Whitebeard War: Navy Chronicles III
Kazekage Q
"Men, I have something crucial to tell you all," Sengoku's voice echoed from the Den-Den Mushi's scattered across the plaza. I held my breath as the Fleet Admiral spoke. He was one of the most powerful men in the world. No words could properly describe the unreal sense one feels looking up at him. "Something about the true meaning of Portgas D. Ace meeting his end here today!"
Standing not far from him stood the Vice Admiral and hero of the Marines, Monkey D. Garp. He had some kind of relation to Ace, but none of us really knew much about it. He was laughing at that moment but no one was paying much attention as to why. "Ace. Tell me the name of your father!" Sengoku commanded the prisoner next to him.
Ace glared coldly at Sengoku. It was a piercing hatred that anyone looking could sense. "My father is Whitebeard," Ace answered confidently.
"He is not!" Sengoku yelled back.
"Yes, he is!" Ace challenged. "Whitebeard is my only father! I have no other."
"What is this all about?" Akane asked behind me.
"How can Whitebeard be a father?" Menchi added.
Ace hung his head down and closed his eyes. Sengoku looked away from the prisoner and back at the plaza before him. His tone was steady and each word spoken felt as if it bore the world upon it. "Back then, we searched as though our lives depended on it. Searching for the possibility that there existed on that Island a child of that man."
"Based on nothing but the tiniest of leads from Cipher Pol, we investigated all newborn children. All children who were yet to be born and all of their mothers. But ultimately found nothing," Sengoku continued. "Or so we thought. But out of pure obstinacy, your mother had risked her life to perform a certain trick with regard to your birth!"
Not a sound could be heard across the Island. All were focused on the story Sengoku was telling. "And it was this trick that deceived our eyes. In the South Blue, there lies an Island by the name of Baterilla. Your mother's name was Portgas D. Rouge!"
"She performed a feat we could never hope to imagine. And out of her devotion to her child, bore him in her womb for a full twenty months!" "And when the birth finally came, her strength all but spent, she left this world as you entered it," Sengoku explained. "One year and three months from the father's death. A child was born bearing the most accursed blood to be found in the world. That child is you."
Ace's entire body flinched as Sengoku shouted to the crowd. "Do not claim you are not aware your father is none other than pirate king, Gold Roger!"
"That man?" Akane gasped.
"I can't believe it!" Takeshi whistled low. "My word."
I took a step back in shock. Nothing could be scarier than the thought of the pirate king returning. "Can it really be?" I asked quietly. I looked back at my squad to see them as equally shocked as I was. Mitsuko's shoulders trembled as he stared ahead. Shin was blinking several times, as if to better comprehend what had been told to him.
"Two years ago, it was," Sengoku started again. All quickly silenced to listen to the man's story. "Choosing to take your mother's name, you had risen with frightening speed and remarkable power to notability as captain of the Spade pirates. It was then that we finally realized that Roger's blood lived on!"
Ace trembled as the words were spoken to the crowd. "But Whitebeard, who came to the same realization just as we did chose to take in the son of his old rival onto his own ship. That he might raise him to be the next pirate king-"
"No!" Ace cried out. "I joined his crew so that I could make him the next pirate king-"
"You are the only one who believes that," Sengoku cut the pirate off. "We were unable to lay a finger on you from that moment forth. You were being protected by Whitebeard himself!"
I watched a face of dejection cross Ace's face as Sengoku carried on. "And if we were to allow you to roam free for long enough, you would be sure, slowly but surely, to obtain the necessary caliber to stand at the summit of a new era of piracy!"
"That is why it is absolutely imperative that we take your head here today! Even if that means going to war with Whitebeard himself!" Sengoku declared to the crowd.
A man interrupted Sengoku by yelling something to him. I couldn't hear what he had said but I could hear a low rumble and a distant shouting. I turned around and saw that the Gates of Justice were opening. But even more startling was that a fleet of ships had arrived and were sailing towards the harbor.
"They're here! All hands prepare for battle!" a voice yelled and I immediately jumped out of my shock.
"Quick man the cannons make sure the primary cannon is aimed for whatever ship is the Moby Dick," I barked out to the men around me who began to run for their stations. "No ship can pass into the bay!"
I tried to count the number of ships but it was out of my range. "Wild Knight Doma. Thunder Lord Mcguy. Decalvan Brothers. Vortex Spider Squardo," Mitsuko counted off as he checked the ships out from his binoculars.
"Where is Whitebeard? We need confirmation!" I shouted to my squad but none could answer.
"Aren't those guys from the New World?" Takeshi asked Shin.
My Den-Den Mushi began speaking a universal command to all the commanders. "There are 43 ships in all! Whitebeard's division commanders are nowhere to be seen! But these are without a doubt all pirates affiliated with Whitebeard!"
The command to fire on those that weren't the Whitebeard pirates made a little more sense to me now but I didn't have time for that. We had to find Whitebeard's ship and sink it before it could come any closer. Takeshi started to laugh and whipped out his rifle. "This is getting fun!"
Everyone's confidence strengthened from his outburst and we immediately began to feel the energy of a war with Whitebeard build up. I started to shout orders to make sure that everyone had loaded their cannons with the proper shots for such distant targets. A whirling noise nearby was making it hard. I couldn't get put my finger on it but somewhere nearby something was making a very loud noise. It sounded like rushing water.
"What a guy," I heard Akane laugh. I walked up to the main cannon and stared out at the bay. Next to me Takeshi had lowered his rifle and Menchi was running frantic not yet aware of where the noise was coming from.
Shouts were heard across the plaza as the Moby Dick shot out from the Sea. The boat was absolutely huge and with it three other ships had raised up. "They! They! They penetrated the bay!" Shin screamed next to me.
"Mission failure boys," Akane laughed as he began to aim the cannon toward the Moby Dick. I just stood there stunned at the spectacle.
"So this is Whitebeard?" I spoke quietly.
A loud laughter broke out from the ships before us. "Marco the Phoenix first division commander of the Whitebeard pirates. Jozu the Diamond," Mitsuko started.
"Gurarara," I heard the laughter continue as I focused on one man who was stepping up to the front of the Moby Dick. "How many decades has it been, Sengoku?"
"It's him!" Menchi said.
"My beloved son had better be safe and sound!" the man commanded one of the most powerful men in the world and laughed. "Gurarara."
"Old man!" Ace screamed down from the gallows.
Whitebeard reached his arms back and swung them outward. It may have been a trick of my eyes but I could of sworn I saw the very air itself crack. A booming noise occurred and all around us the sea started to move. It sounded as though the sea had been punched. "What's going on here?" Shin asked me.
"I don't know, but stay calm," I ordered. "We don't have orders yet so we are to await our new commands. To think they would of come from the bottom of the sea."
Behind me Ace and Whitebeard were shouting back and forth but I had stopped watching them. My eyes were on the massive waves forming on either side of the Island. They continued to build up into one massive sized wave.
"It's so big!" Menchi screamed as he fell back and landed against the platform.
I trembled with fear as I stared at the massive Tsunami gathering force before my eyes. "What kind of man? What are we gonna do!" I shouted in panic.
Akane grabbed my shoulder and shook me. "Keep it together, Officer. This is war with Whitebeard. We need you at your best."
"To battle!" I heard the pirates aboard the Moby Dick yell and cheer. Whitebeard's Gurarara shook across the plaza.
"Ice age," a calm voice spoke. I had almost not heard it had I not been staring at the figure who had just jumped high into the air above the bay.
His entire body began to stream a mist and from both hands an object flew out. This beam hit each massive wave that had gathered on either side of Marineford and instantly stopped it in its tracks. I watched as the moving waves became unmoving and solid.
"It stopped!" I heard someone yell. I felt like I was going to pass out from the relief I now felt. Aokiji turned his attention to Whitebeard and shot a row of ice spears at the man.
A boom cracked the air and the spears disappeared. A second later Aokiji crumbled and fell into the sea. I watched as his remains hit the sea and the area immediately froze solid. Within seconds Ice had creeped from that spot and taken over the entire bay.
"Wow. That's the power of an admiral," Takeshi whispered. "Can't believe it."
Pirates were soon landing onto the ice and charging towards us. My Den-Den Mushi came to life with a new order. "Bombard them!"
"Destroy the Moby Dick!" I yelled and our cannons began to fire on the ships before us. I watched as the cannonballs we fired missed their mark. Three figures pulled their swords back and smiled at us. "It won't go that easy!"
"The ability to cut a cannonball in half? What are these monsters!" Menchi yelled.
"Keep firing!" I ordered. Mitsuko pointed and I watched the Navy HQ's vice admirals form a line on the ice in front of the incoming pirates. "Make sure to aim for the other ships in the bay, too! Even if you can't hit the Moby Dick you might be able to sink one of the others."
"Wow, the Vice admirals," Menchi whispered as our cannons fired another round.
"They aren't the ones you should be watching," Akane called to us. "Take a look at who's getting excited."
We looked back to the scene and immediately knew what he was talking about. "That man?" I asked.
His hand had gripped the hilt of his sword. His eyes were locked with Whitebeard's as he spoke something to Doflamingo. He swung his sword and immediately a powerful force crossed the ice towards the Moby Dick. Ice flew in every direction as the presence of the blow crossed the bay towards Whitebeard.
The pressure stopped just before the Moby Dick as a lone figure put his hands out in front of it. "I can't believe he stopped that," Menchi said.
A look of disappointment crossed Mihawk's face. Before any of us could recover a flash of light appeared in front of the Moby Dick and began raining attacks down upon the pirate crew. Flashes of light spewed from his hands as Admiral Kizaru took presence above the Moby Dick.
A blur of blue caught the attacks Kizaru had unleashed and returned to the deck of the Moby Dick. "Wow, his Devil's fruit power is rare," Mitsuko said.
The man leapt forward and took the form of a bird set on fire. His wings launched him forward as a whirl of lights slammed into his body. Marco's body had swung a kick towards Kizaru's and sent him flying backward. The dust settled and Kizaru was standing there looking completely unharmed.
"What is with these guys?" I asked. The giant squad had started charging. Jozu was lifting something from below the ground. He pulled up a giant chunk of Ice while yelling.
"What's he trying to do?" Shin asked. Jozu reached back and swung the object with all his might.
A giant iceberg had been flung directly for Marineford. I gasped as I watched the object fly through the air. "Who can lift something so big?" Menchi asked.
The Iceberg caught a giant fist made of burning red lava. The lava fist tore through the Iceberg and plunged deep into the heart of the flying Iceberg. In an instant the entire Iceberg had disappeared and all that remained was a giant red fist. Fireballs fell from the sky and crashed onto those below without mercy.
"One of the ships has been sunk!" Takeshi cheered and raised his fist. "Way to go!"
"Keep firing!" I yelled as I noticed our squad had slowed their pace. "You saw one ship go down! Bring them all down."
I watched the pure chaos unfold below me. The clash between the powerful Navy Vice Admirals and the pirates had left a scene of bodies across the bay. Our cannon fire had made a few hits on the Moby Dick but no substantial damage had been made. "What are those ships made out of?" Akane grumbled a complaint.
"Just be glad we're not in that mess below us," I answered. Takeshi fired his rifle.
"I got one!" He laughed.
"Congratulations," I stuttered. "But please refrain from sniping pirates in my ear."
"Behind you," Mitsuko spoke up.
"Oh, what now?" I asked Mitsuko. A shadow appeared against the horizon. I jumped back when I realized it belonged to a person.
"Dear-" I started but couldn't finish the word. A giant standing high above the ships was slowly walking toward the bay.
"K-Keep firing!" I mumbled to the squad half heartedly. I heard a few shriek behind me.
"Ace Gun!" the monster bellowed.
"Who can stop that?" Menchi asked aloud.
"Looks like the giants are going to try," Mitsuko pointed as the Giant squad stormed across the bay.
"Oars Jr," Akane said. "I think that's what they're calling it."
Oars wrapped his arm around a battle ship. Cannon fire and bullets were causing no effect to the giant beast. The beast lifted the boat into the air and slammed down on the opposite side of the bay like a hammer. The cannon on the other side of the bay fell apart and I watched as the wall fell to pieces. I knew the man who had worked that side of the bay casually as a fellow Artillery commander.
"Who can stop that thing?" I asked.
