Pain, it was all Ace could feel as he fell to his knees. Akainu's burning fist pulling free of his chest.

Ace felt his brother's arms catch him before he could fall any further.

"ACE!"

Luffy! His brother was still in danger they needed to go, had to get out of here, but Ace could not find the strength to get up.

Was this it then? He could feel his life force trickling away as more and more of his body went numb.

"Doctor…We need a Doctor." Oh Luffy.

"It's…too…late. He got my… insides. I know…I'm dying."

"No…No A-Ace. You can't die. You can't!"

Oh Luffy.

"You…you promised."

It was a stupid promise to make really, one he never could have kept, but he had been so desperate to see his little brother smile again. Now he was the one causing him pain.

"I'm…sorry Luffy. I can't keep… my promise. But I lived a life without regrets."

"Liar. How can that be true?"

"It's true. I found…a family…a home and I had…the cutest little brother to love me. If it weren't for you, I never would have… wanted to live. Thank you, Luffy."

"Ace."

"I only regret…having to leave before I see you accomplish your dream. But I believe… in you."

He was slipping, the blood and sweat making Luffy's hold on him falter. Luffy who had tried so hard to save him, endured so much just to reach him and who now barely had the strength to hold him up. He wanted to see his little brother's face one last time, but his eyes were full of blood and his vision had gone gray, so he held tight to him instead with the last remainder of his strength.

"I'm sorry…Luffy."

That was all he could manage before he tilted towards the ground and the world went dark.

The world was dark and cold and Ace did not like it. He did not know where he was, no light or sound could be found in the abyss around him and when he reached for his fire, he could not feel it. That more than anything unnerved him. His fire was an integral part of him, it had been a constant and beloved companion for years, that now without it he felt as if he was missing a limb.

"Where am I?" he wondered aloud.

His voice echoed strangely, causing shivers to run up his spine. That was just creepy. What the hell? The last thing he recalled was…was Luffy and Akainu!

Shit, he died! Was this the afterworld then? Because if it was, he could see it getting old really fast.

Well he never expected to get to heaven, so he supposed it had to be hell. He just never thought hell would be so boring.

"You are not in hell."

Ace spun in a circle trying to find the owner of the disturbingly creepy voice. Nothing. All he could see was darkness.

"Who are you? Where are you?"

His questions only made the mysterious voice chuckle.

"Why, I'm right in front of you."

The hell?

Ace was not to ashamed to admit the two glowing red eyes in a face even darker than their surroundings, appearing in front of him made him scream. He would however deny that said scream sounded like a little girl. It was a very manly scream, dammit.

"Who are you?" The question definitely deserved repeating. Ace's imagination was running wild.

"Death."

"Death?" Shit!

"Indeed. Fire Fist, you were correct, you have, in fact, died. However, you were wrong about your current location. This is not Hell."

"Then, where am I?" Okay so he was talking to Death in Not Hell. That made complete sense, not.

"In the Between."

"In between what?"

"It's the realm between the living and the dead. A realm all souls cross into the afterlife." His voice sounded vaguely exasperated. "You D's are all so dense."

"Well, excuse me for not knowing the process. It's not like I die often. In fact, I think this is the first time." Maybe sarcasm was not the best idea when talking to Death, but Ace really could not give a damn. He was dead, what could the guy do? Kill him some more.

"There are many things I could do to your soul here; most would be greatly unpleasant."

Wait, was He reading his mind?

"I'm reading your soul. There is nothing that can hid it from me."

"Well, shit."

"Yes, you D's certainly are irreverent bastards. But at least you are interesting. Most cower before Death and tremble at the thought of dying, but not you lot. You lot smile and laugh in my face. Both your mother and your father died smiling. It's fitting that you should as well."

"My mother?"

"Oh yes. She was also a D of great caliber. More so than your father, I think. Roger laughed when I collected his soul, happy as could be, that man. But not Rouge. She looked me dead in the eye and smirked while she threatened to castrate me if I so much as laid a finger on you before you were at least a hundred years old. She would not be pleased to see you have come to such an end." The formless shadows that comprised Death's body seemed to shrug as if to say what could he do about it.

Ace gaped at the thought of his mother threatening Death over him. He had always assumed his mother was a civilian who had the misfortune of loving Roger, never had he imagined her as someone fierce enough to defy Death.

"Well, whether she wanted it or not, it can't be helped. Your own stupidity caused your demise. I had nothing to do with it."

That was just rude.

"Tell me, Ace, was what you told your brother true? Do you truly have no regrets, but the one?"

"Yes. I had people who loved me and even without me there their lives will go on. It would have been nice to see Luffy achieve his dreams, but knowing he'll live is enough for me."

"Mmm. And if I was to tell you that at this very moment Whitebeard is being killed by the man, he once called son. And that your brother will be killed, by the same man who murdered you."

What?

"WHAT?"

"Yes, that is their fate as things stand. And without Whitebeard, Teach and others will continue to prey on the remainder of the Whitebeard pirates until I have claimed all their souls."

"That can't be true!" Not after everything they had been through.

"I'm afraid it is. Now that you know, is your answer the same? Do you have no regrets?"

"Why are you telling me this? Of course, I regret my actions causing that kind of future. But I am dead, there is nothing I can do about it."

"What if there was?"

"What?"

"What if there was a way to change the past and in so doing change the fate of those you love. What would you be willing to do for such a thing? What price would you pay?"

"To save my family, I would do anything. I would give my life, my soul to you to save them."

"Your life is already mine and I could take your soul here and now as I should probably be doing."

"What do you want then? I'll do anything."

"Anything? Truly? Even become that which the world has always branded you as, become that which you have always so despised?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You have always been called demon spawn for your father, though you are and always have been entirely human. Would you give up that humanity for your dear Luffy, to become that which you have always been branded as, a true Demon."

Become a demon? Everything inside Ace rebelled at the thought. For so long, he had been told he was a monster, a demon, someone not worth living because of the blood in his veins, because of the man who had sired him. He hated that word, demon.

Luffy, had not cared though. He had thought his being Gold Roger's son was cool, but more importantly he had always said it did not matter. Ace was Ace, and that was all that was important to him. But to become a demon, it would not matter that Ace was Ace, Ace would truly be a monster. Not because of his father, but simply due to the fact that he was a demon in his own right. Luffy would probably hate him. The rest of the world certainly would if they ever learned of it.

But did any of that matter when it was his brother's life on the line, Whitebeard's too? No, it did not.

"I will do anything, even become…a demon."

The red eyes seemed to glow brighter in pleasure.

"Very well, you must know however, that being such a creature in a world with no others has consequences, your life will be bound to another. Should that person fall so too will you. Your fates will be entwined."

"Who is it? Luffy?"

"I will not say, only that this person is your opposite in every way. Where you are demonic, they will be angelic. With every year that passes your demonic side will grow stronger, if you do not find this person it will consume you entirely one day."

"I have to find an Angel before I truly become a demon or else, I'll be a danger to my loved ones. Is that what you mean?"

"Precisely."

Well this just got harder, but oh well.

"Very well. I'll do it."

The shadows that had swirled peacefully all around suddenly converged on Ace. They seeped into his body, through his skin, eyes, ears and mouth. They filled him full of darkness and power while he screamed in agony. It felt as if they would tear him a part, until a moment later they did, and his form dissolved.

Minutes passed before a new form took the place of the old, this new body not even remotely human. The creature stood panting until the claws, wings and fangs of shadow dissolved leaving Ace in human form with eyes glowing red.

"It is done. Time for you to return."

With a wave of his hand Ace vanished.

The darkness parted as a glowing form emerged, his Goddess.

"That went well."

"You were watching?"

"You took off without saying anything, so I followed. I see you have created a demon. Why, though? Ace's life would have been saved by Luffy, in this new world. Why bother sending him back as well?"

"It's more interesting this way."

"You created a demon in a world without them to make things more interesting? Death, the consequences of such an act could be dire."

"Indeed, so I created an opposing force to control him."

"Who?"

"Now where's the fun in spoiling the surprise?"

His beloved Night sighed.

"I have saved three lives and returned them to the past. You have saved three as well. Though I'm pleased you did not give him demonic powers, I don't understand why you would send that one back. He's far to cruel for my liking."

"With memories of their past, and the strength they had achieved prior to their death's more readily within reach due to that knowledge, those we have favored will be far more powerful than they have any right to be. The opposition will fall, you have ensured that. But he will pose a challenge and a threat because he now has the same advantage. Afterall Luffy is not one to like winning without a fight. Someone has to stand against him to make things more interesting. Why not him?"

"I suppose."

"We have done everything we need to. Given them all a fighting chance. It's time to sit back and watch events unfold. I'm interested in seeing how Ace reacts to the changes you've made."

"That should be fun." Night laughed and waved her arm, the shadows before them parted to reveal what looked like a window or screen. On it a small forest hut appeared. Death created a plush seat from the shadows and pulled his lovely mate into his lap as they both watched a young boy begin to wake up.

Ace jolted awake and for a moment he was completely disoriented. Where was he? And why did he keep having to ask himself that? It was getting old fast.

Taking a couple deep breaths to calm his raging mind, he took stock of his surroundings. A small wooden room a single pillow and blanket the only things in the room. He remembered this place. He had spent years here as a child after all. This was his old room in Dadan's hideout. But why was he here?

He remembered fire and war, pain and Death. Death had said he would change the fate of his crew and family in exchange for his humanity, but how exactly would he do that?

Reminded of his new state, Ace glanced at his hands. They were small, much smaller than he remembered them being, though thankfully he saw no claws or shadows coming from them. Just to be sure, the Ace stood up and went to the bathroom to gaze into the mirror. What he saw only vaguely surprised him. There were no horns, wings or fangs, just a boy of about eight or nine. The only difference in his appearance from his memories were two wine red eyes peering back at him from a very familiar face.

He looked human, that was a relief and apparently, he was a child again. What was with that? Death had said that he could change the fates of his loved ones. Did that mean he had been sent back in time? He was obviously now a kid, but did that mean everything had not happened at all? Or simply not happened yet?

It was all making his head hurt. Ace was not as clueless as his brother, but he had never been fond of overthinking things. He was just going to assume he was sometime in the past and go from there to save his brother.

Wait, brother! Luffy! Where was he?

Ace ran out of the bathroom nearly barreling into Dogra on his way. When he spotted Dadan he slid to a halt.

"Where's Luffy?" he yelled.

Dadan looked up from her breakfast at the little boy.

"Who's Luffy?"

What? How could she not know? Shitty bandits.

"Luffy, Garp's grandson. The other boy you were told to raise."

"What are you on about, brat. You are the only monster I've been forced to watch."

Ace ignored her cruel words and focused on finding out where the hell his brother was. If Dadan did not know Luffy then it might just mean he had not been brought here by Garp yet.

"How old am I?" he asked instead.

"Did you hit your head brat?"

"Just answer."

"You turned eight last month."

That meant Luffy would be turning five shortly and must still be living in Foosha. Ace had only been friends with Sabo for about a year at this point.

"Thanks!" Ace yelled as he ran for the door not noticing the shocked bandits he left in his wake.

The young boy quickly found the trail he knew would lead to the village and ran as fast as he could. It quickly became apparent that his body was a lot weaker than he was used to as he had to stop every couple of minutes to catch his breath. Eventually he made it down the mountain and to the village.

As it was close to lunch time Ace's first thought to find Luffy, was to go where there was food. With that in mind he set off to find Makino's bar. It did not take him long as it was the only bar in the tiny village. When he stepped inside his eyes were immediately drawn to the black-haired child sitting at the bar devouring enough food to feed an adult or several.

He took a deep breath to stop himself before he ran over and crushed his little brother in a hug. He had to remember that this was the past and Luffy did not know him yet. But this time he would be nicer to the younger boy.

Ace calmly approached the bar and was about halfway there when Luffy suddenly turned to look at him. For a brief second both of them paused, before Luffy launched himself off his stool and into the older boy's arms.

"ACE! You're alive! I missed you sooo much!"

Wait, what?

"Oh right. You probably don't know me. But I'm Luffy and I'm going to be King of the Pirates and you will be my big brother."

What?

Ace disentangled himself from Luffy's grasp and pushed the younger child back to get a good look at him. It was definitely Luffy, the same large black eyes, wild black hair a little longer than he remembered, and he did not have the scar under his eye yet but otherwise he was the same, even if he was wearing a dress.

Wait, a dress?

"Luffy why are you wearing a dress?"

"Huh? Oh well, Makino says that since I'm a girl I have to, even though I think it's stupid, but she won't buy anything else for me and neither will Gramps."

Well that did sound like something Makino would do she was always going on about manners and propriety when they were kids, so it made sense for her to want a girl to dress like a…

"WAIT, WHAT?"