บท 104: Im

The holy land Mary Geoise. The capital of the world government and the home of the world nobles.

In Pangaea castle.

Deep, deep inside the castle, where the seat aptly named the empty throne sat.

A seat which was said to be located at the very center of the world they inhabited.

Officially this seat has no occupant. Officially. And that was the exact reason Ian had brought Garp and Sengoku with him to witness.

And just as luck would have it when Ian and co emerged from the shadows they came upon one of the meetings of the five elders and the enigmatic IM that Ian remembered from the series.

Although Ian may have appeared to be nonchalant as he teleported them all, he was in fact alert even before getting them here.

Garp and Sengoku immediately turned vigilant as soon as they got their bearings and turned to look at their surroundings while keeping their guards up.

Almost immediately both of them laid eyes upon the form sitting atop the chair and the five elders kneeling to it, not daring to raise their heads at all.

The throne itself is kept on top of a three-level red and white platform and has several swords and axes planted in the floor of the first and third levels, with the ones in the first being rusting relics of the twenty founding kingdoms.

They almost yelled from shock when Ian put his finger on his mouth in a silencing gesture. They immediately got the hint.

It appeared they weren't detected so far by either the figure or the five elders, so Ian will try to get something from this.

But even this very information was enough for Garp and Sengoku.

The highest authority of the world government who were supposedly the five elders, whom Sengoku had met in the past for many meetings, were actually just servants to some unknown person.

Squinting as they focused on the high throne, they noticed the person wearing a veil to cover its face, leaving only its red eyes visible.

However one thing was apparent to them, including Ian, the figure's posture, and body was that of a female.

Ian unlike them was able to notice an additional detail. The woman's skin was blue. Dark blue. Which when added to the lower lighting on that high platform made it hard for one to gleam any details.

'So she is one of them…' Ian thought to himself. This complicated things a lot. He was only here to show Garp and Sengoku the truth of what they served before. As they were not serving the world, but rather the whims of a hidden leader. But now things just got more complicated than that…

They started listening to what the elders were saying.

One of the five elders, the one with a scar on the left side of his face who is wearing a hat over his grey deadlocks, spoke towards the figure atop.

"Im-Sama, What are your orders?" He asked.

The figure stayed silent for a few minutes, with the five elder's patiently waiting.

Meanwhile, Ian's instincts screamed at him so suddenly to run as something dangerous was about to happen.

He moved to catch Garp and Sengoku and teleport them but it was too late. As Im had spoken.

"INTRUDERS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MOVE IN THIS CHAMBER" The voice was not spoken loudly at all. Rather it was layered with a tone full of authority that reverberated through the minds of all there.

And to the horrors of Ian and co, they suddenly found their bodies incapable of moving.

Ian was standing still his hands outstretched towards Garp and Sengoku.

He tried his best to move but found it impossible.

Similarly, Both Garp and Sengoku were standing there looking shocked out of their minds. No matter how much they tried they weren't able to move.

'What kind of bullshit ability is this?' He thought angrily as he did his best to break free.

"They are?" Im spoke. This time that tone of authority was gone. As such all that were there clearly heard the feminine voice.

Confirming the owner being female.

Only then did the five elders turn to look to Ian and Co. clearly there leader was asking them for who the intruders were.

This time the oldest looking of them, who was wearing glasses and had a samurai sword on him, replied.

"Former fleet admiral Sengoku. The hero of the marines Garp. And the fifth emperor of the sea Ian Louis." The figure replied. Adding nothing more.

Im stood up from her seat and ordered.

"KILL THEM," She said. Her authority back in full.

And just like this Ian was starting to regret this short trip of his.

The oldest looking elder stood up from his kneeling position and then withdrew his sword from its sheath.

'It has been a while since the last time…' he thought to himself as he started walking near the incapacitated three intruders.

'Garp, you still had your uses to us… too bad. As for you Sengoku… disposing of you would not have any high repercussions.' The elder thought.

Then his gaze went to Ian, who was glaring furiously at them all.

'Ian Louis. Taking care of you would make things easier for us… leaving you alive can leave us many problems… I shall start with you' he thought.

Then decided he went towards Ian.

In the onlooker's eyes it appeared as if the elder was just walking but a simple step of his had him right in front of Ian in a shocking show of speed, swinging his sword to behead him.

It all appeared in slow motion in Ian's eyes, however. He was sure he can easily kill this elder if he had his mobility.

His rage finally reaching the point of eruption, due to thinking of leaving his loved ones, had Ian explode with conqueror Haki outwardly.

'That's useless…' the elder thought to himself. He knew his master's abilities and simple conqueror's Haki would not save him.

But just as his sword was about to take Ian's head, a hand caught it.

It was Ian's hand covered in scales as if it was inside a gauntlet.

Ian released a high amount of electricity through his hands into the sword, making the elder stand there convulsing before he fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

Im who was watching noticed this as she was watching, so she tried to give another command to trap Ian again.

"THERE WILL BE NO RESISTANCE FROM INTRU-"She was still speaking when Ian released a huge amount of electricity from his body. The amount was so much that it covered the huge chamber in blue light and blocked the elders and Im's eyesight.

Then Ian grabbed both Sengoku who was standing there still unable to move and Garp who had attempted the same thing as Ian and surprisingly was able to move.

Then he shadow teleported them back to where they were before he fell on the ground in exhaustion. Mental exhaustion.

****

The elders woke their downed friend and went back to their kneeling position leaving Im thinking.

"Was he a 'D' too?" she said after a while. Mainly to herself, as the elders stayed silent.

[A/N: Well I chose to have Im as a woman. mainly because her figure implies so. what do you think Oda-sensei would choose? male or female?]