Undying Flame: A One Piece What If Story

CHAPTER 2: VOYAGE INTO DAWN

As I opened my eyes, I found myself in a large, fluffy couch. Looking around, Luffy was on a hospital-like bed, his vitals on a monitor, the needles still in his arm. I swung my legs off the couch, the door opening with a creak. There stood the polar bear Mink, Bepo. He looked at me, screamed, and fumbled what was in his hands. Falling to the ground, a metallic cylinder rolled to me, which I stopped with my foot. I picked it up, standing up. "What's this?" I asked, staring at the bear.

"F-Fire F-Fist..." he stuttered, raising his hands. Then, he swallowed, continuing. "I-It's a message Marco the Phoenix dropped off once we resurfaced."

"Marco was here?!" I asked, feeling my heart race. "So he got out of Marineford all right!?"

Bepo nodded, seemingly losing his nervous nature. "Early reports say that no Whitebeard Pirates died after Whitebeards declaration."

"What happened after the Den Den cut off?" I asked, walking closer to Bepo, clutching the tube.

"According to first hand accounts, after Whitebeard declared this age was over, he shattered the island, causing sections to sink." Bepo said, seemingly having a perfect memory of the paper. "Then, apparently Blackbeard Teach showed up, but was fought off. He's lost his Warlord status and is getting hunted by Marines."

"The bastard showed up after we left?!" I screamed, clenching the tube as tightly as I could.

"There's more." Bepo said, drawing my attention. "I said the Whitebeard pirates retreated and didn't lose a single life after Whitebeard's declaration. The Marines, however, didn't just stop attacking. Admiral Akainu kept attacking, and tried to kill a soldier who stood up to him. Before he killed him, Red Haired Shanks showed up and singlehandedly stopped the war."

"And this was dropped off after all of this?" I asked, shaking the tube, a rattling coming from the inside. "How'd the Pineapple Head find the submarine?"

"Who knows, we've been docked at an unknown island while Jinbe swam to the island of Boa Hancock to talk to her about allowing entry of our crew."

"How long have we been docked?" I asked, starting to mess with the tube.

Bepo took this as his cue to leave, stating "2 days. Seems like you were pretty exhausted yourself."

I exhaled, opening the canister. Unrolling the papers which, on one, Marcos trademark handwriting was scribbled across the page, reading:

Hey there, Ace. I'm writing this once Red Hair showed up. Thought I'd tell ya some stuff the newspapers won't know. Pops is gone. Took most of Marineford with him, sunk over half of it. Shanks said he'll deal with Pop's burial. I suggested a small island Pops loved to go to, since it was around his birthplace. There's a map to it included.

Another thing, we aren't leaving that traitor Teach to the Marines. They'll just arrest him, and that's if they win. We're going after them and once we get Teach in our grasp, we're gonna give him hell. I won't tell you where we think he is. You need to go on your own path. Take this age with your brother and make it your own.

I don't give a damn about your lineage. You were Pop's son, and our brother. This ain't goodbye, I'll see you soon.

I felt myself tear up, but wiped them away. Then, I heard a noise from Luffys bed. Looking over, he was still asleep, but was mumbling.

"M-M.." he started, then screamed the rest. "MEATTTTT! I NEED MEATTTTTTT!" I jumped, then smiled as footsteps came running down the hall. Both Law and Bepo stood there, looking concerned.

"Meat." I said, repeating Luffys word. "He needs meat." I felt myself smiling as Law motioned and Bepo ran down the hall.

"We need meat!" Bepo screamed, his voice fading and echoing down the hall.