A/N: Sorry for the mahusive delay in updating this, I hadn't realised it had been so long! So as a special treat, here's two chapters in a row for you to feast on, I hope you enjoy them!
The Warlords Meet in Council
Captain Nate Whitestone sat in his office at the Marine HQ located on the far side of the Red Line, the sea known as the 'New World'. Ever since joining the Marines many years ago, he has risen through the ranks quite spectacularly in conjunction with other marines of his generation. As such, despite his relatively low rank, he was assigned to man the new HQ building, due to his intelligence, after it had been destroyed by the now notorious Blackbeard.
Nate was relatively tall, even sat down as he was, and had medium length brown hair which was swept back along his head. His eyes were a dark brown and his mouth was nearly constantly in a frown. He wore a dark red, double breasted suit with a blue shirt, open at the collar showing a diamond necklace at his throat. A long marine jacket was resting on the back of his chair, indicating his rank as a Captain.
He was currently reading through a report requesting 5 battleships and 8 marine contingents to be sent to the North Blue. The North was currently being besieged by revolutionaries calling themselves the 'Order of the White Eagle'. Nate was having a hard time deciding what to do; he could tell that the North desperately needed help, but 5 battleships and 8 marine contingents was a lot to remove from somewhere else. He sighed but was saved from making a decision right then as a knock came at his door.
"Enter." He said confidently, looking up to see who it was.
It turned out to be a Marine messenger clutching a thick stack of files. The messenger entered the room and threw up a smart salute, balancing the files expertly in one hand. "The files you requested, Captain." She said, dropping the salute and walking up to his desk.
"Thank you." He said, indicating the files to be placed on the desk in front of him. "You may leave."
The messenger dropped the files, pushing the sides to make the pile neat, before saluting and exiting the room quickly. Nate stacked the reports he had been reading and slipped them into his top draw, making a mental note to get back to them later. He pulled the stack of files closer and then separated them out to lie across the top of his desk; there were seven in total. Each file had a picture on the cover with a name and a number below it.
"The Royal Shichibukai; pirates sanctioned by the World Government itself." He muttered to himself, looking over the files.
Lord Juracule 'Hawk Eyes' Mihawk
Previous Bounty: Classified
Lord Bartholomew 'Tyrant' Kuma
Previous Bounty: B290,000,000
Lord Donquixote DoFlamingo
Previous Bounty: B340,000,000
Lord Abekket Quasar
Previous Bounty: B280,000,000
Lord Susumu
Previous Bounty: B60,000,000
Lord Rasputin 'The Crimson Ghost' Kolesnikov
Previous Bounty: B270,000,000
Lord Sea Wasp
Previous Bounty: B100,000,000
Nate picked up Mihawk's file with a frown. "Why is his previous bounty classified?" he asked himself, opening the file only to find it empty. It was filled with nothing but blank paper, with the exception of a small note inserted near the back. "The files of Juracule Mihawk are off limits to all those not a member of the Gorosei." Nate read, confusion flashing across his grumpy face. "Something has always been strange with that man." He said, putting the file aside and picking up Kuma's.
He proceeded to read through each of the pirates' files, taking notes of powers and anything else he deemed important and was more then half way through when a knock sounded at his door. He started to speak but the door opened before he could, making him spring to his feet in anger before he realised who it was.
"Admiral Aokiji, sir!" he said, coming to attention and saluting the superior officer.
"Captain Whitestone, are you allowed to be reading those?" he asked with a sly grin.
"Sir?" Nate said, forcing himself to remain still.
"I joke, Captain, I joke. Please, take a seat." Aokiji said, walking into the room as Nate sat down. "I just happened to see that you requested the files and was wondering why you wanted to see them, I wouldn't have thought it is related to your job here."
"Not directly. I haven't yet met all of the new members and since there is a meeting today, I thought it would be prudent to look up on them."
Aokiji nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose that makes sense. Wouldn't want to run into one of them in the hallways and not know who they are!" he chuckled softly. "I still can't believe I was here before them, I was all the way in the West blue! Even using the various shortcuts, it took ages to get here!" he shook his head and took a seat in one of Nate's visitors chairs. "So…" Aokiji started, but was interrupted by Nate's Desk Den Den Mushi ringing. Nate looked at Aokiji, who nodded, before picking it up.
"Captain Nate Whitestone." He said.
"Captain, the final Royal Shichibukai is approaching and the Fleet Admiral is requesting those on duty to take their places." The snail said, imitating the voice of the Marine talking in the other end.
"Thank you, I am on my way." Nate said before hanging up and lifting himself off his chair, pulling his jacket up and resting it on his shoulders.
"You are in the meeting?" Aokiji questioned, standing up as well.
"I am on guard duty for the meeting." Nate answered, walking towards the door.
"Oh right. Then stick with me for the time being, I'll make sure you know who's who when they enter the meeting." Aokiji said, overtaking Nate and leaving by the door.
Nate followed behind, locking the door behind him, and fell in beside the Admiral as they made their way towards the meeting room, located near the centre of the complex. They passed plenty of marines on the way, who all stopped to salute Admiral Aokiji, and nod respectfully to Nate, before carrying on with their duties.
It didn't take them long before they reached the large doors that led to the central meeting room, the one where the Shichibukai meet. Aokiji sped up a little bit to enter the door first, and as he swung it open, a figure at the far end of the hall turned to face them.
He was as tall as Aokiji, with curly black hair that he had pulled into a mini afro ponytail at the base of his neck. He was wearing a crisp white suit, buttoned down the centre with a high straight collar, and a purple shirt with a yellow tie. His black shoes were shined to perfection, as were the medals running across the left side of his chest. Finally, he wore a turquoise sash running from his right shoulder, to the left side of his waist.
"Fleet Admiral!" Aokiji said, coming to attention and saluting before relaxing again. "Kuzan, aren't you all dressed up." Aokiji said, smiling.
"Aokiji, the suit is necessary to present the right picture to these pirates." Kuzan, the former Admiral Aokiji, said with a lazy tone.
"I'm glad to see promotion didn't pick you up on a high horse, Kuzan. Where are Borsalino and Sakuraba?" Aokiji asked, looking at the three empty seats that the Admirals would take during the meeting.
"Admiral Kizaru should be here any minute but Admiral Akainu will not be joining us for the meeting; he has other, more delicate, matters to attend to. However, he has been informed of the contents of this meeting."
"Velure…" Aokiji growled. Kuzan nodded his agreement.
"Take your seat Admirals." Kuzan said, just as Admiral Kizaru entered the room.
"Ahh, Carter, Fleet Admiral." Kizaru said, his trademark yellow striped suit clean and pressed; his marine coat across his shoulders. "I remember a pirate by the name of Velure, but I was under the impression he should be dead."
"That is the nature of this meeting, Kizaru. Now, the Shichibukai will be here soon; take your seats." The two Admirals nodded and moved across to their seats. Aokiji gestured for Nate to stand behind him.
There was a couple of minutes wait, during which mid-ranking marines took up guard positions along the outer edge of the room, before the first Shichibukai made his entrance.
The massive figure was nearly as tall as the door itself, walking through with one hand by his side, the other clutching a bible at his stomach. He wore a black zip-up top, with a white target design splashed across the front, light shaded purple trousers with paw designs scattered across them, and thick black shoes. His jaw was large and his eyes reflected the light like glass, which they were. His curly brown hair was tucked into a small hat, round ears sticking out the top, with spots covering it.
"I take it you know him." Aokiji muttered to Nate.
"Bartholomew Kuma, the Tyrant." Nate replied at the same level of noise.
The massive Kuma entered the room silently and took his seat in much the same way, sparing a glance only to look towards Kuzan before turning his head back to face the front. The room's attention was taken away from him though as the door swung open again and two figures entered side by side.
The figure on the left was short, dwarfed by the man next to him, and his face gave away how young he was. His skin was a pale white and his short black hair was spiked up, his piercing blue eyes were scanning the room nervously. He was wearing a pure white kimono that had the marine's symbol stitched into the back, under which he wore a plain white t-shirt and straight white trousers. He wore plain wooded clogs on his bare feet. Strangely, it seemed that he had strapped a ship's wheel to his back.
"Abekket Quasar on the left." Aokiji muttered. Nate nodded to himself.
The second figure was a strange one. He was tall and gangly, skinny to the point of starvation, and where Abekket was simply pale, he looked sickly. There were only wisps of white hair scattered across his head and his teeth were yellow and crooked. He was wearing loose white t-shirt, a faded yellow sash around his waist, and loose black trousers tucked into dirty brown boots. He was also swathed in a large fur coat which nearly drowned him in its vastness. With the exception of the coat, all of his clothes were torn in various places and splotched with patches of brown and red.
"Rasputin Kolesnikov on the right; forever looking like he's just crawled out of a hole." Aokiji said.
"Ah, Fleet Admiral Kuzan; what a pleasure it is to be in your company." Rasputin said, bowing extravagantly with a wide sweep of his arm. "It has been many years since I have answered the call of a marine, but I got the impression that this is about something important."
"You shouldn't be so disrespectful of the Fleet Admiral, Kolesnikov." Abekket said, throwing and angry stare at his fellow pirate.
Rasputin turned slowly to face the much shorter pirate and bent over to lower his ear to the boy. "I'm sorry boy, I didn't quite catch that." He smiled wickedly and held a hand up to his ear. "Please repeat it."
"Rasputin, enough. Both of you may take your seats." Kuzan said, interfering before anything started between them.
Before anyone could say anything else, the doors swung open again and two more figures entered. Like Rasputin and Abekket, one was taller then the other, but the difference with this pair was nothing more then a few inches. The main difference between these two was the fact that one of them was a Fishman.
The Fishman was the taller of the two, and his skin was smooth and slick; making his race clear. He had no hair to speak of, instead his head was covered in small spines in its place; these ran down his spine and covered various parts of his body. The rest of his body was a mix of orange and white stripes, thicker then normal, and his hands and feet were webbed. The only thing he wore was a pair of blue shorts tied at the knee and a sword tucked into the black belt at his waist. His face was distorted, making it look like he was constantly frowning.
"Sea Wasp." Aokiji said.
The second, slightly shorter, figure had darker skin then most and blue hair that was spiked upwards. He wore a navy blue jacket, fur innards peaking out at the collar, over brown shorts with bright green tassels hanging down the front. Heavy boots clunked at his feet and he had a pair of fingerless gloves on his hand; metal circles sewn into the knuckles and when he flexed his fingers, he showed that they had circles cut out of the palms. Unlike the frowning face of his companion, his face was warm, a smile on his lips.
"Susumu." Aokiji said, Nate nodding behind him.
"I hope this meeting is important, Kuzan. It took a lot of effort to get here." Sea Wasp, the Fishman, said, yawning into his hand.
"I do have more important things to be doing then this meeting, so let's get it over with." Susumu said, his voice cold despite the smile on his lips.
Kuzan yawned himself and waved the two pirates to their seats. "Well, this'll probably be all of you. So let's…"
"I believe Juracule is here." A voice said from behind him, and as Kuzan turned to see who it was, the door opened again.
Juracule Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world, entered the door slowly; his wide-brimmed hat on his head and his long coat flapping behind him. Behind his head stood the large handle of his sword, the Black Sword; Kokuto Yoru. He walked forwards, directly to the chair in front of him, and slouched into it, his sword leant behind the chair onto the backrest. He tilted the chair back and planted his boots on the table. He looked around at the expressions of his fellow pirates, as well as the Marines, and then looked back to Kuzan.
"I heard what this meeting was about, and if it is true, then they are of interest to me." He said, simply, crossing his arms.
"The rumours you hear are true, Juracule Mihawk." The voice from behind Kuzan said again. The figure stepped forward into the light, revealing a relatively short man in a white kimono, a large katana held sheathed in his right hand. A second man, this one in a simple black suit and sporting an impressive beard, stepped out behind him. "Kai D Velure has returned."
A/N: And so the meeting begins! Now, let me credit the people who require crediting: Credit goes to Jetakon for Abekket Quasar & Sea Wasp, Oggytheogre321 for Rasputin Kolesnikov, and Newtilator for Susumu. The meeting continues next chapter, so keep your eyes and ears peeled in this direction.
