My Big Bro, Now My Little Bro
Yo! Sorry about not updating for ages! School's started and I was getting used to my school
Anyways...I never expected over 50 follwers and over 30 favorit-ers! thanks sooo much!
I don't think I really like this chap. Kinda boring I reckon. bear with me :(
4. A Rotten Memory of a Red Dog
Fear. Ace felt fear. He stared wide eyed at the big man looming over him.
"A…kainu…"he trailed off. The said man raised his eyebrow hearing the name.
"You know me?" he asked, stepping one step forward. Ace back stepped in return, but never took his eyes off him.
"Akainu," he repeated softly. He felt anger. Akainu studied him, noticing something wasn't right. His eyes caught Ace's newly bought hat.
"Why does that hat look so familiar?" he said, eyes narrowing. He reached for it. Ace froze, staring at the big hand sliding towards him.
'Even if I let someone else get away, I will never let the two of you go! Take a good look…'
'Hey! Wait!'
'Everyone stop Akainu!'
'If by tearing this body apart…I can delay you in the slightest, then I am content! I never intended to place value on my own life on the onset!'
'You said you wouldn't die! You promised!'
'Thank you… for loving me!'
Slap. Akainu stared at his hand and back to Ace.
"Don't touch me!" warned Ace, eyes filled with hatred.
Kill.
Now those eyes did remind Akainu of someone. Someone he killed with his own hands. Someone dead. He knelt down to Ace's height. The two's eyes came into direct contact, and a mixture of different emotions rushed into Ace; anger, distress, grief, guilt, panic, rage, and disgust. His instincts told him to run, but he couldn't. His sudden desire was too overwhelming. His lust to kill was too overwhelming.
Kill him.
Ace pulled out a dagger he had been hiding until now. It was a gift from the women in Amazon Lily. Its delicate design made it look like it was some sort of ornament and not some dangerous razor sharp weapon. Before Akainu could even blink, Ace stabbed the blade into the man's right eye. Unknown to Ace, Akainu was a devil fruit user. However, unknown to Akainu, the blade of the dagger had been made with sea stone. Ace pushed it in as deep as it could go in, ignoring the man's scream of agony. Yes, Akainu was in pain.
"Why, you little-!" Akainu clenched his fist and rammed it into his little attacker's ribs. The force sent Ace flying out to the streets. Ace landed rather ungracefully. He hadn't expected such a fast punch. His ribs ached but fortunately weren't broken. Ace quickly regained posture and glared at Akainu, who was slowly walking out the store with a heavily bleeding eye.
"You've attacked the wrong man, kid." Ace flinched when he saw his arms turned into hot red bubbling liquid.
He'd seen that before.
Ace tightened his grip on his dagger.
Kill.
"Die!" Ace charged at Akainu. The man sent a hot streak of magma right at Ace. Ace leaped and dodged. The second time, wasn't as lucky. The boiling liquid wrapped around his left arm. Ace felt immense pain.
"Ahhh!" He was burning. It hurt. It really hurt. Using the little moment of being off guard, Akainu rushed in and gave Ace's little body a powerful punch. Ace coughed out blood as he was sent crashing against the ground. Before he could get up, Akainu pinned him down by stomping down on his abdomen and magma started to flow over him.
"Gahhhh!" Ace cried. He wasn't burning, he was melting. His body was going down. He felt pathetic. If only he was strong enough to beat this guy. If only he was…
Tears flowed down his cheeks. He didn't want to die. Not yet.
"Luffy…help,,,"
His vision went black.
Noting his attacker was down, Akainu stopped his magma and got off him. He looked down questionably at the unconscious Ace.
"Strange…He looks exactly like Portgas. D. Ace. His items too…" his face crunched up in disgust, "Better kill him off," he declared, raising his fist for the final blow.
"Kyojin Karate!"
Akainu leaped back a second before a waterfall hit with tremendous force. He looked up and saw one of his wanted criminals entering the scene.
"Jinbei. So you survived."
"Only just, thanks to you, Akainu," growled Jinbei. He glanced at Ace, "He's still alive, Luffy."
Akainu tensed at the name. he narrowed his eyes once a furious Luffy came into sight.
"So you survived as well, Straw Hat."
"You damn-"
"Luffy! Remember what's more important to you! Revenge can wait!" Jinbei cut in. Luffy clenched his fist and gritted his teeth in fury. He really wanted to kill the Admiral, but Jinbei was right. Saving Ace was worth more than killing Akainu.
"…Fine. You're right." Luffy bent down and gently lifted his little brother up.
Just hang on a little longer, Ace.
"Find a doctor once you arrive at the next island, got it?"
"Yeah. Thanks for everything, Jinbei. Don't die."
"I don't plan to."
Luffy slightly grinned at Jinbei's last statement and then started sprinting as fast as he could to the harbor their new ship was docked. Akainu, on the other hand, was determined not to let him go.
"Don't you dare!" His magma was blocked by Jinbei's water.
"Move!" he snarled.
"I shall do anything to stop you! Even if that means death!"
"I'll just have to walk over your dead body, then."
Everything was red. Blood, fire, and magma. He was burning. His organs were gone. He could barely speak. 'Even though I was born with the blood of a demon…Thank you…for loving me'
"Gasp!" Ace's eyes shot open to meet Luffy looking down at him in concern.
"Ace! You're up!" exclaimed Luffy in delight. Ace blinked a few times, trying to figure out the situation. He tried to get up, only to fail.
"Luffy…my body won't move," he said in panic. He saw Luffy look at him apologetically.
"All I could do was to bandage you up. You're severely injured, so you won't be able to move until we find a doctor on the next island."
"Why am I injured in the first place?" flashbacks of Akainu went through his mind, "Akainu!"
"He's not around," answered Luffy rather quickly, "Jinbei stayed behind to buy us time."
"What?! No! He'll die! We have to-"
"To keep on going, Ace. Jinbei's strong. He'll be fine," said Luffy. He gave Ace a forceful smile.
"But-"
"Believe in him."
"…Okay…"Ace trailed, sensing Luffy's seriousness, "So where are we?"
"We're on a small fishing boat we bought. Just hold on until we reach the next island. Don't die… You promised…" The last sentence was spoken in a mere whisper, but Ace didn't miss it. He recognized it, but didn't pursue any further. He had a big day, and he was tired.
"I think I might go back to sleep," he said.
"Yeah, you do that."
"What about you?"
"I'm not really ti…tired," replied Luffy while satisfying a huge yawn. Ace gave him an incredulous look.
"Oh, really?"
"Shishishi! Maybe I need some sleep as well!" laughed Luffy, "Call me if your body hurts or something," He headed towards his bed on the other side of the small cabin, but not before turning off the lights. Ace couldn't help but shiver in the dark. He wasn't cold or afraid of the dark. He was afraid he would see one of those…images and voices in his sleep.
"Luffy?" he called out.
"Yeah?"
"I think my bed's pretty big. So…can we…uh…sleep together?" Instead of an oral answer, he heard Luffy's footsteps getting louder. He couldn't help but feel relieved when he felt Luffy's warm body press onto his.
"I knew you were afraid of the dark!" Luffy teased. Although Ace couldn't see his face, he could guess what kind of expression his brother was making.
"I am not!"
"Sure thing."
"Stop it," he whined. He listened to Luffy's unique laugh quietly. He sounded so happy. Perhaps he should just keep his fears to himself. He really didn't want to bother his brother.
"Ace, are you asleep?" asked Luffy after a long moment of silence.
"Not yet."
"Can't sleep?"
"I just have a lot of stuff on my mind, that's all."
"Tell me about it," urged Luffy.
"I don't want to bother you," Ace denied.
"Na, I'm good. So tell me." Ace stayed silent, wondering where to start. After another minute, he opened his mouth.
"Luffy…Who am I?" he asked. Due to his heavily burnt body, he didn't notice Luffy tense up.
"You're my little brother, of course!"
"Right…"
"Why do you ask?"
"I just had all these weird hallucinations and hearing voices so…"
"Really? About what?"
"Akainu. I don't even know how I knew it was him in the first place. I also saw you and Jinbei and a lot of other people. I only had a glimpse but…you looked really upset."
"Huh…really?"
"Yeah…You even sounded broken. I've never really heard you sound like that before. Maybe except when we first met but the voices were worse."
"Is that so? Anything else?"
"…Who's Fire Fist Ace?"
"How do you know about him?"
"I visited a newspaper shop and saw a few headlines with that name."
"…He…He was a great guy. He's someone I really cared for."
"I see. We better sleep now. Good night, Luffy."
"Yeah. Night, Ace."
If it wasn't so dark, if Ace hadn't been injured and if he wasn't so tired, Ace would have noticed the strain, fakeness and agony in Luffy.
He's someone who I failed to save when I could have.
The two managed to reach their next island by noon thanks to nice weather. There was one obstacle however, and it was that the island was way bigger than the previous one, making it harder to find a doctor.
"Doctor! Where are you?!" yelled Luffy, racing up and down the streets. Ace who was being carried in bridal style buried his face in his luckily unharmed hat.
"Can't you at least ask for directions?"
"It's easier this way."
"If you say so, but asking directions might be faster."
Well, worth a try. Hey, mister!" Luffy called out to a passerby, "Do you know where the doctor is?" Fortunately, the bystander happily told them the directions and they reached the doctor's clinic in a few minutes. However, when they entered, someone else caught Luffy's attention.
"You!"
On the other side of the island.
A seagull postman dropped a single letter in a lean man's hands. He easily opened the envelope and read what was written inside. Halfway through, it slid out of the man's shaking hands.
"You've gotta be kidding me, yoi."
see. that was really bad, I think. Better work on it harder next time. Thanks to you all for reading and I hope you review :)