(Location: Grand Line)
(Jack Sparrow POV)
Scouting through Paradise for a target had been easier than Jack had thought, too easy in fact. Disguised as his William Turner persona, Jack had thought to find a powerful pirate to take down and turn into the Marines, and at first he wasn't sure which pirate to hunt down, but then he sort of just ran into a whole fleet of them, and surprisingly, they were pirates that had a lot of notoriety.
"I'm curious, what are the Beast Pirates doing here in Paradise?" Jack, AKA William Turner asked the only remaining pirate of the fleet. "The war… Kaido wants to join it." The crippled pirate answered painfully. "Which side?" Jack asked curiously. "Neither. He doesn't care about Jack Sparrow, and he certainly doesn't care about the World Government. He'll attack both sides." The pirate answered even as he coughed a mouthful of blood. "How fortunate for me then." Jack said before he fired a bullet between the man's eyes, blowing his skull apart into tiny little pieces.
With all of the pirates dead, Jack moved to grab the corpse of the pirate with the biggest bounty, which just so happened to be "Jack the Drought", one of Kaido's three Disasters. Given how the guy was worth an even Billion Berries, Jack figured he would be more than enough to garner some attention from the Marines, which is why he decided to make his way to turn in the bounty. Knowing how chaotic Marineford was at the moment, Jack chose instead to make his way to the G-2 Base, which was less than a day by ship from Marineford.
Like he hoped, the Rear-Admiral watching over the base made quite the commotion when he entered the base with a big-time pirate's corpse. "Excuse me, Mr. Turner sir. My name is Rear-Admiral Kadar, and I'm in charge of the G-2 Branch while Vice-Admiral Comil is at Marineford. I've called into HQ about your bounty, and they've actually requested to speak with you. According to what I've heard, the Fleet-Admiral himself has been trying to get into contact with you for a few days now." The Rear-Admiral explained.
Accepting the request, Jack took the Transponder Snail offered to him, at which point he was addressed, not by Fleet-Admiral Akainu, but the former, former Fleet-Admiral Kong. "Greetings Mr. Turner. It's an honor to speak to a man with such a strong sense of justice as yourself." Kong said, laying it on rather thick in Jack's opinion, but he supposed the man felt he had to lay it on more than was required to get him to agree to join a war against The Order.
Sure enough, after a few more words of flattery, Kong asked him if he was willing to join the fight for justice against the criminal organization known as The Order. "I'll do it, but I want paid another Billion Berries on top of the Billion I'm already owed." Jack stated firmly. He knew he was asking for a lot, but when one considered the strength he would need to have to take out the big names like Shiki the Golden Lion and Jack the Drought, it actually wasn't all that much. "Deal. You may claim your bounty and your payment upon arrival at Marineford. Rear-Admiral Kadar will escort you on one of our ships." Kong said, then ended the call.
Knowing time was of the essence, Rear-Admiral Kadar quickly led "William Turner" outside where a ship was already waiting to take him to Marineford. The trip was dull and plain, but that was fine with Jack, and just before sunrise they arrived at the crescent-shaped island. "Welcome, Mr. Turner. Right this way please." A man who Jack didn't recognize said as soon as he disembarked from the ship.
The first stop they made was to a heavily armored building where Jack received the bounty payout from Jack the Drought, then the other Billion berries to have him here. After that he was led to a familiar building, one which Viola had shown him from her memories that housed the six Warlords. Upon entering the place, Jack stopped just inside the doorway as he stared at the famous pirates who were all lounging about the room. "Why did you bring me to a room full of scumbag pirates?" Jack asked angrily, doing his best to make his voice sound more gravelly than it actually was.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Turner, but this is where the Fleet-Admiral wanted us to bring you. He wants to give you all a quick debriefing soon." The Marine escorting him explained, then as if he were trying to escape him, he quickly fled the room. Left alone with six of the Seven Warlords, Jack began to size them all up.
With just a glance it was plain to see that "Foxy the Silver Fox" was by far the most pathetic and weakest of the bunch, and Jack couldn't help but wonder how far the Marines had fallen if they were desperate enough to recruit Foxy into their ranks. 'He's a fucking idiot.' Jack concluded after the moronic halfwit approached him acting all high and mighty.
"You dare insult the great Silver Fox Foxy?! I challenge you to a Davy Back Fight!" Foxy challenged. "You idiot. That only applies to pirates who are dumb enough to accept the challenge. Since Turner isn't a pirate, your challenge holds no merit." Shiryu informed the little halfwit in a rather bored tone.
Ignoring Foxy, Jack began sizing up the speaker, "Shiryu of the Rain". The man had once been a Jailer of Impel Down, but after going on a violent killing spree of the prisoners he was guarding, he himself had been imprisoned on Level Six of the infamous prison. It seemed now that the Marines were in dire need of bodies to throw at Jack, they turned to the prisoners who they thought might not stab them in the back. Shiryu was a powerful swordsman in his own right, and Jack knew he could be somewhat of a threat, but he wasn't as powerful as someone on Mihawk's or even Hancock's level.
Looking at the next Warlord whom he decided was the next weakest, Jack's eyes fell upon the Whale Shark Fishman, Jimbe, or "First Son of the Sea" as many knew of him. Jimbe was a master of Fishman Karate and knew how to use Haki to a fairly good degree, and without having eaten a Devil Fruit, he had very few weaknesses. Even though Jack actually really liked Jimbe's character from the anime, he would be a fool if he didn't see the threat the man could be.
Turning his gaze away from Jimbe, Jack looked at an all too familiar man, Marshall D. Teach, AKA "Blackbeard". Technically the man hadn't done anything in this timeline to warrant Jack's attention, however he knew the threat the man could become, hence why he had put the bounty on him, which just so happened to drive the man away from Whitebeard and send him at the Marines, who were more than willing to take someone who Jack Sparrow had placed a bounty on.
Even though Blackbeard didn't have a Devil Fruit, at least none that Jack knew of, the guy had still managed to scar Shanks, which was no small feat, hence why Jack thought him to be stronger than Jimbe. Still, Jack had every intention of getting rid of the guy, and already he was mentally crossing him off of an unknown list of soon to be dead targets.
The next up would have been Boa Hancock, however seeing as how she was more inclined to join Jack and The Order, Jack passed her by on his mental list and focused his attention on Bartholomew Kuma or "The Tyrant Kuma" as many people referred to him. Up until recently, Jack himself wasn't sure what made Kuma do the things he did, but after talking with Dragon, he now understood that Kuma gave up everything he had and let himself get experimented on to become a weapon for the World Government to save his daughter, something which Jack couldn't help but respect the man for.
He hoped that once he killed the Marines and put an end to the World Government, maybe he could somehow save the man and return him back the man he was instead of the cyborg killing machine he was becoming, and since this war was well ahead of the Summit War from the original one, Kuma had yet to lose his mind, giving Jack some hope of accomplishing this goal. Still, he wasn't sure how that would work given how the man's power was no joke.
The last of the Warlords and arguably the strongest was Dracule "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk, the world's strongest swordsman. Jack very much considered the man a threat, but at the same time, he didn't know if the guy was good or bad. Sure, in the anime Mihawk was friends with Shanks, and spared Zoro's life while training him, but he was also a pirate. If he could, he would try and get Mihawk to walk away, but if it came down to someone from The Order or Mihawk, Jack knew what he was going to do.
"Well, well, if it isn't the big bad bounty hunter, William Turner himself. I've got to say, I thought you'd be scarier, because that skull mask is kind of stupid." Shiryu said mockingly, evidently not all that impressed with Jack's persona.
Not wanting to be taken lightly, Jack appeared in front of Shiryu before the man even registered his movements and slammed him face first into the floor before grabbing the man's sword from his prone figure. "Those who squawk the loudest are usually the first to die. To save us all some time, maybe I should kill you now." Jack said coldly as he contemplated actually stabbing the former jailer.
"That's enough, Mr. Turner! Stand down!" Kong shouted, entering the room at the opportune moment to save his pawn. Without saying anything, Jack dropped Shiryu's sword on top of him, then moved to sit away from everyone else.
"As you all know, we're expecting Jack Sparrow and his band of cutthroats to arrive anytime now, so I'll keep this brief. In light of Sparrow's recent attack on the Emperor, Big Mom, the Government has decided to temporarily join forces with her and her crew to combat the man, so when she and her crew arrive, don't target them." Kong explained seriously.
Not having expected Big Mom to show up, Jack was surprised at the sudden information, and more than ever he was glad he was learning about it ahead of time. Still, Big Mom wouldn't be enough to stop what he had planned. Next, Kong explained about the traps they had planned out, all of which Jack already knew. As it was, the biggest threats were the new aerial combat cannons Vegapunk had created exclusively to combat flying targets, but again, Jack already planned to deal with them ahead of time.
Once the meeting was over, everyone was led outside near the battlements, however given how the execution wasn't due to begin for a few more hours, Jack decided to wander around and check things out, but because he wasn't a Marine or someone affiliated with the Marines, he wasn't allowed to do very much.
Still, he was at least allowed to wander around to look at each of the new aerial cannons, which is when he took the opportunity to plant a bomb he pulled from his [Inventory] that was disguised as a fire extinguisher. He managed to plant similar bombs on all but one of the aerial cannons, but he knew exactly which one it was, so as soon as he detonated the explosives, he himself would personally destroy this cannon.
After placing the bombs, Jack didn't just standby and wait for the inevitable destruction that was to come, on the contrary, he placed a few other surprises around the area. He did this clear up to the point when lightning began to fill the sky and the sound of thunder filled the area. Seeing as how the sky was still crystal clear with not a cloud to be seen, everyone likely knew the origin of the lightning, and no one wanted to deal with it.
Right about that time, Stain was brought out of the pit he had been kept in, then was dragged roughly to the top of the execution platform before he was chained to it. Seeing the state his friend was in, it took a lot of restraint for Jack to not immediately act out on impulse.
Everyone in the plaza were as still as could be as they looked to the skies to try and find any sign of the Lightning Demon, and every time lightning arced across the skies it made them all jump. For about a minute things were on edge before the first pillar of lightning struck down from the skies, killing two Vice-Admirals in a blink. At the same time, explosions sounded from the streets around town, but there didn't appear to be any sign as to where they were coming from.
'Attacking the town wasn't part of the plan, damn it! What the hell's going on?!' Jack wondered, not knowing what that was all about. Before anyone had the chance to figure that out, a massive gateway through space opened up right above the bay area, and everyone held their breath as a giant galleon with all black sails flew through it.
"Is it- is it just the one ship?" Someone asked from behind Jack. "It looks that way, but even so, don't let your guard down. Just the Lightning Demon was able to kill everyone on Enies Lobby and take out an entire Buster Call all on his own. Now we're going up against Sparrow and his whole crew." Another soldier warned, and Jack had to give the man credit for not being completely stupid.
"Damn it! Where are Akainu and Aokiji?! They should be here already!" Kong shouted furiously to someone. Looking at the stage just below the platform, Jack saw that two of the six chairs placed below the scaffolding were empty, and he knew that those two chairs belonged to Akainu and Aokiji, however neither of them were present.
Akainu being gone was a bit of a surprise, as Jack could remember seeing him a few hours ago when he first arrived, but he also couldn't remember seeing Aokiji. Even Viola hadn't managed to find the man anywhere on the island, but at the time Jack had just assumed the man was lying in wait to attack at an opportune moment, but based on Kong's reaction to the man not being here, maybe he wasn't hiding.
"Fujitora! Take out that ship!" Kong ordered angrily. Doing as he was told, Fujitora swung his sword, then a few seconds later a freaking meteor could be seen falling from the sky almost directly above the Pearl. Jack had all the faith in the world that they would be able to dodge or block the incoming projectile, but even he was surprised by how it happened.
Just as the meteor was about to reach them, a massive gateway through space opened up just beneath the meteor, and the next moment the meteor came crashing down upon the main building on Marineford, destroying it and most of the buildings around it. "It appears your aim was a little off, Fujitora." Kizaru remarked in his typical laid back tone.
Realizing that calling down a meteor wasn't the wisest decision, Kong ordered Kizaru to try next. Apparently they didn't learn anything the first time because another gate opened up in front of the ship and swallowed up the beams of light, then turned them back on the Marines standing down below, killing hundreds of them in a blink.
'Fuck, I didn't think Radek's power could be this handy, but I think if he keeps using it like this, he could solo this whole war.' Jack thought, truly impressed with Radek. "Prepare to fire the aerial cannons! He can't open gates on all sides!" Kong ordered. Hearing this, Jack stuck his hand inside his pocket and pressed the detonator on the bombs, and in unison, all but one of the aerial cannons exploded into tiny smithereens.
Jack had every intention of destroying the last canon so there wouldn't be any way for the Marines to target the Pearl, however Luke beat him to it, because the second after the other cannons exploded, a pillar of lightning fell from the sky atop the last canon, turning it into rubble that began to rain down over the area.
"I hope you have something better up your sleeves, because we're just getting started!" Luke shouted towards Kong before he swung his sword at him and sent a powerful sword attack at the former Fleet-Admiral. Deciding to earn his pay from the World Government, Jack appeared in front of Luke's attack before slashing his sword in a downward motion, diverting Luke's attack away from Kong and into the Warlords standing down below.
Mihawk, Blackbeard, Jimbe, and Kuma were all able to easily get out of the way of the attack, however both Shiryu and Foxy weren't so fortunate as the combination of Jack's attack mixed with Luke's had split them from head to their genitals, killing them instantly. 'So much for them using Foxy's power against Luke. Oh well.' Jack thought, not all that phased at what had just happened.
Figuring to take out another of the Warlords, Jack subtly nodded his head towards Blackbeard, then he shot towards Luke who began to nudge the fight in Blackbeard's direction. The two of them fought like true monsters with attacks seemingly flying out in every direction, however that was just how it appeared to the onlookers.
A bolt of lightning that had gone astray hit a shipment of gunpowder and caused a massive explosion, killing hundreds of Marines. Then some Haki infused shots fired from Jack's gun just so happened to hit a Vice-Admiral in the leg, almost ripping the limb from the guy's body. As for Blackbeard, no matter how he tried to dodge or escape, attacks came at him from all fronts, and after being shot in the ass by Jack, Luke took the opportunity to electrocute the man before ultimately cutting his head off.
The next target was Kuma, only Jack had told Luke beforehand that he wanted Kuma alive, so when Luke disappeared from where he had been fighting Jack and reappeared behind Kuma, people watching expected the worst, which was what appeared to happen. Luke ran his sword through Kuma's back while channeling an absurd amount of lightning through his sword and into the Warlord who had already undergone a number of cybernetic enhancements, all of which were fried by Luke's attack, which had the added bonus of making it so the Warlord couldn't move. "Stain wasn't the only one we came to rescue." Jack heard Luke say to the big bear man, then grabbing Kuma, Luke disappeared.
Left standing there, Jack looked around at the confused and frightened faces of the Marines around him, then slowly moved over to stand next to the small pile of money that had appeared in Blackbeard's place after Luke beheaded him. "I know this is bad form, but I think I've earned this." He said casually to Jimbe, who was staring at him in shock.
Without saying anything else, Jack made it seem as if he was pulling a bag from his pocket, then he began picking up the one-hundred million berries that had dropped from Blackbeard's corpse. 'Before I get too carried away, I need to disable the bounties on these guys, otherwise the whole battlefield is going to be filled with money.' Jack told himself.
With that done, Jack made his way back over to where he had been stationed near the battlements with a little skip in his steps. In the short amount of time since the war had begun, he had taken out the aerial cannons and had managed to kill or capture four of the six Warlords, leaving only Jimbe and Mihawk remaining.
"Listen here, Turner! You need to be more mindful of your surroundings when you fight! Three Warlords were just killed!" A Marine officer shouted at him after he got back into position. "No, you listen! It's not my job to make sure someone's not in my line of fire. If they don't want to die, then stay away from me!" Jack told the man, then waved his hand in a shooing gesture as if telling the officer to get lost.
Things were a bit chaotic for the next few minutes as people moved to rescue the survivors from the explosions caused by Jack's bombs, but Jack himself was just standing there, slowly making his way towards the execution platform. His plan was to take the whole platform, including Stain into his dark space, then he and the rest of The Order could unleash hell without worrying about Stain. There was also the fact that they could retreat whenever they wanted afterwards and still come out on top, even if they had no intention of doing that.
Despite all of his planning and forethought, things had a way of going completely off the rails at the worst possible moment, which is what happened when Jack was mere seconds away from the platform. Even before the attack came, Jack had seen it happen with his Observation Haki, but even then it still happened so fast that he wasn't able to stop it without blowing his cover. Jumping backwards, the ghostly hand narrowly missed his head as it grabbed at the air where his head once was.
"You're a fast one." A familiar voice rang out, one that almost made Jack facepalm. "It's him! The monster from the West Blue!" A soldier cried as a ghostly humanoid with a flaming green skull materialized before everyone. "That's right, you little cunt-rags! You took my friend, and now I'm going to devour your souls after I've skull-fucked the life from your miserable corpses!" The lich roared angrily, then as an afterthought it looked upwards. "Hang on a minute, Stain! I'll have you out of there in a jiffy!" The lich said confidently. 'God damn it, Xander!' Jack cursed inwardly, realizing exactly who the newcomer was.
Xander had been off who knew where doing his own thing all this time, and because he never called in or said that he was coming, no one had filled him in on the plan, nor the fact that William Turner was actually Jack, so in theory, he was actually trying to kill him.
"You're as bad as Luke!" Jack cursed out loud, slightly hoping Xander would be able to recognize his voice, only that was wishful thinking on his part. Xander was never one to look for subtilties during a fight, so Jack didn't know why he was expecting anything else this time around. "I like Luke, but you all seem to have got something mixed up when you created his WANTED poster. He's not the demon, I am." Xander said with a grin before he charged at Jack.
What followed next was Jack defending himself against Xander, who had improved a lot since his departure all those months ago, and though he was trying not to kill the guy, Xander wasn't making it easy. After a few minutes, Jack finally took a hit after seeing where it would land him, and in the next moment he went flying through the air and slammed into the base of the platform. 'Fuck, that hurt.' Jack groaned inwardly, slightly reeling from the pain in his chest. Even though he had used Iron Body and Armament Haki, Xander could still throw a punch.
Honestly speaking, he was half expecting Xander to keep rushing him, but thankfully Luke decided to step in and appeared next to Xander as he whispered something to him, which Jack assumed was Luke revealing his identity to him. His assumption was proved true as Xander gave him an apologetic look, however Jack merely flipped him the middle finger. "Asshole!" Jack cursed at him even as the darkness spread out around him, enveloping everything around, namely the execution platform and Stain.
"How was I supposed to know you'd join the Marines or that they'd be stupid enough to let you into their ranks? This feels like an oversight by a lot of people, not just me." Xander said defensively. "Don't worry about it, Xander. Jack took his ass-kicking like a man!" Luke laughed, having taken great amusement out of the whole thing, which was likely why he hadn't intervened until now.
"I could have dodged that hit if I wanted to, but I knew it would get me to Stain. If this was any other time, I'd have kicked your ass. Hell, I'll take you both on at once." Jack challenged. "Is he always this much of a sore loser?" Xander asked Luke, who nodded his head in confirmation.
The whole time the three of them were talking to one another and ignoring everyone else around them, everyone else was staring dumbly at them. "Hey, did he just?" A Marine asked his comrade while pointing at Jack. "Yeah." The guy said, answering the unfinished question. "Then isn't he?" The same guy before asked, still unable to finish the question. "Yeah." His friend answered in a daze.
They had all seen "William Turner" use the power of darkness, a power that only one person in the world should possess, and that person was arguably the most terrifying person in the world, and now he was standing before them, acting as if none of them were even there.
"It's Sparrow! Attack!" Kong shouted loudly, however the only thing this accomplished was getting the three monsters to focus their attention back onto the surrounding Marines. "I'll get Stain back to base. Also, before I forget, Big Mom is on her way, so prepare for that. In the meantime, go nuts." Jack told both Luke and Xander, neither of whom needed any more prodding than that.
Leaving them to their slaughter, Jack made his way upwards towards the Pearl, and once he was on deck he made Stain appear. "Get him through the gate and back to base." Jack ordered a pair of Sentinels who took Stain through the gate after Radek made it appear. "Do we retreat now that we've got Stain?" Radek asked curiously once Stain was in the clear. "No. We're finishing this today." Jack told the man, who seemed to deflate at the news.
"We didn't start this war, but we'll damn well finish it. It's high time The Government learns that its people will not be walked over and butchered like lambs to the slaughter." Jack said, bringing new life to Radek, who fully agreed with his words.
Done with that, Jack moved over to check up on the Video Transponder setup. Before he had gone undercover as William Turner, Jack had set everything up so it would start with a simple press of a button, and thankfully it seemed someone had pressed the button the moment the Pearl came through the gate.
"They tried to show the world that we don't look out for our allies, but we just showed them that no matter how large of a force they gather, we won't allow them to hurt one of our own." Haedrig said, sounding quite pleased with how things were going. "Yeah, but I still have a bad feeling that we're missing something, and that's even after I found out that Big Mom is on her way." Jack told the man who had already guessed something like that was happening.
"Yeah, she crossed the Red Line yesterday. My guess is she's waiting for the right moment to strike." Haedrig said, explaining how he had figured that out. "You should know, Whitebeard crossed over yesterday as well with about forty ships behind him." Haedrig added, his words slightly surprising Jack, though not much. He hadn't asked Whitebeard for help or anything like that, but this was something that was right up the old man's ally.
"I don't think we need to worry about Whitebeard. If anything, him showing up might be a good thing." Jack told Haedrig before wandering over to where the others were all waiting. "You're not going to like this Nami, but it needs to happen." Jack said as he moved over to the edge of the ship and made a large cylinder full of liquid gold appear. Knowing what Jack was going to do, Nami ran over and touched the gold inside of the cylinder even as Jack poured it down onto the plaza below.
"Did you forget I can't control it if I haven't touched it?! You almost wasted all of that gold!" Nami cried angrily, but Jack ignored her. 'At the very least, she'll have lots of materials to defend or attack with.' Jack thought simply.
Looking past the enraged orange-haired woman, Jack saw Smoker, Robin, and many others all awaiting the signal to attack. Hell, even Sabo and a few of the Revolutionaries were present, but that was mostly so it would look like they were here, when in actuality, Dragon and most of his men were raiding a few key locations that would completely take away the Government's hold in more than a few countries.
"Be vigilant, be fierce, and most importantly, don't die! Let's go kill these fools!" Jack said to them, earning a war cry from them as they all jumped over the side of the ship and put themselves into the fray.
"You certainly have a way with words." Nojiko said with a smile as she moved in and kissed him. "I try." Jack said as he leaned forwards and pressed his lips to hers. "Be safe out there, okay? You act like nothing can hurt you, but you're still human. We need you to come back to us." Nojiko whispered to him, and Jack could tell that she wanted so badly for them all to pack up and leave, but she also knew that wouldn't solve anything.
It would simply be delaying the inevitable if they ever wanted this war to end, and that was something the whole world wanted. Not answering right away, Jack pressed his hand to her slightly swollen stomach and felt the life forming inside of her. "I'll come back to you." He reassured her, then after stealing one more kiss, he let her go before turning his attention back to the battlefield.
From his vantage point he was able to see the entirety of the battlefield, and it was only after seeing money flying around everywhere that he remembered that he hadn't turned off the bounties. 'Son-of-a-bitch!' He cursed inwardly, while at the same time pulling up his list of bounties.
It took only a few seconds to cancel them, but even so, quite a few of them had already been claimed. One bounty in particular stood out to him, and Jack had to do a double-take after he saw it. 'Who the fuck killed the Puppy?!' He wondered in surprise, not having expected that in the slightest.
*****
On the far side of the crescent-shaped island, Garp was in a small boat, slowly rowing away with a large bag of money in front of him, all the while humming a happy little tune to himself.