The Vice Captain of the WhiteBeard Pirates

"I'm curious....what will you do with his body?" I asked curiously.

"I'm not sure.....we'll probably bury him here in East Blue...This was his hometown; it's only fair that we leave him here," Garp replied.

That sounded fair, but naturally, that proposal was met with strong opposition.

"Garp! What are you talking about?! Why should we honor this scum with a proper burial?!" An angry voice immediately snapped from behind him.

It was none other than Sakazuki, and he was smoking mad.....literally.

"The Pirate's corpse will be fed to the dogs. Something that scum like you should be thankful for," Sakazuki snarled.

Sengoku immediately landed right next to Sakazuki before adjusting his glasses.

"The decision over Roger's body has yet to be determined. However, it isn't something that you should be worrying about. If anything, you should be worried about whether you'll leave here alive," Sengoku interrupted.

"How about leaving him with me?" I proposed, "At least I can guarantee him a proper burial."

Multiple Marine soldiers slowly began to gather near Garp and Sengoku. The man who had first made the speech, who I'd later recognize as Fleet Admiral Kong, looked down at me from a distance. It didn't seem like he planned to jump into the fray with the others.

"Hm~ I didn't think we'd plan on attacking Boris now....scary~" Borusalino, after appearing from his elemental form, said right after landing next to Sakazuki.

"It would be convenient if we were to catch the Storm Dragon here," Kuzan muttered as he breathed in cold air. 

Except for Admiral Zephyr, the Marine's most potent forces were standing right before me. In the future, these individuals would have a lot of merit in the battle of the Top. 

My battle intent, a sensation I hadn't felt for quite a while, was starting to burn.

"Are you sure that you want to have a battle here? A place where you've just executed the King of the Pirates?" I asked.

I didn't have a problem fighting it out. I wanted to probe and see how far they wanted to take this situation.

"What the hell are you guys doing? Are you planning on destroying this island just to catch him?" Garp asked with a rather solemn expression.

"The end justifies the means, Garp," Sengoku replied, "If the island is destroyed due to catching him. I think that this would still be a win on our part."

"It's not worth it, Sengoku," A stern yet feminine voice could be heard from the sidelines. The lady looked like she was slowly getting into old age, "this will only destroy what we have achieved after we executed Roger."

"Let's leave it here, Sengoku," Garp insisted, "the island's people will die. Innocent civilians will perish simply because we want to fight him."

"Why worry about the island's people?!" Sakazuki roared, lava exploding from his arm, "Catching him means that we'd rid the world of another pestilence!!!"

The air among the Marines slowly began to tense. It was clear that the decision to attack me wasn't ultimately agreed upon throughout the ranks of the Marines. 

"This is pointless," I remarked. I immediately used Soru to appear beside Roger's body before picking it up.

"When you're ready to have a real war, you know where to find me."

With that being said, I immediately disappeared using Soru and reappeared high in the sky. Roger was currently slung up on my shoulder. His weight was pretty light, thanks to the loss of all that blood.

"Forgive me, Roger. We'll have to wait a bit before finding a proper place for you to rest."

I wasn't too close to Roger, but doing this much was nothing but a mere courtesy that I could do as a Vice-Captain to the Whitebeard Pirates. I flew around until I found an abandoned island to rest for a while.

I laid his body on the ground before sparking a cigarette. I wanted to bury him in Loguetown, but I had a feeling that there would be people who wouldn't let his body rest. 

"This place isn't too bad...What do you think?" I looked at Roger.

After a bit of deliberating, I grabbed my axe before heading toward the middle of the abandoned island. Using the blade of my axe, I made a prick on the ground before starting to remove the dirt from it. 

I ended up shoveling a nice little burial place for him and put his body in the hole before burying it. From an outside perspective, it looked like I was burying him in bad taste, but in reality, this was the best that could happen for him.

This way, he could rest without having to be disturbed by others. 

I patted down on the little hill of dirt that remained after completely covering his burial site with dirt. I lit a fresh cigarette stick on the dirt mountain before lighting it.

"This isn't much, but it's the least I can do as a pirate to thank you for starting a new era....find your own way. You're free now," I clasped my hands and said a brief prayer.

I wasn't religious, but I said the prayer out of respect for him.

After staring at the grave longer, I promptly grew my wings before taking to the skies. I didn't stop flying till I landed on an island that wasn't too far. Unlike where Roger had been buried, this area had a small town bustling with activity. 

The townsfolk only looked at me briefly before resuming their business. I wanted to get a bit of a nap before heading back to Water 7. Fortunately, I had found a nice little place on the outskirts of the town to sleep in for a bit. 

I paid the innkeeper before plopping myself on the freshly spread bed. I was drifting off to sleep when I got another call from my transponder snail. I groaned before picking up the call.

"What is it?" 

"We wanted to check your location~" Stussy replied.

"The execution is already over; I'm on an island somewhere in East Blue," I replied.

"Do you have a precise location?" Stussy asked.

"Not really, I didn't bother asking. Is the ship finally done?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was finished about a day ago. We just finished resupplying, and we're starting our way to East Blue," Stussy replied.

"Alright, meet me in Loguetown then. I'll go back there after I finish my nap," I replied.

With that, I hung up and slowly drifted back to sleep. 

[ Third Person POV ]

a couple of days after the call

Stussy and Ken were currently standing in front of a well-dressed man. He had slick-backed black hair, and in his mouth was a fat cigar that had already been lit. He had appeared when they had just arrived in East Blue.

It was pretty clear that the crew wouldn't match this man in a fight. As a result, Stussy and Ken are the only ones capable of doing so. 

"Hmm.....So this is the 0 Division Ship. I shouldn't have expected anything less," the man proclaimed calmly as he scanned his surroundings.

"I'm glad you've taken a liking to our new ship. Could you leave~?" Stussy asked kindly.