OOPS. I AM SO SORRY.

I'll try to get these chapters up soon, but I'm leaving the country soon, so I'll do my best!

"Ace!" Luffy greeted him with a tackle, as always.

But that still didn't stop Ace from grunting from the sudden weight. "Urgh! Hey, Lu. What's up?"

"Hang out with me today!"

Ace shrugged. Might as well. He wasn't busy today anyways. "Sure, Lu? What were you thinking?"

A few hours later, they were sitting at a table in one of those fancy buffets as they stuffed their faces full. The food wasn't as good as at the castle or back in Moby, but- "You were right, Lu! This sure is good!"

Luffy nodded, scraps of food flying around. The other patrons of the restaurant stared at them, but many of them were nobles. Neither Ace nor Luffy cared about their scowls and wrinkled noses.

Ace sighed and leaned back in satisfaction. Though Luffy had eaten much more than he had, they both finished around the same time. "So what do you wanna do now, Lu?"

Luffy grinned, beginning to laugh quietly. Suddenly, he stood up, seemingly unaffected by the heavy meal he just ate. "Run!" he yelled, bolting out the door.

Ace was only able to stare in shock, but it wasn't like he was going to stay still for long. He would get yelled at if he did. And so he dashed out after his little brother, who was easily located by the sound of his laugh.

They stopped only a few minutes later, Luffy staring back in the direction of the restaurant. He frowned. "Aw, no one followed us. It was always a lot more fun when people chased us!"

They ran through the streets with smiles on their faces, ignoring the angry waiter chasing them and yelling, "Stop you damn, brats!"

"Being a prince sucks."

"You're not wrong about that, Lu," Ace agreed. They both sat down on some barrels in the quiet alleyways. Ace pressed a hand against Luffy head, messing up his hair as the other laughed. "I'm sure you won't let that stop you from having fun though."

"Shishishi! Hell no, I won't!"

"Good. Now why don't you tell me some more stories ?"

If he wasn't with his mother, he was with Sabo and/or Luffy- like now. He didn't know who this was though.

"So you're Ace?" The girl tipped her head as she stared at him with wide eyes. "Sabo told me a lot about you. I've been waiting to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, um… Who are you?"

"Koala. I'm a friend of Sabo's, but I guess he hasn't said anything, huh," she said, reaching out to shake his hand.

"Things have been hectic, ok?"

"Anyways, thanks for looking after Sabo. I know he doesn't look like it, but he can be a real idiot sometimes."

"Am not," Sabo muttered as he continued to write.

Ace shrugged. "I haven't really done anything though."

"He's just been a lot happier ever since you've gotten back, and that's something."

He looked over at Sabo, who was trying to hide his face under the brim of his top hat. His blush was rather obvious despite this.

"See? He's a dork."

Ace grinned. "Sure is."

Sabo stopped his attempt at concealing his blush with a sigh. "What are you two doing here?"

"Someone has to make sure you don't overwork yourself," Koala said, crossing her legs as she leaned back in her chair.

"You know, you have been working an awful lot even after I got here," Ace agreed. "What happened to the smug, annoying Sabo?"

"Annoying?"

"He pushed me into the secret passageways."

"Of course he did."

What are you working on anyways, Sabo?" Ace finally asked. It was hard not to be curious. Sabo was here in the library after all.

"I help mom out with some papers and stuff," he answered, not taking his eyes off his writing. "She's busy, and besides, I need to know about things going on if- erm. Nevermind." Sabo took his papers and tucked them into his books. "I'll take a break for now though if that will make you two happy?"

"Very," they chorused, grinning at each other.

"I have a feeling that you two will get along just fine."

"Koala? You mean Sabo's girlfriend? Yeah, she super cool and kicks ass!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Sabo defended, pushing Luffy with his elbow.

"Heh, you're blushing, Sabo."

"Sh-shut up! Not you too!"

There was nothing like this: just staying up with his brothers and talking about their days. Luffy always talked the most, and sometimes, it felt like he wouldn't stop.

"Nami was showing us this cool trick with her staff!" Luffy beamed as he chattered rapidly. "I think she accidentally electrocuted Zoro though."

"Is that really something you should laugh at?"

"I don't think he'll listen to you even if you say that, Sabo."

"You're probably right," Sabo said, lying down across the bed as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Are you alright?" Ace asked, frowning at his brother in concern. Luffy even stopped talking to listen.

"Just tired," he answered. "I wanted to take you guys somewhere tomorrow too, so I want to rest right now."

"Why don't you just rest then? I'm sure Luffy can tell you a nice bedtime story."

"Stop grinning at me, jerk."

Ace agreed to sleep early too for Sabo's sake (though it was hard for them not to chatter for a while longer).

They walked in quiet as leaves crunched under their feet. The path was clear, obviously frequently tread, which was strange for an empty forest. It was familiar though, and his feet carried him along the path naturally.

"Where are you taking me?" Luffy already seemed to know. He had dashed ahead ages ago.

"You'll see," Sabo answered, even though it wasn't much of an answer at all. "This is where we used to come all the time to train. You don't have to use the training hall if you don't want to."

"I kinda do that more to help Ma," Ace said.

"Suit yourself, but if you want a match just say the word. We're here by the way." Sabo waved ahead towards Luffy, who was sitting on the ground.

Ace grinned. "I'll look forward to that then." But his grin slowly vanished when he saw what was ahead:

It was a grave marker.

He found that words couldn't reach his lips as he just stared at the wooden marker. How could he not? It had his name on it after all. The river behind it rushed quickly, drowning out his scrambled thoughts.

"This is where we lost you," Sabo said, sitting beside Luffy. Ace joined them wordlessly. "There's a grave because eventually, we had to give up looking for you."

"We never actually gave up though, Ace!"

"There was no body, so we started looking for you when we were old enough. Mom was a little mad though since we left without permission and all."

"A little? You know how worried she gets, there's no way that it was just 'a little.'"

"Yeah, that's fair." Sabo nodded. "Do you remember how it happened though? Because I thought we should tell you."

"No need."

It was something that Ace had been coming to terms with every single day he spent with his family. They were warmth just like everyone back at Moby, but different and irreplaceable all the same. "My memory came back."

Sabo and Luffy's jaws practically hit the dirt.

"It came back in bits and pieces, but I think it's there for the most part," he said. "I remember that I jumped in after Lu because he was being an idiot-"

"Was not!"

"-but I didn't mind sacrificing myself because I was angry even though it was my birthday."

"We were trying to cheer you up, you know," Sabo said. "Why were you so angry anyways?"

"It was… Roger." He couldn't bring himself to say dad or even father. He had Pops now, and no biological father would ever mean as much to him. "I was just feeling pressured because he told me that he was sick."

"He told you? He never mentioned it to us until later."

"He probably just didn't want you to think about it, but he wanted me to prepare more so I could help Ma when he died." Ace closed his eyes. He remembered yelling at Roger for that. It had only been a few days before his birthday, but Ace's mood didn't improve. He was mad up until his memory vanished, and now, as annoying as he found him, there would never be a way to make amends. "I wasn't ready."

"Ace…" Sabo gently placed a reassuringly warm hand on his back. "You should have told us."

"You're right." Sabo was right about a lot of things, and Ace would concede that this was one of those times.

"Ace is here now though!" Luffy chimed, oblivious as ever to the atmosphere. "We should have a party!"

In Luffy's mind, party meant feast, which was perfectly fine with Ace, who agreed with a wide grin. "Sure. Ma will be happy as well."

The three of them left side by side moments later as the grave marker burned into a mere pile of ash.

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