Chapter 5 | "IT'S ME, ACE!"

The moment when the sea seemed to rumble, followed by a familiar feeling of chill unnaturally seeping into the air, Luffy knew that they've finally arrived.

And already knowing how they would survive the tsunami, Luffy kept calm even when a gigantic wave emerged in front of the ship. She knew that Jinbe could handle it because they've tackled — or would've tackled — catastrophes that were much more dire than a single tsunami in the New World.

Though, most of the passengers didn't seem to share her sentiment, as they all outright panicked and protested against riding up the wave, even when Jinbe — a master of fishman karate and a literal fishman who probably knew more about the sea than any of this lot — was the one who suggested the notion. They were starting to get a bit annoying with all the frantic yells and such, which is why Luffy was relieved when Crocodile intervened (yes, she was relieved because of Crocodile).

"Are you all a bunch amateurs?" Crocodile asked in distaste, his low voice somehow managing to pierce through the shouts as well as the sound of rushing water all around, "If we turn around now, we'll take the wave on the side of the ship and capsize. There is no other option."

"He's right." Jinbe agreed from behind the wheel, "Now hang on tight so you don't get washed off by the big wave!!"

As soon as Jinbe got the ship onto the wave, it quickly froze before the ship could fall back into its trajectory, keeping them safe for a short reprieve.

Luffy stepped onto the ship's bow and gazed downwards, where she knew the war was taking place. Only she couldn't see it as they were well above the clouds at the moment.

Purupurupurupurupuru!

This time, there was a Den Den announcement by the Navy.

"Attention ships and soldiers! The target is TOTTZ. Change the line and make the shift to operation 3. Advance the preparation! When you are all set, we move the schedule forward and execute Ace immediately. That is all."

"Well, that's my cue." Luffy said as she jogged towards the edge of the glacier. She then turned slightly towards the ship and gave them a grin, "I'll see you all down below."

Then she jumped.

There was a moment of silence as they registered what they'd just witnessed before most of them went into a frenzy. It was unclear who started it, but they all followed her down the path — albeit not quite a unanimous desicion as Ivankov was the one to break the ice and force all of the other to fall alongside him.

The frightened screams of the inmates put a pause to the battefield as the Marines and Whitebeard Pirates alike looked up to see what the fuss was all about.

Luffy, standing upright as she fell, grinned when she made eye contact with her brother, who seemed horrified at the scene. Taking a deep, forceful breath, Luffy shouted her lungs out.

"IT'S ME, ACE!"

Her grin widened even as his eyes grew rounder.

"I'LL SAVE YOU NOW!!"

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When they finally closed in onto the icy sea, what happened next was something nobody could ever comprehend. Luffy, Jinbe, Crocodile, the inmates, and even the Navy Ship somehow... bounced on the frigid ice and landed safely on the ground. The inmates were all too preoccupied by the fact that they survived the fall to question the reality of it, while the ones in the battlefield were too far to clearly see the ongoings through all the dust and debris flying around.

As soon as Crocodile disappeared from the crowd, Luffy moved as well. She appeared right between Crocodile and Whitebeard, which seemed to irk the former.

"What are you doing, Mugiwara?" Crocodile growled, though hesitated to attack as he was not so arrogant too not realize the power discrepancy between them, "I've fulfilled our promise — So why are you getting in my way?"

Luffy gave him a slight shrug in response, "Sorry, Croc, but Ace likes the old man. And I'd like to see him return to his crew with a healthy Pops, ya know, so I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to stand down."

The ex-Shichibukai suddenly felt a heavy pressure fall upon him. It was the same unbelievable pressure that he experienced in Impel Down. It came so fast that the pressure almost put him down to his knees before disappearing without a trace, leaving the man with a slight sheen of sweat covering his forehead and bated breath.

"It's only for this one time, of course." Luffy added, as the surrounding Whitebeard Pirates finally caught up to them during the pause, "I won't get in your way afterwards."

Crocodile stared her down and gritted his teeth. He knows when he's been beat. "Fine, whatever." He grumbled before moving off towards the battlefield — probably to wreak his anger away.

"GURARARARA!!"

A loud laugh boomed behind her, its volume matching the giant build of the man. "That's the first time I've ever seen the boy yield to anyone." Whitebeard remarked as he observed her, "Who are you, girl?"

"I'm sure Ace's told you about me, ossan." Luffy smiled up at him, "I'm Luffy. Ace's sister."

At that, Whitebeard raised an eyebrow at her, "I seem to recall Ace talking about having a brother, not a sister." He said as he regarded her once more, albeit with a little more suspicion. "And I'm fairly sure that old age hasn't caught up to me yet that I'd forget that information."

"Well, it's a recent development." Luffy shrugged with a grin before letting out an 'ah' as she remembered the make-shift sack on her back.

"Oh right, ossan. Here." Luffy handed the sack over to Whitebeard. He opened it to reveal the heads of all five of the Blackbeard Pirates' crew. Most of the surrounding pirates and marines gasped at the sight — because let's face it, they had obviously been watching to the interaction of ex-Warlord Crocodile, the strongest man of the sea Whitebeard, and the notorious Supernova Mugiwara no Luffy.

"You really gotta pay more attention to your children, ossan." She said conversationally, as though she hadn't just gifted him literal decapitated heads, and gave the man a flat smile, "They like messing with things they shouldn't be messing with."

Whitebeard looked to be both relieved and yet sorrowful as he pulled his gaze away from Teach. He looked to Luffy with a new light, regarding her with a slightly more careful and watchful approach. "I thank you for bringing him back to me." Whitebeard said to her, "And I apologize for the trouble my son has caused you."

"Oh yeah, it's fine, ossan. I'm sorry that my brother's been causing you all some trouble, ossan." Luffy waved his apology away, then continued, "But you can be rest assured since I'll bring him back to you."

The sentence shocked the surrounding men so much so that they actually halted their fight to stare at her incredulously. Even the ones that shouldn't have been within earshot of their conversation outright gaped at the ridiculous confidence she showed to Whitebeard.

"GURARARARA!!"

This time, Whitebeard's laugh wasn't out of humor.

"Oi, squirt." There was a threatening tone beneath with sentence. He slammed the end of his spear onto the Moby Dick's headpiece, "Do you know who you're messing with?" He slammed the spear down once again, "Just one minute in there and a squirt like you will be dead meat!"

This time, the people around them weren't even trying to keep up the ruse of fighting, and just straight up watched the two of them in stunned silence.

Luffy didn't snap as she did ten years ago. Instead, she kept her smile genial and returned his question, "Do you know who you're messing with, ossan?"

Whitebeard let out a threatening hum. While he was quite easygoing with the youngins, there were still some lines that shouldn't be crossed. But when he went to scold the brat who claimed herself to be Ace's sister, he noticed a familiar straw hat peeking from underneath her hair.

"I remember Akagami's straw hat. He did say he gave it to Ace's brother." Whitebeard noted before narrowing his eyes, "But even if you who you claim to be, what could a green seventeen-year-old rookie do that the Whitebeard Pirates couldn't?"

Luffy's smile widened into a grin.

"Who says anything about being a rookie?"

There was no doubt that Whitebeard had received the burst of Conqueror's Haki she sent his way if the tightening grip on his spear was of any indication. But instead of the fury that she expected, Whitebeard threw his head back into the loudest laugh she'd ever heard

"GURARARA!! Such nonsense!!" was his comment.

However, contrary to his initial response, he relented, "Fine, show me what you got, but I won't forgive you if you cause me trouble, squirt." He then bellowed out, "ALL OF YOU MAKE WAY FOR THE BRAT!!"

Loyal as they are, the Whitebeard Pirates heeded his order almost instantly and didn't question their captain's decision — though the latter was probably due to the fact that they'd been eavesdropping on their not-so-silent banter. The lot even started hollering and hyping her up, all the while pushing the marines to the side, creating a path for her towards the middle of the battlefield.

"You go, Ace's sis!"

"Show us what ya got, hot stuff!!"

"Missy confident over here! Whoo!!"

Luffy spared one last glance at Whitebeard before looking down at the path they cleared for her.

"Oh yeah, another thing, ossan."

"Hm?"

"I heard this while I was on the Navy ship: they plan to execute Ace effectively immediately." She informed him, "Though there were some other codes being said so I wouldn't trust it explicitly."

Whitebeard slowly hummed, taking a moment to ruminate on her words. "That is important information. Thank you."

Luffy nodded, "No problem. Though, I do want to borrow one of yours for a moment." Luffy trailed as she scanned the crowd for the one person she was acquainted with in her time.

Ah, there he is!

"Pineapple!"

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Marco the Phoenix is not one to be underestimated.

Just a few years within joining the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco was able to quickly rise up the ranks and made a name for himself as the holder of the Mythical Zoan Fruit: Model Phoenix. Then, five years later, he became the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and eventually came to be Whitebeard's closest confidant and right-hand man. This means he has had the experience of people calling him all kinds of names — both the good and the bad things.

However, when the girl who revealed herself to be Ace's notorious little brother — now a girl in a 'recent development', per her words — suddenly appeared and stood her ground against Pops, he did not expect for her to stop at the sight of him in the sky and shout, "Pineapple!"

And he definitely did not expect her to throw her hands towards him, which wouldn't have really alarmed him had they not stretch beyond the normal capacity to the point that she honest-to-God grabbed him and catapulted herself onto his back.

...Right, Ace did say that his brother ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi, didn't he?

"Well, at least now we know for sure that you're Ace's brother—yoi." Marco mumbled as he kept the two of them in the air.

"Fly us up, would you." Luffy stated more than asked.

Marco glanced backwards to see Whitebeard nodding, giving him the green light to do whatever the girl wanted him to do. And only then did he start moving.

As he made his way towards the clouds, Marco sighed in exasperation. Of all the things to be tasked with, he was downgraded into a flying courier. And he was just about to voice his complaint when her hushed whisper stopped him.

"I don't have the time to explain everything, but you need to trust me." Her tone dire, "The Navy will manipulate one of your commanders into thinking that Whitebeard is willing to sacrifice the others for Roger's son. And Whitebeard won't stop him when he stabs him."

Marco felt his eyes narrow, "That's a large accusation you're saying here—yoi. What are you playing at?" He asked with suspicion, "And how could you know that anyways—yoi?"

"I'm not playing anyone, Pineapple. I just don't want Ace to come back to an empty ship." was her answer. And just as he felt her arms around him loosen, she added, "And I know all of this because I'm from the future, so I'd like to see him alive this time around."

"What—" Marco turned to look at the girl, only to see nothing as the girl already let go of him and fell back towards the battlefield.

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Landing safely on the bay area, Luffy didn't waste a moment before breaking into a sprint, feeling lighter than she'd had for years, even as she had to fight off the Marines left and right.

She was going to save Ace!

Ace is still alive!

And Ace is— ...shouting?

"LUFFY!!"

She looked up at the podium and saw her brother watching her with a pained expression.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! YOU KNOW HOW IT IS — WE'RE BOTH PIRATES! I HAVE MY OWN ADVENTURES AND FRIENDS!! DO YOU THINK I'LL LET A WIMP LIKE YOU SAVE ME? JUST GO AWAY, LUFFY!!" Ace desperately cried from where he kneeled.

Luffy didn't slow down and leapt to avoid getting hit by a giant Marine's bat. She ran up the metal surface and blew into her thumb to match the size of her opponent.

"YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Luffy shouted back, frustrated, "I'LL ONLY STAND BACK IF YOU CAN SAY THAT YOU'D DO THE SAME!"

She then puched the giant unconscious and stood on top of his stomach.

"AND DON'T YOU DARE GIVING ME SOME KIND OF BULLSHIT EXCUSE WHEN I KNOW THAT YOU'LL DIE FOR ME JUST AS I'LL DIE FOR YOU!! SO SHUT UP AND TAKE OUR FUCKING HANDS DAMMIT!!"

Luffy had to take a breather after so much screaming. She didn't take her eyes off of Ace and watched as he gradually started to accept the fact that so many people wanted him alive.

The other Whitebeard Pirates joined in on the shouting and screamed about how Ace was also their family and they'd die for him as well.

"SO WAIT FOR ME!" Luffy added for one last time as her throat was starting to hurt, "ACE!"

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Author: *Finished writing* "Wait, how did Marco wiggle his way into the fic? I didn't even have a plan on inserting him in any of the future chapters—"
Marco: "I dunno—yoi, but I don't appreciate being treated as a courier—yoi."
Author: "Hmm... Do you wanna be added into the list of love interests? You can be the aloof, older type if you want?"
Marco: "...There're types of them?"
Author: "I— I honestly didn't notice it myself but when I think about it, I think there actually are..."
Author: *Started listing names* "Let's see here:
    • Crocodile is the arrogant type,
    • Doflamingo is the insane, Hisoka type,
    • Law is the silent tsundere type,
    • Mihawk is the gentleman type,
    • Smoker is the rival type,
    • Zoro is the best friend type.
Yeah, I think that's it."
Marco: "I see... I guess I'll think about it—yoi."

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WE'RE FINALLY HERE! MARINEFORD!!!

I kinda forgot that the patch of sea that kept them alive was due to Jozu picking the slab of ice up during war. I honestly thought that the ship fell before them first and broke the ice under them, so that's why I wrote how Luffy would save them by turning the ice into rubber... but oh well, I don't really wanna change it now >:)

Also! I actually planned on Luffy reaching Ace (or at least already jumping in the fray) pretty early on in the chapter. I definitely did not intend for Luffy to converse with Whitebeard for so damn long, like holy hell— It's as though they wrote this scene out by themselves and I'm just a media for them to use to come to life. Cause I, myself, am amazed as to how this turned out. Wow.

On another note... I, again, didn't plan on writing from Marco's perspective, or even think about including him in any of the future chapter. But somehow be managed his way into my though and now, I think I'm starting to consider adding Marco to the list of suitors. Idk why but he somehow charmed me when I thought about how he would think/act/talk.

(Also, did y'all see my Wattpad profile picture? I'm very happy to say that I??? Drew??? That??? Like— omg, zaddy Mihawk is so hot—)

Next Chapter: "Come find me after you learned Haki."

J Out!