Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 47: Poison vs. Rubber: Miracle on Level 5.5

*Luffy and Ace*

The entire area around them was burnt and littered with broken boulders and splintered trees. Both Luffy and Ace were both breathing hard, completely worn out and starting to wonder just how long this battle was going to go on.

"Damn..." Ace smirked as he looked up to Luffy, who was on his knees and his tongue rolling out of his head as he panted. "You never did know when to give up."

"Yeah...?" Luffy smirked back. "Neither did you!"

"Ha... you got that right, little brother," Ace smirked right back at him as he wiped some blood off from his mouth. At that moment both of their stomachs began to let out loud growls and the put their hands on their bellies.

"Hungry... need food..." they both said together before they looked up and laughed.

"I think that we spent too much time together when we were kids," Ace chuckled as he leaned back comfortably on the dirt. "Heh... not that I mind though. Hey, after I win, how about we head down to the Party Bar, huh? We should be able to find some food there."

"Really?!" Luffy asked excitedly, drooling at the thought. "Just so long as they have some meat there!" That was when he realized what Ace said and yelled, "Hey! Who said that you were gonna win?"

"I did," Ace sneered tauntingly at him, "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"What do you think?!" Luffy demanded, jumping to his feet again. "I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Doing a good job of that so far," Ace taunted, but he knew that the two of them had been going at this for some time now, and it was starting to take its toll. This was, without a doubt, the longest that he had ever been able to fight with Luffy—showing that he had improved and come a long way since their childhood sparing matches. But he still had a long way to go if he wanted to be the strongest. And if he couldn't stand up to him, then what hope did he have against the seas?

Still... this battle would soon be at an end, he could feel it. The sun will be rising in just a couple more hours and he had until then to find his answer. Did he want his little brother to win this fight? Yes... but that didn't mean that he was gonna make it easy. Luffy had to earn that right.

And as he watched Luffy running towards him, he couldn't help but inwardly laugh. Who had ever heard about a big brother, wanting to lose a fight with his little brother? Oh well, nothing about them was ever normal.

*Straw Hats*

"He really wanted Luffy to leave?" Chopper asked them as they stared at the darkness around them, waiting for the next memory to come.

"Of course he did," Zoro said grimly, starting to pace around the area in a desperate attempt to vent some of his anger. "If it were any of us and we heard that he was risking his life coming to save us, we'd want him to stay away wouldn't we?"

"It must be pure torture for him," Robin said softly as she looked down at her hand, lost in thought. "I doubt that anything that Impel Down could do to him would be worse than imagining Luffy being imprisoned here because of him."

"The poor guy," Nami said as Franky started to bawl.

"Oh man... that's so sad! I love these two!" Franky sobbed out, and broke down completely. "They're both in danger but all they're thinking of is each other! I mean—sniff—who would do something like that for your bro?"

And he cried rivers of tears as Brook strummed up his guitar, fighting his own tears but failing completely as the front of his clothes were soon soaked. "I wish that there was something that I could've done to help! The pain that Ace-san must've felt when he heard...? This is all so personal that I don't think we have any right to see anymore!"