Three days after meeting Kira, the Straw Hats were split up. Bartholomew Kuma, a warlord of the World Government, had strangely targeted the Straw Hats, sending them off to who knows where. Monkey D. Luffy was sent to the island of women, where he met Boa Hancock, another warlord, and Margaret, now a good friend of his. He forgot all about Ace and his execution after the trauma of losing his crew and the excitement of landing on Amazon Lily, but he was harshly reminded four nights later while reading the world news.
He skimmed over the paper; he didn't really like to read, but his eyes stopped on one specific headline:
PORTGAS D. ACE: FIVE DAYS LEFT TO LIVE
"EHHHHHHH?!" Luffy's scream echoed throughout Amazon Lily, waking almost every sleeping woman and child. He jumped up, a sudden panic overtaking him. After Kira talked to them, he and his crew decided that they would leave for Marineford in ten days, hoping to intercept the ship taking Ace from Impel Down and giving them time to prepare. It was simple: they would seize the ship, rescue Ace and avoid the war altogether, without risking any of their lives. Unfortunately, now that Luffy was alone, the success rate of his mission plummeted. Not only that, he had promised to meet his crew back at the Sabaody Archipelago in three days!
Sorry guys! He thought, turning as Boa Hancock rushed out of her room.
I won't be able to make it to Sabaody in three days. I have to go save Ace, no matter what! Maybe I can…
"Hey, Hammock!" He said suddenly, interrupting her constant stream of questions. She had heard him scream and was now panicking, but she shut up once he started speaking.
"Do you think… you can get me into Impel Down?"
Kira sat in silence, her only company the waves sloppily hitting the sides of her little boat. She was lost in thought, mindlessly staring at the wooden walls opposing her.
Five days...five days before she would have to end lives. Five days before her love's life would be put in mortal danger, five days before she would have to witness her crewmates getting slaughtered by navy dogs. Gritting her teeth, she thought back to all the times she had with Ace. He was the reason it was all worth it, the killing, the bombs, the blood. For him she would fight and kill and kill, and she had a feeling her crew felt the same way. His smile, laugh, the way he made her feel like she was the center of his world, all of that gave her the strength to face war and smile. She knew that this war was different, this was a war between titans, gods and beasts.
And for him, she would become the monster to rival them all.
FIVE DAYS LATER
The silence was killing him. Not only were the sea-prism-stone shackles chafing his wrists, the navy men had taken the opportunity to beat him one last time before walking him up the steps and through that damning door. Now on his knees before the world, Portgas D. Ace frowned, shifting to find a more comfortable position. He grimaced when he couldn't move.
Sengoku glanced down at him, frowning deeply. As the head admiral it was his job to stand next to the prisoner and make sure the execution was carried out, sort of like a last defence. He'd like to kill the boy now and avoid the war altogether, but the navy was ordered to follow a specific time schedule and execute him at the planned time. He forced himself to look away from the condemned prisoner next to him. He couldn't afford to feel pity here, even if Ace was only twenty. It was his choice to become a pirate, not to mention his heritage. Gol D. Roger's son could not be allowed to live in this world no matter the cost. The Pirate King's bloodline must be wiped out.
As he stared out at the thousands of navy men lined up below him, Sengoku breathed in deeply. The tension and anticipation made the air thick and he knew his men were nervous. To be honest, he was too. But only a little bit. It was the Whitebeard alliance they were facing after all, a group of some of the most powerful pirates in the world combined to create an unstoppable force to fight the entire navy. Not to mention Whitebeard himself. He wasn't the world's strongest for nothing.
Sengoku was interrupted from his thoughts when Ace gasped, his eyes widening. He was staring at the time; it was four hours to his execution. The Whitebeard pirates should arrive soon, marking the start of the most devastating war in history.
Ace began muttering, his head hanging low. Sengoku winced slightly as he heard Ace's broken words.
"Guys… please don't come. It's my fault for being captured, you don't have to risk everyone… Pops is too old and everyone else...please don't die for me, it's not worth it." A tear slid down his cheek and splattered onto the execution platform.
Sengoku was about to say something when the air changed. Something big was coming and the navy men could all sense it. The three Admirals exchanged glances and stood as one. The Vice Admirals also stood, and the entire army tensed.
A slight rumbling began and a huge shadow formed under the surface of the navy bay. The shadow grew larger and slowly an object began to take form before breaking the surface with a great splash.
Ace gasped again, this time in pain as the great ship, the Moby Dick, floated in front of the massive navy force.
"They got in underwater! Everyone, change positions!" The navy men began sprinting to different stations, rushing to re-organized and prepare for this surprise entrance.
Ace started as Sengoku began chuckling.
"He does know how to make an entrance, that Whitebeard. We were totally unprepared. He got us." Ace smiled slightly as Sengoku began relaying orders in hopes of turning the tides.
He never got the chance. Three other massive ships surfaced on the other sides of the Moby Dick, and shadows of roughly forty others appeared in the fog behind them. This was the Whitebeard alliance, this was what the world feared.
The navy began panicking and trying to raise their huge wall created to block enemy ships. If they got the entire wall up, the Whitebeard pirates would have to break though it and by then Ace would be dead.
The wall creaked and groaned, it's massive size making it move slowly. The sections moved up one by one, until only the center section was left unblocked. Ace squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the slam of the wall becoming complete, sealing his fate.
The slam never came. The wall section just… stopped, leaving a huge opening for the Whitebeard pirates to get to the battlefield. Sengoku began screaming orders into his transponder snail, asking what the hell was wrong with the wall. Nothing was near it, nobody was touching it. It wasn't malfunctioning either; this wall was Dr. Vegapunk's invention, after all.
Ace took in a shuddering breath. He knew exactly what was wrong. There was only one person who could do something like this, one person who was so powerful they could stop the wall without even touching it. Ace grinned, shaking his head slightly. Sengoku, noticing this, grabbed his shoulder, twisting him violently toward him.
"What is this, Ace?! Whitebeard's power doesn't work like that, what happened?!" Ace just smiled.
"Sengoku… It appears you've underestimated my crew." He glanced back at the battlefield and beyond it, to his ship. He noticed his captain, Whitebeard, standing on the bow of the Moby Dick, watching the wall groan against the unknown force holding it down. Next to his massive build a smaller form was barely visible, but Ace knew who it was. After all, she was the one who stopped the wall.
Kira looked up from the ship, where she had been focusing on keeping the wall down. It didn't take much effort but still required concentration. Even from the distance she could make out Ace's kneeling figure, up on the execution platform. They made eye contact and Kira smiled before turning to Whitebeard.
"Well, Pops? Are you ready?" She asked and Whitebeard laughed.
"I am Whitebeard! I was born ready." She smiled again and raised her hand. The entire navy seemed to pause; even Sengoku stopped talking into his transponder snail to watch the woman on the Moby Dick. The video transponder snails, now recording, turned to her, focusing on her outstretched hand. The entire world was watching now, waiting in anticipation.
Kira breathed in deeply, savoring the calm before the storm. Then, steeling herself, she sliced her hand down, cutting through the air.
And so the greatest war in history began.
I'm coming for you, Ace.