Title: One Life to Live
Author: AppleL0V3R
Beta-reader: N/A
Fandom: Naruto and One Piece
Pairing: Portgas D. Ace and Haruno Sakura
Other Characters: Whitebeard pirates
Summary: He lived. Nothing else mattered, not even how she came to be in the situation. Not even what she sacrificed.
Word Count: 348
Rating: T
Type: One-shot – Complete
Genre: Crossover, Canon-divergent (Naruto), pre-relationship, post-angst
Warnings: Mentions of major character death, spoilers (for both series)
Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.
Started: October 29, 2016
Completed: October 29, 2016
When all was said and done, she never would have believed that she would be the one to choose to keep living. That was not entirely true, she supposed. She had not made a conscious choice not to die—more like she had fought to remain by the side of someone she had come to love. Someone not long buried as they had been. Someone not impurely resurrected with their wills torn away for the sake of some twisted man's bidding. Someone who lived as a legend rather than upheld as a legacy.
It was strange to her.
And yet.
The person she had been in life had never been complete. Had died with regrets. This second chance, no matter how warped, no matter how abhorrent the circumstance, was a second chance all the same.
Staring out across the vastness of the sea, her smile was bittersweet as she realized that those she had buried so long ago were ones she would have to bid farewell to once more. And still she promised herself it was worth it. Returned to the age of her prime with the knowledge of her life, she had made the difference between the life and death of the man who had become so dear to her in such a short time.
She never would have believed, that this was where she would end up. On a ship, surrounded by sea, waiting for the newest and most important addition to her nakama to wake up, to recover, so that their journey may continue.
She wondered if he would ever come to love her, even a little.
The creek of a cabin door being opened drew her attention. The bitterness of her smile faded in the wake of surging relief. He was awake. He was on his feet. His crew greeted him in an uproar of joy and celebration. Their captain was the loudest of the bunch with his deep voice and large stature.
She watched as he was swarmed and hoisted herself up on the railing to comfortably observe the merriment.
It was enough.