Aftermath, Talent and Arrival

_________ POV Narration_________

The elders looked around the wreckage that was the Holy Land for a while, all of them studying the battlefield with varying expressions.

"Any survivors?" A bald elder wearing a white Yukata asked as he gripped his blade. His associates called him Saint Ogata, and his round glasses shined as he studied the frozen hellscape before him.

Another one of the elders closed his eyes and breathed out some steam as he stood completely still.

He had a scar on the left side of his face a thick greyed beard, wearing a black tuxedo, a hat over his grey dreadlocks, and was supporting himself on a walking cane.

The old man was called Saint Noda, one of the most influential Celestial Dragons alive. He stood still for only a few seconds, before opening his eyes in a lazy manner and narrowing them.

"Someone's alive on this island... Currently frozen solid, but alive." His aged voice came out emotionlessly, as he reported to his associates.

"Good, at least someone survived... Kong should also be alive, at least that's what the agents that found him claimed. But he'll have a lot of recovery to do before actually being useful again..."

This time, the elder that spoke was a tall and thin bearded old man with long white hair without eyebrows. He wore a dark dark blue suit, formal, to match his status.

He was called Saint Sonobe, the younger brother of Noda and also part of the council.

"This was a complete loss after all... The slaves got freed as well." The youngest one amongst them, Saint Masutani, spoke out, as his cold blue eyes drifted towards the parts of the red line that were missing.

Parts that Shiki had lifted up and carried the slaves away on. He also glanced at the wrecked statue of a Lion Head that had been thrown to the side.

The young elder's blond hair and beard shined in the snowy environment. A scar could be seen, stretching across his chest.

He, like most of his associates, wore a suit, this time dark red, with the shirt buttons open, and without a tie.

"No, no. It can't really be completely counted as a loss... Now we at least know that the forces we are facing are a lot more dangerous than expected.

Shiki, a young Francisco D. Guzman. Likely colluding with that Devil Fruit user..."

The last elder to arrive spoke out, his body seemed to be relaxed although his eyes spoke of unshaken determination.

He was a bald old man with a few scars on his forehead and face, as well as a large white moustache. He was wearing a dark green buttoned-up suit.

His name was Saint Hirano, the shortest of the elders, and also the slowest.

"It seems that the Sky King wasn't the one to attack the island, we don't even know if these were his associates or not. What if Francisco parted ways with him eventually? ... All of that preparation for nothing." Saint Ogata scowled a bit as he gripped his blade a bit tighter.

"It can't be helped, both Francisco and Shiki are most likely colluding with the Sky King though, even if they aren't his subordinates.

Enel likely knew we had something prepared for him anyway. Lord IM said that Shiki was somehow able to figure out one aspect of Uranus...

This doesn't mean anything though... No tricks will ever save them when facing our lord." Saint Noda simply shook his head in disappointment.

It wasn't a great situation for them, but it could've been a lot worse.

At the very least the rest of the world had no way of knowing what had happened, and their enemies didn't seem to have gained a lot either, well, besides the slaves they reduced.

"We should have been here as well, at the very least we would've been able to stop the two pirates from taking anyone with them..." Saint Ogata shook his head, taking off his foggy glasses and slowly blinking a few times.

"It can't be helped... We are to protect our lord, the holy land itself was of little importance. We only came here because he commanded us to after the transponder snail was destroyed.

Kong was likely expecting us to come much sooner..."

Saint Noda didn't seem to be all that bothered by the state of the Holy Land, they hadn't lost anyone truly important regardless.

"I doubt it. The Commander in Chief should know our duties. The throne was thankfully moved in advance, Lord IM cares more about protecting it than anything else at the end of the day.

Alas, if our lord was here then maybe things wouldn't have gone as badly."

Saint Masutani, the youngest, seemed a bit displeased to see his former home destroyed, he believed that such an attack would've never been pulled off had IM been there in person, along with them, of course.

"Don't ever question our Lord's decisions, Masutani. You'd be surprised to learn just how many things he has predicted. This is nothing more than a slight distraction, nothing to be too concerned about." Noda was quick to warn his associate when he saw his thoughts go astray.

The elders were to never once question IM, that much was the law at that point.

IM was not someone that they could ever afford to disrespect. IM was the true leader of the world, at least in the eyes of the Elders.

Any disrespect directed toward IM was akin to heresy for the 5 Elders.

Hell, the other 4 elders would've killed Masutani for even attempting to doubt IM in any other circumstance, but they truly weren't in a situation where they could spare any men.

Masutani himself simply looked to the side, hiding his face as his scowl deepened.

"Indeed... What if someone else had attacked the place the other Celestial Dragons were transported to? Who would've protected them?"

Ogata spoke as his bald head shined, as a ray of light appeared on the horizon, the clouds dying down as the blizzard also dispersed.

"It was kept secret for a reason, but I guess it being careful doesn't hurt... At least not usually." Masutani seemed to still have a few things to say, gaining a few odd looks from the other Elders around him.

"As my older brother said, it can't be helped, if the Celestial Dragons were here they would've all died. It's better this way, and I'll advise you to just drop it, no use in dwelling on what could've been anyway."

Sonobe was the one to close the subject in its entirety. Not willing to hear anything further from their youngest member.

'Masutani still has a lot of growth left to do... I just hope we have enough time left for him to grow...'

Noda looked at the youngest Elder with the same cold eyes from earlier, before finally opening his mouth again and speaking out.

"The war that our Lord had prophesized is creeping closer... We must make sure that we are ready for it."

The Elders all seemed to ponder on these words for a while before one of them finally spoke out with confidence.

"We have been preparing for many centuries... The question is if our enemy is truly prepared for us."

Saint Ogata looked more resolute than ever, his eyes narrowing slightly as he wiped his round glasses and put them back on.

The other elders seemed to agree with him.

They had been preparing for war, they had tried to postpone it, or avoid it, but they all knew that it was coming. Their lord had said so, and their lord was never wrong.

The New Holy Land, the location where the Celestial Dragons had been transported, was where they would set the stage for said war.

Shiki's sudden attack was too fast for them to be able to deploy any of their secret weapons, especially since they had just moved all of them to the New Holy Land, but such a mistake wouldn't happen twice.

'They just used up their surprise attack card... I hope whatever they gained today was worth giving us this opportunity...'

Alas, the elders had no clue what they had truly lost.

They didn't quite make the connection between Kuma and Bonney yet, so they had no way of knowing that Enel had just gained a way to strengthen his army even further.

Garp, Sengoku, Shiki and even Big Mom. All of them were people that could benefit from Bonney's ability.

There was also another major player that could be revitalized... A family man that already happened to owe Enel a huge favour.

Alas, that would have to come later, currently, Enel was indisposed, in the middle of a clash with Wyper.

The tribal warrior was wearing a pair of loose pants, just like the lighting emperor, the two of them were locked into a staredown as a storm seemed to be raging around them.

Their wills clashed constantly, and Enel was honestly shocked by what he was experiencing.

Now, it wasn't like Enel wasn't talented. It was quite the opposite, he had a rather large affinity for the Will of the Conqueror.

He had mastered Conqueror's Haki only for a few months, but he was still strong enough to face someone like Doflamingo, and even come out on top.

He had used it in battle several times against increasingly powerful opponents. Including the likes of Whitebeard and even that giant eye in Baltigo.

However, he was now forced to watch as Wyper completely wiped the floor with him when it came to talent.

Despite only having a few weeks/two months at most since he had awakened his Conqueror's Haki, he could already stand his ground and even match the Emperor's will.

Their clashes became more and more violent, as Wyper's will became stronger and stronger, to the point where Enel couldn't afford to hold back in any way.

Truth be told, the Emperor was a bit annoyed by the fact that Wyper could catch up to him so quickly, but it also provided him with more motivation to train harder.

The island around them had already morphed itself to accommodate their constant clashes, the trees now faced away, and the grass constantly swayed in a different direction, even when the wind itself beckoned it to go a different way.

The few animals in there had already long since fled the island, throwing themselves into the sea of clouds or migrating to other nearby islands if they could.

One person did decide to help Wyper and Enel after seeing them clash constantly like that.

That person was none other than Garp, he watched over the two of them and withstood their clashes constantly while making sure things didn't get too out of hand during their training.

In his absence, he left the task of training the Sky Guards to the Former Marines on the island.

Akainu took it with stride, as he enjoyed having something to do for a change, while the others were a bit less enthusiastic.

Kizaru was not willing to do it at all, as he was preparing to go on a rather lengthy trip to contact the Neo Marines.

Aokiji was somewhat busy, trying to catch up on some reading, which was the excuse he had chosen due to his laziness.

Fujitora didn't really know much of the marine techniques, as he had been a rather 'last-minute recruit', who hadn't been associated with the marines for more than a week before the war at Baltigo.

In the end, Akainu got mad at them(mostly at Kizaru and Aokiji) and decided he'd just train the Sky Guards on his own.

The recruits instantly noticed when Garp left, and they were disappointed, but all of them became hopeful when Akainu started training them, only to realize that he was a rather bad teacher.

Akainu was good as a drill sergeant though, the physical training with him was just as intense as it was with Garp.

Thankfully, the one-armed Momonga was a much better teacher, with just as good a mastery of the Rokushiki.

The other marines that had escorted the Foosha Villagers were also there to help the Sky Guards with their training, so all was good in the end.

Time passed rather quickly for them, as their training continued.

Bonney also decided to rejoin the recruits in their training, hoping to get her mind off the dangerous mission that involved the rescue of her Nephew.

Then, one faithful day, she saw something on the horizon, a giant floating island slowly approaching their Sky Archipelago.

And instantly, her heart rate rose, and her breathing became heavier in anticipation as she started running to call Enel.

'Please, please be ok!'

That was all she could think as she hoped to finally meet her Nephew once more.

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Sorry for the lack of upload yesterday. I had another exam today, this one was supposed to rinse me, so I had to study a bit more.

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