A Call To Regroup

I woke up with a splitting headache. I was in an unfamiliar room, and next to me, Stussy laid in bed; snuggling right into my arms.

I couldn't remember what had happened after my last collision with Big Mom, all I do remember was the light that engulfed me right before I had passed out. Looking at my body, it had seemed that my super-regenrative factor had been put to use while I was unconcious.

Beside me, Stussy slowly stirred awake.

I looked at her and gave a small smile before asking, "Are you okay?" She looked at me before returning her smile and replying.

"I'm better now, what about you? I heard about what happened. You should've woken me up, I could've been of some help you know?" Stussy pouted at me while folding her arms. If this was her attempt to show how angry she was at me, It wasn't working.

I could only shrug before giving her a warm hug. Covering her upper body with my naked arms and torso. She couldn't hold her little pout for long, and eventually smiled as she gave in and returned the gesture. We stayed like that for quite some time before we were interrupted with a loud knocking on our door.

We pried from each other and I wore my trenchcoat as Stussy went to open the door. Marco walked in with a smile before saying, "How are you feeling? You took quite the toll during the battle, you know!"

I looked at the young man before replying, "I've felt worse before, this is nothing compared to it."

Marco could only shrug helplessly before delivering me some news. "Dad was ambushed by the marine's. He wants us to regroup where he's located so we can protect the others as they recuperate."

I looked at Marco confused, "Is he gathering everyone?" I asked. Marco nodded his head in affirmation to my question. It would've made more sense for him to just keep sailing to show the marine's that he was powerful. He really didn't need us as a security measure against the marines.

It looked like Whitebeard had something in mind. Something that required all of us to be in the scene. I furrowed my brows as I acknowledged Whitebeard's request, I had started to leave the ship when Marco stopped me real quick. 

He smiled sheepishly as he asked, "Could we ride with you? Our ships are pretty damaged from what the battle. I'm sure Jozu will be asking the same thing in before we leave, so can we?" I nodded at him approvingly. 

The extent of the damage between the two ships had left them with one more voyage left in them, and even then; it wasn't a certainty that they wouldn't sink due to the abnormalities of the sea. Marco only snickered as he grew out his wings before gflying off to tell Jozu. I hadn't even told them when we would be departing though.....Oh well.

I suddenly remembered to look for something that I had forgotten since the moment I had gotten up: My axe. 

That axe had done more than proven its worth during my fight with Big Mom. Any other weapon would have broken under the pressure that she exerted when she fought, but that axe remained stubbornly firm. In fact, it even helped me deal a significant blow on her. It was a weapon that would take a long time to find one like it. 

I quickly went back to Marco's ship to look for it. As I burst through the door, I had walked in Stussy changing midway. She looked pretty hot as she froze while trying to wear a turtle neck sweater, we were both quiet before I slowly walked over and picked up my axe. 

I felt my face becoming hot as I apologized and left the room. Once again, I had to thank Oda for making all the hot women have huge boobs. When I mean huge, I meant huge. I strapped my axe right on my back as I started to walk out of the ship. 

Stussy soon came out with her usual kind smile. However, I could see a glint of mischief in his eyes as she laid her eyes on me. I pretended not to see it and started my way back to my ship. 

It had already been decided that the slightly injured and gravely injured pirates would stay on the island and recover while the others would sail with us. I didn't like the fact that only weak pirates would remain to fend for themselves. So I had ordered all my men to remain on the island as well, they had trained and gained proficiency with haki. So they would be able to fend off against weaker pirates, should anyone be stupid enough to invade.

I waited until the day after the next so that we could sail. Marco took flight and landed on the Crow's nest of my ship as he pointed towards the direction we were to sail. All the other pirates wasted no time arranging the ropes and chains within the ship as we began to set off. 

I could only sit back on my couch as I day dreamed while Stussy decided to make herself busy and prepped up a meal for the entire ship. She caught me offguard when she declared she was going to cook as she never really demonstrated an interest towards cooking. 

If anything, she spent more time training our men than prepping a meal back in the days that we were just sailing around. However, it did leave me with a sense of curiousity on how her food would taste. Only time would tell, Jozu decided to take up the helm and steered the ship towards our father's location. 

A couple of weeks had passed till we finally made it on the island. As we approached the docks we could see the Moby Dick and the other four ships calmly resting by the shore. Using my Observation haki I managed to detect where Whitebeard was currently resting. Marco took off first to meet up with Whitebeard. 

We could only wait until the ship managed to dock safely near the shore. Not wanting to touch the shores waters, I just leaped over to the beach and landed just in front of the water. Looking at the sea water often reminded me of all the times I had subjected myself into water training; they did not kinder joy.

Stussy followed me closely, taking note of all the men that were within the camp. Most of them were just talking and performing maintenance on their weapons, while there was a small percentage who were busy guzzling down large quantities of alcohal. Probably robbed from the marines. 

I reached where Whitebeard was saying and noted the rather somber atmosphere that had enveloped the area. Something wrong had happened while we were fighting off Big Mom, something very wrong.