Note at the end of the chapter about the continuation of the fanfiction.

POV Tanya Degurechaff

Marine HQ

D-1 before the execution

These last days, Tanya had not been idle, chaining physical training to be able to develop her body as Vice Admiral Garp had suggested, and technical training to better master the Rokushiki.

The young Lieutenant did not only wish to develop her body, but she also wished to develop the mastery of her body reinforcement which despite its limitations, remained a considerable asset. The method that Tanya had chosen was simple: reproduce the exercises seen during the day but using body reinforcement. This allowed her to better control the use of her magic making the use of her technique more effective and less exhausting over time. As a comparison, she could now use [Soru] about fifty times with her mage blade against about fifteen times at the beginning of her training.

In addition to [Soru], she had learned to master [Geppo] and [Rankyaku] using her body reinforcement. Despite the intensive training, she was unable to use Rokushiki without her magical ability because her body greatly limited her physical abilities.

Important events had also taken place in the last few days. The most important one being the assault on Impel Down Prison by a man named Monkey D. Luffy. According to the officers Tanya had questioned, this pirate was looking for the prisoner condemned to death. According to the newspapers that Tanya was particularly fond of reading, this individual would have generated important riots within the prison, which had particularly annoyed the Marine because this prison was reputed to be tamper-proof and from which it was impossible to escape. According to recent information obtained by the HQ, Monkey D. Luffy could not be found and probably managed to escape with other prisoners.

With the execution fast approaching, and Whitebeard's crew having been spotted in the vicinity of the Sabaody Archipelago, HQ had decided to take additional measures to prepare for the confrontation that had now become inevitable.

Despite this bad news, Tanya did not feel concerned about the war because she would be safe at the back of the battlefield taking care of the supplies. It is with this state of mind that the young girl was heading towards Fleet Admiral Sengoku's office according to his request a few days earlier. Her superior certainly wished to give her more details concerning the supply team she would lead on D-Day.

As she arrived in front of the office, she noticed that a desk had been placed next to the door of the Chief Admiral's office. Behind it was a soldier who looked drowned under tons of administrative files. He must have been in charge of screening visitors, considering the upcoming events and serving as a sort of secretary. When he looked up, he noticed the young girl who had been staring at him for a few seconds.

"Lieutenant!" greeted the soldier as he stood up and stuck his right hand near his temple.

Tanya greeted the soldier in turn, and not wanting to waste time so as not to arrive late for her meeting with the Chief Admiral, Tanya quickly introduced herself and stated the reason for her visit, insisting that she was expected by the Admiral.

Seeing the soldier's embarrassed expression, Tanya asked him if there was a problem with the appointment and if it was still on. As an answer, the man then handed her a brown envelope with the Marine seal sealing it.

"The Fleet Admiral Sengoku is not available at the moment, he is in an emergency meeting with all the admirals and some vice-admirals present at the HQ as well as the Warlords. However, he asked me to pass this envelope on to you."

"Thank you soldier," Tanya replied in an annoyed voice.

When she opened the letter, she could discover its content

"Lieutenant,

I am unfortunately not available for our interview together due to last-minute obligations.

As for your assignment tomorrow, please report to the west wing of the wall surrounding the island's main port. You will meet Vice Admiral Onigumo there, and he will give you your assignments and your mission.

The squad of five soldiers under your command is already waiting for you there.

You are requested to join the bond of affection upon receipt of this letter.

Admiral Sakazuki and I have high expectations of you.

Do not disappoint us...

Fleet Admiral Sengoku."

Tanya tucked the letter she had just read into her pants pocket and headed in the direction of the place indicated on the letter.

As she exited the main building, she noticed that the activity on the island was much higher than usual due to the significant increase in the number of soldiers stationed there. When she glanced toward the harbor, she saw countless Marine ships dropping off reinforcements. All these men must have come from other garrisons around the world. In addition to the men, the ships were also bringing large crates of ammunition, weapons, and medical supplies.

At the bottom of the huge staircase leading to the HQ, there was a kind of small fortress. Normally during the day, it was always open to facilitate the movement of soldiers during the day. Of course, some guards were guarding the entrance to control the people who wanted to enter the main building without being a member of the Marine, but no other particular measures were taken. This fortress was used as a first checkpoint, the reinforced controls were done at the entrance of the main building.

Today, it seems that the doors have been closed. Only the small service door remained open and was guarded by a dozen guards. On the roof of this small fortress, there was now a huge wooden structure. It was a sort of platform facing the sea.

"I imagine that it must be the place of execution of the pirate commander, the Marine has decidedly a great sense of entertainment," said Tanya to herself.

As she entered the fortress, all eyes turned to her before going back to their business. It seemed as if they were expecting an attack at any moment. As she swept her gaze down the hall, she noticed that the door leading to the basement was closed and that a sizable number of soldiers were positioned in front of it. She recognized some of the vice admirals as well as some of the counter admirals guarding the entrance.

Tanya was not the only one to wonder what they could keep in the basement because a group of soldiers was discussing near a huge pillar used to consolidate the building, she approached the group discreetly so she could hear their conversation.

"From what I heard during breakfast this morning, Fire Fist is being held prisoner in the basement at the request of the Headquarter until his execution, he arrived yesterday evening, and since then he has been guarded by a team of vice-admirals who take turns day and night to maintain a reinforced surveillance."

"I wonder why HQ insisted on locking him up here and not in the usual cells?" asked a rather large soldier who was leaning against the pillar.

"I guess they don't want to risk bringing the fighting to the main building to protect sensitive information and not involve the wounded left in the infirmary," assumed one of them.

Having obtained the information she was looking for, Tanya headed back to the west wing of the wall. It gave a direct view of the bay where the Marine ships were normally stationed.

Once there, she realized that the wall offered sufficient protection and that her assignment did not involve keeping a strategic position for the enemy.

"If everything goes as I plan, tomorrow I shouldn't even draw my sword once," Tanya thought as she entered the service entrance.

Once inside, she was immediately greeted by a man with an imposing build.

"Lieutenant, I was waiting for you. I am the Vice-Admiral Onigumo, following the orders of the Fleet Admiral, I will take you to your team and at the same time explain in detail your mission for tomorrow." As he finished his sentence, he turned around almost immediately without even bothering to make sure the girl was following him.

Onigumo was a tall Vice-Admiral, his face was rather dark and frightening with his squinty eyes. He also had very long brown hair that reached to his chest. He wore a cloak and a kind of antique war helmet with a traditional Japanese-style dragon on which a long red feather was hanging. Onigumo wore a gray double-breasted suit with a dark green shirt, he also had a silver tie around his neck. Tanya knew that she would not like this man, besides not looking friendly, he did not stop smoking his cigarette in her company, sometimes she had the impression that he was spitting his smoke in her direction on purpose.

After taking a few stairs with the Vice-Admiral to descend under the wall, Tanya discovered a huge space that seemed to run the whole of the wall. In this place, hundreds of ammunition boxes were stored as well as an incalculable number of weapons of all kinds: swords, sabers, spears, as well as rifles and rocket launchers. Cannonballs and their barrels were also stored here.

On the wall in front of her were loopholes that were closed, and several cannons were already in position ready to fire.

"What is this place sir?" asked Tanya to her superior. "If I take into account the descent we made earlier and the orientation of the stairs, I conclude that we must be below sea level, and therefore on the other side of these loopholes, there should be the ocean, am I wrong?"

The Vice-Admiral turned to the girl, clearly impressed by her reasoning.

"Indeed, we are indeed underwater, and as far as the cannons are concerned, they will be useful once this floor is no longer submerged by water."

Just as the man finished his sentence, five men took up position in front of the senior officer at attention.

"Lieutenant," resumed Onigumo, "these are the men who will be under your command during tomorrow's execution. As for the mission, I have already briefed Chief Petty Officer Taka, he will explain your duties for tomorrow."

"Yes Sir!"

With that, the Vice-Admiral turned and walked away without adding anything or even turning around. As Tanya watched the sinister man take his leave, she heard the comments of her squad members trying to be discreet.

"A kid? They're making fun of us aren't they?" one of the soldiers asked in a whisper with an indignant look on his face. Look at her, I'm sure my little girl is much more robust than she is."

She heard some snickering coming from her troops, she then took the opportunity to turn back to them and give them a stern and icy look that intimated silence. Seeing a box of ammunition in front of the line of soldiers, Tanya took advantage of its presence and jumped on it. She had taken the habit of making her speeches in such a way that she was always higher than her soldiers, in this way she could see who was listening to her and who was not. She straightened her body and placed her hands behind her back before starting her speech.

"Gentlemen," Tanya began in an authoritative tone, "I've never had the opportunity to serve with you, so to speak, I don't even know your files or your names, but I expect you to behave in a way that will not shame the Marine. I understand that a certain subject seems to amuse you a lot, you are free to think what you want about me, but the first soldier that I would catch denigrating me or not following my orders under the pretext that I do not represent his ideal as a superior officer, I will make sure that he suffers an exemplary punishment to such an extent that tomorrow's great war will be the least of his worries. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes Ma'am!" the soldiers answered in a chorus, obviously intimidated by the young girl and her threats.

"First Master Taka, I will ask you to stay so that you can give me a detailed presentation of the role we will have to play tomorrow. As for the rest of you, you will make an inventory of all the equipment in this area and I want a copy of the report by tonight. Once this inventory is completed, move the ammunition boxes to one side and the medical equipment to the other. We will need space tomorrow to drop off the wounded if there are any. Dismissed!."

Once the final instructions were given, Tanya went to the Chief Petty Officer to get more information about the day ahead. She had made sure to bring her small notebook to take notes. According to the Chief Petty Officer, their mission was quite simple; they were currently in an underwater wall that had the possibility of rising and revealing the long row of cannons present along the loopholes. Once Whitebeard's pirates entered the bay, the walls would rise and trap the entire fleet. They will then be pounded by the whole artillery.

Their mission was mainly to supply all the gun crews on the west wing of the wall. They will also have to supply ammunition and medical supplies to the soldiers who will be near her sector, which means that she may have to leave the wall from time to time. In theory, this should not be too much of a problem as the pirates should not be able to leave the bay.

Officially taking up her duties the next day, Tanya took leave of the soldiers of the wall and went to the training grounds to take advantage of the little time she had left to try to master her mage blade and [Rankyaku] combo. She hoped that she would not run into anyone on the field as she did not like to be observed during her exercises. She wanted to keep her abilities secret as long as possible.

When she got there, to her relief, she saw no one on the field. The recruits must have been evacuated in anticipation of tomorrow or requisitioned so they could help with preparations.

Tanya stood in the center of the usual training area next to a training dummy that had been forgotten by the soldiers from the previous training session.

She let out a long sigh before coating her right arm with mana, she was now able to keep the mage blade active without exhausting herself as she had been able to do before.

Vice-Admiral Garp's training could be considered barbaric, but it indirectly allowed the girl to better resist fatigue and to be more enduring with her magical spells.

Once in position, she raised her right arm, placing it over her left shoulder and gave a large, wide blow from left to right [Mahōtsukai Rankyaku] but nothing happened. She repeated the operation about twenty times but to her dismay, without any success. As the number of failures increased, Tanya's frustration reached new heights. After a while, she let out all her frustration and gave a blow of her blade to the dummy who had stayed next to her all along.

"I don't understand why the Rankyaku works perfectly but the Mahōtsukai Rankyaku doesn't!" wondered Tanya as she let out her anger and sent a wind blade in the direction of the sea.

"Because what you wish to implement will not work with such a small arm..."

Surprised, Tanya turned around and saw that a man was looking at her, surely for quite some time now.

The man standing in front of her had a rather pale complexion, with a short black beard and sideburns pointing up. He wore clothes decorated in black and red, with a crucifix as a pendant. Tanya had the impression of facing a Spanish fencer. In addition, the man wore a wide-brimmed hat decorated with a large plume and a long open black cloak.

A huge sword could be seen on his back. This large sword had a black curved blade and was also shaped like a crucifix, with a golden guard decorated with red beads and a handle wrapped in bandages, with a rounded tip at the end.

The most intriguing thing about this man was his eyes, which had a very peculiar shape. In addition to their shape, they were strangely colored, reminiscent of the eyes of some birds of prey.

After announcing his presence, he approached Tanya, taking his time.

POV: Dracule Mihawk Hawk Eyes

It had been a particularly dull day, especially the meeting imposed by the head of the Navy who wanted to brief all the Warlords for the next day. It had lasted a while, and nothing useful had been mentioned, at least not while he was still awake. Hawk Eyes had agreed to assist the Navy for two reasons: the first was that if a privateer refused to take part in the battle, he would have his privateer title revoked and would be apprehended by the authorities again, which would be quite annoying. The second reason was boredom, since his great rival had lost his arm in East Blue, Mihawk refused to face him again, believing that the fight would not be fair anymore. He had then taken the habit to go through the seas in search of a valuable opponent but without success. There was the young swordsman he had spared on East Blue who had made a good impression, but he didn't have the level to face him yet.

The meeting had just ended, and all the Warlords present had been told not to leave the island until the execution of Portgas D. Ace had taken place, on the other hand, they were forbidden to enter the main building without being invited, but he didn't care, he had no interest in this building.

To pass the time until the next day, he decided to walk around the island until he went to bed. He went where his instincts led him until his walk was interrupted by one of his counterparts: Donquixote Doflamingo.

"Hawk Eyes, what a coincidence, you're the one I was looking for, did you have a chance to think about my offer?"

"There's nothing to think about, I don't see the point of becoming an emperor's underling. Your project may be ambitious, but I am not interested, I do not want to be under you."

"Fufufufufufu, you shouldn't look at it that way, with my contacts and your power, we would have the possibility of being able to achieve great things."

"My answer will remain the same, I don't wish to work with you, I prefer to go it alone and not be accountable, on that note, goodbye"

"You will regret it Hawkeye, the world is changing, and you will certainly be among those who have not been able to adapt to the changes, fufufufufu."

Mihawk didn't even bother to answer and turned his back to resume his walk, he could hear the man in the feathered cloak laughing with a sinister look in the distance.

As he was lost in his thoughts, he realized that he had ended up in front of a large training ground. It seemed that the field had been deserted by the soldiers who had to prepare for the coming battle. Only one person was standing in the middle of one of the earthen spaces. As he got closer, he saw that it was a little girl with gold-colored hair.

"What's a little girl doing here?" wondered Mihawk, "surely she's not a soldier's daughter considering she's wearing a coat with the word justice written on it, I imagine she must be a member of the Navy as well."

Next to her stood one of the training dummies that soldiers probably used for training. He studied the girl's movements with interest. She was executing numerous horizontal movements from left to right as if she were practicing with a sword. She was probably trying to reproduce the technique that some Navy soldiers were able to perform, the one that allowed their body to produce a sharp blade of wind. This technique was much inferior to what a real swordsman was able to do with his sword, but it had the merit to exist.

Seeing that no blade was coming out of her arm, she let her frustration show and attacked the dummy with her arm. Hawk Eyes was amazed at how the dummy was sliced in half with such ease and without a sword. He felt some sort of energy coming from her arm, but nothing he knew, it was neither Haki nor did it look like a demon fruit ability when he saw the girl send a wind blade in the direction of the sea.

"I don't understand why the [Rankyaku] works perfectly but not the [Mahōtsukai Rankyaku]!" wondered Tanya as she let out her anger and sent a wind blade in the direction of the sea.

Seeing that blade go, he immediately understood what she was trying to do and why it didn't work.

"Because what you wish to put in place will not work with such a small arm..."

Upon hearing these words, the kid immediately turned to him, staring him up and down. This did not disturb Mihawk as he began to walk toward her.

"The technique that the Navy uses to generate wind blades is ridiculous in my opinion, but the principle is more or less the same as with a sword. The chances of success increase according to the size of the blade, or in your case, the part of your body. The larger the surface area, the more wind you generate."

To the Warlord's surprise, he saw the girl take out a small notebook and write down what he was saying. It was always pleasant to see someone invest a lot in the advice that one gives. Seeing that his gaze was locked into hers as a signal to continue his explanation, he continued with a glance at the training dummy that had been cut in half sometime earlier.

"As I was saying, it's all about the surface, that's why the vast majority of your colleagues prefer to use their legs as a substitute rather than their arms. I'm already amazed that you can send blades with such small arms..."

She seemed to sting, as her gaze hardened almost instantly, but she didn't retort, surely hoping to find a solution to her problem.

If you focus your slicing ability on one part of the arm and not the whole, you will never be able to create a blade. You should think about using a larger area of your body to throw them or use a longer tool to increase the surface area," said Hawk Eyes, quickly looking at the rapier the girl wore on her belt.

Having seen his gaze on her weapon, she nodded and asked if using the legs would be a feasible solution.

"I've given you the reason that's blocking you, but I'm not going to give you the solution, it's up to you to figure out how to fix this problem."

With that, the man left the girl to resume her training and headed to her assigned room in town.

"She has potential" thought Mihawk, and the technique she used on that dummy is unusual and very interesting. I don't know how she made her arm as sharp as a sword, but sooner or later I'll get the answer. So I will have a second person to watch during tomorrow's battle..."

A/N: Hi guys, happy new year to all!

I hope this chapter has made you more, even though not much happened.

Here we go! The long-awaited moment will start after this chapter :)

As you can imagine, the great war will be in several parts.

I made this choice to make your reading easier and to avoid offering you a chapter of more than 15 000 words.

The following chapters may take a while to be published.

I want to present you with an "arc" that will remain consistent with the core universe, which means revisiting the entire Marineford Arc.

I'll be posting regular updates on the discord as well as on FFN to keep you up to date on the progress of the chapters.

Don't worry guys, I'll make sure to be productive x)