Ace waddled through the crowd in the funeral. It was as if the whole town came, but Lura deserved the whole world to come. She had such a big heart and was a hard worker. Sure, she had a bit of a short temper occasionally, but her mothering side made up for that. She was loved by this whole town and by him and Roger. Ace missed her smile. He missed her bright eyes. He missed her tight hugs and teasing words. Hell, he even missed her loud shrills as she yelled at him for sneaking away food. He missed his mother. Was that wrong?

People gave sympathetic looks, but it all felt empty. Ace knew that people were hurting, but at the same time, it was meaningless. They couldn't understand his pain and emotional turmoil. He was scum who was never supposed to be born, yet his mother loved him despite his flaws. Lura loved Ace for himself. A mother's love was something he could never quite grasp fully (Makino being the closest person to a mother. Dadan, on the other hand…) and now he had the chance to have one, only for it to end too quickly.

Ace had no one to blame, but himself. The thought has never occurred to him about what happened to the Pirate King's mother. Perhaps, he assumed that she died peacefully in her sleep or the Marines did the same to her for anyone associated with Roger. Or, the truth of the matter was that Ace was scared to know what would happen to his mother. He should've appreciated her more, but now he would never get the chance.

As Ace stared at her coffin, he looked away in a mixture of both shame and sadness. His charcoal eyes looked up at the cloudless sky. If this was a cliche novel, the sky would be crying and echoing how the protagonist felt. Or it would be a really stormy night and suddenly, someone you trusted killed your friend and in a flurry of fury, the protagonist runs after the murderer only to…

Ace shut down the thought as a burning feeling blazed in his chest. The feeling of dying echoed in his chest and it scared him more than he would admit. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried to shut out the feeling and the world. He felt like a mess. He tried to forget that moment when he died and hearing Luffy's echoing scream, but that was all he could hear right now. He could feel his brother's pain of him dying and it piled on top of his own at this moment. Was he destined to lose people he cared about? First Sabo, Thatch, Lura, and Lu-

Ace pinched himself at the thought. Luffy wasn't dead yet. He was just in the future… where he can't see, talk, or know him again. Then again, Luffy might as well be dead to him. Would his younger self even get to know Luffy? Wait, would his younger self even exist if he was alive right now?

He could already feel a headache amidst the heartache, but now was not the time to think about reincarnation theories. Now was the time to grieve. Ace put aside his worried and face reality head on. He took a deep breath and turned around. Maybe he should thank someone who arranged this funeral? As Ace left the front row of Lura's grave, he overheard a conversation.

"Who will take care of the two sons?" a man in the sea of black whispered. He twirled a black hat in his hand casually.

"I heard their father left Lura when she was pregnant, but she still waited for him. That stupid girl! She should've listened to me when I told her to remarry," a second person hissed angrily. Her lone short, choppy hair swung around in the air expressing her anger. Ace's hands clutched into fists. What the fuck were they saying? Lura didn't want to get married because she wanted to wait for someone she loved. How the hell was that wrong?

"So they are now orphans? The poor kids," a woman jumped into the conversation. "I would take care of them, but I have enough on my plate without two huge troublemakers!" The woman was draped in extravagant black laced clothing. It was probably to expensive for her to afford and she looked like the type of person to spend money first, then think later. She also was the type of talk first, then think later. The perfect gossip. She probably didn't know Lura, but just decided to come with majority of Loguetown. She had to right to say anything. Ace's temper was about to snap, but he controlled himself. There was no need to make a scene at his mother's funeral. It wasn't what Lura wanted. Still, maybe a little warning to those gossipers was well deserved.

"Agreed," the two strangers jumped on board with her words. Ace slowly walked by the gossiping group and gave a deadly glare. The gratitude he felt towards this town has vanished and turned to to red, hot rage. What were these bastards think they were saying? Was this really the time to gossip when his mother was about to be put in the ground ten feet deep? Thoughts like that swirled in his mind and he was glad to see the first man pee his pants in fear.

The group gulped loudly and shuffled away to pay respects to his mother who was no longer here.

Ace scowled angrily and kicked a rock on the ground. All this wasn't fucking fair! Lura… No, Mom didn't deserve to die! She didn't anything fucking wrong! If anyone deserved to die, it was him for even existing. He did a lot more horrible things than Lura has ever done. It was as if Fate was playing on sick joke by taking away another person he loved. His first real mother was… dead.

"Jeez, what did the rock do to you?" a hollow joking voice said behind him. Ace couldn't help but deepen his scowl. It wasn't that fact that the speaker was Roger, but more of the way he was acting. Instead of an annoying, overbearing big brother, Roger was just a pile of depression. Ace hated to admit it, but he missed the annoying Roger. As much as he hated the boy, his weird attitude unnerved him. It was understandable since this was the first one Roger lost someone close to him, but that was life. Soon, the bastard will be killing other people and lose other people. That was just life, but...

Thoughts like that made Ace forget that Roger was still a kid and not a pirate yet, much less the Pirate King. Perhaps, was his hatred misplaced? Shamefully, this was the first time the thought had occurred to him. Sure, Pops and a lot of other people who met Roger told him he wasn't that bad of a fella, but he never really listened to them that much. He hated his father his whole life. It was only natural that it was hard to erase the burning anger he felt for the bastard.

Who knew the death of his mother was the only reason the thought occurred to him? A huge surge of guilt overwhelmed Ace. Looking at his brother's empty eyes only added to the guilt already building inside of him. He shamefully looked away to stare at his feet. What would Mom say?

Lura never said what she wanted out loud. She always put and Roger first, sadly enough. He could tell though. Besides their missing father, she always wanted to put their happiness in front, like any other mother. What she has always, deep inside her heart, wanted to see Ace and Roger to get along. She never spoke the words, but her eyes shouted them to the world when she watched Ace scold his brother for talking to him.

Even when Lura was at her deathbed, she never said her two wishes to anyone and carried them to her grave.

"What I only want for you two is to be happy. Don't feel sad when I am gone and live your life to the fullest. Be freer than anyone else in the whole world. Don't forget about me, but give the world the brightest smile you can and do what you think is right."

Those departing words were barely murmured for the brothers to understand. Ace strained his ears to hear what his mother said before…

Ace tightly shut his eyes and clutched a familiar bright, orange cowboy hat. Life has its ironies, but this was the worst of them all. Someone he cared about gave this same hat in his previous life and now Lura passed it on to him before she died. She acquired it in her shop when someone traded it for some more paper, thread, and ink. It even had the same blue faces and red beads. She wanted to give to him when he turned 17, but now she never can. Tears prickled his eyes, but Ace held them back. He had to be stronger than this. He won't cry. He will not cry.

Muffled sobs echoed in his ears and Ace's eyes darted up to see Roger clutching his famous straw hat over his eyes. It reminded Ace of someone he knew very well. Ace felt a huge urge to go comfort the idiot in some way, but he was frozen still. Tears fell to the ground in a small platter sound that reminded Ace of rain drops. Soon, the single drop multiplied and Roger was sobbing his eyes out.

That scene felt some painstakingly familiar and it stabbed his heart. It made Roger seem much more humane. It wasn't a monster or pirate yet, but only an orphaned boy who just lost his mother.

That wasn't his father, the Pirate King, standing before him; that was his older brother crying.

Gathering up his courage, Ace quietly walked over to Roger and grabbed his hand willingly for the first time.

Usually, it was Roger screaming and dragging Ace around with his annoying antics, resulting in the two yelling at each other. Ace was yelling and scowling, but his brother let a huge smile at the insults. Despite how annoying his fath-... his brother was, Ace missed that overbearing brother.

Letting Roger know that Ace was here for him, the taller boy let go of his straw hat and look back at him. Ace gave a watery smile and before they knew it, the two were hugging each other, crying for their lost.

Finally, grudges were put aside and their hearts were fully exposed to one another. It was as if years and years of fake laughter and scowls from two brothers were disappearing.

At that moment, it was as if he touched Roger's heart and could see how fragile at was, and Roger him. It was as if Roger could see right through his heart and see the turmoil and pain he felt. It was scary, but at the same time, relieving. He was putting all his cards on the table for his brother to see without any fear or hatred, and Roger was doing the same.

Ace could see it all inside those eyes. The boy was still a child growing up in the world. The harsh words that Ace spewed at the male did, in fact, hurt him. Roger was just good at hiding it behind a fake grin that stretched from ear to ear. Maybe deep inside Ace knew that for a fact, or he was just realizing it for the first time, but that didn't matter.

The two young boys comforted each other in the midst of a cloudless sky and a sea of black. They only had each other now, but that was good enough for them.

On the day of their mother's funeral, two young brothers' relationship changed for good. Their bond was strengthened and tightened with each new moment and day.

The bond of these two brothers were changed for good and, of course, for the better. And with that, the tide of history as well. The pages of history that were once turning were being rewritten and in the center, was these two boys who would leave a mark on the pages.

With good-byes to their mother and hellos to their brother, the spark of hope ignited in their hearts and they looked towards the future with each other. There would be may obstacles and bickering, but a new adventure has set sail for the two.

THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN EDITED! I was too tired. I am sorry.

Could you make the ending anymore cheesier? No, no, you can't. I am sorry. I have never done that type of closing, so I couldn't resist. I apologize. I made this is a very cringy chapter just for the heck of it…

*Ducks behind wall*

Try not to kill me for the sucky chapter and late update. Cut me some slack. I had finals and CMs coming up. Plus, my close friend is moving to Florida. *Sighs* My life sucks. On a happier note, my birthday is on the 18th! I am not going to tell you how old and not because I am paranoid or anything, but I feel really young compared to everyone else. Haha. It is in the early/earlier teens (What IS exactly considered early teens? Actually, when I think about it, it isn't early teens at all. More like the middle teens) for your info.

Anyways, this chapter was unexpected. I was supposed to write something else, but it ends up that this chapter was with Ace's and Roger's bond as brothers changing after the loss of their mother.

That... wasn't supposed to happen. It was supposed to happen later, but looks like I am going to wing it for that chapter. I dunno. Probably for the next two or three chapters (I haven't decided the number of chapters yet and whether or not to combine ideas) too. Yep, this story is almost done! Then we have the Epilogues to do! Yeah, you heard me right. There was a plural S right there. I have my work cut out for me.

Drop a review please! I really adore reviews when life gets rough!

Also, please, please, please REQUEST anything about what you want to see at the very last bonus chapter to wrap up this story. I don't care what you guys want, from Roger doing Ace's diapers to Lura wanting to tear out her hair with her sons' antics! All requests are accepted!

Anyways, I don't own anything from the wonderful franchise called One Piece or the cover image!

Thanks to the following for faving, following, or reviewing: Guest, FireD. Rion, Cindar, PINATA POWAH, treavellergirl, Taiski, Zoeyoong, Evening Dew, digreg, AkwardPanda89, RiA824, Angel0940, akagara, kerennie, KisumeKlovia, Predictablyher, Nouxy, torybird, and Yorozuya.

-mysteryreader6626 signing out