Diego Garcia folded the newspaper he was reading, as he leaned back in his armchair, facing a window overlooking the misty crags of the island of Baltigo. He had learned much information, through both the news and various others sources, and it seems as if many of the New World's powers were coming into play. There was only one last source to check, to verify everything. Diego pulled a jet-black Den Den Mushi from inside his cloak, covered in gold swirl patterns. Diego pressed a button on the back of the mushi's shell and listened attentively.
"This is the Underground News Network. Compiling updates…" the Den Den Mushi spoke before closing its eyes. "Updates compiled. Donquixote Doflamingo has been arrested by Admiral Fujitora after a battle with the Straw Hat Pirates. Blackbeard Pirates reportedly on the move. Kaido & Beast Pirates have reportedly annexed Wano Country. The mercenary organization Gibraltar has reunited, with all seven members reportedly working on the same bounty. These have been the updates. Kacha."
Diego's eyes slowly started to return to their regular position. Too much had happened that needed to be process. Diego stood suddenly, black coat flapping around his shoulders; he needed to find Sabo. Diego strode out of the room at a brisk pace, headed towards the docks at Baltigo. Rounding the corner of the semi-natural, semi-manmade castle, Diego ran into one of the Revolutionary Army's hunters, Souda Bay, sitting on a ledge overlooking the window. Souda had on her Hunter Corps uniform, a black halter top with a thick green stripe in the middle and leather pants. Souda's four knives were attached to her thighs and an additional two daggers attached to her dark green combat boots. Her twin khopeshes, lined with seastone, lay strapped to her back in an X formation. Souda's black hair stood in stark contrast to the strange ray of sunshine that occasionally broke through the clouds of Baltigo.
"Souda, do you know if Sabo has returned yet?" Diego questioned.
"His ship just docked. Has something happened?" Souda returned Diego's inquiry.
"The Straw Hats have essentially just deposed that pink feather boa freak." Diego exclaimed with a mix of disgust for Doflamingo and grudging admiration for the Straw Hat Pirates. Souda's eyes widened, much like Diego's did when he had the news confirmed by the Den Den Mushi. Finally, she let out a small chuckle, before dropping down from the window ledge.
"Well, he should probably be able to tell us more in person. I suspect he isn't far from the entrance, we can just meet him." Souda suggested. Diego nodded and quickly fell in step beside her. The pair made their way down a pair of stairs and through a rather dilapidated hall towards the entrance to the Revolutionary Army's base. Diego and Souda were more than halfway down the hall before an explosion was heard. Glancing at each other, they rushed the entrance, Diego bursting through the door and straight towards the source of the noise. Souda ran right behind him, then darted to the side at her first opening, attempting to observe the situation and see best when to strike.
Diego ran the smoke cloud only to see a giant plume of flame roar through it, clearing the smoke from the air. Diego growled when he saw the two combatants; Sabo, covered in various licks of flame, wielding his signature pipe and the Blackbeard Pirates' Jesus Burgess. Souda immediately took possession of her twin khopeshes, the blades glinting from the reflection of the water drops in the fog.
"Oh, hey Diego, hey Souda. Think we could mobilize the forces?" Sabo grinned as he asked, eyes never leaving Burgess.
"Wiiihahahahaha! You may have made a fool of me at Dressrosa, boy, but now the Blackbeard Pirates are on their way here. The Revolutionary Isle Baltigo! You made a mistake not putting me down, boy!" Burgess' laughter trailed off as he glared at Sabo. Diego glanced at Souda, who nodded, then disappeared, headed for the docks. Diego turned towards Burgess, tightening his fists.
"Burgess, you should've stayed at Dressrosa. I do not know your intentions here, but they stop now." Diego stood abreast of Sabo, who had begun slowly radiating flames across his body and his metal pipe.
Burgess growled once before leaping at them, fist outstretched to deliver a powerful right hook. Sabo slammed his pipe against the ground, vaulting in the air, leaving a trail of flames in his wake, just missing Burgess' fist, who, despite being heavily injured still had access to his immense speed. Sabo flipped in the air, aiming his fist at Burgess' broad back.
"Hiken!" The large fist of fire slammed into Burgess' back as Diego held fast. Burgess yelled out in pain but kept his fist swinging towards Diego's face only to have his fist crash against an impossibly hard object. Burgess dropped to the ground, cradling his broken hand and trying to avoid rolling onto his charred back. Diego glared imperiously at man who lay beneath him as Sabo landed behind Burgess, flaming pole pointed at the man on the ground.
"The laws of nature do not affect me, Burgess," Diego addressed him, tone full of contempt, "therefore, your measly fist is akin to a pebble being thrown at a mountain." Diego made to move towards the collapsed pile that was Burgess, until a noise broke through the fog.
Souda flipped back into the clearing, twisting and twirling all the while. Souda's boots had come off, leaving one khopesh grasped between her toes and the other in her hand. Souda's leg spun around, parrying a blow from a nodachi wielded by a yet unseen man in the fog. Souda spun on her free hand once more, tossing the khopesh in her foot in the air, before pushing off and spinning in the air, landing on her feet, a khopesh in each hand. Souda focus on the shadow in the fog.
"You blasted woman! The fuck have you done to my eyesight?!" A large man burst from the fog, dressed in a black uniform, complete with a white jacket, wielding the very same nodachi that had just attacked Souda. Diego and Sabo assumed fighting positions as they glared at Shiliew of the Rain.
"No matter, little girl. I still have Haki, which means my sword will still lop off all the little bits that make that acrobatic body of yours work."
Shiliew launched himself at Souda, sword thrusting forward in front of him. Souda caught his sword between her twin khopeshes, locking the blade, then thrust upward, parrying his strike. Souda dodged to the right, almost as if she were yanked, avoiding Shiliew's downward retaliation strike. Shiliew slashed several more times with increasing accuracy, his Kenbunshoku Haki making up for Souda stealing his eyesight via her Sensu Sensu no Mi. Souda artfully dodged his striked, leaping and ducking in a circle around him where necessary. Souda barely blinked, doing her utmost to focus her eyesight on her target while dodging at the same time.
Diego fully turned towards Shiliew, intending to throw a punch, when he heard powerful wingbeats clearing away the fog. Slowly descending towards him was Laffitte, another Blackbeard Pirate and one of his Ten Titanic Captains. Laffitte grinned as his wings folded into his back as he drew his flintlocks and aimed them at Sabo and Diego.
"Sorry, boys, but your fight is with me." Laffitte's smile grew impossible wider.
"You have the wrong opponents. Those bullets will work on neither of us." Sabo stated.
Laffitte only continued to smile that overbearing smile as he began shooting bullets coated in Busoshoku Haki. Sabo immediately leapt behind Diego, who remained steadfast where he was standing.
"You couldn't be bothered to dodge or deflect on your own?" Diego side-eyed Sabo even though he couldn't see him.
"What's the point when I can have your Teisū Teisū no Mi do all the work for me?" Diego heard the grin in his voice. The bullets lay on the ground; upon coming into contact with Diego's chest, they'd simply lost all momentum and dropped to the ground. Laffitte's wide grin dimmed somewhat considerably.
"No Haki, hmmmm? That has to be a nice Devil Fruit you have then. Perhaps I should acquire it?" Laffitte holstered his guns, then proceeded to draw his cane sword as he advanced slowly towards Diego and Sabo.
"The laws of nature do not affect me." Diego reiterated once more. "If your bullets could not damage me, what makes you believe your sword will?" Diego turned slightly towards Sabo. "Head back to the docks, see if they brought reinforcements. I'll take out the trash." Sabo nodded behind Diego's back, before his lower half turned entirely to blazing hot flames as he rocketed off toward the docks.
Diego filtered the ringing noises of blade clanging against blade as Souda and Shiliew continued their exchange as he focused in on the slowly approaching Laffitte. Suddenly, Laffitte took to the air, cane sword in hand, as he descended rapidly towards Diego. Diego loosened his control, before jumping into the air, ascending several leagues higher than Laffitte, who had turned around in shock, feathers floating around him. Diego smirked, before locking his legs together and releasing his mental control. He rocketed towards the ground at the speed of gravity, smashing into Laffitte, before they both promptly crashed into the ground, dust rising and mixing with the fog from the crater that had formed. Diego stood impassively next to Laffitte's bloody and battered body, wings broken and crimped as he coughed violently. Diego glanced down at the embarrassment below him.
"So much for a Titanic Captain. Understand this, Laffitte: I am Diego Garcia, number three in charge of the Revolutionary Army. I am both the unstoppable force and the immovable object. Let this be a warning to you and anyone else who would oppose us. I will crush you underfoot."
Diego heard an explosion in the distance and looked to see several plumes of fire in the direction of the docks. Diego stepped out of the small crater, to see Shiliew on his knees, a khopesh around his neck as Souda balanced herself on his back.
"You little brat, I'm done with you!" Shiliew growled as he flipped his nodachi in his hand, arm swinging back around. Souda cried out as his sword impaled her in her side, half the blade sinking into her midsection. Shiliew stood, rolling his shoulder as Souda fell off his back. His eyesight returned, Shiliew rotated quickly, grabbing Souda by her leg before delivering a powerful, Haki-imbued fist to Souda's upside-down thigh. She cried out again, louder, as she immediately crashed into a nearby boulder, sword sinking further into her side. Diego paled as he began to run towards Shiliew who had begun stalking towards Souda.
"Stop." The command from the newcomer gave both Shiliew and Diego pause as they turned towards the source of the voice.
Holding the head of the barely lucid Laffitte in one hand and the unconscious Burgess in the other, stood Shijo the Exploder. Diego groaned internally; the day now had the potential to become really bad or really good in an instant. Behind Shijo's left stood the mercenary Vapor. Gibraltar had arrived at the Isle of Baltigo.
Shijo grimaced at the situation ahead of him. To his left, Souda lay unconscious against a boulder after Shiliew's devastating strike. The man in question was steps from her, his bloodthirsty gaze trained on Shijo. To his right, the revolutionary Diego Garcia stood, gaze slightly worried as his eyes flicked between him and his fallen friend.
"So, Shiliew, we have a problem. I need a little assistance from the Revolutionary Army, and what do I find when I arrive at Baltigo? A small fleet of Blackbeard's ships and you three, just mucking about, doing what the fuck ever, etcetera. You see my issue, no?"
"What in the hell do you want, Exploder? The fuck does a mercenary organization need with some two-bit revolutionaries?" Shiliew growled out.
"Don't worry your little pentagon face about that, that's our business. Here's what you need to know: Leave now and your friends leave with you, alive. Fail to do so, and I kill them now. Whatever crazy shit your captain can do, I'm almost certain he can't bring back the dead." Shijo's grip tightened around Laffitte and Burgess, nonchalant grin aimed directly at Shiliew.
"Fine. Toss them here." Shiliew spoke, barely contained rage present in his voice.
Shijo motioned to toss the body of Laffitte, dragging him up and pulling his arm back, as if to throw him. Almost suddenly, Shijo let Laffitte's body drop again, grip still tight around his forehead. Shijo looked up at the anger on Shiliew's face and confusion on Diego's and grinned. Suddenly, two loud explosions were heard, the brightness momentarily blinding the four present. As the smoke settled, two distinct thumps were heard, the smoke clearing away to revealed the bodies of Laffitte and Burgess. Their entire body from the chest up had disappeared, the open flesh and wounds cauterized immediately from the heat and intensity of Shijo's Nenshō Nenshō no Mi. Vapor, Shiliew and Diego looked on in shock at the two stumps.
"When I let you escape here with your life, tell Blackbeard that was penance for leaving me at the mercy of Ryokugyu." Shijo's grin had disappeared in an instant, replaced by a quiet fury. Shiliew's face experienced a rainbow of emotions, before he disappeared into the fog, pausing only to retrieve his sword from Souda's body. Diego's face was pensive as his eyes rose to meet Shijo's, the familiar grin back in place.
"Good. Now that that has been taken care of, let's talk business."