Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 51: The Battle of Marineford

"You may not care about dying, Luffy!" Chopper shouted out furiously, "But we all do!"

"Yeah!" Usopp added loudly, but the effect of anger was ruined as he broke into sobs. He couldn't help it though. They may not be related by blood, but the bond that Luffy and Ace had was so much stronger than anything else that he could think of, it just seemed to make the tragedy that's destined to come feel that much more tragic. "I mean... just imagine how crushed Ace and the rest of us would be without you, Luffy!"

"He never thinks about himself when it comes to saving someone else," Nami said as she wiped her own eyes. "That's always been one of the biggest things that I can't stand. Why is he so selfish?!"

"We will worry about that later," Brook said soothingly, though he also wished that Luffy would care about his own life more than this. Even if it means destroying himself, he'll do it without a second thought if it meant saving someone else he cared about! If they weren't more careful then he could easily get killed one of these days... and what would happen to the rest of them if that day did come? Their crew was nothing without Luffy as the glue to hold them all together. The captain is always the leader of any crew, but Luffy was more than that... he was their very heart and soul. He couldn't imagine the Straw Hats without Luffy there with them!

His own heart ached painfully, though it the physical organ he had rotted away long ago, his feelings remained strong as ever. No, he wasn't going to let that happen. He had already sworn his second life to Straw Hat Luffy, and he was going to follow him to the ends of the world if that was what he wanted.

"That kid..." smirked a voice not too far off and they looked behind them to see that a large man standing over them. He was a huge, muscular, broad-chested and heavily armored man. He looked pretty battle-hardened and wore the armor that some kind of ancient warrior would've worn.

"Jozu," Robin said in surprised.

"You know him?" Franky asked in surprise.

"Only by reputation," she answered, with an impressed smile on her face. "Diamond Jozu. He was the Commander of Whitebeard's Third Division. Though I shouldn't be surprised to see him here."

"Odd name, why do they call him Diamond?" Franky asked curiously as Sanji and Zoro were looking at him with new interest, suddenly having an urge to fight this guy.

"Something to do with his Devil Fruit, I suppose," Robin stated, "I heard that he ended up losing his arm in this battle, though I can't say if that's true or not."

"That's a heavy loss," Sanji said, shivering a little as he looked down at his hands, not sure what he could possibly do if he ended up losing them.

But the other Whitebeard Pirates were all cheering as well, as if in agreement to what Luffy had said.

"Only Straw Hat could get away with saying that!"

"We're Ace's family to!"

"Show us that you can save him!"

"It looks like it's not only Luffy who has a talent for bringing people together," Usopp said, wondering just how Ace could ever have wondered if he deserved to live in this world or not. Look at all these people who had showed up just for the sake of trying to save him? He was one lucky guy...

"Marco..." Whitebeard's deep voice stated above them, and they glanced up to see that he was talking to a lean, muscular and blonde-haired man with a rather sleepy look in his eyes. Dress in a similar style as what Arlong wore, his chest tattooed with the silhouette of Whitebeard's Jolly Roger, he stepped forward with a smirk as Whitebeard ordered, "I won't forgive you if you let that kid die."