Hi, guys! Sorry for posting a bit late today! My excuse? I GOT THE JOURNAL FROM GRAVITY FALLS. OH MY GOSH I AM HAVING THE TIME OF MY LIFE RIGHT NOW.

XD Yeah, I needed to get that off my chest...

Thanks to Mirai Uchiha for the Fav and Follow!

xenocanaan - Heh heh...heh...heh...well, you'll have to wait and see...

chaosrin - She might be able to, actually, if she knew everything she was capable of. But captains have to look out for their crews, so Luffy wasn't about to let her get hurt.

Anyway, here's the next chapter!

Chapter 132 (or 37) - Fire Strikes the Battlefield

Maria's POV

I grinned triumphantly. We'd gotten Luffy's brother back. Things were going to start to get really interesting.

Us feeing Ace didn't mean that the Marines weren't going to lose focus on their goal of taking Ace out of commission, unfortunately; I saw them aim their cannons up at us with determined expressions.

"Stay alert, you two!" Ace warned. "Can you still fight?"

"Yeah!" Luffy chirped happily.

"Sure can!" I let out a bark of laughter as I slipped off my hoverboard and let it attach to my back before orienting myself so that I'd land on my feet. "Absorbing the fire from that explosion gave me a huge boost!"

Because of the weight of my pretty much purely metal form, I ended up falling faster than the others and hit the ground before the rest of them, causing the stone under my feet to crunch and break apart while creating a crater as a result of the impact.

"Flame Commandment: Fire Pillar!"

FWOOM!

My eyes lit up at the sight of the large pillar of flames that Ace had created, causing an explosion that rolled over the Marines so quickly they weren't able to get out of the way.

I let out a roar of laughter, absorbing some of the flames that licked at me as Ace landed, followed shortly by Luffy and Three, who landed on his face. "Wow! No wonder you're wanted so badly! That's some master-level control right there!"

Ace shot me a grin, then frowned slightly. "You're one of Luffy's crew?"

"Yeah!" Luffy answered for me. "She's a robot!"

"A what?"

"Technically Reploid, but yes." I grinned at the wide-eyed look I got from Ace. "The name's Maria. The Marines called me Fire Staff after we invaded Enies Lobby, but I think they're gonna have to change that now! Especially since I know that my power doesn't come from a Devil Fruit."

Ace's eyes widened further before he grinned widely. "Show me what you've got!"

I laughed again, summoning flames on my arms and shoulders and letting them grow hotter and brighter. "White Flare: 100 Percent!"

The explosion of pure white fire flew out in a shockwave, tendrils of flames rising up and wrapping themselves around Marines and tossing them into others, spreading third-degree burns and destroying their clothes. Some tendrils I directed towards guns and cannons, stopping them from firing and melting the metal in such a way that the weapons sealed themselves shut.

Ace gave me an impressed look as I released my hold on the attack, letting the flames continue to burn only if they'd managed to attach themselves to something flammable. "Pretty good, if it's not a Devil Fruit." He looked over at Luffy. "You know, I never thought I'd be saved by you one day. Thanks, Luffy." He looked back at me. "And you, too."

Luffy laughed, embarrassed at the praise. "It was all because of Maria and Whitebeard and the others helping me!"

"Don't think that you're safe yet!" barked a Marine as he and a number of others leveled rifles at us from different positions around us. "This is your execution ground!"

The guns fired.

I raised a Fire Shield over my head and watched smugly as the bullets bounced off it and my armor with tinny tinks that didn't even leave dents behind. Ace and Luffy didn't even need to defend themselves - the bullets passed right through one and bounced off another, causing Marines to collapse as their own bullets hit them.

"We'll cut you to pieces!" A Marine ran at me, wielding his sword in both hands.

Shing!

I caught the blade with the one hidden in my left arm, then pointed my Buster at him. "Nice try, but no dice. Stun Shot!"

Brrzzzt!

Meanwhile, Ace did a handstand on Luffy's head, forcing him to crouch as a pair of Marines tried to go at him at once, only to slide through Ace's fiery body harmlessly, leaving tracks of flames that soon closed up what could have been wounds.

"He's my brother! Leave him alone!"

Luffy leapt up into a backflip, sending Ace up into the air.

"Fire Fist!"

FWOOM!

A huge fist of flames blasted through the Marines, making me feel a rush of adrenaline. Ace was good - probably better than me at this point - and he was literally in his element right now. I could probably learn a thing or two from him, and maybe figure out a way to mimic some of his techniques.

"Second Gear!" Luffy declared. "Gum Gum...Jet Stamp!"

"Fire Slash!" I spun, swinging my left arm and sending a wave of flames at a group of Marines ahead of me, sending them flying back.

"Fire Gun!" Ace held his hands like they were shot guns and started shooting small pellets of fire from his fingers, turning like he was a machine gun on a stand.

A Marine tried to ambush him from behind with a giant mace.

"Oh no you don't!" I ran forward and rammed into the Marine's side, knocking him off-course as Luffy landed next to Ace. I landed on his other side a moment later.

"Let's hurry, you two!" Ace said. "We have to get out of this place!"

"All right!" Luffy shot Ace a grin.

"Sounds good to me!" I agreed.

We started running forward, Marines moving into our path to intercept us

Ace and Luffy leapt up into the air easily; I followed after them up and over with a forward flip onto my hoverboard.

"Firefly!" Ace fired small, innocent-looking green fireballs from his hands, surrounding the group of Marines who had been coming after us. "Fiery Doll!"

FWOOM!

I couldn't help but be reminded of a group of terrifying little bugs that had set an entire camp on fire, back when I'd been with a certain Keyblade user named Lea.

We left the Marines behind and came to an open stretch - the other pirates were keeping the Marines busy, I noticed.

"You've gotten stronger, Luffy." Ace looked at his brother in approval.

Luffy looked surprised for a moment, then smiled. "I'll become stronger than you someday!"

Something about the situation - about the two of them working together - made me almost feel like I was going to have a memory come back to me.

I caught sight of someone ahead of us before the memory could emerge, though, and it was abruptly pushed to the back of my mind. "Aokiji!"

Ace moved in front of us, forcing Luffy and I to stop short."Then, let me protect you for now, Luffy!"

"Someday?" Aokiji stood a short distance in front of us, hands in his pockets. "There's no tomorrow for you. You think that you can escape?"

I snorted as Aokiji shifted into an attacking stance, one arm turning to ice. "I don't think. I know."

"Back up, you two." Ace promptly became covered over in flames. Luffy backed up a few steps and I decided to follow his lead.

"Pheasant Beak!" Aokiji's arm suddenly fired a giant ice bird that flew towards us.

"Mirror Flame!" Ace unleashed a wall of fire that caught the ice bird and stopped it in its tracks with a blast of steam before melting it to pieces.

"Oh, wow." I whistled in amazement at the energy being unleashed. "Luffy, your brother's incredible."

"Yeah!" Luffy nodded in agreement.

I noticed something move somewhere ahead of us, and I turned my head and blinked in surprise when I caught sight of the ship that Oars Jr. had pulled up, paddling across the plaza.

"Pops, everyone - run!" yelled a pirate standing on the figurehead. It took me a moment to recognize that it was Squard, the guy who'd been tricked into stabbing Whitebeard early on in the battle. "Leave the war to us!"

"What are they thinking?!" I demanded.

"St. Elmo's Fire!" Ace threw a pair of fiery lances at a couple Marines that were attempting to get close, only to see the approaching ship and gawk in surprise. "Squard!"

I moved over to Ace. "They guy must have a death wish or something - maybe because of what happened before."

Ace gained a startled expression at that.

The Whitebeard ship continued to tear across the plaza, nearly reaching the platform where the scaffold had been before Sengoku had destroyed it. Before it could get there, though, Whitebeard suddenly moved in front of it and stopped it short with one hand.

"Man your captain's really strong," I remarked.

Ace only nodded dumbly in reply, not offering a verbal response as he stared at what was going on.

"Can't you understand how ungrateful it is for a child to die before his parent, Squard?!" Whitebeard roared. "Don't get too confident! That little stab wound that you created doesn't really jeopardize my life! Everybody has his own duration of life!"

Something in me didn't exactly like the sound of that.

"Come on!" Ace motioned for Luffy and me to follow. "While the Marines are distracted by what Whitebeard did!"

"Right!" Luffy took off after Ace, and I moved to follow after them as Whitebeard's voice continued to ring out over the plaza.

"We accomplished our goal here! There's no reason to stay here anymore!"

Marines moved into our path, and we dealt with them accordingly, Ace and I moving ahead of Luffy and slamming them with evenly matched firepower.

"Listen carefully, Whitebeard Pirates! I am going to give you an order from the Captain one last time!"

I felt my core run cold, and I accidentally fired a Freeze Shot instead of a Stun Shot, leaving a perfect circle of ice on a Marine's chest as he stumbled back from the force behind the hit.

"Cross Fire!" Ace fired a cross-shaped lance into a group of Marines, then landed and looked back in alarm. "Pops!"

"All of you and I will split up from here!" Whitebeard continued. "Everyone, survive at any cost and get back to the New World safely!"

"Pops, are you planning to die here?!" called a pirate behind us.

"I'm a remnant of from the old times! There is no ship that can bear me in the new era!" Whitebeard raised an arm and activated his power, slamming a fist into the platform behind him. "Go, you guys!"

The ground shook, and the ocean outside the plaza roared as Whitebeard's power carved large cracks into the giant, towering building that was behind where Ace would have been executed.

"Old man!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Pops!" Ace yelled.

Whitebeard...he was willing to sacrifice himself for us...

At that train of thought, I felt something in me wrench suddenly, and I heard a man and a woman screaming my name at the back of my mind - terrified and definitely worried for my safety.

"Maria! GO!"

"Don't look back, because the era is changing!"

My eyes were watering now - wether from the memory or from what was probably going to happen to Whitebeard, I was unsure.

"But while this may very well mark the end of the Age of Primes..."

While the deep voice wasn't the same as the yell of the man I had heard in my mind moments ago, it had the same core-wrenching, tear-jerking affect. It was almost like I was...losing someone I looked up to like a father.

"POPS!" the Whitebeard pirates wailed.

"I don't wanna leave you!" someone called. "You've gotta come with us!"

"Do you disobey your captain's order?!" Whitebeard barked back. "Why don't you just go, fools?!"

"POPS!"

I could feel, at the back of my mind somewhere, that there were a number of memories that were trying to well up at the sight of what was going on around us.

I shook my head as the Whitebeard pirates started to run back towards Oars Jr., pushing the memories as far back into my mind as I could. I couldn't afford to think about them now - we had to get out of here, and I was going to need a clear head if I was going to be able to get out of this alive. I'd been lucky so far, but that didn't mean that I was going to stay lucky.

"Hurry and get ready to sail out!" a Whitebeard pirate called as he passed me.

"Ace! Maria!"

I shook my head and looked back when I heard Luffy's voice and caught sight of the distressed look on his face. Then I nodded and looked at Ace, who was staring at Whitebeard with an expression of shock and disbelief.

"Ace," I said quietly. "We should probably get going."

Ace didn't move.

"Straw Hat-boy! What are you doing standing around?!" Ivankov skidded to a halt a short distance from us. "We have to move!"

"Ace, let's go!" Luffy called. "The old man has made up his mind!"

"I know." Ace's response was quiet, and it masked a pain that he obviously felt. "And it will not be in vain!" He drew back a hand, summoning his flames, and threw a large fireball at a group of Marines trying to attack Whitebeard from behind. "Back off, you bastards!"

I moved back in surprise when the fire exploded out from Ace's attack and from around him, causing me to stare in surprise when he dropped down into a bow, head practically touching the ground as he faced Whitebeard.

Whitebeard turned and looked back, and I saw his eyes crinkle at the corners - like he was giving a kind smile, parent to child. "Just tell me one thing. Are you happy to have me as your father?"

I sucked in a breath sharply at that as Ace raised his head. I knew that Roger - the Pirate King - was really Ace's dad, but...well, Whitebeard's entire crew did call him 'Pops'...

Did that mean they all saw him as their father?

Ace brought his head down to the ground, his entire body shaking with sobs. "Of course I am!"

Whitebeard's eyes widened, and he threw back his head and let out a hearty laugh.

After a moment, Ace got back to his feet as Whitebeard turned and started attacking the Marines with a vengeance. He looked over at me with a stern expression, but it softened slightly and he gave me a nod before turning and running after the others. Luffy and I followed after him - I still on my hoverboard.

"You three, get behind me!" Jimbei suddenly moved behind us.

"Jimbei!" we exclaimed.

"They want to get you," Jimbei explained, "but what the good old man wants is as many survivors as possible!"

I nodded in response. "Right!"

I felt a blast of heat from behind us, and heard the sound of sizzling lava and men screaming.

Ace winced at the sound while I gained a look of concern, and Luffy looked over at his brother with a concerned expression.

"Just keep going until you get to the ship!" Jimbei ordered.

"As soon as you rescue Fire Fist Ace, you run!" came a familiar voice from behind us - Akainu. "The Whitebeards must be a group of cowards!"

Oh, he didn't just say that.

Ace gained a darkened expression.

"He's just riling you up!" a Whitebeard pirate barked. "If you stop, you're playing into his hands!"

"Well, your captain is that guy, so you can't help it, can you?" Akainu continued. "Because after all, Whitebeard is just a...loser from the old times!"

My eyes widened sharply.

Ace stopped short at that; we stopped a moment later and looked back.

"Ace!" Luffy cried.

"Oh, no..." I swallowed.

"A loser?" Ace repeated darkly. He clenched his fists, fire arching up his arms. He turned and glared back at Akainu. "Take back what you just said!"

"Ace! Don't stop!" a Whitebeard pirate cried.

"Just let him say whatever he wants." Another pirate took hold of Ace's shoulders, trying to pull him back.

Ace threw him off. "He mocked Pops."

"Ace!" Luffy yelled.

"Ace, do you really think you can take him on?" I asked worriedly. "Can you do the same thing that I can with Flash Fire?"

"Did you say 'take it back'?" Akainu inclined his head. He gave a smug smile. "Not in a million years! And I'll tell you why. Your father Gold Roger conquered the Grand Line and opened the door to a new era called the Great Pirate Era by sacrificing himself. As a Navy admiral, it's not my place to say so, but he was true to his name: the King of the Pirates! In contrast, what has Whitebeard done? I wonder if he really had the intention to fight. I assume that he established a large family someplace and was satisfied being a big fish in a little barrel. There are some fools in the world who'd say that his name is keeping peace on various islands, but if you ask me, he's just keeping lightweights in fear of him and he thinks he's a hero, which makes me laugh!"

Ace's body was releasing more and more flames as Akainu kept going. I was annoyed, but I didn't know Whitebeard personally - I couldn't get as mad as Akainu was getting Ace to be.

"When Roger was alive, Whitebeard had second billing, and even after Roger's death, he couldn't become a King," Akainu continued. "That means he'll never better Roger and be a loser forever! That's who Whitebeard is and that's the truth."

Ace started walking forward slowly as Akainu kept going.

"He's a poor man when you think about it. He's gathered some punks who call him Pops and roamed around the sea with his fake family."

That made me bristle.

"Stop it," Ace growled.

"And although he regained the sea for years, he couldn't become a King and gained nothing. At the end, he was stabbed by a fool, one of his sons who fell for my lie, and he will die to protect that son. Don't you think that his life is so empty?"

Squard, I realized. Akainu was talking about him.

"Stop it!" Ace's flames flared even higher.

"Don't do it, Ace!" called one of the Whitebeard commanders - the one wearing what I guess was a kimono. "Come back!"

"Ace!" the other Whitebeard pirates called.

"Ace, giving him attention like this isn't a good idea - he wants you to!" I warned. "Come on - let's get out of here before you end up getting yourself caught in a trap or something!"

Ace wasn't listening - he probably had blood roaring in his ears. "Pops gave us a place to live! You can't understand his greatness!"

"People don't deserve to live if they can't live justly!" Akainu replied. I noticed that he'd activated his Devil Fruit ability while he was talking - his entire right arm was now a pulsing flow of magma. "Punks like you guys don't deserve a place to live!"

That made my Energon boil.

"HEY!" I pointed at Akainu accusingly, fire sparking from my fingertips. "I don't care what you think, you walking Entei chew toy, but you can't kill people just because they don't follow your way of thinking. That's called peace through tyranny, and if that how the government here is really run, it's no wonder that there are people who chose to be pirates! And Whitebeard knew that they would be looking for someone would would treat them the way they wanted to be treated - as a part of a proper family. Don't you dare say that was ever fake!"

Akainu glared at me while the Whitebeard pirates around me looked at me in surprise. Then he snarled, "Whitebeard will die as a loser! It's fitting for a big fish in a small barrel!"

"Whitebeard is a great pirate who shaped this era!" Ace roared back. "Don't make fun of the man who saved me!"

"Don't do it, Ace!" the Whitebeard pirates called as Ace's fire blazed up.

"The name of this era should be 'Whitebeard'!" Ace brought back a fist, covered in flames, and he threw it towards Akainu, who met it with his own, magma-made attack.

I felt the explosion of heat, and I knew that Ace wasn't going to be able to push back against Akainu for long. There was a difference between them - a level of power that was pretty much the equivalent of a level 25 Pokemon going against a level 50 Pokemon of the same Type - the weaker of the two could hold on for a while, but not for long.

"Both Whitebeard and you who call him Pops are the same after all," Akainu sneered. "Losers!"

There was a sudden blast of magma, and Ace was thrown back with a yell, clutching his hand with an expression of pain on his face.

"Ace has been burned!" yelled a Whitebeard pirate.

Burned? I blinked. I found myself thinking in Pokemon terms - how Fire-Types couldn't get burned - but I shook my head to clear that thought out. We were dealing with humans, not magical creatures. It would make sense that a Devil Fruit would be able to overpower and do damage to another who was similar, but weaker.

"Are you careless because you ate a Logia fruit which is the most powerful of all?" There was magma dripping down the sides of Akainu's face, but it didn't set his hat on fire - his clothes were unaffected so long as they remained on him, more than likely. "You're just fire, but my magma can burn fire! My power is even stronger than yours."

I gritted my teeth as flames licked at my own shoulders. I knew my power was different enough that I could be able to fight back against what Akainu's power allowed him to do, but I didn't know how long I would be able to last against him if I fought him directly.

"Ace!" Luffy started moving forward, but then he collapsed to his knees suddenly. I caught sight of a small piece of paper flying away from his person and falling to the ground a short distance away.

"Luffy-kun, you should not fight anymore!" Jimbei warned.

"Ace's Vivre Card!" Luffy started to reach for the bit of paper, but it kept sliding back and away from his fingers.

I started to move forward in order to help him - and maybe do what I could to help Ace - but Jimbe grabbed my arm, stopping me short.

"You shouldn't be fighting, either, Maria-chan," Jimbei warned, frowning. "You may not show your exhaustion, but I have seen you use a lot of energy today."

"Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates. Dragon - the revolutionary." Akainu frowned down at Ace as Ace glared up at the Admiral. "I was amazed to hear that sons of these two were stepbrothers. You two have bad blood in your veins. I don't care if the others get away so long as I get you two!"

The flames on my shoulders started to spark in anger at Akainu's words. Bad blood?! Since when are the deeds of the fathers carried over to their children?! This place was messed up in more ways than one!

Akainu turned his focus from Ace to Luffy, then, who was still trying to pick up Ace's Vivre Card. My eyes widened as the Admiral leapt over Ace and started for Luffy, bringing back a fist for a punch.

A fatal punch.

"No!" I pulled myself out of Jimbei's grip and started to fly forward to intercept the blow - maybe I could Flash Fire Akainu's entire arm to keep him from punching Luffy - but a black-haired, shirtless blur moved past me before I could reach them.

I let out a choking gasp as I stared in shock at the sight in front of me: Luffy, staring up in shock at his brother. Akainu standing behind him, his arm still pulsing with the power of his Devil Fruit.

And Ace, with Akainu's fist right through his chest.

Now, I know what you're all thinking. "FWB, Maria should have been able to take that hit! She should have been able to save Ace!"

My argument is that Jimbe not only kept her back long enough that she wasn't able to get there in time, but she doesn't have all her memories and complete abilities back.

Just wait. I have plans for the New World.

Anyway, I'll just...leave this here. See you Friday.