A/N: HOO BOY! Who would've thought that, after the complete disaster December was, January would turn out to be my busiest month?! With projects and papers, and midterms I had, literally, no time. Sorry this took forever, but like I said in the beginning, I wont abandon this story, and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, January is the last time I'm going to need to go on these random spontaneous month long hiatus'! Anyways, enough excuses, time for the chapter!
Warning: Sanji and Zoro are probably OOC, especially Zoro. He's hard to write and stay in character for so I hope I did at least an ok job. Hope you enjoy!
"Uh, I don't think that's a bird, I think that's... a person..." Sabo said in slight disbelief as they all stopped to watch the person fall from the sky.
"Y-You don't think its another bad guy, do you?" Nami asks, hiding behind Sanji and Zoro, one swooning, the other glaring.
"Who knows, it could be an ally or an enemy." Robin says mystically, seeming calm and unfazed, though her battle stance gave away her caution. Everyone of the future members were in battle stances, even the ones once known as the weakling trio. Monkey was the only exception as he and Luffy watched in amazement and curiosity, wondering who it could be. Sabo and Ace gravitated towards the two and adopted battle stances as well, watching the once small dot grow larger in size as they fell closer to the ground.
"That doesn't help!" Usopp said in fear, his knees trembling as he and Chopper held each other closely. Zoro had a hand on his swords, ready for anything, and Sanji's leg was lifted slightly, ready as well. Past or future they were still ready for a fight if needed. They couldn't do much except watch the person fall closer, not uttering a single noise as they did, but when it seemed they would finally be able to see the appearance of the new arrival a voice echoed ominously around them.
"Room." There was a strange 'whooshing' noise as the past members watched in fascination as the person disappeared from sight, in their wake being a rock which quickly fell to the ground in front of them. Confusion grew within them, but when Sanji was about to speak up about it Monkey spun, a giant grin on his face.
"Trao-guy!" He exclaimed happily, the rest of the future members sighing in relief and dropping their stances. The past members took this as a good sign and relaxed as well, the weakling trio practically weeping in joy that it wasn't another enemy. Everyone turned to see a man with a spotted hat and a long sword in hand looking around in what seemed to be mild confusion and boredom. At the sound of his, what the past straw hats assumed to be, name his face gained a slight hint of annoyance, yet understanding, as if because Monkey was there it explained everything, and sometimes, it did.
"Straw Hat-ya, what did you do this time?" He asks, and the past members smile at the familiarity of Luffy, this time Monkey, always getting into trouble.
"It wasn't my fault this time! Oh! But Trao, its soo cool~! Were in the past!" Monkey said exuberantly, waving his arms around. Tony trotted over as well, smile on his face.
"Yeah, and there are two of us! Look!" Tony says, pointing a hoof over to Chopper. 'Trao-guy' raises an eyebrow at this, but seems to accept it quickly with a sigh and a shake of his head.
"So I'm guessing you're a good guy then?" Sanji asks, lighting a cigarette. Law watches for a moment, noticing that almost everyone did have a double before nodding, both to himself and to Sanji.
"I would guess so. I'm Trafalgar Law." Law says in a seemingly bored tone, but his eyes gave way to his interest in what was happening.
"So what exactly is this? Devil fruit?" He asks, turning to Robin as she was normally the one to be informative in these situations, opposed to Monkey who would skip over every important detail.
Robin smiled to him and quickly summarized everything that had happened and Law hummed in interest, scanning the group again.
"So you're Princess Vivi." He says more than he asks, having heard about the Straw Hats' adventures in Alabasta a few years back. She nods, standing tall and proud and he nods once more, sighing.
"Alright then, you do know how to get us back, right Monkey-ya?" Law asks. Monkey nods enthusiastically, still glad to see his friend.
"Yeah, actually, we were already working on that." He says, his mood and tone sobering at the reminder. Law glanced to Ace, remembering the war and wondering how Monkey reacted to seeing him again.
"So your from the future too? How did you do that thing before, when you disappeared? Oh, and your sword's huuuge~! Are you a sword fighter too? Like Zoro? Do you have a devil fruit?! Oh, Oh-!" Law cut Luffy off, knowing he could easily ask a million more questions.
"Slow down Straw hat-ya." He said, the two falling into step as Law answered Luffy's questions. Everyone began their walking as well, following the two while Cat Burglar created more clouds to cover them, this time without the rain as Chopper and Tony didn't want them getting sick. Everything went back to how it was before, except now Law was the main attraction for the past members as they all listened intently to his every word about his powers and some hints of future events, though never in detail.
Members of the future crew who hadn't resolved their guilt went back to brooding, while those who had went and talked amongst themselves once more, or joined in with the past members conversations, while Ace and Vivi talked together for a bit.
"Was Luffy always a handful?" Vivi asks softly, watching the straw hatted boy talk animatedly with their newest arrival. Ace nods, smiling fondly.
"Handful is an understatement. With how much he eats, and his inability to sit still for more than a second it was near impossible to keep up with him. I guess it was a good thing I always had something to keep him entertained with." Ace reminisces. Vivi smiles at the fond look he wore.
"It seems like you two are close at least." She says.
"Without Luffy... I would be a much different person." Ace says, remembering how he used to be.
"I think that's a special ability he has. Along with the one that makes his smile contagious." She says, both simultaneously smiling at the thought. Ace nods in agreement.
"You're right on that one." He says without any doubt. The two continued on, talking about random things, life as a pirate, life as a princess, family, etc. but before long Vivi was being dragged off by an excitable Luffy and Monkey, the two chattering loudly.
"Come on Vivi, you have to hear this!" Luffy exclaims happily.
"Yeah, Trao-guy's gonna talk about Zunesha!" Monkey adds, the two pulling a helpless Vivi off as she looks back to Ace, giving him an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, it seems I don't have much of a choice." She says, and Ace waves it off.
"Its fine, I'm sure its an interesting story." Ace says, and it was the truth. He probably would have joined as well if he hadn't seen the look Monkey gave Black Leg before coming over to drag Vivi off with Luffy. Monkey smiled to Ace in what looked to be gratitude before turning his attention back to Vivi and Luffy, talking animatedly to them. Ace's suspicions were confirmed when Black Leg made his way beside him, taking out a new cigarette and lighting it, leaving Ace to wonder just how many the man had left.
"Sometimes it surprises me how well Monkey can read us." Black Leg says after taking a drag.
"We never could get anything passed him if it was important enough." Ace said, his eyes flickering to Sabo who was looking up at Cat Burglars clouds, deep in thought.
"I think its his ability to see those things so clearly that make me guilty." Black Leg says, focusing intently on Monkeys back. Ace returns his gaze back to Black Leg, waiting to see if he would elaborate.
"Oh?" He asks after a minute, wondering if maybe Black Leg didn't want to continue, but with a sigh Black Leg tore his eyes away and looked at Ace, nodding.
"Yeah... sometimes when were on the ship and I'm cooking I'll just... remember. I'll remember the separation and the newspaper and I'll remember how I wasn't there and how Monkey must've felt during everything, and suddenly I'll be frowning, or biting on my cigarette, a habit I've been told I have when I'm stressed, and then Monkey walks in and I'll clear my face and go back to cooking. It never takes long, because Monkey always knows, and he'll ask about it but I always shrug it off and give him food to distract him. It never really works, I always feel him staring, but he drops it anyways." He says, and Ace knows the feeling all too well. When he would hear someone talk about Roger and come to the tree house in a bad mood the last thing he would want was Monkey questioning him so he would always throw meat his way the second he opened his mouth to ask.
"His ability is definitely a blessing and a curse." Ace agrees. Black Leg sighs again, closing his eyes and pulling the cigarette out of his mouth, twisting it at his side.
"You've got that right." Black Leg mumbles, the two falling silent once more.
"So... what happened? To make you separate I mean?" Ace asks gently. The question had constantly been nagging at him but he hadn't had the heart to bring it up with any of the others. Black Leg seemed like he would be one of the best to ask, besides Roronoa or even Robin, but he was, to be honest, slightly put off by the quiet woman. It wasn't in a bad way, if she was on Monkeys crew she was definitely a good person, but it was more of a way that screamed, if you mess with her you will regret it.
So he decided not to ask her.
Black Leg looked at Ace, as if pondering how he should answer. Before long, though, he was looking straight ahead, eyes distant.
"Monkey has a... rule on spoiling future events, but I guess I can give a gist." He says slowly, as if unsure if he should even say this much. Ace nods, happy to get anything. Black Leg closes his eyes and takes a breath.
"I guess the best way to put it is that we were separated by force. One man was all it took and we were all being sent to different islands because of his devil fruit. He had to touch us for it to work though, so... one at a time... we would be blasted off, only the wind disturbed when we disappeared. It was a strange thing, to see your friend, someone you were just talking to, just touching, suddenly disappear into thin air, not even a hair left, as if they were never there to begin with. The whole thing almost seemed like a bad dream, but every time I heard Monkey shout... every time someone disappeared, every time I was hit, it was like a wake-up call." Black Leg said in an almost haunting voice. Although everything Black Leg said was something Ace knew, besides how the devil fruit was used, Ace didn't ask anything more when he saw Black Leg grinding the cigarette in his teeth again, expression turned to one of frustration and pain.
"I'm sorry I asked." Ace said, truly meaning it. It was obviously a tough memory to relive and he was glad he hadn't asked someone like Tony. He was sure that, if he had, the poor reindeer would have had another break down.
"Its-... its fine... its just... frustrating, you know? To see your friends go and having done nothing to help it." Black Leg says, and Ace winces at the memory of Thatch.
"Yeah, that definitely sucks." He says in a low voice. Black Leg looks at him out of the corner of his eye, seeing the new look of anger on the fire users face, and decides not to ask about it.
"If anything good came out of that day it was that we knew we had to get stronger." Black Leg said, almost begrudgingly. Ace nods, wondering if this was the end of their talk. Was Black Leg only guilty about hiding his feelings from Monkey? There seemed to be a common theme amongst the crew about being guilty for not being with Monkey during the war, but Black leg only briefly mentioned feeling bad about it.
"I swear, you're just as bad as Monkey." Black Leg said in a huff of, what almost was, laughter, a small smile on his face as he shook his head. Ace looked on in confusion, raising an eyebrow.
"You were doing it too, the thing where you two seem to know there's more to our feelings then we're telling." Black Leg said with a grin. Ace felt the realization dawn on him, not having noticed it before. He smiled too, laughing as well.
"I guess you're right, I didn't even realize." He said. Black Leg let out another huff of laughter.
"Well, I guess I'll get on with it, Marimo's sending me glares, he'll probably be up next. He's a bit brain dead, so don't take his silence as offense." Black Leg mock whispered. Ace chuckled again, nodding.
"Sure thing." He said in good humor before the tone turned serious and somber once more, a drastic change to the playful one that had been occupying them.
"I think it's the same for everyone." Black Leg started up once more, Ace listening closely.
"We all feel guilty for not being with Monkey during the war, and I sure as hell do too, but.. I guess I feel more guilty that I let myself down. Monkey was the first person to believe in my dream, finding the All Blue. When I first told him about it he didn't laugh, didn't tell me to stop believing in children's stories, he sat and listened to me and told me it was a nice dream, believed in me. I think that's when I truly became one of the Straw Hats, when I first started seeing him as Captain and not some idiot with a black hole of a stomach.
"And when I officially joined, left my job at the Baratie to become a pirate, I vowed to myself that I would do anything to continue following my dream of finding the All Blue, as well as help the man who believed in my dream. When we were separated I was powerless to do anything to help Monkey, and I could only blame myself for it all." Black Leg finished, the smile he once wore now turned into a scowl. His cigarette had burned to leave only the butt and he was twirling it mindlessly in his fingers.
"Sometimes we can only do so much. As people we set high standards for ourselves, and sometimes they're just to high to keep jumping to achieve. We get tired, and eventually there's a point where we just can't jump high enough to achieve what we want, and we have to accept that, have to realize that this only means we have to work harder to do what we want, not back down and think that now we'll never be able to do something. You've done it. You set the bar just out of reach, and when you missed it you were mad at yourself, but now you've worked hard and you can reach that bar again. Sometimes its hard, sometimes we just can't reach, no matter how hard we work, and that's ok, because the only one who is pushing you to jump that high is yourself. No ones mad that you couldn't do it, only yourself. Just realize that its ok. Maybe you couldn't help Monkey during that time, maybe you were stuck on some random island miles away, but you did help Monkey in a different way. You got stronger, more capable, so that when you set out again you could handle anything, help him in anyway necessary. That's all that matters, not that impossibly high bar." Ace says, and Black Leg wonders when Ace turned from a normal person to a philosopher. He cracks a smile at the thought and nods.
"Yeah... I guess you're right..." He says softly after a moment. Maybe the bar he set for himself had been too high for him at the time. Now, after training, he could easily reach it, over it even. With a smile on his face he thanked Ace, turning and glaring to the marimo before wondering what he would make for lunch.
Roronoa glared back at Black Leg, sighing after the blonde looked away and deciding to just get this over with. He made his way over to Ace, nodding gloomily to the man and remaining silent. He wasn't much of a 'wear your heart on your sleeve' kind of guy, but this needed to be done.
"I was the first to go." The sudden start to the story surprised Ace. He had expected Roronoa to take some prompting to actually start talking, but here he was, starting without any provocation, and Ace wasn't going to stop him so he stayed silent and let him continue.
"When we were separated. I was sent off first, didn't even know what happened. Euro cook was already down, Brook too, and Sniper was trying to help them. We were told to run, Sniper was telling me to run too, but I stayed there, and next thing I knew his hand came down and everything went black. When I got that newspaper was the first time I really failed as both a straw hat and a first mate. I hadn't been there to help the others fight the guy who separated us, and I hadn't been there to help Monkey fight in the war." Roronoa said. It was short and to the point, telling Ace his guilt in one go, wanting to get it over with. There was no point, in his mind, in skirting around it, telling a long convoluted story, just to get to the same end. Ace sensed that Roronoa wasn't going to say anything else and decided it was time to talk.
"You know, you remind me of Whitebeard's first mate." Ace said after a minute of wondering how to address Roronoa's guilt. Roronoa looked over at him, a hint of surprise in his good eye and an eyebrow raised.
"Marco?" He asks, and Ace wonders if, in the future, the two had met.
"Yup, good ol' Marco the Phoenix. You ever meet him?" Ace asks, to which Roronoa shakes his head.
"No, but I've heard about him." Roronoa says. He had heard a lot about Marco, but who hadn't, especially after the war.
"Well, like I said before, you remind me of him. He's extremely loyal to Pops, and the crew. Once when we were at an island Marco and I, and a few others too, were sent to go get some supplies and check up on the villagers. When we got back to the Moby we found out there had been an attack on the ship and someone had actually managed to hurt Pops, not enough to actually injure him too much though. Apparently it had been an unusually strong crew that attacked and a lot of our crew mates had gotten injured. Man, Marco and I were pissed, but Marco was more than pissed. Normally he's all stoic and boring, but that day you could actually feel the anger. It took all day for him to calm down, and later that night, both of us were on deck, and he admitted he was more mad at himself for not being there rather than at the other crew." Ace explained, Roronoa listening silently.
"I think its just a first mate thing. Even before I joined Pops my first mate was like that too. If he felt that he let me or the crew down he would go sulk for days, nothing any of us said would help. Just realize that, even though you weren't there to help Monkey it wasn't your fault." He said, finishing his slight tangent. Roronoa stayed quiet, still keeping any emotion from his face, only furthering Ace's parallel to Marco.
"There's another thing, too." Roronoa said after a while of silence, almost shocking Ace.
"Another thing?" Ace questions. The swordsman nods, a scowl on his face as he looks slightly off to the side. The only reason he was still talking about this was because it was the only way to get home and help his Captain, so he would bare through it. That didn't mean he liked it though. Sighing he turned back to Ace.
"I also didn't keep our promise." He said. Ace looked at him in confusion.
"Promise?" Roronoa nods again.
"When you left, when you leave, us here in Alabasta, you left Monkey in our care, told us to keep him safe. We all let you down that day too, not just Monkey." Roronoa says. Ace is quiet, digesting this new information.
"Well, I'm sure that my future self wasn't mad at any of you, that's for sure. If anything I bet I was more mad at Monkey for showing up to a war. I know, from what I'm learning here, that you guys are all doing everything in your power to help my idiotic brother complete his dream, and I'll always be eternally grateful to you guys for that. Monkey can be a handful, a black hole, an idiot, and many other things, but the fact that you guys put up with it, protect it, means more to me than anything. The only way I could ever hate you guys now would be if you betrayed him." Ace said, the hidden threat within his words not necessary, but there none-the-less.
"That would never happen." Roronoa says firmly, without any need for second guessing it. Ace smiles and nods.
"I know, and that's why I could never be mad at you guys, or ever hate you. The fact that you weren't there in the future, my future, wasn't because you guys had any choice over it. I understand that. You didn't fail me, and you didn't fail Monkey." Ace said. There wasn't anything left to their conversation now, and Roronoa felt, though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, more at peace with himself. He left Ace's side silently, only giving him a nod of thanks, and returning to sticking close to Monkey and Luffy, watching as the two slung their arms around Vivi and Law and started singing loudly about talking dogs, cats, and elephants, Brook laughing nearby and playing his violin to their, completely ear piercing, beat.
Almost everyone was at peace now. Almost everyone had smiles on their faces and were enjoying the time they had while they were with their past and future counterparts, but there were still two people who hadn't talked their guilt out with Ace yet.
Ace sighed as he glanced over to Sabo, the top hatted man still gazing thoughtfully at Cat Burglars clouds, then turned his attention to Monkey who, though was smiling and singing, still had that layer of hollow sadness behind his eyes. Everyone else had been relatively easy to talk to, but now, the two people he had to talk to were his brothers. Both of whom he knew wouldn't give up their guilt so easily.
He had a lot of work ahead of him.