(Ross POV)
Looking at the chaos, Ross was honestly happy that his captain hadn’t decided to join in on the ‘fun’ like his peers. They had no business being there, much like the other rookie pirates did not. Though, it did seem like this was something the other supernova captains had recognized as well because they had responded by leaving their respective crews to guard their ships and taking only a crew member or two along into the thick of it. And even then, most of them didn’t delve too deeply into the fray and as a rule, elected to fight the marines on the edges of the battle. Though of course, where there was a rule, there were exceptions.
Trafalgar Law was sprinting back to his vessel at breakneck speed, only stopping to…move one of Whitebeard’s commanders into Doflamingo’s way in an attempt to distract the bastard. On the other hand, Jewelry Bonney was still engaging Bartholomew Kuma with the help of a giant walking head on legs. Though to be honest, Ross thought it looked less like she was trying to hit him and more like she was trying to hug the Warlord and get a piggyback ride. For his part, Eustass Kidd had been staying on the edges, though that had little to do with him seeking weaker opponents. Now that he was done, none of the metal robots that had given Ross’s friends so much trouble remained on the ice.
And as for Urouge? He was leisurely returning to his ship, all whilst dragging an unconscious giantess behind him like a modern age caveman.
Ross wasn't quite sure why the big guy was so relaxed. It was not as if Urouge had gotten off scott free from their encounter on Sabaody. He had the same target on his back that the Bellamy Pirates had. Wouldn’t it be normal then, to at least be a little more worried? Even as careful as the Bellamy Pirates had been, a bloody Admiral almost boarded the Black Pearl. Not that Ross had seen him or been aware of the danger, but Aisa had claimed it happened and after St. Poplar, nobody was ignoring her senses. Which meant that all of them had almost died without even noticing!
We didn’t. We’re fine. The captain handled it. We’re fine. We’re alive. We’re fine. We. Are. Fine.
He had to take controlled breaths. Slow and steady. Slow and steady. There was no need to let the others see.
Today had been an outlier. Having an admiral come after you like this was only possible if you were near Marineford or endangered a world noble…again. The odds of that happening couldn’t be that high. After today, surely the captain wasn’t going to come back here again. He couldn’t. Hopefully. There was no way his captain was that reckless.
After all, if someone wanted proof of this, one just had to look at how Bellamy was staying out here on the open sea. Where it was safe. Deep breaths.
Everything was fine. And it even looked like things were starting to wrap up now. Which meant, that they could be out of here soon and could kiss this terrifying place goodbye. Everything was fine.
"Hey, Ross? I'm heading in."
"...?"
Captain!?!?
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(Izou POV)
“Everyone back to the ships! Board the marine vessels if you need to!” They’d done it. They’d paid a horrible price in blood, but they’d done it. “We’re getting out of here!”
All that was left was to sail home and celebrate, both the lives of fallen friends and Ace’s rescue. Naturally, the marines were adamant about not letting them go, but that was what the rearguard was there for.
Unloading another round at Vice Admiral Strawberry, Izou nimbly danced out of his reach, tauntingly close but always just a single step ahead. And while the enraged marine lost himself in his single-minded pursuit of Izou’s own beautiful head, the sixteenth division commander generously distributed his ammunition amongst his pursuers to force the marine lines away from his retreating comrades. This was why guns were the best weapons, much more versatile and useful than a boring standard-issue saber.
“Onto the paddle boat!” Izou called out, clobbering another captain who got a little too close with the butt of his pistol, before having to dodge and roll. Damn, now his clothes were smudged.
“Do you know what you’ve done, pirate?” If Strawberry’s face were any more livid, he would probably not have any blood left for the rest of his body. Though seriously, if they were having a contest, it was not the marine who had a cause to be angry.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” Izou shot back. “This kimono is an authentic Wano! You have no idea how sensitive they are to improper dry-cleaning!”
They tried to execute his brother, not on the grounds of anything he’d done, but purely because of his biological bloodline. Not only that, but they had also brazenly tried to use his death as a publicity stunt.
“You…you…you bloody pirate!” the Vice Admiral spluttered in outrage, bodychecking Izou, who didn't resist and lightened the blow by flowing with it to gain some distance. “You are robbing the world of justice!”
“Where’s the justice for my kimono? This is the first time I wore it and look at it now!” A stupid publicity stunt. And an open challenge to Pops as well, one they knew he wouldn’t ignore. Oh, they had always known this was supposed to be a trap, meant to lead Whitebeard to his death. This was an inescapable deathtrap, but none of them had cared about that, with the entire armada deciding to follow their captain here anyway.
For Whitebeard was a man who made miracles happen.
“This was the chance to bring an end to decades of chaos! For peace and order!” Interlocking his pistols to block the man’s downward swing, Izou smoothly shifted his weight before kicking the surprised man in his unguarded side. Just because he liked guns, didn’t mean he couldn’t use anything else you know.
“It’s not just irreversibly stained, it’s frayed!” Miracles like getting them all out of here. Izou briefly choked when flashes of Oars appeared before his eyes, but he pushed them aside. There would be time for mourning later once they were safe.
“The world shall be plunged back into darkness because of you!” Strawberry roared, a large hematoma forming where his rage had ruptured some of his blood vessels. “And you’re complaining about something as asinine as dirty clothes!”
Thankfully, it looked like they would manage to pull their bacon out of the fire once more. Sengoku was down for the moment, Kizaru hadn’t been seen for a while and Garp was laid out flat on his back, though whether he was truly unconscious was up to debate. Izou didn’t think he would be able to leave a scratch on the man so the idea that a rookie could knock him out was ludicrous.
“Fashion is never asinine, you uncultured fruitcake!” This left only the two admirals, Akainu and Aokiji…and a few of the royal warlords as opponents of whom they had to be seriously wary off. Though of the latter, the group seemed to have fragmented. “No wonder your coat clashes horribly with that suit.”
Gecko Moria was being stomped into the ground, frantically trying to prevent himself from being dragged into the water by Jinbe. All around him were piles of unconscious marines who have had their shadows cut and stolen, not that it seemed to have helped the man any. But fortunately for the marines, the sky was overcast and covered in a thick layer of dark clouds, preventing the light of the sun from turning them into dust.
“This coat is mark of pride! A dedication to justice!”
After decking Akainu in the face, Crocodile had gone to ground and the mad dog had let him go, more focused on getting past Pops. Much like Doflamingo who had disappeared, chasing the rookie Trafalgar Law.
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“It’s a travesty! Are you merely blind or is your sense of fashion so stunted as to be non-existent?” Izou sniffed, turning his nose up as if he’d smelled something repugnant. “I suggest changing your color scheme. It might let you graduate beyond being eyesore at least...”
A little ways away, Hancock was sitting all pretty – Izou really wanted to dress her up – after having just finished turning every combatant in her near vicinity into stone. He did idly note that the vast majority of the statues were marines, for which he was grateful. But for the life of him, Izou couldn't understand what had gotten into the beautiful but deadly woman. Maybe this what was meant by women being unpredictable?
“Your flippant attitude proves once more why we cannot allow you to go free. You and all of yours will die here.” Sadly, it seemed like Strawberry had finally managed to successfully reign in his emotions. It was a pity, as Izou had been hoping to keep the man distracted a bit longer. Case in point, the Vice Admiral was starting to coordinate with his fellow marines to surround Izou.
Fine then, this just meant less marines were chasing his friends.
They wanted to play? Izou could play.
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(Bellamy POV)
I remember the scenes of the show immediately after Ace’s release being an emotional high. All the sacrifices, all the struggles…all of it had been worth it. The wayward son was returning to his father’s arms and he was doing it in style. Especially the part where he countered Aokiji’s ice pheasant had given me goosebumps. Then, like any fan of the show knew, Oda decided that Luffy needed character development.
I had hated it.
And now, I had a chance to change that. It was stupid and terribly risky and anybody with a lick of reason would tell me so. But sometimes a self insert must do what a self insert must, namely to try and change the narrative. Not to mention that saving Ace was going to solidly put me into the good graces of Whitebeard’s remnants and more importantly, Shanks.
The plan was simple. Sneak up behind Ace and wait until Akainu started taunting him. Then, while he was distracted, slap my pair of seastone cuffs on him and get the hell out of dodge. A combination of soru, my coil chassis and if need be Sarquiss' flight should be enough speed for what I had in mind. Plus I could probably trust Whitebeard to cover my back. Originally, I hadn’t even considered going anywhere near there, but with Kizaru out of the picture, Sengoku temporarily out of commission and Whitebeard doing much better in this timeline, it seemed like a risk worth taking.
Which was why I had made my way ashore with only Sarquiss coming along as support. My first mate didn’t have to come, but he volunteered saying that he couldn’t, in good conscience, let me go alone. In hindsight, I should have left him behind. Honestly, I was very touched and grateful for his loyalty and support. However, that didn’t mean I wanted him around when Doflamingo dropped by to say hello.
“Hello, Bellamy-kun. Fancy seeing you here.” He grinned at me. “Aren’t you going to say hello? You wouldn’t want to be rude, would you?”
“Of course not. Good day to you.” This was very different from when I last saw him on Water Seven. There, I had done him a favor, showing that I was a surprisingly useful pawn. That wasn’t the case today.
“I don’t remember teaching rudeness to my underlings, but alas some just never learn. Much like this guy.” He bemoaned, lightly shaking the body slung over his shoulder for emphasis. “Just popped by to flip me the bird before running off. Even threw Namur in my face, can you believe it?”
If I had been Law, I probably would have wanted to do a lot more than that. Though, if he could already switch the positions of other living beings, that begged the question of why Law didn’t simply switch Doffy with a fish under Aokiji’s ice. Or a chunk of ice, I wasn’t picky.
“Namur?” When you had nothing good to say, echoing your conversational partner was always an option. This worked particularly well on people with histrionic characters, who were prone to grandstanding and monologues. Or to put it another way, people like Doflamingo.
“One of Whitebeard’s commanders. It’s very upsetting you know, to be served such underprepared sushi.” The feathered Warlord said, making tut-tut-tut sounds. “Though, being the helpful man I am, I helped out a little. Plated it all nice before serving sushi on ice to the masses. Fufufufu.”
…that was terrifying.
And I was not talking about Doffy being able to take out Namur, which I hadn’t doubted for a second. Doffy was a solid contender for the title as the strongest of the Seven Warlords, while Namur had failed to leave a strong impression on me in the show. Assuming that he was average amongst Whitebeard’s commanders, his chances against Doffy were hardly going to be better than those of “Water Buffalo” Atmos. Additionally, if he was caught off guard by Law’s switcheroo…well, game over. No, what was scary was the way Doffy had lackadaisically described the fishman’s fate. I hadn't seen it and I didn't want to see it, but it was not implausible that Namur had been literally turned into sushi-sized slices.
“And I would have expected nothing else.” Well maybe not the sushi bit but the cruelty was right up Doffy’s alley.
“Fufufufu, I’m amazing I know. But Bellamy-kun,” his grin got just that little sharper. “Is that…sass I’m picking up?”
“I’m pretty sure Doflamingo doesn’t get sass.” Now this could be taken at least two ways, but the interpretation I was hoping he would choose was that the reputation of Doflamingo was so great that nobody would dare backtalk him and it would be embarrassing if someone did because that would mean his reputation wasn't as great as he was claiming it to be. So, let us both say I was not.
That I was actually sassing him need not be said, but in diplomacy it was all about the packaging.
“You’re absolutely right, fufufufu. I don’t get sass because I’ve killed everyone who tried.” i.e., I know what you’re trying and that’s pretty ballsy of you. “Except family. Family is an exception as you well know.”
“Everyone knows how much Doflamingo values family.” Am I still part of your organization or are you cutting me loose?
“Which means you are aware of how I deal with threats to my family.” I'm cutting you lose.
“You neutralize the threat.” This was less clearcut than saying he killed them, leaving me a bit more wiggle room. And he knew this too, when judging by how his smile widened a fraction. “But who could threaten you?”
“The world nobles want your head for killing one of their own.” Well, that didn't have any double meanings at all.
“I’m sure they do.” Will you hand me over to them to save your own skin? Don’t you hate them?
“Personally, I applaud you for sticking it to the pompous bastards. I liked it, really I did. You stirred up the nest right and proper with so much delicious chaos. Same with your stunt here. Beautifully executed. Absolutely fabulous. Almost couldn't have done better myself.” My focus zeroed in onto his right hand, the one not holding onto Law. “But you really are too much trouble to keep around, you know? It’s nothing personal.”
A ray of light, a brief sheen and my arm shot out to grab hold of a string before it could connect to Sarquiss’ head.
“It’s just business, then?” I asked, though this was essentially just a formality. I wasn’t going to win, but gods I was going to make him work for it.
“Exactly, Bellamy-kun.” Doflamingo’s grin widened further until it was practically splitting his face in half. “Consider this your notice of termination.”
Sarquiss swung a fist at me.