Here we are guys, starting the last arc for Maria in the One Piece world for...well, for a bit, at least. I've got a couple other ideas that I'm running around with, and then I'll send Maria back in. I just don't think that sending Maria through Punk Hazard up to the present arc would keep the storyline as it's supposed to be right now. She has that affect, and I'd rather pull her out before she goes over-the-top and decides to summon another Pokemon ally.

This story has 7 chapters, all written as of this point in time. It is short, but I think it's enough.

Chapter 163 (or 1) – A Trap Sprung

Maria's POV

Hi, didn't expect to have any company.

I'm Fire Storm Maria, so-called "Magician" of the Straw Hat crew. Over two years ago, I joined the crew at Water 7. Now, we're all the way in the New World.

And I'm not the person who I was when I joined. I had amnesia back then, so I didn't know who I was. I do now, though.

And my presence may be throwing things out of whack here on the Grand Line.

I'm…not supposed to be a part of the crew, you see. I'm here on the Grand Line for a different reason.

A multiversal sort of reason.

There's a crazy counterpart of mine running around and I have to find her before she does who knows what to this dimension trying to off me. It's a part of being a World Jumper – that's my job, stopping crazy people from doing crazy things to dimensions. I've got a bit of a track record of it.

And I was actually able to find her not too long after we got out from under the sea, having left Fishman Island behind and entered the New World.

We had managed to get out of the storm we'd popped up in without taking any damage, and the calm almost felt…surreal, after having been under the water for a while.

Still, it was nice to be under clear skies again, and a sunset no less! It had been day when we'd left for Fishman Island – disappearing underwater for even a little hadn't made time stop, that's for sure.

I was tending to my Berry plants when I heard Luffy's yell from the figurehead.

"Land! Our first island in the New World!"

My head shot up from where I'd been looking over an Oran Berry that I'd just plucked off its tree. In the distance, backlit by the setting sun, was an island. It looked like a pretty sizeable one, with the fuzzy outline that trees usually gave places.

All in all, though, it looked…strangely normal, for an island on the Grand Line. I was expecting something that had something weird about it.

Maybe the fact that it looked normal was how it made itself weird among the other islands out here. At least, that's what I'd thought at the time – now, looking back on it, I know that there had been something else entirely off about the place.

"Let's pull up to the island and stay for the night," Nami directed as I moved towards the main deck. I spotted her standing near the stairs that led up to the helm at the front of the ship. "Since the Log Pose can set in half a day, we can be gone by morning and head to the next island."

Luffy bounded over and peered at the Log Pose on Nami's wrist before frowning disapprovingly. "Hey, there's nothing happening on this island! No fair!"

Oh, yeah. New Log Pose meant new ways of telling if any islands in our path had dangerous things or not.

I let out a sigh of relief as I reached the main part of the deck. "I'd consider that to be a good thing, Luffy. It'll let us have a breather before we get into any big adventures out here in the New World, right?"

The captain of our ship turned and looked at me with a pouting expression as our navigator shot me a look that was half-relieved, half-annoyed. "Oh, come on, Maria! Don't you want to do something fun?"

"Honestly, after everything that happened on Fishman Island and getting up here, I just want to sleep," I replied flatly. "So maybe an island like this one will be quiet enough that we won't have to worry about anyone chomping our heads off or something."

"Where's the fun in that?!" Luffy pouted.

Nami smacked him upside the head. "There can be a lot of fun things we can do when there isn't anyone trying to kill us!"

"Nami is right, Luffy!" Usopp piped up. "Come on – that island doesn't look like Little Garden – it looks a lot more like some of the islands back home in the East Blue! I bet some exploring will be just as fun as anything else!"

The long-nosed sniper sounded cheerily hopeful, but I thought I could see his knees wanting to knock together.

As much as he said exploring might be fun, it looked like he was nervous about what waited on the island, too.

Nami sighed irritably as the rest of us on deck looked over in her direction. "It's going to be a bit too dark for that when we reach the island; if you guys want to explore it, it's going to have to wait until tomorrow morning. Or we could just skip the whole thing and go to the next island by then, since the Log Pose will be—"

"I wanna explore!" Luffy burst out.

"Seems you managed to get through to him," I commented to Usopp, who sighed in relief.

It didn't take us too long to find a cove in the island's cost we could hide Sunny in. Hopefully there weren't going to be any Marines nearby that might end up doing the same and spotting us in the middle of the night.

Zoro elected to take first watch – because of course he would. He was probably planning on doing at least a little training on deck while keeping an eye out for anyone who might want to sneak onto the ship while he was patrolling.

After having lived through what we had in the last couple of days down at Fishman Island, I was looking forward to getting some proper sleep for once in my life.

Unfortunately…some things weren't exactly meant to be at this early stage of the New World.

Change in POV

The setup was perfect.

Not only had the Straw Hats wandered into the hidden cove of the artificial island without needing the Marines to herd them in, but they'd also anchored, completely unaware of what was hiding in the island's interior.

All they needed to do now was lure them out into the open and catch them unawares.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" one of the scientists looked at the other, turning his attention away from the monitors and the form of the Pirate Hunter moving fluidly on the pirate ship's deck, practicing sword forms.

"Dr. Vegapunk is," the other pointed out. "And this is really our only shot at figuring out whether we can use his new invention or not. We have to draw them out without making them aggressive." He looked over at the others. "Are we prepared?"

There were a number of nods in response.

"Excellent. Begin!"

Change in POV

If any ships passed by that island in the night, they were quickly driven away by a cacophonous sound that didn't sound the least bit harmonious.

To most people, at least.

Nine figures emerged from a ship in the cove, then walked off the ship and wandered in different directions, not seeming to notice that they were splitting up from their fellows.

Another figure perched in a tree nearby cackled loudly, also going unnoticed by the figures below. "Zihihihihihi!"

Meanwhile, another perched in a tree further off watched with a far more grim expression.

"I've got to do something about this, before this world falls apart, too." He pulled down the black cowboy hat over his eyes, then smirked. "Sorry, Lu. Guess things aren't exactly going to be easy, huh?"

Meanwhile, a tenth figure on the ship remained where she was in bed.

But she didn't remain there for long.