Another fic of me being in denial about the outcome of Marineford. I've always wanted to do a fix-it story, but didn't want to do time travel since it isn't too original to me. This has strong Marco/Ace but is not the main focus of the story. This is what I want to happen but know won't. It's shorter, only 58,000 words (short for me) so the chapters are shorter as well. I think it will be a satisfying story for most people.
Rated M for very brief and mild sexual content and lots of swear words. Heavy angst in the beginning for obvious reasons. The POV alternates between Marco and Ace. Enjoy~
The dark space smelled stale and like rotting meat. It was claustrophobic to anyone alive, unable to get out even if they tried and desperately wanted to. It was pitch black inside, with barely any room to move. The darkness made it so no one could tell if their eyes were open or closed, or if they were dead and trapped in endless darkness, maybe never being able to come out.
The smell of rotting flesh would have made anyone vomit and try to plug their nose, though it was so strong that it would probably be able to be tasted in the air. The first movement of anything in the coffin was the twitch of fingers, then a small shift to the side, only to be unable to move very much due to the plush surface on either side.
The movements of the body were gradual, before a gasp and many coughs were made, as the body in the coffin moved around, which had never happened before. Ace looked around frantically, but could not tell where he was, couldn't figure out if his eyes were closed or not. He did the only thing he could do and lit his finger on fire, just enough to see where he was.
He realized quickly where he was. In a coffin, which smelled of rotting flesh even though he was perfectly whole when he looked at his body, barely able to raise his head at all. He doused the flame, not wanting to lose more oxygen in the small space.
Memories flooded back, of the pain of being burned by magma, and having it thrust through his chest. Panic set in, and he began to breathe quickly, too quickly. His heart began to beat rapidly in his chest, he felt dizzy, and was more terrified than he'd been in a long time. Well, at least scared for himself. His dying moments had been spent worrying and fearful about his family and Luffy.
He began to panic even more at the thought of his little brother. He had no idea what had happened to him. Had he made it out alive? If he didn't, then Ace deserved to die. Permanently. He didn't know how long it had been, but his body was perfectly intact. Surely, if he was in there for a long time his body would be a mess. But there was the smell.
Having no idea what was going on made the panic attack worse, and he heard loud thuds above him, and thought that Akainu was coming to put him down forever, digging into the ground that had to be packed above his coffin. But, it wasn't magma that was thrust through the top of the coffin, but a huge hand, which wrapped around him easily and pulled him out into the clean air. He blinked at the pain of the brightness as his eyes adjusted, unable to see what had happened or who had grabbed him.
His breathing slowed down as he realized he wasn't being attacked, before he was enveloped in warmth, and looked up to see his father hugging him. Ace hugged him back, knowing that whatever had happened to him, had happened to Whitebeard, too. And he couldn't be happier. They were both covered in dirt, having been dragged or dug through compact earth, making both of them filthy.
When Whitebeard pulled away, Ace saw the plethora of scars and burns across Whitebeard's chest and even face. He was intact, but covered in the burns like the one Ace had covering his back and chest. His tattoo had to be ruined from that attack. It made him immensely sad.
"It sure is nice that my cape and bisento are here," Whitebeard said with a laugh, one that Ace had missed during the months he'd been chasing Teach. Ace looked at the two headstones, both very big. Ace's hat and beaded necklace were there, along with his dagger. He had no idea how anyone had gotten the beads back together after they were dropped all over the ground in Marineford.
And how did they get his hat that he had lost before being taken to Impel Down? He was just glad they were there, and put the familiar objects on, feeling better with his things, especially the silly hat Luffy had given him. After all, he and Sabo had had hats, so Ace needed one as well.
Luffy. He had to find out what happened to Luffy. And the Whitebeards after the war. "Ace. You don't have to thank anyone for loving you," Whitebeard suddenly said, breaking the silence. Ace's face turned red in embarrassment. He had had to thank everyone before he died. "Your existence is not a sin. The marines killed you once, that's enough to negate any bad blood you think you have. And do not blame yourself for being in that war, of us coming to save you.
"We would have done it for any of us," the captain said emphatically. Ace nodded, wiping his eyes before tears came. "I am sorry I was unable to take out Akainu or Teach before I died. I just hope our family made it out. Those stubborn idiots refused to leave me when I ordered them to. Eventually, they left, crying. It was painful to see."
Ace nodded, feeling bad that his brothers had lost him and Pops. "Pops, we were dead. Why are we here?" Ace asked in disbelief and awe, still not believing he was alive again. Breathing again despite the horrible injury he was given.
"No idea," Whitebeard said, putting on his captain's coat and taking his intact bisento into his hand. "I'm quite irate that my wounds healed but I still have this uneven mustache. Why not my mustache? It must look ridiculous."
Ace laughed, but it did look ridiculous. "Do you think other people came back to life, too?"
"One way to find out, though I have no idea what island this is on," Whitebeard replied honestly. "It has a nice view, I like the location of our tombstones." He said it all so lightly that Ace was having trouble understanding how he could be so happy after everything that had happened. They'd both died, painful deaths. He could tell Pops had been in a lot of pain by the scars and burns. All in front of their family.
"Should we look for a town to get information?" Ace suggested. Whitebeard nodded, but first needed to see something. He punched that air, and it splintered, only releasing a small shock. He grinned, and Ace lit himself on fire.
"Sure is nice to have our powers, still," Ace commented. He grinned, being able to find his family again. But, first and foremost, he had to know what had happened to Luffy. Maybe Whitebeard knew!
He looked at him with a desperate look, but Whitebeard cut him off, knowing what he was going to ask. "Your brother made it out, but was in critical condition. I don't know of his fate after that. I am sorry," the man said sincerely. "He sure was a cheeky brat. Even yelled at me!" and Pops laughed. "Only reason I didn't squash the brat was because he was your brother."
Ace chuckled. Luffy seemed to win over everyone he met that wasn't a marine. "You couldn't squash him anyway, he's made of rubber."
Whitebeard grinned. "I suppose that's true. Why don't we go find out what has happened to our loved ones?"
Ace nodded and they hurried to the place they felt people at with Whitebeard's haki. As they got closer, they heard screaming and crying, and started running, Ace having to sprint to keep up with his father's much, much longer legs. But, he was fast, when made of fire, so he could keep up just fine. When they got to the little town, people were either terrified or crying with smiles.
There were dirty people everywhere, walking around in shock, or hugging others. Ace and Whitebeard assumed that whatever had happened to them, happened to everyone else who was dead, at least on this island. Which neither knew the name of.
A few were shouting about zombies, but many didn't care about their words as they rejoiced in being reunited with their loved ones. Some people were looking around, probably looking for their own friend or loved one.
Maybe it only worked on certain people? Hopefully there was a reason they would know why everything happened, and how long it would last. Ace didn't want to die again. Once was already too much. No one paid much attention to the giant man, and Ace was trying to find someone who wasn't emotional to ask questions.
Ace looked around before catching sight of some wanted posters on the wall of the building they were standing next to. His jaw dropped before he grinned, tears in his eyes. He ripped the paper off the wall and saw the new image of his brother, clearly older, though looking like a child in some way, somehow.
What really caught his eye was the new bounty. In however long they were dead, it had gone from the last time he saw it, 100,000,000, to 1,500,000,000 berries! That was a billion berries more than Ace's last bounty. "Pops! Look at my brother's bounty!" Ace shouted, showing the piece of paper to Whitebeard.
"Wow, that brat got stronger in however long we were out. What does it say at the bottom? Sometimes they had descriptions of what they did to earn their bounties. At least, huge ones." Ace looked at the page and read aloud that Luffy had gone against Big Mom and survived, taking out her most powerful son and evading the entire crew.
Ace beamed. "My brother is so strong, but I'm sure I can still beat him!" Ace shouted. It would wound his pride if Luffy was much stronger than he was now. Whitebeard seemed more in shock about Luffy and his crew going against his fellow yonko (if he still counted as one) and surviving.
Whitebeard brought Ace's attention back to their circumstances and the two found someone who seemed pretty calm, and headed towards her. She was watching everything with a shocked expression, but didn't seem fearful, at least on the outside. She might be freaking out and just not showing it.
"Excuse me, miss. We sorta just woke up, can you tell us some things?" Ace asked politely. Everyone had to know about who had been buried on their island, and she looked up at Whitebeard's imposing figure, even with the hundreds of wounds that had healed over all over his chest and face. She didn't seem surprised to see them.
The woman asked what the two wanted to know. First, they asked how long it'd been since the war. Neither was surprised that it had been a couple years. What made them both so angry was hearing about what had happened to their crew after Whitebeard's passing. It hadn't gone smoothly. Not one bit. And now they were in hiding. How would they find them? At least they got away. But, it hurt the twos' hearts that many of the members of the crew had left.
Where was Marco, who had to be the captain now, which he'd never wanted to be? He'd always been in denial about having to step up when Pops died. He'd probably be overjoyed to not be captain anymore. That place was for Pops.
The captain asked what had happened to their protected islands, and was glad to hear they were under protection still, but not under Shanks'. Big Mom had taken over Fishman Island (which Luffy had claimed as his own and spit in Big Mom's face, apparently), and Teach had ravaged the rest of their islands as a new yonko with Whitebeard's power.
Whitebeard didn't let his fury show, but his anger was endless. He would focus first and foremost on getting his family back together. They'd handle the traitor afterwards. And now that Whitebeard had his ability back, hopefully that meant that Teach had lost it. Ace didn't know about how Whitebeard had gotten his power taken away since he'd died before that happened.
After getting a lot of helpful information from the woman, Ace sat on a bench in the middle of the city while Whitebeard stood, unable to sit on such a tiny surface. "Pops, how do we get everyone back together if they're in hiding? How do we leave the island? Marco and everyone might not know about this if it only happened to this island."
"We'll have to take a ship, but it would need to be big enough to hold me. I don't want to make a statement on this island that I am alive again by using my ability. I don't want to hurt the citizens. A marine base would be great, but we don't exactly know where we are on a map or the nearest marine base."
Whitebeard was standing a little behind Ace, and Ace had a feeling he was looking at his back. The Whitebeard tattoo was almost completely ruined by a horrific burn scar that would always be there. "Son, I'm sorry we didn't rescue you successfully," the man said in sincere sadness and shame. Ace looked down at his feet, avoiding looking at the scar as best as he could. He didn't want to see it. He needed a shirt.
"It's my fault. I should have kept running. Should have done what everyone told me to. Because of my stubbornness, I not only died, but I almost got Luffy killed," Ace replied with shame in his voice as well. Whitebeard pat his back gently. None of their scars hurt, thankfully. ACe knew how painful it must have been for Pops to lose Thatch and then be unable to successfully save another son. All in the span of a few months. It was tragic, and made Ace feel even guiltier.
Whitebeard looked forward, and said, "Everyone makes mistakes. Like ever having Teach on our crew."
"Pops, do you think Thatch came back?" Ace asked quietly, though he felt he knew the answer, which Whitebeard confirmed. That Thatch had been cremated, and probably wouldn't be coming back like they did. It pained both of them. Thatch had been close with Ace. Not as close to Ace as Marco was, for obvious reasons, but it had still been hard in Impel Down when he knew he had failed at avenging his close brother.
Ace felt immensely sad that Marco had lost his best friend, father and lover all in the span of a few months. Ace felt guilt for it. Immense guilt. He just should have stayed, but that would have meant he couldn't help out Luffy in Alabasta, or stopped Teach from taking Luffy in to become a warlord instead of Ace. The whole situation was regrettable, and Ace wished it had ended in a different way. "Do you think Marco hates me?" Ace questioned quietly.
Whitebeard was surprised with it. "Why on earth would you think Marco hates you? He loves you," the man said. But, he had a feeling he knew what Ace was feeling and why he was thinking such sad thoughts.
"I didn't listen to him when he told me not to go, and then I didn't run and let you save me. Then, I got you killed. Why wouldn't he hate me?" Ace asked, truly thinking that Marco despised him now. Whitebeard and the others already knew Ace had very low self-esteem and self-worth. Everything that had happened two years ago just made him even more messed up.
The captain looked up at the sky, trying to think of how to word it. "Marco doesn't hate easily. Even if he did hate you at some point, it's been two years and Marco doesn't dwell on negative feelings for a long time. When we reunite, he will be very happy to see us. Overjoyed, if he ever felt any hate, it would be gone in an instant. Besides if it was directed at Teach or Akainu."
Ace nodded, knowing he was right but still feeling like trash about what had happened. Especially that at one point in the war, he had been happy. "I'm messed up in the head. When everyone came to save me, I… I was happy. That people cared, y'know? I even cried about it. So did Gramps," the young man confessed.
"Anyone would be happy to learn their family cares about them," the captain said sagely.
"Not when they're going to die in a stupid war cause I was weak!" Ace protested. Whitebeard walked in front of him and made eye contact with him and looked very serious. Ace wondered if he was in trouble for yelling, but Pops' face softened ever slightly and Ace knew he wouldn't scold him for being upset and feeling hurt.
"You did not ask for us to save you. I have no doubt you would rather die than see your family get hurt. But it was our choice, and it was an obvious one. We were not going to let one of our own be publicly executed. It wasn't an option, Ace. We would have done it for anyone," the former yonko said in a serious voice, trying to drill the words into Ace's mind. The reanimated young man looked away and didn't reply.
He accidentally looked down at his scar and started having another panic attack, which Whitebeard helped him through. "Why don't we go and try to find you a shirt?" he offered kindly. Ace was humiliated. His father wasn't showing anything like that. He wasn't showing that the burns and scars brought back bad memories.
The young man felt ridiculous. He was supposed to be a strong man, a commander on their crew, yet he had panic attacks about a stupid burn? Even if the burn had been what killed him, he should be over it. It had been two years.
Though, he only just woke up and it felt like the war was literally only hours behind him. Same for Pops, probably. They had no money, so resorted to asking people for any shirts they had. Seeing that both men were heavily injured, they didn't think they could find a shirt big enough for the captain, but he just laughed and told them it was only for Ace.
He had a dark red shirt, now. It covered the horrible burn scar. When the two left the little town to find the port they were directed to, Ace spoke up again. "I'm sorry that I got the tattoo ruined," he said in an ashamed voice. Whitebeard sighed, though he shouldn't be surprised Ace had reverted back to how he was before he grew used to the Whitebeards and their care for him.
It was like he was back at square one, back to feeling he was worth nothing, and that everything bad happened because they had a devil on their crew. Well, the child of a devil, according to Ace. Marco had been the one to convince him, or at least halfway convince him, that Thatch didn't die because of who his father was. But, Ace still knew it was his fault because Teach had been in his division.
The commanders had argued with him that it was their fault for not noticing soon enough, and Pops took blame for not seeing his true colors until it was much too late. Yet still, Ace fully blamed himself. It infuriated much of the crew.
When they reached the port, only little fishing boats were docked. Nothing nearly big enough for Whitebeard, and the island was too small to have enough skilled people or supplies to build a ship the size they'd need. "Do you think Marco would hear about this? Or any of the left over pirates?" Ace asked, sitting down on the dock, moping about a lot of things.
Whitebeard sat next to him, obviously feeling bad for his son. The war had done a lot to him. Whitebeard would not be surprised if the panic attacks still came even when the burn was covered. Ace looked strange in a shirt honestly. When they first kidnapped him, as he worded it, he had an open shirt. Now his torso was completely hidden.
He almost laughed when he thought of how disappointed Marco would be about the change. "If it happens to other islands, perhaps. We'll just have to give a signal that we're back. It became a little harder when Teach had somehow taken my power, so using it wouldn't alert anyone that it was me causing an earthquake. I don't know how he did it. They thought I'd died standing. I did, but could still hear a bit about what Teach was doing. I died the moment my fruit was taken."
"That asshole! I want to kill him for everything he'd done." Ace sighed, not wanting to think about it anymore and went back to the previous subject. "Marco's smart, though. Maybe he'll hear of something, or it'll be in the newspaper that a bunch of people came back to life on the island we were buried on. Marco could always fly here and wait with us until one of our ships comes." They both felt sad when they remembered the Moby Dick had been burned to ash during the war. It had been a heavy hit to Whitebeard and the oldest pirates' hearts, but at the time he had more important things to do than wallow about his beloved ship dying in such a way. It hurt Ace, but he couldn't imagine for those who had been on that ship for decades.
"Well, there's always the chance that Haruta would hear the marine transmissions. We don't know where they are hidden at the moment, so we can't find them even if we had our own ship. He just has to make a lot of ruckass and summon the marines. But, I don't wish to hurt this island."
Ace nodded in agreement, not wanting to hurt the island either. There had to be something they could do. Hopefully, there was still intelligence in the current crew. They knew they had split up and gone into hiding, but were the commanders still all together? Could they make contact with one another? Ace and his Pops hoped so, or they were stranded for a while.
Next chapter will be told from the POV of Marco. Thanks for reading!