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It was strange, watching himself be burned on a funeral pyre. Not just because of his Devil Fruit, but because that was not some impostor or dummy laying there.
“Surreal, I know.”
Ace nodded, looking over at Marco. “Wouldn’t take a mind reader to see that.”
“I don’t know whether to be sad or not,” Luffy said from Ace’s other side. “You’re still alive, but he...well...”
“No, I get it,” Ace reassured him. “He was part of me, after all.”
During the whole Marineford mess, Kuma had used his powers to split Ace into two versions of himself—the part that felt he didn’t deserve to exist and would gladly let himself die, and the Ace who wanted to live free and happy. It was still unclear which had been pushed out of the other, but it didn’t matter, as the purpose was served. The death-seeker part sacrificed himself to protect Luffy, while the life-seeker got another chance to live, albeit without the self-hatred holding him back.
“He told me to live, for myself and for our loved ones,” Ace remembered. “And I will. Thanks to him, I have another chance to keep my promises, among other things.”
As he said this, he reached into his pocket and took out a small seed resembling a miniature version of the Flame-Flame Fruit. It was—according to Deuce, who’d read about such things happening while researching Devil Fruits—the other Ace’s portion of the fruit’s power. While Ace would keep his powers until the day he actually died, if someone were to consume the seed, they would not only gain the same abilities, but would be linked to Ace.
Question is, who should get it? Ace thought. I don’t want to be ‘linked’ to just anybody...
“You OK, Ace?”
Slipping the seed back into his pocket, he turned to Luffy. “Yeah, I was just thinking. If it wasn’t for Kuma...”
An odd look crossed Luffy’s face. “So...was he helping us after all? Me and my crew, I mean. He did say we weren’t strong enough for the New World, and that he knew a way to fix it...”
“Why would he, though?” asked Shanks. “Last time I checked, he was the most loyal of the Warlords.”
“Remember what he said when Sengoku confirmed that the Elder Stars were watching everything?” Hancock piped up.
“He said he knew what Saturn did to Ginny, whatever that means,” Luffy recalled. “And that meant the deal was off.”
“So it would seem they tricked him into becoming their slave,” Hancock said, a look of contempt on her face. “It would explain why he turned on them now of all times.”
“Well, that’s part of it,” Kuma admitted. “But there’s also the matter of them wanting to kill the son of Gold Roger—who, for the record, was NOT the monster they made him out to be—for no reason other than his blood. I can understand why you would take your mother’s last name, but had you known the truth, perhaps...”
“No more hiding,” Ace declared, lifting his head. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be proud to be Gol D. Roger’s son, but I’m not going to be ashamed anymore. So for all intents and purposes”—here, he looked back at the pyre—“Portgas D. Ace is dead and gone, laying there on that pyre. As of now...I am Gol D. Ace.”
“You sure?” Marco asked.
“Absolutely.”
Smiling, Ace hugged Luffy, a warm feeling rising up as his little brother reciprocated in his usual way. As he’d promised the part of himself now laying on the pyre, he would live for himself—both versions of himself—and for the ones he loved.
He deserved to live, to be free, and most of all, to be happy.