Whitebeard Pt.2

Akainu set foot ashore looking around. He was alone and the looks he received, if looks could kill... he'd be dead a thousand times over. He ignored all of that and walked towards town. Some of the pirates were apprehensive at first, but when they noticed that he was alone, they gained confidence.

Soon, Akainu was being surrounded by pirates wherever he went, but he did not mind. It was not like they could hurt him anyways.

[Pests] he thought to himself as he headed towards the middle of town where he thought Whitebeard would be.

After a couple of minutes of walking, Akainu finally stopped as he noticed that he was completely surrounded by pirates. They were all staring at him with glares, smirks, fury, hesitation, and some radiated confidence.

"Well, well, well" one of the more confident pirates walked out of the crowd up to Akainu. He was around 15ft tall to Akainu's 11ft and he had a massive beer belly. The pirate smiled at the marine and sauntered closer to him, "what does a lonely marine think he's doing all the way here by himself?" he smirked.

Sakazuki didn't say a word and simply grabbed the man by his throat and started to pour magma into his opponent's body. Red lava gushed out and started to melt the pirate's body from the inside out. Everyone watched in horror as their friend slowly died in front of them. They were terrified by the screaming, but no one made a move.

"S-S-Sakazuki!" one of the pirates yelled startling everyone to attention. "It's vice- admiral Sakazuki!"

"!" Surprise crossed everyone's faces as they realized the reality of the situation. Against someone of this caliber, numbers meant nothing to them and they knew it. The crowd of pirates started to disperse when another voice was heard stopping everyone's movements

"It's not vice admiral, it's admiral; isn't that right, Akainu".

Akainu dropped the corpse on the ground as it finally turned to ash and faced what he thought would be his next opponent but stopped,

"Diamond Jozu" Akainu said in a soft, yet confident voice as his body started to fully form into magma. He knew he could defeat the third division commander, but it would deplete his stamina and probably start a premature war with the Whitebeard pirates. However, as Percy said, he would not be insulted by anyone, his pride as an admiral would not allow that.

"Make way gentlemen" Jozu said as the pirates cleared a path for the division commander, "father wants to speak with the man".

No one said a word as Akainu followed behind Jozu and so did the rest of the crowd. They all walked in silence for another two minutes before reaching a large tree in the middle of town. There, a huge man with a naginata was sitting on a chair drinking sake staring at the incoming crowd.

"Father" Jozu nodded at the man, "I brought Akainu"

"Gurararararara so it's the young gun Akainu. Tell me, admiral, what are you doing in my territory? Are you looking to start a war?"

Akainu felt it the longer he stared at the man in front of him. The pressure, the confidence, the haki. If he was a lesser man, Akainu would probably succumb to the conqueror's haki alone. If not, then the overwhelming confidence Whitebeard portrayed was enough to give any man hesitation to fighting him.

[So this is why Kurosai warned me on starting a war with him. I may want to kill him, but I'm not an idiot, it's not time yet].

"No" Akainu shook his head, "I am not here to declare war on you or any other person here today. I am here simply because I am the newly promoted admiral of the navy and am putting all pirates on notice that their days are numbered".

"Gurarararara, is that so?" Whitebeard laughed. "Unless you are Sengoku, Garp, or Kong, you have no idea how dangerous we pirates can be when cornered."

"I don't" Akainu agreed, "but I will soon. Mark my words, sooner than later, I will upholding my justice across the New world and then the rest of the oceans. Justice will reign supreme once again."

"I'd like to see that" Whitebeard chuckled as he looked at the still naive admiral. "Talk to me again once you realize what your true job is".

As an emperor of the sea and someone who spent most of his adult life at the very top of the food chain, Whitebeard had a rough idea of some of the secrets in Mary Geoise and how the world nobles treated the navy, especially the admirals.

"..." Akainu had no real comeback. He had a rough idea talking to Percy and Sengoku that he would be subjected to the world noble's whims basically for the rest of his career. He knew, but had no real idea of what that entailed.

"Is there anything else?" Whitebeard raised his eyebrow, letting his innate pressure press down on the admiral.

Akainu didn't falter and shook his head,

"No, we are done here. Just remember what I told you. Someday, I will be coming for you" he promised before turning around to leave.

Just as he was about to, a loud voice from the side of Whitebeard started to shout at Akainu,

"Oy, oy, oy! You can't threaten the king like that. Not without consequences" he said as he started to stand up.

[Marco] Akainu thought as he stared at the first division commander,

"This doesn't involve you. Get out of my way" the newly promoted admiral said as Marco flew in front of him, blocking his retreat.

"And I told you," Marco said in a low voice, "you need to show respect for the king".

"King?" Akainu turned around and looked at Whitebeard, "are you trying to become the next king of the pirates?"

"Gurarararararara" the man laughed. "Why should I need such titles when I have my sons and daughters here, this is all I need".

Akainu absorbed that information before he started to head back out, but was once again stopped by the division commander.

"Oy Marco!" Whitebeard finally shouted to his son, "stop".

He didn't say anything as Akainu didn't look back and headed back to his ship. He needed to process what happened and report back to Sengoku and the admiralty board when he got back to Marineford.

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

After Akainu left the town square, Marco turned around to his 'father' and asked,

"Why'd you stop me?"

Whitebeard didn't say anything as he stared at certain black alleyway. Some of the pirates took notice and headed in that direction but were stopped by Whitebeard,

"Don't bother. He's not there, at least he's not there in person."

"He?" Marco asked as he looked back at the dark corner, "who was there?"

"Kurosai" Whitebeard said seriously which stopped everyone from talking. In the world of pirates, the Black Rhino is infamous for being the one person no devil user wants to fight against. He has taken down more devil fruit users in his short career than most do in their lifetime. He is also a well known assassin since he can easily blend into darkness, making him the perfect hitman for the navy.

[Kurosai!] a man with a large belly thought with a dark gleam in his eye. Ever since he heard that someone ate his fruit, he has been obsessed with that person's career. He was waiting for the perfect opportunity to ambush Kurosai and kill him letting the fruit recirculate into the world.

Marshall D. Teach looked at the missed opportunity and thought to himself,

[another missed chance. There will always be next time though. I need to be patient, my time will come eventually.]

Teach thought about abandoning Whitebeard and joining the navy when he heard about the ensign with the yami-yami no mi. But when he really planned out his next steps, it would not have been his best course of action. He would still need to kill Percy, flee from the navy and search for the fruit by himself. It was much safer to be on Whitebeard's boat, have someone else kill him and then wait for the fruit to appear here naturally. He just needed to wait.

"What should we do?" Marco asked breaking Teach's train of thought.

"Nothing, Kurosai was never here. My guess is that he had a clone of some sort follow behind him and monitor the situation in case of an emergency."

"He's the cautious type huh?" Vista said from the side making Marco and Jozu turn to him.

"No" Whitebeard disagreed, "My guess it was probably Sengoku's idea to have Kurosai here as back up. Though I find it insulting that they didn't bring Rosati as well, I am Whitebeard after all Gurarararararara" he laughed followed by everyone else.