The rebirth of Fire fist Ace

Familiar faces

Your small village acted as sort of a pit stop for pirates that were sailing the grand line, your village were pacifists and weren't worth robbing so pirates always felt welcomed and never attacked. Your mother owned the one tavern your village had so you'd always go there to listen to the pirates talk about their adventures on the grand line. You were only 7 years old so their stories always fascinated you.

You sat on the beach near the docks in shorts and a bikini top type of thing, you'd just finished splashing about in the waves and were now making sand castles. You looked up to see a ship with a pirate flag approaching. For some reason this ship didn't feel like the rest, you'd seen dozens of ships come and go and you'd never felt this way about any of them. If felt like you'd seen this ship dozens of times, like it'd arrive at the docks and the people on board would be friends that you hadn't seen in years.

You decided to go back to the tavern to tell your mom that there were visitors coming. "Momma, there's pirates coming towards the dock." You said happily as you made your way into the tavern. "Oh, and what does their flag look like this time?" Your mother asked, she'd usually ask you this whenever pirates arrived.

"Their jolly roger wears a straw hat."

The ship had arrived at the dock and once you saw the people on board you had to resist the urge to greet them as if they were your old friends. There was just something so familiar about them, especially their captain. "Welcome!" You greeted "HEEY!" Yelled Luffy. "We're here to stock up on meat n stuff if that's okay." Luffy said. You were almost expecting him to say that, had these pirates visited before maybe? "Ah- sure! Follow me." You said, spinning on your heel and making your way towards the tavern with the straw hats following behind you. The one thing Luffy noticed when you turned your back was the huge, jagged, circle shaped scar on your back. He made a mental note to ask about that later.

Once you lead the straw hats to the tavern you made your way next door to your house to get changed out of your swimming wear, then quickly made your way back to the tavern. You were eager to hear these guy's stories, more eager than usual.

Once you got back Luffy already had a face full of meat. You decided to go and sit next to him since he stood out the most to you. "So how long are you guys gonna stay here for?" You asked. "We're gonna stay the night and then leave in the morning." He said through a mouth full of meat. "Oh! Then we can have a campfire!" You said with enthusiasm. You enjoyed fire and were a pro at starting them.

...

You sat with the straw hats around the campfire. You had spent the day with them so your mother trusted them enough to let you stay out late with them. Everyone was talking and laughing with eachother, but you just sat there and enjoyed the flames. Luffy noticed how quiet you were being and remembered the question he had.

"Hey, (y/n), what's up with the big scar on your back?" He questioned. "Oh, that's not a scar, that's a birth mark. I have no idea why it's there." You said with a chuckle. "Oh." Luffy said. He hoped that you'd have an interesting story to tell about it.

"I do have an even weirder birth mark though." You told him. "Really? Where? Show me!" He asked. You rolled up your sleeve to reveal what looked like four small, faded letters on your arm, they looked as if you'd had a tattoo that had faded and somehow shrunken, but at the same time somehow looked like a birthmark. Luffy's expression changed once he saw it, he remembered the tattoo his late brother had in the same spot on the same arm.

"Pretty cool right?" You asked.

Luffy didn't reply. His eyes welled up with tears as he looked back on the times he had with Ace and his demise.

"O-oh no, are you alright? Did I say something wrong?" You asked, feeling guilty that you'd made him cry.

"Let me see that." Usopp said as he lifted your sleeve, only for his eyes to widen. "Oh..." "What? Was it something I said?"

Luffy wasn't crying because he remembered the times he had with Ace, no, it had been so long that he could look back on those fond memories and smile. He was crying because of what this could mean.

"Ace... Is that you?" He asked through sniffles and sobs.

That name was familiar to you, it felt like you had heard Luffy say it thousands of times. Yeah, it felt oddly normal to be called that name again. Now that you'd thought about it, you'd always thought your name had an odd ring to it, like it didn't belong to you. But now, you've found the name that did belong to you. You were once Portgas. D Ace, you just couldn't remember. Although you were only a child, you had once grown up with the grown man in front of you. You had lived an entire life that the universe refused to let you remember, you had lived and died once, but now that you were in a new body, you didn't need the burden of your old memories since you were going to make new ones in this body. When you reached the afterlife someone decided that you needed more time on this earth. You may be (y/n) now, but your soul is still Ace. Maybe in the future, when everyone around you, including yourself has passed on, you'll get to sit down and reminisce on your old life with everyone, and you'll get to meet up with your brothers again. Maybe one day you'll see them again as Ace. But for now, you've got to live your life as (y/n). Someone decided that you hadn't spent enough time on this earth, so enjoy the time you have in this body. Be patient, and one day, you'll see everyone again. Your old crewmates, your friends, and your brothers.