Interlude: The Parents are upset
"So you mean to tell me, you leveled half the town and lost your little brother? " Mihawk said in a flat voice.
Perona flinched but said, "Well, uh, it's all the stupid bird's fault!" Perona yelled shrilly while pointing at Marco. Mihawk turned to look at Marco scathingly while Marco looked anywhere else but at Whitebeard and Mihawk.
"Oi, if you hadn't provoked me, I wouldn't have attacked!" Marco yelled. Perona yelled back and conjured some ghosts preparing to attack when Whitebeard banged his naginata twice and said, "Enough. Marco, you lost your two younger brothers as well. You know how they are and still you let yourself be distracted enough that you lost track of them. And now we have the Marines on their way because it was reported that you and Mihawk's daughter were fighting. You destroyed a town for Enel's sake! You are out of control Marco and I'm very disappointed. You know better!"
Marco looked ashamed and said, "Sorry Oyaji,"
"Sorry! My son is missing because of your carelessness! Lucky is more responsible than this, I can't sense him anywhere on this sand-forsaken land!" Mihawk said in a ferocious tone that knocked out some of the weaker men on the ship.
Whitebeard snorted and said, "Ah, your son is so weak willed to be led astray?"
Mihawk became offended and turned to the imposing pirate,"Care to repeat that Old Man?" he said darkly. Whitebeard's commanders immediately took a fighting stance in response to the threat.
Before things could get violent, one of Whitebeard's men came running onto the ship out of breath carting a young boy who was whimpering from the intense haki being projected, barely holding on to his consciousness.
"Oyaji, I think I found them! Go on boy, tell him what you told me," the pirate said, dropping the boy on the ship.
"Ehh well, um, we helped these kids, Ace, Sabo and Lucky get into the royal palace. They said they had to use a transponder snail and those were the only ones available. Some people caused a ruckus in town and destroyed the transponder booths, they say it was two pirates with ghosts and blue birds, if ya can believe it, boy did they cause a lot of damage" the kid said all in one breath. Marco and Perona turned bright red at the accusation and looked down, finding the wooden boards really interesting.
"Go on boy, don't stop now," Mihawk intoned.
"Um, sir yes sir," the boy saluted, gulping an air of breath as pressure began bearing down on him. He was scared witless and didn't want to die.
"Mihawk, that pressure of yours won't help, you'll knock the boy out," Whitebeard said. Mihawk scoffed but nevertheless released the pressure.
"Umm, so we helped the boys create a distraction so they could sneak into the Palace and make their snail call, they seemed excited about it, something about an adventure." Several groans were heard at this.
"And well, I'm not sure what I saw but I swear I'm not lying!" he said, waving his arms. " An old hag came out of a mirror and spirited them away!" the boy yelled, lifting his arms over his head expecting to be hit.
"What?" said Whitebeard
"Whaaat?" said Marco.
Meanwhile Mihawk and Perona looked at each other, Perona yelled "Luckkyyy" while Mihawk just looked towards the heavens.
"So, you know who the old hag is," questioned Whitebeard taking notice of their reactions.
"Unfortunately…The situation just became 100 times more complicated. Looks like the boys are in the New World," Mihawk said, sighing.
"The New World!?" exclaimed the Whitebeard pirates.
"The woman the boy is referring to, is actually one of Big Mom's daughters," he responded
"Big Mom!" the crew yelled while some fainted.
"What in the world! Were they kidnapped?" asked several of the crew members
Mihawk sighed again and said, "Actually Lucky is good friends with one of Big Mom's younger daughters-Don't ask- and Brule is one of their frequent babysitters'."
Whitebeard smirked and said, "So, what was that about your son being responsible? Guararara." Mihawk scoffed and said nothing.
"Oyaji, this is no time to be laughing," groaned Thatch, the Commander of the 4th division.
"At least we know they haven't been kidnapped son," Whitebeard replied.
"How is this any better?!" Haruta, the 12th division Commander, exclaimed.
"Only you would find the humor in this Pops," Marco said, sighing.
"You must have their snail number Mihawk, no sense in starting a war with LinLin when we could just call and order them back to the ship," Whitebeard asked.
"Well, Linlin's youngest is quite willful, it will be an uphill battle to get them back as Lucky hasn't visited in over a year," Mihawk said. "I'll call and make inquiries as to the children's whereabouts," he finished. "You-get me a snail phone," Mihawk motioned to one of the lower ranking members of the crew.
The pirate trembled but looked towards Whitebeard who nodded and said, "Go on,son," and turned to Mihawk, "I may have given you permission to board my ship swordsmen but don't mistake my kindness," the World's Strongest told Mihawk, once again tapping his naginata.
Mihawk smirked and ignored his statement to ask, "What should we do about the Marines, you are still a pirate and I'm a warlord," he said.
"Hmpf, not my problem, but we should go our separate ways or at least appear to, government dog" Whitebeard said scornfully.
"Oh? Is that what you call the Knight of the Sea as well?" Mihawk asked slightly amused not taking offense to the epithet the Warlords were often referred to as.
Whitebeard extended as naginata in a wide arc, his sons instinctively moving away while Mihawk pulled out his sword even more amused though you could never really tell by his expression that made it impossible to read his emotions. Only Perona could read the bloodlust mixed with amusement. She sighed at the sight of her father figure picking fights with the one considered the closest to getting the One Piece.
The underling came back with the transponder snail while the Worlds' Greatest had their pissing match.
Whitebeard and Mihawk both relaxed their stances but still the tense air remained. Mihawk took the snail phone and dialed the number, waiting, "puru-puru-puru-puru-puru…" on and on it rang with no answer. He hung up and tried a different number with the same response, no answer.
"Hmm, well that is unexpected. Someone usually answers. How unusual," Mihawk stated while trying again. Again to no avail.
"Well Shit. Now what?" asked Marco looking around the ship seeing the worried looks on his brothers' faces.
"This is not typical behavior. There is always someone on standby to answer," Mihawk murmured. The only sign he was worried was him attempting to call again but this time the ringing stopped.
"Ahhhh, all hands on deck, I repeat all hands on deck, ahhhhhhhh, there goes another building, I repeat all hands on deck, monsters are eating through the streets, ahhhh. Oi, this isn't the city-wide alert snail. Clank." and once again the snail went silent.
"What the fuck was that? What the actual fuck?!" yelled Thatch. Mihawk just looked at the snail in disbelief and once again dialed the number and there was no answer.
"Well. That was concerning," Mihawk said in the flattest tone ever.
"Well. Fuck." Perona said, in an actual normal tone of voice unlike her shrill yells.
"Marco, son, remind me again why I put you in charge?" Whitebeard asked while Marco nearly melted into the floor and became one with the ship.
A/N: Anddd there you have it! A cliffie for the interlude lol I'm backkk after months long hiatus. Probably not the chapter you wanted but the chapter that was published. I like writing the interludes and they help me with the writing process. Though I am sorry for the delay, life got hectic and writing took a back seat. What do you think is happening on Whole Cake Island!? Hahaha the boys are back, what a beautiful start to a friendship lol lmk what you think in the comments. I read all of them but sometimes it's hard to find the time to respond but I truly appreciate each and every one of them :) Thank you for sticking with me through this epic journey!