Final installment of 'Why is it Burning'! Just a small 'wrapping it up' piece
"Sir, the Whitebeard's have arrived." A guard came into the room to let the King and his guests know.
"Ah, excellent. Thank you." He dismissed the guard. "Shall we go greet him?" He asked the pirates, who were already standing up to go, without waiting for the King. Mentally, he sighed in exasperation. Pirates, no respect. He though fondly as he followed them out.
Nami was visibly bouncing up and down, eager to greet her and Robin's men and make sure they and their home were still in one piece. Robin was more sedate beside her, but you could see that she was just as eager to be back with her own crew. Ace followed more slowly, not as eager to go to the docks, but obviously still wanting to see his crew again.
At the dock, they were greeted with the sight of what looked like the continuation of a massive party as the Whitebeard's celebrated their success. They'd been partying almost since they left Marineford, the party merely spread out once they reached the docks and the pirates made use of the new space. Civilians were visibly adding themselves to the festivities, with chefs setting up or taking over for the Pirate cooks so that they, too, could join their siblings.
The King smiled at the sight and made his way through the crowd to speak with Whitebeard (to his guard's annoyance, but they knew their King would be safe in the throng of celebrating Pirates), who was watching over his children proudly. Ace, Robin, and Nami were swept away by the pirates, who greeted them with hugs and 'glad your alright's'.
He watched as Nami and Robin were pounced on by a group of younger looking pirates that he only recognized from Wanted Posters, Strawhat Luffy welcomed them back loudly and joyfully, then bounced off to tackle his brother when he was satisfied with their answers about how it went.
"Ah, Neptune. How are you?" Whitebeard greeted him happily.
He smiled at the pirate captain's obvious joy at seeing his children partying right now. No doubt he'd enjoyed watching them 'have fun' on Marineford as well. "I am well." He nodded in acknowledgement towards the captain and the few commanders that were still sitting near him instead of being part of the party.
"That's good. I trust Ace wasn't too much trouble? Thank you for looking after him while we were gone."
"No, no trouble at all. He did try to find a boat when he first arrived, but I'm told those two women on Strawhats crew can be quite... persuasive when they want something." He snorted. He'd been regaled with tales of how scary both Nami and Robin could be, and how they had no problems using Ace's brother however they pleased to get compliance out of the doting older brother.
"Gurarararaara! I can imagine." He grinned. He'd seen it often enough with Nami before the girls left the ships with the sub. One would almost think that she was the captain, and not Luffy, with the way she ran the ship. And he knew full well how stubborn Ace could be, especially when it involved people he cared about being in a fight without him.
"So, is Marineford still standing?" He asked slyly, raising a Sake cup to his lips and peering over it to the pirate.
This time Whitebeard's laugh shook the whole island. "Of course not!" His nearby children cheered and somebody raised a toast.
"To the stronghold of Marineford, may it sink forever beneath the waves!" This raised an even louder cheer.
The next time he saw Ace, he was concerned by the large bruise blossoming on his face. He could have sworn it wasn't there earlier...
Whitebeard saw what he was looking at and laughed. "I see Little Luffy found his brother. He wasn't pleased that his 'stupid brother got his stupid self caught', in his words." He chuckled again.
Nami and Robin looked at each other, excited and eager. So eager, that they forgot that they were sitting with a King, and almost rushed out of the room without a word. Even if they had remembered, they doubted that he would have cared, he seemed pretty cool like that, and he seemed to used pirates and how they behaved.
On the docks, Nami looked around, eager. "Nami! Robin!" They heard, and their crew were there in front of them, whole. Nami laughed, and Robin smiled.
"How did it go?" Usopp asked, looking them over just like the girls looked the rest of them over.
"It went well, they didn't even notice he was missing until we were boarding the sub. And we hit a good current getting down here, they couldn't have caught us if they tried." Nami rolled her eyes at the Marine's ineptitude.
The men laughed while Luffy just grinned and plopped his hat on Nami's head, hand resting on top of it and her head for a moment before he removed it. Her breath hitched, and she touched the brim briefly before smiling at him and continuing with the story.
"He wasn't too difficult, was he?" Zoro asked, nodding towards Ace, who was being swarmed with Whitebeard's.
"He was quiet on the trip down, he tried to find a boat to go to Marineford once we actually arrived, though." Nami rolled her eyes.
"We... convinced him otherwise." Robin grinned darkly, making Usopp shudder.
"Scary." He muttered.
"Did you find anything else useful on the transport ship?" Sanji asked, knowing their habits well when Marine bases or ships were concerned.
"Yes, I got a few more camera and transponder snails, some more ink and paper for our printer, and I found Seastone cuffs, bullets, and knives." Robin nodded, satisfied. "They didn't have much by way of files or documentation, though." She frowned, but shrugged it off. It would have been surprising if they did, it was just a prisoner transport ship at that moment, after all. She imagined that documents like that would have been transferred to the Archives room on Marineford before being deployed to pick up Ace.
"They didn't have much gold, either." Nami pouted at that, but didn't let it get her down too much. The plan had been insane from the start, no matter that she knew Robin and her could handle it with no problem, she was just happy it went off so well. Besides, she still had to really go through the haul they got from Thriller Bark, she'd been too worried about what might be going on with her captain's brother, who she'd liked when they met in Alabasta.
"I'll take those bullets." Usopp immediately claimed. Izo had convinced him to carry a gun, even if he still favored his slingshot, just in case. He didn't really see why, a pellet from his slingshot may not cause the kind of damage a bullet would, but he could also be more creative with his ammunition. He had his Firebird Star, Explosive stars, and everything else! Try getting those to fire out of a gun. Izo had also helped him make his ammo more potent, deadlier. Well, he supposed that he could use the Seastone bullets for his new gun. He wasn't like Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji after all! He was just a regular guy on a sea of monsters!
"Just keep that Seastone away from me! Yohohoho!" Brook exclaimed happily.
Robin, Chopper, and Luffy nodded in agreement, neither of them felt like touching Seastone anytime soon. There was a reason Nami'd had to convince Robin to hold up so they could take it with them at all, no matter how useful it would be for Usopp and Nami herself to carry at least one of the knives on their person. As a Devil Fruit user, she loathed being anywhere near something that could make her so weak and helpless. Nami just decided that was something she had no desire to 'experience to understand'. Briefly she wondered what would happen to Brook if he were to be touched by Seastone or fall in the ocean. After all, he was a living skeleton courtesy of his Devil Fruit...
"Anyway, come join the party, Nami, Robin!" Usopp finally cheered after a few more minutes of being surrounded by his crew, now whole and safe.
Nami laughed and let herself be led away, making a beeline for one of the many drinking contests she could see starting up. Robin chuckled and went to find a quieter area of the party, she wasn't one for loud, boisterous parties like this one. The rest of the crew scattered and mixed back in with the Whitebeard's to enjoy the party themselves.
As soon as the guard came to let them know that Pops and the others had arrived, Ace was on his feet, along with Nami and Robin.
They'd spent the time since hearing that the fighting was over trading stories about Luffy, especially since he left them in Alabasta. He was grateful to the Strawhats for being there for his brother, especially when Nami informed him (in the most scathing tone possible) that Luffy had tried to leave them somewhere 'safe' while he went to save Ace on his own. She clearly appreciated the sentiment, but was not at all pleased or impressed by the action.
Arriving at the dock, Ace was somehow not surprised to see the Whitebeard's continuing a party, but he was surprised to be swept up into said party as if he never left the ship, as if he was never in prison, as if the battle they'd just gone through hadn't been all his fault. At some point, he lost track of Nami and Robin, but he wasn't too worried about them, he'd seen a ship flying Luffy's flag next to the Moby, so they were here somewhere.
Although he was curious to know what happened to the Merry, Luffy had really loved that little ship.
He was being looked over, fussed over, exclaimed over, and welcomed back repeatedly. At one point the Whitebeard's ship doctor stopped in front of him, looked him over critically, patted him on the back, and walked away again.
He was starting to get impatient, wanting to find his little brother and go talk to Pops, when he heard it.
"ACE!" He barely turned and braced himself before being slammed into by a red, rubbery blur. "We got you!" Luffy exclaimed, clinging to Ace like he might disappear if he let go.
Ace could only laugh softly and hug his little brother, deciding to berate him for getting involved later.
He was only half expecting the punch when Luffy pulled away a second later. "OW! Luffy, what was that for?!" He yelled, holding onto his head while the pirates around them (the traitors) laughed.
"That was for being stupid and getting caught!" Luffy shot back, glaring. "Meanie." He muttered and reached out to cling to his older brother again.
Ace sighed. "It's not like I was planning on it." He muttered back, but didn't protest the rib-crushing hold his baby brother had on him. Then he blinked. "When did you learn Haki?" He asked, trying to pull away slightly to actually see his brother. Not like he hadn't consciously made the effort to hold his shape when Luffy hit him, but he still felt the Haki in that punch.
"Bay taught us, and then Pineapple and the others taught us, and even the cool old guy taught me!" Luffy cheered, pleased with the effort Ace's Nakama took towards getting him back and protecting his own crew since he was too weak to do it himself in this battle. Despite what they may have thought, he wasn't blind to how Dusty and the others maneuvered their fights away from the more powerful fighters. He just hadn't said anything at the time, knowing from their brief fight with the ice admiral that they weren't ready for those opponents.
"Really?" Ace asked, relieved, he made a mental note to thank his fellow commanders. He knew that they didn't have to take the time to provide training for his little brother's crew. They weren't even allies, they'd only come together for him.
"Yup!" Luffy chirped and finally released him, only to grab him by the arm and start dragging him through the crowd to where Sanji had commandeered a cooking station just for his captain and the captain's older brother, both of whom were black holes on legs. After so long, it just didn't feel right when anybody else cooked for his captain, despite the few times they'd been treated to feasts and parties by grateful islanders after they'd saved them from something.
"So how far did you get in training?" He asked, curious.
"We can all use both Haki's to some extent, some better then others of course. It's not perfect, and we haven't mastered the skill yet, but we can use it." Sanji answered, pleased with himself. He'd been told that the level they had mastered it, in the short amount of time they'd spent training, was amazing. He'd just replied that they didn't have time for anything less.
"I'm proud of you." Ace whispered to Luffy, who beamed and started stuffing his face, for once not trying to steal Ace's, at least... not right away.
One of the guards ran up to the King, dodging celebrating pirates skillfully, who listened for a few moments before he snorted. "Thank you, keep an ear out for more reports like that." He instructed. The guard saluted and dashed off again, again dodging the pirates with skill. It seemed like every time the Whitebeard's visited, it turned into a huge party at the docks and the king always ended up in the middle of it.
"Neptune?" Edward asked, curious. He hoped it wasn't something he would have to drag his children away from their party for, they were enjoying themselves, and they'd earned it.
"Ace mentioned that Jimbei was still in Impel Down, so I sent some men to get him out." The King started to explain. "It was simple, really... they're the ones who decided to build a prison underwater. Anyway, he's fine and they're on their way back. But, the men I sent found members of the Revolutionary Army living within the walls between Levels 5 and 6, along with a certain someone in Level 6." He smirked.
"Who?" Marco asked, confused. He couldn't think of anybody else of any interest to them that could be in Impel Down.
"It appears that Marshall D. Teach attempted to break into Impel Down and browse through the prisoners on Level 6, to see if some of them wanted to join his crew. He was captured instead by Warden Magellan." The King revealed, and those Whitebeard's who were still sober enough to process what he said collapsed in laughter.
It seemed that not even the famed Dark-Dark Fruit could hold up against poison of that magnitude.
"Couldn't happen to a better guy!" Jozu grunted, and took another drink.
"There's more. My men decided to bring him along, he's currently wrapped in Seastone and only his head is covered by the coral bubble, so he can't use his Devil Fruit once he gets here. You can deal with him however you wish." The King raised his cup in salute and drained it while Whitebeard grinned and his children cheered and grinned ferally.
Once Teach arrived... once Teach was brought before them, they could make sure the Traitor remembered why it was never wise to harm one of their own.
"Pops... I..." Ace started, but was unable to finish. He'd been trying for a while now to get away from the other pirates wanting to welcome him back so he could speak with the captain, but now that he was in front of him... what was he supposed to say? He wasn't stupid, he knew that not everybody lived through the battle. A battle that wouldn't have even happened if it weren't for him disobeying orders and going after Teach, if weren't for him being stupid enough to get caught.
"Are you alright, son?" Whitebeard asked, interrupting his attempts to speak.
"Yes, I'm... I'm alright, but..." He fidgeted.
"Good. That's all that matters." Whitebeard sat back, content, and watched as Luffy dive-bombed Ace from behind, clinging to his back like a monkey, and started chattering in his ear about something while Zoro settled down nearby to watch his captain.
Yes, some of their brothers may not be here anymore, but they'd never be forgotten. The rest of his family was safe, and they'd made some new allies, even if they may only be loosely affiliated with them. And Marineford was at the bottom of the ocean, with a huge blow struck to the Marines.
Yes, this was a good day.
