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I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
He was alone.
Ever since he was a child, Monkey.D.Luffy had known Mount Corvo like he knew the back of his hand.
If he concentrated hard enough, there he was, Portgas.D.Ace, face turning towards him. The sharp nose, the scraped knees, the freckles that glittered like constellations in the night sky, the smooth liquid-gold skin and obsidian eyes were so real and full of unmoored emotion, that Luffy sometimes reached out to stroke them, only to find himself clawing at thin air.
Ace smiled, wry and teasing, face shadowed as he dipped his hat down.
“Yo! Luffy! Missing me that much, huh?”
Luffy sat up abruptly, sinking his hands into the dewy grass beneath him . “You’re not real. Ace.” He whispered, voice filled with resignation.
Ace crossed his knees next to him, snapping a dead branch in half. “That’s right. I’m not real. You’ve made me up, Luffy.” He strapped his hat on his shoulders. The blood orange rays of the setting sun spilt across the evening sky, lighting up the drifting clouds. The pigeons pecked assiduously at crumbs across the pier overlooking the riverbank they were perched on. “Might as well tell me how you’re feeling.”
Luffy hesitated. “I guess so. I’d be talking to myself anyway.”
Ace stood, offering Luffy a thin, tanned arm. He dusted off his shorts and raised his eyebrows, narrowly stepping over the remains of a campfire. “Walk with me.”
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of ?
A treehouse , branches of tender brotherhood jutting out to brush against him, makeshift pirate flags billowing late at night, these memories thumped behind his eyelids, drilling into his skull.
Ace.. it was the place we used to love. The one that we’d always dreamed of living in together, before everything went sour.
Don’t you remember? How can I make you remember ?
Luffy squinted at the tall, lean, shadow beside him. “I know you’re not real, so I should just tell you that I’ve missed you so much.”
Ace looked surprised. “You.. missed me?”
“I, uh, yeah. I miss you so much. I’d give up the pirate king’s mantle if it meant there could be the three of us, Ace, Sabo, Luffy.” He glanced at Ace cautiously. “I just wanted to see you one last time.”
“It’s.. hard for you and Sabo without me, huh? You.. need me?” Ace paused, half smiling when Luffy nodded, a deeper reaction playing on his face. “My brother Luffy, the pirate king.” He mused.
“But you couldn’t see my dream through to the end.” Luffy laced his hands through Ace’s own, and they felt so familiar, so warm, each finger as slim as he’d remembered, each protruding bone firm against him, each crevice identical, like there was a pulse beating beneath the taut skin.
Ace’s face crumpled, an unwanted sensation itching in his throat. “I know, okay? I’m sorry a million times over, Luffy.”
They carried on walking, the breeze whipping Ace’s shiny, black hair. Luffy’s eyes filmed with glistening tears, and he would’ve cried if this were real, but instead he breathed in deeply, the air that was intrinsically reminiscent of good times filling his lungs, and he wished that the three of them could’ve been forever.
“I’m so glad that you were born, Ace.”
And if you have a minute , why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know ?
This could be the end of everything
So, why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know
“Ace! Sabo! Do you have a minute? Let’s play together!”
His head had begun to throb, sharp as a stab between his ribs. He gazed at the vast, blue river, the meadows on the other side, far over the outskirts of the chaos that was Grey Terminal, to the myriad of green hills that rose to meet the sky. The sun was low, and the skies glowed, shrouded with the splendor of a summer sunset. Cool air blew across his face, and gold and purple clouds lay on the hilltops, and rising high into the ruddy light were silvery white peaks of mountains, that shone like the airy spires of some heaven.
Underneath this swirling dome, a huge tree coiled upwards, reaching for the stars that linked up in constellations - supernovas and galaxies were imitations of his brother’s smile, the stars that dotted the sky were a crass emulation, a mere shadow of the freckles that dotted his brother’s tan, smooth skin. Everything was a darkened phantom of his brother’s embrace, and he traced an A, S, and an L, on the damp, soft mud with his fingers.
It’s branches were covered in lush, verdant leaves, moss growing along its roots. A flimsy patch of three daisies bloomed across from it, one of them wilted. At the very peak of the treehouse, stood a wooden barrel, a flag blowing at full mast. It was all black, patterned with crossbones, a red A, a blue S, and a yellow L. ASL. It was somewhere only they knew , and he’d been lead here. Or maybe walked here on his own. He felt something deep within him stir.
A boy stood at the top, tilting his top hat and waving at Luffy frantically, goggles flipped up on his golden curls.
“Luffy, get up here! What a coincidence to see you here, Mr Pirate King! And who’re you talking to?”
Luffy looked back over his shoulder for a second, and then shook his head as if to clear the thoughts from his mind.
“Nobody.”
After all, a man truly dies when he is forgotten.
Before the end of everything.