Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Sorry, I had to delay this for a bit cause I didn't have net access, but hey. It's here! :)

Well, this is it, guys. The final preview and the last two week wait until the reboot will be placed up. :) I'm feeling emotional already. Who's excited with me?

Anyway, I'll shut up now so you can read the preview. :)

Preview for Chapter Six: The Ghost Boy ~ Portgas D. Ace

It's been eleven years since Dad took me in. Nine years since I started the search, but with no results. I have no pictures of him, no memorabilia, just his name to go by, and every possible lead brought me to a dead end. All the information brokers and detectives were consulted, the child agencies, the orphanages… nothing. I even tried searching up his name in Facebook which of course didn't work either. It was like he never existed.

And, it wasn't like Dr. Jango was the only one to suggest quitting. I can name a number of people in this mansion who also dropped me hints, some more subtly than others. I couldn't even trust Sanji to be fully supportive after he finally conceded to me that this was starting to become impossible. "Our sources can only bring us this far, Ace. Admit it, we're stuck," he said. But, I can't quit. He doesn't understand. It's not like he has a brother to look for.

The only one who wasn't discouraging me at this point was Dad, but that's because he never says anything about it. He only provides me with the resources to continue the search with the condition that I don't put myself in danger. Or maybe it's because he knows I won't be convinced otherwise. Maybe he's starting to have his own doubts, but he wants me to find the truth on my own. To see Luffy for myself.

I suddenly recalled Vista's name for Luffy. Niño del fantasma. The Ghost Boy. I've known him, I've seen him, but then somehow, he's disappeared without a trace. It was as if he was never real at all.

No. That's not true. Luffy's real. Ms. Makino remembered him. Even if the memories were faint, I could still recall her speaking to him, hugging him, feeding him the little that she already had and even sewing the patches of his shirt. She knew that Luffy's real. Or were all of those actions really meant for me?

It didn't matter. She's dead. She died trying to save me. Only me.

Under my bed was a small cardboard box. Anyone who cleans my room knows about that box and makes sure never to move it from its place. So, when I pulled it out, I had to blow away the layers of dust that collected over the years before opening the lid.

It was just as I left it after so long. The treasure box of crayons was in there as well as the stack of drawings that I made during that one therapy session with Dr. Jango—those drawings I made of Luffy with me. Except, now that I look at these, they were merely generic stick drawings. Not as detailed as I wanted. I returned to my desk, taking one of the crayons and tried to picture Luffy in my mind before translating the mental image into drawing.

I immediately crumpled the paper and grabbed another sheet. No, his hair was shorter than that.

I crumpled another. It was the wrong shape of his face.

Another. No, his eyes were bigger.

He didn't have freckles, too, right?

No, this is wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

Wrong.

I dropped the crayon and propped my head against my hands, grabbing fistfuls of my hair. No matter how many times I tried, I just couldn't. It wasn't even Luffy I was drawing anymore. Subconsciously, my hand was drawing myself, and that's enough to show me how my memories of him have decayed. I can't even picture him anymore.

Could it be, then? Could he really be a fake delusion that I set up? An imaginary friend to serve as some defense mechanism against the pain and loneliness of back then?

Was I sacrificing everything for a ghost?

Was I alone all along?

No. It can't be. Luffy's real. He's real. He has to be.

Beside me, I just realized that my cellphone was ringing. Who knows how long? It just continued to persist, the tone hitting higher notes after each try—as if it demanded to be picked up. Already resigned from my previous task, I finally answered it.

"Hello?"

Author's Note: That moment when even Ace starts to doubt Luffy's existence in his life... My feels. I shall head to tumblr after this for some ASL fanart.

December 12, Mark that date! Specifically, December 12, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) + 8 hours. That's my timezone. :) Man, I'm so excited, even I want to post it right now... (but suspense is suspense). Reviews much appreciated in the mean time. :D

Catch you all in two weeks!