"Straw Hat Luffy." Hawkeye's face was expressionless, wearing his usual mask. "I wanted to meet with you once before I left."

"You're leaving?" Luffy said, frowning. "Why?"

"I refuse to do what the Marine's have asked of me, so I do not see that it would be appropriate for me to remain at Marineford at the moment." Hawkeye wasn't exactly ignoring Hancock and Garp, he wasn't showing them disregard in any manner, but his eyes never left Luffy and Luffy in turn did not look away from him.

"What did they ask? You're allies with the Marine's aren't you? Can you really refuse like that and keep being a Shichibukai?" Luffy remembered how Hancock's initial refusal to come to Marineford had angered the old lady and she had mentioned that their country needed the protection of her Shichibukai title….as if it would have been removed if she had not complied.

"No. They won't do that." There was nothing hesitant in Hawkeyes words. His strength, determination, and freedom from the Marines was making Luffy start to like him a little more.

"What did they ask, though?" Luffy repeated. Hancock listened intently. It was odd for Hawkeye to be this social or rebellious against the Marines….

"I don't have any wish to fight a specific pirate that is coming to Marineford."

"A pirate? Coming to Marineford?" Luffy's eyes widened in disbelief and he sat up straighter.

"You are probably unaware…" his eyes narrowed, "that yet another war is upon Marineford."

"What?!" Luffy looked from his grandfather to Hancock before returning his attention to Hawkeye. "Who? WHY?!" the sheets twisted in his grasp.

"A friend of mine, but he is also a close friend of yours."

"Someone we both know?" nothing came to mind except perhaps Zoro, but that didn't make any sense.

"Shanks is going to attack Marineford within days from now."

There was a prolonged pause.

"SHANKS?!" Luffy cried in disbelief, but smiled, overjoyed. "Really? But…but why would he attack Marineford?" Luffy's smile turned into a frown of confusion. "He's not one to pick fights…." The memory of a specific bandit flashed through his mind.

"For you." Hawkeye watched Luffy's dumbfounded expression, leaving his words to linger in the silence, before turning to leave.

"Wait! Hawkeye!" Luffy tugged at the cuff and glared at it in frustration. He watched as Hawkeye neared the door, without any signs of stopping. "Why? Why would he? Please tell me!"

"I do not believe that is for me to tell you." Hawkeye didn't stop. "Farewell Straw Hat Luffy." His presence left the room, but the heavy atmosphere was sustained by Luffy.

"What is he talking about?" Luffy's beseeching eyes burned into those who remained in the room. "Why didn't you tell me about any of this?"

"Luffy…" Hawkeye began shyly. "I..I…There wasn't…it hadn't really come up….I didn't think of it…" her incoherent word's meaning was held by her contrite eyes. Luffy looked to his grandfather.

The old man stared sternly at his grandson. "She's right. 'It hadn't really come up' as of yet…I would've told you eventually."

"But why? Why would he? To save me?" Luffy looked away from his grandfather. "It just doesn't seem….like the reason. He wouldn't do this for something so minor as my being captured…maybe if I was going to die…but…" his voice dulled to a mere muttering and he stopped. "Wait…am I going to be executed…like Ace was going to be?" he looked at his grandfather again.

"No." Garp's expression hardened.

"Why?"

"You're just not. But Red Hair is coming because you died." Garp avoided the subject and plunged into the heart of the matter. "The world thinks you're dead Luffy."

****

The night before…

"Damn it…!" Moria was shaken by a hacking cough and his continuous string of curses was ended for a moment. His body was rigid and then shook as he gasped, his mind continuing to slip between consciousness and darkness.

Doflamingo was both irritated at the disappointing display that had been given by Moria's last moments of consciousness, but he also smiled.

"It's not all that bad…." He said to himself, and then he knelt down. "I'll wait for the next fight. Make sure it's a little more fun."

Moria's eyes sparked with fury but dulled as he lost consciousness.

"Good." Doflamingo stood, his grin deepening. "Get angry." He cackled and the sound continued to ring as dust filtered from the crumbling ruins of the jail cells in the deepest and most forsaken realms of Marinford. "I wonder if anyone wanders into this part of Marineford." the pink feathers rustled as he stretched his arms above his head. "He'll be down here for a while."

****

"What do you mean?" Luffy's lack of volume in his voice startled Garp, but he was put at ease as his grandson's naturally loud and blunt personality revealed itself. "How could I be dead? Why would they think that?" Garp opened his mouth to try and explain and Hancock started to cajole him into quieting, but he continued. "My nakama all think I'm dead?" Luffy was horrified. "How can I meet up with them if they aren't looking for me? What…"

"LUFFY!"

Garp's voice seemed to almost shake the building, and it managed to quiet Luffy. "Shut up and let me speak, brat." Garp growled. When there weren't signs of Luffy attempting to continue, Garp began to explain the conditions that would exist in the absence of having an execution and he went over the details of how Luffy had fallen into the water and the pirates that had survived and escaped when Ace was saved would be able to dispel any doubts about his being dead. When Garp had finished, Luffy was gritting his teeth in frustration.

"I don't like it." Luffy murmured. Hancock noticed how upset he was but couldn't think of anything to do, so she didn't speak and stared at her lap, also frustrated.

"So what if they think you're dead?" Luffy looked at his grandfather out of the corner of his eye and Garp had his arms crossed and was leaning against the wall close to a window.

"What do you mean?" Silence weighed on them for a moment.

"My crew thinks I'm dead! That we no longer exist as pirates!" Luffy shouted, frustrated. "How can we all come together again if they believe there is nothing left? I don't know if they would continue being pirates if I died…they all have very different dreams…" Luffy bit his lip and stared at the bleached sheets in his fist. "My nakama that I've made up until now…every one of them is hurting for no reason."

Garp flinched. Luffy looked so desolate in his eyes. Hancock tried to reassure him by touching his shoulder, but she removed it when her hand felt no response.

"Luffy…" she said, concerned wide eyes searching his which were turned away from her.

"That just means I have to trust them." Luffy said suddenly. "They'll know I'm alive…and I'll just have to go to them as soon as possible." He looked at his grandfather. "It'll be fine." He smiled, but it held some remnants of doubt. "It should be." He whispered.