Garp stared at the back of the paper with suspicion. One week. It had been one week since the old Marine had come back from training (torturing) his cute little grandson, and in that week there had been zero news on Ace, other than that of his supposed vanishing.
And whilst some of the less academically inclined Marines were overjoyed at the seemingly simple disappearance of the Spade pirates, Garp knew better. Ace may have been getting close to Sabaody, but without government interference there was no one currently there who would pose too much of a threat to the marine's oldest Grandson.
Now, Garp may not have been the smartest of men, but he'd always had fantastic instincts. And at current time those instincts were practically screaming at him that this was the calm before the storm. The real question now, was who the storm would hit, and how was his grandson involved?
Before he could ponder more on the matter, the marine was drawn out of his thoughts by the large thud of a huge pile of paperwork being placed (dumped) on his desk. Looking up in horror, the vice admiral was met with Sengoku's vindictive smile.
"Here's more catch up work Garp." The vice admiral gulped, normally he'd just ignore the paperwork or foist it off on a lower ranking officer and go out on a expedition until Sengoku calmed down.
But one look at the Fleet Commander's face told the the other marine that ditching work was not an option this time. So with a reluctant sigh, and more than a little fear, Garp started his paperwork with a pout on his face. Sengoku could be a petty bastard when he wanted to.
unbeknownst to Garp, he was not the only marine currently suffering under the fleet commander's well deserved vengeance.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Akainu stared at his once again pink ship, and clenched his fists desperately trying to resist the urge to burn the battleship to the ground.
Marine warships were expensive after all, and after he'd burned down the second ship he'd found covered in pink flowers, the Fleet Commander had given him specific orders not to destroy another one. Or else.
Letting out a shaky breath the enraged Admiral turned to face his lieutenant, "Lieutenant I believe I ordered a guard placed around the ship to stop this from happening. So why exactly is my ship covered in flowers again?"
The aforementioned man gave a perfect marine salute, sweat dripping down his face "I'm sorry sir, the Fleet commander sent us new regulations regarding shore leave. We're no longer allowed to leave men on permanent guard duty on confirmed civilian islands."
Akainu resisted the urge to burn the man where he stood. The Admiral knew Sengoku could be a petty bastard when he wanted to, but the lava man had apparently underestimated just how petty the old man could be when forced to deal with the excess of repairs paperwork Akainu had created.
Hell he wouldn't be surprised if the old bastard was the one responsible for the bloody rumours about the pink flowers in the first place.
One day he'd pay the man back. One day.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
"So what're the bets?" The infamous Spade pirates stared at their treasurer in disbelief "Dret our Captain is currently informing two members of the most powerful crew in the world, that one of their members has turned traitor and you're asking us to bet on it?"
The man gave a slight nod "Yup. The Whitebeard's have a reputation for being a decent lot and the Captain has a fuck tonne of evidence, so I doubt they're gonna shoot the messenger. Might as well bet on it."
Deuce shrugged "Fair enough, two hundred on being recruited to the Whitebeards information network." Paddy spluttered his protests while Alice let out an amused laugh "Four hundred it's a full on alliance."
Small paused in consideration before giving a decisive nod "I'll take that bet, three hundred on no alliance but Ace and Commander Haruta arranging a team up to prank the marines while they're here."
There was a slight pause before a majority of the Spades turned to face a smirking Dret, desperately trying to get their bets in. Paddy put his head in his hands, horror and resignation warring on his face.
"Why am I the only sane one here?!" Gray patted the younger man on the back sympathetically, despite the grin on his face, whilst Dusty shot him a highly offended glare "I resent the implications of that."
Paddy glared at the man "Not only were you Ace's first crew mate, I'm fairly certain you were the only crew member to be formally asked to join the Spade pirates, rather than being dragged into this madness like the rest of us were."
The cowboy opened his mouth to protest, only to stop and shrug "Fair enough." Paddy was about to yell some more (in his defence it felt very therapeutic) when the door opened and Ace walked out followed by the two Whitebeard Commanders.
There was a momentary pause as the Spades tried to decipher the look on their Captain's face, before Ace let out a wide grin "We've formed a formal alliance with the Whitebeard pirates!"
The spade's took one look at their boisterous Captain and the now amused whitebeard pirates, and groaned as Alice started to cackle "I called it! Pay up suckers!"
Quartz banged his head against the mast "Why the fuck do we keep betting against her?!" Watching the female ship write giggle, Dusty let out a regretful sigh "She was so sane when we found her." Paddy shot him a glare "Don't lie. None of you were ever sane."
Ace didn't bother to hold back a grin at his crew's antics and turned to face his new allies, smugly noting the confusion on their faces. "Well then. With Commander Haruta's information network I have no doubt you already know who everyone here is, but for courtesies sake I'll do a quick introduction anyway."
"Commander's, these are Dusty, Deuce, Small, Quartz, Alice, Gray, Kalin, Dret, Liam, Paddy, Doc and Green also known as the Spade pirates. Spades, this is the Commander Marco and Commander Haruta of the Whitebeard pirates. We're entering an alliance with them to get rid of Teach."
The Spades stopped, bloodthirsty grins appearing on their faces. They may not have met the traitor in person yet, but every new piece of evidence they had uncovered about Teach had fuelled their hatred of the man.
And while the Spades may not have been strong enough to participate in the actual fight, they could sure as hell help with plotting.
Dusty tipped his hat "What's the plan Captain?" Ace motioned to the Whitebeard pirates and grinned.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Marco and Haruta stared at each other in something akin to worry and amusement.
Teach had been a family member for years and as such was intimately familiar with both Marco and Haruta's particular brands of strategy. Which is why the best solution would be to use Ace's plan to entrap the traitor.
Unfortunately neither commander had been quite so prepared for the level of madness the teen would propose.
And while the plan to take down Teach was quite simplistic on it's own, the supplies required for some of the more unnecessary aspects of the plan would require some very... specific thievery.
This was going to be interesting.
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Garp stared at the photo of the orange Spade and the list attached to it in utter confusion.
The marine's oldest grandson had done a whole number of strange things over the course of the last eight months since setting off to sea, but even then, a majority of his actions had at least seemed to have some sort of purpose.
Which is why the marine felt so incredibly confused by the list now in front of him. What the fuck was Ace up to now? And why on earth did it require him to steal three mini submarines of all things?!
.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Shanks stared at the message he had just received in utter bewilderment. Blinking in confusion the Emperor called his first mate "Benn! Come read this letter for me and tell me if it really says what I think it does, or if the hangover has made me imagine all this!"
The first mate of the red force let out a small snort from where he had been reading peacefully and walked over to his Captain. Stealing the letter, Benn's eyes widened in shock as he read through it "For the first time ever it's not the hangover. The kid must be going mad."
Shanks laughed "He's a D on both sides of the family, the kid was always gonna be a little mad. Besides all the best people are." Benn let out a small sigh despite the small smile on his face "Can't argue with that. So what're your orders Captain?"
A shark toothed smile emerged on the Emperor's face "Tell the men to set sail. We have a meeting to attend." Benn grinned, not bothering to hide the anticipation in his eyes "Aye aye Captain."
And so, the world started to move once more.