Chapter 100
Before the story starts, first of all, thank you to all of you for reading up to this point! Wow, I can't believe that it's chapter 100 already. There were many ups and downs, but we've come a long way!
Now, with Ace caught much earlier than the canon, and various other factors involved, I'm getting all the pieces ready... for the MARINEFORD WAR. Ugh, I have all these scenarios playing within my head, and can't wait to write out the part, but the necessary buildups and story progressions are killing me.
My tension is so high right now, cuz I finished all my midterms and am chilling right now, haha. Anyways, hope y'all enjoy a good weekend!
P.S. I tried to draw Rowan's appearance with my hands. Searched for some images on Pinterest and other sites, but I couldn't really find one that matches my imagination. Still an ass drawing, but hey, I think it's better than my Paint X ones.
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"Dan." Rowan said with a visible surprise on his face, "What the f***?"
Imagine his surprise, when he came to sight one of his crew member displaying a particular devil fruit power that belonged to the another that he killed minutes ago.
"Finally, captain. It has been too long." Dan said with a comical drop of tear from his right eye, as he clenched his right hand, which was crackling in blue-coloured electricity.
Carmen simply shook her head, "Well, the pineapple we got from Daifuku before... it suddenly transformed into a devil fruit."
Rowan's eyes widened upon hearing Carmen.
'Right. Transformation... I've only thought of the cons.' Rowan thought to himself, 'The random transformation. If we hoard all types of fruits, will we be able to attain more devil fruits?'
Dan seemed to be too excited on the other hand, as he began to blast up to the sky while transforming his body into lightning, before flickering all around Prominence.
Watching Dan's enjoyment, Carmen chuckled darkly, "I can't wait to see how that fem-boy will react to this."
"Speaking of which, where are the others?" Rowan asked in curiosity.
In response, Carmen pointed her finger towards the long beanstalk ahead of them.
"As soon as Gan Fall mentioned the word 'gold,' Carina went crazy. The others decided to follow her."
Rowan tilted his head in confusion, "Then how come Dan was left in the ship? I figured that he would be the first to scream for an adventure."
"Washroom break." With Carmen's one word, Rowan instantly understood.
"Oh, right." Zapping back onto the deck, Dan said in realization, "Captain, you got to see this."
With a flash of lightning, Dan rushed into the Prominence, before instantly returning back to the spot while holding a seashell-like object in his hand.
"Apparently, this is called 'dial,' an interesting device that plays a key role for the lives of the sky islanders."
For the purpose of demonstration, Dan pressed the middle of the seashell, and a small burst of flame was expelled from its hole, earning Carmen's snort.
"This variant in my hand is called flame dial. There exists many different kinds, and with this, I thought that we can-"
Rowan and Dan grinned at each other,
""Upgrade Prominence!""
<Yessssss, another upgrade, coming up!>
Hearing a sudden voice out of nowhere, Rowan, Carmen, and Dan looked to their left and right in confusion, only to find no one around.
They eventually shrugged off. Rowan and Dan prepared themselves to explore the Upper Yard for themselves, while taking the food Carmen prepared for them. They weren't concerned with the other members who wandered off, knowing that each one of them was capable on his or her own.
While the Grimheart pirates began to enjoy their stay in Skypiea, Prominence continued to sit by the shore of the Upper Yard, along with Carmen, who preferred to stay and relax.
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"Wow." Carina expressed her amazement upon arriving in front of a very large ship, known as the Ark Maxim that belonged to Enel.
Behind Carina, the soldiers under Enel's command, including four priests, were lying on the ground, unconscious, with each one of them having a bleeding hole on a particular spot of their neck.
Carina approached the ship and ran her hand over the smooth wooden exterior of the ship, before jumping on the deck and inspecting the sheer amount of gold that was used to build it.
"100... 300... 500? No, there's more. 600, 800, 900—a billion?!" Carina felt her mouth curling up in pure joy, upon realizing just how worth this ship was. "No wonder those people were so adamant on defending this."
Subsequently, Alfred too has entered the cave that housed the ship, and expressed his surprise.
"Oh? Look what you've found, mademoiselle Carina. A ship made out of gold, what an absurdity... how will it float above the ocean?"
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*BOOM*
A muscular man with a braided mohawk, small pair of wings, and a tattoo that extends from the left side of his face to his left shoulder, gritted his teeth in a cold sweat, upon sighting that the cannonball he shot with his bazooka was effortlessly blocked by a muscular-looking horse: Farul.
Said man's name was Wyper, the strongest warrior of the Shandia tribe—the natives of the 'Upper Yard.'
"Gahaha, how weak!" From Farul's behind, Cavendish laughed in mockery with his finger pointing at Wyper.
From Cavendish's right, Robin lightly chuckled with her hands in her pockets.
"You f****** punk!!!" Wyper retorted with a fury of his own, before rushing towards Cavendish with his huge bazooka above his head, trying to slam it down onto Cavendish. However,
"Neigh~!!!"
*BOOM*
Wyper was knocked back by Farul's ferocious body slam on his bazooka, with the latter not having sustained any injury. Due to the recoil that he felt from Farul's blow, Wyper's grip on the bazooka shook in an unstable manner.
"Well done, my sweet Farul!" Cavendish grinned as he gently caressed Farul's mane, and in response, Farul made an eye smile while affectionately rubbing his head to Cavendish. A pinkish atmosphere was generated around them, causing Wyper's anger to momentarily halt in confusion.
"Fufu, you two surely are compatible." Robin said with a smile and her head tilted slightly.
"Wyper!!" Another warrior, who situated himself behind Wyper, cried out in disbelief. Fear began to seep into his eyes, upon realizing how capable the individuals in front of them were.
Wyper grimaced, while contemplating what their next course of action should be.
As the Shandian warriors nervously stood in their spots, the sounds of footsteps were heard from their behind. Upon noticing the people responsible for producing such sound, Cavendish, Robin, and Farul's eyes widened.
"Eh? Captain and Dan? What are you guys doing with them?" Cavendish's neck outstretched and eyes squinted, being unable to comprehend just what was going on.
"Oh, are they your crew members?" An old-aged man wearing a canine head of a wolf, asked Rowan on his right.
Rowan sweatdropped, "Yes, they are. Good thing that we managed to intervene before the situation worsened."
"Chief! What are you doing here?!" Wyper exclaimed with his eyes widened.
"Uhh, captain, what happened to that lightning dude?" Cavendish raised his eyebrow questioningly.
Robin shook her head upon hearing Cavendish's question, for she knew that he was simply stating the obvious. However, what happened next was completely out of her expectation,
*Pazzzzzz*
A crackling sound of electricity was heard as Dan's right hand began to glow up in a blue-colour, with Dan himself haughtily grinning at Cavendish, whose eyes hollowed out in horror.
"N-no way." One Shandian warrior whispered in complete shock, "How does he have the same power as Enel?!!"
The chief closed his eyes before answering the question in a solemn tone, "Enel is dead, by this man next to us."
"""WHAT?!!!""" Wyper and the others all simultaneously screamed, unable to believe the words spoken out of the chief.
"Well, you know what happened now." Rowan chuckled, before turning his head to Robin, "Apart from a matter as trivial as that-"
"""TRIVIAL?!!!"""
"-I've located a Poneglyph-"
"W-w-w-what?!" The chief's eyes widened upon hearing Rowan, "P-Poneglyph you say?!!"
Robin's eyes flashed in interest.
"-it was attached on this big belfry made out of gold."
""""GOLDEN BELFRY BELL?!!!!"""" The Shandian warriors and chief screamed in unison, earning a sweatdrop from Rowan due to their repeated interruptions.
"I bet that Carina will love it." Rowan ended with a chuckle, before pointing his finger towards the particular direction, "It should be on that cloud."
"What cloud?" Wyper said with his hand on top of his eyes, trying to sight the cloud Rowan was pointing at.
The chief gained a hopeful gleam in his eyes, "After all these years... in a span of one day, all of a sudden, Enel is gone, and the golden bell is found... is this a dream?"
*ZOOM*
At the next moment, with a purple flash, Carina and Alfred suddenly appeared in the middle of the crowd, causing the Shandian warriors to jolt back in caution.
"Geez, took me some time to locate you all." Carina said with a smile, as she turned her gaze to Rowan with sparkling eyes, "Rowan, you got to see what Alfred and I managed to find! A literal ship made out of gold-"
"Ah, so that's where the golds went." The chief nodded his head, "Those golds originally belonged in our ancestral city, Shandora."
Rowan momentarily turned his head and deadpanned at the chief, 'Seems like this tribe has a thing for interrupting another's speech.'
"And look what happened to me." Dan said with a grin, while showcasing the electricity that floated around him proudly.
"Ehh?" Carina yelped, with Dan's newfound power completely catching her off-guard.
"Oh, it seems that you ate the devil fruit that previously belonged to the very opponent that captain Rowan faced against!" Alfred clapped his hands in a pleasant surprise, "Congratulations, monsieur Dan!"
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Three days swiftly passed by.
With the sun illuminating the sight, Prominence fully displayed its majestic form, with the wolf figurehead proudly staring off at the horizon, and many jet dials, which the crew removed from the Ark Maxim, were now attached at the exterior of the ship.
This meant that Rowan and Carmen's collaboration was no longer required to keep the ship afloat in the air.
Furthermore, with the human battery, known as Dan, along with the alternate source of energy called Carmen, the Grimheart pirates no longer needed to worry in terms of utilities. Hot bath, warm interior, fully running training facilities, everything will be in peak condition!
Additionally, they now accumulated an incredible amount of wealth. Apart from the insane amount of money, amounting up to a billion, that they already had previously, there was a huge influx of gold into their ship; they now had a 'treasury room' within Prominence, which quickly became Carina's favourite room.
In terms of Poneglyph, there wasn't anything notable in contrast to the shocking reveal in the Alabasta. Robin simply deciphered the text and attained the message, and to Rowan's surprise, she decided to disclose the information to the crew—not that anything changed after hearing the context regarding the Poseidon, as well as the Pluton from Alabasta.
*Dinggggg*
Now, with the loud and clear sound of the golden bell resounding throughout the whole sky, Rowan smiled to himself, before turning his head back to the front, with him standing at the foremost section of the deck. Crossing his arms together, Rowan made an order to his crew,
"Sail out."
"Aye aye, captain!" Dan replied with a grin as he placed his hand on top of a metal pole that lied in the middle of the Prominence, before transferring a large amount of electricity.
As the Prominence began to blast off of its spot at a blinding speed, with all jet dials activating simultaneously, all members of the Grimheart pirates stared off at the vast white sea in excitement.
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[Marine Base G-8]
"As I suspected... the Grimheart pirates." Jonathan nodded as he sighted Prominence with the binoculars in his hands. The jolly roger of the Grimheart pirates proudly displayed on its masts, as the Prominence domineeringly flew towards the base. "They are coming straight to this direction, and this means one thing: Log Pose."
*Tap* *Tap*
"Bwahahaha, is that true?" From Jonathan's behind, a boisterous laugh was heard as the series of footsteps approached him. "Grimheart pirates?!"
"Welcome to G-8, Admiral Kuzan and Vice Admiral Garp." Jonathan spoke up in a calm demeanour as he turned around and slightly bowed his head, "You two have come at perfect timing."
Kuzan gave a lazy sigh, "Haa, I was on my break you know. Isn't this just too cruel?"
"Bwahahaha, I see that you are lazy as always, Kuzan!" Garp laughed loudly as he patted Kuzan's back, causing the latter to flop due to the force behind Garp's pats.
Jonathan gave an eye smile momentarily, before speaking up in a serious tone, "Please do hear me out.
At the current moment, excluding the horse on their ship, there are six known members of the crew: Grimheart, Phantom Assassin, Flame Empress, Black Mask, Pirate Prince, and Butler.
Grimheart has shown the capability to singlehandedly destroy Crocodile, and the combined force of Flame Empress and Pirate Prince was enough to defeat Vice Admiral Onigumo. Additionally, Phantom Assassin slaughtered the marine troop led by Rear Admiral Akehende, and Black Mask managed to achieve a victory against six Commodores, by himself.
Judging by these data, I concluded that it would be the most plausible for Vice Admiral Garp to face Grimheart himself. Although it will be tiring, Admiral Kuzan, the elite marine forces brought along with the two of you, and me—we will have to handle the rest of the crew members. With a capability to fly, any sort of tactics using the landscape will be pointless."
Garp and Kuzan nodded in agreement, finding Jonathan's explanation reasonable.
"With all that said," Jonathan turned his eyes to the sea, where Prominence appeared in his line of sight without the binoculars, "let the game of chess begin."