Ace swears he's never been in this much pain anymore, though for some reason he can't remember a damn thing.
He vaguely calls an explosion, and the world exploding around him.
"Ah, you're up." The girl next to him glanced over, and readjusted the cool towel on his forehead. "How do you feel?"
Sinking, trying to scream, air escaping his lungs and water filling his lungs fast...
"Where am I?" Ace demanded, sitting up.
She shoved him back down again. "Secret, but we're not the bad guys, if that's what you're worried about."
"Why am I here?"
Flames licking the boat, frantically trying to get rid of them...
"You nearly died." She shrugged, as though it were completely normal to just randomly rescue some kid from dying. "Lucky for you we were in the area, or else you'd be fish food by now. We'll send you back to that island that you came from, alright?"
"No," Ace shook his head, and swatted her arm off of his chest, something strong and vaguely empty sitting in his gut. "Just drop me off at the next stop."
She offered him a curious look, a slightly amused smile pulling at her lips before she asked, "What will you do?"
"Find a noble," Ace decided, shrugging, "Rob him blind."
She laughed at that, loud and uncaring of how it sounded. "As awesome as that sounds," She grinned at him, and Ace wondered if he should invite her to join him, (she seemed quite fond of the idea,) "That's not a very good way to live your life."
"I'll buy a boat," Ace responded firmly, "And I'll travel the world and look for answers."
The girl's eyes sharpened, and she sat down next to Ace's legs, crossing one over the other so that she had room. Ace retaliated by kicking her, and she just laughed again. "Answers to what?" She asked curiously, poking his foot.
Should I live?
"I don't know." It kind of hurt to admit it, though Ace wasn't quite sure why. "Just... answers. I'll know it when I see it."
She snorted at that, wryly responding, "That doesn't seem like such a good base to build off of."
Ace scowled. "I'll do just fine." He sulked defensively.
"Right." She flicked his forehead, and he batted her hand away, still scowling. "Well, you do you, I guess."
Ace stuck his tongue out, feeling a bit childish but ever so slightly vindictive. "And what are you doing?"
Her features brightened at that, light and happy, (I want that, Ace thought, something that wanted swelling up in his chest,) and responded, "I'm going to help create a world where people can be free."
That's awesome, Ace thought.
"That's stupid." He said.
She rolled her eyes, and then cocked an eyebrow, trying to appear more mature than she was. "How so?" She asked, leaning forwards.
"It just is." He knew that he sounded childish, but Ace couldn't really find a better answer than that.
Her face flushed bright red, and she flew up, hands slamming against her hips as she snapped, "Why can't everyone be free?"
"If I got my hands on him, I'd chain him up and hope he'd never see the light of day."
(Were these vague little things in his mind memories?)
"Some people just can't be free." Ace responded.
Someone like you may as well rot forever in a cell.
"That's stupid," The girl snapped, voice harsh and icy. "Why can't we all be equal?"
Ace looked down at his hands, and shrugged, unsure but feeling, somewhere in the hollow of his chest, that he was below, (below what, he wasn't quite sure. Everything? Everyone? Other people?), and knowing that if he were below, then he couldn't quite be free or equal to anybody.
"I don't know." He snapped, admitting it for the second time that day, feeling a bit annoyed with himself for saying so but somehow relieved that he could be honest about it.
"If you don't know, then how could it be true?" The girl demanded, leaning forwards so much that her nose almost touched Ace's.
He shoved her face away with his hands, turning his head to the side so that he wasn't looking at her. "I just feel it." He retorted, his face burning with embarrassment at the illogical answer.
She crossed her arms over her chest, jutting out her chin as her eyes flashed. Ace noticed a smear of dirt right beside her nose as her nostrils flared. "So you think that you're above the rest of us mere humans?" She demanded, voice cold and filled with irritation.
Ace shook his head. "It's..." It's the opposite. He pulled his shoulders up to his ears and looked down, pulling his hands away from Koala's face.
She stared at him, long and hard, and then sighed, flopping down to sit beside him. "We're equal." She spoke firmly, as though saying it like that would just automatically make it true.
Ace shrugged, still refusing to look at her. "How do you know that?" He demanded, mirroring her words from before. "What proof do you have?"
"Look at me," Her voice was still strong and solid, and Ace couldn't help but straighten and stare at her. "What makes us different?"
"You're a girl." Ace quipped, a weak attempt to avoid the subject.
She rolled her eyes. "Are girls better than boys?"
He frowned, "I don't think so."
"Are boys better than girls?"
He shook his head.
"Then is that it? Is that all that makes us different?"
"You're..." Better? How?
"Human." She ruffled his hair, and laughed, the moment of seriousness fading, though Ace could still feel a bit of the tension there, lurking just beneath the surface of her sunny smile. "All humans are created equal, and we're both human. So we're equal, okay?"
"Okay," Ace responded, something in his chest yearning for it to be true even though he still didn't quite get it.
"Awesome." She grinned at him, wide and full, and stuck her hand out. "I'm Koala."
Ace grabbed the hand, and tried to think hard about what his name was.
A voice screaming on the banks, broken and shrill,
"Ace."
A/N: So I think I'll do something like I'll update this and the Gentleman on the same days, and they'll just sort of run parallel to each other. (The Gentleman is following this universe, following Sabo as a Whitebeard Pirate.) Sorry this was a bit short, it was more just to introduce the concept than anything else.