Arrival, Split Factions and Meeting

_________ POV Narration _________

Dressrosa was still cleaning itself up when Enel and Oven arrived.

The two pirates sailed close to the clouds above the Island Kingdom and looked at the civilians preparing their homes with quite a bit of confusion.

"Say, do the Big Mom pirates have any intel on the situation around these parts?" Enel asked as he noticed some traces of fighting here and there, his radar also picked up on quite a few sunken ships, some even surprisingly intact...

"Not really... We had somewhat secluded ourselves in our territory for a bit after my capture and release...

We only received news from our associates in the underworld, but they've all been quiet lately." Oven, as a Sweet Commander, now had a bit more insight into the business of his family.

In the past, he was mostly just concerned with following his mother's orders and searching for sweets all across the New World, trying to please her.

"If I were to guess, the World Government found some way to hamper communications even in the underworld..." Enel said while scratching his chin with one of his earlobes.

"Quite hard to believe, they were booted out of the Underworld by a coalition of Underworld Emperors a while back..."

Enel then stopped and simply raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess they were booted off indeed..." Enel says with a smile, as he started thinking a bit more about the situation.

'But they somehow managed to make Buggy's crew replace Dofflamingo's criminal empire in a short span of time...

I'll have to look further into this later, I guess... Might be a good opportunity to get in touch with Buggy...'

Many watched with wary eyes when seeing Enel's ship descending from the skies.

The reaction of the people of Dressrosa seemed to soften up a bit when seeing that it was just Oven and Enel... Though whispers quickly spread about the two of them looking a bit different.

The flying vessel landed directly in front of the royal palace, and the ones standing guard only saluted Oven and Enel as they passed by.

The fact that Enel was now an Emperor mattered little to the people of Dressrosa. They had been ruled by a tyrannical pirate for 10 years, but they didn't exactly hate pirates.

They especially didn't hate the two people that had helped them and saved their kingdom.

Well, it was mostly Enel's work, but Oven was his associate at the time, and he had reportedly taken down one of Doflamingo's Elite Officers.

Therefore, their reception was rather warm, with most of the people in the royal palace greeting them happily, glad that they were visiting.

Plenty of people showed concern when seeing Enel's missing arm.

His body was still bandaged up and he was not fully recovered. So he was only wearing a pair of loose pants and his furred white coat, with one sleeve swinging around as he walked confidently.

The Sweet Commander happily greeted most of the workers, and Enel also nodded at them as he passed by.

Oven would've usually ignored weaklings in the past, but the people of the Royal Palace had all treated him nicely even when he was a prisoner travelling with Enel, so he saw no reason to not treat them the same.

"Enel, I've been wondering... Do you plan to announce Dressrosa as your territory?" Oven asked as the two of them continued making their way to the throne room, where the servants had informed them that a meeting was ongoing.

"I did plan to do that. It would've provided the people of this country with some protection... But it might also make it the target for the World Government..."

"Do you think they'd just dare to attack a country randomly? Besides, Dressrosa is one of the 20 kingdoms that initially founded the World Government itself." Oven patted himself on the chest, quite confident that the World Government wouldn't dare to act so boldly.

The two of them already came in front of a large closed door, both of them knew that it was the throne room, and they could hear plenty of voices inside.

Enel sighed when hearing them, and decided to respond to Oven finally.

"You might be right... But I assure you that the World Government doesn't really care much for its founding countries. It's already a power that stands on its own.

Their current situation is already bad. They also certainly no longer care about public perception since they no longer give anyone a voice..."

Oven ended up simply scratching the back of his head, not really able to refute Enel.

"You've sure become a lot gloomier, Enel..." A feminine voice sounded from the side, with a bit of amusement in her tone.

Both pirates turned their heads to the side, smiling as they did so, as they caught sight of Viola wearing her usual sleeveless white dress with violet polka dots and maroon frills.

She hadn't changed much look-wise, but she did seem a lot more confident now.

"Glad to see that you are healthy, little princess..." Oven said with an amused smirk.

He had taken to calling Viola that in the time they spent at the Royal Place, only doing so because it seemed to annoy her.

"Har Har." Viola's reaction to that nickname certainly hadn't changed a lot either.

"Name-calling aside, it is good to see that you are doing well for yourself... Though I'd like to know more about the pirate graveyard around the kingdom..." Enel waved his hand a bit.

"Yeah... Well, a lot of things have happened. Father will certainly be happy to meet you, some acquaintances of yours are here too..."

"So they really were here after all..." Enel said as he smiled, finally opening the large door in front of him and walking into the throne room, only for a chair to fly right by his head as soon as he entered.

"I'm telling you that I don't agree with this!" Akainu's enraged voice scratched the ears of everyone in the room. He seemed to be arguing with Dragon about something, who was just looking at him with frustration.

Fujitora and Aokiji both seemed to be calmly drinking some tea, and Kizaru was just dozing off with his eyes half open.

King Doldo and Kyros were both off to the side, sipping some tea and just paying attention to the situation.

They seemed to have dragged over a large table and plenty of chairs, momentarily turning their throne room into a rather large meeting room.

"As cheerful as always, Akainu..." Enel's voice managed to catch everyone's attention instantly, as every head in the room turned to the door, and everyone(minus Fujitora) looked at Enel, Oven and Viola walking in.

"..." Doldo and Kyros were both shocked to see his state, but they had heard that he had been injured quite badly at Baltgio, so they recollected themselves quickly.

Meanwhile, the Dragon and the former Marines seemed glad to see/hear him. Even Fujitora and Kizaru, despite them not having that noteworthy a relationship with Enel.

Well, it hadn't been that noteworthy before the war. But now they did appreciate Enel for choosing not to run despite the way things had turned out.

He, an emperor, had actually fought to protect them, as he could have always escaped easily as soon as that Eye showed up in the sky.

Aokiji was just glad to see him, as he knew that Enel could somewhat calm down Akainu. At least that was what he had heard from Sengoku at some point, he hoped it would still apply...

"Enel, you look like shit." Akainu, the former Fleet Admiral, said as he crossed his arms and smiled.

"What got stuck up your ass, magma boy?" Enel also smiled calmly as he spoke, not bothering to react to the odd looks he received when speaking.

"Well, besides the fact that I can now visit my own grave and that I wasn't invited to my own funeral? The Marines have almost disbanded, so things aren't going that great..." Akainu rolled his eyes as he spoke.

"I guess Aramaki wasn't able to deal with being a Fleet Admiral too well?" Enel asked with an amused smile.

"Hah! I'm sure he would've made a decent Fleet Admiral had the situation been different..." Fujitora interjected, sipping some tea as he spoke a bit.

"Yeah, like if he had a single political bone in his body..." Kizaru said in a lazy tone, shaking his head slightly as he stood slouched in his chair.

"Indeed, thanks to his masterful management, but mostly due to the way the Baltigo incident was handled, the Marines split into two different factions.

And around half of the Navy's forces have split from the World Government." Akainu opened his mouth again, not quite as amused by the situation as Enel and Oven seemed to be.

"That's not bad at all. Why exactly are you mad though?" Enel asked as walked closer to everyone.

"Well, I had proposed that it might be worth it to invite this split marine faction to our side. We should be able to do so using Akainu and Sengoku's influence..." Dragon said as he nodded a bit at Enel.

"... Sengoku is currently still with Shanks and his crew, so he should be safe, but I doubt we can use his influence without him being here.

After what the World Government pulled on us, I do think inviting more people to our cause would be beneficial though..."

"Sure, you can think that. But you saw that thing! What can more people even do against it?

We'd just be throwing more lives away... My people's lives." Akainu said as he shook his head slightly.

"Throwing lives away, huh?" Enel said as he stroked his chin for a bit.

"I can understand why you think that. But what exactly do you think will happen to them now?" The Emperor asked as he grabbed a chair and sat down, Oven joined him, standing by his side somewhat like a bodyguard.

The marines did notice Oven, but they didn't comment much on it for now.

"Well, they will obviously continue doing their jobs as marines and hunting down pirates..."

"No... They will just get branded as criminals on some trumped-up charges and then get hunted down. That's just the way these things work."

"I doubt Tsuru of all people would allow something like that to happen. She is reportedly the head of the Neo Marines, and she has both Gion and Tokikake by her side.

Even better, Teacher Zephyr also decided to join her faction, despite being impartial for so many years."

"So they have considerable power... And are a group split off from the World Government... And you're telling me you don't believe the Government will consider them a threat?" Enel asked as he gradually raised his eyebrow with each sentence.

"I'm saying that the Government will be too preoccupied with us to consider them... Getting them involved will just put their lives at risk." Akainu crossed his arms, and at that point, Enel understood why Akainu was so difficult to sway.

He was making a rather solid point, but it was built on a rather large misunderstanding.

"We are not going to be facing the World Government soon, we need to get our forces in order, and there are many things we need to do before we are able to go head to head with them."

Enel simply crossed his earlobes, he could tell that most of the people in the room weren't expecting those words from him.

Kizaru even straightened up when hearing them.

"Wait... So after that... You're telling me to just stay put and wait?!" Akainu said, his tone ramping up with each minute that passed by, Enel simply stared at him, unimpressed.

"I'm sorry Akainu. But do you have any fucking idea what exactly hit us?! Do you have any clue on how to counter it?!" Enel wasn't about to go hiding his frustration at Akainu's 'brave' plan. It was as brave as it was foolish and lacking.

"If we act fast enough, we can take them by surprise! They won't even have time to use it!"

"What if it's something instant?! You plan to jump off a cliff with a blindfold on just because it might not be that steep?!"

Dragon to the side was also considering Enel's words.

They were assuming quite a few things while planning their assault on the Holy Land, they truly didn't know how the World Governments Island Ereasing Weapon worked.

"I believe waiting a bit is indeed the most pertinent thing we can do in this situation..." Fujitora now seemed to agree with Enel, quite quickly as well. Aokiji also nodded, a careful approach to the situation being more his style.

Kizaru looked at his friend, Akainu, who seemed to be clenching his fists and contemplating the situation. It was clear that his decision would be the same as Akainu's, no matter the circumstance.

"I guess we will have to think on this further. Observe their moves and act accordingly." Dragon ended up sighing as he spoke, and Akainu seemed to agree with him, scowling as he looked to the side.

Akainu then turned his head, his gaze finally landing on Oven, who didn't seem to be perturbed by him at all.

"Hmm? Enel, are you going to explain this dirty pirate's presence?" The former Fleet Admiral didn't mince any words at all.

The Admirals didn't react much, only looking(at least two of them looked) at Enel and waiting for an answer.

"Oven here is now a Sweet Commander of the Big Mom Pirates, who I find myself in a partnership with currently."

"So what, you're just letting a pirate follow you around now?" Akainu didn't seem all that impressed by Oven's presence.

And the Sweet Commander wasn't quite enjoying Akainu's presence either, he just chose to keep silent, out of respect for Enel.

"I assure you that Oven is an ally that can be trusted. And Linlin has also proven to be the same, though she is still not decided if she wants to ally herself with us and face the World Government by our side."

Oven was glad to hear that Enel was defending him, smiling internally as he did so. 'I guess I was right to follow him...'

Enel had also decided not to give them any details on the situation with the Big Mom Pirates, as his deals with Linlin were more of a personal matter in the first place.

But Dragon wasn't daft either, so he realised that it likely had something to do with souls and Enel's vested interest in them.

"If you say so... But you better keep him out of my way... I don't work with pirates." Akainu said as he narrowed his eyes at Oven, seemingly trying to judge the Sweet Commander's intentions.

"I'm sure you'll come around eventually... For now, we need to talk about relocating our operations to my base."

"Your base? You mean the Sky Island that the Government Agents were talking about during the war?" Fujitora said as he stroked his beard.

"Yes, it has since moved, so it is in an undisclosed location." Enel nodded, not really shocked that the Admirals had heard his exchange with the Government agents back in the war.

"Well, we've yet to really settle here properly. Most of our things are still loaded in the blimps. But are you certain that it is a safe location?" Dragon spoke out, thinking about the move for a few seconds.

Relocating from under Dressrosa would be a good move, as staying there put a lot of people in danger.

"I can assure you that it is still a safe place. Garp is still there, alongside other noteworthy individuals..." Enel decided not to elaborate on Francisco being there.

He thought it a bother to explain the situation to everyone, and figured he would do so when actually getting there.

"I see... Well, it is worth checking out, sooner or later the World Government will notice our activity here. Especially after the protests calm down completely." Dragon said as he crossed his arms.

"We can cover you here for as long as you need. I doubt they will go as far as to attack us directly." King Doldo said as he put down his tea finally.

"I'd rather hope it doesn't come to that though... It is better for all sides that they do not learn of your involvement with us for now." Dragon said as he shook his head.

The meeting continued, as they all continued speaking about what decisions they could take and how much time the relocation would take.

Seeing as the situation was no longer tense Kyros also stood up and went over to Oven, tapping his shoulder as the two of them went off and started talking about random things off to the side.

The day ended on a low note, as the meeting was mostly about depressing topics and their future steps.

The King was rather glad to catch up with Enel though, and Viola was just as glad.

She didn't seem to be quite as infatuated with him as she seemed when he had rescued her. But that was something he had expected.

She acted in an understandable way at the time as he had just rescued her from a precarious situation, but she quickly got over him as she started working for the Kingdom once more.

She still valued his help and appreciated him greatly. But she couldn't quite bring herself to feel the same way she had that day.

Viola was quite glad that Enel didn't bother to bring up those moments, as she did consider them slightly embarrassing.

The Lightning Emperor could likely tell that her feelings had changed, and he seemingly never had feelings for her anyway, so he didn't bother bringing up anything.

The meeting disbanded with all of them returning to their respective rooms and finally catching some sleep... Enel included.

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Merry Christmas to everyone. Sorry about yesterday, it was my birthday and I didn't get to write much(I also still had work)

A quick Christmas shoutout, since I'm doing one on Scribble as well. An author that I've been looking at for a while now: Luxuriant

He's had a decent start and is improving ;)

Here's the link to his profile: https://www.webnovel.com/profile/4320783209?appId=10\

Can't post it in a comment, since web novel is bad.

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)