Chapter 30: Freedom

Future

Leaving Momo's palace, Luffy and Zoro joined their friends in celebration of the new freedoms that the people of Wano would be having. No longer having to starve, the people could now eat the fruits of their labor. With the factories now closed the lakes, rivers and ponds would soon heal and give forth healthy drinkable water once more. Luffy was given a jug of sake, which he handed to Zoro. He never liked the taste of liquor. However, it was replaced by a large cup of juice by Sanji who laughed as he slapped his friends back. No longer the child he once was Momo wanted to drink with his friends like he remembered his father once doing. As Luffy put the cup to his lips a buzzing noise filled his mind. Voices began to tune out until he heard nothing. That was when words echoed through Luffy's mind. His brother's last words.

"Could you tell them what I'm about to say now? Pops! Everyone! And you Luffy." Ace said as he hung onto Luffy. Blood from his brother's chest dripped to the icy ground of Marineford. The stench of burnt flesh rose into the air filling Luffy's lungs. The knowledge that this was his brother's scent made his stomach roll and flip, wanting to empty itself.

"Thank-you, for loving someone like me who is a good for nothing and who has such bad blood in his veins up to today." Ace's voice began fading quickly. "Thank-you!" He gasped, tears freely falling from his eyes. He didn't want to leave but was left with no choice. There had been so much he had wanted to do, to see; including seeing Luffy reach his goal. His arms began going slack as bloodloss weakened him. "Thank-you." He whispered once more as his final breath left him and he fell from Luffy's arms to the cold ground.

Suddenly the memory froze in place. The heartbreak of that day and pain from not just one brother but from those who had sacrificed themselves to save the young man, suddenly was yanked and pulled away as a man appeared before Luffy's eyes turned and grinned at him. His own grin matching that man's as he clanked his cup with his.

Past

When Ace woke up again it was to the sounds of bombs going off. "Wha-" he began when he felt Izo place a hand over his mouth.

"Shh." Izou hushed him. "The marines are still hunting us." He stated. "They haven't figured out where we are but I guess they found that our ship was still here."

Ace nodded. "Any word from Pops on ETA?" He asked quietly.

"My transponder snail was destroyed." The cross dresser sighed sadly before pushing a stray hair out of his eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked looking at the younger man."

"Achey, hungry, a little weak; but otherwise fine." Ace responded as he sat up. "My head is killing me." He groaned. "How long has it been?"

"Two or three days." Izou answered with a shrug. "I can't really tell down here."

Ace looked around himself before chuckling. "This place, it reminds me of a cave Lu and I discovered when we were kids. We got lost in it for a week; felt like a month. 'Kino was so mad at us for worrying her and Dadan. She threatened us with no sweets for a year!" He grinned as he looked over towards Izou. "She gave in after two hours and gave us each a cupcake for surviving the ordeal."

Izou smiled softly. Ace had been sharing at random little snippets of his childhood here and there with certain people in the crew since finding his missing brother over a year ago. Most of stories revolved around his little brother; Luffy. "You're a bit obsessed with your little brother; aren't you?" He teased lightly.

Ace flushed red. "Maybe." He admitted. "As the eldest of three, it's my job to worry about my two idiot brothers."

Izou chuckled. "Same goes for Marco with us." He stated as he sat on the ground. His kimono was practically destroyed. The fabric ripped and torn. It saddened him. "Marco always worries. I think that boy is going to worry himself into an early grave and being an immortal Phoenix, that's something."

Ace grinned. "I can see that." He said groggily. Pushing himself into a standing position, Ace felt another wave of nausea hit him. Shaking it off, he knew it was from lack of food in his stomach. They needed to get to a safer place. Shuffling his feet towards where he could sense Izo, Ace stopped next to the samurai to look into the tunnel that led to who knows where. "Think this leads to the sea?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

"Guess we'll have to find out." He stated as he stood as well. "There's no honor in hiding like cowards only to die of starvation."

Ace held a hand over his stomach. "Yeah. I can agree with that." Holding his hand out, he called forth a small flame to help see where they were going.

"Is that wise?" Izou inquired gaining a chuckle from the younger man.

"Hell no." Ace said with a sigh. "But we're not falling to our deaths either." Placing a hand on the cavern wall, the two began walking slowly through the darkened cave system until they came to a huge cavernous space with deep gouges in the ground. "My fire didn't do this." He brightened the fire in hand to see better. "It's like swiss cheese." He said pointing towards the vaulted ceiling of the cave.

Izou stared in awe. "It's like Pop's home island." He muttered.

"Pop's home island is like this?" Ace asked. "This is a precursor to a sinkhole." He pressed his hand onto the cavern wall wall. "It's limestone." Izou raised an eyebrow in questioning what this meant. "It's a weaker, porous stone that cracks easily."

"How do you know that?" Izou asked gaining a chuckled from him.

"Makino gave me a book once and told me to read it or I wouldn't be allowed to eat at her place anymore without paying my tab." He shook his head at the memory. "I couldn't read very well, but I did as I was told. It was a book on rocks. My first book I ever finished." He grinned. "She forgave my tab once I finished the book."

"Sounds like a tricky woman." Izou responded as they found a way across the empty spaces of the cave. "Scary too."

Ace's eyes softened. "She is." He agreed before they both went silent. The hollow bottomless pit beneath them had a natural stone bridge that allowed them to walk across the gaping holes in the ground.

"M-Maybe dim the fire." Izou stuttered as they headed towards a ledge that looked to have another tunnel system.

Without looking behind himself, Ace could practically feel Izou's nervousness. "Don't want to fall." He stated lowly. "If I can't see, I just may."

Izou wanted to hit the teen but refrained from using violence against him. Taking a deep calming breath, Izou pressed his shaky legs to go forward. Once they crossed the bridge, they both were happy to finally be on some solid ground. As soon as they entered the newest tunnel they could feel a light breeze. Following the tunnel they came to an underground river. Following the river they came out to a cliff side overlooking the bay of the island. Before Izou could go further, Ace pressed a hand against him to stop the older man from going further.

Izou gave him a questioning look. "There's no path." He said as he looked over the edge of the falls. He then spotted their ship, but it was surrounded by marine ships. "Do you have a spyglass?" He asked spotting something on the beach.

Izou began patting down his clothes. He usually carried a compact one on his person. Grasped the bag on his hip that he kept extra bullets in, he surprised himself that he had two bullets inside and the spyglass. He flipped the band that kept it in its compact form before handing it to Ace. Taking the spyglass to his eye, Ace spotted bodies on the beach. Fresh blood pour from head wounds on the bodies. His crew of the second diction were dead. He began counting the bodies, looking at each of his dead crewmates before taking note. "Masked Deuce, Mihar and Banshee aren't dead. I don't see their bodies." He felt an ache in his chest at the loss of his friend's lives. It wasn't right or fair. He then spotted other ships on the horizon. "Pop's sent help."

"Jozu must have been near." Izou couldn't believe he was this happy to see the third division commander. "He's not going to let me live it down that he was the one to come save us."

"I'll buy him a month worth of Elbath Sake as a thanks for coming." Ace stated as he looked further on the horizon. "He brought friends too." He handed the eyeglass to Izou.

As his companion looked through the spyglass, Ace began looking for an escape. He really didn't want to go back into the cave system. That place creeped him out. He suddenly heard shots being fired from the Marine ships onto his ship. His heart sank with the damage it was taking. The ship had taken him across the sea ever since he formed the Spade Pirates. Pop had tried talking him into trading the ship in so that he could hold a bigger crew. He then spotted the Striker near some rocks. The raft ship was upside down in the water. He saw something holding the boat where it was near the rocks. An idea popped into his head.

"I think I found them" he said pointing towards the rocks.

Izou looked at the spot and saw three heads bobbing next to the turned upside down boat. "Smart. They're using the boat to stay hidden." He looked at the young man. "They might be seen if we don't act soon."

"Right." He sighed in resignation. "Hate to say it, but we may need to dive into the water."

"I can." Izou eyed him. "But you'll drown."

He rubbed his hands together. "Ten seconds." He said not explaining fully as he took his favorite hat off of his head. Throwing it into the water, he hoped he could find it later before diving into the water.

ONE

The second Ace's skin touched the water, it began to sting. He felt like the air in his lungs was being squished out and fought to keep his lungs filled with the air.

TWO

He tried to remember to kick his feet. He needed to come up for air. Kick. Kick. Kick. Suddenly he broke through the water and gasped for air.

THREE

A second splash sounded at the moment his entire body spasmed and he felt paralyzed. Breathe. He thought even as the water began to pull him under. So as he was pulled under Izou came up out of the water before diving for the mass of dark hair disappearing into the water.

FOUR

Ace felt strong arms wrap around him and began to pull him up. He gasped for air as suddenly his lungs gave release. The tightening of his chest. He felt faint as darkness began to sneak around the edges of his vision.

FIVE

Izou broke the surface with Ace in his arm. The young man took a second gasping breath as Izou swam quickly towards the rocks. It was difficult to do with the weight of a second person who was becoming dead weight in his arms.

SIX

A whistling sound was heard overhead causing Izou to turn towards it. As the cannonball struck the island it exploded into flames of fire igniting the brush around it.

SEVEN

Izou swam with renewed intensity as he realized what was happening. It would seem that because they couldn't find them, the marines with Akainu had decided to enact a buster call and destroy the island and its inhabitants.

EIGHT

Faster. Izou thought. I need to swim faster. The waves seemed to be fighting against him as he struggled to keep Ace in his arms. That was when Izou felt arms around him as he looked up to see who was grabbing at him, a smile appeared on his lips as he saw the dark blue haired man. Deuce grinned at him.

NINE

The two men swam with Ace partially unconscious. "Get m-me…to th-e S-Striker." Ace told them as he fought to stay awake. He had to get his remaining crew out of harms way. He could do that with the Striker.

TEN

Explosions from the island caused everyone to stop what they were doing to see the mountain explode as the dormant volcano became active in a very violent way. With large, explosive blasts of ash and gas shooting into the atmosphere. Billowing higher and higher into the sky the dark clouds of ask forced the white clouds to separate and for lightning to shoot out of the black clouds as electricity built up into the clouds. Suddenly the clouds began to fall in on themselves and roll down the mountain side. Screams could be heard as the hot, fast-moving mixtures of ash, gas, and volcanic rocks traveled at high speeds down the volcano's slopes, causing significant damage to the land and killing any in its way.

Finally after what seemed like forever, the group made it back to the rocks and capsized skiff. Ace was handed off to Banshee, the large woman hugging the younger man to her massive bosom. Ace lifted his head from her cleavage. "Hi." He said weakly.

"We were worried about you commander." She whispered. "We thought that we lost everyone."

"This was a fucking trap." Deuce said stating the obvious.

"Yep." Ace said lowly, the effects of the water taking full effect now making him feel extremely weak. His arms were limply hanging off of Banshee's shoulders. "Have we been noticed yet?" His head lulled to the side to look at Deuce, Izou and Mihar who were working on flipping the Striker upright.

"Not yet." Mihar said in a whispered voice. "However once your skiff is upright we'll have thirty seconds or less to get the hell out of here."

"Right." Ace weakly pulled himself further up onto Banshee's shoulders, the large boulder rocks were still hiding them. He peered over them in time to see the Spedille's sails catch fire. His lips turning into a look of sadness. The ole girl was burning. It made sense she would burn the day his men died. "I'm sorry." He apologized causing everyone to look at him. "I'm sorry this happened."

"It's not your fault commander." Mihar said as he and the other two finally pulled the skiff upright.

Banshee threw Ace onto the boat. Ace reached into a small cubbyhole and threw a rope at them. Tying the other end onto the pole that held the sail before igniting his devil fruit. As wet as he had been, turning the water on his skin into vapor was child's play. Within a few moments he was able to igniting the engine to life with his flames. Striker purred to life before shooting forward. On the rope, the four pirates held on for dear life as they were pulled behind the Striker.

Masked Deuce reached his hand out and grabbed Ace's hat as they flew by it. The ostentatious bright Orange hat was a little dull in color but he'd know his friend's hat anywhere. Suddenly a shot was heard along with a grunt of pain as Ace was shot.

"ACE!" As the four screamed out in horror.

Ace growled as he held a hand to his side. His eyes narrowed as he looked to his side in time to see a young blonde girl standing the crows nest on Akainu's ship with a sniper rifle in hand. He didn't know who that girls was but he did feel a bit of fear from her. Luckily the bullet used wasn't a seastone bullet. Marco or Deuce can fix me up later. He thought as he pushed his flames harder, in order to escape. Getting closer to the third division ship, Ace noticed a revolutionary flag being flown by one of the other ships. Great, Sabo is gonna chew me out for being stupid. He knew undoubtedly that, that ship had Sabo on it.

Just then the water began to boil or appear to boil when a giant of a ship burst from underneath them all. At the sight of this Ace swerved the Striker out of the way. Waves exploded as the Moby Dick that had traveled underwater after being coated, burst back above water. Ace looked up at the ship, shocked. What the hell is Pops doing here! He thought as he made a beeline for the old man's ship when suddenly a blast of hot magma shot down upon the Striker causing Ace to jump to the side as he was forced to abandon ship, but before he could panic his shoulders were grabbed by something sharp. Gasping, Ace looked up and saw Marco.

"Yoi, Ace, need a lift?" Marco grinned down at the younger man.

"Marco!" He yelled with a smile. "I've never been happier to see you man!"

Marco's eyes darkened when he saw Ace bleeding. Looking towards the remains of the striker, he saw the other four swimming towards the Moby. "Is there anyone else alive on the island?" As he asked this he saw deep sadness overcome his friend. "I see." As his body was only half transformed, Marco flew quickly back to his father's ship. With the rescue of a few a success, it was now up to their Pops if a declaration of war would take place. A measure for a measure for the penance that the marines must atone for in the lives taken.

M-Angel: Yay! I'm finally at this arc! I've been planning this one for awhile now. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!