𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 97

"That's too dangerous Luffy, I can't risk losing you too..." Konan gently tried to persuade him—jumping into a highly secured prison with barely a scrap of a plan was suicide. It wasn't even guaranteed that Ace would be there after all the fighting and infiltration.

The thought of losing both of them made her lose her mind.

They were probably her biggest weakness, but weirdly enough, she wouldn't want it to be any other way. Wanting to protect them was something she was proud of, she had grown attached to the little gremlins—even Sabo who showed less emotions than his two counterparts. It was a gamble to have become so attached, with them her world had grown immeasurably brighter, and just as easily as they had entered her life, they could leave.

"I have to go and help Ace, Konan. I can't stay here and leave him to die alone." Luffy was firm in his beliefs, frowning in defiance. "Please help me."

Konan held his gaze for a few seconds before sighing, she had already lost this fight a long time ago. What right did she have to stop him, not when she herself would be stepping to the forefront of the battle. "You've grown a lot, Luffy." She pat his head, ruffling his hair before placing both of her hands on his face. "Please be careful." Papers detached themselves from her hands covering his face and morphing him into a teenage girl.

"Cute..." Hancock whispered with stars in her eyes as she stared at the female-luffy.

Konan hugged Luffy, "This disguise will last as long as you don't receive any damage to your face, so please be careful."

Luffy nodded, snaking his arms around Konan, "I promise I'll be careful." He then detached himself, "When we see each other again it will be with a free Ace."

Konan nodded, not without some doubts. She looked down at her arms that felt strangely cold and empty. It was probably the first time Luffy had let go first. He was all grown up now.

Her little brother had chosen his fight, she had to respect his will.

Impel Down was a fortress in of itself, managing to escape would be difficult, plus, the security was probably at its highest with a prisoner like Ace who was a prisoner of capital importance. Even if she went herself as Nanko, she doubted she would be able to escape unscathed with Ace—with the execution approaching, entries were heavily restricted and controlled, only very secretive and highly valued agents were allowed around Ace's cell.

She preferred preparing for the more-likely scenario where Luffy didn't succeed, and it escalated into a full blown war. The likelihood of all of them surviving was oddly enough higher when they were in an open field with more chaos and allies. She would have more control over the situation in a battlefield she had prepared.

A new battlefield, another war, this was something Konan never thought she would enter again...

The execution was approaching very fast.

As expected Nanko was soon summoned to the headquarters along with a majority of the Marine officers.

He stepped through the entrance with a careless smile, observing his surroundings with no small amount of indifference. The atmosphere was somber, people hurrying around, polishing their weapons, training, running around, listening to repeated orders.

"A war against Whitebeard..." Smoker was walking alongside him, smoking with a frown.

Nanko could tell he wasn't that excited about the idea, well neither was he. He only snorted in response. "This is going to be a mess." No one could guess what it would entail but all felt they were on the edge of big changes. Either way, neither side could escape unscathed.

"Nanko!!" A female voice shouted from further away as Hina ran toward them.

"Hina," Nanko smiled, hugging her when she came close. "How are you, princess?" He felt her hit his shoulder as she put some distance between them.

"I'm fine for now, but the higher-ups are calling for a meeting this evening," Hina announced.

Nanko merely nodded, expecting this to be the case. "Before that, shall we go and see the scene of this grandiose theater?"

"It's still in construction," Hina explained as she dragged them toward the plaza.

Smoker whistled as he looked around, "That's a lot of weapons... Yet it probably won't be enough," he commented, observing the long-range weapons aligned on top of the surrounding walls. The ones they were about to fight weren't affected by measly weapons.

Nanko nodded, observing the place for weak points. Beneath his feet and unnoticeable to anyone, sheets of papers constantly slithered away from him, blending in with the background. His gaze grew complicated as he stared at his two companions, friends who had kept him company for around a decade. People he had grown immeasurably attached to.

He forced his eyes close. He would have done the same if they were the ones in danger. Unfortunately this time, they would stand on opposite sides.

"Better write letters to your loved ones before this all goes down..." Nanko commented, plopping a lollipop in his mouth.

Hina snorted at the thought before they all headed inside the building, following the scent of the food.

In the evening, they received a briefing that could be shortened to : fight with your life and teach all these pirates a lesson.

"We'll be right under the rear-admiral ranks," Smoker commented, dragging his feet through the corridor as every other officer avoided them. They had all reached the Commodoro ranks with the recent events of Crocodile.

"Except for him," Hina jeered, poking Nanko with her finger. With the recent events, Nanko had 'distinguished himself' by protecting the civilians during the Buster Call and protecting the Celestials on Sabaody Archipelago while also managing to catch some high bounties, notably the pirate Apoo with a bounty of 100,000,000.

Nanko had encountered him on his way back to the headquarters and unfortunately for Apoo, Apoo just had to taunt him when Nanko was already in a bad mood. One thing led to another and Apoo was captured along with those who hadn't managed to escape. Nanko merely dumped them on another officer as he was called back to headquarters.

Thus he was promoted to Rear-Admiral... If Nanko had to guess, he would say they wanted to boost morals before the war. Well the higher the pedestal he was put on, the more the fall would hurt—both him and the Marine.

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Thank you everyone for 500k  <3

and thank you for sticking around this long, we're soon reaching a hundred chapter ! :D