"Still at the bottom of the pack, eh Mad Monk?" Bege asked. Urouge bristled. So what that he had the lowest bounty of all the Supernovas? It wasn't as if he got into trouble with the law that often. Monks were a peaceful people.

"You're not much higher, Bege." Bege's eye twitched. The man loved honorifics, but Urouge wasn't going to give him a single edge.

"I'm higher than that demon of a first mate," Bege responded. "Roronoa-"

"Roronoa Zoro," Urouge sighed. How that monster wasn't higher on the list was incomprehensible. First mate of that dangerously insane Straw Hat he'd been hearing about? Turns out his fellow Supernova had barged his way into the Marineford War, and returned to the battle site afterwards totally unharmed.

"You know, strength isn't measured by bounties," Urouge said pointedly. Bege laughed.

"It's a pretty big indicator though."

Urouge couldn't help but wonder how the marines even calculated bounties. What had he even done to deserve one? Being a pirate was enough to warrant a 500 Beri bounty, especially for newcomers. Even if you hadn't done anything yet, if you flew the flag, the marines would tag you. Urouge of course had gotten that starter bounty. He'd heard Straw Hat was an outlier, achieving 30,000 for his first, which was an insane amount to begin with.

"What was your first bounty, Bege?" he asked the other Supernova. Bege and him had crossed paths on the same island, and had agreed to a civil meeting to discuss politics and such. It should have been awkward, but the other man was surprisingly gregarious.

"500, starting," Bege replied, biting into a piece of steak. So they'd started the same way. Interesting. "You're the same way, ain't you?" Bege said.

"Yes. How did you know?" Urouge replied.

"I do my research," Bege chuckled. Urouge was sure he did. The man was notorious for his informants and assassins. Urouge was lucky enough that his crew was composed of honourable people. Bege probably had to do loyalty checks every other day with all the cloak and dagger the man was engaged in. Urouge, on the other hand, did not bother with gossip, and didn't even read the newspaper. The government had to much to hide to be trusted with printing facts.

"Did you hear?" Bege asked, sipping some red wine, "Captain Kidd is thinking of organizing an alliance."

"What for?" asked Urouge. Kidd was strong. He was a powerful contender for Pirate King. What use did he have for an alliance, which was probably bound to end treacherously anyways (as most pirate alliances do)?

"He wants to take down Emperor Shanks."

Urouge froze. Impossible. The red-haired emperor had gone toe-to-toe with Whiteboard. A rookie couldn't possibly…

"How do you know?" Urouge questioned Bege. Bege shrugged and buttered his bread.

"Same way I'm talking with you." Urouge snickered. So this was what it was about? Bege was gathering intelligence from him. Urouge was surprised he'd managed to pry anything out of the red-haired rookie. Kidd was a tough one.

"You're not getting anything from me," said Urouge, "just know that."

"Oh I do know," Bege replied, "The whole no gossiping thing and whatnot? Yeah, I got it."

"So why am I here?"

"I'd like to propose-"

"An alliance," Urouge finished his sentence.

"Precisely."

Issho felt horrible. It was the government's entire fault that Dressrosa was in ruins. How, HOW could they have let this country suffer for so long? And it was all because of that dastardly demon Doflamingo. The odds were completely stacked against the Shichibukai's favour. How had the heavenly bastard managed to thrive for 13 years without even a single shred of scrutiny? Were the living toys in Dressrosa not intriguing enough to investigate? Were the kind King Riku's mad actions that fateful night not astonishing enough to look into? Had the government known all along about Doflamingo's deceit, and played along because theirown heads were on the line? Issho wouldn't have been surprised. It was typical of the Gorosei to do things like this. Cover up. Paint over it. Pretend it never happened. It sickened Issho. The sickness he carried was one that came with wanting to do good, and being faced with so many frustrating and demoralizing obstacles. But this, this was an example. He would make an example out of the Warlord! He would show the entire world how wrong the Shichibukai system was! The great misfortune that swept this country and kept it in this birdcage for so long would finally reap reward. It had been a large price to pay, and a large thing to bet on.

Sakazuki would not be happy with him. Of course he wouldn't be. The man's motto of Absolute Justice did not take into account morals or human will. It was impossible for the recently appointed fleet admiral to see the errors and the misgivings of the Navy. He felt pity for Akainu. Perhaps, the man wanted so dearly to believe that everything was fine, that everything was within his reach, his power. He had blinded himself to the mere possibility that something may be out of place. He needed guidance. Issho wasn't sure he could give it to him. In all honesty, Issho had desperately wanted Kuzan to be the next Fleet Admiral. Although Kuzan followed Lazy Justice, it was a softer and more human justice than Absolute. But Kuzan had cut off all ties with the Navy, and Issho was fairly sure why. It was a difficult situation.

Sure enough, when Issho informed Sakazuki of his decision, the fleet admiral had been furious. Issho was banned from entering any Marine bases until he delivered Trafalgar Law and Monkey D. Luffy's heads on plates to Marine HQ. Just as Issho made an example of him, Sakazuki wanted to make an example of these pirates… Issho was completely against it. Not only was it illogical, but also the citizens of Dressrosa had just witnessed these two pirates save their entire country. Dressrosa would be infuriated, and would be added to the list of Straw Hat supporters. Which, considering the crew had been absent for 2 years, was quite long and included many powerful kingdoms. Monkey D. Luffy was a force to be reckoned with. He had the insane power to motivate anyone he met to join his movements and support him. This entire debacle with Dressrosa would enhance that even further. Those who had gathered at the Colosseum, strong powers from all over the world, would now be supporting the rookie pirate. If not the hero, Monkey D. Luffy would indeed be the martyr of the New Age.

Gedatsu felt a squeezing pain. It was squeezing his chest. And it didn't hurt. It was just…well… squeezing.

"You alright there, bud?" Goro asked. Ever since he fell to Earth, Gedatsu had been helping this earthling build a hot spring resort. He was not very nice to the man at first, but Goro warmed up to him eventually. Gedatsu shook his head, no. Nothing was wrong. He was fine.

"Alright then," said Goro dubiously. Gedatsu returned to his shovel and began digging. At this point, they were directing water to the bathhouse, which meant a lot of digging. Which Gedatsu was ok with. Digging was fun.

"You're lookin' kinda purple there," Goro said, his eyes glimmering, "Are you sure you're fine."

No…No, Gedatsu wasn't fine. The squeezing hurt now. It burned. He wanted to shout but! Oh.

"Haaaah," Gedatsu exhaled. He'd been holding his breath. Why had he been holding his breath? It made no sense.

"That's the 13th time you've done that in this last hour," Goro said, adjusting his cap. "Why don't you take a break?

"I'm ok," said Gedatsu, returning to his shovel. He was ok. He was fine. Nothing was wrong. Gedatsu continued digging.

"It's raining," Gedatsu mumbled, staring at the drops that had pattered to the ground. His eyes were stinging. Toro looked upwards.

"The sky's clear today," Goro said. "What are you talking- Oh jeez. Blink, man, your eyes are completely red. You teared up is all."

Gedatsu closed his eyes. Relief hit him life a wave. He'd forgotten to blink. That didn't make sense either. There was nothing wrong with him. Nope. He was fine. He kept digging.

"Do you want to eat something?" Goro asked, mopping his brow. Gedatsu said yes, but it came out… Weird sounding. Muffled, and quiet.

"What was that?" Goro asked, turning to look at him.

'I said, I'm alright. Thank you' Gedatsu repeated himself. Didn't he hear him the first time?

"You're biting your lip there, bud," said Goro, gesturing to Gedatsu lips. Indeed, he wedged the fleshy part of his mouth between his teeth. It. Did not make. Sense… He was fine. Completely. Fine. Goro sighed.

"Wanna tell me anything?" he asked his employee.

"Eneru," Gedatsu mumbled. "Eneru…"

"Who's Eneru?" Toro asked kindly, patting the larger man's knee.

"He. He said no. He said don't speak. Don't make a sound. Be alert. Don't close your eyes. Don't you dare alert your enemy that you're near them. He said. That I was. A clumsy. Fool."

'Idiot. Retard. Joke. Stupid. Brain-dead. Buffoon. Careless. Blockhead. Dunce. Cretin. Imbecile. Simpleton. Moron. Laughingstock.' The words bounced around Gedatsu's mind. The words that Eneru had given him. They never spilled out. But every time they hit a wall, they hit a little harder. Because they wanted to get out. They just didn't know how. They didn't know the proper way.

A.N.: Oh gosh. That was a doozy. Hope the length didn't bother you guys too much~ Urouge's part was fun. I grabbed an idea off his page and ran with it. I like how it turned out. Of course, Bege jumped in for whatever reason. I guess it's because they've been featured so often in the new chapters? I don't mess with canon, so that's why I left that last bit hanging. It's up to you wether or not you want to take it! Urouge was my half and half. Since there are 3 shots in one day, I had to give one shot an equal amount of both. Yay for balance~! Issho was, obviously, my reflective piece. I sooo want to get into that man's mind. He's a relatively new character, but he's already pretty developed in terms of goals and whatnot. I'm excited to see what he does next! Gedatsu was an unexpected addition. See, I don't mess with canon, but Eneru's 'totally psycho employer (because of his own past) that destroyed the minds of his underlings' theme was too good to pass up. So voila. A situational piece becomes "deep". All really interesting characters to work with this time. I hope you enjoyed reading them just as much as I enjoyed writing them~ Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, Reader Birthdays, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated! I'll see you tomorrow for Duval!