from the beginning

One Piece; Ace/Luffy

A chance meeting, and again.

Notes: For 30_kisses theme #28, Wada Calcium CD3. AU.

You meet him when you're thirteen. He's going door-to-door for a fundraiser, and he is there when you open the door. "Will you buy something from this catalogue?" You start to say no because your parents aren't home, and he looks up at you, says, "Pretty please?" It's hard to refuse him when he's like that, big eyes and wide grin, so you tell him to wait there. You go up to your room, dump the money out of your monkey bank, and count it. Not too bad.

You bring the monkey down and look through his catalogue, him bouncing eagerly beside you. It's the usual stuff they sell in school fundraisers, and then you see the Wada Calcium CD3. What the—? You wonder because that's just so random, but then you think it'd make a great prank present—you can give it to one of your shorter friends—and you can afford it, too, so. You fill out your info and give him the money, and he smiles wide, like you've just done something amazing. "Thank you!" he chirps, and then he's gone, bounding away on the path to your front door, but the image of his smile, full of carefree abandon, remains in front of your eyes.

You find the Wada Calcium CD3 in your mailbox two months later. You keep it.

You've been trained in the martial arts for as long as you can remember, and by age sixteen, you've won first place in your division four times, nationally. It's around that time that you hear about a new kid in the tournaments. He's not in your division, but he's been steadily defeating his opponents one by one, even the ones that have dominated his division for years, and the dark horse captures first place in the national championship.

The two of you are asked to pose together after the tournament for a news story, and when you look at him, see the scar underneath his left eye, you know exactly who he is. That kid who knocked on your door so long ago, and you are surprised because you didn't think you would ever see him again.

"Hi, I'm Monkey D. Luffy," he tells you, grinning, and he hasn't changed much. Just grown taller, mostly, but when he moves, you can see the curve of muscle underneath his skin. You give him your name in return, and he says, "Our middle initials are the same! How awesome is that?" You find it a little too coincidental for your liking, but you don't say anything.

After the interview, he turns to you and says, "Hey, let's spar some time! You are strong." Just the way he says this, so matter-of-factly, makes you smile, and you shake your head a little, lips twitching, but you say yes.

You find out that he lives pretty close to you, and you have a car now, so the two of you hang out quite a bit. You are surprised, the first time you spar him, at just how strong he is. You are stronger, but you are also older, taller, heavier, and he hits fast, hard, unpredictably. He never wins against you, but when you spar with him, you've come to care more about the experience than the outcome.

But the two of you don't just spar, and you learn that he loves meat and doesn't care much for what anyone else thinks about him. "This is the way I want to live," he just says, shrugging, when you bring it up once, and then he smiles, like nothing else matters, and he makes you almost believe him.

He is the kind of person you never thought you would meet, and you are determined to keep him the way he is. He is too precious to change, to lose, and you've come to love the person he is, someone who is too pure to belong in this world.

You don't mean to, but when the sun shines like that, lighting up his face like heaven, you kiss him.

Your grandfather was the person who heralded you into martial arts, and you go to visit him when you hear that he's in town. Luffy's walking out of the door when you arrive, and you wave to him, say, "I didn't know you knew him!"

Luffy laughs, says, "Of course I know him! He's my gramps!", and you freeze. This. This can't be real. Luffy stops and looks at you when he notices, halfway between you and the house, and his mouth twists into a tiny little frown.

"Luffy!" your grandfather yells, and he's out the door a second later. "Ace! I didn't expect you so early!" he says, and you shake a little when you ask him exactly who Luffy is to you. Your grandfather looks between the two of you and says, "Maybe I should have told you sooner." And then he tells you.

Luffy's your brother. You can hardly believe it, and yet everything between the two of you falls into place with just that one statement. He's your little brother, and Luffy, Luffy just blinks and smiles and walks toward you.

He hugs you when he reaches you, long arms wrapped around you tightly, and he whispers, "You are still the same person."

That is exactly the sort of thing Luffy would say, and yet it makes so much more sense than anything else he could say, than anything a "normal" person would say. But this is Luffy, and the rules never applied to him.

You hug him back, and you think nothing matters as long as he is by your side.

07.08.01