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this is the last chapter left before the epilogue! Aaaah!
Chapter 48 – Our Ocean
The deck of the Baratie is complete and utter chaos.
Marco tries to block it out, tries to focus on the aches and pains in his body, but he can't get the invasive noise to go away. The wooden deck beneath him is hard and unforgiving, and the railing feels hot against his back. Even with the sensations assaulting him and the stinging and throbbing of various wounds littering him from the battle, there's one thing that drowns out it all. The noises.
Scattered around the deck, revolutionaries sit and lie in various states of consciousness. Marco can hear them clearly; he can even recognise some voices. He can hear them talking quietly, and can't stop himself from hearing the agonised cries that rip through their ranks - the groans and moans of pain, the sobs at loosing brothers and sisters and, for all of them, a father.
The last part hasn't hit Marco fully yet, and he isn't looking forward to when it does. Marineford isn't completely out of sight yet, and he tries not to look as the sound of distant screams rips through the air, and a rumbling, thundering roar breaks apart the skies themselves. Today is the day that Marineford is razed to the depths for good. Marco doesn't like to think about what that means for the single revolutionary, monstrously strong though he may be, left on the island.
The noises grow louder. With shaking hands, knowing that it's something he has to do now that Whitebeard can't, Marco reaches into his pocket and pulls out a den-den mushi. He clicks it on and mutters, "Call back the reinforcements. It's too late now."
"What do you mean?!" replies an indignant voice, "We've got eyes on the island! We can be there in ten minutes!"
"It's too late," Marco repeats forcefully.
After a moment of silence, the person on the other end sighs. "Alright. Alright, fine. What should we do with... well, our weapons?"
The word 'weapons' means more than that and both of them know it. Marco takes a deep breath, and makes one of the hardest decisions he's had to make for a very, very long time.
"Throw them into the sea," he replies. "You know how it affects them. Those things need to be buried for good." Out of the corner of his eye, Marco watches Marineford fall. "The war is over. All of it."
There's a sharp intake of breath from the other end, before the other revolutionary nods. "Aye, Aye, commander."
The den-den clicks off, and Marco is left alone with the noises once more. Hesitatingly, he glances around the crowded deck. There are medics everywhere - AANGEL doctors, revolutionary medics, a few first-aiders from the Baratie and a single doctor from theEast Wind. Marco sees the usual battle wounds - gashes, scrapes and bruises - but more horrific wounds too, like magma burns the size of dinner plates, missing limbs and surely incurable frostbite from Aokiji. Shanks' head is in his hands across the deck, and Marco realises suddenly that he must think that the three brothers died in the explosion of the East Wind.
Nerves churning in his stomach, Marco stands. He has to lean heavily on the railing as pain flares through his body. It was a ruthless battle, in every way possible. Waving off a medic who tries to help him walk, the revolutionary stumbles across the deck until he's standing over Shanks.
It takes the man a few seconds to look up and when he does, his eyes are bloodshot and hopeless. Marco tries to ignore the way his heart clenches at the look on his face.
"What do you want, Marco?" he asks tiredly.
"The brothers didn't die in the explosion, yoi," Marco says quickly. "Ace and Sabo were already off the East Wind, and one of the revolutionaries rescued Luffy. They should all be on the ship-"
"But they're not, are they?"
Marco freezes. There's something dangerous in Shanks' eyes - something he hasn't seen there for decades. "What do you mean, yoi?" he croaks.
"I mean," Shanks growls, "The last time I saw them, they were being cornered by Akainu. You're a little behind the times. Luffy's crew are mourning already. There's no way the three of them survived."
A pit opens up in Marco's stomach, and it feels like his heart falls down into it. Shanks points to his left, mouth a thin, grim line, and Shanks follows his gaze until his eyes fall on the Strawhats. They're huddled together across the deck, sitting in a heap at the foot of one of the masts. Even from here, Marco can see the tears in Nami's eyes, and the blank horror that fills the cook's. The cyborg has his head buried in his hands. The reindeer is sobbing in earnest.
They think their captain is dead, Marco realises. It only hits him after a second that Luffy really is.
"Are you happy now?" Shanks demands. When Marco turns to face him, his mouth pulls into an even harsher line. "It's all well and good when your pawns die in the fight for 'freedom', but it's not as fun when it's your father, is it?" Something in his face breaks. "It's not as fun when it's an innocent fifteen-year old."
"You think I haven't lost anybody to the cause, yoi?" Marco replies icily.
"Stop with all this bullshit about the 'cause'!" Shanks explodes, "Why don't you just admit that you don't care?! All you ever wanted to do was impress your father, and look where that got you!" He gestures around frantically, a hopeless look on his face. "Look where that got us! My sons are dead!"
"He's our father, yoi!" Marco doesn't know what he's arguing for anymore; there's a tide of emotion rising up in him that he can't stop.
"Was!"
The tide breaks and Marco stumbles backwards. Oyaji's face flashes before his eyes, crinkled with laughter, sun-drenched and familiar. Ace's follows a split-second later, young and filled with an uncertain kind of affection. Something inside him snaps like a rubber band.
Shanks, oblivious to all of this, carries on in a venomous voice. "Those three boys were my kids. I took care of them, I was there for them before the army even knew they existed! I wasn't the best father, but-" He sniffs bitterly. "But I tried. And they were all I really cared about, especially after leaving you and our pops."
"And now they're gone, yoi," Marco murmurs. He doesn't intend for the words to harm, but Shanks' face flashes with pain.
"They were just kids," Shanks says brokenly. All the poison that filled his voice evaporates. "They didn't do anything to deserve that."
Marco suddenly feels like he's going to be sick; with a choked gasp, he lunges for the railing and throws up everything in his stomach into the ocean. Bile burns and tears at his throat. He heaves again, stomach rolling, and doesn't realise that Shanks' hand is rubbing his back until he's finished vomiting. They meet eyes - their father's brown into their mother's blue. For a second, Shanks' eyes hold something close to forgiveness.
Then, however, they flit upwards and over Marco's head. His brow, scarred and tanned, furrows.
"There are two ships approaching!" he calls to the deck at large.
Ace closes his eyes against the sunlight, flat on his back, surrounded by two warm bodies. There's a hand wrapped around each of his own and he doesn't bother to find out who they belong to. Sabo's breathing moves in sync with his own, heartbeat pounding the exact same rhythm, and Luffy's is only a split-second behind. Nobody speaks, but nothing needs to be said. Sighing, Ace pulls them closer, but pauses when he realises something.
Sitting up, the revolutionary dislodges Luffy and looks around. The ocean surrounding the trio of brothers is framed by the broad, orange sunset. It's hard to believe that only a few hours ago, Ace was being tugged out of his cell to kneel on the execution platform, resigned to his fate. So much has happened since then that it feels like a million years ago.
Stretching, he says casually, "We're lost."
Sabo groans into the deck, though it sounds contented rather than pained. "Let us be lost. I'm not moving for at least three days."
Luffy lets out a whine that sounds like an agreement, hand reaching out to tug Ace back towards them. They have no medical supplies so even though it's unsanitary, strips of Sabo's shirt have been wrapped around the deep cut on the fifteen-year old's face in an attempt to stop the bleeding. They do nothing to make him look any less pale, and Sabo doesn't look much better.
"Yeah, well, it's a miracle you haven't passed out yet," Ace shoots back. Despite this, he allows himself to be pulled back into the pile, immediately feeling Luffy make a home between his arms and Sabo bury his face in his hair. Both of them are so dopey after the battle that this is all they've been doing for however long they've been sailing - a long time, at any rate. Ace doesn't have the heart to complain. At least this is helping to distract him from the gaping hole in his heart where Oyaji, Haruta and Pidge used to be.
After an indefinite amount of time, Sabo finally sits up. "Okay, okay," he says slowly. "I guess we need to talk."
Looking like he wants to complain but restraining himself, Luffy nods. He shifts with a wince to plop himself down across from his brothers, so they form a messy triangle. "What are we gonna talk about?"
Ace takes a deep breath. "A lot has happened over the last four years, and I don't think any of us know everything that's happened. So why don't we try to explain it?"
Sabo and Luffy exchange dubious looks, but nod all the same. "Okay..." Sabo says hesitantly. "Luffy, do you want to go first...?"
The younger teen crosses his arms and uncrosses them, then folds his legs in before stretching them out. He glances from Sabo to Ace and back again, before nodding slowly.
"Alright," he says. "Well, I guess you guys know that they took me because they thought I was you, right? I had the mark on my neck that day? Yeah, they tried to get me to own up to what my Gift was for a while. And that sucked. And then-"
"Wait, wait," Ace interrupts, "'Tried to get you to own up'? What do you mean?"
Luffy tenses visibly, and his brothers exchange worried looks. Reaching out a cautious hand, Sabo asks, "Lu?"
"Sorry, I just- I-" The young pirate sniffs. "They wanted me to tell them that I had a fire Gift and I didn't want to tell them 'cause it wasn't true, so they turned off all the lights and suddenly it just really really hurt and I didn't know what to do, no matter what I couldn't get away, and it went on and on and-" Luffy looks up, and the look on his face makes Ace's heart shatter. "I really wanted to see you two, and I couldn't. And it just carried on and it didn't stop and it feels like it still hasn't stopped, they just wouldn't stop..."
All of his energy seems to leave him in an instant. Face half-hidden by bandages, Luffy ducks his head and lets himself be pulled into two embraces, not looking up, entire body shaking. It's obvious to Ace that he's never told anybody about that. Sabo turns to Ace and his eyes burn like hot embers, rageful and full of pure determination, flaming with a promise to never let it happen again. Ace nods back, though it feels like his own fire has been doused by ice-cold water, regret flooding him that he was never even able to be there for Luffy after it happened - that it took four years for them to have this talk.
Luffy pulls away, swiping at the tears in his eyes, and sets his jaw. Sitting back (not too far back, though), Sabo asks softly, "How long did it take until they let you out?"
"A month, I think," responds Luffy. His expression lifts. "There was a woman called Robin who gave me food a lot, and when I was going north, she joined my crew! She's great, and really smart. She was being stupid when she left, but we're going to get her back so you don't need to worry about that."
Sabo and Ace exchange fond looks, both starting to smile once again as the mood on the ship lifts. "Whatever you say," Ace replies, leaning back. "So, once they let you out, what happened?"
"A bunch o' stuff," Luffy summarises eloquently. "They found out that I've got this special blood type and poked me with a bunch of needles until I became rubber." He holds out his scarred forearms, where the pale, speckled scars of forcefully given injections stand out in the sunlight. "And after that, I ended up joining the marines!"
"You were forced too, I'm guessing?" Ace asks.
"Yeah. But I found my two best friends there! Sanji and Zo-"
Luffy's face falls in a split second, moving from happily reminiscent to a face that makes it obvious that he's trying very hard not to cry.
"Sanji and Zoro," he mutters. "Yeah. So we finally managed to get away a few months ago, and me and my crew - they're amazing, by the way - travelled north. We met up with Shanks on the way, and he told me about you two having this weird mental-link-thingy. And by the time we got to the revs' HQ, you were gone, and we found out the next morning that you were going to be executed, and-" Luffy shifts slightly. "I guess that's it."
Ace nods. He knows that there's probably far more to the story, but decides not to push. There'll be time to talk - days, weeks, maybe even years to talk after this. They're together. There's no timebomb hanging over their heads anymore.
Sabo, however, apparently notices something that he doesn't. "That's all okay, but..." He reaches out and holds Luffy's wrist, and Ace's jaw drops as he notices what should have been glaringly obvious. "How did you lose these?"
The scar tissue covering the area where two of Luffy's fingers should be shines like raw skin in the sunlight. The other three look out of place without their counterparts. The scar tissue looks relatively aged - a year at most, he would guess, maybe less. Ace can't tear his eyes from them, and he can feel the shock spread across his face without permission.
Pulling his hand back, Luffy fiddles with the brim of his hat and says, "When we were going to cross the Fringe a few months back, our ship was firebombed by a revolutionary plane. And that... that wasn't all that fun either, I guess." He looks up and quickly extends his hands out in front of him, shaking his head rapidly at the growing horror on both Sabo's and Ace's faces. "It's fine, honestly! My chef lost a whole arm, so I guess I was lucky."
"I wouldn't call losing two fingers 'lucky'!" Ace explodes, "Why did they bomb you?! I know our pilots, they wouldn't do it for no reason! They're good people! I-" His voice breaks off, choked and constricted. "I made those bombs. They weren't even authorised for use, they weren't... Why would they use them on you?!"
Sabo inhales sharply. "Ace, calm down-"
"We stole a marine ship," Luffy rushes out. "They saw us when we docked at their island. But we all got out, and that's all that matters. Can we please just move on?"
At some point during their talk, the trio have shifted closer together again. Sabo pulls the other two towards him and they don't protest, one looking sorrowful, the other filled with regret and self-loathing. The blonde flicks the latter's forehead lightly and says, "Stop that. It wasn't your fault that you made the bombs. End of conversation, okay?"
Slowly but surely, Ace nods. "Okay." He doesn't look convinced, but it's a start.
Luffy claps, face growing more cheerful against the blue of Sabo's shirt sleeve. "Okay, so you got my story. What about you, Ace?"
Slightly more sombrely, Sabo says, "Yeah, how did you end up surviving? And what's the...?" He points wordlessly to Ace's ice-filled chest.
Ace takes a deep breath, and begins to talk. He tells his brothers about searching for the revolutionaries, joining their family, spending years as a member of their ranks. He tells them about Leo, and how much he'd looked up to him, and then about the experience of losing squad 4. He tells them especially about Marco and Thatch and Izo and Scarlet and Oyaji, about the family he found in his brothers' absence, about learning what being a revolutionary really was.
Then, his tone grows darker as he explains how Sabo disappeared. He speaks in a hoarse voice about his breakdown, not meeting Sabo's eyes, before muttering vaguely about breaking out with Pidge and travelling south. He skips over the lonely nights and constant anxiety, and the empty feeling in his chest that lasted for months, blotting out most of the story up until he started meeting Garp.
"He said he was connected to me and my brothers," Ace says. "I met up with him once and he didn't tell me anything useful, but even though I was suspicious, I turned up a second time. That's when he betrayed me. I took the drink he offered and the next minute I was waking up in a cell."
"And then came your execution?"
"Yeah," Ace confirms grimly.
He goes on, voice scratchy and rough with so much talking, skimming over most of the events of the battle. He knows all too well that none of them want to relive all that so soon. He only starts to speak once again in detail when he describes falling through nothing into a world filled with white, seeing himself and Luffy, hearing thousands of voices from his past so loud that they deafened him and then finally seeing Leo again. Then, finally, comes the complicated part; the timeline.
"He said that... The world Roger predicted was different from this one," explains Ace in a halting voice. "Roger never predicted that Shanks was going to be born, so when he was, it changed the entire timeline. When Luffy was born, it made it even more different. In the world where they never existed, it was just me and you, Sabo. According to him, in that timeline, we end up destroying the entire world."
"Jesus..." Sabo murmurs. He lets Luffy shift closer to him willingly. Ace can tell from his expression that the concept of a world without Luffy scares him just as much as it does Ace.
"He told me that I would have a chance to come back, because of what my mother did and how it connected us. Now, my life force is tied to yours," Ace says. "When you die, so do I. And when I do..."
Luffy tips his head to the side. "What is it?"
Ace coughs. "Since I was already on the other side for a little while, I can't go back. At least, not to that place. When I die, the only place I've got left to go is down."
Sabo les his head fall back, eyes closed as he holds back a grimace. Immediately, Ace regrets telling them. The looks on their faces are somewhere between horror and regret and disbelief. He hates it.
"Whatever," Luffy says suddenly. Ace stares. "I mean, heaven's meant to where you're happiest, right? Well, I know that me and Sabo's heaven would be being with you, so when we all die, we'll still be together! Right?" He says it all so plainly that it's almost as if he thinks it should have been obvious.
Jaw slack, Ace doesn't realise that the tears have started until they drip off his chin. He tries to speak, but nothing close to words comes out. Smiling, Luffy lets himself be pulled against a bruised chest and Ace cries until his body shakes with the force of his heaving sobs, choked wails slipping from him that sound nothing like his own voice. The whole world comes crashing down on his shoulders as it finally hits him; his father, his best friend, his surrogate younger sister as well as dozens of Revolutionaries - they're all gone. Each and every one of them, dead.
And now, even though it's all over, the world seems almost surreal. The sun is too bright on the water, its reflection blurred by the stinging tears that leak from his eyes, and it feels so real to sit here and hold them both after so many months of yearning for it. It feels different from Ace's dreams of it, more raw and more painful and ten times more true than anything he could have imagined. It hurts, but Ace knows for sure that what's happening right now is completely and utterly real. He hates himself for thinking it, but he wouldn't change a thing.
Tears make his eyes red and puffy and it gets to the point where, as his sobs starts to tail off, he barely knows what he's crying about anymore.
When Ace finally pulls away, his bones themselves feel infected with fatigue. He can feel his eyelids fluttering with exhaustion and wonders when the last time he slept was - at least two days ago, considering how he didn't sleep for a few days in preparation for his execution. Once again, it all has the sensation of being a million years ago. Physically and emotionally exhausted, tiredness crashes upon him like a wave.
Sabo has a small smile on his face and Ace's head is rested on his leg before he can process having moved. Against his will, he feels his eyes begin to close, still blurred by happy tears.
"Go to sleep, Ace," Luffy says, lying down so he's leaning back against Ace's chest.
"Yeah," Sabo agrees. His voice is slightly sad. "We all need it."
"G'night," Ace slurs, voice rough. Sabo responds, but he can't make out the words around the darkness that overtakes his vision. He passes out, and the world dissolves into the nothingness of a dreamless sleep.
Sabo stares into the inky blackness of the room. His skin craves the warmth of sunlight - uninsulated and fragile, this building is freezing cold - and even now, his legs sting and tingle like they're being filled with hundreds of tiny splinters. He yearns for Ace's return, as he does every day, and stares up at the ceiling with a constant creeping paranoia that it may fall. If the collapse of their first hideout destroyed his ability to walk, another collapse similar may just steal his life. More than anything, he is scared. Scared of this helplessness. Scared that he's never going to be able to walk again. Nowadays, it feels like he's afraid of his own damn shadow.
The scene morphs into something new. Ace is being thrown to the ground, limp and lifeless, and when his eyes open they are sightless and discoloured. The world is cruel - Sabo knows that, now - but why it has to be so cruel to Ace, he doesn't know. Ace is his whole world. And now he's sobbing and shaking, unable to see, small hands scraped up by the rough ground. The world really is a cruel place.
Once again, the scene changes; this time, the hideout is collapsing around them as they stumble through the dark, one blind and one lame, desperately reaching for the exit. A second later, the world closes in on them - then, they're running out of oxygen, cramped into one tiny space, and Sabo is panicking and hyperventilating and he feels his fire rush up under his skin. A few short seconds later, everything - including a screaming Ace - is burning.
They leave the island and while Sabo is filled with elation at the wide, brave new world that stretches before them, he can't help but acknowledge the burning apprehension that churns like a storm inside him. The ocean is wild and free, but Ace is blind and he's practically crippled, and both metaphorically and literally, they have to clutch each other just to get by and carry on standing tall. Sabo prays that that beautiful, fierce world won't take away the only thing he has. He prays that it will keep Ace safe.
They meet the revolutionaries and they leave again a few days later, Ace fuming and flaming. The world changes; it grows an uglier and a darker place everyday. Years pass, and they continue to clutch each other, and Sabo continues to pray that today won't be the day when the cruel world snuffs out Ace's flame.
Ace's body drops like a stone.
The world burns, Sabo sobs-
Sabo lurches awake, breathing heavily, his frantic movements making the boat rock beneath him. For a few seconds he doesn't know where he is, still wrapped up in the world that that nightmare manifested. Luffy shifts, whining slightly as his movement disturbs him. Ace sleeps on, but there's a tension in his frame and his face that tells Sabo what's going to happen before it does. When Ace jolts awake, flying upwards and dislodging Luffy's head from his chest, Sabo catches the younger boy's head before it can hit the floor and lowers it down gently.
"Sabo?" Ace asks, voice slightly frantic. "What was- and I-" He coughs, suddenly bashful. "Uh. S-Sorry, I just had a nightmare."
Tilting his head slightly, Sabo decides to throw caution to the wind. "In your dream... Were you blind?"
Ace goes very, very still. "...How did you know about that?"
"Because I think I just had the same dream," Sabo replies, trying to keep his voice level. He can feel his heartbeat, Ace's heartbeat, tearing away rapidly in his chest.
"You...you did?" Ace stares, before sighing. "You know what, crazier things have happened. 'specially to us."
"I can't disagree with that." Sabo curls in on himself slightly. It's cold. "It was so real..." he murmurs.
Ace nods, pulling Luffy back onto his chest as he re-settles himself against Sabo. The sky above them is a rich midnight blue, punctured by the stars that he hasn't seen in what feels like years. "The last thing I remember is hands around my neck, and then- nothing." He shudders.
"Akainu snapped your neck," replies Sabo dully. "And then there was fire - everywhere, covering everything, and I couldn't stop it. Ace- Ace, I think I destroyed the world."
A single distinct thought resounds from Ace's head to Sabo's; his sons will bring the world to its knees.
Do you think...that dream, do you think it was about the way things were supposed to be? Ace asks. The familiarity of using the bond to communicate soothes Sabo's frayed nerves.
No, Sabo replies fiercely, Not the way things are 'supposed to be'. The way things could have been, maybe, but not the way they were meant to be. This world is better. This world, the one where Luffy is out little brother-
And how do we even know that this world is real?
Ace's question chills Sabo to the core, and he feels himself go rigid.
The timeline was never meant to go wrong - there was never meant to be a fluke. So why was there? How can we be sure that this is even happening? How can we know that Luffy really exists? If the world is really out to kill him then how can we know, how can we know for sure, that it won't kill him at any minute?! Sabo, all of this is insane, it's completely-
Stop it.
Ace has never heard Sabo sound so demanding - and, quite honestly, Sabo never has either - and his thoughts silence in an instant.
Listen to me. Who cares if the world was meant to be different? Who cares if we're meant to be dead? Since when do we care about the world?! Since when do any of us give a damn about what the world thinks we should do?! Sabo's voice is strong and utterly sure of its words. All that matters is that all three of us are here - right here, right now - and that all of us are alive. That's it. End of discussion, got it?
Slowly, Ace nods. His heartbeat slows. Sabo can feel his raging thoughts slow. "Thanks, Sab," he says quietly.
"It's been years since you called me that," Sabo replies, a smile in his voice.
Above them, slowly, the sky begins to lighten to a pale, streaky grey. Sabo checks the compass built into the wheel, just to make sure that they're headed vaguely south. They're in luck, as the wind appears to still be on their side. The pair of brothers watch the sky for a while as it lightens lazily, and Sabo soon becomes acutely aware of the blood that covers him, caked in his clothes and hair.
It's close to dawn. A little under twenty-four hours ago, he and Law hugged on the deck of the Baratie and promised to remember one another should one of them die. Law is gone now. It's hard to take. Harder than Sabo could have ever imagined.
But at least, every time Sabo looks at Ace and Luffy - his fated brother and the accidental child who was never meant to exist - it gets a little easier.
HQ feels empty. Even though it's more full than ever before, offering refuge to the agents of AANGEL and all the other injured rescuers, the hallways ring with loss. Izo has never been a perceptive man, always blunt and utterly down-to-earth despite what some might derive from his appearance, but he doesn't need to be an empath to feel the grief that echoes through the corridors. It resides inside him, too, tearing at his insides like a knife every time somebody mentions the three brothers or the name 'Edward Newgate'.
They're gone, his brain tells him, move on. Moping will do nothing for them.
But the stern self-reprimand that never fails to reassure him does nothing more than intensify the ache in his chest. He sits outside of the main doors, cleaning his guns for the fifth time in this shift and trying not to listen to the sounds of sorrow coming from the main hall, where the survivors - and the bodies of the dead that they managed to scavenge - are gathered. The mourning strawhats. Blank-eyed Shanks and his sorrowful crew. The dejected, lost agents of AANGEL who were betrayed by the organisation that was their entire world. The now fatherless revolutionaries, who have won the war but lost so much more.
It's been a week since the battle. The bruises haven't faded. It's hard enough to walk and breathe that Izo suspects multiple broken bones, but for now they will have to remain unattended to. There are too many wounded and not enough medics, and he doesn't want to add to the pressure.
He senses a familiar presence behind him a second before Marco sits down at his side. His blonde hair is matted and dishevelled, sticking up stiffly in every direction, and like Izo, he's coated with bruises and scrapes that have yet to fade. His lip is split and caked with dried blood that he has yet to wipe away. In simple terms, he's a mess, and it's painfully obvious.
"Evening, Izo, yoi," he murmurs. His voice is rough and crackling.
Izo stares across at him for a moment, before sighing and putting down his guns. "When was the last time you slept?" he says sternly.
"...Before the execution, yoi," Marco replies quietly. "It's been busy."
With a sigh of exasperation that he doesn't really mean, Izo reaches into the pouch at his side and pulls out a pack of tissues and a brush. "Turn around. If you're not going to sleep, at least let me clean you up."
Marco looks like he wants to argue, but holds himself back. Under the darkened sky, Izo brushes his dirty hair back into some semblance of order, movements firm but not forceful. Neither of them speaks. Once the gunsman is satisfied with his friend's hair, he moves onto swiping away the blood and grime, carefully skirting around the bruises.
After a while, the movements become so soothing that Marco's eyes begin to flutter closed. Izo watches as he obviously tries to keep himself awake, failing in most aspects, body physically drooping. When his head finally falls, Izo lowers him gently to the ground and stands, leaving the exhausted first-division commander sleeping on the steps as he moves to peak into the main hall.
Inside, the air is musty and thick. Izo's eyes land on his father's abandoned seat almost instinctively. Even though the entire hall is packed to the brim, the empty throne has been given a wide berth. It gathers dust in the centre of the room, untouched, standing tall over the heads and shoulders of hundreds of survivors.
Next, Izo's gaze reaches the Strawhats. The red-haired navigator is sleeping, her head on the shoulder of a girl with blue hair and bandages all the way up her arms. It's one of the people who was on the ship that met them half way; the surviving residents of Kaira, which was blown up a few days before the execution. Izo is thankful that some survived, especially since the young, ragtag crew obviously know them. It's the first time he's seen them all week when most of them aren't crying, though the tiny doctor still looks teary.
Shanks and his crew are gathered around their first mate, who still hasn't woken. Mihawk, one of the more pesky Foxes, split him open from hip to throat. It's still not certain that he's ever going to open his eyes. Shanks looks utterly broken, and the bodies of five of his men lie under sheets a few feet from Benn's bed. Yasopp is holding the charred wheel of their burnt ship. For the few seconds Izo watches them, none of the remaining crew move from their positions.
The agents of AANGEL are huddled in a solitary corner, piled together against the wall, barricading themselves from the rest of the room. They tend to their own wounded, grieve for their own dead... but every time Izo sees them, they've extended further into the room. They reach out tentatively more and more with time, it's plain to see; Izo just hopes that the Revolutionary Army is willing to let them. The gunsman can see one of them, an angel tattoo on her tanned forearm, talking to Scarlet near the edge of their unofficial territory boundary. Hopefully that boundary will fall soon.
And finally, the revolutionaries. They mill throughout the hall, all of them shoved into one huge room, and hammocks have been slung up through the room from the slats of the ceiling. Nearly all of them are taken by injured division members. Commanders are dotted through the room too, most of them looking just as tired and devastated as Marco.
With a sigh, Izo turns away, closing the door behind him. He sits back down beside Marco and leans back, picking up his guns again. He's about to start cleaning them again, fingers moving into a familiar position, when his ears pick up on a familiar sound.
Multiple pairs of footsteps, moving up the street towards them.
Slowly, his fingers move again until his finger is hovering over the trigger. In a swift movement, he flicks off the safety on his pistol and stands, moving to place himself in front of his passed-out friend with a small frown. He stays perfectly still, knowing that neither he nor Marco are visible, and waits.
Two figures round the corner at the end of the street. One of them appears to be holding a large load on their back, as their figure is distorted and grows larger at the top. The other is visibly limping, even from this distance. They move slowly and every few seconds they pause, as if exhausted.
Izo raises his gun, cocks it and fires two warning shots into the wall beside him. The noise from inside the hall silences immediately, and both approaching figures freeze up. Marco jolts awake.
"Who are you?" Izo calls into the dark.
Somebody responds, "Izo?"
The voice that speaks is so impossible, so painfully familiar that Izo freezes up. His finger slips off the trigger and he lets the pistol fall to his side. It nearly drops from his grasp. Marco inhales sharply, eyes blowing wide.
"Izo, is that you?" the voice yells again. It sounds closer this time, and Izo realises that the pair have started walking again, forms indistinct against the inky blackness. A few quick seconds slip by, before Portgas D. Ace - in all of his beat-up, bloodied glory - steps into Izo's view.
Ace finally gets a moment to breathe nearly three hours after arriving. Nobody seems to care that he's exhausted, or that he aches all over, or even that he just wants nothing more than his brothers and a good sleep; all they seem to care about is asking thousands of questions, or shaking his hand, or hugging him and telling him that they're glad he's okay. Ace accepts the handshakes willingly, lets himself be talked hoarse by the injured, shares grief over the dead. He barely manages to escape a fifth hug from Shanks before he even gets to look around, taking in the packed hall, the huddles of injured and lines of dead.
Luffy is being utterly encompassed by his crew, most of whom are crying. The small reindeer is sitting on his shoulders, looking half asleep and somewhere between shock and tears, and his scrapes are being tended to by Vivi of all people, the girl Ace knew all that time ago. His hair is being ruffled almost constantly by the overemotional cyborg. Nobody appears to have commented on his injured face yet.
Ace's eyes seek out Sabo in the crowd. It takes him a moment to find him but when he does, his face softens. The blonde is leaning against the wall near the entrance, looking down, completely alone. Aside from Shanks (who he managed to evade pretty quickly), he doesn't have anybody here to reunite with. Ace slips through the crowd quickly, trying not to draw attention to himself.
When he reaches the blonde, Sabo looks up and smiles slightly, shifting to the side to let the other stand beside him. Neither of them speaks for a second, both looking over at Luffy with smiles on their faces. Ace feels warm just by looking at their interaction, but at the same time... Luffy is going to need medical attention soon. Especially for the huge gash on his face.
The journey here was hard, but at least it's over now. Ace's heart hurts a little less than it did before, healed by the presences of his two very favourite people, and he can tell that the same applies to Sabo and Luffy, too. All three of them need time to heal, yet, but they've already begun the process.
"Is it really over?" Sabo whispers, not looking at Ace.
"It is," replies Ace simply.
Three days later, the sun shines brightly for the first time in weeks.
It feels symbolic, Ace acknowledges, as he and his brothers clamber onto the roof. Luffy is finally out of bed, the huge new scar on his face still raw and red against his skin, as cheerful as always. Sabo has been awake for a while now, and the new scars on his own face no longer draw Ace's eyes; he's growing used to them, at least. He himself feels more alive, more human than he has in a long time.
When they reach the roof, they settle in a familiar order; Sabo on the outside, the human heater that is Portgas D. Ace in the middle and Luffy on his other side. They face the sun and for while, nobody speaks. They're content to be in one another's presences, and that's enough.
Eventually, however, Sabo asks the question that's on all of their minds.
"What now?"
The question is spoken quietly, but it resounds between them with astounding gravity, shattering the silence like a forhorn. Ace stares out towards the ocean wordlessly for a few seconds, letting the words ring out between them, before saying, "I'm staying with Marco. We have a lot to do. The war's over, but the fight isn't – not yet, anyways. I can't abandon the army now."
Sabo looks like he wants to protest, mouth opening, but he closes it a second later. "I think I want to find out more about my dad," he says. "Who he was, why he was so desperate to find me. I guess… It just feels like something I need to do. After that, I have no idea. I just want to be free, I think. Maybe I'll come back here."
"I want to be with my crew," Luffy murmurs into Ace's shoulder. "Even though we haven't… we haven't got Zoro…" His voice hardens. "Even if we've lost stuff, we're still a family."
"I don't want to leave you two," Sabo says quietly.
"Me neither," agrees Luffy. His voice is slightly let-down.
Ace takes a deep breath, chest tight, and says the thing he knows his brothers need to hear. The thing he knows, deep down, is true.
"Things are shitty right now. Yeah. They really suck and they're not going to get better." Another deep breath. "And none of us are okay. But if we spend the rest of our lives clinging to the past, we won't live. And isn't that what Shanks wants us to do? Isn't that what we want to do?"
Sabo and Luffy stay silent, the former emotionless, the latter looking down at his lap in which his hands are shaking.
"I want to stay with you," Ace continues, "But I have a dream. And Sabo, you've got a goal. And Lu… Well, you've got nowhere in particular to go, and you love that, don't you? So while I want to stay with you two for the rest of our lives, I know that we have to chase those dreams. Starting from today, I'm going to chase mine. But this time…" His face hardens. "This time, we won't say goodbye. Not for good. We'll meet up whenever we want to, and I'll always have your backs, alright?"
"I'll always have yours," Sabo murmurs, shifting closer to Ace. Through the bond and outside of it, his pure affection is tangible, and Ace basks in it just as Luffy presses into his other side.
"Nobody's gonna hurt Ace and Sabo again," their youngest says with a growl in his voice. Ace glances down at him, eyes sad, taking in the huge, jagged scar that now crosses his face. Fifteen years old. And he's already lost everything more times than Ace can count.
He's not losing anything else.
"Of course I'm not," Luffy murmurs into his brother's shoulder, making him realise with a jolt that he said that out loud. Sabo snickers, and then Luffy giggles, and soon all three are howling with laughter, clinging to each other just to make sure they don't fall off the roof, shoulders shaking and stomachs aching as they fall back and laugh under the sun. Eventually, after all of them have forgotten what they were laughing about in the first place, faces sore from their wide smiles, lying in a tangle of tanned limbs beneath the burning sky.
But soon, however, it has to end. When the sun begins to set, the three brothers stand. The next ship out of Revolutionary Headquarters is due to leave at dusk, and on it will be Ace's brothers. Luffy and his crew are headed to Shanks' archipelago to get a new ship, and then to the south. Their archaeologist was captured by a rogue marine division – CP9 – who are still going strong. Luffy claims that he doesn't need help in rescuing her from where they're holed up, in a stronghold known as Enies Lobby. Sabo is going first to AANGEL's headquarters, just off the Fringe. He wants to learn more about himself, more about the world, and Ace is willing to support him with that no matter what.
The black-haired teen himself is staying at HQ with Marco. There's a lot of work to be done, and he's not going to leave it all to rest on Marco's shoulders, especially considering how stressed he is right now. The man has been through enough. The trio leave the roof behind, still partially wrapped around one another as they descend through HQ, Ace waving to all of the revs he sees. Most who notice him look relieved at his recovery, waving back with smiles on their bruised and scarred faces.
They're on the second floor when it happens.
Marco comes hurtling around the corner and nearly slams straight into Sabo, breathing deeply with panic in his eyes. He meets Ace's gaze for a split second just as shouts begin to break out from the floors below. "We've just had intel that one of the remaining marines wasn't ready to give up, yoi. He's talking about planting a-"
A scream rings out from below, of panic rather than pain. "Everybody get out! Move, move, move!"
"A what?!" Ace grabs Marco's shoulders.
"A bomb, as far as we-"
As soon as Marco said the word 'bomb' Ace was gone, flying up the corridor and towards the stairs. There are still people on the upper floors. Sabo and Luffy run after him with shouts of panic, grabbing at his arms and clothes in a desperate attempt to hold him back, but Ace pulls out of their grasp. He's taken enough from the Revolutionary Army. This is the least he can do. He rounds another corner, heart pounding, blood rushing in his ears, and hears it-
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The bomb is attached to the wall, a mess of wires tied around a sleek, metallic frame. And the number on the countdown attached to the front makes Ace's heart stop in his chest. Sabo yells, Luffy grabs Ace and pulls, Marco curses vehemently and yells something at the brothers. Ace turns almost in slow motion.
Three.
They aren't going to make it. They aren't going to make it .
Ace braces himself for death, now.
A minute ago, they were all so happy. The war is won. They're chasing their dreams - so why now? Is the universe finally done with them? Is this its way of bringing theirworld to its knees?
Two.
Ace thinks fast. His hand closes around the cloth over Luffy's shoulder, red vibrant against his palm. The other hand grips Sabo. Beyond them, he can see the empty corridor they just came up. Freedom.
Marco yells something again. Ace thinks about how blue the sky was outside.
One.
Using every ounce of strength in his body, feeling his muscles burning, Ace throws his brothers forwards into Marco and all three go flying - at least five feet. They skid on the floor, choking back their panic, and Ace wonders whether he'll be able to smell smoke. Do bombs smoke?
Luffy turns, makes eye contact with Ace, opens his mouth to scream.
Ace mouths, 'I love you!'
Zero.
The longest chapter ive ever written for this! ahh!
YJV, Chapter 46, Aug 15:
And you said there was no hope XD at least they are escaping, but you and O both know even their escape will be difficult. Question: is the prophecy still a thing? Or has it all gone down the drain from Luffy's messing?
Hey! No, the prophecy is no longer a thing!
or is it?
Guest, Chapter 46, Aug 15:
if you listen closely, very faintly you can heAR ME SCREAMING BECAUSE IM HAPPY THEY GOT OUT BUT L aW IS DEAD. my heart is not meant for this type of stress goodbye world
HEYOOO
yeah, he's DEAD D: hella dead
but at least theyre okay now! Ish
thanks for the reviewwww ily!
NovaTheHedgehog7500, Chapter 46, Aug 16:
oh look like all my children are dead this is fine this is okay i can live with this alright okay jk no i'm leaving i'd give you my still beating heart in exchange for some kind of happiness but that's not a thing anymore that ship as sailed so long bye happiness here just take every other organ i have I'm dead inside anyways now might as well be dead outside to this is cool yep alright bye
But at least my three little angels are alright (relatively speaking they're probably bleeding out which is a whole other world of 'cool this is happening') so yay one little hope in the world that I pray to god you don't rip away from us please don't they're too pure
THIS ENTIRE REVIEW HAS ME CRYING WITH LAUGHTER AHAHHA
yeah yeah, theyre all dead and hurt and crying and im fucking evil but hey, I mean…
I cant come up with an excuse jfc
ily!
Guest, Chapter 46, Aug 16:
You're very very welcome and thanks for this great chapter. So many feels, Law and Pidge are gone but at least the three brothers are alright and Doflamingo is also out, now if we could have some moments of calm so they can meet up with the rest it would be great but something tells me that would be too easy... *hugs*
Hey my favourite reviewer!
im glad you liked the chapter! Yeah, the bros are free! Finally! It took long enough jfc 40+ chapters amirite
*hugs back* hope you liked this chapter! Love you!
Guest, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
Such a happy, adorable bonus chapter...mumble...it's good but certainly depressing. Can't wait for the next continuing chapter which will be SO much happier. (In all honestly, I'm a sucker for tragedy!)
Yeah, it was really upbeat! And by that I mean not at all upbeat! Whoop!
hopefully this chapter was happy enough for you, buddy!
thanks for reviewing!
Guest, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
This was soo GOOD! But acehe cant be dead..theres gonna be another one right RIGHT where he somehow comes Back to life
Nope! He stays dead!
but hey, at least we've got the world where he's alive ;) mostly
Tetsik, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
Scree
Ty I love you
FireArrowAce, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
So this is what happened when Luffy was never born? I think I like the story with Luffy in it better..
Same fam same
ScandinavianTrash, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
...
...
Why
I'm dying internally at school even more than I need to XD
Oi make sure to health
Update~
Hey my boi!
don't worry, hopefully the dying faze is over now (HOPEFULLY)
hmmm what was that about health sorry I didn't hear you
ILY
Guest, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
It was a wonderful view of what could have been and really well written but how is this softer? I missed Luffy, Ace died and Sabo burnt the world so even though so many of my faves are dead in the story I think I'll keep the world where Shanks and Luffy exist. More hugs to make up for not reviewing on time last chapter:(
Good question! I don't have the energy to explain it all but basically… this world is simpler. It goes the way it was intended. The world of strays that we know is rougher, it's more complex, its scarier and more confusing and more real. I guess that's what I meant :)
thank you for reviewing, ily! *hugs for days*
zoewinter1, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
Okay okay okay here's the deal: AAAAAAAAAAA now that that's out of the way, I really enjoyed this chapter! I love how you really thought through how this universe would have been affected not just without Luffy, but without Shanks and that almost has a greater impact since Shanks WAS the only one to care for him at a young age, however I have a question: did Makino survive in this AU since she never had Luffy? this needs answering! I love how... damaged those boys got? Sabo was near permanently crippled and Ace was blinded. and then! Ace died and Sabo destroyed the world? that's wild man I really love it (and now I'm tempted to write a one shot au of what if Ace never saved Luffy in Control but... that's on the back burner)
Hey zoe!
ahhhHHH THANK YOU SO MUCCCH. Im so glad you liked it! and im squealing a lot rn!
to answer your q – yeah, makino is alive! Or she would be…..if shed ever been born lol
DIFFERENT TIMELINE WHOOP
ily! Thank you for reviewing!
7, Chapter 47, Aug 16:
Omg so is this the softer world? It dosnt feel like it. Geez their life was so dark, they needed some luffy to make them happier. I can't wait for the next chapter! You said the story was coming to a close so I'm anxious to see how it happens. Thanks for not killing asl off and thanks for your amazing story:)
An explanation for the title is above!
yeah, it was p dark, huh? Hey, at least it never happened.
…..right?
talk soon!
NovaTheHedgehog7500, Chapter 47, Aug 17:
It said "Softer World" and I was like 'oh maybe this will be a nice bite of happiness' but would you look at that more death coolio that's fine too
There's an explanation for the title in one of my other replies!
and yeah death lmao its cool
YJV, Chapter 47, Aug 17:
Omg, wow. The alternate time line is nothing like I've ever expected. XD cool. Haha. But I prefer the wrecked and screwed one better
Yeah, i definitely agree – and im the one who wrote it :")
ariririsu, Chapter 47, Aug 18:
Luffy may be the unluckiest son of a bitch in the world, but oh my god, do Ace and Sabo consider themselves so fucking lucky that he was born.
I love this chapter. Almost makes me wish I could see Ace and Sabo reacting to this as a dream.
Almost. :P
ARI HI
that first sentence made me feel things and idk why
ahhh thank youuu!
AND I FUCKING INCLUDED THAT AHAHAHAHAHA FUCK YEAH EMOTIONS
