The eastern harbor of Thriller Bark was a battlefield divided by extreme elements. To one side, the air crackled with the suffocating heat of boiling magma, melting the cobblestones into glowing slag. To the other, the biting chill of absolute-zero frost crept across the shattered stone, freezing the sea spray before it could hit the ground.
The war had raged past the five-hour mark. The physical toll on the combatants was immense, but the momentum of the battle had shifted. The World Government's forces were slowly being fought to a standstill by a single pirate crew.
On the northern edge of the harbor, Roronoa Zoro was fighting a one-man war against a moving glacier.
Admiral Aokiji swung his jagged ice-saber, the heavy, frozen blade meeting Zoro's Shusui with a dull clash. Frost immediately attempted to crawl up the black blade, but Zoro's Armament Haki shattered the ice before it could reach his knuckles.
Zoro pushed back, forcing the Admiral to slide a few inches across the permafrost. The swordsman was breathing heavily. He parried another barrage of ice spears, his single eye darting around the immediate vicinity.
"Where the hell is that stupid cook?!" Zoro barked, deflecting a sweeping kick from Aokiji that nearly froze his boots to the floor. "This was supposed to be a two-on-one!"
Aokiji tilted his head lazily, exhaling a cloud of cold mist. "Your partner seems preoccupied. Arara. I thought he was plotting a flank attack, but he hasn't moved in five minutes."
Zoro risked a glance over his shoulder.
Fifty yards away, standing perfectly still in the middle of the freezing battlefield, was Sanji. He wasn't in a fighting stance. His royal blue shirt was unbuttoned, his tie was loose, and his hands were tucked casually into his pockets.
His face bore an expression of complete, lovestruck bliss.
A steady geyser of blood trickled from Sanji's nose, staining his collar. His visible eye had morphed into a pulsating heart shape. He was swaying slightly on his feet, a goofy smile plastered across his face.
"Beautiful..." Sanji muttered to the empty, freezing air, completely oblivious to the war around him. "So soft... no clothes... just pure goddesses of the sky... Ah"
Zoro's jaw dropped. A vein throbbed on his forehead. "Is he sleepwalking?! We are fighting an Admiral, and he's in Dreamland?!"
Aokiji raised his hand, gathering a dense sphere of freezing air. "If he has lost his will to fight, I will kindly put him on ice."
Before Aokiji could launch the attack, a sharp crack of displaced air echoed across the harbor.
Ben materialized directly between Zoro and the Admiral. The Magician didn't draw a weapon; he simply raised his bare hand, his palm glowing with the dense aura.
Aokiji fired the Ice Block: Partisan, sending a cluster of massive ice spears hurtling forward.
Ben swatted the air. The telekinetic force of his grip caught the ice spears mid-flight and crushed them into harmless snow.
"Sorry I'm late to this side of the yard," Ben said calmly, adjusting his glasses. He glanced back at the swaying cook. "It seems my diversionary tactic in the sky had some unintended collateral damage on our chef."
"What did you do to him?!" Zoro yelled, slashing an encroaching wave of frost. "He's completely useless right now!"
"I cast a highly realistic illusion of several dozen unclothed women to distract Kizaru," Ben admitted shamelessly. "Sanji's internal radar must have picked up the frequency from miles away. He's suffering from acute sensory overload."
Zoro stared at Ben, dumbfounded. "You broke our own crewmate with a naked ghost trick?"
"It was highly effective on the Admiral," Ben defended himself mildly. He tapped the communication bead on his wrist. "Chopper. I need you at the northern harbor. Sanji is down. Not physically injured, but entirely unresponsive. Secure him."
"On my way!" Chopper's voice replied over the comms.
A moment later, the heavy footsteps of Chopper's Heavy Point form shook the frozen ground. The reindeer bounded over a shattered stone wall and slid to a halt next to the swooning cook.
"Sanji!" Chopper cried, immediately dropping back down into his Brain Point form to perform a rapid medical assessment.
Chopper pulled out his stethoscope, pressing it to Sanji's chest. He checked the cook's pulse, his furry face crinkling in deep concern. He opened his medical bag and pulled out a glass thermometer, carefully slipping it into Sanji's grinning mouth.
"Okay, let's just check your core temperature," Chopper muttered professionally. "You're in a freezing environment, so we need to watch for hypothermia..."
Chopper looked at the thermometer. The red line of mercury was rising rapidly. It passed 98 degrees. It passed 105 degrees. It hit 120 degrees in less than three seconds.
"What the—" Chopper gasped.
The mercury didn't stop. Powered by the sheer heat of Sanji's perverted passion for the phantom women, the red liquid shot to the very top of the glass tube.
PING!
The top of the thermometer exploded, a tiny puff of smoke emerging from the shattered glass as the mercury boiled over.
Chopper shrieked, dropping his clipboard. Panic overtook his medical training.
"THIS IS BAD! HIS INTERNAL TEMPERATURE IS MELTING GLASS!" Chopper screamed, running in frantic circles around the swaying cook.
Chopper scrambled for a notepad and a pen, writing furiously with trembling hooves.
"I have to write his medical will! I diagnose him with Acute Spontaneous Combustion Syndrome!" Chopper wailed, tears streaming down his face. "Hold on, Sanji! Don't turn into ash! I'll save you!"
Sanji just giggled, swaying left and right. "So bouncy... like clouds made of marshmallows..."
"STAY WITH ME, SANJI! DON'T GO TO THE LIGHT!" Chopper screamed, grabbing Sanji by the collar and shaking him.
Ben shook his head, a faint smile touching his lips. He turned his attention back to Admiral Aokiji. "Chopper, just drag him behind a wall and make sure he doesn't freeze. Zoro, keep the Admiral busy. I'll provide cover."
"Don't tell me what to do," Zoro grunted, crouching low and readying his blades.
---
While the northern harbor was locked in a bitter chill, the eastern plaza was a hostile environment.
Admiral Akainu stood in the center of a molten crater, radiating a heat that warped the air around him. The ground beneath his boots was a bubbling pool of liquid rock.
Yet, despite his destructive power, the Fleet Admiral's prized attack dog was currently experiencing deep frustration. He was being juggled.
Akainu lunged forward, his right arm transforming into a snarling hound of magma. "Inugami Guren!"
The magma hound shot across the plaza, aimed directly at Luffy's chest.
Luffy didn't dodge. He stood his ground, his fists turning pitch black. He stepped into the strike, throwing a heavy, Haki-coated punch right down the center.
KRA-KOOM!
The clash of Haki and magma created a shockwave that blew the surrounding liquid rock into the air. Luffy gritted his teeth, his Emission Haki creating a razor-thin barrier that kept the searing heat millimeters from his skin. The physical strength of his punch shattered the magma hound, forcing Akainu to halt his advance.
Before Akainu could follow up, a blinding wall of white-hot fire erupted from his blind spot.
"Hiken!"
Portgas D. Ace dropped from the sky, unleashing a massive pillar of flames directly at Akainu's flank.
Akainu spun, raising his arm to block the flames. "Fire is nothing to magma, boy!"
"Maybe not," Ace grinned, his fists coated in his own layer of dark Armament Haki. "But a punch to the jaw is universal!"
Ace dashed through the roaring flames, delivering a heavy, Haki-laced hook that crashed against Akainu's crossed forearms, driving the Admiral back a few inches.
Akainu snarled, his body liquefying to absorb the physical impact. He prepared to retaliate, thrusting a molten fist toward Ace's stomach.
The strike never landed.
SPLAT.
A specialized projectile hit the ground exactly between Akainu's feet. It didn't explode with fire or shrapnel. It erupted into a massive mound of ultra-dense, fire-retardant industrial foam.
The foam expanded, burying Akainu up to his waist. The heat of his magma body caused the foam to sizzle and harden rapidly, turning into a solid cast that cemented his boots to the bedrock.
"What is this garbage?!" Akainu roared, struggling to pull his legs free from the hardened foam.
"It's called tactical superiority!" a voice shouted from the high ground.
Standing on the crumbling remnants of a gothic watchtower, three hundred yards away, was Usopp. The sniper had his Transforming Bow-Rifle braced against the stone parapet. His Future Sight allowed him to read Akainu's trajectory two seconds in advance, disrupting the Admiral's footing perfectly.
Akainu shattered the hardened foam around his legs, his anger building. He glared up at the watchtower, ignoring Luffy and Ace.
"You insolent pest," Akainu growled. He aimed a massive fist of magma directly at the sniper. "Dai Funka!"
The molten meteor shot upward, threatening to obliterate the tower.
Usopp didn't panic. He calmly notched a specialized arrow with a vibrating, tuning-fork tip.
"Trick Arrow: Sonic Pulse!"
He fired. The arrow intercepted the magma fist mid-air. Instead of exploding, it emitted a high-frequency sonic wave that violently disrupted the fluid dynamics of the molten rock. The magma destabilized, losing its cohesion and splattering harmlessly into the courtyard before it could reach the tower.
Akainu sneered, stepping forward to launch another attack. "A pathetic trick."
But Usopp was already drawing a second arrow—this one with a pale blue, crystalline tip.
"Trick Arrow: Cryogenic Burst!"
Usopp fired. The shot went wide, flying twenty yards to the left of the Admiral.
"A miss," Akainu stated coldly.
But the arrow didn't stop. It sailed past the magma and struck the angled surface of a fallen marble pillar.
TING.
The durable arrowhead ricocheted sharply off the marble, altering its trajectory. It bounced across the courtyard and struck the steel chassis of a broken Pacifista cyborg lying in the rubble.
TING.
The second ricochet sent the arrow shooting straight upward, perfectly intercepting a massive, suspended wooden water tank on a ruined aqueduct that loomed directly above Akainu's position.
The crystalline arrow detonated against the wooden supports.
CRACK.
The supports gave way. The tank, holding thousands of gallons of freezing, stagnant ocean water, tilted forward and dumped its entire payload directly onto the battlefield below.
A torrential waterfall of freezing water crashed squarely onto Admiral Akainu just as he was winding up his next attack.
HSSSSSS!
The reaction was instantaneous. The sheer volume of freezing water hitting the super-heated magma caused a blinding eruption of steam. The heat of Akainu's body rapidly cooled, turning the liquid rock of his arms and shoulders into brittle, crumbling gray pumice stone.
The Admiral stood there, drenched, his magma temporarily extinguished and his arms encased in crumbly rock.
Up on the watchtower, Usopp puffed out his chest. He pushed his sunglasses up his nose with a single finger, striking a majestic pose.
"Hmph," Usopp declared loudly, ensuring his voice carried across the courtyard. "Just as I planned. I calculated that exact trajectory to the millimeter. You are merely a pawn on God Usopp's chessboard, Marine."
Akainu's eye twitched. A deep, unyielding vow formed in his mind.
When this is over, Akainu mentally swore, his magma slowly beginning to reheat and crack the stone casing, I will personally drag that sniper down from his perch. I will deliver absolute justice to 'God Usopp' myself.
"Stop looking away!" Luffy roared, dropping from above with a massive, blackened fist.
Akainu was forced to snap his attention back to the brawlers, his frustration mounting as the Straw Hats flawlessly rotated their attacks.
---
The battlefield was shifting. Behind the elemental chaos of the Admirals, the main Marine infantry was in a state of collapse, pushed back by the giants and the crowd-control efforts of Nami, Vivi, and Franky.
"Papa!"
A crisp voice crackled through Ben's earpiece.
Ben parried a sudden, jagged ice-blade from Aokiji, stepping back to create distance while Zoro stepped in to cover the gap.
"Go ahead, Merry," Ben said, his breathing even.
"Satellite reconnaissance confirms the secondary objectives are clear," Mini Merry reported from the bridge of the Thousand Sunny. "The pirate alliance on the western wall—the Supernovas—have completely evacuated the island."
Ben smiled. The board was clean. The distractions had served their purpose, and the primary threats were isolated.
"Excellent work, Merry," Ben said. "It's time to wrap this up."
Ben turned to the swordsman currently locked in a fierce blade clash with Admiral Aokiji.
"Zoro," Ben called out.
Zoro parried a heavy ice strike, his lone eye darting toward Ben. "What?"
"I need ten seconds," Ben stated simply. "Keep him occupied."
Zoro's grin turned feral. He gripped Wado Ichimonji in his teeth and leveled his other two blades. "Ten seconds? I'll give you a minute. Don't dawdle, Magician."
Zoro launched himself forward with explosive speed, unleashing a relentless barrage of slashes that forced Aokiji to focus entirely on defense.
Ben tapped his fingers together.
CRACK.
The sound of Apparition echoed through the freezing air.
Ben vanished from the northern harbor. He reappeared instantly in the ruined central courtyard of Thriller Bark.
The area was a wasteland of shattered stone and uprooted trees, the aftermath of the earlier battle between the giants. Lying in the center of the destruction, completely motionless and stripped of its stolen shadows, was the colossal, towering corpse of Oars, the Continent Puller.
Ben stood at the base of the ancient giant. He looked up at the massive horns and the stitched flesh.
"A shame to leave such research material behind," Ben murmured to himself.
He raised both hands.
"Maximum Aperture."
The air around the colossal corpse of Oars began to warp and distort violently. A swirling vortex of golden magical energy opened in the air above the giant. The gravitational pull of the magic grabbed the ancient behemoth.
With a groan of bending space, the hundred-foot-tall corpse was lifted from the floor. It shrunk and twisted as it was pulled into the vortex, disappearing entirely into Ben's infinite pocket dimension.
The courtyard was suddenly completely empty.
Ben smirked, adjusting his glasses. "Loot secured."
---
CRACK.
Ben vanished from the courtyard.
He reappeared high above the main plaza, hovering in the air directly over the sprawling battlefield. He looked down at his crew, scattered across the island, fighting their respective battles.
Ben raised his hands high into the air. He closed his eyes, focusing on the magical signatures of the Kimoyo Beads worn by every single member of the Straw Hats.
Ben unleashed the magic.
A blinding flash of violet and gold light erupted from the sky, washing over the entire island of Thriller Bark.
Down in the molten crater, Luffy was mid-swing, his blackened fist rushing toward Akainu's face. Ace was beside him, a pillar of white fire gathering in his palm.
On the frozen pier, Zoro had his swords crossed, bracing for an ice block from Aokiji.
In the ruins, Chopper was desperately writing a medical will while dragging a giggling Sanji by his collar.
Usopp was reloading his bow on the watchtower.
The violet light hit them all simultaneously.
Bloop.
In perfect synchronization, the members of the Straw Hat Pirates—Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Vivi, Caroo, the four Giants, and the mecha merry, Sunny, and all the Iron Legion—vanished from reality. They were pulled instantly into the safe sanctuary of Ben's personal pocket dimension.
Ben remained hovering in the sky above the main plaza. The massive flash of light faded, leaving the Marines and Admirals stumbling in confusion.
Ben looked down across the ruined island to see if anyone was remaining. His Observation Haki swept over the rubble, confirming his crew was safely extracted. But as his senses brushed the crumbling wall, he noticed a distinct, solitary signature left behind.
"Ah," Ben muttered to himself, hovering in the cold air. "The skeleton. He doesn't have a Kimoyo Bead or anything to which I can lock his spatial coordinates yet. The extraction array couldn't target an unmarked signature."
Without wasting a second, Ben snapped his fingers together.
CRACK.
Ben vanished from the sky above the plaza, slipping right out of Admiral Akainu's line of sight just as the magma-user recovered his bearings.
He reappeared instantly at the ruined wall. Sitting on a pile of rubble, drinking from a cracked teacup he had somehow salvaged, was Brook. He was looking down at the ground, where a distinct, dark shadow was now firmly attached to his skeletal feet.
"Yohohoho," Brook chuckled softly, wiping a non-existent tear from his eye socket. "I have it back. I can finally see the sun again. Laboon... I am one step closer."
"Glad to hear it, Brook," Ben said, stepping out of the shadows. "But if you want to actually see that sun, we need to leave right now. The Marines are currently tearing the rest of the island apart."
Brook jumped, his jawbone clattering loudly. "Magician-san! You startled me! My heart nearly leaped out of my chest! Though I don't have a heart! Yohohoho!"
"Grab my arm," Ben said smoothly, offering his hand without missing a beat. "We're extracting. Everyone else is already waiting."
Brook didn't hesitate. He grabbed Ben's sleeve with his bony fingers, his cane sword clutched in his other hand.
Ben channeled his spatial magic.
CRACK.
The two of them vanished from the ruined laboratory, slipping seamlessly into the pocket dimension where the rest of the crew was waiting.
Back in the real world, silence fell over Thriller Bark.
The roaring flames died down. The clash of steel ceased. The wind howled through the empty courtyards
The roaring flames died down. The clash of steel ceased. The wind howled through the empty courtyards.
Admiral Akainu, who had braced his body and coated his arms in magma to intercept Luffy and Ace's double-punch, stumbled forward as the resistance completely vanished. His momentum carried him over the edge of his footing, and he fell forward, landing directly into the molten crater of his own making with a heavy thud.
Akainu froze. He pushed himself up, looking around the empty crater.
He looked toward the watchtower. The sniper was gone.
He looked toward the coastline. The giant Robot was gone.
Akainu's body began to tremble. The magma on his arms flared violently. He had them. He was fighting them. And they had disappeared.
"THEYYYYYY EEEEEESCAAAAAAAAPED!" Akainu roared.
The roar was filled with hateful rage. Akainu threw both fists into the air, unleashing a blind volley of magma meteors that rained down on the empty courtyards, melting buildings and shattering walls in pure frustration.
Miles away, on the frozen northern pier, Admiral Aokiji stood alone amidst the permafrost.
He lowered his ice sword, letting it dissolve into mist. He placed his hands in his pockets, his breath pluming in the cold air as he looked up at the empty sky where the violet light had flashed.
Aokiji let out a long, tired sigh. He pushed his sleep mask down over his eyes.
"Arara," Aokiji murmured into the silence. "To vanish an entire crew in the blink of an eye. The Magician truly is a terrifying variable."
He turned around, walking slowly past the frozen rubble and the injured Marines scattered across the coastline.
A Marine lieutenant ran up to him, saluting frantically. "Admiral Kuzan, sir! The pirates have vanished! Admiral Sakazuki is destroying the southern courtyard in anger! What are your orders, sir?!"
Aokiji didn't stop walking. He didn't look back at the island.
"Tell the men to return to the ships," Aokiji ordered, his voice calm and cold. "The battle is over. Treat the injured."
---
Far away from the fog of the Florian Triangle, the sun shone brightly over the calm, crystal-clear waters of the East Blue.
On a small, completely uninhabited tropical island, a gentle sea breeze rustled the fronds of the tall palm trees lining the pristine white beach. The sound of waves lapping against the shore created a peaceful rhythm.
Beneath the shade of the largest palm tree, Admiral Borsalino, Kizaru, was lying back against the trunk, his hands resting behind his head. He was still wearing nothing but his yellow, polka-dotted boxer shorts and his tinted sunglasses.
Scattered around him on the sand were several empty coconut shells. A few more unbroken coconuts rested in a small pile nearby. A few yards away, a campfire crackled steadily. Roasting over the flames on a makeshift spit was a huge, prehistoric-looking fish that Kizaru had casually shot through the head with a laser earlier.
The smell of roasted fish and saltwater filled the air.
Kizaru stretched his long legs out in the warm sand. He let out a contented sigh.
"Moshi mosh..." Kizaru murmured lazily to himself, listening to the rustle of the leaves.
He knew the fleet at Thriller Bark was dealing with a massive headache involving the Magician and the Straw Hats. He knew he could easily build a raft or use his powers to fly back across the Red Line to join the fray.
But the sand was soft. The shade was cool. And the fish smelled excellent.
"I suppose..." Kizaru drawled, reaching over to pick up a fresh coconut, easily popping the top off with a glowing finger, "I got terribly lost. What a shame. I think I'll just rest here until Sengoku sends someone to pick me up. Until then, I can easily feign an excuse, saying I lost my way."
He took a slow sip of the cool coconut water, completely unbothered by the war raging halfway across the world, enjoying his impromptu vacation in the quietest sea.