Everything was burning, there was so much pain. He knew it was his time to die.
He could feel himself floating. Almost in a dream like state. The only thing keeping him holding onto consciousness was the pained screams of his brother. "Luffy." He could feel the tears building up in his eyes. All of these people came to save him. After seeing all of the love, and compassion his nakama gave him , he felt at ease.
"Goodbye Luffy. My only regret was not seeing you achieve your dream...but I know you will become the pirate king. After all you are my brother"
And then everything went black.
Finally the pain was gone. He wanted to stay in this dark void forever.
That was until he saw a medium sized women with long flowing blond hair. She was staring at him with the warmest smile Ace had ever seen. Cautiously he took a few steps towards her. Once he got closer to this mysterious women he saw her freckles, and the eyes so close to his own.
After a few minutes of taking each other in, the unknown women reached out and touched his cheek. "Ace look at you. You look a lot like your father. So handsome."
If this was a regular meeting with someone Ace would have raised his chin and told her boldly that Whitebeard is his one and only father. But something about this women made him stop.
The women gave him a sad smile. "I knew you wouldn't recognize me my son"
Ace stopped for a moment and stared at her. My son? No. This can't be my mother.
"Ma?" If this women was really his mother that would mean he must be dead.
Smiling slightly, Rouge held out a small hand to him.
Then hand in hand they walked towards the large bright light. And for one of the rare times in his life, Ace felt calm, happy, and safe.