(Sarquiss POV)
By this point, Sarquiss is just resigned to the fact that his captain is a reckless thrill seeker. Granted, every pirate who enters the grandline is reckless and thrill seeking to some extent, but how many of them had captains who went above and beyond to throw their crews into unreasonably deadly situations? In fact, if they had to rank every captain in the world by dint of their recklessness, he's willing to bet that Bellamy would be easily in the top five.

Of course, the honor of first place goes to a certain strawhat wearing menace. Not only did he join them on their ride up to Skypiea on a whim, which still boggles his mind, but then the madman went ahead and razed Enies Lobbie to the ground. At the rate he's going, Strawhat Luffy will probably shank a warlord at some point or another.

Then again, it really wouldn't be fair to compare Bellamy to someone without a bare minimum amount of sanity. His captain isn't a complete nutjob.

Though that is of little comfort for Sarquiss at this moment when Marineford is looming in the distance. That's the last place any pirate with a working self-preservation instinct should want to be. Seriously, just because he likes having a high bounty doesn't mean he wants to give someone a chance to collect on it.

Why in the seven hells did he let Bellamy talk them into doing this again? This was worse than that time on Jaya with the Knock Up stream. At least then they had no other choice. This time they had a perfectly good choice which was to just…walk away.

They had no connection to Whitebeard or to the Firefist. On the contrary, they were affiliates of the bastard Doflamingo who was directly opposed to the emperor and on the bloody battlefield right now. He was going to kill them for this if the marines didn't get them first.

Granted, that had been Bellamy's argument.

"We're fucked." Bellamy, that is not how a normal conversation should be started.

"This seems familiar. Like real familiar. Am I the only one getting familiar vibes here people?" Sarquiss's questioning gaze receives a chorus of head shakes and no's from the crew.

"Nope." "Me too." "Naw." "No siree." "Negative."

"I don't want to know, but I'm going to ask anyway. Bellamy, why are we fucked?" Surely it's not because of Marie, right? Those sons of bitches had thousands of slaves. It's not like they would notice one going missing.

"Read it for yourselves." Today's newspaper is tossed unceremoniously onto the table, yet still lands right side up to display the damning front page article.

Celestial Dragon assassinated!

Welcome to Marineford Daily, your best and only source of accurate and unbiased truth.

Our society suffered an unspeakable loss yesterday. Amidst the chaos and unrest caused by a pirate uprising on Sabaody, one of the divine celestial dragons was treacherously assassinated while on his way home.

[…]

In the aftermath, three thousand former citizens from Sabaody were arrested and escorted to Mariejois to face divine judgement. Their crime was the audacity to dare not to throw themselves into harm's way to protect the sanctity of the late saint's wellbeing.

The marine investigation found that the pirates responsible for the heinous act were "Red Flag" X-Drake, "Mad Monk" Urouge and Bellamy "the Hyena".

[…]

…whut?

It's like his brain screeches to a halt, unable to process the clearly faulty input his senses are registering. He didn't have too much to drink, did he? Things had been a bit different ever since he got his new eyes so they mustn't be functioning properly. Though, just to be safe, Sarquiss pushes his bottle away from himself and across from him, he can see Ross inspecting his own's expiry date.

Odd how that was crystal clear, but the newspaper is playing tricks on him. As for the rest of his crew, what's their excuse for their eyes bugging out? He's the one with the insect powers.

"No way!"

"Are they effing serious?"

"This is a joke, right?"

"We robbed one, we didn't kill one!"

"I'm sorry!" Laki wails, shrinking into herself. Instead of the desired effect of hiding her from scrutiny, it does the exact opposite by drawing Lily's ire.

"Damn right, you should be fucking sorr…"

"It's not Laki's fault." Bellamy cuts Lily off before she can really gather steam. "This article is referring to Byron's former master."

"Byron's master? When were we supposed to have killed him? Heck, we didn't even see the guy."

"We didn't kill him." Bellamy answers. "The robot did. Right, Byron?"

"Yes, the robot's laser vaporized his head and torso when you guys dodged." Their newest addition nods. "So, in a way, you are responsible."

He's smirking. Why is he smirking? Doesn't he understand how serious this is?

"We're the cover up." Mani whispers, sounding about as faint as he was. "They're blaming us for their own mistakes."

"Wouldn't be the first time they did stuff like this." Bellamy confirms. "And it won't be the last."

"Bastards. Fucking dirty bastards!"

"Get it out of your systems now so we can keep moving. We don't have time for you to do the whole panic routine again." Bellamy tersely states, reminding Sarquiss of the time on Jaya before he told them they'd be going to the sky. "You guys done?"

Against his own wishes, Sarquiss finds his head slightly nodding. "Aye captain."

"Just so to make sure we're all on the same page, I will briefly recap our current situation. One, we kidnapped St. Charloss' thirteenth wife. That alone would put us on the hitlist of every bounter hunter from Reverse Mountain to Sabaody. Even if it were just this, Doflamingo would be hardpressed to shield us, but with this... We all saw how little he values us back on Water Seven."

"Fucking asshole."

"Language!"

"Two, we broke the marine's shiny new toy, marking ourselves as a much bigger threat than what the jerks in white and blue believed us to be. Three and this is the big one, during our fight, one of the celestial dragons got caught in the crossfire and we're being officially blamed for his death. Which means, we're public enemy number two."

"Who's number one?"

"Dragon, obviously."

"I thought it was Firefist."

"Not Whitebeard or one of the others?"

In response, Bellamy slowly drags his hand down his face in exasperation. "Does it matter? Now that the world government has decided to assign the blame to us, it's only a matter of time before Doffy decides to disavow us. That's if he doesn't come to hunt us down himself to prove his own innocence."

They'd gotten unbelievably stronger since they'd left Jaya and started training properly. Sarquiss isn't going to deny that. And why would he? He's proud of how far he has come and he's not only talking about his new devil fruit. Haki, the rokushiki, dials…all of them are still works in progress but the effects were already apparent to anybody who would care to look. If he had to, Sarquiss is confident he could take Satori on his own with relative ease.

But why was it that despite having gotten a hundred times stronger, none of it seemed to matter?

"We're going to need more friends if we want to survive. In that regard, we're lucky that we can count on Urouge and his crew to have our backs." Bellamy continues, calmly as you please. "But we all know that they won't be enough. Which is why we're going to Marineford."

"…"

"Is nobody going to ask me why?" Is it just him or does the captain look slightly put out? Well, jokes on him because after Jaya, Enel, St. Poplar and Gasparde, they had gotten used to waiting for the other shoe to drop. Eventually, Bellamy awkwardly clears his throat. "Anyway, we're going to support the Whitebeard pirates and secure ourselves their goodwill to buy us the time we need to stand on our own. It's not just Whitebeard either. If we get him to like us, there's a high chance we can win Shanks over."

"That sounds like we're committing suicide to avoid dying." Mani mutters darkly.

"We're not going to actually 'fight' fight, are we? Eddy is still recovering and the rest of us aren't ready to face an admiral." Ross points out.

"Of course, we're not! What kind of reckless idiot do you take me for?" Bellamy emphatically refutes. "I'm not Strawhat Luffy."

Ah~~~

The whole cabin lets out a great big sigh of relief. Then Laki asks the one thing that is on everybody's mind.

"If we're not fighting, then what are we going to do?"

"We're going to hold a concert."

Shortly after that, the captain had dragged Byron into Laki's workshop and hadn't come out for a week. Oh, they were alive alright judging by how any food left in front of the door disappeared and empty dishes were left in their place. Not to mention the near incessant music coming out of that room.

Classical, baroque, rock, pop, blues, jazz in its many forms, a capella...on the first day there really wasn't any pattern to be found in what Byron was playing. But gradually, the variety got smaller as the instrumental spread got larger. The same songs were repeated over and over, just with all the different instruments Byron had picked up on Sabaody.

Sarquiss got barely any sleep during that week but it wasn't just because the music kept pounding away at his eardrums. For some reason, he felt oddly energised all week, almost like he'd imbibed several pots of caffeine extract. It got so bad on one occasion that he had to fly off to work off that excess energy, setting a new speed record in the process.

Nero had also thrown himself into his training, dark circles growing under his eyes but more alert than ever. He kept scurrying between the gym and the kitchen, popping up occasionally to sate his appetite before going back to lifting greater and greater weights each time.

Until at last, Bellamy emerged from his den with a triumphant smile, his two companions staggering out behind him to collapse in the nearest bed. Much like the rest of them did once the music had stopped.

Then, once they had gotten a good night's sleep, they had loaded up their ship with the needed supplies before setting course for arguably the most dangerous place in the world.

Even after Bellamy's explanation, Sarquiss isn't sure he quite understands how intruding on a battle unannounced and uninvited is going to win them friends nor how they're going to be of sufficient help for someone like Whitebeard to be grateful. And that's if he even notices them at all.

But Bellamy had seemed confident and Sarquiss had learned that at times like these, it was better to not think about things too hard. He'd either get it in which case he need not try so hard, or he wouldn't, in which case he really shouldn't try so hard to understand.

No, the way to maximize his chances of surviving this fucked up situation lay in doing his own damned best to ensure Bellamy's plan worked. And considering the week he'd just had, it very well might.

(Ross POV)
It's been a while since he's been as scared as he was now, just prior to riding the Knock Up stream to be exact. So many things that could have gone wrong, things that should have gone wrong…Ross still has nightmares sometimes of them hurtling towards the ocean at terminal velocity.

Gedatsu had been terrifying but be it due to the adrenalin or the man's utter eccentricity, the sense of terror had been blunted. That the man had ended up defeating himself had even lend the memory a comedic touch.

Everything they'd faced after that? St. Poplar, Gasparde and the pacifista? It had felt doable. Challenging? Absolutely. Dangerous? Without question. But doable. A sense of security that came with a greater confidence in one's own abilities and that whatever may happen, their side had the strength to overcome whatever obstacle lay in their path.

But Marineford? That wasn't something they could handle. No way, no way, no way.

Ross could think off a thousand and one ways they could die off the top of his head. Horrific ways, agonizing ways…torturous and slow, each more miserable than the last.

He'd have been perfectly happy to just run. They had a fast ship and lots of money. There wasn't a ship in the world that could catch the Black Pearl if she got into gear. Even Doflamingo couldn't be everywhere and so long as they were careful, there shouldn't be a way for him to find them so easily.

Why risk everything for so little gain? Even if the captain seemed confident that they wouldn't be exposed to anything they couldn't handle, that didn't mean it was certain. Or even a probable outcome.

Never mind an admiral, how were they going to fight off a vice admiral? Or a proper marine warship? Or…or…

"Calm down Ross. It's going to be fine." Before the panic can overwhelm him completely, the captain is there, squeezing his shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"We don't know that captain." Ross bitterly mutters. "Sabaody was supposed to be safe and look at what happened to Eddy."

He immediately regrets those words as soon as he said them, but like water, he cannot take back what spilled out of his mouth. But instead of being angry, his captain looks sad, and Ross can't decide which one is worse.

"What happened to Eddy shouldn't have happened and I take full responsibility for it." Bellamy opens, "But I promise you, I'll not let something like that happen to my crew ever again as long as I live."

"As long as you're alive. We can't guarantee we'll be alive tomorrow, can we?" A voice whispers in his ear, but Ross does his best to ignore it.

He wants to believe his captain, he really does. Yet, how can he when things look impossible?

"How can you promise that?"Please, give me a reason to believe.

"Because I'm going to be the main character of this story." Bellamy states in utter seriousness. "And I refuse to let my story end here."

It's less grandiose than his speech back on Jaya and there is no substance, no rhyme or reason for that belief. It's ridiculous if one thinks about it. Nonetheless, Ross finds that he does feel a bit better.

"The eyes," Ross decides. "It has to be the eyes."

They were shining.

(Bellamy POV)
I will admit, I let down my guard. I had not seen hide nor hair of my mysterious "benefactor" after Jaya and aside from a few hiccups, things had generally gone very well. Neither had there been any drastic changes to the plot as far as I could determine. I had been satisfied with staying mostly on the sidelines for the time being, using the opportunity to train up my crew and myself for the storms to come. Hiding away on a small island for two years had been one option under serious consideration.

If I had to guess, that…likely didn't go over well with whatever being had dropped me here. This quandary I found myself in was probably my benefactor not so subtly reminding me that doing the boring but smart thing was off the table.

It really does make one wonder if there isn't some truth to the theory that isekai, reincarnation and the like only happen whenever random omnipotent beings require entertainment.

But this was a bit much, wasn't it? I may not know canon as well as I probably should, but the show didn't depict any world nobles other than St. Rosswald and his get being on Sabaody. Surely, if a world noble had been at the human auction house to purchase Byron, he'd have been sitting near his peers and clearly visible.

Plus, the man hadn't even been wearing his spacesuit. Admittedly, his head and most of his torso hadn't survived contact with a million-watt laser, but their standard attire was pretty much unmistakable. I thought he'd been just another run-of-the-mill royalty or something.

So, if there hadn't been another world noble on the island in canon, and he hadn't been wearing the atrocity they paraded as high fashion, such unnaturalness can most simply be explained via the intervention of a higher power. And like any good physicist knows, Occam's razor usually holds true.

"Fuck…" If he had to be a world noble, why did it have to be the one specimen without the good sense to run away instead of being shot?

Actually, I forgot, their species as a whole has the survival instincts of a suicidal lemming, Saint Mjosgard being a prime example. For real, wounded and stranded with no way to call in support, how does one decide that pointing a single shot pistol at a hostile mob and hurling insults is a good idea?

Well, if things have already devolved into this mess, there really isn't a point in trying to play things safe, is there?

No, it's better to take a gamble and go big, put myself out there and seek allies. Allies who can train me. Allies who can shield me. Allies who can buy me time. And most of all, allies who will join me in my inevitable fight against Doflamingo.

It's not as if the marines could be any more motivated to hunt me down than they are now.

Well, that is unless I kill an admiral or something but what would be the odds of that happening?

Author's note:
And with that all the setup for Marineford is done! Next time: the Summit War!

Sarquiss is resigned, Ross is scared and Bellamy is trying to put on a brave front while cursing the world/ROB on the inside.
On the "convincing Ross" bit, it makes no sense but then again if we look on social media and the news, it's full of people being convinced that BS is true.

P.S. comments and discussion make the author happy.