Chapter 51
The Tragedies of War
Hawke tore after Luffy, lunging at any soldier who tried to attack him from behind.
Something's wrong, she thought worriedly as she deflected a sword attack, Luffy's losing his strength.
She saw her brother stumble and fall after sending three soldiers flying.
"Luffy!" she ran up beside him, "Luffy what's wrong?"
But her captain stayed on the ground, panting. His breath coming out in ragged spurts.
"Luffy!" Hawke knelt down, tugging frantically on his arm, "At least move, we can't-!"
A sudden pain seared across her back and she cried out. Blood sprayed down across the ground, across Luffy's arm.
Where'd that come from? She wondered.
Hawke trembled for a moment, kneeling above her brother. Then she toppled sideways, landing heavily on the ground.
"H- Hawke!" she heard Luffy's voice, it sounded far away.
"Dark Angel Hawke!" another voice called out, sounding even farther away, "I, Momonga, stake my pride as a Navy Vice Admiral on stopping you and Monkey D. Luffy right here!"
Hawke was puzzled. Why did everyone sound so far away? Why was her back stinging? Why was there suddenly blood on the ground around her? Why couldn't she move?
"Hawke!" Luffy shouted, suddenly loud and close, "Are you okay? Say something!"
She could see her brother crouching in front of her. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He couldn't be worrying about her right now.
"Admiral Momonga has struck down the Dark Angel!" someone shouted.
Hawke frowned.
No he didn't, she thought, I'm alright.
She pushed herself up with her arms. But the movement suddenly caused her back to feel like it was being torn open. Hawke screamed in pain and fell back onto the ground.
Damn it, she finally realized what had happened, that Vice Admiral must have cut my back while I was trying to get Luffy up!
She grit her teeth against the pain and struggled to stand again.
I can't fall now, she screamed internally.
She heard Luffy cry out as the Vice Admiral landed his attack, then another.
Luffy needs help! She staggered to her feet, crouching down. Ace needs help! She straightened her legs and stood up.
The pain seared across her back again, but this time she didn't cry out. She could feel the adrenaline rushing through her body. She could feel the warm trickle of blood flowing down her back and legs. But she couldn't let this stop her! Hawke took a shaky step forward, then another, then another and then the pavement rushed up to meet her and she fell once more.
No! she wanted to shout at her body, what are you doing?! Get up! Get up!
Hawke looked up and saw Luffy laying at Admiral Kizaru's feet. The Admiral delivered a swift kick to her brother and sent him flying out of her range of vision.
"Luffy!" Hawke cried, and then coughed, spitting blood out onto the ground.
She grimaced as it mingled with the dust and the dirt.
"Damn it!" she wiped her mouth and saw her jacket covered in more blood, "Not good."
She needed to stop her bleeding if she was going to have any hope of staying conscious.
Just then, Ivankov's voice bellowed out over the battle field.
"There he is! Straw-Hat-Boy! There he is, Jinbei!"
Hawke couldn't see anything from where she lay, facing the execution platform, but the fact that Jinbei and Ivankov were there and were helping Luffy encouraged her very much.
Hawke looked up and saw a fuzzy blue and gold thing flying towards Ace. But as he approached the platform, she saw the figure of her grandfather leap up and punch it down.
So this is your choice, Grampa, she thought, tears coming to her eyes, of course it is… we're all pirates…
"If you want to get past," Garp's voice rang out, "You'll have to kill me!"
Hawke felt tears stinging her cheeks as smoke filled the air. Her vision blurred as she heard footsteps drawing near. Her vision faded to black as she felt her body being lifted off the ground.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
A marine soldier quickly ran across the plaza, ducking and dodging the attacks that were flying wildly around him. His partner ran alongside him, shielding the limp girl in his arms from view with his uniform cape.
The two marines ducked, panting, behind an upturned slab of the wall of some building that had been destroyed.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Bran?" the second marine muttered as he removed his cape from the girl.
Bran laid Hawke on the ground.
"Just shut up and help me get her jacket off!" he snapped, fishing through his pockets for some bandages.
The two worked in silence for a few moments.
"Vice Admiral Momonga really got her good," muttered Bran, "Here, Gavin, turn her over and lift up her shirt. We've got to stop the bleeding."
Gavin sucked air in through his teeth, but did as he was instructed.
"We could get kicked out of the navy for doing this!" he hissed, "Helping a pirate, the Dark Angel no less, and in the middle of a war!?"
Bran tore off a strip of bandages with his teeth.
"I couldn't just let her bleed out!" he snapped, "She'd have died!"
"Exactly!" retorted Gavin, "Then the Dark Angel wouldn't be a threat! How can you still be friends with her even after she was discovered to be even more dangerous than Straw Hat?!"
Bran glared across at his partner.
"It's because we're friends!" he whispered fiercely, "Tank or Meeko would have done the same thing."
Gavin pursed his lips.
"Maybe, maybe not," he muttered, "Where are they anyway?"
He got up and looked out around the slab.
"We lost them a while ago…" he said quietly, unable to hide the worry hidden in his voice.
"They're fine," Bran said as he finished tending to the girl's wounds and rolled her onto her side, "Come on, let's go find them."
Gavin turned and looked surprised.
"You're going to leave before she wakes up?" he asked, eyebrow raised.
Bran smirked and shrugged.
"She doesn't need to know," he said, "And I'm satisfied knowing I helped her."
Gavin smirked and shook his head.
"I'll never understand how you think," he muttered and stepped out.
Bran smiled at his friend as he followed back out onto the battle field.
His smile quickly turned to a look of horror as a pirate jumped out of the smoke and aimed his sword at Gavin.
Bran lunged forward, raising his gun, but he was too late. The pirate ran his friend through the chest and then disappeared back into the smoke without a second glance behind him.
"Gavin!" Bran shouted, running up to catch his friend.
"Damn it!" the wounded marine fell to his knees, coughing blood up onto the ground, "Stupid pirate!"
Bran lowered him down onto the ground.
"Hang in there!" he panted, taking out the rest of the bandages he'd used on Hawke, "You'll be alright!"
Gavin coughed again and rolled over, spewing more blood onto the ground.
"Hey Bran," he muttered, struggling to raise his hand and wipe his mouth, "You make sure the others make it, okay? Meeko and Tank…"
"What?" stammered Bran as he rolled his friend back over, "Don't talk like that! It's just one wound, you'll be fine."
Even as he spoke, the marine saw the size and location of the bloody hole and felt the beginnings of despair.
It pierced his lungs, he realized, blinking back tears, and it's so close to his heart.
"It's just one wound," he repeated, his voice shaking, "Just hang in there!"
Gavin smirked at him, his eyes glazing over.
"I'm glad… I… helped someone… before-" but he finished in a fit of coughing, a gurgling sound coming from the back of his throat.
Bran tried to wrap the bandage around Gavin, but the wounded man gave another shuddering cough and lay still.
Bran felt his arms go weak. He sat there, stunned. His friend had just died in his arms...
Gavin… he thought, …how am I going to tell Meeko?
A sudden anger swelled in his chest and he grabbed his gun with shaking hands.
"Don't worry, my friend," he said quietly, closing Gavin's eyelids, "I'll get the bastard pirate who cut you down."
With a passionate cry, Bran lept up and dove into the fray.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Hawke started awake as the sounds of explosions rang out, seeming to come from all sides.
"Luffy!" she jerked herself up, then let out a gasp of pain.
Looking down, she saw that her jacket was off, laying on the ground beside her, and her waist was wrapped in bandages.
"What?!" she gasped.
Looking around, she saw that she was sheltered behind a large slab of a fallen building. The sounds of the battle raged on from behind the concrete. Hawke looked behind her, but there was nobody there. She slowly, gradually, stood up and retrieved her jacket. There was a large slice across the back of it from when she'd been attacked and it was stained with her blood, but she put it back on anyways. Pain tore through her back, but this time, she had the strength to stand it.
Someone took me out of the battle, she wondered, I wonder who it was?
She slowly hobbled around the edge of the wall to look out. Her movements still caused her pain, but it was much more manageable now that someone had bandaged her wounds. There was no sign of anyone around though, except the body of a fallen marine soldier, laying a ways off in the rubble.
So much death, she thought sadly, her eyes lingering on the bloodied cloak still flapping in the wind at his shoulders, we need to get Ace out of here as fast as we can.
Hawke looked around one last time.
"Thank you," she said, in case her saviour was hiding somewhere nearby, and then took out her wings.
Miraculously, the slash across her back hadn't damaged them. She took off and soared upwards, hovering over the plaza.
What she saw made her clench her teeth. Jinbei was being chained down by a whole crowd of soldiers, two of Whitebeards top commanders had fallen to the Admirals, Whitebeard had four men hanging off his chest by the hilts of their swords. And as she watched, a fifth marine jumped up and launched a bazooka into the great pirate's face! And worst of all, she couldn't see any sign of Luffy. Her eyes went up to the platform and she gasped in frustration. They were readying another set of guards to go ahead with executing Ace!
"How long have I been unconscious?" she wondered as she flew over the crowd.
There he is! She spotted the yellow shirt and the straw hat waving from his back, Luffy!
"Ace!" she heard her brother shout and looked up to see the executioners' swords raised.
"No!" she shouted, altering her course and heading straight for the platform.
For a second time, the order was given, for the second time the swords fell. Hawke strained her wings against a sudden hurricane force wind.
"Ace!" she cried, fighting with all her might to get to him, "Stop!"
She withdrew two knives and aimed them at the guards. But right as she was about to throw them, she felt a shockwave pass through her body. It rippled along her arms and legs. She could even feel it in her wings.
Woah, she thought as her vision blurred, what's happening.
But she fought to stay conscious and let loose her knives. They flew straight and true, right at the guards. The guards who were falling...?
Hawke stopped and hovered in the air. She shook her head to clear it, the strange feeling passing away. The guards had suddenly collapsed, their swords falling to the ground. Her knives flew through the air where they had stood and clattered to the ground behind the platform.
"Ace is safe!" her heart was beating fit to burst and a shudder of relief passed through her body, "But what happened?"
Turning and looking down, Hawke stared in disbelief. Most of the battlefield was now still. Men were collapsing all over the place, just like the guards had!
"What?!" her eyes flew over the crowd, finding the one person that was still charging onwards, "Luffy?"
"Conqueror's Haki?" she heard Sengoku mutter, "That's a surprise."
Conqueror's Haki? Hawke thought, what's that? Did Luffy do something?
She turned and saw that the eyes of Sengoku, the Admirals, and the pirates and soldiers left standing were all on Luffy, still running towards the platform like nothing had happened.
Whatever happened, she thought, soaring down to retrieve her knives, I don't like that they're all looking at Luffy.
She scooped up her weapons and then took off again. As she came in to land alongside Luffy, she took down three marines who were about to attack him.
"Hawke!" Luffy shouted, "You're alright!"
"Yep!" Hawke shot him a smile, "Was that you back there?"
"Huh?" Luffy gave her a questioning look, "What?"
Hawke shrugged.
They were suddenly joined by many of Whitebeard's allies. They had apparently been ordered to help out Luffy at all costs.
Hawke tore across the plaza. The platform was finally within reach again. The air was suddenly filled with a familiar sound as a streak of light shot towards her from her left. Hawke spun around to see Dracule Mihawk had launched an attack directly at them!
"Dodge it, Luffy!" she shouted frantically.
But before any of them could move, someone intercepted the attack and blocked it.
"What?!" Hawke gasped, "Mr. 1?!"
The knife man looked over his shoulder.
"Orders from the Boss," he said, "For the time being, we will confront the navy. Now go!"
"Right!" said Luffy and he and Hawke sped on.
Mr. 1 didn't seem to put up much of a fight, however. They had only gone a few steps when they heard Ivankov yell out a warning.
Hawke turned to see Mihawk bearing down on them again.
I can't dodge this one, she realized, "Run, Luff-!"
But the blow was intercepted again, this time by a gold hook.
"Crocodile!" Hawke gasped, stumbling back as the ex-Warlord suddenly appeared inches in front of her.
The two men stood facing off.
"You're in my way, Straw Hat… Angel," Crocodile said without turning around, "Get lost."
Luffy nodded and ran on. Hawke gave Crocodile's back one last glance before turning and following her brother.
And as she caught up to him, she saw that the way was clear! The Whitebeard pirates had managed to hold back all the marines leading towards the platform. As they ran, Inazuma appeared and cut the path ahead of them and lifted it so it led right up to Ace's knees.
"This is it, Luffy!" Hawke panted.
Four marines jumped onto the path trying to block their way. Hawke sped ahead and cut them down, clearing the way for her brother.
She spread her wings and followed closely as Luffy started up the ramp Inazuma had created.
They were almost there! Ace was right in front of them!
There was a loud crack and someone appeared on the ramp ahead of them.
"Grampa!" Hawke panted.
"Granddad!" Luffy shouted, "Please move!"
Hawke saw Garp's face contort with pain or anger, she couldn't tell which.
"There's no way I'll step aside!" Garp roared, "I am a Vice Admiral form Navy HQ! I was fighting pirates long before you were born! If you want to get past me, then it'll be over my dead body! Straw Hat Luffy! This is the path you chose!"
Luffy made a choking sound.
Hawke gasped and fought back tears.
"Grampa…" she whimpered.
"Hawke," Luffy said quietly over his shoulder, "Don't do anything..."
Hawke gave Luffy a questioning look.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
But Luffy just looked straight ahead and kept running.
Don't do anything? She wondered.
She landed and slowly stopped running.
Standing back, she watched as Luffy approached their grandfather, using her wings to steady her as the path began quaking and cracking under Garp's weight.
"Please Granddad," shouted Luffy, "Let me pass!"
"I told you!" Garp replied, "Over my dead body!"
Hawke bit her lip as Luffy let out a conflicted groan.
"I can't do it, Grandpa!" he shouted, "Please move!"
But Garp stood fast.
"If you don't kill me, Ace will die!" he shouted.
"Never!" screamed Luffy.
The two of them were close enough to fight now.
"It'll happen no matter how much you hate it!" shouted Garp, "I'm not holding back! Luffy, I now regard you as my enemy!"
Hawke gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. Now she understood what Luffy had meant. This was the one fight she couldn't break up. She couldn't get between them and urge them to make up. This was the final fight. This was between her brother and her grandfather, it was for them to settle who won.
Luffy raised his fist. Garp did the same.
Garp charged, Luffy charged. Garp… missed. Luffy landed his blow and tossed Garp over the edge.
Hawke fought back tears as she saw her grandfather hit the ground, causing a large cloud of rubble to burst into the air.
"Grampa…" she whimpered as the pathway crumbled, causing her to take off into the air.
But then her eyes went to Luffy and saw his foot touch down on the platform.
"He made it!" she gasped, relieved and happy despite everything.
She flew closer as Luffy knelt down and began trying to unlock the hand cuffs. Then she saw Sengoku, he was growing.
"Luffy!" she gasped, "Watch out!"
The Fleet Admiral had swollen up into a giant golden figure. He towered above her two brothers, giving off odd waves of energy.
"Did you really think that I would let you get away?" Sengoku bellowed.
Hawke saw Luffy frantically try to insert the key, then saw him begin looking panicked and wildly searching around.
"What happened?" she muttered.
Then she saw the two pieces of the key falling to the ground.
"The key was broken?!" she gasped, then her eyes found Kizaru, his finger still raised and pointing at the platform, "Damn it!"
Sengoku bore down on Luffy and Ace.
"You are also a renowned criminal worthy of the death penalty!" the giant Buddha said angrily,"Now, as brothers, I will execute you myself!"
He raised his fist and started to glow all over.
Not good! Thought Hawke as she sped through the air.
"Don't forget about their sister!" she shouted as she drew near.
Sengoku hesitated and glanced in her direction.
"Luffy!" Hawke shouted, "Balloon!"
She dove down and made straight for Sengoku's face, her knives glinting.
She brought them down, but the Fleet Admiral dodge it and her blades only cut through his golden afro. But she had succeeded in her goal. As Sengoku's fist descended, Luffy had the time to blow himself up into a balloon to cushion the blow.
Then everything happened at once. The platform broke and began collapsing, the marines fired all their cannon balls at Luffy and Ace, there was a guard falling with them. Hawke gasped as she realized it was Mr. 3. Then, there was a giant explosion and everything was hidden behind a curtain of black smoke.
What happened? Hawke flew frantically around the edge of the dark cloud, Where was Ace? Where was Luffy?
Then a huge burst of fire erupted from the smoke, the heat making Hawke back away from the platform.
She squinted through the flames. She could have sworn she'd seen movement in there. Then, Yes! She did see something, and it was coming closer.
Her breath caught in her throat and she felt tears in her eyes. It was Ace! And Luffy was with him. And he was free!
"AAACCCCEEEE!" Hawke cried at the top of her lungs.
A roar went up all around the battlefield. The pirates shouted out their victory and Luffy's success.
But there wasn't too much time to be celebrating. The navy quickly resumed their barrage of fire at Luffy, Ace and Mr. 3. But now that Ace had his sea prism cuffs off, he blasted them with a huge column of fire. The heat wave pulsated through the air and caused Hawke to lose her balance in the air currents and fall to the ground. But she quickly sprang up again.
The area where her brothers were now fighting was easy to spot, since there were constant explosions of fire flying all over the place.
Hawke had landed quite far away, but she quickly began fighting her way back to them. She found a renewed source of energy and fought with all her strength. Suddenly, a rumbling sound could be heard over the roar of the battle. Hawke felt the ground under her feet start to tremble.
Is this another one of Whitebeard's attacks? She wondered, turning.
She gasped as she saw what it was. The ship that had burst through the wall with Whitebeard was now charging itself across the ground. And it was headed right at her!
Hawke scrambled to get out of the way, but the force of the charge blew her away as the ship lumbered by. She tumbled over herself as she landed and had no sooner gotten to her feet again, then the world started to shake.
"Okay," Hawke grunted as she felt the ground jerked backwards under her, "This is definitely Whitebeard's fault."
She fell and felt her knees and palms scrape painfully against the ground, which dulled the spike of pain that flew along her back.
What did he do this time? She wondered, staggering to her feet as the dust settled.
Hawke turned to face the place where Whitebeard stood, but she was pushed back by a sudden flood of escaping pirates.
"Follow the Old Man's final orders!" they were shouting, tears streaming down their faces as another loud crack was heard and the buildings of Marineford began collapsing.
Whitebeard wants to sink this place, doesn't he? Hawke realized, that's probably why he told his crew to run…
Her eyes searched frantically through the crowd of faces.
Where was Luffy, where was Ace?
…
Something was wrong…
Hawke didn't know why she suddenly felt so sad. Tears ran down her cheeks as she fought off a couple of soldiers that were trying to gang up on one of Whitebeard's commanders as they retreated.
Something was very wrong…
I need to see Luffy, she thought frantically, feeling a pressure building up in her chest, I need to see Ace!
Hawke stumbled around, trying to find her brothers. But she couldn't make out anything through the sea of fighting bodies and the smoke. She kept getting jostled and pushed back by the retreating pirates.
Where are they?! She thought, running through the crowd.
She collided with someone and was sent flying onto the ground. With a grunt she raised her head and saw something bouncing towards her. It hit her arm and settled on the ground next to her.
Hawke squinted at it.
A red bead? She wondered, where did this come from?
She picked it up and turned it in her fingers.
Looks just like Ace's necklace...
Hawke's stomach dropped. Her world spun as she lept to her feet. Where was Ace?
She whirled around, searching the faces on the battlefield, but none of them were him.
Where was Ace?!
Hawke could feel her breath becoming heavier, her throat was constricting. WHERE IS ACE?!
Suddenly, the world went dark, as if a shadow had passed over the sun. Hawke could hear her own breathing extremely loudly in her ears, as if it were being magnified.
What's going on? She thought hazily as her eyes scanned across the battlefield, unseeing.
People's bodies were fading, becoming almost transparent. Hawke turned her head; there was something shining off to her right.
Ace!
She could see him! He was quite far away from where she stood, she had to squint to make him out. He seemed to be leaning on Luffy.
Hawke felt her legs moving off in that direction, but her eyes stayed focused on the shining figure of her brother.
Wait… she frowned as Ace's figure shimmered suddenly, the light seemed to be getting dimmer.
Suddenly, the world seemed to turn on again. The light returned, people became solid once more, and the roar of the battle overcame the sound of her breathing.
Hawke blinked at the sudden change, but she kept moving in the direction that Ace was.
The crowd parted for a moment and Hawke saw them. She stopped and stared, uncomprehending, at the scene that was revealed before her.
Akainu was standing back, in front of her brothers. Luffy was holding Ace in his arms… Ace had a huge, bloody hole through his back.
Hawke looked down and saw that she was still holding the red bead.
No….
She let out a long, piercing wail.
"NO!" She screamed in agony, tears streaming down her face, "ACE!"
She took off again, stumbling over the ground. She wasn't aware of what was under her feet, her eyes stayed fixed on the silhouettes of her brothers. Slipping and sliding, she pushed through groups of marines and pirates, paying no attention to any of them, not even raising her weapons.
It can't be, she thought, he was just fighting beside Luffy. He just got free. We were going to escape…this can't be how it ends!
As she elbowed her way frantically through a large group of marines, she saw Ace's body falling out of Luffy's grasp.
He hit the ground and lay still. Luffy was looking at his hands, still held up in the position of supporting Ace. Then his face turned o the sky and he let out a heart-wrenching wail.
To Hawke, that sound meant that what she had dreaded when she'd first seen the two, kneeling on the battlefield, was true.
Ace hadn't made it.
Hawke felt a scream rip from her throat. The forms of her two brother's sat ahead of her. Luffy, with his face upturned, an expression of horror and disbelief frozen onto his features. Ace, laying at his knees, as though asleep, a smile on his face.
Hawke sprang towards them.
It's a bad dream, she thought frantically, just wake up and everything will –
She didn't get a chance to finish her desperate wish. Someone crashed into her side and sent her stumbling. Then something hit her in the side of the head with such force that she felt herself spin around before her legs gave out and she fell into darkness.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
A blurry form was hovering above her, but Hawke couldn't make out who it was.
I'm conscious, she realized, but just barely. Ace!
She reached her hand up towards the figure.
"Help…Luffy," she panted, her voice weak and frail, "…Ace… I need to…help…"
The figure above her moved their head.
Hawke felt the pull of the darkness again. Her vision blurred.
No, she thought faintly, no, not again… Ace…Luffy…
"Here, take her," a deep voice followed her down into the darkness, "Those idiots can't protect him properly anyway."
