A/N: It's been what, a day? since I posted the first chapter. lol I'm just really impatient so i'm probably going to end up updating every 1-3 days until this story is finished.

Now for comments. Which btw thank you guys for commenting! And to everyone that has favorited/followed this story! I hope you all enjoy the ride!

Unknown 3: I love fanfics about the asl brothers as well! I will try to make more.

Namissalamis: Well, we'll just have to see what happens (:

Horizon-Dawn: Thank you!

Rose7anne101: HEY STRANGER! I'm alright; just taking one day at a time. There are so many ways I could take this. We'll just have to see what way I did take it. The last part gets me too. Hope this update was soon enough xD


Ace jerked awake, and almost fell off of the rock he was sitting on. He grabbed at his chest and felt fabric beneath his fingers but he was too startled to think anything of it. He was breathing really fast, so he a took a moment to slow his breathing before he let his thoughts get carried away.

Once he'd calmed down, it took all he had not to start swearing. He had died. In front of Luffy, no, worse. In his arms. Akainu! That bastard. He wished he could make him pay for going after Luffy's life.

He froze. Now that Ace was gone...who was going to protect Luffy? He faintly recalled Jinbei being there. And Marco was still there. Hopefully, he would make sure nothing happened to Lu.

He bit his lip. He hoped his family didn't resent Luffy for being the reason he had died.. He shook his head. No, they wouldn't do that. He had tried more than a hundred times to take Pops' head, and yet they had all showed up there...to save him. They wouldn't blame Luffy for this. He was certain they would protect him.

He finally relaxed, sighing, before he heard a sound that made him tense up for a whole other reason. He looked up and what he saw shocked him to his core.

"Gomu gomu no….pist-mmf!" Luffy had tried to shoot his Pistol attack at Sabo but he'd ended up hitting himself in the head before he could even finish saying the name. Sabo just shook his head, trying not to smile at Luffy's failure. Then Sabo, not so gently, bonked Luffy on the head with the end of his pipe.

"That makes number 46. Four more and we're done for the day Lu." Sabo told him. The two were completely oblivious to Ace's current state of shock.

"That's okay! I'm gonna beat you this time!" Luffy stated confidently, although it was a groundless statement. Ace watched as match 47 played out almost the exact same way as match 46 did.

What in the world is going on? Ace thought. He was sure he'd died. So why was he here, in his childhood? Is that what the afterlife was? Of course he wasn't entirely sure what that afterlife was like, but he didn't think it just dropped you in your childhood memories...with your memories as an adult. And how you died.

Or maybe it did. He didn't know.

But...he had this feeling that wasn't it. He looked up at Luffy, who was still trying to untangle himself from the mishap that was match 48. Ace knew that Devil Fruits reappeared after a user's death, so he was surprised at Luffy having his.

He tried feeling for his flames, and sure enough they weren't there. So he didn't have his, but Luffy did. Well, then again Luffy wasn't the one who had died. He glanced nervously at his brother. Hopefully.

Agh. This was confusing. His head was starting to hurt trying to figure it all out.

"Na! Ace! Fight me after this round!" Luffy called out to him, grinning ear to ear.

"No, Luffy. You know the rules. 100 a day, and 50 per. You already had your 50 matches with Ace for today." Sabo chastised him.

"Ehhhhhhh. But I wanna fight Ace some more!" Luffy whined. Sabo rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. How about after we finish up, we go get some lunch. How does that sound? Ace?" Sabo asked them both.

Luffy cheered. "Yay! Meat!" The two of them turned to smile at Ace then and Ace felt his heart break at the sight.

Ace remembered the disbelief and pain on Luffy's face before he fell onto him. And Sabo…had died years ago. Ace turned his head away trying not to cry.

Ace was grateful for his moodiness as a child, because his brothers seemed to accept that as an answer. He heard Sabo call Luffy for their last round.

What confused him though was Sabo. If dying somehow dropped a person into their childhood, why wasn't Sabo reacting to him being there? Wait. Did Sabo know he was there, or did he just think that Ace was part of the memories too? What if-

A small rubbery-fist came out of nowhere and smacked him right in the face. He didn't fall off the rock, but he had to struggle to keep his balance.

Throwing his thoughts away for the moment, he turned towards the culprit and leveled a menacing glare at him.

"Dammit Luffy! Watch where you're aiming!" Ace yelled at him.

"Ah. Sorry, Ace!" Luffy apologized, but he didn't sound the least bit apologetic. While he was distracted looking at Ace, Sabo threw a flying kick at Luffy.

"Annnnd. That makes 50, Luffy. I win again." Sabo stated. Luffy who had ended up face first in the ground, sat up and spat out the dirt that had gotten in his mouth.

"Eh! NO FAIR! Ace was distracting me!" Luffy complained. Ace just rolled his eyes.

"All the more reason it's my win then. You can't let yourself get distracted in a fight Lu. It could cost you." Sabo told him. Ace, who had hopped off the rock and was making his way towards the two, faltered at his words. Neither of the two noticed it however.

Luffy's face had gone blank, before becoming contemplative. It was a strange look on his brother's face and after the pain he'd just recently seen (caused), Ace could barely handle it.

He wanted Luffy to be the smiling, happy idiot he always was. Before Ace could attempt to fix what he viewed as wrong, Luffy spoke and Ace instantly felt better.

"But I don't have any money…" Luffy stared at them with innocent eyes. Sabo rolled his eyes.

"We know. But that's not what I meant…" Sabo told him, but he didn't explain what he meant, and Ace was glad for it. He didn't think he could handle anymore right now. His heart already felt heavy enough as it was.

"Anyway, let's go get some food. Watching Luffy fail with his attack made me super hungry." Sabo said. At the mention of food, Luffy's eyes lit up and he started bouncing around.

"Food! Food! Foooood!" He exclaimed. The older brothers both rolled their eyes before setting off in search of meat to satisfy their little brother.

After a very eventful crocodile hunt, Luffy falling in the water and almost getting eaten, and Ace feeling super weird being able to go in water again, they gorged themselves on their catch.

Luffy had eaten too much and was laying on his back, his belly bulging unnaturally courtesy of Devil Fruit. Sabo looked over at Luffy with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Oi, Luffy. You really should work on your aim you know. You hit Ace earlier… and it's not a good idea to use that attack with the chance of it rebounding and hitting one of us." Sabo told him.

"Pfft. I wouldn't even call that an attack!" Ace said, his old habit of teasing slipping out. Luffy hopped up on his feet, his body somehow returning to normal size, and he stared at them with a determined look.

"It is too! You'll see! I'll figure it out and my punch will be as strong as pistol! And one day I'll be even stronger than you, Ace!" Luffy yelled at them.

"Like hell you will!" He responded. He had to hide his smile. He knew Luffy would figure it out eventually. He knew how strong Luffy would become. He struggled not to laugh though. It was just so funny to think of how Luffy would grow and compare it to the one in front of him who could barely walk without tripping over his own feet.

Luffy puffed up his face in discontent while Sabo laughed at it. At his face, Ace did smile this time. It was good to be back with his brothers.


They were halfway back to the treehouse when it hit him...that Luffy had hit him, when he and Sabo had been fighting. He knew he'd been deep in thought but that shouldn't really matter too much with his Haki. He frowned and tried using it to search around, and was shocked to find that he couldn't use his Haki anymore.

So no Devil Fruit and no Haki either?! He could understand not having his Devil Fruit powers, those came from an external source initially and regenerated at death, but Haki was supposed to be an internal thing. So he wasn't even allowed that in the afterlife? He 'tch'ed. He was really not liking this whole being dead thing. For several reasons, but it was getting worse by the minute.

Luffy's laughter interrupted his thoughts and, looking up, he saw Luffy grinning at something Sabo was saying.

Well. Maybe it wasn't that bad. At least he was with his brothers, in a way, again. But he was starting to wonder about this afterlife place… If he was dropped in his memories, then was he just supposed to live them out again, up till his death? It would explain him not having his Haki right now.

He scowled at nothing in particular. If that was the case, it wasn't going to be fun. He'd have to relive losing Sabo, and losing to Teach, and all other sorts of not so fun memories. He almost wished he could change things, but he didn't know what that would do. Well, that and him being dead kind of prevented him from being able to change anything.

He grunted. The topic of his thoughts may have been different but he was feeling just as surly as he did the first time he was this age. His brothers threw him a glance but they said nothing as they went back to discussing whatever it was they'd been talking about.

He quietly sighed, resigning himself to just reliving his life over again. At least he got to be with his brothers again for the first part of it. That thought alone was more than enough to make him feel not entirely bitter about the whole thing.