shira: Okay so you guys know how I said this chapter would be Rouge? Ahahaha... well... I was working on it (I swear I was!) but I got distracted by my ASL wallpaper and this just... sort of happened? I wasn't planning on any of these being canon events but uhhh it was impossible to resist, to be honest. I might still do a separate one for each of them, but I'm not sure because I am a Very Big Fan of ASL's "home" being each other, so yeah. I promise next one is Rouge though, I really do! In the meantime, here, enjoy this.

Summary: Lucky [stupid] coincidences tend to happen around Luffy. Ace knows this better than anyone. So he really shouldn't have been surprised when his little brother decides that the best way to reunite after three long years of separation is to rocket him (and a Marine) through the walls of a restaurant.

Ace was bored. No two ways about it, he was so damn tired of wandering this godforsaken country with the sand and the sense of wrongness in the people and the insufferable heat (which, in all honesty, didn't exactly affect him but damn it all if he wanted to complain about it, he would).

He'd been wandering around for a week without leads and he was starting to flare up in frustration with each passing hour that no new information cropped up about that traitor. Not to mention Luffy wasn't even here yet.

With a long-suffering sigh, he slipped through the markets towards a restaurant near the end that he'd started frequenting since he got here, dodging grabby vendors and pickpockets with practiced ease. He waved to the old man at the counter as he settled in his usual seat.

"The usual I suppose?" The owner watched him with a mixture of distaste and awe that Ace had long since associated with anyone who'd seen him and his brothers eating before.

"Please," he replied with a grin.

Well, whichever way, Ace had a good feeling about today. As the food was set out in front of him, Ace dug in knowing that something was about to happen. And if his gut hadn't failed him—and it never has before—he was gonna need all the energy he could get.

"Old man, another serving please!"

Luffy was hungry. That was all. The lunch from the old man in the desert barely made a dent in his growling stomach. He'd gotten himself lost (again) and he just knew Nami was going to be pissed, but he was hungry.

And besides, his nakama could take care of themselves and he'd probably find the ship one way or another and oh wow, meat.

Wiping off his drool, he glanced around and spotted a restaurant at the very end of the street. He paused for a second to reach out and stretch himself (and Luffy was pretty sure he'd forgotten something important but woaaah the meat smelled incredible) and he rocketed himself straight inside.

He didn't really pay attention to why he was going straight for that restaurant instead of the ones closer to him. He just knew there was gonna be something awesome inside and it was almost definitely meat. Landing with a resounding thud, he bounced back up with a cheer and quickly settled himself on a seat by the counter. (Eh? Felt like he'd hit something warm, but this was just the counter? Oh well, probably nothing important.)

"Old man! Food please, I'm starving!"

The old dude looked just as shocked as everyone else, and Luffy's not sure, but he hasn't done anything yet, has he?

Oh good, FOOD.

The rest of it could wait.

"Why that little fucker," he growled as he picked himself back up from the rubble of a destroyed wall.

Ace was pissed and he fully intended on making it known. He stalked through the path made by his slamming through buildings, growling obscenities under his breath and stopping only to apologize to a family whose meal he had disrupted. Granted, he hadn't done it by choice, but still.

He kept on and had just spotted the little shit head who was about to get his ass handed to him when that stupid grin and stupid scar and the ever-present straw hat registered, and he finally realized who the absolute dumbass was that had sent him flying through the restaurant.

"Lu!" Ace yelled ecstatically. He didn't even mind much that his little brother had totally missed his presence, too engrossed in his food to care about anything else. "Oi, Lu—"

Okay, someone needs to tell these damn people that cement does not fucking taste good! Ace thought viciously as he was shoved headfirst into the floor before he could catch Luffy's attention. He only barely managed to catch the tail end of Luffy and White Chase's conversation as he successfully extricated himself from the ground before Luffy was running off again. The last thing he saw was Luffy shoving all the food on the table in his mouth, thanking the nice man who'd fed him, and dashing off with White Chase hot in pursuit.

Ace grinned like an idiot. Glad to see he hasn't forgotten all of his manners.

Ace grabbed his bag and went after them, completely forgetting his own manners—and, conveniently, to pay for his food as well—as he yelled for his little brother to wait up.

Unfortunately, Luffy could be fast when he wanted to be. And considering that he'd both just dined-and-dashed as well as had a very pissed Marine captain chasing after him, Ace supposed that Luffy did indeed want to be fast in this particular occassion.

But now Ace had lost them.

He wasn't too worried though. Now that he knew Luffy was here, he'd be damned if he let some third-rate Marine captain hurt his little brother while he was around.

Ace took a calming breath and came to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Two seconds later and he had his answer. He ran full tilt towards a commotion from a couple streets over. No doubt about it, that was definitely Lu. No one else caused such an uproar just by taking a stroll through the city. He made it just in time to keep White Chase off of Luffy, firing up his own Devil Fruit powers to block the smoke Logia's attack.

"Ace?" The disbelief in Luffy's voice was enough to make Ace start smiling like an idiot again and he forced himself to school his expression back into his trademark cocky grin.

"You never change, Luffy."

Seeing how much his little brother has grown in the past three years was something he'd been looking forward to for months, but this was neither the time nor the place for it. So Ace told them to run while he held the Marine's off and tried not to be too happy when Luffy immediately complied, unwavering trust in Ace still completely whole and unbroken even though they hadn't seen each other for so damn long.

Once the Straw Hats' yelling had finally faded away, Ace finally gave his complete attention to the Marines. His smile turned wicked as he decided to hurry this along; he had a lot of catching up to do.

Luffy was fully aware that he was lost. What he didn't understand was how he'd gotten lost in the first place. Nami had yelled left, so he'd gone left, right? She couldn't possibly get mad at him for this. (She would, he knew she still would, but that didn't matter right now because there were more important things at hand.)

"Jeez, it's like you aren't even trying to escape."

Like the voice that was calling out to him right now, the one he knew better than anyone else, deeper now but even the exasperation in his tone was still the same—always still the same. Luffy looked up and spotted the familiar silhouette standing over him and he made a happy noise of recognition.

"Yo."

"Ace!"

Luffy's big brother dropped down to where he sat on his barrel and grinned at him. "It's been awhile, Luffy."

Luffy beamed back. "Right back at you, Ace."

And for a second, they just looked at each other, smiling like the idiots they probably (definitely) were. And in a little bit, Luffy knew they'd be back with his crew and his friends would get to meet his big brother and Ace was laughing again and Luffy felt like he had never really left home at all.