She swallowed the lump in her throat as she observed the boy she now knew to be Luffy. She had known that this moment would be difficult, that's why at first it had been decided that someone else would perform the konso to help Ace's soul leave this world and go into Soul society. Despite her best efforts and the years of self discipline, a stray tear ran down her cheek as she witnessed the seventeen-year-old boy screaming out his newly deceased brother's name in anguish.

'Run. Run you fool. He gave his life to save yours. Luffy, please! You've got to run,' she silently pleaded. She trembled, and wrapped one arm around herself, as if physically restraining herself from running to him.

'Don't! You can't directly intervene. You can't,' she scolded herself. Beside her stood a boy who appeared to be a little younger than her. He had medium length golden blonde hair that was styled into a sort of modified mullet, and dark emerald green eyes. He wore the standard shinigami uniform and resting on his left side at his hip was a katana with dark blue hilt wrapping and a matching dark blue sheath.

He looked to her and moved to grip her shoulder. He then hesitated when he saw she was already physically resisting her instincts. He rested his arm at his side and stated, "you can go home if you want. I can handle this."

"No," Rina answered as she watched the battle continue on, "I made a promise to my friend, and I will keep it."

"Alright—but you know Rina, nobody would blame you if—"

"I'm well aware, Toru. Though I appreciate the thought, it isn't necessary," she objected. He nodded in understanding. Both of their eyes grew wide as the Marine who had killed Ace moved to attack Luffy, but before his attack could connect another Pirate with golden blond hair and an anchor tattooed on his chest intercepted the attack.

Rina thought back to her conversations with Ace while he was imprisoned in Impel Down, and from recalling that knew the man's identity.

"I've seen enough death for today," Marco told Akainu as the Fishman Jinbe picked up Luffy and began running off with him. Another pirate she knew to be Crocodile came to Marco's aid to help ensure Jinbe and Luffy could escape. However the turning point was when Whitebeard himself appeared behind Akainu.

Toru took the opportunity to locate Ace's spirit and perform the konso. While her brother was tending to that, Rina set off after Jinbe and Luffy, still invisible to their eyes but still able to keep up. Once Jinbe had Luffy settled on a boat to transport him away Rina appeared next to the distraught teenager. She placed one hand over her own heart and the other over his, both of her hands emitting a faint purple glow.

"I thought that was unique to Captain Kuchiki's maternal family, how can you use it?"

The question was straight to the point, but also betrayed the ignorance of the asker. She looked over to Toru and stated, "it's quite simple—Captain Kuchiki and my mother share a relative. The person is from Captain Kuchiki's maternal family—and my mother's maternal family as well. So unless someone were to look closely at both family trees, they wouldn't see it. But yes, they're not just good friends—they're related."

"They're second cousins? Huh, I wouldn't have guessed," Toru replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Although, that certainly did explain why Captain Kuchiki had broken the rules by letting them all live with him briefly.

Rina smiled as she revealed, "I just found out a few weeks ago myself."

The glow from her hands faded and she observed Luffy. It was strange, she knew that there was no blood relation between him and Ace, yet he had the same black hair, the same dark brown eyes, he almost looked like he could've been Ace's biological brother. He had the straw hat on his head that Ace had told her was gifted to him by Red Haired Shanks. He wore a red button down sleeveless shirt, blue jean shorts, and sandals.

She knew for sure that this boy was Monkey D. Luffy, Ace's kid brother. Something else she knew to be true, the poor kid was in a deep state of shock. She could hardly blame him. First they lost Sabo, and now he had lost Ace.

She placed a hand on the side of his face and closed her eyes. She knew she couldn't do too much, but maybe she could ease some of the guilt off his shoulders. No matter what, he was going to be scarred by Ace's death, there was no avoiding that but right now if his injury were physical he wouldn't be simply bleeding. If his injury were physical instead of emotional in this very moment he'd be hemorrhaging. If she could cauterize some of those emotional wounds even for just a brief time so he could process what had happened more effectively, it might just be enough to pull him out of it. Although, attempting to do so posed another risk, one she'd have to answer for later if anyone ever found out.

The boat gave away to deep grass and a heavily treed area that looked like a tunnel. Luffy looked around and remarked, "Mount Colbu, Dawn Island—how'd I get back here?"

"You chose it," came a woman's voice. He turned and spotted a woman with long silvery blonde hair, grey eyes and a pale complexion. She had an oval shaped face, wore a red scarf around her neck that was secured by a loose knot. She wore a white tank top under a red sleeveless button down shirt, blue jeans and sandals.

Luffy blinked before asking, "who are you?"

"My name is Rina," she replied. She smiled to him while adding, "you're Monkey D. Luffy, Ace's adoptive kid brother."

"Sworn brother," Luffy pointed out.

Rina shrugged a little as she stated, "same deal in my book."

"Anyways, it still doesn't explain how we got here," Luffy regressed.

"I already said: you chose this location. Or more accurately your subconscious chose this location," she repeated. She sat down on a nearby tree trunk and observed him while he looked over the area. He then turned to her and asked, "What are you doing here then? I never saw you on Dawn Island before."

Rina smiled, giving a small laugh as she admitted, "you wouldn't have. My kind aren't typically seen by humans. Although some do sense when we're nearby."

"Are you saying you're a ghost?"

She closed her eyes and concurred, "that's one way to look at it. I was born a spirit. It's how I've always existed. There's something about Ace that you don't know Luffy. The fact that you didn't figure out who I am by seeing me tells me that he kept his word and never spoke of me—however, I am worried about you. My people can sometimes possess telepathic abilities. It's rare, but sometimes those abilities are strong enough to enter someone's mind to communicate with them. Like we are right now, I don't normally intrude but I doubt anyone else will be able to get through to you. You're in such shock that you're catatonic."

The boy's confusion was evident on his face, tilting his head to the side as if he were a canine while asking, "I'm cata-whata?"

"Catatonic, it's a state of being immobile or non-responsive. You're awake—but you're not quite present at the moment," she explained.

"Oh. That's not good. We're trying to save Ace," Luffy replied.

'Oh dear,' Rina thought to herself, biting her lip slightly. However, Luffy had a question for her, "how do you know my brother anyway?"

"He's a friend," Rina answered simply. She hesitated for a moment before adding, "and once, about three years ago, your brother was my Captain for a time."

At this, she pulled back her button down shirt just enough to show the flaming spade tattoo on her shoulder blade. Luffy sat down next to her but kept eyeing her neck.

"Just ask," she pushed.

The teenager didn't hesitate, blurting out, "what's the deal with the scarf?"

She unfastened the gentle knot of the scarf and let the fabric fall from her neck, then turned to face Luffy directly. He saw the scar on her neck that looked like a perfect circle. She lifted the back of her hair and turned around, showing an identical scar to the front of her neck.

"Whoa," Luffy remarked but then seemed to freeze up. He looked to his hands, one of which seemed to be covered in blood. Then he remembered all of what had just happened at Marine Ford.

"We – we aren't t-tr-trying to s-sa-save Ace. We f-fa-failed," he stuttered as he struggled to hold back his sobs.

Rina placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder, then got in front of him and gripped his free shoulder with her remaining hand. She knelt down, looking him directly in his eyes as she revealed, "I received the injury to my neck, protecting my little brother from a creature that would've killed him. My kind are more resilient than humans, but one way we're the same is that an injury to our spine or anything that causes our brain to be severed from our bodies is often fatal."

Luffy's eyes were watering, and soon the tears began to spill over onto his cheeks. Rina smiled at him as she concluded, "you can blame yourself for what happened or you can realize the truth of it: You were the one that Ace loved so much he gave his life to save yours. Just as I risked doing to protect my little brother, that's why big siblings exist. We're there to protect the little ones born after us. So, Luffy, you take your time to grieve, but don't let guilt consume you. Live. Live and become King of the Pirates. Live, and know that each day you do, is a gift from your big brother."