Day 9: Switch

A sea of ice. A hail of fire. Explosions. Blood. Battle. Pirates. Marines. Swords. Fists. Death death death death death—

The world had gone to hell, and Ace had dragged his brothers into the thick of it.

"AAAAAAAACCCCEE!" How many heart attacks could Ace have in one day? The universe seemed intent on finding out, because Luffy, his adorable disaster of a little brother, was currently falling from the sky into the center of Marineford. How the rubber monkey had managed that was anyone's guess, but he had brought with him an entire shipload of prisoners.

The new pirates joined the fight as soon as they hit the ground, but even their numbers could hardly change the tides of the battle. They were soon swallowed in individual fights, swords and fists and devil fruit powers flying with abandon. Whereas before, the Whitebeard division commanders had stood out from the chaos, Luffy was now the easiest to see. He charged straight for the execution scaffold, plowing through anyone in his way. Even from there, Ace could feel Luffy's eyes locked on him.

Splash! And there was Jimbe, making his own waves in the crowd. Luffy must have made it down to Level 6 after all. But if Jimbe was here, did that mean Potter was—?

But Ace didn't have time to think—worry—about Potter, because Squard stabbed Pops. Stabbed Pops. And now he was spouting some nonsense about Pops betraying them to the Navy? Pops had never cared about Ace's past, had brushed off the fact that he was Roger's son as easily as one would report of rough weather on the Grand Line; as if it was an everyday occurrence.

Pops proved himself true, opening up a path for anyone to escape from the battle, but something caught in Ace's mind. Pops could have dodged Squard. He could have dodged him, and that wound would not heal easily, not with Pop's long list of health concerns. He could have proved his point about the betrayal without taking the hit, and yet he had. Why would he take it?

He doesn't plan to survive this battle. Ace flung the thought from his mind. Pops would not die today, not for him. For once, the universe seemed to agree.

"Switch." Cold and calm, the command echoed through Marineford. Jaws dropped on both sides as Whitebeard's wound seemed to melt away. Pops himself looked down with some surprise. Ace's eyes flicked over the battlefield: marine, marine, pirate, dead marine, Jimbe, pirate…there!

Potter staggered but refused to fall, a sword wound bleeding into existence over the brand on his chest. Around him, a circle of marines lay on the ground, likely dispatched by the gleaming silver sword held casually at Potter's side. He wasn't dead. He wasn't lying chained at the bottom of Impel Down.

"You." Whitebeard had also found Potter, and the curious note to his voice had the rest of the plaza turning to look at the swaying figure.

"I said I owed you." Potter reminded Pops with a savage smile, blood staining his teeth. He gestured his sword towards Ace, "Now are we going to rescue the kid or what?"

Whitebeard returned the smile and leapt from the ship with a roar, "Let's go! Clear the path to Ace!"

And with that, the world descended back into hell.

"Garp." That was Sengoku, shifting with a nervousness new to Ace. "Is that really him?"

Garp didn't answer, and when both Ace and Sengoku turned to look, his shoulders were shaking.

"Garp?"

The old marine couldn't hold it in any longer. He burst out laughing, "We should just go home." He suggested between guffaws, "If old man Potter's taken the field, we're not going to win this one."

"Garp, if you're planning anything—"

"I'm here, aren't I? I'll see this through." Garp shook his head ruefully, gesturing at the battle, "Not sure what you expect me to do against that."

Three areas of combat stood apart from the rest of the field, drawing in combatants and spitting them out again as the warriors inside charged the shield wall. There was Luffy of course, fists flying and bullets ricocheting from his rubber body. Not too far from his little brother, Whitebeard lead the charge of pirates towards the gap Oars had created in the shield wall. His attacks shook the very earth, reminding the navy exactly why he was named the Strongest Man in the World. On the opposite side of the shield wall from Whitebeard's charge, a single man was pushing through the tide of marines to reach the wall.

"Switch." A dozen marines found pebbles replacing their swords.

"Switch." The wound in Potter's chest disappeared only to be reflected on the bodies of his newest challengers, dropping them like stones.

"Switch." Two devil fruit users attempting to sneak up on the magician cried out in panic as their powers vanished, and two marines floating in the water mysteriously lost their ability to swim.

Those who made it past Potter's powers were faced with an expert swordsman. Potter flicked his blade in lightning attacks, slicing past the enemy with an ease that shouldn't have been able to come from a man who spent decades in chains. Ace could see it then. Every word, every step, every slice—they all pointed to one thing, to what Potter really was:

Pirate.

"He's committed, Sengoku." Garp said, "Not even Roger dared stop him when he went all in."

Ace didn't doubt it. Not after Potter blasted a new hole in the shield wall with a word. Not after a flick of his wrist switched Marco with Aikanu when the admiral went to attack Pops. Not after a brief duel with Hawkeye ended with the world's best swordsman (temporarily) backing down. Power rolled off of Potter—the pressure of Haki full of twists and swirls that made it something only Potter could control. He strode towards the execution platform with a smile on his lips and a promise in his steps. Potter had played his hand, and nothing would stand in his way.

"Ace!" And then Luffy's in front of him. The key he brought brakes, but the little monkey's luck is better than any technology the marines could dream of, and an ally with a useful devil fruit is somehow on hand to replicate the key. The scaffold is smashed, they're all falling, the world's burning, but when the the key turns, Ace feels it in his bones.

Click!

Strength floods into his body, and his limbs spark and flicker as the embers of his powers are returned to the inferno that is Portgas D. Ace. Potter might be invincible, but Ace and Luffy, side by side against the world? They're unstoppable.

~o.0.o~

Ace was an idiot. Such a damn idiot.

And he'd never been so grateful.

Any sliver of regret he might have held by turning to face Aikanu and defend Pop's honor had vanished, completely and utterly. Because the bastard marine might have attacked Luffy, but Ace stopped him. Magma seared itself in and through Ace's chest, but Luffy was alright. Ace would die, but Luffy would live.

"A-ace?"

It's hard to focus on Luffy's wavering form, and it took Ace far too long to realize he was the one swaying. "Luffy… Pops…" His voice was too quiet to reach his brothers, but he couldn't summon the strength for more than a whisper, couldn't push past the fire that consumed his senses. Ace wanted to laugh—it seemed he would live and die in flames. "I want you to know…"

But didn't they know already? Ace wasn't one for subtlety—never had been, never would be. Luffy, Pops, and his brothers…they loved him. They really did. And living a life without regrets meant Ace had dedicated every waking moment to thanking them. He didn't need to say it now.

Ace's vision was fading, but he could still feel Luffy's arms wrap around him, tentative at first but soon gripping with all the little captain's strength. People were screaming around them, and whatever's left of Ace's stomach sank when he felt heat building up behind him, when he realized that blocking one attack hadn't stopped Aikanu.

"Protego." Potter's voice came an instant before a tremendous SLAM reverberated across the battlefield, and Aikanu's heat dispersed. The sensation of strange haki swirled around Ace, and he knew Potter was standing behind him, in-between them and Aikanu, despite the impossibility of Potter being across the Marineford only moments before.

"The Magician." Aikanu's voice oozed with anger and disdain. "Do you really think tricks will save the son from the same fate as the father?"

Potter's haki spiked, a sensation of rage distilled into raw power.

"Go."

Aikanu vanished without a word. Haki, heat—every sign of his presence was gone.

Potter… Ace's brothers knew his gratefulness, but he had just met Potter, had barely had a chance to thank him for contacting Pops before everything went to shit. Ace needed to tell him, but even his senses were going now. The world was fading with only flares of familiar haki distantly reminding Ace he was still alive.

Potter's haki was the closest, far stronger than any of the others. Despite it all, Ace could barely hold onto the sensation, could barely sense when rage transformed into resolve.

"Switch."

Ace couldn't help the small scream as the world crashed back into his senses. Sight, sound, aura, touch, taste, smell—all of it returned in an instant of blind, white confusion. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils. Copper coated his tongue. Explosions and screams tore at his ears. Shards of the shattered containment wall ground against his legs. And his eyes watched Potter stagger and fall.

There was a hole in his chest.

"Potter!" Ace fought against Luffy's arms, vaguely registering his own lack of pain (lack of a damn freaking hole in his chest!). "Luffy, I'm fine! I'm fine!"

His little brother didn't let go, so Ace dragged him over to where Potter was gasping on the ground. Had Ace really looked this bad? Blood and gore bubbled from the dinner-plate sized hole, covering what little of the Hallows hadn't been destroyed or burned away. The man's eyes were screwed shut in pain, but he wasn't dead yet. He wasn't dead yet, and that meant Ace could fix this.

"Potter, hey, Potter, can you hear me?" Ace gently nudged the side of Potter's face, and tired eyes forced themselves open. "Tell me what I need to do." Potter would know. He had to. "Can you use your powers to switch with someone else? What about your regeneration? Can we speed that up, or—"

Potter was shaking his head. "Too late. Ace, there's nothing you can—"

"Don't call me that." Ace's fists shook from the effort of holding back his fury. He needed to punch someone, anyone, even Potter—but no, not Potter because that's what started this in the first place: Aikanu had punched a great damn hole through Potter's chest.

"Ace–"

"Don't go getting formal on me now, Potter. I'm just a kid, remember?" He was going to lose it if he heard his name again. Too many of his friends—his brothers—Luffy—had fought and died with that name on their lips today. From Potter it was too much like goodbye.

"Kid." Potter's hand squeezed Ace's arm. "I threw in my cards."

No no no no, "But what about the sign?" Ace was scrambling now, grasping at anything to motivate Potter into saving himself. "What about the captain you're looking for?"

Potter's eyes flicked to Ace's shoulder where Luffy watched, confused but anxious, "I found him." Potter coughed, his grip on Ace's arm faltering and then releasing altogether as the strength drained out of him with each hacking breath.

"Potter!"

Potter's eyes met his one last time, "…thank you." But his final words were in his eyes: I'm sorry.

And Potter was gone.

~o.0.o~

As the last spark of life left Potter's eyes, a chill wind swept over the battlefield. Pirates and Marines alike shivered as the sensation passed over them. From far out at sea, a rumbling moan joined the hissing air, as if a thousand underwater voice were crying out in grief. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the body in Fire Fist's arms, all filled with the inexplicable sense that something momentous had occurred.

"…What are we waiting for?!" A Marine shook himself out of the daze. He gestured towards Ace with his cutlas, "Get them!"

"If you value your lives…" Shanks and his crew had slipped into Marineford unnoticed, but now they surrounded the two brothers and the dead Potter, weapons trained on anything that dared move closer. "…you won't take another step."

Marines all over the battlefield hesitated, one foot half-raised.

"There's been enough pointless bloodshed already." Shanks stood tall in front of Ace, blocking him from view. "We will leave, and you will let us, and we will all care for our wounded before they are beyond our aid." His words left no room for argument.

From across Marineford, Sengoku sighed deeply before meeting Shank's gaze with a firm nod.

"Marines. Stand down."

With a slithering chink, Shanks sheathed his sword and knelt beside Ace. Calloused fingers gently removed Potter's body from Ace's grasp and scooped the fallen magician into the crook of the captain's remaining arm.

"You should leave while you can, Fire Fist."

Ace knew that. His body didn't.

"The little monkey needs caring for."

As if they were magic words, Luffy slumped to the ground, and Ace was able to look past the bouncy ball of adrenaline to the body beneath for the first time that day. "Shit." His baby brother was beaten half to hell. Burns crossed his chest, residual damage from Aikanu, and the occasional spasm of muscles pushed beyond their limit jolted through Luffy's limbs. Ace scooped him into his arms and began looked for—

"Over here!" A far away voice from a far away figure standing on the deck of yellow submarine. On any other day Ace would have ignore the call, but—

"I'm a doctor!"

Ace ran.