c h a p t e r  s e v e n
o l d & n e w f a c e s

Alzack was thrown back, a giggly girl being placed on his chest.

"Oh thank god you're okay!" Alzack hugged his daughter as tight as he could. "Don't ever do that again, understand?"

Asuka nodded with a smile before waving off Ace, "Good luck, Acey!"

The running Ace only lifted a hand and yelled over his shoulder, "Watch her more carefully dumbass!"

"Ace!" His head turned, coming into view with Gray.

"Yo!"

"Hey, out of curiosity-" Gray jumped over a hatchling, easily freezing it while doing so. "Did you have a vision or something, like you knew what was gonna happen?"

"I did!" Ace burned off another. "You too, huh?"

"Are you also heading to the gate?" Erza quickly joined the two, followed by Wendy and their feline friends.

"Duh." Ace laughed, smiling brightly towards Wendy. "Good to see you're okay!"

Wendy nodded, "Of course! I told you I'd be careful, didn't I?"

"Lucy! Yukino!" The group shouted as they neared the gate, speeding up as they noticed a drained out Lucy with all of her celestials trying to shut the gate. 

"NATSU!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise, her eyes widened as he came crashing down with a dragon– completely destroying the gate.

Natsu laughed loudly, "Guess that's done!"

"And we're not surprised." Gray and Ace snorted playfully as they reached their friends.

"Lucy, be sure to rest." Loke walked up to them, a smile on his face. "I sent the rest off for you."

"Thank you." Lucy gracefully nodded.

"Also," Loke stepped over, fingers pointing at a couple of unconscious personas. "These people appeared out of nowhere."

They all seemed to look confused, not at the unknown people but at the fact that Ace let out a loud gasp and stared at them in shock.

"HEY!"

Lyon and Juvia were making their way to them.

"What happened here?" said Lyon, eyeing the destroyed gate. "We came to check up on this area after those people went off flying."

"What?" Erza voiced out. "What people are you speaking of?"

"You didn't see them?" Juvia tilted her head. "It was a couple of them, and they were seeing flying off to different directions."

"More of them?" Ace widened his eyes before running towards one of them and kneeling beside him. "Hey! Wake up!" He shook the man in hopes of waking him. "Wake up, you hear me?!"

"Ace!" His friends were soon behind him, watching him worriedly. The sight of their friend holding in his tears only making them anxious.

"Come on, wake up!" He proceeded to shake the man. "Open your eyes! Is he here?!"

"What's he talking about?" Wendy said softly, her sad eyes meeting Lucy's.

Lucy only shrugged, "I don't know..." she answered quietly. "But it seems he knows that guy."

"Come on!" Ace pulled him closer, the two now face-to-face. "Tell me! Is he here?!"

The man groaned, slowly opening his eyes– widening them as soon as the man shaking him became clear and came into full view.

"Is Luffy here?!"

Before he could reply, the blond's eyes were rolling to the back of his head before darkness consumed him once again.

"Let's take them all to the med bay." Wendy suggested. "Something's not right. We can help them wake up and then they'll be able to answer you."

Ace only nodded.

Fairy Tail members along with their friends from Lamia Scale stood patiently (some more than a certain team) outside Ace's room. Due to shock and overusing his magic— which his body was still unable to handle— he ended up passing out halfway through their walk back with the newcomers.

"He's up and doing fine." Porlyusica stepped out, a sigh of relief coming from all of Fairy Taili. "And he's asking for all of you to leave and rest. Especially you." She pointed at Makarov. "He says you're too old and need it more than anyone."

Makarov let out a loud dramatic and offensive gasp, "That brat!"

Porlyusica hid a smirk. "All except for his team leave. He says you get to suffer in here with him."

"'kay!" Natsu ran past Porlyusica and plopped down on the bed with Ace, a groan emitting from the back of his throat.

"Don't just throw yourself on top of him like that!" The pink-headed woman scolded the dragon slayer. "He's still hurt!"

"Sorry!" Natsu laughed but still proceeded to make himself comfortable on the bed. "Come on, Happy! It's bed time."

Ace only sighed and smiled weakly. It was a habit since he's moved in with those two the moment he joined Fairy Tail.

"Aye!" Happy flew over and stretched before making himself comfortable on Ace's shoulder, his little head on top of Ace's. "Goodnight."

Erza and Gray glanced at each other, debating whether they should ask how he knew the people back there.

"Ace–" Erza was cut off.

"Not yet." Ace sat up, Happy and Natsu looking at him with wide confused eyes. "I need to see them first. Ask them questions."

Porlyusica sighed, "Fine. Their medication should be wearing off soon."

Team Natsu followed Porlyusica to the other room, noticing everyone else had already left.

"I'll leave you be." Porlyusica turned to walk away. "Call me if I'm needed." She said to Wendy, who nodded graciously.

Ace was the first to step in, surprised to see the blond wide awake and patiently waiting, "How long have you been awake?"

He puffed out smoke. The man was happy when he found his pack and lighter right besides him.

"A while. You're all pretty loud." He eyed the blonde and redhead with Ace. "hey, beautifuls!"

"Sanji." Ace stood in front of him. "How are you even here? Why are you not too surprised to see me?"

Sanji sighed and leaned back against the wall, "Honestly? I dunno. I was at first." Sanji tried to stand, groaning as he felt a tight pressure on his torso.

"You can't get up!" Wendy frantically pushed him back. "You're hurt."

Sanji only chuckled. "Thanks, but I've had worse."

"What did you mean by you were at first?" Ace was slowly losing his patience. "Sanji, I'm supposed to be dead."

"Hey, man. I only know what Jinbe told me." Sanji slowly walked to the other beds, checking up on his crew mates. The ones he was with at least.

"What? Jinbe?"

Erza, Lucy, Gray, and Wendy stayed back, intensively listening to their conversation. The two definitely knew each other, so they didn't have to worry about them being an enemy.

Natsu and Happy on the other hand sat on the floor, looking back and forth between the curly brow man and Ace dumbfounded.

Sanji nodded, "Yeah. He told us Luffy made some kind of deal or something with a forest witch to save you. She sent you to a different world to do so."

"Luffy what?" Ace tsked. "That damn brat. Wait... but he still saw me die. Well not literally but—"

Sanji cut him off. "But he witnessed it, yep. The entire world does truly believe you're dead. Luffy did for a bit too."

"Is he... is he okay?" Ace was scared of the answer to be honest. He knew his little brother was strong, but he could only handle so much mentally.

"Look," Sanji went back to his bed and looked at his captain's brother in the eye. "I'm going to be real honest with you, Ace— he wasn't. Not for a while."

Ace's demeanor changed. His shoulders slouched and his face was hidden by his hair.

"Before Luffy got to Marineford, we were in Sabaody fighting Kuma and that damn admiral Kizaru." Natsu and Happy got closer to hear the story. "Kuma sent us off in different directions of the world. We weren't there for Luffy for two entire years."

Ace's eyes widened. His brother was alone?

"You shouldn't feel guilty for thinking you abandoned him." Ace looked up at Sanji confused. "Because we did. His crew left him. He needed us most and we weren't there." They all noticed the way he clenched his fist. "When we needed him, he was there. Always ready to fight for us, but we–"

"-were following his orders." A new voice added, receiving a shriek from Natsu, Happy and Wendy.

"Robin, you're finally up!" Sanji grinned before it faltered. "But–"

"Luffy did indeed need us but he ordered us to train for two years. Which is what we did." said Robin. "He wasn't alone. He had Jinbe and Rayleigh as well as the snake empress, Hancock."

"What?" Ace had his mouth gaped open. "Rayleigh? As in the first companion of Roger?"

Sanji nodded, "he's the one who trained Luffy."

"What else did Jinbe tell you?" Ace asked. "He was in the battlefield ... did he– does he know what happened to Luffy after I, y'know?"

Robin and Sanji sadly eyed each other, the look not going unnoticed by the mages and Ace.

"Watching you die," Robin air quoted at the word. "Left him tremendously traumatized. Due to his injuries, his body couldn't handle it. He went into shock and he was comatose for a while."

Ace's eyes widened and telling by the way his shoulders shook, his friends could easily tell they were holding in his tears.

"He almost died." said Sanji. "But Law saved him."

Ace looked up. "Law? As in Trafalgar Law? The captain of the Heart Pirates?"

"Yeah." Robin nodded. "Our captain formed an alliance with him not too long ago."

"Where are they anyway?" Sanji looked around. "I noticed those two are missing along with Zoro, Franky, and Brook."

"Wait, he is here?" Ace couldn't help it, his tears were threatening to spill.

Robin nodded with a smile, "and I'm sure he'll be very happy to see you."

Ace laughed before faltering, "Who are you again? You weren't on his crew back then."