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By the time they had reached the East Blue, Ace had been in this weird, alternative universe for a whole week already.
As Dawn Island loomed on the horizon and then steadily grew bigger as they approached, Ace kept standing at the bow of the ship, unwilling to take his eyes off of it.
He was so close now. It'd be such a shame if he had spent all those hours bullying the captain for a change of course, only to end up getting sent back to his own universe at the last second.
He needed to ensure this universe's Luffy (and Sabo, if their worlds were different enough, but he tried not to get his hopes up) was well taken care of.
Someone approached him, coming to a stop by his side, and just by the hibiscus smell enveloping him, Ace could tell it was his mother.
And what a novelty it was, to be able to meet her, hug her, talk with her-
Ace had spent every moment he could with Rouge, up to and including kicking his father out of his own bed, but... Luffy was more important.
It was nice to meet his mother in a world where she hadn't been forced to die for him, but Ace would sacrifice anything for his little brother.
"You're certain he'll be there, darling?" She asked, hand coming to rest on top of his head.
"Gramps would never bother bringing him anywhere else," Ace offered easily.
"It's still so weird hearing you call Garp gramps," his useless sperm donor weighed in, and Ace turned around with a scowl.
"Then don't listen," he snarled, taking pride in the way it made Roger's face fall.
This universe's native Ace was an idiot who apparently loved his father — going by Rayleigh's stories, to an almost unhealthy degree — and Ace could not understand that at all. Why should he idolize Roger when his mother was right there...?
And speaking of people who were right there-
Something must have shown up on his face, because Roger had just enough time to yelp "Ace, no!" — which only served to encourage Ace more — before he jumped overboard.
***
Roger stepped up to the railing, watching helplessly as his son — or the stranger currently wearing his son's body — made his way towards the shore.
At least Rouge found it amusing.
"You know he's been dying to find his brother all this time," she reminded him between gales of laughter.
"I know," Roger grimaced. "Doesn't make it any easier to watch him tread what I know to be sea-king infested waters."
"You know, dear... Just this once-"
Roger didn't have to wait for her to finish. knowing exactly what Rouge had been about to say — to allow — he was already jumping overboard to follow after Ace.
He used to do this quite a lot, oftentimes whenever Buggy would fall off the ship after he had eaten his devil fruit, or when he thought he saw something shiny in the waters, or to fight a sea king-
It's not like Rouge forbade him to do that — one can't simply stop the pirate king from doing whatever he wanted to do, not even his wife — but she always worried about him. And Roger didn't like to make her worry, so he tried to limit the amount of times he landed overboard.
To have Rouge's blessing for that felt like a special kind of a treat.
He followed after Ace, battling against the strong currents, barely having enough energy to spare on thinking how easy Ace made it seem.
It was taking all of Roger's power just to keep the same pace as the boy, forget about catching up to him.
Thankfully, the headstart wasn't too terrible; Ace was still on the beach by the time Roger crawled out of the waves, struggling to catch his breath. Though that might have been more thanks to the fact that the boy was busy mutilating a tree in order to arm himself with a thick branch.
...Roger readied himself for the use of Armament haki, just in case that branch was meant to be used on him.
"You better not slow me down," the boy warned him, weighing the branch in his hand.
"’Course I won't," Roger assured easily, voice filled with more confidence than he actually felt. "I'm just here so we don't lose you."
Ace looked at him like he was stupid — he's not stupid! — before snorting and entering the forest.
"How could I even get lost on Dawn? I know this island as well as I know the back of my hand!" he said, pointedly raising the hand which didn't hold a stick before pausing, turning it around. "...well. I know it better than I know this hand."
As weird as it was to look at his son and see him looking back in anger — if he deigned to look at Roger in the first place — the small reminders of the boy also being out of his comfort zone did, ironically, make it slightly easier.
They were both just trying to make the most out of the universe fucking with them.
Roger followed after Ace, looking around the forest in an effort to try and notice any signs of whatever path Ace was following so confidently. It all looked untouched by humans to his eyes.
And yet Ace kept pushing forwards, eyes trained on some far-away point as he walked without once looking where he was stepping, never tripping-
Ah, Roger had spoken too soon.
Ace exploded into a string of swears — some being new and creative ways of cursing not even Roger had heard anyone use before, which was saying something — remaining upright only thanks to the branch in his hand.
He glanced back, and Roger couldn't even pretend like he didn't see that.
"That's not here in my world," Ace growled before pushing onwards.
"Makes sense," Roger allowed indulgently. He did believe the boy, though. He overheard enough of the stories he shared with Rouge to know Ace had worn paths through that forest over the decade he spent living in it. In a world where he hadn't done that, of course those paths wouldn't exist, even if his memory of them remained.
They walked for a long while before Ace paused at a small clearing, glancing around with furrowed brows.
"Something wrong?" Roger tried.
"Just missing some stuff," Ace mumbled, and took a deep breath. "LUUUUFFYYYY!"
Roger winced at the volume. His son sure had a pair of strong lungs on him.
"Why-" he tried to ask, but Ace just shushed him, waving a hand at him while he pointedly listened to the silence of the forest.
He must have heard something, though, because he smiled, changing the direction slightly as he began to walk again.
Roger followed without a word. Ace had called his brother's name twice more — never receiving any answer Roger could hear — before he came to a stop, tossing his branch aside.
"Luffy," he said, this time at a normal volume, and spread his arms wide open. Roger barely managed to make out the pair of eyes hiding in the bushes right in front of him. "C'mon, bring it on."
Roger had a certain expectation of what would happen next. He didn't expect a small body to fly out of the bushes like it was shot out of a slingshot, rubbery arms wrapping themselves around Ace's body multiple times.
For his part, Ace seemed to have expected exactly that, his feet braced against the ground firmly enough to keep him stable.
"Hi baby," Ace muttered, his voice so soft, pressing a kiss against Luffy's temple. "I'm sorry it took so long, but I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere, yeah? I won't leave you alone again."
"...really?" The kid's voice sounded... off. Roger had no idea what it was supposed to sound like, but as it was, it felt like Luffy hadn't spoken in a while.
Judging by the way Ace's expression turned guilty, swallowing dryly, that seemed to be about right.
"Really really," he confirmed, squeezing Luffy tighter before pulling away a little. "Have they been feeding you? You feel like skin and bones! Are you hungry? Oh, who am I kidding, of course you are. We can go hunting, yeah? I'll grab you a nice fat tiger, or a crocodile, hell, even a bear if you fancy one. All for you, yeah?"
The boy stared up at Ace with stars in his eyes, nodding excitedly.
"...you're nice," he offered before pressing close again, resting his chin on Ace's shoulder.
Ace looked heartbroken at that. Roger would know; he's been seeing that exact expression in the mirror every time he thought about his Ace for the past week.
"Let's go," Ace called — at Roger, clearly, but not looking back at him — before starting to walk.
Roger followed after, grabbing Ace's branch on the way, just in case.
"Well then, Lu?" Ace asked, bouncing the kid lightly in his arms. Luffy started to unwind his limbs, hesitantly detangling himself, but Ace just held him closer. "No, no, stay right here sunshine. I mean, what did you want to eat?"
Luffy blinked as he settled back down, his cat-like eyes staring up at Roger as he thought. "...tiger, please?"
"Aww, so polite," Ace cooed, reaching up to pet Luffy on the head. "Let's hunt you some tiger then, yeah?"
"Thank you, sir."
Ace missed the next step, barely managing to stay on his feet. When he caught his footing again, his back was ramrod-straight.
"You can call me Ace, okay?" he said, his voice so, so gentle. If it had been any louder, Roger doubted he would've been able to keep the hurt out of it. "None of that sir nonsense. You're my baby brother, Lu."
Something about those words made Luffy tear up, cheeks growing red and puffy as he tried to keep his sobs in.
"Let it all out," Ace rubbed gently on his back. "There's the crybaby I know and love, just let it all out."
***
Roger wasn't sure how to feel about his son being able to kill a tiger as easily as picking some berries. He seemed almost bored during the process, as if the sharp teeth and claws being aimed his way were nothing but decorations, the whole fight nothing but a boring necessity.
The entire tiger, once roasted over a campfire, was given to Luffy, just as Ace promised. The boy seemed unable to believe that, even after all the meat had (somehow) made its way inside of his stomach.
Ace had turned his head away, then, not letting Luffy see the hatred shining bright in his eyes — not at Luffy, never at Luffy, Roger knew as much already, but at whoever had made Luffy feel like he was undeserving of getting to eat his fill.
"Where's your hat?" Ace asked once all the meat was gone.
Luffy blinked up at him.
"I'm taking you away from here," Ace elaborated. That part was news to Roger, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise. “Your hat's the only thing you want to take along, right?"
Eventually, the boy nodded hesitantly. "I left it at Makino's," he said. "I didn't want..."
"Gramps to take it?" Ace finished. "Smart. We'll swing by the bar to pick it up later then."
After that, Ace had led them down the mountain.
Luffy seemed just as unfamiliar with the route as Roger was, glancing around curiously.
Ace kept talking as they walked, silly stories that kept Luffy's attention and made him laugh. He was saying more than Roger had heard out of him in the entire past week combined, and judging by the way his voice turned hoarse, it wasn't exactly because he had been limiting himself before.
They came to a stop at the edge of a landfill.
"Alright," Ace nodded decisively. "We're looking for a blonde guy, about my age and height, wearing a tophat and a napkin and a coat, probably with a pipe-"
"Like that guy?" Roger asked, pointing with his chin towards a kid fitting that exact description who was digging through the trash a little ways off.
Ace glanced between Roger and the trash heap blocking his line of vision before motioning at him to pick them up.
Roger did so happily. He'd take any excuse to hold his son.
"That's him!" Ace confirmed excitedly before patting at Roger's face - ugh, he only narrowly missed poking his eye — demanding to be let down. "Lu, sweetheart, I'll need you to let me go for a minute."
Luffy was clearly unhappy to do so, but he didn't hesitate. By the way Ace's face spasmed, Roger supposed that wasn't usual for his brother.
"I'll be right back, okay?" He told Luffy, holding him under his armpits. Then, he passed him over to Roger, looking right into Roger's eyes as he said, "If you let anything happen to him, I'll kill you"
He was gone a moment later, clambering over the piles of trash.
Roger turned his attention towards Luffy.
"...hello," he said.
"...hi," Luffy offered back, returning to the skittishness Ace had spent so long coaxing him out of.
The silence was a bit awkward. Roger wanted to hold Luffy closer — he was holding him under his armpits at arm's length right then, the same way Ace had passed him over — but he wasn't sure how the kid would react to that.
In the end, he didn't have enough time to make a decision either way.
Ace had darted back towards them, the kid he was looking for thrown over his shoulder.
"Okay, I got him-" he said before yelping and tossing the blonde to the ground. "You bit me!"
"And you kidnapped me!" the other countered instantly.
“It’s not kidnapping if we’re brothers!”
The blonde stared at him, baffled, his jaw halfway to the ground. “I think I’d know if I had brothers!” He squawked indignantly before narrowing his eyes. “Unless you’re another of my parents’ adoptees, in which case, get fucked.”
“Ugh, no,” Ace grimaced, stepping up to pick Luffy back up. “Those wastes of space have no connection to any of this.”
In the ensuing silence, Luffy hesitantly piped up. “Who’s this?”
“None of your-” the blonde began, at the same time as Ace spoke. “That’s Sabo, he’s our brother.”
Then, he leveled a glare at Sabo, bouncing Luffy up in his arms a bit. “And this is Luffy, our baby brother. Hurt him and I’ll throw your hat in the sea.”
A notably less violent threat than Ace’s typical ones, but it seemed to have a strong effect on Sabo regardless.
“You wouldn’t dare!” He gasped.
“Try me. I still didn’t forgive you for dying and leaving me alone with all the babysitting.”
“....But I’m alive?”
“And you better keep it that way.”
“You’re insane and I don’t understand you at all.”
As great as it was to see Ace interacting so freely with someone, Roger would greatly prefer if they didn’t linger on the home island of Garp the Fist.
“I believe we were going to Makino’s bar?” He interjected, carefully pronouncing the name. It sounded a bit familiar — maybe something Shanks mentioned before? He’s been to Dawn some years before, he probably visited every single bar on the island.
“Oh, yeah,” bickering with Sabo seemed to have relaxed Ace a bit; His response to Roger barely had any bite to it.
…Nika, his standards for interacting with the other world’s version of his son were pathetically low.
They set out towards the forest again, and Roger decided not to question it. Nor the fact that Sabo followed after them easily without any more cajoling from Ace.
Though there seemed to be a reason for it which Roger wasn’t privy to, if the suspicious looks Sabo kept throwing at Ace were any indication.
It all became clear once they stopped in front of a massive tree. Surrounded by all the other massive trees, there was nothing to make this particular tree special, except for Ace’s attention and the way Sabo’s shoulders stiffened as they approached.
“Grab the treasure,” Ace ordered shortly.
“The hell-!”
“My hands are full,” he explained, bouncing Luffy lightly. As if that was the issue Sabo was protesting: the uneven distribution of tasks. Even Roger could tell that wasn’t it. “Unless you want to leave it for some random asshole to find and steal? I’m taking you both away, ‘Bo, we won’t be coming back.”
Somehow, that was the exact combination of words that convinced Sabo, leaving him to scamper up into the treetop.
Ace seemed to debate something with himself.
“We will likely… need you to help carry the stuff,” he said with a grimace, and it took a second for Roger to realize he was talking to him. “Depending on how much Sabo gathered, but he’s not a wimp, so…”
“I’m happy to help,” Roger beamed at him.
Ace grimaced even more, avoiding looking Roger in the eye.
“Were you planning to bring your brothers along from the start?” He asked, figuring now was as good a time as any. “If so, your mother could have used the warning-”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Ace interrupted, turning to look Luffy in the eye, his expression softening in a way Roger couldn’t help but consider adorable. “But… Luffy deserves the best. And he won’t get that here.”
Roger could understand that. The impulse to provide only the best… It was what he felt every time he looked at his children, be it Ace or Shanks and Buggy.
Sabo returned before he could say anything else, his arrival heralded by the falling bag full of treasure that made the ground shake as it landed.
“Oi, watch it!” Ace scowled at him. Although, having a week’s experience in seeing various displeased expressions from the boy, Roger could tell that his heart wasn’t in it. “You coulda crushed us!”
“Yeah, sorry,” Sabo’s saccharine smile was obviously fake. “It’s hard to aim from up there.”
At least Luffy seemed to find their bickering entertaining.
Roger picked up the giant sack, hoping to speed up their departure, and nearly toppled over under its weight. Clearly, the kid had kept busy.
“So, where to now?” Sabo asked.
“We go to Makino’s to pick up Lu’s hat, and then…” Ace trailed off, stopping after taking only a couple of steps. “Pump the brakes. You’re going along with this way too easy. What’s your scheme?”
Sabo blinked innocently. “Scheme? Me? I would never-”
“Cut the crap,” rolling his eyes, Ace never looked more like his mother. “I know you; Your paranoid ass would never go along with something like this unless you thought there was something in it for you.”
“Well, perhaps I have grown tired of this backwater island-”
Ace snapped his fingers. “That’s it!” He grinned. “You’re planning to sneak off on the next island we dock at! That’s fine, then, I can work with that.”
He continued to walk deeper into the forest, leaving Sabo behind with his jaw hanging wide open.
“Let’s get moving,” Roger nudged him gently. “I don’t know about you, but if we lose sight of them, I won’t be able to find our way.”
“Yeah, I don’t really go through the forest much, either,” Sabo said absently before shaking himself out of the stupor and following at a brisk pace. “And who might you be? It seems like… my brother had neglected to introduce you.”
“Oh, his name is Ace,” Roger supplied. “And I’m Roger.”
Sabo glanced back at him consideringly. “Like the Pirate Royal Family, huh?”
“Well, yes.”
It didn’t seem like the boy believed him to be the actual Pirate King, though. He’d have quite a shock once they reached the Oro Jackson, but Roger was willing to let the silence lie until then.
Navigating the forest with a giant bag on his back was proving slightly more difficult than navigating it with just his giant stature, but Roger somehow managed. At least it didn’t take long to reach their destination, exiting the forest on the outskirts of a small village.
Ace inhaled deeply, exhaling with a sigh moments later. “Ah, Foosha,” he said, voice nostalgic. “It’s been years since I’ve last been here.”
“Me too,” Luffy added, looking around in excitement. “There, there-!”
“Yeah,” Ace nodded and began his descent at such a fast pace that both Roger and Sabo struggled to keep up with him.
The building they beelined for had a sign above the doors, proclaiming it to be the Party Bar. Roger felt pretty confident in assuming it belonged to Makino.
Ace did not hesitate to push into the building, completely empty thanks to the early hour.
“One moment!” A woman called from the backrooms.
It didn’t take long for her to appear, wiping her hands on the apron around her waist as she looked towards the entrance-
And froze.
“Hi there, Luffy,” she said slowly, carefully. “And you are-?”
“Ace,” Ace offered, turning to pass Luffy to Sabo without a word of explanation or warning. Then, he turned back towards — who had to be — Makino, dropping into a low bow. “Thank you for taking care of my baby brother!”
The woman was clearly confused at that, blinking at Ace.
“I- Of course, he was just a boy,” she said eventually. “He hasn’t been with me for years now, thought-”
“Yeah, but like hell am I thanking Dadan for anything,” Ace scowled. “We’re just here to pick up his hat and say goodbye.”
“Bye Makino!” Luffy offered obligingly, seemingly far more comfortable in Sabo’s embrace than he had been in Roger’s, despite both of them being equally unknown to him.
…Roger bore more resemblance to Garp, though. That might have been the major difference there.
“I keep the hat upstairs, in Luffy’s old room-”
Hungry rumble of an empty stomach interrupted her, and Roger was shocked to discover that it came from Luffy. He had eaten an entire tiger not long ago-!
The boy seemed embarrassed at that, looking down to hide his expression. Ace didn’t let him feel bad, though, moving to cup his cheek and tilt his head up.
“Oh, yeah, it’s about time for another meal, isn’t it, sweetheart?” His voice held nothing but raw affection. “I’m sure Makino wouldn’t mind having one last lunch with you, yeah?”
“Of course!” Makino brightened. “I do have a casserole I should be taking out of the oven right about now- Oh, but the hat-”
“I’ll grab it,” Ace waved off her concern, bolting towards the stairs as if he had made that exact climb hundreds of times before.
Roger cleared his throat, grabbing her attention, and her expression cleared instantly.
“Oh, Gol-san,” she smiled. “That must be Ace, then. Shanks wasn’t kidding about him being different, huh?”
“Please, call me Roger,” he grinned. “And, no, it’s been a challenge to-”
“The child is hungry,” Sabo cut through his words just as callously as Ace would; Roger could see where the claim of them being twins came from. “You can converse over a meal, can’t you?”
By the time Ace had made it back — which wasn’t all that long at all — Luffy was already almost done with an entire casserole. But even his voracious appetite couldn’t hold Roger’s attention when he was faced with-
“Is that my hat?”
“No, it’s Luffy’s,” Ace denied instantly, stuffing it onto Luffy’s head before pausing. “But he got it from Shanks… Shit, it might be your hat.”
Luffy blinked up at him, his cheeks filled like a chipmunk’s. He garbled out something unintelligible.
“No, of course not,” Ace patted him on the head. “It’s your hat now, you never have to give it to anyone unless you want to.”
The boy pondered that for a long moment. Eventually, he raised his arm, grabbed the hat, and put it on top of Ace’s head.
…Roger had never seen this version of his son this close to tears.
***
They made it to the ship eventually, once Luffy said goodbye to everyone he wanted to see one last time. Ace seemed to have no issue indulging Luffy’s every whim, and Sabo seemed to be going along with that for the time being.
Roger supposed he really wanted to keep his top hat dry.
But they finally came onboard, setting sail almost immediately afterwards, while Roger carried the bag of treasure towards Ace’s room.
It’s not like the boy had used it — not since waking up a different person — but that’s where Ace took Luffy to, so that’s where Roger brought their treasure.
He dumped the bag in the corner of the room, deciding that the brothers could deal with it later. By the time he had made it to the doors, Ace and Luffy were already fast asleep in bed, clutching at each other desperately, the lumpy blankets hiding whether Sabo had joined them.
Closing the doors, Roger sighed lightly. Seemed like he was up to five children… Now just to convince Ace of that…