Chapter 137:
The Admirals Attack
Whitebeard knelt, though he still towered over the average-sized Squard, wrapping the man in a hug with his free hand while giving no mind the blood dripping down his front. His words were too low for anyone else to hear, but they watched Squard drop his giant sword and return the hug as well as he could, crying all the while. Squard remained kneeling as the elder pirate stood, slamming his hands into the shattering air on either side. The massive, frozen waves that ringed Marineford mimicked the air, breaking until nothing remained.
"My children!" Whitebeard called. "The Marines will do anything and everything to break your faith, but I will do nothing to stop them! Those of you who choose to stay do so of your own free will! Will you help me save my son?"
A veritable wall of sound slammed into the platform as the pirates regrouped, commandeering Marine battleships and leaping back into the fray. Whitebeard himself no longer stayed idle, jumping from his perch and into the battle below. The Fleet Admiral's smirk fell away.
"Oh fuck me," Sengoku cursed.
Having entered the battle, Whitebeard stalked forward with a confident, if somewhat slow, gate, casually deflecting cannonballs, swords, and marines without missing a step. The view of Whitebeard from the execution platform was obscured for a moment by Vice-Admiral John Giant, who had found a second wind after his defeat to Oars Jr., but he was quickly dealt with once more, this time by the Emperor himself punching him hard enough to bury the giant's upper body into the ice. Seeing the giant go down a second time, Sengoku yelled down to the marines below.
"Why the Hell aren't the walls up yet? They're a crucial part of the plan!"
"I'm sorry, sir!" the marine saluted. "The ice is too thick for the walls to punch through! We'll need some more time!"
Time was not something Whitebeard was willing to give, the man lifting his blade before sending a massive flying slash toward the platform. Fearing the worst, Coby shut his eyes, the light from the slash still nearly blinding him through his eyelids, but as the wind roared in his ears and ruffled his clothing, nothing changed, though the shifting of his shirt irritated the hypocrisy carved into his back.
Down below, the three Admirals, having just worked together to deflect an attack from the strongest pirate in the world, bickered over whose fault it was for the walls failing on them.
"Charge, men!" Whitebeard yelled.
"Divert all power from the city," Sengoku ordered into his snail. "Get those walls up yesterday!" He replaced the snail into to his pocket. "You three, get out there and buy us time for the evac."
The Admirals didn't respond, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Coby and Ace frantically searched for them, not that it would do anyone much good. Akainu charged straight for Whitebeard, Aokiji tried to attack Jinbei and Ivankov while sending out ice dividers to break up smaller battles, and Kizaru...
Luffy's eyes widened as that weird sense pinged in the back of his mind, the rookie throwing himself to the side just before a beam of light pierced the ice he'd been running toward. Coming out of the roll, Luffy looked up to see a tall man in a vertically-striped yellow suit with a purple tie. His black hair was cut short and his stubble seemed to emphasize his lazy expression. Red sunglasses shaded his eyes.
"So your the one everyone's talking about," the man yawned somewhat slowly. "You've made quite the name for yourself, Straw Hat."
"And who the Hell are you?" Luffy demanded, jumping to his feet. "Get out of my way!"
"Maa, I suppose we haven't met, have we? I'm Admiral Kizaru."
"You're an Admiral?" Luffy questioned, not because he wasn't sure, but to buy himself a few seconds. He wasn't too sure about those weird powers he'd been developing recently, the knocking people out and telling when an attack was coming, but he was starting to know what they felt like. Someone called it Haki at some point? Which was weird since Shiki had covered his hands in a black substance and called that Haki, too, like the Kuja had with their arrows. If only he could grasp it...
"You're kind of slow, aren't you?" Kizaru questioned, missing the irony of the statement. "I just said I'm an Admiral, didn't-"
"Move!" Luffy ordered, flaring his Haki. A wave of admittedly-weak and untrained Conqueror's emanated from the pirate, washing over the Admiral with no outward effect.
"Scary~" Kizaru blinked. "You're one of those. Well, I guess it's to be expected. I should finish you off here." The Admiral was on him in a blink, a glowing leg slamming into Luffy's face before he could react. The pirate bounced across the ice several times before coming to a stop, having only enough wherewithal to keep an eye on his foe. Rather than move the normal way, Kizaru began glowing before breaking into particles of light, dematerializing and rematerializing in a second.
"Logia," Luffy breathed, kicking the ground and sliding over the ice, giving himself a case of something like roadrash. Luckily, it was a small price to pay for avoiding the light kick that buckled the ice where he'd been, the beam from it blasting down into the water.
"Ooh~," Kizaru sighed. "You're fast. That means more work for me..."
"Yeah, well, I can go faster," Luffy replied, springing to his feet as steam started to rise. Within a second, what seemed to be dozens of arms at a time moved to punch the marine. "Second Gear: Jet Gatling!"
Kizaru didn't say anything, holes opening and closing on his body as quickly as Luffy could punch, none of the attacks actually harming the wishy-washy Admiral in any way. He yawned as Luffy stopped, jumping back another few feet, panting.
"I thought you said you were faster," the man taunted. "This is actually boring."
"Boring?" Luffy growled, his mind working in overdrive to think of any plan. "If you think war is boring, then maybe you need to get your head checked."
"No, Straw Hat, you're boring," the man corrected. "Akainu is facing Whitebeard and Aokiji is fighting your friends over there, and I'm stuck with you." Several bullets passed through the Admiral's head, doing no damage to the Logia. Kizaru didn't even react to what would have normally been a deadly attack save for his arm waving in the general direction it had come from. The beam that shot from his palm hit the ice with a massive explosion, burning away more than just the pirates that tried to shoot him. "I fought you because I thought you'd be the easiest fight, but I thought it'd be more fun than this."
"You bastard!" Luffy yelled. "This isn't some sick joke to enjoy! People are dying!"
"And? The weak and unlucky die. Besides, they're pirates. And I can't be blamed for the deaths on our side. I'm just following orders. Yasakani Sacred Jewel!" Crossing his arms over his chest, the Admiral send several dozen beams of light toward the young pirate.
Luffy moved with his instincts, dodging, ducking, dipping, diving, and dodging his way through the area attack that threatened the very stability of the battlefield. Breathing heavily, Luffy backflipped free from the barrage as it ended.
"What, nothing?" Kizaru taunted, Luffy glaring at him as Conqueror's leaked from his stance. Eyes darting about, Luffy Shaved toward the plaza, trying to slip past the Admiral. He didn't have any luck, Kizaru appearing before him in a second, another light-speed kick blowing the teen back. The Admiral smirked, sauntering toward the weaker man.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with, Straw Hat. Every other pirate here has faced the other side of the Red Line. Everyone but you. The New World is a whole other level than anything you've faced. You've bitten off more than you could chew with this war. Now-"
He stopped, a talon coated in Armament Haki grabbing the side of the Logia's face and shoving his head into the ice. The talon was attached to a flaming, blue bird the same size as a full-grown man. Luffy watched with surprise as the flames parted to reveal a pineapple-shaped head with a tuft of blond hair.
"Pops has declared Straw Hat an ally, yoi," the Phoenix said from atop of the marine. "He's under our protection. Why don't you pick on someone in your own league, yoi?"
"Marco the Phoenix," Kizaru muttered into the ice, showing no emotion. His finger came up, blasting a beam of light through the pirate's chest, only for more blue flames to close and heal the hole left behind. "Now this is interesting."
Even as he finished speaking, Kizaru's body glittered, turning into motes of light and rematerilizing several feet away. His body was headless, however, considering it was still trapped in the Phoenix's Haki-coated talon. Faster than Marco could react in an attempt to crush the Admiral's skull, and thereby deal a heavy blow to the Navy's forces, the yellow-suited body kicked Marco at light-speed, pushing him away with its own layer of Haki.
"Damn," the Whitebeard pirate hissed as he skid to a stop by Luffy, clutching his side. "I should've just killed him when I had the chance, yoi."
"Are you one of Ace's crewmates, Pineapple Guy?" Luffy asked, Kizaru casually strolling up to his head as the pirates talked.
"I'm not a pineapple!" Marco denied. "I'm the First Division Commander Marco 'the Phoenix' at your service, yoi. I'm a little pissed Ace hasn't told you about me, though."
"Eh, Ace and I don't get to talk much," Luffy responded, shrugging. "Coby probably knows who you are, though. He knows lots about people."
"I suppose that's something," Marco sighed. "You got a game plan for this guy?"
"...Punch him 'til he stops?"
"That's not a very good plan, yoi."
Luffy shrugged again. "It's worked before."
"You two sure are talkative," Kizaru interrupted, stepping backwards to avoid a ballistic Akainu as the red-clad Admiral barreled past though the air, a trail of magma left in his wake. The three combatants watched the man skid across the ice, melting it as he went, before finally coming to a stop near the body of Oars Jr. Seeing that, the three turned to look where he'd come from, Whitebeard standing there with a punch still extended, his fist wrapped in a sphere of his quaking power.
"See?" Luffy noted. "Punch him 'til he stops."
"Godadammit," Marco sighed, flames spreading across his body until he was once again in his Phoenix form. "Fine. We'll go with your plan, yoi."
On another section of the ice, another three combatants stared each other down.
"'First Son of the Sea' Jinbei and the Revolutionary Ivankov, ruler of the Kamabakka Kingdom," Aokiji said. "This is where you both end."
"You're a dangerous foe for me," Jinbei admitted, "but I'll not let you stop me. Ace and Coby have earned my respect. They're better men than anyone in the government."
"You wish, Icy-boy!" Ivankov shot back. "I'm not gonna stop until I save Kuma!"
"While rescuing Firefist and Tri-Horn is possible, though highly unlikely, saving Kuma is a lost cause," Aokiji responded, a cold wind drifting from his feet. "He's nothing but a shell with Devil Fruit powers now. His mind is gone."
"Damn you!" Ivankov roared, charging in despite Jinbei's warnings. "Death Wink!"
The Admiral let the pressurized attack hit him, shattering his frozen body into hundreds of ice crystals. Moving as only Logias can, the man reformed behind the Revolutionary, an Ice Saber covered in Haki already coming down to end the hormone-human.
"Fishman Karate: Hundred Brick Fist!" Within seconds, Jinbei interposed himself between the fighters, his own Haki-coated fist countering the Admiral's weapon. A shockwave emanated from the impact, ruffling the clothes of the fighters. Sparks flew at the two combatants wrestled, pushing against each other.
"Death Wink!"
Ivankov's attack forced Aokiji to disconnect. Jumping away from Jinbei, the marine drew his arm back as he formed an ice bow, his sword now a makeshift arrow.
"Repeat Artisan!" he called, firing the sword before launching arrow after arrow at the two rebels. Jinbei planted himself, breaking each arrow with his bare fists while Ivankov stabbed himself with his fingers, injecting adrenaline into his system. The boost made the Queen among Kings speed up, dodging around every projectile.
"I'll show you a real fight, you cold-hearted bastard!" Ivankov yelled, jumping into a somersaulting arc. The currently-male ruler brought his leg down on the ice before the marine, shattering it easily. From there, Ivankov launched himself at Aokiji, swiping at him with fingers ready to inject any number of nasty surprises. "Let's go, Icy-boy! Hee-haw!"
"Hmm," the lazy man blinked, a sword and small shield of ice fending off the Okama.
"Over the Shoulder Shark Throw!"
"Guh!" Aokiji complained, a pillar of seawater slamming into his chest.
"Good going, Jinbei!" Ivankov called, his non-human partner trending water in the hole the hormone-human had created.
"Watch out!"
Jinbei's warning came too late, the Admiral having recovered faster than Ivankov thought. Aokiji cut downward with his sword, carving a line across the Revolutionary's chest, ice blooming along the wound. The (current) man backed away as another wave of water attacked their icy opponent, already feeling the effects of the damage and temperature. The purple-blue-haired okama scowled, readying to rush in once more before a streak of red flew over the heads of all three warriors. Their eyes followed the blur until it formed into Akainu, slamming into the ice near the distant plaza.
"H-Hee-haw!" Ivankov cheered, his teeth chattering as he injected himself with some hormones to increase his body temperature and speed up his healing. His minor celebration, however, was cut off early by a vicious shriek of grinding gears and cracking ice.
"Finally," Sengoku growled as walls began rising between the frozen battlefield of the bay and the concrete of Marineford's island. That seemed to be a cue for the Admirals, each disengaging from their fights to retreat before the final walls rose. All but one wall did, that one trapped under the hulking body of Oars Jr., which itself acted as something of a barrier. The three Admirals renewed their posts before the execution platform. "It took them long enough. Sakazuki, destroy them."
"Right," the magma-man responded, his arms bubbling and overflowing with molten rock as he glared through a sizable black eye at the invading pirates on the ice. It warmed his heart to see them panicking as they came to terms with the trap the Navy had sprung. With a shout, the red-suited Admiral punched toward the sky, launching massive fist after massive fist into the condensed clouds above. "Great Eruption!"
In the half-minute it took for the meteors to come down, Sengoku lamented on the poor marine souls still trapped on the ice. He felt sorry for the bastards that were strong enough to cling to life after a loss to any of the pirates, especially those soldiers with Devil Fruit powers, but theirs was a sacrifice they... well, didn't know they would make but should have expected when they signed up for the Marines. It was a necessary move.
Then the meteors fell, great burning fists raining from the sky by the dozens. They hit the ice hard, exploding to kill indiscriminately while the heat caused the battlefield to shrink. Devil Fruit users sunk into the water, forcing friends to dive in and save them as the sea shifted from frozen to boiling in seconds.
Coby and Ace screamed as one of the meteors exploded too close to Luffy, sending the teen flying into the water. Jinbei dove in after him quickly, but this was little comfort as the area attack continued.
Then, as they watched, one meteor found an important mark, smashing the Moby Dick replica on the left. It was the second, however, that was worse, smashing into the original. The old, powerful ship caught fire instantly, its sails burning away while the pirates who called it home cried out.
Even Whitebeard stopped, watching as the flagship of his crew went up in flames. The fact it survived a molten meteor head-on and was still afloat was a testament to its make and materials, but that was the extent of its life. The Emperor's body language hardened as he turned back, eyeing Sengoku with a steel gaze. Planting his feet, Whitebeard punched the air, cracks widening further and further as one pulse of force was followed by another, the attacks knocking meteors off track as they grew in power. Unfortunately, the Moby Dick was already irreparably damaged.
Pirates roared and screamed, firing attacks at the walls, trying to put out fires, or trying to save crewmembers. Their attacks did little against the walls and the flames were powered by Logia-born heat. Even an attack from Whitebeard himself merely dented the thick steel of the walls. Sengoku smirked.
He smirked until a voice echoed over the battlefield, laden with a power that sent shivers down the spines of even the toughest marines.
"YOU MARINES THINK I'LL GO DOWN THAT EASILY? YOU THINK THE END OF MY BODY WILL STOP ME? YOU THINK I WON'T MAKE MYSELF KNOWN? IF SOME EAST BLUE CARAVEL CAN STICK IT TO YOU SONS OF SEA-BITCHES AND SURVIVE, THEN SO CAN I!"
Eyes searched the battlefield for the mysterious voice until someone called, pointing out a shadowy figure clinging to the highest remaining point of the Yonko's flagship. The figure solidified through the smoke, the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates waving in their hand.
"I AM THE SPIRIT OF THE MOBY DICK, AND I WILL NOT GO DOWN QUIETLY! I WILL FIGHT FOR MY FAMILY! FOR ACE AND FOR POPS! I! WILL! FIGHT!"
End of Chapter 137
I promised a left turn, didn't I? I think I delivered. Let's see those comments, 'cause this war is about to change!
Read and Review!
-SwordOfTheGods