A Door that Opens

Prologue

Marineford, meeting place of all of the very top ranking personel in the World Government's military. In attendance to the official meeting that day were all of the Red Guards. These men and women of the Marines were charged with the protection of the passage between the Grandline and the New World. Among their roster was Vice Admirals: Sam Polatsu, Kitomo Rise, Haime Yattez, Despard Titan, and Gomez Jere. They sat in their designated places in a room, each on a sitting pillow with Captain Ensin residing over the meeting, at the end of the row. He stood facing them with his hands behind his back.

Ensin: I'd like to thank you all for coming here in such short notice. As you all know, recently there has been a heightened number of pirates on the rise, while many of them are being handled, there has been one in particular that has caught the attention of the Fleet Admiral, and many of his higher ranking subordinants. [Holding up a Wanted Poster] Catman Rinji, a new bounty of 200,000,000 a very troublesome pirate captain of the Tiger-Stripe Pirates, and his crew, Lightning Legs Runagai Chio, bounty of 90,000,000, and Ink-Blade Usagi also a bounty of 90,000,000.

All of their eyes turned to the Wanted Poster, and they all widened.

Rise: Heheheh, really? A cat?

Gomez: Mehmehmehmehmehmeh! Have you tried using Catnip?

Ensin: Catman Rinji is part of a rare species that is only found in the New World, on an Island that has remained hidden, even from the World Government's wide spread intelligence. His overall goal is not yet known, but his actions have disgraced the Naval Marines to an extent that his bounty has nearly doubled as a result.

Yattez: Ooohh? What has he done to piss off the higher ups?

Rise: You mean you haven't heard? [She fixed her sunglasses as she spoke] This little kitten cut up Kola's face, he can't even show his head in the light, from what I hear.

Despard: That bad?

Sam: It's far worse than you think as of now.

All their attention turned to Vice Admiral Polatsu.

Sam: He had to be moved to the Mental Health Facility in G-5. The scars he obtained at the hands of Catman Rinji drove him literally to the breaking point. He was taken to the hospital for his injuries and he refused any medical assistance. He did not see anyone, not even his wife. He hid in his room, never accepting food, and never accepting any sort of help. He felt so ugly that he decided to break the mirror in his room, and with the shards that fell in his bathroom sink...

There was a long pause, where-in Sam took a long drag off of his pipe. All of them almost quivered with anticipation.

Rise: You don't mean... he...

Sam: Yes. He carved the flesh off of his face, and decided to wear a mask.

All of them were extremely dumbfounded at this information. Even Captain Ensin was not privy to this information.

Sam: Needless to say, he was given a medical discharge... however... the ship that was going to carry him home never made it to its destination. It was found just four days ago, every single man was killed on it, and Former Lt. Commander Kola was nowhere to be found.

This brought a horrible silence to the room, the rest of them felt most uncomfortable. At length, Ensin finally cleared his throat.

Ensin: I beg your pardon, Vice Admirals. But lets stay on topic. Catman Rinji was spotted on Usted Island. It is believed that he means to enter the New World.

Rise: Usted, you say? [A certain glow seemed to hit her.]

Yattez: Damn, that puts him in Rise's sector.

Sam: It cannot be helped.

Ensin: This is correct, Vice Admiral Kitomo Rise has been selected to track down and capture the Tiger-Stripe Pirates. On behalf of the Fleet Admiral's Staff, I wish you luck in your endeavours.

Rise: Of course, this is my specialty, I love cats. Don't wait up guys!

The rest of them looked with jealousy as he got up from her seating position and started to walk out of the meeting room, straightening her Justice Coat.