"Do you want to go for a walk?" Thatch asked Ace "Or would you prefer to stay and watch the fight?"

"I'll go with you." Ace replied without hesitation

Behind the two of them, Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard got into fighting stances, ready to begin.

"Good to know." Thatch nodded to himself

They walked slowly, Thatch in the front and Ace trailing behind him.

Soon, they came to a river - apparently, there were indeed rivers in the afterlife - and a young woman, sitting on a riverbank. She had strawberry blonde hair and a white dress. In her hand, she held a harp, strumming the strings gently. The melody she was producing was soothing. Finally, after she was done, she stood up and turned around to look at the two of them.

"So you are here." she whispered "They told me you would be here..."

She straightened up a little and her gaze was sharp, even as she blinked back tears.

"But I didn't want to believe them. I hoped that you wouldn't be here." she continued "Because if you are here, then that would mean that I've failed. That my sacrifice meant nothing. And that's the truth that I refused to accept, and a part of me still does."

She turned around and sat down onto the riverbank again.

"You don't know how much you mean to me." she said softly "How much you mean to both of us."

Slowly, Thatch and Ace walked over to her, sitting on either side of her.

"But regardless of that, I am happy that you're here with me." she concluded "That I can hold you again. You don't mind, do you?"

And Thatch felt almost surreal. Like he and the two people before him were in entirely different worlds.

And maybe in this moment, they were. It was their world, one for a mother and child. If there was one thing Thatch could understand, it was the bond between family.

He watched as Ace shook his head. He watched as the woman squeezed her son's hand with her left hand, while cupping his cheek with her right hand.

And for some reason he couldn't put his finger on, Thatch felt strangely out of place.