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Garp did not get nervous easily, but as he caught sight of Akainu, a slight shiver ran down his spine. Not because he was afraid of the man—he would have at least punched the admiral if he’d thought he could get away with it—but because of what he had to do. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself and approached, clapping a hand on the other man’s shoulder.
“Sakazuki!”
“What the hell do you want, Garp?”
Garp shrugged. “Been a long day. Think I might go take a shower. You care to join me?”
“No,” Akainu growled. “I think I’d rather go shower alone.”
Watching as he stormed off, Garp let out a sigh. He knew it was extremely unlikely that anyone would find out what he’d just done, but he still felt that he’d just consigned himself to Hell. Then again, he was probably bound for it already, given what he’d done over the years.
But it didn’t matter. Not as long as Ace was safe.
***************
Akainu was grumbling as he disrobed, tossing his clothes onto a bench. It had been a long day, and much as he hated Garp (why couldn’t the man understand justice the way he did?), he had to admit that a shower would probably make him feel better. The fact that no one else seemed to be using the showers at the moment didn’t hurt either—he was in no mood to talk to anyone else at the moment.
Just as he was about to step into one of the stalls, he felt a sudden gust of wind brush against his body, and out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a shadow moving behind him. Yet when he looked behind him, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Shrugging, he stepped into one of the stalls, closed the door, and turned on the water. A sigh of semi-contentment escaped him as he felt the hot water cascade over him, washing away the stress.
Unfortunately, this was not to last.
Out of the blue, the stall door suddenly locked, the latch getting stuck fast. At the same time, the drain started to make unsettling noises as a decent amount of dirt that had come from the last person to use that stall became clumped together and clogged the pipe, meaning the drain was now blocked. The admiral let out a groan of annoyance, but before he could do anything, the showerhead gave an equally unsettling rattle before blasting him with alarmingly cold water. Instantly, a sudden feeling of weakness came over Akainu—somewhere along the way, one of the pipes that was connected to the shower system (and just so happened to be underwater) had sprung a leak, and while no water came out, plenty of seawater got in.
Barely able to keep himself on his feet, Akainu tried to unlock the door, but the latch wouldn’t budge. He began pounding on the stall door in an attempt to break it, but with the seawater rapidly flooding the chamber, he could barely make a dent. Unable to open the door, and with the drain blocked, he realized he was trapped, yet he continued his desperate struggle to escape—in spite of its futility—until he finally succumbed to a lack of oxygen, drowning in the semi-salty water.
Only then did the stall door finally come off its hinges, sending a flood of water crashing to the floor along with Akainu’s lifeless body.
***************
The lithe form of what appeared to be an attractive woman with pale skin, long black hair, and red eyes strode through the halls, unseen by the young Marine making a beeline for Sengoku’s office. Not that he would have noticed her anyway—he was too preoccupied by the fruit he was carrying, one that had just turned into a Devil Fruit. Ignoring him, she made her way to the men’s showers, stepped through the door as if it weren’t there, and approached the corpse laying on the floor.
“My thanks, Vice-Admiral.”
Rohea—for that was her name—knew full well how much Garp cared for his grandson and said grandson’s brothers in all but blood, even if he didn’t show it in the best way. As such, when she appeared to him and offered to ensure Portgas D. Ace would not meet a tragic end at the hands of the Five Elder Stars’ pawns, his only concern was if any innocents would be harmed. When he heard whose life she intended to take in exchange—in order for a life to be extended beyond its predetermined time, at least one other life would have to be cut short instead, barring rare exceptions—he gladly agreed to help.
And so a bargain was struck—Garp merely had to ensure Akainu was in the right place at the right time, which he did. His suggestion of a shower was all it took to seal the admiral’s fate. So now, as she’d promised, Ace would live. Not that she minded--the world was already a better place without Akainu and his obsession with justice, and Roger’s son didn’t deserve to die just because of his blood.
“Truth be told, I would have probably found a substitute for Roger’s son anyway,” she said to herself. “But I wasn’t going to pass up a chance for truly poetic justice.”
As she took a moment to look ahead and see how the future had changed, she found herself smiling at what she saw. Things were going to go very differently, and would absolutely turn out for the better.
“Oh God, Sakazuki!”
Glancing over, she caught sight of Sengoku, accompanied by three other Marines. By this point, the dirt clogging the stall drain had been broken up, eliminating the blockage and making it safe for the Fleet Admiral to enter the room.
“You think this is connected to the other deaths you’ve been investigating?” one of the other Marines asked. “It may look like a freak accident, but so did those.”
Sengoku didn’t answer, but from his expression, he’d come to the same conclusion. He had been looking into multiple cases of people—mostly corrupt Marines or the nastier sort of pirates—who had been killed in bizarre and gruesome ways. Naturally, he was unaware that they had been on Rohea’s list, and that she was responsible.
Well, since he was here, she might as well try to prevent complications, so to speak.
Allowing herself to become visible to the Fleet Admiral, she held out a hand towards Akainu’s body, from which a luminescent sphere arose and floated into her grasp.
“I will only warn you once, Sengoku,” she said. “Do not interfere with my design, or you will pay the cost.”
With that, she vanished, taking her prize with her.