So here it is :D Chapter 3! I still haven't written chapter 10, though... oh well. I'll get to it eventually. Here's where the actual plot begins - the rest was sort of like the prologue. Anyways, feel free to drop a review and tell me what you think!

Oh, and I started a new story called Flame and Phoenix. Maybe you guy'll like it. It's about what happens when a phoenix (Marco) dies. Yup.

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.

Ace peered out the car window absently as he tuned out the conversation his parents were trying to start with him. After five confusing days in the hospital—or rather, five that he remembered—he was allowed to go home. They deemed him 'mentally fit' or whatever, so he got to leave. It was about time, too; he didn't know how much more of that damn hospital stench he would be able to stomach.

Maybe 'home' wasn't the best word to use. After all, wasn't a 'home' a place to go back to? Regardless of how long he lived there, he couldn't recall any of it. It would be just as unfamiliar as the two sitting in the front of the car and the others who visited, claiming to be his 'friends'.

They were approaching the house—at least according to Rouge—and when he caught a glimpse of it his eyes narrowed. 'House' was not the right word. The place was large, like a mansion, surrounded by thick, intimidating iron bars. It didn't look homely at all. In fact, when he saw it his chest filled with pure disdain. Why, though?

The inside was just as extravagant, lavishly decorated to the point where it no longer felt like a private residence. He felt more intimidated there than he did at the hospital.

His mother showed him to his room. At the top of his stairs and to the right there was a large, stark-white door. When he opened it he was met, again, with annoyingly fancy décor that made him feel detached from the whole thing. He couldn't see himself ever living there. It didn't look like the room of a young adult, anyways.

"Are you sure this is my room?" he asked, eyeing the place suspiciously.

Rouge blinked at that before that same sadness entered her eyes as it always did and she forced a smile. He hated when she gave him that look—made him feel guilty. "It was," she answered, turning from her son to stare fondly at the space.

"Was?"

"Before you moved," she elaborated. "You left when you turned eighteen two years ago. We thought it would be better if you stayed with us for a while."

Ace nodded in understanding. So that's why it felt off. He still didn't like it, though. But he supposed Rouge was right; he still had no recollection of his life so living alone probably wasn't the best idea. He'd just have to get used to it so he could leave sooner, he supposed.

"Then I'll leave you alone," she stated, gesturing for him to bend down and placing a light kiss on his cheek. He didn't really react to it, but she was already used to that. "Someone will be here to help you soon."

"Help me?"

"Our temporary butler," she explained with a smile before heading out of the room.

Ace rolled his eyes. They even had servants? What a waste of money. But, well, it looked like the family was rich so he guessed it made sense. How else were they going to spend their fortune? Other than the irritating interior design, they didn't seem to have anything expensive inside the home. He also had to wonder if there was a reason he thought those things were a waste of money or if it was just because he lost his memories. Either way, he didn't think like the rich.

Sauntering around his room to get a feel for it, he began pulling open desk drawers. That's when things got interesting. In the third one he found a fully loaded pistol and spare ammo. What was that doing in there? Deciding it best to leave it alone, he continued rummaging for any other interesting items.

In the next drawer, beneath a stack of textbooks, was a worn picture. It was old and faded but he was able to recognize much younger versions of his parents—Rouge and Roger. What appeared to be him at around twelve or thirteen stood between them with a big grin. In the background were some men in tuxes and women in maid outfits, likely the family's servants at the time. Off to the side, though, he noticed a much smaller figure. Worn and faded, he couldn't make much out except that it was likely a little boy, younger than even himself at the time. He didn't look too happy.

Annoyed with himself for not taking care of his stuff, he threw it atop the books and shut the drawer, opting instead to nose around in his closet. The clothes they brought to the hospital for him were stiff and uncomfortable and he wanted them off. But, to his dismay, even the walk-in closet was no help. It carried the same annoying clothes he was wearing, only in different styles and colours.

"Fantastic," he mumbled dryly as he peered across the rows of outfits.

A chuckle sounded from the room, catching Ace's attention. "I knew you'd be disappointed by that yoi."

He recognized the voice. Heading out of the closet he looked to the door to spot a familiar head of blonde hair. "You're…" He tried to place the name. "…Marco?"

The blonde nodded. "Glad to see you remember this time yoi," he teased.

Ace rolled his eyes. Looking a little closer he realized that the man was wearing a suit, contrasting his former attire greatly. "Why're you here?" He didn't mean to sound rude; he was just curious. In actuality, he was pretty happy to see the pineapple-head. That man who claimed to be his friend was the only one who didn't mind that he lost his memories. He was perfectly alright with it and was the only person the youth was comfortable around, even if he only met him once before.

"Clothes," he said simply, tossing a bag over to the other. When Ace looked inside he was delighted to see some casual attire. "Your parents hired me to babysit you—" Marco looked to see that the boy was already removing his dress shirt to change clothes and sighed. That part of him didn't change, at least.

"Aren't I twenty?" he asked as he undid the last of the buttons, dropping the offending material to the floor. "I don't need to be coddled, you know."

Marco shrugged. "They're worried. They thought that I could help you adjust since we're, well…" He trailed off, wondering if he should say that so suddenly.

"We're what?"

Ah, what the hell? It wasn't a big deal, anyways. "We're roommates yoi."

Ace raised an eyebrow at that. "We are?"

The blonde nodded.

"How did that happen?"

Marco folded his arms and leaned back against the wall as he watched Ace clothe his bare chest. It was a long story so he had to think about the best way to phrase it. "You had a fight with your father a year and a half ago and arrived on my doorstep yoi. I let you stay the night but you never left—spent a whole year freeloading."

"What about now? I got a job or something?"

Marco smirked as he said that, rolling over the boy's 'occupation' in his head. "You could say that."

Ace thought about the story for a second, wondering what prompted him to leave home so suddenly. It must have been a big fight. What was it about? And why did he go to Marco, of all people? Were they close? It bothered him to not know any of that. It was his life, after all. But…

"Thanks," the freckled boy said, mouth curved into a slight smile. "For taking care of me," he added.

Marco blinked at that, a bit taken aback by the fact that Ace—Portgas D. Ace—was showing gratitude. That was rare. It did brighten his mood a bit, though. "No problem yoi."

The blonde's lifted mood soon came crashing down as he spotted the other moving to undo his belt. With irritation in his narrowed eyes he removed one of his shoes and threw it at the boy's head just as his pants dropped to his ankles, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling to the carpeted floor. "Do that in private, idiot."

Ace just blinked at him.

Marco left the room and shut the door behind him, heaving a sigh. Ace was too dense—always was. Even with amnesia, some things never changed.

For the first time in what he felt was his whole life—what he remembered of it, anyways—Ace was alone. And he loved it. He decided to take a long, drawn-out walk to get a feel for the area. Or that's what he told his parents, at least. In reality he was trying to keep from being around them all the time. He didn't hate them but it wasn't like he knew them very well, especially Roger. They hadn't talked much and being in that damn empty mansion was enough to drive him mad. Marco was the one who suggested he go out. Rouge was against the idea of him wandering around in a place he was unfamiliar with, but that amazing blonde pineapple gave him his cellphone in case he got lost and assured his mother that he would go pick up her son should he call. He really had to thank the man. The only person that really accepted him in his current state was Marco. He also did everything to make sure he was comfortable. Ace owed him a lot.

The city was definitely more relaxing than his parents' place, even if it reeked of pollution in certain parts. Wearing the casual clothes Marco got him, he felt like he belonged, unlike in the mansion. Everything felt real. And even though he didn't remember anything there were some places that felt familiar. It was great.

Honestly speaking, Ace didn't really want to get his memories back. Sure he was curious and felt bad for not knowing about his own life and the people involved but he was content with adjusting and moving on. Did he really want to know about himself before the accident? There was a loaded gun in his desk drawer—something was clearly wrong with that. What kind of person was he? He didn't really want an answer to that question.

Amidst his mental wanderings he stopped paying attention to where he was going, completely ignoring reality in favour of solemnly questioning his own identity. He was so wrapped up that, he didn't even realize he bumped into someone until the other was sent hurdling toward the cement, landing ungracefully on their backside. It looked like it hurt, too, from how violently he hit.

Immediately Ace was crouching down beside what he made out to be a very lanky teen. "Are you okay?" He looked the raven-haired victim over for any injuries, cursing internally for being so absent-minded.

"Yeah, I think so," the boy replied in an oddly high-pitched voice, sounding much younger than he likely was.

Ace offered him a hand. "Sorry about that; I wasn't paying attention," he admitted sheepishly.

The boy looked up at him with a huge grin and took his hand. "It's fine," he assured.

For a moment the freckled youth was caught off guard by the image of the other's face. He had large, doe eyes and a smile that could warm any room. On his left cheek was a small scar but otherwise he was unmarked. Grinning at him like that, Ace could only stare as heat rose to his face and one sole thought crossed his mind: fucking adorable—like a puppy.

The teen seemed to have a very different reaction, though. As soon as he saw Ace's face his expression fell and immediately turned to dread. He could feel the hand in his start to tremble as the stranger's eyes grew even larger, if that was possible. He was absolutely terrified.

"O-oi…" Ace began worriedly as he looked over the boy, wondering what was wrong. He didn't get an answer, though. He didn't even move. Just what was wrong with the kid? Was he actually hurt after all? Concerned that his guess might have been correct, Ace slowly raised his free hand to the boy's forehead, wondering if maybe he was sick.

As soon as he moved he saw the teen flinch and immediately backed away from the contact, ripping his hand free of the freckled man's grasp. He stared at Ace for a few more seconds before hopping to his feet and dashing away as fast as he could.

Ace stood back up and watched the boy's back as he vanished into the distance. He had to wonder what the fuck just happened.

A/N: Luffy always reminded my of a mix between a puppy and an owl. Not sure why. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed :D Predictions for the future? Got things you want to see happen later on? Characters you'd like me to add? Leave them in a review! :)

To my lovelies~

siqwithaQ: Yeah, Thatch is very... fun XD I had trouble deciding what to do for his reaction because of that, but I think it turned out fairly decent. Haha XD I actually laughed when I read that. But no, not toys. Just things you wouldn't expect. There's more of a change than it seems, which will be revealed later. The Ace before the amnesia wasn't totally like canon Ace... but I can't really say anything else without giving away spoilers. There will be lots of angst, I assure you :P Well it's up now! It's called Flame and Phoenix so feel free to check it out if you're interested ^^ I know what you mean. Sometimes I have so much trouble deciding which direction to go with because I want to write them all XD Nope, you're not weird (or maybe we both are). I get like that ALL the time to the point of near-madness. Really happy to hear you like the story so much ^^

BluePhoenix0101: Yeah, I kinda feel bad for writing him into this situation ^^;

mrsfirefist: Eventually :P I tend to take things slow in my stories. You got your first glimpse of him this chapter, though.

Sully-van: Hehe I do too XD I'm a sucker for cliches. You'll find out about what happened later on in the story ;) Thatch will be important, but not so much in the beginning. Marco's in the tags because he's like... I don't know how to explain it. You'll understand in a few chapters, though. Well, I touched on the kid this chapter :)

buslimpan: Lol yes he does! Yep, it's Luffy. You'll find out much later muahaha~

azab: Yep :)

samettikettu: Glad you're enjoying ^^

jam klaoo: Here's the next chapter ^^

Kuro Neko Kaizoku: Lol the present wasn't important - just typical crap you give people who are in the hospital. Thank you, I will~

Kitsune Foxfire: Really glad you think that! I've been kind of worried about whether you guys have been enjoying it or not...

Diclonious57: Yep, he was in it. Briefly.

key46812: You'll have to wait and see XD

RenwolfChan: Hehe well I'm glad you're enjoying!

Obitez: Glad you feel that way ^^

Son Goshen: Of course it's Luffy XD Lol amnesia fics are everywhere. Honestly there's no such thing as an original amnesia fic anymore :P But I figured I might as well since I had the idea for it and it's been fun. Plus I noticed the One Piece amnesia fics tend to be about brainwashing of some kind, or deal with Marineford. Or memory replacement. I figured I'd go more conventional and at least do a modern AU so hopefully it's not too boring. I've been reading some too, but honestly I love overly-dramatic plot devices like memory loss so it doesn't bother me that a lot of them have similar premises. So long as they're interesting and fun to read, I'm happy ^^

spoons-are-evil: Lol I agree XD Glad you liked his reaction. I was kind of worried about it, honestly... But I guess it turned out okay :) Of course it's Luffy! :) That... you'll understand eventually XD Amnesia stories I'd recommend? Hmm... Well there's one of Son Goshen's stories (she hasn't updated in a while so I forgot the name ^^;) and there's one called Dreamland (this time I forgot the user) and I know I've read more but I can't really think of them... Oh yeah! Samettikettu's story! (I'm really bad with remembering titles... Mainly because I follow them so I don't HAVE to remember...) Yay! :D Lol your teacher sounds like she was awesome XD

13-BlackCat-2020: Here it is :)

deathbyepic100: Here it is!

KTDLover: I will!

Guest: You flatter me XD I will~

HornehUnicorn: I'm glad you do :) When I'm looking for a good One Piece fic, I don't really worry about spelling and grammar. So long as it's interesting, fun to read and makes sense, I'm happy. But there are tons of stories out there with good stories and good grammar. You just have to look for them ^^ Lol glad you guys like AceLu so much because I enjoy writing it! I'm lucky to have only gotten one review telling me not to write AceLu into a story. I won't. I plan on finishing every story I start. That doesn't mean I won't take breaks or that I'll constantly update every single one, but eventually they'll all be completed.

(Hope you all liked this chapter! Remember to tell me if there's anything you'd like me to include and I'll see what I can do! Adieu~)