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Laxus wasn’t new to being surrounded by monsters. He was friends with Gildarts after all. But usually he was also one of these monsters. He had learned, over those last few months, that the Whitebeards were something else. Even then, they had been friendly to him, coaching him on some of the differences between magic and devil fruits.
Where they had observation haki, he had the ability to feel the presence of those having devil fruits, the feeling similar enough to that of magic that he could detect it. It didn’t work against non-devil fruit users, sure, but most of the strongest people on the Whitebeard’s side or on the Marines’ side had a devil fruit, so he wasn’t too disadvantaged.
They had armament haki, but his own body wasn’t intangible most of the time -even if his magic was the most similar to that of logia, he still had a real body- only transforming into thunder when he used his Lightning Body to teleport. And armament didn’t work against him, because he didn’t have a devil fruit. It didn’t mean that a hit enforced by armament didn’t hurt, but he was a dragon slayer, one of the ten strongest people in all of Fiore, on par with the Gods of Ishgar (the ones still alive, God Serena had been a class on his own before his death), and even with armament it was difficult for most people to hit hard enough to hurt him. However, his lack of armament meant that he wasn’t able to hit people back and make it hurt, as he had discovered when Marco had utterly defeated him during a spar.
Marco was even more resistant than he was thanks to his healing; Jozu’s skin was harder than dragon’s scales when he used his devil fruit; Whitebeard’s power was similar to Gildarts’ and he had decades more of training with it.
All in all, they had decided together to keep his magic a secret. If it ever came down to a point that Laxus became a trump card against the Marines, then it meant that it had all gone to shit beforehand, and all those people stronger than him had already been put out of commission.
Nevertheless no one would expect a lightning logia, since that was the more accurate way to describe his powers in this world, to join the Whitebeard and be able to stay out of the spotlight. So if everything else had gone to hell, nobody would expect him and they wouldn’t have tried to safeguard against his powers, meaning that he might be able to keep Ace safe.
It wasn’t like he could face the Admirals on his own. Just imagining someone with Gray or Sting’s powers, but with strength on par with Gildarts, August, or Natsu at his strongest, was enough to dissuade him from ever trying. He liked to think that he wasn’t a reckless idiot.
It didn’t take long after they resurfaced for the war to start, Whitebeard’s commanders clashing against Admirals and Shichibukai alike, first as a show of strength to remind everyone that they weren’t to be dismissed easily. Then the Vice-Admirals joined the fight, the pirates started to rush along the iced sea toward the Marines, and the fight became far more serious. Aboard the Moby Dick, Laxus was almost vibrating in anticipation. He wasn’t part of the initial wave of pirates, leaving him a few minutes to get used to the feeling of the battlefield around him, vastly different from what he was used to in Fiore.
Then Oars Junior arrived, as big as Makarov when he stretched his powers to the maximum. The other giants were roughly the size of Acnologia’s dragon form, so he hadn’t been too shocked by their appearance. But seeing Oars Jr. move around without trouble, while he knew that Makarov’s had barely been able to maintain this size for a few minutes back when he was still fighting, was rather shocking.
His part of the crew rushed toward the ice following in Oars’ gigantic footsteps and threw themselves into the fight. He easily blocked the first strike of a sword with his bare arm, the steel breaking against his scales. With the high amount of people able to use armament in this war, it had been decided that as long as his abilities could be explained with haki it didn’t hurt to use them. Hidden behind his coat, his scales offered him a good protection against normal attacks. He retaliated with a violent punch that sent his opponent flying.
“Who’s that next to Sengoku and Ace?” He asked as he neared Izo’s position. He had gotten a crash course on the top Marine executives -the admirals, the fleet admiral, the vice-admirals with devil fruits that he had to watch out for- and Whitebeard had said Sengoku’s name earlier, but he didn’t recognize the one sitting cross-legged next to Ace.
“Garp the Fist.” Answered Izo, not even taking a pause in his shooting. “He’s in the same generation as Oyaji and Sengoku. Strong bastard, no devil fruit.” He summarized.
“Hmm.” The lack of devil fruit was a problem, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway with both him and Sengoku standing that close to Ace. If the two of them stepped away, then he would be able to teleport to Ace’s side and take him away, since sea stone didn’t affect him, but his spars had shown him that even his Lightning Body wasn’t fast enough against an opponent such as Marco, and he doubted it would be fast enough against Sengoku or Garp. No matter the world, the old generation was always worth fearing.
Oars fell, quickly, the combined attacks of the Shichibukai enough to bring even someone that size down. And then, there was a commotion up in the sky, the sensation of what he had learned were devil fruit users getting closer and closer, until they could all clearly see what was a Marine warship fall from nowhere and into the harbor, falling right into the hole Jozu had created in the ice.
“AAAAAAAACE!!” The scream shook the battlefield, which had come to a standstill as everyone took stock of the newcomers.
“Allies or enemies?” He asked.
“Jimbe’s an ally.” Answered Haruta, taking him by surprise as he hadn’t heard her getting close. “He’s the fishman.” Laxus nodded in understanding, having learned of them through Namur. “Revolutionaries, jailed pirates… I have no idea where most of them stand, but I don’t recognize anyone that hates us so much they would attack us right now, so they aren’t a threat.” Just as she finished speaking, Crocodile shot out toward Whitebeard, getting stopped at the last moment by the teenager who had shouted Ace’s name earlier. “Crocodile is… It’s complicated.” She shrugged.
“I guess it is.” He agreed, no longer caring now that other members of the crew had joined Whitebeard on the Moby and were ready to protect his back.
He focused back on his own fights, keeping an eye on Ace through it. There was a lot of shouting and drama involved, with Ace’s brother being from a famous family as well and various famous people fighting against each other.
They were actually making progress, Marco and Jozu distracting Kizaru and Aokiji and allowing the rest of the crew to advance, when suddenly a commotion coming from behind them turned the tide of the battle.
Cyborgs. An entire army of technologically enhanced bodies, based on the same person. It felt like fighting Wall all over again. Except that Wall at least had a semblance of personality, while the Pacifistas seemed to be empty shells, their dull voice calling out their target as beams swept over the battlefield.
All wasn’t lost. Whitebeard had obviously anticipated that something similar would occur, and had ordered earlier for some of their allies to spread around outside the bay, preventing them from being entirely trapped inside. He could already see some of the division commanders regrouping and talking animatedly, before shouting orders to their men. The counterattack would soon begin, allowing most of the crew to focus on the battlefield in front of them without being wiped out from behind.
And then, Squard joined Whitebeard on the Moby’s figurehead. Some six senses must have warned them of the wrongness in that scene, because he could see as every division commander, all at once, turned around to face them.
Just in time to see Squard’s katana pierce through Whitebeard’s torso.
Whitebeard found it in himself to forgive his mistaken son, giving his allies a new way to escape by destroying the surrounding glacier and still standing tall and strong as he shouted for his crew to rally around him and keep fighting until their death.
And Laxus could only see another old man, one that didn’t fancy himself a father but a grandfather for the people under his care. Who kept on standing despite his old age, ready to sacrifice everything to save the members of his guild. Of his family.
Makarov had tried to keep fighting, to keep on going to ensure the safety of everyone, and it had ended with his death. Even if it had been temporary thanks to Mavis and Zeref, he still bore to this day the marks of his battle against Alvarez’s army.
Laxus wasn’t going to see another member of his family, a father figure to many, die in a battle against an army.
He spread his arm wide, starting to accumulate magic through his body, before bringing them sharply in front of him, compressing the magic into a small, glowing orb.
“As is Fairy Tail tradition.” He intoned, voice carrying all over the battlefield, the Whitebeards stopping in their assault to watch him. “I shall count to three before rendering judgment upon you.”
He had learned the words while a teenager, when it had become apparent that he had the magical power necessary to cast the legendary spell. He hadn’t bothered to use them the only and only time he had tried to cast it before, but it didn’t mean that they weren’t engraved into his memory.
“Let Portgas D. Ace go.” He demanded. He gave everyone the time to understand what he had said before twisting his hands, narrowing the space between them as the sphere of pure magic started to glow even brighter.
“One.”
The Whitebeard pirates closest to him closed ranks around him, ready to protect him even if they didn’t understand what he was doing.
“Two.”
The magical power was starting to become difficult to control as he poured more and more of his magic into the spell. The Marines, despite not knowing what was going to happen, turned around to attack him, not willing to let his countdown reach three if they could stop it.
“Three!”
Kizaru turned into light, intent on bringing the new threat down before he could launch his attack, just as Laxus clasped his hands together.
“Fairy Law is invoked!” He shouted, releasing the magic.
The drain as his magic rushed out of him was familiar, as was the feeling, deep inside his heart, that he could now recognize as the magic trying to determine who he considered an enemy.
‘Every Marine, please, I don’t want to lose anyone…’ For a moment he could only remember his previous failure and felt afraid that the spell would once again not find any enemy in his heart. But no, I may not hate any of them, I may not know them, but I don’t need to. I just need to see them as my enemy, and they are my enemies, they’re standing between Ace and freedom.
“Don’t.” The voice, no, the feeling took him by surprise. There was something wrong with the spell, he could feel it now, as if it had left an opening and someone had infiltrated it, trying to interfere with the spell. He felt as if he was stuck, as his will imposed the spell to target the Marines and the magic tried to obey, and at the same time it was stopped by a foreign resolve not to let any Marine die.
‘They’re trying to kill my friends!’ He shouted mentally, trying to convey what he was feeling. ‘Trying to kill Oyaji! All of this, started because you cast the sins of the father onto his son!’ He wasn’t sure how much the person that was interfering was understanding.
And then he felt an answer rush through him, emotions swirling through the light, and he realized how much the world would suffer if the Marines were to lose this war. In that moment, which was both instantaneous and drawn out, he understood how cruel most pirates were in a way he hadn’t understood living with the Whitebeard pirates. He felt the horror, the sheer rage, then the apathy that was brought by seeing countless massacres, countless islands burned to the ground, men killed and women raped. How marines who were only trying to save lives were captured and tortured for fun, humiliated in front of their crew, for the whole world to see.
The sheer strength of those emotions, usually locked away behind the veneer of Justice, of Duty, stole his breath.
‘Ace isn’t responsible for that!’ He couldn’t help but protest, pushing memories into the light. The easy acceptance of the crew of everyone who wished to join them, no matter how different, no matter the secret they kept. How they protected their territory fiercely without asking for anything in return. Pirates could be good, could be free.
He was hit back with a feeling of despair, when the islands the Marines were trying to protect were across Whitebeard’s territory, and they had no chance to ever reach them in time because to go through a Yonko’s territory meant certain death. Of determination, standing alone in front of a pirate crew, ready to sacrifice everything to gain enough time for reinforcement to arrive. Of fear, staring at death in the face in the form of the ocean, slowly drowning until dozens of Marines jumped into the sea, uncaring of the risks they were taking if it meant saving one of their own.
“They are people, too.” It seemed to say. “Let them live. Do not destroy their future. Do not condemn them now.”
As if it felt that there wasn’t anything else that could be said, their hold over the spell broke as it activated, rendering judgment over the battlefield.
~~One Piece~~Fairy Tail~~
As the blinding light receded, the pirates blinked, desperately trying to get their vision back.
Only to be faced with thousands of Marines lying unconscious on the ground all around the island. Before they could start to understand what they were seeing a second, smaller flash of light lightened up the bay, and Borsalino appeared in the middle of the plaza, unharmed.
His eyes immediately locked on Laxus, who had collapsed right into Izo’s arms, barely awake. He could feel Aokiji somewhere to his right and Akainu at the bottom of the scaffolding struggling to get back to their feet, breathing heavily. Next to him, Momonga managed to put one knee underneath his body and rise slightly from the ground, but couldn’t find the strength to do more.
Well aware that most eyes were on him and on the couple of officers who had been able to get back up, he didn’t react more than a slow blink in Laxus’s direction. He couldn’t do anything as stupid as tilting his head in thanks, but he hoped the sentiment was received by the man who could have single-handedly killed the majority of the Marines’ corps but hadn’t.
The blonde seemed to understand the message, a corner of his mouth lifting into a self-deprecating smile. It faltered as he almost slipped from Izo’s grasp, consciousness starting to evade him.
Firefist was almost hyperventilating behind him, his harsh breaths breaking through the silence on the battlefield. Borsalino barely needed to raise his voice to be clearly heard.
“Orders?” He asked, turning slightly to look at Sengoku while keeping the pirates in his line of sight. Even as he asked for direction, he knew what was going to happen. They had lost, cleanly and simply. Even if every Vice Admiral managed to reenter the fight, which wouldn’t be the case, they would never be able to hold off the Whitebeards. Not when the pirates were still mostly unharmed, Whitebeard himself more than a challenge for the few remaining Marines still able to fight. The attack had hit everyone on the island, even their backup troops that had been waiting underground.
At the same time, he knew that Sengoku was under a lot of pressure from the Gorosei. If he had orders to take Newgate’s head no matter the cost, like Borsalino suspected, then he might feel forced to order them to continue fighting.
The Yonko was silent across the bay, eyes riveted onto Sengoku’s as he waited for the Fleet Admiral’s decision.
Then the shout rang across the island. “Ceasefire!”
There were sharp intakes of breath from the few Marines aware enough to understand what was happening, even as everybody stayed coiled and ready for conflict, knowing that they were still at war until Whitebeard gave the order as well.
“Ceasefire.” He agreed.
After a short conversation with Garp, Sengoku jumped off the scaffolding. Borsalino immediately caught Aokiji’s eyes, silently asking him to be the one to act as Sengoku’s second while they negotiated the end of the war. He didn’t want to bring any more attention to himself right now. Marco, who was still near the ice logia, walked alongside him toward the middle of the bay where the two leaders met.
Given Whitebeard’s unyielding stance, there was no doubt that he wouldn’t accept anything less than Ace’s release.
At least the Denden Mushi transmission had been cut off before the start of this debacle.