☞ Ace
send me ☞ + a character to see how i would portray them.
So Meitantei asked like two weeks ago but I kept forgetting to answer and when I decided I would queue my answer so I wouldn't forget...the ask disappeared....So I'm just going to post it as a post yeah.
Was it…good that I was born?
For as long as he could remember, he has been asking that question over and over. Both to himself and to others.
And every time, he was given the answer ‘No.’
"If Gold Roger had a kid? Then he oughta be executed!"
So, he retaliated. He beat up the people who mocked him, who said he shouldn’t be alive, that he didn’t deserve to be alive. Even though they didn’t know they were talking about him, even though he believed what they were saying. He didn’t understand it at the time, he didn’t try to understand it, but he was angry. Every time someone said Gold Roger’s son should not exist, he was overwhelmed with rage.
It wasn’t until he was much older that he realized that rage took form to hide the hurt, the pain.
"Oh, I’ve got a good idea! How about sticking one needle in his body for every person in the world that holds a grudge against Roger!"
Sabo helped, he was a friend to Ace, someone who shared his wish to be free from their prisons. But, Sabo was too damaged himself, holding too much resentment like Ace to be able to fully heal him. And Ace was stubborn even as a kid.
"No, he should be burned at the stake! That way the whole world could watch and laugh as he went to his death!"
When Luffy appeared, all smiles and laughs, something began to change. Ace no longer went around asking if Gold Roger’s son should be alive. He didn’t dwell so much on that question -- though it never did go away. It was just shadowed by the bright and cheerful times he had with his brothers.
He met another family a few years later. The Whitebeard Pirates. And although he attempted multiple assassinations on their captain, his soon to be father, they accepted him with open arms. When he was given the option to be the Second Division Commander, giving him the responsibility of his new family, a way to actively help the people who accepted him, he hesitated.
He wanted to take on the position. He desperately wished to help his family in any way he could, but he wasn’t sure if it was his right. How could he, the son of Whitebeard’s former rival, take such an important position?
"They’d all be saying the same thing, you know! Serves you right!"
So, he went to talk to Whitebeard, his captain, the man who was more like his father than the one who’s cursed blood ran through him. And as he told his father of what kind of child Ace was, Whitebeard laughed. He said he was expecting Ace to want to talk about something major. Not something like Ace’s birth father. Not something that wouldn’t change a thing.
Ace became the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, and he couldn’t be prouder.
But, he was still a fool. Hot-headed and thought only with his heart, not his brain.
He hoped, wished, that they wouldn’t come. He didn’t want to drag his accepting family into war just because of his mistake. Just because he couldn’t listen to the warnings that everyone gave him. And when they appeared, saying that it was their fault for giving Ace such an order that resulted him as a prisoner even though no such order was given, Ace wanted to cry.
When he saw his little brother, the one who he always had to save from trouble, fall from the sky shouting his name, Ace screamed.
Because he didn’t want this. He never wanted any of this. Never did he want his brothers and sisters to risk their lives to try and save him. If only they never came. If only they left him there to die. But none of them did.
…And…he was happy.
"I know what his last words should be as well! ‘I’m sorry for being born, even though I am just trash!’"
Because, even though his brothers and sisters were being killed right before him. Even when his chance of survival was still incredibly low, they were still there. For him. Fighting to keep him alive. After years of being told that he shouldn’t have existed, his family was right there trying to keep him alive.
And for the first time, Ace truly realized he wanted to be alive.
He wanted to go home with everyone, wanted to see tomorrow, wanted to live freely, without regrets.
But of course it couldn’t be that easy.
When the time came, Ace didn’t hesitate at all. When you are a pirate, you couldn’t afford to hesitate or it’ll cost you your life. Although this time, it was what ended Ace’s life.
But he didn’t regret it. There was no way he could regret saving his little brother. If given the option, he would do it again even if it meant losing his life in the process each and every time. And he didn’t have any regrets. His life may be ending now, but like he swore to Sabo, Luffy, and himself, his life did not have any regrets in it.
He wished he could at least see his little brother fulfill his dream to become King, but it was okay that he won’t be there. It’ll happen anyways and Ace took comfort in knowing that.
The war still raged on. He could faintly hear the screams of both his family and the marines. He could hear Luffy shouting at him to not to die, that he promised he wouldn't. Ace wanted to keep that promise. He didn't want to leave him or the Whitebeard Pirates, especially not after realizing just how loved he was despite being the Pirate King's son. But, he already didn't have much time left.
Luffy would be fine. Ace saw it way back then that his little brother was growing up. He had his own crew like Ace had his. A crew that accepted him unconditionally, a crew that would help him after this whole mess. Ace already entrusted Luffy to them and while he didn't know where they were now, he still knew that his brother would be fine with them.
The Whitebeard Pirates would be fine too. So many of his brothers and sisters have died already, but the old man would protect everyone he could. Marco and the other commanders won't let a single man fall when they could be saved. They would make it out okay somehow.
Ace had plenty of near-death experiences before. But, this time it was different. He didn't feel any adrenaline pump through his veins, his senses weren't heightened, his brain wasn't working to find a way out of this. It was how he knew that he couldn't be saved. The noises of the war was receding. He knew it wasn't because it was coming to an end, but it was his own ears that were failing. His vision blurred and dimmed, and he knew he couldn't hold on for much longer but he forced himself to anyways. Just a little bit longer. He still had something to say.
To his father, to his nakama, to his little brother...
"Become my son!"
Because even though he is so worthless...
"We'll save you right now, Ace!"
Even though he carried the blood of a demon...
"I am your little brother!"
...It was good...that he was born.
"Thank you...for loving me!"
