Chapter 148: Clash of Emperors!

Kaido versus Shanks.

As soon as the newspaper had reached him, Shanks knew that all out war was now unavoidable. The navy had acquired, by dubious underhand means, the second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates and were going to execute him, knowing full well who he was and to end the matter once and for all.

Yet, Shanks knew that Edward Newgate, 'Whitebeard', wasn't going to take this news laying down. Shanks knew that those who wore the Whitebeard pirate emblem, were considered by the old man; his sons. Protected and loved. Just as much as anyone else in the world should be by their own kinsmen or friends, and anyone who threatened that bond would suffer the wrath of the emperor known as 'The King of the Sea'. And now Whitebeard's whole philosophy was being tested on the battlefield, all because of the absolute loyalty of one freckled nineteen year old pirate, and the duplicitous actions of the newest government warlord.

Shanks had tried to get Newgate to reign in Ace, tried to make the old man see that nothing good would come from Ace's journey of retribution and justice. He'd even given whitebeard a flask of west blue Sake, the last time he had personally visited the Moby Dick. Alas, that meeting had ended in a drawing of blades, not out of hatred of each other but out of perceived humiliation on the part of the other. Humiliation of being lectured about possible outcomes that he would not be able to handle.

And so Shanks had left that day, feeing profoundly disappointed but still hopeful that he could get Whitebeard to come to his senses. As of two weeks ago, when the papers had flown out across the seas, hope was dead. And war was all that remained.

—-

World Sees War in its Near Future! By Johan Clœp, of The World Economic Journal.

"Portgas D Ace, the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates has been captured and handed over to marines in the G2 base, before being immediately transferred to Impel Down. The capturer has been named as the pirate Marshal D Teach, and has been granted by the government the position of Warlord of the Sea. Fleet Admiral Sengoku has issued something to the affect 'ordering all Admirals back to Marineford'.

The Five Elder have proclaimed that 'Fire Fist' will be executed in the main plaza of navy headquarters, and the event will be televised around the world as a show of power and justice affirmation. However, Mariejois has also declared that because of the high level nature of this execution, and the very real threat of the Whitebeard fleet attempting to free their comrade, the navy will be in 'war mode' until the death is carried out. As a result, "you will see a marked reduction in the number of marines patrolling your local areas and seas".

Citizens of the World Government who live close to or in Marineford, shall be temporarily relocated to the Sabaody Archipelago for their own protection.

As far as any threat of war is concerned, Mariejois has reconvened its greatest allies: the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the Four Admirals, the Pacifistas of Dr Vegapunk, Natsu Dragneel; a dragon slayer wizard from Ishgar and the infamous 'Ice Queen' Miasano Esdeath as principle fighters against the Whitebeard alliance.

There will of course be over eight hundred thousand regular marines should war come to pass but understand this: the Government is Invulnerable and the navy is indomitable. They will it will not fall to something as petty as a pirates tantrum.

Long live Mariejois!

Death to pirates, and down with the Emperors of the Sea!

The viewpoint that most of the world took when regarding the Five Emperors was that there was an understanding, a non aggression pact if you will between each of them, and yet it could be made flexible depending on wether or not emperors came into direct or indirect contact with each other. In reality however, the situation was more complex. Whitebeard was the strongest of the emperors; the one with the biggest claim to Rodgers legacy, even if Newgate wasn't interested. Big Mom and Kaido had a strained relationship, neither of them forgetting the past that shared as part of the crew of Nathaniel Flint.

'Rocks'.

And yet both of them despised Whitebeard and saw him as their biggest rival. Shanks and Whitebeard had a working relationship, which could turn frosty if any perceived honour was lost on either emperors side but still they respected each other greatly.

Finally there was the Dragon King. At first the former admiral wasn't seen as much of a threat but after the 'Burning of the Gods', and the acquisition of the Primordial Dragon-Dragon fruit, Monkey D James was suddenly upgraded to the greatest threat to the standing and longevity of the old orders of the New World.

'Beast King' Kaido and Dragon King 'Monkey D James' tapped into their respective primordial power, and the ancient hatred that the two primordial devil fruits had for one another was reactivated. Big Mom and Whitebeard became nervous whenever Ankhmar ships were sighted in their territories. Only, Shanks remained calm but he did privately admit worry about the prodigious gathering of ancient texts and poneglyphs inside Ankhmar. And ever since the near destruction of Wano during the first and only, so far, fight between the two Dragon and Oni users, the world realised a terrible truth. The endless ongoing war of Creation and Destruction; Dragon versus Oni, was practically unstoppable when both primordial devil fruit emperors were full on transformed.

—-

Four days later, Shanks and his crew set sail after hearing reports from Wano that Onigashima island had recently emptied as 'Beast King' Kaido had set out to sea to try and intercept Whitebeard before he sailed for Marineford. The whole thing wasn't very quiet or nondescript, and 'Red Hair' knew that Newgate would also be aware of such an occurrence, and its meaning, as Kaido wasn't someone who thought very hard about planning.

The Beast King's actions were clearly an attempt to fight his main rival at a point in time where Whitebeard was presumed to be distracted, weaker and less intuitive than he usually would be. And so Shanks intercepted the intercept, forcing the Beast pirates into a skirmish with the Red Hair pirates. The maelstrom had 'Red Hair' and 'beast pirate' ships swirling around a huge vortex in the sea, firing cannon shots and arch other. kaido, as an Oni, created hundreds of living shade red eyed shadowy monsters and sent them into battle where as Shanks simply used 'moonwalk' and 'shave' to cross the broiling sea and slam his sword into Kaido's mace.

Sparks flew through the air and metal struck metal, Kaido and Shanks facing each other and holding their ground. "You would willingly stand in my way to protect the old man? I guess I was wrong to respect you". A bullet shot inches past the beast king's face before lodging itself in one of the pair of lanterns at the back of Kaido's flagship. "And you're not focused as you should be", Shanks replied, "you should have seen that coming".

"Grrrrr".

The roar that emanated from Kaido's voice box, and out of his mouth, thundered around the ocean battle in waves of catastrophic conquerors haki. Realising what was happening, Shanks countered with his own conquerors haki both waves crashing into one another fighting for dominance, yet due to the power levels of both emperors all that occurred was the weakening of each sides lower ranked shipmates, and the effective nullification of each other's haki attacks. Growling in annoyance, as well as looking around him, Kaido spun around and stalked off.

"Fine, Shanks. I'll withdraw for now. But if the old man wins, I will strike him down!" Sheathing his sword, Shanks nodded his head before vanishing into the sky and moving back to his flagship 'Red Force'. "Captain", Ben Beckman uttered moving forwards, "are you sure we should stay... Kaido could use another route to catch up with Whitebeard?" Shanks turned away from the maelstrom, and watching the departing beast pirates, looking towards his second in command. "Kaido may hate Whitebeard but even he will know by now that the closer they get to Marineford the harder it will be for an attack to take place".

"At any rate", Ben Beckman uttered, "at least we have stopped Kaido from intervening. Big Mom will keep out as she has no stake in this, but the Dragon King is still a wild card. He knew that Ace grew up on Goa, and he could potentially get involved".