Chapter Text
It hurt. The burn. It had been years since the last time Ace felt this kind of pain.
"Just your blood alone is a sin you could never dream to eradicate! Even if I let someone else escape today, I will never let the two of you go!"
He almost laughed as he watched the said sinful blood seep through his raw flesh and trickle down his arm across the charred skin like a spring through the canyons.
"…Take a good look."
Ace's head snapped up. Panic sent his mind and heart into overdrive when he realized that Akainu had suddenly decided to change targets and already lunged towards Luffy. His little brother. His lovable, brave, exhausted little brother.
"Hey! Wait!" Ace screamed, scrambling to his feet. He still had time. If he used his flames to propel himself, he had time to jump in between them, to take that hit with his body, to protect Luffy.
Ace heaved his injured body up, planting his feet firmly on the paved ground. He paid no attention to the small puddle of his own blood and it cost him everything.
He slipped.
The scent of burning rubber filled the air—strong and rancid stench, more potent than anything he had ever smelled before.
Ace slipped and let the incandescent magma fist pierce through his little brother's chest, exiting grotesquely on the other side.
Ace slipped and Monkey D. Luffy, the infamous captain Straw Hat of the Straw Hats Pirates, died.
Ace slipped on his own blood, tainted with inherited sin, and this time, for Luffy, there was no final smile. Even as a young carrier of the Will of D.
And the world came to a halt.
It stood still when people rejoiced and marines celebrated. It stood still while the Straw Hats wept. It continued standing still when they all furiously immersed themselves in training, ice-cold chains of guilt and shame and grief coiling around their hearts, biting and tearing into their very souls, whispering, reminding over and over again how they failed and how they would keep failing if they were not strong enough.
Luffy—their nakama, their captain, their guiding light, their sun—would have wanted them to keep going, so the Straw Hats tried moving forward.
But the world stood still and they with it.
Until two years later Robin tracked each of them down and sent a message.
'It's time.'
-somewhere on the Grand Line near the undisclosed island-
Ace stared at the Thousand Sunny, gently swaying in the shallow waters of the island's bay where she dropped her anchor. Waves lapped against her hull, strong and solid. Warm browns and bright reds complementing one another, together with a sun-like lion's figurehead created an image of a homey vessel. No one could tell just how much bite she hid under that harmless facade.
Unknowingly, the corner of Ace's mouth quirked up into a proud smirk.
Just like Luffy himself. A carefree, food-loving, funny guy who could split mountains with a single punch.
The smile was instantaneously vanquished.
And who died because he slipped.
A hand landed on Ace's shoulder and he turned his head to meet Sabo's sad eyes. The eyes that mirrored the anguish and hollowness festering inside him. He looked back at the flamboyant ship of their little brother, quickly shrinking into the distance as their own ship sailed away. His gaze drifted past it and onto the cliff, overlooking the bay.
They could still see the wooden cross on top of it with a straw hat tied around it, dangling in the wind.
"I'm sorry, Sabo," Ace muttered the words the blond already heard who knows how many times. "I couldn't protect our little brother."
"Ace." Sabo's voice was tight. As was his grip on his brother's shoulder. "I wasn't even there." And with this simple statement, he shouldered all the blame in a single breath. Again.
Ace already lost count of the numerous times he did that. But it wasn't Sabo who slipped and stumbled at that crucial moment. It was him.
Just another sin absorbed deep into his blood.
Nami leaned against the railing on the observation deck above the galley. The sea breeze played with her long orange hair while she listened to the ever-rushing, soughing waves of the ocean and the soft drizzling sound of Robin's watering can behind her.
It was such a pleasant, tranquil day. The sky held a soft blue glow with pristine white clouds scattered across the encompassing horizon to enchant its brilliance. Heaven-bound seagulls rode warm air currents like bright rays amid otherwise infinite cerulean, gliding as free souls, unconcerned by the struggles of those beneath them.
A stark contrast to the bleak and mournful atmosphere of the Thousand Sunny. It made her angry, outright furious. How dare those birds be so unfettered and the day be so beautiful when Luffy was—
Nami’s eyelids shut out the world before her, all of its history alongside it. As if it would help assist her escape, the bones to her jaw clenched tighter, momentarily clipping her inner cheek. She did not dare to voice those dreadful words even in the privacy of her own mind.
From her spot, the navigator could see the rest of the crew busy themselves with their own activities, willing their time away, and occupying themselves in a vain effort not to think about the fundamental issue. Just like her.
Zoro was hefting weights in the middle of the lawn deck, murmuring numbers under his breath. From time to time he would trail off and scowl in thought, his workout also coming to a brief halt. After a moment, he always caught himself, clicked his tongue, and started counting from the beginning again.
Not far from the swordsman, Chopper sat in the grass, grinding the sun-dried herbs. Occasionally, grief-stricken tears started dripping from his eyes, dropping into the grinder and wetting his medicine. The little reindeer would rub his furry face and then continue pushing the grinder back and forth, a bit more fervently than before.
Usopp and Franky set up the little joint workshop at the front of the ship, tinkering with their new inventions and discussing meager trivialities amongst themselves in booming voices, blanketing buried insecurities with a feigned openness, diverting each other's mind to the superficial flow of the hands rather than the jagged emotions.
Brook was standing not far with a filled teacup resting motionlessly in his bony hand, empty eye sockets gazing at the lush island. Skeletons didn’t have faces to display their emotions, but being such a lively social butterfly, Brook learned to be very expressive and dramatic to substitute for what he lacked in facial expressions. It was strange and eerie to see him lifeless and quiet like this.
The Straw Hats were stalling. They all realized that. Every single pirate was fiddling time away by doing this and that halfheartedly, putting off the inevitable and emotionally draining journey to the island, through the forest, and up the cliff to bid their final goodbyes for as long as possible.
It had been two days since Ace and Sabo led the Straw Hats here. They managed to get themselves some more time to conciliate with the death of their captain, yet two years and two extra days were far from enough to fully believe that this nightmare wasn't a fabrication, to even start to patch up that deep, harrowing, still-raw, still-bleeding wound in their hearts and souls Luffy's departure left behind.
None of them wanted to step up into the position that rightfully belonged to Luffy; there was no one in the crew who had even a single thought about doing it. It wasn't just because the enormous empty void that their captain's absence created would have swallowed whoever tried, but because the Straw Hats would never stand following someone else.
Captainless pirate crew—such an unheard and absurd thing. Good news that the Straw Hats were good at achieving ridiculous feats.
It was a sheer miracle that Luffy somehow collected such an assortment of people, people who were betrayed and hurt to the very core of their being time and time again, people who neither trusted nor believed in anyone. But that radiant rubber ball of excitement and strength, bursting with liquid sunshine and hope from within, effortlessly found his way through their walls and defenses and into their hearts.
Nakama, he insisted. Follow your dream, he urged. Live on, he demanded.
And they did; happily so. Simply because Luffy was a force of nature that no one was able to resist in the end.
He would have wanted his crew to move forward, keep following their dreams, and to live on.
But how could they when they were so utterly lost? They were stranded in obscure darkness without their guiding ray of light to show them the way and without the river that kept them floating and enticing them to continue forward with their heads held high. They were without the pillar that made them stand up again and again, no matter how many times their adversaries forced them to their knees. No one wanted to admit that they felt adrift and disoriented like boats doomed to crash into rocks and break into smithereens without the guidance of their lighthouse.
Nami's furrowed brows deepened as her mind continued to run an endless stream of murky thoughts with no conclusions that could possibly uplift. She heaved a tired sigh as she pushed herself from the railing.
"Nami-san! Robin-chan!"
Sanji's dry voice reached her ears and Nami twisted to see the cook climbing out of the hatch with a tray of drinks balanced delicately on one of his hands.
"It seems today will be as hot as yesterday," a meaningless observation passed the blond's lips, as he held a glass of chilled lemonade to their archeologist without any exaggerated flourish. His usual flirtatious manner was practically dead with the weight of the past couple days. "I thought you lovely ladies will appreciate something cold to drink."
Nami shook her head when Sanji turned to her. "It'll have to wait," she said. "We should…" She hesitated. Were she to speak and finalize what needed to be done, it would all become so real; that unavoidable, pathetically inconvenient truth would be faced and damn her faded soul but if not, the Straw Hats were destined to fall apart completely. Luffy wouldn't have wanted that. "It's…" And yet her throat constricted and she couldn't force herself to actually say it.
"It's time," Sanji finished for her, the words flowing out with a weathered softness, smooth with tiredness coming from what felt like thousands of years of heartache. "Time to say our final goodbyes."
Nami could feel the pressure welling behind her eyes, praying for release. It was harder to keep her composure now that these words were finally out in the open, hanging above their heads like an executioner's blade. She gave a weak nod, first tears rolling down as she blinked.
A gentle touch landed on her shoulder and she allowed Robin to coax her into a comforting hug; a minor action to plant a crumbling mind on steady ground.
Sanji took a drag of his cigarette as he watched Nami silently crying in Robin's arms before stepping closer to the railing from where he could see the rest of the crew. "Guys," he called out, getting everyone's attention. "It's time."
The already solemn atmosphere on the Thousand Sunny grew even heavier. Everyone immediately understood what the cook was saying.
It provided no solace nor helped to accept the fact that it was time to bid a final farewell to their captain. But Luffy was never coming back to them and they needed to face this new reality.
The trip to Luffy's final resting place was utterly silent. No one spoke, afraid to disturb this void of speech and create ripples in their stagnant thoughts.
Slowly, the pirates made their way through the sea of trees and reached its edge.
A smooth, green meadow of soft sun-warmed grass was dotted by petite daisies and a crowd of poppies, scarlet in the sunshine, waving and rustling in the breeze. It stretched in front of them, framed by the luminous blue sky, and went up and beyond the small hill.
The Straw Hats' steps slowed down in unison. Once they ascended this hill, they would be able to see the grave. They were unconsciously stalling again.
Nami came to an abrupt halt as soon as she fully left the shadows of the trees. Nothing seemed amiss, but her hair stood on end and all kinds of alarm bells were going off in her head; every instinct screaming. "Wait!" she cried out, the feeling of foreboding was making her stomach flip.
The crew paused and turned to her with confused expressions, waiting for an explanation. But Nami was busy trying to figure out what kind of calamity was heading their way; explaining that to her nakama was the least of her problems.
The wind started to pick up and the navigator knew that it had changed directions at least a few dozen times in the past minute. The pressure was either rapidly dropping or rising which made no sense and was abnormal even for the Grand Line. Maybe not so much for the New World, but the weather in Paradise was supposed to be much more stable. Especially when Ace assured that this island's climate was particularly mild.
"What the hell is that?!"
Everyone started at Usopp's alarmed shout. They followed his index finger to look at the sky and instantly their faces morphed into pure shock and terror.
Except for Brook, of course. "Oh my…" the skeleton whispered as they observed the sky cracking before their very eyes.
The fracture was small at first with white-purple light spilling out through the jagged edges. Gradually, the cracking accelerated, branching like a spider's web farther and farther until it covered the major part of the dome.
A gust of wind blew straight into the pirates' faces, carrying a rancid taste of ash along with a putrid stench of blood and burning rubber.
Next moment, the sky imploded into a blinding flash, followed by a shockwave strong enough to flatten the forest soon after.
Franky stomped his feet into the ground for better balance and scooped the wailing Usopp and Chopper into his arms to keep them safe. He also snatched their screaming musician out of the air when the blast hurled his mere bones backward.
Nami squealed and Sanji gritted his teeth, shielding his eyes from the enormous gale assaulting them. "Nami-san!" he cried out, anxious to get to her, but unable to take even a single step without being blown away.
Several arms sprouted all around him and the navigator, winding around their limbs and waists to keep them anchored.
Zoro drew one of his swords in a blink of an eye and plunged it into the soil to maintain his position. His Observation Haki was trained like a hawk in case someone decided to sneak up on the crew while they were nailed down like this. He angled his free arm around his head in order to protect his unmarred eye so that he could observe the surroundings just in case.
Because of that, Zoro was the only one who noticed the crack spitting something out—or rather someone?—and that something plummeted down at high speed. He squinted, but the air currents were too strong, too rough to discern its actual identity before Zoro lost sight of it due to the hill blocking his view. He could swear he felt the terrain shake slightly beneath his feet, but before he could wrap his mind around it, the wind ceased.
Usopp, Chopper, Brook, and Nami collapsed on the ground, relief turning their bones into useless jelly.
"Ah, I thought I was going to die," the skeleton exhaled. "Even though I'm already dead. Yohohoho!"
"Thanks, Robin…" Nami muttered breathlessly. "You saved me there."
"You're welcome," the archeologist replied coolly, emerging unscathed and not even ruffled. How she managed that was beyond anyone.
"Aaaaaaah…" Usopp and Chopper moaned together, tension withering now that they were comfortably lying on their backs in the grass. "Thanks, Franky!"
"Aow!" The cyborg struck a pose. "Good to be of help!"
Sanji pulled a new cigarette and lit it up as he walked to stand next to the swordsman who was still in alert mode, body tense, intense stare fixed straight forward. "What is it?" he asked.
Zoro furrowed his brow. "I saw—"
The sound of laughter that resonated from the other side of the hill cut him off and made the pirates stiffen. The bright and cheerful sound blossomed upon the now settled field, filling the air with fresh energy and unbridled happiness. The laughter that one could hear from miles away, that meant the world and beyond to this group.
They shared a wide-eyed glance. The realization that they all had heard it, that it wasn't just a figment of their imagination, caused hope to soar as never before.
And then they were all moving, those who were down pushing themselves to their feet, stumbling, running, rushing to the top of the hill.
Dust swirled lazily around the ruined field, scattered with upturned grass and unearthed rocks. The wooden cross survived whatever force laid waste to this area, standing tall in the middle of the destruction.
"Owowowow… It hurts to laugh."
Luffy's straw hat that had previously been tied to it now covered the young man's head, shadowing his face. He was sitting on the ground, resting his back against the cross, barefoot, clothes torn to tatters, burned in some places and bloodstained in others.
The moment the Straw Hats saw this person, they forgot how to breathe.
"That surprised me, but I'm alive!" the stranger cheered. "Shishishishi, I wonder how…" A subtle wince interrupted his quiet chuckles and he groaned, putting his arm around his abdomen in what seemed an attempt to stave off the pain. After a moment, he let out a soft sigh. "Eh, I guess it doesn't really matter."
Tears gathered in some of the pirates' eyes. Not of grief this time, but ones of happiness.
"Hm? What's this?" The man picked a straw hat from his head, revealing a mop of black, messy hair, and brought it down to get a better look. "This is…" he trailed off, his voice hitching ever so slightly. "Shanks' hat..?"
Chopper couldn't hold himself any longer. "Luf—!" The sob choked him as he desperately rubbed at his eyes to clear his vision so that he could see the only human he loved more than the world itself. "Luffy!"
The stranger flinched and instantly whipped his head up, onyx eyes widening at the sight of the group. His round face was smeared with dirt and blood, but a small scar arching just under his left eye was clearly visible even through all the grime.
Not a shred of doubt was left in the hearts of the Straw Hats. They didn't know how it was possible, and they didn't really care. There was only a single thought spinning in their minds, soaring through their veins, and igniting their previously dimmed spirits.
Monkey D. Luffy was here, definitely breathing, undeniably alive. Against all odds, he came back to them.
They were no heroes. They were pirates and pirates were selfish and greedy and possessive of their treasure. For Straw Hats, there was nothing more precious than their captain.
Conviction roared through their blood, the promise, the vow searing itself into their essence, their very existence. No one—be it the World Government, the other pirates, or the universe itself—was taking Luffy away from them again.
Never again.