The atmosphere, which had been heavy enough to sink a Galleon, was shattered by the sound of crashing timber and a high-pitched, infectious laugh. Luffy didn't just walk into the clearing; he propelled himself into it, his rubbery arms having latched onto a tree three miles back, catapulting him through the air until he skidded face-first into the dirt at Ace's feet. "MEAT!" Luffy shouted, popping up like a spring, his straw hat dangling by its string. He didn't even notice the tension at first. He just grinned, his eyes crinkling into crescents. "Hey! Ace! Sabo! You guys look like you ate some bad fish! And—" He stopped. His gaze shifted to the woman sitting in the dirt, clutching her head. Luffy's grin didn't fade; it widened until it threatened to split his face.
"MAYEEEEEE!" In a blur of red vest and sandals, Luffy launched himself at her. "I knew it! Rayleigh said things were weird, but I knew you'd be back because you're too stubborn to stay dead!" He wrapped his arms around her—and kept wrapping, his rubber limbs coiling around her three, four times until she looked like a confused human cocoon. "You missed it! I fought a giant gorilla! And I can do this thing with my arm now where it goes—" "Luffy! Get off her! You're going to suffocate the miracle!" Ace yelled, grabbing Luffy by the back of his vest and trying to peel him off. "But it's Maye!" Luffy protested, his cheek pressed against hers. "She smells like mountain air and... hey, why are you crying? Are you hungry? I have a piece of lizard in my pocket!" Maye, pinned under the weight of a rubber boy who was currently trying to offer her a piece of questionable, sun-dried meat, blinked through her tears. The sheer, ridiculous energy of Luffy acted like a lightning rod, grounding the terrifying "Fog" in her mind. "I... I don't know who you are," Maye gasped, her face turning a light shade of blue from the squeeze. "But you're very... stretchy." Luffy pulled back just an inch, his eyes going wide. He looked at Ace, then at Sabo, then back to Maye. He tilted his head so far to the side his neck made a snapping sound. "She's broken? Did Akainu hit her in the brain too?" "Luffy, be quiet for a second," Sabo said, rubbing his temples, though a small, genuine smile was tugging at the corner of his scarred mouth. "She's not broken. She just... lost her way. She doesn't remember us." Luffy looked at Maye again. He didn't look sad. He didn't look horrified like Ace or analytical like Sabo. He just reached out and poked her squarely on the nose. Boop. "That's stupid," Luffy declared with the absolute certainty of a child. "You can't forget me. I'm going to be King of the Pirates. And you're the one who taught me how to steal Dadan's hidden sake! You can't forget that, it was a really good plan!" "I taught you... to steal?" Maye asked, a tiny, involuntary bubble of laughter escaping her throat despite her confusion. "Yeah! And you used to hit Ace with a giant wooden spoon when he was being grumpy!" Luffy cheered, ignoring Ace's indignant 'I was never grumpy!' from the sidelines. For the first time in weeks, the "Crimson Mark" didn't feel like a monster or a ghost. She felt like a person who had once lived a very chaotic, very loud life. She looked at the three of them, the brooding fire-user, the polite revolutionary, and the rubber ball of pure sunshine. "You three are a lot to handle, aren't you?" she whispered, wiping her eyes.
"You have no idea," Dadan growled from the porch, though she was hiding a smile behind a fresh cigarette. "They're a nightmare. And you were the ringleader." "I want to see the spoon," Maye said suddenly, her blue eyes flickering with a spark of the old mischief. "If I really hit him with a spoon, I want to see if it still fits my hand." Ace let out a long, shaky breath, the tension in his shoulders finally snapping. He looked at Sabo, who was chuckling softly, and then at Luffy, who was currently trying to show Maye how far he could stretch his nostrils. The tragedy was still there. The memories were still gone. But as the sun set over Mt. Colubo, the clearing was filled with the sound of Luffy arguing with Ace over who got the biggest piece of tiger meat, while Sabo tried to explain to a bewildered Maye why she once thought it was a good idea to dye a forest tiger pink. It wasn't the reunion they had dreamed of. It was messy, it was loud, and it was slightly ridiculous. But as Maye watched them, her hand rested on the ruby pendant, which was now glowing with a soft, steady, and contented light. "I don't remember you," she said softly, catching Ace's eye. "But I think... I think I'd like to." Ace reached out, and this time, when he took her hand, she didn't flinch. "That's a start, Maye. That's a start." Of course, the moment was ruined three seconds later when Luffy accidentally sneezed and launched his gum-gum-rocket headfirst into Dadan's laundry line, bringing a hail of white sheets down on all of them. "LUFFY! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Dadan's roar echoed across the mountain, and for a moment, everything felt exactly as it was supposed to be.