"How are you feeling?" Thatch asked as he joined Ace out on deck, leaning against the rail but facing the deck with his back to the sea. It had been merely 3 days ago that Teach was declared a traitor and killed. Those who were not present at the time found out from those who had been there to see it, and allies had been promptly notified. Though he was a traitor, Teach had been a good brother during his time in the crew, so some were understandably saddened. Most of the sorrow was gone by the next day though, replaced by the anger and hurt of betrayal.
"Weirdly calm." Ace replied. "I thought I'd be fuming for at least a few days, but," He shrugged as he looked out towards the sea. "I feel oddly relaxed. Neither his betrayal nor his death is affecting me as much I thought it would."
"Same here." Thatch admitted. "Actually, most of us Division Commanders are the same way. I think it's probably because we got the whole story." He stretched his arms out, yawning. "To be honest, all these meetings and paperwork about our plans and preparation for the future are more frustrating than knowing Teach killed me in the future over a stupid devil fruit. And of course, that short mission I took yesterday to take my mind off stuff just had to be the one where I found that accursed fruit." Thatch grumbled, remembering how he had nearly stomped the devil fruit into a mashed pulp when he first came across it on that small island that wasn't supposed to have anything worthwhile.
"Have you decided what to do with it?" Ace asked curiously, turning to him.
"I handed it over to Marco. If anyone can hide it where it would never be found and used again, it'd be him."
"Good call." Ace agreed, nodding as he turned back to the sea. "…I'm glad they came back to the past to warn us. You know, us from the future."
"Yeah." Thatch agreed. "It's sad how much they had to suffer though. I hope that things get better for them soon." Ace gave a low hum as the two fell into a comfortable silence. "…Hey, uh, Ace?"
"Yeah? What is it, Thatch?"
"Um, you might want to, uh, turn around." Ace glanced at Thatch with a raised brow, but the chef's gaze seemed fixated on something on the deck. Curious, Ace did a 180 and froze. On the deck of the Moby Dick, were two figures, one familiar to Ace, and the other unfamiliar yet painfully familiar. Whitebeard and Marco were both staring intently at the newcomers, but didn't assume a battle stance. Mainly because both of the newcomers weren't even looking at them. They were both staring at Ace with tears in their eyes, filled with the same heart-breaking pain and grief as their family from the future had.
"Luffy." F!Luffy's arms stretched out towards him and punched him, sending him sprawling to the ground in shock, before he wrapped his arms around his torso and shot straight into his gut. "Oof! Lu, what the hell!" Ace cursed, but his anger quickly dissipated when F!Luffy buried his face into his chest, sobbing loudly. He grimaced, remembering that he died in the future F!Luffy was from. "Hey, Lu." He was taken aback by the haunted look in F!Luffy's eyes when he looked up to meet his gaze. And then, he remembered that Luffy was there at the Marineford War and had probably seen him die. The horror hit him when he noticed the huge X scar on F!Luffy's chest. It was a burn scar, and the edges of it looked similar to the wound F!Ace had sported. Akainu, who managed to kill him, had injured F!Luffy too. F!Luffy had been hurt in the war.
Just how badly? He shook the thought off, reassuring himself that Luffy is fine and alive in the future, given F!Luffy's appearance, and that Luffy is fine and alive in the past, now that the threat of Teach is gone. Instead, he landed a punch on F!Luffy's head. "That's for being so reckless and coming to Marineford. What the hell were you thinking, you could've died, Lu!" F!Luffy pouted at him, fixing him with a gaze that said 'I don't wanna hear that from you', making Ace roll his eyes. F!Luffy was quick to forget it though, as he suddenly perked up and leapt off Ace, only to pull the not-so-stranger that came with him over to them with a large grin. He gestured wildly and excitedly to the stranger, who seemed nervous, and Ace took the time to observe his appearance.
Noble-like clothes? Check.
Top-hat with goggles? Check.
That ridiculous napkin – "It's not a napkin, it's a cravat!" The voice of a familiar young boy in his mind protested – Check.
"Bastard." Ace growled, his fist lighting up with flames as he sent the punch straight for the stranger's jaw. "Where were you this whole time?!" He roared as the stranger flew across the deck and skidded on the ground. "Dogra saw your boat get shot! We all grieved for you! Luffy and I cried for you! You were alive this whole time, and you couldn't even be bothered to let us know?!" He pounced on F!Sabo, who looked at him mournfully, but had a nostalgic smile on his face. "Where were you? Why didn't you ever come home?" Ace asked, his voice softer. F!Sabo winced, before gesturing to the burn scars that took over nearly the whole of his left side. Ace could tell he was trying to communicate something about the wounds or the incident that caused the wounds, but he couldn't link its relation to why Sabo never came back to them. F!Sabo seemed frustrated as Ace's look of confusion only grew by the second.
"Those must've been some terrible wounds to have caused such bad scarring, yoi." Marco commented suddenly from the side, having walked up to them at some point to get a closer look.
"He was 10." Ace answered in F!Sabo's stead. "He tried to set sail to get away from his parents who locked him in his own house. A Tenryuubito was passing by and shot him down even though he didn't do anything. He wasn't even in their way." Marco nodded, unfazed.
"Not surprising for a Tenryuubito, yoi." He said, looking disgusted. "But you were 10, yoi? I'm surprised you didn't die, yoi." He frowned as he noticed the scarring disappearing into F!Sabo's hairline. "Looks like you got a nasty head wound from it too, yoi. Did you perhaps lose your memories, yoi? Head injuries are known to cause amnesia, yoi." F!Sabo nodded, snapping his fingers at that and gesturing to it.
"You lost your memories?" Ace asked, leaning back so he wasn't literally in F!Sabo's face. "So that's why you didn't come home. You didn't remember us. But how did you remember then?" He murmured and F!Sabo's gaze turned sad as his eyes trailed to Ace's torso. Ace winced. "You found out from my death." F!Sabo nodded, making him sigh and face-palm. "Damn. Sorry 'bout that, Bo." F!Sabo shook his head, sitting up. He held out a hand, and kept his eyes on Ace as Ace watched his hand light up on fire. He seemed to relax slightly when Ace's eyes lit up. "Did you eat my Mera Mera no Mi? I was wondering what happened to it!" He raved, clearly thrilled. Matching his enthusiasm, F!Sabo smirked and nodded. "That's great! I'm glad you're the one who ate my fruit! Take care of it, will you?" F!Sabo ignored the tears welling up in his eyes and nodded, pulling Ace into a hug. Ace could only return the hug, using one hand to pat his back comfortingly. "Hey, don't cry, 'Bo. Lu is supposed to be the crybaby among us, not you." Next to him, F!Luffy pouted and Ace laughed, knowing the words F!Luffy was biting back. I'm not a crybaby! His mood turned slightly more sombre when he heard a sniffle from F!Sabo "Well, if it makes you feel any better, Sabo, I don't think I'll be dying anytime soon, now that we've dealt with Teach. Maybe I can go find you or something?" F!Sabo pulled away from the embrace, nodding excitedly, and reached into his pocket to take out a calendar. He marked a date on it and handed it to Ace.
"Alabasta." He remarked, tapping on the marked date. F!Luffy perked up at the name and bounced over, gesturing wildly to himself.
"Luffy, you went to Alabasta too? Will you be there on this date?" Ace asked, showing F!Luffy the marked date. F!Luffy frowned and shrugged, before grinning in his usual carefree way. Ace could almost hear him say, 'Oh well! I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere! Shishishi!' and couldn't help but smile along. "Alright, I'll go to Alabasta on that date. How will I find you there?"
"Find Revolutionary."
"Revolutionary Army, got it." Ace nodded to himself.
"I'll go get Haruta, yoi. We'll find out everything we can about the Revolutionary Army for you, yoi. No guarantees though, those bunch are hard to track, yoi." Marco said, Ace giving him a grateful look as he walked off.
"So, Lu." F!Luffy looked to him curiously. "I'm glad that you seem to be doing well in the future. What's your crew like?" F!Luffy gave him a face-splitting grin. They're the best! Ace smiled fondly to see that he could still read Luffy like an open book. "I see, they're that great, huh? That's good to hear. With such a troublesome younger brother like you, it makes me worry as an older brother. No matter what happens, Luffy, you'll be fine. Even if I'm not around anymore from the future you came from, you still have your nakama and Sabo. You're not alone anymore."
"Being alone is worse than being hurt!" 7-year-old Luffy had cried to him, and F!Luffy seemed to be thinking of the same memory as he bit his lips and nodded, tears running freely down his face. Ace placed a hand on F!Luffy's head, ruffling his hair affectionately. F!Luffy sniffled, calming himself down before looking up to fix Ace with a stern gaze.
"You promised me." Ace stared at the empty space before him with a soft smile and nodded.
"Yeah. I remember." The voice of 10-year-old him declared loudly in his mind.
"I promise you that I'll never die!"
"Did you pack everything, yoi? Don't forget the water, and don't drink it all before reaching Alabasta, yoi." Marco said as Ace got ready to set sail for the desert kingdom.
"I know." Ace muttered, rolling his eyes. "I can take care of myself, Marco."
"Knowing you, I don't trust that sentence one bit, yoi."
"Ace! Don't forget to pack food, and don't eat it all before you reach Alabasta!" Thatch's voice called out all the way from the kitchen, and Marco crossed his arm, giving him a smug look.
"Shut up." Ace muttered with a red face.
"I didn't say anything, yoi." Marco said back, smirking as Ace huffed and clambered onto Striker. "So, what's your plan, Ace?"
"My plan?"
"Yeah. Don't forget, your brother is amnesiac at this point of time, yoi. What are you going to say when you find him, yoi?" Ace gave a low hum, clearly thinking, before he smirked and held up 3 fingers.
"Three words!" Marco raised a brow at him.
"And what are those three words, yoi?"
"I'll think about it on the way there!" Ace yelled out as he fired up Striker and sped away, laughing the whole way at Marco's string of curses behind him.
Did you guys saw that coming? It's Luffy and Sabo! Canon wasn't going to give us a reunion, so I'm doing it instead :3 Sorry to disappoint those of you who were expecting more, like their reunion scene or like how the future visitors affected this world/timeline/past(?), but unfortunately, I won't be going any deeper into it.
Anyways, that's the end of Three Words From the Future, and I hope you guys have enjoyed it! Reviews are always welcomed, and feel free to check out my other stories!