Isa-san: Eu não queria que a Ann apenas substituísse os personagens.

Due to misleading titles and fluff, chapter 14 may have come as a bigger shock than intended? Oops.

After I finished writing ch15, a lot of stuff happened IRL. That affected my writing badly.

I decided to break my own rules and add a feature akin to Active Time Events. Adding that to the sidefic (What Ripples are to Waves) just doesn't make sense.

000

-Night falls, gray besieges the rotten city (pt. 2)-

000

-o-
Sabo's Resolution
-o-

Something was very wrong.

Things were never quiet in the Gray Terminal.

On rainy days, few walked around, but this wasn't the case. In fact, it hadn't rained for a few days, and the sun was shining brightly. Scenario after scenario running in his mind, Sabo decided to enter the closest shelter and investigate.

Inside, he found a few inhabitants sleeping. It would be a perfectly normal sight, if not for the surprisingly high quality of the food on the tables.

One interesting fact about Gray Terminal dwellers: no one ever took more than they could eat, since there wasn't a way to preserve food and they had a steady supply from the city.

Meaning most, if not all, got to eat fresh(ly scavenged) food daily, even though the elderly and slower could only get the leftovers.

Therefore, the eerie silence wasn't a mystery anymore: they had all been drugged. This answer, however, only brought many other questions, the more pressing being, 'How am I supposed to get them out of here?'

After a few minutes, Sabo came across a carriage, of a model he hadn't seen in years. Like most items discarded by nobles, it was still serviceable.

Thus, he began the arduous task of loading and taking them to the meeting location.

When the fire started, he had almost finished evacuating his assigned area. Loading another family in the carriage, he didn't notice a certain person approaching…

"We came here, expecting to only mitigate a disaster... only to find children doing what adults wouldn't do. There's still hope."

Sabo paused. "Pardon?"

"Go to a safer place and let me take the carriage. You've done more than enough." The man took the carriage and effortlessly pulled it.

"But I haven't!" Sabo shouted and motioned to the direction he'd come from. "There are still people there, I can't abandon them to this!"

"And you'd rather burn with them?"

"I won't burn, and they won't either. But that's what will happen if I do nothing! The ones who should protect them sit proudly atop a sea of corruption, laughing at the suffering of others."

"Such is the way of nobles. Power always reveals people's rotten cores."

"I was born a noble, but I'm not like them!" Sabo lowered his head, fingernails digging on his palm. "I'm nothing like them…"

"Goa, beloved Goa. To see a young boy disowning his own family... can this place fall even more?"

"This kingdom has long reached the bottom," Sabo commented wryly.

"Then, the only way is up."

"Yeah." After a moment of thought, Sabo said, "My siblings are helping in the other areas, but our meeting place is nearby. I'll go ahead and find out how things are going on their side."

"Don't worry, I'll protect them."

"From what I remember, there should be only a few more homes in that direction." Sabo pointed to an alley. "I think they should all fit in the carriage, so there's no need for another trip."

-o-
Ace on a Mission
-o-

His stomach growled. Ace resisted the urge to growl along.

"All this food, wasted!"

It didn't take a genius to deduce what had happened, and it made Ace's blood boil. How dare they spoil such fine food!

He'd go punch those imbeciles if he hadn't more pressing matters. As it was, getting everyone out was more important than avenging the drugged delicacies.

So, Ace piled the people as high as he could (there was a limit on how many could be piled before the people started toppling over, he found out) and set out to the meeting point.

A few trips later, he paused to rest.

"Dragon-boy never told me he'd enlisted the help of such cuties!"

He stared.

"Oh, I'm quite a sight for sore eyes, am I not?"

"…"

"I'll take that as a yes, darling!"

With the (very strange) stranger's help (just how many people could he—she? It? They?—stow away in that hair?"), removing the remaining inhabitants went much quicker.

-o-
Father and Son
-o-

He had arrived in Windmill earlier to surprise his grandchildren, keep them on their toes. However, they were visiting Dadan, and the only reason Luffy hadn't gone along was because he had opted to stay with Makino and the baby (she had red hair, of all things…).

So, he'd sparred a bit with his youngest and proceeded to trek to the mountains.

"Eh? The brats aren't back yet?"

The children had already departed by the time he'd arrived, but he hadn't seen them on the way.

"I heard them muttering about going to Gray Terminal. I just figured they went to get supplies or something," said one of the men.

Garp froze.

"So that's why Mick's swords are missing. The kids really went there… shit."

Before anyone could say anything else, he was running towards the city.

Behind him, in a much more human pace, a group of bandits had mobilized. They couldn't care less about people burning to death, but their kids were an entirely different matter.

000

"What are you doing here?"

"The right thing, father."

"At any other time, I'd fight you. But I don't have the time for that now." He faltered. "Have you seen a group of children?"

"There are many children. Which ones, do you mean?"

It was a testament of Garp's worry that he did not blow up at his son's evasiveness. "Three kids, about ten years old, two boys and a girl. They probably came here to stop the fire, of all things."

"There was a boy, although I didn't recognize him. He said he was going to meet his siblings in the Eastern area. In fact, I'm heading there right now, if you care to accompany this criminal, Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp." Dragon closed the carriage's door with a and started pushing.

Garp sighed. "You were always such a good boy. When did things become like this?"

"When I opened my eyes and realized being a marine wasn't an option. I wanted freedom to act as needed, being shackled by the government wouldn't allow me to do so." Dragon turned to face his father. "Isn't that one of the reasons you refused promotion after promotion?"

Garp could not deny that.

"Later on, I saw the corruption in this world. Ruby died for nothing. I refuse to let anyone else die or suffer in this rotten system. I want a world where children can live without fear, where no island disappears merely for researching the past."

"You'd abandon your own child for that? Luffy is suffering." 'I'm suffering too,' he wanted to say, but never did.

"Do you remember what happened right after Roger's execution? I refuse to let that happen again." Dragon's expression softened. "Luffy is happier here. He has his older cousins and their friend to protect and keep him company. Constantly moving from base to base, having no children to play with, seeing war, death, starving nations… he's too young for that."

"I'm looking for them."

"Luffy is here?" The revolutionary's eyes widened.

"No, but my other grandchildren are."

"Searching a place as big as the Gray Terminal by yourself is impossible. I promised the boy I'd take this carriage to the meeting point, then I'll help you look for them. We can always ask one of the boy' siblings if they've seen them."

Garp frowned. "What's so important about this carriage?"

Dragon replied by motioning at the window.

Garp went quiet.

It was a few minutes later when Garp saw an image that would haunt him for years to come.

-o-
Those who were left behind
-o-

"Have you come to exploit the situation, bandits?"

Dadan stared for a moment. Why was a suspicious cloaked individual carrying a bible of all things?

"Er, actually, we are looking for a group of kids," said Little John.

"And what do you intend to do with them?"

"Tch, those brats came here to play hero, but they'll end up hurting themselves! It would be too troublesome if they died."

"In that case, I'll help you look for them."

"...thanks?"

-o-
Converging Destination
-o-

As he neared the meeting point, Sabo could see Ann approaching. He waved to her, but she didn't wave back. Then, she suddenly fell to her knees, clutching her head. Worried, Sabo ran towards her.

The girl had finally noticed his approach when a pile of trash collapsed; bent metal railing fell down and down...

—He ran. He shouted. He couldn't reach her in time.—

…and fell. He could see the moment those damned spikes perforated her body. He watched in fascinated horror when they exited from the other side.

—the ground, dyed a red, red color—

"ANN!"

For a moment, Sabo thought he had been the one to shout that. But then, he was shoved aside.

"Damn it! I told you not to die!" Ace punched the ground. His hand came back red.

"The girl is alive."

"Who are you?" Sabo demanded.

The strange person garbed in fishnet walked towards the siblings. "Do you vish to save her, no matter the cost?"

Ace turned abruptly. "Do you even have to ask? I don't care about the price, just... just… save her." His forehead touched the ground as he kowtowed. "Please."

By Ace's side, Sabo kneeled.

"Get up, boys. I'll do vhat I can. She'll feel pain like no other, and scream and beg for help. Can you handle that?"

"She can only scream while she's alive," Sabo whispered.

"So be it."

With that, the stranger removed what had once been the gates of a mansion from the wound, and pierced Ann's side with the sharpest nails the boys had seen in a human's hands.

"Find a stretcher or something similar and carry her to a safer place. Clean the vounds and keep her hydrated with a saline solution."

"You! What did you do to my granddaughter?"

"I may have given her the tools to fight for her own life… probably! Either way, a chance of survival of three percent is alvays better than none. Just hope your granddaughter is strong enough."

"Ah, Iva. Give me a hand here. We should get these people out of here. They will wake up in a few hours, we must avoid mass panic."

"Of course, Dragon-boy." Iva glanced sideways at the marine.

"Don't worry. He won't be a problem."

"My priority is getting my grandchildren to a safe place. Next time we meet, I won't be as lenient, revolutionaries."

Sabo got up to let Garp approach Ann's prone body. Seeing their unexpected savior departing, he ran towards them. "Thank you for helping us."

"We were only doing what's right. I should also thank you." The cloaked man looked at him, considering. He then approached him and whispered, "Say, would you like to change the world?"

Sabo stared. If those people were the famed revolutionaries, that meant they fought the government. It would be the ultimate act of rebellion against the status quo, but he'd have to leave his family behind…

"Not now, you're too young. But in a few years, you can find us."

"I will."

"Good. I look forward to working with you."

"Holy shit! What happened here?"

"You're finally here. What took you so long? Help me carry my granddaughter to your home. Windmill is too far away." Garp then gently lowered Ann on a makeshift stretcher made from parts of the carriage. Magra, the one closest to Garp's height, took the other side and they carried the broken figure together.

"Kuma, excellent timing," Dragon addressed his subordinate, "come, we have much to do."

-o-
From the gates of Hell
-o-

Everything was pain.

Except when it wasn't. But the few moments I couldn't feel anything at all were more terrifying than anything else.

And they did not last.

If what I had felt before was agony, no words could ever describe what happened afterwards. Or well, I assume it was afterwards. Considering all thoughts fled my mind, time had no nexus, no coherency anymore.

When the torment finally ended, everything faded away.

I opened one eye. 'Ouch! Too bright!'

Another. 'Still too bright!'

"What the hell happened?" Is what I mouthed, but what came out was a pathetic croak.

A cup was pushed against my lips and tilted slightly. I slowly sipped the water.

"Do you know what happened?"

"Buh?" What happened? I was sleeping and woke, right?

"Before that."

—I don't wanna die help it hurts make it stop oh god just kill me—

Those voices... were they punishment from an angry god?

"We were in the Gray Terminal, evacuating the inhabitants."

Ace frowned. "Is that all you remember?"

I stared fixedly at a smudge on the floor. "Well, I was carrying a new batch of people. Then, everything became pain. I think I passed out. What happened there?"

"Due to the fire, many trash piles collapsed. You had the bad luck of being hit by a piece of metal railing." Ace continued, wrily, "I say bad luck, but really, it was the opposite. It missed your spine by a few millimeters, although it did pierce several organs..."

"Er, how the hell am I alive? Those kinds of injury are usually lethal, I'm pretty sure. Wait, don't tell me we're all dead!"

Ace lifted his hand reflexively, but lowered it before it could connect with my head. "Idiot! We're alive! There was this weird Iva person who injected you with something. That's the only reason you're here right now, and not buried in a ditch!"

"Iva…" I muttered. That name was familiar, somehow. "Wait, was this Iva wearing fishnet stockings, by any chance? Big head, curly hair and a lot of make-up?"

"You were conscious back then?"

"No. I don't think so, at least. But that person's the famous queen of the pinkest island in all the world!" I gleefully declared. "Oh, they are also a revolutionary."

"…pinkest island? I don't even wanna know." Ace got up from his chair and retrieved a newspaper. "Here, it's today's issue. I'm going to bring some food and tell Gramps you're awake now, ok? If you move from the bed, I'll tie you to it."

"Ok. I'll wait here," I acquiesced, taking the newspaper from his hands.

When Ace closed the door, I frowned.

According to the date in the newspaper, it had been only three days since I was injured. Not nearly enough time to heal such severe wounds to the point I could move my torso almost freely.

In fact, the only way I could have recovered in such a short period would be if my cell renovation rate had been greatly accelerated.

There's a limit to how many times human cells can multiply, though.

If you reach that limit...

Night falls, gray besieges the rotten city (pt. 2)_end