I do not claim any ownership to the world of One Piece or its characters.

I do however own the rights to the crew of the True Justice.

Of course I in no way make any profit from this story.

As the first part of this story takes place during the Battle of the Greatest, I've taken a few artistic liberties so it doesn't come across as a plagarized word-for-word copy. That and because I didn't feel like watching or reading that entire arc again to make it one.

This story is rated M for general content.

Ch II

The chaos that erupted across the battlefield as Ace was freed made what had been going on before seems like a well organized tea party. His release invigorated the pirates, giving them the hope that they could win the day. But the Navy also fought with renewed strength, more determined than ever to prevent the pirates from escaping.

With Smoker momentarily distracted by Ace's sudden freedom, Rhazios took the opportunity to resume his taunting. "There you go again, looking at another man. Do I mean so little to you?"

That got the asshole's attention. Smoker spun to face Rhazios, and was met with an uppercut he didn't see soon enough to dissipate around. The White Hunter staggered back, rubbing his jaw. "You underhanded bastard," he growled. "Fighting without the slightest bit of honor."

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours. A dog who barks on command knows nothing of honor. Or dignity for that matter. But I bet I can make the dog howl, if only you'd give me a chance."

"Degenerate," Smoker grunted out as the two began exchanging blows; Smoker with his jitte, Rhazios with a sword he snatched up from a dead pirate. "You pirates raid and plunder, thinking you have to the right to claim whatever you want as your own. You refuse to obey the laws set down by the law."

An explosion from Ace's powers in the background seemed to highlight the look of utter rage on Rhazios' face. "Right?! You speak of rights of when you serve a government and nobles who's power and influence are built on the violation of those they are supposed to protect! Just because I was born, did that give the Celestial Dragons the right to brand and enslave me? The right to rape and kill my mother and sister simply out of boredom? Why would any pirate heed laws that permit monsters more vile than the worst of us to act with total immunity from those very laws you hide behind?"

Smoker could agree that some of the things the government and nobles did were less than pure, but he'd be damned if he let a filthy pirate like Rhazios turn him against the powers he'd dedicated his life to. Surely it wasn't as bad as this scum was making it out be. Though, there was that whole mess in Alabasta... No. Sacrifices had to be made for order to be maintained. His superiors were in the right here... They had to be.

He ground his teeth around his cigars as his swung his jitte once more. Choosing to ignore the details of Rhazios' life lest they start infecting his thoughts, Smoker instead focused on the fact that Rhazios was a pirate and criminal. Those little details would be easier to ignore if there wasn't a good possibility of them being true. Pirates were liars, everyone knew that, but he'd heard stories...

"Preach to me all you want, Bloody Rose, at the end of the day, all pirates are nothing more than thieves and murderers. Some of you talk about freedom and adventure, but it's just an excuse to justify your crimes. You and that damned Straw Hat are the worst about it."

"Again you bring a younger man into this. You've got all of this right in front of you and all you want is Straw Hat. Later I really think I might cry," Rhazios mocked. He spared a glance at Luffy and shook his head. "From what I've learned about that kid, Smoker, he's no pirate. He couldn't take candy from a sleeping baby. Just look at what he's done for those close to him. He broke into Enies Lobby to rescue a single member of his crew. Invades Impel Down and Marineford in the hope of saving his brother. Sounds more like a Revolutionary to me. Like father like son I suppose."

Beyond the now circling opponents, the battle was reaching a fever pitch. The admirals and Warlords were tearing through the pirates with ease, but with powerful fighters like Ace, Luffy, Ivankov, and Whitebeard on the pirates' side, all was not lost.

Risking a glance over his shoulder once more, Rhazios saw Luffy's strength beginning to wane. He'd been pushing himself so hard to free his brother that the young pirate was well beyond his body's limits. Odds were likely that one of Ivankov's injections were the reason the kid was still on his feet at all.

Ace was having issues of his own it seemed. Not surprising to be honest. It was doubtful he'd been fed since his capture and the sea prism chains and cuffs he'd been bound in had been sapping his strength. But he was holding his own, for now.

That glance cost Rhazios as Smoker nailed him with a jab of his jitte. The sea prism in the tip instantly drained the pirate's strength and sent him to his knees. "Damn you, Smoker," he growled as he returned his focus to his opponent. "Let me up. Can't you see all this is madness? Those you serve are corrupt and cruel beyond reason. But I know you're a better man than this. Than them. At least you were... once."

"Shut up damnit!" Smoker barked. He would not get dragged down that road by this bastard. "You're a pirate, no better than any of the criminal scum here."

"You call us scum, and for some pirates that's a generous assessment, but compared to your fellow soldiers and the government you bend the knee for, most of us are fucking saints." Rhazios then had the balls to spit in Smoker's face.

The White Hunter pulled back his fist to slug the defiant bastard at his feet, and hopefully knock a few teeth from that smart mouth, when a cry of anguish tore through the battle. His jitte pulled away just enough to free Rhazios from its power and both men turned to see what had caused such a heart wrenching sound. What they saw drained the color from both of their faces.

Akainu was standing over Luffy and slowly pulling his molten fist from the massive hole he'd punched through the latter's chest. There was no emotion visible on the Admiral's face, neither joy nor rage. It was though such a brutal, underhanded murder meant utterly nothing to him.

From the corner of his eye, Rhazios spotted Vice Admiral Garp charging towards Akainu to avenge one grandson and save the other. Well Rhazios knew the look on Garp's. It was the same one he'd worn when he'd learned the fate of his mother and sister. He wore it again and again every time he killed a noble to make them pay for their very existence and the corruption that they thrived on. But before Garp could get close, he was tackled to the ground by that bastard, Sengoku.

Not that it mattered. Before Akainu could launch a second attack to kill Luffy, a shadow fell over him. It was Whitebeard.

As the world's strongest pirate began unleashing his wrath on Akainu, Rhazios shifted his gaze to Smoker, taking note of the almost troubled look on his face. What was going through the White Hunter's mind right now to cause such a look? It didn't matter. "I don't have time for this crap," Rhazios muttered. Leaning back on his hands so he was well away from that jitte that was still aimed at his chest, he swept his legs against Smoker's, knocking the bastard off his feet and giving Rhazios a chance to head towards Luffy.

He was feet away from the young Pirate Prince when yet another party crasher arrived to the battle- Blackbeard. And he'd brought with him a rather nasty collective nightmare, the Level 6 prisoners from Impel Down. These were "people", monsters would be a far more accurate term, who's crimes and very existence were so heinous that they had been officially erased from ever having drawn breath in the first place. "Great, another pain in my ass. I'm going to need a proctologist after this." Luffy would be fine for a few more minutes thanks to this new headache to deal with.

Just as Rhazios began to channel Smoker's Powers so he could launch himself at Blackbeard, a violent tremor ran through his body, making him stumble. "Damnit, not now. Not. Now." Smoker's jitte must have drained him more than he realized, the curse of his Devil Fruit kicking in. He took another stumbling step forward, eyes turning white as he witnessed Blackbeard's Dark-Dark powers. But, instead of turning green as they had with Smoker, they turned red. There was no way in hell he was wielding the same powers as that sonofabitch.

Another step, another tremor. Whitebead was there now, staring down the bastard who had betrayed him and Ace, leading to this whole damned mess. Rhazios struggled to reach him, for he could see the life bleeding from Whitebeard and he had maybe a few minutes left. But it was all for naught. Steam began to rise from his body as Rhazios went to his knees once more at the very moment Whitebeard confirmed the existence of the legendary treasure known as the One Piece.

The chaos that erupted as Blackbeard somehow obtained Whitebeard's Devil Fruit powers was indeed something to behold, and had everyone scrambling to avoid the buildings that were crashing down around them. A chaos that was fortunately brought to a swift halt by the arrival of the Emperor that the Five Elder Stars seemed to fear more than any other pirate- "Red Haired" Shanks.

On the deck of the True Justice, Rhazios' crew were doing what they could to aid the rest of the fleet that had come to Whitebeard's aid this day. The ship's chef and chief canoneer, a man known only as "Gourmet" for his insistence that all his cooking was exquisite, was leading a team of canoneers and saboteurs to disable the Naval ships that had cut off the fleet's escape route.

A fearsome looking man stood at the bow of the massive vessel, searching for his captain with a spyglass. With an irritated sigh, he lowered it as he ran a hand through his short, black hair. Kooa "The Beastmaster" scanned the battlefield with one emerald green and the other an icy blue before turning to those aiding his search. He didn't have that epiphet because he was an animal trainer like Mohji of the Buggy Pirates, but because he was the only one who could remotely control the captain.

"Any sight of him?" Kooa called up to the man he had in the crow's nest. He often wondered how many other first mates had to put up with this kind of crap.

"Aye sir! He's sitting on top of Law's submarine," the crewman called down. "And it looks like he's drained himself again."

Kooa scowled. "Damnit," he grumbled. Raising the spyglass again, he looked to where the captain had been spotted. And there he was, sitting on top of the sub looking like he didn't have a care in the world. Then there was the other little issue with him. Instead of the handsome, fierce pirate who'd been battling Smoker, there was a young child wearing the captain's now oversized clothes. Whenever Rhazios expended too much energy from his Devil Fruit or in general, he was forcibly transformed into himself at the age of six, with a similarly aged mindset to boot.

As if sensing the gazes currently locked onto him just as the sub began to move, he looked in that direction and offered a wide grin. He then blew his crew a kiss and gave a mighty call of "Bye Bye!" before slipping inside the sub without being noticed by Law's crew just before the hatch was shut.

Dropping his spyglass, Kooa gripped the railing of the ship and leaned forward, a look of utter rage on his face. (That whole white eyes and big fangs look all the characters get when pissed sort of rage look) "YOU LITTLE BASTARD! YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" But it was far too late. So the first mate vented his anger by slugging the nearest crewman in the face.

"So now what?" came the voice of Gourmet as the green mohawked chef climbed aboard, face and clothes covered in soot and gunpowder, an unlit match resting between his lips.

"Set sail and follow him, of course. I'm going to tan his ass raw when I get my hands on him," Kooa snapped, looking towards the sea. "What the hell are you all standing around for? GET TO WORK!"

Author's Note: And so ends the Battle of Marineford. Everything from here on out will pretty much be my own take on events and such. I will do my best to keep things as close to canon as possible, but you folks are in for quite a few shockers and surprises.

That aside, you thought Luffy's crew had it bad, I can't begin to imagine the BS Rhazios' men have to put up with whenever he burns himself out like that. I felt this whole miserable, heartbreaking chapter of the One Piece saga deserved to end on a lighter note for those of us who have been through it once before.

As always my dearly beloved readers, your comments, flames not included, are most welcome and help motivate me to keep writing.