FicWad

'Hurry up, you ingrates!' Mr 3 screams to the crew on the boat while waving a broken teacup around. 'Load the depth charges we need to wake it before that idiot catches up to me!'

Mr 3 looks around frantically at his private yacht. A beautiful, elegant craft made purely from his waterproof wax and equipped with plenty of modern armaments. Armed with revolving cannons, machine guns, and a crack security force, it would be impossible not to feel safe on the hand-designed craft. With every passing second, the ship floats away from shore, far from the monsters consuming everyone on shore. The vast distance of water ensures the safety of its occupants.

However, Mr 3 was not calm. Despite being inside a venerable floating fortress, his fears of those hateful pirates, as well as several punches to the face, were impairing what little judgment the Baroque Works agent had.

'Hurry and load them!' The boss of the island screams. 'We need to wake it up now!'

'B-But-'

A spike of wax hits the man in the heart. After a minute, his body, bleeding out on the deck, is dragged away by a pair of identical guards, leaving behind a deep red bloodstain on the white wax.

'Don't question my perfect plans!' The unhinged boss screams. 'Do! It!'

'S-Sir!' One of the tan jumpsuit-wearing guards salutes. 'Incoming reinforcements! In a rowboat off the port bow!'

'Kill them! It's obviously a trap!' Mr 3 screams without hesitation.

'Sir!' Another guard holding a Den Mushi respectfully salutes. 'They sent us Baroque Works officer codes! And Miss Golden Week is-'

'Who cares about that worthless witch!?' Mr 3 roars. 'I taught that ungrateful girl true art! I gave her surgeries to make her beautiful! I gave her the honor of my presence, and she still undermined me at every turn!'

Mr 3 points to the island. 'Look at what she made me do! Her incompetence destroyed all my beautiful work! She deserves to suffer for her betrayal!'

The guards watch in horror as their sole hope of survival spirals further and further into madness. None, however, makes the effort to defy him. The few bodies that tried to talk sense into him were still being thrown overboard.

'Well!? Why aren't you killing them yet!? And deploying the depth charges!?' He holds up a broken cup in his hand. 'And where the abyss is my tea!? I NEED my tea!'

'Wow. You really clucked things up, Mr 3.'

'Aaaaagh!' Mr 3 conjures a spear, preparing to kill his objecting subordinate.

Only for the crazed agent to stop mid-attack. The woman he was about to kill doesn't even flinch at having a white spear of wax shoved inches from her face. 'Miss Wednesday? And pet?'

'Mr 3.' The blue-haired woman and the yellow duck behind her stand unfazed.

'…So you were here after all.' Mr 3 tries desperately to compose himself. The point of his spear doesn't move, his paranoia still strong enough to discourage outright trust. 'I had heard from the chaff that you had arrived to help.'

Vivi smiles slyly. Karoo the duck is forming up behind her. 'I'm glad you remember me, boss. You only stopped at Whiskey Peak once during my two-year stay there.'

Mr 3's hand lowers the spear. He fights to rein in his fear and agitation. 'Yes, well. I am... very glad to see you. I have heard little from Mr 5 and would appreciate an explanation on why you are here. This island is usually off limits to all members save those approved by me.'

Vivi gestures to the island. 'I have a feeling your report is the more critical one here, Mr 3. Just how did you destroy an entire island?'

'It. Wasn't. My. Fault!' Mr 3 roars before restraining himself. Dropping the broken cup, which melts back into useless wax. The agent straightens his drooping "3" hair knot. 'You have... unfortunately chosen a poor time to visit us. Miss Golden Week has gone mad and unleashed all my biological weapons. Her rampant insanity was what caused us to lose everything. Everything save our last resort.'

He throws the spear next to a crew member who screams. 'Hurry up with those depth charges! The bombs! Bring them out now!'

The crew scrambles about, dragging out barrels with strange blinking boxes on the sides.

Vivi maintains her arrogant, heartless act. She looks at the bombs, which the guards are moving about on deck. 'New toys? Word of advice, if you want to blow someone up, it helps if you put the explosives next to them.'

'Comedy is obviously not a skill of yours, Miss Wednesday.' Mr 3 gestures to the barrels. The princess starts to notice that the mad artist is becoming calmer as he looks at her. His eyes were taking on a predatory glare. 'These paltry explosives couldn't even scratch my greatest creation, but they will be quite effective at waking him.'

'And this... creature?' The princess waves her hand, acting the part of the bored mercenary. 'You can control it?'

'No. Unfortunately, it is far too powerful for control.' The mad agent confesses while taking in a few deep breaths. His arrogant and self-assured demeanor is returning. 'No, this Island has served its purpose. Luckily for me, though, I have recently recovered something of equal value to this facility and its loss.'

Vivi moves closer.

Mr 3 staples his fingers. 'Something our boss will greatly appreciate being returned to him.'

'And what's that?' Vivi casually grips the handle of her blade. Her metal arm tenses as she prepares to make the agent's next words his last. 'More failed projects and useless art projects to ship to Alabasta?'

'Why, it's you, Miss Wednesday.' Mr 3 smiles, turning to face her. 'Or should I call you Princess Vivi?'

Vivi doesn't waste a second. Her sword comes out in a flash, striking Mr 3 in the neck.

The blade bounces off his collar. Her eyes widen in surprise as she finds a white substance under the tacky bow tie.

'As you can see.' He rips off his shirt, showing off a solid white vest. 'My wax armor is more than capable of blocking your attacks...'

'Karoo!' Vivi jumps backwards. 'Whi-UGH!'

The princess finds her feet trapped in the wax.

'Weeeert!' Karoo falls behind her as the iron-hard white shell covers their legs and crawls up their bodies.

'Meanwhile, my candle lock is peerless when it comes to subduing my foes.' Mr 3 grins. 'It was foolish for you to confront me alone, Princess Vivi.'

The woman struggles against the bindings. Pushing her muscles and gears to her limit, she finds she can barely move an inch. In moments, she finds her arms and torso encased in a hard shell.

'You think I'm a princess? Ha ha ha ha!' Vivi laughs. 'Seriously? If I had access to money like that, I'd never be speaking to someone as loathsome as you!'

'Oh, Vivi... acting? Denial? I expected better from you.' Mr 3's nightmarish grin covers his face. 'Did you think we didn't know who you were? Why, all of us knew your identity for the entire time you worked in Baroque Works.'

Vivi's blood freezes in her veins. She stares dead ahead at the man whose behavior has morphed from blind panic to smug confidence. A man who knows her true identity. A man who claimed to have always known her identity.

'Wert!? Werrrt! Weerrr-'

'Shut it, you beast!' A wave of wax shuts Karoo's beak. 'Now, as I was saying. We, the officers of Baroque Works, have always known your identity, Vivi. Well, save idiots like 5. He's so incompetent that we were worried he'd spill the beans to you accidentally. We couldn't have him or that ugly woman of his spoil the surprise now, could we? Especially since you interacted with them daily.'

'...liar.' The princess shakes.

'And we were right not to trust him! When we sent word to interrogate Vivi the spy and bring you to Rainbase, he failed miserably.' Mr 3 greedily rubs his hands. 'But his loss is my gain. Now with you in hand, I can move up in the ranks and leave behind this tacky base!'

'You're lying...' the princess insists. 'Mr 5 only suspected me recently, which means...you're lying!'

'Oh ho ho ho ho! Sorry to crush your pitiful delusions, Princess Vivi, but it's the truth.' Mr 3 smiles serenely. 'How could we not know who you were? You're literally an international face!'

'None of my pictures...' Her artificial arm flexes against her restraints. 'No pictures of my face were published since I was eight. It's impossible you knew what I looked like! It's why… Why was I able to infiltrate your organization in the first place!'

'To clarify, you're talking about your pictures at your mother's funeral, correct?' Mr 3 states with a manic grin. Poor Queen Titi! Alas, she died as she lived. Ugly and alone! Then, a decade later, a woman shows up who is the spitting image of her, probing for info on Alabasta! Then there was your company, Captain of the Royal Guard Ingram. You might as well have painted targets on your foreheads and walked into a shooting range. With protectors that dumb, it's no wonder we destroyed your pitiful country so easily.'

'Shut up!' The princess shouts. 'Don't you dare insult him!'

The wax man smugly grins. 'Even in an era of endless propaganda and false news, it was easy to piece together. Our boss, the Mysterious Mr Crocodile, knew who you were the very day...' he flicks her nose. 'You joined.'

'...no.'

'YES!' Mr 3 shouts for joy. He savors his captive's mental anguish like the finest of wines. 'It's all true! Every word! The boss knew you were the princess the moment you joined. Baroque Works! Why do you think he stuck you on an island of cannibals? Why do you think we constantly gave you the most gruesome and dangerous jobs?'

'If... If you really knew I was the princess...' Vivi fights back her panic. 'You wouldn't have wasted time. You would have kidnapped me, tortured me, brainwashed me! Turned me into your puppet!' She glares at him. 'You'd have no reason to keep me in the dark! Letting me send information to my home country! You are a LIAR!'

'Oh, but that's where you were wrong, princess. We did have a reason.' He leans into her ear and whispers words that make her skin crawl. 'It was a game for us, Vivi. A game to make you suffer. We loved making your life a living abyss. Your agony was a fun pastime for us officers. We spent months laughing at your pitiful attempts to save your people and making you kill the innocent.' He licks her ears, causing the princess to shudder in revulsion. 'It was fun, and that's why we kept you alive.'

'NO!' Vivi thrashes against the wax imprisoning her. It cracks, it bends, but in the end it holds. 'You're LYING! It's a lie! It's all a lie!'

'OH HO HO HO HO HO!' Mr 3 laughs at Vivi's pain as if witnessing something hilarious. 'Such strong denial. I wonder how long it will last.' He stretches. 'Especially when I bring you face to face with our boss, and he confirms that every word I just said is true!'

'NOOO!' The wax cracks more.

'Yes, Vivi! YES!' Mr 3 gloats. 'I may have lost this island, but I'm sure Crocodile will forgive me when I bring him you as a bargaining chip!' His eyes sparkle with joy. 'He may even promote me over that hack Mr 2! I could even ask for a better partner! A smaller, cuter partner!'

The wax man savors Vivi's tears. 'And it is. All. Thanks. To. Yo-'

'Mutoon Shot!'

A black blur slams into Mr 3, smashing through the thin wax armor that easily blocked Vivi's steel blade.

The wax man folds in half. His back folds laterally as he smashes into the metal hard wax of his cabin with a terrible crash.

And onto the deck of the ship, a figure lands.

'I-Intruder!'

'What!? Where did he come from!?'

'Who cares! Kill him, or 3 will kill-'

The figure contorts its body into a combat stance and flips onto its hands. 'Party table: Kick Course!'

And in a whirlwind of kicks, twenty men fly over the side, crashing into the sea with broken limbs, backs, and or skulls.

'W-Who in the hells!?' Mr 3 shouts, the melting wax around him freeing him from being trapped halfway through a wall.

A figure stops spinning and flips over to land feet first on the deck. His immaculate black suit and rubber boots contrast with the white wax.

Mr 3 rises, clutching his broken ribs and pulling himself from the melted mess that was his cabin wall. 'Who are you!?'

'Me? I am… a defender.' The chef of the Strawhats lights a cigarette. 'Of every crying woman.'

The princess looks up. 'Sanji kun...'

The Chef's black leg shoots out, and the wax around Vivi and Karoo shatters into shards. 'Vivi, Karoo. Are you okay?

Vivi shakes the fragments of wax off her. 'I'm... not my best to be honest.' She turns to the agent and levels her blade at him. 'But I'll feel better once we've taken out the trash.'

Mr 3 wastes no time. 'Cand-'

Before Mr 3 can fire off a wave of spines, Sanji's leg snaps his arm in two and throws him back.

'AAAAIIII! My arm! Yo-'

'Koza's peace.'

Vivi closes the distance and, with one push of her blade, runs the officer agent through. The sword pierces through his shattered armor, coming out of his back with a splash of blood.

'You should have kept your armor up.' Vivi twists the blade, drawing a mixture of crimson blood and pink sick from his chest cavity.

'…oh ho ho ho…ReHck!' the mad artist looks at her through dazed eyes, coughing up blood.

'And you...' Mr 3 holds his sole functional arm up in front of her. 'Shouldn't... have wasted your attack.'

Vivi notices the switch in his hand. A switch she recognizes as a detonator.

Her eyes widen, and she lets go of her blade, buried in her enemy's chest cavity.

'Candle Dome...'

Vivi jumps backwards just in time to avoid being enveloped. A barrier of wax surrounds the laughing madman.

'...hoo ooh ho ho oh ho...'

'Another dome?' Sanji rushes up to attack the shield. 'Collar-'

Vivi grabs his leg. 'Forget him! Karoo!'

'WEEERT!' Vivi's arm reaches out and grips the reins. With a flip, she hitches a ride on her friend with practiced ease, throwing Sanji on the back for good measure.

'Vivi? What?' Sanji looks about in confusion.

'Karoo! Pell!'

'WWWWWEEEERRRT!' Karo opens his feathered limbs to his full wingspan and with a massive jump. leaps over the side of the ship. Flapping with all his might, the supersonic duck takes off into the air, just as small red lights start flashing on the explosive barrels behind them.

KKKABOOOMMM*

They escape just as the barrels explode. The shock wave created by the blast throws the duck and its passengers into the sky with tremendous force.

Karoo wings struggle to maintain their precarious balance against the shock wave threatening to send them plummeting to their deaths.

And then, all of a sudden, they are flying. The wingspan of the noble mount, combined with the blazing-hot dome of air, keeps them airborne above the brown-blue sea beneath them.

Sanji looks down at the remains of Mr 3 and his pleasure yacht. All that remains is a sea of fire and white bubbling wax contrasting against the pure blue seas.

'Wow. That was close. Thank you, Vivi.'

'Don't count your ducks yet, Sanji!' Vivi looks around. 'Karoo can't hold this glide forever!'

'WEEeeeeEEEERRrrrttT!' Karoo's face shows obvious sighs of strain.

The princess looks over her friend, his wings twitching with the strain of remaining airborne. 'We need a place to land that's not on the water!'

Sanji, from his position on the back, taps Vivi on the shoulder. 'Try there!' He points.

The princess looks in the direction to find Usopp standing on the Merry's deck, manning some kind of giant catapult.

'Karoo!' Vivi pulls on the reins, and the bird turns in mid-air. 'You brought the Merry?'

Sanji flips around on the duck's back. 'It was the best way to protect the cargo. Plus, I found something that made me worry about you guys. So I thought we'd sail around the island to scout, see if we could find trouble before it found us.'

'Well...' Vivi laughs optimistically as they drift towards the ship. 'Whatever trouble you were worried about, it can't be worse than what we've been through already.'

At that moment, the seas begin to shake.

...

'Drat. Lost him.' Luffy hangs from a lamppost and surveys the city of anarchy. Fires and screams were everywhere, thanks to the burning ships in the surrounding harbor and their crews jumping overboard. The few boats that weren't on fire were fighting off swarms of lizards. Behind him, broken rubble and bodies filled the narrow roads connecting the demolished warehouses. And worst of all, no matter how many zombie dinosaurs he beat up, there were always more spilling out of somewhere.

Luffy sighs, tired of the depressing sight of yet another demolished city, even if the guys in it were jerks. 'Well, can't do anything about him now.' The captain of the Strawhats takes another look. 'Maybe Nami has some ideas. She's really good at looting stuff. Maybe she can find some neat treasures. Or some meat! That would be awesome!'

His mouth salivates at the thought of fresh, tasty, tumor-filled flesh and the horrific scene of the dinosaur screaming in agony as the plague ate away at it.

...on second thought. He wasn't hungry for meat (as much as he'd never admit it). Maybe Sanji had prepared that big meal by now. A Sanji meal made with all the tasty fruits of the jungle was almost as good as meat anyway!

Luffy nods, coming up with the plan. First, find his friends and get out of this crazy city. Second, eat as much as he can. Third, avoid Zoro's attempt to kill him.

'LUUUUFFFFYYYY!' Zoro screams like a demonic beast. His clothes and hair are singed, sporting several burn marks. He runs towards him, raising his three swords for the kill.

'Oh! Hey Zoro!' Luffy waves. 'You got out!'

'Hawk wave!'

A blast of air smashes the lamppost he was standing on to scrap.

Luffy lands on his feet, staring down the rampaging swordsman. Zoro skids to a stop in front of him, panting heavily.

'So... how'd you get out?'

Whap*

The flat of Zoro's blade smacks him across the face.

'Ow!'

'I was set on fire, Luffy!' Zoro points to the exposed tumors on his right arm and the burnt bandages. 'Again!'

'Well, that's a good thing, right?' Luffy figures. 'I mean the more you're set on fire the more resistin... resistan... the stronger you'll be against it in the future!'

'FLAT BLADE DEMON HUNTER!'

Wham*

'Aaaaaaaaaa!' Luffy, sent flying by the swordsman's attack, lands back on the ground, sporting several new lumps.

Zoro pants before glaring down at him. 'Are you done being stupid? Or do I have to hit you again?'

'Weeeelllll...' Luffy thinks.

The swordsman pops his neck.

He thinks very hard. 'I think I am?'

Zoro watches the idiot for a moment before sighing. 'Fine. Let's go. There are no strong foes for me to kill, and we can't even eat the beasts we take down.'

Luffy leaps up with a frown on his face. 'Yeah, it's a bummer. No meat, no cure, and no super strong bosses for us to-'

The sea to the left explodes upwards. The entire sea.

Brackish brown water falls from the sky as several billion tons of water are thrown into the air.

Zoro and Luffy turn to see a massive, bloated something push its way upwards from the sea. Its bulk is nearly three times Laboon's size, forcing itself upwards, creating a mass three times taller than all the city's warehouses combined. Its red-white body is covered in incredibly small red speckles that look to be tumors. Its single blood red eye opens next to the oozing socket where its left eye used to be. The crater in its face is filled with nightmarish, twitching shapes that hurt the mind to even look at. The island-sized goldfish looks down at the city in front of it, and its gaping mouth widens slowly.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

The force of its exhale alone creates a hundred-mile-per-hour gale. Every boat in the harbor is blown backwards or shattered in half against the pier. Flames from burning timber shoot towards the island like darts of flame.

'Yow!' Luffy shouts, waving his singed hat around. His feet slide backwards against the living hurricane in front of him. 'Watch it, you stupid fish!'

The creature looks towards the town. Its eyes fill with hunger at the sight of the crawling ants in front of it.

And it jumps.

Its body, comparable to a small island, sails into the air. A mouth wider than ten battleships opens up to consume everything in front of it.
Zoro grunts as he takes in the creature bearing down on them. 'Ha ha! Finally! A worthy-'

The entire harbor vanishes inside the Island Eater's maw. The impact of its grazing the shore sends a colossal tidal wave ripping through the city.

...

Vivi coughs up a bucket's worth of seawater, her water-logged body struggling to rise.

'Easy Vivi! We've got you.'

'U-Usopp?' Vivi asks groggily, looking up at the freakish sniper. 'P-Please tell me you didn't give me mouth-to-mouth.'

Usopp holds up a balloon he pulled from somewhere. 'Usopp model, Nami approved, emergency oxygen replenishment device. Sanji volunteered, but I stopped him.'

'Thank the gods.' She struggles to sit up, slipping backwards against a waterlogged plank of wood.

Sanji catches her before she falls. 'Easy, Vivi. You took a big tumble when the sea king washed us ashore.'

'Sea king...' Vivi whispers before shooting up. 'Karoo! Wher... UGH!' She clutches her bandaged head.

'Out like a light on the Merry.' Ussop thumbs behind him.

'The Merry? But...' she looks down, seeing the white wax roads of Rainbow City. 'But we're on shore? How could the Merry be further...inland?'

Vivi's dizzy brain takes in her surroundings. The Merry is indeed lying on the land, surrounded by the shattered remains of ships that were far less fortunate than their smaller, sturdier craft. The ruins of the town are half-submerged with scraps of the harbor and seawater thrown about everywhere she can see.

'...gomu noooo bazoka...'

'...dragon twister...'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWW

And off in the distance, a massive creature blotting out the horizon is being attacked by two comparatively minuscule . Two minuscule creatures that actually seem to be hurting a beast the size of a mountain range.

'Yeah, Luffy and Zoro are fighting a giant goldfish. Now onto the more important question... what's wrong with my mouth-to-mouth?' The chef demonstrates his ability to pucker his lips. 'I've been told by the madames that my lips are very tender. If you'd only give them the chance...'

Usopp chops him in the head. 'Cool it, Mr Prince. The really important question is how we kill the fish!'

Vivi looks at Usopp. She looks at the sea beast, a million times bigger than them, smashing its body into the town. Then she looks back at Usopp. 'Seriously? You want to try and kill… that?'

'Of course!' Usopp gestures to the Merry's hull, specifically a scuffed area on the underside. 'Look at what it did to my baby! All my protective metal sheets! My airbag systems! All my reinforcements couldn't stop it from hurting her! That fish needs to die for this!'

Now it's Usopp's turn to be smacked upside the head. 'No Usopp. We...' Vivi grunts, managing to stand. 'We need to get out of here while it's distracted. If we can move the ship to the other side of the island, it should forget about us, and we can sail off unmolested.'

'And let it get away with hurting Merry!?' Usopp objects.

'Do you want to risk Merry getting hurt even more?'

The sniper opens his mouth, but is unable to think of an objection.

'We've destroyed the Rainbow City.' Vivi states, gesturing to the ruins surrounding them. 'With it gone, Baroque Works' ability to produce mutants and speed up the plague is severely diminished. We've also taken out Mr 3 and any forces that could stop us. And most importantly...' Vivi reaches into her pocket, tossing something to Sanji. 'We have our way forward.'

Sanji holds the item in his hand. A small glass compass with the word "ALABASTA" on a plaque nailed into the side.

The princess fixes a genuine smile on her face. 'So I'd say it's time to set sail.'

Sanji inspects the item. 'An eternal pose to Alabasta.'

Vivi nods. 'Compliments of the plague ships carrying mutants and filth to my country.'

Sanji pockets the Pose. 'Usopp. Launch the flare and bring everyone back here.'

'Uhhh, Sanji?'

'No buts, Usopp. Princess Vivi is right.' The chef insists. 'We should avoid fighting giant monsters if we can.'

'...'

'Usopp?'

'Uuuuhh.' The sniper presses his fingers together. 'Do you remember the wave that hit us?'

Vivi folds her arms. 'You mean did we forget the hundred-foot tsunami that destroyed a city?'

'Yeah. That.'

'No Usopp.' Sanji rolls his eyes. 'All of us forgot the wave of death and the billion-foot-tall monster trying to kill us.'

'Well, water and gunpowder don't really mix well, so...'

'...so no flare.'

'No flare.'

'Abyss!' The princess groans. 'Fine. New plan, you two.' She points to the men. 'Will move the Merry away to someplace that is outside the city and far away from the monster. Meanwhile, I'll fetch the rest of the crew and catch up with you.'

'Well, I have been thinking of some wheel designs for the hull.' Ussop looks around at the lumber yard of soggy wood. 'And we have plenty of material to work with. I can probably whip something up.'

'Great.' Vivi turns to leave. 'Just leave a trail for me to follow, okay?'

'Vivi, wait!' Sanji raises his hand to stop her. 'You're still hurt. I can fetch Nami Swan, Nojiko chan, and the others, I guess. You stay here with Usopp.'

The princess looks through him. 'I'm fine, Sanji.'

'Vivi chan?'

She reaches down and picks up a waterlogged sword. She inspects the blade impartially. 'You and Usopp are the only ones strong enough to move the Merry, and besides...' She offers a comforting grin. 'Captain Luffy will be cross if his chef can't prepare the lunch he promised him.'

...

'Gasp! HaCkot!' Nami coughs up a lungful of water. She groans in pain, her battered body lying flat on the white ground surrounded by wooden scraps.

Yet despite the hundreds of thousands of gallons that suddenly bowled her and half a city over, her hand is locked around something critical. Her fingers white from the strain, the navigator looks over to her sister, Nojiko.

'N-Nojiko...' Nami moans, shaking the arm in her grip. 'Are you...okay?' She shakes her harder. 'Nojiko?'

With effort and ignoring the bruised body underneath her suit, Nami picks herself up. 'Nojiko, are you...okay?'

Her sister was not okay.

Her arms are obviously broken, both forearms' bones pushing through her suit. Her left leg bends at the knee in the opposite direction. But the worst damage of all is found near what approximates a head. The right side of her domed faceplate is shattered, revealing a mess of pulsating green sores filled with broken glass. What little of her visible human face is battered and bleeding out of what looks to be a mouth, only without any teeth. Shallow, uneven breaths come out of the opening, followed by droplets of green and red.

'Nojiko!' Nami shoots up, forgetting any precautions to avoid infection in her panic. She examines her body, unable to check her pulse due to her mutated state. The shallow breaths, though, let her know her state is very bad.

'Nojiko! Hold on! I'll... grr!' Nami attempts to pick up her sister's body despite her own weakened state. 'Just give me a moment! I'll have you-'

'Drop her.'

Before she can lift Nojiko onto her back, a voice sounds behind her.

'I said drop her. I won't have my navigator getting the plague.' The voice says. 'Turn around. Slowly.'

Nami turns, coming face to face with Miss Golden Week, the Baroque works agent. Her body is equally scuffed up, with bruises, torn clothing, and cuts covering her form. The bullet hole in her right leg is tied off with her bloody jacket. In her left hand rests an easel of black paint that the brush in her right hand is dipped into.

Nami draws her gun in an instant. 'Pretty sneaky for someone with a bullet in her leg.'

'Wax bones that are as hard as iron.' Marianne limps forward. 'Probably the only time I'll thank Mr 3 for anything. Now don't move. I don't have paint to waste.'

Nami cocks the hammer of her gun. 'How about you don't move? I can easily blow your brains from here.'

'You could.' Marianne lifts her brush, covered in vile black ink. 'If you had a gun that wasn't waterlogged.'

'And how sure are you that my gun isn't?' Nami says, holding her in place with a steely glare. 'My pouches on the plague suits are designed to be fluid-proof.'

'...It's literally dripping water, Miss Navigator.' The agent keenly points out. Limping on her injured leg, she pushes herself forward. 'Now, if you don't mind, we have a busy day of escaping to...'

'Wait!' Nami drops her useless pistol and raises her hands. 'You want to escape, and we have a ship you can escape on. Let's... let's just talk, okay?'

Miss Golden Week raises her black-stained brush, preparing to completely warp her foe's personality. 'You promised to kill me earlier, and now you want to help me?'

'Hear me out!' Nami holds out her hands as if to stop a potential attack. 'You need to get away. We can do that for you. No tricks, no forced brainwashing. You hold off on the paint, and we drop you off on our next island, no questions asked. Just help me get Nojiko to our boat!'

Marianne scoffs. 'You expect me, a bounty hunter, to trust the word of a pirate? Especially after you maimed me?' The girl stops advancing. 'Trust is impossible to find on these seas. Why should I trust you?'

'...'

'...well? I'm waiting for your half-baked lies.'

'...for the same reason I didn't kill you when I had the chance.' Nami takes a single step towards Marianne.

The artist prepares her brush, soaked in her brainwashing paints, but she doesn't attack.

'We're the same. I spent years... under the thumb of an evil monster.' Nami shudders under the weight of unwanted memories. 'Every day was a nightmare. I would have given anything to escape. I know better than anyone what you are going through, Marianne.'

Nami takes another step. 'You want to be free, just like me, and we can give you that freedom. Trust...'

A blob of black paint nearly hits Nami in the face. Only her lightning-fast reflexes prevent her will from being overwritten.

Marianne's hands shake as she draws more paint from her easel. 'Shut up! You're trying to trick me! Just like 3 tricked me! He promised me a place to belong! He promised me a family that understood my art! Then, when I got here, he turned me into his pet! Someone to hurt and manipulate for his amusement!'

Nami notices the tears falling down her face. 'Marianne, I swear to you that if you drop the brush, you can come with us. I know...' she shudders. "I know it's hard, but if you just trust me then...'

'Hard!?' The artist swings a line of paint. Nami is forced to back away. 'Try Impossible! Trusting you... trusting anyone...'

The artist shakes her head as she draws up more paint. 'No... no, I can't trust anyone. Everyone just wants to use me, abuse my talents for their own sick purposes.' Marianne limps closer to Nami, who backs away. 'It's how the world works. You use others, or you are used. And trusting someone else is just giving them the power they need to use you.'

Marianne prepares to strike again. 'Don't worry, Navigator. This time, I'll make sure you don't break out of Betrayal Black. Then once you're under my control, we can...'

Nami points. 'Marianne! Look out behind you!'

Marianne rolls her eyes. 'Please, Miss Navigator. I may look like I'm ten, but I'm not going to fall-'

The artist takes in the fear in Nami's eyes. She feels the ground beneath her vibrate from the patter-patter of claws against stone. She hears an eerie clicking sound echoing off the rubble around her. And worst of all, she feels a hot, unwelcome cloud of humid air on the back of her neck.

GLUcK GloUck GrOCk

Marianne's body is compelled to turn around, coming face to face with an open jaw bigger than her head. Its teeth glint in the late afternoon sun, and its mouth is filled with dripping red boils. She feels the creature's tongue lick up her tears.

'No...'

The raptor's jaw snaps around her head.

She screams as nails-like shards of bone pierce her brain and slam her to the ground.

She screams as the kettle of raptors falls on her, ripping, clawing, and tearing flesh.

She screams as she is torn to pieces. Arms thrash legs, kick futility against her certain death.

The navigator joins her. 'A...A... AAAAAAIIIIEEE!' Nami screams in horror at the sight.

The apex predators stop attacking.

They slowly turn to look at their new prey.

The leader drops Marianne's maimed body and prowls toward their new source of food.

GroCK GORoroCK GrURok

Its clawed legs scrape against the ground. Its clawed talons bite into the earth. Its fanged jaws drip bloody fluids. down their chins. The red tumors pushing their way through the raptor's scales seem to pulse in excitement.

The kettle of six raptors group together, ready to pounce on their prey and tear it limb from limb.

Nami is terrified.

She backs away from the advancing monsters. She steps back and back, each step barely maintaining the gap between her and the killing machines.

Her foot hits something. She spares a reflexive glance to jump over it.

Nojiko lies at her feet. Barely breathing. Half dead. Afflicted by the plague.

GrOuk Grock GroOOK

The hunting calls of the perfect hunting creatures reverberate in Nami's ears.

She could run. She looks to her right at a hole in a wall, far too small for the creatures. She could run while they are busy eating the half-dead people around her. Her legs twitch, instinctively encouraging her to run.

GrOuk Grock GroOOK

She needs to run. The pack of hungry monsters draws closer. She has no choice.

GrOuk Grock GroOOK

She is terrified.

'...uuuu...' Nojiko whispers in her sleep.

She has to run. If she doesn't, she'll die.

'...I'm sorry.'

GroCK GORoroCK GrURok

'I'm so sorry...captain.' Nami stands rooted to the spot. With shaking hands, she draws a survival knife from her belt. She raises her sole weapon against the oncoming horde.

GroCK GORoroCK GrURok

'It looks...' she starts to cry, her body shakes, her voice hitches in her throat. 'It looks like you'll need... a new navigator!'

The leader of the raptors tenses to pounce.

GroCK GORor-

A blue-haired angel falls on it from above, driving her blade through its skull and into the ground.

The rest of the pack jump backwards in surprise as their alpha tenses its body once and expires.

The sword woman rips the blade from its corpse and stands on top of her foe.

'Koza's peace.' Vivi watches the monsters around her.

She eyes the nearest one with a steady gaze.

G-Ghoark?

Vivi swings her blade, splashing the creature's eyes with gore.

GoR-

Her blade tip catches it in the right side of its throat, and with a pull, Vivi rips out its major carotid artery. It falls to the ground, drowning in its own tainted blood.

The other four circle around the princess, preparing to attack from every side at once.

Vivi stands on her leg, and her mechanical wrist whines as she flexes. 'Titi's...'

GAORK!

The monsters pounce as one.

'PROTECTION!' She spins her body and wrist in a circular pattern, creating a spinning tornado of death.

The attacking raptors lose claws, limbs, eyes, and more to the spinning blade. Two fall back bleeding from severed legs.

The other two, however, push through, bowling her over. Her sword is torn from her grasp, skidding into the distance. The foremost stands over her, its one leg that isn't a stump digging its claws into her stomach.

GHOAARK!

It lowers its mouth to bite into her exposed flesh.

Only to find Vivi's metallic hand gripped around its throat, pushing it back.

GHoark!

The smallest raptor circles as its senior pushes closer and closer to its meal. It knows the first bite belongs to the one to make the kill.

G-Goo-OaRK...

Vivi glares at the creature above her as her fist tightens around its windpipe. Metal and gears constricting its throat like an iron vice. Her arm sparks from the strain, but she maintains the death grip.

The new alpha loses strength. Its vision swims as life giving blood ceases to flow to its brain.

The youngest advances to help, to clash the annoying monkey's throat with its savage claws.

'AAAAAAAGGHH!'

Nami jumps on the remaining raptor with a bestial roar and begins stabbing down with her dagger.

GOOrak!

The youngest spins, swipes, and tries to bite the parasite on its back.

'DIE DIE DIE!' Nami screams louder as she stabs its neck, head, and back.

G...Go...or...k...

Snap*

Vivi breaks the neck of the two-hundred-pound killing machine on top of her, and with a snap of her arm, throws it to the side.

Vivi leaps to her feet and looks at the sole surviving raptor. Her mechanical arm twitches powerlessly.

'Piece of junk!' Vivi grabs and unsheathes her own dagger with her human arm and charges.

GhoaRK GoHOrK Gh-

The princess drives her blade through its right eye socket. The creature's legs give out from under it. Nami's blade joins its twin in its left eye socket a moment later.

The sole raptor falls to the ground dead.

For nearly half a minute, the two women stand still, catching their breath. They slowly feel the surge of adrenaline fade from their bodies.

Vivi is the first to recover. 'So... am I done... with the hazing?' She asks, still breathing heavily.

'He he... you've earned...a gods damned promotion.' Nami smiles. She lies on her back.

The princess laughs. 'Well... all it took... was fighting off a pack... of Dinosaurs...' She offers Nami her hand. 'And saving your life.'

'Yeah, yeah.' The navigator grabs Vivi's hand and rises shakily to her feet. 'Now help me with Nojiko and... let's get...'

A literal earthquake throws them to the ground.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

Nami looks over to see another wave rushing towards them.

'Nojiko!' Nami throws herself on top of her sister as the wave knocks them back. Fortunately, this wave was not as large as the first, and they were merely thrown a few feet, landing in a pile of dinosaur corpses and wood.

'...gattling gun...'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

'I am...' Vivi rises, wiping the tainted blood off her. 'So sick of this place!' She turns to Nami, soaked in brine and clutching her sister. 'Let's get out of here!'

'L-Leave!?' Nami sputters, looking around. 'We can't leave yet! We haven't robbed them yet!'

'...WHAT!? We barely survived, and all you're thinking about is money!?'

'Vivi! This place researches the plague!' Nami gestures to the surroundings, knowing that the broken laboratories around them were filled with innumerable secrets. 'A single paper of their findings could be worth more than a battleship! Plus, the doctors must be hiding around here somewhere.' The navigator looks at the giant goldfish ramming the city. 'We can't let it destroy a potential cure!'

'...fierce tiger hunt...'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

'This place doesn't HAVE a cure, Nami! Vivi screams at her friend(?). 'It's a factory for abominations! It needs to be burned to the ground! Let the Sea king sink it!'

'It could help Nojiko!' Nami shouts back, sitting next to Nojiko. 'Look at her!' She points to her sister's broken body. 'She NEEDS a doctor! She NEEDS a cure! And the only way she'll get it is if we stop that monster!'

'You look at her! She needs a hearse, Nami!' Vivi shouts. 'She's already dead, you need...'

'Shut up!' Nami screams. 'She's... she... I won't leave her behind! And if there's a flame's chance in the Abyss of saving her, I'm taking it!' Throwing the woman on her back, she manages to shakily rise up. 'So if we have to stop a rampaging sea king, we're going to find a way!'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

A storm of sea foam hits them both.

'Stop THAT!?' The princess points to a massive mountain of flesh smashing into the island. 'How? It's bigger than a mountain! Do you have a buster call in your back pocket!? I know, maybe you can sing it to sleep with a lullaby! I'm sure that will work!'

'Shut it! Haven't you heard, the bigger they are...' Nami stops mid-word.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

'...aaaaaaaa...'

WHAM*

Another cloud of sea foam hits them.

Nami ignores it; her eyes shine like gems. '...the harder they fall! That's it!'

'That's what!?' Vivi scoffs at her. 'Sing to it and hope it likes Navy Pop!?'

Nami grabs Vivi's hand. 'Come on!' The navigator drags her along. 'I know just how to turn this whole situation around!'

...

'Gomu nooooo AXE!'

Luffy's leg punches through the creature's eye, adding to the dozens of holes in its most vulnerable organ.

'DEMON HUNTER!'

Zoro's swords slice up the eye with three simultaneous slashes, creating a spurt of blood.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

The creature's body slams into the island, crushing several buildings and shattering the road into wax flecks.

The two Strawhats easily dodge the transparent charge with a backwards jump. Yet even the shock wave from the beast hitting the island creates damage.

Zoro spits up some blood from the sword between his teeth. 'Damn! Why won't this thing die!?'

Luffy lands next to him, panting. 'Yeah... this guy just keeps taking damage, but he won't go down. It's really annoying.'

'You're one to talk, captain.' Zoro shakes the blood off his swords. 'At this rate, we'll die of old age before this thing bleeds out... starting to regret thinking this thing would be a good fight.'

Luffy's stomach growls. 'Nah, I think we'll die of hunger first.'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW

Zoro wipes the sweat from his bandana-covered brow and readies his blades. 'I really hate to admit it, Captain... but I probably have one or two good attacks in me. Got any ideas?'

'Hummmm...' Luffy thinks, surprisingly without smoke coming out of his ears. 'We could try a combo attack. Ace, Sabo, and I practiced them all the time back when we were training on the mountain. But there's a problem.'

'Problem?'

'Duh!' Luffy says as if it were plain as the nose on his face. 'We need to think up a cool name for the attack! See, this is why I'm Captain Zoro. There's no way we could launch a cool combo attack without an awesome line to shout!'

'...of course. How silly of me.'

'I know, right?' Luffy turns to the massive beast. 'We need a cool name. Something catchy. We can't just shout out something like-'

'CRANE ATTACK!'

'No, nothing like that!' Luffy shakes his head. 'See Zoro? This is why I'm captain. That sounds really stupid!'

A crate hanging from a giant crane is swung like a flail, smacking the adjacent creature in the eye. The box bursts into a cloud of blue powder, and the gigantic goldfish roars.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!

'Huh? Nami!?' Zoro looks up to see their navigator manning the construction equipment high above them. He barely makes out her frantic attempt to control the device. 'What's she doing up there!?'

'Good question.' Luffy shoots his arm up. 'I'll ask her. Gomu no rocket!'

...

'No, no!' Vivi points. 'That lever lowers the grabber.' She points to a switch on the wall. 'And that one activates the grip!'

Nami grunts. 'The "grabber"!? Just admit you don't know how to operate this thing!' She flips a switch, causing the crane to rotate uncontrollably. 'You just hold onto Nojiko while I figure this out!'

The two ladies bicker inside the bright yellow cockpit. Nojiko's broken body is tied to a cushioned seat.

'Look!' Nami finally gets it to stop. 'I'm getting the hang of this. We just need to get that giant sea king to bite into this warehouse. Then we just slide down the cable while it is...'

A projectile smashes through the front window.

'EEEAAAGH!' The two ladies grab each other in fear.

Only to see their captain, Luffy, the front half of his body stuck halfway in the glass.

'Rgh! I got stuck again...' He wiggles around. 'Oh, Hey Nami! Hey Vivi! Hey... Nojiko!'

Luffy flexes, shattering the glass as he runs to the girl. 'Nojiko! Are you okay?! Speak to me!'

'...' fluid drips from the creature's mouth. Its ugly appearance barely qualifies as human.

'L-Luffy.' Nami runs back over to the controls. 'Help me lure the goldfish over here! If we can lure it here...'

'Forget the goldfish, Nami!' Luffy turns to Nami, his eyes filled with anger. 'We need to help Nojiko! She needs...'

'I KNOW that Luffy!' Nami roars back. 'But we can't help her so long as that fishstick is attacking the only medical facility on the Island!' She turns back to the controls. 'So help me or shut up!'

Luffy watches Nami thrash against the controls. He looks over to the monster above them.

'...Gomu no Fishing line!'

Luffy reaches through the shattered window and, after a few seconds of stretching, pulls up Zoro.

'Aaaaagh! Luffy!?' The swordsman looks to his captain. 'What do you think...Nojiko!?'

'Lots of people shouting today...' Vivi rubs her temples.

'Zoro. We're ending this now. Nami?' Luffy turns to his navigator. 'If the fish attacks this warehouse, can we win?'

Nami looks down from their precipice. 'This warehouse is filled to the brim with crates of Sleeping powder.' The navigator swings the crane's line into the monster's eye.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!

'A single whiff of it knocked out a t-Rex bigger than the Merry.' Nami continues her plan. 'If it were to eat all of it...'

'It would go down like Luffy after a big meal.' Zoro nods, looking at the creature with a smile.

Ggggrrrrrrrr*

'Zoro! Don't make me any hungrier!' Luffy sulks.

'Relax, captain.' Zoro grins, preparing his swords. 'I can draw its attention. You just have to get me close.' He jumps onto the crane's skeleton, its length pointing right at the swollen right eye of the beast. 'Luffy, can you shoot me towards it with your rocket thing?'

Ggggrrrrrrrr*

Luffy clutches his stomach. 'Okay. But I feel like I'm gonna pass out any second.'

'Sanji is preparing Lunch now.'

'RRRRAAAAGH!' Luffy sprints down the length of the crane, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

He even runs past Zoro, the swordsman ignoring the antics of his captain as he shuts his eyes. '...'

He walks out of the cockpit onto the main body of the crane. He breathes in, placing the hilts of his swords against each other.

His mind is pure and devoid of all distractions. He prepares his ultimate attack.

He breathes out. Spinning the blades around in a perfect circle. 'The nine mountains and eight seas constitute one world.'

'AAAAAAAARRRGH!' Luffy shoots his arms backwards.

The swords pick up speed. 'A thousand of them form a small universe.'

'GOMU NOOOOOOOOO...' his arms grab Zoro's legs as he reaches the end of the crane.

Zoro's eyes flash red, his blood lust and strength getting stronger with every passing second. 'And when I gather and cube that universe, there's nothing I can't cut!'

'CATAPULT!' The captain of the Strawhats swings his arms forward, chucking his first mate directly towards the monster.

'GO ZORO!' Nami cheers.

'DO IT MR SWORDSMAN!' Vivi shouts her encouragement.

The swordsman sails through the air, the power behind his blades causing the air around him to ripple and flex. 'Three Sword Style Secret Technique!'

Zoro shoots towards the monster like a shooting star, his blades spinning like a cyclone of untapped energy. 'THREE!'

The creature notices him.

'THOUSAND!'

Its animal eyes fill with something resembling fear.

'WORL-'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!

A sound louder than an erupting volcano hits them like a bomb. A shock wave of force demolishes half the island in one roar. The foundations of the island crack, and the tower of metal bends and contorts from the force of the creature's roar. With a snap of breaking steel, the crane collapses beneath the women.

'...' Nami yells as loud as her lungs can manage, but hears nothing. Her bleeding eyes watch as the cable they depended on for escape snaps like a thread trapping them inside a falling tower of sharp metal.

Zoro's body erupts into a fountain of blood. His eardrums, eyes, and veins burst as the force alone throws him through the air like a kite in a storm.

Even Luffy, immune as he is to blunt force attacks, feels the impact in his bones. He is thrown from the tower with a shuddering jolt.

The rest of Nojiko's helm shatters into shards, exposing the uninfected side of her head to the open air. Her entire body leaks green, sick, and bloody fluids.

Vivi feels her mechanical arm explode, her bones vibrate as every part of her writhes in agony.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAaaaaaaaawwwwww...

The sound dies down.

...

As the princess of Alabasta watches the tower collapse around her, as she watches her friends fall to their deaths, she feels a strange form of relief.

She had failed.

They had failed everyone.

But at least it was over.

No more pain or suffering.

No more watching people she cared about die.

No more Princess Vivi.

No more Alabasta.

Just a calm, endless sleep.

Vivi slowly opens her eyes, expecting the last sight she sees to be one of destructive tranquility. The crying face of Nami, perhaps? Luffy reaching his hand out to save someone who should have never been saved? A distant vision of her destroyed kingdom? Those things would make sense.

Instead, she sees a giant steam-powered paddle ship version of the Merry on wheels piloted by a blonde pervert in a catapult and a plague-riddled centaur.

'That stupid fish!' Usopp shouts, using a line of rope to turn the wheels. 'If we hadn't taken shelter around that building, it might have chipped her paint!'

Sanji nonchalantly smokes his cigarette 'Just stick to the plan, Usopp! And keep that thing steady.'

Vivi gapes in awe at the mechanical abomination coming around the corner. The first half is easy enough to distinguish; the Merry's frame is resting on what looks to be an improvised cart of some kind, its wheels spinning erratically. No, the bizarre part is the galleon-sized paddle wheel slapped to the back of the cart, its broken wheel scraping against the ground with every turn. It seems to be powered by a lopsided boiler fastened to the deck of the Merry and fueled with hundreds of pounds of wood in lieu of coal.

Usopp fiddles with the steam gauges for the paddle wheel like a man possessed. And what is this plan!? You just said to go and help the ladies!' A pipe bursts near him as the improvised paddle boat picks up steam. 'This baby isn't exactly stable!'

'Aim me for the shitty swordsman.' The Strawhats' chef stands on the catapult near the front of the ship. He crouches down on the bucket-platform of the catapult, prepared for lift off. 'His only job is to cut things. I'm not letting him laze about and not do the only thing he's good at!'

'Got it!' Usopp grips a nearby lever. 'Usopp Catapult mark 1! Test number two, a go!'

He pulls the lever, and the arm launches forward, propelled by the torque of the spring and a literal explosion under Sanji's platform.

Leaping at the zenith of the arc, Sanji flies towards Zoro. 'UUUUUOOOOGGGHH!'

Vivi watches as the man flies past her, her jaw hanging powerlessly.

'OOOOO- HELLO VIVI CHAN! HELLO NAMI SWAN!-OOOOOOGHHHHH!'

Vivi follows the man, looking upwards to see him shooting towards Zoro.

Who was still spinning his blades even while plummeting through the air. His own blood coats his blades, the blades spinning so fast they resemble discs of sunset light.

...why?

Why were they still fighting?

They lost! Why were they still fighting against something they could hope to beat?!

Vivi rails against this question as she watches this small group of pirates sail onward to their apparent death.

'Vivi!' Nami shouts, slapping her friend in the face. 'Snap out of it!'

Vivi looks to see Nami standing there, blood smeared across her face, carrying her broken sister on her back.

'H-huh?'

'Did you hear me!?' Nami points to the shattered window of the collapsing tower. 'Grab your stuff and get ready to jump!'

'...huh?' Her hearing must still be shot. She thought she heard Nami say to get ready to...

Nami grabs the cuff of Vivi's suit. 'There's our drop-zone! Let's go!'

And their navigator drags her out into the void.

Vivi looks down at the ten-story drop filled with sharp metal at the bottom and reacts as any normal person would. 'AAAAAAAA!'

Despite being prepared for it a minute ago, the idea of splattering onto hundreds of metal spikes caused the princess to suddenly fear her own demise.

Yet, Nami wasn't even phased. Rather than act as if she were stepping out into a ten-story drop, she leaps into open air as if she were stepping down a flight of stairs.

Vivi looks down at her expected demise.

And finds their captain waiting for them. The metal poles around what was their drop zone had been blown away by a swipe of his hand.

'GOMU NOOO BALOON!' Luffy inflates his body three... ten... twenty times his size directly beneath them.

The three women land on his stomach, bouncing, once, twice, three times before Luffy deflates under their weight.

'Shi shi shi shi!' Luffy chuckles. 'Nami, that tickles!'

'Save it, Luffy!' His navigator drags him up. 'Come on, we've got to get out of the splash zone. If that thing bites down on top of us...'

'Nah. You guys go ahead!' Luffy turns towards the monster. His eyes locked on the blonde man sailing skyward. 'I'll wait for Zoro.'

'W-Wait for Zoro!?' Vivi expresses her disbelief. 'What are... who are... why aren't you...'

'Save it Vivi!' Nami drags her away. 'Come on then, you can watch Zoro kick, but from the nosebleeds!'

'What!?'

'Stop saying that!'

...

The Island Eater watches the gnat it knocked back. It was mostly dead, falling away from him, but somehow that scary, dangerous feeling hadn't gone away. A feeling it hadn't felt since those big gnat things fought. Ever since it lost its eye to the ugly-looking big gnat, it hadn't been able to fill its stomach as it should have. It had been forced to sleep for a long time and wait until they died.

The small gnat gives it the same feeling. Its left socket pulses in pain.

...the gnat needs to die.

The Island Eater opens its mouth, its massive gills and lungs begin to expand.

Ever since the loud noise woke him, it had been one painful thing after another.

It liked it when the gnats dropped all the tasty snacks in its waters. It would wake, eat tasty flesh, and feel very sleepy after. It had woken up expecting food. It had gotten angry when there was no food, so it decided to eat the gnats that should be bringing it food.

But these things just kept hurting him.

They need to die.

It readies a massive roar to shatter the rest of the funny white stuff on the island.

Once the bad white stuff and bad gnats are gone, it can finish what it wanted to do so long ago. Eat the entire island down to the bedrock. Then it would move onto the next rock as it had done for as long as it could remember.

Hopefully, it would find one without annoying gnats on it. Even though the ones with the gnats on them were the tastiest.

It readies its roar.

...

'Not this time, you fishstick!' Usopp grins as he flips another lever on the deck. 'I've got something just for you! Straight from our newly stocked pantry!

The cannon from the front of the Merry pokes out. 'Industrial-sized, GIANTS' PEPPER STAR!'

The cannon fires. The projectile sails through the air for a full five seconds before hitting the creature's wiggling uvula in its open mouth. In a flash of light, it explodes into a cloud of trillions of irritants. The gaping mouth of the beast, its gills and lungs are instantly filled to the brim with wild black pepper.

The beast's eyes widen.

RAAACHHHHEEWWW!

And then it sneezes. Pepper, seawater, and mucus fly out of its mouth and gills. It hacks and coughs only to spread more and more of the pepper throughout its abused respiratory system.

Usopp fist pumps. 'Direct hit! And given it's hacking up its lungs...' he looks up. 'It'll be too busy to dodge!'

...

Zoro doesn't think. His entire body. His essence is focused on his blades.

He gave his captain his promise. Get him close, and he would do the rest.

The fact that he was falling was of no consequence to him.

Luffy had promised him he would do his part.

So Zoro would do his.

His swords spin in his hands. Building up power. Building up force. His blood coats them.

He would CUT.

That was all he needed to know.

So when an obnoxious, stupid chef popped up, he nearly cut him.

'Hey, moss head.' The man came to a stop below him, hanging in midair.

He offers his leg as a platform. 'Need a lift?'

Despite everything. Despite his focus on his desire to CUT, Zoro chuckles.

'About time you did something useful, Shitty Cook.'

'And for that you'll get served last for lunch.'

Zoro lands on the obnoxious chef's leg.

His blade has reached its zenith. He will CUT.

The cook spins him in midair, building up a not unimpressive amount of speed. 'Armée de l'Air...'

But Zoro doesn't need to think about that. He spins his swords, building up more and more power.

He.

Will.

CUT!

'...Power Shoot!'

The cook kicks him. Zoro jumps off his leg. He is headed for the creature's eye. It sneezes and hacks. Blind to his approach.

'THREE THOUSAND!'

His muscles and lungs scream out in pain, and blood flows like water from his veins. His right arm, eaten away by the plague, feels like it is on fire. He can feel the pain burn his soul.

He doesn't care.

The creature looks towards him.

Zoro sees the fear in its eye.

HE WILL CUT!

'WORLDS OF BLOOD!'

The three swords hit.

And Zoro ensures that he is the last thing his foe will ever see.

...

'Shi Shi Shi! Man, that was cool!'

...

'ZORO! You rock!'

...

'Amazing! Not even the Great Captain Ussop could do better!'

...

'Heh. Show off.'

...

'...uuuu...'

...

'Impossible. There's no clucking way...'

...

BBbbbBBbbBBBbbRRRRrrrRrrRRaaAAaAAaAWWwwWwwW!

PAIN! It is in pain! It hurts!

Everything was dark! Everything was painful!

It hurt it! The monster hurt it! It wasn't a gnat! It was a monster!

A red monster with blazing eyes and a thousand sharp fangs!

BvBbBBbBBBBBbRRrRrRRrRRrRAAAaaAAaAWWwWwWw!

Now it was blind! It could feel its blood pooling into the water! It was hurt!

Its fins thrash in the surf. Its body thrashes about in pain. All it can think about, all it can focus on, is the overwhelming, throbbing pain and the awful monster that made it hurt.

And that strange, annoying sound that seemed to fill it with even more range.

'HEEEEEYYYY!'

This sound made its head hurt even more! It may not have been able to see, but it could hear the shrill, grating sound that was bouncing around inside its ears. How could one gnat be that loud!?

'HEY STUPID FISH!'

...wait...

'OVER HERE! NEAH NEAH!'

That sound... I heard that sound before! It didn't know what the gnat was making noise for; it never cared about what noises its prey made. But that sound... The way it made them.

'NEINER NEINER NIIINEEER!'

...it helped that monster. THE GNAT HELPED THE monster HURT HIM! IT NEEDS TO DIE!

BBBbbbBBBBBBBBRrrrRRRRRRRRaaaAAAAAAWWWwwwWW!

It opens its mouth towards the noise and, with its massive jaws, bites down on the island. It feels the beadrock break from the force of its mighty teeth. It smells like a dirty, dead, and rotting place filled with stink. It tastes of the crunchy flavorless coral the gnats lived in, along with a strange, funny aftertaste. But best of all is what it doesn't hear.

It doesn't hear the annoying, mocking tone of the bad gnat.

And it feels good.

It feels... tired.

It feels very tired.

It is in pain. It has been hurt. But it is so, so tired.

It feels very, very tired.

It wants to sleep, despite its instincts telling it something is wrong, that it should fight.

But... it is very... very... very...

It yawns. Unable to stop itself.

Tired... sleep... must... pain... no... won't... wake... if... sleep...

But in the end, despite its pain, despite the rage towards the monster, it is tired.

It is very... very... tired.

It sinks down as far as it can in the shallow bay. It ignores the screams of terror coming from deep within.

It... is so... very... very... tired...

Its mind slows and stills. It ignores its missing eye, the bleeding socket pouring blood, and the fact that other scavengers will follow its blood.

They will follow its blood! Eat it alive! It needs… it needs…

It doesn't care.

It is... so... so... so...

...tired...

...