We hit a 100 reviews, I'm so happy hehe
Reminder of the new oneshot available for this story, Worthy of Love.
Marco cannot believe that in the middle of this carnage, somehow, his job is to be a glorified pigeon carrier for Trafalgar Law. He did enjoy Doflamingo's baffled expression as Marco swiftly picks the Supernova up amidst the chaos, while the Warlord is forced to dodge clumsily out of the range of a laser beam of all things. He swoops in one daring dive right out of the bat towards the platform as the new weight settles above him, sadly their first objective on the platform isn't Ace's little brother. Blue film apears all around them, and it's eery and disconcerting. If rumours are to be heard, in this sphere, Trafalgar is almost a god. He quickly switches Sengoku out with a random sword, leaving him stranded somewhere far from the platform. The Fleet Admiral is gone without a trail and nobody of the bigshots has noticed. Trafalgar sags.
"I'm going to need to be closer to Luffy-ya, before I can make such a long-range switch again." The man pants. Marco listens, keeping an eye on the battlefield. Anywhere you look there's people dying. They're still not as close as when they switched out Sengoku, but Marco sees already the Buddha expanding a little farther away.
"Trafalgar, are you close enough-yoi?" A javellline misses them by a wide berth, but Marco's not sure where it came from. He makes a wider circle trying to not make it obvious where he's heading.
"Not yet." Marco can feel the surgeon shake his head, his breathing evening out. He looks for Sengoku again, the Fleet Admiral is watching furiously as a hooded figure is freeing Ace's little brother -Luffy, he reminds himself. Marco realizes the issue a second too late. With Sengoku's awareness of Luffy's upcoming release, the collar activates.
"Trafalgar-yoi!"
Luffy is screaming, the sounds escaping him are raw and primal, and Marco wishes for a moment that he could cover his ears. From the corner of his eyes he sees Ace absolutely freeze on the battlefield. His little brother is writhing so hard on the platform, hands clawing at his neck, that his helper has to sit on him to even try to keep him still long enough to take off his cuffs.
"We need to be closer." For a moment Marco is very curious about how exactly the other pirate is measuring the required distance, but he can see blood gushing out of Luffy's nose and then there's a beam of light that pierces his wing.
"Trafalgar!" He dodges another beam. As long as the light hits him they'll be fine. The pain is searing, but ultimately ineffective. If Trafalgar dies right now, though, Ace's little brother dies with him. Sengoku is still fastly approaching the platform, and Marco worries he'll make it before them if he needs to keep dodging the admiral's light. Thankfully, Rayleigh has moved to intercept Kizaru.
"Closer!" The man yells in response. Marco does another dive, crossing the line between daring to suicidal. Twisting his body through a ray of bullets. Luffy is still a ball of absolute agony, sobbing and digging his nails into the wood of the platform, blood still coming out of his nose. They're so close now that Marco can see Luffy rip out his nails against the platform as tries to find purchase in the soaked wood, despite his companions desperate attempts to hold him. The collar is glowing, white hot. Luffy's friend pulls him closer as if he were to shield them from their future.
"Trafalgar-yoi it needs to be fucking n-!"
"Room."
Everything happens at once.
One instant Marco's looking at the wrecked form of Luffy, and he thinks he catches a floating head just for a moment. Then they're not on the platform, the next moment he's too heavy to fly, an explosion catches him off balance, and Marco's falling from the sky.
When Akainu hears the explosion he looks back on the platform, and thinks that's it. A sword pierces his chest from his opponent, one of Whitebeard commanders, though right now the name escapes him. The weapon glows from the heat and Akainu does not flinch. The pirate is also eyeing the platform warily as the rubble crumbles, almost in slow motion. No sign of the Fleet Admiral, the executioners or Luffy.
Franky turns to look at the scaffold, ruined beyond recognition and his eyes allow him to catch sight a burning body, the wood egging on the fire of the explosion, he feels tears in his eyes. He catches the blue flames of the Phoenix, hurdling down from the air along with Trafalgar, Luffy and -ah, that must be Coby. He's too faraway to catch either of them but he smiles, turning to his opponents reinvigorated.
"SUPER!"
Ace doesn't mean to freeze. He's been a fighter long before he was ever a pirate and he's seen Luffy in danger before. Seeing Luffy in chains is nothing like anything before it, the most painful and infuriating thing Ace has ever been through. Behind him lays a long list of faceless marines who really should've known better than try get in between Ace and his little brother. He channels all the rage and guilt he feels into burning a path to Luffy, not even sparing a glance to the charred remains.
Ace is focused, but then, Luffy screams and it's like someone's punched him in the gut, because Ace cannot breathe. When he looks up to the platform, there's blood running down Luffy's face and his body is twitching and contorting unnaturally... Ace thinks he might break. Izou moves him out of the way from an attack and Ace almost thinks his fellow commander is going to scold him, but he looks just as sickened by the display as Ace.
Where is Marco? Ace spots him circling, each time a little closer. He ducks in between Oars Jr. legs, trying to shield himself from the battle, he needs to see if the plan works. (Ace is not sure what he's going to do if it doesn't.) When the collar starts glowing, Ace thinks it's going to be too late.
The platform explodes. His heart stops. Eyes frantically searching the sky. There! He spots Marco's blue form falling. The first commander is trying to readjust and get back to flying, but Ace see he's disoriented. Trafalgar Law is falling, hand trying to build a sphere but he cannot make it big enough to save them. The hooded figure, Luffy's undercover friend, is the only one safe, skywalking behind them. Ace looks up at Oars Jr.
"Oars!" He yells. "Oars throw me!" It takes a moment before the giant understands him, but then Ace is in the air right on time. Luffy's friend -Coby, Ace recognizes the pink hair- grabs Trafalgar a mere few meters from the ground. Marco manages to get himself upright and in moments is flying away to help somewhere else. Ace crashes into his little brother without finess, wrapping his arms around him and letting out one, long incredibly relieved sob.
Robin has to contain the urge to flinch when suddenly, several of the transpoder snails burst into cheers. She smiles as she hears the new update, multiple eyes glassy with tears. She immediately reaches out to Chopper who's taken over communications for the Red Force.
"They've got him off the platform."
