FicWad

Sanji feels a surge of pain travel through his entire body.

He snaps awake, thrashing against the chains binding him. The wooden chair beneath him creeks and threatens to snap, barely holding together in the end.

'Good, you're finally awake.' Miss Valentines, partner to Mr 5, throws the electric taser to the floor. 'Now, let's get comfortable. We wouldn't want you thrashing about for your interview.'

Sanji looks at the chains binding him. Solid steel. They don't even budge as he flexes his chest. He looks around.

And immediately wishes he hadn't.

The basement he finds himself in is lined with thick, wooden tables. Knives of every size and shape hang from chains above them. Lined up against every wall are several industrial-sized fridges. All in all, with the implements on the wall, it would look the part of a Spartan mess hall designed to prepare and store food.

Were it not for the blood and human body parts scattered all around.

The smell hits him first. Despite the pounds of flesh stashed away in the fridges, the blood staining everything has obviously never been cleaned. Cleavers are lodged in the tables along with human bones that are stripped of all muscle. An open fridge in the back is filled with flayed meat.

It takes all of Sanji's willpower not to throw up on the spot. His open disgust at this mockery of the culinary arts is clearly apparent.

'Where are my friends?' The cook demands.

'My, what a considerate man you are.' Valentines pulls up a chair. 'You're making me jealous. My partner is such a bore, he doesn't appreciate how much work I do in the kitchen.'

Sanji glares at her, saying nothing.

She rolls her eyes. 'Fine. Don't say I never did anything for you.'

Reaching above her, she pulls on a chain attached to a sliding meat hook.

Hanging from it, gagged, her protective outerwear torn off, is Nami. She flips and squirms as she slides into their field of vision.

'Nami Swan!'

Nami looks up 'Mmm meee!?' She sats through her gag. Her body is naked save for the leather harnesses and chains around her.

'You should be thanking me.' Valentines grins. 'My associate, Mr 5, wanted to interrogate her along with the traitor, Miss Wednesday. But I convinced him you two...' She points to them. 'Would make much better assets than pincushions. Aren't I nice?'

'Nice cannibals.' Sanji snorts. 'Now there's a joke.'

The woman pouts. 'Aw how mean Sanji kun!' Valentines leans in. 'We're just doing everything we can to survive in a cruel world. In our situation, you would do exactly...' she pokes his nose. 'The same...' she pokes him in the eye. 'Thing!'

'Where's Luffy and Vivi?' Sanji snaps back, not even dignifying her with a response.

Valentines groans, thumbing to a cellar door. 'The dunce? Locked up in chains and drugged into unconsciousness. He was tough enough to survive a blast that liquified that witch Carolina.' She sighs. 'But then again, a man that had a fifty million belli bounty wouldn't go down to anything less.'

She wipes a thin line of rotten blood from the table. 'As for the traitor, I don't know why you'd care.' She draws on his face with the grime. 'Five's extracting info from her in his office. She won't last long, and once she expires, she'll wind up on these tables as all my volunteers do.'

'Volunteers?' Sanji asks in a bitter tone. 'Is that what your victims were to you? Volunteers?'

'Well, we had to get our food from somewhere. Funeral Islands aren't really known for their bountiful harvests.' The woman says coyly. 'Most of our food came from the sea, but then the whale got the plague. From there, well...you know the story.'

'And you immediately started eating each other.'

'Not immediately!' Valentines acts shocked. 'As I said, this outpost, the first stop for many in the Grand Line, was originally a place for burials. And most of our "customers" were fresh.'

She sits in her chair, playing with her captive as a cat plays with a mouse. 'Once the recent arrivals were gone, we switched to bone meal from the graves, then the bounties we hunted down. After that, we'd find "volunteers" willing to sacrifice their lives so that our organization might thrive. Can you really blame us for being hungry? For trying to survive?'

'As much as I enjoy the company of a beautiful lady, this conversation is going in circles.' Sanji states. 'You're trying to justify eating and murdering people, and I'm not a fan. So how about you let me and Nami Swan go and we'll forget this ever happened.'

'A nice offer, but no.' Valentine crosses her legs seductively. 'Here's my counteroffer. Join Baroque Works. We could use competent, clever people like you...' She looks back at Nami, who quickly palms something in her hand. 'And the girl, I suppose. For whatever reason, our mystery boss insists on a female operative for every male.’

Sanji tries to wiggle out of his chains. 'And why would I want to join a hive of cannibals?'

Valentines gives him a cheeky grin. 'Says the cannibal.'

The chef glares back at her with genuine anger.

'Oooo. Did I strike a nerve? So how was it? Personally, I didn't like the taste at first...' she licks her lips. 'But it's grown on me. I especially like the younger meats. They're so chewy.'

'...monster.'

'Such harsh language from my prince!' The woman smiles gleefully. 'So who was it? Your friend? A stranger? Who did you eat so that you could live!? Face it, you're no different from us. Why not join the winning team?'

'I am not like you.'

She rolls her eyes. 'Denial. It's always hard for people to admit they like eating people. I don't know why.'

Sanji stares deep into her soul. 'I am nothing like you. Unlike you, I didn't kill anyone to eat them.'

The chef looks down at his lower extremities with a solemn look. 'Old man Zeff... he sacrificed his legs... so I could

live.' He grinds his teeth and looks back at his captor. 'Don't you DARE compare his sacrifice to your mass murder!'

Valentine is momentarily stunned by the man's conviction and heart. But this only lasts a moment. 'So that's your excuse? Because your stupid old man did it willingly, it didn't count? What a load.'

A super-heavy foot smashes into Sanji's foot. 'Face it! You're an awful person! We're all awful people trying to survive in a world that wants us to suffer!' She drags him close to her. 'So why don't you admit it!? Admit you're a flesh-eating cannibal! Admit you're a monster just like us!'

Sanji says nothing. He doesn't need to say anything. His blazing eyes and conviction speak volumes more than anything Miss Valentine has said in her entire life.

She throws him back in disgust. The chair rattles for a moment before she stands up.

'Pity. I would have liked to have another chef on staff. Butcher's work is hard for a dainty woman like me.' She pops a pain in her neck. 'Well, at least now we have two more pigs for the chopping-'

The prison door behind her is blown off its hinges, bouncing off the filth-encrusted tables before coming to a rest.

'Wh-What!?!'

Sanji sighs. 'Better late than never.'

Walking through the shattered door frame is none other than the captain of the Strawhats. He yawns casually as he walks into the room.

'Yaaaaawn! What a great nap!'

Valentines jaw drops. 'What? But... how?'

'Man, this place is dirty. Nami'd have a fit if she were here.' Luffy looks around the room, seemingly missing the implications of his surroundings. 'Oh, Sanji! Did you find any good meat? Or booze for Zoro?'

Sanji rolls with Luffy's oblivious nature with a chuckle. 'Sorry, captain. I got a little tied up!' He gestures to the chains.

'Yeah, these bounty hunters are jerks. They're nothing like Johnny and Yosaku.' He flexes his muscles. 'Hold on, I'll get you out in a jiffy.'

'How? How are you awake!?' Valentines shouts at the pirate captain. 'Those chains could hold a sea king! And those sedatives could knock out an army!'

'Oh...' Luffy yawns again. 'So that's why I feel kinda sleepy.'

'But... but the chains!' She backs away

from the advancing pirate. 'I locked you up myself! I made sure you couldn't move an inch without breaking every bone in your body!?'

'Break bones?' Luffy asks, confused. 'But I'm a rubber man.'

She looks at Luffy as if he were crazy. Well crazier. 'Rubber?'

Luffy nods. 'Yeah. My body's made of rubber after eating the Gum fruit, so I can stretch my body out of tight spots.' Reaching up to his face, he pulls his cheek a full three feet away before letting it snap back to its original position. 'It also lets me pull off some really cool moves.'

Miss Valentine stares at him for a moment, realizing how badly she messed up.

'Sooo.' Luffy shows off his deceptively strong bicep. 'Are you gonna surrender or do I have to beat you up?'

The hunter smoothly draws a gun and points it at Sanji.

Luffy freezes.

Valentines smiles. 'That's what I thought. Now you just stand there.' She reaches into her pocket. 'I have to make a call.'

She holds in her hand a small snail-like creature. A den Mushi, a species of mollusk that allows instant communication across vast distances. Pressing a mechanical button on its back, she opens up a line to the hundreds-strong army of Bounty hunters on the island.

'This is Miss Valentines, officer agent, here with a direct order.' She smiles cruelly at Luffy. 'Could some of you big, strong men come down here and kill this pest for me?'

'.....'

'....'

'...' she smacks the snail. 'Hey! Pick up, damn it! I'm talking to you!'

'Maybe try a different channel?' Sanji helpfully suggests, giggling under his breath.

'Shut up, you!' She flips a dial. 'I was... just about to... try... that!'

Finally, she gets a bit of static and a line of active communication. 'Finally!' Valentines clears her voice. 'This is-'

'AAAAAAAIIIeeeee!!'

A bloodcurdling scream comes out of the snail's mouth.

'WE CAN'T STOP HIM!! MR 5! MS VALENTINES!! ANYONE!! PLEA-'

'DEMON HUNTER!!'

The line goes dead.

Silence and broken static fill the room.

'...well, at least Zoro seems to be having fun.' Luffy says flippantly as if they hadn't listened to someone being killed.

He walks towards the bounty hunter.

'D-Don't move!' Valentines presses the gun again, Sanji.

'Miss.' Sanji says, his voice tinged with compassion. 'Nobody is coming to help. You're facing down a man with a fifty million belli bounty. Let me go and we...'

She pistol-whips him in the jaw. 'I said shut up! Volunteers should be nice and cooperative! You don't get to speak!'

Valentines turns back to Luffy, her face a mask of tranquility hiding her true nature. 'Now, Luffy. Why don't you go back to your cell before your friend's brain decorates the floor? I'll be right with you shortly.'

'...'

She cocks her gun. 'Now please.'

Luffy just stares at her. 'It's not safe.'

'What?' She looks at the frighteningly calm man.

Luffy touches the brim of his hat with reverence. 'Every time you point a weapon at someone, you're putting your life on the line. So you shouldn't draw a weapon on someone unless you're prepared to die.'

The pirate's fearless nature, or his disregard for the life of his crew mate, stuns the bounty hunter. 'I-I'm the one with the leverage here! You're the one putting your friend's life on the line by making me angry!'

Luffy takes another step, and Valentines presses her gun's muzzle deeper into Sanji's skin. 'I said don't move! Not unless you want your friend's death on your conscience!'

Luffy glares at her. 'I'm saying it's not safe to point guns at people.'

Bang

Miss Valentines, officer agent to Baroque Works, devil fruit user, and proficient assassin, gets a bullet straight through her head.

She falls to the ground, a lifeless clump, as Nami stands over her corpse, chains and leather straps hang over her nearly nude form.

'And that's for stripping me naked in this filthy room.' The navigator looks over to her captain. 'About time you woke up, Luffy. I was counting on you making a mess of things so I could ice the witch.'

Luffy nods. 'Yeah. So could you help...'

Sanji's chains fall off with a clatter as the navigator spins a key around her finger.

'Ooof.' Sanji stretches his sore muscles. 'Thank you, Nami Swan!'

'You're welcome, Sanji kun!' Nami pulls him into her face. 'Now you can repay me for getting caught and leaving me in this dirty room by finding my suit and burning everything on this damned island to the ground!!'

'...everything?'

Nami glares at him with enough force to shatter steel. 'Everything.'

'Awwww.' Luffy slouches. 'But what about all this delicious meat!?' The captain gestures to the full iceboxes. 'We can keep that right, Nami?'

Nami and Sanji look at each other. Each one desperately hoping the other will explain.

'...right, Nami?'

Nami sighs. 'Uh, Luffy... well...'

Sanji places his hand on Nami's shoulder and stands up. 'Luffy, this is a cannibal island.'

Luffy looks at Sanji with horror. '...cannibals?'

The chef nods. Such places weren't unheard of, but every time they popped up, tales of soul-shattering depravity would follow in their wake.

Luffy looks around at the fridges. 'So these are full of...'

'Yes, captain.'

'... are... are they the refugees from the East Blue?'

Now it's Sanji's turn to freeze up. 'East blue?'

Nami struggles to find the words. '...When we were at the bounty office, a woman there claimed they got "visitors" from the East Blue. People trying to escape the plague.'

The room goes dead quiet at that.

'...were... were they...?' Sanji lets the question hang.

Luffy grits his teeth. 'The lady at the bank said... they had a lot of talkative brats...'

The room gets even quieter.

'...at least now...' Nami shudders 'now we know what happened to them...'

Luffy looks around at the fridges of meat he was salivating over a moment ago. '...Sanji. Nami.'

They look at their leader.

'Yes, Luffy?'

'...kill everyone on this Island. Captain's orders.'

Sanji looks at his captain with concern. 'And Vivi?'

Luffy walks out of the room. 'I'll get Vivi.'

......

'So, Ms Wednesday, which hurts more? Forehand?'

WhacK

'Or backhand?'

Whumap

'Personally, I'm a big fan of overhand.'

Kracmp

'Underhand just doesn't do it for me.'

SchwAp

'Feel free to chime in any time.' Mr 5 uses the crowbar in his hands to force her battered face to look at him. 'With say, the names and faces of your contacts in Alabasta.'

Vivi's body, battered and broken, sags against the support beam she's tied to.

The office they are in is dark and empty, a small desk here, a few bottles of disgusting green fluid there, a large tarp over a piece of furniture in the corner. No windows, paintings, or miscellaneous devices are present. The only light comes from a lamp filled with his snot hanging above them.

The woman glares at him with the one eye that isn't swollen shut. 'G-Go... to hell...'

ShWhap

Her blood splatters against the floor as the iron rod connects with her jaw.

'Now, miss Wednesday, that wasn't the answer I was looking for.' Mr 5 wipes a

long line of snot on his sleeve. 'Or should I call you Princess Vivi?'

He paces in front of her. 'Who would have ever thought the princess of an entire country would attempt to infiltrate our humble organization?' Mr 5 chuckles darkly. 'Though right about now you are probably wishing you had left the job to one of your guards. I could do... so many things to you to bend your father to my will.'

Mr 5 presses the crowbar into her stomach. 'And it's all your fault. A pretty, pretty princess who thought she could save her kingdom. A princess who's given me the very thing I need to destroy it, her life.'

Vivi smirks. 'And yet this "pretty pretty princess" managed to foil your best attempts to overthrow Alabasta for two years straight.'

The bounty hunter raises his weapon to strike. Vivi doesn't even flinch. 'Your attempts to use the plague to claim my country have failed.' She grins between her panting breaths. 'I sent my father all my findings... on my last assignment. And he will never... endanger our country for my life. You've lost.'

Chreack

Mr 5 smacks her again in the face. 'A minor setback. Once I know how and who you send your info to, I'll feed them so much false information they'll doubt everything you've ever told them!'

Smach

He catches her jaw in an upward swing. 'As for using your life. You'd be surprised at what desperate fathers do for their daughters. Especially when they're about to die. Now talk, who are your contacts?' He moves his sick, covered arm close to her bloody face. 'You wouldn't want me to step up my torture, would you?'

Vivi instinctively flinches away from a source of the plague. 'You're just going to kill me... anyway. You don't need me alive... to try and coerce my father.'

'Kill you? Hardly.' Mr 5 grins down at her, his massive infected schnoz making him look like a disgusting hag. 'I'm just going to keep hurting you, again and again, until you give me what I want.'

'W-Well then...' Vivi spits out a broken tooth. 'You're... in for a long night,' she fixes him with a broken smile. 'Because that's never going to happen.'

'...' Mr 5 sighs in disappointment, dropping the bloody crowbar. 'Too bad. I was having such a great time. However, it seems I'll have to use... other methods to loosen your tongue.' He walks over to a tarp in the corner.

Vivi laughs darkly. 'I hear... waterboarding is pretty effective.'

Mr 5 laughs. 'Ga ha ha. Well, what I had in mind was a little more...' he rips off the tarp, revealing a large metal cage. 'Personal.'

Vivi looks up at the trapped creature. Her breath catches in her throat.

Inside the confines of the prison is a large duck. Easily twice as large as Vivi, with yellow feathers caked in blood. Its large orange beak is chained and fastened to the floor. A blue and white cap with a pair of broken goggles lies on his head. His eyes take in the girl in front of him and fill with tears.

'Karoo!' Vivi shouts.

'Wrrreeett!!' The bird thrashes against

his restraints.

Mr 5 laughs as he reaches into the insides of his coat. 'Well now. Whoever thought the princess of an entire country would care so much for her pet?'

From his coat pocket, he pulls out a cruel-looking, six-shot revolver with spikes plastered onto it. 'You know this reminds me of a game my friends and I used to play.'

He blows into the cylinder, filling it with his explosive breath. 'We called it "Duck Hunt", do you want to hear the rules, princess?'

Vivi bites her lip.

'It was a very simple game.' He points the barrel at the fowl. 'One of us would be the dog and scare away a bunch of people. Meanwhile, the rest of our gang...'

Bang

A bullet hits Karoo in the wing.

'Weeerrrt!'

'Karoo!'

Mr 5 savors his captive's pain. 'They would take their shots at the fleeing "ducks" and whoever bagged the most would be the winner.'

'Mr 5, Gem.' Vivi addresses him. 'It's a dumb animal. It's not worth your time! Look at me! I'm the one you want.'

'Thing was...' The assassin continues his story. 'I never got the high score. I made my shots from too far away. My buds said it was because I never got close enough. That I didn't have the guts to make those cool head shots they went on and on about.'

Bang

Another bullet. This time to Karoo's orange leg.

'Wert!' The bird tries to thrash against his restraints.

'Stop it!' Vivi shouts.

'That was, of course, before I got this kick ass power. Now I can blow up any part of my body. From my hair to my snot, every inch of me is lethal.' He aims the gun at Karoo's legs. 'So next time we played "Duck Hunt," I walked into a massive crowd of people and-'

The door to his office bursts open.

'Boss!! Help!' A young blond boy with a swollen throat shouts from the door. 'It's the swordsman! He's killing everyone you have to...'

Mr 5 glares at him; his killer gaze shuts up the unwanted guest. 'Mr Beans? I told you millions I wasn't to be disturbed.'

'But boss! He's killing us! It's supposed to be your job to take care of the hard-to-handle guys coming into the grand line!' The child points outside. 'Well, this guy's hard to handle!'

Mr 5 glares at the person for a moment longer, smooths back his dreadlocks, and turns to Vivi. 'I'm terribly sorry, princess.' He says while reloading his gun. 'But it appears we will have to pick this up another time.'

He flips his loaded firearm over his wrist and mock-aims it at his captive. 'I trust you'll stay put. It would be a shame to have to hunt you down again.'

'Boss, would you shut up with the fake sophisticated routine!?' Mr Bean shouts. 'We're currently being-'

Bang

A bullet travels through the child's (?) Chest and out the other side. Blood spills from his mouth, and he falls over on his stomach.

'That's for interrupting my story.' Mr 5 sneers as he walks out the door. 'Creepy midget.'

He shuts the door behind him, leaving a bleeding out dwarf, a maimed bird, and a bloody-faced princess.

.......

'Aiiiieeee!!'

One hundred and nine.

'Run for-'

One Hundred and Ten.

'Artillery! Get those cann-'

One hundred and eleven.

'Demo-'

One hundred and twelve.

This is far too easy. These bastards obviously aren't used to a challenge. Not used to fighting people who can actually fight back. They're plenty strong, but they come at him peacemeal, one at a time. If they had swarmed him, they might have been a challenge.

Might, of course, being the word of interest.

'You monster! You don't bel-'

Zoro parries the man's clumsy sword strike and spins his blades, dividing the man into four even chunks.

One hundred and thirteen.

At least the remaining bounty hunters are strong enough to make him sweat.

Zoro looks around, his one good eye scans the shattered, broken buildings and corpses for any signs of a threat. The town’s main street has been transformed into a charnel house of the dead and dying.

He didn't know how many more bounty hunters there were, and there hadn't been more than a handful that could give him a challenge. The would-be nun had lasted the longest, thirty-four seconds, before he had literally disarmed her. Now it was mostly a clean-up.

Clean up and look for the other members of his crew. No way they were dead, so he just had to find the toughest-looking building. That would be where the prison...

His instincts scream at him. He swings his blades, beating back an explosion with pure force. Even so, the blast sends him slipping back down the street.

He looks up and sees the ugliest bounty hunter of the bunch. Dirty coat. A disgusting nose that would make Usopp's look tame. Pointing a gun at him.

He feels his arms tingle from the force of the blast. That actually hurt him.

He grins.

Perfect. He was getting bored with the small fry.

The man tries to shout something at him over the sounds of battle. Zoro neither hears it nor cares what it is.

He charges at the ugly man.

The man fires a shot from his revolver.

Zoro ducks, feeling a bullet the size of a pea explode like a mortar shell behind him. That's no ordinary firepower the guy is packing. But he's using a six-shot revolver, so he only has four more shots.

The man screams louder and fires two more bullets. No time to dodge. He has to block them.

He swings Tiger and Oni in a dual crescent slash and feels his bones vibrate as the shock wave hits him. A small bit of blood fills his mouth as his teeth vibrate against the sword in his mouth. But he is alive.

He dashes out of the cloud of black smoke. Twenty meters away. He can practically smell him now.

The man screams in terror and fires in a blind panic.

Zoro doesn't need to dodge this one. It flies wide, demolishing a building.

He has one shot left.

Zoro has fifteen meters left.

The swordsman feels the earth beneath his boots.

Ten meters left.

His misty breath travels past him, framed by the moonlight to his back.

Five meters.

The gunman is just aiming at him. He doesn't have time to reload. He's gambling it all on one shot.

Four.

Zoro readies his blades.

Three.

The gunman cocks back his hammer.

Two.

'Hawk wave!'

A blast of sharpened air shoots out of Zoro's blades, knocking the man back.

Bang

The deafening sound of a shot echoes between the buildings.

He misses

One meter.

The building to Zoro's right explodes from the missed shot.

'Crab Claw!'

His swords flash.

The gunman's arm comes off at the elbow.

'Aaaaaaggghhhh!!' He falls to the ground, clutching his stump.

And Zoro slides to a stop behind him. The severed arm lands in front of him, bouncing on the sandy street.

'Aaaaa cluck! Cluck! Cluck!!' The man with the schnoz screams. 'My arm... my Clucking arm!!'

Zoro places the tip of his sword on the bridge of the screaming gunman's nose.

The man freezes. He looks into the eyes of a demon, covered in blood.

'You fought well for a cowardly bounty hunter.' He brings back his sword for a co-de-gra. 'Any last words?'

The man's eyes widen in fear. His mouth hangs open. His nose dips like a faucet. Suddenly, though, the fear and pain are replaced by a sly look. A look of a hunter who has laid a devious trap.

'Just... one.' The man smiles, his face a mask of pain. 'Boom.'

Zoro sighs. 'That's your last-'

Mr 5's severed arm explodes with the force of a battleship salvo.

.....

As the chaos of battle continues around them, Sanji snaps the neck of a mercenary wielding a massive hammer, whose skin is peeling away from his body due to festering sores. Glancing over at Nami, he calls out, 'Nami Swan? Are you sure we have time for this?' This marks their transition from combat to the pressing task at hand.

Nami Belimere, cat burglar extraordinaire, enters the safe’s combination. 'Sanji, there's always time to make a quick belli!' She smiles, happy to be back in her plague-proof suit again.

The building had seen better days. The blast had demolished the front of the store and burnt the false nun to cinders. Fortunately for Nami, the back of the bounty hunter's office and the safe were perfectly fine.

Apparently, a few stragglers had gotten the idea to raid the bank and possibly buy off the greedy pirates with money.

'Reception!' Sanji's foot smashes a man's face into paste under his boot.

Which is why there were eleven dead cannibals currently lying under the Strawhat chef's legs.

'Just try and hurry up, Nami Swan!' Sanji wipes his rubberized boots off on a piece of wood. 'We don't know how many of these bastards are lying around waiting to ambush us. Then there's Luffy running off.'

Nami curses as part of the lock jams. 'Luffy's fine. He'll catch up with Vivi and do... whatever he needs to do.'

'That's what I'm worried about.' The cook

says not even bothering to disguise his worry.

A loud clink cuts through the silence. Nami beams. 'Got it! Come to-'

'Die!' A saber-wielding woman drops on Nami from above.

Or at least tries to.

Nami's three-section staff strikes out, jabbing the swordswoman in the throat. The attacker's entire body weight comes down on the end of the staff, snapping her neck like a noose.

'-Mommy!' Nami throws the twitching body to the side. 'Sanji, give me a hand with this!'

Sanji offers a short moment of silence for the woman before walking over and pulling the door open. Sliding open with a squeaky sound, the vault opens to reveal treasures beyond description. Valuable drugs in glass vials, golden statues, clockwork pieces, jeweled necklaces, and, of course, piles and piles of Belli notes.

All the fruits of betraying and killing hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people.

'Nami?'

'Ten million. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fifty.' The navigator mentally calculates the value of her haul.

'Nami? Should we really be taking this?' Sanji voices his distaste. 'It's blood money.'

'Sixty. Of course, we're taking it, Sanji! Seventy.' Nami groans, almost losing count of their prize. 'It's free money. Eighty. If it makes you feel bad. Ninety. Imagine it's repayment for avenging the people they killed. One hundred and seven million Belli!'

Nami shouts, delight filling her body. 'Sanji, look at this! We just arrived in the Grand Line, and already we're multi-millionaires!'

Sanji pouts. 'Honestly, I'd give up that money if we could take back arriving here.'

Nami's glee at their newfound loot is dulled as she turns to the chef. 'Sanji? What's wrong?'

Sanji looks at his hands as he drifts back into memories of his past. He remembers Zeff, his foster father, the pangs of hunger, and the horrible state of his life from before he met him. 'Are we really any different from these cannibals?'

'What!?!'

Sanji looks at Nami, his face is serious. 'Nami, we're murdering everyone on this Island because they were hungry. Because they were desperate. I know how that feels. Are we really...'

Nami slaps him. 'That's for being an idiot, Sanji.'

'Nami Swan?'

She slaps him again. 'And that's for doubting you're a good person.'

'Nami...' Sanji watches as their navigator takes in a deep breath.

She grips his shoulders tightly. 'Sanji, we've all done things we aren't proud of. We've all made mistakes and choices that hurt people. I most of all.' She shakes him once. 'So snap out of your self-pity! Take it from someone who has hurt more people than everyone on the crew combined. You are a kind, noble man who hates seeing anyone hungry or suffering. You're even showing empathy for abyss-damned cannibals who tried to eat us! Who ate children!'

She looks deep into his eyes. 'You care for everyone, Sanji. You spend your life supporting and nurturing everyone around you, and that is something these wastes of flesh could never understand. So don't ever doubt you're a kind person, okay?'

The chef tears up. 'N-Nami Swan...'

'Okay?' She asks with a firm voice.

Sanji looks at her, takes in a deep breath, and wipes the tears from his eyes. 'Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Nami.'

'You're welcome, Sanji!' The navigator smiles sweetly. She points to the safe. 'Now carry all this to the Merry. Chop chop!'

'Urrraaagh! Your wish is my command, Nami swannnnn!!!' Sanji leaps into action, shoveling the priceless treasures into a sack.

iNami watches the big softie get to work and can't help but manage a smile at his antics. 'Hurry up there. If we have time leftover, we can look for some cooking ingredients that aren't made of human...'

Nami's keen ears detect someone approaching behind her.

'Sanji!' She readies her staff. 'More hostiles incoming!'

The chef throws the sack over his back and turns to face their new challenger.

He finds a half-dead cripple.

His right arm is missing, torn off at the elbow. His right side is burnt and black. Their distinctive nose is less than half its original size. A pair of shattered glasses hangs loosely on his face. Compared to the intimidating, threatening assassin who took out a pirate worth fifty million, the wretched creature looks like a walking corpse.

'You...' Mr 5 wheezes. 'You... bastards...'

'...Nami Swan? Is this guy a threat?'

'... I'm not sure.'

The broken man takes a step towards them, his body is barely functional. 'Ruined... everything... It's all...' he stumbles. 'It's all your... fault...' his half-nose drools blood and mucus on the ground.

'Give me a second. I'll take care of this.' Sanji walks towards the intruder.

Only to be dragged away by the Navigator. 'Sanji, wait! We need to run!'

'Nami?'

She pulls him back. 'He's got a devil fruit! He can blow up his body!'

'What!?

'So now... so now...' he rips open his shirt, revealing a collage of green weeping sores. 'Now I'm gonna take you with me!'

'Sanji! We need to get out of the blast radius!'

'No, you need to run!' Sanji shouts. 'I'll take him out before he can...'

'Gah ha ha ha! Too late!' He raises his hand in the air. His sores smoke, his body steams as his wild green eyes radiate madness. 'F-FULL BODY EXPLO-'

A wave of killing intent strong enough to be felt in their souls passes over the small group. Nami feels her body shiver in fear. Sanji's mouth dries out his hands shake. But the most affected of all is Mr 5, he seems to collapse to his knees as he turns around in a blind panic. They all look upon the form of a burning demon.

'N-No!' He screams as the flaming angel of death descends on him. 'I killed you!! You... you're dead!'

The entity raises its burning blades, its hate and disgust as palpable as its heat.

'BURNING. DEMON. HUNT!!'

Three swords slash, three cuts are formed on Mr 5’s body, each one bleeding flaming tongues. The greatest bounty hunter on Whiskey Peaks is instantly immolated, not even having time to scream as his mortal remains are reduced to charcoal.

Nami and Sanji recoil in horror as the demon stands before them, having cut Mr 5 to ribons. They take a combat stance as the figure looks to them.

Then the flames fade. Their eyes, used to the dark, acclimate to the light emanating from its body. Then they notice the sword in his mouth.

'Z-ZORO!?'

'Mosshead!? What the heck!? You scared us half to death!'

The flames on Zoro's body die down. The swordsman of the Strawhats stands burnt, but triumphant.

'I thought you said...' He takes in

shuddering breaths. 'My sword skills... could put you to sleep? Now... they're scary?'

'Zoro!?' Nami shoves her way over to the man. 'What happened!? You're burnt all over!'

'I'm fine.' Zoro lies pathetically. 'The blood I was coated in... kept me from being burnt up... by the blast...' he takes off his bandana. The dark red sore covering his right eye looks like a swollen bruise. His exposed right arm is a mess of small red pox marks.

'I'm gonna nap now...'

The swordsman falls on his face.

'Zoro!'

......

Two figures hobble through the darkness. Lit by the flames of battle behind them, they walk into the night-shrouded hills. The first is a massive duck with a busted wing and a leg, limping along with great difficulty. The other is a blue-haired woman, her face, right metal arm, and vest are marred with her own blood.

'Come on, Karoo. This way.'

'Werttt. Weert! Weeert.'

'NO. I am not leaving you behind! Just keep leaning on me.'

'Werert wert weeert.'

'I have... a small ship hidden on the far side of the Island. We can use that.'

'Weeert. Weeert wwweert?'

Vivi stumbles for a moment, struggling to carry the weight of her injured friend. 'We'll have to manage without the Eternal Pose Karoo. Staying on this island is certain death.'

'Weeerrrt.'

'I said, keep moving, Karoo! Nobody else is sacrificing themselves for me! Least of all you!'

As they stumble down the dusty road, she wonders why the dwarf Mr Beans freed her with his last ounce of life. Was it sympathy? A desire to save a comrade from death? Or maybe just to spite Mr 5 for killing him.

Regardless, she and Karoo were trekking through the darkness towards a boat she had hidden away for emergencies. It would have been ideal if she had been able to leave with the Strawhats, but now her plan was in ruins. Just like Alabasta would be.

She shakes her head. No. She's not giving up! She'll never give up on her people.

She pulls herself down the road, coming to a bend.

No matter how dark her path was, no matter how painful it became, so long as she had people depending on her, she would endure.

She walks around the bend, practically dragging Karoo along.

She had to endure. Her people would die without her information.

She notices the crest of a familiar hill, knowing her boat is stashed behind it.

She had to get to Alabasta.

She and Karoo make it around the hill, leaning on each other for support.

No, she would get to Alabasta.

She sees the small cove, hidden by the valley between two hills, filled with dug-up graves.

Nothing, not the sea or the plague of the demons hunting her, could stop her from...

They see the boat.

Or what remains of the boat.

What is left of their only means of escape is a shattered keel, a broken mast, and several planks floating in the stagnant cove. Surrounding the mess are dozens of twitching bodies dressed in the patchwork uniform of Baroque Works.

'Oh! Hey Vivi!' Luffy stands in the middle of the mass of twitching bodies. bodies that don’t look like they will ever get up. 'About time you showed up, I was getting bored of waiting.'

He dusts off his hands and turns to her.

Oh gods. She's never going to Alabasta.

It was all for nothing.

'Weeert!' The loyal duck tries to impose himself between the pirate and the princess.

'Huh?' Luffy points to the creature. 'Vivi, who's the giant duck?'

Vivi just stares at the pirate.

'Uh? Vivi?'

'He's Karoo. My friend.' The princess states quickly and clearly. 'He hasn't done anything to you. I'm the one you want. Not him.'

'Wreert!'

'Shut up, Karoo! Luffy, please just let him go!'

'Huh? Why would I let him go?' He looks at her with a confused expression before showing his teeth. 'Neither of you is getting away from me.'

Oh gods. She's not even going to make it off the Island.

Faced with her utter failure, the destruction of her country, and letting down everyone who believed and trusted her, she begins to cry.

'Vivi?'

'I... I...' She tries to fight back her tears. The fact that she failed her people hurt more than her own death. 'I'm sorry... I'm sorry I didn't say anything...'

'I was just so... ashamed.' She holds herself. 'I did... horrible, horrible things. I murdered. I... ate people, just to earn their trust. I just... I'm just... so sorry.'

'I hoped...' Vivi sniffles. 'I hoped we could just leave... that you wouldn't need to know! That we could just go before you

found out... what a monster I am...'

'Monster?' Luffy scratches his head. 'Vivi, you're not a monster.'

The princess snaps as if struck. 'I'm... I'm not?'

'Nope!' Luffy says with all the certainty of someone saying the sky is blue. 'You're kinda stuck up, but it's only cause you care a lot about people! And I know you wouldn't do bad stuff if you didn't have a good reason.'

He claps 'So anyway. Join my crew!'

'...'

'...'


'...weeert?'

'...what?'

Luffy spreads his arms. 'Join my crew! You're a little mean when it comes to stuff like the plague, but you're nice other than that. You saved us from Crocius, so you're pretty strong too. Oh! You also shared your money with us, which made Nami really happy.' The captain grins. 'So I want you to join us! How about it?'

'...'

'...'

'...so you're...not here to kill me?' Vivi's mind spins.

'Kill you?' Now, Luffy is the one who looks dumbfounded. 'Why would I want to kill you, Vivi?'

'I... I lied to you! I nearly got you all killed! And you want me to join you?!'

Luffy laughs. 'Shi shi shi! You think this is bad?' He points his finger at the island-wide barbecue behind her. 'That's a normal Island stop for us. Heck, Nami's lying nearly got all of us burned alive by the Marines!'

Vivi struggles to stand. 'You're... you're not going to kill me for... for eating people?' She shudders as she recalls her "initiation" meal at Whiskey Peak. 'And leading you into a cannibal hive? And for running away?'

Luffy crosses his arms and nods. 'You were scared when that lady said visitors arrived. So it was obvious you weren't happy about what was going on.' He frowns. 'And you didn't murder the people who came from the East Blue looking for help. So I don't think you were directly helping with the whole mass murder and eating people thing.'

She looks to the side. 'I... I tried not to. But I still killed people for them... I helped them. That makes me just as guilty.'

Luffy whistles. 'Wow, you and Nami really need to talk more. You both spend all your time blaming yourselves for what other people do.' He points at her. 'So listen because I'll say this once. You aren't responsible for other people's actions. Not your enemies and definitely not your parents!'

'...and knowing that, knowing everything I've done, you still want me to sail with you?'

'Well, yeah!' The captain says. 'I mean, we're taking you... wherever it is anyway. So since you're sailing with us, we might as well make it official.'

The princess looks at Luffy, her first thought being that this is some cruel trick. This must be a joke, a farce designed to torment her. Then she stares into his eyes.


She doesn't see a drop of malice or cruelty. 'Why?' She asks. 'Why do you want me?'

Luffy's face grows more solemn. 'A lot of good people are dying, Vivi. We just watched a good man lose his mind and die in front of us.' He looks into her eyes. 'And I don't want that happening to you. You don't deserve to die.'

He looks over to the broken remains of the ship. 'When I heard these guys talking about how some girl had a secret boat to leave. I knew I'd find you here. You were gonna try and sail the Grand Line, by yourself, in a rowboat.'

'It's slightly bigger than a rowboat.' Vivi mutters. 'It has a sail.'

'Wert!'

She gestures to her right. 'And I have Karoo.'

'It's reckless, and that's coming from me!' Luffy turns to her. 'You can't sail by yourself. You need a crew to survive on these seas.' He extends his hand. 'And I figured we could help you out with that.'

Vivi looks at his extended hand. She looks down at her metallic right arm. She looks at his face. His smiling, proud face.

And she remembers Igaram.

'I...I can't.'

'Sure you can!' Luffy grabs her arm. 'Just shake my hand and...'

'I can't!' She breaks out of his grip.

The captain of the Strawhats looks at her, confused. 'Why not?'

'You're... you're too kind, Luffy.' Vivi sobs, wiping the tears from her eyes. 'You, Mr Cook, Nami, you're... you're good people. If you travel with me, you'll die.'

'Vivi, I don't like to brag, but we're pretty tough. We can handle...'

'You CAN'T!' She wipes angry tears from

her eyes. 'You'll die like everyone who gets close to me!'

Images flash through her mind. Mr 9. Koza. Ingram. All gone. All dead.

Because of her.

Because of her mistakes.

'So I'm sorry, Luffy, but I'm not going to let you die for me. You... you don't deserve that.' She takes in a deep breath and summons the dregs of her kindness to summon a smile. 'Thank you for the offer, but I'll have to...'

She is knocked to the ground from behind.

'WEEERT!'

Vivi turns, completely shocked. 'Karoo!? What...'

'Wert Weeert wrerreet!! Weeert!'

'Karoo...' Vivi's will threatens to break. 'But I... I can't hurt...'

The duck glares at her, its eyes full of anger, its legs quivering in rage. 'Weert! Weeeert wert wwweeeeert!! Wert wert wertwert!'

'Mr Duck is right.' Luffy nods. 'Nobody wants you to throw your life away either!'

'You...you understand Karoo!?' Vivi looks at the captain.

Luffy nods. 'Course I can. And he's totally right. Your life is valuable too! So you can't get yourself killed trying to do everything yourself!'

The mental images of Laboon and Crocius pass through his mind. 'Trust me. I know how acting recklessly can end up hurting the people you want to help.'

'So if you want to help this Air-E-Barista place, then you need to do it right. And the only way that'll happen is if you have help.' He offers a helping hand up to the woman on the ground. 'So what do you say, shipmate?'

'...'

'So?'

Vivi looks at his hand. 'You're not giving me the option of saying "no," are you?'

'Nope!' Luffy grins.

Despite everything, Vivi manages a laugh. 'He he! Figures.'

She takes his hand.

....

'Ussop! We're back!' Nami shouts, carrying Zoro on her back. 'A little help would be appreciated!'

'What is the prettiest name in the east

blue?'

Nami rolls her eyes, walking over the blood-soaked pier. 'Usopp, I'm not an imposter. I have Zoro with me, see?'

She hears someone inside the merry light a cannon's fuse.

'What is the prettiest name in the East Blue?!'

She sighs. 'Kaya.'

The sound of a sizzling fuse stops. 'Nami! You're back! Are you okay? What happened to Zoro!?'

Nami grunts as she drags the swordsman up the gangplank. 'In short, Vivi led us to an army of cannibals.'

'Cannibals!?'

'Uuuuuughhh?!'

She throws Zoro on deck and cracks her back. 'Long answer, Luffy punched a guy I'm eighty percent sure was going to eat us. He knocked us out with a cheap shot, we escaped, and now Sanji's out there stealing anything we can use.'

Usopp's head pops up from a hole in the deck. 'And Luffy?' His unblemished arms and light tan skin contrast with the dark brown vest he wears.

'Going after Vivi.' Nami shrugs. 'No idea if he's going to ice her or offer to let her join us. Vivi was probably blackmailed into helping those monsters, but she still stabbed us in the back.'

The sniper rubs his chin. 'My money is on making her join us. Remember that mess with Cocoyasi town? He still let you join after that.'

Nami kicks him in the head. 'You don't get to mention Cocoyasi Usopp!' She yells at him. 'Nobody talks about that or those filthy Fishsticks, okay!?'

He rubs his head. 'Sorry, Nami... I forgot.'

Nami reigns in her temper. 'No... I'm sorry.' She looks out at the burning ruins of a town. 'This place, Vivi, it's dredging up stuff I don't want to think about.'

Ussop pulls himself further out of the hole as he looks at the town.

Another city in flames. They've seen this sight far too many times.

'So, place your bets?' Usopp tries to divert the conversation. 'Join or kill?'

'Uuuuhhh!'

Ussop looks down through the hole. 'Nojiko, you don't have any money to bet!'

Nami rolls her eyes. 'Can you actually understand my sister, or are you just humoring me?'

Usopp shrugs. 'It's... kinda a plague thing. I get feelings from how she moves and make guesses from that.'

Nami sighs. 'Well, you understand her better than I do, then.' She looks out at the town. 'Then I wager... Join.'

'No fair!' Ussop shouts. 'I was going to choose join!'

The navigator chuckles. 'Well, tough luck, you let me pick first.'

Ussop sighs. 'What are the stakes?'

'Cleaning the latrines for a month.'

'No way! The garden's more your thing than mine! You move the manure!'

'Fine, two weeks.'

'Deal!'

'Then the bet is on.' Nami points. 'And look at that, Luffy and Vivi are walking towards us! What a startling coincidence!'

Usopp looks out, watching as the familiar form of his captain carries a huge yellow bird above his head. And sure enough, next to him, her face battered and bruised, is their returning guest.

'Nami, you saw them coming, didn't you?'

'M.a.y.b.i.e!'

'...cheater.'

'Should have kept a better lookout, Mr Sniper!'

'I was busy talking to you!'

'OOOOYYYY!! Usopp! Nami! Look at who I found!' Luffy waves the yellow feathered thing. 'A giant duck! Oh, and Vivi too!'

The woman stumbles a bit, but appears to be pushing through her battered condition.

'So, our little princess returns!' Nami leans on the Merry's banister. 'And I can see our captain was able to beat some sense into you.'

Vivi looks up. 'How did you... oh! You were calling me a princess as an insult. I see!'

The navigator blinks at Vivi's statement but has no time to question further before Luffy drops the duck on deck.

'Nami! Treat Karoo here! I would but well...' he holds up his bloody hands.

Nami sighs and reaches into her belt for some gauze and bandages. 'Sanji's much better at this than I am. I'm a navigator, not a vet!'

Luffy leans against the mast. 'Well, you just have to keep all the Blood inside him, and he'll be okay, right?'

Nami glares at him. 'We really need an actual Doctor on this ship. I don't care who at this point.' She finishes her basic first aid quickly and efficiently. 'Well, at least our emergency food stash won't bleed all over us now.'

Karoo looks at her with beady eyes. 'W-Wert?'

'She's joking, Karoo.' Vivi claims. 'At least I hope she is.'

'Shi shi shi! We've got another crew member, guys. And you know what that means!' Luffy flashes a smile. 'That means we need to throw her a welcoming party!'

Before she can begin treating their new crew mate, Nami sighs. 'Luffy, we're low on supplies as is!' She protests. 'We can't afford a par... wait, did you let her join just so we'd have an excuse to celebrate?!'

Luffy looks to the side. 'O-Of course not...'

'You did! Didn't you!' Nami kicks him in the face. 'Idiot!'

Luffy lies back on the deck. 'But it was gonna be a good party...'

'Shut up!' She points at the town. 'And if you want to eat tonight, you'll help Sanji scrounge for anything we can eat that wasn't a breathing, thinking human!'

Luffy snaps to attention. 'You're...' his stomach growling. 'Are you serious, Nami?'

She puts her foot down 'On the double move!'

Luffy bolts over the side of the boat, calling Sanji's name.

'I'm sorry if I...'

Nami holds her hand up, silencing Vivi. 'The captain is a good judge of character. He wouldn't let you join if you weren't going to be an asset.' She gestures to the ship. 'So welcome aboard, traitor. You're now officially the lowest-ranked person on the crew till you prove yourself trustworthy.'

'I'm... sorry.'

'Forgiveness is earned, not given.' Nami pulls up a chair. 'Now sit down, you're bleeding everywhere.'

Vivi sits without complaining as the navigator begins wrapping her face with bandages. 'I'll... I'll try to earn your trust again.'

Usopp snickers, pulling more of his body from the hole. 'Nami's just messing with you, Vivi. Now come on! I'll show you around the greatest ship in the East Blue.'

The incognito princess turns to the sniper with a practiced smile. 'Thank you, sir Usopp. That would be OHMYGODSWHATTHEABYSSISTHAT!!?!'

'Vivi!' Nami tries to hold the princess as the woman throws herself to the ground in a blind panic.

Looking at Usopp, Vivi is assailed with a form from her darkest nightmares.

His upper body, aside from the occasional dark blue sore on his face, seems normal enough. Shirt, two arms, a slightly longer nose. Everything where it should be.

No, the image burned into Vivi's brain comes from the sight of the thing's lower half. A long, worm-like tube layered with curved spines resembling ribs. A tiny prehensile tail made of fused-together fingers. Four malformed limbs that look like a mad surgeon stitched together five arms to create a grotesque approximation of legs. And of course every single inch of the thing fused to Usopp's waist is covered in dark blue sores so dark that they would make the bruising on her face look like makeup.

'Oh. You haven't seen my body before...' Usopp punches his head. 'I'm really forgetful today.'

Vivi hyperventilates; her body is torn between the urge to vomit uncontrollably and scream. Her mind reels in terror, her body seizes up.

'Vivi! Vivi, it's okay! He looks different, but he's not going to hurt you! It's okay!'

Finally, the sudden shock of the abomination known as Usopp, combined with her blood loss, causes Vivi to faint dead away. She collapses on deck, her brain plagued with fitful dreams of monsters and cruel laughter.