Title: Grief
Rating: T
Warnings: Luffy/Ace, spoilers for ch574-ch597
Note: Because I have a little time on my hands and I haven't written One Piece in ages.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
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Grief
Luffy blinks up towards the night sky, head tilted enough to that his eyes could wander aimlessly across the darkly painted sky.
He reaches his arm out, opens his palms and spread his fingers, as though he were trying to catch all the stars. Luffy blinks, thinking about the last time he had looked up at the stars with Ace...and with Sabo.
It was indescribable, Luffy tells himself, that his grief for Sabo could resurface so quickly. The rubber man bites his lips softly. He knows himself that it was only because Ace was there with him that he could get over Sabo's death. And to Luffy, 'getting over' was merely pushing the thought to the back of his head, accepting the fact half-heartedly, hoping that he would never have to think about it again, no matter how much it would harden his soul.
He can still feel the warmth of the campfire that Rayleigh had started to roast their dinner on. Luffy's thoughts wander to his recently lost brother again. He wonders if Ace is warm right now, wonders if Ace could even feel in the afterlife.
Some people would call it 'therapy' Luffy muses to himself. The fact that he tries to spend each minute of the day distracting himself with something, anything, so long as he doesn't need to relive those painful memories. He doesn't want to grieve anymore. But he doesn't want to stop grieving Ace's death.
To say that his heart falls into irreparable pieces every time he's alone and thinking of Ace is an understatement.
There's another wall between the D. brothers again. Luffy hates the fact that he doesn't even wish to comprehend just how tall this wall is. A wall built by Ace himself. Where the older pirate gave up his own life for his brother. Acknowledging the fact that to be able to see, to touch, to feel, to kiss someone who's no longer in the world would be to climb the wall over to death itself was something Luffy detests.
The adventure doesn't stop with the death of someone dear. He would become the Pirate King, it's not a want, a need, it's a part of his adventure, it's going to be fact. Luffy's eyes drop sadly when he realises that he wants Ace to be beside him, that he needs Ace to take his attention away from misfortunes such as Ace's untimely death.
At the end of the day, his thoughts would always come surging back to him. And Luffy believes that he just has to continue to love him more, relive the painful memories and love Ace more and more.
From the corner of his eyes, Luffy sees his strawhat. He reprimands himself for wanting to go back to the carefree days, for wanting to be back with his crew, to go even further and be back with his brothers, living each day with a oblivious but honest smile.
Luffy wonders what kind of dreams he'd have of the future now, if any, nights spent pondering over Ace always ends up as sleepless nights. His hands turn into fist as he grips at nothing, there was nothing else he wanted, he only wanted for Ace to stay by his side.