Clive rode on his ship, staring out into the open waters of the calm belt. Normal people fear the calm belt due to the Sea Kings that prowl these waters and lack of air currents. However, Marine ships did not have this issue thanks to their sea stone hulls and motors. Due to this, the world was open to all those who would accept Marine transport.
Gripping the necklace at his throat, Clive thought of his friends. He had held out hope for Matsuno being alive, but it was foolish to have hope. Emma was still alive though, but she had abandoned the Marines and become a full fledged pirate captain.
It hadn't been that long since he had faced her at Last Stop, how long would it be till they had to face off again? Clive sighed and went to head to his cabin but was stopped by a soldier.
“We will be arriving within the hour sir.” The soldier said. Most of the crew were older then Clive and struggled to show him respect at first, but he had overcome that problem with his ability.
“Good.” Clive said, trying to move past.
“Sir, a report came in.” The soldier continued. “Vice Admiral Huis requested your attention once you arrived.”
Clive raised an eyebrow. “Huis? What does he want that is so urgent?”
“I am not sure sir, they did not specify.” The soldier continued.
Clive thought about this. Huis was his trainer back in his trainee days. He was the one that turned Clive from being a street fighter into a soldier.
The island came into view, the man made Marine island of Iron Base, positioned right on the edge of the calm belt. It stood above the water on thick iron foundations lined with sea prism stone. Once Clive’s ship arrived it docked at one of the many docks that surrounded the foundations, and rode a lift to the upper levels.
“Clive!” Huis said, his face a smile. “Its good to see you!”
Clive saluted his superior. “It is an honor, Vice Admiral Huis.”
“Now now no need to stand on formalities.” Huis waved Clive’s salute off. “Come, I told them to hold off till you arrived.”
“Who?” Clive asked.
“The Admirals mainly.” Huis said as they walked.
Clive was suddenly stricken with fear. “I was making the Admirals wait?”
“Oh yeah, though the rest will be joining us over Transponder Snail. Only Admiral Kifarukon is here.” Huis explained.
Kifarukon, or Nekure, the man who captured Gold Rogers. Why was he at Iron Base? I guess it made some sense, the Admiral’s don't tend to stay at Navy HQ.
They entered a large room with several transponder snails set up along seats. There was no table, just cushions to sit on. At the head of the room was Kifarukon. The man was showing his age with the pale white hair, yet his physic was still massive. Those that thought of him as weak would receive a grim reminder of his strength.
Several other Navy higher ups sat in this room as well, most Clive didn't know personally. He could only tell their rank from the badges on their jackets. A rear admiral, and two Commodores.
“We can begin now.” Kifarukon said, his voice almost a croak. “Commodore Stickly, please patch us through.”
One of the commodores, an older man with a streak of gray in his black hair, nodded, then tapped the transponder snails to life. Clive took a seat next to Huis and waited. It was strange to be a part of this group, some of the highest ranking people in the Marines, yet he was just a Captain.
One snail raised its eye stems and spoke. “This is Admiral Aoiroba reporting from HQ, joining me is Fleet Admiral Ormr as well as Rear Admiral Ixtli.”
Clive panicked even worse. The Fleet Admiral and Admiral Aoiroba! What was going on?
Another snail woke up. “Reporting, this is Admiral Midorihebi, joining me is Vice Admiral Nash, Vice Admiral Odo, and Vice Admiral Wymar.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Where are you reporting from Midorihebi.” The first snail, Admiral Aoiroba, said.
“Oh right, sorry.” Midorihebi said. “Reporting from G-7 Base.”
“Admiral Kifarukon, reporting in from Iron Base.” Kifarukon stated. “Joining me is Vice Admiral Huis, Commodore Stickly, Commodore Krow, Rear Admiral Johnson, and Captain Finch.”
Crap, he was the lowest ranked member of this meeting.
“Very well, let us begin this meeting.” Aoiroba stated. “First, have you all received the issue of the World Economic news that we confiscated?”
Stickly handed the papers around to everyone.
“We have them.” They all responded.
“Please look at the front page article relating to the Umbra Pirates.” Aoiroba said.
Clive’s eyes were wide. ‘Umbra Pirates declare war on Blood Pirates!’ was the main headline, the writer was listed as ‘Albatross’. When had this happened? It had only been almost a month since they had left Last Stop, now they are declaring war on a Warlord!
Huis laughed. “Quite a mess that girl is making.” Huis said, slapping his knee.
“That is the intention of this meeting.” Aoiroba said. “As you all know, the Umbra Pirates are led by Emma S. Nash, a Marine deserter. According to this article they now only declared war on the Blood Pirates, but also stole two powerful devil fruits.”
“Hold on, how have we not heard of this? Why only from this article?” Midorihebi asked.
“From what we understand this happened at a pirate island that we have yet to identify.” Aoiroba explained. “There seemed to be an underground auction going on that they crashed. They also killed Burty of the Blood Pirates.”
“Says here the Smiley man also made an appearance.” Kifarukon said, reading the paper. “Butched a group of people in a church huh. These Umbra’s do not know how to chill do they?”
“Their threat level is rising, what fruits did they even take?” Midorihebi stated.
“There was three on sale, the two stolen were the Kojo-Kojo-No-Mi, along with the Ope-Ope-No-Mi.” Aoidoba explained.
Kifarukon looked shocked. “The Kojo-Kojo? Since when did that fruit resurface?”
“We did not know until now.” Aoiroba stated. “As you can tell, with those two fruits in hand that crew is dangerous.”
“Who ate them?” Midorihebi asked.
“From the reports we only know of one to be eaten.” Aoiroba continued. “The Kojo-Kojo was eaten by Cherry J. Boot, the gunslinger on their crew.”
“Great. The one we have next to no info on.” Midorihebi stated.
“The Ope-Ope was in the hands of Jericho V. Brau.” Aorioba said.
“Oh the one we have even less on!” Midorihebi said, it sounded like he hit his head on something.
“We need to focus on this crew, an Ex Marine, a Mink, two powerful devil fruits, and a serial killer. They threaten the peace of our world, and must be stopped.” Aoiroba stated. “Vice Admiral Huis, we understand you had interacted with the Umbra’s over at G10 base, can you explain what happened?”
Clive turned to Huis, but the man was stone faced. He interacted with them? How did they get away?
“Well, as my report the other day should have informed you all of, the actions of Commodore Laxpull on the natives was unacceptable for a member of the Marines. As such, he has been court martialed and is facing imprisonment.” Huis said, reading off a report he pulled out from his jacket. “I had allowed the Umbra Pirates to escape, that is correct. I was unaware of what their gunslinger had done on the floor above, for this I face any punishment that is provided. I did not make contact with this Smiley man, but I did meet the rest of the crew. I am at this time unsure of Emma’s intentions, though my judgment may be clouded as I was her trainer.”
“Very well, what of their strengths?” Aoiroba asked.
“That I am unsure of, as there was no conflict. However, it is clear they do not have control of Haki, so I believe their threat is not as great as it could be.” Huis explained.
“Well that is good news.” Midorihebi said. “But should they learn it, they will become a real threat.”
“Next, Captain Finch. We understand you also encountered the Umbra’s, tell me what you think of Emma S. Nash.” Aoiroba said.
Clive hesitated. “I apologize as I was not prepared for this meeting, so I will be speaking off the chest. I feel that Emma is just misguided. She blames the death of our friend on the marines.”
“Yes I assume you are referring to the buster call called on Iroshi Island.” Aoiroba said.
“Yes, I feel that she is acting out from his death. They were very close, but she will come to her senses at some point.” Clive stated.
“Very well, and Vice Admiral Nash. This is your daughter we are talking about, what are your opinions on this situation?” Aoiroba said.
A silence.
“She has broken our laws and turned to piracy.” Vice Admiral Nash’s voice echoed through the transponder snail. “For that, we cannot let her go free. She will face the full might of the government she has betrayed. She will be tried and executed on accounts of Piracy, Dessertion, Traitorous actions, Murder, and any other crimes she has commited.”
“You're willing to sentence your own daughter to death!” Clive exclaimed.
“Hold your tongue.” Kifarukon said, shooting a glare at Clive.
“Captain Finch.” Vice Admiral Nash said. “You are a promising leader, you have a good head on your shoulders. One that I helped train. I understand the desire to protect your friend, however we must put our personal feelings aside for the sake of Justice.”
Clive grinded his teeth.
“Excuse me, is this article correct?” Huis said in the silence. “The Albatross was personally at this event? Not to mention the list of pirate crew names?”
“From what we understand this is correct.” Aoiroba said.
“Arranis sent a general there?” Huis questioned. “He wont be happy to hear about losing these fruits.”
“I am more concerned with these other members.” Kifarukon said. “Portis Graves, he is a member of Edouart’s crew right? And Cristoff Lanky is apart of Baihin’s crews.”
“That is right, Yonkos had members of their crew in this. Perhaps we were lucky the Umbra’s stole the fruit to keep our larger enemies from getting even stronger.” Aoiroba stated.
“Members of the revolution were also sighted huh.” Huis chimed in. “And another pirate was seen helping the Umbra’s? Interesting.”
“We must see what comes of these events.” Aoiroba stated. “Now, it should be known that Edoaurt and Baihin recently clashed in the New World, leaving an island destroyed. Though it seems neither side came out victories, we must keep an eye on these Yonkos.”
“Bit hard when we still don't have a foothold in the new world.” Kirafukon said. “They control those seas better than we do.”
“We are preparing for just that.” Aoiroba stated. “Now we are all up to date, this meeting is dismissed.”
With that, the snails went to sleep.
“Alright, let's get something to eat.” Huis said to Clive.
“The Yonkos are moving huh.” Clive said weakly. “Edoaurt is the leader of the Silver pirates, and Daihin is leader of the Great Wind’s pirates. What does that mean?”
“It means lets eat, come on you look pale.” Huis said, pulling Clive to his feet. “We keep on protecting the people where we can.”
Clive turned to Kirafukon and bowed to him. “I apologize for speaking out.”
Kirafukon grumbled then waved him back. “Just dont do it again.”
Feeling defeated, and a sense of dread, Clive left with Huis to get some food.
