Something… Something hot.

He could feel something mildly warm ghosting over his skin, sending trails of heat that made him shiver. He could see nothing but black, and he couldn't hear anything. A bright, white noise filled his head as he thought- wait a second, he couldn't think at that moment.

The soothing heat entranced him, making him never want to release his grasp on the floaty, dazed feeling that was pooling in him.

Until that mild little spark of heat turned into a burning inferno.

The heat clawed at him, pulling at him with its sharp nails, raking streams of blood across his skin. The crimson liquid dripped in dark, round drops into the flames, burning away into nothing but black ash that flew in the wind to a destination that he didn't know, much less could care about. You couldn't even tell someone had been bleeding above the fire.

He tried to scream. He felt his mouth open and close, looking like a goldfish as he tried to voice his fear and pain. But nothing came out. He screamed and screamed till his throat felt raw and abused.

But still, nothing was heard.

The pain was getting worse. The inferno's flames had changed into smoking magma that melted his body from the inside, scorching him with fingers coated in red hot lava.

He couldn't feel himself breathing either. He couldn't feel the steady beat of his heart in his chest, or the sound of soft breath escaping his trembling lips. He felt like he was dead.

He felt… Alone. And that was a feeling that was all too familiar for him.

Luffy felt himself choke and he struggled and fought with himself, trying to make himself wake up from this unbearable nightmare.

A violent, painful scream tore from his throat, as if his soul had been ripped apart into tiny, little pieces that were crushed and mixed into drinks for monsters that used human bones as toothpicks and human meat as appetizers.

And not many knew, but it's true. His soul had been ripped apart.

And it was all because of the very heat that was abusing his hurt body right then.

Luffy snapped back into consciousness with startling clarity and speed. He felt delirious, and his gaze couldn't stay on one object for too long. He felt like he was looking through a magnifying glass. Everything was clear and defined, everything was crystal clear. Yet he felt like he was the blindest man across the seas.

His arms felt raw and sprained, and he glanced down. There were sturdy, rough ropes tied around him tightly, making his skin red and sore from the pressure.

Luffy's eyes were big and round, trying to understand what was happening and why he was tied up with rope.

He felt like he was… Swaying.

Swaying?

Yes, swaying.

He felt his body move on its own, shifting a little to the right, edging a little to the left. He was dangling from something.

Luffy whipped his head upwards, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through his neck and spine from the pressure building up in his backbone. The rope securely fastened around his waist and arms in an incredibly well-tied knot ran all the way to some rocky ceiling's huge metal hook; that looked too rusty and old to hold up his weight. It looked like it was about to crumble away any second.

The rocks and boulders stuffed into the ceiling seemed like they were going to tumble down onto him, and it looked something like the top of a cave. A sheen of moisture lay coated on the rocks, dripping down onto him in steady streams. The droplets were surprisingly cooling, and Luffy kind of liked the cold water running down his flaming skin.

The funny thing was, he could see something moving on the layer of water. It wasn't alive… It looked more like… A reflection.

There was something bright red and yellow dancing across the water, blossoming into brilliant patterns that looked like big and small flowers dotting a big, dark plane. It looked sticky, and it was swirling around. It was impossibly bright, and Luffy squinted just to catch a glimpse of the reflection.

Luffy felt something tight in his throat, and he let out a violent cough that shook his body. His eyes darkened when he couldn't hear anything.

The chain looked like it was rattling, but he couldn't tell for sure without a sense of sound.

For some reason he felt unbelievably weak and tired…Like all the energy had been drained out of him without a single drop left to spare.

Something cool and hard was wrapped around his wrists tightly, a part of it digging into his palm, making him wince.

He glanced down and saw kairouseki handcuffs. He was in deep trouble, and he knew it damn well. How was he going to get out of this now? Luffy bit his lip, struggling frantically for an answer. His mind was barely skimming the surface of consciousness.

Luffy felt something scorching hot drip on his calf.

It felt like a thousand suns had been flung onto him, and his body curled in agony, while his right leg unconsciously went into a frenzy. He kicked and squirmed, but the heat was still there on his leg. Luffy could feel sweat dripping off of him like waves, and his eyes were glazed over and unfocused.

Until he looked down.

Looking down was the worst thing he could've done. Looking down probably brought everything crashing around him. Looking down was the worst nightmare Luffy could ever imagine.

Tar.

It was everywhere. It was a boiling black mass that floated in itself, making black bubbles that popped after a few seconds. It was bursting upwards. Just like magma, but only a hundred times worse for Luffy.

Luffy's eyes grew bigger than ever, and suddenly the scene exploded with sound, touch and sight, bursting from a seed into a humongous flower that threatened to swallow him alive.

The crackling of fire filled his head, an immense heat gnawed at him, and he could hear screams and shouts, with cursing that undeniably belonged to only one person.

Ace.

Fuck, I've got to get to Luffy! I don't have time to deal with these fucking bastards! They're in my way, and Luffy is hanging a hundred feet off the ground over the same shit I saved him from when he was five! What the fuck should I do?! Fuck!

Ace cursed and swore in his head as well as at the ugly mugs that ran at him, trying to get his tough defense down and land a life-ending blow on him. Not that he'd actually let them, anyway.

Ace blocked and evaded their hits, returning them with even more fiery force that left them on the ground begging for mercy. The fear in their eyes was as black as night, and they took a few steps back, only to rampage forward after a fierce battle cry from their leader- the ugliest of them all.

Ace grunted and continued picking them off like flies, his worried eyes returning to his younger brother again and again. The clock was ticking.

And it was ticking fast.

Ace felt the blood pumping in his veins, coursing through his body in a morbid dance as he fought and struck his opponents, trying his best to forge a way to his baby brother through the sea of disgusting green monsters that were in need of serious dental check-ups.

Ace bit his lip and forced the tears back in, making himself be calm and controlled, without panicking. He could only imagine the horror and the fear that Luffy must've been feeling right then.

Out of all the things they could burn, they had to pick tar. Ace could feel Luffy's heart being broken.

"No! No! Let me go, you jerk! Get off before I give you a punch! It's like pistol fire, you dumb ogre!" Ace paused in his scouting, hearing something echoing from a cluster of rocky caves. His small feet skillfully avoided the broken twigs and leaves as he hurried towards an interestingly familiar voice that had seemed to have gotten itself into trouble. Again.

Luffy was trying to be brave again. But Ace could see the fear that laced his voice as clear as day.

So could the ogres, apparently.

He heard a sickly laugh, and the crackling of fire. Ace could smell smoke, and as he grew closer he could see rolling fumes of black smoke drifting high into the sky. He could sniff something burning.

A childish, terrified scream pierced through the air, stabbing Ace right in the heart. "AAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEE! SAAAAAVE MEEEEE, AAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEE!"

Ace's feet rushed to the cave at an ungodly speed, his eyes set with a furious determination, his heart burning with rage. He swore he'd kill the bastard that dared lay a finger on his baby brother and made him scream that way. He'd have their bloody hearts wrung up with the laundry.

Ace burst through the dark entrance, running through a winding tunnel that had snakes slithering across the dirty path and mysterious red eyes watching him run through; following his every move.

His younger brother's screams grew louder and louder, and Ace ran through a bright, white space that blinded him for a few moments, before his eyes drank in the scene.

Luffy was tied up, hanging over a huge black cauldron. Two big ogres were staring at him in shock. One was pausing in cutting vegetables, his knife glinting in the light that streamed down into the cave.

It was then Ace realized the cave was lined with crystals of every shape and size, the shards and jewels jutting out from the ground and growing out of the walls. The light made them shimmer beautifully.

But Ace didn't give a damn about them. His eyes were trained on the knife in the ogre's hand. It had a red stain on it. A red that Ace knew all too well from scraping his knee or getting a bloody gash from a local bandit.

It was human blood.

Ace's scrutinizing eyes flicked to Luffy, who was trying not to cry and failing miserably. His left cheek had a thick line of red. It was bleeding.

Ace's blood ran cold and he slowly looked at the ogres, giving them his worst glare. His fist tightened on his jungle knife and metal pipe, as the adrenaline took over and he jumped them, lashing out with full force.

He managed to knock one of them out with a lucky blow to the temple, but Ace didn't get so lucky with the other one.

He felt pain shoot up through his left leg, and he stumbled onto the ground, grimacing. He let out a gasp, and felt something hot and warm pool onto the ground.

He forced himself to get up, but by then the second ogre had already pulled the lever.

A lever that made Luffy plunge into the cauldron that Ace knew had to be filled with boiling tar.

Ace felt everything freeze in time with a painful acuteness. He heard his breath ring in his head, his foot scrape the gravel of the cave, his hands push him off the ground. Followed by a frightened scream.

Ace saw his younger brother falling, and Ace glanced at his left leg, which was twisted at an odd angle. He looked back at his younger brother, his eyes full of dread.

It was then Ace saw the second ogre-that bastard- pull another lever. This time the boiling tar fell from above.

It was a fucking torture device.

Ace could see the telltale glint of sharp metal and spikes peeking out from the tar, thirsting for blood.

Ace made a split-second decision, and sprinted forward with all the manly pride he could muster.

"I've still got a chance. I've still got a chance. I've still got a chance." Ace repeated over and over in his head, going on full speed towards Luffy, forcing himself to ignore the blossoming pain in his left leg.

He pushed off with his right foot, and with unbelievable power and strength, jumped over the edge of the cauldron.

His arms held Luffy as he rushed over the cauldron, flying through the air like a high-speed baseball. The tar from above got him, though.

It burned into his clothed back, singing his skin and making the blood ooze out in pools. Ace screamed from the pain, writhing on the ground, clutching at himself, trying to make the unbearable pain go away.

His eyes were screwed shut and he was breathing heavily, screaming his throat raw. The tar seeped into his back, making scars and burns that would follow him through his lifetime.

Luffy lay beside him, with his chains loosened from the fall, sitting in a pool of blood that stained his clothes a deep red.

Ace was dying.

Ace was… dying.

Ace…was…dying…

Ace was dying.

ACE WAS DYING!

Luffy scrambled up and immediately started crying, holding his onii-chan, looking upon him with scared eyes and a hopeless look that made him want to curl up into a ball and disappear.

Ace's screams rang through the cave, making even the crystals grimace from the pain that was so sharp and clear in his voice.

"NII-CHAN! NII-CHAN! DON'T DIE! PLEASE! DON'T DIE! WHY'D YOU SAVE ME FROM THAT FALLING TAR, NII-CHAN? NII-CHAN! YOUR LEG! IT'S BROKEN! NII-CHAN! DON'T DIE!"

Luffy screamed along with his older brother, trying his best to make both of their pain disappear.

The last thing Luffy could remember was something with a large build and short, grassy-looking white hair knocking out the ogre.

Luffy's eyes caught the words 'Vice Admiral'.

Which made him cry even more.

Jii-chan had seen them. Had seen Ace nearly lose the only life he had.

Luffy's eyes flickered over the cauldron, his heart thumping louder and louder. He remembered the horrifying feeling of dangling over a pot of tar all too well. He remembered everything after it'd been burned into his mind.

And no, there was no pun intended.

He looked back up, his tear-filled eyes watching Ace fight the monsters, running towards him with his bloody hand outstretched; trying to reach Luffy before the clock stopped ticking forever.

Why? Why does this have to happen again? Ace is saving me from tar! Ace is going to get hurt again! I can't let that happen! Ace needs his younger brother to protect him! I can't always be depending on Ace forever!

Luffy couldn't help it.

He had to try to get out of these ropes, somehow jump away from the cauldron and onto those rocks by the side, smash some mosters' faces in, save Ace and get the hell outta there.

Luffy's dark eyes dilated from the immense pressure on him, but he didn't falter and focused on surviving.

Okay, I just need to untie these bloody ropes.

But.. The handcuffs. Fuck.

Okay, calm down. Plan B.

Maybe I could… Shimmy up to the ceiling and grab that metal hook? Yeah, that could work. Though it's pretty risky, and there's a high chance I'll plunge to my death before I even make it halfway up there.

Fuuuuuuuck.

Luffy bit his pale rosy lip. Hard enough to draw some blood that dripped onto his shirt.

His innocent eyes darted upwards, observing the metal hook and watching how it creaked softly, small pebbles of cave rock occasionally falling.

It was the only chance he had.

I've gotta do this.

Luffy took a deep breath and grinned before heaving himself up onto the rope, clutching onto it tightly with his strong jaw.

His lean legs twined around the rope effortlessly from years of practice and training. And maybe some games of 'climb-the-rope-or-Ace-will-kill-you'.

He slowly inched upwards. Slowly getting closer to the metal hook.

The heat was getting cooler with every movement upwards, and Luffy moved further and further as the heat slowly died down.

You know how they say when things are going too good, something bad just has to happen?

Yeah, that was exactly the case for Luffy.

Luffy was…

Falling?

Luffy was… Falling?!

He… He couldn't be.

He just… Couldn't.

Ace stopped in his tracks, gazing at the scene playing out before his own dark ember eyes.

Everything that happened that day replayed in his head like an automatic tape recorder. It stopped and continuously replayed the moment the tar started falling from above, echoing how Luffy was falling from above right then.

He stood frozen again.

Luffy screamed his name again.

But this time, the cauldron was much too high to jump over,

And this time, there weren't just two ogres.

Just before Luffy hit the black flames, he looked right at Ace and mouthed 'Thank you I love you'.

And grinned.