"I raise my toast to an ocean of people who are powerful, not in body or mind or whatever, but who are powerful in heart!"
"So somehow those crazy bastards actually managed to get their ship to fly on its own, huh?" Crocodile mused to himself as he watched the Straw Hats' ship descend on the compound. "I wish I could even start to be surprised by that."
Crocodile also wished that he wasn't watching the display, but it wasn't like he or anyone else on Level 6 had much say in the matter. Shiki had spared no expense in ensuring that the world would see his moment of triumph, to the point that he had even used his powers to deliver a crate to the very bottom of Impel Down, planting a video Transponder Snail there and forcing the prisoners that the Government was attempting to erase from time to watch the Golden Lion's show. Forcing them to watch as the Golden Lion succeeded where they had all failed.
The feat had gotten in Magellan's craw, too, seeing as Shiki had triple-locked it in a sea prism stone box and even managed to remotely bolt it to the floor such that none of the staff could access or even move it, so the guards had no choice but to let the prisoners watch.
A 'privilege' that none of the prisoners were exactly enthused about, if the way they were all raging in their cells was anything to go by.
Still, in spite of the commotion going on outside of his cell, Crocodile still had a perfect view of the Thousand Sunny crashing down into the courtyard. The impact destroyed the front gate, carved a huge trench into the ground, and sent the guards into an absolute frenzy.
And before they could do much more than that, a series of almost simultaneous detonations and an indecipherable blur that sent anyone who came in contact with it flying came out of nowhere. The guard force was wiped out in less than a second.
Crocodile's eyes widened in recognition. "Really now?" he muttered to himself. "So even you…"
If the Straw Hats were surprised or put off by the guards' annihilation, they didn't show it. Instead, they dismounted from their parked ship and strode over the guards' bodies, silhouetted by the remaining smoke.
That's not to say they went entirely without greeting, however. Once they reached the very front door of the castle, they found it to be wide open. A pair of individuals stood on the threshold: a dark-skinned man wearing a trench coat and a blonde woman in a yellow-and-black dress.
"HEY, LEATHERNECK, WEREN'T THOSE TWO YOURS BEFORE YOU GOT PINCHED?" the somehow thoroughly inebriated voice of Vasco Shot echoed throughout Level 6.
"At least my soldiers are all still alive, you moronic lush," Crocodile snorted in response, ensuring his voice was carried to its destination. A goal that was accomplished, if the slurred swearing that ensued was anything to go by.
Still, whatever previous animosity the ex-Officer Agents might have once held against those who had taken down Baroque Works, it was clearly long gone now. The pair of Ability-users bowed to the Straw Hats, bending at the waist and displaying the utmost courtesy and decorum.
"Straw Hats. We've been expecting you," Mister 5 drawled. "Welcome to the Imperial Golden Lion Palace."
"We've prepared a more… appropriate wardrobe for your soiree," Miss Valentine purred, giggling following her words. "If you'll follow us, please?"
For the first time in over a week, Crocodile laughed.
-o-
"An ocean of people who, no matter what, will always stand shoulder to shoulder for the sake of the person next to them, be they family or neighbour, be they criminal, civilian, or even the damn Marines, and never give in!"
The shadows and distant images of the Straw Hats marched silently through the hallways of the palace, the view shifting from snail to snail to follow them as they passed an indoor garden and then into a side room, where each of they parted one of the doors, revealing a large dressing room. A dressing room with one side filled with a variety of suits and other such formal outfits - and the other with a Marine-grade armoury.
"Right in here. I believe you will find the accommodations to your liking," 5 nodded.
"Please don't take long, our most g-gracious host will be expecting your arrival anyt-time now," Valentine said, visibly struggling to keep herself from cackling.
The citizens of Gray Terminal, however, had no such reservations and were hooting and hollering as they watched the Straw Hats file into the changing room. Originally, they'd been busy ransacking the manors that Goa's nobles had abandoned in their haste to evacuate the East Blue.
But now that it looked like there was even a chance they would live to see tomorrow? They were far more eager to cheer on the prodigal son of the slums, whose cheeky grin they could all remember… and whose old 'I.O.U.' slips suddenly seemed leagues more valid.
As the Straw Hats began outfitting themselves in their newly provided attire, it became blatantly obvious that Soundbite was in full control of what his visually inclined cousins did and didn't show. This fact was clarified by how the broadcast only showed brief flashes of the Straw Hats as they pulled on their new gear—
A trenchcoat's lapels were yanked firmly into place.
A helmet slammed into place, polished metal gleaming in the torchlight.
A tie cinched up to perfection.
A boot slamming into the ground, hard enough to crack the floorboards.
An ornate peaked cap adjusted by the tip of its brim, the golden skull emblazoned in its peak, leering malevolently.
Gauntlets snapped into place, fingers stretching out to their fullest before snapping into a fist.
"I raise my toast to an ocean of people who will never back down and never surrender, no matter how much shit the world tries to pile on them!"
—And as they prepped their newly acquired weaponry—
The lever on a rifle ratcheted back, chambering a new round.
A pair of pistols spun into their holsters.
A break-action shotgun snapped shut on its freshly loaded shells.
A magnificent katana sliding into its snow-white sheath.
And finally, met with a roar of rabid approval, a massive rotary cannon was hefted, and its barrel spun up with a mechanized roar.
—Until finally, finally, at long last… they were ready.
The world cheered as the Straw Hats marched out, ready for war.
-o-
"I raise my toast to an ocean whose spirit and legend can never be snuffed out, no matter what you or anyone ever does or says! I raise my toast to the Blue of Hopes and Dreams!"
The camera's eyes gave no clear view of the Straw Hats as they were led through the palace, immaculately chosen angles and distances blocking any clear view of them and giving nothing away save that they had swiftly changed into formal black outfits, and were all packing varying amounts of heat, from heavy rifles to outright bazookas, with Going Merry's form—clear from her size—carrying what looked to be twice her body mass in pure gun.
"Hooooly hell," Helmeppo wheezed in a numb voice, his eyes bugging out over his visor. "I don't think I've seen that much firepower in a warship's armoury, much less on people!"
"I-I'm pretty sure carrying that many firearms without the proper permits guarantees five consecutive life sentences, doesn't it?" Coby questioned weakly, his brain trying and failing to make sense of what his eyes were showing him.
"Seven if it's determined they were held with intent to fire, minimum," Tsuru clarified, her eyelid twitching furiously. "And that's only if, by some miracle, the offenders can sell out enough names to miss the death penalty."
"What the hell, Luffy?!" Coby questioned incredulously under his breath. "I know you're mad, but—!"
"Ohohoh, my cute little grandson is more than pissed, brat," Garp chuckled through his rictus grin, idly scratching at the veins that bulged on his neck and betrayed his true feelings. "That bastard took one of Luffy's crew. If Shiki's still alive by the end of this… well, it won't be because Luffy intended it that way, I'll tell you that much."
"Get our fleet mobilized, I want us sailing according to that Pose within the hour!"
The two apprentices and the two veterans turned toward their superior, who was currently glaring at the receiver as if it'd just insulted his mother.
"We know where they are?!" Coby exclaimed. "But I thought—?!"
"Aegis 0 just delivered an eternal pose to Merveille, or at least the pillar it's currently anchored itself at," Garp answered, grunting in exertion as he hauled himself out of his seat and cracked his back. "Turns out they've been sitting on the damn thing for days now, and they only just decided to hand it over."
"What!?" Helmeppo squawked, boggling at his mentor. "Shiki's been a clear and present threat for a week, why didn't they give it to us before!?"
"Because," Tsuru sniffed dryly. "It was only today that a World Noble offhandedly ordered them to 'help those worthless insects'—that's us, mind you—'do the jobs we so generously pay them for'."
"And apparently they consider handing us that pose to be help enough," Sengoku grumbled under his breath. "Because we're sailing to that battlefield alone."
"U-Understood, sir," the rookies nodded respectfully, and prepared to depart as well.
The Marines proceeded in silence for a bit until the usual suspect inevitably broke it.
"…You do realize you're just gonna be—?" Garp began.
"I know we're Straw Hats' clean-up crew again, and I don't give a damn!" Sengoku barked. "Even if we're just eating their scraps, even if we only manage to accomplish the least amount of good, I couldn't care less! This is a battle for the fate of the world, a battle that will never be forgotten, no matter what might come to pass! I will not let history show that when push came to shove, all we could do was sit on our asses and watch!"
The watchers processed this. Then Garp's face split into a malicious grin as he cracked his knuckles. "Well, when you put it that way, count me in. Let's get going."
"S-Sir!" Coby and Helmeppo saluted, following their superior out. Tsuru lingered behind, silently looking at Sengoku. Sengoku looked back.
"…Does it still seem hollow?"
"It's hard for me to say at this stage."
A pause.
"…Justice will still be served. But what will the world think?"
"They'll side with the Straw Hats for saving that ocean, I'm sure."
Another pause.
"And what do you say about all of this?"
"…I have had to think more about what I call Justice over the past few months."
"Then we feel the same way."
"Do we? I'm not so sure… but I regret that."
Silence fell once more. Then Vice Admiral Tsuru left for her own ship, and Sengoku followed, leaving the room empty.
Much later, when the pair of them thought back on that conversation, neither could quite recall who said what.
-o-
"I RAISE MY TOAST!" 'Black Bart' Bartolomeo roared, raising his saucer high above his head.
SMASH!
Before utterly horrifying the other captains present, who could do naught more than gape in equal parts awe and horror at the mohawk-toting maniac who'd just spiked his saucer between his feet.
"TO THE EAST BLUE!" he howled loud enough to shake the rafters of heaven.
Despite the ample warning given by the entire speech, Shiki's eyes flew wide open, every vein on his brow bulging in complete outrage. Angry beyond words or even noises, he drew a pistol and aimed right at the pirate's shark-toothed smile. The gun fired, the bullet flew… and then the lead ball deformed against thin air, falling to the floor with a ping that everyone heard.
"HEHAHAHAHAHAHA! You really are a moron, wheel-boy," Bartolomeo taunted, his head thrown back and the air flashing a mere inch in front of his face. "Not only do you try to shoot a guy who ate the Barrier-Barrier Fruit…"
And then Barto snapped his head back into place with a roaring cackle, his tongue lolling from his fang-toothed mouth and both his middle fingers sticking straight up. "But you're stupid enough to recruit one of the only two primo badass captains of this generation to come from the East-fucking-Blue!"
"You…" Shiki rumbled, the veins down his arm bulging murderously, the wooden panelling of his pistol splintering within his grasp. "Do you even realize what the hell you're doing, you suicidal bastard? Do you really think that a pathetic little mongrel like yourself can even last two seconds AGAINST SOMEONE LIKE ME!?" The last few words were roared, the palace creaking ominously around the pirates' heads as though it were liable to rip itself apart any moment.
"Who, me? Alone?" Barto cocked his eyebrow inquisitively, not even looking at Shiki in favour of buffing his nails on his coat. "Psh, nah, I know when to pick my fights. You'd squash me, easy." He then shot a spike-toothed leer at the Golden Lion. "So it's a damn good thing I didn't come alone, ain't it?"
Precisely on cue, the unmistakable sounds of a beatdown filtered into the throne room from right outside the chamber. And from the familiar screams of panic and pain, Shiki knew that it wasn't his men handing out the beatdown.
"Reinforcements, I take it?" the veteran growled, though calm slowly returned to him. He had armies waiting on all sides of the room, just waiting for a cue to break down the walls. No force would allow this scum and anyone fool enough to follow him to make it out of this alive.
"Hehahaha… you've got it backwards, Shiki," that damnable rookie sneered, slowly walking out of his place in line and positioning himself so that he was directly opposite Shiki, leering up at him without shame or fear. "My crew and I? We're the back-up dancers for this shindig. But them? Hehaha… they're the real main event. I mean, seriously!"
Barto flung his arms wide as he stepped aside, the mad grin that had been on his face since the toast spreading even wider. "Just check out their grand entrance!"
Suddenly, the sounds of the beatdown stopped dead, and all the lights outside the throne room seemed to come on at once, harshly illuminating the sliding doors.
A whisper of flying steel sang out, drawing everyone's attention to one of the screen walls. In an instant, slashes crisscrossed the entire left half of the wall, the screens holding for only a second before the sheer wind pressure blasted them out of their frames.
A number of the assembled captains shifted where they were sitting, glancing towards the display of force with vague interest.
Seconds later, with the sound of a bomb going off, the other half neatly disintegrated, the paper and wood shattering like glass struck by a hammer. Barely had the shreds from the devastated wall started to fall when a pillar of hellfire erupted and reduced the fragments to ash and cinders.
The captains gazed at the carnage with restrained curiosity, scrutinizing the smoke screen for the perpetrators.
And then, all at once, they showed themselves.
-o-
"You know, in the earlier days of our training, I often questioned how practical it was to be dressed professionally when we were out on the job," Blueno drawled.
"I remember that, and they always gave us plenty of plausible answers," Kalifa said. "Covering more of your form leaves less opportunity to drop a trace of yourself."
"While at the same time testing you to ensure that you can execute without staining yourself," Kumadori brought up. "There is also the fact that the World Government would never have any employees of significance dressed otherwise while on the job."
"And the fact that limiting our mobility is supposed to give us constant training, in life and on the job," Kaku continued. "All valid reasons… and none of them the real one."
"The real reason," stated Rob Lucci with a bloodthirsty smirk. "Is that it's just so much more satisfying to hand someone their head if you look good doing it."
"Ain't that the truth?" Jabra snickered. "Pity that this is probably the last time we'll see the Straw Hats like this, though."
"Either way, there is a fact we cannot deny…" Hattori cooed as he scribbled on a pad of paper, eyeing the Straw Hats as they strode from the smoke.
From 'Sniper King' Usopp's extravagant suit of samurai armour to 'Devil Child' Nico Robin's functional cowboy-trenchcoat combo, and all the spic-and-span suits worn by everyone else in between…
"Those bastards clean up damn good."
-o-
"Hey, what the heck!?" 'Winch Green' Yonji, youngest son of the Vinsmoke line, barked indignantly, strangling one of the vis-snail's eyestalks. "The hell's wrong with the image, you spineless lump of slime?!"
The reason for the ultimate human's ire was that while most of the Straw Hats were depicted in picture-perfect clarity, there were two whose faces were hidden from the world.
One was for a normal enough reason: one of the central figures in the crowd, standing next to Roronoa Zoro, was a chain smoker. So much so that any shots of his face were obscured by the haze of smoke he kept exhaling like a chimney. Unfortunate, but such was life.
The other obscurity, however, was far less forgivable: for whatever reason, the face of the tallest of the crew was rendered entirely inscrutable by a blur of static and warped colour that prevented any details whatsoever from being made out.
"You! Stupid! Piece! Of—!" Yonji snarled, yanking harder and harder on the eyestalk, and undoubtedly preparing to yank even harder than that.
"Give it a rest, Yonji," his elder blue-hued brother, Niji, drawled from nearby. "This snail isn't the one in control of the broadcast. The camera must be crossing its vision in regard to that one. It's an old trick that usually takes years to train a snail to do, but the loud mouth one must be capable of it instead."
"I'm more interested in the smoker…" the blazing red elder, Ichiji, smirked as he eyed the fume-shrouded pirate. "Looks like he's a blond… probably that 'Sanji' they have on their crew. Heh, remind you guys of anyone?"
"No, and it doesn't remind you of anyone, either."
"Yes, father," the boys said immediately, their heads bowed respectfully.
Even the unswerving loyalty of his perfect soldiers didn't prevent a derisive snort from Judge Vinsmoke. Not even their actions could soothe the inferno that had been pricked in the back of his skull. "That is not him," he growled, speaking as much to himself as to the soldiers present in his throne room. "It is a different Sanji, and not that worthless waste of time and flesh. As it is, I've already made it clear to the World Government that I want that embarrassment to our name wiped from the maps. We will speak no more of this."
"Yes, father," the heirs of the Germa repeated.
"As you say, my lord," the lone heiress demurred politely, even as, in the back of her mind, she harboured far less charitable sentiments.
'Wrong again, father,' Reiju thought with her driest venom, her bile hidden behind a long-perfected mask of obedience. 'You were wrong about him before, and you're wrong now.'
But when she looked back at the smoked-out face of her brother—her baby brother, alive and well and thriving—her mask softened into genuine compassion.
'That's right, Sanji,' she silently praised him. 'Tell the world your name… and don't ever let them forget you again!'
-o-
Furthest to the right from the viewers' perspective, Princess Nefertari Vivi rode sidesaddle on her loyal friend, whose helmet, chest plate, greaves, and wing armour made him the very picture of a war mount. And Vivi herself was clad in a purple-and-black V-neck blouse, a black jacket, and black pants, a look of tranquil determination on her face.
Rebecca the gladiator stared at the unflinching form on the screen as she confronted one of the most infamous men in history, a man that even the tyrant Doflamingo feared to clash with, if the way Dressrosa's defences were being raised was anything to go by.
She'd craved the sight of Vivi's face for several months, with how much her words and actions had affected her, and while she had seen the wanted poster, it wasn't quite what she was looking for.
Now, as she stared at the desert princess as she was at that very moment on the other side of the world, she found herself searching for an answer to a question she had harboured for so long.
Then, all at once, she stiffened, and her eyes widened. The look in the princess's eyes crystallized something that had been stirring in Rebecca's mind from the very first SBS, from the very first words Vivi had uttered in defiance to the judgment of the entire world.
And now that Rebecca knew what it was she was feeling, she grabbed it with both hands and vowed she would never let it slip from her grasp again.
She slowly rose, discarding the wagers that she had picked up, and walked off toward the armoury.
That day would later be noted as the last time that any of the gladiators saw fear on Rebecca's face. The last time she would let Diamante see fear in her eyes.
-o-
"Dear father, what kind of glasses are those?" Shirahoshi questioned as she took in the image in the town square. "The one that Boss Dugong is wearing?"
"Hmm?" King Neptune hummed, leaning in to see more closely. All five Dugongs in front of the Straw Hats' party were still naked from the 'waist' down, but wore suit coats, bandanas in their usual colours, and neckerchiefs or bowties around their necks. The TDWS all wore round sunglasses as well, evoking the image of yakuza soldiers, but Boss was different. In addition to the bandolier around his torso and the cigar in his jowls, he was wearing…
"Ah, those are triangle shades, dear, jamon. Designed more for appearance than for practicality, jamon. I hope you're not asking because you want a pair?"
"Oh!" Shirahoshi gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth. "No, no, I was just curious about them. I hadn't seen them before."
"They're not common, your highness," the Minister of the Left said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Though I do recall one child from a decade or so ago who was quite taken with them. He was a loud and boisterous kid with a good heart, but he kept trying to form something of a gang, and he kept going on about the surface as well."
"I heard rumours that he tamed an orangutan sea king and rode off for the surface; he hasn't been heard from since," the Minister of the Right added.
Shirahoshi nodded in understanding, though her brow furrowed in thought. "Ah… Minister, what is an orangutan?"
"This may take a while, jamon," Neptune chuckled lightly as his left and right hands scrambled for answers.
-o-
"…Laki?"
"Yes, Wiper?"
"I'd like to take you up on that offer you made a few weeks ago to design a set of formal clothes."
"I told you so!" Aisa sang.
"You, however, are still not going anywhere near a ship flying a Jolly Roger."
"Sea King balls!"
"AISA!"
"Phhhbt!"
"Heheheh…"
"YOU TOO! I KNOW WHERE SHE PICKS IT UP!"
Apart from the banter, the source of this change in mindset for the Shandian was the image of the Straw Hats' gunner on the screen. White dress shirt and red tie, white scarves that reached down to her thighs on both sides, and the rest of her in black: black shoes, black pants, black coat, and even the white beret they'd last seen her in was swapped out for a black one.
And with Su completing the image by curling around her neck and toting a black fedora all her own…
"You go, gangsta girl…" Aisa breathed reverently, stars twinkling in her eyes.
-o-
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that's just awesome," Paulie laughed, gesturing at the figure beside Conis. Even with all that they knew of the Straw Hat Pirates, the most famous of them on the island of Water 7 was Going Merry, the autonomous ship that the crew had given a new life, even when Galley-La's best couldn't fix her.
And currently, said ship was standing in the form that new life had given her: a young girl with white hair, clad in a black overcoat over a red shirt and a decorated peaked cap. Her face bore a quiet smile that held a clear note of malice, and, perhaps most notably, she was the one hauling the rotary cannon, a weapon that was twice as tall and as thick around her as she was, not counting the ammo drum, with absolutely no effort.
"How can something be so adorable and so badass at the same time?" Oimo snickered in agreement. "Those idiots are in for it now."
"Just like Enies Lobby all over again," Kashi laughed in agreement, fist-bumping his partner.
That good cheer only lasted until their captains' fists cracked down on their skulls.
"BACK TO WORK!"/ "WE'LL TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS LATER!"
"BASTARDS!"
-o-
Not far from the end of Paradise, the two Marines whose actions had ultimately led to the founding of the New World Masons observed the lineup of the Straw Hat Pirates, their eyes falling on one figure in particular. Directly beside Nefertari Vivi and Carue stood the Voices of Anarchy and their partners.
Jeremiah Cross wore his gauntlets, greaves, and cap, along with a brown shirt with a wide collar and a loose tie in a darker brown, framed by an open jacket and pants a shade darker still. He carried the sword Funkfreed in his right hand, the snarling Lassoo on his back, and Soundbite on his shoulder, a pair of sunglasses doing nothing to hide the glare he was burning over the shades or the fangs he was baring.
And as for Cross himself?
"Commodore Smoker… meaning no disrespect, I've found myself wishing often over the past few months that Cross could be a little more like… well…"
"Like me?" Smoker asked quietly.
"Y-Yes, sir."
"So have I," the Commodore admitted. "I've hated his smartassery since the first time we talked in Loguetown, and I kept thinking to myself that it would be so much easier to tolerate someone like him helping us form the New World Masons if he were more serious."
Both of them looked back at Cross. His hat was tilted to shadow the upper part of his face, but they could see his eyes. And they were cold. Utterly devoid of humour, of enjoyment, of eagerness… of mercy. The last time Cross had faced down a man that he actually hated enough to murder, he hadn't once lost his witty, if sadistic, sense of humour.
He had long since lost that now. When the two Marines looked at their ally… their friend, who had opened their eyes to the truth, all they saw was a cold-blooded pirate who wouldn't hesitate to reduce any enemy in his path to a ravaged corpse.
"And what do you think now, Tashigi?"
The Lieutenant looked between Cross and Roronoa Zoro, whose eyes gleamed with even more promised murder.
"I really want him to start cracking jokes again…" she swallowed fearfully.
Smoker nodded tersely in agreement. "We'll just have to wait and see once this is all done, then. Right now, I'm more concerned with someone else: where the hell is Straw—?"
Before the Commodore could complete the question, the Straw Hats all parted and formed two rows before the gaping hole in the wall. And in the middle of them all…
Smoker's cigars dropped to the ground, forgotten as the two Marines gaped at just what they were seeing.
"Oh. My. God," Tashigi breathed, voicing at the same time her own thoughts, Smoker's, and the world's.
-o-
On the other side of the world, for the second time that month, the Totland Archipelago was completely paralyzed.
Only five individuals in the whole stretch of sea were left conscious. Four were the Big Mom Pirates' Sweet Commanders, who, at the epicentre of the event, had all fallen to their knees, with Katakuri only just managing to land in a three-point position and keep himself mostly upright via liberal application of Mochi supports as their mother and captain's rage billowed throughout the palace.
The fifth was the source of the event herself: the Emperor of the Seas, known as Charlotte 'Big Mom' Linlin, whose mood had just pulled a complete 180.
Just moments earlier, she had been perfectly jovial as she enjoyed a casual tea party with her beloved family, enjoying many a treat while watching the old coot Shiki flail about in Paradise, and totally ignorant of her children and underlings subtly constructing bunkers and shelters all along the archipelago behind her back.
And then, out of the blue, her mood had flipped. Now Linlin was furious, the air itself rippling around her as she flooded her domain with her presence and crushed everyone within her grasp. Crushed their very beings with the image of a giant, a colossus, a titan, large enough to blot out the very sun, arms outstretched from horizon to horizon and threatening to smother the world.
And the source of this outrage was the picture projected on a screen by a Transponder Snail, barely half-conscious thanks to Katakuri's sparse efforts.
While twenty-one of the Straw Hat Pirates stood on either side of a self-formed corridor, their captain was the last to enter the room, the light from behind him showing him only as a silhouette for a moment. A straw hat, a billowing coat…
And seeing that silhouette, only one thought came to Charlotte Linlin's mind.
One thought crossed the mind of every member of the old generation in the world.
One thought.
One face.
One smile.
One name.
"ROGER…" Big Mom breathed murderously.
-o-
Shiki ruthlessly quashed the vision that his mind's eye forced upon him at seeing the form of that straw hat-wearing pirate. He refused to see the resemblance to his former rival. Roger was dead, gone, no more. And no matter how much the world insisted that this man was his successor, he refused to believe that he would lose with his superior forces to a man from the East Blue. Not now, and never again. Never again.
'And yet, here they are,' a traitorous part of his mind supplied.
He schooled his angered expression into one of dull interest, lighting a new cigar. "So, you want another round. Colour me surprised."
The Straw Hat Pirates calmly entered the room, marching between the commanders of the Golden Lion Pirates, who continued to observe them with vague interest. Behind them, Barto strolled up to his own subordinates, who nodded at him before descending into hushed conversation.
"You're planning on attacking the East Blue," Straw Hat Luffy stated quietly, his hat shadowing his eyes.
"Finally caught on to that, did you?" Shiki scoffed.
The crew paused as they reached the middle of the room, and Luffy raised his head to show one furious eye. "And Nami, she's OK?"
The Golden Lion's grin took on a special kind of evil. "Sure, she's doing peachy!"
The assembled attendants snickered at the apparent joke. Shiki was quick to join them.
The Straw Hats, meanwhile, were just as quick to bristle. In particular, Cross and Zoro tensed up as though they'd been given electric shocks, their eyes gleaming with untold emotion beneath their headwear.
"Jihahahahaha!" Shiki, however, was blind to the shift, whether through casual ignorance or by his own will. "You sure put up a dangerous front. But you don't think this motley crew of yours is going to walk out of here alive, do you?" So saying, he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
On cue, the remaining screen walls in the room fell, kicked down by the pirates on the other side. It was quickly apparent that the Straw Hats were woefully outnumbered; hundreds of armed and sharp-dressed pirates filled the left and right sides of both stories of the room. A small army, armed to the teeth and all focused on the one, single crew that stood opposed to them.
The Straw Hats' sole reaction was to give the soldiers the most cursory of glances before dismissing them.
"I figured only one of you would be naïve enough to believe that she could sacrifice herself to save her home. But now you're rushing in here, an entire suicide squad," Shiki drawled, puffing on his cigar. "Well, I suppose it's just for the best. If I can't toast my new alliance with sake, then I shall just have to baptize it in your blood."
"You're as dumb as you look," Luffy bit out, wiping the smile from Shiki's face. "Nami would never sacrifice herself, idiot. She joined your crew… so she could attack from the inside!"
As the captain raised his voice, the rest of the crew raised their weapons, cocking them and holding them at the ready. Rifles, blunderbusses, shotguns, cannons, all manner of high-power firearms, aimed in every direction around them.
"Now prepare yourself, Shiki the Golden Lion!" Luffy roared, taking a floor-shaking stomp in Shiki's direction. "We won't lose the same fight twice!"
Apparently, that was the cue for every Straw Hat with a ranged weapon—and at this moment, that meant every last one of them—to open up on everyone else in the room. Most of the pirates in the first ragged row had no time to react before they were enveloped in bullet hell. And those that did have time to react were either met with another weapon as they dodged or else had their cover demolished by the heavier artillery.
Ten seconds in, and already a quarter of the pirates in the room were down with bullet, shrapnel, or explosive wounds. And not only was the bullet hell not letting up, but the complete and utter grim silence with which the Straw Hats were working just made things worse. It made some of the pirates long for them to say something. Anything.
"MWAHAHAHAHA! The entire crew is babies!"
"Go home to mommy! YOHOHOHOHOHO!"
On second thought, 'anything' did not include Merry and Brook cackling and taunting them. They could really do without that.
Witnessing the devastation and also seeing that the enraged rubber man out for his head was emptying his clip at an almost possessed pace, Shiki knew that there was only one smart option at the moment.
"Captain—!" one of the Golden Lion's lackies exclaimed, hastily running up to his captain.
"Right…" Shiki growled, turning to walk behind his throne.
WHOOSH! KRASH!
But he froze and snapped his attention back to the chaos when the utterly inconceivable occurred.
-o-
I could and most definitely would have continued my onslaught for as long as Lassoo would let me, but I cut myself off when everyone else started to click empty around me.
"Gngh, I'm out of ammo," Franky grunted, tossing the two bazookas he was using at Merry, who promptly shoved them into her jacket. The rest of the crew followed suit, the caravel-girl giggling ecstatically at the sheer amount of firepower she had housed within her hull.
"Never seems to be enough bullets to take 'em all down," Sanji quipped as he cast his gaze around the rest of the room, which was slowly starting to get its wits back together.
"Speak for yourself, hombre," Lassoo growled, morphing to his semi-form on my shoulder so he could shoot a smirk at our cook. "I've still got bombs for days."
"Ditto on that point, howlitzer," Merry giggled, knocking loose her steaming cannon's empty drum and just as swiftly fitting in a fresh replacement. "I've got a belly full of red hot lead and I intend to share."
"Sorry, Sanji, but they do have a point," Conis smiled at the Monster as she slotted in a fresh Flavour Dial. "We experienced gunners tend to carry spares. Ah, by the way, Merry—?"
"Here ya go!" The ship-girl withdrew a large bundled object from her hold and tossed it to the angel.
"Aaaaand the dugong makes four!" Mikey snickered, earnestly spinning his pistols about his flippers. "Don't you feel foolish!"
"Oh, cram it," Sanji huffed out in a weary cloud of smoke.
"Enough," Luffy growled, cutting off the chatter. We all snapped to attention. "Cross?"
I nodded at my captain before scanning over our crewmates one by one. "Usopp, Chopper. You're our best trackers, find Nami and get her back in fighting condition."
"On it!" Usopp snapped into a salute as he finished shrugging off the heaviest pieces of his armour.
"And then Indigo?" Chopper questioned in a tight tone, thumbing his facemask over his nose.
"And then Indigo, right?" I nodded before moving on to one of our larger and smaller crewmates, respectively. "Merry, Carue. Work together, go nuts through this place, take anything that's shiny and isn't nailed down."
"WOOHOO! IMMA BE A LOOTER!" Merry cackled, leaping onto Carue's back as Vivi slid off, and almost flattening the poor duck on account of how she was still toting the one-ton cannon.
"Oh gaaaawd…" Carue wheezed, but despite his quaking knees, I could tell that he was still good for it.
"Robin," I glanced at our grim archaeologist. "Think you can—?"
"— Find whatever information Shiki's accumulated over the years and appropriate it for ourselves?" Robin smirked as she tilted her hat down over her eyes. "I think I can do something along those lines, yes."
"Fantastic," I nodded gratefully. And then I turned towards our most recent powerhouse, who was clenching and unclenching her hand. "Everyone else, fuck things up. And Vivi… think you're feeling up to bringing down the heavens?"
Vivi brought her hand up to stare at it before slowly looking up at me. "No…" she breathed. Then, before I could ask what she meant, her other hand combed through her hair and tugged out her hair tie, shaking her long blue mane free. Something crystallized in Vivi's eyes, and a miniature vortex spun into existence in the palm of her hand.
"I'd rather raise the roof."
And with that, the Princess shoved her cyclone-bearing hand heavenward and clenched her fingers into a fist, crushing the vortex in her palm.
"RA'S WRATH!"
I whistled as our party was suddenly encircled by a roaring pillar of air that shot up, into and clean through the ceiling, blasting the roof apart with contemptuous ease. The glare Shiki shot Vivi's way through the clearing smoke was almost as impressive.
-o-
The throne room of Alubarna Palace was dead silent as the occupants all stared at the princess's display of might.
"She did it…" Cobra whispered, tears of so many emotions welling up in his eyes.
"My sincerest apologies, Shiki the Golden Lion," Vivi curtsied politely as the smoke dissipated, her gaze never once breaking with her enemy. "Did I forget to mention that I'm a Logia now?"
"She looks just like her mother," Pell breathed, pride in his voice.
"Right down to the 'repent or suffer' look," Chaka concurred.
"Heheheh, please," Accino chuckled with a wave of his cigars. "I was married once as well. You mean 'repent and suffer less'."
Cobra slowly allowed a vicious grin to come across his face. "The only difference," he stated proudly. "Is that Shiki has long since made his choice?"
-o-
OK, now the way Shiki was glowering was impressive. If looks could kill, Vivi would have been a greasy smear on the floor, Logia or no Logia.
"SHIKI!"
Still, it didn't last long before Luffy made a beeline for Shiki and prompted the bastard to make a run for it. Gritting my teeth, I went after my captain, Zoro, right beside me. And a good thing, too, because Scarlet and Indigo popped up out of nowhere right behind Luffy, the bandaged clown brandishing an oversized sabre and the gorilla sporting a pair of brass knuckles I just bet were laced with sea prism stone.
They turned to face us, and it wasn't hard to imagine them tearing into Luffy's unprotected back otherwise. I raised Funkfreed—
"OUT OF THE WAY, MORONS!"
—And then I hurled myself out of the way when Soundbite blared a train horn in my ear, and an annoyingly familiar voice shouted behind us. Zoro followed a split second later, but Indigo and Scarlet were slower on the uptake, which meant that Barto, a shimmering cow catcher projected a half foot in front of him, practically ran them over in his haste to… follow Luffy!?
I shook the dizziness of the dodge from my head before shooting a glare at Barto's retreating back. "Damn it all, Barty, what the hell do you think you're playing at!?" I grumbled to myself.
-o-
"WAIT UP, STRAW HAT!"
Luffy turned his furious gaze over his shoulder, prepared to slam his fist into whoever had dared to try attacking him while he was after Shiki. He aborted the attack, however, when his pursuer didn't make any aggressive moves. And… something else…
"Who—?" Luffy started to call back before jerking as his memory was jogged by the other pirate's bobbing mohawk. "Ah, you're that Barty guy, right? The one we met in Loguetown? What're you doing here?!"
"Wh-What do you think?!" Bartolomeo stammered, huffing as he tried to keep up with Luffy's insane pace. "I-I'm coming with you! I'm gonna help you k-kick Shiki's ass!"
Luffy's curiosity faded into annoyance, and he snorted and snapped his head forward. "I don't need your help! Go back and help the others!"
"Wh-What!?" Barto squawked, cold sweat breaking out over his brow. "Th-That's not—! Y-You can't—! Nnngh!" 'Black Bart' clawed his fingers down his face. "J-Just listen to—!"
"I don't need to!" Luffy barked impatiently, starting to increase his pace. "This bastard threatened our home and stole our crewmate! This is my fight! So stay out of—!"
"WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO ME, YOU DUMB BASTARD!?"
More out of surprise than actual fear, Luffy looked back at Bartolomeo, whose expression had morphed into a full-on scowl.
"I set out to sea because of you, Straw Hat!" the fang-toothed pirate bellowed proudly, his jaw set with ineffable determination. "I've followed your crew's journey every step of the way, even before the SBS! I know how you do things, I know that Shiki declared war on you the moment he hurt one of your crewmates, and I'm not going to stand in your way. BUT!"
Barto put on a burst of speed, actually managing to catch up to and run alongside Luffy, glaring dead ahead after Shiki. "The East Blue is my home too!" he declared. "I've got my boys there, my family! And I'm not just going to sit back on my ass when I can actually make a difference! I'm going to fight for them, tooth and nail, no matter what you or anyone else has to say about it! And if you don't like it… Then you can get the fuck out of my way!"
Bartolomeo winced at insulting his idol like that, but it seemed to cement Luffy's attention on him. He was silent for a few moments, glaring at his fellow East Blue captain.
"How do you fight?"
Accurately interpreting the meaning of Luffy's question, Bartolomeo grinned as he locked eyes with him. "Good old fisticuffs crossed with my Barrier powers. I can hit anyone, but they can't hit me back."
Luffy nodded and refocused his attention ahead. "Alright. Let's go, Black Bart!"
Bart's leer stretched from ear to ear. "Right there with you, Straw Hat!"
-o-
I stared after Bartolomeo and Luffy, automatically climbing to my feet. I hadn't expected that, but with my annoyance ebbing, I could admit that Barto was the best candidate to actually help Luffy against Shiki. This wasn't a bad thing, not at all, no matter how much the petty side of me wanted to say otherwise for getting a train horn blasted in my ear.
"What was that about?" Zoro grunted, massaging the spot on his thigh where Barto had clipped him.
"Barto's living his dream right now," I answered. "Don't worry about it, he'll either be a net help for Luffy or Luffy will knock him out before he makes too big a nuisance of himself. Either way, we should probably focus on our own situation."
Zoro snorted, slowly turning to look over his shoulder. "Yeah, speaking of which…"
As Zoro said, 'our situation' was, ah, not optimal, so to speak. I don't know how many pirates were in the room with us, but it was at least a few dozen, and these weren't the grunts that we'd mowed down earlier. No, these guys were all staring at us without any fear, without any hesitation, with total certainty in not only their own victories, but their having the strength to achieve said victories.
All that, coupled with the jackets they had slung over their shoulders, and I'm fairly certain that these were all captains, every last one of them.
"Soundbite, headcount?" I muttered out of the corner of my mouth.
"FIFTY OF these guys out in the front," he answered. "AND, UH, DON'T PANIC, but we didn't get EVERY ONE OF THE GRUNTS. 'NOTHER FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY behind them."
I clicked my tongue in a sharp tsk. "So," I sighed out loud. "Final count, it's us two, a loud-mouthed third mate tactician with his partners and a first mate swordsman, against fifty of the strongest captains in Paradise, along with the top fighters in their crews. Close to five hundred pirates against two."
"I think we can take them," Zoro said as he retrieved and brandished his unsheathed Wado Ichimonji. "Do you think we can take them?"
"You always think we can take them," I groused, though that didn't stop an eager grin. It was this grin that I turned on the captains surrounding us. "So? What are you guys waiting for? An engraved invitation?"
That did it. One graybeard stood, drew his sword, and pointed it at us. "Get those little pests!" he barked. "Kill them all!"
Immediately, the crowd surged towards us, the larger part breaking for Zoro and a smaller but still significant chunk going for me. I grinned and hefted my partners. After last week… I needed this.
Hefting Lassoo, I pulled the trigger as fast as I could, baseball bombs soaring over the heads of the frontline to thin out the crowd to the rear. Adding to the carnage was Soundbite pitching in with the Bass Cannon every time a bomb went off, creating veritable walls of sound that turned anything in their path to jelly. Gunfire rang out, but a swift swing of Funkfreed had him wrapped around me, the bullets pinging off his steel hide, prompting the pirates to mostly abandon their guns.
Still, about twenty bombs later, the leading two captains were almost on me with the rest of the horde only reeling. One was a full-bearded fellow with a brown coat trimmed in fur and a painful-looking X-shaped scar on his forehead, carrying a massive iron club, while the other was an aged woman, her black hair done up in a long pigtail and her Chinese-style dress torn at the waist to expose an armoured breastplate, brandishing a cutlass and a dagger.
Both were also in the danger zone of Lassoo's baseball bombs. And neither of them was concerned as they charged toward me, the looks on their faces clearly expecting me to go down in a matter of seconds so that they could move along. If I were a little less incensed, I'd probably be grateful that the misconception that my voice was the only dangerous part about me had lasted this long.
I dedicated myself to disabusing them of that notion with an almost savage glee.
I snapped my arms—and weapons—out to my sides. "Pachy-Cryo," I uttered.
Funkfreed withdrew to his blade form, which made the captains pick up speed, but they were given pause by water spraying down the length of his blade from his hilt, courtesy of his old Water Dial. A moment later, his new Cool Dial flash-froze the water into a secondary blade of pure ice.
"Cani-Pyro!"
Lassoo followed suit, reverting to his cannon mode. He then coughed out a measured stream of gas that he swiftly ignited. Said flames coalesced into a controlled pillar of blue flames, easily as long and as thick as Lassoo was.
Preparations complete, I hefted up my partners and greeted the captains with a savage smirk.
"Beast Blitz," I chuckled grimly. "Bring it."
They were only too happy to comply.
The woman's blades not only froze over almost immediately upon slamming into my own, but the ice glued her hands to her own weapons and Funkfreed's edge, while Lassoo's blowtorch went through Scarface's club like it was made of butter. The looks on their faces were priceless.
"GASTRO-nation."
And then Soundbite rang their skulls like church bells and put them right out of the fight. Good timing, too, because the rest of the crowd had arrived. This was no time for subtlety or fancy tactics. Instead, I simply waded into the fight, swinging Lassoo and Funkfreed around equal parts calculated intent and reckless abandon. With the temperature effects they were running, that was still enough to clear large swathes of pirates.
It was incredibly satisfying.
But it just. Wasn't. Enough.
Gritting my teeth, I tossed aside Funkfreed and Lassoo—who promptly swapped to their hybrid forms and took up the charge on their own—and punched one of the non-captains in a pinstriped suit square in the nose. That he crumpled like a sack of flour was so much more satisfying than using my partners.
And while Zoro and I were tearing through these guys, no one could ever accuse them of being stupid. Weak and as coordinated as drunken monkeys on a waxed floor, but not stupid. The nearest captain, one wearing a blue shirt and sporting fish-like fins behind his ears, charged me, clearly intent on grappling me, shouting, "Everyone, dogpile him! It's just that dumbass bigmouth Cross!"
I waited until he came close, then grabbed his hands as he made to strangle me. His eyes widened slightly when I didn't crumple immediately. And then I squeezed, his wrists crumpling beneath my fingers like empty soda cans.
-o-
"Brutal," Kid sneered appreciatively, his fingers twitching with potential violence just itching to be released as he observed the beatdown.
"Oh, God help me…" Killer dragged his fingers down his mask, groaning miserably as he contemplated the inevitable meeting of the two pirates and the fallout that would come of it.
-o-
"Wh-What?!" the captain gasped in shock and pain, staring numbly at his destroyed hands. Then I yanked his arms down and rammed my knee into his chin, dropping him to the ground.
"… 'just Cross'?" I chuckled with deceptive, icy calm as I made a show of dusting my hands off. "Ohhh nonono… let me explain something to you lot."
Several pirates, non-captains, tried to bum-rush me. A punch here, an elbow there, a dodge to let one fellow sprawl painfully against a wooden support beam. I helped him along to dreamland by planting my boot against the back of his head, and I was sorely tempted to give him a half dozen more for good measure.
"Now… this might come as a bit of a shock to some people, but the truth is?" I gestured at myself with a smile. "I… am an angry person. It's true, I am, I am a very angry person. Bit new to me too, seeing as it only really started up since I came to the Grand Line, but, well…" I shrugged as I shattered the jaw of someone trying to sneak up on me with a backhand. "There it is.
"Normally, this doesn't really show because I channel my anger constructively, I let it out through my words as I slowly but surely tear the World Government down, piece by piece. But see, for the past week?" I ducked as another pirate swung a bulky arm at my head. I then snagged said limb in a crushing grip and wrenched the limb around my assailant's back. "I haven't been able to do that."
I ratcheted up the pressure on my captive's arm as I spoke. "I haven't been able to do that, because for the past week, my crew and I have been trapped in a primordial hellhole, fighting for our lives against monsters that outweighed us fifty to one apiece, courtesy of an arrogant bastard who decided to ignore my every warning, my every repeated message concerning the sanctity of our crew, and made the fan-fucking-tastic life choice of fucking with me and mine in a most glorious manner. As such?"
SNAP!
My captive howled in agony, and I let him drop to the ground as he lost all resistance in his shoulder.
"I am," I smiled politely, holding my fingertips less than an inch apart. "Just the slightest, tiniest bit, somewhat pent up."
Another captain joined the fray, resplendent in a white uniform trimmed in gold with an impressively tall hat. He also had gray skin, black pits for eyes, sharp claws and teeth… oh, and also had a good three feet on me, height-wise. That's probably why he thought it would be a good idea to jump at me from the second floor like some panther on the hunt or something.
"Now, I'm no fool." I tugged down my hat and grinned, even as the rabid pirate descended on me. "I know for a fact that I can't even lay so much as a scratch upon Shiki, no matter how much I want to. I can't even touch him." I then snapped a glare up at the pirate. "But you."
Before dead-eyes could react, I snapped my metal-clad fists out and snagged the captain by the lapels of his oh so nice jacket, snatching him clean out of the air and holding him nice and high off the ground, where all he could do was scrabble and squirm at and in my literal steel grip.
"You all who decided to join him, to stay allied with his flag, even after he, at the risk of repeating myself, fucked with me and mine, in a very public, impossible to ignore manner," I hissed venomously, grinning up at my victim-to-be. "You, I can touch. You… I can break. But still, just in case, just in case this all sailed clean over your dumb little heads… let me make this as easy for you as I can possibly make it…"
Spinning around, I shifted my grip and then slammed the captain into the floor, turning it into splinters and shaking the whole room.
I then, very slowly, very deliberately, turned on my heel and regarded the pirates who had all frozen in place like the disgusting scum they were, scowling with pure malice as I slowly cracked my knuckles, one by one, ensuring that they could all hear it.
"Daddy needs to express some rage," I rumbled grimly.
Ahhhhhh. That's the stuff. And the fact that the rest of the crowd around me—and it was a pretty sizeable crowd, still—was taking a fearful step back, terror written on every square millimetre of their faces, was the gourmet icing on this delicious cake. Then I blinked.
"Huh. This must be what Shiki feels like all the time. Explains a lot, really." I turned back to the crowd, who all took another step back. "Now, who wants some?" Not waiting for an answer, I pointed at a pirate at random. "You. You want some."
"Oh, God—GRK!"
That choking noise? That would be me holding him up by his throat, Funkfreed covering me while I made my point. "Don't bother," I chortled, sheer madness gleaming in my eyes. "My captain already punted him off his throne. Wanna guess who spat in his face first?!"
-o-
Mr. 5 eyed the sharp metal whirlwind that was Roronoa Zoro's position as he strolled into the chaotic mess that had once been Shiki's throne room. "My my, this is really turning out to be quite the party," he remarked, catching a sword-armed pirate with his foot. Which exploded.
"Kyahahaha!" Miss Valentina cackled, floating above the chaos. "And me without my banana! I feel so underdressed!"
One eyebrow rose above 5's sunglasses. "Why would you need a banana at a party?"
"You always take a banana to a party!" Valentine replied as she came crashing down on some poor fool who happened to be under her.
A muscle in 5's cheek twitched. "… Alright, let's try again: What good is a banana at a party?"
"Excellent source of potassium!" Sanji answered as he skidded past, surfing on a pirate whose head he had under his heel.
"Thank you~!" Valentine called after him.
"Why do I even bother…" 5 shrugged with a defeated sigh.
Suddenly, a knot of pirates exploded. Literally. Both former Baroque Works agents glanced to the site of the explosion, and were thoroughly unsurprised to see Cross there, dog-gun retrieved and smoking on his shoulder. They were surprised to see 'Thief Lord' Ernesto Barbarossa among the fallen pirates, blood dribbling out of his ears. Taking a moment to catch an attacking pirate and explode his hand in his face, Mr. 5 sighed and turned to his partner.
"…Miss Valentine, what was that you were saying a couple of months ago, before we met the Kuja Pirates?" he asked in a tight, if conversational tone.
"I was saying that we need to let go of our grudge against the Straw Hats because of how much their stupid luck has rubbed off on us," the woman said, more focused on the display than the pirate fruitlessly trying to cut through her umbrella, the poor bastard entirely unaware that the parasol was, in reality, entirely steel down to the last fiber and was only portable due to currently weighing a mere fraction of its normal weight.
"That's what I thought," 5 nodded. "I'm starting to agree wholeheartedly with that."
Valentine hummed as she snapped her parasol shut, allowing her attacker to overcompensate with his next swing, and then brained him with the full weight of her weapon of choice, which hit like a ton of… well, anything. "That's good."
"That said," 5 plowed on. "I still want my shot at wringing Cross's scrawny neck."
"Oh, now that's an entirely different kettle of fish," Valentine scoffed, jabbing her umbrella's tip in the bigmouth's general direction. "You take everything above the waist, I call everything below."
"I heard that."
The two of them stiffened as Cross side-eyed them, the literally murderous look in his eyes freezing them where they stood.
"I'm only going to say this once: if anyone who is not on my crew attacks me right here, right now, I will not be held responsible if they don't survive it," his voice informed them, right in their ears, in a perfectly conversational tone of voice.
The two Devil Fruit users looked at each other. Then they proceeded to walk—not run, of course not, why would they run, they didn't need to run, not from him of all people— away without another word.
-o-
"…"
Something tried to pierce the hazy shade of Nami's mind.
"…i…"
Something tickled her senses, attempting to bring her back to consciousness.
"…a…i…"
Something was pushing and pulling at her. She couldn't be sure if it was physical or mental.
"…ami…Nami…"
Her name. Someone was calling her name. That was the push she needed to stir into consciousness.
"Nami… Nami?"
She didn't recognize the voice. It sounded young, more male than female, and concerned. She also registered that something was prodding at her face.
"Nami? Nami, please wake up, please wake up! I'm sorry! So so sorry! I'll do anything you say, I won't ever run away again, so please! Please!"
The prodding suddenly became a straight-up jackhammer.
"WAKE U—!" SLAM!
"CUT IT OUT, YOU STUPID DUCK!" Nami shrieked as she slammed an uppercut into Billy's beak, knocking him off of her.
A second later, however, Nami nearly collapsed as the extra energy granted to her by her adrenaline cut out, leaving her right back at death's door. Her mind reeled from the green haze choking it, but her analytical mind was still capable of discerning three facts about her situation.
First, she had been cut loose of the bindings that Shiki had strung her up with, and she was laid out in the snow a good dozen metres away from the Daft Green grove.
Second, Perona was free as well, lying in the snow next to her, but was still incoherent on account of the green bruises that had mottled her face.
And third, most important of all…
"Billy…?" Nami wheezed through her too-tight throat, blinking at the red-yellow blur she could vaguely recognize as her avian friend.
"Nami!" the electric avian squawked in relief, flapping over her ecstatically. "You're alright! Oh, thank heck, I was so worried! I-I'm so so so sorry that I flew away earlier, I-I-I was just so scared, and-and-and look!"
Billy held up his shaking wings, and Nami blinked at the large metal orb he seemed to be holding. "I-Is that… my Jet Dial?" Nami coughed in confusion.
"I-It was the b-biggest piece I could find and-and-and I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help and, a-and…" Tears welled in Billy's eyes as he bowed his head. "Please… p-please, y-you're my-my first friend… m-my only friend… s-so please, don't hate me…" the duck sobbed, rubbing at his eyes. "D-Don't hate me for running! D-Don't be mad, p-please don't be—GWAK!"
Billy was choked off by Nami throwing her arms around his neck and hanging onto him for dear life.
"Y-You came…" the redhead sobbed into his plumage. "A-And if you're talking… th-then that means the others came too… you're here, you're all here…"
Billy returned the embrace with similar relief, smiling at the forgiveness she gave so easily. Though concern returned immediately upon seeing her slump to the ground, struggling to breathe.
"N-Nami! What's going on?"
"The poison," Nami croaked weakly, shaking her head. "Billy… B-Back in the trees, the fuses… on the dynamite. Y-You need to ignite them, h-hurry…"
"W-Wha!?" Billy squawked with a panicked flap. "B-But if I do, th-then the Daft Greens! The others!"
"That's the plan," Nami breathed. "Shiki won't know what hit him…"
Billy stared at Nami in horror, but she shook her head. "Worry about us after… we need to—"
"Idiot."
Duck and witch started as a soft hiss, and suddenly came from nearby, and their attention turned toward the huffing, scowling form of Perona, who was clawing at her collar.
"Get… this… off. I'll… trigger… the bombs…" she panted.
Nami processed that and looked at Billy, who frowned as he looked at the collar.
"I-I dunno if I can…" Billy muttered noncommittally, nosing at the keyhole.
"Bring her—hurk," Nami heaved as her throat seized up on her. Grimacing with effort, she rifled her hand through her hair and withdrew a hairpin. "Bring her here, q-quick…"
Billy hastily complied, taking Perona into his talons and bringing her over to Nami. She put the pin in the lock and had it open in seconds. Black humour played across her face.
"Well… at least now I can say that I c-could literally pick locks on my deathbed," she chuckled.
"And I'm… supposed to be the one… with a morbid sense of humour," Perona wheezed, raising her hand. Slowly, strugglingly, a cluster of Mini Hollows spilled out and flew toward the trees.
Nami watched with grim satisfaction, and in a few moments more, when the only obstacle preventing Shiki from falling victim to his own monsters perished in fire, that smile widened into a visage of outright malice.
Billy swallowed heavily as he watched the Daft Greens burn, but then his trepidation became outright terror when he heard the incensed howls of his 'brethren' in the distance. "Sh-Sh-Shouldn't we be running or something…?" he quacked fearfully.
"Nah…" Nami shook her head with a delirious snicker. "No need… I'm hurt, remember? We don't need to run…"
Billy was about to protest that particular decision, but before he could say much of anything, he was silenced.
Silenced by the sight of a thirty-foot-tall stag striding through the burning gap in the trees and plodding its way towards them. With a forest of spear-sharp antlers protruding from its brow, the beast's stature was emphasized even further, and coupled with the rows of razor-sharp teeth in its maw and the positively evil glint in its eyes… Billy was under no illusions as to what his 'cousin's intentions were.
The duck gulped, and out of pure instinct, he snapped his wings out, preparing to take to the skies, but then he steeled himself and extended his tail as well, electricity crackling around him.
"Don't bother."
Billy hesitated at Nami's soft wheeze, but elected to ignore what he knew was the result of delirium, continuing to charge himself up.
"Don't bother, Billy," Nami repeated just as airily. "I'm hurt… and that means…"
Billy grit his teeth, about to unleash his energy—
"CHERRY BLOSSOM BLAST!" "EXPLODING STAR!" KABOOM!
And then he flinched in shock as a series of explosions enveloped the deer, followed swiftly by a gorilla-like figure skidding to a halt beside them, the familiar long-nosed form of another Straw Hat coming up quickly behind him. Both were panting with relief and satisfaction.
"Y'know… that deer looked a lot like my birth father…" Chopper mused as he walked up to them, gaze on the staggered, smoking stag. "And all things considered? I honestly think that I might have enjoyed that way too much."
"Considering how I'm planning on decking my own dad when I meet him before hugging him? I think your reaction was downright healthy," Usopp snorted in return.
"You're… You're here," Billy said dumbly. "You-You guys actually came! I thought she was delirious!"
"Oh, she is," the reindeer responded with a roll of his eyes, fishing a pair of vials out of his backpack and tossing one to the sniper. "Faith in her crew or not, she wouldn't be staying still instead of running when she couldn't fight back if she were thinking straight. Drink this, Nami. You too, Perona."
At Chopper's gesturing, Usopp held the vial to Nami's mouth while he held the other one up to Perona's. Two assisted swallows later, the two snapped up into sitting positions, hacking and wheezing in renewed agony.
"Are you conscious now?" Chopper asked tersely.
"What the hell did you just make me drink!?" Nami demanded viciously, the agony in her chest the only thing preventing her from ripping his scrawny—! "GRK!" Like that.
"Taking that as a yes," Chopper said dismissively, getting his chemicals in order. "What I just gave you was an energy booster to accelerate the progress of the secondhand IQ you ate at the Sunny through your immune system. Bitter taste, better cure…" He then frowned grimly. "Except it isn't a cure, just a stopgap measure. Daft Fever is vicious enough over a prolonged period of time from secondhand inhalation, and you just got it from the source. We need to get the pure cure, and the only way to manufacture it is from IQ plants, and the only place on the whole island I can get those…"
All present recoiled a bit as Chopper's eyes glowed cyan. "Is Indigo's laboratory."
Usopp nodded in understanding, tapping his Kabuto on his shoulder. "Need any help getting there?"
"I—"
"N-No!" Nami interrupted with a wheezing cough. "I need you to do something else for me!" Before Usopp could question what that was, she pointed out the nearby wreckage.
"AAAGH!" Usopp squawked in panic, snapping over to and cradling the metal orb desperately. "THE WAVER!? WHAT HAPPENED TO IT?!"
"Shiki happened," Nami snarled savagely before allowing her expression to soften. "But I think the Jet Dial is still intact, so maybe we can salvage something from it. Just… Just get it back to the Sunny, alright?"
Usopp hesitated for a scarce moment before nodding and taking the metal shell into his hands. "No promises about finding my way back to you guys before this is over, but I'll be back in the fight as soon as I've dropped this off."
"Alright," Chopper nodded firmly. "Take care, Usopp,"
The sniper saluted proudly before grabbing onto the metal orb and blurring out of sight.
The doctor then glanced at Billy. "And what about you? Feel up to helping?"
Billy hesitated slightly at the question, but only for a moment before he steeled his beak and nodded. "You take Perona, I'll carry Nami."
The human-reindeer nodded and promptly got to work. It took some effort to properly situate Nami on the duck's back, loop her arms around his neck so that she could hold on, and then finally get moving…
But once they started running, it wasn't a moment too soon because barely a second later…
"GROOOOAAAAR!"
The world itself howled havoc and set loose the evils of war.
-o-
"Holy Shit."
"RIKA!"
"Come on, Mom!" the young girl protested, incredulously flailing her arms at the screen. "If anything warrants swearing like a sailor, it's the end of the world! And that!" So, said she, pointing at the screen.
At the devastation raging through the Golden Lion's compound. Dozens of monstrosities of varying size but equal viciousness and savagery, tearing through the walls of buildings and ripping through the assembled troops with absolute abandon. Insectoid, mammalian, avian, and even some amphibian-aquatic monstrosities had decided to venture out of their comfort zone in their desire to join the carnage.
"That," Rika repeated firmly. "Is pretty much a scene right out of the end of the world right there. And it's also what's going to come down on our heads if Luffy and his friends lose! So if that doesn't warrant some swearing, I don't know what does!"
Ririka frowned heavily at her daughter's frustratingly valid reasoning and ultimately decided to save scolding her about it for when the Straw Hats succeeded in saving them again. She wouldn't allow herself to believe that they could lose; there was too much at stake.
"Normally, I'd be right there with you, Ririka."
Mother, daughter, and patrons turned to see Commander Ripper coming towards them, an uncharacteristically savage grin on his face.
"But to be perfectly honest? This has got to be the most beautiful show of poetic justice that I've ever seen. When I think back on what it was like to be under Morgan's axe… for the sake of keeping our island and ocean safe from that, I'm overlooking any support that the base shows towards Luffy or any of his allies for the rest of the day."
Ririka's eyes widened as she made that connection: a tyrant enforcing his will upon what he saw as his dominion. They were once again relying on Luffy to save them from an awful fate, this time before it even began. And with that in mind, with that realization of how much it meant to them in particular that the fight worked in their favour…
She sighed and smiled lightly. "I seem to have gone temporarily deaf. It should be better by tomorrow."
Ripper smirked while Rika grinned.
-o-
Sanji thudded to the floor, grimacing in pain and frustration, one hand on a cut in his upper arm oozing blood. At least his opponents weren't in any hurry to attack him, either. Silver linings.
Surrounding him were five human-sized monsters in animal form. But for all that they were human-sized, they were a damn sight tougher than anything running around in the jungle. The wolf pacing around was blindingly fast; kicking the cobra opposite it was like kicking a metal cactus; the hare sitting well back kept pelting him with projectiles; and the steel-feathered falcon and nausea-inducing bat circling overhead were constant nuisances. Especially the bat. It was too bad there weren't any real recipes that featured bat.
Not to say that this had been entirely one-sided. The wolf, for one, was walking with a pronounced limp, to say nothing of their considerable caution. That meant one thing.
"Time to kick it up a notch," Sanji muttered, beginning his spin. His foot scraped on the wood, and soon bloomed with immense, crackling heat. The alphas around him all took a nervous move back, the fear of fire still ingrained in their instincts. So when Sanji leaned towards the wolf and the rabbit behind it, both flinched back, leaving them completely out of position, and Sanji instead took a flying leap towards the cobra, blazing foot held out.
The cobra, eyes wide, tried to slither out of the way, but it wasn't fast enough. What saved it were the falcon and bat launching metal-hard feathers and an ultrasonic scream, respectively. Sanji flinched under the assault, slowing.
"You're…" he growled, planting his hand and pivoting. "Annoying!"
That pivot swung his blazing leg around and right into the bat's face. With a squawk of agony, the bat went tumbling back and hit the wall, slumping to the floor.
Sanji let himself go limp as the falcon dove at him, the bird passing over him and his foot coming up to meet it. Another squawk, a burst of feathers, and then the falcon bounded off the ceiling and plopped onto the floor, too. The remaining animals warily eyed Sanji, especially when he stood and flashed them a smirk.
"Who wants to be served next?"
As if on cue, one of the walls suddenly burst into pieces, a mid-sized crocodile with a raccoon and a scorpion on its back trotting in. The scorpion promptly launched a glob of venom at the cook, who dodged it, only to be met by a sudden raccoon dive to the face.
"Wargh!"
Only a hasty jump back saved Sanji from more than a few face scratches, and it didn't stop the rock that smacked right into his ribs. Worse, out of the corner of his eye, he could see the two fliers starting to stir.
'This… could be bad,' he mentally admitted.
"Hey, Sanji, you look like you could use a hand."
Sanji glanced towards the door, where Gin was leaning against the frame, smiling like the devil.
"If you've got nothing better to do," Sanji grunted.
Now, with two fighters in the room, the animals were once again frozen, eyeing each as they tried to figure out what to do. That meant Gin had plenty of time to spin his tonfa. Time enough that they started sparkling and crackling, until the weapons were twin blurs of radiant light.
"Primum Imperium," Gin intoned, before rushing the crocodile.
Slow as it was, the crocodile probably wouldn't have been able to dodge the blow, and it didn't even try, trusting in its protective armour. That armour, sadly, was not built to withstand a massive iron ball slamming into it, nor to stop the load of electricity that followed. With a snapping noise and a keening wail, the crocodile twitched and flailed and then fell still, the smell of charred keratin filling the room.
"Who's next?" Gin asked, scanning the room.
Sanji, meanwhile, had started moving as soon as he named his attack. Spinning around, he raised his foot in an axe-kick that he brought down on the still-surprised cobra sitting behind him. The blow obliterated the tatami mat and left the cobra stunned. The next five ensured that it would stay that way.
Swaying out of the way of the wolf, Sanji spun and planted his non-fire leg right into its soft underbelly. With a yipe, the wolf tumbled out of the fight, at least for now. A rock, following in its wake, was obliterated with a single kick. The two fliers tried to stay at range, but, as they were injured, Sanji had no problem Moon Walking up to them.
"Premiere Hachis Hash!"
The double-kick landed square on the falcon, pitching it away again. Evading another kicked rock, Sanji touched down, right as the wolf dove for him again. The dive was promptly halted by a flaming boot to the face.
The poor abused wolf went down with a piteous whine, and Sanji turned his attention to his last two annoyances: the rabbit and the hawk.
ZZT!
In his peripheral vision, he could see Gin finish off the raccoon with just the edge of his weapons' electrical field. The last two alphas evidently saw that, too; the rabbit kicked a hole in the wall and bolted through, the falcon following shortly behind.
"Should we go after them?" Gin asked.
"Nah, waste of energy," Sanji waved a hand dismissively, his other hand occupied with lighting up a new cigarette. "Let them run off and either raise hell or get crushed elsewhere, I don't care. I only fought them because they cornered me. More importantly…" Sanji eyed Gin's weapons appreciatively. "Nice technique. Let me guess, magnets in the orbs?"
"Heh!" The dead-eyed man smirked and nodded in confirmation. "Good eye, yeah. It just came to me. Amazing what you can do when you really buckle down, huh?"
"Tell me about it…" the cook chuckled, shaking the lingering smoke from his leg. He then frowned thoughtfully. "The name's got me curious, though. Primum, where have I heard that before…?"
"The Primum Mobile, from Dante's Paradiso," the gaunt man explained with a sage nod. "It's the layer of heaven where angels reside."
Sanji's curly eyebrow quirked. "I thought your epithet was 'Man-Demon'—?"
"Yeah, I completely flipped my image the first chance I got once I broke ranks with Krieg," Gin snarled, scowling. After a deep breath, though, he shot his old friend a cocky smirk. "Anyway. You're now looking at the man known as the 'Empyrean Envoy', worth ฿80 Million."
The Straw Hat's eyes shot wide in shock. "Okay, I know what that one means, and you'll excuse me if I have a hard time believing the Marines would actually give that to you of their own free will."
"Weeeell," Gin's grin slowly darkened tauntingly. "In all fairness, I did have some help in getting it to stick."
Sanji's eye narrowed accusingly. "Help-help, or Cross-help? No, wait." He snapped a hand up before Gin could respond. "On second thought, I'd rather keep well out of that bog of secrecy. Just… one more question." He tilted his head in confusion. "Angels? From you, of all people?"
Gin slowly cracked his neck back and forth. "Do you know what the first thing angels say is whenever they appear?"
"Er…"
"They always say 'be not afraid'. And the reason they say that, it's not to be comforting…"
Gin tilted his head at just the right angle so that his grin was at peak malevolence.
"It's because angels, in their truest forms, are fucking terrifying."
"… well, I'm sold," Sanji declared. He then turned an evil eye out of the room. "But now that that's cleared up… want to go and help me put the fear of both those above and below in these bastards?"
Gin matched the grin tooth for tooth as he slowly started to spin up a fresh charge. "I thought you'd never ask."