3 Arrival

Sabaody is still reeling from the battle, earlier that day there has been fighting between the infamous Straw Hat Pirates and the Marines. It's gotten so bad that an Admiral and one of the Seven Warlords were called to deal with them, all because of some brat whose fist was faster than his brain. A Celestial Dragon was wounded, and now the World Government forces and the Marines are tightening their grips on the already scared populations, looking for any sign of rebellion from them toward the Celestial Dragon. The air is thick and heavy with the sense of fear, paranoia and doubt, made worse by the sight of nine fiery contrails approaching ominously from the twilight sky.

- Alright, let's do a headcount before we dive into the water. - Lucious says, clinging onto the steering wheel of his shuttle for dear life, despite being specifically designed and crafted for breaking into atmosphere, it's in no way a comfortable ride. - Red Squadron Leader, here.

- Green Geezer, here. Who came up with all these codenames anyway.

- Irritating Ass, here. Take a wild guess Zorus.

- Hound, here. I think they're fine.

- Aussie Hillbilly, here. Yeah, very "fine" names, indeed.

- Sword Spy, here. Oh gods the unoriginality is killing me.

- Gun Spy, here. You tell them sis.

- Big Spike, here. Let's just all agree to never talk about codenames, aight? It's getting really annoying.

- Bony Pretzel, here. You have no idea.

The shark-shaped shuttles shriek before crashing through the water surface of the planet's ocean, just miles away from Sabaody Archipelago, the heat from their entering the planet's atmosphere causes the water around them to boil and vaporize. The squadron goes low, avoiding the patrolling navy ships above, heading toward the archipelago in absolute silence.

- Keep your profiles low and one eye toward the sky, everyone. - Lucious signals his squadron. - We don't know anything about these waters yet.

- Right, - Chopper replies. - but uh…where are we setting up base again?

- Well it��s easy. - Naemeria, the younger of the twins replies. - Just avoid the places that have lots light and therefore lots of people.

- Isn't it a bit obvious? - Severus asks. - I think what Chopper meant is where exactly should we set up a base, the archipelago is made up of dozens of mangroves, we must choose one to…

- Uh guys? - Breiton, the Strike Force's apothecary calls out. - Something big is heading our way.

- Really? Wh…OH JEEBUZ!

Lucious' frantic cry was the only warning they need, immediately the squadron fans out into multiple directions, avoiding the gaping maw of a massive sea serpent as it swims by.

- WHAT WAS THAT?! - Lucious screams into the mic, but the only respond he gets back are frantic screaming.

- ABORT MISSION! ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! WE'VE BEEN COMPROMISED!

-Calm down! It's just a stupid animal!

- A stupid animal that almost has us FOR AN EVENING SNACK!

- Right, everyone calm down! CALM DOWN! - Lucious screams again, quickly silencing his group. - Look, there's clearly been a miscalculation about the local fauna, but we need to stay calm and continue our objectives.

- Miscalculation?! MISCALCULATION?! - Zorus yells back. - That's a giant piss off sea monster! How did anyone, anything, managed to miss that?!

- Well…we're only supposed to scan for surface and populations…right? - Nicolin inquires awkwardly.

- Well…yes, but actually no. - Lucious replies. - You're supposed to get ALL THE INFORMATION, NICOLE!

- Right, right, my bad, geez, no need to yell. - Nicolin scoffs, Lucious can hear music coming from her channel.

- Are you…is she ignoring me?

- Guys, guys, let's just focus on the task ahead first, alright? - Severus suggests, trying to defuse the tension. - Let's just head toward a mangrove, get ourselves lounged in, grab some food and try not to blow this up, alright?

As usual, Severus' reasoning is enough to calm all of them, save for Lucious still grumbling under his breaths. The lights from their shuttles are kept off as they notice the swarm of sea creatures below, some the size of their "smallest" spacecraft, and the busy ports above with hundreds of ships patrolling the waterways around Sabaody. They avoid the brightest part of the archipelago, zipping among the great roots of the mangrove forest toward the place they've chosen as their base of operation.

- Right, "Grove 12" it is. - Franco mumbles. - Nothing says "Avoid attention" like "Setting a base in the place where a massive skirmish just took place".

- We still need to recover what left of the drone, Franco. - Severus explains. - We'd be in great troubles if they find it, no matter how primitive they are.

- Let them have it, it's just a hunk of wraithsteel, no harm in letting the little monkeys have a run for their money. - Zorus smirks.

- That's what you said on Vissatan VI, - Lucious graciously reminds his friend. - remember the Knightly Incident?

- You promised you wouldn't bring this up anymore… - Though he can't see it, the Lord Inquisitor knows for a fact that his moss head friend's face is as red as he's reminded of that embarrassing incident, a "stain in the entire history of the Inquisition", as his father puts it.

- Oh yeah… - Chopper now chimes in with a mischievous tone. - It was so bad that Lucy's dad sanctioned a Protocol Psychic Hell. - He bursts out laughing, snorting loudly as he continues. - So many bio resources lost…all because of some idiot who INSISTED that a recovery mission was "too costly".

- Why you little…! - Zorus roars, driving his shuttle toward Chopper's with all intention to ram him, but the younger boy is too fast and skillful for him.

- Stop it! Both of you! - Franco puts his shuttle between them. - We've arrived.

Just as the Juggernaut has said, the squadron is right underneath the great mangrove tree, its roots shield them from prying eyes as they slowly make their way into positions. In the shadows of Grove 12, the shuttles, now emptied of their cargoes and passengers, embed themselves into the great tree's roots. They start to dismantle, robotic legs and cables carrying parts from the shuttles toward the center, connecting and reassembling themselves into a large capsule the shape of a diamond, its metallic shell pulsating with psychic energy as it slowly charging up its energy.

- These readings… - Chopper mumbles as he sits at the edge of the platform containing the capsule. - The psychic energy on this planet is astounding.

- Yet another thing Nicole and Naemeria have managed to miss. - Lucious exclaims sarcastically and sloughs forward toward the twins, slowly clapping his hands. - Well done you two. Well. Flippity doo da. Done.

- Well to be absolutely fair, we were tasked to survey the populations and biosphere of the planet. - The younger twin, Neameria, taps her chin ad rolls her brown eyes up in a fake, sarcastically. - Almost as if someone has said that psychic measuring is "not important" due to the lack of psychic rifts.

- Did you just…did she just…? - Lucious stutters, looking around to all of his companions snickering, including Zorus who realizes Naemeria has just threw Lucious the same shade as the one the Conquissiarch threw at him.

As night falls, reports start to coming in en mass, spearhead teams have landed in sparsely populated places all over the planet and are setting up reactor to warp in structures and troops. Breiton walks in circles around the reactor, the energy source that are necessary to first step of every invasion, a contained rift that lead to the Dream, an unknowable realm of absolute chaos and psychic energy, an inexhaustible source of energy and materials from which they build their greatest constructs. The apothecary runs his finger on the surface of the capsule containing the rift, electrifying his fingers as he peers into the flow of energy.

- It's time. - Breiton narrows his eyes, tapping the end of his staff onto the metallic floor.

Immediately, small, spider-like drones crawl out from the nooks and crannies of the platform, hundreds of them now swarm all over the cables, onto the now empty shuttles and to the roots of the tree itself. They spit out strands of glowing silk and start the construction, some work the support beams and frames, while other start the construction of the living quarters for the High Inquisitors almost immediately. Bigger, better equipped drones start to carve into the roots and into the trunk of the mangrove tree, creating corridors for others to craw in and weave their silks, frames from which structures will be built.

- Welp, - Chopper stretches and twists his body from side to side. - now that the base is under construction, I think I'll go up and grab myself something for dinner.

- We just had dinner. - Lucious eyes his companion.

- What about second dinner? - Ulrich asks mischievously. - And Elevenses? Boy, do you even know your meals?

- I know you two allied together about food just to go up there and scare the local shitless, so cut it. - Lucious eyes narrow into mere slits, annoyingly snarling at his friends.

- Lucious. - Severus rests his hand on the Conquissiarch's shoulder. - Conquissiarch, I know this invasion is very important to you, but you got to let your troops increase their morale. Let them have their funs, as long as they don't draw too much attention onto themselves, there's no problem.

- Are you sure we can trust them to NOT cause a massive ruckus? - Lucious looks at his friend worriedly.

- Absolutely sure. - Severus nods. - I'll go with them.

- Well…if you say so. - The Lord Inquisitor nods.

- I won't fail you Milord. - The High Inquisitor slightly bows, before making his way toward his two eager companions. - Right, I'll oversee your…"scouting mission", so don't even think about pulling stupid stunts.

- I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. - Chopper shrugs and adverts his eyes dramatically, before turning toward Lucious. - Oh and thank you for trusting us, Lucy! I'll sure to make it up for you tonight in your chamber~!

- Just…just go already. - Lucious mumbles, shaking his hand at the snickering trio while covering his blushing face.

The construction of the base finished faster than they've expected, it only took about several hours and not a full day or two as they've anticipated. But as the final touches are being put into place and the first of the waygates is activated, reports start to stream in again. A world wide event, the execution of a notorious criminal, a pirate with the name Portgas D. Ace. Curious, Lucious thinks to himself as he looks through the reports on his newly constructed throne, information both related and not related to the execution, on this world there are people who share the name "D.", a custom not unlike that of high ranking nobles of their cultures, but these clearly have next to non relation as all. As the Lord Inquisitor looks through more and more reports, a bigger picture starts to make itself clear to him. War is coming, for whatever reason, the pirate's execution holds significant meaning, drawing attentions of the "Emperors of the Sea", one of which is guaranteed to show up.

Lucious snickers, a pirate collision going against the forces of the entire world, laying siege to their headquarter, one of the mot fortified places on the planet, stirring up a storm across the world. All because of a single pirate. How noble of them, Lucious thinks, or maybe there's something else. The execution is due one week from now, the forces both sides have amassed would need to be formidable, relatively speaking, to cause such a ruckus, no doubt there would be a lot of "Haki" and "Devil Fruit" users there, a perfect place to gather specimens and test out their nullifiers.

- Lord Inquisitor. - Breiton walks up to the throne, ever so slowly with his staff, his robotic body rattles and creeks as he does.

- Ah, Breiton. - Lucious stands up, still holding the projector showing the reports. - These findings are fascinating. - He exclaims.

- Agreed. - The older male nods, adjusting his long hair. - Especially the ones about the "Haki" users, they function almost like a primitive form of psykers.

- Do you reckon that our nullifiers will work on them? - The Lord Inquisitor inquires.

- Impossible to say at the moment. - The apothecary replies. - For all we know, the energy of the Dream could affect them entirely different as it does us. I will need test subjects.

- How many? - Lucious narrows his eyes.

- A hundred, give or take. - Breiton speaks coldly. - Would be better if they're…"Devil Fruit" users as well.

- Then you'll have a hundred. - Lucious declares.

- But sire, where would we find such number? - Breiton's eyes spark with curiosity and excitement as he asks.

- There's a war coming. - Lucious smiles. - The forces gathered numbering in the hundreds of thousands, I'm sure they won't mind if a hundred or so go missing.

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