One Piece 1. Arrival

**Otherside**

Oh how I love it when ideas come to you at six in the mornin' …  
>So yeah, I wanna get into something long-term, and this seems like the perfect way to go…<p>

It's rated **M **for obvious reasons, well.. expect stuff eventually, and some deep stuff as well.

_**- Arrival -**_

* * *

><p>His mind went blank, his body cold and his heart stale, as he collapsed next to his little brother, slowly slipping in to the after life as his final moments in this world came to a quick end. His body was torn, his face covered with scratches and his hair dripped with blood.<p>

Although he had told Luffy to live without regrets, his heart still held many deeds left unfinished... as much as he was happy dying in the place of his brother, he still felt a need to live within this world… he wanted to continue living to keep protecting his little brother, no matter how much he would grow and become mentally or physically stronger, he would always need his older brother to look out for him.

He slipped out of his younger brother's grip and fell to the floor, his consciousness left him and he believed it was over.

With nothing else to do but to close his eyes and smile, he relaxed and fell into death's arms… or so he believed.

* * *

><p>With an alarming scream and a horrific crash, Ace re-awoke with a daze… his eyes opened up to a beautiful starry sky, a peaceful aura surrounded him… a soft wind blew threw his hair… he felt at ease, aside from the horrible pain he was feeling in his back and his ears deafened from the scream before, his only thought was…<p>

_Is this heaven?_

_…_

"Do you mind? – get off me you crazy idiot!" A familiar voice bellowed from underneath.

Ace eventually realized that he had landed on something very uncomfortable and scrawny, and from hearing the angry-tone of whomever it was underneath, he stood to his feet in a hurry and turned around to apologize.

Before he was able to sum up any kind of apology, all he could say was-"Oh… my… god…" as his mouth gaped open; his eyes fully fixed on the person who was now getting up from the floor and re-adjusting himself quite furiously. When _he _realized who had landed on him, he jumped back a little and readied himself... ready to fight.

"wo-ho, what's wrong Luffy? Do you not recognize me?" Ace cheered, he had no idea whether he was in heaven or hell, but all he could think about doing right now was hugging his little brother.

Luffy firmed his stance and stepped away as Ace approached, he didn't know how Luffy felt but Ace was about ready to pounce on him in joy!

"Come on… is this any way to act towards your big brother?" Ace smirked as he stopped just a few inches in front, holding out his arms to bring him into a hug.

"Big brother? – are you high?" he shouted, bringing his fists up.

"High? What on earth are you talking about? And don't tell me you're angry at me for dying…"

"What the hell's wrong with you? You died? I saw you like an hour ago and you seemed perfectly fine to me... And what's with that outfit? Are you going surfing or something? – I knew you were on drugs, I mean… who the hell surfs in winter, in Japan and at night? Are you crazy?"

"I could say the same about you! What's with that weird outfit? And this hostility! If you really want to fight me then don't get pissed when I beat you, like usual..." he smirked.

"Oh yeah? Well I've gotten stronger! You just haven't seen me in action yet because you've been avoiding since _that _happened!"

"Avoiding you?" _I've been in prison…_

Ace paused to take a quick look around... it was different, _too _different. Not only was it quiet but the air was clear of smells he was used to like gunpowder and sea water. He expected pirates to be dancing through the streets, singing, cheering, drinking, smoking, chatting up women... but nothing.. it was like a ghost town, maybe he was actually dead.

"Where am I? – this isn't Marineford, or even anywhere that resembles the places I've been…"

Ace looked over at Luffy who had lowered his hands, seeming slightly confused as well. "Well... who the hell are you? You're not the Ace I know, that's for sure."

"You're not the Luffy I know! The last time I saw you, you were crying you eyes out because I was… I was…" Ace paused, unsure how to continue…. He wasn't even sure himself about what happened.

"You were what?" Luffy added.

"I thought I died but… I feel fine and my chest is completely healed" He replied, scartching at his chest.

"Plus you were about to hug me weren't you? The Ace I know doesn't even know what a hug looks like…"

"Is it possible that I've… been transported to another world?" Ace said as he looked around once more, it definitely seemed like a possibility.

"Hmmm… well we could as my friend, he might know a thing or two. He goes to a private college, so he's stereotypically clever."

"You definitely aren't the Luffy I know, where the hell did you pick up a word like stereotypical?" Ace replied, worried.

"College…" he replied, a little confused "like everyone else…"

"College? There's no such thing as college in my world, I have no idea what that even is…. I kinda know how my brother feels now…"

"Anyway…" Luffy added, realizing that in the world this Ace was from, his brother was obviously very stupid and to make matters worse, he was the little brother of this Ace from that world, he couldn't possibly imagine that happening in this world. "If you come round I can invite him over and he might be able to help."

"That would be awesome Lu, thanks" He smiled happily.

"Lu? …" his eyebrow tweaked.

"Oh sorry, that's my nickname for you" he paused to correct himself "I mean… the Luffy I know..." Ace replied, feeling a little awkward for the first time in ever around his younger brother.

"Right… right…" Luffy said as he walked by Ace and continued home. Ace followed, silence was a major part of the walk home, they had both had an awkward meeting and they had both learned a little something about themselves.

"So…." Luffy started "You died?" he added, seeming a little saddened.

"Well I thought I did"

"How? You're so young as it is and you seem healthy and free of illness…"

"No it wasn't anything like that… I was a pirate and although my main enemy was the navy, I was actually defeated by this man who was once my friend, but he betrayed us by murdering his friend and running off. I went looking for him and when I found him he was incredibly powerful, he defeated me and handed me over to the navy. I was supposed to have been executed but you, well the you I know came to save me."

"Really? I came to save you"

"We're brothers where I come from, and we always have been" Ace smiled, looking back up at the stars and wondering if his Luffy was really okay…

"But if you were rescued. That means you died after you were rescued right?"

"Well yeah, you managed to rescue me, but when we were escaping, one of the admirals in the navy started taunting me about how pathetic my captain was and I sorta' lost my cool. When he attempted to kill you I stood in front of you and took the blow to my back, it pierced right through my chest, it should of killed me but it seems I'm still alive."

"So what happened to me then?" Luffy added, from Ace's point of view, he seemed very intrigued.

"I'm not sure, I'm hoping you managed to get away… you're probably in a right state though. I need to get back pronto though before you do anything insane."

"Me? In a state? … That really doesn't seem like the sort of thing I'd do after someone I cared for died… well I'd be upset but I wouldn't let it bother me too much…"

"You really aren't the Luffy I know…" Ace laughed, for the first time that night as well, Luffy was able to laugh along with him.

Luffy abruptly stopped outside a block of apartments.

"What's wrong?" Ace asked.

"Nothing, we're home"

"You live here?"

"The rent is really cheap and I like it because it's more sociable. The Ace I know lives here as well, but he's never home, he's a really popular guy so he's always out partying."

"That does sound a little like me…"

"So? Come on in then, I'm hungry, so I'd like to eat at some point…" Luffy said as he opened up the main entrance and pulled Ace in. Although on the outside the building seemed very old and plain, on the inside it was beautifully decorated, clean and very peaceful, Ace had never seen anything like this, but he liked the idea of it.

"It's so quiet and clean…"

"Well the landlady is like, a germaphobe, so she cleans this place like two to three times a _day. _She even offers to clean some of our rooms but since it's mostly students who live here... We're all a bit uneasy with the idea" Ace and Luffy climbed two flights of stairs before reaching the front door to Luffy's apartment at the very beginning of the corridor.

"Oh, so where do I technically live?" Ace questioned.

"The last door on the right at the end of this corridor, to be honest you're probably the quietest out of everyone who lives here."

"Do I not bring people back from time to time though? If you catch my drift…"

"You did, you used to do it like all the time, to the point where I saw the same people over and over again. But a few months ago you suddenly stopped and about a week ago something happened… I don't really want to talk about it."

_Something happened?..._

Luffy stepped into his apartment and motioned Ace to join him. "Have you always been like that with him?" Ace asked as he took a quick gander around the apartment.

"Yeah… since childhood, we get a long and stuff but we have our differences and we fight all the time. As much as I hate to admit it, I've never been able to beat him in a single fight, contest, game or bet" Luffy said as he sat down in front of his kotatsu. _(T/N: A low-down Japanese table, usually covered by a futon)._"Come sit, I'm gonna order some food and invite Usopp around, so make yourself comfortable" Luffy motioned for him to come and join him on the floor.

His bedroom was surprisingly clean, there were drabs of clothing placed loosely around the apartment and there was rubbish scattered all over the place, but aside from that it was a lot cleaner than expected, considering who he was.

The apartment itself was also pretty spacious, fitted with a comfortable looking double bed, a desk that had a weird flat device resting on it. A small bathroom that was equipped with a fancy looking shower. The kitchen was small but complete with the essentials like a cooker, refrigerator/freezer and other interesting devices.

Ace faintly picked up on Luffy speaking to someone other than himself. He focused on the strange black-looking device that Luffy had hold of in his hand and next to his ear.

"Right, I want the usual…" pause "you know what the usual is, I ordered it like two days ago" pause "you're the same guy I spoke to the other day right?" pause "you're memory is really, really shit – just give me three large pizza's, with every kind of meat and _no_vegetables – you at least know the address right?" pause "thank god for that, thanks, and hurry up, I'm starving!" Luffy hangs up and holds the device up in front of him.

"What's that?" Ace asked.

"This? – it's a phone, have you never seen one before?"

"Well yeah, but not like that... They usually have snails connected to them"

"What kind of world did you come from?" Luffy questioned.

"Now that I'm in this world I'm questioning it myself!"

"Hold on a second, I'm calling usopp" the room fell silent, the faint sound of ringing can be heard from the device next to Luffy's ear until the ringing abruptly stops and Ace barely recognizes the familiar, nasally voice.

"Usopp! Are you busy?" Luffy practically screams down the phone at him "you're studying? – but you did that last night, and the night before, and the night before that." Pause… "It's not that important! Anyway come round to mine, there's something you might want to see…" he looks up at Ace, smiling "yeah, it's pretty interesting, so hurry up!" pause "Cya later" Luffy hangs up and places the phone on the table.

"I can't believe Usopp is here as well, I wonder if the others are as well…" Ace questioned.

"Was there an Usopp where you came from?" Luffy asked.

"Oh yeah, he was part of your crew, along with a few others"

"My… crew?"

"Yeah, you were a pirate like me and a captain at that. Your dream was to be the king of pirates"

Luffy's jaw dropped in excitement "I was a pirate? That's awesome! And I even had a crew! Wherever you came from is amazing!" he cried.

"Yeah, you loved being a pirate, you had a great crew as well, and even though _I_ hate to admit it, you were pretty powerful, but _only _because you ate a devil fruit-" he stopped and realized… _My Mera Mera ability… do I still have it?_

Trying with all his might, Ace attempted to set his fingers alight, but it didn't come to him like it naturally did. Luffy stared at him intently and worriedly before he questioned his actions. "What are you doing?"

"I had a devil fruit ability, but it seems like I've lost it- damn, a major amount of my recent strength was based on my devil fruit power…" He paused to look at Luffy "Guess I'll have to do some more training…"

"Devil fruits? – what're they?" Luffy questioned.

"Oh, they're these weird mystical fruits that give the eater different abilities and powers."

"Did you say I ate one?"

"Yeah, when you were seven years old you accidentally ate the Gomu Gomu fruit, you became a rubber man. I used to love teasing you as a kid about how cruddy your ability was… but it really is useful"

"Hmm, I bet it suited me though… I myself am really flexible, watch…" he said as he shifted back from the table and placed both of his legs behind his head. "Ta-da!" He smiled innocently.

Something tingled inside Ace; he felt something he hadn't felt in a _long _time…. From seeing Luffy's flexibility, how his crotch was so openly exposed… it was… arousing. "Heh…" he smiled wearily "how bout that? …" he shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

A sudden knock on the door saved him from any continuing discomfort.

"Coming!" Luffy shouted, removing his legs from behind his head, standing up and making his way over to the door.

Ace looked towards and out the window at the starry night and questioned that particular incident…

* * *

><p><em>I know this new Luffy is a bit OOC, but there's a reason and you'll find out about it in the next chapter.<em>

**_Like? Review!_**


	2. Theory

_**- Theory -** _

* * *

><p>"Hey Sanji, you were really quick today! – I'm impressed…" Luffy smiled, leaning against the frame of his front door.<p>

"We're the best in the Miyagi Prefecture, I'd hate to sully our reputation by being late, plus our food is best eaten when it's freshly made." Sanji said, handing over the large boxes of pizzas.

"You tell me that all the time, and I always say... thanks" Luffy slams the door happily and walks back over to the table.

"You didn't pay?" Ace questioned…

"I opened up a tab, I pay at the end of every month, unless I don't order anything, which is always unlikely..." Luffy opened up the first box, his mouth dripped with saliva as he gazed upon the meatiest pizza ever made.

"So that was Sanji? You know, where I came from he was a part of your crew as well, he was your chef, he was exceptional as well."

"Really? – Well we don't speak much but when I see him around college I always let on. He wants to become the head chef of the restaurant he's currently working at."

"I guess the ones from this world are a lot like the ones from my world… by the way; you never gave me an answer before, where are we exactly? …"

"Huh?" Luffy hummed, a slice of pizza was just hovering above his mouth, he'd stopped to answer Ace. "We're in the Kurokawa District of the Miyagi Prefecture, it's only a small village but it's got everything we need, clubs, restaurants, shops, schools. If you meant country-wise, this is Japan." Luffy said as he slowly wrapped his tongue around the end of the pizza and ate it within moments.

"So this is Japan? It's really peaceful around here."

"Yeah, it's only peaceful because it's a week-night, it gets pretty rowdy on the weekends when all the bars are open late and people come from out of town to party."

"Huh… it's sort of where we grew up to be honest, there's a town and lots of surrounding mountains, the only thing missing is the ocean."

"So you do surfboard?" Luffy grinned, gobbling more and more pieces of the pizza; the first box was almost empty.

"No… I can't swim…" he paused after he realized… "Wait, I don't have my devil fruit ability anymore... So I might be able to swim again… I suppose that's good…"

"You couldn't swim because of that devil fruit?"

"Well they were known as the fruits of the sea, in exchange for gaining tremendous power, you loose your ability to swim and when completely submerged in water you become a hammer."

"Bummer… I bet that was a pain – do you want some of this pizza anyway?"

Ace was stunned, to say the least anyway... Luffy was… was… offering food. "Honestly?"

Luffy paused midway through eating his ninth slice, melted cheese dripped down from his mouth… "Yesh" he replied.

Ace looked down at the slowly disappearing slices of pizza in front of him; drool escaped his mouth as he realized he too was pretty famished.

He took the last slice of pizza from the box and happily gobbled on cheesy, meaty feast. After just one slice he was already hooked on the taste. "This is great! – it tastes so good!"

Luffy opened the second box to reveal a pizza of the same kind, it still had a fresh smell and look to it as well. As Luffy gripped another piece, there was a second knock at the door. "Damn it… what bad timing…" He finished the slice on his way to the door.

He swung it open and screamed "Usopp! – Great to see ya' buddy" Luffy smiled.

"Hey Luffy-" Before Usopp could continue, his eyes widened upon seeing who he believed to be Ace in his apartment. "Sorry Ace, excuse us for a second."

Ace's eyebrow tweaked, but he didn't think much of it, he figured his presence probably had something to do with Usopp dragging Luffy out of his apartment and into the hallway outside, the door was quietly closed after them.

"What the hell is he doing around here? I thought you said you weren't going to speak to him, especially after what happened last week!" Usopp said in a panicked voice.

"I know, but he's the reason why I brought you round. He's the interesting thing you've got to see!"

"Why? Has he apologized or something insanely ridiculous like that? Because I will admit, that would be interesting"

"No… it's not what he's done or what he's going to do, it's who he is!"

"A maniac?" Usopp replied, folding his arms.

"No! He's a different Ace, I think he's from a different world, one like ours but we're different in certain ways!"

"A parallel universe? Is it possible?" He pondered…

"That's why I brought you round, I can't really figure much from it but I thought you might."

Usopp fell silent as he rubbed the bridge of his nose before finally speaking up again "Does he know?"

"Do you _really _think I can tell him? No… I'm just going to keep it to myself, plus he wants to get back to his own world as quickly as possible, so there isn't much point in us becoming close" Luffy said.

"Fine…" Usopp said.

"Alright! Trust me, he's completely different from the Ace we know, he's kind, polite and very friendly"

Luffy re-opened the door and walked in, he was surprised to see the second box of pizza now completely empty.

"Sorry... I'm actually really hungry…" Ace apologized.

"Oh my god… he really is a different ace!" Usopp whispered into Luffy's ear.

"I know right?" Luffy whispered in return.

Usopp and Luffy sat down under the kotatsu and dug into the last box of the pizza.

"So… would you tell us what your world is like?" Usopp asked after consuming a slice of pizza.

"Well… it's sort of like this world, except a majority of the people in my world are pirates, including us three"

"I was a pirate?" Usopp burst out, almost choking on his slice of pizza.

"Incredible right? You were part of my crew as well!" Luffy cheered.

"What? That's crazy…" Usopp remained speechless.

"We also had devil fruits, sea-beasts, mermaids, giants, dragons, you name it." Ace added.

"I don't know about the devil fruits, but the last couple of things you mentioned are nothing but myths over here" Usopp added. "And we all exist in your world as well?" Usopp added.

"Yeah, you look exactly the same as well… the only differences are the way you dress, your ambitions and even your personality. But even with those differences you're still similar, like that Sanji guy from before, in my world he was a chef on Luffy's ship, I also heard his dream was to find this vast ocean known as 'all-blue' but in this world he works as a chef in a restaurant and his dream is to be the head-chef" Ace replied.

"For now it's only a theory, but it seems like we're parallel universes. Same people, same looks, same places, we just differ in the littlest of ways" Usopp said, finishing his last slice of pizza.

"Wow… this is so awesome!" Luffy cheered "So what am I like in your universe Ace?"

Ace looked up from his pizza, unsure where to begin… "Well you're loud, reckless, always hungry, a cry-baby, simple-minded, and a majority of the time, very stupid."

"Oh…" Luffy replied, feeling somewhat hurt, Ace picked up on his hurt expression and added…

"But _you _were the best little brother I could ever ask for. You were fun to be around, caring, strong-willed and very friendly" Ace smirked; about to go for the last slice of pizza, but found himself caressing Luffy's fingers instead in the awkward moment where they were both about the touch the slice but wound up touching each others hands.

Ace pulled back and noticed Luffy flushing a little from the mild contact. "Go ahead, you were fighting over food that wasn't even yours back in my world, I was happy to have you even offer me food!" Ace smirked.

"Ace?" Luffy asked.

"Hmm?" He moaned, silently watching Luffy consume the last slice… the weird tingle he had before had upsettingly returned.

"Who else was in my crew?" He asked.

Ace felt somewhat relieved that the question wasn't anything too intimate. "Oh… well there was a girl named Nami-"

"Nami? Really? … No way! SHE ABSOLTUELY HATES ME!"

"A swordsman, I think his name was… Zoro?"

"Isn't he the socially-awkward swordsman who runs the dojo just on the outskirts of town?" Usopp said, butting into the conversation.

"Yeah… I see him on the way to college in the morning – his only close friend is actually Sanji, a lot of people think they're going out but nobody can say for sure" Luffy added.

"And there was a talking reindeer; I think he was called Tony Tony Chopper. He ate a devil fruit that allowed him to speak and turn in a human-looking reindeer… except he looked more like a bear"

"Oh! There's a really smart kid in my College called Tony Chopper! He's like fifteen but he's like super smart so he skipped a few grades… but I don't think he's a reindeer…" Usopp added.

"Plus you-" Ace pointed as Usopp "And Robin." He added.

"Robin? Nico Robin? She's a tutor at my college!" Luffy replied.

"I think there was two more, but I've never met them. And finally, you, their captain" he finished, pointing at Luffy.

"I wish I was actually there… I'd love to be a pirate, and it would be even cooler to be the king of pirates!" Luffy cheered.

"Alright... calm down" Usopp added, smiling loosely. He looked down at his watch to check on the time and realized it was getting late. "Anyhow, I've still got an immense amount of studying to do, so I'll come by tomorrow or something and we can talk more about this then" He said, standing up.

"You're leaving already? You've been here for half an hour at most!" Luffy complained.

"I only came round to see what all this fuss was about, so now I'm heading home… I hate being out this late at night... its eerie" Usopp said.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom, it was nice meeting you Usopp" Ace said as he stood up and made his way into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Luffy walked Usopp over to the front door. "Be careful Luffy, they might be different, but they might have the same feelings towards you" Usopp warned in a hushed tone.

"Don't worry about it, strangely enough I trust him more than the Ace I've known nearly my entire life." Luffy replied.

"Okay, if anything happens let me know _immediately_" Usopp said before departing.

"Fine! I'll cya tomorrow"

"Later" Usopp waved before leaving the apartment. Luffy closed the door behind him and met eyes with Ace again.

"I guess I should be heading off too, I don't want to outstay my welcome" Ace said as he picked up what little stuff he had with him to begin with and prepared to leave the apartment.

"Wait- where will you go? I mean you won't know where to go and you won't have this country's currency. Just stay here for the time being…"

Ace looked over at Luffy "You really don't mind?" He paused "I'm very grateful!" Ace smiled widely. Luffy's cheeks brightened with a luscious shade of pink.

"It's okay." Luffy looked away to hide his embarrassment, Ace settled back down underneath the kotatsu and lay back on the soft, carpeted flooring. He closed his eyes and slowly found himself falling asleep.

"Um…" Luffy hummed, fiddling with his fingers behind his back… "I'm gonna take a shower, so make yourself comfortable" He added, Ace nodded in reply and remained in his overly relaxed pose, his hands were tucked underneath his head, fully revealing his well-toned stomach and soft, peachy skin.

Luffy remained silent for a moment whilst staring at Ace's glorious body, until he opened up his left eye and caught Luffy staring at him. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Oh…" Luffy panicked… "Um… well I was gonna say…" He mentally fought with himself, trying to figure out a reason for why he was staring at him. "If you want… you can sleep in the bed… with me."

Ace sat up from his position and stared at him for a couple of seconds. "Well if you don't mind then sure, it'd be nice to sleep somewhere comfortable and warm" He smiled and once again Luffy felt his cheeks warm up…

"Oh… good!" Luffy smiled in reply "I'm gonna take a quick shower then I've got a little homework to do."

"Okay – I'm a little tired, I've had a rough day so I'm probably gonna head to bed, I hope you don't mind?" Ace said as he made his way over to the large double bed.

"Oh no, go right ahead" Luffy blushed again, but before Ace could notice, Luffy disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Whilst Ace prepared himself for bed, he thought about how weird Luffy had started acting around him, he had definitely noticed the weird blushes, the soft smiles and the whispering with Usopp… but it was almost like he had adopted a 'school-girl' crush on him, not that Ace minded… but it was a little sudden.

_Take the shorts off or leave them on? _He pondered, loosing track of his previous thoughts, he figured it might have been a little weird if he slept without his shorts on… but he didn't want to keep them on and be uncomfortable in bed, plus they were the only clothes he had with him and he wasn't up for borrowing any of Luffy's clothes, they would've looked tight on him… which he wasn't up for…

_Screw it, I'm sure Luffy won't mind._

He took his shorts off and left them by the side of the bed. He climbed under the covers and was very impressed with the comfort and immediate warmth the thick, soft covers provided.

He dove under the covers and rolled around as if he was a little kid again. Ace eventually noticed a strange stain on the bed, but couldn't make out what it was exactly. He lifted the covers up so the stain would be under direct light.

_What the? …. _He stared in shock and worry; he ran his fingers lightly over the stain… _this is…. dried blood? _Ace heard the shower door closing, expecting Luffy to walk out anytime soon, he settled back down under the covers and tried to ignore the ever-worrying stain.

_I really shouldn't worry… it's probably nothing, if he was bothered about it he wouldn't have let me sleep in the bed with him._

After a few minutes the bathroom door eventually opened and out popped Luffy, who had purposely come out of the bathroom, still dripping wet with a towel literally hanging off the lower part of his waist.

"Um… ace? – are you still awake?" He asked.

Ace unsheathed himself from the covers; his nose sprouted a nose bleed that he found himself unable to control. "Ye-ye-yeah…" He stuttered, eyes still caught by Luffy's erotic body.

Luffy _pretended _to have forgotten that he was practically nude in front a guy he had just met today. He looked down at himself and tried his best to hide his slim body with his arms. "Oh- sorry, I do this all the time and I'm usually alone… I guess I _forgot _you were here." He blushed.

"It's fine… it's not like I haven't seen you naked before…" Ace said, hiding his head back under the covers…. A bright pink blush adorning his cheeks as he held back any dirty thoughts… _What the hell is wrong with me? … Wait, what's wrong with him? What is he doing all of a sudden?_

"You have?"

"Well yeah… when we were kids" he had never seen Luffy fully naked since he got older. "We bathed together all the time as kids…"

Luffy chucked a little "As kids? Yeah… I'm seventeen now – I think I've changed a lot since then." He added.

"Huh… yeah…" Ace smiled to himself awkwardly.

* * *

><p><em>See that next chapter button? Yeah, click it.<em>


	3. Fear

_**- The Fear -**_

* * *

><p>Luffy slipped on his favourite pair of pyjama bottoms and sat down at his desk, preparing to do some homework before turning in for the night.<p>

Ace sat and watched for a while from the bed, he continued to hide under the covers and ignore the fact that Luffy had an extremely good looking body. Even if it wasn't the Luffy he knew, they were identical down to the last detail.

"You look so much like my little brother-" Ace said out of the blue, striking up a conversation.

"Oh…" Luffy replied, somewhat embarrassed "well, if we are parallel universes, it wouldn't make sense if we didn't look the same."

"Well it's just that, the Luffy from my world was in perfect shape because all he ever did was train and work-out as a kid… so from a young age his abs were always apparent. But how did you get them?"

"Well I used to work out as a kid as well; I spent a lot of my free time training, running, swimming and all sorts. I'm in quite a few sports clubs in college as well to keep myself toned. I've only kept myself in this shape because… well, so that I could beat Ace" He turned away and blushed, burying himself in his homework to distract him from the real reason he continued to keep himself in shape.

"I see, so that's why you're in such good shape, if you're fighting me all the time I suppose you would need to stay in shape, good luck trying to beat me though." Ace smirked, finally coming out from under the sheets, he was finally able to bare seeing Luffy naked… it only came as a shock to him because it was the first time he had ever seen him since he had grown up practically nude.

"Yeah…" He smiled weakly and paused. "I bet it's cool to have you as an older brother…"

Ace unintentionally tilted his head "what do you mean? – Even though all you do with the Ace from this world is fight, are you not good friends with him? Or see him as a role model? Or even a brother?" Ace questioned.

"Well… we _were_good friends even though we fought all the time, but I've never seen him as a role model or brother." Luffy saddened and continued to do his homework.

"I see…" Ace nodded slowly in understanding "Listen, I don't mind if you want me to be your big brother, I mean you are Luffy and even if you're mentally different, I still see you as my little brother."

Luffy looked over at Ace, his mouth widened to his usual huge grin, eye's glistening with happiness. "Really? Would you really be my big brother?"

"Sure, it doesn't feel right when I can't refer to you as my little brother..." he smiled.

"It wouldn't be weird right?"

"Of course not, it's completely fine, maybe one day you'll be able to see the Ace of this world as your big brother instead of me."

"I think it might be a little too late for that…" Luffy said returning to his homework "anyway…" he added, trying to steer the conversation away. "I look forward to having you as a big brother."

_Something definitely happened between the Ace of this world and this Luffy before I arrived…_

Luffy closed the book on his desk and put away his supplies. "Oh, I have college late tomorrow morning, so I hope you don't mind but I'll be away for a few hours" Luffy stood up from the chair and walked over to the kitchen. "You're welcome to stay here whist I'm gone" He poured himself a fresh glass of milk next to the counter and consumed within moments.

"What if I want to go out?" Ace asked.

"If you'd like your welcome to tag along with me to college, regular people are allowed to use the facilities like the library or computer room."

"That sounds fun, it'd be nice to do a bit of adventuring whilst I'm here, it'll be a great story to tell everyone when I go back."

"Yeah…" Luffy said in a saddened tone.

"What's wrong?" Ace questioned, noticing his hurt voice.

_He's so cool and polite… but all he ever talks about is that Luffy. _Luffy thought to himself, he felt awkward for what he was about to ask, but did so anyway. "I was just wondering…" He paused, figuring out a way to say it.

"Yeah?"

"What kind of relationship did you have with Luffy?"

"A brotherly relationship?" He said whilst chuckling, as if Luffy had already forgotten that they were brothers from his world. "I will admit that I did have a bit of a brother complex over him, but we were extremely close. As kids we shared a bed, bathed together, ate together, played together and fought together. Even When I left home to become a pirate we were separated for three years and we still remained close."

"That's incredible, you must have been close," Luffy said "but I kind of mean like… did you ever do anything together?"

"I already said…" Ace paused, beginning to feel slightly worried as to where this was going. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, just curious…" He paused "but did you do anything with him… like, sexual things?"

"What? No… never" Ace replied, somewhat weirded out. "What would make you ask something like that?" He added.

"I just figured if you had done something like _that _with your brother then It might happen between me and the Ace I know, but if not then… yeah it doesn't matter."

Ace fiddled with his lips before speaking up "Well when we were kids we used to hold hands and I sometimes playfully kissed him on his head or cheek, but that it's." He paused and decided it was high time to turn the tables and get a few answers out of _him_. "What about you? Have _you _done anything sexual with the Ace you know?"

Luffy was about to reply but he sealed his lips and turned away to put the glass in the sink, he eventually replied quietly and said "No…" Ace found it extremely suspicious as to how he was acting.

"Really?" Ace inquired again.

"Yeah, nothing, it's like I said… we were friends and that's it" Luffy lightly inhaled before turning back around to turn off the lights. "We should probably get to sleep now anyway." He added.

"Okay…" Ace smiled, deciding to leave the situation at that. He turned over to face the window and away from the side of the bed which Luffy was heading over to.

Luffy climbed in to the bed, facing the opposite way to Ace. He pulled the cover over his head and sighed heavenly at the lovely feeling of comfort and warmth.

"Good night, Ace" Luffy said, feeling himself slowly descending into sleep.

"Night, Lu" Ace replied.

Luffy blushed to himself a little before completely nodding off.

***

_Bathroom… bathroom… bathroom… _Ace mentally repeated to himself for a good few minutes before the feeling came on a lot stronger.

He threw the cover aside and pushed himself out of bed, when he noticed a nearby clock which read _3:10 AM _he sighed at how early it was in the morning_. _He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before he made his way over to the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind him.

Halfway through peeing his ears picked up the strange sounds of moaning and panting. Ace leaned back and peered through the doorway back into the bedroom. He noticed Luffy squirming a lot under the covers and his moans became louder and somewhat scarier.

Ace finished up and quickly washed his hands before going back into the bedroom. As Luffy had quietened down, Ace thought nothing of it and believed he was only having a dream. He climbed back into bed and after a couple minutes of silence, Luffy started up again.

Ace turned over to face Luffy and tried gently nudging his shoulder to wake him up, but he remained in his fidgeting state. Ace watched as Luffy curled up and his breathing worsened.

"A-ace…. Stop, please!" Luffy cried.

Ace complied and stopped trying to wake him up. "Alright… just calm down and tell me what's wrong" He said, but didn't receive any kind of reply.

"Get off me! Stop, please Ace!" Luffy cried again, his squirming worsened as he turned to face Ace. Luffy's face was flushed and bright red, his body was shaking and sweaty and his eyes remained tightly sealed. "S-stop… please…"

_He's… not talking to me? _Ace's worry heightened to near extreme levels. He shook Luffy even harder and even moved to hover above him, pinning his arms down to the bed. "Luffy, wake up!" Ace practically screamed, continuing to shake him awake.

Luffy's breathing worsened and his squirming continued even with Ace pinning him down.

_He might start hyperventilating if I don't calm him down or wake him up! _Ace fretted. "Luffy, please wake up!" With more vigorous shaking, his eyes eventually begun to peel open.

Luffy, seeing a dark, shadowed and very muscular body above him, pinning him down, jumped to conclusions and his eyes widened in fear, revealing Ace.

Luffy screamed before wriggling uncontrollably, trying to escape. "Let go of me Ace! I won't let you do that again, so get off me!" He cried.

"Wait Luffy, just calm down. It's me, the other Ace." Ace released his harsh grip on Luffy's arms and backed up onto his knees.

Luffy stopped struggling and looked up... "Ace…?" He said, almost softly. After some awkward silence, Luffy abruptly threw himself at Ace and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry…" He whispered into his new-found brother's ear.

Ace happily accepted the hug and placed his arms around Luffy's still shaking body. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Sort of… except it was so lucid" Luffy pulled back, but his arms remained latched onto Ace's neck. "I've been dealing with these nightmares for a while now..." Luffy said.

"You know you can tell me anything, if it's making you have these horrible nightmares then I want to help… If I hadn't been here you might've started hyperventilating and who knows what would have happened…"

Luffy smiled softly and felt… loved. "I want to… but I can't." He looked away.

Ace angered a little and accidentally let it take control. "Luffy – if you're going to be my littler brother you need to trust me, you can tell me _anything. _Just let me help you!" He paused, when Luffy still wouldn't look at him he cupped Luffy's face with his hands and forced him to look at him. "The Ace of this world obviously did something to you! Tell me what he did!"

Luffy started to crack under the pressure and in the heart of the moment he locked lips with Ace to avoid answering the question. He became so involved with the kiss that he unintentionally pulled Ace down so that he was now lying on top of him.

Ace was shocked to say the least; he was kissing his newly-adopted brother! It was the first time he had ever kissed his Luffy on the lips and it felt… weirdly right, but as much as he was beginning to enjoy it, he didn't let his strong feelings get the better of him as he pushed Luffy away and rolled over to the other side of the bed.

"Luffy… why?" Was all Ace could ask as he was still in quite a bit of shock over what had just happened…

"I'm sorry…" Luffy said as he pulled his legs up to his chest to bury his face. "I don't really know why I did that…"

Ace sighed and cooled his head before continuing the conversation. "Listen, if you don't want to tell me anything then its okay, the Luffy I know usually resolves things himself anyway and he always came out of it for the better. So I'll trust you to do the right thing, if you ever want to tell me anything, then I'll happily listen and help, I'm your big brother after all." He smiled.

Luffy raised his head from between his legs and smiled weakly at Ace. "Thanks Ace, you're the best" He said.

"Try and get some sleep, you have to get up soon don't you?"

"Yeah…" Luffy said, lying back against his pillow. "Um… if it's not too much to ask… is it okay to snuggle with you?"

Ace smiled softly and gently pulled him over. "It'd just be like old times…" He paused. "Well… for me at least"

"I feel so much better" Luffy said after settling down next to Ace, and just like the Luffy he knew, he was asleep within moments. Ace lightly ruffled his little brother's hair before finally settling back down and eventually falling asleep himself.

"Night Lu"

***

Many hours later, Ace awoke from the blinding sun shining through the window and onto his face. As he winced from the blinding light, he turned away and found a more comfortable position to continue sleeping in. With him being more conscious, he felt continuous bursts of hot breath hitting his chest.

He gently opened his eyes and lifted the covers to find that Luffy had wrapped his arms around his stomach and his head was peacefully resting next to his chest. Ace smiled and watched him sleep for a few more minutes before deciding to wake him up.

"Luffy, don't you have college?" He said, looking back towards the window to confirm the time. "Come on, get up!" He shook him.

"Mhm… wha?" He mumbled into Ace's chest, squeezing him tighter. "I'm too comfortable…" He said.

"We can always do this again later… I mean, I'm enjoying it too but you shouldn't miss college, right?"

"I suppose…" He pouted, releasing Ace from his death grip and pushing himself up from the bed. The cover went up with him, revealing Ace to be only in his boxers. "Wait… you slept in your boxers?"

"Oh…" Ace blushed lightly "Yeah… I didn't want to sleep in my shorts and I didn't think you'd mind." He added.

"No, no, it's completely fine; I would've done the same." Luffy looked him up and down, without asking he ran his fingers along the lines of his abs. "You're exactly like the Ace I know, these abs are the same…"

"I know you're not on great terms with him… but I'd actually like to meet him" Ace replied.

Luffy looked up at him worriedly "Well it's likely that you'll run into him, either here, in the neighbourhood or in my college, but you can't just walk up to him… I don't even know what he'd do! But I doubt he'd buy the idea that your from a different world."

"Hmm... That's true; well I'll figure something out."

Luffy moved over to the side of the bed and checked his phone… "Oh shit…" he gaped at his phone… "I'M LATE!"

* * *

><p>Reviews fuel my brain.<p> 


	4. College

_- College -_

* * *

><p>Luffy practically jumped out of bed and frantically ran around his apartment trying to recover a decent outfit for the day, whilst prepping his bag and eating his breakfast. He could only watch and admire from the bed in complete ore as his little brother ran backwards and forwards, left to right and even up and down around his apartment.<p>

"I can't believe I overslept!" He picked up his phone and angrily shook it "this is your fault!" Before placing it in his pocket, "right I think I'm ready, are you gonna come with me today?" Luffy asked, still pacing backwards and forwards, trying to make sure he had everything.

"Yeah, hang on" Ace quickly got out of bed and pulled his shorts up his legs and placed his trademark hat back on his head. "Done." He smiled.

"You're gonna have to wear a bit more than that…" Luffy wandered over to his set of draws and threw many different kinds of shirts out onto the floor until he came across a shirt that actually looked very familiar to Ace. "This actually belongs to Ace, he left it behind a while back and I've kept hold of it."

"Oh…" Ace said whilst looking the shirt up and down, the shirt was the exact same colour and style as the one he wore the day he left his home to become a pirate. "I remetmber this shirt" He said whilst gripping hold of it and preparing to put it on. "It was Luffy's favourite because the colour matched his personality" He smirked "It's a shame I grew out of it…" He paused whilst he adjusted it and looked himself over in the nearby mirror "but this one seems to fit perfectly – I've missed this shirt a lot."

"Well when you're done with it make sure you leave it here, I do plan on giving it back to Ace, someday…"

"I'd love to keep it, but I don't want to get you in trouble with the other Ace for giving one of his shirts away, it wouldn't surprise me if I he favoured this shirt as well."

Luffy blushed a little and said "Well... to be honest, I've kept hold of it because… it's my favourite shirt as well…" He watched Ace turn slowly to face him, a smirk smothered across his face.

"Is that why you've kept hold of it?"

Luffy fiddled with the bottom of his shirt a little and looked away… "Sort of…" He snapped out of his daze and grabbed the very last thing that was important to his overall look.

"Your straw hat!" Ace called out happily.

"Yeah, it's my treasure – I don't let anyone touch it, wear it or even talk smack about it, a friend gave it to me when I was little and I've kept hold of it since, I don't wear it often though because I worry about it getting ruined or stolen."

"Was the person who gave it to you by any chance called Shanks?"

Luffy looked at him, his eyes widening in surprise, "yeah, did a similar thing happen to the Luffy you know?"

"Yeah, except it _never _leaves his head and he goes berserk when anyone talks down about it or tries to damage it. He's even been given the nickname _straw hat Luffy _where I come from. He adores that hat to pieces." He paused to walk over to him and get a good look at the hat. "Shanks gave it to him before we met, he was always hanging around with him because Shanks was a pirate and he inspired Luffy to become one as well. So he made Luffy promise him to give the hat back when he became the pirate king"

"Wow – that's so cool…" Luffy looked down at the hat and smiled "I want to be like that Luffy so much it hurts…" He said as he slammed the hat down on his head.

"You already are, you just need to adjust your tone, personality and intelligence and you'll be all set"

Luffy smiled and took his phone out from his pocket to check the time. "Yeah we really need to go, like… now."

Ace nodded in agreement and followed Luffy out the door and into the corridor of the apartment block. He waited patiently for Luffy to lock up and lead the way out into the street. "When we're walking through the street, keep your hat low and try to hide your face." They begun walking in the same direction they came from last night, Ace did exactly as he was told and kept his face low and hidden from the public eye.

"Why do I need to hide myself? People will just think I'm the Ace from this world."

"Well yeah, but there's loads of things we need to take into consideration, you have noticeably different personalities, you're probably wearing clothes that are different to his today, he has loads of scars whilst your body is practically spotless and finally... _**a lot **_people hate Ace. "

Ace hadn't realized up until now that the tattoos he once had on his body had suddenly vanished, any scars he had from battles in the past were also completely healed... what on earth was going on?

"Oh… well I definitely don't want to run into any trouble, not that it would matter anyway, since I'm pretty strong.. Not to brag or anything..." He eventually added with a smirk, the tattoo thing was still bugging him, but then again he could always just get them redone.

"Yeah, make that your last arrogant remark because any more and you'll start to sound more and more like him, it's one of the things that a lot of people hate about him."

"Now I definitely want to meet him… I bet he's real strong, I've actually wondered what it would be like to battle with myself…"

"He's in like every kind of sports club at college and he's top in all of them, especially in the fighting clubs like taijutsu and karate. He's also skilled at kendo and kenjutsu, he really is undefeatable. Even when so many people hate him they don't dare say or do anything to him, they just snicker or glare at him when they see him pass by, he is really a nice guy but he just doesn't show it very often."

Ace pondered to himself over what he had heard and curiosity lead him to ask something. "What's this college thing you keep talking about?"

"I'm guessing you don't have anything like it in your world?" Luffy was beyond surprised.

"No, this is first time I've even heard that word."

"Your world sounds so much better than this one… I hate the system, I'd prefer to just live free and travel the world rather than growing up, getting married and having kids… life is just a pain in the ass sometimes. This college thing I attend is part of that very system I want to get out of. It's a place where people go to learn about a specific subject. You don't have to go because you have to pay, but anyone who does go is more likely to get a job and earn more in their life, but then again there are people who have never gone to college and have made it on their own merits."

"So what are you learning about then?"

"Oceanography, or marine-science, same thing."

"Huh… it's weird that you're studying something to do with the ocean… it can't be coincidental either."

"Yeah… I can't believe I only just realized… the Luffy you know sailed on the oceans, and I study them." He smiled to himself.

"And you pay to study about it?"

"Well my father actually paid for me, he's also pays for my rent and supplies."

"Your father?"

"Yeah, he's the Japanese prime minister, he governs this country."

"Really?" Ace looked up in shock "That's incredible, have you ever even seen your father?"

"Well yeah obviously, I visit him every so often and he sometimes comes down to the college for business. We don't get along very well though, but only because I'm studying something he doesn't approve and I'm attending a public college instead of a private one."

"Wow… so what did your father want you to study?"

"Isn't it obvious? Law – but it doesn't make any sense to me, I wanted to study something that would give me the opportunity to travel the world"

"In my world you've never met your father or mother, and you're father is an infamous person who's trying to overthrow the world government, he's the most wanted man in the world."

"Well half of that is about right, I've never met my mother, I have no idea where she is or even if she's alive. My father won't tell me anything either because he believes she is no longer important to either of us."

"Maybe she did something to you or your father that made him leave her?"

"Who knows…"

"So what do I do? Last night you said you saw me an hour before I landed on you."

"You're studying Uniform Services at my college; I think you want to be in the Navy or something like that."

"Uniform services? Navy? Hah, I guess Garp's wish did come true…" Ace pondered to himself.

"Uncle Garp? You know him?" Luffy asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, he's my adopted grandfather… he was so brutal and mean to us when we were kids. He's like the one person I'm scared of."

"Really? That doesn't sound like Uncle Garp; he's the best grandpa ever!" Luffy smirked.

"Well… I can't be surprised; it was obvious that he would be different."

Luffy abruptly stopped, which made Ace look up for the first time the entire journey to see a huge pagoda looking building, with luscious gardens and fountains littering the path towards the main entrance. Ace looked around in amazement at the beauty and tranquillity "This is your college?"

"Yeah, it used to be a museum but nobody was interested in it so it was upgraded to a college, the museum is still inside but it's smaller and the art is from the locals and some of the top art and design students in the college."

Luffy walked on ahead and pulled Ace along with him. "Come on I can't be late, my tutor will probably kill me."

"R-right!" Ace lowered his head again to hide his face and followed Luffy inside the building. Upon passing through the doors he was met by dozens of others wandering through the hallways and going back and forth into classrooms.

He was also able to spot a few people he recognized from his world and so badly wanted to go over and see what they were like.

Luffy walked straight down the corridor, Ace followed silently behind, passing new faces and old. They eventually stopped at a crossroads, which was luckily quiet enough for Ace to look up.

"Okay, if you go down there" Luffy said whilst pointing "you'll find the library and computer room; you can hang out there till I'm done. I'm an hour late to my lesson, so I'll only be gone another hour at most. I'll come and get you when I'm done, okay?"

Ace nodded understandingly "got it, I'll see you later then"

They went their separate ways, Ace followed the path which Luffy had pointed out for him and he eventually came to the library. He opened the double doors carefully and stepped inside quietly as to not get everyone's attention.

_This is the first time I've ever even been in a library. _Ace walked down the first isle since it was closest to the door and wandered into the history section. "I guess I should study up on this world whilst I'm here… I definitely don't want to come across as more stupid than Luffy… that would just be weird" He mumbled to himself.

Elsewhere Luffy hurriedly stumbled into his classroom, which was brightly decorated with ocean maps, charts and creatures of the deep.

His teacher, Makino, stood up from her desk in surprise "Oh, Luffy-kun, why are you so late?"

"Sorry… I overslept" Luffy replied, closing the door.

"Again?" A voice echoed from the back of the class, there was only one voice that could have that kind of angry tone.

"Nami-chan, please, I'll deal with this…" Makino said. "Now Luffy, I expect students to be tardy every once in a while, it would be weird if you didn't, but you've been late to this lesson for the past couple of days now" Makino walked over to Luffy and pulled him over to the corner to speak to him privately.

"If there is a genuine reason as to why you're being late recently, you know you can talk to me."

"No, no, it's nothing, I've just been going to bed a bit too late and I'll make sure to get an early night before the next lesson."

Makino smiled and allowed him to sit down in his usual spot, right next to Nami.

"Ugh…" She moaned, looking away from him.

"Morning to you to" Luffy smiled sarcastically.

"Don't talk to me…"

"Whatever makes you happy…" He replied.

That being said and done, the lesson continued.

Back in the library, Ace was flipping through various history books he'd pulled out from the shelves, mainly books about pirates in the world he was currently in. Since there were books about it, he figured they must exist and he was interested to learn the differences, if any.

He quickly read through the pages on piracy and picked out little bits of information. "Wait, so the only pirates who exist today are in Somalia? Where the hell is that? – Oh, Africa. So pirates aren't all around the world? That's crazy… well whoever these people are at least they sound like typical pirates…" he mumbled to himself.

He read on through the numerous books he had collected before putting them back after finally growing bored of reading. He quietly and sneakily wandered through the library in search of other interesting things.

When he wasn't paying attention as to where he was going, he ended up bumping into someone and his first reaction was to look up and apologize, but he was taken by surprise and shock as to who he bumped into.

"Watch it buddy!" the other growled angrily, before he himself realized who he had bumped into. "Oh, Ace! Ignore that reply; I didn't realize it was you…"

"Oh… Marco!" Ace had no idea what the Ace of this world was like towards Marco, but considered the tough guy ideal going off what Luffy had told him about Ace so far. "Nah, it's cool." He added.

"What the hell are you doing in the library man? Aren't you like, allergic to this place or something?"

"I… um…" Ace fretted for a couple of moments, trying to figure out the perfect lie, "looking for you, I was looking for you"

"Really? Well, I guess there's a first for everything, well since you're here I was just about to go outside and have a cigg, wanna join?"

"Oh, I don't smoke."

Marco burst out laughing, gripping his stomach after some time and wiping the tears that had formed in his eyes. Others in the library could only look at him in malice, knowing perfectly well who they were; they were unable to say anything in case a fight broke out. "Oh jeez man, you're a terrible liar. Come on, I'll drop you one."

Ace smiled weakly and could only follow Marco back out of the library and into the corridor. He was able to briefly catch the time on a nearby clock and found it had only been fifteen minutes since Luffy had left him, so he had quite a bit of time before Luffy got out from his lesson, as long as he was back in the library before twelve, everything would be fine.

He also figured that by hanging around this Marco he might able to find out a little more about this Ace that Luffy was always going on about.

"Anyway, you ditching class again? The navy ain't gonna love you if you're being tardy or just plain absent all the time." Marco said.

"Nah, it'll be fine." His tough guy act seemed to have been working fine so far, as long as he kept his sentences short and sweet and tried not to give anything away, he would be able to fool Marco.

They made their way outside and headed round back of the building, it was the one place where Ace and his group hung out and nobody else could bother them. They sat down against the wall, after which Marco dipped into his pocket and pulled out his cigarettes.

Marco lit up his cigg and chucked one over to Ace, who caught it between his fingers, he looked down at the cigarette and was unsure what to do… he had never smoked before but didn't want to break character, so after being passed the lighter, he sparked it up and went along with it. He was able to get the hang of it after a while and smoked almost naturally, this was one thing he definitely wasn't going to tell Luffy about when he got back to his own world.

"So how're things with that chick?" Marco questioned, looking over at him.

"What chick?" Ace looked at him inquisitively, realizing he probably should have made up another lie, but Marco just burst out laughing again.

"Ahaha, you got amnesia or something? The one you were talking bout the other night when we were at Frankies. You got so drunk you said you were gonna head over to her house and nail her good. Did you do it?"

"Can't remember a thing… must've got too wasted."

"Typical Ace, you can't even tell me if you nailed her or not? Man, I don't know if it sucks to be me or you!"

"Wow, what was I even saying about this chick before I decided to go and… nail her." He said awkwardly, he really wasn't into the _'nail' _word, he'd never even used it in that context.

"Awh man, you were spouting all kinds of crap like 'I'm so in love with him' and 'he's so sexy.' You must've been really wasted to refer to her as a guy in like every sentence." Marco chuckled a little.

"Heh, shit man… what was I thinking, thank god it was actually a chick I fucked though." Ace nearly barfed in his mouth from saying such a degrading thing.

"Yeah, it'd be fucked up if you turned out to be gay, I can't even imagine it."

"Nah, ain't gonna happen" Ace took one last draw on his cigg before tossing it aside, along with Marcos.

"So what' cha doing now Ace? You heading to class then or not?"

"Nah, I can't be arsed today, I'm gonna go back to the library and to wait for Luffy."

"Luffy? What the hell you meeting up with that weakling for?" Marco said in a harsh tone.

"He's got something of mine and I want it back, even if I have to beat him to a pulp." he changed his tone so that he would appear angrier from just talking about Luffy, although it didn't really bother him talking about beating up Luffy since he had done it many times in the past, this time he had to appear very serious in order for Marco to buy his lie.

"Now that's what I'm talking about, don't go easy on him either, he's just a geeky cry-baby."

"Huh... yeah" Ace tightened his fist and tried not to let any of Marco's words go to his head, if there was one thing that angered Ace more than anything else in any word, it was when people down-talked the people he cared about, Luffy especially.

"I get it now; you were supposed to meet him in the library before but ended up running into me? Aw… guess you weren't looking for me…" Marco saddened jokingly.

"Yeah, sorry"

Marco's attitude changed suddenly as he looked at Ace suspiciously "You're sorry? You must've got amnesia or something... That's like the first time you've ever said sorry to me and you've done a lot worse than lie to me."

"Oh, then why ya' still hanging around with me?"

"Cause we're buddies through thick and thin, we've had good and bad times together but no matter what we're still mates at the end of the day"

"Alright, calm down." Ace said sarcastically. "Well I'm getting off, later" He added, beginning to walk off back around towards the front of the building.

"Oi Ace, you wanna come round later? I've got some booze left in the fridge from last weekend, we could get some girls round and have a party, doesn't that sound like a plan?"

"Nah, I'm busy, maybe some other time." He replied sternly.

"Alright, well I'm heading to class anyway, I'll call you later or something" Marco said, Ace nodded in reply and went back into he building, hoping to remember the way.

He hid his face as he walked through the corridors and back into the library; at this point he still had another half an hour left before Luffy got out of his lesson. He decided to grab a random book from the shelf and sit in the quietest area of the library.

"Ace… there you are!" A familiar voice called to him just as he sat down, he figured it was already too late to pretend to be someone else, but as he looked up, he realized it was only Luffy.

"Oh Luffy, don't you still have another half an hour before your lesson finishes?"

"Nah, Makino-san let us out early, where have you been? I've been searching the library for like ten minutes now!"

"Wait, Makino-san, what does she have to do with your class?"

"She's my tutor! – she's real nice and easy-going." Luffy replied.

"No way, she ran a bar in my world; I guess she hasn't changed then. She always brought us food and new clothes when she came to visit us in my world."

"I couldn't see myself being that close to Makino, it feels kind of strange… Where were you anyway? Is that smoke I smell as well?"

"Well I ended up bumping into one of Ace's friends whilst I was in here, he thought I was the Ace he knew and he practically dragged me outside, I even had to have a cigg with him because he offered it to me, so I figured Ace in this world probably smokes."

"If he meets the other Ace though and brings up something about the conversation you had, he's gonna realize something's wrong!"

"Don't worry, I think he bought it, let's just get out of here before anything else happens" Ace replied, placing the book down on a nearby table and leaving before Luffy with his head lowered and his hat covering his face.

"Who did you see anyway?"

"It was Marco; he was one of my friends back in the other world, although his attitude in this world is completely different... It was almost torture speaking to him, his lingo was crazy."

"Yeah, he and Ace of this world are really close, he has a few other friends as well but they get on his nerves apparently." Luffy paused whilst opening the main entrance door. "Anyway, it's over with now, do you wanna go grab some lunch? Sanji's restaurant is like, the best for lunch time food!"

"Well sure, but won't it be risky? I mean, what if somebody see's us?"

"Nah it'll be fine, I'm guessing the Ace from this world is probably in lesson, and most of his friends will be as well."

"Wait…" Ace stopped and looked at Luffy "When I met Marco, he asked me if I was skipping class and I told him that I had stuff going on, so that's why I didn't go. Marco isn't studying uniform services is he?" Ace looked at him worriedly, his stomach even churned when Luffy looked right back at him, chewing at his bottom lip before replying.

"Yeah…"

"I was the first to leave as well and I told him I was going to the library, he said he was going to his lesson…"

"Well, they're definitely gonna suspect something's up now." Luffy replied worriedly, pacing backwards and forwards.

"But it's not like they'll realize the parallel world theory, they'll probably think I'm a clone or something."

"Still, it's just going to be as crazy when they realize and explaining it is going to be even worse, Ace is probably gonna freak out, and if you thought I was bad well yeah, you better keep an open mind…."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, let's just forget about this morning and get something to eat, I'm starving!" Ace said, trying to lighten the situation.

"I suppose you're right, they'll figure something out" Luffy stopped pacing and relaxed.

"Marco thought I had amnesia as well, so he'll probably convince the other Ace that he does as well."

"Oh, well then, he'll probably continue to go along with that." Luffy replied, his worries disappeared very quickly.

There was a comforting silence before either of them spoke again. "So does Sanji own this restaurant or something?" Ace asked.

"Nah, his adopted father does, I just call it Sanji's restaurant cause he acts like he owns the place" Both Luffy and Ace walked side by side, with the latter keeping his head down and his body well covered from the eyes of others. "The restaurant is really special though, it's the only one that serves foreign food as well as traditional Japanese food. They all pride themselves in knowing the best foods from around the world and being able to make them perfectly" He added.

"So what does Sanji do at the restaurant?"

"Well he cooks a majority of the time, but he also cleans, waiters and delivers, as you saw last night. He always cooks my food because he knows what I like, plus he can experiment and go crazy when he cooks for me, with other customers he has to keep to a professional standard."

"Ahhh, so what's his deal with Zoro? Didn't you say that there's something going on between them? – if I remember correctly they despised each other in my world, all they ever did was bicker and fight with one another."

"Hah! All Sanji _ever _talks about these days is Zoro this and Zoro that… does my head in! Nobody can really say for sure if they're together or not because nobody _ever _sees them together, we just know that Sanji is always going round to the dojo and sometimes doesn't even leave!"

"They must have a special relationship then…"

"Yeah... special." Luffy trailed off quietly, prompting Ace to look up and turn his head a little to look at him, noticing Luffy's depressed feelings.

"What's up?"

"Oh… nothing" Luffy shook his head and looked over at Ace, smiling unusually "I'm fine, just a little jealous really."

Ace continued to look at Luffy and said "-What? Jealous?"

"Well yeah" Luffy blushed a little as he thought about how he should word his next sentence. "I'm… well, fed up of being alone and single."

"Really?" Ace replied questioningly "Well I'm sure it shouldn't be too hard for you to find a nice girl, I saw loads whilst I was in the library!" He added, playfully nudging Luffy's arm.

"Ahaha…." Luffy played along with him and muttered "yeah... girls…" hoping Ace didn't hear it.

"And you must have loads of friends as well! You were making new friends by the hour in my world!"

"Well I do, but before you showed up I spent a lot of time on my own in my apartment… Usopp is always busy with his studies, Sanji is always with Zoro or busy with his studies and you, well… yeah."

"Well that settles it then…" Ace stopped abruptly, prompting Luffy to stop also. "I know you won't tell me, but I _know _that Ace has done something to you, something irreversible and unspeakable and it breaks my very soul knowing that I, or even still, he, did something like that to you. I _can't _leave this world until I fix what he's done to you. I'll fix your relationship with him and maybe over time you can be friends once again… I'd be able to return to my world with peace of mind knowing that" Ace paused and looked at Luffy sympathetically. "I can't have you being all depressed and feeling lonely, it just doesn't seem right – I want Ace to behave like me, I want him to care for you and protect you, to always be there by your side and always looking out for you."

Luffy cheered up quickly "Would you really help me sort things out with him?"

"Well yeah! You are my little brother after all!" Ace replied quite happily. They continued to smile at each other for quite some time; a slight blush even blemished their faces. Luffy snapped out of his gaze and looked up to see that they had stopped just outside the restaurant.

"Let's eat!"


	5. Sanji

_- Sanji -  
><em>

* * *

><p>Ace and Luffy entered the restaurant slowly, compared to small exterior, inside was completely different. The walls were decorated in bright red wallpaper with a darker red floral pattern, whilst the floor was a rich blood red coloured carpet which was soft to the touch. There was an assortment of good smells in the air emanating from the kitchen, whilst the air itself was cool and almost refreshing. The restaurant looked extremely posh and almost didn't suit the small town it was situated in. There were various tables scattered throughout the dining area, seating from as little as one person to as many as ten, or more. There was a bar situated further back of the restaurant and a circular stairs in the middle of the room which lead to an upstairs seating area, which was allocated for events, parties and those who requested a more private seating area when the first two weren't occurring.<p>

Ace admired the interior and noticed that the restaurant was completely empty, it was rather quiet and very uncomfortable, it wasn't what he had expected considering Luffy had told him the night before that it was the best restaurant in the district.

"Where is everyone?" Ace questioned, still looking for any signs of life.

"Well it's only half eleven, usually people go for lunch between twelve and one, plus it's a weekday, so not many people are able to come during the day, it's usually a lot more busier at night time or on the weekends. Trust me, its better like this." Luffy replied.

"Oh, yeah you're right to be honest, if there were loads of people in here and some of them recognized me, I'm guessing that wouldn't have been good…"

"Yeah, exactly" Luffy walked towards a podium and harshly tapped a bell a fair few times.

"Wait-wait, what are you doing?" Ace asked worriedly.

"I'm signalling for one of the waiters."

"Why can't we just sit down? It's empty!" Ace replied.

"Well it's customary to wait for the staff to sit you, we can choose were to sit but if we don't let the staff know that were here then it may be ages before they realize and serve us."

"Huh… all my life I've just been walking in and sitting where ever I please… even in the fanciest of restaurants I've been in. Well I am a pirate…" He shrugged it off and decided to leave it at that. He spotted the toilets and nudged Luffy on the shoulder "I'm just going to the toilet, be right back."

Luffy nodded and as Ace walked away, a tall, handsome and young-looking man, wearing a plain white shirt, black pants and an apron around his waist, appeared from the kitchen.

"Welcome to the Baratie- Oh, Luffy, it's you, alone again? You know, you _really _need to meet someone, I'm starting to get depressed for you." Sanji smiled sarcastically as he walked up to Luffy to greet him.

"Actually –Sanji, I'm not alone today, I'm with Ace!" Luffy smiled happily and with a '_in your face' _kind of attitude.

Sanji stepped back a little in shock and looked around frantically, making sure he was no where near Luffy, knowing full well what Ace was really like. "What? Why the hell are you here with that nut job?" He whispered, still keeping his distance.

"He's not a nut job! And FYI, he's a _different _Ace" Luffy winked, hoping Sanji would understand… but obviously not… then again that wink could have meant a million and one different things concerning him and Ace, this situation would probably need further explaining.

Sanji rolled his eyes and sighed, placing his hands on his hips and tutting "You are so gullible, you can't go believing every sob story he tells you about how he's changed, about how it was him and not you, how he needed some time to think, he wants you back and all that, you just can't Luffy! That guy has more than few screws loose."

"No! You idiot… I mean, he's a different person- Well, no I mean he's still Ace but he's not." Luffy said, confusing himself.

Sanji tweaked his eyebrow with interest "What the hell are you talking about?" sounding a little confused himself.

Luffy leaned in a little and whispered "You've heard of the parallel world theory right?"

"Well yeah- but it's not…" Sanji paused when he realized "Wait… No, he can't be…" Sanji looked at Luffy with disbelief.

"It's the only explanation, he comes from a world exactly like ours, with the same people but every one differs when it comes to their personality, likes, dislikes and interests. The only things that remain the same are looks and occasionally ambitions, sometimes a few traits remain similar as well. Trust me, just serve us and you'll realize that he is a different Ace."

Sanji bit his lip, still a little unsure about the idea… he had a strange feeling that Ace was tricking Luffy, but then again Luffy would never lie about this kind of thing… well there only was one way to find out. "Alright, I'll go with you on this, but any trouble and I won't hesitate to call Zoro down here."

"Deal."

At that point Ace re-appeared from the bathroom and approached Luffy and Sanji with a huge grin on his face. "Much better" He said.

Sanji still appeared very weary around him and even backed up a little when Ace walked up to be beside Luffy. "Hey Ace, here again?"

"Whu? – Oh yeah, yeah..." He smiled uneasily, wondering if Luffy had told Sanji about him being from a parallel world yet, but just for present moments sake, he just pretended to be the Ace they both knew.

An awkward silence filled the air and they each looked at each other uneasily before Sanji broke the silence. "Well, let's get you guys settled and served then... can't have the customers starving now can I?" He smiled.

Sanji turned around swiftly and walked on ahead. "Guess you want the usual place eh?" Sanji added.

"Well yeah!" Luffy replied excitedly, they both followed Sanji through the restaurant until they reached the far back where a fairly big, round table resided. It was placed in the corner of the room and was right next to the kitchens. It was Luffy's permanently reserved table as he enjoyed the numerous smells that came from the kitchen, not only that but he got his food _a lot_faster.

They both sat down whilst Sanji placed the menus on the table. "I'll be back with you shortly."

Ace watched Sanji disappear into the kitchen and once again pondered over whether Luffy had told him the truth yet. "Does he know I'm a different Ace?"

"Oh, well yeah, I told him I was here with you and he was a little shocked at first but then I told him you were a different Ace, but I'm not sure if he believes me or not…"

"Well, it's fairly obvious that the Ace you know and myself are completely different, he'll come to realize it." Ace replied confidently. He looked over the menu and noticed many strange foods he had never heard of at all, he couldn't even pronounce half the words that were on the list. "So... um, what're you getting?"

"The entire lunch section." Luffy replied simply, not even bothering to look at the menu.

"Really? But won't that be expensive?"

"Nah, my dad sends me loads of money every month, so most of it goes on the tab. He's still holding out hope that I'll switch subjects in college and move back in with him, so he pays for everything for me."

"He must really care about you."

Luffy shrugged his shoulders, seeming indifferent. "Not bothered really, he's not been that much of a great father… it would be better if I hadn't met him at all."

Ace looked away awkwardly… seeing this side to someone who was usually cheerful, loud and very hyper was almost upsetting... as much as it annoyed him when Luffy said the most ridiculously stupid of things or acted on impulse, he was starting to miss it. Seeing this side to Luffy as well also made him appreciate _his _little brother even more, and brought up repressed feelings from long ago that he had hoped would've disappeared as he grew older…

It was easy for Ace to admit his over-caring and over-protective side of Luffy, and seeing the one he knew so well surrounded by loads of friends who were able to take care of him had made Ace worry less and less. But upon coming to this world, he was beginning to see what life is like for a Luffy who never had an older brother, never had the friends the Luffy in his world had and never really had the proper care that Ace was able to give the other back when they were children. It was extremely heartbreaking to see Luffy like this.

"Ace?" Luffy said worriedly, Ace shook his head from his deep thoughts and looked back at Luffy. "You okay?"

"Huh… oh yeah, just thinking about something" Ace trailed off…

"Luffy?" He replied.

Ace didn't bother to lie and replied, "what gave it away?"

"Nothing, but with you saying that… yeah, that gave it away" He smiled caringly. "You wanna talk about it? Nobody knows Luffy like I do!"

Ace smiled in reply and simply said "Maybe later when we're alone… I'm still not entirely sure what I'm feeling or even what I'm thinking about."

Luffy looked at him questioningly "Sure, whenever your ready."

Sanji re-appeared from the kitchen moments later and walked up to their table. "So… the usual Luffy?" He pulled out a pad and pen from his front apron pocket and prepared to take down any notes.

"Yeah please, and anything you recommend today as well – for drinks, I'll just have three chocolate milkshakes, two strawberry and a glass of coke."

"Your stomach never ceases to amaze me, and what about you… _Ace_?" Sanji said with a deepened tone.

"Oh… well, I'm not sure... I've never had any of this food before. Plus I don't have any money to pay for it, and I don't want Luffy to pay for my share either."

"N-no, It's okay Ace, I don't mind! I was going to pay for your share anyway – So Sanji just bring him my usual as well."

"If you say so… what about drinks?"

"Well… if you really don't mind, I'd like three pints of sake, please" He smiled cheerfully.

Sanji looked at him with disbelief and surprise, he really was a different Ace and just how caringly and kindly he spoke towards both him and Luffy were dead give aways. "Right… shouldn't be too long…" He continued to stare at Ace as he took the menus and walked back into the kitchen.

"That was interesting…" Luffy added when it went quiet.

"Well I think he believes us now" Ace replied.

It was ten minutes before Sanji re-appeared, during which time Luffy and Ace had conversed a little about Ace's adventures and what Luffy had been up to as a pirate _(A/N: Since you know all of this, guess you don't really need to hear it again…)_, rolling four trolleys that carried plates of food.

"That was quick considering how much we ordered" Luffy said.

"Well the other cooks have nothing else to do so we were able to pool our talents together to make all of this food for you, under my guidance of course, I know what you like." Sanji smiled.

Luffy's face lit up when the plates were stacked on the large table, eventually along with the drinks. "Thanks for the food!" Luffy cheered happily, digging in and scoffing the food that was placed in front of him.

"Thanks for the food" Ace added, eating at a much slower pace compared to how he usually ate when he was back in his own world.

Sanji pulled up a chair and sat next to them, taking a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it up. Ace noticed him do so and smiled "Guess that bad habit hasn't changed…" He said between mouth-full's of food.

"Huh?" Sanji said, eventually realizing what he was talking about. "Yeah… I must smoke like a million a day – it's pretty bad to be honest." He said taking a few pulls on his cigarette.

"Well when I first met you back in my world, you were _always _smoking, even in the worst of times!" Ace smirked, remembering the time they first met just off the coast of Alabasta.

"Oh yeah- Luffy said you were from a parallel world… I'll tell ya, I didn't believe him at first, but it's seems really plausible now, you're completely different to the Ace we know."

"Well I'm glad you believe me… just to clarify, I'm nothing like the Ace you guys know, so far all I'm hearing is bad things about him and it's making me feel more self-conscious about myself, hell everyone I run into is really petrified of me. Is everyone really scared of him or something?"

"Everyone –even Luffy." Sanji said looking over at the younger of the two, still gobbling down plates full of food.

"Really?" Ace paused from eating and focused on Sanji, although he shouldn't be too surprised, when he ran into Luffy last night he wouldn't go near Ace, he was even ready to fight him if he needed to.

"Yeah! I guess it's cause Ace ray-" Sanji felt a harsh kick from under the table which made him cut his sentence short and realize what he was about to say was something that shouldn't be said. He coughed and corrected himself, "I _mean_- they got into a big fight and Ace really hurt him, since then they just don't get along as well as they used to." He hoped Ace would buy it.

Ace jumped up from his seat in shock "Wait, how could you let him do that to you?" He hadn't even bothered to think about what Sanji was actually meant to say, how could Ace beat Luffy up? Now he really wanted to meet this guy.

"Look it doesn't matter, if it's any consolation I landed a few blows too…" Luffy said calmly, continuing the lie. He was thankful that he managed to stop Sanji in time, any more and this situation could have got really awkward. But with all the subtle, accidental hints he was giving, it was surprising that Ace hadn't realized yet… unless he was mentally denying it.

"I won't let him treat you like a punch bag, just comes and goes whenever he pleases and when he does show up he just treats you like crap, I'm really getting sick of him." Ace took a deep breath and returned to his seat, drinking a large amount of sake straight after.

"So anyway…" Sanji added, leaning towards Ace, smiling cheekily "Your from a parallel world aren't you?"

"Yeah- we've already covered this…" Ace replied questioningly.

"So, that means I exist in that world too... right?" His mouth widened, hoping to hear what he wanted.

"Well... yeah, but you should really talk to Luffy about it, I mean I have no idea-"

His sentence was cut short when Sanji took his hand and said "So that means Zoro exists as well, right? Tell me what we're like! Are we together _together, _or is it more like close friends? Are we married? Do we even know each other…" He paused and saddened "Please tell me we at least know each other!" His eyes widened in suspense…

Ace looked uncomfortably at Luffy, who in reply just rolled his eyes and swirled one of his fingers next to his head, signalling that Sanji was crazy.

"Well… to be honest, I think it's better if _you _don't know, you probably won't take it too well…" Ace replied.

Sanji sat back in his chair, releasing Ace from his soft, feminine grip. He sighed in sadness and took out another cigg. "I knew it; we don't even know each other." He lit up his cigg and started smoking it rather quickly compared to the last one.

Luffy sighed in annoyance and continued to be bugged by Sanji's obsession over Zoro. He leaned over the table so that he could just whisper to Ace, even if Sanji was in the middle; he doubted he had the conscious left to hear anything. "Let me handle this." Luffy sat back in his chair and finished the remainder of the food on his plate. "Sanji…" He said, after which said person looked up at him, his face still saddened. "Ace told me that he met you both at the same time, which means you are together."

Sanji sat up excitedly and chucked the dimped his cigg out in the ash tray. "Really, really?" He practically screamed, looking from left to right at Ace and Luffy.

"Yeah, you're also pirates under my command." He added.

"Pirates? What the hell?" Sanji replied, seeming confused.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, the world Ace is from is mainly populated by pirates, right Ace?" Luffy said.

"Yeah- my world is basically split into three fractions of people. There's the normal people, who just lead every day lives, the pirates who, you know, do what they do best and then finally there are the Marines, who fight the pirates. The Luffy I know, who is my little brother in that world has his own crew and you're in it, along with Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Robin. There are two others but I've never met them so I can't say really."

Sanji leaned back in his chair, again, shocked at the news. "I was a pirate? Why on earth would I be such a disgusting, low-life person!"

"Well you were looking for an ocean called _All Blue _and so you tagged along with Luffy, believing it existed. It's said that _All Blue_was a place where all the oceans met, and so did its wildlife, it's widely known as a chef's paradise."

"So wait, I was at _least _at chef?"

"Yeah, you were Luffy's chef, he loves your cooking in that world as well."

"Well… at least I'm doing something useful. I suppose that kind of life isn't so bad, it's being free and going on adventures, that seems interesting… plus I'm with Zoro all the time, so that sounds like a paradise to me!" He fantasized.

"Huh-yeah…" Ace added awkwardly, Sanji picked up on it immediately which brought him back to his previous worries.

"What? What's wrong…?"

"Well…" Ace started, but Luffy interrupted before Ace had any chance to finish his sentence.

"Remember you idiot, we're parallel universes, do you _really _think everything is exactly the same in that world as it is here?" Luffy added.

"Well-no… I guess not, so what're the differences then?" Sanji questioned.

"You probably don't want to hear this but it's just how it is and you'll have to live it with…" Ace took a deep breath, preparing for the worst.

"You and Zoro… pretty much hate each other, _a lot._" Luffy said, beating Ace to the punch, he knew what Sanji was like and if anything being blunt was probably better than beating around the bush._  
><em>  
>Sanji's jaw dropped instantly… he wasn't even able to form a decent reply… "W-w-w-e hu-ha-hate e-e-ach o-t-her?"<p>

"Yeah... Sorry about that, and I'm sorry to make things worse but… you're also a bit of a ladies man, you're always chasing after women, if anything Zoro is only on your mind when you're arguing or even fighting."

Sanji placed his hand over his mouth in shock… he really couldn't comprehend how he and Zoro hated each other in that other world. Unexpectedly, Sanji jumped up from his seat and ran out of the restaurant, leaving a somewhat disturbed and confused Luffy and Ace to wonder where on earth he went... "Ahh- don't worry about him, he'll get over it." Luffy added, finishing his meal.

"Let's hope so…" Ace said, finishing his last plate of food and draining the last of his alcohol. "Still… I kind of see what you mean now… all he ever talks about is Zoro…"

"Yeah, when you've been around him most of your life, and everyday all you ever hear is Zoro this and Zoro that, it just makes you want to shoot yourself, or shoot him…that would probably be better." He smirked jokingly.

"Well, I personally think that the Sanji and Zoro I know have repressed feelings for each other…"

Luffy tweaked his head a little inquisitively, "how so?"

"Well, there is a theory that when people are consistently horrible to each other, feel the need to out-do one another and fight about each others flaws, it can indicate some kind of repressed feelings that they aren't willing to show because of judgement from others – it's just a thought but it's what I figured from when I first met them back in my world."

"Ahhh…" Luffy accepted his theory and nodded "That's a bit like me and Ace…" Realizing what he just said, he pretended like he hadn't spoken at all and resumed eating. Ace on the other hand looked at him suspiciously.

"What?" He asked.

"Oh-nothing, nothing at all." He said between mouth-fulls of food, trying to avoid any eye-contact with his brother.

Ace knew what he had heard and wanted to hear more about what was going on between the two, but he also had respect and he didn't want to force Luffy to tell him anything he didn't want to, or wasn't ready to, hopefully in this case. "Fair enough…" He replied and carried on eating and drinking his sake.

Luffy eventually felt brave enough to look up from his plate and quietly sighed in relief. He jumped slightly when he felt his pocket vibrating numerous times, realizing that someone was calling him, he pulled his phone out from his pocket and answered the call.

"Usoopppp!" He cried cheerfully, hoping to break the ice that was currently holding him and Ace in a very awkward situation.

_"Hey Luffy, got a sec?"_

"Yeah, sup?"

_"I couldn't sleep last night, I was thinking too much about Ace-"_

Being the gullible kind, Luffy turned away from the table and spoke much quieter into the phone "What?" He said angrily "You were having dirty thoughts about Ace? Usopp how could you?" He bit his lip, hoping Usopp was only joking.

_"NO YOU DIMWIT." _He screamed down the phone back at him. _"What I meant to say before you cut me off… that I was thinking about this whole theory of Ace being from a parallel world. I've spent all night and day researching paranormal, scientific, religious and loads of other explanations and it's completely plausible now. I've even managed to track down a few people who have come from his world."_

Luffy turned back to the table, how mouth dropped in shock. "You serious?" He said, looking directly at Ace who was leaning back into his chair and drinking the rest of his sake slowly. Ace looked right back at him, a little puzzled.

_"Yeah, am I good or what?"_

"Usopp that's amazing! –Can we come round?"

_"Well since I've been researching something completely off-subject, I was kinda hoping to do some actual studying tonight. I do have an exam in a few days – I can probably see you on the weekend-"_

"Oh come on, you study every minute of every day, I'm _sure _that missing an hour or two couldn't hurt, as soon as you tell us everything you know, we'll leave."

Usopp went silent for a moment down the line whilst he thought about it… as much as he wanted to study; he honestly felt a little excitement to spill the beans over his research. "Fine, but for one hour, anything I don't tell you today, I'll email you the documents."

"Cheers Usopp! We'll be round shortly – Later!" With that Luffy hung up the phone and shoved it back inside his pocket. He leaned slightly over the table, closer to Ace and said "You'll never guess what Usopp just told me!"

"What?" Ace finished drinking his sake and placed the bottle down on the table.

"Well- Usopp said he's been researching into different theories as to why you're here. He also said that he's even _found _people who have come from your world!"

Ace leaned closer in, he was in complete shock. "You Serious?" People from his world as well? This he had to see.

"Dead."

Ace went silent for a moment and thought about it… but then again, what was there to think about? An opportunity to get some answers about why he was here and how he could get home had presented itself… so why on earth was he still sat down. "What do you think?"

Luffy was taken aback by his reply and tweaked his head a little to side. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if Usopp presents accurate research and theories, won't I realize how to get back home? You won't see me ever again."

"Yeah! But that's good right? A chance to go home, back your own world, where you belong, and see Luffy again! Don't you want that Ace? I want you to be able to go home!" He smiled weakly.

Ace sighed quietly and simply said. "You don't need to lie to me Luffy."

Luffy saddened a little, seeming confused. "Wha-t? I'm not lying to you, I'm being serious." His tone suddenly changed, it sounded a little angrier.

"You don't want me to leave do you?"

Luffy clenched his fists under the table and to hide what he truly thought, he blurted out "Shut up!" very angrily. "God you're so arrogant! You make it seem like my life is imperfect if you aren't around. Not only that but you make me out to being a complete weakling, like I can't even take care of my self! I was doing perfectly fine on my own and quite frankly I was even happy before you showed up! If anything you've just complicated things!" He practically screamed at Ace, who could only look back in shock and discomfort. "Forget it, just go see Usopp by yourself, I'm going home."

Luffy rose from his seat and headed for the doors, but Ace was quick to follow him. "Wait- Luffy, what the hell?" As smart as Ace was, he couldn't read this Luffy as easily as he could the other; therefore he wasn't able to tell how much pain Luffy was in from shouting at someone who had made me feel so happy and so at ease since he showed up. This one was far more complex; even the Luffy he knew back home wouldn't snap at Ace about anything, even after everything Ace did to him as a child, he still just wanted to be his friend. In a sense, this was a pretty tense moment and Ace was desperately trying to see what had got Luffy so stirred up, but the younger of the two paced quickly out of the restaurant and into the street. Before Ace left the restaurant, he adjusted himself and lowered his hat to partially hide his face, eventually following Luffy. When he was close enough he took Luffy's wrist and dragged him into a nearby alleyway so that they could talk more privately.

However, as Ace forcibly led him into the alley, upon looking up he saw a group of teenagers, around the same age as him and pretty tough-looking, all eying them viciously.

Ace remained quiet, still and vigilant, watching their movements and listening to their whispers. He heard his name crop up a few times, as well as Luffy's. Not only that but they were planning to attack them, a few other ideas were being tossed around the circle as well but Ace couldn't really hear them very well.

One of them stepped forward, most likely the leader. "Relax, Ace." He continued walking towards them, and Ace suspected that he was going to try something, he noticed one of his hands occupying some kind of weapon just behind his leg and instinctively he stood in front of Luffy, even though said person had just complained about these very actions that Ace took. Whether this Luffy, or any Luffy from any world for that matter, liked Ace's protective actions over him or not, this was one rule Ace was never going to break. Since creating it in childhood he has followed it whole heartedly and has even proved how much Luffy meant to him by dying for him back in his world. He followed this one rule not because he had to, but because he wanted to, he believed this was one of the best ways of showing Luffy how far he was willing to go to keep him safe and out of harms way.

"Look –We know that you're crazy strong and beating up miniscule guys like us must be a bore, so how bout' this? Let us take Luffy off your hands and you can be on your way…"

* * *

><p><em>Ahahaha, sorry, but cliff-hangers are the best. <strong>REVIEW!<strong> And I may update very, very soon :P_


	6. Regrets

_- Regrets -_

_Heads up: The Ace from the current world doesn't have the 'D' in his name, neither does his parents. Luffy does though._

* * *

><p>"Why? …"<p>

There was a brief moment of silence, and then laughter broke out between the gang Ace and Luffy were faced with. "Come on! Even the great Portgas Ace must now realize how much that _kid_is worth!" Their leader spoke out between chuckling to himself, before shushing the others.

"I'm _not _a kid – dickheads." Luffy interjected, giving them a deathly glare.

The gang laughed amongst themselves again from such a menial insult, the leader once again shushed them and continued to look at Ace with weariness, he knew what he was capable of and he had heard many stories of people returning from fights with Ace with more than just broken bones, that was _never_the worse case scenario.

The leader firmed himself and tried to think things through in his head… there was no way he'd be able to beat Ace, even with a bat that he had hidden behind his leg. All he really needed was Luffy; once he had him he'd be able to jet off in an instant. "So hand him over and we'll be on our way!" He tried again.

"No." Ace simply replied, firming himself also, standing behind his choice. Of course there was no way in any world he would simply hand over Luffy to anyone who meant him harm. But he also had some reason to panic, he knew nothing of how people fought each other in this world and without his devil fruit he'd have to return to hand-to-hand combat, he was definitely feeling rusty. "If he's worth so much, then why would I willingly hand him over to you?"

"Fine, how about this then? – We partner up, and we'll split whatever money we get, that's my _Final _offer." He offered.

Ace pretended to think about it, but then replied with another simple "_No." _

The leader turned to face his gang and gave them a simple, unnoticeable nod; each smiled demonically with anticipation as a reply and readied their weapons. "Well, we tried to be reasonable with you; we offered you a simpler solution and now look what we've been reduced to… Lucky for you we're not into murdering people, we're just gonna beat you till all your bones are smashed into tiny pieces and you'll be the _Great Ace _no more. Then you can watch us take Luffy and make millions whilst you're rotting away in hospital." He finished, bringing the bat around his body and gently patting the larger end of it into his palm.

"Your dead set on beating me aren't you? – Little cocky aren't we?"

"Heh, you're not so tough. I don't get why people are so scared of you. So what if you've got a little muscle, so what if you're joining the Navy. You're not smart and everyone knows that. You don't think, you don't listen, you just fight and fuck everything that moves. You're just a pathetic person. Even what we're doing right now doesn't compare to what you've done in your life – you've probably even had someone else fight your battles for you… that's why your reputation is so big." The leader spoke angrily against him; he should have realized a lot sooner that insulting Ace, Luffy or anyone he cared about for that matter was a huge mistake. Even if it was about the other Ace these guys knew, they shared the same name, looks and interests and not only that but they obviously cared about Luffy. "And him! –" He pointed at Luffy with his free hand. "The fact that you're _with _a scrawny rich kid like him must mean you're after something from him as well. At least we have the decency to be blunt about what we want and not hang around with him just to get it."

The other teenagers who were stood behind their gang leader were starting to panic and step further back into the alley. The dawn of an epic fight was almost on the horizon and just from the _look _Ace was presenting them with was enough to make them run with their tails between their legs. It was scary and horrifying, his eyes were darkened and his head lowered, his mouth remained still and his body firm. The gang leader was even beginning to shake in fear… he had no idea what had just come over him. He's had plenty of opportunities in the past couple of minutes to run up to him and smack him over the head with his bat… so why hadn't he yet?

"You." Ace said, not even pointing a finger at him, the others who were stood much further behind their leader than before, bounced back a little in fear. "Your name."

"Wu-what?" The leader replied shakily. "My name?"

Luffy continued to watch the situation unfold from behind Ace's back. He was intrigued to see how this particular Ace fought with others and decided he would only join in the fight if necessary. He knew this Ace was strong and certainly powerful-looking, if Luffy joined in, he'd probably get in the way, he could never amount to Ace's overwhelming strength and in any fights they got into, even if they were just playing around as kids, he never beat him.

But even though he knew Ace would be able to handle this, he couldn't help but feel like this was his fault, if he hadn't of lashed out at Ace in the restaurant, then maybe they wouldn't have had this encounter, they'd probably be at Usopp's now, safe and sound. The other thing that was bothering him was whether or not Ace had realized why these guys were after him.

"It's Zack-" He paused, shaking off his scared persona and firming his stance again, he definitely didn't want to look weak in front of his mates and if he did somehow manage to beat Ace then not only would he the most feared person in town, but he'd be rich beyond his wildest dreams, kidnapping Luffy would definitely work out for the better. "Not that your gonna remember after today – In fact, you may never want to remember my name."

Ace finally smirked, but only slightly, barely even noticeable to anyone. Zack finally made a move; he swung his arm over his shoulder along with the bat, hoping to smash Ace's skull in with the bat in with the first swing. But as he ran forward, he didn't anticipate Ace stepping slightly closer to him and grabbing the bat moments before it hit his head. With the bat out of the picture, with one swing of Ace's fist to Zack's chin, then to the side of his face and finally to his stomach, he collapsed in pain and dropped the bat to the floor. Determined not to give up, he wiped away some of the blood that had leaked from his mouth and stood to his feet again. He knew using the bat would only make him a liability, so instead he decided to continue fighting with only his fists, he sincerely hoped he would be able to do some damage that way. "Too easy…" Ace added.

Zack turned his head around again, only briefly though to say "Take _him_" to his mates, who were completely hesitant at first, but eventually manned up and ran towards Ace.

However, what Ace didn't anticipate was that the guys were actually heading for Luffy and not him. And with Zack now attacking Ace with wild and foul swings with both of his fists, Ace could only block and dodge. Even though he appeared weak, he knew by doing this he would be able to learn how the people of this world fought with each other, on a typical basis at least. It was so simple and uncontrolled how this Zack guy fought, he was just swinging punches hoping to land one and on top of that he had no idea what he was doing.

Ace had already found weaknesses to his fighting style and the sooner he got this guy out of the way, the faster he'd be able to help Luffy. As he was briefly able to glance behind him, he noticed that Luffy was already locked in battle with the other guys. There was four of them against him, of course this would be no problem at all for the Luffy he knew, hell this wouldn't even be classed as entertaining or fun for him, but he still had no idea how this Luffy fought his battles. But he did however mention that he used to fight with Ace all the time when he was growing up, so maybe he had learned a thing or two.

Without delaying any further, he had luckily found his opening. Zack had completely worn himself out throwing meaningless punches at his arms. "Please. I've thought guys a million times stronger than you and far more threatening. You're so weak it's just… not even funny. I can't even make fun of it."

Ace swung his fist upwards towards Zack's chin again, but this time the force from the punch sent Zack flying upwards and back onto the floor. He wondered if he had broken his jaw, he did feel a few cracks. Even though he had obviously won the fight, his anger was starting to get to him… he wanted to continue fighting. If he couldn't control himself any longer then there's a chance he would end up murdering this guy.

Without even realizing, he had already started stomping on the guy's stomach and kicking him left, right and centre. He was just so angry and he wasn't really sure why… where on earth had all this anger suddenly arose from?

His sub-conscious was repeatedly telling him something… something he couldn't comprehend whilst in his angry state.

_Why didn't I run away?_

When he was finally able to feel himself calming down a little, he felt two soft hands gripping his arm, he could hear his name being screamed, he could definitely sense some kind of fear within that voice. When he was able to trace the voice to its caster, he snapped out of his mental thoughts. "Ace stop! – That's enough!" He continued screaming well after Ace had returned to normal.

As he looked down, he saw Zack in a complete mess; he was completely covered in blood, his clothes were torn and his body was beginning to bruise badly. "What the…" Ace said, backing away slowly.

He turned away and begun walking out of the alley way, with Luffy following him wearily. Ace ran his hands over his face to remove any more lingering horrible thoughts and did his best not to think about fighting anymore. The immense battle at Marineford was still fresh in his mind to every last detail. The image of his brother in complete shock mere moments before Ace passed on was lodged in his mind.

_Why didn't I run away?_

Ace paced down the street rapidly, with no clue as to where he was heading or what he was even doing. He needed time alone, to think and clear his mind. He didn't want to hurt this Luffy either, the argument he had before was still bothering him as well and even if he just ended up shouting at him, it would still hurt Ace greatly to know that he was upsetting Luffy.

He walked into a nearby park, much like the entrance to Luffy's college, only it was bigger with a huge pond in the middle. There was also considerably more wildlife, like birds and squirrels and a larger variety of plants.

Ace sat down on a nearby bench and hoped Luffy hadn't followed him, or if he did that he would at least keep his distance for some time. Ace shut his eyes tight and rested his elbows on his legs as he thought deeply about what was going through his mind, although this was only making him feel worse… maybe talking to Luffy wouldn't be such a bad idea.

"Ace?" Luffy sat down on the far side of the bench and spoke in the softest tone possible. Since Ace didn't instantly reply, Luffy went silent and felt a really uncomfortable feeling surrounding them. He tried his best to not look over at Ace to make things awkward and simply remained distant from him.

It wasn't just Ace not speaking to him that was making things uncomfortable, but it was also because Luffy had no idea how to deal with Ace when he was feeling like this that was making things worse. He'd never even seen Ace like this, not even the one from this world.

"Luffy…" Ace mumbled into his hands still hiding a majority of his face. It was some time before he spoke up and even now he still wasn't looking at Luffy, he doubted he could yet. He felt so ashamed of letting himself go completely out of control and in front of his little brother… he had been completely insulted, and not only that but Zack had the guts to say that Ace was using Luffy for money... Ace knew Zack got what he deserved, but he shouldn't have lost control like that; the guy looked half dead when Luffy finally got through to him and was able to stop him from hurting Zack any further... "-I'm sorry."

Luffy instinctively looked at Ace, although he was still feeling slightly uncomfortable. "Sorry? -For what?"

"The reason doesn't matter; just know that I'm sorry, go on home."

Luffy didn't want to make Ace angry, especially if the consequence was possibly looking half dead. Even though he knew Ace would never do anything like that to him… he certainly couldn't take any chances. But he was almost desperate to know what was going on in Ace's head. When Ace just spoke to him, his voice was almost shaking in fear and sadness. "Ace, I'm not going home. Tell me what your sorry for!" Luffy said, raising his voice slightly.

Without giving it much thought, Ace quickly turned around and took hold of Luffy's shoulders, "Look Luffy! –There are _some _things you can't tell me, so there are obviously some things I can't tell you, right?"

Ace looked into Luffy's eyes and saw how terrified he looked… it was a look he used to see all the time when they were kids, but seeing it now when he was seventeen was certainly worrying. Ace released his tight grip on Luffy's shoulders and back away. "Can we forget about what just happened?"

Luffy smiled a little and replied, "If we can forget about what happened in the restaurant?"

Ace felt himself feeling more at ease that things were gradually going back to normal. "Alright, alright." He smirked "I will want an explanation at some point though about what you said to me."

"I expect one from you too."

This time the silence was comfortable and enjoyable. Luffy scooted closer to Ace on the bench and they relaxed and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere of the park before making any plans to go round to Usopps.

Eventually, Luffy unexplainably got up from his position and smartened himself up; he had got involved in the fight as well. Ace had only just realized that Luffy must've won that fight he got into… he didn't bother to ask about it, somewhere in his mind though he was proud that Luffy was able to prove to him that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. "We should probably get going, I'm sure Usopp is getting really edgy about us taking so long…"

"Ahaha, why? It's not like he has anything major to do- you told me he's always studying?"

"Well yeah, but when he knows people are coming over, he can't concentrate on his studying." Luffy replied.

Ace stood up from the bench and lowered his hat back over his head, "Alright, lead the way…"

***

Throughout the journey to Usopp's, they talked about numerous possibilities in getting Ace back home, but none of them really made any sense. They were able to chat and laugh naturally like they had been doing before the incident in the alley way, and back in the restaurant. Neither had bothered to bring up either occurrence and simply forgot that any trouble had even come their way, as they had already asked of each other.

Ace was alerted by the numerous amounts of talking, screaming and laughing coming from behind the wall to the left of him. As they got progressively closer to a large gate, the noise got louder and it made Ace wonder what on earth was going on over there.

When Luffy stopped in front of the gate, Ace was amazed to see so many people different people, he was also tempted to look up and have a proper good look around. "We're here!" Luffy almost screamed in excitement… "I love coming here, it's so fun!" He said looking over at Ace, who was still stunned….

"What is this place?" He finally questioned. "There's soo many people… It was exactly like being in Luffy's college again, except there was twice as many people, if not three times as many. Again, he was able to recognize a few faces, some were people he'd battled in his world and others were just people he'd met along his travels as a pirate.

"It's Usopp's College, it's much larger and far better than mine, it's a private one so only people with the money or grades can get in. At my college only a small percentage of people from this town and surrounding towns go to it, but this one has a variety of people from around the world attending." Luffy finished explaining.

"This is awesome, there's so many people…. And Usopp _lives _here?"

"Well, not in the college per say. He lives in that large building over there" He pointed, "That's the dorm, where most of the students, including Usopp, live. It's the best place ever because there's so much to do here, I don't even think you need to leave the campus –Not only that but you can make loads of friends here and be around them _all _the time."

"This seems like such an awesome place to live, and there's so many people our ages here… bet you could pick up girls like dead easily, right?" Ace cheered, playfully nudging Luffy against his arm with his elbow.

Luffy awkwardly looked away, scratching the back of his head and blushing slightly, Ace noticed his strange movements and smirked knowingly, but decided to tease him about it anyway. "Don't tell me you've never picked up girls before?"

"What? –No, of course not!" Luffy replied hesitantly.

"I expected this from Luffy back home, I mean- I don't think he even knows what _love _is, never mind sex. But you? Considering you're surrounded by so many girls every day in your college, I'm surprised you haven't found anyone."

"I'm just not interested –besides, I do like someone…" He ended it at that and passed through the gates, hoping Ace wouldn't make a big deal out of it. He could just hear Ace asking _'wha-?, who? whooo?' _as he continued to walk away from him.

Eventually Ace dropped the subject and happily followed Luffy through the campus grounds, although he did already have an idea as to who this 'crush' was.

As they ventured through the grounds, they become the attention of many different people on the campus, some were curious and intrigued, others were scared or worried about there presence. Although many people had seen Luffy come onto the grounds before, Ace was definitely someone they were seeing for the first time.

Luffy stopped just outside the entrance to swing the door wide open for both himself and Ace. Once inside, Luffy walked across the large lobby, which had a reception desk, various vending machines, comfy looking chairs and a large television on the wall.

They proceeded up one flight of stairs to the first level and literally turned the corner to find Usopp's room. Luffy knocked numerous times and whilst waiting for him to answer, Ace looked around and saw how noticeably different this place was compared to Luffy's home. The corridor was much livelier, modern and verycolourful.

Usopp finally answered the door with an exhausted look on his face, he barely looked awake. "What's up with you?" Luffy answered, walking straight in and not even bothering to ask for permission to enter. Ace followed when Usopp signalled for him to come in.

"I told you, I couldn't sleep last night. –So don't get too comfortable, I'll tell you what I know and then you're off. I'm gonna have a quick nap before I start studying."

"Jeez, learn to relax a little. Don't you pass every test you get with flying colours? You don't even need to study anymore; you've studied everything you can possibly study."

Ace stopped on the other side just in front of Usopp, taking quite a look around the dorm. "Nice place…" He added, it was a bit bigger than Luffy's, and by the looks of it, Usopp lived by himself since there was only one double bed placed in the far corner of the room. He also had his own bathroom, kitchen and a few other things that the college had provided for him, like a TV and a much bigger kotatsu.

"Thanks… I guess…" Usopp crossed his room and sat down by his desk, with his laptop open and his research notes at the ready. "Right, let's cut the chase. There are several hundreds of ideas, speculations and theories as to how you got here and why. But only a handful of them are reasonable- let's put it like that."


	7. Sabo

_- Sabo -_

* * *

><p>"So…" Luffy trailed off as he sat underneath Usopp's kotatsu, he patted the floor next to him inviting Ace to sit next to him, in which case he happily did so.<p>

Usopp remained silent as they made themselves comfortable, knowing Usopp had told them not to. He coughed to get their attention and continued. "Well I've narrowed it down to three now- religion, science and paranormal."

Luffy tweaked his eyebrow in confusion… "But two of those are unexplainable… how can they be a possibility?"

"Well, what might not be possible here may be possible in Ace's world."

"That's true actually." Ace interrupted "remember I told you that I had powers of a devil fruit in my world but in this world they vanished."

"Exactly, they can't exist in this world because they're unheard of, unexplained and impossible basically. His powers may exist but only in fairy tales and myths. Which means paranormal explanations and religious theories may exist in his world and could be the reason why he's here. That's why I didn't rule them out."

"Well… not many people in my world are big on religion. It definitely exists but each to his own basically. Where as paranormal, well I've not stumbled across any kinds of ghosts, spirits or the walking dead, but I wouldn't rule it out in my world. I've come across people who've looked like either of the three, but I can't say if they definitely were."

"I researched each factor thoroughly, but it's hard to conclude anything without solid evidence and information about your world, Ace." Usopp added.

"Well I don't really know what you want to know – I mean, I'm not exactly well-informed about my world either."

"I suppose if I explain my findings it may help you to understand what I need to know."

Ace nodded in reply and allowed him to continue talking.

"When I was researching scientific theories I didn't find much in the way of anything being relatively possible – the only thing that came up continuously was a rip in space. Since our worlds are most likely connected, as with any other parallel worlds, it's possible that you fell through that rip, that had to have been created in _your _world and is what brought you here – if that is the case then that rip _may _still be there, assuming it was even there in the first place."

"A… rip?" Ace gave it a quick thought and came to realize something pretty big. "My captain…" He added. "My captain was able to create quakes with his fists. He had eaten a devil fruit known as the Gura Gura No Mi, he had the ability to create earthquakes that weren't necessarily on the floor, he could surround his power around blades, use it in the air and on the sea… it was incredible. But I never thought it could do damage to the atmosphere – it was very powerful but it was definitely in the right hands."

"But he was a pirate… how is that power in the right hands?" Usopp replied rather pessimistically.

"He _never _hurt anybody unless they hurt his crew and myself of course, he never abused his power, in fact he never even used it. He wasn't interested in finding any kind of treasure, he was just a pirate for the ride. He loved his crew and loved spending every waking day with them. He wasn't your average pirate, and neither was Luffy, they were the same in a way… although Luffy talked about finding the great treasure, One Piece, I knew he wasn't being a pirate to hurt people, he just wanted to be a pirate because it was the best way to be free."

Luffy smiled a little at Ace's sentiment and looked over at Usopp to hear his reply, his face was pretty much fuming... or at least turning bright red.

"Well, in this world pirates don't care about freedom, they care about money, stealing and making people suffer. They kidnap people and brutally murder them. – they're just monsters."

Before things got out of hand, Luffy interjected and tried to get the original conversation back into play. "Anyway… as you were saying Usopp?"

"Right… right, well- um, yeah… we need to find that rip then."

"That may be a little bit of a problem though…" Luffy replied almost instantly…

"How so?" Usopp replied inquisitively.

"Well, Ace fell from the sky, he fell on _me."_

"Hmm… well I guess we can rule the scientific way out. They're may however, be a chance that the rip occurred elsewhere and not just in the sky. But it would take ages to find another rip, and even if we did manage to find one, there's no possibility of knowing where you could end up. You might end up in another parallel universe; you might even end up in a place where there are _no _universes at all. It would be far too risky to send you through without thorough researching it first."

"But that sounds time consuming, I have no idea what's happened to my little brother, he may have been captured by the Marines or even worse, he could be dead too… I can't stand worrying like this, I know he needs me and the longer I'm here the worse I'm going to feel…"

Luffy looked at Ace worriedly… he could see how lost Ace was without his 'real' little brother, but he couldn't help feeling that he actually wanted Ace to stay.. "I'll be fine- trust me, as soon as I see a rip, I'm going through it." He reassured them, smiling specifically at Luffy.

After some awkward silence and the exchange of glances, Usopp broke the ice and continued on. "Let's at least revise the other theories I've found, then you can decide what to do… I've not done all this research for nothing y'know. And besides, I've managed to locate some people who may people of some help to us."

"Wait, who?" Luffy interrupted.

"I'll tell you in a minute, just be patient."

"Aw come on, who've you found? I want to know nowwww!" He replied excitedly.

Now this was interesting to Ace… he too wondered who Usopp had managed to find who would actually be of some help to them… "Yeah, me too actually." He added, although after that little disagreement he and Usopp had, he reckoned they wouldn't be on such good terms from now on.

Usopp and Luffy looked over at him blankly, but their expression changed immediately after, Luffy smiled at him, happy to see that someone else wasn't interested in the explanations, while Usopp could only role his eyes and carry on. "Fine. I'll be blunt and straight to the point with you both. Religiously, God may have sent you here in order for you to prove your worth. He's giving you a second chance, therefore you may need to do something in order to prove that you're worthy of living back in your world. So basically, you can't go back until you fulfil or come to grips with something. Whilst paranormally, it may be that you soul is unsettled, it simply cannot accept the fact that its body counterpart is dead. Your soul may also possibly feel regret, remorse or incomplete, it knows that it wasn't supposed to die and so was sent into this world because it knew, somewhere, deep down, that the Ace of this world is still alive which meant there was a possibility for you to be alive as well. But if that is the case then you are most likely still dead in your world, going back would just mean your death all over again." He explained.

Ace sat back and let the information he had just heard seep in. All of it, down to the last detail seemed about right, he was definitely feeling some kind of regret and remorse and he _knew _that it wasn't his time to die. He still had loads of things that he needed to do, and what about Luffy? He promised him that he would never die and not only that but he promised Sabo through that letter that he would look after him… as much as he didn't want to admit it, he really was a terrible big brother.

"It's possible that all three come into play for you Ace." Luffy added when the silence was starting to become unbearable. "I mean, you were most likely sent here on scientific principles, but you still religiously have a mission to fulfil whilst realising and owning up to your own selfish regrets in order to put your soul at ease." He added.

With it being said like that, it certainly started to make a lot more sense… the constant feeling he had when he was fighting with Zack back in the alley way, he was now beginning to understand why his mind was telling him to run away. There was also something that he had _always _wanted to tell Luffy, something that couldn't be easily said and it was something that could easily be misunderstood… he regretted not being able to say it when he had the chance… this wash of new feelings was beginning to make him more home sick, he was growing desperate, he really wanted to go home, he _needed _to see Luffy again. "Okay, I think I'm starting to get it now. I'll give it a think over and just hope and pray that I can still find a way back home." He paused and shook the daunting thoughts out of his mind. "Now- what about these people you mentioned?"

"Ah- yes, well as I said before, I've found a few people who may be able to aid us in our situation. However, only one of them is in Japan and only for the upcoming weekend. I seriously can't believe who it is though and neither will you Luffy…" He said almost excitedly, which set Luffy off on a little hype.

"What? What? Who is it? WHO IS IT?" He practically screamed and giggled.

_Now this is more like Luffy… _Ace thought to himself, smiling and watching his newly adopted little brother act, what he could call, normal.

Usopp held him in suspense for about a minute before revealing who it was… "Sabo!"

Ace's face dropped, his smile disappeared and his eyes widened in shock… he was unable to comprehend the name that had just been said. Not only that he was unable to say a word about it... he listened to Luffy and Usopp chat on about him.

"Oh my god, seriously? –Wait… I just realized… his novels!" Luffy continued to get excited about it. "And he's actually willing to talk to us?"

"Yeah! Amazing right? But when I realized his novels were basically more detailed forms of the stories Ace told, I figured that he might know something about it… I emailed him through his website and he got back to me immediately. He seemed really interested in talking to us as well so he invited us down to his hotel suite this weekend in Tokyo. We can't speak to him for very long but it's definitely worth the journey!"

When Usopp and Luffy were calm enough to speak on a lower tone, they both looked over at Ace, who was still completely struck with shock."Ace?" Luffy questioned him… he looked half dead. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"… Sabo …."

"You've heard of him?" Luffy questioned. "Was he a famous novelist in your world too? Or I bet he was like a famous actor or something like that!" He added excitedly.

"I think it's amazing how he's only three years older than us and he has five best sellers, his own TV series and he's going to star in his own movie next year!"

"I know! … He's so cool and his novels are the best, they're probably the only books I enjoy reading!" Luffy replied.

"I must admit… I thought this world that Ace was talking about sounded familiar. It's practically the setting for all of Sabo's novels!" Usopp added.

"… Sabo…" Ace said again… still in shock, he stared blankly into thin air and as he tried to comprehend the name he had not heard, talked or even thought about in ten years.

"Ace, come on, what's up?" Luffy asked again… he was really starting to freak him out…

Ace finally found himself able to talk… "If this Sabo knows so much about my world, is it possible that he might be the one _from_my world?"

"But what makes you say that? I mean, somebody could've told him stories about your world and then that influenced him to write novels about it. Or maybe he has been to your world but he came back here a short while after, and if that is the case then he must be able to help us."

"It's because the Sabo of my world _died_when we were kids."

The room filled with an awkward silence, Luffy and Usopp looked at each other with a blank expression, they were able to realize why Ace believed the Sabo they were talking about was from his world.

"Sabo was my other adopted brother, as well as Luffy's. He was my only childhood friend before Luffy came along and he was the only person I could trust at the time. But he hated his life, he was a noble in my world, part of the wealthier families on the island, but he hated it. He wanted to be a pirate like myself and Luffy, he wasn't going to leave until he was much older but things got really bad for him and he had no choice but to leave if he wanted to find freedom… he never made it out to sea because his ship was destroyed."

"Well then, I suppose it is possible…" Luffy replied. "I mean, if Ace died and showed up here, then it's possible the same happened to Sabo."

"Sabo died when he was ten years old, which means he's been living in this world for the past… ten years? – Oh my god, he must be a completely different person now." Ace said, realizing that he would be all grown up and definitely physically different… he was also wondering about how he would break the news to him about _his _own death?

"Well he seems like an alright person. I told him last night that someone from the world he talked about in his novels had actually come over and was trying to find a way back. He seemed interested in knowing who it was but I didn't tell him, I asked him if he would help though and he said that he'd try." Usopp added.

Ace was almost positive that was the Sabo he knew from his world… and even if he wasn't, he would definitely be happy to see Sabo one last time. And who knows… if it really was Sabo, then maybe he could bring him back to their world… Luffy would definitely be over the moon! "Where's this Tokyo place?" Ace asked almost abruptly.

"Well, it's about two and a half hours away via bullet train and a bit of walking. If you caught the 6:AM train on Saturday morning to Sendai, arrive at about 6:30, then catch the 6:40 bullet train to Tokyo, you should arrive shortly before 9:AM. – Now, apparently, Sabo can only see you for about ten minutes at most because has a very busy day on Saturday, and it's during his break at one in the afternoon."

"That's all I need." Ace replied.

"Good. Well, now that I've told you everything, you can be on your way." Usopp said almost forcefully. He stood up from his chair and made his way over to the door, preparing to let them out.

"Alright… alright…" Luffy said, giving up. He got out from underneath the kotatsu and made his way over to the door. "Are you coming with us on Saturday?"

"No, I'm going to my parents house this weekend."

"Then how are we gonna know where Sabo is staying?" Luffy practically screamed at him.

"Chill out! Look, I'll text you the directions and the address when Sabo sends it to me. He also said he's gonna have to give you a codeword to use on his guards when you show up at his hotel room, otherwise they won't let you in."

Luffy nodded in understanding and left the room immediately after the door was opened, "Thanks Usopp, I'll see you later!" He called out, Ace followed shortly after with a simple nod and "bye!" With them both gone, Usopp ran over to his bed, jumped onto the sheets and fell asleep.

***

As they journeyed home, the day slowly came to a close. Luffy was thinking about dinner whilst Ace was thinking about Sabo… they didn't realize that they had spent most of the journey walking in silence. Ace still had to hide his face from the public eye, even though they took some of the back roads home where it was a lot quieter.

"We should probably hurry home." Luffy said abruptly.

Ace looked at him worriedly when Luffy's face appeared blank and somewhat fearful. "Why? – It's a nice evening… can't we relax a little?"

"Well… I suppose…" He said hesitantly… he really wanted to get home and fast. "But I'm hungry!" He whined, tugging on Ace's arm.

Only moments later did Ace's stomach rumble as well… "Looks like I am too…"

Luffy smiled cheekily, whilst feeling somewhat relieved that Ace would pick up his pace in order to get back to Luffy's apartment quicker. As they neared said building, Luffy begun acting out of the ordinary, or at least that's how Ace perceived it.

It was almost like Luffy was being stalked, he was constantly surveying his surroundings, looking from left to right, even up and down. He checked alley ways as he passed them and tried to see around corners before he even reached them.

"Are… you okay?" Ace finally questioned his weird activity.

"What? Yeah... I'm fine, I just… thought we were being followed, or something."

"Followed?"

"Yeah… but I think I'm still just a bit on edge since that incident this afternoon." He lied, hoping Ace would believe him.

"Right…" Ace replied, he knew full well that was a lie… something was up with him, or at least something was bugging him, but Ace didn't want to pester him about it because if he lied the first time then he really didn't want to talk about it.

They came around the corner of Luffy's apartment building and quickly walked through the entrance and up the two flights of stairs. Since they were inside, Ace removed his hat and rested it on the back of his neck. He was still wondering why Luffy was in such a rush to get home… he probably was hungry but there was definitely another reason behind it.

Luffy was already at the top of the second flight of stairs and had suddenly stopped on the last step. As Ace walked up the last set of stairs he noticed Luffy staring at something intently and worriedly.

Ace quickly climbed the last few steps and came up behind Luffy to see what had caught his attention… He too was caught in the gravity of the shock that Luffy was feeling, he also came to realize why Luffy had wanted to hurry home so quickly…

Meters away from them, leaning against the wall next to Luffy's front door was someone Ace had wanted to meet since first arriving in this crazy world… he had heard so much about him and yet he didn't seem so bad now that they were about to meet for the first time…

It was too late to turn and leave now, Ace was looking right at them… and confusion was plastered on his face. "What.. the.. hell?"

* * *

><p>Originally, Chapter 6 and 7 were one big chapter, but I thought it would be easier for you to digest if I split it up :P <strong>Remember to review!<strong>

Sorry if the past two chapters aren't very well written, I've been a little off these past few days so… things haven't been normal basically.


	8. Encounter

_- Encounter -_

_**Important! **__Right, since Ace is finally meeting himself… I reckon it could get confusing, even for me… so from now on I'm gonna write their names like this: __**RW-Ace**__ and __**OP-Ace (basically, 'Real World' and 'One Piece')**__. I hope you're all okies with this! (:  
><em>

* * *

><p>"<em>Well?<em>" … It had finally happened…. Their first encounter and so far it wasn't looking good… he had expected to meet RW-Ace at some point but not this soon… in fact, he had _slightly_hoped he would never have the chance of meeting someone who he had heard so many horrible stories about, even though he verbally expressed his interests in meeting him, a small part of him new that was a just a front to Luffy to prove he wasn't scared.

Meters ahead of them, RW-Ace was leaning against the wall next to Luffy's front door. His arms crossed and one leg propped up against the wall… a typical 'tough-guy' look. He was staring at them, appearing very confused and quite obliviously angry. He wasn't as stupid as everyone thought, he knew this Ace wasn't a clone or anything like that, or even someone cosplaying as him, as many already did in order to avoid trouble around town- that is until they run into the _real _Ace.

"Ace, calm down and just… let me explain!" He finally felt himself ease up a little, enough to move closer to RW-Ace. Although he still prepared himself for a fight, just as he had done before towards OP-Ace. The last thing he needed right now was for his other, similarly aged neighbours to come outside their rooms and notice not one, but _two _Ace's in their hallway- the girls might think it's heaven, but the guys would obviously call it hell… so at this rate, he was definitely willing to get RW-Ace into his apartment, as long as OP-Ace was around, there was nothing to be afraid of right?

"Explain what? Who the _fuck _is that? And _WHY _does he look like me?" … To some, RW-Ace might have been acting so rationally out of jealousy, but right now OP-Ace could only see him being directly angry and somewhat violent towards his little brother... So it was about time he got involved- he didn't' even allow _himself_to raise his voice in anger at his brother, and if he ever did, it was always out of worry and panic.

"_Hey-_" OP-Ace said, as he made his way towards them, portraying a similar angry face to that of RW-Ace's. "_Don't _speak to him like that." OP-Ace added with an even angrier tone. "If you want to know who I am, then _shut _it and get inside the apartment and we'll happily explain." He finished with a slight smirk to intimidate him.

From being talked to in such a tone only made RW-Ace even angrier, but this guy had guts… so he definitely wasn't one to be trifled with, plus he looked _exactly _like him… so they were probably identical even in fighting skills, a fight would be pointless. RW-Ace gave in and rolled his eyes. "_Fine._But you better have a decent explanation for this."

Luffy smiled slightly and let both of them into his apartment. Before closing the door, he checked to make sure no one had witnessed that little scene in the hall and thankfully, it was all clear.

RW-Ace and OP-Ace sat across from each other under the kotatsu. They stared at each other menacingly… if only looks could kill, anyone who had to witness the horrifying glares these two were giving each other wouldn't just die, they'd burn and turn to dust within seconds.

Luffy watched them stare at each other in silence. He shuddered a little when he fought about a fight breaking out between them… he sincerely hoped OP-Ace was willing to tell him what was going on, it was more likely he would be able to get his words across to him since he had a menacing aura about him too… not only that, but he hoped RW-Ace was in a listening mood..

"So? What's going on? –"

OP-Ace interrupted "Look, we're getting fed up of explaining who I am. So I'm going to tell you this once and you better understand off the bat. I'm you, there's no doubt about that. But I'm from, what you guys call a 'parallel world'; everyone in this world exists in my world. I don't know why I'm here or how I even came here, but all I know is that I died in my world and ended up here."

RW-Ace looked at him with disbelief… but _not_ because of who he was or where he was from, he had definitely heard about the possibilities of parallel worlds, and he had no doubt in his mind that this was him from one of those worlds, obviously with a slightly different personality. "You _died_?" He asked.

"So you get it?" Luffy asked, ignoring RW-Ace's question and sitting with them under the kotatsu. He had hoped that RW-Ace was happy enough with such a short explanation but it would just have to do for now. Maybe later when he had calmed down a little more and wasn't staring demonically at OP-Ace, then maybe they could talk more about it… but by the sound of his reply, it seemed like he understood what was going on.

"I believe you, but I won't accept the fact that you died. Even if you are from a different world, you're still me and I'm still you. It makes me feel ashamed to be myself knowing that you died- God, you must be weak or something." RW-Ace said, looking away in disgust.

OP-Ace ignored the last part of his reply and leaned over the table slightly to slowly, but deeply say, "If it wasn't for me, then the Luffy from my world would be _dead_instead."

RW-Ace looked at him in shock… "What? – What the hell were you doing to get in a situation where Luffy could've been killed?"

"I won't go into too much detail, but we were in a war and Luffy got in the line of fire, and when I saw that he was _about _to be killed, I took the blow for him, right through my chest and everything- if that doesn't make me a man in this world then I still wouldn't care, I would happily do it again and again if he was to live an extra day." He sat back down and relaxed a little.

RW-Ace went silent and recluse for a little while… which left Luffy and OP-Ace in complete darkness basically. It was a while before RW-Ace finally spoke up and asked… "Why?" He paused, confusion riddled on their faces… "Why did you do it? If you knew there was a chance you were going to die then why get in the way? You could've found _another _way to save him."

"What do you mean _why?" – _There was nothing to even think about, I wanted to protect him no matter what. And don't you think that if I had known of another way, I would've realized it and done it? –I don't know what Luffy means to you, but he is my whole world. I had no reason to live when I was growing up until Luffy came along, he gave me my reason to live because I found a purpose and it was looking after him. He is now the sole reason why I continue living, and why I want to return home as soon as possible… he's probably in a right state and it's frightening to think about it." OP-Ace finished.

Even though Luffy knew OP-Ace was clearly talking about the other Luffy… he still couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, he was still Luffy… and being talked about in such a way was pretty nice. To make sure none of the Ace's noticed his flustered face, he abruptly got up and quietly said "I'm going to the toilet…" and quickly hurried over to his bathroom, slamming the door straight after.

Luffy put the seat down on his toilet and sat down to take deep breaths and relax… he couldn't comprehend what was happening, he didn't even know what was making him feel all hot and strange…

He remembered he still had his phone in his pocket and decided to give Usopp a call… but then hesitated before pressing the call button, realizing that he had been bothering Usopp quite a fair bit recently, and a situation like this wasn't anything that bad, it's just that Luffy had _no _idea what to do. Maybe calling Sanji instead wouldn't be a bad idea… then again he may still be traumatised from what they told him this afternoon.

None the less, Luffy gave him a call and hoped he would answer…

Meanwhile, back in the main room, RW-Ace and OP-Ace were continuing their conversation, minus Luffy now… which gave them the opportunity to talk about him more freely.

"So what's _he _like in your world?" RW-Ace questioned.

"The same really, but more of a pain in the arse; he's extremely gullible, active, fearless, unintelligent, simple minded… yeah… you can kind of see where I'm going with this-" OP-Ace replied… he loved talking about Luffy… whenever he described Luffy he always pictured him portraying each one of these traits to better emphasize his point. "You wouldn't last a minute with him, considering all the things I've heard about you." He added.

"Hmph, I bet he's easily entertained though right? I could find a way to keep him under wraps for much longer than a minute" He paused to laugh a little, almost sounding demonic... "But he doesn't sound much like the Luffy who has just decided to hide out in the bathroom…"

"You've never met my Luffy, so you can't really see it. But I can, he's similar that's for sure… It's nice to still be around _a _Luffy, even if it's not the one I'm used to. I care a great deal about that boy, even if he's of a different word and has a slightly altered personality, I will always care for him and protect him." OP-Ace finished.

"We can't be the same person- I really don't see it. I _hate _how you're so open about how you feel."

"Well when I was growing up I was very recluse. I never told anyone how I felt… but because of Luffy I had to be open about everything and completely blunt as well, otherwise he never understood."

"Jeez… turning soft because of Luffy? It wouldn't surprise me if you were in love with him!" RW-Ace teased, laughing at him and mocking him so openly when he was pretty much contradicting his own feelings.

OP-Ace just looked at him blankly… "You can't talk…" he also replied with a teasing smile.

RW-Ace became serious and lowered his eyes… "_What are you talking about?_"

"_I know what you did."_

Before RW-Ace had any chance of replying, the bathroom door suddenly sprung open, with Luffy smiling happily as if he had just heard some good news. "Sorry I took so long! So what were you guys talking about whilst I was gone?"

Knowing OP-Ace might say something again, RW-Ace replied almost instantly "Nothing much, he was just telling me about the Luffy from his world… wouldn't mind meeting him to be honest..." He lied about the first part, but he was beginning to relish the thought of meeting this other Luffy OP-Ace spoke so highly off… even if OP-Ace described him as a total dimwit, it was the fact that he was _gullible _which sounded the most interesting, just imagine the things he could make Luffy do and he'd be totally susceptible to his lies.

"I told him about our little trip to Tokyo we're taking this Saturday as well." OP-Ace added, smiling at him with an accomplished look… RW-Ace tried not to look too confused, but he genuinely had no idea what he was talking about.

Luffy excitedly turned to RW-Ace and cheerfully said "Oooh, are you gonna come with us?"

"Apparently..." RW-Ace decided to go along with it, he still had a day to back out… but then again he hadn't been to Tokyo in a while and it would definitely be nice to get away from the country for a while. "Why're you going Tokyo anyway? Decided to try out some of the 'local cuisine' before you head home?" he joked.

"We're meeting Sabo! Ace reckons it's the one from his world as well! He might even know of a way to get back!"

"Sabo? Who the hell is that?"

"He's a famous author and actor, but to Ace and Luffy, he's their adopted brother." Luffy answered.

RW-Ace nodded and said; "Cool- are you gonna see your Dad whilst your there?"

Luffy suddenly went quiet and lost his cheerful attitude… "Not sure, I mean… he probably wants to see me, but I don't really want to see him."

"Your father is the Priminister of Japan isn't he?" OP-Ace questioned, remembering their conversation from last night about his father, and definitely how the Luffy from his world had never met his father but yet this Luffy had and even disliked him.

"Well yeah, but it's all work with him- even though he _tries _to be a father to me, it just fails. It's because of him that I used to get kidnapped all the time when I was living with him in Tokyo."

OP-Ace's eyes widened in shock… although he shouldn't really be that surprised considering what happened earlier that day… Zack and his mates were clearly going to kidnap Luffy so they could get some money out of his father. RW-Ace noticed his reaction and knew exactly how he felt… it was horrible hearing how Luffy was so susceptible to being kidnapped, a lot of people in this country hated his father for many different reasons… so they feel that by kidnapping Luffy they can make their lives better by extorting money out of his father. But of course RW-Ace wasn't open to sharing his opinions; he just sat quietly and allowed those two to talk it over, since it clearly hadn't been brought up before.

"I figured that's why those guys were after you this afternoon."

"Wait-" RW-Ace suddenly jumped into the conversation. "What? Who was after you? What happened?"

Luffy was taken back by his sudden interest in what had happened to him…but did admittedly feel somewhat happier that RW-Ace was finally showing some concern again. "Yeah, some guy called Zack-"

"That dickhead? _Please _tell me you at least sorted him out?" RW-Ace interrupted and looked over at OP-Ace, expecting a good answer.

"Well yeah, they were _trying _to kidnap Luffy... like hell I was gonna let that happen! –Whilst I took down Zack, Luffy handled his goons." OP-Ace said almost proudly, well he was certainly proud of Luffy.

"Oh thank god… you're not a total loss then."

"Hah! If I still had my devil fruit powers nobody in this world would stand a chance against me, not even you-"

"Devil fruit powers? What the hell are you on about? –Were you a fairy or something?" RW-Ace mocked.

OP-Ace laughed sarcastically and replied "Even if I was a fairy, I'd still be far stronger than you…"

RW-Ace and OP-Ace got up from their seats at the same time and stared menacingly at each other, they were ready to fight to see who was strongest, but Luffy seriously wasn't interested in his apartment being destroyed. He looked between the two and tried to think of something that would distract them, or at least stop them from fighting.

"_I'm pregnant-_"

…

He didn't really expect that to work… considering both Ace's were considerably intelligent and sharp-minded… but it did appear that they were capable of being gullible everyone once in a while, "_**WHAT?**_" … both Ace's said simultaneously, looking down at Luffy who was innocently smiling back at them from the floor.

RW-Ace and OP-Ace looked at each other suspiciously before forgetting about their previous argument and re-taking their seats on the floor under the warmth of the kotatsu… They both looked at Luffy and expected answers, _now_. –Of course they both knew he was only kidding and by saying such a thing he obviously wanted their attention and they found it funny how he was easily able to get it- of course it was kind of embarrassing for the both of them to fall for such a lie.

"Heh… sorry… I'm not really pregnant- I mean... come on! I'm a guy! …I can't believe you guys fell for it though!"

"Well maybe we forgot for a couple of seconds that you were a guy- since you have such a feminine body." RW-Ace said teasingly.

"Ace! He's being mean to me!" Luffy said whiningly towards OP-Ace… he even tugged at his arm like a little child who had just had his ice cream stolen.

But OP-Ace couldn't really disagree with what RW-Ace had said… he definitely had a point. "Well- I'm sorry to say Luffy, but he is _kinda _right…" RW-Ace smirked pleasingly. "I mean, you're _definitely _a guy- and you have muscles, and you're really strong and stuff, but your waist is just… tiny! It's so slim and perfect, and your legs! Practically hairless and well toned…" _What the hell am I talking about? –this is my brother I'm describing here; I'm making him sound all sexy and erotic! _He thought, mentally slapping himself for being so perverted.

Luffy pouted and shied away a little… hearing OP-Ace compliment him in such a way was pretty embarrassing, but he secretly liked it. "That's so not true…" He replied… hoping to continue their little discussion about him.

OP-Ace and RW-Ace laughed to themselves… it was pretty funny making Luffy whine like that. "Haha- sorry Luffy." OP-Ace apologized. "You're still a man- we know that, and you're pretty strong too." OP-Ace admitted, it must've been the first time he had ever admitted to Luffy being strong, he always knew it… he just couldn't say it.

The sudden quiet allowed their stomachs to talk instead… they were all incredibly hungry… Luffy's immediate reaction was to call Sanji for dinner- but RW-Ace snatched his phone away and said "Stop eating that crap! You're gonna get fat, I'll make dinner." He added.

OP-Ace was pretty surprised… but then again, he'd made food for Luffy in the past, but he didn't expect _this _RW-Ace to be able to make dinner after everything he had been told about him, there really was a surprise around every corner in this world. "Well... I'll go for a quick shower then…" Luffy said, getting up from his position and heading over to the bathroom.

When the bathroom door closed, both Ace's relaxed a little before glaring at each other in silence… they knew they weren't going to get along, and even if they tried for Luffy's sake, they were just too different- what they hated most about each other was how they each treated Luffy, how OP-Ace treated him with kindness, caring and love- where as RW-Ace mocked him, abused him and blatantly flirted with him _all the time. _

"I really, really don't like you-" RW-Ace said with a disapproving look on his face.

"Likewise…" OP-Ace replied. "I'd kill you if Luffy didn't need you so much."

RW-Ace started moving around the kitchen to find traces of cookable food- most of it was just instant ramen, soup and things that could be made simply, but were high in fat and calories, which RW-Ace didn't want Luffy eating, and he didn't really want to eat anything like that either. "Need me? The kids fine for gods sake, stop worrying about him."

"No! He's not, he's suffering and you're just too think-headed to see it!" OP-Ace got up from his seat and made his way over to the kitchen as well. He kept his voice low, to make sure there was no chance of Luffy hearing anything from the bathroom. "Why don't you at _least _start acting like his friend?"

RW-Ace abruptly stopped what he was doing and turned to face his duplicate, "Look, just leave it. I don't want to talk about Luffy with you anymore."

Moments later, Luffy re-appeared out of the toilet, whilst RW-Ace unexpectedly left the apartment in a fuss. When the door slammed, silence fell in the room, OP-Ace had no idea what was going through the other Ace's mind, but could only believe that talking about Luffy was probably a touchy subject for him, he still had no idea about their shared pasts and how they came to meet- or even what their relationship was!

He thought about the Luffy back in his world for a second to comfort him, he could picture him smiling widely, it almost brought a tear to his eye, god he missed his little brother, it was almost killing him not being able to hear his usual, loud, irritating, dumb-sounding voice.

"Ace?" Luffy asked, OP-Ace had just been stood in the kitchen part of the apartment for a good few minutes in silence. Luffy believed that the two Ace's had been in an argument, which is why RW-Ace stormed off, leaving OP-Ace to gather his thoughts. He was definitely not done with RW-Ace just yet;_ he_still had a lot of explaining to do.

OP-Ace eventually turned round, hearing the worry in Luffy's voice made him realize that he was acting a little odd, and unlike the Luffy back in his world, this one was able to realize when he was acting weirdly and quiet. "Sorry, I just sort of spaced out for a second…I thought you were going for a shower?" He said, changing the subject towards the end, hoping Luffy would drop it. Said person walked over to the kitchen to be beside OP-Ace and comfort him a little.

"There's no towels' in the bathroom, plus I'm really hungry…" He paused when he noticed that OP-Ace was still a little shocked as to what just happened, "And don't worry about Ace; he's like that all the time." Luffy said as he started preparing two cup noodles. "He even said he'd prepare dinner for us tonight… he never stays true to his word."

OP-Ace returned to the kotatsu and sat underneath the warm blankets surrounding the table. "I'm sorry if that was awkward for you, he just… really annoys me. I thought I might be able to make him see straight."He said.

"Haha, trust me- it won't happen just like that. Ace is a loose cannon, he won't listen to anyone but people he knows and trusts, and he's only just met you."

"Does he trust you?" OP-Ace replied, deciding to rest his back on the floor, with his arms resting underneath his head.

Luffy suddenly stopped what he was doing and thought about it for a moment, unbeknownst to OP-Ace of course. "Um, I guess... we might be going through a rough patch but I still trust him and I always will."

OP-Ace smiled to himself, "Well I'm glad to hear that, I just hope everything goes back to the way it was for you two. I'd hate to leave this world and you two are still fighting- although you seemed to get along just fine when Ace was over then?" He replied, realizing just that- when Luffy first saw RW-Ace when they returned to the apartment, he did seem pretty hostile at first, but he loosened up around him quickly, unlike yesterday when Luffy was just about ready to attack OP-Ace after just landing on him.

"You were here, so if anything did happen I know you would've stopped him if he tried to hurt me." He blushed a little, remembering OP-Ace's 'little' obsession with protecting his brother. Luffy walked over to the kotatsu with two steaming cups of flavoured noodles, he placed them down on the table first before sitting across from OP-Ace under the blanket.

OP-Ace sat up and pulled the cup closer towards him, he had never eaten such a thing before and was quite excited to try it, since it smelt extremely delicious. "When I fell on you yesterday and you were about ready to kill me, or attempt to anyway- had you met him before during the day?"

Luffy nodded, "Yeah, he was with Marco and Thatch-" before Luffy could continue, he noticed OP-Ace suddenly freeze and drop his fork, eventually he looked up at Luffy, his mouth hung open and his eyes remained wide, he looked both surprised and shocked.

"Tha-Thatch? Did you just say _Thatch_? He's alive?" OP-Ace said, finally able to muster up some words, although shock was refraining him from thinking straight and coming up with much more than what he's already said… but this was incredible! If Thatch was really alive, then OP-Ace would be able to see him again, even if he is the one of this world, he'd feel some comfort being able to see him one last time before he left.

"Yeah I did…" Luffy said dryly, "And of course he's alive, luckily."

OP-Ace finally returned to normal and resumed eating when he was happy with the explanation… well, except for the last part, "luckily?"

"Thatch was in an accident a few months ago, it was so bad that nobody was able to find his body- so believed that he had died. But he showed up a couple of days later, without a scratch or reasonable explanation as to what happened, but nobody really cared too much about that- they were just happy to see him alive and well. He's like a totally different person now though, he used to be some horrible, snotty person who bullied even his friends- seriously, even Ace had a hard time dealing with him, but now he's really friendly, polite and gentle towards everyone, it's crazy!"

OP-Ace thought about it for a moment, what Luffy described as this 'new' Thatch sounded an _awful _lot like the Thatch from his world… could it be?

"That's incredible…" OP-Ace looked at him, completely stunned. "Thatch was a good friend of mine back in my world." He didn't feel the need to tell Luffy just yet that Thatch had already died in his world; he realized that this was something he would take care of himself. He was already dragging Luffy into so many different things that he didn't want to overwork him, besides- he wanted to do this alone.

"Well, it was expected really- Thatch is really close to Ace in this world, along with Marco."

OP-Ace smiled and nodded… "Yeah, I'm just really happy to hear that he's alive."

* * *

><p>Oh my god… I'm sooo sorry I took forever! I actually didn't have much of this chapter left to finish either... so it could have been up weeks ago, but I've been really busy with Uni, I've finished now for a few weeks, so I'm gonna update as much as possible.<p>

Anyway, **be sure to leave me a review** :D I'm sorry if the ending is just a little abrupt, I want to start a fresh chapter as soon as, it'll be easier for me to write instead of continuing on with this one just to make it a little longer. The next chapter will be up soon anyway, so you don't have long to wait.


	9. Revelation

_- Revelation -_

I've made a few changes to the RW/OP thing- so hopefully it shouldn't be too bad now. I don't want to make significant changes though, so please try to make do and enjoy the story; I'll try not to use it all the time.

Also, I'm super sorry for the late update- this chapter was really hard to write believe it or not. It's finally done with now and I know exactly what's going down with the next couple of chapters, so they should be up fairly soon! :P

* * *

><p>A few hours later, as Luffy was now tucking into his nearly finished homework- Ace had decided to occupy his mind with a menial activity, like cleaning. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't stop thinking about Thatch and it was slowly turning him insane. During this time, the two remained in complete silence; they did however gaze at each other from time to time but only when the other wasn't looking. They both so desperately wanted to talk to each other, but it had been such a weird day that they were feeling pretty exhausted, and Luffy was about ready to go to bed.<p>

Eventually, Luffy finished his homework and packed his bag for college the next day. Before climbing into bed, he quickly set three separate alarms on his phone to help wake him up early in the morning. As he snuggled under the sheets, feeling fresh from his clean set of pj's and his shower sometime after dinner, he felt himself drifting asleep faster than usual and expected Ace to join him almost immediately, but he continued to clean up his apartment in silence. Luffy lay quietly in the bed, pondering over Ace's current obscure actions… but as time passed by, he felt himself unable to keep his eyes open and those few extra hours he wanted were beginning to slip away. Luffy finally decided to let it go and fall asleep, he knew Ace would come to bed eventually, he couldn't' spend all night cleaning the apartment; there was only so much he could do.

But Ace continued to clean the apartment, his mind still overwhelmed with what he had heard about Thatch. As he continued to over think the situation, his desire to put his mind to rest was ever growing. He suddenly stopped cleaning and quickly looked over at Luffy, who was by now, deep asleep but snoring softly. In the spur of the moment, he made his way out of the apartment and into the corridor. He stopped just outside Luffy's door and checked nobody was around before walking rapidly towards the end of the hallway to visit a certain someone.

Once he was outside the only door at the end of the corridor, he knocked a few times and waited for him to answer. Eventually, the door opened slightly and Ace's head appeared in the crack. His eyes lowered at the sight "I'm _not _talking about Luffy with _you_."

OPAce shook his head "No, I'm not here to talk about him." He said sternly, being nice wouldn't get him anywhere with this guy.

The door opened a little more, dressed in an almost similar attire to OPAce, he said: "There's a first for everything I suppose," He paused "So who do you want to talk about? Santa? The Easter Bunny? The Tooth Fairy?" He mocked, although OPAce didn't really understand. He'd never heard of any of them.

"Um… no?" He added, completely guessing that he didn't want to hear about them, "It's someone we both know very well."

RWAce suddenly went serious, he stopped laughing and looked at him blankly "Well if it's not Luffy then who could we possibly talk about?"

"Thatch." He simply said.

RWAce thought about it for a moment and then decided to invite him in to talk about it, he knew it was a touchy subject and he needed time to explain. Once inside, OPAce was amazed at the difference in apartments, Ace's was much fancier and very clean- most likely to impress any company he had round. He didn't bother to compliment the apartment, like he had done Luffy's, knowing that Ace would probably pride himself in having such a fancy place and he'd never hear the end of it… besides, he wasn't here to view the décor, he wanted answers.

Instead of sitting under a kotatsu like they always did in Luffy's apartment, this time there were couches and armchairs to sit on. OPAce was the first to sit down; it was a few minutes later before RWAce walked over, carrying two drinks.

"I didn't ask for a drink…" OPAce said, looking at him suspiciously...

"I didn't say it was for you, did I?" He paused "I need some of this if I'm to have a conversation with you." He added.

"So it's alcohol?" OPAce questioned…

"Well… yeah, I can drink now- so I might as well make the most of it." He smirked, quickly drinking the first glass. "So… you've come to talk about Thatch?"

OPAce nodded simply "Luffy told me he was in an accident a few months ago?"

"Oh yeah… the car crash. He was drunk."

"He was drunk?" He paused, averted his eyes and mumbled "_What the hell Thatch?_"

"Well I told him to crash at mine and pick up his car from Frankie's in the morning, but he was pretty desperate to nail this bird he was with… so I had to let him go." He finished, downing the other drink he had with him- after which RWAce got up from his seat and went over to his little bar he had next to the kitchen to fix himself more drinks.

"Then what happened?"

"He had to drive back home on some of the most dangerous roads in Japan! Not only that but he was drunk and heavily distracted by that girl; I'm amazed he remembered what his car looked like." He mocked, "But yeah... he made it out of the town and onto the mountain roads and just completely lost control of his car and it swerved off a cliff- that's what the police deducted anyway."He finished.

OPAce was surprisingly amazed… how could Thatch be such an idiot in this world? "So… what happened to them?"

"Well the girls body was eventually recovered, she'd been thrown out of the car on impact and ended up in a stream, she was already dead at that point though. As for Thatch- well… they never found his body, they searched the area for days but couldn't make heads or tails of the situation- then, he mysteriously shows up after about a week, with no memory of the crash and no injuries to show it." He paused, carrying his drinks back over to the table. "Not only that but he was like a completely different guy, he'd changed so quickly and I suspected something was wrong with him, but I eventually just let it go, I kinda liked the new him anyway- he's not a total dick."

RWAce re-took his seat, this time he had more than two drinks and even offered OPAce one, but he refused once again, although RWAce wasn't complaining. "If this new guy is noticeably different, as I am to you- then he must be the one from my world" OPAce pondered.

"Yeah, it seemed like he was from a different planet when he showed up out of the blue, all smiley and cheerful... nearly threw up." He downed another one of his drinks. "That's Thatch for you though..." He downed a third. "So if he is from your world, then something happened to him right?"

"Yeah, he was murdered around about the same time the Thatch from this world died..." OPAce remembered that fateful day... finding his friend's dead body sprawled across the deck of the ship, it made him cringe. It was a memory that would forever be repressed.

"Shit, Thatch really hasn't been doing so well has he?" RWAce downed another drink, making him realize how much of a dick he had been to Thatch over the past couple of weeks when he had already been going through so much shit.

"I wish I could see Thatch," OPAce admitted. "Even if he doesn't come back to my world, I'd still feel some satisfaction knowing that he's okay."

"Even though he's probably been having a rough time, he's more than okay. He's always smiley and happy, no matter how he really feels. It's not just that either, since he doesn't really know this world that well, he always wants to hang out with me and, not to be snide or anything, but I can't hang around with guys all the time, people might get the _wrong _idea."

OPAce stiffened a little and crossed his arms, was RWAce trying to imply that others might think he's gay if he's seen with his guy friends all the time? Considering what he's already done with Luffy, it's a little late to lie now. RWAce noticed his disbelieving look; his silence was making it more awkward. "I'm not gay," he simply replied, like it was already obvious.

"Oh yeah? What about Luffy?" OPAce shot back.

"He's different," he said, "and has nothing to do with this conversation, remember?"

OPAce rolled his eyes and allowed him to continue; he remembered that this talk _was_only supposed to be about Thatch, but Luffy continued to slip back into the conversation. Which as OPAce could clearly see, was bothering RWAce to no end.

"Anyway… Thatch is insisting that I meet him at Frankie's tomorrow daytime for drinks, but I can't go."

"Do you have college or something?"

"Yea, I need to stop skipping lessons otherwise I'm gonna get kicked out." RWAce got up from his seat with a drink and started wandering around his apartment to give him something to do; he was a bit of a fidget.

"Ah yeah, I remember meeting Marco today and he thought I- well, I mean- you, was skipping the lesson."

RWAce looked at him in realization, "So you did see Marco today? That was you who he was talking about?"

"Oh yeah... I went to college with Luffy and I bumped into him in the library." OPAce remembered it very clearly… Marco seemed so frightened of him. "I didn't really know what to do so I went along with it; I even had my first cigarette!" Which he wasn't very pleased about, he always said he would only ever drink, sometimes excessively to make sure he would never smoke.

"Sorry bout' that, I smoke from time to time but only when they're offered to me. Marco can be such a nuisance though, we always end up fighting about somethin' - although I'm usually the winner" he smirked proudly, "either way, he's a loser." He added. Even though Marco from this world was completely different and seemed like a bit of a nutcase, OPAce still didn't care too much for RWAce's attitude towards his own friends. "I was wondering why he showed up to class later than usual."

_**- Flashback -**_

After leaving OPAce, Marco quickly hurried to class. The untold beating or harsh verbal punishment he was about to receive was not worth a quick smoke outside, naturally, being a bad boy though- he knew he could handle the pressure his tutor was about to put him under.

_Marco stopped outside the hall where class was usually held and took a quick, deep breath. Upon opening the door, the screaming and shouting which primarily emulated from his tutor echoed throughout the corridors, thank god the hall was soundproof; his tutor had a tendency to make people cry just from the sound of his voice._

His tutor was already hard at work, treading on the dreams of the young adults who attended the college. He believed he could easily sneak in and hide the fact that he was late, but nothing escaped Garp who was usually referred to as a hero in Japan.

**- Cutaway -**  
><em><br>_"Wait..." OPAce interrupted, "Did you say Garp? He was your tutor?"

"Yeah, he used to be an Admiral in the Navy but he's on leave at the moment, so he's taken up tutoring as a pastime."

"Isn't Garp Lu-"

"Luffy's Grandpa? Yeah, he's a total ass though, borderline insane."

"It's good to know he hasn't changed..." OPAce muttered to himself.

RWAce finally returned to his seat after clearing up all the empty glasses that had started to collect on the table. He had already drank so much and he still wasn't drunk. "Garp pretty much forced Luffy to move out here and study in the local college; he figured he would be in less danger." He sighed… "But still, he gets kidnapped every so often and it's usually up to me to find him, he doesn't have many friends except that geeky goggle boy, the prancing blonde and his moss-hair coloured boyfriend, like they'd be able to help him." He paused to huff. He was now about to embark on drinking his final glass of alcohol for the night, OPAce was a little concerned to say the least, the last thing he wanted was this Ace dying from alcohol poisoning and returning to his world… imagine that! There was no way that he would be able to handle Luffy, not in a million years.

"Do you drink this much when you're own your own?" OPAce said, noticing how much he had drank in the past half hour since he had arrived.

"No, but it's what's helping me get through this conversation with you." He smiled sarcastically... "I still hate you."

"Charming..." OPAce replied. "I think you're just in denial..." He smiled back.

"Anyway, a lot of people know Garp is Luffy's Grandpa, so not many people are up for kidnapping him, cept the odd idiot, like you witnessed today. Everyone who knows about Garp knows how much he loves his Grandchild, he would do anything to keep him safe, unlike his snobby father back in Tokyo, who had limitless power at his fingertips, but wouldn't even raise one to help his son."

OPAce saddened a little, knowing Luffy had been in those situations so much in the past and was forced to move out of the city for his own safety was a little worrying. It wasn't just that either, the fact that his father seemed to care so little was giving OPAce feelings he never really had before; anger, disappointment and rage. How on earth could Luffy's father be such a horrible person?

**- End Cutaway -**

_"MARCO!" Garp screamed at him as soon as he heard the door close, although Marco had taken extra care trying to close the door as quietly as possible, it still didn't work. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SO LATE? ACTUALLY, NEVERMIND- I DON'T CARE. GET IN LINE" He continued to shout mercilessly, he genuinely seemed like he enjoyed himself when he shouted at his students, in a sense- he was just preparing them for their career._

Marco joined his ranks and realized that Ace was stood next to him, which surprised him a little. "What the hell man? I thought you were cutting class?"Of course, he was happy to see his buddy right next to him. Although Ace rarely ever stood up for him in class when Marco was being shouted out, he always made him feel safer.

"Are you crazy? If I cut class again Garp is gonna kick me out." He replied bluntly, it was easy to tell that he wasn't in the mood for talking, or getting caught talking, but thank god Garp was loud and… kind of stupid.

They continued to talk to each other in a hushed tone while Garp lectured the class. Since class was always held in the hall, he made them stand up the entire lesson in order to test their patience and ability to remain calm in awful situations, where standing or walking for hours on end may occur- it was all about discipline.

"But we were just outside having a cigg and you said you were leaving to meet Luffy? We went separate ways and everything, how did you get here before me?" Marco replied exasperatedly, he was getting soo confused.

Ace too, was getting really confused, he had no idea what Marco was talking about, but it was making him a little more interested by the second- although he was probably just on drugs. "Marco, I was never outside with you, I've been here since the beginning of class" He paused, and then realized he hadn't yet finished. "And why the hell would I want to meet Luffy?"He added.

"I found you in the library and you said you were looking for me but in the end it turned out you were just waiting for Luffy, you said he had something of yours."

"Look, just calm down will you, You're gonna get us murdered by that psychopath." Ace went quiet for a while until he realized, "why on earth would I be in a library? I'm allergic to that place."

"I know that's what I said to you! But you just laughed it off and came for a cigg with me."

"Marco, do I smell like I've had a cigg today?"

After a quick sniff of the air next to him, it was pretty obvious that Ace hadn't been anywhere near the things today. "That's so weird; you must have like a doppelganger or something."

Ace thought about it for a moment and ultimately decided to see Luffy after college to see if this doppelganger was in fact real.

_**- End Flashback -**_

"I was gonna confront Luffy straight after his lesson, but he wasn't there and he wasn't in the library either. So I came home and waited in the hallway, for an hour. I know he's been avoiding me and I figured waiting for him outside his front door would guarantee me talking to him." He paused, finishing his drink. "But you were there anyway, so it answered, well- most of my questions and confirmed the fact that Marco is _not _crazy."

OPAce cracked a little smile. He didn't really want to change the subject but he was suddenly reminded of their previous conversation about Thatch and he came up with a brilliant solution. "Listen, would you mind if I met up with Thatch tomorrow instead of you?"

RWAce was a little surprised by his question, but none the less didn't care too much about their meeting. "Go for it man, you're doing me a favour. Are you gonna pretend to be me or yourself?" He asked, hoping to hear the latter.

"Obviously myself, I hardly know anything about you, so I'm sure Thatch would guess something is up. Besides, I'm sure he will be very happy to see me." He smiled proudly.

"Well have fun with your new boyfriend then," RWAce joked, "He's expecting me to be there at twelve, so show up about half an hour to an hour late."

"What? No, I'm gonna be punctual and turn up on time, he might leave if I'm not there on time."

"Are you kiddin' me? The guy worships me, there's no way he'd leave, besides- I told him I'd be there so ya' know, I would- but college and stuff."

OPAce rolled his eyes and proceeded to leave, believing that the conversation was finally at and end and RWAce had nothing left to tell him about Thatch and his accident. Before he opened the door to leave though, he turned back around and said, "you sure you don't wanna talk about Luffy?"

RWAce got up from his seat and walked over to him, seeming quite menacing. "You are the last person on earth I want to talk to about Luffy" he motioned for him to leave with his hand, opening the door for him as well. "Besides, what goes on between me and Luffy is our business." OPAce found it pretty annoying how serious he was being, it was obvious they were having problems, and it was going to take a sane, smart adult to sort it out.

OPAce eventually left the apartment after some awkward eye contact. He ended up pacing quite quickly down the corridor in order to return to Luffy's apartment, hoping he hadn't noticed his unreasonable departure. He'd been gone for almost an hour, which didn't seem like such a long time, but it was nearing eleven and Ace had to be up in the morning to meet Thatch at a place he had no idea how to get to or where it even was!

He stopped panicking about menial things and walked quietly back inside the apartment and closed the door. When he turned around, he was happy to see that everything was the same as it was before he left. Luffy had moved a couple of times in his sleep, but had left loads of room for Ace to join him in the bed.

Ace couldn't help but feel that Luffy had a small crush on him; it was probably just because he treated him ten times better than the other Ace did. It was pretty cute though, Ace didn't mind- it just reminded more of home, in his world.

There was definitely no need to keep him waiting at any rate, he quickly stripped to his boxers and jumped into bed. Almost instantaneously, Luffy snuggled up to Ace and seemingly looked more comfortable than he did the night before when they awkwardly slept next to each other, up until Luffy had his nightmare- then things got a little tricky…

Ace, now knowing that his mind was all clear from worry and doubt about Thatch, he was able to fall asleep pretty quickly, with Luffy wrapped safely in his arms. He knew he wouldn't have to deal with the nightmare thing tonight, because hopefully he would already know inside his head that he was safe being so close to Ace.

No matter how tired they were, they were both extremely excited, their trip to Tokyo was only a day away and Ace was finally going to see Thatch after months of being apart.

* * *

><p>Hope you liked it- I will admit, it was a little rushed and not my best piece, but I think it's okay… as long as the story has progressed slightly, I suppose it doesn't matter (:<p>

Any thoughts?


	10. Thatch

_- Thatch -_

* * *

><p>The next day brought about a worryingly strange surprise for OPAce. When he finally awoke, he found that he had sprawled out across the bed, with his legs stretching out and his arms underneath his pillow. It wasn't just the fact that his position had changed so dramatically since he fell asleep in a perfectly straight condition the previous night, it was the plain simple fact that Luffy had vanished.<p>

Ace rose from his bed in a panic and looked around the cleaner bedroom to find that Luffy wasn't anywhere in the apartment, not even in the bathroom. After working up some energy, he climbed out of bed and rested on the edge for a couple of minutes, wiping away the sleep from his eyes.

He eventually noticed the scrap of paper which was resting on the bedside table. It had been left by Luffy, simply stating that he didn't want to wake Ace up that morning when he left for college and that he would be late home. There wasn't much else on the letter, it almost sounded like Luffy was annoyed at him, but that was probably just Ace over thinking such a thing again.

His eye eventually caught the bedside clock which read _11:35AM_- which mean't he had twenty five minutes left until he had to meet Thatch at Frankie's and he had _noo_idea where on earth it was.

He jumped out of bed and took a quick shower before dressing in his not-so-clean clothes. He was out the door within ten minutes of first waking up and soon after he was outside the building. He, out of pure luck, ran into Sanji just outside the apartment. However, he seemed to be in quite a bit of a hurry…

As Sanji quickly paced past him, only a few seconds later did his mind correctly register that he had just speeded past either one of the Ace's currently living in this world. His eyes widened in fear, knowing something might end up happening to him because he was walking so speedily past him, like most people end up doing. He was in fact quite late for college and was in a hurry- but he was also one of the** many **people among his age and younger around town who had a problem with RWAce and always tried to quickly pace past or away from him if they ever happened to cross paths.

On the other hand, Ace believed he was actually trying to avoid an awkward encounter because of what happened yesterday in the restaurant- but Ace was in serious need of directions and if the whole town were fearful of him, it would be almost impossible for him to get directions. It was already 11:50AM and he was desperate to be on time- it would help his case.

Ace easily caught up to Sanji but before saying anything else or even bothering to ask for directions, he figured he should probably tell him something pretty important: "Don't worry, I'm the nice one." He smiled comfortingly. "Hi by the way!"

Sanji believed him almost instantly, that cheery smile across his face was the dead give away. Sanji quickly slowed back down to a normal pace and walked beside him.

"Sorry bout' that, the other one has a bit of a problem with me and Zoro, so I usually like to avoid confrontation." Sanji replied, feeling a little embarrassed about that little scene.

"Don't worry about it. I can empathise..." RWAce had a bit of a problem with him too; maybe '_bit'_was an understatement.

"I'm sorry about what happened yesterday in the restaurant- what you told me was a little hard to hear. Anyway, I'm over it now- I spent the night at Zoro's and he almost made me miss a very important lecture!" Although he couldn't particularly complain, he had managed to miss a test that he hadn't studied for. The fact that he looked overly tired and was in quite a state, was a clear picture that he had had a very interesting night with Zoro- it was also the reason why he was walking past Luffy's.

"It's cool, I've also found out some pretty traumatising stuff since I came here two days ago. Anyway, could you tell me where Frankie's is? I'm kind of in a hurry myself."

"Frankie's? Has Luffy not told you that Frankie's is the number one hang out for this world's Ace?"

"Don't worry, I've already had the misfortune of meeting him, last night in fact."

"Oh, well in that case, I can take you near enough to Frankie's and guide you from there. I am in a hurry though so if you get lost you'll have to ask someone else for directions, although that may be a little difficult, and probably really confusing to the person you ask."

Ace nodded in compliance and walked a little faster for Sanji's benefit. Since they had a little time to chit chat, Ace wondered about the relationship Sanji and Zoro shared in this world, it was obvious that they're relationship was on a completely different level compared to the one the two shared back in his world. Not only that, but Sanji _hated _the fact that they hated each other in his world.

"So... I don't mean to impose or anything, but what's the deal with your relationship with Zoro?" Ace asked, he probably should have worded it a little better. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want, but it's not like I can tell anyone in this world- although, if I ever meet Zoro and Sanji from my world again, I definitely want to be the one to tell them!" He smirked, trying to imagine the responses he would get out of either of them.

"It's kind of complicated, in fact- it's pretty complicated. It's pretty obvious that I'm seriously in love with Zoro- but I don't think he feels the same way."

"Aren't the two of you in a relationship? Ya'know, like boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Sanji shook his head, sadly. "No, we're not." He paused, taking a deep breath and forcing himself not to cry in front of a stranger. "We never do anything together, especially anything like dates or even just seeing each other at home. I feel like he's ashamed of me, or worse- just using me for sex." He decided to slow his pace down a little, he figured that maybe Ace could provide some help on his troubles. "Everybody believes we're together because I'm always going round to his place and not leaving until the next morning, and all I ever think and talk about is Zoro, but it's so one-sided, nobody can really say otherwise though because Zoro never leaves his dojo." He finished.

"Look, this may be hard to hear but it sounds like you need some time apart. In fact, I think you should just stop seeing him altogether until he shows some kind of commitment to you. Stop putting out because it's obviously hurting you. I've not been in many proper relationships myself, but I've seen enough to understand how they work. Don't you think you should give it a try?" He smiled comfortingly.

"How will I know that he wants to be with me?" Was the single, most important question on Sanji's mind at that point. He believed what Ace had been saying was completely right and he was ready to put the plan into action, all he needed to know now, was what Zoro would do if Sanji stopped seeing him.

"If you want Zoro to commit to you before you take you're relationship any further, then he needs to come for you. You need to not speak or see him for an entire week. Bury yourself in your work and social life and then see what he does. Trust me, I've met people like the Zoro from this world, only in my world- by the end of the week, you'll have him begging you for sex, he'll be pouring his heart out to you."

Sanji cheered up a little, hearing it said like that was making him quiver in excitement. "Thanks Ace, it seems pretty weird getting relationship advice from someone like you, but I really appreciate it. I was about ready to just settle down and accept what was going on between me and Zoro for the rest of my life, but now that I know what I need to do, you've given me a new lease on life!"

At this point in time, they were at the designated corner where the two would split. Sanji gave Ace the appropriate directions to Frankie's and they eventually parted ways. Ace took pride in the fact that he had managed to help a budding relationship such as theirs, if only he could figure out a way to solve the problem RWAce and Luffy were having, it was obvious just talking about it wasn't going to work.

It wasn't long before he reached Frankie's. It was a large shack-looking bar just on the outskirts of town. Luffy's college was within a ten or so minute walk, he would happily meet him afterwards, but he only mentioned in the letter that he was finishing late and it wasn't such a good idea for Ace to be sticking around the college in case the other Ace showed up, or even some of his friends.

He stopped just outside of Frankie's, which was actually named 'Franky House'. He took a minute to take in the surroundings and the building itself, just so he could remember where exactly it was located for future reference. It actually looked more suspicious and daunting than it was originally made out to be. As previously thought, it was exactly like a shack on the outside, but huge in size. It also looked very old and even like it was about to collapse.

Ace shaped up a little and eventually went inside, knowing that he must've been known to everyone inside if he was a regular visitor.

It was a completely different story on the inside. It was fairly modern and well-decorated to look like a night club rather than a run-down old shack like the outside had portrayed, but that only made the bar look even more suspicious.

There weren't many people inside and the only person working at the bar was a well-built fellow, with strong-looking arms and very skinny, hairy legs. He also adorned bright blue hair and coloured star tattoos on both his forearms. His outfit was a little disturbing- but then again, he had seen much worse in his own world.

Ace decided to walk over and ask the man where Thatch was. Although, if Ace knew who this guy was then it was going to be a little tricky talking to him- he attempted to look as 'Ace-like' as possible before actually speaking to him.

Once at the bar, he coughed to get the bartenders attention. When he eventually looked over, he was greeted with a very cheery looking grin. "Ace-kun! Here to get wasted I presume?" His grim became even wider and somewhat scarier.

But Ace went along with it and hoped his name wouldn't be needed. "Nah, just to see Thatch- is the guy here?"

"Yeah, he appeared when my bar freakin' opened! The guy must seriously love this place!" He practically screamed. "The guy's in your usual spot."

Well, at least Ace knew who this guy was now, or so he hoped; like most bars in his own world, they were named after the people who owned them- so he came to the conclusion that this guy must've been called Franky also. "Cheers Franky, I don't know about this bar but the guy must love me as well." He laughed- however, he just then realized... "So, the usual spot?" Ace had _no _idea where that was or even how big this place was.

"Yeah, I should probably think bout' reserving that place for your lil' gang." Franky replied.

"Listen Franky, I think I must've got so drunk the last time I came here that I've forgotten where we usually sit, wanna tell me where it is?" He grinned, hoping his pathetic lie was at least believable.

Franky laughed hysterically for a couple of minutes, Ace on the other hand hoped he'd never bring this up in front of the Ace, otherwise it might turn a little ugly- it was so obvious RWAce wasn't so interested in being made fun of, or even being laughed at. "It's over there in the corner, it's the only place in this bar with the most privacy, not that you would get up to anything nasty with your friends." He grinned cheekily, whilst pointing to the exact location of the table.

"How the hell could you even suggest such a thing, you know what I'm like with women!"

"I know man, its cool." He paused to turn around and fetch him an alcoholic drink, "here, this is on the house. You're a good friend Ace and a valuable customer, just try not to get too drunk, it's only twelve ya' know!" He laughed.

Ace unwillingly accepted the drink and walked over to the corner booth. _This is it! _He thought, it had been quite some time since he had last saw Thatch _alive_. He took a deep breath and quietly made his way over to the booth.

Back in his world, he hadn't stuck around for Thatch's funeral. In fact, if he remembered correctly, there had never even been a funeral. Marco had explained in the letter that Thatch's body had mysteriously disappeared a few hours after Ace had left the ship.

The ship was searched endlessly for days, weeks even. The crew remained dedicated to finding the body of their friend, but sadly it was never recovered, it didn't stop the crew from going ahead with a funeral anyway and as it turns out, it was pretty momentous.

It bothered Ace knowing that the body could never be found. Even so, that didn't mean that he could never be remembered, his body didn't matter, so long as people remembered him for who he was and what he always will be.

Ace smiled, _this is it… _he thought again just before coming into view of the booth, but by then Thatch was already well aware of his presence and getting up to greet him with a hug, naturally Ace pushed him back, as he figured the other would've done the same and simply smirked.

"You're early today?"

Ace noticed a nearby clock, which read exactly twelve, "but this was the time we agreed upon, dingus."

"Ahahaha, I mean you usually show up like an hour after the agreed time. In fact, I didn't expect you to show up until tonight!" He cheered.

Ace took a seat across from him at the booth, he noticed the various empty glasses on the table and couldn't help but wonder, "Have you been drinking?"

"Oh don't worry; it was more coke than it was alcohol." He smirked, "I'm just happy you came to hang out anyway."

"Well before we do any… er- 'hanging out' I think I should tell you something pretty important."

Thatch abruptly became quiet and listened attentively, which only made Ace a little more nervous, it wasn't like a confession of love was it? There was no need to be nervous! There pretty much was no need to worry at all; in fact this was a joyous occasion!

Ace took a deep breath and continued on, knowing he had Thatch's full attention. "This_ may_sound crazy, but I know you're from a different world."

Thatch remained silent for a few extra seconds, just to take in what he had heard before bursting into laughter, "Ahaha- you're crazy man! I'm not from another world, this is my home!"

Ace simply remained quiet, feeling somewhat empathetic for him since he probably had to pretend he was from this world ever since he arrived here in order to blend in, it must have been difficult for him. "I'm being serious." Ace added.

It was a few more minutes before Thatch finally stopped laughing, almost completely out of breath. "Listen, I don't know what you've been smoking today, but I am genuinely, one hundred percent, _from this world._" Thatch retorted, this time a little sterner.

Ace had no choice but to take a few swigs of his drink, he had never tried this type of alcohol and it was actually really nice! He was definitely gonna have to have more. As Ace was trying to figure out a way of making Thatch believe him, he was able to get a good look over his old friend, who hadn't changed in the slightest, cept the scar that he used to have around his right eye had been completely healed.

Aside from that, Thatch was dressed differently and appeared more suited to this world. He had also lost quite a lot of weight, changed his hair style and had even acquired a slight accent- he hadn't even been in this world for that long but it already seemed like he had settled in very well and was quite comfortable living here.

"Well, would you believe me if I told you that I'm from that world too?"

Thatch suddenly became serious. "What?"

"I'm from the other world too, where we were pirates together on Whitebeard's ship." If Thatch couldn't believe him after saying just that sentence, then there was really no point in trying any further.

Thatch could help but let a smile break his once emotionless expression towards this situation. "I knew there was something different about you today. I guess this is why huh?" He suddenly begun smirking, he definitely wanted to hug Ace now knowing they were in the exact same situation!

"I can't believe you're really here!" Ace added, feeling much more elated now knowing that this was really Thatch from his world.

"I can't believe you're here either!" Thatch exclaimed excitedly, "So how long have you been here for?" he added.

Ace continued to drink from his glass, not realizing it was almost empty. "Only two days and I'm planning on going back as soon as possible."

Thatch suddenly quietened down and looked away awkwardly… "Well…"

"Are you staying here?" Ace questioned, sadness etched in his voice.

"Hmm, yeah probably- I mean don't get me wrong, I loved being a pirate- it was awesome. The people I met in our world, like you, Marco and Pa, I will never forget. But this world offers so much more, I even have a new lease on life, I'm not wanted or being chased by the marines and better yet I'm actually making more money with my job than I was stealing it from lowlifes in our world!" Thatch replied excitedly.

"But our world is _your _home! You have friends and family there, you can't just leave them like that- after you died everyone was incredibly heartbroken and troubled with what to do…"

Thatch suddenly quietened down, "Wait…" He paused, his face frozen with worry. "I died? … I just thought I'd been transported here by accident or something."

"What? No! I thought you might've remembered dying before coming here, I certainly do."

"Wait, you died _too?_"

"Yes!" Ace suddenly exclaimed, "That's why I'm here and that's why you're here. We both died and were for some unknown reason sent here. But unlike you, I'm planning on going back home as soon as I figure out a way to do so."

Thatch was suddenly beginning to regret his decision to stay… but he truly felt happy in this new world. "So how did I die then?" He questioned.

"Well, you were murdered by Teach-" He began, but was quickly interrupted with a violent outburst from Thatch.

"-That bastard! I knew he had something against me! If I could get my hands around his pathetic neck I would wring the life out of him." As an example of his rage, he attempted to do the same thing to an empty glass on the table; Ace couldn't help but feel a little worried for the guy.

"I don't think he wanted to kill you because he hated you, he was after the devil fruit you found and you were just, well- in his way I suppose- finder's keepers does not apply to him."

Thatch sighed, "I need another drink- OI! Franky! Bring us another vodka and coke, asap!"

"Um… make that two!"

* * *

><p>A few hours passed by and the day drew ever closer to the end. At this point, Frankie's was beginning to come alive like it usually did on Friday nights. Thatch and Ace had spent most of their time at the bar catching up, as Ace had filled Thatch in about the war, his execution and the various new things that were going on back home- he even had time to gloat about his little brothers succession in pissing off the marines and getting quite a high bounty on his head.<p>

Whilst Thatch had explained his depressing arrival in this world and how he was forced to learn about this world and adapt all by himself without any kind of help. He awoke in this world next to a dead body, which actually turned out to be himself. None the less, Thatch was smart and felt a need to get rid of the body, knowing things would work out after. He burned the body deeper in the forest and disposed of all kinds of evidence. It took him a week, but he eventually found his way back to town and went to the first place that looked like a bar for food and something to drink, which actually turned out to be Frankie's.

Over the weeks he spent in this world he came to love it and had eventually decided to stay. If a way back home to the world he once loved was ever brought to light, he would always keep it as a last resort, just in case things went wrong here. Sure- he would miss his family and friends back home, but this was a new world that was beginning to be explored- it was vast and beautiful, holding many mysterious and strange foes to be conquered. This would be one hell of a story to tell his friends if he ever went back home.

Ace was eventually able to understand how he felt and decided that he would let Thatch do as he pleased, knowing that he was alive was enough to keep him happy. He also decided that he would see him as much as possible before he left and tell him the way to return back to their world if he ever did find it.

Most the conversation was also spent on Ace explaining the situation between RWAce and RWLuffy, and their trip to Tokyo tomorrow to speak with someone who had come from their world also, but had been in this world for almost ten years of his life now. He also explained the numerous reasons for their being in this world, although Thatch didn't quite understand them at first, but then again neither did Ace. As he explained each one, he was able to realize a few things that had actually happened to them that fell in to either one of the theories Usopp had come up with.

Upon entering this world, both of them -in a sense- were purified. Ace had died with a hole in his chest and many scars lining his body, but all of them had completely vanished, along with his tattoos. The same thing had happened to Thatch, who had died with a stab wound to the back, but was now completely healed, along with all of his scars and tattoos. Not only that, but Ace's devil fruit powers had vanished and Thatch's fighting ability had weakened drastically, which was a little scary.

Ace was overwhelmed that the day had been so successful, he was certainly grateful to RWAce for letting him take his place meeting Thatch, but as the bar began filling with people from around the town, Ace grew a little worried that staying any longer would result in him being found out that he wasn't the original. He eventually had to call it quits; he especially couldn't help himself to any more drinks as Thatch had paid for every single one of them!

"Well, I best be getting back to Luffy, I don't wan to keep him waiting- but seriously, thanks for all the drinks and stuff." Ace said as he sat up from his seat and made his way out of the booth.

"It's cool man, I don't mind. I'm kind of glad it was you who showed up and not the other Ace, I get the feeling he hates me..."

"Well it seems to me that he prefers you more than the old Ace, so I wouldn't say he hates you just yet. Just don't turn into a dick okay?" Ace smirked. "And don't drink too much of these!" He added, finishing his last drink.

"You best get going anyway, Marco will be here soon and if he shows up and your still here, then he's gonna somehow force you to stay!" He smirked.

"Well, I'll see you later then," Ace quickly waved both him and Franky off as he exited the bar. He knew he'd be able to sleep easy tonight knowing that Thatch was happy and safe.

However, Thatch had made Ace promise him _one _thing, just one thing- in case they never saw each other for the duration of Ace's stay.

_"Look, I know your intentions are good, but it's obvious that Blackbeard is beyond your power. I don't want you going after him anymore, not for my sake anyway- you'll just wind up being killed again and you may not even end up here next time. When you get back, spend some time with your brother, I know he'll want to spend some time with you."_

_"Okay… I promise."_

* * *

><p>I was gonna make this chapter a little longer, but I don't want to bombard you with too much reading today. I know what I want to happen for the next chapter now as well, so hopefully it should be up soon.<p>

Also, to anyone's who's peeved about the cut-short conversation between Thatch and Ace, don't be- because everything I wanted them to talk about in the conversation is stuff you already know, it just would've been written differently- so go with me on this one, kay?

I'm sorry if most of this story was just pointless drabble, I know you expected much more interesting stuff to happen- but this is all helping the progression of the story, and you'll be greatly rewarded in the next, believe me :)

Thanks for reading x


	11. Desire

_- Desire -_

Things are about to get a little _heated_.

* * *

><p>Frankie's was beginning to fill up with all the wrong kinds of people, most of whom would easily have a bounty between fifty to a hundred thousand beri in Ace's world. Therefore, it was best if he avoided them by leaving early, and tried not to cause trouble for himself or the other.<p>

Ace trekked the same route back to Luffy's, noticing the beautiful variations of colours in the sky as the sun set that evening. It was unreal how similar their skies were, it made Ace wonder if Luffy, back in his world, was staring at this exact sky right now…

On this way back, he was lucky enough to run into Sanji in the exact same place they parted from each other earlier. Sanji had yet to realize that Ace was heading towards him and simply made his way down the street, looking even more shattered than he did that morning.

"Yo!" Ace shouted after him, Sanji turned around wearily, but recognized him almost instantly; he didn't appear as panicked as he was this morning, but still none the less remained fearful.

"Oh, it's you again huh?" Sanji replied with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Yeah- I figured since we're both walking the same way, we should walk back together?" He questioned.

"Ahh, yeah I would walk back with you but since I'm not going round to Zoro's, I'm not walking past Luffy's."

"Oh, right, fair enough- so you're actually taking my advice?" Ace questioned.

"Well yeah! It's the best piece of advice I've gotten so far…" He paused for thought, "actually… it's the only piece of advice I've gotten so far. I'm not much of a social person and the only people I see outside of college are Luffy and Usopp, and like they know anything about relationships." He added.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true." Ace knew exactly what he meant. The Luffy back home didn't care for such a thing, it would definitely be interesting if he knew what an _intimate relationship _was at least. Even with two good-looking women on his ship, it was obvious that he was still a virgin. At seventeen, Ace had already experienced sex numerous times, both intimately and casually.

Aside from this mornings topic being the only thing they really had to communicate with, the walk home was relatively silent and dull. Although Ace had already talked about what Sanji and Zoro were like back in his world, Sanji was still curious to learn more about them, even if the two were on bad terms. "So… could you tell me more about what I'm like in your world… with Zoro?"

Ace was somewhat surprised, although it was bound to come up again, even considering what happened in the restaurant yesterday. "Well I didn't really get to know either of you when I met up with Luffy and his newly formed crew. I was only really able to observe you guys from a distance whilst we travelled together for a few days." He paused, taking a deep breath for what he was about to say could possibly gain some kind of a bad reaction, "and sadly- the only thing I saw you two do was argue, fight and moan at each other. I don't think you've ever had a civilized conversation with each other…" Ace prepared himself for the worst.

"Ah…" Sanji said, very disappointed. "So all you _really_know is that we fought a lot?"

"Hm, well… it's not really just that. It kind of seemed like there was _a lot _of sexual tension in the air."

Sanji perked up a little, intrigue rinsing his mind. "Sexual tension you say?"

Ace nodded, "yeah- like you were both obviously attracted to each other and you _knew _it, but neither of you were willing to take the first step. In order to combat your desires, you just fought it out. That's what I believe anyway, it seems possible."

"That's a little more pleasing to hear," Sanji smiled.

"Well, even if this is true- I don't think either of you will ever do anything about I'm afraid, not unless you're drunk together or something. Or, maybe I'm wrong…"

Sanji gave him a questioning look, "what? Do you think it might have already happened?"

"Maybe, it would explain a lot about the fighting, it's a great cover. It doesn't explain the sexual tension I felt when I was around them though."

"Hmm…" Sanji thought, "Maybe you _should _tell them about our relationship in this world. I bet that'd get them going." He smirked.

"Well, I did say this morning that I would." He laughed a little, regardless of how harsh it may seem. Sanji couldn't help but let a smile peek on his face.

They eventually came to part at a crossroads, where Ace proceeded forward and Sanji turned left. Before parting ways, they had time to finish up their conversation. "Well, it's been nice chatting to you again." He smiled. "Now that I'm not going round to Zoro's, I can have a lie in tomorrow before work and wake up feeling refreshed…" He sighed as though he was already living that dream.

"Wish I could say the same thing about me and Luffy, but we're going to some place called Tokyo tomorrow to see that famous author called Sabo."

"Really?! _The _Sabo?"

"Yeah, that one… I get this feeling though that he might be from my world, I'm told that most of the novels he has written detail characteristics similar to that of my world."

Sanji looked at him with utter amazement, realizing that what Ace had said was true, and that he was meeting Sabo, the greatest author this world has ever known. "That's pretty amazing, I'm sure a lot of people would give an arm and a leg to meet him these days. I actually own a few of his novels too; I'll have to give them a look over again sometime. I hope you have fun in Tokyo anyway, it's the central hub of Japan and it's absolutely incredible."

"Thanks, I'm really looking forward to it."

As Ace turned to leave, Sanji grabbed his arm and pulled him back, seeming quite worried about something. "Please be careful in Tokyo, and keep an extra close eye on Luffy…"

Before Ace even had chance to reply, Sanji was quickly making his way home and waving him off as he did so. Ace remained speechless, stood at the crossroads for sometime, wondering what he meant.

* * *

><p>Ace slowly made his way back to Luffy's, taking extra time to think things through.<p>

Happy that Thatch was alive and doing well, he believed he could focus on getting back to his world, but now he had to worry about going to Tokyo tomorrow with Luffy and his other self. He had originally thought that it would go smoothly and would be a simple process, but obviously where Ace was concerned, life was easy to complicate.

_What on earth did Sanji mean? Is there something about Tokyo I should know about? But if I'm supposed to keep an eye on Luffy, then it's obviously more because of him that makes Tokyo a dangerous place. _He deduced, obviously he couldn't be too sure; it may have been something else. He remembered being told Luffy's father was the Prime Minister of Japan… maybe that has something to do with it?

With the sky now pitch black and clouds beginning to form, a light shower of rain fell upon the district. Since he wasn't in the mood for a cold, he ran the rest of the way and made it back just before the shower turned into a monstrous downpour, so much for the beautiful sunset before.

Ace shook himself off once inside the warmth of the apartment block and rushed up the stairs. He straightened himself up and pushed any remaining worries out of his mind for now, they would obviously resurface later when he'll be trying to fall asleep.

A few light knocks on the door was all it took to send someone on the inside bumbling around, making loads of crashing and smashing sounds. A rather overly-cheerful Luffy answered the door, who was quick to hug him this time.

"So you'll hug me now?" Ace smirked, referring to the other night when Luffy was rather reluctant to hug him when he had first appeared in this world. Luffy had however mistaken him for RWAce and considering the terms of their relationship, was obviously pretty hesitant to go near him.

"Huh?" Luffy replied, clueless as ever.

"Never mind…" Ace added, allowing Luffy to do as he pleased. It was certainly the best feeling he had felt since he had come to this backwards world, he wasn't forgetting the kiss they had shared the other night either, which had stirred up some strange emotions.

Luffy smiled into his brother's chest for the last couple of moments of their hug, eventually leading Ace inside the apartment and closing the door once they were both inside.

Ace removed his shoes and sat underneath the blankets of the kotatsu, staring at the glorious amount of food that Luffy had ordered and not really knowing where to begin. Luffy joined Ace at the table, pulling the blankets over his legs and tucking in to the food.

"When did you get the food?" Ace questioned.

"About half an hour ago, I got it from the Baratie on my way home from college. I was expecting to see Sanji whilst I was in there but his father said he wasn't working today."

Ace helped himself to the food before Luffy had any kind of chance to demolish the rest. "Where have you been anyway? I thought you might've stayed here all day?" Luffy asked between bites.

"Well… um…" Ace was going to tell him about Thatch, but he didn't really see the need to make his brother worry about anything else. "I just decided to take a little walk and get some air… I ended up getting lost but I managed to run into Sanji." Ace smiled innocently; hopefully Luffy was a little gullible.

"Ohhh, well I can understand- this apartment does get a little crowded, even when you're on your own."

Ace nodded, agreeing with him. "It's been a good day though, I've seen a lot of the town and a few familiar faces."

"Nobody recognised you though, did they?" Luffy replied, summarily holding off eating until he was happy with the answer.

"No, no. I kept my self pretty hidden." He paused to await Luffy's response, which was a simple smile. "So was college any good today?"

"Hm? Oh, it was pretty good for a change. Ace stopped by my apartment early this morning and we walked together."

Ace almost chocked on his food, did he _hear _him right? "You walked with Ace to college? He didn't do anything to you did he?"_Oh shit… he doesn't know I know yet_.

"Um, no… why would he?" Luffy replied shakily, it only confirmed Ace's suspicions further when Luffy acted like he wasn't hiding anything.

"Well, you just seemed overly weary of him the other day; I just assumed he'd been bullying you or something until now. I mean you were about ready to fight me when you thought I was him."

Luffy relaxed a little and continued to eat, "Oh, no- he was pretty friendly and pleasant today. I_ was_a little hesitant to walk with him at first, but he insisted. I didn't want to turn him down; we did used to be inseparable." Luffy smiled, remembering the good times.

Ace couldn't help but smile too, happy that they were already beginning patch things up, even after everything that had happened- although, things weren't always this simple, which is what worried Ace the most.

Between them, they quickly finished off the food within a matter of minutes. When they were finished, they didn't really have much else to do.

"What time are we leaving tomorrow?" Ace questioned.

"Pretty early, we should probably go to bed soon if we have any chance of getting up in the morning." He joked as he begun clearing the table and removing any lingering rubbish around the room.

"I'll suppose I'll get a shower now then; I doubt I'll have time in the morning." Ace added.

"You can go first, I'll finish up." Luffy replied. Ace made his way to the bathroom and had a quick shower whilst Luffy finished cleaning up his apartment. It was one of the very few times he actually_ felt_like he should clean up, and he too was waiting to use the shower, so it was a perfect time killer.

When Ace was done, he stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but his boxers, carrying his clothes over his arm. Luffy was waiting outside the door and greeted Ace with a gaping mouth and a heavy red blush spread across his face. Luffy averted his gaze quickly and looked elsewhere in the room.

Ace noticed Luffy's strange behaviour and couldn't help but smirk as he proceeded past him. Luffy pounced into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and resting against it as he regained his composure. He had seen Ace _that _naked many times, but for some reason, today he was a lot more attractive, even the word _sexy _could be used.

Luffy climbed in the shower and quickly turned it from boiling hot to freezing cold, hoping it would cool a currently throbbing problem downstairs.

On the other side of the door, Ace was tucked up in bed watching the TV that Luffy had left on whilst he went for a shower. He wasn't paying much attention to it though; he had other thoughts on his mind.

Which were quickly thrown out the window when Luffy re-appeared, also in _just _boxers. This was most probably payback for embarrassing Luffy just before, as Ace had a similar reaction. Luffy turned the bathroom light off and joined Ace in bed, being careful not to get too close to him however, in case he suddenly became uncomfortable with the idea of them both being practically nude and sleeping next to each other.

Luffy lay back against the headboard and intently watched the TV without really giving much thought to Ace staring over at him, pondering over his strange attitude tonight. Sure, this Luffy was pretty strange already, but tonight was different- there was some kind of weird atmosphere filling the room because of him and it was drawing Ace in against his will.

"Luffy?" Ace questioned, but didn't gain much of a physical response from him.

"Hn?" He replied, eyes still focused on the TV.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"You sure?"

"Hm"

Ace wasn't particularly sure what to do; Luffy had never acted this way before, this included the one back in his world, he'd never seen this distant, odd behaviour. Most of the time however, his odd behaviour was a sign that he was just down or worried about something and because he wasn't much of a normal person, he portrayed these feelings oddly.

"Do you want to cuddle for a bit?" Ace asked, smiling softly. He knew in a time such as this, all he needed was a firm reminder that he wasn't alone.

That singular sentence grabbed Luffy's complete attention, he looked over quite sharply and at first wasn't quite sure what to say, but his mind decided for him, "yeah…"

Ace pulled Luffy over and wrapped his right arm behind Luffy's shoulders, allowing him to rest his head in a more comfortable position on Ace's chest.

"Comfy?" Ace questioned.

Luffy snuggled up closer and simply let himself go in the way of awkward feelings. This was the perfect end to a day, even Ace could agree that this way pretty comfortable and it was nice to be this close to someone you cared about. He didn't want to prioritise one Luffy over the other however; he cared and loved them both equally.

They both watched TV for at least an hour before Luffy finally noticed that Ace had fallen asleep, although he was unsure as to when exactly. Luffy grabbed the TV remote from his bedside table and shut it off. He quickly checked the time and once again set numerous alarms on his phone, just to be safe.

Luffy snuggled up again next to Ace, resting his head on his shoulder and bringing the cover up closer to his neck. It seemed like Ace was already in a deep sleep, and for the first time in a while- Luffy found himself unable to fall asleep with ease.

He remained in his comfortable position for some time, staring blankly into his dark room whilst he tried to figure out why he couldn't sleep. After some deliberation, he made a rather interesting move, without really realizing what he was doing exactly.

Luffy carefully slid out from Ace's arm and positioned himself on top of Ace's groin. He carefully rested his hands on Ace's well-toned stomach in order to keep himself upright, but tried his hardest not to apply too much pressure in case it woke Ace up.

He remained still for some time, quietly watching Ace sleep. It was almost as if he was possessed by some kind of perverted, stalker-like demon… he couldn't control his actions.

He leaned in ever so gently and quietly inhaled the other's scent. Luffy only wished that he could do more and not be easily detected; he worried that if he continued Ace might wake up and push him away, although he didn't really seem like the type of person who would, unlike the other Ace.

Luffy leaned in further, the gap between their lips was closing slowly, all the while Luffy's eyes didn't quite know where to focus, as they altered from gazing at Ace's delicate lips and then back up to his eyes.

The distance between their lips was infinitesimal, Luffy had stopped short, unsure whether to proceed or not… but he was so desperate, this was worth it. A quick peck should suffice at least, he told himself.

Luffy forced himself to close the distance and the gap disappeared, their lips were now pressed together in a very delicate manner. Luffy held his breath, hoping Ace wouldn't wake. His eyes remained focused upon Ace's, he pulled back slowly, accidentally rubbing himself against Ace's sensitive area and summarily waking him up.

As Ace's eyes slowly opened, blinked a little and then shot wide open when he was able to make out that Luffy was sat on top of his groin.

"Wha- Luf-" In a heated panic, Luffy again forced Ace into another kiss, just as he had done the other night. Ace had a hard time figuring out what was going on or how this situation had come to be, all he could comprehend at that time was that Luffy was kissing him, and not the simple kiss on the cheek or peck on the lips, it was a full on, deep kiss that seemed to last a life time.

The kiss only seemed to improve when Ace found himself unable to resist the temptation of kissing back. With one hand, Ace gripped the nape of Luffy's hair and rested his other on Luffy's skinny waist.

Ace wasn't really sure what he was doing, but it felt right. He believed it wouldn't go any further than this and he was alright with that, but he felt Luffy playing around with the buckle of his belt and it was at that point clear what his true intentions were.

Ace immediately pulled away and looked Luffy dead in the eyes; he loosed his hand on Luffy's nape and lowered it to the other side of his hip. "We can't, Luffy." He spoke softly, as though he were sorry for not allowing him to continue.

Luffy averted his gaze and stared beside him, he couldn't understand why Ace wouldn't continue. "You want to though, right?"

He thought about it for a moment and realized he wasn't particularly sure. It wasn't like Luffy was unattractive; Ace had definitely noticed his looks and he did seem like a perfect partner for Ace, but since Luffy was so dense with this kind of thing and he'd never shown any interest towards it, Ace had never bothered with the idea.

But upon coming to this world, things were different. This Luffy was pretty hormonal and very open about his feelings, it was something Ace thought he would never have to deal with, and now that it was finally happening, he wasn't really sure how to respond. "Well… that's a pretty tough question."

Unfortunately, Luffy- being as dense as he was, took it the wrong way. "You don't find me attractive do you?" He snapped, pulling back a little from Ace. Although he wasn't the kind of person who would stay mad at Ace for very long, in fact, if he suddenly turned around and offered sex right now, Luffy would have gladly gone along with it.

"_**No**_! Don't you _ever _think that!" He protested, "I will love you more than anyone else in this world, but I have a Luffy that's been created just _for me _back home, that's why we can't do these kinds of things. You can't fall in love with me because I don't belong in this world." He finished.

Luffy sighed in defeat, "but I don't want you to go…" he saddened.

Ace smiled softly and pulled him into a tight embrace, "just as I have a Luffy waiting for me, you have an Ace waiting for you, right?"

Luffy nodded slowly, trying to hold back any tears that were beginning to well up in his eyes. Luffy sat back on Ace's lap and posed a questioning look, "what's wrong?" Ace asked.

"Well, I really want to do it with you Ace, so can you at least promise me that we'll have sex before you return to your world? It'll be something to remember each other by…"

"Hmm…" Ace locked hands with Luffy and pulled him closer, "How about I surprise you with the answer before I leave?"

"So you won't promise me?" Luffy saddened a little… he had hoped Ace would say yes, eventually.

"No Luffy, sex isn't something you should beg for or even promise to someone you love. It's something so special that its better being a surprise, which is why the day before I leave, I'll _surprise _you with the answer, kay?" Ace smiled.

"Okay," Luffy smiled in defeat… damn, he was a total sucker when it came to Ace. Luffy unexpectedly gave Ace one final kiss for that night, with a glimmer of hope that it might lead to something a little more exciting, but in actuality Luffy didn't want to upset or anger Ace and pulled away first. Ace couldn't help but feel a little upset that it was over so quickly, but he shouldn't be doing these kinds of things with Luffy to begin with, he didn't really see the harm in just an innocent kiss though, it was kind of fun and exciting.

Luffy climbed up off Ace's groin and lay beside him once again, wrapped up in Ace's strong arms. "G'night Luffy," Ace added with a smile, pulling Luffy closer to his body and bringing the covers back up and over them.

"Night Ace"

Luffy was able to drop off much quicker now that he had settled his issues with Ace… and he had a lot to look forward to, the future was indeed, very bright.

* * *

><p>Sorry about the wait guys, I thought I had writers block or something and I wasn't able to write this chapter for ages, but then I came back to a few days ago and managed to finish it within a day! .. Even I confuse myself sometimes. Sorry if there's loads of mistakes as well, I'm really tired today, but I wanted to get it up.<p>

Thanks for reading! x


End file.

One Piece, Hurt-Comfort, Romance