142 Aegis

Garp sniffed softly as he stood at the stern of his ship. His marine coat waved silently in the sea wind as his ship zoomed forward. To his right Sakazuki sat cross legged , literal smoke rising from his nose as he glowered into the distance.

The magma man had been completely disgusted with himself. It was the first time that he had failed a mission, and he could almost hear the damage that would be done to his ideal of justice. What angered the man more however, was the flippant attitude that his comrade had showed.

In most missions, even though he was at loggerheads with Kuzan he still respected the man for his work ethic. After Ohara however, the equally zealous Vice Admiral had gone silent, uncaring of the ramifications that his failure would have on Justice.

The ice man sat to Garp's left, a comfortable and expressionless façade as he played with a small ice crystal that he conjured up.

Kuzan could care less, every time that he could feel the smidgen of vitriol bubble up from his icy gut he would hear the screams of Ohara, the last words of his friend and the parting shot that was Garp's own words. He could not care, for if he did, then what he had done was murder. But in his mind, however much he denied it the issue was what it was, so he choose the next best option. He would stop caring, for both sides.

"You Brats! The job we have now is to extract Borsolino only. Strictly restrict the amount of damage you do, and unless the alternative is death, disengage.

We are to enter the island, extract the sparkle brat and leave! Heaven knows if Whitebeard finds that there was ever Marine presence on the island!" Garp rumbled out as he glared mutinously at the dark sky.

"But we can take 'im!" Sakazuki interjected, his lost composure letting the slang of his younger years catch up to him.

Garp looked at Sakazuki, anger in his eyes.

"Vice Admiral Sakazuki. Stand down. On this mission I am the superior officer, so now my words are law!" the older man grunted, before turning his back onto the marine Vice Admiral to glare intensely at the island on the horizon.

Sakazuki ground his teeth as he got to his feet, it was like he could no longer stop the burst of pure foolhardiness that bubbled in him.

It would be surprising for most to believe, that of the three young Vice Admirals, he had been the most reckless. Only after years of training and hierarchy had he gotten the tendency out of his system.

The tough battle before, alongside the actual sight of two clashing emperors had probably surprised the man enough to briefly forget his mission.

With purposeful steps he entered the barracks below, he needed to clear his head.

Kuzan saw him go with mild interest. "That's the most riled up I've seen him since we became Rear Admirals." He remarked as he slowly got to his feet to accompany Garp at the front.

'After this I'm going straight back to East blue' he thought as he took a deep breath.

*********

Borsolino huffed as he stared gob smacked at the enraged whitebeard. He barely escaped the volley of sword strikes that struck at his torso as he twisted his body absurdly. His clothes already fell in tatters as specks of light shone in the surroundings.

'The other two probably retreated, to give those two pests medical attention.' he thought venomously as he zapped a few steps forward aiming for the swordsman's open chest.

Thatch grunted slightly as he brought the hilt down towards the taller man's forehead, barely missing as he was forced to twitch to the side to avoid a laser shot from the light man's finger tips. A dull pain invaded his stomach as the kick connected. It wasn't enough to put him down though.

Vengefully the pompadour man struck with his sword sheathe as he used his actual sword to deflect a volley of small laser bursts.

'Light sword!' Borsolino thought, not having enough time to actually call out the technique's actual name. It had been hammered into him as a recruit by a wacky instructor. Name all your techniques. The names would help you visualize the purpose of the technique and help you actually employ it faster, but when the actual name calling became no longer necessary, the habit was too hard to get rid of.

Thatch jumped up suddenly, twisting his body in an oblique shape as he spun his sword around, clanging extremely loudly with the light man's sword surface.

Borsolino huffed as he was forced to step back, each step cratering under him. How could Thatch not exploit this opportunity?

With quick step he landed on his toes, directing the momentum of his fall into a forward movement that almost doubled his speed. A rapid flurry of blows followed, as Borsolino could do nothing but retreat.

Every strike against the light sword reflected off, but it still pushed the Vice Admiral to pull his guard closer together.

Suddenly Thatch twitched downwards, bringing his sword away from the other man. He was crouching with his sword at the ready. Almost instantly he had coated his weapon with Haki.

Borsolino gulped as he fell back, banishing his sword he twitched his hands forward as a wave of light appeared before him. It was a mirror of sorts.

Thatch twitched slightly before stabbing forward, and while the entire motion alongside its preparation might have sounded like it had a lot of openings, he gave the bleeding Vice Admiral no time to follow through on exploiting any of them.

This time at least, Borsolino had enough time to call out the name of his technique;

"[Aegis]" and while he could not see it, Thatch faltered, his hands numb as a raspy breath flowed through his chest.

He had been moderating his breath all this while, and while it may have looked flawless, he had been on a ticking timer. All that air that he had been holding in his lungs for optimal body condition came rushing out of him, and with a small jerk of his hand, his sword cracked.

*********

A loud explosions came from behind me as I leapt forward, Terrick's limp body draped over my shoulders.

Then, the sound of cracking metal struck sonorously through the air. Immediately Marco stiffened.

I shot him a look, before immediately receiving Sorren from off his back. Marco would face off against the sparkle man next it seems.