The Calm After The Battle

The destruction below was simply breath taking.

It took a bit for the smoke and dust to clear so that I could have a clear picture of the ground below. 

When it did, the first thing that immediately caught my attention was the two enormous sized craters formed on the areas where I had left the two fighting groups. Then, the fallen pirates and civilians were who caught my attention next. They were all littered across the field like they were bits and pieces of garbage awaiting pickup.

The last thing that had caught my attention was the people who had caused all this chaos and destruction. They were all critically injured, Whitebeard had a large nasty gash crossing diagonally down his side. Whereas Big Mom had an equally nasty scar that went down across her chest. The scar had opened up some of her clothes...and although she wasn't too old, it wasn't a pretty sight to see either.

Roger and Rayleigh were laying flat on their backs on the other hand. They were still concious, but it was evident that they weren't going to be moving for a while. Meanwhile, The Golden Lion laid completely unconcious on the other hand.

Everything was in tatters and even the castle that Big Mom had lived in was partially destroyed. I slowly landed on the ground, and began walking towards Whitebeard. 

Whitebeard remained standing with his signature smile adorned across his face as he continued to look at Big Mom.

"Linlin! That's quite enough, this battle is over and you know it!" Whitebeard's voice boomed throughout the battlefield.

"You old stubborn bastard, none of this would have happened if you simply gave me some of your territory! Look at my land!!" Big Mom shrieked as she tried to asses all the damages that had occured during the battle.

Whitebeard only let out a hearty chuckle as he also assessed the conditions of his crew as well. That was barely managable because there wasn't a clear distinction between the Big Mom Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates. They were all littered on the ground alike, I even think that some of Shiki's men were on the ground as well. 

"It's been fun and all, but I also think that this battle is over," I agreed with Whitebeard as I walked closer between the two of them.

Big Mom looked at me with a murderous glare as she slowly watched me approach her. 

"At this point, I might end up taking over the Old man's role and handle you myself. So, what do you say?" I asked her.

She gritted her teeth but didn't bother saying anything else. I took that as a sign of agreement and turned to Whitebeard. 

"That's it, now its time for you to get some treatment Old man," I commented while looking at Whitebeard's injuries.

"I'm not that old now, brat. Watch your mouth," Whitebeard chuckled a bit before spitting out some blood. 

I slowly walked to him before holding one of his arms and began walking towards the direction of the Moby Dick. 

The entire battlefield was quiet throughout the long walk there, so it gave us some serenity and time to think on our own without interruptions.

"Brat, after this, you're going to be patrolling the territories again. You've had your break for long enough," Whitebeard commented.

"I thought you didn't want me doing this before?" I asked curiously.

"There's too much noise at the moment, and it'll only get noisier soon after Roger finds the last island. We need to be ready for whatever happens; meaning that we should always have our best foot forward."

"Alright old man, but right now what you need is some rest. Looks like Linlin took a bit outta you, huh?"

"Quiet brat, you've been more talkative lately compared to the first time that we met. Can't you go back to those times?"

"Whatever"

We soon arrived at the Moby Dick, Marco wasn't there to provide immediate medical support. So I had to dress his wounds personally and leave him back on the ship to find Marco for further help.

Flying across the devastated land of Tottoland, I could see casual litters of war stranded across the field. I expanded my Observation haki as I started pinpointing for Marco, he wasn't an easy individual to find. 

The numerous pirates that were on the battlefield acted like a musk that easily blended Marco's presence within it. So I had to scrutinize every single pirate as I flew over them to make sure that I didn't miss him. Luckily, I managed to find Perospero sleeping nearby, so I knew that Marco wasn't too far from here.

Sure enough, I was right.

Marco was currently buried within other Pirates snoring. I removed them off of Marco before slapping him lightly awake. He blinked before jumping up and backing off; he looked like he was about to assume a fighting stance before he eventually recognized me and lowered his guard.

"W-What happened? All I remember was that I was fighting that tongue bastard before I heard an explosion..."

"You don't need to worry too much, I'll explain it later. Right now, I need you to take care of the old man," I replied.

Marco nodded before asking me Whitebeard's whereabouts. I immediately told him where he was and he immediately formed some wings and flew away at the direction of the Moby Dick.

My next curious check in was with Roger and Rayleigh. When I got to where I had left them, they were now sitting down on the ground while sharing a drink. They didn't seem too harmed from the battle, but it didn't change the fact that they were all physically exhausted from all that had happened before. 

"Oh! If it isn't Boris! How's Whitebeard? He didn't look so good," Roger greeted with a smile.

"He'll be fine," I responded, "he's not the kind of person to keel over after a small fight like that."

The duo got up soon after and followed me to the still unconcious Shiki. He looked like a mess, his clothes on his torso were shredded into bits as blood slowly trickled out of the deep cuts on his chest. 

"You think this is it for him?" Rayleigh asked curiously.

Roger laughed before shaking his head. Looking at the man, he still had plenty of spiritual power left within him. It was going to take more than that to take the Golden Lion out. So he should be fine for now.

Slowly, but surely, more and more pirates were getting up and tending to their wounds. I could even see Jozu get out of some rubble as he was scratching his head. Part of him was still covered in diamonds. He wasn't too injured, but the way he carressed his head indicated otherwise. 

"You guys should recover, I believe some negotiations are to be held if we're ever going to recover from this," I explained calmly. 

Big Mom had already left for the castle, so that was where I was heading to next. In the distance, I could sense Kaidou's and Shiki's presence slowly moving towards the castle. 

I sighed before following those two presences towards the castle.