Ace does manage to fall asleep that night, curled up under the stars.

Granted, it isn't very comfortable and he's freezing when he wakes up, but damn if he doesn't feel tired anymore. The sun is just peaking across the horizon and Ace yawns, stretching. He wonders for a brief second why he's outside, but then the emotional whirlwind of yesterday sends him crashing back into reality.

Their doubles appearing, the reunion, his talk with Straw Hat.

Ace sighs, figuring there was no point in trying to go back to sleep now. It was his week to cook anyways, and since they were having guests, he might as well get started on breakfast. Eggs and pancakes are easy and they don't take much time to make; perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.

He shuffles to the kitchen and tears through the cabinets. He still has plenty of batter and a dozen eggs, which is good. He really doesn't want to run to the store and have to buy more (nor did he want to consider what it would do to his poor wallet). Leftovers are fine for the next few days.

It's twenty minutes later (he has a nice pile of steaming pancakes and a coffee for Marco) when a crash echoes through the house and Ace sighs because, really, his brother could be quieter in the mornings.

"FOOD!" Suddenly there are two pairs of footsteps running through the hallways. He spots his little brother sprinting at full speed (even for a cross country runner he is fast) but doesn't see Straw Hat until he's literally right in front of Ace.

"What the fuck?!" Ace nearly drops his spatula in surprise because when did he get there?

Luffy laughs and climbs onto one of the barstools. "You're fast!"

"I'm hungry!" Straw Hat says as if he didn't just teleport right in front of Ace.

"Luffy, you're so loud," Thatch's voice interrupts as he stumbles out of his room, still messy from sleep. He stops when he spots the two Luffys, eyes narrowing in thought. "Why are there two of y—Oh, right. Dimension travel."

Straw Hat and Luffy give him identical grins as Thatch plops own on the couch with a sigh. Ace shrugs and goes back to making plates of pancakes and eggs for everyone. He stops a hand from stealing one, courtesy of Straw Hat, and smacks away his own brother's nimble fingers.

Marco stumbles out of his room not a moment later in his full bed-headed glory. He glances at the two Luffys before staring at Ace with a deadpan expression, "Coffee."

"Here," Ace says and hands over the steaming cup of caffeinated energy. Luffy makes a face at it, not a fan (and Ace has sworn never ever to give his brother any form of caffeine as a Luffy fueled by such a drug was terrifying). Marco takes a sip and gives him a small, grateful smile before going over to join Thatch on the couch.

Fire Fist is the last to appear, still wearing his torn and bloodied clothes from yesterday (they really need to get him some new clothes). He yawns loudly and stretches. He glances around the room (his eyes lingering on Thatch for longer than Ace thought was necessary, but well, he can't blame him too much) before joining his brother by the bar.

Ace passes out the plates (two pancakes per person, except for Luffy and his double who got four). Luffy gives him a happy thanks! but Straw Hat and Fire Fist glance at the plates before looking at Ace as if he did something wrong.

"What?" Ace says. Maybe they're allergic to eggs or something?

"It's just… small," Fire Fist says but takes the plate anyways.

"Eat that and I'll give you seconds," Ace tells him. He goes to give Thatch and Marco their plates but before he can even take a step, Straw Hat yells, "Seconds!" and slams down a now-empty plate.

Almost as if he were mocking him, Fire Fist puts down his now-empty plate too. Luffy looks at them, shrugs, and goes back to shoveling eggs in his mouth.

Ace stares. "How did you…?"

"We eat a lot," Fire Fist says as if that explains how they cleaned their plate within a few seconds.

"You know what?" Ace says and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Give me a second."

He gives Thatch and Marco their plates (who were watching the exchange silently the entire time) before heading back in the kitchen to get seconds for their guests. He loads their plates with another three pancakes each and they still look at the plate in disappointment.

Ace turns his back for maybe two more seconds to get his own food when he hears Straw Hat slam his plate on the bar and shout, "Thirds!"

Ace whirls around, eyes wide because there was no way that someone could finish three pancakes in two seconds, but there Straw Hat was, standing with a grin and an empty plate. Luffy is still soaking his second pancake in syrup, eyes only for his meal.

Ace is done. It's not even eight in the morning yet.

Fire Fist grins at him (Ace knows that grin, he does the same towards other people) and offers up his empty plate as well. "I told you we—"

Fire Fist's head slams down on the (granite!) counter before he can even finish the sentence.

Thatch and Marco are on their feet in moments, wide eyed and worried. Ace stares at his double (did he just die?) for a solid ten seconds before looking over at Straw Hat who seemed more concerned trying to steal from Luffy's plate.

Thatch approaches, touching his shoulder. "Is he okay?"

A snore is their only answer.

Marco checks his pulse for good measure. Fire Fist doesn't even flinch. "He just... fell asleep."

Straw Hat turns to look at them and grins. There's a little piece of pancake on his right cheek and Ace resists the urge to wipe it away, like he does with his own little brother. "Oh yeah! Ac—Fire Fist is fine; he has narco-sy? Narc-lep-ly? Narc—"

"Narcolepsy?" Ace asks and hopes that he's wrong.

"Yeah, that!" Straw Hat grins at him. "He falls asleep a lot. He's fine."

Ace's head is spinning. "That's not… that's literally not how narcolepsy works at all. Narcoleptics don't just… Isn't he on pills or something?"

Straw Hat just tilts his head to the side. "Pills?"

Ace drags his hand across his face. "Forget it. Someone check if his head is okay."

"Why wouldn't his head be okay?"

Marco carefully moves Fire Fist's head, checking along the spine and then seeing if there was any bruising around his forehead. "He just slammed his head down on a granite countertop. It'll probably be a nasty bruise later."

Straw Hat just seems confused (as if he is thinking, 'why would Fire Fist bruise from that?') but shrugs. He holds out his plate for more and Ace diligently piles on three more pancakes. Straw Hat smiles and heads back to his seat.

The pancakes are gone before he even sits down.

Ace pinches the bridge of his nose, but resolves not to ask. Apparently pirates can eat their food at superhuman speed. Wonderful. He turns back to his food, fully intending to gobble down his pancakes, only to find an empty plate. He scrunches his nose up in confusion because he was sure that he already made a plate for himself.

He glances up. The rest of the extra pancakes were gone as well. Straw Hat is looking away with an empty plate and a guilty expression and—oh.

"You're a dirty little food thief," Ace tells him because at least his brother knows not to steal food from others.

Straw Hat sweats a bit and doesn't look him in the eyes, "I am not."

"I was going to eat those, you asshole," Ace tells him and his stomach lets out an unsatisfied rumble. "How are you even eating so fast?"

Straw Hat looks like he's about to respond, but then Fire Fist's shoulder bursts into flame.

Ace does not scream, thank you very much. That was definitely Thatch and in no way did he jump. He does, however, very quickly move away, grabbing Luffy by the collar of his T-shirt as he goes. He grabs Straw Hat's shirt too, but the boy (man? How old is he anyways?) seems more confused at their reactions than anything.

"What the FUCK," Thatch says and falls off the couch. He's running down the halls before anyone else can say anything, presumably to get a fire extinguisher, or water, or something.

Ace pushes both Luffys towards Marco, who them pushes them behind him. Luffy is staring at Fire Fist, eyes wide, but Straw Hat seems completely at ease (as if his brother isn't on fire after a strange narcoleptic attack).

Ace's double is still snoring, on fire.

"How is he sleeping through being on fire?" Marco asks, aghast.

Straw Hat goes to push his way through them, but Ace yanks him back. Other world or not, he still looks like his little brother and he isn't going to let him get hurt. "Hey, that's dangerous."

Straw Hat looks at him as if he's an idiot. "Ace's fire isn't dangerous."

"Ace's?" Ace parrots then points to the guy that was still on fire. "You mean he's making that fire?"

"Why else would he be on fire?"

"WE DON'T KNOW," both Ace and Marco roar at him. Straw Hat seems taken aback, like he can't fathom the idea that they would be worried about someone on fire.

"Normal people," Ace says slowly and carefully. "Don't burst into flame."

"Huh, weird." Straw Hat says and Ace has to take a deep breath to calm himself from snapping.

"That's so cool!" Luffy cheers and makes a move to approach, but Ace holds him back. Now that he's actually looking at his double, he sees the fire isn't actually burning him. It flickers and roams, but it never grows nor does it spread. The skin underneath stays the same as it always is, unmarred even by the heat that fire should be producing.

Just at that moment, Thatch decides that's the perfect moment to come rushing in with a bucket full of water, screaming at the top of his lungs. Ace, Marco and both Luffys move out of his way quickly as he dumps the water on top of Fire Fist (and Ace's poor wood floors…). The water douses the fire immediately and Fire Fist jerks up.

"—eat a lot," Fire Fist says drowsily before blinking and looking down at his now wet clothes. "Why am I wet?"

"You set yourself on fire," Straw Hat explains.

Instead of panicking like a normal person would do, Fire Fist nods, "Oh, oops."

"OOPS?"

"Y-you were just on fire…. How…?" Thatch mutters and flops on the couch once he sees there is no wounds or damage.

"Why are you so worried?" Fire Fist looks at them, judging their reactions before leaning forward on his hand with interest. "You guys don't have Devil Fruits here, do you?"

"Devil Fruits?" Luffy asks, eyes wide.

"No," Marco says.

Straw Hat goes to pick his nose and Ace yanks his hand away before it even reaches his face. He curbed that habit from his younger brother years ago and was not about to have him (or any other version of him) pick it back up again. "No Devil Fruits?"

"I was thinking about it last night, when Luffy didn't use his. Marco too. I figured that maybe you don't use them in the house? But then this morning Luffy didn't use his at all, even for food." Fire Fist holds up his hand, only for it to erupt into flame. Ace leans back, weary of the fire. He doesn't have very good experiences with the element. "I was thrown off a bit but I figured that if this really is another world then you guys might not have the same stuff as us. I was right."

Thatch yelps, holding up the empty water bucket threateningly. Luffy goes to touch the flame, but Marco yanks his hand back before he can even come close.

Fire Fist laughs at their reactions. "Devil Fruits are fruits that give you power when you eat them. Legend says that Devil Fruits are the Sea Devil's incarnation. If you eat one, you can't swim. Sea water makes you weak and unable to use your powers."

"They taste bad," Straw Hat sticks out his tongue and Fire Fist nods in agreement.

"You have… super powers. From a fruit. That tastes bad," Thatch says.

Fire Fist grins and suddenly his hand is just a normal hand again. "Yeah."

"WHHAAO!" Luffy is jumping all over the place, all smiles. He crowds Fire Fist, grabbing his hand and examining it, laughing when he sees there is no damage. "Ace, we need one! We gotta find one! Super powers! He's like the Human Torch!"

"I ate the Mera Mera no Mi. I am fire," Fire Fist says. He turns and grabs Straw Hat's check before pulling and pulling and pulling—

Ace has to pick his jaw off the ground because Straw Hat's cheek just keeps stretching.

"Luf—sorry, Straw Hat here ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi. His entire body turned into rubber. He stretches."

"I'm a rubber man," Straw Hat confirms.

"What the fuck," Ace hisses because honestly, could this day get any weirder? Yesterday, pirates fall out of the sky. Today, they can eat at superhuman speed and have super powers.

Thatch is looking at Straw Hat with a funny expression on his face. "So everything stretches?"

"Yep," Straw Hat says.

"Even your—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Thatch," Marco warns.

"I was going to say teeth!"

Fire Fist laughs and shakes his head. He's staring at the two fondly, lost in old memories. Ace wonders how long it's been since he's seen them bicker like that—do they even bicker like that in his word? Wonders if they're as close as they are in this world. Ace can't imagine not being friends with Marco or Thatch.

"Guns, swords, punches," Fire Fist says. "None of that work on me. Straw Hat's immune to guns and blunt force."

"Unless you know haki," Straw Hat chirps and grins.

Luffy tilts his head to the side, "Haki?"

Instead of answering, Fire Fist turns and gives his brother an incredulous look, "Since when do you know about haki?"

Straw Hat holds his hand out. Suddenly, a black steel-like substance is covering his entire forearm. "Rayleigh taught me!"

While the name doesn't really mean anything to Ace, it must mean something to Fire Fist because he balks, staring at his brother with wide eyes, "Dark Night Rayleigh?"

Whatever Straw Hat is about to say is interrupted by Thatch who cautiously approaches to touch Straw Hat's arm. Straw Hat grins and holds it out as Thatch runs his fingers up and down. "Wow… it feels like steel almost? Your arm is cold. Is this your, uh, Devil Fruit?"

"Nope!" Straw Hat says as he takes him arm back and the black substance fades. Fire Fist is still staring at his brother like he can't believe he just did that. "It's haki."

"Yeah," Thatch says. "You said that, but that doesn't explain anything at all…"

Fire Fist's face scrunches up. He swings his legs from the bar stool and looks around at everyone crowded around him. He's still giving his brother a weird look, but seems to have shaken off most of his surprise. "Haki is kind of hard to explain… it's like awakening your senses? Anyone can use it—"

"What about us?" Luffy interrupts with a hopeful grin.

"Alternate universe so I don't actually know," Fire Fist says and Luffy visibly deflates. He continues to give a detailed explanation of the three types of haki and how they work, demonstrating them each in turn. Straw Hat chimes in from time to time, though he never really makes much sense.

"…It's basically essential in the further you get in the seas," Fire Fist finishes.

"So the space pirates can use ESP. Of course. Anything else would be too normal," Thatch says.

Fire Fist gives him a weird look (but damn if Ace doesn't notice his hesitation every time he looks at Thatch). "Space pirates?"

Thatch shrugs and begins to tick off his fingers. "Space pirates, dimension pirates—"

"I've been to the sky!" Straw Hat says helpfully, "And under the sea!"

"—sky pirates, underwater pirates. Great, keep adding on to the list. Maybe one day we'll actually see you guys sail on a normal ocean."

"We do," Fire Fist insists but Thatch just waves him off.

"While this is nice and all," Marco interrupts and everyone turns to look at him. He stands up and points to the clock. "Thatch and I still have work."

"I forgot about that," Thatch mutters and sighs. He takes all the empty plates (ignoring the grumble from Straw Hat's stomach) and places them in the sink. Marco disappears down the halls, gathering his stuff while Thatch works to clean around the kitchen.

"Ace, Luffy, take it easy. You're both still on bed rest. We're heading out, yoi," Marco says once everything is in working order again. Ace and Luffy wave them goodbye while Fire Fist and Straw Hat look watch them leave, curious.

Pirates don't work, right. Ace forgot about that. That was a discussion for another hour though, because Ace was sure his poor brain can't take any more cultural differences from their guests.

He turns and is met with three expectant gazes. Ace tries not to sigh. He tries really, really hard but the day has barely started and he already has a migraine the size of Russia. Of course he can't recover in peace.

Whatever deity is up there hates him, apparently.

Turns out pirates are very easily to entertain once they have TV access.

Luffy is much harder to calm down, but settles on the couch next to their two guests. They were chatting animatedly about something with the TV playing in the background, but Ace can't hear them from his spot in the kitchen. Pirates can eat more food than Ace has in his entire fridge, which shouldn't be physically possible but these two seem to have a bad habit of breaking the laws of physics.

He glances over at Fire Fist, looking at the worn pants (no shirt or bandages to hide those ugly scars on his chest and back) and torn up and bloody shoes. Fire Fist is lounging on the couch, apparently unbothered by the fact that he is filthy and living in his own blood (is it even his blood?) He's going to let him borrow some clothes.

"Hey, other-me," Ace calls and all three of them turn to look at him. Ace walks into the living area and gestures towards the hallway. "Come on, let's go get you changed before you ruin my couch. You're going to wear some of my clothes."

Fire Fist jumps to his feet and races after him with a relived, "Thank you."

Ace glances at the two Luffys (surely if they leave them alone for five minutes they'd be fine… right?) before leading Fire Fist to his room. He ushers Fire Fist into his room and shuts the room behind him before going and digging through his closet.

Ace throws him some old shorts, a t-shirt and a new pair of shoes.

"I miss my hat," Fire Fist says as he starts to strip in the middle of the room (apparently modesty is not a pirate trait). Ace doesn't ever recall having a hat but nods along anyways. By the time he's finished changing, the only thing left behind is the shirt which Fire Fist is very pointedly not putting on.

"Shirt too," Ace says.

"I am not wearing a shirt," Fire Fist argues, because of course changing isn't that simple. Nothing is simple with these two.

"Oh yes you are," Ace says and shoves the shirt in his counterpart's arms. "My house, my rules."

Fire Fist sighs, big and loud like wearing the shirt is the worst possible thing, but complies anyways. Ace watches him hesitate, hand crawling up to the huge burn scar in the center of his chest. He turns to look at his back in the mirror, as if expecting something to be there. Ace can only see the circular burn scar that that's almost identical to the one on his front.

It's my pride and joy!

"I haven't worn a shirt in a long time," Fire Fist says and sounds wistful. He slips the shirt over his head and sighs when he looks in the mirror again. It's like he sees a different person—but why, Ace doesn't know.

Fire Fist gives a small smile, pulling on the seams. Ace has seen that smile before—surrounded by death and explosions with blood leaking from his mouth and a hole in his chest.

Even though I carry the blood of a demon…

"Your Luffy is different," Ace says, trying to shake his thoughts. He doesn't want to remember any more.

Fire Fist pauses, looking up from the shirt. "Well, he's acting a bit weird. It might be because he's matured but… I think most of the reason is because of me."

"You?"

"He's mad at me," Fire Fist's smile turns just a bit bitter. "And I don't blame him."

"Why?"

"Because I promised."

There's a memory there—two boys in tears on a cliff that faces the endless ocean. Smiles and tears as they mourn the loss of another.

I promise I will never die! How can I leave a weak little brother like you alone?

"I promised I wouldn't die and I died in his arms."

Thank you for loving me!

"Oh," Ace sits on his bed, resting his head on his hand. He stares his counterpart (same face, same clothes yet still a completely different person with a completely different life), thinking. Ace doesn't know why he's here but he thinks he has an idea…

A broken promise and the love of a brother are strong, strong things.

Ace gives him the biggest smile he can muster because while he might have died before, he's not dead now. "For some strange, unexplainable reason, you've been given another chance. How are you going to use it?"

this was such a fun chapter to write tbh

okay so something that really gets me with this story that I didn't pay much attention to when I first wrote it is for Ace (Fire Fist in this story), only seconds have passed. But for Luffy and his world, it's been two years. That's really, really fucked up if you think about it. idk man.

the teeth thing get me okay bc like... does he have rubber teeth. if u took one of his teeth and pulled would it stretch? how does this boy eat with rubber teeth? questions keeping me up at night

chapters will be updated sooner bc I don't have to change the tense anymore so yeah! please review.