Chapter 13

West blue, Ishiria island, valley at the foot of the mountain

*RRRROOOOAAAAAARRR*

A mightly cry echoed through a small valley at the foot of the mountain that is located in the middle of the island called Ishiria, piercing the heavens as proud and tall as only a mountain can be.

Following the battlecry, originating from said valley, was the sound of recurring clashes and shockwaves that shook the air as if fighting for dominion over the skys territories. Now and then a shockwave apart from the sounds of the clashing opponents would travel through the air and reach over the boundaries of the bordering forests. Should an unwise animal make the mistake and let its curiousity get the better of it and be hit by said shockwaves it would be blasted back and collapse with foam splurting from its mouth and eyes rolled back into its head.

The origin of all those phenomenon were two people who had made it their duty to fight day and night for the last year, with only small breaks in between to eat, meditate, obliege natures calls and take a bath now and then in a river not too far away.

One of the two was an old man, tall in statue with a height of approximately 3,5m and muscles to fit.

A long beard adorned his old wrinkled face, which was the only hair left on his head which had baldened with old age. And yet, even in his old age you could see an excited grin that bordered on mania plastered onto his face, enjoying the fighting to the fullest. Old man Bai had been training with his disciple nonstop for the past year to prepare him and the results spoke for themselfs. Yes, Azul was still young but for his approximately 11 years of age his powers were simply of the charts. Even though there was still alot of room to grow, since he still had alot of growing to do in the physical and mental sense, Azul and old man Bai could be proud of what they had achieved in such a short amount of time. Would it be enough to overcome the hurdles that were about to arrive at their doorsteps? Maybe, and that was simply not good enough for someone like Lee Mu Bai. And so he had made a decision that tonight he would start the conflict of the opposing sides, if only to grant his disciple a small advantage and give him the chance he needed to escape, even though he didn't know it yet, but all in due time.

Azul on the other hand wasn't nearly as tall as his master yet but he had had grown nonetheless over the past year that he now stood at a proud 1,80m which was pretty ridiculous for an 11 years old boy, packed with lean muscles to accompany his physique. His dark blue eyes had deepened while training and fighting continously with and against his master. Where before there was still a flicker of innocence inside them, nowadays they had gained a wildness inside them like the beginning of a flickering flame about to burst out and incinerate his opponent. This had been a result of completely merging with the elemental spirit and fully stepping foot into the realm of the journeyman. His haki had become a force to be reckoned with and surrounded him like an invisible shroud which added a certain type of pressure to his appearance that said as much to other people along the lines of 'challenge me and get crushed into splinters' which only someone who had gained insights into their conquerors spirit could possess and radiate like a passive aggressive guardian you could say.

Azul had started to take the forms of the elements and break them apart to forge his own from the pieces he saw fit to fit his fighting style which could be discribed with a single phrase: "merciless offense". So much so that it had become a little dangerous for himself since he sometimes lost himself in the rush of the fight, entering a near berserker like state, ignoring most injuries to himself. At first that had earned Azul a strict lecture from his master but after some time old man Bai had come to the understanding that this was a core aspect of Azuls soul which was only amplified after merging with the elemental and so he started to focus Azuls training on honing his offense and complement it with speed and endurance so that he could build the strongest basis for his personal fighting style as long as he had old man Bais support. After all, even if old man Bai taught his disciple only in defense now, in the hopes that he would 'come to his senses' so to speak it wouldn't help him much since the true nature of a person would come out one way or the other if he wanted to or not, so why not sooner to build it up into something that would crush his enemies without being able to retaliate. After all wasn't there a saying that was along the lines of 'the strongest defense is an even stronger offense'? And so they trained, and in old man Bais case planned since soon he would be no more and his disciple would need all the preperations he could get his hands on. And so in the evening of the last 'peaceful' day master and disciple would spend together old man Bai left to acquire the last ace he could give his disciple to help him on his future path.

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West blue, near former Ohara, revolutionary shipyard

A man with a long green cloak stood atop the a giant galley, a ship adorned with canons and ammunition to sink a whole armada of marine battlesh.i.p.s from the looks of it.

The mans face was mostly hidden but it was still possible to see a red tatoo covering the left side of his face which gave him, besides his general mystery, a wild look, only complemented by the aura that surrounded said man. Behind said man stood his closest confidents, namely a big man in a tight red, leather string-bodysuit and blue hair, named Imporio Ivankov, the king of the Kammabakka kingdom, which is pretty much a kingdom devoted to transs.e.x.u.a.lity. Next to Ivankov stood another tall man who had suprisingly panda ears ontop of a white cap and was carrying a bible in his left hand, pressed to his enormous c.h.e.s.t. His name was Bartolomeo Kuma, who recently joined the shichibukai. Behind those figures stood another person, a young man of approximately 13 years of age, who had a determined look on his face which looked a little weird due to his still young and not yet fully formed into an a.d.u.l.ts face which was slightly overshadowed by the big cylinder hat he was currently wearing. His name is Sabo, a nobles son who ran away and had a run in with the tenryuubito, who drowned his ship in bullets due to blocking their path in a small boat, which caused it to capsize and resulted in Sabo loosing his memories. Soon after he joined the revolutionaries to rid the world of the tyranny of the nobles.

Before all of them a giant group of people had essembled, namely the second army of the revolutionaries and the first devision that would begin the war against the world government that would soon engulf the whole world and decide the peoples fate for better or worse.

All their eyes sat on the tall man in the green mantle and as he stepped forward showing his face to his subordinates, gave himself away as Monkey D. Dragon, supreme commander of the revolutionary army and the soon to be most wanted man in the world.

"Men, Women, brothers and sisters in arms. Today you have followed my summons to change the manifests of this world and begin a war that shall never be forgotten!

I want you to look to the man and women to your left and right. Those people may be unknown to you but know this, every person who followed my call shared one thing with me and that is something more powerful than the connection blood or knowledge could ever provide you. An idea! A craving for change! Where ever you may go in the following years to come, whenever you meet someone fighting under the insignia of the revolutionary army, know that they are a kindred spirit and that nothing can quench the power this craving provides you with, and nothing, no matter how cruel the world government may act will change this fact!

Today we fight, and tomorrow we may die but we will never surrender! TO VICTORY!!!"

"Orraaaaahhhhh!!!" answered the crowd with a unifying cry, shaking the caves ceiling under which their sh.i.p.s were stationed before the commanders yelled orders to man the positions and prepare to set sails which brought a serious grin to Dragons face. Finally it was about to begin!

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West blue, a few hours away from Ishiria island, Marine battleship

A group of indivduals stood together, discussing the approaching mission. One half of the group was clothed in suits completely in white, namely the three CP0 agents, who had the command during this mission, being the strongest unit belonging to the Cipher Pol agency, while the other half of the group consisted of three individuals clothed completely in black suits which belonged to the CP9, the special assassination and infiltration unit of the world government, officially noneexistent.

"What do we know about the target?" Asked a slim man, the leader of the CP9, with a dove sitting on his shoulder, which now and then produced a silent *guru* as if trying to enter the conversation.

The leader of the CP0, a tall man with a white mask, spoke up in answer.

"The target was once known as 'the swords fury - Lee Mu Bai' with a bounty of 1.100.000.000 Berry. He was renowned to not discriminate between pirates or marines when it came to battling and never lost a fight against anyone. This is even more suprising when you take into consideration that he once clashed with Kaidou, one of the four emperors of the sea. Though, neither did win. It was a stalemate."

"Then how are we supposed to kill the target? We would stand no chance against an emperor if it came down to it." Bruno, a tall man from the CP9 spoke up, who had two horns made of his hair protruding from the sides of his head.

"The target has become rather old and the Gorosei suspect that he has grown increasingly weak over the years, so much so that he probably had to raise a disciple to pass down his legacy, which is the main reason we were send here. If there is a disciple it is our task to find and eliminate said target, no matter the cost. But to do that we need to get past Mu Bai, who undoubtedly already knows the world government sent a deligation to eliminate the thread which will make our task increasingly harder but we have our orders and failure is not an option. Either you complete your mission or die trying. I will not put the reputation and honor of the CP0 up for sale due to failure. Is that clear!?"

"Yes sir!" came the unified answer along with a salute and the straigthening of the mens spines.

"Now listen, this is how we will proceed in said operation. Kaku you and Bowser will..."

And so the plans were being made, not knowing that it would come completely different than everyone expected it to go.

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West blue, a few hours away from Ishiria, ship of the Zambatta pirates (ex mafia)

"We are nearly there. Prepare for raiding and burn the whole city roku to the ground! Doflamingo will curse the day he nicked the leadership of my cartell in the west blue from me. You will pay Doflamingo, do you hear me? You will pay!" An older man in a blue suit yelled towards the sky with a raised fist, proclaiming his hatred towards his nemesis for all to hear.

"Errr, sir? Just wanted you to know that we got a leak on the ship so we may arrive a little later than we expected..." Another pirate said with an ashamed look on his face, trying not to look his captain directly into the eyes while trying to defuse some pressure by sticking his finger into his nose on the tiring search for the king of all boogers.

"What the hell happened down there? In the morning all was still fresh and chipper!"

"Errr, we may have practised a little bit of shooting which got kind of out of hand..." The subordinate said while trying his hardest not to explode from how red his face had gotten from embaressment.

The captain, hearing his subordinates words nearly collapsed in stupor with a giant sweatdrop on his forhead. "Arrrgh, am I only surrounded by incompetence? Fix it you morrons, THIS INSTANT!"

"Y-Yes sir, right away sir!" and with that the subordinate skimpert away to fix the problem to not get thrown over board instead. Not that it would make much of a difference if he didn't fix the problem.

And so it seemed one group would arrive a little later than expected to the party which would throw some people mightily off the rails.