Pieces (Sherry' fanfic)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Warning: Character death, contains slightly slash.



I fall into pieces when you are gone.


1. Brother complex

"Never mention Monkey D Luffy in front of Ace."
That is an implied rule among Whitebeard pirates, if you don't want to be forced by Ace to listen to his lecture on how adorable his little brother is.

Marco said Ace had a brother complex. But Ace himself never admit it.
"I'm just proud of Luffy, that's it!" That was what he said.
As Ace's friend, Marco had heard a lot about Luffy before he got famous. And he never got why Ace thought no direction-sense was some thing should be proud of.
When Marco saw Luffy's big smile on the reward offer poster, he kinda understood Ace's feeling. Luffy was surely an interesting boy.
But at that time Ace had already left for hunting Blackbeard. So he didn't have a chance to tell Ace that, and he would never have.


2. Prisoner

Jimbei never thought one day he would be friend with Ace. They were trying to kill each other when they first met. After that he had even thought they would never meet again.
But in Impel Down, the world greatest prison, destiny brought them together.
When Jimbei was taken into his room, there was somebody already in it.
Ace was sit on the floor, both hand tied to the wall with the chain made of seastone. Bleeding wounds could be seen all over his body. And yet, he looked up the door opened, gave Jimbei a smile when he had recognized him.
"Long time no see." He said.

Ace didn't look like anyone Jimbei had seen before that was going to die . He remained calm from every torture, with a contemptuous smile on his face.
Jimbei and Ace were both not the type of who would keep hatred in heart forever. Short after their meet again, they started to talk about the adventure they have been through. And the one Ace talked about the most, was his little brother. Although he usually used words like "trouble maker," "idiot brother" referred to the boy, at the same time, the man looked really happy and satisfied.

One day, a woman named Boa Hancock came to visit.
Then, Jimbei saw Ace lost his calmness for the first time in the jail.


3. Beginning and ending

Luffy never mentioned much about his family to his crew. Such as he had a Vice-Admiral grandfather, a Revolution Army leader father, or a big brother called Ace, the commander of the second division of Whitebeard's pirates.
It's not like he thought his family as some kind of top secret, Luffy didn't have the brain to think like that. It's just because they never asked, so he never had a chance to talk about it.
But Luffy did miss his family.
When he sat on the head of Going Merry, he always remembered the days he had spent in the small village where he was born.
Ace and he had always stolen the watermelon from village head's field. When their grandfather Grap found out, they would be thrown into the forest and had to come home all by themselves. Ace was by his side and protecting him all the time.
Ace was strong. Luffy knew it all along. So as long as Ace wouldn't die, he would run for his own life, left Ace to deal with the danger alone. That was the promise they made after a fight.
So when they met at Kingdom of Alabasta, Luffy left as Ace said. He knew his big brother would catch up, same as every time before.

Unlike Ace, Luffy didn't pay much attention about his brother after this reunion. His had his own adventure, so did Ace. Until he read about Ace was going to be executed on the newspaper. At that moment, he forgot his crew completely, there was one thing left in his mind, to save Ace.
"Hey, Ace,I know you made that promise to keep me out of danger, but now you are gonna die, I can go to help you and save you, right?" The boy made his hands into fists, with full determination. "I won't let you die, that's our promise."

Luffy did have saved Ace, they ran into the chaos together to get away.
"You are getting stronger, eh? But right now, let me protect you."
To hear the affirmation from Ace was the happiest thing for Luffy after all these tough time. If only they could get on the ship, saving Ace would be successful.
And then, they could go back to Sabaody Archipelago together. Luffy was thinking about introducing his new ship and crew member to Ace.
If only they could get on the ship.

It was all to soon.
Luffy suddenly lost his strength, in the next second, he saw his brother collapsed in front of him. He could feel the warm red liquid drenched his waistcoat.
There was a smell of burning meat. He found it was disgusting for the first time in his life.

Then the whole world had left him.

Fin