This was what she had been dreading. She'd hoped it wouldn't occur but it had, and now she had to think quickly on her feet to answer his questions. She turned her attention back to her younger siblings for a moment while answering, "It's not uncommon for newly arriving souls to feel that way. When someone passes from a living world their soul retains some semblance of body or muscle memory from when they were alive—and that can include a feeling of déjà vu. Perhaps I look similar to someone you knew when you were alive."

"Hmm, maybe," he replied as he sat next to her and observed the children in the water. Shortly after Tamika joined them, now wearing a plain light blue kimono, she looked to Rina while suggesting, "go change, then help him settle in for the night. I'll keep watch over them."

Rina nodded as she stood up from her seat on the shore and headed back into the house. Tamika kept her eyes on the children in the water as did Ace. He didn't know if he could swim, but he'd risk it if one of them went under.

She didn't need to see him to know he was intently watching the children as well. At that point she felt the need to tell him, "Daichi can swim. He's actually a very strong swimmer, they both are. If he wasn't I'd be in the water with Sora—but he's right there with her, and he won't go far from her. All of my older children are protective of her. I guess that's the biggest perk of being the youngest of seven."

He gave a small chuckle while nodding in agreement, as he continued to watch them he realized she was right. Daichi was always glancing over to make sure that his sister was okay. He'd swim a few strokes, then look back while taking a breath and then continue. If she wasn't right behind him, he'd pause briefly to give her a chance to catch up. He was losing any doubt that if something did happen to Sora in the water, Daichi would be the first to help her. He almost felt silly observing them with Tamika. Clearly Daichi was capable of keeping her safe, but then the question was for how long?

"How strong a swimmer is he?"

Tamika giggled a little and stated, "he's decent for his age—but like most kids they're all energy. She's good for her age as well, but—well, she's young. She's more about burning off energy than anything."

"I love watching them swim—they may end up serving in the guard squads like the rest of us, but at least they get to have some fun in their childhood," A teenage boy stated as he sat on the opposite side of Tamika. Ace glanced over and then did a double take. This teenager had silvery blonde, almost white hair, grey eyes, and a pale complexion. If it weren't for him being the wrong gender, Ace would've mistaken him for Rina.

"How long have you been back?" Tamika asked the newly arrived boy.

His response was instant, "about an hour. I wanted to look into a possibility for this project I'm working on so I asked Rina to watch these two. I don't mind taking over, Mom."

Ace smiled a little as he realized that this was likely the biological son that Tamika had spoken of earlier.

The boy took notice of Ace's presence and offered his hand to him while introducing himself, "I'm Yoshiya Shimizu."

"I'm Ace D Portgas," the freckle man stated as he shook his hand. Ace was starting to think he'd stick out like a sore thumb with these people. Between the fact that none of them had any lettering on their skin, they all had light hair and from the brief glances of stray hair in his eyes that he could see his hair was dark. He also had a darker complexion than them.

"Ah," Yoshiya commented, looking to Tamika before asking, "new comer that wasn't openly welcomed?"

"He doesn't speak the same language—so people got a bit nervous. You know how it's been the last few years," his mother replied.

Looking at her closely, Ace wouldn't have taken her for a mother of a few teenagers, let alone several other children as well. She looked young, in her twenties or maybe thirties if he was pushing it a bit.

She observed him, smiled and explained, "we age slower than most. My children are 180, 160, 155, 152, 80, and 40 years old, each. The twins are the oldest."

Ace raised his eyebrows in surprise as he echoed, "twins?"

Yoshiya nodded and added, "yep. I beat Rina for oldest child status by five minutes."

"And I beat you to being in a command position within my squad, so shut it," Rina countered. She sat next to Ace, but ignored the kids in the water and looked to Ace. She observed him for a while before asking, "you wanna explore a bit?"

He smiled and gave a small nod of his head while confirming, "sure."

Rina stood up from her spot, as did Ace. He followed her as she headed off the property, and towards a wooded area. Once they were there Rina glanced back at him, she was now wearing a short snowflake patterned kimono with a pale blue obi around her waist. On her feet were simple wooden sandals, and no tabi.

She looked to him and asked, "you said you had a feeling of déjà vu with me—is there anything else that comes to mind when you look at me?"

Ace blinked but regarded the girl for a few minutes before stuttering, "pesto-no—pescatarian. Red—ice—yeah that's all that I can understand at least."

"Hmm, I see. That's rare," Rina stated as she leaned against a tree, contemplating on what she was going to go now. With what he said, she was as certain of it as she was that they were born in completely different worlds—worlds that even had completely different blood types. She looked over to him, noticing how different his attire was and then revealed, "you have two tattoos. One on your upper left bicep, and one on your back."

He blinked there was no way he could look at his own back, however he pulled up the left sleeve of his shirt and saw the letters ASCE with the S crossed out. Upon seeing this he regarded Rina and stated, "so you do know me?"

"I did know you—when you were in the living world you were from before coming here. This is what some people call 'heaven'—I'm sorry Ace, but as far as your friends, your crew, everyone who ever knew you knows, you're dead," she confirmed.

"I see," Ace acknowledged, an image flashed before him of a silvery blonde girl cuddling up to him on a prison cell floor. He looked to her and asked, "I was imprisoned? A criminal?"

"As far as the government of your world is concerned, yes, you were. However we've been investigating a few things in that world for the last two and a half years—something just felt off when I was there. So I decided to check into it—turns out it may be good that we are investigating," Rina divulged.

"We were friends, that's why your mother knew to speak to me in a certain language," Ace realized. Rina nodded her head and looked to him, "so it's time I teach you the language that's most in this area—but please no more naming fiercely strong cats after inanimate objects. That was just horrendous!"