Work Text:
They were all here for him.
Ace had gone after Teach against Whitebeard’s orders, getting himself caught and thrown into Impel Down for a spell before being brought here to be executed. Yet despite his disobeying—to say nothing of the knowledge of his blood—Pops and his crew had come to save him. Not just them, either—Luffy had broken into and out of Impel Down, freeing a bunch of prisoners in the process, all in an attempt to save him.
Why?
“Please, just go,” Ace begged them. “Don’t get killed because of me.”
“I’m not leaving you, Ace,” Luffy said as he got close. “You’re my brother, and I’m not gonna let you die!”
“But I don’t deserve this!” Ace implored. “Please, leave! You shouldn’t die for my sake!”
“No, Ace,” Whitebeard said, barely loud enough for Ace to hear him. “If there’s anyone who shouldn’t die, it’s you.”
“He’s right!” Marco shouted. “None of us care who your father was! Anyone who says you don’t deserve to live is a fool, a liar, or both!”
Others joined in.
“Even if half the garbage the World Government spouts about Roger was true, it wouldn’t matter, because you’re not him! You’re you!”
“We love you, Ace!”
“None of us would be here if we didn’t care about you!”
“Remember all those times you asked if it was a good thing you were born?” Luffy hollered, louder than anyone else. “Here’s your answer!”
“Luffy...” Ace couldn’t help but let a few tears roll down his cheeks.
“DO YOU WANT TO LIVE, ACE?!?”
*********
Without warning, Ace found himself in an empty void of red, orange, and yellow. Despite the lack of chains, he couldn’t call forth his fire—it was still there, just inaccessible at that moment.
“Finally. I was starting to think we’d never get to meet face to face.”
Ace spun around to face whoever had spoken, and his eyes widened in shock. Standing there was something or someone who looked just like him, save for having golden eyes that seemed to glow faintly and wearing a red and orange outfit that made him look like some kind of demon prince.
“Who the hell are you?”
“I am the other you,” the lookalike said. “The you who desires to live, to be free, to be happy, and most of all, to love and be loved.”
Staring at the replica for a moment, Ace bowed his head. “Doesn’t mean I deserve any of that. Not when I’m the son of—“
“How long will you let those falsehoods rule your heart?” the duplicate interrupted, stepping forward. “You have blamed yourself for so much that was never your fault, especially your mother’s death.”
“Don’t you dare talk about her!” Ace growled, throwing a punch at the copy, who easily caught it with one hand.
“She made a choice, Ace. It was her decision to do what she did, and hers alone. And more importantly, she did it so we could live. No matter what anyone says, it was NOT YOUR FAULT.”
The double released Ace, who stumbled back.
“All those things the World Government says...how much of it do we know to be lies? How much of what they say about Roger can be trusted?”
“Gramps said...”
“Monkey D. Garp is a fool,” the copy said bluntly. “He thought he could make you a Marine, blinding himself to the fact that the World Government would never allow Roger’s son among their puppets. But YOU ARE NOT HIM. You need to understand and accept that, or you will never be able to free yourself.”
Ace stared, unable to reply.
“It’s your turn to make a choice, Ace. Whose word will you take—the pawns of men who care for no one but themselves, or the ones who have supported you and shown you nothing but love?”
*********
As Ace snapped back to reality, the words of his golden-eyed doppelgänger rang clearly in his mind.
How long will you let those falsehoods rule your heart?
All those things the World Government says...how much of it do we know to be lies? How much of what they say about Roger can be trusted?
Whose word will you take—the pawns of men who care for no one but themselves, or the ones who have supported you and shown you nothing but love?
“Lies...it was all lies.”
“Ace?”
“So many called Roger a monster and said that any son of his should die, content to believe what they were told. But it’s those who know it’s a lie and continue to spread it anyway...they’re the real monsters!”
Everyone close to Ace instinctively moved back as his eyes turned the same golden color as his shadow.
“I’m not going to listen to them any more! They’ve done all they could to break me, but there are so many people who want me to live! And that’s what I want, too! Do you hear me, world?”
Throwing back his head, Ace screamed his defiance aloud.
“I WANT TO LIVE!”
<At last, you accept the truth.>
Blue-white flames briefly surrounded Ace’s wrists and covered the upper half of his face.
<That means our contract is sealed.>
“No!” shrieked Sengoku. “Someone do something!”
But it was already too late. The fire around Ace’s wrists caused the chains to shatter like brittle glass, while an ornate mask with a flame pattern formed on his face.
<I am thou, thou art I.>
Getting to his feet—albeit with some difficulty—Ace took hold of the mask.
<May the fire of your will to live burn forever. And may those who sought to break your spirit face eternal suffering for their wickedness.>
With a sharp tug, Ace ripped the mask off, the blood briefly left behind vanishing as a pillar of the same blue-white fire from earlier enveloped him.
“DO SOMETHING!” Sengoku screamed again.
Instantly, Akainu was moving, fist pulled back to deliver a magma-powered punch to whichever brother he could strike.
“You will not escape justice—what?!?”
A red-orange arm with a golden bangle around its wrist emerged from the fire, catching Akainu’s fist single-handedly. The rest of the flames pulled back to reveal a muscular human-shaped creature with wild dark hair, pointed ears with golden earrings, and a long tail of fire instead of a lower half. Its skin glowed like embers as it smirked and shoved the Magma Man back with its free hand.
“That...hurt like hell,” Ace groaned as his newly awakened Persona floated back to hover beside him. “But damn—it was SO worth it.”
Luffy nodded in understanding. When he first awoke his Persona, it had been just as painful—even being made of rubber didn’t help—but once he’d torn off the mask and Sarutahiko emerged, he’d felt a lot better. And his friends had been the same after they got their Personas, the promises they made to themselves lifting burdens they’d been carrying for so long.
“For so long, I’ve wondered if I deserved to live, to be free and happy. Now I know...the answer is YES.”
Ace’s wounds were visibly healing, his Persona enabling him to use the power absorbed from Akainu’s attempt at striking him down.
“The world can call me a demon all it wants. But who says that all demons are evil?”
Akainu would probably have said something, but he was too shocked by his punch healing Ace instead of harming him. Sengoku, on the other hand, had collapsed, his heart unable to handle the stress. In spite of that, most of the Marines sprung to renew the fight, but as Luffy called Sarutahiko forth to aid his brother, it was quickly becoming obvious who would win that day.
“I am DONE letting what other people think control my life! Nobody can tell me who I’m supposed to be any more!”
With new resolve flooding his veins, Ace allowed his fists to ignite, welcoming back his Devil Fruit powers in addition to the embodiment of his inner self.
“Burn these lying bastards to ashes…IFRIT!”
And just like that, the tide was turned. It wasn’t long before the Whitebeard Pirates had brought Ace, Luffy, and the Impel Down escapees back to the Moby Dick and were sailing away, leaving Marineford behind forever.
What no one knew at the time was that thanks to the snails broadcasting everything, it wouldn’t be long before more people across the seas began to awaken too, including a certain member of the Revolutionary Army...