Ace and Luffy were exploring the area of the Gray Terminal were the horrible fire had taken place. The place looked more sorrowful than before. The trees had no more leaves, the place was eerily quiet. Ash, dirt, and some metal pieces were all that was left. No dead bodies seemed to be around. Which was good because Ace didn't want Luffy to have to see a dead body. He tried not to think about Sabo becoming sea king food…
Luffy was running around looking for treasure, mostly all he had found were "super cool" bugs. Ace felt a nap trying to take him. As Ace fought to stay awake and concentrate on his little brother he saw Luffy studying something in a cave of metal. "What're you looking at?" Luffy ran toward Ace and then stuck something on Ace's head. Ace was sure he felt a bug crawling in his hair now. His brother was smiling broadly at him. "It's so cool!" The narcolepsy finally won out and Ace was asleep. Luffy choose to take a nap til his brother woke up. Ace and Luffy woke up at the same time. Ace grabbed the orange thing off his head, along with the spider that was crawling around in his hair. He inspected it. It was a dirty leather discolored yellowy orange hat. "It must be fireproof, to still be intact." Ace said placing it on top of Luffy's straw hat. "I already have a hat!" Luffy said sticking the old hat back on Ace's head. The hat's original owner was probably dead. What a morbid hat. A morbid hat for a demon child. Ace smirked. Besides Luffy thought it was cool. "…Thanks." Luffy grinned.
Ace decided to make the hat more appealing and notable, a faded out orange hat wouldn't be a great trademark. He asked Makino to help him dye a brighter orange. She also gave him paint for the two wooden smiley buttons he had made. During Ace and Luffy's treasure hunting, they found a medallion with a bull's skull on it and orange tassels to add to the hat. It was still missing something though.
Ace's 17th birthday arrived, the night before Ace realized what his hat needed while talking to Dadan. He asked if she had more red beads, she said yes she kept them in her room, not really catching on to Ace's thoughts. That night Ace filled his green bag with red beads, of course he left some for Dadan. Mostly because there were more than could possibly fit in his bag. Unfortunately a narcoleptic episode took him before he could escape. When Dadan woke up she saw Ace lying on her floor which made her jump a bit. She double checked the room to make sure Luffy or someone didn't see her. Noticing the beads falling out of Ace's bag, she glared. Then opened a box, pulled out some string and stuck in his bag. And finally she punched the troublesome brat to wake him up.
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Sitting outside of "Luffyland" while Luffy slept, Ace put the final touches on his hat. The hat would really stand out now. Of course Ace wouldn't need the the hat to be noticed. He would be a famous fearless pirate no matter what.