Ace wonders why. Sabo looks… a little nervous? That had been the opposite reaction Ace was hoping for..

“You could have been stalking us,” His kid self accuses.

“Please, you think you wouldn’t have noticed if you were being followed for weeks on end?” Ace scoffs, looking down at his kid self with a raised eyebrow.

His kid self looks like he wants to argue, but whatever he was going to say seems to die on his tongue. The kid looks like he's realized that denying that would make him look oblivious, and thus, he’s been trapped in a position where he either risks looking stupid or agreeing with Ace, so he chooses neither of these options by keeping his mouth shut and glaring at him instead.

Ace wonders where to go from here. Honestly, he hadn’t come here with a plan to begin with. He just wanted to check on Sabo and make sure he was okay.

Now that he’s done that… well. He’s struck by the realization that he seems to be making Sabo very uncomfortable. A pang of guilt claws at his chest. He didn’t mean to do that. He’d just wanted to see his brother again…

Hmm… he wonders if there was something he could do to help put them at ease. He could just leave, like his kid self wanted him to, but he wasn’t sure if he could do that without his kid self putting up a fight. At this rate, if he wanted to leave, he might have to knock the kid out, which he doubted his brothers would appreciate.

Then, he remembered the thing he left in the forest, and got an idea.

“Listen, how about a peace offering?” Ace offers, loosening his grip on his kid self just enough to allow him to wriggle free. He watches as he stumbles over to stand protectively next to Sabo and Luffy.

His kid self looks about ready to just start throwing hands with him again, but Sabo places a hand on his shoulder, giving him a look. The two share some kind of silent conversation using eye contact, before his kid self glares back at him.

“We don’t want your handouts,” he says sharply.

Ace ignores him and keeps talking, “I killed a big tiger that got in my way earlier. It was on the way here, so it shouldn’t be too far. You three are welcome to have it if you want.”

Luffy’s eyes, as to be expected, grow wide, and he starts drooling, “You brought food? ”

“Luffy!” His kid self shouts.

A thoughtful look crosses Sabo’s face, replaced with something a bit more stunned, before he turns back to Ace. “Wait, what did the tiger look like?” Sabo asks, eyes narrowed.

“Uhh, real big, kinda greyish, lots of scars,” Ace pauses, gesturing to his chin, “Had an especially nasty scar along its jaw.”

Recognition dawns on all three boys, and his kid self stares at him in disbelief.

“You took down the Tiger Lord?” He snaps, eyes wide.

“Yeah!” Ace says cheerfully, “I left it not too far from here.” He turns around, gesturing east, “Bout a quarter mile in that direction, cross the stream that heads towards the mushroom gorge. It’s in a clearing by the-”

Ace barely manages to finish that sentence before Luffy starts sprinting in the direction he pointed with a resounding “MEAT!”.

“Luffy, hey, don’t run off!” Kid Ace shouts, pulling at his hair in frustration. He looks conflicted between wanting to continue to fight Ace and going after Luffy. Sabo gives a small nod.

“Go after him. I think Luffy will get himself killed if he’s alone for more than five seconds,” Sabo says. He gives a sideways glance to Ace, who is still sitting with his legs crossed, before he turns back to Kid Ace with a small smile, “I’ll be fine, I think.”

Kid Ace flashes a look back between Sabo and Ace, before letting out a frustrated growl, “Sabo, keep an eye on him! I’m going after that idiot. Kill him if he tries to pull anything!”

With that, he chases off after Luffy, shouting obscenities in that direction. Ace watches them go, placing his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

That left him and Sabo.

Ace sits back, crossing his legs. There’s a weird, uncomfortable tension in the air. Despite Ace’s relaxed posture, Sabo has remained upright, gripping his pipe while staring at him with intensity.

The last time Sabo looked at him like that was probably back when they first met. They’d both gotten in trouble with the same gang they’d tried to steal from, and had reluctantly had to work together to get themselves out of it. Ace still remembers it like it was yesterday.

Sometimes, shortly after Sabo’s death, Ace would wonder if it would have been better if the two of them had never met. Would Sabo still be alive if that had been the case? Would he have been happy?

What was important right now, though, was making it so Sabo would stop looking at him like that. He wondered if maybe he should just leave. Would that make Sabo happier? He seems nervous having him around…

“Hey,” Sabo says, breaking Ace out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?”

“I have a few questions for you.”

Well, Ace can’t say he blames him. He certainly has questions. Mostly about how he got here. “Fire away,” Ace says, leaning back against the tree he was formerly tied to. He'd gladly answer any questions if it meant Sabo would stop staring at him like that.

Though based on the way he was looking at him right now, Ace couldn't help but feel like this was about to turn into an interrogation. Might as well get comfortable.

Sabo hadn’t known what to think when he, Luffy, and Ace had returned from their trip to the Grey Terminal to find that one of their traps at the treehouse had been activated. One of the traps being triggered could only mean someone had found the treehouse and attempted to get in. Or maybe some stupid animal had gotten caught.

They’d immediately been on high alert, and it hadn’t taken long to find the intruder.... who had jumped down right in front of them.

The strange thing was that the guy acted nothing like how you’d expect someone who just broke into their house to act. He had seemed… emotional at the sight of him and Luffy, as if he knew them.

Ace had shown up shortly after that, ready to jump in and attack the guy for invading their treehouse, but then the guy had just started… coughing up blood.

And damn, there’d been a lot of blood. Which was shortly followed by the guy passing out.

For a moment, all Luffy, Sabo, and Ace had been able to do was stand there and stare at the guy, now lying in a pool of his own blood.

“IS HE DEAD?” Luffy had shouted, snapping him and Ace out of their stupor.

Sabo had been at a loss for what to actually do with the weird stranger, but Ace had insisted they at least tie him up first. Sabo had still been concerned about the whole.. Coughing up blood thing. Seemed like something that you’d need medical attention for.

Well, whatever. The guy had trespassed first, so he probably deserved it.

They’d thought that when the guy finally woke up, they could get answers. When he finally woke up, though, what happened next honestly just left Sabo with even more questions.

Did this guy seriously expect them to believe he was actually Ace? Had he, what? Time-travelled? That was ridiculous.

But then the guy had said things about them that he should have had no way of knowing. Even if he was a stalker like Ace suggested, the detail and way he described stuff made it seem like he had actually experienced those things.

It was unsettling. And weird .

To top off the weirdness cake, the guy, as it turned out, was pretty damn strong. So strong it was obvious he wasn’t taking them seriously. He barely had to make an effort to dodge their attacks, like he instinctively knew their fighting styles and patterns.

It was almost like a dance. It irritated Sabo, and he could tell it was pissing Ace off.

Sabo didn’t get this guy. He was strong, yet he didn’t seem to want anything. He’d suggested a “peace offering” despite having nothing to gain from it. Why bother with this whole convoluted song and dance? What did he want ?

Because if Sabo had learned anything, it was that you never got anything for free. People always wanted something.

So when Ace and Luffy had run off, Sabo had decided to stay behind, for a lot of reasons. Mainly, because he didn’t trust this stranger, this.. Not-Ace, as he’d dubbed him in his head.

Another reason he’d stayed behind? Because he wanted answers.

“If you’re really Ace, then… Why are you an adult?” Sabo asks, accusingly.

“Well, it looks like I’m ten years in the past,” Not-Ace answered, almost sounding unsure, tapping his chin in thought.

“What, did you travel back in time ?” Sabo questions, clearly skeptical.

Not-Ace tilts his head curiously at him, “Time travel, huh? That’s a fun thought.” Not-Ace responds, sounding amused, “I think Marco told me about a devil fruit that could do that once. Never heard of a fruit that could send you to the past, but the Grand Line is full of crazy stuff!”

Sabo gave a frustrated huff at the non-answer, “So are you saying that’s what happened to you or not?”

“Nope!” Not-Ace responds cheerfully, “I already told you I’m dead.”

Right, that is what he had said earlier, wasn’t it?

“If you’re Ace, and you’re dead, then does that mean I’m dead? And Luffy? And why would there be two Aces?” Sabo asks with increasing frustration.

A flash of something somber crosses Not-Ace’s face, and his smile becomes a bit strained, “No, no, Luffy isn’t dead. He can’t be.” There’s something desperate in that tone despite Not-Ace’s attempts to put on a carefree face.

“As for why there are two of me, I think this is like uh.. A reliving memories type situation.”

Sabo keeps staring at him for a moment, processing. “So.. if that’s true… and this is a memory… Does that mean I’m not real?” Sabo asks. This conversation was giving him a headache.

“Do you feel real?” asks Not-Ace, his expression oddly serious.

“I uh? Yes? What kind of question is that?” Sabo asks, annoyance growing.

“Then that’s all that matters!” Not-Ace says too cheerfully, as if that answers any of Sabo’s many questions.

Sabo takes a deep breath. It’s obvious he’s not getting anywhere with this line of questioning, and trying to get concrete answers out of this guy was only leading to frustration.

His mind wanders as he tries to think of something else he could ask. As weird as this whole conversation has been, he can’t deny the fact that the guy did know stuff he shouldn’t.

Not to mention something about him just felt so familiar….

But what else could he ask to confirm his identity? Something that only he and Ace would know?

Then it clicked.

Oh, he could ask him about that .

“Can I ask you another question?” Sabo asks, fidgeting with his pipe.

“Sure.”

Sabo takes a deep breath. He knows this is a sore subject for his Ace and would most certainly result in Ace beating him over the head. If this guy isn’t Ace, it should be a fairly innocent question, but if he is…

Well, life is all about taking risks, I guess.

“Who is your father?” Sabo asks, already tensing in anticipation of an answer.

The reaction from Not-Ace is almost immediate, with how his expression darkens, and the corner of his mouth tightens into a grimace. He’s glaring, but even though it doesn’t seem to be directed at Sabo, it still sends a chill down his spine.

It’s uncanny, because that’s exactly the kind of reaction his Ace would have to being asked that question. To be reminded of him .

Sabo is fully expecting Not-Ace to start yelling at him with an expression like that, like how his Ace would probably start yelling at him.

Instead, he gets a different kind of response.

“Whitebeard,” Not-Ace says, with a bold finality that leaves no room for discussion.

Sabo opens and closes his mouth, trying to find a response. That… was not what he’d been expecting. Then again, he isn’t sure what he was expecting. This couldn’t be Ace. That’d be impossible. 

Normally, such a response would be enough for Sabo to confirm that this must not be Ace. The real Ace’s father was Roger. While he wouldn’t normally blurt that out to just anybody, Sabo knew who Ace’s dad was, so any version of Ace would know that he knows. So, finding out this guy apparently has another dad should confirm that he isn’t Ace.

Except… that doesn’t account for the cold look Not-Ace had gotten when asked about his father. The vibes he’d given off were just way too much like Ace.

“He’s… your father?”

“Only father that matters to me.” 

Ah. Well. That had more implications.

Sabo bites his lip. He should push. He should get some kind of actual confirmation. This guy could be operating on fortune-teller logic. But even that excuse seems flimsy to him, because he’d given such specific details about their lives earlier…

So instead, he decides to ask a different question, “... I find it kinda hard to believe Whitebeard is your dad. Isn’t he like… a famous pirate?”

Almost immediately, Not-Ace’s whole demeanor changes, and a big fond grin spreads on his face, “Yep! He’s my captain, and the greatest pirate in the world!”

“Sorry, you have a captain?” Sabo is unable to stop himself from asking in disbelief. He knows he shouldn’t be entertaining the idea of this guy being Ace, but that is the most shocking thing any version of Ace could possibly say. He can’t imagine his Ace taking orders from anyone.

“Surprising, I know,” Ace chuckles, “I had my own crew at first. We were called the Spades. We sailed the Grand Line together for about a year before we met Pops.

"I challenged him to a fight. ‘Thought if I could kill one of the four emperors of the sea, one of the strongest pirates in the world, I’d be recognized for my own merits. 

"Yeah, no, Pops kicked my ass.

"For some reason, Pops saw something in me despite all that. Asked me to join his crew. ‘Course I said no at first. Pops said my options were either to stay and become his son or leave and get stronger to challenge him again. I chose neither at first, and just stuck around stubbornly trying to kill him.”

Not-Ace laughs fondly at the memory, as if it's some whimsical past experience and not like. Attempted murder.

“Took me about 100 tries before I stopped and finally decided to join them, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made.” 

One hundred tries… Well, that did sound like something Ace would do. He was stubborn to a fault and never backed down from a fight.

Sabo continued to stare at Not-Ace, but now he really took the time to look at him. When he disregarded how insane it would be for his Ace and this guy to be the same person, they really… did look a lot alike. Dark eyes, freckles, and black hair.

His mannerisms, too, were so much like Ace's. Sure, this Ace's more sociable and carefree demeanor had thrown Sabo for a loop at first, but his reaction to being asked who his father was was so much like the Ace he knew.

Sabo felt… conflicted. He isn’t sure he can believe the guy, but everything he said…

Sabo pushes the thoughts away, heaving a sigh. A devil fruit, huh? That would be an explanation. Sabo had known Luffy long enough to know that devil fruits were weird and defied logic.

Still didn’t explain why the guy thought he was dead, though. What a weird detail to throw in. Sabo closes his eyes and lets out a long sigh. 

“You seem stressed,” Not-Ace comments.

Sabo opens his eyes and stares sharply at Not-Ace, a look that very much reads ‘not impressed’. “Gee, I wonder why,” he mutters.

Not-Ace’s expression shifts, looking a bit more.. Sorrowful? No, that’s not quite right. Sabo isn’t sure there’s a word to describe the look Not-Ace is giving him.

“Sabo,” he says seriously, making Sabo stiffen at the tone, “I… never came here intending to make you uncomfortable.”

Well, he certainly failed if that was the case.

“If you want me to leave… I can. I would never want to do anything to hurt you. You should be free… free to live your life and be happy.”

Sabo feels..... something painful constrict in his chest. He bites his lip and looks away. He shouldn’t be getting so worked up by words coming from a stranger.

“You… wanted to know if I was happy?” Sabo asks slowly, carefully meeting Not-Ace’s eyes. He looks… remorseful. Sad?

Guilty?

“I am,” Sabo says softly, “Really. Luffy and Ace, they’re…” Sabo shouldn’t say too much. Talking about things like this with adults has done nothing but cause him problems in the past, but something about this stranger makes that feeling of trepidation seem far away. “I wouldn’t trade this life for the world.”

Something akin to relief flashes in Not-Ace’s eyes, and Sabo isn’t sure why the expression suddenly makes him feel so relaxed.

“That’s… good.” He says, body sagging. He suddenly looks a lot more exhausted, the scar on his chest seeming deeper and more pronounced. He offers a warm smile, “I’m really glad to hear that.”

He’s so much like Ace and yet so… not . It was like staring at a reflection, in every sense of the word.

A loud crash catches Sabo’s attention, as he and Not-Ace immediately turn towards the source, coming from the woods. It's quickly accompanied by distant yelling. Sounds like Ace and Luffy are back.

“Ah, looks like that’s my cue to leave,” Not-Ace remarks, lazily rising to his feet with a stretch.

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Sabo asks, jumping to his feet.

“Yeah, I don’t think my kid self is too happy about me being here,” Not-Ace says with a mirthful laugh, “‘Sides, I got what I came here for. Seeing you and Luffy safe was enough for me.”

There’s something so… longing in that sentence. Something so sad despite the finality of it. Longing isn’t the right word.

It seemed almost like mourning.

Sabo can’t ask him to stay because he knows he’s right. He also can’t ask him to stay because he doesn’t know what to believe about him yet.

Maybe… maybe they could try talking later. Sabo is sure he could find some time to sneak out at some point, maybe after Ace has calmed down, preferably.

I wonder if the guy will stick around. Sabo wonders. The guy claimed he got what he came here for, so would he have any reason to stay nearby? He might go back to wherever he came from.

“I’m gonna say goodbye to Luffy before I head out, and grab some of that tiger meat,” The guy says, gesturing towards the direction of Ace and Luffy. “You coming?”

“Y...yeah,” Sabo says, and hesitantly follows the guy. This should be a good thing, right? That this guy's leaving? 

So why does Sabo finds himself feeling… uneasy at the thought of him leaving? Is it because he's an unknown? Someone who could pose a threat, and he needs to keep an eye on? Or is it just the fact that he is saying stuff Sabo can’t piece together yet? A mystery Sabo can’t figure out?

Is there any truth to what he’s saying?

Sabo doesn’t know, but… he’s determined to get to the bottom of this.

Chapter Text

Ace curses as he chases after Luffy. He hadn’t wanted to leave Sabo alone with that guy. He was dangerous , that much the bastard had been made obvious with how he’d been taunting them the whole fight.

The nerve! Ace has no idea what that guy’s deal was, but if this weirdo tried to hurt his brothers…

Ace ducks under a branch and leans back as he slides down a rocky encampment. Luffy, only a few yards ahead of him, trips on the rocks, tumbling the rest of the way with a loud yelp. Ace watches him fumble, having no sympathy for him.

“Luffy!” He snaps, stepping over the rocks and reaching out to grab him. His brother is a little weasel, though, and just barely manages to jump out of the way, springing up like a slinky and continuing to mindlessly bolt in the direction the stranger had sent them.

“Luffy, you-! Stop!” Ace shouts, vaulting across the grass to tackle Luffy, causing them to fall into a tangle of limbs. In a practiced motion, Ace grips both of Luffy’s wrists, tying them in knots behind the kid’s back when he tries to throw a punch. 

Luffy struggles against the self-made restraints, whining in frustration, “Aa-aace! Let me go! I wanna get to the meat!”

“Stop being stupid!” Ace snaps as he punches Luffy on the head, making the boy hiss in pain and continue to get himself tied up in even worse knots trying to break free. “Did you even think? You could have been running into a trap! I had to leave Sabo behind because of you!”

Luffy stops struggling, looking at Ace with a very weird expression. Confused, mostly, “What’s Ace talkin’ about?” he asks, sounding genuinely confused in a way that only worsened Ace’s temper.

“That guy is bad news, Luffy!” Ace says, feeling like he’s talking to a toddler. Sometimes, trying to have a conversation with Luffy was like trying to explain math to a beetle. “You can’t just… trust him like that!”

Now Luffy is looking at Ace like he’s the one being silly, “Big Ace is nice! He’s like regular Ace, just bigger now!” Luffy says cheerfully. “We can trust him!” 

For some reason, he seems to see no issue with what he just said, or how insane it sounds.

Ace flicks Luffy on the nose, making him pinch his face up, “Don’t call him that! This is exactly what I’m talking about. ” Ace sighs and picks himself up from where he’d been holding Luffy, and looks around. He wonders, if the guy really did kill the tiger king like he claims, how far are they from it?

“Why don’t chu like big Ace?” Luffy asks, who has evidently decided to ignore him about not acting so familiar with the guy. 

“He’s not me , Luffy! He’s just some.... guy!” Ace says through gritted teeth. He decides at that moment he isn’t going to bother helping Luffy figure out how to untangle himself as he walks away,  ignoring the sound of protest from Luffy, who still hasn’t yet figured out how to get his arms out of the knots they’ve been tied into.

He spots the stream the stranger had mentioned, and as he walks, the trees become more sparse. The scenery soon changes as the trees give way to a small, rocky, mushroom-littered clearing.

Then, he freezes. At the edge of the clearing, slumped over against a pile of felled trees, is the tiger.

It’s just as huge as Ace remembers it. Even as a corpse, it still manages to be imposing. Though now, some of that fear is diminished by the ashen fur and the lifeless eyes. Crazy how it had seemed larger than life only a couple of days ago…..

Ace approaches it cautiously, getting close enough to confirm that yes, it is in fact dead. Totally fried by the looks of it. Ace wonders if the meat is even still good, as he pokes the burnt pelt. Great, he’d been hoping to sell that when they took this pain in the ass down, looked pretty ruined to him.

He sets his pipe down, pulling out his knife. He might as well check if the meat was still good before they drag this thing all the way back to the treehouse.

“Ace! Lemmie have some!” Luffy shouts, stumbling over himself, still tied up, as he tries to reach over Ace’s shoulder.

He swats at him, trying to keep the idiot from accidentally cutting himself on the knife. “Stop that! Let me finish cutting first, damn it!”

As soon as he gets Luffy to calm down, he gets back to work carving into the tiger’s pelt. As he cuts through the charred pelt and gets to the flesh underneath, he’s surprised to see it’s mostly fine. No charring or anything. In fact, towards the skin it almost smelled… cooked? Was that even possible?

“That smells so good!” Luffy shouts, excitedly jumping in place. Ace sighs, putting his knife away.

“Well, it looks… good enough, I guess.” He relents. Then, turns back to Luffy, pulling his brother’s arm up and over his head. Luffy blinks at him, before noticing he is in a better position to untangle his limbs, and quickly wriggles to free himself. 

He triumphantly raises his hands, “I’m free!” He shouts.

Ace rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, free from something you did to yourself,” He snorts. “Now help me carry this back to the treehouse.”

“Yush!”

The walk back is slow, serving to put Ace’s nerves on edge. At some point along the way back, Luffy had started humming, totally oblivious.

Ace didn’t understand how Luffy could be so unbothered by a mystery guy showing up who claimed impossible things and knew private details about their lives. 

Ace trusted Luffy, but that didn’t mean he trusted Luffy’s judgment .

“Oh hey, there you guys are!”

Ace’s frown quickly deepens when he hears that voice. He grips his pipe tightly as he moves to position himself between the jerk-intruder and Luffy. He relaxes only a smidge when he spots Sabo, who is, thankfully, unharmed.

“Hey Sabo! We got meat!” Luffy shouts excitedly, waving at him.

“I see that,” Sabo remarks, taking it all in.

Actually, as Ace makes eye contact with Sabo, he notices a very weird expression on Sabo’s face. Like he’s just seen a ghost.

Immediately, Ace shot an accusatory glare at the stranger, a familiar mix of fear and anger bubbling in his chest.

“What did you do?” He demands.

The stranger has the audacity to laugh, “Good to see you too,” he says, brushing off Ace’s concerns with a non-answer. 

Behind him, Luffy, the traitor, beams, rushing past Ace to run up to the stranger. Ace ignores the way his heartbeat shudders when he sees Luffy so at ease with someone so… 

“Big Ace! How’d you kill that tiger? You must be really strong!” Luffy exclaims, practically jumping into the stranger’s arms.

“Is that what you’re calling me now?” The stranger asks, sounding amused. 

“Well duhhh, I can’t call you both Ace!” Luffy says, pouting as he hangs off the stranger’s arm.

“Hmm, good point! But technically, I’m older, so I was first. Shouldn’t that mean I’m Ace and my kid self is Little Ace?” The man flashes a grin at him that gets on his nerves.

“Call me that again and I’ll break your kneecaps,” Ace snaps, fingernails digging into his palms.

“Anyway!” The man says, continuing to piss Ace off with his flippant attitude, “You gotta be real strong to survive the Grand Line! That’s how I beat the tiger!”

“Woahhhh! I wanna be strong too! Just you wait, Ace! I’m gonna be Pirate King!”

“I’m sure you will, Luffy,” The man says. “Anyway, I think it’s about time I head out.”

“What!” Luffy cries, dropping down from where he’d been hanging off the guy, “but we barely got to do anything! I wanted to explore with you!”

That look is back on the guy’s face. The one of fondness and also incredible sadness. It makes Ace angry for some reason: “Maybe another time, Luffy.” He answers as he expertly untangles himself from Luffy’s grip. It’s a practiced motion, Ace notes, something he’s clearly had to do before…

Man, this guy just gets more and more confusing.

“There better not be another time,” Ace bites out. Luffy’s only response is to stick his tongue out at him.

“Why not?” Luffy protests.

“‘Cuz I said so!”

“That’s not a reason! You sound like Dadan!”

“No, I don’t!”

“Hey! Both of you cut that out!” The guy says, ruffling Luffy’s hair forcefully enough to shove him slightly. “How about the three of you focus on skinning this big tiger instead?”

Luffy looked like he had wanted to pout up at the guy, but at the reminder of food, he immediately brightened up instead. Before Luffy can run off, though, the stranger grabs him by the neck of his shirt.

“Not so fast, bud. I don’t think I trust you with a knife,” the stranger says.

“Get out of here already!” Ace snaps, patience thinning. The guy’s unbothered demeanor was really stressing him out.

The guy just rolls his eyes, tossing the knife he took from Luffy to Sabo. “Alright, alright, I’m leaving.”

“Luffy!” Sabo says loudly, distracting the boy who looks like he wants to pester the weird guy some more, “Help me make a fire so we can cook the meat!”

Luffy looks torn between wanting to talk to the weird guy more and wanting food, lip quivering as he glances between the two. It’s the most torn Ace thinks he’s seen Luffy about anything, and the fact that it's directed at some guy Ace doesn’t know just makes his anger intensify.

“Luffy! If you keep standing around, I'll get the first pick!” Ace snapped. This makes Luffy zero in on him, pout intensifying.

“No fair!”

“Yes, fair! Now go help Sabo!”

The guy, who’s carved out a chunk of meat and thrown it over his shoulder while they were talking, waves Luffy off, “Go on, Lu. You’ll be able to eat sooner if you help out!” Damn him for trying to be helpful.

Luffy is pulled along by Sabo, who spares one last glance back at the stranger, offering a little wave, “Ok… bye, Big Ace! I’ll see you later!”

“Cya Luff!” The stranger says, then, more quietly, “Bye, ‘Bo.”

Sabo tenses, sparing a glance at the stranger, before turning away.

The action spurs a feeling of protectiveness in Ace. He stalks towards the man as he’s getting ready to leave.

“Hey!” Ace yells. The man pauses, tilting his head at him. He hates the way he looks at him. It makes him feel… small.

“I don’t know who you are, or what you’re planning, but if you even think about messing with my brothers,” His eyes narrow, “I’ll kill you.”

The man stares at him appraisingly, then he smirks, “I’ll hold you to that.” He says, before turning and leaving.

Ace watches him go with irritation and confusion, which quickly turns into anger. Crazy weirdo . He thinks before heading back to join his brothers. Looks like they’ve already started a fire going.

“Who does that guy think he is, anyway…” Ace mutters, sitting down next to Sabo. Sabo hands him a cut of meat to roast over the fire, which Ace gladly takes.

“Ace! Bigger Ace!” Luffy says excitedly, leaning over Sabo, who is trying, and failing, to keep the idiot from burning himself on meat that isn’t finished cooking yet.

Ace had already had this argument with Luffy, so he turned to Sabo instead, “Did you learn anything from him?”

Sabo shoves Luffy off of him, making the boy tumble into the dirt with an oomph, “Uh… yeah. He said some pretty interesting stuff.”

“Interesting?”

“I dunno… said he was a famous pirate? With the Whitebeards…”

Whitebeard? Now that's a name Ace recognized.

“No way,” Ace says, shaking his head, “They’re supposed to be like, super strong.”

“Well, he was pretty strong…” Sabo points out.

Ace ‘tsks’, and glares at the fire. Sabo was right. That guy had treated them like they were just annoying him at best. It had been like trying to fight Gramps.

“He also mentioned there was a devil fruit that could allow the user to time travel,” Sabo remarks.

“You know, Sabo, there’s this thing called lying-” Ace starts with a smirk, earning him a huff from Sabo. With playful anger, he grabs one of the chunks of tiger meat and tosses it at Ace, who shields himself with a snickering laugh.

“I know he could be lying, you jerk,” Sabo says, “I’m just saying it’s probably unlikely.”

Ace isn’t sure why, but his chest twists uncomfortably at that. “ Why ?” He asks in disbelief.

“Just, I dunno. The way he described things. It all seems so needlessly convoluted. Why make up a lie like that? And I don’t just mean the devil fruit. The whole story is outlandish. If he wanted to make up a story to gain our trust, why go with that of all things?”

Just because Sabo had a point did not mean Ace liked or wanted to accept it.

“I don’t buy it,” Ace says stubbornly, crossing his arms, “And I don’t buy him .”

Ace wasn’t sure why Sabo couldn’t see it. He understands why Luffy would fall for the guy’s bullshit. He loved his brother, sure, but he also knew Luffy was an idiot. Sabo was supposed to be smarter than that, though. He’d always been clever. Shared Ace’s distrust for authority and adults, too. 

Ace did not like this guy’s vibes. Everything about him felt off. The way he stared at his brothers with such… fondness. It made Ace’s hair stand on end.

“I still think he’s just a creep,” Ace says as he reaches for another slice of meat. “Watching us when we weren’t looking.”

“You really think you and I wouldn’t have noticed a guy like that sneaking around us for this long?” Sabo asks skeptically.

Ace has no answer for that because it would mean admitting weakness. He’s always been perceptive. If you aren’t aware of your surroundings, you’ll be eaten; that’s a rule you learn quickly while living in the jungle.

The idea that a guy like that could have been watching them while remaining undetected that whole time… did nothing to quell the feelings of unease brewing in Ace’s gut.

“Look, I’m not saying I trust him,” Sabo continues, “It’s just really weird the stuff he knew. He…” he takes a deep breath, “He knows about your dad.”

Ace freezes, digging his nails into his arms.

He glares down at the ground. Bastard, of fucking course ….

“I don’t like this, Sabo.”

“Me neither.”

“I do!” Luffy says, oblivious, “Now there are two Aces!”

Ace grabs a piece of charcoal from the ground and chucks it at Luffy. He shrieks, wiping the soot off his face while shooting a dirty look at Ace.

“We could tail him,” Sabo hums thoughtfully, interrupting them, “See where he leads us. If he goes to Bluejam or somewhere else suspicious, we can just ambush him before he can say anything.”

“Hmm… that could work,” Ace muses, picking anxiously at the ground. “We’d just have to leave Luffy behind. He couldn’t be sneaky to save his life.”

“Hey! I can be sneaky!” Luffy insists, puffing out his chest.

“Says the guy who fell into that wolf’s den,” Sabo snickers.

Normally, Ace might smile at that. But the knowledge this guy has about him is way too unsettling. Everything is confusing right now. It doesn’t help that Sabo seems more uncertain than when they’d met him. Damn it! If only he had been here and heard what they talked about….

“Enough of this,” Ace spits out restlessly, standing up. He raises his fists, taking a defiant stance as he glares over at Sabo, “Get up, we’re sparring.”

“What? Right now ?” Sabo says, glancing over at the dying embers of the fire. “Ace, it’s dark.”

“So?” Ace is quick to say, grinning, “Don’t tell me you’re scared.” He adds with a taunting jeer.

“I’m not scared ,” Sabo bites back, “It’s just late and I…” he trails off, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with a long sigh. When he opens them, he meets Ace’s determined look with one of his own. “Fine, let’s do this. If you’re going to be pissy, I’m not going easy on you, though.”

“Perfect,” Ace says as he drops into a fighting stance, long shadows cast by the flames of the bonfire, “Bring it on.”

Sabo, true to his word, doesn’t pull any punches when he charges forward. Ace ducks out of the way as Sabo lunges, and Sabo quickly counters by trying to swipe one of his legs under Ace’s feet.

Ace stumbles back, dropping down to his back and using his palms to push himself into a roll to avoid Sabo punching him in the stomach, landing a kick to Sabo’s chin.

“Woo! Go Sabo! Go Ace!” Luffy shouts as Ace shoots forward and attempts to land a punch to Sabo’s chest. Sabo raises his arms to act as a guard, then dodges to the side, as the two of them exchange blows.

Ace feigns a blow, and when Sabo ducks, he manages to hit him in the shoulder. Sabo stumbles back as Ace lunges at him, the two of them going tumbling in the dirt.

Sabo manages to grab him by the back of his shirt and kick him off, attempting to pin him, but Ace kicks back, fast enough that though Sabo dodges, it leaves him unbalanced. As Sabo stumbles forward, Ace doesn’t give him time to balance himself, as he grabs him from behind. Sabo tries to headbutt him, but Ace pins him in a chokehold.

Sabo pants as he struggles to break free for a few seconds, before going limp. He stares over his shoulder at Ace, who’s grinning down at him from where he’s pinning him down..

“I win.” He says.

Sabo groans and pushes at his arms weakly, “Alright, alright, now get off.” He says, rubbing his neck.

“Oh! Oh!” Luffy jumps up, “I wanna spar too! C’mon Ace!”

Ace watches Sabo give Luffy a look, shaking his head at the two of them.

“Alright, Luff,” Ace says, a menacing grin spreading onto his face, as he swings the pipe to rest loosely on his shoulder, “Let’s go, then.”

Sabo makes sure to get out of the way before he can get caught in the crossfire, but it’s not like this will take very long. He sits down on a log a few feet away and watches as the two of them throw themselves at each other.

Luffy quickly throws himself at Ace, much like he usually does. He waves his arms back, tossing his fists like a whip. He makes it so easy, sometimes.

Ace effortlessly dodges, grabbing Luffy’s arms and shifting his weight to toss his kid brother over his shoulder. Luffy shrieks as he is thrown into a tree, falling onto his head. He whines, rubbing his head, before Ace grabs him and pins him down, placing his foot on his back.

“Luffy, you gotta stop doing that,” Ace huffs, gently kicking Luffy’s back.

He rolls over, pouting at him, “Doing what?”

“Being predictable!” 

“But I just made up the gum gum whip!”

Ace sighs, “I mean… what’s the word-”

“Telegraphing,” Sabo supplies.

Ace snaps his fingers, “You telegraph your moves too much. You make it too easy.” He flicks Luffy’s nose, “Be faster, stupid.”

“Oh yeah?” Luffy jumps up, “I can be faster! Let’s go again!”

“Nope, it’s my turn,” Sabo says, pushing up from where he’s sitting.

“I thought you were tired?” Ace snarks, giving Sabo a smirk.

“I’m not gonna half ass sparring,” Sabo says, stretching, before crouching down with a feral grin, “I’ll kick your ass this go around.”

“As if!” Ace laughs, dropping into a fighting stance. 

The sparring goes on like that for a little while longer. By the time it ends, the flames of the fire have died down to just embers, and the three boys are all panting from exhaustion. Sabo wipes his brow, taking a deep breath as he sits down next to Luffy.

“Do you feel better now?” Sabo asks, a slight jeer to his voice, trying not to let any exhaustion show.

“Yeah, I do, actually,” Ace ignores his taunting, sitting down beside him on the log. Sabo turns to Luffy, who is nursing the bruise Ace had managed to leave on his cheek.

“Hey Luff, do you need ice for that?” He asks, shooting a look at Ace, who just shrugs.

“Mmm… no, I dun think so,” Luffy says.

“Good, because I don’t want to waste the ice in the ice box, and I don’t know where we’d find any extra ice at this hour,” Sabo says, frowning as he stares up at the sky. The sun has completely set at this point, the sky only illuminated by the glow of the moon and stars.

“What about the peak?” Ace points out, gesturing to the top of the mountain. Sabo makes a face at him.

“I am not hiking all the way up the mountain while it's pitch black out.” 

“Sounds like something a coward would say.”

In lieu of a response, Sabo smacks him on the shoulder, which just elicits a laugh from Ace.

“So, what we gonna do tomorrow?” Luffy asks, hopping on the log, “We gonna go see Big Ace?”

Instantly, the mood sours again. Sabo cringes, while Ace scowls. “We are not doing that,” Ace says.

“Then what are we gonna do?” Luffy pouts, plopping down in the grass.

“Well, we were gonna go test out those skills we’d been learning from that old pirate to try to take down the tiger lord, but…” He glances at the cut-up remains of the carcass sitting a few feet away from them.

“Tsk, don’t remind me…” Ace mutters, glaring at the grass, “That jerk stole our kill.”

Sabo pats him on the back, “There are plenty of other giant animals on the island. We could probably test our skills out on another one of the animal lords higher up the mountain.”

“Oh! Oh! You think the Bear Lord is out of uhh… not sleeping anymore?” Luffy asks, sitting up.

“It’s called hibernation,” Sabo says, tapping his chin, “And maybe? We haven’t been up near that area in a while. No harm in checking it out.”

“Yush! This’ll be fun!” Luffy shouts, pumping his fists weakly. He then yawns, arms going weak and fists flopping to the ground, all stretched out.

“Right, well, that seems like our cue to sleep,” Sabo yawns too, glancing up at the sky. “It’s pitch black. We can go hunting tomorrow.”

“But I’m not,” Another yawn from Luffy, “Even tired…”

“Uh-huh,” Sabo says, rolling his eyes as he scoops Luffy up and hoists him over his shoulder. Luffy makes a vague noise of protest. “Well, I am, so I say we go to bed. You coming, Ace?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah…”

As the three of them made their way back to the treehouse to turn in for the night, Ace glanced towards the forest one last time. He still couldn’t shake the discomfort that had been lingering in the back of his mind since that guy had left.

Slowly, he turned back to follow his brothers. It didn’t matter. If that guy came back… well, he wouldn’t let himself be caught off guard like last time.

He would get stronger and make sure he could protect Sabo and Luffy, no matter what.

Ace had set aside the leg pelt and bones from the meal he’d just finished. He had considered making himself a hammock, but tanning the hide would take a while, and right now he was bone tired. He hadn’t even done much today, aside from killing that tiger and the brief tiff with Sabo and his kid self, yet his whole body ached.

Well, I guess I did die, so that’s something. He muses.

Maybe that’s just how death works. You came in with the energy level you went out with? Man, people who go peacefully must be pretty lucky. Although if that was the case, Ace felt like he should be in a lot more pain right now.

… He was too tired to think about the ramifications of death right now.

Instead, he flops down on the grass, tucking his hands behind his head as he gazes up at the sky. In all the time Ace had been alive, it had always remained unchanged, the same cycle of stars and constellations that were always there. Now is no different.

As his eyes drift across the sky, he’s reminded of when he shared a moment with someone like this the last time he was on Wano.

The fire had gone out at that point, now a dull orange glow against the darkness. Yamato had flopped down to lie next to Ace, across from him, so their heads were next to each other.

“You know,” Yamato said, smiling, “I heard a story once. About how a long time ago, there was a group of divine sisters who came down from heaven. They were the children of the dragon emperor and had snuck out without his permission.

While there, one of them fell in love with a mortal farmer. She decided to stay behind with him and start a family. Her sisters tried to cover for her, but their father eventually learned of her life with the farmer.

He was angry with her and brought her back to heaven against her will. The farmer tried to visit her, crafting a boat to sail across the stars, but the dragon emperor cut across the sky with his claws, forever separating them.”

Ace hummed, eyes trailing across the sky, “Not a very happy ending, huh?”

Yamato chuckles, but there’s a tinge of yearning in his voice as he continues, “They say that once a year, the stars themselves take pity on the two star-crossed lovers, and form a bridge to connect them. Giving them just a moment to be together….”

Yamato trailed off. Ace tilted his head to glance over at him and noticed he’d turned away from him.

“Hey,” Ace said softly, placing a hand on Yamato’s shoulder, “You okay?”

Yamato finally looked at him.

“You’re leaving tomorrow.” He said simply.

Ace’s chest twists painfully.  “I’ll come back,” Ace said, voice resolute, “And I’m not going to leave you behind next time.”

He reaches out, grabbing Yamato’s hand.

“You promise?” Yamato asked softly. There’s a spark of hope in his eyes.

“Promise,” Ace said, smiling, “Then you can join my crew, and I can show you everything the world has to offer.”

Ace squeezes his eyes shut and curls in on himself. He can’t bring himself to look at the stars right now, being reminded of that. How many other promises had he failed to keep?

He chews his lip so bad he’s pretty sure he can taste blood, tossing onto his side. All he can do is lie there, cold from the night air and guilt, as he waits for sleep to finally take him.

Chapter Text

Sleep was restless for Ace. Pure exhaustion was probably the only reason he finally fell asleep at all. He ended up being woken up just a few hours later by an intense wave of nausea and pain, and spent the next few minutes throwing up the dinner he’d eaten the night before.

The rest of the night had passed similarly, falling asleep and then being plagued by fits of restlessness, pain, and general feelings of sickness. Eventually, Ace gave up trying to sleep, rolling over with a defeated groan and rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes.

He glances up at the sky. There’s just a thin layer of sunlight peeking over the mountains, but it was hardly morning.

Well, guess I'd better get up anyway, he thinks. Doubt I'll fall asleep again at this rate. Plus, I'm starving.

He regrets this decision almost as soon as he tries to move. Moving sends a jolt of pain up his entire body, particularly in his chest. He props himself up on his elbows, squeezing his eyes shut as his whole body sways. He covers his mouth with a hand, a fresh wave of nausea coming over him.

He really did not want to throw up again.

It’s like an internal conflict. Hunger and nausea are dueling it out. He’s so hungry, yet he feels like he’s lost his appetite.

Deciding to ignore the pain, he forces himself up. This isn’t the first time he’s had to hunt while sick. He’d certainly never allowed himself to show weakness around the bandits.

It’s still weird to him, feeling like he needs to eat. If he’s being honest, the fact that he woke up here again is still kind of a surprise. He’s not really sure what he was expecting, though. 

He won’t complain, though, about getting to be here on Dawn.

I wonder if I could take something for the pain. Ace wonders as he picks himself up, stretching. Fortunately, he did happen to know of something that could probably help. He doesn’t know if it’ll work, granted, but… he doesn’t have anything better to do today.

The trek there is peaceful, if not a bit….. Frustrating. He’s painfully aware of all the ways his body isn’t cooperating with him. For some reason, as soon as he started walking, his legs began feeling all tingly. Similar to the sensation of your legs falling asleep, but worse somehow. Like they were stuck full of pins and needles.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to walk very far to find what he's looking for.

It’s a meadow containing a particular purple poppy. When Ace was a kid, he'd learned that the seeds could act as natural pain relievers. They weren’t strong, but they could get the job done for mild pain.

… Ace wouldn’t say what he was experiencing right now was mild, but some relief was better than none. His options right now were kind of limited. 

A rustling of the bushes behind him gets Ace’s attention as he is crouched over the plants, picking out the seed pods. He adjusts his position a bit, putting the seeds away in his pocket as he twists around to face the noise.

His caution immediately dissolves when he hears the hushed whisper of voices he’d recognize anywhere behind the bushes.

Soon after, Luffy bursts out into the open, falling on his face.

Ace relaxes immediately. Luffy gets up, shaking his head, looking a bit dazed, until he spots Ace. His eyes light up, and Ace spreads his arms to allow Luffy to crash right into him. Ace tries not to wince at the impact as he ruffles Luffy’s hair, falling back to sit on his heels.

“Hey Luffy, what are you doing here?” He laughs.

Luffy pushes Ace’s hand away from his head, grinning up at him, “Big Ace, fight me!” He shouts.

“Fight you?” Ace repeats, unable to hide the big grin on his face. Seeing Luffy’s big smiling face, happy and free of any injury or exhaustion, was enough to help Ace feel better.

“Yeah!” Luffy says, pushing away from Ace and placing his hands on his hips, “Sabo and Ace got to fight you yesterday, so I wanna do it too.”

Ace leans back, resting a hand on his knee as he crosses his legs, “Weren’t you the one who tried to stop them from fighting me? And now you wanna fight? Kind of hypocritical of you, Lu?”

“Hippo political?” Luffy says, tilting his head in a way reminiscent of a confused dog.

“ Hypocritical . It means when you tell someone not to do something and that it's bad, but then decide to do it yourself,” Ace explains, which just makes Luffy pout at him.

“It’s not hyp..hippo-whatever!” Luffy says, stamping his foot, “That was different! They thought you were bad when you weren’t bad. I wanna train! Different! I wanna get stronger, to be strong like you and Sabo and protect my crew!” 

Ace feels something twist painfully at his chest, staring at his little brother. Memories of Marineford linger in the back of his mind. Of his little brother busting into Impel Down to save him. Of him falling out of the sky at Marineford, ready to risk his life to save him. A part of him so desperately just wanted to squeeze him, and tell him he won’t ever have to worry about anyone hurting him or Sabo as long as he’s here to protect them.

The other part knows Luffy. He knows his little brother will always be diving headfirst into danger no matter what he does to try to keep him safe.

So he’ll do his part to make sure Luffy is strong enough for the Grand Line, and everything it has to throw at him.

“Alright, okay, you win, Lu,” he says, placing his hands on his knees. “I’ll fight you.”

“Yes!” Luffy shouts, springing back in excitement, pumping his fists in the air.

“You remember the ground rules for our spars, right?” Ace asks, pushing himself up to his feet. Luffy nods quickly.

“Good,” Ace says with a satisfied smile, which turns into a smirk as he stares down Luffy, “Come at me, then.”

The conversation the other night, despite Sabo’s best attempts not to think about it, had gotten under his skin, and he was left feeling kind of anxious. He wouldn’t admit that to Ace, though. He could tell his brother had been restless too. He grimaces, rubbing his arm at the memory. Yeah, he had the bruises to prove it.

He really hated fighting Ace when he got like that. Ace was already a tough opponent, but he always gets so much more vicious and mean when he’s upset.

Sabo was curious about the stranger. Sure, he and Ace had already made plans to follow him if they saw him again, but outside of wariness, there was just.. Well. Sabo didn’t know. For some reason, a part of him wasn’t convinced the guy was a threat.

The first thing Sabo would have to do, though, before they could start their investigation, is figure out where the guy set up camp.

I can look for his camp this morning, Sabo thinks, before Ace and Luffy wake up.

Ace wasn’t very good at being subtle when he was upset. If he tried to ditch Ace later today, he knows Ace is going to chew him out with how high strung he is right now. Better to do some reconnaissance before the sun fully rises.

As quietly as he can, he slips out of the blanket pile. He spares a long glance at Ace and Luffy to make sure they’re still asleep, before very carefully making his way over to the trap door.

It seems to want to foil his plans as it loudly creaks when he lifts it up.

It was a small sound, but in the silence of the treehouse, it felt like dropping a bomb. He glances up fearfully to where Ace and Luffy are.

Neither of them stirs. Luffy lets out a loud snore.

He lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and slowly makes his way outside. He carefully starts moving in the direction he’d last seen the stranger go last night, keeping an eye peeled for any disturbance of dirt or foliage to indicate which direction he’d gone after Sabo lost sight of him.

Tracking people after more than a couple of hours had passed could be tricky, but not impossible. It helped that Sabo was pretty sure he’d seen the distant rise of smoke from a campfire last night. He wonders if Ace had noticed it too.

The good news is that it doesn’t take him super long to find the campsite. The bad news? t’s actually.. Concerningly close to the treehouse.

More bad news, the campsite was empty.

Or maybe that was good news. At least he knew now where the guy was staying. Confirmation he’d stuck around instead of… running off to Bluejam or something. Sabo isn’t sure what he had been expecting.

The guy sticking around close by wasn’t exactly comforting either, though.

It was a paradox. Neither option was good.

Sabo contemplates just calling it a day and going back to the treehouse. He found what he was looking for.

… But then, wouldn’t it be a good idea to at least confirm it’s Not-Ace?

Against his better judgment, he decides to follow the trail. The stranger hadn’t done a very good job of covering his tracks, which kind of surprised Sabo. He would have thought a guy like that would be more observant and cautious.

.. Actually, never mind. From what little Sabo had seen of him the day before, the guy seemed to just not think like a normal person.

Sabo follows the trail until he reaches a field. As soon as he steps out from the bushes, he immediately shrinks back into the safety of the forest.

The guy was sitting crouched towards the center of the field. He seemed to be occupied with something, his back turned to him.

Sabo crouches behind the bush, heart thumping in his chest. Okay, calm down. This wasn’t any different from stalking a wild animal or staying hidden from Bluejam’s men. He’s done this before.

He really should leave. He found where the guy’s campsite was, like he wanted to do. If he stayed here too long, Ace would get suspicious-

“Hey Sabo, whatchu doin’?”

Sabo doesn’t scream. That’d be an amateur move. He does, however, violently flinch, whipping around, only to come face to face with Luffy, who is staring at him with big, innocent, painfully oblivious eyes.

He instinctively slams a hand over Luffy’s mouth, “SH!” he whisper-hisses at Luffy. Luffy, being the stubborn little kid he is, immediately tries to lick his hand, so Sabo pulls back and grabs Luffy by the shirt, pulling him down into a crouch next to him.

“Be quiet ,” Sabo says, quietly yet forcefully as he can. He keeps sparing glances through the foliage to make sure Not-Ace hasn’t noticed them yet, “Luffy, what are you doing here? Is Ace with you?”

Sabo really hopes not. He doesn’t want an earful right now.

“Nope!” Luffy says, way too loud for Sabo’s liking, “I saw Sabo sneaking, so I snuck out too!”

Of course he did, because things could never be easy for Sabo.

“Right, whatever, just. Stay low. The guy from yesterday is over there and-” Sabo starts to say, but he doesn’t get to finish whatever he was saying because as soon as Luffy’s head snaps towards Not-Ace, he immediately bolts out of Sabo’s grip.

Sabo tries to pull Luffy back, but his gut reaction fails to catch up with his brain and remind him that Luffy is rubber. So when he pulls, Luffy just stretches and goes stumbling out into the open.

Causing the stranger’s gaze to snap towards Luffy immediately. Fuck.

Luffy exploits Sabo’s momentary shock to wriggle his wrists out of his grip and just starts barreling towards the stranger, totally unbothered.

Sabo barely has time to shout after him before Luffy jumps at the stranger, squeezing him in a hug. The stranger…. Hardly seems surprised, having easily adjusted his position to accommodate Luffy throwing himself at him.

…Sabo really doesn’t like how quickly Not-Ace responded to that. Did he know they were here?

“Oh, hey Luffy, what are you doing here?” Sabo hears Not-Ace ask.

Sabo feels his heart rate speed up as he keeps himself in a crouch, cursing silently. Damn it Luffy! 

“Big Ace, fight me!” He says instead.

Sabo is on edge. He still doesn’t know what this stranger’s intentions are, and he has no idea what will happen if he fights Luffy. So he keeps himself low and out of sight, in case he has to ambush the guy to protect his brother.

What follows is a surprisingly light-hearted “duel”, if you can even call it that. Luffy comes out swinging, tossing his fists at the stranger. The stranger easily dodges, and the fist goes ricocheting off a tree, nearly bouncing back and smacking Luffy in the face.

The stranger, interestingly, doesn’t take this opportunity to attack. Instead, he crouches down to be eye level with Luffy, “Lu, if you just toss your arm like it's a rope, you’re not gonna have any control over it. Try thinking of it more like a spring.

“A spring?” Luffy questions, already having reeled his arm back in preparation to throw another punch.

“Mhmm, see, watch me,” Not-Ace says, raising his fist. Luffy copies him as he reels his fist back. “When you throw your punch, make sure to imagine what you want to be doing, and do it with intent.” Then, he throws a punch, aimed at the trunk of a tree. There’s a deafening crack as the tree splits in half. Sabo’s eyes grow wider in shock as the tree slowly starts to fall over, collapsing with a loud whooosh! He hasn’t seen someone throw a punch like that since Gramps.

Luffy is watching with big, wide eyes before he tries throwing his own punch. It isn’t nearly as strong as Not-Ace’s, but it doesn’t look as weak and haphazard as his punches usually are. He actually manages to pull it back this time.

“Wow! It didn’t fly everywhere!” Luffy says, amazed, before focusing back in on Not-Ace, “Alright, Big Ace I’m gonna beat you now!”

“I’d like to see you try,” Not-Ace fires back, grinning playfully.

The two then begin tussling again. It’s still fairly one-sided, though Luffy does seem to be taking the guy’s advice to heart to the best of his ability. Briefly, Sabo feels his heartbeat pick up again when Not-Ace lunges forward and grabs Luffy, but all the guy does is pull Luffy into a bear hug, the two of them rolling on the ground. 

All in all, the fight isn’t that quick, and honestly, the guy was a lot gentler with Luffy than Ace ever usually is. Luffy isn’t even bruised! Ace isn’t really any good at pulling his punches. 

By the time the two of them are done, Luffy collapses in the grass, panting with exhaustion. Poor idiot overdid it. Not-Ace crouches down next to him, “You okay, Lu?” He asks. 

“Big Ace is.. Huff… strong,” He says between breaths, then he adds, “And you punch like Gramps.” 

“Oh, c’mon, I didn’t hit you that hard,” Not-Ace says, patting Luffy on the head.

He isn’t wrong, Sabo notes. If this had been a spar with Gramps, he probably would have punched Luffy through several trees by now. Luffy was tired, but that was more because he wasted too much stamina.

“How’d Big Ace get so strong?” Luffy asks, pushing himself to his knees. “Did you fight lots of guys?”

“Yep. Lots of guys and big monsters,” Not-Ace affirms, leaning back to sit in the grass next to him.

Luffy plops down on top of Not-Ace’s lap, “Woah, what kinda monsters? Did you ever have to fight a really big crab?” he asks, eyes wide.

“Why a crab, specifically?” Not-Ace asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“Like, the size of a city! Or a giant whale!”

“Well, I didn’t have to fight the whale, but I did run into a giant city-sized whale.”

“Why didn’t you fight the whale? Was he too powerful?”

“No, the whale was just minding his own business. He was a civilian whale.”

“Whales can be normal people?”

“Well, that whale was!”

Something about the conversation is so… extraordinarily mundane. Sabo finds himself relaxing as he listens to the two of them talk. The way Not-Ace talks just feels so.. Natural. It doesn’t sound like someone trying to deceive them would talk.

“Oh hey, Sabo!” Sabo freezes when he hears Luffy shout his name, peeking out from the bushes, “Come fight with us!”

So much for the element of surprise. Though, based on the lopsided smile Not-Ace is giving him, he's not sure he had that to begin with.

“.. How long did you know we… Well, I was there?” Sabo wastes no time asking.

“Do you want the comforting answer or the honest answer?”

“Why aren’t those the same thing?” Sabo asks with a hiss.

“I take it that means you want the honest answer,” Not-Ace responds with a chuckle, “I knew you were there the whole time.”

Then, as an afterthought, he adds, “You’ve always been better at sneaking than Lu is, though. I’m sure if he hadn’t followed, it might have taken longer before I noticed.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Sabo responds flatly, crossing his arms.

Not-Ace just laughs, “I think it’s called giving encouragement.”

“Sabo! Sabo! You should spar with Big Ace!” Luffy shouts, scrambling off of Not-Ace and bolting over to his side.

“We fought the other day,” Sabo remarks, casting a sideway glance at Luffy.

Not-Ace laughs, and for some reason, it sounds a little…  uncertain to Sabo. “Yeah, Luf, we fought already. Hey, I have an idea. You wanted to go exploring together, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then, how about we go spend some time by Rattlesnake Rock?” Not-Ace suggests, grinning with what Sabo might assume is mischief, “Go catch some snakes? Huh?”

“Wait a minute-” Sabo starts, raising his hands, “We're not just gonna follow a stranger into the woods.”

“But I’m not a stranger,” Not-Ace says, tilting his head in a way that comes off annoyingly innocent.

“Yeah, and I wanna go look for snakes!” Luffy protests.

“Luffy…” Sabo groans, rubbing his face. He looks sternly at Not-Ace, who is just sitting there with a curious look on his face, “I already told you I don’t trust you. Why would we follow you when you could be leading us into a trap?”

“Well, I’m not making you do anything,” Not-Ace remarks, “You guys could pick something else to do if you wanted.”

“I wanna go catch snakes!” Luffy stubbornly insists.

“We shouldn’t get too far from the treehouse…” Sabo tries, feeling like he’s losing an argument.

“Rattlesnake rock isn’t that far from the treehouse,” Not-Ace offers, “I think it’s about as far from the treehouse as this meadow is-”

It seems like Luffy’s patience has run out by now, however, as he suddenly takes off in the direction of Rattlesnake Rock. “Race ya!” He shouts.

“Luffy!” Sabo shouts after him.

“Welp, guess that’s our cue then, huh?” Not-Ace says, getting to his feet.

Sabo looks over at him in annoyance, “Fine, I’ll come with you, but you’re leading.”

“Sure!” The guy says, not sounding bothered by Sabo’s wariness at all.

What follows is a very tense walk to Rattlesnake Rock, Luffy happily humming while they trek through the forest. Sabo lags behind them, keeping a careful eye on the older doppelganger, gripping his pipe in case he has to act suddenly. 

He hadn’t anticipated actually being seen when he came here, so he’s feeling a bit like a deer caught by lamplight. 

This walk feels longer than it’s s’posed to be… Sabo thinks as he tries to keep himself calm and collected, keeping his eyes on Not-Ace’s back as they walk. 

Actually, it’s starting to become kind of annoying to mentally call him Not-Ace. “Hey, what should I call you, anyway?” Sabo asks, feeling slightly belligerent.

“Well, you could call me by my name,” Not-Ace supplies.

“I’m not doing that,” Sabo says, a bit of stubbornness in his voice. “Besides, Luffy was right. Even if you are telling the truth, we can’t have two Aces.”

“I’m gonna call him Bace!” Luffy says.

Not-Ace makes a kind of wheezing noise, giving Luffy a look, “How’d you come up with that?”

“Big and Ace make Bace!”

“Maybe I’ll start calling you that too,” Sabo says, unable to help the smirk on his face when he receives a look of annoyance from Not-Ace.

“If you’re gonna call me something that isn’t Ace, use Portgas instead. Or I guess you could use Fire Fist. That’s my pirate nickname.”

Hmm, so he knew Ace’s last name, too? “You seem to know a lot about Ace.” Sabo remarks.

“Well, we’re the same person so I would hope so.”

“... Do you also know where we hid our treasure?”

“Oh! I know that one!” Luffy says, pausing in his march and waving to Sabo. 

“I’m not asking you!” Sabo shoots back.

Portgas, as Sabo has decided to mentally dub him, keeps walking, scooping Luffy up into his arms and hoisting him up on his shoulders. Luffy giggles at this, wriggling around in Portgas’s grip. “C’mon ‘Bo, let him answer! He actually does know this one!” He says in amusement while Luffy looks down from Portgas’s shoulder at Sabo, grinning widely.

“Yeah! It’s hidden under the old-”

“Luffy!” 

Rattlesnake Rock was another name for a big pile of boulders that had formed from a collapsing hillside. They were scattered on top of each other, tumbling down the hill’s surface and leading into a small stream next to a sunny clearing.

In other words, it was a great spot for snake hunting.

“Alright! Before we get started: Luf, do you remember which snakes to avoid?" Portgas asks, crossing his arms.

“The ones with the triangle heads, they are mean,” Luffy says, nodding.

“They’re venomous,” Sabo supplies, moving to stand beside him, “And you’ll die.”

“Good! Also, avoid the really brightly colored ones,” Portgas says, “Unless you’re with ‘Bo or me and we can identify it. ‘Bo is better with specifics like that than I am.”

Sabo feels himself blush with embarrassment, not expecting the compliment. “I’ve just read some field books about that kinda stuff…” He says, trying to deflect.

“See? Knows stuff.”

Sabo watches as Portgas walks over to one of the larger boulders near the base of the hill. He gestures for Sabo and Luffy to follow.

“Here, how about I start us off?” Portgas says. Sabo’s eyes widen as he watches Portgas lift the rock. It’s a bit… daunting, seeing a man pick up what must be a boulder weighing at least a ton like it was a pebble.

Underneath the rock, a few keelbacks lift their heads in alarm, slithering to hide in the crevices of other rocks. Luffy lunges forward, grabbing one by the tail. It immediately reels around and bites him, making him shriek.

“Stupid snake!” Luffy snaps, biting the creature back on its tail.

Portgas laughs as the snake bites Luffy again which causes him to yelp and drop it. “Luffy, watch, you gotta catch ‘em like this-”

He sets the boulder down, crouching down low to the ground. As soon as one of the snakes gets within striking range, Portgas snaps forward, pinning the snake by the back of the neck. It hisses its protest, wrapping its tail around Ace’s wrist and arm, but it can’t maneuver itself out of his grip.

“See? No biting!” Portgas says, holding the snake up. It wiggles around in his grip, its expression looking very offended for a snake.

Luffy tilts his head, regarding the snake, before he crouches down while approaching the rocks. One of the keelback snakes slithered between the cracks of two of the boulders. It rattles the tip of its tail at him in a way reminiscent of a rattlesnake.

When he goes to lift the rock, the snake bolts away. Luffy lunges forward, this time grabbing the snake behind the head. It opens its mouth, but can’t strike due to Luffy’s grip, so it just ends up coiling its tail around his arms.

Luffy holds up the snake triumphantly, grinning. “It’s so cool!” He says excitedly, “Sabo look!”

Sabo watches Luffy with a small smile, feeling a bit… torn. He still feels a bit cautious and mostly confused about this older Ace.

But… he also wants to look for snakes and critters. It looked fun, damn it.

Luffy sets the snake down. “I’m gonna go find more!” He shouts, dashing out towards the rocks. Portgas follows him, calling after Luffy to be careful not to slip and fall on any of the rocks. Sabo trails behind them, feeling a little out of place.

He really doesn’t know what to think about Portgas. Is he good? Is he bad? Sabo isn’t sure. There was also something odd about them coming over her to Rattlesnake Rock, too. Had Portgas deliberately been trying to redirect him? He’d gotten all weird at the prospect of fighting Sabo again.

Sabo crouches down by a rock, glancing underneath it. No snakes, just some centipedes and a few newts. The skitter away at the movement, and Sabo sighs, placing the rock back down. He glances back over at Portgas.

There was one other question Sabo had in regards to all the stuff he’d brought up yesterday.

“Hey, Portgas?”

“Yeah, ‘Bo?”

“You mentioned you died, right?” Portgas freezes, nodding slowly, “Why do you think that, anyway?”

Portgas pauses, slowly lowering the rock he’d been lifting above his head, “I don’t think the answer to that question would be very interesting to you,” he says. Again, trying to avoid the question.

Sabo opens his mouth, trying to protest, but then he sees Luffy stop looking under rocks, jerking his head up to look at Portgas with big, wide eyes. “Bace, did you really die?” Luffy asks quietly, little hands trembling.

“I mean, I think-” Portgas starts, but then Luffy’s lower lip starts to wobble. Oh no, he’s started crying. Maybe this was a bad question to ask while Luffy was around, Sabo thinks with a wince as he watches Luffy get up from what he was doing and rush over to Portgas, enveloping him in a tight hug.

“Hey- Lu, it’s fine, it’s not like it’s your fault,” Portgas says, looking a bit awkward and out of his depth. Much like the real Ace, he seemed thrown for a loop and not sure how to deal with Luffy when he started crying. Usually, Ace’s response to Luffy crying involved hitting him until he stopped.

“Bace! Promise you won’t die again!” 

Portgas looks down at him, looking conflicted. “Lu’... I dunno if I can make that promise a second time. I already broke it once.”

Luffy, stubbornly, squeezes Portgas tighter. He’s still crying, but he’s got a more determined expression on his face now.

“I won’t let go until you say it!”

Portgas takes a deep breath, and lets out a long sigh. “I’m not going to make any promises right now…” he says slowly. Luffy looks like he’s going to start crying again, so he quickly adds, “But.. I’ll try my best not to die again.” 

Luffy rubs furiously at his face, wiping the tears away, as he nods, “Good! I’m gonna go catch snakes for Bace now!” He then bolts back off.

Sabo relaxes as he watches him run off. Well, at least he’d calmed down quickly enough. He is still kind of curious about why Portgas seems so convinced he’s dead, but… maybe he can wait to pester him about that until later. Preferably when Luffy wasn’t here.

Sabo moves to follow Luffy, casting a sideways glance at Portgas. That display had made him wonder, though. Why did Luffy seem so convinced this was Ace? Was there something Sabo was missing, or was Luffy just gullible?

Maybe the answer to both of those was the same.

Sabo certainly felt like he was missing something.

As he began to step over the rocks, following after Luffy to make sure he didn’t hurt himself, he startled a bit when he noticed some movement by his feet.         

He stopped, crouching down to get a better look. The crevices in between the rocks were too dark to get a good look, though…

Carefully, he placed his hands by the edges of the rock, trying to lift it quickly so he didn’t get bitten by whatever he’d seen move.

Something small and slender shot out from underneath the rocks. Reflexively, Sabo shot out, grabbing the snake behind the head and scraping his knee on the rocks. The snake wriggled in his grip, trying to break free, mouth open and poised to strike.

He picked it up, holding it closer to examine it. The snake couldn’t be much bigger than a foot and a half in length. It was green, with a yellow belly. It flicked its tongue at him with an expression that could almost be mistaken for annoyance.

“Oh, nice! Did you catch something?” Portgas asks, startling Sabo.

This also catches Luffy’s attention. "Oh, oh, let me see!” He shouted, scrambling over to where Sabo was. He nearly barrels into him, stopping just short and crouching down next to him.

“What kinda snake is it?” Portgas asks, joining the two of them.

“Uh… I think it’s a crowned ground snake,” Sabo says, hesitantly. The snake has calmed down enough that he can let go of its head, and now it's just sitting coiled up around his arm. Luffy reaches out to pet it, and it rears its head back, flicking its tongue as a warning.

“Huh, nice catch, Bo!” Portgas praises, patting Sabo on the back. “See? I told you you were good at identifying stuff!”

Sabo jerks away, averting his gaze self-consciously, and muttering under his breath, “It's a pretty common snake…”

“Still! It’s cool, isn’t it?” Portgas says, cheerfully. He pushes himself to his feet, “Think you can top it?”

Sabo glances at the snake in his hands, setting it down to let it go. It disappears back into the space between the rocks. He then glances up, seeing Luffy happily jumping across the rocks, getting excited each time he picks one up.

He returns Portgas’s stare. He still isn’t sure he trusts him.. But, well.

“I could definitely do better than you ,” he says, a challenging, albeit hesitant, smirk on his face. Portgas’s eyes light up, and he grins wider.

Maybe… there wouldn't be any harm in sticking around. Just for a little while longer.

Sabo isn’t sure how much time they spend at Rattlesnake Rock. One second, he’s racing after Luffy and Portgas, and the next, he is noticing how high the sun has risen in the sky. The realization sends a jolt of panic up his spine.

“Shit!” Sabo shouts, reaching out to grab Luffy by the wrist, “We have to go!”

“Ehhh! But Saboooo, I wanna hang out with Bace more!” Luffy whines.

Sabo ignores him, pulling Luffy along, “Well Ace is going to be pissed if we don’t get back to the treehouse! Do you want him to hit you again?”

Luffy’s eyes go wide, obviously having not considered that, and he quickly covers his head with his free hand.

Behind them, Portgas chuckles, “Man, did you two sneak out? Oh boy, little me isn’t going to be happy about that.”

“You’re not helping!” Sabo shouts, shooting him a glare. He then reaches out and grabs Luffy by the wrist.

"Bye Bace! Cya later!" Luffy calls out as Sabo begins dragging him back toward the forest. 

They walk for a little while, Sabo only stopping once they're out of sight of Portgas. “Luffy, listen to me,” Sabo says, turning around and placing both his hands on Luffy’s shoulders as he looks him in the eyes, “You cannot tell Ace we were here. He’s gonna get, like, super mad. Promise me you won’t say anything.”

“Mmm… okay, I promise!”

“Luffy, I’m serious! I don’t want a repeat of when you found out about Roger!” 

“What about Roger?”

“You told Ace that you found out Roger was his dad after I explicitly told you not to.”

“Oh yeah… It’s still pretty cool Roger is Ace’s dad, right, 'Bo?”

Sabo chops Luffy on the head, making him wince and shrink back, “You’re missing the point! Just-” Sabo takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. Trying to get Luffy to listen was probably a lesson in frustration. It'd be easier to try to distract him enough that he didn't think to mention what they'd been doing.

Actually… that gave him an idea.

“Hey Luffy,” he starts slowly, casting a glance at him, “How do you feel about setting up some traps?”

Chapter Text

Ace waits until Sabo and Luffy are out of view before he finally lets himself relax. He falls to one knee, body involuntarily shaking as he takes deep breaths. The spar with Luffy had left him... Uncomfortably winded. His chest hurt worse than it did this morning. 

Even just exploring the rocks had left him in more pain than he’d care to admit.

He sighs, pulling out the poppy seeds from earlier and popping a few in his mouth. They weren’t very potent like this, but hey, it was better than nothing.

Eating the seeds, though, had the unintended consequence of reminding his body that he hadn’t eaten anything since last night. Unfortunately for him, the thought of eating also isn’t very appealing right now.

Never had to deal with a problem like this before… Ace thinks, grimacing. How was he supposed to deal with nausea? He, Luffy, and Sabo had certainly never had trouble eating before…Hmmm…Hadn’t Deuce mentioned something to him about bread being good for nausea when Saber and Finamore got food poisoning? That sounded like it could be right…

As for the pain, while he didn't know how to make opium from the poppies, that was more Marco's territory, he did know that making tea out of the seeds could help make them a bit more potent painkillers...

His eyes trailed towards the forest. There was one place he could think of that would be good to visit for that.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to pay Dadan a visit. If Sabo and Luffy were here, she’d probably be here too.

Though… she probably wouldn’t appreciate him showing up empty-handed.

Lucky for him, there was an easy solution to that.

Ace slammed on the door of the bandit hut, “Hey, Dadan you home?” he shouted, putting his weight on one foot as he fought the urge to just bust the thing down.

The fact that the cabin was here was a good sign. It looked just like Ace remembered it ten years ago, which was to say much the same. Dilapidated and weather-worn paint peeling off, with weeds growing in between the cracks.

Ace glanced inside one of the windows, frowning when he saw movement.

“Hey!” Ace shouted, waving, “I see you guys in there, I know you can hear me!”

More rustling, accompanied by startled shouts and crashing of what Ace assumed were chairs. Or maybe the bandits had knocked over one of Dadan’s vases. They’d be in serious shit if they’d done that, he thinks, bemused as he rocks on the back of his heels.

Ace’s patience has almost dried up, though, and he’s just about to bust the door down, but before he can do that, Magra swings it open. He looks a little affronted, but mostly confused.

“Uh, can we help you?” he asked. Behind him, Ace notices some of the bandits have taken up defensive positions.

Ace leans on the door frame, ignoring the way Magra flinches away in surprise, “Yeah, is Dadan home? I wanted to talk to her.”

“What do you want with the boss?” Dogra asked, leering up at him from where he was standing behind Magra.

“Can’t a guy just say hi?” Ace asked, raising an eyebrow. Much like Sabo, the bandits weren’t acting like they recognized him. They seemed pretty on guard. Maybe it was a good idea that he hadn’t just burst in through the front door.

“This guy lost?” Someone sneered from the back.

“We should show him what happens to folks who get lost up in the mountains!”

“Quiet, you leeches! He knows the boss’s name!” Dogra hissed back at them.

Ace rolled his eyes, unable to suppress a laugh. He couldn’t help it. It was kind of hilarious if they thought they could cause trouble for him .

But he hadn’t come here for a fight, as entertaining as that might be. Fighting would probably just create an even more uneasy energy, which would honestly just feel weird. He grew up with these people after all. 

Instead, he just offered a lopsided smile and gestured behind him, “Well, if you attacked me, you wouldn’t get any of this nice juicy boar I brought y’all as a gift.”

The bandits all squint at him, following the direction he’s pointing. When they spot the boar, Magra covers his mouth in shock, the rest of the bandits’ eyes practically bugging out of their heads.

“That thing’s huge!”

“Is this guy another demon?”

Many of the bandits hesitantly begin to make their way outside, some of them clutching weapons as they cast wary glances at Ace and whisper among each other. Dogra pokes the boar, flinching away almost as soon as he does, as if expecting it to suddenly come to life and kill all of them.

Not giving the distracted bandits much of a second glance, Ace decides he could try his luck checking Dadan’s room.

He loops around the back, cupping his hands over his eyes as he presses his face up against the glass to try to peer inside.

Not seeing anything, he decides to take a more direct approach.

“Hey Dadan, you here?” Ace shouts as he slams the window to her room open and sticks his head inside.

Her room was empty. 

Ace crossed his arms as he looked around. Yeah, no Dadan. He clicks his tongue as he pushes himself up over the windowsill and lands inside.

Oh well. He could probably see her later. With how much commotion he’s causing right now, he’s sure the bandits will mention him. Dadan will probably want to yell at him for getting her crew all riled up. Hopefully, the boar will make up for that.

… And also make up for the rice and bread he’s about to steal.

Well, it’s not really stealing if he gave them food. It’s bartering! But without any discussion of payment. That boar was worth way more than rice and bread anyway, so if anything, the bandits owe him .

The inside of the house hasn’t changed much, which made finding the kitchen easy.

Ace scours through the cupboards, smirking when he finds what he’s looking for. He’s sure to grab a few pots for boiling water to be safe. He needed something to make tea with, after all.

Of course, he did know how to boil water without a pot. He and Deuce had learned that while on Sixis! But a pot just made things easier.

Ace paused in his sifting through the cabinet when he heard some more shouting, followed by the rapid sound of footsteps. He turned to see Magra staring at him, slightly out of breath, looking even more shocked than when he’d answered the door.

“What are you doing?!” He shouted.

“Compensation,” Ace said cheekily as he shoved a bag of rice under his arm. 

Ace doesn’t give the gobsmacked bandits time to say anything beyond incoherent stuttering, as he bustles out the door, tipping his hat to them, “I’d love to stay and chat, but I’ve got things to do! Tell Dadan I said hi!”

And then he vaulted right back out the window, ignoring the shouts that followed after him.

As fun as pulling a dine and dash on his own home was, part of him did regret leaving so early. It had been nice seeing them all again, but something about the way none of them recognized him when he’d known them his whole life just felt… uncanny.

Plus, honestly, he just didn’t want to be around the smell of cooked meat right now while he was trying remedies for his nausea. His impulse control was not that good.

Oh well. He’d probably go back there later. At some point. Probably.

Though he isn’t sure how he’d feel about Dadan not recognizing him either. 

Another thing to worry about later, maybe. What he was going to focus on was making this tea and cooking food. Gods above, he really hoped this stuff stayed down. He was starving .

As he began to get the campsite ready to boil the water, his mind began to wander. Mostly, thinking about everything that had happened so far.

Was he really dead? Or was he in the past? Maybe it didn’t really matter either way. He was here now, and all that mattered was just existing, he guessed.

He wondered how his crew was doing, and immediately grimaced. 

Was Pops okay? Marco? Was Oars Jr alive? Were the Spades, or anyone from the 2nd division? The battle had been chaotic. He’d seen the fighting, but there had been so much blood and smoke obscuring his vision that he could hardly keep track of anyone through it all.

He gritted his teeth and ran a hand over his face. Why… Why had Pops risked everything like that for him?

Even still... Ace had admitted to himself during all that… he didn’t really want to die. That all didn’t really matter, though. Because he’d made his bed and he had to lie in it.

It was all his fault, Marineford. All because he was too prideful and stubborn to-

Ace’s eyes went wide as sharp, hot pain shot through his hand. Fuck! He swore, shaking his hand out at the burning sensation and licking his finger to put the flame out on instinct. As he was nursing his wound, his brain caught up with him, pulling his finger out and staring at it with wide eyes.

Had he just… burned himself?

That shouldn’t be possible. He’s never burned himself before, not since getting his fruit. He was fire, it shouldn’t be possible for him to burn.

Well… Akainu had proved that to be untrue.

But this was his own fire!

He took a steadying breath and slowly lit his hand on fire again, just the fingertip. It burned like a lighter, and at first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then Ace noticed the tingling sensation in his fingers, and the way the heat seemed to prick at his skin in a way it never had before.

He let the fire go out with a frustrated groan. Great, was his body just bound and determined to betray him right now? Whatever, maybe he was just tired. He hadn’t slept very well last night. Plus, he’d been feeling achy and terrible since he got here; that’s what the opium poppy was for. Maybe after he finished making this tea, he’d feel better.

He couldn’t stand thinking about his crew right now. Everything made him feel too awful. So as he watched the water boil, he tried to think of something he could control right now.

More than anything, all he could think about right now was Sabo and Luffy. Leaving them behind had been just as painful as his physical injuries, if not worse. He knew that none of this was probably real, but that didn’t do anything to lessen his anxiety about Sabo getting hurt .

As he stares at the sky, trying to think of what he should do right now, a thought occurs to him.

Well, maybe his kid self didn’t want to see him, but he hadn’t said anything about not following them.

Finding his brothers didn’t take too long. 

Oh, they were good at covering their tracks, sure. But they were also his brothers, and more importantly, one of them was him , so he knew how to follow their trail.

He peered between the trees towards the clearing the three boys had found themselves in.

It looked like they were executing their plan against another forest beast. Ace smiles as he leans against the tree he’s positioned himself in, placing his elbows on the branches.

It’s reassuring as much as it is nerve-wracking, watching those kids fight that big beast. The way they swerved between its legs, one of them distracting it while the others snared it in a trap. It was a tough fight, but they seemed to be handling themselves well enough.

Of course, if the massive bear had actually managed to put them in danger, Ace would have intervened, but it seemed his worry had been unfounded. Those kids could handle themselves when it came to the forest.

Though he had had a minor heart attack when Luffy had come inches from getting his face sliced off. Reckless little idiot, he had thought, trying to push down the instinctive urge to just bolt out and beat the creature to a pulp.

He visibly relaxed as he watched the kids finally take the bear down. He watched with fondness as Luffy raised his hands in celebration, whooping and cheering at their victory.

Yeah… the kids were fine. 

So why did he still feel like something bad was going to happen?

“Hey Ace, did you see what I did!” Luffy shouted as Ace bandaged the scratch on his arm. “I was like wooosh!”

They’d just returned from their fight with the bear lord, and although successful, it had been a close thing. They were exhausted.

“Yeah, amazing, you weren’t entirely useless,” Ace said with a snort, squeezing the gauze tighter as Luffy fidgeted. He gave him a sharp look, “Now quit squirming! Do you wanna reopen your wounds? Seriously…”

Sabo snorted, “Nice job, Lu. You’re improving.” It was honestly kind of impressive how well Luffy had internalized the advice Portgas had given him. Certainly took it to heart better than when Ace had reprimanded him last night.

“It probably would have gone even better if you two hadn’t run off this morning without me! ”

Yeah, there it was. Sabo groaned when Ace snapped, giving him a look. He’d practically ringed their necks when they finally went back to the treehouse, and had been in a grumpy mood even while fighting the bear. At least he'd taken his aggression out on that instead of them.

“I don’t get why you’re still upset about that,” Sabo says with a huff as he finishes wrapping his wounds, “we said sorry…”

“Yeah, well, sorry doesn’t cut it,” Ace responds brusquely, refusing to look at Sabo. Sabo frowns deeper and leans back. It’s not like he and Ace haven’t run off without each other before. They’ve both gone to the Grey Terminal alone in the past when it was just the two of them. Maybe it was because of Luffy? 

Or maybe Ace was still just angry about last night. Who knows.

Speaking of last night, Sabo had been doing some thinking. About Portgas, mostly. He wanted to learn more about him, find out how he knew what he knew. 

Was he really from the future? It seemed like such a far-fetched idea, and yet… something about Portgas just seemed familiar.

What else could he do? He’d tried talking to him. He couldn’t really discern if the guy was telling the truth or not. At the very least, he seemed to believe that he was telling the truth, and what was he supposed to make of that?

Hmm… actually. There was one lead he might be able to follow, but he’s not sure Ace would be happy about him running off again without telling him where he was going.

He knew Ace wasn’t going to like him snooping around after the guy by himself. He’d seen the way Ace had bristled and postured last night. Probably felt intimidated by the guy. 

“Hey Ace,” Sabo starts, as Ace finally finishes bandaging Luffy, who immediately squirms out of his grip, “I think I’m gonna go visit Dadan after this.”

Ace makes a face at him, “ Why?”

“I had a theory about that guy from yesterday.”

This makes Ace’s confusion turn into a scowl, “If you’re looking to ask the old hag about him, don’t bother. She’s not gonna know any more than me.”

“What, you know everything the bandits get up to?” Sabo asks, a hint of teasing in his voice.

“They’re a bunch of cowards is what they are,” Ace responds with a roll of his eyes, “They’d tell me all about all the scum to avoid around here. The old hag was the one to warn me about Bluejam before you and I ran into him.”

“Oh, so you knew we’d be in trouble if we stole that gold.”

“Shut up, like that’d stop us. Like I said, I’m not a coward. And don’t act like you didn’t want to.”

“Yeah, yeah, ok, I get it. So the bandits know stuff about the pirates that live around here. That just means this guy is new to the island, and we already knew that, kinda.”

“Exactly, so why are you going to Dadan?” Ace asks, raising an eyebrow.

Sabo scratches the back of his neck, a bit sheepish, “Well… remember how he and I talked while you and Luffy were off getting the tiger? See… he mentioned his full name. It was Portgas, just like yours."

“Well, he already pretended to be me, so that’s not surprising,” Ace says bitterly, gripping his arms in annoyance.

“Yeah, but… what if he is actually related to you?” Sabo asks, raising an eyebrow. Ace gives him an unimpressed look.

“No way, we’ve been over this already!”

“No, we went over that he isn’t you, not that he isn’t related to you!”

“That’s basically the same thing!”

“Hey!” Luffy interjects, sitting up, “You know what I think?”

Both boys turned to look at him, and Luffy grinned bigger, “I think Ace and Sabo are both being stupid!”

“Hey!” Ace reached forward to grab Luffy, but he scrambled out of the way before he could, sticking his tongue out at him.

“It’s true! Ace and Sabo are both scared of Bace even though he’s nice!”

“I’m not scared !” Ace snaps, getting up and chasing after Luffy, “Get back here!”

Sabo watches as Ace chases Luffy, who ducks behind him to avoid getting hit. “Hey, don’t use me as a shield!” Sabo yelps, ducking out of the way as Ace barrels around him. Luffy shrieks when Ace grabs him, and the two end up wrestling on the ground.

“Ow ow ow Ace let go!” Luffy whines, trying to smack Ace away.

“Ace, leave him alone, you just told him not to reopen his bandages,” Sabo interjects. 

Ace looks between Sabo and then back at Luffy with a scowl. “I’m not scared,” Ace says again as he drops Luffy.

“We just want to make sure we have all the information, Luff. We can’t just trust someone blindly.” Sabo adds.

Luffy crosses his arms, pouting. “But Bace is nice.. He gave us food!”

“That doesn’t really prove anything. He could be trying to trick us,” Ace argues.

“I think…. Ace and Sabo think too much about this.” Luffy says, earning him a glare from Ace.

Sabo tilts his head, sparing a glance at Ace before he turns back to Luffy, “Hey Luffy, do you think Ace and Bace look similar?”

“Huh? Yeah! Bace is just bigger.” 

Sabo turns back to Ace, grinning, “See?”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Ace insists stubbornly.

“Well, we won’t know if it means anything unless we check it out.” Sabo points out.

Silence. Ace looks like he wants to argue more, so Sabo quickly adds, “Besides, I thought you wanted to learn more about this guy. We don’t exactly have any leads, so we have to start somewhere.”

“We can do that just fine by following him,” Ace says. Then, a bit quieter, he adds, “Besides, if he’s related to him , I don’t care. Actually, that would just give me more of a reason to want nothing to do with him.”

“Well… he could be related to your mom.” Sabo offers.

Ace looks up, expression torn. Then he ‘tsks’ and looks away, “I doubt it…. But, fine. If it’ll make you feel better, we can go check this out, I guess. Why do you think the old hag would know about him anyway?”

“Well, I mean.. Isn’t she like… your mom?” Sabo asks, raising an eyebrow.

“What? No! Rouge was my mom! Dadan is like… Dadan!” He says, waving a hand.

“Did she take care of you from a baby?” Sabo asks, raising an eyebrow at Ace.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make her my mom!” Ace hisses, glowering at him. 

“Okay, sure, but she still raised you. Soooo she probably knows about your biological family.” Sabo says, shrugging. If he’s being honest, though… Gramps would probably know more about that than Dadan. But Gramps was the last person Sabo wanted to try to contact now.

He shivers on instinct. He’d only had a few encounters with the man, but they’d been enough to strike fear into his heart. Sabo had decided that he really, really didn’t want Gramps finding out about this guy. Ace or not, the fact that he was a pirate was probably enough to cause problems.

“Ugh, fine, I guess you have a point.” Ace said, squinting at him, “Wipe that smug look off your face. I still don’t think she’ll know anything useful.”

Said smug look doesn’t leave his face as he turns to look over at Luffy, “Hey, Luff, you comin’ with us?”

Luffy lies on his stomach, kicking his legs while digging in the dirt, “Nah, I dun care about all that! Wait, can I go play with Bace while you guys are gone?”

“Absolutely not,” Ace seethes, kicking the dirt in Luffy’s face and making him recoil and cough. Ace turns back to Sabo with a scowl, “Guess we’ll have to bring him if we don’t want him running off.”

Sabo clicked his tongue, trying to think of a good strategy… “Hmmm, will you come with us if we make it a race?”

This gets Luffy’s attention. “A race?”

“Yeah. Last one to Dadan’s has to give half their food to the winner.”

“What!” This immediately gets Luffy scrambling out of the dirt and bolting off before Sabo and Ace can even blink.

Ace watches him go for a moment before turning to Sabo with an incredulous look. “How are you so good at that?” Ace asks in disbelief.

“It’s a talent,” Sabo says with a grin, “Now hurry up!”

They rush through the forest, ducking under branches and leaping over rocks. Sabo splashes through a creek, passing Luffy, who flashes the most shocked and annoyed look at him. Sabo just smirks and expertly slides down a hill as he gains the lead.

Sabo manages to reach the cabin first, despite Luffy getting the head start. Ace beats by just a few seconds, smirking as he skids across the grass, and Luffy comes scrambling after him. He’s breathing heavily, collapsing to his knees.

“Aw, no fair!” He wheezes in between pants.

“Better luck next time, Luff,” Ace says teasingly. 

The door of the cabin stands there imposingly, and Sabo is reminded as he turns to look at it that they had… kind of left without telling anyone. He takes a deep breath and knocks, steeling himself. He is fully expecting Dadan to yell at them as soon as she opens the door.

There’s a crash from behind the door, and the muffled sound of shouting. Sabo shifts his weight from foot to foot as he waits. He barely manages to restrain himself from jumping when Dadan slams the door open.

“Who the hell is-” She shouts, cutting herself off when her eyes fall on him and Ace.

“Where have you been?” She says, voice curt. Despite the coldness of her eyes, she isn’t… quite as angry as Sabo expected her to be.

“Hello to you, too,” Sabo says, while Ace interjects, “That’s none of your business.”

“Precocious little brats as always, aren’t you?” she mutters, grinding the cigarette in her teeth, “Who taught you to speak to your elders like that?”

“You did,” Ace says with a smirk.

Dadan gives him a dirty look, “Don’t get coy with me, boy. What the hell are you doing here anyway?” Her eyes narrowed somewhat, “You three only come around when you need something, so spit it out. What, someone dying?”

Sabo glares at her, trying to stamp down his own annoyance, “ Nobody is dying. We just had something we wanted to talk to you about.” he pauses, wondering how much he should reveal. He spares a glance at Ace, “It’s uh, related to Ace.”

He doesn’t like the way Dadan eyes him apprehensively. He watches as she takes a long drag on her cigarette, blowing out the smoke. Sabo wrinkles his nose. He’s never been a fan of that smell.

“And why can’t you ask him yourself?” She questions, raising an eyebrow while she gives Ace a look. “Hell if you ever tell me anything.”

“It’s… not a question I think he’d know,” Sabo answers. He refuses to look away from Dadan as she looks at him, even though being stared down by an adult makes Sabo.. less than comfortable. He digs his fingers into the palms of his hands and meets her stare with a glare.

Finally, Dadan steps aside, gesturing with a pointed thumb thrown backwards to signal the three of them to come in, “Fine. Stop standin’ around out there then and get your asses inside then, you're lettin’ all the bugs in.”

Sabo does as he’s told, quickly hurrying past Dadan, Ace, and Luffy, following in after him. He scrunches his face up once he’s inside. The smell of cigarette smoke is even worse inside.

Luffy doesn’t stick around, quickly running off to some corner of the house, nearly tripping some of the bandits in the process. They let out shouts as he runs past them, and Sabo almost pities them as he watches them chase after Luffy to keep him from getting into anything.

Dadan walks past him, pulling up a chair. “Alright, now what d'you wanna know? ”

“I was just…” he thoughtfully glances at the ceiling, wondering how much he should tell her.

He’s already decided he isn’t going to mention the guy claiming he’s Ace from the future. Okay, well, he never actually claimed he was from the future, but if he was Ace, that was the only explanation that made sense.

“You’re Ace’s….. guardian. Do you know if Ace has any other….. Family members?” Sabo asks slowly. “Like, biological ones, I mean.”

Dadan leans back with a bitter laugh, waving the cigarette between her forefinger and index, “What would I know about all that? If he did, you think Garp would have dumped you brats on me instead of makin’ it their problem?” 

“Hey, fuck you too!” Ace snaps at her, bristling. 

Sabo just sighs, frustration bubbling. “So you don’t know?” he demands.

Dadan takes another drag of the cigarette, letting out a puff of smoke, “Like I just said, I reckon if anyone knows it’d be Garp. He’s the one that brought that little hellspawn here.” She thoughtfully taps the cigarette on the corner of the ashtray. “Can’t really remember him mentioning anything like that. ‘Course, that man never tells me shit about anything.”

Sabo rubs his temples, trying not to be disappointed. He’d known coming here he might not get the answers he was looking for, but it didn’t make the fact he came all the way here for nothing any less… irritating.

“If you don’t know anything, then coming here was pointless,” Ace says, shoving off the chair and stomping away. “I’m gonna go get Luffy.”

“Tsk, disappear for weeks and you come back just to ask for shit? Is that how you repay me?” Dadan asks as he stalks off, chewing on the tip of her cigarette in annoyance. “Why you even askin’ about all that stuff?” Dadan asks Sabo, turning back to him and raising an eyebrow. The question hangs in the air while Sabo figures out how to word what he’s going to say.

Well, he came here to get information. Sabo knows Ace said she probably wouldn’t know anything, but even if Dadan doesn’t know anything about Ace’s family, she’s still a fairly well-established bandit. Maybe she could have learned something they didn’t know.

Plus, if Sabo was being honest, he just didn’t want to prove Ace right.

“There was… a guy,” Sabo starts slowly, rubbing his palms together, “Someone we had never seen before showed up to the tr…- showed up to where we’ve been living,” He doesn’t think Dadan knows where the treehouse is so he isn’t about to spill that particular secret, “He looked kinda like Ace, and knew some stuff about us that I didn’t think it was possible for him to know. Just… wondered if he could be related to him.”

There’s a long moment of silence, only disturbed by the slight hiss of the cigarette as Dadan puts it out in the ashtray. Dadan is staring at him intently now, making Sabo squirm uncomfortably. 

“Did he tell you anything else?” Dadan asks, rubbing her chin.

“Uh… hmmm… he said he was a pirate,” Sabo remarks. "With Whitebeard." He knows it’s risky to mention that, considering how much he’d overheard Gramps emphasize he doesn't want them hanging around pirates. That was the whole reason he'd brought Luffy to live out here, apparently. Though Dadan doesn't seem like the type to snitch.

Evidently, though, this was the wrong thing to say, as all at once, it feels like the room drops at least ten degrees. Dadan’s expression goes from cautious and thoughtful to downright terrified.

“Are you sure that’s what he said?” She demands, jumping up with enough force to knock her chair to the ground as she grips Sabo by the shoulders. It startles Sabo enough that he flinches, before he tries shoving Dadan away.

“Yes! Now let go!” he snaps, jabbing at her. She thankfully drops him, and he glares at her sharply while she is left staring at the floor with a look of utter horror. Sabo can only stare at her as she starts to pace, listening as she begins to mutter to herself.

“No, no, this is fine,” Dadan tells herself, running a hand through her hair, “Any idiot can claim themselves to be a part of his crew. Doesn’t make it true .”

Sabo honestly doesn’t think he can remember a time he’s seen Dadan this rattled. Well, aside from whenever Gramps shows up. Of course, that’s more a mix of fear and irritation. He knew the Whitebeards were a big deal, but still...

“For all our sakes, I hope that fool’s a sham,” She mutters.

“Is him being a Whitebeard really that bad?” Sabo asks, fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat.

“Of course it is! Don’t you know how terrifying the Whitebeards are?” Dadan shouts, waving a hand, “Not to mention the chaos that one being would cause around here. This place would be absolutely swarming with marines! I’d never hear the end of it from your Grandpa if he caught wind you’d been hanging out with one!”

“We aren’t ‘hanging out ’,” Sabo scoffs, offended by the casualness of that phrasing.

“Fortunately," Dadan continues with an exhausted sigh, ignoring him as she pulls the chair back up from the ground in order to slump down into it, “I doubt he’s the real deal. Honestly, from what I’ve heard, the Whitebeards never come around to the East. They really don’t leave the Grandline, so it’s easy for fools to skate by on name alone by pretending to be in cahoots with them. Marines don’t tend to mess with Whitebeard pirates.”

Well, Sabo had certainly learned something today. He wasn’t sure it made him feel any better about Portgas, though. This trip definitely hadn’t been good for his nerves. 

Frustratingly, after Dadan’s explanation, he was only left with more questions.

“So, you don’t know anyone like that around here?” He feels the need to clarify.

“No, kid, I don’t know of any idiot who’d be stupid enough to claim to be one of Whitebeard's on the Hero of the Marines home island,” Dadan says flatly.

Figures.

Moreover, as he thinks about it, he comes to the uncomfortable realization that Dadan is … probably wrong about him only using that crew’s name to make himself look good. Portgas is strong, and he remembers the way the guy had talked about his crew.

There’d been something about his voice that had just been so fond. No one trying to skate by on reputation alone would have described the crew of such an infamous pirate like that.

Sabo decided, based on the way Dadan had freaked out at the idea, he wasn’t going to tell her any of that, though.

Additionally, he mentally crossed out Bluejam. He might be a conniving dog, but Sabo knew better than to think the man was stupid. He wouldn’t risk using an infamous pirate’s name like that.

At least he didn’t think so. 

Well, at least he’d gotten something out of this trip, even if he wasn’t any closer to figuring out why this guy knew so much .

“How’s Ace doing, anyhow?” Dadan asks suddenly. Sabo blinks up at her. She seems to have gained some of her composure back, leaning back in the chair and staring at Sabo with an expression he can’t really decipher.

“He’s… fine?” Sabo says, a bit thrown by the question.

“Hmm, I somehow doubt that. What have you three been doing, getting the attention of these suspicious characters?” she says, voice thick with judgment.

“Wait, what’s that about suspicious characters?”

Sabo and Dadan look up to find Magra and Dogra standing in the doorway. Dogra is holding Luffy, who is currently trying to chew on him, while Ace is just standing to the side, looking annoyed.

“Eh, the brat wanted to know about Ace’s family. Apparently, some guy who looks like him showed up recently,” Dadan says, leaning back in her chair, “Guy even claimed to be a Whitebeard.”

Magra and Dogra share a look. Dadan notices and squints her eyes at them suspiciously, “You two don’t happen to know something, do you? ”

The two fidget, guilt obvious on their faces, “Uhm… well, boss, ya see… we uh. Might have encountered a guy early today. Here at the cabin. Who uh… did kiiinda look like Ace.” Dogra says, avoiding looking at her.

“You what.”

“Yeah, he uh. Was actually looking for you,” Magra admits, flinching when Dadan stands up.

“He what !?”

“He was here!?” Ace asks, stiffening. He already looks ready to charge out and fight that guy again.

“If it was the same guy, maybe!” Dogra yelps, hiding behind Magra as Dadan stomps over.

“And why, pray tell, didn’t you idiots tell me!” she snaps, looking ready to throttle them.

"Well uh, see, we were gonna tell you! It's just, he didn't cause a lot of problems, just took some of our pots and-"

"He stole our shit!?"

Sabo reaches forward, grabbing Luffy by the wrists and pulling him towards the door. He can tell Dadan is probably going to start asking them more questions, and Sabo doesn’t really wanna stick around to deal with that. Judging by the fact Ace is already bolting out the door, he doesn’t want to either.

Though that might just be because he’s planning to murder Portgas. Either option is possible.

“Thanks for answering our questions, okay bye!” Sabo shouts as he rushes out after him.

“You little- You can’t just drop something like this on me and then run off! Hey! Get back here you three!” 

“Thanks for the food!” Luffy shouts as they make a beeline for the forest. Sabo casts a glance over at Ace, who just shrugs. Sounds like Luffy got into the bandits’ food supply, poor bastards.

Once they’re a good enough distance away from the bandit’s hut to stop running, they stop to catch their breath. Ace looks pretty annoyed, "Damn it, why was that guy snoopin' around the bandits place?"

"I have no idea. Magra mentioned something about him stealing from them?"

"What a guy like that could get from the bandits, though..." Ace scoffs, kicking a rock in annoyance, "Damn it, now I just have more questions. This trip was a pain in the ass."

At least Luffy had gotten something out of this, which was ironic considering he hadn't wanted to come at all. Luffy trots behind them, humming, "The food was good! Even though the race was stupid."

"You're just mad because you lost," Sabo says, ruffling Luffy's hair. "Though I don't think it was a total waste. At least we know he probably isn't with Bluejam now. Or really anybody around here. Like Dadan said, you'd have to be stupid to pretend to be with Whitebeard."

Ace opens his mouth, closes it, and glares at the forest floor, “Damn it, I hate when you’re right.” He mutters.

Sabo would grin, except he doesn’t really feel any satisfaction from it. Because this just means they are back at square one. With a guy who is a mystery, who says weird things, and who seems to have an interest in them.

“You have any new ideas?” Sabo asks.

“Maybe the Whitebeards are here to kidnap us,” Ace says, rubbing his temples.

“Kidnap us? Why pretend to be you, then?”

“I don’t know Sabo!” Ace says in frustration, throwing his hands up, “Why does anybody do anything?"

"I'm gonna be captain of my own crew! I don't wanna go with anybody else!" Luffy argues, placing his hands on his hips.

"I don't think you'd get a choice if you were kidnapped, idiot." Ace scoffs, while Luffy frowns, as if that hadn't occurred to him.

"Well, then I'll just beat them up!"

"It wouldn't be that easy if it were Whitebeard!"

Sabo sighs. Really, his brain is too tired to deal with this right now.

When they finally reach the treehouse, Luffy practically collapses on the floor, yawning. It makes Sabo fight the urge to yawn as well. Today has been a long day. First, the visit to Portgas, then the fight with the bear, then the mad dash to Dadan’s place..

He plops down next to Luffy, who immediately cuddles up next to him. He glances up at Ace, who still looks high-strung.

“Wanna worry about it in the morning?” He asks, offering Ace a tentative smile and patting the floor next to him. Ace stares at him for a moment, body sagging, before he grabs a blanket and tosses it over the three of them. He flops down next to Sabo, his back turned to him.

Being here, curled up next to his brothers, he feels… safe. It’s almost enough to make him forget his worries about the mysterious stranger they’ve been dealing with. For now, he curls up next to Luffy and Ace, and lets himself succumb to sleep

Chapter Text

Darkness. Darkness all around him.

It wasn’t like any darkness Ace had experienced before. It wasn’t like when you closed your eyes. It wasn’t like the darkness of night.

It was like nothing.

A vast, overwhelming presence. Almost like falling asleep. A cessation of existence while still existing.

But this didn’t feel like that. It felt horrible, while also feeling like nothing at all. Something indescribable, something impossible.

It felt like his very being was being ripped to shreds and put back together.

Ace tried to claw his way out, but he didn’t know which way was up. There was no down, no up, no left or right. Direction didn’t exist. Was something attacking him? He couldn’t tell.

He couldn’t feel anything, taste anything, see anything, and yet everything burned .

He tried to scream, but there was no noise. A bone-chilling quiet that seemed to burrow under his skin and turn his flesh and nerves to ice.

He couldn’t..

He couldn’t..

Make it stop!

A scream tore through Ace’s throat as he bolted up, flames dancing across his chest in a panic. He claws at the air, hyperventilating.

“Wow! Hot! Hot!”

Ace jerks his head, startling when he sees Luffy scrambling off of him, batting at his clothes to put out the flames.

“Luh- Drop and roll, Luffy!” Ace yelped, sleep-addled brain not registering the fact those were his flames.

Luffy drops like a stone, rolling in the dirt. The flames quickly dissipate with a tssst! and Ace felt the tension slowly leave his body.

Ace clutched his chest, taking deep breaths while letting out a spluttering laugh of disbelief. “Luffy, you little idiot, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I could have hurt you, seriously! Don’t startle me like that!”

Luffy gives him a weird look, but it's quickly replaced with one of curiosity. “Wow, how’d Bace do that? You were all covered in fire!”

Of course Luffy isn’t concerned about being on fire, the little maniac. Ace lets out a breath as he flops back down on the ground, Luffy plopping on top of him. “It’s my devil fruit,” he answers, “I ate the flame flame fruit so now I’m a flameman.” 

Ace wonders if Luffy noticed him burning through the ropes last night. Given the awestruck look on his face right now, probably not.

“That’s so cool! Not as cool as my gum gum fruit though.”

“Wanna bet?” Ace challenges playfully.

Luffy takes the challenge with stride, grinning and flexing his arms, “Rubber makes my punch like a pistol! And I can’t get hurt!” He thwacks himself on the head with a fist to emphasize the point, smiling at Ace the whole time.

Ace laughs, “Yeah, well, my fruit keeps me from getting hurt too. Plus I can set things on fire.”

Again, Luffy’s eyes go comically wide. “What! Really? No fair!” He whined. 

As if doubting Ace’s fruit could actually prevent him from getting hurt, Luffy decided to throw a punch at Ace’s arm. Ace didn’t really want to have a repeat of a couple minutes ago, though, so he’s sure to keep his body from bursting into flames when Luffy makes contact, which just results in a dull thump.

Luffy stares at Ace’s arm for a moment, before turning to Ace. “Did that hurt?” He asks.

“No, but that’s just cuz you weren’t trying,” Ace says teasingly, making Luffy pout. He swiftly grabs Luffy’s wrists when he sees him winding up to throw another punch. “Stop trying to make me turn into fire. You’ll only hurt yourself. Do you want to be set on fire?”

“But I wanna see your cool powers!”

“I can show you what my fruit can do without setting you on fire,” Ace said, rolling his eyes. He yawned, blinking sleep out of his eyes. He glanced up at the sky. Huh, it's still dark out.

“Lu, what are you doing here, anyway? Is ‘Bo with you?”

“I wanted to come see you! Sabo was sleeping so I came by myself.”

“At what, five in the morning?” Ace asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep! I was excited!” Oh, well, that’s a little heartwarming. Even after living with Luffy for ten years, it was still weird to think about someone being excited to see him.

“Hey Bace?”

“Hmm?”

“Why were you screaming?”

Oh. Hmm. Ace couldn’t remember. Maybe a nightmare? He didn’t really want to admit that to Luffy, though. He shrugs. “Don’t really remember.”

He ruffles Luffy’s hair as he pulls himself into a sitting position. “S’not important anyway. You wanna see some of those cool fire tricks I told you about?”

Luffy’s mood immediately flips, and he excitedly jumps to his feet.

“Yeah! I wanna spar again!”

“Hold your horses, bud. It’ll be a while before you can spar me while I’m using fire,” Ace said.

“Aww, but it looked cool!”

“That’s not a metric for training, Lu-”

As soon as Ace tried to stand up, his body betrayed him, swaying under his weight. He had to lean against a tree to keep from collapsing, taking short, shallow breaths as his vision flashed white and his head got all fuzzy.

“Bace?” He hears Luffy ask, “You ok?”

“M’fine, Luffy,” Ace dismissed, waiting to see if the flashes of white would fade from his vision.

“You look all white though,” Luffy pouts, “Like Shanks when he-”

Suddenly, Luffy’s eyes go wide, and he lunges at Ace, throwing him off balance again.

“Bace, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“Luffy, I told you, I’m-” He tries to say, taking a step forward as he tries to push Luffy off of him. But as soon as he moves, his vision whites out, and he falls to his knees. He feels like a wave of nausea is choking him as he throws up what little he managed to eat yesterday night.

Once the dizziness finally fades, he opens his eyes. The grass is stained with blood.

“Eugh,” Ace groans, wiping his mouth, grimacing at the taste of blood and bile, “Nasty.”

“Baaace!” Luffy whines, “You’re sick!”

Luffy is right. As much as he’d like to ignore it and tell Luffy he’s fine, he’s really not. He leans back to sit on his heels, hating the way moving makes him feel.

“Why’re you coughing up blood? Are you dying!?”

“No, I’m not dying, relax,” Ace says as Luffy climbs into his lap.

“Shanks said the same thing and he passed out!”

Shanks had passed out? Huh, Ace couldn’t remember Luffy ever telling him that. Can’t say he’s really surprised, though, considering the guy lost his arm.

“Sure, but he didn’t die, did he?” Ace said, crossing his arms, “‘Sides, I’m made of tougher stuff than Shanks is.”

Luffy gives him the most skeptical look Ace thinks Luffy could manage, and it almost is enough to make Ace snicker.

“C’mon, you don’t think your big bro is stronger than Shanks?” Ace asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Mmmm,” Luffy squints at him and purses his lips in a way that’s truly comical. Ace would be a little offended if he weren’t talking about an emperor of the sea. “I dunno, Shanks is super strong. He beat up the Lord of the Coast!”

“I can do that too,” Ace said, rolling his eyes.

“What! Really? Show me!”

“Sure, but not right now. Maybe later I can give you some tips on how to fight a seaking.” Ace says, forcing himself back up to his feet.

“Whazzat?”

“A seaking? That’s what the Lord of the Coast is. Though they get much bigger on the Grandline.”

“Woah… bigger than the Lord of the Coast?” Luffy says in wonder, staring up at Ace like he said the most unbelievable thing. Then he breaks into a big grin, “The Grandline is so cool! I can’t wait to explore it!”

“Mmhmm,” Ace says, “Yeah, on the Grandline I once fought a sea king that was like… I dunno, fifty times bigger than the Lord of the Coast?” 

“What! Woa… that’s amazing, Bace!”

Luffy hops around Ace, jumping and pulling on his shoulder. “We fought a big bear yesterday. It was really fun. I hit it with my gum gum pistol and it got real mad!”

“Oh yeah?” Ace asks, grinning, “Bet that was fun, huh. Did you win?”

“Yeah, duh! Sabo and Ace were both super cool too! But then we did a race after that and I lost and now I gotta give them my food!” Luffy pouted, “I don’t wanna do that!”

Ace snickers, “Guess you shouldn’t have lost then, huh?”

“I diddint do it on purpose!” Luffy whines. He stomps his foot and gives Ace a defiant look, “I’m gonna train super hard and beat em next time!”

“Mmm yeah, good luck with that, Lu-” Ace began, but was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit. He wheezes, a burning sensation in his chest making him reel over.

It took a while for the burning sensation and cough to fade, all the while Luffy watched him with a strange look. After Ace stopped coughing, Luffy seemed to come to some kind of decision, jumping to his feet.

“Bace, stay here!” Luffy shouts as he runs off.

“Luffy, where are you going?” Ace starts to ask, but Luffy has already run off. He sighs, leaning back against the tree. Well, no point in arguing now. Not like he has anything else he needs to do.

Ace tilted his head back and stared at the sky. Ugh, man, he was hungry. Constantly feeling nauseous was really starting to get on his nerves. Even eating less and eating that bland shit he’d stolen from Dadan’s place hadn’t helped. It was like his stomach had started eating itself.

Was that why he’d been throwing up blood?

… No, probably not. But still, there was definitely something wrong. He isn’t sure he’s ever felt this sick before.

Then again, he’s never really… gotten sick. Even as a kid, he can’t remember a time he was ever sick.

But he definitely wasn’t a stranger to the sensation of his stomach trying to eat itself. Impel Down certainly had never bothered feeding him, especially not in the days leading up to his execution.

He closed his eyes, resting against the tree. What else had he tried yet?

As he lingered on the thought, he realized, after a while, that Luffy still wasn’t back yet. Man, Luffy is taking his time. Squinting at the forest, Ace could feel himself growing restless. Maybe he should go check on him.

He forced himself to start walking in the direction Luffy had run off in, ignoring his body’s protests. His eyes traced across the forest floor as he tried to follow his little brother’s footsteps.

Worry gnawed at his chest. He’d almost forgotten how much of a trouble magnet Luffy could be. He still remembers the days of having to save him from getting impaled by a wild boar or eaten by a crocodile.

… Then again, he’d never really stopped saving him.

A noise from the other side of the trees catches Ace’s attention, and he peeks over the foliage. He relaxes immediately upon spotting the familiar straw hat, and trots over to see Luffy crouched over… something. He can’t see it from this angle.

“Hey Lu, whatchu got there?” Ace asks, placing his hands in his pockets.

Luffy glances up at him, smiling brightly. “Ace, look!” He says, revealing a huge beetle in his hand, “It’s a titan beetle, isn’t that cool!”

Ace whistles as he crouches down beside his brother, “Oh wow, that’s a biggie, huh?” He says with a grin. Luffy lets out a delighted giggle as he pats his head, “Good catch, Lu.”

Then he asks, “Is this that thing you wanted to show me?” 

Luffy blinked owlishly at him for a moment, then his expression grew more surprised, and he quickly shook his head. “No! I forgot! Hold this,” Luffy says, handing the beetle to Ace. Then he takes off.

Ace places the beetle on the rim of his hat, following after Luffy, albeit at a slower pace.

Luffy ploughs through the underbrush, tripping over branches in his mad dash through the forest. He gets up, unfazed, and keeps on going. Ace follows his path of destruction, amused.

Finally, Luffy comes to a stop. As Ace catches up to him, Luffy, rather proudly, holds up something in his hands to show him.

A mushroom.

A laughing mushroom specifically.

“Luf,” He laughs, crouching down beside him, “Did you get distracted again?”

“No! This is what I wanted to show you,” Lufy says, placing the mushroom into Ace’s hands. “You eat it and it makes you feel better!”

Ace stared at the deceptively inconspicuous mushroom, then back at Luffy. He was still beaming.

He wasn’t sure if laughing mushrooms could really help with physical pain. But Luffy wasn’t wrong in saying they did help you feel better.

Honestly. What the hell. He couldn’t say no to Luffy, not after how upset he’d been earlier. Didn’t want his kid brother to worry about him; that was his job.

“Thanks, Luf,” He says fondly, ruffling Luffy’s hair, “You’re a real lifesaver.”

Luffy swatted Ace’s hand away, “Ace stoop!” He whined, trying to wriggle out of his grip.

“Alright!” Ace said, clapping his hands together before scooping the mushrooms up in one hand. He placed a hand on his free knee as he pushed himself to a standing position. “None of this for you! You’re going back to bed!” He enunciated his point by lightly bopping Luffy on the head with one of the mushrooms.

“Aww no fair!” Luffy whined, “I wanna go explore! Bace, c’mon, let’s go play!”

“Nope, way too early, Luf,” Ace said, shaking his head. “Sun hasn’t even risen yet, and I’m tired.”

Before Luffy can argue, Ace continues, “Listen, Lu. How about this? If you go to bed… and actually sleep, I’ll spar with you later. Make sure you get permission from Sabo first, too, alright?”

“Mmm… alright… but make sure you eat the mushrooms! So you don’t hurt anymore!”

“Right, right. Don’t worry about me Luf. Look!” He takes a bite of the mushroom, chewing for emphasis as he makes eye contact with Luffy. He swallows and smiles, waving his hand, “See? Already feeling better.”

Luffy squints at him, then nods, satisfied. “Good! It’s important that Bace feels better!” 

He then rushed forward, squeezing Ace in a tight hug. Ace startled a bit, heart warming a little bit. When Luffy pulled away, he ran off, waving back towards Ace, “You better keep your promise!” He shouts.

Ace laughs, “You think I’d break a promise to you? Now hurry up and get back to the treehouse before my kid self or Sabo realizes you’re missing! They’ll think you got eaten by an alligator!”

“No way! I’d beat em up!” Luffy laughed confidently, before disappearing into the forest.

Finally, Ace let himself slump over, grimacing. Ugh, he doubted he’d be able to get back to sleep like this. As much as having Luffy around made him happier, he also hated the way his body felt right now, and didn’t want his kid brother seeing him like this.

Ugh , he glanced back down at the mushrooms.

Well, he didn’t have a lot of other options. Maybe the floaty feeling the mushrooms gave him would actually help. At least give him something else to focus on.

He takes another bite.

“What if… he’s a clone?” 

The three kids had woken up, and pretty much as soon as they did, Ace had dragged them out of bed to spar. Sabo and Ace were currently engaged in a standoff while Luffy sat on a log, kicking his legs impatiently.

Ace made a face at him. “What even is that?”

"It's like... a person who's identical to you, but made in a lab. Like artificial."

Ace wrinkles his nose. "That's dumb." He says, as he ducks out of the way of Sabo's attack, lunging forward.

“Okay Mr. Smart Guy, what's your idea then?” Sabo challenges, side-stepping and swinging his pipe to try to redirect the force of Ace's hit.

“Maybe he can like… read minds.”

“Is that any less likely than being a clone, though?” Sabo asked skeptically.

This only served to get on Ace’s nerves, though, so the next time he swung, he used a lot more force. The clang of their pipes clashing sent a jolt down Sabo’s spine. He shivered, and glared at him.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me for trying to come up with ideas!” Sabo snaps.

“Come up with better ones, then!” Ace shoots back. This time, when he swings his pipe, the attack overwhelms him, knocking the pipe clean out of his hands and smacking him in the face.

“Ow!” Sabo hisses in pain, cradling his face. The yelp is enough to snap Ace out of his stupor, lowering his pipe as he stares at Sabo. He looks… hesitant.

“Are you uh… okay?” He asks.

“No, you hit me in the face! What do you think?” Sabo grits out, rubbing the side of his face. It definitely feels like it's going to bruise.

Ace almost looked… guilty. He fidgeted, reaching out a hand, before pulling it back and rubbing his arm, “I thought you’d dodge.”

“Oh, so you being stupid is my fault then?” Sabo bit out.

The air grew tense as Ace simmered at him. Just when Sabo thought Ace would start yelling, his shoulders went slack and he looked away. It was like dousing a flame.

“I’m gonna go to the market,” Ace declared. Sabo blinked, caught off guard by the suddenness of Ace’s decision.

“What, now? Why? We were in the middle of something!”

“Well, someone has to get money for that bear pelt,” Ace says, crossing his arms. He still looks kinda tense for some reason. “Also uh… wanted to see if any rumors are going around either about a guy like that coming to the island.”

“Rumors…? Ace I swear to god if you walk into a bar again…”

“I’m not gonna do that!” Ace snapped.

Sabo gives him a look, “Why are you talking like you’re going alone, anyway? If you’re going, we’re coming with you.”

“We ran into your shitty dad last time,” Ace said. Shit… Sabo had almost forgotten about that in all of the excitement of becoming brothers and moving into the treehouse, combined with the weirdness of meeting Portgas.

“Oh, right…” Sabo bites his lip. He isn’t sure why his father was there. Could he really still be looking for him? He’d never seen him around before then…

“What if you run into Bluejam? We probably pissed him off pretty bad with Porchemy…”

“I’ll be fast,” Ace countered.

“You’ll be alone .”

“I can handle myself!”

Sabo rubbed his temples, “If you want information so bad can’t we just follow the guy? I doubt he’s far…” Sabo said, wincing a bit. He had tried to word that so it wasn’t so obvious he’d run into the guy.

“Well how are we going to do that while also watching Luffy?” Ace challenged.

“Watching? Luffy’s right-” He turns, and finds an empty space where Luffy was. He stares at it for a moment, before whirling around to glare accusingly at Ace.

“You jerk, why didn’t you tell me Luffy ran off?”

Ace shrugs, “Wasn’t my day to watch him. ‘Sides, I ran after him last time.”

“You are so- You did that on purpose didn’t you!”

Augh! Ace could be so infuriating sometimes! “If you’re not back by noon I’m coming after you whether you like it or not.”

“Deal.”

Casting one more sour look at Ace, he bolted off after Luffy. “Luffy, c’mon, slow down!” Sabo shouted. Damn it, the kid couldn’t sit still for five seconds… Seriously…

Though, normally Luffy was better about sticking around during their spars..

Fortunately, Luffy hadn’t made it too far, and Sabo was able to catch up with him. He was standing between two trees, glancing side to side. Before he could bolt off in a random direction, Sabo grabbed him. 

You would think living with a boy made of rubber would make Sabo used to his antics, but no. As soon as he grabbed him, Luffy just kept running, stretching his arm until he reached a point of tension, at which point he just sprang back into place and knocked both of them over.

“Dang it, Luffy….” Sabo groaned, pushing himself to his feet, “At least some warning before you run off would be nice….”

“But you and Ace were arguing again and I was bored….”

“We were only arguing because Ace was being stubborn… where were you going, anyway?”

“Bace said he’d fight me again today, so I wanted to go say hi to him.” Luffy blinks, then tilts his head back to look at Sabo, “Oh! Bace told me to ask you if I can go meet him today!”

Of course. Luffy seemed totally unbothered by what they’d learned about Portgas the other night. Of course, he’d been unbothered about the guy since he met him.

Last night… well. It was strange. Sabo had already known the guy was dangerous. But the way Dadan had freaked out had just made his unease worse. Were the Whitebeards really that bad? The way the guy talked about them didn’t make them seem bad.

The guy himself too. What kinda dangerous pirate helps a bunch of kids in the woods collect snakes? That seemed like a parody.

“Fine… I guess we can go talk to him,” Sabo relented.

“Yush!” Luffy shouted in victory.

As they began to walk through the forest, Luffy turned to him. “Hey Sabo, when are we gonna bring Ace to meet Bace?” He asked.

“I dunno, Luffy,” Sabo says with a shrug, pushing some foliage aside, “He still doesn’t trust him.”

“But why?”

“Cause claiming to be someone from the future is kind of outlandish? I mean, doesn’t that sound insane to you?”

“Nope!”

Well. Guess there wasn’t much Sabo could say about that, then.

Once they reached Portgas’s campsite, Luffy immediately bolted over to where the guy was sunbathing, jumping on top of him.

“Hey Bace! We’re back!”

However, as soon as Sabo sees Portgas, he notices something… off about him. The way Portgas is lying there, staring up vacantly at the sky… he even seems surprised when Luffy jumps on him, which is a stark contrast to the version of Portgas they’d talked to yesterday.

Additionally, Portgas’s movements are slow and unfocused. Sabo watches as Portgas blinks owlishly at Luffy, reaching up and squishing his face.

“Heyyy Luff… since when did you get stripes?”

Luffy wiggles out of Portgas’s grip, not seeming to register anything weird about how Portgas is acting. “I don’t have stripes!”

“Portgas… are you feeling okay?” Sabo asks hesitantly, getting closer.

When Portgas turns to look at him, Sabo finally realizes what’s going on.

His pupils are incredibly dilated. He’s high as a fucking kite right now.

Not only that, but his eyes are incredibly unfocused. It doesn’t seem like he’s fully registered Sabo was even there. Then, to Sabo’s surprise and alarm, he starts looking misty-eyed.

“Sabo, is that really you?”

Sabo barely has time to wonder what that question means before Portgas shoots up. It catches Sabo off guard when the guy shoots forward and pulls him into a hug. Initially, Sabo tries to struggle out of his grip, but that only makes Portgas squeeze him harder.

“H-ey! Let go-” He starts to say, trying to wriggle free, but pauses when he hears the sound of Portgas’s breath catching in his throat.

Was he… crying?

Has he ever seen Ace cry before? He’s so shocked he stops struggling, Portgas’s grip tightening around him.

Hearing the man cry is… kind of uncomfortable. It’s soft and raw and strangled and makes Sabo’s heart twist in a way that makes him want to lash out. It honestly sounds like a mix of crying and some kind of hysterical relieved laughter. Struck out of his paralysis by the weird feelings in his chest, he tries to once again struggle free. This time by kneeing Portgas in the stomach.

To his immense surprise, the area he tries to kick him… dissolves into flames.

Sabo shrieks, jumping away and falling to the ground, immediately rolling over to put the fire out. 

“S-shit woah Sabo you okay?” Portgas asks, voice still a bit shaky. His eyes are bloodshot from crying.

“No thanks to you!” Sabo yelps, patting his knee. The fire is gone and it doesn’t really hurt, so that’s good, at least.

Portgas tries to get up, but wobbles a bit and falls back down to one knee, “Urgh, sorry, sorry, everything is a bit floaty right now…” 

Sabo rolled his eyes, “Gee, I wonder why…”

Luffy, not recognizing his sarcasm, responds. “I gave Bace some laughing mushrooms!”

Sabo gawks at Luffy, then turns to look at Portgas.

That explained a lot.

“How many?” Sabo asks, cautious. The guy seemed pretty blasted.

“Uhhhh I dunno… like….. Ten?” Luffy says, looking a little sheepish for once.

“ Ten?”

“Maybe more?”

“Luffy!”

“Haha, take it easyyyy Sabo,” Portgas laughs, flopping down on the grass. “Maybe you’re the one who needs to have some mushrooms. They’ll make you feeeeeeeel better!”

Sabo crosses his arms, looking down at the guy from where he’s lying in the grass. He’s rolled onto his back, and is giving Sabo a dopey grin, like a dog.

“I don’t want to,” Sabo says.

“But you look so grumpy!”

Man, had he really been intimidated by this guy? Sabo crouched down next to him, flicking him on the forehead. The guy barely reacts.

“You’re not very scary when you’re high,” Sabo remarks with a frown.

“Ehhh? I’m pleeenty scary!” Portgas actually pouts at him. Then he seems to register what actually said, and his eyes widen a bit, “Were you scared of me?” he asks. There is a layer of guilt in the tone of his voice that makes Sabo uncomfortable.

“Well not anymore!” Sabo shoots back, wincing. Shouldn’t have let that slip.

“Bace!” Luffy jumps on Portgas’s chest again, making him grunt, “You said you were gonna fight me! You promised!”

Sabo squinted skeptically at him, “You really think he can fight in that condition?”

Portgas seems to take offense to that, awkwardly pushing himself up with his elbows, “Oy, I can fight juuust fine.” He says, dragging out his words. His pupils are still huge, and kinda unfocused.

Sabo glances at Luffy, who is practically shaking with excitement. Well, he won’t stop them. At the very least, this should be funny.

“Just- Right, give me a second,” Portgas says, wobbling to his feet. Sabo sits down in the grass to watch, resting his head on his knee. Luffy is bouncing from foot to foot, full of too much energy to sit still.

When the two square off, the first thing Sabo notices is that Portgas is much more uncoordinated when Luffy jumps at him. He still dodges, but he’s slower and less deliberate with his movements. 

Even still, at first, Luffy still can’t lay a finger on him. Sabo isn’t sure if that’s impressive or not, to still be able to dodge while high.

Maybe he just has practice?

“Ack!” Luffy yelps when Portgas nails him a bit too hard, causing him to spring back. Portgas seems surprised, and Sabo just snickers.

The sparring goes on a little more like this. Portgas seems to have a harder time holding back while high, but it’s not too big of a deal since Luffy’s made of rubber.

It seems, though, that the disorientation of the mushrooms is starting to get to Portgas, though, as Luffy swipes at him. He doesn’t hit him, but Sabo is pretty sure he sees a flicker of flames in the spot Luffy swiped out.

This startles him into standing, but Luffy doesn’t seem surprised by this. He just grins and raises his hands, “I got you to use your fire!”

Portgas blinks owlishly at the spot on his shoulder that lit up. Is it just Sabo or does he look kind of pale? “Hah… Good job Luf, you-” 

There was very little warning when Ace passed out. It was like a switch was suddenly flipped, and his eyes rolled back, as his legs gave out. Sabo yelped, rushing forward. He manages to catch the guy before his head makes contact with the ground, but his weight immediately makes Sabo’s own legs buckle, and they both end up collapsing in the dirt.

“Ow…” Sabo hisses, wiggling out from under the guy. Turning back to him, he notices he’s… really pale. Shit.

“What’s wrong!?” Luffy gasps, scrambling over.

“I don’t know, he just…” Sabo approaches Portgas, hesitantly pressing an ear to his chest. There’s a heartbeat, faint, but still there.

“He’s still breathing, but it sounds weird,” Sabo says.

“Bace! Wake up!” Luffy shouts, moving before Sabo can stop him, to slam his fists on Portgas’s chest. 

“Luffy no!” Sabo shouts, grabbing Luffy’s wrists and yanking them away from Portgas, “That’s just gonna make it worse!”

“Then what do we do?!”

As soon as Sabo felt himself start to panic, Portgas’s eyes snapped open, and he took a sharp breath, hunching over and coughing. Sabo could only watch, feeling a little out of his depth, as Portgas took shallow, wheezing breaths. He tried to ignore the blood dribbling from his chin.

“Bace! What’s wrong? You’re spitting up blood again….” Luffy said, sounding surprisingly stilted.

“I’m…  fine.” Portgas said, gritting his teeth. It sounded strained even to Sabo.

“Yeah, you totally look fine,” Sabo bit out sarcastically. “You passed out.”

“Oh, that? That’s just something that happens,” Portgas remarked, rubbing the blood off of his face.

“You faint and cough up blood?”

“Uhh, the coughing up blood is new. S'not important.”

“Well it seems like it!” Sabo snaps, exasperated. What a strange guy. “What, did you accidentally eat the wrong mushrooms and poison yourself? I thought you were supposed to be a big smart Whitebeard pirate?”

“I know exactly what mushrooms I ate. My knowledge of plants is the only reason you’re-” Portgas coughs into his hand, shuddering in a way that makes Sabo’s chest seize up. “I mean, do you have any idea how many times you almost poisoned yourself?”

“I was five!” Sabo protested, “What’s your excuse?”

“I just told you I didn’t poison myself. This is unrelated to the mushrooms!” Portgas let out a frustrated noise as he covered his face with his hands.

Beside him, Luffy had gone oddly quiet. “... Bace is really sick, huh?” he says, voice sounding small.

Quickly, Portgas snaps up, and reaches over to reassure Luffy, “Hey, hey I already told you, this aint something you gotta worry about.”

“.... But is it something you gotta worry about?”

A beat of silence. Portgas goes to open his mouth again, but Luffy interrupts him, pouting harder, “Don’t say I’m fine again if you’re not! Bace shouldn’t be hurting….”

“Luffy it….” Portgas flashes a conflicted look at Luffy, then a pleading look at Sabo. Is he hoping he’ll cover for him? Sabo just crosses his arms and meets his gaze stubbornly.

“I’m too high to deal with this right nooow…” Portgas groans, scowling. “Mushrooms haven’t worn off yet. Ugh, lissennn, It’s just… pirate stuff, Luffy. Pirates get hurt all the time. I told you, I can handle it,” He settles on finally. Luffy doesn’t look convinced, and neither is Sabo. Because Sabo isn’t an idiot.

“Pirates have doctors, dumbass,” Sabo remarks. “Don’t you?”

Something flashes in Portgas’s expression. It’s that same kinda distant look he got when they first met. It almost makes Sabo regret saying that, but he’s not gonna take it back now, just ‘cuz the guy looks kinda sad.

“Yeah, well, my crew aint here.”

A beat of silence, and Sabo frowns. Why wouldn’t… if he was sick, shouldn’t he go back to his crew? Why was he here? And what was with the way he said that? It sounded... weird.

…. Well. Sabo knew why he was here. Or the reason he claimed to be anyway. But that didn’t do much to explain any of this.

They lay there for a moment in quiet retrospection, Sabo staring at the sky. What was with this guy? Was he dangerous? Well, the answer to that was obviously yes. But even still… he didn’t seem dangerous.

And what was with his reaction to seeing him earlier? He’d acted like he’d seen a ghost… Sabo wonders if this guy claims to be Ace. Does that mean he has a version of him and Luffy? That would make sense. He seems to know them….

There’s an uncomfortable implication there that Sabo isn’t sure he wants to deal with right now.

Luffy crawled into Portgas’s lap, laying his head on his chest, “Did the mushrooms help?” He asks quietly.

Portgas’s gaze softened, “Yeah, Luf, they’re helping. I think I just uh… I dunno. Didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Luffy studies Portgas’s face, and he seems to understand what he’s talking about, nodding solemnly. He seems to accept what Portgas is saying, but… Well. Sabo is smarter than that.

“Enough about that though!! Let’s talk about something EXCITING! Howzaabout I talk to you guys about some of my adventures on the Grand Line,” Portgas redirects, shifting his weight to lay down in the grass. He smiles at Sabo. “You’d like’at, yeah?”

Sabo stiffens. On one hand, Sabo isn’t sure how he feels about Portgas avoiding the subject again . On the other hand he… isn’t opposed to hearing some more about the Grand Line…

“I guess… one story wouldn’t hurt-”

“Yes!” Luffy shouts, jumping on top of Portgas’s chest. He winces at the impact, something he tries to hide but Sabo doesn’t miss.

“Hmm…. okay, let’s see…. Oh! You guys wanna hear about the first time I fought my friend Yamato? He’s super cool, he’s an oni and he’s got like horns ‘n stuff-”

“Oni are real?” Sabo asked, despite himself. He immediately felt stupid for asking that. Of course oni are real. Devil fruits are real and they’re much more absurd than people with horns and fangs.

If Portgas thought the question was stupid, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he just grins, “Yep! Man, you guys are going to love the Grand Line when you get to set sail.”

“Bace! The story! I wanna hear about the potato guy!”

“His name is Yamato Luffy.”

“That’s what I said.”

Portgas just rolled his eyes fondly, making himself comfortable on the grass, “Right right. Jeez you’re impatient. Okay, so it all started when the Spades and I finally docked on on the shores of Wano….”

Surprisingly, this time, when the two of them finally returned to the treehouse, Ace wasn’t back yet. While Portgas’s story had offered a good distraction from the anxiety Sabo had been feeling, it returned in full force when they got back to the treehouse.

Sabo began to pace back and forth, glancing at the shadows being cast by the sun. Shouldn’t Ace be back by now? It didn’t take too long to take a pelt down to the market…

“Sabo? You okay?” Luffy asked, before glancing over at the treehouse. “You looking for Ace?”

“He should be back by now,” Sabo said, voicing the anxiety in his head.

“... Should we go look for him?” Luffy asked.

…. “No…. probably not yet.” As much as Sabo’s gut feeling was to run off and go look for Ace, he also knew if they left, and Ace got back to find the treehouse empty, he probably would freak out just as much as Sabo was right now. Except Ace’s freakout would probably involve more hitting them…

Just as Sabo was about to start nervously pacing again, a rustle in the bushes caught his attention. He tensed on instinct, but before he could hop into a protective stance, Ace appeared.

He blinked, meeting Sabo’s anxious gaze, “Uh… what’d I miss?”

“Ace! You’re back!” Luffy ran over to him, bouncing excitedly, “Did you get anything cool?”

“Eh, the market was full of cheapskates today,” Ace said with a shrug, “Weirdly empty, too. Whatever, I did snag us this,” he tosses a satchel to the ground. When Luffy opens it up, it spills open to reveal tons of glittering silver coins.

“Wow, treasure!” Luffy shouts excitedly, “Shishishi, so cool!”

As Luffy is digging through the coins, Sabo walks up to stand next to Ace. “.. Did you really get all that from the bear pelt?” He asks skeptically.

“Hah! No,” Ace says with a scoff. “The market was slow today, but that didn’t mean nobody was there.”

“Huh, good haul,” Sabo says. Then, a bit more passive-aggressively, “Would have been nice if I were there to help.”

Ace makes some kind of growling noise, but instead of responding, Ace shoves something into his arms. Sabo blinks at it for a moment.

It’s a…. Box? “Ace, what-”

“Just open it.”

Perplexed, Sabo lifts the top up. Inside is… a pen? He blinks, and picks the pen up. Oh… huh. “This is… a really nice pen. Where’d you find it?”

“....  Some merchant’s stall. One of those underground types I think. Was probably stolen to begin with.” Ace shrugs, “Or I dunno. Maybe nobles just throw away fancy pens because they have so many?”

Sabo hums. Wouldn’t really put it past them… but wait. Why would Ace grab… “Hold on… is this a gift ?” Sabo starts, a smile beginning to tug on his face, “Aw, you do care!”

Ace’s cheeks go red with embarrassment, as he roughly shoves Sabo aside, “Don’t make that face! Jeez, last time I get you anything…”

“H-ey Ace! Don’t run off! It’s nice!” Sabo laughs, following after Ace.

“Oh! Oh! Ace, didcha get me anything?” Luffy asks, springing up to bounce around Ace like an excited parakeet.

“Both of you buzz off!”

“Here.” Sabo said as he dropped an armful of supplies at Portgas’s feet.

It was dark now. After collecting the supplies back at the treehouse and making sure Ace and Luffy were asleep, he’d snuck off to bring this stuff back to Portgas.

Portgas stared, dumbfounded. Fortunately, it seems like the effect of the mushrooms had mostly worn off by now. When Sabo had come back, much like the first time he’d followed him, Portgas had immediately noticed him. Portgas frowned, reaching for the bottle Sabo dropped at his feet. 

“Sabo, what is- Wait, are these-”

“Some of the medical stuff we had stashed in the treehouse.”

This alarms Portgas, whose eyes widen. He doesn’t look happy. “Sabo, we keep those there for emergencies . You and I both know how much of a pain in the ass it is getting actual medicine living out in the grey terminal! What if one of you gets hurt?”

“Yeah well, you’re the one who’s hurt right now , idiot,” Sabo scoffs, trying to ignore the concern in Portgas’s voice. Concern over his wellbeing… It's so weird hearing that from someone he shouldn’t… doesn’t know. “Besides, we can always steal more from Dadan.”

“As if she has any easier of a time getting medicine than we did,” Portgas says, rolling his eyes. He focuses on Sabo, gaze scrutinizing, “Did you miss the part where I said I can handle myself?” He asked. He looks exasperated, but for some reason Sabo found himself not really being intimidated anymore.

“You’re doing a shitty job of that, obviously,” Sabo shot back snidely.

“You are so rude. So rude to your poor big brother,” Portgas responded, shaking his head.

“Yeah, well, maybe that’s your own fault,” Sabo muttered, eyes narrowing, “And you’re not my brother.”

Ah shit, Portgas has that sad look on his face again. The one he had back when they talked at the treehouse and the one he had when he saw him while high on mushrooms. “Right… of course,” he says. Sabo looks away, ignoring the strange guilt that blooms in his chest.

“....Don’t die,” Sabo says finally, turning to look back at Portgas,  “I think Luffy would be sad if that happened.”

Portgas watched him, an indescribable emotion on his face. “Yeah, sure.” He said softly.

After that Sabo flees. But even as he makes his way back to the treehouse, the feeling of guilt doesn’t go away.

Chapter Text

If you told Dadan ten years ago she’d be saddled with a child by the worst man she knew and made to play house for the brat, she would have laughed in your face.

Now, not only was she responsible for three brats, but one of them had dropped a hell of a bombshell on her.

That there could be a Whitebeard pirate on Goa.

And wasn’t that a terrifying thought. For a lot of reasons.

Dadan pinched the bridge of her nose. Every day was something new with those three. How exactly they had managed to get the attention of someone like that was beyond her. At this rate, she was going to start going grey.

God, cigarettes weren’t strong enough for this.

After she’d chewed out Dogra and Magra for not telling her about the fact that a pirate had broken into their house and stolen some of their shit, she’d ordered their sorry asses to fetch her some firewood.

Then she used the firewood to get a hot bath going, because she needed something to help her relax in this situation. The longer she could put off dealing with this mess, the better.

She knew she’d have to investigate who this guy was. You had to be a special kind of foolish to claim to be a Whitebeard on Garp’s home island. Sure, Dawn had its fair share of crime. It’s not like the Marines, Garp included, gave enough of a shit about the slums to bother cleaning them up. The Grey Terminal was a rat’s nest swarming with crooks. Petty criminals, gangs, and bandits ran rampant. Even pirates could get away with causing some trouble, provided they targeted the lower class.

Really, as long as no one made trouble for the elite, the Marines and city guard didn’t care.

But a Whitebeard pirate, or any big-name pirate, was different. That was something that demanded attention. Danger they posed aside, their bounty and reputation alone would be enough to get them swarmed by gloryhounds looking to make a name for themselves.

Dadan was really hoping this was just some hot-blooded idiot trying to ride on somebody else’s coattails.

Because if this was the real deal? She was going to be in a lot of fucking trouble. She couldn’t defend the brats from a Whitebeard that’d be suicide!

Ugh, calm down. Yer’ gettin’ yourself all worked up. She chastised herself as she got dressed, pulling lightly at her curls. She began to scrounge through her cupboard, snagging herself a wine glass and pulling out some fancy bourbon she’d been saving for a special occasion.

This is the opposite of special, but I’m going to need this before the call I have to make . She thought to herself bitterly as she poured a glass.

Which brought her to her other issue.

Calling Garp.

There was no way in Davy Jones’ Locker she was going to tell Garp there might be a Whitebeard on Dawn. No, preferably she’d never tell him that. She enjoyed being a free woman, thank you kindly.

What she was concerned about was what Sabo had said. About the guy bearing a striking resemblance to Ace. Dogra and Magra had also testified to the idea that the guy had looked like Ace when asked about it. Had mentioned how it hadn’t really occurred to them at the time, but after Sabo said something, they agreed the two did look similar.

Dadan had a bare bones knowledge of Ace’s parentage. She knew a woman named Portgas D. Rouge was his mum, and his dad was well. Gol D. Roger.

Other than that? Nothing.

The old man rarely visited, and when he did, he spent all that time beating up his grandkids under the guise of “training”. Dadan barely knew anything about the elusive “Rouge” as a result, the woman who managed to charm the pirate king.

Part of Dadan was annoyed she was the one having to make this call. Brats should be calling their terrifying grandfather himself. At least he supposedly cares about them.

But the other part of her… Well.

Damn it, when had she gone soft?

She rubs her eyes as she listens to the ringing of the den den. Part of her just hopes Garp doesn’t bother answering.

Click. “‘Yello? What are you doin’ callin’ me like this, Dadan?”

Ah, figures. The universe seems bound and determined to make her suffer.

“Garp,” she greets coolly, and immediately gets straight to the point, “You know anything about that demon spawn’s family? The rest of ‘em I mean.”

“Eh, Ace? What’s it matter?”

“Just entertain me,” Dadan says, very much trying to avoid the why of why she’s calling, “His mum’s name was Rouge, aye? She got any siblings or nothin’ like that?”

“Rougy? Hah! No. Lass was an only child from what I know.” Garp responds flippantly. “As for him , I haven’t the faintest clue! Only other family he’s got is those two brats, Red-Hair and the blue one. What was his name again? Bluey? Bugsby? Ah it’ll come to me.”

“You better not be tellin’ Ace about Red-Hair.” Garp continues, “Brat’s a pirate and I don’t want no grandson of mine becoming a pirate. Was already enough trouble when the kid met Luffy.”

Red-Hair was related to Roger? Well, that was news to Dadan. Didn’t matter; it wasn’t what she was interested in.

“I don’t care about all that. I already heard your whole lecture when you brought the second brat here. What about parents? Cousins? Aunts or uncles?”

“Why the sudden ask, huh? You never cared about none this before. You tryin’ to offload those brats to someone else?”

Tsk, you’re one to talk.

“Can’t a woman just be curious,” Dadan mutters, while desperately trying to come up with some kind of excuse so as not to give away that Garp’s grandsons are spending time with another pirate.

“Hah! Not when it's you!” Garp barked out a laugh. “Now tell me what this is really about.”

Well, here goes nothing. “Some guy showed up the other day. Sabo thought he might be related to Ace. ‘Parrently they look pretty similar, and the guy’s got the last name Portgas.” Dadan purses her lips, “Sabo didn’t give me a name, but said the guy seems to know a lot about ‘em. Just thought I’d check with you ‘n find out if you knew anything about this.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long moment. “Portgas, eh? That how he introduced himself?” Garp asks. There’s a weird inflection in that question but Dadan isn’t going to question it.

“That’s what Sabo said. I haven’t met the guy personally yet,” Dadan remarks, fiddling with the den-den chord.

“Hmm. Well, to answer your question, I know Rougey had parents-”

“She did? And you didn’t ask them to take care of Ace ?” Dadan asks, rubbing her forehead. Of course, she wasn’t about to admit she’d actually grown fond of the little terror, but beyond that. How could he just now tell her Ace had grandparents?

“Of course not! They were elderly civilians, and Baterilla was still swarming with marines. If Cipher Pol had caught even a ghost of a hint about Ace’s true parentage, they’d have been executed.”

Dadan sighs, rubbing her head. Garp was right, ‘course. As much as she likes to gripe about him bringing Ace here, he really was infinitely safer under the Hero of the Marines than with some elderly couple at the heart of metaphorical shark-infested waters. Still…

Dadan didn’t consider herself a sentimental woman. She was rough around the edges, even in her fondness for Ace. Not exactly ‘mother’ material. Still, the thought of Ace having a family out there that wasn’t violent criminals…

“Did they have names?"

“What’s that matter?”

“Garp.”

“... Lucia and Ademir.”

“Hmm. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Dadan, listen. I don’t want you tellin’ Ace about ‘em.”

“Why not?” Dadan asks, a tic of annoyance clawing its way into her voice. “Dontcha think the kid at least deserves to know about the family he has that aint infamous pirates?”

“What good’ll that do? He can’t visit ‘em, can’t talk to ‘em. There’s no tellin’ how Ace’ll react to that stuff. That boy’s stubborn and foolhardy, easier to just keep it quiet.”

“Ugh, fine, I get it. But if he asks about ‘em I aint lying to him, got it?” she said, almost defiantly. She isn’t sure why she bothers, considering it really isn’t important in the grand scheme of things.

Besides, she knows Ace isn’t likely to ever ask about stuff like that.

Garp seems to recognize that too, as she hears him grunt on the other side of the phone, “.. Fine. Do what you want.”

Dadan ran a hand over her face, “Right, back to what we were talking about. So Rouge has parents, think this guy could be related to them in any way?”

On the other side of the den-den line, Garp hums in thought. “Whoever this guy is he’d have to be a distant cousin, I reckon….” He says, sounding like he’s talking more to himself than Dadan. She hears Garp mumble something she doesn’t quite catch, but before she can ask him about it, he bulldozes on, “Anyway, I’ll look into it. Talk to you later, Dadan.”

“Garp wait-” Dadan starts, letting out a frustrated growl when the old man hangs up on her.

That bastard has no consideration for others. She thinks.

Well, guess it was time to pay that mysterious stranger a visit.

Dadan really has no idea where this guy is camping out. She would have loved to ask Sabo about it, but, well, the three little goblins ran off before she could interrogate them. Well, whatever. She knew he was hanging around the forest somewhere between her cabin and that treehouse the boys love staying in.

She threw her axe over her shoulder, clutching the handle tightly. She didn’t want to fight a Whitebeard, no way! She isn’t above begging for mercy. Sometimes it's smarter to know when to keep your tail tucked between your legs. Learned that real quick after meeting Garp.

That being said, it'd also be stupid to go into this without any kind of protection.

“Magra, Dogra, I’m going out. If that guy comes back, try ‘n keep the fool busy ‘till I come home.” She would tell them to try to capture him, but, well. If they were a Whitebeard, her men were as good as toast. “And don’t give him any more of our shit!” 

“Uhm, boss, don’t think we could stop him if we wanted to…” Magra starts, but Dadan gives him a sharp look, and he quickly snaps his jaw shut.

Alright, time to put those tracking skills to good use. Couldn’t be too hard to find, right?

What she quickly learned, however, was that finding this eccentric stranger was a lot harder than she thought it’d be.

It was strange, actually. She kept finding almost-clues that would lead her to dead ends. Was he covering his tracks? Did he anticipate being followed? Dadan had no idea, and wandering around these woods speculating and anticipating was starting to make her feel nervous and on edge.

Damn, calm down! You’re psyching yourself out… Dadan told herself, squeezing her eyes shut to try to refocus.

Maybe the guy left. She thinks, but that’s naively hopeful. Nothing ever goes how she wants it to, and this is no exception.

That being said, she feels like she’s been at this for at least an hour with no luck. Maybe she ought to come try again….

At that moment, a loud roar bellows from within the bowels of the forest. Dadan jumps, tensing at the sound of something crashing into the trees further away from her. She pulls out her axe, holding it in a death grip.

Cries and shrieks of some sort of wild animal ring through the air, before being abruptly silenced. A chill ran up Dadan’s spine as she cautiously approached the source of the noise. That was something very large by the sounds of it, and that was just taken out in a matter of seconds.

Hadn’t Magra and Dogra mentioned that the Whitebeard guy took down a giant boar earlier?

She swallows down her nerves, taking a few deep breaths to try to calm down. Get yer head in the game, Dadan! Just a peak aint gonna kill ya! She tries to psych herself up. She doesn’t even know if this guy is a Whitebeard yet!

…Whitebeard or not, he sounds powerful.

C’mon! For the brats!

Finally steeling herself, she crouches down low to the ground and cautiously approaches where she heard the sound coming from. She pushes the bushes aside and peers out into the man-made clearing.

There’s a young man in an orange cowboy hat standing over a huge mountain lion, grinning triumphantly. It’s a savage, almost feral grin that makes every hair on Dadan’s body stand on end, like she was an animal being stared down by a hunter. It did not help that his hands were soaked in blood from blowing open the thing’s chest. Gods above, did he punch it?

Every instinct in her was basically screaming the same thing: This man was dangerous .

Suddenly, whether or not he was a Whitebeard didn’t matter. Even if he wasn’t, Dadan wasn’t a fool enough to mess with a man like that!

But why is he hanging around my boys? She can’t help but wonder to herself, biting her lip. She grimaces, nails digging into the dirt. Damn it, what should I do…

Frozen in contemplation, she simply watches as the man turns away from her, pulling a knife from his pocket and proceeding to effortlessly skin the animal. He then proceeds to cut out chunks of the animal’s meat, setting one of its ribs aside.

What to do… what to do…. Well, at least he hasn’t hurt the boys yet… But still! Dadan thinks. Maybe… maybe I should just-

“Oh, hey Dadan.” 

It takes every ounce of self-control Dadan has to not shriek at the stranger, who has turned around and made direct eye contact with her through the trees. He looks comparatively totally unfazed by her being there. It’s almost like he’d been expecting her. Creepy!

Shit! Shit! What should I do? Do I run? Beg for mercy?

Instead, Dadan grips her axe tighter. No! Have some spine for once, and just talk to him! She wanted to know why he was hanging around her kids, and more importantly, why he knew her name .

“You!” Dadan shouts, hand positioned cautiously on the hilt of her axe, “What are your intentions with my boys?”

Dadan hardly notices the slip-up in how fondly she refers to the kids.

The man - Sabo said he'd been calling himself Portgas, right? - evidently does , a weird expression crossing his face. He looks both a little shocked and a little endeared.

“Aww, you worried about them?” He asks. Coming from anyone else, it might sound mocking, but there’s no such tone in the guy’s voice. He almost sounds… touched?

“That’s none of your business!” Dadan says, white knuckling her axe. “Answer the damn question!”

Portgas didn’t seem bothered by Dadan’s intimidating display at all. He shifted so he was more clearly facing her, placing his head in his hands, “Aren’t I allowed to keep an eye on my little brothers?” he asked.

Dadan stared at him for a moment, brain short-circuiting. “Bro.. thers?” she repeated, at a loss for words. Well, Sabo had mentioned the guy might be related to Ace…

Actually, now that Dadan was really looking at him, Sabo was right, he did look remarkably like Ace. He…. also bore a striking resemblance to Roger, though she’d only seen the man in posters.

Dadan narrowed her eyes at the man, “I raised Ace from a baby, and I ain't seen a lick of you around. Even when those three brats were crashing at my place. They never mentioned a fourth brother.”

“Uh, duh, cause they don’t have a fourth brother,” Portgas says, having the audacity to roll his eyes, “I’m Ace.”

A beat of silence. “... You and the brat share the same name?”

Portgas rubs his temples, “No, no, I mean I am him. We’re the same person.”

…. What?

“What?”

Now the guy just looks annoyed, but while Dadan is still processing what he just said, he continues, “Yes, I’m really Ace. No, I don’t know how I got here. Can you sit down and quit starin’ at me like that?”

Dadan opens her mouth, then closes it. Finally, something clicks, and she takes a step back, “You’re …. Insane!” She shouts.

“Uhm, rude.” 

“Why would you say something like that? Claimin’ to be my- Be the kid!” She snaps. “You think I’m stupid?”

Portgas rubs his face and groans, “Dadan, c’moooon, this is weird. If ya wanna freak out can you do it back at the cabin?”

“What I want is for you to tell me what you’re really up to, and who you are!” Dadan says. She’s being a bit more stubborn than usual, perhaps because of the absurdity of this situation, “You really a Whitebeard pirate? Ya don’t act like one.”

“I already told you who I am,” Portgas says, sounding tired. Actually, he sounds more annoyed than anything… “And yes I’m a Whitebeard pirate. Didntcha see the tattoo on my back?”

Dadan falters for a moment, staring at the man who’s looking at her like she’s the one being ridiculous. Crazy person aside, though, when he’d first turned his back to her, the most obvious thing she’d noticed… “I didn’t see nothin’ on your back but that scar.” She says.

Portgas’s eyebrows raise in confusion, “Wait, scar,..?” He quickly tries to twist his head to get a better look, reaching up behind his back. As soon as he feels the scar tissue, his face contorts into one of shock. He suddenly looks… a lot more upset.

“Shit… is it gone?” he mutters under his breath, “I guess it did go all the way through….”

The two of them sit in silence for a bit, and Dadan glances away, feeling a bit awkward. Did the guy not know? Whatever, not really her business. What was her business was finding out what this guy wanted.

“You- you aint uh, comin’ here with the rest of your crew are ya-” Dadan starts, but freezes when Portgas’s gaze snaps towards her. He suddenly looks a lot more pissed than he was five seconds ago. Oh shit, she might have touched a nerve.

“No, I’m here alone,” Portgas says, voice low. “Just… me.”

More silence. Shit, maybe Dadan had gotten a bit too bold… The guy is scary when he’s pissed! Alright, Dadan, maybe don’t touch a nerve with the scary pirate. She tells herself.

“So… uhh, I’m guessin’.... You aint here to hurt the brats?” She cautioned, keeping herself tense in case she had to make a run for it.

Portgas made a face at her, “You think I’d hurt them? No way! I’m here to make sure they don’t get hurt.” He scoffs.

He was… protecting them? Why would he do that? What motivation could he have for wanting to do that? Then again.. Red-Hair had taken a liking to Luffy, so maybe the kid had just managed to endear himself to yet another pirate.

The alternative… “Why would you claim to be Ace?” She says again, “You have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?” Seriously, of all the outlandish things…

“I’m not repeating myself,” Portgas practically growls, “Believe me or not, I don’t care. I know who I am.”

She stiffens a bit at the growl, but regardless, Dadan still feels emboldened enough to huff, standing a bit straighter, “Fine then, tell me something only Ace would know!” 

“Why do you people keep making me do that?” Portgas asked, exasperated. When Dadan didn’t lower her axe, he groaned, “Fine, fine, jeez. When I was little, I used to dig holes around the cabin hoping the bandits would fall in so I could use ‘em as bait to catch mountain lions. Are you happy now?” 

Dadan gapes at him. Then, after a moment of silence, she shouts, “You brat, you mean you did that shit on purpose? I thought kids just dug shit up for fun!”

Portgas raises his hands defensively, “In my defense, I never actually tried to kill them! Plus, I got better!” 

It seems impossible, and yet, for some reason Dadan doesn’t understand, she thinks she might actually believe him. At the very least, she can’t think of any reason someone else would know that stuff. 

Not to mention there’s just something… so familiar about him. Not just the way he looks, but the way he talks to her, too. Just… so casually. She might not know him - does she? - but he certainly knows her. 

“So, if you are Ace, my next question is: Why are you an adult?” 

“I dunno,” Portgas responds, glancing over his shoulder at the meat he’d torn off the beast, “Do you want any of this or…”

“Don’t avoid the question!” Dadan snaps, but sheaths her axe and stomps over anyway.

“I’m not , I really don’t know how I got here,” Portgas says. He watches as Dadan sits down in the dirt next to him, and then, to her amazement, he casually pulls off a piece of the creature’s flank and sets his hand on fire .

Seeing the way Dadan jerks back in surprise, he blinks down at his fingertips, then says, “Oh, by the way, I have a devil fruit now.”

Dadan stares at him, then readjusts her sitting position with a grumble, “Damn it, give a woman some warning before you light your hand on fire, seriously.”

Portgas offers her a coy, apologetic grin, and she rolls her eyes. The smell of cooked meat is nice, at least. As Ace prepares the flank, he clicks his tongue, “Sabo suggested it could be time travel.”

“Time travel?” Dadan repeats, watching with a bit of wariness as Portgas continues to cook the steak. “Ain't that kinda thing only in books?”

“Who knows,” Portgas says, shrugging, “The Grand Line is full of crazy stuff. I ran into plenty of stuff straight out of Sabo’s fantasy books. Did you know they have dinosaurs on the Grand Line?”

“Dino- You’re shitting me, right?” 

“Nope!”

Dadan was certain she was too sober to deal with that information. She shouldn’t believe it. Maybe she’d accidentally eaten some of those hallucinogenic mushrooms…

Portgas handed her a chunk of cooked meat, looking totally unbothered by the strangeness of this conversation

She takes it with a frown. She’s still processing all of this. It’s a lot to take in! Out of a desire to move the conversation away from the man’s identity, her eyes drift back to the scar on the man’s chest. “So… where’d you get that scar from?” Dadan asks, a bit hesitantly. She’ll admit, seeing such a large scar on the guy who claims to be her kid is a bit… haunting.

Something conflicted crosses Portgas’s face, and he shakes his head, “Fight,” He mumbles, looking away.

“You uh… want to elaborate on that or-”

“No,” Portgas said sharply, making Dadan snap her mouth shut. Well, the kid certainly still had a temper on him. Just hid it better under that polite mask of his.

“Fine, fine, keep your secrets,” Dadan mutters. She had learned through experience that trying to press when Ace put up his walls like this was like trying to break a rock with your fist. You’d be more likely to break your hand trying. Something told her this man, whoever he was, wasn't much different. “So…. you actually went and became a pirate?”

“Of course,” Ace mutters, relaxing a bit. “I set out to make a name for myself.”

“... and you’re a Whitebeard.”

“Ah… yeah.”

“How’d you manage that?”

“Well, you see it started when I tried to kill him-”

Dadan chokes on the piece of meat she was swallowing down, thumping her chest to dislodge it. “Are you insane ?”

“I dunno, Pops seemed impressed by it.”

Ugh, this guy was starting to sound more and more like her kid. If he really was, then he was going to send her to an early grave. Was this really what Ace was going to grow into? God give her strength.

“As I said, insane,” Dadan mutters, though a part of her she won’t admit is almost proud of how much he’s accomplished, “You, Luffy, and Sabo. The lot of you are little demons.”

Something flashes in Portgas’s eyes. It’s quickly replaced, though, with a smile, “Yeah, Luffy is pretty great. He just got his first bounty, you know. He’s worth 300,000 berry!”

“300,000-” Dadan is starting to regret coming here without a drink. “What did I say!” She says, laughing in disbelief. “So the kid went and became a pirate anyway. Bet Garp blew a gasket when he heard that!”

“Hah… yeah… You could say that,” Portgas says, and his voice sounds weirdly muted for some reason. Not enough that it would really register as anything… but..

There it was again. That look . This guy was definitely hiding something. Something bad had happened, something that he was avoiding talking about…

Dadan knew she wouldn’t get answers from him. Not with the way he had clammed up when she prompted about how he got his scar. Was it worth it to try to wrangle information out of him? No, probably not. At the very least… he seemed genuine in his desire to protect the boys. Whether he was tellin’ the truth about who he was or not didn’t matter so much as makin’ sure they were safe.

As Dadan started to say something, she noticed Portgas suddenly go limp, still holding a bone full of meat in his hands. Dadan barely has time to lunge forward and catch him before he flops over into the fire.

“Geez, kid…” She huffs, grabbing him under her arm and lugging him to a more comfortable position on the ground. Now that she isn’t as worried about the whole Whitebeard thing, she’s realizing… this guy couldn’t be older than his early 20s. He’s young , she thinks, and yet… those scars…

She’d seen the one on his chest, of course. Its gnarled features were hard to ignore. Not to mention it looked uncomfortably fresh.

Up close, she could tell… it looked like… an exit wound .

Just what had happened to him?

She crouches down, placing an ear to the boy’s chest to make sure he’s okay, but doesn’t have time to get close before Portgas’s eyes suddenly snap open, and he jerks up. She doesn’t have time to pull away, and Ace headbutts her.

They both recoil, letting out pained noises. “What the hell, hag?” Portgas snaps, rubbing his sore head. Dadan hisses, covering the growing bump on her head, “Don’t act like that’s my fault! You passed out!”

“Oh… I did? Huh…”

Dadan rubs the bruise with her palm, “I can’t believe you’re still doing that as an adult.” She finds herself blurting out. It’s really not her fault! The kid used to do the same thing! Especially during dinners at the cabin.

She remembers well, because to make up for it, he became absolutely vicious during mealtime. She still had the scars to prove it.

“Well, I can’t control it!” Portgas huffs, crossing his arms, “Marco says it's… what’s the word, narmoleppy. Narcolepsy. It’s like a medical… thing.” He looks away, looking defensive, “Apparently, it's genetic.”

“Huh. Still! Just about gave me a heart attack!” Dadan shakes her head. She sits back, resting her hands on her knees.

She gets up, dusting herself off. “Alright, well, nice chat. You better not let Garp find out you’re here, especially not with you being a pirate. I can only imagine the beating he’d have planned…” Dadan shakes her head, grimacing at the thought.

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice,” Portgas says, looking equally disturbed by the thought.

Dadan lets out a curt little laugh, “Right then, with that settled…. I’m headin’ out.”

“You’re leaving already?” 

“You should have seen the upheaval you caused with my guys. They think you’re some kinda cryptid,” Dadan says, rolling her eyes. Portgas snickers- the brat! - apparently finds the trouble she’s been dealing with funny.

“You wouldn’t find it so funny if you had to deal with ‘em,” Dadan scoffs

“Well, I could come with you-“ 

“Absolutely not! You’ll just cause more chaos.”

Portgas falters, rubbing the back of his neck, “Eh, man, I’m not that bad.”

Dadan gives him a critical look, and he slumps over, “Okay, right, fine, I’ll stay put. Seeya later, I guess.” He’s dismissive, yet something about his body language reminds Dadan of whenever Ace would get disappointed and pouty. Their expressions really are uncannily similar.

“Right, then… don’t go letting those boys get into trouble,” Dadan continues, crossing her arms, “... Maybe I’ll come back around and make sure you’re actually keepin’ them safe.”

Portgas perks up at that, but then immediately narrows his eyes at her, “You sayin’ I can’t protect my brothers?”

“I’m sayin’ you’re still suspicious!” Dadan shoots back, placing her hands on her hips, “Seriously…”

“Ah… right. Well, trust me, I’m not going to let anything happen to them,” He says, a spark of something vicious reflecting in his eyes. 

Dadan feels a shiver run up her spine. Jeez, she did not want to be on the receiving end of whatever fate this guy had in store for whoever tried to mess with those brats. Seriously, where did they find him?

“Ah, well, yeah, I’m sure,” She says, perhaps a bit too quickly. Then she tucks the rest of the meat Ace had given her under her arm and gives a curt wave, “Right, then, I’ll… keep in touch.”

Well, that trip didn’t go how I’d been expecting , she thought to herself as she began to head back.

Should she call Garp about this?

… No. She’d had enough of him for one day. If he wanted to know his supposed grandson from the future was here, he could come here himself and actually grandparent his brats.

Chapter Text

Once Dadan left, Ace let himself relax, hunching over with a sigh. Jeez, he’s glad that this time his passing out had actually been from narcolepsy. Unlike yesterday.

That had been embarrassing. He still can’t believe he passed out while sparring with Luffy. One second, he’d been fine, and the next, he felt a horrible lightheadedness, followed by coming to on the ground. Even after regaining consciousness, the dizzy feeling had never really gone away.

While Ace would like to consider himself a better liar than Luffy, he evidently wasn’t doing a great job of convincing his brothers he was fine. Even Luffy could see through his bullshit.

But perhaps the most frustrating thing to come out of it was the fact that Sabo felt the need to bring him medicine last night. Because he knew Sabo was right, as much as Ace hated to admit it. He needed a doctor. He wasn’t stupid. It seemed like each day his symptoms were just getting worse and worse, no matter what he did.

… Even though Ace didn’t like that his now little brother was trying to take care of him, the medicine had helped. It wasn’t super strong, but it was at least more concentrated than some of the natural remedies.

That being said, even though the pain had been slightly better this morning, what the medicine hadn’t helped with was the nausea. Ace was honestly surprised he had been able to stomach any of the meat he'd hunted, though part of that was just his saving face in front of Dadan. Glad she took the rest of it, He thought somberly.

He rubbed his hands, grimacing. That was the other thing. Ever since he passed out yesterday, he’d been dealing with a weird, persistent tingling and numbness in his hands. It was similar to when he tried to use his flames, but it also felt… different. The pain that flared up if he used his flames for too long was sharper than this.

Ugh, man. What was he going to do about this?

Even if Sabo was right, where would he even find a doctor who would treat him? Not a lot of people in the East Blue’ll treat pirates.

…. His crew?

Ace grimaced at the thought. He… wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of seeing them again. Given what he’s seen here in the past, he guesses they wouldn’t remember him either. And he wasn’t sure he could deal with them looking at him like he was a stranger right now.

Not to mention they were all the way in the New World right now…

Maybe he should just go back to those mushrooms.

… No. He was pretty sure they were what made his nausea so much worse.

He was really starting to miss Marco and Deuce. They’d know what to do.

Maybe, at the very least, he could try going into town and finding a pharmacy? The thought of visiting the city also filled him with dread, though. No, he didn’t want to deal with anyone in that shitty town.

There might be somewhere in Foosha he could get medicine, but even if there was, Ace didn’t like the idea of wandering too far from his brothers. Maybe he could bring them with him?

Ugh, he didn't want to deal with this right now. He needed something to distract him from how he was feeling. So he did that the only way he knew how.

Pure, unadulterated adrenaline.

Not that anything on this island offered much of a threat to him anymore.

With perhaps one exception.

Which was how Ace found himself at the ocean, tossing bits and pieces of the giant stag he’d killed into the water.

“C’mon, you dumb eel,” Ace muttered, tossing a piece of the elk’s rib over the cliff, “Where are you?”

If he had to wait any longer, he was pretty sure he was going to go back to the mushrooms.

Maybe he had to get on a boat? Did he need to be further out to get its attention? Maybe, considering all his memories of it were of it attacking sailors.

Oh, don’t tell him the Lord of the Coast was also scared of him. That just wouldn’t be fair.

Sure, he’d given the thing a black eye after it had tried to eat him when he left Dawn at seventeen, but that hadn’t happened yet!

Ace groaned as he tore off one of the stag’s legs, dislocating it with a satisfying snap, before he tossed it into the ocean. It landed with a splash and disappeared into the murky depths below.

This is going to be a huge waste of food if that thing doesn’t show up.

As Ace was getting ready to toss in the stag’s antlers, mostly out of annoyance, a great rumbling shook the cliffside. It was the only warning Ace got before a massive head shot out of the water, rearing back to try to snap at the cliff’s surface.

Ace managed to dodge just in time, skidding back in the grass. He grinned savagely, crouching down, “About time, you stupid eel. Kept me waiting, didn’t you?”

The Lord of the Coast growled at him, the noise sending vibrations across the ground and through Ace’s skin. The beast wastes no time as it lunges forward, attempting to swallow Ace whole, but Ace effortlessly pushes off the seaking’s snout. He lands on its head, punching it down with enough force it slams into the cliffside and bites its own tongue.

It howls in pain, rearing its head back, while it tries desperately to shake Ace off. He grips the beast’s fin, laughing at the rush of adrenaline. It’s been a while since he had a chance to fight like this!

The Lord of the Coast slams the back of its head into the cliffside, which Ace narrowly dodges. Skidding across the grass, Ace lunges forward again, rearing his arm back and throwing a punch directly at the beast’s eye as it's reorienting itself.

It knocks the beast clean into the water with a huge splash. Even though the fight didn’t last that long, it seems like the sea king has already had enough, letting out a high-pitched whine. Ace frowns when it disappears back under the waves.

“Hey, get back here, coward!” He shouts after it.

“My word, I haven’t seen someone humble a seaking like that since my time in the Grandline.”

Ace jerked, twisting around. How had someone managed to sneak up on him?

An old man was sitting by the cliffside, sitting on a rock, pipe in one hand and cane in the other. He looked familiar, but for some reason Ace couldn’t place his name right now.

“They’re much bigger on the Grandline,” Ace remarks, rubbing his palms. They’re still tingling for some reason. That… probably wasn’t a good sign. But, eh, he could focus on that later.

The old man laughs, slapping a knee, “Right you are! Those ones from the calm belt could damn near make a grown man weep like a baby! Tell me, boy, you a pirate?”

“Yep,” Ace says, popping the p. He offers a grin, “One of Whitebeard’s.”

The old man takes another swig of his pipe. “Whitebeard, eh? Entertain an old man’s question, will you? What’s one of Newgate’s boys doing all the way in the East Blue?”

That was a good question, considering the last place he’d originally been was Marineford.

“I think… I might be dead?” Ace says as he sits down cross-legged in the grass. It’s more of a question, really, at this point.

The old man raised an eyebrow at him and scoffed good-naturedly, “Dead? I ain't that old!”

“I don’t mean you, I mean me,” Ace says, waving a hand.

“Well if you’s dead don’t that mean I’m dead too?”

“Hmm, maybe? I dunno,” Ace said, shrugging. “I haven’t really thought too hard about it.”

The man laughs, “Interesting kid, aintcha? Say, what’s your name?”

“Oh shoot!” Ace says, straightening, “Sorry, where are my manners. The name’s Portgas D. Ace, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He offers a polite bow.

“Portgas D…. wait a minute.” The man squinted at him, “You've got the same name as another kid I’ve been training round here. Crazy coincidence, or you two’s related or somethin’?”

Ace blanks for a moment, blinking at the old man. Had he trained with someone besides Gramps as a kid? He didn’t remember ever…

“Wait!” Ace says, straightening up, “What’d you say your name was?”

“Never did,” The man says with a grin, “The name’s Naguri.”

Naguri… Naguri…. Oh yeah!

“You’re that old pirate me and my brothers built a boat with!” Ace says. Oh wow it’d been so long he almost had forgotten about that.

“Hmm, so those three are your brothers, huh? Quite a handful. Though, I think I'd remember trainin' someone like you," Naguri remarks with a hum, eyeing Ace curiously.

“Well, Luf and Sabo are. The other Ace is just me as a kid.”

Naguri takes a moment to digest that information, blinking a few times.

“Wait, you tellin’ me you and that angry kid are one in the same?” The man asked.

“Yep!”

A beat of silence. The man then takes another swig of his pipe, letting out a puff of smoke, “Huh. Well I’ll be damned.”

“You don’t sound that shocked.”

“Kid, when you’ve been around as long as I have, and sailed the Grand Line, there aint much that can surprise you anymore. Not really my business to care if you’re lyin’ or nothin’ either.”

“Huh, fair point.”

The man turns, rifling through his knapsack, “Say, speaking of shock, how'd a Whitebeard like you end up with a scar like that?"

Oh boy, they were having this conversation. "Got in a fight a few days ago," Ace says with a shrug, not really wanting attention on his injuries, “I woke up like this a couple days ago.”

“Couple days-?!” Naguri sputters, “That’s newer than I thought!

Ace watches as the man pulls a bottle of liquor out of his bag. “No wonder your hands are shaking like that!”

The comment makes Ace rub his palms while shooting the old man a glare, “Watch it, I could still kick your ass.”

“Bet you could!” The man says with a good natured laugh. He offers him the bottle with a smirk.

“Here, want a swig of this?” Naguri asks. When Ace raises his eyebrow at him, he chuckles, “Always helps me with my joint pain.”

Ace definitely hasn’t forgotten the way the nurses back on the ship would always chastise Pops for drinking, so he wasn’t sure if alcohol was actually a good solution to pain.

However, there weren’t any nurses here right now to remind him of that.

Having not thought of a better solution to his problems yet, Ace just shrugs. “Ah, sure, what the hell,” Ace says.

Naguri grins, pulling out a spare bottle from his sack and handing it to Ace. Ace takes the bottle, popping the cap and chugging it, the cold burn of the ale numbing his throat.

“Ah!” Ace says, rubbing at his mouth, “That’s nasty!” He laughs, taking another drink.

“You say that and then go for more?” Naguri asks, raising an eyebrow with amusement.

“Nobody drinks alcohol for the taste,” Ace remarks. He then hums, “Well, unless you’re Pops. He really liked sake.” Ace curls his nose, “Shit tastes like it’s spoiled to me.”

“Oye, you kids have no appreciation for the finer things in life!” The old man laughs, watching with a bit of surprise as Ace starts chugging the thing.

"Burn through that stuff quick, don'tcha," The old man muses, watching as Ace finishes the bottle.

Ace wipes his mouth with the back of his hands. "Tastes better that way," He says, "Plus, I'm made of fire. Alcohol just goes down easier for me."

Part of Ace honestly isn't sure what he's going to be getting out of this. Alcohol hasn't really affected him much since he got his fruit, aside from making his attacks stronger. Something something fire reacting explosively with alcohol.

Deuce banned him from trying to fight while drunk, though. Partypooper.

Would the alcohol even numb the pain? Who knows. The atmosphere was a nice reprieve, though.

The distant sound of voices made Ace's attention snap towards the tree line. He.. recognized those voices. But what were they doing here… oh wait. The old man was training them, wasn't he?

"Hey, old man, were the kids comin' by for training today?" Ace asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh, you know, I almost forgot about that," The old man mused. Then he spares a curious glance at Ace, "What, haven't been keepin' tabs on your brothers?"

"We… uh. It's complicated," Ace says with a shrug. "I'm letting them do their own stuff."

A rustling in the forest gives way to three familiar faces. They freeze up when they spot him, looking shocked to see him here. Though his kid self's surprise quickly shifts to anger.

“You!” His kid self shouted, pointing accusingly at him.

“Oh, hey guys,” Ace says, offering a little wave, “Fancy seeing you here.”

“What are you doing here?” His kid self snaps, glaring at him.

“Um…” Ace looks down at the bottle in his hands, “Enjoying a drink?”

Ace’s kid self glares at him even harder, but Luffy immediately perks up when he sees him. “Bace!” He shouts in excitement, barrelling over to him. Ace braces himself when Luffy runs into him, wincing at the impact as Luffy hugs him.

“Ah, hey Luf,” he says, crouching down while ignoring the pain in his stomach.

“Are ya feelin’ better?” Luffy asks, with big, wide eyes.

“Ah, uh, yeah, Luf,” Ace lies, not wanting to ruin that hopeful look in Luffy’s eyes, “That medicine…” He trails off when he sees Sabo tense up. Ah, he’d almost forgotten they didn’t tell little Ace they were visiting him. He quickly pivots, “The medicine I got helped. Plus nothing like a fight to feel refreshed!”

“You were in a fight?” To his surprise, it's his mini-me that speaks up. He still looks like he might snap and attack him at any moment, but there is definite curiosity in the way he’s looking at him. Of course that would be the thing that gets his attention, huh?

“Yeah, just finished wrestling with the Lord of the Coast,” Ace offers, pointing a thumb over his shoulder towards the ocean.

The kids’ eyes grow comically wide, and they quickly erupt with noise. “What, you fought-” “There's no way-!” “Bace! You said you’d show me when you fought the Lord of the Coast!”

That last one was followed by Luffy pouting at Ace, which made him ruffle his hair, “Hey, there’s always next time, right?” Ace winked. “A lot tougher guys for me to fight than him. Remember what I said about the Grand Line?”

“There’s no way you took down the Lord of the Coast,” His kid self challenged. He looked… weirdly nervous. It was a strange look on his kid self’s face, and even stranger than he caused it.

“Well I’d love to show off for you three again, but I gave that thing a black eye so I dunno if he’ll come back around here,” Ace muses. The shock on his kid self and Sabo’s faces only grows.

“Speaking of the ocean,” The old man interrupts, lifting himself to his feet with his cane, “you boys here to help this old man with his ship?”

There’s a bit of a pause while Sabo is still processing the shock, before he draws his attention away from Ace. “Uh, yeah,” Sabo says, stilted, still sounding a bit ruffled.

Ace perks up at that, “Oh, right! Hey, maybe I could tag along. I am an established pirate now. I could help out.”

His mini self scowls at him, “No way, we don’t want your help. Now get out of here already!”

"I wasn’t asking you,” Ace shoots back with a roll of his eyes. He was so stubborn as a kid. Well, he was still stubborn now, but it was a bit annoying having to deal with his kid self. No wonder Gramps punched him into all those trees.

Sabo looks contemplative, “Hmm…. Well, I guess another person wouldn’t be so bad…”

“Yush!” Luffy shouted excitedly, “Bace can come help us!”

“Sabo!” Ace’s mini self shouts in despair and hints of betrayal.

“The kid’s right, boy!” Old man Naguri says with gruff amusement, “When yer a pirate you gotta take the help that comes your way. Its a dog eat dog world out there, ya know?”

“Well I don’t need help! Pirates are s’posed to live for themselves,” Ace challenges, shooting a dirty look at Ace.

“Well it won’t do ya any good to bite the hand that feeds, will it?”

“What does that even mean!?”

“Enough talk!” Ace said, scooping Luffy up under his arms, “Let's get a move on!”

They made their way over to the trash coast, which was just another word they liked to use for the dump closer to the ocean than the rest of the Grey Terminal. It was actually the closest Ace had been to the Grey Terminal since he’d arrived here in the past….

He kept casting sideways glances at the kids, as if afraid they would up and disappear if he took his eyes off them.

Get a grip. He told himself, They won’t disappear if you leave them alone for five seconds.

Bluejam’s guys didn’t even really hang around these parts, too far from the city port. Plus, with him here, there’d be nothing to worry about. He dug his nails into his palms, trying to ignore that train of thought.

He was strong enough. His fight with the Lord of the Coast should be evidence of that. Whatever was wrong with him wouldn’t keep him from protecting his brothers.

“Alright!” Naguri says, clapping his hands together, "This is a good spot as any! Do you kids know why I brought you out here by the terminal?"

"To rob people?" Ace's kid self asks with a raised eyebrow. Ace snickers at that, which makes his kid self glare at him.

Naguri laughs at that, "Well, you know what they say! One man's trash is another man's treasure! This part of the terminal here has plenty of scrap for us to work with, and with the treeline close by, we have easy access to plenty of wood!"

The old man scratches his chin, "Normally you'd be wantin' to harvest some fresh wood, but fortunately for you kids there's plenty of scrap lying around here, so we get a bit of a headstart."

Sabo raises his hand out of habit, the old man raising an eyebrow at him, "Oye, boy this aint no classroom, just spit it out."

Sabo blushes while Luffy snickers behind him, "I'm uh. Don't we need a blueprint or something to start with?"

"Hm, smart boy, thinkin' ahead!" Again, Sabo blushes at the praise, "Ordinarily! Fortunately for you youngins' I got her blueprints right here," The man says, tapping his forehead. "Just follow my lead, ya hear? Now, let's get started by makin' the hull. Now, get searchin'! We're gonna need a lot of plywood for what we're makin'!"

As Sabo and Luffy begin to fan out, Ace's kid self shoots him another glare, "I still don't get why he has to be here." He snaps.

"Cuz I want to be," Ace remarks with a brazen grin.

When little Ace turns his glare towards Naguri, Naguri just shrugs, "Kid, you think I could make him leave If I wanted?"

"So you're a coward?" Little Ace challenges, crossing his arms.

"Ace…" Sabo says, looking between the two Aces.

Naguri doesn't seem bothered, though. "You don't get as old as me bein' a pirate without learning how to pick your battles!" He says with a snort. "Aint cowardice to know your own limits. 'Sides, no point in pickin' battles nobody wants to fight!"

"Speak for yourself…" Kid Ace grumbles, casting another dirty look back at Ace.

Ace crosses his arms, "Kid, give it a rest. Why don't you put that energy into learning something?"

"I'll learn you something!" His kid self snaps, looking ready to attack him.

Naguri, however, decides to intervene, shouting, "Hey kid, you're pretty strong, right?"

Kid Ace seems more confused, but at least he doesn't look like he wants to punch him anymore. "What? I mean, yeah, but why-"

"Come over here and help me shape the hull," Naguri says, "Need someone strong to push the planks into place! These old man arms aint what they used to be."

"I can help!" Luffy pouts, but immediately smacks himself in the face with the wood he's holding when he tries to bend it.

Kid Ace stares at him for a moment, glancing back at Ace with a glare, then walks over them, shouting something at Luffy. His voice trails off, and Ace turns back to Sabo, who's staring at him strangely.

"Are you doing that on purpose?" Sabo asks Ace, as Naguri begins to walk Kid Ace and Luffy through the shipbuilding process.

"Doing what on purpose?" Ace asks, feigning innocence.

"Getting on his nerves."

"Pretty sure I'm doing that just by existing."

"You don't have to make it worse by egging him on," Sabo said, sounding exasperated.

Ace opens his mouth to protest, but quickly closes it. Huh, guess he had been doing that. From his perspective, he didn't figure playing nice with his kid self would make him warm up to him anymore.

Then again, maybe Sabo had a point.

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Guess I'll have to try being nicer," He grins a bit wider with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Want me to try the doting brother approach? Positivity and love and all that?"

"I change my mind, you're terrible actually," Sabo says, deadpan. Though the slight tug at the corners of his mouth tells Ace he's resisting the urge to smile. "Shouldn't have let you come here after all."

"Aww, but if I didn't come, who would show you all the best wood piles?" Ace says with a grin, "Sides, I wanted to teach ya how to build your own compass."

"My own…?" Sabo starts, looking alarmed.

"Yeah, you wanna travel the world, dontcha? I mean, compasses aint a lotta good in the Grand Line. But on the Blues they're pretty useful! C'mon, I'll show you."

Ace leads Sabo away, who follows after him with a bit of muted curiosity. It's nice, being able to just.. do stuff with him again. As he talks Sabo through the process, it feels weirdly nostalgic. Like sharing a moment he never got to have with him.

Sabo seems to be relaxing, too. He even seems… excited when Ace is showing him tips for making the ship, though he's obviously trying to hide it.

The quiet moment doesn't last long, though. Once they rejoin the main group, carrying their supplies with them, his kid self immediately makes a beeline for Sabo.

"There you are! Where did you go?"

"Relax, Portgas just wanted to show me some stuff."

"You went with him? By yourself?" His kid self asks, sounding aghast.

"I can handle myself fine," Sabo says with a huff, crossing his arms. "He's harmless, anyway."

"I am not." "He is not." Ace and his kid self say at the same time. They share a look, a confused moment of solidarity, before kid Ace turns back to Sabo with a scowl.

"I don't get why you ran off with him though."

"I told you! He was just showin' me stuff!" Sabo holds up the makeshift compass they made, "Look, he helped-"

Ace bristles when his kid self nearly smacks the compass out of his hand, looking more hot-tempered than usual. "Oh, so what? You like him better, huh?" He snaps. It throws Sabo off kilter, making him blink in confusion.

"What? Ace, that's not-"

Oh, Ace saw what was going on now. He winces seeing Sabo and his kid self bicker. He probably… should have picked up on that sooner.

"Hey, both of you, cut it out," Ace steps forward, placing his hands on his kid self and Sabo's chests and pushing them away.

His kid self swats at his hand, glaring at him even harder. "What are you-" He starts to say, but Ace interrupts him.

"So you're going to let me being here get under your skin that much?" Ace asks, raising an eyebrow, "I thought you were made of tougher stuff than that?"

It's childish, sure, but it does the job. His kid self goes red with a mix of anger and embarrassment, "I'll show you tough!"

Just when Ace thinks he's going to have to discipline his younger self again, Sabo stops him, reaching forward and grabbing kid Ace's shoulder. "Stop it," He chides, giving Ace a look. "We're here to learn how to make a boat, remember?"

Kid Ace stares at Sabo for a long moment, then he scoffs and jerks his shoulder out of Sabo's grip, "Whatever…" he mutters, storming past both of them.

Ugh, Ace really ought to say something to him. But what? Ace stared at his kid self in thought. He wasn’t one for overly sentimental crap. Besides, he remembered what it was like back then. The contempt had never really gone away, if he was being honest.

Whatever, he can worry about that later. He turns to Sabo and pats him on the head, "Ignore him, he's just being grumpy. Building a ship is supposed to be fun, yeah? Let's focus on that!"

Sabo casts one last look over Ace's shoulder at where his kid self is sulking. Then nods slowly. "He's so difficult when he gets like that, though," Sabo mutters under his breath, following after Ace as they begin to walk.

"Yeah, well, that's why you gotta just ignore it," Ace says with a shrug. "If he's being a brat, be a brat right back, ya know. Let him sort through his own shit."

Sabo gives him a scrutinizing look, making Ace raise an eyebrow at him. "What?" He asks.

"I thought adults were supposed to be more uh.. mature, I guess."

"Hey, walking away is the mature thing to do," Ace remarks. "S'not your fault anyway. He doesn't like me. Still no reason to take that out on you."

A crash interrupts their talk, making Sabo jolt and Ace tense. They both spare a glance at the other before following the sound of the noise. When they circle around the pile of scrap, Ace yelps when he sees Luffy underneath a bunch of garbage.

"Hey, be more careful!" He chastises, lifting the wreckage and giving Luffy a look. He doesn't look hurt, which is good.

Luffy brushes off the fall pretty quickly, though, lifting an old piece of metal he found, "Hey look! We can use this!"

"Don't play with rusty metal!" Sabo hisses, smacking Luffy's head, "You're going to get tetanus!"

"Tet-what?" Luffy blinks cluelessly at Sabo.

Sabo just pinches the bridge of his nose, "You'll get sick and probably die."

"Ohhhh!" Luffy glances back down at the metal rod he was holding, "So if its orange I'll die?"

"It's rusty."

"Yeah, orange."

"Stop holding it!" Sabo shouts, grabbing the rod from Luffy and tossing it back into the junk pile.

Ace crouches down next to Luffy. "Hey, Luf, what's that over there?" He asks, gesturing towards a half-buried old dingy in the sand.

"What's what?" Luffy's gaze follows Ace's hand, perking up when he sees the old boat. "Wood!" He shouts, running towards it.

Watching him run off, Sabo crosses his arms sheepishly. "You are… surprisingly good at this," Sabo admits.

"Well, I have had ten years of practice."

For some reason, saying that makes Sabo's face go carefully blank, while he stares off in the direction of Luffy. "Ten years…" Ace hears Sabo murmur softly, almost too soft for him to hear.

Ace isn't sure why saying that caused that reaction in Sabo, but he isn't about to let him dwell on it. "Hey, I'm not that old," He quips playfully, gently slapping Sabo on the back.

"Heh, if you're old, I'm ancient!" Naguri chortles, snapping Sabo out of whatever he'd been ruminating about and making him snort.

As the building continues, Ace finds himself searching for where his kid self wandered off to. He really does have to talk to him about that.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to look long. Once Sabo leaves to go learn from Naguri, his kid self is the one who approaches him, looking rather livid with him.

“Why do you keep lookin’ at us like that?” His kid self said defiantly, meeting his gaze with a glare. "Are you planning something?"

Huh, had he noticed him staring earlier? Guess he should give his kid self more credit.

“I’m not going to take them from you, ya know.”

“What?”

“Your brothers,” Ace said, glancing up at where Luffy and Sabo were listening to Naguri. “Luffy and… they care about you a lot, you know?”

His kid self stares at him with an expression that looks like he wants to keep being mad, but he also looks awfully confused. He tsks and looks away, "Of course you won't. I'm their brother."

"Mhmm, is that why you yelled at Sabo?"

"That's none of your business," Ace's kid self shoots back, seething. "Just shut up. Don't talk to me."

Ace decides not to mention the fact that little Ace was the one who approached him, watching him storm off. Brat, he thinks fondly. He's half tempted to try smacking some sense into him. Seemed to help when he fought Pops.

… Or maybe it'd just get his kid self more pissed at him. It might just turn into a repeat of last time. Though maybe after 100 tries, his kid self would start liking him more, hah!

Working on the ship, he found, was strangely therapeutic. It was nice getting to be here and do something with his brothers like old times. Maybe being here on Dawn was making him sentimental.

It also served as a nice distraction from the pain, though it didn't go away entirely. As he's demonstrating how you can use water and heat to help loosen the boards into place, that now familiar ache begins to curl up his hands and arms. He flexes his fingers, wincing, and trying to hide it.

Evidently, he does a bad job of this.

"Are you okay?" Sabo asks hesitantly. When Ace looks at him with annoyance, Sabo's face twists into something more deadpan, "Right, dumb question. I know you're not."

"You're getting real bold aren't you," Ace scoffs, massaging his hand.

"Not my fault you're stupid," Sabo bites back. Though it sounds more… teasing than he'd been a few nights before.

There's a pause as they resume their work. “Hey… Portgas…” Sabo says slowly, “Why’d you eat a devil fruit anyway?”

His kid self looks up from where he’s crouched beside Naguri, pulling a face, “Yeah, I’d never do something that dumb.” He says it defiantly, giving Ace a pointed glare. Ace just rolls his eyes at him.

"I thought you didn't want me talking to you?" Ace remarks playfully. His kid self seems to recognize his mistake and growls, turning back to his work on the boat and aggressively hitting the wood with the hammer.

Ace shakes his head with amusement. “You know, all the admirals have devil fruits," he says, turning to Sabo.

Sabo perks up at this, “All of them?”

“Yep. Pretty much all the high ranking marines do. All three of the admirals are logias like me, actually.” He continues, “All the strongest pirates have ‘em too!”

“Not Hawkeyes,” Naguri remarks, tapping his chin, "That man is a special breed of monster."

"Shanks doesn't have one either!" Luffy shouts in between trying to pull a piece of wood out from underneath an old, broken piece of roofing.

"And, you know," Naguri continues, "Roger didn't-"

There's a snap, and Naguri glances over his shoulder to see that kid Ace has snapped the board he was holding in half. He looks down at his hands, which are shaking, almost looking surprised.

Ace echoes his sentiment, good mood immediately ruined. "Well, whatever. My devil fruit is awesome."

"I dunno, being made of fire seems pretty inconvenient to me," Sabo says, flashing him a coy smirk, "Wouldn't a hose put you out?"

This manages to snap Ace's kid self out of his sulking and makes him throw back his head and laugh. Ace would feel more annoyed if it weren't for the way Sabo's shoulders relax when he sees younger Ace acting a bit happier.

He's still annoyed, though, "They'd have to hit me first." He says with a huff, turning his attention back to working on the hull. He ignores the fond grin Naguri is giving him.

"So you're saying it'd work?" His kid self challenges, grinning.

“Haha,” Ace rolls his eyes as he hammers the wood into place, “You won’t be laughing when the flame flame fruit rolls around.”

“As if I want your stinkin’ fruit,” His kid self sneers.

“Oh, believe me,” Ace snickers, remembering his time on Sixis, “You will.”

"Is that a threat?"

"Not coming from me."

"What does that even-"

"Oye, kid, quit your dillydallying!" Naguri interrupts, nearly making kid Ace jump while tapping the wooden hull in progress, "That wood aint gonna nail itself!"

He shoots another glare at Ace, as if this is somehow his fault, before grumbling something indecipherable under his breath and going back to hammering the wood.

However, he is interrupted when he has to stop Luffy from snapping the wood in half.

"Luffy! Were you even listening?" Kid Ace snaps, shoving him before he can cause any more damage.

"I was helping!" Luffy says, raising the wood above his head to try to finagle it over Kid Ace's arms. Kid Ace growls and pushes him back again, swiping the wood from his hands.

"You're doing it wrong! Do it like this," he scolds while taking the wood and setting it into the correct space. Luffy watches, transfixed, as kid Ace shows him how to properly set it into the hull.

"Wow, Ace you're good at this!" Luffy says.

Kid Ace rolls his eyes and scoffs, "I just pay attention, dumbass, it's not that hard."

"Mmm… like this?" Luffy asks, haphazardly trying to nail the wood into place. Kid Ace groans and grabs his arm before he can cause any more damage.

"You'll never be able to fix a ship at this rate."

"Mm, I can get someone on my crew to help me then!"

"You're really gonna rely on someone else for this?"

"Yeah! My crew will help me, and I'll help them!"

Ace hides his smile behind his hand, disguising his laughter as a cough. Well, he's glad his kid self is settling down at least. Still doesn't like him being here, but hey! At least he isn't acting all protective anymore.

Hearing what Luffy said made him think back to the past. Luffy seems to have collected a pretty good crew in the future. He wonders if Luffy ever did find a shipwright.

He smiles as a thought occurs to him. "Hey Luf, wanna hear about your crew in the future?" He asks.

Luffy momentarily looks excited, then quickly shakes his head, "Noooo don't tell me! I wanna find my own crew!"

"Well they're still-"

"No!" Luffy shouts, covering his ears. Ace laughs. Ah, it's fun to rile him up. He turns to his kid self, who is giving him an unimpressed look.

"What about you, wanna hear about your crew?" Ace asks with a smirk. He already knows the answer to that.

"Hell no," Kid Ace shoots back, "You're full of shit anyway."

Ace snorts, "Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't wanna hear it either." Comparing each other's similarities just seems to make his kid self more annoyed, who scoffs and turns back to what he was doing with Luffy.

After that, things fall into a sort of rhythm. He's glad his kid self is begrudgingly tolerating him now, even if he is doing so by making a point of not talking to him. Knowing how he was back then, he sees that as a win.

The only problem is, well. The tingling in his hands and lightheadedness never really go away. They only get worse as the shipbuilding continues. He lasts around sunset until everything becomes a bit unbearable.

Probably best I get out of here 'fore the kids notice, Ace thinks with a grimace, breath coming out more labored than he would like. 'Sides, it's almost time to stop for the day.

"Well, probably time I head out," Ace says, patting Luffy on the head.

Luffy pouts, "Why are ya leavin'? Can't you come to the treehouse now that Ace likes you?"

"I don't like him, stop putting words in my mouth!" Kid Ace shot back. "I hope he falls down a hole and dies."

"Ace!" Luffy whines.

"It's rude to speak about people like they're not there," Ace says with amusement.

There's a pause as Kid Ace turns to look at him. "I hope you fall down a hole and die," he says deadpan, not missing a beat. This only garners another laugh out of Ace, which seems to make his kid self more annoyed.

Sabo glances over at Ace, then back at kid Ace, a slight twinge of a smile on his lips. "Well, if he dies, you won't be able to beat him in a rematch," Sabo remarks, perhaps a bit too slyly. "Then you'll never know which one of you is stronger."

Kid Ace opens his mouth, then actually seems to consider Sabo's words, before looking back at Ace with a fierce look. "Fine, you aren't allowed to die until I kill you," He shoots back, a challenging glint in his eyes.

"Sure, sure, I look forward to the rematch, brat," Ace says fondly, reaching over to ruffle his kid self's hair.

His kid self immediately recoils, slapping his hand away with a growl. "Fuck off!"

Ace isn't bothered, offering a wave. "Right, you kids stay out of trouble now, ya hear!"

In response, his kid self flipped him off, earning another snicker from Sabo. Luffy offered him a wave, but was cut off when his kid self grabbed his wrist and started pulling him in the opposite direction.

Sabo's gaze followed after Kid Ace as he stomped back off to join Naguri, then he turned to face Ace. Ace felt his heart bloom when Sabo offered him a tentative wave, before running off to rejoin his kid self and Luffy.

Well… it was progress. Ace thought, feeling a bit lighter despite the aching throughout his whole body.

He glanced up at the sky as he walked. Well, Sabo was making an effort, it seemed. Maybe… maybe he ought to try making one too. He absentmindedly runs a hand across the scar on his chest, grimacing.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll… look into doing something about this.

Chapter Text

The walk home was… awkward, to say the least.

The kids had decided to head back to the treehouse not long after Portgas had left. Though now that they didn't have something to keep them distracted, a la the boat, it seemed Ace was left to stew in his annoyance at the encounter with the strange pirate.

Luffy was the only one who seemed oblivious to the tension in the air, humming happily as he trotted after Sabo and Ace.

Finally, as the silence began to feel suffocating, Ace spoke up, twisting his head around to give Sabo a cold look. "Why'd you say he could come?" He asked, showing incredible self restrain by only sounding mildly pissed.

Sabo stared at the sky, contemplating his answer. And also partially to annoy Ace by making a show out of thinking it over. I could lie… but… I feel like that might just get Ace more upset with me. He realized with a grimace.

"Luffy and I, uh… may have run into him earlier."

"May have?"

"We went to spar with him!" Luffy happily supplements. Sabo resists the urge to smack him.

Ace stares at them with a false sense of calm. "Huh," Is all he says. This illusion is broken within seconds, though, when his expression turns fierce and he glares at Sabo.

"What the heck, you said we'd follow him the next time we saw him!" Ace says. He sounds pretty upset, so Sabo raises his hands.

"I just wanted to see if he was hanging around after he left the first time!" Sabo said defensively, "Then Luffy followed me, and well…" He shrugs, a bit helplessly. He doesn't really want to elaborate on the fact that they visited him twice.

"Look, I know you don't like him," Sabo continues, just as Ace looks ready to yell at him again, "But I.. really don't think he's a threat."

"What makes you so sure of that?" Ace asks skeptically, crossing his arms.

"Well… for one, he decided to get high on a bunch of laughing mushrooms Luffy gave him," Sabo says, flashing Luffy an amused look. "Don't think someone out to get us would do that."

"He what-" Ace coughs disbelievingly, fighting back a mirthful smile, "God, he's an idiot."

"Don't be mean to yourself, Ace!"

"Damn it Luffy, stop that!" Ace snaps, rubbing his face, "Ugh, whatever, that doesn't prove anything. Besides him being a moron."

Sabo scratched his cheek, humming in thought, "He's also pretty gentle with Luffy. I mean, he immediately jumped to help him when he got stuck under that rubble."

Ace just rolls his eyes, "He wants something, I can tell." He huffs, "I dunno what it is, but there's no way a guy like that can be trusted."

"Hmph…" Sabo couldn't deny the fact that even after all this time, the guy was still suspicious. But… he also couldn't deny the fact he couldn't really feel any animosity coming off of him. "Think you're still mad you lost."

"Hey! You lost too!" Ace retaliates, lightly pushing Sabo. "Ugh, whatever, you're both being jerks."

Ace looks like he's about to stomp off, but then Luffy runs forward, grabbing his wrist.

"Luffy, what-" He starts, giving Luffy an annoyed look.

"Ace, lets spar!"

He blinks at him a few times, while Sabo wonders if Luffy knows what he's getting into.

"What, you want to fight now?" Ace sneers, though he also looks a bit excited.

"Yeah! You said you wanted to beat Bace, so you gotta practice getting stronger!"

"Humph, like you'd be a challenge…" Ace says, casting a quick side glance at Sabo.

Sabo offers a small smile and a shrug. "I'm down to fight too. Still got plenty of energy," He says, almost challengingly.

"Heh, well so do I, so you better not hold back on me," Ace says.

"Yes! Race ya!" Luffy shouts, tagging Ace on the shoulder before running off. Ace and Sabo both make noises of protest, meeting each other's eyes for a brief second before they chase after him.

The next morning, Ace opened his eyes, staring at the sky. Well, really, it was more of a glare. Because he'd promised himself he'd go into town and try to find someone who actually knew anything about medicine to talk to.

He really didn't want to do that.

With a groan, he rolled over in his cot, glaring at the trees in front of him.

God, I wish Deuce or Marco were here, He found himself thinking with a grimace, would much rather talk to them about this…

Not that Deuce had ever really considered himself a doctor, despite his medical knowledge. Something about never finishing medical school. Though Deuce did know more about medicine than Ace did, especially when it came to technical stuff. So in Ace’s mind, that made Deuce a good doctor.

The medical knowledge he did have certainly came in handy when they’d been sailing around as the Spades.

Thinking about Deuce, though… it made Ace’s stomach curl in knots. The last conversation they’d had hadn’t really been… pleasant…

“Ace!” Deuce had snapped, “Were you seriously planning on leaving without even talking to me?”

“We’re talking right now aren’t we?” Ace responded dryly, not even bothering to look up from packing.

“Yeah, only because I learned from Marco you were planning on taking off.” Deuce hissed.

A beat of silence. When Ace didn’t say anything else, Deuce ran a hand through his hair and growled, “Seriously, what are you planning exactly? Why don’t you ever stop and think?”

“I am thinking!” Ace snapped, whirling around to glare at Deuce, “I’m going after Teach, and I’m going to make him pay for what he did to Thatch.”

“Whitebeard told you not to!”

“I don’t-” Ace cut himself off quickly, taking a deep breath and running both his hands over his face to collect himself, “I can’t just sit around and do nothing.”

Deuce pulled anxiously at his hair, “Why are you insisting on doing this on your own, though? It could be dangerous! At least ask another commander to-”

“Teach is my responsibility!” Ace retaliated, frustration building, “A member of my division killed one of our crew. So it's my job to track him down.”

More silence. Ace hadn’t wanted help at the time. It was his responsibility alone to bear. Even if he had, he knew Pops had made it abundantly clear he didn’t want him going after Teach, so he doubted any of his fellow division commanders would entertain the idea either.

“At least let me come with you,” Deuce finally said.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I already told you. This is my burden,” Ace said sharply, nails digging into the bag he’d been packing. “I don’t want you getting involved.”

Deuce stalked forward, slamming a hand down on the maps Ace had been trying to pack. He stared at him, shocked at the utter audacity, as Deuce returned his look with a steely glare.

“I’m your first mate, Ace. And as your firstmate it’s my job to make sure you don’t get killed.”

Ace doesn’t let the shock at Deuce’s boldness leave him stunned for too long. “So what?” Ace asked, trying to temper the flames that dared to flick across his back at the challenge, “Are you gonna try to stop me?”

The room dissolves into a tense quiet. Ace meets Deuce’s glare with his own, trying to ignore the twitchy feeling under his skin and the way he could feel anger bubbling in his chest. Deuce had always been a voice of caution, sure, but he’d never been this… defiant before.

He couldn’t recall a time he’d ever stubbornly refused to go along with one of his plans like this. The fact that he was doing this now left Ace feeling… uncomfortable. It was an uncomfortableness that chewed at his chest and made his hands shake. He hated it, and it only fueled his anger.

“Do you even know what Teach is capable of?” Deuce asked finally. He hadn’t stepped out of Ace’s way yet, but it also wasn’t an answer.

“It doesn’t matter!” Ace snapped.

“I think it does, Ace! Because none of us thought he was capable of this!”

Fed up with this, Ace yanked his stuff away and pushed past Deuce. To his silent relief, Deuce didn’t put up a fight, just let Ace shoulder past him.

“I’m leaving.” He said simply.

“Ace..”

Ace ignores him, storming out of the room and onto the deck. He can hear people talking around him but everything feels far away.

He hardly notices he’s already reached Striker until the boat is sitting in front of him. He stares at it a moment, something uncomfortable curling in his gut, before he pushes through it and tosses the bag of supplies he’d packed inside.

“Ace,” Deuce’s voice breaks him out of his thoughts. He turns to give him a look.

He doesn’t look angry anymore. He just looks kind of sad. That only served to make Ace feel worse.

“Please, if you’re going to do this… be careful.”

Ace meets Deuce’s gaze, then, after a moment, he said, “I’m not going to run away.”

Deuce grimaced and looked away. From this angle, the rest of his expression was hidden behind his mask.

“I know you won’t.”

The last conversation the two of them had was an argument. He’d never even gotten the chance to apologize, because in the end, Deuce had been right. He’d been reckless and charged into things without thinking. Just look where that got him…

He doesn’t regret going after Teach, of course. Nothing Deuce could have said would have stopped him from doing that.

Would things have been different if he’d taken Deuce along? If Deuce had gone with him, could he have…

He doesn’t want to think about that. He doesn’t really want to remember any of this, he thinks as he flips onto his side and wraps his arms around himself, gripping his sides.

What happened to living life without regrets? Ace asks himself darkly, nails digging into his skin.

I certainly lived without regrets. But I’m not exactly alive right now, am I?

Abruptly, Ace sits up, frustration bubbling to the surface. No, he isn’t going to sit here and mope anymore. He needs something to do.

… Which means he probably has to go to the pharmacy.

Ace will be honest, he really doesn’t have clear memories of the pharmacy. Even when he was a kid, playing with Sabo and Luffy, visiting the city to sell stuff, he hadn’t really been. He only remembers the pharmacy at all because he and Luffy had needed to steal medicine from there once for Sabo when he’d been sick with pneumonia.

He probably remembers it so well because it had been pretty difficult. Stealing from clueless nobles who think they’re above the world was one thing. But businesses could be a lot more.. Difficult.

That wasn’t really what Ace was worried about, though. Being in the city just brought back.. Uncomfortable memories.

And with those uncomfortable memories came the thought that he really did not feel comfortable leaving the forest. Not when his kid brothers were there. Call him overprotective, but he had a right to be, damn it.

It’ll only be for a little bit. He thinks, rubbing his temples to try to stave off the headache he can feel coming on.

Plus, Luffy had insisted he get help. He couldn’t say no to his little brother.

Making up his mind, he decided he was going to pay a quick visit to the treehouse, just to check on the kids before he left. He wasn’t sure he expected them to be there; they were usually out during the day. Either in the forest or in… the Grey Terminal.

Fortunately for him, they actually were at the treehouse.

“Hey ki-” he started to say, but Sabo and his kid self’s attention immediately snapped up, and his kid self quickly raised his arms.

“Stop! You’re going to mess it up!” His kid self snapped.

Ace paused, raising his hands, and looked down at what he was about to step on. Oh, it was a bear trap. Since when did the three of them get their hands on one of these?

“Did you guys steal this from the bandits?” Ace asks, careful to step around it. It wouldn’t have been a problem for him on account of being fire, but he knew that setting one of these could be a pain with the draw strength on ‘em. He didn’t want to ruin the kids’ hard work.

“No, we got it from the landfill,” Sabo said, while his kid self sat back with a gesture towards him.

“See, Sabo, there’s no way he’s me. He’s obviously an idiot.”

“Rude.”

"Why are you here?" His kid self bites back, crossing his arms, "Go away."

"Aw, does someone want to spar again?"

"Don't fucking test me!"

Ace laughs, raising his hands, "Relax, relax, I'm not staying. Just wanted to check on you three before I head to the city."

"The city?" Sabo asks, inquisitively, but also a bit cautious, "… Why are you going there?"

"Eh, no reason important," Ace says with a shrug, "Sides, I won't be long. Just wanted to make sure you three hadn't gone and gotten yourselves into any trouble."

"It's only been a day, old man," kid Ace scoffs, eyes narrowing, "Also, fuck off, we don't need a weirdo hanging around."

"Yeah yeah, I know, you can take care of yourselves," He says, offering Sabo a pat on the head. He squints at him like he's a particularly weird-looking bug.

"Anyway, now that I know you guys aren't bleeding out in a ditch somewhere, I'm heading out," Ace continues, offering a two-finger wave as he turns his back. He hears his kid self scoff about something, but forces himself to keep walking so he doesn't linger here any longer and convince himself not to go.

He can probably make this quick, though. Just in and out.

Well, first, he’ll need to find out what exactly it was he needed. He wasn’t exactly a doctor. Did the people at pharmacies have that kind of information? Probably, they were kind of like doctors. Marco made his own drugs all the time.

As Ace brushes a tree branch aside, he tries to remember some of the stuff Marco had given him before when he got badly hurt. He had a pretty high pain tolerance, so most painkillers weren’t necessary.

He grimaces as he makes his way out into a clearing, and he vaguely remembers Marco also mentioning he had a weird resistance to some of the painkillers.

Guess this will be trial and error, huh.

The edge of the clearing gives way from trees to trash as he comes to the outskirts of the Grey Terminal. The smell is foul, but nothing that Ace isn’t used to, as he navigates his way through the piles of scrap.

The one thing he does notice, though, is the distinct lack of the smell of char.

Even after putting out the fires, that smell had never quite gone away.

It doesn’t take too long to reach the outskirts of the city. It’s a bit better kept than the junkyard, but not by much.

He stares up at the intimidating walls of the city. Ace’s mood only soured. Those walls only served to remind him of what this damn city had done to his brother.

… Let’s just get this over with.

As they watched Portgas go, Ace turned back to Sabo and Luffy, “We’re following him.”

“Ace…” Sabo said, tone placating.

“Don’t ‘Ace’ me. I said the next time we saw him we'd follow him.”

“Didn’t we already decide he isn’t dangerous?” Sabo asks, crossing his arms.

“No, you decided that,” Ace huffs, giving Luffy a pointed look as well. “Besides, he even told us to stay away. Isn’t that suspicious?”

Sabo sat back, pulling absently at the grass, “Ugh, okay, you win, we can follow him. I guess it is a little weird, and we don’t have anything better planned today.”

Luffy, seemingly oblivious to the reasons they were following Portgas, immediately jumped up, pumping his fists in the air.

“Yush! Adventure!”

“No, Luffy, this isn’t some normal adventure! We’re spying on this guy to uncover what he’s up to!”

Luffy processes this for a moment and then nods, covering his face with his arms in a way that mimics a mask, “Gotcha! Mystery ninja adventure!”

Sabo snickers, hiding his laugh as Ace drags a hand across his face, looking fed up. “Fine, Whatever. Just be quiet.”

Sabo raises two fingers in front of his face and squats down in a gesture similar to how a ninja would. Ace gives him a look, and Luffy laughs, “C’mon Ace! You gotta do the secret ninja pose too!”

“I’m not-”

“Don’t you think ninjas are cool, Ace?” Sabo chides teasingly. Ace gives him a look, one that clearly shows he’s trying to play this cool, before he reluctantly joins Luffy and Sabo in their ninja poses.

“Alright. Mission ‘find out what this guy is up to’ is a go.” He can tell Ace is trying to fight a smile.

Well, nobody said that they couldn’t have fun while doing this…

Ace peaks inside the pharmacy, glancing around. It is… remarkably mundane. He isn’t really sure what he was expecting, honestly. Maybe visiting the Grey Terminal had just brought back bad memories, and he was feeling jumpy.

His eyes scan the counters. Rows and rows of bottles line the shelves, with names Ace can’t even begin to pronounce.

A lone woman is working the counter, thoughtfully jotting notes down on a piece of paper. She looks up when she hears the door open and offers Ace a pleasant, practiced smile.

“Hello sir," she pauses, smile dropping a bit when she actually takes in Ace's appearance, "Ah.. how can I help you?”

“Uh, hi. I was wondering, what’s the strongest painkiller you’ve got?” Ace asks, placing an elbow on the front desk to lean across it.

The woman gives him a peculiar expression as she picks at her nails thoughtfully, “Depends on the pain. What are you looking for?”

“Uhhh….” Ace isn’t sure what he’s looking for, exactly. Knowing his body’s resistance to painkillers…

Damn, what was the name of that stuff Marco had given him? He vaguely recalls Marco giving him an IV after he’d come back from a pretty harrowing fight. If he could just…

“Morphine!” Ace says, slapping his hand on the counter, startling the poor woman. He chuckles awkwardly, quickly pulling away from the counter as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Uh, sorry about that, ‘was just remembering something. Anyway, morphine, you got any of that?”

“.. Morphine?” The woman says, bordering on deadpan. She’s stopped fidgeting with her nails and is giving Ace a bit more of a perturbed look, “Ah…well, yes, we do. I believe it’s on aisle 4? By the other opioids.”

“Great! Thanks!" Then, Ace taps his fingers absently against the counter, "Also… don't suppose you have anything for nausea, do you?"

The woman tilts her head sympathetically, "Ah, have you tried blander food?"

Well, he'd tried. "Didn't really help," Ace says with a shrug, failing to mention he hadn't exactly been very good at sticking to that kind of diet.

"Mmm," The woman eyes him skeptically, "Right. Well, you could try calcium carbonate pills, they're on aisle 9. Though if it gets worse, I'd recommend speaking to a physician."

"Gotcha, sure, thanks," Ace says, offering the woman his best attempt at a charming smile. She rolls her eyes at him. Yeah, that's how girls usually reacted when T-

He cuts off that thought immediately with a scowl. Thinking about him was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He had enough to worry about with his brothers.

Focus, idiot. He scolds himself, slipping behind the aisles and searching for the meds. Honestly…. this is a lot easier than he expected it to be. The lady at the front desk is acting surprisingly civil with him. He's used to people in this city chasing him out with a broom.

Not that he's visited the city much since…

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, then glances up over the aisle at the pharmacist tending the counter.

Ah, she is watching him, though. Guess that's to be expected.

Alright, time for a distraction.

He leans back against the aisle, humming as he contemplates what to do. Maybe he could just knock something over? That'd be kind of lame, though…

Maybe he'd be better off just making a run for it? S'not like the lady watching the desk could catch him…

Oh wait!

Plan in mind, Ace places his hand against the back of the aisle wall, lighting a small flame. Then, he gets up, and begins to walk over to the other aisle, aware of the woman's eyes following him.

He takes his time grabbing the second medicine bottle, then approaches the counter with an innocent smile.

"Hey, uh, how much for these?" He asks the counter lady, setting down the stuff he gathered.

"Hmm, that'll be about 1100 berry-" She starts to say, and just as she's examining the item, Ace sends a little more energy to the flame, causing it to brighten and burst, sending sparks across the isle without actually damaging anything.

… What? He might be a criminal, but he's not going to destroy a bunch of medicine. Marco would kill him again if he did that.

The woman shrieks, ducking behind the counter. Ace takes the brief moment of her distraction to stuff the medicine in his pants pocket, jumping back in surprise to sell the trick.

As the employees run forward to put out the fire, Ace handily takes their distraction to sneak out the door. Once a safe distance, he suppresses the flames completely with a sigh. Why did that feel like it took so much out of him?

Great gods above he was tired, and he’d barely done anything but walk and sneak around!

Oh well, at least it wasn’t as bad as when he’d tried to hunt that seaking the other day. He closed his eyes as he sat down on the bench, trying to rub the tiredness out of them.

He riffles through his pockets, pulling out the two bottles he’d managed to snatch. Sure hope these actually work, Ace thinks with a huff, popping a few pills, I doubt I'll be able to pull that trick again…

Ace closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands when he felt it. A strangely familiar ping at the back of his eyes. His eyes shot open, and he looked around. He didn’t see anyone out of the ordinary. Why had the sensation been so familiar?

A beat. Wait, had that been observation haki? He frowns deeper. Haki had... never really been his strong suit. Why would his observation haki act up now? Was he really that anxious? 

Actually... now that he focused on it, it almost felt like-

“You there! What are you doing, lazing about? I paid you to do a job!"

Ace’s heart leaps into his throat, and he jumps to his feet on instinct, adrenaline pumping through his system as he swiftly ducks for cover behind the bench.

He knows that voice.

As his eyes scan the busy walkways, heart racing, he spots him.

Sabo’s father.

Flames dance along Ace’s shoulders as his breathing becomes more ragged. What is he doing here? He questions, rage starting to bubble up in his chest.

The man is standing arrogantly in the courtyard, hands on his hips as he bosses his men and servants around. He looks just as Ace remembers him, and seeing him nearly makes Ace involuntarily set the bench he's sitting on alight.

Another man approaches Outlook, looking a bit pale. The bastard crosses his arms when he approaches, "Well, then, what did those brutes say?"

"They… agreed. They um… expected more payment, though.."

"What? The audacity!" The man scoffs, "Goodness, I truly cannot wait until the king deals with that wretched pirate filth. Men like that ought to know their place."

Ace's heart drops. Bluejam, He thinks with dread, the words of the bastard suddenly seeming very far away. Fuck, they're already planning? I have to get back to the treehouse-

His nails dig into his palms, watching with an even deeper fury as Outlook waved callously at his men, shouting some snobbish bullshit and telling them to take his belongings back to the manor.

If he wanted to protect Sabo, he had to deal with him first.

He gets up and quickly slips into the shadows of the nearby alleyway, watching Outlook like a hawk as he saunters around. The man's confidence sickens him. Every time the man turns his back to him to yell at his servants or posture about something, Ace slips closer, like a wild tiger stalking its prey.

The man is talking some pointless drivel to one of his servants as he walks, having the situational awareness of a toddler.

Hah. On second thought, when Ace was a toddler, he was more aware of his surroundings than him, he thinks with bitter amusement, watching and waiting.

As soon as the peering eyes of his servants and passersby look away… Ace strikes.

He's not stupid; he knows the city guard will notice. There's a reason the idiot feels this confident walking around like he is without an entourage, the pharmacy is close to High Town afterall.

That's fine. This won't take long.

As soon as Ace grabs him, the man is stunned into silence, gaping like a fish out of water. He barely has time to process what is happening before Ace digs his forearm into his throat and pins him up against the alley wall.

He makes a strangled noise, clearly a delayed reaction to realizing what was happening, but Ace just digs his forearm harder into his windpipe. The attempt at a cry for help just turns into a strangled choking noise as he tries to grip Ace's arm to rip himself free.

Flames jumped to life across Ace’s arms and shoulders, fueled by the rage and cold fury burning in his chest.

I want to kill him.

It would be so easy. All he had to do was kill him, and he would never be able to hurt Sabo again. He could never threaten his freedom or Luffy’s life. Sabo would never have to run away from them and die at the hands of a Celestial Dragon.

The man tried to say something, but Ace digs his forearm deeper into the man’s throat, making him choke.

I should kill him.

“I should kill you,” Ace says, eyes cold, “It’s what you deserve, after everything you’ve done to Sabo.”

“M-my guards-” The man manages to say, but flames flare up across Ace’s shoulders, making the man whimper.

“Shut up!” Ace snaps. The man, perhaps for the first time in his life, starts to struggle to breathe, gasping and kicking at Ace helplessly. Ace doesn't budge, meeting the man's frantic gaze with nothing but contempt.

“I know what you’re planning to do to the Grey Terminal,” Ace continues, glare never wavering, “I know you’ve been conspiring with Bluejam. You were planning on taking Sabo away by force, weren't you?” Then, his lips curl into a grim snarl, "Then that bastard king of yours was going to burn the whole place down, right?"

“Plea-ase! Whatever you want, I can make it happen!” Outlook sputters, voice choked as he struggles in Ace’s grip. “Is gold what you want? Power?”

“Can you bring people back from the dead?” Ace snarled, digging his forearm deeper into the sniveling bastard’s throat.

His eyes burn into Outlook’s soul. “You know what they say: If you play with fire, you sure as hell better be prepared to get burned-”

He's so close. The flames burn at the tip of his fingers.

And yet.

He slowly lowers his hand, gritting his teeth as he takes a deep breath.

No.

No. As much as he wants to, he can't. It would only cause more problems for his brothers. Outlook wasn't really a danger anyway, it was Bluejam who could actually hurt them..

Not to mention, with what his observation haki had sensed earlier…

He takes a deep breath.

Death would be too good for him anyway.

Instead, he puts out the flames on his arm and punches Outlook in the throat. The man makes a heaving noise, coughing and sputtering as if he's choking on his own saliva.

“Listen to me, asshole," He says, gritting out his words, as his grip on Outlook's arm tightens, looking the man directly in the eyes, "If you ever, ever even think about messing with Sabo or my family again, I will make hell seem like a mercy compared to what I’ll do to you. Do I make myself clear?”

Outlook nods furiously, trembling. Only then does Ace let go of him. He drops to his knees, whole body shivering, as he hacks up blood, probably caused by biting his own tongue when Ace punched him.

Ace doesn't bother seeing what he does after he lets him go. He's got more important things to do right now. Firstly…

As he turns the corner of the alley, he hears tiny footsteps scrambling to hide behind the dumpster. He lets out a sigh. Ugh, the exhaustion is back…

“Alright, you three… come out here, now,” Ace says sternly, placing his hands on his hips.

Understanding they’d been caught red-handed, three very familiar boys walk slowly out from where they’d been hiding, looking down at their feet. Sabo is holding his hat, fidgeting with the rim, while Luffy is looking away from him. His kid self is glaring at the floor, whole body tense.

Ace sighs, running a hand over his face, “I know I should have expected this. You guys are terrible at following instructions,” he shakes his head. “Do you think I just say things for fun?”

The kids all murmur something too soft for him to hear. He waits, arms crossed, watching them squirm guiltily under his gaze.

Finally, his kid self speaks up, “I thought you were with Bluejam.”

Ace laughs in disbelief, “You thought I was with-?! Why?”

“Because how could anything you say be possible?” His kid self finally shouts, waving a hand. His kid self is now looking at him, gaze intense and a little freaked out, “If everything you said is true, how- That’s not-” He watches as his kid self shrinks back in on himself again, fists clenched and shaking.

Ace wasn’t really sure how best to comfort his kid self having an existential crisis, so instead he shrugs, “Doesn’t have to make sense. Devil fruits don't make sense and they exist, don't they?" He shakes his head, suddenly feeling a lot older, "Ugh, whatever, we can talk about this later. We really need to get back to the Treehouse, it aint safe here-"

“Ace?” The quiet voice of Sabo interrupts. When Ace turns to look at him, he notices with a start that Sabo is also shaking.

“Am I dead in the future?”

Ace sucks in a breath. Fuck, that had been exactly what Ace had wanted to avoid talking about. How had he….

“Sabo…”

“I’m not stupid, Ace!” Ace starts, realizing that’s the first time Sabo has actually used his given name, “You were shocked when you saw me! You looked like you saw a ghost! And just now with Outlook…”

Ah… so they’d heard that …

Sabo is staring at him intensely, fists trembling with adrenaline, “So don’t try to lie to me about this!”

A beat of silence. As much as Ace would like to lie, to say everything is fine in the future… he knows Sabo will be able to tell. His brother has always been too smart for his own good.

“Yes.”

Sabo flinches, taking a sharp breath. Beside him, Luffy reaches for his hand, squeezing it tightly. His kid self balls his fists so tight he looks like he’s going to hurt himself.

“Sabo is..?” Luffy’s lip trembles, squeezing Sabo’s hand tighter.

“How could you!” His kid self finally snaps, trembling with anger, “Why would you let that happen?”

“I didn’t let anything happen!” Ace snarls, bristling.

“Then where were you!”

“I-” Ace can feel himself shaking, horrible, guilty feelings resurfacing. Small demons whispering how he wasn’t strong enough, how he was a monster for not being able to keep his brother safe.

“Ace, stop!” Sabo snaps, grabbing his kid self’s wrist with his free hand. His kid self turns to look at Sabo, still shaking.

Ace takes a breath, trying to suppress the flames and painful itch burning under his skin. He needs to calm down.

“How can I calm down when I- he- Let you die!” His kid self shouts. Luffy has started crying at this point, hiding his face under his hat.

“It won’t happen again,” Ace promises, meeting his kid self’s eyes with a steely determination.

He’d die before he let Sabo give himself up again.

The air crackles with tension as he meets his kid self's glare.

"Ace… is pretty strong now," Luffy says, almost so quietly that Ace doesn't catch what he says. He watches as a series of complicated emotions cross over his kid self's face, still tense.

"I guess…" he says, quiet, looking surprisingly… lost. Is that the right word to describe the look on his face right now? Ace isn't sure.

He runs a hand over his face, feeling the rest of the fight drain his body, "Look, today has been a lot. Feel free to yell at me later, let's just… go home right now. Sound good?"

The kids all glance at each other, shifting uncertainly. It's the most openly uncertain of the three of them have looked since he got here.

Then, in his usual fashion, Luffy charges forward, slamming into Ace so hard he nearly trips him, and squeezing his torso in a hug.

"Yeah I… think I want to go home," Sabo says softly, eyes looking a little hazy. He notices his kid self watching Sabo with a fierce, sad, protective look, inching a little closer to him without making contact.

"Right, okay, then c'mon," Ace pats Luffy on the head, "Let's get the hell out of here."

This time, the kids do as he says without complaint, following behind him quietly. Luffy grabs his hand in one hand and Sabo's hand in the other, gripping them both like he's afraid they'll disappear. Meanwhile, Ace's kid self trails a little further behind while still sticking close, gripping his pipe tightly.

Ace's own grip on Luffy's hand tightens, staying laser-focused on leading them out of the city. Civilians pass by in a blur, because all that matters to him right now is his brothers. He wonders if Outlook has collected himself enough to alert the guards.

No, don't think about that. Just keep walking.

It's not until they finally get out of the city and behind the safety of the tree line that Ace finally allows himself to relax. All things considered, that went… remarkably well.

In the sense that the guards hadn't ambushed them, not in regards to anything else.

But…. he can't relax yet. There's still one last thing he has to do.

Once they finally reach the treehouse, Ace crouches down beside the three. Luffy takes this as an invitation to hug him again.

As he holds Luffy in his arms, he glances up to see Sabo staring at him with a very intense, nervous look, fidgeting awkwardly in place.

"Uhm.. Ace?" Ace tries not to react in surprise when Sabo uses his first name, "Um.. I…"

Ace tilts his head at Sabo as he stands there. Then, wordlessly, he extends an arm. An invitation. Luffy glances between him and Sabo, face slowly beginning to take on a wide grin.

For a moment, Sabo just stands there, looking a little uncertain. Then, he finally forces himself to move.

Sabo wraps his arms around Ace's torso and squeezes tightly, burying his head in his chest. For a moment, he just hugs him in silence, then, so softly Ace can barely hear him, he whispers, "Thank you…"

Something aches in Ace's chest, and a tiny, self-loathing part of him wants to push Sabo away. What are you thanking me for? It hisses. I couldn't even save you.

But Ace ignores that bitter voice in his head, instead leaning into Sabo's touch and protectively holding him, breath coming out shallow as he hugs both him and Luffy like they're the only things in the world right now.

After what feels like no time at all and eternity, Ace forces himself to pull away. He places his hands on their shoulders, offering them a small smile of reassurance, "Alright. I need you three to stay here, alright?"

"You're… not staying with us?" Sabo asks, looking strangely upset by the idea. Luffy looks like he wants to grab onto Ace's arm and not let go.

"I just have to take care of something real fast," Ace says, offering a wink in an attempt to keep things lighthearted, "I'll be back before you can even blink."

Luffy pouts at him harder, tightening his grip on his hand, while shaking his head stubbornly, "No! You gotta stay!"

"Luffy…"

"No!"

"C'mon Luf," Ace sighs tiredly, gently prying Luffy's fingers off his hand, "I promise, I'll come back."

Luffy tilts his head at him with big, sad eyes, "Promise?" he asks, quiet and scared.

"Yeah, I promise," Ace says reassuringly. At least this one he knows he can keep.

Luffy stares at him for a long time before he finally lets go of Ace, immediately reaching over and grabbing Sabo instead. Sabo seems a bit surprised by this, but awkwardly lets Luffy hang off of him.

Ace turns to his kid self, who has been remarkably quiet so far. "Keep them safe while I'm gone, will you?" He asks, though it's not really a request, he has to give.

In response, the kid grips his pipe tighter, "Why you even asking a stupid question like that? I'll kill anybody who messes with us." He's trying to sound confident, but Ace can see the underlying anxiety hidden beneath that rough exterior.

"I know you will," Ace says softly, as he pushes himself to his feet. "Right, then. I'll be right back. You three promise to stay put this time?"

They all looked at each other again, then gave quick, quiet nods. Guess they'd learned their lesson.

"Good," Ace says, glancing over his shoulder, in the direction of the grey terminal, that familiar feeling of rage begins to burn in his chest again.

"Like I said. This won't take long."

Nobles are despicable people.

Hiding away in their gilded towers, secluded from the savage common folk. Living in the lap of luxury while they feed the peasants to the wolves.

They say money talks, but that just isn’t true. Steal all the money in the world and you’d still be wanted.

It’s power that talks. Prestige.

The title of a noble doesn’t just grant you money. It grants you respect. It grants you the authority to choose who lives and dies.

It was true power. Something men couldn’t achieve on determination alone. Those born into nobility were just born lucky.

Bluejam took a swig of rum as he watched his men prepare the explosives. This job was almost complete. All that was left to do was catch that brat that noble bastard was looking for, and they’d be set.

The king had offered him a rare opportunity. He was going to burn down this old, miserable life and leave it behind to ascend to something much greater.

Though, really, he ought to thank those brats. That one snot-nosed noble kid was the reason the upper crust had sought out his help to begin with. Hah! What a twist of irony.

The bastard must be desperate, too, to come to someone like him. Tsk, kinda pissed him off, if you asked him. That kid had no idea how good he had it. Playing peasant… don't make him laugh.

A loud crash startled Bluejam out of his thoughts. He straightens, watching as one of his men comes barreling inside, looking like he’s pissed himself scared.

“C-captain! Come quick! There’s s-some kinda monster!”

Bluejam’s nails dig into the arm of his chair. “Then what are you doing here? Get your flintlock and shoot the bastard!” Damn it, they didn’t have time to deal with those giant forest beasts. They were so close to getting out of this dump.

“We-we tried!” The man cries.

The flapping of the tent curtain draws Bluejam’s attention back to the entrance. Standing there is a rather unassuming freckled man, wearing a cattleman.

The man who came in whimpers in fear, hiding behind a crate. Bluejam scowls at him. Useless good-for-nothing…

“Hey you, this ain't a charity,” Bluejam snaps, “Don’t you know who you’re messin’ with?”

“You…” The man says. His voice is thick with contempt, expression hidden under the shade of his hat.

Bluejam’s irritation grows. “I’m Bluejam, captain of the pirates that rule this here side of the East Blue. You fixin’ to die by coming here?”

In lieu of responding, the man starts stalking forward.

Now, Bluejam considers himself a smart man. He knows how things work. The weak obey the strong; that’s how things work.

He hasn’t lived this long without being able to recognize a wolf in a fox’s den when he sees one. There aint any fear there. Not even an ounce of hesitation.

A lesser pirate might be cocky. A lesser pirate might boast or let their ego talk.

But Bluejam ain't a fool. Seeing the way that man approaches… It's like the way a wild animal stalks its prey.

It stirs fear in Bluejam’s chest. “Damn it, don’t just stand there!” he snaps at his men, pulling out his pistol. “Kill the bastard!”

The sound of gunfire rings through the air as multiple rifles and flintlocks are fired.

To Bluejam’s mounting horror, the bullets phase right through the man. He doesn’t even flinch. Not even that, they don’t just phase.

The man’s body twists and morphs, like it's made of fire.

“You… you’re a monster!” Bluejam’s voice is shaky. He turns to one of his men, grabs them, and shoves them forward, “Do something!”

The pirate lets out a panicked noise, aiming his gun at the stranger’s head. When the bullets continue to pass through, a few of his men pull out their sabers.

Screams pierce through the tent as flames seem to shoot from the monster, striking his own men, and making them collapse, rolling on the ground to try to put them out.

Bluejam can only watch in horror as the flames begin to spread uncontrollably, himself cowering behind his chair as they start eating at the fabric of the tent.

This has gotta be one of them devil fruit users, the ones of myth and legend. Eyes scan the burning tent, searching for an exit through the smoke.

Only the strong and the cowardly survive. His own mind reminds him. Screw the crew, he needed to get out of here. Only survival was important. He was going to become a noble! He couldn’t die now!

Bluejam scrambles to his feet, running wildly for the back of the tent. He shoves one of his own men behind him, the man shrieking as a blast of fire snags him in the back. Bluejam doesn’t even look back.

But his hope is soon burnt to cinders as the fire supernaturally seems to move around him, blocking his exit. He scrambles, searching for another way out, but he realizes to his terror that he’s cornered. One direction is a wall of fire, and the other is the stranger who caused it. Maybe it's just the haze of the flames, but he can swear he sees the man’s eyes burning.

“Y-you know!” Bluejam says, waving a hand in front of him, “The king of Goa was reckoning to make me and my crew nobles! We could let you in on the deal if you let us go!”

The man doesn’t answer, just stalks forward. The smell of smoke is starting to become unbearable.

“Please, I ain't meant to offend ya!” Bluejam continues, unable to back up any further, “If my men have taken from ye’ I can return it, I swear! We’s ‘bout to be rich!”

“Shut up.”

Bluejam gasps as the man grips his face. He tries to shoot the man again, bullet after bullet harmlessly passing through him. As panic rises, he finally manages to get a good look of the man’s eyes through the smoke.

There’s nothing but cold fury in that expression, as he digs his fingers into Bluejam’s skull.

“This is for Sabo, you son of a bitch.”

And then Bluejam’s world goes up in flames.

Chapter Text

Ace was running on instinct and adrenaline. As soon as he’d gotten his brothers to safety, he’d become laser-focused on making sure that bastard could never touch them ever again.

He followed the route to Bluejam’s old camp like a man possessed. He wasn’t even sure how he remembered the way, but at the time, he wasn't thinking of anything outside of needing to make him pay.

Seeing that man again… something snapped. A fire burned in Ace’s chest, and he lunged like a wild cat. Here, without the prying eyes of civilians or his brothers, he had no reason to hold back, and all that rage he’d felt seeing Outlook suddenly came back full force.

Even after he felt his hands crush Bluejam’s skull, as his flames dissolved his body into char, Ace was dismayed to find he still felt no satisfaction. The anger just lingered, even as awareness slowly returned to his mind.

He stared down at his hands, stained black and red with ash and blood. With each breath he took, the smell of smoke seemed to become more potent. It felt like all that rage that had burned up in his chest had suddenly begun to choke him.

He gasped, falling to his knees and clawing at his own throat. His hands begin to feel numb. The sound of screams makes him jerk up.

The flames emanating from his body, once controlled and calculated in their movements, seem to be giving way, like a bridge collapsing under pressure. The wall of fire in front of him burns more brightly and starts to spread, chaotically dancing across the top of the tent walls and burning across the ground.

Stop! He commanded the flames.

They ignored him.

It felt like his body had gone weak. Like the feeling of your arms or legs going numb and giving out. He attempted to scramble to his feet, swinging his arm to try and physically reel in the flames.

It did nothing.

Damn it! Not good! Why aren’t they responding?!

Panic began to rise in his chest. He attempted to push his hand into the flames, thinking in his mind that if he grabbed hold of the inferno, it would listen.

He jerks his hand away and bites back a scream. It burned. He tried to struggle to his feet, but he couldn’t breathe. The smoke was suffocating him. Each breath he took just filled his lungs with ash, rubbing his throat raw.

F-fuck! Move, damn it!

Pure survival instinct is probably the only reason he manages to get up. He drags himself to his feet and awkwardly stumbles out of the tent. He grits his teeth as fire snaps at his skin like angry vipers.

Why does it hurt. Why does it hurt.

The outside offers no relief, though, because he can see the flames have already begun to spread across the rest of the grey terminal. Shit shit not good not good.

Maybe another part of him would have been more worried about that, but the smoke was making it hard to breathe, let alone think.

He tried to take a few more steps, but a sudden crash as the tent collapsed behind him sent debris hurling at him. He yelped, trying to go intangible on instinct, but was met with a horrible gut wretnching pain instead.

He collapses, coughing and choking so hard he feels lightheaded. His abdomen burns, his arms feel like they're on fire, and his vision is starting to go blurry.

Panic shoots up his spine. Fuck. Fuck.

Why can't I control my flames? What's going on?

He can't.. he can't pass out. Not now. He doesn't know why his flames are hurting him, but he does know if he passes out now…

I can't die. Not again. Not again. No no nononono.

It takes considerable strength to push himself to keep moving. Fire and debris pass in a blur. He isn't even sure where he's going, just wherever the fire is not.

He manages to get away from the worst of the flames, but not by much, and the numbness in his legs and arms has gotten so bad that he can barely feel them.

He ends up collapsing again, wheezing and gasping as blood pours out of his mouth. It doesn't stop. It feels like he's choking.

The sound of frantic shouting gets his attention. He barely manages to lift his head, whole body shaking. Where is that-?

Running on pure survival instinct, Ace pushes himself to his feet, leaning against a crate for support. His vision is so blurry that he can't even see the person approaching him clearly.

"Who-"

"Ace?!" Oh. That sounds like Dadan.

“Dadan…” he coughs, stumbling forward shakily. She's not too far in front of him, and yet it feels like she's so far away. Fear grips his heart, and he attempts to force himself forward. What is she doing here?

“Fuck, kid! What’d you do?” She gasps, rushing to his side. She scoops an arm under his, offering support. He wants to protest, but his body betrays him, knees giving out and collapsing into Dadan’s grip. He would flinch at the display if his body had the strength to feel ashamed.

“Fought Bluejam,” Ace said, blood dripping from his mouth. His lungs burn so bad they feel like they’re on fire.

“Is that why the Grey Terminal is on fire?” Dadan asked, voice an octave higher than Ace thought it could go.

“I don't… know what happened…" Ace murmurs, feeling pale. He can hardly think straight right now.

He then turns to look at Dadan, pain shooting through his limbs at the movement, “What… are you doing here?”

“What am I..?” Dadan laughs. It's not a happy sound. It’s kind of manic, actually, “The kids said they saw smoke coming from the Grey Terminal. When I found out where you’d gone….”

Smoke? The kids saw smoke? All the way from the treehouse? Ace shifts uncomfortably, trying to turn to glance behind him.

“That….. bad?”

“It’s…. “ Dadan pauses. He can barely make out her expression through his blurring vision, “Let’s get you back to the cabin already. Those burns don’t look good.”

Ace is about to respond, say something, but all that comes out is a strangled noise. His body goes limp, and everything goes dark.

The next thing Ace is aware of is being dragged through the forest. The air is much clearer here, but he can still see a fading tint of red.

He’s also aware that Dadan has tossed him over her shoulders.

“Hey-” Ace starts, vaguely annoyed as much as he is exhausted. Dadan jumps, clearly having not expected him to wake so soon.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” She says, “Think you’ll be able to keep your eyes open this time?”

“Mmm…” Ace squints at the ground. His vision is already flashing white, and everything is spinning. “Maybe…..”

Dadan says something Ace doesn’t hear, because his head feels like it's full of bees. He tries to look around, but his muscles give out, and his head just ends up lolling to one side.

“Dadan… my brothers.. Where are…”

“They’re fine,” Dadan responds, not looking at him, “Geez, you look like hell and you’re worrying about those brothers of yours…”

“You… the smoke…”

“Yeah, they were the ones who saw the smoke. Left ‘em at the cabin when I went to look for you. Magra and Dogra are keepin’ an eye on them.” Dadan curtly says. Then, in a softer tone that Dadan probably wouldn’t use if Ace weren’t half unconscious, “They’re safe, Ace.”

“Oh… that’s… good.”

Relieved at the knowledge his brothers were safe, Ace slipped back into unconsciousness.

When Ace woke up next, he was inside. His vision was still blurry, and everything burned. He jerked up as his body began to register the shock, letting out a silent gasp. Fuck, damn it! He mentally curses, scrambling to his feet.

"Woah woah woah! Calm down!" Was that Dadan? Ace looks up to find her standing in the doorway with a roll of bandages in one hand and a bucket in the other. She looks totally stunned to see him up, mouth slightly ajar, and cigar nearly falling out.

"D-Dadan…" Ace chokes out, gritting his teeth. Damn it, burns are so god damn painful.

"Shit, Ace- Hey!" She yelps when Ace strikes forward and yanks the bucket out of her hand, plunging his whole arm in. He grits his teeth and relaxes just a little bit, letting out a sigh.

"Jeez…" She murmurs, sitting on the side of the bed. "You fucked yourself up right good. Here, let me-"

"I got it," Ace shoots out through gritted teeth.

"You got nothing, headstrong brat. Damn it, you really grew up to be just like your grandfather."

“I’m nothing like him,” Ace bites back, then immediately regrets it because the effort makes him double over in pain. Dadan just watches him, looking vaguely irritated.

She tsks, pulling out a wool cloth from her back pocket, "Right, right. I don't give a damn about your pride. Pride is the death of all men, I swear." While Ace is holding his arm submerged in the bucket, Dadan pulls out a pocket knife and carefully cuts through his shirt.

He gasps, growling, while fighting the instinctive urge to burst into flames. That's what started this whole mess.

“I said I could-!” Ace tries to jerk away, but his vision whites out for a moment, and the next second, he finds himself on his knees, dry heaving. The ringing in his ears is almost as loud as his heartbeat.

"Stay still, damn it! Or I'll knock you out myself!" Dadan scolds him. Reluctantly, Ace grumbles something under his breath while he goes back to sitting with his arms submerged in the bucket. Behind him, now with the old, damaged cloth removed and the parts that fused with his skin carefully cut away, Dadan began to soak the cloth she held. Once soaked, she applied it to the wounds.

Time seems to pass in a haze from there, the pain causing Ace to keep fading in and out of awareness. He feels pale and clammy, and everything feels a bit far away.

He isn't sure how long this disassociation goes on for, but after what feels like just a few minutes and also forever, Dadan finishes cooling his wounds and starts applying the bandages.

"Your hands," Dadan says to him once she's done wrapping his back. He stares at her blankly for a second, taking an embarrassingly long time to process what she's asking. When it finally clicks, he awkwardly removes his arms from the bucket. Immediately, the sharp burn of pain stings across his whole arms. He clenches his jaw and his hands ball up into fists.

They sit in silence while Dadan works on bandaging him. Ace closes his eyes, letting out a long, shaky breath. It hurts, and the smell makes him nauseous, but at least it isn't-

He shuts down that thought with a shudder. He doesn't really want to think about that right now.

Once Dadan finishes wrapping the wounds, he frantically reaches into his pocket. He really hopes he didn’t… oh thank gods. He pulls out the vial with the pills he stole from the pharmacy, relief flooding into him.

He takes the pills out with shaky hands, swallowing them down quickly.

"H-hey, what did you just-"

"Morphine," Ace chokes out. "Stole it."

"Hmph, good. Don't think I have painkillers strong enough to deal with this kind of pain."

"Augh, burns suck so much," Ace whines out, though it comes out more like a growl.

"Yeah, I bet they do," Dadan says, chewing on the tip of her cigar with her arms crossed. "You want me to leave you to rest?" She asks after a moment of letting Ace collect his bearings.

"You think I could fall asleep like this?" Ace asks incredulously, giving Dadan an 'are you serious?' look.

“It's just a question, brat. Learn some respect,” Dadan says brusquely, shaking her head, “Alright then, we'll do it your way. Out with it then. What the hell, kid?"

Ace flopped back down into bed, staring at the ceiling. “I fought Bluejam-”

“You already told me about that part,” Dadan cuts in.

“I did?” Ace asks, blinking.

“Ugh, maybe you do have a concussion….”

“Hey, I’m made of fire, I can’t get concussions!”

“Somehow I find that hard to believe, but whatever. I meant why’d ya go crazy and set the whole grey terminal on fire? You’re reckless, but I’d think even you would have more sense than that.”

“Like I did that on purpose. It’s… augh… I dunno how to explain it…” Ace says, trailing off. “Fight started out normal. I barged in on Bluejam’s camp and cornered him. Then…. I dunno. It’s almost like I lost control of my devil fruit.”

“You lost control?” Dadan asks in disbelief, eyes widening, “Is that normal?”

“No, it’s not fucking normal!” Ace snaps, shaking his head, “None of this is normal! My fruit has never burned me before! It’s never gone out of control like that before, either! It’s like-” He pauses, trying to verbalize what he’s thinking. “When I use my fruit, the fire is a part of me. It’d be like throwing a punch.”

He frowns, fidgeting with the gauze, “It’s like a muscle, I guess. Sure I had to train with it, but losing control like that felt like… I don’t know.” He shakes his head, letting it hang, “Like drowning, almost. Like a part of my body suddenly just… gave out.”

Dadan listens to all this, leaning back in her chair. When Ace is done, she slowly shakes her head, “Christ, kid…” She mutters, running a hand through her hair, “Frankly I have no idea what to tell you. This is out of my wheelhouse. I’m not in the business to deal with all this… magic crap.”

“Devil fruits aren’t magic,” Ace says with a roll of his eyes, giving Dadan a look, but she cuts him off.

“I don’t care what they are, all I know is they’re weird as hell,” Dadan says, shaking her head. “What I am interested in finding out is whether or not you know any kinda doctor that could deal with something like this.”

“Not in the East Blue,” Ace scoffs, but mostly he just sounds exhausted. “Most people ‘round here don’t even believe in Devil Fruits,” He pauses, as he tries to rack his brain thinking of anyone he knows who could help with this, “The only person I know personally who might be able to help with something like this is Marco, and he’s all the way in the New World.”

“Hmm… well, he’s your crew, aint he? Why not just callim?”

Ace flinches and looks away. “From the future, remember? Marco aint gonna remember me.”

“Ah.”

Silence stretches on for a moment, Dadan tapping her chin as she thinks.

“I’m guessing you don’t want me callin’ your grandfather?” She asks, giving him a dry look. Ace feels irritation bubble up in his chest.

“Absolutely not,” He growls out, “The last thing I want to do right now is deal with Gramps.”

“Hmph, you and me both kid.”

“I'll be fine, I just… gotta tough it out," Ace says, giving her a weak smile. Based on Dadan's worried expression, it does nothing to soothe her nerves.

"Yeah, yet another thing you learned from your hard-headed grandfather."

He glares at her, which she returns with a stern look of her own.

“Are you doing that on purpose?" He asks in annoyance.

"Maybe I wouldn't have to if you quit being so stubborn."

"Ugh," Ace turns over in bed so he doesn't have to look at her, glaring at the wall instead. The silence stretches on longer. Dadan lets out another sigh, and Ace hears the creaking sound of her getting up from the bed.

"Try 'n get some sleep, will ya?" She says, suddenly sounding a lot older, "I'll… give you some space."

Part of Ace wants to tell her to stay. Another part of him wants to snap at her. He does neither, continuing to stare at the wall while he hears her footsteps fade as she heads to the door. It closes with a thud and a click.

Now alone with his thoughts, Ace can't help but wonder... what happens now? He saved Sabo, didn't he? So why does he still feel so… wrong?

He doesn't know. He isn't sure he wants to know, either.

He also wonders if the fire in the grey terminal has died down. It got pretty big, according to Dadan, which makes Ace's stomach do an uncomfortable flip. He wonders if it….

He closes his eyes, swallowing down his nerves. Don't think about that. Your fire is a part of you; you'd sense if it was still burning.

Except, he hadn't. It felt like the flames were entirely disconnected from him in that moment. He felt like his body was a foreign object, like he didn't even exist.

Stop it. Stop thinking about it.

He involuntarily shudders, squeezing his eyes shut. All he really wants right now is for this pain to stop and to see his brothers for himself. To reassure himself that they're okay.

As the morphine finally kicks in, he slowly and restlessly drifts off once again.

His dreams are haunted by nightmares of fire and ash.

The next morning, Ace wakes up to the smell of food. Or maybe it's the food that wakes him up.

Unfortunately, he also woke up to a raging post-high headache, and his legs feel numb. He blinks open his eyes, turning stiffly over his shoulder. Dadan is standing in the doorway with a stack full of meat.

"You have the nose of a bloodhound, I swear," She mutters, shaking her head, "I only just walked through the door."

"M-meat…." Ace murmurs, drooling.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses," She says, rolling her eyes. She sets the meat tray down next to Ace.

He tries to push himself up, but can only sort of manage to sit up using his elbows. It hurts like hell, though, so he ends up just flopping over and reaching to grab the meat, chewing on it with small, pitiful bites.

"You look like a drowned cat," Dadan says.

"Youf moo mike a deaugh augh," Ace's voice is muffled as he stuffs his face full of meat. A part of him knows that stuffing his face like this is going to make him sick, but another part of him, the part that had to deal with almost burning to death yesterday, says he wants to eat until he explodes.

"How'd you sleep?" Dadan asks as he gorges himself.

"Terrible," Ace coughs out in between bites. "Threw up blood like three times last night."

“Hold it. Is that why the bucket- Why were coughing up blood?” Dadan repeats, standing from her chair in shock. "Shit, did the smoke burn your lungs, too?"

"The blood thing wasn't even from the fire," Ace admits, then instantly regrets it. Ah, fuck it, he's already bedridden. No point in keeping it a secret from her anymore. "I've uh, actually been coughing up blood for the past couple of days. Since I got here," he says with a half-hearted shrug.

Dadan stares at him in total stunned silence. "Gods above kid why the hell haven't you been to a doctor yet?"

At that, Ace actually laughs, his expression turning icy, “I didn’t exactly come to the past with any cash on me. Besides, do you really think any doctor around here would treat a pirate?” He challenges, looking Dadan straight in the eyes, “I can’t think of a single doctor around these parts that wouldn’t take one look at me and not immediately call the Marines.”

“Alright, alright, I get it!” Dadan snaps, groaning, “Fine, I’ll admit it, you’re right. Doctors don’t exactly play nice with us bandits either…” she mutters. She gives Ace a side-eyed glance, looking at where he’d stashed the pills from earlier, “So… you mentioned you stole those pills of yours?"

"Mm, yeah, I got it from that pharmacy near High Town. Why?"

“Reckon you’ll be able to swing that again?”

Ace shrugs, “Who knows. I attacked a noble while I was there. Fifty-fifty chance of him rattin’ me out.”

“You attacked a-?!” Dadan looks like she’s just about ready to fall out of her chair, death gripping the arms so hard they look like they might crack, “I’m sorry, back the hell up. What in the Red Line’s name made you think that would be a good idea?”

A feeling of indignation sparks in Ace’s chest, “I’m a dangerous pirate, I can hold my own against people like that.”

“That’s besides the point!” Dadan shouts, waving her hands, “Were you trying to pick fights today or what? I would have thought some famous Whitebeard would have more sense than that!”

Ace bristles at the comment, growling, “Leave my crew out of this. This was personal.”

The warning tone of Ace’s voice is enough to shut Dadan up, who promptly snaps her mouth shut. Ace can’t meet her gaze, focusing on the ground instead, which suddenly looks a lot more interesting.

A distant part of his mind, which sounds suspiciously like Makino, is telling him he’s being a rudeass right now. But frankly, he’s in far too much pain to care.

“... I’m guessin’ there’s a story there,” Dadan starts slowly. Ace doesn’t like the way she says that. Like he’s fragile or something.

“It was Sabo’s shitty birth father,” Ace says, spitting the words. He digs his nails into the palms of his hands, the rough feel of the gauze helping to keep him from bursting into flames, “In the future, he….” A shuddering breath, trying to calm his rage, “He took Sabo away from us. Sabo felt like he had no other option but to run away before we agreed to, without us, and he…”

Ace squeezes his eyes shut. Damn it, he hates talking about this. “He died.” He finally says, still unable to meet Dadan’s gaze.

Maybe he is a coward. He thinks bitterly. “It’s all that old man’s fault. Him and Bluejam. Shitty noble paid him to help him take Sabo away. So,” Finally, he forces himself to look up, “That’s why I did it.”

More silence. Dadan looks pale, still gripping the armrest of her chair tightly. Ace watches as she leans to one side, running a hand over her face, wiping the sweat beading at her brow.

“Well, fuck.” She says, finally. Ace can say he shares that sentiment.

“I wanted to kill him,” Ace says, expression grim as he flexes his fingers, disliking the constricting feel of the bandages. The pain that shoots through him with each moment is weirdly cathartic.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t,” Dadan responds gruffly, still looking pale, “You have any idea how much trouble you’d have been in if you had? Attacking a noble… seriously, do you have a death wish?”

“I don’t care about all that!” Ace snaps.

“Well you ought to, brat!” Dadan snarls at him. “Don’t you have any sense of self preservation?”

Ace grumbles something under his breath, but doesn’t answer. Damn, this morphine is taking forever to kick in…

Dadan mutters something, and Ace thinks he catches something about 'kids making her go grey'. He watches as she gets up, and makes her way to the door.

“Stay put, gonna grab something.” She tells him, closing the door behind her before Ace can get a word in.

Ace stares after her for a moment before he tentatively lies down in the cot, staring at the ceiling. Moving hurts, but it’s not like he’s not used to pain at this point.

Dadan tosses something at him. He catches it, opening his hand to reveal… a root?

“Why are you giving me tree roots?”

“It’s ginger, helps with nausea.” Dadan responds gruffly, “You’re s’posed to chew on it.”

Ace glances back down at the root, shrugs, and sticks it in his mouth. As soon as he bites down on it, his face twists with disgust, and he spits it out.

“Eugh, that’s nasty.”

“Tough shit. Better than puking your guts up again, isn’t it?”

"Tell me again how this is supposed to help? You're just making me chew on a stick."

"All medicine comes from sticks, brat."

"No way. Marco used like mushrooms n' shit."

"Mushrooms are plants! Now shut up and eat your root."

He grumbles something breath, and takes another reluctant bite out of the ginger. His face contorts as he fights the urge to spit it out. Gods, that's worse than alcohol. He swallows while resisting the urge to vomit.

"What maniac decided this was good for your health? I thought this was supposed to make me not throw up?"

"It's got stuff in it that settles your stomach. Trust me, it'll help in the long term."

Ace glares at the ginger. Stupid plants. Why did medicine always taste so nasty? Why couldn't doctors just make it taste good? Were they stupid?

When he manages to get the rest of the ginger down, Dadan leans back in her chair.

“We need to get you to a doctor.” She finally says.

“Did you not hear what I just said?” Ace says, eyeing her skeptically, “What doctor would treat me?”

“I was thinkin’ about that,” Dadan says, rubbing her chin, “There’s a medic in Foosha that might help.”

“Foosha?” Ace repeats, lying back in bed as he tries to recall what Dadan is talking about, “I don’t remember a medic in Foosha.”

“He’s retired,” Dadan says gruffly, “Think he only helps out on the side. Don’t know much, I don’t hang around those parts much. Garp would kill me if my boys thought about messing with them folks.”

“Right, well…. Why would he help?” Ace asks skeptically.

Dadan takes a huff of her cigar, “He’s helped you out before, when you were a baby. Man owed Garp a favor ‘pparently. Might be willing to give you a look over again if you behave.”

“I- What? I never got sick as a kid!” Ace protests. He and Luffy had never gotten sick. It was one of the reasons they’d been so disheveled when Sabo had gotten pneumonia that one time, neither of them had the faintest clue what to do.

“I said as a baby, not as a kid,” Dadan says, “Can’t even remember what that shit was called. Convinced Garp made half of it up. You really think being held in the womb for nearly two years wouldn’t have side effects?”

He… had never considered that, actually. S’not like he could remember anything from when he was a baby.

Ace sank back into bed, staring at the ceiling. Well…. He supposed it was worth a try. He had promised his brothers he’d try to get help… He wasn’t stupid. He knew painkillers alone wouldn’t be able to fix whatever was wrong with him.

“Alright,” Ace finally relents, “I guess I can head over there-”

“As much as I’d like to make you the one to deal with your mess,” Dadan interrupts him, making Ace give her a curt look, “I don’t want you movin’ right now. Reckon you’ll just make things worse.”

“I can walk,” Ace protested.

“Yeah, not well,” Dadan scoffed, making Ace’s look turn icier. “You need to rest, you still look like shit. I doubt you could even make it to Foosha. I’ll be quick.”

As Dadan got up to leave, Ace attempted to push himself to his feet. “Augh, hey hag, wait!” Ace snapped, but as soon as he did, his head began to spin, and his vision went white.

“See? Not fit to walk all the way to Foosha,” He hears Dadan chastise, though her voice sounds like it's underwater. “Swallow your pride and keep an eye on the brats while I’m gone.”

Ace squeezed his eyes shut, lying back down and waiting until his head stopped spinning. When he finally opened his eyes again, Dadan was gone.

… Damn it.

He crumbles back down into his bed, feeling restless. The pain from the burns still ached like hell. He was definitely going to have to change those bandages sometime today, just… not right now. The thought of moving alone made him want to throw up.

There's a hesitant knock at the door. Huh… Dadan? Ace wonders, blinking over at it. No, she wouldn't knock. Then who…?

"Come in?" Ace says, forcing himself to try to sit up so he at least looks halfway aware.

Ace is… taken a bit aback when it's Sabo, instead, who opens the door. He looks… exhausted. Worry immediately pricks at Ace's chest. Was he okay?

"Sabo?"

"H… Hi Ace," Sabo says, sounding uncharacteristically nervous, "Can… can we talk?"

Chapter Text

Sabo is fidgeting by the door, looking uncharacteristically nervous. Like he thinks Ace is going to yell at him or something. He wonders why. It's so different from how Sabo has been acting the last couple of days, it throws Ace for a bit of a loop.

"U-uh, sure, Bo," He says, awkwardly leaning against the wall, "What did you want to talk about?"

Sabo looks down at his hands, rubbing them together anxiously. "I… I wanted to apologize," He says quietly.

"Apologize? What for?"

"For…for everything," Sabo says, looking away. "For being a jerk, for not believing you."

"Sabo…" Ace starts to say, trying to push himself up a little straighter despite the pain, "C'mon, I don't blame you for any of that. I mean, if I were in your shoes, I'm pretty sure I'd have reacted the same way. 'Sides, it's not like I…-" Ace trails off towards the end, biting his lip. Sabo doesn't need to hear his self-deprecating thoughts right now.

Turns out, though, that Sabo is a lot smarter than Ace gave him credit for. "'Deserve it'? Is that what you were going to say?" He asks, sounding a bit angry.

Oh jeez. "No, I-" he starts to try to dismiss it, but Sabo barrels forward.

"Is it because of what you said? Do you blame yourself for my death?" He challenges. Ace winces, looking away.

"Sabo, you don't understand-"

"No, I think I understand perfectly," Sabo says, eyes narrowed, yet also looking kind of glassy as Ace realizes with a start he's begun to tear up. "You never made an effort to get me to believe you because you blame yourself for my death. Do you know what I think? I think you're just being stupid again!"

"Sabo…"

"If Bluejam really attacked us in the future… of course I would have left to protect you and Luffy! You.. you mean everything to me-"

"You shouldn't have had to," Ace stresses, bawling his hands into fists as he grips the bed tightly, "I should have been strong enough not to-"

"And if I left after that… that was my choice," Sabo continues petulantly, not giving Ace a moment to speak. "How can you blame yourself for that when it was my choice?"

"Because you didn't have any other choice!" Ace shoots back, feeling a familiar sense of helplessness that bubbles up any time he thinks about that incident. "Why didn't you come back to us? We could have-"

Ace takes a few deep breaths, burying his head in his hands. He's shaking, he realizes, and his chest hurts so bad it feels like he's going to die.

"Ace? Ace!" Sabo says in alarm, rushing forward, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"You're fine," Ace bites out, trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down. "It's just.. sorry. You heard all of that then, huh?" Ace murmurs, meeting Sabo's eyes.

Sabo fidgets again, looking away. "Sorry.." he says, looking abashed, "I was coming to check on you, and I overheard you and Dadan…"

Ace sighs. Guess it can't be helped. "M' not mad at you for that or anything," Ace says, forcing his body to relax some, "I was just… I didn't want to tell you because I was trying to protect you."

"Is that the same reason you didn't tell us how sick you were?" Sabo asks, accusatory but also with a clear undertone of worry.

"Part of it," Ace shrugs sheepishly, "The other part is I'm just stubborn."

Shouldn't mention how my death was caused by my pride. He thinks with a grimace.

Sabo stares at him for a long time, then rubs at his eyes, sniffling somewhat. "You're so stupid," He murmurs shakily, "A stupid and reckless brother."

Ace won't admit how much his heart warms hearing Sabo call him his brother. Part of him still feels conflicted about how willing Sabo is to forgive him, but another… more selfish part is overjoyed.

Sabo crawls into bed next to Ace, resting his head against Ace's side. That too makes Ace's chest swell, as he stares down at Sabo. He didn't realize how much he'd missed tiny acts of physical affection.

"When is the doctor coming? How are… how are you feeling?" He asks.

Right, the doctor. Sabo must have overheard that, too. "M'not sure, to be honest," He admits, rubbing his palms together, "Dadan left to go look for 'im. I reckon she'll be back in a few hours. Foosha's a bit of a hike from here."

"As for me…" He pauses. The instinct to try to minimize his pain is still there, of course, but… lying isn't what Sabo wants right now.

Damn it. Okay, maybe he can swallow his pride for just a little bit.

"It sucks, I'll be honest," Ace admits, feeling uncomfortably exposed at admitting that. Even Sabo looks surprised.

"Burns suck, Sabo, don't ever get them," Ace says sardonically, ruffling Sabo's hair. Sabo makes a move to shoo at his hand, but pauses when he sees the bandages, wincing.

Ace tries to keep the conversation moving, pulling his hand away and glancing down at the wrapping with a slight hum. "Speaking of… probably gonna have to change these bandages soon. You gotta change 'em every day," Ace explains.

Sabo stares at the injuries on Ace's body, and Ace fights the urge to squirm uncomfortably. He doesn't regret what he did; he'd gladly do it again, but still. He really didn't want the kids seeing him all banged up like this.

"I could go get you some bandages," Sabo says suddenly, jumping to his feet.

"No, hang on a second-" Ace says, but Sabo must have recognized that Ace was about to argue with him and immediately bolted out of the room.

Ace grits his teeth. That damn brat.

He tries to get up to go after him, but his whole body screams at him in protest. He reluctantly flops back down into bed and glares at the ceiling.

This morphine doesn't really feel like it's helping. He thinks irritably. Then again… I can actually think, so maybe it is.

This still sucked, though. It was like his body had just decided to conk out. He'd been doing so well up until now. Why couldn't he brute force his way through it anymore?

When Sabo finally came back with the gauze, Ace found that he was not alone.

"Baaaaace!" Luffy cried as he charged through the door, scrambling towards Ace in a panicked frenzy.

Before Sabo has a chance to stop him, he comes barreling right into Ace. Ace involuntarily lets out a yelp of pain as Luffy wraps his arms around his chest, the contact exacerbating the pain from his burns.

"Luffy!" Ace snaps, the pain causing his voice to come out as a growl.

Luffy, startled by Ace's outburst, immediately let's go. Sabo rushes up to him and smacks him over the head.

"Idiot! What did I just tell you? You can't hug people when they have severe burns all over their bodies!" He scolds.

Luffy looks up at Ace with big, sad eyes. "I'm sorry!" He says quickly, sniffling, "I was scared! Bace got hurt real bad.."

Ace grumbles, trying to soothe the tension in his aching body. "Do not do that again," He says sharply, body involuntarily shuddering from the pain. Great, that was going to take a while to calm down.

"Sorry!"

"Sorry, Ace, I kind of had to run here after him when he found out I visited you," Sabo says apologetically, looking embarrassed. "He was really worried about you…"

Ace winces, suddenly feeling a bit guilty for yelling at Luffy. Of course, he was just worried. He rubs the back of his neck and gestures the teary-eyed Luffy to come over, "Sorry, Lu, didn't mean to yell at you. Just… in a lot of pain right now," Ace admits, much to his own chagrin. Maybe the morphine is affecting him more than he realizes… "C'mere, just be careful."

Luffy rubs the tears and snot off his face and gingerly crawls into bed with Ace, climbing into his lap and resting his head on his leg.

"I was really scared…" Luffy mumbles into Ace's leg.

"I know, I'm…" Ace grits his teeth and lets out another shuddering sigh, "I'm sorry, for worrying you, I mean. Really, this shouldn't have happened. The fire… You guys shouldn't have had to deal with that again…"

"Again?" Sabo asks as he crawls into bed to join him and Luffy, sitting down beside Ace, ".. What do you mean again?"

Augh, that morphine really was making him loose-lipped, wasn't it? Why couldn't it do something more useful, like actually stop the pain? Ugh, whatever. There was no point in keeping secrets anymore. Might as well get this over with.

"After that shitty birth dad of yours took you away, the king of Goa tried to have the grey terminal burned," He explained, running a hand over his face. Why was sitting up becoming such an effort?

"He what?!" Sabo and Luffy both shouted in horror.

"That's… that's horrible!" Sabo trembles, expression shifting from horror to fury, "How could he do something like that?" He cries.

"That's mean…" Luffy murmurs from where he's buried his face in Ace's leg.

"Yeah, some rich people are terrible," Ace says with a tired sigh, slinging an arm around Sabo's shoulder and tugging him close, "But we already knew that," He murmurs.

"That must have been why I ran away," Sabo says softly, resting his head against Ace's side. "I was just… trying to help you and Luffy…"

Oh shit, Sabo sounds like he might start crying. He winces. Maybe he shouldn't have told that story after all.

"Sabo, it's-" Crap, what should he say? That it's fine? Because it's clearly not. Then what? Hmm… He holds Sabo a bit tighter, "Don't worry about all that, okay? That was another lifetime. That Sabo was different from the you right now."

"You're alive, and that's what's important, okay?" Ace continues, shaking Sabo's shoulder gently, "So… don't worry about it. I dealt with Bluejam, so hopefully that will scare the nobles out of trying that shit again."

He, however, is faced with the uncomfortable thought of wondering if his fire killed anyone. There are a lot of people living in the Grey Terminal besides those shitty Bluejam pirates. While he doesn't care about their lives, he might feel a bit more guilty if-

He shakes his head. He shouldn't think about that. What's done is done. All he can do now is prioritize getting better so that it doesn't happen again.

Sabo fidgets with the gause he's holding, glancing at his shoulder where Ace's bruised arm is resting. "Sorry," He says softly, wiggling out of Ace's grip.

"Sorry?"

"This is all a lot," Sabo admits, then looks down at the gauze before looking up at Ace, "Anyway, are…. are you ready to change the bandages?" He asks hesitantly. Luffy perks up from where he's lying down.

"I wanna help!" He says, nearly smacking the top of his head into Ace's jaw, though fortunately, he leaned back before the kid could do that.

"Luffy, what did I just tell you about being careful?" Ace asks in thin exasperation. He isn't really upset, just tired mostly.

"O-oh, sorry," Luffy says quickly as he crawls out of Ace's lap and tries to grab the gauze out of Sabo's hand. Sabo smacks him away, looking miffed.

"No way, you're just going to mess it up," He says, raising the gauze above his head as he tries to keep it away from Luffy.

"Nuh uh! I wanna help Bace too!" Luffy shouts, stretching his arms in an effort to reach the gauze. Sabo shrieks and falls backward.

Ace can't help but snicker at their interaction. God, he missed this. Though as he watches the kids argue among themselves, he is overcome by an odd sense of tiredness.

Without even realizing it, he's soon lying down on his side. When did he lie down? The kids must have noticed something was wrong because they both perk up in alarm.

"Ace!?" They both say, sounding worried but also weirdly far away.

"Mmm, it's fine, it's fine, just got real tired all of a sudden," Ace murmurs. He's having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

The two of them look at each other, weirdly nervous, before standing up and approaching Ace's bed. "Ace, are you feeling okay?" Sabo asks.

"I have second-degree burns, what do you think?" Ace mumbles.

"You got really pale just now," Sabo says.

"Huh? Uhh, I feel…" Actually, now that Sabo mentions it, he does feel kind of lightheaded.

"Mmm, I'll be fine. I just. need a second…." Ace mumbles out with slow, deep breaths.

Sabo continues to watch him with concern, while Luffy fidgets with the sheets of the bed. "This happened before.." Sabo says uncertainly, "When we were in the woods. You got all pale and passed out."

Luffy nods, placing his chin on the bed, "Yeah, it was scary…"

"I don't think I'm gonna pass out," Ace reassures them softly, "'N if I do, it's not a big deal. Don't stress out too much about it, alright?"

"It's hard not to," Sabo says with exasperation, looking anxious.

"Dadan's heading over with a doctor, it'll be fine," Ace mumbles into his sheets, dismissive.

"W-well, that could take hours!" Sabo protests, removing his hat and tugging at his hair.

Ace is about to answer when he suddenly dissolves into a coughing fit, covering his mouth with his hand. His chest starts to feel like it's burning, as nausea swells in his stomach.

He frantically leans over the bed, grabbing the bucket Dadan had left by the foot of it. He's glad for it, because not long after he pukes up his guts, coughing and gasping.

Augh… ugh…. knew I shouldn't have eaten that much… He thinks to himself, exhaustedly lying back in bed.

"That's a lot of blood…" Sabo says, sounding anxious.

"H-hey, I'm not gonna pass out," Yet. "If you kids wanna help, why not focus on the burns, alright?"

Ace takes the liberty of undoing the bandages around his arm, while Luffy and Sabo help with the ones around his chest. Well, it's mostly Sabo. Luffy… is trying.

While reapplying fresh bandages, a thought occurs to Ace. "Hey, by the way.. where's mini me? I'm surprised to not see him with you guys after what happened."

Sabo pauses as he tightens the gauze around Ace's arm, frowning. "I dunno. Ace, uh, er, the other Ace," Sabo muttered something about how confusing this was going to be now under his breath, "-Said something about talking to Dadan and then ran off. Luffy and I followed him here, but by the time we got here, he was gone."

"Ah, gotcha…"

"He won't admit it, but I think he was worried about you."

Ace snickers. "Really? After he told me to die yesterday?"

"He didn't mean it…. Okay, maybe he did. But that was before we realized who you were. He just thought you were a weirdo."

As Sabo finishes up the bandages, he sits back on the end of the bed. "He seemed kind of anxious after you left," Sabo says.

"Yeah! He wanted to go see what that fire was all about cause he was worried!" Luffy butts in.

It seems strange, but Ace supposes he won't be able to get a good handle on his mini-me's attitude towards him until he sees him again. In any case, he wasn't going to seek him out; that would just make things worse.

Better to wait until he wants to see him to try to talk.

"Right, well," Ace looks down at his freshly bandaged arms. He's actually starting to feel a bit better already. Maybe those drugs were finally kicking in. "You kids want to play some games while we wait for the doctor to get here?"

"Yush!" Luffy says excitedly, raising his hands in the air. Good, maybe this will help distract him from the pain.

By some miracle, Ace doesn't pass out. Honestly, it was probably the sheer force of will not to stress out his brothers. He had plenty of close calls, though.

Sabo had gone and retrieved a deck of cards from Dadan's room, which they'd played to pass the time. It was nice, having something to do that didn't involve running around or fighting. The thought of moving right now gave Ace a headache.

It was also certainly a good distraction, as during the game, Luffy rambled about anything that came to mind, really. Once they'd gotten bored with cards, Sabo had left and come back with some paper he'd snatched from Dadan's desk, and right now they were in the middle of a thrilling game of hangman.

"Is it…. s?" Luffy asks. Sabo gives him an annoyed look.

"Luffy, you already tried to use s three times!"

"Maybe there's an S now!"

"There isn't!"

Ace snorts at their antics, which unfortunately dissolves into another coughing fit. The kids tense up, and Ace coughs into his arm. He quickly wipes his hand on the underside of his pillow before any of the kids have the chance to notice the blood.

"How about y?" Ace says, jumping right back into the game so the kids don't have time to worry.

"…Yeah, there's a y," Sabo says slowly, looking back down at his paper.

"How about… S!"

"Luffy!"

A knock at the door interrupts all three of them. They glance up and find Dadan standing in the doorway. Some old guy with glasses and a grey, braided beard stands next to her.

"We're back," She says gruffly, eyes narrowing at the kids. "You brats aren't bothering that moron, are you?"

"It's good to see you, too, Dadan," Ace says sarcastically as he rolls his eyes.

"The rest of ya brats, shoo! Get! Doctor's gotta examine him," She says, grabbing Sabo and Luffy by their arms and shooing them out of the room, much to their chagrin.

"I wanna stay here with Bace!" Luffy whines.

"Me too!" Sabo protests, wriggling in Dadan's grip, "Come on, we won't cause trouble or nothin'."

"That's a load of shit coming from you two. Everywhere you go you cause trouble. You're causin' trouble for me right now!" Dadan says with a huff as she tosses them into the hallway. "Now, stay put out there. Go bother the smaller version if you wanna play with Ace."

Before Sabo or Luffy can argue, she slams the door shut.

"I see Garp's brat is just as lively as ever," The old doctor says, voice gruff and scratchy.

"You don't know the half of it," Dadan mutters, reaching for her pocket and lighting a cigar. "Ace, this is Dr. Kupagi. He's gonna be lookin' over you, so try not to be a stubborn ass."

"Why do you think I agreed to see a doctor?" Ace asks in annoyance.

"Plenty of stubborn fools can recognize they're in pain without acknowledging how much pain," The man says, pulling up a chair, "Makes my job a pain, so don't pull that shit if you want to get treated."

Ace snorts at the man's rough tone, "You sound like Tate, no wonder you're retired."

"Oye, what did I just say?"

"Ignore him, he's high on morphine right now," Dadan says, looking tired and irritated at the same time.

"Figured as much, his pupils are all dilated…" The doc mutters. The man leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Alright, out with it then. Dadan here gave me the basics, but I want to hear it from you before I make a proper diagnosis," the doc says.

"Ughhh, where do I even start?" Ace mutters, rubbing his neck. "Well, for one, I keep vomiting up blood. I can hardly stomach eating any food, and usually throw it up if I eat too much. I randomly get all lightheaded, and I've passed out a few times."

A pause as the man rubs his beard, making sure the guy is taking all this in before he continues. "I keep getting tingling feelings in my arms and legs. Sometimes they feel so numb I can hardly walk. I feel tired all the time, and my chest hurts like crazy. Sometimes I have trouble breathing, like it hurts to breathe. I haven't had much of an appetite. I've also had some swelling in my legs and stomach."

"Oh, and the burns," Ace adds as an afterthought, gesturing to the wounds all over his body. "Second degree, I think."

"Great gods above, kid, what the hell?" Dadan says, sounding absolutely horrified, "Have you really been dealin' with that this whole time?"

Ace just shrugs, a bit sheepish. Saying it all out loud… it does sound like a lot, doesn't it?

The old man removes his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Gods almighty kid. The hell have you been doing to your body to end up in that state?" The man says rhetorically, shaking his head. "When did all this start, anyway?"

"Uhh, after I woke up in the past."

"What?"

"Technically, I died," Ace says, avoiding Dadan's gaze.

Dadan is staring at him like he's grown a second head. "B-backup. Did you say you died?!"

"I think so? I mean, I don't know how else I ended up here, and it sure felt like I was dying."

Dr. Kupagi is staring at him with an absolutely astonished expression. He then turns to Dadan, "You didn't tell me he was crazy." He says, grumbling.

"I'm not!" Ace protests.

"Unfortunately, doc, I think he's telling the truth," Dadan says with a shaking breath as she picks up her cigar off the floor, "He's crazy alright, but he ain't a liar."

"Hmph, right, whatever. Not my job to diagnose crazy. Ignoring all the insane shit you said, you also said the symptoms started when you woke up here, ya? How long ago was that?"

"About uh. A week or two, maybe?"

"Right, and what was the onset like?"

"It all kind of happened as soon as I woke up, though I think the severity got worse over time, and the swelling and numbness really started a couple days ago."

"Hmm…." The man stroked his beard in thought. Then, Ace watches as he reaches for his doctor's bag, rummaging through it. He pulls out a stethoscope, placing it up against his ears.

"Alright, 'm gonna perform a basic physical. Hold still."

The physical is about what you'd expect from a doctor's visit. The man tests his blood pressure, his heartbeat, looks at his eyes, checks his reflexes, the whole shebang. It does not inspire confidence that, as the checkup progresses, the man's expression grows more and more grim.

When he finally finishes, pulling away with a long sigh, Ace feels physically exhausted. Which is humiliating because he hardly did anything.

"So, doc? Ya know what's wrong with me?"

"What isn't wrong with you?" Dr. Kusobi grumbles, putting his stethoscope away. "Let me pick a problem and start from there. For one, you've got an irregular heartbeat and a fast pulse. It seems like your heart is working double time to try to make up for lack of bloodflow, if I had to guess."

"Your lungs sound like shit, too, which would explain the coughing up blood. Have you had any kind of disease like pneumonia or bronchitis that would affect the lungs?"

"Uh, no, but Admiral Akainu did punch a hole through my chest."

"He-he what?" Dadan gasps like a fish. He really needs to stop laying bombshells on her, damn these drugs…

"Don't worry about it," Ace said with a shrug, "I got better."

"You clearly did not," The man scoffs, examining Ace's chest.

"Well, I'm not dead, which I would classify as better."

"Hmph," Is the old doctor's only response. "If you really did sustain a chest wound, that would explain the damage to your internal organs. There are a few other things I suspect are going on, but I would need a blood test in order to confirm them."

"Furthermore, your feeling of numbness concerns me. Based on what you've described, it almost sounds like some kind of nerve injury. While doing the physical, I noticed your vertebrae are out of alignment. That injury of yours must have damaged your spinal cord."

He sits back, crossing his arms, "One thing's for sure, though. You need to not be moving around so much. You're going to end up dead if you keep overexerting yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, right," Ace says with a wave of his hand. "Do you have anything like, actually helpful?"

"Don't act so dismissive, brat!" Dadan scolds.

"Course that's what you care about," The man grumbles, shaking his head, "Young people and their drugs. Right, Dadan said you were on morphine?"

"Mhmm."

"Keep taking that for the pain. I'm going to get you some beta blockers for your heart issues. I can get you a brace for the spinal injury, but really, for both that and your lung issues, you would probably need surgery, which I unfortunately don't have the tools to perform."

"Greaaat," Ace thinks with a grimace. If he wanted to get better, that probably meant he'd have to leave the island. Maybe he could bring his brothers with him?

"Now, let's get onto those blood tests," The doctor says, pulling a syringe out from his bag.

It was kind of ridiculous how many different kinds of blood tests the doc wanted him to do. Seriously, how many different things could you need that much blood for?

Ace was silently relieved when the examination was over. The doctor bid him farewell, telling him he'd be able to get results from the blood tests within the next week. Doc said he'd have Dadan bring 'em up, much to her annoyance.

After that, there wasn't much to do other than rest, like the Doc said, as dull as that was.

A knock at the door and Ace immediately perks up. Dadan had left with the Doc, so maybe Sabo and Luffy had snuck back in.

The person who poked his head through the door was neither of them, and to be honest, Ace was kind of surprised to see him here.

“Uh, ‘sup?” Ace says, feeling a bit awkward as he stares at his kid self. He still isn’t sure how to interact with him. “You need something?”

His kid self is glowering at him. “I’m still mad at you,” He says. Ace is surprised to hear him say that out loud instead of trying to attack him, honestly.

“Yeah, join the club, kid,” Ace mutters.

The kid’s eyes trail over him, a lingering look of…. Is it wariness? Ace isn’t sure. “You killed Bluejam.” He says. It’s not a question.

“... Yeah," he says. He knows he can’t lie to his child self. There isn’t much point in trying to lie anyway. The evidence is all over the burned remains of the Grey Terminal.

“... You said something about Bluejam when you were talking to Sabo’s shitty dad.” His kid self says, meeting Ace’s eyes, “Is… was he the reason Sabo died?”

Ugh, Ace doesn’t really want to have this conversation right now. He reaches for the fresh gauze, unfurling it and wrapping it tightly around the burns. The pressure is enough to shoot a sharp stab of pain up his arm.

“Yeah,” He answers, voice curt. “Him and that rich bastard weren’t the cause, but they conspired to take Sabo away from us, and that led to his death. You were right about what you said earlier,” He remarks, bitterness thick in his voice, as he keeps his attention on wrapping the wounds, “It’s our fault he died.”

“But,” Ace finishes wrapping the bandages, turning to look at his kid self resolutely, “I won’t let that happen again.”

A beat of silence. “... How do you know you’re strong enough this time?” His kid self says. It’s accusatory, but something about his kid self’s tone feels… scared? Probably wouldn’t be noticeable if he weren’t literally him.

… He’s right. How could he be sure he could protect Sabo? Especially after he almost got Luffy killed… Not to mention his crew and friends.

That all doesn’t matter now. He decides, because if someone tries to hurt them again… well…

He’d gladly die a second time to keep them safe.

“I have to be,” Ace says, eyes resolute. He’s determined to keep his brothers safe this time, and he’ll do anything he has to to make that happen.

His kid self watches him without saying anything, chewing on his lip. He looks… Ace can’t tell. He’s definitely still upset.

Ace can’t say he blames him.

“You… you were sparring with Luffy and Sabo, right?” His kid self starts slowly. “Sabo told me that’s what you guys have been doing.” Is he changing the topic? No.. he doesn’t think that’s it.

“Yes…?” He responds slowly, leaning on his side against the bed.

His kid self looks… uncomfortable, for some reason. “I want in.” He says, looking at him, almost defiantly. Like he expects him to say no, or something.

“You want…? Oh, hold on, are you asking me to train you?” Ace asks in surprise. Honestly, considering how angry the kid had been when he barged in here, he was surprised he’d ask something like that.

Well, he hadn’t really asked, more like demanded, but still!

His kid self’s cheeks go red, and he growls, “Shut up! If you’re gonna belittle me-”

“Stop using words you learned from Sabo,” Ace says, rolling his eyes, “And calm down, I’m not doing that. I’m totally happy to train you, too.”

This doesn’t seem to soothe his kid self, who just keeps scowling at him, “I don’t want you to train me. I just asked ‘cuz I want a rematch.”

“Mmm, sure, kid,” Ace says with a laugh. "Well, even though I'd love to get started on that right away, the doc told me I have to stay put. I know how much of a pain fighting with doctor's orders can be, so for right now I gotta take it easy."

"Sounds like something a coward would say."

"Do you want me to train you or not?"

The kid stiffens, still glaring at him. "Ugh, fine, whatever. Wouldn't want you keeling over and dying before I can beat you anyway."

Ace snorts. Maybe getting along with his kid self wasn't impossible after all.