Chapter 122: Chapter 122: Suspicions, Lessons and Plans

_________ POV Narration_________

As Enel rested in that strangely constructed prison, the world around him kept moving.

The higher-ranking marines eventually started heading to the island together.

Akainu looked at the island warily.

'This doesn't feel right...'  He looked to the side to see that most of them seemed to have that same premonition about the island.

They all already knew that they had lost that invasion. There was absolutely no one to greet them on Baltigo.

Where the revolutionaries had gone was another issue entirely, but it was already a fact that they had nothing to gain by further wasting time on that island.

'They should've just let me start a war with the Big Mom pirates...'

Akainu was righteously pissed off. With the forces they had gathered that day, taking out the Big Mom pirates was actually highly possible.

The World Government certainly knew that Enel was working with the Revolutionaries, so it was likely that the 5 elders wanted to take care of both Enel and the Revolutionaries at the same time.

'In the first place, most of the times they order us to attack something, things don't end up too well...'

Akainu scoffed as he remembered how badly things had been for the marines in recent years.

'More and more people are becoming aware of how much the World Government truly hides from us. That's thanks, especially to recent controversies.

It's only a matter of time before I can manage to make all marines sympathetic to the idea of splitting from the World Government...'

"Akainu... Don't you think the situation is strange?" Kizaru asked as he also looked around warily.

"Strange indeed... Even a blind man can tell that something isn't making sense..." Fujitora said as he floated beside them, sitting on a rock as he scanned his surroundings using Observation Haki.

"In all fairness, the fact that they are wasting our time like this must mean that they truly don't trust us anymore..." Kizaru said with a disappointed gaze.

"It can't be helped. We've already bent over backwards to appease them. I don't know how much longer they think we'll put up with this..." Aokiji said as he also joined them, advancing on the island thogeter.

As the three admirals and the Fleet Admiral made their way towards the centre of the island, something else was happening in another corner of the world.

On the sky islands, the people were still recuperating after the fight with the Beast Pirates.

Francisco and Garp stood to the side, leaning on a large rock as the Beast Pirates were being shackled in seastone chains and carted off to the prison.

Garp looked at his associate with a dirty eye.

"Why didn't you act sooner? You could have taken down all of the pirates at once from the beginning..."

Francisco simply turned his ear towards him.

"This was their first trial, you know?" The old man shook his head once.

"You were just as capable to end the pirates before they ever got close to shore. But you instinctively knew already..."  Francisco continued to talk, making Garp look away slightly, in shame.

"If they don't face any hardships and grow, our training will all be for nothing. This harsh world will just swallow them all up eventually..." Garp muttered as he understood exactly what Francisco was referring to.

They both knew. The pirates they had faced were from a Yonko crew, but in reality, they weren't anything special.

'If they can't even handle the grunts of Kaido's crew, then how exactly are they supposed to defend this land from the World Government in the future?'

"Still... I can't help but feel this was a bit too soon. I decided to see how things play out, but I am unsure if it was the right choice now..." Garp said as he shook his head.

'Was our training truly sufficient? Did we really give them enough time before allowing them to face pirates like this?'

Garp couldn't help but avert his gaze when seeing the 13 bodies being carted off. Most of their men were injured as well, some of which would even become unable to fight in the future.

"Soon?... The world won't wait for them to be prepared, Garp. Even with another year of training, those that died today would've met the same fate eventually..."

Francisco simply shook his head. Unaffected by the scene in front of him.

The old pirate had long since become used to seeing people die.

But even worse, he was used to seeing younger/ambitious people die in the pursuit of greatness.

Many tried to sail the high seas, but the vast majority of them actually either died trying or became grunts to higher powers.

The only exceptions to the rule were people that actually grew strong enough by undergoing countless hardships and surviving repeatedly.

They rose to become the top dogs, the leaders of the seas... And in truth, only they mattered and only they could really be considered 'Free'. 

Pirates that tried to surround themselves with as many weaklings as possible never made it far. The second they took a step outside the pool of water they were the kings of, they reached the Grand Line...

And the Grand Line in Francisco's time was only reserved for the most powerful pirates in existence. Those that weren't up to snuff would be chewed up and spit back out if they were lucky, otherwise, swallowed entirely.

Francisco didn't want the people that he was teaching, and the people that his new captain was leading, to end up as mere grunts to a higher power.

He also didn't want them to end up dead... So this was the only solution.

'Throw them to the meat grinder... Those that survive were meant to survive, those that die would've died in the future anyway...'

It was a bleak train of thought, an extreme measure. But Garp could understand it, rather, it was also what had crossed his mind.

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However, his sense of justice was what made him hesitant. Meanwhile, Francisco had no such qualms.

To him, only loyalty mattered, he had no particular moral compass to speak of.

As long as someone was an ally of his, then he considered that person a friend. And he saw betrayal as the ultimate sin one could commit...

Which was why he was excited at meeting Kaido once more...

'That Little Dragon... I wonder if he knew about Newgate's betrayal... He certainly didn't help us when the assault at God Valley happened...'

But, Francisco couldn't help but shake his head in the end.

'Clinging to the past won't get me far... Better focus on the future instead... However much I have left of it.'

"The fight still ended in our favour. Not that many lives were lost... You could say that we were lucky." Francisco simply sighed as he spoke, and Garp seemed to perk up instantly.

"... Our fight is certain to have caught some attention from down below..." Garp said as he looked at the sea of clouds with a  concerned gaze.

"... Do you think our cover's blown?" Francisco asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"It's a possibility..." Garp said as he crossed his arms, somewhat frustrated by the situation.

"Well... I'll go inform Gan Fall... Time for Protocol 'Wings' I guess... Good thing Enel thought about these things beforehand."  Francisco said, as Garp simply nodded a bit.

And so, the clean-up on their side continued, with Francisco heading for Gan Fall's office, and with Garp somewhat disillusioned at the situation still.

As the wars were dying down on both fronts, the Sky Islands and Baltigo, the situation became rather lively in the Holy Land itself.

More specifically, at the very top of the world, the empty throne's room. A shadow figure was staring with bored/emotionless eyes at the large map in front of him.

At the bottom of the staircase, 5 old men were prostrating themselves to him.

"Lord IM! Our agents on the scene have confirmed that the marines are heading towards the centre of the island!" One of the Five Elders reported as he faced the ground, the excitement in his eyes was palpable.

They were obviously quite proud of their achievements.

One of their agents had managed to find the island after tailing one ship for a few days, it was a stroke of luck on their part.

The invasion was put together hastily, but it wasn't meant to take out the Revolutionaries, at least IM didn't expect it to work.

"Enel and Sengoku are also both near the island. Aramaki has already been dragged away by our agents, so he should be safe..."

"Indeed... That man will make for a good Fleet Admiral in the future... One extremely easy to control." IM said as he kept looking at the map, his royal clothing

"It's a shame to lose Kizaru, he was loyal as well..." The elder said as he didn't dare to look up.

"As loyal as he was to us, his loyalty to Akainu was much greater. It's better this way..."

The World Government had known about Akainu's actions for a while now, they simply didn't act at the time as they knew that killing or demoting him would've caused even more chaos in the marines.

So, they resorted to this.

"Fujitora will also be lost, but he didn't seem quite as excited to serve the World Government as Aramaki, so he isn't worth calling this entire operation off..." One of the other elders also added.

Their main targets in that location were Akainu and Aokiji. Akainu had proven to be a large thorn in their side, unlike their previous expectations of him.

Aokiji was assisting him constantly. and they also didn't want him to become the fleet admiral, which would've happened if they simply killed Akainu alone.

They also had plenty of side objectives, which they had managed to accomplish now.

"We've also confirmed that he hasn't awakened yet..."

"Good... And it seems you were also able to find the Sky Islands... They should be his base if I am not mistaken..." IM said as he looked at his map.

"Yes, lord. It seems Lady Luck was on our side. One of our agents stationed near Jaya managed to catch a glimpse of the sky islands as he was tracking Beast Pirate activity in the area..."

"We are assuming the clouds shifted to reveal the island due to a fight related to the beast pirates, we assume they lost, as bits and scraps of their ships fell from the skies shortly after."

IM listened to their reports with that same emotionless gaze in his red eyes.

"Baltigo will vanish first... As for The Sky Islands... We will have to use the Pluton Cannons on it."

IM looked in the corner, at the posters on his wall that were filled with holes, weapons having been cleared off.

'I wonder what his next move is going to be... Well, whatever... Let's first see if he even survives this...'

As he thought about that, the king of the world simply turned his gaze back to that map, staring at Baltigo for a few seconds.

And as he stared at it, the small island of Baltigo simply vanished.

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Hope you liked the chapter! Was busy yesterday with some college shit/ Got to write today at least :))

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