The Pirate King

(Kuzan POV)

"So he did it huh? Fascinating.", I say to Garp who is lying on a recliner and eating enjoying the sun. When I read the newspaper, he had a strange expression. 

"That damned Roger. Always causing trouble. Now he will be hunted by not only the Marines but also everyone else, who wants to take the treasure from him. It's going to get more chaotic on the seas again.", Garp tells me. 

"Well, if Kaidou, Shiki and Big Mom also want some of that treasure, we might get lucky.", I say, not really believing that myself. 

"You know that won't work. Everyone who tries to take something from Roger always meets the same fate. Come Kuzan, let's go grab something to eat."

"Sure, let's do that.", I reply and put the newspaper away. It has been another year since our fight with the Roger Pirates. After I was hit full force by Rayleigh's use of Infusion, the advanced application of Haoshoku Haki, I almost lost consciousness. I could feel his Haoshoku Haki in my body for a moment and came to understand the process much better. After 5 minutes, I wanted to go back on the ice and enter the fight again. But I stopped myself. I had achieved what I wanted and going back then, would have only resulted in questions being asked about my fast healing. 

I felt that the Roger Pirates were fleeing anyway since more Marines were coming to help. Since then, I have been continuing my job as the Freezing Hunter and hunting down pirates with bounties in the billions. All the others could no longer challenge me, so I left them to my crew to deal with. There was one short clash with members of the Beast Pirates, but when they saw me, they fled the scene. 

The only thing stopping me from becoming an Admiral is probably a 'grand' contribution to their cause. I assume this is a loyalty test in a way. They won't want someone to stay Vice-Admiral and have him mess up the status quo if he isn't under their control. The World Government was strange like that. I came to this understanding after talking with Garp for a while. He never talked about it directly and only gave me slight tips here and there. I thought he was an idiot but it turned out ... he was an idiot. But a bit less of an idiot, when it concerned the World Government. 

I sparred with Garp a few times after the fight against the Roger Pirates. He was mostly busy chasing Roger, but when he wasn't, he either was being lazy or training me ... sometimes. I can now use all of the advanced versions of Haki easily. I also made progress with my devil fruit. The temperature I managed to reach is now -249.8°C. I am getting closer and closer to absolute zero. I would normally assume that something like that isn't possible, but the things I have seen here, tell me otherwise. 

My Future Sight has reached 9 seconds. The reason it is only this high is because Borsalino has refused to spar with me. He doesn't want to do much anyway but he really has gotten lazy. Sakazuki takes our rivalry a bit too seriously. I don't even see him as my rival and I despise his form of 'Justice'. He doesn't care about casualties, as long as he kills or rarely captures the pirates he is there for. So Garp is the only one that really allows me to train my Future sight. Thankfully, I can continue to grow stronger continuously and don't have to worry about having strong enemies. But the speed at which I grow is just much faster if I have someone who can challenge me. 

.

The Beast Pirates are planning something in Wano no Kuni, the reports are clear. But I was strictly asked not to do anything, by Kong. I don't know why that is, but I don't like it. It is clear that those people need our help. And just because Wano isn't an island under the World Governments jurisdiction, means nothing. I can tell that there is more going on there but even Garp told me not to do anything for now. I refused Kong's order but accepted Garp's suggestion. I will decide later what to do. 

The Big Mom Pirates and the Beast Pirates are busy doing their thing and acquiring as much territory as they can. Should I meet either Kaidou or Big Mom at sea once and we end up fighting, I will kill them no questions asked. Both of those are cancer to the world. They kill, plunder, rape the lands with no consequence whatsoever. The World Government looks on and I have come to understand why that is. 

They need pirates. It's the same as in my last life. Police and a government are needed, because humans are selfish by nature. As long as there are criminals, there is a need for police. But what would happen if there were no more criminals? Here, I believe that the Marines are necessary as well, because there will always be Piraes, but the World Government ... they are something useless in my opinion. Each country can already decide on their laws, so why is there a need for such waste like the Celestial Dragons? I didn't like it. 

.

.

Another year has passed since Gold Roger became the Pirate King. And an interesting news has spread through the world like wildfire. The Pirate King, Gold Roger has been captured by the Marines!!! Yes, apparently the Marine Hero, Garp the Fist has captured the Pirate King and brought him to Impel Down where he is currently waiting for his execution. 

Do I believe that? Not a chance. 

There is no way that Garp managed to catch Roger. It was never possible. Not when the Roger Pirates were active and had a presence in the world that could be followed, and certainly not now that Roger had gone into hiding. When I saw Garp after he had brought Roger to Impel Down, he didn't have any signs of a fight on him. Capturing the Pirate King should result in many wounds, but Garp had none. 

Another lie, I could tell. The World Government is spreading lies again. I think it might be good to find News Morgan and have a word with him about spreading lies. But I guess he doesn't know the truth either. So he is fed lies. I might open another newspaper. One that tells people the truth and not some fabricated lies that the World Government feeds the public.

But that might prove impossible. I have noticed that I am being watched at the moment. The World Government is watching me I believe. I think they are either planning to remove me, abducting me for experimentation or they want to see whether I am a possible candidate for becoming an Admiral. My money is on the second or third option. They won't have success with the second one, though. Essences can't be copied and aren't visible in my genome.

I allow this to happen and just wait for them to make their move to stop surveilling me. 

.

I am being called to Kong's office right now. I knock on the door.

*Knock Knock Knock*

"Come in.", Kong says from inside. 

"Excuse me.", I say and walk in. There I see Tsuru, Sengoku and Garp waiting for me. I nod my head at them and then look at Kong to explain why I was called here. 

"We just got the news that there might-", Kong begins but is interrupted.

*BOOOOM*

Two explosions shake Marineford and cause the alarms to go off. Then shouting is heard all over Marineford. 

"Intruder alert!"

*BOOOM BOOOM*

"The intruders are by the plaza in Marineford Bay!"

"How many are there?"

"Just one!!!"

In Kong's office, we use Kenbunshoku Haki to sense what is going on and all of us know who dares to attack Marineford directly like this. 

"Shiki ...", Kong says and causes cracks to appear on his desk. I don't listen to the rest and just walk out to meet the Golden Lion. I have been waiting for another chance to fight one of the top powerhouses before they leave their prime and become weaker soon. Thankfully, he comes here on his own accord. But why would he do something so stupid?

.

"There's no way Roger could've been caught by trash like you!", Shiki says as he stands on top of a mountain of Marine corpses. This makes me angry and I am about to wreak havoc but I am stopped by a hand on my shoulder. Garp and Sengoku have arrived as well. 

"Roger is the Pirate King.", Sengoku says.

"If he'd have just lent me a hand, we could have ruled the world together! If he's here, then let me see him! If he's gonna die, then I will be the one who kills him!", Shiki demands. 

"The execution will take place in one week, in his hometown, the 'Town of Beginnings' in East Blue, Loguetown.", Sengoku tells Shiki. 

"The legend of the Pirate King, Gold Roger, will end in East Blue, the weakest sea?! That'll be your last insult to that shithead, won't it?!", Shiki says with a twitching mouth and eyes and then jumps into the air preparing for an attack. 

"Your hubris knows no bounds ... Shiki.", I say with a dark expression. Garp knows that I am angry right now and doesn't act. Sengoku who sees this, also decides to take a step back and watch me fight. I am thankful for that.

"A brat shouldn't talk.", Shiki says and then attacks me with his swords. 

.

I create my sword out of ice again and coat it with Haki. This is an automatic process, that doesn't even take any focus anymore. If I think about my sword, I just create it and Haki coats it right away. I know that Shiki, unlike Rayleigh, doesn't care about my age or anything really, he just wants to kill me and cause havoc across Marineford. So I infuse my sword with Haoshoku Haki as well and then attack him full force.

I swing my sword at him with a powerful swing and our swords clash. 

*BOOOOM*

He has made a mistake in underestimating me but his experience saved him in the last possible second. I have the advantage in our first clash though and push him further and further back. Shiki has no ground to push himself off of so I win the exchange in the end. Shiki flies into the air and I follow him, using Geppo. 

Shiki uses his devil fruit Fuwa Fuwa no Mi to gain massive momentum and then descends towards me. He uses his full power in the next attack and our blades meet again. This time the outcome is different than before.

*BOOOOOOOM*

Our blades don't touch, showing that we are both using Infusion right now. My anger is high right now. The fact that Shiki just comes here and kills Marines like this, simply because he wants to be the one to kill Roger ... that's not something I can overlook like that and it makes me angry. 

Our clash ends and then we attack each other again. I begin to adapt to fighting in the air by constantly using Geppo, like this. And my mobility is almost as high as Shiki's. 

*BOOOOM*

*BOOOOM*

*BOOOOM*

*BOOOOM*

The sounds of explosions are heard and our clashes shake the entire Marineford. Then Shiki manages to cut me and I crash into the ground. But even before Shiki can finish me off, I am already standing again and attacking him even more fiercely than before. Shiki takes this as a sign to use his devil fruit more actively. He makes the Warships of the Marines float and uses them as material to attack Marineford with. 

I am not far behind though and begin to freeze the air quite quickly this time. Garp and Sengoku have evacuated the injured Marines and the rest have already gone inside. I am somewhat free to use my devil fruit here. The Warship is thrown my way and if I dodge it will hit Marineford. As soon as it touches me, it is frozen solid and stops in front of me. I keep the ice in the air and stop it from falling down. 

*CRASSH*

*BOOOOOM*

Shiki crashes through the frozen ship and hits me. I crash into Marineford again but the place where I fall, a giant pillar of ice is created that attacks Shiki. I have created such a move to give myself time to stand back up, should someone manage to pressure me into a fight. And it does work. The pillar doesn't hit Shiki, but he has to stop and cut through it, giving me time to attack again. 

Before the fight is over, more than half of Marineford is destroyed by our fight. But the Golden Lion Shiki ... was captured.