I DON'T OWN ANYTHING OTHER THEN MY FEELINGS.
"I didn't understand."
Luffy said suddenly, gathering everyone's attention, his tone unusually serious.
"I still don't, not really."
He continued, frowning from his seat on top of the lion figurehead of their beloved ship. It was Robin that questioned him, putting her book down she gracefully walked forward to lean on the railing besides him.
"What don't you understand? We can help Sencho."
"Why they wanted to kill him so bad." Every movement stopped, all the breath left their lungs as they gazed at their captain half elated that and half horror.
"It's um, he was a pirate…?"
"No, they announced who his father was." Luffy stated, "They didn't kill him cause he was a pirate, they killed him cause his blood."
"Luffy, sometimes people fear-"
"They didn't even know him!" His voice rose cutting off Nami's calm voice and rising to stand, brushing off Robin's outstretched hand.
"They didn't know him but they still thought he was a monster! But my Aniki wasn't a monster!" He all but shouted his face turning red.
"Ace- Ace was Ace. He was the one that taught me how to fight, and even though he didn't really know how he made sure to learn how to read and write and count so he could teach me even if I was really bad at being teached. During winter he'd always give me more blankets, and if I was still cold he'd make a fire and sleep with me too. He chased nightmare-san away, and protected me. He use to get really angry at the kids from the village that made fun of me! And-And he took classes with Makino so he'd be polite so he could Thanks Shanks for taking care of me for a year. And he stood up to Jiji for me!" He shouted, looking heartbroken, loving, and enraged all at once.
"All for me…" he whispered brokenly.
"And they- the marines reduce him to Son of the Pirate King. They didn't care that Ace hated his father or that it took me forever to make even begin to like himself, and they took it all away with just a few words. And I can hear the people, they talked about it. How I'm Garp the Heros grandson and that I probably have stock-stuck- shuckhome syndrome and that Ace probably hurt me a lot to make me say I was his brother. And that's- that's how the world is going to remember him… as a monster…a demon…"
Luffy sucked in a deep breath ignoring the stream of tears that slide down his face and how tight his throat felt.
"And nothing but the Son of the Pirate King."
The Thousand Sunny went silent, the crew gazed at their broken captain unsure how to respond, how to make it better, because as stupid as Luffy could be they knew he was right about this.
"But Luffy-kun, the winners are the ones that write the books." Robin told him, and almost as one the entire crew came to him.
"We'll just have to make sure we are victorious." Zoro told him.
"Great more pressure." Usopp mumbled, "We could make him a king…"
The world will remember Fire Fist as the brother and pirate he was and not- not what the marines made him."
Some years after the rise and fall of the second pirate king and the rebuilding of the world government (probably handled by Sabo and Colby cause I only trust them not to mess it up)
"And class can anyone name this man?" a young woman asked from the front of the class room, her dark blue hair cascading down her back as she gazed at the twenty students before her.
"That's Fire-Fist Ace! He was the older brother to the second pirate king!"
"He was one of whitebeards commanders!" a young boy exclaimed nearly jumping from his seat, his long bush blond hair held back by rubber bands.
"Can you tell me anything else about him?"
"No Mrs. Harrson."
"This young man is the turning point of the government, his death caused a chain reaction which led to the revolution of the world government, the rise of commander Colby, they re-found knowledge of the Ohara and void century, and… can anyone take a guess?"
"He changed the world." A boy with messy inky black hair announced from the back of the classroom, a large grin took up half his face as a straw-hat hid his eyes.
"That's right Luffy-Kun."