Chapter Text
The entire crew watched in awe as Ace blasted through the Billions ships, not even seeming to break a sweat as he landed smoothly in his little boat. He turned to them over the sound of screams. His black hair shone burgundy in the reflection of the fire, and a cocky grin spread across his face. Ace pushed his hat up with one flaming finger, and Nami was just on the verge of admiration, unable to help but mentally compare cool, suave Ace to, well, Luffy. He was calm and collected, every movement smooth.
Then his hat caught on fire.
It took him a second to realize, probably only noticing Luffy's delighted gasp that Nami, also a younger sibling, would recognize anywhere. She slapped her hand over her mouth to hide the snort but the damage was done. Ace flailed kind of spastically for a second before taking the hat off and tapping the flame out against his leg like it was a planned movement. His cheeks tinted red at Luffy's cackling. As he jumped back onto the deck of the Merry he landed a solid punch on the back of Luffy's head and pushed his little brother's face into the wood.
Nami and Usopp made amused eye contact. So they were brothers, after all. Luffy was still cackling, pointing mockingly at Ace, and they get into a quick little scuffle that's only broken up when Ace suddenly seemed to remember that they weren't alone and had an audience. He stood, pulling Luffy up with him, and casually rested his elbow on Luffy's head, pushing it downward and running a hand through his hair. "We, uh, lost our pursuers," Ace said, flipping his (slightly charred) hat back onto his head.
Zoro snickered under his breath and leaned over to mutter something to Usopp. Both of them snigger. Ace's cheeks flare a brighter red, elbow digging into Luffy's head to try and stop the giggling that had kicked up again.