Chapter Text
Coby remembers meeting Luffy, and ever since that moment he's been waiting for the day when he stops thinking that his captain is invincible. (It doesn't happen.) At first, he'd chalked it up to childish hero-worship, Luffy had single-handedly rescued Coby from imprisonment and allowed him to become a marine after all. As the years passed though, and Coby watched his captain grow, and in fact, be defeated at times... the feeling doesn't go away. It's not Luffy's abilities that Coby admires so fiercely, it's that his captain's spirit never breaks.
When Coby is tasked with a blood-stained, burned and exhausted Luffy, a Luffy who's tear tracks are so pronounced they've left muddied trails across the soot that covers his face. Coby holds on, easily carrying the weight as he feels arms wrap around him and blood stain his clothes. He holds on and tries to bite down his own feeling of despair and not look where Vice-Admiral Garp lays, cold and dead and smiling. Always getting the last laugh.
He carries his captain towards the retreat, covered by men he has only seen in wanted posters. Coby is a pirate now. He's a pirate now and they won and Luffy has been strong for Coby all this time, and Coby will be strong for him now. Even if he doesn't feel strong right then.
Nami stands at the railing long before Brook has ran over the water and joined their squad in leaving Marineford. She stands there long after the Headquarters are out of sight. She's so incapable of moving that Franky approaches her for directions and Nami mumbles something out, but does not look away from whence they came. Not until they dusk hits and Marineford is far away enough to be a nightmare. Then, she finally allows herself to cry.
God, Nami had been so scared.
Sanji cannot believe Vice-Admiral Garp is dead.
When Sanji met Luffy, 17 and scrawny, a marine captain, he'd made a... rough first impression. His grandfather and he, who'd gotten on top the Baratie to eat it out of stock apparently were obviously marines, but they didn't act like any marines Sanji had ever known. All cheerful laughter and violent affection.
It was Garp who'd grabbed Sanji's attention before his future captain, when that Fullbody had been been making an ass out of himself and Garp had humiliated him in return. It'd been beautiful, the utter and complete dismissal. When Gin ousted Zeff as a pirate, Sanji had been gearing up to fight the mariens if he had to, but none of them reacted. (He'd later understand that Luffy's squad was special.)
Garp -admittedly the bigger threat- had also denied it: 'Pirates could never cook this well, don't be stupid and let me enjoy my food in peace' and then 'this could be good training' and proceeded to grab Luffy by the scruff of his coat and throw him towards Krieg 'handle it, grandson'.
He'd certainly been unique, that man.
Zoro stays close to his captain.
Chopper's worried about the beating Zoro took, but Zoro isn't. His body is nothing but a medium for his will and his will is fine. His muscles and tendons and organs just need to catch on that he has no plans of stopping. It's on a day where he's against the far corner of the infirmary, resting against the wall during one of those episodes where Luffy is eating while asleep and Sanji's making sure he doesn't accidentally choke, when the cook asks:
"I heard you and Mihawk went at it." Sanji's voice is nonchalant, but Zoro has known him a long enough ti know he's curious. "...Did you break your promise?" Zoro doesn't need him to specify. There is a very small number of people who were privy to his humiliating defeat all those years ago, and to the first oath he took since Kuina. Zoro smirks, single eye looking at Sanji from the corner.
"What makes you think I lost?" He asks, and takes great pleasure in how Sanji needs to scramble to catch the cigarette he drops from opening his mouth in surprise. His eyes are shining when he looks at Zoro, piercing.
"Did you w-" Zoro's shaking head, amused at the other man.
"It was a tie." His eyes drift toward Luffy, the man where it all began. "This battle wasn't about us. It wasn't the time." He clutches Wado Ichimonji, bringing it further into his embrace and feels the burn of promise. "Next time for sure though." He meets Sanji's eyes. "Next time, I'm taking his head."
Meeting his father is a surreal experience. Ussop knows he existed, of course he did, but knowing it and seeing it are just two very different things and he's almost a little embarased by the way his heart keeps fluttering. They look at eachohter and there's just so much to say, they shoot off a mile a minute.
"I can't believe how much you slowed down Sengoku the Buddha! Some of Whitebeard's men told me the Fleet Admiral looked ready to snap!"
"And you? Landing hits on Kizaru, that's insane!"
They've spoken at the same time, it's embarassing and awkward and there's a lifetime of just not knowing eachother that seems almost too daunting to cross but they're brave men of the sea.
Ussop has dreamt about it for so long it almost sounds like one more lie but he just fought in a war to rescue his captain, and they won! If this doesn't make him a brave warrior of the sea, what does? Not to mention he's a wanted man now.
His father and him keep exchanging brief topics, first about the war -gruesome but still one of the few things they have in common and then his father's eyes go far in the horizon, and he stands to lean in the crow's nest.
"Did you... not want to be a pirate?" His father is hesitant and Ussop guesses he's not the only one worried about his shortcomings.
"When Luffy asked for my dream I told him I wanted to be a 'brave warrior of the sea'" Ussop laughs. "It was such bullshit, I grew up admiring you my entire life, but I wasn't exactly going to tell that to a marine officer."
"A smart move." He says, relieved, and then, "I'm sorry I wasn't there." Once, maybe his words would've been important to Ussop. Maybe when he was still a child and his mother had just passed and he'd wondered what could possible be out there? What could be out there to take someone away and for them to never return?
He knows now.
"We all have our own adventure to live." Ussop says. It's not forgiveness because there's none to give, but it's an acknowledgement of care. The thing is, Ussop doesn't think Yassop would change any of it. "It all worked out clearly, I somehow did end up becoming a pirate"
"Anchor was always meant to be a pirate!" The older pirate says, grinning, with that same look the Red Hair Pirates get when they're talking about Luffy. All of them call him Anchor, which Ussop cannot wait to exploit once his captain is awake.
"You know? I got into an argument with another offcier once." He tells his dad, because Ussop had never once thought that Luffy wasn't meant to be a marine. Maybe he'd been too young to see it, or too idealistic. "Ages ago, he seemed to think that Luffy was very flippant or... selective with his implementation of Justice."
"I was really shocked when I found out he'd joined the marines." His father comments, pondering.
"Maybe for you it was werid, but I didn't know Luffy wanted to be a pirate until like, two weeks ago. Anyways, I ended up punching the guy in the face, I remember because I had never really punched anyone before, but in that moment I couldn't help but thinking that Luffy -even without knowing about the collar- I knew he got into a lot of trouble only for doing what was right. As the son of a pirate, it would've taken a miracle for me to get promoted, but I never cared about that. I was happy, because with Luffy I knew I was working for Justice, true Justice. I've always thought Justice is about freedom."
"It makes me very glad you chose to follow him." Yassop says, and he's talking about Luffy but he's looking at Ussop with something glassy in his eyes.
"Yeah." He replies, grinning and touched himself. He guesses he hasn't outgrown that part of him that wanted to make his father proud. "Me too."