A/N: Yes, I know. I shouldn't have started this. But I couldn't resist - not after re-reading this part of the manga yesterday. I've got an author's note below that I would like read, if ya'll wouldn't mind. :D

I will save him.

That was the only thought that went through Luffy's mind. Over and over again, like a mantra. Whenever he felt cold steel bite into his flesh, whenever he was knocked down, knocked back, thrown half-way across the ring. That was what he though.

I will save him.

Only, it wasn't just a thought. It was a promise - both to himself, and to every other man that was here, fighting and dyeing to save Ace. Something that, if he broke, Luffy knew would kill him. Because that was his brother up there, on the execution stand. That was the man that had sworn to always be by his side. Who had stayed awake on nights where Luffy couldn't sleep, when the nightmares were too strong. Who was closer than any member of his flesh and blood family, closer even then some of his crew.

No.

Closer than any of his crew.

So he took a deep breath and he flung himself foreward, feet slapping against the ground. Pain rippling through his body and into his heart, his lungs, his mind. Vaguely, he was aware that there were others around him. Then someone, military, was in front of him and a beam of light was slamming into his torso.

Luffy was aware of a blinding pain as he was shot backwards, fire engulfing his body. He slammed into something hard, and then he was on the ground. Cold and shaking, breath coming in unsteady pants and vision blurred - and it wasn't just the pain from this fight he was feeling anymore, but the pain from lethal poison his body had been soaked in earlier that day, burning and tearing and ripping at his very being.

The rigor hormones had worn off, just like Iva had said they would.

For a moment, Luffy's mind went blank. Was this it? Was this where he would die, before even getting the key up to his brother?

No.

It wasn't.

I will save him.

"I-Iva!" the first call came out weak, Luffy's all but swallowed by the choas around him.

"I-IVA-CHAN!" the second call is louder. Loud enough to catch, not just the attention of the leader he's calling for, but also to gather the attention of several members of Whitebeard's crew. For Marco to look away from his own nearby battle and glance over, breath catching in his throat for but a moment at the sight of Ace's little brother laying there, as though he was on the brink of death.

Then the large, black and white visage of Iva was inbetween the Whitebeard commander and Luffy, vision obscured.

All that Luffy could see was Iva's face. His breath came in sharp, heavy gasps. Each one hurt, like a knife was shoved into his chest every time he took a gasp of air.

"F-fix me..." stammered Luffy, words only reaching the larger woman's ears. "Mo-more hormones."

"Another shot of the rigor hormones? Outrageous!" exclaimed Iva, head jerking back just slightly. "You can't take anymore! After fighting your vay through Impel Down...and almost dying from a lethal poison, your body is already far beyond its limits! If you push yourself any further, you truly vill...be throwing your life away!"

Her voice is loud. Others here - and some of them wonder, because that scrawny boy beneath her doesn't look like anything can make him get up again. Yet there he was, forcing his arm out and across, stretching the limb up to grasp onto Iva's shoulder. The grasp was weak, and she could feel blood soak into her shirt.

"I'll do whatever I can..." Luffy panted, trembling voice raising with each word. "If I die then fine...! Just let me fight!...IVA-CHAN!"

The larger pirate froze - and, free from marines at the moment, so did Marco. He couldn't see the broken looking boy, but he could picture it in his mind. And, suddenly, he understood that the stories Ace had told him, about a brave young boy with a vibrant spark: they were all true.

"If by not fighting now..." said Luffy, voice trembling slightly, then rising, into a scream heard throughout the fight. By everyone still alive and all those on their way to the after life. "I failed to save Ace...that WOULD MAKE ME WANT TO DIE! PLEASE! GIVE ME THE POWER TO FIGHT NOW!"

For a moment, Iva hesitated. Then she forced energy into her right palm and slammed it into the younger boy's side, nails piercing flesh and drawing blood and a horrifying howl. She held strong though, concentrating on rearranging the hormones in Luffy's body. On temporarily making him forget about his pain and exhaustion and wounds.

When it wore off, she knew, he would be so consumed in gut-wrenching agony that it was very likely he could die.

At the moment though, Luffy was up again and running, towards Ace and the marines - and, fucking Hell, those were swords raised above his older brother's head, ready to be brought down in a life-ending arc. So he did what came naturally to him. The only thing that he could think of.

He screamed, loud and long, feet never stilling.

Miraculously, both marines fell to the ground. Ace was saved for a moment, staring at his younger brother with wide eyes. It was all a blur to Luffy after that.

Confusion; when Iva questioned a power that he didn't have.

Betrayal; when his grandfather got in front of him, fist raised and tounge barbed.

Desperation; when the key to Ace's seastone chains was cut through and shattered.

Elation; when a new key was made, by Mr. Three, and Ace was free free free!

I saved him.

That was the first thing to shoot through Luffy's mind.

I saved him.

Luffy latched onto his brother, and they were flying through the marines. It was just how it should be, them fighting side by side. Moving, not as two brothers, but almost as one entity. Strengths matched and energy on par with each other. Minds connected and reading each other perfectly.

Which was why, when Ace paused to give a final goodbye to Whitebeard, the man that he had been as close to as Luffy was to Shanks, Luffy waited patiently. That was also why, despite how much he knew they had to leave, he knew that Ace wouldn't run from a man putting his Father's name down.

Ace never had, even when they were little and it was Roger they were talking about.

Ace lunged at Akainu and Luffy moved, just a jerking motion because he didn't know whether to fight with his brother or grab the older man and run. Ace's vivre card slipped from its place in Luffy's hat, fluttering down to the ground and threatening to be trampled. Without thinking, the young captain reached down to grab it - and suddenly everything turned to slow motion.

Someone screamed. His name, maybe?

He looked up, at the marine now charging towards him, and froze.

Ace started to moving, lunging at his younger brother.

Oh, thought Luffy, he's coming to save me.

Then he stiffened, because that wasn't right. That was so wrong and Ace was in front of him and Akainu was there - and Luffy used everything he had left in him to grab his brother by the shoulders and fling him to the side.

"YOU'RE NOT TAKING HIM FROM ME!" he screamed, and then the scream was nothing more than that. A gutteral noise of pain and agony, as the larger mans hand was thrust into his chest and out the other side.

It was like he had been thrown into a tunnel. His vision narrowed into a small field, mostly compraised of pitch black. There was pain and fire, then there was ice taking over everything. He was thrown backward, but he didn't feel it.

Didn't feel anything.

I will save Ace.

That was all that went through his mind. That was all that he could think about, even as he bled out in the middle of Marineford.

Luffy wasn't aware of the entire battle freezing, nor could he hear the sudden cry taken up by the pirates in the battle.

His grandfather; mouth open and eyes wide in horror, as he watched his favorite and blood-related grandson fall to the ground, body limp.

Hancock; entire body frozen as she watched on with wide-eyes, the only man that she had ever respected, go limp.

All of the Grand Line; watching through the visiaul den-den mushi, as the marines became a force to be feared, killing even when they had lost, stripping the life of a boy who only wanted to save his family.

Family, everyone now realized, that wasn't even formed by blood.

But it was Ace that moved first, ignoring Akainu to fly across the battlefield and grab onto the shoulders of his younger brother. To scream his name, tears running down his face, and pull him close. Warm blood coated his bare chest, and a weak hand came up to rest on the top of his bicep.

"A-ace..." whimpered Luffy, blood bursting forth from his mouth, running down his chin and joining the growing pool beneath him. "You...'kay?"

It was a question, not for his own health, but for that of his brother. And every screen in the world was honed in on it, every civilian privy to this conversation between D's.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, Luffy!" sobbed Ace, and he pulled his the younger man into a tigher hug, one hand pressing against the gaping wound of his back and the other moving to grip the weak hand on his arm. "And - and you'll be fine too! You'll be fine!"

Luffy didn't say anything for a long moment. Barely even breathed. Then the corners of his lips twitched up, into a grin that showed off his crimson stained teeth and his blood filled mouth, and gave a weak laugh. Ace sobbed harder. Around them, everyone was still.

"Heh...go-onna die..." managed Luffy, but he still grinned. Still focused his waning vision on the heart-broken man in front of him. "Bu-but you're...you're sa-safe!"

"No, Luffy, no! Don't you dare do this to me!" begged Ace - and it's the first time that anyone had heard him speak that way. For his crew-mates, it was heart-breaking. For the marines, it was satisfaction. For Garp, it was like his entire world was being jerked from beneath him.

But that was it. There were no other struggled words from his brother. No weak gasps for air. Just an unearthly stillness - and Ace threw back his head and howled.

A/N2: I really hate putting A/N's down here, but I just have to this time. I'm going to make this into a short story, but I can't figure out what path to take. Shall Luffy actually be killed? Or should I pull some mystery trick on you guys? Let me know in a review, 'kay?