This took a bit longer to write.

Hope you enjoy.

One Piece and Bleach belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 7

Ichigo had been walking next to the Admiral for a while now. Glancing at the man he hadn't said a word since they started their journey. He didn't know what this Enies Lobby place was and he was starting to feel his curiosity get the best of him.

"What kind of place is Enies Lobby?" Ichigo asked. The squeaking of the bike was starting to annoy him. How the hell the bike wasn't completely rusted constantly getting pounded by salty sea air was a mystery. Maybe he took really good care of his bike?

Aokiji looked over at his shorter companion.

"It's a judicial Island, well it's more of a courthouse where prisoners are sentenced." Aokiji Began gaining the teens full attention. "It's connected to Impel Down and the Marine headquarters so it's a pretty important place." Aokiji finished noticing the odd stare from the teen. He guessed since the teens knowledge of this world was abysmal for some odd reason, he assumed the teen didn't understand half of what he said.

"They are connected by the great current, it's all controlled by the World Government." Aokiji started his explanation again before Ichigo held up his hand stopping the taller man.

"Hold up. I have too many questions. Impel down? Marine headquarters? World Government? The whole world has one government?" Ichigo listed off on his fingers getting a blank stare from the Admiral.

"How much do you know about the world?" Aokiji asked looking down at the teen walking beside him.

Ichigo shook his head. "Not much honestly, I'm still not too sure what a Devil Fruit is either." Ichigo admitted putting his hand up to his chin.

Aokiji let out a long exasperated sigh. Looks like he had some explaining to do. How this teen could be so clueless that he didn't even know about the World Government was a mystery to him. Maybe he should ask what his upbringing was like. For all he knew the teen was isolated from the rest of the world and trained in his odd techniques.

Then there was the mention about that Toshiro character….

Ichigo noticed how quiet it had gotten between the two as he felt Aokiji's stare on him. He didn't know what was going through his mind but he was starting to get a little worried.

"Impel Down is the world's most notorious prison, it holds the worst criminals in the world." He began getting a slight widening of the eyes from Ichigo. "The Marine headquarters is… the headquarters of the Marines." Aokiji tried his best to explain such simple places as Ichigo had to stop himself from tripping in the air from the stupid explanation.

"You seriously don't know about the World Government?" Aokiji asked in a disbelieving tone looking at the teen. Ichigo turned his head away from Aokiji's stare.

Aokiji noticed the frown on the teens face as his gaze traveled over the horizon. The look on Ichigo's face wasn't something someone so young should have.

He had seen this before on Marines who had seen their crews die around them leaving them the only survivors. The look on the teens face wasn't any different.

"I'm not from around here alright. My home isn't even on the map." Ichigo tried to explain his reasoning for not knowing simple knowledge about the world.

Aokiji stared at the teens face trying to understand what he meant by those words.

"You were lost right?" Aokiji asked. "Trying to get back home?" Aokiji tried to understand the teen better.

Ichigo tilted his head down as his eyes narrowed remembering the war he had been participating in back in Soul Society. He had been using the mysterious wonders of this world to help distract himself from his memories before he unexpectedly arrived.

Aokiji noticed the frown visible on the teens face. Maybe he pushed the little guy too far.

"I don't have a home to return to." Ichigo admitted as Aokiji frowned at the teens tone.

Ichigo looked up at Aokiji making eye contact with the Admiral.

What am I going to do with him?

Aokiji looked away breaking the eye contact.

"Arara, lots of people don't have homes Ichigo. That's why the majority of people become pirates." Aokiji started. "Listen Ichigo, I don't consider myself the best person to give advice, but hear me out." Aokiji stopped his bike surprising Ichigo who stopped walking.

Aokiji fully turned his body to Ichigo, the teen waiting for whatever the Admiral was going to say.

"Try to give purpose to your life. I joined the Marines because I didn't have a home to go to either. I'm not saying you should join the marines because you don't have a home like I did, but what drives you? I noticed on the ship you had a strong sense of protecting others." Aokiji tried to give his best reasoning to the teen.

Ichigo remembered the small speech he gave when he declared he was going to save everyone on the ship when Aokiji threatened the life of the crew. He guess he laid out his emotions on his sleeve didn't he?

"Ever since I was young I always protected others. My mother died when I was young so I was in charge of protecting my two younger sisters." Ichigo felt himself speaking out. He didn't know why he was being open with the Admiral, he had only known him for less than a day.

Maybe he just wanted to talk to someone, about his troubles he was going through. Whatever it was, he could tell while Aokiji's sense of justice was a little wrong, that didn't make him a bad guy. Ichigo always had a good sense of determining others intent when he fought them in battle, and when he fought the Admiral he could tell something else was on his mind.

"So your sense of justice is protecting others. That's not a bad trait to have." Aokiji intentionally avoided mentioning the younger mans sisters. He could only assume the worst happened to them, it wasn't uncommon with all the strange things that happened in the world.

"I guess." Ichigo shrugged. "My name means 'The One who Protects'. My mother was the one who gave me that name." Ichigo felt a small smile on his face mentioning the reason behind his name.

Aokiji looked down at the teen seeing his small smile. Letting out a sigh he turned back at the horizon, pedaling his bike again.

"Arara, this is getting depressing." Aokiji began. "Let's change the subject. You don't mind right?" The Admiral asked getting a small nod from the teen. "You said you wanted to know about Devil Fruits right?" Aokiji asked getting another nod from the teen.

Ichigo was glad for the short but insightful advice, it helped raise his mood after remembering his sisters. He waited from the Admiral to begin his explanation.

"I ate the Hie Hie no Mi Devil Fruit. It gives me the abilities to turn myself into Ice and freeze things around me." Aokiji began. "There are hundreds of Devil Fruits in the world. Each one grants the person who eats it the ability of the fruit." Aokiji finished. Ichigo's eyebrow raised at the strange explanation.

"You eat a fruit to get those powers? I thought Devil Fruit was just a fancy name, not an actual fruit." Ichigo shook his head trying to understand just what that meant.

"Devil Fruits are rare, most people go their entire lives without seeing it's abilities." Aokiji tried to convince the teen it wasn't common.

"I see." Ichigo nodded not sure what else to say on the matter. He had already met two Devil Fruit users, maybe he was just lucky? Or in this case wouldn't that be unlucky?

"You said Enies Lobby was a courthouse right? Why are we heading there?" Ichigo began, perking up slightly at a foreboding thought. "Don't tell me you are a judge of some kind." Ichigo tried not to imagine Aokiji judging somebody and freezing them with ice. He shivered slightly at that thought.

"Nothing that boring." Aokiji waved off. "There's somebody that's important who's going to be put on trial there. I just got word they are going to take her to Enies Lobby tomorrow." Aokiji said gaining Ichigo's full attention.

Her?

"Shouldn't we hurry up than?" Ichigo couldn't help but ask, he didn't mind the leisure pace but if the Admiral needed to be somewhere important than maybe they should go a bit quicker.

"There's no rush little guy. They didn't say I needed to be there for the trial, so we can take our time." Aokiji continued casually pedaling his bike, seemingly in no rush. Ichigo couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Is this another form of your 'Lazy Justice'?" Ichigo asked. Aokiji gave Ichigo a small grin and finger pistol.

"Bingo." Aokiji said glad Ichigo understood the meaning of his justice now. Ichigo felt a tick of irritation on his forehead.

I really want to hit him.

The two continued their trek across the ocean, the sun started to lower in the sky, leaving beautiful trails of bright red clouds bursting with color. Ichigo couldn't help but notice the sky looked so much bigger in this world.

Ichigo watched as the beautiful atmosphere was ruined as a giant golden colored fish with sharp teeth leaped out of the water a few hundred meters in front of the duo. Ichigo felt his jaw drop at the size of the thing, he had never seen a fish that big in his life. Whales didn't even get that big!

"Ahh, a sea king." Aokiji said casually as Ichigo's head snapped to the Admiral.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Ichigo couldn't help but yell his outstretched hand pointing at the giant fish.

Sea monsters exist like that in this world! It's bigger than a Menos Grande!

"What? It's just a small one." Aokiji pointed out getting a disbelieving stare from Ichigo

"Small one?" Ichigo couldn't help but point out as the thing made its descent back into the water. Before hitting the surface a much larger red striped sea king jumped out of the water swallowing the smaller golden colored one.

Ichigo's jaw dropped further seeing the much larger sea monster devour the small one in one gulp.

"Ahh, a bigger one." Aokiji calmed stated as Ichigo palmed his face at the casual response.

"How much bigger are they going to get?" Ichigo said exasperated, this running joke was starting to get old.

It seemed the world wanted to prove it's point at that moment. The large red sea king was swallowed whole as an even larger sea king jumped out of the water. Ichigo wasn't shocked anymore, he was now just annoyed.

This world is really starting to piss me off.

Ichigo felt his hands reaching for his Zanpakuto. He really wanted to hit something, and this giant fish was the perfect target. Hell if he didn't have enough Reiatsu to use his stronger moves, he'd make do with what he had.

"Arara, there's always a bigger fish." Aokiji stopped his bike letting his foot rest on the Ice beneath him.

"Sorry Ichigo, but could you step back." Aokiji stepped off his bike as the teen understood what he was about to do. Ichigo clicked his tongue annoyed that he couldn't take out some of his anger on the fish, but didn't voice out his annoyance.

Aokiji placed his hand in the water as the Sea King noticed the two oddities on the ocean. Its gigantic form turned creating massive waves as it shot forth at Ichigo and Aokiji.

Ichigo crossed his arms waiting for the Admiral to do whatever he was going to do. He wasn't worried that the Sea King would eat them both, he could always just cut his way out of the fish's stomach, but he trusted the Admiral.

"Ice Age."

Ichigo's trust in the man was rewarded, as the entire ocean in front of them froze, freezing the gigantic form of the sea king. Half of its body was out of the water, frozen in time as its giant maw hung open.

Ichigo looked at the Admiral noticing half of his body was covered in Ice. It seemed whenever he used his abilities they showed on his body.

"Let's keep going." Aokiji stood back up and got back on his bike, continuing his pedaling as if he hadn't just frozen a giant sea monster larger than an ship Ichigo had ever seen.

Ichigo sighed walking beside the Admiral. It seemed he would have to get used to this kind of craziness in his life.

Walking up to the giant form of the frozen sea king, Ichigo's knuckles rapped against the side of the beast.

Yup, frozen through.

The duo continued their trek over the now frozen ocean.

The two had arrived at an Island not too long ago. This was the first land Ichigo had seen since arriving to this world. The island was filled with palm trees and a large jungle.

While the sun was in its final descent the duo had spotted the Island. Wanting to have a place to sleep tonight that wasn't a frozen bed in the middle of the ocean, they made their way to land.

Neither Ichigo or Aokiji had any camping supplies, so they would have to do with sleeping out on the ground. Aokiji had found a rather nice spot for where they could sleep, while Ichigo walked into the jungle finding as much sticks and small bits of firewood he could get his hands on before the jungle was completely encased in darkness.

Ichigo made his way back to the spot Aokiji had picked out seeing the tall man sitting on a small log. The man had chosen a spot next to the beach. Aokiji watched as Ichigo placed the sticks into a small pile preparing a spot for the fire.

Ichigo couldn't help but reminisce about the past, the last time he had gone camping he was with his family. He remembered the stupid antics of his father trying to peek on his sisters when they were changing to go swimming in the lake at the time. He had found the perverted goat-chin in the act and beat the older man down as the fight turned into a fully fledged brawl between father and son.

Ichigo had won in the end when Karin had taken it upon herself to double team his father as they gave him a quick beatdown.

Ichigo smiled as he let his mind wander back to the memories of his family. It still hurt remembering he wouldn't see them again, but his father's words in the letter he had kept reminding him not to despair.

"Whats on your mind?" Aokiji asked surprising Ichigo. He guessed he was a little too deep in thought that he was staring at the unlit fire for a while now.

"Just thinking about my family." Ichigo admitted getting an understanding nod from Aokiji. The Admiral noticed the teen had a lot on his mind. Maybe a little relaxation was what he needed to do now.

"Are you going to bring the mood down again?" Aokiji couldn't help but say getting an angry glare from Ichigo.

"I'm only kidding. Chill out." Aokiji tried to calm down the hot headed teen. Ichigo's glare lessened as he sat down on another log Aokiji had set for him.

They both stared at the unlit fire waiting for it to magically start up.

"Ichigo, you have a lighter on you don't you?" Aokiji asked getting a shake of the head from the teen.

"I thought you'd have one." Ichigo admitted as they both realized what that meant.

They had no way to start the fire. Aokiji had rarely made fires, he preferred just going to sleep when arriving at any body of land, not worrying about such small luxuries.

"You could use those swords of yours." Aokiji suggested pointing at the Zanpakuto's leaning against the log Ichigo was sitting on.

Ichigo scowled at the older man before looking down at his Zanpakuto's. He put his hand up to his chin at the suggestion. Maybe just maybe….

After a moment of contemplation Ichigo made up his mind. Clasping his hands together he gave a quick apology to Zangetsu.

"Forgive me." Ichigo spoke up confusing Aokiji, wondering who the teen was apologizing to.

Starting the fire had been easy, Ichigo just hoped that wherever his Zanpakuto spirit was now, that he wouldn't be mad at him for using him as a simple fire starter.

Ichigo and Aokiji both stared at the fire, illuminating the small area around them. The sun had set and the sounds of crickets could be heard coming from the jungle behind them.

Ichigo forgot just how dark it got in the wilderness. Looking up he could see the entire starry night sky. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen so many stars. Kakura Town was close to Tokyo, making it the hotspot of a large concentration of light pollution.

"I mentioned the prisoner that's going to be on trial tomorrow at Enies Lobby." Aokiji started breaking the silence between the two. Ichigo nodded not sure what brought up this topic.

"The truth is I have history with her. I met her once when she was young." Aokiji continued getting a questing gaze from Ichigo.

"Where are you going with this?" Ichigo asked as Aokiji held up his hand stopping the teen from questioning him.

"Just hear me out." Aokiji gestured for Ichigo to relax. Ichigo crossed his arms with his trademark scowl waiting for Aokiji to start his story.

"Her name is Nico Robin. The names probably unfamiliar to you." Aokiji said as Ichigo confirmed with a nod, gesturing him to continue.

"I had met her when she was only 8 years old, 20 years ago." Aokiji began. "I wasn't an Admiral at the time and my position in the Marines wasn't that high. I'll spare you the details but the population living on the island were studying Poneglyphs. Do you know what those are?" Aokiji asked getting another shake of the head from Ichigo.

"Ancient writings from the old world written on stone monoliths. Only a few people alive today know how to read the ancient language. It's against the law to study them. That law was set in place when it was discovered that the Poneglyphs had secrets to blueprints of ancient weapons." Aokiji stopped hoping Ichigo was keeping up with his flow of information.

The teen stared was wide eyed at the Admiral, piecing together the meaning of the story.

"So you went to arrest the island studying these Poneglyphs? Is that where you met Nico Robin?" Ichigo tried to understand what led to Nico Robin being put on trail.

Aokiji frowned. If only it were that simple to arrest an entire island for treason against the World Government.

"We didn't go to arrest them. My superior at the time ordered a Buster Call." Aokiji continued as Ichigo felt something wrong about that name.

"A Buster Call is the complete annihilation of an island by high explosive rounds from cannons." Aokiji explained. Ichigo's eyes shot wide open as he shot up from his seat staring at the Admiral, his scowl etched on his face.

"An entire island was killed, because they could read an ancient language?" Ichigo felt his fist clench trying to understand the stupid reasoning for wiping out an entire island.

"Don't look so mad at me Ichigo. It wasn't my call to make. I didn't agree with the reasoning behind it." Aokiji tried to calm down the teen. Ichigo felt his fist unclench as he seated himself, his scowl still firmly in place.

"The details are complicated, but in the end when there were no survivors, there was one little girl left. Her name was Nico Robin." Aokiji tried to wrap up the story.

"I let her go. I gave her the freedom she wanted in respect to the man trying to save her life." Aokiji felt his a frown cross his face. Ichigo knew he was keeping out a few details but held his tongue.

"She was given a bounty on her head of 79,000,000 Berri at the age of 8. She's the only known person in the world alive who can read the ancient language. While she was escaping from the island my superior saw her and she's been on the run ever since." Aokiji wrapped up his story feeling a lot more tired than he thought he would be.

"So Nico Robin is guilty, for living?" Ichigo tried to understand how absurd that sounded.

Ichigo had to calm himself, it was 20 years ago, there was nothing he could do about it. Aokiji watched as the teen calmed his breathing.

"Why did you tell me this? What does this story have to do with me?" Ichigo wanted the Admiral to give his reason.

Aokiji let out a sigh staring at the fire. Why did he tell Ichigo that story? That was an event he rarely talked about. It was so long ago he forgot it happened some days.

Aokiji looked at the teen noticing his stare on him. What made him trust the teen so much? Was it his determination he had seen when they fought each other? His selflessness when he stood and took his attack head on when it would have killed the pirate crew on the Sexy Foxy?

He wasn't a fool, everyone there during the fight could see Ichigo was barely standing on his own two feet at the time. He had pushed himself past his limits at the time and still stood to protect the pirate crew who saved his life.

"I want to know if you think she's guilty. She's been a pirate on the sea for 20 years going from pirate crew to pirate crew. Every time she met people she was betrayed and forced to continue her life living on the run from the World Government." Aokiji finished as Ichigo felt himself stare at the fire.

"It's simple." Ichigo spoke up surprising Aokiji how quickly he had formed his opinion. "She's innocent." Ichigo crossed his arms looking at Aokiji.

"She was given a bounty on her head for living? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. She was only a kid and she was scared of dying. She doesn't deserve that kind of life." Ichigo shook his head.

Aokiji couldn't help but feel his eyes widen looking at the teen. Even if he hadn't met her and didn't know the full story he was certain she was innocent.

Aokiji couldn't help the small laugh that escaped his throat catching Ichigo's attention.

"Well we will see tomorrow when we arrive at Enies Lobby if she's innocent or not." Aokiji sat up from his log and started to settle himself on the ground, using his jacket of his suit as a pillow he lowered his head down ready to go to sleep.

"Get some sleep Ichigo." Aokiji said putting his sleeping mask over his face. Ichigo sighed before standing up and tried to get as comfortable as he could on the ground.

He was still thinking about what Aokiji had told him. A girl on the run for her entire life because she could read an ancient language? It wasn't like she was trying to make those ancient weapons, whatever they were with her knowledge.

Her entire island had been murdered by Aokiji's superior. Was the World Government seriously that ruthless? Looking at Aokiji he could tell while he had a lazy personality, he still had a strong sense of justice. How could he have let something like that happen? He hoped he could learn more about it tomorrow.

Ichigo could only shiver wondering what other atrocities happened because of the World Government. If that was the case he'd do something about it to change it. Aokiji had taken him in not a subordinate, but something else. Ichigo didn't exactly know what the Admiral wanted from him, but he would stick with the man until he figured out his new path in life.

Ichigo still had many questions plaguing his mind, but learning too much in such a short amount of time wasn't healthy. He'd learn more about this strange pirate world tomorrow, and maybe he could learn more about this Nico Robin.

Ichigo felt his eyes close as he let his mind drift off falling asleep to the sound of chirping crickets.

The sun rose early on the nameless island. Ichigo woke up stretching slightly, looking around he had forgotten he had fallen asleep on the ground. Looking over he saw Aokiji still sleeping.

Standing up he reached for his backpack, grabbing a container of water he greedily drank its contents. The fire had gone out some time during the night leaving only a pile of charred sticks.

An hour passed as Ichigo and Aokiji were making their way to Enies Lobby. Aokiji had woken up a little after Ichigo. The Admiral asked Ichigo if he could have some of his water and food saying he had run out of provisions the day earlier. Ichigo merely shook his head sharing his meal and water with the Admiral.

After the small fiasco of breakfast they were traveling again. Ichigo felt more of his Reiatsu had returned to his body. Yesterday's sores were still aching his body but he ignored them for now.

"How much longer until we get there?" Ichigo asked his taller companion.

Aokiji looked up at the sun noticing the position of the sun.

"We should be close now, look at the sun. See anything different?" Aokiji pointed up as Ichigo craned his neck upwards.

Nothing looked different, but the sun was directly above them. That couldn't be right, it wasn't even noon yet when the sun rose.

"Now that you mention it, something's strange about it." Ichigo couldn't quite figure out what the Admiral meant by that.

"Enies Lobby has another name, it's called Never-Night Island. The sun never sets here." Aokiji explained. Ichigo felt his concentration slip as he almost fell into the water below him.

"W-wait a moment!" Ichigo shouted getting Aokiji's full attention. "The sun never sets!? How is that possible!?" Ichigo shouted as Aokiji had to cover his ears.

"Chill out Ichigo. I don't know the reason behind it, but the Grand Line is full of mysterious places. It's not that special." Aokiji tried to play it off as he continued pedaling his bike.

Ichigo was about to retort, but felt himself hold back his shout. If Aokiji didn't know the reason behind the oddity, than there was no reason to be angry.

"This Grand Line is going to be the death of me." Ichigo shook his head following after Aokiji.

"Don't jinx yourself." Aokiji joked. His demeanor didn't change so Ichigo wasn't sure if the Admiral was serious or not.

A few minutes passed as the once beautiful blue sky began to fade away as dark clouds filled up the sky. A low mist hugged the surface of the water, making it impossible to see over the horizon any further.

"So much for the nice weather." Ichigo couldn't help but comment.

Aokiji didn't respond as his eyes narrowed on the horizon. Through the thick fog they could see some visible shapes.

Ichigo's eyes widened as the fog was swept away by the wind revealing the scene at hand.

The first thing that caught his attention was the gigantic door. It must have been at least 1000 meters tall. His jaw dropped at the size of it.

The doors into the Seireitei weren't even this big!

It was incredibly odd because it was out in the middle of the ocean. The next thing that caught his attention was the smoke rising from the island in front of the gigantic door. The entire Island was on fire, huge plumes of smoke rising from it.

Ichigo's eyes scanned the water seeing massive ships with even bigger cannons on them. These ships dwarfed the Sexy Foxy by a long shot. The ships seemed to be in distress as whirlpools surrounded the ships.

"What the hell is going on!?" Ichigo half yelled staring at Aokiji. He didn't respond but his eyes were watching something on the water. Ichigo followed his gaze spotting the small oddity in the water.

Between the massive ships there was a smaller ship, it had a strange goat head on the front, but it was tackling the waves and whirlpools on the water without a problem.

"So they did the impossible." Aokiji commented confusing Ichigo.

"What are you talking about? What happened to the island!?" Ichigo pointed out trying to get a reaction from the Admiral. This wasn't normal was it?

Aokiji stopped his bike on the water as Ichigo stopped beside him.

"Just watch." Aokiji said as Ichigo complied and kept his mouth shut, watching the scene play out.

The massive ships shot cannonball after cannonball at the smaller ship. The smaller ship using it smaller size against the bigger ships as it twisted and turned around the bigger ships avoiding every cannonball directed at it.

All of a sudden a massive jet of gray smoke shot out of the end of the ship sending the ship airborne. Ichigo had to rub his eyes just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. The ship was in fact flying in the sky.

Another trail of smoke shot off of the ship spinning in circles before hitting the water, this time exploding creating a giant smokescreen between the smaller ship and the bigger ships.

"What am I looking at?" Ichigo tried to stop his jaw from dropping but there was so much happening his brain had a hard time processing it all.

The bigger ships had a hard time navigating around the smokescreen, unable to follow the smaller ship any longer. Aokiji and Ichigo watched as the smaller ship landed on the water with a large splash keeping its momentum as it sailed away from the chaos behind them.

Ichigo heard the distinct sound of a locomotive engine in the distance, turning his gaze his jaw dropped again seeing a steam engine train riding across the surface of the water. He could clearly see two giants sitting on the back of the train.

Ichigo felt a headache coming, putting his fingers up to his forehead he hoped a small massage on his temples would help his growing headache.

Aokiji didn't respond to Ichigo's comments, instead reaching into his front coat pocket and taking out a snail. Ichigo's eyes widened on the strange creature, seeing a button on the back of its shell.

Ichigo really tried to stop his headache from getting worse, but the world stopped making less and less sense.

Aokiji pushed the button on the back of the snail as it's eyes opened.

"Report." Aokiji said simply into the snail. Ichigo was about to ask what the hell the Admiral was doing before something happened that questioned Ichigo's sanity for the hundredth time since arriving to this world.

The snail talked.

"You were here sir?" The snail spoke, having a much deeper voice than he thought a snail would have.

"It spoke!" Ichigo shouted pointing at the snail in Aokiji's hand. The Admiral turned his head to Ichigo giving him a questioning gaze.

"It's a den den mushi, haven't you seen one before?" Aokiji asked the teen. Ichigo vigorously shook his head.

Wait, den den? It's like a phone?

So it wasn't the snail talking, it was the person on the other end of the…...snail line. Ichigo palmed his face at the stupidity of it.

"Who's that with you Admiral?" The snail questioned.

"It doesn't matter. Continue." Aokiji waited from whoever was on the other end to reply.

"Ohh right. We're still going to go after them! We can't let it end like this!" The snail shouted, its eyes comically conveying the emotion of the speaker on the other end of the line.

"No matter what the marines- No, the World Government must do, we'll stop those Straw Hat pirates! No matter what!" The snail shouted. Ichigo perked up at the mention of the Straw Hat pirates. Hadn't that been the crew that fought against the Foxy pirates? Were they the ones on that ship that escaped just now?

What were they doing here?

"We'll make sure to capture the criminal, Nico Robin!" The snail finished with a shout. Ichigo perked up again at the mention of the name Aokiji had told him about last night.

She escaped?

Had the Straw Hat pirates rescued Nico Robin from her trial? That sounded oddly like something he would do. It reminded him of the time he broke into Soul Society to rescue Rukia. Maybe Nico Robin really was innocent.

It seemed the person on the other end of the line wasn't done speaking as he heard the familiar shout from the snail start again.

"We'll get more battleships, and more soldiers, and -" The snail continued but was cut off by Aokiji interjecting.

"It's fine." Aokiji started closing his eyes.

"But-!" The snail tried to respond, but was cut off again by Aokiji.

It didn't take a genius to realize what had happened here, even not knowing the full situation the Straw Hats had saved Nico Robin from imprisonment, and the director had ordered a Buster Call on the island.

The smoke and fire was the same as it was on Ohara all those years ago, he could never forget such a scene.

"Even with a national level Buster Call, looking at this fleet, as well as the state, Its obvious." Aokiji spoke into the snail phone. Ichigo's eyes widened at the mention of the Buster Call. He looked back at the island on fire and narrowed his eyes.

So this is the destruction from a Buster Call?

It was only pure destruction, there was no visible land left to stand on anymore. Whatever this island used to look like, it was now a shell of its former self.

"This was our complete defeat." Aokiji spoke finishing his call. Pushing the button on the snail he ended the transmission before the person on the other line could retort.

"What's happening?" Ichigo lowered his voice, he had somehow calmed himself from all the nonsense happening around him.

Aokiji let out a sigh before turning his gaze to Ichigo.

"It seems Nico Robin was saved by the Straw Hat pirates. We can learn the details later." Aokiji had a feeling he knew where they would be going.

Ichigo turned his head still able to see the pirate ship in the distance.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Ichigo asked. He had no place to act in this situation, because he didn't know the details. He didn't know if the Straw Hat pirates were in the wrong or not. If Nico Robin was guilty or not, it had nothing to do with him. He wasn't a marine so he wouldn't act.

"There's no need. I already know where they are going. Besides, I believe our ride is here." Aokiji turned his head away from the disappearing form of the pirate ship.

Ichigo followed his gaze spotting a giant dark green colored ship with a large dog head with a bone in its mouth on the front of the ship. It had multiple sails and dwarfed many other of the ships around them.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Ichigo heard a boisterous laugh coming from the ship. Tilting his head he spotted a tall man standing on the front of the ship. He wore a white suit like Aokiji with a large white trench coat.

"Looks like you need a ride down there, ehhh Aokiji?" The large man shouted. As the ship got closer Ichigo was able to see his face clearer. He was on the older side, he had a full white head of hair with a matching white beard.

He reminds me of someone…

Ichigo watched as a small smile was on Aokiji's face hearing the large man call his name.

"And looks like you have a friend with you! Since when did you take in strays? Ha Ha Ha!" The man shouted again as Ichigo felt his eye twitch the at the unintentional insult towards him.

A stray?

"It's nothing like that." Aokiji shouted back. "But we'll take you up on that offer, Garp."

Authors Notes

Shorter chapter but I wanted to push the story further again.

No action again this chapter. Sorry about that!

Updates might slow down for a while. I'm moving to a new apartment and I don't know how busy I will be.

Leave a review and point out any spelling mistakes.

Until next time.

Edit 1: Few changes of Ichigo's name meaning.