"Maggie! Maggie, wake up!" I heard Luffy's voice coax me awake. "We gotta go!"
I opened my eyes and saw that we were surrounded by flames. I almost freaked out, but Ace's voice met my ears. I could breathe and move! My stamina was back!
"You always do such risky things, Luffy," he said.
I whirled my head around and saw Ace, free as a bird, wrapped in flames and looking at us.
Luffy had grabbed me and jumped off the falling scaffolding.
"Ace-san!" I said, nearly tearing up from the heat and my emotions.
"We did it, Maggie!" Luffy said to me.
"Stay alert guys," Ace said, looking below at the marines ready to pounce.
"Okay," he said without hesitation. "Maggie, stay with me." He held out his hand for me to take.
I nodded and grabbed his hand. "Ok, Luffy-nii."
Ace went off in a different direction as he engulfed the marines in flames.
"You guys can fight, right?" he asked.
"Yeah!" Luffy replied, as we landed on the ground.
"I never thought I'd be saved by you one day," Ace said. "Thanks, Luffy. And you too, Magnolia."
Luffy laughed and said, "Whitebeard helped out, too."
Suddenly, a new wave of marines had their guns pointed at us, shouting death threats and the like. The bullets bounced off of Luffy and went straight through Ace, while I stopped them in midair and repelled them away.
They each began fighting their respective sides, while I fished out my dagger, ready for a fight. But, by the time I was ready, they had already defeated everyone in sight.
"Let's hurry, Luffy," Ace said. "We gotta get out of this place."
"Alright," he replied.
Luffy grabbed my hand yet again and started sprinting off with Ace. It was really hard to keep up. He mostly dragged me, but it was fine. The marines continued to chase after us, but with every attack, Luffy and Ace would defeat them all with ease. Then, Luffy would grab my hand and continue running. I felt bad that I wasn't really being of much help, but there wasn't much I could do with monsters like Luffy and Ace next to me. I was far behind them, power-wise.
"Haha, you've gotten stronger, Luffy," Ace said.
Luffy looked stunned for a moment, before smirking proudly. "I'll be stronger than you, someday!"
Suddenly, Ace stopped, putting a hand in front of Luffy and said, "Then, let me protect you for now.
I skidded to halt and looked up, wondering why we had stopped. The admiral Aokiji was standing directly in front of us. I shrunk back behind Luffy, remembering what he had done to Robin.
"Back up, guys," Ace said to us.
Luffy back up a few steps, almost running into me, but I moved away and poked my head from behind his back to watch the two fight.
Fire vs. ice… this is gonna be cool! I thought.
They didn't fight for very long. Only enough for all three of us to find an opening and make a run for it.
Whitebeard looked worse for wear. He even announced his last order to his crew, saying that they needed to get out alive and go back to the New World without him. He gave a great punch into the air and the whole Marineford began to crumble to pieces right before our eyes.
I watched in awe. One punch had done that much damaged? He was definitely a man to be feared.
The shook violently as large pieces of rubble began crashing into the ground.
Luffy started to run, but Ace didn't follow.
"Ace?" Luffy called, stopping.
"Pops…" he said, looking down, clenching his fist tightly.
"Ace, let's go!" he tried to coax.
"I know…" he said finally. "It won't be in vain."
He shot one last fiery attack at the marines attacking Whitebeard.
He finally moved his feet and we began running again.
"Ace-san, Luffy-kun, get in front of me!" Jimbei said as he ran behind us. "They want to get you, but Whitebeard wants as many survivors as possible! Just keep running until you get to a ship."
"As soon as you rescue Fire Fist, you run? Are the Whitebeard pirates a bunch of cowards?" Ace whirled around his head to see who was speaking.
But I recognized the voice of admiral Akainu. He was trying to bait people to turn around and fight him.
"After all your captain is just an old man with a losing crew," he taunted.
Ace stopped abruptly at hearing this. His fists burst into flames and he turned around.
"Take that back…" he said in a low voice full of anger.
"No, Ace, stop!" his fellow crewmates yelled. "Just let him say whatever. We have to escape!"
"He mocked Pops!" Ace yelled, growing angrier.
"Ace, no!" Luffy said.
"Take it back, you say?" Akainu said. "Not in a million years. What has Whitebeard done? I mean, compared to your father, the King of the Pirates? He really is a failure. Even after Roger's death, he didn't do anything. He'll never be better than Roger, and that's just a fact."
Ace started walking towards him, burning with hatred.
"Luffy-nii…" I said, feeling uneasy about this.
Akainu kept taunting and taunting them, and Ace kept telling him to stop as his crewmates kept pleading for him to return and brush it all off.
Eventually, they both had had enough. And thus, the fight began.
Ace flew back after the first punched, burned by the magma, if that was even possible.
Luffy tried to walk forward, but his step faltered and he fell down to his knees.
"Luffy-nii!" I shrieked, going to his aid.
"No, I'm fine Maggie," he promised. "Just a little tired from the fight."
I tried to help him up, but suddenly, there was screaming all around us. It was like the world was erupting in shouts.
I looked around, wondering what had happened when I saw Akainu heading straight for Luffy and me.
"LUFFY!" Ace screamed.
The first sound I heard was the clanging of beads onto the ground. Next, came the gasps.
In that moment, everything stopped. It was like I had stopped time, but I hadn't. Everything was still on its own.
It took me a while to fully comprehend what had happened, but I saw it.
Akainu's fist was protruding out from Ace's chest with fiery magma and smoke. Never have I ever smelled something worse than the scent of human flesh melting.
I gasped and looked away from the gruesome scene. My eyes fell on Luffy as my captain witnessed the sight of his brother's murder.
"Ace…?" I heard him say.
"No…!" I shrieked, falling to my knees.
Akainu ripped his hand from Ace's chest and backed away. Blood spurted out from Ace's mouth as he fell onto his knees.
By then, everyone had noticed; marines and pirates alike.
A whole rush of people sprinted in Ace's direction. My feet were seemingly cemented to the ground. They started firing bullets and missiles towards Akainu, but he was unfazed. He just walked towards Ace menacingly.
"Looks like you're still alive, Fire Fist Ace," he observed.
Akainu readied his fist as it turned into furious magma again.
I clasped my hands over my mouth and continued to watch the scene unfold, paralyzed.
"No…" Luffy squeaked, eyes wide with shock. "Don't do it. Don't do it!" he shrieked.
It looked almost hopeless until Jimbei stepped in right before he dealt the final blow.
"Don't touch him!" Jimbei yelled.
"Stop delaying the inevitable!" Akainu yelled. "You were a warlord; you know what I'm capable of."
"I'd happily risk my life if I can delay it!" he spat back proudly. "I've been ready to die from the beginning!"
"Looks like I need to execute a traitor, too!" Akainu said, retracting his fist.
"Get down," someone yelled at us.
"Marco the Phoenix and someone else burst out of nowhere to attack Akainu.
"How annoying…" Akainu hissed. He narrowed his eyes as his wounds healed automatically. "So you guys use Haki, huh? It's already too late. Look."
Luffy had crawled over to Ace's body and clutched it to his chest.
They seemed to be talking for a few seconds before Luffy screamed, "Somebody treat him! Please, somebody, help Ace!"
Suddenly, all feeling came back into my body. Relief flushed out the frozen spell and I stood up. "Luffy-nii!" I said, sprinting over to him, even though I was feet away. This was exactly why I was brought here. I was here to save Ace!
"Maggie!" he said, turning his head towards me with wild eyes full of terror. "Please heal him. Save Ace!"
I nodded, reaching them, and knelt down beside them. I placed my hands on Ace, but suddenly he whispered, "It's no use. My organs have been burned. I can't hold out any longer. I know I'm dying."
"No," Luffy denied immediately. "Maggie, hurry!"
"Time Mend," I said while laying my hands on his bloody chest and concentrating all my power into healing him.
"Hey, Ace? Does that feel better?" Luffy asked.
"Don't waste your power on me, Magnolia…" he heaved.
"Time Mend…!" I hissed, feverishly trying.
"Try harder!" Luffy demanded. "It's not working. It's not working!"
"Straw Boy!" Ivankov yelled behind us. "Ace isn't going to make it!" There was a hint of complete sorrow in his voice.
"No way," he yelled. "Come on, Maggie. Try harder, do something!"
I nodded and tried over and over again, but it wasn't working.
I felt a tear slide down my face. "Luffy-nii…" I whimpered. "I can't…"
His head turned slowly to me. The expression on his face… I can't even begin to describe the shock and despair it contained. He looked back to his brother and said, "You… You promised me! You promised you'd never die! No matter what, Ace!"
"I wouldn't have will to live in the first place if it wasn't for you, my stupid little brother…" he struggled. "Oh, if you ever see Dadan, tell her I said hi."
Luffy started crying. "You're not going to die!"
"There is one time that makes me want to stay…" he said, forming a faint smile. "I want to see you fulfill your dream. I know you can do it!"
"Ace!" Luffy sobbed.
"I've been asking myself the same question my entire life: Did I deserve to be born?" Suddenly his voice cracked and fell into a faint whisper. He only had minutes left. "I can't raise my voice anymore, so could you tell them what I'm about to say? Pops, everyone, and you, Luffy. Thank you for loving someone like me who has such bad blood in his veins." He burst into tears and huffed in between sobs. This made me start crying even harder. "Thank you!"
A full smile same across his face as I saw the light in his eyes cease to glow. His body went limp and he fell to the ground after one last rattling breath.
I shuddered with such ferocity I almost threw up.
The world paused.
"Ace…" Luffy whispered. He started shaking violently. "Ace!" he wailed in despair. He looked away from his brother's corpse and asked the heavens, "Why?!"
But suddenly, his cries of agony stopped as he sat there, paralyzed by grief. There wasn't a dry eye in the whole of Marineford. Luffy started screaming again. His whole body was twitching in shock as the most gut-wrenching yelps of pure despair and pain screeched out from his very soul.
That's when Akainu re-emerged from his pile of magma.
"Luffy!" I said, shaking him. "We need to go, now!"
But I don't think he was even conscious at that point. Akainu lunged for us with fists full of magma. I winced, sure we were about to perish, but a sudden rush of blue flames stopped him.
"I won't let you kill him!" Marco yelled with nothing else but absolute hatred in his voice.
Jimbei came around and shook Luffy, trying to wake him up, but it was no use.
"Take them and get away, Jimbei!" Marco yelled.
Jimbei picked Luffy up right away and ushered me away.
Suddenly, the tears stopped falling. "No…" I said. "This isn't right, I have to save him!"
I stopped time immediately and ran back to the corpse.
"I have to, I have to save him," I convinced myself. "That's why I came here! I have to save him!"
I tried about a dozen more times to "Time Mend" Ace, but it wasn't accomplishing anything. So I just sat next to him, trying to figure out something that would bring him back. I clutched my hair, almost ripping it out in frustration and despondency.
But suddenly, a thought came to me.
I didn't know if it was possible, but I thought I could try to somehow go back in time and redo the whole event. I didn't know if it could work, but I placed my hands on him and started concentrating harder than ever before.
"Work, work, work, work!" I shrieked, trying to do the impossible. "Please work!"
After a couple minutes with no results, I looked at his body, defeated.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" I yelled, crying in defeat.
All of a sudden, I felt this weird tingling sensation in my nose from all the crying. This was definitely the worst possible moment I could have sneezed in my whole entire life, but it happened.
And it worked.
(I don't own One Piece or any of the characters. This was made for entertainment purposes only and no copyright is intended.)
