__________ POV Narration__________
The ships of the Neo Marines floated towards the clouds, Sengoku stood in between Zephyr and Tsuru as he brought them up to speed on what had been happening on the sky island lately.
Kizaru also listened to anything new, but he was mostly half asleep during most of it. He wasn't horribly interested in any new allies that Enel made.
To him, it made no difference either way. They already had a substantially powerful army even without a few more New World Pirates joining in.
But to Tsuru and Zephyr, it was just sounding more and more like Enel was aiming to conquer the world...
And he was currently looking like a rather fair contender to the title of 'King'.
Sengoku did assure them that Enel's goal had nothing to do with ruling the world.
'From what I understood, Enel is only interested in taking down the government, and spreading the true history of the world to everyone.'
Tsuru and Zephyr were still quite sceptical. One wouldn't usually gather such a powerful army with such good intentions. But the two marines decided to trust Sengoku's judgement.
He hadn't been appointed as Fleet Admiral for nothing. Even with his mistakes during the War at Marineford, he was still the most calculating among their generation.
But Enel's intentions did leave quite a large question mark in the minds of Tsuru and Zephyr...
The world still needed someone to rule over it... And they were unwilling to allow either a group of pirates or the Revolutionaries to take over...
'It's very possible that as soon as the war against the World Government happens... Another war will begin... One that will truly establish the new rule...'
The Neo-Marine leaders were both aware that the world needed order. And they believed that the Marines were the ones most qualified to establish that order.
'It remains to be seen... Whether or not Enel has something planned to prevent any infighting after the war ends...'
The few dozen of ships quickly rose above the clouds... And the sight of the floating Archipelago was truly breathtaking.
Even Kizaru opened one eye to observe the islands. Shiki had truly created a wonder of nature above the clouds. There was even a floating river connecting a few islands between each other.
There were also plenty of ships travelling by using said Sky River, Shiki's people manned those ships and had established some sort of trading system within the islands.
"... This does look like it would make a rather enjoyable home..." Tsuru muttered as she looked at the floating paradise in front of them.
"It took me a few years to gather all of these... Glad that they're pleasing to the eyes at least..." Shiki took quite a bit of pride in his creation. It had taken quite a bit of effort to pull off after all.
The Marines weren't all that keen on complimenting Shiki on his work, especially since they had a rather tumultuous past with each other.
Zephyr even wanted to punch the old Golden Lion, just for 'old time's sake' but decided against it in the end.
'No use in keeping grudges in this situation... We're in the same boat right now. Might as well see this through the end.'
The leaders weren't the only ones admiring the Sky Islands though
Everyone was looking at their 'new home' in wonder. Including two people that Enel was already acquainted with.
Smoker and Hina were together on a different boat.
The two of them had spent a lot of time together since Enel had defected. To the point where Tashigi, Smoker's second in command, had already become good friends with the cage woman...
Hina admired the way things looked, but deep down she was feeling rather indignant.
Yep, she found it unfair that Enel had gone ahead and become an Emperor while she was still trying to capture him out at sea.
She found it unfair that she never got any explanation for his actions at Marineford. She found it unfair that, somehow, everything still had gone Enel's way.
To the point where the Marines were now banding together to work alongside him and take down a common enemy.
It was as if everything had aligned in his favour. It was as if he had planned the whole thing out... And she was quite mad about that.
After all, it just didn't match the Enel she knew. He never gave her any indication that he had such a 'greater than life' goal.
At the very least, she was finally going to get an explanation for everything. Though she was already too hurt to be willing to trust Enel ever again.
As the Neo Marines were landing on the islands, Garp was already dashing to check on Enel and bring him to meet their new arrivals.
The Sea Stone-Bound emperor was still mindlessly punching rocks away. He had gotten a bit stronger, but not enough to be noticeable.
He was shirtless, only wearing a loose pair of pants. His shoes were also gone. His blonde hair was still swept backwards though, although looking a bit greasier than usual.
Garp was satisfied to see him keeping at it. It was not the type of training that many were able to go through.
It was mindlessly repetitive and gruelling. Weaker-willed people would've even gone insane because of it.
Enel noticed the former Marine Hero as soon as he stepped onto his training island.
His Observation Haki had slowly gotten used to the seastone binds he was wearing, and he was now able to at least cover the island he was on.
Garp broke the ground underneath him as he did a superhero landing right near Enel, forcing the bound emperor to cover his eyes to shield himself from the dust.
"Brat! Good job keeping up with it. You can take a break now though." Garp crossed his arms with a wide smile.
Enel raised an eyebrow and immediately tensed up.
'Is this a trap? Is he going to punch me if I actually take a break?'
"N-no thanks. I'd rather keep training you know? Don't want to be slacking off."
The emperor's scepticism was not exactly unwarranted either. Garp had already pulled a similar stunt before.
Enel was only truly allowed to rest while eating the one meal he got in a day, or when sleeping the 6 hours he was allowed to sleep.
Garp had pretended to give him a break, before punching Enel through a good part of the mountain for his 'attempt at slacking off' and 'lack of resolve'.
He even contextualized it as part of the training... It was done to 'toughen him up'. Enel had to continue his training regardless of his injuries.
Garp scowled a bit when seeing Enel's reaction. He was also annoyed that he wouldn't be able to take Enel by surprise like that again... But then again.
"Brat, since when do I need a reason to punch you? I'm here cuz the Neo Marines finally arrived. You ought to meet them as well."
The former Marine Hero didn't put any more pressure on Enel for now. He just took out a key from his pocket and freed the emperor.
Enel took a breath of fresh air as his senses fully returned to him, his observation expanding over the Sky Archipelago.
He felt the Neo Marines landing on the island that had been prepared for them, with Akainu and the others already waiting for them there.
"Huh, time really flew by, huh?" Enel said as he rubbed his now free neck.
"Yep, don't get used to it. You'll be back here in an hour or two. You can go ahead, I'll catch up." Garp just tapped Enel on the shoulder as he dashed and started sky walking towards the Marine Island.
Enel just sighed as he turned in a lightning bolt for the first time in a while.
He reappeared right beside Kizaru, who was already looking towards him with a bored gaze.
"Enel... Nice of you to be greeting us personally." The former Admiral gave the Emperor a lazy smile as he disembarked the ship alongside the others.
The Emperor just nodded as he walked alongside him.
The two giant men towered over the rest of the marines, and many were rather intimidated by the shirtless Emperor.
The two leaders of the Neo Marines also noticed Enel, they became wary for a few seconds but calmed down when seeing how relaxed Kizaru was.
Shiki just left after placing their ships on the ground, he didn't feel like dealing with marines for more than necessary. He still waved at Enel with a smile as he left.
The Emperor just waved back at the Golden Lion, unbothered by the scared looks that some of the marines were giving him.
Even if they were all told that they'd be working together with Enel, that didn't mean they were completely comfortable with the betraying Emperor.
Tsuru was the first to greet Enel.
"It's certainly been a while... I still remember when you were a 'recruit'... You sure came a long way." Tsuru made a point to look around at the surrounding islands as she spoke.
Enel just shook his head.
"I did get lucky on plenty of occasions... I'm glad to see you are all fine even after the war..."
"I wouldn't call the current state of affairs as 'fine'..." Zephyr also walked up to Enel and stared up at him with narrowed eyes.
The former marine instructor studied the emperor for a few seconds before smirking.
"Hehe... Is Garp putting you through that insanity he calls training?" Z didn't show Enel any hostility at all.
"Things could be a lot worse... And at least the 'training' shows results." Enel scratched the back of his head.
"Things could indeed be much worse. At least we are all together here now." Sengoku also shrugged as he combed his afro.
"Well, I guess we've seen worse years. I'm off for now, we still have to settle here..." Tsuru just shrugged and signalled her subordinates to follow her and start setting up camp.
Enel also noticed plenty of familiar faces on the other ships. He also saw Hina... But her reaction to seeing him was different from what he had expected.
Instead of receiving a punch or two, Hina just scoffed and avoided his gaze abruptly.
'Yep... She's certainly mad at me...'
Enel sighed as he realised he would have to speak to her at the very least...
'I'll leave that for later... Can't exactly take too long of a break...'
Enel spoke with a few of the marines for a bit more until Garp also came in and joined them.
EVERY Marine was happy to see Garp in such a healthy state.
Z even marvelled at how wonderous the effects of Bonney's fruit were...
Garp's presence immensely bolstered the morale of the marines. After all, siding with a pirate was a lot better if their Marine Hero was also with them.
Aokiji was also considered a Marine Hero, but he didn't have anywhere near the same reputation as Garp, so he didn't really count...
After greetings were over, Enel and Garp lingered a bit more to help the marines settle, before the former Marine Hero made the Emperor get back to training.
The Emperor didn't try to argue about taking a longer break. He didn't exactly want to take too long of a break either.
He felt the effects of Garp's training on his body, and he knew that he was growing stronger every day.
It was to the point where he didn't even want to stop training.
The Marines continued settling in as Enel vanished.
Hina looked at his disappearing form with a frustrated gaze. 'What? Not even bothering to greet Hina?'
Alas, she did end up finding out that he was training with Garp's strict instructions. So she decided that she would just visit him one day...
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
Neo marines are here! As I said, Hina will get her moment later on, not right away :)))
Z and Tsuru are both at least Admiral level in this fanfic btw.
Also, has anyone seen the latest chapter of OP? Tf happening with Aokiji, the dude went nuts or smth
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
__________ POV Narration__________
The ships of the Neo Marines floated towards the clouds, Sengoku stood in between Zephyr and Tsuru as he brought them up to speed on what had been happening on the sky island lately.
Kizaru also listened to anything new, but he was mostly half asleep during most of it. He wasn't horribly interested in any new allies that Enel made.
To him, it made no difference either way. They already had a substantially powerful army even without a few more New World Pirates joining in.
But to Tsuru and Zephyr, it was just sounding more and more like Enel was aiming to conquer the world...
And he was currently looking like a rather fair contender to the title of 'King'.
Sengoku did assure them that Enel's goal had nothing to do with ruling the world.
'From what I understood, Enel is only interested in taking down the government, and spreading the true history of the world to everyone.'
Tsuru and Zephyr were still quite sceptical. One wouldn't usually gather such a powerful army with such good intentions. But the two marines decided to trust Sengoku's judgement.
He hadn't been appointed as Fleet Admiral for nothing. Even with his mistakes during the War at Marineford, he was still the most calculating among their generation.
But Enel's intentions did leave quite a large question mark in the minds of Tsuru and Zephyr...
The world still needed someone to rule over it... And they were unwilling to allow either a group of pirates or the Revolutionaries to take over...
'It's very possible that as soon as the war against the World Government happens... Another war will begin... One that will truly establish the new rule...'
The Neo-Marine leaders were both aware that the world needed order. And they believed that the Marines were the ones most qualified to establish that order.
'It remains to be seen... Whether or not Enel has something planned to prevent any infighting after the war ends...'
The few dozen of ships quickly rose above the clouds... And the sight of the floating Archipelago was truly breathtaking.
Even Kizaru opened one eye to observe the islands. Shiki had truly created a wonder of nature above the clouds. There was even a floating river connecting a few islands between each other.
There were also plenty of ships travelling by using said Sky River, Shiki's people manned those ships and had established some sort of trading system within the islands.
"... This does look like it would make a rather enjoyable home..." Tsuru muttered as she looked at the floating paradise in front of them.
"It took me a few years to gather all of these... Glad that they're pleasing to the eyes at least..." Shiki took quite a bit of pride in his creation. It had taken quite a bit of effort to pull off after all.
The Marines weren't all that keen on complimenting Shiki on his work, especially since they had a rather tumultuous past with each other.
Zephyr even wanted to punch the old Golden Lion, just for 'old time's sake' but decided against it in the end.
'No use in keeping grudges in this situation... We're in the same boat right now. Might as well see this through the end.'
The leaders weren't the only ones admiring the Sky Islands though
Everyone was looking at their 'new home' in wonder. Including two people that Enel was already acquainted with.
Smoker and Hina were together on a different boat.
The two of them had spent a lot of time together since Enel had defected. To the point where Tashigi, Smoker's second in command, had already become good friends with the cage woman...
Hina admired the way things looked, but deep down she was feeling rather indignant.
Yep, she found it unfair that Enel had gone ahead and become an Emperor while she was still trying to capture him out at sea.
She found it unfair that she never got any explanation for his actions at Marineford. She found it unfair that, somehow, everything still had gone Enel's way.
To the point where the Marines were now banding together to work alongside him and take down a common enemy.
It was as if everything had aligned in his favour. It was as if he had planned the whole thing out... And she was quite mad about that.
After all, it just didn't match the Enel she knew. He never gave her any indication that he had such a 'greater than life' goal.
At the very least, she was finally going to get an explanation for everything. Though she was already too hurt to be willing to trust Enel ever again.
As the Neo Marines were landing on the islands, Garp was already dashing to check on Enel and bring him to meet their new arrivals.
The Sea Stone-Bound emperor was still mindlessly punching rocks away. He had gotten a bit stronger, but not enough to be noticeable.
He was shirtless, only wearing a loose pair of pants. His shoes were also gone. His blonde hair was still swept backwards though, although looking a bit greasier than usual.
Garp was satisfied to see him keeping at it. It was not the type of training that many were able to go through.
It was mindlessly repetitive and gruelling. Weaker-willed people would've even gone insane because of it.
Enel noticed the former Marine Hero as soon as he stepped onto his training island.
His Observation Haki had slowly gotten used to the seastone binds he was wearing, and he was now able to at least cover the island he was on.
Garp broke the ground underneath him as he did a superhero landing right near Enel, forcing the bound emperor to cover his eyes to shield himself from the dust.
"Brat! Good job keeping up with it. You can take a break now though." Garp crossed his arms with a wide smile.
Enel raised an eyebrow and immediately tensed up.
'Is this a trap? Is he going to punch me if I actually take a break?'
"N-no thanks. I'd rather keep training you know? Don't want to be slacking off."
The emperor's scepticism was not exactly unwarranted either. Garp had already pulled a similar stunt before.
Enel was only truly allowed to rest while eating the one meal he got in a day, or when sleeping the 6 hours he was allowed to sleep.
Garp had pretended to give him a break, before punching Enel through a good part of the mountain for his 'attempt at slacking off' and 'lack of resolve'.
He even contextualized it as part of the training... It was done to 'toughen him up'. Enel had to continue his training regardless of his injuries.
Garp scowled a bit when seeing Enel's reaction. He was also annoyed that he wouldn't be able to take Enel by surprise like that again... But then again.
"Brat, since when do I need a reason to punch you? I'm here cuz the Neo Marines finally arrived. You ought to meet them as well."
The former Marine Hero didn't put any more pressure on Enel for now. He just took out a key from his pocket and freed the emperor.
Enel took a breath of fresh air as his senses fully returned to him, his observation expanding over the Sky Archipelago.
He felt the Neo Marines landing on the island that had been prepared for them, with Akainu and the others already waiting for them there.
"Huh, time really flew by, huh?" Enel said as he rubbed his now free neck.
"Yep, don't get used to it. You'll be back here in an hour or two. You can go ahead, I'll catch up." Garp just tapped Enel on the shoulder as he dashed and started sky walking towards the Marine Island.
Enel just sighed as he turned in a lightning bolt for the first time in a while.
He reappeared right beside Kizaru, who was already looking towards him with a bored gaze.
"Enel... Nice of you to be greeting us personally." The former Admiral gave the Emperor a lazy smile as he disembarked the ship alongside the others.
The Emperor just nodded as he walked alongside him.
The two giant men towered over the rest of the marines, and many were rather intimidated by the shirtless Emperor.
The two leaders of the Neo Marines also noticed Enel, they became wary for a few seconds but calmed down when seeing how relaxed Kizaru was.
Shiki just left after placing their ships on the ground, he didn't feel like dealing with marines for more than necessary. He still waved at Enel with a smile as he left.
The Emperor just waved back at the Golden Lion, unbothered by the scared looks that some of the marines were giving him.
Even if they were all told that they'd be working together with Enel, that didn't mean they were completely comfortable with the betraying Emperor.
Tsuru was the first to greet Enel.
"It's certainly been a while... I still remember when you were a 'recruit'... You sure came a long way." Tsuru made a point to look around at the surrounding islands as she spoke.
Enel just shook his head.
"I did get lucky on plenty of occasions... I'm glad to see you are all fine even after the war..."
"I wouldn't call the current state of affairs as 'fine'..." Zephyr also walked up to Enel and stared up at him with narrowed eyes.
The former marine instructor studied the emperor for a few seconds before smirking.
"Hehe... Is Garp putting you through that insanity he calls training?" Z didn't show Enel any hostility at all.
"Things could be a lot worse... And at least the 'training' shows results." Enel scratched the back of his head.
"Things could indeed be much worse. At least we are all together here now." Sengoku also shrugged as he combed his afro.
"Well, I guess we've seen worse years. I'm off for now, we still have to settle here..." Tsuru just shrugged and signalled her subordinates to follow her and start setting up camp.
Enel also noticed plenty of familiar faces on the other ships. He also saw Hina... But her reaction to seeing him was different from what he had expected.
Instead of receiving a punch or two, Hina just scoffed and avoided his gaze abruptly.
'Yep... She's certainly mad at me...'
Enel sighed as he realised he would have to speak to her at the very least...
'I'll leave that for later... Can't exactly take too long of a break...'
Enel spoke with a few of the marines for a bit more until Garp also came in and joined them.
EVERY Marine was happy to see Garp in such a healthy state.
Z even marvelled at how wonderous the effects of Bonney's fruit were...
Garp's presence immensely bolstered the morale of the marines. After all, siding with a pirate was a lot better if their Marine Hero was also with them.
Aokiji was also considered a Marine Hero, but he didn't have anywhere near the same reputation as Garp, so he didn't really count...
After greetings were over, Enel and Garp lingered a bit more to help the marines settle, before the former Marine Hero made the Emperor get back to training.
The Emperor didn't try to argue about taking a longer break. He didn't exactly want to take too long of a break either.
He felt the effects of Garp's training on his body, and he knew that he was growing stronger every day.
It was to the point where he didn't even want to stop training.
The Marines continued settling in as Enel vanished.
Hina looked at his disappearing form with a frustrated gaze. 'What? Not even bothering to greet Hina?'
Alas, she did end up finding out that he was training with Garp's strict instructions. So she decided that she would just visit him one day...
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
Neo marines are here! As I said, Hina will get her moment later on, not right away :)))
Z and Tsuru are both at least Admiral level in this fanfic btw.
Also, has anyone seen the latest chapter of OP? Tf happening with Aokiji, the dude went nuts or smth
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
