Brothers in Ink

Pseudo

Thud, echoed throughout the silent air that was the Thousand Sunny. The sound woke a sleeping rubber boy, causing him to explore the out-of-place noise in the dead of the night.

Walking around a motionless ship until he stumbles upon an odd-shaped, book? The boy in red leaned down to pick the triangular thing up from the grassy floor. Dark rough leather touched the smooth rubber hand, and a golden latch decorated the front, keeping the contents inside a secret. Breaking the lock with much to no effort, to find simple instructions for entailing the use of the pages. Using a finger, Luffy points to each word as he reads aloud,

"Write what you want for it to come true," flipping through the discoloured pages quickly to see if there was anything else written but excitement filled him, the thought of a magical book distracted him from noticing any other words that decorated the old pages in ink.

Luffy's first thought was about food like usual, when doesn't he want food? It was a perfect time for a midnight snack. Eagerness oozed out of him with the possibility of having unlimited food given to him by a mystery book. Luffy hurriedly went to find a writing tool so he could try the magic out. Finally, with the tool in hand, he starts to leave marks on the page with no lines for him to use as a guide, the letters put together spell meat and as he drew the last letter, poof, meat lay in front of him. A toothy smile plastered itself across Luffy's face as he bit into the large chunk of food.

"Soo cool!" Enthusiastic words were said as Luffy's hand continued to write meat over and over again, eating every last piece that magically appeared on the table in front of him. Once Luffy's stomach lost control over him, his thoughts became more serious, "This really works!" Ace's name fell into his tired mind. It's not been long since the tragic incident at Marineford, since the horrific parting.

"Is it possible? Possible to see him again? Would this work? It gave me meat," sorrow-filled words left the young captain as images of his brother flashed through his mind, images of him laying on the ground covered in his own blood, breathing his last breath. Tears started to loom in Luffy's round eyes as the earlier smile slowly reverts to a frown.

Luffy's mind has never been the same after the loss. He acted as if everything was okay but whenever he looked down at his hands, he would see them dripping with blood, stained with the colour red. The tears start to run, burning his cheek on their way down. Hands that always reflected his brother's life, reflecting the loss that easily slipped through his grasp as red blood running between his fingers, never fading, forever sickening.

Biting his lip to stop himself from crying he decides to write the three-letter word, slowly and in small writing as he was scared of the ever-pending truth that all this was a dream to become a reality, for him to wake up, alone.

Without any delay, again with a poof, a tall freckle-faced young man was standing in front of a rubbery one whose tears were like a raging river that's busted from its banks. He stood there nonplussed, he couldn't believe his eyes. Luffy lunged forward without thinking too much, attaching himself to a sturdy Ace, hugging the man tight like if he let go for even a second, he would vanish like an illusion.

"What the hell?!! Who are you, you little punk? Get off me!" The tears that were flowing so readily stopped as if time itself had ceased to pass, and a scared and confused look replace Luffy's growing one of joy.

"Ace...? What are you talking about?" Luffy felt his heart sink at the possibility of Ace denying him.

"AGH, get off me already!! And how do you know my name?" Ace almost yelled his command as he tried to yank the unknown person off but to no avail as Luffy had wrapped his arms around and around his big brother.

"Ace... It's me, your brother," Luffy was addled, he wasn't sure why Ace was saying weird things, why he claimed not to know his younger brother.

"Brother?! I don't have a brother like you!" Ace sneered down at the annoying boy. This shattered something inside Luffy, something that had been holding him together, something that is never going to be the same again.