("Luffy.....Luffy....Luffy....Luffy?....Luffy!?.....LUFFY!?......LUFFY!!!!!!!!!!!")
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!" He woke up, sweat covering his body.
Thank GOD.... it was only.... a dream?
White. Everything, there was no ground, no sky, no land, no see, nothing but endless... white.
"Where... where am I!?" He started to panic. "Luffy?! LUFFY!?! LUFFY!!!!" Tears started to fall from his eyes.
"No... NO!" Portgas D. Ace fell to his knees in fear, pain, sadness... and remorse.
"I'm sorry.... I'm sorry Luffy... *sob*.. I'm so sorry... I just.... *sob* *sob* I just wanted to save you.... *sob*... I... *sob* I...." He couldn't speak, his through was choking on the water from his own eyes.
".... Are you.... *sniff*... Are you ok.... Little brother??"
"Ha...HAHA....AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!HA-HA-HA-HA!" It echoed, that laughed. What was it!? Why was it here!? "WHO'S LAUGHING!!!" Ace tried to turn into fire... but he couldn't.
"Oh come now boy! You're DEAD! You really think the power of the Devil would bless you after you no longer exist!?"
Ace's heart slightly stopped. "That voice.... I... I've NEVER heard it before... but... I feel... I feel like there is only ONE person who's voice that belongs to..."
The man suddenly appeared in front of him. Almost materializing before his eyes. Still in the very clothes he died in, "Good to see you... SON."
Ace's sad eyes QUICKLY turned into hate. "YOU BASTARD!!!!" He got off his knees and ran to him, his father, The Late Pirate King: Gol D. Roger. And hit him as hard as he could in the jaw.
The man fell down, but all he did was smile and stand back up. "You hit me, GOOD. Anything else and I would be VERY disappointed in you."
Ace's fists shook and he bit his lip, "DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!!!!"
Roger's smile became very kind, but still he had that look on his face that seemed to never leave him, that look of self-confidence, no matter the situation. "Kid... you're dead. Don't act like those worldly grudges matter 'here'."
Ace then let go of his fists, his body seemed to go limp and weak as he stood there oddly, his face seemed to show now expression, just the sinking blankness of the reality sinking in. "....Where is here?"
Roger's smile grew some, "Where ever you want it to be.... Where ever you want it to be."
Ace looked up at him, ".... Can I see what's happening to Luffy? What's happening to everyone?"
"That my son, is something you will never be able to see. Not because you can't, but because I won't let you.... but I will tell you what I knew last of when I died." A different voice. A more familiar voice, one Ace thought he would never hear again, but then his heart sunk because he WAS hearing it.
Ace turned around to see his 'other father'.... WhiteBeard.
"P-P-P-Pops???" He wanted to yell in shock, but his heart had just given out when he saw the man, knowing what it meant. All that could come out was a weak, fragile utter of a word.
"Yes Ace...." WhiteBeard looked as solemn as ever he had been.
However, not being new to such an occurrence, Roger smiled, "Ha! What are the odds? My FRIEND. It's... oddly enough to say... GOOD to see you again. Regardless of the situation." He went to him and placed a hand on Edward Newgate's shoulder.
WhiteBeard nodded, he had such a sad smile, "I am actually happy to see you too Roger."
"What.... What was the point???" Ace's voice was destroyed in sound as he fell to his knees again. "WHAT WAS THE POINT OF COMING TO SAVE ME IF WE BOTH DIED!?!?!?!" Tears again, the screech from his mouth couldn't be a voice... it was so distraught it could only be pure sound of sorrow.
"YOU CAME TO SAVE ME!! I FAILED YOU!!! AND YOU STILL DIED!!! WHAT WAS THE POINT!?!?!?!?! WHO'S LEFT!!! WHAT'S LEFT OF THE WORLD!!! YOU'RE DEAD!! AND I WAS THE ONE TO KILL YOU!!!! WHY!!???!??!?! WHY!?!?!?! WHY!?!? WHY!?!?" His mind got worse and worse. Blurring in to depressed and sorrowful insanity.
WhiteBeard looked at Roger, "May I?"
Roger nodded, "Be my guest. You were more of a father than I I hear."
WhiteBeard walked over to Ace.
"What was the point.... What was the point.... What was the point...."
*WHAM!*
WhiteBeard reared back his hand and slapped the hell out of Ace as hard as the large man could.
Ace was in utter shock, he couldn't believe anything anymore.
"DON'T BE SO DAMN STUPID BOY! It's not as hopeless as evil wishes it was. We're gone, dead, nothing to do about that. I'm old son. If anyone here should be hurt by a death...." The former strongest man in the world began to cry, "I would be me over you're death.... There IS something left. It's not pointless. Half of what happens to people was NEVER planned for them. I'm sorry for YOUR death... I truly am. If I could trun back time... I would. But...... But... I... I can't!!!!" The man roared in anger and sadness.
Roger came up to them, "It's the end of us... not the end of the world. I had a friend die early too, his whole life ahead of him. But nothing can change it now..... And nothing could change your MOTHER'S early death either. I'm not... I'll NEVER say it's stupid to morn for the lost, but you MUST keep going Ace! You MUST! Hope that future without you..... won't be so bad." Roger couldn't help but have a few tears and a very sad smile on his face.
"But what WILL the future be like?..." Ace buried his face in his knees. "I.... I don't know what to do... what to think.... what to feel.... nothing..... nothing... is all I know now.... NOTHING."
Roger sat down next to his son. "All we can hope for is that those who are left will make the world. Shape it in to the best it can become."
WhiteBeard took a deep breath, "I met someone. At first, I thought it was YOU Ace, but... I think this boy will be the pinnacle of the change of the world. HE can do it. He has the D. in his name like you talked about Roger."
Roger smiled, "Ah, Dragon's kid right? Luffy is it?"
Ace looked up quickly, thinking of nothing but Luffy, "LUFFY! IS HE ALRIGHT!?!"
WhiteBeard nodded his head, "He's alive... but your death.... He is mentally gone... for the moment."
Ace didn't know how to react, he couldn't cry... he COULDN'T cry... he didn't feel it, he had cried already so many times that there was no sorrow left........ but determination. "He'll make it.... he'll live...." He smiled brightly with tears finally coming, "He'll make EVERYING meaningful. Just watch! He will! I know he will.... I believe in him.... I love him.... He's my little BROTHER." He tried whipping away the tears.
WhiteBeard smiled, hope in his heart being restored, "That s all that's left for the dead Ace. Wait for the hopeful to change it all. You wanted ME to become the King of the Pirates and change the world. I wanted that for you, but we were both wrong. But we shouldn't dwell on it now. We should just wait and hope for the best of the future to come to light."
Roger looked at his Ace, "Son, I am a man who has ONLY done 'noticeable' things. Sure, I became and was recognized as the Pirate King, but what good that did me! AHAHAHA! Only king for a short while and then died of a disease! HAHAHA! The pure irony of it! But I don't regret a DAMN THING I did in my life. Even getting that disease. All in all, men can go their whole lives doing 'noticeable' things. But the men that do REMARKABLE things... well THATS what will ring for the rest of eternity and change the course of the world."
Ace smiled... it was small, but it WAS a smile. Maybe.... maybe the future won't become such a bad place.... just because you're not in it.
("........... Luffy.....")