No, its not real! It not! No, no, no, no, NO!" The anguished cries echoed through the forest, voice filled with sorrow and grief. "He isn't... dead. No, he isn't. TELL ME HE ISN'T!" He gripped at his hair, tearing furiously at it. Ace didn't die, he promised he wouldn't.
Right?
Luffy looked at his hands, the hands that were stained by his brother's blood. His eyes widened. It wasn't a dream, was it?
"Thank you for loving me." The words bombarded his mind, the last words of his late brother. He knew that Ace had died. He knew it. He could remember it so well. His brother in his arms, bleeding and panting, breath raggard and unsteady and he breathed out his final words. He could still remember the smell of his blood and the horror he felt when he found the gaping hole in his brother's chest. And when Ace fell to the ground with a sickening splat, his mind pieces that were held together by their brotherly bonds scattered and disappeared into a dimension where Luffy could not reach, somewhere where Ace and Sabo probably were. Sabo. The nice older brother who doted on Luffy, the sensible and well-mannered one, the one who left first, existence having been wiped out by the Tenryuubito. And now, it was Ace's turn. The hot-temperedone who despised his father, one who kept falling asleep while eating, a brother who doted as Luffy as much as Sabo did, maybe even more after Sabo's death. The one who looked out for Luffy, his weak younger brother. The one who promised never to die.
Without the two of them, would there be anyone left to look out for Luffy?
Yes, I know that Sabo is still alive but at this part, Luffy still didn't know. ;_;