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Burning Rubber

Chapter 62: BR Omake 2 and news

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Omake  2:

"Luffy!" Akainu was going to kill his brother.

Ace could see it happening in his mind's eye, and he knew it was his fault. His stupid, hot-headed, selfish fault. He'd known Luffy was at his limit. Felt the tremble caused by fatigue- and who knew what else- earlier. Seen him collapse not that long ago. And yet he'd put his pride before his little brother. Again. He knew Whitebeard would have wanted him to keep running and ignore the insults to the man he called Oyaji. He just had to be a prideful fool hough… and now Luffy was going to pay the price for it. Ace's heart had frozen in his chest when Sakazuki had side-stepped him completely and he's realized who the real target was. He'd hoped in that instant that Luffy would be smart enough to run as he turned. To see his body crumpled on the ground, a look of hazy shock telling him his brother couldn't get out of the way at all was the worst thing ever. He knew he was going to watch his brother die right then and something inside him snapped. Ace had never moved so fast in his life. Still, it wasn't enough. He didn't have time to redirect the blow, or even block it for that matter. All he could do was pray that in taking the blow it would slow the man down enough to spare his brother. His precious baby brother who looked up to him and loved him unconditionally. He was a horrible big brother. Ace refused to close his eyes as he appeared in front of Luffy braced for the blow, back to his own doom. Was it really so selfish that he wanted his brother to be the last thing he saw? Marco would probably say something about his brother-complex if this wasn't going to kill him. Ace couldn't stop his back from tensing, waiting for the killing blow as he gazed down at Luffy. Part of him was annoyed that the boy has closed his eyes. How many times had he told him to never close your eyes when someone was attacking you? Still, it was better if he didn't see this. How he wished he could spare Luffy the pain and the blow…

"...and so then Marco said he would meet us at the bar so A-" The voice cut off before nervously chuckling, "Oh… hey, Ace! I uh, didn't hear you come in."

Luffy opened his eyes and stared up at him, obviously as confused as he was by the sudden silence that had been interrupted by the person talking. Ace knew that voice, but he refused to look up. It was a voice he knew he'd never hear again, so there was no way that person was there.

"What the hell are you two doing? Interpretive Dance?" A different voice asked, exasperation clear in the tone. It was vaguely familiar. "Honestly Ace, I expect stupid shut from Luffy, because well. Luffy. But you should know better."

"Now Sabo, give the guy a break. Maybe the stress of dealing with the knucklehead finally got to him." Sabo? There was no way that was right. He couldn't be there. Neither could Thatch for that matter. They were dead and gone and there was no way they could be talking to him.

Afraid of what he'd see, he raised his head slightly. They were there, standing in a doorway and when had he gotten inside? Where were they?! just watching him with slightly bemused expressions. "S-Sabo?" His heart lurched. It had to be his brother even if he was ten years older than Ace remembered him. The young man still held himself the same way, the same stupid hat on his head. "Thatch?"

"Ace?" Thatch replied in the same tone before grinning. "What the hell man. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You're dead."

The dead pirate looked hurt. "Hey! What'd I do?"

"No, you're dead." Ace clarified, "I saw you. Teach… Teach killed you."

Sabo's whole frame tensed even as he rolled his eyes. "I think he might be high."

Ace ignored the comment, still staring at the two in shock. He'd never seen Sabo's body, true. But he'd seen Thatch's body, cold and lifeless on the deck in a pool of his own blood. He remembered the feel of it, every detail standing out sharply even now. His friends, his brothers, were dead yet standing before him. He was in a new location, the battle he'd just been in missing. It all spelled out one thing to the pirate. He too was dead. That he had expected. Ace had known Sakazuki's attack was going to kill him. It was still strange that he had felt nothing, but not impossible. He glanced down at Luffy who's attention was still fixated on Ace and not the people behind him and he fought back tears. Sabou was dead, Thatch was dead, he was pretty sure he was dead… if Luffy was here as well he'd failed. Even in death he'd failed his little brother.

"A-Ace?" The teen almost whimpered. "I feel funny." He could understand that. Luffy looked horribly beat up on top of being dead. He actually looked worse than Ace, and he'd been imprisoned for months by pirate hating marines. Being dead definitely feel like he thought it would, either. He felt… normal. Hell, his cuts still stung, so he could only imagine how Luffy felt.

Sabo frowned, coming over. He knelt next to Luffy, a look of worry on his face. "What the hell did you two get into? No offence Lu, but you look like shit warmed over."

"Nah. Cold shit." Thatch added, eyeing Ace.

"There was a war-"

"Crap, there's a gang war out there?!" Thatch reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Gang…? THe marines, and Oyaji… Garp, he-"

"Your Gramps is here already? That guy is such a loose cannon." THatch tisked, "He knows he's not supposed to start anything with Whitebeard."

Ace was getting annoyed at the constant interruptions and prodding hand. He shot his friend a dirty look, opening his mouth.

"Thatch…" Sabo spoke before Ace could, "These aren't my brothers." The young man shot Ace a glare, eyes focusing on his tattoo.

"What the hell! Sabo, you know me!" Ace snapped.

"You're right. I do know Ace." Sabo stood, glaring at him, "And Ace doesn't have an 'S' in his tattoo." He roughly grabbed his shoulder and practically turned him around, "Or a tat' on his back. Ace would never put someone else's mark on him."

Ace had to admit that as as a child he would never have considered it. So in a way Sabo was right. Thatch though, Thatch would know about the tattoo on his back. "It's me! Thatch, tell him, please. You remember when I got this tattoo…"

"Watch them while I call Ace and Luffy. And maybe Marco. Something's not right here." Thatch gave him a look while he pulled a strange device pit of his pocket, "I don't know who you are but you picked the wrong person to impersonate. You'd better pray those two are alright, or I am going to more then beat you for pretending to be in Pop's gang."

"Wha- Thatch! It's me!"

"Whoa! Who's the new gang member?" A cheerful voice interrupted the staring contest followed by strange music.

"Gesh, Thatch. We're only a couple of minutes late. No reason to call." Ace heard his own voice gripe. He hadn't spoken though. "Luffy forgot to lock the door again. We had to go back."

"Goys! You're alright!" Thatch seemed relieved as he walked towards the people standing behind Ace.

Hesitantly he turned to see his friend greet a guy that had his face and a kind that looked just like Luffy. Except, these two were dressed differently, very differently. Hell, his double had a shirt on! Ace hadn't worn a shirt in over a year. Dark grey eyes met. "Who the hell are you?" Ace snarled.

"Ace. You?" His reply was in the same tone.

I'm Ace, Portgas D. Ace."

"Wow, Ace! He even knows your mom's last name!" The Luffy lookalike grinned.

"She's technically your mom, too, idiot." Fake Ace replied, a strange look crossing his face as he looked down at Luffy who was still huddled by his legs. "Well, he can't be Bonn Clay. There's two of them."

Notes:

A quick note: DiNozzo thinks Ace is older than he actually is because of how he acts. In reality, he's twelve, going on thirteen.

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