19

"ZEHAHA HAHA HAHA"

That laugh…It seems that despite my plans, Blackbeard made it after all. I thought getting the Gates of Justice closed on him was a pretty good plan. At the very least I know that it must've delayed him. Whitebeard was completely shattered by Aokiji. No devil fruit for you to steal Blackbeard. I smirked. Let's see how you weasel your way out of this one.

"ZEHAHA HAHA HAHA! FOOLS! As if calling a giant block of rocks and mortar 'The Gates of Justice' will stop me! In fact, that'll only make me to destroy it even more!" Sailing in on a stolen Marine Battleship, Marshal D. Teach had made his entrance.

"Wiiiihahaha! I heard the Marine's got two more gates boss! We shuld pay'em a visit!" Sidling up next to Blackbeard was the masked lucha wrestler Jesus Burgess. A bloodthirsty grin showing so many teeth, he'd make a shark-fishman blush in shame.

"Wind speed, less than 10mph. Crosswind, none. Target within 100 yards. Fate has brought us together with Firefist once again it seems. Today is an excellent day Captain." The sniper, Van Augur stood exactly five steps back and to the right of Blackbeard. His expression seemingly apathetic towards everyone and everything around him. The sudden quick gleam off his target scouter however told a different story.

"Augur is absolutely right Captain! I can't wait to share this beautiful, beautiful day with the people of Marineford! How wonderful today is!" The mime-faced Laffitte drew his gun and spun around in pure bliss.

"Ehhh heh heh. Marines have..have..go-good booze. Ehhh heh heh heh…" With his tongue lolling about and seemingly in a stupor, Vasco Shot stumbled left and right, sloshing a gourd about and spilling copious amounts of alcohol down his neck and chest. Despite this, the black jesters cap he wore on top of his head was surprisingly clean to an extreme degree.

*puff* *puff* Shiryu of the Rain, ex Head Warden of Impel down smoked his cigar with relish. He hadn't had a good smoke in years. With one large inhale of his cigar, he rubbed his sword like one would stroke a lover. "Soon."

"Murun fu fu fu it is I-"

"Shut up and fight already!" The tusked, blue haired Avalo Pizarro roared out.

"You interrupted my introduction! No one interrupts the fairest lady in the land, Devon-sama, and gets away with it!" Voted ugliest Blackbeard crew member, Catarina Devon made threatening moves towards Avalo, preparing to skewer him on the tip of her spear.

"Hee-Haw!" Doc Q's donkey brayed.

"Teach, enough with this foolishness! Is what Moria said true? You've betrayed the Shichibukai?!" Spittle flew from Sengoku's mouth as a vein bulged on his forehead.

Based on his reaction, I'd say Sengoku already knew Blackbeard betrayed hi-

"Oi. Oi! Oi! Oi! Sengoku you whorespawn, backstabbing piece of human garbage!" My eyes widened in both shock and anger.

I was going to say more creative insults, but now wasn't the time. Bitching at my fate was never my thing in the first place. All I could do was clench my fist and grind my teeth as I suppressed my fury. The rational side of me began to take over as my rage went to the backburner. Now wasn't the time to take action.

"Haah~" Exhaling deeply, and unclenching my fists, I focused back on Blackbeard and Sengoku.

…-and there's nothing you, or anyone can do to stop me! Least of all snitches!" At the end of his address to Sengoku, he directed a glare my way. Well there goes any potential to team up with Blackbeard straight out the window.

Done speaking with Sengoku, Blackbeard addressed the remaining pirates. "I've come to save you my nakama! It was the World Noble's plot to turn Whitebeard against me! You guys fall back, I'll cover you!"

Without Whitebeard's paramecia to steal, is this Blackbeard's plan? What does he gain out of this? Recognition from the world for fighting Sengoku? Or maybe he wants to fill Whitebeard's spot as a Yonko by putting in as little work as possible. Get the Whitebeard pirates on his side by saving them? He is one lazy sonuvabitch, and it does match his style. Although after seeing what Sengoku is capable of, I'd say it's more work fighting the Marine's than Ace and Marco in the New World. Just what is Blackbeard hoping to gain from this?

At the same time that I was trying to puzzle out Blackbeard's actions, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a bedraggled Marco drag a defiant Ace off towards the ships. A second later, Sengoku lunged forward.

Sengoku's palm exploded into a bubble of energy headed straight for Ace and Marco. In response, Blackbeard surged a wave of darkness forwards, nullifying Sengoku's attack. Soon after, the wave spread to more than fifty Marine's, slowly absorbing them into Blackbeard's pool of darkness.

"What." A Marine standing next to me commented at seeing his Commander, his Heavenly Budha's attack get canceled out so casually. Not only that, but the fifty men who were sucked into Blackbeard's power had completely vanished! It seemed like his brain couldn't process what had just happened. Many of his friends had probably died today, he'd killed, and witnessed earth shattering events. Today certainly wasn't a good day to be a grunt.

Looking about, a similar expression of listlessness had spread to many others. I could spot the same vacant expression on a few the pirates faces. Although their retreating forms soon broke out back into cheers.

"Ha! Maybe it was those World Noble bastards who set Teach up! He never wanted to be a Whitebeard commander, even though we all knew he had the strength to be one!"

"No way, he's no hero, he killed Thatch, and arrested Ace! He's the reason we're fighting this battle in the first place!"

"He's Whitebeard's darkhorse, there's no way he killed Thatch, they were the best of friends!"

"I don't know if he killed Thatch or imprisoned Ace or whatever, let's get outta here!"

"Alright men, this is just what we need to get out of this forsaken hell hole! We've saved Ace, now let's book it!" One of the New World Captains shouted to his men, as they boarded their ship, and set sail, leaving Marineford.

At the sight of Blackbeard's devil fruit, the successfully fleeing pirates, and his men's loss of morale, Sengoku grimaced. He was not happy, not one bit.

"Fire all cannons at the retreating pirates! Aokiji, Kizaru, attack those who are escaping! Officers, board those ships, and chase after them with our own. We cannot allow Firefist to escape! And Garp, I know you're not unconscious, get up here, your grandson isn't a part of this battle!" Sengoku had entered tactician mode as he made to attack Blackbeard once more.

"You heard the Fleet-Admiral! I want to see the bay running red with pirate blood before sundown!" Doberman rushed past me, and led a cohort of one hundred Marine captains to board a ship in pursuit. Most of the Vice-Admirals, and high ranking officers gave chase. Only the wounded and those firing the canons stayed behind. Despite the hiccup with Blackbeard, the Marine's still held the advantage.

Standing back from the coming clash between Sengoku and Blackbeard's crew, the other four Shichibukai and I had decided not to chase after the pirates into the ocean. I can't speak for the rest as to why they didn't chase them down, maybe they didn't want to, or couldn't fight very well on the ocean. Most likely, they couldn't be bothered doing bitch work for the government.

I could respect that last choice. I would've gone just for the corpses to build up my zombie army, but I was tired, and weary to the bone. The welts were starting to make themselves known, and the forced rapid healing I had done earlier wasn't without its pain too. Not to mention the mental strain from wearing the shadows of about a dozen pirates. Frankly, I was probably recovering from several concussions at this point.

"Today sure was a rollercoaster." While reading One Piece, it was always shocking to me that Luffy and the Straw Hats did what they did, all the arcs up to Marineford…in less than a month or two. It's crazy to imagine how strong they got, and all that they did. I don't know if I could improve like they can, but already I'm seeing growth. My fights today have taught me a lot about my strengths and weaknesses, and where I need to improve upon. I'd gained fighting experience in close and ranged combat, and my sixth sense was slowly developing. It's just a matter of time until I get to the level of strength that I don't have to rely solely on my reputation.

"Good job." A monotone, and intensely soft voice sounded next to my ear. To my left, Kuma, bible in hand praised me.

"Nani?!" I couldn't help but exclaim in a kneejerk reaction. I was utterly perplexed why this government dog would give me, Gecko Moria praise! Especially considering our last interaction!

"What you did was very brave, not everyone could reveal such critical information to secure the safety of the world. Good job." Kuma pat me on the shoulder, and left the gathering of Shichibukai to board a Marine battleship.

"!" Bartholomew Kuma, a.k.a. Tyrant, a Pacifista who once he was turned into a mindless cyborg had the rod of Justice stuck firmly up his ass so far, he couldn't smile anymore just praised me. He patted my shoulder no less!

"Awe, I think he likes you. Although why wouldn't the governments lapdog love a snitch like you." Doflamingo grinned at first, but then ended his statement with a sneer.

It took me a minute to register Doflamingo's words. Did they think I was a snitch? I thought that the saying 'no honor among thieves' would be most applicable to this group. Every man for himself and all that.

"Snitch? I'm no snitch. If you knew what Blackbeard's devil fruit allows him to do…you'd be thanking me right now!" I responded; exasperation clear in my tone of voice.

"Hoh hoh hoh~ Your defense is quite weak, snitch. A filthy man such as you is worth less than scum! You'll never measure up when compared to my lovely Luffy~" Boa Hancock looked down on me again by looking up at the sky. Her pet snake, coiled along her shoulder sniggered at my treatment. When she mentioned Luffy, hearts grew in her eyes, and her body swayed left and right enticingly.

I glanced at Mihawk to see what his opinion was, and all he did was snort and look away.

"I'm telling you, I'm no snitch!" A cold sweat went down my back. If these guys think I'm a snitch, then what does the rest of the world think? Will I be facing all sorts of up and coming pirates and criminals trying to prove themselves against the snitch? I know what happens to guys who carry around the snitch epitaph, it doesn't end well for them. This could really interrupt my plans of recruitment!

"I certainly don't care what you did Moria-chan, but others will. I know you've been selling the weapons and merchandise of captured sailors for years. If the wrong people heard what happened here today, why, you'd lose all business and credibility. Why don't you tell me what's so scary about Blackbeard, and if it's worth enough…I'll handle any problems you might have with the brokers. I'm just looking out for a friend after all, Fuffu fuffu." Doflamingo pushed up his glasses, giving me a disinterested look.

At the same time, I saw Mihawk and Hancock tilt their bodies my way to get a better view of me. I see what's happening here. These bastards, they were fishing for information the entire time!

"You!"

"Well if that's how you feel, it's not like I'm that interested…"

"Tch, fine! He can take the devil fruits from the freshly dead, and transfer them to someone else! Not only that, he can use them himself. Blackbeard was going to steal Whitebeard's devil fruit!" I all but shouted the reason why I had tried to stop Blackbeard.

Doflamingo lost his ever present smirk for a moment. After a seconds pause, another, even larger grin emerged. "Excellent! The chaos this will create! Fuffu fuffu!" Grabbing his sides, Doflamingo began to laugh uncontrollably.

"You're serious. I suppose filth has its uses from time to time." Hancock threw back her hair, and sauntered off towards the chasing force of Marine's. As she passed me by, I heard her mumbling something about Luffy, and bringing vengeance on any Marine that harmed a single hair on his precious head.

Mihawk even gave me a nod before going back to observing the fight between Sengoku and Blackbeard with his famous eyes.

Ugh, why do I care what these people think of me? I guess at the end of the day it's difficult trying to avoid people you once liked from a cartoon show. Although that's not the only thing. They're also the only people I can talk to on a relatively even footing. They're not my subordinate, not a Marine, and not a Yonko. In fact, these are the only people who could possibly pass off for 'friends' of mine in this cruel world. A deranged former World Noble who wants to spread chaos, an ambivalent sword freak, and a manhating ex slave, what greater 'friends' could I ask for?

Sobering up to the epiphany I just had, with the state of my 'friendship' I began to take into serious consideration what Sengoku had said to Blackbeard. While simultaneously ignoring the fight between Blackbeard and Sengoku, I formed a seat made of shadows, and assumed the classic 'thinker' pose with my chin resting on my fist. Or at least with what little chin I had left between all the fat.

First off, why would Sengoku do something like that? Did he catch wind that Blackbeard had made overtures to recruit me? Or maybe with Akainu dead, two of the seven Shichibukai defected, a wounded Aokiji, and escaping Ace, Sengoku sought to tie me closer to the World Government?! After showing his power, he knows I won't try to retaliate! My eyes widened in astonishment. I had once again underestimated Sengoku. First his power level, then his ability to scheme. In the show, he seemed like such a washed up old man, done with life. In every scene all he's doing is eating noodles, and talking to Garp about some big bad relevant to the current arc for story exposition! It makes me wonder why he ever retired.

Why did Sengoku step down from being Fleet-Admiral? In an anime world like this, martial arts, and personal power can extend a lifespan for dozens if not hundreds of years! It can't be that he resigned willingly…he didn't resign willingly! The Five Elder's pushed to replace Sengoku with Akainu! What a piss poor replacement. Under Sengoku's stewardship, in canon, Ace, and Whitebeard died, on live Den Den Mushi projection for the world to see. The only reason why he retired could only be because he had fallen out of favor. The World Noble's must've wanted someone who would follow their orders without question. Sengoku, with his long years of experience must've been able to skirt their commands to a fine line. I had equal parts admiration and hatred towards the man. Is this the feeling battle maniacs search for when they seek a 'worthy foe?'

"BLACK HOLE!" A familiar, desperate and breathless shout rang out.

DODGE My sixth sense was urging me to move.

Trusting my instincts, I jumped into the sky, as high as I could go. At the same time, I commanded Doppleman to ascend even further up. Fast as light he surpassed me in height, and I swapped places with him. Forming a platform to stand on, I took a look down below to see what set my sixth sense off so strongly.

The entire island of Marineford slowly sank into a dark abyss. Blackbeard's power had finally been unleashed.

"I wonder if Sengoku will get fired for this."

AN: Alternate ending chapter sentence: "Let's see them call me a snitch now." I grinned into the void that was once Marineford.