Disclaimer: You're going to either love or hate this chapter. Emotion-wise it might confuse you. Either way, this was necessary. I'll was it again. I needed to do this for the story to keep going. Very important developement. Don't give me that look - it's true! Ya jerks...

When he was certain no one was listening in, Luffy dug into his clothes and snatched a baby den den mushi from his person – they hadn't bothered to search him. He hurriedly dialed a number and waited for the person on the other line to pick up.

"Luffy?" The voice was raspy and deep with concern lacing his tone. The boy sighed with relief.

"Old man, I need back-up."

"Why? What happened?"

"I've been caught by Whitebeard's men." He waited for the abrupt gasp from his superior. "They took out four of our ships and they're keeping me on one of their ships. I've been hurt pretty bad. Not sure I'd be any help in a fight right now, but I'll do what I can."

"Alright." The man on the other side adjusted himself and groaned as he thought of what to do next. "We're repairing the ships that were damaged in the battle last week. Once they're fixed I'll head out with my men."

"How long will that take?" Luffy was starting to grow impatient. He heard his superior laugh.

"Cheeky brat! My men work fast!"

"I don't know how long I can stand these pirates, Gramps!"

"Luffy…" his voice faded as he searched for the right words to say, "…is there a pirate aboard named Ace?"

"Fire Fist? Yeah, he's here. Crazy bastard if you ask me. Why?"

"…"

"What is it?"

"Just hold out a little longer."

The Line went dead.

Ace heard the conversation from the other side of the door and made a mental note to inform Marco and Oyaji later. He had a feeling that the boy would try something like that – he was more cautious than the Luffy he remembered – so he waited a minute to make it seem like he hadn't heard their conversation before knocking and entering.

"You again?" Luffy scowled. He was getting annoyed with seeing that eerie face every time a meal was brought.

"I missed you too," the fire user shot back sarcastically.

Luffy looked to the man's hands and noticed they were empty. He shot Fire Fist a curious look – he hadn't entered the room for any reason other than to give him food. What was he planning? Surely he wasn't there for small talk. Even if he was, it would still be strange.

"Well?" The Marine motioned for him to explain himself, using the same bored and irritated tone he'd used throughout his stay there.

"Come with me."

"Why?" He knew there was something odd about it.

"You're dining with us tonight."

With that, Ace turned and unenthusiastically and headed out the door. Luffy noted that he'd lost his vigor since the day previous. Before they would shoot a few insults at each other, but he lacked the strength to do even that. The man was avoiding eye contact. Then there was what he had said: he was going to dine with the pirate crew? That was abnormal. Still, he followed lazily behind because he promised himself that he would play along for the time being. He was in no position to attack the most powerful pirate crew on the sea, especially as injured as he was.

He was lead onto the deck and saw the entrance to the galley. As the door opened, the cheering and laughing voices of hundreds of pirates flooded out onto the sea. The noise was deafening. They both entered and the Marine's appearance quieted the room into a dead silence. It was so quiet that he could hear the creaks in the floorboards as they walked and the breaths of all those around them. It was uncomfortable, having all of those people focus on him – all of those pirates.

He was lead to the commanders' table. Thirteen of them sat side-by-side and waited for their final member and "guest" to arrive. He was seated across from Phoenix and in-between Fire Fist and Thatch. Everyone was still fixated on him and he had to watch the table to stop himself from spewing insults at the criminals.

"So this is Ace's brother, huh?" Izo asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"I'm not. He's insane," Luffy shot back, brow furrowed, eyes still fixed on the wood in front of him.

After a few more moments of silence, the room broke out into a roar of laughter. This caused the Marine's focus to shift around the room to the pirates who mused over his words. It was irritating. The outburst subsided and the room went back to its natural loudness once more. However, there were still a few chuckles at the commanders' table. What was so funny?

"Clearly you don't know your brother well," Thatch stated, holding back the last of his chortling.

"He's not-"

"Ace doesn't lie – not about stuff like this, yoi." Though Marco's tone was serious, his expression was amused. His eyes were scanning the boy, analyzing his uniform and expression and the bandages covering his burns. The Phoenix's gaze was more than just intimidating; it was downright unnerving.

"Knock it off," Ace commanded with a weak sigh. Before anyone could object they saw the commander's head smack hard against the table's surface. The man went silent.

Luffy couldn't help but stare at his lifeless figure and the others followed suit. Was he dead? The other pirates weren't very concerned. It was a bit of a letdown when he heard the man snore, but he supposed it would make no sense for him to drop dead without reason.

"Ignore him, he's fine," Thatch assured him as he placed a large plate of food before the Marine.

"I wasn't worried."

"Of course."

Luffy stared at Fire Fist once more, a spark of curiosity showing in his eyes. He would never admit it, though.

"He's narcoleptic. He falls asleep without warning, yoi." Marco noted the boy's interest. Ace mentioned that his brother didn't even bother to look at him but that didn't seem to be the case. Perhaps he was focusing more on his elder sibling than either of them had realized. His words were harsh and his actions no better, but something was making him look Ace's way. While continuing his visual study of his friend's brother he saw that the boy began to eat and that the seastone he'd placed as a precaution was no longer there. "That moron…he removed your bands?"

"Probably shouldn't have a moron guard your prisoners," Luffy stated, delicately placing the spoon in his mouth and quietly chewing. He heard the Phoenix groan.

"Well, you're not exactly a prisoner."

"How so?"

"We wouldn't allow a prisoner into the galley, yoi."

"Then what am I?"

"A guest," Vista announced matter-of-factly. Luffy jolted at the word, recalling a similar conversation the previous day. Truly, the Whitebeard pirates were abnormal.

"Called for back-up?" Thatch inquired.

"Yeah," Ace rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. They were going to be caused a lot of trouble because of that stupid brother of his. The commanders were the only ones in the galley at that point. It was a bit of a midnight meeting to discuss some pressing matters involving the Marines. "And I recognized the voice on the other line: it was our grandfather."

"He coming?"

"Seems like it."

"When, yoi?"

"Not sure. I think he said he had to wait for some repairs."

"Then we have some time at least," Haruta stated in an attempt to lighten the mood. Ever since the Marine boy had shown up they had been worrying about the position it put them in. After all, they kidnapped a Marine Captain; that wasn't going to sit well with HQ. It was worse knowing that the boy's grandfather was going to be the one trying to track them down. What a headache.

"Sorry," Ace hung his head low and blocked his eyes with the rim of his hat, "we have enough worry about without my personal problems…" He had been beating himself up about it ever since the previous night. It was his selfishness that brought Luffy aboard their ship and it was him who insisted they take him with them. The others hadn't objected. They never would. Knowing that fact made him feel even worse.

He felt the hold of a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Thatch's usual grin of confidence and felt a weight lift from his chest. His crewmates were always there for him. They cared – always had.

"Don't worry about it! We're used to dealing with your messes," he teased. The fire user glared at him and all fourteen commanders burst into laughter. They then readied themselves to head to their rooms.

"I'll talk to Oyaji in the morning, yoi. Try to get some rest."

Luffy hovered over the limp figure of his "brother" and eyed his neck with determination. Truth be told, he hadn't done something like that before. What if he messed up? He did his best to put his wavering thoughts to the back of his mind as he fingered the blade in hand. No matter what, he had to remain calm – otherwise he would miss and if he missed everything would be over. Steady breath. Unwavering body. He thrust forward.

"That's not going to work, yoi." The voice brought him to a halt and he spun around, a frantic mess. The room's door was open. A large, blackened figure stood within it, arms crossed, taking a laid-back stance. It was the Phoenix and, no surprise to Luffy, he was unaffected by the boy's attempt. "You can't kill him as you are now, yoi."

"What?"

"So you hate me that much, Luffy?"

The Marine spun back around to the sight of his waking brother. Luffy had woken up to see Fire Fist asleep at his bedside. He thought it was the perfect chance to take the pirate's head and escape, so he stole a knife from another room and returned to off him. It was a cheap trick, he admitted, but it was something his superiors had drilled into him back at Marine Headquarters and utilizing it was his job. He never had to do it before, though. It felt wrong. Still, he was a Marine and it was his responsibility to rid the world of threats. He had to.

"Don't flatter yourself, Fire Fist." He scowled at his enemy before throwing the knife to the ground. There wasn't much he could do against someone who could regenerate at will.

He continued to watch Ace's face with a dull glare. When he saw the man's torn and hurt face, however, something inside him broke. His glower remained unchanged but inside he felt that something was wrong. The boy from his dreams flashed to the forefront of his consciousness and his feelings began to change. Reason aside, that pirate cared for him. He repaid that care by stepped all over him and trampling over whatever kindness he showed. Luffy tried to kill him. Something was wrong with that. Luffy was a Marine and he was a pirate – natural enemies – but he couldn't shake the small twinge of guilt that emerged in his chest. He pushed it aside. There was no time for emotional garbage like that.

"Fine, then." Ace rose to his feet, picked up his hat and dragged himself to the Marine. He glared coldly at his brother before tightly locking onto his wrist and forcefully leading him out of the room.

"Hey, Ace, what are you…?" Marco's objections were ignored as his comrade marched onto the deck. He remained dazed for a moment; Ace always listened to him. When he made his way up the stairs and looked around his eyes widened from their usual half-lidded appearance. Ace was pushing his brother's head over the rail, ignoring the struggles and forcing the boy to look at the water. He was leaning dangerously over the edge. "Oi!" Even Marco couldn't stay calm at that point. He rushed in.

"You still wanna give me that bullshit, Luffy?" He threated, fighting the boy's protests with ease. He was met with no reply. "You have nowhere else to go! We're all you have right now!"

The boy was flailing about, trying to get himself as far away from the edge as possible. All he could think was that the man had truly gone mad until he heard something. He slowed his protests and quieted himself to catch the sound better. Muffled sobs met his ears. The man's force lessened. Though he couldn't see him, he could hear Ace's near-silent cries and feel the warm droplets hit his back. He stopped resisting and there was a tearing pain in his chest. What had he done?

"Please…" The pirate's broken words carried on the wind, "I can't do this anymore…"

A/N: So 2,000+ words is basically going to be the standard for Reverse from now on. There may be some exceptions, but generally that'll be the length. So be happy, the updates are going to be a lot longer than Skip's. Ha! Take that Skip fans! Why am I competing with my own story...? Oh right, because this story is seriously lacking in reviews and follows compared to my other two! I hate to do it but this might end up taking a back-seat to the other two stories anf become my lowest priority because of demand. If you want it to be updated more than the others once school starts for me then please support it! I have a lot of fun writing the angst in this story...

Ahem. Now to my lovelies.

bakahime123: So...is it good? To your liking? :D Luffy opening up is gonna take a while, as you can see. There is a method to his madness though! I assure you!

elixluna: Yay! Thank you~ I appreciate that. Lol yeah, but I think both options were equally as good for different reasons so you're not losing out on quality, don't worry! And yeah, you probably won't like this Luffy much. There's a reason for him acting the way he is though. A lot of reasons. Hopefully you'll warm up to him as a reveal some of his background. I'd do it if I have the time but I'm not going to once school starts. If enough people tell me that they would like to read it then I could start writing it at the end of April when my summer break starts. But only if it gets support.

bbhelen3162: You don't know the half of it XD I don't think most people realized just how torn this story was going to make Ace feel or just how negatively affected he was goin to be. And I'm pretty certain they didn't expect the Luffy they got from it, either. Lol I was going to explain everything carefully to make it easy to understand to avoid my readers going to the psych ward XD Did you expect him to suffer like THIS? *evil laugh* AceLu is awesome.

Neko-VongolaPrimo: Did I do good this time? Or worse? Well his personality change has to do with memory loss, yes, but it's more a result of what happened after he became an amnesiac. You'll find out what he does and doesn't remember later on. It's going to get a little confusing. Lol did you expect Luffy to attempt murder? Ace is too trusting. He should accept that his brother is clearly a bloodthirsty dog of the World Government! And lol you guys are all villans! You're the ones who are making the brothers suffer, remember that!

angelrider13: ...I can't answer that :P I just can't wrap my head around him looking so young though! I think I'm going to bring it up in one of the chapters of Switch. Or mayber A Pirate's Resolve. Well I'll mention it in one of my stories for sure.

XxSaorixX: But wouldn't it be sad if he was immortal? Cuz then he's have to watch everyone around him age and die while he stayed the same ;A; Lol you do? Seems a lot of people are hating him XD Still like him being a murder-attempting jerk? Then again Ace isn't acting much better...So did you expect any of the stuff that happened in the chapter? And as for the oneshot, it's ok I got permission from 2 awesome authors to take and alter their ideas for it! XD

RexLink: Yeah, I don't think many people realized just how different Luffy was going to be. Oh well XD And yeah, I know about his fire but since it's an AU story I wanted to change it up a bit. Hope it doesn't bother you! Ace making fire wings...don't temp me! :D Thank you! Glad you like!

namelessreader: Reviews mean a lot to me. It takes me sometimes an hour to write replies to them but I really do care about you guys and what you think so even if it takes up a lot of time I'll always reply. Well, except to the really short reviews where they don't say much XD I love those too though.

Emz: Here's an update!

Pandombie: I wanna update it a lot but Skip has become the most popular :( Hopefully this one picks up some more reviews and follows before I start school so I can keep it at high priority.

Terrie1234: Secret :P Here's an update! Hope it's to your liking!

YingYang21: Thank you!

AkaNeko-san: Lol and this chapter has even more angst! With the way Luffy's scting you have to try to see it from his perspective: he hates pirates (for reasons that will be explained later), was almost killed by Marco (he started it, but still), he's stuck on an enemy ship, has no idea who Ace is, is being told he's his brother in a rather violent way ect...not to mention after losing their memories amnesiacs experience great personality shifts because their experiences shaped who they were and not those memories are lost. Not to mention he's had it rough, though that hasn't been mentioned yet. I don't think you'll hate him forever, trust me. Also Luffy doesn't trust his dreams anymore (you'll see why in a future update). Nah, I'm not trying to make you regret choosing the first option. I have a lot of fun writing this story. I'm just teasing :P And I know Marco does not look that old! (Yes, the Author Note is growing rapidly :P)

Son Goshen: I know the theory but it's just so sad ;A; He stays alive while everyone around him dies? Too cruel! I'm sorry I shattered your heart. It was an accident. Did this chapter make it worse? Shit kinda got real hehe...and like i said in the reply to Aka-can, there are lots of reasons for his attitude. He's not as bad as he's making himself out to be. The hat's going to come into play later on. No, Ace won't be emo. Ace has a temper, remember, so his reactions aren't going to be very conventional. You guessed wrong! Did you expect THAT to happen? Muahahahaha!

Thank you all! Just remember that the more support this recieves the more likely it is to be updated!