[2311 words]

———————————————-

Another 2 hours went by as Sengoku was ready to return to Superbia Island, not to wage a war, but rather to salvage what was left and control the chaotic tides that have originated at the island.

On top of that, he had 300000 civilians to attend to.

.

“This ‘backup’ Kong-san talked about, I take it should arrive soon?” Basara’s coarse voice graced Sengoku’s ears.

The latter was currently watching the calm seas nearby under the slowly rising sun. The mixture of the two aspects caused the tides to glow a warm orange.

Cries of birds went off overhead as a serene yet solemn atmosphere remained.

.

“Hmm, anytime now.”

Speak of the devil, a voice went off.

“Taishō-dono, there’s a fleet of ships approaching from the West!” A Rear Admiral informed the two.

Sengoku just nodded.

The Rear Admiral seemed a little stiff.

“What is it?”

“Uhh, the ones arriving aren’t exactly what we expected…” The man gulped.

.

Sengoku’s eyebrow went up as he murmured, “Isn’t it just a marine fleet from G-5?”

“There are the battleships from G-5, but that’s not the problem.”

The 2 Admirals moved to the left side of the ship as they saw the line of ships arrive.

There were at least 50 ships!

Basara’s mouth dropped and Sengoku’s eyes widened.

.

20 of the 50 ships hailed the marines’ flag, which was to be expected, but the other 30 ships were the cause of concern.

The ship that led the other 30 had a wide sail with a logo printed on it.

It was a weird eye-like symbol that had 6 other circles of unique designs around it.

[A/N: Image of the Logo.]

Near that ship were tens of other symbols that the 2 men immediately recognized.

.

“What is this!” Basara roared out as he saw the tens of ships with non-marine emblems.

“Why would the Fleet Admiral send that filth here?!”

Basara was ready to raise mountains in anger but was stopped by his colleague.

“Basara-san, though I am as confused as you are, but don’t forget the Kong-san’s words.”

.

The one-eyed marine reluctantly yielded as his eye narrowed upon the man that stood at the helm of the leading ship.

He had a red cloak that seemed to glow a sizzling red draped over his whole person. In addition, he wore a matching red hood and a silver mask that hid his face.

.

“Of all the ‘unorthodox’ support we could get, why is it the shadows of the Underworld?” Sengoku sighed indignantly.

His identity was unknown to the public but feared by most Nobles around the seas.

He was, ‘Devil’s Architect’ – Fulcrum!

———————————————-

Back at Apollo Island was a departing ship.

It was Big Mom’s 4 children who had filled up their ride with as much gold as they could hold without risking the ship.

.

Katakuri had a feeling that he was being watched and yet could find no proof of such a thing.

Though as the saying goes – “Never discredit your gut intuition.”

After all, even the walls can grow ears when you deal with certain foes.

.

And it was just like the young pirate thought as, upon their leave, a purple shadow rose out of the distance darkness caused by a large tree.

The person’s body was wrapped in a tight, leather outfit and an assassin’s hood.

Though from afar it was easy to identify the body to belong to a woman.

.

She eyed the leaving ship and disappeared back into the darkness.

——-

At another area side of Apollo Island was a beach-like terrain near the shore.

However, most of it was filled with broken debris and other trash from the earlier fights.

It goes to show just how far the area of effect spans when such a war is waged, especially considering Apollo Island was far above Glint Island.

.

From the shadow cast by a broken sail rose the same woman as she seemed a little fidgety and expectant of something.

Though she was masked, you could see the joy pass through her person as she saw a flash of red on the horizon.

*Thud*

A rumble took the land as a young man of nearly towering stature landed on the ground.

With his iconic crimson eyes locked on the clothed assassin.

“I haven’t seen you for almost 4 months, how have you been, princess?” The youth asked with a look of affection.

.

Like a bullet, the female assassin whizzed on ahead into Damien’s open arms.

Damien encircled his arms around the girl who held him tightly, refusing to let go.

Under Damien’s near-11-foot tall frame, the girl was fully enveloped.

.

He let out a let chuckle as he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Hmm, Aurora, your body seemed to have developed rather impressively…” he muttered as he felt some rather conspicuous twin peaks through the tight assassin attire.

It would seem the One Piece world had quite a unique growing period during timeskips.

.

Aurora’s mask dissolved into purple energy as she seemed to hold on for dear life.

“I missed you, Damien.”

——-

A little while later.

.

Damien sat on a wooden log as he ate a giant piece of meat attached to a thick bone.

*Munch*

After taking a large bite that even Linlin would be impressed with, Damien said, “Oh? Those 2 have improved so much?”

Aurora who leaned her head on Damien’s shoulders hummed in unmasked joy. Her purple hair flew freely in the wind.

“Kuzan-kun is still plagued with constant desire to laze around but he has put more effort since you left, he’s a good child.”

“Mihawk-chan, I still feel like he’s too young for such dangerous weapons… a 4 year old. *Sigh*, but even so, he’s very studious and punctual with his training. Never to miss a single day.”

Damien nodded in satisfaction.

The girl continued with a soft smile, “Toki has also been studying all the books you gave, her, she misses you too.”

.

The red-eyed youth squinted his eyes, “Hmm, I need to go on a little trip to gain something new, I’ll also make a little detour back to Mortem Island then.”

.

He then looked at the girl, “Did you collect the stuff I asked you about?”

Aurora smiled in response, “Of course, everything is ready.”

*Vrooo*

The 2 then stepped into the World of Night, disappearing wholly from the scene.

Within the World of Night was a bizarre aether.

It was an infinite mist of purple energy.

Being in this realm allowed him to walk the earth in a separate plane of existence.

Damien always felt quite amazed by the versatility of devil fruits.

.

After ten or so minutes, the 2 reached a large hall that was swamped with items.

“I went through Soleil Fort, Solis Fort and even the Helios Capital treasuries. I collected what I could.”

Damien nodded, he did send Aurora to ransack the Overlord as much as possible.

.

She then shook her head with a light sigh, “Unfortunately where there are pirates, there are traitors.”

“As soon as Sol was being overwhelmed, people on the inside turned against him. I took as much as I could find but some of the major holds were broken before I could get there.”

Damien chuckled as he kissed Aurora on the top of her head.

“Don’t worry, you are only one person, just this amount is already a lot.”

Aurora gave a faint nod and went on, “As for Apollo Island, a few of Big Mom’s children got to it first, they took a devil fruit and a portion of the gold. They are still in my range, I can go get them back if you want, Damien.”

.

‘A fruit?’

Damien hummed in curiosity.

“No worries, dear. I have a feeling I know what fruit it is. Let’s see what you did find.”

Aurora nodded and she waved her hand.

*Purrup*

Purple mist from all around the realm warped into the treasure stack, sorting and organizing the loot.

A soft hum went off as the goodies were placed in order and tidiness.

“Now, let’s see what we have here…”

.

There were a few major things.

Devil Fruits.

Famed Blades.

A Historical Poneglyph.

Wood from the Treasured Tree Adam.

Gold. Lots of gold.

Rare artifacts.

A few Eternal Poses.

.

Damien nodded at the 8 devil fruits as his attention was turned to giant blue stone nearby.

The Poneglyph.

His eyes widened in surprise, “How interesting.”

———————————————-

[A Few Kilometers Away]

.

Sengoku stood with a grim expression as he looked at the woman that stood not so far away.

“I expected you to come, Tsuru, but not with such company.”

The Great Advisor of the Marines sighed in response.

“We cannot direct any more troops out from the Grand Line. It’s too much of a risk after losing nearly 20000 soldiers.”

The Admiral nodded slightly in agreement.

“This was a special occasion where all the major threats came together, if not for that, Kong-san would never allow you 5 to go. With all 3 Admirals deployed alongside Garp and Zephyr, we had to count on other ‘allies’,” Tsuru explained.

.

Basara stood with his arms crossed.

“Cheh, so you went to an Underworld Emperor… he even brought that bastard Morgans here!” He roared.

“That bird brat will eat up this defeat and continue to denounce us in the news!”

.

Sengoku drifted his eyes to the ‘allies’ that stood in the large ship next to them.

He saw Fulcrum casually sitting, enjoying the breeze.

On the seat across from the Emperor was a young bird-human.

A top official of the World Economy News Paper – Morgans!

.

“Now, now, Sengoku, Tsuru-chan, Basara-san, let’s all get along. That Fulcrum isn’t that bad!” A rambunctious laugh went off.

Sengoku rolled his eyes as he saw Garp in a Hawaiian shirt, lying down on a hammock.

“Garp you idiot, you’re only saying that because he brought you high-quality rice crackers.”

.

Tsuru looked at the horizon, her marine coat flying in the wind.

“Our failure, as Basara-san puts it, will be highlighted regardless. Therefore Kong-san made the choice to salvage what we could. Something the public will eat up.”

“Fully taking control of an Overlord’s territory. Liberating 300000 people. Capturing tens of thousands of New World Pirates. It makes for a good headline, especially with Morgans being the author,” Zephyr’s voice came in.

He stood with his usual marine shirt and coat, his muscles ever-vibrant.

Tsuru nodded, “We needed more people for such a large territory,” she then looked at Fulcrum not so far away.

“That’s when, conveniently enough, the Devil’s Architect voiced his support. A strong order was issued from the Celestial Dragons to which Kong-san relented.”

.

A defeating silence ensued between top marines as they all fell into thought.

With Fulcrum’s 10000 support squads and the remaining marines, it was plausible to gain a firm grip on the remnant forces of Superbia.

.

“Why is Fulcrum so vocal of his support? What does he stand to gain?” Zephyr questioned.

“He made a deal. He lent us ten thousand men to quell the disorder at Superbia at the condition that all the gold and other material goods that aren’t banned by the Government shall fall into his hands. With the support of nearly all of the Celestial Dragons’ families, it wasn’t something we could disagree with.” Tsuru answered.

.

At this point, one of the top marine powerhouses could not hold it in.

*Rumble*

The ground beneath the endless waters started to shake and rumble about.

Many were alarmed as they felt huge ripples of waters as large waves were released as giant swirls of earth rose out.

Basara raised his arms out as the earth moved as he willed.

.

“Stop, Basara-san!” Sengoku yelled out, but it was to no avail.

“Stooping so low to work with the filth that hides in the shadow of the night, Hah! Tell Kong-san I will personally take down all of Superbia myself, but before that, I will take out this vermin myself!”

.

“Dreaded Devastation!”

.

Under the shocked eyes of the top marines, the giant ever-warping earth was shaped into a large spear of 300-meter width that was shot forth at Fulcrum’s ship.

Sengoku was about to take action but saw something else…

.

*Crackle*

A loud thunderous sound of lightning blew out from Fulcrum’s body.

*Bzzzzz*

Arcs of fluid red lightning zapped around his crimson cloak as he stood before the coming attack.

Fulcrum raised his hand out as great amounts of lightning shot out, frying and blazing through the air.

BOOM!

In a clash of 2 elements, the rocky attack was utterly annihilated.

*Vzzz*

In a burst of electrical discharge, the Underworld Emperor disappeared from his ship and directly a few feet above the Admiral.

“Don’t be so hard-headed, Admiral-dono.”

.

“Crimson Discharge – Tempest Assault.”

.

Fulcrum’s body turned into full chaotic crimson lightning as his fist smashed upon the Admiral without mercy.

Under Basara’s Haki, the 2 clashed on.

BOOOOM!

With the relentless forces of the 2 powers, powerful shock waves were sent out.

Ripples of energy waved out in a grand spectacle, stunning all those present.

.

“The fruit lost for over 150 years… to think it fell into the hands of the Underworld scum.” The Admiral spat out.

Fulcrum’s erratic voice seemed slightly playful, “Now, now, don’t be so spiteful. It’ll lead to early wrinkles.”

BOOM!

The Admiral was sent back a few meters while Fulcrum elementalized 10 or so meters away.

“The invincible Logia – The Rumble-Rumble Fruit!” A marine yelled out.

.

“Enough, Fulcrum,” A stern voice went off.

Sengoku walked ahead of Basara, “The Navy will hold up to the deal; you can collect the gold and material wealth on your own. But only after the civilians and pirates have been secured.”

Fulcrum stood there, a few meters in the air, his mask as mysterious as ever.

.

“Very well. Let us sail right away.”

———————————————-

Do know that red lightning does occur naturally and it looks cooler than the usual blue.

https://discord.gg/4V3fYHQNnj