Chapter Text
"There! I see something!"
"You’ve said that a million times."
"How big is this mist…"
"Sanji, I’m hungry!"
"Shut up, this is all your fault!!"
"Jinbe was the one who steered the ship towards it!"
"...!" (Betrayal)
"Nami, is the log post still spinning?"
"Nevermind that, anybody else seen mosshead?"
"Oi."
The overlapping noises aboard the Sunny stop and every head turns upward toward Zoro. There, leaning halfway out the observation tower, he gestures up ahead.
"...Does that look familiar to anyone?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sanji says at the same time Luffy exclaims, "See!? Told you I saw something!"
They all follow where he's looking and squints into the endless white.
When at first they see nothing, Luffy stretches an arm over at the topmost part of their figurehead's mane and pulls himself up into his usual perch. With a hand shading his eyes (as if there’s even sunlight piercing through this mist…) he takes a clearer look as the fog that’s enveloped them for hours now slowly thins out. And finally— finally—
His face lights up. "Land!"
A collective sigh of relief sweeps across the Sunny. Franky immediately strikes his usual pose at the "super!" island, just as Robin quietly steps closer, hand reaching for the railing. She narrows her gaze.
"Well, that is familiar," she says, and the celebration around her falters as they follow to check what she’s looking at.
One by one, the details emerge to them through the fog: first, the smiley face jolly roger; the word 'death' plastered on a wall; the circular windows; the gleam of metal from where the sun is hitting it; and all at once, the mist dissipates and the whole picture comes together. A yellow submarine resting by the shore of an island reveals itself to them.
"Is that…" Usopp starts.
"This doesn't make sense." Nami mutters, brows knitting together. "Didn't we just part ways with Traffy back in Wano? They were heading northeast. So how did they end up all the way out here?"
Luffy tilts his head and picks his nose.
"Traffy? Why are you suddenly talking about him?"
Before anyone can reply, movement appears atop the submarine.
Luffy doesn’t recognize the first figure right away— just a tall man holding a sword over his shoulder— but he does recognize the silhouette of the massive bear that follows. As soon as he does, he stands up and happily waves his hands around.
"Traffy!"
Behind him, the Strawhats tense up. Something feels... off about this.
The closer their ship drifts towards the submarine, the heavier that tension grows. Unbeknownst to the captain, now standing by the railing, who just throws his hands in the air once they're near enough.
"Hey, what's the deal, Traffy? I thought you're going west?"
"Northeast, moron. I just said it a minute ago," Nami corrects with a sigh.
Law just stares at them like he's looking at ghosts. A horrified look is not necessarily the most foreign expression on his face, given the many times that the Straw Hats had managed to pull it out of him during their turbulent alliance, but something about this is new.
"...Straw Hat? That you?"
"Huh?" Luffy blinks. "Did you hit your head or something, Traffy?"
Behind Law, Bepo, Shachi and Penguin recoil in unison. "T- That can't be…"
Law glances towards them, "Go wake him up," and turns his head back towards the Sunny as the trio scrambles below deck.
"Wake who up?" Franky asks, but Law isn't paying attention to him. Instead, his eyes lock onto Luffy.
"Answer something for me…" The air starts to feel different around them. "What do you remember after Marineford?"
Luffy blinks. What kind of question is that?
(The first thing he remembers is Ace— his brother up on that scaffold, his brother collapsing in his arms, his brother's last words— and then a block slams it shut before the memory can fully resurface.)
"I… why?"
"Because you’re supposed to be dead," Law says without missing a beat.
Zoro tenses up, already reaching for his sword. "What did you say?"
The whole crew follows after. Chopper turns big, Sanji lowers into a stance, even Usopp fumbles for his slingshot.
Supposed to be dead? Was that a threat from Traffy just now?
"You died in Marineford," Law continues, still without paying the other Straw Hats any mind. "So how the hell are you—"
He doesn’t get to finish that, because right then, the Polar Tang's main hatch door opens again. Bepo walks out, and following right behind him...
Luffy stops breathing.
It's happened before, seeing someone he'd long thought of to be dead come back to life. In that colosseum in Dressrosa, the whole world beneath his feet shifted when Sabo waltzed back in his life. You'd think that seeing another supposedly dead brother alive again would've knocked him off his feet a second time. Spun the whole world off-axis.
But no, not Ace. Not the brother who raised him. The world doesn’t shift in his resurrection. Instead, it does the opposite of the fire he'd come to associate with his brother; the whole world freezes. Along with everything inside it. Luffy, the Straw Hats, the noise, even the waves. They might as well have been in a postcard. Luffy holds his breath as if one wrong exhale and he could damage the picture. And still, despite everything that's stopped, he could feel his blood torrenting through his veins. His heart taking drumfire, overwhelmed.
Many nights, he’d dream of this. Ace, alive again, home again, and they’d renew their brotherly vows with Sabo. For one stupid second, Luffy almost believes this is just another dream. Weird, that Traffy is there this time and not Sabo. But then again, Wano was just a few days ago. So maybe… maybe…
"…Luffy?"
It’s hearing his name in a voice he never thought he'd hear again that does it for him. In an instant, the dream illusion shatters. Luffy lets out a shaky breath, his vision blurs, and suddenly he's seven years old again.
What’s the point of having treasure if you can’t even protect it?
I’ll protect everyone.
I won’t lose anyone I care about.
Make me a promise.
Don't die, 'kay, Ace?
"…A- Ace?"
-*-
Straw Hat Luffy died in Marineford. The entire world knows this. Everyone saw him die in Fire Fist Ace’s arms. Law himself harbored the lifeless body in his ship before the Red Hairs took it.
He's dead.
Monkey D. Luffy, the kid who declared war against the government in Ennies Lobby, the idiot who punched a celestial dragon in Sabaody, the king of the pirates who never was, is dead.
For fuck's sake, they had a funeral at Dawn Island.
So for him to stand in front of them… this can't possibly be real.
Can it?
Law's fingers twitch at Kikoku's hilt, already irritated at whoever the fuck is trying to play this cruel trick on them. Who would go through this much effort? And why recreate the entire crew too? As if Monkey D. Luffy's ghost wasn't already a force all on its own. The pirate hunter, the cook, the navigator— even Nico Robin is with them. They all feel older now, sharper than the kids they’d once been back in—
Before he could even finish that thought, the sea rose.
A huge wave crashes over the Polar Tang, shattering the illusion altogether.
The world snaps back into motion. Several Hearts pirates are violently thrown across the deck as water slammed over Law. He twisted mid-fall before taking a step back to catch himself. Once the water clears, his eyes check on Ace, the way South Birds orient themselves.
Steam bursts from Ace as his flames evaporate the seawater from his skin.
"What the hell was that?!" he barks, and Law sees the moment that the boy looks up and staggers back a step. "J- Jin… Jinbei…?"
Wait, what?
Law follows his stare and sees him— the former warlord that helped them back in Marineford. What the hell is he doing here? The last they heard of him, he’d been missing, presumed dead after the fall of Fishman Island some months ago.
His stomach twists. Law vaguely remembers him being imprisoned for condemning Ace's execution. They'd been friends, as far as he knows. Is that why?
"This illusion has gone too far," the fishman says gravely. "Whoever you are… I will never forgive you for daring to wear my friend's face."
Ace stares at him, lost for words, then back at Luffy.
"What are you talking about?" Someone— Uni?— asks.
"W- We're talking about him, obviously!" Long Nose accusingly points at Ace, then starts winding back his… is that a slingshot weapon?
"Y- Yeah, why are you using Ace's face?" The little talking raccoon squeaks. "Stop using Ace's face!"
Fuck it. Law has had enough.
"Room."
It's kinda impressive, how fast the Straw Hats scattered back and dodged the growing sphere. Law hears steel and looks up to see Pirate Hunter Zoro drawing his swords. He braces himself for a fight, but then… something weird happens. Nobody attacks. He notices, for the first time, that they aren't even looking at him. Their attention isn't towards their biggest threat. Not even at Ace. No. They are all looking at their paralyzed captain who had been caught inside the Room.
Why? Didn’t they come here to fight?
"Luffy…!"
Law barely has time to process the movement before rubber arms shoots across the distance between their ships. A chill runs down his spine as he tenses up, but for reasons he can't explain, his body doesn't move. He remains pinned in place as Luffy's arms wrap around Ace. The rubber boy launches himself off the Sunny and across the waters, crashing straight into Ace.
"Luffy!" His crewmates shout in unison. They all watch with bulging eyes as their captain enters deeper into enemy territory.
The impact sends Ace stumbling backwards. They both crash down the deck in a tangle of limbs, tumbling across the floor until Ace slams against the side railing with an "oof"— but Luffy's rubber limbs only wind tighter around him, clinging in every possible way. The Heart Pirates ready themselves for an ambush when a heartwrenching cry rips itself out of Luffy:
"Ace!!!"
"Luffy, hang on…!" the swordsman shouts, getting ready to jump in.
"I know!!!" A spike of haki bursts out of Luffy, stopping everyone in their tracks. He hangs his head back, crying like a child. "I know it’s him! Do you think I won’t recognize? Do you think I don’t know it doesn’t make sense?" /he clings tighter around Ace like he's afraid he'll vanish if his hold loosens even just a little. "Y- You died! Ace, you died…!!"
Ace goes completely still beneath him.
All around them, weapons lower. It doesn’t make sense. Everyone knows it doesn't make sense. But the way Luffy is wailing, clutching onto his brother… who else could be so unwaveringly certain, if not the boy who grew up chasing after Ace?
"Luffy… Is it really you?" Ace's voice comes out in a weak, shaky whisper.
"I'm sorry, Ace…!" Straw Hat sobs. "I let you die in front of me! I was too weak!"
Law's eyes widen. Oh no. His fingers twitch again, and he debates with himself whether or not to keep letting this play out, or just teleport Luffy— or whoever the fuck this is— away from his… from Ace… but then—
"N- No, I'm s…" Ace chokes out.
— and Law can't do it. Not this. Not when Ace looks like this.
"I'm stronger now…!" Luffy barrels forward. He cries and cries, words spilling out like he'd been hoarding it inside him all this time. Lugging around a barely contained baggage whose straps had just finally snapped. All its contents out in the open. "We made it to the New World! And Traffy was there, and Jaggy too, and there was this island with ice and fire, and the dragon has my centaur," —he has so much to say, so much he wants Ace to know, and it's all coming out at once— "and they have your fruit but Mingo was with Traffy! And Sabo came! He's alive! And I met Otama, and we ate so much, and Marco— and Yamabro was there too and— and—" he gasps shakily. "—and Sabo was there and everyone but you!"
Silence fills all around them. A cold wind moves through the ship like a widow.
Who can fake grief like this?
Then, a voice snaps Law out of his thoughts. "Why did you say Luffy died in Marineford?"
Law turns his head towards the sound and comes eye to eye with Nico Robin. Of course he knows her; she was (or, is?) the Straw Hat's… archaeologist, right? She was in Sabaody. But more than that, recently, she also came with Ace’s brother to Dressrosa. She can read the Poneglyphs.
She's an ally, he tells himself. A revolutionary.
Except, this Nico Robin feels too different from the one he knows. And come to think of it, now that he's processing her question…
"Because he did." Law's jaw tightens.
"What do you mean he did?" the cook with the eyebrows demands. "Ace died in Marineford. Him and Whitebeard."
Finally, only then, something begins to click inside Law's head. It must be a conclusion that Robin's already reached while he was preoccupied with the brothers. Makes sense. She was always smarter and calmer than most.
No excuse, Law tells himself. Why was he caught off guard by Jinbei, by Straw Hat, even? Why did he let his emotions come first? Why didn't he intervene, or at least try to make sense of the situation instead of simply reacting like a goddamn fool?
(Deep down he knows the answer. The problem is he's a pirate. And a greedy one. And it's dangerous business, admitting to wanting things you can never have.)
"Sanji's right," Robin continues. "In our world, at least."
"In your world?" Law repeats slowly.
Robin glances toward the brothers and falls silent. It compels Law to do the same.
Luffy has leaned back just enough to properly look at Ace now, both hands cradling his face with un-Luffylike care, the way you would a fragile, priceless treasure. The two of them seem utterly removed from everything else around them. Like they've stepped somewhere beyond the rest of them already, communicating in a language Law can't begin to understand. He looks away after a moment, suddenly struck by the strange feeling that he has witnessed something that was only ever meant to be shared between the two.
He forces himself to leave Ace alone and focus on the other Straw Hats.
"Robin, what do you mean?" the racoon (Chopper, was it?) asks.
"If nobody's lying— and from what I can see, that seems to be the case— I can only assume that this Trafalgar Law and everyone in his crew, including Ace, must be from a universe different from ours," she explains to them. "One where Luffy died in the Summit War, instead of Ace. And if that's the case, then this Trafalgar Law standing in front of us isn't the same one we parted ways back in Wano."
Law blinks, and opens his mouth to speak.
"Wano?" Another figure emerges from the submarine's door hatch.
His expression immediately darkens in recognition as everyone else follows the familiar voice, and out comes...
"Yamato?!" the Straw Hats call out in unison.
Yamato looks at them, confused, then brightens. "Wait. You know me?" he immediately turns to Law. "Did I finally get a bounty? Oh, please tell me I got a cool name! How much is it? Is it higher than Ace—" he's too excited that doesn't notice the two brothers on the floor until he promptly trips over them.
The harsh jab on their side finally pulls the brothers back to the present world.
"Ow…" Yamato rubs his side, then freezes. "Wait. Is that… Luffy?!"
Luffy sniffles and meets his gaze.
Yamato blinks, then his smile widens in recognition. "It is you! I recognize you from the posters!"
"Yamabro?"
"It's Yamato," he corrects, and is about to say more— probably to ask if the 'outside world' that he's learning oh so much about can revive people— when Law cuts him off.
"It's not the Straw Hat from our universe," he tells him.
The answer only excites the oni even more. In an instant, he's back up and looking at Law with twinkling eyes. The way curious children look at their teachers. (Seriously, how did he get stuck sailing the seas with this nearly 9ft child?) "There's other universes out there?!"
"I don't know— don't ask questions right now, Yamato. We're new to this one, too."
"Yamato helped us in Wano," Navigator (Nami?) tells them. "But… he stayed there."
"Wait, so you're telling me… in another dimension, Yamato joins Traffy's crew?!" Black Leg (Sanji) drops dramatically to his knees, devastated. "Why can't we have nice things?" He laments at the sky.
Huh. Guess they're accepting this alternate universe thing better than expected.
Yamato looks at the strangers. "Why wouldn't I join Law's crew? I've waited years to join Ace in the seas, you know."
"Not in my crew," Law sighs, the denial coming out like muscle memory by now.
"Maybe we should sit and talk about this properly," Nico Robin calmly suggests, then looks at Law. "Preferably without the surgeon of death's circle."
Law doesn't answer right away. He just looks at her, then at her crew— really studying them this time and taking it all in. The thing is, he can see the time that's passed with them. The navigator has grown her hair; a scar cuts clean over the swordsman's eye; there's more metal where human skin used to be on the cyborg; Long Nose has lost the softness of youth somewhere along the way. All of them— even the way they stand feel different now. He can tell they've gotten a hundred times stronger.
Come to think of it, their haki do feel familiar.
He glances at the brothers.
At Ace.
…Without another word, he lifts a hand.
"Shambles."
A heart appears in his palm and the Straw Hats erupt into chaos.
"Whose heart is that?!" Nami demands.
"Guys, he’s doing that weird thing again!" Long Nose points an accusing finger at him.
"Yohoho~ do you think he’ll swap our bodies again?" (Robin steps in between the racoon and the cyborg for some reason.)
Sanji immediately spirals, nosebleeds, and is promptly sent face-first to their deck floor by a hit on the head from Nami. Zoro is all up in his face the next second.
They're no illusions. The more Law watches them fumble like idiots, the more he realizes that.
Still, he can't afford to take his chances.
"Law!" he hears Ace snap and he turns his head back to see the boy finally on his feet again, fire practically sparking off him. "Give my brother's heart back!"
Next to him, Luffy pieces together what just happened in real time. He looks down and frantically feels around his chest, creeped out and weirdly amused at the sudden missing piece. "H- He did the thing he did with Smokey!" He brightens up to his usual smile… for exactly two seconds, before his face falls. "I don’t like it."
Law ignores Luffy and looks Ace in the eyes.
"...No."
"Trafalgar!"
"They attacked first," Law says, stubborn and resolute. And because he feels like being an asshole, he gives the heart a couple of tosses. "And I'm not hurting your brother so long as everyone behaves. So don't worry, Wildfire."
"Traffy, you jerk! Give it back!" Luffy barks.
Law pockets the heart.
"Don't ignore me!"
"Hold on! I apologize for attacking you," Jinbei finally calls out. "It was a surprise to see Ace, that's all! Please give Luffy's heart back."
"Yeah, Captain! Give it back!" Bepo echoes immediately, much to Law's irritation. Oh no, here they go.
"Yeah! Don't be mean to Ace's dead brother!" Shachi and Penguin give him thumbs down, which was copied by the rest of his traitorous crew, along with a chorus of "boo"s.
"I'm not dead!" Luffy snaps at them.
"It's just precaution," Law scolds them in his classic frown, and soon they're chanting: "Give it back! Give it back!"
And just like that, the earlier tension between the Hearts and the Straw Hats fizzles out into useless noise.
From across the waters, Nami just stares at the Polar Tang's deck as the other pirate crew chants around their stubborn captain.
"Did he just call Ace 'Wildfire'?" she asks no one in particular.
"Yohoho!" Brook laughs from behind his tea. "Scandalous."
Perks of coming back from the dead? Some things are easier to believe.
"Ace is part of Traffy's crew now?" Sanji mumbles.
Next to them, Robin stares at Luffy, watches him grinning and looking at his brother, and softens into a small smile. "I think everyone will settle down once we're sitting down with some food. Sanji, will you?" she looks at the blonde cook, who immediately perks up at the sound of his name.
"Oh, anything for you, Robin dear!"
-*-
They both followed the weird trail and spent hours lost in a mysterious mist before finding the island, Robin finds out later. By then, though, everyone's too caught up in their loud banquet aboard the Sunny to even care. Typical of the Straw Hats, but seems the Heart Pirates are more similar to them than she thought.
She lets it be, the way she always does. Call it a soft spot.
Laughter, chatters, and music move across the ship in overlapping waves. Zoro raises what's surely his gazillionth cup as Shachi and Penguin knock their cups together in a loud cheer. Next to them, Franky and Nami are midway through a conversation with some Heart Pirates when a stray chopstick flies across the table and smacks Franky square in the face. Nami immediately whirls around to scold the culprits. Chopper (who still has the other chopstick up his nose), Usopp, Luffy, and Yamato all earn matching bumps on their heads as Ace laughs and slaps the table. Nearby, Brook is playing Bink's Brew on the piano.
For a moment, it almost feels normal.
Robin sits a little apart from the chaos with Law, smiling as she watched the people he cherishes the most having fun. Law had told her that she stayed with the revolutionary army in their world, but she's not asked about anything else since. She has no interest in thinking about what would've happened to her in a world without Luffy. It's a little selfish, but she's glad she's in this one.
After a while, Jinbei joins them.
"Robin, Law," he greets as he sits next to her. There's a beat in between before he asks, "Do you hear it too? The Island?"
Finally, Robin's gaze drifts past the Straw Hats, past the edge of the ship, and towards the island looming beside them.
"It's quiet," the fishman says.
"Quiet is one word for it," Law mumbles.
"And strange," Robin adds. "For an island so still, you'd think that nobody resides in it."
Law's frown deepens. "You think someone does?"
Her eyes move along the treeline. "I think," she starts. "Those species of trees would never naturally grow in the same forest."
There's a nonspoken message in that: Someone put them here.
Before the other two could react, Luffy's voice grabs their attention.
"Oh, and look, I have this!" the young captain pulls out his vivre card and shows it off to Ace. "Go on, you have to take a piece! Take a piece!"
Ace snickers and tears off a fragment, puts it in his pocket, and Robin catches from her peripheral vision as Law lets out a small noise and gulps down a drink.
"What is it?" she prompts him.
"I don't know." A pause. "The silence. The trees. Surely, you're wondering the same things I am."
Questions, of course she has a few. Probably more than anyone else. But right now, what even is there to say? What exactly is this island anyway? It's not like Little Garden, lost in time; not like the Sky Islands, pushing the impossible, but… something about this place bothers her. There's just no… consistency. Like pieces of different forests from different times had been stitched together. Why are they seeing people from another world anyway? Why won't the log posts stop spinning out of control? Can vivre cards cross dimensions?
Can people?
Every question fails to latch onto a voice. Not one of them feels safe to ask. And nobody wants to be the one who puts this… miracle under a microscope anyway. Because who knows what they’ll find? Two brothers are smiling at each other like weary travelers finally coming home; shouldn't they just leave things well enough alone? Let this be a happy thing?
Leave things well enough alone? Ha… as if.
Robin leans back on her chair and watches carefully as her captain rattled off another story about being a centaur. There's a childhood story about them and centaurs, apparently. It's… strange, to say the least. Luffy's loud, sure, but now that she realized it, she's never actually seen him this talkative before.
(Robin wonders if it’s because some stories, he just holds too close to heart to ever share them with the world. It scares her sometimes, the things Luffy doesn’t show out loud.)
But now, the words tumble out of him without end. 'It's like the time you did . . .' 'That was you . . . ' 'Remember when . . .' he keeps going, likening recent events to shared memories in stories tailor-made for just one person. Robin has known since the beginning that there's sides of Luffy that the Straw Hats will never get to see— sides that only Portgas D. Ace will ever have access to— so to catch a glimpse of it is an out of the world, singular experience. She can only smile fondly as Luffy catches Ace up from his adventures.
If she notices how he’s updating Ace about his life as if they were facing the same world in the future, she doesn't say a thing.
-*-
Law grumbles from where he's sitting at the table. Somehow— and despite several deliberate attempts to avoid exactly this— he's ended up trapped dead in the middle of the banquet with everyone else. Honestly, he doesn't know how this always happens. Something about him attracts chaos like a magnet.
Just his luck, he now has front row seats to his crewmates (and Ace, specifically) exchanging stories about Dressrosa with the Straw Hats.
It's unnerving, seeing Ace laugh like this. And absolutely insufferable, he reminds himself. Because how dare this man tell the story as if he didn't just ignore every plan Law had carefully laid out for him to follow. As if he didn't almost die trying to take on Doflamingo's entire family by himself. Hah, in retrospect he should've known. With Monkey D. Luffy's track record, he should've expected that type of suicidal insanity ran in the family.
It's a good thing the Whitebeard pirates have a soft spot for their kid brother. A good thing Marco and a few others came in clutch just when Doflamingo caged the whole country. What a fool, this man is. Always thinking he has to prove something. Always stepping to the front so he can shield everyone behind him. Always burning and burning and burning.
Like his life is a loan he has to pay back.
"Oh! Oh! And Sabo ate your fire fruit!" Luffy eventually says.
"No way, he has the mera mera no mi now?" Ace's eyes are wide in awe. "We saw him in Dressrosa too! I feel bad we ended up dragging him into fighting Burgess, but hey, what can we do?"
Luffy crosses his arms and leans back. He tilts his head, hand on his chin like he's deep in thought—
Pfft. He definitely forgot who the fuck that is, didn't he?
"Sanjiii!" the boy suddenly calls out to his crewmate. "I want burgers! Let's have burgers!"
The corner of Law's lips twitch up despite himself. Knew it.
Ace just snickers and shakes his head. "You're still an idiot," he tells his brother. And before Luffy can complain, he adds, "Sabo also fought this lady who looks like a little girl, and a snot guy."
"Sugar?!" Usopp asks, excitedly leaning over the table.
Ace turns to him, smirking, "Yeah, that's her! Oh man, Doflamingo was very pissed," he laughs, recalling the tale of how their brother blew up the SMILE factory.
"It’s funny," Robin smiles and looks at Law. "I guess in any universe, you’d be with one of the brothers."
To his mortification, Law feels heat rush up his cheeks. He looks away, scowling and mumbling something about how Ace just showed up out of nowhere.
"Oh right, how did that even happen?" Sanji asks as he sets down some more food on their table. "Ace, Yamato… your crew's earned some insane lineup."
"They’re not in my crew," Law sighs automatically. He really doesn't like where this conversation is heading.
"I’m just travelling with them," Ace laughs. It sounds lighthearted to anyone who doesn’t know the full story. Law’s always admired that about Ace; he can be so fucking polite, it's ridiculous. "And Yamato is travelling with me. I keep telling him to just ask Law."
The two friends share a look, and Yamato blushes before scowling at Ace. Law pointedly ignores it. Whatever that was about.
"Come on. I’m sure Law wouldn’t mind another crewmember. You already wear the uniform." Ace teases.
True enough, Yamato is wearing a Hearts Pirate boiler room attire that Law is certain didn’t come in his size before. Sometimes he really wonders if he’s letting his crewmates get attached to their two… guests too much. He'll have to figure out how to deal with that soon.
Honestly, he wouldn’t mind having Yamato in the crew. He’d be a powerful addition, and they already have a great chemistry in the battlefield— as evidenced by the fight they recently had with Kaidou. (Yamato particularly enjoyed being teleported to the perfect angle where he can hit his father the hardest.)
So really, as with everything else, it all boils down to Ace. Ace joining the crew is… complicated. In fact, they'd had a conversation about this the night before they left Wano. Ace had been drinking, and caught Law alone on one of the roofs.
It's funny, the things you remember.
They sat so close to each other that night, arms touching despite the length of the roof. Ace was so warm, the kind of warmth you only get from someone who's literally made of fire. He felt like the sun when he thanked Law for the past months and confessed that sailing with the Heart Pirates reignited something in him that he'd thought he'd lost forever.
That's where the memories start to get a little hazy. There was a small, hesitant laugh, and for a moment he'd thought that Ace was trying to ask to officially join his crew. Something about the alcohol. Something about a yonko's defeat marking an end of a so-called alliance. Did Ace remain close to him throughout the whole conversation? There was a gust of cold wind that came over Law at one point. A firework, two shadows. A vacuum of silence. The next thing he knew, Ace was telling him he'd part ways with them on the next island over. It’s about time, he’d said. About time? Law didn’t ask. He just acknowledged it with a nod, and then that was that. He wonders what this means now that the next island happened to be… whatever this is.
He doesn't even know what Ace's plans are after leaving, if he plans to take Yamato with him or not. He could go back, rebuild Whitebeard’s family. He could try and build something different, raise a new flag of his own or run wild under someone else’s. Surely, with his powerful logia and improved haki, many crews would want to have him. Even his brother had asked if he had ever thought about joining the revolutionary army. But as for what Ace actually wants, who the fuck knows.
(Every once in a while, Law would get this feeling that Ace is just drifting aimlessly, convinced he lost his last real place in the world back in Marineford.
That idea unsettles him more than he likes to admit.)
-*-
It's Robin that figured out the timeline, of course. Both crews had just left Wano a few days ago. Made sense, Ace thinks, given the way everyone is still all bandaged up. (He ignores the large scar on Luffy's chest. He doesn't even have to ask to know how his brother got that. He has a similar one on his back, erasing his tattoo, now covered by an open shirt.)
Somehow, the conversation drifted to Yamato, to Kaido, and finally to the war in Wano.
Damn Yamato with his big mouth.
"Wait. So you fought Kaido?!" Luffy vibrates with glee as he leans over the table to get closer to Ace.
"You should've seen it! His fire turned blue!" Yamato exclaims with big gestures, and Ace imagines the seas swallowing him whole just to hide from the way Luffy's eyes gleamed at him.
It makes him uncomfortable, how easily Luffy looks at him with such innocent adoration.
Don't you know how badly I've failed you?
"Luffy beat him in our world!" Nami brags happily. Clearly, the alcohol's getting to everyone.
"No kidding?!" Ace smirks. "Squirt like you? Oh, I would've killed to see that!"
And he means it.
Literally, too. There's not a thing he wouldn't do.
Luffy snickers, bashfully scratching his nose. "Well, Kinemon and the others helped me. Yamabro fought him too!"
"It's Yamato," Yamato corrects again, still not understanding why Luffy can't get it right.
"Yohoho! Big Mom was there too."
Usopp and Chopper shudder as one. "Big Mom…"
"Wait, Big Mom?" Ace blinks.
"This moron angered her," Sanji joins in the conversation. Despite his words, his voice was affectionate as he looked at Luffy. "Messed with her precious tea party and she chased him all the way to Wano. Even formed an alliance with Kaido and everything."
"You fought two emperors…" Ace stares, impressed. "That's just like you, Luffy."
And there it is again.
That stupid, reckless, trusting shine.
Stop looking at me like that.
Luffy laughs. "I told you I'm stronger now! I can even beat you!"
"Oh yeah? Keep wishing!" Ace laughs along.
"He's a yonko now, you know!" Usopp brags, proudly slamming down a newspaper.
There's a beat of silence.
For exactly two seconds.
Then, in a blink of an eye, Ace, and all the other Heart Pirates lunge towards the paper. (Even Law, who has been avoiding going near him since they left Wano, is suddenly breathing over his shoulder.)
"Buggy The Clown is a Yonko in your world, too?!" someone points out, followed by someone else muttering something about the inescapable nightmare of a world.
Ace barely hears any of it though. His eyes just gravitate to Luffy's photograph.
The huge, bright smile— that same Monkey D. Luffy smile he had since he was seven. And that stupid scar. And…
"...Your hair's white," Ace finally says slowly.
His fingers tighten slightly against the newspaper before he realizes he's doing it. He fixes that mistake right away. It's a slight twitch, almost unnoticeable, so he hopes nobody caught that.
He remembers a conversation half-lost from a while ago, when he was still with the Red Hairs. When he was an empty shell paralyzed with time. A drunken one, somewhere in Elbaph. He remembers Shanks's quiet smile as a giant talked about a sun god.
Remembers him reaching for another bottle.
"This form… it’s your devil fruit, isn’t it?" Ace asks as a pair of steel hands closed around his windpipe. "You awakened it in Wano?"
Luffy tilts his head, confused, but then nods.
"I didn't have it when I fought Mingo," he says. A beat passes, then: "I wish I had it years ago."
The hands tighten their grip. The air around him stills, but somehow everything else doesn't. Somehow voices continue to move around him. Cups clink together. Everyone's so loud, pointing out different things from the papers. Everyone keeps moving.
Just like they did back in Marinefo—
"Ace! It says here Sabo…!" Bepo unknowingly breaks the tension within him.
Ace exhales quietly through his nose and looks over. Another article— one about the new 'Flame Emperor', with a picture of Sabo with his fire. Well, fuck. Ace thinks he looks better with it.
"He didn't do that," Luffy immediately stands up, fists clenched. "Sabo didn't kill Vivi's dad."
"Of course he didn't," Ace slaps the newspaper casually. "The government likes pushing false narratives."
Luffy nods enthusiastically as if he understood every word.
That's when Shachi blurts out: "Exactly! You should see the things they're pushing about Ace in our world!"
Ace immediately knows this conversation is about to become even more annoying.
"What kind of things?" Zoro asks, intrigued.
And before anybody can stop them, newspapers from their world are already getting passed around the table. Now, it's the Straw Hats that are crowded together.
The first thing they see are the bounty posters, and Ace tries his best resisting a wince as they read it out loud.
"1.9 Billion Berries?!" Usopp screeches.
"Hah! I win!" Luffy poses proudly.
"Get down from the table, Luffy," Ace scolds. "And what do you mean you win?"
"It means I win! I have 3 billion!"
"Pfft. I'll have the same if I beat our Big Mom!" Ace bites back.
God, he's still such a brat.
Ace had long stopped caring about his bounty. But hearing Luffy say shit like that is waking something in him. Competition fuels his fire for the first time in a while.
"Wait…" Chopper points, pulling everyone’s attention back to the poster. "His name is different."
Here it goes.
Ace wills his heart to keep its normal pace. There's really no escaping it, huh? After two years, you'd think he'd get used to it by now.
Gold Ace, all his posters after Marineford read. Afterall, everyone knows his parentage now. He's not just the former second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates anymore. No, Gol D. Roger's son carries a heavier name. Many look at him as the next king of the pirates, nevermind the fact that Ace never really had any intention of being that. And what's worse…
"Fire Prince?" Usopp reads out loud, and this time, Ace can't help but physically cringe.
"He hates that, so don't say it out loud," Bepo whispers to them in the least helpful volume imaginable.
"It's fine, Bepo," Ace sighs.
"No, it's not!" Everyone startles slightly at the force behind Luffy's voice. When they look at him, he looks genuinely offended that it kinda softens Ace up a bit. "Why would they change it?! Fire Fist is so much cooler!"
Ace blinks. Then laughs despite himself. "That's what I said!"
"That magma jerk did it on purpose! To get to you!"
"It's fine. It doesn't bother me as much anymore."
It's… half-true.
Sometimes, it barely even registers anymore.
Other times, pieces of paper are still falling all around him like black snow. He's still in the fire swallowing the shoreline back in Dawn Island. He's still burning every newspaper and poster he could get his hands on until the whole coast looked like hell.
"Well it bothers me!" Luffy yells like a petulant child. (Like Ace's name belongs to him, too.) "I hate it! I hate it!"
"Can’t say I don’t know the feeling," Sanji mumbles with a grimace at the poster.
Ace remembers the odd doodled poster the cook had two years ago; that's… not really the same thing, but whatever. What an odd man. He looks back at Luffy and forgets everything else. Because Luffy is still glaring at the poster, and it lightens up a weight inside Ace all over again.
He grabs the poster from his brother's hold and burns it to ashes for old times sake.
"You know," he looks away from everyone, towards the island. "We should probably look around and investigate this island."
-*-
Finally, something useful. Law thought Ace must've not realized the wrongness of the place, but thankfully he was still paying attention. Even if most of his focus had been on Straw Hat.
It's late in the afternoon, but the sun is still very much out. If they plan it correctly, they'll have a lot done before sundown.
"We have about three hours at least," Law mumbles, looking at the shadows to estimate. "We should probably split in teams to cover more grounds."
Before he could even lay out more of the plan with everyone, he hears rubber slashing through the air.
"Alright!!! Let's see what’s up with this island!" Luffy laughs, already extending an arm over to a tree branch— much to Law’s mortification. What the fuck is he thinking?! "Race you to the middle, Ace!"
And then he’s off.
Just like that.
Law watches him disappear through the woods, horrified.
"Luffy, you idiot—!" Ace laughs, already jumping off the deck to chase after his brother.
"Wait, me too! Me too!" Yamato bolts after them.
It all happened so fast. Before his brain could even catch up, five of them (including Usopp and Chopper) had already vanished into the island.
Well. That's the last time he'll ever see any of those idiots, Law thinks.
It’s Robin that laughs next. "That’s our captain," she says like it’s no big deal. "If it helps, the Trafalgar Law from our world made the same face many times at Luffy, but he eventually got used to it."
"That doesn’t help at all."
Law pinches the bridge of his nose. And that damn Ace and Yamato too…! Fuck it. They're not in his crew; they're not his problem.
He looks back towards the remaining Straw hats.
"Please tell me the rest of you can follow instructions."
"Ace went with them, I’m sure he'll keep them under control!" Nami smiles in a pure, innocent way that tells Law she does not know the first thing about Portgas D. Ace at all.
"Hey! That damn mosshead left after them too!"
Somewhere, deep in the forest, they hear a crash. Followed by a distant flash of fire that Law knows so well came from Ace.
Despite the smile lingering on her face, Law catches Nami's eyebrow twitch.