Chapter 2: Chapter 2 : Freedom
Ace walked quietly through the village as he carried the fresh hot meal Makino had made for Luffy. It had been two days since Luffy had woke up, and three since Luffy had been found on the docks. Ace had watched over as the doctor had changed his bandages, and it hurt to see the ribs poking out from underneath Luffy's skin.
Ace didn't know what to make of the burn mark on the back of his little brother. Nobody knew in Foosha knew. But he knew that it was a symbol. But, he was glad that Luffy had been recovering, albeit slow, but he was. That was all that mattered for Ace. Luffy was back, and he was return back to normal from what he had seen two nights ago.
"Luffy! I am back!", Ace announced loudly as he entered the hut. The boy in question slowly turned to the door, a small smile on his lips. "And I have brought your favorite, lots and lots of seasoned meat!".
"Thanks, Ace", Luffy muttered in a small voice as he slowly sat up in the bed. Ace sat beside his brother, slowly opening the carefully packed lunch, a small lifting on his lips as Luffy's eyes grew wide seeing the amount of food. "Is it fine if I eat all of this?"
Ace held back all his emotions with a smile on his face. "Makino-san made this for you only. She was saying she missed cooking for your appetite", Ace responded as he leaned back after pushing the plate towards Luffy. Watching Luffy eat with so much emotion on his face, Ace wondered what Luffy had gone through for him to look so happy for getting such a small meal(in terms of the Monkey D. and previously compared appetite).
"Hey Ace, where's Sabo?"
Ace froze in his position at the words. Luffy didn't know. Luffy had disappeared on the same day Sabo had died. He gulped before answering. He would lie. He didn't know how Luffy would feel in his already broken state. "He-He's with his parents. You know he is a noble, right? A-All that noble w-work and s-stuff", Ace replied as he ducked his head.
"Ace, tell me the truth. I know you're lying", Luffy remarked as he stopped eating. Ace's breath hitched in his throat.
"W-Why do you t-thi-think I-I am lying?"
"Ace... I... A lot has happened to me, Ace. I know you're lying"
"The day you disappeared, he set out to sea and was killed by some asshole, who got away without any resistance", Ace replied as he looked up to see Luffy's reaction.
"I see. So he was killed by them", Luffy had said them quietly, but the hatred in his eyes and sudden suffocation which Ace felt said something else. Ace couldn't stand the look in Luffy's eyes, nor could he comprehend why he suddenly felt like someone was trying to crush him. He was shocked at the same time, that the Luffy he knew, the Luffy which could laugh all day long, was capable of so much hatred. Ace felt Luffy was slipping from his hands, into the void of darkness from where Sabo and Luffy had helped Ace up. Luffy was becoming the same that Ace was before he met his brothers.
"Luffy!", Ace choked out, finally finding his voice. Like a switch, the pressure weighing him down was suddenly gone, replaced by Luffy's guilty face.
"I am sorry, Ace! I didn't mean it. Please don't send me back. I will do anything you say-", Luffy was cutoff when Ace hugged him tightly.
"Nobody's going to send you back there, Lu. Never", Ace spoke quietly. He felt Luffy snaking his arms around his torso and return the hug. "I have already lost Sabo. I don't want to lose you too, Luffy. Not again".
Ace hadn't expected to see Garp arrive to Dawn Island in three days. From what he knew Marineford was two weeks away by a ship. He narrowed his eyes at another man following Garp to Wood Slap's house. He said nothing as Garp ignored Ace, and made a beeline for Luffy. He had expected Garp to hug Luffy first rather than going in for his idiotic Fist of Love.
Ace's body acted on his own the moment Luffy covered in fear of Garp reeled back arm. He stood between his adoptive grandfather and his sworn little brother, all while glaring venomously at the man who dared to even touch a hair on Luffy's head.
"Back down!", Ace growled in a low voice, unconsciously channeling his Haoshoku Haki. Garp and the man following him froze in their spots as Ace's Haki washed over them and Garp realized that Luffy was staring at him with helpless terror and fear of getting hurt again. "He had finally returned after five years and the first you do when you see him is trying to give your Fist of Love?"
Garp lowered his hand before nodding slowly. "And how the hell did you reach here in three days, you shitty geezer? I know Marineford is two weeks away", Ace asked narrowing his eyes. The man following him snorted at the words.
"Vice-Admiral Garp used my Hie Hie no Mi powers to create an ice path over the ocean. That ran was running faster than me while I was on a bicycle", the man replied. "Vice-Admiral Kuzan at your service".
"Ace, can you leave the two us alone?", Garp asked quietly. Ace rose his brow, his eyes still holding anger for what Garp had just tried.
"Fine. But, if I see even a single scratch on Luffy after this, I swear on my blood you will have to retire because of the loss of your limbs", Ace threatened in a dangerously low voice. Garp knew an empty threat. This was a promise.
Ace said nothing as Kuzan followed him to Makino's bar. He was still on edge because of the presence of Marine officer. He had from his adoptive grandfather that only a handful people knew his existence, and none of them existed in the Marines.
"What would you like to have?", Makino asked politely as Kuzan and Ace sat beside each other at the counter.
"Orange juice, if available", the marine replied with a small smile before turning to Ace with a smile. "Your name is Ace, right? I heard it from Vice-Admiral quite a few times in the recent years". Ace only nodded at the information. "I.. I am sorry what you had go through for the past five years. I have never seen Vice-Admiral Garp so driven ever since I joined the Marines".
"I-I didn't know he had been trying so hard", Ace murmured in a low voice.
"I assure you, Vice-Admiral Garp may come off as someone lazy, but he is the most serious person in such situations", Kuzan responded as he nodded a thanks to Makino before taking his glass of juice. "What happened to your brother? I only know that he had gone missing five years ago"
Ace nodded slowly as he took his own glass of juice. "Some merchant found him on the docks three days ago. They say he appeared out of nowhere on the docks, covered in bandages all over his body. He was unconscious for the entire next day, but woke up at night. I-I have never seen him s-so broken. He was pleading me that he would do as I say, do anything, but he didn't want to go back there. He said that they taunted him that Garp or I would never come", Ace paused as his breath hitched. "And when the doctor changed his bandages, he had so many scars and burn marks. I-I was living happily here a-all while Luffy suffered through so much".
Ace didn't resist as Makino came over and hugged him tightly. Kuzan had seen Ohara. He had been there. But, imagining a seven year-old going through so much, he didn't know the world was so cruel. "Ace, does the burn mark have a shape?", Kuzan asked, praying that he was thinking wrong. A pit formed in his stomach as the fifteen year-old nodded slowly.
"Yes. A circle with three triangles above and one under", Ace answered turning to face the marine. He knew from the pained expression on the Marine's face that the mark was bad. Very bad.
Kuzan on the other hand didn't know what to think. He knew the World Nobles were insane, but making a seven year-old a slave? For five years? He would never question why his fellow Vice-Admiral blinded himself after returning from Marie Geosie three years ago. He started wondering if he was making the right choice to stay as a Marine after Ohara and this? Marines preached about Justice this and Justice that. Where was the justice for the innocent children in Bartilla, the innocent children in Ohara, the grandson of the most renowned Marine in history?
A recent news suddenly made a lot more sense Kuzan now. "Well, now I know why he made such an example out that World Noble", he suddenly remarked.
"You know about that mark, don't you?", Ace hissed narrowing his eyes at the marine.
Kuzan shook his head sadly. "You're too young and innocent to know about that mark, Ace. All I know is that your brother is going to need you a lot while he recovers", Kuzan said somberly.
The rest of the evening was a quiet affair. Kuzan hadn't made any more attempts at conversation, but the sight of the marine drinking sake bottle after bottle was enough to make Ace realized that the mark and its implications was very very bad.
Ace had helped the drunken Vice-Admiral back to Wood Slap's hut, just as Luffy had finally laid back down in Garp's lap.
"You got yourself wasted?", Garp asked in shocked as Kuzan was struggling to even stand in one place.
"Its very bad *hic* Garp-san. Very *hic* bad", Kuzan mumbled only Ace getting the context of the speech.
"Well", Garp sighed as he gently picked up Luffy, even Garp was shocked that Luffy was so light. "It seems my fellow Vice-Admiral has gotten himself wasted. And Sengoku will have my head if I don't return by the end of the week", he remarked as he took Kuzan off Ace. "I will visit you two again soon. I want to see you become Marine till then", Garp said boisterously.
"Never", Luffy said in a loud voice, shocking Garp. "I will never become a Marine, not after...", Luffy trailed off lifting his hand to touch the left side of his neck. The same place where Ace has seen a huge wound, which would have killed any person. Ace didn't miss Kuzan's pained expression at the words. Garp said nothing seeing the look in his grandson's eyes. There were a lot of emotions, but the hate present in them, made all the three men flinch. "I will become a pi-no, I will become the King Of Pirates and be the freest person in the world", Luffy proclaimed as he clutched his straw hat and the purple-white nio-dasuki. The straw hat being painfully familiar to Kuzan and Garp.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone