This fanfiction contains heavy spoilers for One Piece! If you haven't read the One Piece manga up to chapter 908 at least or watched the anime at least up to episode 889 and don't want to be spoilered you should refrain from going on! With that being said ... you have been warned! ...
The Gorosei kneeled before Im, the one and only ruler of the world, who was sitting on his throne. That throne was known to the people as the "empty throne" because almost no one knew of Im's existence.
"What are we supposed to do Im-sama?" one of the five elders asked.
"We, the world government, have ruled over the world for almost a century now, but now ... there are so many people who oppose us, so many who threaten our regime. What should we do in order to keep our reign?" another one added.
Im laughed. "Upu. Upupupupu." "I think it is time again" he said "Time for a new killing game."
-
Prologue: Welcome to the Castle of DespairVivi woke up.
She realized immediately that she wasn't where she had gone to sleep last night. She looked around. Was she even still in Whisky Peak? Where were Igaram and Mr. 9? And Karoo also didn't seem to be here.
/Where am I?/ she thought /and ... those plates on the wall ... are those ...?/
And something else was strange.
She wore the same outfit she had worn yesterday and she had her hair in her usual ponytail, but ...
her body felt strange. It felt more mature. As if she had aged over night. As if she had turned from a young teenage girl to a young beautiful woman. But ... that wasn't possible ... right?
Then Vivi discovered a barrel in the room and approached it carefully.
All of a sudden a boy jumped out of the barrel. Vivi screamed in shock and fell backwards to the floor.
She starred at the boy, who stood inside the now broken barrel. He wore a red vest, denim shorts and sandals and on his head he wore a straw hat.
The boy looked around. "Hm? Where am I? Did you bring me here?" he asked Vivi.
She shook her head.
"Hmmm ..." The boy tilted his head slightly to one side and touched his forehead with his index finger. "Then how ... did I end up here? Did this whirlpool that I got sucked into lead here?"
That boy had gotten into a whirlpool while he was in a barrel and was still alive? He must have had a tremendous amount of luck, but ... that a whirlpool lead to this place ... Vivi doubted it.
Besides, she had been on an island before she found herself in this place.
But whatever. She didn't really have any time for this right now. She had to stop Sir Crocodile and save her country. That was the most important thing right now.
"In all honesty, I don't know how you or I came here, but I don't have time to waste, so if you excuse me, I'm leaving" she said and headed outside the room.
She was a bit surprised that she could open the door. Since the windows seemed to be blocked she half expected the door to be locked. But it wasn't the case.
However, she was far from outside of course. Instead, she found herself in a hallway. A gigantic hallway.
"This looks like a castle" she mumbled to herself.
"A castle?" the straw hat boy who had followed her asked.
"Don't follow me" she said.
"I'm not following you. I also don't wanna stay here. I need to go to the Grand Line" he replied.
Vivi turned around to him. "The Grand Line, but ... where were you before you came here?"
"I was in the East Blue. I had just started my journey from Foosha Village" he explained to her.
"The East Blue? That's strange. Before I came here ... I was in the Grand Line. So ... I assumed that this place was also in the Grand Line" Vivi said more to herself than to the boy.
That seemed to shock the boy. "What!? I'm already in the Grand Line?! But how?!" He tilted his head slightly to one side again and touched his forehead with his index finger again. "Was this whirlpool some sort of secret passage that lead to the Grand Line?" he seemed to be thinking aloud, if that could even be called 'thinking'.
/I doubt that there is a whirlpool that leads from the East Blue to the Grand Line. But then ... how is it possible that I and this boy are both in the same place now?/ Vivi wondered.
Before one of them could say anything else they heard a weird sound coming from the next room.
It sounded like sobbing. Someone seemed to be crying.
They looked at the door where the noise was coming from. The door was so big that a giant could have fit through.
Together they pulled the door open.
Inside the room, that was also big enough for giants, there sat a girl who was sobbing and crying and didn't seem to realize that the two had just entered.
Well, maybe girl was the wrong word. First of all, she was gigantic and second, she was a mermaid.
"Hey! Why are you crying?" the boy with the straw hat shouted.
That made the giant mermaid realize them and it seemed to make her afraid.
"P-Please ... d-don't shout with me. A-Are you here to hurt me?" she asked while she was still sobbing. "I - I'm not afraid" she said and started crying even more.
"Man, what an annoying girl" the straw hat boy stated "we aren't here to hurt you, so stop crying."
"Th-that was mean" the crying mermaid said but gave her best to stop crying.
While Vivi agreed with the mermaid that this was a bit mean, she was also glad that she had stopped crying. But whatever that giant mermaids problems where, Vivi had her own problems. Very serious problems. If she wouldn't be able to reunite with Igaram and the others soon, Alabasta was bound to be doomed.
"Hey, do you know where we are or how we got in here?" Vivi asked the giant mermaid.
The mermaid shook her head. "I've been locked in the Hard-Shell Tower in the Ryugu Palace for the last eight years for my own safety because of that Vander Decken. I've never left the tower since I was six. There were so many places, that I wanted to visit, but couldn't and now ... I'm here all of a sudden and I don't know where this place is or how I came here?"
As soon as she had said that she started crying again.
Ryugu Palace? Then ... was it possible, that this girl was the mermaid princess? Vivi had only heard rumors about her. According to what she said, she must be 14 now, but she looked older.
Well, maybe that was just due to her giant size.
"Man, why is she crying again? She is so loud. What should I do?" the young boy was talking to himself before he started shouting again so that the mermaid would hear him.
"Hey! Why are you crying again? Who is this Vander Decken? Why where you locked in somewhere?"
"That are a lot of questions" the mermaid said before she finally stopped sobbing again.
"Vander Decken has a fearful power. It is called Mark-Mark. He can strike me anytime or anywhere with a thrown weapon since he designated me as his mark. He has a grudge against me for refusing to marry him. That's why it's too dangerous for me to leave the Hard-Shell tower" she explained.
"You where inside a tower for 8 years? You must be bored" was the boys reaction to that.
"On top of that my father made a rule that soldiers can't visit me for more than five minutes. That's why Megalo is the only one I could talk to. But now ... he isn't here. Where is he?"
"Hey, hey, don't start crying again" the boy who seemed to have foreseen that she would start crying again said and the mermaid pulled herself together.
"It was good that you could stop her before she started crying again" Vivi stated.
"Huh? What? But she did ... hadn't she started crying again already? I could swear she was crying."
Vivi didn't listen to what the boy said and turned to the mermaid.
"You are Shirahoshi, the mermaid princess, right?"
Shirahoshi nodded. "I am. And who are you?"
Vivi had figured as much. But what was she supposed to do now? After all, she was on a secret mission. She had infiltrated the evil organization Baroque Works to stop Sir Crocodile from taking over her kingdom. Should she go by her code name Miss Wednesday, or reveal herself as Nefertari Vivi? Before she could make a decision the boy with the straw hat responded:
"I am Luffy. The man who is going to be the pirate king."
"P-pirate king!?" Vivi was more than surprised. That was surely one of the last things that she had expected. "Do you know what you are saying there? And where is your crew?" she questioned him.
"Don't have one yet. I was just about to gather one when I ended up here" he explained.
"Trying to become the pirate king. That's insane. You could never do that. There are very powerful and fearful pirates out there, that you would never have a chance against" Vivi tried to reason with him.
But to that the boy named Luffy simply stated: "It's not about whether I can or not. I'm gonna do it because I want to. I've decided to be the king of the pirates, so if I die fighting for that, that's fine with me."
Vivi couldn't help but be a little bit impressed by those words.
/What determination. He is almost like me. I've also decided to save my country and if I die for that, that's fine for me as well. As long as I can stop Crocodile. I will do anything. Anything it takes./
Suddenly they heard a grumbling noise.
"I'm hungry" Luffy said and touched his stomach which had made the grumbling noise.
All of a sudden a Visual Transponder Snail who was in the room started to broadcast something and the sound of a bell could be heard.
The strange trio looked at the screen that had appeared on the wall. But at first there was nothing to be seen.
Then someone began to talk. "Ahh, ahh! May I have your attention, please?" The voice said. Then he continued "Hello? Can you hear me? Ahem, very well then..."
It was a voice so lighthearted, so whimsical, it felt like it was being transmitted from another world...
And that feeling - that sensation of out-of-place-ness - quickly transformed into an intense discomfort.
"everyone who is in this castle, please assemble in the ceremony hall on the ground floor - immediately. Catch ya later."
And with that the Visual Transponder Snail stopped the broadcast.
"The ceremony hall? I wonder if they have food there. We should go there and see" Luffy suggested.
Vivi nodded. "We should definitely go there. But not because of food."
"This voice ... it said 'everyone who is in this castle', so ... does that mean, that beside us, there are others as well?" Shirahoshi noticed.
"Possibly" Vivi replied "And if there are more, I'm sure someone will know where we are and why we are here and that's why we should go to the ceremony hall. Besides, the exit is probably also on the ground floor."
"And there might be food" Luffy said which made Shirahoshi giggle.
"You are funny Luffy. Can I call you Luffy-sama?" she asked
Luffy nodded.
"And you?" Shirahoshi turned to Vivi.
"Oh, I'm Vivi. Nefertari Vivi" the princess, who had decided to be honest with those two, told them.
"It's nice to meet you, Luffy-sama, Vivi-sama" Shirahoshi smiled.
The trio headed to the ceremony hall on the ground floor. It didn't took them long to find it as a lot of ways and doors where actually blocked or locked.
They finally stood in front of a door that was even bigger than the one to the chamber where Shirahoshi was in. Together they pulled the gate open and stepped inside.
The hall was absolutely gigantic but they noticed immediately that they weren't alone.
So there really where others besides them and they had heard that announcement as well.
Vivi looked around.
With Luffy, Shirahoshi and herself there were 16 people in the hall.
There was a blond haired boy with a black top hat with a pair of goggles wrapped around it and a cravat, a teenage girl with light brown hair styled with pigtails in the back and side-swept bangs in the front and a young man with short dark hair that were mostly obscured by his white northern-style fur hat with a black spotted pattern along the bottom. He was starring with a glare full of hate at a muscular, tall man with light blond hair and tan skin dressed in flamboyant clothes with a light pink feather coat. There were also a guy with green hair who had three swords, another guy with blond hair brushed over the left side of his face wearing a black, double-breasted suit with golden buttons and a tie together with a long-sleeved shirt. He was running around in the hall flirting with almost every woman until a woman of true beauty stopped him by turning him into stone, stating that she detested men and that she could do whatever she wanted and would be forgiven, because she's beautiful.
/Was that a devil fruit power?/ Vivi wondered.
Devil Fruits where mysterious fruits who granted the one who ate them a super power. Also the Sir Crocodile, the man, that she hated so much, was in possession of such a fearsome devil fruit power.
Seeing a man being turned to stone frightened the mermaid princess, while Luffy simply found it strange.
Contrary to the beautiful woman there was also a woman with a long nose who was rather massive wearing a prisoners outfit, a man who's head looked like a pineapple, as well as a little boy with a topknot who wore some foreign clothes, another young beautiful woman with teal hair wearing a similar outfit to the little boy, a busty girl with short orange hair who was also very pretty and was starring at her own chest as if she was wondering about something, like something wasn't right and ... "Miss All Sunday" Vivi was shocked. "What is she doing here?" she muttered.
"Hm? Did you say something?" Luffy asked but continued to look around. "Where is the food? I don't see any?"
"Vivi-same are you worried about something?" Shirahoshi asked.
Vivi wasn't able to reply. She was shaking. /What was going on here? Why was Miss All Sunday here? Was this the work of Baroque Works? Could they really do something like that?/
But before she could find any answers to her questions spot lights went on and focused on one spot and on that spot 'it' appeared.
'It' was a bear. A bear that was half white and half black.
First the bear demanded of the beautiful woman, who he referred to as Boa Hancock, that she would turn Sanji, the man that she had turned to stone back and when she refused he said "You better do what I say. It would be a pity if something were to happen to Amazon Lily or if the secret of your back was revealed."
Whatever that secret was, it seemed that now the woman herself had been turned to stone before she started trembling and then did as the bear had requested.
Now everyone in the hall stared at the strange bear who then introduced himself as Monokuma, the lord of this castle and the god of the world.
Vivi's discomfort that she was feeling quickly mutated into a bottomless terror.
"Wow! A talking bear. This bear is talking!" Luffy shouted out astounded.
"Weren't you listening? I'm not just some talking bear, I'm Monokuma and I'm also the lord of this castle and this world's god!" the bear yelled "I would beary much appreciate it if you would listen to me!"
Did he just made a silly pun?
The teenage girl with the light brown hair did think that as well, as she commented that this play of words was rather shallow. "Besides that, you are calling yourself a god? Admit it, you are just some guy with megalomania. My mother is one of the Yonko and if she finds out about this, you will pay for that" she went on.
"Upupupu" the black and white bear who called himself Monokuma laughed "I'm far more powerful than those stupid Yonko and besides, your mother doesn't really care about you. She only cares about that ability of yours."
It seemed like he had hit the nail on the head with this, as it silenced the young girl.
More powerful than the Yonko? Was that even possible? And if so, how come that Vivi had never heard from him before? Could he be one of the Tenryuubito, the celestial dragons? When it came to influence, they sure had more powers than the Yonko, but then ... wouldn't he call himself 'one of the gods' instead of 'the god' like he was the only one?
The guy with the fur hat seemed to be wondering about that as well, as he asked exactly that.
"Why have you trapped us here? And where is this castle or what is this castle? I can't even get out by using my devil fruit power. What's the meaning of this? What is your purpose?" he demanded to know.
"Uf ... so many questions." The bear seemed to start sweating. "I'm afraid I can't answer all of them, but for the question why you are all here ... you all can see this simply as your new home. You guys will spend the rest of your life inside this castle together. It is our hope that you will be able to maintain order and dwell together in friendship and harmony."
/For the rest of our lives? I can't live here for the rest of my life! I need to get out of here as soon as possible to stop the civil war in my country ... otherwise ... the kingdom ... everything ... will fall apart./ Vivi thought.
Luffy's jaw dropped. "For the rest of our lives? But I just started my journey to become the king of the pirates. I can't waste my time here!"
Also some of the others stated that staying inside this castle for the rest of their lives was impossible for them.
"Aw, don't worry. We have plenty of money, so we'll make sure you're comfy" Monokuma said.
"That's not the problem" Vivi stated and the girl who had been talking back to Monokuma before meant that he must be joking to which Monokuma shouted somewhat angrily: "I'm not a liar! I can assure you that much!" "Oh yes, and you might like to know that this castle is entirely cut-off from the outside. So forget all about that filthy place" he added.
Of course this statement was also not well received by the 16 people in the hall.
"Cry and scream 'til your lungs fall out, nobody's coming to rescue you" Monokuma claimed.
Monokuma ended his speech by telling everyone to enjoy their lives here.
"As long as I'm surrounded by beautiful women I'm fine ... is what I'd like to say, but ... I have to return to Owner Zeff and keep my promise" the blond Casanova named Sanji said.
"I swore I would become the greatest swordsman in the world and therefore I must defeat Mihawk, who owns this title currently. I will surely not stay inside this stupid castle for the rest of my life. If you say that this was all a prank I might let you get away with it" came from the green haired swordsman.
"There are a lot of funny people here" Luffy stated and Shirahoshi told him that 'funny' was not the word she would use for it.
Monokuma didn't seem impressed by this intimidation and suggested that they should verify whether he was lying or not on their own later and that they would come around and realize that everything he said was the pure, unadulterated truth.
"I can't spend my whole life here" the young woman with the teal colored hair said and the girl with the orange hair declared that this was also impossible for her.
"Yes, I also can't spend my entire life here. How am I supposed to find the One Piece and become Pirate King when I'm not able to leave this castle" Luffy spoke up.
Then Monokuma mentioned: "To tell the truth, it's not like you can't. Get out of here, I mean..."
"R-Really?" the little boy asked in a voice that was a mixture between hopeful and doubtful.
And Monokuma continued: "I have put into place a special system for anyone who wishes to leave! If you want to leave you have to participate in a game."
"What kind of game?" the young lady with the orange hair wanted to know.
And then Monokuma announced it: "A killing game."
For a moment the hall fell silent.
Vivi tried to comprehend what Monokuma had just said.
The boy with the top hat and the cravat finally broke the silence by asking Monokuma what he meant.
"Well, a killing game is a killing game. You know, what killing means, right? Beating, stabbing, pounding, cutting, burning, crushing, strangling, poisoning, slaughtering, hexing, ...whether you shoot, drown, blow up, electrocute or laugh your victim to death... the method doesn't matter. What's really important is, you can't get out unless you kill somebody."
This announcement caused another wave of silence.
As soon as Vivi's mind processed the words 'you can't get out unless you kill somebody' ... a chill ran up her spine.
/Kill somebody ... in order to get out of here, I have to ... kill someone?/
She looked around. Almost everyone seemed the same. All their faces showed shock, fear, unease and distrust.
This time it was the green haired swordsman who broke the silence, by saying that he had enough and that he would deal with Monokuma.
He took one of his swords in his mouth holding it with his teeth, while holding the other two in each of his hands.
"Santoryu. Oni Giri."
With these words he tore through the air like a bullet beelining towards Monokuma and in the blink of an eye he had cut the bear.
However then something unforeseen happened. The woman with the teal hair and the foreign clothes had started running towards the three-sworded man even before he had finished his attack and just when he finished his attack she throw herself onto him with all her might, throwing him to the floor while landing on his chest. At the same moment Monokuma exploded.
Everyone stared in shock at the place where Monokuma had just blown up.
/What's going on here?/ Vivi asked herself.
The guy who had attacked Monokuma and was lying on the ground now, as well as the young woman who was lying on top of him, were unharmed, due to the woman's quick reaction.
"I'm sorry. I just had a very bad feeling all of a sudden, so ... Are you alright?" she asked the young man, still lying on top of him.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for saving me. Ehm ... would you ...?"
"Oh, yes, I'm sorry" she said and got up and afterwards he did so as well.
Luffy's jaw had dropped again. "Eeeey!? That talking bear just exploded!"
"Serves him right. I guess that means that this stupid killing game is cancelled and we can go home now" the light-brown-haired girl who's mother was apparently a Yonko commented.
"How many times do I have to say it? I'm not just some talking bear! I am MONOKUMA! Now listen, and listen good. From here on out, this castle is your home. It's your whole world. If you want to get out you have to participate in the killing game!"
There he was again. To everyone's surprise Monokuma stood in front of them again. Completely unharmed.
"Oh, but make sure that nobody sees you, when you do the killing. Simply killing is not enough, you also have to get away with it. And if someone should ever attack me directly again I won't let you go through with it next time" he added.
Monokuma's reappearance had sent a new wave of malaise through the giant hall. Again everyone was shocked. No, not shocked. Terrified.
Well, maybe not everyone.
Luffy seemed more surprised than shocked and the massive woman with the long nose and the tall man with the pink feather coat didn't look shocked or surprised at all. The latter looked rather amused.
Monokuma seemed relieved. "Looks like you finally understood it."
"Now then" the continued "let me tell you some other important stuff."
This time nobody dared to interrupt Monokuma and so he went on and told everyone that of course there were some rules that everyone had to follow, like that it was forbidden to perform any act of violence against himself and that there were Surveillance Transponder Snail all over the castle and that he would know if someone broke the rules - and if they did, of course they would be punished.
He even mentioned that he also would not let Boa Hancock, the woman who had petrified that Casanova guy Sanji, get through with anything or forgive her and that her beauty meant nothing in here, which seemed to really displease her.
Nobody needed to ask what he meant by 'punished'. The way he emphasized this word made it clear to anyone that they would not be given a second chance. Breaking one of the rules was essentially a death sentence. So they were left with only two options:
Accepting their fate of living together inside this castle for the rest of their lives and forget about the outside world, or ... get out by murdering someone.
Vivi looked around again. There were some people who already revealed, that they had to get out, that there was no way, that they could stay here forever. They had a strong will to escape this place and Vivi herself was one of them. There was no way she could abandon her country.
Was this a situation that would lead unavoidably to murder?
But not everybody seemed to be determined to start killing immediately. Well, nobody really seemed determined to start killing immediately - with a few exceptions maybe ...? Some of those people were really hard to read.
But Shirahoshi definitely wasn't one of them, as she said: "N-No ... I don't want this. I don't want to participate in a killing game."
The girl who had saved the swordsman agreed with Shirahoshi. "This is insane. I need to get out of here, but ... there is no way I could kill someone"
The small boy who wore similar clothes to that woman looked like he was frightened but gave his all to not show it. He reminded Vivi of herself, when she was a child. As royalty sometimes you were required not to show you true emotions. Was he royal as well?
But not everyone was like that. The tall pink guy even laughed and uttered that this sounded like fun and would for sure be entertaining.
Also the big woman with the long nose made known, that she had no problem with such a game and was rather looking forward to it and the obstreperous Yonko daughter claimed that she also didn't mind killing someone, to which the boy with the top hat told them that they should stay reasonable and the guy who's head looked like a pineapple agreed to that.
It was a very strange atmosphere in the room. An atmosphere full of discomfort, mistrust and tension.
The only one who was obviously enjoying the situation was of course Monokuma.
/He wants that. He wants us to distrust each other. That way we will be easier tempted to commit murder/ Vivi thought /but ... how can I ...? How can I trust those people, that I have just met? That I don't even know. And ... maybe ... some of them deserve to die./
She looked angrily at Miss All Sunday.
/That woman .../ Vivi clenched her hands.
"Hey, is everything alright?" Luffy asked her.
"Vivi-sama, are you ok?" Shirahoshi asked worriedly.
Vivi opened her hands again and forced a smile. "Yes, everything is alright. Don't worry about me."
Yes, as a princess she had learnt that there were some situations where you couldn't show your true feelings, where it was better to hold back your emotions. Otherwise she would have not been able to infiltrate an evil organization like Baroque Works in order to stop them from taking over her kingdom. But that feat was not accomplished yet. There was still a civil war going on in Alabasta. Sir Crocodile hadn't been stopped yet. Should everything that she went through be in vain? All the acting, the disguise, everything that was necessary to get into that organization, to find out the true identity of Mr. 0, the mastermind behind it? Accomplishing that hadn't been easy for Vivi, but now that she knew who it was, that she had found out that it was the warlord Sir Crocodile who was secretly orchestrating the downfall of her country so that he could take it over, she had finally found new hope and now ... all this hope was so suddenly crushed.
And all that was left ... was despair.