Duel, Assistance and Selfishness

_________ POV Narration _________ 

Marco released the pillar of light on one far side of the extended battlefield with his awakening. On the other side was the enormous tree that Aramaki had grown using his body. 

And somewhere in the middle of all of that, there was Shanks and Figarland Garling, The red-haired pair had already clashed blades countless times, they were somewhat evenly matched. 

Both had received numerous slashes, but nothing too deep as they had powerful armament haki protecting their bodies. 

Despite being older, Saint Garling was just as fast as Shanks, the two of them were essentially afterimages around the battlefield, clashing constantly in flashes of red and black lightning.

Conqueror's Haki was something the both of them possessed, but Garling had an advantage in experience whilst Shanks had an advantage in overall fighting style, as he took on Roger's style, which was superior to anything the God Knights could ever dream of.

At the end of the day, Roger would have never been caught by the government if it were not for his sickness.

It would've taken their entire forces to go after him directly, and doing so would've left them open to attacks on the Holy Land, it was categorically something they couldn't afford. 

They had no way of knowing how much of a pain in the ass Roger was going to become anyway. Despite Enel being the one to plan out and start the war against the War Government, things had been started by Roger long before that.

Roger was the one to inspire people like Shanks and Luffy. Hell, even Kidd and Law, and every member of the Worst Generation and the generations before them.

Without the promise of the One Piece, the great treasure, no one would've mobilized the way they did. 

Garling had never paid much attention to Roger, not even during God Valley, where he had played a minor role. 

He had treated God Valley as his hunting ground, unperturbed by the fact that the Rocks and the Roger Pirates were warring there. 

He had been hanging around that place for a while even before the Rocks pirates settled there and had even gotten to have fun with some of the slaves on the island, which led to the birth of Shanks.

A mixed-blood piece of trash, undeserving of life in Garling's eyes. He was born a few days before the God Valley incident. 

But Roger had found him around the time Garling was trying to stab him. And needless to say, the World Noble had almost lost his life at that moment.

Roger's blade had just briefly missed his heart that day, he kept his life due to a technicality and had to crawl his way out of God Valley and into a marine ship to survive. 

From that moment on he had been one of the people spearheading the demand for Roger's capture. The sheer amount of shame he had gone through was unbecoming of a Celestial Dragon.

He had used that shame as fuel to his fire. But even after Roger's death, no one was ever able to find Garling's son. 

At least no one was able to find him until he became known as 'Red Haired Shanks'.

The rest was history, with Shanks evading the World Government long enough to become an actual threat to them. 

"Divine Departure!" "Celestial Conquest!" 

A red and black slash met each other directly, sparks flying all over the battlefield as they struggled against each other's blades. 

Shanks's one arm trembled against Garling's, they both wielded one-handed blades, so there wasn't much of an advantage gained in that regard.

Each of their sword arms turned into a blur, as they continued to trade blows consistently, ignoring their surroundings in favor of trying to peel each other's skin off. 

"You little gremlin spawn..." Garling scowled, steam coming out of his mouth with every breath.

"Hmph, you sorry excuse of a human being..." Shanks was thankfully better in terms of stamina, his youth showing in at least that aspect. 

Garling realized that things weren't looking good now at least.

He had no way of seeing how the Elders were faring, and he didn't know where the Seraphims were anymore and he pretty much assumed that Kong was also fallen as well. 

Aramaki seemed to have gotten stronger, at least that was good. He was able to hold back the bulk of the Marines' forces. His branches extended to even block the cannon fire of the islands, shielding the rest of the Holy Land fully. 

The God Knights were, as always, a complete disappointment. Even when borrowing some power from their Lord IMU and performing an array, they still lost to a bunch of newbie pirates.

Alas, said newbie pirates were now surrounding him and Shanks, it happened before he could even react, but they were essentially watching the fight and waiting for any moment to interfere and help Shanks.

"All of you! Go and help either the marines or those that went to deal with the Elders!" Shanks immediately waved them off, not wanting them to interfere in his personal grudge match.

They could get in the way, even if they had gotten much stronger than before they were still far behind Garling.

Any misstep could mean death for them, and Shanks wasn't fully confident that he'd be able to protect them. 

But they didn't seem to listen to Shanks, refusing to take orders from them and immediately jumping into action as soon as it looked like the God Knight Leader was even slightly distracted. 

Chopper immediately entered his Monster Point Form, expanding in size as he roared and slapped at Garling, trying to either crush or distract him further.

'Just what I needed right now, some wannabe pirates.' Garling immediately sidestepped Chopper's attack, slicing the reindeer-human's gigantic arm apart in a blink of an eye.

He wanted to move and sent a flying slash at Chopper's neck, trying to decapitate it, but he found himself unable to move whilst his arm was preparing the slash.

He was momentarily stopped by a flurry of haki-enhanced hands growing out of his back and grabbing all of his joints, as Robin did her best to hold him in place at least for a few seconds. 

"Strong Right!" 

A robotic, yet annoying voice on the side managed to lad a straight blow to the God Knight Leader's jaw, rocking it sideways as Franky proceeded to wail on the old man like a young darker-skinned boxer trying to escape the projects, sending punch after punch constantly.

Garling was mostly able to defend himself with Haki, but Franky's own haki was not that half-baked either, which led to the Saint's face becoming quite swollen after a few punches. 

"What the hell are you guys doing?!?" Shanks shouted, his frustration being showcased to everyone as his gaze narrowed. 

"Now's not the time for personal fights, Shanks. The situation had deteriorated drastically, as per Enel's instructions, we are to assist in any ongoing battles to help end them sooner. 

Someone of your strength would be much better suited helping the Marines with the Forest God or helping fight the Elders." Nico Robin sprouted out of the ground behind Shanks as a flower would, her devil fruit having already developed a form of cloning. 

Shanks's grip on his Gryphon sabre trembled slightly. He wanted to be the one to end Garling, to settle his business himself, alone. It felt as if it would have more meaning that way. 

In a sense, he realized how selfish that wish was. He knew that he was needed elsewhere, but his stubbornness had led him to his current predicament.

Eventually Garling managed to break out of the hold, and slashed Franky in half angrily. 

He then rushed towards Chopper, aiming to kill him as well, only to cross blades with none other than the Skeletal Musician Brook.

"Now now, you will need some musical accompaniment before going on a killing spree, won't you?~" 

Garling's muscles trembled for a moment as his blade wrestled with his opponents, trying to fight for dominance before his eyes widened.

'Why the hell am I struggling so much with these fodder?!' 

"Stronger Right!"

That slight moment of hesitation earned him an even bigger punch, from none other than Franky. 

Well, Franky's torso had grown tank trails in place of legs. 

Garling turned to slice at him again, but he received a bullet to the side of the head from the distance, the bullet came from none other than Ben Beckman, likely receiving the same instructions as the straw hats. 

Garling had armament haki active, but he still bled as the bullet left an indent in his skull and whipped his neck to the side, right into Brook's blade, which was now struggling to cut deeper into his carotid arteries, meanwhile, Franky had firmly grasped his blade, refusing to let go of it. 

Shanks saw all of that, he saw Garling struggling like a trapped wolf, being played around with by opponents far weaker than he was.

Even if Shanks had tired him out, and his old age was catching up to him, Garling was still a tough opponent. One that the Straw Hats were playing around with. 

The Red-Haired Emperor had underestimated the Straw Hats, they had grown into a crew worthy of being called that of a God. 

'What the hell am I even doing here...' Shanks's hand trembled on the hilt of his blade, before he immediately dashed forward, this time taking Garling by surprise.

The old God Knight was currently still trying to wrestle his blade out of Franky's haki-enhanced iron grip whilst also concentrating his haki on his neck to not die. 

'He wouldn't-' Was the last thing the Saint that fathered Shanks ever thought, as the blade of the Red Haired Emperor split his head open like a watermelon. 

Shanks took the sight of the old man's blood gushing out for a second, before shaking his head.

'Even if this had been a straight duel with the same outcome, it wouldn't have made me feel any better... Not whilst my comrades are dying in different areas while I am wasting my time here.' 

"Sorry for that everyone! I'll go and help with the Elders..." Shanks bowed to them deeply, receiving an 'Ok' sign from Franky, and a nod from the others.

"Yohohoh~ Onto the next ones then!" Brook and the Straw hats all nodded, speeding off in other directions to assist the others with the Seraphims. 

And as that was happening, the situation in the skies was heating up again, as Luffy got blasted to the ground below, before turning the entire Holy Land into a bouncy castle and jumping back up towards IMU. 

"What the hell is going on up there!?"Garp thought as his Galaxy Impact missed the gigantic tree due to that sudden terrain shift.

"Gods are fighting up there Garp! Shut up and focus now!" Sengoku shouted right back at him, sending another shockwave out of his palm to crash into yet another version of Aramaki. 

But the question still remained... Were Enel and Luffy actually winning? Had that explosion from earlier actually not been enough to finish the job?

Worry crept into Sengoku's mind for a moment, as his gaze tilted upwards. 'I don't know if they can do much more than that...' 

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Missed an upload since I was travelling back home. Stayed up all night and got here in the morning only to pass out for the rest of the daylight

Managed to get here safely at least and got to writing, anyway, hope you have a great day

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