Chapter 43: Surprise

Buggy's jaw was dropped as he stared at his old crewmate, the former first mate of the Roger Pirates; Dark King Rayleigh. He looked the same as always, arrogant bastard. "Hello, Buggy." He greeted the former apprentice.

Buggy felt like that scared shitless thirteen year old boy once again. His bones quivered, his muscles begged to be released from the stress he was putting on them as his fight or flight mode was about to be engaged. This was one of the few men who could see past his bullshit and call him out on it. Quickly pushing down his instincts, Buggy swallowed the whimper threatening to come out. "Rayleigh." He greeted as he pinched his arm and pushed down hard on his instincts once again.

"Rayleigh!" Luffy greeted the man like he was a long lost friend and for a moment Rayleigh saw Roger's image overlap the young man's form.

Rayleigh looked over the motley crew Luffy had with him. Pressing his haki outward he could sense a few haki potential's and a couple haki users even. He looked at the former cabin boy and wasn't too shocked to feel how strong his haki was. Buggy couldn't use Conquerors haki but he could use Observation and by the feel, perhaps even Armament.

Good. The boy is a competent man. He thought as he quickly turned his attention towards the others. "Jinbe. Crocodile." He greeted the two former warlords. "Luffy, I'm impressed by who you've gathered."

Luffy pointed at Buggy. "Buggy helped." He stated gaining a growl frown the blue haired man.

"HELPED!?" He yelled at the boy. "I got more people than you did!"

Luffy cocked his head at him. "Really?" He questioned.

"Yes!" Buggy screamed at him. "Geesh."

Rayleigh chuckled. It was good to see that the blue haired man hadn't changed since he was a teen. "Alright Luffy, I came." Rayleigh said. "What do you need from me."

Luffy grinned. "I need you to go wild like you use to."

Rayleigh's eyes widened. "I haven't gone wild since-"

"Since Roger's death?" Luffy asked. "Sure taking out a few slavers here and there keeps everyone aware that you're around but it doesn't send a message."

"And what message do you want to send?" Rayleigh asked though he could already see it in the young captain's eyes.

"That you don't touch those that are MINE." Luffy stated everyone gave a gasp at the hint of Conquerors haki lacing the last word. "Ace is Roger's child. Everyone has failed him in his life except for me and 'Bo because he is our brother. I'm not failing him now."

So Portgas D. Ace really is Rogue and Roger's kid. Rayleigh thought as he looked at Luffy. His eyes turned towards Buggy who had a Marine captain's jacket on his shoulders looking every part of a menace he remembered him to be. "And what say you to this, Buggy?"

All eyes turned towards the man. "They took everything Roger had and destroyed it." Buggy stated. "Including his name." Many of men took pity on him for those words. "However, his kids survived and I say we do everything to ensure they continue to thrive despite those bastards wanting to kill Ace." His lips spread into a wide D. "I say we give them a reason to fear us for touching that boy. Roger may be dead, but those of us who carry on his will are not." For fucks sake, where the hell did that speech come from? Buggy thought in a deadpanned voice. The whole ship began cheering at the speech.

Oh? Rayleigh thought. When did this boy get a backbone? A glint entered his eyes. "Very well. It's been awhile since I've had a chance to let loose."

"Shishishi." Luffy laughed. "Your job is simple." Rayleigh raised a brow at him. "We're not going around the barricade that the Marines most likely have set up."

"Not around?" Mr. 3 asked from beside Buggy.

"Oh, no." Buggy said feeling dread building up inside him.

Crocodile's laugh, which consisted of a dry chuckle, "He He He." Had everyone looking at the ex-warlord, fear slowly churning in their stomachs.

Luffy's lips spread into a D shape. "We're going through it."

As Ace and Sabo brought the Rogue out of the bowels of the Moby, Ace was shocked to see the ships of all fourteen commanders in the harbor of Banero Island. Sabo touched his brother's shoulder as he could sense the other becoming emotional. "They're all here." Ace gasped.

"Of course they are." Sabo told him as if it was the most natural thing to say. "You're an important member of their family and both you and that samurai were under attack for the last two days. I'm surprised that Whitebeard hasn't begun a war over this yet."

"No." Ace shook his head. "I'm not-"

"If you say you're not worth this I'm going to hit you over the head with my pipe." Sabo threatened as he growled in frustration at his older brother.

Ace looked over his shoulder at him. "'Bo." He whispered as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

The sound of Whitebeard's weapon staff hitting the ground as he climbed the steps to the upper deck of the Moby was heard causing Ace to look up. He hoped his Pops couldn't sense him and prayed he was caught. His eyes scanned the Marine fleet as he sought out a single ship, the one with the Magma user, Akainu was on. The ship wasn't hard to find, the man was like a neon sign, smoking up the ship as he stood on deck, but then he spotted the other two admiral ships in the harbor; Kizaru and Aokiji were both there as well.

"We have a problem'Bo." He stated. "We have Kizaru and Aokiji here too."

"Give me a second." Sabo said as he pulled a mini denden snail out of his jacket. "Koala, tell me you have the sniper in sight."

"Oh, I've got a better one for you." She answered the young woman under her was unconscious. "She and her entire unit are unconscious and tied up at the moment. I currently have her weapon in hand." She grinned. "I may not be a sniper but I want this!" She squealed.

Hack's chuckle was heard causing Ace to raise a brow at the deeper laugh. "Sabo, I think we need to get her trained with snipers next."

Sabo facepalmed. She's deadly as it is. He thought. She doesn't need a rifle too. He groaned inwardly. "I've got three admirals outside. Kizaru, Akainu and Aokiji."

"They're not pulling their punches." Hack stated. "We might be able to handle one but not all three."

"Ace and I are taking Akainu, he killed Ace's crew." Sabo stated. "I just need someone to distract the other two."

"Aokiji." The two Revolutionaries said in unison. "We're already on his ship." Hack added.

Ace snorted. "Then who will fight-"

"Lindbergh." Sabo assured him. "Where is he?"

"Waiting for the signal." Koala said cheekily. "He doesn't want to get too close to Akainu."

"He might be the only one who can hold off Kizaru for a little while." Sabo said before ending the call with his friends before dialing Lindbergh's number.

"Yes?" Lindbergh hissed into his denden.

"Lindbergh, I've got a plan." Sabo said causing the mink's ears to flatten on his head. It was never a good thing when Sabo started a sentence with those words.

As Edward Newgate, aka Whitebeard, came to the top of the staircase to the top deck he glanced at Akainu. "It's been a long while, Sakazuki Akainu."

The man across the way growled at the audacity of the old pirate. "Hand over that boy and I may consider letting you leave." Akainu's bartered. It was a false hope. He wasn't planning on letting Whitebeard leave here not since they had called everyone to this place.

"You and I both know that is a lie." Whitebeard said calling the admirals bluff. "That boy is my son, and like all my sons, I will fight for him."

"That boy hold no blood to you." Akainu growled. "He has Gold Roger's blood in him. He is the final representation of the tyrant that, that man was."

"Sorry, I don't know that name." Whitebeard grinned. "I do know of a Gol D. Roger, and that man was anything but a tyrant. You dogs of the government wish to eliminate all who remind you of the past, first by changing names and then trying to kill off innocent children who are nothing like their fathers." He slammed his weapon onto the deck of his ship. "Ace is my son! I'll fight for his right to exist!" Pulling his arms close to himself, Whitebeard was hen threw them to the sides. Cracks formed in his the air as he activated his devil fruit. The water of the harbor rose hundreds of feet into the air.

The Marines gasped in fear as the waves gained his height. Any higher and the old pirate would create a tsunami that could and would overwhelm the island, drowning all of the inhabitants.

Marco stood with his brothers waiting for their chance. "Everyone in this world knows what will happen to someone who messes with our family, yoi." Marco clutched his arm to calm himself. "You're not only went after Ace; but you went after Izou." He narrowed his eyes at Akainu. "We won't let anyone who hurts our brothers get away with it!" The whole crew cheered in agreement.

Aokiji groaned. "We brought this upon ourselves."

"It's too late for regrets." Akainu's told him with a snarling tone.

"This is going to be hideous." Kizaru bemoaned.

On the other side of the island Luffy and his companions arrived in time to see the waters rise on the other side of the island. As they came around the cove, Luffy saw the first of the Marine ship. "Prepare the canons!" He yelled before turning towards Rayleigh, Jinbe and Crocodile. The three men walked towards the front of the ship towards the figurehead. Rayleigh pulled his sword from its sheath the Ama no Mutakumo sang for the first time in years as Rayleigh flew from the ship as his haki engaged, cutting the first Marine ship in half as those aboard with weak wills fell unconscious. The second ship to his right imploded as a sandstorm tore at the ship, draining it of moisture before the wooden boards gave way. The third ship was suddenly overrun by sea creatures as Jinbe called the local beasts to their aid.

"Whoa!" Luffy yelled, stars appearing in his eyes at that ability.

Jinbe laughed at him. "I figure the locals could handle one small ship."

"He calls that a small ship?" Buggy asked.

"It's bigger than ours." Mr. 3 said with unrestrained aw.

Buggy quickly jumped to the ship railing edge and threw Rayleigh a rope so he didn't have to swim back as they quickly passed through the barricade. He then fingered the hidden Buggy balls he had quickly made from the gunpowder he had found in the armory. The knives on his belt were ready to be used.

So as Rayleigh climbed back onboard the ship as they approached the harbor he wasn't too surprised to see Buggy sweating nervously. "You always were a nervous sweater." He stated.

Buggy narrowed his eyes at his former teacher. "Yeah, well I have you to thank for that." He groused. "You left Shanks and I on that godforsaken island for three months. We barely survived!"

"You activated your Observation though." Rayleigh jibed.

"That ability is the only reason I'm still alive." he growled before noticing a ship heading towards them even though it was still quite a distance from them. "Damn it." He looked towards the closest person. "You! Hand me a spyglass!"

The man nodded. "Yes sir, Captain Buggy!" The man ran off to find one and came back quickly.

Taking it from the man, Buggy looked through the glass and gasped. It wasn't just one ship, there were dozens. "I think Whitebeard called all of his allies." He then began looking for the jolly roger of the head ship. He suddenly let out a groan. "Strike that. It's that bastard." He growled. "Why's he here?!"

Rayleigh took the spyglass from Buggy and smirked. Oh, this is going to be interesting. The jolly roger was a realistic looking skull with crossed sabres behind it, two red stripes with black outlines diagonally cross the skull's left eye socket. Shanks.

Not hearing Buggy's complaints, Luffy engaged Gear 3 by blowing his arm up, engaging armament, he slammed his gigantic fist into the side of the next ship that was in their way. "Gomu, Gomu, Titan Canonball!" The ship was completely obliterated. A huge hole in its side allowed their ship to sail through the one he had just destroyed.

The crew's jaws dropped. Again, just who was this Monkey D. Luffy? No human should be able to do that.

Buggy looked at the young captain as they sailed through the hole. "Kid," he said causing Luffy to look at him calmly. "you're scaring me."

"Shishishi." Luffy laughed.

From across the sea, on the Red Force, Shanks watched from his spyglass as Luffy destroyed the Marine ship with a single blow. "Seems like the kid has gotten stronger." Beckman said with a grin as he loaded his shotgun. He was actually excited for this fight. It'd been awhile since they'd fought someone worth fighting.

"This fight could go sideways so quickly." Shanks told him.

"Boss?" Yassop called. "I don't think those folks are Luffy's crew." He hadn't seen his son onboard.

"Maybe the rumors are true then." Beckman stated. "Warlord Kuma really did do something to the kids crew."

"Let's hope not." Shanks said causing Beckman to raise a brow. "If this is how Luffy reacts to his brother being under threat, I don't think the world would survive if his crew is threatened or worse."

Aokiji jumped high into the air flung out the cold compressed air at the giant waves. The air quickly turned everything to ice. Landing the admiral prepared for Whitebeard's next move.

"Aokiji." As Whitebeard said the man's name he grinned. "You young squirt of Garp's." He then slammed his fist against an invisible wall of air which was directed at Aokiji's ship. The water in the bay suddenly froze as the ship rose high from the attack. Once the ship was frozen, Aokiji gasped at the speed of the old pirate.

"My, my." He said with a shocked tone. "He's faster than we've been led to believe."

Ace gasped as the remaining water in the bay suddenly turned to ice. "Can the Rogue sail through ice?" Sabo asked, half joking. Ace grinned which caused Sabo to swallow hard. "You're kidding me."

"Hang on brother." Ace said with a feral grin. Ace's body lit with a fiercely bright blue light as he activated his hottest temperature. "Combustion Blue Flame!" Unlike before where it had been a wall of blue flames creating a blast zone, these flames shot out of his hand, melted the ice sheet and hit Akainu's ship. The flames quickly spread around the large Marine Flagship in seconds. The blue flames couldn't be extinguished no matter what, as Aokiji quickly realized as he tried using his devil fruit on them only for the blue flames to shoot out hotly at him, burning the ice users right arm.

"Ace!" Whitebeard yelled

"Ace!" His brothers yelled

Ace grinned. "What? Did you really think I'd sit back and let all my brothers have all the fun?" He asked them. "Akainu! You killed my crew! As the second division officer I won't let that slide!" He growled out as the magma user suddenly jumped from the burning ship, not caring about the men and women dying behind him. The admiral landed on an ice shelf to the side of the burning ship. "Consider that alone as an act of war between you and I."

Akainu grinned. "I was wondering if you'd come out or hide under Whitebeard's petticoat all day."

Petti- Sabo's eyes widened. "Really? He's trying to get you to react Ace. Don't let him-" Sabo began only for him to notice Ace wasn't taking the bait.

"Don't worry 'Bo, I'm not that big of an idiot." Ace assured his twin.

Eh? Sabo wondered incredulously. Since when?

Luffy frowned. Something didn't feel right. His skin itched. Fingers twitching, he placed his hand over his chest. It's doing that thing again. He thought as he felt his heart beating to a tune of a drum. Why? He was brought out of his thoughts when someone yelled out.

"There's a wall of ice up ahead!"

Rayleigh chuckled. "Oh? That must mean Admiral Aokiji is nearby."

"An admiral?" Buggy asked as he tried to push down his fears.

"I knew it was a possibility." Luffy stated. "The article stated that Admiral Akainu was hunting Ace at this island. I also know the warlords are also here doing the same, but I honestly didn't think there'd be another admiral around."

"Hmm." Rayleigh hummed as he thought of their next move.

"I wish we could go faster." He then chuckled. "If we had the Sunny we could do a Coup de Burst and fly through that damn wall."

"Fly?" Buggy questioned as dread built up again.

"Through?" Mr. 3 asked

"IT!" Everyone yelled with fear.

"Well there is a way to do that, but it means destroying the ship." Rayleigh told him.

"Shishishi." Luffy laughed. "Okay."

"WHAT!?" The crew cried out in fear.

Eh? Iva thought, his mind blanking. This kid is crazier than Dragon! "Oh dear."

Rayleigh began ordering all of the crew to find all of the explosives they could and place them at the back of the ship. "You ever do something like this before?" Luffy asked the older man.

"Once, well before Roger and I found our two cabin boys." He chuckled. "Truthfully we calmed down quite a bit once we found those two before they came along we and the crew were the craziest shits on the sea." He grinned. "Those were the days."

Buggy blinked at his teachers words. "Fucking liar." He accused him. "You were crazy shits when we were kids too! Captain was always doing something crazy or idiotic!"

"I held him back though." Rayleigh assured him.

"BULLSHIT!" Buggy screamed. Rayleigh just smiled as Luffy burst out laughing. Buggy blinked as he turned and saw that someone had lit the tail end of an explosive. He turned to face the idiot only to be face to face with Crocodile.

"Better hang onto something Clownboy." He jibed at the jester.

Buggy's jaw dropped. "WHAT!?"

The explosion resounded in the bay sending the one half of the ship forward at an immense speed that it acted like a honing missile and hit the ice wall, went through it and came out the other side.

On the other side of the wall the fighting had begun. Ace and Sabo both were headed towards Akainu's as the Marine soldiers fought the pirates. The three admirals were about to converge upon the two brothers when suddenly from the sky debris fell from a ship. A moment from all five had them looking upwards.

"Oh?" Kizaru gasped. "Is that a ship from the blockade?"

Screams suddenly filled the air above them as dozens upon dozens of spots appeared in the distance.

"I told you this wasn't a good idea!"

"He winked!"

"Don't blame me!"

Voices echoed above them all. Ace's jaw dropping as he saw that yes it was a ship and no those weren't cannonballs they were people falling! Amongst them was the all familiar laughter. "Shishishi!"

"L-Luffy?" He stuttered.

"No way!" Sabo yelled in disbelief.

"Oh!" Luffy just remembered something. "I'm made from rubber this won't be too bad!"

"Speak for yourself!" Mr. 3 screamed in horror.

"I don't want to die like this!" Iva yelled. "Somebody stop me!"

"I shouldn't have listened to you Strawhat!" Buggy screamed out.

Drawing his sword, Rayleigh released a massive amount of haki causing those he was about to crush to fall unconscious as his will overpowered theirs. He landed on a mountain of unconscious marine soldiers. Only a second later was he engaged by a surprising enemy. "Hello Mihawk." He chuckled as the warlord brought down his sword onto Rayleigh's the release of haki from both superior swordsman was unfathomable. Those around the two soon fell unconscious as their wills were soon overwhelmed.

The crashing of the skip, followed by debris landing in front of them had a shockwave hitting the three admirals and two brothers, pushing the two groups away from each other. When the dust settled a feral Luffy stood on the ice with a part of the main mast pole in his hands that he was planning to use as a club. "Yo, Ace, Sabo." He greeted his brothers who stared in shock at him. "Let's show these bastards what happens when they mess with the ASL brotherhood." Suddenly the two shocked brother's faces both went feral.

"Ah." Sabo agreed as he pulled his glove with his mouth to tighten it before grasping his seastone pipe weapon.

"Agreed." Ace said as both of his fists lit up with his flames, one red and the other blue.

Across the battlefield a Phoenix soared and the battle began with renewed vigor.

M-Angel: Ah the battle is FINALLY here! I'll try to do it justice. I promise!