Straw Hat is across the room, tackling other-Ace of the couch before anyone can blink. Ace can't help but think that he looks so much younger when he's desperately grabbing Other-Ace's shirt as if other-Ace is going to disappear if he lets go.
"Ace," something about his tone makes Ace stop and shiver because that's Luffy's voice. The boy that he grew up with, that he helped raise. Luffy should never have to sound like that. "You're here."
Soon enough, Straw Hat had small tears leaking from his eyes; his head was buried into a very confused other-Ace's chest while he kept muttering things. About broken promises and the thought of being alone in the big, big world.
"Being alone is more painful than being hurt!"
"Luffy?" Other-Ace looks down at the crying man in his lap, confused. Ace sees the gears in his brain turning before everything just clicks. Something flashes across the other-Ace's face. "Holy shit. Luffy!"
The man finally hugs Straw Hat back. Ace stares, unsure of what to do. It's obvious that other-Ace doesn't notice anything else in the room, nor seems to even acknowledge his wounds. So Ace sits to the side and decides to let them work this out on their own time.
Luffy, of course, has no problems bounding up to both of them with a big smile and no sense of self-preservation. "Hey, are you—!"
"Luffy!" Ace's hand is covering the teen's mouth in seconds, trying to get him to shut up before he ruins the oddly touching scene in front of him.
Both the other-Ace and Straw Hat glanced up at the other two brothers. Other-Ace's eyes widen and looks at Straw Hat who just shrugs. He doesn't sound nearly as shocked as Ace would be if the situation had been reversed. "Oh? Another me and another Luffy?"
"You don't sound too surprised," Marco pushes himself off the couch and goes to go stand against the wall next to Thatch. Luffy gladly takes the extra space on the couch to stretch his legs.
"Pineapple-head!" Other-Ace exclaimed in surprise, but sounds happy. Thatch covers his own laugh (like brother like brother, regardless of the universe) while Marco elbows him in the side. "Weird things happen on the Grand Line all the time. What are you doing here, anyway? And who's—" Other-Ace stops halfway through his sentence, finally seeming to recognize Thatch. All the color drains from his face and he flinches back.
"Thatch?"
"Oh right," Straw Hat says as if he remembers something. "You said one of your nakama died in our world, right?"
"Our world?" Other-Ace says at the same time as Thatch squeaks, "Died?"
Ace finds this as the best time to interrupt and tell everyone his theory, and save them from Thatch's freak out, even if it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth (he can't imagine any of his friends dead). By the time he finishes explaining, other-Ace is nodding slowly as if he understands.
"Dimension travel isn't impossible," Other-Ace comments. "I mean, I've heard about it from Pops before."
"Rainbow mist too," Straw Hat says. Other-Ace nods his head in agreement like that makes complete sense.
"Right, this is great and all," Thatch interrupts and Ace watches as his counterpart flinches, staring at the man with wide eyes. It seems like his wounds are still fresh. "But what are we going to do now?"
"If this really is an alternate dimension," other-Ace says, "Then we need to find a way to get back home. The last thing I remember was the war—fuck, everyone was fighting. Luffy, what happened after I…"
"Ace," Straw Hat looks down at his hands, voice cracking. "You died. You and Mustache-ossan were buried. I visited your grave."
Other-Ace sucks in a breath and shakes his head. He looks like he expects it, but pain is still written across his face. "So Pops really did… Fuck, Luffy, I'm so sorry."
From beside Ace, Marco and Thatch both hiss in disbelief. Ace himself is unsure if he heard right. There was no way that Pops—the great Edward Newgate—is dead, right?
Straw Hat smiles at him, watery and broken in a way that Ace has never seen on his Luffy's face (and never wants to). "It's been two years. I trained to become stronger, so I wouldn't have to lose anyone again. I've gotten a lot stronger! We even defeated Kaido and Big Mom. I won't have to lose anyone again. I—I won't have to lose you again. Ace, promise me that you'll come back with me."
Other-Ace stares at his hands for a second, clenching and unclenching his fists. He takes a deep breath before staring at his brother with new-found determination. "I promise."
"Before this gets more confusing than it already is," Ace says after everything finally (finally!) calms down enough for him to speak. He rakes his hand across his face because this has been a long day (he has a feeling that it's only the beginning) and jerks his thumb at his double. "What are we calling you?"
Other-Ace looks at him like he's the one that dropped out of the sky. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know if you've noticed but there is already an Ace here," Ace gestures to himself. "And there can't be two Monkey D. Ace's in this house."
"Portgas."
"Excuse me?"
Other-Ace scrunches up his nose. "My name is Portgas, not Monkey. That's Luffy's name."
"Weird," Luffy (his Luffy, not some weird pirate doppelganger) says and laughs. Of course the idiot thinks this is funny.
"Look," Ace pinches the bridge of his nose. He wants to sleep. Preferably until this is all over. "At this point, I physically can't bring myself to care. We need to figure out what we're calling you."
"We're calling Luffy's double Straw Hat," Thatch chimes in helpfully.
"Epithets?" Other-Ace turns to Straw Hat with a raised brow and Straw Hat just shrugs. "I'd be Fire Fist then."
"I'm not even going to ask," Ace says and he means it. He feels exhausted. His wounds from the wreck still ache, even with the pain meds. He's been dealing with those dreams (memories, a small part of his brain corrects), the storm, the voices, and now this.
"We'll figure more out tomorrow," Marco says, ever the voice of reason. Ace would kiss out of gratitude if he isn't so exhausted. "For now, lets sleep on it and maybe we'll find out how to get you two back home. Come on, I'll show you the guest rooms."
"Bed time!" Luffy chirps happily and dashes to his room. Ace watches him go and sighs. He wishes he knew how his little brother could be so carefree in the face of the impossible.
They lead Fire Fist and Straw Hat down the halls, ignoring how they look at the house. Pictures lined the walls—some of Ace and Luffy when they were younger, some of Marco and Thatch, some of all four of them, and some of Whitebeard and Ace's coworkers. They're good memories.
Ace keeps moving even when he spies Fire Fist observing a picture of him and Luffy for longer than he looks at the others.
"This isn't a ship," Fire Fist observes. Noticing their disbelieving looks, the man gives them a weak smile and scratches the back of his head. "Sorry, it's just been a long time since I've stayed in a house… We, uh, aren't on land very often."
"I already told them we're pirates," Straw Hat says. He stays close to his brother's side, almost as if he were scared that Fire Fist would disappear if they were separated any more. Maybe he would. Ace doesn't know the specifics of dimension travel.
"Of course you did," Fire Fist sighs and shakes his head fondly.
Thatch opens the guest room door and flicks on the lights. The small room isn't much, but then again they don't have guests often. Ace doesn't have any family outside of the Whitebeards and he doesn't have enough money to really decorate the inside. He's lucky to even have a house and not try and stuff his energetic little brother in an apartment.
"Sorry, there's only one bed." Thatch says but Fire Fist only shrugs.
"It's fine, Luf—uh, Straw Hat and I are used to sharing." Straw Hat snakes his way into the room and throws himself on the bed with a happy grin. Marco bids them a goodnight and Thatch follows.
Ace is about to retire to his own room when someone clears their throat. He turns to see his own face (wait what the fuck—right, dimension travel) giving him a meaningful look. "This is probably pretty confusing to you to so... thanks. For helping us."
Ace gives him a tired grin. "We are the same person after all. You would've done the same if our positions were reversed."
"I guess so," Fire Fist agrees. "Well, Goodnight."
"Night."
Ace can't sleep.
He sure feels exhausted (with every bone in his body screaming at him to just shut his eyes, god damn it) but whenever he tries, flashes appear. Memories, dreams, whatever they were—Ace doesn't like them.
When his clock hits three in the morning, Ace sighs and throws himself out of bed. He doubts he's going to get much sleep, even though he desperately wants to. Which means that tomorrow's narcolepsy attacks are going to be worse than normal – even with medication, it seemed that he was never free of sudden 'sleep attacks'.
Ah, well, good thing he's still technically on bed rest from the crash.
He walks down the halls, careful not to wake anyone. He passes the pictures on the walls, and heads out towards the back porch.
He opens the door and shivers slightly at the cool breeze—winter would be coming soon. He's about to sit on one of the four lawn chairs scattered across the deck when he sees a figure hunched over, sitting on the stairs leading to the yard.
Ace can't make much out in the dim light that the moon and stars provide but he sees black hair, a red shirt and a straw hat dangling from it's owners neck. He knows of only one person that wears a straw hat around.
"Hey Luffy, what are you doing up?" Ace moves to sit by him but when Luffy turns Ace is brilliantly reminded that the figure is definitely not Luffy, if the scar under his eye and the bandages spanning across his chest are anything to go by.
Right, because there are two now. He forgot.
"Oh, hi Ace," Straw Hat grins at him (so, so similar to his own brother's smile). Ace takes that as an invitation to sit down next to his (brother? Brother's double?). "Couldn't sleep."
"Yeah," Ace says. "Me neither."
They lapse into comfortable silence. Ace's Luffy would never be able to sit this still or quietly for so long. He probably wouldn't have even woken up in the first place seeing as he sleeps like a rock. Ace is starting to figure out that for all of the similarities that their doubles share, they're still different.
Because Straw Hat, with his sad smiles and dead older brothers, is a fighter. Ace can see it in his eyes, the way he moves. His eyes reflect that of veteran soldiers, built on years of hardships.
His dreams might be their memories, but they're never very clear to begin with. He's already forgetting parts of them. Sometimes, Ace wonders what they went through.
The flashes, the fire, the boy who never came home (Sabo, his brain tells him, the boy's name is Sabo). The pirates, the war, the government. Fire, fire, fire—so much fire.
And sometimes Ace wants to forget.
"Ace, Sabo and I used to watch the stars a lot as kids," Straw Hat says, breaking the silence. He turns and smiles at Ace, lost in memories that Ace will never have. Ace still doesn't know who Sabo is, but figures it's someone important to both Straw Hat and Fire Fist. "I watch the stars with my nakama too—these stars are different, though. I don't recognize any of them."
At that moment, Ace realizes just how far Straw Hat and Fire Fist are from their home. Dimension travel… they could be millions upon billions of miles away, in a star system that the scientists of this world have never even dreamed of. Their family has no way of knowing where they are, and they don't know how to get back.
Ace knows that if he was in that position, he would be terrified.
Straw Hat continues, "I've been sent away before. Not like this, but I was separated from everyone."
Ace looks at him. "How?"
Straw Hat smiles, eyes closed but even Ace could tell that he was hurting. His hand creeps up, tracing over the bandagers that cover the large burn scar on his chest. Ace tries not to look. "Because I was too weak. I wasn't strong enough to protect them just like I wasn't strong enough to save…"
My brother, is left unsaid.
"I trained for two years to get stronger," Straw Hat grabs his hat and places it on his head, turning back to the stars, eyes filled with an odd sort of determination. "I was never going to lose anyone again. And now, here I am, with my dead brother and I don't know how but…I'm happy. This time, I'm going to bring Ace back no matter what."
"We're going to find a way to get both of you back," Ace agrees because they will.
Straw Hat smiles at him—the brightest smile Ace has seen from him yet—and laughs.
"Tell me about your crew," Ace says (more like demands, but knows Straw Hat won't mind if he's anything like his Luffy). Straw Hat happily agrees, launching into a wild tale of adventure and friendship. Some names Ace recognizes—Nami, Zoro, Ussop, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook—but others he's never heard before—Vivi, Jinbei, Momonosuki, Torao. He talks about creatures that Ace can only dream of ("Fishmen? Really?"). He talks about his crew's past, about how they've all suffered but continue for the sake of their dreams. How they're constantly fighting, running.
"I think I've figured it out," Ace says once Straw Hat seems done. "Our world is about living, yours is about surviving."
Straw Hat laughs at him and shakes his head, "No, our world is about following our dreams."
"Is it? Then what's your dream?"
"To become Pirate King!"
Ace furrows his eyebrows in confusion. From what little knowledge he has of their world, he knows that the Pirate King is an important figure. Someone that the world wouldn't care to see again.
So why? Why be something the world hates the most?
Ace asks as much to Straw Hat.
"I want to be free," Straw Hat says. "I promised Shanks that I would become Pirate King, the man with the most freedom in the world."
"So my world is about living without freedom," Ace says because suddenly he understands. "And your world is about surviving with freedom."
"My world is better," Straw Hat says without a trace of hesitation and all Ace can do is laugh because, yeah, he figured that Straw Hat would say that.
please review because i live for the reviews
i rewrote everything after the promise part, so all of that stuff is new writing. Same ideas, though.