– Bellamy –
Argent Isle was a beautiful place, covered in lush green forests surrounding a picturesque central mountain range. Or it had been until prospectors discovered what was touted to be the largest deposit of silver this side of the Red Line. And just like that, the fate of the island was sealed. The population doubled within the first three years, then again in the three years after that. Within a generation’s turn, what had once been a collection of sleepy villages had turned into a bustling mining town, aptly named Silverstadt.
For the residents, the initial decade was a golden age of ever increasing prosperity, as they grew rich and wealthy from the unending flow of precious metals being extracted underground, before being refined in giant facilities on the outskirts of Silverstadt and turned into exquisite symbols of luxury by the town’s many silversmiths. That all this progress came at the cost of the once idyllic environment was of no concern to anybody. Who cared about the environmental impact when there was money to be made?
The island coming into view over the horizon was a barren rock, a far cry from what it once had been, every tree having long since been turned into fuel. The island’s main settlement stood out like a sore thumb, the thick smog clearly marking its location. It had obviously seen better days. Perhaps exemplary of the fall from grace, the formerly pristine enamel walls were covered in dust and soot while the roads were overgrown with weeds. You would be hard-pressed to find a single building that didn’t have the paint peeling from its walls. The one exception to this was the harbor we sailed into, which itself was fairly well-maintained, though the workers seemed listless as they went about their duties.
The question was why. The island was ostensibly under the direct control and protection of the navy, who took a reasonably small share of the profits in protection fees, but which should not nearly have been enough to beggar the town. Even as we watched, another cart full of silver ore trundled through the gates to be divided and distributed within the town, proof of the mine’s continued productivity.
I suppose the obvious suspects would be Byron’s old crew. They could have used the window of opportunity afforded to them by the Summit War to briefly occupy the island once the local garrison had been reduced to a skeleton crew. Considering that they weren’t going to be around for very long, they wouldn’t have had any compunctions about wringing the local residents dry.
But this didn't fully explain the state of the town. From what Disco told me, Byron’s old crew only arrived in the general Sabaody Area three months ago, which was not nearly enough time for a town to degrade this badly. Especially as the buildings, despite their decrepit state, did tell a tale of a people who once valued beauty in their architecture.
So, again. Why?
“Aisa, do you sense anything?” I asked, though I wasn't sure what she should be sensing. General ill will? Hostility? Fear?
“There are two strong people on the island.” She answered after a brief moment of concentration. “But they aren’t in the town.”
“Where are they then?”
“Down there.” Turning my head to look at where she was pointing, I saw the giant entrance to the Mines of Silverstadt. Well, that could be an issue.
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– Izou –
“I’d like to mention that I object to this plan.” Sarquiss said, holding up a hand. “I’m a hornet. I don’t do well underground.”
“Didn’t you do just fine in that bar on Hannabal?” Mani asked, tilting her head to one side. “If I remember correctly that wasn’t a sunny place on a mountainside either. And the actual gathering place for the Dead End Race was literally under a rock.”
Izou wasn't a stranger to meetings, as they were kind of part and parcel with being a division commander of the Whitebeard pirates. Thinking about his Father and his deceased friends always brought a brief pang to his heart, but Izou forcefully squished those feelings into a small out of the way corner. It wouldn’t do to dwell on them now and his Father wouldn't have wanted him to either.
“That was a bar and even then, my carapace was crawling like crazy. Here, we are talking about a warren of tunnels much deeper underground with much less structural integrity. It’s a lot worse.”
Anyway, the manner in which the meetings were held by the Bellamy Pirates was a little different from what he had expected. Oh sure, they had the same central table around which the important members of the crew were seated, which coincidentally included all of them. Even their haki instructor was present and accounted for, notably without any cuffs. Izou himself wasn't quite sure how to feel about the man’s situation, as while prisoners weren’t unknown to the Whitebeard pirates, forcibly keeping someone around prior to recruitment wasn’t something…
...
............
…...................wait a moment, that sounded hauntingly familiar. Come to think of it, didn’t they do something similar to Ace when he first joined up? Bring an unconscious potential recruit on board and sail off into the distance, preventing him from leaving by any means necessary with repeated application of the stick to break his rebellious tendencies combined with a deluge of friendliness until he changed his mind? Well, Ace turned out OK, for a loose definition of the word, so Izou supposed it was fine. Also, he really should stop being sidetracked so easily.
“I agree with Sarquiss. What if those tunnels collapse? We’d be trapped who knows how deep underground with no way out.”
“Relax a bit, Ross. The locals have been using the mines for decades at this point and that without a single reported accident or cave in.”
“The keywords being ‘reported accidents’, Hewitt.” Ross countered. “And statistically, even if there hasn’t been one until now, it just means that it is high time for an accident to happen.”
“Since when do you know anything about statistics?”
“You trying to say something, Hewitt?”
“I don’t know, you tell me. Is that a functioning head on your shoulders or an empty decoration?”
Even the occasional insults and head-buttings were familiar. They were pirates after all, and they were by nature a rambunctious lot.
“Muret, calm them down please?”
“Yes, captain.”
“Not the needle! NOT THE NEEDLE!”
“SOMEONE SAVE ME!”
“Come back here and take it like a man!”
What wasn’t familiar was how at ease every crew member felt in voicing their opinions. Sure, the Whitebeard Pirates didn’t have such a rigid hierarchy either, but most of the time, it was only the senior members who had anything to say, if they had got the chance to say anything at all. Most of the time, any decisions that had to be made were either made by Whitebeard or during a commander’s conference.
One might be inclined to think that this was a side effect of having a smaller crew (really there was no comparison to be made between a crew 1600 strong and one with less than 20 members), but Izou had seen plenty of smaller pirate crews in his time, and most of them had even stricter hierarchal structures than the Whitebeards did. It was usually inevitable, as otherwise the captains usually didn’t have the amount of gravitas needed to maintain order.
“But according to Aisa, they are all hiding in the mines. How are we going to help Byron get closure if we don’t go find them?” Rivers piped up from the sidelines.
“We could smoke them out?”
“That’s unrealistic, unfortunately. With how massive the tunnel systems are, we’d need an ungodly amount of firewood for that, green wood preferably for greater amounts of smoke. But Mani, you’ve seen the island haven’t you?” Eddy replied, getting nods from around the table. And two twitches from Muret’s patients.
Yet despite the occasional bit of chaos, the discussion was organized and smooth without people having to raise their voices or shout someone into submission in order to be heard. And while the captain seemed to only have a minor role in the debate itself, the discussion was obviously being directed by Bellamy, who signalled approval and disapproval via subtle changes to his facial expression. It was a really fascinating display, as Izou was certain the man himself didn’t know he was doing so.
“Another problem is that we’d be effectively going in blind. They know those tunnels while we do not. It would be very easy for them to lure us straight into a trap.”
“You mean like leading us into a dead end before collapsing the mine behind us? I suppose that’s a more realistic concern than what Ross mentioned earlier.”
“Fuck you, Sarquiss.”
“Language!”
Combined, this painted the picture of a crew who were very well attuned to each other. Another word would be harmonious, something that just wasn’t possible without a solid foundation of trust in each other. Well, for a very loose definition of the word.
“Wouldn’t Aisa be able to tell if someone was sneaking up behind us though? Haki works by sensing hostile intent right? I’d say someone trying to bury us alive has plenty of hostile intent.”
“She probably could, but Eddy, why take the risk?” Mani replied.
“Because, like Rivers said earlier, if we don’t go in, we have no way of drawing them out?”
“Maybe we could lay a trap?” Laki suggested.
“Do you have an idea, Nero? This was your area of speciality, right?” Muret asked, turning to the former government agent.
“Throw a party and visibly get drunk?” the weasel-like man shrugged. “My training was focused more on smashing the door open to secure the target than on setting traps.”
Amongst all the qualities that made up a great crew, Izou personally found this sort of unity to be the most important. The fact that these rookies had it already spoke well for them. Izou could only hope that the Whitebeards would keep theirs as well, now that their central unifying pillar was gone.
“Uh, Laki? Do you feel that?”
“Mani, you too?” Oh, they felt that? Not bad. Not bad for a pair novices at all.
“What the fuck are you guys bloody talking about?”
“Lily, language!”
“They are probably talking about this tingling feeling as if someone is coming to stab you in the back.” Rivers explained, looking a little stiff. All three of them? My, this crew was more gifted than he'd initially thought. How delightful.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Wait, so Mani, Laki and Rivers are sensing something? What about Aisa?” At that, every eye turned questioningly to their resident sensor.
“A bunch of people are coming down the mountain towards the ship.” The little girl nodded. “They aren’t nice.”
“When did you sense them, Aisa?”
“Ten minutes ago.” That...was honestly impressive. It had been six for Izou. Some members of the crew looked like they wanted to protest, though that desire died the moment the captain spoke up.
“I told her not to tell us if hostiles approached unless they got really close. You three needed the practice, and you performed wonderfully.” Bellamy praised, making the faces of the three novice observation users light up. “Well, it seems like they came to us. Are you ready, Byron?”
“Always.”
“Then, let us prepare our guests a…proper welcome.”
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– Laki –
It felt odd watching from behind a rocky outcropping as a group of shadowy figures approached her second home. Her fingers itched to pull the trigger, to fire at the target she had in her sights before they could do any damage to the Black Pearl, but Bellamy’s instructions had been clear. Hold fire until the main battle was under way and prevent any runners from getting away. It wasn’t just her who was lying in wait either, as Izou and Rivers were positioned along a circular perimeter as well.
“You figure they’re sleeping?”
“Dunno, but I don’t hear nothing.”
“Quiet, idiots! You’ll wake them up!”
To be honest, Laki wasn't sure if this level of caution was even needed, because even at the first glance these guys were nowhere near as strong as her crew. Unskilled in the art of stealth too, as to a trained warrior and hunter like herself, they might as well have been a marching band for all the noise they were making.
“I think the coast is clear. The fools didn’t even set up a night’s watch.”
“Must be arrogance. Just a little fame and they think themselves invincible.”
Though, some of that may be attributed to her newly unlocked haki. She had noticed how all her senses seemed so much sharper as of a few days ago, the colors more vibrant, the sounds so much clearer. Whereas previously she would have had to put in effort to understand their whispers, now she was picking them up without any trouble whatsoever. It was still a bit surreal, that little old Laki had the same power as Enel’s priests at her fingertips, even if much of the fear she had once felt for them had disappeared since the War in Heaven.
“You’ve got the canisters?”
“Right, here sir. Sealed, just like you ordered.”
“Good, get ready to open them on my command.”
“Open them? But…what about us?”
“Does it look like I care?”
Obviously, this wasn't a homogenous group. Rather, it was one party subservient to another, the latter most likely being some of the townsfolk who'd been drafted as pack mules. And from the sound of it, they were carrying some sort of gas canisters.
“Ok, I’ve oiled the hinges. The door should open all smooth like. No noise at all.”
“Alright. You lot, get up here and don’t you dare make a sound.”
…these guys were morons. If you were that worried about the noise you were making, why not set up some hand signals beforehand? No offense to Byron, but he let these fools drug him? On second thought, she was more impressed that he managed to sail through the first half of the Grand Line while keeping these idiots alive.
“Release the gas on the count of ten. Ten. Nine. Eight.”
“Sir, but we could die!“
"You might die if you release the gas. You will die if you don’t.” Their leader threatened, waving his pistol menacingly. Again, pistols made noise, you morons. But the threat of certain death seemed to do the trick as the locals shakily got into position. “Seven. Six. Five.”
In the meantime, the pirates were slowly backing away, though they kept their guns trained on their prisoners. “Four. Three. Two.”
“One. Good evening, gentlemen.”
“On-who the fuck?” And there was the captain, rising from the deck like a black shadow. Seriously, compressing yourself into a flat disk and waiting around on deck to make a proper entrance was a terribly inefficient use of time. But Laki had to admit that it certainly looked impressive, popping up like that out of nowhere.
“How…vulgar. Please, allow me to revise my previous statement. You clearly are not gentlemen.”
Bellamy was having way too much fun right now. Even masked by the darkness as he was, she could make out his trademark grin shining like a beacon.
“Who are you? Show yourself!”
“Yeah, come and face us like a man!”
“You chicken? Bwak bwak bwak!”
“As you wish. Lights!”
At the snap of his fingers, the ship’s deck and the immediate surroundings were lit up like it was the height of day, the lighting equipment from the Marineford concert being put to good use. The previous bravado of their guests evaporated as they were suddenly faced with a very much awake welcome party, collectively worth way over two hundred million belli. Aisa looked so cute when she tried to be intimidating.
“…Bellamy…” one gulped.
“The one and only. Might you be, per chance, former members of the Musical Pirates?”
“…yeah. And so what?”
“Wonderful.” Bellamy sounded absolutely delighted as he clapped his hands together. “I’m so glad you came by for a nice reunion.”
When Byron stepped into the limelight, the opposing pirates froze, staring in shock at their former captain whom they had sold into slavery. Then pandemonium broke loose.
“Open the canisters! Now!”
“…yes!”
“Run!”
A sudden plume of smoke erupted from the deck, as for some reason nobody had neutralized the gas canisters nor their handlers. Using that as a distraction, the twenty or so pirates hightailed it out of there, rushing for the mine. Or at least they tried before Laki and her compatriots dropped three of them to the ground, screaming in pain due to the new holes burned into their legs. The shock of being under fire and the screams of their comrades soon brought their escape attempt to a screeching halt.
“Well, that wasn’t polite, leaving like that. We didn’t even have drinks yet.”
Back on the deck, the cloud of smoke dispersed, the gas rapidly being sucked into a series of breath dials and revealing the entire crew looking completely fine. To Laki, that part of the plan had seemed needlessly risky, but Bellamy had insisted. He said and she quoted: "A good pirate needs…PRESENTATION!"
Including the dramatic pause. There was probably an inside joke somewhere she wasn't getting, but she would admit that it did look cool the way her crew suddenly appeared out of the smoke. Muret wasn't looking worried either, so there was probably no danger to their health.
“Here at the Black Pearl, we pride ourselves on our hospitality. As our guests, you will be treated to the full course of experiences our team has to offer, including but not limited to a right and proper ass-kicking.” Bellamy said, cracking his knuckles. “You simply must try it.”
Gulp.
“I insist.”
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Whitebeard's Cowardly Attack Fails!
Welcome to Marineford Daily News, your only source of accurate and unbiased truth.
Recently, our proud marines clashed with the monstrous Whitebeard pirates in what is already being called the "Summit War". The cause of the war was Whitebeard's unprovoked and illegal surprise attack on the central headquarters of the Marine Corps, though enemy propaganda claims that this treacherous attack was in retaliation to the arrest of his second division commander, one Portgas D. Ace.
Portgas D. Ace was arrested by the Marines and their partners on Banaro Island before being given a fair trial and sentenced to death for his crimes against the world. This paper would like to remind all readers that this notorious pirate had earned a bounty of over 500 million belli prior to his recruitment into the Whitebeard Pirates, another indicator for the sort of people Whitebeard liked to recruit.
Other notable names attached to Whitebeard are the traitorous Warlord Jinbei, the Knight of the Sea, and pirates just as vile in character as in looks like Squard the Spider.
Our proud marines responded well to the surprise attack, quickly forming up in orderly lines and taking up defensive positions to cut down the horde of advancing pirates. A heavy price was extracted from the enemy, even as the marine lines buckled and were seemingly pushed back, leading the overconfident pirates into a trap.
All of Whitebeard's ships were sunk, putting a stop to their decades long reign of terror and many of his greatest allies were killed, including but not limited to Oars Jr, a giant monster known to terrorize islands full of children and Namur who is another fishman like Jinbei, which just goes on to prove that they as a species cannot be trusted.
But the greatest triumph of the war was the death of the abominable pirate Whitebeard, the big bad himself. No longer will this scourge afflict our seas. A marine spokesman has vowed to rapidly liberate the islands formerly under his yoke.
By comparison, Marine casualties were light with all the Admirals suffering only minor wounds and the only casualty of note being the Royal Warlord Gekkou Moria, who valiantly died in the service of Justice. There is no question about, this War was a glorious victory for our courageous Marines, which will go down in history.
Unfortunately, the pitiful remnants of the Whitebeard pirates managed to flee with the battlefield with their tails between their legs by abandoning their captain in his time of need, showcasing their despicable character. They were aided in this by the arrival of first, another traitor Blackbeard and second, by the infamous Emperor, Red-haired Shanks.
With the greatest threat to the security of the world removed permanently, Fleet Admiral Sengoku showed his magnanimity to the interlopers by refraining from immediately pursuing the pirates, despite them having deserved no less for their cowardly surprise attack. While some have criticized this decision as being too soft on crime, others have defended the Fleet Admiral for his decision to further the cause of human rights, extending mercy even to unworthy animals, such as pirates.
Please follow us to never miss an update on the best news reports this side of the Red Line.
This was Marineford Daily reporting.