Chapter 103

Grandline, New World

Later that day the sun was setting in the horizon, tinging the sky into a warm red color. Down below the oceans surface all the while was calm with the occasional seagull drifting on the slight waves, possibly taking a break after a long time of flying.

Another thing that was slowly passing over the waves was the Moby D.i.c.k. Its colossal frame shoving itself through the tiny waves without budging in the slightest spraying water from the broken waves left and right at its front.

On top of the ship, covered by the red line of the evening sun, was a lone figure that was moving through different stances, sweating from the strain the extremely slow motions caused the man. While the man was moving through the different stances his eyes were shining with a bright blue light as if they were two juwels from the depth of the ocean floor, gleaming from elation the strenuous movements were putting him through.

While the man was exercising another man with a huge frame, towering even over the practicing ones, stepped up the stairs that lead onto the upper deck of the front of the Moby D.i.c.k.

"Does your fighting style have a name?" The large newly arrived man named Whitebeard asked Azul who kept on practicing as if he hadn't heard the question to which Whitebeard didn't react besides walking to the railing where he sat down while observing Azuls form in silence.

10 minutes later Azul finished the last movements of his forms and with a slow and steady breath exhaled, a peaceful expression overtaking his face while sweat was running down his muscled body as he moved over to where he had put a towel over the railing, which he promptly used to wipe the sweat away from his face. In the process Azul walked over towards Whitebeard where he sat down besides the captain of the Moby D.i.c.k, receiving a bottle of beer from said man which he took gratefully.

"Why do you want to know?" Azul asked while he let the liquid gold of the beer run down his throat, filling his stomach with a pleasant cool feeling. As he did so his face remained soft with a serene expression plastered onto it.

Whitebeard in response grunted once, took a few large gulps from his ever present sake flask, after which he hummed in thought before he replied.

"It reminds me of someone though the difference is so big I could be mistaken…" Whitebeard rumbled in a thoughtful tone. As his thoughts seemed to come to a halt Whitebeard glanced at the man sitting besides him who hadn't yet answered him and only hummed slightly, not giving anything away.

"Does the name Lee Mu Bai ring any bells?" Whitebeard asked again while keeping his eyes trailed on the face of Azul who had yet to answer.

"Did you know him this Lee Mu Bai?" Azul asked with a neutral tone which didn't really tell Whitebeard anything though he still wondered…

"I met him once after he fought Kaido to a draw. To that day I hadn't even heard of the mans name and yet there he was, a nobody, fighting my old comrade, now emperor of the seas, to a draw. Rather unusual if you ask me. He was a ferocious man that Mu Bai…" Whitebeard mused in a rather low volume, unusual for the man.

"Just like you he had a domineering spirit I had rarely seen before and again just like you he didn't seem to belong to either pirates or marines. Curious, wouldn't you say?" Whitebeard said while his deep voice reverberated over the deck of the Moby D.i.c.k on which the two where alone, the rest of the crew sitting inside the sh.i.p.s canteen where they had received their dinner. Somehow said dinner always ended with some kind of brawling in between crewmembers while the rest couldn't help but laugh at the morons that were fighting. Especially heated was it today after Whitebeard had unleashed the truth about the one piece on them causing the already noisy crew to break all records.

After Whitebeards retelling on how he had met Lee Mu Bai silence descended on the pair once again, only broken now and then by gulping sounds as they drank their respective drinks, neither being bothered by the silence as they watched the sun sink further and further below the horizon.

"He was my master seemingly a lifetime ago. At least that's what it feels like now. I studied under him for a few years so you aren't wrong in your assumption of our fighting styles sharing a few similarities…" Azul said after a few minutes of silence causing Whitebeard to hum in response before he replied with an inquiry.

"What happened to him?" Whitebeard asked while glancing towards Azul whos face remained calm and yet the vigor that had been present in his eyes had dimmed a little when he heard Whitebeards question.

"He died." Azul answered shortly causing Whitebeard to nod as he had suspected something like that to be the case after he heard Azul refer to Mu Bai in the past tense.

"The world government?" Whitebeard asked followed by a large gulp from his by now nearly empty flask.

"Ay, the world government." Azul replied with a nod of his own. Afterwards the two of them sat in silence for a bit longer, enjoying the serenity of the ocean and the soft breeze that playfully twisted and turned around them and sometimes caused the sails to flutter.

Raising his flask towards the sun in salute Whitebeard spoke:"To Lee Mu Bai!" a few seconds later Azuls bottle joined the flask in the air after which he himself repeated the salute."To Lee Mu Bai!" Afterwards the both of them emptied their respective bottles in one go, both burping like a roaring lion to the high heavens followed by laughter that echoed over the ocean in all directions causing a few seagulls that had settled on the ocean for the night to gawk in indignation while slightly jumping into the air in surprise. Pirates…!

Grandline, New World

All over the grandline sh.i.p.s belonging to the fleet of the Whitebeard pirates began to leave their respective harbors under the watchful eyes of the marines and agents of the world government which swiftly afterwards notified their commanders of the direction said sh.i.p.s sailed to. All of them, as the commanders soon found out, had one common goal. Dress Rosa.

Thus a committee was called together to discuss how they would respond to the mobilization of Whitebeards fleet and their possible goals.