Chapter Text
“Luffy,” Yamato called out to his new captain. It hadn’t been too long ago that they departed from the land of Wano, tearful farewells said and promises to return made. He was very thankful to have been allowed to sail with the Strawhats' as one of their own. With this opportunity handed to him so willingly by the very man who had freed his country, he could finally live a free life on the seas. Just like Oden had.
But right now, he had a bit of a problem. One that had been going on for several days and he didn't know what to do about.
In his hands he gently held the Vivre card that Ace had untrusted to him all those years ago. His heart raced with fear and despair as the edges of the little white squared smouldered. Occasionally, bits of ash would break off and crumble into his palms before blowing away with the sea air. He had a terrible feeling in his belly every time he pulled it out of his pocket to find it still burning. Complete meant healthy and gone meant dead, but what did burning mean? Oden's journal or any other piece of literature he read on vivre cards had never explained such a phenomenon.
He chose to ignore the obvious reason that the card would burn. He didn’t want to admit to himself that it was a possibility when it had never done this before. He prayed that his captain would tell him something different than what his deepest fears whispered to him.
“What’s up, yama-bro?” Luffy asked, bouncing up to him and jumping up to sling an arm around his shoulder despite their large height difference, bringing him down into a sort of side hug or head lock. Yamato bent down to allow him to.
“It is burning. It has been for a several days now. What does it mean?” He asked, thrusting his cupped palms towards Luffy’s face.
“Is that Ace's vivre card?” Yamato nodded. Luffy scratched his head before using the arm not around his neck to pull his straw hat off of his head. Awkwardly, with his arm still around Yamato, he reached into the red band of the with his other hand and pulled out a tiny square of paper, which was also burning around the edged. That must be the one that Ace had given Luffy. The two men stared at the paper for a moment before Luffy silently put his back into the band of his hat and crammed the accessory back onto his head. “Huh, I dunno, never seen it do that before. Hey, Robin, come’re real quick!”
The mentioned woman looked up from where she was playing chess with their navigator. She muttered an assurance to Nami that she would be right back before standing and making her way over to the two men. Nami scowled as she watched her go, a pout of her own forming on her face.
“Yes, Luffy?” Robin asked, stopping right up next to them.
“Why is Yamabro’s vivre card doing that?” He asked, pointing down at the smouldering piece of paper in Yamato’s hands. Robin’s lighthearted smile faded away and was replaced by a somber frown. It instantly made Yamato’s heart start racing in his chest.
“What is it? Why are you making that face?” Yamato asked, alarmed. Although he knew that harm coming to the square of paper wouldn’t equal harm coming to Ace - and that even if it did his new crew would never hurt him - he still pulled the vivre card away from the two of them and cradled it to his chest protectively.
“There's only one reason for a vivre card to be doing that.” The ship’s historian replied. She cupper her chin, three fingers covering her mouth, and gripped her elbow in a contemplative look.
“What reason?” Luffy asked. He had let go of Yamato, face also now serious.
“Well, it only does that if their life force is waving,” Robin said. Yamato’s heart felt like it had dropped into his stomach at the confirmation that the shrinking vivre card meant Ace was hurt, and badly. “In other words, that only happens when they are dying or severe harm has befallen them.”
“That can't be right!” Yamato gasped out, crushing the vivre card impossibly closer to his chest, tears springing to his eyes as his worst nightmare was confirmed. Yamato had just barely made it out onto the sea! Ace couldn’t die yet, he just couldn't’! He had promised that they would meet again! He couldn’t go back on his promise, especially not now that Yamato was so close.
“Whose vivre card is that, Yamato?” Robin asked, eyes sympathetic.
"Ace gave to him.” Luffy replied for him. The captain had his head bowed and his hands clenched down at his waist. The rest of the crew seemed to have stopped what they were doing and were all staring over at the three, varying expressions of worry, sadness, and confusion painting their faces. Nami had since stopped scowling about losing her chess partner and was instead covering her mouth with a hand, grief filling her eyes.
“I have to go help him! No, we have to go help him!” Yamato exclaimed.
“We don’t even know where he is,” Zoro pointed out nonchalantly from where he was leaning against the railing, a hand lazily resting on the handle of one of his swords. He looked far too calm for the situation. Yamato rounded on him and glared with a fury, tears still prickling at the corners of his eyes.
“How can you be so calm about this? We can’t just let him die!” He told the other man angrily.
“Look, I’m not saying we don’t go help him, I'm just pointing out that we don’t know what trouble he’s in nor do we know where the hell he is. We don’t even know if he needs helping.” Zoro snapped. Yamato gritted his teeth, hating to admit that the swordsman may be correct to some degree.
“Well I’m going to find him and I’m going to help him no matter what, even if none of you help me. I don’t care if it turns out to be a false alarm.” Yamato growled. He bit his lip to try and stop the animalistic teeth he could feel forming in his mouth from showing. He logically knew that the other man meant no harm and that he wasn’t a threat to him trying to help Ace, but he wasn’t thinking straight after hearing the news that his oldest friend was most likely dying, or at the very least heavily injured, right at this very moment. He couldn't help but feel extra protective and aggressive. Zoro gripped the handle of Wado tighter, obviously sensing the hostile radiating off of him, and Yamato clenched his hands into fists since he didn't have Takeru with him.
"If you want to fight, let's fight." The swordsman snarled.
"Both of you stop it right now!" Nami snapped. She jumped to her feet and put herself between the two men, a hand raised to both of their chests. The captain pointedly said nothing, simply watched the exchange with a clenched jaw and a dark expression. He likely agreed with both points and didn't know whose side to take on the matter. Like Yamato, he was worried for his brother, but he understood the point Zoro was making about the situation.
"I implore the both of you to think rationally. Fighting with each other is going to be of no help to Ace." Robin said, standing behind Nami as support. Zoro tch'ed, dropped his hand from Wado, and turned his head away from Yamato, which only enraged the other further. The only thing stopping him from throwing a punch was the small women standing in his way.
But before things could escalate further, Usopp came running out of the cabin, transponder snail clutched in his hands. “Luffy, it's for you! It’s the Whitebeard Pirates!” Usopp yelled out anxiously, thrusting the snail right into the captain's face. Mouth still set into a grim frown, Luffy accepted the snail and spoke into it.
“It’s about Ace isn’t it?” Luffy said, blunt and to the point. A deep sigh was the response that he received.
“It is-yoi.” A voice that Yamato recognized as Marco the Phoenix replied on the other end.
“Pineapple, what’s going on? What happened to him?” Luffy asked.
“He’s been taken captive by the marines. We didn't alert you sooner because we only just found out after sailing away from Wano. They plan to have him executed in a week's time, so we don't have long if we wish to save him.” The Strawhats all let out a collective gasp of shock. Yamato stared down at the snail in disbelief. Before he could think about what he was doing, Yamato ripped the transponder out of Luffy’s hands, ignoring the glare Zoro sent his way as he did so.
“He would never be captured by the marines! He’s too strong for that!” Yamato shouted into the snail.
“You’re right about that-yoi,” Marco said, “Him and his division were taken by surprise while going up against Blackbeard, who was working with the World Government, unbeknownst to them at the time. It was a nasty ambush from what I've been told. The entire unit was going to be taken in and killed, but Ace gave himself over on the condition that everyone else was able to go free. We believe that was their goal from the very beginning.”
Yamato inhaled sharply through his nose. That sounded like the man he knew Ace to be. Kind and selfless to a fault. Luffy snatched the snail back out of Yamato’s hand.
“Hey pineapple head. I know we just ended our alliance a few days ago, but what do you say about setting up another?” Luffy asked.
“That’s actually why I am calling-yoi. If it comes down to it, we plan to go to war with the marines to get him back. The whitebeard pirates are hoping that the Strawhats will be willing to work alongside us." Marco replied. Yamato looked around the crew, expecting an objection from Usopp or Nami at the very least, but no one said a thing. They didn’t even look scared, only resolute and determined.
“Of course we’re in.” Luffy said without a moment's hesitation and without so much as looking at his crew. He simply trusted them to have his back no matter what decision he made. Gods above, Yamato respected this man and his crew. They were all something special and he was proud to now call himself one of them.
"That's what I thought," Marco replied. Yamato could almost hear the smile in his voice. "He’s currently being held at Marineford, the main Navy headquarter.”
“Then we'll set sail for Marineford as soon as we can.” Luffy said.
“We’ll meet you halfway there-yoi. We will get him back, Strawhat.” Marco said firmly.
“Of course we will.” Luffy stated. Handing the snail back to a scrambling Usopp, Luffy turned to Jinbei and Nami before shouting a command to set course for Marineford. Jinbei grunted an affirmation from behind the wheel and gave him a single, sharp nod before taking the helm. Nami ran up to join the fishman and immediately began to bark orders. And soon, they were off, wind whipping through their sails and salt water crashing against their sides.
They would save Ace no matter what it took
~ ~ ~
Several days later would find them on the eve of Ace’s execution with the moon hanging high up in the starry night sky. Jinbei had estimated that they would reach Marineford by daybreak at the latest, leaving them with several hours to prepare before noon struck, the time that the actual execution was to take place. Anxiety and restlessness sat heavy in the air, so thick that Yamato could feel it on his skin like a stuffy blanket in the middle of summer. It was really putting him on edge, stomach twisted into knots and a lump forming heavy in his throat.
The strawhat’s sailed alongside the Polar Tang and the Victoria Punk once more. Against all odds, Luffy had somehow managed to convince the other two captains to help their cause,. Regardless of his captain's methods of persuasion, it was a wonder that the other two had just dropped what they were doing to come and help save the life of a man that neither of them had ever met before. To anyone else, this development would be baffling beyond belief, but to Yamato the answer was all too obvious. Although he didn’t have solid proof of this theory, he had the sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with all the stories the people of Wano had told about Ace during the revolution against Kaido. He was well loved by many people there, so it would come as no surprise if their high praises had managed to sway a few hearts along the way.
In addition to this, Izou had even sent out word to The Nine Red Scabbards, who had also agreed to come help out in any way that they could. They had said it was the least they could do for Luffy after he helped them to free their country. Yamato appreciated their honour, but it left a sour taste in his mouth to think that they simply felt obligated to help, instead of truly wanting to assist Ace for the sake of helping him. But in the end, help was help so he bit his tongue and uttered not a single word. Besides, it was nice to see familiar faces again so soon. Their ship sailed just behind the three supernovas and Yamato would occasionally walk to the back of the Thousand Sunny to wave to whoever happened to be on the deck at that moment. This was shaping up to be a true all out war from the sounds of it.
The days leading up to now had been filled with countless hours of preparation and coordination with the Whitebeards and allied forces on how things would play out once they finally reached Marineford. The main division of the Whitebeard pirates planned to make a grand entrance using a special coating that would allow their ship to sail underwater (a trick that Yamato hadn't been privy to before hearing about it during planning). This was meant to act as both a show of power and a diversion from the real plan. The Kid, Heart, and Strawhat pirates would then sail in from the sides, ready to storm the execution platform while the attention was on Whitebeard. If all played out correctly then the sea leading up the marine base would be frozen by Aokiji if the marines hoped to avoid being washed away by the tsunami that Whitebeard planned on bringing down on them upon arrival. This frozen piece of ocean would act as an additional battlefield for them to fight on and advance with so that they didn’t have to sail too close to the actual walls of Marineford.
They had even assigned certain groups with an admiral that they were to fight and keep distracted while they freed Ace. Yamato was thankful that there were no warlords anymore for them to deal with. Things might have been extra complicated if there had been. However, the planning became pretty hairy when it came to who was actually going to go up to the scaffolding to free Ace. There were too many variables involved to make a cohesive decision on the matter and it had led to several arguments between the allied forces. They had to come back to the topic more than once, with the group changing time and time again before they finally landed on one that seemed to work the best out of all of those proposed.
In the end, it was decided that they would send Luffy, Yamato, Kin’emon, Kiku, Chopper and Nami as the retrieval unit. Yamato didn’t question why this was the lineup, and had honestly tuned out the parts of the plan that didn't involve him. All he cared about was that he was going to be able to be one of the first people at Ace’s side. In fact, he had been assigned with breaking his chains.
Their mission after securing Ace’s safety would then be to immediately bring him to the Heart Pirates captain, who would be waiting on the Polar Tang to treat any injuries that Ace or the retrieval unit may have. It was decided that he would stay behind on the submarine instead of partaking in the retrieval itself since he was still recovering from a wound he received during the fight against Kaido.
Yamato stood at the ship's side, leaning his legs on the railing while the wind ripped through his hair. His fellow Strawhats moved about the ship behind him, all preparing in their own way for the fight that was to come in the morning. He had Ace’s vivre card held in the palm of his hands, sad eyes focused on the little piece of paper. Its edges were still blackened by burn and the card itself had gotten smaller since he first found it burning, indicating that, according to Robin, his condition hadn’t improved since then and his wounds likely hadn’t been treated.
Yamato hadn’t let it stray far from his sight since finding out about the situation. Most of the Strawhats had told he should take a break and put the vivre card somewhere he couldn’t see it before he put himself into an early grave with all his worrying, but he chose to ignore their advice. He didn’t know if he could handle not being able to tell if Ace was still alive or not. Unlike the rest of the crew, he had seen Luffy throwing glances his way every so often to check on its state as well. He knew that the captain also found comfort in seeing that the little paper hadn’t burnt to ash.
Do not get them wrong, they knew Ace was strong, but this wasn’t an ideal or normal situation. There were so many ways for Ace to get hurt or die before they could reach him. He likely had no way to fight back properly against those who wanted to hurt him. And even then, there was the ever looming possibility that he could be executed before the scheduled time. Yamato let his head race with these thoughts, worry and anxiety never far away.
A hand on his arm drew him out of his ever spiralling thoughts and he turned to find their navigator staring up at him with sympathetic eyes. “Don’t worry Yamato, we’ll get him back. That’s a promise.” She said in as cheerful a voice as she could muster. It still came out forced. Yamato knew she was worried and anxious too. They all were, for a wide variety of reasons. They had absolutely no way of predicting how the war was going to play out tomorrow or how many casualties they would face. They didn't even have a 100% guarantee that they would achieve their goal.
“But what if we’re too late?” Yamato asked, tears welling in his eyes against his will.
“We won’t be.” Nami said firmly. “We are going to make it there in time and we are going to save him. You know how Luffy is, if he wants something it’s as good as his. And what he wants right now is Ace safe and away from the marines.”
“And if the execution starts early?” Yamato prompted, feeling that anxiety swell in his chest at the thought.
“We’ll know. I won’t give away who for their own safety, but we have a guy on the inside who believes what the marines are doing is wrong. He’ll alert us if the circumstances of our rescue mission change. And if they do decide to start early? We’ll figure it out. You can count on that. Ace is not going to die.”
It was the surety in Nami’s firm voice that finally seemed to tame Yamato’s fears, at least a little bit. She was right, he shouldn’t worry. He should just trust his allies to have his back and believe in their abilities to do their assigned tasks. Whatever happens will happen. With a sharp, deep inhale, Yamato shoved the vivre card back in his kimono and nodded his thanks to Nami. He needed to prepare.
~ ~ ~
“Are you all ready my friends?” Kin’emon asked, leaning in close so he could be heard. The leader of the Nine Red Scabbards had just finished equipping the entirety of the retrieval unit with marine disguises that would hopefully allow them to go unnoticed in the chaos that was unfolding on the ice just behind them, even if for a little while.
“Let’s do this.” Luffy said, striking his palm with his fist and pulling his hat down further onto his head. Well, his hats, plural. He was wearing a marine hate over his iconic straw one. Yamato thought he looked a little bit silly, but he knew how much it meant to his captain to have that straw hat on him at all times so he held his tongue.
“Excellent! We don’t have long, so we will have to be quick. We get in, we break his chains, we get out.” Kin’emon said. The leader waited for all of them to nod in agreement before exclaiming, “Let us head out!”
With the declaration, the group broke apart from the huddle that they were crouched in and made quick work of jumping over the banister of the Red Scabbard’s ship. Yamato shivered as he touched down on the ice. He pitied anyone wearing few layers today. Thankfully, the ship was small and had yet to be noticed by the marines so they had no problems getting off of the ship and integrating themselves into the fight that was happening around them. They likely looked suspicious to anyone with a keen eye, with their unfamiliar faces and out of place weapons, but there was so much going on that they easily blended into the mayhem as they began making their way towards the execution block.
It made Yamato’s heart ache how close, and yet how far away, he was from Ace. All he wanted to do was pull the other man into his arms and shout “I’m here!” but he couldn't. Right now, an entire battlefield and a massive stone wall stood between him and that. From this distance, Ace was nothing but a blob of colour, too little for Yamato to see properly. But not for long. They would soon rescue him and then he could hug Ace as much as he wanted.
As they weaved through the crowds, the weapons around them began to rip themselves out of marines hands and fly through the sky, collecting into a massive ball that soon formed itself into the familiar sight of Captain Kid’s Punk Rotten. Yamato grinned wildly at the sight. Even though this was not his first time seeing the creation, he was still amazed by its messy and disorganized glory. Not only that, but it also signified that they were ready to move the fight off of the ice and up onto the stone above. Around them, other pirates here to save Ace also readied themselves to rush the plaza as soon as Kid cleared the way for them.
“Here we go, prepare yourselves!” Kin’emon shouted to the group as Kid raised a junk fist and brought it down on the wall faster than any of the Admiral’s could react to stop him, smashing a portion of it to bits. Everyone stopped what they were doing to shield themselves from the debris that fell around them from the impact. There were varying reactions to the breach, ranging from horror to celebration, rage to triumph, panic to joy.
Kid’s manic laughter was heard as Punk Rotten dodged away from a beam of light aimed at him from Kizaru. Without missing a beat, several sheets of metal broke off of the massive golem and flew down to assemble themselves into a ramp that sat perfectly in the center of the new hole in the wall, held together by Kid' magnetism. Almost immediately, groups of pirates rushed the ramp, ready to storm the area above.
“That is our cue!” Kiku shouted before also charging the ramp and joining the overflowing mob of pirates moving up. The others followed after her, moving fast to prevent an accidental separation. Yamato had to snatch the back of Nami’s shirt more than once to prevent her from being shoved over the edge as they ran. The pressure on all sides from the amount of people forcing their way up was almost suffocating and Yamato had to hold himself back from smacking people out of the way with his kanabo, reminding himself over and over again that these were his allies.
With his height, Yamato was able to see over the heads of most of the people in the mob. Once he was able to see that they were only feet away from the top, he grabbed ahold of his companions in any way he could and shoved them all to one side as soon as their feet hit stone to separate them from the masses.
Yamato let out a relieved breath when he was able to move his arms with a little more freedom again. Not that the area above the ice was any less cramped, with the mass amount of marines that had been waiting for them above rushing to attack them almost immediately, but it at least allowed for more mobility than the 6 foot wide ramp did. He rolled his shoulders and readjusted his grip on Takeru. No words were needed between the group as they continued on their path towards the scaffolding. All was going well for the retrieval unit up until this point as they hadn’t been spotted once during their advance, but like all good things that came to an end rather quickly.
Unfortunately it seemed that the marines had finally caught on to the fact that they were not allies as they were abruptly surrounded by several of them, forcing the group to come to a halt. None of them were admiral rank, but based on haki alone Yamato was able to tell that they were of a higher rank than most of those that fought around them. It would take Yamato several minutes to incapacitate all of them, assuming he was alone and didn’t have teammates to look after as well. Beside him Nami swore loudly. Even though her language was more colourful than what he would typically use, he had to agree.
“We know what you’re up to,” The apparent leader of the bunch said directly to Luffy. He was holding a sort of trident in his meaty hands and he stared down at them through a thick mop of dark, greasy hair. “We aren’t going to let you get to the platform.”
“I doubt you’ll be able to stop us.” Luffy said with a grin just before throwing a punch right into the guy's left cheek, sending teeth, spit, and blood flying from his mouth as he spun in a circle and dropped to the ground.
Like a switch had been flipped, the rest of the marines charged them with weapons raised. Putting himself between Nami and the enemies, Yamato made quick work of striking down those foolish enough to attack them. He wanted to make sure he protected the navigator, not because he thought she wasn’t capable of doing so herself, but because she was vital to their plan, even if Yamato couldn’t remember exactly what she would do when they reached Ace. Plus, her attacks tended to be flashy with all the weather changing, and they were trying to keep as little attention on them as possible. That is why Yamato was choosing to refrain from using any of his more flashy attacks. Hand to hand or weapon combat was all they could work with at the moment.
“Luffy-dono!” Kin’emon suddenly shouted. Yamato spared a brief glance over at the two men, at first believing his captain to have gotten hurt, but quickly focused back on his fight when he found him to be in no immediate danger.
“What’s up?” Luffy yelled back. His limbs retracted with an audible snap as he dropped back down to the ground.
.
“Kiku and I will keep these guys busy so the rest of you get going. We do not have long!” Kin’emon shouted to them as he blocked an attack from a group of marines with his katana. Kiku shouted her agreement with the sentiment and jumped in the way of an attack that would have otherwise hit Nami, the sound of metal on metal the only indicator that she hadn’t been stabbed herself. Luffy smiled gratefully at the samurai and took off in the direction of the platform, the rest of the Strawhats following close behind him Yamato was hesitant to leave allies behind while they were in a sticky situation, but the older man was right. They didn’t have minutes to spare before Ace was to be executed. He spared the samurai one last look before running after his crew.
Yamato’s heart was racing as he turned back towards the platform and began running. Somewhere to the left he could see Zoro and Sanji occupying Admiral Kizaru. A well timed kick to the light man’s face from Sanji prevented him from spotting the retrieval unit getting closer and closer to Ace. Even further away, he could see magma flying into the air with bursts of steam from where Jinbei and Whitebeard were fighting Admiral Akainu. He couldn’t see Aokiji and the rest of the Nine Red Scabbards, but he could only assume that they were keeping him well distracted if he was out of sight.
Behind them, high in the sky, Captain Kid was still operating Punk Rotten, smashing marine clusters left and right while also ripping their weapons away when he could. Guns and swords swirled above the battlefield like an extra dangerous and sharp whirlpool that lashed out at anyone that got too close to it. Thanks to him, several of the marine units had been forced to either fall back or fight hand to hand combat. Despite how well the captain of the Kid Pirates was doing, it didn’t take a genius to see that he was tiring quickly with the combined effort of keeping Punk Rotten and the weapon whirlpool intact. He was reaching exhaustion, just like many of the people on the battlefield. They had to get this over with, and soon.
It was a race against the clock as Yamato and his team ran for the platform. They really didn’t have much time before the execution was to be carried out, that much everyone knew. Noon was only a few minutes away, the sun burning bright high up in the sky. Yamato was just grateful that the marines followed such a strict schedule, otherwise things would have gone south a whole lot quicker. Thankfully, Kin’emon and Kiku’s distraction seemed to have drawn enough attention away from them that they were able to advance without being noticed a second time. Neither the marines nor Ace himself gave them so much as a glance as they advanced on the platform. Speaking of Ace, he was now close enough for Yamato to see, much to his pleasure. Instead of seeing a joyful expression like he believed he would, the younger man was staring out over the battlefield with a look of grief and horror on his heavily bruised face. He looked close to crying.
Yamato didn’t understand this. He would be ecstatic if this many people had shown up to save his life. Ace just looked… scared, confused, horrified, guilty even. Not only that, but his wounds looked worse than Yamato had initially feared. Even from here, as far away as he was, Yamato could see the canvas of bruises painted across his body. It reminded him of when father would grow too angry with him and his training turned to beatings. Yamato knew first hand just how much bruises like that hurt and his heart ached for his friend.
Yamato swung Takeru into the face of a marine that tried to attack them and jumped over his fallen body. They were close now, right underneath the scaffolding in fact.
“Do your thing, Nami.” Luffy said as the group jogged to a stop at the base of the platform. Nami nodded and pulled out her clima-tact. She spun it a few times and out popped Zues, Big Mom’s homie and former ally turned part of the crew.
“Just like we planned Zues.” She told the cloud, who nodded with a determined look on his face before the air around them seemed to grow colder and Zues turned a dark grey colour. Nami then spun the staff again and several wavy balls of heat popped out of the tip, flying up into the sky. Zeus flew up with them for reasons unknown to Yamato.
“It’s done Luffy.” The navigator told their captain. Luffy grinned and chuckled.
“Good work, Nami. Everyone hold on tight okay?” Luffy gave the group barely a few seconds to grab onto him before throwing his arms back and stretching them up towards the platform. They then launched into the air, flying several feet up past the scaffolding. Rocks and flower petals flew behind several of them as the hats to their marine disguises broke free with the wind. Oddly enough, no one on the platform reacted to their ascent at all, they simply remained watching the battle below as if they hadn’t seen a thing even though they were right in front of them.
Luckily, the only people on the platform when they crash landed was Garp (who Yamato had recently learned was Luffy grandfather), Ace, and the two executioners that stood on either side of him. Yamato had briefly seen Marco the Phoenix attack Sengoku and knock him free from the platform much earlier in the battle, before they themselves had begun their journey towards the execution block. They were now brawling somewhere in the distance. As if a spell had been broken, the four of them exclaimed in shock as the group fell down beside him.
“Sorry gramps!” Luffy said just as his fist made direct contact with his grandfather jaw, knocking him clean off of the platform. “I'm trusting you guys with Ace, so get him out of here!” He said before diving off after Garp. Yamato nodded and then turned towards Ace, where Chopper and Nami had already taken care of the two executioners. Yamato made eye contact with his friend as he dropped down onto his knees in front of him.
“Ya-Yamato?” Ace asked in disbelief. “How…?”
“I’ve come to break your chains and take you away from this place!” Yamato exclaimed, full of cheer now that he was this close to Ace. But unfortunately, now that he was right in front of his oldest friend it became increasingly obvious why the vivre card had been smouldering this entire time without pause. There was barely an inch of the smaller man that wasn’t absolutely covered in deep, purple-red bruises and blood, old and new alike. His left eye was swollen shut and crusted over with blood and his lip was busted, still leaking trickles of crimson down his chin from where he had likely bitten the wound back open in his worrying. The eye that wasn’t swollen shut was dazed and far duller than Yamato remembered his brilliant, deep brown eyes being. Now they were more akin to a hollow black. He was staring at Yamato with a mixture of horror and wonder swirling around in those familiar-unfamiliar eyes.
“How are you here?” He asked almost breathlessly.
“Luffy came to Wano just as you said he would! He was just as amazing as your stories made him out to be.” Yamato said. He then brought Takeru down on one of the chains connected to the floor, shattering it in two. He did the same to the other and now Ace was free to move, even if he still couldn’t use his devil fruit. “Sorry I can’t do anything about getting the cuffs themselves off, we’ll worry about that later, okay”?
“Heh… so he actually beat Kaido then…” Ace said, trailing off and not acknowledging the part about not being able to use his devil fruit. He had a far off look in his eyes before he shook his head and they focused back on Yamato. He pulled his hands in front of him now that he was free to move, wincing when he pulled his shoulders in a certain way. Yamato felt rage at seeing his friend so hurt and uncomfortable, but held himself back from making any comments. “How aren’t they seeing us?” Ace suddenly asked, motioning to the battlefield over his shoulder. Yamato turned to see what he meant and found that just like during their jump to the top, no one seemed alarmed, or even overjoyed, that they had freed Ace. There was no reaction at all actually. It was as if they weren’t here and Ace was still chained down.
“I’ve created a mirage.” Nami piped up from his side. “But the illusion will break the second we leave this platform so we are going to have to be quick since stealth isn’t going to be an option once they realize what we’ve done, do you all understand?”
Both Ace and Yamato both stared at her in amazement while Chopper simply smiled with a knowing pride. Yamato hadn’t even known she could do that! But now wasn’t the time to praise her, right now they had to get Ace away from here, so Yamato nodded and readied his kanabo. Since both Yamato and Chopper were much too tall to support Ace comfortably, Nami was the one that moved to throw his arm over her shoulder and help him stand.
Just as Yamato was wondering if he was going to have to help them jump down, Chopper beside him bit into a little red ball and changed out of his human-beast form, rapidly growing into a massive monster and releasing a roar so loud it made Yamato’s ear drums ache. Wow, Yamato really should have been paying attention to the plan when it was being explained to him. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so amazed by the things his teammates were doing.
Chopper bent down, head almost touching the ground, and motioned for them to climb onto his back. Once they had all settled, Chopper stood and took a running start for the edge. Then he leaped from the scaffolding, instantly breaking the mirage that Nami had set. Yamto held tightly onto the fur of the reindeers back as they soared over the battlefield. They managed to cover a good several yards before landing hard on the stone ground and creating a crater that sent debris flying in all directions.
“Come on, we have to go!” Nami shouted to him and Ace. She pulled Ace down off of the Strawhat doctor’s back and once again slung his arm over her shoulder. Yamato slid down behind them, taking up a defensive stance since neither Nami nor Ace were in a position to fight at the moment. As quickly as they could with Ace’s injuries, they started running in the direction they knew the Polar Tang to be while Chopper stayed behind to fight the marines closest to them in order to give them a head start.
“Start the retreat!” Yamato heard Whitebeard shout from farther ahead, signifying that he had spotted them with his son. Ace’s head snapped up at the sound of the old man’s voice and he whispered something Yamato didn’t quite catch, but looked like ‘pops?’.
“They’ve freed Fire Fist! All units converge on him, use deadly force!” Sengoku’s voice boomed across the war grounds. Looks like Whitebeard wasn’t the only leader to have spotted them.
“Shit!” Nami cursed from in front of him. Before they could even blink the battle around them shifted and they became the main target for the entirety of Marineford. “Shit, shit, shit! This way!” Nami shouted to Yamato, pulling Ace with her as she turned to the right and began running in the clearest direction available to them. As they went, Yamato fended off any marines that got too close, sweeping them aside using Takeru with various shouts of ‘Thunder Bagua!”as he went. He could now be as flashy, and therefore as dangerous, as he pleased. Zeus was also now following close behind them, shocking those who Yamato didn’t get with bursts of lighting. Yamato was thankful for the extra help.
They didn’t get very far, however, as beams of light collected into the form of a man in front of them and Kizaru was suddenly standing in their way, staring down his pointy nose at them with an amused, if not pissed off, expression.
“Oh my, I can’t believe you really managed to get him down from the scaffolding. I’m afraid I can’t let you go any further.” He said in that annoying drawl. Yamato quickly put himself in between the Admiral and his friends, an arm stretched out to guard them. He allowed his form to grow and his beast features forced themselves onto his face, soft white fur growing atop his skin and nose elongating into the snout of a dog. He snarled at the man, lips pulling back to show off his large, sharp teeth as he gripped Takeru so tight that he felt the skin of his hand straining, ready to rip should he hold on any harder.
Kizaru raised an eyebrow at the change and brought his finger up to attack the trio just as blue flashed before there eyes and taloned foot connected with the tall man's face, sending him flying into a group of marines that had been advancing on them. Marco dropped down in front of them, Izou right beside him. Yamato could also see Sanji and Zoro making their way over, both clearly pissed at having been abandoned mid-fight.
“Marco…Izou… you guys came too?” Ace croaked. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Ace. We’ll talk later.” Marco told him, smiling softly at the younger man. Ace looked close to tears and he bit his trembling lip.
“There's no time for pleasentries. We’ve got this under control so hurry away.” Izou told them, cocking his pistol and putting himself back to back with Marco. Yamato nodded to them and motioned for Ace and Nami to keep following.
Kizaru climbed to his feet behind them, rubbing his jaw with an annoyed expression on his face. His reward for trying to attack the retrieval unit a second time was another kick to the face, which Yamato seen just before looking away. As they ran, Yamato could see Aokiji advancing on them in the distance as well, but he never had the chance to get close as a sharp kick was delivered to his ribs, courtesy of Sanji. It looked like him and Zoro decided that Marco and Izou had Kizaru covered, so they would fight the ice man.
Yamato could all but taste freedom as they neared the crack in the stone wall that would take them down to the ice. But since when did things go as planned? They were only about a hundred feet away from the crack when a ball of molten magma exploded in front of them, instantly destroying the metal ramp they had used to get up here and sending red-hot bits of melted metal and lava flying. Nami screamed and flinched backwards, sending both her and Ace crashing to the ground and causing Yamato to screech to a halt. Whirling around, Yamato came face to face with Admiral Akainu, and he looked pissed.
“Nami get Ace out of here!” Yamato barked, tightening his grip on Takeru and hunkering down, ready to leap at the magma man.
“R-right!” Nami yelled back, already pulling Ace to his feet and tugging him away from the soon to be fight.
“You think you can stop me, mutt?” Akainu growled, magma dripping from his closed fist as steam rose from his body in waves.
“Thunder Bagua!” Yamato yelled instead of responding. He ran at the Admiral with a shout, raising Takeru over his head. The man raised his arm to block the attack and Yamato landed a blow to the admiral's haki enforced arm, sparks of energy flying from where they were connected.
He caught the sight of the man’s other arm raising up to deliver a blow and dodged to the side just in time, rolling on the ground and popping up behind the Admiral to strike him in the back. Akainu whipped around, swinging a molten fist at Yamato’s head, which he easily dodged and countered with a breath of ice. They went like this for several minutes, trading blows and dodging each others attacks
Yamato jumped backwards, moving side to side to avoid the fist sized balls of lava that were thrown his way every time Akainu swung his fists in his direction. He would occasionally breath out bursts of ice at the admiral to counter these attacks. They didn’t seem to do much, though, as they fizzled away into steam every time they came into contact with his body. So far it didn't seem like any of his attacks had much of an affect on the magma man, but he wasn't doing any damage to Yamato either. It was as though they were fighting an equally matched, stagnant battle that would have no victor. That was, until what happened next.
Yamato gasped as the man jumped forward with a shocking speed. The world seemed to move in slow motion as a fist was thrown in Yamato’s direction faster than he had time to dodge or counter with haki. He was just barely able to throw himself backwards and to the side to stop the attack from reaching his chest, where it had been aiming. Yamato howled in pain as the Admiral’s molten fist came into contact with his disguise clad shoulder, sending him crashing backwards onto the ground. He rolled for a few feet before landing painfully on the wounded shoulder, Takeru clattering to the stone mere inches away from his head. He laid there for a moment, trying to breath through the pain of the blistering burn. He was so lucky that the man's fist hadn’t gone straight through his shoulder.
“Yamato!” He heard Ace yell out. Vision swimming, Yamato forced himself to roll over onto his stomach and pushed himself up onto his knees. Bile rose from his mouth and he emptied the breakfast Sanji had prepared for him that morning onto the ground below him. He panted as he wiped his mouth with his wrist, ignoring the pain pulsing in his shoulder as best as he could.
Through his distorted vision he watched Akainu approach Nami and Ace, who had stopped retreating. Ace was pulling against Nami’s hold, trying to get to Yamato, while she did her best to keep tugging him to the edge by his arm. Yamato growled, breathing heavily through his slack jaw, and pushed himself to stand. He was unwilling to let Akainu reach his friends. He simply couldn’t allow it.
With a pained cry that turned into a shout of determination, he lifted Takeru into his hands and ran at the admiral. “Thunder Bagua!” He yelled, his loud voice carrying over the sounds of the battlefield. He felt the skin of his shoulder pull taunt, blisters breaking open and pouring blood down his arm as he swung his kanabo with all his might. The weapon connected with Akainu’s side, lightning crackling at the point of impact before the Admiral was sent flying and tumbling to the ground in a way similar to Yamato before him. He slumped over, shoulders rising and falling heavily as he let out deep puffs of air. He could feel blood rolling down his arm, matting up his fur as it went. Sweat beaded at his brow. But it would take more than this to take down Yamato.
“Keep going, I’ve got this!” Yamato barked at his friends. He could see admiration shining in Ace’s eyes, his jaw hanging open and a light flush decorating his cheeks. He had since stopped fighting against Nami’s insistent tugs. Yamato felt a sense of relief rush through his tense body as Ace allowed himself to be pulled away. Turning back to face his opponent, he shouted, “Do you really think you can get rid of me that easily? I am Kozuki Oden!”
The Admiral climbed to his feet, and Yamato felt a bit of pride at the fact that his limbs trembled as he did so. The other man’s lips were pulled up into a hate filled snarl as he wiped a bit of blood away from the corner of his mouth. Crimson also dripped down the side of his head, sullying the collar of his shirt as it soaked into the material. The flower that was in his front pocket was crumpled and missing a few petals. That stupid hat of his had had been knocked askew, now sitting on his head at an awkward angle that almost made Yamato chuckle.
“Tch. Damn dog,” The admiral growled. Even though Yamato was the one with the zoan devil fruit, there was something animalistic and almost predatory in the way he bared his teeth. There was a darkness in his eyes that reminded Yamato all too much of the rabid animals one would occasionally find in Wano. A chill ran up Yamato’s spine, but he ignored it in favor of rushing the Admiral again, shoulder tensing against the pain when he raised Takeru up to deliver another blow.
Akainu dodged with ease with each hit Yamato threw. He wasn’t even fighting back like he was previously. Instead, he had his face lowered enough that the brim of his hat shadowed his eyes from view.
“Why aren’t you fighting me!” Yamato growled, now swinging his kanabo with a renewed vigor. He aimed for his legs, his torso, his arms, his head, anywhere that was within reach. But his blows didn’t connect even once and Akainu made no moves to counter him either. Growing frustrated, Yamato leaped away from him to give himself some more range with his next attack. Taking in a deep breath, Yamato shot a line of ice at the Admiral. Unshockingly, he didn’t even try to dodge this move. He didn’t have to either. All it did was sputter against his skin and cause even more steam to rise from his body.
He didn’t want to admit it, but Yamato was putting too much power behind these useless attacks and he could feel himself weakening from the amount of blood he was losing from the wound to his shoulder. He was beginning to grow tired. But he had to ensure his friends escaped, so he readied himself for annother attack that he would never be able to carry out. As soon as he bent his knees, ready to leap in for another round of blows, the Admiral raised his head to finally meet Yamato’s eyes again. If the look before was akin to an rabid animal, this one was that of a monster.
“I don’t have time for this!” The Admiral growled, rage filling his words. The air around them grew impossibly hot and Yamato felt himself start to sweat. Panting from a combination of the growing pain in his shoulder and the heat, he put more distance between them. He was smart enough to know that he did not want to be close to the man while he was like this. Akainu’s skin turned a shade of dark red and magma erupted from every part of his body, leaving nothing but his face as normal flesh.
Without giving Yamato a chance to react, he shot an arm out, shooting a concentrated line of magma. Yamato went to dodge the attack, but instead of being aimed at him like he expected, the attack blew right past him, right in the direction Nami and Ace had continued to retreat in.
Eyes wide in terror, Yamato followed the line of the attack and watched as the magma tore through marines and pirates alike before reaching it’s target. Yamato could do nothing as the magma tore through Ace’s and Nami’s connected backs, effectively separating them both and sending them free falling from the edge of the wall they were about to jump from.
“No!” Yamato shouted, voice cracking and throat aching with the force of his scream. He abandoned the fight, Takeru dropping from his hand and crashing to the ground with a loud thud as he made a mad dash for the edge. He stumbled and fell to his knees at the wall, throwing the top of his body over the edge to peer over, preparing himself to see Nami and Ace’s corpses. But instead of seeing their mangled bodies he watched as a giant pair of hands sprouted out of the ice to catch Ace. Zeus circled the massive limbs, gently lowering Nami to the ground as he went.
Yamato sighed in brief relief when he caught sight of Robin, Usopp, and Franky rushing towards the two of them. The he felt an intense heat press down on his back and he knew he had made a grave mistake. Knowing what he would inevitably find, Yamato looked over his shoulder to watch Akainu approach, leaving a burning trail of magma as he advanced. Yamato felt his heart sinking in his chest as he realized he had left his weapon behind in his haste to get to Ace and Nami. He didn’t know what to do, he was defenseless against the man. There was no way he would win in hand to hand combat with him, even if he used Haki on his body he was likely to get burned even worse than he already had been.
Yamato half-closed his eyes and crossed haki covered arms protectively over his head in a last ditch effort to stay alive as Akainu raised his fist to punch him. But in the same instance, through the crack of his arms, Yamatao watched as Whitebeard leaped through the air towards the two of them. The Emperor let out a roar as he landed behind the man and delivered a blow crackling with devil fruit power to the Admiral's side, sending him crashing and rolling head over heels to the left for a second time that day.
“Go to them, brat, I’ll handle this piece of work.” Whitebeard told him. His face was full of grief and rage. He clearly had the same fear in him that Yamato did that said Ace and Nami might not have survived that attack. But regardless, Yamato nodded and turned to jump off of the edge.
He landed heavily beside Robin, who was pressing down on Ace’s wound, which was bleeding profusely and staining the woman's hands, as well as the ice around them, an awful pink and crimson colour. On her right Usopp had climbed up onto Zuess and was cradling Nami in his arms and pressing a hand to the bleeding wound on her side. She was thankfully bleeding far less than Ace was, but that didn’t mean the cat burglar was any better off. Her life was no doubt in serious danger if she didn’t receive medical treatment soon. Franky stood guard over them, shooting down marines before they could get too close and punching those lucky (or unlucky he supposes) to get into the androids range.
“Oden-san, you must get him out of here immediately or he won’t survive.” Robin told him, voice deadly serious.
“We can take care of Nami so don’t worry about her, but Zues is too easy to spot so he can’t be the one to take Ace the rest of the way to the Polar Tang.” Usopp piped up, gently brushing Nami’s slightly bloody hair out of her face.
“Put him onto my back.” Yamato said, trying his best not to panic as he dropped down onto all fours and fully morphed into his beast form, the transformation fully ridding him of the disguise Kin’emon had given him. Petals and rocks fell to the blood soaked ground beneath him. Though putting pressure on his injured front limb was almost agonising, he paid it no mind. It was either this or let Ace die and he knew which option he would go with every time without a doubt in his mind. Robin was quick to load his unconscious friend onto his back, arms wrapped limply around his neck and bottom supported by his Shimenawa bow. Without so much as another word to his crew, Yamato took off.
He tore across the ice, pushing himself to go as fast as his body was capable of. He felt the manacles that were still around Ace’s wrists clanked against his chest and shoulder wound painfully but he pushed that pain into the back of his mind. It couldn’t be as painful as the wound that was currently bleeding Ace of his life force. The cold seeped into the pads of his paws and it hurt, it ached badly, but it was nothing compared to the icy cold fear gripping his heart at the thought that he might not make it to the Polar Tang fast enough. Despite his best efforts, he was not able to ignore the feeling of warm blood seeping into the fur of his back or the rattling breaths Ace was releasing right into his ear. Ace was the one suffering right now, Yamato could endure for a little while longer. For Ace he could endure anything.
He didn’t know what he would do if Ace were to die today, after all the effort he and everyone else had put into saving his best friend's life. How was he to go on living a life without Ace in it? How would he be able to live with himself if his inability to keep the Admiral’s attention on him was what led to Ace being fatally wounded?
He weaved through legs and jumped over unconscious bodies, ducking under the occasional weapon aimed at him. He yelped when a blade clipped his side, but kept pushing on. It didn’t matter, he could handle it. His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he panted happily as the Polar Tang came into view, its captain standing strong at the helm, ready to save Ace’s life. Another sword nicked him, his leg this time. He almost fell over, but still he ran strong with the sight of victory so close to him keeping the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He dodged out of the way just in time to miss another strike from the same person.
With the submarine now only feet away, Yamato leaped for the railing, where the polar bear mink was leaning forward to catch them. Finally they would be safe-
Instead of landing in big soft arms, Yamato collided with the thick wall of ice that suddenly sprouted where their exit had been moments earlier. He felt something in his injured front limb snap as he and Ace were thrown backwards violently due to the momentum that they had been running with moments before. The two of them hit the ice hard, bouncing apart and skidding in opposite directions.
Yamato’s vision blacked out the second he hit the ground and he let out a pained whelp. His ears rang as the icy surroundings slowly came back into focus. His body felt weak and his already injured limb burned with a renewed pain that was impossible to ignore. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his vision but it did little to help as he watched Aokiji advance on Ace's unconscious body. The ice around his friend was slowly turning a pinkish red colour as the wound inflicted by Akainu bled out further. He doesn't think he will be able to look at ice the same way again after this. If he survived, that is.
"I must admit, little dog, you did one hell of a job escaping us. But you have understand that I can't let this man leave here alive." The admiral said, coming to a stop in front of Ace, who was laying flat on his stomach with his hands down by his side, face turned towards Yamato with his cheek squished against the cold surface below him. There was blood leaking out of his nose. Yamato could see ice starting to form on the expanse of Ace's bare shoulder, steadily creeping up his neck and down his back. No, no, no, no Yamato thought as he weakly struggled up onto his legs, pushing through the flaring agony of his obviously broken front limb, and lunged at the Admiral with his jaw wide open.
Aokiji evidently was not not expecting Yamato to attack in such a manner as he did nothing to block or evade. Yamato's teeth dug into the fleshy part of his forearm and he locked his jaw, refusing to let go even as the Admiral shook his arm in an attempt to dislodge him. Yamato growled and shook his head from side to side, tearing at the flesh of the other man's arm and leaving behind what was undoubtedly a gruesome wound. He tried not to gag at the taste of blood flooding into his mouth and running down his throat.
A sharp chop from Aokiji’s other hand to the top of his head momentarily paralysed Yamato, forcing him to unlock his jaw and release the arm in his grip before falling to the bloody ice with a whine.
"You sure are one loyal friend." Aoikji said, holding his bleeding limb to his chest to stem the heavy blood flow. Had Yamato been in his right mind, he would have heard the admiration in the other man’s voice and seen the smile on his lips. Yamato growled and tried to lunge again, but found that the side of his body was now frozen to the ground, ice creeping up his shoulder and belly. He was stuck. Ace was going to be killed right before his eyes and he was stuck, unable to do anything about it.
He whimpered and looked around the icey battlefield, desperately trying to find someone, anyone that could save this situation. But there was no, not a single ally in sight that could help save Ace's life. Around him he watched as his friends, his family, his allies fought battles that they didn’t seem to be winning. The battlefield was all but drenched in blood, fallen bodies of unidentifiable origin strewn about.
Right before his eyes, comrades were being cut down left and right. He could faintly see Robin and Franky desperately fighting off marines in their way as Usopp sat upon Zues above their heads, clutching a still heavily bleeding Nami to his chest and shielding her from any attacks thrown their way. A bleeding Sanji carried an unconscious and equally as bloody Zoro on his back not far behind them. He could see Luffy dodging punches thrown at him by his grandpa, an enraged expression on his face as he screamed something Yamato couldn’t hear at the old man.
In the distance Punk Rotten fell to the ice with a resounding rumble that shook the whole area as it slowly sank below the waters through the crater it had created. Though he couldn't see the fight between Whitebeard and Akainu itself, crackles of energy and balls of magma could be seen soaring through the sky above the stone battlefield. The screams from up above that faintly reached his ears could either belong to friend or foe, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know which it was.
He felt tears welling up in his eyes and he whined deeply in his chest. They were losing. They were failing.
He threw one more desperate look at Ace’s rapidly freezing body and let out a heartbroken howl so loud he was sure it could be heard from all the way across Marineford. At the same time, a wave of soft blue light blanketed the battlefield and Yamato's surroundings suddenly changed around him.
He scrambled up onto the now wooden ground, body miraculously free of its icy confines. His vision swam dangerously and he grew nauseous again as he stumbled around like a drunkard, head whipping around this way and that as he let out huffs and grunts through his opened maw until he spotted Ace.
There was a person crouching over him, attempting to turn him over onto his side, taking care to be mindful of his wounds. If he was thinking straight, Yamato might have realized that this person, whoever they were, was trying to help his friend, but in that moment all he saw was another potential threat looming over the man he had still yet to save. He let out a growl as he launched himself at the person, jaw wide open and ready to tear into their throat.
But before he could make contact he was scooped up into a pair of big, soft arms. He strained against the restraints that were now confining his upper limbs and pressing down painfully on both of his wounds, back paws kicking at the air uselessly. He trashed back and forth, trying and failing to bite the person holding him from behind.
"Damnit, someone sedate Kaido's son before he kills someone or injures himself further. Hurry up" Someone said.
"Yeah! Hurry, I can't hold him for long!" The anxious voice holding him said right into his ear.
"Bless you, Bepo. I think I shit myself just now."
“Shut up Shachi, no one asked!”
“We don’t have time for this, both of you shut up!”
"We have to hurry and get Fire Fist-ya below deck so we can submerge and get the hell out of here."
"I've got the needle!"
"Hurry the hell up and do it already then."
The fuzzy world around him faded to black as he felt a prick in the side of his neck. The last thing he saw before sleep dragged him under was a large man picking Ace up and rushing him somewhere out of Yamato’s field of vision.
~ ~ ~
Ace woke up in pieces. First the sterile smell of an infirmary reached his nose, as well as the bitter scent of sweat and wet dog. Then the deep breathing of someone sleeping with him and the gentle lapping of water against a window sang pleasantly in his ears. Instead of the cold ice he had fallen unconscious on, he was on a plush, if not a little stiff, bed. A heavy, but not unpleasant, pressure pushed down on the not-wounded side of his stomach, hot breaths of air blowing out onto the bandaged skin in regular intervals. As consciousness fully came back to him he cracked his eyes open, blinking the sleep out of them as he was met with the unfamiliar sight of a metal ceiling.
He raised his hands up slowly and shakily, staring in wonder at the lack of manacles around them. The seastone prism that had been here previous had been replaced by a thick layer of bandaging. Ace distinctly remembered that the old and rough metal had been cutting into the delicate skin of his wrists, so he figured that was the reason the covering were there. In any case, it felt amazing to finally be able to feel the fire burning in his chest for the first time in almost a month. He had been so unbearably cold while imprisoned. He lit just the tips of his fingers on fire and rotated his trembling hands a little to watch the little flames dance. A sleepy snort from down by his belly drew his attention and he dropped his hands down onto his chest.
Groaning, he looked down, movements sluggish and jerky. There, laying on the bed with Ace, was Yamato. He was in his beast form, which Ace had only ever heard stories of, his head cushioned by Ace's stomach. He could see several bandages covering his friend, the most notable being the thick gazz covering his shoulder and the splint running up the outstretched arm connected to said shoulder. He vaguely recalled that being the area where Akainu had burned him during the escape, but he wasn’t sure how it had ended up broken. He subconsciously brought his hand up and pet down Yamato’s fluffy ears, a fond smile breaking out on his face when Yamato’s tail thumped against the bed in his sleep.
"He hasn't left your side once, you know." A deep, monotone voice said. Startled, Ace looked to the side and found the Surgeon of Death of all people sitting on a stool beside his bed, fiddling with an IV line that - with a glance down - appeared to be connected to his own arm. How he hadn’t noticed the older man was beyond him.
"How…" Ace trailed off. There was a lot he wanted to ask. How was he here? How did he survive? How long had he been unconscious? Why did they save him? Why would they want to save him? That and so much more. But he didn't know how to even begin asking any of it.
"I don't know exactly what kind of questions are running through your head right now, but I have a semblance of an idea. I know what it's like to be saved when you don't feel like you deserve it." Trafalgar said, as if sensing Ace's hesitance to speak. Tears instantly welled up in his eyes.
"Why? Why would they - all of you - do this for someone as rotten as me?" Ace asked, throat thick and voice cracking.
"Because they love you, Fire Fist-ya. We all see value in your life and wish to see that life continue on." The older man answered without missing a beat. He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And maybe it was. If Ace really sat down and thought about it, of course they loved him as much as he loved them. That is how a family works after all. That, however, didn't make it any easier to wrap his head around. It was a crazy thing to have to come to terms with after decades of being told that you are a blight on humanity. To have the world tell you that you are undeserving of life and love, but having the same world prove to him that the opposite is true. It was jarring.
He had been prepared to die at Marineford, had long since accepted that one day Roger’s enemies would come for his head and he would do best to just give up and let them have what they wanted. Besides, it was a death that he believed he deserved for having such cursed blood running through his veins anyway.
And yet, hundreds, if not thousands, of people showed up just to make sure he lived, for no other reason than they wanted to see him live and many of them loved him.
He thought over the events of Marineford, still in disbelief of how hard everyone had fought to reach him. He was still unable to comprehend how much effort those who made it to the scaffolding had put into evacuating him. He had thought for sure when that attack from Akainu made contact that it was over for him and that all of their hard work had gone to waste. But that hadn’t been the case at all, as here Ace was. Alive and on his way to being well again. Wait, the attack from Akainu…
"Nami!" He exclaimed, bolting up into a sitting position and jostling Yamato off of him. He instantly regretted the action as pain flared in his side. He groaned, clutching the affected area and flopping back down onto the bed.
"Hey, be careful, I put a lot of effort into closing those wounds. Don't mess up all of my hard work." Trafalgar said, hands pulling down the blanket covering him to check the bandages on Ace's abdomen. When he seemed satisfied that there was no further damage done by his sudden movement, he tucked the blanket back up over his chest and pulled away, sitting back on his stool.
"But Nami, is she okay? She was hit by the attack too." Ace worried.
"She's fine. A nasty scar just like you'll have, but no lasting damage. You took the brunt of the attack." The doctor said. The words brought Ace relief and he allowed his body to relax into the covers.
Beside him Yamato yawned, snoot opened wide to show off his incredibly sharp and pearly white teeth. His eyes blinked open lazily, showing off his now bright blue pupils. He looked around the room, licking his teeth in a sleepy manner before his eyes landed on Ace. It was like the sleepiness in his movements was never there to begin with as he joyfully jumped to his feet with a happy yip, bed bouncing with his movement. His tail aggressively wagged behind him seconds before Ace found himself with an armful of mythical dog.
"Woah! It's good to see you too, buddy!" He grunted. Just as he was trying to figure out how to wrap his arms around the beastly form, Yamato's body changed on top of him, leaving him human once more. Ace hugged him back, uncaring of the fact that his large form was crushing him just a little bit.
"Ace! I'm so glad that you're okay!" Yamato yelled right into his ear, hugging him impossibly tighter. Ace patted Yamato on the back and let his head rest on the other man's shoulder, a warmth that wasn’t a result of his devil fruit blossoming in his chest.
The sound of a door opening drew his attention and he raised his eyes to look in the direction. There was his little brother, standing in the doorway. Tears and snot instantly began running down his face at the sight of Ace sitting up and awake in the bed. His baby brother was also covered in bandages head to toe, but Ace didn't have a second to worry about him as he threw his arms wide open and leaped at the two men. Luffy pointedly ignored Law’s warnings to be easy with his brother, letting out an impossibly loud shout of "ACE!" just before making contact.
The fire logia user laughed as more weight was thrown on top of him. Yamato was unbothered by this development, in fact, he released Ace momentarily to scoop Luffy into his arms as well. He squeezed the brothers tightly, rocking back and forth on broad movements as he blubbered into the tops of their hair.
"So he is awake!" He heard someone exclaim from the same opened doorway. He wasn't even able to look up this time as even more bodies piled into the room and onto the bed, hugging him from every direction and filling the room with an almost suffocating, but wholly comforting, warmth. Ace found himself melting even further into the crushing embrace.
The familiar faces of his family and his brother's crew surrounded him (He even spotted a bruised up Nami smiling with her eyes closed to his left, further bringing him relief that she wasn’t harmed too badly). They all looked happy. Some were even crying, but still had smiles upon their lips. The pure joy on their faces? The sheer relief he could all but feel permeating through the room? It made tears well up in his eyes and spill down his cheeks before he could so much as blink.
Later, he would worry about apologizing for putting them all through so much trouble. Later, he would ask about casualties and injuries. Later he would undoubtedly feel guilty no matter how much reassurance he got from those who loved him.
But for now? He hugged his family back as tightly as his body would allow him and buried his head into the space between Yamato's neck and shoulder. For now, he let himself yell through his tears,
"Thank you for loving me!"