Family

The graveyard of this town was old, but well kept.

We walked past hundreds of graves, stopping in a rather secluded area of the graveward.

In front of us was a pair of Tombstones.

/Portgas D. Rouge

Mother of Portgas D. Ace

Born in… /

/.../

One of the tombstones didn't have anything written at all.

The only thing that could be used to properly identify the person buried there, is the rusty sword lodged in the tombstone.

In fact, if you look closely, on the ground in front of Rouge's tombstone, there was a small, rock with a name carved in it:

/Portgas D. Ace/

I sat on a bench far away while Ace did a silent prayer.

(Prayer might not be the proper word here.)

He placed his two knees on the ground and removed his hat, not caring at all that his clothes might get dirty.

I looked around and didn't see anyone, so it was fine if Ace decided to remove his bandana.

Looking at Ace mourning for his family(Mostly his mom since he hates his dad. He doesn't even consider him a dad...) I also thought about my own family.

2 years should've passed, right? Considering the time distortion, I wonder how mom and dad are faring, Uncle Speedwagon...

Time goes by...

/FWUSH!/

/GRAB!/

While John was lost in his thoughts, a small nail was launched at high speeds towards his neck, but thankfully he had his guard up this time and managed to stop the nail mid-flight.

-This is? I asked while I looked at the nail, it was filled with a viscous blue substance.

-Poison?

Don't make me laugh, a Hamon user can easily expel all sorts of poisons and toxins easily from inside their body.

This is even less dangerous to me when you consider just how crazy my body is.

Once I fully master Seimei Kikan this will be even less of a threat.

-Let's keep it for now…

/FWUSH!/

Another nail, even faster than the previous one, came flying at me.

/Grab/

I picked it up just like the last one, the nail was covered with the blue substance just like the last one.

I looked behind me to see a man in a black suit and fedora a few hundred meters away from me.

He had a blowgun in his hands, it looked quite cool. It had many engravings on its surface.

-Cipher pol?

The man with the fedora looked surprised, but his eyes soon narrowed down as he removed his dark glasses.

The Cipher Pol is a series of secret agencies who do investigations, assassinations and espionage for the World Government.

From CP1 to CP8, the higher the number the higher the Cipher Pol agency's number, the more important the tasks assigned to them.

And their strength.

There are also two more agency's, CP9 and CP0.

CP9 is the highest among them, being given missions of critical importance, so much so it could change the whole world, such as the recovery of Pluton's blueprints.

They are kept from even the Marine higher ups because of their free pass to kill civilians.

The CP0 on the other hand, works as bodyguards for the Celestial Dragons, being the strongest of them all, but wasted having to protect those trash.

-How do you know us?... It doesn't matter since today you will…

Before he could complete his non-creative threat, a man came from the shadows of a tree and had him stop.

He seemed to be considerably older than the other agent, but his eyes were much sharper.

-Ma ma… There is no need for that Fisk-kun.

-Pardon his… "Aggressiveness". Today we came here for peace and not violence.

As he said, Ace picked his hat from the ground and placed it in his head again.

He turned around and saw the situation, but he wasn't surprised.

He noticed them long ago through his Observation Haki.

I didn't pay attention to him though. I didn't know just how strong this guy was, nor his objective.

By my speculations, I should at least be just as strong as a CP9 agent, and much stronger than one of the weaker ones.

Even if the CP agents are getting stronger in recent years, they shouldn't have gotten that much stronger, right?

I should've watched all the 300 filler episodes… Why did I drop the series…

-... We've been… Watching you guys for the past few weeks. And we came to notice the immense talent you all have.

-And it saddens me to see such talent be wasted like this! For example, you, "John the beast hunter".

-We received reports about you collecting manuals for the Rokushiki for the past several months, we even saw how you quickly mastered the techniques to fight against those foul pirates.

Ace's eyebrows furrowed a little.

-Is it really necessary to go to such lengths only for a weak manual you can get easily by joining us? Much less such weaker techniques, we can provide you with dozens of secret arts as long as you join us.

-I don't know how you got hold of our existence, but this only proves your capabilities. I can guarantee that with your talent, it wouldn't take that long at all for you to climb the ranks! Getting access to even higher ranking techniques.

-...

-You say you have better techniques. Show me at least one. I requested

-That isn't a problem at all!

The old man crossed his arms and bent his legs.

-RoRoRoRo…

He started to mumble something when…

/BONG!/

His entire body inflated! Turning him into a 4 meter tall bulky man.

He looked like the Hulk…

-This is called Seimei Kikan:Chōten(Apex)!

-What do you think? He asked

…

It looks like a rather impressive application of Seimei Kikan

For the uniformed this is a technique that grants the user complete control over all of their body parts and bodily functions

But it seems rather… Meh.

Getting bigger muscles is cool and all, but it's most likely going to affect my own battling style.

I would prefer to get the technique itself though…

-It's very impressive. I said

-This is only the tip of the iceberg! When I was younger I could do much more than just this…

-But I will have to refuse.

-... Why? You should properly think about this… I know bounding oneself to a job might sound bad to a youngster, but you shouldn't let such trivialities keep you away from success!

-Didn't you hear him old man? Neither he nor I want anything to do with you all! Said Ace in a slightly deeper tone than normal.

He might've taken the old man's speech personally…

-That's it, boss! Let me beat the crap out of them! Said the agent with the blowgun while he cracked his fingers.

This time the old man let him speak his entire line, but still stopped him at the end.

-Youngsters. Please reconsider. There is no need for conflict…

-So we either join you or what? I said

-What you ask?... You wouldn't want to know. Said the old man as he removed his glasses.

(Normal glasses, not sunglasses)

-Vallet, these guys are the Cipher pol, they most likely sent agents to our crew. In their current state they don't have a chance. I will leave these guys to you… I whispered to Ace.

(Ace is faster than the MC when he uses his fruit, but if we remove that and leave Haki, then he is slower than the MC.)

Ace stopped me and said:

-This isn't the place to fight. The families of many people rest here… Said Ace

/PUFT!/

The agent with the blowgun spit at the ground.

-Want to leave? Like I am going to let you!

He was on the verge of jumping when the old man intervened

-Consider one more time, this isn't just about you, it's about your crew. Considering their strength, most of them should have no problems becoming agents as well…

-Is that a threat old man? I said

He didn't respond.

Why did we attract Cipher Pol's attention?

It's not that I'm afraid of them, but if we clash with them we might get a bounty, making looking for the Cosmic beast an ass of a job.

Imagine being hunted everywhere under World government territory.

There should be a way...

I used all of my brain and started to connect the dots.

The higher CP agents would be mostly stationed in the Grand line collecting info or doing the bidding of the World government.

Meaning these guys must be part of the CP1 to 3, 4 being already rather high.

But why would they be here in the Blues?

Most likely to keep watch.

Since many powerful pirates have been rising in recent years, it wouldn't be a surprise if the World government set up a group of Agents to pouch for any new "stars".

Place the weakest 4 CP agencies across the 4 Blues since they are useless in the Grand line and have them recruit and gather intel on any new rising star.

If they are deemed qualified then pouch them, if not, eliminate them.

They shouldn't have any problem in executing the latter since they are trained agents in martial arts. From assassinating to intel gathering. They are the elites.

Elite is a rather ambiguous word, since even CP9, an agency filled with "super elites" was defeated by the Pre-Timeskip Strawhats.

How did a group trained in the six arts since they were children, proficient in Haki lost to them?

I would've liked to know the answer by seeing their fight.

-... By the look on your face, it seems you didn't change your choice… So be it.

His eyes got incredibly sharp, while his muscles tensed.

-Then we will need to purge you all, in order to protect the order in the seas.

There is a way to not get a bounty.

As long as there is no one to report back to their HQ, there will be no bounty!