Chapter 77: Reorganization
Summary: Various war aftermath perspectives...
Chapter 77: Reorganization
-Marine Base G-2-
Only a day and a half after the death of Whitebeard and near-total destruction of Marineford, most of the officers present in the conference room looked exhausted and battered. Not everyone was there, of course. Quite a few officers were still running recovery operations at Marineford, and even greater numbers had dispersed back to various commands. Now, more than ever, they couldn’t afford to leave their remaining bases uncovered for long. Still, despite those needs and despite the exhaustion of many of those present, this meeting had needed to happen as quickly as possible.
Marine Base G-2 had been the closest to Marineford, excluding the now completely destroyed base at Sabaody Archipelago, and orders had gone out to round up the most senior of the remaining Admirals still fit for duty. Those orders had been issued by Kong, the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government, and he faced off with those unhappy-looking officers now. Admirals Kizaru and Aokiji were present, though Akainu was not. The Magu Magu no Mi user had survived, but only just, and was currently being shipped off to see if Vegapunk could do anything for him.
Present from the slightly lower ranks of the Vice Admirals were Garp, Gion, and Tsuru. Vice Admiral Comil, as the commander of this base, should also have been present…except that he’d been among the dead at Marineford. In a brutal reminder of how badly the battle had gone, only two of the eight Captains from G-2 were still alive to command it. One who had been left behind in charge of the base and the other having somehow survived Marineford and Comil’s death.
“Tsuru, the current toll?”
Kong’s voice was firm and unhappy as he asked the question that needed answering. Tsuru, in her role as the infamous ‘Great Staff Officer,’ had the best current information on their losses.
“You mean aside from Sengoku and our entire Headquarters? Bad. The minimum death toll on our side is estimated at roughly 35,000, and I expect that number to climb. From the more senior ranks, we’ve lost two dozen Commodores, John Giant, Comil, Momonga, Doberman, Dalmatian, Stainless and Hound. Our choice to shift Rear Admirals to cover various bases means we only lost two of them, thankfully. But we also can’t really afford to shift them, since they are covering critical bases.”
Tsuru hesitated, causing Kong to frown and gesture her to go on.
“Hototogisu also forwarded me reports that Marineford and the Archipelago weren’t the only places hit. The Revolutionary Army hit five bases in the West Blue, completely trashing all of them. We aren’t sure yet, but we’re nearly certain they ‘liberated’ a half dozen major islands there, since we’ve lost all contact with them.”
Garp snorted, causing most of the room to glare at him. Which didn’t make him so much as twitch, of course. Eventually, Kong sighed and spoke.
“Very well. This clusterfuck is going to take time to unravel, but we need to hammer out a strong chain of command now, if we hope to stay on top of the various issues. Sengoku dying wasn’t foreseen, and we need to replace him immediately if we want to keep the public’s faith. Originally, we’d intended to replace him with either you, Kuzan, or with Sakazuki. Unfortunately, that’s not longer good enough.”
Everyone in the room blinked as Kong focused on Garp.
“Congratulations, Fleet Admiral Garp, you’re strong ending of the hostilities has made you the new symbol of the Marines.”
There was a moment of utter disbelief as the statement hung in the air, then Garp laughed, long and loud.
“Fuck no! I turned down promotion to even a full Admiral’s rank, you can fuck right off if you think I’m taking the big seat!”
Kong seemed unmoved, even as Garp wiped tears from his eyes.
“It’s that or we send the God’s Knights after your grandson.”
Garp’s laugher vanished in an eyeblink, his gaze abruptly hard as his pure presence, one that had nothing to do with Haki and everything to do with Killing Intent, filled the room. Everyone except Kong flinched away from the normally genial Vice Admiral. Kong steadily met the other man’s eyes and expanded his statement without remorse.
“Six Celestial Dragons are dead, Garp. Your grandson is responsible for that, along with the destruction of an entire Marine base, and the death of one of the Five Elders. Just the Celestial Dragon deaths would demand we send one of the Knights out. It’s literally one of their core purposes. Add in the death of an Elder, and hunting your grandson should be priority one, even over your son. So that’s the deal we’re offering. You take the Fleet Admiral seat for two years, and we leave him to be chased by local forces only for that same time period. After that, you step down into a training role, which you’ve wanted for years.”
Garp was visibly fuming, but noticeably hadn’t lashed out, which said a lot all on its own.
“You get to put your stamp on the Marines both now and via the troops you’ll eventually train, and all you need to do is fake competence as the Fleet Admiral for two years. Tsuru will do a lot of the heavy lifting for the reorganization. You just have to rebuild morale and keep a lid on trouble spots. For which Kuzan and Gion will be directly assigned to work under you. One of them will be taking your spot in two years, depending on how they perform.”
Gion blinked, looking shocked that she was being considered for the possible position of Fleet Admiral. Kong’s gaze flicked to her.
“Congratulations, Gion. As of today, you’re officially promoted to full Admiral. Any resources you need to fill that role, including a Devil Fruit from the selection we keep available if you so desire, will be made available to you.”
Inhaling sharply, Gion nodded, but her eyes darted to Garp. After several additional seconds that seemed to extend forever, Garp sighed.
“Fine. But don’t expect me to deal with those old fuckers. That’s on you, Kong.”
Kong snorted, but nodded.
“That much was anticipated. You’ll report to me, not the Elders, for the duration of your time as Fleet Admiral. Your primary directive is to rebuild the Marines and keep hold of as much territory as possible in our weakened state. Neither of which are things I think you have a problem with?”
Garp grimaced, then shook his head. For all his disagreements about how certain things were handled, he was still a Marine out of the belief that it was the place he could do the most good for the greatest number of people. He might hate the Celestial Dragons, but he considered them an acceptable evil in order to protect the largest number of people possible. Which is what he saw as the ultimate duty of the Marines. The chance to reshape the Marines to reflect that, with Kuzan and Gion, both of whom shared that view to some degree, as his direct subordinates? He might not like it and wouldn’t have accepted it without the threat to Luffy, but he could work with it. Though if the World Government believed they would like the result, he quietly swore to himself that they would eventually learn they had been mistaken.
“Very well. With that settled, an announcement will be made. We’ll lean on Garp’s reputation and performance in the Marineford War to shore up immediate morale, but we’re going to need to step up recruiting as well. Not just of the lower ranks, but to shore up the losses among the Admiralty and other officers as well.”
With that, the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government moved the meeting on to other matters. There was a lot to do, if they didn’t want everything they’d kept a grasp on since to the Void Century to fall through their fingers…
… … …
-The Red Force-
Shanks grimaced as he tossed back another saucer of saké, staring unhappily at the sheathed form of Yoru settled on the wall of his personal cabin, right across from him. Normally, Shanks preferred to drink for fun, not for sorrow, but his last and final match with Dracule Mihawk left a bitter taste in his mouth that he was trying to chase away with the bite of alcohol. The man wasn’t actually dead…but Shanks wasn’t at all sure he’d done Mihawk any sort of kindness by not finishing him off.
Mihawk hadn’t been able to resist the call, of course.
The chance for a truly serious fight, to settle the title for good, had drawn him in like nothing else in the world would have. He had even, it must be said, given a damn good accounting for himself. The result, unfortunately, had been inevitable. Something Mihawk himself had realized almost the instant they crossed blades. It was true, for the most part, that Dracule Mihawk had been his own equal all these years…in swordsmanship.
Unfortunately, Mihawk was completely and utterly outmatched when it came to Haki.
Not only did the man just flat out not possess Conqueror's Haki at all, but it had become rapidly apparent that Shanks was his better with both Observation and Armament. It wasn’t that Hawkeye had been bad at either. In fact, he was exceptionally skilled at both by almost any standard. But there was a reason why Shanks was literally the only one of the Yonko that hadn’t needed a Devil Fruit at all. Kaidou, Linlin, and even Whitebeard had all possessed powerful Devil Fruits to reach the top. Shanks didn’t have one, tended to outright dismiss them in fact, because he didn’t need one. Haki had always been his edge, just as it had his first Captain’s before him, and Rayliegh’s too for that matter.
You didn’t become a Yonko purely on the back of your Haki without being one of the best in the world at it.
Hawkeye’s own Haki had been good. Excellent even. But it hadn’t been good enough. Not to face Shanks when he was truly, deadly serious. The result had been inevitable, no matter how Mihawk had tried to push through. He’d flown higher than Shanks had thought the man capable of, even managed to wound Shanks with a pretty nasty gash on one arm. In exchange, however…Shanks had outright taken one of Hawkeyes arms, ending his ability to truly wield the massive Yoru properly. The fight had ended shortly after that, with Shanks having the man seen to by his own people so he would live.
Which might well have been an unkindness, as Hawkeye’s dream had died with that fight. Even if he spent a decade re-training himself with a new one-handed blade, the chances of him ever reaching the heights needed to challenge Shanks again were infinitesimally low. He would never reclaim Yoru, and never be a serious contender for the Greatest Swordsman in the World again. The title was now Shanks’, a fact that left nothing but the taste of ashes on his tongue.
What a waste of good drink to try and chase that taste away.
A tiny smile, not kind at all, but satisfied at least, flitted onto his face as his drifting thoughts shifted. At least his incredibly bad mood after maiming an old friend had gotten a good outlet. He was pretty damn sure Kaidou was still wondering what the fuck had hit him after he crossed Shanks in the aftermath. The Beast Pirates had turned back in something like terror after a deeply unhappy Shanks had ripped into ‘The Strongest Creature’ so badly that the man would be weeks or months recovering.
He and his crew hadn’t had the strength to continue on to Marineford after both encounters, but he wasn’t too broken up about that. Whitebeard had gotten a hell of a sendoff, which Shanks secretly suspected was what the old man had been after, and the Marines were going to be reeling for years. If they managed to hold even a single base in the New World, they’d be doing amazing…and Luffy had put on one hell of a show from all accounts. His own people hadn’t seen all of that fight, but he’d already been in touch with Rayliegh in the aftermath.
To think Luffy would manage to kill an Elder before he even entered the New World.
This time, the saucer of saké tasted quite a bit less bitter as Shanks seriously considered just what that would mean. It was possible he would have to act to keep the World Government from offing Luffy for the audacity. But if the old man was right and he’d managed to permanently end one of the Gorōsei? Then everything else, all the other costs and suffering, might very well have been worth it…barely.
… … …
-Moby Dick-
The air in the Officer’s Lounge of the Moby Dick was solemn. For that matter, so was the air of the entire fleet and those of its allies that had stuck around rather than scatter. Even nearly three days after they’d left the battle, the weight of Whitebeard’s death, their father’s death, hung over all of them. As, of course, did his last words. Not the announcement about the One Piece being real. Though that had certainly lit a fire in the hearts of some of the allied crews that had shot off with renewed interest in Roger’s great treasure.
No, it was the words he’d spoke to his sons, to his family, that weighed heavily on them all.
‘Goodbye, my sons. There has been no greater honor than to have been your father, to have sailed with you all for so long. May you find peace in this life, or adventure in another.’
It echoed in them all. Seared into their minds in a way that they would never forget. Not just the heartfelt acknowledgement which still caused many of the crew to break into tears as they struggled to process the old man’s death, but also his final hope for them. For so, so many of their crew, Whitebeard had been what brought them to a sort of peace. Ace was, perhaps, the most well known of those…but he’d been neither the first nor the last to find a home under the shelter of Whitebeard’s flag. To find a place where they belonged, even when the rest of the world spit on them and called them demons, devils, monsters, or worse.
Now he was gone, and they all had to struggle to figure out what that meant. Not just for themselves, but for the rest of their brothers, not to mention for all of those who’d found refuge under Whitebeard’s protection. Many islands in the New World, plus Fishman Island at the border of Paradise, had found protection under an aegis that no longer existed. It was up to the remaining ten living division commanders huddled together in this room to try and figure out what to do about that.
“It has to be said, doesn’t it? The only two of us that might have the strength to hold the Fleet together are Marco and Ace. Before, Jozu might have too, but…”
But for better or worse, Jozu was now tainted by being the cause of Whitebeard’s death. It wasn’t fair to the Third Division Commander. It could have been any of them captured and used to lure the old man to his final confrontation, to his last stand, but emotions weren’t rational things that could so easily be swept away by logic. Which is why, perhaps, it wasn’t a shock that Jozu himself only nodded at Haruto’s statement. It was Marco who followed it up with a sigh and a headshake a moment later.
“Not me, for a number of reasons. I might have the power, but I don’t have the personality or, in a way, even the experience. I joined Whitebeard when I was fifteen and never left. I might be the First Division Commander, but I have zero experience actually being the Captain of an independent crew. Not even a ship in the long term, really. I’m a follower, not a leader, and never had any desire to be anything else.”
Everyone’s eyes turned to Ace, who sat rigid in his own seat. This group, at least, already knew the secret of who his father was. Though that secret hadn’t spread past the Division Commanders. They all knew full well he had a complicated relationship with the idea of leading a pirate crew. Yes, he’d been the Captain of the Spade Pirates and quite successful at that. Yet, he’d also long ago admitted that he’d been tracing that path mostly out of a belief that he’d had to. That it had been a destiny expected of him. He’d found relief from the weight of that destiny under Whitebeard, only to now come face-to-face with it again.
Marco spoke again, softly this time.
“Ace, you weren’t made the commander of the 2nd division for nothing. I think he intended you to follow him. Trusted it to you. The future, that is. Even if I imagine he hoped he had more time for you to grow into it. But it’s still up to you. If you decided to try and hold it all together…I’ll support you, which will bring a lot of the others around. If not? Well, I’ll support that too.”
There were murmurs and nods around the room. Ace might have been with them for only a few years, but he’d earned a lot of respect in that time…and there was his lineage to consider. Even those of the Division Commanders who might not have been willing to follow Ace alone would accept it with the condition of Marco’s backing. In turn, if the remaining Division Commanders all backed him, the majority of the main crew would follow. The allied crews were a bit of a dicier matter. Many of them had been loyal specifically to Whitebeard, and might well choose to go elsewhere rather than stick out the alliance with someone else leading.
Long moments passed, before Ace sighed.
“I’ll do it. If for no other reason than to give people a chance to live out pop’s last words. You know we won’t be able to hold everything, though? We lost too much.”
There were nods all around the room, along with relieved sighs. It was Jozu that spoke up, all business now.
“I think our best bet is to pull back from Fishman Island. The Marines got hurt even worse than we did, they aren’t going to be in any shape to chase us into the New World, and pulling back from Paradise entirely will let us cover the remaining islands from the other Yonko more easily. As well as giving them a bone to fight over.”
There were grimaces all around at that. The deal with Fishman Island was one of their more important, not to mention easily the most prestigious of their holdings. Abandoning it was particularly problematic too, as Jinbe was one of their more potent allies. One who would understand them having to pull back, but who wouldn’t be happy about it.
“Who would move in if we pulled out? Shanks would be ideal, but his territory doesn’t come all that close.”
Izou’s comment got nods, as well as a respond from Namur.
“Probably Linlin. Which would be…not great, but not the worst. She’s creepy as fuck and taxes her islands a lot more heavily. She’s got the reach and position, though, and she’s more business woman than monster. Fishman Island is relatively well off these days, after growing under pops. They could handle paying her off for a while at least, and Jinbe will act as a deterrent for her pushing too hard anyway.”
More nods, along with frowns. The discussion on their best course of action would continue long into the night. Eventually, it would be left to their new leader to make the final call. Something Ace wasn’t looking forward to at all…
… … …
-Alabastian Royal Palace-
Cobra shuffled the papers that contained his daughter’s reporting of events, rereading certain passages again as he thought through the ramifications of what had happened. The trouble was, of course, that he had very little idea how much weight to attribute to each of the monumental events that had occurred. The death of Whitebeard, the near total destruction of Marineford, the total destruction of the Marine base at the Archipelago. The death of a half dozen Celestial Dragons, and what sounded like one of the shadowy Elders that he knew very little about.
His daughter’s involvement in some of it.
While Vivi had never actually been physically seen doing anything, the fact that she was known crew to those who had and that the Discovery was technically an exploration vessel chartered under the Alabastian government? One with Royal Charter at that? Even if he completely disavowed her actions, the World Government wasn’t going to forget them anytime soon, nor be at all reluctant to pin them on his country.
The question, of course, was if it even mattered.
Alabasta was stronger than it had ever been in the past. Stronger than at any time since the Void Century, at least. The young man chosen for the Sand-Sand Fruit hadn’t been picked out of a hat. He’d been among the most hard-working and loyal members of the Army, someone who’d already been on par with at least the average Grand Line Marine Commander. He’d thrown himself into practice with the Fruit in a bloody-minded way that was nearly frightening, and by this point was likely a serious danger to even the remaining Vice Admirals.
Likewise, their other Devil Fruit users, along with several elite cadres who had managed to duplicate at least some of the Six Powers, had created a group that would be dangerous to most Marine forces. Add in the Dial-based overhauls they’d made to their new fleet, not to mention the same that they’d done to their harbor guns? There was no way the Marines were going to take Alabasta at this point without committing either one of the remaining Admirals or multiple Vice Admirals to do it.
The question, of course, was if they would do so.
Leaning back, King Cobra shook his head. With so many Marines dead at Marineford, logic dictated that they wouldn’t throw good money after bad by trying to force the issue with his Kingdom. Not yet, not until they’d recovered somewhat. The trouble, of course, was that the powers that be had never been particularly sane when it came to the Celestial Dragons and insults, threats, or harm done to them. At the very least, they would start sending assassins. Which, of course, meant he was going to need to step up counter methods to deal with that possibility.
Standing, Cobra made his way to a painting and pulled it aside to reveal a rather cliché concealed safe. Lips twitching at that fact, he used a key around his neck to open it…then shifted aside the contents to find the hidden button that opened an entirely different compartment below the safe. From within that compartment he pulled a Devil Fruit, one that had been recently acquired by chance, and stored instead of used. They hadn’t been quite sure what to do with it, given that it was mostly a defensive fruit. He had been urged to consider using it himself, but had demurred until now. Still, with the possibility of assassins now on his mind…
King Cobra bit into the fruit.
It was just as disgusting as he’d been warned.
Still, that was a very small sacrifice to make for his country, and he was intent on trying to stay alive until his daughter was done with her adventure and ready to replace him. He knew she would be a fantastic Queen some day, possibly with a King of a very different sort tied to their lineage, if the way she talked about her Captain was any indication. But until then he had to make sure she would have a throne to come back to…
... ... ... ... ... ...
A/N 1: *Gassssppppp* Whew! I can finally talk about the Fleet Admiral thing! A bunch of you thought of Garp...and then dismissed him because he'd laugh in their face! You were right! But, of course, also wrong! What you all forgot is that the WG in One Piece are right bastards who don't know the meaning of playing fair. They don't like Garp, not really, but that only made it MORE appealing to finally have a means to at least partially force him to comply in a way that was useful to them. Specifically, by blackmailing him with Luffy.
Let's face it. Garp was SERIOUSLY conflicted over Ace. How much more true would that be over Luffy, who he's shown MUCH more attachment to even in canon, let alone in this story where he spent quite a lot more time with Luffy? He's also high enough up the chain to understand just how deep Luffy stepped in it, and that Luffy isn't ready to have the Gods Knights coming for him and his crew. Yet, at the same time, he has faith that his grandson WILL be ready if given some time and space to grow. So, on the one hand, you've got the WG who have the chance to turn the screws on Garp. To force him to work for them properly, and even fight his son's forces for a couple of years. On the other, you have Garp, who despite acting like an idiot most of the time, is smart enough to know that they are handing him a chance to but his brand of justice into the Marines...while also giving his grandson a chance to survive the bullshit the WG started with him in the first place. Of course Garp took the chance...with full intention of making them regret it by the time he's done. They know that, he knows that, and now it's a game to see who wins out. Garp's ideals or the WG's manipulations. Either way, the WG gets a couple of years of recovery for the Marines under someone who had hold off the sharks and give the people faith in them. So they see it as a win in the short term, no matter who comes out as the long-term winner of their little gambit...
A/N 2: RIP Mihawk's hopes and dreams. I actually always liked him as a character, but I also always believed if it came down to a true fight between him and Shanks something like this would be the result. For all the reasons I outlined. Shanks is a monster, even in canon. Managing to become a Yonko without a DF and missing an arm...and still fully capable of bouncing Kaidou and forcing an end to the events of Marineford just by showing up. Here, with never having lost that arm? He's even more dangerous.
A/N 3: So, my opinion on why the Whitebeard crew couldn't hold together after Marineford? Marco's not a leader. He's a badass who probably WAS strong enough to hold everything together, but there's very little sign he actually tried to in canon. Here, with Ace still alive and far more of a...if you'll forgive the terrible joke...firebrand than Marco? The core of Whitebeard's fleet will have a very good chance of holding together and remaining a major player. Ace might not quite pull off holding onto a Yonko title, but he and the Division Commanders can at least protect most of Whitebeard's old territory...
A/N 4: Cobra's no idiot and is taking every step he can. As for what Fruit he ate...well, you'll just have to wait and see ;-). I will say that there's going to be a bit of humor value in it...