"Shit, shit, shit!" a freckled young adult raced to the bus stop in the distance. The man came to a hasty stop in front of the bus stop and kneeled down wheezing, gasping for air. Ace flopped on the silver bench, sighing. He glanced at the timetable and immediately his mood soured. Apparently Sabo had decided to leave 'a parting gift' for him when he visited last night with the Revolutionary Army. Ace checked his watch. Woke up 2 hours earlier than unusual, huh. With nothing to do but wait for the bus and remember to get onions and chicken, Ace immediately became bored and looked around the bus stop.

His eyes locked onto the back of a short black-haired boy from the looks of it who seemed to stare at the advertisement in awe and wonder.

"what a weird brat, I mean who the hell wears a heavy cape with a skull on it. Pirate?" Ace pondered. Ace look up to the sun, wincing.

"Sabo did say today's highest is 48 degrees," Ace mumbled. Ace shifted himself farther away from the weirdo when he shouted excitingly when the advertisement switched in some gibberish. Definitely a weirdo.

Minutes passed, suddenly a bunch of groupies that looked similar to the gangs who used to graffiti on oyaji's territory crowded around the weirdo.

"Oy kid, it's awfully hot today, yes? Betcha have stack load of riches hiding behind that dumb cape of yours! If the money isn't in my hand right now, I'll call father on you! Morgan!" the Purple shorty who was most likely the boss, yelled out arrogantly, puffing out his non-existent chest. Ace, never the one to ignore lousy bullies, stood up, and growled before punching Mr. Purple Prissy in the face. Headshot.

"leave. Unless you mess with whitebeard and lose your lunch." Ace's face right there and then instantly manifested into a creature from hell evilly smiling, showing all its white teeth till the gums.

"B-Boss, t-that's F-Fire-Fist A-Ace" one of the groupie whispered panicky. Hushed whispers emerged from the group behind their pale boss immediately. One gang member from the end exclaimed something in what sounded like French before speeding into the distance. The rest raced after him along with the moronic eye-sore. The weirdo grinned at Ace as if what just happened right in front of him never happened.

"thanks, name's Luffy and I'm going to be pirate king!" the weirdo smiled a million voltage smile that seemed to blind Ace for a second. Too shiny. Ace sighed before smiling softly at the goofy face Luffy made and suddenly scowled. What if he wasn't here today? Would've been beaten up shitless. Ace shook Luffy, bombarding Luffy with worries and lectures about self-defence and the 'hitting the crotch is not a lowly thing to do' talk. He went on about karate as well just in case too. (He was black belt, mind you, he was not boasting.)

"Hey Ace, what's a 'bus'?"

"huh? What, how can you not know?! you're at a bus stop, you idiot!" Ace promptly whacked Luffy across the head angrily. Once again, sighing, " A bus is a large motor vehicle for the public that carries passengers by road."

"What are you? A dictionary?"

"how do you know what a dictionary is but not a bus?!"

Soon the bus came and arrived at their stop. Ace stood up, heading towards the bus but hesitated, "You coming or do you need to get home, your parents might be worried?" looking at Luffy.

"Yeah! Don't worry, got no parents, I'm an 'orphan'!" Luffy said oddly Proud, hopping onto the bus too. Ace's eyes widened in shock.

"…You have no parents?"

"Uhuh!"

Ace thought about it for a while. He lived in a rusty but quite decent house. Had a fridge, about to have onions and chicken. He recalled some old memory of an extra mattress.

"…Hey, do you want to live with me?" Luffy abruptly stopped his chatter and blinked.

"Hm? Okay!"

Ace face-palmed at the simple answer. Maybe he should think this through one more time.

…Nah. Well, pops always said taking care of some sort of pet relieves stress.

That's how they first met.

…

A year has passed. Ace and Luffy have quite an odd and unusual brother-ish relationship but Ace knew he wouldn't give it up for the world. Ace introduced Luffy to many people. Sabo. Law. Pops. The Revolutionary Army. Marco. The crew and all that. Luffy all took them by surprise because of his cheery and quirky personality.

'What if I never took him home? What if it was raining that day, I wouldn't have gone out? What if I didn't eat the fridge out and had to go buy groceries for dinner that day?' all these thoughts of 'what ifs' swam around his head one night while Luffy is sleeping in his bed. (Luffy insisted that they didn't need to buy another bed, but I bought one anyways. Didn't use it this year, probably never. Luffy always climbed into my bed secretly and I never bothered to push him out either.) He took another swing of alcohol. He didn't even like it to be frank. Tasted what it smelt like, rust. He preferred blackberry or vermouth and soda but he ran out recently due to a certain blue-loving blondie.

He didn't like alcohol but it gave him a moment of silence when he needed it, even if it didn't last long.

Weeks go by fast and the first time he met Luffy seemed like ages. As more weeks go by, Ace knows he may not look perceptive at first and a bit of a blockhead but suddenly Luffy began to act odd. He would talk more about almost anything, ask to travel or go out more and hide things more.

(Ace discovered glops of clumped of blood in the laundry sink when it was cleaning season again. It wasn't dry.

One of the things Luffy did more often since the change was whenever there was news, whether it was a TV in a café, home, in public, his eyes would follow it until it was out of his sight. (The day Luffy read the newspaper was a memory Ace would never forget.)

One day, completely out of the blue, Luffy says he needs to leave. Ace doesn't know why. That day was probably the worst day for both Ace and Luffy. Tables were turned, Glass was thrown (After the intense fight, words didn't seem to work anymore and horrible things were done in return), voices became higher and higher and hoarser. After the glass incident, silence was all they heard. Ace finished the last of the disinfectant bottle and slowly stitched up the (Horrible. What have you Done?! Monster. You tainted him with your Bloody hands Demon. Devil. See what you did?! Of course the devi-) wound that would scar forever on Luffy's fragile face.

Luffy stayed quite while Ace finished with a miserable face. Ace had never seen such an expression on Luffy's face and seriously regretted it as guilt became to slithered into his heart. Ace finally released his hold on his emotions and tears swelled up. Ace whimpered before wrenching sobs came out as he babbled mumbled apologies into Luffy's shoulders. Ace wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his t-shirt, red-eyed after a few moments. They both stayed quiet until Luffy spoke softly, cutting the thick atmosphere. Luffy murmurs it's soon time for him to go on a journey. Not the type where you need a bicycle with a blue-tongue lizard (Only you, Luffy. Only you.) in its basket but the type where he may not come back in 3 years.

"It's time I see my family again; I haven't seen them in years." Luffy gently says to Ace. Ace listens and nods carelessly thinking it won't be long, it's not like 100 years of somethings he jokes inside his head. He'll last.

Next morning, he looking at the ceiling before glancing at the empty closet. He pushes himself up. His frame starts to shakes slightly. Ace curls into a ball and tried to stifle the sobs coming back. He felt his heart beat thump in his ears and some emotion he never felt before. It felt as if his lungs were compressed to his ribcage, unable to breathe properly, always taking in a shuttering breath. Then his wall broke. Grief and incomparable distress came crashing down, flooding his mind, heart, his soul. Ace would have done anything to take away even the smallest amount of emotion swelling up. He screamed the same question over and over and over again.

WhyWhyWhyWHY.

He screamed until his voice was raw, until his fingers came back red, until Luffy came back. He turned his back against the world thinking back to last night, wondering for once why he was such an asshole sometimes.

Sabo and the others found in his room (His and Luffy's) motionless, just staring at the wall in bed. Sabo kept repeating words that Ace didn't understand. His vision blurred and Ace welcomed the darkness like his oldest Companion.

Ace wasn't himself since then, grieving is more difficult than people think. The Crew and Army tried to help and fill in the empty space but it just not the same.

(of course it's not the same, you think that some mere friends can just barge in and take your/my brother spot? they don't understand, they say they do but do they really? just leave them.)

His friends were concerned, apparently he is not eating well. ("it's not that, I'm just eating a bit less because I'm not hungry" Ace thinks.) No one ever told him, because they thought he already saw the signs. One of his friends, Haruta who once had a crush (Still has a crush on Ace but gave it up for Ace's happiness was more important and because he once replied back at her confession, "I'm not the one for you but don't worry, you'll find someone who will love you more than me, give you flowers every day and giggle with you on the couch."), was pissed as shit but remembered what Luffy had said when he called to meet her.

"I am using my favour."

"What?! Now? You better not ask me to arm wrestle you again or I'll wring your neck till you're dead and hanging! (Last time Luffy broke her arm by accident.)

"he's my brother. When I leave, promise me you'll be the one to let him grieve, but not forever but just enough and whack him over the head to get him out of it."

"…You're leaving?"

"Yeah. You promise me?"

"Fine, but don't expect a spot for you when you come back!" Haruta huffed, ending the call.

Luffy didn't look like it with his cheery face and million-volt smile but he wasn't a lawyer for nothing. He can get serious when he needs to. Luffy called in a lot of his favours for Ace before he left. (He was a lawyer and the person to go to when you were injured and couldn't go to hospital with no questions asked. Even if the wound looked similar to one who was stabbed with a Gerber Mark II. He bought Ace and him a 2 story house with the floor being a small café and extra room as a medical unit. Second floor was theirs. If he saw a few guns shapes under suits of many customers, he didn't take notice. In return they'll keep the bullet and give you a tip for the latte instead of the other way around. many customers became regulars and reluctant friends to the 2 brothers. Especially a certain swordsman, metal-lover and surgeon.)

Ace had many connections as well and used them to find where Luffy disappear to. The door opened and a woman named Robin came in and gave Ace a folder. In it was information on Luffy. (Monkey D Luffy, male, his status is deceased, Mr. Monkey died at the age of 19 by an unfortunate bus accident along with his dog, a German Shepard puppy. It was an instant death. An orphan. His parents died in a car accident on the way back to home when he was 16. He had no siblings; a single child.)

They recently found a dog near the grocery store Ace wanted to go when they first met. A German Shepard too. Ace laughs mirthlessly, "Guess he never did lie about going to see his family."

They had taken in a German Shepard puppy just like Luffy did when he was younger too.

...

6 years later.

Ace was now the successor of the famous company, WB Pirates (Pops decided to surprise him and make him the successor instead of Marco. Apparently Marco was 'Too stern' and 'old age must be catching up to him, gurararara!' and the youngest doctor ("Inspired by Law, I'm positive" joked Sabo), famous for miracle hands that seemed to never fail him.

" Damn it, I'm going to miss it!" he growled, panting as he saw the bus slow down. He was nearly there; he was not going to be late on the first day of being a part of the WB Pirates. The bus opened the door for the passengers waiting. Ace's eyes widened in panic as the people became fewer, he was just inches away from the end of the bus. He glanced at the last person waiting and time seemed to tick slower and slower to a halt. The person turned away from the bus advertisement, looked back and smiled cheekily.

Meanwhile at the Whitebeard.P Company...

Whitebeard made an impatient sound and the people around the table slowly shuffled away from him. it was his 9th call to Ace. His eyebrow twitched.

"MARCOOOO!"

The bus left. One form under the shelter became two, hiding away from the burning sun.

But it was alright. All the panic and hurry seeped away from his very body as Ace collapsed on the silver bench, suitcase and all. he didn't care about his dishevelled appearance and sweaty hair clinging onto his neck. He swung his head left when a rustle of clothing was made. The person clambered on the bench, squatting on it like a monkey, staring at him.

"So what is a bus?"

Ace let out shaky breath, bringing up an arm to his eyes.

" A-A bus is a large motor vehicle for the public that carries passengers by road." Ace recites, a small watery smile appearing under his arm.

"you better pay you half of the bills, you asshole."

"EH! I haven't even been there in ages!"

"EXACTLY, YOU LITTLE SHIT."

Another Alternative Ending-

The bus opened the door for the passengers waiting. Ace's eyes widened in panic as the people became fewer, he was just inches away from the end of the bus. He glanced at the last person and time seemed to come to an abrupt stop. The person turned away from the bus advertisement and looked back.

But it wasn't his brother.

If you do not get the ending, feel free to tell me and I will answer them as best as I can!

Huge Hint if you did not get it; Luffy's a ghost.

Thanks you for deciding to click on this story and I hope you have enjoyed the story. Writing sad stuff is difficult. I not sure which ending is better or worse though.

-Your hard working Green thumb (11:23pm my mum is right next to me, mumbling, very scared to wake her up.)