Hello, everyone! Chapter 10 is here!
Special thanks to Kippysaurus, and Aconight for proofreading this chapter!
"What the hell are you doing? Stop!"
"I can't control my body!" the marine shouted as he started to strangle his comrade.
The other man began struggling. "This is hardly the time for jokes! What do you mean you can't control your body?"
"I'm not doing this! Something is making me move!"
"Fufufufu! Yes! Fight! Fight to the death!"
Maniacal laughter was heard from the man dressed in a ridiculously pink feather coat.
"Doflamingo! Curse you!" the marine cried as he blocked another swing from his comrade.
This is when Sengoku chose to walk in.
"Please sit down, and release the officer, Doflamingo." he sighed tiredly. "We are going to begin the meeting shortly. Unless, of course, you're here to pick a fight."
"Whatever you have to say, hurry up and say it. I am only here because 'liberating' islands has been quite boring of late." he drawled, as his fingers twitched and the panicked screams in the background intensified. Both Marines had now drawn their weapons.
Unsurprisingly, 'Tyrant' Kuma was the only other Shichibukai who had bothered to show up. He was holding his Bible and calmly looking out the window, seemingly uncaring about everything else going on.
"Very well. Seeing that the others are rather unlikely to make an appearance-"
Suddenly, the entire room fell silent as its occupants heard measured footsteps approaching the room.
Mihawk scanned the room with bored eyes as he entered and sat in one of the unoccupied seats around the table.
"Fufufufu! So you actually showed up, Hawkeye!" Doflamingo laughed. "Are you simply here to kill time? Or perhaps today's topic has caught your interest?"
"It is none of your concern."
"Fleet Admiral!" A petty officer ran in, not bothering to salute. "Fleet Admiral! Please help! It's Boa Hancock! She's turning everyone to-"
"Slave Arrow!"
Suddenly, an arrow struck one of the marines in the room, turning him to stone.
"-stone." the petty officer squeaked out, clearly terrified.
"Spineless fools!" Boa Hancock promptly entered and slipped into her signature pose. "How dare you block my way?!"
"She's looking down at us so much that she's looking up… But she's hot..." A marine's eyes turned to hearts.
"So the she-demon actually bothered to show up for once." Sengoku muttered. "Boa Hancock, please turn the marines back and sit down. We are starting the meeting soon."
"How dare you order me around? You should be thankful that I bothered to come to this disgusting meeting, arrogant man!" Then her personality did a complete 180 . She sighed dreamily. "It is a small sacrifice to help my dearest future brother-in-law!"
"Boa Hancock, with all due respect, please turn all of the marine officers back to normal and take your seat so that the meeting may start." an officer said in a pacifying manner.
"You mean I need to do what you say?"
"N-no! Not at all! Turn all of the marines in the building to stone!" Blood began to gush out of the marine's nose, staining his pristine uniform.
Tsuru whacked the officer on the head and dragged him out of the room. All the other marines filed out quickly, leaving the Fleet Admiral alone with the present Warlords. Even the statues had been carefully dragged out.
Hancock flipped her hair and sat down across from Doflamingo.
"I'm sure we all have other things to get to so I will not make this very long. Since the defeat of Crocodile and your refusal of Strawhat as a potential replacement, there has been a vacant spot in the Seven Warlords and nobody competent enough has shown a desire to take the spot." Sengoku folded his arms. "Until now, that is."
No one looked particularly surprised.
Kuma didn't do anything more than twitch. His Bible lay closed in his arms and he continued to stare out the window.
Mihawk still had the same stoic face he had walked in with.
Doflamingo started laughing maniacally. "Fufufufufu! Finally!"
Hancock scoffed.
"Well? Who is it?" Doflamingo grinned, leaning forward.
"This was someone we have approached in the past. Who refused."
He had been expecting some conversations to pop up. Well… Yeah. Fat chance. He had forgotten they weren't exactly fond of each other.
"Now, this pirate has approached us and asked for the spot. The Gorosei have already given their approval; now I would like to ask for your opinions."
"Just tell us who it is." Mihawk sounded bored.
"The super rookie who entered the New World three months ago, fought Jimbei and challenged Whitebeard, Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace."
Never let it be known that Sengoku wasn't dramatic. All leaders were, in a sense.
They had to be.
It was, most of the time, through their charm and the way they each appealed to their soldiers that made them accept them as their leader.
A leader is only one when he has the support of people who work under him, people that are willing to die for him, and by his orders.
Sengoku had a long day and he had really been looking to seeing the surprise on their faces. But it just wasn't showing up.
"Powerful or not, he can still be considered a rookie. A rather hot headed one, going by the rumors." Kuma rumbled at last. "We would be more hurt than helped. He is still not ready for such responsibility."
"Fufufufu! I say we let him." A slightly demented smile revealed itself; it was one that would probably send little children screaming to their mothers if they ever had the misfortune to see it, but none of the people present batted an eye. "All rookies are arrogant, and now that he has been put into his place by Whitebeard, he seeks to rise in other ways. It would be delightfully interesting to see what he is capable of."
Boa Hancock appeared to be lost in a daydream. Sengoku decided (correctly) to ignore her.
"I have no objections." Mihawk stated.
"Very well, then. In that case-" Sengoku started, eager to get this over with and shove the dangerous, dangerous pirates well away from his precious base before they harmed it. It cost enough of his budget to fix it after his own comrades (cough Garp cough) damaged it!
"Ah, please excuse my interruption."
So, hopefully things were cleared up!
Ace's 'grand plan' is revealed to be that he plans on becoming a Warlord, and he has contacted the Marines already!
What do you all think about that? I know some of you might think the WG would never accept Ace back as a Warlord, but right now they're in dire need of one, plus they covered the whole situation up. Also, they could spin it in a way that favors them. They're good at that.
Revealing this also mean that more possibilities open up! Things are about to get much more exciting!
Reviews responses:
RRon2k: yep! Haruta is small indeed, and in my perspective, gets lots of teasing about it seeing as everyone else is huge. Her fighting style will probably be best suited to use her speed and agility.
Naliyu: Thank you for the encouragement! I did find my betas, and this chapter has been proofread!
The Keeper of Worlds: thank you for your review! This is only 10 chapters long right now, but I have some big plans for it in the future!
Helenvoid: haha, I'm looking forward to writing the reactions of people when they find out Ace, Sabo and Luffy are related, too! Ace and Luffy's connection, however, is already known by Garp, probably Sengoku and Shanks, but absolutely no one knows about Sabo except Garp, and Dadan, and Makino, but they're still in East Blue, so no worries!
SunsetDawn420: I actually didn't expect a review because usually no one bothers to write one except for the first few days after I post a chapter, so it was great to see yours! Yeah, I know, politicians and adults are so annoying sometimes, with the whole 'you're still too young to understand we are doing things for your good' speech, but seriously? Ugh. I definitely am old enough to understand the situation, thank you very much! Anyways, thank you for your support!
That's it, I believe.
That's 5 reviews in response to one chapter. That's good! Definitely getting better (remembers the lone review from the last chapter…).
Thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows! We're almost at 150 follows and passed the 100 mark for favorites!
See you all in the next update!