Capítulo 113: One Path Forward
Ivankov and Jinbe were demonstrating the forms of Newkama Kenpo and Fishman Karate respectively, as well as explaining the philosophy behind each of them to Cherry simultaneously. She had insisted upon doing it that way in spite of their protests, saying that it would 'save time'.
They were naturally doubtful she could properly follow along in this fashion, but figured if Cherry was wasting her and their time, that was on her.
Contrary to their expectations, however, she not only was able to listen well enough to both of them to ask questions, she also demonstrated the forms they showed her before their very eyes. Cherry even realized her own mistakes by comparing herself to their demonstrations and corrected them without their input.
""What kind of monster are you?"" They both asked her at the same time.
"The cute kind?" Cherry smiled at them in a very not-cute sort of way.
They could only shake their heads at her in exasperation.
"I can see something ahead!" Called a pirate in the lead ship's crow's nest.
Cherry hopped up there to see what he spotted and frowned a bit at what she saw.
Jumping back down, the others had gathered to hear what it is.
"There's a blockade of marine warships ahead of us blocking the way passed the Gates of Justice. Not only that, there is a massive wall of ice behind them that stretches for miles and I think it has actually redirected the current straight through the gates into Marineford." Cherry explained.
"It seems we don't have a choice in the matter then. The only way out is through Marineford." Jinbe commented.
"Doesn't matter to us, only to the cowards." Crocodile spoke derogatorily.
"It DOES matter, Croco-boy. They realized the truth somehow and are waiting to ambush us. This'll be much harder than we had hoped." Ivankov rebuffed.
"So what? We'll just kick their asses!" Luffy said, all gung ho.
Ace smacked him upside the head. "Idiot, they have three admirals, the fleet admiral, and the geezer with them. Not to mention we'll be greatly outnumbered and out-gunned."
"Maybe we should slow down, stall for more time for Whitebeard to come?" Buggy said, trying to hide his timidity.
"If we do that, in the worst case they might come to us and we'll be much further from our escape when we're forced to fight them." Inazuma observed.
As they spoke, they quickly approached the waiting marine warships as the current was quite fast. There was only one option.
"Charge forward, stop for nothing! Fight like your lives depend on it, because it does!" Cherry shouted, amplifying her voice for all to hear.
There was a half-hearted cheer in agreement, as they were all terrified of dying or being sent back.
"What are you all being so chicken for! Where did your balls go! You're pirates! This is a moment that will go down in history as a glorious victory against the bastards who tortured you!" Buggy shouted, raising a sword aloft. "And if you follow me, I'll lead to an even grander destiny! As the crew of the next king of the pirates! ME!"
The ships erupted in cheers bordering on hysteria.
"He's awfully good at that..." Crocodile admired honestly. He almost envied him, if he didn't know Buggy was all talk.
...
On the marine warships blockading the current.
"Vice Admiral Bastille reporting, we've spotted ships approaching approaching us. I believe they're the warships that were sent with Vice Admiral Onigumo to bring the prisoner. There is no sign of Whitebeard." Bastille spoke into a den den mushi.
Sengoku furrowed his brow. 'That doesn't sound like something Whitebeard would do. Is he not behind this?'
"Intercept them." Sengoku ordered.
...
The marine warships ahead of them started to move towards them. They were paddleboats so they were able to go against the current somewhat.
"Damn, they won't even let us pass them before they try to kill us." Cherry said annoyed. "Bring me cannonballs! I'll give them a taste of the ol' Garp special, hehe."
The pirates began passing the cannonballs directly to Cherry in a line to keep them coming efficiently.
Cherry picked up the first cannonball, got a feel for the weight, and reared in back in a pitching pose.
*Crack*
It broke the sound barrier by a wide margin. She had been holding back when she was chucking them at Garp previously. Of course, Garp had been holding back too.
The cannonball slammed into the bow of the closest ship just above the waterline and exploded, ensuring that it would start to take on water immediately.
Cherry got serious and wasted no time grabbing the next cannonball and launching it. Once she got a rhythm going she became like a machine.
Luffy hadn't seen Cherry like this before. She had taken on the guise of an efficient killer. The others were also a bit unnerved at this cold and merciless side of her, except Crocodile who saw a bit of himself in her.
The marines on the approaching ships were starting to panic, even Vice Admiral Bastille. Cherry was throwing cannonballs faster than a dozen cannons could fire in succession. Moreover, her accuracy was deadly, dealing a crippling blow with each shot.
He and his captains tried to block the cannonballs, but they always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anytime it looked like they might intercept one, it would turn out to be a curveball and hit a different ship instead.
Reluctantly he called for the ships to retreat to Marineford. At this rate they would only be sunk before the real fight even started. They would lose half their ships before even entering their own cannon's effective range.
The pirates would fall once they entered Marineford regardless. Admiral Aokiji had made certain of they had no where else to go, having quite a bit of time freezing the water both wide and deep.
Seeing the marines flee before them, the pirates got a morale boost and cheered.
Cherry let out a breath. Fighting so seriously without a worthy opponent was mentally exhausting. It was mind numbing in the same way sweeping the courtyard back home in the dojo was.
Their course was set and they sailed directly through the Gates of Justice and into Marineford. There was no signs of Whitebeard anywhere, unfortunately. They had hoped that Whitebeard might be waiting off in the distance or something.
No such luck.
Aokiji had also frozen a large ring around Marineford, to make it that much harder to break out.
"Well shoot." Cherry spoke, annoyed. "Guess I'll have to do THAT after all. We'll have to get closer to the ice wall, though."
No one knew what this mysterious technique she'd mentioned was, as she had refused to say much of anything about it. Only that it should be powerful and likely dangerous.
As they turned their ships to make for the wall, there was a beam of light that stretched from the fortress to the lead ship. At the end of which, Admiral Borsalino suddenly appeared.
He quickly scanned the pirates dressed as marines and spotted two that looked like Ace.
"There are two of you? I guess one is a fake." He flashed and kicked the closest one off the ship. That one happened to be Bon Clay, disguised as Ace to increase confusion.
"Not that one then." Borsalino quickly discounted, as the real Ace would have easily taken that attack they had no armament haki applied, due to his logia fruit.
He flashed again and grabbed towards Ace who tried to avoid his grasping, haki coated hand to no avail. At the same time, he was already forming the beam of light he would return with.
Only two people were close enough and fast enough to even attempt to intervene. Cherry, who was already thrusting at Borsalino's head with her spear. And Luffy who had entered Gear Second the moment he saw the flash.
Luffy didn't attack Borsalino, however. Instead he latched onto Ace and held on for dear life.
Borsalino easily dodged Cherry's attack and dragged Ace back to Marineford, albeit at a considerably slower speed than he arrive. He could turn other people into light like himself after all.
All of this happened in the span of a single second.
"Damn it!" Cherry shouted, turning her gaze towards Marineford. Everyone else was momentarily shocked at just how ruthlessly efficient Borsalino could be when he was actually trying.
"You want war? I'll give you a war." Cherry muttered with a frigid stare. She didn't care so much about Ace, but that idiot Luffy had gotten himself caught too. She knew they wouldn't spare him, regardless of who his Grandfather was.
All the powerhouses in the fortress could feel her eyes upon them. Most couldn't tell who it was, but they thought if that person didn't die today, then the World Government would be in serious trouble in the future.
Capítulo 114: Whitebeard
Admiral Borsalino landed on the execution platform, where marines were waiting to place sea stone cuffs on Ace. Fortunately for them, they were prepared for some trouble and had more than one pair, so they could cuff the rubber man that unexpectedly came along with them.
Ace was cuffed immediately and wasn't able to put up fight, and Luffy was no match for an admiral so he was quickly restrained as well.
The nearby Garp grimaced and shouted. "Luffy?!"
Sengoku glanced at him, but Garp didn't make any moves to rescue either of them.
He looked back at the 5 marine warships and saw that they had foolishly changed course directly towards the fortress. It saved them the trouble of capturing them later, as they couldn't split up their forces before they dealt with Whitebeard.
Hawkeye saw Garp's internal conflict and turned his gaze towards the oncoming ships, one of which carried the person with this somehow familiar haki. He hoped that Garp was the only one who would have an unexpected family reunion today.
Hancock was barely containing her worry and fury seeing Luffy chained up on the execution platform. She almost rushed directly to him, but managed to stay her hand at least until Whitebeard showed up.
Sengoku stepped onto the execution platform and turned towards the den den mushi that was broadcasting the execution to the entire world.
He told a story about a woman who managed to fool them, Ace's mother, and that Ace's father was none other than Gol D. Roger.
"In addition." He gestured to Luffy, who still squirming in his chains. "Since we have him here in custody, we will be executing Monkey D. Luffy as well. Not only is he the adoptive brother of Fire Fist Ace, he is also the son of the revolutionary Dragon!"
...
Ivankov was a tiny bit annoyed that he wasn't told that Ace wasn't also the son of Dragon, but just Luffy's sworn brother. It didn't much matter at this point though, as Luffy had been caught.
Jinbe looked both determined and worried. "We should start from the edges and work our way forward. Marines have always been lazy, so the admirals probably won't move personally unless absolutely necessary. Then we can stall until Whitebeard arrives while reducing the enemy's forces."
"We don't need to wait for Whitebeard. He's already here." Cherry said, baffling everyone. No one spoke out against her though, as she didn't seem to be in a good mood.
Their ships got in range of the marines' firearms so they started a fire fight until the ships reached the outside of Marineford's crescent, where they started disembarking and attacking the marines in melee as well.
Cherry didn't make any moves, however. She was waiting until the right moment.
As Jinbe expected, none of the admirals made a move, just a few vice admirals at most.
Soon, a long stretch of ships appeared out of nowhere on the horizon and no one knew how, except Cherry who could sense more people moving below the water towards the center of Marineford.
*Sploosh*
Four ships with large whale figureheads appeared in the center of Marineford, surprising everyone. At the forefront was the Moby Dick, Whitebeard's flagship and naturally Whitebeard was aboard it.
"GURARARA!" Whitebeard laughed. "You wait right there, Ace."
Whitebeard reared his arms seemingly in preparation to strike something, and when his arm struck out cracks appeared in the air itself and the sea quaked. Giant tsunamis formed on either side of Marineford and threatened to washed everything and everyone away with them.
He exchanged some words with Ace, Ace blaming himself for this whole mess and Whitebeard insisting it was his own fault.
And they would have if Aokiji hadn't stepped in and frozen them solid, along with the water in the bay. Aokiji went to attack Whitebeard, but was easily stopped by Whitebeard's counterattack.
Soon after the battle went into full swing and quickly turned into a chaotic battlefield.
All the big shots who had their eyes on Whitebeard saw a figure land on the Moby Dick and casually walk towards Whitebeard. They recognized her quickly as Harpin D. Cherry, a rare example of a pirate that had a bounty higher than her own captain.
Hawkeye's usual frown got a bit deeper and nobody on the marines' side had a good feeling about this.
Cherry walked towards Whitebeard at a walking pace, until the first division commander of the Whitebeard pirates, Marco the Phoenix, stepped in her path.
"Where do you think you're going, little lady? This isn't the place for you." Marco said calmly, though his words were laced with an implicit threat.
If it wasn't for the fact that he recognized her as a member of Ace's little brother's crew, he would have attacked her immediately.
"Don't be so protective, Marco. She can't do anything to me, let her through." Whitebeard spoke casually.
Borsalino attempted to fire his laser at Whitebeard, but Marco moved to intercept it. Whitebeard studied Cherry as she resumed her approached and didn't even flinch at the two powerhouses fighting only a couple dozen meters away from her.
Cherry stopped at a respectable distance and looked the man up and down. She had to respect him as a warrior, he had one foot in the grave, she here he stood on his own two feet as steady as a mountain. She wondered if even death could topple this monster.
"I've got an offer for you. How would you like to return to your prime for a little while?" Cherry asked.
Whitebeard scoffed. "I don't need any help from a youngster."
"Are you sure? Is your pride worth more than the life of your beloved son?" Chery said.
Whitebeard frowned, this little girl was getting on his nerves. He made eye contact with her for the first time and almost flinched.
It wasn't her countenance but what he saw hiding behind her eyes. Whitebeard may have been blinded to Blackbeard's true nature because of his love for his found family, but he was actually quite good at reading people.
Staring into the depths of those black pupils, he could swear there was a genuine devil standing before him. They weren't so different from Rocks' or Roger's eyes. They weren't the kind of eyes that some youngster should have.
He actually stopped to think over her words seriously, then. What she was offering wasn't something that would harm his reputation at all, and he really would like to feel the strength of his youth again.
The problem was whether to trust this little girl. It might be a trick to weaken him instead. Although her own captain was currently on the chopping block as well, it wouldn't have been the first time the World Government planted an undercover agent amongst a pirate crew.
"Stop thinking so much, you old coot." Cherry said, bringing Whitebeard out of his thoughts. "I don't want to die, so I'm not gonna stab you in the back. Do we got a deal or not?"
Cherry extended a hand out for him to shake.
Whitebeard inwardly chastised himself, since when did he start to lose his boldness?
Sengoku who had been observing the meeting between Cherry and Whitebeard suddenly had a terrible feeling when Cherry held out her hand to Whitebeard.
"STOP THEM, RIGHT NOW!" Sengoku shouted, suddenly changing into his golden buddha form and charging the Moby Dick. Admiral Sakazuki followed right behind. Even Garp moved, his instincts telling screaming at him.
Whitebeard clasped his large hand over Cherry's forearm. Immediately Whitebeard felt something rush up his arm and spread out in his body.
None of Whitebeard's crew could stop the three powerhouses of the marines from reaching the Moby Dick. They prepared to attack the two of them all at once at full power.
*BOOOOM!!!*
All three of them were struck with a massive shockwave as the air shattered from one side of the bay to the other.
"GURARARARA!" Whitebeard laughed with great gusto. His lungs no longer hurt, his bones no longer creaked, his heart pounded with a strength it hadn't had for decades!
Cherry hadn't been using hyperbole when she said she'd give him the strength of his prime back. Perhaps you could even say he was stronger than his prime, as he still possessed his many years of experience making up for his declining strength.
"""""We're fucked...""""" Every single present marine had the same thought, whilst the people of the world watching through the den den mushi broadcast paled in horror.
Cherry was huffing and puffing behind Whitebeard. She hadn't been sure how much energy his mortal body could handle, but ultimately she didn't have a chance to find out. Whitebeard had sucked up 90% of her total vital energy and still wanted more. Naturally she didn't want to give him everything she had and stopped prematurely.
Cherry slunk away, intending to climb up the Moby Dick's mast tot he crow's nest to recuperate a bit. Although, Whitebeard had been careful, she still took a big hit from Whitebeard's attack.
She wasn't out of the fight just yet, though. She wouldn't let the old man have all the fun.
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