Remake: Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

by RoseDragonWitch

Remake of original story: Not all treasure is gold and jewels. In the middle of some strange ruins, the Straw Hats accidently end up watching their captain's memories of him and Ace. They all knew that there was a strong bond between these brothers; only now do they see how deep this bond was and how much pain had been caused.

12. Bond of Brothers

Chapter 11: Bond of Brothers

The memory faded away once again and the Straw Hats were all staring ahead of them at the darkness, all of them suddenly feeling sick with themselves for watching something so personal. First with Sabo's death and immediately afterwards the tearful vow the two brothers made in memory of said brother? They wished that they could pretend not to have seen anything… but it was impossible to wipe it from their minds.

Surprisingly, the one in the worst shape was probably Usopp.

He was sitting on the ground, his hands now rummaging through his bag, trying to find something to distract himself with, but it was impossible. Luffy had wanted to become the King of the Pirates ever since he made that promise Shanks, this he knew, but it was really with Sabo's death did his captain become determined to really fulfill it even if it killed him. Ace and Luffy had a vow that they would one day become free, and now Luffy was the only one left who still carried that oath.

Usopp just couldn't begin to imagine how heavy a burden that must.

He and Luffy may not have ever discussed it openly, but they both dreamt of meeting up with Shanks's crew someday—Luffy for Shanks, and himself with his father Yasopp. More than anything else, when Usopp does finally meet his father, he wanted to stand in front of him as a brave warrior and a great pirate like what he saw in those memories.

Now that he gave it some thought, Usopp realized that his biggest ambition wasn't just to become a great pirate—but he wanted his father to be proud of him. Before he met Luffy, Zoro and Nami, he didn't know what he wanted out of his life since he was torn between staying in the village he loved and going out to sea. But after they helped to protect his village, they inspired him so much that he knew leaving was the right choice. Who would've thought that going with them would change him like this? He wouldn't be where he was right now if it wasn't for that one spur of the moment decision.

But seeing Luffy and Ace make this vow with such conviction in their voices when they were still so young made him feel ashamed—if not a little embarrassed.

After his mother died, all he was able to do was play pirate. Could he have become as strong as the others were if he started training since then? Usopp was aware that even if Luffy never ate his Devil Fruit, he still had that pure, raw strength that he spent a solid decade working with. Not only that but Zoro and Sanji were proof that you didn't have to have Devil Fruit abilities so long as you put in the hard work.

That was why the crew thought of the three of them as monsters… but he could only think back to the times he would run through Syrup Village day after day as he screamed out lies.

He stared long and hard at the arsenal and gadgets in his bag. All these weapons that he carried with him…? None of them made him feel any braver. How did Luffy do it? How is it that Luffy always managed to stay so happy about everything!? Usopp felt his face cringe and he gritted his teeth together in a poor attempt to hold back the tears.

"How does he do it?" he asked out loud, forgetting that the rest of his crew was there.

"Do what?" Nami asked him in confusion.

"How does he keep going forward with everything that's happened to him?" he asked, hiding his face from them. "If it were me, I'd have given up a long time ago. But he keeps going for the sake of his brothers doesn't he?"

"I think that's just what makes him strong," Sanji said, pulling his cigarette out grimly, "Because he owes it to them to live. If he were to die before he fulfilled that vow, he'd never be able to rest in peace."

"For him, dying would be like spitting in their faces, and making a mockery of their sacrifices," Zoro added softly. "But it's more than that too. Luffy's just someone who looks ahead. Simple as that. Looking back won't get you anywhere."

Franky burst out crying at that as he whimpered, "Man, you're just pulling at my heartstrings! What's the deal with you guys doing this to me? I think I feel a song coming up…?"

"I'm already ahead of you Franky-san," Brook cried, strumming the guitar and began to sing out, "Every time the rain no longer falls, and I see the sky… I think back to when I was a child… who could only cry…?"

"Robin?" Zoro interrupted before things got too far outta hand, "Didn't you say before that you had an idea where we were?"

"How could you interrupt, Zoro-san?" Brook cried as their swordsman ignored him, his attention fully on Robin, who was looking deep in thought.

"Yeah, you did say that we've been in a place like this before," Nami agreed while rubbing her red eyes. "I think I would remember if we were!"

"But we have," Robin countered, "Don't any of you remember? Shortly before we went to Jaya we stopped by another island. One called Ruluka?"

"Ruluka?" Usopp whispered, thinking back to that time, "Oh, yeah! That was the place with all those ridiculous taxes!" His eyes suddenly widen as he realized what Robin was hinting at and gasped, "Wait! You talking about the Rainbow Mist?!"

"Exactly," she confirmed with a nod, "It appears we are now in a place that's very similar to that."

"The Rainbow Mist?" Brook and Franky asked together, their heads tilting in confusion.

"Sounds like a wild place," Franky added as he thought over a mist of rainbows.

"It was pretty," Chopper said, thinking back to how he and Sanji were at shore watching the sparkling mist that was made up of every color he could think of. "I remember how you guys went inside it and then just disappeared!"

"Disappeared?" Brook asked in amazement. "That sounds like an amazing trick!"

"It was no trick," Robin explained, "We ended up getting trapped there and were lucky to escape. The Rainbow Mist is a mysterious fog that is actually a gateway to another dimension."

"Another dimension?!" Brook whispered in awe.

"That's right," Nami whined, thinking back to all the treasure that she found there on those shipwrecks, "I remember all the treasure that was left behind!"

"You would still be upset about that," Usopp snapped, "We were almost trapped there for good! What good was money in a place like that?"

"That place went by several different names," Robin went on as if they hadn't spoken, "Any ship who entered the Rainbow Mist is automatically transported to the dimension known as Ape's Concert, in which all ships and their crews and passengers are trapped. It's most commonly known as the ship's graveyard."

"And you've seen it?" Brook asked in astonishment, "I've heard many stories about such a place even in my day, but I never believed that it actually existed!"

"Ship's graveyard," Franky said to himself, he could imagine such a place… a final resting place for ships…? It would've been a sight to see!

"It was only through a series of circumstances that we were able to escape before the pathway closed," Robin went on, "Turns out that time moved differently in there than it did on the outside. We met a group of kids who had been trapped there when last the Rainbow Mist appeared. On the outside, decades had passed, but for them, it had barely been a few days. They didn't even realize that they had been there for years. That place was a limbo…"

"But what does that have to do with what's going on here?" Zoro asked in annoyance.

"Remember when Sanji and Franky both came running back when they went off to look for a way out?" Robin reminded him. "It's just like how Ape's Concert was. Somehow, in this place, it is a space loop, which means it takes anyone back to the point in from which they started. When we were in Ape's Concert, I remember firing a cannon ball from the front of the ship only for it to land behind us. I believe that we are trapped in a place similar to that."

"So this is Ape's Concert?" Chopper asked, looking around at the darkness. "It's creepier than I thought it would be."

"Not as creepy as that ship's graveyard was," Nami disagreed, rubbing her arms as she shivered at the memory, "It doesn't look anything like where we were before. But if Robin's right about it, then it would explain how you guys kept coming back when you went running forward?"

"But how did you guys get out of there in the first place?" Franky asked.

"Yeah, maybe we can get out the same way!" Brook agreed happily.

But Robin was shaking her head, explaining, "That was difficult as well. We saw the way out thanks to the setting sun, it showed us which way to go. However, it was the explosion that gave us that final leap."

"Explosion?" Brook repeated, thinking it over for a second before he screamed, "WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELVES?"

"I always did wonder what happened to that place," Robin said thoughtfully ignoring Brook's panicked cries, "I mean, time and space were disrupted thanks to us."

"Wait, are you suggesting that we have to blow this place up to get out?" Usopp asked them with a sense of dread.

"Dude, just what kind of trouble were you all getting yourselves into before we met?!" Franky yelled in alarm.

"Hang on!" Nami cried, before they got too into the idea of using explosives, "We don't know what will happen! We could end up getting trapped here for good if we do something that crazy! And let's not forget that we still don't have the slightest idea to where Luffy is! We have to find him first before we get out! And the sooner we do, the happier I'll be!"

"You can count on me Nami, my love!" Sanji cried out, hearts in his eyes as he gazed at her.

"And I mean now!" she yelled angrily at him.

But it was like this place didn't want them to look for Luffy or a way out. The darkness faded again so that they were back in Luffy's memories, after which, they couldn't bring themselves to stop watching.

"Damn," Franky said, looking around at the trees of the Middle Forest again, disappointed that he didn't get a chance to use the rockets in his shoulders to blow something up.

"What's going on now?" Chopper asked, wondering just what they were going to see now. They quickly spotted Luffy and Ace leaning up against some trees in the clearing just ahead, but to their surprise, they saw the boys weren't alone. Garp was there with them, drinking heavily.

"Not what I expected," Usopp said nervously, "They look almost… calm. They don't even look like Garp beat them up yet."

"Yeah, maybe they didn't notice he's there yet?" Sanji offered.

"I think it's simpler than that. Garp must've heard about Sabo at this point," Zoro offered, looking at the grim look in Garp's eyes. They fell silent as they realized that had to be what the problem was. It would have to be something big to have stopped Garp's abusive behavior. As rough and hard-headed as he was, it seemed that even he knew that there was a time and place. As if answering their question, Garp pulled the bottle from his lips and sighed heavily.

"I see," he said, in an unusually soft voice, "So that squirt's really gone."

Luffy sniffled a little, but his eyes were dry as he said tightly, "It's Sabo! Not squirt!"

"Yeah, he had a name you know," Ace agreed crossly.

Garp gazed at his grandsons. Normally, they suspect that he'd have told them off for that—or at the least hit them for their rudeness. But it seemed as if he would let it go in light of all that happened as he muttered, "I'm sorry for that."

"I'm surprised at how respectful he's being," Brook said hoarsely.

"He's rough around the edges, but I think he does have a soft spot, even if he is insane," Nami said quietly, also sitting down with Usopp as she watched the scene with sad eyes while adding, "Sabo deserves that much at least."

"I still don't get why it had to happen like that," Ace said to no one in particular. "It just doesn't make sense. So he was in front of those noble's ships… so what? It's not like he was attacking them! He didn't do anything! Dogra just said that he saw them fire at him when he was trying pass their ship!"

"I don't doubt that," Garp answered him grimly, "A tiny boat against that galleon? It wouldn't have stood a chance. That's just the type of people the World Nobles are."

"Why don't you arrest them?" Luffy demanded, looking at him angrily, "The guys who did it? You can do that right? They killed Sabo for no reason!"

"Unfortunately, the marines work for the Celestial Dragons," Sanji said in disgust. "He can't do anything like that. They have the whole world tied to a string."

"Were it anyone else, then I would've by now. But I'm afraid I can't do anything this time," Garp told Luffy, a sad look in his eyes.

"But why?" Luffy demanded, jumping to his feet and staring at him before reminding him, "You always say that Marines uphold justice and arrest bad people! So arrest the ones who killed Sabo!"

"This is just cruel," Usopp choked as he felt tears forming again, knowing that it was useless to even discuss it.

"It's only logical. They want justice for their brother," Robin sighed, "Though they accepted that Sabo's not by their side anymore, they want to see the ones who caused the incident to pay. But now they're being told that there's nothing that anyone can do about it. It would be hard for anyone to swallow. Their promise to go out to sea did help numb the pain, but it won't be enough to make it go away. It's only natural that we want those who hurt us to suffer for it."

"But here they're up against someone they can't win against," Nami added, laying her cheek against her hand, "Dadan was right. They'd get themselves killed if they tried. Even a Marine Hero like Garp is helpless against the World Nobles."

"I'm afraid that there are some fights that you can't expect to win," Garp went on, laying the empty bottle beside him. "I don't like the Nobles either, but there's nothing I can do. Even with my rank and position, the most that they would get is a slap on the wrist, if even that much."

"I knew that Marines are useless," Ace snapped at him.

"You got that right, kid," Zoro agreed darkly.

"All that crap about 'justice' and 'peace' is nothing but crap isn't it?" Ace demanded hotly, looking ready for a fight, "Dogra said the ship was destroyed with a few cannonballs! They kept firing until there wasn't anything left! There wasn't even a body by the time they were through firing!"

The Straw Hats cringed at the thought. The attack must've been truly horrific if not even the wreckage of a ship remained.

"If they never found a body…?" Chopper said quietly, "Do you think that there's a chance that Sabo might still be alive? That he could've escaped?"

Robin bit her lower lip, keeping her face as blank as possible as she wondered if she was doing the right thing in staying silent. She knew she promised Sabo that she wouldn't tell Luffy, but it was so much harder than she ever thought it would be.

"I doubt it," Sanji grumbled with a shake his head. "Believe me, I think that would be amazing if that's what happened. But if he was still alive, then why didn't he ever once try to get in contact with Luffy and Ace? Even if it's just a quick message? He surely would've known they'd hear about the attack and think he was dead. He could've done something just to let them know that he was ok and not to worry about him after all these years."

"He could've been protecting them?" Usopp offered, but even to him, the theory sounded pathetic.

"Maybe," Zoro offered with a shrug, "But I find that unlikely. I don't remember ever hearing about a pirate like him before, and as far as I'm aware of, he didn't show up at Marineford to help Ace. You think that if he was alive and heard that his brother was in trouble, he'd sit back and not do anything? If he is still alive, then he must have given up his dream of being a pirate or forgotten about his brothers."

Robin did her best not to look at him or laugh at how spot on Zoro's theory was. The man may not be a scholar but he can read people and situations very well. Almost to a frightening degree. She smiled slightly at that as Brook sighed wistfully, "If he was, can you imagine the look on Luffy-san's face? It would be such a heart-warming scene. But it's been twelve years since then. I'm sure he must've made peace with that idea by now."

Robin nodded in agreement to Brook's words with the others as she let her mind continue to wonder. She suspected that Luffy's love for Sabo was still a painful topic for him but it was his love for Ace that she was more concerned with. At the least, Luffy never had to witness Sabo's ship being fired upon so he wasn't haunted with the sight of what he thought was his brother's death.

As she looked at the child Ace, she knew that his death was a very different scenario. Luffy only spent a few months with Sabo, at most… but the bond that he had with Ace was much deeper after having spent years together. And when he was forced to watch Ace die in front of him? That had to mess with his head and it saddened her greatly to wonder just what her captain had gone through without them there to support him.

"Gramps?" Ace suddenly asked with anger still ringing in his voice, "Why would they do something like that? Sabo didn't do anything to deserve it. Why can they get away with doing this but the rest of us can't?"

They could see that Garp looked uncomfortable at the question, as if wondering how he could explain it in a way that they could understand. How were you to explain to two young boys that the reason that their brother's murderer won't ever answer to his crimes was because said murderers knew they could?

Garp stared off ahead for a while before he finally spoke up, though he sounded like he was trying to reason more with himself than with his grandsons.

"Humans are complicated creatures, and that's what makes them human," he said at last, "I think I've heard that saying somewhere in the South Blue. It's something I often thought about when faced with a situation like this. Everyone wants to get stronger… but without a purpose for that strength, they don't know what to do with it… and often find ways to take it out on others in a bad way."

"I don't get it," Luffy said predictably.

"He means that power has a bad way of getting you to misuse it when you don't have a good purpose for it," Sanji summed up for them sourly.

"Perhaps the Celestial Dragons were good rulers a few hundred years ago, but they lost sight of it all since then," Nami sighed in understanding.

"Personally, I doubt there was any humanity in them to begin with," Franky spoke up grumpily.

Garp continued to look up at the bright blue sky, a pair of seagulls were flying overhead as he added softly, "Humans are complicated, and that's what makes us human. In other words, I guess there'll always be a part of us that fears change even when we need it most."

"That's almost a poetic way to look at it," Robin muttered thoughtfully, "I never thought of it like that before. I suppose surprising others in unexpected ways is a family trait."

"What are you talking about?" Ace demanded fiercely, still not getting it.

"I don't know for sure myself," Garp confessed sadly, "But I think it means that if you can't change things yourself, you just have to accept things the way they are."

There was silence for a moment as the boys looked mutinous at such a suggestion. The Straw Hats all understood that feeling as well. Just sit back and let something go even when it felt like going against everything you ever believed in? The very idea made them all feel hallow inside so that only something like revenge could hope to ease that hollowness even if it didn't really change the situation.

"Well, I can't accept this. Maybe you can sit back and kiss their asses, but you sure as hell won't catch me doing it," Ace said angrily, turning his back on him as Luffy watched them both miserably.

"But there's nothing that can be done about it," Garp sighed, "Believe me, if I could, I'd arrest them myself. But there's nothing that anyone can do when faced with the World Nobles. If you try and stand up against them, believe me, all that will await you will be death. That's why no one's stood against them for centuries."

"So they can do whatever the hell they want to us and if we fight back we get killed for it?!" Ace yelled, "How is that fair?!"

"Life isn't fair, but that's life," Garp said looking at them both firmly, "And even if you could do something about it, what good would it do?"

Luffy and Ace both blinked in surprise at his question as he ran a hand through his short hair as he went on, "I mean… even with all the strength and influence in the world, you can't bring Sabo back. Not even justice can do that."

"I know that!" Ace yelled, before sitting back down angrily, his hands curled into fists, "But that doesn't mean I have to like it!"

"Ace…" Luffy said sadly as Garp stood up to brush the dirt off his shorts.

"I'll let this go," he said, turning back and heading through the trees where they could just make out the bandit's house. "But next time I come here, we'll begin training again!"

"Oh, God," Usopp whispered, sweating a little at the thought. "I hurt just thinking about it."

Luffy waited until his grandpa was out of his sight before he went over to Ace, sitting down next to him before realizing he was shaking.

"Ace?" he asked worriedly.

"Why should we be Marines?" Ace demanded, his bangs hiding his eyes as his voice cracked a little with suppressed emotion. "Why does he want us to join them so badly? What's so special about them anyway? It sounds like all they do is protect people like those damn nobles. If being a Marine means that I have to work for the same people who killed Sabo, then I'll never join."

"No, I won't either!" Luffy declared as the memory faded then and there.

"I see now why they fought so hard against the idea of being Marines," Brook said softly, "Even if it meant that they would've gotten beaten by Garp-san over and over again."

"But Ace was right," Sanji said angrily. "The Marines are no more than pets to the World Nobles. How could anyone work for someone who killed someone you cared about…?"

Nami looked down, her hand went to her tattoo as she thought how she was forced to work for Arlong—how wearing that disgusting mark made her feel like she was just a piece of his property?. Just the thought of him, even to this day, was enough to make her feel sick. She could swear that getting stabbed in the heart would've hurt less than forcing herself to smile every time she looked at him. How her mother's death flash before her eyes every time she heard him laugh…?

She shook her head hard, trying to rid herself of those cruel memories. She was free from that life now. But at the same time she could understand where Ace was coming from. Why didn't the Marines ever come for her and her village? They needed that protection for years and instead they were forced to survive on their own without hope of any kind of aid. And then, finally, when the Marines did come… they were only there to steal the money she risked her life to collect to buy their freedom! Her eyes narrowed at the injustice of that. Yes, she agreed with Ace completely… she wouldn't ever join the Marines after that.

'Not that all Marines were bad though,' her thoughts added as her mother's face came to her mind and she felt a little better at the memory of Belle-mere's face.

The memory soon returned and it was a bright day, this time they were at the edge of a harbor. They didn't recognize it at first as they looked around, only realizing that they had to be somewhere in Goa, at least judging from the spotless buildings behind them.

They wondered why they were here until they heard a soft sniffle behind them and looked to see that Luffy was sitting by himself at the water's edge, as if waiting for someone. They gathered up close to him as he hugged his knees to his chest, still holding onto his pipe staff as he stared out at the water—waiting. There were a few snobby-looking nobles behind him, walking past with their noses in the air that really pissed off the Straw Hats as they wanted nothing more than to punch them out for their attitude.

Before they could start cursing out though, Luffy's head perked up and he stared out at the water as a head with black hair popped out.

"Ace!" he called, waving at him from shore as Ace began to swim back towards him.

"Why're we here?" Usopp asked worriedly as Luffy ran as far to the edge of the dock as he could without falling in as Ace's face looked grim.

"I have an idea…?" Zoro said, knowing that if it had been him, he wouldn't really believe it unless he saw some proof. Sure enough, Ace pulled himself onto shore beside Luffy, panting hard for air as he was dragging a torn cloth with him.

"I found it," he said quietly as he held it up for Luffy to see. Almost all the Straw Hats felt their breath caught as they saw that it was a small pirate flag that had a large blue S on the front with a pair of crossbones. There was no doubt in any of their minds, save for Robin, that Sabo had tried to escape from this kingdom by setting out on his own… only for his journey to end prematurely.

"I went as deep as I could go and I did find the wreckage of a small boat… and this was wrapped up in the broken mast," he answered, not looking at Luffy as he handed it over to him, who sniffled and buried his face in the flag. For once, Ace didn't mock Luffy for crying, in fact his own looked pretty red as he took off his shirt to wring out the excess water.

"They must've tried to see if they could find something left behind of Sabo's," Nami whispered, "Or, at the least, to make sure that what they heard was true."

It was a bitter pill for them to swallow, but they could only watch on as Luffy tried to fold it up as best he could before he and Ace left the docks behind, quickly moving through town. Neither one said much of anything, the torn-up flag having just dashed any remaining hope they had that Sabo might still be alive somewhere.

It seemed that they didn't want to stay in this town any longer than they had to though as they quickly made their way through Edge Town and back through the gates to…? The Straw Hats stopped dead to stare at what they were seeing, wondering if they were hallucinating or something. At first, they didn't recognize it, but when they realized that they were standing on the other side of the great wall with the forest in the distance—they knew it could only be one place.

"Is this…?" Chopper asked, staring around them, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"It is. This is the Gray Terminal," Robin answered grimly, "Or rather… what's left of it."

It was a barren wasteland, the ground was covered in nothing but a thick layer of ash and burnt pieces of metal. The whole air smelled richly of charcoal—almost like a giant bonfire. The mountains of trash were now replaced with… plains of dust. While it was an improvement in many ways, they felt sick at the thought of how it was created.

"Shows just how enormous that fire was," Franky said, taking off his glasses to get a better look. "Anything that wasn't destroyed was probably cleaned up by the guards and dumped somewhere else where they couldn't see it.

"I just can't stand it," Nami whispered, shaking in anger, fighting the urge to be sick.

Chopper wasn't any better, he was crying hard at the thought of all those poor people… just how did those guys sleep at night? Did the ones who come in to clean this place kill any survivors? Or was the fire so great that there wasn't anything left? He was afraid to find out and hoped he never had to.

There were footsteps behind them and they looked to see the two boys leaving Goa and walking through the ash. There was so much that they were soon covered head to foot—they didn't say anything as they followed the two, staring around in horror.

"Hard to believe that this used to be the Gray Terminal," Ace said looking around, his expression didn't show any emotion, but his eyes were filled with anger at what happened here. "There's nothing left."

"Ace look!" Luffy called, pointing behind them before asking innocently, "What's with the carts?"

They looked up in time to see that a few giant carts were coming through the gates after the boys left. Ace pulled Luffy back a little ways to make sure that the guards couldn't see them.

"Wait," Sanji said, looking furious as he realized what they were for and he bit down on the end of his cigarette. "Don't tell me…?"

"What's wrong, Sanji?" Nami asked. But before he could answer they heard the sounds of crashing and bangs. It was from when the guards there were dumping garbage back near the front gates.

"They're still dumping trash here?!" Chopper screamed out.

"I don't believe it!" Franky yelled in outrage, "After what they did, they're filling it back up?!"

He wasn't the only one furious at this as Ace yelled, "It's only been a week, and they're already starting to fill up again!"

"Wasteful bastards," Sanji growled, now chewing on his cigarette.

"At this rate, this place'll be filled up again in no time," Usopp said, thinking of Trash Mountain. "It'll look just like before."

"And not just like before," Robin said, her eyes void of all emotion. "It will be like the fire never happened. Garp was right… humans never change even when they need to."

"They won't set another fire like before when it fills up, will they?" Luffy asked worriedly, taking hold of Ace's arm with wide eyes and trembling hands.

"Maybe," Zoro said grumpily, "I mean, why not? If they think it works then they'll do it again if they have too."

"I don't know," Ace admitted, looking down at him, "But in any case, we should avoid this place as often as we can in the future. In fact, I think that it's good that we avoid Goa for a while too." His hands were curled into fists again. "Just thinking about them makes me want to break something! I mean, just look at this place!"

He held his arms wide out to indicate the Gray Terminal, and they all nodded in full agreement that staying away from this place was best thing they could do for now.

"You think they would at least leave it like how they created it!" Nami said furiously as Ace took Luffy's hand and dragged him off with him as they headed back to the Middle Forest without a glance back at the walls and rules they were leaving behind. "But they're falling right back into their disgusting habit of throwing their garbage out like this!"

"So long as it doesn't bother their status or their places in High Town, I don't think they care," Brook told her in a melancholy tone.

They all gazed sadly at each other as Ace led Luffy back through the forest. They boys only stopped one place before they returned to Dadan's and that was to their old hideout to get their things.

"You mean we're moving back in with Dadan?" Luffy asked him as they walked through the forest.

"Yeah, it's better for us to stay closer to the others for now," he said, still not looking at Luffy as he led him all the way back to the hideout—which suddenly looked cold as they gazed up at it. Neither Luffy nor Ace talked at all as they climbed back up the tree to collect their things.

The only two things they left in the treehouse was the little net that held their sake cups and Sabo's flag. It seemed to serve as good a memorial as they could muster for their lost brother as they set the flag down in the center of the floor before Ace stuffed the rest of their few belongings into a bag.

"We're really never coming back, Ace?" Luffy asked Ace as they would only have to make one trip to move everything they had, "Is it bad that we stay here?"

"No, I mean, I don't think I can come back here after today," he answered as he looked to where their sake cups remained hanging from the little fishing net they found. Luffy looked up at it too, trying hard not to cry at the sight of the three cups as Ace told him to stop crying.

Luffy sniffled, trying to keep his emotions from bursting out again as Ace could only sigh and threw the bag out the window to save them the trip of carrying it back down themselves.

"It's just… not home anymore. Not without Sabo," Ace grunted, keeping his face as blank as possible as he was obviously trying to beat his emotions down as Luffy whimpered against his own tears as he could only nod in agreement.

"It just doesn't feel right without all three of them," Franky mumbled as he started to cry again as the boys left, clearly having no intention of ever coming back.

"Yeah, besides, I would feel better knowing they were close by Dadan and the others if they really needed help," Nami sniffled, brushing the tears from her own eyes. "After seeing them come to their rescue like that…? That was amazing. I think they're in good hands after all."

"Perhaps we didn't give Garp enough credit for picking them to look after them," Robin offered with the shadow of a smile as the memory faded. She knew that they wouldn't want to go back to live in that tree house… as if nothing had happened. Especially since Sabo, not only came up with the idea, but helped to build it. The memories soon played again when they were back in the clearing where they watched the boys train before—even with the old scoreboard standing there with the remains of chalk smudged on the scratched surface. As if Sabo had only just erased the scores from the day before and were now starting over fresh.

Ace and Luffy were facing off with each other, both of them having a new blaze of determination shining in their eyes as they held up their fists, clearly ready for another fight.

"Some people just never learn," Franky laughed at the sight as he folded his arms and waited for Luffy to experience another beat down.

"Don't know why they bother," Nami sighed with a roll of her eyes, "Luffy said so himself that he was never once able to beat Ace."

"Never?" Brook asked in wonder.

"Luffy's a monster," Usopp said deadpanned. "So it only makes sense that his big brother was an even bigger monster."

"Alright!" Ace yelled out, "Let's settle this!"

Luffy was the first to charge at his opponent with a cry of, "Here I come, Ace!"

He pulled back his fist as Ace waited with his arms folded, waiting to see what his little brother had up his sleeve. Luffy spun his arm around in circles before he screamed out, "Gum Gum… PISTOL!"

And like they had seen countless times before, his fist flew straight as an arrow towards Ace. Ace looked surprised for a brief moment before he moved out of the way. For a second, there was a big smile on Luffy's face—proud that he had gotten his move to work—at least until his arm came flying back at him… striking him in the face, spinning him around, and falling flat on his back.

"Well, he's gotten better," Brook chuckled as they all laughed, feeling a little better watching something more light-hearted than the last few memories.

"But he still has a long way to go," Zoro grinned.

Ace was also roaring with laughter at the pathetic sight, holding onto his stomach before asking, "What the hell was that? You call this a fight? No matter how much force you put into it, there's no point if you can't hit me!"

"Harsh but true," Sanji smirked. "Like a pistol, it's only dangerous if you know how to aim. Doesn't matter how strong he is, the attack isn't gonna do shit if you can't hit someone with it."

"Maybe that's why he came up with his Gatling Gun technique?" Chopper offered, "So he doesn't have to worry about his aim?"

"Could be, wouldn't surprise me if that's the case," Usopp laughed.

"I told you, rubber isn't useful in battle," Ace finished saying.

"Oh, he won't like that," Chopper said knowingly. And sure enough…?

"Shut up!" Luffy snapped back.

"What?" Ace yelled, for some reason, also losing his temper before snapping, "Are you trying to say I'm wrong? You're just an anchor who's immune to blows! That's it!"

"Yeah, but no one likes being told their weak," Usopp said rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't make fun of my Gum Gum fruit! One of these days I'm gonna make you cry! After all, I've thought of a technique more powerful than pistol!" Luffy yelled, their head slamming against each other—it looked so much like how they argued after Luffy was saved from Porchemy that they almost expected Sabo to step between them and break them apart.

In fact, they could almost hear Sabo's voice saying, "Luffy! Great job! You're arm stretched further than it did yesterday!"

"You tell them Sabo!" Usopp said, before he realized what he said and froze with wide eyes, "Wait…?"

"Sabo?!" Chopper cried out in disbelief as he turned to where the voice was, but there wasn't anything there. "Sabo…?"

It seemed that Ace and Luffy thought the same thing as Ace snapped, "Sabo! You're far too easy on Luffy!"

"I knew it!" Luffy shouted out proudly, "I really did become stronger than yesterday!"

"HEY, SABO!" they called together, until they realized that they had been talking to a rock.

"What was that?" Nami said startled, "I could've sworn I just heard Sabo speaking a second ago…?"

"No, I think that we just believed we did," Robin corrected gently. "Perhaps their arguments went like that so often that they instinctually expected Sabo to speak up at that moment…?"

"I guess that would be the best explanation," Nami said sadly as the faint hope punctured in her chest.

Zoro on the other hand was frowning as he thought it over. He remembered back to when he trained after Kuina died—how whenever he trained by himself, he could almost swear that there were times where he thought he could feel her eyes watching him. But he knew that was crazy. He was at her funeral. She was gone. Yet how could he sometimes feel her presence here? Was that a dream or something more?

He looked back to see both brothers red in the face to have been shouting at a boulder. Luffy could only sigh as he walked a few feet away. Just saying in a sad voice, "Sabo was such a kind older brother."

"He really was," Chopper said sitting down with Usopp and Nami. "I wish I could've met him."

But for some reason, Ace looked affronted at that statement and yelled, "What's that supposed to mean?! Are you saying you rather I died instead?"

"Where he get that?" Nami asked, almost falling over.

"I never said that!" Luffy shouted back at him.

"But that's basically what you meant!" Ace screamed back before hitting him hard on the head.

"OWWWW!" Luffy screamed out, rubbing the sore spot, "Sabo never punched me like that!"

"What was that?!" he yelled back.

"What's with you?!" Luffy screamed out, "Be a little nicer, will you?!"

"No way!" Ace shouted, "I want a better brother instead of a weakling like you!"

"When I grow up, I'll be stronger and cooler than you so from now on, I don't need you anymore!" Luffy yelled.

"Oh, is that so!?" Ace demanded before turning and marched away, "Fine! So go home by yourself today! I just said I don't need a brother like you anymore! We'll see how long you last!"

Luffy looked stunned by this before he wiped his tears away and declared, "Fine! I'll do it!"

"And they're going at it again…" Nami sighed, rubbing her head in frustration as both brothers went marching off in opposite directions, "I'm beginning to wonder if Ace'll ever change."

"I think they're dealing with the stress of everything that's happened the only way they know how," Robin reasoned, "With fighting. They have a lot of regret and anger over not helping Sabo that they have all that pent up energy and they don't know how to vent it in a healthy way. That's why they're unintentionally turning it against the other."

"I guess that makes sense since they don't really have anyone else around them to help," Sanji sighed bitterly.

"Yes, while they didn't have to turn against each other, I think they're dealing with their grief surprisingly well," Brook added, "After all, most people would've lost their minds after experiencing so much all at once."

The memory shifted until they were back outside the bandit's house—only now there were two little huts standing next to it. It couldn't have been any clearer that the boys built them by themselves—while Ace's seemed stable enough, Luffy's looked crooked—as if it could fall over at any second like a house of cards… but he seemed proud of it as he stood back and admired it.

They boys then put the finishing touches over each little fort with one saying: "ACE'S COUNTRY" and the other: "LUFFY'S COUNTRY"

"Countries?" Chopper asked as he watched Ace and Luffy each threw a crumbled-up piece of paper inside the bandit's house before they sat down in their little huts.

"When siblings are angry at each other, they often feel the need to draw a line between them," Robin laughed, "In other words, anything on their side of the line belongs to them and the other isn't allowed to cross it. But that normally disappears once they calm down."

"Just a way to give them some space," Sanji nodded as he thought back to all the times he had to leave the kitchen when the other chiefs started yelling at each other. "There's only so much of someone you can take before you snap. That's why you need some time to cool down and think things through."

As the boys fumed in their forts, Dadan and the boys eventually stepped outside to see what was going on.

"What is it now?" Dadan asked them, staring from one to another, as if fearing the answer.

Luffy sat there with his arms folded as he stated, "I'm gonna learn how to survive on my own. You guys can be Dadan's Country."

"I'm gonna borrow your bath every now and again," Ace added, before the two looked away from each other with an angry huff.

Dadan looked at them both before she heaved a sigh and walked back inside, as if this was the last thing she wanted to deal with.

"I think Dadan has the right idea, just let them fight and deal with it on their own," Nami sighed fondly. If nothing else, Dadan can recognize what battles to fight and which weren't worth it.

"I wouldn't worry. I know a thing or two about brothers. It always works out the same way," Franky laughed, "Siblings always argue, and they always march off on their own…?"

"But they always make up sooner or later," Brook laughed, "Because it's no fun playing alone."

"Really? I'm glad to hear that," Chopper said happily as the next memory appeared, this time it was with a dark overhead and the distant rumble of thunder echoing in the distance.

Nami was the first to glance up at the grey clouds with a concerned frown as she clarified, "A storm's coming. A pretty big storm's too by the looks of it. I think it'd be good for them to stay in Dadan's house tonight. Those little huts won't do much to keep them dry."

"Look!" Chopper yelled, pointing a little ways ahead of them to something that was moving through the trees. Moving a little closer, they were taken aback to see what was happening. Usopp let out a startled shriek when he saw the Bear King—the Tiger Lord's equal—tower over Luffy, who was completely backed into a corner as it swiped at him. Ace was watching from a tree overhead, but his expression was that of complete unconcern as he watched with an air of boredom.

Luffy held up his staff, his hands shaking a little as he seemed to realize that he was outmatched.

"Ace!" he called out, "Ace! Help me out! It's the Bear King!"

"Ah?" Ace called, sounding much like how he did when they first met him, as if he couldn't care less what was happening before taunting, "I thought you said you were gonna survive on your own, right?"

"He's gonna regret doing that," Zoro said with a frown, knowing that this couldn't end well. "Luffy always gets hurt even when someone's there to make sure he stays out of trouble. Here, he's still struggling with controlling his powers. He doesn't stand a chance against that thing on his own yet."

Luffy looked upset, but still turned back to the bear as it stood over him. They all knew that Luffy was in trouble—even Luffy seemed to realize that the odds were definitely not in his favor this time. Still, it seemed that he was determined to prove Ace wrong as he cursed to himself, taking a chance and jumped up to strike at the bear. The bear swatted at him as if he were a fly, but Luffy was quick enough to dodge the first time. But that was as far as he could get, for Luffy pushed his luck by trying to strike at it with the pipe…?

The bear struck at him again, but this time, it hit its mark. Luffy didn't even have time to dodge as the bear's claws came flying down at him.

"LUFFY MOVE!" Sanji screamed out, but it was too late. Luffy's scream was swallowed whole as the bear's claws slashed across his small body and ripped him open so that blood was sent everywhere—covering the clearing with a splattering of bright red.

The Straw Hats all gasped, petrified at the damage they saw, as Ace lost his cool attitude completely.

"LLLLUUUUUFFFFFFFFFYYYYYYYY!" he screamed in panic as Luffy hit the ground and the memory began to fade again.

"No! No, no, NO! This is serious!" Chopper screamed out as Ace jumped from the tree, not even bothering to grab his own staff, as he charged at the bear. Chopper went running to Luffy to check the damage and stared at it in horror. Luffy's chest was completely torn open so that he could see inside him, blood was squirting out and the memory around them turned dim and distorted. Even the rest of the crew, who had little to no medical knowledge, could see that it was serious. Luffy was quickly losing blood and they knew he could bleed to death in minutes if he didn't get help.

Ace attacked the bear with as much force as he could muster, but even his best punch didn't seem to do much effect except to annoy it.

"He doesn't have time to stay and fight!" Usopp called, feeling himself turn sick at looking at Luffy, who shook and whimpered in pain. Ace seemed to realize that as well as he kicked out at the bear's head, finally hitting it hard enough that he knocked it over, and ran over to his brother while kicking up dirt and pebbles in a hurry.

"Luffy?! LUFFY!" he screamed out desperately, holding up Luffy's head up in his arms. Luffy didn't move, his eyes cracked open slightly, but it wasn't clear if he even recognized Ace, who was staring around desperately—as if hoping that someone would appear and help.

But no one did and the bear was coming back as it shook off the slightly dazed expression from where Ace kicked him. So Ace did the only thing he could do and that was pull Luffy up, and onto his back, stopping only to grab the straw hat along the way, before running as fast as he could.

"Is Luffy-san alright?" Brook gasped out, as they chased after them, Luffy leaving a trail of blood along the way.

"Oh, it looked like it hurt so bad!" Usopp cried out shaking and cringed just thinking about the injury.

"Luffy was lucky that he wasn't killed. Had that wound been even a little deeper, Luffy's heart may have been torn out," Robin said, though even she sounded worried as she looked to the droplets of blood every few feet.

"Don't say things like that that!" Usopp yelled at her.

Chopper bit his lip, not daring himself to agree with her, but he knew she wasn't wrong. A normal person could've easily died from an injury like that. He breathed hard, trying to stay calm even as his mind went over the best treatment options he could think of. The first thing that Ace needed to do was to use something as a makeshift bandage to stop the bleeding…?

"I knew he wasn't able to take that thing on," Zoro gritted his teeth together, feeling a surge of anger at Ace for not keeping a closer eye on Luffy. For crying out loud, when your little brother is asking for help isn't that what you're supposed to do? What the hell was Ace thinking letting that idiot take that bear on by himself? "Didn't Ace say that the bear was as strong as the tiger? And it took all three of them to take that thing out?"

"Anger can cloud how we think," Brook answered simply. He wasn't defending Ace's actions, but he could, at least, try to understand the reasons behind it.

Speaking of Ace, he must've felt Luffy's blood dripping down his back because he stopped and carefully moved Luffy to the ground to try and treat him. The back of Ace's shirt was stained with blood, causing it to stick to his skin as the strong smell of copper filled the air. He put his hands over the wound in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.

"Luffy?" he cried out, sounding close to panicking, "Can you hear me?"

Luffy's complexion was sickly pale, his face was smeared with more blood as he whimpered softly in pain, his eyes unfocused. At the sight, Ace looked like he was about to lose his mind, his eyes were filled with terror and he looked like he was about to cry as he used what was left of Luffy's torn shirt to try and wrap up the injury as best he could. None of them had ever seen Ace look as freaked out as he did now, but miraculously, he stayed calm enough to finish tying Luffy's injury up before pulling him onto his back again. He carried him piggyback through the forest as the rain started to pour down.

"Chopper? Please tell me it's not as bad as it looks?" Nami asked him, gasping for breath as they could barely keep up with Ace—who was running as if his life depended on it.

"It's hard to tell since I can't examine him properly," Chopper panted, "Ace was able to get the bleeding to stop for now, but basic first-aid isn't going to save him. He needs real medical attention. So hopefully, one of the bandits knows something about that…?"

It seemed that Ace was thinking the same thing as he sprinted the last few yards before bursting into the bandit's clearing and all but threw himself at the door.

"Hey!" he screamed out in terror as his voice shook and he hammered on the door, "Anyone there in Dadan's country? Luffy's hurt! Please, someone help!"

It felt like hours passed for the door to open, though it was only seconds, and Magra was there. Before he could ask what was going on, Ace—on the verge of becoming hysterical—begged, "MAGRA! Please help, Luffy!"

"Now, now," Magra said, clearly startled as he stood back and let them in. Ace almost flew inside, crying about what happened.

"I don't want to see," Nami said shaking her head, thinking of the horrible wound and unable to bring herself to follow and watch them treat it.

"But I need to!" Chopper said, the only one brave enough to go into the house and watch to see what was going on.

After several tense minutes of waiting, Usopp gulped a little before he asked them, "That was hard to watch."

"He lives," Zoro answered him crossly, though he was gripping his sword extra hard—a sign that he was anxious, as he added, "We just need to remember that. He doesn't even have a scar from all this. There's no need to act like he's on his deathbed."

"I know that Luffy's gonna be ok! We all know that," Usopp snapped at him, "But still… that wasn't easy to see! I mean, if I didn't know for a fact that Luffy pulls through, I would've said that he was dead!"

"Looks like our captain had a livelier past than we ever thought," Robin said almost absentmindedly as she held out her hands to watch the rain fall through them without feeling wet or cold. "First there was what happened with Shanks, fighting the tiger, everything with Sabo and Bluejam, as well as the fire…?"

"How could he not go crazy from all this?" Nami demanded, "I mean… I always kinda figured that he had a crazy childhood… but I never would've expected events like these."

"And this is only the beginning… I mean, if we watch long enough, we'll get to see some of his life-threatening battles," Sanji offered, "I mean, remember how beat up he was after his fights with Crocodile and Lucci for example?"

"Oh God… I hope not," Nami whispered to herself just as Chopper came back out of the house, looking miserable, but at least he seemed to be looking a little better than before.

"How is Luffy-san, Chopper-san?" Brook asked at once when he saw the doctor returning.

Chopper gave them a defeated sigh and answered, "I was able to get a good look at it. It was a serious injury like I said before. Magra's treating him now and it looks like he does have some knowledge about treating wounds like that since he seems to know what he's doing. But if that wound was just a little deeper, his heart really could've been ripped out."

"Ouch," Sanji winced. "He'll feel that in the morning."

"I'll be going back in to watch, but I'll let you know when it's okay to come in," Chopper said as he went back to the cabin, leaving the rest of them to look sadly at each other. The entire process took around half an hour before Chopper finally stuck his head out of the wall and called that it was safe to come in. By that point it was already dark out as the rains continued to pour down hard, sounding like it was close to hailing as thunder boomed and lightning flashed every few seconds.

"He's all bandaged up now, Magra did a pretty good job," Chopper informed them as they entered the cabin. They were in the main room with Luffy laying in a makeshift bed, pale as a sheet, and covered with bandages while his face seemed to be contorted with pain.

"I think the other bandits are out. He's the only person here," Chopper explained sadly, wishing that they could've given Luffy something stronger to help him sleep. Yet he saw how they only had regular painkillers and were forced to only give him enough to help numb the worst of the pain.

"Good thing that he was here," Usopp said as he watched Magra dab at Luffy's forehead with a cool cloth.

Zoro took one look at the child in the bed before glancing around the room. Sure enough, he spotted Ace huddled against the wall with his arms covering his face so that he couldn't see his expression. But his shaking shoulders told him everything he need to know as he couldn't seem to bring himself to look up.

"Now, now… this is no joke," Magra said in concern, "If the wound had been any deeper, he would've died."

"But he should be just fine," Chopper reassured the crew. "I got a good look at him and given how fast he heals, he should recover soon."

Magra turned to Ace, and asked, "You three have always fought those wild beasts as a team right?"

Ace was still shaking like a leaf in a strong wind when he spoke, his voice was thick with emotion, "It's my fault… I thought I learned that fighting on your own doesn't prove that you're strong… but…?"

He trembled as he raised his head slightly and they could see drops of tears fall past his hands as his fingers dug into his face, threatening to tear his skin apart as he tried to keep himself from losing it. But the tears were falling all the same as he whimpered and gasped out cries.

Chopper stared at him, his own eyes wide, realizing that this was the first time he'd ever seen Ace cry. Even after learning about what happened to Sabo—Ace was more angry than sad and hadn't shed tears. But now…?

"He's… crying," he whispered.

"Can you blame him?" Brook asked sadly, gazing at Luffy, "He must be feeling so guilty for this."

"But it wasn't his fault," Nami said automatically, her heart going out to him, "Luffy shouldn't have tried to fight that thing on his own…?"

"Nonetheless, Nami-swan… the sad thing is, it was his fault. I agree that Luffy shouldn't have tried to fight that bear on his own, but remember Luffy did ask for help before he got injured. Ace was the one who chose to ignore him."

"And Ace knows that as well, that's why he's beating himself up for it," Zoro agreed as Ace continued to quietly sob to himself before his sorrow became too much to be contained and openly sobbed.

"I'm worthless!" he cried out, now weeping outright, "Completely worthless."

"Ace…" Magra said gently as Chopper sniffled a little at Ace's heartbroken tone.

"I'm so sorry, Luffy," Ace croaked out mournfully, regret mixed with every word. Perhaps Luffy could hear him because he moved slightly at the sound, but was unable to answer as Ace continued to whimper, "I'm so… sorry…"

"You know? I think we just witnessed the moment when Ace really starts to change," Sanji said softly, his eyes showing a kindness that he usually reserved for whenever he fed someone hungry after putting his heart and soul into making a dish.

"I agree. I don't think he fully realized until this moment that he could end up losing another person he cared about. He already lost one brother and was close to losing his second," Robin reminded him quietly, "The idea of him losing Luffy was unbearable. And not just because he promised Sabo that he would take care of him… but also because he realized he would've been left all alone."

"He just didn't realize how much Luffy meant to him till now," Usopp said quietly, now fully understanding.

"You never do realize how important someone is to you until you lose them," Brook said softly, thinking of his old crew. "Ace-san is lucky that this accident wasn't fatal. Now, he can learn from this and make sure that it won't happen again."

"Yeah, he'd probably never have recovered if Luffy did die," Nami said looking down. "I don't think that he would've ever forgiven himself for that."

"You'd never guess it," Usopp said, pacing the room. "I mean, from what we've seen of him, Ace just charges in without thinking about it! He's as bad as Luffy, if not worse in some cases. I swear that he has a death wish or something! After all, he just wouldn't run no matter who he was up against like what he did with Porchemy or Bluejam."

Zoro shut his eye as he thought it over. While he didn't say anything to contradict what Usopp said, he didn't feel comfortable with agreeing with it either. From what he saw, he knew that Ace wasn't someone who was afraid of death but he didn't strike him as the kind to welcome it…?

He knew the feeling of not wanting to run away all too well. He put a hand to his chest as he remembered his first meeting with Mihawk. How his tiny knife had pierced his chest—so close to his heart… how his rival had asked him why he wouldn't step back…?

All he knew was that if he moved to retreat, if he took so much as one step backwards, everything that had made him who he was would've fallen away from him. He couldn't have lived with himself if he let that happen… there really wouldn't have been anything left of him. Was that what Ace felt when he stood his ground to fight? That he would lose Luffy, Sabo, or someone else he cared about if he ran? He supposed he'd never know for sure but… he had a feeling that his reasons for staying behind weren't as selfish as his.

He glanced down at the crying Ace again, wondering if this was the first time he had ever shed tears for someone…?

Ace didn't move where he was, even as the storm eventually died down enough for Magra to leave him alone to go and get more medicine and bandages. Ace barely acknowledged him as he stood guard over his little brother. He sat by Luffy's side well into the night, even reaching out to take hold of Luffy's hand when he noticed how Luffy would whimper and wince softly in his sleep.

They stood by and watched the heart-warming scene as Ace seemed to be caught somewhere between dozing and waking as he silently comforted Luffy. Looking ready to stay up until he was sure that everything was going to be alright.

Finally, when a few warm sunbeams shone through the cracks in the wall, surprising them all at how fast time seemed to move around here, did Luffy finally seem to answer Ace's vigil. Ace was rubbing his eyes with his one free hand as his other was suddenly gripped tightly by Luffy's hand—getting Ace's attention. That one motion was enough to push Ace up on his knees and looking over Luffy with wide eyes when he saw him finally stirring.

"Luffy! Are you feeling better?" Ace gasped urgently as Luffy slowly blinked his eyes open. It was almost cute at the look of bewilderment on Luffy's face as he stared up at Ace before looking around, wincing slightly in pain at even this small motion, as if he had no idea how he got here.

"W-What…?" he croaked out, his voice sounding dry and hoarse as he focused on Ace. "A-Ace…?"

"Thank god he's awake," Usopp sighed in relief as he and Nami sat on Luffy's other side, almost able to pretend that they were there as Luffy tried to get his bearings straight.

"Yeah! Yeah, it's me. Are you feeling ok?" Ace said, his voice also hoarse as his bloodshot eyes looked down anxiously as if he was about to start crying.

"I don't think that anyone could be feeling 'okay' after getting their chest ripped open," Zoro offered.

"Zoro, shut up," Nami hissed back, fighting the urge to hit him over the head.

"Huh?" Luffy asked, still sounding lost to what was going on as he croaked, "Where… what…?"

Realizing that Luffy had no idea what was going on, Ace's hand noticeably tightened around Luffy's as he explained softly, "You… you tried to fight against the Bear King, remember? You… you got hurt… because I… didn't jump in to help."

The Straw Hats were a little impressed that Ace didn't try to play down what happened nor try to make it sound like it was Luffy's fault. No, he was fully coming out and telling him the full truth and admitting his own fault with it.

Ace gulped as he steadied himself and whispered, "Luffy… I'm so…?"

But before he could finish his apology, Luffy suddenly began to cry and sobbed, "I'm sorry… Ace."

Everyone looked to Luffy in surprise, wondering why he was the one apologizing. Even Ace looked completely taken aback by this as Luffy went on, with tears falling down his face, "I thought I would be a better brother to you if I knew how to fight better. I wanted… I wanted to be stronger…! But I… just can't do it yet! I'm so sorry… please don't hate me."

"Awww, Luffy," Nami whispered, covering her mouth again as she looked at the two, feeling her heart going out to him.

Luffy seemed to force his head to look up at Ace, who was staring back at him with a look of stunned disbelief, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was trembling again, his eyes hidden by his bangs, as he reached out to grip Luffy's hand with both of his own.

It seemed like he was completely at a loss to how to answer that before he choked out in a broken voice, "I should be the one to say that. I'm your brother and I promised to protect you…?"

But either Luffy didn't hear his words or he didn't care as he went on, still crying slightly as he confessed, "I know I'm a crybaby and even if I can't fight by myself yet…?"

"He's afraid that Ace would reject him?" Chopper whispered in confusion. "Why? Why would he be afraid of that?"

"Maybe the blood loss had something to do with it," Robin offered, though she looked on with a kind expression, feeling that Luffy was just afraid that what Ace said before about wanting another brother was true.

But Ace couldn't stand by and let Luffy continue trying to apologize as he yelled, taking him by surprise, "Shut up! I'll protect you!"

At that, Luffy blinked and stared up at him with wide eyes as Ace—who was so full of emotion that he couldn't stop his shaking—which was worse than ever before. But he ignored that as he lowered his head down, but even from this angle they could see how he was failing at keeping his tears from falling.

"I will protect you," Ace vowed, this time in a quieter voice before holding up Luffy's hand to his face as he continued crying. "I will do everything you cannot do. I will protect you with my life so please… don't say things like that."

Usopp's eyes went wide, remembering how Sanji once said those words to him back at Enies Lobby—when he had hit a low point and believed that he was just holding everyone back. It wasn't until he heard those words did he realize that while he may not be as physically strong as the others… he still had his talents. He could do things that the others couldn't do and that made up for his weaknesses. Was Luffy feeling the same way here? Feeling frustrated and hating himself for not being as strong as someone he loved? Afraid that they would leave him behind because they realized he was a liability?

If so, his heart went out to Luffy more than ever as his own tears began to fall.

"Does that mean you don't hate me?" Luffy asked quietly as he stared up in exhaustion to his big brother. Like he wanted to make sure that he didn't hear him wrong while fighting the urge to fall back asleep.

"No! I didn't hate you!" Ace declared loudly, already getting angry as if he couldn't believe Luffy would ever think that way. Upon hearing it, Luffy could only smile, giving him a toothy grin before shutting his eyes and instantly falling asleep, feeling safe and happy with his big brother watching with the reassurance that he didn't hate him.

"Awww, he's killing me here," Franky cried as he watched how Ace wouldn't let go of his little brother's hand as he slept.

"It's so sweet that my teeth are rotting out," Sanji agreed as he tried to ignore the sudden pang of jealousy. He would've given anything to have such a relationship with at least one of his own brothers. He wondered what would have happened to him if his brothers weren't the heartless monsters their sorry excuse for a father wanted…?

The memory took it's time in fading this time as Ace kept vigil, his face oddly blank as he watched over him, as if making sure that he didn't wake up alone. Time seemed to inch forward but also move quickly—not for the first time, it was hard to tell time in this place. All they knew was that Ace remained where he was, looking exhausted but was still keeping watch.

"Ace really needs to sleep," Chopper said quietly, worried for Ace's health now if he kept pushing himself as he was. Just as they were really growing bored with waiting for the memory to die, Luffy finally began to stir again. It started off as a twitch in his sleep before his face screwed up tightly as if he was having a nightmare.

"Luffy!" Ace said at once, and was at his side in an instant upon seeing the discomfort in his face. "Luffy what's wrong? Come on, talk to me, Luffy!"

"Is he in that much pain?" Usopp asked anxiously.

"Well, I'm sure it's not exactly a tickle he's feeling," Sanji pointed grumpily.

"No, I think he's having a nightmare," Robin countered, recognizing the beginnings of a bad nightmare as Luffy continued to jerk, turning in his sleep.

"No… Sabo! Ace…!" Luffy sobbed in his sleep as Ace was looking around, trying to figure out what he should do. Finally, he decided on gently shaking him awake.

"Hey! You need to be careful, Ace!" Chopper called instinctually as Ace shook Luffy's quivering shoulders, "If you're too harsh then you might re-open those wounds!"

"Oh, I doubt that he'd let himself be that careless," Brook reassured him softly.

"NO!" Luffy continued to scream and cry, "IT'S HOT! HOT!"

"Hot?" Franky repeated baffled, feeling anxious at Luffy's freak out, "Why would he be feeling hot?"

"He's got a fever," Chopper said at once, noticing the way Luffy was sweating and how his cheeks were red, "It might be making him delirious."

"Luffy!" Ace now shouted out, shaking him harder but still being as gentle as possible. "Dammit, Luffy, wake up!"

Luffy's large eyes suddenly snapped open and he was gasping for breath as he looked up at Ace with tears.

"Luffy…?" Ace croaked out as Luffy continued to cry.

"Hey…" Ace said, his hands shaking as he pulled them back like he was afraid that he accidently made his injury worse, "What'd I do? What's wrong?!"

"Fire…" Luffy cried out, "There was all this fire!"

"What fire?" Franky asked in frustration before he realized what he was talking about.

"He was dreaming about the Terminal Fire," Robin summarized for them.

"Luffy's afraid of fire?" Chopper asked in surprise, "But he never seemed to be scared of it before!"

"It's only natural," Robin said reasonably, "If he hadn't had any trauma from that event, then I would be worried. He was trapped in a raging fire and thought he lost Ace…? Of course that would be traumatic for anyone. Knowing the Luffy today, I'm guessing that he must've gotten over this fear at some point, but right now, it's haunting his dreams."

"Poor guy," Usopp whispered as Ace seemed to put it all together what Luffy was so afraid of. It took a few minutes for Ace to calm Luffy down enough for him to stop crying. As Luffy blinked up at him, listening to the storm continue to go on outside, he noticed something strange about his brother's face.

"Luffy," Ace gasped, "You're safe! There's no fire here!"

"Ace?" Luffy asked slowly, pointing at his eyes, "Why were you crying?"

Ace looked tense by the question, and moved back a little ways away from him while hurriedly wiping his eyes. "It's nothing," he said while avoiding looking at him, "Nothing that you need to be worried about. I'm alright."

"I thought he'd call Luffy stupid and tell him that he wasn't crying," Usopp muttered in surprise.

"But if he did, then it would be like taking back that apology from earlier," Franky explained, "It took a lot outta him to admit how much he cared and he couldn't take it back now."

"But you never cry," Luffy pointed, sounding surprised. "Why…?"

They all sat there watching the two as the uncomfortable silence seemed to stretch on and on. It went on for so long, that several of them felt the need to scream out, just to make sure that they didn't go deaf. But finally…?

"I was scared…" Ace finally answered, hiding his face in his knees so that Luffy couldn't see him. The Straw Hats all stared long and hard at him while digesting what he was confessing. This was the first time that they ever heard Ace admit that he was scared of anything… and here he was admitting that he was scared that his stubbornness almost killed his little brother.

"Scared?" Luffy repeated, his eyes wide. "Because of the Bear King…?"

"No idiot," Ace muttered, his face still hidden. "I thought I was gonna lose you… I was terrified."

"Ace…" Nami whispered softly, her heart going out to him.

"It was my fault you got hurt," Ace went on, still not looking up, "I'm so sorry."

But Luffy was shaking his head, at least as well as he could from where he laid in bed. He then said in a weak but reassuring voice, "You didn't tell me to fight the Bear King. I wanted to prove that I could fight as well as you."

"No, but I didn't help when you asked for it," he said angrily.

Nami's eyes widened. This was just like how Sanji and Zoro explained it… almost word for word. She gazed at her crewmates out of the corners of her eyes, wondering just what it was about men that seemed to have them sync up on such a strange wavelength.

"That's ok," Luffy said, forcing a smile, even though it was obvious that he was still hurting. "I don't want you to worry. Someday, I'm gonna be even stronger than you are! So that's that."

Ace's head snapped up and he stared at him before he got angry again, "What the hell does that have to do with you almost dying?"

Luffy only smiled a little wider as his eyes closed and he began to drift off to sleep.

"I'm not sure I get what just happened," Chopper said in confusion as Robin patted his head comfortingly.

"I think he means that he didn't want Ace to worry about him all the time," Robin answered for her, "But knowing Luffy, I could be wrong."

At long last, the memory was fading out as Ace continued to sit with him, going back to holding his hand and whispering to Luffy was safe here.

And then it was gone.

The Straw Hats continued to stare ahead of them as Usopp began to cry again from how touched he was at such a scene. He covered his eyes with his arm again as Franky and Chopper joined in and began to bawl with Brook's eye sockets looking watery.

"Hearing such determination takes my breath away," Brook cried, "Not that I can breathe anymore, Yohohoho…"

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Franky sobbed, as the two hugged the other as their tears became like waterfalls and flooded at their feet.

"At the rate they're going we'll all drown in their tears," Robin stated lightly, but unable to hide the slight sparkling of tears in her own eyes. Luffy truly was fortunate to have such devoted and loving older brothers.

The next memory popped up and they were distressed for a moment when they saw that they were back to standing on air again.

"Damn, I just can't get used to it," Usopp whimpered as he stared at the ground far below them.

Just then a familiar voice was laughing and they turned back to see that Luffy and Ace were sitting on a thick branch from a tree. Luffy was happily swinging from the branch like a little monkey—though was still a bit on the pale side. The could only assume that it had been a few days since the bear attack and he was on the mend, but maybe not completely recovered as Ace seemed to be watching him like a hawk.

"What a relief," Chopper sighed with a smile, glad to see that Luffy's resilience was as strong back then as it was now.

Luffy, meanwhile, was gazing out over the treetops where he was eagerly staring at a brilliantly golden sunset, bright and warm, spreading a pretty golden red color across the ocean that sparkled like diamonds. They also enjoyed the view from up here, cheered up greatly as they could listen to Luffy's giggles as if nothing in the world could make him happier than just taking in the view.

Suddenly a gust of wind came blowing and blew his trademark straw hat right off his head. Seeing it blown off caused Luffy to momentarily panic as he made a wild snatch for it and almost ended up falling out of the tree. Thankfully, he was able to scramble on the branch before he slipped off, leaving Ace to reach out and grab the hat for him.

"Dammit Luffy," he said in annoyance, "Don't do that."

"Sorry," Luffy said, scrambling to pull himself up to sit next to Ace, who jammed the hat back onto his head, "Thanks for catching it though, Ace! I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost it!"

"Yeah, gonna be kinda hard to return the hat to Shanks without it," Sanji commented as Nami sniggered at that.

"What's with that hat anyway, Luffy?" Ace asked as he leaned his back against the trunk, folding his arms as he did so, "The whole time I've known you, you've never take that thing off."

"He doesn't know about how Shanks gave it to him?" Nami asked in surprise.

"I guess not," Usopp said blinking at the thought. "Maybe it never came up?"

"Shanks gave it to me!" Luffy said proudly, running a hand along the rim.

"Shanks again?" Ace asked with a roll of his eyes before staring back out at the sea. "He's the one who saved you didn't he?"

"Yeah," Luffy confirmed. "He saved me from the sea king at the coast! Before he left, he gave it to me and I promised that I'd bring it back to him someday! It's a really important treasure to him!"

"An old hat?" Ace teased lightly.

"Shanks once said that someone really important to him gave it to him," Luffy explained grinning. "Said that the man he admired most gave it to him as a present. So I promised him that I gotta return it in good shape when I become a great pirate!"

"So that's why you're so protective of it?" Ace asked, reaching over and tilting the hat back so that he could see Luffy's face. Luffy only grinned, with the Straw Hats aware that Ace was probably one of the only few people he let touch his precious treasure so casually like that. It really did show how much Luffy trusted Ace despite their rocky start.

"And he's also the one who left a Devil Fruit lying around with you?" Ace asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, he wasn't happy at first. But I'm glad I ate it!" Luffy laughed before he grabbed hold of his cheeks and stretched his face out happily while telling him, "Look what I can do!"

"You know, after all this time, I can't imagine a Luffy who isn't made of rubber," Chopper commented.

"That's true, which really does show how used we are to Luffy's uniqueness," Robin agreed.

"More like weirdness, but hey, what can we do?" Sanji shrugged.

"To be fair, no one in this crew is normal, so we really shouldn't be pointing fingers," Nami sighed, wondering just why their crew seemed to attract the weirdos and outcasts. She didn't think that there was another crew like theirs out there.

Ace shook his head at Luffy's antics before asking, "You really don't mind being made of rubber? I mean, it's not going to be easy going through life like that. Take it from me, most people won't take well to those who are different."

"Shanks said I was special and that others would make fun of me for it," Luffy said, thinking back as he merrily kicked his legs out, "but…?"

"Shanks was absolutely right," Ace yawned before adding in a slightly more serious tone, "But you gotta toughen up too, ya know? A Devil Fruit power won't make you invincible after all so you're gonna need to get a lot stronger if you wanna survive out there. We agreed that we'll be leaving on our seventeenth birthdays so I'll be leaving in only seven years. You're gonna have to wait ten so we have some time to toughen you up because once I'm gone, I'm gonna have to trust you can protect yourself."

"Don't worry about me," Luffy said proudly, holding his arms up, pumped up for the challenge, "I'm gonna become stronger and stronger!"

Ace rolled his eyes with an amused smile. "Sure…"

"Yeahm I will!" Luffy said determinedly. "You're always looking out for me! And I want you to know its ok for you to have fun sometimes too and I'd never think less of you no matter what you did. Like with the Bear King? I knew you'd get me out of there if something happened!"

Ace's eyes widen as he stared at Luffy as if he had never seen him before in his life. Zoro glanced down at Luffy as well, knowing that while Luffy wasn't the smartest, he had a gift for telling people the words they needed to hear the most.

Ace looked away, his face red, but a thoughtful smile was playing around his mouth. When he spoke, he sounded as cool and as calm as always, "Right… that'll happen when I need you to rescue me."

"Awww, he doesn't want his brother to be worried about him," Robin smiled with another memory change shifting.

"Unfortunately, that's a requirement to hanging out with Luffy," Usopp sighed and they all nodded in agreement.

When the memory resumed, they saw Ace standing in front of the bandit's house as Luffy played with some beetles behind the forts. Ace wasn't alone though, because it looked like Makino was here visiting, which caused Sanji to drool at the sight of her.

"Oh, Makino!" he swooned at the sight of her, "My dear! It's been too long since I've seen your beautiful face!"

"Would you stop that?" Nami demanded, rolling her eyes.

"Nami-swan, you are so beautiful even when you're chewing me out," Sanji swooned at her, turning his heart-shaped eyes onto her instead.

As for Makino, she was crouching down to talk with Ace face-to-face as she said, "So… what was it that you wanted to ask me?"

Ace smiled at her and said resolutely, "I want you to teach me how to greet people properly."

"Greet people?" Usopp repeated in surprise.

"Since when does he want to know how to be polite?" Franky asked startled.

"Well, his manners are much to be desired," Sanji whispered to himself.

"How to greet people properly?" Makino repeated, who was also in great surprise.

"Yeah," Ace nodded with a smile on his face.

"What brought about this change in attitude?" Makino asked him curiously, and they were all burning with the same question.

Ace proudly folded his arms in his usual smug manner, as if it was only natural, as he explained, "I'm Luffy's brother, after all. Someday, I would like to meet the red-haired captain and thank him for everything he did for my little brother."

"Oh, so that's it," Robin smiled.

"Boy, he's really come a long way since the bitter, angry kid we first saw," Sanji said approvingly. And he wasn't the only one who thought that because Makino was smiling widely at him. As if she could see that he was becoming a different person.

Ace noticed this and decided he didn't like it as he demanded, his cheeks turning red, "Why are you looking at me like that!?"

Makino only laughed at his expression and held up her hands to pacify him while reassuring him as Luffy came running over to see what they were talking about, "I'm sorry. I'll teach you."

"What're you guys doing?" he asked, smiling brightly at them both.

Makino beamed back and answered, "Ace-san here wants lessons on how to greet someone."

"Manner lessons," Sanji said fondly before adding darkly, "I'm guessing that Luffy didn't sit through them."

"Lessons on greeting someone?" Luffy repeated confused as Makino chuckled as his expression.

"Let's start our first lesson now about how to express gratitude," she offered, sitting back and clapping her hands together. "Let's get today's lesson started!"

"This I can't wait to see," Sanji said, watching them eagerly. "I hope Makino's patient… this might take a while."

"I guess we have Makino to thank for how polite Ace was when we met him," Usopp said cheerfully, wondering how these 'lessons' were going to go. "Now it all makes sense."

"I think she and Luffy are good influences on him," Franky laughed. "Boy… they do have that effect on people don't they?"

Ace bowed his head low and said, "Pleased to be working with ya."

"That was great Ace!" Luffy said, thinking that he already mastered in, as Ace grinned.

"No, it wasn't, that was rude," Nami said shaking her head.

"Wrong," Makino said, unknowingly agreeing with her., "In times like this you should say, 'I'm pleased to meet you."

"What? He got it wrong?" Luffy asked in surprise. "The way he said it sounded cool though."

"Please, Makino-san, teach Luffy too!" Sanji begged.

She merely smiled and answered, "Someday, Ace-kun wants to meet the red-haired captain you're indebted to. We started these lessons because he wants to learn how to greet him properly."

"You mean Shanks?" Luffy asked in awe.

"Yeah," Ace said, his hands at his sides and a grin still there. "By the time I meet Shanks, I'll be a pirate myself. As a pirate, and as your brother, it's an obvious duty for me to thank him."

"That is true," Brook agreed, thinking it over, "I, too, look forward to the day I meet him so that I could thank him as well."

"Now," Makino said, bringing them back to the lesson. "Try to imagine that he's right here in front of you."

Ace frowned a little, clearly imagining hard as he said forcefully, "I'm Ace. Who the hell are you?"

"Wrong," Nami said as Brook laughed. They might be here for a while.

Makino crossed her fingers and made a buzzing sound, signaling that was wrong before saying good-naturedly, "That's no good. Speaking like that sounds too rude."

"She has perfect manners! That is why we're made for each other," Sanji sighed happily, staring at her.

Luffy stood up and offered, "It's 'Who're you?!' right?"

Ace tried again, "Who might you be?"

Again Makino crossed her fingers and made the buzzing sound.

"Better, but still," Sanji sighed, shaking his head, having a bad feeling that Makino was really going to have to dig deep to find the patience to help Ace. "It's actually 'It's a pleasure to meet you.' And then you say your name."

"It's 'Who are you, you bastard?' right?" Luffy offered.

"Luffy's really not helping," Usopp laughed.

"Yeah, well that's not a surprise," Nami sniggered.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Ace tried once more. And again… and again. Every single time he got it wrong, with Luffy occasionally offering 'helpful' commentary, before Makino just burst out laughing.

"All wrong," she laughed, tears of mirth in her eyes, "Are you even trying?"

"Oh, I'm sure he is," Robin said contentedly as Nami rolled her eyes, "It's just that he's used to living with bandits, hunting for food, and stealing. No one's ever told him otherwise. He's learning everything for the first time."

"He's basically a half-wild jungle kid," Nami muttered, feeling bad.

Clearly frustrated and trying to vent, Ace snapped at Luffy, "This is all because you're talking nonsense! Go away!"

"Well, he's not helping," Usopp grinned as Chopper giggled to himself, "But you're the one who's getting it wrong, Ace."

"If only I was there," Sanji sighed in despair, "I'd have gotten them learning manners quicker than blinking. After all, I'm the soul of a refined man."

"A damned soul perhaps," Zoro stated, unable to help himself.

"What was that Moss-head?!" Sanji demanded, turning around and marching over to him.

"A damned soul…" he repeated slowly and clearly.

"I hope you die a painful death someday!" Sanji yelled.

"Now was that something a 'refined soul' would've said?" Zoro asked while grinning, clearly trying to taunt him into doing something stupid.

"I am refined when it comes to the ladies," Sanji snarled tenaciously as everyone else ignored him and watched as Luffy spoke up.

"Oh right!" Luffy cried out excitedly, the look on his face was of pleasant surprise, as if remembering something and informed him, "Hey, Ace, yesterday, I found this nest of a giant snake, filled with huge eggs! Let's go and get them now!"

"Huh? Huge eggs?" Ace repeated, just as excited and looking hungry. For a moment, he looked as if he was going to run off and get them, but he suddenly shook his head and grumbled with a frown, "No, I can't!"

Luffy looked confused and Ace explained, "I'm studying on how to greet people!"

"But I'll be in trouble if the huge snake catches me there by myself," Luffy whined, tugging on Ace's arm in an attempt to get him follow him. "But I'll be fine if you're with me, so come on!"

"Never stopped him from doing something stupid before," Nami muttered, but she was still oddly emotional by what Luffy said.

"But I guess this shows just how much he relied on Ace," Robin said, understanding what Nami was feeling. "I think it's clear that Luffy truly feels safe with him."

Robin's heart suddenly went out to her captain. She could only imagine just what it must've been like for him two years ago. She knew that losing Ace was already a painful trauma for him, but after seeing how close the two truly were…? It was even worse. Luffy lost that feeling of safety when Ace died. Until she joined the Straw Hats, she could remember the sense of longing to feel safe again.

The memories after that were mostly quick scenes of the two brothers running wild through the Middle Forest, training with one another in the clearing, and in one memory they watched as the duo were even able to defeat the bear that had nearly killed Luffy. (Just to add insult to injury—they made the bear into a stew.) No matter where one brother went, the other was right behind him as time continued to march on. Summer had soon come to the island and the crew came to learn that one of Luffy's favorite past times was eating slabs of meat and watermelons for dessert in the early evening as the brothers would watch the sun setting and the stars coming out. The two would then spit out the seeds at the other like little machine guns—one of the only few things that they were equally talented with—since Ace didn't immediately crush Luffy in humiliating defeat.

Not that they really focused on fighting during those moments where they would sit and laugh after eating the melons until Luffy would lean up against Ace and fall asleep, leaving Ace to carry him piggy-back all the way home.

"Sanji… maybe you could keep some watermelons on board? I think Luffy might like that," Nami asked their cook, who could only smile back.

"I'll be sure to add some to the next grocery list," he promised.

As the Straw Hats continued to watch, they noticed that the boys were working hard on staying away from the Gray Terminal and Goa—though they had gotten a few glimpses of it here and there. To their disgust, they saw that the former junkyard returned to being a full junkyard in no time at all. It was as Robin said, it was as if the fire never happened, and soon enough new residences were living among the hills of garbage.

Seeing it made them all furious again… it was like spitting in the faces of all the people who had died here.

"Remind me never to visit this place," Zoro growled in disgust. "I don't mind visiting Windmill Village and all that, but I sure as hell never want to set foot in Goa."

"I'm with you there, bro," Franky grumbled in agreement. Despite his interest in what he could build from that junkyard, he wasn't convinced it was worth it.

The latest memory was one where Ace came running in to save Luffy after the latter got himself stuck in the mouth of a giant centipede. After using his rusted—and slightly bent—pipe staff to stab the beast's belly, it dropped Luffy, who pulled himself free of the pincers.

"Hold still!" Ace commanded as the giant bug lay dead on the ground and he was now treating a nasty gash on Luffy's arm.

"Oww! It hurts! Ace!" Luffy whined as Ace spread a thick paste-like substance on his arm, "It stings too!"

"He needs to get it wrapped up!" Chopper agreed firmly, "If he's not careful, it could get infected. And getting infected in a jungle like this would not be a pleasant thing"

"I'm gonna make sure it hurts if you keep complaining, Luffy!" Ace snapped. Luffy whined as Ace finished rubbing the medicine in and was unrolling a new roll of clean bandages.

"This coming from the same kid who gets his face turned to mush every time they fight?" Nami asked with sweatdrop while thinking back to all the times that Ace pummeled Luffy into the ground. He could take all that but a little gash on his arm was making him cry? She just didn't get it.

"Big baby, don't you wanna get better?" Ace muttered, though he sounded more fond than annoyed, as Luffy pouted.

"I often wonder that," Chopper muttered to himself, thinking of all the crazy, reckless stunts he'd seen his captain do.

"There. All done," Ace said, finished wrapping up the arm. "Don't make that face," he added with a stern tone, but his mouth was twitching as well. As soon as Luffy stopped crying and looked at his arm, he broke into a big smile, his tears and all memory of pain now gone.

"Ace was so cool! You beat that giant bug! You're awesome!" Luffy cried out excitedly. "You know, once grandpa left me in the jungle and I ate things like this all the time! Only they were a lot smaller…?"

"You idiot…" Ace said, but he was grinning at the praise as Luffy turned to look at the dead centipede—that had to be a good 40-60 feet long. In eagerness, he picked up a stick and was poking at it curiously, already drooling, before Ace yelled at him to not even try eating it.

"I remember that," Usopp winced, thinking of the first memory they saw when they arrived here and how Garp came marching through the jungle to find him. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of having to resort to eating bugs to fend off starvation.

"Believe it or not, bugs can serve as good proteins," Sanji offered.

"Disgusting!" Nami snapped, shivering at the thought of having to eat a giant bug.

"These things are poisonous! We can't eat it!" Ace sighed as Luffy demanded to know why they weren't already cooking it, "Look, we'll go hunting for a boar or gator later for dinner. Don't be such a baby."

"Oh yeah? Who's the baby now, scared of a big bug?" Luffy taunting.

"Ah… brothers…" Brook said affectionately, "the sight is enough to warm my soul, Yohohoho."

"Who're you calling a baby?!" Ace demanded.

"Ace is a baby, Ace is a – whoah!" Luffy sang out as Ace tried to tackle him and they began a chase around the clearing.

"Just when I thought they couldn't get more adorable," Robin smiled, "I just wanna hug them."

"Damn," Sanji hissed softly, falling to the ground in depression, "Again, what do kids have that I don't? I'm cute!"

"I wish I had brothers," Chopper sighed, watching them run and laugh together.

They laughed at their antics until Ace finally tackled Luffy to the ground, the two having a wrestling match though there was no anger between them as they grinned. Eventually, Ace seemed to get bored and got off Luffy, who suddenly spotted a few large beetles underneath a nearby tree. Even as Ace told him, "Listen up Luffy, there's something we need to talk about."

"Look Ace! It's an Atlas!" Luffy said, ignoring his brother's statement and holding the bug up after stretching out a hand to grab it.

"Would you pay attention for longer than three seconds?" Ace demanded, giving him a bonk on the head, while fighting a smile.

"That's what I wish," Nami nodded in understanding; Luffy's short attention span was the bane of her existence.

"Listen Luffy, I've been doing some thinking," Ace started once again, finally getting the boy's attention when he took the bug and set it free so Luffy could hear the seriousness of his tone. "And I think I've been setting a bad example for you with the way we're always stealing food."

"So he finally gets it," Nami said pleasantly surprised, but pleased.

"What about it?" Luffy asked, frowning in confusion as he rubbed the spot on his head where Ace hit him before. "You said that we need to eat and those Nobles always waste anything that they don't think is good. So we're really just doing them a favor by clearing it up for them."

"Well, it's rude." Ace said thinking it over, "At least that's what Makino says."

"It's rude and illegal," Brook laughed.

Luffy blinked at him before reminding him, "But we don't have any money… and the food in High Town is expensive. We usually just hunt for dinner."

"True," Ace said proudly, "And it's good for us… we don't need to worry about surviving on our own. I mean, even you can catch a croc by yourself now. But we're not going to just steal the food anymore."

"Really?" Nami said impressed, "Ace really has changed, hasn't he?"

"I don't get it Ace, if we're not gonna steal the food and we don't have any money than what will we do?" Luffy asked as he followed Ace.

"You'll see…" he grinned before he whispered softly into his ear and Luffy's eyes widened.

"Like what Makino says?" he asked him.

"Yeah," Ace said grinning. "Just follow my lead."

"What are they going to do?" Usopp asked, not sure he liked those identical evil grins. But Luffy seemed to be on board with whatever Ace said and he jumped up as the two of them went running off in the direction of Goa. The Straw Hats didn't say much as they followed them, all of them silently wondering just what they were about to see. They followed them through the Grey Terminal, passed the gates that led to the streets of Edge Town, and finally sneaking into Central City—where the nobles were as snobby-looking as always.

"It's been awhile," Luffy said, looking around at the clean streets.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe that it's already been almost a year since the fire," Ace agreed, his eyes narrowed at the passing nobles, "But it's good that we stay away from this place for even that long."

"A year?" Chopper whispered in amazement.

"Time flies," Brook sighed. "It's already been a year for them, but we just finished watching the fire and are still coming to terms with it."

As they walked through the town, the nobles gave the boys disgusted looks, some of them covering their mouths and noses as they moved away; as if they smelled like the same garbage they threw away.

"I didn't need a reminder to what I hated about these guys," Franky spat as he glared at the nobles, daring them to come closer like he thought they could sense him there even from far off in the future.

At one point, while walking some froufrou dog dressed in ridiculous clothes, an old man stop to stare intently at Luffy—as if trying to remember where he'd seen him before. Ace somehow managed to suppress a growl that threatened to escape as he glared at the man threateningly.

"What are you looking at?" he snarled, sounding more like a protective bodyguard than anything else as Luffy reached out to try and pet the dog—which stuck it's nose up at him as if it shared the sentiment of its owner.

"Oh nothing," the man said jumping back, away from Ace. "It's just that I feel like I've seen this boy before… and you too now that I think of it…?"

"You think he would recognize the kids who once terrorized this place," Usopp said as Ace grabbed Luffy's arm and pulled him away from the man.

"They have their heads so far up their asses that they don't pay attention to anything above what smudge of dirt gets on their expensive clothes," Sanji grunted in disgust.

The scene faded after that, but almost immediately, it appeared again, standing exactly where they had been standing before. For a second, they thought that they were still in the same memory… at least until they heard someone shouting, "They just ate and ran! Someone stop them!" Ace and Luffy were running towards them from up the road, a chief chasing after them, screaming at them to stop and pay for their meal.

"Wait, I thought that Ace said that they weren't going to steal food anymore?" Nami said in confusion.

But as they got closer, Ace blinked, as if remembering the same thing as he said, "Oh, right. We're being rude here!"

"You think?" Usopp asked, smacking his own forehead at that.

"Right," Luffy said and they stopped running to look at the man. He looked briefly surprised, apparently wondering if they were going to pay up. But instead, they just bowed and called out, "Thanks for the meal!"

The Straw Hats couldn't help but laugh here.

"Shut up you damn kids!" the chief yelled. "Just pay the bill!"

"Well, they may still be doing dine-and-dash stunts but at least they're polite about it," Usopp laughed.

"Ace is still a bad influence," Nami sighed, but then again she was hardly one to talk about stealing things that didn't belong to her.

"Oh, they deserve it anyway. Just think of it as feeding a couple starving orphans… which they pretty much are," Zoro smirked as the memories shifted again. But the next one they heard it before they saw anything clearly.

"MORONS!" thundered a familiar voice as Usopp and Chopper let out shrieks when the furious face of Garp appeared overhead. The old man was fuming as he was yelling at his grandsons, who were standing in front of him somewhere in the forest.

"After these last few months of working tirelessly, I finally get a chance to visit my grandsons, and what do I learn? You brats were causing trouble! I returned to find hundreds of complains from the people of Goa about you two!" Garp hollered at them.

"I hope the food was worth it," Usopp said, as the boys faced him, looking terrified, but unremorseful.

"I'm not going to let my grandsons to be some such low thieves!" Garp yelled, "You're going to be honest Marines!"

"Is he still going on about that?" Sanji asked exasperated, "You think he'd have given up by now."

"I'm guessing that stubbornness is another thing that runs in the family," Nami sighed, glancing at Luffy—who was looking up with wide eyes at his grandpa but was mentally preparing himself for another beating.

"What was that?" Ace demanded. "Oh, I'm planning on going out to sea one day, alright! But you're crazy if you think it's because I wanna join the Marines!"

"Brave man," Zoro sighed with a shake of his head.

"You imbecile!" Garp yelled, punching Ace hard enough to knock him back and into the dirt.

"Ace!" Luffy called, going to his brother's side at once as Ace spit out the dirt he was forced to taste and glared back up at Garp.

"What're you doing Gramps?" Ace demanded hotly.

"What do you mean, going out to sea?" Garp bellowed out. "I'll never let you!"

"I mean, I'd normally feel bad for him. I know that no grandparent wants to see their grandchildren become criminals…?" Sanji said sweating at the thought, "But it's hard to do that when I think about all the times he's beaten the two of them up."

The others could only nod in agreement, finding that their sympathy only reached out so far.

Ace looked away, rubbing the bruise on his cheek, "You're not my father! So quite acting all high and mighty! Why should I listen to you old man?"

"Call me 'grandpa'!" Garp snapped.

"Old man," Ace retorted deliberately slowly.

"He's really asking for it now," Zoro muttered. Really, were they trying to get on Garp's bad side?

Garp held up his fist and threatened, "You want another taste of my Fist of Love?"

"I said it before and I'll say it again. If that's love, I ever wanna find it," Usopp whispered with Chopper nodding fearfully next to him, looking ready to start crying.

"Grandpa!" Luffy said, standing up and glaring at him, "I'm gonna get much stronger and then set out to sea with Ace!"

"Luffy, you know you don't have to make things harder for yourself?" Brook moaned out piteously. At his words, Garp punched Luffy hard in the head so that his forehead swelled up and he was crying again. Immediately, Ace stood up and stood protectively in front of Luffy, standing between him and Garp.

"You idiot!" Garp yelled at Luffy, "Not you too?!"

"Don't hit Luffy, you damn old geezer!" Ace yelled at him.

"ACE HOW DARE YOU!" Garp yelled furiously.

Nami sighed as the darkness came back and blocked the vision from them. "Just watching the three of them makes me feel like I'm losing my mind. I'm exhausted and that exchange was about a minute long, if even that much."

"Those three just seem to bring the worst in each other," Robin explained smiling as the darkness faded. The memories were coming much more quickly now—most of them fun ones of the brothers exploring the island together, still never leaving the other's side as they roamed the forest and fought animals. They did pay occasional visits to Goa to cause trouble and pulling dine-and-dashes when given the chance, but those memories gradually died down until most of them were of the two just spending their time training to grow stronger, hunting for dinner, or sharing stories about what they imagined some of the different islands out there could be like.

They were able to see the noticeable changes as they grew older. In one such memory, the winter snow had arrived so that Luffy and Ace temporarily moved back into the house with Dadan and the boys, the two sharing the small room they used before. At this point, Luffy was about ten or eleven years old, fighting sleep as he waited for Ace to hurry up with his bath.

For about five minutes, nothing else seemed to happen, and Zoro, growing bored, went out to try and find something more interesting to watch.

"Zoro!" Nami called after him as he headed to the door.

"Quiet!" he called back in annoyance, "I think I hear them all talking here!"

He walked through the wall to see that he was right as he witness Garp sitting there with Dadan as they shared some fantastic-smelling booze that got his mouth watering.

"You think that a grandfather would at least try to visit his grandsons more than just a few times a year," Dadan reminded him gruffly.

"I do try," Garp huffed, "If given the choice I'd spend less time listening to them going on and on back at Marine HQ. The World Government thought that the era of pirates would end with Roger's death, but in the end it backfired on them. There are more pirates than ever out there these days and Sengoku believes that number is only going to multiple. I mean, the Emperors are growing older and the younger generation is starting to grow bolder. You should hear some of the stories I've heard of that damn Red-Haired these days…?"

His voice trailed off, his tone seemingly torn between hatred and begrudging respect.

"Didn't that Red-Haired captain save Luffy a few years back?" Dadan reminded him with a rather sly grin—no doubt from the booze in her system. "How's it feel to be indebted to a pirate?"

"Oh, shut it," Garp snapped back, clearly not in the mood before suddenly asking, "But I'm surprised here. I don't hear you complaining about them as usual. I've been here for hours already and I haven't heard you demand to know when I'm taking them with me even once."

"I don't mind it so much anymore," Dadan confessed. "They spend most of their time outside so I can take breaks from their craziness. Let me just say though, that Ace certainly has changed since you brought that second monster here. If you had told me back then that he would be like this now, I'd have said that you were drinking too much. I didn't see any hope for him."

"That is good to hear," Garp confessed. "To be honest, even I was starting to grow worried about him."

Zoro found this entire conversation fascinating and listened in even as his crewmates stepped through the wall to join him.

"What's going on, Zoro?" Usopp asked, as Zoro just shook his head, watching the scene of them drinking. After a few minutes, Garp reached into his shirt and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper to show her.

"The reason I came here tonight was so that I could show you this," he informed her, "I think you might find this interesting."

"What's this?" she asked in annoyance, taking the sheet from him and looking over it before staring at it with wide eyes. "So this is…?"

"Just the latest wanted poster issue from the World Government," Garp said softly. "He may not be a pirate, but he's just jumped up to the top of their most wanted list with this special bounty. In fact, you want to know what call him? The 'most heinous criminal in the world'… or even the 'most wanted man in the world'… blah, blah… and all that."

"You mean…?" Chopper said softly, suddenly realizing who the man in the picture had to be.

"Luffy's father," Robin confirmed, thinking of Dragon.

"I see. Not that I'm surprised…" Dadan said, giving the paper back to Garp, "…Dragon's been causing more trouble than ever these days. But what'd he do now that caused him to jump up to the World Government's hit list?"

"Ha! Right now he is the list," Garp sighed with a bitter laugh. "Government officials are doing their best to track down any kind of information they can on Dragon. Including his family. I fear that they may try to use that information to their advantage to get to him."

"You mean they don't even know his full name?" Dadan asked with her eyebrows raised. "I figured they'd gone straight for you, since you're his father."

"Only a handful of people know his full name," Garp confessed, "But because of my many accomplishments with the Marines, and Sengoku speaking on my behalf to the World Nobles, I've been spared any kind of blame for his actions. Instead, they asked if I knew anything that could help bring him to justice. Ha! All I said to them was that if they were hoping to trap him, then good luck. Already, they consider him the biggest demon to have ever lived since Roger. It's almost impossible to find that man if he doesn't want to be found." He leaned back against the wall and finished with, "If they can figure out how to catch the wind… then maybe they have a chance."

'Well said,' Robin thought to herself. Yes, Dragon was very much like the wind itself… here one minute, and gone the next.

"I still can't believe that's your kid they want dead," Dadan snapped before thinking it all over for a moment and added, "On second thought, I can believe it. I guess we know whose side that Dragon takes after."

She stared at her bottle of Sake before speaking with a grimmer tone, "And I guess that makes him…?"

"Luffy's father," Garp confirmed, not looking up as he seemed strangely fascinated with his drink before adding, "He may not act like it, but I already see a lot of Dragon in him."

"So now it's like with Ace," Dadan asked, her drunk eyes suddenly sobering up for a second, "If the Government finds out about Luffy…?"

"They would never let them live," Robin answered knowingly.

"Could they really want them both dead just because of their fathers?" Chopper asked her.

"Of course they would," Robin answered with a shake of her head. "As far as the World Government's concerned, those two were 'born evil' because of their fathers threatened their rule. The fact that they're alive at all is nothing short of a sin, at least in their eyes."

"That's a load of crap," Franky said, glancing sideways at her. "You once believe that you didn't deserve to live because of them constantly telling you that your own existence was a sin! Don't you remember what I said to you back on the Puffing Tom?"

Robin gave him a sad smile, remembering the ride to Enies Lobby and recited fondly, "That being alive… just existing… can't be a sin."

"Truer words never spoken," Usopp said, all of them looking at Robin with fierce protectiveness. Franky was right. It wasn't the government's place to decide if someone should be allowed to live or not. If they were never supposed to exist, then why were they ever born at all? The Marines were just using this as an excuse for their murderous habits.

"They'll hunt him down," Garp sighed, dropping the empty bottle and reaching for another. "Believe me, it wasn't easy keeping this secret at HQ. It's the main reason why I want them both to become Marines! If word ever got out…?"

"It wouldn't matter though will it?" Dadan asked him, "You know as well as I do how big they are on bloodlines! You don't honestly think that they'll let this go simply because they join the Marines do you?"

Garp was silent for a moment as he thought her question over.

"No," he confessed. "But I don't see any other way out of this. Right now, as far as the world is concerned, the two of them are just a couple delinquent orphans. Which they are now that you think of it. But no one could ever imagine otherwise… and I intend to keep it that way."

Dadan sighed before grumbling, "Boy, of all the children that you had to bring here… the sons of the two most infamous criminals that the world's ever known?! Just why did you bring them to me?"

"We've known each other a long time," he grinned at her. "And I know how soft you are on kids."

"SHUT UP!" she barked at him.

"I think I see what he's getting at," Brook laughed. "She really does seem fond of children."

"It's in a woman's nature I guess," Sanji sighed, wondering just what made women care about kids so much…?

"I can't begin to guess what's going on in his head however," Brook said, looking at Garp with curiosity. "This must be so hard on him. He was doing all this to keep them safe, but in the end, it wasn't enough."

"But I agree wholeheartedly with what Dadan said," Robin answered him. "There's no way that they would ever be left alone even if they joined the Marines."

"Hey," Chopper said softly, just realizing something, "How are we seeing this when Luffy's not even here?"

They all glanced at each other, slightly surprised by the question.

"Just because Luffy doesn't remember doesn't mean that it didn't happen?" Zoro offered, though not even he knew what he was saying. Luffy was right in the other room, but just because he didn't hear what they were saying didn't mean that this conversation never happened. Perhaps Luffy could vaguely hear their voices but not make out anything? He didn't know. All he did know was that the truth of Dragon seemed to be a big shock to him when he did find out about it at Water 7.

"You gonna tell Luffy about his father?" Dadan asked suddenly. "He doesn't know anything about his parents, does he? You had him since he was a baby before dumping him off here."

"Right…?" Garp said, rolling his eyes, "And explain to me how I tell a kid that their father happens to be the most wanted criminal in the world, and if the world finds out about his existence… then they'll want him dead as well? I made the mistake of telling Ace the truth about Roger and look how that messed him up? He turned bitter and angry, lashing out at everyone. I'm not repeating the mistake, at least until I think Luffy's old enough to handle it. Plus, it doesn't help that Luffy has a big mouth. No, it's easier if we keep this quiet from everyone—including Luffy."

"That makes a lot of sense," Nami sighed, fully believing that Luffy would let the fact slip that he was Dragon's son by accident and then that would bring in all sorts of trouble for him.

Dadan finished her drink before wiping her mouth and demanding, "You leaving for the Marines tomorrow again? Ace is already almost thirteen now, you know."

"Time flies," Franky whistled out, repeating what Brook said before.

"Yeah, it was his birthday the other day, I'm sorry I missed it. But I'm afraid that Navy HQ can't do anything on their own. I have to stay with them little longer, though I often wonder if it's worth it," he said before raising his eyebrows and asking, "You won't tell anyone about this will you?"

"About Dragon?" she asked irritably. "Why should I care about who their fathers are? It's no business of mine."

"You know, I think my respect for her just keeps going up. I'd love to meet her and maybe share a few drinks. I think she'd be a great drinking buddy," Franky smiled. But soon afterwards, the two adults passed out where they sat; their faces red from all the drinking.

They rolled their eyes at the scene, planning on heading back to the room with Luffy, when they heard another door open and Ace stepped in. Though still young, he was quickly leaving his preteen body behind and looked more mature than they had last saw him. His hair was still damp from the bath as he wore a towel over his shoulders with a shirt fully unbuttoned and a pair of black shorts—with his signature orange hat on his head.

His face was strangely emotionless as he slowly stepped into the room—looking completely lost in thought. Sanji's one revealed eye suddenly widen and he asked, "Wait… you don't think he overheard what they were saying about Dragon do you?"

"Most likely," Zoro commented as he watched Ace slowly walk to the back room where Luffy was. "If he was outside that door, I don't see how he couldn't…?"

Quickly following Ace, they went to the back room where Luffy was still fighting sleep. Ace sat down next to him, just watching him with that unreadable expression that caused them to wonder what he was thinking.

"Is he ok?" Chopper asked worriedly, staring at Ace's empty eyes.

"I can't say for sure, but I think that it was a shock for him," Robin offered softly. "He just realized that he and Luffy are in the same situation of being the child of—at least, in the Government's eyes—a monster. All that time, Ace thought he was the only one who suffered with that burden, but now he found out that Luffy's in the same boat with him. The only difference is that Luffy has no idea."

Luffy was almost completely out of it now, the memory darkened a little more as he realized that Ace was there with him. He smiled toothily up at him as Ace's expression softened considerably. He then asked, "Hey Luffy? It's taken you a long time to be able to look at fire without having nightmares hasn't it?"

"Huh?" Luffy croaked out, looking up at him sleepily. "Why bring that up?"

"Just thinking," Ace brushed off, "But you still have nightmares sometimes I notice…?"

"He still had nightmares about the fire?" Nami asked slowly, "Even after all this time?"

"I can't say I'm surprised," Robin sighed, knowing that trauma often took years to heal… she had only just begun to recover from the horror of the Buster Call after all. "Something like that would be hard to get over. Especially for a child."

Luffy rolled over onto his side, his back to Ace, as if ashamed, before confessing, "Only once in a while. But they're not as bad as they used to be. I mean, it's just big fires that I don't like. But I'm ok with it… really."

Ace smirked a little as Luffy yawned and shut his eyes as sleep took over.

"You haven't changed," he said smiling as the memory began to fade. Ace laid down and gently wrapped a protective arm around Luffy's neck, hugging him close. A small, contented smile appeared on Luffy's mouth as everything went dark… as if he felt safe with Ace there shielding him from any nightmares.

Robin could only smile enviously as she watched the two the embodiment of brotherhood.

Dadan was right in that Ace really has changed since Luffy came here. The Ace she first saw… never would've spoken so softly to him—let alone embrace him so protectively like that. That Ace was so sure that the world hated him so he hated it right back. And even though he loved Luffy, Ace could never be honest with himself about it. The Ace that the others met, the older one that they spoke fondly of, that was all thanks to Luffy.

"I think he's really starting to see how much he and Luffy are alike," Nami said smiling, jealous at how two people could be so close

"Wait!" Usopp said suddenly, "You mean that Ace knew all along who Luffy's father was?"

"It would appear so," Robin answered.

"But then why didn't he ever tell him?" Usopp asked in confusion, "You think he would if they were that close and everything…?"

"You think he'd do something like that?" Franky demanded harshly, "He knew better than anyone what it felt like to be considered the child of a demon. For years he'd been tormented with the belief that he was never supposed to be born! That the world would've been happier if he wasn't around! You think he'd push something like that on his little brother?"

"He just had another reason to protect him," Zoro said, sighing as he tilted his head back, gazing up at the endless sea of darkness. "It doesn't matter who Luffy's father is."

No one said anything to that for a long time as they continued to watch memories flying by. The boys both grew older and continued to grow stronger while living in the forest. They'd go into the trees to hunt and train for days on end before they came back for some rest before running off again. They both became tall and lanky, completed with messy black hair and wide eyes—both were big eaters and strong fighters who only grew stronger by the day. It was impossible for anyone not to recognize them as brothers.

Luffy remained the same personality wise, but the stronger he got, the less he cried. He was growing confident in his abilities, and even Ace had stopped mocking his powers once he finally learned to throw a decent punch…? Though he was still known to tease Luffy for it just to make him angry. It warmed the Straw Hats hearts to see these scenes, yet at the same time in felt like a knife wound because it made Ace's death seem that much more tragic.

But that soon changed after one memory appeared where they were back in the Grey Terminal. Once again, they glowered at the sight of the many hills of garbage around them. Though the mounds still weren't as wide or as tall as they once were before the fire, they were making good progress. In just a couple years, they suspected that the mountain of trash would tower over the tallest trees and maybe even over the walls.

They didn't want to think about what came after that until they spotted Luffy coming their way, who looked to be no older than thirteen. Surprisingly, there was no trace of Ace around that they could see. After seeing the two constantly together, it was strange to see Luffy on his own. Still, he had a big grin and he was shoving something into his pocket as he looked to be heading back towards the forest.

"This is great!" he said to himself happily, almost skipping before riding a broken board down the hill of junk like it was a sled, "And it's even in Ace's favorite color! He's gonna love it!"

They wondered what he was talking about when some thugs apparently overheard him and began to follow.

"H-Hey, Luffy! You might want to look behind you!" Usopp called before shaking his head, wondering why he kept doing this since he was just wasting his breath.

As Luffy continued his way to the forest the thugs behind him continued to creep after him, a couple of them even pulling out knives as they did so. They felt a little worried before one of them charged ahead, his knife held aloft, all the while Luffy continued humming to himself in a contented way.

But as the man charged with the knife, something long and metal can flying in outta nowhere and struck at the man's hand—causing him to scream and drop the blade.

Another figure leapt down, grabbing hold of the pipe staff, which was all but a rusted piece of metal at this point, and was now positioned between Luffy and the thugs.

"Oh, thank god!" Usopp gasped as the overprotective big brother was here to bail Luffy outta trouble.

"Ace?" Luffy asked, looking surprised, but unharmed. Ace's eyes narrowed as he looked him over, as if making sure that there wasn't a scratch on him before snarling up at the thug and threatened, "No one touches my little brother and lives to tell about it."

"And we get into another fight," Nami sighed tiredly, "You know, one of these days they're going to get into some really serious trouble because of this!"

Yet the words were barely out of her mouth when one of the punks pulled out a pistol and pointed it at them as the two brothers dealt with the other two with knives.

"Hold on! Isn't that a bit extreme?!" Usopp yelled out as Chopper screamed.

"They must be pretty desperate!" Sanji hollered.

"Why should they worry?" Zoro asked loudly over their yells, "Luffy's immune to bullets!"

Suddenly, the gun fired and the bullet nailed Luffy right in the back. Ace, next to him, stopped dead and stared in horror as Luffy's eyes widen in stunned surprise, his mouth opened though no sound came out.

"LUFFY!" Ace screamed as Luffy's body slowly fell forward, but then he stopped himself as the skin stretched out and the bullet bounced back towards the thug who fired at him. The guy was so shocked that he fell backwards, just barely missing the ricochet of the bullet, causing his two buddies to scream in terror.

"What the hell just happened?" one of them screamed, stunned by what he just saw.

"You think that they've never seen a bullet bounce off a rubber person before," Franky commented in a casual way as if mentioning the sky was blue.

"I think they just discovered that," Robin said, watching at how Ace caught Luffy, panic now setting into his eyes as he looked around desperately—much like how he did when Luffy had been attacked by that bear. The thugs behind them were also freaking out, having no idea to what happened, and Ace used their confusion to make a quick escape. He dragged Luffy off with him, quickly getting out of Grey Terminal and back to the cover of the forest so that he could examine Luffy.

"Luffy!" Ace gasped, setting Luffy down on the ground. "Are you hurt?"

Luffy seemed to come out of his stunned shock and sat up so suddenly that Ace's jaw fell open. Luffy gave his body a pat down, his eyes wide as he whispered, "No. I'm okay?"

"LIAR!" Ace yelled at him, forcing him to turn around so that he could see, "I SAW YOU GET SHOT!"

But as Ace pulled the shirt up so that they could see his back… there wasn't anything there. Perhaps a slight bruise in the shape of a perfect circle… but nothing else.

Ace's eyes suddenly widen as he realized what must've happened and declared, "I get it! It makes sense! If blunt attacks don't work on you, then it makes sense that a bullet can't do anything!"

"Finally, he gets it," Zoro smirked.

"Well, they never been shot at before so they never had a chance to find out till now," Brook pointed out.

"Lucky thing too, otherwise, Luffy be dead," Robin offered.

"Why must you love that morbid imagination of yours, Robin?" Usopp moaned out.

"What'd I say wasn't fact?" she asked back with a rather evil grin at him.

"So… I'm bulletproof?" Luffy summed up before his eyes shining at the thought and cried out, "That's so cool!"

Ace just sighed as he bonked him on the head as he yelled, "DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"

Ace seemed to need a minute to calm down before he grabbed Luffy's hand and dragged him back in the direction of Dadan's house.

"Damn, I knew something was wrong when I noticed you weren't around," Ace grumbled, still looking white in the face, "Then Magra said something about you heading off to the Grey Terminal for something. What were you thinking? Going there on your own is bad enough, but you need to pay attention to what's going on around you. What do you think would've happened if I didn't come in?"

"I'm sorry," Luffy muttered back, looking uncharacteristically shamed. "I was so excited that I wasn't paying attention."

"Excited about what?" Ace asked, not looking back at him as they trooped through the forest.

"I went there to find something," Luffy explained but then did that silly thing where he clamps his mouth shut and looks off to the side so he doesn't immediately blurt out the truth.

"What on earth could be so important that you risk getting gutted?" Ace demanded, still sounding pissed.

"Yeah, it had to be something important if he went without Ace," Franky pointed out, knowing that Luffy was all but attached to his big brother at the hip. The fact that he didn't even tell Ace that he was going there raised more than a few questions.

Luffy was pouting at him, but his face was slightly red from the scolding he got. Ace truly sounded like an anxious parent here, and they were honestly astonished by how Ace was the only one they've seen be able to scold Luffy in such a way that the rubber-idiot actually reflected on his actions. Still, Luffy seemed reluctant to tell Ace his reasons for why he was out there on his own as Ace hammered him with questions.

Perhaps Luffy could see how upset Ace was because he finally revealed the reason. Rather than answer right away though, he reached into his pocket to pull out a necklace of red beads and swung them over Ace's head. Ace stopped dead and looked down at the red beads as Luffy answered, "You're leaving in a few more months so I wanted to give you something for a birthday present. So I went looking to see if I could find anything I thought you'd like and I found this because it's your favorite color. It was supposed to be a surprise."

"You mean he went out there to find Ace a birthday present?!" Usopp whimpered, now sick of all the crying he'd been doing recently.

"Awwww, just when I thought these two couldn't get any sweeter," Nami cried, her heart aching at the sight.

Ace stared down at the slightly dirty beads as Luffy looked away. It was obvious he hadn't planned on giving Ace his present like this, but the Straw Hats could only assume that seeing Ace so upset hurt Luffy more than getting shot. Ace stared from the necklace to Luffy's face before he shook his head slightly. He just pulled Luffy into a tight hug, taking him by surprise, as the elder brother held him with a face of mixed of emotions.

"You promised me you wouldn't go there alone," he told him quietly before pulling away, but he was smiling again as he promised, "I'll treasure this."

Seeing that smile was enough for Luffy to cheer up and grinned back before Ace placed a hand on his shoulder, his tone more serious this time as he said, "Luffy. I appreciate the thought, but what would make me happier than anything is knowing that you're gonna be okay. You scared me half to death back there. But hey, at least I don't need to worry about you getting killed by a bullet."

"Yeah!" Luffy laughed awkwardly, his hand on the back of his head, "That was a surprise! But it's awesome! I didn't know I could do that!"

Ace sighed before smiling again and asked, "Luffy, you really want to do something for me for my birthday?"

"Yeah, Ace! What'd you have in mind?" Luffy asked eagerly.

"Just… I want you to promise me… you'll never go there without me again," Ace told him, "You can survive in the forests just fine… but I get anxious thinking of you in a place like that without me there to look after you. So… promise me… you won't ever go to Goa by yourself again."

Luffy stared at up him with those innocent eyes, but he could see how much this meant to Ace before he nodded and said, "I promise."

"Ace-san really did worry about Luffy-san going there, didn't he?" Brook said softly.

"Of course, people can be dangerous in more ways than you can imagine," Nami agreed, seeing exactly where Ace was coming from. Luffy was too naïve and trusted people too easily—she could easily see him getting tricked by some scammers for example…? She personally thought that Ace making Luffy promise not to go to Goa on his own was the smart thing to do. "And if Ace was leaving soon, then he wanted to make sure that Luffy would be alright here by himself. I don't think leaving was as easy as we think it was for him."

The next couple memories were of Luffy, who seemed determined to spend as much time as possible with Ace as the day of his departure grew closer and closer. He would constantly ask Ace all kinds of questions like where he planned to go first and what he was planning on doing. Ace also seemed to realize that he had to start getting ready, and that included getting a boat to start off with. So, about a week before Ace's departure, he and Luffy snuck into Goa in the dead of night and headed straight down to the docks where they had a look at the ships.

Luffy was all for taking a huge Galleon, but Ace rolled his eyes and asked, "And how am I supposed to sail that on my own?"

"But it looks so cool!" Luffy whined, pointing at the elaborate bow that looked like it was plated with gold.

"Well, I gotta give him that," Franky said appreciatively. "It's got nothing on Sunny… but that's some pretty fine workmanship."

"Yeah, good luck trying to hide that for a week though. I think that the owner would notice if it's not there in the morning," Sanji snorted as Ace looked around the docks for something smaller. They looked around until Ace came across a small fishing boat, just big enough for maybe two or three people at most—and even then that was kinda pushing it.

"This is good," Ace decided.

"It's kinda small," Luffy pointed out in disappointment.

"Its fine," Ace reassured him wait a wave of his hand before leaping into the boat with Luffy right behind him. Ace went around examining it before explaining, "It may be small, but if I handle it right, it looks like it should be strong enough to handle even a storm. I wanna start off small and work my way up. I'm not looking for any shortcuts here. I can make this work."

"Really? Okay, I get it," Luffy said with full support as they untied the boat from the docks and set off to go sailing around the borders of the island. Luffy was grinning wider than ever as he was practically bouncing around the boat until Ace told him to stop rocking them.

"It'll be your own fault if you fall in," Ace warned as they turned and began to turn the sails to catch the evening wind, "We'll sail around the island once and then we'll pull up on the opposite side so they won't be able to see it. It should be easy to keep it hidden for a few days. Hopefully, by the time they realize it's not there, I'll be long gone."

"It's like we're really setting off!" Luffy giggled as they watched Goa shrink as they worked the ship and sails like experts.

"It takes me back," Zoro smirked at the thought as he remembered the little dingy that he and Luffy started off with. It was barely large enough for the two of them, but then they went from two little boats to the Merry… to now with Sunny. Through their own sweat, blood, and tears—they have made it to where they are now. They didn't go the easy way—that's for sure.

The brothers happily sailed away, under the starlight skies, leaving Goa as they went far enough out that the city shrank until it was small enough that it looked like you could hold it in your cupped hands. Ace seemed to sigh as he knew that if they went too much farther out, then they wouldn't want to turn back. So, he turned the sail, letting the wind catch it before they turned and slowly began to circle around the island.

"Happy birthday, Ace!" Luffy said happily, his hand over the edge of the boat as the water washed over his fingers.

"Getting a little ahead of yourself there, runt," Ace grinned back, grabbing Luffy in a headlock and giving him a noogie as Luffy laughed.

"You ready to leave, Ace?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Hell ya!" Ace grinned back as he sat back in the boat, releasing Luffy's head as he did so. "No need to have a party or anything for me."

"Ahhhh, but parties are so much fun!" Luffy whined.

"Fine, we'll have a party, but we'll have it the night before," Ace compromised as Luffy cheered at the thought.

"He's taking his big brother leaving very well," Sanji said in mild surprise.

"Oh, he's excited for Ace because he knows he's finally ready to leave and start his journey," Robin smiled sadly, "But I can tell that he's already starting to miss him."

"But he hasn't even left yet," Chopper pointed out.

"Just the idea that soon his brother will be going out into the world without him is a bitter pill to swallow," she explained. "Since they became brothers they've always been together and now, for the first time since then, they'll be separated. Ace will be going off into the world on his own. Luffy's not ready yet so he needs those next three years to train."

"I think if Ace could, he'd take Luffy with him, but he knows that this is for the best," Zoro said, remembering how Luffy said to Ace that he wanted him to be happy and to think more about himself. "Ace is ready. Luffy isn't. He understands, and as a brother, he wants to wish him a good journey."

His words caused them all to freeze up at his words as they knew how that journey was destined to end for Fire-Fist Ace.

They pushed that thought outta their minds as the two enjoyed their time sailing. Even though they would soon be leaving on different ships, it was nice that they were able to sail together, even if it was just the one time. They continued to talk and share stories, with Ace pointing out the names of several stars as Luffy watched in amazement. It was funny how the littlest thing seemed to make Luffy smile like a child for hours.

The night was asleep, snoring lightly as her darkened skies allowed veiled clouds to pass by, occasionally blocking the moon and its stars. Yet, as if in retaliation, they seemed to gleam more brightly, as if to spite the clouds. They continued this all night even as they sailed around, passing by the dark village of Windmill Village, the little windmills visible even from this distance, as little squares of light appeared with people having lanterns up in their homes. Eventually, they passed by the cliff that they often saw the two of them watching the sea.

Luffy noticed this and they wondered if this was the first time he was seeing the cliff from the sea, and how Luffy felt seeing it from this point of view.

"Ace?" Luffy suddenly said as they passed by the cliff.

"Hmm?" Ace asked, looking at him with a content look.

"I… no, it's nothing," Luffy said smiling. "Forget it."

"Ok, now I know that something's wrong," Usopp said suspiciously. Luffy was someone who just said whatever was on his mind, so seeing him so reluctant to talk was a strange sight since he'd never seen him like that before. Ace obviously sensed this as well as he looked at him with concern.

"I think that's the first time I'd ever heard that before," he said with a small smile tweaking his features, "Alright, what's bothering you?"

"Nothing!" Luffy said at once, "It's not important!"

"He's hiding something," Franky agreed, "The guy isn't good with secrets, is he?"

Ace raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"My little brother keeping secrets from me already?" he murmured, half to Luffy, half to himself. "Come on… I know you better than that. Tell me what's wrong." He lightly prodded Luffy on the back. "Or do I have to wrestle the answer out of you?"

"No!" Luffy yelled happily, an evil grin appearing.

"That's it! This means war!" Ace cried out and suddenly they were fighting again. Luffy leaped out of the way and immediately retaliated, grinning wildly, not willing to forfeit this fight. After almost falling overboard, they had to stop as they laid at the bottom of the boat, laughing wildly—and the Straw Hats suspected that they would continue the fight properly once they were back on dry land.

"Don't they do anything but fight?" Usopp asked exasperated.

"That's what brothers do best," Zoro answered, "Or so I heard."

"No, that's just a fact," Franky confirmed.

"Damn, that was a good punch," Ace chuckled, rubbing his cheek. "Not a knock-out but hey… you've gotten better."

Luffy grinned proudly as he laughed to himself.

"It's almost like they're still little kids," Nami said watching them, wondering when the last time it had been a long time since she'd seen Luffy like that. Sure he was childish and still acted like this all the time, but it was different here… he seemed a bit more care-free and innocent at the same time. She bit her lower lip as she suspected that the answer to that was with Ace. He really meant the world to Luffy and after seeing them together throughout these memories, she can totally understand why Luffy would infiltrate a prison before invading Marineford. She suspected that had it been the other way around, Ace would've torn down the sky if that was what it took to save Luffy.

"Hey, Luffy?" Ace suddenly said, sitting up.

"Yeah?" Luffy asked, mimicking his every movement.

Ace paused, as if trying to find the right words to say as they listened to the sounds of the waves around them before he said, "Take care of yourself for me, all right? While I'm gone?"

The Straw Hats looked at Ace as he kept playing with the red beads around his neck. He wasn't looking at his brother as he stared ahead of him at the sky… lost in thought. It was strange to see the usually confident, smug look was now clouded with… was it hesitation?

Robin could tell that while this separation was hard on Luffy, it could only be even harder for Ace. For years, his one purpose was to protect his little brother, but now he would be going on to find a new life for himself. He would be leaving his brother here… though Luffy was now strong enough that he could handle himself. Ace was still obviously worried.

"It's not like we won't see each other again," Luffy said gleefully, "And when we do, I'll be a pirate too!"

Ace laughed before agreeing, "Yeah, you will. But still… I can't help but worry. I'm not worried about leaving you here alone—not so much…? But when you do set out… you'll be starting from scratch."

"Don't worry!" Luffy said confidently, "I'll be a lot stronger in three more years! And once I leave here, I'll find a pirate crew! I want… maybe ten guys! Yeah, ten'll be good! Then we'll set sail for the Grand Line!"

"Ten?" Nami repeated, "Where'd he come up with that number?"

"I don't know, but ten sounds important, don't you think?" Brook offered, "The 'top ten'! The 'ten best dressed' and all that! Yohohoho! But even then, ten is a small number for a pirate crew."

"Yeah, especially when I think about how there were only five of us when we finally set off for the Grand Line from the East Blue," Sanji said, thinking back fondly on those memories.

"Only five in a crew heading to the Grand Line?" Brook said in surprise, remembering how large his old crew was and how it took all of them to keep things steady in these waters, "That's practically unheard of! Even crews with dozens of people have trouble navigating the ocean outside the Grand Line."

"I guess Luffy takes quality over quantity. He can be surprisingly picky when he wants to be," Usopp shrugged but there was an air of pride about him at those words.

"You want ten crewmates?" Ace repeated in amusement. "You sure that's all you need? After all, a crew is gonna need more than just a captain."

"Like what?" Luffy asked, as if he never thought of that.

"Like a doctor, navigator, a few swordsmen is always a good idea," Ace listed off on his fingers.

"You got that right," Zoro said as Brook laughed.

"Wait, I know!" Luffy said, thinking it over. "A musician!"

"Oh yeah, he had been asking for a musician since I joined," Nami said thinking back before glancing at Brook, who spun about happily. "Funny that the one he wanted most took so long to join."

"Luffy-san, I'm so touched!" Brook said tearfully, glad that out of all the musicians in the world, Luffy picked him to be part of his crew.

Ace laughed in agreement before offering, "Well, I think you get the idea. I'll tell you what. Once you get your first bounty, I'll come and meet up with you and your crew."

"And you'll join?" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Are you kidding me?" Ace asked, rolling his eyes and Luffy looked away disappointed. The Straw Hats laughed at that since it was too much like how they were always when they were that they couldn't help themselves.

"But you'll get to meet my crew when I find them?" Luffy asked him, as if making sure that he wouldn't go back on his promise.

"Only if you promise me that you'll look after yourself till then," Ace said strictly.

"Ok!" Luffy said beaming. "Sounds fair. It's a promise!"

"Good," Ace said, before pointing something interesting to Luffy in the distance. Luffy tried to see what he was pointing at, leaving over the edge of the boat, before Ace dunked Luffy's head in the water—which lead to them fighting again, seriously in danger of capsizing as the memory faded.

"So that's why we met up with him in Alabasta?" Chopper asked curiously.

"I think he wanted to see what kind of people would be crazy enough to follow Luffy," Sanji smirked. "I often wonder that myself…?"

"Be nice," Robin chided gently.

The next memory was, as Ace promised, a party for Ace's seventeenth birthday. The brothers were up partying in Dadan's house as Makino and the Mayor came to join them. Everyone knew that it was Ace's final night here, and they shared a few gifts as they had a big banquet of all kinds of food that was prepared by Makino's loving hand.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ACE!" Luffy proclaimed as he held up a drink in a toast as laughter rang out through the house. The party went on well into the night before Makino and the Mayor decided they had to leave, but Makino gave Ace a hug, promising that they would be back the next day to see him off. Dadan and the other bandits fell asleep, most of them passed out drunk, before Luffy and Ace collapsed in their little fort outside that the two shared. After the bear incident, the two put their forts together so that Ace could continue to 'keep an eye on Luffy as he healed' and just never had a good reason to split them apart again.

Some of the Straw Hats privately thought that such a scene was sure to melt even the coldest Marine heart.

But the memory soon changed to that of early the next morning. In fact, it was so early that the sky was barely lit up, though when they looked into the fort, they saw that Ace was sleeping alone. He was still snoring deeply before they heard Luffy's footsteps. Luffy came racing out of the trees, an eagerness in his face before he skidded to a stop in front of the fort.

"Wow, one would think that it was Luffy who was leaving today," Usopp couldn't help but point out as Luffy was about to burst from excitement.

"Ace!" Luffy said, leaning over him as Ace opened his eyes.

"Oi, good morning, Luffy. You're up early," Ace groaned out.

"It's Ace's departure! I went and killed this big monster for breakfast!" Luffy informed him. "Let's eat it! Have a real breakfast before you go!"

Luffy had Ace at 'breakfast' and the young man was up instantly to see what Luffy caught—which turned out to be an enormous bear, which the two happily cooked up and chowed down on the meat as they talked more about what a great party it was the night before.

"You're gonna be making a name for yourself soon, right Ace?" Luffy asked him through a mouthful of meat.

"No duh!" Ace promised, "Once I get a crew of my own, I'll be making waves, you'll see. So you keep your eye on the paper!"

"I can't wait to see your face on a wanted poster!" Luffy grinned at the thought as Ace grinned.

"Hadn't thought of that! Hope they get a good picture of me," Ace commented. "Nothing worse than a bad picture on your poster, huh?"

Sanji glowered at that as he did his best to not think about that pathetic drawing that was attached to his name on his poster. Ace knew where to hurt a guy, didn't he?

Once the two had full bellies, which took the entire bear to accomplish, the sun had full risen and Ace needed to finish packing. The brothers went back to the fort where Ace had gotten a small bag and started packing up everything he owned into. He received a couple presents from the night before such as a compass, a survival knife, and some new clothes—things that an up-and-coming pirate rookie would need out there. Like with Luffy, Ace wasn't a materialistic person so he made sure that everything he was packing needed to fit into a single bag otherwise it was to be left behind.

After Ace wiped his brow and looked at his bag in satisfaction, confident he had everything he needed, Luffy surprised him once again by telling him to wait a moment while he went to get something. They watched as Luffy ran off towards the trees, and they were contemplating going after him, before he returned a few minutes later, this time carrying a bag with him. It was small—small enough that it could be shoved into a large pocket, but the unmistakable clinking of coins could be heard inside as Luffy handed it over to Ace.

"Where'd you get this?" Ace asked suspiciously as he took the money.

"I didn't steal it," Luffy promised. "But every time I found a beri on the ground, I picked it up! It's not much, but I hope it can help you."

Nami found herself strangely emotional by the sight of Luffy giving Ace that money. Sure, judging from the sound, she didn't think that Ace could afford much—maybe a few meals if he was lucky. But still, the thought really touched her heart. Luffy was only fourteen here, and he was pretty much giving his big brother what must've been his life savings for his journey.

"Luffy, you should save it for yourself," Ace told him, holding it back out for him to take but Luffy shook his head.

"It's alright! You'll need it more than I will right now! I thought about what you said about starting off from scratch and I decided I wanna do the same!" Luffy told him, his eyes shining with anticipation. "So take it! I'll be fine! I want you to have it."

Ace seemed to be a bit choked up here as well as his hand clenched around the bag.

"Luffy… are you sure… you'll be okay without me?" Ace asked him, a slight tremble in his voice, "I could… wait a little longer if you…?"

"No, you're ready to go! Ace, you worked so hard for this day! I know I'm not ready for it yet, but you just wait, I'll be a hell of a lot stronger by the time I set sail!" Luffy promised, actually frowning at the thought of Ace offering to postpone his trip because of him.

Ace just shook his head, knowing that he couldn't win against Luffy once he made up his mind. Instead he just pulled him in for another one-armed hug.

"Alright. I'll pay you back when next we meet up," he promised, still grinning even as a few tears were already in his eyes.

"I can't take it! If I have to watch them anymore, I'm gonna rust from these tears!" Franky sobbed, falling forward, sobbing into the ground beneath him.

With Luffy's promises that he would be alright, any hesitation seemed to leave Ace as he swung his bag over his shoulder, and grabbed his hat and beaded necklace. The memory soon shifted so that they were back to the edge of the ocean where the little boat that he and Luffy stole was waiting. Ace dropped his bag inside as he and Luffy looked over the boat, waiting for everyone to join them. The bandits arrived by the time they got everything ready with Makino and the Mayor showing up soon after, bringing a box with a couple meals for Ace as a parting gift.

The only person who didn't show up to say goodbye was Dadan, who was strangely quiet during the party the night before when they thought back to her. But soon enough, they realized that they were postponing Ace's leaving by looking for extra jobs that needed done. Ace looked to the bandits and gave a surprising request.

"Hey, when you get back, could you give Dadan a message for me?" he asked.

"Huh? Sure… what is it?" one of them asked.

Ace just grinned and tilted his hat as he answered, "Tell her, 'Thank you for taking care of me'."

Everyone just smiled, past and present, all of them savoring the changes in Ace as he leapt back into the boat, truly setting off this time. They felt strangely honored that they could see such a special moment.

"Ace!" Luffy called, beaming at him proudly. "Take care of yourself!"

"Funny how it is now Luffy-san telling his brother to take care of himself," Brook said fondly.

"He's heading off into a world that they know nothing about… he's gonna need it to survive out here," Sanji said smiling sadly.

"Sure!" Ace called happily, beaming so wide that it was a wonder that he didn't get a cramp in his face from it, "See you later, Luffy! I'll be going on ahead!"

"Right!" Luffy called eagerly. "And when I set out to sea myself in three years, I'll become much stronger!"

"Don't we know it," Usopp agreed with a sage nod.

Ace just chuckled, as if looking forward to it as well, before he kicked off from land, letting the waves carry him away. He waved to them all as they all cried and cheered—Luffy up and front as he waved joyfully, but still a hint of sadness was in his eyes as his big brother was carried away from him.

"Do your best, Ace!" he called after him.

"Take care of yourself!" Dogra called, waving a handkerchief after him.

"Try not to catch cold!" Makino added.

"Still so kind, Makino-san!" Sanji swooned, suddenly reminded of the day that he left the Baratie and feeling a little homesick for a brief moment.

"Just you wait!" Ace declared before he was out of sight, "I'll make a name for myself real soon!"

"That he does," Robin said softly, knowing that he would soon become the feared 'Fire-Fist Ace' in less three years.

"There he goes!" Luffy called, grinning as he stared long after his older brother until he was out of sight.

"Really," the mayor said. "How is Garp going to take this?"

"I don't want to be around when he does," Usopp gulped.

"I'm gonna miss him," Makino sighed, "He really has come a long way since I first met him."

"You're telling me," Chopper said, remembering how cold Ace once was. "I wonder how his journey was…?"

"If it was anything like Luffy's then I'm betting it must've been pretty wild," Franky said, wishing that he could see some memories with that!

The bandits soon left, talking amongst themselves as they headed back in the direction of their hut. Makino and Mayor asked if Luffy wanted to come visit the village since it had been so long since he saw everyone there. Luffy promised he'd do that soon, but he wanted to stay here for a bit longer. They didn't question it, with Makino promising to treat him to a meal whenever he chose to stop by for them before leaving him.

Luffy remained there, staring long after Ace was long out of sight, his eyes unfocused.

"Wonder what he's thinking about?" Franky wondered as he looked over the kid.

"Probably imagining what kind of adventures are waiting for him when he sets off," Zoro offered with a shrug. "At least, that's what I think it'd be."

"Well, you both seem to share a brain cell so I'm inclined to believe you," Sanji offered as Zoro glared at him from his one eye.

"Watch it, Dumbass," he snarled.

"Just stating a fact," Sanji pointed out. "You got one brain cell for swords, another for booze, and the third one you have to share with Luffy. That's it! Be grateful you even have that much."

"You want to lose a limb right now? I'll be happy to hack it off for you," Zoro threatened.

"Please, don't ruin such a special moment, guys," Usopp sighed as the others ignored them.

In time, Luffy finally turned away from the ocean, a bittersweet feeling hanging in the air as he went off on his own. It was strangely lonely seeing Luffy by himself. But he was still smiling as he went along the now familiar path to the old training ground. It was as they last saw it, with the scoreboard still set up with their old pipe staffs leaning up against the tree.

"Right," Luffy said to himself, punching his fists as he got ready for another training session. "Only three more years for me."

Luffy looked back to the giant rock that he and Ace once mistook for Sabo and he seemed to be focusing hard on it. He then ran forward with a Gum Gum Pistol and ended up taking the top of the giant boulder off.

"He hit it!" Chopper called happily, glad to see that Luffy improved enough that he didn't miss the mark this time.

"And he's now strong enough to break apart rock with his bare hands," Franky said with a smirk, "About time."

"But his aim's still off a bit," Zoro pointed out. Luffy seemed to agree to that as he cursed to himself and frowned at the rock, as if wondering just why he had so much trouble.

"Just aim a little bit lower," Usopp said, realizing what the problem was.

Luffy focused harder than ever before, as if he heard Usopp's encouraging words, he tried again. But this time, he ended up hitting the rock dead center and smashing the rest of it to pieces. Grinning in pride, he punched the air, loudly declaring to all of Goa, "I'll become stronger! Much stronger!"

And that's how life was for Luffy now that he was on his own.

At first, it was hard for him to be on his own, but he soon made friends with some of the more tame creatures of the forest and mountain—not that this surprised them since Luffy bonded quickly with animals. Luffy would spend from morning to night constantly testing himself against the wilds or occasionally venturing towards the Grey Terminal to face off the random thug that went at him. But he kept his promise to Ace by staying clear of the city proper. Though he did have a tendency of straying as close as possible to their borders just for the sake of it. Since everyone in the city knew his face, he couldn't get too close without guards being called and pursuing him. But Luffy just laughed as he let the guards chase him, easily slipping through their fingers every time. Now the Straw Hats knew where Luffy learned to become so skillful in escaping from authorities.

They thought that they wouldn't see or hear about Ace again until Luffy set out to sea himself, however that changed in one memory when Luffy was relaxing in his fort. The next second, an excited Dogra came running towards him, waving around a newspaper as he called, "Luffy! Luffy! Look at today's paper!"

"What is it?" Luffy asked quickly as he stood up.

"There's only one reason why Dogra would be so excited about a paper," Nami said with a knowing smile as Luffy looked at the front page, and sure enough, a large grin appeared.

"Amazing!" he called out, staring at it, beaming with pride. "Ace made a name for himself! This picture shows him with his pirate ship and crew! Amazing! Ace is amazing!"

"I remember hearing about Ace when he first started making waves across the Grand Line," Robin said, thinking back to when she was still working for Crocodile and how his name had been mentioned a few times by some of the Bounty Hunters. "I remember how they were rumored to be targeted by hordes of bounty hunters and that through his numerous daring actions, Fire-Fist Ace was even offered a position as a Warlord of the Sea but turned it down."

"Whoa! Wait! Really?!" Usopp gasped, his eyes wide at the thought. "Ace was really strong enough to be offered the title of a Warlord in just a couple years after he left home?"

"Correct, and that was before he ended up joining Whitebeard as his Second Division Commander," she confirmed, "I remember Crocodile laughing about it once, saying how he wished he could've seen the Marines expressions at a super rookie turning down their offer."

"That would've been a sight to see," Franky grinned at the thought as Luffy was all but bouncing around in joy. He dropped the paper as he went running back into the forest.

"Luffy!" Dogra called after him in surprise, "Where are you going?!"

"I'm not gonna lose to him!" he yelled back, and soon they heard a boom and a giant smoke cloud appeared over the trees as if Luffy had just destroyed something big and heavy as he continued training.

"Look like Ace-san was a big inspiration to him," Brook said softly.

"I noticed that too," Sanji agreed, looking down at his cigarette. "Shanks was his childhood hero, but it was really Ace that was like a guiding light for him. Even when he wasn't around, he kept Luffy motivated and determined to grow get better. So that's how he became the Luffy we all knew."

Usopp sighed a little enviously as he confessed, "I'm jealous. I never knew just how close these two were… and that's something really one of a kind. Who knew coming to live here with bandits was the best thing that could've happened to them?

The memories were quicker than ever, mostly of watching Luffy train, sometimes wandering down to Windmill Village to visit Makino. He was even the one who showed her Ace's first wanted poster and she happily hung it on the wall, promising to put Luffy's poster up there with him when he got one.

"You know, she's taking the thought of him wanting to run out to sea to become an infamous pirate very well," Nami couldn't help but comment as Makino would treat Luffy to some meals when he came down to visit her as she would listen to him ramble on and on about what he would love to do once he became a pirate.

"Oh, she knows he's a good person and wouldn't hurt innocent people," Brook reassured her, "She knows that and I think she just wants to see him happy. She's like a big sister here. You have an elder sister too, don't you, Nami-san?"

"I do," she confirmed as she touched the gold bracelet she always wore and smiled as she thought about Nojiko, who wore the second bracelet. She really would have to try and send a letter to her next time she was given the chance. She then smiled sadly and said, "I hope she's doing well."

"Yohohoho, if she's your sister, I'm sure she's not only doing well, but thriving!" he reassured her kindly.

Nami grinned back, finding Brook to be incredibly kind when he wasn't being a pervert. As for the following memory, Luffy was about sixteen at this point and was back in the forest—as lively as ever. They noticed how he was continuing to develop more attacks now that he was finally getting the hang of controlling his rubber body. He had already come up with several classics such as the Gattling Gun, Spear, and his most recent addition: Battle Axe.

Nami smiled at the sight of that one, remembering how that had been the one who took down Arlong and flattened Arlong Park. It took him a while to figure out how best to pull it off, but by the time that he did, he had created a large crater in the forest and broke a massive stone boulder into nothing but pebbles.

"That's gonna be a special attack!" Luffy explained in excitement to his animal friends—who cowered behind the trees. "Once I'm a pirate, I'll be finding new crewmates, see?! I'll use it when I'm up against really touch enemies! And there will be times when they get beat or captured! When that happens, I won't hold back! I'll give 'em a Gum-Gum Axe, no matter who it is! See?"

One of his friends—a large gator—whimpered in terror as Luffy looked over at it and answered, "What? Don't worry, I won't use it on weaklings!"

"Ouch, captain," Franky said with a shake of his head.

"I'd just be happy that he wasn't planning on eating them," Usopp pointed out. "At least we can take comfort in the thought that Luffy wouldn't eat his friends."

"Then why'd he try to eat me that one time?" Chopper demanded hotly as the memory of being chased around a frozen castle came back to him.

"Technically, you guys weren't friends yet," Nami offered as they laughed.

Zoro rolled his eye at the scene as he looked around, starting to grow more and more tired of being in this forest. He took comfort in the thought that if Luffy was around sixteen here, it shouldn't be much longer before he took off on his seventeenth birthday. That should be interesting to see…?

He thought of their first meeting, the rest of the crew joining them, heading off to the Grand Line…? Would they really be watching all that again? It probably wouldn't be as intrusive as witnessing his childhood memories since they were there with him… but he had a bad feeling growing from all this. He couldn't help but feel that seeing all this will backfire on them in the end and he didn't want to imagine just how Luffy will react if he finds out…?

Witnessing his memories up throughout their adventures in Alabasta… Skypiea, Water 7 and Enies Lobby… Thriller Bark and the nightmare that happened back at Sabaody…?

He noticed something moving ahead and looked, expecting it to be another large animal hiding in terror from Luffy but…? Zoro stared, unable to believe his own eye for a moment. In fact, he was so stunned that he hurriedly rubbed his eye to make sure that he wasn't going crazy. It couldn't be…? It was only because he was just thinking of what happened at Thriller Bark and Sabaody that he saw him there… but…? But no… there, hiding behind some trees and bushes… was the hulking form of none other than Bartholomew Kuma. Zoro opened his mouth to let out a shout when they heard the familiar sound of a Transponder Snail, which was coming from Kuma's pocket. With a blink of the eye, Kuma had vanished as Luffy, who heard the noise, looked around.

"What as that?" Brook asked in surprise, "That sounded like a Transponder Snail?"

Everyone was curious as they tried to figure out where the noise came, but Zoro stood still, his one eye staring so wide that it was in danger of popping out. What the hell was that? Why was he, of all people, there? The only explanation he could think of was that… he came here for Luffy? But why? He remembered what Franky said about the Revolutionaries before while they were descending their way to Fishman Island and how Kuma apparently had a connection to them…? Did Kuma know about Luffy being Dragon's son and came to see for his own eyes? For what purpose?

He was almost convinced that he was just seeing things when he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back to see the cook there, his own face grave and white—causing Zoro to realize he wasn't the only one who was seeing things.

"Did you just…?" Sanji whispered to Zoro, who could only nod.

Thank god he wasn't the only one who saw that. What the hell was Kuma doing here?

It seemed that Luffy was trying to figure that out as well since he was looking around, shielding his eyes as he tried to squint at the surrounding trees.

"That was weird… I felt something that made me shiver," he said to himself, "Is there a big boss lurking somewhere on this mountain? I'm gonna find it and hunt it before I set sail!"

He did as he vowed and went running around the wilds for the next couple months, determined to find the source of that strange presence but was unsuccessful. Eventually, he was left with no choice but to give up when he came up with nothing. He looked thoroughly put out though since he wasn't given a chance to test his skills against 'the monster' as he called it since he didn't know what he was looking for.

By this point, Luffy's birthday was fast approaching but his strength seemed to have plateaued out since there wasn't anything left on the island that was strong enough to challenge him—save for the few times his grandpa would visit and give him the usual beatings. It was especially bad after he found out that Ace left and was running wild across the seas, and came back to check on Luffy, who stubbornly refused to tell his grandpa anything. The fact that they wanted to be pirates was never a secret, of course, and they would tell Garp any chance they got… but the one thing that neither of the brothers ever told him was when they would set off to sea.

Which was good, since Garp was telling him that he was going to be dragging him off to Marine HQ at any time he heard Luffy agree to go.

Of course, Luffy responded it the only way he could—by telling his grandpa that he was going to become the King of the Pirates—which caused another round of violence and lecturing from Garp.

The others were wincing in sympathy as Luffy was nursing a few swollen lumps on his head, the mystery of that strange 'presence' having been driven out of their minds for the moment.

Zoro moved a bit back to speak with Sanji, who was whispering to him, "I know that I wasn't seeing things. That was Kuma, right?"

He nodded back with a serious expression as Sanji just shook his head, looking baffled.

"Luffy never saw him, so he never would've recognized him," he whispered, "You think he was watching Luffy the whole time?"

"It wouldn't have been hard to keep an eye on him in the paper with how many times we've ended up there," Zoro whispered back. "No, Luffy wasn't even a pirate at this point. I think he must've known about Luffy's connection to Dragon."

"That's what I was thinking," Sanji frowned. "He had to have found out somehow and came to see him. But why?"

Zoro could only shake his head before Nami realized that they were talking and called out suspiciously, thinking they were just insulting each other, "Are you both arguing again?"

"It's nothing, my sweet Nami!" Sanji called reassuringly, acting all lovey-dovey until she seemed satisfied that they weren't about to kill the other. When she turned back to watch, Sanji dropped the lovesick expression and asked, "You think we should we tell them?"

"Tell them what? They didn't see him there and nothing happened," Zoro said, "No sense in worrying them over nothing."

Sanji frowned, but agreed that there was no point in mentioning something like this when literally nothing happened. But he made a note that they would both be keeping a sharper eye out from now on—wondering if Kuma had appeared at any other point during their journey.

At long last, the memory that they were waiting for finally arrived.

The vision showed them in front of the tree where their old hideout was. The treehouse was still there, though now it looked completely run-down and was covered by a thick layer of moss with even a fresh branch beginning to grow around it. It was obvious that no one had been up there for a long time since the three who first built it were no longer here.

Save for the youngest, who was standing at the base of the tree and was gazing up at it. Though his back was to them, they knew that it was their Luffy. He looked just as they remembered first meeting him as a swinging seventeen-year-old and ready to take on the world. The only thing that was different from this Luffy and the one they came to know and love was that his straw hat was missing—which they realized he didn't look right without it.

Nonetheless, his eyes were blazing with excitement as he turned away from the treehouse before running through the forest.

"Again with running?" Usopp groaned as they gave chase. Luffy almost flew along the ground as he ran, jumping over the crocodile pond, lightly landing down cliffs, and the rest of the monsters who lived here seemed to be afraid to go near him as if thinking that he would eat them… which he probably would.

He had certainly come a long way from the little boy who would constantly chase after his big brother.

"Yohohoho, he's like the boss of the forest now!" Brook laughed as Luffy would wave at certain animals before moving onwards.

"More like he's the boss of the island," Nami answered, wondering just why Luffy looked even happier than usual. The answer came after he burst through the clearing where the bandit's hut was and went straight to his little fort where he started gathering up a few possessions.

"Oh! Is this where he's finally ready to set off on his own?!" Brook called excitedly.

"Sure looks like it to me," Usopp grinned as Luffy pulled off his dirty, old t-shirt and pulled on a brand new, red vest that they recognized at once. One he was dressed, he started going through the few things that he owned—not that he had much. He took even less than Ace did when he left, not bothering with even taking a spare set of clothes or anything that you would need for survival. He would pick up something, usually a piece of clothing, shook his head, and then put it back. In the end, he seemed happy with just what he had on, shoved some coins in his pocket, before grabbing his precious straw hat from a tangle of blankets.

Once he was happy that he had everything that mattered, he stood before the fort, smiling long and hard at it, before he turned to the house and began to call to them, "Hey! Come on!"

He was so happy, he was skipping over as he leaned in the front doorway, speaking to all the others, "I'm going now! Aren't you coming to see me off?"

Everyone was there and were smiling sadly at Luffy as they told him that it was for the best they didn't. The Straw Hats were surprised at that, having all expected the bandits to come, like with Ace, but Dadan spoke, her back to him, "Oh, shut up. Makino and the Mayor wouldn't mind. They know us, but we'd scare the other villagers if we came down from the mountain."

"I guess Luffy decided to leave from Windmill Village," Franky offered, thinking that it was strangely fitting since that was the spot where he first declared that he was going to become King of the Pirates. Plus, he would be able to say a proper goodbye to his friends down there, but he could also see where Dadan was coming from.

Luffy, however, looked disappointed and started with, "Yeah, but…?"

"Just get going already!" she snapped back.

"Nice way to say goodbye to someone after all they've been through," Usopp muttered to himself.

Luffy sighed there, recognizing that there wasn't anything he could do.

"Oh, well, then guys…" he began before brightening up, nothing able dampen his mood today of all days, as he called fondly, "…thanks for everything!"

At his words, the bandits were all blushing red and beaming at him. Even Dogra said with an awkward laugh, "Oh, don't embarrass us. No need for thanks!"

"Now, now…" Magra agreed, rubbing the back of his head as he raised a hand in farewell. "Take care!"

"You know… they may have had a bad start… but these guys really grew on me," Franky said, smiling at them. "After Luffy becomes King of the Pirates, we should come back and visit them! I'd love to have a good drinking party with Dadan."

Usopp laughed at that and agreed, "That sounds great! I'm sure Luffy'll love it too!"

"Me too! I wanna meet them!" Chopper chirped up as smiles were shared all around.

Luffy grinned before promising, "Sure, I will!" But as he turned to leave, he suddenly stopped and stuck his head back in one more time, as if he remembered one last thing to complain about with a, "Oh, right!"

The bandits looked surprised as he said loudly to Dadan, "Dadan, I told you before that I hate mountain bandits…?"

"Luffy…?" Nami sighed, she had hoped that he would at least learn something from Makino's lessons.

"Shut up, you little brat!" Dadan called annoyed.

But Luffy held his hand up in farewell and added, "But I like you guys!"

Dadan gasped a little, and she pulled out a handkerchief from her blouse and began crying as the other bandits could only smile.

"Don't say dumb things like that, and just get lost, damn you!" she cried out, pride practically oozing outta her now that her last baby was ready to leave, "Sheesh you guys are all so…?"

"Why are you crying?" Luffy asked innocently.

"I'm not crying!" she snapped back before throwing something at his head, forcing him to laugh and duck.

"She's just like you, Franky," Chopper said, as the cyborg started to tear up from the touching scene, "Only a little more violent."

"Oh, shut up! A real man knows when to cry and isn't ashamed!" Franky sobbed out.

Luffy only laughed once more as he went running off, waving from them the entire time as he ran down the road—until they were out of his sights. Again, it was exciting to follow him down the pathway that would undoubtedly lead them to the village. The trees grew smaller and spread out farther as they slowly turned to farmlands and soon they could see the familiar windmills in the distance.

It was almost a culture shock to see the village again after all this time as Luffy made it to the small town and called out to everyone there.

The next stage of memories was when they were standing on the same dock that Luffy once waved goodbye to Shanks and his crew. It was truly coming full circle because, this time, it was Luffy setting out, ready to fulfill his promise.

The townsfolk took the news that he was leaving pretty well, and even threw him a small going-away party at the Party Bar before Luffy insisted that it was time to set sail.

The Straw Hats grinned at hearing those words—having heard them many times before—before watching Luffy take an old rowboat and a large barrel filled with apples and various other fruits.

"I kinda expected him to pack meat," Zoro pointed out.

"Well, apples would keep a lot longer than meat in this case since you can't cook anything in a tiny boat. This is healthier and will last longer," Nami said as Luffy turned back to the villagers.

"Hey," one man called to him. "If you're going out to sea, you should take my old fishing boat, Luffy. You'll sink right away if you take that thing."

"A rowing boat?" another said in concern. "Come on…?"

"Yeah, I have to agree," Franky said, looking at it. "That thing looks like it's gonna sink soon."

"I'm fine with this," Luffy said, shaking holding his arms out wide. "I'll start my journey here! It begins now!"

"Typical he would want to start out with that little bathtub," Nami smiled.

"Shows how far he's come since then," Brook laughed proudly, thinking of the Sunny and how they were now in the New World. "This is truly a wondrous thing to see! So this is how our captain started off! And here we are now!"

Luffy turned to face the sea before he surprised everyone by shouting out, "SABO! Look at me! I'm setting out to sea too!"

"I'm not gonna cry," Usopp said, though tears were filling up, "I'm not gonna cry…?"

"No, me neither," Chopper whimpered as he tried, and failed, to keep the tears from falling.

Luffy had a determined look in his eyes as he whispered to himself, "Sabo was first, Ace was second… and now I'm the third to go. But I won't lose!" He then cried out at the top of his lungs, "Wait for me, Ace! I'll catch up to you soon!"

"What are you doing, Luffy?" a villager asked as the rest of them all looked at each other completely lost. "Shouting and muttering to yourself like that. Is it some good luck charm?"

"That's not it," Luffy answered, turning back to him, holding his fist up proudly. "It's a challenge."

"Who's Ace?" someone asked.

"No idea," their friend answered.

"Wait, they don't know about Ace?" Usopp said in surprise as Makino and the Mayor both shared a secretive look.

"Well, if Ace was brought to Dadan as a baby, and if he practically grew up in the mountains, I'm guessing it's reasonable," Sanji offered, trying to think back to a memory where the two brothers visited the town together but was unable to think of one.

"Alright," Luffy called happily, waving to them all. "I'm going now!"

He untied the rope, and soon was rowing out as the town all let out cries of good luck and to take care of himself as they all waved him off.

"There he goes, mayor," they heard Makino said sadly, her hands on her hips, "I'm gonna miss him."

"Don't worry, my dear!" Sanji proclaimed to her, "Once I find the All Blue, I will come to you! Wait for me! Just wait for… OWWW!" He yelled as Nami pulled his ear sharply from behind as he cried, "OWW! OWW! OWW! MY EAR IS ATTACHED YOU KNOW!"

"No more of that," she said firmly as she let go and he rubbed his sore ear.

"He's a disgrace to the village. Becoming a pirate…" the Mayor muttered to himself just as Chopper said at the same time, "I wish that Dadan and the boys could be here."

"They are," Robin giggled softly.

"Wait? Really?" Franky said looking around, sprinting his eyes, "I don't see them."

Robin merely pointed behind them to see Dadan, Magra, Dogra—and a few other bandits—all peeking out from behind a building. "I guess they wanted to see him off too. But this is probably better for them. At least they don't have to worry about being blamed for any trouble."

"Oh, that's wonderful! Yohohoho! And so this is where the journey officially begins!" Brook proclaimed.

"Yeah!" Usopp and Chopper called out happily as they jumped to the sea, and ran across the water to chase after Luffy for as long as they could before this memory faded.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Nami yelled as Brook and Franky also joined them.

"No point in trying to stop them," Sanji smiled, blowing kisses to Makino and some of the other beautiful women from the village, before following after the others. But soon the happy waves turned into gasps of terror as a giant roar was heard from beneath their feet.

A familiar face suddenly burst out from beneath the sea—with the same glowing red eyes and long eel-like body of the Sea King that had almost eaten Luffy a decade before.

"Is that…?" Usopp screamed as he and Chopper hugged each other, running back a few feet as the Sea King looked down at Luffy—as if he had been waiting for another chance to eat him.

"The same sea king that took Shank's arm!" Brook stated with a cry of shock.

"Wow, didn't see that coming," Zoro smirked, having expected the wholesome goodbye to go off without any problems. Then again, this was Luffy and something unexpected always seemed to happen to him even when he wasn't trying.

"He doesn't mean any harm, he's just hungry," Sanji added with a shrug.

"Can't you be a little worried?!" Usopp yelled back.

"Relax," Zoro grumbled with a wave of his hand, "It's not like we're dealing with a defenseless little kid anymore. Watch…?"

It seemed like he was right because Luffy was standing calmly in the little boat and tilted his hat down so that his eyes were covered. "So, there you are, Lord of the Coast," he said merely looking back without a shred of fear, "You don't know who you're messing with. Look at my technique. I've been training for ten years."

Luffy threw his arm back and shouted out, "GUM GUM… PISTOL!"

Finally, after all that hard work, Luffy found his mark, hitting it with such force that the Sea King was knocked out of the sea and fell backwards in the water with a crash—water breaking up as it floated there with a swollen face.

"Looks like he's finally got that move right," Sanji smirked.

"That was amazing!" Chopper said, eyes shining.

"Learned your lesson yet, you dumb fish?" Luffy spoke up smugly, but here, he deserved it. It took a while, but Luffy was able to get some payback for Shank's arm… it was sweet justice. The villagers from the shore were now cheering and whistling loudly in pride as Luffy gazed out at the sea, tilting his hat back to see that clear, blue sky.

"First I gotta gather a crew!" Luffy said to himself as they joined him on the sea. "I'd like to have about ten people! And then a pirate flag…" he beamed at the thought. "Alright… here I come!"

The other Straw Hat were just watching with satisfaction—wondering just what was in store for them all next as Luffy punched the air, and screamed out at the top of his lungs, "I'M GONNA BE THE KING OF THE PIRATES!"

(Okay, so I made some changes here… I added in a few bits and changed other parts around so it's a bit longer than it used to be. But I do hope you enjoyed the changes. I loved the idea that Luffy gave Ace those beads as a birthday present, since it reminded him of Luffy, Dadan, and the others. And I liked the idea of Ace already being aware of Dragon—the talk that he and Garp had in Impel Down suggested that Ace did know it. And the idea that Luffy gave the little money he saved up for his trip? I couldn't stop myself. I just wanted a lot of wholesomeness for this chapter. And I do think that the moment that Luffy was attacked by that bear and Ace not immediately jumping in to save him was a big turning point for his character. I think he must've held a lot of guilt over not protecting Luffy that day, which was what led to him being so protective of him. Now I know that this chapter is later than normal, sorry about that, but because of all the changes, I just didn't have time to properly get it done in time for the weekend. So, I will be taking a break for a week or two to focus on my health and maybe a few other projects. I get why Oda needs those occasionally breaks between chapters, it's exhausting getting a chapter out each week. Anyway, I hope that this chapter will keep you all entertained till next time!)