(Shortly After Broadcast in Dressrosa)
(Location: Marineford)
(Aokiji POV)
"This is a blatant declaration against us!" Akainu shouted angrily to those gathered in the room. "I thought that was obvious seeing as how he told us to go to hell." Aokiji said plainly. "Shut-up, Kuzan! Don't think you didn't have a hand in this! If you had just managed to kill Luke Strauss, none of this might ever have happened! Not the attack on Mary Geoise or any of that crap in Dressrosa!" Akainu growled hatefully.
"Need I remind you, Sakazuki, that I lost to Luke Strauss as well? Why not go ahead and have a go at him, I'm sure he'd love to go three out of three." Kizaru said in annoyance. He had heard enough bitching from Akainu in the last few weeks to last himself a lifetime, and honestly he was getting sick of it.
"I wouldn't have run away with a tail between my legs!" Akainu shouted as he slammed a fist onto the table. "So you're the kind of dog that runs away with his tail in the air? I got to say, that's a little fucked up." Aokiji said with a shake of his head, sounding woefully unimpressed. Smoke started billowing off of Akainu, however before he could lose his temper for the umpteenth time, Kizaru said, "We both know it was a tactical retreat. My actions saved Saint Shalria, so I don't know why you're still bringing that up."
"I'm bringing it up because she was straight up executed in the Holy City! Her head and fifty-four more heads belonging to World Nobles were impaled on spikes to spell out the words, [FUCK YOU], and we all know who it was who wrote it! The Five Elders and the Celestial Dragons are furious and have been jumping down my back ever since the attack!" Akainu answered pointedly.
"I thought all of the Celestial Dragons besides the Five Elders and the Holy Knights were killed?" Kizaru asked with a raised brow. After all, none of them had been tasked with guarding them or escorting them around if there were other survivors. "Counting the Five Elders and the Holy Knights, there are twenty World Nobles still alive. Some of them had been out of the city at the time of the attack, which is likely the only reason they're still breathing." Akainu spoke calmly after taking a deep breath to cool himself.
"Why exactly are we here? I know you want to discuss the new broadcast, but what's there to discuss? We've changed the codes on projectors and even how they work, but that didn't stop Sparrow, and I don't think changing them again is going to help matters." Aokiji said, finding this whole meeting to be a complete waste of time. "I'm glad you asked." Said a voice from the doorway, drawing all eyes in the room towards it.
Looking over, Aokiji actually sat a little straighter in his chair upon seeing who had just entered the room. "It's the Commander-in-Chief, Kong." A Vice-Admiral whispered aloud in awe, after all the man was famous. Aokiji knew exactly how famous the guy was, but that wasn't why he sat straighter. No, he was more concerned with how Kong was still alive, as he should have died during the attack on the Holy City.
"The World Government is tired of dealing with the pesky upstart that is Jack Sparrow. His latest broadcast has once more sent the world into chaos, and it's our duty to put a stop to it. Right now, the other countries believe he is infallible and that it's in their best interest to leave us and join him. We need to show them why that's a bad idea." Kong spoke clearly as he began to walk slowly around the room. "Do you mean to discredit him or attack him?" A Vice-Admiral asked curiously. "Both." Kong said, then snapped his fingers, which prompted a man standing just outside the room to enter and begin spreading out a map on the table.
"Sparrow has boldly claimed that he and his Order would come when the people call for help, so we need to show the world that that's not true. In Alabasta, one of his most trusted allies has set up shop. We're going to go there and capture him." Kong stated, sounding as if what he said wasn't a suicide mission. "I think you've forgotten that one guy who can, I don't know, spawn a literal army from thin air. The second we approach Alabasta an entire army and Sparrow himself could be there waiting for us." Aokiji said, getting a number of nods from others around the room.
"We already have counter measures in place. Doctor Vegapunk has created devices that can jam the signal from Transponder Snails. Their gate master won't come unless he's called, and besides, we've already set counter measures for him as well." Kong explained, all the while some guy showed slides for the room to see, showing the jamming signal devices, and since he was extra prepared, he had even shown slides of Gate Master Radek.
"We've been watching the Gate Master for some time, and we've noticed something crucial. Whenever he opens a gate, it's always in the exact same spot as before, meaning if we know which island he's going to open a gate to, we know where he'll appear." Kong said, prompting the man to show more slides of certain islands that had a small red circle drawn in specific locations where The Gate Master would open his gates.
"But how would you determine where he would open a gate to?" A Vice-Admiral asked, quite intrigued at the amount of information Cipher Pol had been able to gather. Hell, they had even pinpointed an exact location on Sabaody Archipelago down to a specific bar. "We can't know for sure exactly where he'll open a gate to, but we have some ideas. We plan to have agents at each of these locations, and should the Gate Master appear, he is to be eliminated at once, and without him, Sparrow and his Order won't be able to do much of anything." Kong explained.
"Let me see if I'm understanding this so far. We're going to capture one of Sparrow's allies and maybe kill the one guy holding his whole organization together in the small chance we can somehow miraculously pinpoint where in the entire world he'll make a gate appear, and by doing this we're going to discredit Sparrow and his organization?" Kizaru asked, causing the whole room to look questioningly at one another before they turned their gazes onto Kong. "That's just the first step." Kong said with a grin before continuing, "Next, we're going to lure Sparrow and what support he can gather to Marineford where we'll cut them out, root and stem!"
"That's a great idea, the only problem is, we don't stand a chance in hell at beating the monster. Even though we've seen his power over the broadcast, none of us have ever actually fought Sparrow, and if the rest of his Order are anything like Luke Strauss, we're fucked, and not just fucked, but elephant dick, in the ass, no reach around-" Aokiji was saying but was interrupted when Kong shouted, "That's enough, Kuzan!"
The room was quiet for a long tense moment, but the silence was broken by Kong rasping his knuckles on the table. At the obvious signal, the door once more flew open and a group of people entered the room. "Since the enemy is strong, we'll just have to be stronger. Allow me to introduce the three newest Admirals and the eighteen newest Vice-Admirals. Outside there are almost thirty more Vice-Admirals, and thousands more soldiers. Every Cipher Pol agent is on their way here, as well as a few more surprises, courtesy of Doctor Vegapunk." Kong said, then went on to introduce the newcomers, though one of them needed no introduction.
"Master Zephyr, I've got to say, I'm a little surprised to see you back among the rank and file." Aokiji said as a way of greeting his old mentor. Zephyr was a marine legend on the same scale as Garp and Sengoku, but he had retired some years ago to be a teacher. Still, Aokiji remembered hearing how Zephyr resigned from his teaching duties after Doflamingo became one of the Seven Warlords, and given how it was Doflamingo who cut off Zephyr's arm and killed a number of his students, no one had thought anything else about it, so to see him back at Marineford so soon after Doflamingo's death was a little surprising. "Yeah, well… things change." Zephyr said, then left it at that.
As for the two other Admirals, one was a blind samurai named Issho, better known by his alias, Fujitora, and the other was a tall muscular man with wild green hair named Aramaki, better known by his alias, Ryokugyu. Aokiji had heard of both individuals before, only they were both guard captains in some World Government run kingdom, but it would seem they were now conscripted into the Marines. 'Or what's left of them.' Aokiji thought darkly.
"Do you really think this is a big enough force to combat Sparrow?" Kizaru asked, though based on his tone, he didn't sound all that convinced. "Let us not forget, we still have four Warlords, not to mention a list of candidates to replace the three we've already lost. On top of that, once we've captured Sparrow's accomplice, recruitment notices will go out to all of our allies around the world. Spies, bounty hunters, hell, we'll even pardon a number of pirates should they agree to join the fight against Sparrow." Kong explained, and this time Aokiji was certain that the world was going to hell.
"When exactly are we going to be starting this whole thing?" Aokiji asked curiously. "You three will leave immediately after the conclusion of this meeting. Our agents are already in position on Alabasta to block the signal from any outgoing Transponder Snail, and we can have the locations for the Gate Master on full alert as soon as tomorrow. Once you've captured him and are free of the signal blocking the island, call in and we'll begin rounding up the Warlords and other candidates. If all goes as planned, by the end of the month, Sparrow will be a thing of the past." Kong answered assuredly.
Aokiji didn't particularly like the plan, especially since there were a whole lot of ifs, ands or buts, but so far it was the best plan they had, which was sad. Darkly, he couldn't help but think, 'I guess we'll see after a month who's left standing. The World Government… or Sparrow.'
*****
(Location: Secon)
(General POV)
"I say we kill the bitch." Luke suggested to the group, all of whom were gathered to discuss what to do about Big Mom. Given the fact that they had killed one of her Sweet Commanders and a number of her children, Jack was expecting some form of retaliation from her, hence the need to discuss ideas on how to handle her going forward. "I'm not against killing her, but is The Order in a position where it could keep the civilians in her territory safe from other pirates?" Smoker asked, his question reminding them, or at least Luke, that there was a reason they hadn't just killed everyone who was a problem so far.
"No, we're not in a position where we can take over her territory, and there are a number of pirates who would jump at the chance to take what they could." Jack said, shooting down the idea of simply removing the Empress. "What about weakening her?" Robin suggested, then after seeing she had everyone's attention, she explained, "Even if you didn't kill her, you could weaken her to the point that it would be impossible to attack us without leaving herself wide open to be attacked. Destroy her ships, take out her supply lines, and if you had to, maybe kill off a few of her more powerful underlings." "I like that plan. Let's do that." Luke said in agreement.
Not having a better option in mind, Jack decided to go with Robin's suggestion, however given how this was most likely going to be a chaotic mess, he made the decision that only he and Luke would go. He knew a part of him was being selfish with the others, keeping them here so they could watch over Nojiko, but he didn't really care.
Finding out he was going to be a father had been a wonderful moment in his life, yet it had been terrifying as well. He had hoped to have dealt with the World Government and the Marines before he ever even thought of bringing a child into this world, especially after thinking back to all of the things he had done, but that didn't seem like it would happen now, so if he had to use his friends and allies to keep his unborn child safe, he would do so in a heartbeat.
"Since you haven't actually enjoyed the resort all that much, why not leave in the morning? I'll make it worth your while…" Nojiko said sweetly, not having to twist his arm all that hard to get him to comply. "Pick me up from Dressrosa in the morning." Luke said, and then without saying anything more to them he shot off like a bolt of lightning. "You asshole! You said you were going to hang out with me!" Selene shouted into the nothingness, and then suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder followed by a light that blinded everyone, and when it disappeared Selene was gone.
"Did he…?" Makino asked Jack, unsure how to finish the question. "Yeah, he took her with him." Jack said, answering her unasked question. Letting out a sigh, Makino shook her head before saying, "If anything, those two need to spend less time with each other. That girl has such a vulgar tongue already, and it only gets worse after she spends time with him."
Deciding that this was not his problem, Jack went to spend some time with the people he actually cared about while he could.
*****
(Location: Dressrosa)
(Selene POV)
"I promise, you're going to like her." Luke told Selene, who was too busy looking around Dressrosa to listen to what he was saying, or at least that's the way it appeared. "Just because you're playing around in her panties, doesn't mean I have to like her. You'd think you'd know that after how it went when you brought me to meet that pink whore." Selene said, her words surprising Luke somewhat. "Don't phrase it like that. It sounds like I'm some sort of crossdresser, and for your information, Perona really liked you." Luke told her.
"Yeah, she liked dressing me up and giving me a makeover. I had to have three baths to get all of that makeup off, and you know how much I hate baths. Anytime you want to, you can tell her that she can have her dress back. At least what's left of it." Selene said, smiling rather triumphantly as she remembered all of the things she had done with that dress once she had managed to escape Perona. Luke didn't think Perona would like the charred pile of ash that was once a pretty pink dress, hence the reason he had never told her what became of it.
"Okay, maybe Perona was a bit much, but Viola is different." Luke said, however his words were proved false five minutes later when they walked through the castle doors and Viola immediately scooped up Selene into a tight embrace. "Aren't you just the cutest thing!" She exclaimed. "Let go of me you cow!" Selene cried while shooting Luke a death glare.
"Don't be like that. I'm sure we're going to get along swimmingly, so just calm down and hang tight." Viola said, which Selene wasn't sure was a joke or not since Viola was holding her in a tight hold as she began walking away. "Hey, what about me?" Luke said to Viola's retreating figure. "Just stand there looking pretty until we get back and enjoy the view." Viola told him without looking at him, while at the same time putting a bit more sway into her hips.
Despite her many protests, Viola didn't release Selene until they arrived into a flowery pink room that looked way too similar to the pink-haired bimbo's room. "Now that we're alone, let me start off by apologizing for abducting you, but I think it's best if we have this conversation without Luke hearing." Viola said, her words immediately silencing the number of profane words Selene was about to say to her.
"You do know he can still hear us, right? He can hear us from anywhere on this island." Selene said, however, that didn't seem to deter Viola as she made two circles using her thumbs and index fingers, then held one circle on her forehead and the other to Selene's forehead. [Now we can speak to each other without ever having to utter a word.] Viola said, only she did it without moving her lips.
It took Selene a minute to figure out that she was hearing Viola's thoughts as they happened, but the thoughts were appearing in her mind rather than hearing them out loud. "So I'm hearing your thoughts with my eyes?" Selene asked out loud. [Precisely, but there is no need to speak out loud. Think about it, and I'll hear you.] Viola told her, again without using her mouth.
[So what did you want to say to me that you didn't want Luke to find out about?] Selene asked through the mental link. [I know how you really feel about me and Perona. You want to kill us because we're taking time away from you and Luke. In fact, you're already planning out how to get the job done with Perona.] Viola said, and at once Selene's face went pale. "How do you know that?!" She shouted in alarm, not bothering to use the mind link.
[Calm down. I have no intention of telling him, even though I do think you're being a touch dramatic.] Viola told her, however Selene didn't calm down, at least not right away. [I take it you want to stop me then?] Selene asked with a frown. [Well I don't want you to kill me, so yes. In that same breath, I'm not going to force you away or tattle on you. I want us to become friends. Sisters even.] Viola responded, which was not how Selene figured someone should respond to someone who was actively plotting their death.
She was quiet for a time, unsure of how to respond when instead of hearing Viola's thoughts, she saw her memories, memories of Luke telling Viola about her. [He loves you very much, and I think he'd burn the world down for you. I think if he had to choose between you, me or Perona, he'd choose you. I don't think I've seen him smile so much as when he's talking about you.] Viola said even as more memories of Luke talking about her appeared in her mind, confirming that she wasn't just saying this to make her happy.
[Then why would he rather spend time with you two over me?] Selene asked sadly. [Silly girl… I don't think I need to tell you how messed up in the head he really is, but in case you haven't noticed, few things in life actually give him pleasure. Killing Marines is one. Sex is another. And spending time with you and Jack. I'm not saying he enjoys spending time with your guild, but spending time with you two makes him happy, almost as if he's with his brother and younger sister. I don't think he's associated anyone in his life to replace his older sister, but that could be because he hasn't met anyone like her or that he finds it hard to do that. She used to dote on him. Anyway, you can't expect him to shut out everything else in his life for you. That's unfair to him.] Viola said, giving Selene far more information than she had imagined.
[Did he really tell you that?] Selene asked hopefully. [Of course not. You know as well as I do that he doesn't like to talk about his family, but my power lets me look into his mind, even when he's sleeping. You wouldn't believe some of the things he thinks about.] Viola answered with a small laugh. [I thought he just fantasized about killing Marines. Or Tashigi and Smoker.] Selene said, genuinely curious now what Luke dreamt about.
[I guess you do know him. He dreams about killing Marines all the time, and I'm not even going to mention the number of different ways he's thought of to kill Tashigi. I can't say he's dreamt of killing Smoker, but he has thought about it a time or two. Anyway, he does think about you a lot. There was even a dream he had where he turned into a Cat-Mink.] Viola said, and to prove it, the memory in question appeared in her mind.
After what seemed like a long time of them laughing even though it wasn't actually that long, Viola finally asked, [Do you still plan on plotting to kill me?] Selene looked like she was mulling it over, but eventually she shook her head. [No, you're alright. I won't say we're sisters just yet, but you're almost there.] Selene said with a smile.
"That's good. Now I do think we've kept him waiting long enough." Viola said, using her voice now. The two of them made their way back to where they had left Luke, finding him sitting in a chair twiddling his thumbs. "It's about time. I was beginning to think you two forgot about me." Luke said exasperatedly upon seeing them. "Oh you're fine. I'm sure a few minutes without us isn't going to kill you." Viola said to him, though she was looking at Selene when she said it. 'Was that because I was going to kill her for taking up time with him?' She wondered with a frown.
"Anyway, let's make our way towards the harbor. By the time we get there, the small fleet of approaching pirates should be close enough that Selene and I should be able to watch you destroy them." Viola said happily, and instantly Selene felt a chill run down her spine. 'She sounds way too happy about this.' Selene thought as she watched Viola and Luke begin to kiss each other, and it was only then she realized something even more important.
'All that time we were talking about Luke, I never realized it, but only someone as equally messed up in the head would still be with him after knowing everything she knows.' She realized, only it was too late as the two of them grabbed her hands and began leading her towards the harbor. 'Oh well, my life is full of psychos, what's one more?' Selene thought, accepting her fate, only now she would be far more wary of Viola in the future.
*****
(Location: Dressrosa)
(General POV)
The following morning, Jack arrived at Dressrosa where he saw what was left of five or six pirate ships just offshore, and after a little sifting around through the wreckage, he found that they were part of the Beast Pirates. 'We were already going to antagonize one Emperor, what's one more added into the mix?' Jack thought to himself before he continued on towards the castle.
Moving unseen, he eventually arrived at a room where he found Luke sound asleep next to Viola, and nestled in between them was Selene. 'I really hope they didn't do it with her in the room, otherwise she's going to need way more therapy than I can give her.' Jack grumbled internally before he wrote a note for the two girls, then made Luke disappear into an orb of darkness before he was gone from the castle entirely.
"I'm not saying I don't appreciate you grabbing my clothes, but this is not how I usually like to wake up in the morning." Luke grumbled a few minutes later as he put on his clothes midair. "I did tell you that we were leaving in the morning, it's not my fault you decided to sleep in." Jack said unapologetically. "It's still dark out, and besides, Selene, that cockblocking little brat kicks in her sleep." Luke stated just as he finished putting on the final piece of his attire. "So you went a night without sex, big deal. I'm sure you'll live." Jack said, not showing any sympathy for his friend.
"Whatever, let's go and kill some people." Luke said, feeling that would put his day back on track to not sucking.
*****
Upon arriving in Totto Land, a vast archipelago of islands under the rule of Big Mom, Jack decided to do things differently than he would normally do. "You start on this side of the archipelago and destroy any ship flying Big Mom's flag and work your way to the islands to the right. I'll go in this direction and do the same thing. Once we meet up on the other side of the Archipelago, we'll blitz in together towards Whole Cake Island and kill a few of the more noteworthy people we find." Jack explained his plan to Luke, which was about as simple as a plan could be. "You should make all of our plans like this going forward." Luke said, fully in agreement with the plan.
Not bothering to answer, Jack let himself drop to the harbor down below, landing atop the biggest ship causing it to instantly go up in flames. The ships docked nearby all lit up as well, and only when they were all past the point of saving did Jack move on towards the next island where he did the same thing. He repeated this process to more than fifty or sixty islands before he met up with Luke, at which point the two of them began making their way inwards towards Whole Cake Island.
They had apparently caused enough chaos to warrant attention because upon arriving at Whole Cake Island, a veritable army was waiting for them with the Emperor Big Mom at the forefront of them. "Dibs on the fat cunt!" Luke said quickly, however Jack merely looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You know what I meant. Not on her- Oh forget it." Luke said, not willing to go through this with Jack when he knew full well how he meant it. "Before we begin, I want to try something." Jack told Luke, then without saying anything to anyone, he made a giant chocolate cake appear before he threw it at Big Mom, who without even thinking, caught it in her mouth.
"I… I'm at a complete loss for words here. I did not think that would work." Jack said to no one. "You put the Sea Stone beads in it, didn't you?" Luke asked, to which Jack simply nodded. "My God, how stupid can you be? I know we talked about this as a joke, but even I didn't think she'd be that dumb." Luke said, and the both of them couldn't help but wonder how Big Mom was still alive if it was that easy to trick her.
"Okay, go ahead. I'll deal with the small-fry." Jack said, giving Luke free reign to cause all the chaos he wanted to. Given how he could take on Kizaru, Jack wasn't all that concerned about Luke, and that was before he had fed the dumb cunt the Sea Stone cake. Without needing to be told anything else, Luke disappeared in a blink, then reappeared in front of Big Mom with his sword raised to strike. As for Jack, he didn't stand idly by doing nothing, no. Instead he unleashed pillars of black flames down upon the pirates, incinerating dozens with every strike.
After almost twenty minutes, Jack put some distance between himself and what was left of the pirates. He did his best to not kill them all, but that was harder than if he had bathed the area in fire and killed everyone. Still, that wasn't the purpose of this little rendezvous. Out of all of the pirates, Jack figured he had taken out a little more than half of them, and combined with the ones he and Luke had killed on their way here, and the fact that a fair number of Big Mom's ships were destroyed, he figured Big Mom wouldn't be making a move against him or anyone else for awhile now.
Looking at the Empress in question, Jack saw that she was missing her left eye, and from the elbow on down her right arm was gone. As for Luke, he looked completely fine, though surprisingly he looked bored. "Alright, Luke, that's enough! We're done here!" Jack called out to get Luke's attention. At this, Luke appeared beside Jack with his swords sheathed. "I still say we should just kill them all." Luke said plainly, which in turn scared every pirate who happened to be in earshot.
"No, we'll let them live for awhile longer. They're not going to do anything stupid like trying to retaliate, right Katakuri?" Jack asked, looking pointedly at a tall man with short, spikey crimson hair who was bleeding rather profusely onto the ground. Unable to answer, the guy merely glared at him, but Jack could at least see the fear in his eyes, which likely meant that he wouldn't be stupid about his next move, and since Jack actually expected him to want to keep what few family members he had left alive, he figured there wouldn't be any move by him for the foreseeable future.
Having accomplished everything they set out to do, both Jack and Luke disappeared from the area, leaving the once powerful family far weaker than they had ever been before.