“Ha!”Margaret jumped at Elder Nyon’s elated shriek. Luffy swiveled his neck to stare at the little old lady, doing an amazing impression of an owl.“Something the matter, Nyon-sama?” Margaret enquired lightly, as she placed the second cup of tea in front of her Elder.“It seems the Marines tried to make a move against Whitebeard. It appears to have backfired on them!” the old woman crowed. “That’ll teach ‘em. Counting their snakes before they’ve hatched. Ridiculous.”“Whitebeard?” Luffy asked, curiosity instantly peaked at the mention of his brother’s Captain.“Hm,” the Elder stared hard at him over the top of her paper. “Please tell me you’ve at least heard of Whitebeard,” she growled, obviously still sore over Luffy’s lack of knowledge of her Empress’ Warlord status. Luffy had no idea why she was so offended; he never read the news, it was boring and never had enough pictures.“I’ve heard of Whitebeard,” Luffy parroted back dutifully as he joined them at the small table.“That’s something at least,” Elder Nyon grumbled. Margaret shook her head with a fond but exasperated smile. “The Marines were getting ready to receive one of Whitebeard’s top subordinates who’d been captured,” Elder Nyon explained. “They put in a summons for everyone, including the Warlords, to make their way to Marineford. It certainly would’ve been a pain trying to convince our Snake Princess to attend,” she added darkly.“Why did they need everyone?” Margaret asked, as Luffy took a sip of tea.“Ah,” the Elder skimmed the article again. “They were planning to announce the public execution of Portgas D. Ace,” she said.Luffy froze, his heart thudding a mile a minute in his chest. He must have made some sound as Margaret turned to him in concern.“What’s wrong?”“Who?” Luffy stammered instead of answering her, carefully setting down his mug, hands trembling.“Ace. Fire Fist Ace,” Elder Nyon supplied. “Pirate Blackbeard contacted the Marines and informed them he would hand over Fire Fist Ace if they gave him Warlord status,” she explained, seemingly unaware of the inner turmoil currently assaulting her guest.Luffy had to remind himself to breathe as the world suddenly seemed to fold in on him. He blinked rapidly to try and clear himself of the black spots threatening to overwhelm him.“Granny,” he whispered, and he wasn’t at all surprised his voice sounded like he had swallowed a frog, but the old woman continued on as if she hadn’t heard him.“The Marines were going to take advantage of the large chip they gained against Whitebeard but-”“Granny!” The two women jumped as Luffy leapt to his feet and grasped the old woman’s shoulders, the young captain desperately trying to remain gentle despite his terror. Margaret had lurched to her knees and Luffy was under no illusion that if he had been anyone else, he would’ve have been tossed half way down the mountain already. As it was, he was rather grateful for her show of restraint. “He’s my big brother! Ace is my big brother!” he yelled, shaking the old woman as much as he dared.“What?!” Elder Nyon easily shook of the rubber hands and stood up in her chair in order to be eye level with Luffy. “He’s your brother?” She shared a stunned glance with Margaret.“I didn’t even realised he’d been captured,” Luffy exclaimed, fists clenched tightly, mind racing with half a dozen scenarios, each one making him feel even sicker than the last. “What do you mean ‘executed’? Does that mean he can’t get out of it?” he demanded, heart hammering in his chest.Not again…I can’t lose one of them again...Ace…Luffy whipped off his precious straw hat and began to fumble with the ribbon. To his surprise, Elder Nyon simply huffed and calmly sat herself down again.“You really ought to at least try to keep up with the goings on in the world,” she reprimanded as she primly gathered up the battered newspaper.“Nyon-sama,” Margaret pleaded, as she watched Luffy fight with his hat and nearly drop it in his panic.“If you’d have let me finish,” Elder Nyon glared at the pair, “you’d know by now your brother is already safe.”Luffy paused as his finger finally came into contact with Ace’s vivre card.“Safe?” he repeated, sinking to the floor like a puppet whose string had just been cut. He slowly released his death grip on his hat and it slid from his lap.