I am literally posting this from my phone on the way to a weekend vacation. So. That's happening. Lemme tell u something I was in a FRENZY to finish this before I left. Thank god for preemptively written review replies.

Koala and Ace finally storm the afterlife. Enjoy!

Koala was floating.

She felt light and weightless, and her feet weren't touching anything. There was a cool, slightly tingly sensation all over her body, almost as though she was immersed in water. Her vision was nothing but ice-blue whiteness, if that color made any sort of sense.

Then her feet hit the ground and her vision cleared, and Koala got her first glimpse of the Afterworld. Her breath caught.

She was standing next to Ace on top of a grassy hill. A light breeze was blowing, pleasantly cool against her face. The grass was green, the perfect shade of green that Koala had never actually seen in real life, rippling in the wind. The sky was bright blue; the clouds that floated across it were white and fluffy.

Spread out below the hill was a sprawling city of whitewashed buildings and red tiled roofs. There was a wall of sorts running around its edges, stone, with huge arches every few feet; obviously not meant to keep people out, but rather mark the city limits. To the west of the city was the sea; perfectly blue-green, white foam washing onto a long strip of sandy beach; again, perfect colors that she had never actually seen, only imagined. On the upper end of the beach; the northern end, farthest from the hill; there was a harbor, several ships floating peacefully in the docks, vague shapes of people strolling on the boardwalk.

It was stunningly beautiful.

"Doesn't look much like Pirate Heaven," Ace frowned. Koala blinked, then let out a surprised laugh. Here she was being floored by the afterlife, and Ace was utterly unimpressed. Ace blinked, looked at her, and added with a grin, "But I guess it's not a bad place to end up."

Koala grinned back at him. "So what would Pirate Heaven be, then?"

"Ocean," Ace answered instantly, "Lots of ocean, and alcohol, and partying. And freedom," he added, looking wistful, "Above all, freedom…"

That wistful expression on Sabo's face made Koala's heart pang again. She shook herself and took a deep breath. They were here. They were here for Sabo. Sabo was somewhere in that city, she was certain of it. It was go time. Or nearly. "All right. First. Before we charge in, we've got to make sure we know where our exit is, in case things go wrong."

Koala and Ace frowned at each other for a moment, wondering where the portal was. Then, simultaneously, they turned to look behind them.

The portal was a circular, swirling mass of colors, all changing and moving. Just looking at it made Koala dizzy in seconds. Koala couldn't quite tell how big it was, only that it was big enough. There weren't really edges to the portal, just places where the colors changed and shifted to sky and grass and horizon. At the bottom of that side of the hill was a huge, lush forest that seemed almost as if it was there solely to mirror the city on the other side, although Koala couldn't imagine why she got that impression; she just did.

She and Ace turned back around.

"Portal, check," Ace said, sounding dazed, "Anything else?"

Koala wracked her brains. She didn't want to forget anything drastically important this time. "Let's see…we need to stick together, I don't want us to lose each other. Let's try not to piss off anyone…we don't know who, or what, we'll encounter."

"Maybe Pops is here," Ace said, hope lighting up his voice, "Or Thatch. I'd like to talk to them, just one more time…"

Koala thought of Fisher Tiger, her savior, her father-figure. He eyes welled up with tears involuntarily at the thought of seeing him, speaking with him, just one more time.

She shook her head. She had to focus on Sabo. But…if the opportunity came, she wouldn't pass it up. Nor would she begrudge Ace if he found his nakama.

"Let's see," Koala continued, thinking out loud, "Sabo should look like himself, because, you know…souls and things." That was the only way Aeriasky had described it. "So if anyone asks, you're his twin brother."

Ace winced at the reminder. "Do we have to…?"

Koala felt for Ace. She knew he hated this, but, well… "It's that or explain the whole thing with the genie."

Ace winced again. "Ugh. So what's your excuse? Desperate lover?" He grinned teasingly.

Koala whapped him in the back of the head. "Don't be gross, it's older sister, just like normal."

Ace's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

Koala gave him a strange look. Hadn't he known that? "I really hope you aren't surprised I'm your sister, Ace," she said teasingly.

"No, I - older?"

Koala nodded. "You and Sabo are twenty, aren't you?" she said matter-of-factly, "I'm a year older; twenty-one."

Ace looked dumbstruck. "Goddamn," he said, his tone almost awe, "I have an older sister. An actual, official, proper older sibling. I'm somebody's little brother-"

Koala smashed her fist over his head before he freaked out. That always brought people back to their senses. Or out of them, depending. Anyways- "Not just somebody's little brother; mine. Come on, Ace, let's go save our other brother."

Ace shook his head. "Right. There's nothing else that we need to go over?"

Koala paused briefly, thinking. "I have a pipe - well, I guess it's Sabo's pipe - if you happen to need it. Think that's it." She started down the hill, towards the city.

"You what?" Ace started after her a second later. "But you don't - where? And why?"

Koala reached behind her back and pulled out said pipe without breaking stride. Ace stared in what she could only interpret as awe.

"Goddamn. You've gotta teach me that trick."

Koala laughed and put it back. "To be honest, I wasn't sure if it would work with something as big as the pipe, but I tried it and it does. As for why…well, it's just, when were were trading stories that time on the Sunny, you guys said you fought with pipes as kids, didn't you? I thought it might come in handy." Sabo had used it in - in the war. And he'd been damn good with it, too.

"You are officially the coolest person I know. Marco's been demoted."

Koala laughed again - part startled, part just plain happy. That simple statement filled her with something, some feeling she recognized but had never named - a mix of pride, surprise and joy.

"Thanks, little brother."

And saying those two words gave her the same feeling.

Ace's smile twitched and then fell slightly. "Sabo and I…we never did find out who was older."

They were about halfway down the hill, and the wall of arches was becoming clearer - a towering thing that rose above all the buildings of the town except a lighthouse near the coast, past the harbor, and a tall building with a rounded dome on top near the center of the town. Now that they were closer, Koala could make out figures standing in the arches, a single figure at each; perhaps a guard or customs officer of sorts.

Koala blinked, processing Ace's quiet statement a minute after he'd said it. He was still talking.

"We…we always…for us, we just had two older brothers with a little brother to take care of. It didn't matter. Once we said whoever was tallest was older." Ace smiled slightly, but then it dropped again. "But we just…never really thought about it. It wasn't important." Ace took a deep breath. "An I don't know why…but it feels important now."

Koala hesitated before she spoke, finding the words she wanted to say. "Would you rather ask him yourself, or do you mind if I tell you?"

Ace gave her a startled look. "You know-?" and then, at her grin, "Of course you know."

Silence. Koala stated to make out the figures standing at the arches; they were humanoid, tall, and uniformed.

"…Tell me," Ace said. Koala looked at him and smiled gently.

"Sabo's birthday is March twentieth." She said it slowly, carefully, treating it like the precious treasure she knew it was to Ace.

Ace's face, Sabo's face, split into a wide grin. "January first," he said, almost triumphantly, "I'm older."

Koala grinned, reached up, and pulled Ace's hat down over his eyes. "But I've got dibs on eldest."

Ace pushed his hat up and laughed.

They reached the arches not long after that.

The figure leaning lazily against the arch as the siblings approached was seven feet tall, red-skinned, and practically asleep. Koala and Ace exchanged amused looks as the - man?- snorted and nearly fell flat on his face before jerking wildly awake, windmilling his arms for balance.

"Fine. I'm fine," the man (?) said, apparently to himself. Then he noticed Koala and Ace and visibly startled before slapping a hand to his face. "Ah, boy. New arrivals. Hey, listen, do me a favor and don't mention to anyone I was sleeping on the job, yeah?"

Koala exchanged an amused look with Ace before the latter shrugged with a casual "Sure."

The man(?) sighed in relief. "Great. Thanks." He straightened and pulled out a strange black rectangle. "So, names and causes of death?"

The constant mantra of 'get in, get Sabo, get out' that had been pounding in Koala's head stuttered into 'do what?'

"I'm Portgas D. Ace, this is-"

Koala slammed her foot on top of Ace's. He yelped, and she grabbed his ear and yanked it close to her mouth. "What do you think you're doing?" she hissed.

"Giving the guy the info he asked for, what does it look-" Ace began.

"Are you stupid?" Koala hissed furiously, cutting him off, "haven't you ever heard of subtlety? Caution? Concealment?"

"I'm a pirate, what do I care about that shit?" Ace grumbled.

"This explains so much about you," Koala said, deadpan.

Ace scowled at her. "Besides, what's the point? It's the goddamn afterlife, we're gonna end up here anyways, and it's not like they can kill us if we're already in dead people land." He paused. "…Right?"

Koala was almost certain that wasn't how it worked, but she sighed and let go of his ear anyways. Ace straightened and rubbed it with a scowl. The man (you know what, fuck it, Koala was calling him a man until proven otherwise) was looking at his strange black rectangle with a confused expression.

"No Portgas D. Ace on the queue," he said, "What exactly was your cause of death? Or are you in a coma or-"

Koala thought quickly and came up with the same solution Ace had - there wasn't a point in lying. "We're not dead," she said bluntly, "We're here to save our brother."

"Haven't you ever heard of subtlety," Koala heard Ace mimic under his breath. She stomped on his foot again. "OW!"

The man blinked once before his eyes widened. "Aw, what, you're heroes?"

Koala furrowed her brow at the description. 'Heroes' wasn't exactly how she'd term it.

"Ugh, they mentioned this in orientation, but they never bothered to cover it - 'the portals are all closed,' they said," the man continued, obviously not paying attention to them anymore as he turned and gestured dramatically, "'You'll never have to worry about it,' they said." Koala began to try and edge through the arch. "Hold on, I'll have to call my manager."

"Your what," Ace said, deadpan. The man held up a finger in the universal gesture for 'wait' and tapped his black rectangle a few times before bringing it to his ear, where he spoke into it.

"Hello? Yes, sorry - I really apologize, but - oh, we have heroes at the city limits."

Koala exchanged a look with Ace. Ace circled his finger by his forehead - the universal gesture for 'loony.' Koala wasn't so sure. It seemed to her that the rectangle might work a bit like a Transponder Snail - she could even hear a loud, screeching voice coming from it, although faintly. Maybe this was the Afterworld equivalent.

"Where - uh, arch 367-S." A pause. "Right." The man brought the rectangle away from his ear, tapped it, and edged backwards.

That action rung alarm bells in Koala's head. She grabbed Ace's arm and pulled him back a few steps, ignoring his startled "Wha-?" and opened her mouth to interrogate the man on what had just happened.

Then there was a blast of black smoke in the middle of the arch. It quickly gathered into a cloud, which made Koala think of Aeriasky, before it dispersed, revealing a creature that matched up extremely well with Koala's mental image of a demon imp.

It spun around, searching for Ace and Koala, and locked onto them with a fearsome scowl. The effect was slightly ruined by the pair of glasses it wore, and because although the demon (or whatever it was) hovered at eye level with the aid of leathery bat wings, it couldn't have been more than two feet tall.

"Heroes!" It shrieked in a grating voice that made Koala, Ace, and the now-cowering red-skinned man wince, "Blasted interfering heroes, always trying to upset the natural order of things! Who is it you're trying to save now, eh?!"

"Our brother," Ace began firmly, "And we're not her-"

The demon cut Ace off with a disgusted sound. "Pah! At least it's a better story than all those blasted romantics saving their lovers! Damn humans, always humans, why is it always blasted humans?!"

Koala and Ace exchanged looks. Koala raised an eyebrow.

How did you even get here?" The demon asked with a scowl, the shriek in its voice lessening (to everyone's great relief), "I thought we'd closed up all the portals after that blasted Jackson incident!"

The man cleared his throat hesitantly. "Those were only the ones connecting to HB-24-12, actually."

The demon frowned, whipped out a scroll, and opened it, seemingly to search for something. "Was it?"

"Look-" Koala tried to begin, at the same time that Ace stepped forward with murder in his eyes. She yanked him back by his (well, Sabo's, actually) shirt collar as the demon's gaze snapped up.

"Which world are you two from?" It asked in a voice much less grating than before.

Koala and Ace exchanged puzzled looks. The demon slapped a hand to its face.

"Urgh. Do you know the name of your planet?"

"Eh…no," Ace admitted.

"That narrows it down more than you'd think…" the demon muttered, searching through its scroll. It squinted at something, pushed up its glasses, then looked up again. "What would you say is the most coveted treasure in your world?"

"Oh, that's easy," Koala said matter-of-factly, "It's the One Piece, no question."

The demon nearly dropped its scroll. "That world?!" It shrieked, grating voice back in full force, "We never even had portals in that world!"

"Yeah, well, thank Aeriasky," Ace said, his fingers firmly in his ears, "They're the one who said we could get Sabo."

The demon clutched at is scroll and let out a string of expletives that physically sizzled in the air. Ace whistled, an impressed expression on his face.

"That * #!$% genie!" The demon screeched, "Meddling with-"

"Look, buddy," Koala said with a scowl, "We're just here for our brother. Get out of the way, or I'll make you get out."

She was honestly expecting the demon to laugh in her face, or at least scoff. Instead it paled and moved to the side.

"Heroes," it moaned, "I hate heroes."

"I'm a pirate," Ace corrected, looking offended.

"What does it matter? You're here to bring someone back to life; that makes you a hero." The demon began to dissolve into black smoke. "Just let them in…"

Then it vanished. The red-skinned man, looking equally bemused and terrified, motioned for them to go through the arch.

"Uh, good luck finding your brother," he said nervously as they went past, "and, erm, welcome to Sailors' Refuge."

They were in.

...I was GOING to have them start running into dead people this chapter, but then they got held up by management. Whoops. Damn management.

SarakuHD: Ooooh that's where you were. I kinda thought so but I wasn't sure. Yep, that...pretty much sums up the chapter. Luffy's actually pretty fun for me to write, partly because I kinda get how his brain works. Aeriasky is Not Learning from past mistakes but hey, it's not like Ace and Koala are ever gonna know, they're in the Afterworld. Plus also it prevents people (like Luffy) from randomly stumbling into the afterlife. Afterworld. Whatever. Rayleigh has seen many things in his days...and this is in the top ten on the weirdness list. (Law, on the other hand...well, he's getting dragged into this mess if you'll recall.) Yeah, the sibs REALLY need some alone bonding time...I'll see what I can do. Definitely gonna try and make it happen, but, well, with Rayleigh and 3D2Y and...*coughs* nevermind. That's an endgame spoiler. And as for Dressrosa: Yes. Ace is gonna have *fun* there in two years.

AvaTheDarkLord: Well, it's platonic LawLu...maybe. Possibly. No romance or sexytimes just Friends Being Friends (altho honestly I've been playing around with the idea of SaboLaw because I am rarepair trash but who knows if that'll pan out). Tbh I meant to take that out but I FORGOT, so yeah thanks for that reminder. I feel you on the nickname troubles, obviously. Probably going to end up just being Koala-ya. Sabo gets his own chapter after this one!...Actually he shares it with Luffy a little so we can see wtf happened up there but still. And yes. Roger is definitely there. Ace avoids him though, obviously. LUFFY, on the other hand. Oh-ho-ho boy. And thank you!

YJV: Thanks for the compliment! I'm afraid I've already got a plan for Dressrosa and, well, that's not it. Also, Dressrosa is Part Three. Not this story, but the next.

Blackthorn Ashe: Welp u pretty much just summed up the chapter lemme scan this and hit your questions and comments directed at me. I'm glad you like his thought process, Ace just took off Sabo's cravat because it reminded him of Sabo a lot, but he still has a shirt on, Law is Stuck With Them now (or soon), Luffy's math skills apply to food and food alone as we all know, and I'm glad you liked the chapter so much! *thumbs up*

Dhea30: Law might regret the offer but he still can't refuse them. The whole damn situation just reminds him of Cora-san and his own past. U r the second person to mention Rayleigh's unpreparedness with the craziness of the KASL kids. As for your request...I can probably do that in the 'Meanwhile' chapter, when we go check up on Sabo and see what happened with Luffy and stuff. We'll go see the Strawhats and the Whitebeards and Revolutionaries and Red Hairs and all that shit. Hoo boy that just turned into a much much longer chapter than I thought I was gonna write.

AnyMoreBrightIdeasGenius: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it and thought it was in-character!

BedofRoses1989: I'm glad you like Aeriasky! Your predictions for who's going to the Afterworld are off by one, though. And I'm afraid we don't see Sabo quite yet. Next chapter, though, we'll get to him.

The Utterly Fabulous Z: AYYYYYYYY

Nao What: Fate is gr8 but u know what u should totally follow anyways. We authors will aggressively love you back (although some of us express that love throught Pain and Angst). I'm glad that...uh...well, really the only way to phrase it is 'I'm glad my chapters made you feel things.' That means I'm doing it right! I'm glad you like my headcanon enough to adopt it! As for the second review, I'm glad you like Luffy's thought process! Thing is, I can't give Law a nickname that doesn't make sense to Luffy, and 'Torao' popped up because the Japanese pronounce Trafalgar as 'Torafaugar' or smthn. Tora, Tora-o. So that doesn't really apply. And Tra-guy is almost worse. So, I've gotten used to Traffy. I do like Toaro a lot better though, personally. Sweet damn u counted my a's *I* didn't even count my a's. That is a very safe bet to place (and don't worry, no more dead siblings after this story). Oh ho buddy he just might be. Honestly idk where Law's gonna end up, other than Very Close to KASL. Specifics remain to be seen. I will totally attempt overprotective!Ace (and Koala) but again; mostly I gotta see what develops.

ClearWolf: *thumbs up*

the wizards-mafia: I'M GLAD YOU LOVE IT! ENJOY THE STORY AS IT CONTINUES

anaisntonfire: Thank you very much for your kind words! Hope you enjoyed!