Hey friends. So do I owe you guys an apology or what! So after my stint as a summer camp counselor ended I moved to British Columbia to go to university (Biology major Psych minor) and damn collage is kicking my butt. It's so hard! So I have had zilch time to write which makes me extremely sad. But reading week is coming up next week (thanks Canada) so hopefully I will get my other stories going again. Thank you guys so much for being patient.

…

"Ace wake up."

Ace moaned as he rolled over yet again. He felt a hand on his shoulder shake him insistently.

"Ace wake up!" The voice repeated.

"What is it Lu?" He yawned not even bothering to open his eyes. "Can't it wait for the mourning?"

"Scoot over,"

"Huh?"

His eyes shot open as he felt himself being shoved over on the thin mattress. "What are you doing?"

Luffy yawned as he settled down besides Ace. "I'm sleeping here." He told him obviously.

"I see that! What I mean is why?" Never the less Ace scooted over slightly.

"You were having bad dream." Luffy told him simply.

"No I wasn't!" Ace insisted feeling his cheeks heating up. That sounded weak. "You were having a bad dream!"

"Nope!" Luffy told him honestly settling down at his side.

Ace frowned and looked away. He knew Luffy never had nightmares. Which was ironic considering he had every other problem known to man. Always hungry, abandonment issues, bad form, a weak left hook, tendency to fall off bridges and always in some form of life threatening trouble but somehow he never got nightmares. Comforting to know his mind wasn't trying to subtly drive him crazy like Ace's was.

He also knew he was having a nightmare. He couldn't remember it very well but he knew enough to know it was some pretty dark stuff. Still he would never admit it.

"I don't need you to sleep with me." He fumed.

"Mm-kay," Luffy mumbled already half asleep.

Ace sighed as he settled back down. Whatever. He knew Luffy wasn't the type to tell anyone…not like he had anyone to tell of course.

He would like to say this was the first time this had happened but it really wasn't. What he hated to admit even more was that this always helped him sleep soundly. Sure enough sharing his bed like a five year old kept the nightmares away. How pathetic was that?

He tried so hard to look tough yet he never actually felt tough. The real surprise was how everyone else fell for it so completely. Apparently if you beat enough people up they forget that if he were actually strong he wouldn't have started a fight with them in the first place.

He glanced besides him at his sleeping brother. Luffy wasn't tough, he was a scared crybaby. But at least he wasn't a faker like Ace was. Ace had long since decided he could be tough enough for both of them as long as Luffy remained strong enough for both of them.

"Thanks," He grumbled. Only after he was sure his brother was asleep

XXX

"Ace?"

Ace opened his eyes to see Marco standing a few feet away, concern clearly written on his face.

"What happened?" He asked rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he stood up.

"Someone was tired." Marco told him dryly making his cheeks heat up.

"I was thinking about too much stuff," He defended embarrassed. He knew his friend was laughing at him internally.

"Too much indeed," Marco mused. "You fell asleep over a day ago."

"WHAT!" That was a new record. That was more of a shutdown than anything else. He hadn't had an attack that bad since Sabo died. Apparently things were that bad again. He gritted his teeth as he remembered why. Luffy was gone because of him, Thatch was in the same boat, although this was less his fault. They might kill his little brother, the last of his family and there was not much he could do to stop them. He was going to die regardless. Marco who he had dragged into this might also bite one. That was a hell of a way to pay back the Whitebeards. 'Hey guys I can't thank you enough for all your friendship and help…by the way I got your secound in command killed sorry.' But of course he would already be dead so there would be no apologizing.

"What are you giving me that look for?" Marco frowned.

"Sorry," Ace said as he dusted himself off, forcing his muscles to relax a little bit. He hadn't even realized he was giving his friend the death glare. The situation had him way to tense.

That wasn't even the worst part. There was something Teach didn't know about Luffy. Something that if he found out would guarantee his brother's death. Thankfully enough Luffy didn't know it. He was horrible at keeping secrets which was precisely why Garp decided to instead entrust Ace with this. But Teach had already proved resourceful enough to discover Ace's roots. Who was to say he couldn't do it again for Luffy.

Ace gave a low moan as he ran his fingers though his hair. In his life he had been in some pretty tight scrapes. There were even times where he was sure it was it for him. But this one was shaping up to be the worst.

"What are you thinking about?" Marco asked after the moments of silence.

Ace frowned as he searched his brain for a safe topic that wouldn't technically be a lie.

"How things used to be simpler when I was younger." He finally decided.

Not like he was ever carefree like most children. Even when he was ten he had to worry about things like where the next meal was coming from, gang wars, if he really should have been born…his dead brother. But he fixed all those problems with punching things. The only real thing he was good at. And when that wasn't enough and the problems plagued his mind he had his little brother who would always find a way to cheer him up.

But since he had become a pirate he found more and more often his problems couldn't always be solved with violence. And there was no Luffy to drag him back from the edge of his mind like before. This particular example was no exception. Right now it looked like he only had one option, to play as that man's errand boy in hopes Luffy and Thatch could make it out of this alive.

"So what's the plan? Where could we go to find strong and greedy people with questionable morals?"

"Probably here," Marco said looking around them. Sure this place looked good on the outside but when you looked closer you could see how cracked its foundation was. Where ever evil like tenryuubito resided lawlessness was bound to follow.

"Well I guess we can start with the bars?" Ace sighed as he started back towards the shadier parts of town.

Marco caught his elbow awkwardly stopping him mid step. "Ace…" he began only to be cut off.

"Yea yea, I know." Ace relented. "I'll tell you if something is wrong, we are a team, it's not my fault, we will save Luffy, the general spiel right?" He said forcing a relaxed smile on his face even as he tugged his arm free.

"I was going to say you were going to wrong way."

"Ah," Ace lamented as he set off in the opposite direction.

"Memorizing is not the same as learning," Marco said as he fell into step besides his friend.

"You're saying actions speak louder than words?" Ace guessed.

"I'm saying stop being an idiot." Marco corrected. "It leads to an early grave."

The irony was not lost on him yet he choose to ignore the advice. He felt the corners of his mouth twitch in a real smile. "That's like ninety percent of my personality. If you take that away you are just left with anger and a cow boy hat."

Marco sighed at his offered advice was ignored. Still he was glad Ace seemed to be feeling a little bit better. "An angry idiot in a cowboy hat then?"

"It's worked so far." Ace pointed out as he scanned the nearly deserted streets. "Rip Off," He read out loud. Might as well start here.

XXX

"How are you feeling?" Thatch asked carefully as he watched Luffy stand up, pouting.

"I'm soooooo bored." The teen complained restlessly.

"I meant your injuries."

Luffy looked down at his bloody and bruised body with a shrug. "It's fine." He insisted.

"You don't look fine," Thatch frowned. He looked like he should be in the hospital. Then again so did Thatch.

He didn't want to admit it out loud but it looked like his stab wound was getting worse. It felt impossibly itchy and it was giving off an alarming amount of heat. Thatch was no doctor but he was sure that wasn't a good sign.

He turned back to Luffy watching the teen run a hand through his messy black hair obviously thinking about his missing hat. He huffed unhappily as he settled besides his friend.

"Luffy you have devil fruit powers right?" Thatch asked after a few seconds of silence.

The teen nodded distracted. His hands were still tied behind his back with the sea stone cuffs. Being the bastard he was Blackbeard had left them on when he dragged the injured Luffy back to the cell earlier.

Although he hadn't said anything Thatch could tell he was struggling with them being on so long. His breathing had grown increasingly heavy as well as his decreasing energy levels.

"Yep!" Luffy said as he leaned against the wall. "I ate the gum gum fruit!"

Thatch blinked stupidly. "…and what is that!"

"It means I am made out of rubber!"

"Ah…" Thatch finished at a loss for words. "Seriously? Who would want that?"

"I Do!" Luffy said defiantly.

"Right sorry." Thatch shook his head hoping he hadn't offended the kid. "So what kind of stuff can you do?"

"Stretch!"

"…neat," Thatch lied easily. He failed to see how that would come in handy but what did he know. It wasn't like you could pick which power you got.

The two sat in silence for a second until Luffy enthusiastically broke it.

"Hey! You're a pirate right?"

"Yea?" Thatch said a little surprised.

"That's so cool! The boy gushed. "I am going to be a pirate too..."

"Aren't you a little young?"

"When I turn seventeen!"

"That's not much better," Thatch sighed as he realized the boy was now ignoring him in favor of ranting about pirates."

"Look Luffy why don't you wait until your much older… twenty something at least.

Luffy made a face, "No way! That's way too long." Seeing Thatch's doubt he assured him with a simple, "it will be fine."

"What if you die?"

"It will be fine," Luffy repeated confidently making Thatch worry even more.

Even if Luffy survived the lunatic who had captured him his greatest danger was the idiotic things he was going to do in two years.

"Why do you want to be a pirate so bad?"

"I not just going to be a pirate." Luffy corrected him.

"Oh?"

"I'm going to be pirate king!"

"No." Thatch moaned slapping a hand over his face.

"What was that?" Luffy asked curiously.

"Nothing," The man promised him not wanting to appear unsupportive.

"You might have to fight the old man for it though."

Luffy tilted his head suddenly interested. "Who?"

"Whitebeard, my captain."

Luffy continued to give him the same blank stare. "Eh?"

"Don't tell me you have never heard of him!"

"He's some old guy then?"

Thatch frowned rubbing his temple. How was this kid going to be a pirate when he didn't even know the most basics of things?"

"Oyaji," He corrected. "Is known as the strongest man in the world. He is currently the closest to becoming pirate king. He is also my captain."

Whatever reaction he was hoping for he was not disappointed. Luffy shot up at the word strong and was suddenly hanging on Thatches every word.

"Fight?" His grin became impossibly wide. "That sounds fun."

This was not the intended message Thatch was trying to get across. Although there didn't seem to be a possibility of changing the kids mind. Besides it's not like Oyaji would hurt him like other pirates would. Maybe just share a little life wisdom.

"Well then Luffy when you become a famous pirate I guess we will meet on the sea huh?"

"Of course we will." Luffy flashed another one of his brilliant smiles. "We're friends after all."

Not for the first time Thatch had to marvel at Luffy's ability to smile so often and so brightly even when the situation seemed so dark. To talk about the future with such optimistic hope like they weren't trapped in a mad man's prison slowly dying on the cold floor. He would make a good pirate king. Thatch decided. Not as good as Pops of course but Thatch would like to see it happen one day.

"Alright then," He said returning the grin let's do it!"

…

So although not much happened in this chapter it still needed to happen so the characters could have a minute to collect themselves before the plot comes back. Pretty much Ace is being the same stubborn idiot he was as a kid and he needs Luffy more then he admits and Luffy is just really bored. I'm excited for next chapter when I get to write Ace's interaction with Rayleigh (fun for me not for Ace). On a side note please tell me what you want to see updated next because my not-so-accurate schedule was thrown out the window by this point. Anyways thank you so much for being so understand about that long break.

(So in some other news I just turned nineteen which is awesome for two reasons! First and foremost I am the same age as Luffy! (Which is kind of sad when you consider what he's doing with his life while I write fanfic). But it is also drinking age in Canada Yay!)