Work Text:
Ever since Luffy heard Ace was going to be executed, he hasn't been able to breathe properly. Every breath has felt tight and painful, but he pushed through it- he pushed through each level of Impel Down, he pushed through the agony of Magellan's poison, he pushed through their escape. He pushed through to Marineford and he kept pushing, refusing to give up on his brother no matter how many times Ace screams at him to stop.
Really, Ace is so stupid. They might have separate journeys, but Luffy will never let Ace be killed like this. He doesn't care if Ace hates him for it, for interfering- but better to have an alive brother that hates him, rather than another brother that's dead.
So Luffy keeps fighting and fighting. With help from his friends and from Ace's banana-stache pops and his crew, he's able to make it to Ace and free him, Ace exploding into a whirlwind of fire and light and laughter, so happy and it's so good, Ace is supposed to be happy and free.
"You never know when to quit, do you, Luffy?!" Ace shouts with a kind of helpless joy that has Luffy grinning at him.
"Never!" He shouts back as Ace clears a path through the marines for them and they run, footsteps pounding together in rhythm. They just need to make it out, they just need to get to this ships and they'll be free, Ace will be saved-
But-
All it takes is one man opening his mouth and Ace is skidding to a stop, snarling at the insult to his pops. Fire flickering brightly, Luffy can't breathe again, they just need to leave but Ace is facing the admiral and not running why isn't he running, Ace, please, we need to go-!
But-
Ace wouldn't be Ace if he didn't protect the few beloved things he has in this world. Luffy is choking on his terror as the admiral bears down on them, fist dripping with burning lava and
And Luffy-
(Knows how this will go.)
Luffy-
(Ace won't let him get hurt.)
Luffy can't breathe-
(Ace will protect him, because that's what his big brother does.)
He-
(Ace will protect him and Ace will die.)
He reaches-
(Luffy will be alone again, he can't be alone, he can't lose his other brother, he can't, he can't, he can't can't can't can't-)
Luffy reaches and he-
(I won't let you die!)
And he grabs-
(I WON'T LET YOU DIE!)
He grabs and he pulls-
(YOU'RE MY PRECIOUS OLDER BROTHER!)
He pulls.
(ACE! I WON'T LET YOU DIE!)
Ace is whipped to the side, a cry of terror bursting from him, but all Luffy has eyes for is the admiral's sneer, his fist crashing down onto Luffy (and not Ace, not Ace, not Ace-) and slamming him into the ground.
It burns. Luffy screams as his chest caves in, as his insides boil alive, as the fist burns through rubber skin and rubber bones and rubber muscles alike, tearing him apart in crashing waves of blinding pain that flicker through him as he screams and screams and screams.
"Tch." The admiral pulls his fist free from Luffy's chest, the hissing of vaporized blood steaming upward as Luffy spasms and claws his hands into the shattered earth beneath him. "The son of Dragon will die first, then."
"LUFFY!" Ace howls like a dying man, his voice raw and cracking as he falls to his knees next to Luffy, untouched, unhurt, alive, and Luffy grins at him so wide and happy because Ace would have died and Luffy changed that. "No, Luffy, PLEASE, NO- MARCO!" Ace screams desperately and Luffy can see the admiral being pushed backwards by Jinbe and Crocodile, but his eyes are on Ace.
"A… Ace-" Luffy chokes out, the strength leaving his body as he reaches for Ace's face. "Y-you're okay…"
"Why did you do that, Luffy-" Ace sobs, tears running down his cheeks as he grabs Luffy's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Why, I never wanted you to die for me, I never wanted anyone to die for me-"
"Stupid," Luffy tells him with a laugh, a soft shishishi. "That's not… your choice. It's mine."
"No, no, you're going to be okay, I promise, little brother- I promise, okay? Just- Just hold on, just- anyone- please- Marco please, you can heal him, right?! Please, he's my little brother, I'll do anything, take whatever you need from my body and give it to him, just don't let him die, please-"
"Ace," Luffy murmurs, the words more like a sigh. "I'm so glad… that you're my brother." His vision is blurring. "Ah…" His gaze flickers up towards the sky, at the bright sun overhead, at the beautiful blue stretching on endlessly. "Guess… guess this is the end of my journey… tell… tell my crew sorry for me, okay…? And… thanks…"
"Luffy- Luffy, no, no, no no no no keep your eyes open, you can tell them yourself, you idiot- come on, Luffy, you're the most stubborn brat I know, just keep your eyes open little brother, please, pl-"
A soft exhale.
Then, nothing.
Thump.
Thump.
Tha-thump.
Tha-thump-da-dum.
Da-dum. Da-dum-da-
Pounding like drums. He jerks, inhales, bounces on the exhale. His chest is hammering, no, wait, that's his heart- his body twitches, pulled one way, pulled the other. He arches, leaping up, slamming down and the earth catches him in a soft, bouncy cradle.
He's weightless.
He can't really remember- what was he doing? His chest is spasming, it feels weird, but…
Good.
It feels good.
Power is surging through him, lifting him up. He staggers, falls to the side, twists back up and staggers the other way. Back and forth he goes like a metronome, confusion turning over in his mind.
"Ah…" He stumbles, finally catching himself. "I thought… how am I still…?"
Voices are distant and clashing together in discordant noise, but none of them are important. None of them call to him like the pounding of his own heart, which- he presses a hand to his chest.
"Feels weird…! Shishishi-" He falls back and bounces, laughing and giggling, kicking his feet and rolling back and forth, clutching at his stomach.
"But this is exciting..!" Power surges around him, carrying him upward as it rushes in his veins, through his blood as he laughs and laughs, glee and delight the only thing that matters as the wind tousles his hair, so light and effortless as he lands and bounces from foot to foot.
He wants to run, so he runs. He wants to jump, so he leaps upward, scrambling through the air as he hollers his unending joy for all to hear, feet catching and bouncing on nothing to propel him higher and higher until he's flipping backwards, falling and clapping in delight. The ground catches him as naturally as breathing, bouncing him and sending him upwards again so he can flip once more, landing on his feet as the earth below wobbles and wobbles.
It's sitting atop the Thousand Sunny's figurehead. The spray of salt water and sea air in his face. It's the call of the horizon. It's the wind in the sails. His heart pounds and pounds and pounds, a beat in his chest that's wild and out of tempo with the world, pulling him up to his feet.
It's breaking away from the world's rules.
He's free.
"L-Luffy…?"
Right. He's Luffy. He's Luffy. Luffy twists upwards, his limbs spiraling around and stretching out, snapping back into place as he finds his footing. He twists, plants his feet and jumps, unable to stay still as he flips and twists over his brother.
His brother!
"Ace!" Luffy crows with delight, bouncing and flipping over him again so they're face to face as the ground wiggles beneath him. "Ace, I saved you! You're alive!"
Ace looks terrified, reaching out for him, but Luffy can only laugh, grabbing his hand and pulling him in, twisting him around and around and around until he's wrapped up in Luffy's arm in a tight hug.
"You're alive!" Luffy repeats and yanks, pulling his arm back and sending Ace spinning like a top, a blurry tornado that comes to a stop with Ace wobbling, stars spinning in a circle around his head. Luffy giggles, laughs, bounds after him and catches him by the wrist, so happy because he did it, he saved Ace, he did it!
"Luffy, how are you- what-" Ace chokes out, but Luffy only laughs and flops backwards, the earth catching him and bouncing him back up to his feet. He's all over the place, he's burning as bright as the sun, he's so full of joy that surges over him like waves crashing on the shore.
"Who knows?!" Luffy tell him, throwing his head back and rolling over himself, beaming with delight as he dives forward and grabs Ace by the ankles.
"Wh- LUFFY-?!"
Ace is so silly. Getting into fights when he should be running, refusing to accept help- well Luffy knows where Ace belongs and it certainly isn't here!
"Okay, Ace- here we go!" Luffy jumps up and twists his legs together, around and around as Ace flails. All he has to do is lift Ace up and unwind, spinning around and around as Ace is whipped in a circle, his cheeks flapping and eyes popping out of his head as Luffy speeds up and then lets go, launching Ace towards his pop's ship.
Ace screams in alarm as Luffy bounces up, a hand held up to shade his eyes from the sun as he watches his brother go flying- and yes, Ace collides with the sail of the ship. Instead of breaking, it stretches and absorbs the blow, and Ace falls ungracefully to the deck below.
"Ahahaha- hahahaha-!!" Luffy falls over, cackling, one hand over his eyes. Everything is so bright and he's just so happy, but he's leaving pieces of himself behind whenever he moves. It takes the rest of him a moment to catch up and that's funny, he can feel how his mouth slides back into place and his hair leaves white streams through the air and his eyes snap back into his skull- it's so weird, he can't stop laughing about it.
"FORGET FIRE FIST!" The marine seagull-guy who was at the scaffold with Ace is screaming, pinning gramps down in a crater as gramps struggles, and something about it draws Luffy's attention. "KILL STRAWHAT LUFFY! NOW!"
"Ehhhhhhhhhh?" Luffy bounces as all the marines around him rush forward. "But we're having so much fun!"
He giggles because how silly is it that the marines tried to execute Ace and now they're just going to completely ignore him? For Luffy?
What a riot! He's not going to let them kill him or Ace, but as he digs his fingers into the ground and pulls he's glad that he doesn't actually have to worry about Ace anymore since Ace is on his pops' ship and safe. No, now he gets to play, bouncing the ground and sending it rippling to throw marines every which way, laughing as he twists about and curls out of the way of one of the admirals launching a beam of light his direction.
"Actually…!"
Luffy leaps and bounds through the air, flipping to the side to dodge the second bolt of light, snatching the third out of the air and ducking under the fourth. It sizzles in his hand like lightning and he laughs with delight, entertained by the horrified and alarmed faces around him.
"Here, you can have this back!" He crows and hurls the light back in the admiral's direction. It streaks through the air, fast enough that it's almost invisible, and punches a hole through the man's shoulder. "Aw, that was supposed to hit your heart!" Luffy complains, falling to the ground on his ass and bouncing.
"Whew… that was close," The admiral exclaims, drawling and surprised as he raises a hand to touch his shoulder. "I barely even saw it approaching…"
He's so free! He can twist and leap through the marines around him, laughing and crashing into them as he pleases. Ace is safe on the ship so there's nothing to stop Luffy-
Anything he wants to do, he can. He can snatch men up and tie them in a bow or send them spinning to the skies, he can flip and send them tumbling by bouncing the ground and anything at all, he can do it!
"LUFFY, WATCH OUT!" Ace screams from the ship and Luffy perks up, twisting around as he looks and-
"Oops!" Luffy flips up, scampering backwards as a rush of lava pours his way, scrambling to outrun the burning molten rock. It touches the edge of his sandal and the heat sizzles, making Luffy spring into the air with a laugh as he twists and bounces higher, reaching up and up and up.
He can do anything.
The sky beckons him and he reaches up and sinks his fingers into that open, wide, endless blue. It comes to him easily, like cloth, like breathing, like rope in his hands to hoist the sails and he twists and brings it
down,
down,
down.
It pours through his fingers, blue as the ocean, blue as water and just as wet as he dumps it all over the magma admiral's head. Steam rises up where it runs over the magma on the ground and Luffy cackles. The stupid admiral looks like a drowned rat, skinny and wet with his cigar put out and his jacket all limp and Luffy falls to the earth once more, slapping the ground as he laughs wildly at the sight of a marine admiral so completely drenched and pathetic.
"LUFFY!" Ace is hollering his name desperately and Luffy flips onto his hands, looking at Ace.
Wait, how'd Ace get upside-down? Luffy cocks his head to the side and then realizes that it's not Ace that's upside-down, Luffy is! He giggles, flipping forward and twisting again to be right-side-up once more.
"COME ON! WE HAVE TO GO!" Ace screams, making desperate 'come here' motions.
"Fine." Seagull-marine-guy's voice sounds all funny, furious and deep as he strips his jacket off and throws it aside. Gramps is still lying down, laughing hard enough to have tears in his eyes, but seagull-marine-guy seems to have forgotten that gramps is even there. "I'll do it myself."
Should Luffy stay and see what it is? He's not sure, bouncing a couple times in place, but then Ace screams his name again.
Oh. Of course he should go to Ace, duh! Ace is his brother!
Luffy bounces once, bounces twice, and when he comes down for the third bounce he drops all the way into a crouch and leaps towards Ace, laughing his head off.
"STRAW HAT!"
"EHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Luffy shrieks, eyes popping out of his head at the sight of a MASSIVE golden palm rumbling through the air in his direction as if he were no more than a fly to be swatted. He tumbles over himself, pinwheeling as he races through the air.
The shadow of seagull-marine-guy's palm overtakes him and slams into his back, ping-ponging him into the ground. The ground bounces him up and into the massive palm, up and down and up and down as the palm gets closer and closer to the earth- and right as it's about to crush Luffy, he shoots out from under it, his sandals just barely getting caught and spinning through the air.
"Whoops!" Luffy's arms shoot back and snatch them up as he launches himself forward again, towards where Ace is holding his arms out to him, and he collides with Ace and laughs, grabbing Ace's cheeks and tugging on them.
"Ace!" He cheers. "We did it! You're alive! You're alive!" Ace's cheeks stretch out under his touch as if he were rubber like Luffy and that's so funny that Luffy can't help but laugh, letting go of his big brother and falling to the deck of the ship, hooting wildly with laughter.
"What the hell," someone breathes.
"Luffy- Luffy-!" Ace grabs him by the shoulders, yanking him up to his feet, and there's something like fear in his eyes and that's not right, Ace should be smiling, should be laughing, so Luffy grabs the corners of Ace's mouth and pulls them upwards into a goofy grin. "Luffy- how are you alive?!"
"Eh?" That makes Luffy pause, tipping his head to the side. "Why wouldn't I be alive?"
"You died! I watched you die! There's still a hole in your chest, Luffy!" Ace shouts, tears in his eyes.
"A hole?" Luffy looks down. "Oh, there is a hole! I didn't even notice, shishishi." He grabs the edges of it, giggling to himself as he tugs at it, looking at the way his skin stretches and pulls open wide. He can see his heart, pounding and jumping away in a rolling beat.
Someone behind him gags.
"That's not right, though…" Luffy lets go of his skin, letting it snap back into place around the circular hole, and sticks his tongue out through his teeth in concentration as he reaches into the gap and starts finding things that aren't connected to anything and connecting them to other things, tying them together in bows and giggling. When he's pretty sure he got everything, he grabs the edges of the hole and pulls them together to seal it up.
"There we go! All better!" He says with a bright laugh, looking at at Ace, who looks like he's going to be sick.
"Luffy… what… what's happened to you?" Ace chokes out, face pale.
Tucking his hands behind his head, Luffy shrugs and drops down, bouncing off the deck of the ship and back up to his feet, doing it again and again as he talks. "Dunno! Does it matter, though? I feel great!"
Ace grabs him and yanks him into a hug, squishing him tight. "Luffy- please," he whispers, "come- come back from- from whatever this is."
Luffy presses his face into Ace's shoulder, giggling softly. "Okay… I am pretty tired…"
"Yeah, I bet. Just… let's just… sit down, okay?" Even though Luffy wants to move, wants to bounce and laugh and play, he lets Ace guide them down into kneeling on the wooden deck. His energy is draining away, the restlessness under his skin starting to calm.
"There you go." Ace cups the back of Luffy's head. With Ace's cheek pressed to his temple, Luffy can feel the faint tremor of Ace's lower lip as it brushes against the top of his ear. "It's… it's okay. I'm here, Luffy. You can- you can rest."
"Mmm…" Luffy nuzzles a little closer into Ace's shoulder, his eyelids starting to droop. "Okay… just… promise me you won't die, okay…?"
Ace's voice sounds thick as he whispers, "okay. I- I promise. You have to do the same though, so just… stay with me, Luffy. Okay? Can you do that for me, little brother?"
"...yeah…"
Blue fire washes over Luffy's skin as he closes his eyes and the words around him start to take on a blurry edge. As he starts to sink into the darkness, he can hear a voice cut through all of the rest.
"Give him to me! I'm a doctor!"
Ace sweeps Luffy up into his arms and Luffy smiles, content and safe in the knowledge that his big brother is free again.