A/N: Hey there! It's been awhile. Sorry it's kinda short.

Chapter 25

Contemplating the Civilian

I sigh around my lollipop as I watch my brother make a fool of himself on the screen I hooked up to my Visual Den Den Mushi.

"…Rock-aniki came purely for appearance sakes. The lazy ass has no devotion to his job and merely did the mere minimum necessary to duck accusations of ignoring Mariejois orders. We'll fight properly today."

Well, I thought to myself, I couldn't exactly deny that. My interest in the World Government and the Marines as a way of life was nothing compared to my brother's obsession. I'm probably the only Vice Admiral who can't use Haki, not having the ambition necessary to unlock it. However, Johnny simply had a rather off-putting personality which wasn't conducive to attracting the promotions he likely deserved.

The fight was short. I was a bit disappointed, to be truthful, having expected Johnny to perform better than that, but he lost his temper, underestimated his opponent, and was eventually taken down with a kick that blatantly mocked his attack style.

I chuckle a bit, sucking thoughtfully on my rapidly shrinking cherry treat and reach over to the Visual Den Den Mushi to rewind a bit before turning the snail to face away from me. It is disturbing, in my opinion, to watch the creatures mirror the facial expressions of those talking.

"Surely, you don't expect a pair of fragile boys like us who have no previous criminal record to voluntarily subject ourselves to such situations?"

What a loaded question. For one thing, simply working for pirates, regardless of the reasoning behind it, was enough to be kicked out of the Marine training program in most cities, but the Red-Hair Pirates had such a terrifying reputation of power that the young man had a point in being able to beg off guilt for his situation.

The man intrigued me. Both 'civilians' intrigued me. When the pirates docked at that deserted island yesterday I was there, and I watched the two boys break off from the rest of the crew and stop in a clearing. What I saw was beyond words.

The younger boy was interesting, of course, because of his knowledge of the Six Styles. I had learned as part of a tentative pilot program of introducing the style to the rest of the marines and taught it to my younger brother as a favor. Whoever this young boy was, he was likely a citizen of an island in the Grand Line used for CP9 recruitment.

Oh yes, I know of CP9. A full dozen marines were informed of the intelligence agency's existence at the same time we were told of the powerful martial arts style we were chosen to learn. In the end, it wasn't terribly interesting. So our government had a shadow sector, oh well. I am a little curious as to how the boy escaped without anyone knowing. As far as I know, the marines had sent out a quiet alert to keep an eye out for a long haired, brunette girl who had training in the basics of the Six Styles, but nothing on a blond boy. Considering his ridiculously vibrant yellow hair, it would surely be mentioned in any report on him. The best of luck to him, though. If no one was looking for him, he probably wasn't important, and his mastery of the styles wasn't particularly impressive either.

But the elder one. I saw magic that day. Magic. A shiver runs down my spine as think the word again, my mind replaying the incredible display of destruction brought about by a few spoken words. The power to create explosions out of nothing. The power to slice cleanly through stone. The power to blast enough air to hold back flying rock and dust. The power to disarm and immobilize. The power to fly on brooms.

Brooms. I snort then grimace at myself for this bad habit of mine. But really, I saw a wizard flying on a broom, and it seemed so utterly effortless. This was beyond any Devil Fruit ability, beyond any martial arts style, beyond the capabilities of Haki, and color me Blue but I think I could easily grow obsessed!

It helped that he had such nice features too. He's completely not my type, what with the pale skin and dark hair, but I do like those eyes of his and his lithe body. If he was girl, Father would've taken him home.

"There won't be interruptions this time, will there?"

I look up at the screen, frowning uncomfortably at the sneer I saw on my brother's face. I just don't know what to do with him. Growing up he was almost always in my house since his father was killed in the line at duty in the Grand Line and his mother wasted away in grief. My father did his best to raise the both of us, but he never quite knew what to do with John, either.

The family of Blue is based in Mariejois and is split into two branches known amongst our blood-kin as the Houses of the Sky and the Sea. I grew up pampered and praised as the very epitome of the sky with my shining hair, fair skin, and warm personality. I can remember being a young teen, showing off my natural talent at wielding the family's way of the sword, while John, still a child, watched expressionless from the shadows.

If I am the sky, John is the sea. John is a dark figure with a cold personality, almost always brooding and quiet but with a horrible temper when stirred up. He did not speak well with others, always too serious, too stubborn, too harsh and blunt with his words. The unforgiving depths of the ocean – that is John.

I watch his swordplay fail miserably against his chosen opponent. Traditionally, the Blue family was a house that followed the path of the sword. My father gave John the Katana of the Sea while I inherited the Katana of the Sky, but John has no talent with the sword. When the marines came to recruit members from our family, John practiced obsessively to earn the opportunity of starting out in the Grand Line, and I even tried to pull the few strings I could, having been given that exact privilege a few years before. It didn't work, however, and John was forced to start from ground zero at a small marine base in East Blue.

I rewind again.

"…what's your answer? Will you surrender or will you fight?"

It was a stroke of genius on my part, lending my subordinates to Johnny so they could take a Visual Den Den Mushi aboard and record the fight. Again and again, I play through the few seconds after Shanks declares his decision.

"Fight of course."

Each time, the two civilians vanish and I cannot find them again. I wonder, for a moment, to what extent that ability could be used. I can hardly imagine how devastating it would be if entire armies could be vanished into thin air. If the World Government ever found out about this power - !

If they - ? I chew thoughtfully on the lollipop stick, leaning back to watch the sword fight between my brother and Red-Hair again.

I've met Dr. Vegapunk before, the so called genius scientist in the employment of the Marines. He's brilliant, there's no doubt of that, and he's not a bad person, either. In fact, he made a rather good impression on me, not too talkative, but friendly and not at all the stereotypical "mad scientist" type who cackled randomly and showed an obvious lack of morals. Nevertheless, he was dependant on the Marines and the World Government for funding his projects and what would those old men on top do if they knew about magic?

I toss the chewed up stick away in the trash, pointedly ignoring my brother's expression on the screen. Despite the desperation, frustration, and fear of his situation at being cornered by Shanks, the hatred for the pirate captain was clear. Hatred of one who believed in Absolute Justice, not because he believed it was right, but because a pirate killed his father and he desired vengeance under the guise of justice. He was, quite frankly, a perfect servant for the World Government.

"The lazy ass has no devotion to his job…"

Well, no, I don't. I'm a marine because that's how my life planned itself out and I never bothered looking around at the other options. When your family was based in Marine Headquarters and served exclusively for the Marines for dozens of generations, 'other options' simply wasn't an option. In another year or two, I'd find a woman who doesn't mind my unsettled sexual tastes to be my wife and bear the Blue sky an heir before I retire and spend the rest of my days teaching the next generation. Johnny… well, I'd be pretty impressed if Johnny doesn't kill himself in a suicide mission his first week sailing the Grand Line.

If he ever gets to the Grand Line, that is. I don't mind so much when he insults me, but if he continues that kind of behavior with the other Vice Admirals, he'll never be nominated for a promotion and relocation out of East Blue.

"There won't be interrupt-"

I quickly pause the scene, excited beyond measure. In the background, slightly to the right of the screen where pirate captain and marine officer were facing off, a marine was falling, seemingly having tripped, yet there was nothing to trip over. It wasn't just any marine soldier either – it was one of my marine soldiers.

"Korr!" I yell out, jumping to my feet and rushing to the door, jerking it open in an entirely too flustered and inelegant fashion. "Korr!"

"Yes, sir?"

Standing guard outside the door was Korr, a good man if a little boring at times, who followed orders and knew what he was doing in a fight.

"Come in," I invite him, before pointing to his image on the screen, still frozen mid-fall. "Do you remember what happened there?"

There is a moment of silence, though whether of embarrassment at his unusual clumsiness or merely of the man taking a moment to cast his memory back for the specified event, I haven't a clue. Korr was simply impossible to read.

"I do remember an incident from around then, yes sir. There was a strange feeling that something had caught around my ankles, yet looking around afterwards revealed no possible suspects. From this video, it seems there still is no visible culprit for me tumble, thus I can only conclude the event was not caused by a physical obstacle. Will that be all, sir?"

"Yes, yes, of course," I agree off-handedly, staring at the screen, "thank you, Korr."

"Of course, sir." He snaps off a salute despite the fact I would not see it, and he leaves, quietly closing the door behind him and presumably continuing to guard the room as long as I remained within it.

Was that also magic? I rewind the film several times in earnest, picking out even the smallest details that looked slightly out of place. There were at least another half-dozen strange "trips" like the one Korr suffered, and a good dozen stones that appear out of nowhere only to hit a marine square on the nose, distracting them so that they were easily dispatched by their pirate opponent. I wonder briefly if the stones were courtesy of the elder or the younger.

It doesn't matter, I suppose.

"No sirree, Mister Marine, sir. Neh, we haven't done anything wrong, have we?"

They haven't, have they? But if I gave this video to any high ranking marine, the pair would receive bounties quicker than one could say ten million beli simply for the danger they represented if not for their invisible defiance of marine authority. I'd never be allowed to pursue them though, since they'd likely stay in East Blue longer than my vacation time and there was a backlog of more infamous pirates to capture in the Grand Line.

Pursue them? I unwrap another lollipop, chuckling a bit at the endless stream of questions I was suddenly asking myself before musing over my last train of thought. I have never actively wished to pursue a criminal before. My brother pursued each pirate with passion while I chased criminals I was assigned to because it was my job. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes harder, but if I'm not on the job, I loathe expending the necessary energy to deal with conflicts between the marines and the infinite existence of the pirates.

That's why I was so upset when I received the call from Mariejois to stop my brother from foolishly attacking Red Hair. There was a reason I chose not to go home – it was too close to Marine Headquarters! I had expected a quiet break from work seeing as East Blue is the weakest ocean and my brother is probably the strongest Warrant Officer under Marine employment. Kami above but things just don't work out right. For a brief moment I hated both Red Hair and my brother. It certainly was fun disturbing Johnny with some gay flirting and I enjoyed a good glare at the pirate as my subordinates rowed me away yesterday.

He's not my type either.

But because of the call, I saw magic. Magic. I still couldn't wrap my mind around it. I've never felt so fascinated with a subject nor so disappointed I'd have to leave a person behind for my job. No, I wouldn't be informing anyone of what I discovered because regardless of who knew, I'd never have the chance to find out more.

Unless I quit.

A/N: So, yeah, Vice Admiral Blue will become a more major character in the future because it was simply too boring keeping magic a secret for much longer, haha.

Annabelle: Thanks for the review :)

Thanks again to my beta, PyromanianBlackWings.

451 reviews today, July 19, 2011! Yay!