Strength (One Piece fanfiction)

Ch 66

I stayed back, giving Ace plenty space to mourn his lost father. The remnants of the Whitebeard pirates welcomed me with open arms, and I joined them in their grand celebration of life. Marco told me that Shanks had also stopped by with his crew. They were the reason Whitebeard was able to be buried here, in the New World.

Marco told me that they planned on confronting Blackbeard. I didn't like it, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stop Ace from joining them. I may have given him life, but it's his to do what he wants with it.

"Hana! Ace!" Marco called for me. He was holding onto a newspaper, and he held it out when I neared him. "Your brother did something crazy again."

Ace grabbed it first, "what the hell is this? A memorial service?"

I grabbed it, my eyes were instantly drawn to Luffy on the front cover. My eyes widened when I realized where he was. "He went back?!" I looked closer, it certainly did look like he was paying respects to the fallen Ace. But he knew Ace was alive, there must be another reason for this.

I scanned through the picture, but Ace is the one that brought it up. "That kinda looks like my tattoo," he mused.

"Oh, you're right. '3D, 2Y'? But the 3D is crossed out." I started laughing, "okay, I KNOW Luffy didn't think of this. It must be Rayleigh."

"What do you mean?"

"It looks like the Strawhat pirates will be taking a little break," I smiled sadly. I wanted to see them. But I understood his intentions. "I'll do it too, Luffy!"

....

I finally made it back to Baltigo. Ace stayed back like I thought he would. But once we got further away, we realized that we still shared the Realm. I could still see him, and we could still share our energies from this distance.

It was a little weird at first, since the sharing of energy like this was usually done with my partners. But over the course of my week long travel by myself, I realized that it was different. The connection between my partners and I are strong, because our hearts, our bodies, had touched. That will fade over time.

But with Ace, it was a bond that will never fade. It's a bond I could always count on. It's a bond that will never have to rely on lust or attraction. It's a bond made only with love. It was comforting, like how I imagine a family bond would be.

I smiled, I don't need to imagine it. He's my brother, this is a family bond.

The ship docked on Baltigo's shores. When I was flying, I recognized the Revolutionary Army's flag on the ship and immediately jumped at the chance to board. They recognized my wings, and somehow knew that the government was aware of my return. A quick call to Dragon, and I was welcomed on the ship. A huge relief, really. I was basically running on luck, resting on random ships and islands that I spotted.

My eyes widened when I saw a familiar face waiting for me on the docks. "Robin!!!" I launched myself at her, "I'm so happy to see you!"

"I feel the same! Dragon told me you were coming. Looks like we'll be together the next two years," she smiled happily.

"I'll be in your care!"

We made our way to Dragons office. "How are you, Hana? I was relieved to hear you were with Luffy. I'm glad you two didn't grieve alone."

"Actually, Robin..." I knew Robin was naturally tight-lipped, and I'm sure Luffy will tell the crew. But I paused outside of Dragons office when I heard talking.

"I have to get the mera-mera fruit, no matter the cost!" I heard a voice say. My anger spiked as the stranger already planned to take Ace's devil fruit. He wasn't dead anymore, but speak a little more lightly of the supposed dead!