Holiday stood upon the deck of the Tirus with several of his comrades and their assistants. OK Ori's awakening was as breath-taking as it was terrifying. Lava shot up to tag the top of the caldera's walls as ash billowed into the air. It was fully active now despite Jane's demise. Perhaps it was never truly extinct like they thought and had merely been sleeping until she kicked it awake?
From the corner of his eye he caught the flutter of black wings and turned to regard the incoming bird. A raven glided down to the deck then hovered for a second next to him. With a flurry of black feathers, the bird grew large, furry tan hands replaced slick black feather wings, claw feet became boots and thick legs, and the wicked beak retracted as long rabbit ears sprouted from the side of the head.
"Hello, Briar," said Holiday. "Cutting it kind of close, don't you think?"
"Timothy tricked us," said Briar. He sounded more amused rather than annoyed.
Holiday raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"He had full awareness and chose to help his comrades in the end. He drove the other failures into the fires and held the door against their return so the revolutionaries could escape."
Holiday stroked the short beard on his chin as he thought. "Well that's an improvement."
"One would say that it is an argument in favor of us successfully summoning the soul of the dead back to this plane of existence. A pity the body was still a failure, though," said Briar with a sad smile.
"We've been set back a bit, haven't we?" said Holiday.
The smile faded when Briar turned to stare at the island. "We just have to start over again. Though, we might have to forego any further resurrection experiments. Just when we made such a significant breakthrough, too. We'll just focus on the super soldier serum. Where is Mary, by the way? I didn't see her on the deck of the ship."
"She's dead," replied Holiday in a flat tone.
For the first time, Briar was dumbfounded. "How unfortunate," he said after a minute of working in jaw as he struggled to find the words to express his feelings. "This may be the end for our group now. How can we possibly continue with anything? The chalice and the egg were lost and now the means to create the basis for our super soldier serum. We no longer have the means to complete any of our work."
Holiday smiled. Briar was usually so confident, seeing the rabbit get flustered was a special treat. He shifted a bag he was carrying to the front and opened it, removing the large syringe of blood he had pulled from Fire Fist Ace. "Not necessarily," he said with a grin. "I was able to salvage Mary's final work."
Briar stared in wonder at the syringe. "Is this…?" he whispered and went to touch it but withdrew his hand before he made contact.
Holiday returned it to the chilled bag and replied, "I pulled it straight from that pirate just after Mary was killed. He was deep in the throes of rejection, those poor fools probably don't even realize that medicine that boosts the immune system will only make the symptoms worse."
"They probably didn't realize it was rejection that he was suffering from," said Briar. The rabbit thought for a moment then asked, "Did they escape?"
Holiday shrugged. "I was pretty certain they got trapped in the building, but I did tip off those revolutionaries about the pirates' plight. They were chasing me through the halls and I didn't know if I could escape them and the island. So I told them about the pirates to see what they would do. If they didn't care I was no worse off but if they did… Well Sabo suddenly became conflicted and took off to go rescue them with his little ninja girl. The other two kept chasing but neither had the ability to capture me once the ninja left. I was able to out run them and they chose to head back to their ship rather than pursue me toward the harbor."
Briar's ears twitched then said, "If Fire Fist resurfaces we'll know that they both escaped. I certainly hope we hear from them soon."
"Why?"
Briar's smile was laced with poison and dark humor. "Because, Fire Fist was exposed to a virus whose purpose is to inject itself into the cells of its host and become one with it. It also captures the genes of whatever it interacts with and replicates itself and those captured genes. Mary infected him to capture the Flame Flame Fruit's fire ability. If he survives his infection the virus will still be slumbering in his body. After all, the virus went and merged with him. He probably will continue to produce it even after his symptoms are gone."
Holiday grinned. "A carrier, huh? A new source for this virus now that Mary is gone."
Briar glanced back at the burning island. "If he is ever captured, we'll need to petition the government that he be moved to our new facility. Letting him languish in Impel Down or worse executing him would be a waste of a rare resource."
"I wonder if that virus really did acquire the Flame Flame Fruit's abilities."
"If it did, that alone would be a boon to our super soldier project. Imagine an army of Marines that can control fire," said Briar with a grin. "That renegade scientist, Judge, altered his own children with devil fruit genes. Those children are terrifying soldiers with superhuman abilities and posses special elemental powers they can evoke without any special equipment. So an army of Marines doing the same thing would make the World Government the greatest power in the world. Which is what they want and why our projects get funded."
"A pity about the chalice and the egg, though," said Holiday with a sigh. "The fire ability is a great prize but without the dragon it becomes a poor consolation prize. The Pacifistas that Vegapunk is working on will get all the attention because it will have everything they want in a super soldier, and weapon, while ours can't get past the rejection stage."
"Not necessarily," said a voice from behind the two.
Briar and Holiday turned and there was Ringo holding the two items whose loss they were just lamenting. They stared in shock.
"It was a close call, but I retrieved them. Everything else can be replicated from notes and memory, but the Holy Grail and the Egg of the Sky Dragon King cannot. We acquired these by a stroke of luck, we'll never have another shot at such prizes if let them be destroyed."
"Indeed," said Holiday with a laugh.
"Well done, though I imagine with the loss of the island the World Government will still focus more on Vegapunk's cyborg weapons. However, with these three keys our time will come." Briar turned back to regard the destruction of the island. "Maybe that in itself is a blessing. Dragon will think we've been thwarted and not pursue us and we can work in peace. Not until we are ready will anyone know what we have made. The Revolutionary Army will never know what hit them."
"What in the world did you do, Sabo?" exclaimed the captain of the Icarus as the young man climbed aboard. The gray of predawn was on the eastern horizon. Behind them the island burned and billowed ash into the sky.
"You know, this time, it really wasn't my fault," said Sabo as he sank down onto the deck, giving into his exhaustion.
The captain sighed and asked, "And Timothy?" Sabo sat in silence, not sure how to vocalize what had happened. Koala spoke up instead.
"We found him. However, he was used as part of experiment that ultimately proved fatal to him. He chose to use the last of his life to help us escape. He was grateful we came. It allowed him to pass on the information he had failed to before as well as information he had learned after he was captured." Koala narrowed her eyes and finished, "It was not a wasted trip."
The captain bowed his head and whispered, "Good man." After a moment of silence the captain continued, "We best head back to Baltigo, then. We have everything we could claim from this island."
"Not everything," said Sabo. The captain turned to regard the young man. "Holiday still escaped and we learned he was not even the worst one there."
The captain walked over and patted the young man on his shoulder. "Rest, Sabo. You've done enough. This is probably the one time that your pension for absolute destruction was a good thing. It surely set them back and we rescued all the people who needed rescuing that could be rescued. You did well, Chief."
Sabo glanced at the old vet and pursed his lips. "Aren't you being presumptuous there, Captain?"
The captain grinned and said, "Perhaps, but I can't see anyone more suited to the role than you. You have instincts and vision, Dragon's right hand will need that in the years to come."
"I think you're reading too much into things," said Sabo. He rose and walked to the stern of the ship. Once there, he stared up at the stars. His heart hurt. His mind felt like it was riding a spinning top and he could barely make sense of anything. Images of that young pirate kept flitting through his head, though, he didn't know why. Voices calling from across the sea, echoed in his ears, though, he could not understand a single word that was spoken nor see the faces of the speakers. He stared at the stars letting the wind tousle his hair, trying to clear his mind of the whirling thoughts that plagued him.
Sabo needed to forget that pirate. He wasn't anything to him. He had repaid his debt. They were even. He had even risked his life to save the man from that fall when his incompetent companion had dropped him.
Sabo didn't understand why he had done that. If not for Akatsuki's quick responses, he would have died right along with the ailing pirate.
Sabo had watched the young man slip from the big pirate's back and he had just moved without thinking, leaping over the railing and reaching out to grab his wrist. Akatsuki had thrown a second rope, (that woman was prepared for everything), one end she expertly wrapped around his up raised wrist while the second had looped around the railing above. It had been the only thing that had prevented the two men from plunging into the lava below.
Why had he done that? Why?
In that moment, Sabo had felt a fear as great as if his own life were at stake. As if he was the one about to die. He had just leapt. He had just suddenly been flying down toward the falling man.
Why?
Sabo's heart beat another painful beat and the last image he had of the man floated before his mind's eye. When he had cleared the rock barrier, before Koala had steered their ship toward the gap, he had looked back. The ailing young man had been staring at him with tears streaming down his cheeks, his hand outstretched toward him, his mouth forming the word, "Why?"
Sabo closed his eyes and felt something warm slide down both cheeks. Tears. He was crying. Why? Why did thinking about that man make him so sad? Why did he have to save him? Why did he care about him?
Sabo gripped the railing of the ship, his face turned down toward the ocean waves that kissed the rudder and wept like his heart would break and he couldn't even begin to understand his own sudden heartache. Which made his chest hurt all the more.
Why?
Ace's return to the waking world was lined with variants of that one question.
Why?
Why had Sabo not said anything to him? Why did Sabo leave without even looking at him? Why had Sabo been so distant and cold? Why was Sabo even there?
Memories danced through his hazy mind, images of the past when he had Sabo had scrounged for money and resources in Gray Terminal. The time they had built the tree house with Luffy after swearing to be brothers forever. And the memory of the day Sabo offered himself up to his father to save Ace and Luffy. The very last time either boy would see Sabo alive. A few days later, Dabo told them the terrible news, that Sabo had been killed while trying to escape the island on a stolen fishing boat. The letter he had written and sent to Ace just hours before his demise, arriving the day after with the promise to meet on the open sea someday. A promise that could never be fulfilled.
Eight years after his death, suddenly Sabo was there, but he hadn't tried to speak to Ace. He had been a stranger to him. Why? What had happened to his brother? Why was he so cold to Ace? Did he blame Ace for not saving him when his father forced him to return home? For not understanding that sometimes having parents wasn't a good thing? Why?
Ace opened his eyes and the familiar ceiling of the cabin aboard the Moby Dick greeted him. Ace briefly wondered if the whole thing had been a terrible dream. That Typhoid Mary had never appeared on the Moby Dick and that Sabo really was dead.
Then a face appeared in his view. Long fawn brown hair and too serious green eyes stared down into his. "You are awake, Ace-kun," stated Guinevere, dashing Ace's hopes that the whole adventure on OK Ori Island was just a figment of his imagination.
"What happened?" he asked as he tried to sort out his feeling of renewed grief that threatened to turn him into a weeping mess.
"We escaped, but you were getting worse. Rory struggled to stabilize you as we rushed back to your ship. He gave you medicine to bring down your fever but dared nothing else. Fortunately, it seems this White Beard was worried about you as well. He was closer than anyone had expected. At noon that same day, we spotted the Moby Dick. Your stricken shipmates were recovering.
"Once you were onboard, the doctor examined and determined the virus was gone, but that your body was overreacting to the infection and was now attacking you that was why you weren't getting any better. They gave you a drug to suppress your immune system and ordered everyone to stay out of your cabin since you were now vulnerable to secondary infections. Things were made worse when you again started coughing blood and needed a transfusion. It seems your blood is a rare type and no one on the ship could donate."
Ace looked at her confused, much of her explanation of his health woes going over his head, but he understood the last part. "Then how?"
"I offered mine and it was a match," replied Guinevere.
Ace, startled by her blunt admission, asked, "Why? You didn't have to do that. No one would have asked you to. You took us to Mary even when you had a ship to escape on. You fulfilled your promise. So why?"
She placed a hand on his cheek and said, "I wanted to. Besides, you seem special. I look into your eyes and I feel like I am seeing a little brother. Your eyes are so… mesmerizing."
Ace felt himself squirm under her gaze. Her green eyes glittered like two emeralds and appeared, for a brief moment, like something other than human, something ancient and terrifying. She blinked and they were ordinary green human eyes.
"The doctor only cleared you yesterday," she continued and Ace breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Though, you were not yet awake. That is why I am not wearing a mask right now. Your vitality is surprisingly strong for a human. I fear anyone else would have died."
Ace felt the corner of his mouth twitch upward. "Guess I was lucky, huh."
Guinevere stared at him for another uncomfortable moment then shrugged and turned away. Ace heaved another sigh of relief to be out from under her gaze. He looked over to the bedside and saw a vase with a single red hibiscus flower in it.
Ace struggled to sit up, he had never felt so weak before in his life, and Guinevere helped him into a sitting position. She adjusted the pillows of his bed so that he could lean against them. Settled, he glanced over at the flower again then reached out to it.
"What's this?" asked Ace. He pulled the flower from the vase and brought it closer to examine. The scent was strangely nostalgic and comforting while at the same time, sad.
"Rory brought it in this morning," replied Guinevere. "I thought it a lovely gesture. Especially when he explained that he thought it would be a comfort for you, since it was your mother's favorite flower."
Ace froze. Rory had known his mother? Suddenly a whole lot of behaviors made sense to Ace. If Rory had loved his mother, Rouge, he must have been hurt when she chose Roger. He would naturally be un-accepting of his rival's son. If Ace's mother had lived Rory might have been able to overcome those feelings for Rouge's sake. However, Rouge had died to bring Ace into this world. The son of a love rival that had killed the woman Rory loved, yes, Ace could see why Rory hated him.
But this flower…
A peace offering?
Ace sniffed the flower's fragrance letting the feeling of warmth and sorrow fill him. His mother must have worn it when he was born. He had breathed it in as a newborn baby during that precious hour when his mother had held him and loved him. And she had worn it as she died, her heart giving out from the massive effort to arrest her unborn child's growth so that the Marines would not find him. Her life spent to give him his.
Tears slid down his cheeks. Ace hated that he was crying, but Guinevere made no comment, she just let him mourn his mother. As his sorrow spilled forth a new grief rose in him. The image of his lost brother appeared again like a specter.
Clutching the stem of the hibiscus he whispered, "You know, I thought I saw my brother on OK Ori Island. The one that was killed eight years ago. He was right there within arm's reach yet I couldn't touch him. I couldn't speak to him."
Guinevere was silent for a moment then leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Ace's shoulders. "Maybe he was," she said. "You were so close to death. Maybe he came to make sure you would be all right. I imagine you may have worried your mother as well."
Ace grinned as tears continued to slide down his face and into his hands. "Yeah, that's probably it." Sabo wouldn't have ignored me. That man just looked like him a little. I was hallucinating and wanted to believe the impossible.
Ace grimaced as his heart grew heavy. His shoulders shook as he struggled to suppress his sobs. Guinevere stroked his hair and whispered words of comfort into his ears as Ace lost the battle for self control and openly wept in her arms.
Sabo was dead and never coming back. He needed to accept that and not be fooled by look-a-likes. It made reality far too painful if he kept letting himself hope again only to be reminded it wasn't so.