They Don't Know About Us
Author's Note: Hey everyone and welcome back to They Don't Know About Us! I do hope that you are enjoying this fic! Thank you all for all the comments and kudos! I really do appreciate them all! So, I mentioned my hesitance with this "arc" in my notes last chapter and a few of you have said you like/love it! So, thank you so much! That makes me feel so much better about what direction I took this in!
On with the fic!
Chapter Thirty-Nine: An Old Friend Arrives!
Chapter Summary: Mihawk finds Shanks only to realize that something is wrong. Luffy and the others find Ace and regroup with Mihawk and Shanks. They all realize there is no way off the island until Buggy calls for them to jump.
His heart had practically stopped the second that he had finally laid his eyes on Shanks again. The first thing he had noticed was his hair but couldn't pick up on anything else. He had been running strictly off of adrenaline as he ran through the burning forest. A strange power had brought him in this direction. He wasn't sure why he followed it, but he was glad that he had.
Mihawk snarled as he moved quickly, slashing Yoru to break the man's way to Shanks before he was rushing in and pulling Shanks off of the ground. For a split second, he made eye contact with the man before he was taking off again. The only thing on his mind was getting Shanks away. He wasn't in the mood to fight, and he wasn't picking up on anything.
When he was a good enough distance away, he stopped, looking down at the Omega in his arms. Shanks' head was balanced on his chest, his hair falling into his face. Shanks hardly ever let his hair fall into his face anymore. Preferring to push it back out of his eyes. He had noticed the bruises next. Ones around his neck. His wrists. The blood that was on his clothes. He had surveyed the injuries over Shanks' body, and they looked minimal. Though the injury to his abdomen had the most concern to him. It looked freshly healed and definitely hadn't been there when he saw Shanks last. His guess was Marco. He didn't think this would be something that Law could do without the proper tools with him.
The Omega had looked like he had gone through hell and back.
Mihawk was furious. He could smell Teach's scent and pheromones all over Shanks' clothes. But he also picked up on Ace, Luffy, and Sabo. Even if it was just barely. He even caught Buggy's scent. He had recently been with the others.
What he didn't understand was, why was Shanks not moving? Why couldn't he pick up his haki? His scent? It was like he was dead.
Mihawk didn't even want to think about that possibility. With him in the one place where he had found no fire in the pathway, he laid Shanks down into the dirt. Careful with his head as he leaned down, letting his ear settle over Shanks' nose and mouth. Two fingers pressed into his pulse point. It was very weak, but it was there. Lightly thumping against his fingers. Small little puffs of hair hitting his ear. It was just low enough that it would have barely been noticeable. This wasn't normal.
"C'mon, Shanks…" Mihawk whispered, sitting back up just enough to look at Shanks' face. "Don't do this, baby. Hang on tight. You're going to get out of here. You got to make it out of this alive. You can't die on me here." He froze, frowning as he noticed the way that Shanks' blood vessels were turning black. The paleness of his skin. He hadn't really noticed it before. The color was worsening by the second.
He knew that no matter what he said, Shanks probably wasn't going to actually answer him back. He paused, his mind flashing back to that power he had felt before. The one he had followed. Seeing the man that was leaning over Shanks. That man did this. Mihawk looked behind him. The path that he had taken before already blocked off by breaking tree limbs. There had to be a way to fix this.
It was clear Shanks was under the influence of a Devil Fruit Power. That had to be the reason for this. Just what was it? He had never seen or heard of anything like this. If he wasn't positive of Shanks' pulse underneath his fingers, Shanks would appear to be dead.
He exhaled sharply, looking back at Shanks as he leaned his forehead down to touch the Omega's. "Don't you dare die on me." He muttered before he was moving to his arm under Shanks' leg and the other under his upper back before standing again.
He just needed to find the others and get the hell off of this island. He activated his haki, picking up on their haki signatures before he was taking off.
X
The smoke was getting heavier by the second. Luffy couldn't hardly breathe anymore without hacking and coughing. His lungs screaming at him for fresh air. One second, they had Shanks and Ace back. The next they were gone again. He couldn't hardly see enough around him to even know where he was going. He had a hand curled into the back of his shirt. Sabo keeping him steady as Law worked to break through as much of the flames as possible.
"We have to find them!" Luffy shouted, uncaring of how his voice cracked.
"We will, Luffy." Sabo replied. "This is Shanks-san and Ace we're talking about. Nothing can stop them from coming back to us. We will find them. We will go home. Together."
The Alpha nodded, coughing again as he bent over. Bracing himself on his knees as he looked around. "What do we do?" Luffy questioned. "Ace went one way and Dad is in the other."
"No offense to Shanks-ya, my concern is more on Freckles-ya." Law stated. "We can split up to search, but that might not be the best idea."
Luffy shook his head, "I don't want to lose anyone through this. I've been through one of these before. It's not good. We need to stick together." He let out a shaky breath as he stood back up. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to find both Shanks and Ace. It was almost coincidental that the two that they came here for, were the two that were missing during all of this.
"Let's go!" Sabo stated, "First Ace since he got sent further into the island then run back and get Shanks-san."
Luffy nodded. It seemed like the best shot that they had.
Luffy still didn't like the idea of leaving Shanks behind for the time being, but it was like he could hear Shanks' voice in his head telling him to go to Ace.
X
Ace gasped as his eyes shot open, popping his head up to look around. The flames were now dangerously close to him but there was something he noticed right off the bat. He didn't feel as weak as he did before. He actually felt a bit more energized. His body was still shaking slightly as the previous events before his lost consciousness came back to mind.
The Omega grimaced as he pushed himself up, using the tree to balance himself. The feel of the blood against his thighs came back to mind. His heart started to race as he looked down, hands moving to his thighs. Only to find nothing.
He could remember the pain. The feel of his own blood on his skin. It was almost like it had never even happened. What the hell?
For a split second, bright blue eyes came to mind that had him looking up. The feel of lips against his own. He felt the confusion next as he looked in all directions. Only seeing flames except for a slight path in the direction he had been blown from. What caught him by surprise was the path had looked like it had been smoldered out.
He grunted as he finally regained balance for the time being and pushed off of the tree. Heading back in the direction that he had came from. He would ask questions later. For now, he had to get back to the others.
He stumbled over his own feet as he pushed his body along. Despite this newfound energy that he found himself with, he still felt the fatigue. His body wasn't necessarily weak either. Like it couldn't make up its mind on what it exactly wanted from him.
There was still that fear in his mind. From seeing the blood. Feeling the pain. What if?
He didn't even want to think about it.
"ACE!" He looked up as he broke through the flaming tree line, seeing the others rushing over to him. Luffy and Sabo had made it to him first. Sabo was already checking him over for any injuries as Luffy spoke. Ace couldn't even make out what he was actually saying with how fast that he was talking.
"Slow down!" Ace snapped. "I can't understand you, Luffy!"
Luffy paused, taking in a deep breath. "I'm just happy to see that you are okay."
Ace exhaled, looking around, "Still haven't found Mom yet?"
The others shook their heads. "Not yet. We agreed to get you and go back." Sabo stated. "C'mon, let's go." The blonde Beta whispered, his arm snaking around the Omega's waist to give him a bit more balance.
"We have to find him." Ace whispered. "I won't let all of this be for nothing."
"It won't be." Buggy stated. "That bastard is too stubborn to die."
Ace stopped in his tracks as they were moving along. Turning his gaze towards another path that had been blocked off from them. He frowned as he pulled away from Sabo. "Do you feel that?" He whispered.
"Feel what?" Luffy questioned.
A smile slipped onto his face as he let the flames come to his hand, using his own flames to create walls on the path and clear the flames that were there. "It's Papa." He stated, breaking out into a run, and dashing ahead of the others.
"Ace!" Luffy exclaimed, his footfalls coming next.
Ace had felt like he had gotten a sudden burst of energy as the grin came to his face. If Mihawk was this close that must have meant he came across Shanks.
He had to be there.
He just had to be.
X
Whitebeard could only watch in horror as the island was burning. They were getting head counts of everyone back on the ships. Everyone but a select few.
Marco. Rouge. Shanks. Ace. Luffy. Law. Sabo. Buggy. Mihawk. Dragon.
Everyone else was accounted for. They were all safe. Whitebeard had already instructed the ships to get away from the island, sending a few of them around. He could care less about the Marines. He needed to find the last of them and get them to safety.
There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong. It didn't feel right. There was a lot more to this than he was seeing. Not just the Buster Call. This was a last-ditch effort for the Marines. He knew it. They knew it. The Marines had to show how strong they were. How their forces are still meant to be reckoned with. They were using Shanks' abduction as a cover for it. It didn't matter if they were in the crossfire.
"Any signs of them?" Whitebeard questioned.
"Not yet, Oyaji." Izou muttered, the fear laced in his voice. "No one can get back onto the island to search. The fire and smoke are too much."
Whitebeard sighed. "We have to hope they made it off the island."
The fear was in the pit of his stomach.
They had come this far together.
They were leaving together.
X
Mihawk stopped as he heard the rapid footsteps coming his way, the parting fire. He adjusted the Omega in his arms, doing his best to conceal the changing veins that Shanks was showing. He had picked up on Ace immediately. His eldest son being the first to get to them.
A grin had broken out on Ace's face just as Mihawk felt the relief to see that Ace was perfectly okay. His shirt was covered in blood and so was his arms, but his best guess was that it wasn't his blood. He had no physical wounds that he could see.
"Ace…" Mihawk found himself whispering.
"Papa… Mom… you're okay." Ace replied, the relief also in his voice as the tension left his shoulders. The Omega looked down at Shanks, the concern coming to his face, "Is he…"
Mihawk shook his head immediately. He couldn't let Ace or Luffy see what Shanks physically looked like at the moment. Hell, he had no idea what was happening to him. They could take care of it once they were off the island. "He's just unconscious. He's okay."
Ace looked right at him, his smile only getting bigger as he made it completely into the clearing. The others following quickly behind. The cannon fire was still coming. Bombarding the area that they had just came from that had the others rushing forward.
Mihawk cursed. There wasn't much he could do unless he put down Shanks. If he did that, he left Shanks vulnerable. The Omega could not defend himself, let alone dodge a barrage of cannon fire and flames. Ace had reacted immediately, using his own Logia powers to negate the fire that was trying to head for them.
All their pathways now were completely sealed off. Ace would be able to break through it, but it would need to be continuous plus the trip back to the other side of the island. By this point, Mihawk was sure that the ships were pulling away. Using others to get anyone still left on the island back onto them. It wasn't safe to have the ships this close to the island with the rapid fire coming their way from the Marines.
Mihawk seriously despised the World Government.
His attention had been caught again by Sabo yelling out for Law. He looked over just in time to see Luffy jumping over, arms wrapping around Law to pull him out of the way of the cannon ball that had came at him. The two crashed to the ground as Luffy leaned up. Both of their faces had immediately flushed over as he heard a few apologies fall from Law's lips as Luffy just laughed. Mihawk cocked his eyebrow at the scene. Well, that was also a development.
Not one that he could think about right now.
"What do we do?" Sabo questioned. "The ships are on the other side."
"We could battle our way through." Ace said. Only reflecting exactly what Mihawk had originally been thinking.
"That could take too much time." Law stated, "Plus this cannon fire isn't helping our odds of making it there safely."
"We can do this!" Luffy suddenly shouted. "If there's one thing I know, I'm not dying before I become the King of the Pirates!"
"This family of yours is also stubborn as hell so I don't think even death itself could keep any of you down." Buggy inserted.
Ace was cursing up a storm as he kept trying to open up a path, only for it to get blocked off again. "Well, that might take out that plan." He grumbled.
Mihawk didn't like these odds. He looked down at Shanks before looking at the others. They had Devil Fruits users in Ace, Law, Luffy, and Buggy. Only himself and Sabo remained as the conscious non-users. They could change jumping into the hazardous waters of the Grand Line, but at the same time, they could also prove to be fatal if Sabo and Mihawk didn't have a good enough hold on the others. There were too many of them.
Mihawk did not like these odds that they were facing at the moment.
X
The man remained where he was. The island was almost completely engulfed in flames at this point. The World Government really was making their statement against the Blackbeard Pirates it seemed. For once, maybe one of their plans would truly work. Though, Sengoku was going a bit overboard in his eyes.
There wasn't much he could do at this point. Mihawk had taken Shanks and was gone. The poor man would never get to understand that the love of his life wouldn't come back to him. At least, not without his help. It had to be done. He had every intention of waking Shanks up. To Shanks, it would feel like death. He was sure Shanks probably believed himself to be dead. That he had that final moment of believing his life was sleeping away.
Eternal sleep was not a practice he used often. Only when he had too. He had to get Teach to let go of the one worldly connection he had. Shanks was an unfortunate victim.
He stared down at the ocean where he had dropped his brother's body. He never cared for Teach. Hell, he didn't even love him. He had only felt obligated to clean up his messes because of their mother. Begging him to make sure Teach was okay. She never saw him for what he truly was. Teach was not a normal human being like they were.
He was a monster that had needed to be put down.
Forever.
"You are a person I never thought I would meet under these circumstances," The voice paused, the wind blowing around them as he looked up, "Azazel D. Luca."
The man – Luca turned, coming face to face with the Revolutionary leader himself, Dragon. Dragon stood there with a stoic look, eyes glaring holes practically through him. "So, you've heard of me."
"I have my resources." Dragon stated. "The man who has the power of life and death within his very hands."
Luca hummed, "What brings you to standing here with me today?"
Dragon narrowed his gaze. "If you are here, things just got much worse."
The man made another noise. "If you say so. Unfortunate. Especially unfortunate that Hawkeyes took off with his mate before I could fix him. It would be best for you to get off this island, Dragon. That is before your cause burns up along with you."
The man looked back out the sea, more specifically looking down, a smile coming to his face, "If this couldn't get more interesting." Luca smirked, raising his hand, and letting the soft glow come to his palm. "So be it."
X
It all felt hopeless. No matter what they were doing. They were on the final piece of land that was not completely engulfed in flames. Buggy looked around, his heart racing. This was never something he expected to be in. He had a promise to himself to keep. A debt to repay and he was going to take that with him. His mind had ventured back to Roger. The words that Roger would tell him. It was similar to what Shanks had said.
The greatest treasure isn't in the gold that you can find. Rather the people you surround yourself with. Remember that, Buggy. One day, you will understand. It's okay to want riches and wealth, but that means nothing if you don't hold those you care for close.
He had forgotten those words. Part of him couldn't believe that he did. Mihawk wasn't far from, him hanging onto Shanks, keeping the unmoving Omega close to him and away from the closing in flames. Ace was fighting against it, but it was clear that he was on the last bit of strength that he had. Buggy had no idea how Ace was even managing it, but considering who his blood relatives were, it wasn't a surprise.
Law was helping, moving pieces of flaming trees away from them. They were all exhausted. Just running purely on fumes.
The only issue was getting out of this alive.
Buggy. Buggy froze, the air catching in his throat as he heard the soft whisper in his ear. Like a low cry that was trying to gain his attention. He turned away from the flames, looking out to the sea.
He must not have been the only one to hear it as the others started looking out to the sea. Buggy pushed himself up, stumbling over his feet for a second. He looked down at the sea, seeing the Marine vessels that were out there and nothing else. That voice had sounded so close.
"What is that?" Ace questioned, his voice dropping to a low whisper as he dropped his hand, moving to Buggy's other side even if his steps were shaking as he did so. Buggy didn't hesitate before he reached out, balancing Ace on his feet.
"I don't know." Buggy replied, keeping his eyes glued to the sea.
Buggy, believe in me last time. The Alpha didn't want to believe what he was hearing. A strong sense of home coming next. Let me help you. Put your faith in me and jump.
Jump?
For the first time since he arrived here, it felt like the right decision.
"We need to jump." Buggy stated, raising his voice. He was a Captain himself. He had to take control of this situation for the time being.
"Are you insane?!" Law exclaimed, "We're all Devil Fruit users! There are only two of us present who aren't!"
Buggy shook his head.
Trust me.
"Do it!" Buggy shouted, "Trust me!"
Without a second thought, he jumped, pulling Ace down with him. "Buggy!" Ace screamed out in shock. He could hear the others calling after him and Ace. His heart was racing as the sea got closer and closer to him and Ace. He didn't feel like he was in any danger as he did this. He only looked up long enough to see another cannon ball heading straight for where they had been standing as he looked up to see the others jumping off of the ledge. Sabo had a grip on Law and Luffy while Mihawk kept ahold of Shanks, but everyone had gotten off just as the cannon fire hit where they had been standing.
"You dumbass!" Ace screamed. "You're going to kill us!"
"Trust me." Buggy whispered.
He wasn't even sure why he trusted this so much. Just that he did.
"If we die, I'm coming back and haunting your ass!" Law screamed.
Luffy was laughing from Sabo's other side, keeping ahold of his hat. "What's so funny, Luffy?!" Sabo exclaimed.
"It just reminds me of a friend!" Luffy replied back, laughing again.
Buggy chose to ignore him for now, pulling Ace a bit closer as they continued to approach the water at a rapid pace. He couldn't be wrong about this feeling. He just couldn't.
His eyes widened as he noticed the change in the current, the way the water started to bubble like something was rising. "What is that?" Ace questioned, the shock in his voice.
The voice was getting louder by the second. Almost like a song playing around him. A calm and comforting feeling following next despite the fact they were above the ocean. Do not be afraid, Buggy. I'm here to take you home.
Just as he heard it, the water's surface broke and a grin of disbelief came to his face. If only Shanks could see this. "Welcome back, old friend." Buggy whispered.
They landed hard against wood, rolling across it as Buggy laughed, shaking his head as he laid on his back and stared up at the sky. Ace was still next to him, pushing himself up as he whispered, "A ship…"
"Wait a minute—" Mihawk choked.
"This is what we were hearing?" Sabo questioned, the shock in his voice.
I'm here to fulfill my Captain's wish! To keep you safe!
"You've always had our back. Haven't you?" Buggy questioned, his grin getting bigger, "Oro Jackson!"
Author's Note: a href=" /zbaUczAYwb" The Moby Hangout /a