One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Ode, not to me.
Hello old friend
"Is this place free?" He heard a man asking.
For the last days, he had been sitting regulary in this tavern somewhere in the New World. This place was a known meeting point for everybody who were traveling through this town, some of them pirates and criminals, some not, the island they were standing on, a node between the way back to the first half of the grand-line or farther into the New World.
He for his part only wanted to spend some time here in peace and was not really interested in the business of the other people here, at least for the moment.
And the man who was now standing before him was clearly the last person he had expected to see here.
"Hello Kuzan", the man greeted him.
"Sakazuki", he replied in barely withhold surprise.
The current fleet admiral of the marines, wearing civilian clothes and a cloak, was standing in this place as if it were nothing unusual.
On the other hand, it wasn´t as if anybody here could be a threat to him, nobody except the man he was talking to right now.
"Sit down if you want", Kuzan finally, being back to his usual relaxed self.
Silently the marine sat down next to him. It seemed none of he people in the room noticed something off about this two talking to each other.
Of course none of them was aware that this two were the former admirals Akainu and Aokiji.
"I just wanted to check on an old friend. After all we had been colleagues for many years."
"You mean you wanted to check on me", Kuzan replied, "to make sure that I don´t do anything to undermine your plans. The only reason you are here is to make sure I am not somehow working against you."
"As if you ever would that", Sakazuki said sarcastically, "the careless and laid back Aokiji, that kind of threat could he be?
At least this is what everybody was secretly thinking about you before you challenged me. Well, you teached them otherwise. You are not as harmless as everybody thought my old friend."
They kept their conversation on a sound level where they could hope that the other guests would not hear what they were talking about. Not that they particular cared if they did. Should the people here find out who they were the most of them would probably running out of the room in panic.
"I never claimed I was." Kuzan sat back into his chair as he answered. "I may have been a bit, call it "relaxed" in my position, but that didn´t mean I wouldn´t act if it was necessary. Only that our ideas of what was necessary had always been quite differently."
"Maybe", Sakazuki answered, "and, tell me how has your life been? I have heard you were prowling all around in the New World doing nothing special with your life."
"I have heard you are still shooting at bystanders during your missions?" His former colleague responded.
"I do everything what is necessary to stop criminals."
"Like you did in Ohara?"
"That is what this is still about right? The reason you were always against me, just because of our disagreement all those years ago right?"
"Disagreement? I would hardly call it that. You destroyed a ship full of refugees and killed hundreds of innocent people. I would call that more than just disagreeing."
"Justice needs to be done Kuzan. That is something that you never understood and that was the reason I could not allow you to become fleet admiral."
"And justice is then we cause more harm than the criminals did in the first place? By killing more people than they did?
If we do that what makes us different from the ones we are fighting against and why should the people be of better with us than with them?"
"This is not about the people Kuzan", Sakazuki replied.
"No, I guess it never was. That is what I was obviously wrong about when I joined the marines."
"It is about order", Sakazuki said.
"Order? I thought it was about justice?"
"That is one and the same."
"No, you are wrong, it is not."
Sakazuki stood up. He knew that he and Kuzan would never agree about that point.
"It was an interesting conversation, but I have to return to my duties now", he said. "Don´t do anything to cause me any trouble. Remember, I am keeping an eye on you."
"You committed mass murder", Kuzan told him casually as he was just turning around to leave. "That makes you a mass murderer, not different from any pirate or terrorist."
Sakazuki stopped in the move.
Anybody else who had this to him would be as good as dead. But anybody else couldn´t fight him to a standstill either.
"I ask you again, what is the difference between you and them?" Kuzan said to him.
Sakazuki saw that ice was forming out of Kuzan´s hand, a subtle but obvious warning. If he wanted a fight he was ready.
Sakazuki thought for a moment. He and Aokiji were a very close match. There was a good chance that he could loose. Sure, he had defeated him before, but it was only barely.
The other people in the building would surely perish if they fought now. But that was something that didn´t matter to him in the slightest. Many of them seemed to be criminals anyway. This was a known meeting place for them and the one who were not were an acceptable loss.
But he decided that it was not worth it. This entire mission was meant to be under cover. Alone revealing himself to Aokiji was a stretch. The only reason that he was even here personally was that he was one of the few who had even a chance to fight him if it came hard to hard.
However so far he had found no proof that his former colleague was involved into any criminal activities, at least at the moment.
He decided to let it slide, this one time.
"I have to go now. I spared your life two years ago", he said grimly, "remember this."
"Why did you even do it?" Kuzan wanted to know. "Why did you save me and not just let me die?"
"I wish I knew. I would have one problem less now. Call it some sort of sentimental feeling that overcame me, something about working together for over twenty years. But that won´t happen again", he made clear.
"I understand", Kuzan replied. "Goodbye Akainu."
"Goodbye Aokiji", Sakazuki replied, turned around and left.
The other guests in the tavern continued their conversations and eat and drunk, completely unaware of who had just been meeting here and completely unaware of the danger they had just been in.