" Ahhh, what a day. I'm so exhausted!" Brago exclaimed. He stretched his arms above his head and let out a loud breath of relief as his stiff joint popped.
The cracking noise was like the sound of gunshots firing. It was quite startling to anyone who was nearby, but no one could deny the look of relief on the tired man's face.
" My god. How do you do that?" Gion asked the man. " It sounded like gunshots."
Brago looked down at the woman and laughed. " I know right. But it feels soooo Goooood!" Brago exclaimed. " So, how are things on Tsuru's ship?"
" It's all great. The traveling is really fun, we see a lot of places. And Tsuru is really nice when we're not on duty." Gion told the man. " Only real problem is, we don't do much in terms of fighting, that can be really boring at times. But when we do, Tsuru is so efficient with how she handles a situation. I see why she's called the great advisor, now."
Brago hearing how Gion explained her situation felt a great wave of depression wash over him again. " Oh... That's nice. Good for you, Gion." Brago hung his shoulders and his head low.
" Things not going well with Borsalino?"
" THAT GUY IS BORING AS HELL!" Brago came to life shouting as loud as he could. " I mean seriously, we never do anything. We sail around, and whenever pirates see us, they just run." Brago huffed a breath of frustration and slumped his shoulders once again.
The way he was acting made Gion giggle.
" Well, if it's that bad, ask to be transferred to the North. I hear there's been quite a bit of trouble brewing up there for some time."
" Oh yeah." Brago spoke. He quickly straightened up and looked down at the woman curiously. " Have you heard from Markus lately?" Brago asked the woman. " Last I heard Vice Admiral Kuzan and Admiral Sengoku were going North to give aid with the growing Pirate alliance." Brago spoke. " They've already destroyed the frost kingdom, or so I've heard."
" No, I haven't heard anything. not recently. The last thing I heard his unit was fighting against the black Lion pirates. But after that it was complete radio silence, and his letters stop coming too. I've actually been pretty worried. But knowing him everything's fine. And with the Admiral being there, everything should be fine." Gion said to the man.
" Maybe... But still, that's a lot of firepower gathering in just one place. Makes me worry." Brago muttered. His tone was as serious as the scowl on his face.
Hardly, if ever, does the man not smile, even when he was feeling frustrated. But to see him completely drop his smile and frown, simply showed that he was truly feeling concerned.
" I'm sure it's nothing." Brago muttered, hoping to be wrong.
However, as Brago and Gion continued walking down the hallway, leading towards the Back entrance to Marine HQ, the hurried sound of bustling boots beating against the floor filled the hall and accompanying that was a crowd of injured Marine's running towards them.
" Out of the way, we have injured coming through!" One of the doctors yelled to Brago and Gion.
The two marines were shoved to the side as the Doctors and other marines came rushing past.
" Come on, we need to get him to surgery, fast." They heard one of the doctors shout.
It was only for a brief moment, but as the men passed by them, Brago and Gion spotted who they were carrying on the stretcher.
It was Markus, all bandaged up and bloody. Fallowing closely behind this group of doctors was Admiral Sengoku, who had bandages wrapped around his head, and Vice Admiral Kuzan, who had bandages wrapped around his torso, head, and his arms.
" Hey! Admiral Sengoku, what happened?!" Brago asked the elder man.
Sengoku stopped for a moment and inspected the two navy marines.
" Ho. I don't have time to explain things to you. I need to report to Kong." Sengoku told the two young Marines. " Kuzan, while you wait for further treatment, would you mind explaining the situation?" Sengoku turned and asked Kuzan for his help and then quickly continued to walk away before Kuzan could help.
' He just stuck me with the work!' Kuzan took a deep breath and sighed, knowing that Sengoku wasn't giving him much of a choice and to him it seemed like a bit of a drag. " Alright, not much I can tell ya that won't be in the news tomorrow morning. But the gist of it is, we won. Plain and simple. Markus fought against The Island Smasher and his entire alliance, and after a little assistance from me, he managed to pull it off. Though as you can see, it was not without consequences." Kuzan explained to the two. " But don't you worry, he's gonna be just fine." Kuzan explained. " Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired and I want to lay down. See ya." Kuzan walked past Gion and Brago and threw up the deuces.
Brago looked at Gion and she looked at him. With worry filling their eyes.
.....................
Fleet Admiral Kong's office.
" Welcome back, Sengoku." Kong said to the man.
" It's good to be back, Kong-San."
" Sit, tell me about what happened after we cut contact." Kong told the man.
" Okay, but where's Garp?" Kong asked the man.
Kong was visibly displeased. He placed his massive hand on his forehead and sighed. " Garp went straight to the medical ward as soon as your ship arrived. Tell me, Sengoku, what happened?"
" When I landed in the cream Kingdom, the fighting was already over. Vice Admirals Dalmatian and Momonga managed to bring down Vyper and Long horn themselves. But from their reports, it was the combined actions of Lieutenant Markus and Flying Thunder God Goenma that brought down the brothers Zohakuten and Bankotsu."
" I see. And The Island Smasher?"
" Was brought down by the combined efforts of Vice Admiral Kuzan and Lieutenant Markus. Though there are still some details missing, that is what I was able to piece together."
" I see. Okay." Kong closed his eyes and nodded his head as Sengoku finished his report. ' That's good, all things worked out.' Kong noted. The destruction of two kingdoms was unfortunate, but at least the Marines were able to stop the spread of evil before it was too late.
" But that's not all." Sengoku spoke up.
" Hm?" Kong opened his eyes up and looked at Sengoku curiously. " What is it?"
" While we were returning to Marineford, our ship came under the attack of the Beast Pirates led by Kaido and his right-hand man, King. Unfortunately, we suffered some injuries. It is as we predicted, Kaido was hunting Markus, thankfully I managed to convince him to leave after fighting him and his crew for two whole days." Sengoku explained. " And with Markus in such a serious condition as he is in now, I think it would be best that the lieutenant be put on administrative leave until his injuries are fully healed and the heat from his latest actions die down."
" Hmm, that is troubling indeed." Kong muttered. " I agree with you, Sengoku. How long would you think?"
" I'd say at the very least a month before his injuries are completely healed. I would say that time period is for the best, if not another month on top of that." Sengoku told the man.
" I see.... Agreed. We'll place Lieutenant Monkey D. Markus on two months of administrative leave."
DOOM!
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Alright guys, we're winding down, with the official end of the war in the North arc, let me know what you guys liked, what you didn't like, which characters you'd like to see return, who do you not want to see return, and while you're at it if you haven't already, leave a review. It makes this become more visible to those who search for one piece stories. Take care guys. Until next time.