Chapter 29: The World Reacts

The grand office of the Fleet Admiral at Marineford was usually a place of stoic silence and calculated justice.

Today, it was echoing with the sound of a shattering desk.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku slammed his massive palm down, splintering the heavy mahogany wood.

In his other hand, he clutched a crumpled, slightly damp report freshly wired from Rear Admiral Hototogisu at the base of Reverse Mountain.

Sitting on the couches arrayed around the ruined desk were the three highest-ranking military assets of the World Government: the Marine Admirals.

“Read it again,” Sengoku ordered, his voice dangerously low, his glasses glaring in the dim light.

“Just so I am absolutely certain I am not having a stress-induced aneurysm.”

Admiral Aokiji, lounging lazily with an eye mask resting on his forehead, let out a slow, frosty sigh.

“He flash-froze a miles-wide section of the ocean, summoned an army of jade mythical beasts, and fired an energy beam that completely atomized the ice continent and threw a battleship into the sky.

And Garp noted that his ‘synergy’ with these creatures was…

exceptional.”

“Exceptional is an understatement if Garp is the one writing it,” Aokiji added, rubbing the back of his neck.

“The old man doesn’t hand out praise.

For a South Blue rookie to walk away from that fight breathing…

that’s terrifying.”

“He sounds like a very dangerous young man,” Admiral Kizaru drawled, his words slow and mocking as he clipped his fingernails.

“A jade peacock that can carry a carriage over the Red Line?

How scary.

Should I intercept him before he reaches the Sabaody Archipelago?”

“He shouldn’t be intercepted.

He should be exterminated,” Admiral Akainu growled.

He sat rigidly in his chair, the cigar in his mouth glowing a furious, molten red.

“You read the name on the report.

Victor D.

Costa.

He is the blood brother of the ‘Thunder Maiden’ Jasmine.

Blood tells, Sengoku!

If the sister is a monstrous, three-hundred-million Beri terrorist trying to topple the world, the brother will be infinitely worse.

We must deploy a Buster Call on his location immediately and eradicate the Costa bloodline before he joins the Revolutionary Army!”

“We aren’t deploying a Buster Call on a single carriage!” Sengoku snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“But Sakazuki is right about the threat level.

He dismantled a Cipher Pol unit in Baterilla, stole an entire Kingdom’s armory into the sky, and just survived a clash with Garp.”

Sengoku reached for a stack of blank bounty posters.

“We cannot treat him like a standard rookie.

I am issuing his first official wanted poster at four hundred million Berries.

I want every bounty hunter and Marine base in Paradise looking for him.”

Before Sengoku’s pen could touch the paper, the golden, heavily armored Den Den Mushi on his windowsill began to ring.

The room fell dead silent.

A call on the golden snail only came from one place: Marie Jois.

Sengoku picked up the receiver.

“Fleet Admiral Sengoku.”

“Sengoku.

New orders,” the gruff, commanding voice of Commander-in-Chief Kong echoed through the room.

“You are not to issue a bounty for Victor D.

Costa.

You are to scrub his name from the active pursuit logs.”

Sengoku’s jaw dropped.

Akainu stood up, his fists literally catching fire.

“Commander-in-Chief!” Sengoku yelled, losing his composure.

“With all due respect, this boy just leveled an ocean at Reverse Mountain!

He is an Admiral-level threat related to a Revolutionary Commander!

If we ignore him…..”

“Your hands are tied, Sengoku!” Kong barked back, his voice brooking no argument.

“I just received a panic-wire from Chief Spandam of Cipher Pol 9.

Costa cornered his agents in the South Blue.

The boy somehow knows highly classified State Secrets regarding the Water 7 undercover operation and the blueprints for the Ancient Weapon Pluton.

He blackmailed Spandam.

If we issue a bounty or aggressively pursue him, Costa will leak the names of our undercover agents to the press.”

The three Admirals stared at the snail in stunned silence.

“The Pluton mission has been running for three years,” Kong continued grimly.

“The Five Elders consider it an absolute priority.

We cannot risk a leak.

Until Cipher Pol secures the blueprints, the Marines are to treat Victor D.

Costa as a ghost.

Do not provoke him.

Am I understood?”

Sengoku’s fist trembled so hard his knuckles turned white.

He looked at the blank bounty poster, the weight of the World Government’s bureaucratic corruption suffocating him.

“Understood,” Sengoku choked out, slamming the receiver down.

Akainu roared in fury, his molten fist melting the back of the couch.

Sengoku just sank into his chair, a massive migraine throbbing behind his eyes.

A South Blue rookie had just put a leash on the entire Marine Headquarters.

High above the clouds of the Grand Line, inside the luxurious, zeppelin-like headquarters of the World Economic Journal, a very different reaction was taking place.

“Big News” Morgans, the towering albatross-man and president of the paper, was currently dancing a chaotic jig across his printing room floor.

“This is it!

This is the scoop of the century!” Morgans squawked, tossing intercepted Marine wiretap transcripts into the air.

“An unaffiliated rookie from the South Blue drops a continent on Garp the Fist, and the World Government is too terrified to issue a bounty?!

Oh, the scandal!

The intrigue!

The absolute drama of it all!”

“President Morgans!” a pelican reporter gasped, running into the room.

“The Marines just sent a gag order!

We aren’t allowed to print the name Victor D.

Costa!”

“To hell with the Marines!” Morgans laughed maniacally, spreading his massive feathered wings.

“I control the news!

If they won’t give him a bounty, I’ll give him a reputation!

Print the front page!

Use the photo from his bounty hunter license!

I want it in every pirate port, every Marine base, and every Revolutionary hideout by morning!”

Morgans looked at the draft of the front page, his beak curving into a massive, predatory smile.

THE ANOMALY ENTERS THE GRAND LINE!South Blue Beastmaster Clashes With Marine Hero Garp!

World Government Paralyzed!

“Fly, my beautiful birds!” Morgans commanded as the massive printing presses roared to life.

“Let the whole world know his name!”

Deep in the white, wind-swept deserts of Baltigo, the hidden headquarters of the Revolutionary Army was buzzing with energy.

Sitting at a heavy stone war table, Supreme Commander Monkey D.

Dragon looked down at the freshly delivered World Economic Journal.

His face, marked by the distinctive red diamond tattoo, was unreadable, but a faint, intrigued hum escaped his lips.

“Fascinating,” Dragon murmured, tapping the photo of the exasperated-looking, dark-haired boy on the front page.

“A new ‘D’ takes the stage.

And he does it with the roar of a hurricane.”

“He’s completely insane, is what he is,” Sabo, the Chief of Staff, laughed brightly, leaning over the table to get a better look.

“Who in their right mind picks a fight with Garp before they even enter the Grand Line?

He must have a death wish!”

From the Den Den Mushi resting on the table, Koala’s voice rang out, practically vibrating with pride.

“He doesn’t have a death wish, Sabo, he has a point to prove!” Koala cheered through the receiver from Centaurea.

“And he’s not a pirate.

He just finished escorting five of our orphan refugees to absolute safety.

He took down an entire pirate armada to protect them.

He’s a good man, Dragon.”

Dragon nodded slowly.

“He is Jasmine’s brother.

If he shares her spirit, he is a force to be respected.

Have our agents in the Grand Line offer him assistance if he requires it.

The Revolutionary Army remembers its debts.”

“I don’t think he’s going to need our help,” Sabo chuckled, reading the fine print of the article detailing the atomized ocean.

“I think we need to warn our enemies that he’s coming.”

(Jasmine’s POV)

I was sitting in the mess hall of our Grand Line forward base, quietly eating a bowl of oatmeal, when Palmon burst through the double doors, waving a newspaper like a flag.

“Jasmine!

Jasmine!

Look!” Palmon yelled, her flower petals spinning in excitement.

“Your brother made the front page!”

I choked on my oatmeal, frantically grabbing the paper from Palmon’s vines.

I stared at the bold, screaming headline.

CLASHES WITH MARINE HERO GARP.

My heart completely stopped.

The blood drained from my face, leaving me feeling cold and hollow.

The ambient electricity in the mess hall violently short-circuited, plunging the room into darkness.

Garp.

He fought Vice Admiral Garp.

The man who rivaled the Pirate King.

The monster who shattered mountains with his bare fists.

“No,” I gasped, genuine, suffocating terror gripping my throat.

I practically dove across the table, grabbing the emergency Den Den Mushi.

I aggressively dialed Centaurea’s routing number, my hands shaking so badly I almost dropped the receiver.

“Koala!” I screamed the second the snail clicked open.

“Koala, tell me he’s okay!

The paper says he fought Garp!

Is he hurt?!

Is he missing an arm?!

Did they drag him to Impel Down?!

I’m going to kill them!

I’ll sink Marineford into the ocean!”

“Jas, Jas, breathe!” Koala’s voice came through, sounding alarmed but incredibly reassuring.

“He’s fine!

I promise you, he’s completely fine!”

“He fought Garp!” I sobbed hysterically.

“And he walked away!” Koala laughed brightly.

“I just got the secure wire from our scouts!

He blew up an ice continent, hit Garp with a giant hammer, and flew up Reverse Mountain without a scratch!

He won the standoff, Jas!

He’s currently sailing down into the Grand Line, heading straight for you!”

I froze.

The receiver slipped from my fingers, dangling by its cord.

The absolute, heart-stopping terror of losing my brother instantly vanished.

But it didn’t leave a void.

It was immediately, violently replaced by a completely different, purely instinctual kind of terror.

He hit Garp with a giant hammer.

He blew up a continent.

And he walked away without a scratch.

My big brother was an unstoppable, cataclysmic force of nature.

And he knew I had a three-hundred-million Beri bounty.

“Oh my god,” I whispered, my eyes wide and unblinking.

“Jasmine?

Are you okay?” Palmon asked gently, poking my shoulder.

“He’s going to kill me,” I breathed.

“He fought the Hero of the Marines to a standstill, and now he’s coming here to ground me.”

I didn’t hesitate.

I kicked my chair back, grabbed my yellow construction hardhat from the coat rack, and sprinted out of the mess hall into the bright morning sun of the courtyard.

“Lieutenant!” I shrieked at the top of my lungs, my voice cracking with panic.

The base’s rebel lieutenant jumped, dropping his clipboard.

“Commander Jasmine!

What’s wrong?!”

“Full base lockdown!” I ordered frantically, grabbing a heavy iron shovel leaning against the barracks.

“I need the moat dug twice as deep!

I need fifty more sandbags on the western perimeter!

And I need anti-aircraft netting strung over the courtyard immediately!”

The lieutenant stared at me in utter bewilderment.

“Commander, what are you talking about?

We haven’t spotted a Marine ship in weeks!”

“We aren’t defending against the Marines!” I yelled, aggressively stabbing my shovel into the dirt trench I had started the day before, shoveling dirt over my shoulder like a frantic badger.

“We are defending against my brother!

He has a flying gigantic bird and a gravity ape!”

Palmon trotted out into the courtyard, looking highly amused.

“Palmon!” I commanded, pointing a muddy finger at the giant plant.

“Get on the black market snail!

I need Sea-Prism stone!

I need titanium barricades!

I need a distraction!”

“Jasmine, he’s just going to hug you,” Palmon sighed, crossing her vines.

“You don’t know that!” I panicked, throwing another shovel full of dirt into the air.

“The Thunder Maiden refuses to be put in a headlock!”

The entire rebel army slowly gathered in the courtyard, watching in absolute, baffled silence as their terrifying, lightning-wielding Commander, a woman who had single-handedly destroyed a Marine cruiser a week ago, had a complete, sweaty meltdown trying to fortify a military base against one guy.

Word Count: 2007

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