Author Note: This takes place during Ace's short visit with the Straw Hats. It follows directly on from the end of episode 95 but events are shifted around a little. Enjoy!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!

Shout out to AuthenticAussie, my beta!

XXX

Chapter 2 - Alabasta

XXX

Ace grinned, watching with amusement as his brother, the reindeer and a guy with an incredibly long nose continued to find wilder and stranger things to toast. Their excitement was contagious, if a little over the top.

Ace dragged his gaze away from them and casually took in the small ship his brother captained. It was rather cosy, Ace admitted. He rather liked the figurehead, although if he didn't know any better, he could have sworn the damn thing had been watching him earlier as he approached on his Striker.

It was a small but sturdy little ship. However…Ace cocked his head in consideration, he had noticed a few wears and tears dotted around. Ace sighed. He wasn't going to be the one to mention to Luffy that his choice of vessel might not survive the rough seas of the Grand Line and the New World if she had already received war wounds just getting the crew out of East Blue. That was something Luffy, as captain, was going to have to figure out for himself.

"Where did Vivi-chan go?"

"She went to lie down. I think being back and actually seeing how bad the situation is has overwhelmed her a little."

"Maybe I should go make sure she's okay? I'm sure she'd like-!"

"Oh, no you don't! Leave her alone, she'll be fine without your assistance."

Ace pulled himself away from his critical scrutiny of the Going Merry and turned to see Nami dragging the rather love-struck cook, Sanji, by the ear. She caught sight of Ace watching them and flashed him a smile, diverting her course towards him.

"So, how long have you been chasing this Blackbeard person?" Turning to the voice, Ace spotted the green haired swordsman who apparently fought with his own 'three sword style'. Ace wanted to see him in action, thoroughly intrigued by how one would be able to wield three swords at once. He didn't think he was going to get his wish any time soon however, as Zoro was currently slouched at the base of the main mast looking very much like he could fall asleep at any moment.

Ace sympathised.

Ace hummed thoughtfully. "About four months now," he said with a shrug, taking a sip of his drink as Nami and Sanji joined them, the cook taking a long drag on his cigarette as he leant against the railing next to the Whitebeard Commander. Luffy whizzed past them, completely oblivious as he swung Chopper around in his arms in some sort of crazy dance. The poor creature looked a little dazed.

"Four months? That's a long time," Usopp commented, finally collapsing to the ground in apparent exhaustion, sweat pouring off him thanks to the burning heat of desert sun.

"Ah, speaking of a long time!" Luffy exclaimed suddenly, dropping Chopper on the railing where he tottered around dangerously before finding his balance. Luffy veered sharply towards his brother, who simply raised an eyebrow as Luffy came to a dead stop in front of him. "Ace, have you seen Sabo recently?"

The Straw Hats were surprised as a genuinely warm smile appeared on Ace's face and Luffy appeared to be vibrating with excitement. They weren't aware that Luffy knew anyone on the Grand Line. Although, having said that, they hadn't known until earlier that day that Luffy even had an older brother, so that was a moot point all in all.

"Sabo?" Chopper asked uncertainly, hunching over slightly as several pairs of eyes turned to look down at him. "Who's Sabo?"

"My other big brother," Luffy said, beaming at them all. A few jaws dropped in surprise.

"You have another brother?" asked Usopp in disbelief, jumping to his feet. "It's not just the two of you?"

Luffy shook his head with a grin. "Nope! There are three of us. Sabo's been at sea for, how many years now?" he asked, turning to Ace.

"Ten years," Ace confirmed, moving to reclaim his seat on top of one the water barrels.

"So Sabo's older than you two then?" Nami asked, slightly puzzled.

Ace shook his head. "No, me and Sabo are both twenty. Circumstances meant that he had to leave earlier than we did," he explained softly.

"We actually thought Sabo had died for a while," Luffy put in nonchalantly, although he edged closer to Ace.

Sanji shared a puzzled glance with Nami and Usopp. "Um, why did you think he was dead?" he asked, cautiously.

Luffy ceased his usual fidgeting immediately even as Ace's jaw clenched in anger. The two brothers shared an uneasy glance, appearing to silently communicate how much they should or could say. After a few tense moments, Ace finally sighed, shoulders slumping. Luffy obviously trusted these people enough to let them join his crew so he couldn't see the harm in revealing a little about their absent brother.

"His boat was shot by a Celestial Dragon as he was leaving port," Ace said, voice barely above a whisper. "Someone we lived with happened to see it and assumed the worst. As it turns out, he was rescued by someone in the Revolutionary Army and had been with them. Sabo came back to Dawn Island about four years ago for a visit."

"I don't think I've ever seen Ace cry like that before," Luffy suddenly snickered, breaking the heavy atmosphere. Ace glared and swiped at Luffy who danced away, cackling.

"I didn't cry," Ace denied with a grumble.

"Shishishi! Yes, you did," Luffy laughed.

Ace frowned, a small blush staining his cheeks. "At least I wasn't blubbing like a baby when it was time for him to leave again." That had been a horrible afternoon for all of them.

Luffy simply shrugged, not embarrassed in the slightest. He had been nearly inconsolable for the better part of three days after Sabo's departure, despite the fact that he knew his brother was returning to good nakama and that they would definitely meet again. He had just wanted longer with the blond after their initial six year separation. He had nearly driven Ace to distraction with his moping.

"So what's your brother Sabo like? Is he like you or Ace?" Chopper asked curiously, tugging lightly on Luffy's shirt to catch his attention.

Luffy laughed as he patted Chopper's head. "Neither of us. Sabo's blond, he has blue eyes and he's a little taller than Ace. Oh! He also has a scar covering the left side of his face. Dadan used to call him the 'responsible one'," Ace snorted in amusement, "and Sabo's a much nicer big brother than Ace!" Luffy finished with a cheeky grin.

"Hey!" Ace exclaimed, looking rather disgruntled at Luffy's declaration. Luffy laughed again and patted consolingly at Ace's arm where his ASCE tattoo stood out proudly.

"They're definitely brothers. See how they interact? Loving one minute, angry the next," Usopp whispered knowingly to Chopper. "Only true brothers can do that. Hey, have I told you yet about the time I had a brother and he was miraculously returned to me…"

Nami purposely blocked out Usopp's wayward tale with a roll of her eyes and turned to her captain, who was happily hanging off his brother's arm and in danger of upending Ace's drink.

"Hang on," she said, "if Ace and Sabo are the same age and you apparently look nothing alike, I'm guessing that means neither one of you is actually related to him?" she puzzled. The rest of the Straw Hats paused, seemingly beginning to understand the oddities.

Ace and Luffy looked at each other before turning to the crew, surprise clouding their expressions.

"Um, no, none of us are related, we're sworn brothers," Ace said as he turned to his brother. "Lu, have you not told them anything about yourself?"

"Wait, you two aren't blood related either?!" Usopp exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the pair. Ace and Luffy shook their heads in unison. "But you're so alike!" he shouted, eyes popping in disbelief.

"We have different last names, how did you think we were blood related?" Luffy asked, head tilted curiously. "That's stupid of you."

Nami growled and made a dive for Luffy, who yelped in alarm and jumped over the snoozing Zoro's legs before darting off towards Merry's figurehead.

"Who are you calling stupid!" she cried, heels clicking as she chased after him, nearly knocking Chopper off the railing. Only Sanji's quick reflexes saved the reindeer from a swim. "You introduced him as your brother! We all assumed that you're actually brothers!"

"We are brothers!" Luffy screeched back, one hand on his head to keep his straw hat in place as he made a swing for the mast. "And Sabo is our other brother!"

"Anyone for another drink?" Sanji asked with a heavy sigh as he made his way towards the galley. The cook sent a swift kick flying at Zoro's head as he passed but the blow was easily blocked by a sheathed sword, the former Pirate Hunter not even bothering to open his eyes.

Ace smiled and took another swing of his water as the rest of the crew went about their business, seemingly intent on ignoring the bickering and screaming coming from the bow of the ship. Luffy had certainly found some interesting nakama, Ace thought, watching his brother fondly as he tried desperately to keep out of reach of the furious redhead. But then, he hadn't expected anything less.

"Thirsty?" Ace asked with a smirk as Luffy rejoined him a short while later, finally free of his navigator's clutches.

Luffy nodded and happily gulped down the offered contents of Ace's tankard.

"So, have you seen Sabo since you left?" Luffy asked, plopping himself down in the small patch of shade offered by the railing and continuing as if they hadn't been interrupted.

Ace dropped down next to him, booted feet stretched out in front of him.

"I saw him once a few of years ago, just after I entered the Grand Line," said Ace, smiling softly as Luffy leaned against him. He would rather die first than admit to it, but he had missed Luffy's steadfast presence the last few years. "He said to say hi."

Luffy grinned. "Was he okay?"

"Err…yeah," Ace said, after a rather long pause.

Luffy pulled back to look Ace in the eye, worry immediately evident on his face. "You hesitated. Was Sabo okay or not?"

Ace bit his lip nervously. "He was okay when I first saw him, but then I think I gave him a heart attack," he shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck and looking rather sheepish.

"Why, what did you do?" asked Luffy, completely bewildered.

Ace signed. "Get comfortable, this could be a long story."

"I don't like long stories. Make it short," Luffy demanded with a pout.

Ace rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. "I'll make it a short long story, then. Now shut up and listen."

xxx

Ace groaned as he resurfaced to consciousness. He was aware there was a hard surface underneath his head, and his neck and shoulders were incredibly stiff. He cracked open an eye and muffled a further groan.

The seventeen year old was hunched over on the kitchen table in his ship's galley. He had obviously fallen asleep eating again. Which probably meant that a select few of his crew had no doubt taken full advantage of their unconscious captain to raid the liquor cabinet again.

Ace raised his head slowly and cast a quick glance at the cabinet in question.

Empty.

He pushed himself upright with a put out sigh, scrubbing a hand roughly over his face. He was all for a good drink and wouldn't ever think to ration his crew's ale but he was getting rather tired of funding a select few crew members' wayward parties. He did have plans for those funds and stocking up on fresh ale at every port was not part of it.

Ace cast another quick look around the galley, not at all happy at the state of it, but entirely too tired to do anything about it himself. He rose unsteadily to his feet and stretched leisurely, wincing as his back popped.

He slowly opened the galley door, which lead directly outside onto the lower deck and breathed in deeply, allowing the cool, crisp spring air to fill his lungs and wake him up. He noticed they were still anchored just off shore of the small island they were restocking at. Good, he nodded. At least the crew hadn't taken it upon themselves to cast off as soon as the log pose had reset like last time, rather than waiting for Ace to wake up. The beating he had given them was clearly still fresh in their minds.

Ace sighed again, suddenly bone deep tired, as he rested his head on his arms, staring out at the inky black water below him.

He loved being at sea. It was everything he had expected and more. There really was nothing like it, never knowing where he was going to end up, or who he was going to meet. It was exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time.

Ace only wished he had a crew that was as completely driven as he was to prove himself. They were all round good men, there was no doubt about that, but there were some aboard that just never seemed to apply themselves. They were treating piracy as if it was a job, not a way of life.

Ace missed having someone he could rely on at his back. The crew were loyal and great company, most of the time. He trusted them not to turn him into the marines if they wound up in a sticky situation...

But they weren't his brothers.

He deeply missed Luffy, more than he thought was possible. He had expected to, of course. After seven years of the kid day in, day out, he knew it would take some adjusting to not having the rubber boy trailing after him, but he was beginning to recognise now how he had taken for granted having someone to watch out for him, and for him to look out for. He had to wonder how Sabo had managed not to go stir crazy the first year he was away from them.

Ace shifted, suddenly uncomfortable in his own skin, as the deep ache in his chest which he could ignore so well during the day suddenly made itself known. He needed to stop brooding, he thought, giving himself a small shake and turning from the rail.

Ace jumped as a body tumbled from above, landing with a hard thud at his feet. He nudged the limp figure over and stared at the bloody face. That was not one of his crew.

"You appear to have a stowaway," a smooth voice called from just above Ace's head. A shadow moved along the upper deck's railing.

Ace grinned slowly, pure delight lighting up his face. "Is that what you're calling yourself these days?" he asked, as the lithe figure descended the stairs, boots barely making any sound.

"I'm the perfect gentleman. I always announce my arrival."

Ace laughed heartily as the person stepped into the shaft of light streaming from the open galley door, revealing the welcome and familiar face of his brother.

Sabo returned Ace's smile warmly, scar almost invisible in the shadow of his top hat. He prodded the limp figure at their feet with his pipe.

"I assumed this one wasn't one of yours judging by the way he snuck aboard," Sabo explained lightly. "I think you need a better night watchman," he added dryly.

Ace suddenly groaned as his memory returned to him. A door slammed open on the upper deck.

"Thirdy! I heard a…Captain? What's going on here?"

Ace and Sabo looked up to see a bearded man leaning over the railing, staring at them with surprise.

"Felix, is Thirdy supposed to be on watch tonight?" Ace snapped, as Sabo gracefully stepped over the unconscious man and into the galley, stripping off his gloves as he went, content to let Ace handle his crew.

Felix nodded slowly. Ace glared. "Then go find him, wherever the hell he is, and tell him to get rid of this piece of crap," Ace kicked the lump, "and let him know he can get rid of himself at the same time! That's the third time this month he's slacked on watch. I've had enough," he growled.

"Aye, Captain," Felix quickly jumped to attention and charged down the stairs, nearly tripping in his haste. "What about him?" Felix nodded towards the galley.

"He's my brother," Ace said simply, ignoring the look of surprise on his first mate's face and slamming the galley door shut behind him as he entered. He saw Sabo had made himself at home crossed legged atop the kitchen table.

"We have chairs, you know," Ace said but he simply heaved himself up to join his brother and sat next him, feet kicking up to rest on a bench.

Sabo grinned. "I had noticed."

"How did you know I'd be here?" Ace asked, leaning back onto his hands.

"I didn't," Sabo shrugged, lifting his top hat and dropping it onto the table behind them. Ace noticed the blond had grown his hair out even more since their last meeting. "We're restocking on the island, same as you. Pure coincidence I assure you. So, how's our little brother been since I last saw you? Has he grown into that straw hat yet?" he wondered with a wry grin.

Ace snorted. "No. And he's the same as always, you know Luffy. Still screaming at whoever will listen he's gonna be Pirate King."

Sabo laughed before turning his eyes onto Ace, who shifted uncomfortably under the weight of the blond's scrutinising gaze.

"And what about you?" Sabo asked softly. "How's the life of piracy treating you?"

Ace slumped as though the weight of the world had just landed on his shoulders. He toppled sideways until his head landed on Sabo's shoulder.

"That bad, huh?" Sabo stated, as he wrapped an arm around Ace's shoulders.

"Not bad, just different," Ace said, finally allowing everything to flow out unheeded in the familiar and comforting presence of his oldest friend. Sabo simply sat and listened, never interrupting and keeping a strong arm around his brother's shoulders.

Ace finally lapsed into silence.

"Ace, it's never gonna be easy setting out on your own for the first time. It'd be boring if it was," Sabo said, giving Ace a small nudge upright so he could look him in the face. "I was relatively lucky since I was with Dragon-san right from the start but I promise you that when you find the right people, nothing will even come close in comparison. It'll make all the hard work worth it."

Ace nodded slowly, digesting his brother's words. Maybe Sabo was right (and annoyingly he usually was), maybe he just hadn't found the right people yet, Ace reasoned.

"I saw your wanted poster the other day, by the way. Very impressive bounty," Sabo told him and Ace could have sworn he heard a touch of pride seeping to his voice.

Ace grinned. "Want to see why it's so high?"

Sabo nodded eagerly.

"Okay, give me your hand," Ace requested, jumping to his feet and grabbing Sabo's arm, forcing him up. "Check this out," he smirked. He focused all his attention onto the hand grasping Sabo and felt for the burning heat in his chest that had become an integral part of himself and guided it down his arm and into his palm.

The result was instantaneous.

As soon as Sabo saw the flames licking at their skin, he yelped and jerked back roughly knocking aside a couple of chairs in his haste. Ace didn't think he had ever heard such a wounded cry from his brother before. He quickly extinguished the flames, unwilling to set his ship alight in the sudden confusion.

"Shit! Sabo! What the hell are-" Ace froze, temper dying down instantly as he caught sight of the pure panic on his brother's face. He was deathly pale and shaking so hard that Ace was surprised the ship wasn't rocking from the force. "Sabo?"

Ace took a small step forwarded but stopped abruptly when Sabo flinched, his hand running up and down his arm as though trying to rub out the nonexistent flames. Ace watched him for several seconds, certain the only reason the blond wasn't on his knees was solely because of the support of the wall he was huddled against. Sabo's wild gaze darted between his own hand and Ace nervously.

"Sabo, I wasn't gonna let the fire hurt you," Ace said, forcing himself to speak calmly, but more than a little hurt his brother didn't seem to trust him.

"I know," Sabo gasped for breath. "It's just…seeing fire on my skin like that…" he trailed off weakly, squeezing his eyes shut tight.

Ace balked. He felt like the world's biggest idiot. Of course Sabo would freak out at seeing himself on fire. His ill-fated departure from Dawn Island had left his boat a smoldering wreck by all accounts, with the consequences of the attack clear for everyone to see on the young Revolutionary's face.

"God, Sabo, I'm sorry! Shit, I didn't think," Ace rambled apologetically. "I didn't realise you'd react to fire like that."

"I don't normally, but then most people don't usually try setting me on fire," Sabo said, trying to smile reassuringly but failing miserably. "That definitely wasn't your best idea!"

"Sorry," Ace repeated feebly, guilt sitting heavily on his chest. "Um, are you okay?" he asked. Sabo nodded weakly and finally took a step towards the young captain. He punched Ace lightly in the shoulder.

"I'm fine. I would've appreciated a warning though," Sabo released a heavy breath and dropped into a chair. "So, a fire type Devil Fruit?"

Ace nodded and perched on the edge of the table next to his brother, watching him carefully but Sabo appeared to have regained some of his composure.

"Yeah, the Mera Mera no Mi. I found it just before we entered the Grand Line," he explained. He felt confident enough to set his whole arm aflame again. Sabo watched with interest, the light of the flames reflected in his eyes.

"Mm, logia type. That could prove pretty useful for you," Ace heard the blond mutter. "Did you mistake it for desert like Luffy?" Sabo teased, unexpectedly reaching out a hand with barely a tremble and let it hover over the flames, allowing the heat to soak into his skin, showing faith in his brother's ability to control the element which had so badly scarred him and warming Ace's chest in a way that had nothing to do with his Devil Fruit.

"No, I found it. It wasn't hard to work out what it was. It looked pretty damn weird," said Ace, as the flames slowly disappeared.

Sabo chuckled lightly and reached into his coat pocket. "Speaking of weird, check this out."

Ace raised an eyebrow at the presented piece of paper and small snail Sabo slapped into his hands. "What the hell is this?" he asked.

"I would've hoped by now you'd recognise a baby den den mushi when you saw one," Sabo teased, skillfully dodging Ace's halfhearted swipe at his head.

"I meant this thing and you know it," said Ace, completely puzzled as he studied the paper.

Sabo grinned. "It's a vivre card."

xxx

"Wow, you are really stupid, Ace," Luffy stated simply from his spot with his head in Ace's lap. Ace glared down at him.

"I don't want to hear that from you," he said, flicking Luffy hard in the temple.

"I'm surprised Sabo didn't dunk you in the ocean for scaring him like that," Luffy giggled at the image.

"So am I," Ace admitted. He half suspected the only reason he hadn't been was because Sabo had been too shaken to even consider doing so at the time.

But the blond had more than gotten his revenge the next day during a friendly sparring match before they had parted ways. Ace hadn't been able to feel his fingers for a week after Sabo had managed to get a vice grip on them. He hadn't been able to use his Devil Fruit power particularly well against him either but Sabo had remained stubbornly silent when questioned on how he had accomplished that feat. Ace had no idea what his brother was being taught by the Revolutionaries but it was certainly paying off.

"What's a vivre card?" Luffy asked, puzzled.

Ace grinned and nodded towards his abandoned bag over by the far railing. "Get my backpack and I'll show you."

Luffy sat up and immediately stretched for it, handing it off to Ace as his arm snapped back.

"That's one thing I miss about not having you around. I have to get up for stuff now," he joked as he began rummaging. Luffy heard various knickknacks shaking around inside. "Aha!" Ace cried triumphantly. He pulled his hand out and uncurled his palm to show two pieces of square paper, one slightly larger than the other.

Luffy cocked his head. "Those are vivre cards?" he asked, rather bemused.

Ace nodded and offered one to Luffy for him to examine. He snorted as Luffy sniffed at it curiously. "A vivre card is completely waterproof and fireproof," he said with a grin, setting his forefinger alight and poking the paper in Luffy's hand to prove his point.

"That's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed, before holding the paper up to the sun and squinting at it but it was completely blank. "There's no writing. How's it meant to work?"

"You can get them in the New World, they're made from a person's fingernail, which is then turned into paper," Ace continued, chuckling as Luffy quick sucked his tongue back into his mouth, having been very close to actually tasting the paper. Luffy held the card gingerly between his thumb and forefinger, staring at is as though he expected it to revert to being a nail again. "You can tear it and give one of the pieces to someone you're separated from. The piece will point towards either the largest piece of paper or the person the card was made from," Ace finished, gently poking Luffy's forehead to soothe out the confused frown.

He held up the piece of paper in his hand as an example. "This one is Sabo's. He said it would point to the biggest piece of paper. That one," Ace gestured to the one Luffy was holding, "is mine. That's the only one I have so it'll point you directly to me."

"Oh," Luffy nodded before leaning forward and staring at the card in Ace's hand. He cocked his head thoughtfully. "Why is the corner of Sabo's burning? I thought you said it was fireproof?"

Ace sighed. He had half hoped that Luffy wouldn't notice that little detail but either his brother's observation skills had improved or he just had a knack for asking the awkward to answer questions. Ace was leaning towards the latter.

"A card reflects the life of the one it was created from. It'll begin to burn on its own when that person's life begins to vanish," he said quietly, watching Luffy carefully.

Luffy stared at him blankly for several second before his eyes widened in alarm and his gaze darted back to Sabo's vivre card. "That means – that means because the card is burning that Sabo's life is vanishing?"

Ace nodded, tugging at Luffy's arm until his brother was leaning comfortably against his side. "It burns quite a bit," he said regretfully, softly tracing the edge of Sabo's card. "I think it's when he goes undercover on a job. He's putting himself into pretty dangerous situations opposing the World Government so the card obviously reflects that. But it's never been burnt more than halfway down and it always restores itself eventually," Ace added encouragingly, running a hand through Luffy's dark hair, an action that never failed to comfort the teen.

Luffy still looked a little dubious but he relaxed ever so slightly.

"Is he in danger a lot?" asked Luffy, still eyeing the singed card.

"This is the first time in about seven months, I think, that I've seen it burning," Ace said. "But Sabo will be fine. No doubt you'll see him soon," he said, full of confidence. Sabo was well aware of the fact that Luffy had planned on setting sail when he turned seventeen and that had been a few months ago. If Ace knew Sabo, the blond would be keeping an eye out for Luffy's whereabouts and would take the opportunity to meet up if it arose.

"How long has it been burning for? And what happens when you run out of paper?" Luffy asked, gently reaching out to touch the card in Ace's hand.

"It started burning about a week ago. The longest it's burnt was for nearly three weeks late last year, but I heard there were big goings on down in South Blue so Sabo was probably there," Ace said, making to tuck Sabo's card away back in his bag.

Luffy grabbed his wrist. "You didn't answer my question, Ace. What happens when you run out of paper?" he demanded quietly.

"The person's life is over. They're dead," Ace said softly.

Luffy swallowed hard and clutched tightly at the vivre card in his hand. Ace stared at his brother's clenched fist and suddenly hoped the cards were 'little brother proof' as well because if there was a way to destroy them, no doubt Luffy would be the one to find it.

"Hey guys, do you- oh. Sorry, did I interrupt?"

Both brothers looked up to see Nami hovering uncertainly over them.

"No, it's fine. I was just showing Luffy something," Ace reassured her with a smile. Luffy appeared to shake himself slightly before his usual grin appeared.

"Sabo will be fine," he said confidently to Ace, before turning to his navigator. "Hey, Nami, where's a safe place to keep this? It's Ace's so it's very important," he alleged, waving the card around in her face.

Nami slapped the offending hand away before her eyes fell on Luffy's straw hat. "Let me sew it into your hat's ribbon. That way, you'll always have it with you," she offered.

Luffy grinned and handed over both items.

"Did you need us for something?" Ace asked, rising gracefully to his feet and stretching like an overgrown cat. Luffy whined and held up a hand to his brother, smiling cheerfully when Ace pulled him to his feet with a roll of his eyes.

"Sanji wanted to know if you guys had any preferences for dinner?" she queried.

"Meat!" Luffy yelled, throwing his arms out wide.

"You probably didn't even need to bother asking," said Ace, watching his brother throw himself up onto the upper deck and into the galley, screaming for food. There was a heavy thud which Ace could only assume was the cook kicking Luffy out of his way.

"Probably not," Nami sighed wearily, turning to go after her captain. Ace grinned and made to follow.

Luffy really did have the most interesting of nakama.

XXX

To be continued…

I figured if Luffy had problems with Usopp, Ace could have a few problematic crewmates too! For eagle eyed readers, yes, Ace does still have the ASCE tattoo but that's just my personal preference as I can't picture him without it! I also have a head canon that Sabo refuses to sit properly in chairs ;)

Anyway, please remember to review! I enjoy hearing from readers ;) It's a huge motivation!