AU where Ace survives the war.

Characters: Luffy & Ace (Marco, Jimbei)

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Promise

Luffy's eyes slowly blinked open. A blurred figure hovered over him, studying him. With his vision still not entirely intact, he would have sworn he saw a pineapple. Of all things. Man, he was hungry.

"Hey. Hey..." An unfamiliar voice called to him. "Are you alright, Ace's little brother?"

What came out of Luffy's mouth was just a string of sleepy gibberish that caused the other man, who Luffy could now see was in fact a man and not a ridiculously tall pineapple, to give him a small smile.

"Luffy, was it, yoi?"

"Uh uh." He nodded. And not a second later he added "Ace?" judging from his previous attempt that any tries at full sentences would be pointless.

The man rolled his eyes. "And I thought Ace had a brother complex. He's crashing in my room, seeing as you're using his. He had a narcolepsy fit earlier and we saw it as our chance to finally make him get some rest. He's been worried sick for you, yoi."

"'S he 'kay?"

"Well he's been better but it's nothing serious. You should be more worried about yourself."

The door open then and a large fish man entered. "Is he awake, Marco-san? I heard voices."

After a minute or so of them talking about something Luffy was too tired to follow, Marco, as Jimbei had called him, left the fish man to watch him for a moment so he could get the doctor and see if Ace was awake. Jimbei had advised against getting the older brother here before either of them got their proper rest but Marco had (correctly) guessed that if he didn't bring Ace here Luffy would find a way to get to him instead and not only would he hurt himself, it would make both brothers twice as pissed. Jimbei couldn't protest after that.

Luffy had almost drifted back to sleep when the door burst open.

"Oi, Ace, be a little careful, will you?" A voice was heard from outside. Nobody paid any attention to it, though.

"Luffy? Luffy! Are you ok?" The raven haired man asked, going instantly to sit by his little brother.

Said little brother was staring at the elder, his eyes wide as if they were trying to take in every single detail about him. He was trying to convince himself he was alive. "A- Ace?" He mumbled, something akin to laughter hiding in his voice.

"Oh, Lu. What were you thinking?"

"I just-"

"Are you in any pain?"

"I-"

"I should probably get the doctor. Oi, Marco! Could you go get..."

"Ace?"

"... the doctor here?"

"Ace."

"Luffy, he-"

"ACE!"

Ace did a comical double take at the sudden outburst and finally turned to listen to the kid.

Luffy stayed quiet for a moment, studying him, trying to figure out what he actually wanted and what would be the best thing to say. Eventually he figured it out and let an enormous grin lighten up his features.

"I'm glad you're ok."

Ace looked like he'd been punched in the gut. His baby brother, his innocent, kind and utterly idiotic baby brother had gotten beaten half to death in a war he shouldn't have attended in the first place and the first thing he says after waking up days later was that he was glad Ace was ok?! Ace who had been worrying himself to death these past few days, feeling guiltier every second his brother remained unconscious.

And even though he had to be mad, even though he knew they needed to talk about it at some point or another, at this particular moment there was only one thing he truly wanted to say to him...

"I'm glad you're ok too, Lu. You scared the crap out of me."

Ace's eyes widened when Luffy's grin lost most of its charm and turned into a sad smile. The kid's eyes narrowed as if in pain. "So did you, Ace," he muttered with a hint of sadness. "So did you."

"Don't ever do that again!" They yelled at each other simultaneously and then smiled at their identical words.

"I won't, I promise," Ace said. And as it always happened with the brother's promises, no matter how far fetched, Luffy believed them.

And maybe Ace did notice how Luffy didn't make a promise of his own not to try to rescue him like that again. But he didn't say anything . Instead he wrapped his arms around his brother and held on for dear life, vowing never to break that promise, so Luffy wouldn't risk his life for him again.

Luffy got into enough trouble without adding his problems to the sum. That idiotic, little brother. If he wasn't going to learn, Ace would make sure he didn't have to.

A/N: Well... That was pretty pointless. I just desperately wanted to write a little Ace but didn't have enough of a plot to do so. Oh, well.
Even so, please leave a review. Since this story is mainly one-shots, I do take requests. So either message me or include it in the review.
Also check out the poll on my profile about which story you'd like to see updated more often, so I can manage my time accordingly!

Thanks a bunch :)