CHAPTER 2: Recollections - Part I

NANOHANA, ALABASTA

Two Years Prior

"Hmn..." Ace frowned as he sat, finishing up his 99th plate. He left a message in Drum saying that he'd stay in Alabasta only for ten days. But after the eight day, he still couldn't find her, and that's when he got agitated. Maybe she wouldn't even try to look for him, damn her.

It didn't really get easier when the ninth day came and he found out Blackbeard may be in this town called Erumalu because there was still no news of her crew's arrival.

He chewed on his meat a bit more harshly than usual.

And then he fell asleep.

He was woken up by the sensation of flying, followed by the realization that he was no longer in his seat, covered in rubble, along with a marine he distinctly remembered to be troublesome. The smoker guy started saying something when his thoughts drove back to Luffy.

He imagined actually meeting her and he grinned at the image, his insides swelling with eagerness. He knew what she looked like now, roughly, based on her wanted poster but it has been over three years—

His line of thoughts stopped as he stared in front of him. "What is with all those wall punctures?"

"We went through there."

"...what?"

Smoker ignored him and grunted as he followed the massive tunnel of walls leading to whatever sent them flying. Ace shrugged and followed, primarily out of curiosity. As he walked through each hole he was again reminded of her and how she has run across one of the island's longest cave in an attempt to find the legendary bat as big as a man (that also liked children and chewy substances).

It was something Sabo made up with to make sure she didn't explore that part of the island (it had a lot of snakes), but all Luffy heard was adventure.

He chuckled to himself like an idiot, just before noticing a family in their newly-opened dining room gaping at him. He bowed and apologized for the interruption, before heading his way.

She's probably still the same, he thought with a smirk and imagined how she'd react to seeing him, before his feet stopped at a thought: How will he react?

He's now well past his hormonal stage. Seeing her again shouldn't be torture. He nodded at the conclusion and went on his way.

He found out shortly after that he was wrong. Very wrong.

He saw her eating as much as he had, gobbling up so much food into her rubber mouth that her eyes became slits and she had no idea he was there. She was her usual unruly self, and he had never seen anyone so beautiful.

Then his face violently got shoved to the floor and, after a loud bellow yelling "Straw Hat!", she disappeared.

...

He found them soonafter. It seemed that the Smoker guy had been hunting his sister down for a while and he watched as she nimbly avoided the attacks and even disappeared on him, only to realize that she just fell down a gap.

This made him cackle. That girl never changes.

Then she found her crew (hilariously luring the marines to the whole team) and they run. Ace knew Luffy can't use Haki yet, so he jumped down and showed off his newly acquired power, courtesy of the Old Man.

"Whoa, Ace!? You ate a devil fruit?" She yelled, sparkling, but as much as he wanted to chat right now (or something else) they needed to lose Smoker first.

"Ah." He said, facing the enemy. "I'll catch up to you later." This only made the smoker frown deeply, smoke quickly surrounding him—ready to attack.

"I don't know what your relationship is with her... but I'll take care of you, Fire Fist."

"He's my nii-chan!" He heard her tell her crew as they run and he smiled, almost forgetting he's in front of an enemy.

"You do know fire versus smoke is a pretty pointless fight, right?" was all he replied before allowing his arms and hands to self-combust. Smoker's eyes twitched a little but the man hid his intimidation well.

Ace smirked and crunched his knuckles, particularly energized to spar with an established marine after seeing his sister, absolutely ready to deal with the smoke aiming to kill him.

...

He managed to lose Smoker to find the crew... only to find Luffy walking aimlessly all by herself. "Seriously?" he yelled as he looked at her from above one of the building's roofs. "It's like you're not trying to escape."

She didn't really hear anything he has said though, only his voice. "ACE!" she yelled and he laughed and jumped down, to be greeted by what he called a Luffy-glomp—arms stretching to his neck and her whole ricocheting for a hug—and he held her by the hips so she stayed that way.

Under the other's embrace, both breathe out in contentment, as if they weren't breathing the past few years.

They stayed that way for a long time, before she separated her head and rested her arm on his shoulder. "Wanna wrestle?" She asked with a twinkle, almost out-of-nowhere (only it's Luffy so it doesn't count). Something perverted came to mind, thanks to the past four years of being a pirate, but then she jumped down from his embrace and motioned towards a random barrel, positioning her arm.

He should have known she meant arm wrestle. She was absolutely excited to show him how strong she got so he held her hand to fight.

He only laughs before walking towards her, leaning down and resting his elbow on the wood, and met her challenge.

And indeed, she got stronger. Way stronger.

The barrel broke first, and he didn't let go of her hand. He looked at her radiant smile and he knows he was giving it off too. How long had it been since he has seen it personally? He can only thank the marine photographer for the nice happy picture on her wanted poster that kept him from missing her to the point of insanity.

She beamed at him. "I've gotten stronger haven't I? Totally Pirate king worthy, right?" She asked, before giving him an even brighter expression (which honestly didn't seem possible at all). "You should see my nakama. They're strong—but more importantly, they're really funny."

She proceeded on giving him a fast-tracked introduction of each one: the haramaki-wearing green-haired swordsman, the strong-kicking cook, the hot-headed-but-awesome navigator, a long-nosed-sniper-liar, and a talking-reindeer-doctor. She added they also have a princess and her large duck/emergency food supply #2 as nakama.

He barely registered the information though, as his eyes were set on her expressions—even the most miniscule ones—and when he felt it was not enough, so he took a step forward and pinned her to the brick wall so that she wouldn't move. He wanted to see all the little details—how much she had changed—and to refresh his memory of her face.

She stopped talking in response and stared back, and under her unassuming stare he could feel his whole being desperately want to do something. Still, he hesitated. He always did.

Luffy, though, did what she does best: Whatever the hell she wants.

During her silence she raised her hands to his cheeks, tracing his freckles with a somewhat serious face, and that moment he forgot to breathe. Then she laughed that laugh of hers—noting something about him simultaneously being red and blue—and gave him a toothy grin. "I missed you," she said, before giving him a serious question face. "And where did half your freckles go?"

The strength in his arms all but gave way and his elbow bent to the point that they were now a mere inch apart. Her breath sends pleasurable sensations down his spine. But he only stared at her and wondered how he was so shaken while she could challenge him to arm wrestle and tell her all about other people the first time they've seen each other in almost four years.

He was suddenly full of doubts—a feeling not unusual to him, especially for someone with his blood line—but he was stronger now and he wanted to dispel it, once and for all.

"Luffy." He voiced out, nervous. "What do you think of me?" he paused and, to ensure she understood the question, added: "Do you see me as a man?"

"Well, you can't be a woman."

His head falls then he lifts it up again. "Why'd you kiss me?"

She scratched her cheek in ponder, and he stared at her (nerves wreaked), until she decided on the answer. "I felt like it."

"I'm technically your brother."

She stared at him, not seeing his point.

"You do not kiss your brothers in the lips."

"Eh?" He watched her eyebrows furrow. "Why?"

He could only gape at her and came to a conclusion that she didn't have any idea what she felt.

He should have known. He really should've known.

The realization had thrown him into an odd mixture of shock, despair, and amusement and the following silence between them lasted unusually long.

After a while of incredulity, he can feel his insides bubbling and his head fell again—letting out a loud laugh. There was no point explaining this to her, he knew. She had always been action-first before doing any sort of thinking, anyway.

"Ne, Luffy—HAHAHA—but seriously," He breathed out, proximity smaller than ever. "Can I kiss you?"

She looked at him weirdly (since he was just laughing for no reason at all) before she registered the question and grins ("Ace, you're weird"). Then he grinned as well and it stayed on his lips as he leaned down to meet hers—

"There they are!"

"Tsk." Those blasted bounty hunters find them and a couple of seconds later she saw her ship. "I'll take care of this." He said, absolutely planning on barbecuing them and sticking them on a stick. Luffy knew him enough to predict what he was planning. Hence, by the time he finished the sentence, she was already flying to her ship.

He shook his head, amused, but then his face changed the moment he turned to the cockroaches that interrupted his precious kiss.

"Get his head, men—Eek!"

"What the—"

"You're pants are burning!"

"Your hair is burning!"

"SHIT!"

Those who survived to tell the tale would call him a fire-breathing demon.

回忆

He caught up to them a few minutes later, when she was introducing him to the crew. "I couldn't beat him even before he ate the devil fruit!" Then she cackled. "I bet I'm stronger than he is now, though." She's so sure about herself that he took it upon himself to correct her.

"You sure 'bout that, Luff?"

"Ace!" She called and he jumped down, scanning the crewmates she's so proud of. So colorful, he thought, and not just in the literal sense. But then again, you can't expect a normal crew with a captain like Luffy. Staring at them, he patted Luffy's head. "She must've caused you a lot of trouble."

"Yes, she has." They say at once.

He laughed, "Sorry 'bout that." He said, and offers to light the cook's cigarette. Silence passed by the ship, (what did she call it? Merry?) then they joked about how he and Luffy couldn't possibly be siblings (he's way too well-mannered compared to their unruly captain) and Luffy in turn snickered and bragged about how hilarious her crew was.

It was then that he notices the women were wearing dancer's clothes, and he whipped his head to Luffy, looking down, imagining what might be inside that cloak—

"What are you looking at?"

"You couldn't be wearing dancer's clothes, too?" He asked, not really caring if the anticipation was audible in his voice or not.

"I bought her one!" Sanji-the-kicking-cook raised his hand, eager to impress, instinctively knowing that Ace would want to see the captain in alluring clothes once in a while. "But Marimo kicked it away."

"Oh?" Ace's eyebrows rose at this, and he turned his head to the grumpy-looking swordsman, who similarly raised an eyebrow in response. They stared at each other. "Is that so?"

He then turned his head back to the cook and patted his shoulder, not bothering to hide a threatening aura looming above them. "You weren't planning on peeping on my sister now, are you?"

The usually-impenetrable Sanji became intimidated and he realized his mistake. "I-I wouldn't dare, Onii-sama." He said, coolly going by his gut, just before walking towards the other man and lowers his voice. "But when I do, I'll be sure it's for your eyes only."

Ace grinned at this, and they simultaneously made a thumbs-up.

"Whoa." A little voice below him yells in awe. It was the small furry doctor. "Sanji became a minion!"

The freckled man smiled at the kid then jumped down the balustrade so he stood on the deck with the crew.

"And please continue taking care of her," he said, giving a customary bow. They flinch, and bows the same way.

"Ah." They say simultaneously, with deadpan expressions. "We'll have to."

Luffy laughed. "So funny."

Then her eyes ended up on Ace's bare neck and she turned her head to the swordsman at a recollection. "Oi, Zoro!" She yelled. "Did you get what I asked for?"

The green-haired man nodded stoically and ruffled his coat pocket and threw something at her. She twinkled as she caught it. "Oooohhh~!" "As expected of my first mate!" She yelled and proudly patted his back continuously with force that'd kill a normal man.

Ace watched the exchange and right on cue—a certain fleet of enemies comes rushing in, yelling to attack them.

He stopped the crew from doing anything, saying he'd deal with it and jumped into his little fire-powered boat.

He came back after pouring his well-hidden annoyances towards Baroque Works' ships and sat on the wooden railing behind Luffy—barely aware of the awed gapes of her grew—and pulled her in for a possessive back hug.

Luffy didn't flinch much and continued to chat and mumble about his devil fruit, but he had seen the narrowing of the swordsman's eyes and Ace smirked a little, knowing the message was sent.

.

.

END OF CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3: Recollections – Part II

Ace travels with the gang to Erumalu, in what will comprise his

last good moments with his sister.