Body/Mind Swap AU (Luffy & Ace)
Sometime, a long time ago, Luffy and Ace and Sabo had run into an old woman with knobbly fingers and arms that looked as wizened as the stick she used as a cane. One eye was sown shut, and she never said much, but she had lots of shiny things that Luffy had wanted, and when there were spare bits of crocodile to be had, Ace could get a good deal out of what she had to give away.
She disappeared before the Celestial Dragon arrived, her singular blue eye widening in fear long before the announcements ever came that a World Noble was visiting, but before she left she offered to always let them know where the others were. She knew about their dreams to sail, and that they wanted to go their own way, plus Luffy got lost easy and sometimes it was hard to find him, so Ace and Sabo had figured it was a good idea.
She'd told them that if they ever wanted to figure out where the others were, they only needed to open one eye.
Of course, none of them knew what she meant, because – in Ace's words – how the hell were they meant to open one eye when both eyes were already open?
And then Luffy had almost stabbed himself accidentally one day and he'd screwed his left eye shut to prevent it from watering, and he'd realised that instead of looking through his own eye, he could see himself through Ace's eyes. Both he and Ace had let loose loud yells of fear at the same time, and Luffy ended up falling over and hitting his head, and in the confusion they almost forgot.
Sabo asked what'd freaked them out so much and Luffy and Ace told him what happened. He was the one who'd pieced it together, squinting at Luffy and switching which of his eyes was open at a time, but they'd eventually realised that they could see through each other's eyes.
Or, rather, eye.
It took a little while to get used to, and Ace found that he had to completely drop winks from the soundless language they'd developed for Luffy, but after a while it became second nature to switch vision and figure out where anyone else was. It was annoying if someone was fighting, but thankfully that only seemed to happen rarely.
Then Sabo's father showed up. Everything moved so fast, and Ace refused to use Sabo's eye (his was left, always left, just like he'd left them-) and then suddenly Luffy was gasping out a no! of horror and Ace realised that Luffy's right eye was screwed shut.
Then Dogra was running into the house, shouting about Sabo's ship being blown to pieces, and Ace felt his heart stop, and he screwed his right eye shut with a prayer and a heart twisted into knots but-
There was nothing.
When they were kids, Ace never pushed when Luffy would latch onto his hand, and Luffy never questioned it when Ace pulled him close and pressed a hard kiss to his forehead, like he needed to assure himself that Luffy was still warm, instead of a water-bloated body.
Sometimes, he still forgets that there's nothing.
Twenty years on, and still sometimes he tries to check, pulls his right eyelid down with gentle fingers and tries to see through his left (Sabo's left), but there's always only ever darkness. He knows that Luffy does it too; or, he used to, but if Ace knows anything it's his brother, so he figures Luffy still squints at the sky and tries to see what Sabo sees.
There's only ever darkness.
(A million miles away and two years on, their brother remembers and regrets every time he let the sight of the sea or the forest leave him, regrets never chasing after the memories, regrets never questioning the sights that, if he'd followed, would've led him to the two people he used to call home.)
AN: turned into more luffy & ace & sabo than it did Luffy and Ace but AHHH I JUST REALLY WANT TO GET ALL MY REALLY OLD REQS DONE.
Commissions are still open if anyone would like one! And also it's my birthday on Saturday so I'm planning on having my inbox open and reblogging a bunch of ask memes so please feel free to jump by my tumblr if you want something ;u;