【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

These days, that bastard would come to his cell for hours every day, asking him questions and beating him at the same time. He felt pain all over his body, and that bastard liked to attack him in the stomach, and he was covered in bruises, burns and cuts. But he didn't answer any of his questions, he knew that the less they knew, the safer Luffy and the others would be.

He curled up. He didn't want to go through what happened to Sabo again. He had promised him that he would protect the people he loved, but it turned out that he was too weak.

He smelled the scent of the ocean, he knew they were at sea, he remembered about his brothers, only when he put his thoughts into the memories of him and his brothers could he get through this stupid darkness.

Lucci heard the sound of artillery fire in his dream. He had a nightmare. He saw that they found Luffy and Ace. They returned to Dawn Island and attacked Dawn Island with cannons. Luffy and Ace were hit. Dawn Island was sunk. Everything was gone. Lucci gasped and woke up. No, no, he didn't say anything. They didn't know. Lucci comforted himself that Luffy and Ace were safe.

Lucci didn't know how long he had been here, it should have been more than a week. Another explosion shook the ship, it seemed someone was attacking the ship, Lucci thought vaguely, maybe I can take this opportunity to escape, they don't know about my devil fruit yet, as long as someone lets me go, I can hide.

"Go!" The bastard suddenly came in, grabbed him and pulled him out.

"Sir, Long is in the sky and he is flying towards us." One of his subordinates said in panic.

"I didn't expect that you are so important that Long would come alone to save you," Rob said with a smile, "But why did Long get the news so quickly?"

"Don't worry, his son is in our hands, he won't dare to act rashly," Rob said, "But just in case, you have to stay here first, I won't let the dragon rescue you." As he said that, Rob stuffed Lucci, who was already running a fever, into a box.

Lu Qi felt his vision blurry and he could only hear a buzzing sound. Although he kept reminding himself not to sleep, he couldn't hold on in the end. His vision went dark and he fell into heavy darkness.

……

Ace sighed, and as he watched Luffy sleep, he irritably ran his hands through his hair, combing out his messy locks. Luffy hadn't actually spoken to Ace since they heard the news a few days ago, but he was relieved to know that Luffy was still in his sight.

During this week, Luffy spent most of his time in a daze, walking away crying, and barely responding to his name. He didn't even eat, which really proved how sad he was, and he didn't go back to the tree house. When Ace asked him to do something, Luffy always took a minute to respond before doing it.

Luffy is different from Ace. Ace has been suppressing his emotions until he can no longer control himself. Then he will cry loudly in a corner and vent his sadness. Luffy has been crying and venting since the beginning. He is sad in his own way. Ace doesn't know what he should do for him to help him.

He was not Lucci and Sabo, they were always there to comfort Luffy whenever he needed it, the only thing he could do in this situation was to make himself as approachable as possible and accept any physical closeness Luffy needed.

He never got too far away from Luffy, and he could see Luffy often looking over at him to make sure Ace was still there. When Luffy was far away and Ace didn't know if Luffy wanted him to catch up, Ace would wait there to see if Luffy would stop when he wasn't, and if he did, Ace would start to move closer. Sometimes Ace had to walk right up to him before he would move again.

At night, if Ace didn't sleep next to Luffy and let him hold onto his shirt, Luffy wouldn't fall asleep at all, and Ace wouldn't resist Luffy's touch, he knew it was the only comfort he could offer Luffy right now until he could figure out how to pull Luffy out of his sad state.

Ace knew that the bandits had always thought that Luffy didn't understand what was happening. They thought that Luffy didn't fully understand the situation and that he was naive and couldn't understand death at his age. But Ace knew that Luffy fully understood it. Maybe he couldn't connect them directly. Although he didn't know the ins and outs of the matter, nor did he know the process of death, the only thing he understood was that 'Lucci and Sabo are gone, and they will never come back.'

He was still sad, his heart ached as if a gash had been opened, he knew the pain might fade with time but it would never go away, but he couldn't dwell on sadness until he found a way to help Luffy overcome it.

In the morning, when Ace woke up, Luffy was no longer by his side. He had breakfast with Dadan and the others. He learned from Dadan that Luffy had not eaten again. After he finished eating, he walked outside. He knew where he was. He followed the path, and when he reached the top of the mountain, he saw Luffy lying face down in the grass with his hat on his head, completely covering his face. His arms hung lifelessly on both sides of his body, and his shoulders trembled slightly, revealing that he was crying.

He didn't move when Ace approached him, Ace slowly slowed down as he approached him, he blew into his fist and then punched Luffy in the back of the head with it. Luffy grabbed his hat, and with his white fingertips he pressed it down hard to cover his face.

"How long are you going to be so depressed?" Ace asked, crossing his arms over his chest and looking out at the sea in the distance. Luffy remained motionless, not lifting his face from his hat. Ace waited for a moment before continuing, "All the treasures we hid in the forest are gone. They may have been taken away by Bluejam, or they may have been discovered and taken away by the guards. But it doesn't matter now. Although that was our pirate fund, it's useless since neither Sabo nor Lucci used it. If we can't protect the treasure, then there's no point in collecting it."

"Ai...Ace"

Ace turned and looked down at Luffy, finally speaking? Ace looked at his thin shoulders that seemed to be shaking more than before.

"I...want!! To be stronger!!!" Ace focused all his attention on the crying boy, wondering what kind of thought process could lead to such a thought.

"Get stronger!! Stronger!! Stronger, stronger, stronger!!! Stronger!! In this way... I can protect everything, and no one will leave..." Luffy's voice became louder and louder until he was almost shouting out his heart's voice.

Ace clenched his fist again. "I see."

"I beg you... Ace, please don't die..." Luffy grabbed his hat to cover his face, and this time his voice was much softer.

Ace subconsciously punched Luffy in the head, but his strength was still a little weaker than usual. "Idiot! What bullshit are you talking about! Compared to me, you should worry about yourself first! You are much weaker than me." He straightened up and looked at the sea. Ace finally realized what Luffy needed to hear, and what he could do to help Luffy overcome his sadness. "Listen up and remember this, Luffy! I will not die!!"

Ace turned to look at Luffy, he saw Luffy sitting up, pulling his straw hat down hard, his face full of tears, and finally letting out a pained response, which was the response Ace had been looking for.

"I promise you, Luffy! I will never die!" This is a promise, he knows the importance of the promise to Luffy "I will not leave a coward brother like you alone in the world, I will not be at peace even if I die!" Luffy nodded in response to him, Ace waited for a while, he chose his words carefully, he didn't want Luffy to recall the deaths of Lucci and Sabo painfully because of this "I'm not that smart, so I haven't figured out at whose hands Sabo and Lucci died. But it must be something opposite to freedom, Sabo and Lucci died before they got freedom, but those who drank sworn brotherhood wine with them... We are still alive!!" Ace looked towards the sea "So, listen to me, Luffy, we must live without regrets!!"

"...Hmm!!" Luffy raised his head and stared at Ace with tears in his eyes. He was listening carefully to everything Ace said.

Ace recalled what Sabo said about nobles becoming adults at the age of 18, so he planned to leave the country when he turned 17. "One day, we will set sail and live our lives as we please!! Freer than anyone else!! By then, we will definitely become enemies with many people - even grandpa will become an enemy, it's either life or death!!" Ace straightened his shoulders and stared at the sea. "When we turn 17, we will set sail and become pirates!!"

Luffy wiped the tears from his face with his arm, then stood up again, clenched his fists, his eyes full of determination, and stood beside Ace and stared at the sea with him. After staring for a while, Luffy stretched out his arms and hugged Ace's waist tightly.

Ace placed a hand on Luffy's back, and when he felt Luffy's shoulders slowly hunch, Ace said nothing, and he pressed down on Luffy's shoulders with even more force than before.

Ace looked at the sea in the distance. "Sabo, Lucci... I promise, even if it costs me my life, I will protect him."