I do not own One Piece

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Beta read by the wonderful Karukyuu and rose7anne101, who have both written some pretty amazing stuff for One Piece.

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Given the reactions to the previous chapter, mine included, I am also posting chapters for a new series labeled "Ace Lives." Excellent source of therapy for me, and hopefully for you too.

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Rise from the Ashes

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Warning: Spoilers for chapter 830

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Chapter 8: Marineford, Part 3 of 3

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Before…

There were no curses in the tongues of man, beast, or other beings for Marshal D. Teach's treachery.

To kill a brother who had loved him for years. To hand over another brother, one whom he himself had once eaten and drunken with, praised and supported as a brother, to be executed as bait for the rest of the family. A trap he knew that none of the others would never have even considered walking away from and abandoning Ace. To smile and jeer as he looked over a battlefield littered with those he laughed and sung with, who had trusted him with their backs and protected his own.

To come to kill his Father of over twenty-years. The man who had taken him in when he had had nothing and no-one.

The name he had chosen for himself said it all: "Blackbeard." For a man who had until know only borne stubble, it was clear that this title was a declaration of his intent, which was all too horribly clear now. To be the antithesis of the man who had opened his heart to him.

The worlds 'hatred' and 'loathing' were words too small to express how the Whitebeard Pirates felt about him.

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The rubble and blood of the battlefield faded away for cherry blossoms and faint rainbows, as Whitebeard once more found himself sitting and sharing a drink with the mortally ill Roger, "I see people with that "D." from time to time. There's one called Teach in my crew. What is that "D." thing anyways?"

"You wanna know? Then I'll tell you. A long time ago…"

And so Whitebeard's greatest rival told him, and the middle-aged man carefully processed it all. The story was scarily believable, especially given what else he had seen and heard over the years. Without even meaning to, he could feel himself becoming a convert, as a sense of faith in this legend, and what it represented, started to spread warmly throughout him. Still, "I'm not interested in helping that along either," he gruffly told the Pirate King.

Yet the man just laughed in that hearty tone of his, "I know, I know! Besides, when the right D. finally comes along, he's gonna have to figure out his path himself! But if he comes along while you're still kicking, then you can decide!"

"…I admit," Whitebeard ruefully told the dying man, "I'd like to see it happen. Just so long as he leaves my sons in peace," he added with a growl, but Roger just laughed again.

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Yet twenty years later, at the end of his life, it seemed that the D.'s were finally on the move in force, even if Teach was an insult to the very name. As for the other…

I don't know if you're the one, Straw Hat brat, but I hope you are…But still…

And Whitebeard knew what he had to do. From the depths of his soul he knew what his last words must be. He did not even know if they would spread beyond Marineford or not, but they had to be said.

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"It's not you..." Whitebeard growled as he regained his senses.

Ignoring the panicked bleating of the man cowering still on the ground, he continued, "The man Roger is waiting for...at the very least, Teach…it's definitely not you!"

Looking away from his failure, hating the idea of Teach's face being the last he saw, Whitebeard raised his head and focused upon Sengoku.

"Just like there are those who carry on Roger's will...I'm sure someone will appear to carry on Ace's will, someday. Even if you extinguish his bloodline, there's no way that 'their' flame will ever burn out. It has been passed down since ancient times..." Whitebeard paused to momentarily pant for breath before continuing with the same unyielding belief, "And in the future...Someday...Someone will appear, carrying the history of all those decades on his back...and challenge this whole world to a fight. Sengoku. You guys in the World Government...all fear that immense battle engulfing the whole world...that will eventually come. I don't care myself...but as soon as someone finds that great treasure…the entire world will be turned upside down."

Dimly, Whitebeard could see, for the first time in his (garbled and now literally burnt memory) fear on the Fleet Admiral's face. Yet such was the will and presence of the speaker, and the power of the words themselves, that Sengoku could only stand impotent.

"And someone will find it...That day will definitely come sooner or later."

The grin that Whitebeard then gave his old rival, the man who had orchestrated the bloodbath that had consumed too many of his sons, was terrifying to behold. The entire Navy could only stand petrified as the great man filled his massive lungs with air, and the pirates stood spellbound with anticipation. For Blackbeard and his ilk it was from greed, for Whitebeard's sons, it was something…more.

The next words were engraved into history itself.

"THE ONE PIEEECE! THE ONE PIECE IS REAL!"

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On Sabaody the civilians stood spellbound, unable to process it, but soon they were yelling into their Den Den Mushi to spread the word to news stations, friends, and family.

Even if the marines present had pulled themselves together enough to realize the repercussions of Whitebeard's dying message, it was already too late. Even if they had shot everyone watching the broadcast before they could do anything, the damage was already done.

Several pirate and civilian crews had intercepted the transmission from Marineford and broadcasted it. Survivors of Marineford, pirate and marine alike, spread the tale further, either sober or within bars.

As it was, Whitebeard's dying act burned throughout the world, as men and women decided to leave the boredom or oppression they knew at home, and start looking for a ship to sail. Knowing that the great treasure was waiting to be claimed, was the impetus they needed to take up their weapons and start strike out for the seas and adventure.

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Forgive me...my sons...I'm responsible for one hell of a fool... But thanks to all of you, I had everything I ever wanted. This is the end for me.

With that, Whitebeard turned inwards, remembering precious moments with his family, how it had grown into the wonderful, indescribable thing it was now.

I've been traveling for a long time... I'm grateful to you. Farewell, my sons.

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Whitebeard is dead!

Even in death. Even with half his face gone, he would never fall.

He will forever be remembered as a monster for the way he destroyed his enemies that day.

In this one battle alone he suffered 267 swords wounds…

…Was struck by 152 bullets…

…And 45 cannon blasts. And yet…

…Neither that mighty body…

…Nor his Pirate's Pride…

Suffered even one "Coward's Wound"!

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"HEY, DID YOU ALL SEE THAT?! ZE HA HA HA HA! LET THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW THIS! PEACE-LOVING, BORING COMMONERS! MARINES! WORLD GOVERNMENT! AND PIRATES! THE FUTURE OF THIS WORLD HAS BEEN DECIDED! ZE HA HA HA HA! YES, FROM NOW ON…THIS IS MY ERA!"

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The Whitebeard Pirates were broken.

Ace their favourite brother, the one they were willing to give their lives for was dead. Cut down just when it seemed like he was about to be free.

Teach had appeared and had tauntingly shown how he had manipulated the world before killing their Father and stealing his power.

Mercilessly the marines hounded them, killing the pirates even as they fled. And Akainu was—

Without a word or gesture, every pirate who caught sight of what was happening changed course to intercept the admiral. He was trying to kill Straw Hat.

To the end Jinbe protected Straw Hat, shielding him with his own body, but Akainu punched his lava straight through the fishman. Yet for all of Jinbe's power and will, his strength almost seemed a curse, as he was left just alive enough to watch the Admiral approach to deliver the finishing blow. Upon the frozen waters, Straw Hat was immobile, a smoking burn upon his chest.

"Are you still trying to protect him, with that hole in your chest?" Akainu inquired to Jinbe as he calmly walked up. The only evidence of the terrible thrashing he had received from Whitebeard, the blows that were supposed to kill him, were the trails of dried blood from his mouth. "You'll both die soon enough."

But still fate smiled upon Straw Hat. Or rather, other powerful figures still held an interest in his fate.

So focused upon finally claiming his prey, of ending Dragon's line and further spawn of evil, Akainu's haki detected the attack too late to react, even as he hid how serious the damaged his internal organs truly were. Once more Ex-Warlord Sir Crocodile defied the wrath of the Navy as he cut the admiral in two with his sand logia powers and spirited both Jinbe and Straw Hat away. "If you want to protect something, then you should do it right!" he yelled after Jinbe, "Don't let these guys keep doing whatever they want!"

Growing increasingly frustrated, Akainu turned his attention to Crocodile. With the extent of his talent at haki, the pirates scum was at best an annoyance, albeit one with abilities sufficient to slow down even a magma logia. A few quick blows and the sand logia however was repulsed enough to for an easy shot at the still airborne Jinbe and Straw Hat…until another pirate who was somehow flying caught them and steered them away.

Yet all of those nuisances, all these small efforts to stop a living volcano, were all that were necessary.

Obeying his haki, Akainu broke off his attack and threw up his arm to block the ambush, feeling pain if not damage as a barrage of pink objects shot into him, while a fog suddenly picked up to obscure his vision. Yet he could feel them all, and disbelief made him pause; not even a lust for vengeance could explain this behaviour from such self-serving lowlifes; they all knew first-hand his might and true conviction for Justice!

Their footsteps against the icy floor, dozens of them, echoed through the sudden silence, and the admiral felt the need to ask, "Is every single one of you…" and paused to let his disbelief and contempt sink in, "willing to die for the sake of that kid?"

"We all witnessed firsthand…his bottomless determination and power," Vista declared as he stepped forward with his drawn swords.

"Ace protected him, and the Old Man acknowledged him!" growled Fossa.

Hefting his gun, Izo finished "Now it's our duty to send him off into the new era!"

"Noble sentiment from a bunch of criminals. But in the end, it's just empty talk." Akainu snapped mockingly, just as a wind blew away the cloud to display his enemies who stood alongside Crocodile, "Whitebeard Pirates!"

Unyielding, prepared to face whatever came, was a small army of pirates. All of the Division Commanders, several of the allied Captains, and all of the other Sons of Whitebeard who had seen Straw Hat imperiled. Retreat was not an option.

Yet they only stood there calmly, not doing anything to provoke Akainu into action. Their mission was to protect Straw Hat, and the best way for now was simply to buy time. Despite this, their willingness to fight was abundantly clear to anyone who glimpsed their defiant postures: arms crossed, weapons at the ready if not directly aimed at their hated foe, their eyes cold and dangerous. Whatever happened, they would make their Father proud.

At their head was First Division Commander Marco the Phoenix, hand alight with cerulean flame as he stalked forward. He did not know where his next words came from, but all heard his conviction, "Akainu! Could it be that what you fear in him…is the very thing that makes him our hope for the future!?"

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THAT'S ENOUGH! LET'S STOP THIS! STOP FIGHTING! IT'S A WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE!"

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The New World

After the funeral.

The broken and battered pirate fleet that sailed away from where their Father and brothers were buried was a mockery of their proud Jolly Roger, consisting of only the surviving allied ships, the remaining Moby Dick-class that the marines had allowed them to tow away, along with the Red Force as an escort against any opportunists. As further warning, and to help reassure everyone of his good intentions, Shanks himself was sailing with the crew of his former rival.

They had escaped to the New World via the second crew of master coaters that had been waiting for them on the Paradise side of the Red Line, yet doubtless Teach had already figured out his escape beforehand, like everything else over the past dark months. They could only hope he sailed past Fishman Island without molesting it.

The two pirate crews had intended to part ways once everyone had paid their respects, but Red Hair had pointed out that they would both be sailing the same way for the first day or so. The island for the resting place of Whitebeard, Ace, and all of the other fallen pirates was within Shank's territory, but the man wanted to keep close to his borders for the next while, to respond to any unwise actions by his rivals or idiot upstarts. As for Marco and the others, they were heading to an island they believed Blackbeard had not yet approached.

"C-commander Marco, sir?" a bandaged and red-eyed Marco glanced up as one of the too few field doctors walked up.

"Yes?" Marco asked, struggling to not sound unkind.

"Uhm, I was one of the ones there when Ace…" he stopped, but a few other brothers walked up and gestured that they had also been present, and equally helpless.

Red Haired Shanks was standing off to the side, but it was only an illusion of privacy. Marco could read the slightest twitch to tell that the Emperor was also curious.

Things had been awkward with the one-armed man around, especially since he had essentially coerced both them and the marines into stopping the war; including not going after Teach then and there. They knew it was for the best, that it would have been foolish to keep fighting, a betrayal of their Captain's orders, but a dark and bloody part of their collective psyche resented Red Hair for his intrusion. Retrieving both Ace and Pop's body and the subsequent burial had done much to ease such wounds however, and as they pulled themselves back together they could appreciate his arrival more. Some careful math and navigation in consultation with observers from Fishman Island had also confirmed the rival crew had made best time to Marineford, not stalling until the perfect moment.

Marco was about to reassure his teary-eyed brothers, as best as he could, but the doctor had finished composing himself, "Ace, he, passed a message on to us. Told his little brother, Luffy, to tell us—"

"So we wait for his brother to tell us," Marco tightly interrupted, scrunching his eyes closed.

The poor spokesman flinched, but did not step back. "…Was there something else?" Marco finally asked, opening his eyes to note that Shanks was not even trying to hide his interest now.

After a moment, the doctor finished, "He also said that he only wished he could have lived to see his brother, Luffy, fulfill his dream." Unspoken between them were the words the boy had proudly declared. To become King of the Pirates.

The Whitebeard Pirates stilled, for they would always be known by that name, and then Marco raised his head. "Did he now-yoi?" a small smile creeping through, a faint ember relighting in his eyes.

After a moment he stood and walked away, but then paused to address everyone, "Someone like that? He's not dead yet. Not even after having all three Admirals trying to kill him on the way out. All we can do is wait and see if he'll get back up or not-yoi. And until then we've got enough of our own problems to deal with. Oh, and Atmos?"

"Yes?" the large man asked.

"When we get to the rendezvous, take all of Pop's booze," he had a stash on every ship, "and lock it away. We'll save it until we've got something to celebrate."

Now after three days, the First Division Commander finally went to get some sleep, when a voice cut in. "It wasn't just Whitebeard."

Everyone turned to look at Red Haired Shanks, who was now reading from a folded newspaper in his one hand. "This rampaging across the seas," he continued, "the resurgence of the pirates, it wasn't just your Captain. He told them the dream was real, giving them something to believe in." Now Shanks looked up at Marco, his face serious but for the glee that danced in his eyes, "But Luffy proved that the World Government isn't as strong as it would like us to believe. A rookie from the East Blue burning down Enies Lobby, defying the Celestial Dragons, and then in front of all those reporters on Sabaody he invaded Marineford with an army of prisoners from Impel Down, wreaking havoc all across the battlefield. Their three great strongholds, the symbols of their power, and he beat them all within under a year."

Marco frowned at the familiar way Shanks was talking about Straw Hat, and remembered what he had overheard while the young man was talking to Pops. One of his brothers who had been closer at the time had gotten him word that Shanks had made a point of making sure the rookie got his signature straw hat back too, but Marco knew it had originally been Shanks'. The treasure he would rather die for than surrender. And they had said that one of the Red Hair Pirates had yelled something about seeing Luffy after so long. "…Why're you so interested in Straw Hat-yoi?"

"Don't be coy," Shanks chuckled, but without any malice. "You know I've been interested in him for a while. Your own agents were sniffing around the same as mine were after Crocodile got beaten. Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if by this point you even know most of the story; even as a kid, Luffy would blurt out whatever came to his mind first, and I know how sharp Whitebeard was," the past tense stung, "and you are. That said, it is still private, so I can't really say much more."

The assembled Whitebeard Pirates looked at the Emperor in further awe as they realized just how much attention Straw Hat had garnered.

"Anyways, I can tell you that I've got no plans to seek him out and fight him," like he had with other rookies who liked to cause trouble. "We're just going to sit back and wait for him and his crew to come for us." All of the fearsome Red Hair Pirates present were grinning at this now, the anticipation written boldly across their faces. And…pride? Yes, pride.

Shrugging, Marco resumed walking with feet that no longer felt quite like lead, "Alright then. Now, I've really got to get some sleep-yoi."

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Later

Offshore of an uninhabited island where the crew would stash emergency supplies, the Whitebeard Pirates continued to lick their wounds, having parted ways with Shanks and his cryptic words.

Big Mom and Kaidou were already snatching up some of the choicest islands that had been under their protection, but both of them were clearly preparing for something bigger. The small fries of the New World, the ones too lowly to attract the attention of the Emperors, were trying to make a name for themselves by conquering now defenseless islands, and Teach had already been sighted in the New World as the scheming veteran began to make his move. Amidst this, the Sons and Daughters of Whitebeard tried to heal as fast as possible while they tried to figure out their next moves: where to stand to protect those they had sworn to shield against the New World, and where to strike for vengeance.

But for now they all just struggled to even get some rest.

Away from the others on watch, Marco looked up at the night sky, but dark clouds obscured the tapestry of stars that were above. Just as he felt: that something suffocating had covered up what was once filled with an unspoken beauty that softened the heart no matter how often you saw it. Sleep would not come easily to him, and he had conditioned his body to burn away any foreign drugs (including too much booze after a particularly dangerously close call), so no help there. Thus he was left with his own thoughts as he struggled to understand his Father's words during his last battle. He knew he was not alone in this, he had overheard some of the other Division Commanders quietly talking to each other about what Whitebeard had said as he told them to leave, or his final words as he stood tall and defiant against Teach and the world itself.

Several times over the years Pops had spoken of the coming era, usually in thought of his Sons' and Daughters' futures. It had always been a distant thing for them, willing their Father to enter it with them. Yet at Marineford, Whitebeard, the greatest pirate alive, had unequivocally decreed that now was the start of the New Era!

What would it be? No one knew. How could you even define what it was about? It had taken years after Roger's death for the time to be known as the Great Pirate Era. The World Government had always acted to discourage such notions in the past, with the previous eras talked about in approved history texts being about significant advances for people in general such as the Communications Era when Den Den Mushi were discovered, or times of "inclusion" when numerous countries joined the World Government at once (always voluntarily), presenting a general picture that the last eight centuries had been the World Government's Era.

But now the gears were starting to slip. Before Roger's execution, men and women like Kaido, Big Mom, Red Hair, and their Father would never have been able to amass the power and dominion they now possessed; one by one the Marines would have eventually hunted them down. But with rise of the pirates in such numbers, with men and women taking to the seas and unlocking their fighting potential, all four Emperors had been able to amass mighty militaries that individually could match the might of the Navy, if not win outright.

It was for that very reason that the World Government had accepted the risks of creating the Warlord system.

Finally, after twenty years, those politicians and bureaucrats had believed they could finally challenge the status quo by killing Whitebeard, assuming that they could shape the ensuing chaos to their own advantage. But it was quickly becoming brutally clear that was coming instead was a time of violence and bloodshed that could consume everyone. All it would take was the gears slipping a little bit more… And Teach's definitely going to push it all the way, if not now than as soon as he feels he's ready.

Yet for all that, despite how grim the situation had been upon that bloody battlefield with Death staring him in the eye, Marco, Vista, Izo, Haruta, and the others had all come to realize that their Father had spoken with hope.

So what did he mean? Marco wondered as he stared up at the roiling sky.

More than anyone, he knew how uncharacteristic Whitebeards words had been, especially since they were supposed to be his last. For as long as he had known him, Pops had always been a blunt man, not one to give grandiose speeches like that on a whim. There are things he believed in of course, but to speak with such faith in the futureHe believed that whatever is to come, it will be for the best. What are we missing?

What did our Father know that made him feel that despite how sick and despairing we'd feel after leaving him to die while he was staying to buy us time, that we'd laugh and sing once more!?

But the wind and sea provided no answers.

Mind still troubled, he returned to his hammock and feverish sleep.

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The door slamming open broke Marco out of his nightmare and roused him to fight, upright with fists held high before he opened his eyes.

"Marco!" Vista puffed out, eyes so wide with emotion they seemed to miss that his brother was drenched with sweat despite how they were near a winter island. "You've got to come quick! It's Straw Hat! He's alive! And he went back to Marineford!"

"He WHAT!?" the Phoenix yelled and was out the door with just his pants on, and shouldered his way through the crowd to the center to snatch away the newspaper to read it himself.

Sure enough:

"Straw Hat Luffy Returns to Marineford. Pays respects!"

The young man in the picture was covered in bandages, but that he was even alive after being struck down by Akainu, and escaping while the other two admirals doing their hardest to kill him, was a miracle in itself. More importantly, it was clear the figure in the image was unbroken. Or failing that, someone who had managed to pull his shattered self back together.

Slowly, Marco read aloud in a clear voice what the article said, how Straw Hat had returned to Marineford to pay his due to the dead who had fallen there.

"So Jinbe's alive too! That's fantastic!"

"So he's really a descendent of Garp? That the same last name's not a coincidence?"

"How many Monkey's do you know? And they said so at the war!"

"HUH!? They did!?"

"Yes you moron!"

"Well excuse me! I was probably fighting marines at the time with cannons pounding in my ear! Lay off!"

"They said he was the son of Dragon too! The World's Greatest Criminal!"

"You idiot! Remember!? Blood doesn't matter!"

"It does to some extent!"

"But what about the Dark King! Where's he fit into this!? Nothing for twenty years and now he returns to help Straw Hat!?"

The First Division Commander, never Captain, heard this last part as he was rereading the confusing part about the Ox Bell, until the itch at the back of his mind came forward and he remembered a piece of old history. The Ox Bell, is only rung that many times at the end of the year and the beginning of the new. He's declaring that Whitebeard's time is over, and now his has begun?

Everything began to click into place for Marco now, as scenes from Marineford flashed before his eyes.

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"I know perfectly well! You wanna be the Pirate King, don't you?! I'm the one who'll be the Pirate King!"

"Don't you let him die, Marco."

"IF YOU'RE PIRATES, THEN DECIDE FOR YOURSELVES WHAT TO BELIEVE!"

"MEN! AS OF THIS MOMENT...LEND STRAW HAT LUFFY...ALL OF YOUR STRENGTH!"

"I AM THE ONE AT THE TOP OF THIS ERA… THERE IS NO SHIP TO CARRY ME IN THE NEW ERA!"

"It's not you... The man Roger is waiting for...at the very least, Teach…it's definitely not you!"

"THE ONE PIEEECE! THE ONE PIECE IS REAL!"

"HEY, DID YOU ALL SEE THAT?! ZE HA HA HA HA! LET THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW THIS! PEACE-LOVING, BORING COMMONERS! MARINES! WORLD GOVERNMENT! AND PIRATES! THE FUTURE OF THIS WORLD HAS BEEN DECIDED! ZE HA HA HA HA! YES, FROM NOW ON…THIS IS MY ERA!"

"He said that he only wished he could have lived to see his brother, Luffy, become King of the Pirates."

"But what about the Dark King! Where's he fit into this!? Nothing for twenty years and now he returns to help Straw Hat!?"

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And then Marco remembered. Remembered the words he had spoken without even knowing where they had come from.

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"Akainu! Could it be that what you fear in him…is the very thing that makes him our hope for the future!?"

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"Everyone! Quiet!" and the entire crew stopped and turned to look at Marco the Phoenix. He leapt upon a nearby roof, yet blue and gold continued to blaze across his body. "This is what we're going to do—yoi."

Silence.

"First things first, we kill Teach. Not," he said with emphasis to cut off anyone saying anything, "just for Pops, Thatch, Ace and all the others. We'll get our vengeance, but we're also doing this for the future, for what we'll all do after that—yoi."

He took a deep breath to brace himself, he hated making speeches, he never gave speeches, but the fact that he of all people was making one made everyone listen with bated breath.

"Pops was telling us that his time has passed, and it us up to us to decide how we want this New Era to form! To find our own path!

"He would expect more of us than just survival, or vengeance, or even just protecting our territory and those who depend upon us." There were some frowns at this, for they were already hearing news of opportunistic idiots who were attacking islands flying the Whitebeard Jolly Roger. "He wouldn't care about us shaping the coming era, only that our friends and family roam wild and free over the seas!" He took a deep breath.

"But there's one family member who's not safe, because he's chosen a path that will pit him against the Admirals once more, against Kaidou, Big Mom, and it looks like even Shanks! Ace's little brother! Our little brother! Straw Hat Luffy!"

I said something like that at Marineford, a shaken Izo remembered. Some of his brothers had asked about what he had said, but until now he honestly could not have said why. It just felt…like the right thing to say.

Stepping forward with the stump of his right arm clearly shown, Jozu spoke up, "You're saying we should make him the next Pirate King?"

"No," Vista corrected as he distractedly stroked his mustache, "someone like him would never accept it, all of us doing all the work for him, not after what we saw him say to Pops, or how he tried to fight the whole War without us! Helping him, being allies, is another story. Because we are family, especially after all that. Not just because of Ace."

"Yeah, and if we had to hold his hand he wouldn't deserve it!"

"Hah! He's too crazy awesome to want that!"

"Hey! Who knows what he had already overcome breaking in and out of Impel Down! Imagine if he had come into the fight fresh!"

"He has the Haki of a True King!" one called out. "Look at what he did with only instinct!"

"We can test and guide him!" rumbled the older Division Commander Fossa.

Pumping his fist into the air, Marco roared, "Straw Hat!"

The Division Commanders followed suit or with their drawn weapons, "Straw Hats!"

"Straw Hat!" the former crewmen of Whitebeard, including all the female nurses and doctors.

"Straw Hat!" the allied captains.

"Straw Hat!" all the other pirates.

"STRAW HAT!" all of them screaming their vow to the heavens. Letting their Father know their hearts and minds were as one, and they had found their path once more.

"Glad to hear it!" a loud growl called out, and everyone turned to look over the rail to see the smiling figure of Jinbe, ex-Warlord and the First Son of the Sea, bobbing in the water. "Can I come aboard?" he asked politely. "I've got some information I think you'll all want to hear!" Frankly it had been a miracle to find them so soon, even with his ability to narrow down their possible locations with educated guesses.

Breaking into laughter, the first laugh any of them had heard in far too long, Jozu called out, "Grab some booze and Jinbe's favourite sake!"

"Wait!" Marco yelled, and when everyone turned to him in confusion he pointed at Atmos. "Grab Pop's personal stash, we're going to break open some of it for this—yoi!"

And their cheers told Jinbe that they too were not broken, and that they too understood what Luffy-kun represented.

That Straw Hat Luffy is the man who will eventually change the world. The one to rule the seas.

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Author Notes:

Blackbeard: "Hey! Why don't I get more scenes!"

Me: "Because no one likes you."

Ace: "And me?"

Me: "Too emotional for me to write, sorry."

Unlike a lot of the previous two chapters, a lot of this dialogue is my own I admit, although I did try to stay true to canon by still using lines crafted together from the dubbed and subbed anime, along with the printed manga. Additional scenes are drawn from the anime.

For those interested in details, Buggy also sailed off with Shanks and his crew for a bit to get away from Marineford, but mentioning that disturbed the flow and focus on the Whitebeard Pirates.

The last line is indeed drawn from Jinbe's speech to his crew. Give yourself a cookie if you recognized it.

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Recommended fics:

"Til You Feel It All Around You" by Tonko

"Nami: A Reflection In Eight Parts" by Monochromatic-Stardust

"Anchor and Compass" by rose7anne101

"Moby Dick's New Residents" by rose7anne101

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There is just one last chapter to go for this flashback part of the story. See the next chapter: "Dreams"

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Please Review, and I will get back to you!