________ POV Narration________
The Red Hair Pirates didn't really know what to expect while waiting on Enel to return.
They were mostly waiting for Enel to take Sengoku off their hands. It did also thankfully give the former fleet admiral enough time to somewhat recover.
Sengoku had already woken up, and he seemed to scowl when seeing that he was on an unknown ship.
The former Fleet Admiral had actually expected to die that day at Baltigo, he had been among the first to lose consciousness, as he was the one to take the brunt of that attack with his body.
Surviving did give him hope that the others were also fine though, he trusted the Admirals and Enel to be able to come out of the situation mostly unscathed.
When studying the state of his body, he was left a bit flabbergasted by it.
The first major injury in his career. And it was him losing all of his limbs, something that was bound to put him out of commission for the rest of his life...
Unless he struck some sort of deal with Vegapunk for some cybernetic implants.
'I'll deal with that eventually... But where am I?'
His memory was foggy, he only remembered how he and Enel rushed towards the island, meeting with the other marines, and then being forced to block something that felt unblockable.
It was truly a blunder, the worst part was that he wasn't even sure he could defend himself against pirates within the new world in his current state...
The Fleet Admiral only froze up completely when seeing Crocus and Shanks enter the room he was resting in.
'Shanks...? And is that... Crocus?'
It was indeed concerning, the remains of the Roger Pirates entering his room while he was otherwise indisposed...
Alas, Sengoku was well aware that they didn't carry any grudge for Roger's execution, the man had let himself get captured, so it was his own choice.
"Glad to see you're awake, Sengoku..." Crocus especially treated all of his patients with neutrality, regardless of their background, as a doctor, he needed to be that way.
When hearing the response, Sengoku could finally relax, neither pirate seemed to be interested in causing him any harm.
Shanks wasn't even carrying his sword, although he surely didn't need it to appear intimidating to the now limbless Sengoku...
"Crocus, Shanks... What the hell happened...?" The former Fleet Admiral only had that one question as he struggled to raise his head and lean on the bedframe behind him.
Shanks sighed, and Crocus helped him get into a more comfortable position.
The two pirates proceeded to explain the entire situation to Sengoku, who quietly listened the entire time, a permanent scowl on his face as Crocus helped him put his now cracked glasses on.
Everything was said that day, from the marines leaving with the Revolutionaries to Enel leaving not that long after to contact some other allies.
The fact that Akainu and the others left with Dragon, the man that had betrayed the marines previously, left a bad taste in his mouth.
'... Dragon mostly just betrayed the World Government, which appears to have now betrayed us... So there's no reason to keep a grudge, I guess...'
Dragon's betrayal had been a major hit for the marines, as Dragon had once been close to an Admiral position in the Navy.
But it was nowhere near as painful and damaging as Enel's betrayal during the Summit War.
And if Sengoku could excuse Enel for that and work alongside him on Baltigo, then he could certainly excuse Dragon for his misgivings...
Needless to say, the former Fleet Admiral was a bit disappointed that they had left him alone with Shanks of all people. But he assumed Enel trusted the man enough, and it did seem that the trust was well-placed.
In the first place, none of them would've survived without Shanks's and Dragon's interference. So Shanks could certainly be trusted, more so than the world government, at the very least.
Their actions did manage to surprise Sengoku, as the former Fleet Admiral recognized plenty of the methods and 'last resorts' that the government was taking.
Things like a 'Communicational Dark Age' it was technically at the very bottom of that list.
It meant that, essentially, the government was aiming to erase a good chunk of what had happened the past few years from history...
They were likely planning to erase the events of the upcoming war as well, so it was unknown just how much of their current time would go on to become a 'Second Void Century'.
It was unlikely to be an entire century this time around though. At least Sengoku didn't believe it to be so.
The war had been something that IM had prophesized long before Enel had ever appeared, it was something the Sengoku himself had done his best to postpone during his reign as Fleet Admiral.
Alas, his efforts were for nothing. No matter how many premonitions IM made, they would've never been able to calculate an outside factor interfering...
Since Sengoku himself was one of the people that was supposed to be erased, he decided to also give Shanks and Crocus that piece of information.
Shanks seemed to have a rather mild reaction, likely having already expected something similar to be happening.
Corcus didn't seem to be bothered all that much, as an old doctor he wasn't all that involved in the world, so he didn't care.
That conversation didn't last much longer after Shanks and Crocus gave Sengoku that rundown of everything that had happened.
Sengoku was free to go back to sleep, which was really the only thing he could do.
The days passed quickly for him, slowly some of his power seemed to return, and he could even crawl and stand up on his own, though it was difficult.
And he also learnt that they were somewhere inside the mouth of a large Island Whale.
Just as he learned about that, the seas above them seemed to stir, and a voice travelled throughout their surroundings.
An old sailor's song, a certified pirate classic that just about every sailor knew and loved.
Even Sengoku knew it verse by verse, as it was a sea shanty that even some marines liked to hum from time to time.
Though it was mostly for ironic purposes when they did it, as the song spoke of freedom and piracy in a very positive light.
Sengoku felt as the whale surfaced, and the pirates on the ship all broke out in song, Crocus entered his room with an annoyed huff locking the door behind him as the party raged on outside.
"What a childish bunch!" Crocus scoffed as he sat down on a chair near Sengoku's bed.
"Sailors will always be sailors... Can't ask them not to party at any chance they get. Any day might be their last, at least they know how to enjoy it..." Sengoku simply shrugged.
He had a rather strict sense of justice when it came to piracy. But even then he didn't consider every sailor that went off to do their own thing as a pirate.
Shank's crew were rather well-known to be quite harmless to most people, only gaining their title because of going against the government directly in several situations and facing off against stronger groups of pirates.
Sengoku would've been glad if there were more crews like the one Shanks led, alas, they were in the vast minority.
"Hmph... You'd think that some things would change over the years, but all these brats were just like this even when they first stepped on the grand line..."
Crocus could remember the Red Hair Pirates and their debut rather clearly, he had been the one to greet them at the Reverse Mountain back then.
The old doctor had seen countless crews come and go, many not as friendly as the last. He had many stories, and he had run into plenty of pirates that tried to steal from him...
Alas, no one just entering the Grand Line could ever prove to be a danger to the doctor that sailed with Gol D. Roger to the ends of the New World.
"At least Enel finally arrived to take me to the others... It's been rather lonely here." Sengoku sighed, changing the subject as he didn't really know much about the beginning days of the Red Hair Pirates.
"Sorry for the lack of companionship... Shanks would've liked to hang out with you more, but you didn't seem outright comfortable with his presence at all times." Crocus scowled a bit.
He had also been busy tending to Laboon, as he usually did. Though it was a lot easier now that Laboon no longer smashed his head into the Red Line.
"It's fine, we aren't exactly friends, though I appreciate all of the help you've given us." Sengoku was still not going to try and befriend any pirates himself, with Enel being maybe the only exception.
"Friends? Probably not. But one thing's for sure... We all have one common enemy now. And a rather obvious one." Corcus crossed his arms and scoffed a bit.
"... I won't be able to help much in my current state. I think we'll have to leave this to the next generation." Sengoku chuckled a bit when looking down at what was left of his body.
He was in no state to be called an enemy of the world government.
"I'm sure you'll manage... You and Garp are known to have been painfully persistent. I am also not the best doctor in the world.
There will certainly be abilities able to revert the damage done to you. And I believe Garp would not stop for anything in order to look for them."
Crocus pushed up his glasses before sighing again, the party outside was still alive and it was still annoying to the old man.
'... At least Laboon's enjoying it.'
On the deck of the ship, Enel had already landed and was greeted by various members of Shank's crew. Many tried to goad him into dancing around a bit more.
He did so for a bit, before finally reaching Shanks and sitting down beside him.
"Shanks! Been a while..." Enel said as he set his walking stick to the side, one of his earlobes patting the Red-Haired Emperor on the back.
"Not that long, ya know? Barely been a month." Shanks took a swig of his small barrel of Sake as he smiled at the Lighting Emperor beside him.
"Hmm? I guess it hasn't been that long then... Thanks again for looking after Sengoku." Enel smiled a bit as he spoke.
"Don't mention it. I'm guessing you're here to take the old marine back with you?" Shanks took another swig of his drink in between pauses, looking at his still singing and dancing crew in the background.
"Yep! Garp certainly wants to see him. I also have a proposition for you..." Enel's smile widened as one of his earlobes wrapped and tapped Shanks on the shoulder.
"... A proposition? We're already allies, there's no need to try and convince me to join you or anything..." Shanks laughed a bit, not weirded out by the earlobe one bit as he responded in earnest.
Shanks had already decided to fight alongside Enel when the time came. To him, it was only a matter of waiting for the war itself to start.
Enel was glad to hear that from Shanks. The Red Haired man was going to be a very powerful ally in the future, that much was clear.
"Thank you for your trust... But I'd like to ask you to join me right away, to join up with the others on the Sky Islands." Enel waved his palm around as he spoke.
There was a small period of silence, as both one-armed emperors looked at the sea before.
"... I don't think that's a great idea.
It's better to have some people still outside, gathering information and watching the World Government closely.
I can certainly help with that. Pull some strings and keep an eye out. But I can't do that while in hiding."
In the end, Shanks refused. Something that Enel had somewhat expected.
The Red-Haired Emperor had always been a man that did things his own way. Enel knew that trying to convince him would just be a waste of time.
"Welp, suit yourself... It's already more than enough that you want to join us for the war..." Enel shrugged not trying to push the idea further at all.
Shanks simply nodded, before putting down his sake and reaching into his pocket.
"Here, take this." He handed Enel a small transponder snail.
"..." Enel simply grabbed it and looked at it for a bit, it had on it drawn a small jolly roger, Shanks's Jolly Roger.
"We'll stay in contact through that for now. It's a private channel, at least the World Government can't silence all of those..." Shanks chuckled a bit as he picked his drink back up.
"Ok then, I guess I should get going, right?" Enel slowly got up, patting the dust off his coat with one of his earlobes as he picked up his walking stick.
"Huh? No way dude. You started this party, I know my crew, it's going to go on for at least 2-3 days. Since you started it you have to stick around." Shanks smiled as he also stood up to join his crew.
"..." Enel looked around for a bit, before simply shrugging. "Fair enough."
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Figured I'd mention a bit more about Sengoku's side of things before going on ;))
Imagine being a former fleet admiral and waking up being treated by a Yonko and the former doctor of the Pirate King. Pretty wild
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________
The Red Hair Pirates didn't really know what to expect while waiting on Enel to return.
They were mostly waiting for Enel to take Sengoku off their hands. It did also thankfully give the former fleet admiral enough time to somewhat recover.
Sengoku had already woken up, and he seemed to scowl when seeing that he was on an unknown ship.
The former Fleet Admiral had actually expected to die that day at Baltigo, he had been among the first to lose consciousness, as he was the one to take the brunt of that attack with his body.
Surviving did give him hope that the others were also fine though, he trusted the Admirals and Enel to be able to come out of the situation mostly unscathed.
When studying the state of his body, he was left a bit flabbergasted by it.
The first major injury in his career. And it was him losing all of his limbs, something that was bound to put him out of commission for the rest of his life...
Unless he struck some sort of deal with Vegapunk for some cybernetic implants.
'I'll deal with that eventually... But where am I?'
His memory was foggy, he only remembered how he and Enel rushed towards the island, meeting with the other marines, and then being forced to block something that felt unblockable.
It was truly a blunder, the worst part was that he wasn't even sure he could defend himself against pirates within the new world in his current state...
The Fleet Admiral only froze up completely when seeing Crocus and Shanks enter the room he was resting in.
'Shanks...? And is that... Crocus?'
It was indeed concerning, the remains of the Roger Pirates entering his room while he was otherwise indisposed...
Alas, Sengoku was well aware that they didn't carry any grudge for Roger's execution, the man had let himself get captured, so it was his own choice.
"Glad to see you're awake, Sengoku..." Crocus especially treated all of his patients with neutrality, regardless of their background, as a doctor, he needed to be that way.
When hearing the response, Sengoku could finally relax, neither pirate seemed to be interested in causing him any harm.
Shanks wasn't even carrying his sword, although he surely didn't need it to appear intimidating to the now limbless Sengoku...
"Crocus, Shanks... What the hell happened...?" The former Fleet Admiral only had that one question as he struggled to raise his head and lean on the bedframe behind him.
Shanks sighed, and Crocus helped him get into a more comfortable position.
The two pirates proceeded to explain the entire situation to Sengoku, who quietly listened the entire time, a permanent scowl on his face as Crocus helped him put his now cracked glasses on.
Everything was said that day, from the marines leaving with the Revolutionaries to Enel leaving not that long after to contact some other allies.
The fact that Akainu and the others left with Dragon, the man that had betrayed the marines previously, left a bad taste in his mouth.
'... Dragon mostly just betrayed the World Government, which appears to have now betrayed us... So there's no reason to keep a grudge, I guess...'
Dragon's betrayal had been a major hit for the marines, as Dragon had once been close to an Admiral position in the Navy.
But it was nowhere near as painful and damaging as Enel's betrayal during the Summit War.
And if Sengoku could excuse Enel for that and work alongside him on Baltigo, then he could certainly excuse Dragon for his misgivings...
Needless to say, the former Fleet Admiral was a bit disappointed that they had left him alone with Shanks of all people. But he assumed Enel trusted the man enough, and it did seem that the trust was well-placed.
In the first place, none of them would've survived without Shanks's and Dragon's interference. So Shanks could certainly be trusted, more so than the world government, at the very least.
Their actions did manage to surprise Sengoku, as the former Fleet Admiral recognized plenty of the methods and 'last resorts' that the government was taking.
Things like a 'Communicational Dark Age' it was technically at the very bottom of that list.
It meant that, essentially, the government was aiming to erase a good chunk of what had happened the past few years from history...
They were likely planning to erase the events of the upcoming war as well, so it was unknown just how much of their current time would go on to become a 'Second Void Century'.
It was unlikely to be an entire century this time around though. At least Sengoku didn't believe it to be so.
The war had been something that IM had prophesized long before Enel had ever appeared, it was something the Sengoku himself had done his best to postpone during his reign as Fleet Admiral.
Alas, his efforts were for nothing. No matter how many premonitions IM made, they would've never been able to calculate an outside factor interfering...
Since Sengoku himself was one of the people that was supposed to be erased, he decided to also give Shanks and Crocus that piece of information.
Shanks seemed to have a rather mild reaction, likely having already expected something similar to be happening.
Corcus didn't seem to be bothered all that much, as an old doctor he wasn't all that involved in the world, so he didn't care.
That conversation didn't last much longer after Shanks and Crocus gave Sengoku that rundown of everything that had happened.
Sengoku was free to go back to sleep, which was really the only thing he could do.
The days passed quickly for him, slowly some of his power seemed to return, and he could even crawl and stand up on his own, though it was difficult.
And he also learnt that they were somewhere inside the mouth of a large Island Whale.
Just as he learned about that, the seas above them seemed to stir, and a voice travelled throughout their surroundings.
An old sailor's song, a certified pirate classic that just about every sailor knew and loved.
Even Sengoku knew it verse by verse, as it was a sea shanty that even some marines liked to hum from time to time.
Though it was mostly for ironic purposes when they did it, as the song spoke of freedom and piracy in a very positive light.
Sengoku felt as the whale surfaced, and the pirates on the ship all broke out in song, Crocus entered his room with an annoyed huff locking the door behind him as the party raged on outside.
"What a childish bunch!" Crocus scoffed as he sat down on a chair near Sengoku's bed.
"Sailors will always be sailors... Can't ask them not to party at any chance they get. Any day might be their last, at least they know how to enjoy it..." Sengoku simply shrugged.
He had a rather strict sense of justice when it came to piracy. But even then he didn't consider every sailor that went off to do their own thing as a pirate.
Shank's crew were rather well-known to be quite harmless to most people, only gaining their title because of going against the government directly in several situations and facing off against stronger groups of pirates.
Sengoku would've been glad if there were more crews like the one Shanks led, alas, they were in the vast minority.
"Hmph... You'd think that some things would change over the years, but all these brats were just like this even when they first stepped on the grand line..."
Crocus could remember the Red Hair Pirates and their debut rather clearly, he had been the one to greet them at the Reverse Mountain back then.
The old doctor had seen countless crews come and go, many not as friendly as the last. He had many stories, and he had run into plenty of pirates that tried to steal from him...
Alas, no one just entering the Grand Line could ever prove to be a danger to the doctor that sailed with Gol D. Roger to the ends of the New World.
"At least Enel finally arrived to take me to the others... It's been rather lonely here." Sengoku sighed, changing the subject as he didn't really know much about the beginning days of the Red Hair Pirates.
"Sorry for the lack of companionship... Shanks would've liked to hang out with you more, but you didn't seem outright comfortable with his presence at all times." Crocus scowled a bit.
He had also been busy tending to Laboon, as he usually did. Though it was a lot easier now that Laboon no longer smashed his head into the Red Line.
"It's fine, we aren't exactly friends, though I appreciate all of the help you've given us." Sengoku was still not going to try and befriend any pirates himself, with Enel being maybe the only exception.
"Friends? Probably not. But one thing's for sure... We all have one common enemy now. And a rather obvious one." Corcus crossed his arms and scoffed a bit.
"... I won't be able to help much in my current state. I think we'll have to leave this to the next generation." Sengoku chuckled a bit when looking down at what was left of his body.
He was in no state to be called an enemy of the world government.
"I'm sure you'll manage... You and Garp are known to have been painfully persistent. I am also not the best doctor in the world.
There will certainly be abilities able to revert the damage done to you. And I believe Garp would not stop for anything in order to look for them."
Crocus pushed up his glasses before sighing again, the party outside was still alive and it was still annoying to the old man.
'... At least Laboon's enjoying it.'
On the deck of the ship, Enel had already landed and was greeted by various members of Shank's crew. Many tried to goad him into dancing around a bit more.
He did so for a bit, before finally reaching Shanks and sitting down beside him.
"Shanks! Been a while..." Enel said as he set his walking stick to the side, one of his earlobes patting the Red-Haired Emperor on the back.
"Not that long, ya know? Barely been a month." Shanks took a swig of his small barrel of Sake as he smiled at the Lighting Emperor beside him.
"Hmm? I guess it hasn't been that long then... Thanks again for looking after Sengoku." Enel smiled a bit as he spoke.
"Don't mention it. I'm guessing you're here to take the old marine back with you?" Shanks took another swig of his drink in between pauses, looking at his still singing and dancing crew in the background.
"Yep! Garp certainly wants to see him. I also have a proposition for you..." Enel's smile widened as one of his earlobes wrapped and tapped Shanks on the shoulder.
"... A proposition? We're already allies, there's no need to try and convince me to join you or anything..." Shanks laughed a bit, not weirded out by the earlobe one bit as he responded in earnest.
Shanks had already decided to fight alongside Enel when the time came. To him, it was only a matter of waiting for the war itself to start.
Enel was glad to hear that from Shanks. The Red Haired man was going to be a very powerful ally in the future, that much was clear.
"Thank you for your trust... But I'd like to ask you to join me right away, to join up with the others on the Sky Islands." Enel waved his palm around as he spoke.
There was a small period of silence, as both one-armed emperors looked at the sea before.
"... I don't think that's a great idea.
It's better to have some people still outside, gathering information and watching the World Government closely.
I can certainly help with that. Pull some strings and keep an eye out. But I can't do that while in hiding."
In the end, Shanks refused. Something that Enel had somewhat expected.
The Red-Haired Emperor had always been a man that did things his own way. Enel knew that trying to convince him would just be a waste of time.
"Welp, suit yourself... It's already more than enough that you want to join us for the war..." Enel shrugged not trying to push the idea further at all.
Shanks simply nodded, before putting down his sake and reaching into his pocket.
"Here, take this." He handed Enel a small transponder snail.
"..." Enel simply grabbed it and looked at it for a bit, it had on it drawn a small jolly roger, Shanks's Jolly Roger.
"We'll stay in contact through that for now. It's a private channel, at least the World Government can't silence all of those..." Shanks chuckled a bit as he picked his drink back up.
"Ok then, I guess I should get going, right?" Enel slowly got up, patting the dust off his coat with one of his earlobes as he picked up his walking stick.
"Huh? No way dude. You started this party, I know my crew, it's going to go on for at least 2-3 days. Since you started it you have to stick around." Shanks smiled as he also stood up to join his crew.
"..." Enel looked around for a bit, before simply shrugging. "Fair enough."
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Figured I'd mention a bit more about Sengoku's side of things before going on ;))
Imagine being a former fleet admiral and waking up being treated by a Yonko and the former doctor of the Pirate King. Pretty wild
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)
