For the first time since being ordered away, Twilight had spoken with Princess Celestia.
Well, she could've sworn she had. Thinking on it, it had been a dream, but Princess Luna was capable of entering dreams, perhaps Celestia had asked her to let her speak to Twilight. It had been vivid and of great importance, but Twilight could hardly remember a thing about it. Maybe they were simply too far away to reach, if indeed the Princesses were attempting to contact them. It was only a dream after all.
She recalled only a brief segment in great detail:
The map is not the end!"
Twilight shook her head, confused, asking what she meant by it.
"Trust in your heart, the map is not the end!" Celestia insisted.
That was when things got blurry again, and the words being spoken were deaf again, and all Twilight could comprehend was the overall sense of worry and urgency in her teacher, but nothing else specific.
It puzzled and troubled her, but no matter how much she concentrated on it, she could not remember anything more. She checked the map when she woke, it was silent again, nothing written on it, nothing lighting up despite her pleas, nothing to indicate it was even working anymore, other than a vague warmness radiating off it.
Since when did maps go into hibernation?
That took her out of the mystery and back into her frustration with the thing; where did it come from, and why did it simply refuse to work like a map should? The next time she really saw Princess Celestia, she would be sure to ask.
The ponies under her watch had grown weary of being cooped together with Shanks' crew aboard the Red Force, but there was no helping it. In any event, training was soon going to begin, and they would have a long time to stretch their legs and grow acquainted with land again. Applejack seemed especially eager to disembark from the ship, despite the hours she'd been putting in to repair it from the Marine attack on Fisher's Isle.
And as the shore came into view, Twilight too felt a mix of readiness to enter this training, but a reluctance to let Shanks and Benn Beckman and all the others go off without them. There was no fear they would not return, but a fear that when they did, things would be too different, that something external to either crew would change things for them.
As Twilight ventured onto land with her friends and Shanks, plus the mostly recuperated Benn Beckman, she noticed the cabin was beautiful, as if written into life from a novel. It was well stocked, and looked newly made or re-modeled in the last few years, and more than anything untouched. The surrounding area was beautiful too. Plains of grass and an equally wild forest farther back would give them space to train and improve their bodies, while the cliff overlooking the sea in the opposite direction would give Twilight a quiet place to reflect and think over things...she hoped.
Despite their struggled, much of her crew remained, in all nearly forty ponies, not counting Spike and her close friends. Many of them would be sleeping outside, she knew, but in a place like this, that wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would be better for her to lead by example and sleep outside herself. She puzzled over it for a moment, but before she knew it, they were at the door. Carved by a fine craftsman, it opened without so much as a faint squeak, and the inside of the cabin was as luxurious as the outside.
What caught her eye the quickest, however, was the lanky man lounging on the floor in the middle of the room. She held her breath a moment and heard him snoring.
"This...is our teacher?" She asked Shanks.
"Actually...it is."
"So....what's his deal? Even I've never slept in this late..." Rainbow observed, poking at the man with her hoof.
"Did he fall asleep waiting for us to show up...because he planned a surprise party!?" Pinkie inquired, facwe lighting up with her train of thought pulling once more into the party station.
"He's awfully tall..." Fluttershy chipped in quietly from behind the group.
Spike offered his own input into the situation, but Twilight was still caught onto what Fluttershy had said. He was tall. Very tall, about as tall...as the man who had most recently tried to kill them. It took a while for the others to notice her suspicions, except for the two veteran pirates, who had let the ponies gradually stumble onto the realization of who their teacher was.
"You can't be serious," Twilight told Shanks at last.
"Oh?"
"This man...who is he?" She asked, the subject in question snoring a bit louder to emphasize her point.
"Name's Kuzan," Beckman answered, blowing the smoke from his cigarette out the still open door, "He was once called Aokiji, a Marine Admiral."
The outrage sparked like wild fire, cries erupting at once from all around.
"WHAT!?"
"NO!"
"...unbelievable!!"
The sudden rush of noise woke the man, who sat up slowly, while everyone behind him stayed quiet. He looked to both side and checked a transponder snail from inside his coat. He was still for a moment, and then put it away and laid his head right back down.
"HE'S JUST GOING BACK TO SLEEP!?!?" Pinkie shouted incredulously.
The Admiral's head remained in place longer than Twilight figured it would, but it quickly lead the charge as his whole towering form stood up tall, though slightly hunched over, and behind dark sunglasses he uttered his first words.
"I was expecting you sooner."
They all watched him go to the bar and reach down behind it for a bottle, pouring himself a glass.
"I assume you want one too?" He asked Shanks.
"It's as though we've known each other for years," Shanks greeted, taking a seat beside the man with a smile on his face.
"Just like that!?" Twilight demanded, "Just like that you sit down with...with a Navy Admiral!?"
"He's trustworthy," Beckman vouched, still standing in the doorway.
"Actually, it's ex-Navy Admiral," Kuzan corrected, handing a glass to Shanks and grabbing his own again.
He paused and stared at it as the glass slowly misted over, then spoke up again, "I quit the Marines a while ago. Red Hair here contacted me with an offer I.....well, let's just say I'm not eager to turn you over to the World Government. Quite the opposite."
"I'm sure Twilight isn't trying to cause any discord between us..." Rarity started, thinking over her word choice, "...but I too find it...uncomfortable."
"It's hard to accept, but I need you all to become strong, and I don't have the time to do so myself. I've got several things I want to get done, and I can't bring untrained pirates with me. Learn to use haki, study up on devil fruits and foes we may yet face. Prepare yourselves, because I need you to stand with me when the time comes for our worlds to be decided upon."
He had a point she knew, but hearing Kuzan speak again broke her concentration: "Speaking of foes yet to face, Blackbeard is mobilizing. I assume you heard about Baltigo?" Kuzan inquired.
The mention of another Yonko, one of whom Twilight had yet to hear Shanks speak of from his perspective, made the dizziness in her head worse. The name was new compared to most others, but it grabbed attention quickly.
"What did you tell him?" Shanks asked darkly.
At this, Twilight could not contain herself any longer, "Wait...you're working with him? With Blackbeard!?"
"He thinks so. I made up an excuse. I'm sure he knows I'm lying to him, but he's unwilling to send anyone after me."
"Did you tell him where you were?"
Kuzan chuckled, "I'm not so dense as to do anything like that."
"You know, I'm liking this less and less myself," Applejack weighed in, "The connections to the Navy, and now this other Emperor...just doesn't sit well with me."
"I...I believe him. He seems...warmhearted," Fluttershy defended.
"I'm not so sure..." Rainbow sided with Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack.
"I like him...even if he is bad at surprise parties," Pinkie chimed in.
All eyes were on the captains then: "I can't walk my followers into the hands of someone untrustworthy," Twilight told Shanks.
"I can't teach anyone who isn't willing to learn," Kuzan reflected.
"Enough!" Shanks raised his voice, "I know it must be hard to trust anyone after the way I introduced myself. I had to be sure you were who you said you were. Now, I need you to trust in those I place my trust in. Kuzan was a Marine, and he's a spy, but he cares about the world, like we do. He's one of the good ones. He'll train you and make you strong...but you have to trust in him, or at least, in my trust in him."
Twilight bowed her head. She was reliant on Shanks, overly so in many ways, and this might change that. It might also be disastrous if he was wrong.
"Then trust me enough to leave behind a transponder snail, and tell me where you're going," She asked.
He nodded, finished another drink, and explained his motives.
"I need to scout out our enemies. One in particular has been poking around our group since we joined our crews in an alliance..." He turned to Kuzan, "Which reminds me. Know a fellow called 'Righteous Thief'?"
Kuzan shrugged, "Never heard of him."
Twilight traded looks quickly between her close friends, but none of them seemed to recognize the name. It didn't surprise her, as usual, she'd done more research than they had by far.
Shanks continued, "That's too bad. I also need to make contact with other allies, get them into better positions. I've no doubt the world is about to get crazy. In particular, I need to track down Marco the Phoenix, and the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates. If I can get rid of that punk Edward Weevil at the same time, so much the better."
"The Payback War has left them vulnerable; we'll need to hurry," Beckman pointed out.
"Lastly, I need to attend a wedding."
"A wedding?" Twilight prodded with a slightly angled head and raised eyebrow.
"Don't worry about what we'll be doing. Focus on what you need to learn. Make sure every single member of your crew gets stronger."
"I will," She promised.
"Good, in that case...I think we found something you might enjoy!" Shanks said with his gruff grin and a laugh. It was still odd to see the scary pirate turn into a party animal to give Pinkie Pie a run for her money.
Benn Beckman reached inside his outer shirt and pulled out a very small fruit, dark gray with squiggly lines across it. It most closely resembled a pomegranate.
"A devil fruit," Kuzan confirmed their thoughts, "How interesting."
"Compliments of Fisher's stores. Rockstar made a raid during the night. Catch!"
He tossed it into the air with tremendous speed, and after Fluttershy darted out of the way like it was a swarm of parasprites, Rainbow Dash caught it with confidence.
"Cool..." She muttered, eyeing it over.
"I was hoping you'd be the one to catch it," Shanks told her as he got up from his seat.
"What kind is it?" She asked eagerly.
"Guess there's only one way to find out, huh?" He returned with a mischievous smile.
"We'll be gone at least a few weeks. Got your map and all the possessions you need?" Benn Beckman asked.
"I think so; Spike will make sure," Twilight answered, and the baby dragon nodded as he headed out the door with Beckman.
"Keep your heads up...and trust Kuzan," Shanks instructed.
Twilight nodded, wondering if she should say anything else, but the red haired Emperor was out the door before she knew it, leaving them alone with the former Navy Admiral. With him went a great sense of stability for Twilight and her friends and the rest of her crew, but it had to be done.
"Why were you sleeping on the floor anyways?" Rainbow asked.
Over the past two years, he'd gotten more headaches than the rest of his life combined. He grunted as he massaged his temples, taking solace in the privacy of his office. When Sakazuki closed his eyes, he felt the tremoring pains from the War come back to him. The War of the Best, it was called, the Battle at Marineford. It was Whitebeard's last day on earth, but the legendary pirate had left deep scars on both the Marines, and Sakazuki himself.
It was as though he was there again, in the hazy battlefield, watching his previous self do battle with the hulking monster of a man, whose adopted son had just been killed after Sakazuki put a magma fist through his chest.
Whitebeard's fist was on his head in the blink of an eye, pressing Akainu's face into stone, feeling his skull shake between the unforgiving ground and the even less merciful power of the gura-gura no mi. Just as the pain was becoming too much, Whitebeard relented, and leaped up many stories into the air.
Akainu moaned as he picked his head out of the small crater it had been crushed into, barely seeing the Yonko fall back down above him. Pushing himself away, he rolled roughly to the side and avoided a deadly blow by inches; Whitebeard was already in a mad sprint towards the Admiral as Akainu regained himself. Rolling onto his feet and evading a slash from Whitebeard's Bisento at the same time, Akainu turned his whole arm into molten magma, and wasted no time in sending a volley of flaming fists to incinerate Whitebeard.
He threw at least nine into the smoke, seeing the last blow take half of Whitebeard's mustache, and the skin on that side of his face to boot.
But it wasn't enough. He knew, and he ran at the Yonko with a raging battle cry, but did not use his magma just yet; first he had to bypass Whitebeard's defenses. Akainu sent a powerful punch towards the giant man's chest, but it was blocked. Without hesitation he tried again, to the same result, and once more, which was yet again fruitless. Each time the sound of his fist being slapped away by Whitebeard's arm rang through his ears.
Finally he attempted a roundhouse kick, twirling around 360 degrees, but was knocked away by a powerful, haki-laced counter-blow, and paved a trench in the stone with his back. It was among the worst injuries he'd felt since basic training. He didn't see them then, but Sakazuki saw them now, that his eyes betrayed his fear and his pain. Whitebeard was that close to absolutely destroying him.
A white-clad fist of pure earthquake power raised above Akainu's prone form, and adrenaline was taken over by something deeper. Something that went beyond his own instinct to survive, and existed solely to see justice done. Something that would not let a silly thing like personal welfare, or lack thereof, come before the life - and death - of one of history's most dangerous pirates.
And Akainu willed himself into action, raising and screaming, erupting his fist into blazing magma and stabbing it through Whitebeard's chest, the Yonko's defenses totally dropped in the second before the final blow that would end Akainu's life.
But that blow never landed.
"Hell Hound!" He yelled, feeling his arm slip so far into Whitebeard's chest his elbow was almost touching the pirate's abs, and frying all of his organs with a burst of magma that dropped Whitebeard to one knee. The pirates who had previously been screaming for their pathetic excuse of a father had gone silent, and Akainu embraced the pain caused to him in the battle as Whitebeard did the same with the injuries the Admiral had given to him.
But it was Akainu on his feet, and poised to deliver the final blow now. And in the name of Absolute Justice, he raised his arm again to do just that.
"You must resign," Akainu warned with more of a stable voice than he felt, as the pirate's so-called sons cried out to him in even greater alarm.
But the mighty Yonko did nothing but sit there on one knee, not even breathing as the residual fire burned him to pitch blackness on the inside. It was fitting. Poetic. And Justice deserved to be seen, so he held off for all but three seconds. Watching the old man in his moment of defeat. Watching the great pirate Whitebeard accept his long overdue death.
But reflecting was Akainu's mistake, and out of nowhere, Whitebeard's fist shot out from his side and grabbed Akainu by the front of his shirt.
Unsure if it was merely the last, fleeting attempt at a comeback, Akainu braced himself, but did not act, and it was once more his mistake. Whitebead's eyes shot open, and he raised himself up again, taking Akainu off the ground completely.
The fear and the pain were back in his face now, and fury was all that was written on Whitebeard's. Before Akainu could will himself into a counterattack, Whitebeard threw him up into the air, and mustered his quake powers into his giant fist, posing to end the fight then and there.
Akainu braced himself, but the trip up and then back down felt instantaneous, and before he could throw his arms in the way, the mighty fist struck him right on his side, and he felt not only his ribcage shudder and crack and break, but the very air around him. Blood spurted out from his mouth like he'd been stabbed by a hundred swords. The ground all around shattered, quake lines forming in all directions, fault lines erupting all around, and it seemed as though Marineford was thrown up over itself.
The nightmare was interrupted by a knock on the door, and the calling voice of Commodore Reiyu.
"Fleet Admiral Sakazuki-san!"
And in an instant, it was left in the past. Akainu spun around in his chair and looked towards his door. Still, he knew Whitebeard would come back to haunt him. Whitebeard came back often in the quiet moments of Sakazuki's busy life.
"Come in," He permitted.
"Sir, two new reports coming in from Admirals Ryokugyu and Kizaru!" The officer announced, holding two transponder snails in his hands.
Akainu grimaced but silently held out a hand, and one of the snails was placed in it.
"This is Sakazuki!" He barked.
"Ryokugyu here," The voice replied, "Following up on the work started by Admiral Fujitora and the rest of Doflamingo's escort, I have confirmed that Jack the Drought remains lost. We found scattered remains of his fleet floating on open water, but the Calamity himself is nowhere to be found. Kaido appears to be preparing to mobilize."
"Where to? With whom? Give me details!"
"Intelligence has indicated that some commotion is happening in Big Mom's territory. Given Kaido's eagerness to attack a weakened Whitebeard two years ago...I'd place my money there. As to with whom he's mobilizing, it seems the other Calamities are on missions of their own at the moment. He will most assuredly have back up though."
"We can't rule out any possibilities..." Akainu admitted, "But nothing of value would be on the line inside Big Mom's waters. If he goes to her, let him be. Maybe one of them will kill the other. If he goes anywhere else, alert me as soon as possible."
"Understood."
The snail clicked off, and Akainu handed it back, but before taking the other one, gave the subordinate before him an order, "When I finish this call, alert all Marine bases in the vicinity of Admiral Ryokugyu, lend him all available support. Get on Cipher Pol's case as well."
Reiyu nodded and gave him the other snail.
"Sakazuki here."
"Oh, Sakazuki, at last. I was waiting."
"What is it, Kizaru?"
"We sent out a reconnaissance unit to chase down Red Hair and his strange allies. They were found twenty minutes ago. Dead."
"Damn," Akainu cursed, "The Emperors are causing problems across the board it seems."
"I'm sure....Righteous Thief has a lead on them."
"He's under the impression he's beyond my orders. In any case, the Gorosei are trying to keep me away from him."
"And the ponies?"
"Let the brat have his schemes for now. When he asks you to join him, tell me right away. I'll make sure he doesn't slip up again."
"Understood. Kizaru out."
"Wait."
"Hmm?"
"You've made sure the prisoners reached Impel Down, right?"
"Yeah."
"Your next set of orders...forget them. I'm putting Fujitora on it instead. Something tells me he'll be able to kill two birds with one stone."
"So what do I do?"
"As you're in that punk's back pocket for the moment, stay in friendlier waters. The World Nobles are convening for Reverie shortly. Don't make a public appearance, but I want some of our men in on that meeting. God knows Cipher Pol won't share half of what they learn with us."
"If you say so, I'll set course right away."
"Good."
With that, Sakazuki clicked the other snail off and gave it to Commodore Reiyu. The subordinate Marine ran off and left the Fleet Admiral alone once more. He sighed, and stroked his neatly trimmed beard. Many pieces on the board were in motion, and many others were hidden from his sight. He had risen in power since his near death to Whitebeard, but he did not have the power he needed to ensure Justice was done.
Instead, he'd simply have to trust in the Gorosei, and their young puppet.
"If it helps, don't be afraid to-"
Kuzan's words were cut short as a giant mallet shattered his face into thousands of tiny ice crystals.
"Urgh, no fair!" Pinkie complained, hoisting the hammer onto her shoulder and watching as the ice came back to its master and reformed his head. It still looked a bit unnatural to them, and Fluttershy dared not watch the repeated destruction.
"As I was saying, if you have to-"
This time, he caught the mallet, stunning Pinkie Pie with his speed.
"Could you not shatter my head to pieces while I'm talking please?" Kuzan asked.
"Sorry...it's like an immortal pinata!"
The ex-Admiral sighed, and dropped into a casual seat on the grass. He had made ice sculptures of himself which were intangible to any attack not laced with haki for the ponies under Twilight to train with, she and her friends were with the original. How he had managed that impressive feat, she did not know.
"We've got a long ways to go yet..."
The ponies looked somewhat awkwardly at one another as Kuzan scratched his chin and fell onto his back. After near thirty seconds of silence, Rainbow cleared her throat loudly.
"Hm? Oh....let me try to be dramatic, I guess."
He lifted one leg up and rested it against the other, like he was leaning back in a chair, and instructed them to close their eyes.
"If you're anything like humans, and you concentrate very hard...you should be able to feel things past your heartbeat. Emotions, goals, maybe feelings for others. What makes you unique, what gives you a soul....concentrate on that feeling. In the Marines, a lot of us hold the desire to protect others in our souls...I take it you lot are much the same."
He paused and took in a deep breath, and they imagined he was doing as he was explaining.
"The things you cherish most in the world, in all your lifetime....the things that keep your hearts warm. They're all in danger. Everything you know and love and care about is going to be crushed. Destroyed. Ended. It'll all go to waste unless you can save them. Wrap your souls in that iron will, in the determination to save what you love. Let it stir and burn in your chest, and let your blood vessels send it through your bodies."
Twilight felt herself shaking...and she thought she heard Fluttershy quietly crying. Beside her, though, Rainbow was breathing deeply in slight frustration.
She shivered as Kuzan spoke up again: "Now...take that power of will and fight back against the fear, the cold darkness coming to tear up and devour the things in your soul. Fight against the overwhelming sense of immediate death."
Half a second later, Applejack cried out in shock, her hoof held out in self defense, and the shattered remains of an ice saber on the grass around her. Her arm was clad in black, and shining too, like a cannon ball. It was just the same as Smoker's use in what seemed like ages ago.
"I-I...did it. Haki."
"Armament haki," Kuzan clarified, "the first one to achieve it. Good job. Allow me to demonstrate what would have happened if I struck anyone else."
In his other hand was a similar ice-sword. Blue-ish white, it steamed in the sunlight with intense cold that they could all feel. He moved over a few paces and struck a rock of fairly large size, and they watched with awe as it split in two where he had slashed it.
"You'll be combat ready when you can arm yourself with that kind of haki on the turn of a second, by instinct."
The ponies looked at one another, work clearly cut out for them, they gulped.
Kuzan formed another ice clone and began walking away, "And let's not forget, there's also Observation Haki to learn, everyone has different aptitudes....and I wouldn't be shocked if one or two of you had the ability to use the Conquering King's Haki either. For now, focus on Armament."
The genuine ex-Admiral headed towards the small inn while the afternoon of training went on for the ponies.
Eustass Kidd cursed the Emperor Shanks one more time as he was thrown into his cell on the deepest floor of Impel Down. Rendered armless by the confiscation of his artificial limb, and chained to the wall by his feet, the Supernova captain screamed out. The other inmates of the floor snickered and laughed, all of them enjoying his suffering.
Only days ago he'd had everything going for him, including the chance to assassinate one of the Four Emperors. Unfortunately, the Marines had interfered, not to mention those damn pony-creatures. What a disgusting outcome. He looked for any way to vent his rage, but all he could do was scream again and take a seat on the cold, dirty stone floor.
Killer was two floors above him, with Hawkins having somehow escaped capture during transit. Most of his men were on Levels Two and Three. Apoo had never been captured at all, and wherever he was now, he was surely laughing at his former allies. And then there was that damned coward Crocodile. If he'd fought like a man things may have turned out differently. Or maybe not. Kidd was confidant in his abilities, but he also realized that he was not untouchable, and his confrontation with Red Haired Shanks had not gone down the way he wanted it to.
Now he was stuck here for six to nine months, and then, he was due for execution. He had three quarters of a year or less to escape, to do something that had only been done twice before, once by the Gold Lion Shiki, who had never shown his face again, and once two years previous, by Straw Hat Luffy.
Thinking of the success that guy had made for himself, Kidd grew only angrier; for the third time he shouted in frustration at the top of his lungs, thrashing against the heavy chains at his feet, which made it nearly impossible to move at anything faster than a limp.
"Hey, brat....shut up."
Kidd jerked his head to the right, where the shadows were longer and darker, and many torches left unlit. From somewhere within, a voice spoke up again.
"I've had enough of you shitty youths for a while."
"Who the hell are you? Better hope we don't meet when I break out of here, or I'll rip out your-"
Something in the air changed, it was slight, but clear. Kidd stopped and chewed on his words as a malignant evil made itself tangible within the darkness. And then it laughed.
"Fufufufufufufu....escape? Why bother. Just watch the world turn to hell."
"Who are you!?" Kidd demanded, finding some of his spitfire confidence again.
He was met only with the same laugh, "Fufufufufufufufu!"
The wind picked up from that direction, and from the ceiling descended a couple of pink feathers, one of which landed on Kidd's shirt, the other, hitting the ground in front of him. Kidd grimaced, and fully took in the scope of pirates with him in the bottom pits of Impel Down. Pirates like Donquixote Doflamingo.
"Straw Hat beat the crap out of you, I heard," Kidd spoke with a dirty smile.
"I suppose he did. I don't mind anymore though. He's only brought the monsters of the world to bear. He'll be dead soon enough, and I'll be watching it all unfold from here."
His deepest and longest laugh yet followed, and Kidd decided to spend his time doing anything but encouraging the crazed man in the shadows.
The Supernova took a seat, snorting in resentment once more. Doflamingo be damned, he would escape, and he would find the One Piece before Straw Hat, Blackbeard, or anyone else. He would. He absolutely could not be held here.
Silence allowed Kidd to begin contemplating his position and the work it would take to break out of the cell, but Doflamingo's voice came from the dark again soon enough.
"Oh, and if you threaten me ever again..."
The darkness seemed to grow darker still, and Kidd found he was getting colder too.
"I'll kill you when you least expect it. And I'll make it hurt."
Kidd swallowed and sat in silence again, only just realizing that the scariest part of Impel Down wasn't what the jailers did to you, but what the other inmates might.