"Damn it. Let me go. I'll capture that bastard myself." Screams echoed through the North Blue Marine headquarters as the medical center was torn apart by magma, and marine soldiers were flung around like ragdolls by a man consumed by rage and humiliation.
Barsalino didn't even try to get closer to his friend. He simply watched waves upon waves of marine soldiers attempt to grab and calm down the commander of North Blue. He had just finished writing up a report, and as he set down his pen, he felt as though he could become a screenwriter back in Mary Geoise. The story he had woven to justify the near-destruction of North Blue's best shipbuilding island was unlike anything the world had ever seen.
When he finished, he picked up the Den Den Mushi and called straight to Marineford. Sengoku's Den Den Mushi rang, and seeing it was Barsalino, he was surprised enough to pick up, only to hear news that destroyed his mood far more thoroughly than the towers of paperwork surrounding him.
"Get Sakazuki on a ship to Marineford as soon as he wakes up, and get him on the phone as well. I want to speak with him. I want a detailed report. DO NOT DO ANYTHING STUPID UNTIL YOU REACH HERE." He slammed the receiver so hard it nearly broke the Den Den Mushi.
Barsalino could only sigh in exhaustion. Now that Sakazuki was awake, they had to be on their way to Marineford. Seeing that his anger only grew with each passing moment, Barsalino finally decided to step in, much to the relief of the poor marine soldiers nursing their broken bones.
"Alright, Sakazuki, we can't stay here any longer. The Fleet Admiral ordered both of us on the first ship back to Marineford the moment you woke up. Now that you have, let's get going," he said, walking up and placing himself in Sakazuki's path. The response he was met with, however, was a magma fist aimed straight at his face.
Barsalino was no ordinary slouch. Were it not for his laziness, he had more than enough strength to contest the commander of North Blue and possibly even beat him. His right arm blazed in kind, meeting Sakazuki's punch head-on, and the soldiers around them were blown back several meters from the shockwave.
Sakazuki's face was red with fury, but the resistance from Barsalino seemed to cool him down just enough to reclaim a sliver of rational thought. He stared at Barsalino with undiminished rage.
"Why are you stopping me, Barsalino? We can head back to Marineford after I kill that little pest of a pirate. I shouldn't have let him live all those years ago, and I can't make the same mistake now. You should have captured him after I was done with him. He belongs in a cell deep underground in Impel Down."
Barsalino's eyebrows rose at the suggestion of throwing a new pirate from North Blue into the most secure prison in the entire world, but he brushed the comment aside. "Those are direct orders from Fleet Admiral Sengoku. He wants both of us on the first ship back to Marineford, no delays, no detours. As for going after Lucien Vosgrave? The latest intel has them already approaching the Reverse Mountain and they'll climb it within the next few days. Even if we left now, catching up would be impossible. So stay calm. The Fleet Admiral also wants to hear from you as soon as possible, so I'd make that call if I were you," explained Barsalino as he turned and walked out of the room.
Sakazuki finally calmed down as he watched Barsalino leave, but the moment his mind drifted back to his last encounter with Lucien and how his own body had seemed to disobey him, his hatred surged all over again.
'Just you wait, Vosgrave. Your death will come at my hands. I will do anything to wipe pirates from this world.'
"Get me a Den Den Mushi to Marineford," he ordered the soldiers around him as he pulled on his Marine coat. His fight with Lucien had not left him with serious injuries, only bruises and a few cracked bones.
Taking the Den Den Mushi from a soldier's hands, he drew a deep breath and called directly to Sengoku's office.
"Yes?"
"Captain Sakazuki reporting to the Fleet Admiral."
"SAKAZUKI! Do you have any idea what you have done? Destroying an entire island just to catch a small-time pirate in the North Blue? And you have nothing to show for it, absolutely nothing. I sent you and Barsalino back to North Blue as a reward for graduating at the top of your class, and you went ahead and ran amok?"
"I do not want to hear anything from you. No excuses. It seems like Zephyr's training has started to wear off. Come back to Marineford right now." He slammed the Den Den Mushi so hard it shattered completely.
When Sengoku had originally received the call from Barsalino, he assumed it was simply a request to return to the Grand Line. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that a marine he held in such high regard would have acted like a rogue and nearly destroyed an island over one pirate.
He had almost gone mad with anger, and his mood only worsened when he looked up to find another brute sitting in his office, feet propped up on the coffee table, helping himself to Sengoku's favourite rice crackers, which had been specially sourced from his favourite shop.
"GARP, GET OUT OF MY OFFICE. HOW DARE YOU EAT MY STASH RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME?"
Sengoku had to take a few deep breaths to calm down as he watched Garp swagger out of his office while laughing carefree before looking at the 3 posters that showed the people responsible for his current anger and their new bounties.
"Let's see how you will survive in the Grand Line, Aldric's son."
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