N/A. Hi guys, as always, my small apologies for the pace of the chapters :).

Well, I'll be honest, I voluntarily stopped writing fanfiction for a simple and good reason: Dead Island 2 and Star Wars Survivor! Do I really need to keep going? X).

A few days had passed since the great war that had taken place in Marineford. Newspapers around the world had been covering the event for days. Several theories were advanced, based on various shadows of the conflict. The silence of the Navy and the World Government did nothing to improve the situation.

A huge reconstruction site had been established at Marineford to repair the damage of the war. Most of the wounded had already been treated, with only the seriously wounded still being treated by the best doctors available.

POV Tanya Von Degurechaff

Snuggled against her bed, Tanya buried her head in her pillow to hide her tired face from the sun's rays that blinded her and prevented her from continuing her restful sleep.

After a yawn to disengage her jaw, Tanya stretched in her bed, making each of her joints crack, and stood up with a heavy thump. Staying in bed would only make things more difficult. Especially since the day would be busy, as since her recovery, the girl also had to participate in the repairs. Although her injuries did not allow her to return to duty, she accompanied her colleagues as much as possible and helped them as much as she could.

In addition, Tanya was summoned to his office by Admiral Sengoku without knowing the reasons. She had had no contact with the high hierarchy since the end of the war. The day before, a soldier had been waiting for her at the door of her room, holding a letter with her summons. Without giving her any further details, the soldier had said goodbye and left the letter with Tanya.

After putting on her uniform, Tanya left her room without turning around again and walked through the long maze of corridors to the dining hall to have breakfast. She didn't encounter a single soldier on the way there, not even when she arrived at the cafeteria. The latter had been deserted by the staff since a mysterious pirate gunshot had caused enormous damage to the wall, causing the sea breeze to rush intermittently through the large room. "Damn pirate, you almost tore my favorite place to pieces"... Thought Tanya as she pulled the chair towards her to enjoy her breakfast.

On the menu was the same as the previous days, a hot chocolate accompanied by a small bowl of rice and some toasts with jam. It would be counterproductive to change his habits, because he knew that this meal served to provide all the necessary nutrients to his body, which desperately needed them.

Tanya felt the wind rustling through her hair and turned her gaze to the gaping hole in the wall to look outside. The sun was still quite low in the sky, and if she woke up at dawn, she could enjoy a quiet breakfast without people. Her attention was quickly drawn to the numerous ships that were constantly going back and forth with various building materials. Transportation was still complicated, the huge wall that had been erected during the battle had still not been lowered, and the massive body of the creature that had interrupted the battle was still lying on the wall, and from what she had heard, the blood that had flowed profusely from its wounds had flowed into the mechanism and prevented it from lowering.

As she finished her meal, Tanya recalled the contents of the letter that had been entrusted to her. She had to go to the admiral's office before the end of the first break of the morning. She gulped down her last piece of toast and hurried to her superior's office. When she arrived at the large wooden door, she noticed that a soldier was posted at the entrance, serving as a guard.

"Halt!" the soldier ordered as the girl stared up and down. Only when she recognized the rank of colonel did Tanya stand at attention to salute her superior and put her right hand in her black pants pocket.

"Admiral Sengoku asked me to his office before the end of the first morning break," Tanya began as she held out her letter to the colonel. "May I come in?". Before he could reply anything, a loud bang sounded from inside the office, which occasionally emitted a few screams.

Curious as to who would dare to shout like that in his superior's office, Tanya cast a questioning glance at the colonel, who, after a long sigh, replied,"Admiral Sengoku is meeting with Admiral Aokiji and Admiral Sakazuki, and as you can hear, the subject of their conversation seems to be heated, so I ask you to wait, Lieutenant," the sentry explained, pointing with his chin at the sofas that stood in front of the office entrance.

A few minutes passed before Tanya could see Admiral Sakazuki coming out of the office with undisguised anger, followed by Admiral Aokiji, who did not seem to be more worried than usual. However, they took the direction of their quarters, taking care to choose two different paths.

"I wonder what could have caused such disunity among our leaders..." When the admirals were far enough from the office, Tanya stood up and looked again at the sentry, who responded with a nod toward the office.

When Tanya entered the room, she found that the room had not been particularly damaged by the attack. A few cracks had appeared in the walls since her last visit, and the large world map that hung on the wall was still on the floor. Several documents, probably confidential, lay scattered on the floor. Tanya could not know whether this was due to the shocks during the war, or whether Admiral Sakazuki had knocked over the documents during his nervous breakdown.

Since the chief admiral was in the process of cleaning up, Tanya took the liberty of knocking on the office door to signal his presence. "Lieutenant!" the admiral called out as he recognized the young girl standing at attention at the office entrance. He indicated Tanya with his chin to the space in front of his desk. He seemed to be in the midst of moving, the dozens of boxes reinforcing Tanya's thought.

"Are you moving, sir?" asked Tanya, whose curiosity was piqued. The admiral took the opportunity to settle into his chair with a long sigh. In a few seconds, the man whom Tanya had learned to respect thanks to his authority, efficiency and charisma seemed to have aged about twenty years. Long wrinkles appeared on his face, and a few white hairs now adorned his well-groomed beard.

"No," the old man said after a few seconds, "I have to go to the seat of world government to give an account, which is not surprising after the events of the last few days. He waved his hand in the air, as if chasing the thoughts that occupied him, and added. "When I called you, it was not to talk about me, but to talk about you, Lieutenant," the admiral began. "I may not have watched your every move during this war, but you were a great asset to our military, not only in the execution of Portgas D. Ace, but also in the recovery of the DenDenMushi. Without you, the battle would have turned out very differently." Tanya felt pride swell in her chest, it felt good to have her efforts recognized by her superiors. Even if these events were pure coincidences, she was glad that the chief of the Marine himself had taken notice of her.

"I merely accomplished my mission," Tanya finally replied with false modesty. "Any of our brave soldiers would have accomplished what I did. A slight smile appeared on the old man's face. "Maybe so, but it is your deeds that we are talking about now. I am proud to have brought something like you into the Marine."

As he continued to stare into the girl's eyes, he bent slightly to the right and seemed to be searching for something in a drawer of his desk. He pulled out a small medal and a captain's rank. "By virtue of the powers and responsibilities vested in me by the office of Chief Admiral of the Marine, I promote you to the rank of Captain." With those words, he stood up and joined Tanya on the other side of the desk, captain's badge in hand. Tanya respectfully stood and saluted her officer, as was customary in the Empire. He then pinned the new badge to the girl's beaming chest.

"At last my hard work is rewarded, and this time there seems to be no questionable quid pro quo for my promotion," the new captain rejoiced. "Thank you, my admiral." After the short ceremony, Admiral Sengoku returned to his seat and waited for the girl to do the same, as he seemed not to have finished the conversation.

"Captain," the admiral began in an almost solemn tone, "your first task will be to attend the meeting that will take place at sunset. Although, in truth, it will be a general debriefing of the last battle," Tanya, proud of her promotion and new rank, nodded without batting an eye at her superior's order. After accepting the order, the admiral began to get back into his platoon.

"Sir?" began Tanya shyly as she fluffed her cheeks slightly and softened her eyes to make herself look as cute as possible, hoping to reach the old admiral's paternal umbilical cord. Seeing that the man was ready to listen to her again, Tanya continued. "Yesterday, at the end of the day, I went to see Doctor Fishbonen in sickbay as requested, and after he examined me, he recommended that I take a few days off to give my body time to rest..." The admiral was visibly intrigued and asked the young officer how long Doctor Fishbonen had meant. "About ten days," Tanya replied. Without saying a word, the admiral picked up what looked like a leave application, and after filling in a few blank spaces, he stamped the document heavily before handing it to the young girl with a quick wave of his hand to ask her to leave.

Tanya bowed respectfully and made her way to the door to leave when the admiral called out to her once again. Curious, Tanya slowly turned and stared at her superior. He seemed to hesitate, but then said," Tell me, Captain, who do you think would be the better chief admiral between Admiral Aokiji and Admiral Sakazuki? She was initially surprised by the question and took some time before answering. "I guess he's trying to test my ability to see the potential of my men," the girl finally concluded before giving her answer. "From what I have observed so far," Tanya began, "Admiral Aokiji seems to be held in high regard by the vast majority of our colleagues. He would have no trouble finding allies in our ranks and having men willing to lay down their lives for him. However, I think his overly lax view could be a real obstacle to the success of the Marine's goals."

Before continuing, Tanya took a deep breath and recalled all the previous events that had resulted from this man's orders. "As for Admiral Sakazuki... I sincerely believe that he would have no problem getting results quickly, on the other hand, it could cost many of our men their lives. I think his idea of justice is much too narrow. I do not think many people would follow him, but only a few fanatics..."

The girl watched her superior's reaction, he seemed to consider every word in her analysis. Only after a brief nod did the admiral take the floor again. "Thank you, captain, you can go. And do not forget about the meeting!". Tanya bowed a second time and left the office.

Still puzzled by the admiral's question, the girl turned back to the massive wooden door of the office and thought..." The admiral was really strange today... Especially his last question. It was like he was asking for advice on how to pass on his legacy..." Shrugging, Tanya went to her room to rest until sunset. She planned to enjoy her hard-earned days off.

POV Lieutenant Commander Brandnew.

Brandnew heaved a long sigh as he looked around the still empty briefing room. This was not the first meeting he'd had to hold in front of Marine leadership, but it would be the first in which an admiral would be directly involved. He took one last look around the room to make sure everything was in order.

He took a quick look in the mirror at the back of the room to inspect himself from top to bottom. Brandnew was a tall, tanned man with dark green, curly hair. His sunglasses, given to him by his former supervisor, covered his eyes. He wore an open-necked shirt with blue and white stripes. Epaulets were attached to his shirt. During the Battle of Marineford, most officers had been ordered to wear their epaulets on their uniforms. They had not removed them since the battle.

After completing his inspection, Brandnew went to the board and began to put up the various wanted posters of the major threats identified during the battle. It was not until the last wanted poster was hung that the lieutenant heard the doors open to let in the senior naval officers, who were anxiously awaiting the final report and results of a war that had claimed thousands of lives.

Brandnew watched the senior officers settle down one by one on the two long rows of cushions that had been placed before their arrival. So far, so good, the faces Brandnew recognized were all familiar. He had reserved two seats a little apart from the others in front of the table to make it more comfortable for his superior to listen. The second seat next to him was reserved for the heroine of the Battle of Marineford. Although Brandnew never had the opportunity to meet her, he knew thanks to the information he had received that she was quite a young blonde woman...

Lost in thought, Brandnew had not noticed that two people had appeared at the entrance of the room. All eyes had been directed in their direction. Admiral Sakazuki entered the room without glancing at the other officers and sat down in his assigned seat. What surprised Brandney the most was the person who followed him in his row without saying anything. It was a small blond girl with blue eyes. If she had not been wearing weapons or the typical Marine jacket, Brandley would not have been able to tell she was a member of the Marine.

When he saw the girl sitting next to the admiral, the lieutenant knew immediately that she must be the famous heroine everyone talked about in the halls of Marineford. Everyone here had heard about the exploits of the Marineford heroine. Information about her was quite conflicting among the soldiers. Some placed her on a pedestal and described her deeds as worthy of Vice Admiral Garp, the hero. Others described her as a heartless demon who would take out anyone in cold blood to achieve her goals...

As Brandnew looked at the girl, he could sense that she was less than enthusiastic about attending this meeting. "I did not expect the heroine of Marineford to be so young... And yet ..."

Everything about her appearance struck her as supernatural. From her posture to her demeanor to the words she used to greet her superiors... Nothing about her appearance reminded him of a girl of about ten years.

When everyone was seated, Brandnew began the meeting with the main points he wanted to discuss with his superiors. First, he gave some important figures about the battle, particularly the various losses the Marine had suffered. The human losses were within reasonable limits, considering the strength of the enemy battle. It was fortunate that most of the losses were only dead. On the other hand, the material cost was very high. Whitebeard's seismic attacks caused considerable damage to the island's roads and infrastructure. The Marine released millions of Berrys to fund the repairs, and the world government provided a special fund.

"I will be sending a report directly to your office tomorrow morning with the various costs of this battle," Brandnew concluded. He knew that most of the officers present at this extraordinary meeting had come either out of a sense of duty or to learn about the situation of Whitebeard's crew.

"Enough of the numbers," grumbled an officer sitting in the back of the room, "what about Whitebeard's situation, we have not heard anything about his death yet. Annoyed at being interrupted but not daring to contradict his superior, Brandnew bit his lip to hide his frustration. "I was just getting to that," the lieutenant began, watching his audience.

His gaze wandered for a few moments to the two "VIPs" of the meeting. Admiral Akainu, as usual, had his face completely closed, half covered by his cap. Since the beginning of the meeting, he had said nothing, not even lifted his head. One had the impression that he was patiently waiting for something.

The girl next to him, on the other hand, seemed very attentive. She wrote down everything that seemed to come out of her mouth in a small notebook. Despite her young age, she seemed much more studious than most of the others in the room.

"As Vice Admiral Cheapo said, we have not heard from Whitebeard since the battle, as we have not found his body nor have any information about his survival until this morning." Immediately, several cries of protest and anger rose in the hall. To go so hard against an emperor, suffering many casualties, without a satisfactory result in the end. This was not acceptable to the majority of the officers present in the room.

"Gentlemen, please," Brandnew continued in an authoritative tone as he clarified his voice. "This morning, just before sunrise, we received an anonymous report from one of our fellow citizens that he had seen Whitebeard in a small caravel. According to him, his condition was very worrying, he seemed to be accompanied only by the commander of the second fleet: Marco the Phoenix, who caught him when he fell and evacuated him from the island after his fight with our admirals."

Before he could continue his remarks, a deafening noise rang throughout the room, and all eyes turned to the source. Admiral Sakazuki still had his fist firmly planted on the table, which was already beginning to crack in a few places. Smoke seemed to be rising from his body, but it quickly disappeared.

Most of the officers present, including Brandnew, seemed horrified by the admiral's reaction. The admiral did not have a good reputation among the soldiers; some felt he led his men by force, which was often questioned. Others thought he was extremist in his words. Brandnew glanced at the girl next to him, and to Brandnew's surprise, she did not seem surprised by his reaction. "Why she is not afraid of this man?" wondered Brandnew, impressed by the girl's composure. Then he remembered that she was the heroine of the Great War and must have experienced much worse than the wrath of her superior.

Everyone was anxious to hear what the admiral would do or say, but to everyone's surprise, the admiral left the room, obviously very upset by the news. Brandnew immediately continued speaking as if nothing had happened so as not to lose control of his lecture. "Based on this information, a dozen ships were sent to the area to track down Whitebeard. His capture or death remains a priority, you will all be informed when there is a conclusive result."

Most of the men seemed to agree with the speaker, some pointing out that such a victory would benefit the Marine and allow it to further expand its influence in the world.

The rest of the meeting went smoothly, with Brandnew reciting the latest news and instructions HQ had received from the world government. He also recalled the instructions given to the crew of Shanks the Red. However, he still did not understand why the World Government prohibited the prosecution of this pirate crew. Finally, Brandnew took a sip of his glass of water, which he had prepared before the meeting began, before addressing his audience. "I am available in my office at any time if you have any questions about this meeting. And for those who wish, I can answer some of your questions now."

Seeing that most of the officials had already begun to leave the room, Brandnew began sorting through his papers until he heard a small voice rise above the din.

"What about Blackbeard?"

Lifting his head, Brandnew recognized the young girl who had discreetly approached him to ask the question. "Why exactly are we interested in this pirate?" the lieutenant inwardly asked himself before his professional conscience took over. "Not only has the pirate Marshall D. Teach failed to report and even respond to our mobilization call that we sent to all major privateers, he has also been found guilty of treason for breaking into a heavily protected compound and allowing some very dangerous prisoners to escape. Therefore, the World Government has decided to strip him of the title of Warlord, effective immediately. From now on, he will be treated as a priority target" Brandnew watched the girl's face carefully when she heard this news.

She was silent for a few moments before thanking her and leaving the room, leaving the lieutenant alone with his things. For a moment, Brandnew had the impression of seeing an unhealthy smile on the girl's face. It happened so quickly that he doubted he had really seen it.

POV Tanya Von Degurechaff.

The meeting ended earlier than expected, so Tanya wandered the corridors of the HQ. Sometimes, large openings in the walls created by the last battle gave a glimpse of the city of Marineford. Dozens of reconstruction sites were underway. Everywhere she looked, she saw damaged buildings. But at the moment, she didn't care. As her vacation began, she decided to leave Marineford and travel to the neighboring islands to find a blacksmith who could help her with her projects.

But to do so, she needed permission to leave the island and a boat to travel between the islands. After making inquiries a few days earlier, Tanya knew it would not be difficult to get that permission. All she had to do was go to the personnel office and sign a form requiring soldiers to travel to islands where naval bases were located. The goal was to be able to mobilize at any time if needed.

After receiving her authorization without much difficulty, Tanya made her way to the bay, hoping to embark the same day. Even though she had ten days of leave, she had to allow for travel time. Since there were no airplanes, all trips were made by ship.

When she arrived, she looked around the bay to see if any boats were leaving. They all seemed to be lying firmly on the pontoons of the bay, with no crew on the decks. As Tanya walked around the bay, she noticed a small boat with a few men ready to cast off.

Not wanting to miss the departure, Tanya hurried at full speed in their direction. When she arrived in front of the entrance of this last boat, she noticed that the crew consisted of eight men, not counting the captain, who had stayed on the pontoon to give his instructions. When the man saw the young girl, it took him some time to recognize the rank of the captain on his shoulders, because immediately this last one stood up to greet his superior.

"Good evening, Lieutenant," Tanya began in her own authoritative tone, as if she had just caught the crew in the act. "May I ask why you and your crew are on this ship?"

Piqued by their curiosity, half the crew had abandoned their duties on the ship to observe the scene outside. When Tanya looked up, she noticed that eyes were on her, some of the soldiers showing a face completely tense with fear as they recognized the officer they were dealing with.

Without being intimidated by the girl's authoritative tone, the lieutenant continued speaking, "We are on our way to the Saboady Archipelago, we have received orders to deliver a letter to Admiral Kizaru." Since the girl did not seem convinced by this answer, the lieutenant continued with his explanation. "Admiral Akainu did not want to communicate through DenDenMushi, so he ordered us to take a ship and deliver this letter directly by hand, without opening it, under threat of execution for treason".

Recognizing the extreme methods of her superior, although the contents of the letter aroused her curiosity, she could not decently open it herself. "Very well, it is noted, Lieutenant, I thank you for your answers."

The lieutenant took this last sentence as an invitation to take his leave, bowed respectfully to his superior, and made his way to the bridge to board the ship, which seemed ready to set sail. "One last thing," the young girl called out again, "I have some urgent business on the archipelago, can I go with you?" Tanya asked after the form, in reality the lieutenant had no choice to accept her request, and he knew it. Without even waiting for the last one's answer, Tanya preceded this last one and entered the bridge of the ship.

Without so much as a glance at the soldiers who had moved into position, the young girl walked past them and went to the bow of the ship to set her goals for the coming days.

As she climbed the stairs to the front of the ship, Tanya noticed that there was already a person there, leaning against the ship's security railing and seeming to stare at the new arrivals. It was a young man, rather small for his age compared to his colleagues. He had black hair with purple streaks, violet eyes, and wore a black and white checkered scarf, a white costume, and black and purple shoes. Her outfit had various straps around her arms and legs that looked like fake belts attached to her pant legs and hanging down her sides.

Under her scarf, the collar of her top was visibly ripped. Despite the colorful buttons on the front, it was apparently closed with large metal pins. Behind it, four large purple cross-stitched seams and two more purple buttons can be seen. Two metal chains can be seen on the front and back.

For a moment, Tanya thought she saw all the malevolence in the world appear in his eyes, but it happened so quickly that she doubted she saw it at all. The young man's presence made the atmosphere heavy. Only after they stared at each other for a few seconds did he finally speak in a childlike tone. "Good evening, Captain, do you also come to the bow of the ships to think?" Only after taking a deep breath did the girl turn back to the mysterious stranger to answer him. "Certainly, and should not you be at your post, soldier?"

His superior's reply elicited a small laugh from the young man, who headed toward the stairs to leave the bow. "No, my duty is over, Captain, but you are right, I should not be here, I should join my comrades to rest" A small smile suddenly appeared on his lips. "Tomorrow could be a busy day, although I do not think the contents of this letter are worth the trouble".

"Does he know the contents of the other madman's letter? I absolutely must know the nature of the message, if he is planning a counteroffensive against Whitebeard, we must avoid being summoned at all costs." Seeing that the girl's curiosity was piqued, he continued, "Why would we mobilize eight people to deliver a letter that is about you and Blackbeard?"

As he said these last words, the young man walked down the stairs, leaving Tanya alone with this revelation. "How do they know that I have been in contact with this pirate? Do they know anything about the nature of our exchange?" The girl sorted her thoughts, there was no way they could know the nature of our exchange, besides her and those three pirates, no one was present when she was in the restaurant, unless a demon fruit could retrieve that information...

Many questions ran through the girl's mind, so much so that she did not even notice that the young man had gone back to the bow to retrieve the headgear he had put down at the railing. "By the way, captain, I wanted to see something."

"Hum," Tanya replied thoughtfully.

With a broad, sinister smile, the young man answered her as he put back on a black officer's cap with a skull and crossbones design and the Marine logo

"That was just a lie...".