Work Text:
“You know,” Al hummed, “I was supposed to live.”
“Huh,” Ace chuckled, “that’s funny, I wanted the same thing too.”
Al chuckled. Her face broke out into a smile as she laughed and laughed and then her mouth twitched, tears running down her face, “I didn’t want to die, you know? I wanted to live.” Ace walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close, “I wanted to make it, Ace. It’s not fair. It’s not…why?”
“I know,” he said, “I know.”
“Fuck,” she mumbled, “what about Luffy? Is he…is he ever gonna…”
“Don’t doubt him.” Ace said and she looked up at him through blurry eyes, sniffling, “he’ll do it. With or without us. He can do it. I know he can.”
“It’s gonna be hard,” she whispered. “It’s gonna be so hard.”
Ace’s arm tightened around her shoulders, thumb brushing away the tears that slipped away. “Yeah,” he murmured, gaze distant, “the world’s gonna go after him. All of them.”
Al let out a shaky laugh. “He doesn’t deserve it.”
“No,” Ace quietly agreed, “but he’ll carry it anyway. That’s just who he is.” He stared out at the horizon, where the sea met the sky in a thin, wavering line. “He’ll carry the world on his back and still smile. That’s why he’s gonna make it.”
Al closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against Ace’s shoulder. “I just wish we could see it. The day he’s free. The day he’s happy. The day he fulfills his dream.”
Ace tilted his head down until his cheek rested against her hair. “Me too,” he said, and for a moment his voice trembled, “but even if we’re not there, he’ll feel us. He’ll know.”
Al sniffled, her fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt. “You really think so?”
Ace’s smile was small but sure, like a spark in the dark. “I know so. We’re part of his dream, Al. Even if we’re gone, we’re still there. In every step he takes.”
The wind moved around them, warm and salt-sweet. For a moment, it almost felt like the sea itself was listening, carrying their words to someone far far away.
“Luffy,” Al whispered, “it’s not your fault.”
The wind stilled for a heartbeat, almost like it was listening. Her voice trembled, barely more than breath, but it still carried. Soft, steady, certain.
“You did everything you could,” she went on, her eyes searching the horizon as though she could see him there, reaching out through time and distance. “You always do.”
Ace looked at her, his jaw tight, his expression unreadable. The faintest ghost of a smile crossed his face. “He won’t believe that, you know,” he murmured, voice thick with tears as she smiled. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re dead.”
“In case, you haven’t noticed there’s a whole world out there, so maybe…maybe there’s hope.” She bit her lip. “Maybe we'll see him again.”
Ace let out a shaky breath. “Then I’ll keep saying it,” he whispered, closing his eyes, “until we do.”
The air shimmered faintly around them, the sound of waves folding into silence. Somewhere far away, a voice called out—a memory, a dream, or something in between—and Al smiled, faint but real.
“It’s not your fault, Luffy,” she whispered again, and this time her words felt lighter, like they finally reached him.
“Fuck,” Ace sobbed, crumpling, “I don’t regret it, but I wish…I wish I could’ve lived, you know?”
“Yeah,” Al sniffed, “me too.”
“There were so many things I wanted to say, so many things I wanted, like in that moment, I made my peace. I knew that being the son of Gold D. Roger meant that was my fate, that I had to die eventually, but when Luffy called out my name, when everyone fought for me, I just…I wanted to live. For the first time in my life, I wanted to live, Al. It’s not fair. It’s not fair, Al!” Ace cried.
Al wrapped both arms around him then, pulling him close as if she could keep him from falling apart. “I know,” she murmured into his hair. “I know, Ace.”
His shoulders shook under her hands, every sob tearing through him like a wave breaking on rock. “I thought I’d made peace with it,” he choked. “I thought if it was for him, for them, it was enough, but now that I’m gone, it hurts.” Ace pressed his forehead against hers, their tears mingling. “I wanted to live,” he said again, softer this time, like a prayer. “I wanted to live so bad.”
She cupped his face, thumbs brushing his cheeks, “and you did, Ace,” she said. “You lived more fiercely than anyone I’ve ever known. You burned so bright the world couldn’t ignore you. Even now, Luffy carries that fire. You’re still with him. You always will be.”
Ace’s lips trembled, a broken smile flickering there for an instant. “You think so?”
Al nodded, her voice steady even as she cried. “I know so. He’s going to make it, Ace. He’s going to live the life you wanted for him. For both of us.”
The wind off the sea rose around them, warm and salt-sweet, and for the first time since the memories began, Ace’s sobs began to ease, his breathing slowing against her shoulder.
“Now you’re the one crying like a big baby?” Al chuckled, “Luffy would be so mad.”
“Yeah,” Ace chuckled, “damn right he would. He’d yell at me for making him cry too.”
Al smiled, small and sad. “He always hated goodbyes.”
Ace nodded, his gaze drifting toward the endless stretch of sea before them. “Guess we never really got to say one, huh?”
“Maybe you did,” Al sighed, looking to the horizon, “not me.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Ace said. “Goodbyes mean it’s over.”
She turned to him then, a faint spark lighting behind her tired, puffy eyes. “And it’s not?”
He shrugged, looking out where the horizon burned gold. “Not if he keeps going. Not if he remembers us.”
For a long moment, they just stood there, watching the sea roll on like it always did, like in the moments before when Ace let out another quiet laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “You think he’s eating properly?”
Al snorted. “You’re asking that like you don’t know him.”
“Right.” His grin widened, the kind of grin that always looked a little too big for his face. “Then I guess he’s fine.”
The silence that followed wasn’t heavy anymore. It was soft this time as the light spilled across the horizon, painting the world in gentle gold and silver, beckoning them home. Ace turned to Al, squeezing her hand, “guess it’s time.”
“I don’t wanna go, Ace.” Alice admitted.
“Me neither.” Ace mumbled as the waves receded back to shore, back to the sea that had always called them home. “Until next time.” His hat tilted down, shadowing his face as he faded into the horizon with his sister in tow. “Luffy.”