Ace was tied up, sitting cross-legged on the ground. His head was down, his eyes downcast. But he had a job to do. He raised his head, and spoke.
"It's all my fault!" the freckled teen yelled, bringing the Admirals' attention to himself. "Nothing would've happened if I hadn't been born! Lu wouldn't have died, Jinbei and Thatch wouldn't've gotten captured, and Sabo wouldn't have his scar! I'm just a curse! I don't deserve to live." Maybe if he died, then his family would be happy, his eyes said.
Instead of giving up and waiting for his funeral, he stood up and even with the chains, in a feat of strength, he disarmed the executioners, taking one of their swords as they dropped to the ground, and held it to his throat.
While he did so, one of the Admirals mentally smirked. It was all going to plan.
•••
Luffy breathed in the ocean air, taking in the salty scent and cleansing her nostrils of the stench of the prison. She looked down at her arm, seeing her skin blackened and indented where Blackbeard had grabbed her. She covered it with her sleeve; she was in her Monkey D. Luffy form, and wore a trench coat with several pockets of needless things that she had collected over the years.
She walked over to Jinbei, who was bandaged on the bigger wounds and was being prepared to have Chopper treat him; he was already washed, and now he was just resting. Crocodile was looking at the sea, seemingly already used to the light. Buggy was charming the prisoners, and the ships behind them were rowdy as the groups partied with the Marine's booze for their freedom. She didn't bother to stop them; she knew that they were hammered, but she would tell them to quit before it got too bad.
"Where's Bon Clay?" she asked Ivankov, walking up to him.
"He's already at Marineford."'
"Good." There was a pause as they both looked out at the water.
"VYou know," Ivankov said softly, "your father really does love you." Luffy remained silent. "He's worried, but he knows vyou'll be able to do it."
"I know," she sighed, resting her chin in one hand, the other one tracing the nicks and grooves in the wood. "But what if I can't do it? I feel like I have to save Ace, like I have to help them. If I can't do this, I can't protect my crew, and then what kind of captain am I? What if I'm not doing the right thing?"
"VYou know this isn't everything…"
"It feels like it to me."
"Hey, even if you fail, vI'm alive. They're alive."
She laughed. "That's not much of a comfort, but… thanks." As soon as the prison was out of sight, she squared her shoulders and picked up a Den-Den Mushi, bringing the receiver up to her mouth. "Are you guys close to the field?" Her crew affirmed her sentence, and she smiled, before shouting, "Are you all ready?"
"Yeah!" everyone on her ship roared.
"Then let's save Ace!"
•••
Sabo stood on the deck, watching as the glow of the rooms faded when the pirates turned off their lamps. Their ship continued to rose, nothing hindering it. Pops was in his room, likely sneaking in some booze, and the rest of them were having at it with a pillow fight. (It was amazing how ridiculously immature they were, and how competitive they consistently were.)
Sabo had tried to talk to Luffy. He mentioned how he had lived back on Goa Island, Ace and his treehouse, but nothing happened. She just looked weirded out and quickly left. Maybe Dragon lied? No, he wouldn't, not about something this important. Nothing trigged any response within her, so far, so maybe it was just a strong thing? Maybe it wasn't natural amnesia?
He'd figure it out. But for now, he'd wait.
He made his way inside, and rested on his cot, looking up at the bunk above him, where Ace as supposed to stay. He clenched his fist. Ace, we're getting you back. No matter what.
•••
Sengoku looked at the water, ignoring the spectacle next to him. The ship was rising… he prepared for them to shoot, and immediately ordered into the Den-Den, "To arms!" Everyone below them got their weapons ready, guns locked and aimed and swords raised.
He gaped as the boat, seemingly empty, rose above the water. He looked around at his fellow admirals, just to see Ace plunge the sword into his shoulder. Sengoku could see the metal coming out the other side as the pirate collapsed, gushing blood, and as the other admirals looked on calmly. What was happening?! Was the pirate crazy? But no, he thought, that wasn't just it. He looked at the horizon. There was another ship coming.
"Prepare yourself!" Sengoku shouted. "This is a trick! There's a fleet approaching!"
•••
Law watched the screen interestedly, deep in thought. There was no way Ace did that on his own… there had to be some ulterior motive. He looked closer where Ace had collapsed. If he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't've noticed. The man had a Transponder Snail on him. On its own, it wasn't out of the ordinary. But at the prison, they were always confiscated. And there was no way that it would've gone unnoticed on such a high-security prisoner.
He heard Sengoku make his announcement, and instinctively sat up to see the water as the cameras pointed towards it. Seeing the Pirate flag, Law smirked. It appeared that he may have to go up sooner than planned.
Let's see what you do… Luffy-ya…
•••
Responding to reviews:
User: Littlest1 —chapter 6—
Yes to the prequel
Sabo/Law
I assume you mean Luffy/Sabo or Luffy/Law? Or do you mean that actual ship Sabo/Law?
User: black moon inu —chapter 6—
Ok so first I want to say I love the story so far. At first when you were doing Impel in this chapter I was a little confused with all the Luffy's but I figured it out. I don't want Ace to die but i could live with it also, so long as you made sure he and Luffy know about each other before hand. As far a pairings go my favorites are LAW! and Marco, I could even live with Shanks or Smoker. If you can't tell I love pairing Luffy up with lots of people and that's not even half of them, they are all guys though. Is it sad that even if you go with Law, Marco,or any of the others I'll feel sad that she didn't get with at least one of the others as well?
Thanks! Yeah, it was kinda confusing… Well, Ace knows about Luffy, (as did Sabo,) but he thinks she died, whereas Sabo knows she's alive. And Luffy doesn't know about either of them other than they're part of the Whitebeard crew. I'm in pretty much the same boat; I love shipping him with males. The only female I've ever shipped him with is Robin, other than that one time I got interested in Vivi/Luffy stories, mostly to see how the situation worked, since she's such a sweet character.
It's not sad, but keep in mind that even if Luffy gets with someone, that doesn't mean she can't get with someone else later; relationships aren't easy. In fact, if I make a sequel, as a side part she might break up with one of them and get with another. I honestly don't know; I'm planning to wing it, relationship-wise.
User: F.A.M.4Life —chapter 6—
First of all thanks for the update if you are going to kill ace, it would be a great chance for her to recover her memory, if not then you can make it so she regains a bit and after the war she spends some time with ace and sabo. Either way great chapter looking for to whats next and good luck on your midterms. As for the prequel yes though I prefer you focus on this first.
That's true; it would make her memory-thing simple, but the thing is, I think that'll be too easy. However, that gave me an idea (thanks, by the way,) which I will incorporate into the story. And when she does them back, (or even if she doesn't,) I'm planning on having her hang out with the rest of ASL. Oh, and for the prequel, I wouldn't post it yet; you guys don't even know her Akuma no Mi yet; it would be ridiculous for me to start it now. Good point. Oh, and thanks for the luck! I need(ed) it. :D (It's still going, however some of mine are done.)
User: Nala1220 —chapter 6—
Lol, seriously, Garp? Why does his ideas always sounds so ridiculous? Marriage? Ugh no way! My dear Luffy's too cute for marriage with one of the marines! (hope Ace and Sabo go into overprotective mode for those men who's trying to get Luffy~bwahahahaha~) It's a bit confusing with the whole Mythical Zoans and Mythical Fruits things, but oh well. I think things are about to get super interesting! yay! I can't wait to see how will the whole rescue gone~or who would Luffy save and bring with her! I like the surprises even the temptation of some spoiler is huge lol As always, thanks for the amazing update.
In case you didn't know, I always look forward to your comments. You ask great questions, give me reactions, and general feedback.
For the whole marriage thingy, I explained it in the chapter before, but in case you didn't read that, the summary is that if she gets married and her husband likes her, he figures that the spouse will stick up for her. Yeah, I love Overprotective!Ace/Sabo too, but first Ace actually has to figure out that she's still alive, and Sabo has to talk to her without her being really confused, like "what the hell are you talking about" type of thing, and I don't see that happening any time soon.
Let me see if I can clear up the Zoans vs. Fruit thing. There are Mythical Zoans, Mythical Paramecia (is Paramecia also a plural?), and Mythical Logias. Those are all subcategories of a Mythical Fruit. Not telling you how, but somehow the Mythical Fruit was made by combining ("breeding") all three of them, and one of the characters that's only been mentioned once has a Mythical Fruit.
User: Guest (Guest) —chapter 6—
PLEASE don't kill ace
*smirks* We'll see…
User: Alsheon —chapter 6—
Don't kill ace!
Also about the pairing… Why not make it rather harem? No, not that shitty kind of harem.. But the kind of the boys is chasing after the girl, and the girl is stubbornly oblivious
Trust me, Luffy will be extremely oblivious. Not like the "shitty" harem type of oblivious ("what is this feeling I'm getting? Am I sick? Why is my face hot? Oh no, I have no idea what the heck this is?") type of thing, just like (boy: "I like you!" Lu: "Oh. I like you too. Let's be good friends from now on, okay?") I don't know about a conscious harem where they are all each others enemies, but instead they don't know about their rivals.
And, as I said, the romance'll be slow-going. Once they figure it out, and that _ likes her, they will try to go after her more, but at the same time stay inconspicuous. It won't be like "Hey, do you want my lunch?" "What about mine?" "Pick one!" because, honestly, Lu would just steal all of them. She needs a lot of time to get away from her oblivious side and me open to that, because she's a very asexual character.
Votes:
Should I kill Ace?
No: 9
Don't care: 0
If/else: 2
Yes:
Who should be with Luffy? (*you can vote for multiple)
Marco: 12
Law: 5
Zoro: 2
Smoker: 2
No pairing: 2
Sabo: 2
Shanks: 2
Thatch: 1
Harem (boys chasing after girl, girl is oblivious): 1
Ace: 1
Kidd: 0
Usopp: 0
Jonathan: -1
Should I make a prequel?
Yes: 3
No: 0
Don't care: 0