Chapter 59

Grandline, Paradise, Marine Headquarters

Marine Headquarters, no matter what some people may say, had always been a focus point where decisions concerning the mortal world were made and this very day it was no different than on other days, except that some kind of undecipherable weight hung over all the personnel that worked or lived at headquarters.

Said weight had been brought upon headquarters after the messege from one of their strongest, an admiral, had been received, who a few hours later arrived at headquarters, sedated and heavily injured many thought impossible for someone of the admirals strength. The older generation though knew that the admirals weren't the strongest their was on the oceans but still, their strength was nothing to caugh at. That's why they were titled as the strongest fighters the marines produced.

A few hours after Aokiji had been brought in and been treated accordingly an emergency meeting of marines had been called to order, to discuss what they had found out so far from the admiral in the moments that he had been lucid enough to be questioned.

Heavy boots echoed over the wooden panels of headquarters as some of the vize-admirals arrived to judge and give a verdict concerning the situation, all of those available at this moment sitting around a big round table, serious frowns marring their faces, plunged in silence until the one leading this meeting arrived. Vize-admiral Momonga.

"I hereby call this meeting to order! Now, what do we know so far about the one responsible for this mess?" vize-admiral Momonga asked into the room that at first remained eerily silent until one other vize-admiral spoke up, having been the one that had questioned Aokiji in the infirmary.

"The one responsible is a tall man, nearly four meters in height, though still seemed to be rather young. He has short-shaved hair of the darker sorts and wears nothing but a pair of beige trousers. He arrived shortly after Aokiji confronted the strawhat pirates and rescued them from further injuries by the admiral, so I think it is safe to assume that he knows them personally. He arrived alongside Nico Robin, also known as 'the devil-child' with a bounty of 79.000.000 Berry on her head. Shortly after the young man had brought Nico Robin to safety, the two of them began their fight. From this action alone it is possible that these two are allies. Anyways, the fight brought a few startling facts to light. First of all, the young man possesses the abilities of a mystical zoan. Though which is hard to guess as not many have yet been discovered. His fruit transforms him into some kind of canine which is able to produce flames of enormous heat and seems to enable him to walk on air. Not hopp like with geppo of the rokushiki, no. Literally walk. I believe it has something to do with the mythology of his mystical zoan, so it could be possible to find out which one he possesses going by that. Still, it would at best be a good guess.

On top of his devilfruit abilities, which were a strong counter to the admirals own powers, the young man seems to be able to use all three types of haki to a high degree. From what the admiral implied he even seems to have created a new way to use the conqueror's haki, which speaks of a deep understanding of his haki and makes him all the more dangerous. This is all we have discovered so f-" The vize-admiral spoke in a serious voice, making a lot of eyes sharpen, until a marine captain barged into the room, interrupting the meeting of the vize-admirals, who turned around to see the captain panting from running up to their meeting room in the upper floors of headquarters.

"Apologies sirs, but we have just received word from our spies stationed in Jaya, as is routine every end of the month. For those that don't know, Jaya is a haven and safespot for pirates and thus has a high priority order on the list for observation. This time though, the spies nearly missed the window to report in, due to them having only recently recovered from numerous injuries sustained from a large fight that leveled Jaya's town nearly completely." The captain spoke in a rushed voice, straightening his back when all the vize-admirals leveled their eyes upon the captain, making him sweat slightly.

"Urgh, another one causing problems. Pirates I presume?" Momonga grunted out, developping a headache from all the happenings of the past few hours.

"Not completely sir! One party of the ones fighting was identified as a former member of the Whitebeard-pirates, namely Marshall D. Teach, alias 'Blackbeard' as the spies supplied."

"Blackbeard? Isn't that the one that was recommended for the open spot amongst the shichibukai by that bird-fellow the other day?" vize-admiral Tsuru threw out amongst her collegues.

"What do we know so far about this Blackbeard?" Momonga asked, while turning back towards the captain, who hadn't moved a muscle from his former position.

"Sir, as far as we know, Blackbeard has consumed a devilfruit that is presumed to be a logia, though it seems to possess the peculiarity that he is unable to dematerialize himself. His ability seems to allow him to control darkness and suck in everything he comes into contact with. To what limits is of this moment still unknown. Furthermore he seems to be proficient in all three types of haki as well. To what level is unknown as well." The captain told the vize-admirals who grew silent once more at the news until a minute of pondering passed by and Momonga asked the captain to continue his story.

"Sir, the other participant seems to be a young man of impressive height, only wearing a pair of trousers. He, as well, possesses a devilfruit of the zoan type and seems to have control over his haki as well. To what level is unknown as well, though Blackbeard adressed the young man by the saying 'meeting another king' which I believe is an indication that he is in possession and possibly control of conqueror's haki as well. They clashed and Blackbeard lost, after having first taken out a group of Whitebeard-pirates that seemed to have confronted Blackbeard of their own volition before the whole fight broke out. At the end of the fight, Blackbeard was heavily injured and had to be rescued by his crewmembers from the looks of it. In the heat of battle our spies were heavily injured from the shockwaves alone, which leveled the town of Jaya in the process, and making it impossible for the spies to supply us with more information about the two, as the winner soon after Blackbeard as well, left the island. This is all we learned!" The captain finished his narration, making a few of the vize-admirals curse at the story they had heard just now.

Momonga said while surpressing some curses of his own with a dark expression on his face:

"I believe it stands to reason that, from the description we received of the winner, he is the same one that incapacitated admiral Aokiji. Do we have a name to fit the mans discription captain?" He asked towards the captain, who straightened once more after thinking he had been dismissed.

"No sir. Though I may have an idea of who he is, but I am not a hundred percent sure..." The captain said, while going through his memories and came upon a strange happenstance he thought to be a possibility after witnessing all the clues and information being passed around the room.

"Go ahead marine, let's hear it then." Momonga said, while all eyes came to rest on the fidgetting captain that began to sweat slightly under the pressure.

"Sir, I was one of the personnel that was stationed in Alabasta, in case a high-caliber bounty was brought in to be delivered to Impel Down and it just so happens that I was a member of the group that took former Shichibukai Crocodile into custody..." The captain spoke, which brought some unpleasant expressions to the faces of the vize-admirals since some of them held honor in high regards, which the world government didn't really care about and took an opportunity by the scruff of its neck to take in a dangerous pirate, even though he had been under contract hours before his delivery to Impel Down.

"....and the description I have heard so far from the winner of the duel on Jaya and the one from the admirals opponent are very similar to the one that brought Crocodile in that day. I only saw him briefly but he looks exactly from what I can remember seeing that day. If my assumption is correct than the man you have no name for yet is none other than Azul, possible bounty hunter, revolutionary or pirate, or even something completely different. He doesn't seem to follow any approach we have seen so far when it comes to opponents he picks to battle against." The captain finished his narration, making some vize-admirals pause in thought. It seemed to be too big of a conincidence for this not to be the case. Furthermore this Azul's route seems to be on course with Alabasta and Jaya so the possibility of the captains theory was at nearly 100% accuracy.

"Thank you captain for your help. You will receive a note of recommendation for your exceptional service today." Momonga said while turning back to his chair and sitting down, completely disregarding the captain while already turning over ideas on how to approach this Azuls bounty and some such.

"Thank you sir! Much appreciated sir!" The captain stated with a vibrating undertone from happiness before turning around and swiftly walking back out of the room, leaving only contemplative silence in the room.

"I believe, after all we have heard here today a rather large increase in this Azuls bounty is nothing else but a necessity. Let's hope that the spies managed to sneakshoot a picture of this Azul. The one we have right now is rediculous for someone of that notoriety. Now any recommendations regarding Azul's bounty and title?" And so the meeting proceeded far into the night until finally the vize-admirals came to a conclusion, which was revealed the next day in the newspapers, bringing shock to a lot of sailors and inhabitants all over the grandline due to the reasons given in the newspaper, which the marines had tried to cover up but in the end slipped through some loopholes anyways and thus became public topic number one.

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