Transponder calls

"Go in there." Ace pointed to the entrance to Fishman Island that was designed and set aside with the Moby Dicks size in mind. "That's the Whitebeard's private dock." He said and fell silent again.

In the hours since the escape, he'd been silent, watching the small port-hole in the sub. It worried Nami, but Robin had said that Ace just had a lot to process right now, and to give him space. He'd been a prisoner being led to his execution not hours ago, and now he was suddenly free, with his crew in danger while fighting the Marines.

As soon as they were docked, Nami threw open the hatch and Ace stepped out to deal with the guards that ran up, fully ready to fight them off. Robin supposed that made sense, since this dock was supposed to be reserved solely for the use of the Whitebeard Pirates.

"Commander Ace!" One of the merman yelled in shock, stopping. "You're alright!" Every protectorate island of Whitebeard's had heard about the planned execution of Commander Ace (of course, along with the rest of the world), and all of them had pledged whatever support they could give. Whitebeard told them all to let him handle it, but to be prepared in case things didn't go well. The guards weren't expecting to see Ace here, alive and... well, not exactly well, since he clearly needed a doctor and a large meal, but...

Ace smiled slightly, happy to see friendly faces (other than Jimbei, Nami, and Robin, of course) after so long of seeing only Impel Down guards and workers. "As alright as I can be." He quipped before he glanced back up towards the surface. He sighed. "I need a bo-" He started to say, before Nami interrupted.

"Absolutely not!" She cut in, hands on her hips. "You had orders to come here, and to stay here, while we," She gestured between herself and Robin, "had orders to bring you here, and keep you here."

She turned to the surprised and wary guards. "I've been told that the King would be expecting us?" She said, and if she gave everyone there whiplash from her sudden attitude changes, nobody said anything.

"Indeed, he is." Everybody turned at the new voice.

"Prince Fukaboshi, Prince Manboshi, and Prince Ryuboshi." One of the guards said in shocked surprise.

"Commander. Ladies. Come with us. There is a doctor, and food waiting for the commander, and I'm sure that you ladies would appreciate a bed and a warm meal yourselves after sitting in such a small space for the last few days." One of the Princes said, holding out a hand in the direction they'd just come from, back towards the palace.

"No, I need to get to Marineford. I need a bo-" He tried to insist, but Nami got up in his face.

"We sail under Luffy. You really think you can out-stubborn us?" She dared icily. "Now, we did not come up with this whole plan, one that was safer for you, so you could rush off and get killed."

"We are under orders from our captain, your baby brother, to make sure you got here and stayed here." Robin informed him pleasantly. "You wouldn't want to be the reason we couldn't carry out our orders, do you?" Her pleasant tone turned menacing, and everyone shivered in fear or gulped, except for Nami. All the Strawhats were more or less immune to her by now, well, except for Usopp or Chopper.

"No, ma'am." Ace mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Excellent." The pleasant demeanor was back, and she turned to the Princes. "Now, where was that doctor?" She asked. She wasn't sure how much longer Ace could make himself keep standing like this.

They stared for a moment, before shaking themselves. "This way ma'am, commander." They said in unison, and held out their arms in a universal 'this way' gesture. "As you were." One barked at the guards.

"And continue the good work." Another said, most pleasant. He shot his brother a dark look, getting a sheepish grimace back.

"Have you heard from Captain Whitebeard since the battle began?" Nami was asked as they walked.

Her eyes shadowed with worry for a moment before she masked it. "No... but I'm sure everyone's alright. The Whitebeard Pirates are known as the strongest for a reason, and the boys on our crew know how to keep themselves out of too much trouble... plus, without having to worry about hurting Ace, I'm sure Whitebeard is able to really let loose." She smirked

That, and she knew for a fact that Whitebeard planned on doing everything he could to destabilize or sink the island of Marineford.

"They will call when the battle is over." Robin presented their snail, which was currently sleeping. It had been almost eight hours since the battle began, the sub had made much better time than expected in getting to Fishman Island, they'd caught a current on the way down and were able to mostly coast, but Robin had suggested that they use the engines anyway to go even faster. Otherwise, they were expecting the trip to be at least a day.

"I hope it ends soon." Ace muttered. The longer the battle went, the more of his siblings that might die.

Luffy turned around in surprise when he felt heat come dangerously close to his hat, and was alarmed to see Marco and Dusty kicking or blocking the red Admiral guy away from him.

For the first time since all this began, he felt a sliver of fear for himself before he shook it off and focused back on his current opponent, a giant vice-admiral.

The guy was just begging to be taken down a few notches. He and his crew would be happy to oblige him.

"What's the saying, Captain?" Sanji asked, lighting a new cigarette. "'The bigger they are, the harder the fall'? Or something."

Zoro snorted. "Want me to handle him?" He held Wado back up to his mouth, ready to put it back in place any second.

"Nah, you go find somebody worth your time." Luffy said, swinging his fist in a circle while crouching. His casual dismissal of a giant, let alone a vice-admiral shocked everybody within earshot, to the point where their entire section of the battlefield stopped so everyone could stare at the rookie pirate captain.

As a result, Luffy had the perfect audience to witness him jump up, and completely knock out the giant in one hit, and then just keep going.

Those still watching the screens set up all across the world, were shocked into silence. Throughout the battle, they'd been either silently crying in horror, or cheering for the pirates. Local Marine forces had attempted to clear out the crowds and tear down the screens, but local pirates (who'd stopped by on land to see the execution) stopped them however they pleased, and in some locations made a party out of all of it. (Luckily for the civilians, the pirates were too busy with the battle going on in Marineford to cause them any trouble). In a few other areas, the Marines had made a deal with them, they wouldn't interfere with the viewing, and the pirates would leave the Civilians in peace when the screens finally went dark. Needless to say, all the Pirates watching were rooting for Whitebeard and his allies.

Hatred (or at least a strong dislike) for the Marines was the one thing that could bring pirates together, no matter their mark, or even past rivalries.

Everyone, around the world, who'd ever had bad experiences with the Marines, or been oppressed by the World Government (which was most of the world) was cheering for the downfall of the Marine's stronghold.

"That's it." Sengoku muttered from his vantage point. He'd set a group of men on the task of shutting down the video feeds, but the pirates seemed to have brought their own video snails along with the ones the Marines already had set up, and he'd gotten reports from Marine bases where video screens had been set up, of local pirates taking over the screens and making sure the video's were still open for the public to view.

He picked up a mini-Transponder. "Sentaro! Send in the Pacifista." He barked. He hadn't wanted this to be such a public massacre. Honestly, the less bloodshed civilians saw, the better, but he had no choice but to reveal this for all the world to see, the PR department was going to love him after this.

Ah, who cared. After this, he was done. He was retiring, he didn't even care. As long as the Red Admiral was not made his successor, he didn't care what happened anymore. He was finding a nice, quiet island, secluded from everything, and enjoying the rest of his life. After this, the rest of the world could burn for all he cared.

"With pleasure!"

Sengoku then watched in satisfaction as Luffy came face-to-face with Boa Hancock, who he'd been watching attack pirates and Marines alike. He was going to have a time arguing with the Elder Stars about not rescinding her Warlord status over that. (His retirement would have to wait until his replacement could be fully seated in the office, anyway.)

But then, what did they really expect? At the end of the day, the Warlord's were pirates. They weren't tame dogs that never bit, contrary to what many seemed to think. They were pirates who earned their reputations before the World Government decided that they were too powerful and dangerous to not try and leash, while at the same time not quite powerful enough that they couldn't be controlled.

His satisfaction turned to horror when he realized that the Love-Love beam didn't work on the rubbery pirate, and he simply kicked her aside in annoyance.

Just his luck that a member of the Monkey D. family was immune to womanly-wiles, even when it was Devil-fruit enhanced.

"Bwahahahaha!" He heard Garp's laugh. "My grandson knows what he wants!" He said simply. "He would never let something hold him back or get in his way. Not even a beautiful woman!"

Sengoku growled. "The civilians?" He asked, instead of what he wanted to say. It had taken a long time to evacuate them all, although he'd noticed that shortly after he sent Garp to help, Whitebeard had started being more specific with his quakes, instead of sending them all over the island. Shortly after, Admiral Kizaru stepped back from the fight to let him know that he'd informed Whitebeard of the civilians still on the island.

One thing the Whitebeard's could never be accused of, and that was large amounts of civilian casualties.

Of course, Kizaru had since been carted off the battlefield to the medical evac ship... the crunch of Whitebeard's Haki and Devil-fruit powered fist (plus Whitebeard's natural and immense strength) meeting with the Admiral's skull had not sounded good.

"All on ships. There is one left full of civilians that's not full to capacity yet, so it's still docked, and there are three more battleships left standing by with skeleton crew, waiting for the rest of our troops. I called in other battleships that are close enough as well." Garp said, becoming serious. "As far as we can tell, there were no civilian fatalities, but we can't know for sure until we take a more detailed head count. It was close, though. There were cracks and fissures forming under everyone's feet, and we lost at least five soldiers that were helping direct people where to go." That was just that he'd seen, there were probably more in other parts of the base town.

Luckily, most of the civilians were smart and had bags packed and waiting by the door, just in case things with the execution and expected fight with the Whitebeard Pirates didn't go so well, and they had to leave in a hurry. Unfortunately, there were a lot of Civilian dependents living in the base town.

Sengoku was relieved. One less thing for him to worry about.

"Start pulling the lower ranks back." He ordered, and the order was swiftly given. A bonus of the lower ranks now being pulled out of the way, was that the powerhouses could let loose a little more, now that they didn't have to worry as much about friendly fire.

"This is not how I hoped this day would go." He muttered to himself, and Garp only laughed.

"Of course not! You can't expect pirates to follow a script, or just waltz into a trap, they'll find ways to blow the trap up, first." He reasoned, and Sengoku growled again.

Unfortunately, Garp was right. Pirates did have an annoying ability to seemingly smell traps, and find ways to get around them.

"Come. We're going to keep Newgate busy." He growled, annoyed and wanting to take his frustrations out on something. Hopefully, they could take him down, but he doubted they could. Neither side was able to truly go all out, although the two Admirals would have tired the other old man out earlier, although he'd mostly stayed on the sidelines for the past few hours, while Sengoku and Garp had been on the sidelines the whole time.

It didn't help that the moment Garp came back, Whitebeard had started trying to sink the island again...

"Oh, fun." Garp muttered, but followed along with his oldest friend, grumbling the whole way.

They ignored the panicked or confused screams coming from the outer wall, where the Allies were stationed, as the Pacifista started moving in, or the increased sound of explosions as the Allies managed to rally (disturbingly quickly from the Marine's point of view) as they figured out how to destroy the large cyborgs (which should have been impossible, according to Vegapunk).

"Start to retreat!" Marco urged one of the nearby Twelfth Division members nearby, who immediately used the mini-snail on his wrist to call the rest of his division (They were scattered throughout the battlefield for just this reason) to relay the orders.

He didn't know what Pops was up to right now, but if Garp and Sengoku were finally stepping into the battle, then it was time to start getting out of here.

Immediately after the orders were given, the injured (but still able to fight) were grabbed by the arm and pulled towards the ships while the injured on the ground were picked up and carried. As many of their dead as possible were picked up as well for a proper funeral later on, and the uninjured were left to guard the retreat, or carry as many people and bodies as they could.

"Usopp, be ready to fire again!" Franky called. They had enough Cola stocked on the ship for ten cannon-blasts, and enough stored on the Moby for another twenty, with two barrels set aside for a few Coupe de Bursts if they needed them to escape. They had nine blasts left immediately available to them that he planned to use to further cover the retreat. Luckily the Sunny was so mobile (and the Second Division members good at their jobs of protecting her), otherwise she wouldn't have survived the Marines attempt at destroying her in response to her earlier cannon-blast. "Aim for dense pockets of pursuing Marines!" That would result in more casualties, but honestly, if it saved the lives of their current allies...

He was a pirate, what did he care about the lives of Marines who were attacking him and his friends?

"Right!" Usopp called, and the Second Division members on the Sunny obediently finished reloading the barrels of Cola as they'd been shown earlier.

(Usopp was actively trying not to think about all the lives being wiped out right now, he would seek out somebody on the crew to talk to later on.)

They had a lot more respect for the Cola-powered weapon of the Strawhats now that they'd seen it in action.

And they seriously wanted one.

Marco himself went after Akainu, knowing the fanatic would not let them escape, he would come after them and have zero problem with striking from behind, or striking down an already wounded or dying man, like the lowest of the low.

Either way, if Marco had his way (and he was in the habit of getting it, perks of being the 'older brother' on a ship with over a thousand people), the Red Admiral would not be leaving this battlefield alive.

Chopper, for his part, transformed into his natural reindeer form and ran out onto the battlefield to help get the wounded back onto the ships, quickly stabilizing the critically wounded so they could be moved. Mentally, he lamented the fact that Whitebeard had left all his nurses in the New World, and that a crew as large as there's only had three doctors, two of them women who were also left behind.

Really?

You would think that a crew as large as theirs would have more medical experts.

"Luffy, we should help with the wounded!" Dusty quickly found a reason to get his rubbery charge off the battlefield while giving a legitimate excuse that wouldn't make him stubbornly refuse on principle. It was a tried-and-true method when dealing with Ace, it was the only way they could get him to turn his back on a fight, actually. Give him something else to focus on (that was more important) while they left.

Sanji and Zoro smirked, knowing exactly what he was doing.

(Luffy had been too caught up in the fighting to really notice, but the Second Division members with them had managed to keep them away from the heavier pockets of fighting, and the strongest opponents... with the exception of the giant vice-admiral. Let's face it, though, was the guy really all that powerful if a rookie pirate captain could one-shot him?)

Zoro and Sanji had noticed what the Whitebeard's were doing, though, and would have protested, except that they knew their captain had been so scared about his crew during this fight, the biggest fight they'd ever seen. This was also the most horrible thing they'd ever seen (which was saying something, given Sanji's birth-family.)

"Garp, you're a disgrace of a grandfather, and a father." Whitebeard rumbled, facing off with the two Marine's. The fact that Garp was honestly prepared to just sit there while his grandson was executed, and not even try to do anything about it, disgusted him.

Garp sighed, not able to deny the accusations. He had failed his son, who was now considered the Most Wanted Man in the World, and was the leader of an army trying to overthrow the World Government. His grandsons, well... one was set to be executed today for piracy (being somebody's son), while the other was also wanted for piracy (and for destroying Enies Lobby and more or less declaring war on the World Government). He'd thought his third grandson was killed years ago, but he'd started having doubts on that once a certain Revolutionary started making a name for himself.

"Let's just get this day over with." He growled, tired of everything and currently wanting to drown himself in sake and rice crackers. Maybe torment Akainu a bit more, too, assuming Marco let him leave here alive.

For a few moments, they stood in silence, watching each other. The first cannon-blast from the Sunny seemed to serve as the signal for the fight to begin, because they all leapt forward at once.

Sengoku transformed into the Buddha, Garp raised his fist, and Whitebeard gathered energy in his hands, ready to unleash it. With speed that was surprising from his large form, he ducked the two Marine's fists, and slammed his own into the ground, causing the biggest quake he had yet to unleash to shake the island. His children felt it and started hurrying their efforts to evacuate, steps steady and sure even while the Marines stumbled around while the ground shook beneath them. Even the Strawhats only stumbled a few times before they managed to compensate.

All the fissures that had been forming in the islands surface grew, and everyone knew, it was only a matter of time before the island became too unstable for them to remain.

And then, he raised his Bisento, and used it to create a large fissure in the ground, between the bulk of the Marines, and his children, who were working on getting the wounded onto ships. Marco, Jozu, Vista, and Namur were the only ones trapped on the other side, but the Marines were avoiding those four, as they were double-teaming the Admirals.

Nobody was stupid enough to go near a fight between powerhouses like them.

Sengoku growled in frustration. "He's not even trying to hit us." And it was true, Whitebeard wasn't trying to hit them, or fight them. He was dancing around all their attacks like a man thirty years younger, aiming his quakes at the ground. In the distance, beyond the Marine stronghold, he could see buildings starting to collapse, and feel the shaking beneath their feet get worse and worse. "Garp, hurry up the evacuation of the lower ranks." He barked, and doubled his efforts to keep Newgate busy so he couldn't throw around as many quakes.

Where was he getting all this energy from? He was old, older than he and Garp even, and yet he was fighting them like he did when they were younger! Not only that, but he knew for a fact that Newgate had been attached to I.V drips and monitors for years now, with new I.V's being attached every year. All their reports said that Marco the Phoenix had been taking over more and more of the Captain's duties because Whitebeard was getting old, and couldn't handle it on his own anymore.

Chopper eyed the numerous lines and drips that surrounded Whitebeard speculatively, even going so far as to climb up the chair so he could read the labels. Whitebeard raised his eyebrows at the behavior of the one he knew to be the Strawhats doctor. The nurses hovered nervously, hoping he wouldn't accidentally knock something over or rip anything out, but also not going off on him like they would have anybody else. He was a doctor, after all, and a very well trained one if what Sanji said was true about where they picked him up.

"Hmm. Interesting combination." Chopper finally muttered while examining the labels on the jars and bags of medication. "Oh! I see now..." He climbed back down, and ran across the deck, jumping the distance between their ships easily, and disappeared into his Infirmary. When he reappeared, he was in his hybrid form, what the people of his island called the 'yeti', and carrying a bag with him.

By this point, a crowd had started gathering, having heard that the rookie doctor was taking an interest in their Pops medical equipment. They weren't sure what he thought he could do, they had some of the best doctors in the world on board, and had consulted with others who shared that distinction.

This time, before climbing up, he handed his bag to Whitebeard before going back to Brain Point, since it was easier for him to climb like that. Whitebeard could only watch in amusement as the small doctor climbed back up onto his chair. He would have offered to help, but the reindeer seemed determined to do it on his own. Somehow, he wasn't surprised when Chopper immediately started doing a basic health check. Blood pressure, (although one of his nurses had to run and get a bigger cuff, the one Chopper had was sized to fit the normal sized members of his crew, not a large man like Whitebeard.), pulse, respiration, all that.

Then he scrambled back down and started talking to the Head Doctor for the ship, who looked curious about what he had to say. Judging by the widening of his eyes and the hopeful gleam in them, whatever Chopper was saying was a good thing. The two doctors called the team of nurses over, and Whitebeard felt a chill go down his back at the way his daughters turned to look at him after a few moments of conversation.

Whitebeard laughed as he unleashed his powers and continued to dance around Garp and Sengoku like he was young again.

Personally, he didn't know what the two doctors did, but he liked it! He felt young again!

On the other side of the battlefield, Marco flew into the air, trilling triumphantly, his talons and beak still covered in blood, but starting to be burned away by his fire. Akainu lay dead beneath him, and Jozu was currently on his way to help his siblings with Aokiji.

Sengoku looked over at the sound, and cursed when he saw his (arguably) strongest Admiral dead. Well... at least now there was no chance of the man ever being placed in charge by the higher ups, which would have probably happened considering how much they agreed with his methods.

"Pops! We're ready to go!" Marco appeared, perched on Whitebeard's shoulder, carefully balancing himself as the old pirate continued to dodge attacks like they were nothing. With a single nod of acknowledgement, he unleashed one last quake, the strongest yet, that even Garp and Sengoku couldn't keep their feet during. He turned and started running back towards the ships, only to see that the Sunny was firing one last cannon-blast, but it wasn't aimed at pursuing Marines anymore.

This time, it was aimed straight for the flag that still flew proudly over the destroyed Marine stronghold, a stronghold that was still crumbling under the strength of the quakes it had been subjected to for the past several hours. The entire island was now dangerously unstable, and that flag had been the only thing to remain steady throughout this entire battle. The pole it sat on was drilled straight down to the seabed itself, ensuring that no matter what happened to the island itself, it never fell.

Not even that could stand up to the full might of the Strawhat pirates ship.

"Gutsy." Marco whistled softly, still perching on his shoulders. Behind him, he could hear Garp and Sengoku stop following them. Garp was laughing, no surprise, while Sengoku was cursing anything and everything about that day.

"Let's go home!" Whitebeard yelled the moment his feet touched the Moby's figurehead, having jumped up from the ground. He grinned as his children cheered around him. Immediately, his children cheered and rushed to move their massive ship. It wasn't long before all the ships were disappearing into the waves, including the Sunny, which the Whitebeard's had helpfully put a permanent coating on just for this purpose.

"Where to first?" Marco asked with a grin, still full of adrenaline from the fight with the Admiral.

"Gurarara!" Whitebeard laughed.

"I'm sure Strawhat would like to pick up his Navigator and ah- Archaeologist." He was pretty sure that none of the Whitebeard's truly believed that to be her official job on the ship, considering her past and the abilities she'd picked up as a result. "And we would like to see Ace again, and check on him for ourselves." Vista said, pleased with what they'd accomplished that day.

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered, relieving the Strawhats that he appeared to be back to his old self, and startling the Whitebeard's with the change in his demeanor. But, none of his crew were seriously injured, his brother was safe, and most of the Whitebeard's even made it out alive! Ace would be happy about that. "Let's go get Nami and Robin, and I still need to hit Ace for getting caught." He frowned for a moment before bouncing off to his own ship to bother Franky, since the Sunny and Moby were once again connected to each other so that the crews could go back and forth.

"Party!" Usopp cheered when they saw Sanji disappear into the Sunny's kitchen, having already foreseen that call to go out.

None of the pirates had any problem with this, either.

(Although, that didn't stop Chopper and the only present Whitebeard doctor from rounding up their patients and making sure that those who'd been delivered to the Infirmary were being taken care of by rounding up a few of the lesser injured and having them help, no matter how much they wanted to be partying right now, instead.)