Sons of Beasts Part 2

How It Should Always Be

I could have split this chapter into two due to the length, but it wouldn't flow right. Enjoy~

Luffy stayed on Shanks ship for the time he waited for Ace to come get him. It felt like it had been years since he'd been with his big brother. He was worried Ace might not care about him as much as he used to. He had assimilated closer into the Whitebeard crew. Maybe he'd forgotten about Luffy. Maybe he didn't love him so much anymore. Luffy had stopped responding, so maybe Ace could be angry about that.

He was stressed about it, but couldn't bring himself to ask about Ace's thoughts on it. He was afraid of the answer, or that he'd hurt Ace's feelings by thinking he had grown out of his precious brother.

Now that Ace had a solid seat in the crew, as an important member, maybe Luffy wouldn't be included anymore. But, if Ace wasn't there for him, he'd be all alone again. No way to talk to anyone. Ace would be more important to the crew.

Luffy put his hands over his eyes as he lay on his stomach, nervous about meeting everyone again. He was also embarrassed to see them all, after everything that had happened. How he never made it home and instead got eaten by a sea king and lost his ability to fly.

He was a bad brother, letting Ace think he was dead. He never wanted to succumb to his dragon side again. Lose everything human about him and become feral. If it hadn't been Shanks who found him, Luffy would have no doubt killed anyone who came to get him. Would he have recognized Ace? Would he have attacked his overjoyed big brother?

Was he really a monster? That's what everyone on the island thought. Luffy was beast, not a dragon, without his wings. He raised his head to look back at the skin and boney stumps where his wings had been. But, Katakuri had done the right thing with having both wings amputated. At least at the time, it was correct to do.

Luffy had been unable to walk a single step after he lost the use of one of his wings. Maybe that's what kept him from outright attacking the big man. He really wished he could have shown his gratitude to the man. He was nice to him. It hadn't clicked who he was, since Luffy had lost all his memories for those months away and on a different ship.

The day Ace was to arrive, Luffy hid inside the ship, barely fitting through the halls. The good thing about being on Katakuri's ship was that he was big, like Whitebeard, so Luffy could fit inside.

Luffy was worried about meeting Ace. He was excited to be reunited, but didnt know what to expect. He shed more than a few tears thinking about what could go wrong.

-x-

Ace stood on the yardarm, watching the island get closer and closer. He then saw Shanks's ship. Luffy was there. He really hoped Luffy wasn't upset with him not being able to save him. For putting him through all of those terrible days and those mysterious months, where he didnt know what Luffy was doing or where he was. And why he had stopped responding.

Ace became too impatient with the ship's slow pace. He didn't care about everyone knowing if he was a devil fruit user or not anymore. He dropped down to the deck easily, and jumped over the side of the ship and into the water, swimming quickly to the shore.

"Hey, Ace! What are you doing?!" Haruta shouted in anger. They were almost there, why did he endanger himself by swimming in New World waters? And he clearly didn't give a shit anymore about people thinking he was a devil fruit user. Well, everyone knew he wasn't normal due to his little slip up while drunk. But, thankfully, no one shunned him. They were just painfully curious.

Ace jumped onto the dock, warming himself so he was completely dry, and ran to Shanks's ship. He jumped onto the deck and looked around for Luffy. Where was he? Ace was sure he'd be waiting out on deck for him, and grew worried when he wasn't.