xuenri: Lol even more badassery in this chapter. I'm sad it's ending, too! Always bittersweet unless it's a story that gets shitty reviews. Then it's nice for those ones to end lol. And thanks for reviewing on every chapter. (*≧ω≦*)
angelsxdemons: Do you think Ace will be fine with just THAT? No way.
Wishfull-star: Thank you! I'm glad you commented on every chapter! Makes me happy.
Meldea: Thanks, it was fun to write.
Last chapter! I'll miss posting this story, it was a lot of fun and people liked it a lot. Not sure which story to post next, so the new one might not be out today, but next Thursday instead. Who knows? Lol, still got 6 other ones, though. Thanks for sticking with it for so long! Enjoy~
Ace easily was sucked out and also easily took advantage of the current that sent him to the next place quicker. It only took an hour or so to get to the next one, at Enies Lobby. Ace did the same to that door. He heard alarms and blaring behind him, but he was busy. Warships came up from behind him, but it was too late when he dived.
Their poison wouldn't reach him down there when the current was so strong. And he could smell it. It was far enough to not damage him, but he knew it was there. He ripped the door hinges, the meter long nails keeping it in place. The current sucked in the marine ships, where they were torn apart. Ace rorard underwater triumphantly. He was free, and he would make the world government and marines pay for everything they'd done to him. He swam to the impossible structure that was the building over the waterfall.
He swam as fast as he could and jumped into the gap in the sea and made it to the building, crushing it under his weight, sending the entire structure into the waterfall. He wasn't sucked in, too strong to be pulled in by that.
He was enjoying making them pay. They snatched him from his family, hurt them, tortured him, starved him, caged him. He was taking revenge and was having a blast doing so. He returned to the wild current. It was time to attack their base. He didn't care if there were admirals there. If there were, he'd drown them.
His bounty would sky rocket. He had a new idea, then.
Reaching the last gate, he knew how to effectively do it. He undid the hinge of one and let it be sucking into the current he was managing to not get sucked in, and instead of letting this door float away, he dragged it with him all the way to Marineford. He rested it on the bottom of the ocean and ripped apart the dozens of warships surrounding the island. He dragged a lot of the remains down.
They were his ammo. Once alarms started blaring, nobody able to see him, and probably nobody able to report what happened from Impel Down since it was destroyed in minutes. So, he got the leftover gate of justice and broke it into pieces, hurling them out of the water and slamming into the island, destroying buildings, the plaza, everything.
Cannons were moving, shooting into the water, but not harming Ace at all. They didn't know what was under there. Ace was supposed to be in Impel Down. Ace made sure that Garp wasn't there, able to smell him and finding he was not on the island. He hated him, but didn't want to kill him.
He caught the cannons and shot them back, all of them like marbles in Ace's huge hands. With the last chunk of the gate's door, aimed right at the top of the building, he surfaced to look at the mess that was the headquarters of the marines and world government. He was happy with the destruction.
He saw Aokiji there, trying to freeze the ice. Then Kizaru was at him, but Ace was deep under the ocean before rocketing upwards. Even Kizaru was taken by surprise with just how high Ace was able to jump. He shot beams at Ace, which bounced off of his scales, and swatted him into the water like a fly.
He dragged him down, making sure he drowned. Didn't look so strong now. Did he? Ace had defeated an admiral. Once he was done, Ace declared war on the government, knowing his family would do the same, and carved the Whitebeard mark into Kizaru's back with his claw. He was being incredibly violent, but he was getting revenge for his pride being thrown into the trash.
Taking out his fury at being jeered and laughed at. They tortured him, but he was only furious about that because it pissed on his pride and made him look weak. Now the world would know. He wasn't weak.
He tossed Kizaru's dead body back into the plaza. He stuck his head out of the water and roared loud enough that he saw the water rippled from the booming of it. Aokiji attempted ice again, but he was incredibly shaken up by the other admiral's body. Ace was wild now. Absolutely wild. Almost out of control, his dragon self taking over.
Ace broke apart the ice heading toward him and started throwing that at the island. It was in pieces, but the two admirals were still there. Aokiji seemed to realize that his ice was just doing worse for him, giving Ace ammo.
He saw Akainu make his move. It invigorated Ace, the challenge. Fists of lava fell from the sky like comets. He dove under, missed each one. It boiled the water, but Ace was made of fire and neither of his bodies would die from boiling water. Once they cooled down a bit, Ace started throwing those as projectiles, too.
God, this was a blast! But he needed to take out the other two. Show them and the world he would never be caged, he'd never be confined. He'd never lose. He swam around the island, the wreckage, looking for an opening. The water started to spin with him, creating a whirlpool surrounding the island.
Faster and faster he swam. The force of it started to be thrown onto the land, the broken buildings. It washed into it like huge waves. Aokiji and Akainu were trying to get out of the water, both on the defense. Ace knew he could make the jump, and leapt out of the water, his body covered in haki as he grabbed both of them and slammed them into the water, landing with a huge splash.
He saw them struggle and glare at him before they drowned. Ace was a superior creature. Even the strongest fruit users couldn't take him on. He tossed their bodies where Kizaru's was. He surveyed his destruction proudly. A single person had destroyed all of the government bases. He'd thrown the world into chaos.
If his family was bothered by this, he would tell them the truth. A part of him lost control after being beaten and caged. He hoped they weren't bothered. Ace saw people on the island, but didn't kill them. He needed witnesses. He wondered what the papers would say of this. It was actually an enemy's fault. Not a mistake they made that they covered up.
He left the island, the swimming calming him down. He was tired now, and ready to go home. He wanted Marco, and Pops, and Thatch. He followed their scent. Even this far, swimming for days as fast as he could, sleeping only a few hours at most before going back.
They were still in the New World, and Ace swam through the Fishman Island gap, causing screams of terror from his size, but he didn't stop and kept going. The Moby Dick had been on its way to Paradise. To save him. Well, they didn't need to. He found their ship a couple islands away from the Red Line.
He launched over the side, changing mid jump and landing hard on the deck. He rolled a few times, his bruises hurting a bit. Pops shouted his name, and Ace went to hug him. Marco came out and ran to him, grabbing him and crying into his neck. Ace started crying, too. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said, and cried. More of the crew came out and were all so happy he was back, too. They had to have read the paper about the monster that took down the world government. But they were unafraid of him.
A group hug was made, and Ace loved it. "Are you okay?" Marco asked.
"I'm sore and tired," Ace replied honestly. "Impel Down wasn't fun." The crew grew dark at hearing he was in hell. But Ace assured them he'd escaped and destroyed the whole place. Apparently they hadn't heard of this. "I… it's a long story. Did it not say in the paper?"
They didn't know what he was talking about. "It was only that your bounty skyrocketed to 2 billion berries. What on earth did you do?" Thatch wondered. Ace asked if they promised not to be scared of him. "How could we ever be scared of you? You're our brother!" Ace said he'd done some really violent things. "Against the government?" He nodded. "Then we'll be happy! Tell us, tell us."
Ace asked if he could eat before then. Thatch ran inside and came back with food. "I've been making you food. Hoping you'd come back on your own," he said sadly. Ace hugged him, and ate while he explained his rampage.
"I sort of declared war on the government with the crew. I'm sorry, I wasn't really rational at that point." Whitebeard said they were heading to save him and would declare war on the government. It would have happened regardless. "After I destroyed Impel Down and Ennies Lobby, I went to Marineford."
He turned red. "I sort of was throwing things at the island. I threw chunks of the gate, pieces of rock, ship debris. And then magma fists once they cooled. It was so fun! Then I killed the admirals." They all gasped in shock. He worried that he'd gone too far, and looked worried, biting his lip.
"Continue, baby," Marco said kindly, nosing his hair as he sat in his lap. He nodded, and explained the rest. The crew was shocked by his strength.
"I killed a lot of people. But I considered them my enemies. They… they mocked me and beat me and belittled me. They stepped all over my pride and acted like I was some weak kid. One of the monsters even pissed on me. I was furious."
Thatch said, "Damn! I'm glad you're on our side." Ace said he'd never, ever hurt any of them. Izo said, "We know, Ace. Nobody here is terrified of you. Right?" he asked. Hundreds of voices said they weren't afraid.
Ace sighed, so relaxed, and sagged into Marco's arms. "Welcome home," he said and Ace fell asleep.
-x-
Marco held Ace to him, tears in his eyes before he took him to bed. It was early morning, but Marco was tired. For the last month, he'd been stressed, scared. The whole time, he was terrified. He laid down with his lover, and wasn't surprised when Pops knocked on the door.
Marco said he could come in. He looked at the bruises on Ace's body, and frowned deeply. "Is he in trouble?"
Whitebeard shook his head. "I would have done the same. His pride is a thousand times more sensitive to mine, so I understand how he felt, why he went all out. The world will be thrown into chaos, but they stole my son. I was planning on destruction to get my child back. Even after we saved Ace, I would have decimated Marineford as well. As revenge. Though I never dreamt of being able to kill the admirals.
"The ocean is indeed a fruit user's strongest enemy," he said, all of it quiet to not wake Ace up. He deserved the rest. "Ace is home, Marco. And there isn't anywhere or anybody who can take him ever again. If anybody in the world is brave enough to go after him, which I doubt."
Marco nodded in agreement. He was sure nobody would ever go after Ace. But, there were plenty of marines and pirates to fight. Plenty. Marco looked to the dresser, glad to have good news for Ace. A wanted poster had just fallen out of the paper six days ago.
Ace's little brother was as adorable as he told them he was. He slept for six hours, Marco with him and awake the whole time, petting his hair. He needed a long bath and a change of clothes.
When Ace woke, he looked much better, happy and relaxed. He touched the sheets softly. "You're back home. Never returning. It's not like there's a place to return to, anyways," Marco said, kissing Ace's cheek. Ace smiled sleepily and hugged the phoenix. He put his head on his heart with a sigh. One of relief and happiness.
The first tear dripped down his face, but it was the only one. Marco stood up and got off the bed, confusing Ace. He got the wanted poster, and handed it to Ace. His face brightened completely, and he cheered for his brother's first bounty. Luffy would be amazed by Ace's absolute destruction. Not afraid, never afraid of Ace.
Ace called Sabo immediately, who sounded angry. Why was he angry at Ace? Did they disapprove? "You did our work for us! Now what are we supposed to do?" he demanded. Ace felt hurt. He didn't say anything, and hung up. Marco was there, and Ace curled into a ball and started crying, rocking back and forth. Marco was angry with Sabo.
"Wouldn't he be happy I'm okay?" Ace asked through his tears. Marco hugged him, holding him close. The den den rang. But neither answered. Ace needed to calm down first. Then Marco thought that there was a small chance that Sabo didn't know about this. It rang again until Marco answered.
"What, Sabo?" Marco asked coldly.
"Did something happen? Why did Ace do that?"
"Ace was kidnapped and taken to Impel Down to be tortured for two weeks. And the first thing you did was to be angry at him. You can see how that upset him, can't you?" Marco snapped. Sabo was silent for a moment.
"I didn't know. I'm so sorry, Ace! I didn't know about that, I only knew about you destroying Marineford!" Ace sniffled, and nodded. Marco spoke for him. Ace was still upset, that had no doubt let the floodgates open and now he was crying about what had happened to him. How scared he had been. How lonely and ashamed. Of getting caught and worrying his family.
"He wanted to talk to you about Luffy's first bounty, but he'll have to talk later," Marco said, trying to not sound furious at Sabo. He may not have known, but it was still rude, to answer like that. Sabo apologized again, but Ace didn't reply. They hung up, and Marco brought Ace his hat. He didn't really wear it anymore since he didn't want to leave it on the deck to swim, and didn't want to have to go inside each time.
It rested on his dresser. He hugged it to his chest, and was able to calm down. He called Sabo back, but was subdued. "I'm sorry, Ace, I swear I didn't know about that part. All they said in the paper was that the dragon form of you decimated the three government compounds."
"Just cause the marines need to start over doesn't mean the government is over," Ace said quietly. He didn't acknowledge the apology, Marco knowing he just wanted to forget about Sabo's tone of voice.
"That's true. I have seen Luffy's wanted poster. Of course his photo is that," Sabo said. They talked about his first escapade with the Arlong Pirates, and Ace felt a bit better as they spoke. Eventually the tense feelings disappeared. Marco started to leave to give him privacy, but Ace took his hand, holding it and showing he wanted Marco to stay.
So he did, and he sat against the headboard with Ace in his lap, covered by a blanket. Marco knew he wanted to feel he was home in any way. With his family, safe and loved. No more humiliation, no more shackles, fear, and anger. He could be happy again, and he would be. Marco would make sure of that. Everybody would.
Things resumed, like Ace hadn't been taken and destroyed the marines completely, and Ace seemed happy nothing had changed. Marco was, too. Everybody was. Nobody was afraid of Ace, which Marco was so happy for. Ace was welcomed forever. He was their family, and Marco knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Ace.
And three days later, Ace was back in the ocean, free once again. He returned after 20 minutes to be with Marco again. He was afraid of Ace going away, and he didn't want Ace leaving his sight at all, but he refused to be a cage.
Ace was home and he'd stay there, basking in the sunlight and the love of over 1,600 people. And the love the others didn't feel. The love of Marco that he'd always have. Ace was theirs, and they'd never let him go. Not a cage, but a warm love surrounding him like a second skin. He could go off the ship but still have that love, and would always know it was there for him.
Ace was free, but he also was part of a pack. A very, very big one.
Yay! Happy ending! And yeah, Ace took some serious revenge after his pride was shredded. Stupid marines, that's what they get! Ace OP to the max. Hope you enjoyed! And don't think too hard about the consequences of what happened in the OP world. I have no answers for you if you have questions lol.