And here's another one! Please enjoy:)

Chapter 3

Strange Things

A month later the world was still trying too recover from the effects of the war. The Whitebeard crew were mourning the loss of their captain and father, they had erected a large grave for him on an island in the New World. They had also given the marine girl a proper burial right beside Whitebeard. Despite their crews great loss they set out almost immediately to check on the islands they laid claim over. Marco had become acting Captain and Ace had moved up to first division comander to fill his previous position.

When Ace had been able to stop and just think, without worrying for his brothers health or helping Marco keep the crew in order, the sheer weight of the war took its toll on him. He spent hours alone crying and sobbing for his father figure, the man that had accepted him into his family with open arms, regardless of his lineage. It would take Ace along time to recover from this, but he wouldn't be alone. He was on a ship full of people going through the exact same thing.

They had dropped Luffy off on an island close to Amazon Lily, much to Ace's dislike. He wanted his brother to stay with him, at least until they could get him back to his crew. But Luffy insisted. "I'm not strong enough Ace." His little brother had said in a serious tone. "I almost lost you. Rayleigh wants me too meet with him, I'm hoping he'll train me." Luffy wasn't that serious very often, so Ace knew immediatly there was no way he could convince the boy to stay.

When Luffy had been dropped off, Rayleigh was there waiting for him. He had asked Luffy what he wanted to do. Luffy told him that he knew he wasn't ready for the New World. The war had been their victory because of one brave girl that, despite having passed away, had become almost an idol to Luffy. He knew next to nothing about her, he didn't understand her actions but he and Ace owed their lives to her. Luffy was determined to not let her sacrifice be for nothing.

However, Luffy needed time to get strong, meaning he'd have to put off pirating for a while, and while he so badly wanted to see his nakama, he knew this was the right thing to do. He needed to tell his crew, and with Rayleigh and Jimbei's help, he returned to Marineford.

Six months later, Rayleigh left Luffy on his own to continue his training. He had originally planned to return to Sabaody to await the return of the Straw Hat pirates and continue his job, however something unexpected came up and he now found himself heading towards a new destination. He needed to speak with the first division commander of the Whitebeard pirates.

Ace had not expected to get a visitor, let alone the man who was supposed to be watching over his brother. So when Marco called him up on deck and he saw Rayleigh he was confused at first. Then he was very worried. "Where's Luffy? Is he okay?" He asked hurridly. The crew gathered around, wanting to hear what was being said.

Rayleigh put up a hand to calm Ace. "He is fine, physically. However, I am worried for his mental state."

Now Ace was extremely confused. "What do you mean?" Ace worried for Luffy's mentality as well sometimes but Luffy was an idiot by nature. What could be so wrong that it warranted Rayleigh to come this far out of his way to tell him.

"I believe that the death of the Marine girl has had a bigger impact on him then we thought." Rayleigh explained carefully. The man had seen a lot in his life time, but he was worried for Luffy's sanity. He seemed almost... obsessed with the girl who died in his arms. Rayleigh thought back to a few weeks ago, when he first noticed something wasn't right.

It was one of the first few nights, staying out in the wilderness. Luffy and Rayleigh had started a good sized fire in their camp and were currently enjoying a freshly cooked bear. Rayleigh couldn't help but smile fondly as he listened to Luffy talk about his adventures, in between bites of meat. The boy reminded him so much of his late captain, it brought on a feeling of nostalgia to him.

Luffy, who had been mid-sentence of describing this one time his crew had lost their memories, suddenly quieted. A look of confusion crossed his features and Rayleigh could only raise a questioning brow as the boy began looking around at the forest surrounding them. As a precaution, the Dark King, sent out a wave of observation haki. When he could not sense anything of danger, he frowned slightly at the young man across from him.

"What's wrong, Luffy?" He asked, watching the boy take a long sniff of the meat in his hand, before frowning and continuing to look around.

"You don't smell that?" Luffy asked, getting up and walking over to stand beside Rayleigh, trying to see if he could smell it over there too. Sure enough, the scent was just as strong.

Rayleigh, curious about Luffy's actions, gave him his undivided attention. "Smell what?"

Luffy took a sniff of the air. "Roses."

Rayleigh shook his head, taking a deep breath himself. He didn't smell anything close to the scent of roses. The younger of the two, took one last look around before shrugging and chalking it up to a mystery thing. The incident went unmentioned for a few days, however it was always in the back of Rayleigh's mind. Most people would have forgotten it had even occurred by now, but Rayleigh new that this was the Grand Line and you never ignore anything, despite how small and unimportant it may seem at the time. Ignorance was how people got themselves killed.

So when Luffy began acting strange again, Rayleigh paid close attention. They were in the middle of training observation haki and Rayleigh decided to give Luffy a break from the hours of being smacked over the head. Instead, he gave him a much simpler task.

Raleigh left Luffy standing in the middle of a large clearing blindfolded and gave him one instruction, find him. He then used his years of experience to sneak away silently and make himself comfortable hidden in the branches of a tree nearby. He watched in amusement as Luffy wandered around the clearing waving his hands in front of him. The boy stopped and pouted. He then took a deep breath and relaxed. Rayleigh was proud to see Luffy trying to use his haki, but before the younger could begin to move again, he suddenly stumbled forward.

Luffy waved his arms around, trying to regain his balance and when he did he turned around and crossed his arms in what Rayleigh would assume was annoyance. "I thought you were supposed to let me find you?" Luffy suddenly said, before reaching up and pulling the blindfold down around his neck. Rayleigh could see Luffy's eyes widen in shock and his body become stiff. The pirate king's right hand frowned, obviously not seeing whatever it was that Luffy was seeing.

Quickly, Luffy brought his fists to his eyes and rubbed them. When he dropped his hands, whatever it was that he saw must have been gone, because Luffy began looking frantically around the empty clearing. Rayleigh watched silently as the boy took a few moment to calm down again, before putting on his blindfold once more and set to work trying to find him.

Things had just continued to escalate after that. Luffy would just randomly bolt off into the forest during training sessions, yelling for an unseen person to stop and wait up. But then the talk about the marine girl started up as well. Luffy would talk about her constantly and yet never really tell him anything. Just going on about how brave and nice she was for saving him and his brother, or how she was really pretty (which Rayleigh was shocked to hear considering Luffy never seemed to show interest in any women, even the pirate empress who practically threw herself at him). But what concerned him the most was that, Luffy talked about her like she was still alive.

He even went so far as to say that he wanted her to join his crew, not even a few days ago.

And after Rayleigh explained all this, Ace was just as confused. That didn't sound like his brother at all. He had never heard Luffy every complement a girls looks before, let alone talk to thin air. What the heck was going on with his brother? Did having to watch that girl die in his arms cause him some kind of mental trauma that was causing him to hallucinate?

Of course, the rest of the crew had to throw in their two cents.

"Maybe he has an invisible friend!"

"Maybe the marine girl's spirit came back from the dead and is haunting Straw Hat!"

"Please, don't be ridiculous. There's no such thing as ghosts."

Ace groaned and rubbed his temples. There really wasn't much he could do about the situation. Besides, it didn't sound like Luffy was in any danger. Maybe it was just that, maybe his little brother conjured up an invisible friend to keep him company for a year and a half. Ace had to trust that Luffy could handle himself.

He would see how his brother was doing when they go to see him and his crew off in Sabaody. Until then, he would let Luffy train in peace.

There you have it, and if you're wondering, I'll be updating Falling Into Place next and then Sail's in the Sky. Thanks for reading!

Until next time!

-Ang3l