Chapter Text
Your eyes widened when the hot, red fist of magma burned your hand and went straight through the chest of your boyfriend. He jumped in the way to safe his brother and lost his life in that second.
Tears started to roll down your cheeks and you couldn't utter a single word as you looked at the young boy that caught the body of his brother.
No...
How could this happen?
After hours of fighting you were able to free Ace, but Akainu was one step ahead of you. He used Ace's pride against him, provoking him to stop his escape and when he wasn't able to kill him, he went after Luffy.
Pops wouldn't survive this fight and your boyfriend couldn't survive a severe wound like this.
You heard the boy that was sitting on his knees mutter the name of his brother over and over again, while you were finally able to move your legs and so you tumbled over to Ace and Luffy. You landed on your knees and your hands landed on Ace's arm; one wanted to flinch away in pain, but you ignored it. His brown eyes looked into your direction and a soft smile was plastered on his face.
"Ace.", you whispered and a sob escape you, while you carefully hugged him from the side.
"Safe him.", he breathed out, before he closed his eyes to never open them again.
The vivre card Luffy held in his hand burned down, showing that the life of Portgas D. Ace has ended.
Silence filled the air until it changed to sobs and crys for their second commander, their brother and friend.
The loudest cry came from the young boy that lost his brother, before he grew unconscious. He took so many strains and it was not possible for his body to continue. Luffy's unconscious body was falling backwards and now it was your time to react.
Ace last wish.
"Protect the strawhat at all costs!”, your voice roared over the space as your powers activated themselves, “Honor Ace’s legacy through saving his life!”, you continued, while you were unable to stop the tears that streamed down your face.
You had no time to grieve, you needed to get Luffy out of here. With that in mind you grabbed the boy and started to run towards the bay.
A large blue figure ran up next to you, an old friend you hadn’t seen in over a year: “Give him to me. I can carry him.”, Jinbei said.
“Don’t worry, my friend. I can carry him. You shouldn’t burden your body any further. Your state seems to be bad.”, you stated after you gave him a short glance. Jinbei arrived with Luffy, which meant he was one of the prisoners that escaped Impel Down.
“I already prepared myself to die for him. We don’t need more sacrifices today.”, the old man stated, and a small sad smile made its way to your face.
“Your life is also a sacrifice, you old oaf.”
“An old life to save a young one seems fair to me.”, he answered and grabbed Luffy’s body out of your arms, “Come with me. Watch over us.”
You nodded and followed him, without looking back. You knew that your crew would protect you. For now, you need to get away from here. Luffy’s state is bad: “What happened in Impel Down? His body looks like it’s close to death. He needs a doctor.”, you muttered, frustrated.
“A lot of times he was closer to death, than you would think.”, Jinbei grumbled, while he dodged the attacks of enemies in front of you.
It was your time to protect them.
You ran in front of the two men and let out a blood-curling scream. All your sadness, frustration and anxiety went into this attack and about ten soldiers of the navy fell back as they clutched their bleeding ears. The tears that streamed down your face never stopped and you let out another scream that started to shatter the earth. You couldn’t hold it back any longer as the death of the person you loved more than anything suddenly came to your mind again. You need to hold yourself together, but you couldn’t. Your legs started to give in and you fell down to your knees.
Jinbei stopped for a short moment and turned around to call your name.
“Run! Safe him!”, you screamed, filling the air with more waves of your voice that let the earth shutter. Sobs and cries now left you and you couldn’t do anything against it. The world around you grew quiet, and you weren’t even able to make out your own screams anymore as the only thing on your mind was the dying flame of Ace, his face that grinned brightly at you, but also slowly faded away.
Why didn't you accompany him? Maybe you could have stopped Blackbeard, or at least stayed with Ace until the end.
You thought you still had time with him. Many years that you would spend together with adventures that are only possible as a pirate.
But as quickly as you had this wonderful person in your life, he was gone again.
Your throat grew sore, and your voice cracked. Nobody could come close to you, since your surge waves were too powerful, except for one person. One person that would end this war once and for all.
A rough hand clasped your shoulder and pulled you against his chest. He wasn’t able to cover his ears, but he was powerful enough to withstand your power: the red-haired Shanks.
You looked up at the man with wide eyes, he was only a blurry red dot for you, but you knew who was standing before you.
“Get on that ship. Protect him.”, he muttered and pressed something into your arms, before he shoved you into another pair of arms.
“Bring her to him. (Y/N), please give my strawhat to Luffy. He shouldn’t lose it.”, Shanks smiled.
“I’m not your delivery boy!”, a squealing voice complained, that could rival your own screams.
But even though the voice was complaining, not soon after you were lifted up into the air and over to a yellow submarine.
You got thrown onto the deck and two strong arms caught you mid-air.
“Let’s get going!”, a pleasant sounding voice ordered, before you were brought under the deck, so the submarine could emerge under the water.
The two arms let you down, so now you stood in the middle of a small room. Your sight was unfocused and you clutched the straw hat in your hands against your chest.
“Ace.”, you whispered and looked to the floor, unable to do anything else, until a hand smacked you across the face.
Your head turned to the side with the slap and your eyes started to focus again. You turned back and looked up to the person who’s hand was still in the air.
Stern, unimpressed grey eyes observed you, before his harsh voice stated: “Pull yourself together. You’re a nurse, aren’t you? I will need your help with these two. Stop pitying yourself and let’s get started.”
A rookie of the worst generation: Trafalgar Law.
You shook your head in an attempt to clear your thoughts and nodded: “Yes, I’m sorry. Just give me orders. I’ll do what I can.”, you answered and put Luffy’s hat to the side.
The boy needed to survive or else Ace’s sacrifice would’ve been for naught.
~~~
After hours of operating the state of Luffy and Jinbei was finally stabilized. At least their physical state, you weren’t sure about Luffy’s psyche.
Law and his crew went out of the room, while you seated yourself at the end of his bed. You would be watching over this boy, as long as needed. The room grew quiet, only the equipment and shallow breathing could be heard. You rubbed your hands over your eyes and tried to breath as calm as possible. You can’t just sit around and be swallowed by your self-pity, Law was right about that, instead you decided to distract yourself. On your way to get Luffy you were able to grab two balls of Ace’s necklace that got destroyed by Akainu and you decided to craft something out of it.
It didn’t take long for you to make a little pendant out of it that you could knot into your hair or put around your wrist. You decided for the first option and bound your hair into two buns and knotted the little red pendant into one side.
As you finished your look, Law stepped inside and his grey eyes met your own: “You should get something to eat. Their state is stabilized and your mind needs to rest.”, he said in a neutral tone, showing neither empathy nor clear apathy, but you only shook your head.
“I can’t.”, your voice cracked just because of these two words.
“You will be of no help for anyone, if you don’t care for yourself.”, he said, sounding harsher this time.
Your red, puffy eyes looked back at his and a small sad smile made it’s way to your face; that’s exactly what you had to tell Ace over and over again in the years you had known him. Deciding to listen to an advice that could’ve been your own you nodded and walked with him out of the room.
The two of you stepped out of the submarine door, out on the deck that was currently over the surface. A ship was docked against the submarine and you were able to see the queen Ivankov and pirate empress Boa Hancock.
“There you are, you little man! Where’s my darling Luffy?!”, Hancock asked in exasperation, while you watched her with mild amusement. So the pirate empress had fallen for a man.
“He’s inside, but you’re not allowed to see him. He needs to rest. If one wound opens up again, he’ll die.”, the heart captain answered in a dry tone.
“That poor strawhat-boy.”, Ivankov said with worry lacing his voice, before he looked next to Law to spot you, “The Siren. How are you feeling, little girl?”, he asked and you met his worried gaze with a small frown: “Did Pops survive?”, you asked without any hope in your voice. You knew the state of your father and that he wouldn’t survive that many wounds, but you needed to be certain.
“No, sweet girl, I’m sorry.”
Your eyes wandered towards the ground and you nodded. You knew it, so why was your heart clenching like that? Why did your eyes water up again?
Your breathing sped up and your vision got blurry, as your knees gave up and you dropped to the ground. A cry could be heard from further away and for a moment you wondered who’s in danger, before you recognized it. It’s your voice, your scream. In only a few hours you lost the people dearest to you, your father and the man you wanted to spend your life with.
It happened again.
Why do you lose everything that’s important to you?
It was too much, you couldn’t bear this pain anymore. Your blurry vision turned black and your body slumped to the ground; you were unconscious.
~~~
The sky was blue and the sun was shining down on you. It felt warm and nice, like a comfortable hug that tried to keep you warm. Your eyes blinked open as you adjusted to the light. You sat up in a careful motion and looked around. Your body was placed on a lounger in the middle of green grass and near a cliff where you could look out at the ocean.
“You’re awake.”, a now familiar neutral voice stated and you turned around to look back at the grey eyes with eyebags underneath.
“You’re not getting enough sleep.”, you said and looked back out at the ocean.
“I don’t.”, he smirked, although you couldn’t see it, “But that’s not the topic right now. How are you feeling?”
Your chest was aching, your eyes were tired, your muscles were hurting and your hand was burning up: “I’m alive.”, you mumbled, “How’s Luffy?”
“Unconscious, but alive.”, Law sat down next to you and held a bowl into your direction, “From the Amazons. You need to eat.”
You grasped the bowl and took a sip of the soup. The hot fluid wandered down your Esophagus, but it felt like it wanted to come up again only a moment later. You gulped it down and shut your eyes in concentration.
‘You need to eat, you idiot’, you thought to yourself and tried to calm your breathing, before you took another sip.
The doctor observed you with a cautious gaze, before he looked out over the sea: “You’re an astounding nurse. You were able to adjust to my powers immediately and you knew exactly what to do.”
You looked back at the man and took your time, before answering: “I’ve been with Whitebeard for a long time. Although he is-“, you swallowed the lump that got stuck in your throat, “- he was a force to be reckoned with, he also had lot of horrible wounds, which grew worse the older he got. My big crew also had bad wounds more often than not, so I had to adjust to a lot of things.”
Law nodded and interlaced his fingers with each other: “I’m not sure, if I could’ve brought the strawhat back without your help, so thank you.”, he said, before he stood up and intended to head back.
“For a doctor you’re really lacking empathy.”, you chuckled and your eyes followed his form.
“Oh, she can smile.”, he smirked while looking back at you, “But you’re not wrong. I could use a nurse other than Bepo for it.”, he answered and turned around again to walk back.
‘Was that an offer?’, you wondered and shook your head.
~~~
After a few days Luffy finally woke up and although his state was worrisome at first, Jinbei was able to calm him down. Now the boy was seated in front of you and munched on fruits Hancock had brought him from her palace.
The woman sometimes eyes you with suspicion, but stayed silent. Was she jealous, because another woman is present?
When Luffy was satisfied with eating he turned around to direct his gaze towards you. You gave him a weak smile and waited for what he had to say: “You’re Ace’s girlfriend.”, he stated and you nodded, “He told me about you, when I met him in Arabasta.”
“And he never shut up about his brother.”, you chuckled, “He’s so proud of you.”, you smiled, but felt tears at the brim of your eyes again. One should think you were empty by now, “I’m glad you’re okay, Luffy. Ace succeeded with saving you.”
“But he’s dead because of me.”, the boy choked out and his gaze wandered away from you.
“Hey.”, you mumbled and grasped his chin to direct his gaze towards you, “Your brother never did stuff he would regret later on. You know that, don’t you? He tried to live his life to the fullest and he did. You did so much for him and I bet Ace couldn’t have been happier to see so many of his loved ones that came to his rescue and especially his little crybaby brother.”, you laughed.
Luffy made an exclaim of denial and that he wasn’t a crybaby as a kid, which made you laugh even more. This is the boy Ace sacrificed his life for and, as much as it hurt you, you knew it was the right thing to do. Tears now rolled down your cheeks, you couldn’t stop them anymore and suddenly the boy did something you didn’t expect: he pulled you into a tight hug. You couldn’t control your crying anymore and started to sob into his shoulder.
“Oi, straw hat, be careful with your wounds.”, Law’s annoyed voice said from the back, which made you snort and your cry changed into a laugh.
“He’s right. You shouldn’t hug me so tight.”, you smiled and broke the hug, “Thank you, Luffy.”
He nodded: “I have to thank you for rescuing me. What are you planning to do now?”
As you thought about your answer, your gaze went up to the sky. White doves were flying over you; a sign for a new beginning.
“I’m not sure. I have no real goal in life other than caring for my crew. Maybe marry one day and start a family. I’ll need something new I guess.”, you smiled at him, but it didn’t reach your eyes.
“I told you I could use a nurse.”, Law chimed in and you turned around to look at him. For once a small smirk was present on his face and you nodded before turning back to Luffy: “I guess life will still show me a way that I haven’t thought about before. What about you?”
“I need to get stronger.”, he mumbled, “I will never lose anyone ever again.”, his tone was stern, he had the will to fulfill it.
“And that’s why I’m here.”, another voice spoke up and from the side the dark king Rayleigh walked into the picture.
‘Why am I not surprised.’, you thought to yourself with a smile.
While Rayleigh told Luffy about his offer, you walked over to Law and sat down beside him: “You would want me in your crew?”, you asked.
“Yes, like I said your work is remarkable. That is if you don’t intend to stay with the straw hat.”, Law answered with the small smirk never leaving his face.
You hummed and looked over to Luffy. You wanted to know about his plans first. Maybe they could also use a nurse in their crew, like that you could actively protect the boy. Although would that really be in his interest? If he was in any way like his brother, then he would need space to develop his own strength.
~~~
Luffy decided to train with Rayleigh for two years. He would send out a message towards his crew that they would meet up at Sabaody archipelago.
“If you’re still interested, meet us at the Sabaody archipelago.”, Luffy grinned and you nodded.
“We’ll see each other again, Luffy.”, you smiled and pulled the boy into a hug, “You’ll be so much stronger by then. I'm excited to see it.”, you grinned.
“It’s a goodbye then.”, Luffy smiled and held his hand up for you to give him a high five.
You grinned and met his hand mid-air, before you turned around to walk over to the polar tang.
The heart pirates were already on deck and the moment you intended to step onto the submarine a loud voice called your name. The sound came out of the air and you looked up to see blue flames that were flying into your direction. Your eyes widened as you spotted your first commander and a big smile made its way to your face when you waved at him and called his name.
You stepped onto the island again and the big bird made out of blue flames landed in front of you, afterwards turning into the form of a human with a pineapple shaped head. The man immediately pulled you into a tight hug, which you reciprocated.
“I’m relieved that you’re okay.”, Marco whispered, while his hand caressed your hair, “And that I was finally able to find you.”, he let go of you and looked at you with a stern gaze, “We fought against Teach, but we stood no chance.”, he muttered and his hands balled into fists, “We’ve lost this war on every level.”
“But we’re alive and so is Luffy.”, you stated and Marco’s frown changed into a smile.
“How are you faring?”, Marco asked and his hand came up to stroke over your cheek.
“I’m alive.”, you scoffed, “Glad I’m not crying for once. My hand is shit.”, you held up your bandaged hand that tried to stop Akainu, “but at least I’m alive.”, your voice turned into a whisper, while you tried to remind yourself that this was something good.
Marco’s smile turned bitter: “We’ve arranged a grave for Pops and Ace.”, with that statement he pressed a piece of paper into your hand, “Visit them, if you can.”
Your eyes started to water again, but you blinked them away: “What about the others? Is everyone okay?”
“Most of us are. We’ll need time to mourn the loss of our father and brother, but we can handle it. What are you up to now?”, Marco asked and looked up to the submarine you wanted to board.
“I’ve decided to accompany the Heart pirates. Trafalgar is a phenomenal doctor with his operation fruit, but his social skills are lacking, so I’ll help him.”, you grinned, already imagining the annoyed look on the face of your new captain.
And just like you thought a scoff sounded behind you, which made you turn around to wink at him.
Marco’s hearty laugh filled the air and his hand patted your shoulder: “Sounds like a good idea. Trafalgar be grateful for our little (Y/N). Nobody was stricter with Pops than her, which also showed her worry for him.”, he smiled.
“We’ll see how she’ll be doing.”, Law answered in a neutral tone and you shook your head: “Isn’t he charming? Thank you for everything, Marco. You’ve always been an important friend and mentor for me. It’s kind of surreal that our ways will part like this.”, you gulped.
“We’ll see each other again, little one, and I’m excited to see what will become of you.”, he grinned and pulled you in for another hug.
You reciprocated it with all the strength you could muster, before you parted ways with your old friend.
It’s time to continue with your new life.
You don’t know if you want that.
You don’t know if you can.
But you have to.
For Luffy.
For Pops.
For Ace.
His death won’t be for nothing. Luffy will become the new pirate king and in whatever way you will support him, even if you’ll be staying with other pirates for now.
“Where will we be heading, captain?”, you asked and observed the tall man.
He held out his hand into your direction: “Give me the paper of Marco.”
You furrowed your brows, but gave it to him.
His eyes scanned over the small piece of paper, before he gave his men the coordinates.
“First of all you’ll say your goodbyes.”, he stated.
A grateful smile was present on your face and you hugged the man from behind: “Thank you for your kindness, Trafalgar.”
The man only gave you a short grunt as an answer, before carefully pushing you away, which resulted in a grin of yours, while his crew started to laugh.
With that you headed towards the grave of your father and lover.