A/N: What is this? I am alive, I think. I've been going through so much life-wise but today's one of those days where I randomly indulge in writing things and I was in an acelu mood. This whole fic is just open to interpretation since nothing's set into stone and because it's a reaper AU. I added Sabo just because, fyi. And why a reaper au? Because I've been binging Supernatural again so...

/shifty eyes

Ace feels so heavy, but all at once like he is floating on thin air. Thick but hollow. Breathing and not. His insides are full of air, yet suffocating from the weight of his own body. He's dying, he realizes. This is what it feels like. Floating and falling all at once. Waiting, just waiting for some kind of impact to wake you up or knock you out until there's nothing more.

Ace blinks his eyes open with full effort, feeling as though they are practically stitched shut. Everything is sore and aching and he can't remember how he got here or really where here is. He sits up with a loud groan, rubbing at his head and tries to gurgle out a strained "the fuck?" but finds his throat is swollen and dry. The words come out as a choked grunt.

He cracks his neck back and forth, the bones popping and he slowly stands from this grainy ground, feeling each joint twitch and creak back into place. Ace looks around, blinking a bit more than usual, trying to get familiar with his surroundings. He's at a shoreline, he realizes, very vast and empty, but he can feel a slight breeze and the fresh water is tickling his feet as they make instant contact. No one is around and he's not one to feel lonely, but it's a bit eerie to not have a single soul around, especially around the beach.

"About time! You ready?"

Ace jumps, with a squeal, loud and high pitch that he wasn't even aware he was capable of until now. He thinks his throat has loosened up a bit after that. "What the— what the hell!" He exclaims turning around but when he whips the other way there is no one in sight, only him, still standing alone in the sand. "Great." He mutters, running a hand through his wavy dark strands. "I'm hearing voices now."

Suddenly he feels a hand clamp on his shoulder, a chill shooting down his spine. Someone presses up against him, their chilly breath against his ear. "It's alright. You're only hearing my voice!~" And it sounds a bit too chipper to be menacing, but holy shit.

He moves like he's just been electrocuted, shooting back from the random person and turns to shove them away. His hands make contact with someone's chest, he thinks, but they don't budge. Ace looks down only to be faced with short messy black hair, owlish gleaming dark eyes and the biggest, stupidest grin he has ever seen on someone. He pauses before dropping his hands. Typically his heart would be beating madly inside his chest but right now he can't even bother to feel a thing.

"Sorry, sorry!" The person says, his grin fading into a softer smile. "I just had to get you out of that shock, you know?"

Ace opens and closes his mouth, probably mimicking a fish out of water and he hears—the asshole is laughing at him.

He can't help but grit his teeth.

"Ace looks like a fish!" Ace sees this fucker, this fucker who apparently knows his name which should ring warning bells but it doesn't register at the moment, mimicking fish lips and it's so ridiculous because no, Ace does not look like that.

He is at a complete and total loss for words, trying to think of the right thing to say or maybe he'll just start cursing without thinking. Yeah, that's his usual style. Now if he can form sentences that'd be great. Any sentence. Any syllable. Anything at all. He, however, settles on a simple yet straight to the point question of, "What the fuck is going on?"

The guy in front of him smiles wide, all teeth. "You're dead!" He shouts throwing his arms in the air. He says it in the same tone someone would yell congratulations to another person for a promotion or something along those lines and Ace can only stare in disbelief at this guy and his ridiculousness.

"What?" He asks, shaking his head. He knows something feels off but no, surely he can't be dead because one minute he was walking around the city and the next he's here, wherever here is.

"Dead? Gone to the other side? Kicked the bucket! No?" The guy scratches at his chin when he notices Ace's disbelieving stare and continues with, "Forever napping? Crossing over? Oh! I know! Rest in pieces! Or maybe—"

"YOU MEAN REST IN PEACE AND I KNOW WHAT DEAD MEANS YA DAMN ASSHOLE!" Ace cuts him off, rubbing at his forehead frustrated and hey, he finally found his usual insults, good for him. He wishes it made him feel better, but it doesn't. "But I can't be dead. I'm—well I'm here aren't I? Do I look fucking dead to you?"

The guy taps his chin this time, head tilts to the side as he seems to consider this. "Yup." He finally says. Ace lets out a frustrated groan before sinking to the sandy ground. He runs it over in his mind staring down in neutrality. Dead. Dead. Dead. He is dead. He doesn't cry or complain, just sits there quietly because the thought of death never really did much to him. He thinks of death as this forever peaceful sort of transition. He tries to will this entire thing to just end though because maybe he's dreaming or maybe this person is right and he is dead so he should just let this whole thing sink in so he can move on to whatever the hell is next.

But Ace feels a finger poking at his head and he looks up at the same guy with a glare. He makes sure to swat his hand away. "Hmm, ehh… I know you're probably getting used to the whole "yep I'm dead" thing but I'm in a hurry here and Nami threatened to take away my meat stash if I didn't finish this job quickly so—"

"Job?" Ace asks, "What do you mean? And who the hell are you? How the hell do you know my name?" He realizes just then that he has no clue who this weird energetic guy with the sun shining out of his ass and his face is and that he's sort of going about this whole thing backwards. He can't be blamed though when this guy just showed up out of nowhere in this fake beach, proclaiming him dead and—

"Oh right! Whoops, forgot to introduce myself." He shoves his hands in the pockets of his red hoodie. "I'm Luffy. Your grim reaper! I'm going to guide you into the afterlife." He gives Ace another ridiculous grin that stretches across his face.

Ace stands up, crossing his arms over his chest. "Wait, so you killed me?" He snaps accusingly. "And what kind of gatekeeper of death wears shorts, sandals, and a—" he glances up to Luffy's hoodie "a plain red hoodie. There's no way you're a damn grim reaper." The words alone sound ridiculous coming out of his mouth.

Luffy huffs clearly annoyed. "Ace is being stupid. I didn't kill him. He did that on his own. And if I wasn't a grim reaper could I do this?" He shoves his hand at Ace's face which makes him draw back a bit before glancing up to Luffy with a completely unimpressed expression.

"What—"

"Whoops sorry, wrong hand shishishi—THIS!" He pockets his hand before grabbing Ace's face with the other one. Ace jumps back as soon as the bone makes contact with his skin. He lets out a yell swatting away Luffy's skeletal hand. The guy who claims to be a reaper just cackles mischievously as he waves his fleshless fingers at Ace, the bones lightly popping in response, clear amusement on his human like features.

"What the fuck happened to your hand?!" Ace asks, horrified.

Luffy cracks his fingers while shrugging. "I'm sorta new at this whole reaping thing but you can control your old human form with the more souls you take in, at least that's what Sabo told me. Sabo's pretty smart at this whole thing. He can even change into whatever he wants. I want to be that good! I can't control it yet though so if I touch you with my dominant hand this kinda happens." He pulls his sleeve up to reveal that his right arm, up to his elbow, is completely skeletal. The rest twists and fades into tanned flesh.

He wants to ask who the fuck this Sabo guy is and why isn't the expert reaper here to take him instead of this idiot, or that Nami person he mentioned earlier who was going to take away Luffy's meat stash and wait, reapers eat? So many questions…

Ace thinks all of it is pretty creepy but the way this Luffy guy is unfazed makes him realize he needs to start getting used to this weird shit. He's not even sure what comes after all of this, if there's even more from here. "Huh… Okay, so I'm dead." Ace begins as he tries to collect all the information together. "And my grim reaper is some weird idiot named Luffy? And there are other reapers like you?"

"I'm not an idiot, stupid Ace! But yeah, there are others like me." Luffy retorts nonchalantly.

"Too bad I couldn't get stuck with one of the better reapers…" Ace mumbles this but Luffy clearly catches what is said and sticks his tongue out.

"Well too bad! I'll show you I'm a good reaper. Besides! I'm at least talking to you. Most people just sit and cry for a bit and then get dragged down some tunnel." Luffy says this defensively as he looks Ace up and down. "I don't get to pick where people go after."

Ace snaps his head up again. "Wait so there's a heaven and hell?" He takes a few more steps away from Luffy, backing into some random sand castle that he hadn't noticed before. Ace can feel wave of panic traveling through his whole being. He never considered himself a believer of much but that all changed the moment Luffy showed up. Now it all feels too real. All those stories of hell, all the different variations of endless torture, and the rewards of heaven, but he doubts that he'll ever get to go to heaven anyway. He is anything but a good person. He's long convinced himself of this. "No way. Not sure if dying was smart then. I'm so fucked."

"Ace. It'll be okay." Luffy says this matter-of-factly, his voice sounds so soothing and he sounds so sure of himself and Ace never thought hearing a stranger's voice, hearing an angel of death say his name would soothe him like it does right now. Ace never cared about dying, but the thought of living forever tortured even after death? He thought it would all stop. "Look, Ace isn't a bad guy. It's only the real bastards that get hell. God's a really cool guy about a lot of things!"

"But I don't even believe in God!" Ace says with a hard frown. "I mean I didn't when I was alive and—" that sounds weird to say. "But now I'm being introduced to all this weird shit and I'm not even sure."

"Hey, I didn't either and now I'm here." Luffy points at himself and smiles again.

Those smiles are starting to be oddly comforting and not irritating. Ace wonders if these are the aftereffects of dying though because in the span of just a few minutes he is already starting to think this guy is endearing and—yuck.

"Great and now we're both dead. How the hell is that supposed to make me feel better?" Ace replies back flatly.

The sad kicked puppy look Luffy gives him instantly makes Ace want to whimper, soften his tone, and take back what was said but he somehow resists and stands strong on his statement except he replaces his deadpan expression with a pout.

Though truthfully, it isn't like much was waiting for Ace while he was alive. He knows it's just the fact that he can't remember how he instantly died that pisses him off. It obviously isn't Luffy's fault. Life was a thorny pain in his ass. Dead parents, dead best friend, dead foster father, but at least he had a few close friends that were like family, except now he thinks they'll be better off without him dragging them down. Ironic how he always played with death, provoked it and he'd get away unscathed, until now. Ace supposes his luck just ran out and maybe the afterlife won't be so bad. Maybe that emptiness he always tends to feel will finally fade away and he'll just be Ace and not let the blood of his father haunt him. Maybe he won't be loathed for existing now because well, he's dead and it's a clean slate.

He sighs and finally takes a good look around him. They are still in the same empty and vast shoreline. "So what is this place? Some kind of limbo?" He asks, looking back to Luffy who has stopped with the sad puppy look and is just tilting his head at him in question.

Luffy nods, glancing around the beach as well. "Sort of but no this isn't limbo. This is your purgatory." And Luffy looks a little too proud at finishing that sentence. Ace isn't aware that it took a while for Luffy to even learn to pronounce that word effortlessly at first, but he'll eventually learn. "Everyone makes up something different in their mind. I've shown up in a field, a bar, one time I was in this huge arcade room. That was pretty cool. I think the best one was probably the pirate ship!" Luffy animatedly describes these scenes and Ace can't help but be a little in awe at how youthful this reaper seems. How can death be so carefree and innocent?

Ace continues to look over at Luffy in disbelief. He still can't accept that this is really his grim reaper, the one who is supposed to be his mystical, all-knowing caretaker that guides his soul into the great beyond.

"So, what would happen if I didn't go with you? What if I just decide to stay here." Ace shrugs. And really, there's nothing stopping him from leaving. He doubts Luffy will somehow manage to throw him over his shoulder and force him into the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Oh." Luffy's head drops as he shakes it slowly with a small frown. "You don't wanna do that. You'll go crazy. Your soul will rot until its nothing. That's how some people become evil mean ghosts that walk around here forever."

Ace lets out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding in. "Oh. Well, fuck."

Luffy nods in agreement and the two fall into silence. He doesn't know what to do. Luffy makes it seem like it's no big deal. Go with him, get to the afterlife, call it a day, but Ace has so many questions. He's sort of over being scared. He feels like this and whatever else comes after will surely be much better than the life he lived, so yeah, he's not afraid of dying or being left alone except that maybe just maybe he really does want someone or something around. "Can't you just give me some time? You can go reap some more souls and come check in after?"

Luffy huffs and scratches the back of his head. "Nope." He says a little sadly. "I'll really get it from Sabo and if I leave Ace here, someone else might just get Ace's soul and I'll get in trouble or worse, your soul will."

And Ace doesn't bother mentioning how he notices Luffy's tone get slightly lower and grimmer at those last words.

"Who knew the afterlife had so many fucking rules." Ace grumbles, clearly annoyed.

"Eh, it gets better." He sees Luffy shrug, but then he's staring right at Ace, eyes wide, unblinking, smile completely gone. "I mostly just listen to Sabo and Nami, because they care and because I've learned what happens when I leave a soul alone and I don't listen." Luffy says this with zero traces of playfulness in his voice and suddenly, it's like Ace is staring into a stranger's eyes. This isn't the youthful angel he was face to face with before. These are the eyes and voice of someone who has experienced true pain and Luffy almost looks older, worn down, and it hurts Ace for some unspoken reason.

He needs to pull it together because he's getting himself dragged into this guy's pace. Ace sees a flicker of regret in Luffy's dark eyes and he wants to ask, wants to sort of see what other layers to Luffy there are because seeing someone seem so put together and naively cheerful, there's something about that kind of personality that makes Ace want to break them and yet he doesn't want to, he wants to almost protect that.

So purgatory must be making Ace go insane. Probably.

Luffy's instant switch from serious to playful is a little nerve wrecking though so Ace gulps and nods.

"Okay. I get it." He steps closer to Luffy now, letting the water go up to his knees.

"Good." Luffy replies care freely and his smile is back, not just on his mouth but his whole body and it should be annoying, but fuck it. If Luffy's going to be the only glimpse of sunshine he gets before he moves on then so be it.

When he started referring to this guy as sunshine, he doesn't bother trying to remember.

"But, hear me out." And Luffy's giving him this owlish look again, patiently waiting for the rest of Ace's words. "Why don't you give me some time to let all of this sink in, to get used to this new weird shit, and I'll just tag along with you since you're not allowed to let me go off on my own, anyway." He shrugs his shoulders as though he was casually telling Luffy to let him hang out rather than wander around with a grim reaper through purgatory collecting human souls. "You can just keep doing reaper things and I'll just be a good obedient little soul and stay quiet."

"Ace doesn't have to keep quiet. I like it when Ace talks." Luffy says this effortlessly and it makes Ace feel a bit warm, which is strange because he shouldn't be feeling much anyway but he's starting to discover that things stopped making sense when he stumbled upon his grim reaper.

"Shut up." Ace grumbles. "I say I wanna tag along and you get all cheesy with me."

"It's okay. I know Ace is shy."

"If I could, I'd kick your damn ass."

Luffy grins again but this grin seems warmer than all the others, and Ace isn't even sure how he knows this but he's been paying attention, so sue him.

"What's so damn—"

"I'm just happy. Let's go then!"

Luffy grabs Ace's hand and laces their fingers together. Ace feels something really weird and warm and totally different at that action because a grim reaper shouldn't feel so damn warm and familiar like this, shouldn't be so intimate with someone they're not going to see again, maybe. His soul has probably been purified or some shit from the contact, because he feels ten times lighter than when he first came around and Luffy hasn't turned into some weird skeleton again, thankfully. He automatically just lets himself be pulled along the random door that appears and they walk into a white light.

###

"So you wanted to cheat death huh? It might be easy to fool Luffy because he likes you and he wants to spend more time with you, but really, Ace? Shame on you."

This blond bastard with curly soft looking hair is getting on his nerves because he's talking with such familiarity that it makes him want to spit at his face. Ace thought he wanted to punch Luffy at first glance, but no, this Sabo person that Luffy speaks so highly of, he definitely beats Luffy in the insufferable department.

"Stop patronizing me and stop treating me like I'm some dumbass kid."

"Technically you were a dumbass kid when you died and when you distracted Luffy from taking your soul."

"What the—"

"Really, Ace. The dog would have been fine if you had left it alone and not tried to have been a hero but a part of you really did think your life meant nothing, that dying for a noble cause was better than dying for no cause."

That's it. Ace is done being talked down to by this guy. And really, since when did a grim reaper have an office? This place gives him the creeps and he suddenly feels like he's back in school at the principal's office. He gives a menacing glare at Sabo, or whatever the hell this guy or thing is and Sabo looks completely unfazed, immovable and he just continues giving Ace an impassive stare.

"Why the fuck have you been judging me since you brought me here?"

Sabo sighs and his facial features relax a bit. "Because Ace, you may think your life was meaningless but it wasn't. People loved you and they worried for you day in and day out."

"Who the fuck do you think you are? You're not my damn therapist!" Ace barks out and he hates how this guy is looking into his soul, like he knows him and he's getting under his skin so damn well.

Ace hears a snort across the small table.

"I'm death, idiot."

He raises an eyebrow at Sabo. "No shit, Luffy is death too."

"Sort of, but if we're getting technical here, he really isn't. I am."

And the room is instantly chilled, everything gradually turning into ice. Ace isn't sure why but his entire being feels like it's being chilled to the bone too. He can even see his breath as he exhales and suddenly, Sabo doesn't seem as insignificant as before. He looks and feels as cold as his next words, and his eyes are glowing blue that Ace can't help but jump out of his chair in fear or shock or maybe both.

"You don't get it. I'm actual death. I'm in charge. So sit the fuck down and we'll talk things out calmly because if you want all the answers you've been seeking and if you want Luffy to come to your rescue, then you're going to be a good boy and listen. And the next time a soul wants to try to stall for time, you'll make sure to drag that soul with you and Luffy to their afterlife, alright?"

The smile Ace gets from Sabo as he sits with one leg over the other on his chair while his cheek rests into his palm, isn't a sweet one. On the contrary, it's layered with future threats and promises of unspeakable wrath.

"Alright." He grits out because what else is he supposed to say? The fucker is sort of intimidating.

Ace really wants to be offended, but all he can do is give a half-assed glare and slowly ease into his seat because he's just a measly soul compared to death himself and he feels like if Sabo really wants to, he can just send him to the beyond already.

The room instantly goes back to normal once Ace is seated, no traces of ice and the temperature is neutral again and Sabo is giving him a small harmless smirk this time, the asshole.

Seriously, Luffy and Sabo are going to give him whiplashes, but for completely different reasons.

###

"Isn't Sabo cool?!" Luffy says excitedly as they walk into another random door.

This time they seem to be in some jungle area, Ace is aware that they're in the next soul's purgatory but why a damn jungle?

"Sure, cool." Ace responds less enthusiastically and he hasn't been dead for that long, just a good day and he's already done.

"Whaaaaat. Why does Ace look so mad? Sabo is letting Ace be an angel. That's pretty nice of him!"

It isn't like Ace asked Sabo to turn him into a damn reaper, but the fact Sabo offered and Ace took it, it just seemed interesting. Plus, it meant he got more answers along the way. He's been able to meet a few of his new fellow reapers and Sabo's agreed to get Ace into training once Luffy's done with his rounds. He has also discovered that yes, reapers are capable of eating but they're not required to. So Ace has come to the conclusion that Luffy's just a damn glutton.

"He's just a grump, Luffy. Don't worry," Sabo explains nonchalantly as he falls into step next to him looking around the area.

"Why the fuck are you tagging along? Aren't you some bigshot boss?" Ace gives him a good glare.

"Hm? Oh. I asked Nami to take over for today. I decided I wanted to have fun and tag along too~"

The playful look he gives Ace, makes him want to bash his head.

"What… but Sabo's already taken a bunch more souls than I have." Luffy says this with a sad pout.

Sabo puts a hand over Luffy's head and the way Luffy looks up at him, if Ace didn't know any better he'd think Luffy was a puppy. "Lu, don't worry. I'm as useless as Ace right now. You're getting your usual experience."

Seriously, fuck Sabo. Ace wants to kick him, but what's distracting him more is how Luffy hums happily at the nickname and that damn hair ruffle that Sabo is doing—Lu, it sounds, dare he say it, cute?

"YOU FUCKER!" He shoves at Sabo and fuck, he can see his hand turn skeletal.

"Now, now Ace, language. There will be no fucking here and relax, or else you'll stay half a skeleton." Sabo says calmly and Ace really wants to tell him to go fuck himself but he reluctantly listens and takes a deep breath. He can feel his arm being covered by his all familiar flesh again. That will probably never stop being creepy to him, ever and especially those crackly sounds.

"Can you actually fuck here though?" Luffy asks, because someone has to.

Ace feels his face heat up but Sabo chuckles and sends a wicked grin his way.

"Oh, is Ace a virgin? Who would have thought with that tough guy attitude and all?"

"Since you're not death for a damn day, how's about I punch out your damn teeth?"

"It's okay for Ace to be a virgin! I can teach him things." Luffy giggles and Sabo snorts in amusement at the response and Ace's reaction because the guy looks like a tomato, ready for the picking.

"OH GOD, LUFFY WHAT THE FUCK?"

Sabo's laughing too hard now, he can't hold onto his sides any longer at the sheer gold of it all.

"STOP FUCKING LAUGHING!"

"What. I don't get it." Luffy's looking clueless at Ace and Sabo and Ace never thought his afterlife would be like this but he thinks it's better than anything he's experienced because going to heaven doesn't appeal to him and he isn't stupid enough to want hell and for some reason being around Luffy feels so natural, even being around Sabo, but fuck Sabo, he'll never admit it to him. He's never experienced laughter and smiles like this and it's something new and refreshing. Who would have thought that being around death would bring the warmth he's always sought after?

Oh and maybe he'll get used to reaping too. Maybe.

End Note: /leaves this rustyass fic uploaded because we can't always be brilliant

This was pretty vague, I know. Sorry. I'll explain a bit since my friend kept asking me why Sabo got all serious mode on Ace? For the most part it's because Sabo wanted Ace to stop thinking of his existence as meaningless and he was going to show Ace how his few friends reacted once he was gone to get him to snap out of it and get his shit together but that part just wasn't agreeing with me and writing the scene itself was fail for some unknown reason so it was sort of ambiguous. The other thing is the reason Luffy sort of got serious with Ace about leaving his soul to contemplate whether he wanted to move on or not, well, Luffy had let souls wander about in the past and he got to observe firsthand how insane or wrathful someone gets after not getting picked up by a reaper. The guilt and regret was a lesson Luffy had to learn a few times since past people noticed how easy going and attached he'd get, which made it "easy" to stall the moving on process. It's why he sort of gets into this whole grim mood while explaining it to Ace, that he can't stay behind, that and of course by this moment Luffy is certain he likes Ace and won't let him be alone.

Sometimes I just like to write goofy pointless fluff with a pinch of serious? Idk what this was, but I like to think Ace's strange but instant connection with Luffy made him want to see what being a reaper was about. Plus, ya'll know he'd eventually turn it into some competition between him and Luffy, reaping and all, while Sabo eventually butts in and outshines Ace, putting him in his place only when he picks on Luffy haha. It's okay Luffy, you'll be #1 in my heart even if I haven't written you in so long /sobs.