NOVEL NEXT Chapter 163: Distraction
[September 11th DxD/May 5th DBT]
Though it was the day of a Blue Moon, Vahn only spent a short time in the Black Tower before returning to his palace to monitor the Straw Hats' raid on Impel Down from a theater-like command room. Grayfia and Venelana were with him, as usual, but instead of sitting next to, snuggling up to, or servicing him, they stood slightly behind and to his sides in a skimpy Maid outfit and white, black-trimmed negligee with stockings and bicep-length gloves.
'I hate this view...' thought Vahn, referring to the numerous blue-tinted displays he had erected to follow each member of the Straw Hats and, notably, Rayleigh. The scene reminded him of the initial powerlessness and eventual fury he felt during the Rating Game between Rias and Riser, and since he had sworn to himself that he would never be a bystander as the people he cared about fought, a feeling of discomfort swelled within Vahn's chest as the Straw Hats' ship, the sun and lion-themed Thousand Sunny, approached the infamous prison while submerged, protected from the sea's pressure by a giant bubble.
Though Impel Down was situated in the Calm Belt, a location plagued by colossal creatures known as Sea Kings, some of which exceeded tens of kilometers in length or height, the Thousand Sunny was able to navigate the perilous stretch of sea by emitting a dissonant frequency that caused the colossal creatures extreme discomfort. This didn't keep all Sea Kings away, but with Rayleigh on the deck, teaching the Straw Hats about Haki, they didn't have too much to worry about.
"For a world without Mana and Magic, they possess some extraordinary innovations..." remarked Venelana, noticing Vahn's sullen aura and hoping to alleviate it by breaking the oppressive silence hanging over him.
Recognizing that Venelana was speaking to him, as she rarely addressed Grayfia casually, Vahn briefly reflected before closing his eyes, exhaling a faint sigh, and responding, "Thank you for worrying about me..."
Punctuating his words, Vahn lightly smacked the armrests of his dark red leather, throne-like chair, prompting Grayfia and Venelana to initially take a seat with his arms wrapped around their bottoms and their legs crossed in a way the calf of their crossed leg to rest on his knees. Then, as he felt like having them closer, he promptly drew them to sit on his lap, his hands cupping their soft yet situationally toned abdomens as he buried his face into Venelana's neck and muttered, "I love you both..."
"Ara ara...how fortuitous..." hummed Venelana, angling her head so Vahn had easier access to her neck.
"Indeed..." muttered Grayfia, burying her face into Vahn's exposed nape as she sensually appended, "It would be tragic if our love for you wasn't reciprocated..."
Resisting the urge to push the two mature women down, Vahn settled on caressing their abdomens as he confided, "I don't think I'll be able to sit here and watch as things play out...I understand that the Straw Hats need freedom and opportunities to grow, but it doesn't feel right..."
"Then help them..." responded Venelana, turning her face to meet Vahn's gaze with narrowed eyes and a motherly smile as she stated, "Regardless of the path you choose for yourself, Grayfia and I are here to support, not inhibit you. We'll let you know if we believe you're making a decision you'll regret, but when it concerns divine intervention, it doesn't matter how bad things get as a consequence...taking action to aid those you care about is never wrong..."
"Mmn...that's right..." hummed Grayfia, caressing Vahn's chest with her left hand as she reasoned, "And, besides...there are ways to intervene without hampering the Straw Hats' growth. We don't need to fight their battles for them. Even something as simple as providing a distraction to make their infiltration easier would aid them tremendously. After that, we can return here to observe and intervene at your discretion..."
"Right..." muttered Vahn, his doubts and discomfort replaced by a look of determination. In truth, he knew that Grayfia and Venelana would support him no matter what he decided, but words had power. Assuming he could do as he pleased left him feeling guilty. Hearing the women he loved most affirm he was right to do so filled him with conviction...
...
..
.
With the silhouette of Impel Down drawing ever closer, Nami stood next to Robin near the Thousand Sunny's bow, her body tense but her brown eyes full of determination. In Impel Down's long history, only one person was known to have escaped, but she was just as determined as everyone else to help Luffy rescue his brother.
[Vahn Mason is requesting a telepathic link]
Seeing the increasingly familiar but ever-mysterious notification window, Nami blinked in surprise, her brows rising as she remarked, "Oh? It looks like Vahn is contacting me," for Robin's benefit.
"Perhaps he has changed his mind about helping us...?" suggested Robin, her expression largely unchanged except for a slight raise of her left brow. More notably, she was modeling a glossy, futuristic-looking, nearly-black wetsuit with glowing blue lines that hugged her body from the neck down. Besides tempting men's gazes, it had the unique effect of protecting Devil Fruit users from the sea's curse, so she had it equipped along with several other articles and accessories gifted to her by Vahn.
"Oh, wow, you're right..." remarked Nami, her eyes widening to their limits as Vahn telepathically relayed his intent to draw the fleet protecting Impel Down away. Their current plan was to use the shark-themed submersible prepared by Franky to have several of them lurk at the bottom of the sea before having the Thousand Sunny breach and draw the Marines away. If Vahn could lend a hand, it would make their escape significantly easier as they wouldn't need to depend on the Thousand Sunny evading pursuit for however long it took them to rescue Ace.
"Did he mention what it will cost us...?" asked Robin, fully prepared to pay whatever price Vahn required of them but interested to know what it was.
"One second. I'll ask—oh?" uttered Nami, her brows rising and a broad, clearly amused smile adorning her face as she revealed, "He's saying that it was a mistake believing he could avoid becoming implicated in the fate of a world two of his women call home. So, while he can't teleport Ace to safety, he can't turn a blind eye as we risk our lives to save him."
"Oh? Then I suppose we should take it upon ourselves to thank him once this is over..." hummed Robin, a faint smile adorning her face. She actually felt it was wrong of them to impose on Vahn, considering the many boons he provided them, but she felt gratified hearing Nami say he couldn't turn a blind eye to their plight because they were his women. It showed—or at least implied—that he valued them more than they realistically merited as mere mortals...
...
..
.
"Hmmm? What's that...?" asked a tall, remarkably burly man wearing the predominately white outfit and long coat of a Marine Vice-Admiral. As for what he was referring to, it was the golden light that had appeared in the sky a few hundred meters away and overhead.
"I think it's a person, but they have wings..." responded the Commodore at his side, a cold sweat breaking out across his body as he realized who the person visible through his telescope was. He wasn't that well known yet, but it wasn't every day that someone received an inaugural bounty of 350,000,000 Berries.
"Hmm!? Let me see that...!" demanded the Vice-Admiral, snatching the telescope from the Commodore and peering through it. It took a moment, but after a few adjustments, the image of Vahn staring directly at him with his luminous golden eyes came into view.
"It's the Blasphemous Wings...!" exclaimed the Vice-Admiral, shoving the telescope into the Commodore's chest and shouting, "Inform the guards and contact Marineford! It can't be a coincidence that he's appearing here now...!"
fwoom
Before the Commodore could carry out the order, a pale golden sphere expanded from Vahn, invisible to all but a few of the Marines. However, even the lowest-ranking Marine Recruit could feel something amiss, as a feeling akin to falling permeated their chests and stomachs, followed by their feet separating from the decks of their ships. No one noticed when it had occurred, but their entire fleet of twelve battleships, colossal vessels that averaged sixty meters in length and nearly as many broad, had been relocated several hundred meters from their moored positions, encircling the uppermost, walled-off level of Impel Down.
Transmitting his voice through his domain, causing a powerful reverb through the bodies of the Marines and the surrounding sea, Vahn calmly declared, "I am Vahn Mason, the Intertwining Dragon of Fate. I harbor no grudge against the Marines, but since your World Government has seen fit to label me a heinous criminal despite the Celestial Dragons being at fault, consider this a warning..."
Since he lacked the raw power to do so himself, Vahn or, more accurately, Sis opened a portal through which Grayfia unleashed the attack she had been preparing elsewhere. Fortunately for the Marines, her target wasn't them but a colossal metal gate bearing the cross-shaped emblem of the world government, colloquially called the Gates of Justice. Just the part visible above the sea's surface was nearly five hundred meters in height and breadth, but as Grayfia's attack impacted it, a silvery-white explosion consumed them in their entirety.
'I'm glad she's on my side...' thought Vahn, doing his best to appear stoic as the shockwave begot by the explosion rippled through the sea and air, causing the battleships below to list and his white hair to become fixed in a spiky, combed-back style that inadvertantly caused him to appear even more regal and menacing. For several minutes, it seemed as though the world was ending, but after the initial explosion and resultant tidal wave rippled through the area, causing one unfortunate battleship to capsize, an eerie calm settled across the sea, reminiscent of being in the eye of a hurricane. As for the megalithic Gates of Justice, they were nowhere to be seen.
pwish pwish pwish pwish
Just as Vahn was considering his parting words to the Marines, the Vice Admiral in charge of the fleet, a middle-aged, mustachioed man he didn't recognize, zipped through the air with speed comparable to a high-caliber bullet. Unfortunately for him, Vahn had gotten acclimated to much greater speeds, so while his own was slower, he could perceive and react to the man's attempt to skewer him with a nearly two-meter-long cavalier sword.
Seeing Vahn turn toward and block his sword thrust with the palm of his left hand, seemingly without the use of Armament Haki, the Vice Admiral's eyes briefly widened in shock. Even stranger, the momentum of his attack seemed to disappear entirely, causing him to halt abruptly and creating a sensation akin to holding a pose rather than striking.
"Accursed Devil Fruit users...!" growled the Vice Admiral, clenching his teeth and kicking the air with enough force to produce a foothold from a shockwave, allowing him to create some distance from Vahn. Additional kicks allowed him to get around to Vahn's back at a rate that would have been difficult for the average person to perceive with the naked eye. To Vahn, however, his movements were exceedingly slow and fluid, allowing him to follow the man with his eyes and move his wings in similarly slow motion to intercept and smack him out of the sky.
'This feels unfair...' thought Vahn, experiencing each second that passed as more than twenty-five-hundred. At this rate, even light appeared to be moving with a modest velocity of 120km/s, so while the Vice Admiral was impressively swift, evidenced by the fact he appeared to be moving at all, there was an impossible-to-bridge gap between them, made wider by the fact he was using Tiamat's blessing to negate damage below a threshold comparable to a nuclear warhead.
Contrasting Vahn's slowed perception, which saw the Vice Admiral falling toward the sea across several tens of seconds, the Marines onboard the battleships witnessed the man breaching the surface within a fraction of a second, producing a splash nearly ten meters wide and a column more than a hundred meters tall. This would have terrified an ordinary group of people, and while there were those among the Marines who were cowed into inaction, Vahn couldn't help feeling impressed when the vast majority took up their arms and began opening fire on him with high-speed pistols, muskets, and shoulder-mounted cannons...
...
..
.