Chapter 1: Homecoming
It was a beautiful day.
Mt. Colubo trees were ancient, timeless as their limbs seemingly grew all the way up to the sky, branches reaching up, grasping at thin air towards the sun. Occasional openings in their crowns allowed plenty of light to filter through and cast a warm luminescence over the ground.
All sorts of sprouts and medleys of flowers claimed sunlit spots in between roots; gnarled, twisted things that dipped into and out of the soil, wrinkled with age, yet their roughness had been worn down by the soft greenness of moss that had slowly made them home.
A cacophony of wild sounds added life to the forest and filled it with constant ambient. Birds twittered, chirping and trilling in various melodies. Small rodents scampered through the foliage, though it was drowned out by the greater beasts prowling and bellowing in the distance. The wind blew through the forest, rustling the leaves in the gentle breeze and bringing a salty taste of the ocean with it.
Exceptionally nice day.
Ace's lip curled up into a snarl and he punched the training dummy.
Rage soared inside with all the power of a wildfire, ready to ignite anything that he came in contact with. Every gust of wind, every cheery bird, the baby blue sky, and the sun itself—destroy all of it. Because Ace was alone with no one to share the beauty of this day.
Four years. It had been four years since Sabo died, Luffy disappeared, and the injustice of this world came crashing down on his head.
Blood hummed in his veins as anger took over, an untapped hatred boiling in his stomach. Pain blazed up Ace's arm as his fist connected with its target.
It was his fault. All of it!
He should have stopped Sabo from leaving, he should have never agreed to work for that bastard, he should have run from Bluejam, he should have tried to return home faster after the fire, he should have—
The wood creaked and splintered under his knuckles.
—done something!
Ace roared, an amalgamation of grief and rage and helplessness, and plowed the dummy clean off its support and into the far tree.
Sabo died. Murdered by someone so powerful that they could kill a child in front of thousands and go unpunished. No amount of denials or broken dummies could change that. Even now Ace still grieved his brother's death, but at least he knew what happened with him.
Luffy's disappearance was different. Ace woke up every morning with the harrowing knowledge that his little brother might still be somewhere out there, maybe dead, maybe alive. No one knew.
Voices, dark and unwelcome, sometimes whispered into his ear that Luffy was living a happy life now, away from him, that the little rubber ball of energy didn't need him anymore and was better without him. Other times, same voices, enraged and desperate, hissed at the back of his mind, spreading guilt like acid through his veins, conjuring millions of scenarios of what could have befallen his brother, each one worse than the last.
But Ace tried. Even now he still went to the Grey Terminal and Goa Kingdom almost every day to search for clues. Four years, numerous sleepless nights, thousands of conversations, missing person flyers, breaking into various offices for the smallest hints of information, and the only thing Ace could find was the straw hat in the heaps of trash. Luffy's straw hat. The thing that the boy seemed to treasure the most, the thing he always carried with him—abandoned, forsaken.
From that day, the hope that Ace still held on to so stubbornly started to diminish with yet another dead-end in his search for a missing boy.
Ace deflated, going from eruptive fury to crushing hopelessness. Against his will, he felt tears spring into his eyes and he sneered. No wonder everyone left him. He was weak. Useless. Pathetic.
Distant speaking startled the teen out of his self-loathing, venomous trip to the darkest corners of his mind. He pricked his ears. The wind carried another fragment of the voice, but it was too far and too quiet, the words spoken eluded Ace.
He furrowed his brow. After a moment of staring at the direction of the voice, he walked towards it. Someone was on the cliff, Ace realized, the place that held a special place in his heart. Three of them had loved to spend time there and the spot where he exchanged sake cups with his brothers was nearby.
A minute later, Ace reached the forest line. As he stepped over it and into an open field, he shielded his eyes from the sudden blast of wind.
A person was standing on the cliff, facing the sea.
Ace's anger returned tenfold. How dare someone trespass into this place?! The nerve of them to be here all nonchalant when Luffy and Sabo—
Cutting off that thought, Ace stomped towards the person, teeth grinding and expression of sheer contempt and malice. "What are you doing here?!" he demanded.
The trespasser flinched before his shoulders hunched defensively. The wind ruffled the strands of black hair, the sight that whispered to Ace's deepest instincts, but he bulldozed right through them.
Fingers reached to grab the stranger, ready to pound onto the new target, bloody knuckles itching. "Who the hell are—?!"
The trespasser turned around suddenly and snarled.
Hand awkwardly hanging frozen mid-air, Ace stumbled a step back, feeling like he was just sucker-punched. Because that, the person in front of him… The air got stolen from his lungs and his heart might as well have stopped beating, it sure felt that way.
Black hair, black eyes, a small scar arching under the left one. The face that haunted Ace's nightmares—accusing, blaming, hating—as often as its memory brightened his waking hours—happy, smiling, admiring.
A faint, "Luffy…" passed his numb lips. Ace didn't even recognize his own voice, it sounded so breathless.
The boy didn't answer. His glare while steady seemed unfocused, glazed eyes staring directly at Ace, but at the same time straight through him. His neck was bandaged, with more protruding from under his shirt.
For an excruciatingly long moment, Ace couldn't comprehend. He blinked once, twice, then blinked again, trying to make sense of his life right now.
His little brother was back.
Ace sucked in a breath as if only now remembering that his body required oxygen to function.
His little brother was back!
His chest swelled, elated, alive, needy—
"Don't touch me!"
Ace's mind screeched to a halt, Luffy's scream and the violent jerk from his reaching hands dispelling the emotions like a knife through his heart.
"Luffy?" he called, quiet and uncertain. "Luffy, what…" His confusion and desperation gave way to frustration that rapidly spread throughout his veins and his hot temper got the better of him. "What the hell, Luffy?! Where have you—" The remaining words caught like hooks in his throat when he saw his little brother's expression change in reaction to his raised voice.
Luffy all but scrambled away from him in fear. In absolute, overwhelming, all-consuming terror. The same feeling took over Ace's mind when his brother flung himself in the direction of the cliff.
The wind picked up. A sudden, fierce gale that sent Luffy staggering backward and away from the cliff. It allowed Ace to catch up. In a rush of panic, he grabbed his little brother, trapping him in his embrace before the kid could plunge into the yawning depths of the ocean.
"No!" the boy shrieked in a flurry of rubber limbs. "Don't touch me! Let me go!"
A stray elbow struck Ace's stomach. He wheezed, but his hold didn't waver.
"No! Don't—" Luffy's struggles started to slow down as the surge of adrenaline finally ran out. "D-Don't…" He went limp with a raw, broken sound. "Please…"
Ace didn't move. Couldn't. His mind was erratic, uncooperative. Breathing shaky, the blood thundering through his temples, drowning out his thoughts as his heart pounded and pounded and pounded like it was about to burst in his chest.
He didn't know how long he just sat there, dazed and lost and scared, until he finally shook himself, because Luffy was not moving and he was hurt and so small and so light and, oh god, he was burning and nonononono he couldn't lose him, not now, not when he just got him back…
Ace scooped Luffy into his trembling arms and took off.