Chapter 041

Luffy fell to his knees in exhaustion. His lungs struggled to decide between the pain that Luffy's heavy breathing brought upon them with every intake and the pain of continued oxygen deprivation should Luffy ease up on his inhales. His entire body was lead. He stared down at the unanimated form of Marshall D. Teach in shame. He'd killed him. He had crushed the life out of the man's body with his own two hands. He'd killed him. He shook himself out of his shock. He'd had no choice. The bastard would have healed again unless he ended it. He had no choice…

Luffy coughed up a clump of blood, and a wave of searing pain shot through his lungs again. Blackbeard had been a monster. With Marco's MythicalZoan added to old man Whitebeard's Paramecia and his own Logia, he just seemed so unbeatable. But here he lay, brought to death by his own ineptitude as a Haki user. The fight between the 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and the former member of the 2nd division had been close. But close wasn't good enough. Marco's death that day didn't just signify the loss of friends and allies for Luffy. It had signified the sway of an era for the world. What would have happened if Marco had won that fight and the rest of the Whitebeard\ hadn't been crushed? One could only speculate.

Zoro and Sanji ran up to him in a rush. "Luffy, we have to get out of here!" Sanji shouted. "They're coming, it's an ambush! We have to move!"

But he couldn't. He couldn't move. Even if he could, he felt as if the slightest movement would kill him. He should have been used to the feeling by now. But every other time he had felt it, they had been safe. In the past, when he finally dropped to his knees and his mass produce of adrenaline ran dry, his complete and utter exhaustion was always accompanied by a sense of sweet relief at having accomplished his task. Now, the only emotion he felt was dread.

The admirals of Marine Headquarters were coming. They'd been waiting them out, and now they were coming. And there were three of them. Two admirals and the fleet admiral himself. Three fucking admirals would be a commitment if they were fresh. As they were now…their dread wasn't unfounded. But they couldn't stop now. They were so close. They had to make it out.

I couldn't help them.

The battle that ensued on the sea leading up to last island of the New World changed everything. It was truly the turning point of an era. It just wasn't what the Straw Hats had had in mind when they'd thought about it. Akainu, Kizaru, and Ryokugyu were relentless. They tried to escape on the ship at first with a Coup de Burst, but the admirals would have none of it. They soon found themselves far too preoccupied with staying alive to even think about escaping, their only choice being to fight. Zoro and Sanji would have actually had the latter two admirals at disadvantages despite their own fatigue if they weren't constantly distracted by the peril that the other Straw Hats were in.

I couldn't protect them.

Luffy tried to fight Akainu. He really did. But his body was running on…no, he didn't even know what it was running on anymore. He didn't even know how he was still standing, much less attempting to ward off volcanic eruptions. He could barely feel the burns anymore. His body was numb. His senses were numb. And as the battle continued, his spirit numbed as well.

I couldn't save them.

Six times Zoro and Sanji lost their heads and attempted to ditch their fights in favor of running to the side of a fallen comrade, and six times they were rewarded with pierced organs and crushed bones. Six times Luffy lacked the strength to even let out an agonized wail. Chopper was the first to fall, his desperate rumble having left him defenseless. Usopp was next, and then Nami, Robin, Brook, and Franky all followed. After half an hour, six were left standing.

Zoro and Sanji locked eyes, and a long conversation seemed to pass between them in a few seconds as Zoro's expression changed from desperation, to fury, to agony, and finally settled on resigned acceptance. Luffy could no longer resist enough to refute the plan the two had forced upon him. Sanji held the fort against two winded admirals and one fresh one as Zoro grabbed Luffy and fired off one last wind slash as he fled.

The admirals dodged, mindlessly jumping off the small, restricted space of the Sunny's deck, and Sanji quickly followed. The Marine warship that Ryokugyu attempted to land on was fried by Sanji's explosive kick, and after one last charge in the name of Mindless Justice, the Devil Fruit user was kicked into the sea. Akainu and Kizaru lost their heads for a split second, and that was the deciding factor. They charged Sanji, knowing they couldn't recover their comrade without losing this fight themselves. Whatever mobility their Devil Fruits allowed them couldn't compare to Sanji's Sky Walk, and he relentlessly kept them at bay despite the damage his body was taking from the laser and magma blasts. "Live on, Luffy! If you ever gave a shit about any of us, you'll live on!" Luffy's eyes were forced closed by the weights of his exhaustion, and in that moment, his entire world was the dimming aura of his crewmate in his last act of martyrdom. The Thousand Sunny shot off into the atmosphere with a Coup de Burst, and Luffy knew no more.

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