"War with Marines." F!Beinheim delivered.
"That makes sense. If Teach defeated Ace and turned him into the marines, it's obvious that they'll execute him since he's the 2nd Division Commander. And clearly, we wouldn't have allowed it." Vista said.
"And it would explain why we would be fighting an Admiral like Akainu." Whitebeard added.
"Wait, what? Why would you come?" Ace interrupted, making them turn to him incredulously.
"What do you mean, why? Isn't it obvious?" Fossa asked.
"I went against Oyaji's orders and got myself into that mess! You have no reason to come!" Ace shouted. Marco walked up to him with a frown.
"You're our family, yoi. That's more than enough reason for us to save you, even if it means going to war with the Marines, yoi. Right, Curiel?" He turned to F!Curiel, who had been listening in. F!Curiel nodded.
"Allies came."
"See?" Marco smirked to Ace. "Even our allies came for you, yoi. All of them, yoi." F!Curiel nodded in agreement. "Did we miss out anyone, yoi?" F!Curiel grinned.
"Luffy." Ace's eyes bulged out of his sockets.
"LUFFY?!" He shrieked. "What do you mean, Luffy came too?! No, that idiot's going to get himself killed!"
"Wow, your younger brother sure is ballsy." Thatch gave an impressed whistle.
"Was he ok though?" Ace asked worriedly. F!Kingdew nodded, cracking a smile when Ace visibly relaxed at his answer. He made a gesture, of something falling form the sky.
"Huh? Something fell from the sky?" Haruta asked. F!Kingdew pointed to Ace, and then made a gesture as if saying 'short'. It was vague, but everyone understood what he meant.
"No way! His younger brother came in from the sky?!" Thatch exclaimed, Ace looking dumbfounded while the rest had expressions of mixed bewilderment and amusement. "Oh, please tell me we had a cool entrance too! It would suck if his brother fell from the sky while we just sailed in normally!" He complained. F!Kingdew smirked, making a gesture from below up.
"We came from underwater!" Haruta squealed, bouncing excitedly. "Oh, what I would give to see the reactions of the marines when we come bursting into Marineford – we were at Marineford, right? (F!Kingdew confirmed with a nod) – from underwater while his brother fell in from the sky!"
"Same! I would've loved to see the look on their faces when we surfaced!" Thatch nodded, but his excitement quickly died down when F!Kingdew frowned sadly, reminding him that he had been dead before they even went to war with the Marines. "Sorry." He murmured, F!Kingdew shaking his head, signalling 'it's ok'. His next words broke their hearts.
"Couldn't protect anything." F!Haruta appeared minutes later, tears streaming freely down his face, ignoring the now solemn atmosphere in the meeting room as he ran up to Ace and Thatch. He held them both tightly, sobbing loudly, which didn't make the two feel any better about the situation in the future.
"I'm sorry, Haruta. I'm sorry I died." Ace said softly, making F!Haruta cry harder as he hit at Ace's chest, shaking his head while shooting a tearful 'say that again and I'll kill you myself' glare at Ace. It was not like they had wanted to die, and Ace understood that. "I'm sorry." Still, that was all that came out of his mouth as he lowered his head.
"Haruta." F!Haruta pulled away from the pair at Whitebeard's voice, running into Whitebeard's arms this time. Whitebeard held him tightly, patting his back comfortingly. "When you get back, I want you to let your brothers know that I don't blame them for anything that happened." F!Haruta pulled away slightly to meet Whitebeard's saddened eyes. "I know all of you have done your best, and that's enough for me. Whatever they are blaming themselves for, tell them to forgive themselves, for none of you have let me down. And if they still insist, tell them I forgive them. Tell them that all of you, my sons, are precious to me and I love all of you. I don't want any of my precious sons to wallow in regret and misery for something that's already gone and passed." F!Haruta nodded, soaking up his words like a sponge, determined to deliver their father's message from the past word for word to his grieving family in the future. "Thank you. For always being so dependable." This time, Haruta teared up alongside F!Haruta, though he was quick to wipe them away before anyone else could notice. He could not imagine how much his beloved family must be suffering in the future, having been unable to save two of their brothers and their father.
"Hey, Haruta." Thatch called out to F!Haruta. "When you get back, go to my room, and – you know where I hide the things we use for our pranks, right? – among them is a list of all the pranks I've come up with. Do me a favor; carry out the pranks in my stead and check off the list for me, will you?" To his surprise, F!Haruta shook his head sadly. "Whyyyyy?" He whined as F!Haruta looked regretfully at him before gesturing to the Moby Dick and then making a 'poof' gesture. Instantly, the mood in the room dampened once more with the realisation of what F!Haruta was saying. "Oh."
"We lost the Moby Dick too?" Vista repeated in disbelief as F!Haruta nodded. "But how would we sail on without the Moby Dick? Did we manage to get another ship big enough for all of us?" F!Haruta pursed his lips, before sighing.
"No need anymore." They were utterly flabbergasted. What did F!Haruta mean by that? There wasn't a need for a replacement for the Moby Dick 'anymore'? But how did they continue sailing the seas then?
Unless...Unless they didn't.
They fidgeted uncomfortably. With every message their family from the future delivered, it spun a tale of one nightmare after another. It really put into perspective just how bad the situation in the future was, to the point it was almost unbelievable.
F!Atmos appeared not long after, gaze downcast and unable to meet any of their eyes. It pained them to see how much it pained their brother to be standing there with them, as if he'd rather be anywhere else than with the family he lost.
"Atmos… Did- Did we disband?" Haruta asked, clearly distraught about his future self's message.
"W-What happened, yoi?" Marco asked. He couldn't believe it. Oyaji had entrusted the crew to him. The crew trusted him. And yet, they disbanded under his watch. No wonder his future self acted like that, and no wonder Oyaji spoke those words to his future self. "Was it after the war, yoi?" F!Atmos nodded. Noticing his gaze darkening, they instantly knew who was responsible.
"Was it Teach again?" Thatch whimpered as F!Atmos confirmed it with a nod. "We lost against him too? How?" F!Atmos grimaced.
"Stole Oyaji's power." Speed F!Jiru lived up to his name, appearing almost instantly after F!Atmos vanished, but they were too distressed over F!Atmos' words to acknowledge it. F!Jiru seemed to understand their distress, silently watching from the side.
"How did he even get 2 devil fruits abilities? I thought that was impossible!" Thatch cried.
"That bastard wouldn't have known how to use it. If he really is as power-hungry as our future selves say he is, then he would've just been a force of pure destruction! And with both the Yami Yami no Mi ability and the Gura Gura no Mi ability, I wouldn't blame us for losing against him." Fossa growled out bitterly.
"Not to mention knowing us, we would've been blinded by our rage and grief from our losses in the war and went after Teach for revenge even in our emotionally crippled state, yoi." Marco sighed. "Just what other disaster happened in the future, yoi?"
"…lost too much." Ace mumbled, and somehow, everyone heard him, turning their attention to him.
"Ace?" Even Whitebeard, who had been shocked to hear that the power he wielded to protect his sons had been used against his sons to hurt them, turned to the freckled teen.
"We lost so much." His clenched fists tightened as tears sprung into his eyes. "We shouldn't have to lose so much. If only you guys didn't come for me… You should've just left me there."
"What do you mean, we should've just left you there? Are you stupid? Why would we allow the Marines to execute our brother?" Thatch shouted angrily, only for Ace to shout back louder just as angrily.
"Because I'm the son of Roger!"
Here's the next chapter! I hope nobody is too OOC, y'know, like Whitebeard's words to F!Haruta. Oh, and since you asked, yes, I will probably have Luffy appear too, maybe in a bonus epilogue chapter? We'll see :3
Anyway, enjoy and leave a review if possible!