Notes/Warnings: YAY! Chapter 3~! I'm really happy to have this chapter done! Last chapter there was a bit of confusion! Again, I made a mistake and said that Ace and Luffy had been sent 5 years into the future... When they had really been sent 7. They are 12 and 15 and this story is set Post-Timeskip. I will elaborate more on the differences between canon in the next few chapters, but all in all it's an AU :).

Also, this chapter may seem a little bit different than the others (it's a bit drabble-y at some parts), but more info about that is on the bottom note! Also, uh, I'm kind of sick and I guess my mind isn't completely... Y'know clear. So if anything seems off or just plain odd... UH. Sorry. All in all, however, I like this chapter!

Chapter 3: Bonding

After the words leave Ace's mouth, Luffy blinks and tilts his head to the side. The sleepy expression on his face giving off the impression that he thought his older brother was clearly crazy.

"Ace," the twelve year old whines. "I'm tired. I wanna go back to sleep."

"Shhh! God Lu, learn how to whisper! You can sleep after we leave the ship."

"But Ace, why are we leaving? I like it here."

Ace sighs, exasperated. "Luffy, their explanation didn't make any sense. Maybe they are trying to help, but what if they aren't."

"Eh? But you can tell that they are. Are you dumb?" His brother asks, owlish eyes blinking.

Ace's eye twitches and he punches Luffy on the head, not that the rubber boy feels it.

"Learn how to be more cautious, idiot!"

The fifteen year old sighs. He loved his little brother, really he did, but the little idiot really needed to learn how to watch over himself.

Well, not that Ace would let anything bad to happen to Luffy.

Luffy pouts at Ace and the teenager freezes. No matter what, Luffy's pouts or puppy dogs eyes would always manage to get the boy what he wanted.

"Ace, we should stay! They're telling the truth."

The older brother grits his teeth, feeling his resolve wane. "...You don't know that. What if they're really good at lying?"

Luffy opens his mouth to protest, when he is interrupted.

"Yohohoho, I thought I heard someone out here!"

Both Ace and Luffy's heads snap up, only to find Brook smiling at the two boys; how they could tell the skeleton was smiling, they weren't really sure.

"Ah, did I frighten you two? My apologies!"

"Hi skeleton-ossan!"

"Hello to you too, Luffy-san! Ace-san, why are you two out so late? I thought you would be asleep?" Brook asks curiously, kneeling down to get closer to the boys.

"Ace said we're leaving but I d-!" Luffy is unable to finish his sentence because Ace slaps his hand over his mouth.

"Luffy you idiot! You weren't supposed to tell him that!"

"Eh? Why were you leaving? Ah, did you not believe what the ladies and Chopper-san told you?" Ace freezes as the afro skeleton hit the nail right on the head. "I thought the wanted posters would have been enough proof."

Ace and Luffy both look at each other, blink, and turn back to Brook. "Wanted posters?"

"Luffy-san's wanted poster is hanging up on the wall, you didn't see it?"

No, they hadn't. Luffy had been sleeping and Ace half-asleep after all.

Luffy's eyes sparkle in excitement. "I have a wanted poster?! How big is it?!"

"Yohoho, your bounty is 400,000,000 and I believe Luffy-san has a copy of Ace-san's poster somewhere?"

Luffy's mouth is opened in awe, his eyes shining. The grin that quickly unfurls on his lips is wide and happy, like he had just discovered the best tasting piece of meat in the whole world. "Really?!"

Brook hums methodically in confirmation.

Ace's eyes are wide with shock. Unable to believe that his little brother would have such a big bounty. Yet, at the same time it felt almost natural. Even better yet, he apparently had a bounty too. (It had to be bigger than Luffy's.)

Luffy turns his happy grin to Ace and starts to bounce excitedly. The older brother doesn't bother to stop the younger, starting to feel the contagious happiness you couldn't help but feel when with Luffy. It even seems to be effecting Brook, who laughs along.

"I promise you two that we are trying to help you get back to your time." The skeleton starts after his laughter,clearly sincere. "We are your friends, after all!"

Luffy giggles happily and plops down on the floor across from Brook. The twelve year old grabs Ace's borrowed shorts, urging him to sit down next to him.

"Ossan, can you play music for me now?"

Brook laughs and and holds the guitar strapped to his chest a little higher. "Yohohoho! Of course! This is one I call 'New World!'"

As Brook starts playing, not too loud in case it wakes any of the crew up, Ace sits down next to Luffy.

Well, maybe the two brothers wouldn't be going off into the forest by themselves anytime.

While Ace didn't necessarily trust the rest of the crew... Brook wasn't that bad.

Nami wakes up early as usual the next morning, stretching her arms over her head as she walked on deck.

"Good morning." She yawns, toes digging into the grassy lawn.

"Good morning." Two voices reply, one sounding much younger and exciteable than the other.

Nami cracks open an eye and sees Robin sitting on her lawn chair and the younger Luffy sitting inbetween the older woman's legs.

A book sits on Robin's lap, a familiar looking picture book if Nami sees correctly. Her curious eyes meet the other woman's eyes, asking a silent question.

"Captain-san woke up early and asked if I could read him something when he saw me reading." Robin answers exactly what the 20 year old thought she would. Luffy seems to glow at being called Captain and honestly, it's adorable.

The Navigator smiles and walks closer. "What are you reading?"

Luffy bounces in the seat and begins to explain with the enthusiasm that stayed no matter the age. "Ooh, ooh! It's a story about this liar guy! He found a city of gold but when he went back with a king, the gold was all gone!"

Nami sits in her usual chair across from Robin's and grins at her younger captain. How was Luffy allowed to be so cute when he was younger? And it was certainly nice to see that even if he was younger, Luffy was still open with them. "Really? I wonder how that's gonna end up."

Luffy makes a sound of agreement and nod his head before looking up at Robin, waiting for her to start telling the story that both women knew well once again.

The archaeologist giggles softly and smiles at the young boy in her lap and begins reading once more, now to an audience of two.

"Breakfast is done you shitty assholes, wake up!" The voice of the chef cuts through Ace's slumber.

Blinking, the smell of delicious food greets the fifteen year old, causing him to sit up. He looks to his side and realizes that, while the bed still smelled strongly of him, Luffy was already long gone and feels panic well up inside of him.

The freckled teen didn't like like Luffy not being near him while on this ship. He understands now that they were trying to help, but that didn't mean he trusted them.

The members of the crew roll out of bed and shuffle sleepily out of the room, Ace slowly jumping from the bed. His brown eyes automatically look at the wanted posters on the wall. Sure enough, an older version Luffy's stupid grinning face greets him.

After last night, Ace didn't have doubts that they were in the future. How, Ace wasn't sure. It was all too odd, but he had accepted it for the most part.

He starts to leave the room after Franky, when a voice stops him in his tracks.

"You tried leaving last night, didn't you?"

Ace turns around and looks at Zoro, who stands across from Ace. The way his eyes bore into Ace's left the younger teen feeling almost uneasy.

It was almost like the swordsman understood him perfectly without him even having to say a thing.

He was like Luffy in that aspect. Of course, Luffy knew things about Ace that another soul would never know. Similarly, he knew Luffy the same way. Ace preferred it that way. But still, Ace could see why this man would be on Luffy's crew.

The fifteen year old turns his head and crosses his arms over his chest. "Yeah, we were gonna, but we decided not to."

Ace can feel the eyes on him look away.

"We're going into the forest to see if we can find anyway to send you back to your time. C'mon, lets join the others before Luffy eats all the damn food."

Ace freezes and nearly dashes from the cabin when Zoro points out that last important factor. While he leaves he wonders, not for the first time, how they got into this situation and how they would get out of it.

When Sanji comes out on deck, a pack containing today's lunch slung over his shoulder, the first thing he see's is Usopp, Luffy, and Ace sitting in a loose circle.

"It was the power of the afro, I tell you!" Usopp raves, clapping his hands together up to the sky. "The Afro God blessed us on that day!"

Luffy seems to be buying every word that Usopp says, as usual. (Quickly, they had discovered that the only noticeable change Luffy had was his height.) Ace sits next to Luffy, looking amused by the whole story.

"It was so funky that it saved us all." Sanji cuts in, causing all eyes to fall on him, the sniper grinning at the cook. "Nami-swan wants me to get you two, we're going."

Luffy hops up excitably and runs over to Sanji. "I wonder what they'll have in the forest! Do you think there will be giant beetles?! Ace said bugs out in the Grand Line were probably HUGE!"

Sanji grimaces at the thought. While there hadn't been any visible giant bugs the first time they had gone into the forest, Sanji hadn't noticed any huge bugs. The cook hoped it stayed that way for his and Nami's sake. His younger captain, however, seems to be having the time of his life going on and on over all of the possible bugs in that forest.

Ace grabs Luffy by his rubbery wrist and drags him away from Sanji's legs. "C'mon Lu, you'll see once we're in the forest."

Luffy cheers and nods, following after Ace almost like a baby duck. "I hope it's like the forest back home!"

As the boys leave the deck, Sanji turns his back to Usopp, who just begins to stand up.

"Watch over the ship." Usopp had been voted to stay and watch over the ship while the rest of the crew went out into the forest, just in case.

"Find a way to get them back to themselves."

Sanji hums in agreement, raising a hand in farewell, leaving the ship to join his crew in the forest.

Notes: Aaaand... Done. I didn't think I'd get this chapter done in time, if I'm to be completely honest, but I got it done and that's all that matters~!

Okay, so this chapter is a bit easy-going as you can probably tell. There are some small instances of foreshadowing though. This chapter was important for building a little trust between the boys and the crew. Luffy included even if it's very slight, because while he knows that they're telling the truth, but he doesn't completely trust them yet. (He figures though that, if his older self chose these people as his crew, then they're probably really rad. But he doesn't know them himself, you know.)

Also, things are gonna get kind of... hm... Dramatic (I guess) in the next chapters so... Yeah.

I'm confusing myself so I'll go shut up and watch Hunter X Hunter now.

Chapter 4 should be out next Saturday or Sunday :) (Also, if you wanna follow me on tumblr *coughs* link is on my proflie)

Bye~ Sully