Searching for Brothers [One Piece fanfic]

Chapter XLIX: Goodbye

Chapter 49:

Word Count: 2.3 k

A/n: IM ON A ROLL, DAMN! Hi! FYI, I cried when I wrote this. Like I literally sniffled and had to wipe my own tears. Damn, Ace's death always hurts and I had to watch over 5 different videos of his death and memories to get into the mood to write this. And of course, Merry's end comes up next and I'm a sobbing mess

I recommend you listen to the music while you read! Gives it more feels.

THIRD PERSON P.O.V.

The sky was cloudless, the wind lightly blowing and making the green grass shift along with it. No one would think that just two days ago there was a war that stole thousands of lives.

Clementine hated that.

Shanks moved his gaze to the girl in front of him, his lips tilting down. The blonde refused to move away from the grave of her brother, her face buried in her arms as she leaned against the stone. Roki wrapped his large body around her, his icy blue eyes watching his master with sadness.

Behind the man, both Whitebeard Pirates and the Red-Haired Pirates watched in concern. Their hearts ached. For the Whitebeard Pirates, it hurt them when Ace had only been sailing with them for three years. But for Clementine, Ace was her brother for years, being beside her during the toughest time in her life.

They've all first handedly witnessed the bond the two siblings had. The care, the love, the trust. These two had gone shit together yet, with one gone, it seemed like the balance was broken. And the remaining one didn't know what to do.

"Clem—" Thatch closed his mouth as Marco took his arm, the blond man shaking his head at his fellow commander. The cook gritted his teeth and looked down, upset because he knew there was nothing any of them could but to let the young woman grieve on her own.

Slowly, the crowd began to diminish, returning to their ship until only three people remained by the grave.

"'Red-Hair'... I don't know how to thank you enough..." Marco spoke lowly, eyeing the mountain of flowers that covered the two grave.

Shanks didn't respond immediately, his gaze continuing to stay on Clementine. "No need for any of that... He may have been my enemy, but Whitebeard was a man worthy of respect. Even Sengoku understood that... However, I have to apologize, while we said we'll bury both Whitebeard and Ace, we couldn't find Ace's body..."

A silence fell over the two men again, their thoughts going to battle ground. It was a mystery between all of them. No matter what, they could not find Portgas D. Ace's body. After a bit, they had no choice but to give up with heavy hearts, some speculating that it was swallowed up in the chaos when Clementine had lost control over her power.

When Clementine heard about the news after she woke up, she was devastated. But what shocked them all was that the blonde female had lost the ability to speak. After getting examined by both pirate crew doctors, they had reached the conclusion that she was going through shock and eventually she'll be able to speak again seeing there's no damage to her voice box. However with countless injuries such as her right arm having a hairline fracture and a concussion to her head, the blonde wasn't allowed to move on her own.

Her body needed severe rest and her mental health was at the lowest it has ever been.

Shanks releases a sign, before looking at the first commander beside him. "We'll be off tomorrow afternoon. For tonight," the red-haired man paused, his gaze moving back to the female, "I'll stay here and keep an eye on her..."