_________ POV Narration_________
"Well... That's a bit more complicated to answer..." Shanks smiled a bit as he looked Enel straight in the eye.
"Shouldn't be. It is a pretty straightforward question." Enel voiced out as he continued to stare at Shanks.
In the end, the Red-Haired Emperor relented. He ended up raising his hand and shrugging a bit.
"Aight... I helped you out because I have a pretty decent opinion of you."
Enel simply tilted his head to the side and waited for Shanks to elaborate a bit.
"To start from the beginning..." Shanks coughed a bit when seeing Enel's reaction, then continued speaking.
"I was planning to interfere with the war at Marineford and ensure that Ace was saved myself... But Kaido also decided to go after Whitebeard at that time, so I was stuck holding him off."
Enel simply nodded, he already knew about Shanks stopping the war, and he also knew about his confrontation with Kaido.
Him wanting to save Ace wasn't something he could expressly remember from the show, but Shanks was so scarcely portrayed that Enel had no clue whether that was true or not.
"I had previously only thought about you as a strange and suspicious individual. Your appearance on the world stage was too sudden for me. But after you saved both Ace and Luffy, my opinion of you became a bit better."
"Figures... I guess I made many friends that day." Enel simply shrugged.
"But it wasn't just that..." Shanks continued, another smile rising on his face.
"Although the World Government tried to hide it, I know that you also saved Foosha Village, which is something I must thank you for, by the way."
Enel couldn't help but smile at that, rubbing his chin as he finally understood how he had inadvertently befriended Shanks.
'This wasn't exactly planned, I wasn't really sure that Shanks would care about the people I saved until now... He seemed laid back in the show, a kind person. But his ties to the World Government were what made him suspicious to me.
It's possible that he's only lying to me, sure. But if he was truly working with the world government, he wouldn't have worked alongside Dragon to save me.'
In the end, Enel simply sighed and spoke once more.
"I get it. Now, what else has happened while I was out?"
"Well, to begin with. We have no idea what the World government was trying to achieve with this war, if it was to take away attention from recent news, then they sure got close to doing that."
Enel frowned when hearing that. "What, random war happens and everyone forgets about the atrocities they committed? The revolts were also bloody, I'm sure plenty of people have a bone to pick with them now..."
"Well... It would be nice if it was that simple. The world government confirmed that Baltigo was wiped off of the world, they also confirmed that it was done using an experimental weapon.
A weapon owned and created by the 'vile' Revolutionary Army."
The Sky King's eyebrows trembled a bit, as some veins appeared on his forehead.
"I get it..." He said in a low voice.
'The World Government decided to turn the Revolutionaries into a bigger, existential threat, something to scare the people off...
Meanwhile, they are likely selling themselves as the only ones capable enough to protect them from that threat.'
Enel was growing more and more frustrated with the amount of bullshit the government was publicizing. But he was in no condition to rebuke them.
'... I should've expected this. I'm dealing with a tyrannical government that has been holding the rest of the world on a tight leash for centuries.'
"I get your frustration... Currently, I heard that News agencies are also being purged all around the world... The News Coo have mostly been hunted down into extinction...'
'Shit... So Morgans can't publicly fight the misinformation either... Well, he should be in hiding anyway, which might be better for his own safety.'
Shanks sweated a bit when seeing how badly Enel was reacting to all of the information.
'The worst has yet to even come...' Shanks thought to himself as his smile became even more strained.
"I should also let you know... This is more of my hypothesis than anything, by the way. But it seems to me that the Government is trying to throw the world into a sort of communications dark age..."
Enel immediately snapped his gaze towards Shanks.
"Are they hampering communication on a worldwide scale?"
"Sort of... Besides taking down most independent news and media, they have also started making Transponder Snails less available."
At that point, Enel's fist trembled, as his mind filled with frustration.
'Shit. This is just shit. Nothing good has happened in relation to this stupid war...' Then, Enel looked down at his missing arm. 'Nothing good at all...'
"I should mention, that all of the marines we saved have been declared dead by the world government.
They also swiftly promoted the recently recruited Admiral, Aramaki, to Fleet Admiral. Gion and Tokikake were also made Admirals, to fill in the ranks, I guess.
They didn't even wait a day after the island got destroyed... Almost as if they were expecting that.
This is the main reason Akainu and the rest agreed to go with Dragon instead of returning to the Marines."
"Well... Thanks for telling me all of that... Please tell me there's no other bad news from now on?" Enel looked at Shanks pleadingly, and the Red-Haired Emperor simply shrugged.
"Well, I wouldn't say there isn't any more bad news... There isn't any more news at all."
"Right... Communicational Dark Age." Enel simply rolled his eyes at that.
"Indeed... Well, you should rest for now. Crocus and I will leave you alone for a bit, to digest the information." Shanks then got up, realizing that Enel likely needed some space.
'He also needs to come to terms with the loss of his limb... I bet mine on the future generation, so I didn't mind, but he lost it in a war, so our situations are different...'
"Hmph... Try not to overexert your mind, kid. Your body isn't the only one that needs rest." Crocus took one last look at Enel before leaving the room alongside Shanks.
'The situation just became a hundred times more complicated... If not even Shanks is able to stay up to date on information, then the World Government really is going all out.'
Enel then came to a realization.
'Wait a minute... The world government has currently alienated a lot of powerful figures... They've technically lost a lot of fighting power.
All of the high-ranking marines, well, most of them, are gone.
Only Kong, Aramaki(weakling), Gion and Tokikake are defending the Holy Land. There might be more powerful CP agents there, but that still puts them at a disadvantage against most Yonko crews...'
Enel slowly tried to stand up, leaning on his cane as he smiled a bit.
'In the past, I was hesitant to attack them because of Kizaru and the others, all of them together could've proved an annoying fight for me.
But with him gone...'
Enel started slowly walking around the room, trying to give his muscles some work to do, as they had been dormant for a while now.
"Should I just attack the holy land?... Well, take shots from a distance, more likely..."
Enel then felt a shudder in his spine, as he finally remembered that large eye in the sky. Something that his mind had been pushing aside for a while now.
'No... At the time, I couldn't think much about it. But that eye looked familiar...
IM only appeared once or twice in the whole story, but his appearance was always memorable...'
A strange inkling of fear appeared inside Enel's mind as he remembered that eye.
'I can't face something like that as I am now... Even attacking from a distance, I have no assurance that he can't just erase me...'
In the end, Enel simply grasped at his missing arm, before he decided on something.
'Alone, I stand no chance against it...
Right now, the only powerful thing about me is my devil fruit. It may work on others, but it seems that I couldn't affect either that Red Light or that eye in the sky...'
He really only had one choice.
"I need to train my haki... I also need to train my Conqueror's Haki. I should visit Big Mom first, to make sure everything is fine..."
Then, Enel remembered something, and his eyes widened.
'Wait... Kaido's crew were fighting on Sky Island, I think that CP agent mentioned them... Doesn't that mean Kaido will track them down after Garp and Francisco beat the shit out of them?
Pretty sure Francisco won't kill them... Shit, I need to get there... Well, I'm in no real state to face off against Kaido, honestly. Garp should manage, and Francisco himself is nothing to scoff at.'
In the end, Enel decided to just trust his associates.
'I didn't work hard to make so many allies just to end up doing everything by myself. Though I should still make sure '
And so, Enel decided to return to his bed and rest for a bit more, unaware that just as he did that, Kaido also finally decided to check on his subordinates.
'What the hell are they doing? I figured it might take them a while, but it's already been a week, and they aren't responding at all...' Kaido sipped some sake, like the drunkard he was, and then looked at the floor for a bit.
'Both Who's Who and Sasaki died judging from their Vivre Cards burning up. But King and Queen survived, I don't know what happened, but I'm assuming they won...
Unless... Did these buffoons get captured?'
And so, Kaido decided to take it upon himself and track his subordinates down...
As he took off, the Sky Islands were still drifting along, a large cloud to the people below, nothing out of the ordinary, but Gan Fall was a bit frustrated.
'We lost any power we might've had for the Rotors, we've been drifting for the better part of a week... When is Enel coming back?!'
The turbine meant to harvest energy wasn't doing much at all, only serving occasionally to turn on the rotors before running out of fumes.
They were basically completely at the mercy of the winds...
Garp and Francisco both didn't seem to care about it though.
Francisco was too busy training Wyper, their newly awakened genius.
And Garp was still drilling the remaining Sky Island defenders.
Everyone was now filled with determination to get stronger after their pathetic loss to Kaido's henchmen.
And Kaido's men were currently all still chained up in several jails, waiting on a verdict.
Gan Fall was still unsure whether or not to execute them or use them as slave labour.
They still needed to construct plenty of things, and they also needed to perform constant maintenance on the chains that tied Upper Yard and Skypea.
Most of the people on the Sky Islands had any idea what was coming towards them...
But both Garp and Francisco were expecting Kaido to roll up on them at any moment. They both knew of his abilities, and they were both prepared to face him.
Francisco specifically was excited. 'That Dragon brat better not disappoint me... These old bones haven't had a good fight in ages.'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Sorry for the unannounced small break(didn't have time to write over the weekend), honestly tho, ideas are flowing kind of well after said break :))
Also, kinda made it so that Kaido got the dragon fruit a few days before God Valley, it's mentioned later in an actual chapter, but felt I'd add it here in case anyone's wondering
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
_________ POV Narration_________
"Well... That's a bit more complicated to answer..." Shanks smiled a bit as he looked Enel straight in the eye.
"Shouldn't be. It is a pretty straightforward question." Enel voiced out as he continued to stare at Shanks.
In the end, the Red-Haired Emperor relented. He ended up raising his hand and shrugging a bit.
"Aight... I helped you out because I have a pretty decent opinion of you."
Enel simply tilted his head to the side and waited for Shanks to elaborate a bit.
"To start from the beginning..." Shanks coughed a bit when seeing Enel's reaction, then continued speaking.
"I was planning to interfere with the war at Marineford and ensure that Ace was saved myself... But Kaido also decided to go after Whitebeard at that time, so I was stuck holding him off."
Enel simply nodded, he already knew about Shanks stopping the war, and he also knew about his confrontation with Kaido.
Him wanting to save Ace wasn't something he could expressly remember from the show, but Shanks was so scarcely portrayed that Enel had no clue whether that was true or not.
"I had previously only thought about you as a strange and suspicious individual. Your appearance on the world stage was too sudden for me. But after you saved both Ace and Luffy, my opinion of you became a bit better."
"Figures... I guess I made many friends that day." Enel simply shrugged.
"But it wasn't just that..." Shanks continued, another smile rising on his face.
"Although the World Government tried to hide it, I know that you also saved Foosha Village, which is something I must thank you for, by the way."
Enel couldn't help but smile at that, rubbing his chin as he finally understood how he had inadvertently befriended Shanks.
'This wasn't exactly planned, I wasn't really sure that Shanks would care about the people I saved until now... He seemed laid back in the show, a kind person. But his ties to the World Government were what made him suspicious to me.
It's possible that he's only lying to me, sure. But if he was truly working with the world government, he wouldn't have worked alongside Dragon to save me.'
In the end, Enel simply sighed and spoke once more.
"I get it. Now, what else has happened while I was out?"
"Well, to begin with. We have no idea what the World government was trying to achieve with this war, if it was to take away attention from recent news, then they sure got close to doing that."
Enel frowned when hearing that. "What, random war happens and everyone forgets about the atrocities they committed? The revolts were also bloody, I'm sure plenty of people have a bone to pick with them now..."
"Well... It would be nice if it was that simple. The world government confirmed that Baltigo was wiped off of the world, they also confirmed that it was done using an experimental weapon.
A weapon owned and created by the 'vile' Revolutionary Army."
The Sky King's eyebrows trembled a bit, as some veins appeared on his forehead.
"I get it..." He said in a low voice.
'The World Government decided to turn the Revolutionaries into a bigger, existential threat, something to scare the people off...
Meanwhile, they are likely selling themselves as the only ones capable enough to protect them from that threat.'
Enel was growing more and more frustrated with the amount of bullshit the government was publicizing. But he was in no condition to rebuke them.
'... I should've expected this. I'm dealing with a tyrannical government that has been holding the rest of the world on a tight leash for centuries.'
"I get your frustration... Currently, I heard that News agencies are also being purged all around the world... The News Coo have mostly been hunted down into extinction...'
'Shit... So Morgans can't publicly fight the misinformation either... Well, he should be in hiding anyway, which might be better for his own safety.'
Shanks sweated a bit when seeing how badly Enel was reacting to all of the information.
'The worst has yet to even come...' Shanks thought to himself as his smile became even more strained.
"I should also let you know... This is more of my hypothesis than anything, by the way. But it seems to me that the Government is trying to throw the world into a sort of communications dark age..."
Enel immediately snapped his gaze towards Shanks.
"Are they hampering communication on a worldwide scale?"
"Sort of... Besides taking down most independent news and media, they have also started making Transponder Snails less available."
At that point, Enel's fist trembled, as his mind filled with frustration.
'Shit. This is just shit. Nothing good has happened in relation to this stupid war...' Then, Enel looked down at his missing arm. 'Nothing good at all...'
"I should mention, that all of the marines we saved have been declared dead by the world government.
They also swiftly promoted the recently recruited Admiral, Aramaki, to Fleet Admiral. Gion and Tokikake were also made Admirals, to fill in the ranks, I guess.
They didn't even wait a day after the island got destroyed... Almost as if they were expecting that.
This is the main reason Akainu and the rest agreed to go with Dragon instead of returning to the Marines."
"Well... Thanks for telling me all of that... Please tell me there's no other bad news from now on?" Enel looked at Shanks pleadingly, and the Red-Haired Emperor simply shrugged.
"Well, I wouldn't say there isn't any more bad news... There isn't any more news at all."
"Right... Communicational Dark Age." Enel simply rolled his eyes at that.
"Indeed... Well, you should rest for now. Crocus and I will leave you alone for a bit, to digest the information." Shanks then got up, realizing that Enel likely needed some space.
'He also needs to come to terms with the loss of his limb... I bet mine on the future generation, so I didn't mind, but he lost it in a war, so our situations are different...'
"Hmph... Try not to overexert your mind, kid. Your body isn't the only one that needs rest." Crocus took one last look at Enel before leaving the room alongside Shanks.
'The situation just became a hundred times more complicated... If not even Shanks is able to stay up to date on information, then the World Government really is going all out.'
Enel then came to a realization.
'Wait a minute... The world government has currently alienated a lot of powerful figures... They've technically lost a lot of fighting power.
All of the high-ranking marines, well, most of them, are gone.
Only Kong, Aramaki(weakling), Gion and Tokikake are defending the Holy Land. There might be more powerful CP agents there, but that still puts them at a disadvantage against most Yonko crews...'
Enel slowly tried to stand up, leaning on his cane as he smiled a bit.
'In the past, I was hesitant to attack them because of Kizaru and the others, all of them together could've proved an annoying fight for me.
But with him gone...'
Enel started slowly walking around the room, trying to give his muscles some work to do, as they had been dormant for a while now.
"Should I just attack the holy land?... Well, take shots from a distance, more likely..."
Enel then felt a shudder in his spine, as he finally remembered that large eye in the sky. Something that his mind had been pushing aside for a while now.
'No... At the time, I couldn't think much about it. But that eye looked familiar...
IM only appeared once or twice in the whole story, but his appearance was always memorable...'
A strange inkling of fear appeared inside Enel's mind as he remembered that eye.
'I can't face something like that as I am now... Even attacking from a distance, I have no assurance that he can't just erase me...'
In the end, Enel simply grasped at his missing arm, before he decided on something.
'Alone, I stand no chance against it...
Right now, the only powerful thing about me is my devil fruit. It may work on others, but it seems that I couldn't affect either that Red Light or that eye in the sky...'
He really only had one choice.
"I need to train my haki... I also need to train my Conqueror's Haki. I should visit Big Mom first, to make sure everything is fine..."
Then, Enel remembered something, and his eyes widened.
'Wait... Kaido's crew were fighting on Sky Island, I think that CP agent mentioned them... Doesn't that mean Kaido will track them down after Garp and Francisco beat the shit out of them?
Pretty sure Francisco won't kill them... Shit, I need to get there... Well, I'm in no real state to face off against Kaido, honestly. Garp should manage, and Francisco himself is nothing to scoff at.'
In the end, Enel decided to just trust his associates.
'I didn't work hard to make so many allies just to end up doing everything by myself. Though I should still make sure '
And so, Enel decided to return to his bed and rest for a bit more, unaware that just as he did that, Kaido also finally decided to check on his subordinates.
'What the hell are they doing? I figured it might take them a while, but it's already been a week, and they aren't responding at all...' Kaido sipped some sake, like the drunkard he was, and then looked at the floor for a bit.
'Both Who's Who and Sasaki died judging from their Vivre Cards burning up. But King and Queen survived, I don't know what happened, but I'm assuming they won...
Unless... Did these buffoons get captured?'
And so, Kaido decided to take it upon himself and track his subordinates down...
As he took off, the Sky Islands were still drifting along, a large cloud to the people below, nothing out of the ordinary, but Gan Fall was a bit frustrated.
'We lost any power we might've had for the Rotors, we've been drifting for the better part of a week... When is Enel coming back?!'
The turbine meant to harvest energy wasn't doing much at all, only serving occasionally to turn on the rotors before running out of fumes.
They were basically completely at the mercy of the winds...
Garp and Francisco both didn't seem to care about it though.
Francisco was too busy training Wyper, their newly awakened genius.
And Garp was still drilling the remaining Sky Island defenders.
Everyone was now filled with determination to get stronger after their pathetic loss to Kaido's henchmen.
And Kaido's men were currently all still chained up in several jails, waiting on a verdict.
Gan Fall was still unsure whether or not to execute them or use them as slave labour.
They still needed to construct plenty of things, and they also needed to perform constant maintenance on the chains that tied Upper Yard and Skypea.
Most of the people on the Sky Islands had any idea what was coming towards them...
But both Garp and Francisco were expecting Kaido to roll up on them at any moment. They both knew of his abilities, and they were both prepared to face him.
Francisco specifically was excited. 'That Dragon brat better not disappoint me... These old bones haven't had a good fight in ages.'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Sorry for the unannounced small break(didn't have time to write over the weekend), honestly tho, ideas are flowing kind of well after said break :))
Also, kinda made it so that Kaido got the dragon fruit a few days before God Valley, it's mentioned later in an actual chapter, but felt I'd add it here in case anyone's wondering
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
