Ivankov's smile filled Momonga with dread. He sensed the Revolutionary Army had a plan.
"The Red Port? Could it be Dragon?" Momonga exclaimed, thinking of the former Marine officer, a man once comparable to the later Admirals.
"You'll find out soon enough," Ivankov said, firing a Death Wink that Momonga blocked.
A deep sense of foreboding washed over Momonga. He didn't know where it came from.
Ivankov's confident smile made him realize the Marine reinforcements were already in trouble.
Meanwhile, at the Red Line, a bubble lift was preparing to descend from Mary Geoise. Aboard was Marine Admiral Ryokugyu.
"What's going on? Why does the bubble lift feel stuck?" Ryokugyu noticed something was wrong; it hadn't felt like they were descending for a while.
"St-Stuck?" the Marine officer beside him stammered.
"Haven't you noticed? The lift has been hovering at this height for quite some time without moving," Ryokugyu said.
"N-no, I haven't," the Rear Admiral said uncertainly.
"It does seem stuck," a soldier chimed in.
"You noticed?" Ryokugyu turned to ask.
"Yes, sir. I've been watching that rock for ten minutes. It hasn't changed position. We've descended a bit, but very slowly," the soldier pointed to a rock outside the window.
"Hmph, then there's a problem. Someone's deliberately stalling us," Ryokugyu said without guessing. He stepped onto the edge of the lift, pushed off forcefully, and leaped out.
The others dared not follow; they weren't Ryokugyu.
On the Red Port at the edge of the Red Line, a man looked up toward the sky, though his eyes held no light.
"Sigh, he's here after all," Issho sighed.
"Descending Flower!"
Ryokugyu fell rapidly like a meteor. At the critical moment, four vines sprouted from his back, bearing large leaves that slowed his descent, allowing him to land gently.
"Let me see who's behind this!"
Ryokugyu looked around. The Marine guards stationed there had already been defeated. No one else was around except the Revolutionary Army.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of a cane tapping the ground echoed. The familiar rhythm made Ryokugyu realize something. He looked up sharply, and a figure he never wanted to see stood before him.
"Long time no see, Aramaki."
"I thought of many people, but never you, Issho. You betrayed the Marines and joined the Revolutionary Army?" Ryokugyu said angrily.
"I did not betray the Marines. I am merely seeking my justice. Since I couldn't find the justice I needed within the Marines, I had to look elsewhere. In the Revolutionary Army, I see compassion, hope, and justice. Aramaki, what do you think of the world now?" Issho said.
Ryokugyu glared furiously. "What kind of world can a blind man like you see? The world is full of war now, all because of pirates and the Revolutionary Army! And you joined them!"
As he spoke, Ryokugyu attacked. Countless vines sprouted from his body, sharpening into spears that shot toward Issho.
Issho drew his supreme grade blade, Yakuza Kasen, and slashed at the vines. Under the gravity-infused blade, the vines were destroyed.
"Though my eyes are blind, my heart is not. The world is enslaved by the Celestial Dragons. Even without the Revolutionary Army, war exists everywhere. War has continued for eight hundred years. Can you say it's because of the Revolutionary Army or pirates?" Issho swung his blade toward the sky, launching gravity upward.
Ryokugyu glanced up. A meteor would soon fall, but he remained unmoved. "They deserve it! Who told them to belong to lawless zones, not the World Government?"
"That makes no sense. Though you have eyes, you do not see the lives of the common people. Born into the noble class, you cannot see the suffering of the people. What you maintain is merely the rule of the nobility."
As Issho's words faded, a cracking sound came from the sky. A meteor was falling rapidly, carrying Issho's wrath toward Ryokugyu.
"Hmph!"
Ryokugyu snorted, his body swelling violently into a giant tree. Dozens of thick arms extended from its trunk.
Boom!
Ryokugyu caught the meteor, roaring with effort.
"Grah!!!"
As roots snapped, countless more emerged, forcibly halting the meteor's descent.
"Take it back!!!"
Ryokugyu hurled the meteor, still blazing with heat, toward Issho.
Issho simply swung his blade calmly. The meteor split in two instantly. As it separated, a massive wooden arm swiped at him.
Crash!
Issho leaped backward, simultaneously slashing and severing the wooden arm.
"Burst!"
Ryokugyu roared. Pods grew from the severed stump, spitting countless seeds at Issho. The seeds exploded like Usopp's bombs around him.
The two Admirals clashed. Ryokugyu, once a noble imprisoned for certain reasons, held deep hatred for the world, especially non-World Government affiliate nations.
His ideology completely opposed Issho's. They fought fiercely, each for their own justice.
The Marines on the bubble lift finally descended. When they saw the situation below, they were too terrified to go further.
"Quick! Contact Headquarters!!" the Rear Admiral on the lift urgently ordered.
A soldier brought a den den mushi. The Rear Admiral quickly dialed Marine Headquarters.
"Headquarters here. What is it?"
"Admiral Ryokugyu has been intercepted by the enemy at the Red Port! He cannot reinforce G-1!"
"Intercepted? By whom?"
"It's... it's..."
"Who is it?!"
"It's former Admiral Fujitora!!"
"What?!"
On the other side of the Red Line, in the communications room of the new Marineford, the officer who received the call hurried out with the den den mushi.
Everyone had heard the conversation.
Former Admiral Fujitora was fighting current Admiral Ryokugyu?
"That damn traitor!"
Upon hearing the report, Akainu stood up and walked straight out the door.
"What are you doing?" Sengoku asked.
"I am the Fleet Admiral!" Akainu left those words behind and headed directly for the docks.
"Sigh, the Five Elders only set out a day ago, and the Revolutionary Army is already moving. Their target is the Marines..." Sengoku sighed.
"Should we just wait here?" Garp asked.
"Let them go."
Meanwhile, at the Red Port in the New World, a ship was flying in from the sky.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu