Author's Note:

Okay. After so many of you have asked me the same question, let me clarify it here. Yes, Luffy time-traveled to the past, but only with the knowledge of the years to come, not with the body he has once he already have become Pirate King. One thing is having the knowledge, another is having power and a well-build body.

If you look it this way, you can tell that even if he KNOWS how to use haki, which does not mean that he can control it while on the body of the past where he hasn't been trained by Rayleigh, yet, he can't really control it.

Knowledge isn't equal to strength. By any means. You can have knowledge about martial arts (for example) but be unable to actually fight with the techniques due to your body-build or lack of training. I, and is just my assumption, guess this also applies to Haki. Remember that same period in the manga. Luffy activated his Conqueror's Haki in a whim, unaware he had that ability, at all. It just happened without him knowing it did and didn't even notice that something strange had happened. The difference in my story is that he somehow did it consciously but couldn't control it like he does after the two years skip.

About Sabo, yes, I've put him in it, but there's not much he can do until the time comes where he'll have to actually act, besides, his Devil Fruit ability is his ace up his sleeve. You can't actually unfold it before you REALLY need to.

So, please, bear with me. If I'm doing all this too similar to the actual manga, is for a simple reason, and this is because after Marineford I'll take over it in a different way than it happens in the manga. Things that will happen here didn't in the manga.

Chapter 14: Changing tides?

This was such a frustrating feeling. His body two years from now could withstand so much more than this… Being this limited was killing him alive and having to ask Iva-chan to give him another pump of Tension whatever was humiliating, but if he didn't do that he wouldn't be able to get to his damn brother and he would die in a way he didn't deserve to.

"Iva…" he groaned as he saw his feet in front of him. "This is my last request… please, listen…!"

"I'm… awful!" Ace said, feeling such unworthy of all this crap going on around him. Why would anyone want to save him? Why would anybody want to keep Gol D. Roger's blood alive, for that matter.

Sabo stopped his fighting for a second as he heard Ace say that and his brow furrowed. "What the hell's he talking about?" he muttered as he watched his foster brother from afar. "Ace, don't you dare give up!" the blond former noble yelled.

"Ace! Ace, we'll save you! Just you wait, Ace! Don't give up!" the Whitebeard Pirates and Allies screamed.

"Damn it… I'm… I'm so messed up… At a time like this… My old man, my little brothers, my brothers in arms… Their blood is being spilled all around me…!" He said with the pain growing in his chest, running through his bloodstream. "And I'm so happy…! I can't stop my tears… At a time like this, I want… to live!"

Everything around was beginning to crumble, though. Whitebeard's frail health was beginning to make a strain in him and all of the Commanders were being distracted by him collapsing that the Admirals took advantage of it to attack them while they faced their backs, and while all of this was going down, Akainu took the chance and attacked Whitebeard with his magma ability, piercing his chest.

As Ivankov gave him another shoot with his ability, Luffy yelled on top of his lungs, ready to face anything that came his way. Sabo joined him not long after he began to run. "If you fall down again, you won't be able to get back up! The Tension Hormones only trick your body so you haven't really healed yet!"

"I just won't go down, then!" the raven-haired boy answered.

"Out of the way!" Iva and Sabo yelled as they set a clear path for them to keep going forward.

A couple of Pacifistas got in their way and Boa Hancock stepped in between, provoking them to halt their attack, letting Luffy, Sabo and Ivankov through. Everything was actually going down the drain. Jozu and Marco were seemingly defeated and Whitebeard was so wounded that everybody was willing to throw away their lives to protect their boss, the one everyone of them called 'father'. The Marines prepared again to execute Ace and Luffy watched everything as if he wasn't actually there and when things came crashing down on him, his anger exploded. His Haoshoku Haki was activated full force, ignoring the fact that he actually couldn't control it fully with how he was now but he didn't give a fucking damn.

"STOP~!" he yelled as he let his Haki run wild, making most of the Plaza faint under his power. Both of the executioners fell unconscious and Ace raised his head in surprise as he watched how a lot of both sides began fading off, as if someone had unplugged them.

"Did you just…!?" Iva-san asked.

"Don't mention it. We're on our way, Ace…!" Luffy refuted as he kept on going. It was Sabo who swept Coby aside as they were continuing onwards.

The Marines were beginning to gang on Whitebeard, fully aware that he was wounded and if they wanted to change the tide of the battlefield they had to get rid of the one person that was pushing those pirates forward. But the Captain of that fleet wasn't putting it any easier for them, fighting back with all the strength he could manage to gather.

"Use all your strength to support Straw Hat Luffy!" He ordered his men, inciting them to leave him alone, hearing the surprise of his sons and daughters at those words, but it had to be this way. What did it matter living a couple more years or dying right there? His time was up, anyways and all he wanted was for Ace and his children to leave this place alive.

He wanted to know what lay beyond this age, beyond this era.

Nevertheless, all the people that had been beside Whitebeard did as they were told. Everyone ran ahead, making way for Ivankov, Luffy and Sabo.

"Hurry, Ace's brother! The Marines are focusing on our boss, right now! If you let this opportunity pass, you won't be able to get past the Admirals!"

"We're going to push through, so follow us!"

"This is serious, Luffy!" Sabo said.

"Why so?" the raven-haired teen asked.

"The world's greatest pirate is testing you!" Ivankov answered.

"Huh?"

"I'm asking you if you're prepared to answer Whitebeard's attention!" the Okama Queen said as he got rid of a bunch of Marines that were headed their way.

"I don't care about any of that. I'm here for one simple reason…"

"Dodge, Luffy!" Sabo warned as they saw one of Mihawk's attacks coming his way.

"Damn it, Hawkeye!" It was then when Daz Bones got in the way to block the slice.

Nevertheless surprised, Luffy kind of thanked Mr. 1 and the three of them kept on going. Ivankov asked Inazuma to come out, apologizing for making him work when he was still recovering from his poisonous dose by Magellan back in Impel Down.

As the Revolutionary made a path for him with the floor from the plaza with his ability, Luffy thanked him and began to climb up along with Sabo.

"We're here, Ace!" he yelled as he kept on running up the slope. In the mist of his rush, it was Garp who jumped forward to block his way. "Gramps, move it!" he exclaimed.

"I'm not moving an inch, Luffy! I'm a Vice-Admiral of the Marines!" the man answered. "Luffy, I've been fighting pirates since before you were even born. You'll only get past me over my dead body, Straw Hat Luffy!"

"Gramps…" Ace said through gritted teeth. This was so wrong. He had even provoked this confrontation between Luffy and his grandfather.

"That is the path you two have chosen!"

Luffy knew he should, that everything that man had done to him, the hell he'd been through while he was a child… but despite it all, this was his family, the one person that took care of him. "I can't do this, grandpa, please move it!"

"If you don't, then Ace will definitely die!"

"I won't let that happen!" he answered in desperation.

"I've done plenty of things you don't like! I won't hold back!" And Garp meant it. Even if this one person was his own grandson, he had chosen his path, he had refused his proposal to become a Marine, a man of good. There was nothing he could do to avoid what was about to happen right here right now. But he still could do nothing and let him 'defeat' him without having to fight back. "Luffy, you're my enemy!" he said as he prepared to launch a punch.

"Gomu Gomu no…" Luffy mumbled as he stretched his arm back, stopping, remembering all the things he'd went through with the man in front of him. This was hurting him, but damn, if he did nothing, he wouldn't reach Ace… "Bullet!" he yelled as his punch connected with his old man's face, sending him flying as he kept on going forward.

Both Luffy and Sabo managed to reach the platform. "You guys…" Ace said with disbelief.

"I've got the key, just hang in there for one more second," Luffy answered as he knelt down to unlock the seastone handcuffs.

"L-Luffy…" Sabo said as he watched as Sengoku transformed into his Buddha form.

"Wait, don't think I'll let you escape!" the Fleet Admiral said, menacingly.

It was then when Kizaru shoot a beam of light but Luffy managed to avoid it and save the key. "Sabo! Buy me some time!" he asked while going back to the task at hand.

"Roger!" the blond said as he got in front of the both of them and created a shield with water, semi-nullifying Sengoku's ability as the platform began to crumble because of the impact.

As they fell, Luffy managed to free Ace with the key. "You've always been this way, Luffy!" he reprimanded him. "You never listen to me, and you do the stupidest things!"

"Ace!"

"Don't slack off now, Luffy!" his brother said as the three of them landed on the plaza.

"Of course not!" the raven-haired teen answered as he got on his fighting stance.

"I never thought that we would be reunited like this…" Ace sighed as he took a look towards Sabo, who just laughed. "Thanks for saving me."

The three laughed as they continued to fight their way back, protecting the other's back as if they hadn't been apart for that long. The adrenaline of having accomplished Ace's rescue was running wild, but both Luffy and Sabo knew that things weren't over yet and they also knew what was about to happen with Whitebeard.

Squardo was trying to pilot the ship so he could get Edward Newgate out of the Marines that were surrounding him but it was the Captain who stopped him and yelled: "The pain of a parent burying his children… don't you realize how hard that is, Squardo!? Don't get so full of yourself! That one slash wasn't nearly enough to take my life! We accomplished what we came here to do."

"Boss…"

"There's no reason for us to stay here!" He coughed and gasped for air before continuing with his speech. "This is… my final order! Listen well, Whitebeard Pirates!"

"Last? Wait, Boss! You don't mean…" His children yelled back. "We don't want to hear that! We're going back together to the New World, right!?"

"Boss!" Ace yelled in desperation.

"You will all part with me here!" Newgate announced. "You will all live… and safely return to the Sea!"

"What are you talking about, old man?!" Luffy yelled back, even though he knew that Whitebeard's time was up.

"You plan on dying here!?" someone of the allies of the Yonko yelled.

"The times have passed me by. There's no ship to take me to this new age!" He said, the determination without faltering the slightest bit. "Go, men!"

"Damn it. It's the Captain's orders, we have to move!" someone said.

"Boss!" Ace screamed, bewildered by the fact that the one person he had come to call his father was now trying to abandon them all. How could it have come down to this? He didn't want this to end like that. He wanted to leave with everyone that was still alive and didn't need any more sacrifices for his life. Damn, he wanted to keep on sailing with that old man, the one person that despite his background had accepted him into his crew, which had given him a position and the means to keep on living.

But despite his orders, a lot of the Whitebeard Pirates were refusing to leave him behind, desperate to convince him to get out of there along with everyone else and that was irritating the old pirate who glared at them with anger. "Didn't you hear my order!? Get going, you idiots!"

"Ace!" Luffy yelled as he tried to grab his attention. "We have to go, the old man's doing this for all of us!"

"I know, I won't let it be in vain" he said as he got rid of a bunch of Marines that were trying to get to them. He bowed down in a sign of respect.

"I don't need your words. But just let me ask you one thing. Was I a good father?" Whitebeard asked as he looked at his adopted son.

"Of course!" Ace answered as he bowed even further and heard Newgate's laughter.

"Let's go, Ace!" Sabo yelled as Jimbei joined them. It was then when Ace heard what Akainu had just said about Whitebeard. He turned around and glared at the Admiral. "Take back what you just said." His tone was low, dangerous, in it hung a threat.

"Ace! Stop it, keep going!"

"He's mocking my old man!" he yelled back, as if this was reason enough to do what he was doing.

"Ace!" Luffy exclaimed. No, this couldn't be happening!

"Your real father Roger, stood in his way. And so Whitebeard is a loser who will never become King. How am I mistaken about this?" Akainu brushed off as if it was the most obvious thing to say. "You bunch of thugs keep yelling 'boss this' 'boss that'… You prance about the seas pretending to be a family…"

"Stop right there!"

"For how many decades has he ruled the seas, never becoming King… and never accomplishing anything!?" he continued. "In the end, he was stabbed by his idiot son who was fooled by some sweet-talking! And he's going to die protecting that fool! He really did live an empty life, didn't he?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ace yelled out of anger. He could accept people insulting him, he could endure being treated like an idiot, a fool or a reckless mess. But something he wasn't going to stand was someone actually trash-talking about his old man. Not now, not never.

"Don't listen to him, Ace! Come on, let's get out of here!" Izo yelled, trying to avoid this suicidal confrontation.

"The old man gave us a place where we belonged! What would you know about his greatness!?" he said.

"If people don't live the right way, then there's no reason for them to be here. Pirates like you don't deserve a place to belong!" Akainu responded. "Whitebeard will die as a loser! A fitting death for the Admiral of a Mountain of Garbage!"

"Whitebeard is the pirate who created this era! Don't mock the man who saved my life!" He had had enough. This one person was too much of a jerk. "This era will be known by Whitebeard's name!" Ace yelled as he moved to attack the Admiral. Both of their fists collided but Akainu's power overwhelmed him.

"Ace, stop!" Luffy and Sabo yelled.

"Did you get careless because you're a Logia type as well? You are merely 'fire' I am 'magma' that consumes 'fire'" Akainu said. "My power completely outclasses yours!"

"Ace!" Luffy exclaimed knowing full well that he was at his very limit.

"The Pirate King, Gold Roger. The Revolutionary Dragon… I'm surprised that their offspring have become brothers. Great sin already runs through your blood! No matter who else escapes, I will never let you two brothers go! Take a good look."

"Hey, wait!" Ace exclaimed as he watched as Akainu got past him, aiming his attack at Luffy.

"Crap!" the raven-haired cussed.

"LUFFY!"

It was then, when Sabo interfered. With everything he had, he jumped in between Luffy, Ace and Akainu and created a huge shield of water that was so cold that when the Admiral's magma punch crushed on it the man's ability was absolutely nullified.

DANG. Here we go. See? I told you guys that Sabo would show off his ability when the time came. Will it be enough, though? You'll have to wait to find out!

Thanks again for all the reviews, favorites and follows! See you all in the next chapter!