Notes: Hi guys! I'm so sorry that this chapter took a little bit longer to post! I've been busy with school (and anime...) and I had a bit of trouble writing this chapter. I didn't want to force the chapter out, but even still it seems a little strained to me... It's a little shorter than the other chapters too, but it's still important! I hope you enjoy it!

CHAPTER 4: Forest

"Ace, look at that! It's huge!" Luffy bounces, tugging at Ace's arm with one hand and pointing at a huge blue and purple bug with the other.

Nami sighs and drags a hand down her face. They had been in the forest for nearly twenty minutes now, but they had hardly gotten anywhere because Luffy liked to stop and point at nearly every bug he saw. And Ace is more than welcoming to go along with it, even though he clearly isn't as fascinated by the bugs as Luffy is. She was one excited cry about bugs away from snapping.

"Luffy, we need to go further in before it gets any later."

Robin was a saint, Nami had officially decided.

Luffy looks at Robin and pouts. Somehow, it has no effect on the woman.

"But Roooobiiin," he whines. "That's a really cool bug!"

The older woman chuckles and an arm sprouts from the ground to push him forward.

After Luffy stumbles forward a bit, he turns around to glare at whoever had pushed him, only to make a shocked face similar to Ace's. After all, it's not every day a hand suddenly sprouts from the ground.

"IT'S A HAND!" Luffy screeches in amazement. The hand waves at him.

"You aren't the only one with a devil fruit ability!" Chopper chirps at Luffy from his perch on Zoro's head. (The moment Luffy saw Chopper on said swordman's head, he had jumped up and down, saying that he wanted a ride too! Zoro would have scooped up his little captain up as well, but Franky had picked him up by the back of his shirt and placed him on his large shoulder. Of course, Luffy had sat on the shoulder for maybe five minutes before jumping off.) "I ate the Hito-Hito no mi!"

"And I the Yomi-Yomi no mi!"

"I ate the Hana-Hana no mi." Robin says calmly, letting the hand next to Luffy and Ace vanish into flower petals.

"They sound more useful than rubber." Ace teases quietly, but the whole group can hear it loud and clear.

"ACE!" Luffy pouts, glaring at Ace. If his goal was to look ferocious, it wasn't working out too well for him. If anything, he resembled a puppy who had gotten its toy stolen from it.

"You eat a devil fruit too, Ace!" Chopper says clapping his hoofs together.

Ace blinks and looks up at the small reindeer. "I did?"

Eating a devil fruit meant that he couldn't swim anymore. Ace knew that first hand from all of the times he has had to dive into the ocean to save Luffy from drowning.

If he couldn't swim anymore in the future, then he couldn't save Luffy from one of the things that endangered him the most, could he?

The thought leaves Ace uneasy, but he tries to brush it off as best as he can. Luffy's crew wouldn't let his brother drown.

("What if they aren't around? Luffy can't do anything to help himself in that situation. He would die and you wouldn't be able to help him." whispers that one voice that always betrayed him.)

Ace swallows, but no one seems to notice his uneasiness. Or at least he thinks so.

"You eat the Mera-Mera no mi."

"...So I can control fire?" Ace says, raising an eyebrow. Fire was cool, especially controlling it.

"Yeah, but you're literally fire because of the fruit."

His brown eyes go slightly wide. That was even cooler.

"That's a lot cooler than rubber."

"HEY!"

Ace grins tauntingly at his little brother, but the look in his eyes lessens the effect.

'If I have that in the future... Then maybe I can still protect him.'

"Watch your step." Zoro says as he hops over a log, Chopper still on his head. Robin had recognized it as the log they had passed by the other day, Brook having had marked it with his sword on the way back as a guide.

Speaking of the skeleton, he was playing a tune on his guitar that left a smile on everyone's face.

Ace jumps onto the large log with ease, helping Luffy over once he does so.

"Don't fall over." Ace whispers to his little brother as he gets ready to jump down. Even if falling wouldn't hurt the boy, it was better if he didn't.

Luffy hums and nods his head, landing flat on his feet once he jumps. He doesn't let go of Ace's hand when they start to walk again however. If anything, he tightens his hold.

"We're almost where we found you two." Robin confirms softly from her place next to Franky.

"We should probably stop for lunch soon." Sanji speaks up, exhaling smoke. "I made something special for the ladies!"

"Yay, lunch!" Luffy cries out happily.

Ace's eyes narrow. The crew might not notice it, but Ace does. After all, he knew Luffy the best.

Something was off with the small 12 year old.

He still talked everyone's ear off and did so happily, but Ace knew that they were strained. Ace didn't think Luffy was doing it on purpose, but he still needed to get to the bottom of it.

When they find a spot to stop for lunch at a few minutes later, Ace leans over to whisper to Luffy, who had just let go of his hand.

"You okay, Lu?"

Luffy turns around to blink his big dark blue eyes at his brother. "I'm okay! I'm really excited for lunch!"

Ace sighs and rolls his eyes, knowing that Luffy wouldn't have understood his meaning right away. (He couldn't blame Luffy for being excited for lunch, however. Sanji's cooking was even better than Makino's cooking or the food in High Town.)

"Something's wrong; what is it, Luffy?"

The twelve year old tilts his head to the side, the straw hat that's still a little bit too big for him needing to be adjusted. "Well... I'm getting a weird feeling in my back? It's really tingly and weird and kind of cold. Do you feel that too Ace?"

Ace furrows his eyebrows and scoots a little closer to his little brother. "No I don't, but tell me if it gets any worse, okay?"

Luffy nods his head, a happy grin on his face as Sanji calls them over for their lunchboxes.

(Solitude was suffocating.

It pulled him under, stopped his breathing.

Left him shaking and sobbing and begging.

Begging and pleading with all he had for what he could no longer have.)

"This is where we found you two." Robin says, kneeling down at the base of the tree so she can inspect it better. Nami joins her, running a hard through her long red hair. "Does any of it seem familiar?"

Ace's eyebrows furrow. "...A little bit, but I really don't know why."

It really was weird, but as they got to the tree he started to feel something like the weird feeling that Luffy had described, if not a bit more intense. Chills were running through his spine and coldness began to spread through his bones. An odd emotion began to settle in his stomach that Ace found familiar.

Loneliness.

It didn't explain why this tree in particular was familiar to him.

"What about you Luf- Luffy?" At Nami's change in tone, all members of the crew and Ace turn to look at the younger captain.

The twelve year old clutches at his straw hat. Luffy's bottom lip is trapped in between his teeth and what they can see of his face is pinched up, clearly uncomfortable. His shoulders are noticeably shaking.

Ace, who is closest to the boy, reaches out to touch his younger brother's shoulders. Everyone notices how Luffy flinches under his older brother's touch.

"Luffy?" Ace asks, shocked at Luffy's reaction and sudden change. All the while, the weird feeling is growing and growing inside of him.

His instincts are screaming at him to leave, but he denies them.

Finding out what's wrong with his little brother is far more important.

Luffy chokes on a sob, his knees shaking like they would give out any second.

"A-Ace... The feeling... It's a lot stronger." Tears stream from Luffy's eyes, which look absolutely terrified. Ace can't help but feel terrified himself seeing his little brother like this.

"Luffy, what's wrong?" Chopper says seriously, slowly coming behind from Ace. The whole crew present surrounds their little captain.

"The feeling! It hurts!" Luffy's words come out in a hysterical yell, a shaking hand reaching out to clutch Ace's shirt. "It's like... being alone."

"Being alone is worse than being dead."

The memory makes Ace gasp and without hesitation, he scoops his brother into his arms, holding the most precious thing to him as close as he possibly can.

"Nami!" Zoro barks as Ace scoops Luffy up. The navigator tenses and follows the first mate's silent command.

"Follow me!" Nami says, beginning to lead her nakama out of the forest. All of them follow without a moment's hesitation, needing to get their captain out of there as quick as possible.

All the while, the crying pre-teen clutches onto his brother as if he's a lifeline.

And Ace knew well enough by now that it wasn't far from the truth at all.

Notes: And it's done! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't kill me for ending it here? I'll try to get Chapter 5 out next weekend :)!

Also, I wanna thank all of you for the feedback you've given me so far! This already has more favorites and alerts than my other story 'Everyday' :o!