AN: I have seen time travel ones around, hopefully this will be different. If it is too similar to something you have read or written let me know so I can change it/take it down/read something interesting. I don't own anything

Ace

Ace goes to sleep as his melted organs finally give and the last thing he is aware of is his brothers arms grasping him in a silent plea for him not to leave even though they both know it's useless.

He wakes with a very different pair of arms holding his now tiny body cradled to their chest, soft murmurs reach his ears and tears hit his face as he opens his mouth and cries for what he left behind. Then the words are distinguishable and he cries even harder as he realises where he is.

'Ace … that's what he decided … this boy's name is Gol D. Ace. The son I had with him …' his mother's voice giving him a name, only it's not really her but the ghost of a man she loved who choose it for him. The shouting starts as her breathing gets harder, but despite her failing strength her grip gets tighter and he doesn't want her to go just like she doesn't seem to want to leave.

But it's as inevitable as it was when he left Luffy, and his heart breaks at the idea that his ridiculous little brother is going through a similar pain to this.

It's not until weeks (or is it months?) later that his brain catches up with what's going on around him as he's lying in a crib in a bandit hut, and he screams the loudest he ever has in his life.

Or should it be lives because while he doesn't really remember all this it feels horrifyingly familiar and his body really has no right to be this small when he could swear he was twenty years old not that long ago.

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Dadan knows there is something seriously wrong with the brat.

It's nothing specific, there's not too much development before it should be possible, he doesn't worship Satan (at least not in hearing) or do anything too out of line or insane for a child. He grows normally and eats normally (for a D at any rate) and other than a few things that she knows are actual conditions that run in his family the now toddler could almost pass for a normal kid.

Almost. Despite looking completely normal his eyes are enough to send shivers down their spines, some things that he does or says do not match up with how you would expect a child of his circumstance. She mentioned it to Garp once and he called her paranoid, but he's not around enough to see, Garp is so strange himself that he can't notice when something isn't normal.

The child was raised by bandits that made no effort to clean up their speech or preach the manners that an actual family might. So, there is no way that Ace, his words as garbled as they are by his immature mouth, should be so polite. He shouldn't say a twisted please or thank you when she has no memory of the words being said in his hearing. A child they ignore or hurl abuse at should not just smile and get on with life and help as much as his limited body will allow.

But worse than that are his eyes and the emotions they reveal. He looks at her like he knows. His eyes seem to see right through her to the twisted heart she had long ago tried to cast out. He smiles when she insults him and laughs when she growls, like he knows they're her way of hiding the painful love she's started feeling for this child that is now hers.

Of course, these things are a little strange and the knowing is a little creepy, but the thing that gets her the most is the look of longing he shows whenever he sees an open flame or flickering candle and that, at three years old, he is more than happy to go along with Garp's training to get stronger.

Dadan knows there is something seriously, seriously, wrong with the brat.

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Ace is both scared to change something and wants to very, very, badly. He is scared that if he does something different then he won't be able to meet his brothers, terrified that the only thing that made life worth living will disappear if he messes something up.

On the other hand, he has changed since then and it is very hard to play the part of his younger self. Knowing Luffy had gone a long way to defusing his rage and that had left the door open for Pops to cool it the rest of the way.

But more than that, there were things he couldn't, wouldn't, allow to be repeated. He couldn't allow Sabo to be lost to them. He wouldn't allow Thatch to meet his end at the hands of a Nakama. He wouldn't watch as Luffy risked life and limb to protect him when it should have been the other way around.

And so, he came to a … balance of sorts. He would be himself, and he would wait. He wouldn't kidnap Sabo from his family before the boy had had a chance to realise that the noble life was not what he wanted. He wouldn't march himself down to Luffy's village and drag him off to raise by himself, no matter how much it was for his stupid little brother's own protection. No, he would try and do things the way he had done them before.

Of course, that didn't mean he did everything the exact same. He didn't bother asking questions he already knew the answer to, or holding grudges that didn't really matter. He didn't say things that could give him away in public places just to pick fights, or beat up the bandits even though he knew he could.

He was still a vicious little bastard though, he had to get strong somehow or he wouldn't be able to protect those things he didn't have yet but would soon. Waiting for his body to catch up to his mind was not something he was used to, but he would survive (with luck) and hopefully so would everyone else (if he had anything to say about it).

He may have started hunting and steeling a little young, but he was a pirate raised by bandits and a D to boot so he thought it was perfectly reasonable.

He thought he had played out his meeting with Sabo correctly, even if they weren't as close now as they would be later. At least he still had his (older? younger?) brother back where he was capable of looking after him and fighting for the freedom he deserved.

So maybe people talked about him being a strangely polite hellion that confused the hell out of everyone within 100 meters of him as he beat them up, it wasn't too different from the first-time round, and Sabo shared his reputation both times so it's all good.

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Sabo noticed his (slight) change in attitude just after he turned ten, Ace didn't really care. Luffy should be arriving soon, and while the thought filled him with longing it also filled him with fear, it didn't help that he couldn't remember exactly when he had arrived.

He did know that he had been more than a bit of a bastard to his little brother, and there was no way in hell he was going to be able to pull that off this time. It was hard to spit on someone for no good reason when you remembered dying in their arms after saving their life.

Luffy was his, and not Garp, Sabo, the bandits or the Marines were going to be able to change that once he got a hold of him again. Luffy was too dangerous (to himself and others) to be alone for any length of time and he had been an idiot for leaving him the previous go round.

He had waited ten years to see Luffy again, excuse him for getting a little impatient as the day slowly drew closer.

Excuse him for worrying that something would go differently and the time for Luffy to arrive had already passed him by and Garp hadn't, wouldn't, drop off the annoying rubber ball of energy that had been his reason for living for longer than he cared to admit.

So maybe he was getting a little short with Sabo, and the bandits, and scowling more, and causing more fights, and his hunting spoils might be a little more beat up recently than they used to be. It was completely understandable.

Ace would apologies to Sabo later and introduce him to Luffy and his best friend and soon to be brother would understand why.

Today was another day when he was wound just a little too tight with energy and some poor, defenceless, buffalo had felt the effects of his frustration. It's noble sacrifice for his peace of mind was greatly appreciated and so was the meat it would offer him for dinner.

He was almost back to the hide out (not home, not without Luffy) when he heard the voices.

He froze, and then found himself sprinting. Found himself standing like some frozen stature when he caught sight of that ridiculous face staring at the bandits that Garp had decided would be the boy's guardians for the foreseeable future. Watched numbly as the familiar face from so long ago (more than just the ten years, closer to twenty since Luffy had been this young) turned from the rather strange appearance of the mismatched bandits and started to walk off as Luffy was known to do.

Ace wanted to call out, run up and hug the boy he knew so well, loved so much, but who would consider him a stranger. But he was still frozen with the shock of finally, finally, seeing the person he had missed so much. He needed to get his attention, get him to look at him instead of walking straight past, but something was clogging his throat.

Thankfully Garp did it for him.

'Oh, Ace!' the insane old man yelled out as he grabbed his other grandson by the back of his shirt as the small boy attempted to escape. 'That's Ace, he's three years older than you. You'll be living together from now on, so you better get along.'

Garp's words certainly had an effect on the bandits, apparently they hadn't yet been aware that Luffy was there to stay. Luffy was dragged into the conversation as Garp had by now realised that letting the trouble magnet loose was probably not the best of ideas just yet.

It was so hard for Ace to walk away, to not run up to Luffy and tackle hug him. Doing so would probably freak the kid out, and finally get Garp to take Dadan seriously when she said there was something wrong with him. But he managed it, and left the adults to their yelling as he calmly (or not so calmly) skinned and gutted the buffalo for lunch in a few minutes (or whenever the idiots stopped arguing).

Finally, the impromptu family was assembled with its youngest member and Ace was left to watch as Dadan tried to lay out the rules and beat the boy into submission during lunch. The first-time round he had been too busy eating to pay much attention to Luffy's reaction.

And it finally occurred to Ace that Luffy hadn't actually been that much a cry baby until he was comfortable with him and Sabo. Huh, that was something he was going to have to think about. He often forgot that Luffy was actually related to the insane old man.

Part of him wanted to give his little brother meat from his own meal when the boy started complaining about being hungry, but that would have been a little too nice even for him. Ace did not share meat, as the bandits had discovered over the last few years at the cost of several pieces of their own flesh. Oh well, he was going out to meet Sabo so he could always catch and cook something for Luffy then, he remembered very well how much his youngest brother ate and one bowl of rice was not going to cut it.

Thinking about just how much the three of them ate had him walking out of the hut in preparation to start hunting. He would have to get Sabo first to help, if not with the actual hunting that he could probably do on his own then at least to help carry.

Footsteps and the sound of the door opening had him turning around to chase off any bandits that had got it in their head to follow him, instead he was met with the too big smile of the boy with a straw hat.

'Hey! I'm Luffy! Let's be friends! Where are you going?' he had forgotten how loud his brother was over the ten years of absence. Still, he wouldn't trade it for the world.

But how to respond? Last time he had ignored the other boy and tried to kill him when that didn't work. He wasn't going to repeat it, he had gotten lucky then and he thought he might just be a little bit stronger this time round and Ace didn't want to risk killing his younger brother by accident.

So, he didn't say anything, didn't smile or show just how much he wanted to wrap the rubber brat in hugs and blankets to wait on the mountain while he rid the world of all that had threatened him last time. He just waited and held out his hand in a silent offer for the lonely boy to join him on his afternoon hunt.

The grin that he got in reply was the brightest Ace had seen since Luffy had arrived, he had forgotten just how sunny his little brother's happiness was.

Luffy talked nearly the whole way down to Grey Terminal, getting more animated the more smiles that Ace failed to supress. He didn't actually want his brother scaring away all the game, but after so long without him even this useless chattering was a welcome balm to his nerves that had been slowly fraying over the last few years. Ace did put a finger to his lips to hush him when they finally got close, Luffy would make an … interesting surprise for Sabo if he couldn't hear him from a mile off.

Eventually he caught a glimpse of a distinctive top hat through the last of the leave between them and the heap of junk that Sabo unfortunately called home. They hadn't finished building a tree house to move into yet.

'There you are, I expected you ages ago,' Ace didn't mention that he had had to travel slow so that the seven-year-old could keep up, just grinned and waited for his friend to notice. 'It's been a surprisingly quite day, Blue Jam's been keeping quite because marine's have been sighted in the area. If where lucky he'll stay that way and we might be able to catch something good off the …' Sabo trailed off as he finally noticed the person standing behind Ace, his eyes going wide.

'Yo,' Ace said as casually as possibly, 'Gramps is in town and that's why the pirates are quiet, he's left earlier though.' He frowned as Sabo seemed to get more and more distressed, loosing colour and starting to sweet with his eyes never moving from him and Luffy together.

'Hey, Sabo, get it together. This is–'

'Luffy,' Sabo muttered before his eyes rolled back in head and he collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

Ace and Luffy just stared at the unconscious blond. That was … more than a little unexpected.

AN: I would like to say that I do not have any control over this story. It started as fragments of a scene, that then gave rise to other fragments of scenes based on the same concept, and seems to have run away from there into a multi chaptered thing that I was not intending on writing.