April 13th 2022 edit: I read all the one shots I've written and cringed at the mistakes I didn't know I made. Therefore, I'm fixing them. Perhaps, I'll write part 5 of this series. It has been a long time since the last one. Mostly because I didn't have inspiration for it.
Disguising was something they had to do from time to time once they were out of money. They mostly disguised as marines and played a role while they stole money from the marine base. It had been hard in the beginning, but it had become easier with time, at least for the three of them.
Stealth. It was a very important skill. And now, it helped them through their mission of saving their captain's brother. It wasn't the first time they did a crazy stunt, however it was their first time breaking in Marineford. Thanks to their acts in marine bases, they were able to sneak up through the large building. No one would think that the three weakest pirates of the Straw hat pirates would sneak up in Marineford. It only sounded ridiculous. The three pirates had told no one about their plan - they could have told Rayleigh or Shaky but they had decided against it (because the two old pirates weren't close to them at all). Perhaps, they weren't the strongest, however all of them had their own strength.
Nami stared at the map they had stolen before entering the large building. They were disguised as marines. Their goal was to find the current executioners and take their place. It was important for them to have their place for their plan to continue. They were bending among the marines. The woman sighed. So far, they hadn't found anything. While searching for the executioners, they were stealing a lot of things from the marines: medical supplies, weapons and maps. It could be useful in the end.
She was worried. It made sense after all. Going willingly to a marine base was never easy. There were several feelings inside of her: a bit of anger from her past, fear for what might happen, and a lot of worry. Nami tried to keep a calm look and to go through the entire mission without flinching and without breaking.
"Look, Nami." Chopper quietly said, pointing at the two people walking in front of them. Nami perked up, recognizing the uniform of the executioners. She glanced at Usopp, the sniper met her eyes and nodded. They both vanished in a dark corner ahead of the two executioners, they let the two men go past their hidden place then they started to follow them.
Nami knew they had to act quickly. The execution was going to start in less than twenty minutes. They followed them until they reached an empty room. The three pirates looked at each other before moving in action. The fake marines burst in the room after making sure they were no more people than the two executioners. The latters looked confused. Before they could react, Usopp killed them without a second thought - not surprising her or Chopper, Usopp had always been a bit more darker than people tended to believe. His gun - something he had designed and built in the workshop of their ship - was silent. They quickly removed the clothes from the corpses and put them on. Nami smirked. She checked her watch and saw they had to get to the platform. Chopper hid the bodies in the cupboard of the room. He jumped on Usopp's shoulder and hid in his hood. Thankfully, marines were as weird as pirates.
They closed their eyes and got into their new role. They reached the platform without a word. Sengoku sent them a look asking where the other two executioners were, Usopp lied saying they felt sick and asked them to replace them. The fleet admiral nodded - later, he would scream in frustration. Nami exchanged a look with Usopp as she took to the right of the prisoner while the sniper faced her on his left. They turned their back and looked before them. Apprehension filled them. The pirates and the marines were ready to fight. They recognized the lower ranks and the highest ranks. Nami felt thankfully that Usopp kept track of powerful people. It would help them greatly.
"Portgas D. Ace." Sengoku called out for the prisoner, drawing the attention of the fake executioners. It was actually the first time Nami saw her captain's brother. He looked like shit. Probably because of Impel Down. Or the fact, he had been severely injured by the traitor of the Whitebeard pirates.
The prisoner didn't look up. The silence was deafening. Sengoku continued. "Who is your father?"
The question confused the three hidden pirates. Ace said nothing for a few seconds then replied. "My father is Whitebeard!"
Sengoku narrowed his eyes. "He's not." He said quietly to the second commander of the Whitebeard pirates. He then addressed all the marines and the world that was watching. "His father is Gol D Roger!"
He glued Gol and D, therefore pronouncing it as gold. Sengoku seemed to think that there was no need to tell the world that the Pirate King was a D.
Marines gasped at the revelation. Nami was shocked by the revelation, so she stole a glance at Usopp. The sniper looked unimpressed. He met her eyes clearly, telling her they would discuss it later. Nami didn't push it. He would tell her later. It wasn't the moment to discuss it. The woman was glad for the disguising. Thankfully, she hadn't a high bounty nor had Usopp and Chopper. And Chopper was well hidden in Usopp's hood. They had to play carefully. They knew. They could die.
Nami was scared. But she wasn't scared to die. No, she wasn't anymore. As Sengoku stepped at the edge of the platform, Chopper used this short time of not being seen to tamper with the lock. Ace tensed up, probably not knowing what was happening.
Tampering with the lock of the chains was not easy. Especially, he had to make it look normal and not broken. Well, enough broken to break completely later.
Their plan was risky. They could die. They had almost died a couple of times since they had joined the crew. Chopper could still hear the heartbreaking screams of the sniper of the crew, he could still feel the phantom pain, and he could still see Nami being beaten had happened before they had come back to Sabaody together.
Letting their captain's brother be killed was out of question. Perhaps, the rest of the crew might not have noticed, but Portgas was Luffy's pillar. And he was his brother. What would Luffy feel if he died?
Chopper leant on Portgas' back, whispering a few words in his right ear. He needed him to be calm and to go along with their plan. The prisoner stayed silent. He seemed to be deep in thought.
Their attention was suddenly drawn to the bay. There were bubbles. Chopper jumped over Usopp's shoulder and hid in his hood. He was hiding as a pet. Because the marines could be as weird as were the pirates. According to Usopp, Queen of the Beast Pirates was an excellent dancer and singer. How the hell did Usopp know that? It was beyond him.
"Information is power, Chopper. Never forget that." Usopp had once told him.
Suddenly, four ships emerged from the water. He felt Usopp tensing up. It was beginning. Chopper could feel the shift in the air. He knew. Marines began to whisper as they witnessed what was going on before their eyes. Edward Newgate or known as Shirohige - Whitebeard - emerged from the main ship called Moby Dick. Chopper heard his heart beating faster as the time passed by. He could tell from where he was hiding that marines were showing a bit of fear, even though some of them tried to be brave and not show anything to the pirates.
Chopper heard the faint whisper of his captain's brother saying 'Pops'. He seemed to be shocked that someone would save him. Whitebeard suddenly was in a position Chopper had never seen before and then he used his power to break the air and caused a big wave to go over Marineford. Were they going to die? He thought, eyes widened as the wave was going to crush them.
However, one of the admirals - Aokiji, he recognized - stopped the wave while using his Devil Fruit. There was now a frozen wave and bay. Aokiji was definitely a lifesaver for the marines, nevertheless he had fallen into the trap Whitebeard had set up. There was now a clear path to the platform.
Ace would lie if he said he totally understood what was going on. Truly, he didn't. First, someone had told him to go along with their plan to get him out of the execution - he had instantly agreed not wanting to particularly die - then the Shirohige Kaizoku had appeared in the bay.
The three people - or at least the two people standing beside him as executioners and the small presence of an animal if his nose didn't fail him - were totally not with his crew. It was impossible. Or he would have remembered them. It was fine with him. It was totally fine - not at all - that his crew was there. Ace had made a mistake. He hadn't listened to Pops- th;at wasn't unfair, they should not be there. For him, especially. And yet, they were there to save him. With his haki activated even though he was weaker because of the month spent in impel Down, he could feel every Commander. Damn, no one had told him Thatch was alive.
What the actual fuck? He felt suddenly angry. Ace took a death breath concentrating himself on the Fourth Commander, who looked rather sheepishly at him.
"If I had known, I'd have come back to Moby Dick." Ace muttered under his breath, well aware that the strangers heard him. The pirate was kneeling down, his hands in his back and the lock out of his reach - even within his reach, he wouldn't be able to do anything since it was seastone.
"Gold Ace. Do you have any last words?" Sengoku suddenly turned towards him, ready to executate him.
The pirate redressed himself facing the world, he could see every camera on him. Ace let a smirk grow on his face as he chose his wording very carefully. If he were going to die, then he would comply but not without causing evrok in the world. The Second Commander of the Whitebeard could almost hear the flies flying around as the silence was deadlier, all eyes were focused on him as they waited for him to speak.
"First of all, thank you for coming to assist me in my death." Ace enjoyed a bit too much the confused and angry looks of his family, and the surprised and confused looks of the marines. "I'd like to address to the Marines a message: No thank you for massacring hundreds of children, mothers and families twenty years ago in the name of your "Justice".
They all froze on their spot not expecting him to actually tell them about the Massacre of Baterilla. It was too late, Ace noticed with a smirk while Garp was trying to not turn around and chuckle, knowing what his surrogate grandson was doing. Establishing a bit of justice while being executed for being born as Roger's son was both incredible and ridiculous.
Ace continued his speech, not bothering to wait for wide reactions. "I'd like to thank Queen, his music has always been a safe place for my 'evil' soul. It makes me at peace. I'd also thank the Spades for putting up with me, and also the Whitebeards that didn't hate me even though I spent one hundred days trying to kill Pops. They are big-hearted and wear their heart on their sleeve. And yet, that disgraceful bastard, Marshall D. Teach betrayed the crew for a Devil Fruit. He exchanged me for a place within Shichibukai. How sad is that! I'm really saddened by the fact that Teach, a person I considered like a brother - well not as much as the rest of the Commanders - would try to kill me with fries. He would always eat in his corner chocolate pie with dead flies… No one wants to share this particular dessert with him." And he continued ranting out, talking more and more about ridiculous things.
Finally, the pirate stopped speaking. He spoke for ten minutes; most marines like Sakazuki had tuned him. The pirates were quite shocked by his speech - not really understanding all the things he said. During these ten minutes, the allies of his crew arrived. It was only a matter of time before the marines noticed them.
It was hilarious. Usopp loved how Ace had turned the situation to his advantage - it had been a good idea to visit him before his execution. Ace was similar to his captain in many ways, however he was much more mature than Luffy, a fact Usopp couldn't deny.
Their plan was simple and complex at the same time. There were three backups in case nothing worked out. Usopp had sneaked up and hid plenty of bombs in the large headquarters of the marine, all ready to explode at the signal of one button. He had the detonator in his pocket. It would be used as a rather large explosion - a distraction powerful enough to take down some marines. The sniper wondered if the high ranks were aware of the fact something was odd. Probably not, he noted, briefly looking around as the war started.
Soon enough, bloodlust filled the battlefield.
The fact that his captain's brother had thanked Queen, one of the biggest members of the Beast pirates, made him laugh silently. If they were not talking about Queen being a pirate, they could at least talk about his music. Usopp had gone to Queen's concerts a few times; he particularly liked the song called "zoom, zoom, zoom". If Kaido was watching the execution, Queen was most likely there with him and was probably shocked.
He reported his full attention on the fights that had broken out on the battlefield. Usopp could hear the roars of the pirates, the will of the Commanders, and the fury of Whitebeard.
"It's ready." Nami whispered to him, leaning towards him while trying to not be suspicious. He nodded, not changing his position. Usopp knew it was a question of timing. They were too early in the battle, they had to wait before doing anything.
Hours passed slowly. Usopp was bored to death. Battles and battles, it was all the same. He could tell that the Second Commander of the Whitebeards, Nami, and Chopper were feeling the same. He suddenly looked up to the sky, wondering why he was getting the feeling that something would happen. There was something falling off the blue sky. Usopp gritted his teeth, he wished he had his spyglass.
"It's your damn family again, Garp!" Sengoku screamed at Garp who just laughed as they all stared at the supernova falling off the sky with a warship of the marines. There were countless of Impel Down prisoners.
Usopp tried hard to not laugh. He watched the stunned expression of Luffy's brother and chuckled silently. However, the sniper worried a little bit. How would his captain react upon seeing him, Nami, and Chopper? Would he be upset? He didn't know the answer. He glanced at Nami, she was looking at their captain. Usopp turned his attention back to the scene. Everybody had stopped fighting to watch the newcomers. The warship fell in the only spot of water - the third commander, a guy named Jozu, of the Whitebeard had broken a piece of ice and had thrown it. Usopp watched as the only fishman - the Shichibukai, Jimbei - saved all the Devil Fruit users from drowning.
Nami certainly didn't expect her captain falling off the sky. And yet, he did. The rumors, she and the two other pirates had heard, were true. She almost facepalmed at the fact - of course, her captain would do this rather reckless thing.
The battles resumed a whole minute later after the warship had fallen into water. The Shirohige Commanders were getting slowly closer to the platform, nevertheless a lot of marines were blocking their path. It seemed to be a strategy of the marines. Then, Nami saw her captain at the edge of the warship preparing himself to scream. Thirty seconds later, he screamed. "Ace!"
Ace's face changed. He let a grin appear on his face. "Luffy!"
Luffy answered by shooting his brother's name. "Ace! I'm gonna save you!"
"Luffy…" Ace whispered, fearing for what his brother might do. It was a war, not a mere battle against the marines.
There was a change in the battlefield. The marines had taken the Pacifista out. Their plan moved into action. Usopp had sabotaged some of them while they were off. He discreetly pushed a button. He had hidden a few bombs in them. They would explode in ten seconds and kill a few other Pacifista. The sniper hadn't told her and Chopper until the last minute. It was a backup plan.
"Chopper." Ace heard the woman's voice speaking at the lowest volume. "Try to find the Spades. They're very good at sabotaging."
He could almost see Chopper nodding. Wait.. He knew that name! He was his brother's doctor. His haki caught Chopper sneaking away from the platform. The two fake executioners moved closer to him.
"Ace. We have a plan. Please, follow it." The woman's voice was familiar, and now he was sure of her name. It was his brother's navigator, Nami.
He nodded slightly. They were alone on the platform - Sengoku had gone on the platform beneath them talking with the admirals and Garp about the situation. An explosion brought attention to them, he almost saw his brother's sniper - his long nose was legendary - smirk in satisfaction. Some Pacifista had been touched by the explosion.
"It's my doing." Usopp muttered to him. "Okay, so your chains are almost broken. Not enough broken for you to break them completely. Chopper is helping the Spades do whatever they're doing. We have been in contact with them before the beginning of the war."
Ace nodded understandingly.
"They don't know our plan though." Usopp added. "It's better that way. In a few minutes, we will free you and jump with you. You have to fight. But please, never fight back with the highest rank of the marines - such as Sakazuki. We need to flee."
Ace promised the two younger pirates he would follow their plan. The Second Commander mentioned his brother, then Nami told him they would take Luffy before fleeing away from Marineford. Usopp had snatched up their ship when they were at Sabaody and hid it somewhere near the island. It was well hidden by an invisible dome - a feat that Chopper and Nami didn't know how he did it. Nobody but the Straw hat could see it. Ace was eager to know afterwards their whole plan. It sounded crazy as fuck, but it was the kind of plan he would follow.
It seemed that Sakazuki had lied to one of Whitebeard's allies and tricked him into attacking the Emperor.
Usopp was amazed by the fact the Emperor easily forgave the old pirate for acting like he did, however Whitebeard chastised him for believing the marines over his family.
They were not paying much attention to what was going on in the bay. But they could see the pirates approaching the big wall. The two pirates could see their captain making his way towards the platform surrounded by many pirates, such as the Whitebeard pirates, Ivankov - a Revolutionary, according to Ace who was watching the war. There wasn't much to do.
"Watch, Shirohige!" Sengoku pointed at the two fake executioners - not that he actually knew it - and Ace ordering them to kill Ace.
All pirates stopped at once. The marines looked a bit too smug for Nami's likeling as Usopp and her put themselves in position, ready to act. She glanced over her captain, his eyes were dark and furious as he ran faster towards the platform and fought the marines harder. And then, they all felt it.
Usopp didn't fall. Neither Nami did. Both of them were used to the Conqueror's Haki. Many officers of the marines fell unconscious on the floor as well as some pirates. The fact that their captain had the Conqueror's Haki stunned a lot of powerful people on the battlefield. At that moment, Chopper came back on the platform and told them that everything was ready. Grinning like a madman, Usopp pulled out a detonator from his pocket while the Fleet Admiral was looking away and pushed the button. An explosion was heard all over the place.
As everybody's attention was suddenly drawn by the explosion, Nami broke the chains of seastone of Ace, pushed him and jumped after him. Usopp and Chopper quickly followed them a second later. Nami pulled out her Clima-Tact and used it to create mist to cover their tracks.
"I'm going to take Luffy." Usopp said as they started running in the direction of their ship.
"Right." Nami agreed.
As Usopp left the group to catch Luffy before he went ballistic. The sniper sneaked up behind his captain and pulled him in his arms. Luffy gasped, clearly surprised to be grabbed by an unknown force. Forcing his captain to run alongside him, they quickly joined the group. Nami used her Clima-Tact to lift the mist off Luffy. The latter turned towards his crewmates and his brother in shock.
"Usopp? It was you? Nami? Chopper? But what are you doing…?" Luffy trailed off, finally seeing his brother free of his chains and away from the platform.
"We came to save your brother, of course!" Chopper happily said, shocking his captain more.
"Thank you!" Finally, Luffy said. He wanted to hug them right now but there was something to do before.
"Guys, are you going to inform my crew?" Ace asked, clapping on his brother's back as he looked over him to see all the injuries his brother might have.
"Oh yeah! I'm gonna contact Deuce!" Usopp replied, pulling out of his backpack his snail-phone.
"Purupurupurupuru… Gatcha." The sniper smiled as the snail changed into Deuce's face. "We have Ace. We're going to flee towards our ship."
Deuce smirked. "Great! We're covering you and following you on the ship once it's good. They haven't noticed that Ace isn't here anymore. That mist is great!"
"Damn, I want to know everything. " Ace complained, their plan was too good.
"Us too. You'll know later, captain." Deuce said to his old captain, now Second Commander of the Whitebeard pirates.
"I've an idea for Ace to do. An easy way to say that Ace is free." Chopper suddenly said.
Luffy titled his head, looking a bit confused. "What is it?" He asked as they began to see the hidden ship.
"Ace can use his Devil Fruit to make the mark of his crew in the sky." Chopper proposed them.
Deuce's face looked pensive for a moment. Then, he grinned. "That's a good idea!" He paused then continued. "We're behind you."
Indeed, the Spades were all running behind them and protecting them. Nami used her mist to hide them. They reached the Thousand Sunny and came aboard. The Spades' pirates rapidly prepared the ship to leave its hidden place while Ace hugged his little brother tightly.
"We're sailing!" Deuce informed the Straw hats and Ace.
Usopp went under the deck preparing their famous move. He charged the coca cola in the machines and ran back on the deck. Nami smiled as he told her it was ready. Then, she turned her head towards the Second Commander.
"The mist is nearly gone. Do it!"
Ace smirked. He ran and jumped over the railing. It felt weird using his Devil Fruit after one month under seastone.
Thatch wondered if they would be able to save Ace. Hours after hours, they were fighting endlessly against the marines. He remembered the shocked look on Ace's face at the beginning of the war after seeing him among the other commanders. That look meant that he didn't know he was alive.
If only, he had acted before Ace could be captured by that traitor…
Thatch often wondered while fighting that the two executioners beside Ace were acting weird. Well, not weird per se, most likely they didn't have the aura of an executioner. They were odd.
"Where are the Spades?" He heard Haruta ask one of the second division members.
"We don't know. They disappear before the beginning of the war." The man replied, making the two commanders glance at each other.
That was definitely new. The Spades didn't say anything about their plan to any of the Commanders. Then again, they always obeyed Ace, and not them. That wasn't really surprising.
Ace's brother was remarkable. He had seen him so far, while he obviously didn't have the hak he was strong enough to survive.
Where was Mugiwara? He thought, scanning the battlefield to find the young pirate. He was nowhere to be seen.
"Commanders! Look!" Someone screamed, making all the pirates and marines look at the sky.
To everybody's shock, there was the symbol of Whitebeard in the sky, made of fire. Suddenly, the mist was gone. All the marines and pirates turned towards the platform and noticed in deep horror - for the marines, at least - and cheers - for the pirates - that Ace was nowhere to be seen.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! The Straw hat's ship!" A young marine informed him as he stared with his spyglass at the ship going away from Marineford.
"What. The. Fuck." The Fourth Commander thought aloud as they turned to look at the Thousand Sunny floating not far away from the bay.
Ace was standing on the railing, looking too much smug for his own good. Thatch noticed the Spades standing next to Ace's brother and three other people he had only seen their wanted posters.
"Nami!" A marine said, holding the wanted posters of Luffy's crewmates. "16 000 000 berry!"
"Seriously? There is no way that a woman like her has only 16 000 berry on her head!" Someone exclaimed in shock.
"Tony Tony Chopper…" The man trailed off, looking back and forth in disbelief to the poster and the reindeer. "50 berry. Who the fuck made this poster? It should be higher than that!"
For once, everybody agreed on that. For no reason, Monkey D. Garp was laughing his ass off at the stunt the three Straw hats had pulled off.
"Usopp." The man informed the world. "Son of Yasopp from the Akagami no Kaizoku. Known as Sogeking. 30 000 000."
"The son of the Chaser?!" Sengoku narrowed his eyes, he wasn't aware of this fact. He couldn't keep track of new pirates' faces. He would make sure that his bounty would increase.
"Fool you!" Nami said with a smirk on her face.
Usopp burst into laughter, letting all the fear and apprehension melt away. Of course, the navigator would say that. The Spades took their snail and phoned one of the Commanders to inform them of their retreat plan.
"Thanks, yoi." Marco, the First Commander and Right-man replied before hanging up.
Deuce left out a sigh, content with the situation. Usopp took one of his weapons, already seeing Sakazuki moving quickly towards their ship. He looked through the spyglass of his weapon then he aimed at his chest.
Nami watched her crewmate shooting at their enemy while she worked on the navigation schedule with one of the Spades, Thomas. Their meeting point was at one of the protected islands of Whitebeard.
"You touched him, Usopp." Luffy cheered for his crewmate, he had never seen him using a gun. He looked like a deadlier soldier on a mission.
"He won't get up." Usopp said with a smile, confusing everybody.
Deuce raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked as he moved closer to him.
"The bullet is made of seastone." Usopp easily replied with a cruel smirk on his face.
Seastone was expensive to make. However, it was something that Usopp had easily access thanks to the Black Market held by non-human beings.
They stared at him in shock. Luffy, Nami, and Chopper never knew that Usopp was carrying around seastone bullets. The Spades chuckled at his answer. It was good that a sniper like him was carrying around such bullets. It was useful against Devil Fruit Users. Nami glanced over the battlefield, quickly noticing Sakazuki down with doctors around him as they worked together to bring out the bullet.
"But, this bullet is special." Usopp couldn't help himself and continued. "There's a bit of poison. It's a prototype."
"Holy shit." Thomas muttered, eyeing the young pirate. "You clearly need training from us. You'll become very dangerous in the next few years."
This last sentence confused the four Mugiwara pirates. They glanced at each other not knowing what to say while Ace grinned.
"We should move away." Chopper said to his captain, giving back his leadership even though he usually didn't use it.
Luffy nodded. "Let's use the Coup de burst !" His crew grinned while Usopp told him the coca cola was ready to be used.
"Everybody grabs onto something!" Nami ordered as she prepared herself to activate their famous escape method.
The pirates moved to grab onto something. Nami grabbed the controller and pulled it.
"COUP DE BURST!"
Edward Newgate known as Whitebeard watched the Thousand Sunny flee from the war with on board some of his children and three members of the Mugiwara Kaizoku and their captain.
One of them being the son of one of his late children.
"Retreat." He ordered his Commanders.
They all nodded, having assembled around their captain a few minutes ago. The remaining ships that hadn't been destroyed by the canons were all full of pirates. Whitehead had seen how the sniper had shot one of the three Admirals - Sakazuki was in his mind the worst of them, having out of conscience was a relief. He had also seen the red-haired woman using her weapon to help his crew to flee over the remaining ships.
"Pops, there's Akagami." His second said, pointing at the Red Force docking at the bay.
"The war is over!" He heard him talking to the marines before going on a speech.
"The mist is working a bit too well." Thatch noticed while they made their way to one of the remaining ships.
"Guararara. Marco, go informe the brat's second of our retreat."
The Phoenix nodded. He transformed into his zoan form. The ships quickly joined the Thousand Sunny towards their meeting point, surrounding the weird ship. A dark mist was surrounding them, protecting them from any attacks from the marines. Marco came back ten minutes later, he had followed them with his haki. The Red Force had sailed away from the headquarters once Shanks had been informed by Marco of what happened.
Shirohige watched his Second Commander talking with his brother, a tired smile on his face looking happy. Impel Down had screwed up his son; he could see it. It hadn't done any good to his rival's son. He sighed. Then, he noticed the small reindeer taking care of his son's injuries. Was he their doctor? How odd. But certainly not weird.
"We're going to tell you everything once we're on the island, Commanders." Deuce said, having finished telling his report to the Commanders surrounding the snail.
The old Emperor was hoping to meet the red-haired woman, the reindeer and Yasopp's son. They seemed to be equally crazy like the Spades.