Wishfull-star: (.❛ ᴗ ❛.)
We are here my guys. The conclusion of Marineford, and knowing whether I gave into my sadistic side and killed Ace, or decided to let him live. Enjoy!
Luffy raised his arms, and screamed as he released the shockwave that had been building for nearly six days. It was so huge it blasted him backwards, but created a massive hole in the wall. He heard shouts as the blast traveled all the way to the plaza, leaving a crater in the ground. Luffy sat back up, in pain, and drank the blood bag.
Everyone was silent, the magma fists stopping. Luffy appeared in the doorway of the hole. "You… won't... KILL ACE!" he bellowed. The pirates and marines alike were shocked. Luffy's whole body was trembling. He couldn't feel the left side of his body anymore. Even though it all came out from the front. He couldn't feel much of his body, but out of sheer determination, he forced it to function.
Maybe it was good he couldn't feel that side; it dulled the pain. He grabbed one more blood bag and drank it. It did nothing to give him the feeling back. Well, it didn't matter right now. He started running through the space and into the plaza. The admirals were in front of him, now. The other pirates were over their shock and were flooding the plaza. Many were dead from that strategy. And the ice was mostly gone, but the plaza was open now.
"Luffy!" Ace shouted when he was in front of the admirals.
"You've made it this far, but you're still too weak to come at us."
"So, you're Dragon's son?" Akainu asked coldly.
Luffy fell to his knees, but it was a ploy. He couldn't even pretend to beat them all at once, or even one at a time. Not without being smart. He grabbed the seastone and used the sudden enhanced movement to launch at Kizaru and throw the cuff at him so it snapped around his wrist.
One admiral down. "That Straw Hat is crazy!" someone shouted. Kizaru was furious. And Luffy ran. He used gear second to sprint away. Kizaru was at the speed of light, the fastest of them. He could be the most dangerous. Jinbei was shocked. But he was lost in the crowd of Whitebeard pirates. He got out two more seastone cuffs and shoved them in his pockets. There was one left in the backpack.
But even as he ran, the execution was about to happen. Swords were raised, and Ace's head was bowed. "ACE!" and Luffy was punched in the face and thrown backwards into Jinbei's arms. He was always there. He coughed and thanked him. But before Luffy could blink, both executioners were dead and fallen.
"Who did it?! Crocodile?" Sengoku shouted, shocking the vast majority of people there.
"I can take that old man's head later. For now, I don't want to see you trash cheer on a victory," Crocodile said in a flat voice, but with anger on his face. Well, Luffy was thankful for that, no matter who had done it.
"Luffy…" he heard Ace say. His face was pinched and scared as he looked at his exhausted little brother. Jinbei asked if he was okay.
"I… I can't feel the left side of my body," Luffy said. "I got a blood bag, but it didn't get any better. But I can still fight." He said the last part with force. They were in the plaza, the execution was stalled. One admiral was out of the count. The key to that cuff had been in the marine ship.
Jinbei told him he should stop now. He was severely injured. "I-I don't care. I have to save him!" Luffy stood up, but his left leg was shaking badly. Ivankov was there, and Whitebeard told them Luffy had done enough. But Luffy had the cuff key! Only he could free Ace. He struggled against Jinbei holding him down.
"We have to get you proper treatment!"
"Iva-chan! Do- do what you did for Bon-chan to me! It made him energetic when he was hurt!"
"That was completely different! Adrenaline can't fix nerve damage!"
"Nerve damage?!" Jinbei asked in shock and horror. Luffy coughed, the motion feeling like his brain was shaking in his skull. He begged Iva to help him. He refused. Luffy had to save Ace, he had to! His eyes watered. Aokiji and Akainu descended on them, and Ivankov sent them a death wink.
Suddenly Marco was there, on blue fire, and kicked Akainu away. He picked up Luffy and flew to the top of the wall. "You stay here, Ace's little brother." Luffy had no way down now. They were trapping him up here when he could do nothing. He pulled out his backpack with his right arm, his left shaking, and pulled out the blood bags.
Marco flew off, not seeing this probably. Luffy looked at Ace, who was looking at him with his face crumpled. He was seeing just what shape Luffy was in, at eye level with the platform. The blood bags cleared his head, but he still couldn't feel his left side. Was there really nerve damage? Did he need surgery? Where would he get it? Nerve damage… that was really bad!
He didn't know much about medical stuff, but nerve damage was a severe problem. Would he be able to be a pirate again? If he couldn't move half of his body, how would he be strong enough to be in the New World? No, he could move half of his body, he just couldn't feel it. He was down to two blood bags, but they seemed to be doing nothing.
Ice was shot up at him, and he dodged. Magma started going up the wall, and the people below attacked Akainu to stop him. They wanted to keep Luffy alive. That was good, but he would rather be fighting than be being protected. Luffy still had the key with him.
Whitebeard spurred on his men as they fought to get to the execution platform. The admirals were torn between fighting Whitebeard as he targeted them, and getting to Luffy, though he didn't have the key to release Kizaru.
Luffy took his backpack off, and pulled the last cuff seastone out. He had three left in total. He couldn't get Aokiji and Akainu at the same time. He laid down on the wall, catching his breath, trying so hard to force his body to go back to normal. He was scared. He was supposed to be strong, he didn't scream through the agony! Did that mean was strong, or just stubborn?
Even being stubborn meant he would do something other than that. Luffy took one pair of the cuffs, and looked for somebody to target. He didn't know if Sengoku had a devil fruit. But he felt the pulse coming back. In his arm, he could feel. He had an idea. Get to one of the admirals. Aokiji was the one who could do more damage quickly. Luffy focused the energy in his right arm at him, and grabbed the seastone.
Both cuffs were open. He pulled away, unnoticed as Whitebeard wreaked havoc on everyone, and blasted the seastone off, aiming perfectly, and wrapping the cuff around Aokiji's arm. Crap, it didn't cuff him. But it weakened him enough for Marco to kick his head. He was badly injured from that, and Luffy now had two cuffs left.
"Get rid of him!" Sengoku shouted. Garp and Ace both looked pained as he was targeted again. Luffy grabbed the backpack and ran along the wall to get away, before he was targeted. But soon pacifistas were on him, Sentomaru furious even more now that Luffy had taken his uncle out of commission. He kept calling Kizaru uncle, after all.
The top of the wall was blown up, and Luffy went tumbling down. He landed on the backpack, and smelled the blood bags had ruptured. Shit. Well, they weren't helping anyways. He looked down at the only thing he had left. A single pair of seastone cuffs. Did he want to do it? He was largely ignored at the moment, not a threat to anybody in the state he was in. He stood up, missing a sandal with his shirt in tatters. His shorts still had the key.
He watched as Marco flew up to save Ace, and felt hope that he could do it before Garp slammed his fist into him, shooting him into the ground. "Grandpa…" Luffy said. He wanted Zoro. He was sacred. He wanted Ace. He was scared. Pacifistas hadn't passed the wall yet. He couldn't get back up there to safety.
Luffy heard Ace crying. He never cried. He hadn't even cried after Sabo's death. Why was he crying now? Did he not want to die? So suddenly? "What's wrong, Fire Fist?" Sengoku asked dismissively.
"I-I'm disgusting! Even though… Even though it's messed up, my family, my brother are all being hurt, I'm so happy! I want to live!" Ace cried. "The tears won't stop! I'm terrible!" Tears gathered in Luffy's eyes.
"Ace…" He stood up on shaking legs, and walked forward. Who cared about his body? Who cared about the long term effects? His brother, for the first time Luffy had ever heard it, said he wanted to live! How could he sit by and do nothing?! He would make Ace's wish come true, even if he sacrificed himself instead. Ace finally wanted to live fully. Luffy had convinced him so many times he deserved to live. He did. He didn't deserve to die here.
If Luffy lost Ace, he would want to die, too. If Ace was killed for being the son of a monster, then Luffy didn't deserve to live. He would save Ace, even if he killed himself in the process, because if he didn't save him, Luffy didn't know what he'd do in the midst of the grief. He missed Zoro. He wanted him, but Ace mattered more than him. All he could think about was the seven years Luffy spent with him.
Ace was his heart.
Luffy had the key inside the cuffs of this final pair. He took the key, and shoved it in his pocket. His hat was back on his head, and he clipped the cuff around his wrist.
Immediately, Luffy saw red everywhere. He went speeding along the ground, shocking everyone as he was battered, bloody and his eyes were heavy lidded. He tore apart anyone in his way like a rabid animal, letting himself lose any composure. He didn't bite, but he growled. Blood covered his hand, able to easily rip peoples' skin off. Luffy didn't care, and now people were seeing him in a different light.
Garp sounded angry and upset, yelling his name. "Luffy, stop it!" he ordered.
He ran down the plaza, trying to ignore the other people even though he had the urge to kill them all for wanting his brother dead. Ace was crying his name out, too. His little brother had completely lost himself. His bare feet were making loud slaps, though they were only loud to him, he ran through the crowd of fearful people, and that was convenient, but Luffy had probably alienated most of the allies but for Jinbei, Ivankov and the new kamas, who'd already seen him like this.
Everything smelled stronger, it was louder. He felt the already injured eardrum blow when a cannon went off next to his head from somebody in desperation to stop him. Deaf in one ear, now. It was fine. He climbed the scaffolding, and kicked Sengoku, who grabbed him. He snarled and bit at him furiously, kicking but unable to stretch his limb out to get him with the sea stone cuff.
"You really are a monster," he said, holding Luffy around the neck, though he didn't sound afraid of the rabid teen covered in blood.
"Luffy! Stop it! Run, please!" Ace begged.
"Ace!" Luffy screamed through the hand around his throat. Garp was looking at him with a pained face, but did nothing to help from below. He heard Whitebeard gasping and grunting. His commanders being taken down. The main forces were failing. Luffy was the closest one to him, he was so close!
"Luffy!" Ace shouted as Luffy's mouth started to foam from being choked. His mind started to clear, and he realized that if he wasn't handcuffed, he'd be fine. Why did he do this? What was the point? He'd doomed himself, and failed Ace. The people here saw he was a dangerous freak, and for what?
Zoro's face above him came into his head. Looking down at him with eyes only he had for him. Luffy wasn't going to die and see him in the afterlife. He prayed that he was alive and okay. Luffy grabbed the hands around his neck, and squeezed, letting out a snarl even if he couldn't breathe anymore. He snapped Sengoku's wrist, and Luffy fell to the second level, right in front of Garp.
He looked at Luffy, not knowing what to do. His eyes were stormy, but not with anger. Almost panic. He could kill Luffy right now and end it. Luffy coughed, and tried to unlock the cuff with fumbling fingers.
He made hissing pains and grabbed his head. The cuff came off. He was useless. Wasn't he? "Ace… not monster…" Luffy said, standing up to face Garp. He felt hot, like he had a fever. He had never felt shittier. Not even after landing on Amazon Lily. He felt weak and like a failure, but this time it would result in the death of a loved one, not just them being sent somewhere else.
Sengoku ordered Garp to do his job as a marine. Kill a monster. Luffy glared at him, challenging him to kill him. "Garp!" But he couldn't do it. Luffy swayed and fell off the platform on his own. He felt another blast on his arm, the non injured one that was no longer cuffed. He grabbed the platform, anyone else thinking he was dead, and blew up the leg. He grabbed it with his other hand that couldn't feel it, and blew that up, too.
He could hear Whitebeard speaking, but couldn't figure out what he was saying. The world was tilting, going black, but what he felt was the execution platform fell to the side, Luffy seeing somebody aim a cannon right at the other leg, weakening it so the whole thing fell forward. Was it really that weak? No way.
Sengoku landed hard, and Ace did, too, grunting as he hit the ground. Luffy clawed his way over and took the key out of the pocket, unlocking his handcuffs, and freeing his brother. Immediately, the surrounding area was lit up in flames. Luffy saved him! But he didn't pass out. The flames protected him, formed all around him.
Ace hugged him, his limp little brother who couldn't feel half of his body, was deaf in one ear, and had a high fever. "Why'd you do this?! Look at you!" Ace said, not smiling, even though he was free. He grabbed Luffy and slung him over his back, tying his rubber hands together in front of him so he hung on without needing to do anything himself.
"A-ACE IS FREE!" the plaza erupted in cheers. Ace ran, though he was weak on his feet, ignoring everyone and everything. But where would they go? Jinbei was there, but they were both being followed by Akainu, who was dead set on not letting them go free. He'd moved on from Whitebeard, who looked really hurt, and was going after the two monster children. One who was openly a monster, the other only in blood.
Akainu was coming too close, and Luffy couldn't even move. He had a magma fist raised, and Luffy was ready for the impact before he opened his eyes and felt a huge burst of energy come from him, different from the usual explosions. It left a sort of vibration through the air, and people started to drop like flies, unconscious.
Ace and Jinbei were okay. The battlefield was silent in surprise. Luffy just kept showing surprises, but this time he didn't know what he'd done. Akainu came after them more, and Jinbei stood in his way.
"Jnnnb," Luffy said faintly, worried. He wished he hadn't held in that blast for so long. Now look at him! It let him and the others inside the plaza, and it would have come out eventually, but he was so weak and tired.
"Don't worry about anyone else! Just - just hang on, okay?!" Ace cried desperately.
"M'kay," Luffy slurred. He wanted to fight again. He wanted to do something. Akainu was coming closer, Jinbei injured, before they made it to the bay. There was nowhere to go. Luffy felt like he was going to die. He felt cold. He didn't want to die. What if Ace died, too? Then he heard a bubbling noise from one ear as Ace ran from the plaza and down the side of the bay where the ice tsunami had been.
Something surfaced from the water, and Luffy saw it out of the corner of his eyes. The ground rumbled, pirates cried out the yonko's name. Luffy could make out Whitebeard's voice, and then a shaking of the ground, throwing Ace off a bit.
"Bring him here! I know how to treat him!" a voice shouted. It was vaguely familiar. "I'm a doctor! Hurry!" Ace looked at the submarine with the unknown person, and then looked back at Akainu, barely held off by Ace's nakama. It was the only escape, and Luffy needed a doctor. "HURRY UP!"
Ace took a running jump, and just barely was missed by a fist of magma. It blew apart the ground behind him, spaying bits of hot rock onto Luffy's foot. He hissed, and Ace ran inside the mystery ship. It was the only way out right now.
"We'll catch up later! Run!" Marco shouted, voice thick with emotion. The door slammed behind them and Luffy heard the ship humm. It was a submarine. Cool. He heard rushing water around them, and sounds of things hitting the sub, but it went deeper, and the sounds of the war faded through the water.
Luffy was rushed to a room by the mysterious guy, who Luffy finally placed as Law. The man who he met briefly at Sabaody. What was he doing here? But then he passed out, finally.
Ace stood at the side, and watched, demanding to know who this was. Did they just doom themselves by getting in this enclosed space with strangers? But as Law treated him, Ace stopped freaking out. Law immediately put a feeding tube down Luffy's throat and pumped blood into his stomach.
Ace was ushered out, and Law began surgery on Luffy. He was a wreck, inside his body. The blood wasn't doing anything to help, and the surgery lasted 6 hours. Luffy was asleep and under anesthetic the whole time, an oxygen mask on. Still, he sweat like he was exerting himself again.
When Law came out, Ace was treated by the other people on the submarine, cuts disinfected and treated properly. "Your brother is stable. He will live. I was able to fix the nerve damage in most of his body, but his left arm is lost. He also will have hearing impairments in his left ear as well. If he's able to use his arm, he won't be able to feel it."
"Wh-what? His arm is useless?" Ace asked in shock.
"Not necessarily. He just won't be able to feel any sensations from it."
"What about blood?! You fed him blood, right?!"
Law simply said, "It wasn't enough. Blood doesn't fix everything, it's not actually a miracle cure." Ace asked how he knew how to treat Luffy, with the blood. "I don't need to tell you. I saved his life. He'll be asleep for at least a few weeks." Ace put his head in his hands. He felt completely responsible for it all. Luffy was a mess because he came to save him. The fire user asked who he was.
"Law, a doctor. I've taken interest in him, and I didn't want him to die yet," Law said blunty. Ace didn't get offended, he saved Luffy. "If I hadn't been here, he would have died. His fever was a degree under death. He still has a fever, but it's gone down."
A bear, the white bear who could talk, who Ace knew was a mink based on Marco's stories, came over and said a huge snake was following them, leading them somewhere. Ace had watched Luffy's progress closest, unable to see his family at the same time, and saw how Boa Hancock had helped him. And she was also the one who brought Luffy to Impel Down.
While he hated her for that, she'd helped him. She was an ally. And she also had a huge snake. "Follow that. It's one of Luffy's allies," Ace said quietly. "I want to see him."
"In a few hours," Law said with finality. "You're lucky you have a brother like him. You were going to die."
"...I know," he sighed. Law left and followed the snake, thankfully. Ace had tears down his cheeks. He was alive, and Luffy was alive, but with permanent damage to his body. Because he just wanted to save his brother. He didn't know what happened to his crew, his other family. He had heard Pops telling them to flee to the New World.
Ace had known he was sick. He was old. But he didn't even get to say goodbye! He could never blame Luffy for that, but the thought of never getting to say goodbye was horrible. He knew Marco could sniff them out with his phoenix senses, and prayed that he was okay. Marco was the closest one to him after Thatch.
A few hours later, Ace was sitting against the wall of the sub. It was cold and not cozy at all. But Ace had nothing to compare it to anymore. The Moby Dick was gone. Everything would never be the same. All because he went off to get Teach. What happened to him? Was he still out there?
He was finally let into the room, and his face crumpled again at the sight of his brother. He had a feeding tube and an oxygen mask on. He had all sorts of wires and tubes attached to him. Something was being dripped into an IV into his arm. His face was pale and he had bags under his eyes.
It could be the lighting, he didn't know. Law had saved him. He knew about Luffy needing to drink blood to heal. How did he know that? Well, regardless of how, he saved Luffy. When Ace never could. He took Luffy's hand, and saw the weird tattoos on his arm. Where did they come from? He never thought Luffy would get tattoos.
And he had also shown some new power. Along with the whole being able to attack with seastone thing. What had happened between Alabasta and now? What happened to his brother?
There's so much I could have done differently.
I kept him alive! Haha, I've been trolling you all! And Marineford isn't the last time we'll see him. I fucked up the timeline, of course, with both Blackbeard's death and Ace living. But this story ends after Wano (whenever tf that will be) so there would be no conflict with Blackbeard. And Marineford has far reaching affects for Luffy even if Ace lived. Hehehe. Hope you're happy with the outcome, please tell me what you think!