The year went by and Ace found himself spacing out more than usual. Luffy always appeared in his thoughts it was almost annoying. It's embarrassing, but Ace actually strolled around the town several times just because he hoped to meet the younger boy again.

Alas, it had been about a month since their last encounter. School was starting and Ace was getting hopeful about bumping into Luffy on the campus.

The school they attended was one of the four schools built on the Grandline. Each of these schools is divided into sections: Elementary, Secondary and Tertiary. In the Elementary section, students are enrolled at a young age of seven and are taught basic subjects. In the Secondary section, students are further grouped into the general track or specialised tracks. Ace was part of the general track, since there was no specialised track at the Secondary stage to become a fire fighter. He figured that Luffy would be part of the general track as well, but since they were of different ages, they wouldn't have the same classes. On the other hand, the Tertiary section has many more specialised tracks, one for every existing job on the Grandline, including fire fighters.

Basically, everyone on the Grandline would enrol into one of the four schools and learn everything they need to know, starting from the Elementary stage and graduating all the way to Tertiary.

There's still one more year until Ace graduates from the Secondary section to the Tertiary section. He was really looking forward to joining the specialised track, since the general track was extremely boring. He had heard from one of his best friends, Sabo, who was in the specialised track to becoming a writer that his lessons were fun and enjoyable. Sabo even had the chance to go out to gather materials while Ace was stuck in school listening to repetitive lectures!

That aside, there was now another reason Ace was looking forward to the specialised track. Luffy said that he wanted to become a fire fighter, which means that he would be going into the same track as Ace. They might even have the chance to attend classes together, since not many people join the track.

They could even sit together, or eat lunch together, or do projects together-

Gah! Why am I thinking about these! Ace wanted to hit himself. Did he have a crush on Luffy or something?! Well sure, Luffy was super cute, and they had common interests, and they hit off pretty well, and Ace had been thinking about him continuously for a month-

No! Ace wanted to bury himself in a hole. How could he, out of all people, fall in love after meeting a person only once?

It's been so long, he probably already forgot about me anyway…

Ace's heart sank at the thought.

But we had a bonding moment, so he might remember, right?

What a fool.

A week after school reopened, Ace was casually walking in the cafeteria while sipping on a packet of milk when in the corner of his eye, he spotted the person he had been longing to see, almost blending in with the crowd of students and walking away in the opposite direction.

Ace's body moved on its own. He immediately spun around and squeezed through the crowd hurriedly, eyes never leaving the boy he had been looking for.

Finally, finally…!

Ace must've shoved aside many people, who seemed displeased, but he didn't care.

He reached his hand out, finally catching that person by the shoulder, turning him around so that Ace could take a better look at his face.

His face was just as Ace had remembered, big round eyes with a notable scar on his left cheek, Ace wouldn't mistake this face for anyone else's.

"Luffy…" It was strange; he couldn't find the right words to say despite always dreaming of this exact moment. His heart was racing so fast and his thoughts even faster. There was so much Ace wanted to tell this boy-

"Who are you?"