Chapter Text
The news had shattered people across the world. News of Akagami no Shanks’ recent rise in activity, destroying any Navy ship that dared to cross his path. In the eyes of Vegapunk, he had seen the events coming, Sengoku should’ve known what was going to happen, he should've seen the attacks coming.
Monkey D. Luffy, one of the eleven supernova, a rookie pirate with an impressive bounty of 300 million beli. The very same pirate that snuck into the world’s notorious prison Impel Down, started a prison raid along with Buggy the Clown, Emperio Ivankov, First Son of the Sea Jinebi, Crocodile, and many others who had managed to escape through the Gates of Justice only to appear at the battlefield of Marineford, all just to save his brother.
Just when they thought they’d get away, he would be pronounced dead to the entire world. He died protecting the late pirate king’s son, his older brother. He had died alongside Whitebeard who made sure his children would get away safely
The marines thought with the death of their captain, they would no longer be seeing any activity from the Straw Hats. But it only took three short weeks before Roronoa Zoro, the young captain’s first mate, appeared at Marineford paying respect to his fallen captain and those who fell alongside him.
Monkey D. Luffy was the light this world has needed, bringing smiles to people’s faces. Now that light has faded, but it isn’t quite gone. Vegapunk refused to let it.
It was then that Shaka decided that he and the other Vegapunks would try and bring that light back to shine bright and if not brighter.
Three months have passed since the War of the Best. During that time, they were able to create the first successful seraphim. It was void of any emotions, seemed to only move on command, it seemed robotic. Vegapunk thought that it was another failed subject
Days passed after the seraphim's creation before a sign was shown. The teen had started crying in his sleep thrashing around, showing common signs of a night terror. Then the boy quickly shot up from his sleep breathing heavily.
“I have to leave… I have to find my crew. I have to find Ace!” he declared frantically.
“S-Mugiwara, you need to wait a little longer.” Shaka told him, stopping the boy from storming out.
“My crew needs me! Ace thinks I’m dead!” he cried out. “I need to go!”
“You need to have faith in your crew!” Shaka declared. “Your brother will be okay, I have no doubts about that, you shouldn’t either. Your body sustained significant damage, you need to finish healing then train before you’re able to reunite with your brother and crew.” he continued.
“Recover? Train? What are you on about?” the seraphim asks.
“You want to be stronger for your crew right? You don’t want what happened on Sabaody to happen again?” Shaka asks him.
Luffy quickly nodded his head. “I want to be strong enough to protect them! I don’t want to lose them again!” he declared.
“Alright then, you’ll finish healing and then we’ll start your training.”
“Yosh!”
The cliff side was quiet, peaceful minus the small group of pirates that had gathered for the small semblance of a funeral. To Ace's astonishment, even Dadan her band of bandits, Makino, and the mayor had shown up as well just to pay their respects. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to recover the body of Monkey D. Luffy, but he still deserved a grave.
Ace thought it was a cruel sense of irony. He felt like he was 10 years old again. Back when Sabo died, they weren’t able to bury him either, there was no way to recover his body. So he and Luffy did the only thing that they could as a couple of children. They stacked a couple of rocks and called it a grave. Now sitting next to the small grave, was a more polished grave, for his little brother.
“Luffy wouldn’t want you to be sad Ace.” Shanks comments as he approaches him.
Ace hadn’t responded, he couldn't respond. Shanks couldn’t necessarily blame the young pirate either. They all handled grief differently but to Ace, he lost his entire world. The same person that kept him grounded for ten years. He gave Ace the responsibilities of completing his dream.
“Ace, Luffy asked something of you, you promised him that you would do it.” Jinbei told him. That was just like Jinbei. He didn’t sugar coat anything, Ace respected him for it.
“I know, but how can I possibly live up to his expectations? I mean I couldn’t even protect my baby brother. How am I supposed to carry his dream and his crew’s dreams on top of it?” he asked the two captains.
Shanks turned to Ace. “You were precious to Luffy, ya know. Every single time I talk to him on a den-den mushi, he would always find some way to bring you up. Anchor thought you were something great, he’d never blame you for this either. He’d want you to live, to be happy.” he told him.
“He wants me to take over his crew. What if-”
“There is no point worrying about the what ifs. What has happened, happened. The Straw Hats have lost their captain. If what you say is true about the message that their first mate gave them, then you have time. Get stronger, Luffy and you both had a knack for doing that. You won’t go through it alien either, when you meet the Straw Hats again, they’ll be there for you. They won’t let you suffer alone.” Shanks told him sternly, making a point for Ace not to give into that train of thought.
Ace finally looked the yonko in the eyes, he could see the grief and pain that he didn’t outwardly show. Shanks viewed his baby brother as his son, of course he would be hurting. Of course, he’d destroy every Navy ship. He wants revenge against those who took something precious from him. Instead, Shanks is here, giving a guiding hand to Ace handing over the familiar straw hat.
“Take this.” Shanks told him. “I don’t think this should stay here. It belongs out at sea, it should stay with its crew for the time being.” he clarified.
Ace carefully took the straw hat out of Shanks’ hands. He stared at it for a long moment, tightening his grip around the edges of it. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it.” Ace responds, quickly nodding his head.
“Good, just know. If you need anything just give us a call.” Shanks told him, turning to walk back towards the port. “Oh, one more thing. Luffy would be proud and he would be so happy.”
Ace watched the yonko walk towards the port as he turned back to the two graves. JInbei was a comforting presence offering a small smile towards the younger pirate. Carefully, Ace placed his hand on the gravestone, he may have broken his promise but now he makes a new promise to do his best to get stronger.