Sooo, hello there! This was an idea that popped into my head and I couldn't get it out, so I wrote about it. I'm acually pretty exited to write about it too, since it's about Ace and Luffy.

I love the two of them together.

But don't worry! There isn't going to be anything romantic between the two of them :) Just brotherly.

Confusion ensured - Chapter One – The Crash

"Ace~" The small voice of Luffy complained from the back of the car. He poked his head up to the front of the car, hoping to get a better view of the road they were currently climbing, but it was impossible to see because it was so dark outside.

Ace glared at his younger brother, trying the get the young kid to sit in his freaking seat, but Luffy refused to budge, only his raven hair swished from side to side. This road was relatively dangerous, especially at night—always twisting and turning, Ace had a hard time keeping up with it, not to mention that he couldn't see anything ten feet in front of him because of the way the trees seem to cover everything. He didn't need his smiley-tooth, raven-haired brother up in his face.

"Luffy, sit down!" He finally snapped, not taking his squinting eyes off the curving road. He took another sharp turn left then one right, his headlights flashed over something's eyes. Probably a rabbit. Why the hell were they going this route anyway? It was too eerie and quiet. Luffy and him both knew this was the fastest way to their small home up in the mountains, but they always purposely avoided it. This road was where the most car accidents happened, not to mention that one wrong move on Ace's part could sent them both flying off a mountain. Ace didn't even remember if anyone suggested this route, or if he just took a wrong turn and ecited that this was better than turning around. But that didn't matter now, what's done is done and Ace couldn't turn around on this small one-way road.

"Aw~" Luffy complained, but his head disappeared back behind the front driver's seat. Ace could hear his brothers mumbling, and cursing as he tried to untangle the seatbelt that he had somehow twisted himself in. Finally situated, Luffy said, "You're a party pooper."

"Sorry." Ace said, shrugging his shoulders. He honestly wasn't very sorry at all. "I just don't feel like dying today. How about you? Do you want to die today? I think it can wait till tomorrow."

"But I don't want to die at all!" Luffy complained, shaking his head side to side as fast as he could. "I prefer living! Dying is for old people. Are you an old person, Ace?"

Even though Ace knew Luffy couldn't see his facial expression, he still put on his 'wtf are you talking about?' mask that he wore for idiots. And yes, his brother was an idiot so he wore it a lot. "Do I look old to you?"

"Do you want an honest answer? ~" Luffy's tone of voice sounded close to singing the last part of his sentence. He didn't even wait for Ace to answer before he started giggling madly, probably rolling around in his small leather seat of the pickup truck. Ace sighed, completely use to his little brother's antics. Most car rides were worse than this, but thankfully Luffy didn't seem to have as much sugar this morning, though, where he kept getting sugar was another question all together.

"I'm going to kill you one of these days." Ace growled at him, his dark eyes narrowing. Many possibilities ran through his head on how to kill his brother, but he pushed them to the back of his head. Focus on driving, he scolded himself in his head, kill little bro later.

"When are we going to get there?" Luffy complained once again, apparently forgetting that he just called Ace an old man just a few seconds ago and popped his head back up in the divers seat. Ace loved his little brother dearly, but he was the most annoying person in the world when he wanted to be. Which was pretty much all the time.

"God dammit Luffy!" He forcibly pushed his brother back in his seat with one hand keeping the other tighly holding the steering wheel, but still, his eyes never left the road. Luffy muttered a few worlds under his breath as he fell to the car's small floor, possibly hitting his head on the seats behind him. "Let me drive! This road is dangerous! I don't want you getting hurt, so sit down!" And just like that his little brother was already back in his seat, looking out the window like nothing happened.

Ace sighed, and grumbled something under his breath. He added bipolar to the long list of traits that Luffy had, not that he would remember later today anyway. "You're going to be the death of me, Lu."

"Don't say that!" Luffy protested, he looked ready to just out of his seat again, so Ace gave him a warning growl. Luckily, Luffy took the hint and relaxed, slowly sinking into the leather. A small pout appeared on his face, making him look much younger and much more innocent that a 17 year old.

"I can't see your face, Luffy. So not matter how much you pout you're not getting anything." Ace reminded the simple-headed teen. Ace could honestly say he wasn't surprised when Luffy started to un-do his seatbelt for an unknown reason. Ace was beyond frustrated now; trying to keep this boy in his seat was like trying to heard cats. Very hyper, very small cats.

"Sit down!" Ace snapped before Luffy could get more out of his seat then he already was. "What's you're problem with the seat anyway? You're acting like it's going to eat you."

Luffy's pout deepened and he crossed his arms over his chest. "It might. The world is a confusing place. Besides, it's itchy~!"

Oh, so that's what it's about. Ace fought the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, only Luffy could almost kill himself over something as simple as an itchy seat belt. "Luffy, I swear to god, if you don't stay in your freaking seat there is going to be no meat for a month. Just green food. Got it?"

Luffy wailed like he was just told that the world was going to end, but he sat back down in his seat, hopefully not to get up until they arrive home again. An awkward silence overtook the two brothers and Luffy just stared out the window. "It's really dark out," he finally commented. "Shouldn't we be home by now? I don't recognize any of this."

Ace sighed and rolled his eyes fondly. Luffy couldn't even keep quiet for more than a minute. "First off, your directional sense is about as good as a peanut's. Second, it's because it late outside, Luffy. It's like 11 o-clock."

"Oh," Luffy said, glancing up at Ace for a few moments before looking out the window. Once again silence covered the car, and Ace hummed in pleasure. With Luffy around, everything was loud. It's nice one in a while to be able to sit and enjoy each other's company.

"I just saw a rabbit," Luffy said suddenly, making Ace jump in his seat. The older boy felt the urge to slam his head on the steering wheel. What happened to his peace? Oh right. He was with Luffy. What the hell was he thinking when he though it would stay quiet?

"That was rather blunt," Ace said with a frustrated groan. "Didn't you see that I was enjoying the silence?"

"No," came the reply. "You told me to stay in my seat and not move or else I wouldn't get meat, there was nothing about quiet time." At least he was following one order.

"And you're sitting still? Good job." Ace squinted out the front windshield, something seemed off. Even though no one else was driving the road, Ace felt his stomach drop. Everything was quiet, like they were waiting for something to happen. Something big. Whatever was about to happen, Ace did not want to be apart of. Someone may call it paranoid, but Ace called it instinct. And his instincts were always right. It helps when he grew up on the streets for most of his life.

Ace could tell Luffy could feel it too, because he felt the seat shift behind him, and even though Ace told him not to, Luffy popped his head in the front compartment of the car. He wore a heavy frown, something that was rare, especially for Luffy. His voice was no more than a whisper when he spoke, "Something's off. The air just changed and the world feels like it's holding its breath. Ace, what's wrong?"

"I don't know." Ace replied honestly. He stomach dropped even more now that he knew Luffy could feel it too. Something like this was never a good sign. The last time they felt like this was when a phyco maniac named Teach tried to ram him with a car. Ace got lucky that Luffy was there, or else he would've died years ago. "Luffy, sit down. I have bad feeling about this."

Luffy nodded as his head disappeared behind the seat. Ace heard the click of the seatbelt as it slipped into place. The sound of plastic against hard fabric was heard before it was quiet for the third time. Though, this time, the quiet wasn't awkward, it wasn't peaceful, it was tense. So tense that Ace could feel the vibrations in the air.

Ace was about to force himself to relax, when he saw it. The screech of another person's tires echoed through the trees and a bright headlight was seen near the top of another curve. Normally this wouldn't of bothered Ace, but the fact that he could see headlights on this road was enough to make Ace break out in cold sweat.

This was a one-way road, yet he clearly saw the front of a car.

Ace distinctly heard Luffy scream a warning, but he couldn't make out the words. He didn't even have the time to turn the wheel, or slam on the breaks before the car slammed head-on. A sickening crunch was heard as metal slammed against metal, but Ace couldn't care less.

Then something flashed before his eyes. For a brief second, Ace swore he could see a hand made of lava coming towards him, aimed straight at his chest.

The world went 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!"

"ONE PIECE . . . DOES EXIST!"

Ace jerked in his bed, his head snapped up as quickly as it could, startling the two people next to him. He ignored both of the mystery people, trying to calm his raging breath. He was covered in cold sweat, and the words that he swore he heard replayed in his head. What. The. Hell.

"Ace!" Ace was jerked out of his thoughts as a body slammed into his. Ace yelped in surprise and pain, as he tried to pull the man off of him. He could hear deep laughter, but he couldn't see whom it was coming from. Ace growled a warning to the man on top of him, finally figuring out who it was. Though, he was rather impressed that he could even think with all the words that echoed in his head.

"Thank you . . . for loving me."

Those words bugged him the most. He knew that voice, which was his voice, yet those words have never left his mouth. It seemed so real, so full of pain yet there was relief in the tone too, like this person—him, whoever, really thought that no one loved his before this moment. Ace defiantly didn't feel that way.

"Get off of me, Thatch." Ace growled when the figure didn't move. Finally, he felt the weight lifted of him, and he saw a grinning Thatch and a snickering Marco. It surprised him in the least, why were they here? Then another, more important thought hit the man, where was he?

He defiantly didn't recognize the white walls that surrounded him, or the uncomfortable bed that he was currently laying on. Nope, Ace had never been here before, so why were he here now?

"You're in the hospital, yoi." Marco said, seeing the look on his friend's face. Dark brown eyes turned to look at him and gave him a blank stare. "You don't remember? You're car crashed a few nights ago. You guys were in pretty bad shape when they brought you here. We got a call immediately, so we rushed over."

"You made us worry for a while, Ace." Thatch grinned at him. He tugged on his ascout nervously, and constantly glanced around his shoulders as if a floating needle would suddenly impale him. Ace had known about Thatch's fear of hospitals for a while now, so Ace knew that whatever happened was bad. "Luffy woke up last night, but the doctors wouldn't let him see you. He was pretty hysterical, claiming that he heard some weird quotes and needed to talk to you. I think he said on of them was 'thank you for loving me' or something like that. Of course, the doctors didn't like the fact that he was hearing voices, and gave him some medication. He really hasn't woken up after that, just to eat. Bottomless pit indeed."

The fact that Luffy had heard that quotes too, unnerved Ace even more. Something was up, and Ace wanted to get to the bottom of it. "So Luffy's okay?" he got two nods in response, and Ace let out a breath of air that he didn't know he was holding in. "Good. I'm glad he's okay." He didn't want to comment on the quotes. "So what happened to the person that rammed us? I don't remember anything after being hit. My head still hurts pretty bad."

Thatch and Marco exchanged glances, before Marco spoke up, running his hands though his blonde pineapple hair. "We don't know actually. We probably would've sued them if there was someone in the car, yoi."

Ace's frown deepened. "What do you mean?"

"There was nothing there, Ace. Nothing at all. The police even ran the license plate and they couldn't find any matches, yoi. The only thing they found was a gun with these strange bullets, a snail-like creature, black sand and a note that said, 'One Piece does exist.'" Ace's feeling of discomfort worsened as Marco continued on with his speech. "The police think it might've been an attempted murder, 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, yoi?"

Ace snored, thinking of all the people that hated him. "I've pissed off more people that I can count, but I don't think any of them would want to murder me." He decided to change the subject. "Where's Luffy? Can I see him?"

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

"I want to go see Luffy," Ace said stubbornly. His friends and roommates looked at him, possibly thinking that he just wanted to say something stupid. It was the exact opposite to Ace, though. He wanted—no, he needed to talk to Luffy about those dreams. They bothered Ace to no end. The young adult knew they mean something and he was not about to sit around and wait for another . . . surprise that's going to smack him in the face. Literally.

After not getting any responses from his two roommates, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, fully intending to reach his brother even if it hurt him even more. Thatch and Marco immediately yelled out protests to his action and rushed to push him back in his bed.

"Ace! What the hell are you doing, yoi?" Marco said, his blonde hair bounced on top of his head. He put a hand on Ace's shoulder and forcibly pushed him back into his bed. "You need to rest, yoi! Now's not the time to be stubborn!"

"Yeah," Thatch agreed as he grabbed Ace's feet and put them back into the white bed. "You need to calm down. We'll talk to Luffy for you, 'Kay? What did you want to say to him?"

Ace glared at both of them, but since they had been living together for years, the glare lost its affects after a while. His hard glare met Marco's lazy one and Thatch's curios one. "You can't laugh." Ace sighed finally giving in; his head dropped only for a second before he picked it back up. He hated feeling bed-ridden. He hated 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 had returned and he held 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 said calmly, never taking his eyes off of Thatch. "And if he does, make him tell me who they are." Thatch rolled his eyes at such a simple statement, but didn't laugh like he promised, and rushed out the door.

Ace's eyes followed his every moment until the door slammed shut, and a silence overtook the duo. Marco's lazy gaze lingered on the door just like Ace's before he set it on Ace himself. Marco was the first people to break the silence, "So what did you hear, yoi?"

Ace barley turned his head and his eyes seemed shadowed by his hair, but Marco could practically feel the confusion that radiated off of the smaller man. "I don't know. Just a bunch of random words that seems meaningless."

"Yet they're still bothering you, yoi." Marci noticed. "You gonna tell me anything?"

"I could," Ace said honestly, "But I'm confused, frustrated and I've got this horrible feeling in my stomach that won't go away. Something's about to happen, Marco. Something big. I can tell. The car crash and the quotes seemed to prove it."

"Quotes?" The older man mused. He put a hand to his chin. "Do you recognize any of them?" The man took Ace's headshake as a 'no'.

"I don't recognize any of them," Ace said, shaking his head as his gaze flickered out the window. "But I feel as if I've heard them before. Those words weren't random."

"So, are you going to tell me, yoi?" Marco asked with a small smile on his face. "Or are you going to keep me guessing?"

"There were six quotes, but only three of them bother me." Ace said, not taking his eyes off the window. "You already heard one of them from Luffy, 'Thank you . . . for loving me!' That was one of the ones that bothered me because it was my voice. Who ever said that can copy my voice exactly. They also sounded like they were crying. But I could hear the happiness in his voice. The next one was someone calling my name, 'ACEEEE'. Who ever it was sounded extremely upset. This one also bothered me a lot because it sounded like Luffy. Exactly like Luffy. I've never heard Luffy sound so upset before." Ace sighed, watching the wind slowly blow the trees.

Marco never once took his eyes off of Ace. "Any others, yoi?"

"Yeah," Ace frowned. "But they don't make much sense. I heard my voice in two of them, then pop's voice in another. I think they went like; 'We need to live a life without regrets!' and then, '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 this one kind of sounded like pops, ' . . . And someday...bearing the weight of all those centuries upon his back...a man will come forth to challenge this world. 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!' But the last one didn't bother me until you told me what was in the car. 'One Piece does exist!' But the question is . . . What the hell is 'One Piece'?"

"You sound very conflicted, yoi." Marco said, fiddling with his hands. "But you sound like you know who those voice belonged to, so why'd you ask Luffy about it?"

"For confirmation," Ace replied easily. "If Luffy is having the same dream I am, I can rule out coincidences. There is something messing with us."

Marco snorted at that. "Oh yeah? What is it then? Aliens? Weird government-people? Someone front another world, yoi?"

Ace's gut tightened at the last one, and immediately, Ace knew that this wasn't something from his world, but instead of telling Marco what he though, he just let out a loud sigh. "I don't know Marco. But I have a feeling that it isn't going to be something that we're use to."

"Next on 'Confusion Ensured . . . "

"I feel like a freaking pineapple!"

"Dimension traveling sounds awesome!"

"Luffy shut up! I don't care how much you want your food!"

"I'm so bored ~"

"One Piece . . . That name bothers me more than anything."

"It's here. That 'something big' that I was talking about? It's here."

"You worry too much, yoi."

R&R