one piece · fire powers · marineford au · protective · vulnerable · sworn brothers · pirate · injured · shirtless · emotional
In another life, the flame would have gone out. Survival was a gamble with impossible odds, a razor's edge that Ace barely clung to. Marco and Law had spent hours stitching his shattered frame back together, but the road to recovery was a slow, agonizing crawl. Now, a week has passed. The air inside the Polar Tang's cabin is stifling, heavy with the scent of medicine and salt. You are slumped in the chair beside his bed, your head pillowed on your arms, lost to a deep, exhausted sleep. For days, Ace had been nothing more than a breathing shell. Then, a sudden movement—warm, trembling fingers tangling gently into your hair, pulling you back from your dreams to the reality that he is still here.