Goku flew with his sons, soaring fast in the direction of Kami's Lookout. He could already feel his friends' ki's all amassing there but the reason they were gathering was because there was another source of great power on the planet. The powers didn't feel as strong as them but there were so many in such a small vicinity that it alarmed them.
"Dad, there are more getting closer," Gohan stated and his father nodded a grin starting to spread across his face.
"Who is it dad?" Goten asked wide-eyed to his father.
The older Saiyan looked over at his nine year old boy and smiled, flashing his shiny white teeth. "I don't know, but they're really strong. I'm excited!" The other Sons smiled too and shot off reaching the Lookout within the minute.
"Good, Kakarott and his brats are here. We were going to leave without you," Vegeta was shouting as the other Saiyans landed. "You had to take your time didn't you? The rest of them made it here in an instant and the fastest one is the one we have to wait on, sheesh," Goku, Goten, and Gohan all scratched the backs of their heads while grinning.
At once all three of them said, "Sorry." Goten then ran over and started talking excitedly with Trunks while the other adults all swarmed over to Goku. Coming over to him were Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and Chaozu, and Piccolo. Vegeta crossed his arms and grunted, allowing for a small moment of greeting before lifting off the Lookout slowly.
"We've waited long enough, let's go," Goku nodded and flew up to his fellow Saiyan. Everyone else followed suit and white auras formed around them as they shot into the sky.
"Hey Krillin, where's 18?" Gohan asked and the short man paled a little.
"Uhh, she's staying home to watch Marron. She said if something bad happens I'm in a lot of trouble," his friends laughed in his expense. "What do you think this is anyway?"
Tien spoke up, "I've never felt so many strong powers all in the same area before. And there are hundreds more approaching from different sides."
The Namekian continued, "It all seems to be focused around one point. That's where the most powers are; I feel at least a hundred thousand separate ki's all together. They're all strong though there are a few that are enormous." Goku and Vegeta grinned at the sound of that and turned to each other.
"I'm fighting first Kakarott," Vegeta growled menacingly but the younger Saiyan chose to ignore it.
"I call fighting the strongest guy there," Vegeta's forehead wrinkled as Goku spoke. "Actually, I'll just fight all..."
"Were you even listening to me!?" Vegeta shouted angrily.
Trunks looked up at his father, "Hey dad, why do you think all those strong people are getting together like this?" Most of the adults looked over at the purple haired ten year old. "It doesn't feel like they've started fighting yet but something is definitely going to happen right?"
The human with scars all over his face frowned and gulped. He didn't like the feel of some of their ki's: the feeling he got was of evil, and there was lots of it.
"Hey guys," Gohan flew ahead of them as they were nearing their destination. "Let's not rush into this, I mean we don't know what's going on so let's just watch from the sky for a little before we decide what to do."
"Don't boss me around brat," Vegeta scowled. "Although that is a smart plan," he slowed down as did the other fighters. They could all feel thousands of strong powers getting closer to the mix. "Ok," he continued flying but raised his altitude as he did, "we'll watch for a little. But," he continued sternly, "whenever I see an opponent worthy, I'm going to jump in and fight."
"Agreed!" Goku exclaimed and followed the Prince into the clouds above. The rest of the group followed and the ten of them quickly arrived at their destination.
"I know this place," Chaozu started, backing up a little with sweat drops appearing on his face. The white midget looked down on the island below and shook his head before continuing, "I've been called here before for meetings with rulers of other nations." He looked over at the Son family, "Your wife and her dad have been here too."
Goku pointed at himself with a confused look on his face and Chaozu nodded. "This isn't just a normal island, this is the Headquarters of the World's Navy." All of the humans there gasped and looked down again taking a closer look at the island. Chaozu was right, there were flags for the Marines and the word 'Justice' spelled out on the buildings. In fact the island seemed to be build like a fortress and the hundred thousand ki's below were its guards.
"Navy?" Goku asked, tilting his head in confusion.
Gohan looked over at his dad in disbelief, "How have you not heard of it?" The boy thought to himself for a second and then remembered his father probably knew nothing about politics. "They're the military body under the World Government. The most powerful force in the world."
"If they are who we've been feeling this whole time then who could be coming?" Yamcha asked nervously, "The only reason the entire force would be in one place is if they were expecting a war, and telling from the gigantic power on its way here," the others all looked out over the water, "a war is coming."
"Do you guys know of anyone called Whitebeard?" Vegeta asked out of the blue. Everyone there except Goku and Piccolo leaped backwards.
"Yeah, of course we do," Tien stated.
"Most of the world considers him to be the strongest man alive," Krillin added. Goku smiled wider than humanly possible and Vegeta smirked as well.
The two boys who jumped backwards just because all the others did looked at each other and shrugged, "Who's Whitebeard?" Goten whispered into his friend's ear. Trunks had never heard of him either but he pretended like he did and repeated exactly what Krillin just said.
"Why do you ask?" Yamcha questioned the Saiyan.
"Bulma mentioned something yesterday. I wasn't really paying attention," the Prince looked over on the horizon, "apparently one of his commanders, this guy named Ace or something, is going to be executed today."
"Executed?" Goku asked seriously all of a sudden.
"He's a criminal dad, a pirate," Gohan explained.
Chaozu backed up a couple more feet and Krillin was now looking off into the distance. The small Emperor looked at his best friend, "Tien, I didn't know about this, if they try to execute Ace..."
"Guys."
"What's the big deal, pirates get the death penalty all the time," Yamcha explained. "It's not like it's anything new."
"People deserve second chances, right dad?" Goten asked as he tugged on Goku's pant leg.
"Guys."
"Whitebeard's a man who would never let his nakama die. Even if it's against the World Government, the entire Navy, he's on his way." Chaozu kept talking to his taller friend but Tien was now following where Krillin was pointing to.
"Guys!" Krillin shouted and finally everyone looked where he was pointing. Out in the distance, in the fog still unseen by those on the island below, were ships... lots of ships.
"They won't see them in Marineford for another minute or so," Chaozu said. They could all feel the largest power there getting closer faster than the rest of the ships in the sea. In fact it was getting closer so much faster that they were confused, no boats were moving particularly fast and it seemed like the power was coming from where no one was.
"What's going on?" Yamcha asked looking down at the water below them. They were right above the bay and could feel hundreds of powers, the strongest ones out of all those approaching, directly beneath them.
Trunks turned his head to the right and stared off a little, Who is that? He couldn't see anyone over there except for more water but it felt like there were more people coming.
Sirens blared beneath them and they could instantly feel the ki's of all those people get alerted and start moving into action. From that high up they were still able to lock onto individual people and hear what they were saying with their boosted senses of sight and hearing. The Marines were panicking because of the sheer number of pirate ships, almost matching the number of their own warships. "What should we do?" Gohan asked his former master.
"Nothing, we need not involve ourselves." The others all turned to Piccolo with odd looks. "This is not a fight we need concern ourselves with. We should watch, for it will have a huge impact on the world, but unless something happens that we can clearly choose a side, do not interfere."
Vegeta looked pissed that the green alien was telling him what to do. Gohan seemed a lot more confused though, "What do you mean, 'choose a side?' Shouldn't we help out the government?"
Piccolo winced noticeably and the others waited for an explanation. "When I merged with Kami I gained all his knowledge and experience. He has had many dealings with the World Government over the centuries, and trust me, they aren't as righteous as they lead you to believe. Whether we fight or not, we must first decide who it is we would fight for."
Suddenly, underneath them the water began to rise in one spot. "Look," Goten pointed as the top of a white ship popped out and then the rest of the ship flew out of the water. Three more boats of a similar design flew out as well, and telling from the panic and confusion down below, the Navy didn't expect them at all.
Goku and Vegeta were each looking down and finally their visions locked on the same point. They stared down at the single man, larger than the rest and much, much more powerful. "That's Whitebeard?" Vegeta asked skeptically, "Looks like he's about to kick the bucket himself. What is he, sixty five?"
"He's seventy two," Chaozu responded accurately but still shaking in his shoes. "Don't let his age fool you though, he's not considered the strongest man in the world for nothing."
"We'll put that title to the test," Goku said grinning. Then he scratched his head remembering what Piccolo said, "I mean, we'll watch as they put that title to the test," his grin went away a little when he remembered they were going to let it all play out.
"Umm, guys," Yamcha started as the others were talking. "I think something is about to..." Two huge crashes sounded out and wind flew past the Z fighters faces, pushing them back a little. The ground below them began to shake and they all looked down to see that Whitebeard was the cause of the explosion. He had formed cracks in midair and created an earthquake.
"Why'd he do that?" Trunks asked.
"He's sending them a message," Vegeta replied, his scowl slowly turning into a smirk. "I like this guy."
"Apparently that's not the only thing he was doing!" Krillin yelled and they looked to either side of the enclosed bay where the water was getting extremely wavy and started rising into two ginormous tsunamis.
Once again Trunks looked off to his right and frowned, there was another power there, not as strong as the others but tremendous still.
The tsunamis grew and grew and started to curve over the edges of the bay. "It can't be, this can't be over before it even started." Yamcha said in disbelief.
Down below them their eyes all focused on one man who jumped up into the air incredibly fast for a human and stuck his hands out, one palm towards each wave. "What is he..." Gohan started but then they saw it. Ice formed on his arms and then two lines of it flew out to the side and hit the waves, freezing both tsunamis in a matter of seconds.
"Whoa, these guys have some pretty interesting powers," Goku commented, forgetting all about his disappointment in not getting to fight them himself.
"That's one of the three Marine Admirals," Chaozu began, "They're the military's strongest force. He is Kuzan, but his name under the Navy is Admiral Aokigi."
"Whoa, look at that," Aokigi dropped down and froze the entire bay, with the whale shaped boats still in it. Gohan continued, "the old guy looked like he killed him but he just shattered into ice shards and reformed. Is he immortal?"
"Who knows," Tien responded looking at the man covered in ice. He had one hand on the ice and it was spreading further, climbing the walls and expanding out of the bay and into the bit of sea outside the entrance to the harbor. "But he sure is powerful."
"I thought they would be stronger," Vegeta scoffed, "Most of us here could destroy that island with a flick of our wrists. I doubt any of them can do that."
Men on the four ships began disembarking and running across the ice. At the same time, the thousands of Marines waiting around the bay jumped onto the newly hardened surface and started charging towards the pirates. "Look at that guy," Krillin pointed down at a man who got cut by a sword but smoke filled the area that was sliced. He was smoking a cigar and the upper half of his body shot around leaving a trail of smoke behind him.
"Goten, Trunks, if you guys want to go home you can." Gohan announced as he watched pirates shooting marines and marines stabbing pirates. The kids looked over at the nineteen year old who was looking out at the entrance to the bay where the warships and pirate ships were battling along the coast.
The two boys looked at each other and nodded. Looking back at Gohan they both spoke firmly, "We're staying."
"Ooh, look over there, looks like that guy's getting some attention." Vegeta grinned and looked over at the man in red who was holding a large black blade. "He is going to do something, watch," they looked over and the man swung his sword once. That one swing made Vegeta drop his jaw, he didn't expect the guy to be that strong. The slash cut across the ice, slamming through pirates on its way to the main ship where the leader was standing.
"It's going to hit him!" Krillin exclaimed. Right before it reached, another man seemed to foolishly jump in front of the green slash. However, the green cut flew up into the sky and disappeared. "What!?"
"Look at that guy," Goku pointed at the burly man who jumped in front of the cut, "he's so shiny."
"It's like he's made of diamonds," Tien said and then as they were listening they heard someone say his name, "Diamond, Jozu..."
"Third division commander?" Trunks asked.
"Whitebeard has a lot of men, so he split them up into sixteen different divisions, each with their own commander." Chaozu stated.
"Wow, you really know a lot about him," Yamcha commented to the floating midget Emperor.
"He is always a topic of discussion at World Government meetings." The man frowned and looked at Tien, "at the last meeting we decided to stay away from him until he was seventy five and then send in CP9 to take him out." The others now looked at their friend with looks of amazement, they had no idea he was this involved with politics. "But CP9 was crushed, and the opportunity presented itself thanks to Blackbeard so now they've pushed forwards with the plans. It's time for Whitebeard's era to end."
Below them a man turned into light and traveled so fast that it was hard for some of them to even follow his movements. He appeared close to Whitebeard about to attack but another of Whitebeard's commanders jumped in front before turning into a ginormous flaming bird.
"What are these people?" Trunks asked, his eyes sparkling. "They're so cool."
"That guy that turned into diamonds before, look at him," Piccolo said and the others looked down at Jozu.
"Hahaha, that's a pretty big chunk of ice he's got there," Vegeta laughed. "Wonder what he's planning on doing with... Hahaha!" The man chucked the enormous hunk of ice straight at the enemy fortress and the execution stand.
"That must be Ace," a man was on his knees on the platform and his ki was weaker than the men around him. "Hopefully that Jozu guy doesn't kill his friend with that giant piece of ice."
"You don't have to worry about that," Chaozu stated as another man jumped up in front of the ice block.
"Telling from where he was sitting, is this another Admiral?" Gohan asked.
Chaozu nodded, "Sakazuki, or Admiral Akainu." His voice was laced with disgust, "He's an avid supporter of absolute justice. He takes it too far." From the look on the little emperor's face, they could tell he despised the man in red.
Krillin gulped at the feeling of the Admiral's ki as it rose drastically and a giant fist of magma formed. The fist slammed into the giant block of ice and melted it within seconds. Then from his fist, meteors started flying off of it and scattering towards the pirates.
Goku looked about to fly down there and pull some men away from a falling rock but Piccolo shook his head slowly at the man. "Is watching really all we can do?" The spiky haired Saiyan asked. No one responded as they all looked down watching more volcanic rocks crash down onto the battlefield.
"Whoa," Yamcha muttered as one rock blew up one of the four ships in the bay.
The lavender haired boy looked down at the strongest man in the world and then to his dad, "why isn't he moving? That meteor is heading straight for him," Vegeta kept watching with intrigue, ignoring his son's question. Suddenly Whitebeard raised his sword and stabbed the rock before blowing out the flames with a small breath. It didn't even look like he was trying yet.
"Still nothing compared to a Super Saiyan..." Vegeta remarked. The others kept watching the battle and Trunks nudged his friend, pointing at the top of one of the frozen waves and his friend nodded.
They looked at the adults and started backing up slowly before shooting off to the right. Gohan looked over where they were flying and thought, I knew this was going to be too much for them. He turned back down and then followed the gaze of his father and friends as they turned around and looked back into the fog.
A massive power was approaching, not as large as many below them but as they saw the form coming out of the mist, Yamcha gasped. "What is that thing?!"
"It's ginormous," Tien commented. There were some giants below them, but the thing in the distance was more than twice as big as the normal sized ones.
"Bet that guy would put up a good fight against an Oozaru," Krillin laughed. "Hey it might even win."
Vegeta scoffed, "Don't make me laugh," as the huge man got even closer, the Prince's grin faded as he realized this monster was much bigger than his giant ape form.
The green monster got up to the line of Navy warships and without pausing cut the one in front of him straight in half. "Ace-kun is a nice guy. I ain't letting you kill him," Goku winced and looked back over at the execution stand where some guy was chained to the platform. He doesn't seem like a bad guy.
Before the alien could contemplate it further he smiled and watched as the line of giants in the back started charging. They got onto the battlefield and ran forward not stopping for anyone as they charged at the green man.
After hearing the shouts from pirates down below, Vegeta looked at the monster, "Little Oars Junior. Like anything about that guy is 'Little,'" he laughed to himself.
The Navy giants got closer to their enemy and Tien mentioned, "They look determined to stop him from attacking any more of their comrades."
"Let's see if their determination means anything," the Prince retorted as Oars lifted a battleship out of the ice and chucked it at the incoming giants. Slamming into them, the ship pushed the giants back and smashed them into the wall of the harbor.
"There were a lot of really strong guys on the shore," Gohan started, "but once he broke through the line, they all stopped fighting. The guy with the red Mohawk, the guy with eight arms, they're both amazing fighters but they're retreating. What is their plan?" The others looked at Gohan confused for a moment before realizing what he said made sense.
"Yeah, one guy getting through shouldn't mean they all abandon their posts." Krillin looked down as more Marines fled to the border of the harbor. It's like they gave up the rest of the shoreline.
"I wanna save Ace-kun as soon as possible," every time the giant spoke he made Goku feel bad for him and for the man about to be executed. The green monster just sliced a giant and was fighting his way through the others with little difficulty.
"Haha, the strongest woman on the battlefield gets knocked out with one punch." Vegeta chuckled as the giant blonde woman was thrown by Oars' punch.
"She isn't nearly the strongest woman out there," Chaozu said looking to another part of the battle. The others followed his gaze and then the other three humans with them felt their hearts skip a beat.
"Who," Krillin started.
Tien continued, "is."
"That?" Yamcha finished as they stared at the most beautiful woman they'd ever laid eyes on.
"Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock," Chaozu answered. Vegeta was wondering if she was really stronger than the giant but began cracking up as she started kicking every mans' ass around her.
"What's she doing, aren't those people her friends?" Goku asked as she killed a few Marines.
"No," Piccolo stated. "Working for the government to keep the balance of power secure, are always seven pirates called the Shichibukai. That woman is one of them and is not to be taken lightly."
"Umm, guys," they all looked over at Krillin who had somehow averted his eyes from the goddess below them. "Something's happening," they all looked over at a man who looked more like a bear. He was forming this giant paw shaped bubble in midair but it was getting smaller and smaller.
"Do you guys feel the amount of energy in that attack?" Yamcha asked and of course they all did. The man, who they learned was named Bartholomew Kuma, crushed the energy into a small paw shape in his hands.
It moved from his hands and floated the small distance to Oars standing in front of him. They all watched and waited for the explosion but it didn't come, the paw shape disappeared into Oars' body. "Well that was anticlim..." Yamcha stopped midway through his sentence as the monster's stomach began to distort. Vegeta's smile faded fast as he watched one of his favorite fighters scream in pain. The monster wailed as an enormous explosion shook the island.
Men and ice began flying up into the air and getting close enough to the Z fighters that they could have swore that one or two men must have seen them. It didn't matter though as what comes up must go down and they all plummeted down to the icy surface below.
The man on the platform, Ace, began screaming, "Oars. That's enough. Stop this," Goku looked at his friends hopefully but they still seemed to be on the side of the government even if they felt bad for the monster.
After the first blow, it went downhill for the monster, "Haha, that guy with the pink feathers is going to get destroyed." Yamcha said and some of the others smiled slightly as Oars punched forward but gasped as the odd looking man twisted his fingers and sliced one of the giant's legs clean off.
"What a riot," they heard and Tien felt shivers down his spine as the man spoke.
They all watched as the huge man's energy slowly faded and he reached out for his friend. Gohan didn't know their relationship, but it seemed like the two were very good friends. The teenager flinched as did many of his friends as a sharp black shadow extended from a man and shot through Oars' body.
Yamcha muttered, "Oh shit." The monster kept getting closer and then his hand fell to the ground as he collapsed completely.
Damn, Vegeta thought angrily. He enjoyed watching the giant wreak havoc on the battlefield.
"Look, Whitebeard is distracted by Oars, and I'm not the only one who sees it," Tien stated and they all looked over to see a smaller giant with a helmet and a broadaxe jump towards Whitebeard who was staring at his fallen ally.
"He's caught him by surprise," Krillin shouted as the giant swung his axe towards the pirate leader with enough force to slice a building. Raising one hand, the old man stopped the axe and then shattered it. Krillin dropped his jaw and his excited attitude as he watched Whitebeard slam the man's head on the deck and crush it with his power before gripping it and tossing the giant off of his ship.
After a couple minutes more of fighting Tien pointed below them at the guy in pink. "Hey guys, listen to him," they were watching as the Schichibukai, Doflamingo, started shouting.
"This is the turning point!" A man charged at him and attacked but for some reason he stopped moving. That man seemed to be very strong but for some reason he was frozen to the spot. Some of his men started running to him and he swung his sword, slicing up his own people.
"What's that guy doing?!" Goku asked angrily.
"I don't think he's the one in control Goku," Krillin replied staring at the man in pink feathers.
"Pirates are evil? The Navy is righteous?" The man started shouting again and laughing as he did so. It sent chills down Chaozu's spine, "Those views change as often as the tides. Kids who've never known peace have different value than those who've never known war."
Vegeta stared at the man down below thoughtfully. He seems like a nut, but he understands.
"Those who stand at the top can decide the definition of evil." Vegeta thought about how Freiza would kill anyone who stood in his way because his word was law and anyone who spoke against it was wrong. But Frieza was not good, he looked at the Marines running around slaughtering pirates that were just trying to save a friend. "Hmm."
The man kept laughing, "This place is the turning point. Justice will triumph you say? Of course it will! Because the winners will become justice!" The other Z warriors looked at each other and back down at the war. What was happening below them would decide the future of planet Earth.
"If we don't choose a side, this may very we'll result with us living in a world that's not so perfect." Piccolo said grimly. "Pirates have done terrible things, but I've seen them do great things as well. The same can be said for the Navy."
Gohan felt a strong power over near the execution stand and watch an old man walk up and stand next to Ace. He listened in as the man spoke, "We're up against pirates, there's no room for sympathy." He sat down and Gohan kept listening, confused at why a man with so much power was doing what he was doing. "I have no sympathy for criminals..." The old man was whispering so Gohan had to listen in closely, "but for my family I do."
Gohan gasped and continued watching as the young man around his age looked at the old man sadly. The geezer was shaking and tears were welling up in his eyes, "What should I do? Damn you Ace. Why couldn't you just live as I told you?!" He listened further and Ace said that the old man was his grandpa.
Piccolo could feel the distress coming from his pupil's ki, and at the same time Vegeta and Goku were both getting riled up. All of a sudden they felt a spike in ki nearby and they all looked over to the right at the top of one of the waves but all they saw was some falling ice.
"Wait a second," Piccolo said as he looked closer to the right and saw a ship and people amongst the falling debris. He recognized the ki's of two members on board that falling ship. The group stared up in awe as a Marine warship was falling from the sky with many powerful ki's on board.
Goku looked up at the new entrants with interest before realizing who the two familiar ki's he was feeling belonged to. "What're Goten and Trunks doing over there?"
The teenage Son boy looked at the falling ship and face-palmed. He thought the boys were going home, but no, they went and got on board some random ship.
"Uhh, guys," Yamcha started, "what are they doing?" The group looked down at the ship as it smashed into the water and grimaced.
Goku smiled after a few seconds and thought, This is the perfect opportunity. Now that the boys are down there, I don't have to be the first one to break Piccolo's rule.
Vegeta was thinking along the same track, thanking his son for jumping in head first.
With the exception of the two full blooded Saiyans, the other six group members all shouted simultaneously, "What the Hell are they doing!?"
A/N Hey everyone and thanks for reading this new story. I've actually had this done for over a year now, but I started continuing it today from about the point when they got into the plaza, so I figured I'd post a little of it and see what you think. Hope you enjoy!