I'm high on life right now (and caffeine). Remember how the last fic was the longest chapter? Well this one's even longer :D And it's my second update today (Imagined Life was the other one, for anyone who's curious). So I hope you enjoy! Oh, as for the bonus, it's going to be a little longer til I get it up. I kind of started a new fic and wrote 3 chapters of that instead... hehehe...

Oh, and if anyone's interested in seeing some One Piece art, you can go to my Tumblr or YouTube and I just uploaded some stuff :) And on my profile I have a section where I showcase all of the fanart I get. You guys are too nice to me, I swear.

Question: If you could go back in time, when would you choose and what would you do?

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own words! Isn't that sad? But I would run One Piece into the ground if I owned it, so... probably a good thing.

This isn't real… is it?

The pirate king gaped at the green-haired man standing in front of him, giving him a confused look.

"Oi, you coming, Captain?"

Luffy blinked. "Ah, yeah…" His voice trailed as the gears turned in his head, wondering just how he got himself into that situation. But Zoro didn't seem to notice. Should he play along? Should he pretend to be the crew's captain? Well, he was the captain, but he wasn't then. Messing with the past to such an extent had to be a mistake. He had to get out of there. If he did, though, wouldn't that be more suspicious? Going along with it for a little while wouldn't hurt… right?

The swordsman eyed him suspiciously and he flinched. Did he realize?

"W-what?" Luffy managed to choke out. Oh how he hoped he didn't discover the truth.

Zoro's eyes narrowed. "You look kind of…" After a few moments of staring, he shrugged. "It's nothing." With that, he turned and started walking away.

The pirate king let out a breath of relief and followed his crewmate tiredly. He'd been in Alabasta for almost a week waiting for his brother. It seemed he was far ahead, though, because Ace never showed. Or maybe he was already there and Luffy just kept missing him. Then, only ten minutes ago, he ran into Roronoa Zoro—his first mate. Only… it was the Zoro from the past, not the future. He recognized Luffy immediately but assumed him to be the one he knew, not the one ten years from then. Apparently he didn't notice the changes much, which was strange. But Luffy would go with it.

Still, as happy as he was to see the man, he couldn't help but worry. How much would the past change because of their encounter? What if they realized? What would that affect? Luffy wasn't the type of guy to worry about the consequences of his actions all that much, but… he was there to save Ace. He didn't want to change anything that might put him in danger. What if…

"Who's that?"

Luffy's ears were met with a familiar sound—a voice. At some point he stopped walking along with the one in front of him. He had to think a few seconds before placing the speaker as Sanji. If he were in his time he would have immediately demanded lunch. But, as luck had it, Sanji wasn't coming to the same conclusion as the first mate.

"Ha?" Zoro raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? It's Luffy."

When the pirate king raised his head he saw his crewmembers' eyes widen. They were all there—Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper and Nami. Vivi was there, too, off to the side. He couldn't tell whether they were fooled or not. Judging by how guarded their expressions became, they weren't. And, as much as he wanted to hang around them for a while, he knew it wasn't likely to happen. They were on edge, just like back when he went after Crocodile with his crew. They wouldn't trust him so easily and it was probably better that way. He missed them, though…

Giving them a weak smile, Luffy waved. "Hey," he greeted, watching as their muscles tensed.

"Zoro…" Usopp began, moving to hide behind the blonde cook, "that's not Luffy."

"You guys are—"

"It's not him," Nami stated. "He's taller than Luffy. His complexion's darker, a-and that scar…" She pointed to his chest.

They were mistaking him for an enemy, weren't they? Well, that wasn't surprising. Bon could transform into other people. Oh, wait, had they met him at that point? It was so long ago… But either way, a lot of people were after them and someone showed up who looked eerily like their captain… yeah, he couldn't blame them.

Sanji took his cigarette between two fingers, shoving his free hand into his pocket as he blew out a puff of smoke. "Who are you, you shitty imposter?"

Luffy folded his arms and scrunched his face into a pout. He didn't like being told he was a bad imposter… of himself. And he didn't want to fight them. Back then… they were really weak, weren't they? He'd be scared to hurt them. Of course, he would never say that to their faces—especially Zoro or Sanji. They'd kill him… or try. But after ten years, his time in Alabasta felt like nothing. Crocodile almost killed him in the past but after he became the pirate king he couldn't even consider him a threat. What to do…

"I'm… mmmm… Lucy!"

They deadpanned.

"W-well, he lies like Luffy…" Usopp said with a sigh. He was starting to relax.

"Shishishi!" He wasn't going to last, was he? He missed them so much and even just being with them for a few minutes he wanted to blurt out the truth. They were his nakama and being away from them for so long… it was hard. Marco and the old guy wouldn't be too mad at him, would they? "That's 'cause I am Luffy!"

To prove his point, he grabbed the side of his mouth and pulled, stretching it in his usual fashion and watching as they all gaped. They were all well aware that two of the same devil fruit couldn't exist at the same time. After showing his abilities, they wouldn't be able to deny it. That didn't mean they'd blindly accept it, though. Just what he'd expect of his crew!

Zoro was the first to break the silence after Luffy's skin bounced back into place. "I told you," he said simply.

The pirate king couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Even with how much he changed over the years, his first mate could still tell who he was, no questions asked. It was nice. The rest, however… they would need a while to adjust—not that he was planning on staying long enough for them to do so.

"Y-you're really…? But look at you! What happened?" Usopp asked, gesturing to his Marineford scar.

"You're so different… We just saw you an hour ago," Nami stated, looking him up and down.

"Well…" Luffy scrunched up his face and plopped cross-legged on the ground, leaning against the side of a building. How should he word it? He had to be carefu—oh who cared? He'd already royally screwed himself over. No point in hiding it now. "It's been ten years, so of course I changed."

Their mouths dropped again, all except Zoro's. He seemed content with the information.

"Ah, right: I'm from the future."

"Makes sense," Zoro said, folding his arms and closing his eyes, giving a curt nod of approval.

"How?" Usopp and Nami shouted with irritation.

"It's Luffy," the swordsman replied simply.

They nodded. Sadly, that really did make sense.

Luffy knew by the looks on their faces that they were about to ask him a bunch of questions and he was horrible at keeping secrets. He had to get away. But he was hungry! He wanted to eat Sanji's cooking! Wait… Hungry… There was something…

"Ah!" he noised in realization as he rose to his feet. When he first met Ace in Alabasta he was hungry. He was separated from his crew, as well. Smiling, he'd located his brother. Without a word to his baffled crewmembers, he took off at top speed.

Following his nose, he came across a vaguely familiar scent. It floated through the air along with aromas from all the stands and shops around the city. Having a nose trained to sift through all other smells to locate food, he didn't even have to put an effort into discovering what direction the restaurant was in. After that he ran.

Several minutes later found him at the entranceway to the place he would meet his brother. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside. A crowd had formed around the place, each individual fixated on one specific part of the room. They whispered about something called a desert strawberry—Luffy hadn't a clue what that was, but he didn't care, either. He was more interested in the person in question, who allegedly drop dead in the middle of a conversation—while eating, no less.

Grinning, the pirate king walked past the gathering and to the back of the restaurant, sitting two seats away from the 'dead' man wearing a bright orange hat. He refrained from looking at him, knowing that he shouldn't reveal himself so soon. After all, it would only be a few minutes until his past self would show up, right? He had to try not to mess that up, at least; he'd done enough damage for the time.

Suddenly the corpse's head sprung up, alarming the crowd as he stared off in a daze. Shouts of "He came back to life!" echoed throughout the room. Blinking a few times, he looked left and right before wiping his face on a woman's skirt. The woman screamed and ran off, but Ace didn't really care. Instead he just groaned.

"Damn, I fell asleep."

The crowd was bewildered but eventually they lost interest and dispersed. He was talking with some of the onlookers before, once more, his head hit the table, eliciting more annoyance than concern. Through it all Luffy just smiled next to him, remaining silent. With how often he was having narcoleptic attacks, it was likely his brother wouldn't notice him immediately. He'd be too out of it. That was fine. He wanted to wait until Ace greeted his younger self, anyways. It would be weird seeing himself… but it would be so cool, too!

It wasn't long after Fire Fist woke a second time that Smokey arrived. They exchanged a few words about Luffy before the marine put his devil fruit ability to use, preparing to attack the commander. Through it all Ace remained calm and relax, leisurely taking in the encounter without noticing his older-younger-brother off to the side.

"—and you're a pirate." Luffy clued into the conversation right when Smoker said that. It had him turning his head to catch a glimpse. Smokey looked so young!

"What a dumb reason," Ace stated, grinning all-the-while. Slowly he raised his head, revealing a cocky grin. "Shall we have some fun, then?"

Before the other had a chance to reply, with neither moving from their spots, Luffy faintly heard one of his attacks being called from outside the restaurant. He was certain of what came next and turned away so that his face wouldn't be visible. This is it.

"—Rocket!" shouted a younger, higher-pitched Luffy as he came flying in through the front door, crashing into Smoker and Ace and sending them both flying through the wall. The pirate king grinned; he didn't remember doing that, actually. The look on Ace's face was hilarious!

"A restaurant!" the younger shouted. "I finally found one!"

Being reminded of that made the pirate king's stomach growl. He was so hungry! And Sanji was only a short run away! And he was in a restaurant! But he had to wait, to keep quiet… didn't have to like it, though.

"Now I can eat! I'm starving!"

The older pirate pouted. No fair!

Immediately the rookie ran up to the bar and sat on the stool next to his counterpart, ignoring everything around him in favour of his appetite. "Ossan! Food, food, food! Hurry!" Eventually his younger self started something of a chant, demanding to be fed immediately.

When he was stuffing his face, the chef warned him, telling him to get out of there because he just sent a marine and a notorious pirate flying through the wall. Apparently he hadn't realized he did it, nor did he care. Well, that was just like him.

Vaguely the pirate king could hear Ace's voice from far off. He couldn't make out what was said, but it sounded like cursing or complaining, followed by a very formal and polite tone. Was he apologising for something? Ace can be so weird sometimes. Only seconds later did the irritated commander appear in the hole in the wall, searching for whoever sent him flying as the people in the building vacated out of fear. His face brightened tremendously and he took a step forward. "Lu—"

Smoker came from behind and slammed his head into the ground. Straw Hat immediately ran off after registering who he was and the marine followed close behind, leaving the Whitebeard pirate in the dust. He picked himself up from amongst the rubble, once more cursing as he realized his brother was now gone. Brushing himself off, Ace took a step forward, ready to chase after the rubbery brat.

"Oi, Lu—" He stopped, cutting himself off as he stared at the man sitting on a bar stool, smiling at him. His eyes widened as he took in the pirate king's appearance. "…Luffy?"

The pirate flashed him a toothy grin. "Hey, Ace," he greeted casually before grabbing some small leftovers his counterpart hadn't been able to shove into his mouth.

The commander blinked, stepping nearer to the man. "What are you doing here?"

Immediately Luffy's face sagged into a pout. "Looking for you," he explained.

"Wh—"

"You shouldn't have run off like that, stupid." It was rare for him to use such a childish tone now that he was older, but Luffy wasn't sure what else to do to stop from lashing out at his brother. After spending so many years without him and seeing him make the same horrible mistake of chasing after Blackbeard, he wanted nothing more to yell at the pirate like a scolding parent. But Luffy wasn't like that and, though he wasn't sure he agreed with it, Ace running off was part of the giant ossan's plan so he would go along with it. But that didn't mean he would just pretend like everything was alright. It wasn't. It wouldn't be until Ace was safe. "You should listen to your captain, Ace."

The commander furrowed his brow and pulled his mouth into a taut line. "I—"

"Save it," Luffy interrupted, inhaling the bits of food still left on the plate. Despite the lax atmosphere created by his eating, his tone wasn't very like himself. Instead it seemed almost dangerous, holding silent fury and disappointment, something akin to scolding. "I don't want excuses and I don't want you to rationalize what you did. Besides, you should probably get going."

"Huh?" Ace questioned absently. He seemed more focused on the tone his brother was using. Luffy rarely acted according to his title and age. He was a childish adult and too laid back to be a proper pirate king, many criticised. But, despite how he usually acted, he could fit his role when need be.

"He's getting away and he can't take smoker by himself," the pirate stated, finishing the last bit of scraps on the plate.

Ace's eyes widened as he realized what his brother was saying. "Shit!" he cursed, dashing out of the restaurant and following the trail of the two who left him behind.

Luffy watched him go then sighed. He didn't mean to act all serious and out of character, but… Ace was being stupid! Though he would have done the same in his position, had he not seen his brother die because of the brash decision to hunt the traitor down. They were both like that, ever since they were kids. No one should ever get away with hurting nakama, but putting himself in danger to get revenge wasn't a good solution.

Eyeing the empty plates littering the countertop, Luffy glanced at the back room and grinned. Since the owner was gone, he wouldn't mind if the pirate king made himself a little snack, would he?

A/N: I had a lot of fun with this one. Don't know why, but I thoroughly enjoyed it :D Plus it's longer than all the other chapters AND it didn't take me a month to update! Isn't that fantastical? Feel free to drop a review and tell me what you think :)

To my lovelies~

Mel72000: You're welcome ^^

mrsfirefist: AND I UPDATED AGAIN! :D

DeviousKat: Ace was the most emotional for me and still is T^T You're too kind really ;_; Thanks fo much for the compliments, though. Seriously, I'm all giddy now and feel like writing the next chapter. While the priority is low for this fic, I still enjoy writing it a lot ^^

Bluebird42: Yep, that was the set-up chapter and this is the beginning of "Phase 2" XD

buslimpan: Lol and then what does he do this chapter? Messes everything up epically XD

sakura240: It's okay, I love hearing from you whether you review often or not ^^ Hehe well he met them! Here's a quick update! (at least for me...)

LyricojaeCassie: You're welcome :)

Vaughn Tyler: Thanks :)

sairakanzaki: He did muahaha! Here's an update!

TheBlackSpirit: Awe you're so sweet! Thank you ^^

Natylol: Sadly u_u but they still have an important role to play so don't worry, they'll return! This update was my quickest in months ;)

ruhiko: Glad you like :D

xXxWolvesInTheNightxXx: He did! Though Robin's not part of his crew yet.

Gol D. Liandra: Lol basically XD Well they haven't spoken... yet... but he got to meet his younger crew so yay! :D

youshouldn'tneedtoknow: He figured out what to do (after royally screwing himself over XD)

Aria Eragon: Well you found out some of those answers, at least :P Glad you like him! He was SO hard to write in the beginning until I got used to it... -_-;

JackTheRabbit: Glad you're enjoying ^^

Son Goshen: Wow, that's dark. I warned you guys that you might hate me for the ending but I think that's worse XD Actually... maybe not ._. Here's an update~

Guest: Here you go! Though I make no promises when it comes to character death ._.

spoons-are-evil: You're really good at guessing XD Or maybe I'm becoming too predictable...

Red-The-Drawing-Ninja: Exactly! Luffy wouldn't be Luffy if he didn't mess things up!

Girl-luvs-manga: I make no promises :P

Sir Cookie: Actually, it wasn't Ace who asked "Remember Sabo?" it was Luffy. So Luffy mentioned him. The reason it worked was because no one knew they had a third brother, let alone his name. Ace didn't ask any that question :/

Kitsune Foxfire: You're correct :D Exactly. After reading Resolve it's hard to know what to root for, isn't it?

MyIcedCoffee: Thanks :)

MissLuffy-Kun: Well he sort of met him ;)

LostFairyMantic: So happy to hear you're enjoying it ^^

JadeTatsu: It wasn't that they could have stopped him, but that Luffy didn't want to get on the bad side of Ace's crew. Sorry about the mistakes/typos, back then I never bothered to proof read. Please tell me if you find any others! Nah, I'm not a pessimist. I just used that line to fit into what was going on in the story. Plus, from personal experience, time does really take away a lot of what you remember of the people you lose. My mom only died a year ago and when I try to remember her I have to put more effort into it, but 10 years? I forgot a lot about the people I knew who died that long ago. As for the regret part, I just figured it fit Luffy's situation well. Interesting idea for the ending :) I never actually thought of that, to be honest. I've tried doing a tiny bit a day but then I end up rewriting it anyways because it ends up too choppy. Normally I'm only satisfied with it if I finish it in 1-4 sittings, otherwise it just has no substance to it :/ I'm not a very talented author, sadly u_u Despite that, I hope you still enjoyed the read!

CrystalVixen93: I ended up updating a few hours later :D

ThousandxSunny: Well they're 2ce as long as they were in the beginning, so... ^^; I will! :)

(And that wraps up with update! I feel like writing still. It's 4:37am ._. Sleep? Ha! I don't know the meaning of the word! No, I do. But I woke up really late... stop rambling! Ahem. Good day to you, my lovelies, and I hope yoy had a fun read. Adieu~)