R-king: Thanks a bunch!
Wishfull-star: Thanks a lot! I hope you stay safe too!
Chapter 13
The news was delayed for sometime to reach the other parts of the World. But after three days of the war, each and every part of the World knew who came victorious. It was the Marines. People were happy to know that justice prevailed. That three threats of the World Government were removed from the World. But in some parts of the World, people cried. Cried on the news of the death of Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy.
"Wh... What is this?" In Weatheria, the Island where Nami was sent by Kuma, exclaimed in shock, after reading the news and seeing the gruesome picture of her captain along with his brother dead.
After spending more than a week in Weatheria luxuriously, she had never thought that her captain was fighting for his and his brothers life. She wasn't expecting to read that her captain had participated in a freaking war without them. The one time her captain needed her help, she wasn't there. And now, he is dead.
She collapsed on the ground, cluthing the newspaper in death grip, with tears falling incessantly. Her body shook like a leaf in the air. Her breath became raspy and her mind fuzzy. She couldn't hear the small dwarfs speaking to her. All she was hearing were muffled voices.
"Luffy!" She exclaimed after reading the news.
She didn't care if her captain was the Son of Dragon the Revolutionary. All she cared was Luffy was Luffy.
"I... I won't believe this." She said through choked tears. "This is fake. Luffy can't be dead."
She started trembling as she tried to pick herself from the ground, but her legs refused to work.
Her savior, her captain, her friend can't be dead. He has to be alive. It must be fake. She won't believe that the words and picture were true. She is the navigator of the Strawhat Pirates and Luffy is her captain, the one who will be the King of The Pirates.
She was his navigator, yet she left him without a path to follow. She left him lost and confused... because of her incompetence he followed the wrong path and died... She will never forgive herself.
She promised to make a map of the world. She'll keep that promise with Luffy and herself in mind, if he can't reach his goal she will.
"W-What did you say?" Zoro's swords slipped off his hands, looking at Mihawk with wide eyes.
"Straw-hat Luffy and Fire Fist Ace died right before Bloody Gentleman Sabo." Mihawk answered and handed the newspaper to Zoro, who quickly grabbed and read the contents in disbelief. His sword, which he had raised to challenge the man, long forgotten on the ground.
A picture of his best friend, his captain, the one whom he had swore to defend and give his life was laying lifeless on the ground. The blood which was normally not seen on Luffy was oozing from his chest, which was blurred.
Zoro tried to say something, anything, but no sound came out. He just stared in shock at the picture. Drops and drops of water fell on the newspaper, which he was holding as if his life depended on it. He didn't even notice his warm and wet cheeks, as tears splattered on the still body of his captain.
He's weak. He's pathetic. How can be become the world's best swordsman if he can't even protect his captain? He swore to become the best swordsman for Luffy and Kuina, and now they're both dead.
His left hand found his way to his cheeks and it came wet. He was thinking and re-reading the paper when he had came to the port. The baboons had avoided him and Zoro didn't know why. If it was due to the fight which he gave them earlier or due to pity.
He doesn't show his emotions, but his friend was everything to him. He had lost another friend. He had lost another best friend and it hurts more this time.
'Why wasn't I there?' Zoro cursed himself letting himself fall on the ground. Tears dripping from his eyes, he doesn't even bother to remove them anymore.
He should have been there. There, when his captain needed him. There, when his captain was fighting to rescue his brother. He should have been right next to Luffy.
His eyes went to the endless ocean in front of him and something inside him clicked. Luffy can't die. He can't, if what he is thinking is right. He won't believe it till he sees Luffy's grave himself.
Once a small reindeer was walking calmly around, he spots a News Coo bird and collects the weeks news. Before he reads it he decides to sit down on a nearby bench for comfort.
He then glances down at the newspaper.
A little squeak was heard. A small reindeer was sitting on a bench holding a newspaper in his hooves. Tears were endlessly flowing from his eyes. The primitive looking humans and the giant birds looked at Chopper with worry.
"Waahhh! LUFFY!" He shouted and screamed for the person who had been there for him once he had found him. He cried for the friend and captain he lost. For the failure he felt deep within himself. He couldn't believe that Luffy was dead.
He ran and ran until there was no sight of him in the forest. Only the sounds of crying could be heard in the distance. He stumbled and fell, but he doesn't care about his own injuries at the moment.
He was the doctor, the person Luffy could always rely on, the person that helped him heal after battles. Luffy saved him and doctrine, yet he couldn't help Luffy when he was needed the most.
He looked at the partly blurred out torso of Ace and Luffy, such damages he couldn't even fathom to fix. He was a failure to the strawhat crew... He hopes the others won't kick him out since he failed to do his job... Maybe if Luffy had a better doctor he would have survived.
Chopper doubted himself, doubted he was good enough for the crew. He should get better, be the best doctor there is! So that no other crewmate would ever suffer for long if he could help them.
Somewhere on a snowy bridge.
A revolutionary gets the upcoming newspaper from the News Coo.
"Thanks bird." He puts a coin where the newspaper once was.
He looks at the newspaper cover and freezes. He starts to sweat, confusion and misery clear on his face. No way... This can't be true... Right?
Other revolutionaries seeing the dismay on his face worriedly asked, "What's wrong? Let us see!" They snatched the newspaper from him impatiently, but they too were left frozen.
It's quiet, too quiet for anybody's liking. Suddenly they start to tear up, some bawl their eyes out.
"Cyra! Cole! They're dead!" Anyone who didn't know why the others were crying now understood and started to mourn. The sunshine and trouble makers they grew up with... were now dead. Lost to the world of no return. This hit more than anything could have to everyone.
Not too far away a newly made and freed labor worker overheard the revolutionary army.
Cole? Cyra? Aren't those the pirates that were a giant nuisance to the world government? Hadn't Cole disappeared from the world around 3 years ago? What had she missed?
She walked among the grieving soldiers, and decided to look at the newspaper herself. Shock was plastered on her face as well. Cole? Crya? THESE PEOPLE ARE ACE AND LUFFY?!
Cole and Crya... were Ace and Luffy, her captain... Her saviour, the person who convinced her to live.. Had died. Because of the government. Died because of the Navy. She will never forgive herself for letting another of her friends die. He was the one Saul was talking about... Then why? Why was the world so cruel to take him away from her too?
Does she really not deserve happiness?
"What are you saying?" The black haired woman who had been rescued by the Revolutionaries, looked at them with wide blue eyes. She didn't want to believe what the paper was saying. No she just couldn't.
Her whole body was shaking, not from the cold but from the feeling of emptiness that she felt for the loss of an energetic and sunshine captain. Her savior, who had given her the will to live.
"You are joking, right?" Another blue-haired man beside her asked to the man who relayed the news with trembling lips. "Cyra and Cole can't be dead. It's a lie!"
The person had been with the trio brothers and had seen the way they had lightened the Revolutionary Base with their smiles, their laughs and giggles. She had seen how they had brought slaves from their shells and a smile on their face. She had seen them change everyone in some way or other. And now they were lost. Lost and beyond found.
This only fueled their anger towards the world government. How dare they take the lives of such wonderful people? It doesn't matter, they'll take their revenge.
Some people stopped to think, what about Sabo and Dragon? What about Hack and Koala? Were they okay?
They need to call Dragon to get conformation, or at least to comfort Dragon during his mourning.
"WHAT IS THIS?"
In a forest of Boin Archipelago, a chubby man was seen holding a newspaper. Tears ran from his eyes as he howled in pain. He couldn't say anything but only cry holding the newspaper close to his chest.
He cried and cried, the empathy from Heracles was not helping him at all. The man, lost in his thoughts was so utterly devastated.
He is a coward, and is no closer to being a brave warrior then when he left Syrup Village. Here he was enjoying life, feasting, while his captain was fighting for his and Ace's life. Luffy and Ace, now dead, while he enjoyed his life in paradise... The paradise Luffy would have loved.
The thoughts clouded his mind, he was always negative but... This was a new low. He was inconsolable, he couldn't eat anymore. Why would he even deserve to eat? He was happy when his captain was fighting and now he is dead...
He decided to run, run and run.
He runs because that what he always does. He runs because he's a coward, runs because he's scared. And runs because he can't face his problems.
He wouldn't eat nor drink, just run. He was panting and heaving, but that wouldn't stop him. He deserves this pain, even if it's only a small fraction of what Luffy went through. He deserves to suffer because of his incompetence as a 'brave warrior of the sea'.
Usopp finally trips and gets trapped in a giant Venus fly trap. He can't see properly from his tears, he can't concentrate because of his thoughts and feelings. He couldn't escape.
Suddenly Heracles swoops in and helps Usopp out. He pulls overweight man out before it would've been too late.
Usopp thanked Heracles, but he truly was worthless since he can't even escape from a fly trap.
Heracles shakes Usopp, who now for the first time in hours can hear his voice. "Usoppun, Usoppun! Why are you crying? Brave warriors such as yourself shouldn't cry for no reason!" Heracles tries to cheer Usopp up but only sours the mood.
"I'm no brave warrior... I'm a coward." Usopp answers, which shocks Heracles.
"What? Nonsense!" Heracles tries to correct Usopp. "Tell me what's so wrong?"
Usopp finally lets out what's bothering him, and shows Heracles the newspaper. He now understands that Usopp has every right to cry. After a small while the two are mourning together.
"Brave warriors cry too, you need to lose to feel the weight of winning. Your Captain, was a brave warrior just like you. And now it's your turn to protect what you care for, Usoppun." Heracles tries to motivate Usopp into not giving up. "You have to live for the ones that survived, not give up for the ones you lost." Heracles continues, "Mourning is fine, but don't give up on the crew that's left behind."
After a lot of talking Usopp decides to head back to where the crew will meet up, and be the warrior that was once Luffy. And conquer his fears.
On the edge of a cliff, stood a man wearing a dress and make up. The News Coo bird flew to the now turned Okama, handing him the newspaper.
The Okama reads the title and goes as still as stone.
Trails of tears dripped with the now shedding make up from his face. His eyes were shaking and his hands were trembling at the very existence of such a news. This was hell..
The makeup he once wore now wiped away, water streams from his eyes. He is a failure. His captain, the person who he promised to protect, the person who promised to help him to find the All Blue, now dead, deceased.
It must be a lie, a government propaganda, it can't be true! But.. The wound on both Ace and Luffy looked too real to be fake, Sabo near them in tears, probably in denial about their deaths..
He closes his eyes. This is too much. This isn't how it ends, right?
An Okama walks elegantly to the crying blond. "What's wrong? Don't cry! Your makeup is now ruined."
The Okama tries to wipe the blonds tears away but they can't. Sanji runs away.
He can't believe it, here he thought he was in hell while Luffy was in literal hell, he outright died. The idiot was fighting Admirals, and didn't think twice. While Sanji was running from some people who wanted to play dress up with him. It was clear who was in hell, and who got lucky.
Sanji has failed as a combatant, like his father always said, a failure. He can't even protect the ones he's closest too. He was supposed to be there, be by the young ones side.
Now he won't have to cook food for the bottomless pit, he won't have to fight to keep him out the kitchen, but it didn't feel right.
Luffy was the nuisance he'd die for, but he's late. He fails everyone. Failed Judge, failed his father Zeff for not doing anything right, and now he fails his crew for not helping the captain and getting whisked away to some island.
Sanji has a breakdown, the Okama not far behind him now. What can he even do?
In a cell, there sat a skeleton, who was doing nothing.
He was bored and saddened that his journey back to Saboady is taking so long, he didn't mean to be Satan, he didn't want conflict. Maybe being peaceful wasn't the answer but that shouldn't mean they should lock him up!
People of some cult were surrounding him, laughing at him, being intrigued by the fact he's a skeleton or that he has such short arms.
When he found a newspaper, he was glad to finally have something to do instead of sitting idly in his cage. He picks the newspaper up.
His eyes, which he doesn't have, stuck on the very first page.
"Oh..." He's first in shock, then he slowly places the newspaper down. Maybe he read it wrong, that the picture was of someone else.
He takes a deep breath and lifts the paper up once more, for a moment nothing happens, then tears form on his sockets even though he doesn't have eyes.
This is one cruel joke... Right?
"This can't be... No... He can't be..." The words don't leave his mouth, he has lost his captain once more.
He managed to say goodbye to his previous captain before he abandoned him, but not to Luffy.
He never managed to play him one last song, never managed to say goodbye. Why was the world so cruel? So vicious?
He may had only been a straw hat for one month but that was plenty of time to get to know his crew. He would play tunes for everyone, he wasn't alone.
Finally he won't have to endure the pain of loneliness no more, a wish that now won't come true anymore... He lost his captain again. The one that let him go out into the sun.
He feels so empty, he doesn't even know where the rest of the crew are. He doesn't know where anyone is, not even Luffy's grave.
He's alone again. The world truly hasn't changed, gave him hope only to rip it away from him.
This most be the cruelest joke in his life.
Meanwhile a cyborg is walking towards a defeated mechanical polar bear after finding a stash of Cola was sported in panties in the cold, snowy weather.
The polar bear had an inbuilt fax machine which seems to put out the latest news, that's the last thing the mechanical bear did before completely malfunctioning.
Franky curiously gets the newspaper since it might have some information he could use.
As he takes a look he freezes. He doesn't believe his eyes.
"WHAT?! THAT'S NOT LUFFY! IT CAN'T BE?" He starts to freak out amidst the snow, ice and powered off cyborg animals.
He reads the newspaper, it's difficult because of the tears that fall from his eyes but he won't give up. He has to know what happened.
"Monkey D Luffy and Gold Ace now dead!" The title is painful to read.
"The war of the BEST, between the Whitebeard pirates lead by the strongest man alive and the glorious Navy has ended!
The Marines emerge victorious by taking the lives of Whitebeard, the son of the revolutionary Dragon, Monkey D Luffy, and the son of the deceased Pirate King, Gold Ace, who had been using a fake name 'Portgas D' Ace to cover up his terrible heritage and heinous bloodline.
The world is now a safer place for all, as the blood of the most dangerous people have been wiped out!"
Franky can't read any further, It's too much for him to handle.
He is distraught, his captain... is now dead... Why? Why did Luffy have to die?
He doesn't care that Luffy has some 'terrible' heritage, or that he's the son of the Revolutionary Dragon. He already knew that and that changed nothing.
Luffy was one of the best people in his life, and he was the one to help Franky with his dream. To have his ship travel the world, experience countless battles and for it to reach Laugh Tale.
Franky's tears clouded his vision. He doesn't want to cry, he can't cry. But maybe it's fine to let it out, yeah...
As soon as the thought crossed his mind he bursts out in tears. He clenches the newspaper with all his might, hoping it would bring even the smallest amount of relief, which it doesn't.
His captain, who was there when he needed someone, has died. He was saved by the straw hats lead by Luffy, yet he couldn't save Luffy.
Somewhere in the east blue a small village of windmills is in distress and anguish.
In a kingdom of sand and stone a princess crys in her bed.
In a town that was once imprisoned, the people mourn their savior.
In the village of the man that cried pirate, a woman is saddened.
In a kingdom of ice and snow, a doctor is worried about too many things.
On a ship which once held the strongest, the crews tears fall without means to an end of the death for a leader, a father and a dear comrade.
A/n:
I personally loved the chapter! What are your thoughts guys? Without the help of Decoy this chapter was impossible. Or to be specific without Decoy I don't think I could have posted the chapter, since it was incomplete. Decoy took the pain to complete it, and I seriously love it. So, do tell Decoy your thoughts!
Have a good day/night!