Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 55: Something Left

Tears were starting to well up in Luffy's eyes once again as Ace went on, "I put you through so much and I'm so, so sorry for all of it. I'm sorry that I let all you went through for me go to waste and I couldn't let you save me properly... but dammit all Luffy... stop blaming yourself for things that I did!"

"But, Ace..." Luffy started but, Ace grabbed hold of Luffy's face and began to pull at it so it stretched out as he went on, "Luffy, I lost a lot of friends that day! But I wasn't going to let that damn marine take you alright?"

Luffy was whining in pain as Ace continued to pull hard on his face. "Ace!" he said angrily, "That hurts!"

Ace let Luffy's cheeks go and the skin retracted until it snapped back to normal and he fell over. "OW!" he yelled, rubbing his face and glaring up at his big brother. "What was that for?"

"To teach you a lesson?" Ace couldn't help but say, "Do you have any idea how scared I was when I heard that you were in Impel Down trying to rescue me? I thought that I was going to lose it! I even tried to break out of those stupid chains so that I could find you and beat you half to death for doing something so stupid. You could've gotten yourself killed! Why don't you ever think things through before you go charging it?!"

Luffy glared at him as he jumped back to his feet.

"Well, what did you think I was gonna do?!" he demanded. "When I heard that you were going to be executed, I had to do something! I couldn't just sit there and let you die!"

"And you thought that risking your life and breaking into prison to save me was better?!" Ace demanded hotly. "Did you really think that was going to help me if I knew that you could be tortured in my cell after they took me?! Did you really think that this plan... if you can call it that—was really going to work?!"

"Hey! I almost made it if I had a little more time!" Luffy said, and guilt was shining in his eyes at that thought. If he had just been a little bit stronger and moved only a few minutes faster than he could've gotten to Ace and that war might not have happened.

Seeing that guilty expression was enough to soften Ace's eyes as he let Luffy finish saying, "You're my big brother! I was going to save you or die trying!"

"AND YOU THINK THAT'S WHAT I WOULD'VE WANTED?!" Ace roared at him, unable to stand there and let Luffy continue to talk about not caring if he died or not. Luffy was startled by that sudden yell and seemed too surprised to come up with an answer right away. Something that Ace noticed and took a deep breath as he said his piece.

"I..." he began seriously, giving him a look that clearly said that he was not to interrupt him if he knew what was good for him. "I didn't want you to come after me. I didn't want you there! I never wanted you to be in the middle of all that!"

Luffy was looking completely lost at those words as Ace was breathing hard, trying to find the words that he was feeling.

"Luffy, if those executioners didn't kill me, the fear I felt for you was going to..." he said. "I was scared to death, alright? I was terrified that I was going to lose you. I knew what would be waiting for you... I knew what you would have to go through if you insisted on coming for me and that was worse than any torture they put me through. I was hoping that it was a lie... that you weren't in Impel Down and that you weren't risking your life for me. But I know you and I knew that was what you would've done. That's why I believed it. When I heard that you were captured on Level 6 and that you were going to be put in my cell where you were going to be tortured...? That was worse than hell for me."

Luffy just continued to stare at him. Never... not once could he remember ever hearing that Ace was scared. He had always been the big, strong, and fearless brother. Someone that wasn't afraid of anything, someone who wouldn't run from any fight no matter how bad things got. But now, here he was, telling him that he was scared of losing him. That nothing that he went through scared him more than hearing that he—Luffy—was trying to save him. But why? Why would that scare him? He could barely remember from a long time ago that maybe Ace said something like that before but the memory was faint.