132 The Vice Admirals arrive

Garp groaned as the ship zoomed forward, the engines running at their maximum efficiency. His forehead creased in worry amidst the stress and overall work that had been piled upon him.

He still marveled at times, at the journey that he had come upon, and the young brats that he had had the pleasure of meeting through that journey.

With each passing second, they moved closer to an active war zone, and though he was not worried for himself, he could not help but worry for the crew that he had taken along him. How many men and women would die today? He did not know, and honestly, he was much happier in the dark.

The grandline weather that was often adversarial seemed to have taken a backseat, almost aware of the urgency of their mission.

True they had been ordered there primarily to observe. Even Sengoku could not accept them to go head to head against two emperors. With him here, they would definitely reserve their strength, fighting only through their massive fleets that could rival that of the entire Marine corps.

"Captain! Ice berg dead ahead!" His foremen called, a watch glass held to his eyes as he constantly conversed with the navigators.

With a bored sigh, Garp waved his hands lazily, a canon left his hands at breakneck speeds before jamming into the massive icy structure demolishing it.

They were taking the most direct route to the point, following only the needle of the New World pose. If it pointed through a patch of storm clouds, you could bet that that was where they were going to go.

Back inside the rest quarters however, the other high ranking members sat together. Sakazuki and Kuzan having temporarily dropped their feuding to plan carefully. Even the one they called the marine's Dog was not mad enough to run straight into two rampaging emperors after all.

"Why did fleet Admiral send us ouuuut~~ I was playing a good game of crossword toooo~" Borsolino called. Of the three Vice Admirals he was the calmest, sitting on his bunk and mindlessly shuffling a pile of cards that he had whisked out from under the pillow.

"Hey, Sakuu~ Call a card~" He drawled, his hands flicking across the deck in his hands at light speed.

"Shut it you circus monkey!" Sakazuki called, looking up from the only bottle of sanctioned booze that he had on hand. Though he was partly annoyed with the sparkle man's flippant attitude the arbitrary shortening of his name infuriated him to no end.

"Ohhh~ Scaary! Saku is buurning!" The glasses wearing marine called back, his drawn out drawl only ramping up the other man's annoyance.

Between the arguing duo however, the third Marine sat silently. His head turned at a random angle as he picked his nose.

If Borsolino appeared uncaring and Sakazuki serious then he was indifferent.

The ice man looked between his two comrades with a blank look.

Sakazuki fumed but remained silent, drawing out slow deep breaths as he attempted to calm himself down. Ever since he had eaten the Magma fruit, he had noticed that it had become harder to control his surges of anger, and his infuriating and justice-hating fellow marines only served to decrease his already short fuse.

"Vice Admiral sirs! You are requested on deck by Mission leader Garp!" A short man appeared, his hands firmly against his head as he delivered his message.

"Acknowledges soldier." Sakazuki voiced, before slowly rising to his feet and beckoning his fellow Vice Admirals forward.

The man nodded smartly before exiting the room. Behind him the towering Vice admirals followed, each in their own thoughts though equally serious.

As they got on deck they could not help but blanche, for the calm of the bowels of the ship had convinced them of the smooth sailing journey, and the tempestuous winds that ravaged the groaning vessel were anything but.

"VICE ADMIRAL! Your orders!" Sakazuki yelled, his head malforming shortly as a fist sized rock pelted through it.

"Un! You brats ready yourselves, we're going to be facing these winds all through the battle! We've been having strong winds ever since we entered the New World, and judging by the massive quantities of rain, we're probably getting close to it.

Now remember, Sengoku's orders were clear. We are to merely observe! Only if we are guaranteed to nab either Big Mom (hopefully) or Kaido(God forbid) do we move. This is the first time you lot are going to be seeing an all out emperor conflict, better remain careful!

Now Sakazuki, from the reports that I have received, of the three of you, you have the weakest control of your devil fruit. I don't want you to be bursting into flames all rapidly, if I see that happening I'm throwing you off board!

Kuzan you are to watch over the left flank of the ship, and Borsolino you are to precede as the overall executive head of the ship. You shall be calling the shots.

I'm shall focus on deterrence within enemy lines and Sakazuki you shall act individually as the right flank! From the reports that we have gotten it shall be the lighter side, so the canons that we focus on shall be on you, Kuzan.

Each of you are responsible for the men on your flanks, while Borsolino you are responsible for the overall ship's functioning.

Dismissed!" And with a clap of his hands the elderly Vice Admiral turned his back on them. Steel in his eyes as he looked at the mass of clouds that raged over head. He would function poorly on the ship, he would be too constrained. And with the number of anchors on board he could not take that risk.

"And brats, we follow the red ledger for this. You lot shall be aiming to down any stray ships that move too far from the main convoy, do not engage, I repeat do not engage with the main force unless I say so! No hostages and no prisoners of war, I don't want to overflow Magellan with high profile convicts. We hit anything that moves, no mercy. "