Hello again, everyone! Here's a new chapter for you all!
You know those times where you just want something to be done, but you're too lazy to do it yourself? I really wished this chapter would just write itself.
After the Marineford arc, I'm going to work a bit more on my other stories. Think of it as the two year timeskip, except I doubt it'll be two years before I update this one.
The end of this chapter might be a little lame, so if I have a lot of freetime in the future, I might edit it.
I do not own One Piece as that belongs to Eiichiro Oda and Toei.
Being thrown back into the air by Garp had shaken the Fleet Admiral.
"WE'RE NO LONGER...FRIENDS!"
The words stung immensely, but he knew deep down that he deserved them.
He understood why Garp felt this way,but couldn't the "Hero of the Marines" see their own situation!? A World where the enemy was continuing to grow in number while they were slowly being overwhelmed!? If things continued as they were...! If they didn't deter pirates from going out onto the sea, another Roger would arise! They would throw the World into chaos!
He clearly didn't see. Garp stood defiantly before him after allying himself with Whitebeard.
Blackbeard was another problem, but he was not as much a threat as Garp was. The old Marine had been a match for the Pirate King in his prime, and now he was fueled with destructive rage.
"GARP! You must calm down-!"
"NO!" Sengoku moved swiftly for his size, avoiding the fist that destroyed a building with nothing but air pressure, "NO more talking, and NO more bullshit, Sengoku!"
The Fleet Admiral winced as his arm nearly broke from deflecting a blow from Garp.
"You've betrayed me FAR too many times!"
"Betrayed!? Are you blind?! Can't you understand MY position!? How we needed more power!? Sacrifices HAD TO BE MADE!"
Sengoku had to knock aside a building Garp threw at him. The Vice-Admiral had been hiding behind it, and Sengoku felt his hand break as a fist crashed into it.
"SACRIFICES!? It's so easy to claim that when YOU'RE not the one that's paying the price!"
The Fleet Admiral slammed Garp into the ground, and started to drive him deeper into the ground.
"YOU DON'T...UNDER..STAND...!" He shouted with each strike, "WHEN YOU COME...BARGING INTO MY OFFICE...SAYING HOW YOUR GRANDSON...HOW HE CLAIMS HE'S GOING TO BE THE NEXT PIRATE KING...!"
He stood, gasping over the hole he had sent Garp into.
"With...THAT blood flowing in his veins...with the blood...of a MONSTER...! Of a DEMON...!"
Sengoku couldn't have noticed the twitch Garp made deep within the confines of the earth.
"I...I BELIEVED IT! Someone with the blood of Dragon! How he could potentially...become the most dangerous enemy! I couldn't just let that power go unchecked! I couldn't ignore the possibility that...he would one day, do something...EXACTLY LIKE THIS...!"
"His blood...was tainted from the very begin-!"
"THAT'S...!" Sengoku was shocked when he saw Garp suddenly appear before his face.
A black fist slammed into his face, and his consciousness almost faded.
"...MY BLOOD!" Garp sent Sengoku crashing into the ground.
"If you're going to worry about demons, then you better focus ON THE ONE THAT'S STANDING IN FRONT OF YOU!"
"You're mine, Old Man!"
Like a pack of feral dogs surrounding their prey, the Blackbeard Pirates all grinned at Whitebeard.
The aged pirate thought they must have been pretty arrogant to think he would die so easily.
"Come at me with all you got, Whitebeard! I'll show you the difference in our pow-!"
Whitebeard cut Teach deeply with his bisento, interrupting the younger man. His crew tried to help him, but they were all flung back by a shockwave generated by Whitebeard.
Blackbeard tried to get up, but a hand held his head firmly to the ground.
"What were you going on about..." Blackbeard's eyes widened as he felt the vibrations in the "Strongest Man in the World"'s hands grow stronger.
"...YOU BRAT!?"
Pushing Blackbeard's head into the ground with enough force to register as a Magnitude 6 earthquake,
Whitebeard knew that the man's Devil Fruit was unique enough to keep him alive. Chunks of Marineford sunk to the depths of the ocean, and the Marine Base started to sink as well.
Teach had survived, and while he tried to regain his strength, he grabbed Whitebeard's arm.
"You...You wouldn't kill one of your sons...would you, Father!?" The man pleaded pitifully while he stared into the wrathful eyes of a monster.
"You...ARE NO SON OF MINE!"
Whitebeard sent more energy through his arm, directly into Blackbeard's skull, but nothing happened.
With a sudden surge of strength, Blackbeard escaped Whitebeard's grasp.
This was the moment he had waited for!
"EVERYONE...! KILL HIM...! KILL HIM NOW...!"
This was a nightmare.
The Whitebeard Pirates felt as though they were subjected to Hell's worse torments as they witnessed this horrible scene of carnage.
Just like feral dogs, the Blackbeard Pirates tore into Whitebeard's body.
He was stabbed, slashed, and shot...over and over again.
Their father, the one that had taken them in, even when nobody else would...was dying before their eyes in one of the worst ways possible.
And they had been ordered by that very father to not help. To escape with their lives, to live peacefully in the New World.
This moment would never leave their minds for as long as they lived.
"Hey...you know what the Marines call me nowadays?"
"Hm...?"
"Gold Roger! That's not right...! My name is Gol D. Roger...!"
"...What's the deal with the D.? Recently, I've been seeing a lot of people with that in their names."
An irreplaceable grin adorned the other man's face.
"Hehehe...you really want to know...?"
"It's an old story from long ago..! What it means is..."
"Damn it! I'm out of bullets!" Blackbeard complained as he threw his gun aside.
"...You're not the one!"
"WHAT!? You're still alive...!?"
What stood before the Blackbeard Pirates could not be described as anything other than a corpse. A huge body impaled with swords, riddled holes, and missing half of its face had managed to still stay standing.
Whitebeard pulled himself from his old memory with Roger. That was the last time he had spoken to the man while he was alive. They weren't the best of friends, hell, they were enemies!
But even enemies could be friends.
"...You're definitely not the one...that Roger is waiting for...!"
Blackbeard sputtered in annoyance as he lay on the ground.
"There are those...that inherited Roger's will..." Whitebeard ignored him and stared solemnly where Sengoku was rising out of the ground.
He met the Fleet Admiral's gaze, and grinned a little.
"...And one day...someone will inherit Ace's will...as long as that bloodline survives...their flames will never die...!"
Garp paused to look over at Whitebeard. The older men shared a glance, and Garp knew that his time had finally come.
"That will...has been passed down from generations ago..! Someday...a man will appear...bearing the weight of centuries of history on his shoulders..!"
"NO...!" Sengoku screamed as he realized what Whitebeard was talking about.
"Sengoku...your World Government is afraid...of the war that will engulf the World...!"
"I...wasn't interested in the treasure...but when someone finds it..."
"They will...change the World...!"
Whitebeard straightened his back, and gathered all of his remaining strength.
This had to get out. No matter what!
"ONE PIECE...IS...REAL...!"
And now, everyone knew that the treasure truly existed.
Instead of a mere fantasy, Whitebeard confirmed that it was a reality.
"Hey, Newgate! How can a pirate not be interested in treasure?!"
The man who would eventually be Whitebeard turned to face the rest of the crew. He wasn't going to stay long, but he was just helping them out for a while.
"...There's something more important to me than gold."
"What? What could you possibly want more than gold!?"
"It's...something I've always wanted..."
"A...family..."
He turned to grin at the sea, having declared his dream to those that would never understand.
Whitebeard grinned as he remembered that distant memory.
"Thank you...my sons! You allowed this old man...to live his dream...!"
"Thank you...and...farewell..."
3 minutes passed by until everyone realized what had happened.
"He...he died while standing up...!"
Whitebeard's body stood, even as the man himself had passed. Half his face was melted and torn away, his insides had been burned, his heart had been pierced many times, swords had become stuck in his body, and wounds from guns and cannons littered his body.
Yet, even as he fought his way to the heart of Marineford, and throughout his entire life, everyone saw that his back had no marks, save for his own emblem.
The "Strongest Man in the World" had passed away, yet he had left behind a new age for the World to endure.
Robin, along with Jinbe, ran towards the edge of the sea. If they could just make it, they could escap-!
The ice rumbled before it erupted, sending more magma and steam into the air.
A human-like figure emerged and tried to capture the three in its melting grasp, but a concussive force sent it flying back.
"Hurry! You have to get Straw Hat boy out of here!"
The pirates passed Ivankov by, not having enough strength to thank the Okama King. Their only goal was to make it to the ocean.
Ivankov saw the injuries they had, and grit his teeth as the magmaman roared in a mixture of rage and madness.
He would do all he could to stall Akainu!
Even as the Okama King held back Akainu, the three pirates would not get away so easily.
Beams of light narrowly missed them, exploding in the distance.
"Why don't you just drop Straw Hat Luffy?"
Robin's Kenbunshoku barely caught the man's intentions before moving aside, covering Luffy's body with her own as the explosion engulfed them. Jinbe was sent to the side, but he got up just to see Kizaru about to bring his leg down on the two Straw Hats.
A giant blade of sand emerged from the ice, cutting Kizaru in half. The sand began to gather around the area as Robin got up.
"Crocodile-?!"
"Stop gawking like an idiot and run!"
The former Shichibukai formed in front of her, blocking a strike from Kizaru.
"If you want to protect something...!" The man bit deeply into his cigar as he glared at his former partner, "Then do it right! Don't let them keep getting their way!"
The surprise being overwhelmed by fear, Robin started to run again. She heard the explosions and the sound of sand rushing through the air as Crocodile did his best to hold back the Admiral.
Jinbe joined back with her after regaining more of his strength. They were arriving at the edge! They could make it!
Vibrations shook through the island, and even the ocean. The sea started to rise, and fall dramatically, as if someone had started shaking the World.
The pirates almost fell into the sea as they arrived. They scanned the water for anything they could use.
Robin knew that the fishman didn't have a plan. That even if they got to the sea, there would be very few options for them. Jinbe was far too injured to carry them away, and even if he could, there was still the Calm Belt they had to worry about.
A dark look crossed her face as she considered stealing one of Whitebeard's ally's ship. The thought was very brief, but it was interrupted as something emerged from the water.
A submarine emerged from underneath the waves and the doors on the sub opened up.
"Come over here!" The man from within cried out.
Trafalgar Law, from the Sabody Archipelago stepped forth, waving frantically at them.
"I'm a doctor! I can help you!"
Garp stood silently as Blackbeard showed off his new power. He had done something to Whitebeard's body, and had stolen the Gura Gura Fruit. He began boasting that this was HIS era! That HE was now the strongest in the World.
"Zehahahaha! This..power...! It's incredible! Even if I can't fully control it yet-!"
"Boss! Watch ou-!"
The man's voice was silenced as he was sent into the ground. Blackbeard turned to see the "Hero of the Marines" standing over his subordinate.
"Garp! You used to be strong, but just like Whitebeard, you've grown old!"
Vibrations surrounded one arm, while the other was converted into darkness.
Garp said nothing, only glaring at the man as he laughed.
"Let's start off...by destroying all of those from the old era!"
He only had a second to realize that Sengoku towered over him, bringing his fist down to smash him into the ground.
Blackbeard tried to protect himself, but Sengoku had generated a shockwave that decimated the weaker Blackbeard Pirates, and sent Blackbeard himself to the ground in agony.
"Garp...! I know you despise me...I know that you want to kill me...! But...we have to work together!" Sengoku cried out to his old comrade, who just stood still.
"As far as I'm concerned..." Haoshoku rolled off the man as he gave off a demonic grimace. One that promised pain.
"...You're all my enemies...! Sengoku...you lost your chance to reconcile with me...!"
The bodies of Ivankov and Inazuma fell to the ice, defeated. Akainu ignored them for now. He knew that they were only stalling him from his true goal!
The Admiral didn't get far.
Before him was the entire Whitebeard Pirate Squad Commanders.
"So...you won't let me through...!?" Akainu felt the madness within begin to take over as his rage reached new limits.
"You see Straw Hat Luffy as a potential threat." Marco replied coldy.
"And, for that very reason, is why we'll protect him from you!"
Magma exploded from within Akainu as he rushed towards the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Very well...!"
The fighting reach new levels of mayhem as the Blackbeard Pirates joined the fray. Marines relentlessly pursued the fleeing pirates.
Men and women's faces were indistinguishable from monsters as they ruthlessly attacked the pirates that had been told to flee by their father. Despite having done what they said, the Marines would not stop at that!
They had them on the run! They were defeated! Easy prey!
The Marines would serve Justice well as they slaughtered any pirate that was too weak to run.
Only a select few of the Marines were shocked by this scene.
Smoker stood near Tashigi as they saw comrades abandon each other, too intent on murdering their enemies.
"Evil...?! Justice...?! What's the difference here...?!" Smoker was disgusted as he saw the carnage, the blood being spilled, even when they had already won.
And one was even more disturbed by this insanity.
Coby had just woke up after being defeated by Luffy, but the pain from his injury wasn't the thing keeping him down.
He could feel it...! The pain...! The misery...! The fear...! One by one, he could feel someone's life ending! It was agonizing...! It was horrible...!
"Coby!" Helmeppo cried out after reaching his friend, "Coby! Are you alright?!"
"I...I don't know...! It's...It's so sad...!"
"Eh?!"
"I..I can feel it...! People...they're dying...! They're dying...and for what?!"
The purple haired boy held his head tightly before rushing off, towards the bloodiest, most violent person in the battlefield.
"Coby...! Wait...!" Helmeppo's voice was only one of thousands of voices Coby could hear.
"HELP ME!" "DIE!" "KILL THEM!" "NO!"
"DON"T LET THEM GET AWAY!"
"MY BROTHERS! DON'T KILL THEM!"
"I WON'T FORGIVE YOU! YOU'LL ALL PAY!"
Screaming, crying, shouts filled with bloodlust...all were resounding through the boy's head.
He had to do something! Anything! Just to stop this! To stop this madness!
Why...!? Why were they fighting?! Why were they killing?!
"I WON'T FORGIVE THE EVILS OF PIRACY!"
Coby ran, faster than he had ever run before. The roar up ahead. The voice that was going to die out!
If he could save even one person! If he could stop this horrible excuse for death!
"STOP IT...!"
All he ever wanted was to help the innocent! To protect life!
He would do anything! Anything to preserve his dream!
The fighting slowly stopped as a Marine ran in front of Akainu, stopping him from killing one of the Whitebeard Pirates.
"JUST STOP ALREADY! WE DID WHAT WE CAME HERE TO DO!"
The young Marine was panting, with tears flowing down his face.
"STOP THROWING LIVES AWAY...!"
Even Akainu had stopped at this outrageous outburst. Everyone just watched and listened as the purple haired boy stood before the Admiral.
"WE'RE ABANDONING OUR FRIENDS! ANY FURTHER FIGHTING...IS ONLY POINTLESS!"
"IF WE WERE TO KEEP SACRIFICING LIVES...!" He paused to catch his breath.
"DOES THAT MEAN THE ONES WHO DIE HERE, ARE JUST IDIOTS!?"
With a tear stained face, weak knees, and about to lose consciousness, Coby stood there.
He used to be a weak little boy who was too cowardly to even dream, but now he was the center of attention in the war between the World's greatest powers.
"You've wasted too much time...!" Akainu brought his fist of magma towards Coby.
"Justice does not need cowards like you!"
Coby saw his short, sad life pass by. Of losing his parents and being a slave to Alvida.
And then he thought of the man that taught him about dreams.
"Luffy...! I'm putting my life on the line for what I believe! And even though I'm terrified of death!"
The purple haired boy stood still in fear as he saw his approaching death.
"I...I HAVE NO REGRETS!"
The fist was stopped. Coby could feel the heat from where he was, but a powerful aura washed over him.
"You did well...young Marine." A man spoke next to him. A sword held in his hand, he kept the Admiral from killing the boy.
With his meager amount of will left, the last thing Coby saw before he lost consciousness was the crimson hair of his savior.
Robin and Jinbe had a hard time getting themselves over to the submarine. Having no strength in their bodies, the only reason they could still move was their own will.
The fighting had dulled down into the distance. It appeared that something had stopped it. They were too far to really see what had finally stopped the war.
"W-Woah! Look at that wound! Is he even alive?!"
"Please...! Save him!" Robin cried out as they got onto the submarine. Jinbe was breathing heavily, and looked close to fainting.
Law looked nervous as he observed the wounds Luffy had as well as the others.
"Save him...! I...I'll do anything you want, but please just save Luffy!"
The woman's eyes were filled with fear as she stared into Law's. She had fallen to the ground, passing Luffy quickly to some attendants nearby.
"You...you're more worried about him than you are about yourself? Your wounds are serious as well."
Robin's body shook violently in pain as she lay on the ground. Her replacement leg was still bleeding, as she had used her ability to forcefully erupt her other leg temporarily.
"I...he's very important to me..."
Jinbe grit his teeth as he saw how desperate the Straw Hat was.
"...Don't worry. I'll save him." Law muttered as he went inside the submarine.
A few attendants came out to help the two pirates inside.
"There's something flying this way!"
An object flew towards the ship, but it was too slow to be a bullet or a cannonball.
As it drew closer, Robin escaped from the attendant's grip to catch the object.
It was Luffy's straw hat.
She didn't know that it had fallen, but it had returned in an unknown way.
Holding the hat, emotions rampaged within her. She hung her head, holding the straw hat close to her as the attendants led her back inside.
It wasn't long before something else started to attack the submarine, but Robin was no longer paying attention. She found a corner that was out of the way, and just sat still.
She held the hat close to her, hoping that Luffy would survive.
Red Haired Shanks blankly stared at Buggy while the clown ranted at him for lying.
"Hey Buggy. It's been a while."
"Don't "Hey Buggy! It's been a while!" to me! You lied about that treasure map!"
"Yeah, sorry about that, but thanks for delivering the straw hat for me."
"Crap! They're still going after the submarine!"
Akainu sent giant fists of magma flying towards the submarine. They streaked through the air, lighting trailing through the smoke as they descended towards the ocean.
Far up above, a light shined before hundreds of beams shot out, flying so fast they would converge with the meteors as they struck the small vessel.
The submarine wouldn't make it under the water in time. It would be obliterated by the magma and light in a destructive explosion.
But a man stood at the waves from the coast of Marineford with his hand in the water.
"ICE..AGE!"
The submarine submerged under the waves.
Ice formed above the vehicle just as the wave of destruction reached it.
The attacks exploded off the ice, while some of the light beams refracted, missing the submarine by a small margin.
Aokoji stood up, turning to see an enraged Akainu staring him down.
"You...! What's the meaning of this, Aokoji!?"
The iceman breathed out a fine mist as he stared blankly at his fellow Admiral.
"Absolute Justice...it can drive a man mad, you know?"
The look Akainu could almost melt his face with just pure rage alone.
"...I'll remember this, Aokoji. But, I'll ignore it for now. After all, I still respect how you executed your own wife."
The man walked away, missing the how Aokoji looked to where the submarine used to be.
He sighed as he walked away.
The war was over, but Aokoji wasn't certain who had won.
It certainly didn't feel like a victory to him.
Hope you all enjoyed!
I was like "Gah...don't want to copy, don't want to copy, don't want to copy!" this entire chapter. I tried to construct a similar scene, but I'm not sure if it all fits together. Meh, oh well.