A meeting interrupted...Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions
12: Occurrence at the Summit
Mariejois, the World Government Capital in the Grand Line, was alive with activity.
It had only been a few days since Whitebeard's attack on Marineford, the Marines main base, and while the island did hold in the end, the damage may very well be irreplaceable; currently, the World Government is surveying the damage and determining if that statement is true or not.
A lot of heat has fallen upon Sengoku the Buddha due to the Marines inability to retain the damage. While Sengoku was quick to point out that they were successful in killing off Whitebeard, the World Government wasn't happy with those results alone.
It had been an intense few days for Sengoku. Immediately after the battle, he was required to go to Mariejois with the top brass of the marines and report on the outcome. While expecting somewhat positive feedback on the death of one of the Yonko, Sengoku was sorely disappointed when the World Government quickly reported the loss of marine lives and cost of damage to Marineford.
Sengoku put that out of his mind for now; he had bigger problems to worry about.
There was no doubt the world was in a frenzy after this, things needed to be straightened out, and Sengoku was the one who had to do it. In order to accomplish this, the leader of the Marines called together a special meeting with the Shichibukai and three Admirals to discuss the current problems.
Currently, all of the Shichibukai were in attendance, save for Boa Hancock and Bartholomew Kuma (Blackbeard was no longer included as he had resigned and disappeared right after the fight). The three Admirals showed up as well, including the heavily bandaged Akainu, who seemed ashamed of his loss and always had a permanent scowl on his face.
Sengoku strode in to find the Shichibukai arguing and the three Admirals sitting quietly. Flanked by Vice-Admiral Tsuru and Doberman, he took his seat at the head of the table. Most of the chatter quieted down, and while most of the Shichibukai had a relaxed air around them, the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
Taking out a list, Sengoku began to read it from top to bottom:
"Estimated cost of Marineford repairs: 300,000,000 Berries, estimated loss of Marine lives: 400, estimated cost of injured Marine medical bills: 45,000,000 Berries, estimated loss of pirate lives: 230."
He angrily slammed the paper down on the table, completely silencing everything. "So can you all tell me why," he yelled, "despite the deaths of Whitebeard and Ace, we still somehow come out on the losing end?!"
The entire room kept silent.
Sighing and leaning back in his chair, Sengoku continued, "The resignation of Garp won't help our image either. The thought of a major marine hero resigning has shaken the humiliated Marine image even more."
More silence in the room.
"Furthermore, with the…forced return of Shichibukai Boa Hancock to Amazon Lily under suspicions of aiding the pirates, and Blackbeard's sudden defection from the Shichibukai, paranoia has risen among the marines. Things are in major disarray, and the World Government is blaming it squarely on me. Now while I do accept my share of the blame, I think it's quite unfair to say that it's all my fault."
His eyes narrowed. "Now my question is, what do you think contributed to such a massive loss of life and damage?"
It was silent until Sengoku heard Akainu mumble something under his breath. "What was that?" he asked the Admiral.
The Red Dog sighed and replied, "If you wanna know the real reason, you don't need to look any further than here." He pointed to the Shichibukai.
"What exactly are you suggesting?" Gecko Moria asked with a grimace.
Tipping his hat down even further, Akainu explained. "I'm saying we went through all of the trouble of bringing out the Shichibukai, one of our strongest military assets, and what do they do? Sit around and watch like a bunch of children staring at a fire."
"Says the guy who got his ass handed to him by the Old Man himself," Doflamingo snickered.
"What was that?!" yelled a clearly angered Akainu, slamming his fist down on the table.
"Chill man, it's just a taunt; don't let it get to you." Aokiji said, leaning back in his chair and yawning.
Kizaru decided to add his two cents by saying with a carefree smile, "You're pretty scary when you're mad Akainu."
"I think Akainu has a point," Sengoku intervened. "From what I saw, you only entered the fight when you saw you needed to or…" he looked at Doflamingo directly, "…when you thought it was the most fun."
"Fufufu."
"Sounds like you Marines are just lookin' for a proper scapegoat," Gecko Moria cut in with a laugh. "Just face it, this was due to military incompetence, nothing else."
Sengoku crossed his arms and sat further up. "What's done is done," he finally said. "I suppose there's no point in playing the blame game; after all, you Shichibukai did do your part, even if it was minor. Now the next order of business. Due to the resignation of Jimbei and Blackbeard and the current investigation and possible resignation of Boa Hancock, we need to decide on possible replacements."
"First Crocodile, and now Jimbei, Blackbeard, and Hancock; we're goin' through Shichibukai faster than toilet paper," stated a still chuckling Doflamingo.
"Yes, regardless," continued Sengoku, "it's imperative that we try and make these transitions as quick as possible to get order back in these seas. What kind of message would we be sending to the world if we can't even keep the Shichibukai together?"
"Well I'd say that wouldn't send a very good message at all."
Everyone suddenly turned around to the strange voice they just heard. They all strangely saw Victor, sitting on a couch placed in the back of the room. He looked very calm and appeared to have a permanent smirk on his face.
"Who the hell are you?!" Sengoku demanded. "How did you get in here?!"
He was suddenly right next to Sengoku as he extended his hand out in an earnest smile. "Hi, I'm Victor. Nice to meet you."
"How'd you do—"
Victor was already gone and was now behind Doflamingo, patting him on the shoulder and saying with a good-natured curious voice, "Are you really the famous Donquixote Doflamingo? I gotta say man, I respect what you do."
"I don't know how you get in here, but you have three seconds to get out before I forcibly get you out of here," Akainu threatened, turning his right arm into magma.
"Fufufufu! I like him," Donquixote chuckled. "Let's at least hear him out. Whaddya say Buddha?"
Sengoku waved a hand at Akainu. "Let him be Akainu. I'm sure Mr. Victor has come here for a reason. So tell us first off, how did you get here?"
Victor simply pointed to the open window in the adjacent wall and said, "I just went through there, simple as that."
"Impossible," Moria stated. "One of us would have seen you if you went through there."
Victor disappeared and reappeared on top of the table in front of Moria. "Now that's where you're wrong Mr. Moria. There are several things in this world that one could use to escape getting noticed."
Moria scowled and swiped a hand at him. "Get the hell away from me!"
Fortunately, Victor had already disappeared and reappeared again.
Sengoku eyed the man carefully. He looked to be old enough to know what was going on, but young enough to still have life and vitality around him. He was around five-eleven and had a slim muscular body. His face had signs of creases, mostly on his forehead and around his eyes. His mostly gray hair with a touch of dark still in it was lightly spiked in the front, showing off his entire face. He wore what a common drifter would wear, nothing that stood out, but enough to let someone know he's been around. All in all, Victor was the kind of man you normally wouldn't take a second glance at, but one could easily tell that his man had immeasurable depth.
"Since you don't seem keen on telling us," said Sengoku, "why don't you just tell us what you're here for?"
"What I'm here for?" he asked with a voice that sounded mocking.
He disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the table. "My business is that of comfort, your comfort more specifically. I couldn't help but overhear after I snuck in that you are looking for someone to help…smooth over the process of getting the Marines back to the power you were once at correct?"
"Correct."
Outstretching his arms, Victor walked backwards and said, "Well it just so happens that you're in luck. I am offering my services to you to help with this process. All I ask is that you accept me as one of your own; to put it in layman's terms, I want to become a Shichibukai."
"And what makes you think we'd let you join just like that?" asked a genuinely curious Kizaru, apparently amused by Victor's antics.
"Kizaru's right," added Sengoku. "I have never heard of you before; do you even have a bounty on you?"
Hopping off the table, Victor looked away and replied, "Well, no not exactly, but as I recall—" He turned around towards them, "—that didn't seem to stop you from allowing others from joining, although I suppose that position didn't long." Everyone immediately thought of Blackbeard.
"While that may be," Aokiji answered, "Blackbeard had a powerful devil fruit under his control. What exactly do you have?"
"Ah, and here in-lies the secret," Victor replied, holding an arm up. He pointed it to the wall closest to him and said, "I hope you don't mind a little more collateral damage."
Not even waiting for a response, his arm began to change into lightning as he yelled, "20 Million Volt Vari!"
Quick as a flash, lightning flew out of his arm and struck the wall almost instantaneously, leaving a massive smoldering hole where it hit. Victor scratched the back of his head and looked at Sengoku. "Sorry, I tried to limit it, but I guess I put too much oomph into it. You don't mind do you?"
Sengoku was only curious in one thing. "What devil fruit did you eat?"
"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself. "Well, I ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. It's a logia-type that allows me to turn into lightning. Pretty cool stuff, huh?"
"So that's how you got in undetected," Moria said, suddenly understanding.
"Indeed, with this power, I can travel at the speed of—" He disappeared and reappeared slightly behind where he was originally standing, "—lightning, which is basically instantaneous. Pretty convenient if I do say so myself."
He suddenly appeared behind Sengoku and got close to him. "So what do you say, Chief? Am I in? I'd be willing to do whatever you want."
"The question still comes to mind," replied The Buddha, "that we only let Blackbeard in when he was able to capture Fire Fist Ace."
"Ah, I'm way ahead of ya Chief," Victor said, as he snapped his fingers.
With that, both Tobias and Daron Arkan climbed up the window. They both seemed to be carrying several very large vertical-looking bags of some kind. They both set them down carefully in a row. With a whistle, they opened all of them, showing several pirates that have disappeared earlier and were caught on tape, including Eustass Kidd, Capone Bege, Basil Hawkins, Daz Bones, and Foxy the Silver Fox.
"I knew you would want me to do something noteworthy to show why I'm good enough for this position, so I sent my men after some of the deadliest pirates you have. Unfortunately, they're all pretty much dead; resistance and all that, you know. What do you think? Did I go a bit overboard?"
"You were able to capture all of these pirates?" questioned Sengoku in a bit of disbelief.
"Well, technically it was my men who captured them, but I coordinated the effort, yes."
Silence reigned in the room for a good while as everyone stared at the notorious pirate's bodies.
Victor just looked around and had to ask, "Soooooo, am I under consideration for the job?"
"I must say you match the criteria very well," Sengoku said. "And if you could coordinate and capture three of the Eleven Supernovas so easily, I'm sure we'll have no problem building you a reputation to be feared by."
Victor grinned his largest and said, "Well that sounds good then."
"I'll have to run it by the Gorosei first," Sengoku said, standing up, "but I believe with my recommendation, we should be able to instate you relatively quickly." He walked over to Victor and held out his hand. "I would like to thank you; you have already contributed a great deal to us, and I'm sure the Shichibukai title would be perfect for someone like yourself."
Victor gladly accepted his hand and said, "I assure you it was my pleasure to help aid the World Government."
"I must depart now," he said. "You are all dismissed, but remember, you Shichibukai are not allowed to leave the premises until I say you can; and you're gonna need to stay here for a while until we straighten this whole thing out. My men can show you to your rooms where you'll be staying."
"You mean we have to stay here for possibly days," Doflamingo complained. "Man, that sucks big time!"
Sengoku ignored him and turned to Victor. "I'll have a room prepared for you and your men to stay in; Admiral Kizaru will be happy to show you to where it will be."
"Thanks Chief," he said admiringly.
"We'll be talking very soon."
With that, he left and Kizaru came up with his usual deadpan expression on his face. "Don't worry about those bodies," he said, looking at all of the pirates on the floor. "We'll have our own men clean then up. If you would please follow me."
"Of course, of course," replied the jubilant Victor.
Kizaru wouldn't know it of course, but the second he turned around, a grin appeared on Victor's face. Not the kind of grin he normally had where it was cheerful and happy, but a malicious sinister grin. The kind that would give you the chills if you say him looking at you with it.
Kizaru sensed this, and looked back with curiosity, but by the time he looked, it was already gone.
The truth behind the smile...
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