Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 52: The Power to Shorten One's Life

"You've done a lot of stupid things before, Luffy!" Nami shrieked out, "But this is by far one of the dumbest!"

"They're gonna kill him!" Usopp cried out, silently saying a prayer for Luffy's soul as the shattered mast created a slight fog of ice around him. They could see through that ruse right away though... he was trying to use that as cover to try and escape before the Admirals noticed he was gone. Luffy had even shifted into his Second Gear for the hundredth time that day and disappeared.

"That's never gonna work!" Sanji shouted out, as he spotted the Admirals following him with their eyes.

"But even if he could fight them, there's no time!" Chopper shouted out, staring at the executioners, who were both ready to chop Ace's head off, and he had to fight the wail that was threatening to come.

"And you think that they're gonna just let him go that easily?" Zoro demanded, "Especially since anyone who might back him up are all on the other side of the wall?"

"Not only that, but Luffy's taken a real beaten here," Robin added in concern. "I don't know how much longer he can stay on his feet at this rate."

"But he's been doing good so far!" Usopp pointed out.

"It doesn't matter how good he's been doing, it's all about how long he can keep it up!" Nami said fearfully as Kizaru suddenly disappeared. What happened next was over so quickly that she didn't realize what happened until she heard Luffy's cry of pain. Apparently Kizaru had tracked him down and kicked him back, away from the platform. This time he went flying into one of the broken buildings, now lying among some broken rubble and dust.

"Oh, that had to hurt!" Usopp cringed at just looking at it. But the situation was even worse when he saw that marines were swarming around him... he didn't realize just how many marines were on this side! But when he took the time to notice what was happening around them, he could see hundreds, all armed and deadly. "Luffy... you are so screwed..."

"If I didn't know for a fact that he made it out of this place alive, then I'd agree with you," Nami said, as Brook bit down on his boney hands.

"Can't someone jump over and help? He can't fight them all off on his own!" Brook screamed in terror, panic really starting to settle in. He didn't know what to do now, or what anyone can do against these odds. Can't someone do something to help?!

"Dammit!" Luffy growled, and for the first time since arriving at Marineford, he looked worn out and exhausted.

Yet time seemed to have finally run out for them.

Sengoku had just given the order.

"On my mark!" he commanded, getting the executioners attention, who sprang to attention, positioning their swords at Ace's neck.

"NO!" Franky shouted, sure that this was the final curtain for him. Ace sure seemed to think so for he merely lowered his head in acceptance, no longer looking like he even cared what happened next.

"I CAN'T WATCH!" Chopper screamed as he pulled his hat down over his eyes and covered his ears. Nami also looked away as the others stared in horror, their hearts beating so hard that it was painful—yet they couldn't look at anything else. Luffy was struggling through the wreckage to pull himself out, but he seemed to be having a very difficult time getting his body to do what he wanted.

"Do it!" Sengoku commanded, bringing his hand down, the executioners raising their swords hit over their heads before they brought them down in a great sweeping motion.

"ACE!" Luffy screamed, his eyes wide, completely helpless as he watched the swords fall. The Straw Hats were all sure that this was going to be the moment where Ace was going to die. There wasn't anything that could put a stop to it any longer...

The swords fell, they felt their own hearts freeze when they saw the blood fly...

Yet it wasn't from Ace.

For the fraction of the second before the blades even touched Ace's skin, where his neck was reflected in the blades from the swords, something stopped them. Two great attacks of sand flew from out of nowhere, striking the two executioners, leaving deep gouges in the platform on either side of Ace as the would-be killers were sent flying backwards.

The Straw Hats only stared ahead, what had just happened hadn't sunk in just yet as Ace slowly raised his head in astonishment that he wasn't dead yet. Everyone in the memory was soon staring at where that attack had just come from, and when the Straw Hats forced their heads to turn, pulling Nami and Chopper to look up, who they saw standing there shocked them to the core.

"That's...?!" Brook gasped.

"Crocodile?!" Usopp, Nami, Franky, and Chopper all yelled, their eyes popping out as they stepped backwards.

It didn't seem possible, but standing right there was none other than Crocodile. Surrounded on all sides by marines, and trails of blood dripping from his head, he had created sand to save Ace at the last moment.

"What's going on?!" Nami gasped, "Crocodile actually saved Ace?!"

"This has got to be some trick!" Usopp shouted, unable to really believe what he was seeing, even as he rubbed his eyes hard to make sure that they were working right. "Where did he even come from?!"

"I guess that he must've went over the wall with all of us... looking at Ace..." Robin said, her heart pounding hard.

"But why?!" Nami gasped out, not understanding this at all. "Why would he do that?! Why would he save Ace?!"

She was looking at Robin since she knew him better than any of them, but even she looked at a complete lost as to what to tell her. Robin had known Crocodile for years, yet this was something that she never saw coming.

Sengoku looked livid and just as surprised as the rest of them as he stared around, trying to figure out where that attack came from. "Who is responsible for this?!"

Crocodile just made a huff sound, as if he could think of a hundred things better to do with his free time.

"I thought that he was busy trying to kill Whitebeard," Zoro stated in bafflement. But now that he thought about it, they lost track of him after they heard him shouting at the old man after he had been stabbed. Of course, with the walls rising up and death raining from the sky it drove everything else from their minds as they focused only on making sure that Luffy made it through it alive.

"Bastard!" Sengoku yelled furiously as he glared down at Crocodile. "I thought that we were lucky with you here since you have an old grudge against Whitebeard, Crocodile!"

"That was the impression I got too," Franky said, blinking hard as he shook his head hard to snap himself out of his stunned stupor.

Luffy, who finally looked away from Ace, as if making sure that his brother's head was still connected, to see who he had to thank for giving them a little more time.

"HIM?!" he shouted, anger mixed with the relief on his face.

"I don't blame him..." Zoro couldn't help but mutter, hating the fact that they owed that croc a debt now. But he would worry about that later, his main concern right now was Luffy avoiding dying.

But Sengoku's cry was clearly heard from over the wall, and they heard Jimbei's voice shouting out in confusion, "What is this? You were trying to kill the Old Man not a moment ago! What caused this change of heart?"

"That's what I want to know," Usopp said at once, "What is going on?! Why would he save Ace when he hates both Luffy and Whitebeard?!"

"Knowing him..." Robin said darkly, "He just did it on a whim."

And that seemed to be the answer for Crocodile couldn't have looked less interested in what he had done as everyone stared at him, as if afraid of the answer.

"That weak, dying old man?" he finally asked in his usual bored tones. "Oh, I can kill him whenever I want later. But right now, I simply don't want to see any of you marines celebrating before that."

"That's the reason?" Franky asked seriously, "Just so that he could tick them off?"

"Well, if that was the reason, I say that he sure did it," Nami said, so much relief washing through her that she felt light-headed and she sat down. For that moment, she thought for sure that Ace was going to die. Though she knew that it was bound to happen here sooner or later, just the thought of seeing that moment is enough to send waves of terror through her body.

Sengoku looked like he was ready to start breathing fire as he glared at Crocodile, his eye twitching and a muscle going in his forehead. As if he wanted nothing more than to jump down and deal with him personally after ruining their moment of victory.

At that moment though, Crocodile's head suddenly went flying off from his body, causing a couple Straw Hats to scream in shock at the sight of it. Yet even as his head hit the ground and immediately turned to sand, he still stood without reacting at all, despite not having a good head on his shoulders anymore. What had caused this became clear when someone stepped from the crowd and towards him.

"Hey now, Croco-man!" Doflamingo said as he came forward. "I'm actually jealous here. You ditched me just so that you can team up with Whitebeard?"

The sand reformed and his head was soon back, and though he didn't even bother to look behind him at Doflamingo, he was looking mildly annoyed at the thought of him being there.

"I don't team up with anyone," he said coolly.

"That... is true," Robin said having calmed down. Crocodile was a lot of things, but working for someone else wasn't one of them. He was far too independent and stubborn to ever take orders from anyone else to ever think about offering his allegiance. Even when he joined with Luffy in escaping Impel Down, that was an alliance that had been born out of necessity and was only temporary. No other reason.

"So you're brushing me off?" Doflamingo asked, that same smile on his face as if enjoying playing around here.

"Pretty much," Crocodile stated before he suddenly spun around as Doflamingo raised one of his legs and Crocodile's hook struck with the Warlord's foot, the shockwave from when they collided so great that the first few rows of marines were sent flying back.

"Call me crazy, but something tells me that they don't like each other," Franky couldn't help but say.

"Crocodile never spoke about his fellow Warlords," Robin confirmed. "I don't believe he saw eye-to-eye with any of them to be honest."

"That doesn't surprise me," Nami said, looking up at them before she tried to push herself up to her feet just as Luffy was pulling himself together.

"I don't know what just happened... but Ace is safe," they heard Luffy muttering to himself as he looked up to where Ace still was and, thankfully, still with his head.

"He's alive, but I hardly call him safe," Zoro added bitterly as Luffy was now trying to get back up.

"Luffy-san, please..." Brook begged, wishing that Luffy could give his body just a few minutes of rest if nothing else. But then again... it wasn't like he could rest here. And as the shock of seeing Crocodile fighting with Doflamingo started to wear off, the marines remembered what they were supposed to be doing and went back to trying to stop Luffy as well.

"Get out of my way!" Luffy shouted as he kicked what had to have been a full unit of marines away from him. Yet he was stopped soon enough however. For at that moment Aokiji was back, and quicker than blinking, he created a jagged spear of ice and stabbed Luffy deep in his arm.

"Oh, come on! Give him a break here!" Franky shouted as Aokiji stood over Luffy, who clutched at the bleeding wound and yelled in pain.

"L-Luffy!" Chopper shouted, running to his side where he could see the blood gushing out. Yet it wasn't as bad as he first feared, for it hadn't yet hit an artery, but with all the blood he lost since the start of this crazy mission of his, he didn't want to think of how much worse it could possibly get. Luffy's health was in serious danger here, and if they didn't do something soon, there's a chance that he... that he could actually...? He shook his head not wanting to even dare think of something so horrible.

But it was hard to think that way as Luffy's screams yelled in his ear as he held onto his arm. "DAMMIT THAT HURTS!"

"No duh that hurts!" Nami screamed at him, knowing that ice could be sharper than any blade. "Not even rubber can bounce that off!"

"Someone come here and help him already!" Brook cried out, hopping up and down wildly, looking around for someone to come to the rescue.

But so far, no one did, and Aokiji wrenched the spear out of Luffy's arm, causing him to yell even louder in agony.

"I owe your grandfather a great debt, Straw Hat," said Aokiji, and he didn't look the least bit happy about what he was going to do. Yet, he raised up the deadly icicle anyway as he stated, "But you leave me no choice. You chose this path of death yourself. Sorry."

"Luffy! Get out of there!" Robin called, Saul's face flashing in her eyes as he was frozen solid.

"Damn, I hate just standing here and watching everything! It's completely stupid!" Sanji shouted out in frustration, aching to kick that bastard across this battlefield.

"It's already history," Zoro said through gritted teeth. "We can't change it."

"Doesn't mean that I have to like it, Moss Head," Sanji snarled back as Aokiji brought the ice down, ready to impale Luffy again, this time aiming for the chest. There was screaming coming from the Straw Hats as they saw the ice glinting forebodingly... but then something kicked it from Luffy at the last moment. They jumped back to see the bluebell flames erupting, forming a kind of shield in front of Luffy and the form of Marco the Phoenix appeared, having knocked the ice right out of Aokiji's hand.

"That's that guy! Marco!" Chopper cried out in shock.

"Amazing," Robin said, her eyes having a little bit of a shine again. "So it's true about the rumors about him. He has the powers of a phoenix... a Mythical Zoan Fruit."

"Mythical... that's one of the rarest ones out there!" Sanji cried out in shock.

"Mythical?" Brook repeated, sounding lost as Robin explained.

"They are some of the rarest of all the Devil Fruits out there," Robin explained, "So rare that even Logia Devil Fruits are easier to find than them. These are able to give a person the power to transform into creatures from myths, such as a phoenix in Marco's case. The powers that they are given are also unique, even among Devil Fruits. Though we already met one with a mythical fruit once before. Do you remember Pierre?"

"Pierre?" Chopper repeated as he thought back, "Oh, you mean that horse bird?" he asked her.

"Yes," Robin nodded. "That was the Pegasus model. But the phoenix... that is something that is truly amazing to see."

"I'm just so happy that he saved Luffy here," Usopp whimpered in relief as Marco's body continued to burn with the blue flames as he glanced at Luffy.

Luffy, holding onto his bleeding arm, and was breathing hard, glanced up at him before he said gratefully, "Thanks for saving me."

Marco just grinned at him as he said, "Don't mention it."

"I like him," Franky decided with a grin. "He reminds me of me a little bit. Kicking ass and doing it while looking freakin' cool about it."

"Yeah, but I have a feeling that Marco can kick your ass," Usopp pointed out.

"Maybe two years ago!" Franky retorted, "But I'd like to see him fight against the Super New-Improved FRANKY!"

And Usopp and Chopper cheered loudly when Franky posed for them, as the others merely rolled their eyes at their antics.

"Admiral Aokiji!" one of the marines shouted out, shocked that anyone could've stopped an Admiral's attack like that.

"It's him!" another shouted, "That's... Commander of the First Division, Marco!"

"Now we have three of them who jumped through our blockade!"

"Three Devil Fruit Users managed to make it over the wall!"

And the sounds of cannons were going off from the other side of the wall, as if trying to prevent anyone else from jumping over to join the fight. But they could hear screaming and shouting as what sounded like Laboon had just come up and was causing trouble. But they found out what it was soon enough, for Oars the giant turned and seemed to be waiting for something when they heard a marine screaming out, "It can't be! There's another ship?!"

"Huh? I thought that the Moby Dick was destroyed?!" Usopp shouted out, his eyes wide.

"Another coated ship has appeared!" exclaimed another.

"Damn it all! It was hiding underwater all this time?!"

"WHAT?!" Sengoku shouted above them.

And though they couldn't see him, they heard Whitebeard's voice calling, "I never said we'd brought all of our ships."

"I get it," Robin said, smiling in understanding. "That was clever... they had another ship waiting for him directly under them all this time in case something happened."

"So now they have a chance to break though!" Usopp said as he looked up to where Oars was, and knew that they had their pathway ready.

"Why can't our plans ever work out like this?" Nami couldn't help but ask, remembering that their plans were all mostly thought up on a spur of the moment and could easily get them all killed if it went wrong.

"Why question them when they work out so well though?" Franky asked, wondering what kind of ship that Whitebeard had waiting for them. He got his answer soon enough for one of the marines shouted panicky, "They brought a paddle ship! They're heading straight for the plaza!"

"Don't just stand there then!" someone barked, "Sink it like we did to the Moby Dick!"

"Something tells me that they aren't going to let that happen a second time," Brook said Oars reached behind him and with a loud crashing sound, a large ship with paddles on either side of it, with the hull looking much like how the Moby Dick looked, came barreling in.

Not sure how it happened, it looked like all the Whitebeard Pirates had grabbed hold and were either on the deck, or hanging on to the sides for dear life as Oars used what little strength he had left to actually lift the massive ship right over the ledge and it fell to the ground inside the plaza with a crash. The Marines screamed as some of them either ran or became crushed by the vessel.

"He's pulled the ship ashore!" cried one Marines.

"They've broken through the encirclement wall!" shouted another Marine.

"Alright!" Franky cheered out, punching the air. "They finally made it to the party!"

"Like they would've missed it," Zoro smirked, glad that they finally had more backup here, ready to fight off the bigger names here while Luffy could focus on getting to Ace, but as he looked back to Luffy, his smirk faded. He hadn't realized the shape that Luffy was in until just this moment.

He was struggling just to get back up onto his feet, sounding like he was barely getting enough air into his lungs, and he was trembling all over as blood from his many injuries began to drip all over the ground. He was also forced to hang onto some of the wreckage around him to keep him from falling over before he coughed violently.

"Chopper?" Zoro asked, and he was a little surprised to hear how calm he sounded here despite not feeling calm at all.

The others were so focused on the ship and the pirates breaking through, they looked over at him, wondering just what he wanted. Zoro just pointed at Luffy, and when Chopper spotted him, he gasped a little before he ran over to check on him.

"Luffy! Stop! You're pushing yourself too far here!" Chopper said, fear really settling in here. He knew that Luffy had to have pushed himself far during this war, but this was worse than he first thought. He was slowly killing himself here and if he kept pushing himself like this then there's a good chance that he could... that he might really...?

"Hey, it hasn't been a full day here! Didn't Ivankov say that shot he gave him was supposed to last that long?" Usopp asked anxiously.

"If he wasn't fighting in a war then it might be different! But all the injuries and everything he put himself through have gotten even worse!" Chopper said crossly. "He hasn't given himself any time to rest and recover. He's only going because of that adrenaline but that isn't going to last much longer at this rate. It's wearing off and he's starting to feel the price of that now! He's feeling pain and he's exhausted from everything he put himself through."

He shook his head miserably as he told them, "Adrenaline causes the heart to beat faster and gives a person energy, as well as increase their strength and speed. But it puts a long of pressure on their hearts and... and in some cases, caused the heart to stop."

"WHAT?!" Brook gasped in horror.

"Ivankov seems to have only given Luffy enough to keep him going, but not enough too actually cause enough damage..." Robin nodded grimly, "But it's not the adrenaline that's doing this. Luffy's slowly destroying his own body from the inside all on his own."

"Then stop him!" Nami cried out in terror.

"If you know how to touch him here then be my guess!" Zoro barked at her, personally wishing that there was something that she could do to stop Luffy from killing himself here. She glared back at him, tears poking at the corners of her eyes as Luffy was still struggling just to get up.

The cheers from the pirates broke into them out of their thoughts and they stared ahead to see that the pirates were looking like they wanted to pay them back for their hospitably from before when they were trapped in the bay.

Robin looked at the surrounding wall and the stunned looks on the marines faces. She had seen this before many times, how most people seem to be under the impression that pirates were nothing more than ignorant savages, incapable of intelligence. They had seemed to assume that they never would've thought of a way out, let alone right into the plaza. Now that encirclement wall looks like it may work against them since they're all trapped inside with the enemy.

The pirates clearly thought of this and cheered as they vowed that they were going to save Ace and take down the Marine Headquarters once and for all.

"Old Man!" Ace screamed out at the sight of them all.

Whitebeard glanced up at him and asked, "You still got your head, Ace?"

"Just barely," Nami gulped down painfully, unable to shake that image from her mind. It was awful, it was like they were trying to draw out the moment of Ace's death for as long as possible, torturing them with the vague hope that he might be saved in the end... only for them to be crushed in the end. Whatever servant of fate that thought of this whole thing had a sick and cruel mind.

Oars was breathing just as hard and painfully as Luffy, seemingly fighting just to remain conscious this time. "We made it..." he grunted in that loud voice of his. "Now we can rescue, Ace..."

"Oh, wow..." Usopp said in silent awe. This guy was so badly injured, yet all he could think of was saving his friend. Truly an amazing man... giants were some of the most incredible people he ever knew.

But then his rage grew as the marines opened fired on him, and his scream of pain seemed to shake the ground.

"NO! STOP!" Usopp screamed out as the marines continued to shoot at Oars, determined to bring him down no matter what.

"He's one of the biggest threats here," Sanji pointed out, making himself heard. "And I don't mean just because he's big! As long as he's there, then they'll have his strength to back them up!"

But all the Whitebeard Pirates were screaming out in horror at seeing their friend getting blasted like this, all of them screaming out his name and even fighting the marines to get them to stop. But the damage seemed to have been done. He had been determined to do all that he could to try and reach Ace, yet the injuries were just too much even for him. His eyes turned glassy as his blood continued to drip all over, but he slowly turned his head to his friends and comrades below him and made only one request before his strength gave out.

"Everyone... save... Ace..." he croaked out, silently pleading that they do what he no longer could, and suddenly he fell, falling forward and no longer moved as he laid there. The Straw Hats stared with their eyes wide at what they had just seen, no one sure what to say.

Chopper stepped forward anxiously before he stopped, not having the slightest clue what to do anymore. Oars might be dying right now if he wasn't already dead, and he couldn't do anything to help him! Not him... not Bon Clay... not Ace... or even Luffy... what kind of doctor was he?!

His shoulders quaked as he began to cry all over again, unable to believe that he still had tears to shed after all that he had seen tonight. Robin merely knelt down to pat him gently on the shoulders as she looked up at Oars and all the yelling pirates who were screaming his name in fear, crying for him to wake up.

She couldn't help but be struck by the bonds these pirates. The marines may seem them as monsters who would gladly sell each other out and abandon them, but the fact was that in most cases, pirates were more loyal to their crews than the marines were. And here was the proof... all these pirates coming together for the sake of saving one life...

She looked up to see Ace's grief-stricken face as he stared down at them all. She couldn't help but wonder what was going through Ace's mind when he saw all these people here for him. Did he still see himself as someone who should never have lived? For this was Déjà vu for her... once upon a time... she stood in the clutches of the World Government with the people who mattered most to him in the world was looking up and determined to do whatever it took to save them.

She remembered exactly how she felt and she knew that she always would. That joyous moment when she had realized that even if the world saw her as a monster, there were those who wanted her to live.

Even though she knew the tragic outcome, she hoped... that Ace found the same answers she spent a lifetime searching for.

But something caught her eye and looked back to see that Whitebeard had moved forward until he was at the front of his ship, with everyone freezing to look at him—wondering just what he was going to do now. He then suddenly jumped down from his ship, much like how he did the first time and when he landed on the ground, it cracked and broke apart from the force of the impact.

"They are so screwed..." Franky whispered as the marines began to panic that he had fully entered the plaza, and began to take aim at him.

Whitebeard raised up his bisento before he called in warning to everything behind him, "Stand back, my sons!"

The blade glowed almost sinisterly, before he sent marines flying backwards, screaming all the way by cracking the very air itself. Any poor marine who was even remotely near him was sent flying back, crashing painfully and didn't move again.

"Damn, he just keeps getting scarier and scarier," Sanji whispered, wondering just how strong this guy could keep getting. Just then, the commanders all jumped in to join the fray, for though most of the marines were taken out from that last attack, they were still stuck dealing with the more powerful ones, all of which were ready to fight.

"What are they going to do?!" Brook gasped out, knowing that they were still too far from the platform and they still had an army to fight their way through.

"The only thing they can do," Zoro said firmly, "Keep going forward and fight."

Whitebeard then took a deep breath before he cried out for everyone to hear, "ALL RIGHT, MEN! WE'RE GOING TO SAVE ACE! AND DESTROY THE MARINES, ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" the pirates cheered, wild up and looking like some kind of demons from hell at the thought of tearing these marines apart.

"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Usopp and Chopper both cheered out as well, forgetting that they were next to useless here, but his words seemed to spark them all with an eagerness to fight that they kept forgetting that they weren't there for real.

The pirates all began to charge forward, the Commanders right in front as everyone followed after them and the two sides clashed once again. The battle went on from where they left off back in the bay, but there was more desperation for time. Here, it was all or nothing for both sides.

The Straw Hat's main attention was on Luffy however, who had finally managed to push himself up to his shaky feet, and seemed to force his body to try and walk forward. With everyone busy fighting and trying to stay alive, no one noticed him running on. Yet something was definitely wrong... the memory around them was darkening, as if he was fighting off exhaustion and the urging of his body to rest.

"This isn't good..." Chopper whimpered fearfully as Luffy marched on, still looking up to where his brother still was. "He can't keep going on like this!"

"Ace..." he muttered determinedly, refusing to stop now that he was so close.

"Luffy-san!" Brook warned, "Look out!"

But too late.

It was the vice-admiral who had accompanied Hancock to Impel Down who had stopped him this time by tripping Luffy up with a katana. He had come out of nowhere and had sliced him across his chest and stomach with his sword. But they knew that something was seriously wrong for Luffy wasn't able to dodge it and he hit the ground hard.

"What's wrong, Luffy?!" Usopp cried out in panic.

"He should've been able to see that coming and he could've easily dodged it!" Nami gasped, her hands over her mouth. This wasn't like Luffy at all.

"He's too tired!" Brook cried out, jumping around, trying not to panic but it was hard to remember to stay calm when he watched this.

Luffy was barely able to keep up with them as he tried to shift into his Second Gear... but something was wrong. His body didn't seem to be obeying him any longer and the memory reacted so violently that it startled them all. It was like trying to see through a thick haze of blinding colors and for a moment they heard a loud pounding in their ears. They heard that sound before when Luffy had been frozen by Aokiji... it was his own heart. And it was like it was protesting against going any farther.

"There must be something he can do!" Sanji shouted, looking to Chopper for the answers.

"Yes, he can stop now!" Chopper cried out fearfully. He was scared here, more scared than he could ever remember feeling. Luffy had already given up ten years of his life just to stay alive, but he's probably putting even more of those years at stake by doing all this crazy stuff.

Just then, the second marine that he was up against came in, looking much like how a Dalmatian would, used that same technique that CP9 did and he stabbed Luffy with his finger. Though it didn't pierce his skin, it had done damage. Blood burst from Luffy's mouth and he fell to the ground once again.

"NO! LUFFY!" Usopp shouted, pulling out his slingshot and firing desperately at the two marines, determined to do something to help, but the projectile went right through them as if he wasn't there. Yet he didn't care, he fired several more, as if thinking that if he fired enough times then maybe one of them would work.

But Zoro raised up his hand and stopped him from wasting any more ammo. Usopp looked at him with tears falling thick and fast, his lip quivering and Zoro just looked away, his own face stricken with shame and guilt.

He can't take much more and they all knew it, wishing that someone would do something to help. Luffy was drifting in and out of conscious as the ringing started up once again and the vision blurred around them. There was something wrong with Luffy's breathing for he didn't seem to be able to get a full lungful of air, and he looked like he was about to spit up even more blood.

The two enemies he was face had clearly noticed this as well, and were showing no mercy in their relentless assault. They sent Luffy back a good distance, forced to slide across the stone until at last he came to a stop and laid there, unmoving. Unlike every time before now, Luffy didn't even seem to try to get up, just too exhausted to even twitch as he laid there.

Nami let out a cry of despair as she ran to his side and knelt down next to him. She wasn't a fully trained doctor like Chopper was, but she didn't need to be for her to tell that he was seriously injured here. His blood was dripping from wounds all over his body, and the last time she had seen him this badly hurt was when he was up against Lucci and couldn't move even after beating him. His eyes had turned glassy as the memory continued to shake and tremble around them.

"All talk. Can't say I'm surprised, he's still just a rookie after all," one of the two marines said, sounding rather smug, which made them all furious and wanting to break his jaw just for saying that.

Momonga seemed to be taking this a little more seriously as he looked over at Luffy who, to the Straw Hats horror, was pushing himself back up. "Yet, he is still as persistent as ever."

"Luffy! Stop it! There's nothing more you can do now!" Chopper shouted, getting ready to force him to lie back down even if this was a memory. Yet it was impossible for them to even tell if Luffy was even aware of what was going on around him as he gazed forward with those blank eyes, and not only was the memory blacken out again, but it looked like Luffy was starting to see double around him.

But despite the fading memory, Zoro spotted something heading straight for them and couldn't stop himself from trying to position himself between Luffy and the new enemy. He only gritted his teeth in pain when Kizaru's light went right through him and before Luffy even realized what hit him, he was hit by the laser and caught in the explosion.

"LUFFY!" Chopper screamed as Nami let out a horrified cry of shock and fell backwards, her eyes staring in shock at what just happened. Everyone just watched, feeling as if the ground was falling away from them, unable to do their job of protecting Luffy. It was just impossible! One after another, enemies kept coming at him no matter how hard he pushed himself. They weren't going to let him take another step forward if they could help it... and Luffy was already half dead from everything they threw at him.

The smoke cleared and they watched to see Luffy laying on the ground, his eyes nothing but an empty whiteness as Kizaru looked down at him with that familiar bored interest. As if he were a little kid who was enjoying playing around with a bug before he killed it. Luffy had no more energy, no more strength to even move as Kizaru slowly stood in front of him, and their mouths had gone dry. There wasn't anything else that could be done if Luffy couldn't go any farther...

"You have courage, I'll give you that," Kizaru admitted, "But you need more than that. Willpower doesn't mean a thing without strength to back it up, Straw Hat. And because of that, you won't be able to save anyone no matter how hard you try."

"How... how dare you?!" Brook shouted furiously. "He's done more for people than you ever will! I can't count how many innocent people that he risked his life for to save! Meanwhile you people waste all your time and energy killing people!"

"I'll be the first to admit that I've racked up my fair share of bad karma in the past," Sanji added, gritting his teeth furiously as well. "But we're innocent compared to you swine!"

Nami was breathing hard, knowing that Kizaru could easily kill Luffy here, and she was looking around for Jimbei or Hancock to hurry up and come save him. But no one around them seemed to notice what was going on, all of them too busy fighting to see that Luffy was dying.

But Luffy wasn't looking at the Admiral as he continued to gaze up to where Ace was, who was looking back down at him, as if about to start crying as well. He looked like he was willing to cut his own arms off if that's what it took to get down to Luffy and protect him from Kizaru...

They understood that helplessness all too well.

"Ace..." Luffy croaked out, tears starting to form as he made one last valiant effort to get up, but this was a fight that he couldn't hope to win. The memory was fading rapidly around them and it was only going to be a matter of time before he blacked out completely. Tears were flooding down Nami's face and Chopper looked ready to bang his head against the ground until he did some serious injuries to himself. The others were strangely stoic as all they could do was watch... but even Robin turned her head away, as if she was fighting tears as well.

But despite what was happening, despite that Luffy could no longer move, they were proud of him. Proud that he had come this far even knowing all that he was up against. He fought through prison and even glared at death in the face for twenty long, agonizing hours before he got up and continued forward. He stood against marines, pirates, even the devil himself and the three Admirals all just so that he could save one person.

He may have finally collapsed, but they knew the truth. And it was because of that that they were all so proud to call him their captain.

"Now... will you just stay down?" Kizaru asked before he raised up his foot and some of the Straw Hats looked away with winces as he kicked Luffy right in the face. With a shout of pain and the memory quaked as he was sent flying back—and who knows how far he would've flown... but Whitebeard was right in his path.

They watched as the aging pirate held up one of his massive hands and caught Luffy.

"W-Whitebeard?" Chopper croaked as they had gone running to Luffy, almost scared to see how serious it was. Whitebeard held Luffy, upside-down and by his legs as he looked at him like he was a rag doll. And that attack had only made his injuries that much worse, causing them to go crazy with worry.

"A...Ace..." was all Luffy could wheeze out, and the Straw Hats wanted to smack him for not even thinking about his own wounds here.

"Now, isn't that a shame?" Kizaru questioned, mockingly to them all. "It's sad to see how the mighty Whitebeard has fallen. I mean, how could someone like you let such a reckless piece of trash like him lead the charge?"

"Reckless trash?" Zoro growled furiously as Luffy was continuing to cough up blood.

"I'm gonna be the one to take that jerk out," Sanji decided firmly. "I'll show him who the real trash here is."

"Not if I tear him apart first!" Franky broke in, his whole body shaking with rage.

"I, too, want to make him eat those words!" Brook added, his hands holding onto his sword, aching to draw it and show him just how wrong he was. Though through the dark haze they could see Kizaru's light there, getting ready to fire another laser at them.

Some of the Whitebeard Pirates stood right in front of Whitebeard, their weapons at hand as they ordered to everyone that they weren't going to let him touch the old man.

"Oh?" Kizaru asked with amusement. "Isn't that admirable?"

"I'm surprised that you even know what that word means!" Usopp roared at him, not caring if he was an Admiral anymore, he wanted to step in and stop him from talking. His hands curled up tightly as he imagined doing all sorts of horrible things to him.

But at that second, Kizaru's attention—in fact everyone's attention—was completely distracted when they heard a voice shouting above them.

"There he is! I found Straw Hat-boy! He's over there, Jimbei!"

"Jimbei?" Nami asked, staring up at the wall to where the voice was and let out a cry of shock and took a step backwards. Though it was difficult to tell, even through Luffy's half-conscious state, there was no mistaking Ivankov's enlarged head standing over them at the top of the wall.

"Where's that voice coming from?" one of the pirates asked before he looked up and screamed in shock at seeing him there.

"How does he do that...?" Sanji asked, shaking his head. How does that moron always somehow take center-stage and seem to make this all about him?

"He scares me..." Usopp whispered as the others all nodded sagaciously next to him.

"Can't you see me?!" Ivankov demanded furiously to the wondering voice. "It is me! I am Ivankov, dammit!"

"Hey! I know him!" exclaimed one of the pirates. "It's Ivankov of the Revolutionary Army!"

"What the hell is up with that guy's face?!" one of the pirates screamed.

"Don't ask," Robin asked, and normally she'd be laughing, but she felt too miserable to do such a thing right now. But as she looked again, she almost didn't notice Jimbei was there as well, standing next to him and overlooking the whole battlefield until he spotted Luffy there with Whitebeard.

"Luffy!" he yelled anxiously as he jumped down to join them all.

"Are you still alive, Straw Hat-boy!?" Ivankov asked just as worriedly, and the sheer weight of his head almost made him fall over the wall. He managed to stop himself and stood there, all of them amazed that he was able to do so with all that weight on his shoulders. Yet it was short-lived, for he ended up toppling over in the end and fell with a large crash right on top of some of the pirates and leaving a crater where he landed.

"I honestly don't know what to say to that..." Franky said, shaking his head as they all felt sweat-drops around their heads.

"If nothing else, he's good for comic relief," Robin sighed.

"What a noisy guy," Whitebeard stated calmly.

"You have no idea, big guy..." Sanji muttered as Luffy let out a feeble groan, his eyes blinking open a little as he looked around, seemingly lost as to where he was. That last kick had seemed to knock him senseless, as he tried to grasp what was going on.

"Iva... J-Jimbei..." he mumbled as his eyes tried to focus on them, and recognized who they were at least. But as he saw his friends there, it seemed to bring back everything as his eyes seemed to clear slightly and he struggled to get down. "Let me go, Old Man!" he shouted at him, "I'm... I gotta... let me go!"

"No! Don't!" Chopper shouted. He knew that he sounded cold here, but if Whitebeard let him go then Luffy was just going to keep going until he got himself killed. There just wasn't anything else that he could do right now and Luffy needed to think about his own health.

Thankfully, Whitebeard seemed to realize this as well.

"He's done more than enough," he said before he tossed Luffy over to his men, still limp but far from lifeless. "Hurry and treat his wounds."

"Got it, Pops!" some of them cried, catching Luffy, looking ready to give him some medical treatment. But Luffy was still fighting, struggling to get them to let go.

"Back off!" he shouted. "Let me go!"

"Hey, hey, kid! Stop! Calm down!"

"Yeah, don't do that! We gotta get you to a doctor, or else you're gonna-"

"Please listen to them, Luffy!" Nami gasped out. "They're here to help you!"

"Yeah, bro, you can't even stand up anymore! Just let them take over... just... just let them..." Franky tried to say, but his words died in his throat as he looked up to where Ace was. Damn, they were so close too... and it must be eating Luffy up inside at the thought of how he was out of the fight for now.

But Luffy refused to listen to reason as he finally broke free, hitting the ground and rolling over despite the blood that dripped off him.

"I got to save him!" he shouted out, "Don't you dare get in my way!"

He was struggling to pull himself up and was forced to use one of the nearby pirates to pull himself up, shaking him the whole time as he shouted, "Ace... Ace is... ACE IS MY ONLY BROTHER IN THE WORLD!"

The words echoed around the vanishing memory, his eyes full of a wild desperation that they couldn't remember seeing in there before. He was losing his mind here, giving his all to save his big brother, and it might've been a mixture of madness and delirium that was causing that demented look there.

"I'LL... I'M DEFINITELLY... I'M GONNA SAVE HIM!" he screamed out at the top of his lungs, throwing the man aside as he tried to run, but even he had his limits. For he managed to stagger just a few steps before he collapsed once again, and this time... he didn't get up.

The memory finally blacked out around them as Jimbei's voice sounded like it was growing farther and farther away.

"Luffy-kun?! Hey!"

"This is awful," another voice said anxiously.

"Please, Doctor..." Jimbei's voice said as it echoed away from them and Chopper's ears perked up at the word 'doctor'. "Do whatever you can to keep him alive! Luffy-kun! Luffy-kun! Hang in there, Luffy!"

And the memory finally blacked out completely.

The Straw Hats all felt as if their hearts were being torn from their bodies and then forced back inside their chests. Luffy had given his all here, but it just wasn't enough to see him through till the end... and yet, they were so glad that it was finally over for him. He would be taken from the battlefield, and at last he would be treated.

They all looked at each other, each one of them silently wondering if Luffy learned of Ace's death when he awoke...

But then Zoro blinked in realization. He remembered what Mihawk had said to him that moment he returned to the mansion after the war and he had been fighting through that crowd of baboons to try and get to the shore.

'Fire-Fist Ace... died right before Straw Hat's eyes.'

He remembered those words very clearly and a horrible feeling that maybe... it wasn't over like he first thought. He gulped down, knowing Luffy better than anyone what he was capable of. He would never take this lying down... he wasn't going to lie there with his brother still in danger. No, he was sure to keep going even if it meant if he died in the process. So he was sure of it... Luffy wasn't out completely just yet was he?

And those thoughts seemed to be confirmed when the memory returned, or perhaps it didn't. There was no picture, just a thick fog hanging around them, one so thick that they couldn't see more than a few inches in front of them. He stared around him, able to see the rest of the crew there, but everything surrounding them was nothing but an emptiness.

"What's going on now?" Brook gasped, staring around, thinking of all the smoke and explosions that had been exploding in the memory so far and wondered if this was the after-effect of one of them.

"I don't know..." Usopp gasped, backing up and accidentally standing on Chopper's foot, causing him to yell in pain.

"Well, do you think that's the end of the memories?" Nami asked hopefully, just wanting to forget all about what she saw, yet suddenly they heard a voice echoing across the fog.

"A bundle of spirit who only knows how to talk big," the voice said. "Young and clumsy... and yet I like fools like that."

"That's... that's Whitebeard's voice," Robin stated, her eyes wide.

"What? Why would we be hearing his voice here?!" Franky shouted, half-expecting to see the big guy appear.

But then his voice spoke up again, this time with a dark laugh in his tone. "Those with no regards for their own lives, advance!"

"Here he comes!" another voice shouted out, one they didn't recognize, "It's Whitebeard!"

And they heard Whitebeard's voice let out a battle cry before an enormous crash, as if he had destroyed something big and heavy, the sound reverberating around them.

"What is going on?!" Nami cried out in terror, hating not being able to see anything just as the sound of a loud explosion silenced her.

"Did I go blind or something?!" Usopp shouted, his skin crawling as he peered through the fog but it was useless.

"We can hear what's going on, but we can't see anything!" Brook shouted out, "This makes no sense!"

"No wait... I think it does," Robin said firmly and they looked at her just as a dark voice spoke up. This one sent chills down their spines for they recognized it as well. It was Akainu's voice...

"If we just let you run wild as you please..." he said, and you could hear that voice dripping with hatred, "The island won't be able to take it."

Whitebeard's voice chuckled darkly as he dared, "Then try to protect it."

"This is still a memory," Robin stated with a nod, folding her arms. "But Luffy wasn't awake..."

"But it would be difficult to block out the sounds of a war," Zoro said in understanding, getting what she was telling them.

"So now we're stuck listening to them?!" Sanji demanded hotly, crumpling up his box of cigarettes by accident in his anger.

"You have a better answer as to what's going on?" she asked grimly and he fell silent.

Sanji would never doubt something that Robin would say, but he just hated this! Stuck just listening to what was going on without seeing it was almost as bad as hearing about the war in the first place two weeks after it took place.

Jimbei's voice spoke up. "Take care of Luffy-kun for me," he said in a deadly serious voice.

"Jimbei, what about you?" someone asked anxiously.

They heard his clunking footsteps before he answered, "I've chosen this as the place where die!"

"Jimbei! You can't mean that!" Nami shouted out at once.

"I doubt that he actually wants to die, Nami-san," Brook gulped down. "I least I hope not. But he's made up his mind that he's not leaving this battle unless he has no choice."

"Besides, he looked like he was still alive and kicking when we met him," Zoro said, pacing around the mist, exercising any restraint he had to keep him from screaming out in frustration. This was torture now... they couldn't see anything that was going on and who knows what else could be happening?!

They heard more screams echoing around them, all of them sounding panic-stricken and terrified.

"Get back! Or we'll get caught up in it!"

"Admiral Akainu and Whitebeard are fighting now!"

"Oh, that would've been one hell of a thing to see," Franky whispered, his eyes wide. As for Chopper and Usopp, both of them felt like they were going to be sick or wet themselves at the thought of those two fighting it out after seeing the kind of devastation that they were capable of.

The sounds of swords clashing and bullets being fired continued to go off around them. Though they could no longer see anything they could tell that both sides were giving their all, fighting to the death as the sounds of battle cries sounded, along with the dying screams of pain the followed afterwards.

Chopper tried to flatten his ears against his head so that he could block the sounds of death that were making his eardrums bleed. As a doctor, this was his worst nightmare... all this needless pain and suffering... it was a waste! Why would they do this?!

"MOVE!" a woman's voice cried over the noise, "Clear the way! I must go to where Luffy is! Do not interfere!"

"I know that voice anywhere!" Sanji sighed, as if he had just heard the sweetest sound that anyone could ever hope to hear.

"MOVE!" the woman's voice shouted out again in fury.

"This is awful!" a terrified voice screamed.

"Boa Hancock has started attacking indiscriminately again!" That was when they heard several gasps and Hancock's voice shout out, "SLAVE ARROW!"

"Well, it's good to know that she's doing her part..." Franky said as the sound of a hundred arrows seemed to hit the ground. If this attack turned people to stone too, at least they die happy...

"Why's she attacking indiscriminately?" Usopp couldn't help but ask. "You mean she's attacking marines and pirates?"

"Wouldn't surprise me if she was," Robin said. "Aside from Luffy, all men are enemies to her."

"Besides, she agreed to fight against Whitebeard," Zoro pointed out, "She never said anything about fighting with the marines."

"Whatever causes trouble for them is good in my book," Nami said as the squeaking of bats also started to fill the air, along with Gecko Moria's laugh.

"The corpse's just keep piling up!" he jeered, as if he couldn't imagine anything funnier than watching people die.

"Push them back!" someone shouted, but then a bullet sounded off and more screams came.

"It's them! The pirate allies from the shore!"

"About time those allies from before finally made their way here!" Sanji shouted as the voices of the pirates all let out cries of joy at the sight of their comrades joining them.

"Both sides sound evenly matched," Robin said firmly, "It a very easily go either way. It all depends on who has the greater will to succeed here."

"Either way, I don't think this battle will be ending for some time yet," Sanji said firmly, having a bad feeling that this war wouldn't end... not as long as Ace was still alive. Perhaps the marines are aware of this and he knew that it wasn't going to be long before they all tried to kill him again. And next time, there was no way that he was going to get lucky again.

"Dammit!" shouted out another familiar voice, this time from Sentomaru. "We let far too many of them get into the plaza! Uncle will yell at me for this!"

"Oh, right! That's our biggest problem here, isn't it?!" Usopp shouted out in frustration.

"Besides, what did he think was going to happen? That the pirates would all line up for him to take out?" Zoro asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Under the circumstances, some causalities will be inevitable, but try to avoid hitting our allies!" Sentomaru shouted out, "Pacifista!"

"He's attacking his own men now?!" Chopper shouted out furiously, wanting to fight that overweight jerk himself.

"Again, it's not surprising," Robin said darkly, thinking of how they fired on their own ship back at Enies Lobby with those soldiers onboard.

"Inhuman beasts..." Brook muttered, shaking in suppressed rage. "If there's anyone here who should be called 'savage' it is them!"

"Nothing we can do about it now," Sanji growled just as several cries of surprise came.

"He's flying!"

"What are you all doing?!" Sengoku's voice rang out, "Shoot him down!"

"Shoot who down?!" Nami asked, wondering what was happening now as the sounds of bullets rang out loudly.

"It's no use, sir!"

"Th-they aren't working on him!"

"I don't care!" Sengoku shouted, "Keep shooting!"

But cheers were going from the pirates. "Go! Commander Marco!"

"Marco? Oh, that bird-guy!" Usopp said, remembering those blue flames. He got it now, the guy must've transformed and was flying to the platform now! But his hope was quickly shot down when there was a loud bang and then a crash... as if something heavy fell to the earth.

"Damn! We might as well be blind here for all the good it's doing!" Franky shouted, wondering what had just happened there.

"If I had to guess, someone took Marco down," Robin answered, and she seemed to have hit it right on the money. For the cheers of Marco's name turned to screams of horror.

"Nobody told you to jump in of your own accord!" Sengoku voice shouted, sounding both ticked off and relieved there.

"The hero..." Ivankov spoke up, sounding much closer than the other voices had sounded, "Monkey D. Garp!"

"Garp?!" Franky shouted out. "So Garp stopped Marco from saving Ace?!"

"Sure sounds like it," Zoro stated, though even he sounded completely taken aback by that. "If what we're hearing is true..."

"But it's his grandson!" Nami shouted out, full of shock. "I thought that he wanted Ace to be saved! Why's he stopping them?!"

"So he chose his stupid job over family?" Usopp roared out angrily. Maybe he was wrong... maybe Luffy was less like Garp than he thought.

"I doubt that he wants any of this to happen," Robin explained patiently to the other shouts of indignation around the crew. "But the fact is... Garp is a marine... and Ace is a pirate. Ace chose to become a criminal of his own free will and there is nothing that Garp can do to change that." She sighed as she looked up at the mist with her eyes unbelievably sad.

"Garp knew that the life that he would live would be far from easy," she went on softly. "That was why he hid him from the rest of the world for most of his life. This was why he wanted them to join the marines... because he held onto the hope that they wouldn't be seen as monsters any longer. But heroes to the world... that is what I think anyway. Yet..."

"Yet that was optimistic at the best of times," Zoro sighed, also starting to see what she was getting at. "They are both on different sides and he knows that... that is why he's fighting."

"But it's still his grandson though!" Nami gasped out. "How can he just forget about that and pretend that he doesn't know him?!"

"I doubt that it's any easier for him to be here, but that doesn't change the fact that this is what's happening," Robin said softly. "But I think... if he were given a choice... he will chose what is more important to him."

Most of the others just looked at her as there were cheers coming from what had to be the marines, glad to see that Vice-Admiral Garp was finally helping them out.

They had to admit, with Garp now stepping in and deciding to fight, it would make this a whole lot harder for the pirates to even get near Ace. But there was someone who didn't think too much about it.

"Don't be intimidated, men!" Whitebeard's voice suddenly cried out. "He's just a feeble old man, now!"

"Feeble? He's anything but feeble!" Usopp gulped, thinking of all that he put Luffy through when he was a kid.

"Don't forget that you belong to the same generation, Whitebeard!" Garp's voice sounded off, and he actually sounded amused. "You better focus more on the enemy you're fighting now!"

"Right," Sanji hissed, remembering that he was up against that lava bastard. "I would find fighting off that freak more important at the moment." After all, if he could turn into magma... just one touch would be enough to kill an ordinary person. If Whitebeard could take him out then it should make things easier for the other pirates.

More sounds of destruction and devastation went on as Akainu questioned angrily, "Do you feel the need to destroy the town with every attack?!"

"Why not?" Zoro could help but ask. "I personally think that it's an eyesore anyway."

"Well," Whitebeard taunted, "I did warn you to try and defend it."

"That he did," Robin nodded sagely with the battle continuing to sound as bloody and horrific as before. But at that second, the mist around them began to fade away and the darkness cleared slightly as a fuzzy image around them began to take shape.

"Luffy? Is he...?" Nami asked, fear back in her as she realized what was happening now.

"He must be coming too again," Sanji said, and he frowned heavily, not liking this at all. Chopper was also looking fearful at the thought of Luffy getting back up. For if he did fully regain consciousness, he'll try to go running off to save Ace again. He would be pushing himself even more and then he could end up doing a lot more damage to him! But then, he tried to reason with himself, Luffy was too weak to even move at the moment. That brought him some comfort even if it was a cruel thing to be thinking of. But he only wanted for Luffy to come out of this mess alive. No matter what happened, he knew how this nightmare would end and he didn't want Luffy to experience anymore pain than he was forced to up till now.

It was mostly a swirl of color and random shapes around them, but the voices that were talking above him were much clearer than they had been a minute ago. And they recognized Ivankov's voice among one of them.

"How is he?" Ivankov's voice asked, sounding closer than ever and there was true anxiety in his tone. They knew that he could only be asking about Luffy.

"How is he?" repeated another voice, "In this condition, emergency treatment isn't enough! He needs proper medical care."

"So what are you all waiting for?!" Franky demanded, "Hurry and take him somewhere safe where you can treat him already!"

"Yes... please..." Chopper sighed, planning on watching over every move that the doctor, who was going to be treating him, did. And he was going to memorize those injuries so that he could tell Luffy off for them later on.

The memory cleared up so that they were slowly able to make out faces around them, though it was still so dark around the edges that it was still very difficult to see any details. Luffy must've been close to blacking out completely, yet the memory cleared enough for them to see Iva standing right in front of them. Luffy was still lying on the battlefield, where he collapsed before, and was looking just as weak and beaten up as before.

Ivankov was looking up at the execution platform, but seemed to accept that there was no more that Luffy could do either. And he said the words that they had been hoping to hear.

"Hurry up and take Straw Hat-boy to a ship!" he ordered some nearby pirates and they let out sighs of relief... well, all for one that is.

The memory cleared a little more and Luffy's eyes fully snapped open, clearly having heard that order and he wasn't going to stand for it. His hand shot out and he grabbed hold of Ivankov's ankle, startling them all. Yet even this simple motion seemed to be too much for Luffy to take, for the memory cut in and out dangerously. Just keeping his eyes open and even just breathing seemed to be using up what little strength he had left.

"Iva..." he whimpered out so feebly that some of them had to kneel down next to him to be able to hear what he was saying. They had never heard him sound like this before... sound so weak and helpless... and he knew that as well as they did. He knew that he was in bad shape... but that still wasn't enough to stop that wild look of determination burning as strongly as ever in his eyes.

Zoro recognized that look anywhere. It was the same one that said that Luffy was no longer thinking about himself... he's not looking to save himself anymore. He was resorting to any means necessary to active what he needed to do. And he was willing to sacrifice himself in the process if that was what it took.

"You're still awake?!" Ivankov gasped out, having clearly thought that Luffy was down for the count.

"Luffy...?" Usopp whispered anxiously as he was now only able of keeping one of his eyes open in a valiant attempt to stay awake.

"I don't like that look there... that's never a good thing..." Nami said, recognizing that same look on his face that Zoro did.

"I..." he gasped out, "have one last... favor to ask you..."

"Last...?" Brook repeated hoarsely before he shook his head hard. "No way! I refuse to believe that! Don't you dare start talking like that, Luffy-san! You're not going to die!"

"He can't do anything anyway!" Sanji stated firmly, "He can't even move! There's no way that he's going to be able to do anything that he wants to!"

But that wasn't right...

Robin's eyes widen in horror as she realized who Luffy was begging this favor for. There was one way for Luffy to keep going. But that would mean...?

She looked up at the others, and she caught Zoro's eye, who looked at her in confusion. But after staring at her fearful look, he quickly looked back to Luffy and Ivankov—his eye lingering on Iva for a long moment before he seemed to put two and two together. He looked back at her, white as a sheet as he realized what must've happened.

"One last favor?" Ivankov yelled down at him, "Don't say such ominous things!"

The noise from nearby explosions had just gone off so that even though they saw Luffy's mouth move, they couldn't hear what it was that he was asking. Ivankov clearly could however, and his eyes widen so big that it looked like they were about to pop clean out of his head.

"WHAT?!" Ivankov screamed out. He was staring down at Luffy with his eyes full of shock, looking like he was convinced that he had lost his mind. The other Straw Hats hadn't been able to hear about what this 'last request' of Luffy's was. But Ivankov clearly heard it and he obviously didn't like a word of what he heard.

"Please... Iva..." Luffy begged, using what little energy he had into squeezing Iva's ankle.

"Are you sure about this?" Ivankov asked, his voice croaky before his eyes narrowed in anger, as if furious that Luffy would dare ask this favor. And that was when he said what was the cause of his anger.

"You want another shot of the Tension Hormones!?" he demanded hotly and Chopper gasped, falling back, his breath caught in his throat.

"N-NO! HE CAN'T BE THINKING OF USING THAT AGAIN!" he screamed out in terror and he actually ran over to Luffy's side again, trying to touch him so that he could shake him for daring to think of doing something so stupid.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF, LUFFY!" he hollered at the top of his lungs.

"Why? What are you talking about?" Brook asked, not understanding anything that was being said.

Chopper looked up with tears in his eyes once more as he shouted, "He wants Iva to give him another shot of adrenaline! Like that's going to make anything better! He still wants to fight!"

"You mean that shot won't work on him a second time?" Franky yelled, trying to remember what the little guy said about that stuff before, having a hard time trying to remember anything through the memories of screams and death after seeing this hell on earth.

"That's the whole problem!" Chopper screamed at them all. "It will work! That's the bad thing here! You don't understand! How many times do I have to tell you guys that his body isn't healed when he's taking it! He just feels like nothing's wrong! It gives him more energy, but he's using up all that energy too quickly in all these attacks and using his Second Gear! Adrenaline is something that should only be used for an emergency! Not to be taken like an energy drink here!"

He started to cry openly as Nami felt the world fall away from under her feet. She understood what this all meant the moment that she heard what this favor was. She looked down at Luffy and knew that he had lost his mind... after seeing all the damage he had taken since entering Impel Down and to this moment... how many lives did he think he had to spare?

She understood why Ivankov seemed so freaked out by the very thought. For if Luffy does take it again, he could very well die... and they never would've guessed it.

"That's too reckless!" Ivankov screamed down at him, "Don't vyou see what vyou're asking? We fought together all the way from Impel Down and even then vyou pushed yourself too far! Vyou're body had been fatally poisoned and then brought straight back from death's door! You pushed it passed your limits!"

"Luffy! Don't do it!" Usopp shouted out, unable to bear seeing Luffy continue like this. "Please! Let the others handle it!"

Even now, Luffy was still attempting to get up, but his muscles refused to listen. Meanwhile, Ivankov continued to shout at him, as if he thought that if he explained once more, he could get through his thick head.

"I've told vyou before! This isn't anything but used for an emergency treatment! Nothing more!" he screamed, "It just tricks vyou into thinking that vyou're alright! If you keep on deceiving vyour body like this then vyou really will die once this is all over!"

"Please, Luffy! There's got to be something else!" Brook cried, actually pulling at his afro, showing just how afraid he was here.

"That idiot won't listen!" Sanji hissed, wanting to strangle that guy for putting them through this.

"Think about Ace and what you'll put him through if you do this!" Usopp added, wanting to slug someone here. "You think that this is what he wants? Think again! He wants you to live! Even if he lives here, he'll never get over this if you die!"

"Scream all you want," Zoro said bitterly. "That won't change anything. We all know what Luffy's like. Once that moron makes up his mind then there's no way to change it."

The memory started to darken even more by now. But he was able to grab hold of Ivankov's collar and dragged him down with such force that Ivankov was forced to his knees as he continued to stare at him.

The words that came out of Luffy's mouth next scared them more than anything else that they had seen that night.

"As long... as I've done... all that I can," he gasped out, determined to let him know what he thought. "Then I don't mind... dying!"

"What did... he just say?" Brook whispered as everything faded around them so that they were half convinced that this one part of the memory was all that was left. All they could see and hear was Luffy and Ivankov... with Luffy just admitting that he didn't care if he died here so long as he could keep going. He knew that if he took that shot one more time, then it was as good as a death sentence.

"Please!" Luffy begged him, raising his head up and staring desperately up at him as he looked ready to cry. "Let me fight, Iva! If... if I don't... if... if I can't save Ace then... then I..." he seemed to have trouble trying to think of the right words, but the next second he seemed to realize that he didn't care what he said anymore and shouted out, "THEN I WILL WANT TO DIE!"

The silence was so heavy around them that it seemed to be pressing in on their ears. The sounds of the battle had faded away to them so it felt like standing in an empty void. None of them could truly believe that they heard right...

That Luffy declared that he would want to die and follow after Ace if he failed to save him here. He wanted to save Ace more than anything else... his brother's life meant more to him than his own.

"L-Luffy..." Usopp whispered, feeling like his own heart was crackling into pieces. "What... what about all of us? You... how can he not care about how we would feel?"

Didn't Luffy understand what he meant to them? That he was more than just their captain! He was their friend! And more so than that... he was like family to them all! They would fall apart without him there. What point would it be to go on alone?

"After all that we went through together, he's not even bothering to care what we would have to say?!" Nami shouted out, crying again as well. She felt like she had just been given a hard slap in the face to hear those words. You don't stop living just because someone else has! She understood that when she saw her mother die... they want you keep living!

"Because..." Robin said softly. "Love makes us do the stupidest things. Suddenly our own safety doesn't seem important when you're fighting for someone else."

She could see where Luffy was coming from. For she once gave herself up to the World Government because she wanted to protect the crew that she had grown to love more than her own life. The idea of being away from them hurt her more than anything else... if she was forever meant to be alone, then she would rather die to save her the pain.

"But..." Brook sobbed out, not knowing what to say anymore. He wouldn't have a life if it wasn't for Luffy... he owed it to him. And yet, he was talking about dying? He wanted to be there if he could just talk to him and remind him that dying wouldn't do any good! It would just remove one brave, wonderful soul in the world. The Government may seem him as a demon... but Brook knew better.

This world was a better place with Luffy in it!

"Desperate times... call for desperate measures," Zoro said softly. "If you could save someone you care about, even if it meant that you would die in the process... would you do it?"

They looked at them, at least half the crew was crying... and even Robin had a few tears threatening to fall.

"It's one thing to be willing to give up your own life for someone you care about," Zoro said grimly. "Another to see someone that you care about sacrificing everything for you."

Sanji looked at him for a moment before he sighed and looked away, merely gently touching Nami's shoulder in a comforting way as she cried. Moss Head may be an idiot to him... but he would know better than anyone about willing to die for someone. After all, he protected Luffy with his life back at Thriller Bark... maybe that was the main reason why he didn't want Luffy to ever know.

Sanji knew that he would never have wanted to see that look of horror on one of his crewmate's faces if they knew that he almost died for their sakes. Though painful to hear those words... he could understand. Besides, how useless were they all here? He was stuck running around in a dress on a pink island for crying out loud! He was more than useless when this was happening! Though that really made him think...

He couldn't help but wonder... did they all end up forgetting about Luffy while this war was going on like he had? If that was true... then they really had no right to criticize Luffy for risking his life like this did they?

"Iva!" Luffy yelled out, still trying to pull his wounded body along. "Please! Let me fight!"

Ivankov just looked at him, torn between smacking him and letting him do this if it made him happy. But his more logical side won out here as he shouted out, "I keep telling you, that if I let you die here then I'll never be able to look Dragon in the eye again! You stupid idiot!"

"He really is an idiot..." Nami cried quietly.

"The biggest..." Usopp said in a high voice that didn't sound like him at all.

Luffy ignored Ivankov's words as he looked back to where his brother was still trapped, waiting his death. The memory turned almost completely black again, with only Ace's face clear.

"Ace..." Luffy croaked out.

And seeing that seemed to have been the final straw for Ivankov. Looking like he was doing something against his will, he said, "Fine..."

His fingertips turned into syringes before he shouted out, "Do whatever the hell you want!" And they watched numbly as he stabbed them right into Luffy's side.

"Hey!" barked one of the Whitebeard Pirates. "What do you think you're doing to Straw Hat?"

"Giving in to one of his crazy whims," Zoro said knowingly. "Luffy always gets what he wants in the end. Even when he shouldn't."

"We have got to start putting a leash or something on him," Sanji groaned out.

Meanwhile, that shot was what Luffy seemed to need for the memory lightened until everything became clear again. The ringing in his ears stopped and they were amazed at how effective that was. Luffy suddenly pushed himself up until he was standing again... he was bent over, his arms looking like they were noodles or something. But then they clenched tightly before he slowly reared his head back and let out a loud roar, sounding ready to take on anything.

"That stuff may be dangerous..." Franky said in awe, amazed that it could bring someone black from the brink of death this quickly. "But I seriously wanna try just a taste of it just to see how well it works."

"Not on my watch!" Chopper snapped at him.

"ACCCCCCCCCE!" Luffy screamed out as loudly as he could, Ace staring down in shock to see that his little brother was back in the game. Luffy only looked right back up at him after he got that screaming out of his system, Ivankov standing right behind him, giving him one last warning before he ran off.

"Remember, Straw-Hat-Boy," he said seriously. "The booster deceives your body. Nothing more. Your injuries haven't healed at all. And if you fall again, no matter how persistent you are, you won't be getting up again."

"In other words," Robin said, turning her had back to look, and though it was hard to tell with her sunglasses down, they knew that her eyes were red from crying. "If he falls again, then he may not live to get back up."

"You fool..." Zoro sighed in acceptance. He would have to have a talk with their crazy captain after this was all over.

Luffy spit out some blood as he kept his eyes on Ace, still standing tall as he declared, "Don't worry... I... won't fall again!"

"Another empty boost," Ivankov stated darkly, looking like he was already regretting giving in to Luffy's request.

"At this point it really does seem that way," Robin answered grimly, shutting her eyes, suddenly feeling tired and sad.

"This is his last chance," Zoro added, looking long and hard at Luffy. "There won't be any more re-dues here... he's betting everything on one last effort here to get to Ace. That's the gamble here."

"Well, he better hurry up!" Sanji shouted, staring up at the platform where two more executioners just stepped up to take the place of the two that Crocodile took out before. Luffy just noticed them as well and went running off.

"Hey, wait!" Ivankov shouted behind him.

"But they're going to try killing Ace again!" he screamed back, far past caring about what happened next as he ran straight forward.

"Oh, don't these freaks have anything better to do than get in his way?!" Usopp shouted as several marines ran to try and block him, shouting that they stop him no matter the cost. It was amazing just how different he was fighting thanks to that booster. He not only took them down, he barreled right through them, just trampling right over them like they weren't even a match for him. It was amazing... and somewhat horrifying to watch.

"That idiot making us worry..." Sanji said, shaking his head.

"How bad was the damage done to his body?" Brook asked Chopper, who couldn't have looked more angry at himself for not able to answer.

"I don't know! I wasn't there to treat him when this was all over!" he cried out. "But if he doesn't rest—and soon then he...?"

He didn't dare say what he was thinking, and no one dared to press him to finish those thoughts as they continued to watch Luffy charging right through the marines as if they were just minor annoyances.

"Chopper?" Nami said firmly, anger building inside her, "When we get him back, I want you to give him a full medical check-up, you hear me? I don't care if you have to knock him out first! But I want to know just how serious all that was!"

She didn't care if Luffy objected to it all, she just couldn't stand back and watch as he was half-killing himself here.

"I'll keep him held down if he fights," Usopp said firmly as Chopper nodded in agreement, promising that he wasn't going to let Luffy leave the medical room until he was gave him a long check-up.

Luffy was soon surrounded by more marines, and he looked ready to continue fighting his way through until Ivankov appeared right behind him and merely batted his eye at them, sending them flying off.

"Where does he keep coming from?" Zoro couldn't help but ask incredulously.

"I don't know, and I don't care," Usopp said resolutely. "So long as he keeps helping Luffy, that's all I care about."

"I will back you up!" declared Ivankov, still giving Luffy a dark look for daring to do something so stupid.

"Thanks, Iva!" Luffy yelled back surprisingly upbeat before the two of them started running to the platform once again. Yet, through the rubble and haze left from that last attack, was someone waiting for Luffy... though this was someone they sure never expected to see there.

"COBY?!" Usopp yelled in shock.

"What's he doing here?!" Nami shouted, her eyes widening.

"That... idiot," Zoro hissed. Now, he admitted that Coby had gotten much stronger than when they first saw him, but he shouldn't be here! He was no match for all the powerhouses fighting in this war. It was a miracle that he managed to live even this long.

Luffy's eyes suddenly widen when he recognized who it was and he called out in surprise, "Coby?!"

Coby didn't answer as he looked up at Luffy, a fierce look of determination in his eyes as he glared at Luffy. He wasn't moving no matter what Luffy did to him. Two friends... one pirate and one marine... with one owing the other his life and his freedom...

But war changed everything.

They made their choices and they were now on opposite sides no matter the situation. Coby had made up his mind to fight Luffy no matter what.

"Back then..." Coby said, and though his voice was soft, they were able to hear his words over the noise of the battle. "If we hadn't met, Luffy... I wouldn't be here today... but... in order to become a real marine I have to fight you or I won't ever change!"

"Why's he fighting, Luffy?!" Chopper demanded furiously. "I thought that they were friends!"

"Friends don't mean much when their enemies as well," Sanji said darkly.

"You heard him," Brook whispered sadly. "He wants to change. To make something of himself and to become the marine that he dreamt of becoming. If he doesn't stand his ground here and fight, then he won't ever change."

"But is that worth fighting your friend?!" Nami cried out.

No one answered as Luffy and Coby glared at the other. Friends they might be, Luffy's will to save someone he loved will always beat Coby's desire to grow stronger. Yet that didn't change the fact that it was still painful to watch, no one said a word as they watched Luffy continue to run straight at him—ready to run him right over if that was what it took. He had been through too much and gave up too much to let himself stop now.

"We're on a battlefield," Coby went on, and it was unsure if he was telling Luffy that or himself. "And so I must be prepared to fight you!"

Chopper closed his eyes, unable to watch as the others maintained stony expressions as a fire blazed in Luffy's eyes.

"Gum Gum..." Luffy yelled as Coby vanished from his spot, with only Zoro and Sanji able to keep up with him.

"No, don't fight each other!" Brook pleaded desperately.

"It's not like he has to kill him!" Sanji shouted out. But those words barely left him when the battle ended before it even started. Before anyone, even Coby, saw what was coming, Luffy's fist had collided with his face, stopping him dead in his tracks. It looked like Coby had just run right into Luffy's attack, leaving a deep dent there...

Time seemed to freeze before Luffy sent Coby crashing to the ground and continued on as if nothing had interrupted him... though perhaps there was some regret in Luffy's face as he ran on.

"Oww..." Usopp winced.

"That sure didn't last long," Franky added, glancing back to where Coby was lying on the ground, out cold.

"Coby's got spirit... and guts," Zoro confessed. "He's come a long way since that weakling crybaby from that pirate ship... but..."

"But he doesn't stand a chance here," Sanji nodded in agreement. "He's not ready for this stage yet."

"That was still hard to watch," Brook said, looking back at Coby and saying a silent apology in his mind, but it couldn't be helped.

"It was Coby's choice to stand there and let himself get railroaded," Zoro answered. "He knew what would happen in the end."

"He'll live..." Sanji added, looking up at Ace. "Wish I could say the same for everyone else here."

"Damn them!" Franky shouted when he saw the executioners were raising up their swords, positioning them at Ace's throat once again. Ace couldn't have looked more disinterested in those swords, and that emptiness in his face just seemed to make things seem so much worse.

"NO! ACE!" Luffy screamed out when he saw those two standing there, anger boiling in his eyes when he saw those swords at his brother's neck.

"LUFFY!" Sanji suddenly shouted out, "PAY ATTENTION DAMMIT!"

Sanji has spotted them before anyone else did, the Pacifistas that had been blocking the bay exit were there, all of them firing upon the crowd. One of them had opened his mouth and fired a laser blast when it caught sight of Luffy, nearly blowing their captain's head off that time. Luffy, and even Ivankov were blindsided by the sudden surprise attack, but they seemed to have missed the worst part of it."

"Where do they keep getting these things?!" Franky shouted out angrily, hating how the marines just kept getting in the way of everything here. Can't they give Luffy a break here?

"Luffy's already close to a walking dead man! He can't take a direct hit from them!" Usopp shouted out, looking close to panicking here.

"All that damage had taken its toll on Luffy's internal organs, I bet you anything!" Chopper cried, actually hitting himself hard in the head here. "He's in horrible shape! I'm amazed that his heart hadn't stopped beating from all this stress! Even if he did manage to save Ace, it could've killed him in the end!"

"And I can only imagine just what that would've done to Ace..." Nami croaked out, looking at the two brothers again fearfully.

"Ace never would've been able to live with himself if that did happen," Brook moaned miserably. "He never would've recovered from that!"

'And neither would we...' he added in an afterthought. He wanted to tell Luffy that when they next saw him, to let him know that he shouldn't forget all about them like that! Selfish it might be, that was what he thought and he didn't care if he had to guilt-trip him... he didn't ever want to see Luffy put himself through this again.

"LUFFY!" Chopper's voice screamed, snapping Brook out of his stupor. "GET OUT OF THERE! YOU CAN'T TAKE ANOTHER HIT!"

Luffy was still on the ground, trying to get up, but seemed to freeze as the army of Pacifistas had finally cornered him, ready to fire once more. The Straw Hats panicked at the sight of it, ready to step in just as someone came jumping in from right behind them and landed right in front of Luffy.

"Oh! It's her again!" Usopp shouted out, his heart racing a little as he stared at Hancock. She was right between Luffy and the Pacifista, holding her arms out wide to try and shield Luffy from the blast that was coming.

"Thank god!" Nami cried out in relief when she saw Hancock there, and knowing that she hadn't failed them yet when it came to protecting Luffy. Yet she saw the Pacifista still firing up that laser and she was suddenly fearful for her. She didn't want to see her get hurt after all that she had done.

"Be careful my dear!" Sanji tried to yell out, but fell silent after Nami gave him a warning look to keep his mouth shut this time.

"Hey!" Luffy shouted when he saw her, "Don't! You're gonna get hurt!"

But Hancock didn't look away as she glared coldly at the human weapons, daring them to try anything. They all held their breath, and then suddenly—to their amazement—the laser died down and they stopped attacking. That was when they spoke in a robotic voice, having been ordered not to attack their own allies and in their programming, the Warlords were considered to be allies.

"So they won't attack her!" Chopper proclaimed in relief, letting out a breath that he hadn't realized that he had been holding.

"And Hancock saves the day once more," Robin smiled, also having grown fond of the woman after seeing these memories.

"But how is she supposed to explain this one to those marines?" Sanji asked anxiously, fearing that they would question her allegiance and she would be in a lot of danger.

"Oh, I don't think that it would be too hard for her to think of an excuse," Robin smiled back. "She could always just say that she didn't want them to end up hurting one of their own allies by accident or something. But right now, I don't think that we need to worry."

"Yeah, if they think that Luffy hugging her was him fighting her... I wouldn't worry about them believing some stupid excuse," Franky offered as Luffy looked at the two, suddenly realizing what had happened.

"That's right!" he said in understanding, a smile back on his face. "You're their ally! So you're safe from them!" He jumped right back up and went running on ahead, but not before he shouted back, "Thanks again, Hancock!"

Ivankov went running after Luffy, staring at Hancock as he asked, "But that's the Pirate Empress! How in the world do you know her?!"

"Think that he'll believe him if he knew that Hancock fell in love?" Zoro asked, the word 'love' seemed very strange on his tongue.

"I know that's the truth and I'm still coming to grips on it," Nami laughed a little.

"But it's so sweet..." Robin giggle a little as Sanji sniffled and sobbed a little in the background behind them.

"Luffy..." cooed a voice next to them and they looked to Hancock still there, a blush back in her face as she sighed lovingly, "He said my name again..."

She shut her eyes, little tears just coating her long eyelashes as she had the prettiest, most serene look on her face, as if she was thinking of wonderful things.

"Ok..." Franky said, unable to stop himself from muttering, feeling a little more sweat falling as he stared at her love-struck face. "She's gone bye-bye..."

Nami was just shaking her head over and over at the strands of luck that Luffy kept showing here. Next time she was going to play in a gambling hall, she had half a mind to drag Luffy along. Then again, he would probably get into trouble, gamble all their money away before losing... or spend all of her winnings on meat. She sighed, deciding that she didn't need lucky anyway... no one can beat her when it comes to cards... accept for maybe Robin, but come on... who would be crazy enough to challenge Robin to a card game?

"Hancock," the Pacifista suddenly ordered and the lovey-dovey look that had been there immediately melted off and she had a stony look in her cold, dead eyes. It was hard to believe when they were so warm and happy a second ago.

"Move Hancock," the Pacifista stated and they knew that thing was just about to get sent to the recyclable bin for that.

Hancock suddenly lept up and prepared herself for a kick as she demanded, "When did I give you permission to say my name?!" And she kicked at the Pacifista's head, turning it to stone, which cracked and broke apart.

"She beat it with just one attack?!" Usopp shouted out in shock, his jaw falling open. "And it took all of us just too barely beat one of them!"

"She's no amateur," Robin nodded, "And like I said before, she didn't become a Warlord based off her powers alone."

"Good thing she's on our side then," Franky muttered, gulping down and making a mental note never to get on this woman's bad side.

"I think you mean Luffy's side," Zoro couldn't help but smirk, and rub in the cook's face, "She couldn't care less about the rest of us, I bet. But so long as Luffy's alive, that's all she cares about."

"Luffy..." Sanji muttered tearfully, amazed with himself for being able to keep quiet up till now. "I hate you...!" and he broke down completely as Franky picked him up and threw him over his shoulder like how someone would carry a sack of potatoes so that they could go running after Luffy again.

But that was when they heard a loud grunt of pain and looked up to see that Whitebeard had fallen to his knees, holding onto his chest as if in terrible pain.

"Whitebeard?!" Franky shouted out in shock. "What happened to him?!"

"I was afraid of that!" Chopper shouted out as the pirates all stopped whatever they were doing and turned their attention to their wounded captain. "Luffy's not the only one here who's badly injured."

"You mean from that stab wound?" Nami asked quickly.

"No," Chopper said, shaking his head seriously, but still kneeling next to Luffy. "I mean, not even Whitebeard can fight old age." He could tell from a glance that Whitebeard had some serious health problems... and he knew that it had to do at least in part to his advanced age. But he couldn't make that call for sure without examining him in person... yet that wound that Squardo guy gave him sure didn't help.

"POPS!" Marco the Phoenix shouted as he bolted straight to Whitebeard's side. His face was covered in dirt and bruises, obviously having come from his fight with Garp... yet his attention was so focused on Whitebeard that he didn't notice a familiar flash of light coming up behind him.

"HEY! LOOK OUT!" Usopp shouted in warning as Brook shrieked in fear.

"Can't that guy take a hint that no one wants him around?!" Sanji yelled furiously as Kizaru appeared.

"You lose the second that you get caught off your guard," he said, as Marco's eyes widen in shock at the sight of him there before he took two lasers right through the back and they burst out of his chest.

"I bet that even a phoenix felt that..." Zoro winced as blood burst from his mouth and he fell to the ground, and he noticed the shackle on his arm, having a guess that it had to be Sea Prism Stone.

"This just keeps getting worse and worse!" Brook shouted out, feeling like he was losing his sanity by just watching all this. How could anyone go through this hell and come through alright? No one could... he just couldn't see how anyone could. And things continued to look worse and worse for the Whitebeard Pirates, for Diamond Jozu—who had been fighting Aokiji—was distracted when he saw Marco in trouble. Which was what sealed his defeat as well for Aokiji took advantage of his distraction and grabbed hold of his arm, causing him to freeze over like how Robin and Luffy had before.

But the worst was when Akainu coated his arm in magma... pure magma—and it melted off him like Magellan's poisons did. Yet it was impossible to say which was worse at the moment for he struck Whitebeard while he was down by punching him right in the chest, causing screams of shock coming from most of the Straw Hats. They could see the magma melting Whitebeard's skin, blood gushing out of the open wound and staining the ground as Whitebeard coughed up blood.

"He... oh god..." Usopp gasped, fighting the urge to retch at the sight of it all. Truly feeling the hopelessness sink in around him. He honestly didn't see how there was anything that could be done to save Ace now and he hated feeling so useless here.

"A fist of lava right to the stomach... I don't see how anyone could survive that..." Brook croaked, unable to bring himself to turn away from the horror show.

"POPS!" Ace shouted from above them, his eyes wide with terror. "NOOOOOOOO!"

"Don't just stand there!" Sengoku bellowed from the platform. "Attack together and bring down Whitebeard!"

"I don't see you doing anything useful!" Franky taunted, wishing that he could just slug the guy already.

But the marines were opening firing at Whitebeard as at least four guys went running up and impaled him with their swords. It was horrific to watch, just him getting riddled with bullets, the swordsmen hanging off him like some kind of insects, but the worst part was when one marine jumped up to eye level with him and fired a cannon right in his face.

Chopper and Usopp screamed as Brook hollered and his hands flew to his face before he remembered that he didn't have one anymore.

But for one wild moment it looked as if they managed to blow Whitebeard's head clean off. There was so much smoke from that cannon blast engulfing his head and neck that it was impossible to tell otherwise.

"OLD MAN!"

Each and every Whitebeard Pirate and ally suddenly ran towards him, panic and rage on their faces as Whitebeard slowly fell. But just as Whitebeard's feet left the ground as he toppled, he suddenly found his footing and stopped himself.

"Stay back!" he commanded in a thunderous voice.

"WAHHHH! You mean he's still alive?!" Usopp shrieked in terror.

"Damn, what is this guy made out of?" Franky asked, his eyes wide.

"I don't know," Sanji said in awe, "But those marines are screwed now."

"Please don't destroy the whole island," Brook whimpered, not wanting to see that display of power that he saw before.

"Do these guys really think?" Whitebeard began as he took a step forward, making the ground shake. He slowly began to rise back up, the marines still sticking to his chest like bugs, their faces full of terror as they tried to let go, but had seemed to forgotten how to do so, "They can kill me so easily?"

Chopper cried out in fear and ducked down, his hat pulled down over his head so far that the rim was touching his shoulders. Terror flooded his body and he felt Usopp also getting down, as if desperate to hold onto something to keep him from getting tossed aside. The others all watched, too shocked to bring themselves to look away—knowing that what they were about to see was something they would never have been able to be unseen...

"I don't need any help," he thundered, rising up like some kind of monstrous wave about to swallow a fleet of tiny rowboats. "I... I..." The dust around Whitebeard's head cleared as his eyes looked murderous and bloodshot as he glared down at them all.

"I AM WHITEBEARD!" he declared to the whole world before he held up his bisento in his hands, and with a single swing, dug it into the ground. With a mighty cry that would send armies running for their lives, he dragged the bisento across the ground, the force behind that attack caused a kind of chain explosion, enveloping those marines closest to him before spreading out farther and farther away until everyone in at least several hundred yards away from him engulfed in dust. But when it cleared and looked up... that was when they all gasped... to amazed, too stunned to even think of what they could possibly say.

For high above them, nothing more than specks, were the marines that Whitebeard had sent flying off. A whirlwind of wind and marines continued to fly swirl around him before he set his weapon at his side... and as soon as it touched the ground, it seemed to break whatever spell he had cast for everyone caught up in his attack now fell. They dropped like flies from the sky so that it looked like it was raining bodies.

"Unbelievable," Zoro said, actually shook up from such a display of pure, raw energy.

"H-He really is a monster," Nami croaked, staring at the towering wall in front of them. Blood continued to pour out of the melted hole in his chest. "How could anyone do all this?!"

"And not only that, he's got a giant hole in his chest!" Usopp whimpered fearfully. "Are we sure he's not some kind of god or demon?"

"That's a good question," Franky muttered, realizing that the odd clanking noise he was hearing was from his own iron body shaking.

"I'm more wondering how strong this guy had to be in the prime of his life," Sanji stated with a painful gulp.

"Well, that attack certainly seemed to have done its damage," Robin said firmly, and with a hint of concern. She was right, for Whitebeard suddenly slumped over in form, breathing hard and blood dripping down from his mouth as well as the wound in his chest. Those combined attacks from the marines, as well as the attack that he just used seemed to have been too much for him.

"What happened?!" Brook gasped out.

"Luffy's not the only one where who's practically destroying his own body!" Chopper shouted out tearfully. "He's pushed himself too far! He was in no shape to be participating in a war in the first place!"

Nami stared from Luffy to Whitebeard and couldn't help but wonder just what it was with men and their damn pride?! What is wrong with them doing all this to themselves? Even if they did save Ace... it's not like they could celebrate if they died from their injuries!

"Do not hesitate now! He has been fatally wounded!" Sengoku yelled at the few marines who remained standing.

"What is the deal with leaders here just sitting around and not doing anything as they yelled at everyone else to do the job they know they can't do?" Franky couldn't help but ask.

"Lazy if you ask me," Zoro shrugged, wondering why anyone would want to turn down a chance to fight.

But even though the order had come from none other than the Fleet Admiral, the marines didn't react at first. After that display of strength that Whitebeard had even after such serious injuries had shook them all to the core... not that they blamed them. Not a single one of them seemed to want to take even a step forward...

Yet after a few moments of gathering up whatever courage they had left, they all seemed to just charge ahead and do what they could before their bravery left them again.

But Whitebeard didn't seem all that concerned even as he tried to catch his breath. "Fatally wounded, am I?" he asked, but then to their amazement he began to smile.

"I think I'm missing something here," Brook gulped, half-expecting Whitebeard to go on another rampage again. Instead, however, he started to speak up again.

"Don't make me laugh!" Whitebeard called to them all, standing up straighter so that you couldn't tell that he looked close to dropping dead a moment ago. "Do you truly believe that I can die that easily? Do... do you really... think...?"

Yet his strength seemed close to giving out as he staggered, forced to dig his boot into the ground to keep himself from falling over.

"Don't!" Chopper tried to warn him, "You're in no shape!"

"A man like him can do whatever he wants," Sanji reminded him. "If he wants to stand there like that and say his part then I say let him."

"But you don't understand!" Chopper tried to tell him, "His wounds are bad! Even if those marines don't kill him, those injuries can!"

"There's nothing that can be done about it now," Zoro stated grimly as Whitebeard steadied himself.

"Don't you understand what it would mean should I die before it is time?" Whitebeard asked them all rather calmly. "Until I can see a bright future ahead for all of my sons then I will not allow myself to die. I won't."

Marines swarmed at his back, each one pointing either a gun or a sword right at him—yet Whitebeard couldn't have looked more indifferent to them all. He ignored them all as he looked up at Ace, who was staring down at him, the swords still at his neck.

"Right, Ace?" Whitebeard asked calmly; and Ace looked choked up as he looked back down at him.

"Oh, wow..." Chopper whispered in awe, holding his hooves up in front of him.

"He's really just doing all this for Ace and crew..." Sanji said, unable to stop the respectful smile coming. It didn't take much for him to see just what made so many people follow after him...

"Whitebeard-san! What an honor it is to have seen you just once, even if it is just a memory!" Brook cried out. "You truly are a great man! A man among men!"

"You just refuse to die!" one of the marines shouted out.

"No duh... weren't you listening to what he said?" Usopp snapped at him. Really, how slow were these guys? Didn't they understand anything? The reason that Whitebeard didn't want to die was because he wanted to see this whole thing through to the end. And no matter what the outcome was, he wasn't going to leave a moment sooner.

"STOP IT!" Brook shouted out, his awe suddenly turning to rage when he saw the marines aiming at Whitebeard's back. But he wasn't the only one enraged at such a cowardly action, for there was a loud crashing sound and a roar that distracted them all. Jimbei, who was wrapped in chains and being held in check by at least a dozen marines, had broken free of them and went charging in to block the marines along with all the commanders—covering Whitebeard's back.

"What's happening?" Nami asked, noticing that not a single one of them had stepped in to guard Whitebeard's front.

"A scar on a warriors back is considered a great shame," Zoro said in understanding. "They're protecting his pride, if nothing else, from cowards who will take a cheap shot at him."

"Such loyalty!" Brook whispered.

"Wh-what are they doing?! You mean that they want to die along with Whitebeard?" a marine shouted out, not understanding what was happening here, which caused people like Zoro and Sanji to look away in disgust. How could they have the gall to call themselves fighters and not understand? And they weren't he only ones who realized this.

Jimbei glared at them all as he snarled, "It doesn't surprise me that you don't understand!" And with a single tug, he broke the chains apart and they fell on the ground in pieces.

"We are going to protect the Old Man's pride!" Vista proclaimed proudly, sounding ready to die if that was what it took.

But Whitebeard didn't look all that comforted. In fact, he looked annoyed as he looked at them all from the corner of his eyes. "You fools... getting worked up over something like this?"

It was amazing to watch all of this, but then Sengoku brought them back to reality. He was looking ticked off by how things were looking and he declared loudly, "If you want to know the future so badly, Whitebeard, then I'll tell you!"

He then looked to the two executioners and barked at them, "DO IT!"

"ACE!" Nami screamed out when the executioners both raised their swords high over their heads. This was it... it had to be...

"I CAN'T WATCH!" Chopper screamed out, covering his eyes.

"DAMMIT, SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!" Usopp shouted out, his hand gripping his hair as waves of panic took over.

Everything turned into a mad scramble at once, all the Whitebeard Pirates screaming out Ace's name in panic and ran forward, only to be stopped by more marines blocking their path.

"ACE!" Luffy screamed in terror, tossing aside more marines who were now almost grabbing him in an attempt to slow him down. "STOP IT!"

But Ace merely closed his eyes once more. And if he was supposed to die here, then he would embrace it without a second thought.

"You won't get away with that!" Whitebeard declared, spotted the danger and raising up his weapon to strike. "Do you think that I would allow...?"

But before he could do anything, before he could finish his sentence, they knew that something was wrong. They saw some kind of spasm of pain going through him and to their shock he fell to his knees with blood pouring out of his mouth.

"Whitebeard!" Franky cried out.

Chopper cried out in worry, and if he had to guess, he would say that his heart must've come close to stopping in that moment, if it didn't already for a second. He could understand now... Whitebeard was never going to walk away from this battle... it was too much for his body here.

"There's no stopping them," Zoro said, his face white as he watched the blades fall. This was it, there was nothing that anyone could do to stop it... all the Straw Hats could see it. They were all too far away to be able to do anything to help Ace now. Nami covered her face with her hands as Brook and Usopp flinched and looked away.

However, something happened that none of them saw coming.

"I SAID STTTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" Luffy bellowed out. He had been completely surrounded by marines, but the impact of those words released a shockwave that burst forth from him. Their eyes widen in understanding as they knew what it was...

This shockwave of Haki was much stronger than it had been before now, much more like the one that Luffy unleashed back against those New Fishman Pirates. This one spread across the entire battlefield, touching each and every person and already eyes were sent rolling back. Sengoku's eyes widen in what had to be terror as he felt that power and suddenly what had to be just under half the people—marine, pirate, and the two executioners—had fallen to the ground, out cold.

"Holy...?" Franky croaked out, unable to say more from stunned shock.

"Took the word out of my mouth," Sanji gulped down as Luffy continued to run forward, and they were astonished that he didn't even seem to notice that everyone was on the ground.

"Ace!" he shouted, "I'm coming!"

"Hey, what did you just do?!" Ivankov shouted as he ran to keep up with him, his own eyes wide as he stared down at him. He wasn't the only one, everyone was now looking directly at him—at least everyone who was still awake anyway. What they had just seen Luffy do shocked them all to the core, even the pirates were all too dumbfounded to move for a moment as they watched him run forward.

All around them, familiar faces couldn't have looked more stunned such as Aokiji who actually looked taken back by that display. Mihawk, who wasn't too far away was looking slightly impressed by what he had just seen, yet at the same time that he didn't seem all that surprised that Luffy was capable of something like that. Even the Whitebeard Pirates and Commanders were looking at Luffy with new respect as they tried to slap their friends awake... having no idea that 'Ace's little brother' had such power inside him all that time.

"If you can't withstand it, then stay back!" one of the marines ordered with a shout, sounding freaked out, "Don't think of him as just some kid! Think of him as a monster! That boy is the son of Dragon the Revolutionary! It's no wonder he possesses this innate power!"

'Yes...' thought Robin. 'I guess the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, isn't that right, Dragon?'

Ivankov caught up to Luffy not long after the rest of the Straw Hats did and he pushed Luffy into telling him about that power he used and where he learned it.

"Huh?" Luffy asked, looking back at him with confusion on his face. "Use what?"

"How can he not notice what he just did?!" Nami screamed out, pointing out at Luffy, who couldn't have been anymore oblivious to what happened.

"It's just like last time," Robin whispered, staring up at Ace, who was looking down at Luffy as shocked as everyone else.

"What do you mean last time?!" Usopp shouted, glad to see when he saw that they had just been given another chance. "You mean back at Amazon Lily?"

"No," Robin panted, growing tired of all this running as well. "I mean when Ace first used it, don't you remember?"

"When Ace...?" Nami asked before she gasped, remembering as well. Back during the Grey Terminal fire, Luffy's life was in danger and Ace had been so desperate to save him he had tapped into a power he never knew he had. In his desire to save someone he cared about, as well as all the stress that he had gone through up to that moment, he had been able to unleash Conqueror King's Haki even at the age of ten.

"All he cared about was saving someone he loved from dying," Robin nodded, "He didn't even realize what he had done because all his concern was for Luffy. This is the same thing... all Luffy was thinking about was saving Ace."

"It comes full circle," Zoro said, knowing what she was talking about. Ace once used that Haki to save Luffy from dying by the sword, and didn't even notice it just as Luffy was able to save Ace from losing his head there in his desire to protect him. Brothers... it was their bond that allowed them to each awaken their most powerful ability.

"No," Ivankov said, suddenly meek. "It's nothing."

"Why doesn't he tell him about it?" Franky asked.

"Well, now is not the time to be talking about it don't you think?" Sanji shouted, spitting out the used up cigarette and now trying to go for another one. "Dammit, why does this keep being stretched on here? Why not just get it over with?!"

"Don't say something like that!" Nami shouted furiously at him and gave him a hard hit to the head. "I don't wanna hear you say that again!"

"Yeah, you jerk!" Usopp shouted out, his teeth sharp and Chopper looking close to biting down on Sanji's leg for saying that. "You want Ace to die?!"

"Moron!" Sanji snarled, "Of course I don't want that, but we know that's what happened right? But it keeps toying with us here! It's like Luffy's going to be able to escape with Ace after all, but we know that's not what happened, right?!"

They all glared at him, but not a single one of them had the heart to be able to tell him off. For the sad fact was that they knew that he was right.

"NOW!" another marine declared loudly, and they were glad for the distraction for a moment before the marine shouted that they were to kill Luffy no matter what it took. "That boy must not survive this battle! If he does, then he will certainly become a grave threat to us in the future!"

"Like hell we'll let you freaks take him out!" Usopp shouted angrily, wishing that he could fight just a few of them for just saying all that.

"Well, that did it," Robin panted as the marines all seemed to forget about the other pirates, and even about Whitebeard. "Luffy just jumped to their most wanted list."

"Why?" Nami asked, "I mean, I know that what he did ruined their plans, but how is that a bad thing? I think that it's the opposite here!"

"I know that," Robin told her, "But think of how many of the most fearsome pirates in history have had that power? Whitebeard, Rayleigh, Shanks, and many other big names in the New World are capable of the Conquering King. Now that they know that Luffy has it, if this is the kind of power he is able to do without any control, imagine what he can do if he is able to learn how to use it. We've all seen it first-hand."

"Yes," Brook said thoughtfully, "Luffy-san was able to take out fifty thousand men in just a single moment with that ability!"

"And now that they know that, they now see just how dangerous to them that he can become someday," Robin answered, her anger growing as well. "They won't let him leave this battlefield alive if they have their way. They want to stop him before he is able to grow into the threat that they now see he can become."

"Yeah, I can see what you mean," Chopper gulped as he looked at the murderous looks on the marine's faces. This wasn't fair though! What did Luffy ever do to deserve this? It was one thing to want to kill someone if they were a bad guy, but Luffy was anything but that! And no matter what the others said, he just couldn't understand why anyone would condemn someone just for being born! He hated this. He hated this so much!

But as the marines swarmed at Luffy, it was Whitebeard that stepped in. He sent a quake right through the air, blowing the marines that were closing in on Luffy, far away. Though not as powerful as it had been before, it was more than effective to get everyone to look back at him.

When they did, he was actually chuckling darkly to himself. "A bunch of cowards, you marines," he said.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Zoro agreed. Really, an entire army against one person? They're all cowards in his eyes.

"Are you all really that scared of one kid?" Whitebeard taunted. "What happened to wanting to take my head?"

"You know, I'd be pretty pissed off too if they all forgot about me like that," Sanji said reasonably. Really, decades of hard work and reputation of being a monster, only to be showed up by a new comer? That would suck.

And Whitebeard ended up causing more damage by creating another quake to remind them all that he was the one in charge here.

"The guy is bleeding all over the place and he's still kicking ass!" Franky roared with laughter. "Damn, that's what I want to be! Even when I'm a hundred years old, I'm still a freakin' tank!"

"Well, you keep rebuilding your body so I don't think you need to worry about that," Usopp pointed out.

"Maybe you should be more concerned about rusting," Robin actually teased. But for Whitebeard...? She looked up to see the blood dripping down from his chest, and from his head. Even though he had gotten this many injuries, he kept battling on... she could see why Ace would look up and even admire him as much as he did.

Once the marines remembered that he was still alive on the battlefield, they forgot about Luffy once again, turning their attention back to Whitebeard. They seemed to figure that since he was this badly wounded, it would only be a matter of time before he finally fell. They would go back to killing Luffy once they were sure that he was dead. Whitebeard only smirked at them all, as if they had all just signed their own death warrants.

As for the Commanders, they all continued to stand guarding Whitebeard's back, looking ready to fight to the death alongside him. This was good for Luffy in the Straw Hats opinion, but not everyone was willing to give up killing Luffy at the moment. He was still dealing with several hundreds of them, even with Ivankov backing him up, there was no end in sight.

Every time he kicked one ass, a dozen more popped up to fight him instead. This seemed impossible to them all. But as the battle went on, something soon happened that stunned them all.

"MEN!" Whitebeard boomed out loudly. "AS OF RIGHT NOW, BACK UP STRAW HAT LUFFY WITH EVERYTHING YOU GOT LEFT!"

"Did I just hear right?!" Brook gasped out, "Whitebeard ordered all of his men to back up Luffy?!"

"I... I guess so," Zoro said, wondering if he heard right as well. Everyone around them, including Whitebeard's own men, were just as surprised by his order.

"Back up Ace's little brother?" one of the pirates questioned.

"You heard Pops!" someone else shouted. "Move it!"

"You mean he's giving all his support to Luffy?" Chopper asked in awe. "Did this really happen?!"

"Must have," Robin smiled, nothing having been this surprised since she found out that Hancock had fallen in love with Luffy. "After seeing how far he is willing to go to save Ace, he decided to put his trust in him." She looked to her crew and smiled brightly. "After all... our captain has always been worth betting our lives on. He's always been our winning trump card."

The others all smiled as well, understanding what she was saying at once.

"How does he do it?" was all Usopp could ask. How could that rubber-brained idiot get the King of the Sea on his side? That Luffy... he didn't even know how to describe what he was seeing.

"This is it though," Zoro added, his smile fading to a much more serious look.

"Duly-noted," Usopp said, really wishing that their good news could last longer before they felt the need to remind them of the bad all the time! And here was some more bad news, it was Kizaru once again, ordering everyone to take out Luffy. It seems that discovering what kind of power he had was enough to finally start taking Luffy seriously.

Yet, thankfully, more good news appeared in the form of the Whitebeard Pirates. They had come charging in out of nowhere and began to fight the marines in Luffy's place, leaving him to run forward. They were protecting him from the more powerful marines, as well as keeping the massive hoard of weaker ones at bay, and they were actually starting to make progress in moving forward.

"We, New World Pirates, will lend you a hand!" one of them exclaimed.

"Ace is right in front of us! Let's go, Straw Hat!" another one yelled.

Luffy was baffled at how much help he was getting all of a sudden, but Nami was looking close to slapping him awake.

"Luffy!" she said angrily, "Right now, the marines are focused on Whitebeard! And everyone's helping you here! If you miss this chance, you'll never get pass through the Admirals!"

"You really gotta hand it to Whitebeard!" Franky said, looking back to see that the old man was now dealing with Kizaru. "He knows how to draw in a crowd doesn't he?"

"Kinda hard not to notice him," Brook said as they began to run once again, the platform actually looking closer now.

"This is serious, Straw Hat-boy!" Ivankov shouted out, who was still running next to them.

"It's been serious since this stupid war started!" Chopper said anxiously.

"I don't think he was talking about that!" Sanji disagreed, "Though I'm with you on that part."

"The world's mightiest pirate is testing you here!" Ivankov explained. "He has put all his faith in you! Do you know what this means? I'm asking if you have the resolve to live up to his expectations."

"Oh, I'm sure that he will," Zoro panted, "But we're not here for that now are we?"

"I don't think that Luffy could care less about what Whitebeard thought of him, to be honest," Robin pointed out. And it was no surprise to her or any of the others to find out that was true.

"I don't know anything about Old Man Whitebeard!" Luffy stated honestly, "I only came here for one reason!"

After he sucker-punched a marine out of his way before he shouted out, "AND THAT'S TO SAVE ACE!"

Usopp smiled at those words, feeling a warmth spread inside him at that touching declaration... at least until he saw someone standing in front of them again and he screamed in fear when he recognized who it was.

"Oh, not him again!" Nami cried out, looking around for that Vista guy again or someone who can deal with this guy.

"Straw Hat-Boy!" Ivankov shouted in fear when he saw him as well, "Get out of here! It's Hawk-Eye!"

"I thought that he was already dealt with earlier!" Brook cried out in fear. "What are we gonna do?! He almost had his arms cut off the last that that we saw him!"

"I guess he wanted to test Luffy's luck again," Robin said, though even she sounded anxious. She knew that he was right however, Luffy wasn't in any shape to face someone as strong as Mihawk and he might not be as lucky as he was last time.

Mihawk attacked with another bolt of green energy right off the bat, and Luffy was getting ready to dodge it when, to their amazement, someone took the hit.

"What the hell is he doing here?!" Zoro cried out, his eye widening in shock when he saw him.

It was Mr. 1, he had stepped in at the last moment and protected Luffy by shielding him from that attack with his own body. Yet it didn't seem to have done that much damage, if at all on his hard-as-steel body.

"You're...?" Luffy began, just as surprised as Zoro at seeing this guy defend him like that.

"Boss's orders," Mr. 1 said causally, not even bothering to look at him. "The marines are enemies for the time being. So go!"

"Crocodile's orders?!" Nami gasped out as Luffy ran around him and headed straight for the platform.

"Nothing about this war makes any sense to me!" Usopp yelled out, feeling like he was losing his mind here. Zoro frowned, remembering how difficult it had been for him to fight this guy before, and how at the end he had finally learned how to cut steel. It seems that he owes this guy two bits of gratitude... first, learning how to cut steel, and two... for protecting Luffy for him here.

"So, you are Daz Bonez," Mihawk spoke up, looking at him with polite interest before he slashed much more forcefully than he had before. This time, he cut right through Mr. 1's steel body and blood burst forth.

"He cut his body as if it was made of paper!" Brook gasped out.

"Damn..." Zoro said, shaking his head. He had almost bled to death trying to beat him, and Mihawk took him out without any effort at all. Just how weak had he been in those days? Yet, he was back on high alert when he saw Hawk-Eye going after Luffy once again. But when the next person who stepped in to block it came, they felt for sure that the world was ending.

Crocodile had come flying overhead, jumping clear over Luffy and had managed to stop the blade coming down on Luffy's head with his hook.

"Crocodile..." Mihawk mused, though even he seemed surprised by this.

"I'm in a bad mood right now, Hawk-Eye!" Crocodile snapped at him, "So you better watch yourself if you don't want to die."

"Is this a dream again?" Chopper asked, his eyes wide.

"Mr. 1... Buggy... Whitebeard...?" Franky said, counting off on his hands but quickly losing track. "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE? MR. 1 IS ONE THING, BUT CROCODILE?!"

"First he saved Ace, and now he's helping Luffy out," Robin said, shaking her head, unable to believe that the Crocodile that she once worked for, and this one here were the same man. Maybe being in prison changed him more than she thought.

"Ok, maybe this is a dream...!" Usopp said, thinking back on it before he punched his fist into his hand. "I'll start to really worry if Arlong shows up and offers to help Luffy!"

"Judging from how things are going, it wouldn't surprise me if that did happen," Zoro said, though now that he thought of it. Maybe Crocodile was only helping Luffy just to tick off the marines. That would explain a lot... and if you wanted to piss this sorry bunch off, he couldn't think of a better way to get back at them then to protect someone you thought of as an enemy.

But then again, who knows what's going on in that man's head?

Crocodile barely glanced down at Mr. 1, looking disappointed before he asked disinterestedly, "How long do you plan on sleeping, Mr. 1?"

Mr. 1 slowly pushed himself up, still bleeding heavily, but was far from over as he grunted out, "It looks like my body might have gone soft during my time in prison."

"Soft?!" Brook yelled out, thinking of the boiling blood and the vicious animals.

"Well, what's hell for some is more like a vacation to others?" Zoro shrugged. He personally wouldn't mind a chance to test himself against those hells and see if they would be enough to stop him.

"You're in the way, Straw Hat," Crocodile said snidely to Luffy, who glared back at him. "Get lost already."

Looking like he couldn't stand the thought of taking orders from him, Luffy didn't need to be told twice to go on ahead. As they ran on ahead, they could see that other familiar people were fighting with more people they recognized. But most noticeable was Hancock, who was a good distance away, and she was busy dealing with Sentomaru, who was looking ticked off at her as the broken remains of at least a dozen Pacifistas laid scattered around her.

"How many has she taken out over there?!" Chopper yelled out in amazement, and she was still going strong.

"I don't know, but I think I'm in love..." Brook sighed, admiring Hancock sitting up on her snake as she glared coldly at Sentomaru.

Nami could see Sanji about to start proclaiming words of love as well so she did that cute, innocent look once again to get Sanji's attention. It worked so well, that he had turned to stone and they left him far behind.

"Nice going," Zoro said approvingly, and slightly said when he saw Chopper transform to his Heavy Point so that he could drag the cook along behind them, trying to slap him awake. "Oh, just leave him! We're better off without him!"

"Shut up! We got more important things to worry about than the fact that Sanji's brain-dead!" Usopp shouted, pointing on ahead. "Look! We're almost at the foot of the platform!"

And when they looked, they saw that he was right, Ace was almost directly above them now, and not only that but the way was cleared. The Whitebeard Pirates had formed a large pathway for him, all of them forming a kind of wall, refusing to let any marine passed their barricade and stop him. And with the Warlords and Admirals out of the way, focusing their energy on dealing with the more powerful pirates, there was no one left to stop Luffy.

They were staring around, unable to believe this, all of it too good to be true.

"The path... it's open!" Luffy gasped as he ran passed them all, no longer having to fight his way passed the endless mass of marines.

"The execution platform is right in front of us, Straw Hat-boy!" Ivankov shouted, still bringing up the rear. "Keep going! You're almost there!"

"Right!" Luffy declared, and they ended up leaving Ivankov far behind. But as Robin looked back, she noticed that he had stopped running, and the drag queen seemed to be speaking to himself... at least until she saw a familiar hand bringing out a glass of wine from Ivankov's afro. Her eyes widen and normally she would've burst out laughing, yet she was already so emotionally and physically drained here that she couldn't muster up the energy at that second.

Though he had been poisoned heavily before, he looked mostly recovered from his experience as he jumped down and transformed his hands into the pair of scissors, running them along the ground right after Luffy.

"What's that snipping sound?!" Usopp shouted, none of the others having looked back and seen what Robin had.

"Inazuma-san!" Brook gasped out, pointing behind them and they all looked, with Robin smiling a little.

"Where'd he come from?!" Nami gasped, she didn't remember seeing him since they were on that warship from before. "Where has he been all this time?!"

"I don't know, but I'm so relieved to see that he's doing alright!" Brook sighed happily, "I was worried about him!"

"And it's a good thing that he's here now too," Robin smiled as Inazuma zoomed right passed Luffy, cutting up the ground.

Inazuma suddenly stopped, and with a long, swiping motion he lifted the long strand of stone up—with it bending and waving along like it was made of rubber, before it crashed right at the top of the platform, in front of Ace to form a bridge.

More marines were desperate to stop them, but the Commanders were the ones who stepped in and dealing with a whole barrage of cannonballs that were just fired. All of them still rooting Luffy on themselves... even Kizaru looked ready to stop him himself, but before he could even think of getting anywhere, it was Whitebeard who slammed his weapon right into him, forcing him to keep his attention on himself.

"I don't believe it!" Nami gasped, "Luffy's actually going to make it here!"

"Don't count your eggs before they hatch though," Robin spoke up, her smiling fading as confusion set in. It looked like she was right, however. Luffy was almost there, he still had the key to Ace's handcuffs, everyone else was dealing with the marines... what went wrong? How was Ace killed here?

She glanced at Zoro, who caught her eye contact and she could tell that they were both thinking the same thing. Something had to have gone seriously wrong for Ace to have been killed here... what could have happened?

"Go Luffy! GO FOR IT!" Chopper cheered out.

"YOU'RE ALMOST THERE, BRO!" Franky added, punching the air. "GET YOUR BIG BRO OUTTA THERE!"

Marines could see what was going on, and were fighting tooth and nail to break through the line-up. But the pirates were more than able to hold them back... even the few who did manage to breathe through, Luffy easily flattened them before he finally reached the foot of the bridge.

"Get going, Luffy!" Inazuma ordered, standing there at the bottom of the stone bridge, clearly ready to prevent anyone from going after him.

"Sure, thanks!" Luffy cried out gratefully to him as he ran up higher and higher, getting closer to Ace with every second. The Straw Hats hope was rising with every step that he took in spite of themselves. After coming so far and going through so much, it truly looked like he was going to make it. The pirates sure thought so and began to cheer him on, rooting for Luffy to do what they couldn't and save Ace.

"GO, STRAW HAT!"

"FREE ACE!"

"YOU CAN DO IT, ACE'S BROTHER!"

"LUFFY! LUFFY! LUFFY!" Usopp, Brook, and Chopper all began to cheer on, actually doing a little dance when they reached the bottom of the bridge and watched eagerly as Luffy raced up.

Ace just stared right at Luffy, who was smiling, calling his brother's name in excitement as he was finally within his reach...

But as they all knew, if it seemed too good to be true, then it usually was. For at that moment something was happening to the bridge—it began to shake and giant cracks were appearing all over it, putting a stop to all the cheers.

"What's going on?!" Brook gasped, his joyful mood turning back to horror. "Who's doing this to the bridge?!"

"Dammit, Inazuma!" Sanji shouted out, snapping himself out of his love-sick stupor. "If you messed up here, I'll kill you!"

"It's not him who's doing this!" Zoro cried, pointing ahead. Someone had come bursting up through the underside of the bridge and they couldn't have felt more dread when they saw who it was. Not here... not now... Luffy was already almost halfway up the damn thing and now someone was practically destroying the walkway trying to block him.

"Hey!" one of the pirates below called in panic. "THAT'S...?!"

"GARP!" Chopper and Usopp screamed in terror at the sight of the man there.

"Crap, I forgot about him!" Sanji hissed, their happy mood fading away.

"No... no he wouldn't stop him here, would he?!" Chopper gasped out, panic settling in. "He wants Ace to be saved doesn't he?!"

"I'm sure he does," Robin answered, feeling her heart going out to him. That couldn't have been easy for him to be torn between his family and his duty as a marine.

"Grandpa!" Luffy shouted out, as if thinking this was some kind of joke. "What are you doing?! Get outta my way!"

"What are they gonna do now?!" Brook cried out fearfully, "The bridge is starting to fall apart!"

And he was right, for their stone walkway was cracking apart worse than ever from Garp's sudden appearance, and his weight wasn't doing it any favors. It was only going to be a matter of time—and not a lot of it—before it shattered completely.

"Straw Hat-Boy!" Ivankov called anxiously from below. "DO SOMETHING!"

"How can he expect him to fight off his own grandpa like this?!" Nami asked loudly, her voice hardly more than a squeak.

"Unfortunately, there's not much other choice!" Zoro called, watching Luffy continuing to run up. "To get to Ace, he has to get through Garp first!"

And Garp seemed to have heard him for he shouted out, his face full of an anger that they never saw before, "I'm not stepping aside! I am a Vice-Admiral for from Marine Headquarters! I've been fighting pirates long before you were even born! So, if you want to cross this bridge, YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME FIRST, STRAW HAT LUFFY!"

The others were shocked that Garp would ever speak like that. He had always been hard on Luffy since he was a small child, but here he was no longer his grandfather, he was a true enemy. And it was really looking like their only choice now was to...?

"Gramps!" Ace yelled pleadingly behind him as Luffy almost stopped,

"IT'S THE PATH THAT YOU BOTH HAVE CHOSEN!"

"Please don't do it!" Chopper cried out, shutting his eyes. He couldn't bear seeing this! How could any grandfather just stand there and really kill one grandson and let another die right next to him?! But it was out of their hands to do anything but watch as the showdown was about to start.

"Please, Grandpa!" Luffy shouted up at him, "Just let me pass!"

But Garp refused to back down, even as the bridge beneath them continued to crack and fall apart. They had seconds at most before the whole thing collapsed. But no one was paying any attention to that, hardly daring to breath as they watched this family—however messed up it was—face off against each other.

Ace was screaming Luffy's name in terror, trying to rip off his chains once more and if he wasn't more careful, he could end up ripping his own skin off in the process. But he didn't care as he continued to yell. Luffy could only continue to run, and though they could only see the back of his head, they knew that there had to be a lot of fear and hesitation as he tried to work up the courage to do what needed to be done.

"Straw Hat Luffy!" Garp declared in firm determination, not looking any happier about this than Luffy, but not letting that stop him. "If you want to get past me, then you have to do it over my dead body!"

"He can't really think that Luffy can kill him!" Brook proclaimed. "How could he do something like that?! Luffy never even kills his enemies, let alone his own grandfather! That is just cruel!"

He thought back to when Luffy was still just a child and the harsh training that Garp would put him and Ace through while beat them up for just mentioning the world pirate. Yet, he knew that deep down, he did care a lot about them both... how he only wanted what was best for them and that he had hoped that if they followed his plans for them then they could've avoid all this. Was it possible that this was what he was afraid of? That they would have to battle like this someday if they chose a different path?

But he knew Luffy well enough to know that even if he was afraid of his own grandfather, he could never bring himself to go as far as to actually kill him. But to save Ace... could he...?

But Luffy's words confirmed what he already knew.

"I can't do it, Grandpa! Please move!" Luffy yelled up at him, almost nearing him.

"And if you don't do it then Ace will die!" Garp yelled back.

"Why not just kill him yourself then!" Usopp roared up at him, furious that he could be so indifferent here.

"Wait," Zoro commanded harshly, getting Usopp to look at him. "It's not over yet. Let's watch... and see what he chooses in the end."

"What do you mean, he's chosen the marines!" Nami yelled as Luffy had just screamed out, "I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!"

And his words felt like a knife in the heart.

"It's not too late," Robin answered, watching intensely. "There's still time for him to choose what means more to him. And if he's really Luffy's grandfather...?"

"It's going to happen no matter how hard you try!" Garp declared. "And I'm not holding back anymore, Luffy! From here on out, I see you as an enemy!"

And holding up his fist, all they could see was it flying at Luffy, who had no choice but to shift into his Second Gear. They could here Ace shouting at them both to stop it, but their ears might've just been deaf for all the good they heard. All they could watch was Garp continuing for Luffy, whose skin had turned red—causing several cries of anxiety from Chopper at seeing that damn technique again...

Luffy threw his arm back, ready to meet his grandpa's punch with one of his own. But for some of the more observant ones, they could see it in Garp's eyes. When he looked at Luffy's face, something in him seemed freeze up. It was as if he was suddenly seeing ghosts as he looked at Luffy, torment in his eyes. The Straw Hats froze as well, holding their breath as they watched and waited... and sure enough...

Garp had closed his eyes at the last second, and that was when Luffy slugged him hard in the face. The hit was so strong that it sent Garp flying downwards with blood bursting from his mouth. He fell, headfirst, towards the grounds, opening his eyes for just a moment to look at Luffy and Ace one last time before he seemed to just accept whatever was going to happen here. He ended up crashing right into the ground head-first with his feet sticking out.

"Damn... that was tough to watch..." Sanji said as the bridge collapsed, but Luffy was still able to jump from the falling pieces to try and make it the rest of the way to where Ace was.

"In the end, he chose his grandsons over duty," Robin smiled sadly, shutting her eyes and lowering her head a little. "I had hoped that he would."

"Enemy or not... they're still family," Usopp pointed out. "A dysfunctional one... but still..."

"Blood's thicker than water," Zoro agreed as Luffy jumped from falling rock to falling rock, and they watched as he long last made it to Ace on the top of the platform!

"But he... he... HE DID IT!" Usopp cheered out, tears of joy falling. "HE REALLY MADE IT!"

"YOU GO, BRO!" Franky cheered out as Nami and Chopper hugged each other joyfully at seeing Luffy finally making it there.

"Finally..." Luffy gasped out, as if it hadn't sunk in that he was there. "Finally... I FINALLY MADE IT!"

And he punched the air jubilantly as Ace stared up at him.

"Luffy..." he said but for the first time since this war started, he actually smiled, real pride on his face as he said, "You're one hell of a guy..."

"Took the words outta my mouth this time," Zoro couldn't help but smirk, but he looked to see that Sengoku was still there and there was a deep anger in his own face. "But they can celebrate later."

He didn't know much about the Fleet Admiral in these days, but he knew enough that he didn't become the leader of the marines for being weak. And there was no way that he was just going to let them escape when he was standing right next to him.

They watched anxiously as Luffy reached into his pocket and pulled out the key that Hancock had been able to slip to him earlier. Luffy went around Ace's back to where he was still cuffed and was getting ready to unlock them... but he was so focused on the chains that he didn't notice that Sengoku began to glow in a bright golden light.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Sanji yelled. "Another Devil Fruit?!"

"It would make sense for the Fleet Admiral to have a powerful ability," Robin said worriedly, having heard of his ability before. "They call him 'The Buddha'."

"Why do I not like the sound of...!" Nami's words were soon interrupted when she screamed when she saw just why he was given that name. Sengoku suddenly grew gigantic, his limbs growing out of proportion so that he had enormous arms, with rather tiny legs. But no one was even looking at that as Sengoku's body was glowing with that golden hue, almost like a polished gold statue. He towered over the two brothers, who were staring up in fear.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE?!" Usopp shrieked, scared out of his mind. "HE'S SOME KIND OF GOD?!"

"Not quite! But not far off!" Robin shouted, sweat falling from her face. "That is a Human Human Fruit! The model: Buddha!"

"He can turn into a real life Buddha?!" Nami shouted.

"Dammit, Luffy!" Sanji yelled, "Get the hell outta there if you want to keep living!"

Both young men froze as they stared up in horror as Sengoku raised up his fist, slowly preparing the execution himself. Luffy was now scrambling to get those cuffs off Ace's wrists, but a laser of light flew over their heads and headed straight for Luffy. Though the attack didn't touch him, even from this distance they could hear the sound of the key breaking apart and clattering on the platform.

"What happened that time?!" Chopper shouted out, unsure of how much more he could take.

"It was Kizaru!" Zoro snarled, glaring back to see the Admiral there with his finger glowing slightly, a smug look on his face that he wished that he could wipe off with his blade.

"One hell of a shot," Usopp said, gritting his teeth. Come on... Luffy came too far for it to end like this! He looked back up to where he was, fear filling him at the thought of this might be where their luck runs out.

Luffy panicked when he held up the broken key, not knowing what else he could do, not that they had any idea. It looked pretty bad for them all... and dread was sinking in quickly.

"Straw Hat Luffy!" Sengoku declared in a loud voice that shook with power. "You are also a renowned criminal who deserves the death penalty!"

"No, he doesn't!" Chopper yelled out furiously.

"Now, as with your brother, I will execute both of you myself!" and he held up his hand, ready to bring his golden fist down on them. Usopp was biting his nails so hard that he started biting his fingers instead, not noticing it however as he gave a silent prayer for some kind of miracle for them to make it out of this mess...

Yet one of the executioners was stirring... slowly raising his head up and when they saw his face, there was more cries of astonishment coming from most of the crew.

"MR. 3?!" Chopper, Nami, and Usopp all shouted out, their jaws dropping.

"What's he doing there?!" Brook cried out.

"Wait, that means he was trying to kill Ace before?!" Nami gasped. "What's going on here?!"

Mr. 3 slowly sat up, rubbing his head in a dazed expression. They were too far away to hear what he was saying, but he was clearly wondering why he had passed out all of a sudden.

"What a lousy thing to wake up to," Zoro said, looking up to where Sengoku was still there.

"3!" Luffy shouted when he saw him, "Why are you here?!"

But Mr. 3 didn't answer as he just noticed the light that was almost blinding him and he looked up. When he saw Sengoku there, he began to scream in the utmost terror like he was having a nightmare.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" he shrieked out.

"Too long to explain, just get out of there!" Nami yelled up, yet Robin's eyes widen as she remembered something. His powers... there might still be a chance that...?

"Hey, 3!" Luffy yelled as he stuck his thumb up to his mouth. "Make a wall and protect Ace!"

And he bit down hard on his thumb, prepared to blow air into his body again just as Sengoku threw his punch. Mr. 3 created a wall of wax around him and Ace just as Luffy blew air into his stomach, growing into a large kind of cushion between them. The Straw Hats froze, their hearts beating so hard that they could feel their chests ache.

The force from Sengoku's attack was so great that even from here they saw Luffy spitting up blood and the memory darkened threateningly, as if he was close to passing out. Chopper whined and covered his eyes, feeling like his insides were being torn apart at the thought of how much worse Luffy's injuries had to be.

But then they felt some kind of shockwave—both like but completely different from the ones that Whitebeard used—but it was still enough to make the entire memory shake and tremble. Sengoku looked surprise by this development however, that all three of them were still alive, yet he kept pressing down hard, trying to get through and finish what he started. It was all a matter of seeing who will give in first...

And it was the platform that ended up collapsing before either fighter. It shattered and cracked, slowly toppling as they ended up fall. Some of the Straw Hats were screaming in fear as they watched with wide eyes when they saw the three falling.

Luffy had shrunk down to child size and Ace was still chained... yet it was Mr. 3 who had a plan. Spinning around in midair to Luffy, he held up his hand as wax formed.

"I can make a key for you!" he yelled out quickly, "You can still get the shackles off in time!"

"You mean...?!" Brook gasped, having forgotten all about that.

"There's still a chance!" Sanji shouted out, knowing that it was all a matter of timing. If they were even just a second too slow then...?

"But why?!" Nami cried out. "Why is he risking so much to help Luffy?!"

"I got it!" Luffy shouted out as they were all wondering Mr. 3's motives as well.

Mr. 3 looked choked up, but he gave his answer as he formed a wax key. "If I were to tell you that I'm here to honor the last wish of a friend, would you laugh at me?!" he asked Luffy.

"You mean...? Bon Clay?!" Franky shouted out in astonishment. "He's here because he's...?" And tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Just when you think you know someone...?" Robin whispered to herself, having never thought of Mr. 3 doing something like this. But then again... people can change if they want to. Even someone like him has some honor in him that he was loyal to in the end.

"I'd never laugh at that!" Luffy squeaked out, spinning to face him as well as Mr. 3 tossed the wax key at him.

"Then hurry up and save your brother, Straw Hat!" he shouted as Luffy caught it.

"Got it!" Luffy shouted back as marines below took aim and fired up with mortar cannons. Some of the Straw Hats screamed out, their own words suddenly deaf to them as they watched. This had to be it this time... Luffy couldn't get to Ace in time and...? But then...?

All they could see was a blind explosion around them. Fire and smoke engulfing everything around them, so they couldn't see anything but the fireball. No one dared to say a word as they watched, their breaths held and their hearts actually stopping as they stared ahead... preparing for the worse.

The marines were trying to tell themselves that they had to have done it... that no one could've survived those blasts and they were all dreading the same thing by the time something fell through the fire and made a loud clattering noise...

What hit the ground... was a pair of unlocked handcuffs...

"No..." Nami whispered, her eyes going so wide that she was actually worried that they might accidently pop out of her head. "You mean... he actually...?"

"Luffy..." Robin whispered as shock took hold.

"He's...!" Brook gasped, pointing up ahead as even more fire burst inside the smoke, creating a kind of tunnel of flames bursting out, creating a way out and inside it they saw a pair of glowing eyes.

"That's...?!" Sanji gasped, the cigarette falling from his lips once again.

"You haven't changed, Luffy..." scolded a familiar voice, but there was happiness and excitement in it now, the despair and anger long gone. They spotted Luffy's face through the fire, with a smile so big that it looked like it was going to split his face.

"You never listen to a word I say, do you?" Ace's voice went on as his smiling face also appeared, grabbing hold of Luffy, who had grabbed hold of Mr. 3 behind them. "And you're still doing dumb things. What am I gonna do with you?!"

There was a cheer of joy from the pirates as they realized what had happened and smiles were breaking across the Straw Hats faces as well when they knew what this all meant.

"ACE!" Luffy screamed out in joy, having finally did it... he saved his big brother at long last.

*Luffy and Ace*

The battle was finally at its end. After destroying most of the island and setting High Town on fire more than once, both brothers somehow managed to find their way back to their old fighting grounds. Both of them were covered in ash, dirt, and bruises, both of them struggling just to stand upright—yet they were both laughing hard, as if they had never had so much fun before in their lives.

Ace and Luffy had pushed themselves to their limit, both of them literally standing on their last legs. Yet, they were both sure that they still had enough fight left in them for one more attack. Right now, it was a stare off, seeing who would crack first.

"Give me your best shot!" Ace taunted, staggering a little from exhaustion.

"How about several of my shots?" Luffy retorted, trying to use his Gatling Gun technique but was too tired for it and almost ended up falling flat on his face.

Ace roared in laughter. "What was that?! You trying to subdue me by laughing so much at how stupid you look?!"

"Shut up!" Luffy grinned back, but knowing that it would soon come to an end. And knowing that was harder than anything else he had to face that night. As much as he wanted to go back to where his crew was and continue on with their adventures together, a large part of him wanted to stay here with his big brother again.

As if he knew what he was thinking, Ace grinned at him as he reminded him, "Now... I thought that you were supposed to become the King of the Pirates?"

"I am!" Luffy said without a shred of hesitation in him.

"Well, you can't become the king if you stay here," Ace informed him, "I didn't want to bring you here just so that you would refuse to go back! Now come on! There's a couple stools down at the Party Bar with our names on them, waiting for me to kick your ass and we can celebrate."

Luffy just looked long and hard, memorizing his brother's face as he tried to fight the waves of sadness that were threatening to overcome him. "I'm sorry..." he said.

Ace smirked back. "I don't ever wanna hear you apologize to me again over what happened at Marineford," he said calmly.

"I know," Luffy sighed tiredly. More than anything, he was sorry that he wasn't able to say goodbye when he held his brother in his arms that final time. "It's just... you promised me that you'd never die."

"I promised that I'd never die and leave my weakling little brother alone," Ace corrected. "And you don't need my protection anymore."

Luffy looked up at him in amazement. That was the second time that Ace ever complimented him on him growing stronger.

Ace grinned at the look of astonishment on Luffy's face as he explained, "I saw it. On that battlefield. You don't need me to protect you anymore. And that's enough for me."

Luffy just blinked, unsure of what to say as Ace went on, "There are just some things that we can't let die before their time. Not that I mind..." He chuckled to himself as he glanced at Luffy and told him, "I made my peace. And you should too. So come at me then!"

Luffy looked at him one last time before he let out a hallow laugh and held up his fist, coating it with Hawk as well as shifting into Second Gear.

"You're not gone!" he proclaimed. "Not completely, anyway! Now GUM GUM..."

And Ace held up his own hand, fire burning brightly as they both made one last charge, they were putting their all into this one last attack. With battle cries, they ran, with Luffy's arm suddenly igniting as, both of them punching out.

"FIRE FIST!"

"RED HAWWWWWWWK!"

And both fists collided, exploding in a giant ball of immense fire—both boys smiling as the battle was finally decided and they each had the answers that they had been looking for.