~1 Day After the War~
In the aftermath of the worst day in living memory, amidst the world's forces squabbling over power in the sudden imbalance, a happy few nations were able to disregard the new storm and return to some semblance of normalcy.
From the outside, Impel Down seemed to be one of them. Only those within its walls knew better, and none more than the five executives and three outsiders currently sitting in the Warden's office.
"An armistice with Sea Kings," Magellan said, frowning heavily. "We owe you much for saving this prison. Our home, our lives, the lives of many beyond the walls of this place… But your actions, however beneficial, do not excuse any potential crimes that you might have committed in achieving such ends."
"The Whitebeards broke through the Marines' lines with the aid of two Sea Kings that were unnaturally cooperative," Domino stated with clinical precision. "In all of recorded history, the ability to tame Sea Kings has never been confirmed beyond the level of rumour, even counting the incidents that involved a Conqueror. If that can be called 'taming', even. Did they use the same alliance?"
"Yes," Smoker answered immediately. "Except that we were the ones using their alliance. There's been bad blood between the Sea Kings and the World Government for centuries, so when they found out exactly what the black flag meant, they decided to ease up on attacking pirate ships. Those of us who aren't pirates have to rely on the password—" His grimace deepened, but there was no choice but to reveal the truth. "—that Cross gave us."
The room's atmosphere suddenly became three times thicker, though the three Masons didn't visibly react.
"So, you are collaborating with him," Magellan bit out darkly.
Furious as he sounded, it was a positive sign that the room wasn't currently a toxic hell zone. Still, the stares coming their way were becoming more and more scathing by the second.
"You came here to facilitate Straw Hat Luffy's jailbreak."
Hannyabal himself might not have carried much weight, but his words were spoken like a death sentence. Which, in this room and company, they might as well have been.
"That was the price," Tashigi confirmed without a shred of remorse. "One we were perfectly willing to pay, given how Luffy is genuinely a good person, as I'm certain everyone in this room can agree upon—" Tashigi took solace in the fact that the room's atmosphere momentarily abated, the Wardens grimacing. "—but still the price we had to pay. They undermined Justice by ignoring Ace's crimes and arranging the execution only because of his blood. We took the price because of that and because of the number of lives we could save by preventing the war and everything that came with it."
Her piece said, Tashigi's facade cracked. She slumped in her seat, her hand pressing to her face. "For all the good that that accomplished. We failed, Luffy failed, and all those people died…"
The silence that followed could only be described as 'oppressive'. After a moment, Domino cocked her head. "Are you referring to the Marines… or to the Pirates?"
Tashigi's gaze slowly lifted to stare at the Chief Guard, her gaze dead. "At what point…" she asked in a slow, low tone. "Did the loss of thousands of human lives, regardless of allegiance, stop being a tragedy?"
Five unimpressed expressions answered her. Magellan spoke again.
"Why would you do this? Turn against Justice and ally with—?"
"Against Justice?" Smoker snapped. "I've seen, over and over, that when it actually matters, the Government does whatever suits their interests and calls it Justice. I've chosen to keep my own definition. The only thing that I would disregard it for is something like this, where the alternative is a bigger bloodbath."
He folded his arms, leaning back from where he'd leaned over the desk. "The world's been rotten for a long time, and plenty of the whistleblowers wound up down here, framed or forgotten. We allied with Cross because he forced us to acknowledge the corruption, and once we did, the only choice was to act. Only with his help have we been able to recruit like-minded people to fix what's wrong with the world. And that's another big reason we came here."
At that, the jailers looked almost indignant.
"Excuse me? You confess to high treason, facilitating a break-in, consorting with the most infamous pirates in Paradise, and you expect us to pardon all of that and join you?" Mistress Sadi demanded.
"You're already considering it," Smoker countered calmly, getting a flinch from the less-disciplined members of Impel Down's staff. "If you weren't, you would have melted us into a slurry as soon as I said Cross's name."
Magellan got to his feet, staring with well-bridled anger at Smoker. "The events of the past week seem to have been designed to make us wish to rebel against the World Government. Tell me, how much of it was your doing?"
"Next to none of it," Tashigi answered immediately. "We made sure that our path to Marineford took us close to Impel Down so we would be the ones that they arranged for extra security, so that we could monitor Luffy's progress. And Isuka…" Here, Tashigi's stern confidence faded to sheepish hesitation. "Ah, w-well, she was deep-cover at the time, and was putting on a show more for any onlooking Marines than for you. She's far nicer and more polite than she acted…and, ah, very sorry about what she said, and very intent on never coming within a nautical mile of here again?"
"Good," Magellan snorted, his glare intensifying. "And? Beyond that?"
"Nothing else," Smoker answered. "We had nothing to do with those abominations; we didn't contact anyone on the outside until after Blackbeard escaped, and we didn't request Fire Fist's early transfer. If he hadn't been in chains, we could have stopped everything. What you need to understand is that we've tried sending agents in before, but never succeeded. We couldn't have done anything, even if we'd wanted to."
Magellan's frown remained as he sank back into his seat, and Saldeath spoke up.
"And what about where you were involved? How much did you facilitate the jailbreaks?"
"We did nothing to help Blackbeard, and we were as surprised about the Worlds as you were. As for Straw Hat—" Smoker jerked his head at his subordinates. "These two and Boa Hancock made sure that he made it in unnoticed. Everything else was all him, and I didn't hold back when I fought them on their way out."
"And I didn't hinder your guards in any way when we went looking for him after his escape," Tashigi added, Popora half-snorting, half-sneezing in agreement.
Hannyabal's stare narrowed suspiciously. "But you likely did know what happened to him after he escaped. Where he escaped to."
"What I know is that our justice system is inherently flawed and that you've been taking in prisoners that were condemned in rigged trials," Tashigi retorted hotly. "Meaning that there are a lot of cases that need to be re-evaluated, before their sentences, or the prisoners involved, are executed."
"We're not pretending that everything we do is just because of our end goal," Smoker continued. "But when our enemy is someone who does, lines have to be crossed. We need people like you, who won't compromise your own feelings on Justice, to make sure that when it's all over, we haven't lost ourselves along the way."
Silence fell. Hannyabal opened his mouth, but Magellan raised a hand to stop him. It was a mix of respect, habit, and just a small amount of guilt at how he had claimed his position that made the new Warden obey. Another minute passed before Magellan spoke.
"Two outside forces vying for my loyalty. Both of them are engaging in morally reprehensible acts. Prison breaks, mutinies, alliances with pirates…" He slowly dragged his glare across the Marines before him. "And all in the name… of 'The Greater Good'?"
The other jailers looked to their (ostensibly) former Warden and were a bit surprised to see that his expression had softened. He was still scowling, but the venom had abated some.
Magellan broke the lingering silence again, this time with a tired sigh. "…Your motivations are better than most I could name with the same goals, that much I will concede." And then, just as swiftly, his glare redoubled. "But what proof will you offer that you are on the correct side?"
"The fact that we're here now."
Blinks of surprise ran around the table, because rather than Smoker as they'd expected, it was Tashigi who said that.
"We put our lives on the line by telling you the truth, and we took that kind of risk because we believe that your motivations are unquestionably just. And if we're right about that… then we expect that you'll make the right choice."
On any other day, the mere idea would be blasphemy. Insanity. Nothing short of utter impossibility. But today was not 'any other day'. This was one of the days following Marineford. By the miracle of the impossible events preceding it, Magellan seemed to be at least considering the proposal laid in front of him. But his face remained grim.
"…if I were to accept. What would you expect of me?"
"All we'd ask is information and discretion," Smoker answered.
An incredulous snort ripped its way out of Domino's mouth. "You expect us to believe that?"
"Yes, because of what he'd be getting in turn," Smoker drawled. "Magellan would be one of the leaders, equal to any of the other decision-makers. Any information we have is yours to request as long as it remains in trusted hands, and we ask the same in return. Anything else is open for discussion."
Magellan tented his fingers on his desk, somehow looming even more as he stared at the possible, very vaguely possible allies arrayed before him. "…and, beyond possibly being part of something that follows Justice better than the World Government… what else do you have to offer? On a personal level."
Smoker and Tashigi exchanged looks, clearly caught slightly off-guard by this question.
"We would be your allies… your friends, if you wanted. We would fight and die alongside you as readily as any of your subordinates," Smoker ultimately answered. "We either change the world and make it out on top, together, or we'll all be sharing the same grave."
"A-And, if that isn't enough!" Tashigi piped up, a cold sweat coating her brow. "We can get you a… a steady supply of Amazon Lily's snake wine?"
Magellan's eyes shot wide. When his chest abruptly distended, and he started shaking, the Wardens all leaped for their gas masks in a panic, not wanting to get melted for these Marines' impudence.
"A-Ah, we could probably also arrange Alabastan desert strawberries?" The Inquisitor's tone hitched in mounting panic. "Or even, maybe… ah… aheh, Commodore? Help?"
Smoker didn't answer, though the sheen of sweat on his own forehead said everything. But the panic of those gathered froze into shock when all that escaped from Magellan's mouth…
"Snrk…"
Was a snort. A snort that was followed by another, and another until finally, the unprecedented happened.
"SNRK—! DOKU! DOKUKUKUKU!"
(Ex-)Warden Magellan, the living embodiment of miasma and bane of criminals the world over, clapped his hands to his belly, threw his head back, and laughed. Laughed with honest, genuine amusement.
"DOKUKUKU! You… You are the first, the first outlaws in my entire tenure at this prison, to try bribing your way out of punishment. The audacity, the gall…" He shook his head, a small smirk of amusement on his face. "You are most definitely allies of Monkey D. Luffy, however far removed."
Smoker's eyes twitched, and Tashigi fought hard not to look away, her face blazing. Popora hid his own smirk.
Magellan's smile slowly melted away into a neutral mask. Tashigi calmed her heart rate while the other four jailers tentatively removed their masks. It was a thoughtful silence permeating the room.
"…explain your organization to me," Magellan said at last. Not as a demand or an order, but a patient request.
"The New World Masons have officers on both sides of the law; the common goal uniting us is a world of freedom, with a proper balance between keeping people safe and allowing them to live as they please," Tashigi instinctively rattled off, having delivered the exact same lecture dozens of times since the founding of the Masons. "The leadership roster is divided into the Zodiac of the Divine and the Zodiac of the Damned. The Divine are Marine officers. We hold two of the six seats that are filled and plan to fill three more with the war over. The Damned, however, are outlaws. After the events of the War, we now have eight seats filled, one shared between two people. Cross is the Warden of the two groups, with only a handful of the other Straw Hats directly involved as Adjutants. Anyone below the leaders only knows as much as their CO trusts them to know."
"And the Revolutionaries?"
"Indirectly affiliated," Smoker answered. "Cross has an alliance with Dragon himself, and we have plans to establish regular communications going forward. But our operations are separate. Only the Zodiac members and the Straw Hats have the authority to contact them."
No further questions came. Minutes ticked by, the three Divine forced to exercise every scrap of discipline to not let their impatience show. The other executives, even Hannyabal, watched silently for the ex-Warden's answer.
At long last, he puffed out a sigh and raised his head to face them.
"I… will take a seat. But!" Magellan forestalled the Masons' relieved reactions with a raised finger. "It shall be one among the Damned. Keep your half among those who pretend to be subordinate to the World Government." The Warden leaned back and sat tall in his seat, as his subordinates all snapped to attention. "Impel Down flies its own flag."
The three Divine, though surprised by his request, sagged in relief. The other four jailers, while still at attention, all looked at Magellan with mixed expressions as he rose to his feet and continued to talk.
"And rest assured, this is not a declaration I make lightly: I will give the New World Masons my utmost scrutiny. Be aware! This is not a pledge of my loyalty to you, yet. You have promised transparency, and I will hold you to it. I will see what you do in the name of your Justice, what you condone, how you act. And I will make my decision whether I will support you permanently based on what I see."
The other jailers relaxed, and Hannyabal nodded as he faced them.
"You have our interest. The Government has proven itself to be lacking, so we'll give you a chance."
"But make no mistake, mmmmm, we have no issue standing alone if you prove yourselves lacking as well," Mistress Sadi continued.
"Agreed," Smoker said, rising to his feet alongside his companions. "We will answer whatever questions you have. And you'll need to choose a codename from the Eastern Zodiac; the remaining options are Rat, Horse, and Boar—and Dragon, though we've been avoiding that one for obvious reasons. As for us, there's one thing we need to know from you right now."
Magellan's eyebrows rose. The two officers exchanged looks again, nodded, and Tashigi met Magellan's gaze as she spoke.
"The seventh floor of Impel Down. We need to see it." Tashigi's gaze sharpened. "Non-negotiable. Before anything else, we need to see it immediately."
Magellan blinked slowly at the request. Otherwise, his expression remained unchanged as he answered:
"As you wish."
He rose to his feet and led the company out towards the elevator. Once it lurched downward, Magellan spoke again.
"And, by the way… I do believe that 'Boar' will suffice."
Hannyabal's face reddened, visibly forcing himself not to say the wisecrack on his tongue. Perhaps noticing this, and knowing it was a losing battle, Mistress Sadi took the chance to ask the biggest question left on the jailers' minds:
"…really, though. 'Joy Boy?'"
Their soon-to-be allies sighed heavily.
"Don't ask," Tashigi stated fervently. "Cross is the one who set it up. We don't know, they don't want us to know, and frankly, none of us particularly want to know either."
Domino slowly turned her head to eyeball the Marine.
"I take it he annoys you a bit as well, then?"
The only response to that was Popora throwing his head back and cackling.
~Present~
"FLAME FENCE!"
A wall of fire, twenty feet high and half again as thick, roared to life between Ace and the remaining troops around the execution platform. It curved around, protecting their flanks, and he knew he didn't need to close the rear. His crew, his family, had that avenue well-covered.
"There, that should buy us a little time," Ace declared. He turned to his brother. "Now—"
CLONK!
Suddenly, Ace found himself squatting, clutching a goose egg on the top of his skull. Above him, Luffy loomed, looking more pissed off than Ace had ever seen him, with his pipe tapping steadily in his hand. It was not an expression he liked. But for the moment, one question was ringing in Ace's ringing skull.
"How even?!" he demanded of his Paradise-level little brother.
"Sea prism stone," Luffy answered bluntly. "That was for being a dumbass even after Cross told you not to!"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" Ace protested. "I got help, just like he said! How was I supposed to guess that a freaking Admiral would show up just when I was about to win?!"
Luffy blinked. "Oh." Then he squinted slightly at Ace. "Are you going to say something about how you don't deserve to be rescued?"
"I mean, not anymore. I'd like to think I'm past that at this point."
Luffy grinned, and something in Ace's chest untangled. "Shishishi! That's fine, then."
"Good, because I've got something to say, too." And with that, Ace coated his fist in Armament and socked Luffy square in the nose, knocking him on his ass.
"Ow! Ace, what was that for?" Luffy wailed, clutching his bleeding nose.
"That was for being a dumbass yourself and charging into Hell behind me!" he snapped, before reaching out his hand and hauling Luffy to his feet, wrapping him in a one-armed hug. "This is for coming to save me."
Somehow, Luffy's grin grew even wider. "Shishishishi! No problem, Ace!"
Off to the side, Jinbe, Isuka, and Lucci watched the byplay with bemused expressions. "Are they always like this?" Lucci asked.
"Yes," the other two said together.
"Guys, as touching as this reunion is, we're on the clock, and the two-minute warning is about to hit. We need to go." There was a pause, and then Cross added, with more venom than Ace had ever heard from the man, "And so help me, if a single one of you morons says 'we made it' while that fortress is still on your horizon, no power in this world or any other will save you from my judgment."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Ace hastily and truthfully replied. He turned to regard the other fighters near him, nodding respectfully at Jinbe and squinting briefly at Lucci, before turning back to the battlefield behind them. It was, naturally, a complete clusterfuck that defied his attempts to make any sense of it. "Alright, what's our plan for getting out of here?"
"Um, well…"
Of all the people to open the planning session, Luffy had been the last person Ace expected. So he damn near dropped the two items Luffy tossed at him. The first, a bottle, he was pretty sure had more of that seaweed alcohol, and he could already think of a few uses for it. The latter, though, made him hesitate.
"Ace," Luffy cut in, drawing a surprised flinch. "It's okay. Use it. It's why I brought it."
Ace hesitated a bit longer, but ultimately, he gave the item a much more appreciative once-over.
"Well, when you put it that way…"
~o~
"Hey, wait! If you're all giving me something to bring along, then I should bring something too, shouldn't I? My own item?"
"To… yourself?"
"No, for Ace! He'll probably need some help once I get him out, right?"
"That… actually makes sense."
"I'd check for signs of the apocalypse, but that feels a bit on the nose at the moment."
"Still, what'll you take, then? What the hell could give a New World-grade Logia who can turn into a one-man inferno that little extra edge?"
Luffy gave it a moment's thought. A long moment's thought.
"I know one thing."
~o~
FWOOSH!
The temperature of the air surrounding the would-be escapees spiked ever higher as Ace coated the pipe in his hand with his power, doubling the makeshift weapon's length in flame.
"Who the hell am I to refuse?" the flame-man chuckled to himself, draping the portable pillar of flames to rest across his shoulders. "Right, this'll definitely help, but as good as it is to be armed, I was hoping for an actual plan."
"Simple. A fighting retreat back to your ships. Whitebeard should have left at least one remaining on the seabed as a contingency," Lucci intoned.
Ace nodded. "Sounds like the old man. Then it seems we need to link up with the rest of the Whitebeards. Unless… Cross, do you have anything to add?"
"No. You know where the Division Commanders are, they're your best bet," Cross declared fervently, his heretofore calm, even voice starting to rise. "They should be disengaged shortly, and after that, all you need to do is run. Run, keep running, and no matter what, don't stop, don't you dare stop for even a single—GRGH!"
Suddenly, a hacking cough echoed through the battlefield. Luffy's eyes snapped to one of the traitor Marines—which was an unkind description but the most accurate he could come up with—who had a snail on his shoulder.
A snail that, along with countless others in the world, had just coughed up blood, and whose face was twisted in agony.
-o-
"Gnyaaagh," Cross wheezed, his eyes clenched shut and his blood-stained teeth grit in clear agony. Dreading what he could already feel, Cross raised his hand from where it was clutching his throbbing stomach. Seeing by the gentle lights of his transceiver that it was stained red, he rammed his head back against the wall he was leaning against. "Nnnoooo, nononono c'mon damn it, not now…"
"Cross?" Luffy breathed.
The pirate stiffened before tentatively cracking his eye open, a soul-deep desperation burning within. "N-Not to worry, Captain. 'Tis only a flesh wound." His gaze rolled up blearily, clouding slightly with a manic sense of amusement. "Heh… got to say number ten."
"Coping, coping, coping…" Soundbite muttered, keeping a nervous eye and ear on his partner as he bled out. "He's fine for now, Luffy; he's been able to keep from spilling his guts this long. BUT HE DEFINITELY WON'T BE IF YOU TWO DON'T SCRAM! FLY, YOU FOOLS!"
-o-
Grimacing, Ace turned and sprinted for the harbour. Luffy, Isuka, and Jinbe followed, while Lucci blurred out of sight with a Shave. They quickly passed Jabra, still carrying Kaku, who took one look at the group and joined them in running.
"I hope some of you have ideas for separating the Division Commanders from the Vice Admirals," he growled. "Because that's a hell of a job, and I've stuck out enough for one day, and so has this idiot! And that's saying something!"
" 'ate you too, furball…" Kaku slurred drunkenly.
"I have a few ideas—" Ace started, only for the earth to suddenly shake. "Never mind! Everyone, brace yourselves!"
If Halvard had earned himself a localized 5.0, then the Vice Admirals merited a mildly less localized 8.0. That greater spread meant none of them were seriously injured, but all of them were forced to focus on their footing rather than their opponents. Not only did this allow the Division Commanders to disengage and begin to fall back, but it also left them blind to the threat to the rear.
"Cross Fire!"
Fire bloomed in the center of the Vice Admiral line in the shape of a cross, sending singed, disoriented officers every which way. Luffy, Lucci, and Jinbe fell on them a bare second later; though unable to put any of them down, the path was clear, and Jabra, Ace, and Isuka broke through, sprinting behind the cover of the Division Commanders and Whitebeard himself. They would have continued running had Ace not stopped on realizing that one particular person hadn't moved to follow them.
"Pops?" he breathed, turning around to find Whitebeard standing like a wall behind them. "Pops, what are you doing?! C'mon, we need to get out of here!"
"You need to get out of here," Whitebeard intoned. "You and all the rest of my sons and daughters. I am old, Ace. A relic of an era long past. A new era is dawning, and it's reckless youngsters like you that need to lead it. Not an old fossil like me."
"Pops…" Ace breathed, wide-eyed.
"Ace, tell me. Was I a good father?"
A hush fell over the area. Calls to hurry up and go fell silent. And in this silence, Ace answered, his voice quivering, "You were. You were the best father I could have asked for."
Whitebeard turned and knelt down in front of Ace, drawing him into a hug. "Live, brat," he declared. "Because if I see you again too soon, I'll make you regret it."
After a moment, Whitebeard stood and stepped back into his guard spot. Ace stared at his back, face twisting through emotion after emotion until a hand alighted on his shoulder. He looked back, finding Luffy giving him a concerned look.
"Ace. We need to go."
Grimacing and wiping his eyes, Ace turned his back on his father and ran. Luffy, Lucci, and Jinbe fell into step alongside him while Isuka and Jabra, still toting Kaku's body, split off in another direction.
-o-
Hearing his son running finally eased the last of the tension in Whitebeard's chest. He felt relaxed. Freer than he'd been in decades. There was no more consideration of politics, of responsibility. Those were all in the hands of his sons, his crew. All he needed to do was wreak the most havoc possible to aid in their escape.
He eyed the battlefield. The Vice Admirals, battered but all combat-capable, clustered in a ragged line, visibly unwilling to be the first one to engage him. Behind them, Ace's flame wall was dying down, revealing Fleet Admiral Sengoku being tended to by medics and Vice Admiral Garp still sprawled on the ground with a patchwork of rage-induced injuries on his face. The Admirals were nowhere to be seen. For now, that just left—
Danger flared in his mind, and Whitebeard spun and unleashed an earthquake to his left, intercepting a paw-shaped ball of compressed air that exploded on impact.
"Priority target identified," a battered, bleeding Bartholomew Kuma intoned in a mechanical voice. "Threat level: extreme. Hold nothing back."
The Warlord vanished, reappearing to Whitebeard's right—
And promptly got the pirate's hand clamped around his face.
"You're annoying me," Whitebeard stated, his hand glowing with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. "Go away."
With a resounding BTOOOOM!, Kuma flew away in a ballistic arc that would take him out to the battle line, trailing smoke.
Fingers dug into Whitebeard's chest before he could turn back to the Vice Admirals. He glanced down, finding Vice Admiral Brett in the position of the Ten-Finger Pistol, and an expression of the purest regret on his face. Whitebeard clamped his hand over the back of Brett's skull and, with his free hand, swung his bisento at the advancing Vice Admirals, sweeping them off their feet.
"I. Am. Whitebeard!" he declared, idly pulling Brett off his chest and slamming him face-first into the ground, before releasing him and standing to full height once again, glaring at the enemies in front of him. "And you! Shall not! PAAAAAAAASS!" The World's Strongest Man threw his fist forward, shattering the air and sending the Vice Admirals that had still been standing flying backward. Further away from his idiot son and those idiotic brats that had come to save him.
A hacking cough could be heard before a bloodstained smile appeared on a just barely visible snail on an insensate Vice Admiral Brett's shoulder.
"No matter the outcome… I… am officially winning at life… for converting Whitebeard to the Meme Side…"
Whitebeard grimaced, both due to his sucking chest wounds and the running commentary, and loosed a literally earth-shaking bellow. "Anyone else want to try their luck!?"
The gathered Vice Admirals hesitated. Whitebeard made no move to attack them; the longer they stood there, the longer his sons had to flee. Alas, it was not long before someone goaded them back into action.
"To all units: this is Admiral Akainu. Fleet Admiral Sengoku is unfit for command. I am in command now, and my orders are thus: kill every pirate. Kill every traitor. Kill every deserter. Kill every objector. Kill them all until Straw Hat Luffy, Portgas D. Ace, and Edward Newgate lie dead on this battlefield, and every enemy is driven into the sea. In the name of Absolute Justice."
Whitebeard snorted derisively. "What, does that dog think the Marines won't do that already?
"No, he knows they will…" Cross groaned miserably. "This is just him giving them some… motivation."
That proved a very British understatement, Akainu's announcement having an effect on Marine morale something akin to an afterburner on a jet engine. The Marines roared with renewed energy—fuelled by both primal fury and primal terror alike—and charged the retreating pirates, ripping into their rear flank with reckless bloodlust and abandon.
And it really said something that the Vice Admirals even managed to find the wherewithal to charge the last man on the planet you wanted to charge in a last-ditch effort.
Whitebeard heaved a tired sigh as the might of the Marines bore down on him. "Honestly, people all day today… Alright, everyone, let's hurry this up. I've got a date to keep with Roger…"
He slammed the butt of his weapon into the earth, sending a tremble all throughout the island as he threw his arms wide.
An honest smile arced beneath his glorious white beard.
"So let's make my final hours in this life as memorable as possible!"
-o-
The sight of Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy, and a gaggle of some of the strongest Whitebeard-aligned fighters on the battlefield running away from the front line took some time to percolate through the battlefield, by sight and by snail. But percolate it did, and the Whitebeards, with the benefit of clear communications, were the first to react.
"Retreat!" came the cry. "To the ships!" All around the battlefield, the pirates unleashed one last salvo into the face of the Marine dogs and then turned to run.
Of all military maneuvers, the retreat is the most difficult to execute, particularly if one cares at all about keeping the force retreating cohesive and in fighting condition. One of the best ways to make a man face the possibility of death is to make either advancing or standing their ground seem their best option. Once given the option to flee, it can be very difficult for a man to consider anything else. The Whitebeards were a disciplined, skilled, and experienced pirate crew. But even for them, a large-scale retreat was difficult.
This was especially exacerbated by the particularly high-scale enemies that were raining hell and fury down on their heads, intent on making sure that not one more pirate than necessary could survive the day.
Most of the Vice Admirals had gone to wall off the execution platform, and so were now fighting Whitebeard. But a few had been busy leading the counterattack on the right around Oars's unmoving body, among them Vice Admiral Momonga.
As the officer stepped away from the latest knot of resistance he'd carved up, flicking the blood off his sword as he went, his gaze alighted on a few Marines standing over a group of about a dozen pirates. Pirates that were not only visibly unarmed but holding their hands behind their heads.
Frowning, Momonga blurred over in a Shave to the spot. "What do you all think you're doing?" he demanded in his best officer's voice. The Marines started, opened their mouths to explain—
And were very suddenly immolated by a fist of magma. They didn't even have time to scream.
It was only with a strong effort of will that Momonga didn't physically react. The death of the pirates didn't move him, but the abrupt execution of several Marines… Well, if Akainu hadn't been right there, he probably would have done something… violent.
"Vice Admiral Momonga," Akainu stated as he disgustedly eyed the blob of cooling rock where there had once been people. "You hesitated."
"Sir," Momonga saluted. "I—"
"What part of my orders?" Akainu interrupted, the temperature spiking a few dozen degrees. "To kill all pirates and objectors was unclear, Vice Admiral?"
Thank goodness for the heat, because it provided a cover for the cold sweat Momonga broke out in. "Nothing, sir. I have no excuse."
At that answer, to his relief, the temperature evened out. "See to it that you don't forget again, Vice Admiral. The Marines still need men like you." And with that, Akainu jetted off to the main battlefield on a plume of magma.
As such, he didn't see Momonga grip his sword's hilt hard enough to make it creak. Didn't hear his teeth audibly grind together. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of black, and he reared back his sword as he charged towards one of the traitors' commanders. A ways off, but with no immovable enemies in his path.
Yet when she noticed his approach, Hina's eyes regarded him with no passion whatsoever.
"Hina was wondering how long it would take. Jango, start the encore."
"Aye-aye, Captain!" the hypnotist saluted. "Soundbite, give me a boost, you're gonna like this one!"
"You're live!" the snail obliged.
Half against his better judgment, Momonga slowed his approach, shutting his eyes and raising his guard. Traps were Hina's specialty, and with how utterly fearless she was in this moment, he wasn't about to just charge in. He was, unfortunately, the only one who showed such caution. He tried to warn everyone else around to shut their eyes, but Soundbite's powers again surged through the battlefield, drowning out all voices but one.
"Time to give the world a makeover that's funky fresh! EVERYONE, EYES ON ME! ONE, TWO, JANGO!"
Momonga felt the shift in the soldiers around him. Among the remaining soldiers, from the grunts all the way up to other Vice Admirals, and even throughout the Devil Dogs.
Hina fled as soon as he came within range, and he was forced to miss his window in favour of blocking the attack from a Vikverir that had been on his side moments before.
"KILL EVERY TRAITOR, MAD DOG!? GOOD LUCK PICKING OUT THE REAL ONES!" Fullbody roared.
"Seriously!?" another Suomi snarled. "How many of you traitors are there?!"
"Well, for starters, there is Gunnery Crew Beta-5 over there."
Hina's nonchalant statement, complete with pointing in the direction, took Momonga aback—up until he was blasted by cannons fired from the opposite side.
"Oh, my mistake. Hina meant Gamma-7."
Momonga dismissed the urge to throw down his sword in exasperation. But the fact that the urge surfaced in the first place spoke volumes.
-o-
Donquixote Doflamingo was having the time of his life on the battlefield. Straw Hat Luffy and Jeremiah Cross had once again exceeded all expectations he'd had of them, lofty as they'd already been, shrugging off his little motivational message and raising chaos wherever they went. The one trouble was that they were succeeding a little too cleanly for his liking, but he couldn't even be too mad about that. The only reason he couldn't personally fix that little problem was that Boa Hancock had shown her true colours, which included some absolutely delectable depths of hatred and the power to back it up.
The Warlord slowly circled his opponent, searching for openings. Even balanced on one foot and looking down so hard on him that she was looking up, there were none. None that he particularly wanted to risk, anyway. Not in these circumstances. Oh, well. That just meant he'd have to make some.
And then someone murdered his good mood in cold blood.
"We will take it from here, Doflamingo."
It said much about the men that strolled into their private battlefield and who they answered to that both Warlords—both of the stubborn, narcissistic, Conqueror Warlords—deemed him noteworthy enough that they paused their fight to regard him, despite their expressions screaming that they'd much rather murder him.
One might think that was because the speaker's attitude was as though they had every right to expect the two royal pirates to immediately defer to him. And that was part of it. But the bigger causes of their hatred were the spotless white outfits and tribal masks that the speaker and his companion wore.
Hatred and, for Hancock, terror.
"I think you've forgotten your place," Doflamingo snarled, not even attempting to maintain a smile. "You obey me, not the other way around."
"Boa Hancock," the agent intoned, seemingly ignoring Doflamingo, to the man's vein-popping aggravation. "You have proven to be uncontrollable at best and a liability at worst. By the authority of the World Government, I hereby strip you of your authorization to capture enemy ships as well as all the titles and rights afforded you by the World Government. Additionally, you and all members of the Kuja Pirates are under arrest. You will submit promptly and without argument."
The second agent ignored the byplay in favour of handing Doflamingo a piece of paper.
"An audible exchange is out of the question. This is a 'suggestion' for a better use of your time."
Snarling, the tyrant king snatched and scanned the note. And slowly, ever so slowly, his body relaxed. And while veins pulsed on his forehead, his lips pulled back up into the smile that, for the past decade, had ever and always promised mass destruction.
"You know, I hate taking orders from you, even tangentially… but you're right. That DOES sound more fun!"
Shredding the paper with a swipe of his hand, he leapt straight up and blasted into the air, while the second agent joined the first in staring at Hancock.
"If you—" Hancock began, and made it precisely that far before having to raise an arm and a shin to guard against an attack on either side.
"You seem to have forgotten your place, slave. You are to speak only when asked, and you are to obey without delay," the first agent said, his tone still possessing all the emotion of a corpse.
Her eyes narrowed in outrage, silencing the trauma of her past with one firm declaration.
"You will never take me alive."
"We never intended to," the second agent replied.
That was almost comforting. As she continued parrying, she strained her eyes for flashes of green and orange nearby. Finding none, she refocused on her opponents. Her sisters had to have fled to the back lines, which meant the assassins needed to be elsewhere.
…something that made her acutely aware of the fact that every denied kill was pushing her further back from freedom.
-o-
"Get. Out. Of my WAY!"
Ace was doing what he could to suppress his emotions about his father's death, well aware that making it out alive himself was still not a guarantee. There was too much at stake for him to risk breaking down, and the one thing that made it rather easy to keep that thought away was how many justifiable targets kept throwing themselves in his path, even with roughly half of their forces compromised by the turncoats.
'And if Cross isn't behind that, I'll eat my… oh, right, I lost my hat,' Ace thought, rubbing his head a bit wistfully. 'I liked my hat…' His expression twisted up into a vicious scowl as he spiked the ambient temperature. 'At least I can take out my frustrations on some very flammable targets!' And he proceeded to do just that with a sweep of his blazing pipe.
Jinbe was still holding as strongly as he'd expect a Warlord, and the only sign of Lucci's fatigue was that he had now entered his hybrid form. Luffy, on the other hand, wasn't trying to hide how much he was gasping for breath. Chopper's medicine kept him running despite the ankle wound while he made up for his failing strength with one overpowered Dial and a handful of bombs, but his prior motivational boost was starting to run thin, so unless something changed fast—
"STRAW HAT!"
Ace nearly immolated the speaker before recognizing the Okama Queen, who was running up directly behind Isuka and Jabra. Luffy, with a look of utter relief, ran up to Ivankov, who reared back his sharpening fingers.
"EMPORIO ENERGY HORMONE!"
Ace's good sense was all that kept him from reacting to seeing the oversized okama stab his brother in the side with his fingers. He had just enough time to reflect on how strange that thought was before Luffy let out a roar of renewed vigour. Ivankov kept moving towards the ships while Luffy, overflowing with energy, sped after him. Ace and the others were fast on his heels.
"What just happened?" Ace demanded.
"It's just a quick fix, it'll only last a few hours before I can't move," Luffy spat, disgusted with his own weakness.
"Hey, count yourself lucky," Isuka spat, showing twice as much pain as before. "At least you're not double-dosing on the healing-factor hormones while you're at it."
"Or looking like accordion-face over here," Jabra snarked as he jabbed his claw at Kaku's mutinous expression.
"Say that to my face, flea-bottom!" Kaku snarled back. The other outlaws took one look at his face, and most of them had no choice but to look away to keep from laughing at the way his nose resembled a crinkle fry. Lucci only sighed—at least until a wheezing noise came from Kaku's direction.
"He's even making the noise!" the wolf-man snickered.
"That's me trying to breathe through my shattered nose!" Kaku snapped back.
"PfheheHURK!—oh, it hurts to laugh—heheh…" Cross wheezed out of the aether. "F-For the record, I'd have a-advised you to just do what we do, and b-blame Soundbite. But as is, I-I'd like to just comment on my new appreciation, f-for polka."
"CROSS, YOU SON OF A—!"
"Stampede incoming."
Lucci's growl cut off the banter, and looking over their shoulders revealed a rapidly approaching line of Angevins. Ace bit back a curse at the sight. Honestly, who even uses cavalry charges nowadays, especially on terrain so uneven and—! Fragile…
"I'm an idiot," the rescued pirate deadpanned, slowing to a stop.
"Tch, no question, are you—ERGH!—going anywhere with this?" Cross groaned impatiently.
"We're standing on ice… and I'm made of fire," Ace answered, an earsplitting grin painting over his face as flames coalesced around his right arm—
"FIRE FIST!"
—that he slammed onto the ground, a vortex of flames spiralling out and shrouding the area in steam. Steam that had been solid ice moments ago, fit for running on.
"That should slow them down. Let's go."
"Right," echoed through the group, though Luffy spared enough time to throw something into the steam. Moments later, the cloud was much bigger and much pinker.
"Alright, come on, we're almost—!"
THOOM!
Jinbe's statement was cut off as the entire swath of the battlefield they were in was shocked into silence by a blast of heat and air pressure that buffeted everyone and knocked a great many of them over. The blast also extinguished Ace's flames as easily as snuffing a candle and dissipated the smokescreen in an instant.
"Shit. Shitshitshit. Run. RUN NO—GACK!"
Another cough of blood. Cross muffled himself as he struggled to get himself back under control, but as a result, any support from Soundbite abruptly cut out across the battlefield.
…but only after he had whispered a code to the rest of the world: "Roll Call."
It became clear quickly that while Soundbite was focusing on Cross, he had enough focus left to ensure that only Luffy and his companions heard the next minute of the SBS—and only the SBS, as the rest of the world fell into a muted silence—begun by a steady "Dot dot dot dot—KA-LICK!"
And then, any doubts or hesitation in Luffy's heart died a harsh and swift death with the words that came.
"You said that it was only right that the Greatest Swordsman serve the King. Well, here's me formally agreeing to that. If you die here, I'll kill you."
"We've mapped out the perfect route for you, Captain, and your hair isn't green—" "HEY!" "—so you shouldn't have a problem walking it! Especially not when you're inches from the goal!"
"I've swallowed my own pride since you invited me on board, but my pride in my captain has never been greater! I'm going to be a Warrior of the Seas, and you're going to be King of the Pirates! I haven't given up, so you can't fall either!"
"I followed you to chase my dreams because you were too stupid to give up and fall until you won. Don't you dare change that now. After all, I've got a hundred and one new recipes to cram down your greedy gullet."
"Taking it easy isn't an option here… so go wild, Captain! Do whatever it takes, and I'll fix whatever breaks! And if anyone tries to hurt you, I'LL BREAK THEM!"
"This life… It's what I chose. What I chose two years ago, and what I choose now. I'm coming back to you, Captain! Now be there, and come back to me! To us!"
"None of us knew what a real challenge was until we joined you. We're waiting for you to come back, Cap'n, and we'll wait as long as it takes. We've still got more heads to bust, so no matter what! DON'T LET THIS MAN'S ROMANCE END HERE!"
"I believed for twenty years that nobody could fight the world and win. Your crew proved me wrong. You proved me wrong. Finish the mission, so that nobody will ever believe that lie again!"
"You've struck down gods. You've overwhelmed demons. Nothing the world has to offer has stopped you. Don't let something so insignificant as this, Captain!"
"YOU'VE SUPER GOT THIS! BURN RUBBER, BOTH OF YOU, AND MAKE THEM REGRET EVER CHALLENGING US!… I MEAN, NOT LITERALLY, BUT—!" "Quit while you're ahead, alloy-ass." "OKAY!"
"Fate isn't final, Captain. Not if we have anything to say about it, and I'm living proof. I was beyond saving, but I'm still here and fighting! GET OUT AND COME BACK!"
"Read this? Why the hell would I—oh crap, you mean you're a—!?" A metallic SHING! rang out around the world. "I-I-I mean! 'I-I was dead in both body and soul when you found me. I'm alive again thanks to you. So don't you die either, i-it's not all it's cracked up to be.'…eh? Guh, alright, fine! 'Yohoho, skull joke'. Happy?… WHADDAYA MEAN NO!?"
The encouragement, the fact that they were still there for him, quirks and all, was enough for Luffy's focus to grow sharp as knives. He and Ace would escape alive. And the latest in a line of people trying to stop them would fail like all the others.
They didn't look back to see molten rock cascading onto the exposed water, hardening and cooling and remaining above the surface just long enough for its source to move to the next step, moving inevitably towards the two brothers, his advance slow and menacing… or it would be if he wasn't falling behind?
"—utmost limit for disappointing me. I suppose one can never lower their expectations too far, can they?"
"I guess someone didn't notice THAT YOU HAD better things to listen to?" Soundbite chuckled wickedly.
And at that, Luffy and Ace both laughed out loud.
"KEEP ON YAPPING, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU, STUPID DOG!" Luffy shouted, not even looking over his shoulder to do so.
"Then perhaps you'll hear this."
Akainu raised his hand once more, only this time it wasn't towards the pirates before him. Instead, he aimed at one of the retreating flanks of the Whitebeards.
"Pyroclasm."
The air ruptured in front of Akainu's hand into a pillar of smoke and flame that ripped through the space between him and his target. It impacted the ice, struck the vanguard that had inverted into the rear, and detonated into a devastating pillar of superheated water that, for some small measure of mercy, made the devastation that was wrought at least quick.
A flank of the Whitebeards' forces as wide as a battleship vanished in the wake of the superheated steam, never to be seen again, and the ones remaining on either side were burned and flung back just from the shock. Steam erupted from the flash-boiled ice around them, sending everyone left remotely nearby into a retreat either way, even chasing some of the Whitebeards away from their escape.
And despite this destruction, the most that the brothers, Isuka and Jinbe, did was flinch as they fled. Lucci, however, paused in his retreat and gave the Admiral an utterly unimpressed look.
"Your response to someone ignoring you is to lash out and break things to get more attention?"
"We definitely made the right choice turning against the World Government if one of their best men is an overgrown baby," Jabra sneered.
That shut Akainu up and drew reactions from everywhere on the battlefield, be it gasps, ohs, or even laughter. The two assassins faded into Shave, giving him no second to respond.
The admiral's scowl was murderous now, and he made to surge forward—
"HEE-HAW! Where do you think you're going, baby?"
Emporio Ivankov and his very, very big head stepped into his path, effectively blocking him from even seeing the two he was trying to kill. Akainu, however, seemed to have learned from Ace's actions and fired magma directly at the ice beneath Ivankov's feet.
"WHOOPS! EMPORIO ESTROGEN!"
As the Okama Queen backflipped off the melting ice, his body grew taller and his muscles smaller. Well, her muscles, as it soon became. She smirked at him, no longer as big but no longer as slow.
"Seems speed is more important than muscle against a lumbering volcano."
"You could never beat me either way," Akainu growled, already rearing back another fist. Ivankov threw back her head and laughed, evading the blow with what looked like Paper Art.
"Oh, silly boy, who said I had to? I'm just keeping you busy."
"They. Will. Not. Leave here alive." Akainu raised a hand, a scorching ball of heat igniting in his palm. "And neither will you."
No sooner did Akainu launch than Ivankov twirled into his strike zone, kicking the ball of magma straight into the air as soon as it launched. Akainu's other hand, dripping with lava, swept in, but Ivankov was already twirling out of the way on her toes.
"Hmm, you're going to have to try better than that—" A gout of magma ten feet wide erupted from Akainu's chest, prompting Ivankov to hastily plant her feet and limbo under it. "Not that much better! Aren't you supposed to start slow and work your way up?"
More magma gushed from the Admiral, leaving Ivankov frantically dodging every which way. "Absolute Justice demands no less than a swift death to evil," he answered. His fist bloated with magma, and then he charged.
"No, no, you're doing it wrong!" Ivankov snapped, once again dodging the attack. "You're supposed to banter, maybe say something about how you are starting slow! Here, let me try for—aghpft!"
"Ah, silence," Akainu sighed, Ivankov lying on the ice, clutching her burned-but-not-nearly-as-bad-as-it-could 've-been face. He reared his fist back. "Now die."
"You first," said a terrifyingly familiar and absolutely unwelcome voice. "Good job, now get going."
With a salute, Ivankov obliged, a wink sending her skidding away on the ice. And Akainu didn't even consider attacking her as she fled, too occupied with the realization that she hadn't been buying time for Ace and Luffy to leave, but for someone else to arrive.
He spun around with all the speed and strength he could muster, aiming his fist at Whitebeard's bare chest. The Emperor met his fist with his own, and it was all that Akainu could do to keep his bones from crumbling to pieces even before the tremors hit. Then all he could perceive was pain.