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Chapter Text

When Shukaku the ichibi was sealed inside the gedo statue, Gaara died, and in a far away dimension Portgas D Ace was born.

When Ace first opened his eyes, it was to the sight of a beautiful woman with strawberry blonde hair. The woman was looking at him with such a loving yet heartbroken gaze and suddenly Ace felt a sense of Deja Vu.

“I'm sorry my poor baby for having to leave you alone as soon as you were brought into this world, I hope you can forgive me, and know that your father and I did everything we could to keep you safe because we love you, Ace” - The woman told him.

Ace was confused, he remembered his life as Gaara, and he was pretty sure that he died. He never was referred as Ace in his past life, if you exclude that he was the ace of the village because he was the jinjuriki of the ichibi.

For some weird reason he felt attached to the woman in front of him, and he could feel his stomach churning with dread, and the imminent urge to cry. He could feel her life force getting dimmer and fading, could tell that she was using every single drop of strength she had left to stay awake and speak to him, and he didn't even knew what he did to deserve it.

“Gol D Ace, don't let the world tell you who you are, decide for yourself… my beautiful baby” - the woman said before closing her eyes for the last time, she had a smile on her face.

And that was the moment when Gaara realized that he had been reborn, His name was no longer Gaara, but Gol D Ace.

He fell asleep not too long after she took her last breath, somehow hoping that this life would be better than the last one.

His life was a blur for the first two to three years. Between eating, sleeping (and wasn’t that a blessing), to learning how to walk and formulate words again, it was pretty monotonous if you exclude that he was being raised by mountain bandits.

Ace is pretty sure he remembers an old man when he first woke up in this new life, he too remembers said old man muttering something about taking care of him, so imagine his surprise when he discovers that said *taking care of him* means to drop him at the hands of some mountain bandits on the home island of the old man. He took pity on the poor bandits and tried to not cause them much trouble.

At least now he knows that the old man is already senile, because there is no way that a normal child would become a marine if he was raised by criminals. And while he was no normal kid, but one that had knowledge of a past life, he preferred to see the world for himself first and decide his profession after, even if he would forever remain a Shinobi in soul.

Right now, at three years and half of age, he could be found wandering through the jungle. He knew of the dangers that lay in it, but he knew how to detect them before it was too late, so he couldn't care less about them, even if most animals could be considered a summon judging by their size alone.

He was looking for something to hunt, since his appetite was enormous, compared to his past life, he eats thrice the amount he used to eat as an adult, when he was Gaara, per meal, and he's only three, meaning that the small meals that the bandits give him are no longer enough and leaves him hungry.

And since he doesn't want to burden the bandits any more than he already is, he decided to fend for himself and hunt his own food. He set traps all around the jungle surrounding the cabin of the bandits, but made sure that they were far enough from the bandits routes.

Ace knew that he wasn't strong enough yet to fight the animals, but he knew that it wouldn't be too long before he did, maybe one or two more years and he could try to hunt them face to face. But for now setting traps and making weapons out of fallen branches could be considered good training for his small body.

He armed himself with a crossbow and headed to one of the closest traps to the cabin, hoping that an animal fell in the trap, and luckily, there was a deer stuck in it. The deer was trying to get free, but a quick arrow to the head with the crossbow, and it dropped dead to the ground.

He carried the deer back to the cabin and then left it a few feet to the side of the door. He could feel the old man inside the bandits home, so it was probably one of the rare times he dropped by to make sure that the bandits took proper care of him.

Ace went into the dining room soundlessly, and jumped into the old man's lap when he was less expecting it. He relished in the startled expression of the ones present in the room, especially in the one of the old man, and thus he couldn't suppress an amused and mischievous smirk, letting them all know that it was clearly intentional.

“Well, I guess that this solves the problem of not knowing where Ace was” - the old man said in a gruff voice.

Dadan, the leader of the mountain bandits and a sort of mother figure to Ace, flinched at the implications of that statement, but it wasn't her fault that Ace had been a ninja in his past life, and thus could sneak around without making a sound. The fact that he has not spoken a single word since he reincarnated doesn't help her case, but that was more Gaara’s side wanting to mess with them into making them think that he was mute.

Ace just slapped the chest of the old man and sent him a quick look of disdain, clearly discontent with the way that he treated her. Then he opted for snuggling into the old man's lap, because since he insisted on being a sort of grandpa figure to him, then he sure as hell was going to act like a grandson to him, a grandson that would like to be spoiled rotten, something that he never got in his past life.

Ace stared intently at the old man and Dadan, patiently waiting for his stomach to do it's work and and loudly complain about his need of food, but for now he relished in the confusion and small panic that he could feel growing in intensity on his poor victims, he really enjoyed messing with them.

When his stomach finally proclaimed his need, Dadan sighed in relief and exasperation, while his grandpa just stayed still from shock, not yet processing what just happened.

“Did you bring anything this time?” - Dadan asked him, getting a feeling that she already knew the answer.

Ace just pointed a little to the right of where the outside door was.

Dadan got up and went to order her men to skin and cook whatever animal he hunted, while his grandpa finally got out of his shock and turned to look at him with a new light in his eyes. Ace got goosebumps just by seeing it, it somehow felt similar to the look he used to give to any of his subordinates when he thought that he had already finished his paperwork only for them to dump another pile in front of him.

It meant endurance and survival training in the part of the desert where there roamed the biggest, wildest and stronger beasts, and Ace didn't wanted to be a victim to that look, so he decided that he was going to disappear as soon as he ate his fill.

Later, when the remains of the deer were only a pile of bones, Ace completely erased his presence from existence and disappeared without a trace, successfully having evaded getting thrown into a ravine by his senile grandpa. If he had slept inside the trunk of a tree that night to avoid being sighted, it was only his business and no one else.

His grandpa stayed for a few more days, and everytime he tried to drag him to his self proclaimed *training* at every opportunity he got, but Ace could detect the signs before he was ultimately dragged away, and thus successfully escaped each time.

Unfortunately there was only one time when he was distracted enough to notice his grandfather presence, and he got grabbed by the collar of his shirt and dragged away only to be thrown at the bottom of a pit and got told that he should get back to the bandits hut some time between the next seven days.

The event was the cataclist for his chakra core to be unlocked, he never imagined the pain he would feel when his chakra paths began to carve themselves to the rest of his body from his chakra core, it was excruciatingly painful and tiring, but he supposed that it was the price of unlocking something that his body wasn't originally born with, unlike in the elemental nations where everyone developed them even before they were born into the world.

It took him two days to finally be able to move somewhat normally without his nerves and muscles twitching and aching at every single movement, so that was enough for him to start climbing the way out of the pit.

Another three days before he was finally out of that damn pit, Ace would have believed that it was endless if he hadn't come from the bottom of it. And a day and half were spent sleeping in a hollow trunk of a tree and going back to the bandits hut.

He didn't even notice when instead of a wooden arrow, he threw a sand one at the first animal that entered his sight range. When he did noticed the change, was when he snapped at the old man the moment that he stepped too close to him, he instinctively flicked his hand and trapped him in a sand cocoon, and he blinked multiple times when he noticed that this time the man indeed was wrapped in sand, unlike the other times when it had been just the flicker of his hand with nothing happening.

Ace just kept on staring at his hand for a few more minutes, processing what just happened. He never expected for his kekei genkai to have followed him to this new life, but he wasn't going to complain about it, on the contrary, he was going to treasure it and cling to the only thing that he had from his life as Gaara.

He completely ignored any word that came from the old man's mouth, not even sparing him a glance as he went to drop his hunt with the bandits, and with just a glare from him, they scrambled to cook it. He was hungry, and he wanted a full meal after almost a week with only some herbs and insects that he found while climbing his way out and that he knew were edible and not going to make him throw his organs out.

“Hey brat, when did you dye your hair?” - Dadan, the only bandit that dare to approach him while he was grumpy, asked him.

Ace just stared at her in confusion, tilting his head to the side and blinking multiple times, not getting what she meant.

“You have a red strand of hair on the left side of your head” - she told him while touching her own hair where the strand would be if it was him.

Ace stared at her, searching for any hint of her lying, but found none, so he went to the closest reflective surface, which happened to be a knife, and looked at his reflection. He did had a strand of red hair, it was behind his bangs, and that was probably the reason why he didn't noticed it before, but now he couldn't hide his happiness, he even released the old man from his sand cocoon, but not before he ate deliberately slowly and savoured every single bite in front of him, he knew how to hold a grudge.

No one mentioned how his eyes were brighter every time he looked at his reflection after that day, neither how they sometimes would find him playing with sand and making sculptures of people that only he knew, even if he supposedly never went out of the forest.

Meanwhile Ace was glad and happier than ever now that he had some sort of connection to his past life besides his memories of it, and the fact that this time he didn't have an asshole of a father that sends assassins after him, because his existence was supposedly a mistake and should have never been born.

In the old man's next visit, he would question his past thoughts, but at least he knew that his sperm donor was a questionable decent human, because there was no other way that his mother in this life, who was a beautiful and kindhearted woman, would have fallen for him and sacrificed her life just to make sure he was born in a relatively safe environment.

Chapter Text

Ace had been training his chakra control for the past few months since he got it back, and he even set a training regime really similar to the one Lee had told him about, to build muscle and raise his stamina, but he tuned it down to something manageable for his infant body. (There had always been a reason as to why they dubbed Lee and Guy's training method the “training of hell”, it was too physical taxing)

He had no idea when gramps would come back, but he wanted to avoid a repeat of his last visit sudden *training*, it was more like torture, and he knows because he used to do the same to the ninjas that pissed him off. The difference is that his grandpa is doing it while he is physically still too young, while he did it to full grown adults.

So if he wanted to at least be able to tree walk before the next time his grandpa came and decided to throw him into another pit, ravine or even at some wolf’s den, he had to raise his physical condition to a somewhat acceptable level where it could be possible to make an equilibrium with his spiritual energy. He had the spiritual energy worth of two lifetimes, and now that he thinks about it, he could maybe make his own seals, and the failed ones could be set for traps all around the jungle, maybe even trying to learn Iryo jutsu by himself, he knew the concepts, just needed to put them into practice.

What he never expected, was for the old man to first, use the door like a normal person; second, not be his usual loud and boisterous self; third, be carrying a child on his arms that looked to be no older than one year; and fourth, for said child to be dropped into his arms.

Ace just stared at the old man with a bewildered look, not quite yet comprehending what was happening. Was the old man seriously planning on leaving him to take care of a kid when he himself was one? He was seriously debating on breaking his mute act just to make the old man see reason.

“Ace, take care of him for a moment, I need to talk to Dadan about something” - Gramps said, breaking Ace out of his thoughts. Well this was more reasonable, but still too reckless and irresponsible from the old man.

Ace, taking advantage of his sand and chakra control, made a sand eye to spy on their conversation while he distracted the toddler with a carton box.

“Garp, please tell me that you're not here to drop another kid into our care” - Dadan said with exasperation.

“Nahhh, maybe in a few years tho” - Ace could hear the old man say.

“Then if you're not here to drop the kid, why come here first and not later?” - Dadan asked.

“I wanted Ace to meet someone closer to his age, and hopefully he won't do something stupid to the kid by the time that I actually do decide to drop him here” - gramps said, and it was surprisingly a smart choice on his part.

“What's the kid's name?” - she asked with a hint of resignation for the future that awaits her.

“Monkey D Luffy” - said gramps with a big smile on his face.

“So he's your biological grandchild” - she said with a deadpan expression.

“Yep, I'm planning on leaving him in fosha village” - gramps stated, but Ace decided to stop hearing there, he already had all the information he needed, he just might follow his grandpa silently to the village.

Now he knows that the name of the kid that he's distracting is Luffy, from what he had observed from the kid, he is a literal sunshine. Ace decided to adopt the kid to protect his innocence, even if he will have to do it with another identity so that his grandpa won't suspect of him, luckily, he could just go back to being Gaara for that.

Since he was no fool, he's aware that his grandpa left him with the bandits for a reason, probably the same reason as to for why he doesn't let him use the name given by his mother, but instead he calls him by Portgas, which just so happens to be his mother's name. So he knows that his father made quite a mess, but he has no idea of what, or even who he is, which is the reason as to for why he would henge himself into his past life identity before entering any town.

So when his grandfather finally finished his conversation and prepared himself to get out and head down the mountain to the village where he is bound to drop Luffy. Ace just made a sand clone of himself that he left with the bandits, while he silently went to stalk his grandpa.

Ace made sure to memorize the path, taking note of the places where it was dangerous to step close, less he wants to be the meal of some wild animal family.

He henged himself into his past self as soon as he viewed the village in the distance. He took note of where the old man left Luffy, and was surprised to discover that the old man had some brains and just didn't left Luffy at a random abandoned cabin on the outskirts of the town, but instead left him in the care of a young green haired barmaid.

He decided to explore the town, maybe he could find a newspaper or something else that could give him more information about the world he got reborn into. He knew not to trust the biased opinion of his grandpa, since he was a marine, but with a newspaper, he could at least read between the lines.

He couldn't stay too long, he had enough chakra control and reserves to stay disguised for at least two to three hours, more than that would be pushing his body past it's limit, and he doesn't want to test if he would die when his chakra reserves get emptied.

Since he doesn't see any harm in showing himself in front of his grandpa under his disguise, because the old man is pretty oblivious besides the fact that he looks older and completely different from how he was born into this world. For starters, his hair is completely blood red instead of black with a red streak, he doesn't have any freckles, and his eyes are turquoise instead of the grey ones he has as Ace. 

And that is without taking into account the skin color, while as Gaara he was unnaturally pale for someone who lived in the desert, as Ace, his skin color is similar to Naruto's which tanned pretty perfectly under sun exposure.

He is also aware of another energy similar but at the same time completely different from chakra. While chakra is the energy of life itself that everyone and everything possess, this mysterious energy feels different. He doesn't know how to describe it yet, but if he had to do it, he would say that it's like the will of the person, he doesn't know why, just thinks that it fits.

So he entered the bar and took a seat on the counter a few places away from the crazy geezer.

“Hello, could you give me a glass with juice, and if you have a copy of the newspaper you could lend me would be nice” - Gaara spoke for the first time in this new world. It went out sounding more gruff and sour than what he anticipated, but he supposed that it was a result of choosing to be selective mute.

Thankfully, one of the first things that the bandits teached him was how to read and write, because while the language is really similar to the one from the elemental nations, the writing form is completely different, so he had to learn it from scratch. He knows that they teached him because they wanted to have a way to communicate with him, since he refused to speak and thus made them believe that he was mute.

“Looks like we have a nice little gentleman here, I'll bring your order right away, just wait a moment” - the young bartender said while giggling under her breath.

Gaara just let a little smile scape his lips, it has been a long time since he felt such at peace around people, since the bandits were a loud chaotic bunch. He sometimes missed the calm of his Kazekage office, sipping a cup of tea while doing his paperwork, but he definitely didn't miss the stress that was filling mountain upon mountain of paperwork, luckily he didn't need to do that here.

The young bartender came back with his order and the newspaper, which he was pretty grateful for. He thanked her, before paying her and leaving a little tip, with some money that he stole from the bandits.

He read the paper while eyeing from the corner of his eyes the interaction between the bartender and the old man. And he noticed that the old man kept sending him curious glances every once in a while. It probably was because he looked too young to be interested or even being able to read, but he had henged into a version of his past self that was two years older than his current self, but it was starting to annoy him, making his inexistent eyebrows twitch.

“What do you want, old man?” - Gaara asked him, which startled Garp a little bit, since he thought that he was being subtle when looking at him.

“Just wondering how old you are” - Garp answered him, and Gaara could tell that it was true, but he also was withholding more questions.

Since he still was a tiny little bit annoyed at him from when he threw him at a pit in his last visit, he decided to send him a weirded out glance, and then ignore him to continue reading the newspaper.

Sixth year death anniversary of the pirate king Gold Roger

Was the first article that really caught his attention, and the only good thing it did was to sour his mood. He was aware that there was a reason as to for why gramps didn't let him use his true name, but he would have never expected for it to be because of his father in this new world.

He immediately spotted the spelling error, they wrote “Gold Roger”, instead of “Gol D Roger”, and considering that they're celebrating the death of a pirate… he could only imagine all the government propaganda created just for the sole purpose of making his father look like the monster of the tale. It was no different from the village heroes, only the village they originated from knew the man behind the emotionless mask they showed on the battlefield.

So he was not going to draw conclusions based on the opinions of people who never meet the man. What he did become aware of though, was that he was certain that almost the whole world would wish he was never born, and that is without adding the fact of them torturing him for the supposed sins of that man if his existence was ever revealed.

Gaara started to wonder if he would ever be free of prejudice, free to do whatever he wishes, without having to constantly be on guard, hiding who he truly is. Free of constantly wearing a mask, whether to hide his feelings, his interest, identity, or to protect those he cares about.

He thought that this new life would be different, he even had people he cared and that cared about him since the start, even if some of them were unwilling at first, or completely insane. Now that another one was added, and that happened to be a little ball of sunshine, he discovers a life changing revelation, that gets him aware that he can't grow close to Luffy as Ace, since he could put him in danger with just his mere existence.

He closed the newspaper, placed it on the table, finished his drink and then went out of the bar. He walked to an alleyway, made sure that no one was following him or looking at him, before sunshining to the forest.

He went to hunt, looking to relieve some of his newfound anger on his poor prey, and if he got dinner in the process, it was a bonus. Dropping the henge, he ran around looking for any animal that wouldn't drop dead at his first attack, said animal ended up being a bear thrice his size.

Ace cracked his knuckles and covered himself in a sand armor, he wanted the fight to last, simply killing the bear with a sand coffin would not dimm the new old feelings developing in his chest. He could feel himself regress to something similar from the days before Naruto came barreling into his life, and he did not like it one bit. He never missed the feeling of loneliness and the need to prove that he's worth something, that his existence and life aren't meaningless; the only difference between then and now, is that he doesn't have a sand demon whispering in his head that he should commit mass murder… not like he would have paid it any mind this time.

The bear threw itself at him, getting him to make a left jump to avoid the claws going for his head, he took the opportunity to grab the paw and use the momentum against the bear by managing to throw him over him into it's back.

The bear was stunned for some seconds, which Ace took as an opportunity to raise a sand cage around the battlefield, leaving it no way of escape.

He traded more blows with it, the bear getting more wounded in comparison to the few scrapes that he got, till the bear noticed that he was the prey instead of the hunter. When that happened, it desperately tried to escape, but the sand cage prevented it, so Ace decided to finally end his suffering and killed it by slicing it's head off.

That day, something died inside of him, and he isn't sure if he's ever gonna get it back.

Chapter Text

Nothing was ever the same since the day where he discovered his parentage. When he smiled without any specific reason before, now he couldn't even find a reason to smile, it was as if he forgot what happiness felt like, which wasn't so far from the truth.

The hollow sensation that settled in his chest, anger, despair, frustration at the world and it's unfairness and complete apathy towards his well being, were the feelings that plagued him now. He sometimes even wondered why he still continued living, if practically all the world wants him dead.

Little Luffy is probably the only reason as to for why he hasn't turned suicidal or homicidal, since he reminds him a little of Naruto, but Luffy is more of a sunshine than what his friend ever was, so the urge to protect Luffy’s innocence is stronger than returning to his old coping mechanisms. Unfortunately, he can't go and meet him as Ace, but he has to go as Gaara, that's the only way he can protect him for now.

The only time where he lets loose is when he goes hunting, only then does he can terrorize his prey without feeling guilty, since he is going to eat them later anyway.

But right now that he's finally five years old, he decided to explore beyond the forest and village. He remembers a passing conversation between some bandits about a place called grey terminal, it is supposed to be on the outskirts of the forest and besides a great wall that gives you access to the Goa kingdom, and he was curious enough to go and explore it.

Since it apparently was the dumpster of the nobles, he decided to take a bag with him, he never knew if he could find something interesting or useful in there, so he took some precautions along with taking wooden versions of the ninja weapons, since he was no fool and knew that there was bound to be shady people in there, and that they would stop at nothing to get what they want.

The bandits didn't stopped him either, since he never told them where he planned on going, so they thought that he was going to be exploring the forest as he usually does.

Ace went through the bandits route to the Goa kingdom, and then followed his sense of smell to get to his destination. By the middle of the day, he was already scavenging through the piles of trash and saving in the bag he brought little trinkets and some things that he found salvageable and still useful. He even found discarded jewelry in the piles, he was surprised and amazed that a single defect, like a missing jewel, would make the nobles throw it away.

Not like he was complaining about it, he could sell them for a decent price and eventually buy a boat with the money gathered and set sail just because he could. But for now he would train and learn everything he needs for a life on the ocean.

While looking through the piles, he spotted a metal pipe that he thought could be useful as a sort of staff. He wanted a weapon for close range, since he was aware that he couldn't always relay on his sand, especially if he wanted to keep it as a secret weapon.

He went to grab it, but another pair of hands was going for the same pipe as him. He turned to look at the owner, and found a blond kid in noble clothes, with the most beautiful blue eyes he has ever seen since Naruto's. The kid seemed to be around his age, and in dire need of a defense method, at least more than him.

He let him take the pipe, he could find a replacement later, besides he already had his ninja weapons and sand, while the kid had nothing, so it wasn't really a loss.

“Th-thank you, my name is Sabo, who are you?” - the kid asked him after introducing himself.

He immediately noticed that he was a runaway noble, judging by the clothes that fitted him quite perfectly and the manners. The manners is actually what gave him away, since no child born outside of nobility could have manners like the kid in front of him has.

Ace debated with himself if he should break his mute act with this kid, and decided that he would be the exception this time. He didn't knew if the kid knows how to write, besides the lack of writing materials, and sign language is out of the picture, as the disabled are the first that gets thrown out from the kingdom, something he learned during the past year when he explored the kingdom under his other identity as Gaara.

He opened his mouth to speak, but he struggled a bit to make a coherent sound, he sometimes hates his decision over his selective mutism, since it makes it so difficult to talk when he really wants to, but he never was a boy of much words to begin with, and now in this new life even less.

He eventually managed to mutter a cracked “Ace”, getting him to internally wonder if it had been first time luck that time that he spoke with almost no problems in the bar on the village.

He decided then and there that he would be more sociable on this life from now on, have trustworthy people to rely on, and he would begin with Sabo.

Sabo looked at him with an understanding expression, he's a smart boy, Ace can appreciate that.

“You're not used to talking, are you?” - Sabo asked him.

Ace shock his head, then, this time more easily, muttered a faint “first time speaking”, which wasn't a complete lie, as it was his first time speaking as Ace.

Sabo just stared at him with a surprised expression, before a small laugh escaped him.

“I feel honored that I was the first person you spoke aloud to” - Sabo said with a charming smile.

“Well, I try to not make too difficult the life of my caretakers while at the same time doing the exact opposite by not uttering a single word” - Ace replied with a mischievous smile.

Sabo looked at him in amazement. “Do you really have not said a single word in front of your guardians, just because you wanted to prank them?” - He asked him.

“Yep, they think I'm mute, so they taught me how to write just to communicate with me” - Ace told his new friend.

Sabo tried to whistle in his amazement, but only managed to make an spiting sound nowhere near what he hoped to do. Ace did not judge him, he probably would have sounded the same, if not worse if he had been the one trying to whistle.

“Wanna be partners in crime?, I could even teach you some self defence techniques” - Ace offered. He held his hand out for a handshake, which Sabo took with enthusiasm.

“I could even help you to hide from your parents, I know that you ran away for a reason, you can tell it to me when you're comfortable about it” - Ace said while they shook hands, making Sabo to recoil back.

“Why would you help me?” - Sabo asked with a small voice, now completely looking his age.

“You aren't the only one who has problems with their biological parents, even if mine are already dead. They left a BIG can of worms that I'm not willing to open right now” - Ace said.

“How did you know that I wasn't an orphan?” - Sabo asked with curiosity, once his apprehension died out.

“Multiple things actually, like how your clothes are really well kept for someone living in the terminal, your accent and the your mannerisms aren't for some street rat, or even the simple fact that you have manners at all” - Ace told him with such nonchalance that Sabo was gobsmacked by it.

Sabo silently cursed himself for his carelessness, being grateful that the one that first noticed it was a kid his age with good intentions, and not someone who would have returned him to his father for some quick cash.

“If we're gonna work together, we first need to find a good place where to hide all the treasure we'll be collecting, I want to get out of this island as soon as I'm able to” - Sabo said.

“I don't have the same problems as you, so I need to ask… at which age do you plan on setting out at sea?” - Ace asked him with a neutral expression.

“As soon as I can get a decent ship, but it would be nice to learn some navigation first” - Sabo answered.

“The sea isn't the only enemy outside this island, there are pirates, bandits, seakings, and even a rock could become your worst enemy out there. I would recommend being at least 17 before setting out” - Ace told with incredible insight.

Sabo stared at him with a deadpan expression… “I don't see how a rock can be an enemy, but I get your point, still doesn't change the fact that I want to get as far away from my bio parents as soon as I can”

Ace sighed, a little in disappointment “well, then don't always expect we go hunting for treasure then, I'm gonna train you and teach you some survival skills” - Ace said with complete seriousness.

“I suppose that's ok… so we're friends now, right?” - Sabo asked with a hopeful expression.

Ace was caught off guard by it, by the simple way in which he asked it. His heart started beating faster, this was the second time he made a friend, and the first one in this new life, so he nodded his head, a small quirk of his lips forming a barely noticeable smile.

Sabo beamed, a big smile overtaking his face. Ace turned to look another way, so that his new friend wouldn't notice the small embarrassed blush growing on his face.

Maybe there were still good things to live for on this second life after all.