Chapter 108

Grandline, New World

Fog, as far as the eyes could see, framed by nothing but the swaying waves at its bottom on which the huge marineship sailed on its way to meet one of the emperor's of the sea.

On its deck a man clothed in a black and yellow suit stood at the railing seemingly deep in thought while none of his usually lazy demeanor was visible. Not far away from him sat the newly inducted admiral Fujitora who was having a bowl of noodles with the vize-admiral Momonga seemingly without a worry in the world.

But Kizaru didn't mind them one bit. His mind was focused on the upcoming meeting and he couldn't figure out the dreading feeling that had arisen inside his stomach as soon as he had been ordered to go meet with Whitebeard as an official representative of the marines.

Since the trio, along with their crew, had set sail Kizaru had been pondering this feeling in the pit of his stomach which resembled something like a burning ball of steel that slowly burned itself through his intestines though not all that intense. Kizaru had at first thought the feeling stemmed from the prospect of meeting with the strongest man in the world, who was a pirate no less, but not soon after the thought had popped up he dismissed it right away. No. The feeling went more into the direction of dread, as if he knew something was going to go wrong and Kizaru had learned over his long career in the marine corps never to dismiss his gut feelings. Thus he stood there, the fog layering a thin layer of vapor onto his suit, face and hair while a soft drizzle had begun to fall from the skies.

"Oi Kizaru! Stop your worrying, will you? Your tenseness is driving my appetite into the ground. Come have a bowl of noddles with us instead, hmm?" Fujitora's voice echoed over the deck and in the process ripped Kizaru out of his planning for the worst case scenario as he had the feeling they would need such a plan soon enough.

"I'm not in the mood for noddles, Fujitora…" Kizaru responded while walking down into the cabin of the leading officers of the marine ship to study some maps instead leaving behind his two comrades in arms who hummed in thought as they could feel the tension in Kizaru's spirit clearly since they had set sail from headquarters which was so unlike Kizaru causing the both of them to feel a little under the weather as well, no matter how hard they tried to play it off.

Grandline, New World, ???

In the meantime said alliance had retreated into the hidden base of a seemingly deserted island at the start of the new world in order to train, gather information and prepare themselves for the beginning of the endeavor to seize a main part of the power that lay dormant at the feet of one of the emperor's of the seas, ripe for the taking…

Grandline, New World

"MARINE SHIP AHEAD!" the alarming outcry came from atop the mainmast of the Moby D.i.c.k where a lookout was stationed at all times even though nobody in their right mind would think about attacking one of the emperor's sh.i.p.s head on but on these oceans you could never be too prepared.

Following the warning from their lookout men jumped out of their hammocks or dropped whatever they were currently doing and began to rush over the deck to their posts in order to prepare the ship for a possible battle while commanding officers were yelling out orders and cursing whoever was too slow for their liking as was normal for any respectable sailor, let alone officer on a pirate ship.

Woken up from the noise outside Azul yawned in fatigue after his workout he had had last evening with the sleeping Robin that was pressed against his side who was slowly coming back from her dreams as well.

"Urgh, what the hell is that noise so god damn early in the morning…?" Azul asked into the fresh morning air after swinging his legs over the edge of their bed stretching himself up high which caused a few popping sounds to echo from his joints that lost the last vestiges of sleep in the process.

"Lemme sleep some more…" Robin mumbled into the sheets with a dead tired voice while burrowing her head under the pillows like a rabbit under the earth causing Azul to chuckle at the sight after which he put on his pants and went outside where he took a deep breath of the fresh morning air, all the while observing the bustling of the crew that seemingly was preparing for eventual combat.

"What's going on?" Azul asked while walking over to Jozu who lazily reclined against the railing while munching on something to eat which turned out to be some sort of sandwich. With a grunt he handed Azul another one followed by swallowing down the food in his mouth and answering Azuls question in short words as was his style.

"Marine ship it seems. Though they got the flag for diplomacy out so we aren't sure what they want."

"Hmm, alright." Azul replied just as shortly after which he walked over to the railing while taking a bite from his newly acquired sandwich.As he reached the railing his eyes took in the sight before him. Fog, splashing water under the slowly approaching keel of a marine ship which had its cannons retracted and a flag for diplomacy hissed though Azul could sense the fear and apprehension on board the marine ship even from such a distance of at least one mile without even utilizing his haki, which hung over the marine ship like a stinking cloud.

"Seems like it's going to be an interesting day." Azul mused to himself while a slow grin began to form on his face after which he turned around and headed back into the cabin to get some more minutes of sleep before the marines would reach them as there wasn't much he could do in the meantime and who would deny the warm and soft body of a woman if they had the chance to feel one up anyways?Thus Azul disappeared into their shared quarters while the marine ship was slowly approaching in his back on which the marines had no clue who they were about to meet soon enough once again…