Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, only my ideas
"Lu… Luffy!" Ace hugged his brother tightly, trying to catch any sign of a breath from his mouth. But it proved futile to hear something so soft in the turmoil of war.
He hoped that all this was unreal, just a horrible, terrible dream. He even wished he were still behind the Sea Stone bars of Impel Down. Even that would be better than this. If only he had been faster, he could have prevented Akainu…
A deep loathing for the Marine Admiral settled in his chest. It was hot, like the heat of flames he had been susceptible to before he obtained his Devil Fruit. He couldn't stand it; his hands itched to beat the crap out of Akainu for what he'd done.
A reassuring hand rested on his shoulder. Tearing his gaze from Luffy's face, he saw Marco sadly staring down at him.
"Ace… We have to go, now's our only chance, yoi."
"No!" He shouted, tears streaming from his eyes. I'm going to kick that b*stard's *ss for what he did!"
Marco shook his head.
"Listen, yoi, if we don't leave now, we'll probably never escape. After the shock over Straw Ha—"
"Luffy."
"—Luffy's sacrifice, we have the opportunity to go before it's too late yoi."
"No." Ace objected stubbornly.
"Ace, he's dead and there's nothing you can do about that, yoi."
"No, no, no… Luffy can't be dead. He's too strong… he, he isn't even Pirate King yet!"
Marco sighed and tightened his grip on Ace's shoulder. He turned around, locking eyes with the captain of the Moby Dick, Whitebeard. With a nod, he looked away.
The earth split. People cried in shock and terror. Quickly, Marco transformed into his phoenix form and grabbed Ace with his talons. He flew towards their ship, dropping his luggage onto the deck when he reached it. Immediately, Ace was swarmed with hugs and tears by his fellow crewmembers.
"Wait, Marco! Let me go back! Luffy's still there, I can't leave him!" Ace called to the other desperately, eyes wide and pleading.
It was painful, but Marco decided to ignore the Second Division Commander and begin to prepare the ship for departure. As soon as the Captain arrived, they'd be off.
If Ace wanted to go back on his own, he'd personally chain Sea Stone cuffs to his wrists then tie him to the mast, no matter how cruel it was. None of them wanted to lose Ace again.
{II}
"You didn't have to kill him."
"I did what was right, you should understand that, Garp."
Garp's fists shook with anger. "You didn't have to kill him."
Akainu adjusted his cap and responded with indifference. "What are Marines if they cannot uphold justice? We were trained to rid the seas of pirates and that's what I will do."
"But why Luffy?"
Akainu slid his gaze sideways to stare at his companion through narrowed eyes. "Just because he's your grandson does not make him different from other pirates, I don't give special privileges."
Garp wanted to punch the man in his face. But he didn't—Akainu was right, not matter how much he didn't want to admit it. He knew better. He was a Marine, his son was a Revolutionary, and his grandson was a pirate. One wrong move and who knew what would happen. Of course, one punch wasn't that bad. It wasn't like he was out for revenge or murder. Well maybe he was, but no one needed to know that.
Silently, Akainu walked away. Garp let him go. He didn't want to be in the other's presence any longer, it had been stifling enough already. For now, he'd have to regroup his subordinates, count how many casualties and injuries there were then report to HQ. Not that much of the headquarters was left.
He knew Coby would be devastated, maybe even Helmeppo. He was almost worried about talking to Coby face-to-face. But he threw his apprehension out of the metaphorical window and began to head towards nowhere in particular. For now, he just wanted to think. And possibly cry, but he'd do that away from prying eyes.
{II}
Law sat along the railing of the bow of his ship, taking in the destruction of the war. Marineford had been split in half by Whitebeard's Devil Fruit while the Marines recovering from the explosion were boarding their ships and beginning to leave the site.
On the other side of the island, a ship with the Red Hair pirates' Jolly Roger was docked. Shanks himself had come and ended the war, a move that Law had to give a bit of respect to. It was quite the feat. Not that it really mattered in the end, war stopped whenever one side lost. And it was in his interests not to be on the losing side.
Which was partially why he was here—to collect some hearts. He expected there to be at least five good ones in this batch. Lowly Marines or pirates didn't count, what would be the fun in that? The other reason was to fetch a certain someone, but that could wait a little longer, he was too busy searching for powerful pirates struck down amidst the war.
Suddenly, movement caught the corner of his eye pulled his attention away from the battlefield.
Garp the Fist was standing on a ledge, looking down. As Law drew in closer, he noticed a small body lying abandoned on the ground. Blood pooled from under a large wound and the clothes had been torn and stained so badly, that you couldn't tell what color it was originally. But the straw hat swaying gently in the breeze was unmistakable.
Slowly, Garp bowed his head and walked away without a backwards glance.
Was he too late?
A/N: Thanks for all the favs/follows/reviews! Seriously, you guys are awesome. By the way, I'm not making these chapters extremely long, I hope you don't mind.
To all readers who think Luffy's dead: I must not reveal secrets.
ID: I know that a person can't have the power of 2 Devil Fruits, but when Luffy made a wish, I decided that the fruit was a sort of gift from the gods so it allowed him to have 2. If it were any other one that he happened to come across during his adventures, something bad would happen
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