Chapter 14
"Ace?" Sanji spun around, fully expecting a fully grown Ace to be standing behind them at the end of the bridge. When he turned around however, there was nobody there. He scanned the forest around them; there was no trace of the ravenhaired young man he'd met in Alabasta anywhere.
"ACE?" He yelled out, but there was no response, instead he felt a strong tug from the spirit thread going in the direction just north of the Grey Terminal. "Fucking firebug!" he grumbled.
The Shepherd raised an eyebrow as he looked around as well, "Now, that, I rarely experience."
"What the fuck was that?" Sanji growled, still looking around them. The younger Ace had disappeared a few moments earlier, fading out of existence in front of their eyes.
"I am honestly not sure," The Shepherd had furrowed his brows in contemplation and confusion.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Sanji spat at him, "You've been doing this for eons! How can you not know?"
The Shepherd sighed. "I have my theories, but I could be wrong."
Sanji had started walking in the direction of the thread, the tugging becoming increasingly fervent, "Well tell me your fucking theory then!"
The Shepherd sighed. "I believe that Ace has noticed our presence, and is enjoying watching us go through his memories as much as watching them himself. He is after all, the one who is controlling which memories we see." He clutched the bridge of his nose, "I do wonder why he chose to show us that particular one though. And why he chose to speak to us, but not reveal himself."
"So-," Sanji scowled at the trees, "He's toying with us?"
"That is one possibility, yes." The Shepherd stroked his goatee, "Or maybe he has other reasons for it. It's hard to say."
"Other reasons? What other reasons are there?"
The Shepherd shrugged, "I suppose we will find out when he finally reveals himself to us."
Sanji grumbled, "I wish he would just show up already"
"All in due time, but I do share your sentiment. We have others to visit as well," The Shepherd looked up at the sky through the thick canopy of the forest and frowned, "There is still time, but Samhain is soon upon us," He looked back down and at Sanji, "We should quicken our search."
"You want us to run?" Sanji raised an eyebrow at him.
"If not run, then quicken our pace at the very least." The Shepherd looked imploringly at him.
Sanji nodded, "Fine, let's go."
They both sped up their pace, and walked briskly through the forest. "I think we can get there faster if we get off the trail and follow the thread in a straight line though." Sanji looked at the Shepherd; he wasn't showing any signs that the faster pace was tiring him out.
"I have no issue with that, please lead the way," The Shepherd nodded, "And please do not worry yourself with my physical health. I might be old, but my body does not tire easily."
Sanji mentally slapped himself, "Okay, I won't." He shook his head, "I keep forgetting you can read my mind."
"I can do that yes, but I often refrain from doing so. You are however quite easy to read." The Shepherd smiled knowingly at him.
They soon came to a dead end at the bottom of a tall cliff, and Sanji cursed. Perfect.
"You do have an ability you call sky walk, yes?" The Shepherd looked up at the cliff.
"I do-," Sanji said hesitatingly. "Why?"
"Would you mind using it to get us up there?" The Shepherd looked expectantly at him.
"You want me to carry you?" Sanji raised an eyebrow at him.
"Why not, it is our quickest route, is it not?"
Sanji chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second, it wasn't a bad idea, he just wasn't sure if his sky walk was strong enough to carry both of them. "I suppose-,"
"You will not find out unless you try it." The Shepherd looked at him with a mix of expectation and silent encouragement.
"Okay," Sanji nodded slowly, then a smirk ghosted his lips, "Just don't blame me if we fall."
"I am positive that you will do your outmost to not let that happen." The Shepherd smiled warmly at him.
Sanji looked him over, he was lanky, and looked like he didn't weigh much. "I'm not gonna carry you bridle style if that's what you think!"
"I would think that was obvious," The Shepherd almost rolled his eyes, and Sanji raised an eyebrow at that. "You can carry me whichever way you prefer, again, I might be old, but I am not in poor health, so do not worry about bringing me potential harm."
"Fine," Sanji sighed. "I'll carry you on my shoulder." He walked over to the Shepherd and awkwardly hoisted him over his shoulder. As he had thought, the old man weighed next to nothing. "Okay, hold on."
He bent his knees and kicked off. It was an uncomfortable minute of him kicking them upwards, and he had felt the Shepherd start to slip a few times, making him almost loose his balance. He had gritted his teeth and tightened his grip around him. The strain on his legs almost made him light them on fire as he forced himself to bring them up the last feet. Panting, he finally managed to land them safely on the edge of the cliff and dropped the Shepherd unceremoniously on the ground.
"See, I had no reason to doubt you." The Shepherd smiled as Sanji tried catching his breath.
"I need to train more," Sanji growled between breaths. Even after almost two years of continuous training, it wasn't good enough. He scowled at the ground; he knew he would never be able to train like that again. Not while being a chef on the Sunny, at least if he also wanted to sleep.
"I think it would be unwise of you to lose sleep because of your wish to become stronger." The Shepherd looked at him, a hint of worry in his eyes.
"What are you? My father?" Sanji bit his tongue, "Never mind, forget I said that."
"I will act as though nothing was said," The Shepherd nodded, and Sanji thought he saw a wry smile cross his face for a brief second. "But, in all honesty to deprive yourself of more sleep than you're already doing-," He looked at Sanji with a piercing stare again, and Sanji was sure he was rummaging through his mind at that very moment.
"Will you please stop reading my mind, how much I sleep is none of your concern." He scoffed.
"I am sorry, but as I said, you are very easy to read." The Shepherd looked apologetically at him before turning around to look into the forest. "Putting that aside, we should keep moving, are you able to notice how far it is from us?"
Sanji shot the Shepherd a dirty look, before he too looked into the forest, focusing on the tugging in his chest. There wasn't exactly a noticeable change in the strength of it, but it had been very strong to begin with. "Don't know how far it is, no." He shook his head, "The direction is dead ahead though."
"Then, do please lead the way." The Shepherd gestured with his hand to Sanji to take the lead.
Sanji sighed, but started walking in that same brisk pace they had been keeping before being halted by the cliff. "You never showed me that ghost thing we can do in the last memory." He said offhandedly.
"That is true, I believe we were too enthralled with what was going on to do it. And we did not have any use for it at that time, so I simply forgot. Forgive me, I shall see if I remember in the next one."
"It's a situational thing? Like how jumping out of a tall building triggered that slow falling thing that happened?"
The Shepherd looked thoughtful for a moment, "Yes and no, we are able to pass through nearly everything once we are in a memory at any given time if we so wish, but we rarely have a use for it, unless we are in a space which requires it. It is the same with the slowing of decent in a jump, we are always able to do that once we are in a memory, but we only have a need for it in certain situations." He shrugged. "It is easier to have you experience it some time in the next memory. As I said, it is not exactly a pleasant sensation."
"Hmm, okay-," Sanji nodded, "Don't know if I look forward to it, but sure."
They made quick time through the forest, swirling past trees and boulders, jumping over fallen branches, and Sanji's initial worry that the Shepherd would have difficulty keeping up, vanished when he saw him jump gracefully over a boulder that was almost as tall as he was. The old man was agile as fuck, and he had had to concentrate to not stumble at the sight of it.
The Shepherd chuckled, "It is funny, how, after I have told you repeatedly that I am in good health, you still get surprised by my ability to keep up with you."
Sanji spluttered, "But you're ancient for fuck sake, so excuse me for trying to be considerate."
"And yet it is so close to being condescending." The Shepherd gave him a pointed stare, and Sanji felt himself shrink under it.
"I didn't-," He shook his head, "I mean-,"
A bark of laughter came from the Shepherd as Sanji tried finding the word to explain himself.
"What's so funny?"
"It is amusing to see how little you have changed from when you were a boy," The Shepherd chuckled.
Sanji scowled as he kept his eyes on the forest around them, bastard.
As they kept walking, The Shepherd started humming on the same tune as before, and Sanji felt his annoyance slowly ebb away by the sound of it. Soon it was replaced by a deep feeling of longing however, and he knew he had heard it somewhere a long time ago. He tried to remember, but only a faint smell of poppies, daisies and magnolia came to mind. It reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't place it.
"So, the third and final memory from our time on Skypiea-,"
Sanji nearly stumbled again, "What?"
"I thought I would continue the story." The Shepherd smiled. "You were interested in our previous list earlier-," He looked at Sanji, a glint of amusement in his eyes, "I figured why not tell the rest."
Sanji regained his footing and stared bewildered at the Shepherd, "Now?"
"It is the most opportune moment, is it not?"
Sanji looked back at the forest; it was still as dense as ever. "Sure. Although-," He focused on the thread again, the feeling was the same as before, "I don't know how much time we have left, so I don't know if we'll be able to get through the whole story before we'll get there."
The Shepherd nodded, "True, but it is not a very long memory."
"Hmm, if you say so-," He kept his focus on the thread, wishing now he could actually feel how far away it was. "I guess it's fine."
"Good." The Shepherd smiled. "So, in the final memory we were somewhere in the forest of Skypiea, close to the sacrificial altar. The Chief and Gan Fall were negotiating a peace treaty of sorts." He shook his head, "They were both so foolish to believe it would work. The war was still raging, and people were being killed every day. Gan Fall had wanted peace between the two societies for a long time already, and had tried talking to his people to lay down their arms. It was futile, as you can already imagine. Not only did the Skypieans refuse to listen, the Shandians were much the same." He smiled sadly at Sanji for a second. "You were outraged as each party lay down their terms, even as a young boy, you could understand how ludicrous their demands were. I do not believe many nine year old children would have been as insightful and knowledgeable as you were at that age. And I wholeheartedly agreed with you when you shouted out in protest, only for them not to hear you. I believe that was the first time you were truly upset during our search."
"So, what were their terms?" Sanji asked, trying to forget what the Shepherd had just said about him, even though he felt a small amount of pride for his younger self at it.
"Well-," The Shepherd gave him the same warm smile as always, before he sighed and shook his head. "The Shandians wanted full control over Upper Yard of course, which Gan Fall refused as the Skypeans viewed it as a sacred place. Gan Fall wanted all the Shandians to hand over their weapons, so that all the fighting would cease, which the Chief refused, saying that his tribe would be massacred in their sleep if they let that happen. The Chief in turn wanted the societies to be segregated and that relationships between the two people would be forbidden, Gan Fall refused as he meant a co-existing with each other would promote understanding between them. This-," He looked at Sanji again, "you agreed with Gan Fall on. You were disgusted with the idea of a segregated society."
Sanji nodded slowly. Yes, he hated any form of separation in society, he always had. It promoted so much hatred between people, and it made him sick to see it no matter where they went.
"I could possibly go on about their terms, which got steadily more outrageous the longer their debate went on, but I believe you get the idea of it. We eventually grew tired of listening to them bicker, and you wandered off, I believe you told me you needed to blow off some steam." The Shepherd chuckled, "When you came back from screaming to the heavens, you were not alone however. It was such an odd thing to happen. You came in fact back with the real Chief, and you were, for the lack of a better term, scolding him." He barked a laugh.
"I did?" Sanji chuckled.
"Oh yes, you were giving him quite an earful of how you found their negotiation meeting. I dare say the Chief looked pleasantly perturbed by it."
"I bet he was," Sanji shook his head, "I always did have a problem with being candour, even back then."
"I quite agree, you did lack the restraint most adults have," The Shepherd studied him; "I dare say you've grown out of most of it now however. You possess a little more tact now, thinking before you speak and such."
Sanji narrowed his eyes at him, "I've told you, I hate it when you do that."
"Forgive me," The Shepherd smiled apologetically at him.
Suddenly Sanji felt the tugging in his chest increase, "I think it's just up ahead," He gruffly.
They came to a dried out river running through the forest. By the looks of it, it had been a very long time since water had run through this area of the forest. It was overgrown with moss, and the tree roots were snaking their way down into the crevice.
He jumped into it, and the Shepherd only nodded and followed after him. They didn't need to walk far until Sanji saw the glinting light from the thread as it coiled itself around a boulder carved out from when the water had once run through there.
He walked briskly over to it, and without saying anything reached out and touched it.
The wind whipped around them again, but they had become accustomed to it now, so both just held their ground and waited for it to end.
"You're so annoying! Shut up! Stop crying already!" Ace was shouting angrily, his face contorted in rage and annoyance.
Sanji blinked as he took in the scene in front of them. It was dusk, and Ace was screaming at a wailing Luffy who was sitting on top of the boulder. Sabo was standing next to Ace, looking worriedly at him.
"I don't like cowards or people who cry a lot!" Ace ranted. As soon as he had said it though, Luffy forced his mouth shut and stared teary-eyed at him.
"Tha-Thank y-you," Luffy stuttered out as he bowed his head. Sanji couldn't help staring wide-eyed at him at that, as did Ace and Sabo. "You-," tears began pouring down Luffy's cheeks again, "You s-saved me!" he sobbed.
"You-," Ace growled and looked ready to pounce on Luffy, but Sabo put his hand on his shoulder.
"Whoa! He's just being thankful."
Ace gritted his teeth, and even though he was furious, Sanji thought he could see a trace of worry in his eyes. "Why didn't you just cough it up in the first place? They're the kind of people who don't have a problem with killing women and children without hesitation!"
Most of Luffy's face was obscured by his hat as he was still bowing his head, but Sanji could see the faint shaking of his shoulders even if the tears had stopped again.
"Because-," Luffy sniffed, "Because I thought if I didn't say anything-," his lip wobbled a little, "You wouldn't be my friend."
Sanji stared at Luffy, he looked so small and fragile and his whole body was trembling now. What the fuck had just happened?
"It's better than dying, isn't it?" Ace was pointing at Luffy, his initial anger having been replaced with annoyance and confusion. "Why do you wanna be my friend so badly, anyway?"
Luffy was clutching the hem of his shorts, "Because-,"
"After all the things I put you through-," Ace's voice had soften a little, but it still had an edge to it, like he could explode again at any moment, "Why did you continue to follow me?"
"Because-," Luffy balled his fists tighter before he shot his head up, his face filled with agony, fear and loneliness, "Because I don't have anyone else!" He screamed out. "I can't go back to Fooshia village and I hate the mountain bandits!" He was on the verge of crying again, his voice cracking, "If I didn't follow you, I'd be all alone! Being alone is more painful than being hurt!"
Sanji was staring transfixed at the scene in front of him; he was so confused, and yet he felt a pang in his stomach at what Luffy had just said. Loneliness was truly the worst feeling in the world; he could understand that too well. Still, he wanted to know what had happened to elicit this conversation.
"Where are your parents?" Ace said, his voice suddenly bordering on affectionate, and his body language a lot calmer. Sanji couldn't help starting at him, that's definitely not what he had expected.
"I only have Grandpa." Luffy said a little defiantly.
"Is it better when I'm here?" Ace muttered quietly.
"Uh-um" Luffy nodded, biting his lower lip as to keep it from wobbling.
"And it would be bad if I wasn't?" Ace frowned, and Sanji could see a hint of a glare still in his eyes.
"Uh-um" Luffy nodded again.
Suddenly a gust of wind surrounded them and Sanji had to shut his eyes. When he opened them, a younger Ace was standing in a bar surrounded by a horde of thugs who were laughing at him. "What if Roger had a son?" Their faces surrounded and loomed over Ace, some laughing and some leering, "Haha, it would be pretty bad if he did! That kid would probably be a demon as well. A kid like that doesn't deserve to live or even having been born!"
Before Sanji could even open his mouth, the wind swirled around them again, and when he opened his eyes for a second time, he was back in the forest as if nothing had happened. He stared at the Shepherd bewildered, but the old man only shook his head. Then he heard a clink of metal and he looked back to Ace who was clutching his staff harder as he glared at the ground.
"You want me to live?" Ace asked just above a whisper, and Sanji suddenly saw just how young Ace actually was here. He was a lonely ten year old boy who didn't feel like he belonged in the world. Sanji felt his heart squeeze a little tighter at the sight of it; it was all just a little too close to home.
"Of course I do!" Luffy yelled, and Sanji was dragged out of his thoughts by it. Luffy was almost glaring at Ace, as if he was angry at Ace for even thinking something like that.
"I see." Ace muttered, his eyes shadowed by his bangs, but his eyes had softened considerably. Then he turned around, scratching the back of his head. "I still hate spoiled kids like you, though."
Without warning the boys suddenly turned translucent and then disappeared, leaving them alone in the forest once more.
"What the hell was that?" Sanji roared at the Shepherd.
The Shepherd looked thoughtfully at the sky for a moment, "If I am not mistaken, I believe this was just after Luffy got himself into trouble with a gang of pirates in the Grey Terminal, and Ace and Sabo rescued him."
"Actually-," A voice came from behind them, and both Sanji and the Shepherd turned around to see a fully grown up Ace stepping out from in-between the trees. "There's a bit more to that story." He smiled forlornly at the pair of them. "Hey Sanji-," he nodded at him, before turning his eyes on the Shepherd. "And you're Death, right?"
The Shepherd shook his head, "Please, call me Shepherd. Death sounds so dark and morbid."
AN:
So I said I would have this story done by Nov 1, well it looks like that won't happen as I suddenly got a lot more work (yay for money, right? Now I can afford buying Christmas presents for people!), but that means I'll have a lot less time to write. Also the story got a lot longer than I first anticipated, so don't hate me too much for not getting it finished on schedule. Don't worry though, I will get it done, I have the whole story planned, I just have to write it out.
(This chapter hasn't been beta'ed yet, because my betareader is away atm, so sorry for any mistakes.)
Hopefully you guys won't hate me too much, and I really hope you're enjoying it.
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