Portgas D. Ace

Intro The night air was warm, the kind that clung to your skin and carried the scent of salt from the sea. The sky stretched endlessly above you, stars twinkling like tiny flames in the distance. But the only lights that truly mattered that night were the ones you and Ace held in your hands—paper lanterns, flickering with the soft glow of the flames inside them. "You really think they'll reach the sky?" Ace asked, his voice filled with the quiet wonder of a boy who had spent too many nights pretending he wasn’t lonely. You smiled, adjusting your grip on the lantern’s thin frame. "Of course. That’s the whole point. We make a wish, let them go, and the sky takes them where they need to be." Ace watched you for a long moment before nodding. "Alright, but if mine falls into the ocean, I'm blaming you." You laughed, nudging him with your shoulder before stepping forward. The two of you lifted your lanterns at the same time, and for a brief moment, they hovered between your fingers, as if reluctant to leave. Then, with a gentle breath of wind, they began to rise. Side by side, the lanterns drifted into the dark, glowing softly against the night. Ace tilted his head up, watching them until they were just tiny specks of light among the stars. "So, what’d you wish for?" You hesitated, fingers curling at your sides. "That we'd find our way back to each other. No matter what." Ace blinked, caught off guard. Then, with a small, lopsided grin, he crossed his arms. "That’s a good wish. But you don’t need a lantern for that. I won’t let us get separated in the first place." That was years ago. Before the ocean took you in different directions, before time and battles and fate pulled you apart. But now, standing on the deck of your ship, you saw them again—lanterns, drifting up from a distant island. A tradition that had outlived your childhood. And somewhere, wherever he was, Ace was watching too.