I was on a roll today!

Makes me very happy to have two chapters done in one day!

Hope it continues this way!

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

At that exact moment the television projecting the event went black. Eight figures in different areas of the world watched in horror as their captain was hurt.

A silence filled the arena. Ace fell to his knees and crawled over to his Luffy. Tears stinging his eyes.

"L-Lu-Luf-Luffy..." He reached Luffy and cradled the petite figure t his chest. The wound was bleed profoundly, and it looked so bad.

"A-Ac-Ace...i-it hu-hur-hurts..."

Ace cradled him closer to him.

"It-Its O-ok-okay...Y-Yo-You'll b-be o-o-okay...I-I-I'll g-ge-get y-y-you t-to a m-med-medic..."

Luffy only nodded.

"N-ne A-Ace c-ca-can y-y-ou t-te-tell m-my n-na-naka-nakama t-th-that I-I m-mi-might n-not b-be a-abl-able t-to m-me-meet u-up w-wi-with th-the-them."

Ace shook his head and more tears fell.

"Ba-ka, y-yo-you ca-can t-te-tell t-th-them y-yo-your-yourse-yourself..."

Luffy nodded again.

"I-I'm s-so gl-gla-glad t-to b-be w-wi-with y-y-you..."

Ace could only cry.

A chuckled came from in front of them.

"Looks like Straw Hat was the first to die. Such a shame that such a pretty thing gets killed off first. I have to applaud you though. You stupidly fell into my trap and instead of dying yourself, you were selfish enough to let Straw Hat die instead."

Ace could only cry.

Another fist came his way, but this time Ace was ready. He would kill this bastard no matter what.

"Room Shamble..."

A blue bubble surrounded them, and just as the fist came close to hitting Ace, they disappeared and were replaced by two Marines.

Ace looked up to find himself looking up at an intense glare. The young man had a white with black polka-dots hat on his head. It shadowed his eyes and made them look even more intense then regularly.

"W-Wh-What are you doing here Trafalgar Law?"

Law looked at the kneeling man before him, then glanced at the small figure in his arms.

"Just curious..." He looked at the battlefield. " It seems I'm not the only one curious."

Ace looked at him in confusion before turning around to look at the battlefield. He was shocked to find that all the Marines weapons were in the air.

"Repel..."

Came a voice from his far right. Ace turned to find the Captain of the Kid Pirates before him. Bewildered was what he was. What were two Captains of different crews that he had never met doing here. He knew that they had nothing to do with the Old Man, because the Old Man had never talked about them.

Could they be Luffy's friends? Ace wondered. But Luffy had never even told him about them. Sure they were on different crews, but Luffy had always made it a habit to get in contact with him no matter what. He would tell him everything his crew and him had gone through.

"Hurry up if you want to save his life?" That broke Ace from his pondering.

"You can heal Luffy?"

Law looked at Ace and stared into eyes that were filled with so much hope.

"Yeah, I'm a doctor...But we must hurry or else..." Law didn't have to say it twice. Ace was right behind forgetting about the war going on once he realized that they had more reinforcements.

Ace was impressed with Law's ship. He had never been in a Submarine before so this was a cool experience. He had been treated after Law had operated on Luffy. Luffy was currently resting and Ace could finally release a sigh of relieve that everything was over. He had been stuck by Luffy's bed side since the surgery had finished. Law had come in later to tell him that his nakama had gotten out safely. With the help of Eastuss, the White-beard pirates were able to escape. Of course, he also felt pain and guilt because of all the pirates that gave their lives up for him. Still looking at his Luffy right now made him glad that he was alive.

Luffy awoke to darkness surrounding him. He panicked for a few moments until he found Ace sleeping on a chair by his side. The relieve and sheer happiness that consumed Luffy almost made him cry. Hell, he would have if not fearing that his brother would wake up. He couldn't do that because knowing Ace this was the only time he had gotten any sleep. Luffy wasn't stupid, and knew that when it came to him Ace was very overprotective. He knew that Ace wouldn't have slept or eaten until he was better.

He looked around the unknown place, and wondered who had saved their lives. He hoped that they were friends and not enemies; because he knew that he wouldn't be much of a challenge if they turned out to be enemies.

The door opened, and Luffy held his breath. He exhaled when he saw that the person coming in was none other than Jinbei.

Jinbei quietly entered the room until he was by Luffy's bed side.

"It seems that you're awake, Luffy-kun."

Luffy hummed in agreement.

"There's someone that wants to talk to you, Luffy-kun."

Luffy cocked his head in confusion.

"Rayleigh..."

"Oh, Ray-oji.."

Luffy tried to move, but found that his body would not cooperate with him. Jinbei didn't need to be told twice. he lifted the light body in his arms, and walked out f the room.

"Luffy-kun, how is it that you know the Dark King?"

Luffy looked up to his giant friend.

"My nakama and I sailed to Sabaody Archipelago so that we coat our ship and sail to Fisherman Island, but once we got there the Marines seemed to have been waiting for us. The big guy, Bartholomew Kuma was there and he split us up. I unlike the rest of my crew stayed where I was. My crew got blown to other grooves. I met Ray-oji on accident. I was hungry and I ended up fainting from hunger and he found me."

Jinbei hummed, and sighed.

"Luffy-kun, you have the strangest ways of meeting people."

Luffy giggled at that. The rest of the way was walked in silence. Luffy was still too tired and hurt to even try and make small talk. He was also feeling guilt and a bit worthless. While in the war, Luffy had seen the imense difference in power that the pirates had compared to him. He had been a weak baby compared to all those seasoned pirates. If only he had been stronger, maybe just maybe he could have done more.

"Lu-chan..."

Luffy raised his head. Right in front of him was the kind-hearted Rayleigh. Rayleigh looked tired, but at the same time so relieved and happy.

"Ray-oji..."

Big warm hands wrapped around him and before long he was in the familar embrace of the old man that had become a father figure to him.

"Shhh, Lu-chan. I came here for you."

Luffy looked up at Ray. He questioning look not being missed by Rayleigh.

"I know you think that you're weak and that your worthless, but that's not true. You're incredible and unique. You weren't up to their level because you're barely starting your adventure. Your Haki hasn't been unleashed yet. I'm here to teach you. I'm here to guide you."

Luffy looked at him before nodding his head. He would get strong. Stronger so that he could protect those people important to him.

"I'll become strong. Ray-oji!"

Rayleigh smiled and nodded his head.

"Ja, let's go."

"Can I say good-bye to Ace before I leave?"

Rayleigh knew he could never deny Luffy anything so he nodded his head and led him back to Ace. Ace was still in the same spot that Luffy had seen him last. He asked to be put down and he treded slowly to Ace.

"A-Ac-Ace I-I g-g-got t-t-to go..." Tears filled his eyes. " I-I'm go-ing t-to tra-in s-so t-th-that I-I ca-n g-et str-on-ger ss-o t-t-that I-I c-c-an pr-ot-ect y-o-u a-and m-my n-na-nakama."

A kiss was laid on Ace's forehead.

"Bye-Bye."

Bright sunshine woke Ace from his deep sleep. He stretched and even though he had slept in a very uncomfortable position it had been the best sleep he had gotten since the war. When he opened his eyes, he expected to find Luffy in the bed, but he found nothing. The panic came instantly. He got up and ran from the room.

Luffy! Where's Luffy?! He ran untilo he got to the deck. He found Law, Kidd, and Marco there. (When they had escaped from the war; some of White-beard's pirates had gone with Law and some with Kidd while the rest had ridden the Marine Ship they had stolen.) He grabbed Law by his shirt and raised him off the ground.

"Luffy! Where's Luffy?!" He exclaimed. The pirates that weren't even on Law's ship heard him. A panic swept the group. Luffy was gone!

"Everyone, calm down." White-beard softly stated. "Ace put the boy down."

Ace reluctantly did as he was told.

Meanwhile earlier in the morning Luffy with the help of Jinbei and Ray-oji had been able to steal a Marine Ship and head to Marineford. The place had been loitered with people that were reconstructing the base or reporters that were trying to get pictures.

A Marine Ship circled around the base two times.

"No way! Why's he back?!" A Marine exclaimed while looking through binoculars. The others stared at the Marine wondering why he had exclaimed.

"It's Straw Hat Luffy!"

Gasped filled the area, and they were more surprised when they found out that he had come with Jinbei and Rayleigh. The Ship docked after having the funeral service on the sea for those who had died.

"Why don't you go ahead and go all out?" Rayleigh asked.

"Okay!"

Luffy ran off while the other two protected Luffy. The reports noted that Luffy was heading west instead of where the headquarters was located. They followed him hoping to find out why he was there.

There before Luffy was the Ox Bell. He grabbed the string and started ringing the bell. The ringing of the bell resonated all over Marineford. He kept on ringing the bell until he got to the sixteenth ring. His last stop was an opening where Marineford had been split apart and many pirates had fallen to their deaths. He revealed a bouquet of flowers and threw them into the pit. His straw hat laid across his chest. The reporters didn't waste time in taking pictures. They knew that this would be gold. Once he finished Luffy ran off with Raleigh and Jinbei right behind him.

Back on Law's Ship

Before Ace could open his mouth a newspaper fell on his head. He picked it up and opened it.

"WHAT?!"

This seemed to get the attention of the other people on the ship. They crowded around Ace and were astound to find his baby brother on the front page. A laugh came from the Marine ship.

"Your baby brother sure knows how to do things big, huh Ace?"

White-beard went back to reading his copy of the newspaper

"Oyaji.." Ace sighed and looked down again. He noticed the marking on Luffy's arm and wondered why he had them. He gazed at Luffy's face and knew that he wouldn't be seeing Luffy anytime soon.

In different places around the world eight people received the newspaper. Tears of joy and relieve were shed when they realized that their Captain was save and sound. All but one understood the message that he was sending them, and they made it their mission to get stronger so that they wouldn't fail their captain anymore. Once, Zoro realized what Luffy was trying to say he made it his mission to get strong enough to protect Luffy from everything that would try to hurt him.

Luffy in the mean time got ready to face the training that Ray-oji had for him. These two years were going to be difficult.

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