X-X-X-X-X
She didn't know what she had been expecting, really. A fight between Marines and Pirates on this scale was sure to be bloody, vicious chaos. It kind of annoyed her how Sengoku was throwing Roger's name around like a curse-word, using it to torment Portgas, but she understood the man's instinctual need to eliminate something he saw as a blight to society.
But destroying a life like this was no excuse.
Nike stood beside her Captain at the Archipelago, watching with one eye and listening with half an ear. She was always alert, always on the look-out for threats, both to herself and to her captain and crew. Call her paranoid, but ever since her Captain's bounty had cleared 200,000,000 something had changed. The hunters coming after them seemed to have graduated to a new level of sadistic cruelty and vicious strength. As such, she wasn't taking any chances.
She chuckled a bit when Whitebeard breached the bay using coated ships, just because of the look on Sengoku's face, and rolled her eyes at Aokiji's actions, but generally kept her senses on the surrounding area.
It appeared that, besides Straw Hat Luffy and his first mate, the 8 other Supernovas where in attendance. She'd spotted Eustass Kid walking up the hill and Scratchmen Apoo entering the plaza. She'd also sensed Law wandering at the outskirts of the mass of spectators. Drake just sat there staring at the screens, giving no indication he knew there were others as strong as himself lurking nearby. True, her Captain dwarfed her in terms of physicality and strength, both in and outside his Zoan form, but his kenbunshoku haki needed some serious work. He relied on the heightened senses provided by his fruit powers far too much, in her opinion.
And then a Marine warship fell out of the sky.
That certainly got her attention.
She blinked, focusing fully on the screens to see the wreckage of the ship begin to break apart, figures scrambling over it. Something blue dove over the side into the water, staying submerged for several long moments before hauling a couple of unmoving lumps onto the ice. They soon resolved into discernible figures and Nike began listing them, though her Captain already knew who most of them were.
"Jimbe, Shichibukai, 44, whale shark fishman. Sir Crocodile, former Shichibukai, also 44, Suna-Suna fruit user. Buggy the Clown, Bara-Bara fruit user. Emporio Ivankov, revolutionary, Horu-Horu fruit user. His presence means that Inazuma is here too. And that's Monkey D. Luffy, 17, bounty: 300 million, Gomu-Gomu fruit user."
Drake grunted in acknowledgement but didn't move, eyes still fixed on the screens. For once, Nike followed his example, attention diverted from looking for threats to watching the spectacle.
And what a spectacle it was.
X-X-X
Nike was oddly silent on the trip to Marine Ford.
Drake, despite himself, kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. She stood at the railing, staring, unseeing, ahead of the Red. Every now and again one of her hands would twitch, as though she were itching to draw her pistols.
The Marine's war with Whitebeard had taken a sudden, unexpected turn towards the personal with the admittance that Monkey D. Luffy was Ace's younger brother.
He couldn't even begin to try and understand what she was feeling. To see another person lose a brother to the Marines in such a fashion just might push his sniper too far, and so he sought her out once they were underway.
He didn't speak as he approached or when he stood beside her at the railing. Carefully he placed a hand on her shoulder, giving the tense muscles a gentle squeeze. At the contact her eyes slid closed and she heaved several long, deep breaths, letting them out noisily.
Finally, she turned to him, brown eyes oddly bright.
She didn't say anything, only nodded her thanks. He inclined his head, before letting his hand drop from her shoulder.
It was a long way to Marine Ford.
X-X-X
They watched from a distance as Whitebeard and his men retreated with the badly wounded Ace and Luffy in tow. From the deck of the Red Flag, Drake turned to Nike. She watched the little yellow submarine duck out of sight before turning her eyes to him.
"They should be fine. Law's a creep, but he's a good doctor." he said. She nodded, a strained but relieved smile spreading across her face.
"I know." she said.
He nodded once, sharply, before turning to the deck, barking orders as he went. They had finally reached the point where they would enter the New World, there was no time to waste.
"Let's go!" he said.
"Yes, Sir!" the collective yell came up from the crew, Nike included.
X-X-X-X-X
/AN/
It was insanely hard to finish this. I don't know why, but it took me four tries to get it right, and even now it's still got wonky bits in it. Rar.
Also, I couldn't find it in myself to kill off Whitebeard. Or Ace. So, yeah, divergence from cannon begins here. The same will be mirrored in Angel's Tears and Dragon Feathers (when I get around to writing the chapters that this arc actually covers).
Anyways, to Rejar: Sorry there were no one-liners in this chapter. Some giggling at Drake and Sengoku's expense, but nothing as laugh-worthy as the Law episode, I'm afraid. I'm glad you liked the backstory. I figured that the event that made Drake change "sides" would have to be pretty significant, and what better than the willful death of an innocent? I tried to touch on Nike's continued struggle with her brother's death, and the mirror that Ace and Luffy created seemed like a good one to use.
Hope you enjoyed!