#portgasdace

[afroluffyirl]

asl my beloved (my friend had a hand in drawing chopper deer cause idk how to put images and edit them in magma brain too small)

god my handwriting is so bad when writing with a finger 😭

[zaraafff]

✦ ALL OVER AGAIN ✦

02. FLATLINE

→ for three minutes, you were gone

theme: loss 💔

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

✦ ZORO ✦

Zoro didn’t register Chopper’s voice at first.

He only heard fragments—too fast, too sharp. “No heartbeat—” “I’m trying—” “three minutes—” and then nothing made sense anymore except the sight of you lying still on the ground like the world had simply decided to stop holding you.

His hand stayed on his sword, but he wasn’t fighting anymore. Not the enemy. Not the war. Just the unbearable idea that the last time he’d spoken to you might’ve been the last time you ever heard him.

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

✦ SANJI ✦

Sanji was already moving before he realized it.

One second he was kicking someone across the field, the next he was on his knees beside you, blood on his gloves, hands shaking as Chopper yelled for space. The battlefield noise collapsed into something distant and unreal.

All he could hear was the absence of you. No breath. No reaction. Nothing. And the worst part wasn’t the silence—it was remembering the last thing he said to you before everything went wrong. Something sharp. Something panicked. Something he would’ve taken back a thousand times if he’d known there wouldn’t be a next moment.

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

✦ LUFFY ✦

Luffy didn’t understand what “no pulse” meant.

Not until he saw Chopper’s face. Not until he saw everyone freeze. Not until he grabbed your shoulder and shook you once—then again—then harder, like sheer force of will could restart something the world had already taken away.

“Hey,” he said, voice too quiet for someone like him. “Stop joking.”

But you didn’t. And for the first time, Luffy just… stopped moving too. Like if he stayed still enough, you’d decide to come back on your own.

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

✦ LAW ✦

Law didn’t panic easily.

He had seen death too many times to waste emotion on it. That was what he told himself—until he was the one checking your pulse and finding nothing but wrongness under his fingers.

“Again,” he ordered, voice flat. Controlled.

He tried again. Nothing changed.

And for a brief, terrifying moment, Law understood something he hated: knowledge didn’t protect him from fear. It just made it sharper. Because he already knew what three minutes meant. And he knew most people never came back from it.

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

✦ ACE ✦

Ace laughed at first.

Not because it was funny—but because his brain refused to accept what his eyes were seeing. “That’s not—hey, that’s not funny,” he muttered, stepping closer, grin cracking at the edges.

Then he saw Marco’s hands. Saw the stillness. Saw the way nobody was breathing with you anymore.

And the laugh died in his throat so completely it felt like something was ripping out of him. Because for three minutes, Ace Portgas D. Ace believed he had lost someone again—and this time, he wasn’t sure he’d survive it.

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

✦ SABO ✦

Sabo arrived late.

That was the first thing he thought when he saw the crowd. Then he saw you. And suddenly time didn’t feel like something moving forward anymore—it felt like something collapsing in on itself.

He dropped to his knees beside you, calling your name once. Then again. Quieter the second time. Like saying it softly enough might fix it.

But there was no answer. Just silence stretching too long, too heavy, too final—until Koala finally said the words that made his breath stop too: “I got it back… I got a pulse.”

And Sabo realized he had been holding his breath like you were already gone.

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

✦ YOU ✦

You don’t see it.

Not the screaming. Not the shaking hands. Not the way someone almost broke down right beside you while fighting to bring you back.

All you know is darkness—then noise—then air tearing into your lungs like punishment.

And when you finally open your eyes, everyone looks like they’ve been holding their breath for a lifetime…

like three minutes nearly became forever.

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

← previous: 01. LEFT BEHIND

✦ masterlist ✦

next → 03. DISTANCE

✦ ━━━━ .°• ♔ •°. ━━━━ ✦

[michelmims]

ACE standee ✨🔥❤️‍🔥

Shares are appreciated 💖

[k1ngsl4y3rr]

I've been wondering what Ace would do after Marineford if he had survived and fled...

I don't think he would join the remnants of the White Beard's Pirates in their quest to hunt Teach. I also don't know if he'd end up joining Luffy's crew... Part of me agrees, but the other part tells me he wouldn't want to interfere in his brother's journey?? Dunno!

The ideas that make most sense to me are: 1) he joins the Revolutionary Army with Sabo, who regains his memories after seeing Ace in the newspapers, and 2) he reunites his own crew again and becomes part of Luffy's Grand Fleet.

I've been trying to figure out Ace's post-Marineford life for a while now. I'm writing this huge OC fanfiction and I plan to give it the happiest ending possible... What do you guys think? Any ideas?

[neronarine]

Ace with his mom's color palette

[adorablemew]

doodles of mostly Ace and Sabo becuz I'm struggling with artblock and I'm tryin to learn how to draw them better, so pls don't mind the wonkiness auaua

[iloveportgasdace]

My humble contribution to Ace’s birthday

[notrealistick]

I wish there were more fics about Ace leaving the wbp or not joining at all. And that they focus on why he won’t join, and everything that influences his decision.

Bc every time i think about it, Ace as a person is so much more dangerous and complicated than people give him credit for.

(Especially people saying he wasn’t "that" important to the story, or that he died for no reason) Do i think the way his death was written, could have been better? Absolutely! But that doesn’t mean his death wasn’t impactful, or important. (But thats a whole other thing.)

But let’s take it from the top. Ace is a person that’s been depressive since he figured out who his father was (age 5-6) even being told to end his life in many gruesome ways, even if not directly. He was dehumanized from the beginning by practically everyone around him, even the bandits and Garp (yes telling a CHILD, that they have to figure out themselves if they deserve to live or not, is fucking insane. The same as being called a demon by Dadan and saying they’d be better off without him)

Then he mets Sabo and they started to get along, and stealing things from people/or ravaging thru the grey terminal,for their stash so they could achieve freedom. (This is extremely watered down bc it’s not the focus)

They do that for a few years, til Luffy comes along and the whole 3 months thing starts, Until bluejam gets luffy and the torture happens. Ace being not only impressed and absolutely baffled at, how someone would do that not only to themselves, but for him as well, when there was no reason to, gave Ace the go, at trusting Luffy.

I mean seriously Luffy getting tortured for hours, even tho he didn’t know Ace or Sabo well and him still being a child, must have been absolutely terrifying for Ace, especially bc Luffy didn’t grow up like him, which means his body and mind isn’t adapted to being around crooks, thieves and criminals. Luffy being able to withstand torture like that, gave Ace the ability to welcome him into his life. bc he now knows that Luffy is willing to protect and do what’s necessary for his loved ones. Ace will always do the exact same, even if it gets him killed. It’s a pattern he recognizes, even if he hasn’t been in that situation yet.

Ace always protects.

But coming back to whitebeard, he… did none of that..? It was just kinda weird for me to see him transfer so easily if at all "what do you mean easily" "he spent over hundred days trying to kill him" yeah that’s just what happens when you kidnap someone and let them roam freely… like no shit they’re gonna attack..?

Take it into perspective real quick.

Ace wants to know if he’s strong. He wants to fight an emperor, to find out. He could have easily asked shanks for a battle but didn’t, bc he respects the guy and bc Luffy has practically dubbed him Family.

So he goes after whitebeard and says "I’m aiming to go after whitebeard" when he shows up at the beach he simply says "i wanna talk to whitebeard" Jimbei says he won’t let that happen bc of his bloodlust even tho it didn’t look like Ace was emitting anything of the kind

(it’s been a long time since i read the manga pls don’t sue me🥲)

But yeah… they fight; for five days straight almost killing each other, and then both collapsing at the end due to exhaustion. But Ace still got up again after whitebeard showed up and even managed an attack or two while protecting his crewmates!

That’s fucking insane.

Ace got his devil fruit. made it thru paradise in the shortest amount of time ever. Was offered the position of warlord and managed to practically beat a warlord, (and now have confirmation he killed one, which again INSANE) all in the span of (apparently) ONE YEAR!!?! That’s terrifying and that’s definitely a person you should be scared of, if they come knocking at ya door.

But showing up to a Fight that completely exhausted Ace and had him passed out on his feet and saying "i want you to become my son" feels like the biggest slap in the face…

idk why but even i felt offended and insulted on Ace’s behalf. Like who the actual fuck says/does something like that??

I don’t even know why it pissed me off so much, maybe i was just annoyed bc Right after Ace literally said no flat out, (no literally means no, in any situation btw) and then passed out. Whitebeard just took him and his crewmates anyway and from then out just told him "he’s part of the family" like excuse you?

That’s not even the worst part. The others were worse, by making comments like "well you’re gonna be family soon enough" "we are your family now" and "you’ll change your mind" Like that sounds manipulative and just gross as fuck.

Like actually think about that, you said no, still get kidnapped and everyone else tells you "you’re not a prisoner" but you cannot leave and they tell you, that you’ll change your mind soon enough…

That’s terrifying, that’s scary. Especially for someone like Ace. A person that saw people die in the grey terminal, he saw what happened when others had more control. Ace went out to sea bc of his vow to Sabo and Luffy, and their core values were always freedom, and that never changed.

it’s even said that Ace has more views that align with revolutionary beliefs rather than a pirate.

Whitebeard took away his freedom, his crewmates, that he swore to protect and put him into a situation that was impossible to win or escape from.

We all remember that Ace can’t run away from a fight, we saw it with bluejam in the grey terminal, and that in the Ace didn’t run away. He fought bluejam with Dadan til Bluejam passed out, and after Ace left him to die in the fire and worked to get back home with Dadan.

He explained that he couldn’t run away and that he thinks it’s because he’ll loose something important if he does.

And that exact theory is shown to be correct in every single fight, where he doesn’t run.

Grey terminal: Sabo, Luffy and bandits

Beach fight: crewmates

Baranao: innocent’s

Marineford: Luffy again

There’s always someone behind him, that he holds dear or feels the need to protect. So in the end it’s not pride that keeps him fighting, it’s responsibility and fear of losing something important. He swore to protect others or be there for them until he wasn’t needed anymore, which automatically makes him responsible for the people that stand behind him. Bc he promised that, and he’ll be dammed if he fails at protecting someone ever again.

So in the end Whitebeard practically made him live out his worst nightmares in a tame kind of way that absolutely disturbs me, even if he didn’t know. But all that summed up, i just got kinda pissed off about how the entire introduction to whitebeard went.

Ofc there’s the "he calls us sons, which makes us happy" thing but in all honesty, i highly doubt that could’ve been enough to sway a head strong and traumatized person like Ace. And i know they actually fight in his novel but that should have been the end of it, Ace giving up and admitting he can’t beat whitebeard

(which to be fair he already knew that? Like Ace isn’t that stupid and we know it, even if he had the power to kill whitebeard, he probably wouldn’t have done it, bc there’s no way he can fight over 100 members of the strongest yonko crew)

But yeah him taking off after that and maybe even allowing training or advice from the whitebeards would have been the only thing, i could’ve seen coming if Ace actually had, had a fair chance.

This is probably extremely messy, and there are probably many spelling mistakes and shit, but it’s also way longer than i expected, so i apologize (but then again it’s 2AM I’m tired and got slightly irritated that i couldn’t find any good fics where Ace wasn’t a whitebeard pirate, so this thing is probably very biased and mostly plays on my own emotions and trauma experience 👍 so i apologize for this weird character analysis of Ace done by an exhausted and extremely annoyed person) corrections in the text and mistake correction is very welcome

English is my third language, so the good writer thing doesn’t count ok😭