Happy Birthday........ACE

#8

Meanwhile, Sanji's head perked up at the familiar name. Even though Luffy didn't clearly say if it was his two-year mentor, but Sanji had spent enough time with the rubber idiot to translate his language into actual words.

But, he was also taken aback by Luffy admitting that he had gone past his limit. Usually, the teenager wouldn't say those kind of stuff without a fight. But if what had happened made Luffy admit it so easily...Sanji wasn't sure if he wanted to know any more.

As the memories resurfaced in Luffy's mind, he could feel his walls slowly crumbling down as he knew the hard part was getting closer. "Then, I saw your vivre card on the ground. At the time, the paper was back to normal. It wasn't burning like earlier anymore."

Nami's breath hitched and the navigator vaguely registered bringing her hand over her mouth. Before she knew it, the memory from Thriller Bark came into her mind.

"Is the holder of this card someone special to you?" Laura asked Luffy nervously.

"Yeah, it's my big brother's!" Luffy grinned.

Something in Laura shattered when she saw that happy grin. The pink-haired pirate bit her lip with a somewhat pained expression before she slowly revealed, "I might be wrong, but the holder of this card's life...is slowly vanishing."

Just thinking about that memory and what happened shortly afterwards made Nami's heart shatter into pieces. If only they had convinced Luffy to go and check on Ace, then he wouldn't-! Nami's eyes teared up at the thought and the girl shook her head, not capable of finishing that sentence.

"I was about to grab it when you suddenly cried out my name." Nami was broken out of her train of thought when Luffy continued. The boy furrowed his eyebrows when he recalled a certain detail from the memory. "Now that I think about it, you sounded...scared. I've never heard you shout like that before."

It was a rare thing for Luffy to hear Ace so frightened. Usually, Ace was the big brother who wasn't scared of anything or anyone. Yet when it involved his little brothers, he was the total opposite.

Well, Luffy smiled as his crew came into mind, I can't argue with that.

Luffy mentally chuckled at both of their protective instincts before he remembered what happened next. Immediately, Luffy's smile was replaced with a scowl. "But when I looked up, I saw Akainu charging at me."

The Straw-Hats tensed almost instantly at the name. Their faces were contorted with deep scowls and more than some of them gritted their teeth in seething anger, especially those who knew some of the story. Zoro's fingers twitched as the swordsman yearned to unsheathe his swords. But he wasn't the only one, as Nami already had her hands on her Clima-Tact along with Usopp holding his slingshot.

Luffy was quiet while his mind played back the slow-motion moment of Akainu launching towards him with his fist covered in magma. Instead of acting down, though, Luffy sighed and let out an almost childish pout. "That wasn't fair, you know. I couldn't move at all and he decided to attack me instead."

Then, Luffy's shoulders slumped slightly and the captain acted like he had been told by Sanji to wait for food (a tragic thing, really). "I'm still a bit angry at that."

Zoro mentally scoffed. 'A bit' was the understatement of the century.

"But anyway, he came charging at me with his magma...fist?" Luffy scrunched up his face at the weird term. "It sounds strange but let's go with that!"

Usually, the crew would've sighed at their captain's simpleness. But, they ignored that and concentrated on what Luffy was implying. They took in what Luffy said and tried to picture it happening inside their minds. The resulting image absolutely horrified them. This made the Straw-Hats start to get worried, but they knew that the worst part had yet to come.