Chapter 98: Buster Call and Dire Straits
_________ POV Narration_________
Momonga looked back at the old Mayor behind him, his shoulders slouched and his gaze tired.
The Vice Admiral was trying to wrap his mind around what had happened.
"I...I-"
"Don't bother... I think this would've been the result regardless of your actions..." Woop Slap said as he slowly got up from the ground.
He looked at the struggling world noble with disdain, but despair was still present in his gaze as he tried to think of ways he and his people could avoid genocide...
"I was the one to do it... Maybe they will just take my life..." Momonga clenched his teeth as the Celestial Dragon finally seemed to pass out from blood loss.
"Unlikely... We all know how this situation is going to play out. Even looking wrong at a World Noble can get your entire family killed... This village is done for..."
Although Woop Slap was filled with despair, he was still somewhat managing to keep his calm.
A Buster Call didn't scare him, he had been in the presence of Yonko-level figures before and he didn't know any fear when it came to that.
"We need to evacuate this place... Quickly." Woop Slap said as he rubbed his chin a bit. He was sure he'd be able to get the rest of the villagers to follow him, so there was no danger of anyone getting left behind.
There was another problem though...
"Well, well, well... An assault on a Celestial Dragon, huh?" Another figure in a white suit appeared in the middle of the street, Momonga narrowed his eyes when seeing it.
A masked man wearing what seemed to be a Rear Admiral's Marine Coat. Momonga didn't recognize him though, and he knew every Marine from Commodore and up personally...
So he instantly assumed the man was a Chiper Pol agent...
"A CP agent masquerading as a Marine?" Momonga said as he mulled over his thoughts, his voice still lacking some of its usual confidence.
Momonga contemplated what to do in that situation. His honour as a marine prohibited him from allowing the Marine Hero's hometown to simply be destroyed.
He had disrespected the World Government's orders though. Usually, he'd accept any punishment without hesitation. But this time was different.
Even without thinking of Foosha Village as the Marine Hero's hometown, Momonga still felt different about that situation.
'Was what I did really wrong?'
Momonga simply couldn't bring himself to think that letting the Celestial Dragon use the buster call on a random village was a good thing.
"A celestial dragon left to bleed out by an esteemed Vice Admiral... Are the marines rebelling against the world government?" The masked man asked with an empty tone.
Most CP agents were emotionless in the first place, especially high-ranking ones. Momonga could tell that the man in front of him was strong, so he assumed he wasn't exactly a grunt.
"This was a personal decision..." Momonga's face looked grimmer and grimmer as time passed.
Still, he decided to shoulder the blame, not willing to create a greater disaster by implicating Sengoku and Akainu in the matter.
"Personal... Huh?" The CP agent seemed to tilt his head when speaking, seemingly mocking the Vice Admiral in front of him.
Ten more 'Marines' all appeared around Momonga and Woop Slap, shocking the old Mayor and making the Vice Admiral grab his blade with a weary gaze.
"It's quite clear that the people of this village posed a threat to a Celestial Dragon. Saint Jonathan acted appropriately and decided to use his right as a World Noble to use a Buster Call... Who are you to stop him?"
The agent dressed as a Rear Admiral spoke out without much emotion as two of the lower ranking agents went to grab the Celestial Dragon.
Momonga wasn't an idiot though. He didn't care about the Celestial Dragon, but he knew that he could let the CP agents get their hands on the Buster Call, lest they finished the Celestial Dragon's job...
So, the second the agents started moving, Momonga jumped into action, slicing the head of one of the approaching agents, the other one had barely managed to block his blade with a blackened fist.
Momonga scowled as his wrist tightened, his blade turning pure black as he cut straight through the second agent as well. He swiftly reached out and grabbed the golden snail from the ground.
'It's already too late for me... I must at least protect this village!' Momonga thought to himself as the agents seemed to rush in from all directions, more of them appearing as he fought with fervour, protecting the snail in his palm.
'A buster call is only initiated if the golden snail sends a signal to the Silver Snail in the headquarters, this usually happens when a button is pressed... But, if the Golden Snail is to die, then the signal will be sent all the same...'
Momonga's blade danced around, slicing through the CP agents with devastating precision, sometimes stopping and clashing with one, while receiving cuts and injuries from all of the others surrounding him.
The High Ranking agent hadn't even joined in the fight yet. The masked fake Rear Admiral was only observing the situation from a distance.
Woop Slap was looking at the situation with a grim expression as well, he could tell that the Marine in front of him was fighting to protect the village, it was quite obvious even to someone blind.
At that point, most of the people in their homes were looking at the scene with horror, and the old mayor could feel it as well...
'As a Mayor, it should be my duty to protect my people... But I am nothing more than a weak old man...'
The old man looked around, the agents seemed to be ignoring him, as they had a bigger threat to deal with.
Even though injuries were accumulating, Momonga was still slashing away at their numbers.
At that point, 13 agents had already fallen, two blades were sticking out of Momonga's back and his body was filled with wounds, yet he was still fighting.
At that point, the houses around them were also wrecked, and plenty of people were running away further from the conflict.
Makino's Bar also had its roof cut off by a stray flying slash.
Only 10 more agents were around, yet Momonga was already exhausted. It was now that the higher ranking agent jumped in, his strikes a lot heavier, his arms growing mantis blades as he cut towards the Vice Admiral with impressive speed.
Momonga blocked a few slashes, but he was forced to jump backwards after a while.
'At the very least, I shouldn't let this man shoulder all of the blame. The village is already doomed, with or without this, it's clear that the World Government wants to use us to punish Garp or draw him out...'
Woop Slap slowly crawled towards the Celestial Dragon, grabbing the pig's golden pistol from the ground with a weary gaze.
The old mayor acted quickly, pointing his gun at the celestial dragon in that same instant.
The high-ranking CP agent took notice of that, quickly snapping his head toward the old mayor and trying to rush towards him.
"Turning your back on an enemy?! Presumptuous!" Momonga slashed him across the back, sending him tumbling and rolling to the side as he shouted.
"STOP THAT OLD MAN!" The lower-ranking CP agents finally started acting... But they were far too late.
A single shot rang, a bullet entering the Celestial Dragon's head just as an agent got in front of the old mayor.
"Shit!" The agent quickly kicked the old man into the bar behind him, breaking the wall of the bar and knocking the wind out of him almost instantly.
"You dare kill a celestial dragon!?!" The high-ranking CP agent disregarded his injuries, looking at the broken wall of the tavern with hate.
Momonga was shocked by what had happened as well, momentarily freezing.
"Cough..." The old man crawled out of the building, coughing a bit of blood as he started speaking.
"As if you were going to spare us... At the very least he gets to die too! Here's hoping you all will follow him!"
The old mayor looked at the CP agent with fire in his gaze. His anger bubbled in his tone. His rage was directed at the world, as the situation was looking worse and worse.
He looked at the body of the Celestial Dragon with a tired gaze. The old man couldn't even bring himself to feel anything about Saint Jonathan.
The celestial dragon was nothing more than a pawn in the World Government's game. Woop Slap simply wanted to kill the pawn to spite the king, a form of struggle.
It was the only way someone weak like him could strike back... Killing someone insignificant.
But the celestial dragon was only insignificant to the higher-ups, the people present all seemed to be trembling when seeing the corpse of the Celestial Dragon.
To the CP agents, the death of the celestial dragon meant that they were also going to get killed. Still, they hoped that they'd be excused if they were able to do their missions.
Well, at least the high-ranking one hoped he'd be spared, the others didn't have high chances.
Still, all of them recovered from their shock and started fighting once more. Woop Slap wasn't killed yet, as all of the agents rushed trying to finish off Momonga first...
The Vice Admiral was unrelenting though... All until one point.
After so many slashes and accumulated injuries, Momonga's attention slipped for one second, which led to his hand being swiftly cut off by the mantis claw of the High-Ranking CP agent, forcing him to drop the golden snail he had been holding that entire time.
Momonga's eyes widened as he jumped back and clutched at his bleeding stump. Blocking a few flying slashes with his blade and sending a few with his legs.
"Shit!" He said as he saw the High-Ranking CP agent crush the golden snail underneath his foot...
"We're done for... I failed..." Momonga said, his voice tired as blood poured from his wounds. "This has been the case for a while now, young man..." Woop Slap said as he shakily got up.
"Hmph... I'll make sure to kill you both before any marine ship gets here though... This kingdom will be purged thanks to your efforts!" The CP agent said as he seemed to transform completely into a 3-meter tall mantis.
"Our efforts? Bah! Do you usually eat this much shit?!" Woop Slap said as he held himself up, leaning on Momonga's leg.
Momonga sighed a bit, taking a few seconds to catch his breath.
'I hope Sir Sengoku has something planned for this occasion...'
As the situation developed on their side, the Silver Snail seemed to intercept the dying signal from the Golden one on Foosha Village.
The Fleet Admiral was instantly informed, and he then proceeded to walk over to the communications room.
Akainu's mind was filled with anxiety as he walked into the room, fearing the worst had happened.
"Which island is it?" Akainu asked the scrambling officers as he looked at the Silver Snail with narrowed eyes.
"I-it's from the Goa Kingdom, Fleet Admiral Akainu! Specifically from a place called 'Foosha Village'!" An officer spoke as he intercepted the signal and found the location almost immediately.
"... I see..." Akainu walked over to the table with the Silver Snails and looked at the one in question.
"Such a shame..." He put his palm over it, magma consuming it in seconds as the signal proceeded to die down instantly.
"F-fleet Admiral!?" The officers asked as they all started sweating when seeing the look in Akainu's eyes.
"Such a shame this Silver Snail malfunctioned... It seems we need to order a new one from Vegapunk..." Akainu glared at the officers without any restraint, narrowing his eyes.
All of them simply gulped and nodded.
"U-understood, sir! We'll cancel all orders and get it replaced right away!" The leader of the communications team quickly got to work, commanding the other officers to quickly clean the 'defective' snail.
Sengoku also entered the room as that was happening, the look on his face was grave, as he could only imagine just how bad things were back in Foosha Village.
"This is bad..." The former Fleet Admiral said as he took off his round glasses.
"Let's continue this in my office..." Akainu then walked out, not even bothering to look back at the Communication team as he walked out.
He and Sengoku started speaking instantly.
"Do we have anyone nearby that can assist Momonga? The situation must be pretty dire if this ended up happening..." Sengoku asked as he sat down on the couch and looked at the current Fleet Admiral.
"Two Rear Admirals are already on their way," Akainu said as he tapped onto a special Transponder Snail, sending a signal to his men.
"I had them moved nearby in advance, but I hoped they wouldn't be needed..."
"Let's just hope they aren't too late..." Sengoku said as his goat came to his side to comfort him, likely sensing his stress.
"... We do know of someone that will likely arrive in time..." Akainu said as he leaned back on his chair.
"I'm sure Kizaru won't be ok with going the against the World Government like this..." Sengoku said as he stroked his beard. "Wait... You don't mean?"
"Enel already helped us once with Garp, they are clearly friends. All we have to do is inform him of the situation, and we won't even need to ask for his assistance, he'll likely just give it to us."
Akainu said as he searched his desk a bit, taking out yet another small transponder snail, one that had formerly belonged to Sengoku.
"Do you think he still has his Transponder Snail?" Sengoku asked as he clenched his fists.
The former Fleet Admiral hadn't come close to forgiving Enel yet, but he could understand why he had done it, at least to some extent.
It was clear that Enel had chosen his friendship with Garp over the Marines, much like Garp had chosen his family over his duty by not helping much during the war.
He couldn't bring himself to hate either of them, but that didn't mean he didn't feel betrayed...
They had planned to inform him of Garp's capture in that way, by calling him on the Transponder Snail that Sengoku had gifted him at one point.
But they didn't have to do that, as Aokiji had managed to run into him at some point.
Aokiji didn't go into detail about the circumstances of their meeting, and all of the people that had been on the ship were mute about it too, but Enel had learnt of Garp and saved him after a week or two.
This time, they could only hope Enel would pick up...
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Hope you liked the chapter! This is likely the longest chapter I've written so far ;))) At the very least in top 5. Don't think anyone minds tho...
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