N/A : Hey guys, finally I was able to finish this chapter... Don't worry, I'm still as motivated as ever to continue this story, but as I mentioned last time, my new job is taking a lot of my time.
Once this arc is over, I'll be able to produce shorter chapters again and be more productive.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It will be a turning point in this fanfiction.
You'll understand everything when you read the rest.
Good reading to all.
POV: Tanya Von Degurechaff
With her new mission in mind, Tanya took the direction of the bay, according to the orders given by her superior. She was perfectly opposed to this order, but there was nothing she could do about it, as soon as she challenged the admiral's order, she knew she would be accused of insubordination. So she kept a low profile until her request for transfer was considered.
Tanya was so engrossed in her thoughts that she instinctively made her way to the bay. She had reached a part of the western wall that was no longer the focus of the pirates' attention, and jumped off the top of the great wall. Before doing so, she had prepared her bodybuilding spell so that she wouldn't kill herself by touching the frozen ground.
She checked her map one last time, where her objectives were marked, and then headed in their direction. The girl moved in such a way as to avoid contact with the pirates. Engaging in a fight at this point would be a death sentence.
The area was completely occupied by pirates. No matter where she looked, she could not find a friendly face, proof that the HQ plan was already in motion. The blonde girl felt a lot of resentment towards her superior who had no qualms about sending her into harm's way, despite the orders of their common superior that imposed a collective retreat of the troops.
"This kind of hothead with power in an army is a real cancer that can eat away at any state body from the inside. It is all the more disturbing when the army is involved. This man held in his hands thousands of lives of people who had joined the Marine. Such a waste of human resources is totally unthinkable. With such working conditions, I would much rather be on the Rhine front, at least there the officers had a modicum of consideration for their soldiers."
When she arrived in front of the first two DenDenMushi, she noticed that they were positioned on an abandoned ammunition box, probably left by the soldiers during their retreat who had not had time to take everything with them.
The infiltration to this position had been more complicated than expected. The large number of pirates left only a few opportunities for movement and did not allow her to move as freely as she would have liked. This strong presence had made her journey much longer than she had imagined.
Once the two devices were stowed with the others in her bag, she turned around and took the same route she had taken earlier. The movements of the enemy troops were far too random to anticipate anything. The cannon fire did not allow them to organize themselves properly. Their only option was to rush headlong towards the breach in the huge wall and hope that none of the cannonballs fired would cross their path.
Not wanting to be spotted, because being the only Marine member still present in the bay and trapped by the huge indestructible wall, without any possibility to get reinforcements. Tanya spotted a thin crack in the ice that appeared to be the junction between the east and west walls. The numerous explosions caused by cannon fire and Whitebeard's large-scale attacks must have weakened the huge ice surface in the bay. The bay was not deep, but it could allow a child to hide in it without any problem.
Remembering what she had seen on the map, she decided to take the passage created in the ice. The only drawback to this route was that it took a detour behind the formation of Whitebeard's pirate ships, which would cost the girl considerable time in achieving her goal.
She checked one last time behind to make sure no one was following her and then she entered the crevice, her Luger in her right hand and a dagger in her left hand that she had retrieved from an armory on the western wall.
Once inside, a great cold took place almost instantly. The surrounding ice was colder than normal, probably due to the fact that this ice was generated by Admiral Aokiji. Anyone trapped in the ice would most likely get a slow and painful death. The deeper she went into the crevasse, the more complicated the advance became, as the path became more and more cramped and made Tanya's skin come in contact with the frozen wall. She felt as if her skin had come into contact with a blazing fire, the cold burn very painful.
"It's not a little cold that will stop me, come on Tanya, you've been through much worse than this, you can do it" thought the girl inwardly in order to motivate herself to continue her journey. Looking above her, she noticed that some of the pirates were stepping over the crevasse without even looking under their feet, obviously busy watching the soldiers' shots.
The journey went smoothly, although at times she was forced to crawl through the ice to avoid detection. Tanya bitterly regretted the light white shirt she had been wearing since her arrival in Marineford. Certainly, it allowed her to have a large freedom of movement, on the other hand, compared to her old uniform, it didn't allow the girl to protect herself from the cold.
When she arrived at the location of the other two DenDenMushi, Tanya saw only a crater still smoking in the ice. When she jumped inside, she saw three dead navy soldiers, who obviously didn't have a chance during the pirate assault. At their feet, Tanya recognized the characteristic shape of the DenDenMushi, who also could not survive the explosion. One had his body completely charred, the other had his shell completely destroyed with pieces that stabbed the poor animal.
"At this rate, I'm going to end up in the same state as those poor men, I have to make sure that the pirates don't mistake me for a Navy soldier. I can handle the small fry easily, but if by some misfortune, my path meets that of one of the crew's commanders, or even Whitebeard himself, I don't think I'll get away unscathed."
She then grabbed her coat which was still tied to her shoulders to roll it into a ball in order to better hide it, then bent over the charred and bloody bodies of her former colleagues in order to hide it underneath. It was at this moment that the ground began to shake violently, surely due to another large-scale attack by Whitebeard. The tremor was so powerful that Tanya, still bent over the corpses, lost her balance and fell face first onto the blood-drenched corpses. Getting up almost instantly, she tried to remove the blood that had gotten immaculately all over her face as well as her outfit. Since she had been on the battlefield, Tanya had become accustomed to seeing blood on the ground, her allies, her enemies and even her own blood at times, but having someone else's blood on her body was repulsive.
Unable to see around her because of the blood in her eyes, she did her best to remove it, leaving all notions of caution aside, she found herself standing in the middle of a crater, covered in blood while rubbing her eyes with an angry howl.
POV Marco the Phoenix.
The war at the top had been going on for only a few hours, and one side seemed to have the advantage over the other. The sheer number of soldiers and the fact that this was the main Marine base made the assault particularly difficult.
Unlike his comrades, Marco was not worried about his own safety. The regenerative powers of his demon fruit and his knowledge of medicine allowed him to take mortal blows without even batting an eye. What worried the first fleet commander most was the health of their captain. Whitebeard was known throughout the world as the strongest man in the world. This reputation was the source of some legends about him, some of which were completely insane, implying that Whitebeard was an immortal being that nothing could bring down.
The truth was quite different, and only known by the members of his own crew. Whitebeard was gravely ill, and there seemed to be no cure for him. With age, his heart began to fail, making even the slightest effort potentially fatal. Marco was very angry that he had no solution for the man he considered his father, even though he was a doctor. The only solution he had was to put his captain on a drip with a "remedy" sold by the Don Quixote family. Everyone knew that this product would not cure their captain, however it seemed to relieve him when he had to make an effort again.
Since the beginning of the fight, Marco kept an eye on his captain to make sure that his health did not deteriorate during the battle or that he did not take a bad blow. Of course, he also watched over his comrades as best he could, especially since the Navy had raised the huge walls around the bay, making it impossible for almost all of his friends to escape. He took care to position himself on high points in order to be able to observe in real time the evolution of the battle, as well as to save those who still could...
No matter where his gaze could rest, death and devastation were observable despite the good progress of his crew. The vast majority of the troops were on the verge of reaching the carcass of their friend Oz, who, in his death, had allowed all of his comrades to still have the possibility of saving Ace. The men who were left behind were either those who were part of the second wave or those who were injured during their journey.
From the top of one of the masts of the Moby Dick, Marco was carefully observing the surroundings. Looking to his right, he saw three of his men, members of his division, shuffling as best they could toward the frozen boats. One of them seemed to be still able-bodied, but was acting as a support for the other two who were in a bad way, the most seriously injured one having a leg blown off, probably due to an explosion. "I can still save them if I hurry" thought Marco, using the powers of his demon fruit to transform himself into a phoenix. He took off and flew in the direction of the three men.
As he flew to his men, Marco was shot at by the Navy soldiers still on the Great Wall. Although the shots were ineffective against him, it didn't stop the pain from running up his spine. With a lot of training, he had learned to ignore the pain to a certain extent, even though it had taken years to master.
When he arrived near his injured comrades, Marco was thrown backwards by an explosion that had taken place where his comrades were standing a few seconds earlier. The blast had been so powerful that he had been thrown backwards about ten meters. As he searched for the source of the blast, he saw that Admiral Kizaru was standing on the great wall above him with a big smirk on his face. Preparing to resume his bestial form, Marco started to run in his direction when the latter suddenly disappeared in a great brightness.
"Coward, these men were unable to continue the fight yoi!" Marco shouted in the direction where the man in the yellow suit was. He barely had time to finish his sentence when a violent earthquake surprised him. "Father must certainly have re-launched one of his attacks."
Fighting against the tremors in order not to lose his balance, Marco went to the nearest crater formed in the ice to catch his breath. Since the beginning of the fight, he had not had the opportunity to catch his breath, playing the role of division commander, doctor and bodyguard for his father exhausted him much more than he had expected.
As he approached the crater, he heard a cry, a cry he did not expect to hear here on this battlefield, a child's cry... He rushed into the crater and found what he was looking for. In the center of the crater was a little girl with golden hair who was rubbing her eyes frantically. Based on her height, she was probably about ten years old. On closer inspection, Marco noticed that she was covered in blood, her shirt, probably originally white, now had a red tint. Most confusing was the fact that this young girl had several weapons on her belt... "What is a child doing here? Did she get lost? Did she not have time to evacuate?" Several questions that the commander of the 1ʳᵉ division wanted to be answered.
"What are you doing here, little one?" asked Marco to the little girl who turned around almost instantly in his direction without seeing him, because obviously, she had blood in her eyes. Worried about the silence of the girl, he approached her and asked in a fatherly voice, "Are you hurt yoi?" It took him some time before answering him with a fluent voice, but the tone that Marco had taken seemed to have reassured her.
"My name is Tanya, I'm looking for my daddy, he forgot to take his stuff" As she said these words, the girl pointed to the set of equipment she had around her waist with her right hand, while continuing to rub her eyes with her other hand. She looked so vulnerable and fragile that Marco could not bring himself to leave a child alone on a battlefield hostile to all forms of life. He took her hand, and before she could complain, pulled her to him, and led her to Whitebeard.
Once her eyes were clear, Marco sensed that she was struggling to see who she was dealing with. In order not to frighten her further, Marco used his most reassuring voice to assure her that no harm would come to her. Hearing this, she calmed down almost instantly, he even saw her wearing a wide smile, almost unhealthy. Her behavior had also changed, she walked with a lighter and more childlike step.
When they arrived in front of the leader of the Whitebeard Pirates, the girl's face had stiffened. She didn't speak anymore, she gave the impression of being on guard, ready to face the strongest man in the world. Marco, knowing his old man, knew that he wouldn't do anything about it. He was far too busy following the evolution of the fights. It is only after a moment which seemed to last an eternity that the old man posed a glance on the two people who had presented themselves to him. "Who is it, Marco? Who is this kid?" asked Whitebeard, a hint of curiosity in his voice. "I found her on the battlefield near the western wall," Marco began to explain. "She was covered in blood, from what she explained to me earlier, she is looking for her daddy, who would be a soldier of the Navy. I wanted to know what could be done with her, I couldn't leave her alone on the battlefield".
Upon hearing this explanation, Marco saw a grimace form on his captain's face. He knew that Whitebeard didn't like unnecessary losses, and unfortunately, that's what will best sum up this war once it's over. After a long moment of reflection, staring at an invisible point in the distance... Whitebeard turned to his second in command to give him his next instructions. "Unfortunately Marco, we have other priorities, we don't have time to baby sit, especially when Sengoku is doing everything in his power to destroy us. Take the kid back to the bow of the ship, hopefully when they see that we have a "hostage" they will stop opening fire in our direction. They won't be able to be inhumane to the world, especially if the hostage is a little girl." Marco nodded, he didn't especially agree with his captain's decision, but being the captain, he owed him obedience and loyalty. Besides, with time, he knew that with experience, Whitebeard knew what he was doing, if he felt it should be the right thing to do, it probably should be.
Once the instructions were received, Marco suddenly transformed into a bird to the great surprise of the girl who looked at him with eyes full of curiosity. He grabbed the girl with his talons and took her on the Moby Dick. During the trip, he glanced at his cargo to make sure the girl wasn't too terrified, but to his surprise, she seemed perfectly serene, he even saw her close her eyes, giving the impression that she was trying to savor this moment in the air. When they arrived on the immense boat, Marco could again proceed to the observation of the front, the allies continued as well as possible their desperate race in the direction of the scaffold where their friend was still retained. He looked for Ace's little brother, who was in the middle of a fight against several opponents. "He's got a lot on his plate, not only did he survive the Sabaody Archipelago, cause huge revolts within Impel Down, and only a few days later, we find him on the front lines against the Navy to save his brother. They are very much alike..."
Getting lost in his thoughts, Marco then remembered the time when Ace had just arrived in the crew, and in particular all the times when the latter had challenged him in single combat without winning once. At the end of each fight, Ace kept saying "you'll see, next time I'll get you" before joining the others to eat. It had almost become a ritual within the ship.
"Look! The soldiers have stopped firing on the Moby Dick" shouted a voice from below their position. Watching the different shots, Marco noticed that the ship was no longer the target of the guns, however, their bombardment continued on the mass of pirates who were still running towards Oz. The old man was right, when he saw the girl the soldiers had stopped targeting the ship. He took a quick look at the girl to see how she reacted to the violence. But to his surprise, she didn't seem shocked or traumatized by this macabre spectacle that was taking place before her eyes, on the contrary, she looked attentively at every part of the battlefield as if she was looking for something...
After a moment, her gaze stopped on a point next to the walls, following her gaze, he saw that she was staring intently at the group of escaped prisoners from Impel Down prison. "What can she find interesting in these scoundrels?" wondered Marco with a puzzled look on his face while scratching his head. Then, without warning, the girl jumped from the bow and ran towards the group of prisoners.
Just as he was about to pounce on her, a heavy rumble began to echo throughout the bay. Looking down at where the sound was coming from, he found Akainu under the scaffold with both arms raised, shooting what appeared to be balls of magma in the direction of the darkening clouds.
The eyes of everyone on the island were now directed towards the sky, each one waiting to see what would happen next. Then another noise sounded above the Marine base. The sound was very similar to that of the storm. The most terrifying thing was not the sound itself, but what happened a few seconds later. Huge chunks of magma that were curiously shaped like fists were heading straight for the bay. When they smashed into the ground, they generated explosions that either burned alive anyone who was near them, or seriously injured those who were a little further away because of the blast. The second in command was watching the scene in horror, his comrades, his friends, his loved ones were perishing one after the other without him being able to save them all...
POV Tanya Von Degurechaff
The man Tanya was standing next to was surprisingly considerate of her. He never showed an ounce of hostility and seemed to care about her. However, keeping in mind that he was a pirate, he must have had a selfish goal in mind to be so concerned about an unknown child.
As much as she did not feel in danger in the company of this man, when he took her in front of their captain Whitebeard, Tanya had felt a huge shiver run down her spine once she was in front of him. This man was already very intimidating when a hundred meters separated the soldiers from this monster at the beginning of the battle. But seeing him in front of them was completely different, the sensation was multiplied. He gave off a strong intimidating aura that could have made anyone tremble...
By remembering her meeting, Tanya had again shivers and made all her possible to control herself. It was out of the question to face this man and to take useless risks, especially when the Being Y confirmed to her that it will be the last reincarnation in case of unnatural death.
A huge explosion took Tanya out of her thoughts, she shook her head in order to put her mind in order and started to observe the battlefield again. Whitebeard had given her a magnificent observation post that allowed her to have a global view of the whole bay.
Below, on the frozen ground, hundreds of corpses lay, reminding the girl of her many sojourns on the various fronts of the Empire. The vast majority of the troops were heading for the giant's corpse. They were only, for the most part, halfway through their sentence. Advancing under a deluge of lead and cannon was terribly difficult. Behind them, the Marine battleships were pushing the ships of Whitebeard's fleet closer to the bay, forcing the first ones to dock and join the battle. Only a small group stood out from the others, having positioned themselves in the blind spot of the cannons near the western wall. The most curious thing about their behavior was that they did not seem to be fighting at all. They had all gathered in a circle around an individual who looked like a clown. The more she watched them, the more her faith in logic and common sense faded. She couldn't believe it, these guys were setting up equipment for a shoot. "How the hell did they get all this stuff? "Looking more closely, she saw that one of the former inmates had in his hands the last DenDenMushi she was looking for.
"What are those jerks doing with our DenDenMushi? Anyway, it doesn't matter, I need that device." Without even glancing at the man next to her, she jumped off the bow while launching her body reinforcement so as not to break her legs on landing and headed towards the prisoners.
She nevertheless threw a glance to the man who had "captured" her, but noticed that this last one had not moved, he seemed to look straight ahead with a horrified look. By following his glance, Tanya saw that he observed her superior, who had positioned himself under the scaffold of the condemned with the arms in the air. His arms appeared to be dripping and gradually turning into a glistening red material that appeared to be extremely hot. "Probably magma, if I believe the heat that is reaching me despite the distance.
Tanya almost instantly understood the second in command's terror when she saw the Admiral send his magma into the air. "I'm still here! Does this man know the principle of allied fire? I'm going to have to hurry up and get his damn snail and head somewhere safe.". While continuing to watch the sky, Tanya rushed towards the wall, assuming that her superior should mainly target the gathered pirate forces, leaving the area occupied by the prisoners relatively safe.
Once she arrived near the former prisoners, Tanya decided to observe them for a while before intervening, not wanting to expose herself to unnecessary risks. But seeing that they were in fact clowns rather than the bloodthirsty prisoners that her colleagues had mentioned earlier, Tanya approached the small troop without even trying to hide.
Seeing someone who did not know, the former prisoners almost all turned in unison, staring the girl up and down while asking questions aloud, "What is a kid doing here? Is she a soldier? He's recruiting them really young now..."
Wanting to settle this story as soon as possible and get the DenDenMushi back without a fight, Tanya did her best to control herself and not attack them right away. She cleared her throat while pointing to the small snail held by one of the prisoners. "You have in your possession an asset belonging to the Marine, I will ask you only once, give me this DenDenMushi immediately!" In response to this order, the soldiers laughed and turned their backs to her, pretending she wasn't there.
"That's right, in this world, the 'Rhine Devil' doesn't exist, they don't know me, it's normal... I'll teach them what it costs to ignore me like this." Frowning in anger, Tanya drew her flintlock pistol and fired at the first man who crossed her sights.
At the sound of the bang, everyone turned and stared at the girl who had just coldly shot one of their visibly shocked men. One of the men was louder than the others, the clown-like one stepped forward and called out to the girl. "Hey kid, I can see what you're thinking about shooting one of my comrades for no reason, unfortunately, you just made a formidable enemy, the former member of Gol D's crew. Roger, Captain Baggy the Clown" When he finished his sentence, all of his followers were clapping and cheering as if he were a cult guru.
"Look, I'm not going to start listening to the stories of everyone I have to kill, especially those dressed up as a jester with a big red nose." Upon hearing her words, she saw the man turn as red as his nose. Clearly, her remark seemed to have made him deeply angry. He reached such a level of anger that he threw himself on her with daggers in each hand.
Not wanting to waste time, Tanya coated her arm with mana and cut into several pieces the individual who would dare to attack her. However, the result was not what she had hoped for, instead of falling to the ground like any other body undergoing gravity, her limbs kept floating in the air. "What the hell is going on? Her astonishment was even greater when the pieces collected together to reform the original body.
While putting his limbs back in their place, the man laughed defiantly and, once in one piece, walked away from the girl. "I underestimated him, being able to withstand my mage blade is unthinkable, no one since I arrived, even Admiral Kizaru has been able to escape unscathed..."
"I told you" resumed Baggy the Clown, "I am overpowered, and your actions will not go unpunished. You're going to get to know my Baggy Ball" While finishing his sentence, the man separated the lower part of his body while continuing to levitate and then threw his feet in the direction of the girl. Arrived at halfway, a small ball not bigger than a fist detached itself from it and ran in direction of Tanya.
Not knowing the offensive capabilities of her opponent, Tanya strengthened her body to the maximum and concentrated her mana in her magic shield, making sure to accumulate several layers of protection, copying the principle of functioning of the bullet vests, which allowed the shockwaves to meet several obstacles thus reducing the damage.
When the Baggy Ball exploded, the blast was so powerful that Tanya was thrown backwards, leaving only a single layer of her magical shield. "I'm going to have to watch out for this guy, he doesn't seem to be affected by my mage blade, but in principle, my gun should be able to take him down without a problem".
Discreetly, and taking advantage that the smoke dissipates, Tanya grabbed her Luger and took it out of her holster. Suddenly, several screams resounded throughout the bay. Admiral Akainu had just finished his attack, and the damage was monstrous. Dozens of dead were burned or crushed by the molten rock, the crew's mothership was in flames, and the ice was beginning to melt in places, killing almost instantly anyone who fell into the boiling water. Her superior may have been a bully, but Tanya was still glad to have such a powerful force on her team.
Focusing back on her opponent, Tanya noticed that he was staring at a high point behind her. Turning around, she saw that a huge amount of water had formed in the air, giving the illusion of facing a huge water snake. A little further back, between Whitebeard's burning boat and the water, a kind of blue bird made of flame had taken flight and was heading towards the huge wooden scaffolding.
"Where do you think you're going, boy?" shouted Tanya before grabbing her rapier and sending several mage blades in the direction of the bird, which, when it received the blows, crashed to the ground, generating a huge cloud of smoke. The reaction of the pirates was not long in coming, all of them screamed, obviously very worried about the person who had just crashed.
Sheathing her rapier and turning her attention back to her objective, Tanya moved in the direction of the prisoners to retrieve the DenDenmushi when the ground began to shake. Looking ahead, she saw that a huge shadow had appeared. It took Tanya only a few seconds to recognize the massive build of the pirate leader. Turning in her direction, she saw that he was already attacking her. His look was filled with fury and rage.
Bracing herself for the impact, Tanya put all her energy and magic into her defense and gritted her teeth to take the blow.
She saw the air crack in front of her, and felt immense pain throughout her body, blood even escaping from her mouth in large quantities. She felt her body being thrown backwards, not even touching the ground anymore. The last thing Tanya saw before she lost consciousness was the blue sky, which seemed so peaceful and indifferent to the conflict of Men.
POV Admiral Kizaru
Kizaru was impressed by how far this young man in front of him had come since his arrival. Despite his young age, he was able to accomplish feats that even some of the more experienced pirates could not.
Watching him carefully, the Admiral could see that the son of Dragon the revolutionary was almost at the end of his rope, he looked completely out of breath and seemed to be staring into space. He seemed to be holding a huge piece of wood, almost twice his size. Yet his eyes were full of determination, full of anger.
Kuzan was the first to speak: "Well, you finally arrived here" followed by Sakazuki who added "What an entrance son of Dragon". Finally, Kizaru spoke up, "This kid is scary" Kizaru had already been confronted with this kid in the past and knew already his abilities and his huge potential.
"If nothing else, I will praise your determination" Sakazuki added again, seeing that the young man didn't answer. "But you're not ready for that scene yet" said Kuzan.
In order to discourage the kid to continue, and to avoid getting tired in a fight won in advance, Kizaru sighed slightly before adding in his turn: "It's impossible that you can defeat us, you know that?"
Obviously not heeding the warnings, the young man let out a mighty howl, threw a huge piece of wood that he held firmly in his arms. Kuzan was the first to react by freezing the piece of wood thanks to the powers of his demon fruit and sent the projectile back at full speed towards its sender who didn't seem to be disturbed by the return, because he retaliated almost instantly with several kicks, reducing the piece of wood into several frozen pieces. Kizaru made no effort to dodge, because he knew it would have no effect on a logia like him. A quick glance in the direction of his counterparts made him realize that they had had the same reasoning.
"It's a good thing I'm a logia, it would be really exhausting to have to go to the trouble of dodging this type of attack". Kizaru let out a long sigh, he wanted to get this pointless war over with as quickly as possible and return to his quarters to rest. The Straw Hat took advantage of the admiral's brief moment of inattention to use his [Gear Second] technique to pass through his body made of light to get behind him.
"Oh no young man" thought Kizaru before transforming into a halo of light and moving instantly to the side of the young pirate who seemed surprised to see the Admiral on his tail. "You're too slow" the admiral told the young man, before giving him a powerful kick in the side to send him crashing into a house a little further.
As he fell back on the ground, Kizaru felt the ground shake under his feet without worrying, knowing that it was one of the enemy leader's attacks. Then, as the shaking subsided, Kizaru saw a figure flying at high speed towards the headquarters before crashing violently, generating a huge amount of smoke and making some rubble fall to the ground. Once the smoke cleared, Kizaru observed a gaping hole in the center of the building, where once stood the inscriptions "Marine".
"I wonder what those damn pirates used as projectiles to be able to do so much damage to such a reinforced structure". His curiosity getting the better of him, Kizaru took the initiative to go directly to the place to try to find the cause. Teleporting from rooftop to rooftop because the distance between the bay and the building was too great, Kizaru was able to get there very quickly.
Once he entered the huge hole giving direct access to the refectory, he could see the immense disorder that the shock had caused, the tables were overturned and for the most part completely destroyed. The chairs, as for them, had been propelled at the bottom of the room. The gaping hole let in a large halo of light, which revealed in its center a small form bathed in blood. Kizaru contemplated with amazement the "projectile" sent by the pirates. It was Sengoku's new recruit who was lying on one of the tables that the soldiers usually used to eat their meal. "Is she dead?" the admiral wondered as he bent over the little blonde to find out. Once at her height, he saw her chest rise and fall with difficulty with an irregular rhythm, testifying to a jerky breathing. Blood was coming out of her mouth in large quantities, so much so that her body sometimes started coughing reflexively in order to evacuate all the blood and not to choke.
"She's in critical condition, if she's not treated immediately, she's not likely to survive much longer." The Admiral brought his right hand to his chin and began to rub his short beard as he recalled the previous events that had taken place prior to his flight. "To have been thrown this far, she must have encountered a formidable opponent" As he tried to review the potential candidates, Kizaru then remembered that the ground had shaken just before he saw the Lieutenant in the air. "Surely she must have been confronted by Whitebeard himself, which would explain the earthquake just before, the distance she was thrown to as well as her condition."
Satisfied with his deduction, Kizaru slowly straightened up, and took the opportunity to grab the young Lieutenant's body in his arms and began to walk towards the scaffold without using the powers of his fruit, as he didn't know if she would be able to survive at such a high speed in her condition. So he resigned himself to use [soru] in order to move at a reasonable speed. Since he had not used this technique for a long time, especially because the power of his fruit allowed him to do the same thing, but better, he could no longer move over long distances.
Once he arrived at the makeshift hospital that the Marine had built hours before the war began, Kizaru began to give his instructions to the medics, who were standing at attention to greet their superior. "I entrust you with the Lieutenant, I wish to inform you that Admiral Sennngoku would not want her dead." The doctors acquired almost instantly and placed the small body of the lieutenant in a bed in an effort to stabilize her condition. Before leaving the care center, Kizaru grabbed the canvas bag the Lieutenant was carrying and glanced inside. He was surprised to see its contents, but made no comment about it.
As he left the building, Kizaru noticed a few bullet holes in the front of the wall facing the wall, but other than that, no major damage. The choice of setting up a makeshift hospital in what used to be the neighborhood grocery store had been made in order to have a medical unit as close as possible to the fighting. One of Kuzan's missions was to protect this unit, and so far he has not failed in his task.
Without wasting any more time, Kizaru went to the side of his superior, who was still observing the fights with great attention. He noticed that Vice Admiral Garp was also sitting next to the condemned man. Although he found his behavior curious, Kizaru decided to ignore the old man and report the latest news to his superior. But before he could begin to speak, Admiral Sengoku yelled at one of the soldiers below the scaffold: "How come those damn snails aren't all disabled? Sakazuki assured me that he would do what was necessary." The soldier seemed to have lost his cool in the face of his superior's anger. "We don't know sir, there is only one active DenDenMushi left, as for the others, we don't know where they are, we are currently continuing the search."
Having worked for several years with his superior, Kizaru had come to know this man, and when he saw him clench his right fist, he knew full well that he was doing his best not to let his anger explode "Get me those devices back quickly!" The soldier nodded and ran towards his men, who had stayed behind to communicate the new orders.
"Sennngoku Sann?" Kizaru called out in a neutral tone. The navy chief seemed surprised to see his officer in front of him and not on the front. "Kizaru? What are you doing here? Any more bad news to tell me?" With a big smile, his Kizaru handed the bag the Lieutenant was carrying to his superior and replied before he could say anything, "I found this bag with Lieutenant Degurechaff. She was in charge of putting them all together, but I think she was interrupted by Whitebeard himself before she could retrieve the last one." Certainly making the connection with the unidentifiable projectile seen earlier, the Marine chief spoke up after a slight pause for thought, "So what we have seen earlier was the Lieutenant? How is she?" Kizaru reassured his superior by telling him about the previous events after the small earthquake.
Once he finished his report, Kizaru joined the soldiers in the square, who were preparing to defend as long as necessary. It is at this very moment that Kizaru heard his superior via the DenDenMushi network make an announcement that could sound the end of the war: "The operation is going as planned, without further delay, let's apply the sentence of Portgas D. Ace".
Following this announcement, many cries were heard, coming from the soldiers who showed their joy following this announcement, whereas on the side of the pirates, it was more cries of protest and indignation.
Kizaru didn't care about the execution of this kid, but the sooner it took place, the sooner he could return to his quarters. Despite this, he watched the two executioners raise their swords with great curiosity. They executed their movements with a strange synchronization. The closer their blade came to the head of the condemned man, the more the cries were heard, generating at the same time a huge hubbub.
It was only after a few seconds that two huge spurts of blood appeared, and to the great surprise of everyone, the two executioners collapsed on the scaffold.
POV Tanya Von Degurechaff
Location: ?
The awakening was brutal and sudden, like when one holds one's breath for a long time underwater, burning the lungs and forcing the person to surface. Wheezing, Tanya observed her surroundings, and with a hiccup of surprise, recognized her old apartment located in the capital of the Empire. Small enough, and yet contained everything necessary for everyday life, saving her from sleeping, as the vast majority of her colleagues in the barracks. "My apartment? I'm back in the Empire?" the girl asked herself with a small sigh of satisfaction.
Even though this world was at war and sent her to face death most of the time, Tanya had started her life over from the beginning and her career looked very promising in the military. As usual, she got up from her bed quickly so as not to give her body time to fall back asleep and went to her car radio to turn it on and listen to the news from the fronts while she was washing.
The news from the front is quite good, our forces have succeeded in pushing back the Frankish Republic after some terrible fighting. We have very few casualties and no deaths in our army. Our soldiers are doing their best to make their Emperor proud of his nation and its people. Join the fight to save our nation and make your life worthwhile. "Today, the first of September 1924 of the unified calendar, you [...]."
Hearing the day's date announced by the voice on the radio as she brushed her teeth, Tanya spit the toothpaste in her mouth onto the mirror in front of her. "The first of September 1924? That's the year I was assigned to train the 203 mage battalion. I went back in time? But doesn't that make sense?" Several theories began to appear in her mind. Had she been killed by Whitebeard and reincarnated again? Had all the events that had taken place since that day been a dream all along? Several questions that remained unanswered for the moment. Looking at the clock hanging above her bed, Tania saw that the time to take her shift was approaching fast. In order not to arrive late, the girl quickly finished her preparations and put on her costume without forgetting to add her decorations and her gun.
On the way to the office, everything seemed familiar to her, whether it was the people she met, the car accident on the main road, the children who invited her to play with them to simulate a battle known during this war in the same street and at the same time. The feeling of reliving the same day was rather confusing for Tanya, but she came to the conclusion that it must be a feeling of "déjà vu".
When she finally arrived in front of the guard at the entrance to the garrison, he asked her to leave her rifle for security reasons. Once again, the little blonde was not surprised by his request, because she had already experienced this scene, and unlike the previous time, she decided to remain silent and gave her rifle without question.
As usual, Tanya was far ahead of her colleagues. She made it a point of honor to always be the first to arrive so that she could set an example for the people under her command and, above all, be well seen by the hierarchy, who would see in her a serious and motivated soldier.
Her desk was just as she remembered it, perfectly tidy, with the many applications from mages all over the Empire sitting on the right corner of it. As much as she hated this life, the sudden change of environment to another world for a period of time had made her nostalgic.
Enjoying the quiet of the room, Tanya enjoyed a delicious coffee with some chocolate. Although she didn't have Visha's talent for coffee, she was still very satisfied with the taste of the latter, much better than the one present at the Navy HQ.
"I really don't understand what's going on, how did I get back into this ..." "Major?" "World at this time of the war? Didn't the Russy Federation declare ..." "Major?" "...war before they began their heinous advance on our lands?" "Major!" Tanya gasped as she heard the voice calling out to her, deeply immersed in her thoughts, she hadn't paid attention that someone had approached her.
When she looked up, she recognized Visha with her good mood and her usual huge smile. Seeing that familiar face was a relief. Tanya felt like she hadn't seen the brunette girl in ages.
"Yes Lieutenant?" Stammered the little blonde, a little caught off guard by the situation that was thrust upon her. "I just wanted to inform you that General Zettour wanted to see you in his office before noon." Tanya nodded to show her subordinate that she had registered the information and went back to her files, although this was really an excuse to be able to quietly take stock of her situation.
The morning had ended as quickly as it had begun. Although the situation was very confusing for Tanya, her professional conscience obliged her to produce quality work. And before she could even realize it, she found herself in front of the general's office before she could even realize it. Tanya took a deep breath and knocked on the office door.
The room was quite simple and was perfectly in the image of the man Tanya had come to know. The room was all in length and devoid of any superfluous decoration. Only a bookcase filled with various works dressed the left wall of the office. At the back of the room was a large solid wood desk lit by natural light from the window at the back. Behind this desk was General Zettour accompanied by a man she didn't have to recognize, as he had his back to her and was looking out.
"Major, you've come at the right time," began General Zettour in a ceremonious tone, "I'd like to introduce you to Colonel Sonzai," continued the latter, indicating with a wide movement of the arm the man who turned around at the announcement of his name.
Tanya was stunned when she saw this man, she had a moment of hesitation, but her doubts were quickly removed when she observed his attire. The latter was dressed, to her great surprise, in a modern suit and a black tie. The most improbable was the logo embroidered on his chest that Tanya could recognize between a thousand, since it was the logo of the company she had worked for in her first life. She was speechless as she recognized her former department head in the flesh before her in this world. "What the hell is going on?" wondered Tanya, dumbfounded, "Why is Mr. Kamisawa in this world and pretending to be an officer of the Empire?".
As if by reflex, the girl turned to General Zettour in the hope of getting some information. But seeing that he showed no reaction and seemed frozen in time, she immediately glanced out the window. As she expected, the world seemed frozen, she knew then that the Being Y had to be in the corner. "This entity is rather timely, she may be able to answer my questions".
"Being Y, where are you? Why am I back in this world? What's going on?" Having no answer, Tanya put on a puzzled face. "Strange, usually it doesn't take long for them to come forward to tell me that they are disappointed that they still don't believe in their cult, but here, nothing..."
After a few seconds of waiting, the man calling himself Colonel Sanzai turned to the little blonde and finally spoke. "Demon!" Hearing the sound of the voice, Tanya instantly recognized the voice, for being her archenemy, she knew the slightest intonation that came from this scum. "Being X? How is that even possible? I thought I was sending you into nothingness for eternity?" The puppet in front of her didn't seem to react to her question, but kept repeating "demon."
The scene that was unfolding in front of Tanya did not make sense to her, so she wondered if she was not dead and had joined, too, the nothingness. She then remembered the last images of the new world she had recently joined, and remembered being attacked by the strongest man in the world. Panic-stricken, she wondered if the old man had simply killed her and she was serving her punishment in the void with the worst individual there was.
"If you're hearing this message, you must have had a very close call with death and unfortunately, I'm not available to witness that." The air smug and condescending in the voice, this individual had the gift to irritate deeply the girl who answered him almost of the void: "Bastard, how did you make to leave the nothingness? Answers me!" asked Tanya of a very aggressive tone.
However, the puppet did not seem to notice it and continued its speech as if it was an IA carrying out its task without blinking.
"You are probably wondering how I do this little trick? Nothing more complicated for God himself, I simply added a false memory in your mind with this message that should reveal itself to you as soon as your body would suffer a lot of injuries and tiredness in order to lose consciousness."
"I see, it is a kind of message on an answering machine, I have nothing to fear in this case, everything is in my head" reassured Tanya while still listening carefully to the puppet. "I have decided that the day you lose consciousness, you will experience a disease that is incurable by science and will stop your heart once and for all. But, even if you are a demon, I am still God, and I can be magnanimous. I will give your heart the strength to endure this experience three more times.
Hearing this, Tanya clenched her fists and gritted her teeth." This fucking rotten, even dead, he continues to be a fucking thorn in my side, I curse you damn demon destroyer of personal freedoms" screamed the girl with all her might almost forgetting where she was. "I'll have to be more careful than usual, I can't afford to lose consciousness unnecessarily anymore..."
Tanya continued to stare at the puppet in front of her to see if it had any more information to impart, but obviously it didn't seem to be able to move again. Expecting her environment to move again as always suddenly, the girl returned to position before the General Zettour and waited for time to flow normally.
However, it did not happen as she expected. Instead of resuming, the world became more and more blurred and distorted before her eyes, despite the fact that she rubbed her eyes to fix her vision. She also felt an immense fatigue invading her, so powerful that she could not resist. After a few minutes of struggle against sleep, she let herself be submerged and sank in the darkness.
When Tanya opened her eyes again, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. She felt as if her heart had been stabbed multiple times, which made her realize that the dream she had experienced was probably real and that it was most likely a trap set by Being X when he was still part of this universe.
As the pain slowly began to subside, Tanya began to assess her situation. Above her head were what appeared to be huge blocks of stone. It was as if she had been in a collapsed building after an earthquake. She was in what appeared to be the remains of a hospital bed. The rocks had formed a small cavity that had protected her from being crushed, "How did I get here?" While continuing to watch her movements, Tanya stood up as carefully as possible so as not to break the fragile balance of the rocks. "I should try to slip between the rocks rather than use my body reinforcement and take the risk of getting crushed." Looking around, Tanya spotted a small source of light making its way through the rubble.
Wanting to seize her chance before it was gone, Tanya made her way through the tangled stones. In this kind of situation, the little body that Being X had given her as a punishment could come in handy. She played with her shoulders, contorting her body into angles that seemed impossible just hours before. As she made her way into the daylight, a huge amount of dust was gradually getting into her eyes, preventing her from being able to find her way around in space. In order to remedy this problem, the young girl got used to finding her way around thanks to the intensity of the light and the different noises on the battlefield.
Having participated in this great war from the beginning, and having received significant injuries from Whitebeard, she felt that her body was reaching its limits, but not wanting to linger under the rubble, she finally allowed herself to use her body reinforcement, feeling that she must be within a meter or two of freedom. In a final effort, she strengthened her legs to propel herself forward, as well as her arms to protect her head.
Carried away by the speed of her propulsion, Tanya made about ten rolls without knowing where she was exactly, the dust being always in her eyes, she could locate herself only thanks to the sounds. When she listened carefully, she understood that she was back in the new world, because she could hear the characteristic sounds of the fights as well as the voice of the Admiral Sengoku who gave his instructions to his soldiers. "Well, let's sum up the situation, I'm back in this crazy world, I'm in the middle of a battle and I can't see anything..." She instinctively put her hand on her belt to check her equipment, "Well, obviously I'm not armed anymore, probably a hit from those damn entities."
Not wanting to remain uncovered and only locating herself by sound, Tanya moved towards the place that seemed the most calm and without fight and in order not to hit someone or something, she stretched her left arm forward as a blind person would do and rubbed her eyes with her right hand.
POV Portgas D. Ace
Ace couldn't believe it, he had just been saved by his little brother. His little brother, who just a few years ago couldn't even throw a punch properly, let alone master the powers of his demon fruit. Today, he had just achieved the impossible: defying the famous prison of Impel Down and succeeding in escaping from it, rushing headlong into a huge war that was beyond him and coming out of it practically unscathed. To have succeeded despite all the obstacles put in his way to bring him the key able to liberate, reinforced Ace in the idea that his little brother was not the same anymore and had evolved.
After the destruction of the scaffold by the Navy chief, the siblings suddenly found themselves in free fall towards the ground. A quick glance in the direction of the soldiers allowed Ace to notice a group of gunners had targeted them, taking advantage of their lack of mobility to attack them. Not wanting to see his brother hurt any further, Ace used his powers to form a huge wall of flame that exploded any cannonballs that came in contact with him.
When they finally reached the ground, they were almost immediately surrounded by elite Navy troops. "Obviously, they really don't want to let us go. He barely had time to react, when all the surrounding soldiers started to shoot in their direction with their rifles. However, Ace knew that this was useless, as his brother was immune to firearms, as the bullets were sent back to their owner thanks to the power of rubber. As for him, being a logia, few people could hurt him with normal physical attacks. It was like trying to shoot the fire itself.
"Let us through! We have to go!" Ace shouted while creating a huge column of fire to intimidate his opponents and reduce the number of opponents to face. "Come on Luffy, we're almost there, just one more little effort and we'll be able to leave this place" After a quick glance at his big brother, Luffy nodded and continued his run in the direction of Whitebeard, facing the soldiers that were in front of him. "Don't worry Luffy" reassured Ace in a warm tone, "I've got your back, just run and don't look back". Putting his words into action, Ace positioned his fingers as if they were pistols and used his [Fire Gun] on all the soldiers who had gathered around Luffy. With each shot, several small fireballs hit his opponents, knocking them out on impact. All the soldiers around the two brothers fell one after the other, anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path would inevitably end up on the ground.
This scenario was repeated for a while until Admiral Aokiji stood up to them. "Ace, what do we do? I can't reach these guys." A slight smile appeared on Ace's face, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it, keep running, I'll join you". The young commander of the second fleet felt a great sense of satisfaction, he was happy to see that despite his evolution, he was still able to protect his little brother as he used to do in the past.
When he focused on the admiral in the white and blue suit, Ace saw that the latter was already targeting Luffy, knowing most certainly that he could not retaliate to his attacks. "I won't let you touch a hair on his head," Ace shouted in the direction of the Admiral who had thrown a [Pheasant Beak] in their direction. In order to retaliate, Ace stored a huge amount of fire in his right fist and let out the anger and frustration he had built up during his capture. A huge ball of fire shot out of his fists and made contact with the Admiral's ice. The contact of these two elements created a huge explosion of steam that threw the Admiral away from the fight. Ace took a few steps backwards because of the blast. But being the natural enemy of ice, his attack had been more effective and the blast had spread mostly towards the Admiral.
Looking around, Ace noticed that he was one of the last pirates who had not yet joined the others, while his brother had moved on during his confrontation with the Admiral, and had almost joined the other members of the Whitebeard crew. As for the soldiers, they continued their hunt and mainly targeted the former prisoner, probably in order not to tarnish the honor and reputation of the Navy. On the pirate side, there was a lot of commotion. Ace had a hard time determining the cause until a battleship from his fleet appeared and entered the battlefield with a bang. The battleship was very unusual in that it had wheels on its sides, allowing it to move on water and also on land. On board, on the bow of the ship, Ace instantly recognized Squardo who was pointing his two swords in the direction of the Navy HQ in defiance. "What a fool he must be to do this, for he must be enormously angry at himself for being so easily deceived by the Navy and for attacking and injuring Father..."
He and his crew clearly intended to sacrifice themselves in order to save as many as possible, and nothing seemed to be able to stop their boat, which had an impressive speed. The crew was so galvanized by the events that they didn't realize they were heading in the direction of Whitebeard himself.
But this did not frighten the old man who, without even looking at what he was doing, stopped the boat single-handedly and addressed Squardo directly, "Sons who want to die before their father? Have you no family piety?" asked the Whitebeard as he gradually released his hold on the boat, but still staring Squardo in the eye. "It wasn't your little stab of a knife that put me in danger... "We have accomplished our goal, we have nothing more to accomplish here." After those few words, the man Ace considered his father looked really out of breath, as if talking was shortening his life expectancy. But that didn't seem to stop him, as he puffed his chest out and addressed the entire crew, "Listen up, Whitebeard pirate, I will now give my last captain's order!" When they heard these words, all of his men, Ace included, began to protest and try to convince their adopted father to give up this choice and come with them. "This is where our paths part, try to stay alive and return to the new world!"
As if to conclude a great speech, Whitebeard turned his back on his crew and took a few steps in the direction of the Navy soldiers who were still running in their direction, and in order to save his crew some time, Whitebeard attacked the Navy base with his power, generating powerful tremors and destroying everything in their path, whether it was the main building or the surrounding houses.
Attending the last moments of the man who had taken him in and considered him his son, Ace, with tears in his eyes, rushed in the direction of the man he considered his real father in order to help him get rid of the soldiers who were starting to surround him. "Get away from him, you bastards! "Ace shouted, sending up swirls of flame to protect him, but seeing that the man was determined to die, Ace felt his legs weaken and fell to his knees so that he could thank his savior, the one who had given him a new family, the idea of losing his captain was as painful as receiving dozens of stab wounds in the heart. But out of respect for his last wishes, Ace did not insist any longer. He stuck the top of his head on the ground and bowed in thanks.
"Words are useless now..." As he waited for those words Ace began to tremble, he may have been the embodiment of fire itself, but right now he felt like he was frozen. "Just tell me one thing, Ace" Whitebeard reported after a short pause. Hearing this, Ace looked in the direction of the old man and met his eyes. "Have I been a good father?" The pain had now become unbearable for the young man who let out his tears "Of course you have" Ace shouted in response, which amused Whitebeard, as he laughed before returning to face the Navy soldiers.
Ace got up, followed by his little brother Luffy, and his cellmate and friend Jimbe, and headed for the bay to escape. During the race, Ace refused to look back, because he knew in his heart that if he turned around, he would join Whitebeard again. Whenever he felt like it, he gritted his teeth, as if he was punishing himself every time he thought of disobeying his captain.
On the way, passing by a small building destroyed during the battle, Ace noticed a small blonde girl, staggering and looking badly injured. "What's a kid doing here?" wondered Ace, "I may not be able to save Father, but I can still honor him by saving a child in need." Without warning his comrades, Ace forked and charged toward the little girl who appeared to be crying, as she kept her right arm at eye level. He caught the little blonde in his arms and quickly joined his two companions. He could see that the girl was flailing in his arms. Taking a quick look at her, he noticed that she was frantically rubbing her eyes without saying anything.
"We did it, Jimbe! We managed to save Ace! " Luffy shouted as he ran. "I didn't need to be saved by you" Ace retorted in order to provoke his brother. In response, Ace saw a big smile on his little brother's face. This same smile was also taken up by Jimbe, obviously amused by the situation.
Despite the fatigue, and the pain that felt the three men, the distance that kept Ace and his companions from the crew was gradually reduced, so much so that it was now possible to clearly distinguish what they were saying as well as the panicked faces of some who were screaming in their direction. One voice stood out from the rest, and Ace recognized it almost instantly: Marco's voice. The young man began to look for the first commander of the crew. It was only after a few seconds that he recognized the man with the pineapple head posted on top of the wall.
"Marco! It's been a long time, I've got a bunch of ..." "ACE" shouted Marco, desperate, get off that kid! She's really dangerous!"
Not understanding why his commander was telling him this, Ace stared again at the girl, who seemed to have regained her sight and could finally meet their eyes. The girl's eyes looked like a deep ocean, where only darkness awaited the bravest divers. After a few seconds that seemed to last forever, Ace felt a sharp pain in his chest. When he looked at the source of the pain, he saw that the girl had just stabbed him with her right arm, where his heart was.