Chapter 81: Departure and Old Legends
_________ POV Narration_________
Magellan eventually looked at the three of them and decided on a course of action.
"I don't know entirely what is going on... But the three of you should leave. Quickly!" Magellan said as he crossed his arms, looking at the entrance of the room with a complex expression.
"Fine..." Enel said as his gauntlets turned into his usual boat. Neither of the old men wasted any time getting on, although Francisco did study it with his observation haki for a few seconds...
"Enel, could you please hit me with your staff once? Knock me out if possible." Magellan said as he looked at Enel with a serious expression.
"Oh! I guess that makes sense. You get to keep your post this way, at least hopefully." Enel said as he raised his staff with his arm.
Magellan simply had a wry smile as he realized that he'd get in a huge amount of shit for allowing yet another breakout.
But he knew that he'd get some leniency since an actual Emperor broke into Impel Down that time around.
"Clench your teeth!" Enel shouted as he swung his staff without holding back. Magellan closed his eyes and did as told, not protecting himself with Armament in any way.
"Wai-" Garp was about to protest, but Enel didn't give him the chance.
The former Marine hit Magellan's head with his staff the next second, knocking him out instantly and sending him flying into a wall.
Enel hadn't gotten to befriend Magellan all that much beforehand, but he now knew that he was an extremely righteous person. He also seemed to have a lot of respect for the Marine Hero.
Enel silently thanked Magellan for his understanding and proceeded to also get on his boat, ignoring the odd look that Garp was shooting at him.
The boat immediately took off, neither Francisco nor Garp seemed to be startled and neither of them seemed to bother to hold onto anything.
Enel was able to manoeuvre the ship outside of the Prison by going through the hole he had created, the ship had to make a few odd turns in order to do that.
The ship floated and circled around Impel Down for a few seconds, as Enel studied the situation for a bit before sighing.
"The World Government was already moving out to re-capture you..." Enel could sense the agents rushing to the lower levels of the prison.
Many of them had also gathered near the hole that Enel had created, but they were a bit too late, not managing to even catch a glimpse of his ship.
"Bah! What gave them the confidence!? Do they think I'd just allow myself to be captured again?" Garp crossed his arms with a scowl, Francisco also chuckled a bit.
"The World Government has always been conceited... Arrogance is almost in their nature at this point... Too bad they also have enough strength to back it up at times..." Francisco said with a tired voice as he started taking deep breaths.
"Fresh air... Warm Sunlight... I didn't think I'd feel them again in this lifetime."
The old man's words sounded a lot more energetic now, as he lay on the golden boat and turned his eyeless face to the sky.
Garp and Enel both stayed silent for a few moments, letting the crippled old man enjoy the atmosphere a bit more before Enel finally spoke out.
"Ok so... Who exactly is this?" He asked as he looked at Garp with a raised eyebrow.
'I didn't take Garp to be the type to break pirates out of prison... Unless this old man was in a similar situation to his. But I've never heard of someone with his description before...'
"... I guess telling you wouldn't be so bad, since you're a pirate and all now," Garp said, the final part felt more accusatory than anything...
Enel looked away for a few seconds and started whistling a bit when hearing it too.
"I can introduce myself Garp, thank you very much," Francisco said as he slowly sat back, stretching his arms around and feeling the wind blow on his body as the boat moved forward and away from Impel Down.
"My name is Francisco D. Guzman..." The old pirate waited for a bit, hoping for some kind of reaction.
The smile on his face strained a bit when he failed to get any, and Enel just stared at him and blinked a few times.
"... I was the First Mate of Rocks D. Xebec, Vice Captain of the Rocks Pirates basically..." Francisco said a bit disheartened that he truly had been forgotten by the world.
He hoped that some people would at least remember the Rocks Pirates...
Thankfully for Guzman, Enel's eyes widened in recognition when hearing that. Instantly, he looked at Garp, who simply nodded to confirm that the old man was speaking the truth.
Then, Enel decided to study the old man a bit closer...
Tattered rags, cuts all over his body, all of them scarred over. Obviously old and deep cuts near his wrists and calves, signifying that his tendons had indeed been severed.
His face also had a few scars, at least what remained of it. It was clear that some manner of acidic substance was poured into his eyes, it made Enel wince a bit when seeing it.
'You're telling me that they tortured the right hand of the strongest pirate to this extent...?'
Enel simply tried to wrap his head around why they hadn't just killed Francisco but seeing the number of scars on his body, it seemed pretty clear that they had just tortured him for a few years before throwing him away in a cell.
"Well, I guess there is still some hope if someone as young as you remembers us!" Francisco said, a small smile rising on his lips.
"Don't get your hopes up too much. The world government deleted every mention of the Rocks pirates the second Xebec died. Even God Valley got erased from all maps..." Enel said as he crossed his arms and tried to remember whatever details he could about the Rocks pirates from the show.
He didn't have all that much to work with in the first place, all he knew was that they existed, the name of their captain, and that all legendary pirates had been part of it at some point, with the exception of Gol D. Roger himself...
It wasn't all that hard to believe that more legendary figures were part of the Rocks Pirates and that their names had been erased along with God Valley.
"Heh... It was to be expected... I guess Garp didn't want to be the one to break the news to me." Francisco turned his head towards Garp, who simply shrugged a bit.
"Where are we heading, Enel?" The old Vice Admiral changed the subject as he cracked his neck a bit.
He was still mad about getting imprisoned, he also wasn't sure if returning to the marines was an option for him anymore, at least not as long as they were tied to the World Government.
"We are going to my actual home, the Sky Islands," Enel said as he raised his palms a bit.
Garp raised an eyebrow when hearing that, a bit of confusion present on his face.
"Wasn't that just a legend?" He asked while trying to remember more details about the story of the sky islands.
"It's real, not that huge a surprise though, Roger was there before." Garp simply shrugged, deciding not to press the issue further.
"Skypea, huh? Been a long time since I've heard of that place... Somehow, we had never managed to get there, I guess it simply wasn't meant to be part of our journey." Francisco said as he smiled a bit.
"Well, very few people have actually made it there. Which is also why the World Government doesn't have any influence there." Francisco nodded when hearing that, and Garp seemed to remember something, which made him crack his knuckles.
"Oi, Enel... How much exactly did you lie while in the marines?" The old man seemed to gain a sadistic smile on his face, as Enel gulped a bit, wondering if rescuing Garp was a good idea after all...
"Well, I kept my devil fruit a secret till the last second, and I lied about my origin, that's about it really." Enel waved his hand a bit, trying to appease his old teacher.
Garp narrowed his eyes a bit, before laughing a bit and digging through his nostril with a pinky.
"Good, I'll trust you since you saved Ace and Luffy, don't expect Sengoku to do the same though..." Garp said as he looked around the ship for a few seconds.
It was a small rowboat, not that big for three tall people to sit on.
Francisco himself was looking like a frail old man currently, but he was still well over 2.5 meters(8.20 ft) tall.
Enel noticed his gaze and just made the boat a little bigger, to fit all three of them perfectly. Francisco laughed a bit, saying something about having an expensive get-away.
And Garp simply grumbled a bit and continued to talk to Enel.
"Why'd you keep your devil fruit a secret anyway?"
"The World Government had been trying to collect and produce powerful fruits for a while now. I didn't want to get on their radar too soon... Although the Dressrosa incident managed to ruin that a bit." Enel said as he shrugged a bit, remembering more and more about his time in the Marines.
"Well, I guess you're right. I still don't like it though... Some rice crackers would really be nice right about now..." Garp said as he looked at the clouds below him with an exceedingly serious gaze.
"... Wait!" Francisco immediately shot up with a smile on his face.
"We're being followed..." The old pirate said as he stood up. A tired and lazy smile was present on his scared and aged face.
Enel raised an eyebrow and instantly started concentrating harder on his Observation, expanding it greatly as his eyes widened.
'I forgot that they have ways to sneak around observation haki...' Enel narrowed his eyes as he concentrated harder and finally spotted the agents that were following his ship.
There were only 4 of them, all of them using Geppo and approaching the ship at relatively fast speeds.
"Guess we have to deal with them now. Wouldn't want them to follow us home." Enel said with a small laugh.
"Bah! Like they could keep up for that long... But I do feel the need to punch something related to the World Government right now..." Garp cracked his knuckles a bit as he smiled.
'I guess they'll handle this...' Francisco simply continued to sit down, yawning a bit.
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Hello there! No maidens?
Dunno what else to say, but Magellan is still a potential future ally, so don't worry ;)
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