Prelude to Rebellion Pt. 2

South Blue, Zandia Kingdom

"So you're tell me, that the Trimms are sending a vice admiral, and the head is not going to do anything about it?" asked a woman sitting in a dingy chair inside an unsuspecting house in Zayla, the capital city.

"That's not what I'm saying Parisse" the voice coming from the den den mushi started, "I'm saying that we cannot send anyone that direct ties to the family. It doesn't mean that we're not sending reinforcements."

"Then who?" Parisse said sounded annoyed. "It needs to be able to overpower a vice admiral."

"He will. Our partner is sending Dio, pirate captain of the Fur pirates. He has a bounty of over 450 million belli. Plenty enough to stop the vice admiral the Trimm family sent."

"Hmm... Fur pirates, that name sounds familiar. Where have I heard that name before?"

"I don't care if you know who they are or not. All you need to know is that they are going to be there support you from the shadows. Gabba has no idea who you are and whose family you are a part of."

"I see" Parisse said as she thought in quiet contemplation. "So I can't move him like a pawn then?"

"No, and I doubt the vice admiral will be the same as well. The marines have their pride after all?"

"Right... okay I can work with that. I need to go adjust our plans then. Call if there are any sudden changes. Parisse out."

She hung up the phone and looked at her partner next to her, Campbell. "What do you think?"

"... we should precede with caution. The Trimms have a vice admiral supporting them from the light and we are going to have a pirate helping us from the shadows. It is clear what is going to happen, should anyone find out."

"Well, you're not wrong" Parisse started, "but it's not like we are going to ever interact with this Gabba person. At most he will protect us should the vice admiral decide to make a move. Remember, if everything goes according to plan, we will have the recording before those Trimm idiots even notice."

"Right." Campbell said nodding his head. "However, it's always good to have a back up plan just in case."

"An ace in the hole..." Parisse said as she smiled and looked at the people in the streets. "These commoners have no clue what's about to happen."

*********************************************************************************************************

A week later, Percy arrived at the Zandia kingdom with a bored expression on his face. He was done. D-O-N-E with this mission,

[Man, I should have dug deeper in the Marineford archives looking for Xebec's fights. Now because of my laziness, I had to travel all the way to the South Blue.]

As they neared the docking station, he noticed that there was a child standing where their boat was going to be parked. He was covered in dirt and grimed and looked at the oncoming boat with a wide expression on his face.

The marines came off the ship and the boy ran forward, but was stopped by one of the lieutenants.

"Kid, you can't just run aboard a marine ship" he said as he chuckled looking at the boy. It was clear to all the marines that the child never seen such a huge ship before.

"S-sorry sir." the kid said as he realized what he just did, "I-I got carried away."

"No problem" the lieutenant said as he ruffled the boy's hair. "Is there something that I can help you with?"

"Yes sir there is" the boy said as he tried to straighten his hair out, "I was told to pass along a message to a vice admiral, vice admiral Percy."

Instantly all the marines looked at the child, there was not a lot of people who knew that the vice admiral was here, let alone a child.

The officer crouched down to eye level and stared at the boy, "how do you know the vice admiral is on the ship?"

"I don't" the kid started, but I was paid by someone to wait until a marine ship gets here and then pass a message to him.

"And who paid you?" the marine questioned as his suspicions grew.

"No idea, all they said was when a marine ship arrives, pass this note to the vice admiral" the kid quickly took out a parchment from his pocket and showed it to the lieutenant.

"Let me see" the officer said as he grabbed the paper and started to read.

"Hey, that's for the vice admiral only."

"Kid, I'm the vice admiral, now go. You did your job, well done."

The boy stared at the marine and stuck out his hand, "10 bellis then"

"?" Was written on the lieutenant's face.

"My employer said you'll pay me when I finished my task."

The man grumbled, fished out a coin and tossed it to the child. The boy's face immediately brightened, he turned away and ran into the distance.

"Follow him, find out who hired him" the lieutenant said as he signaled to a couple of the ensigns. They nodded their heads and sprinted off to try follow the child.

The officer then looked at the parchment, he was confused because all it read was

*capital square 11 p.m*

He couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, the lieutenant decided to give it to the vice admiral and see if he could interpret the message.

Percy was sitting in his office chair on the battleship when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in"

Lieutenant Cream walked through the door and saluted. "I wanted to let you know that when we docked, a kid was waiting for us and knew that you were on this ship."

"That's...interesting. Did he say how he had known?"

"Yes sir, it seems like he was told by someone that you were on this ship and to wait at the harbor so that he can pass a message along to you."

"And what is that message?"

The lieutenant handed over the parchment, Percy looked over it, and once more. He was very confused. Gulp told him that he didn't need to leave his ship this entire time, and now they were summoning him? And why didn't he just call?"

[Pakattik family perhaps, or another faction in the world government? I guess I need to go either way.]

"Thank you, you're dismissed for now, have the commodores and commanders settle the troops before the end of the day. Tomorrow we are headed to the see the king, be ready."

"Yes sir" Cream said as he saluted and left the office.

[What to do? What to do?]

*********************************************************************************************************

11 p.m Capital square, Zandia Kingdom

Percy was sitting on a bench in the middle of the square, there was no one around. He activated his observation haki and noticed that there were two individuals who were hiding in a corner looking at him, but he didn't mind.

[Probably waiting to see if I brought my troops or not].

He looked at the fountain, it was beautiful, the sculpture seemingly to be created out of one piece of marble. He waited as the two people made up their minds and came out of the shadows.

Percy turned around and looked at the two who were walking towards him. He did not recognize any of them, that's to be expected seeing as he has only known people in the navy. There was a man and a woman, both around 7 feet and were fit.

[Hooo.... the way they walk, little to no sound, I can barely hear their breadths; assassins, or spies.]

"Hello vice admiral Percy, my name is Parisse Pakattik and this is my partner Campbell" Parisse said as she gestured to the person next to her and he nodded his head.

"It's quite rare for someone to summon me outside of the admirals. Takes a lot of balls" Percy said as he looked at the two. They seemed calm, but he noticed how their bodies were tense, as if they were prepared to retreat at a moment's notice.

"Why shouldn't we Mr. Percy, after all, we are not enemies."

"We aren't, if you know me and why I am here, you must know who I am aligned with."

"True, but you aren't a part of their family, you are only one of their tools. A strong tool I would say, but to them you are just a mere tool. Plus, as long as your not part of THAT family, there are no real enemies, just conflicts of interest."

[Interesting, she's quite smart for her age] Percy said approvingly noticing that Parisse was only around his age. [She was trained well, she should make a great ally when the time comes for me make my move].

"You are correct, I am only here because they don't want the situation with the royal family to get too out of control. You and them can duke it out all you want for all I care, as long as I get what I want, then I'm a happy man."

"Oh, what you want. You mean Xebec's footage?"

Percy paused for a moment, "you're spies are quiet good Ms. Parisse."

"Heh, that's nothing. You are correct, we know why you are here. There is no secret the Pakattik family cannot uncover. Now, do you want the footage or not?"

Percy was surprised, he did not expect this woman to ask him directly.

"What do I have to do?" Percy said as his voice lowered trying to read both of their faces. "I'm already close to getting the footage from them."

"No you're not. According to our spies, it will be a long time before they hand it over to you. However with us, it can be as fast as the end of the week."

"And the catch is?"

"You don't interfere with cp-2's actions anymore. You are not allied with the Trimm family and you and the Pakattik family are friends."

"So you're offering the same thing as the Trimms are, just giving me what I want sooner than them?"

"That's correct. After all, rather than make you an enemy, I think it suit you better if you become a sideline observer this time."

"Hmm... perhaps. And what guarantees do I have that you will keep your end of the bargain?"

"Here's a brief look" Parisse said as she tossed a den den mushi over to Percy. He caught it, turned it on and watched a recording of a battle between Xebec and Rosati. There was darkness covering Xebec as he crushing everything around him. Suddenly it turned off, Percy inhaled slowly and tossed the device back to Parisse.

"I see. I need to weigh my options. Give me a day or so to decide."

"That's fine, it's not like you or I are going anywhere anytime soon. We'll give you till the end of the week to make your decision."

"Two days huh. Okay, give me your number and I'll call you."

Percy and Parisse exchanged numbers before they both turned around and headed in different directions.

As they were walking down the street Campbell started to speak,

"Do you think he'll agree?"

"I do. His relationship with the Trimms is only because Percy wants something that they keep dangling over his head. As long as we give it to him, he'll naturally disappear."

"I hope so, because if not... Plan B-"

"Yeah Plan B" Parisse said cutting Campbell off. "That's not something either family is willing to do. We won't be able to take full responsibility when that happens."

Her partner nodded as he headed back to their house to report back to the Pakattik family.