– Marco –

Ace's Dai Hiken marked the end of the prelude, for no sooner had the blue flames engulfed the traitor, did the key combatants of both camps begin entering the fight one by one. Hachinosu trembled as Blackbeard's five Titanic Captains clashed against Whitebeard's commanders in a furious exchange of fire, steel and might.

"Karma-yoi! You and Squard take command of the boys-yoi! We'll take care of Teach and his cronies."

"On it! Just kill them for us, Marco."

"Guys, on me! Chaarge!!"

Kingdew shattered a building trying to crush him, while Jozu leaped through the falling debris to strike the one who'd hurled it at them in the first place. A bullet meant for Haruta's head let out a cascade of sparks upon meeting Izou's own, Van Augur warping out of Haruta's reach soon after.

"There's nowhere to run, Avalo Pizarro!"

"Who said anything about running, you stupid brats? Behold the power of the Isle Isle Fruit!"

Off to the side, the Corrupt King barely exchanged a couple of blows with Rakuyo before melding into the ground. Within moments the island came alive, giant arms of stone and earth seeking to crush all beneath its weight… only to be blown apart by Curiel's bazookas.

"Hick. Drunken Spitfire!"

"That barely tickles, you inebriated sod!"

More than motivated after Marineford, Atmos charged through the alcoholic flames, uncaring for the burns they inflicted upon him. Blenheim was no different, and the 13th and 9th division commanders respectively, cut their way through the fire to get at Vasco Shot.

"Marco! An urgent report from Captain Islewan! You've got to…DIE!"

"Not today, Catarina Devon!"

"Vista! I was hoping to kill you today. Though do tell me, how did you know?"

"Do you think this is the first time we've fought an impersonator? Think again!"

Meanwhile, an assassination attempt was intercepted before it could properly threaten Marco himself. Yet, despite being pincered between Vista and Speed Jiru, Marco's wannabe murderer laughed and fought back, the disguise melting away to reveal Catarina Devon's hybrid zoan in all its glory. The Dog Dog Fruit, Model: Kyubi no Kitsune, a mythical zoan equal to Maco's own. A beast with mastery over illusions and fire.

A tricky opponent to be sure, but one his brothers should be more than equipped to handle. Especially when they outnumbered the enemy two to one. Infamous criminals they may be, but regardless of their reputation, facing two of Whitebeard's commanders at the same time was no easy task for anybody. Which left only the big bad for Marco to worry about.

"Cross Fire!"

"I've seen that trick before, Ace. Don't you have anything new?"

"Then try this on for size – yoi! Phoenix Great Flame!"

"Two against one? That's a bit much against a former crew mate, isn't it Marco? Zehahaha."

"Bluebird!" "Hiken!"

"Vortex!"

The Whitebeard pirates had learned their lesson from Ace's defeat. The second division commander's report had been extensive, leaving no detail out in its recounting of the battle on Banaro Island. While insufficient on its own, when combined with the known identity of the fruit, it had been enough to formulate some basic strategies on how to deal with Blackbeard. The first of which was obvious. If their foe could nullify devil fruit users by grabbing hold of them, the easiest way to counter that ability was to simply stay out of reach.

"Zehahaha, what's with you two? Are you scared or something?"

"You wish! Hiken!"

Of course, merely limiting themselves to ranged attacks alone was never going to be enough to defeat Teach. For one, Teach was surprisingly nimble for someone his size and two, the man had observation haki. However, the adage that nobody was perfect had survived the ages for a reason. In particular, the traitor turned out to be susceptible to the sin of pride. Vanity. Hubris.

"Hey, what's with the distance, guy – Hrrrk?"

"Crane Claw!"

That the arrogant bastard looked down at them wasn't surprising when considering the events of the last year. Especially when the memory of his victory over Ace remained fresh and kept stroking his sense of superiority, followed by his journey from strength to strength. As such, Teach had increasingly fallen into a subconscious pattern of complacency the longer Marco and Ace maintained their useless ranged attacks. Meaning, that when Marco burst out of Ace's Hiken to plant a clawed foot into Teach's gut, the man had been caught thoroughly off-guard. Yet, even while staggering from the impact, Teach's hand lashed out, grasping for the offending limb.

"Vortex!"

"Burn!"

"HOT! Hot! Hot hot hot hothothothot!"

The attempt was stopped when Ace enveloped both of them in an inferno, trusting in the healing flames of a phoenix to help Marco escape unscathed. Which he did by the way. Blackbeard on the other hand, whose body drew in the surrounding flames, was faced with very painful consequences.

Blackbeard rolled to the left. He rolled to the right. His large hands patted frantically at the fiery tongues burning him alive. It was a futile effort, for Ace maintained the blaze, not letting it waver for even a second. Marco soon added his own flames to the mix, trying to burn all the oxygen out of Blackbeard's lungs.

It was a plan that would have likely worked if the enemy had only eaten the Dark Dark Fruit. Even if he could absorb parts of the inferno, it was of no use if Ace and Marco could pump out more than Teach could stomach. Yet, Teach had stolen more than the power of darkness from the Whitebeard pirates. His stolen ability was one, which had made their adoptive father a name to be feared the world over, and he'd obviously spent a year studying its use.

"QUAKE!"

The inferno shattered and the firestorm broke, the countless fiery tendrils covering Blackbeard's body snuffed out in an instant. All because the madman had slammed a quake into his own body, releasing a shockwave centered around the man himself. When it passed and the dust settled, Blackbeard's huffing and puffing form was revealed to the world once more.

Gone was the joviality and the complacency in his eyes, replaced by the cunning monster who had handed Red Haired Shanks his trademark scar. Unsurprisingly, once they clashed again the same trick didn't work twice. The same was the case for anything else Marco and Ace attempted, forcing them to push their creativity into overdrive. However, Marco and Ace had been brothers-in-arms for years and were intimately familiar with the capabilities and fighting style of the other. New combination after combination flowed out of them without pause, the two of them working flawlessly together to maintain their momentum.

Often, one of them would keep Teach occupied in hand-to-hand combat, accepting the momentary loss of their devil fruit abilities and using armament to survive Blackbeard's two. All in order to buy time for the other to find an opening. An opening in which to set the traitor aflame once more.

After only a few minutes, Marco and Ace were battered and bruised, the combination of Teach's strength of arm and Whitebeard's power being too much for armament alone to handle. However, all would agree that they'd dished out as good as they gotten and then some, for Blackbeard looked far worse. Certainly aided by the Dark Dark Fruit amplifying and magnifying any and all damage dealt to its host.

"Ok, time. Time. Time." Teach wheezed, clutching at his fractured ribs. "Why don't we talk for a moment? Oi, that hurts!"

"We've got nothing to say to you, yoi." Marco drawled while Ace kept tossing a fireball up and down. But if their disinterest disappointed Blackbeard, he didn't show it. Rather, the man began grinning from ear to ear.

"Ah, but I have something to say to you and I promise that you won't want to miss this."

"Hike-"

"Ah ah ah… I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ace. After all, I've got a hostage."

"A hostage, yoi?"

"Marco, why are you listening to this guy?" Despite Ace's protests, Marco's ears remained open. Thus, there was no way for him not to hear Teach's next words. Words, which brought Marco's brain to a screeching halt.

"Zehahaha. Not just any hostage. I've got Whitebeard's son."

----------------------------------------

– Izou –

Blackbeard said what now? Who did he hold hostage? Questions flooded Izou's mind, his brain racing to find answers for all of them and coming up empty. For one, since when did Pops have a biological son; two, why did not one of Whitebeard's sons know about it; and three, how the heck did he end up in Teach's clutches?

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"So, unless you guys want poor little Weevil to lose his itty-bitty head, you're going to sit tight and hear me out."

Izou wasn't alone in his reaction. All over the battlefield, the charge of the Whitebeards faltered as the news spread like a wildfire. Bewilderment, confusion and disbelief slowed their footsteps and ensnared their arms. For their opponents, who'd been steadily approaching a rout, this momentary lull in the fighting was godsend.

"Don't you find it odd? Weren't you guys one big, happy family? Why wouldn't he tell you he had a son? A real one? Actually, better yet, why would he actively hide him from you?"

"Shut up, Teach!"

"Obviously, it's because he didn't trust any of you! The old man was probably worried that you'd reject little wee Weevil or outright harm him. After all, aren't you Whitebeard's successor, Ace? Everybody around you seems to think that, at least. Tell me, aren't you even a little tempted? Remove him and you have no one who could possibly challenge you as Whitebeard's heir."

"I'm not like you, Teach."

"Whitebeard doesn't deserve your loyalty, Ace. Not after lying to all of you for years. For decades. In that case, we have no reason to fight, do we? Come, let's put the past behind us and conquer the world together!"

"In your dreams, yoi."

Yet, none of Izou's bethren paid the reforming enemy lines any mind, all of their attention firmly glued onto an elevated podium upon which three figures had appeared. A wrinkled and tiny old woman in shackles and a nondescript thug holding a naginata to the neck of a stocky, blonde man. It was also immediately apparent that this third figure was the one Blackbeard was referring to, for featured prominently upon his face was an all too familiar mustache.

"Help. Save. Me. I. Am. The. Son. Of. Whitebeard. Help." Weevil woodenly said in as monotone a voice as one could imagine. Izou couldn't imagine worse acting if he'd tried – and he was certain that it was acting – not least because Weevil turned to his mother after saying his obviously barely rehearsed lines. "Did I say that right, Mama?"

"Yes, you did, Weevil. You truly are my treasure." The withered granny replied, seemingly unconcerned by her fetters. If someone didn't find anything odd with that exchange between mother and son, then that someone needed professional help. Urgently.

Much to Izou's chagrin, that someone ended up being one of his friends.

"Don't worry, Weevil! We'll rescue you in a jiffy! Just sit tight!" Squard loudly promised, before raising his blade in a rallying cry. "It's the same thing we did at Marineford when we rescued Ace! Onwards, men! For Whitebeard!"

Normally, having a portion of their forces split off from the main line to do their own thing would have been bad enough. To make matters worse for the Whitebeard pirates, Squard just happened to be commanding their entire left flank. While most of them didn't follow the Spider on his rescue mission, his departure did throw them into disarray as the task of coordinating their attack fell to the individual captains at the front.

"Come back, Squard! It's a trap! It's fake! He's got to be a fake!" Islewan called out after his rampaging ally, who briefly did look back apologetically before continuing to hack his way to the podium. "Don't you find this a little too convenient? He can't be Pop's son!"

"We don't know that for certain, Islewan! If there's even the smallest chance he could be, that's already too much for me to ignore! Not after Marineford. I lost Pops. I cannot lose his son too!"

"Oh, by Davy Jones's bloody locker, you've got a point. Wait for me!"

With that the battle resumed in earnest, though with a distinctive desperate tinge to it. Their carefully planned attempt to divide the Blackbeard pirates and defeat them in detail was placed on hold, as Izou's allies no longer had the manpower to complete an encirclement while simultaneously launching a rescue mission. Instead, they switched to a more defensive stance to weather the storm their enemies unleashed upon them.

Whatever Teach had wanted to say was lost in the din of the fighting, Ace and Marco more preoccupied with keeping his mouth shut and hence unable to issue the execution order. Izou kept himself busy too, herding Van Augur like a hunter would his prey. Spreading his shots out in a careful and deliberate manner, he ensured that the teleporting man had no choice but to appear within range of Haruta's blade, unless he wanted to escape the battlefield entirely.

Blackbeard's sniper had looked astounded the first time this happened, staring incomprehensibly in Izou's direction for a split second too long. Long enough for Haruta to slice his glasses in two. Though, that did happen to be the first and last time Haruta caught up to the guy, because from then on Van Augur kept teleporting away as soon as he appeared. He didn't even bother trying to take a shot, seemingly content with wasting Izou's time. It was a waiting game, one in which both sides were trying to hold out long enough for the other to make a critical mistake.

If it had been before his stint with the Bellamy Pirates, Izou may have struggled.

Slightly.

His opponent was gifted in observation and he'd been grinding his axe for years, whereas Izou had been content with maintaining his status quo. Hence, when combined with the Warp Warp fruit, someone who'd formerly been a mere annoyance, may have turned into a credible threat.

Unfortunately for Blackbeard's sniper, Izou had been cosplaying the infallible instructor for the past year or so. With how rapidly all of the Bellamy Pirates had grown, it had forced Izou to improve himself, to review and rediscover skills he'd once thought long since mastered. Considering what sort of monstrous prodigy Aisa had turned out to be, observation haki had arguably received the most polishing. And it showed.

The longer their confrontation went on, the closer Izou's misses became. Eventually, it got to the point where he could afford to have Haruta leave to assist elsewhere while still keeping Van Augur in check. And when the inevitable happened and Blackbeard's sniper staggered back, clutching his bleeding shoulder, Izou deemed the moment right to send the long-awaited signal. After all, if Teach had played his trump card by revealing Weevil's existence, he couldn't complain if the Whitebeard's replied in kind.

Unnoticed by most of the combatants on the field, a shadow approached the podium from the rear. The few lookouts along the way fell before they even knew they had fallen, silent steps carrying the figure from sentry to sentry. Within the span of a few minutes, a gap had been created in the wall of human bodies, allowing the shadow to slip through and leap onto the podium. Unnoticed by most that is. Teach wasn't most people, but he was too far away and too busy to do anything about it. As such, the only thing left for him to do was complain. Which he did. Vocally.

"Oi, Ace. Calling those guys… that's just plain cheating."

"Says the person wielding two devil fruits!"

One had to give it to the Revolutionary Army. They could be darn sneaky when they wanted to be and that went double for their officers. How else could they routinely infiltrate and successfully exfiltrate out of the World Governments high security facilities? Preoccupied by the sight of Squard, Islewan and Haruta approaching from the front in a loud and conspicuous manner, the guard holding a naginata to Weevil's throat never stood a chance.

"Alright. Now, where are the keys?"

After a brief moment spent rummaging through the unconscious guard's pockets, Weevil and his mother were safely ensconced in a protective cordon set up by Islewan and his men. With his job done, Sabo gave Squard and co a playful salute before speeding away in the direction of the main fight.

"Mama, is it time?"

"Not yet. Just wait a little longer, Weevil. Like a good boy."

"Ok, Mama."

After all, who said that a trump card had to be discarded after a single use? Especially on such a finely balanced battlefield where the lightest touch could tip the scales decisively one way or another? Weevil's rescue had just been the beginning, the first of many dominoes that had to fall for the war to end. Now, they could wait for them to tip over on their own. Izou was certain they would with time, but where was the fun in that?

Especially when they had a hammer named Sabo?