Chapter Text
Ace was definitely a doting brother. It didn't take long after he finally gave up on killing Pops for everyone on the ship to realize this. The mangy guy never missed an opportunity to brag about his younger brother, Luffy, who was the one to train him in haki.
It was almost impossible to believe that a child, three years younger than Ace, who was born and lived his entire life in the East Blue, was the person responsible for Ace's high level of proficiency in all three haki. Pops laughed, very curious about the said boy and his possible abilities. "I look forward to meeting him one day."
His father, the strongest man in the world, was eager to find a child. Marco's mental alerts went off immediately, understanding, as did everyone else with enough time on the ship to have any basic understanding of the man, what this meant — he wants him as a son. Marco doesn't know if he would be able to deal with a clone even more troublesome than Ace — based on his incredibly crazy stories.
Ace just smiled at Pops and said, “You’d love him, and I’m sure he’d like you too, Pops.” He laughed, “But… Luffy wants a peaceful life away from piracy.”
“A peaceful life? Luffy?” It didn’t make any sense. Ace seemed to agree with the thought, which made him laugh even harder.
“Sounds crazy, right?” Everyone present, well-versed in the mischievous antics of Ace’s younger brother, seemed to agree.
This topic had been brought up again a few times, out of curiosity, but had been forgotten over the years. Luffy had never gone to sea, but all his new brothers had heard about it at some point. Ace was a devoted brother. And Luffy, yelling at Ace who was tied to the execution scaffold in the Marineford courtyard, seemed just as devoted.
“If you’re going to bow your head and accept death, I’m going to kick your ass all over the grand line! You shitty brother!”
Those who hadn't stopped their fights the moment a man jumped out of a sea king's mouth to reach the HQ courtyard did so now, in shock. "Is there another one?" The Marines questioned each other.
"Luffy!" Ace shouted desperately. Marco sighed. He knew — from the stories he'd heard — that the boy, despite wanting a peaceful life, lived in chaos and trouble. But he'd literally just appeared in the middle of a war in Marineford inside the mouth of a damn sea king. That was just too crazy!
“Yo, old man.” Luffy smiled at Edward and greeted him. His father, an emperor of the sea, the strongest man alive, and he greeted him as if he were nothing more than a random person he had just met. “The traitor is coming for you, be careful.” His hand went up to his head, and a hat that Marco recognized immediately rested on his black hair, shading his eyes.
It was dizzying. Images overlapped, and for an instant, Marco thought he was back in the past, facing Gol D. Roger.
“Who are you?” Whitebeard asked, his eyes narrowed. He looked hostile, but his sons knew that only curiosity swirled in his golden eyes. “War is no place for a brat to be!” Whitebeard spun around—and hit the ground hard. Luffy didn’t even bat an eye.
“Survive, and we’ll talk later.” was the only thing he said before jumping into the air as a wave of the conqueror's haki drowned the courtyard. Marines began to fall unconscious all over the field, like rotten fruit. No pirate fell, but they all felt the creeping pressure beneath their spines. As if a God stood before his eyes, all his instincts told him to kneel. To look away. To walk away. To escape his attention. Marco took a deep breath.
When he came back from his little crisis, Kizaru was already in the air, shooting at Luffy. Aokiji headed towards him, and Akainu finally got up from his throne. Marco flew to intercept the ice user, but Luffy had already dodged the admiral's beams of light and landed a kick that sent Aokiji flying across Marineford, towards the sea.
Then Luffy and Akainu's fists collided head-on with the scaffolding. The ground shook and the clouds in the sky retreated, predicting the catastrophe that would follow. It was fast and Marco was absolutely certain that no one saw exactly what happened. But it didn't matter now, because Luffy was maintaining an even fight against the magma user and the Fleet Admiral was in the beginning of his transformation, determined to intervene directly.
Marco returned to the fight, intercepting Kizaru in the air. Below him, he heard the battle start again. Whitebeard was also moving, with the Buddha as his target. Impressively, Ace's younger brother — did Marco already say he was the YOUNGER brother? — who didn't seem willing to stop surprising everyone, currently had his forearm deep in the chest of a magma-encased Akainu. Marco caught a brief glimpse of the hole that was left behind, as the Admiral's body fell with a loud thud, at Luffy's feet. It was shocking. Very, very shocking. The battle stopped again, except that Luffy, Luffy never stopped.
The few seconds of bewilderment that paralyzed Sengoku's body were enough for him to be unable to dodge completely, and a sea stone jitte—aimed at his heart—impaled his left shoulder.
“You can't try to execute my brother like he's some kind of sacrificial animal and get away with it, Senny.” Luffy's tone of voice was calm and dark. Like a storm about to break out. His eyes, covered by his old hat, were turned toward the fleet admiral, who had stopped his transformation and was now pulling the jitte from his body. Blood was running down his arm, staining his previously immaculate uniform.
“Luffy!” the marine hero shouted, standing on top of the execution platform.
“Get out of the way, grandpa.” He growled, jumping into the air to reach the platform. “Ace is going home with his father anyway, so choose, Fleet Admiral. Stop this war now or watch me kill all your admirals!”
“What are you-“