[One Piece] fanfic (spoilers up to v.60 - revised)

WARNING: huge spoilers up to volume 60!
I repeat it, huge spoilers!
Read more/scroll down at your own risk!!!
(Extra line to avoid the fic title--which is a spoiler too--to appear in the thumb preview.)

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The Death of Portgas D. Ace



On that day at Marineford, Portgas D. Ace had reached the end of his journey.

His tragic story flew from port to port, carried by winds and currents, changing people’s opinion little by little... Were the Navy and the World Government really in the right? Had that young pirate really been such a great menace?
Even if they were talking about the biological son of Gol D. Roger—the very one who had initiated the Age of Pirates and dragged the world into chaos—which faults did Fire Fist have in all of that?

Days and weeks passed, and soon even the official propaganda could not overcome the stories of the people who had either witnessed the events directly or listened to the reports of who had actually been there.
After all, how could you not be affected by the deeds of that boy who, once freed from the seastone chains, instead of running away had sacrificed his own life for his brother's sake? A person like that could not be evil… What if the Government had lied about his father, too, many years ago?

Whatever the truth was, the wind that until then had blown in favour of the Navy was changing, and for seafaring folk such change could only forebode one thing: a storm was coming.

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“Enough with this idiocy, you’ve already wasted too much of my time!” The screams of Marco the Phoenix could be heard up to the bridge, and his crewmates exchanged worried looks.
Apparently, someone on the other end of the den-den mushi had told him something that had gotten under his skin.

Recently, the Whitebeard's fleet First Commander’s personality had changed for the worse, but his nervousness was understandable. Whitebeard and Ace had died together with tens of other companions of theirs, and Marco hadn't even had the time to digest his loss that he immediately had to shoulder his father's heavy heritage. Such a burden would have crushed any normal person, especially now that the worst pirates across the seas had started pillaging the islands no longer protected by the flag of the deceased Edward Newgate.
Not only that damned Teach, but also other dregs were giving Marco a hard time. Just to name the most recent incident, he had needed a good two weeks to put back in his place a certain Brownbeard: a coward who had taken advantage of the situation arisen after the “Paramount War” to do as he pleased.

“If only you were still alive...” Marco whispered, disconsolate, while shaking his head. As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, though, his friend was dead, and he couldn't give credence to groundless claims that asserted the contrary.
After writing a couple of terse lines on the logbook, the young commander turned off the candle that lightened his unpretentious cabin and lay down, trying to sleep… But since that day, his nights were always tormented by that same terrible nightmare.

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“ACE!!!”

Luffy woke up in the middle of the night, screaming and drenched in sweat. He could still feel his brother's warm blood on his fingers... Sitting on his bed, the boy tried to calm down, but his shaking and difficult breathing lasted for several minutes.
“For how long you'll keep tormenting me?” he murmured to himself, his anger-filled eyes shining in the darkness. He held his head among his hands, trying to get rid of the remorse. Luffy felt a lump in his throat, but a month after Ace's death he didn't have tears to shed anymore.

“Is everything ok, Strawhat?”

“Y-yes... sorry for waking you up...”

Jinbe observed Luffy for a moment, noticing his strained smile. The fishman slightly disclosed his month as if to add something, but he just sighed and nodded at the boy, leaving the room.
He had heard strange rumours lately, and that doctor—Trafalgar Law—had shown him that small shred of paper found on Luffy's hat… However, he didn't want to hurt Ace’s brother even more with fake hopes; before telling him about that, he would do more research.

During the time spent around Luffy, Jinbe had often found himself tearing up before the boy's sincerity in expressing his emotions, and he was more and more convinced of the decision he had taken: he would to protect him even at his life’s cost, as Ace had wished… However, where to start?
The smell of the sea, carried across the coast by the light breeze that constantly blew on Amazon Lily, reminded him of his native land: the submarine Fishman Island. Should he take the boy there? Or should he keep him hidden a little longer, until he had completely recovered?

His pupil wasn't covered anymore by the bandages that, just up to a couple of weeks ago, had wrapped most of his body. However, on his chest a gash was left to testify the gravity of his injuries—mirroring the scar on his heart that, maybe, would never completely heal.
However, albeit distressed by the loss Luffy hadn't remained idle; and he had insisted on Jinbe teaching him the Fishman Karate.

I wish the rumours about Ace were true, Jinbe whispered, but he soon repressed that idea. After all, the probabilities that Luffy's elder brother had survived were fairly low... No, better not to indulge in that illusion.

The ex-member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea was also considering the hypothesis of entrusting his pupil to Silvers Rayleigh. Probably, Roger's old right-hand man would accept to take the Luffy with him to train him in the use of Haki.
Alternatively, they could search for the leader of the revolutionaries, Monkey D. Dragon, but Luffy didn't seem much interested in meeting his father... At any case, the boy was growing restless by the day, and only Hancock’s patience and love—at that point obvious to everyone but the subject of her attention—had managed to hold him back until then.

Luffy had been repeating for weeks that he would face the World Government and the Navy to overthrow them once and for all.
“Why being so pitiless towards Ace?” the boy kept asking. Not even Even Jinbe could find an answer to that, though, so the frustration of both grew.

“This time, we lost something too important...” the fishman whispered with a heavy heart.
Of one thing, at least, he was certain: whatever their decision, it would be the first step to change the pirate—or more probably the whole world—forever.

---

On an uncharted island a cliff rose, beaten from harsh winds; it would have been completely bare if it wasn’t for flashes of leathery vegetation that stubbornly tried to root on those dried rocks.
However, the cold gusts didn't seem to annoy the lonely figure that stood up there. That person was staring at a humble pile of stones bleached by the sun… To the eyes of someone else, they would have passed unnoticed, so a flag had been raised next to them; its fabric, worn-out for the countless battles it had witnessed, was waving energetically as if not yet tired of fighting.

Every day, that youth climbed up the cliff out of respect, clenching his teeth and ignoring the pain in his chest even if it had been almost unbearable at first. That slope reminded him of the stair that had conducted his old self to the scaffold at Marineford… How tired and desperate had he felt, back then!
Even if briefly, he had ended up believing the voices that, since his childhood, had always negated his very right to exist, and only the sacrifice of many had managed to save him. Yet, thanks to those tragic events, he had finally found a clear path in his life… And now, before that flag he had once wanted to conquer, he could only think one thing: he wouldn't let his father's death be in vain.

Shanks’ crew doctor had insisted on the fact that he had saved himself by the skin of his teeth, and that he had better keep careful as long as possible… But how could he stay still while, inside of him, an overwhelming ardour lighted up each time he visited that grave?
The young man clenched his fists to contain his impatience, eyes turned down as the rising wind ruffled his wavy dark hair. The sea was rising, and that would be the best time—albeit the most risking one— to set sail. If he wanted to leave that island without being spotted by the Navy, whose ships steadily patrolled the surrounding waters, he had to make an all-out effort.

Once far from there, first of all he would search for his brother, who was still on Amazon Lily apparently. The youth had no idea how he could atone for all the sorrow he had caused him, and simply thinking of how the other could feel in that very moment afflicted him… Luckily, though, the both of them had survived, and that was the most important thing.
Afterwards, he intended to contact Marco, too. He needed to explain to him his plans for the near future—so many things required to be taken care of!

Paid his last respects to the man he had called father, the young pirate raised his grey eyes and turned around decisively, setting about climbing down the steep rocky wall. It was then that the last rays of the setting sun inflamed the Whitebeard symbol on his back—symbol that he had asked to be tattooed again on the still fresh wound as soon as the doctor had given his consensus.
At the beginning of the slope, though, he stopped and retraced his steps, a smile that promised nothing good spreading on his freckled face.

Then, after deeply breathing in the sea breeze and its promise of freedom, the youth started running, making the pebble crunch under his heavy black boots. He arrived to the border of the cliff in a moment, and without hesitating, he opened his arms wide and jumped nimbly in mid-air, closing his eyes.
While hurtling down, time stopped... He had missed that feeling so much!

For once, he conceded himself some more seconds than what he would normally do before turning part of his body into flashing flames, which braked his fall thanks to the heat wave immediately bursting out. Then, a skilful somersault was followed by a nearly perfect landing on the beach under the cliff.
"Not as bad as I thought!" exclaimed the young man, contented. He stretched his legs, which were slightly numb for the rough impact with the sand, and steadily made his way towards the bay where Shank's galleon was docked.

The distance to cover to reach the ship was relatively long, and to pass the time the pirate started humming that stupid islands song he and Sabo had thought up as children, and that Luffy loved.
Unfortunately, his blond brother had left them many years ago, but it was thanks to him, too, that he had managed to find the strength to live.

---

On that day at Marineford, Portgas D. Ace had reached the end of his journey.

Captured by a traitor of his own crew, dragged to the hell of Impel Down, and finally brought to the Navy Headquarters to be executed, nobody could save Gold D. Roger’s son who, persecuted since his birth, had managed to survive until then only at the price of hiding his identity.
For nothing his adoptive father, the infamous Whitebeard, and all of his fleet had intervened; even Strawhat and his friends—some of the strongest and most promising pirates in the world, could do nothing, and so he had met his end… Or had it been a new beginning?

Soon, the world would know that not all fires could be extinguished… Soon, Fire Fist would be reborn under his real name: Gol D. Ace.