A/N: 100% inspired by Steins;Gate and that one Supernatural episode. I don't know why I like doing this to myself bc Luffy is making this idea 1000x more difficult to execute. Short for now, but hopefully I'll write more soon.
When Luffy wakes, everything hurts. He opens his eyes to see a strange robot-looking thing beside him, the bandages wrapped around himself, and then the blood. He blinks, the image of Ace with a hole in his chest seared into his mind. Luffy can feel the weight of Ace's body, his skin growing colder with each passing second, but there's nothing in his arms.
He failed.
Luffy stares at the trees around him, tears sliding down his face. Through his blurry vision, he can see Marguerite approaching with her two friends. He stumbles away from them, but Marguerite catches up to him anyway.
He thinks she asks him what's wrong, but the only thing he can say in between broken sobs is "Ace!"
Luffy feels them pulling at him, gently guiding him, and eventually carrying him away, but he doesn't try to fight back against them. There's a hole in his heart that feels like it's weighing him down instead of lightening his burden, and even crying saps all his energy.
Luffy dreams of soft hands wiping away his tears, combing through his hair — a reprieve from the nightmares where he's endlessly chasing after Ace, only for Ace to burst into flames when Luffy finally catches up.
Luffy is in a cell, naked except for his bandages, with a bunch of women staring at him. It's a very, very familiar scene from before Ace's death.
"Who are you?" they ask. "What happened to you?"
It's maybe the first time since Ace's death that Luffy has felt anything outside of grief strongly. He tilts his head, looking specifically at Marguerite.
"It's Luffy. Don't you remember me, Marguerite?"
Immediately, there are a lot of arrows pointing at him, Marguerite demanding how he knows her name. When he moves, the arrows fly at him, and the one that manages to hit him hurts.
"This isn't a dream?" he asks himself, which seems to anger the women more.
Seeing the women ready their arrows again, Luffy decides to break out of the cell and ask questions later. Naturally, he stretches an arm out to grab Marguerite from the crowd and swings up onto the rooftops.