Just so everyone knows all rights go Oda, I do not own One Piece or have the imagination to create such an awesome Anime :P
The Broken Compass
Everything was back to normal, if there is a normal in this world; the storm had passed and the ocean became its blue self once again. Now the first rays of light slowly started to stretch over the vast cobalt blue, as it was coming time for morning. It all seemed so calm, yet hidden beneath the surface the entire world was restless. War had been declared on the World Government; embodying a sacrifice for friendship, honor, and freedom...
Chapter 1
He sat there at the small window in their room and looked out onto the deck of the ship, still faintly lit by the fading light of the stars. Carefully, with his eyes, he traced each detail of the ship as though they were parts of a puzzle that only a shipwright's experienced eyes could observe. All of the pieces fit together perfectly, that is what makes the Thousand Sunny Go so magnificent; not to mention perfect for the man who is going to become king of the pirates. Kaku remembered how only days ago he had worked as dog for the world government; something bred and trained to kill any person(s) they considered a threat. The secret unit Kaku had been trained in was called Cipher Pol 9, and it was on his previous mission that he had the opportunity of meeting the Strawhat Pirates.
As Kaku sat there quietly, unable to sleep, his mind slowly drifted back to what happened on Enies Lobby.
~Back at Enies Lobby~
'I have to help the others...or else they won't be able to escape from the Buster Call,' Kaku thought to himself as he painfully made his way the down the stairs in the Tower of Justice. Kaku wondered just how long he had been passed out since his battle against the swordsman, Roronoa Zoro. He hoped that the green-haired swordsman and his curly browed friend had made it to the Bridge of Hesitation before it was too late; but now was not the time to worry about what they were doing, he had a mission of his own.
'I will never make it at this rate,' he thought, 'I'll have to risk using my Soru.' With that he sped out of the tower headed for the gated entrance of the island, where he knew that the battleships sent from headquarters were causing trouble. The Soru caused burning pain to crawl its way across his chest, but Kaku ignored this and kept up his current momentum until he reached some ruins to hide behind. Looking out from behind the ruins, Kaku observed the two giants carrying all the men that had come with the Strawhat Pirates on the Rocketman; he then turned his gaze towards the threatening battle ships that had cornered the group, their cannons ready to fire the moment a signal is given. Turning back around, Kaku slumped behind the ruins with his body exhausted from using Soru. He just sat for a moment to catch his breath, making note of the fact that blood had started to seep through the wounds on his chest again.
'Oh well,' he smiled, and prepared himself for what he was about to do; believing it would be the last time he would live to regret anything anyways.
However, Kaku was torn from his daydream when he heard one of the other guys in the ship's cabin stirring. He had hoped that they would not be waking up soon, seeing as how the sun still had not risen yet. But the person only shifted a few more times before settling in one spot and his breathing became deep and rhythmic once more. Kaku relaxed, upon realizing that the person had fallen back asleep; he slowly scanned the room glancing at all the other sleeping bodies before looking back out the window. Kaku enjoyed these moments of peace and quiet when he could just let his mind wander. When he was under cover in Water 7 he often would go for runs on the sea train tracks, it was time where he could think or just simply enjoy the beautiful day. This of course brought his mind back to Enies Lobby, except this time he thoughts were on the Bridge of Hesitation; the sole route that leads to the Gates of Justice, to the entrance of the government's version of hell.
~Back at Enies Lobby~
Zoro had been fighting these annoying marines for what seemed like forever, one after another tried to advance on him. Yet with each marine Zoro defeated, two more filled his place in the circle of bodies that surrounded the green-haired swordsman.
Suddenly Zoro felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, a warning that someone was behind him. Instinctively he ducked and spun around to face his attacker. Swinging his swords in the same motion Zoro anticipated yet another quick, and easy, victory; however found that his attack was effortlessly blocked. Zoro could see that the move was blocked by another katana, he slowly raised his head to look at the face of his opponent. Zoro could not help stepping back in shock once he recognized the man; dressed in all black with a small orange handkerchief in his left pocket and a cap that shadowed his face.
'Impossible...' Right in front of him stood the very man that he had beaten in a sword fight and left lying unconscious in the Tower of Justice.
Kaku lowered his sword, looking Zoro directly in the eyes, and with a serious tone, he addressed the swordsman, "get your crew out of here."
Zoro just stood there obviously confused on why Kaku was able to stand, let alone move. However it did not take him long to snap out of his trance and, upon regaining his indifferent look, glare at the CP9 agent. The two silently stared at each other, until finally Zoro relaxed his muscles and nodded curtly. 'What the heck is that idiot up to,' Zoro thought to himself as he lowered his swords.
Shaking his head Zoro ran off to meet up with the others, who had already made their way to the end of the bridge; all while grumbling under his breath about being ordered around by a stupid giraffe. But they still had to find a way to get Luffy, since he could not move on his own, and somehow get off the island.
Once Zoro had gone Kaku turned to face the marines that stood in hundreds before him, giving them all a deadpan glare. The marines backed away knowing Kaku's reputation as a CP9 agent, and not someone to get in the way of. Taking advantage of their hesitation, Kaku turned into his half animal form; which is a tall giraffe with a square nose similar to his human form. At first Kaku felt a little dizzy with the change in height, as all the blood rushed from his head; but quickly recovered and began to get into position for his ultimate move. He jumped on to one arm, balanced himself, and began to spin in circles using his long neck to increase his momentum with each revolution. Nearly all the fighting had stopped as everyone paused to watch Kaku when he started spinning. Realizing what Kaku was planning to do, Zoro told everyone to get down just as they heard him yell,
"Rankyaku: AMANEDACHI!"
An amazing blue light appeared and spun around him; until suddenly Kaku powerfully kicked with both legs, rapidly expanding the blade-like kick. This sent it slicing through any nearby battle ships, and caused an explosion of marines to go flying overboard into the ocean. Everyone on the Bridge of Hesitation started in disbelief at the destruction they had just witnessed.
Zoro could not help being impressed 'I guest he did have some fight left in him...'
Kaku on the other hand almost shared Zoro's thoughts as he struggled to hold himself upright, he knew that he had lost too much blood. Kaku returned his attention to the remaining marines on the bridge, but many were still gawking at the destroyed battle ships. Most, if not all, of them had turned pale white with shock, while some even dropped their weapons. Using this to his advantage Kaku prepared himself for the final attack; he drew his neck in, backwards as far as his body would allow, then shot it forward,
"Kyoko Bigan!: KILIMANJARO!"
One brave marine charged forward to cut Kaku's long, and now exposed giraffe neck; but his sword was useless against Kaku's Tekkai, so it simply shattered without leaving a mark. In one swift motion Kaku began swinging his neck back and forth like a whip. The marines were so taken by surprise they could not move out of the way in time, as Kaku's humongous neck swept them off the bridge. Finally a majority of the marines were pushed off into the surrounding ocean, leaving only a handful left to fight the Strawhat Pirates. Slowly Kaku straightened and changed back into his human form; Kaku could feel that his energy was spent, and let gravity take care of his limp body.
The Strawhats just watched as the CP9 agent completely collapsed onto the ground, unmoving, for the second time that day. 'Is he dead or did he just collapse from exhaustion,' Sanji wondered, when some movement caught his eye; two marines jumped up from the side of bridge, and started making their way toward Kaku. Sanji realized that the two men must have grabbed the edge of the bridge before falling into the water. One carried a sword while the other balanced a huge gun on his left shoulder, one large enough to shoot a cannon ball; both looked like they were ready to kill.
Kaku saw the two pairs of feet moving toward him and knew that he was in trouble. He tried moving but his head was still swimming from the pain aspiring from his chest, besides he did not have any energy left to fight the two marines anyways. 'I wonder how I am going to get out of this one.' Suddenly he was flipped onto his back, rather roughly, by one of the marines; simply out of instinct Kaku shot his fist upward so that it caught the marine square in the face, sending him flying. His colleague did not take this lightly, however, and kicked Kaku directly in the side saying something about him still being alive. At this the other man got up, rubbing his sore jaw, and came stomping over to Kaku, accept this time the marine lifted Kaku up by the front of his shirt. Kaku felt himself being dragged a ways before getting slammed into some kind of debris, most likely a broken piece of the bridge. It was only a matter of seconds before a sharp pain ripped through Kaku's right shoulder; the marine had taken his colleague's sword and stabbed it clean through Kaku's shoulder, pinning him to the slab of rock. The two marines laughed as Kaku just stood there holding onto the sword with his left hand for support. The sword forced him to stay standing, or else it would cut clean through his shoulder. Somehow Kaku managed to remain standing, but just barely; he was determined to push himself through, no matter how great the pain.
Franky could not help the rage that started to boil up inside him, after watching the marines just laugh at the CP9 agent that was pinned to the stone. Granted Franky despised CP9 for what they did back in Water 7, but nobody, in his opinion, deserved to be beaten up when they could not even fight back.
On the opposite side of the bridge, Sanji had clenched his jaw, grinding the cigarette between his teeth, as he watched the marines turn on the CP9 agent. Taking a deep breath, he blew the smog out of his lungs and forced himself to wait patiently for an opportunity to kick the marines' heads in.
"Hey traitor!" Kaku painfully lifted his head to see the cannon-gun now pointed straight at him. "Do you have any last words before I blow you to pieces?"
"Yeah.." Kaku smiled faintly "...giraffes rock..."
'BANG!'
The rock exploded, sending Kaku flying to the very edge of the bridge; he simply laid there, unmoving, on the verge of falling off.
That was the last straw for Franky, he aimed his fist at the marines,
"STRONG RIGHT!"
The chain attached to Franky's cyborg fist wrapped itself around the two marines, he then yanked the chain to send them flying into one of the nearby battleships. After retracting his hand Franky prepared to fight the fresh group of one hundred or so oncoming marines that took the place of all the ones Kaku had taken care of.
Kaku had felt the explosion shatter his 'Tekkai' when the cannonball made impact, but he was still alive. He laid there motionless, seeing as he was in too much pain to even think of getting up. Slowly he turned his head towards the two marines just in time to see Franky send them flying. Without thinking Kaku let go of his grip on the bridge, and himself fall; Kaku closed his eyes, awaiting the merciless hands of the ocean to grab hold and drag him down to its depths. But the cool splash of sea water never came, so he forced his eyes open and found that he was suspended in mid-air.
'...Save me from the stubbornness of pirates...' Kaku sighed as he just hung there unable to resist.
And that is when he saw it...
'It can't be...' Kaku remembered how he had let the ship go, back in Water 7, because it had such sadness about it that he thought it just wanted die out at sea. Kaku couldn't believe that the ship had willed itself to come this far, 'looks like it inherited its Nakama's strength.' With that Kaku chuckled; even though his chest already hurt, this was a good kind of pain.
Meanwhile, Robin tried to figure out why she had saved him from falling into the ocean. She remembered how Kaku had come up to handcuff her and Franky, after Usopp and Sanji failed to save her when they were on the sea train. Without showing any form of emotion Kaku only paused a second to say "Sumimasen," before returning to the other train car. However Robin was distracted from her thoughts when she felt someone touch her shoulder. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Zoro standing there,
"Did you catch him?" Robin nodded in response to his question. "Alright...bring him up enough so I can grab him," with that Zoro ran over to where Kaku had fallen off the edge. Robin concentrated on slowly bringing Kaku up but paused suddenly, she thought could feel something in the rope of arms that held Kaku from falling into the ocean.
'Was he laughing...' Robin wondered, as she slowly began reeling him in again. Soon enough Zoro was able to grab a hold of Kaku's shirt and haul him up onto the bridge,
"Well it looks like he's still breathing," Zoro smirked. Robin soon joined him at Kaku's side, but any further comments were interrupted Kaku's coughing fit. Zoro quickly turned him on his side and held him there until Kaku had coughed up a substantial amount of blood. Once the spell was over Kaku tried to say something but neither Zoro nor Robin could understand
"Take it easy, in your shape you shouldn't even be talking."
"You'd better listen to or I'll kick your giraffe butt again," Zoro stated with humor in his voice. Kaku opened his eyes and smiled slightly,
"I...didn't...know that you...cared so much," Kaku coughed a little before continuing, the blood caking his throat made it hard to talk. "Leave... on..your ship..."
"We can't, they destroyed that convoy ship…and besides we still need to find a way to get Luffy.."
Kaku laid there a moment with his cap casting a shadow across his face, "Demon-chan..." When Zoro did not say anything Kaku continued, "When you guys find a way off this island...I need you to deliver a message..."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not a messenger boy," with that Zoro bent down and picked Kaku up, carrying him piggy-back style. "So I guess you'll just have to do it yourself." Robin simply smiled, because like Zoro, she knew that Kaku did not have the strength left to resist. Kaku tried did his best not to move as Zoro carried him but blackness was starting to creep into his vision.
As they were walking Zoro noticed that Kaku was actually pretty light weight for his height; but what worried Zoro was the fact that he could feel blood from Kaku's wounds starting to seep into his own clothing. Zoro had to lower him to the ground when they made it to the very end of the bridge, because the marines still insisted on trying to capture them. Kaku had lost consciousness by this point and was eerily still, besides his short and labored breathing. His normally flushed face had gone to a pasty white color, most likely from blood loss, and his charismatic smile was replaced with a grimace of pain. Zoro had to admit he rather admired the guy's stubbornness, it reminded him of how Luffy acts during a fight.
'Speaking of Luffy...'
Kaku remembered regaining consciousness and having a really light weight feeling in his gut. Once his vision cleared, he could see that he had been thrown in the air and was steadily falling towards water. In the background Kaku could hear someone yelling "Merry," and realized that it must be the name of their ship. As the ocean came closer and closer, Kaku felt himself take a deep breath just before slamming into the water. Kaku finally understood how helpless a devil-fruit eater felt in water; pain began erupting all across his body from a lack of oxygen, and once again he faded into darkness.
~Back to current time~
Kaku opened his eyes when he felt some one shaking his shoulder, it took him a minute to register the fact that he was back on the Sunny Go. He noticed that only Zoro and Sanji had gotten up and were already dressed, while the others were still in the process of waking up.
"Hey you know you can sleep in your bed right," Sanji teased as he was leaving to go make breakfast. Kaku figured he must have fallen asleep while he was sitting at the window thinking about Enies Lobby, but a grumbling stomach reminded him it was time for breakfast. So he got up and stretched, wondering where fate was going to take him next.
It has come to my attention that the summary is a little off, but the first few chapters are just about Kaku being on Luffy's crew and some background stories. So please bear with me and i will try and get through the first three chapters quickly so we can get to the real story. ~Arigato :)