By the time the power flickers back on, everyone already notices their guests. Luffy is interested in them to say the least, but Ace refuses to let him get near the unmoving bodies.

Because, seriously, how the hell do two bodies just appear in their living room?

"What the fuck," Thatch says and repeats the phrase over and over again. Ace agrees with him silently, ignoring the way his heart seems to be lodged in his throat. He can't see any features, both face down on the floor and covered in scars and cuts and bruises.

One is wearing a red cardigan and blue shorts, with bruises covering every inch of his body. His cardigan is singed on the edges and every inch of his body is covered in a layer of dirt. He is snoring—loudly—but otherwise doesn't seem to be in any pain.

The other body is taller, with no shirt and a nasty scar (a burn scar maybe?) on his back. On the edges of the scar are little purple marks. Ace thinks it might be a tattoo, but whatever was once there is completed destroyed by now.

Luffy struggles out of Ace's grip, jumping up from the couch to walk over to the unwelcomed visitors currently unconscious in the middle of the living room. "Are they dead?"

"Luffy!" Ace hisses, grabbing his brother's hand and yanking him back. "What the hell do you think you're doing? They might be dangerous! We don't even know why they're here or how the hell they got here!"

"But they're unconscious!" Luffy whines, but he let Ace drag him back over to the couch where he and Marco sat. "It's not like an unconscious person can attack you!"

"Luffy!" Ace is glaring at the teen now, but it isn't out of anger. He needs Luffy to listen to him. All the bad feelings and stomach twists that he's has. . . is coming directly from the strangers in their living room.

"I'm not a baby anymore!" Luffy protests with a solid frown. Ace begs to differ, but doesn't comment.

"Food," one of the unconscious people groans then started snoring again, causing the others to jump.

His voice is almost the same as Luffy's… Ace quickly checks his little brother to make sure that it was, in fact, his Luffy sitting next to him.

"Uh," Thatch says, holding out his spatula and poking the shirtless guy in the back right where his scar is. "Should we, I dunno, help them? They seem kind of harmless."

Ace thinks that calling the police might be a better course of action, but doesn't know how to explain to an officer that these two literally appeared in their room through a flash of lightning.

"Be careful," Marco warns Thatch as he continues to poke the shirtless dude with his spatula.

"This is the start of a bad horror film," Ace mutters. "Maybe they're faking being asleep?"

Luffy tilts his head, "They're not fake-sleeping, I can tell."

"Oh? Care to share how you know this information?"

Luffy laughs before looking straight at the two bodies, not a trace of worry in his eyes. Ace doesn't know how he can be so clam in this situation. "I can just tell."

"So . . . " Thatch says, once again getting everyone's attention. "What should we do with them?"

Marco shrugs. "Move them on the couch, yoi. They look injured."

"They snuck in to our house," Ace hisses, but knows Marco is right. Besides, Ace knows how to defend himself. Worse comes to worse, he beats the shit out of them and then turns them into the police.

After all, they look harmless.

He walks out to get the first aid kit and starts rummaging around the kitchen, throwing things out of his way. Some thuds were heard in the other room—presumably Marco, Thatch and Luffy trying to move the strangers to the couch—then, there is silence.

That is, until he hears a mixture of shouts.

"Holy shit!"

"No way! That's so cool!"

"Why the hell is there another-! "

Ace quickly rushes out, leaving the first aid kit in the kitchen, fearing that their 'guests' were attacking his friends and brother. When Ace flies in the room, he does not expect to see Marco, Thatch and Luffy gathering around the still unconscious body of one of the strangers.

Ace's eyes narrow suspiciously. "What the hell is going on?"

"Ace," Marco says, voice uncharacteristically serious. "You really need to come see this."

So Ace does.

However, he can honestly say he isn't expecting this.

Luffy is lying on one of the couches, while Ace is lying on the other. The only difference was they both looked older—more experienced. The scar that is on the stranger's back (his back? What the hell is going on?) mirrors on his front. The Luffy lookalike also has a large scar on his front, shaped like an 'x'. A straw hat is hung loosely around his neck and there are even more wounds on his front.

Ace isn't expecting this. He really isn't expecting this.

"Luffy? Me?" Ace asks in disbelief, looking at the body in front of him with a feeling of dread. "What the fuck?"

This isn't right, Ace thinks as he looked at the unconscious people. Blinking rapidly, hoping that it wasn't real, he reopens his eyes to the same two bodies. His eyes keep going toward the large 'x' shaped scar on the Luffy lookalike's chest.

Exactly like what Luffy—his Luffy—described in his dream.

Dear god, please let it be a dream.

"That's not me," Luffy says and Ace turns his head around to see his brother looking at his doppelganger with interest. "That's not me. At least, I think it's not me. It's confusing, but you get it don't you? You know what this means, right?"

"Yeah," Ace says. Everything just clicks at that very moment and Ace has to fight to stay calm. This should have never happened—this shouldn't be happening. "It's definitely them alright."

"Them?" Thatch asks. "What do you mean 'them'?"

Ace looks over his shoulder. "Y'know how we've said that we've been having weird dreams lately with people that look like us that are different?"

"Oh," realization dawns over Thatch's face. "You think these people are from your dreams?" When both of them nod, Thatch cries out, "But that's impossible! That means that they would be from—"

"Another world," Ace agrees. "It seems pretty impossible, but it's the only explanation."

"What about lost twins?" Thatch suggests. Ace glared at him until he shrinks back and holds up his hands placatingly. "Alright, alright. They're not lost siblings. What about doppelgangers? A makeup artist? Seriously, any of those make more sense then being from another world!"

"How'd they have just randomly appeared in the middle of my living room?"

"Oh god, this is insane."

The Luffy doppelganger groans, shifting to his side. His hand clutches at the scar on his chest as he successfully interrupts the conversation.

Ace is lying if he says that doesn't unnerve him.

"Do you think he'll be waking up soon?" Luffy asks as Marco pushes Ace out of the way so he can reach the injured teen.

Ace watches in silence as Marco makes quick work of the wounds, bandaging and cleaning them up ever so carefully. Ace, once again, thanks Marco's knowledge of medicine and first aid because god knows Ace can't even tie a bandage properly to save his life.

By the time he's finished, the Luffy-doppelganger looks like a mummy. Finally, Ace turns to Luffy and shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe. Should we take them to a hospital or—"

The Luffy-doppelganger's eyes shoot open before Ace can finish his sentence.

When the other-Luffy wakes up, it isn't like what Ace imagines in his head. He expects him to slowly open his eyes and then freak out when he realized that he doesn't know where he is. Maybe a fight.

But, in true Luffy fashion, Ace is proven completely and utterly wrong when the other-Luffy sits up as fast as he can before saying in a demanding tone, "Sanji, food!" and then falling back on the couch, clutching his head and letting out another loud, pained groan.

That reaction is so . . . Luffy.

Ace doesn't like it one bit.

Slower this time, the kid opens his eyes, looking around him. Apparently he hasn't noticed anyone else on the room because his eyes never lingered on a single thing. It's like he was soaking up everything except the people.

He finally does notice the people, the first person that he recognizes is none other than Marco.

The Luffy doppelganger's eyes widened and he tilts his head to the side. "Pineapple-head? What the are you doing here?"

Ace snorts a little, turning it into a cough when Marco glances at him. They'd managed to break Luffy and Thatch out of pineapple related puns years ago, but apparently this Luffy is still clinging to it.

Marco's eyes narrow and he crosses his arms over his chest. "I should be asking you that question."

"Really?" The Luffy-look-alike hums. "I dunno. One moment I was fighting Teach and the next moment I'm here. And I was kicking his sorry ass too."

Ace takes this as the perfect moment to intervene in their short and confusing conversation. "If you don't mind me asking, who the hell are you and why did you suddenly appear in my living room?"

Blunt, but it gets the job done.

The other-Luffy glances up at Ace and freezes. All the color drains from his face and his eyes are wide, hurting. "A-ace?"

Other-Luffy just stares. Ace doesn't know what the say, doesn't know what to do, so he just offers a small wave. Ace stops when he sees tears pooling in other-Luffy's eyes.

"Y-you're dead, damn it!" Other-Luffy yells between his tears, backing up as far as possible on the couch. He looks toward Marco, as if expecting something from him. His hand clutches his chest so hard that he tears right through the carefully constructed bandages. "This isn't like Sabo… You died! I was there! Ace, you died in my arms!"

The other-Luffy sobs.

"What the fuck is going on?" Thatch mutters under his breath as he continues to stare at their uninvited guest.

"Hey!" Luffy—his Luffy, not some strange, crying doppelganger—says, bounding up and getting in his double's face. The double jerks his head up, eyes wide. "Ace isn't dead!"

"Another…me?" the other-Luffy sounds just as confused as Ace feels. He scrubs his face, wiping away the tears. Ace doesn't miss the glances that he receives every few seconds, though.

"You're from another world," Luffy says in such a matter-of-fact voice that it's hard to argue.

"Oh," Other-Luffy says and stares at Ace right in the eyes. He seems to be looking Ace up and down, as if noticing all the differences. Slowly, he nods. "That makes more sense."

That stings a bit.

"You're just going to accept that…?" Ace mutters and tries to ignore the way the other-Luffy flinches.

Other-Luffy nodded. "It's not the first time I've been in another world. Besides, you all look really different! And Ace… Well, you're not my Ace." the air turns heavy and the other-Luffy bites his lip before shaking his head. He looks at Thatch. "And I have no idea who you are."

"What?!" Thatch sputters. "How do you know who Marco is and not me?!"

Other-Luffy just shrugs. "Marco's my friend! He saved my life."

A stray thought comes to Ace not even a second after. "Hey, if your Ace is dead, then who's that…?"

Other-Luffy's eyebrows furrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

This time Ace gestures with both of his hands towards the other couch. "Go and see."

"Wait a minute!" Marco pushes the boy back down onto the couch when he tries to stand up. He gives Ace a look and Ace just shrugs. "You're injured. You shouldn't be standing."

"I'm fine!" Other-Luffy grins and easily slips past Marco. "Little wounds like this can't slow me down."

"Little…?" Marco says in disbelief. Ace echoes the thought too. Other-Luffy looks like death warmed up, covered from head to toe in various cuts, bruises and burns. Ace knows that if he has that sort of damage, he wouldn't be standing up any time soon.

Which is why he's surprised when other-Luffy pushes himself to his feet like it doesn't hurt at all.

Marco is right behind him in case he collapses. Other-Luffy turns his head to look over his shoulder and gives Ace a sad smile, "If I let little things like this bother me, then how can I achieve anything?"

"Normal people wouldn't be able to stand," Marco says, but the other-Luffy ignores him. Thatch watches with wide eyes while his Luffy looks on with something akin to understanding.

Ace huffs, shaking his head. Slowly, he turns his attention to watch the other-Luffy's reaction to his should-be-dead brother.

His reaction isn't disappointing.

"Ace?"

Other-Luffy is surprised, to say the least (which is an understatement of the year). He confirms that, yes, this is actually his dead brother who isn't actually dead.

Still clad in whatever he was wearing before (prison clothes, other-Luffy supplies unhelpfully between his freak out), the other-Ace slumbers on, oblivious to the commotion he's causing around him.

Other-Luffy starts pacing around the room, straw hat covering his face (that he always seemed to wear), muttering under his breath.

That is twenty minutes ago.

Ace, Marco and Thatch watch on, unsure what to do. Their Luffy just stares at his other self, eyes full of an emotion that Ace can't place. The entire situation is so impossible that Ace's head hurts just thinking about it.

"Should we do something?" Thatch mutters, standing awkwardly to the side.

"Like what?" Marco hisses back.

But even Ace's patience is reaching a limit after the twentieth time other-Luffy says, "Ace shouldn't be alive. He's dead. He's dead."

Ace snaps.

"Obviously he's not dead," Ace says, trying to ignore the way that other-Luffy flinches when he hears his voice. "Sit down! Shouldn't you be happy or something?!"

Tears gather in the Other-Luffy's eyes and Ace has just enough time to think shit, shit shitshitshit—

"I—I am happy," Other Luffy says quietly, whipping the tears from his eyes. He gives them all a watery smile (so, so unlike the Luffy Ace knows). "I wonder if he still remembers me?"

The way that he said it makes Ace pause, thinking that there is more to those words than he's letting on. As much as he wants to, Ace doesn't push the subject.

He has a feeling that the story—all of it—will reveal itself eventually.

"Hey, what's your name?" Marco asks and Ace has a feeling that he will never know what's going on. Marco's probably right there with him.

But Marco does bring up a good point—what if this man only looks like Luffy? What if he isn't actually Luffy?

Other-Luffy grins at them, but even Ace can tell it's subdued. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy. The man who will become the Pirate King."

No, he is definitely Luffy.

"Ohh!" Ace's Luffy echoes, bounding up with endless curiosity. "Pirate King?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Thatch holds up his hands and shakes his head. "Pirate king? As in like, Blackbeard and stuff? You're a pirate?"

"I hate Blackbeard," Other-Luffy spits out with so much venom that the others take a step back. Then, his attitude does a complete one eighty and he grins. "But I am a pirate!"

"What the hell…" Marco says and Ace nods in agreement.

As far as Ace is concerned, pirates really don't really exist here, so someone claiming they were a pirate was confusing. Besides, he doesn't think that his little brother would become a pirate (raiding, looting, stealing, murdering)—and one as young as he is.

Not to mention it's weird seeing someone who looks almost exactly like his brother claim they are a criminal.

"Why a pirate?" Luffy asks, excited.

Other-Luffy tips his straw hat over his eyes, but all of them can see his smile. "The Pirate King has more freedom than anyone on the seas."

Freedom…

That makes much more sense, but Ace has to wonder who gave this boy (man?) such a weird view of pirates. Or maybe pirates are different in his word? Ace is going to ask later.

"Wait!" Ace's Luffy suddenly shouts and everyone turns to look at him. "We can't both be Luffy. I'm Luffy too!"

"He's got a point," Ace finds himself agreeing. Both Luffy's look at him and he resists the urge to shudder because it's really weird seeing two of his little brothers at once.

"Call me Straw Hat, then!" Other-Luffy—Straw Hat, apparently—says and grins. "People call me that all the time."

Marco casts a sideways glance at the teen. "People call you that?"

Straw Hat laughs. "Yeah! Smokey and the others do. Most of the time its by people who want to kill me."

"People that want to kill you?" Ace gives a sideway glance. Even if he is a pirate, authorities would want to capture him, right? Ace knows that people don't purposely kill others unless they're a serious threat or it's an accident. To hear him say it so casually is…

Ace doesn't know exactly what it is.

Straw Hat grins like he's proud of the fact. "Yeah! They would've tries to kill me even if I didn't become a pirate. I told Gramps that but he doesn't listen!"

Marco narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"The government… they don't care about us. I dunno if I should be telling you this 'cause Ace gets really mad but… you are Ace, right? And everyone already knows about Ace's dad so… Ace's dad was the last Pirate King. He tried to hide it, but the government found out and ordered his execution…" Straw Hat trails off, a faraway look in his eyes. "They tried to execute me for my dad, too. He's a dragon! He's the most wanted man in the world, or something…"

Luffy looks at his counterpart in confusion. "You mean that you and your Ace don't have the same dad? Are you half-brothers, then?"

"That's what he gets from that…" Thatch mutters.

Straw Hat grins, "Me and Ace aren't related by blood at all! I only met him when we were seven, and he hated me back then!"

Ace has a hard time believing that he would ever hate Luffy. Sure, he was an annoying little brat sometimes, but Ace is the one that raised Luffy since he was a baby. Luffy was the only thing he had left before he met Marco and Thatch.

"Oh," Luffy says. He sits still for a second, but then slumps in his seat and lets out a large sigh, looking at his brother with giant puppy dog eyes. "Ace I'm bored!"

"Watch TV or something," Thatch suggests. "While you do that, we seriously needed to figure out what's going on."

Luffy doesn't look too happy about being excluded from the conversation, but he doesn't look like he wants to stay in it, either. The teen jumps over the couch, landing on the floor with an ungraceful 'thud' and races to grab the remote. Luffy switches on the TV and plops down on the other side of the couch.

As soon as the TV starts speaking, Straw Hat jumps so high in the air that Ace still had trouble believing what he just sees. His wide eyes look around as if preparing for an ambush. "What's that?"

Luffy looks at his double weirdly. "What do you mean, 'what's that?' It's a TV! Television! Don't you guys have that wherever you live?"

"No," Straw Hat bounds over to the TV and pokes it. When nothing happens, Straw Hat's shoulders relax and he takes his time to actually look at the TV. His eyes light up and Ace swears that he sees stars in his eyes. "This is so cool! It's like a Video Den Den Mushi."

"A what?" Ace asks.

"A Den Den Mushi," Straw Hat says. "We talk on them! They're really cool snails!"

"Snails? What do you mean?" Thatch asks, sounding just as confused as Ace felt. Maybe it's a mistranslation? After all, they don't know if English is Straw Hat's first language.

"They're snails…" Straw Hat looks as confused as everyone feels, completely abandoning watching the TV. "What do you mean what do I mean?"

"You…" Marco takes a second to gather his thoughts. "You use snails to communicate."

"Yeah?" Straw Hat, for his part, just seems confused that they are confused. Ace's head hurts. "What do you use?"

Marco pulls out his phone and Straw Hat tilts his head to the side. "That's a box! How do you communicate with a box?"

Marco turns the device on and Straw Hat looks at it curiously as his screensaver—a picture of the four of them together—appears. His eyes widen, sparkling. "It shows pictures! That's so cool! Franky would love that…"

Ace opens his mouth, about to ask more questions (because, really, snails?) before—

"Ouch."

Everyone in the room freezes, turning their heads to look at the figure that was slowly trying to sit up, while scratching his head. The other-Ace glanced around the room, clearly disoriented. "My head hurts. Where the hell am I?"

"A-Ace?" Straw Hat is looking at his should-be-dead brother with such longing that it makes Ace's own heart wrench. Ace doesn't want to imagine what he went through.

"Thank you . . . For loving me!"

Okay, scratch that. He already thought about what he went through; he just never wants to experience it again.

few things: kind of ooc Luffy but like... how do u explain the feelings of having ur dead brother come back to life. also i had to get that 'ace's dad is the pirate king' thing out of the way bc it's relevant and ace from the op world would literally never tell anyone about that and the only other person who knows if luffy so like...

also fluffy confusing his dad (Dragon) as an actual dragon is so funny to me. honestly idk anymore

den den mushis are super important ahahaha, my favorite scene in this is bc of a den den mushi

this is the end of all the pre-written stuff so next chapter is all the new & good stuff. also next ch. is the most important ch. honestly

shoutout to my awesome beta Thisisarealtagwhy!