Chapter 104

Grandline, New World, Marine Headquarters

"What do we know so far?" Sengoku said after he had walked into the room designated for the meeting about Whitebeard and took his seat next to Garp that was munching on another bag of crackers. Also on the table situated were the three admirals: Kizaru, Akainu and Fujitora along with the vize-admirals.

Standing up vize-admiral Doberman spoke while going over the parchment he had received with the newest reports that had come in not too long ago.

"Sir, it seems as if all of the sh.i.p.s belonging to the fleet of Whitebeard that had resided all over the new world on islands belonging to his territory have mobilized and taken course in the direction of Dress Rosa where we expect Whitebeard himself is travelling to. His motives so far are unknown. Red-haired Shanks it seems has decided not to involve himself in whatever Whitebeard seems to be after and still resides on Solaris island where their meeting had taken place. The other two emperor's though seem to be restless going by the activity that has erupted among their territories. The reasons though are pure speculation.

Whitebeards fleet consists of over 30 sh.i.p.s, while his commanders commander said sh.i.p.s in groups of three which brings his commanders to a startling ten, not counting those that are responsible for supply and information gathering. Each captain has a bounty of at least a few 100.000.000 berry while no commander is below 500.000.000 berry. The top five are worth no less then 800.000.000 berry at a minimum. A gigantic armada with the biggest threat at its head. Whitebeard himself." The vize-admiral narrated which caused the athmosphere in the room to sink lower and lower while silent curses were muttered here and there. After he had finished his report the man sat back down with a frown on his face.

"Thank you, vize-admiral. As you know we do not know Whitebeards motive but due to his fleet gathering we can guess that his intentions are everything but peaceful. So far Whitebeard has been a rather tame emperor fo the seas when compared to his counterparts Kaido of the thousand beasts and Charlotte Linlin, Big Mom.Now, I have discussed this issue with the gorosei and we have made the decision to send a committee towards Whitebeard in order to test the waters. Due to the world governments plans for the future it is imperative that we do not squander our manpower in a meaningless war until we are ready to deal with the pirates once and for all. Thus it was decided that admiral Fujitora and Kizaru will be travelling accompanied by vize-admiral Momonga towards Whitebeard to gain any insights into the "why" of his actions. Hopefully we will be able to prevent a bloodbath from taking place. Questions?" Sengoku spoke to the gathered personell who remained in a thoughtful silence broken a few seconds later by admiral Kizaru.

"Hmmm, what is our course of action should the situation escalate before we get anywhere with the 'negotiation'?" Kizaru asked in his drawling voice.

"Retreat. If you have no other choice but to fight then you may do so but otherwise you get the hell out of there. I will not sacrifice two admirals and a vize-admiral in a meaningsless scuffle. I was already against the 'negotiation' when it came up first but I have my orders and so do you. Good luck to you three." Sengoku spoke after which he stood up and left the room that was completely silent after his retreat, only interrupted by the occasional crunching of Garps crackers.

Grandline, New World, Dress Rosa

Doflamingo was on edge, to say the least and not without reason. His contacts from the world government had just recently delivered the message to him that Whitebeard was assembling his fleet and had taken course to Dress Rosa. Doflamingo had always known that there would come a day he would have to compete against the absolute monsters of this world but he had hoped he would have some more time to prepare for such a confrontation. Thus he had arrived at the martering question that had plagued his mind ever since he had received the message. Why? Why was Whitebeard coming to his island with his whole fleet at that?

Rushing through his palace Doflamingo kicked the doors leading towards the throne room open where he could sense the auras of the Blackbeard pirates, all the while the veins in his forehead were pulsing after he had arrived to the only logical conclusion possible that could have lead to this situation.

"What did you not tell me, Teach?!" Doflamingo snarled as he burst through the doors into the throne room causing Blackbeard to turn around in confusion while he had stuffed a pie into his bulging mouth that was overflowing with food.

"What do you mean?" Blackbeard asked after gulping down all the food in his mouth which he promptly flushed down his throat with a bottle of rum.

"Whitebeard and his whole f.u.c.k.i.n.g fleet are on their way to Dress Rosa! I know that it wouldn't be because of me. So I will ask again: what did you not tell me?" Doflamingo grit out while barely restraining his fury at the man before him whos eyes widened in horror at the news.

"zehahaha, I-er may have killed a member of Whitebeards crew before leaving it myself zehahaha" Blackbeard said while he nervously laughed with a few droplets of sweat running down his forhead after hearing that Whitebeard was on his way to Dress Rosa.

"You f.u.c.k.i.n.g imbecile!!! Do you realize what you've done?! You maneuvered us into a corner! How are we supposed to set the plan in motion if we are eliminated before that is even possible!" Doflamingo said while he began flexing his fingers. Ohh, how he yearned to cut this fat piece of shit to pieces…

"We could relocate to the facilities where the smiles are crafted. Maybe we'll get lucky and they won't spot us?" Blackbeard spoke while trying to come up with a solution to this problem.

What Blackbeard said though brought a thought to Doflamingos mind. If they settled on one of the islands under Kaido he could possibly use Kaido as shield against Whitebeard and kill two flies with one stone. Originally he had intended together with Blackbeard to sell malfunctioned and poisoned devilfruits to Kaido in order to kill of said mans crew. Then when he had no man left he and Blackbeard together with their crews would try to assassinate said emperor. That was the only relatively good plan the two could come up with, as much as he hated that fact. But now a new opportunity revealed itself to him and his cruel frown turned into a savage grin. Perfect!

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