As I said before at every 5 membership I will drop bonus chapter. It does not matter if it is free or not.
Discount code for patreon: 717FA
Want to read 10+ chapters ahead? Support me on Patreon! And here by donating powerstone
for every 50 power stone I will drop a bonus chapter.
https://www.patreon.com/c/kapa69
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For a heart-stopping moment, the entire war seemed to hold its breath. The arrival of the falling warship was so bizarre, so utterly outside the realm of strategic possibility, that it had short-circuited the brains of pirates and Marines alike. All eyes were fixed on the collection of misfits who had just crash-landed into the world's biggest conflict.
And then, all eyes fell on the boy in the straw hat.
On the execution platform, Ace's newly forged, ice-cold resolve shattered into a million pieces. The sight of his little brother, the one person he had crossed the Grand Line and risked everything to keep safe, standing in the heart of this meat grinder, was a deeper wound than any blade could inflict. The two souls within him reacted with perfect, horrified synchronicity. Ace's heart screamed with a panicked, protective love. Luffy! What are you doing here?! You idiot, you have to run! Kenji's mind, the cynical, meta-aware observer, went into a full-blown system meltdown. No, no, no! This is the single stupidest, most reckless, most suicidally moronic… and most Luffy thing he could have possibly done. My plans! My cautious, theoretical, desperate plans to maybe survive this just went out the window and were replaced by a screaming rubber idiot!
He was so overwhelmed by the sheer, brain-breaking stupidity of it all that he couldn't even speak. He could only stare, his mouth agape, as a torrent of conflicting emotions—rage at Luffy's recklessness, terror for his safety, and a deeply buried, undeniable surge of hope—warred within him.
The reaction from the rest of the world's most powerful figures was no less profound.
"STRAW HAT LUFFY!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku bellowed, his face a mask of disbelief and fury. "How in the world did you get here?! And with those criminals!" He pointed a trembling finger at the figures arrayed behind Luffy: Jinbe, Crocodile, Ivankov. It was a gallery of Impel Down's most infamous escapees. "Is the world's greatest prison a complete joke?!"
At his side, Vice-Admiral Garp looked like he had aged twenty years in twenty seconds. His face, usually a mask of jovial confidence or stern authority, had crumbled into an expression of pure, unadulterated agony. His hands were clenched into fists so tight they trembled. His biological grandson, the son of the world's most wanted man, had just appeared to rescue his adoptive grandson, the son of the Pirate King. Both of them, his boys, were now standing in the center of a battlefield where he was supposed to represent the side of justice. It was a personal and professional hell made manifest. He didn't say a word, but a low, animalistic groan of despair escaped his lips.
On the Moby Dick, Whitebeard leaned forward, resting his chin on his fist. He looked at the small figure in the straw hat, a glint of curiosity in his eyes. "So, that's the rookie brat Red-Hair was so fond of," he rumbled. "Ace's little brother, eh? He's got some nerve, I'll give him that. Gurararara..."
Even the Warlords were stirred from their relative apathy. Doflamingo's grin widened. "Fufufu! This is getting better and better! What a show!" Mihawk's hawk-like eyes narrowed, a flicker of recognition in them. He remembered a boy in a straw hat in the East Blue, a boy who had declared his ambition with the conviction of a king. To see him here, now... it was an interesting development.
Luffy, for his part, ignored all of them. He ignored the Fleet Admiral, the Warlords, and the Yonko. His gaze shot across the entire expanse of the plaza, over the heads of ten thousand soldiers, past the giants and the vice-admirals, and locked directly onto the one person he had come to save.
His voice, filled with a power that had nothing to do with Haki and everything to do with pure, unshakeable conviction, ripped through the air.
"ACEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
It was a cry that came from the depths of his soul, a sound of desperation and determination. He took a deep breath, his small chest heaving.
"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE MAD! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY! I'M YOUR BROTHER, AND I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU!"
The declaration was so simple, so childish, and so utterly sincere that it hung in the air, a stark contrast to the complex politics and ancient grudges that fueled the war. For a moment, there was only the bond between two brothers, laid bare for the entire world to see.
The spell was broken by a Marine captain. "He's just a rookie with a 300 million bounty! Don't be intimidated! Fire!"
A cannon on the wall swiveled and fired directly at the wrecked battleship. Before the cannonball could find its mark, a massive figure moved.
"I will not allow you to lay a hand on Ace's brother!" Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea, declared. He took a stance, his webbed hands held forward. "Fish-Man Karate: Arabesque Brick Fist!"
He punched the air, and the water vapor in the atmosphere responded, sending a shockwave that struck the cannonball in mid-flight, causing it to detonate harmlessly.
"Straw-boy is the light of hope for the revolutionaries!" Emporio Ivankov shrieked, winking dramatically. "Death Wink!" A blast of pressurized air shot from his eyes, striking the fortress wall and blowing a chunk of it to smithereens.
Luffy's body steamed. "Gear Second."
He vanished. In a blur of red and white, he shot from the deck of the ship, landing in the icy water of the bay. He didn't sink. He ran, his feet pumping so fast he was practically skipping across the surface. He was heading for the nearest solid ground, a patch of plaza not yet slick with blood.
A Pacifista, one of the Kuma-clones that had been wreaking havoc, turned its head, its sensors locking onto the new, high-speed target. It opened its mouth, a yellow light beginning to glow.
It never got the chance to fire.
Luffy appeared directly in front of it. "Gomu Gomu no... Jet Pistol!"
His fist, moving faster than the naked eye could track, slammed into the cyborg's face. The force of the impact, amplified by Gear Second, was immense. The Pacifista's head, made of steel harder than a battleship's hull, caved in with a sickening crunch of metal. The multi-million-Belli weapon stumbled backward, sparks flying from its neck, before collapsing into a heap, deactivated with a single blow.
Another wave of stunned silence. The pirates who had been struggling against the cyborgs stared in disbelief. A single pirate, a rookie no less, had just destroyed one with one punch.
Ace watched, his terror now mixed with a dumbfounded sense of awe. When... when did he get so strong? The Luffy he remembered was a tough, scrappy kid. This was different. This was genuine power.
Kenji's mind was recalibrating at lightning speed. Okay. Plan C. No, Plan Z. The original timeline is officially screwed. Luffy's arrival changes everything. It adds a chaotic, unpredictable element that Sengoku can't account for. The Marines' attention is now split. This is my chance. I need to use this chaos. He's drawing the enemy's fire, creating a path. But it's a path straight through hell.
Luffy, now on the plaza, started charging forward, his bizarre crew of escapees right behind him. The Whitebeard Pirates, seeing this, were momentarily confused. Who was this kid, and why were they fighting so hard for Ace?
Whitebeard provided the answer. He raised his bisento, pointing it towards the charging straw-hatted figure.
"ALL MEN!" he bellowed, his voice leaving no room for argument. "THAT BOY IS ACE'S BROTHER! ANYONE WHO LENDS HIM A HAND IS LENDING ME ONE! WE WILL PROTECT HIM WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE! SUPPORT STRAW HAT LUFFY!"
The order was absolute. A roar of understanding and acceptance went up from the pirate ranks. The commanders immediately began to move, shifting their formations not just to attack the Marines, but to clear a path for their captain's reckless little brother. The Maelstrom had officially been adopted into the Tsunami.
Luffy, now with the implicit backing of a Yonko crew, was an even greater threat. He blasted through the first lines of Marine infantry, a rubber typhoon of fists and feet. He was a force of pure momentum, his eyes never leaving his goal.
But Marineford was not defended by infantry alone. As Luffy charged past the fallen body of Oars Jr., a shadow fell over him.
Dracule Mihawk had moved from his position, appearing directly in Luffy's path. He held the legendary black blade Yoru in one hand, its tip resting lightly on the stone. His hawk-like eyes were fixed on Luffy, cold and appraising.
"I do not recall promising to help you, Red-Hair," Mihawk said, his voice calm and quiet, yet cutting through the noise of battle. He looked at Luffy. "Fate seems to be playing a curious hand. Let us see if your luck will protect you this time, son of Dragon."
He raised his sword. Not for a grand, flying slash, but for a simple, direct confrontation.
"Your journey, for now," Mihawk declared, his voice a final judgment, "ends here."