Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

A/N: I loved the flashback arc that told the story of Luffy and Ace's childhood, so this story pays homage to that. It's set before Luffy and Ace become brothers. Hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter 1: A Different Morning

...

Warm rays of light gently caressed the landscape of Dawn Island signalling the start of a new day.

It had been almost three months since Luffy had left Foosha Village and though he missed the kind motherly presence of Makino the local bar owner, and often thought about all the adventures Shanks and his crew would be having, he was getting used to his new life in the house of Curly Dadan and the mountain bandits of Mount Corvo.

Dadan and the bandits, for the most part, tolerated Luffy's company, though not without a lot of grumbling from Dadan.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the brooding ten year old boy named Ace who also lived in the house. He refused to even speak to Luffy and made it clear in every encounter he had with the boy that he hated him.

Luffy didn't understand why.

But he didn't let that bother him, he was determined to make a friend and Ace was all he had now.

…

Luffy's day began in much the same way every morning.

At around dawn, Luffy would wake at the sound of Ace rousing from sleep and would race after him as he sprinted from the house. So far he had not managed to follow Ace all the way to wherever it was he went, and he would instead usually lose him within the hour.

That being said, Luffy had proudly managed to catch up with Ace several weeks ago when he was crossing a rope bridge which precariously joined two sides of the valley. Luffy had been very out of breath and looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge backwards (he probably had in fact).

Despite his exhaustion, he had chuckled and grinned at Ace as he approached, and hoped that his longed-for moment had arrived when the older boy would finally acknowledge his prospective little brother. To Luffy's dismay, Ace chose to respond in an entirely different and more violent way, which had resulted in Luffy falling into the dark valley below.

Luffy had somehow not been deterred by this and all the many other acts of aggression shown by Ace. In fact, he fully intended to follow Ace again this morning to finally discover where he went every day.

...

But something was different when Luffy opened his eyes this morning. He heard a sound that he had not heard before. Instead of the distant chatter of birds, the snoring of bandits and the hurried sound of Ace's retreating footsteps, all Luffy could hear was a soft yet harsh sound coming from the corner of the room near where Ace slept. Luffy got up and wandered across the creaking wooden floorboards of the room he shared with Ace.

Perhaps 'shared' was too intimate a word.

The two boys coexisted in this room, begrudgingly on Ace's part.

Luffy reached Ace's side of the room and was shocked to discover that he was the source of the sickly sound. Ace was sprawled out on the floor panting weakly as though he had been running a marathon.

"Ace… are you ok?"

There was no reply.

Ace's freckled cheeks were flushed and his dark hair stuck to his sweat soaked forehead. He continued to strain for his every breath but whether consciously or not, he managed to let out a soft groan. Luffy leaned closer to get a better look and was shocked to see a bluish tinge to Ace's lips and a distinctive rash on his throat. Luffy got up and padded over to the door that led to the bandits' communal area.

"Oi Dadan!"

"What is it kid?" The burly woman snapped, "you finally gonna make yourself useful around here?

Better not think of running after Ace again, I've had it with you skipping chores every day. You think I'm looking after you for free?" Dadan resumed her daily tirade which Luffy as usual ignored.

"Ace is sick!"

There was no reply for several seconds but eventually Luffy could hear movement in the bandits living quarters and the door abruptly swung open.

Dadan's large figure strode into the small room followed by Magra and Dogra. She wore a white shirt with her usual large red beaded necklace hanging low against her chest. Her untamed orange hair was forced behind her broad imposing shoulders and she had a face like thunder.

"What do you mean Ace is sick?" Dadan demanded.

Dadan's two considerably more pleasant bandit companions left her side and went to attend to Ace who continued to lie prone on the hard floor. A moment later Magra let out a gasp.

"Boss, this is Blue Korubo Fever!"

"What?" Dadan yelled "You mean to tell me that Garp didn't even get this kid his shots?"

"Easy, easy boss" Magra reasoned, "This disease is local and Garp probably didn't know about it"

"That man expects me to do everything for these boys I tell you!" Dadan grumbled, heading towards the sink to fill up a bucket of water.

Luffy who had stayed quiet up until this point, piped up earnestly,

"How do we help Ace get better?"

"Blue Korubo Fever's nasty… it can only be treated by the petals of the Aoilander flower which used to grow a lot 'round here." Magra said

"What's it look like?" Luffy asked

"They are little blue flowers with gold coloured leaves" Dogra replied then motioned for Magra to continue.

"The disease was rife twenty years ago and so the nobles took all the flowers for themselves to make vaccines and charge people for them." Magra said with a sigh. Magra paused as he heard Ace take an especially harsh breath followed by wheezy coughs.

"Us bandits aren't welcome in the High Town or Windmill Village and that's where all the doctors are. We'll have to hope there's still some Aoilander flowers left around Mount Corvo or else Ace won't make it. He's already barely able to breathe, got the fever and showing the rash so he's not got much time. And it's highly contagio-"

Magra was cut off as Dadan once again made her presence known, forcefully entering the room carrying a full bucket of cold water. She haphazardly deposited the bucket near Ace, causing a loud clatter against the wood floor.

Though it didn't show on Dadan's face, Ace's lack of response to the loud noise concerned her and she promptly began to wet some rags and place them surprisingly gently on Ace's feverish brow. From her place on the floor, Dadan addressed the two bandits.

"You two better get out of here and find that flower! Garp'll have my head if this kid dies."

Dogra smirked, "So you do care boss"

"Shut up and go already!" Dadan yelled.

As the bandits hastily got up to leave they realised that a certain young boy who had been oddly silent up until this point was not in the room.

"Luffy?" called Dogra

"Forget him just go!" Dadan snapped and with that Magra and Dogra dashed out of the house on the hunt for a blue flower. In their haste none of them stopped to wonder whether Luffy was immune to Blue Korubo Fever.

As it happened, Luffy shared three things in common with the Ace:

Dark hair, an overbearing Grandfather, and thirdly – and most important at this moment in time – an unfortunate fact that he too had never been given any vaccine for Blue Korubo Fever.

...

A disease that had already invaded Luffy's body and, unbeknownst to him, had begun its destructive conquest.

A/N:

Hello! Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of my story. I'd love to hear what you thought, so if you liked it/have some constructive comments on how I can improve my writing then I really look forward to reading your review! :)

Stay tuned for the next chapter...