I'll Be Back

Warnings: oOc. Alive!Ace. Female!Luffy. Grammatical Errors.

Disclaimer: I do not own One piece, Oda Eiichiro does

Chapter 3:The Message Part 1

For such a grand battle between the strongest man in the world and the entire marine force, no one expected such a delay in the outcome.

But the dozens of news coo were finally sent out to deliver the news to everybody around the world who all had prior knowledge and had expected the worst, with the exception of eight pirates. These eight never thought for a second that their separation would have been the final interaction they would have with Monkey D. Luffy, that selfish captain of the Straw-hat crew.

Weatheria

"Wait, let me see that!" Nami snatched the newly delivered newspaper from the hands of the researchers of Weatheria and gave them a cheeky smile as an apology and walked away. Though, both the researchers and Nami herself were well aware they she wasn't sorry at all.

Nami hadn't been keeping track of world as of late because of the crazy events happening one after the other. But it was necessary that she kept tabs on the actions of her crew because they were all scattered around the world. Who knows what havoc some of them could be causing at their promised location now that their 'meet up in three days' promise had been broken.

She placed the newspaper at the bottom of the accumulated newspaper pile from this week and began to read in order. She flipped through the bound sheets of paper so quickly that she was nearly at the bottom of the pile. There wasn't really any new information for her to carefully look upon. The marines elaborated on some minor details, but most of them were irrelevant to her.

Just as Nami thought that the newspaper was useless she took on glance at the last one and froze.

"-No way."

The researchers wondered whose wavering voice it was, suddenly silencing their very academic conversation. Then they realised that it was not theirs but that of Nami who had stopped smiling and moving all together. They glanced at her and noticed that her face was ashen. Her eyes were faded, completely void of the spirit and confidence she once held. She had an expression of shock-of despair.

"...What is it girl?" They asked.

"It can't be true...he will definitely be..there...waiting..." she ignored the men and started moving towards the edge of the small sky island.

"Girl! Watch out! Come back! You'll fall!" The men screamed in attempt to save Nami as she was about to subconsciously take her own life. She had definitely forgotten that she was on an island more than 1,000 metres above sea level.

Too late. She fell.

"..."

"..."

Events had proceeded too fast for the scientists of Weatheria to comprehend. Maybe the squished tomato that had fallen off the table this morning was a premonition of this.

"Wahhhh! How did this happen!" the researchers uncharacteristically screamed in a high pitched voice and frantically scrambled over to the edge of the island, peering over. "This is a tragedy! the worst incident ever in the history of Weatheria! Quick someone call Haredas-san! But that girl AHHHHHH! She fell in a split second like fwip and then she's going hit the blue sea like SPLAT!"

These researchers had lost it. Not that it was a very surprising reaction but it was a fairly rare state of being for these academic scholars on this quiet island floating in the sky.

"M-Maybe a giant bird coincidentally flew by and cushioned her fall?" one researcher declared something that made no sense even to him but it was an optimistic train of thought.

"That-thats..." the others tried to reply but nothing came to mind when it came to retorting his incomprehensible logic and so, because they could not argue nor concur they settled with a vague nod of the head. Until...

"Jeez yoi!" a loud voice shouted from beneath the clouds.

A blend of a golden yellow and blue fiery flames then erupted in the sky. Their eyes were drawn to such beautiful flames. They thought it was some miraculous phenomenon until a bird emerged from within those flames, which immediately led to a person landing on the island, carrying a familiar girl who the men recognised as Nami.

"Seems like the crew is just as reckless as their captain yoi." He said as he gently placed Nami on the ground.

The men gawked at the lad that appeared so very suddenly. He was dressed rather fashionably, in the same sort of 'free' sense as Nami compared to the robes they wore. From that, they concluded he was from the open sea. But unlike Nami, it seemed that he wasn't sent flying here by a man with paws.

"You. h-how? Bird?...Flame...? Fire..huh?"

"Oh sorry yoi, I'm-"

"Whitebeard Pirates, First division commander, Marco 'the phoenix'." Nami said in a weak voice as she gathered all her strength in one hand to grip on to the rim of Marco's pants tightly. She hung her head, as if she was going to collapse and her posture went limp, as if she was going to pass out.

"Hey..my-" Her voice trailed after each word she asked. "Is my captain-"

Marco felt conflicted but he could not lie. At this moment he wished that his mythical zoan fruit didn't give him extraordinary hearing sense because if it didn't, he wouldn't have to hear a woman's tears falling to the ground.

"Yeah. He died."

Kuraigana Island

Zoro limped his way through the misty forest of Kuraigana Island, heavy footed- but it wasn't because of the injuries he suffered from those intelligent but dangerous and somewhat irritating baboons. It was because of something he, Hawk-eyes Mihawk mentioned.

-Around 20 minutes earlier-

"Stop it Roronoa Zoro. Your injuries have pushed you far beyond your limits. But even if they hadn't do you really think someone who couldn't defeat the baboons is in any position to challenge me?" Mihawk said as Zoro stumbled to stand up.

Zoro had no choice but to swallow his pride. Hawk-eyes was right. His mere aura had scared the baboons shitless but Zoro could barely fend them off. Even a monkey could clearly measure the distance between him and the greatest swordsman in the world. "Why...are you here?" Zoro asked.

"That," Mihawk pointed behind him."Castle is my home, but what are you doing here?"

"One of your fellow Warlords, Kuma sent me flying here."

"I see. So that's why Straw-hat arrived at Marineford with that other group."

Zoro's eyes widened "You met Luffy? How is he? Is he alright?"

"You haven't heard? Straw hat Luffy-" stopping at what Zoro considered the most important, Mihawk abruptly looked away, sensing an new aura on his territory. Then he nodded.

"What...happened to Luffy?"

"Head towards the coast, towards that forest. Someone has arrived for you, I'm guessing."

Whilst Zoro recalled back on his conversation with Hawk-eyes, he could see the end of the forest where the fog started to clear up. As he was about to exit the foggy forest, a huge figure came into his view. It was too big for a normal human but too small for a giant.

Probably a Baboon- He thought.

As much as he would like to walk by nonchalantly without making eye contact, this baboon was already coming his way. There was no choice but to fight. Zoro drew out his sword and barely maintained balance. His injuries were still far from recovered and he was in no state to move, let alone fight. Regardless, he charged at the baboon hoping to take it down in one.

It was the first strike certain victory strategy.

"Found you."

The baboon said, blowing Zoro's thoughts out of his head. He had no idea that the baboons could talk. As Zoro stopped to ask what was going on, the baboon placed a hand on his shoulder and-

"I'm Sorry."

-apologised.

"huh?" Zoro's facial expression alone was enough to make it clear that he wasn't following the situation. He took a step back and created some space between him and the baboon before responding.

"Who are you?" Zoro pointed his sheathed Katana at the creature, "Why are you apologising?" and questioned.

"Roronoa Zoro..." The baboon muttered, then suddenly, upon realisation, a pained expression dawned on him. "...don't tell me, you don't know about the paramount war?"

"...paramount war...oh..AH!"

It finally hit him.

"You're the person that Hawk-eyes was talking about!" then he whispered, talking to himself."So he wasn't a baboon."

Appearances are so deceiving. But now that Zoro inspected him closer, he did have a few distinct human features.

"I'm Whitebeard Pirates, Third Division Commander, Diamond Jozu." Jozu replied, deciding to ignore minor details about a certain master swordsman, but did this puny swordsman not just call him a baboon? "I have come to deliver a message from your captain, followed by a message from Ace."

"From Luffy? Can't he come tell me himself?" Zoro felt his own voice waver and a bad feeling started to swirl around in his gut. "Was he involved in the war? ...What happened to Luffy?"

Diamond Jozu said nothing. He merely broke eye contact with Zoro and threw a newspaper on the ground.

Zoro slouched down and picked it up and only a few seconds later he dropped it. He fell on both knees and stared at the front page-at a photo of Luffy's bloodied body. His face was pale and blank.

"Roronoa..." Jozu walked away and sat on a nearby boulder. "It's not a joke. Your captain died saving our second division commander, I'm sorry. But, there's nothing we can do to change the past." It killed him to say it.

"Oh...yeah. Right."

Zoro's mind was off in a different place. Despite his response, he made no attempt to move. He knelt there completely rigid, his mind was unable to comprehend-no, it was refusing to comprehend the article before his eyes.

Jozu couldn't wholly understand how he felt.

He too had lost his captain in the war but all their lives had been saved because of his captain's sacrifice so he had half-accepted it.

But if the same thing happened to him, where his captain pulled some crazy stunt and was suddenly announced dead, he would probably react the same way. No, that's wrong. He would have broken down and gone on a rampage at the Marine Headquarters, slaughtering everybody.

In that respect, Roronoa Zoro was truly admirable.

He complexion didn't look too good, but at least he hadn't broken down. After all, he could even listen and speak. His mentality remained intact, albeit just barely

Grand Line, Namakura Island

When Brook's consciousness returned earlier, he was located in a cage. Surrounded by crowds of people and was the centre of attention. But it wasn't long before he heard cries of complaint and his vision went black as he was knocked out by a flying shoe.

And that was the best Brook could remember about this morning.

So once again, when his consciousness recovered to the level where it could be called functional, he was no longer in a cage but in the arms of a feminine male.

"May I ask who you are?" Brook asked, starting to feel embarrassed.

This man glanced from side to side and said. "Hm...I swear I heard someone. Are my ears playing tricks on me?"

"No, your ears are fine yohoho."

This time the man looked up towards the sky. "Is it...the birds?"

Brook tapped him on the chest, "Down here."

The man glanced down and found himself staring into a pair of eye sockets. Even though no one was staring at him, he could strangely feel a pair of eyes pinned on him.

"Um... I'm awake now so could you let me down?"

A brief, awkward silence.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He let out an ear-piercing scream and threw Brook, being the lightweight he was, high up into the air and jumped backwards.

Brook fell down on the ground face first and it triggered a few circuits in his brain. He remembered. The somewhat heavy and melancholic feeling that lingered when he woke up for the first time today, as if he were watching a bad dream.

"Um...are you okay?" The man asked, having calmed down from the shock.

"..."

Seeing as there was no reply from Brook, the man rushed to his side and hoped that the skeleton was okay. His face was buried deep into the soil and the rest of his body was dangling in the air. Any passerby would have thought that he died a very unfortunate death. But this man truly wondered if the skeleton was still alive.

The man gripped onto Brooks ankles and pulled him out of the ground and placed him down. "Sorry. I was a bit startled that you could talk as I thought you were dead but I didn't have any ill intentions when I threw you. I'm Izo, 16th Division commander of the Whitebeard Pirat-"

"UWAHHHHH!"

Izo was interrupted by a loud cry and found himself face to face with a skeleton bawling his eyes out. He had big blobs of tears dripping from his eye...sockets and his face was dirtied with soil. He resembled a small child in tears after falling over. But clearly, this was not the case.

So Izo asked, like any other humane person would do in this situation, "Are you okay?"

"Ah..ah right sorry," Brook hiccupped, as he wiped away his tears and snot. "I just remembered a bad dream."

"If it makes you feel better would you like to talk about it?" said Izo

"You're a nice person aren't you? Thank you very much, um...Izo-san was it?"

That surprised Izo a bit. So the skeleton was listening to him earlier.

"Well, if you don't know, I'm a pirate. Like you." Brook started. "I was separated from my crew when we came across some strong enemies at Sabaody Archipelago."

Izo simply nodded and crossed his arms. He enjoyed long, sentimental stories such as this. But something about the story irked him. Why do I feel like I've heard something similar...he wondered.

"I really love my crew, especially the captain. But in my dream, my captain died." Tears started re-appearing. "My captain is as bright as the sun so when I think about that sun disappearing..." he slowly trailed off, unable to hold back the tears.

Izo felt a pang in his chest. It throbbed. It hurt.

"But a bad dream is better than a bad reality!" Brook shouted as he raised his fist in the air. "I need to hurry back to Sabaody Archipelago and continue my adventures with Luffy-san yohohoho!"

"Eh." Izo's eyes widened. "Luffy?"

Brook laughed cheerily. "Ah sorry, Luffy-san is my captain yohoho. Have you heard of him? Straw-hat Luffy. He is the man who is going to become pirate king! Yohohoho. And I, Brook, am the Musi-"

Before he could finish, Izo had thrown his pistol on the ground with such a violent force, Brook nearly pissed his pants.

"Izo-san? What are you doing?" Brook said in surprise and gave the pistol a look of pity.

"This is what they call venting." Izo said dimly. "I'm suppressing my anger by taking it out on an inanimate object."

"I see. Um...Did I say something that offended you?"

Izo sighed "No, don't worry. You did nothing wrong. I'm just angry at myself for being so stupid! How did I not figure it out? I should have realised it when you talked about 'Sabaody Archipelago'." he sputtered angrily and continued to quell his anger by smashing his fist against a tree.

Brook was reluctant to speak to him. He was taught first hand, by a certain violent navigator, that it's never a good idea to bother someone when they're raging. Telling skull jokes was not an exception.

"Hey." Izo called out and sharply turned his head towards Brook.

"y-yes?"

"Would you believe me if I told you that your bad dream...became reality?"

Grandline, Boyn Island

"Don't get in my way!" Usopp shouted, shooting at the gigantic bugs and vicious man eating plants which tried to prey on him.

"Usopp'n! Don't go that way!" Heracles warned Usopp while he was chasing him but Usopp paid no heed to his advice.

"Sure Kill Gunpowder Star!"

Usopp's attack continued to hit with precision and each and every single plant burned down in flames. But that was not the end. One after the other, the carnivorous plants flew towards Usopp from various directions.

Even though Usopp had enough ammo and his skills as a sharpshooter were top class, he lacked the speed and composure to hit every single plant and avoid suffering any damage.

Maybe. Just maybe, if his concentration was raised to the max, he could destroy them all and only suffer a scratch or two. But unfortunately, Usopp had an immense, bulging body that held him down more than anything.

"Careful!"

Heracles saved him. He tackled Usopp, with full power, at the waist to fling him away. The plants dove into the ground, biting handfuls of dirt instead of living flesh.

But that was not the end of the danger yet.

A plant, twice the size of the previous one, hovered over the fallen Usopp and Heracles, baring its fangs, planning on devouring the two humans whole.

Heracles screamed.

...

It happened too fast, faster than the eye could perceive. A blade cut through the air, pierced the plant and sent it flying a few metres away. Heracles stared in shock. He wondered what kind of arm strength was need to force a saber to move that fast.

Heracles thanked their saviour in his heart and helped Usopp stand up. He realised that Usopp's tears were still running down his face from his grief-stricken eyes .

Why? He wondered, his behaviour changed the second he read the newspaper...for the worse.

"I've got to go." Usopp muttered, but was stopped in his tracks when there was a rustle in the bush.

"Whitebeard Pirates, 12th Division Commander, Haruta."

Introducing himself, he walked out from behind the tree, and gazed upon Usopp.

Heracles immediately realised that it must have been him who threw that saber. For a male as short and skinny as him, he could bring about ridiculous power. Then, Heracles noticed, the tension in the air when the two exchanged glances.

"Whitebeard..." Usopp mused. "Do you know where Luff-"

"Around a week and a half ago, a war took place between one of the four emperors, Whitebeard, and the entire marine force. Our second division commander, Portgas D. Ace's execution served as the catalyst that started the war." Haruta said.

"Y-you,"

"The biggest forces of the war were Whitebeard and his several commanders, the three admirals, Fleet general and the Shichibukai. However, another uncanny group joined the fray. It was the group lead by Monkey D. Luffy, Ace's little brother. Many big shot names were among his group, such as Revolutionary Ivankov, former Shichibukai Crocodile and Sea Knight Jinbei."

"...What,are."

"Ace was nearly beheaded twice because Oyaj-I mean Whitebeard, had been severely injured and many of the commander had been taken out. Crocodile stopped the execution the first time for personal reasons and the second time it was stopped by Ace's little brother. After that, Whitebeard ordered us all to back up Monkey D. Luffy."

"What are you saying-"

Haruta continued sadly, even after noticing Usopp twitch at the mention of his captain's name.

"Ace's brother broke through the marine force with the help of others and had nearly made it all the way to the scaffold. With much difficulty, Straw-hat Luffy made it to Ace and unlocked the Sea-stone cuffs restricting Ace's power. Once he was free, Ace and Straw-hat Luffy fought together in sync, making their way back."

"What are you saying-"

"With Ace freed, every pirate started to retreat. But the marines did not give up pursuit. Especially Akainu, who vowed to kill both Ace and his brother. Whitebeard decided to stay behind to hold them back, which was essentially meant that he was sacrificing his own life for us. Akainu called Whitebeard a coward and provoked Ace, causing him to stop running. The two fought, but Akainu's magma easily burnt through Ace's fire. Akainu used this chance to attack Ace but Straw-hat Luffy protected Ace and was pierced through the body by Akainu's attack."

"-I sai..."

"Straw hat Luffy passed on a message for you guys to Ace and then die-"

"What are you saying!" Usopp finally exploded. "Luffy's dead? Stop Joking around! There's no way he would die! There's no way Luffy would leave us! I don't want to hear about his death. He's alive! Because...because... Luffy-Luffy! IS GOING TO BECOME PIRATE KING!" with his shaking voice, he screamed in pain.

"I'm telling you, Monkey D. Luffy is-"

Before Haruta could finish, Usopp's body had already moved. His mentality was on the line dividing sanity and insanity apart. Slightly leaning towards the latter though. He stepped forward with his fist balled. As he was about to continue running towards Haruta, a blow hammered the left of his head.

It was a coconut.

At the end of his vision was the sight of Heracles in throwing form.

He didn't want to hear. He didn't want to see. He didn't want it to be true.

Just let me sleep already- Usopp cried internally. Before his eyelids shut completely, he felt like he caught a glimpse of Luffy's straw hat, but it might just have been his imagination.

xxxxx

"Thanks." Haruta thanked Heracles, who was staring at his own hand, pondering over his actions.

He sat down next to Usopp and wiped away his tears with his sleeve. He buried his face between his legs before he sobbed. "We both followed such selfish captains huh."

A/N: how was it? the other four reactions will be on the nxt chapter cause all eight would make this chapter too long.

pls review :D