•Black Hat•

•13•

"Marco can you take me there?" I begged him when I saw Ace surrounded by fire and Luffy looking at him happily. The pirate hesitated for a moment and then grabbed my me from waist and flew up in the air at the last moment I managed to grab the straw hat Luffy had entrusted me with. Up in the sky the bird was back again. I stared at him dumbfounded. "What are you?" I managed to utter.

"Phoenix! I ate an ancient zoan type devil fruit. I can fly and heal my wounds." He explained as he was flying over to where Ace and Luffy were.

"Thank you." I remembered to say and I am glad I told him that back then, because the next moment something caught Marco and he let go of me, as he started falling down.

I landed, you can say, directly inside Ace's hands, interrupting them in that way, he and Luffy, from a fight. I was so relieved that I hadn't fallen to the ground and surprised to find myself inside his hands that the only thing I could utter was his name.

"Ace..."

"Pearl!" Ace said. I forced myself to jump out of his hold; I was only burdening him. Ace was really kind and placed me down himself. "Keep an eye on Luffy!" He said smiled at me adding: "thank you for coming." I returned the smile and ran close to Luffy again.

"You did it!" I told him and I found myself hugging him. I didn't have the time to return him his hat because jinbe rushed us to hurry with his shouts. We started running and I still clung on the hat as we were running away from the platform. Suddenly we felt Ace falling behind. All three of us turned to look for him and saw him kneeling in front of Whitebeard. I knew it was a precious moment for him. We shouldn't interrupt them so kept running hoping that he would follow.

Suddenly a deep gravelly voice directed to Ace started talking. I couldn't get out what he was saying at first but in the end I caught a:

"Someone like you" he said referring to Whitebeard "will never be able to surpass Gol D Roger!" The voice clearly indicated complete mockery.

"Ace don't!" I shouted knowing that he would be provoked. I would be provoked too if someone talked trash about my father, the father I would choose, not Kizaru! But it was wasted energy to convince him to follow us. He wasn't listening and the first punches between lava and fire were exchanged.

"Ace's vivre card!" I heard Luffy beside me saying as he fell on his knees to catch it. A paper flew out of his pocket and touched the ground.

"Don't stop!" Jinbe ordered but Luffy didn't listen to him.

"I can't lose it!"

As he was reaching his hand out to take it I shrieked; Ace shouted his name desperately and that was it. I had a brief vision of what would take place but I couldn't do anything to prevent it.

Everything happened so fast. Akainu's fist came out piercing Ace's stomach. I let Luffy's straw hat touch the ground. Tears started running out of my open eyes as I stared in fear the person I admired most in this word slowly dying in front of my eyes. I couldn't speak a word. Not a single no or a cry of pain. I looked at him speechless as he was breathing his lasts breaths. It was like I could see his life flying away. I wanted to avert my eyes from him, look away and don't see his last moments but I couldn't. No matter how much I ordered my eyes to look somewhere else they could only look at Ace's kind face.

I was still standing on my feet and my eyes were fixed on him. I didn't need my Haki to see him, he was so close to me, dying inside Luffy's arms. I don't know what I was ready to do but I saw Ace nodding negatively and in his eyes I could read what he wanted to say. He didn't have to speak I could already hear his words.

Protect him, save him, don't let him mourn me. He's been born to become someone strong, help him achieve it!

I closed my mouth, grinding my teeth and swallowed my tears. It hurt; badly! My eyes stung and my throat felt like it had to swallow a huge knot. But I nodded. I would keep my promise! I couldn't smile like he did afterwards. I couldn't smile like he did when he spoke his last words to his brother, nor when he closed his eyes and his soul left his body. I could only jump in front of Luffy in a desperate attempt to protect him from Akainu's upcoming attack, as I swallowed my pain and kept it inside of my body like a pill you have to take.

I knew that acting like that wasn't what Ace wanted from me. He had asked me to help him mentally recover from the shock Luffy was clearly experiencing from the way he had thrown his head back, screaming in torment. But at that moment I only wanted to save him and perhaps die myself in a heroic way like Ace did. I also understood that this would mean that Luffy would have to carry two deaths on his consciousness but mine would almost be forgotten compared to that of his older brother. Maybe he wouldn't even realize that I wasn't there, and never find out that I had died protecting in that way his body from Akainu's magma.

But my death didn't come. I was almost disappointed when Marco jumped in front of us and Jinbe grabbed Luffy signing me to come along. I reluctantly followed him but at the last moment I remembered something important.

I had forgotten Luffy's hat!

I couldn't turn back and take it, it would be as if history was repeating herself all over again. So I left it. I hated to do that, because I knew that it was precious for Luffy, but I couldn't do otherwise... I had to live to protect him.