Second Chance

Decisions

Chapter 1: Decisions

He looked around the space that surrounded him. It wasn't pitch black like many believed and it wasn't blindingly white much to the thoughts of others. It was just… empty. There was no other way to describe it. But something in his mind made him believe there was something out there.

His first step felt strange. There was nothing below his feet and yet he wasn't falling. He chose to ignore the strange fact and just walk in the direction his mind told him to go.

"Where am I?" He asked himself, his voice echoing. The sudden sound was almost deafening compared to the silence.

He believed looking through his memories would tell him how he got where he was. He had been arrested, sent to Impel Down, then sent to Marineford for his execution… But he was saved! Right?

Focusing harder on what happened later he finally remembered. He was waiting for his death when his father figure had come, with his brothers and sisters, to save him. A war. A war between pirates and marines, all for his life. The fighting seemed like forever until he saw something falling from the sky. But what was it? No… It wasn't a 'what', it was a 'who'. But then who was it?

"Come on Ace… Think…! Who was it?" The man, Ace, thought aloud.

He chuckled to himself. His little brother would have called him crazy for talking to himself. Wait. That's who it was! The person falling from the sky was his little brother, Luffy! Luffy had arrived almost out of nowhere and was fighting to save him.

After a while, and watching his little brother punch their grandfather, Luffy had made it to him and had saved him. (Did he forget something? Oh well. Probably not important.) Luffy unlocked his handcuffs after the scaffold he was on had collapsed. Him, Luffy, and some other guy Luffy seemed to know (his hair was in the shape of a '3', he acted weird, and was able to make wax come from his body. Of course Luffy knew the guy) started fighting to escape.

Anyways, he and Luffy were fighting some of the marines when his father made the order to retreat. Just as he was doing so he had heard one of the admirals call his family cowards. Easy to say he was pissed off and the fact that the man was bad mouthing his father was making it even worse. That's where everything started to go downhill…

He had started fighting the admiral, Akainu was the mans name. Just the thought of that man's name made him furious. First the man had insulted his father, had started to win in their fight, and then, when he was momentarily down, the man had gone after his little brother who couldn't even move! With or without him even knowing he had gotten up and had jumped in between the mans fist, made entirely out of magma, and his little brother.

"That's right… I sacrificed myself to save Lu…" Ace mumbled to himself again, it wasn't like he had anyone else to talk to.

As he recalled his last few moments of life, he remembered his final words to his little brother, his limp body falling out of his brothers arms, and, in the very last seconds he had, he heard his little brother sob louder than he had ever done.

"Lu didn't even cry that bad when Sabo died... Why…? Why did he cry harder over me of all people…? Sabo was a better brother than I could have ever been… So why me?" Ace questioned. He didn't know why he was still speaking aloud. He knew nobody would answer him.

"He cried harder because you were there for him. You were still his brother and he still loved you, believe it or not." A voice said from in front of Ace.

Ace jumped slightly at the sudden sound that hadn't been his own and slowly looked up, not remembering when he had looked down. When his eyes met the small boy in front of him, Ace was shocked.