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It was overcast the day He felt his world fall apart. The blood and carnage scattered across the battlefield was not the reason for his shoulders to quake and tears to fall from his eyes.
Ace. Held up on a pedestal bound by cuffs and chains, screamed at his family, begging them to leave and to save themselves.
“Ace!” Luffy cried out as he raced forward. He bounced off pirate and marine alike on his quest to save his brother. “Ace!”
Portgas D. Ace. His brother, his best friend, his unspeakable. Luffy could not allow the light to fade from his eyes or watch as he lost his head like his father before him. Luffy panted as sweat trickled down his face. The salt stung his wind-dried eyes.
“Ace!” He cried out once again. He was so close - He could now make out the terrified expression Ace’s face.
“Luffy!” Ace could only watch in horror as his baby brother flung himself headfirst into a bloodbath and thrust himself onto the execution podium.
Luffy was able to get around the marines and unlock Ace from his binds. “I got you Ace!”
A familiar rush of heat surrounded Luffy as Ace was freed from his seastone prison. “Luffy! You’re such an idiot!”
Luffy could only smile as he and Ace ran away from the platform and into the heat of battle.
“Fire Fist has been freed!” Cries out outrage and victory resonated throughout the field. “Don’t let him get away!”
Luffy and Ace produced a cloud of smoke when they landed back-to-back in the middle of the fray.
He felt like he was home. Ace was by his side and a he relished the heat that came off of his brother in waves. They both were free, and ready to fight to remain so.
They were surrounded by cries of joy and fear, in the distance Whitebeard stood tall and and their comrades fought with their lives.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams… That one day I’d be saved by you… Thanks Luffy.”
Luffy smiled, unperturbed about the blood that coated his body. “It was only thanks to uncle Whitebeard and his guys!”
Before Ace could respond Marines charged at the duo. “Don’t think you’re saved yet! This will be the execution site for both of you!”
Bullets flew through the air and bounced off of Luffy’s rubber body and right through Ace. Bullets ricochet and shot back at those who fired. The two seemed to dance. They moved complementary to each other and dodged their multiple assailants. They were able to plow through Marine grunts and could barely make out their death penalties over the noise.
They continued to fight and were unable to do anything when Whitebeard was betrayed by one of his allies and stabbed through the chest. Luffy and Ace shouted in disbelief at the blatant betrayal.
The Marineford turned into chaos at WhiteBeard’s order of retreat. NewGate’s crew and their allies began to run back to the ships when a large wave of lava came from above and burned dozens of men to death.
Luffy and Ace were almost caught in the wave of lava and were going to continue to run when the Marine, “Red Dog” spoke.
“Running away the moment you grabbed ace. What a bunch of cowards. The Whitebeard Pirates. The captain as well… It can’t be helped… Whitebeard is afterall just a “failure” from the previous era!”
Luffy shot past Ace when he skidded to a halt.
“Ace?!” Luffy stumbled to a stop and turned to look back at his brother in confusion.
“Failure?” Ace whispered. His shoulders hunched forward and his ink black hair caked in blood flopped in front of his eyes. “Take back what you just said!” He turned to face Akainu.
The Marine continued to antagonize Ace by slandering Whitebeard’s name and calling him a coward.
Luffy tried to make Ace leave but the older man was unmoveable. That is until he launched forward and tried to punch Akainu. As soon as he touched the other man’s skin he jolted back in pain and clutched his hand. It was burned by the other man’s devil fruit power.
Luffy tried to go after Ace one more time when he fell to his knees. The vivre card that was sown into his hat by Nami what felt like years ago floated to the ground. He reached to pick it up when he heard Ace scream out his name.
“ LUFFY!! ”
The next moments were fuzzy for Luffy. He watched with wide eyes as Ace forced his way in between Luffy and Akainu. In him doing so, the lava fist that was meant for Luffy struck through Ace’s stomach.
Luffy felt like he couldn’t breathe. The heat was suffocating, not the familiar warmth that came from the fire devil fruit. The air was thick from the lava and Luffy could only manage to take shuddered breaths.
There was an uproar once Akainu removed his fist from Ace’s torso. Luffy knew this but he couldn’t hear anything. His ears were ringing as Ace dropped to his knees.
Jimbei stopped Akainu from doing any more damage to Ace and others joined him in keeping the Marine back.
In what seemed like slow motion, Ace slumped forward into Luffy’s arms. He was heavy, basically limp and made of muscles.
“I’m sorry… Luffy...” Ace’s voice was a raspy whisper of what it usually was.
“Ace! We’ve gotta hurry and get you treated-”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t let you save me properly… Please forgive me.”
Luffy’s brain felt like it was beginning to short circuit. “What are you talking about? Don’t say stupid things like that!”
“Nonononononono!”
“It’s no good!” Ace clung to Luffy’s shoulders, “I can tell when my own end has come!” He kept pausing for a moment to pant, “He burned my insides… I’m not coming back from this… So Luffy...” Luffy felt one of Ace’s hands pet the back of his head. “Listen up!”
“What are you talking about? Ace… Are you going to die?” Luffy’s breath began to pick up. “No! No - you promised! You told me, didn’t you ace? You said you wouldn’t die!” He let out a whine and pulled Ace closer to him.
“You can’t die - You can’t -”
The large beads of Ace’s necklace dug into his skin but Luffy continued to clutch at him with all his might.
“You know… If it weren’t for the Sabo thing… and having a little brother like you to look out for… I would have never… even wanted to live...” He buried his face into Luffy’s shoulder and continued to mumble into his ear. “Nobody else wanted me to, after all… So it was only natural.”
“I want you to live. Ace I wanted you to stay alive. You can’t die now. I need you -”
“Oh yeah… If you ever happen to run across Dadan… Could you tell her goodbye from me? It’s weird… Now that I’m about to die… I even feel like I miss that Idiot...” Ace paused for a second. “I just have one regret…”
“I do too...”
“That I won’t be able to see… Your dream come to pass… But I know you. You’ll pull it off for sure! You’re my brother after all...”
“Oh Kami-Sama please no! I can’t lose them both!”
“Just like we promised back then… I have no regrets… About how I lived my life!”
“No! You’re lying!” Luffy reverently denied.
Ace’s breath kept brushed Luffy’s ear as he panted for air. “No… It’s true… It looks like what I really wanted in the end… Wasn’t fame or renown at all… It was an answer to a question… Of whether I should have been born.”
“Yes, yes you should have! I wouldn’t have been able to meet you if You hadn’t!”
“My voice... is getting quiet… Luffy, I want you to listen to what I say now… And tell it to the guys aftwards...”
“ Old man…! All you guys…! And… Luffy… Even though I’ve been a good for nothing my whole life… Even though I carry the blood of a demon within me... ”
“You’re not a demon! You’re not a good for nothing! You blind idiot -”
“ Thank You for loving me!! ”
Luffy felt Ace’s tears soak into his vest and choked back his own tears.
“Please don’t go...” Luffy whispered to himself. Ace had gone limp after his final words and slumped to the side.
Luffy felt nothing in that moment. He looked down at his brother. Blood had dripped from his nose and mouth causing the skin to be stained red. Memories ran through his mind. How their relationship changed so drastically from when they were kids to adults. How his own feelings changed as he got older.
He loved his brother. He was in love with Ace. Luffy wasn’t sure when it happened, but it did. Now it was too late. He was a coward. Unable to confess his sin to anyone. It remained trapped in a seastone prison by his heart.
“WhywhywhywhywhyWHYWHYWHYWHY?! Why did he die for me? Why did he sacrifice himself? Why couldn’t I tell him? Why was I a coward? Why did he have to die? Why am I always alone? Why do you always leave me? Why couldn’t you see how much I love you?Why did you leave me?!”
“N - no… Ace… I love you, no… Nonononono -”
He couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t focus on what as going on. He could hear fighting, but could do nothing to stop it.
“ACE!” Luffy choked out a grotesque sob and crumpled in on himself. His best friend was gone. His brother… His secret… His sin...
He could only think of how heavy Ace was in his arms. What would it have been like if he was alive?
His never to be.