Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. If I did Ace would still be alive and Akainu would be the one dead...

Special thanks to my betas for helping me this far into the story.

Title says what this chapter is about... sorry no info on war this time. I'm doing it on purpose hehee

Chapter 5: Before the War, Reunion in Alabasta

- In Alabasta

'Let's see, first I need some information. Where is a good place to start? Hmm." Walking down the desert street, a particularly hot young man looked around for a decent place for information gathering. Along the way, he got stopped by a merchant selling a gold apple that allows someone to live for a 1000 years. "Thanks but no thanks. Not really all that interested in living for a thousand years. Just living today is good enough." He responded with a smile, freckles dawning his cheeks cutely, and then he walked away calm as ever. He seriously doubted that merchant was going to be of any help to him.

Looking around for a moment, the man in an orange cowboy hat grinned bit more as he spotted a fortune telling booth. 'That looks like a good place to start. That sort of place is always watching people after all.' Approaching the booth, the man placed down a wanted poster on the old lady's table. "I just have one question, have you seen this girl?" he asked curiously, not at all in a threatening way but rather in a polite and nice way.

The old woman looked at the poster and read it. "Hmm, her name's Monkey D. Luffy?" she asked while reading it out loud.

Waiting patiently, the stranger with a purple skull and cross bones on his back, explained further. "She might be in town somewhere. I've been looking for her for a while." He still didn't sound angry, just as patient as ever.

"Well... I for one have never seen her before. I would've noticed a young lady like that. If you want to find her, then I suggest asking around that restaurant over there." The old lady offered before looking in the direction of said restaurant. "The owner seems to know everyone passing through."

Pleased at the start of where he could get decent information, he politely bowed. "Thank you Ma'am." Picking up the poster, the man seemed to ponder the information. "A restaurant… Hmm, well, I was just starting to feel a bit hungry anyway." He spoke his thoughts out loud as he made his way down the street. He could feel eyes on him but that was nothing new to him, so the man continued on his way without caring about it.

-A while later-

A crowd had formed around the restaurant, whispering about some guy dying because of a poisonous spider. After a lot of speculation, the man suddenly sat up with bleary eyes blinking and not really sure what is going on with the crowd all around him. "Sorry about that… Fell asleep." He mumbled after he cleaned his face. The disbelief sounds and upset people around him had him curious. But whatever. Not really caring, he went back to his meal and continued eating. It wasn't that much longer until he ended up falling asleep again, causing yet another scene. Eventually, the cook/owner managed to find out his name. Well, at least part of it.

"Hehe, you can call me Ace. Nice to meet you." The man with the orange cowboy hat offered with a smile as he finished another of his dishes. Just as Ace was going to start on another dish, a yell sounded behind him which oddly sounded familiar. But before he could turn to look, he went crashing through the wall – well several walls really.

Getting up from the rubble, Ace's angry voice could be heard from the restaurant. "Just what the hell was that? What sort of idiot would do something like this?" Grumbling on his way back to the restaurant, Ace just couldn't believe that someone would make such a mess as if it wasn't bothering someone else, let alone use him as the bat to do it. He was more than ready to pick a fight by the time he got back to the restaurant. But what, or rather who, he saw dashed his anger and replaced it with surprise. "Ha! Hey Luffy!" he greeted as he went over to the very person he'd been looking for.

Ace was surprised for more than one reason too, not only did Luffy have longer hair, not much longer but still, since he last saw her, but she grew into a beautiful teenage woman while he was gone. She wasn't feminine but that just made her even more beautiful to him, plus she still preferred comfort over beauty from the look of her clothing choice. Other than that, she didn't seem to change much at all as far as he could tell. Right now though, he didn't really mind if she had changed physically, her presence eased his worries enough for him to not mind any changes she might have gone through.

As the two talked and ate however, Ace could see that she really didn't change and he was grateful for that revelation. He preferred that Luffy never needed to change and keep her personality as bright as it always was. It felt as if everything was right again for a few minutes. At least until it was rudely interrupted by the Marine captain who made it clear he was after Luffy. The man seemed to hold a grudge that Luffy managed to escape from Logue Town and him, thus his purpose of being in Alabasta now was to bring Luffy in… in sea-prism handcuffs too no doubt. The thought had Ace butting in on the one sided conversation as Luffy tried to figure out what was going on; determined to keep the Marine as far from Luffy as possible. Plus, who knew what the marine really wanted with Luffy… she was too cute to not be noticed by men. Which only made Ace more protective of her, so he tried to distract the Marine by baiting him with something better… mainly Ace himself.

But alas, Luffy made any possible planning impossible as she bolted out the door before anyone could do anything about it. Including Ace himself. Holding back a laugh, Ace quickly got on his feet. Really, who was he kidding? Luffy always did what she wanted whether someone had plans to take care of a situation or not. It definitely made every day interesting he could say that much, especially as he went chasing after Luffy to try to help her out.

Not surprisingly though, Ace lost sight of Luffy already. Although if the commotion was anything to go by, the Marines were hot on her tail. As much as he tried to keep up, Luffy seemed to be running in sporadic directions as if looking for someone and her yelling made it clear she was in fact looking for her friends. At least that's who he assumed those names belonged to. Ace even managed to find a whole whack of marines flat on the ground as they tried to get up. Ace had apparently just missed Luffy and now she's gone and disappeared.

-Later-

Ace stood on a roof where he tried to spot his sister before the marines found her. Luckily, he managed to spot her as she peeked around a corner of a ruined building. Unluckily though, marines spotted her and her crew, who she was now with thankfully. Even more unlucky, Smoker was leading the marines at top speed causing the group to run away as quick as possible.

Chasing after Luffy quickly, Ace got somewhat distracted as he noticed the outfit she was wearing and wondering if that was really his sister or just someone who looked like her. However, Smoker's attack brought him out of it and to make up for his ditzy moment, Ace jumped to the ground and sent out his own attack. "Heat Haze!" and a pillar of fire intercepted the smoke attack, effectively cutting it off from going further. He allowed his body to follow the attack and came between Smoker and his sister with a grin.

Ace could just imagine the surprise on Luffy's face at seeing his power over fire, the thought would've had him chuckling if it weren't for the fact he was trying to protect Luffy and her friends while giving them a way to escape to their ship.

Smoker sighed and blew out some smoke. "It's you again." He stated quite annoyed with the interruption from the sounds of it.

Ace smirked and effectively blocked Smoker from going further. "Heh, just give it up. While you may have the power of smoke, mine is fire. A fight between the two of us would be pointless and would probably go on forever."

"Ace?!" Luffy called, much to the surprise of her crew as they stared between her and Ace in shock. In return to the surprise that was evident in her voice, Ace glanced over his shoulder to look at his beloved sister.

"Honestly, you really haven't changed a bit Luffy." He stated, though there was nothing but pride in his voice as he got a good look at her. But seriously, since when had she gotten curves? The outfit Luffy was wearing showed off her curves and smooth skin as though she were heaven sent, and Ace saying that about Luffy wasn't something he thought he'd ever say. He's going to have to make sure the men on her crew don't get funny ideas. Though, he's pretty sure someone already has by the outfit she was currently wearing.

"Wow… did you eat a devil fruit or something? Since when?" Luffy asked curiously and in astonished awe as she looked at the flames covering his legs and arms, licking at his skin without so much as leaving a mark. Honestly, she really couldn't help but notice that the flames did nothing less than accent what she already saw… now he just really made 'Hot Damn' into an actual living breathing being. A.K.A Portgas D. Ace himself.

"Yeah, the Flame-Flame fruit, a few months after we parted ways actually." Ace bragged happily, more than eager to down play Luffy's pathetic devil fruit as he had always said it was. "Anyway, now's probably not the best time for chatting. You guys get going, I'll catch up. Don't worry about these guys, I've got 'em. Go on." He urged, wanting Luffy to get as far from the now dubbed Annoying Smoker-dude-who-won't-leave-his-sister-alone… or to make it shorter- Smoker the Stalker.

Staring at Smoker, Ace smirked as he was more than confident that he could stall the marines without very much effort put into it. He already had a plan in his head to get out of there himself once he bought enough time for his sister and her friends.

"There's one thing I don't get. Why are you helping the Straw Hat?" Smoker asked, arms crossed as he was probably trying to think of a way around him. But Ace wasn't going to let that happen.

A brief and light chuckle left Ace's mouth. He couldn't help it that the marines knew nothing about him, let alone his childhood, he wondered if he should even say anything. Then he thought, 'Well why not, I like bragging about my sister.' "Heh, can't a guy help out his bungling kid sister? Even you should understand that Smoker."

"She's your sister… Interesting." Smoker didn't seem too affected by the information, but he also didn't seem pleased as Ace just powered up a bit more letting the flames lick across his skin. "Oh please… how loving. Now, move out of the way."

"I'm afraid I can't. You understand." Ace stated with no apologetic tone at all, in fact he seemed almost all too willing to put up a fight to keep Smoker away and looking forward to it as well. With a flash of his body, a pillar of flames rose from his body like a wild fire as it spread to the full width of the street.

After that, the fight ensued for a brief but productive few minutes. Well… at least for Luffy's crew. Ace had been running along the rooftops again to catch up with the crew via his boat – when along the way, he found Luffy lost in an alley sitting atop a barrel in an unladylike fashion. This both amused and relieved him. He was sort of worried that Luffy had changed more than he liked with her new outfit on. He didn't want her to start realizing her beauty and attract even more men than she already was – Ace's list of putting guys in their place had grown from zero to 4 in the span of minutes when he laid eyes on her crew. Well… maybe 3 since one of them was an animal. Then add that to the Marine Captain who wouldn't leave her alone… who knows how many more he needed to keep watch over? … Okay now he was worried…

Well, Luffy was too much of an airhead to notice any advancement, so Ace wasn't too concerned about her just yet, but that didn't mean the guys could do as they liked with her. Laughing at Luffy's words of where her crew went, Ace looked over the roof to get a better look at her. "Well I guess buying time for you to escape was pointless." He grinned down at her as she looked around for him before finally looking up and showing him her happy grin that he always got whenever she looked at him. It always let him know that he's needed by someone out in the world and it's always Luffy who reminded him too. Ace didn't really know what to say to that smile so he just accepted it and jumped down from the roof.

What he didn't expect was to be latched onto again by his dear sister, though really Ace didn't mind at all as he laughed. "I know it's been a while but you don't have to hug me every time I see you. We just had lunch together remember?"

"Yeah I know… but I like hugging you. I'm just making sure you're really here is all." Luffy responded with a grin before hugging him tighter for a few minutes longer. Then she jumped off him as an idea ran through her mind and went to the other side of the barrel with her arm up. "Bet I can beat you this time, Ace."

Ready and willing to accept her challenge, the arm wrestling match began and they both ended up red in the face trying to get the other to loose. They talked about old times as if the match wasn't that hard when it was clear they were struggling to win. It ended up being a tie as the barrel collapsed and Luffy and Ace grinned at each other before high fiving. Really though, Ace was very much glad that the barrel broke when it did. During the match, Ace almost lost it when he saw her chest protruding with that small top accenting her breasts so nicely. The match was only making her breasts even more pronounced too and Ace swore that he would've lost for sure if it had gone on much longer.

"Guess we're still the same as the day you left. Well except for your fire powers." Luffy grinned with a small laugh.

"Sure are. Hehe just like old times." Ace agreed with affection before reaching for his water canteen and drinking from it.

Luffy watched him curious now that they had a moment to talk without being interrupted, she asked him a question that had been bugging her. "So, what are you doing in this country anyway? Never got to ask you that back at the restaurant."

Disbelief crossed his face as he looked at the curious look on Luffy's face. "Huh… guess you never got my message that I left at Drum Island." Her responding mimic of his words was definitely his answer. "Guess that's a no. But that's okay, don't worry. It was just to tell you I'd be in Alabasta for a few days. Got some business in these waters." Luffy looked intrigued somewhat, curious in another sense as well. "See, I'm with the Whitebeard pirates." Again Luffy mimicked him and Ace turned to show off his tattoo. "See this? It's our mark and my pride." He wasn't really able to see her wandering gaze on more than just his tattoo - though he could practically feel her gaze roaming his back... he wondered if she really paid all that much attention to his tattoo...

Turning back to Luffy, Ace made an offer with a smile, already having an idea of what she would say. "So Luffy, why don't you join us? Your friends too of course, it'll be fun."

After taking a drink of her own water, Luffy looked at Ace before bluntly saying. "No thanks." Ace couldn't help but laugh at the predictable answer. "Oh well, I had a feeling you'd say that. That's too bad really. Whitebeard's the greatest pirate I've ever met. That's why I'm going to help him become king of the pirates and not you Luffy. Sorry." Ace spoke easily, though he didn't miss the flash of insecurity that burned in his chest. Nor the look of sadness that briefly shown in Luffy's eyes. Even though she didn't so much as look away or try to convince him, Luffy just smiled.

"That's fine. I guess I'll just have to fight him then, cause I'm the one who's going to be King of the Pirates." Luffy stated confidently with a wide smile, giving Ace the answer he'd been seeking.

'Yup, she's still the same. I'm glad.' Ace smiled as well and they caught up on their adventures since they parted ways.

After that, they talked about Luffy's crew – the liar guy part had hit a nerve with Ace. He wasn't so sure if a liar hanging around on a pirate crew was the best thing… considering his most recent experience with a liar. They beat up some guys who weren't even worthy paying much attention to and Luffy was even managing her own fights with no problem too. Though that didn't make him feel better when they shot guns at her, so as pay back for the shooting and the big guy trying to cut his sister down, Ace grabbed the blade and burned it. In the process, he managed to burn the guys hands – smirking even more as Luffy sent him flying. It was a fun bout at least, he got to see some of what Luffy could do in a fight.

It was nice to be able to fight and walk next to his sister again, brought back memories and it felt natural to be next to her. Finding the harbor was easy enough, Luffy running off without saying anything was also natural and Ace managed to deal with the losers from earlier and lost them without a hitch. Though, as he caught up to the ship, he could almost laugh as he heard his sister brag that she could probably kick his butt now. It brought back memories of when it was him who beat her up and that was probably part of the conversation Luffy was having with her crew now. 'So, she's bragging about me is she? Thinks she can beat me huh? I'd like to see her try.' Ace grinned as he jumped aboard the ship as the start of yet another adventure was about to begin – of that he didn't have any doubt.

So, here's another chapter for everyone. I decided to lick some of Ace's wounded pride and give him some leg room for stretching and showing off before we go further in the war, cause you know... he's sitting on the platform... well kneeling, and that hurts the knees ya know... plus his cuffs must be chaffing his skin... Hence the very canon like chapter of this story. I just had to include it. Plus, I kinda want to go over their reunion in Alabasta before I go further because some of what I want to put in the future chapters is related to what happens there... so yeah... next few chapters are gonna be in Alabasta, and it gives me time to plan out the rest of the war... XD I can't wait to show you what i got planned for the war though, I think you'll love it ^^ After the war too... oops better not say anything .

Ace: You bastard... just tell them already! You want Marco and Lu *I cover his mouth*

NO spoilers Ace!

Sorry to those of you who were looking forward to what happens next in Marineford, please don't hate me BUT I can tell you that you won't be disappointed when I do get around to mentioning the war again. And thanks to everyone who reviewed/fav/liked my story ^^

Ja Ne,

AceAyane