Opavia vl.2

20.

vitani appeared at the edge of the crowd at the shrieks and cries of luffy and the whitebeard pirates, pausing at the sight of ace on the ground. her ears pinned, balling her fist as she looked back at the whitebeards. she closed her eyes at the horrified screams, a tear falling from her eye.

"straw boy!" ivan yelled, vitani looked up. "kierra!"

"he's loosing it." vitani whispered, she looked up as akainu attempted to punch luffy, vitani disappearing. she reappeared before luffy, her face inches from akainu's before marco the phoenix stepped in before her. he took the impact of the blow, vitani's holding a straight, menacing gaze.

"i'm not gonna let you kill him." marco gritted. vitani turned to kierra as jimbei dealt with luffy, the sister kneeling beside her.

"kierra." she whispered, kierra's body shaking as she stared down at her. "mama we have to move."

"jimbei! take straw hat luffy with you!" marco ordered as jimbei rose, carrying luffy away. "he is the way ace's will will live on." marco gritted. "we will protect him at all cost on behalf of ace! if we let him die, it's a dishonor to the whitebeard pirates!"

"kierra!" vitani snapped, kierra tilting her head back and releasing her wail. she rocked her body faintly, sobbing indefeaningly through the cries of battle around her.

t'kai landed behind them, panting heavily as he walked forward slowly. vitani looked up as he knelt down behind kierra.

"popio." he murmured as she sobbed, staring forward. "yamaro (stop that)." she bit her lip. "ace wouldn't want to see you like this." he paused. "kaya will aid him safely along his passage. he is not gone. maybe physically but never in spirit." he rose, looking up at the two clouds which shot down.

"vitani, help her up." he stepped up, vitani bending down. she slowly moved ace from kierra's lap and helped her stand shakingly, kierra staring down at her blood stained clothes.

"ah!" vitani whispered, tilting her head up. "don't look down." she locked gazes with her. "look at me." kierra sat on the cloud beside vitani, staring down at the sea of mourning pirates. t'kai picked up ace's body, leaping up as whitebeard's rath created a hhole in the plaza, separating the pirates. he landed, glancing back at whitebeard.

"whitebeard.." he murmured.

"t'kai." he yelled over the cries of the whitebeard pirates yelling his name. "take care of my sons."

"get on the ship!" marco the phoenix yelled as t'kai walked through the running men.

"cry after you get on the ship!" he yelled. "think about the wish whitebeard left, for you all to leave!" he stepped onto the deck, setting ace's body down before turning at the arrival of teach. he squinted in the distance as men crawled onto the ship's around him, t'kai's tail flicking anxiously.

vitani looked down, staring down at t'kai.

"kendrick." she murmured. "take care of kierra for me."

"vitani, what are you doing?!" oboiye rose as she stood on the rail.

"i have to stay with masetno." she responded, balling her fist. "we can't lose him again."

"vitani!" skylar yelled as she leapt over the railing, kendrick yelling after her.

"vitani!" he yelled, watching her disappear and reappear in various spots in the air before landing infront of the ship. she looked up at whitebeard's stiff body, blood pooling around his feet. t'kai closed his eyes as vitani stepped forward.

"why isn't he moving?" she whispered.

"it's not by choice." marco the phoenix explained anxiously. "on top of his worsening health he took a lot of damage in his fights earlier." vitani watched as he slowly moved forward, readying another quake blow as teach drew his gun and fired it.