There are a few places that reality seems to bend; playgrounds at night, empty schools, the second level of double-decker buses, hospital waiting rooms, and dimly-lit roads that lead home.

"Ace! AceAceAceAce—" the voice of Luffy complains from the back of the car.

Ace glares into his rearview mirror, watching his brother struggle in his seat belt. He can feel the back of his seat being kicked repeatedly and damn if it didn't grate on his nerves.

"Shut up," Ace hisses, pushing Luffy's face back into the backseat when the he tries to climb into the front. "I'm trying to drive."

This road is relatively dangerous, especially at night—always twisting and turning. Ace has a hard time keeping up with it normally, but when darkness takes over the skies all he can see is the glow from his headlights.

He doesn't need his smiling younger brother up in his face, creating a distraction.

"Luffy, sit down!" He finally snaps, not taking his squinting eyes off the curving road.

He hates this road more than anything, however Luffy and him both know this is the fastest way to their small subdivision in the city. They usually avoid it, but after a long day, Ace really just wants to go home as fast as he can and sleep.

Luffy fusses a bit in the back. Ace can hear his brother mumbling and cursing as he tries to untangle the seatbelt that he has somehow twisted himself in.

"You're a party pooper," Luffy says, after about a minute of silence.

"Sorry," Ace says, not sorry at all.

Most car rides are worse than this, but would it really hurt his brother to stay in one place for twenty minutes?

"When are we going to get there?" Luffy complains once again. Ace loves his little brother dearly, but he was the single most annoying person in the world when he wanted to be.

Which, unfortunately, is the majority of the time.

"Luffy," he keeps both hands on the steering wheel and resists the urge to whirl back and glare at his brother. "Let me drive! I don't want you getting hurt, so sit down!"

And just like that, his little brother is in his seat, looking out the window like nothing happened.

"You're going to be the death of me, Lu," Ace sighs.

"Don't say that!" Luffy protests, pout on his face. He looks so much younger than a junior in high school should.

"I can't see your face, Luffy, so it doesn't matter how much you pout," Ace reminds him.

Silence covers the car once and Ace hums in pleasure. With Luffy around, everything is loud. It's nice one in a while to be able to sit and enjoy each other's company without the constant chatter.

Suddenly, something in Ace's gut squeezes painfully. He squints out the front windshield when an ominous feeling starts to overtake the car. Even though no one else is on the road, Ace feels his stomach drop. Everything is quiet, like the world was holding its breath.

Whatever is about to happen, Ace does not want to be apart of it. Some may call him paranoid, but Ace calls it instinct. Ace's instincts helped him when he lived on the streets, and they've always been right.

Luffy shifts in the seat behind him, and Ace can tell Luffy can feel it as well. Even though Ace told him not to, Luffy pops his head in the front of the car. He wears a heavy frown, an expression rarely found on his face. His voice is no more than a whisper when he speaks.

"Something's off. Ace, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." Ace replies honestly. His stomach drops even more now that he knows Luffy can feel it too. Something like this is never a good sign. The last time they felt like this, Luffy almost died. He isn't too keen on repeating that experience. "Luffy, sit down. I have bad feeling about this."

Luffy nods and his head disappears behind the seat. Ace hears the click of the seat belt as it slips into place.

It's quiet; too quiet.

Ace is about to force himself to relax when it happens: a large, glowing shape appears, blocking the road. It's translucent and shifts slightly in form, but no matter how it changes it still blocks the one-way road. It doesn't look real, but and Ace would think he were dreaming it up if he couldn't hear Luffy screaming a warning behind him. He doesn't even have the time to turn the wheel or hit the breaks before their car rams into the shape. Ace hears the sickening crunch of their metal car folding like a soda can, then something flashes before his eyes. For a brief second, he swears he can see a hand made of lava coming towards him, aimed straight at his chest.

The world goes black around him.

"Thank you . . . for loving me . . ."

"ACEEE!"

"We need to live a life without regrets!"

"I only have . . . One regret. That I couldn't . . .see you fulfill . . . Your dream. But I'm sure you can do it! Because . . . you're my brother."

" . . . And someday . . . bearing the weight of all those centuries upon his back...a man will come forth to challenge this whole world to a fight. Sengoku . . . you are living in fear of that great battle that will someday engulf the entire world . . . when somebody finally finds that treasure . . . the world will be turned upside down! And someone will find it…"

"ONE PIECE DOES EXIST!"

Ace jerks up in his bed, startling the two people next to him. He ignores both of them, trying to calm his raging breathing. He's covered in cold sweat as the words he swears he heard are replaying in his mind.

What the fuck.

"Ace!" Ace is jerked out of his thoughts as a body slams into his. Ace yelps in surprise and pain as he tries to pry the man off of himself. He can hear deep, relieved laughter, but he can't see who it's coming from. Ace's gut twists as the words from his dream echo around his head.

"Thank you . . . for loving me."

He knows that voice. It's his voice.

Those words have never left his mouth, yet they seemed so real, so full of painand relief, like this person—him, whoever—really thought that no one loved them before that moment.

Ace definitely doesn't feel that way.

Arms tighten around his waist and someone babbles words into his ear. Ace flinches before realizing who it is.

"Get off of me, Thatch," Ace sighs. He feels the weight lift off him, revealing a grinning Thatch and a smirking Marco. Why were they here?

Another, more important thought hits him; where is he? He doesn't recognize the white walls that surround him, nor the uncomfortable bed that he is currently laying on.

"You're in the hospital," Marco says, catching the look on his face. Ace turns, giving him a blank stare. "You don't remember? You were in an accident. You guys were in pretty bad shape when they brought you here. Ace, you're lucky to be alive. We rushed over as soon as they called."

"You made us worry for a while, Ace," Thatch grins at him, but it fades. "Luffy woke up last night, but the doctors won't let him see you. He was pretty hysterical, claiming that he heard some weird voices and needed to talk to you. Of course, the doctors didn't like that he was hearing voices and gave him some medication. He hasn't woken up after that."

The fact that Luffy had heard voices too unnerves Ace even more. Something's up, and Ace wants to get to the bottom of it.

"So Luffy's okay?" Ace gets two nods in response and he lets out a breath of air that he didn't know he was holding in. He's sure now what he remembers of the crash-the glowing wall, the vision, the voices-must've been a weird dream. "Thank god. What happened back there?"

Thatch and Marco exchange glances before Marco speaks up, running his hands through his hair.

"We don't know, actually."

Ace's frown deepens.

"What do you mean?"

"There was no one there, Ace. Nothing at all. The damage to the car made it look like you hit a wall or something, Ace. It couldn't have been caused by hitting a tree or deer, but your car was in the middle of the road," Ace's feeling of discomfort worsens as Marco continues, "The police think it might've been a hit and run, but they couldn't confirm anything. It happened around three nights ago, so you've been unconscious for a while. Did you piss anyone off recently? Know anyone that might want to murder you?"

"I've pissed off more people that I can count, but I don't think any of them would want to murder me," Ace sighs, "Where's Luffy? Can I see him?"

"I think he's sleeping," Thatch says, "I mean, it's too quiet. If he were awake, you'd hear the yelling. Besides, you really need to rest, you've got a few bruised ribs and a hell of a lot of cuts and burns."

"I want to go see Luffy," Ace says stubbornly. His friends look at him with that look. Ace doesn't care, though. He wants—no, he needs to talk to Luffy about those dreams. They bother Ace. He knows they mean something and he is not about to sit around and wait for another . . . surprise.

After not getting any responses from his friends, he rips out his IVs and swings his legs over the side of the bed. He fully intends to reach his brother even if it hurts him even more. Thatch and Marco immediately protest and rush to push him back in his bed.

"Ace! What the hell are you doing?" Marco says. He puts a hand on Ace's shoulder and forcibly pushes him back into his bed. "You need to rest. Now's not the time to be stubborn."

"Yeah," Thatch agrees as he grabs Ace's feet and places them back on the bed. "You need to calm down. We'll talk to Luffy for you, 'kay? What did you want to say to him?"

Ace glares at both of them, but since they've known each other for years, the glare lost its effect a long time ago.

"You can't laugh," Ace sighs, giving in. He hates feeling bedridden. He hates people looking down on him while he was sick or injured, "At all. This needs to get to him word for word."

"Alright, alright," Thatch's smile returns and he holds his hands up in surrender. "I promise we won't laugh. What'd you want to tell him?"

"Ask him if he recognized any of the voices," Ace says slowly, never taking his eyes off of Thatch, "And if he does, make him tell you who they are."

Thatch looks surprised but, as promised, doesn't laugh. He rushes out the door to talk to Luffy.

Ace's eyes follow his every moment until the door slams shut, and a silence overtakes the duo. Marco's gaze lingers on the door just like Ace's. Marco is the first person to break the silence.

"So, what did you hear?"

"I don't know. Just a bunch of meaningless shit."

"Yet it's still bothering you," Marco points out, "You going to tell me anything?"

"I could," Ace says honestly, "But I'm confused and frustrated and I've got this horrible feeling in my gut that won't go away. Something's about to happen, Marco. Something big. I can tell. The car crash and the voices are just the start."

"Voices?" Marco muses. "Do you recognize any of them?"

"I don't recognize any of them," Ace says, shaking his head as his gaze flickers out the window. He doesn't remember them very much now. "But I feel as if I've heard them before. Those words weren't random."

"So, are you going to tell me?" Marco asks. "Or are you going to keep me guessing?"

"I—I don't remember all of them," Ace says, not taking his eyes off the window. "I know someone called my name... There were a few talking about regrets, I think. Someone said 'thank you for loving me.'"

"Any others?"

"Yeah." Ace frowns. "But they don't make much sense. One was talking about challenging the world to a fight? And something about Sengoku, I think, whoever that is. And the last one was just, 'One Piece does exist.'"

"One Piece?"

"Yeah." Ace sighs. "Marco, I don't know what's happening."

"Nothing good," Marco agrees. "But why ask Luffy about it?"

"For confirmation. If Luffy is having the same dreams I am then I can rule out coincidences. There's something messing with us."

Marco snorts at that.

"Oh yeah? What is it then?" he asks.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that it isn't going to be anything like we're use to."