Chapter 60: Execution and Whitebeard Pirates
_________ POV Narration_________
By the time Enel woke up, it was about how he had expected.
The platform was up, Ace was sitting on it, and the Admirals were all present, all three of them sitting in their chairs and waiting for the upcoming show.
Sengoku and Garp were both on the platform. Sengoku seemed confident in himself, while Garp still seemed uncertain, speaking to Ace.
Enel could feel the fear in the marines below. But the fear was overshadowed by the pride they were feeling as marines.
They were about to go against the strongest pirate crew that currently existed. Not just a pirate crew, but Whitebeard's pirate fleet.
Everyone present knew that the war they were going to be part of was going to go down in history as a large event.
The execution itself was being televised all over the world, wherever possible. Everyone was bound to witness it, the execution of Gol D. Roger's last living blood relative...
Enel simply stood up, went to his room and got changed into his usual attire, also putting on his coat for one last time.
'... I really shouldn't have used this as a napkin whenever convenient...' Enel stared at his coat for a bit, at least most of the stains were gone after a deep cleaning.
Enel first visited the two old men standing on the platform, Sengoku was currently giving his speech, so Enel didn't interrupt him.
Plenty of people noticed him just jump there, but no one said anything, as he was obviously a marine.
Some considered his actions rude, but no one questioned his presence when they realised who he was. The 'Unranked Admiral' had all the right to be up there.
Enel stood beside Garp for a bit, looking at the gathered army of marines below.
"So... Have you managed to get any sleep?" Enel asked as he turned his head to Garp, the old man just shrugged a bit.
"Barely... But I'll be fine." Garp clenched his fists, he kept his gaze forwards, seemingly afraid to glance at Ace who was right beside the two of them.
Enel didn't seem to have that same fear.
The rear admiral crouched down near Ace, still looking at the crowd as he sighed a bit.
"Such a mess..." Ace was rather surprised to hear Enel speak to him. But they had met during his short stay at Impel Down, and Enel seemed to already know about Luffy trying to break him out.
"... I didn't choose this!" Ace still didn't really consider Enel an ally.
If anything, he didn't like the fact that Enel assisted Luffy, who was putting himself in danger for him, as the older brother, he felt that the situation should've been reversed...
"Hey, we don't often get to choose, do we? Still, in your case, this war is going to get a lot of people killed..." Enel twirled one of his earlobes as he wondered about his next actions.
Ace just looked down, gritting his teeth as he cursed himself inwardly.
"No one would blame you for this though... The Marines are starting a war this time. As for who's going to finish it, that still remains up for debate." Enel slowly got up, deciding to look for some other people to talk to.
The Whitebeard pirates were going to make an appearance soon, so Enel knew that he didn't have much time left.
He landed right underneath the execution platform, right behind the chairs that the admirals were sitting on.
"Akainu! Fancy seeing you here..."
From the side, he tapped Akainu on the shoulder, as he leaned on the chair with a grin on his face.
The admiral simply gazed at Enel for a bit.
"You sure took your time..." Akainu said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose a bit.
"Can't help it. I hadn't slept in a few days... Probably won't sleep for a few more after this." Akainu merely scowled at that statement.
"Oh? And who is this?" A lazy voice could be heard from the side.
It belonged to none other than Borsalino, or Kizaru. The tall/lanky, yellow costume-wearing admiral. Enel smirked a bit as he remembered a bit more about each admiral.
"I think it's pretty obvious... Rear Admiral Enel, right? I heard a lot about you..." Aokiji, the white costume-wearing, Ice Admiral, seemed to already know who Enel was.
"I guess we haven't been formally introduced though... A pleasure to meet you two, Admiral Kizaru and Admiral Aokiji..." Aokiji just nodded, while Kizaru let off another bored yawn.
"The hell?! Why are you never this polite with me!?!" Akainu was quick to turn his head to Enel though, taking the matter rather seriously.
"Hey, nothing bad with trying to make a good first impression." Enel simply cleaned out his ear as he tapped Akainu on the shoulder with his earlobe.
"Anyway, I'm off, see you three on the flip side!" With that, Enel simply used Soru and appeared in between the other marines below.
He spotted Hina in the crowd rather easily with his Observation Haki. So he walked all the way to her and wrapped one of his earlobes around her arm.
Hina was startled at first, but she smiled when seeing that it was just Enel.
"Enel! You scared Hina!" She said as she pouted a bit, still, her smile was hard to hide.
"That was the whole point. Anyway, didn't come here for that!" Enel said as he gave her a lazy smile of his own.
Hina raised an eyebrow, she hoped Enel would help lessen the tense atmosphere she found herself in, but the usually cheerful Rear Admiral was currently being rather serious with her.
"Whatever happens next... I want you to take care of yourself, ok? No stupid hero stuff, the world has enough of those types to go around..." Enel tilted his head a bit, not breaking his gaze from Hina's for one second, just to make sure she got the message.
In the end, Hina just nodded. "Don't worry, Hina can take care of herself. Hina should be telling you that! You always jump from problem to problem!" Hina crossed her arms as she didn't bother to hide the concern in her tone.
"Hehe, don't worry about it." Enel simply walked away after that, leaving Hina to her own thoughts...
He landed back near the platform, right beside Garp and Tsuru, just as Sengoku had finished half of his speech.
"Portgas D. Ace... The death of this pirate holds great significance!"
Enel also looked at the stadium when hearing those words, he tried to remember where the speech was going, but the details of that scene were rather muddled. After all, he hadn't paid perfect attention to all aspects of the show.
"Ace... Tell me the name of your father!" Sengoku said as he held his small transponder snail.
Enel raised an eyebrow as he finally remembered where Sengoku was going with this.
Enel could hear Ace, as he claimed that his only father was Whitebeard.
That was when Sengoku called him a liar and proceeded to tell everyone the story of his birth. Of how Portgas D. Rouge had kept her pregnancy going for 20 months through sheer will, all in order to deceive the world.
Enel simply scowled as he liked what he was hearing less and less.
"A child was born, carrying the blood of the vilest man in the world! That child was you!"
"Your father is... The Pirate King, Gold Roger!"
The entire navy was silent at that proclamation. No, the entire world was silent. The information was known to only a few important figures in the world. Sengoku had just pulled it out and revealed it to the entire world.
Enel simply stared at the platform. He wasn't silent due to shock. He simply held the entire situation in disdain.
"Executing a child... For the sins of the father? So strange..." Enel said as he spoke to nobody in particular.
But Garp besides him could hear him clearly.
'A newborn child bears no sin... Garp! Take care of my child!' Fragments of that memory rang in the old Vice Admiral's mind. He could only clench his fist as he looked at the figure of Ace on the platform.
'... Maybe if he hadn't become a pirate... Maybe I could've convinced Sengoku... But now...' The old man thought to himself after remembering the words of his old friend, Gol D. Roger...
Enel sighed, as he turned off the rest of the speech in his mind. He paid attention only to what was in front of him. He didn't need to act right away, after all.
And, after a while, the pirates started appearing, Enel counted hundreds of ships in the distance, all wearing different Jolly Rogers.
All of them were part of Whitebeard's Grand Fleet.
Enel smiled as he saw a shadow in the bay, right in the middle of the docks, in the heart of Marineford.
The seas started roaring, and three large, whale-shaped ships burst out of the water, followed by an entire fleet of pirate ships in the distance.
"The Moby Dick... They coated their ships and approached underwater... I can't believe this..." Sengoku said as he narrowed his eyes a bit, some sweat rising on his brow.
The Mobydick was the main ship, the only one that had the figurehead of a white whale. And a tall man walked out brazenly on it, no trace of fear at all, as he stared down the entire combined might of the navy.
His scalp was hidden by a black bandana, his scarred body was clothed in a white captain's coat, and a pair of loose pants tucked inside his large black boots.
Enel could also see his signature moustache, forming a half circle going upwards from right underneath his nose.
The man held onto his signature weapon, the Murakumogiri. A massive Naginata, one that fit the size of the gargantuan man that wielded it.
Enel smiled a bit, as he finally caught sight of a pirate that held one of the highest bounties in the world... A man worth 5 billion Berry.
"Father..." Enel could hear Ace mutter, as he stared at the giant pirate.
"You better tell me that my son is all right... It's been a while, Sengoku!" Whitebeard's words resonated across the battlefield. Enel could see many of the marines get discouraged just by seeing him.
But Whitebeard wasn't alone, all 14 of his commanders were present, including Marco, the only one that Enel had seen in the past.
"FATHER!" Ace shouted in that instant, making the old pirate smile in the distance.
Whitebeard then did the move that had jump-started the war, he brought his fist to his stomach, crossing his arms in the process, and then he stretched his fists on both sides of his body, punching the air with force.
The marines seemed to fear this motion, as the air around Whitebeard started cracking, space itself became distorted, and tremors were sent across the seas.
Water levels rose in that instant, creating larger and larger waves in the distance. Enel could see them... The approaching Tsunamis threatened to swallow Marineford.
'So this is it, huh? The strongest man in the world...' Enel's smile turned wider, as his excitement grew.
'I can befriend the Whitebeard pirates... But I want to clash with him at least once!'
Enel gave Garp and Tsuru a look. "I'll leave you two... From this point on its good luck!" The Rear Admiral shouted as he jumped in and joined the crowd of marines below.
Garp just sighed, his gaze turning grave. The tears in his eyes hadn't even dried up properly yet, now he had to fight... To fight in order for his grandson to die...
Still, a part of him still held hope, a part of him tried to tell him that everything would work out in the end. 'Maybe Enel will really manage to save him...'
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Hope you liked the chapter! Hype moments are incoming.
Yea, war starting off with a 2k word chapter :)))
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