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Ace woke, disorientated and aching fiercely throughout his whole body. He felt like every fiber of his being had been torn apart and mended back together again. His chest and back were particularly sore. Upon opening his eyes, he was greeted with complete darkness. He reached up to toss off the blanket he’d gotten buried under, but his hands met cold wood, splinters digging into his palms, and he froze.“Guys?” His voice sounded rough to his own ears and his throat felt dry and scratchy, as if he’d inhaled half of the ocean. “Marco? Haruta? This isn’t funny!” His fists pounded against the wood. “This isn’t funny, you guys; let me out!”But no amount of screaming or shouting resulted in any form of his nakama and his chest was growing tight with panic. He took deep breaths to calm himself, though the air smelled like rot. Ace’s mind worked furiously, trying to drag his latest memory from the depths of his foggy mind…
Luffy’s face was lit with a burning glow, highlighting his terrified expression, and normally Ace would pursue the source of his brother’s fear relentlessly, but he was just in so much pain and he felt like sea water was flooding his crisped lungs. He coughed out blood as the burning sensation was removed from his body and he dropped into Luffy’s arms, muscles spasming at the sudden lack of anything in the center of his body except a numbing cold that began to spread through his limbs-
Ace jerked back into himself, panting. The pain in his chest grew. He had died, saving Luffy, and now he was somehow alive – six feet under, but alive. He could smell the dirt under the scent of rot and wood. He didn’t know exactly how far down he was buried, but he was determined to get out. He tried to light a finger on fire to see how much room he had, but nothing happened. Fear gripped him – he had died, so he lost his Devil Fruit, right? But no, he could feel the familiar spark of warmth in his soul. He grabbed it and pulled, and his fist lit up (and on a different island, ruled by a Shichibukai with an iron-stringed grip, a blond yelped as his own newly-acquired ability roared to life with a burning passion). Like a catalyst, the coffin exploded, but Ace decided to deal with his lack of control later as he forced a fist above himself, dirt beginning to smother the flames.
“Hibashira!”
Climbing out of the smoking pit was a long, exhausting excursion, but well-worth it as he sprawled on the grassy surface, the breeze cooling his body and the scent of the ocean easing the last of his previous anxiety. He gazed up at the blue, blue sky – the color had never been more welcoming, but it confirmed his previous suspicions: Sabo was alive and never thought to let him or Luffy know. It made a dull pang of anger and betrayal surface within him, but he was too tired to rage like he would’ve as a child, so he passed out instead.
It was hot, too hot – it felt like he was burning within his skin, and the air around him was cold, almost painfully so. Shadows enveloped him, so deep that he might as well have been blind in both eyes.
(But something was off because Ace wasn’t blind at all.)
“Ace!”
Suddenly he was in his own body, yet still trapped in the darkness. In front of him, on his knees, was a man, void of color and clad in a noble-like suit. He was hunched over, fingers buried in his own hair so tightly that his already pale knuckles were stark white. A sob broke through the air, suddenly enough to make Ace jump, originating from the stranger who wasn’t a stranger.
“I’m sorry,” he cried. “Ace, I’m so sorry!”
He raised his head and Ace’s eyes darted across the revealed features - familiar, yet not -, lingering on the dark scar tissue and the filmy look over the left eye. The man’s face was stained with tears and, in an almost startling tint of color, flushed with fever. Ace’s throat closed off, sealing away any possible words he could say, but he found himself reaching out. His fingers brushed the man’s cheek and in a ripple-like motion, color flooded across his entire being, bringing to life blond hair and blue eyes and fair skin. Those eyes fluttered closed a second later and the man began to fade.
“No!” Ace shouted. “Sabo!”
Ace gasped for breath as he woke, a hand clutching his chest, which felt rough under his palm. He looked down, not surprised but still upset to find a large scar spreading from the center of his chest, where Akainu’s killing blow had landed and melted his internal organs without a moment of hesitation. He was still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that he had died, but looking upon his captain’s gravestone and the recent newspaper leaning against his own, he couldn’t put it down as a strange, long-term dream. Plus, the sake cups in front of the newspaper… Well, there was no better proof that Sabo was alive and had even visited him. The anger towards his thought-to-be-dead brother lessened a little. And so Ace’s first day of reincarnation passed. He stayed up late into the night, gazing up at the ocean of stars above, promising never to take such a thing for granted. Who knew he’d be seeing stars again? Just as dawn was breaking through the shadows, Ace found himself falling asleep again. He figured his narcolepsy had two years to catch up on.
Ace reunited with Sabo in some weird dream - but it was definitely Sabo there, and not a figment of his imagination. He was both excited and nervous to finally get off of the island. It felt like he’d spent a lot of time there, but in reality, it wasn’t more than a week. He’d made a fishing pole using the hilt he broke off of one of the swords his nakama had left at his and Whitebeards’ graves (whispering an apology under his breath at mistreating their sign of respect and farewell), a braided twine of grass - Izou’s hairstyling lessons came in handy after all -, and the metal clasp of the medallion on his hats’ string. He managed to keep himself fed - not as well as he would’ve liked, but he wasn’t starving - and was working on resyncing with the Mera Mera no Mi, which was coming on more successfully than Sabo’s attempts if the frustrated pull on their shared ability was any indication. He could feel Sabo’s presence in his chest - it was almost exactly the same feeling as his ability’s dormant heat, but it sent a more figurative warmth through him than a literal one. He wondered if that was what Sabo felt, if he felt Ace at all. Needless to say, Ace was more than a little disappointed that Sabo’s warmth was getting further away instead of closer, but he trusted his soulmate would get him off the island one way or another. He just hoped it was soon.About another week passed after his dreamscape visit with Sabo before there was any change in the monotonous “routine” Ace had found himself performing on the island (wake up, fish, eat, exercise his body and Devil Fruit ability, fish, eat, nap, fish, eat, sleep, repeat). He was just finishing his midday meal, munching on the bones of his latest catch, when he noticed a ship approaching the island. It looked pretty small - a dinghy, the kind of vessel that wouldn’t draw too much attention, but shouldn’t have survived the wild seas of the Grandline in the first place. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun and squinted at it, and could only really make out a single person aboard the boat. His jaw dropped in disbelief as he spotted a streak of color that was connected to all his memories of the only person he could think of who would travel on such a fragile transport without fearing retaliation from the wild weather or Sea Kings. His thoughts were confirmed as the person stood and was enveloped in cyan flames, replaced by a large mythical avian that took to the sky, its tails of golden rings rippling behind it. Ace’s eyes widened to the size of saucers and he couldn’t stop the broad grin that stretched across his face as he scrambled to his feet.“Marco!” he shouted, hands cupped around his mouth.He saw his nakama jerk to the stop for a moment, then the phoenix was flying towards him even faster than before. It didn’t take long before he was slammed into with enough force to dispel all the air in his lungs and sparks appeared where he’d just been kicked. He stumbled, but managed to keep his feet under him, patting out the flames rising on his chest. He’d barely stifled them before he was pulled into a bone-crushing embrace.“You asshole,” Marco growled, voice sounding strained with tears. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again, yoi!”The older man was clutching him as if he would disappear any second, and Ace would forever deny the burning of his own eyes as he wrapped his arms around Marco in return.“I missed you, too.”When they finally released each other, after Marco retrieved and shored his dinghy, the two of them sat on the crest of the hill, in front of Whitebeard’s grave. Ace couldn’t stop stealing glances at Marco. He looked so, so tired, in a way he’d never appeared before the war. Ace wondered what went on in the past two years, but Marco promised to explain everything only after they were on the ship and away from the island. He also mentioned the “mysterious” call he’d received from Sabo, leading him to visiting the island in the first place, which filled Ace with the same sensation of love that he’d only really felt upon the gallows, looking down at his family fighting and dying for him, as if he was worth something - because he was, as he’d come to understand in his final moments. And now… now he had a second chance.“Marco… I have a favor to ask. I know that you’re busy guarding pops’ home, but…”He paused and Marco glanced over, gesturing for him to continue. Ace raised a hand to his chest, where warmth overlapsed his heart, drumming a tempo off-beat from that of his own pulse.“... I want to go to Sabo. I need to go to him. I can go on my own if you can’t make the journey, but I’d feel a lot better having you navigating.”Marco was silent for a moment, turning his gaze back to Whitebeard’s grave, then he sighed, shaking his head. Ace’s heart dropped for a moment, until Marco’s hand landed on his shoulder. The phoenix looked over, a half-grin tugging at his lips.“I just got you back, yoi. I’m not letting you go anywhere on your own. If this is really important to you, of course I’ll help you.”Ace refused to acknowledge the tears spilling down his cheeks, even as Marco chuckled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.