Chapter Text
Jinbe had been born in the sea, a connection that he shared with his kind. His ties were not of blood, but of friendship and brotherhood. Those ties had been weakened by time and hate, his long brother Arlong leaving him mournful and bitter, his heart had no cadence in its beat.
He had the Sun on his chest.
He had long since abandoned laughter.
Yet his conviction never weakened.
He fought for them, fought for those he considered honorable and just. Jinbe confronted a Will made of shackles and fire for ten days in the name of the man who had saved his land. And he later accepted incarceration and death instead of giving into the song of war.
He was a Fishman, and he belonged to the Sea. He was their Child and their Knight.
Not many people understood that connection, one so deeply ingrained in how his people lived and behaved. No human could hear their cries, their rejoice, their chants. For mankind, the Sea had no Will of their own.
The Sea danced, his kind joined hands and danced in tune. The Sea was bounded, his people were slaves. Their tears shared the salt of all living creatures, the water in their bodies swayed to give life and meaning. Fishman Karate was no more than applying this instinctive knowledge to combat.
His thoughts were interrupted by his cellmate. “Huh? My ears are buzzing,” Whispered Ace, blinking too tired eyes. “It’s so loud,” He said wistfully.
Jinbe frowned, then his eyes widened. “This is…”
As a child, he had been taught to always listen, to give his trust to the dancing blues themselves, for they will never abandon their Children. No, they would instead carry them to the afterlife. Reach their dear seafarers from heaven to hell, in as many forms and ways as were necessary, to take them to their merry rest in Fiddler’s Green.
For the most part, the sound of the beloved Parent was a combination of murmur and silence, with slight traces of ground sapphire. Not exactly calm — in fact they were a great lover of chaos — rather, they were constant; so it was not common for them to lose their composure. And they had lost it, because their murmuring voice was buzzing, and they were not greeting the Sun.
They were not rejoicing with the Sun.
The Sea and the Sun were still.
They were never still.
Full of dreams of sailors past and present, the Sea’s sways often meet the laughing sunset with playful humor, an enriching experience that only the passengers of water were privy to, no matter if they were pirate, marine or civilian. But the Sun was still in the skies, it had not moved in hours, and the Sea was not dancing, their waves only moved by the wind and other outside forces.
It was too calm.
It sent shivers down Jinbe’s spine.
“It doesn’t matter,” Continued Ace, unaware of the fishman’s inner turmoil, “I’ll die soon, with no regrets.”
The man smiled, Jinbe sighed.
It was not buzzing, nor murmuring. It was a wailing Voice sharing its laments to the world.
“It will be over soon.”
…
Jinbe had long ago resigned to his fate. He was a fishman and a pirate, his death would come sooner rather than later. A death that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.
That was, until he met one Monkey D. Luffy.
A child who’s heart was a treasure and, apparently, the one the waves held so dear they were willing to voice their laments for. It brought a tired smile to his face, and invigorated the fire in his heart.
On their way to Marineford, Luffy was staring down at the unmoving seas, his trademark smile absent from his face, and had hummed, ~ Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest ~
A pause, and then.
~ Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! ~
And the seas moved.
…
The fishmen felt the odd silence before any of the other fighters, the Surgeon of Death’s cackles resounding in the battlefield like mirthful daggers to the chest.
Soon after, the man’s golden eyes saw the ocean. And both began to breathe together.
In and out, in and out. The seas were rising until they finally met the unsmiling Sun.
Body swept to do the Sea’s bidding, a tattooed arm raised a cursed sword.
And brought damnation in its way.
…
Jinbe waited for Luffy in his homeland for two years, sometimes drinking a cup of sake with Whitebeard, who had to reclaim the territory and persuade Big Mom to leave, since the world somehow got the idea that the giant man had died. It had been a rough time for the legend, even if his sickness was cured and he was somehow closer to his peak than in recent years.
Fishman Island owed Trafalgar Law a great deal. They had made sure to compensate him and his crew a year ago when they decided to cross the Red Line once their brief training with the Whitebeard pirates was over, and they were strong enough to be considered allies of the strongest man in the world.
Poor kids sure had needed that spa if the crying bear was anything to go by. It was also a tale of pride for the cooks of the castle when a red faced Surgeon of Death had stuffed himself sick of onigiri and grilled fish. For someone so intimidating, it was funny to see him get flustered from the smallest of gestures.
“Wait. You meant son literally? ” The pirate choked, almost flipping the table he was sitting on with how quickly he had stood up and pointed in horror at a laughing Whitebeard.
“Of course,” The man guffawed, “You have been my child since you decided to form an alliance with us.”
“That’s not what a pirate alliance means!”
“Gurarara. Sit down son, it’s not polite to talk with food in your mouth.”
“I-you-I-son… what?”
It took the doctor a good week or two to get used to the idea.
Now, one year after the Heart Pirates’ visit, there was news of the return of the Strawhat Pirates, and Jinbe was ready to be with his nakama. He had a poneglyph to give to Nico Robin, and a party in the palace to celebrate with his newfound family. Ties so much stronger than the blood he gave Luffy once his last duty to his people was over and done with.
They would later encounter Trafalgar Law again, fight against Doflamingo, and re-kidnap their cook from Big Mom’s clutches, all before going to Wano.
And life couldn’t be better.
…
Finally faced with Who’s-Who, and without more nasty interruptions, he fought against the surprisingly chatty Beast Pirate, dodging his Fang Pistol , and using Fishman Karate to flip him on his back. The man barely escaped his Water Pistols before deciding it was a good time to narrate the story of Sun God “Nika” and asking him about the Sun Pirates and their connection to all of this.
And the fishman just froze in the middle of the fight.
Not a good idea, but he somehow managed to dodge the onslaught directed at his person.
Of course, after all this time, the answer to his captain’s strange nature had been glaring down at him. A laughter so profound it renewed the soul’s vigor, a drum in the beating of the heart, a warrior that liberated all who encountered him.
And one day, Jinbe would make that man King.
☠
Sabo sneezed something awful, rubbing at his nose. He sheepishly smirked at the marines in front of him, raising one of his hands to appease the atmosphere. It itched to not have his gloves on, and his head felt empty without his hat. An awful odor made its way to his poor nose, it came from the uniform he was wearing.
What was it with Marines and bad smelling clothing?
Okay, maybe that wasn’t fair, since he had infiltrated the Marines before and none of them had ever stinked as much.
So it had to do with the executioner thing. Stenched in the odor of dead bodies and all that.
The things he does for his brothers. Seriously, he deserved a damn medal.
A little bit of sneaking around with Observational Haki and knocking out and disrobing one executioner or two had made him end up where he was. A barely disguised pipe at his back, trying not to walk like someone with a severe case of constipation.
It didn’t take that long to be by his idiotic big brother on the execution platform. He made sure to keep an eye on Sengoku the Buddha as he announced to the world Ace’s heritage… and Luffy and him were going to deal with that all right.
Sabo was so going to make the Whitebeards deal with it too.
He grinned as he felt the wave of his baby brother’s Conqueror’s Haki and acted like it affected him too, falling conveniently close to Ace’s back and obstructing the marine’s gaze from noticing him beginning to fiddle with Ace’s chains. The position was less than ideal, but Sabo was not anything but stubborn.
His senses detected a bright and warm presence, like the first rays of the awakening sun. That meant —
Luffy was almost here, hell yeah! Time to use the commotion to finally free Ace from the Seastone chains, ones which were so easy to open it was not funny. And perhaps he secretly wanted to strangle Ace because Sabo had tried to teach him how to picklock and the idiot had just picked at his nose and not listened .
Huffing silently, he opened the chains and saw wisps of fire begin to heal some of Ace’s injuries, and no doubt Ace felt that too. He touched his arm and made a shushing motion, showing him his scarred face and winking.
Holy shit! Sengoku had transformed, he and Ace looked each other in the eye, turning to find Luffy in the path of the massive gold fist.
Then, a candle dome.
Thank the Gods that the other — disguised? he had a three on his head, too weird to be a low level marine — executioner was a friend of Luffy’s!
Sabo patted Ace on the shoulder, his way to say Sabo would see him later. He used the techniques Dragon taught him, and enough Observational Haki to look into the goddamn future, to escape the platform unnoticed.
He ran behind them but was not quick enough to reach them before Akainu used his brother’s lack of confidence in his own dick’s size, — okay, maybe the insult was unjustified but it was not the time to go and defend his father’s honor! They kind of were in the middle of a war — and Luffy was on the ground and the Heart Stealer just saved Sabo from a heart attack, funnily enough.
Dodging left and right was how he got to where Luffy, Ace, Whitebeard and the Surgeon of Death were at. Teach then decided it was a good idea to pull a stunt on the poor doctor, and Sabo now had to save the man that saved his brothers.
Sabo was running on adrenaline at this point. He had trained for quick attacks and fast battles, not a long drawn fight.
He got a nasty cut in his arm when he blocked a strike that went to the unmoving surgeon’s neck.
“Thank you for saving my brothers,” He said, ignoring the pain from his bleeding arm. “My family can be a handful and we sure have inconvenienced you a lot, so just let me help you… What!? ”
Was that a tsunami? No it was bigger than that, it looked like it could easily cover half the island and it kept growing!
He saw from the corner of his eye Whitebeard’s equally awed and terrified expression. So it was probably not the Emperor’s doing then.
And then.
The waters engulfed all the place, yet Sabo was somehow breathing while his adversaries were drowning. He felt a funny sensation on his arm and watched with awe as the nasty wound began to stitch itself closed.
As cool as all this was, Sabo was too tired to dance with the Sea like the other pirates. No matter how much the being made him want to.
…
Davy Jones smiled at the sacrifice his dear Surgeon had given to him, a hundred marine bodies in exchange for pardoning the lives of one hundred pirates. A good deal indeed. He sensed the cursed men’s pained screams all the way to the bottom of the sea which he inhabited. Mirth at an all time high, he took their damned souls and placed them deep within his chest.
Law chuckled, eyes pure gold gazed at his extended arm. In and out, in and out, the water went with his breathing. Buoyant as he was, the soft murmur-like Voice of the water healing his allies' wounds felt like a dream away. Here, the doctor was at peace. He wanted to dance and dance like a doomed man, like a laughing devil, like the waves in the sea. Butterflies fluttering away by his ears, bubbles rising from his cobalt lips, an old chant gently swimming oh so delicately from his passion, from his drumming heart. It was a song of past merriment, a song of forever more and adventure.
Here Law felt free, even when the waters left his exhausted lungs.
His body was picked up by Sabo who ran with his brothers towards the surgeon’s submarine to get the hell out of there. The sounds of Akainu fighting with both Marco and Whitebeard at their backs.
That was, until Shanks arrived.
Sengoku, being a wise man, but more from what he had witnessed, called a ceasefire.
…
Fire was falling from his hair, moving with the breeze like leaves in an endless autumn. Ace’s mind was hazy, its sickness dripping to his forehead, in a show of his weak heart. Hands clenching and relaxing, mouth dry, he blinked tears away. He wiped them and frowned.
He was fire, fire didn’t cower.
Ace stood proud in front of his pirate family, his insides twisting and turning, he tasted sickness in his mouth.
He was Fire First, his Will was Fire. He never ran away from a fight.
And this was eerily similar to one, a war with the hate he had held on since the moment he was called a monster. It had taken more from him than he had wanted to allow, and it had swallowed and rejected all the love his most important people had for him.
“Ace, we need to talk.” Said Marco, the man standing on the ship’s railing.
It was time to fight war with peace. It was time to face the one thing he had always run away from. None of them had cared for his bloodline. Rayleigh had smiled wistfully at his father’s name. He had seen Luffy and Sabo laugh and tease each other, sand on their clothes, looking up at him with happiness in their faces.
Ace took a deep breath, and replied, “Yes, we do.”
…
“I’m not expecting you to like or be similar to your father.” The Dark King suddenly whispered, Ace jumping from the rock he was sleeping in, confused.
His brothers kicked him, his Fire deforming his dead to protect it, and continued to sleep like logs. Charming.
“He would be proud of you, were he alive.” The older pirate directed his gaze to the now rising Moon (the only one that could reflect the Sun’s greatness back to the world), his expression changing to disgust. “They tarnished the reputation of a good sailor.”
Ace stared dumbly, a wisp of fire reforming the other half of his face.
Rayleigh laughed, and a hand infused in haki patted his head. “Sleep well.”
…
“Gurarara, you are doing well son!”
Law glared daggers at the Emperor, his body shaking from where he stood out of pure stubbornness and Will. It was a miracle he was able to raise his arm and block Haruta one last time, before the sword slipped from his grip and he stumbled.
The other man had the decency to not pick him up. Law would have died of shame otherwise.
Ikkaku — from the ground where his crew were either crying, moaning in pain, both or too tired to do any — scowled at her captain.“What, exactly, were you thinking when you decided to ally yourself with these… these… lunatics! ”
The surgeon wished he could reply to her with more than the Will of D in my blood decided it was time to make an appearance because she, his crew really, deserved better.
Whitebeard's chest heaved with his deep laugh. “I can not let that old dog outwit me. He came to care for some newbie brats, and will make them strong enough to face the New World.” He stood from the trunk he had created with a single blow, his steps left earthquakes that were felt through the whole jungle island. All this without using his Devil Fruit.
The Strongest Man in the World’s giant hand lifted a struggling Surgeon of Death and laid him on his shoulder, no one commented on the cursing and snarling, or the way the man relaxed. Gold eyes looked away from both his crew and the old pirate, arms crossed and shoulders raised to his ears.
“I shall do the same for you and your crew, son.”
Trafalgar D. Water Law’s expression couldn’t be better described than a constipated one. Yet his men affirmed that, were he a normal person, there would be tears, lots of them.
….
Sabo, one known for his fearlessness, evaded Luffy’s eyes, white as the fire his shoulders were emitting. Slippery snow ash fell on the acrid ground, bitterness was present in his younger brother’s sunny Voice. It was not directed at him, nor anyone in their family really, specially Ace, yet it felt like judgment and the blond wished to be the type of man who simply let their soul crumble under the onslaught. He wanted to cry, he wanted to despair, he wanted to beg for forgiveness.
He just swallowed and hugged himself. It would be unfair to both Ace and Luffy to succumb.
His body was trembling, and his mind was both never quite there and then would latch onto any clear moment it could under it all. He became aware he had covered his very mind in haki when the world became a myriad of monochrome visages. A grayscale made of Will so as not to succumb under the Sun’s ever present Shadow.
Luffy gave his brother his back without any care. Was he aware of what state this had put Sabo in?
He didn’t know he wanted the answer.
“Ace, go with Sabo.” The being uttered, gazing at Ace’s defeated body and expecting his Will to be made so.
What Ace did could barely be called moving, all he did was crawl pathetically towards his brother, whose Dragon Will did nothing under the Sun. “Luffy, this- this is too much. ”
“̆’§ ñð† êñðµGh! ” And the atmosphere disappeared, the teen falling to his knees and gripping the sand in between bloodied knuckles. Choking on his sobs.
For a while it was silent.
Luffy hiccup-ed, humming to himself as he stared at the waves. It had been a few days since they had arrived here with Rayleigh and the rest of their allies. Things had been tense until this moment, where Luffy’s sheer distressed otherness had reached a limit where it was making the pirates' recovery time worse.
It had been Ace’s idea to confront him, and Sabo followed. They did not understand what had affected their little brother this much. It was without precedent.
Even now, feeling like each one of them was gasping, Sabo did not understand what was happening, what this awful feeling in his heart was.
“Ace, is this how you have been feeling all this time?” Whispered Luffy.
Ace said nothing as he got up on unstable legs.
Said nothing as he gathered his brothers in his arms.
Said nothing as he decided in his heart to forgive himself.
“It’s okay, Luffy. It’s okay.”
…
Zoro was the first to arrive, and thus the first to be taken to the little dock near Shakky's Rip-off Bar, each one of the strawhats being secretly guided there by other sailors or revolutionaries. When all had arrived, Rayleigh had sat down with them and explained that neither Bartolomew nor the bounty hunters could take the burden, so they had told him to take Sunny somewhere else.
Shakuyaku smiled at her lover, and stroked his shoulder. “We took him to Monkey-chan.” She hummed, finishing her cigarette and staring fondly at her old bar. “I’m going to miss my retirement, dear.”
Rayleigh chuckled, taking her hand in his, still rough and strong as in their younger days. “Indeed, we shall take it one step at a time,” He blinke, “Or several, that Akainu brat may not have that strong a presence in the New World, the Marines are still too weak and divided to face another Emperor, yet he has increased his power over both Paradise and the Blues. East Blue especially.”
“Fufufu, Garp is no wet dog like Akainu. He will not take such an insult lying down.”
The crew of the next Pirate King was dropped off at Rusukaina, while the Dark King and the Former Empress of the Kuja Pirates took course towards Amazon Lily.
☠
Punk Hazard was no vacation home. At least, Smoker thought, it was a better excuse than what your normal idiot pirate could make.
“That is Trafalgar Law, the Surgeon of Death! ” Tashigi shouted. “Don’t go near him!”
One of their men trembled in fear. “He is known to collect the hearts of his enemies.”
Another swallowed, aiming his rifle, a pathetic attempt at protection.
Trafalgar Law flashed his teeth under the shine of his golden eyes, his characteristic azure hair hidden under his white spotted hat. Even the pirate did not believe his own lie, and it just showed how much in control he was of the situation.
Not without reason, Trafalgar was a deadly being. More so when his alliance with the Whitebeard pirates was announced to the world.
Smoker met those eyes, ones glorified with the shine of the sun, with his own.
The Surgeon of Death’s smile was both deadly and wild. A true lover of chaos, more than sailors of old.
Miles away, the Sea gave a hum in interest.
…
It was fate, their alliance.
Trafalgar D. Water Law did not smile, no matter how much his lips twitched. It felt right, finally giving into his impulses, his want to be free of Doflamingo.
“We also have the support of Whitebeard, if you consider it too risky.” He mentioned casually, even if he felt ill at the idea of the other captain being afraid of anything, for some reason. “So, either way, both of us should be equally favored.”
“Nishishishi. I accept it, but on one condition.”
The world itself held its breath. All sunflowers from the Blues to the unknown ends gazed towards this one moment, the water in their cores stirred. In places unexplored by both humans and fishmen, ruins of ancient constructions glowed a green hue, tall and imposing, twisted beyond recognition. With fangs bared, sirens took on a preaching stance, a canticulum rising from their venomous mouths, wings flared, arms raised, Will and Voice extolling the Ancient Gods.
“You will also help me achieve my dream.”
They were quickly distracted.
Law felt his heart constrict in his chest.
…
“... this isn’t your heart,” The surprise in Vergo’s voice was palpable.
“I’m not as desperate as before,” The surgeon stated, unsheathing his sword.
He sliced this horrible place in half.
…
“Children are dear to us, their parents.” Whitebeard observed him shiver, having woken up from another nightmare. Good way to give his traumatic past to practically a stranger.
The Emperor was confusing to him, he gave and gave and Law had nothing to give in return. The man had since compensated his end of the deal with his training and temporal alliance.
“He gave his life not from revenge, but for love. Do not soil his love with mere revenge. This Cora-san wished for your freedom.”
The blue-haired doctor wanted to protest, an argument at the end of his tongue. He stopped, swallowed saliva, and remembered his savior’s last words.
It made sense.
Law couldn’t understand how someone could ever come to love him. Yet he understood what the other meant, and reconsidered his ultimate goal not with the desperation he felt before but with calm acceptance.
He would make sure to live a life worth living for.
…
“Torao. I want an answer!”
“Yes, I will help you with your goal.”
“Then I’ll kick Mingo’s ass. Nishishishi.”
…
They were hidden under the famous Corrida Colosseum, a dressrosan attraction for the fool, the weary, and the rich. It was a cover, a glamorous one, for illegal dealings.
A wooden box creaked as it was opened by a narrow hand, all petite and pretty yet strong as iron. Inside it had money and a letter from a noble expressing gratitude towards Joker, for the unrest he had caused among his subjects.
It was crude, horrible, and so common to find this corruption in the world. Koala sighed, it wasn’t amongst the worst she had seen, but it still caused unrest in her heart.
“I think we hit the jackpot with this one,” Noted her companion.
She hummed her assent, taking another photograph. “Think we have enough evidence for Dragon-san?”
Sabo chuckled, “You can say the Sun is free and he would ask for more proof. We need to get every detail accounted for.”
With that they continued searching, until they heard a scream and saw both a man with an incredibly large nose and a little girl fall on the ground, with one of Doflamingo’s men screaming.
They both blinked.
“Isn’t that your little brother’s crewmate?”
“Yes, he is.”
A giant took the fallen Usopp by his arms and elevated him up in the air, and said something about god.
“I think we may have missed something.”
…
Run. Run. Run.
He couldn’t look back, couldn’t think of his stamina slowly depleting, of his objective so near.
There was only one goal in his mind. Reach Monkey D. Luffy and fight the Heavenly Demon together.
Caesar, or Usopp in disguise, was just a failsafe after all.
(He was glad Doflamingo was either too enraged or too arrogant to go after Nico-ya and Long Nose-ya, still he made sure to teleport them underground just in case.)
Law’s plans had changed since his encounter with one Whitebeard. Now he was less restricted, he was stronger, he had grown from a bitter man to one who dreamt again.
The Surgeon of Death smirked, coming to a stop at the end of the bridge, took a small blade from his coat and threw it in Doflamingo’s direction. The raucous laughter at his back was his signal to call onto his power silently, and switch inside the ROOM he had created that was big enough to conceal itself. Concentrating on Doflamingo’s presence, the madness of his Will, he waited for the moment in which the man either caught the blade or let it pass his defenses.
Always arrogant, the blond man let the blade bypass him.
In one breath, Law was on the other end of his operation theater.
Three giant columns directed themselves towards the Warlord, who graciously cut them down with his strings, surprised to find they could not at the last moment. It had taken a lot of planning and maneuver but Law had been capable of touching all three and used them as transmitters for both his haki and Countershock. Using the momentum brought by the columns as they crashed with Doflamingo, Law released them and impaled the pirate in his right hand.
It seemed that the hellish training with Whitebeard had brought many advantages in this battle, and the surgeon was not done with his tricks.
Before his adversary could recuperate, he teleported to the end of the bridge and slipped in between the dressrosan people.
…
Doflamingo had always known something was wrong with the child.
It was not his disease.
Eternal gold eyes would stare coldly at a cruel world, shining proudly into the darkness, snatching all the light to themselves. Astoundingly, hauntingly beautiful, but not rare. Those who suffered had that quality to them, each second an overcoming of past tragedy. No, what made them different were the moments in which tranquility resurfaced, the whole person coming into display without the opulence of braveness nor false vulnerability.
Sometimes, when the child came to stare at the sun, he would not blink, would not squint. He could glance directly at it with no consequence, his eyes becoming a perfect canvas into which the sun made its portrait. Then, the strange creature by the name of Law would smile. A tiny thing, overflowing with peace. His azure hair would become indistinguishable from the ocean’s blues, from whence sweet little sounds emerged, as if made by a siren.
Somehow, the former Celestial Dragon knew Law would not die of something as simple as sickness.
The lad didn’t dance, too tired and shackled by painful circumstances to participate in something so freeing. Instead, Law would hum to a rhythm that came from the waves. Sweet, like a lullaby for a babe.
Doflamingo, as evil as he was, was still a sailor, a pirate. And his black heart sang things to his mind that made him elated, made him afraid, made him contemplate. He respected the Sea.
And he came to understand that the Sea sang for the boy.
…
Ace had come to Dressrosa with only one objective in mind, to participate in the fight at the Colosseum while his nakama went on yet another confrontation with Blackbeard’s forces. It had been taking a toll on them. If it was not their former crewmate, it was their father’s self-proclaimed biological son, or the Marines, or defending Fishman Island, or allies being targeted by Kaido or Big Mom sympathizers, or criminals randomly challenging Oyaji by attacking his territories. Over the last year the Whitebeard Pirates had been stretched thin.
So maybe they had dropped Ace off because he had taken a liking to setting anyone who thought Teach was a great guy to follow on fire. That, and he wanted to watch what kind of havoc his little brother was going to bring on with his new alliance. And now Luffy was also his ally too by consequence and how awesome was that!
If only this weird Chinjao-guy and Rebeca would stop following him around, it would be great.
Oi, wasn’t that Burgess?
Oh, right. The prize was supposed to be a Devil Fruit.
This trip just got more fun.
…
Destroying factories was so boring.
Luffy pouted as he smashed another wall, the motion had long ago become repetitive and he was getting tired of it.
Don’t get him wrong, his nakama had become so cool and strong! Franky’s manly fight was so awesome and MANLY, he and Chopper had cried, and Brook had made a song!
He was sad that neither Nami, nor Jinbe, nor Sanji were with them. They stayed behind on the ship with Momo and Caesar while Robin and Torao went with a disguised, and struggling, Usopp to confront Mingo.
Gripping his straw hat and putting it on his head, he let out a huff. Luffy felt the repulsive fruits of the trees inside the factory, the soil contaminated with something similar to the Sea (with its chains ) to give it the necessary heat to feed the intense hunger of those who refuse to follow the Sun.
It was up to every being to accept the free energy given by the rays coming from the sun’s core, he respected that. All wills could flourish as long as they didn’t dare defy…
The fruits didn’t have Shadows.
They were empty.
(It reminded him of that flower, a creature who could only devour to fill the void the sun, life itself, left behind. Purposeless and ever reaching, it envied the warmth and went out of its way to consume it.)
He disliked boredom, it went against all things fun and joyful. He did not understand hate, an emotion so strange and treacherous, it painted black friends that were meant to shine against the darkness of the night sky.
Hate took all of his beloved Sea’s colors away, and left behind only bitterness, and pain, and a craving for freedom that escaped from between a grasp long gone weak and powerless.
Yet the music had come to an end, his vessel was constricting instead of comforting, no longer in tune with the Drums of Liberation. No sound, no dancing, no nothing. Ashes raised up his throat as the thieves multiplied and deprived all of euphoria and life because they were so hungry for warmth, for purpose, for him.
The original Devil Fruits were an invention that came from a place of happiness and longing, this ones came from avarice and want for power. They stole Shadows, and they stole freedom.
Those things had dared defy his Will.
He hated them.
…
Marshall D. Teach was steadily losing his sanity.
The Sun wouldn’t let him eat, anything it had helped grow burned in his hands. Cakes, fruits, rice, meat disappeared into white fire, wispy like smoke in the wind. All that came to his stomach tried to claw free, and he had lost count of how many times he had vomited red.
The punishment didn’t end there. The Sea that loved each sailor repudiated him, the waves wouldn’t carry any ship under his brand, it was like they were in the Calm Belt, and the only way to move was the ever slippering wind.
But he was ready to challenge any and all, and feeding SMILE fruits to animals and plants had given him a reprieve from underground mushrooms, they did not taste as alive as regular food.
His mark burned his forehead any time he added another sin to his collection.
Teach couldn’t care less. He had a Sea to conquer , and a title to obtain.
He was going to be the Pirate King.
…
Law finally made it to the factory.
How did he make it? How did he even find it?
Well, by following the trail of enraged Conqueror’s haki Strawhat left in his wake.
And how the fuck did he even know the captain was going to get that enraged in the first place?
The doctor wasn’t exactly sure, he just thought about what could possibly make himself go so mad with rage the seawaves responded to his call. D’s responded very predictably to anger.
Getting exposed to a SMILE once was life changing for sure.
Ha! And Ace said that it was impossible to plan for Luffy. Look who's laughing now!
(His crewmates had the theory that the training with the Whitebeards, specially with a fellow D, had released something in Law. Something new and terrifying, and incredibly weird. It made him unpredictable, and both his Will and Voice stronger, more selfish and insane than before.
Law had suppressed the urge to laugh merrily as he sliced his enemies down. Things had become so amusing lately, from his books, to his equipment, to the insides of his yellow submarine in the depths of saltwater that were so soothing to his corrupted mind.
He had never danced, and he was sure he never would. Don’t matter, things were so much better than before)
Law smirked at the man that had landed in front of him. “Doflamingo,” He said, panting.
Joker had visible veins in his forehead. “Law, you have become very daring.” He got a pistol from inside his coat. “Brats should know when not to interfere.”
A rubber arm intercepted the bullet. Doflamingo took a step back.
It wasn’t because of the waves emitting from the furious Monkey D. Luffy in front of him, but because of the D-shaped smile on Law’s manic face.
“Time for payback, Doflamingo.”
“Mingo! How DARE YOU!”
…
Chained and on his way to Impel Down, Doflamingo could not help but laugh, that moment in which he had seen that infamous D smile he had finally understood. Or maybe, he had understood since the War of the Best.
“It wasn’t Whitebeard, was it? Back then… ” He cackled. “Us pirates understand things better.” As much as it pained him, humbled him, to admit it, he was a Child of the Sea. “It was them. Why they choose Law as their messenger I don’t understand. But the currents are moving, and the times are changing. The Gods themselves are involved in this change of era.”
Sengoku sighed and spoke, “Do not speak Doflamingo. Of things you don’t understand.”
The fallen Warlord hummed, his mind conjuring the image of one Surgeon of Death, from his eyes pure as gold, to his sapphire hair. And a name mysterious as the depths of the Blues themselves.
☠
For all his efforts, Luffy had been defeated, dishonorable and utterly useless in the end. The prison, the hunger, the sacrifices, it had served for null.
(the Sun was obscured by shadows)
Yet, he was not dead.
(A D could not move on until they smile their farewell to Davy Jones)
Around and around all went, heavy bubbles floating in his mind, in his soul, each containing all of his failures, centuries deep. Promises broken, dreams unfulfilled, freedom chained. A warrior without their spear.
“Joy Boy”
Something was calling him. No, not something. Someone. An old friend. An old traitor.
(The Voices of the World became clearer, and he was reminded of his promise.
It brought a smile to his- their face.)
From his chest, a smoke-like substance began to emerge. From his heart, the merriment was all consuming, and it had a rhythm.
Doom Dut Da Da.
…
Law was dying.
He coughed more blood, his battered lungs taking in air he needed. Kidd was trying to face off against Big Mom on his own, trying to plunge her into the entrance to the underworld the doctor had created.
Awakening his fruit had come with a terrible cost, it shortened his life, it took his energy. He had reached the pinnacle of control over his fruit, yet he felt something was missing.
Just as he was preparing to give Big Mom a last blow, he felt Luffy’s Voice dim, and he would have broken apart if not for —
“Deus Volt!” Declared Zunesha. “Free be you from the chains of Moonlight!”
And Ninsirsir Awakened.
…
Under their eyes the world and the stars and all that was a were laughed in tune with the beat of his heart, taking their glee and happiness and using them to fuel their lives. Driven, and free, they danced with the waves. Those before chained raising their Voices in harmony as they were liberated from their bindings by white fire and rhythmic music.
Doom Dut Da Da.
Five Moons bowed to the Sun incarnate, bigger and more puissant than the stars, but the traitorous One refused to, for it was a jailer of the Divine, and had challenged Nika’s Will for centuries, taking their precious beloved for itself. For Twenty Kings had come to know the unknown, and had declared themselves gods of the Celestial sky.
Doom Dut Da Da.
Nika didn’t pay it any mind since they were having so much fun , no longer Shadow nor human, they were the laughing GðÐ . And they were free . Jumping and bouncing since they were rubber, and now being able to fly again.
Doom Dut Da Da.
Kaido looked so funny under their giant arms. The man had squealed like a pig and maybe they should have canceled their ability to see the cool and manly red. Nika had seen many warriors dance while carrying on with injuries that should have killed them but the joy of the Sun made them whirl and spin until they could no more. Shandora fell because they had not had the Sun with them.
No, those were sad memories and they were not done playing.
Doom Dut Da Da.
(The clouds, acrid with methane from lightning fire, twisted and twirled in depraved exuberance. From deep in their cores, electricity sculpted a spear for their God.)
Now, they were a giant! Lightning came to their hands and white fire to their feet as the creature with the strawhat flew at Kaido and played with him, and hahaha Nika was having so much fun.
(“Hahaha! What is this?” Breathed desperately the Emperor, Nika’s sheer presence overwhelming his sanity, overtaking his mind. His hollering laughter reached the point of hysterics. He could no longer mourn Big Mom, he could no longer feel anything but joy.
And his soul yearned for terror, for tears, for please forgive me, I want to feel, I need to feel, I am nothing.
Grave was his sin, for those wretched SMILE’s should not have existed.
GðÐ did not give him mercy.)
Nika somersaulted, painting a hole in a random rock formation with their essence, entering and exiting from one of Kaido’s eyes which exploded. Yoo-hoo!
… why wasn’t Kaido moving? Why wasn’t he resisting Nika’s brightness? Why was the Emperor becoming boring?
Their obvious pout and very obvious anger seemed to get Kaido back on his right mind, Nishishishi , and he was using his weird dragon breath again.
(Zany things, crazy things, peculiar things, all the things were Nika’s to conjure. Imagination was the only limit, and it was so awesome!)
Well, time to wrap things up.
And Nika did just that, wrapped the dragon like an accordion, then stretched his arms and legs till ups! they teared and it was not a pretty sight. Blood, bones, and tendons and all that stuff.
Their presence didn’t give Kaido the privilege to scream.
Doom Dut Da Da.
Torao, or Ninsirsir , was laughing, little breaths filled with mirth that made their heart beat louder and even more joyful if that was possible.
As they punched what was left of Kaido underground, Nika continued to laugh all night long, their luminescence reviving all life in Wano. Putrid soil growing plants and delicious fruits.
The Warrior of Liberation’s friends needed to eat after all.
…
The Heart Pirate’s captain raised to his feet, new found energy flowing through his being, the tiredness disappearing. He felt like celebrating, like dancing, like he could do anything.
He had finally understood his power.
“R-Room!” Law (or Ninsirsir? What a conundrum) whispered, facing Big Mom and smiling. “Reality Operation: Silence!”
They could now control reality to fit their whims.
(Big Mom shuddered under that turn of lips, sharp teeth glinting, eyes golden sun, and hair a deeper blue than the Five Seas. She knew it was her end, for how could you win against something that could operate on anything imaginable.)
As her Voice gave out (as they silenced it with Will alone), and she was dragged to the bowels of the world, Big Mom cursed the Supernovas, cursed the Gods, cursed the name of the one who had put an end to her power, who had made her feel fear for the first time since she had become an Emperor.
Because, she knew, oh Gods she knew , that the D in Trafalgar D. Water Law was not the only name the World would come to fear.
Beware the red sky at morning, sailor, for a storm is coming.
The Gods had Awakened.
The lost sailor chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.