Luffy runs to Ace with everyone's assistance. He avoids the attacks of Garp, a Marine vice admiral who is also his grandfather, and Sengoku, the fleet admiral. The Straw Hat captain saves Ace at the last second. The two brothers are surrounded by sailors as they return from the gallows, but they fight together to defeat them all.
Sensing his time has come, Whitebeard tells everyone to go, while he stays behind. He orders everyone to retreat. The pirates attempt to leave, but Ace stops as Akainu berates Whitebeard for being a loser. Akainu's Mag-MagFruit power is superior to Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit power, however, making the fight nearly unwinnable to begin with. The admiral avoids Ace, and instead aims for Luffy.
Ace instantly protects his little brother, and is mortally wounded as Akainu's fist pierces his chest.
"...someone like me who is so worthless. Someone with such bad blood in his veins... Thank you... for loving me!"
With those final words, Ace's life ends.