A/N: My chapters are rather short aren't they? I just realized this. I'll try to make the upcoming ones longer. And I really appreciate the reviews. Thank you. :)


"A-Ace?"

"Yes Luffy?"

'This can't possibly be happening. I must have eaten a stupid hallucination mushroom or something,' thought Luffy. And then remembered that he hadn't eaten anything at all.

"Is it really you?"

"Of course not. I'm dead stupid!"

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ALL ALIVE AND SHIT?"

"Oi lil bro, I just told you I'm dead! What does that tell you?"

"That you're not real?"

"Of course not!"

"Wait a minute, I've heard stories about this kinda stuff. Am I…am I imagining you?"

"You'll know the answer to that."

"This is retarded. I can't be having a conversation with myself. Bleah," and he stuck out his rubber tongue further than any normal human being could.

"Stick that tongue inside!"

"Nope. I'm imagining you right? Does that mean I can make you do anything?"

"Nooo…whaaaaa…?"

"Cool. Now you look like meat!"

Yes, Luffy had matured over the gap of two years. He had matured as an adult human being. But who are we talking about here? He's Luffy after all!

"Wait, I didn't want to imagine you. So why are you here? What are you doing? Am I going mad?"

"Listen up Luffy, it wasn't your fault I died. It was supposed to be me who had to protect you. Not the other way round. There was no way you could have beaten the entire force of Marines all by yourself."

"Shut up! We made a promise! How could you call me your little brother when you went ahead and broke that promise after getting stupidly getting captured by the marines?"

"You don't have to show me tough love Luffy. Not after I've died. And more importantly, that's not the reason I'm here."

"Whatever Ace….are you just going to turn up randomly like this from now on?"

"SHUT UP YOU MORON! AND LISTEN TO ME! I want you to forgive yourself. Let it go. Let it go and live your life as well as fulfill your dream."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you were feeling uncomfortable with yourself for some reason, wouldn't that explain why your sub-conscious decided to make me appear in front of you now?"

"You mean…N..Nami?"

"No, I mean Robin. OF COURSE I MEAN NAMI BAKA!"

"I..I can't do that Ace."

"Listen Luffy…"

"No, you listen. Things have changed haven't they? It's been two years since you died. Why didn't I think of making you appear then? Because I couldn't forgive myself? No. I accepted the fact and trained myself accordingly. I know that I didn't stand a chance against them. But if I felt the need to console myself this way by calling you, then I would have done so long ago. Being with Nami again, various things have been fighting inside my brain to come up with reasons why I can't be with her. And you are one of them."

"You really have grown haven't you?"

"Not having you to watch over my head forced me to," and he smiled. Ace responded with another smile.

"Anyway, I feel sorry for you nevertheless. Look at you! Pathetically attempting to overcome your sub-consciousness with reasons given out by your conscious mind. I think you really are going mad Luffy!"

"It's sad it didn't work out. But it's reassuring to see that you're there for me even after you died Ace. Thank you."

"Baka, it's you who bought me back. Not the other way round! Take care brother."

And Ace vanished just like he appeared.

Luffy sat down to think, squishing the mushroom that fell from his hands in the process. His mind no longer was a busy junction of thoughts. It was clear now. He smiled, unconsciously making circles in the ground with his finger.

A straw-hat pirate was watching him. You'd think Luffy could sense the presence of another person using his haki. He could. But not of a single body part. The ear and eye swiftly retracted onto the tree branch from which they were protruding. 'Just as I suspected,' thought Robin, 'our captain has fallen in love!' Robin, being 11 years older than him, and training with his father for two years, thought she should go out and help him. But then realized immediately that her words will have almost negligible effect on him since his own sub-conscious wasn't able to persuade him. And she decided she should actually plan something out first. And off she went into the forest in another direction.

That evening everybody gathered back at the Sunny, except for Usopp and Brook, who never left in the first place. Zorro would have remained lost if Nami hadn't found him going deeper inside. Enjoying Sanji's food, everybody was happy. Well, almost everybody. Luffy was sitting on top of the figure-head of the Sunny, looking out into the sea.

"Hey captain! Come and be SUPER like the rest of us!" you can guess who said that. :p

"I just saw a super giant fish out here! Bigger than moo-moo! No..wait…bigger than the Kraken! I'm waiting for it to reappear so that we can have it for breakfast tomorrow!"

But Franky wasn't even listening anymore. And Robin knew he was lying. Seeing what she saw today made her sure that Luffy was very adamant. And he sure wasn't going to do anything. She would have to tackle the problem from the other end. And that meant some girl-to-girl talk.

Luffy pondered over the day's events. Arriving at the first island in the New World, having a talk with his brother, a pretty crazy one that is. He was amazed that his feelings towards her were so strong that he actually felt that he needed to hear it from his deceased brother to go ahead and that it was alright. What made him even more surprised was that despite that, he didn't wanna listen. He had promises to keep, journeys to complete, dreams which he had to make come true. He didn't wanna, or more precisely, couldn't, let a trivial thing like love get in the way. And he stopped.

'Do I really love Nami?'

He was about to find out the answer soon enough.


Well, that's done! The third chapter! Hope it was good enough (and was longer too, right?) Do tell me how it is! Speaking of reviews, I've had over 500 views of this fic and only 6 reviews! That's bad. Real bad. -_-