Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, Oda does.
This is my first fanfic, so please review!
Spandine wiped his face. "Such a troubling day," he thought, "to be taken to West Blue just for this? To wipe out some stupid scholars?"
"All done, Boss?" Laskey asked him. "Yes," Spandine answered, "get Tawashi over here and we'll set off back to HQ." "Yes, Boss." Laskey answered. "And what about that girl? Daughter of Nico...Olvia?" Spandine sighed. "Kuzan took care of her ."
Spandine set off toward the direction of his ship, a great big caravel called the "Floating Justice." He whistled, scanning the area for any last survivors, any last demons that lived through the razing of the island, the massacre of an entire community, an entire history of the world. It saddened Spandine sometimes, to think about these things, but it was not a thing a chief of a secret government assassination squad should think about. Spandine just smiled and walked away. How had the girl done it? A big, goofy smile and a cry of "Dereshiiiii!" Laskey and Tawashi approached him from behind. "Um, eh, boss, are you alright?" Tawashi asked. Spandine swiveled on his heels, facing his two subordinates with a serious look on his face. "You are in no place to talkback to me, Tawashi, you already owe me one thousand Belis..."
Just then the last Oharan came out from behind the tree, panting hard. They had almost seen him, almost found him. His name was Garrett, but everyone called him Gart. Gart Clover, grandson of the famous professor Hayao Clover. At least Gart thought he was the last Oharan. Just then, he caught sight of a shadow, a shadow of a human, arms swinging around it in a fashion that almost looked like it had many arms. But there couldn't be any humans left here, on the dead island of Ohara. Gart laughed then, a big deep laugh, a of laugh of realization, realization of his bad luck, but of his extremely good luck as well. He could decipher poneglyphs. He could discover the history of the Void Century, of the Ancient Kingdom. He walked, then ran, to the tree, ran as fast as his twelve year old legs could take him. He arrived at the burned site, ashes and coal chunks still smoking from the recent bomb. The whole tree of Omniscience was gone, the oldest tree in the world, gone, so fast even faster than you could say, "Gone." Gart was a tough boy, he had suffered many losses and injuries, and now his whole family had been killed, all of his teachers and friends, but what made Gart the saddest was the tree. Tears poured down his face, and he screamed. Gart screamed, screamed in grief, grief for this ancient and wise tree that had just been destroyed.
Then he found it. Between the torn and crumbling pages of ancient texts and stories, there was a seed. Small but green, simple but powerful. The seed was a sign of hope. Hope that he could survive in this ugly world. As long as he had the seed with him, Gart would be all right.
He would find a meaning to this small detail in the universe called "life."
22 Years Later...
PART 1: Kuzan
i
The alarm rang, but Kuzan didn't want to wake up. He turned in his bed, mumbling. "Nico... Robin..." The alarm stopped and a small whisper was heard. "Kuzan, sir..." It was a girl's voice, one that sounded very familiar, probably someone that worked with the Revolutionaries... Goddamit! The Revolutionaries! Kuzan jerked awake, seeing the chestnut haired girl that stood in front of him fall back. "I...I'm sorry." Kuza said. Damn, she was annoying . She was always so obedient, it annoyed him. "What's your name again?" He asked. but the girl just ran away. She was pretty, that girl, probably in her twenties. Too young for Kuzan. Ah, Kuzan was getting old. Forty-nine this December. He stretched, sending little icicles all over the bedroom. He took off his sleep mask and put it aside. He got up from the bed and put on his sea blue cloak. Such a bother, having to hide his appearance every mission. Missions were a bother. He put the cloak's hood over his head and stretched on black gloves. He walked outside and met his fellow Revolutionary members. The chestnut haired girl, a tall man with a mask, and the leader of this mission, Inazuma. Inazuma was a strange and silent man, half of his hair orange and the other white, a long fur coat matching his hair on him. Kuzan nodded to Inazuma, as the other two did. "Well, then, shall we start." Inazuma smiled his creepy smiled. The four exited the building, blending into the busy streets of Mariejois Town, suburb of the Holy Land Mariejois. "How are we going to infiltrate the Holy Land, Commander?" The masked man inquired. "Oh. That. I will inform you when we get to our rendezvous. Kuzan, you go through the east entrance." "Yes, Commander." Kuzan speed walked westward, than cut east, taking an empty side alley. He started jogging, deep in thought. "Dammit! I just missed the name of that girl!" He sighed. It would have to wait. Kuzan was relatively new to the Revolutionaries, so he didn't know all of the members. the Revolutionary Army was not a huge organization, so it was possible. Kuzan was in contact with the Revolutionaries since ten years ago, when he was promoted to Admiral and when Bartholomew Kuma joined the Shichibukai.
"It was at the annual World Government Meeting. After all the formalities were over, Kuma came towards me and whispered: "Meet me tonight at twenty-two hundred hours in the Yatsumi Bar, Mariejois Town." I arrived at ten o'clock in front of the grungy bar. Two figures landed quietly from above, black cloaks hiding their faces. One of them was Kuma, it was hard to miss the huge figure, but the other one... As he took off his cloak his face was revealed, with long black hair and the Snakeneck Tribe's marks tatooed on his cheek. He smiled his crooked smile, exposing his yellowing teeth. "Is that you, Monkey ?" I asked. "That is correct, Admiral Kuzan." "Aokiji." I corrected him. "Oh, I am so sorry." Dragon apologized. I didn't know if the remark was made in sarcasm or with sincerity. Dragon laughed. "I see this is already confusing you, Aokiji." "Yes," I answered. "But it interested me to meet with the most wanted man in the world." "Of course it would." "Don't you think that you are in danger from me leaking facts to the Government?" "There will be no facts." Dragon answered. "This is a one-sided deal." "And why would I accept it?" "It is your choice, Admiral." Dragon smiled. The three entered the quiet bar where only a single bartender stood, wiping beer glasses clean. He wore simple leather clothing, ginger hair on his head, decorated with a black bowler hat. "Hello, Dragon." The bartender said. "Didn't think I'd see you so soon." "Things were going bad on Baltigo." Dragon replied, "and I had some matters to close including talking to this Admiral here." "Oh! Admiral Aokiji! I'm Bunny Joe, local bartender." Joe presented his hand for shaking, and I shook it. "Nice to meet you." Joe released his hand. "Well, what should you have to drink, buddies." "I'll have a pint of beer." Dragon said. "I'll have a quart." Kuma added in his deep voice. "Nothing for me." I said, "I don't have a tolerance to alcohol." Dragon laughed. "As expected from a Marine man." "So, what is your proposal, Dragon?" I asked. "Now, now, Aokiji, getting straight to the business, aren't you." Dragon paused. "Well, then, if you must, my proposal is for you to inform us of the Gorosei's plans." "And you expect me to know all of these plans?" "No." Dragon said. "But you are the highest ranked Marine that we trust." "You need to trust me? You said that this is a one-sided deal." "That's correct, but if we had taken, let's say, your fellow Akainu, completely loyal to the Marines, he would, first of all, not come. Secondly, If he would come, he would try to wipe me out, as I know his belligerent manner, but when he would see that I am much stronger than him, he would flee and inform the Marines." "And they would set up an ambush." I said. "Exactly. It wouldn't work, but they would know where I am and I do not like to kill innocent Marines." That sentence shook me. I understood Dragon's power at that instance. I understood that his bounty was because of his power, not just because he was the leader of the Revolutionary Army. "So, you want me to spy on the Gorosei?" "Yes." "I accept." "Now don't be tricky with us, Kuzan." "I won't."
I had gathered two bits of information concerning the Gorosei over those ten years. One from a Jet-Black Den Den Mushi, an almost extinct breed of Black Den Den Mushi's only given to the highest of the Marines. I had caught only three words from one of the Gorosei's conferences: Three, Weapons, and Poseidon. The second bit of information was gained by accident. I had been sitting in my office in Mariejois, snoozing a bit after a long and tiring expedition to deal with some matters in the New World, a paper slid into my room through the crevice under the door. I inspected the letter. It didn't say much, but the things that it said were very important.
I will be expecting you considering the weapon tonight.
What was this about a weapon? I thought. It clearly wasn't for me, so who was it for? I thought about itfor a bit. How did the sender get confused with the room? Then an idea popped up in my head. It could be a possibility that the recipient had written down his room number for the sender and had written it hastily. 4's could always be confused with 9's if written quickly, by making the head of the four rounder than it should be. That would mean that the recipient had written 19 instead of 14. It was a crazy theory, but it could be that the person in room 14 was planning something concerning the "Weapons", I guessed the Ancient Weapons, with some mysterious man, the sender of the note. Now the subject of the Ancient Weapons was extremely classified and only the Gorosei handled it. Who was in Room 14? Kuzan strained his memory. Room 14... Admiral Akainu was in Room 14. What was he planning?"
Kuzan snapped out of his nostalgia and continued racing through the alleys of Mariejois town, using his refined Rokushiki technique Soru that he had learned from ex- CP9 member Fukuro to blast through the air without notice. The rendezvous was the gate of Mariejois, a huge marble gate full of statues of the Twenty Kings and their great deeds. Kuzan flashed through, blending in with the crowd so well that no one noticed that a man just appeared out of thin air. Kuzan spotted the chestnut haired girl landing from her Geppo on a nearby fountain, he saw the masked man walking in the marble plaza, and finally, Inazuma, the eccentric Commander, who had changed his cloak not to be noticed. The clock tower rang and the sound reverberated from the inner circle of Mariejois to the outskirts of Mariejois town and beyond, out to even the farmlands of Taraguma and Fukoyoshi. The clock tower rang seven times, meaning that it was seven o'clock. The Reverie would start in one hour. The crowd parted for the first kingdoms. There were six hundred and seventy-eight kingdoms in the World Government's boundaries, but only one hundred and twenty-five Kingdoms were in the Quadroannual Reverie. "The first Kingdom, The Kingdom of Komarth, from the New World!" Many carriages passed, all the regular kingdoms, when one caught his name. "Kingdom number sixty three, the Kingdom of Alabasta, with five delegates. King Cobra Nefertari! Princess Vivi Nefertari! Royal Guard Igaram! Head Guard Pell, and Head Guard Chaka!" The five waved happily to the crowd. "Isn't that the kingdom that Strawhat was in two years ago?" Kuzan thought. "The one in which Crocodile was holding a coup d'etat." After a few moments, the guard called out. "And kingdom number eighty nine, Amazon Lily! With delegates Empress and Royal Shichibukai Boa Hancock!The most beautiful woman in the world!" The screams were especially loud for this carriage, as the Empress waved and blew kisses. "And we shouldn't forget ex-empress and Elder Nyon and the two Princesses, Boa Marigold and Boa Sandersonia!" At the last second, before Amazon Lily's carriage entered the gates, Hancock glimpsed Kuzan's face under his cloak. I know what you are now. She mouthed. He winced. After one hundred and twenty-five kingdoms had entered the gates to Mariejois, the guard exclaimed, "Now, don't go yet! We have two new kingdoms this year, first of all, Black Drum Kingdom, with three delegates! King Wapol, Queen Miss Universe, and Royal Pet Hakowan!" Nobody cheered. The guard sighed. "Well, the last one is one that you have been expecting for some time, Ryuugu Kingdom!" The carriage burst in, a huge yellow vehicle covered with shells and sea urchins and all sorts of little sea creatures. In it was the Huge Mermaid Princess, Shirahoshi, the king, Neptune, and the three princes, Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi and Manboshi. The cheers for this carriage were even greater than the cheers for Amazon Lily. It was the first time any Mermen or Fishmen had come to the Reverie. "Thank you for coming to see the carriage parade." The guard said, and with the great jumble of everyone talking and trying to find their ways, the plan started. Inazuma eyed his three teammates and mouthed, Subdue the guards. Do not kill them, just subdue them. Do it in complete silence. The guards seemed to be well trained Marines, but the Revolutionary Army could easily take them out. Then Kuzan glimpsed one of their faces. These were Marine Vice Admirals! Kuzan knew he could defeat them for sure, and Inazuma maybe, but what about the girl and the man in the mask? The two Kuzan were after were new Vice Admirals, one called Barito and the second Jyatsa. Kuzan use his Geppo to propel himself up in the air and mouthed to Inazuma, They are Vice Admirals. Inazuma just smiled and mouthed back, I knew all along. Kuzan landed, rolling so his feet wouldn't be heard. Vice Admiral Barito was a slim man, tall and handsome, with swirly brown hair on his head. He had scars instead of eyebrows, and his eyes were differently colored, one brown and the other green. Kuzan approached the Marine casually, as if he was a regular man watching the parade. But Barito had Kenbunshoku Haki, he sensed that Kuzan was not a regular man. Kuzan had Haki as well. Bam! Kuzan's Haki imbued punch flattened Barito on the ground. But it was not so easy to defeat a Vice Admiral. He blasted Kuzan back with a Haki- imbued punch, although weaker than Kuzan's, but Kuzan used Kami-e to dodge. Kuzan sighed. "Ice Time." He said and froze Barito. He would melt sooner or later, he wouldn't die. The second Vice, Jyatsa, was walking around in circles. He seemed to be a somewhat dim man, but his physical power was great. He was taller than Kuzan and had muscles that even Akainu didn't have. But of course Kuzan flicked an Ice Time on him and half of his body froze. Without half of your body, you can't move. "Shigan." Jyatsa went flying, but landed quietly. Kuzan had placed tiny icicles on his back, so his landing would only make a small noise of shattering icicles and not of a four hundred kilogram man.
Nobody had noticed anything. It had taken less than half a minute. Everyone had subdued their targets. They raced into the gates of Mariejois.
