Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

First level of Impel Down

Puru puru puru puru

Gatcha

"Guys, change of plans," said a man with silver eyes and red hair standing in the middle of the first level security room in Impel Down.

"What happened?" he heard a young woman's worried voice in return.

"We forgot about Luffy and chaos he's bringing in wherever he goes."

"Oh, fuck, how did he get in there?!"

"My money's on Boa Hancock, but it's not important right now. It's plan F after all."

"Urgh, why don't we just snatch him on their way to Marineford again?"

"Because he needs to see lengths Whitebeards are ready to go for him and find some will to live in that stupid suicidal brain of his? Also, getting him out of here any other day was futile, and we can’t snatch him on the way without fucking everything up even more."

"Ah, right. Ok, I'm telling others. You good?"

"I'm fine. Buggy's with Luffy. Or the other way around. Collin will stay here after we run away to keep the situation under control but we'll need new moles after this."

"Yeah, good luck, Fenix."

"You too, bye."

Ka-lick

Redhead checked unconscious guards, righted his uniform, and smashed all security cams' receivers of the first level before finding his way out. He had things to do after all.

Finding Buggy and Luffy wasn't hard, keeping them relatively safe without ruining his undercover was. Thankfully Buggy's Observation Haki was as amazing as always so he could take on subtle hints and take all the right turns. He's going to have long therapy sessions with Hannah after this shitshow, isn't he? 

But, since we're dealing with Luffy, safe routes don't last long. At least they destroyed the second level's security room by themselves. And Magellan still has no idea about Luffy. Which is good, yeah, very good. 

"Clint, can we destroy the third level's visual dendens?" Fenix asked his disguised brother.

"Not now, they're constantly calling each other."

"Damn, anything we can do?"

"I don't know, but Violet is with Domino and other guards escorting Hancock and Momonga. I think Sengoku was informed about an intruder, but they're not sure who they are…."

"THE INTRUDER WAS IDENTIFIED! IT IS MONKEY D. "STRAWHAT" LUFFY! ATTENTION!! THE INTRUDER IS "STRAWHAT" LUFFY!!!"

"And there goes kid's anonymity."

"Fuck."

Meanwhile on Moby Dick

Everyone on the ship was agitated by the upcoming war. Brothers and sisters could feel massive pressure as the time of their brother's execution was inevitably approaching. A dark-haired man with silver-grey eyes walked up to his father who was grimly watching the underwater view.

"Pops?"

"What is it, son?"

"I've got a call from my family - Ace's little brother infiltrated Impel Down."

"WHAT?!" came from those who heard him.

Marco couldn't help but ask, "Isn't he just a rookie? How did he manage to infiltrate the great impregnable prison?"

"Well, a rookie he is. But it's Luffy we're talking about, and he doesn't acknowledge that things can be "impossible". Nothing is impossible for him." 

"Why do I feel like you're talking from experience?.." murmured Jozu.

The man could only smile mysteriously in return.

"Is it all right that your family got engaged in this mess, Gerald?" asked Vista twisting his mustache between his fingers. "Ace is our brother but he's not a part of the rest of your family..."

"What do you mean? He's our little brother! So, of course, we want to save him!" he replied indignantly.

''That's not what I meant! Ace is a Whitebeard pirate, yes, but he's not a Newfamland!''

''Wait, Vista,'' interrupted Whitebeard. ''Gerald, son, do you mean what I think you mean?''

''Pops, with all due respect, I'm not a mind reader,'' huffed the man. As an afterthought, he looked to the left and mumbled, ''My sister is though.''

He then shrugged and admitted, ''But yeah, Ace is my blood family too, he just doesn't know it yet. He's probably going to be pissed off, I mean, you know him, eh?''

That got him a couple of surprised exclamations. Whitebeard chuckled, "And here I thought old age was playing tricks on me, gurararara!"

''I still can't believe you have moles in Impel Down,'' sighed Haruta in amazement.

''Meh, we have spies everywhere. But we've been working on the escape plan for almost half a year now. Our other brother has been caught.''

''How many siblings do you have?''

'''It depends on how you count them.''

"That's not really an answer."

Gerald could only grin at that.

Marine Headquarters

"GARP! IT'S YOUR FAMILY AGAIN!"

Billie was doing his best trying not to laugh his ass off. Garp's suffering never failed to brighten his day. Not like he was actually suffering anyway, that lunatic. Maybe Sengoku could have a heart attack? Things would be much easier without Fleet Admiral in command. 

The young man in his early thirties with dull brown hair fixed his marine cap as he stealthily took a couple of photos. He'll add them to his "Garp being an idiot" golden collection. 

He glanced out of the window and prayed for his crazy siblings' safety. Johny was successfully planted into meeting Ace escort guards. He would make sure their brother's handcuffs can be easily removed with any picklock. 

Now he should look after his friends and keeping Coby alive sounds like a tough challenge... 

Back in Impel Down, after Boa Hancock's leaving

"Chief Warden, if I may?" a woman with pastel purple hair and blue eyes politely spoke up to her boss.

"What is it, Violet?"

"Should I send someone to clean up "Fire Fist" a bit? Execution will be aired for the whole world to see and we wouldn't want the audience to pity him," she asked thoughtfully.

"That's a job for Marineford's guards."

The woman wrinkled her nose in distaste, "However, we'll be the ones to hand him to marines."

"If your sense of beauty can't stand it, then you can send someone. End of discussion."

"Thank you, Chief Warden, you're the best!~"

"Hmpf, yeah, yeah," Magellan blushed slightly at his subordinate's compliment.

Violet hurriedly approached a couple of guards and shouted at them, "Didn't you idiots hear that?! Go and clean up that filthy pirate scum for his last day of glory. I'm not getting anywhere near him if he stinks!"

"Yes, ma'am!" saluted guards. 

"You're too sissy for his job," grumbled Hannibal picking his nose.

"What was that?" murderous aura emanated from the blue-eyed woman.

"I can't wait to become a Chief Warden! I mean n-nothing!"

Two guards eyed each other and one of them whispered, "She's having too much fun with this."

"She should be the one to stay, not Collin," the other agreed. "Let's go give the little one a good old fashioned makeover."

"Lead the way, Georgy."

"I'm so hungry..." murmured Luffy.

Fenix jumped down to their hideout and handed some meat to the kid, "Here you go."

"Thanks!" and just like that food disappeared in Monkey's stomach.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" screeched Mr.3.

"Strawhat-chan you can't take food from anyone who offers..."

"I'm a friend, so it's good?" smiled Fenix.

"He's a friend, yeah. How is the plan going?" Buggy asked tiredly.

"Ruined obviously. Now it's plan F for "Fucked Up"."

Luffy tilted his head to the side, "I don't understand, you want to save Ace too?"

"Yep! Also, I need to keep you and Buggy alive. Here, eat these, you too," Fenix gave everyone a couple of pills. "It's not enough after long seastone exposure and god knows how many vitamins and other different nutrients deficiency but it's something. The red one contains the main antidotes for Magellan's poison, Luffy, knowing your luck you better take one right now."

"Poison?"

"Yes, Chief Warden ate Poison devil fruit, paramecia, and he's hella good with it."

"All right," Luffy gulped down the red pill. "Do you know where they keep Ace?"

"Level six," the redhead answered grimly.

"Level six?! I thought there were only five?!"

"They keep the most dangerous ones on Level Six. Anyway, I have to go. It's too early to show myself. Take care, little bros," Fenix saluted escapees with his right hand showing them his red and gold friendship bracelet.

'I and Ace have the same one but fully red...' thought Luffy. "Wait, Buggy, you have the bracelet too?"

"Of course, I have one, it's a family tradition."

"Family tradition?.." Luffy was utterly confused. 'Whatever, I'll think about it later.'

D will bring the storm they say… Yet they have no idea how big it’ll be.

Chapter Text

Flashback

Six years ago

Ace was staring at a bright red string bracelet with his name he found at their hideout. For as long as he could remember, he always received little presents for his birthdays. It could be fine clothes, delicious sweets, or a full kit of medical supplies. Sometimes Ace got information about the world or even about his mother. He still couldn't believe that his mom was a pirate captain, and shitty gramps never told a thing!

Though this gift was different, it felt special, like family. 

"Look, Ace, I got one too! Late Santa brought us matching bracelets!" Luffy was jumping around excitedly. "Isn't it cool?!"

Since they didn't know who was behind this charity, boys started to call them "Late Santa" which was much better than "Mysterious Gift-Giver" Luffy suggested later.

"Yeah, it's really cool," Ace nodded to his brother before putting the bracelet on his arm. "Do you feel anything from it?"

Luffy tilted his head as if he was listening to something, "Mmmm, it's warm. Like a hug from Ace or gramps!" 

"Hmm, true," teenager wondered what was so special about this gift?

End of flashback

On the deepest level of Impel Down, Ace was torturing himself with worry over his silly younger brother. What if he gets himself killed?! What did he do to deserve this idiot?

Ace heard the loud steps of another pair of guards. 

"What happened? It's too soon for the change of guards?" they asked by officers on duty.

"Miss Violet happened. She ordered us to 'clean up this pirate scum for his last day of glory," the one with blond hair shrugged. "You know her delicate sense of beauty." 

"Haha, that's right!" the guards laughed and let the two into the cell. 

Ace glared at the newcomers and growled, "Didn't know a guy could get a service like that in this hellhole." 

"We're always happy to please," sagely nodded the one with freckles and greyish blue hair. He bowed closer to the prisoner and whispered, "Now shut up and listen carefully kid, we don't have a lot of time. You're gonna take some meds and let us check your wounds, and you won't show or tell anything about it, 'kay?" 

"Who are you?" Ace frowned.

The man lifted his hand and showed his golden-red friendship bracelet to the young man, "Your family," the man smiled. Then he raised his voice and said, "Don't make my job more difficult, you damn brat."

The world didn't make any sense to Ace. These guys didn't look like Whitebeard Pirates, and Ace could remember Haruta's whining about the absence of his spies in Impel Down. He didn't have any other family except whitebeards and Luffy with gramps, did he? So who were they? Also, they had the same type of friendship bracelet, and wasn't it curious?

Fake guards wiped sweat and blood away with a wet cloth, and the freckled man asked quietly, "Ya ready for some meds? Mainly vitamins and some antibiotics, a bit for your narcolepsy too, nothing too strong though."

"How do I know it's not poison?" 

"This was a pretty stupid question, and you know it, kid," the greyhead signed. "They want to kill you in Marineford for the whole world to see the end of Roger's legacy, so killing you here wouldn't help them with that. And if we were somebody else with a grudge against our old man, you'd be dead ages ago."

Ace's whole body tensed at his words.

"Wha-gh?" Portgas was interrupted before he could cry out loud in shock as he gulped down some pills.

"To be honest, I would prefer an injection if it wasn't so dirty here."

"How did you know?! What do you mean "our" old man?!" he whispered angrily.

"I said what I said."

The man stiffened, looked at his partner, and glanced to the remaining guards. The blond nodded and walked over to the guards starting a friendly chat. The man discretely took out a small Den Den Mushi and answered the call, "What is it?"

"Luffy's getting his ass handed to him by Magellan," was heard a panicked growl.

Both men froze.

"You..you did give him the antidote? Right?!"

"Of course, I did! But the kid wouldn't stop, he's covered in poison like a fish in the water. At this rate, the antidote will only buy him some time, nothing more!" Fenix exhaled sharply, "I left them barely twenty minutes ago, and now Luffy's being dragged to The Level Five. Brilliant."

"Maybe we just throw all the plans in the trash and start a riot like, I dunno, right fucking now?"

"Great plan, and who's gonna take care of the little Monkey? We don't have enough people here."

Suddenly loud shout cut their hushed discussion short, "Hey, are you done there?"

"Yeah, we're good," the man stashed Baby Den Den Mushi inside his pocket as Ace watched him intently. "He's going to be okay we'll make sure of it, though I guess we'll see each other again in the Marineford after all. Try to get some sleep, little bro," the man murmured and left the prisoners' cell.

Ace clenched his fists, shut his eyes, and inhaled slowly, he didn't understand what was going on, but these people seemed to care about him and his brother. And this man called him "little bro", could he actually be?.. But gramps would have known if Roger had other kids, wouldn't he?

"Ace, are you all right?" asked Jinbei.

"I'm not... I'm truly not."

"Where is he?!"

"I don't know! He should be somewhere here."

"Fuck, it's freezing."

Two people were running around the fifth level of hell looking for the Strawhat.

"Maybe we should ask other prisoners? I think I heard about Hannibal leading Buggy and the Wax guy here, which sounded kinda off..."

"That's... a good idea, Clint, let's do it."

Two shadows neared the cells and asked prisoners if they saw anything strange lately only to be laughed at. They started to get desperate when one of the freezing men mumbled something about idiots trying to save a dead man. Pair of men shared a glance and ran to the pirate, "What do you know?!"

"I ain't know shit, hahah-rgh," the old man coughed from pain after being punched in the gut.

"Talk. Fast."

"O-okama was lu-looking for the Revolutionary Iv-vankov," he wheezed.

"Oh, fuck..." Fenix’s eyes widened before he pinched his nose.

"What?"

"I know where they are, but I don't know where they are... "

"Again, what?"

"There were rumors about suspicious disappearances from different levels and Ivankov was one of them. There was also a certain wrongness in financial reports concerning food rations, so we think they might be hiding somewhere in the prison. Between walls or levels… We are yet to locate the escapees, but other guards think they just died and got eaten.”

“You think Okama dude will be able to find them?”

“No, but they made enough noise to be found,” the man shook his head.

“Oh, god. Ivankov’s bullshit medicine…”

Chapter Text

"I think I found a passage!" exclaimed Clint in relief. 

"Fucking finally! It's been eight hours already," Fenix exhaled desperately.

Two men ran quickly through hidden corridors. They neared a bunch of voices when Half-and-Half bastard stood in their way, body tense and ready to fight.

"Revolutionary Inazuma, I presume?" Clint asked politely and slightly bowed his head. "My name is Clint, and this is my brother Fenix. We're looking for Strawhat Luffy and Okama... Bon Clay was his name if I'm not mistaken. Would you be so kind as to help us?"

"Who are you, and how did you find us?" man's face didn't betray a thing, though his posture relaxed if only a little. 

"We are friends, maybe not with you directly and definitely not with Ivankov, but care about Luffy. Thus, we’d like to see him, and you won't be able to stop us. However, we would prefer to come to your hideout on friendly terms."

"Oh, you might know our sister Sara, can we go now?" mentioned the redhead. He was extremely worried about Luffy being under Ivankov’s care.

"Sara is your sister?" Inazuma considered for a moment and nodded. "Follow me."

They entered the hidden door, and, after a couple of turns, the sounds of the party could be heard. In a dressing room, a big-headed okama with an afro looked curiously at the intruders and asked, “And who might you be, sweethearts? Want to accept your true selves? Then you came to the right person!"

Fenix pulled out a gun and pointed it at Ivankov, "Don't you dare to get your manicure anywhere near me if you don’t want to lose those fingers to do a fancy nail art on."

"Why so hostile?! I am wounded! I think I might even die from being so upset... I'm dying, dying… I’m fine! Hee-haw!" 

Brothers looked unimpressed by his dramatics.

"Ok, so where's Luffy and Bon Clay?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"…We can bust your little heaven. People outside know where to find us," Clint deadpanned.

Revolutionaries narrowed their eyes.

 "You wouldn’t do that," Inazuma took a sip of wine. 

Both men shrugged and Clint pointed, "But we could."

"Where are they?!" Fenix’s doctor senses were ringing all of his alarm bells.

"Bon-boy is still unconscious, and Luffy... He's fighting for his life, I injected him with my miracle hormones! He will either live or die."

Clint put his hand before his brother to keep him at bay for a moment. "Nix, one more second. Chances of survival?"

"Around three percent at best."

"He's all yours."

"YOU FUCKING FRAUD! SHITTY MANIAC, BE GANGBANGED BY SEVEN GIANTS, YOU HAVE NO DAMN RIGHT TO PLAY WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S BODIES LIKE THAT!"

"Boy would have died without my miracle hormones!"

"HE TOOK THE ANTIDOTE, HE NEEDED ACTUAL MEDICAL HELP AND ANOTHER DOSE OF DRUGS!"

"I didn't know that! And my hormones help!" was Emporio’s indignant retort.

"They could help if you had an actual medical training which you skipped!" Fenix evened his breath and counted to ten until he could regain control other himself. Holy shit, this is the most emotional he’s been in years! "I ask you again. Where are they?"

Ivankov didn't like them, that much was obvious, however, he still took them to Mr.2. "He's still unconscious but he should be up in a couple of hours."

 Bon Clay looked mostly fine; he had visible signs of exhaustion, malnutrition, and frostbite but nothing critical. Fenix was rather relieved that the Okama dude was fine. He was cool.

"And Luffy?"

"This way."

Heartbreaking screams of agony were heard from behind the massive chained door. Luffy had been fighting the poison for many hours now, but the torture never ended. 

"You’re so damn lucky we may still need you later…" growled Clint. They stayed near the door in silent support. It took all their self-restraint not to dissect a certain ‘Miracle Worker’.

Two hours later Mr. 2 finally woke up and joined them in their watch, loudly screaming his encouragements. His example was contagious and soon all the inhabitants of Newkama Land were shouting words of support for Strawhat Luffy.

"You better start cooking," Clint offhandedly commented eight hours later.

"Why?" asked Inazuma playing with his glass of wine.

"Kid's gonna be hungry enough to eat a herd of horses,” the man shrugged.

"You think he is going to make it? And so soon?"

"Yes. It would take him around a day in other circumstances. Should be faster now."

"Then I'll tell others to start cooking. Anything specific?"

"Meat. Lots of meat."

An hour later the chained door was broken with a blast and the kid announced his fist demand.

"FOOD!"

After almost an hour of devouring everything edible in Newkama Land, Luffy finally looked around. That’s when he noticed a certain redhead he’s met before.

"Oh, I know you! Who’re you?"

"DO YOU KNOW HIM OR NOT?!" shouted newkamas in exasperation.

"I didn’t introduce myself? Ah, right, I didn’t. My name is Fenix and this is Clint," the freckled man bowed playfully after being introduced. "We’re Ace’s relatives, so we’re your family too."

"Relatives?! But I’ve never seen you before," the boy tilted his head.

"Your grandpa is a menace, so we helped from afar," Clint showed off his bracelet.

"Friendship bracelet! Late Santa visits you too?" oh my god, what a pure baby boy.

"Mm, not really. We were working as Late Santa to be honest," as fun as keeping it a secret would be, he needed him to know that.

"Oh!" did he understand? "So you are actually ‘Mysterious Gift-Givers’! I knew I was right!" he hit the open palm with his fist with the face of a man who uncovered all mysteries of the universe.

 This kid is something else…

After a little bit of rest revolutionaries, fake guards and Luffy ran to the Eternal Hell. They fought everyone they met, going as fast as possible only to find that they were too late.

Clint and Fenix looked at each other with a silent question.

"What the hell? We're late? I thought we had at least an hour before they were supposed to transfer him to the Marineford," Fenix muttered at a loss. Their sources were pretty sure that Ace had to be taken at eight o’clock sharp.

Jinbei hurriedly told them that guards just left and they still had a chance to save Ace in Impel Down, though destroyed elevator, traps, and sleeping gas stopped them from the pursuit. 

As Ivankov stated the pointlessness of their crusade Luffy made his goal to go to the war clear, "If I gave up, I’d regret it forever! I’m going!"

"So, we're stuck on this level?"

"If you want to get out of here, then release me from my bonds. I could open a hole in the ceiling of this room! How about it, Straw Hat?" chuckled Crocodile as he stood up and came closer to them from the shadows.

"You! You were locked up in here?!" exclaimed Luffy.

"I am interested in this war. To think the day would come when I might have a chance of taking Whitebeard’s head… With my power, we both could escape from this place. Not a bad deal, you agree?"

"Don’t screw with me! You tried to ruin Vivi’s country!" growled Luffy in anger.

"All in the past. I am no longer interested in that land."

"Let us free him Strawhat-boy, he’s a valuable asset to us," Iva said seriously. 

"WHAAT?! IVA-CHAN! THIS GUY IS..." protested Monkey.

"Ivankov," former Shichibukai gritted his teeth.

"Mufufu… I know a precious weakness of his! Though if he helps us, then I’ll stay quiet about it, hee-haw!"

Other prisoners decided it was their chance and boldly asked to be freed as well. Emporio angrily blinked at them, however one voice was heard.

"I beg of you all! Take me with you too! I know Ace, have known him since he first joined the Whitebeard pirates. I want to save Ace!" shouted Jinbei from his cell.

Luffy judged him for a few moments and agreed to save him.

Fenix looked around and left them to bicker with each other five minutes ago. He had a person to retrieve. 

"Fenix, where have you been?" asked Inazuma the moment redhead returned.

"Wait, is this Catarina Devon?!" frowned Knight of the Sea. 

"Yes," passively nodded the man.

"Why did you let her out?! She’s crazy and she won’t help us!" screeched Ivankov.

"I and my twin sister have a birthday in two weeks," said redhead as if it explained anything. "And she’d unconscious, relax. I plan to keep her this way."

"Oh! Kitsune will be over the moon!" Clint gasped excitedly. "But how are you planning to keep it a secret?"

"Well, I don’t? She’s too good at finding hidden presents, so it’ll be an early one," Fenix shrugged nonchalantly.

The saving party soon left Level Six.

As guards came in and marveled at a strange path to the ceiling, Shiryu used his chance to get out of the cell and offered his help to deal with prisoners.

"Why don’t you send a word to Magellan that I’d be willing to lend him a hand?" ex-Head Jailer smiled viciously.  

"Violet, they want to let Shiryu out of his cell to help with riots," fretted the blond man. 

"So I've heard... Collin?"

"He is staying low, though he handed most keys and red pills to Buggy and Waxy. It's up to us to deal with that psycho."

"Let's see. If they let him out, he'll attack guards, probably destroy cameras and most means to get in touch with Marineford, which is good. He's also a bloody maniac who's getting off by killing for fun. George, will you be able to deal with him?"

"Not after they let him free, it's now or never."

"Then go, I'll try to cover you, but if anything happens you have to run and join others," frowned the purple-haired woman.

"I know, I'm gonna be fine."