The Tales of The Motherly Demon

by warp writer

Somehow, it was leaked that Dragon has a son and he is in the East Blue. With the Navy knocking down their door, Luffy's mother, Aura D. Lilia, a female marine, vows to protect and raise her son, no matter what. With the Navy, bounty hunters, and other unsavory elements hunting them down. This mother and son duo are going to hands full just staying alive. Rated T for violence.

2. The Right Choice

So, I've returned from a long period of inactiveness. Sorry, I just have a lot of stories that I want to write and sometimes I get stuck and have trouble getting inspiration. I'll do my best to quicken the release of this fanfic, because, honestly, it's become my favorite.

Anyway, some of you have asked where this story is going. This is a story about Lilia and Luffy's adventures surviving against all of the marines and bounty hunters that either want to kill and/or capture them. As for the distant future of this fic, I do have ideas on that, but for the sake of the story (and that I don't want to box myself in) I'll keep it to myself.

Anyway, Read and Review this please. That will certainly give me incentive to work quicker.

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Chapter 2

The Right Choice

"So… looks like you guys are in quite the pickle," Lilia said, ending the morbid silence after Johnsy's call was cut.

"Please!" The female boss pleaded desperately tears in her eyes. "You have to let us go!"

"Do I…?" Lilia said, raising an eyebrow. She wasn't dense. She knew perfectly well that what happened next was left largely up to her. She could either let them leave to go save their friends or keep them here, leaving the rest to their fate. "I guess I could do that, or I could just keep you here. You guys are more trouble than you're worth, but this serves you right. Try to take my son away from me, your whole tribe gets taken away from you. Poetic justice, you could say."

"Please! They're my-our-family!" She begged, the tears were streaming now. "They're being killed! We have to go! Now! Time is of the essence."

Lilia was unimpressed.

"If I was a weaker woman, unable to keep you from taking away my Luffy-kun, would you listen to my pleading? Would you sympathize with my tears?"

"I would!"

"That is such an obvious lie!"

"At least let Diron, Oben, and I go!" Sylven requested.

"It's possible that this whole show is just an act, a ploy that's apart of a bigger plan to steal Luffy-kun away from me."

"It isn't!" The boss assured. "How would that even work?"

Yeah, Lilia knew this was no trick. The desperation in that man's, Johnsy's, voice, the horrified expression of her prisoners and their auras, and to top it all off, the pure madness in the voice of the assailant they had heard before the line was cut… all of it was too real. This was no trick. People were dying as she stood where she was. Yet, that wasn't enough reason for her to take action.

"...You had this coming," She sighed. "Make no mistake, I will never forgive you for what you tried to do. You let your greed corrupt you and now you're paying for it. Your friends are dying because of your choices. Not mine."

"Wait!" One of the bandits screamed as Lilia, after turning the giant hand restraining Diron into a huge pillar and stuck it into the ground, turned to walk back to the tent. He was in the other side of bind, an awkward position to beg, but he didn't have much choice. "I-I have a wife and daughter and a baby back there. I have to go protect them! Please… I'll do anything."

"M-Me too!" Another yelled. He was one of the unfortunate souls squished together in the center of the human bundle. "I-I have a seven year old son! I told him to watch the house and knowing him, he'll be the first to do something reckless! I must go save him and my wife!"

"And me!" One squeezed in the center pleaded. "My daughter just gave birth to my grandkid!"

"I want to save my little brother and sister!"

"I want to save my fiance!"

"My mother!"

"I still haven't told Argana-san how I feel about her yet!"

"My brother!"

"My wife!"

Each of the bandits begged from their awkward positions, tossing aside their pride in hope that the woman whose child they had tried to kidnap would show them a little mercy.

"Please, She-Demon-san!" The bandit leader begged.

"We're not asking for much!" Oben roared.

"All we want i to save our friends!" Peter, the scaredy cat, roared.

"I guess even scum have people they want to protect…" Lilia said, her back still turned on them. "But if that really is the case, why would you want to ruin my family? You're just hypocrites. I'll say it again, your tribe will die because of your choices, not mine."

That was that. Her words made them lose hope. Crestfallen and in despair, the bandits, grown men and hardened thieves, sobbed heartbrokenly. They knew there was nothing they could do as their friends and family were slaughtered like animals.

'How scummy of me…' Lilia thought dejectedly as she walked to the tent. This wasn't right. She knew that. No matter what they did, these people had the right to protect their families, even if they were hypocritical. And if they were normal, then she wouldn't have a problem letting them go. She'd even help if they needed it. However, she couldn't be lenient on them or anyone else who's after Luffy's head. She needed to set the example that anyone who crossed her would receive no mercy. It was all for Luffy's survival.

"Mommy, shouldn't we help them?"

"Luffy-kun?" Luffy came out of the tent and looked his mother straight in the eye. "You were listening?"

"Mommy, don't they need help?" Luffy asked again, looking abnormally serious for a 5 year old.

"Sweetie, don't you realise who these people are?" Lilia said. "They're thieves."

"But they need help!"

"Again, they're thieves, darling. They are being punished for their actions."

"But aren't they're mommies getting hurt?"

"T-That's…"

"Just because they were born to be thieves, doesn't mean they should be called monsters for it!" Luffy exclaimed passionately, shocking Lilia and even the bandits. How could a 5 year old boy make such sense?

"Luffy-kun!" Lilia was at a loss for words. Was Luffy comparing himself to these bandits. They were most likely guys who were into their 'profession' and as a result believed being bandits were their only choice. Lilia herself did say something like that earlier before. "Don't you know? These people are thieves. They tried to kidnap you! You know what kidnapping is, don't you? They were trying to take you away from me and we'd never see each other again."

"What?!" Luffy gasped, shocked. He didn't know that was why they were there. He thought all they did was try to steal their food. "That's what they were trying to do?!"

"Yes, so, do you still want to help them? Knowing that?" She looked down at Luffy, looking serious as she waited for his answer. He looked down at the ground, thinking about how to respond.

"I… don't want to be separated from mommy, but…" Luffy paused, then he raised his head and looked straight into his mother's eyes. His innocence was clear, despite having been called a monster by people before. "There are other kids like me who don't want to be taken away from their mommies either. It's bad to abandon them. And even if those guys are thieves, don't they have mommies that they want to help too. If it were me, I'd also want to save you, mommy."

"My little boy…!" Lilia was amazed by how forgiving her child was. How understanding he was. He was no demon. If anything, he was an angel. 'I lost sight of it… when I made the choice to live on the run with Luffy… I vowed to protect and raise him, but just a second ago, I was only thinking about protecting him. I forgot about raising him. How dumb of me.'

"Mommy?" Luffy said, confused by his mother's silence.

"You are an angel!" Lilia exclaimed, scooping him up in her arms and hugging him tightly. "You are sweet. There is no way you're a hell spawn. And you are right. No matter what happens, we, you and I, must always strive to take the high road, be the bigger person, and just be good people."

"What?" Luffy didn't know the meaning of half of the words she had just said.

"Good gracious I'm talking to a five year old," Lilia humored as she held Luffy. "Just… know that, no matter what, I'll always think you're pretty neat."

"Oh… thank you, mommy." Luffy smiled.

SNAP!

Lilia snapped her fingers. In response, the black bindings restraining the band disappeared as if turning to dust and disappeared into the wind, including the giant hand holding Diron up in the air. He fell but landed on his feet, causing a small quake.

"Y-You're letting us go?" The female leader said, starstruck.

"Yeah," Lilia said. "But on one condition. I come with you. You guys are still my prisoners and a warden's gotta keep track of her charges. Plus, I can't just ignore the possibility of this all being some sort of elaborate trick, can I?"

"Fine," she agreed. There was no time to hesitate. Time was of the essence.

"Glad you aren't fighting it," Lilia said. "Now, you should go get your weapons. Your enemy sounds strong, so you should be prepared."

They didn't disagree. Quickly, the bandits gathered their confiscated weapons. The majority of them had either swords, crossbows, or a pistol, which the boss used. Sylven and Oben, on the other hand, used a long spear and steel knuckles respectively. Diron had never parted with his giant black club.

"You guys almost look professional," Lilia sighed, not really impressed with most of them. "But honestly, considering what we heard, your adversaries are powerful. Do you really think you stand a chance?"

"We had left over 700 good men back there," the leader explained. "If only 3 guys could make Johnsy sound like that, then they're obviously monstrous. Luckily for us, we've got our own set of monsters on our side. We won't be taken down without a struggle."

STARE

"B-By people who aren't total super demons," she stuttered, embarrassed by Lilia's dry stare. She cleared her throat and shouted. "Enough standing around! Let's go!

"YEAH!" They cheered and stampeded in the direction of their hideout like a pack of bulls. Lilia, despite them having a 3 second head start on her, easily dashed past them to the head of the charge.

"So, do you have any idea who these mystery attackers are?" Lilia asked as they ran.

"We've made enemies of practically everyone on this island," the leader said. She was in good shape considering how hard she was running and had yet to lose her breath. "Usually traveling merchants, other thieves, and, well, anybody with something worth stealing were our targets. Anyway, people with money would hire bodyguards. We were always able to overwhelm them with Sylven, Oben, and Diron on our side."

"Huh? You guys really do have this coming, don't you?" Lilia sighed. "Honestly, I wonder if it was the right thing to help you after all."

"S-Shut up!" she snapped. "It's too late to change your mind now."

"It really isn't."

"Tch!" The leader clicked her tongue in frustration. "Anyway, these guys are probably from outside the island. We should've heard about people as strong as that before and the only people I know who can do what J-Johnsy had said are those three. She nudged to the three fighters behind them. "They're some of the strongest men you'll ever meet."

The three in question blushed a bit at the sincere compliment.

"No, they're not," Lilia said bluntly. "I know dozens of guys way stronger than them."

"Well, they're the strongest I know at least," she groaned. The leader looked up at the boy on his mother's shoulders, looking like he was having the time of his life riding on his super mom's shoulder with the wind running through his hair. "Hey, is it really okay to bring your kid with us?"

"Obviously, I don't want to bring Luffy-kun to a warzone," Lilia said, holding on tightly to his legs. "But the last time I left him on his own he was almost kidnapped. The safest place for him right now is on my shoulders."

"I honestly can't deny that," she admitted.

"It's fun riding on mommy's shoulders," Little Luffy squealed, swinging his arms gleefully. "Hey, Nee-chan, why did you and your friends try to kipkap me?"

"What?"

"It's 'kidnap', sweetie," Lilia corrected. 'This should be fun.'

"Because we could," the leader answered.

"But why? That's mean?"

"The world isn't nice."

"Mommy says that even if people are mean to me, I should still be nice to other people."

"..." The female bandit looked away, looking uncomfortable. She did not have time to be feeling this way just because of a stupid kid's words.

"You don't have anything to say to the boy you tried to sell," Lilia asked inquisitively.

"I follow the way of my tribe," the leader muttered, but it was still audible to Luffy and Lilia.

"What's a tribe?'

"They're people, dear," Lilia answered. "They are closer than a typical city or town. They're like a family, I suppose. They have their own rules and traditions. I guess your tradition is to steal, little girl?"

"Stop calling me little girl!"

"Then what's your name?" Lilia asked. "Obviously, I'm not going to call you 'boss' or 'Ane-san'."

"It's… Clarissa."

"Pft!"

"What's so funny?!"

"A thief with a pretty name like Clarissa… it's laughable."

"She's got a point," Peter said. Despite his cowardice, he seemed to be in good shape as well, seeing as he was able to keep up with the rest of them.

"Shut up, Peter!"

"But let's save questions about your life choices for later," Lilia said. "What I want to know is how you knew we were here? I believe it's important to know."

"...We were tipped off," Clarissa revealed.

"By who?"

"It was a day ago, less," she started. "We were patrolling to find… targets. It's what we always do, and yesterday we found what appeared to be a small jackpot. A white carriage, like something out of a fairy tale book, was riding along the main path. Quite brazenly, I might add. Nobody from here would ever willingly take the main path, our main stomping ground, in the middle of the day in such a fancy ride. It seemed like our lucky day, so we did the usual. Surround the sucker, force the occupants out, and tell them to abandon all of their valuables and walk the rest of the way to wherever they were headed… except this time was different."

"What was?"

"We're used to the guys we target to be scared or anxious, and be in groups, but there was only one man in the carriage, which we found odd."

"Was there no driver?"

"No. The passenger was it. I suppose that it's possible that he could control them from inside, or that the horses were very well trained. As I said, it was odd."

"Hmm…" Lilia thought for a moment. Were the horses tamed by a skillful tamer? Skillful enough to get horses to obediently follow orders with a handler? If that was the case, then it could certainly prove dangerous in the wrong hands. "So what about the man?"

"He was the oddest of the whole scene," Clarissa said. Despite running non-stop for over 5 minutes and probably making over 2 miles by now, she had yet to huff, even though she was talking as she ran. "Despite being surrounded by more than 20 of us, who were armed, he remained cool and calm, and honestly, intrigued."

"Intrigued?"

"Like he wanted us to hurt him, to try. It was pissing me off."

"Did he look strong?"

"Not really," Clarissa shrugged. "Not to me, at least. He seemed like a bookworm. But Diron, who was with us, thought differently."

"He didn't have any sort of overwhelming pressure or anything like that," Diron explained. "But rather, he had an uneasy aura."

"His fearlessness unnerved you?" Lilia pondered.

"I'll admit, it was unsettling," the big man confessed. "There were too many unknowns with him. I became especially uneasy after he started speaking."

"What did he say?"

"'The Greentail Bandits… it's a pleasure'," Clarissa quoted. "That's exactly what he said. He expected us. He willingly traveled through our turf, in an expensive looking carriage, knowing we'd show up. Now that I think about it, he was pretty creepy?"

"So he tipped you off about me?"

"Yeah, he said he had tried to find us to tip us off about some hot target, you, well, more accurately…" Clarissa glanced up at Luffy. "Well, you know. He told us how much he was worth. We were all quite shocked."

"Can't say I wasn't the same," Lilia said. Seriously, how could the World Government do that? Putting such an obscene price on a 5 year old's (he was three when it first came out) head? Do they really have the money to keep paying for all these bounty increases? They won't look so smug when they actually have to pay for all of them, not that she thought that it would ever actually happen. "So what happened next?"

"We were suspicious, of course. We asked him what his game was. All he said was that him and his associates desired his bounty, but they lacked the power to oppose the mother-you. He went as far as saying that no one in the South Blue would stand a chance against you. At the time I thought that was bull, but now…"

"Oh, no, now don't feel down about it, Clarissa-chan," Lilia said mockingly. "You guys did the best you could do."

"Anyway," she continued through clenched teeth. "We were skeptical that you were even here, but then he showed us a recent night vision photo of you two and told us the current location."

"He had a photo of us and knew our location?!" Lilia gasped, surprised. "How did he have that?"

"He mentioned that it was tricky just to get that much."

'Was I really that careless…?' Lilia wondered. No way she wouldn't have noticed a person spying on them, no matter what time it was. Either they were extremely skilled or there was something she had overlooked.

"He said that if we should try to capture your son," Clarissa said. "And give him 10 percent of the earnings should we succeed."

"I bet you wouldn't have let him have a single berri."

"Of course. We're thieves. We don't share. But, yeah, he warned us that you never stayed in one place too long, so we shouldn't wait."

"Okay, to summarize, you encounter a strange man, who you tried to rob, he told you to kidnap Luffy-kun, and then you try to do it?"

"More or less, yeah."

"I see," Lilia sighed. "Only a child would fall for that."

"H-Hey!" Clarissa was offended, as were her fellow bandits. "Obviously, we were as suspicious as we ought to be. We were even going to take him in as a hostage, but…"

"But what?"

"It's hard to believe, but as we were going to grab him, he made this ear splitting, high-pitched screech that didn't seem possible for a human," Clarissa said. "And then this huge white bird came swooping down and snatced him into the sky, but not before he used a pocket knife to cut the reins of the horses so they could escape."

"Now I'm sure of it, he was a highly skilled animal tamer," Lilia said confidently. And if he was truly a tamer who could control horses and birds to such a degree, then why not other critters, like squirrels. If he could train them to operate equipment like cameras, then that must be how they found out about her and Luffy. Come to think of it, she had thought that the forest creature had been moving irregularly, but didn't think much of it. 'My mom is an animal tamer who collected tons of rare creatures and befriend them. I grew up around odd animals, so I grew numb to minor irregularities despite my sensitivity. How careless of me.'

"I guess that's what you call a guy like him," Clarissa said.

"That's exactly what it is," Lilia assured. "Trust me."

"What's a tamer?" Little Luffy asked.

"They're people who can control animals, dear," Lilia explained. "If you're really good, you can even control scary lions and bears."

"Then are you a tamer, mommy?" From time to time, the mother and son duo would have the unfortunate luck of encountering large animals like bears and lions, but, depending on their food situation, Lilia would just use her Conqueror's Haki to scare them away or, in some cases, befriend them.

However, that was not "true" taming. At most, it was only influencing.

"No, sweetie," Lilia said. "My way and a tamer's way are completely different. But anyway, I think I understand everything now. Firstly, these unknown attacker have been wanting to attack you guys for awhile, but didn't maybe because you have powerful warriors to be wary of?"

"Diron, Sylven, and PT are very strong," Clarissa said. "They won't be beaten. When the opponent isn't so ridiculously strong!" She added when Lilia teasingly glanced at her. "Aside from that, what I want to know is how they even found us in the first place?"

"Is your hideout hard to find?"

"Let me put it this way, the tribe has existed for over a century without anyone discovering our hideout. Can you guess why?"

"Because of the trees," Lilia answered immediately. "They're very tall and clustered together." They had to zig and zag a lot to avoid running into the very tall trees. "I imagine you guys live in a very leafy place that makes it hard to find with your eyes. Plus this forest is huge and lecks distinct landmarks. It's easy to get lost. Plus, you have a lot of men to guard your hideout incase anyone does manage to find it. And if you keep moving from place to place, never staying in one place to long, then it must be very difficult to discover the current location of you thieves."

"Uh…" Clarissa and the bandits were not expecting such an on the dot analysis of their safety measures.

"Gotta admit, that's pretty clever," Lilia said.

"T-Thanks… but it wasn't clever enough," she said somberly. They had run for cose to 30 minutes. A hair pulling time when your whole tribe was being slaughtered.

"They tried to use us," Lilia said suddenly, surprising the bandits. "They enticed you into targeting us, knowing of my skill level. They were confident that you'd bring your best men with you and that I'd kill you. Then, they would attack the hideout that they had somehow found. Cowardly, but clever."

"I had a hunch that it was something like that," Clarissa admitted. "They were trying to manipulate us, which pissed me off. I was planning on doing exactly as they expected, but then flipping it all on their heads. We were prepared for an army or something like that. We were not expecting 3 monsters to come in and… and…" She stifled a sob. "Did they really kill the kids…?"

"Don't blame yourself, Ane-san," Oben said. "That won't solve anything."

"He's right," Sylven said. "We will destroy the SOBs that dared to mess with us!"

"They won't get away with it," Diro declared. "We won't them have their way with us!"

"I'm a coward, but even I can fire an arrow," Peter assured

"Right… thanks," Clarissa said, her face completely down to not let them see her. She must've been showing a face that a leader shouldn't show. She wiped her eyes with her arm. "Okay, no more pessimism. Let's take these bastard's down!"

"How much longer?" Lilia asked.

"If we keep moving at this pace, then ten more minutes," she answered.

"Honestly," Lilia sighed. "I could get there in an instant by now."

"She-Demon," Diron said from behind. "I believe we are owed an explanation."

"About what?"

"Now that you have come with us this far, what do you plan to do?"

"I suppose we'll just see," she said, with a grin. "Well, I did say this was just to keep an eye on my prisoner's, so…"

"Hmph, you're a hard woman to figure out," Diron grunted.

"I get that a lot," she giggled. However, her expression suddenly turned serious. "Hey, Luffy-kun."

"Yes, mommy?"

"I think I'm a bad mother," Lilia admitted.

"What? No, that's not true," Luffy assured. "Mommy is the best!"

"Thanks, but… I'm doing something that is a big no no for all parents," Lilia continued, a somber expression on her face. "I'm taking you to a very scary place. A place I wouldn't if I had a choice."

"But-"

"Let me speak, sweetie," Lilia said sternly. "We are going to a frightening place, especially for a boy your age, and for that, I'm sorry. But, darling, you aren't a normal boy. Our enemies-the people who want to hurt us-have made sure of that. Whether I like it or not, we are going to see the scariest things we can see, and people will try their hardest to hurt us. That's why I'm bringing you with me. To teach you how to deal with all of that. It will be scary, but, my beloved Luffy, I swear I will protect you and myself. From now on, it's you and me, through thick and thin. Do you understand?"

"...No," he admitted.

Lilia chuckled emptily. Of course he wouldn't understand. He was only 5, after all.

"But… if mommy is with me," Luffy continued, resting his head on Lilia's scalp. "I don't care how scary things will be."

"...Right," Lilia nodded, her eyes shadowed as she grinned. "I promise. I will always stay with you."

The group continued to run forward. The bandits had been shown to have above average stamina-a product of living in a forest, Lilia supposed-but some of them were beginning to breathe heavy, including Peter and Clarissa, but the latter maintained her speed, determined to move forward.

They were getting closer, Lilia could tell. She had never been to the bandits' hideout before, but she could tell. She could tell because she could smell the bloodshed. She could feel the loss of life. Such were the abilities of her Devil Fruit. For better or worse, she was especially attuned to the states of life.

Despite herself, she pitied the bandits. Even if they were seasoned thugs, nobody, with a heart, could truly brush off the death of someone they care about, and from what she could sense, many were dead already.

"We're getting closer," Clarissa announced loudly. The already high tension in the air was getting even thicker with each step the bandits took as they got closer to their home. "...Be prepared. We may not like what we see."

No, Lilia thought. I don't think you will.

They finally arrived. And they most certainly did not like what they saw. The first thing they saw were bodies and blood. Lots of bodies. Although it was hard to tell how many were actually dead. All of the bodies were in pieces, looking freshly cut. Severed heads, severed arm, bodies missing their lower or upper halves… various disembodied limbs littered the ground. Semi-fresh blood covered the trees around the bodies.. Some of it came from as high as the branches of the skyscraper-tall trees, undoubtedly the blood of snipers. Judging by how there were absolutely no arrows or bullets embedded in the trees or ground, then it seemed likely that the snipers were killed first. It was what Lilia would do first. Hard to fight at your best when bullets arrows were coming at you from above.

The killer was skilled, Lilia analyzed. And was one person. She could tell just by looking at the corpses fatal cuts shared the same habit single person. He cleanly cut his victims to pieces swiftly and without them being able to react. He was probably fast and agile.

He left his victims corpses to be eat by the animals. With so many severed limbs scattered around, it would be difficult to give the victims a proper burial because of how hard it could be to match the limbs together.

Also, what appeared to be a large wooden gate was now destroyed, revealing what ooked like a village. Its remain were now dust and scattered splinters that littered the ground. Lilia could tell that the gate was destroyed by a fist. A powerful fist.

Lilia could easily smell the death that permeated the air. Anyone could.

"No…" Clarissa gasped hollowly, gaping at the dismembered corpses of her fallen tribesman. Weakly and while trembling, she stumbled toward the carcasses and knelt beside them. Gently, she stroked the severed head of one of her friends with her fingers. He appeared to be a middle-aged man with an unkempt, gray beard, although some of it appeared to be cut off when he was slaughtered. Lilia could only assume that the body beside the head was his. "Coleson-ossan… no… h-how could this happen… sniff."

Her fellow tribesmen were not faring any better. Some were furious, others were in tears, and others were sick at the sight of the blood and chopped up bodies, while the rest suppress their emotions, rationally knowing that the worst had yet to come.

"H-How could this happen?!" Diron roared, enraged beyond words. "This can not be forgiven."

"Forgiven…?" Sylven said, his voice void of emotion, but yet filled with cold rage. "That's not even an idea anymore. I'll skewer them."

"Not before I punch their heads off," Oben ordered viciously. Up to this point, he had appeared to be a calm analytical type who thought before he acted, but now, after seeing the death of his tribesman, he revealed a more carnal side to his persona.

Among the sorrow and the hate, Lilia could only feel… indifferent. She, for better or for worse, was well acquainted with the cruelty of death, of murder. She was not cold hearted, by any means. If the dead were innocent, ordinary and honest people, then certainly she would feel sympathy and remorse for the lost, but for these thieves who only robbed and abused people, Lilia found it hard to be sympathetic. Especially since these were the people who had attempted to kidnap Luffy. If she had to feel anything for them, it would be empathy. She understood the sorrow and frustration of not being there when your friends were killed. That feeling of believing that there was something you could have done had you been there. It was the worst and she didn't wish that kind of despair on anyone. Not even kidnappers.

Drop

Something-a liquid- fell on top of lilia's head. It was clear today, so it couldn't have been rain. Some may assume that it was blood from a dismembered limb stuck somewhere in the branch of the skyscraper like trees, but Lilia, without checking, could tell what it was. It was a teardrop. Chock it up to maternal instincts if you want, but Lilia could tell it was Luffy's tear.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Lilia asked, concerned.

"...I don't know," he admitted.

"...I'm sorry," Lilia said. "For allowing you to see this."

"They… are dead?" Luffy asked, a sob in his words. This was the first time he had ever seen a dead person' corpse, let alone a murdered corpse. He had seen his mother kill game plenty of time, but not once had he seen a human die. To look at it deeper, it was the first time he had witnesses the fragility of life. It must've been horrifying for him, but more than that, it must've been confusing.

"Yeah… it's hard to bounce back after being chopped to pieces," Lilia joked, humorlessly. She felt like she should've been shot for letting her little, innocent child witness this atrocity.

"Someone did this…?"

"Seems so."

"Why?"

"Probably…" Lilia paused. While she had her own practical theories about why this had happened, but believed that Luffy needed simpler words and a more meaningful answer. "Probably because they wanted too?"

"They wanted to hurt them?"

"There are people out there that hurt others because they want to for a lot of reasons. A lot of reasons are bad…" Her voice trailed off. There was more she wanted to say, but she held her tongue. It may be too soon for Luffy to hear something like that… granted, it was too soon for him to see human bodies mercilessly chopped to pieces. Life often didn't let people experience the harsher realities of the world at better times, because there really wasn't a "better time". It would always hurt.

"I'm people… and everyone says that I am going to be a bad guy. Will I enjoy hurting people?"

"That's something you will have to choose for yourself, kiddo," Lilia whispered. She lifted her had and placed it on Luffy's cheek. "But I'd like it a lot if you were someone who disliked hurting people."

"Hey," Clarissa called out. "We're going."

"Thanks for letting me know," Lilia said sarcastically, annoyed that she interrupted her and Luffy's moment. "Will you be okay? Go past that ruined gate and you'll likely see your own worst nightmare."

"...I know," was all she said. She led her men and Lilia followed with Luffy still on her shoulders. As expected, as Lilia predicted, what they saw was something straight out of their nightmares. Before today, before a few hours ago, the Main Street of the bandits settlement would have probably looked like any other typical street. Kids playing, perhaps admiring the guards and dreaming to be like them, and women strolling about and doing their chores and watching over children. A typical and happy street. But now it was a bloodied hell littered with the corpses of men, women, and children alike. The first thing Lilia saw was the dismembered corpses of a group of little boys only a couple years older than Luffy. There were only five heads, but perhaps one or two rolled away…? The heartbroken wails made it hard to think. They were probably the sons of some of these men. There was also some chopped women corpses lying next to white sheets now dyed red in their blood. They were probably doing some laundry before things went to hell. Lilia immediately pulled Luffy, who burst into tears, off of her shoulders and squeezed him tightly into her chest, hoping her heartbeat would soothe him.

"Is anybody alive?!" Clarissa wailed, tears streaming down her, and nearly everyone else in her group. The only one keeping some semblance of a level head was Sylven, but still, Lilia could feel-see-the suppressed raged festering within him. Diron and Oben were not wailing or crying, but they were trembling in a fit of raw emotion. They were in shock. The men all wanted to move to find their families, but were too disciplined to break rank even in this kind of situation. "Spread out! Spread out and find survivors! There has to be somebody who managed to hide away when these monsters were attacking. Go!"

They didn't waste an instant. They all scattered in all direction and scrambled into the wooden huts calling for survivors, but Lilia couldn't help but be pessimistic. All the doors to the huts in her line of sight were destroyed. The attackers didn't spare a single one. Also, she couldn't sense any other sign of human life. It didn't automatically mean that no one survived, but it wasn't a good sign. Granted, she was a bit too focused on her crying son to properly focus her Haki.

"K-k-k-kids my a-a-a-age are…!" Luffy sobbed into his mother's chest, hot tears streaming down his face.

"Shh," Lilia shushed her boy in soothing way while stroking the back of his head gently. "Don't focus on that right now. Just listen I my heartbeat, sweetie."

"It's so awful…"

"I know, dear, I know."

Lilia and Luffy were left alone at the ruined gate of the Greentail bandits hideout with Clarissa, her strongest three, Peter, and some men who were weeping over the corpses of their children and women.

"She Demon," Clarissa said in hollow voice. Surprisingly, she pulled herself together, wiped her tears away and kept her cool, but she still sounded broken.

"What do you want?" She may sympathize with them, but she did not forgive them. They tried to kidnap Luffy after all. That was not easily forgotten. No matter what the circumstances. "And I'm not the She Demon anymore. She was the Navy's soldier and I'm not apart of the Navy anymore. Call me Lilia."

"Fine, Lilia. You have the power to sense people, right? Can you sense if anybody else is still alive? Or the people who did this?"

"My 'power', as you call it, isn't that convenient. I can sense people from a close range if I want, but my long range sensory ability is spotty at best. Well, there are some who have that kind of omniscient ability, but I'm not one of them. As for your enemies, I could definitely identify people like them if they were close enough, but it seems there out of my range for now. They may have left already. As for why I was able to sense the big guy long range is because he has an aura that only a wild beast should have."

Or a conqueror.

"I see…" Clarissa silently observed her men weeping heartbrokenly over the remains of their loved ones. She looked truly broken. "This is all on me. If-"

"Don't even go there, Ane-san," Oben said heatedly. "This isn't your fault. It's theirs and once we find them, we'll make them regret this."

"Oben is right," Sylven said. "These sons of-"

"Hey, language," Lilia said warningly.

"... creeps were already planning something like this for a good amount of time. They could have done this during any of our usual runs. If you're thinking that it's because we tried to do a bigger job than usual on your orders then you're wrong. It is not your fault that this happened. Even if it were, we who went with you without argument are also to blame."

"Yeah, you don't need to feel responsible, boss," Diron said kindly.

"But I am responsible," Clarissa said emotionally. "I'm the leader. A leader is supposed to protect her group, her tribe. I-"

"Need to pull it together," Peter demanded harshly. "You're the leader for a reason. You're smart and tough. We need that right now. So, even if it's only an act, pretend you're okay and lead us. When it's all over, you can cry on my shoulder."

"...I'd rather cry on PT's shoulder."

"What?" Oben couldn't help but be surprised, despite himself.

"What's wrong with my shoulder?"

"Nothing, but you aren't really the first person I have in mind when I want to complain about my problems. I mean, you're a wimp but you act so tough now? I don't want to deal with someone like that more than I have to."

"You're a jerk."

"But you're right. I need to keep it together even if I'm shattered inside, if for no one else's sake other my own."

"I'm glad you realize that. But, seriously, is it okay for us all to be out here in the open? What if whoever did this comes back? Or is still around waiting to ambush us?"

"There's our little wimp. I almost thought this nightmare changed you."

"Let them come," Sylven said. "It will save us the trouble of hunting them down."

One by one, the men sent out to look for survivors returned after inspecting every corner of the settlement. All of them were grim faced. They reported that they had entered every hut and home and building only to find the bloody remains of their tribesmen. The number of people who died in one piece could be counted on one finger.

"It was awful, boss," one of them said hoarsely. "The huts, they looked like they were sliced open with giant knives… I found body parts that looked like they were bitten off! Whoever did this… they can't be human! Monsters or animals!"

He ran between some huts and fell to his knees and vomited. One of his peers strolled over and rubbed his back gently.

Clarissa chose to ignore it. "You couldn't find anyone?"

"No, maim," another bandit answered. "It's like a tornado ran through here. Everything is destroyed. Body parts are everywhere… there's more blood than anything else. My wife and babies are dead!"

"Alright everyone, calm down!" Clarissa shouted at the top of her lungs, silencing the impending riot and panic that was about to ensue them. "This was an attack. We must be prepared to counter strike or we'll be killed as well and then these monsters will have truly won. Do you want that?!"

"...No!" They cheered passionately, raising their weapons in the air. the only thing keeping them centered was their desire to avenge the fallen.

"Good, now let's get to tracking them. They couldn't have gotten far, so let's not waste anymore time."

"Yeah!"

"Hey, why is there no fire?" Lilia asked, still holding Luffy, who had stopped crying. He was still upset though. "That Johnsy guy blew himself up, right? Shouldn't we be able to see smoke?"

"...we don't use traditional bombs that explode fire. We live in a forest after all. Can't have it burning down. We use water bombs. They might sound fun, but they aren't if you get hit with them. They have enough power to destroy a house… hey, did anyone see a place where one could have gone off?"

They all said no. There was plenty of destruction, but there wasn't anything that matched what a waterbomb could do.

"How can that be?"

"Hm… where did Johnsy blow it up then?" Sylven wondered.

"Outside… on the way to an escape shelter…" Johnsy said hoarsely as he limped weakly to his fellow bandits. He was a tall man with a scruffy brown beard and short hair. His white sleeveless shirt was torn up and was nothing more than a rag now. There was blood coming down from his head.

"Johnsy!" Clarissa said, shocked as two of the tribesmen helped him move forward to her. Face to face, Clarissa cupped his face and her eyes teared up. "You're alive… really alive…!"

"There isn't time for that," Johnsy snarled. "We have to take out the guys who did this or they'll kill everybody else."

"You mean there are some of us still alive?!" Clarissa gasped as her and the bandits and even Lilia's eyes widened. "Is that true? Johnsy, is that true?"

"Only a few…" he admitted shamefully. "We tried to save as many as we could, but they just kept killing us at insane speeds. It was horrible, boss. It was horrible!"

"Johnsy… where are they?" Clarissa asked, needing answers. "What happened with the waterbomb?"

"I can tell you what happened, my dear," a familiar voice said. It was a voice that sent chills down the spines of the bandits. It was the voice of the man who threatened Johnsy on the Transponder Snail. They looked up to see a slender looking man standing atop the roof of a hut. He was tall and wore a navy blue suit with a black tie. He had long silver hair that went straight to his ankles. He also wore a black top hat and circulated glasses. However, the biggest eye catcher were the 8 7-inch claw blades on each of his fingers that were covered in blood. Just looking at him, the way that he smiled, you could just tell he wasn't right in the head.

"No!" Johnsy screamed, horrified, as if he was seeing the devil. "He followed me?! I thought I blew him up!"

"You might've, my dear bandit," he said with an insane smile. "But you see, if I see someone throw something at me, it is my first instinct to avoid it, I dare not speak of others. I leapt back as far as I could and avoided major damage, but I did get a bit wet, I'm afraid. Granted, seeing what that bomb of yours could do, I got lucky. It blew away about 6 of those overgrown trees and knocked down even more. I must say, you bandits sure do have an-"

BANG!

The man cooly sidestepped the bullet Clarissa shot at him. "How rude. I was going to pay you all a compliment."

"You!" Clarissa shot rapid fire at the silver haired man with unadulterated rage. She didn't need anyone to explain it to her. He killed her tribesmen. Unfortunately, he casually dodged all of her shots. "Murderer! You killed my people! My family!"

She ran out of bullets.

"No need to be so dramatic," he sighed. "I was only doing a job. Unfortunately for you people it was to kill every single person in the Greentail Bandit Tribe. Man and woman, adults and children."

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

In theface of the man's callous confession of his crime of slaughtering the bandits loved ones, they became unadulteratedly enraged and fired their pistols and crossbows. Dozens of bullets and arrows went flying in the direction of the man with the bladed claws. If they hit, he would surely die instantly.

He smiled ecstatically.

He leaped off of the roof and literally flew in the direction of the bullets and arrows. He spun midair and generated enough centripetal force to create a whirlwind powerful enough to send the bullets and arrows flying back at those who shot them.

"Take cover!" Diron ordered at the top of his lungs. The arrows and bullets were falling fast would definitely cause serious damage. The men scrambled to avoid the projectiles by running behind the nearest hut. Diron and Sylven were prepared to shield their comrades with their weapons, a big club and spear respectively.

But there was no need. Someone was about to save them.

A small black cloud flew up into the air and instantly and rapidly expanded to become a huge black cloud to become a shield to protect those below from the stray projectiles. The arrows and bullets were now embedded into the black cloud of miasma.

The bandits and the man with the blades, who gracefully land back on the same roof, watched with their mouths agape and their eyes practically popping out of their sockets. Clarissa, who had hid behind a nearby cart jerked her head in the direction at the only logical source of this phenomenon.

"You… saved us?"

"No, I protected Luffy and I," Lilia denied, still holding Luffy. "You people were just lucky. Besides, there's been enough corpses for one day." She added in a whisper.

"Wow, mommy, you're so cool!" Luffy squealed, looking up at his mother with wide eyes.

"Aww, thanks sweetie," she said with a motherly smile, rubbing his head affectionately.

"Do my eyes deceive me… don't tell me? No. It is. It's the She-Demon," the man with the blades on his fingers said, observing the one in question. "My, you certainly do live up to the rumors. You're beauty is a sight to behold. I think I'm in love!"

"First off, I'm not the She-Demon any- ah, forget it. I'll probably have to say it a hundred times before people catch on," Lilia sighed. "The point is, don't leer at me like that. It's creepy. Besides, I'm taken."

"Yeah, don't go looking at my mom, you creepy guy," Luffy shouted. Despite knowing their background, it was somewhat odd how a five year old boy and an attractive young mother could so easily talk back to a cold blooded, psychopathic murder. "And did you kill all these people?!"

"Hm?" The bladed man seemed to have just noticed Luffy. He looked at him as if he was a peculiar specimen. "Oh, you must be that boy. The son of Dragon. Monkey D. Luffy-kun, right? My, you certainly are cute. Certainly not like the spawn of hell that the World Government paints you ought to be. It must be tough having to be a victim of the powers at be's faulty leadership.

"Shut up!" Luffy snapped furiously. He maybe only five, but he understood enough to know that this crazy man was patronizing him (not that he knew what patronizing actually meant). "Did you kill all these people?!"

"If I did, what would it matter to you? You do know that these bandits were trying to kidnap you and then sell you for a profit, don't you? Shouldn't that mean you should be glad that they are being punished for their greed?"

"That doesn't mean that you can just hurt them!"

For whatever reason, the man found Luffy's words amusing and laughed maniacally. "FWAHAHAHA! Wow, you're a really nice kid! Good job, She-Demon! You raised a good boy!"

"Stop laughing!" One of the bandits shouted, enraged. His eyes irradiated his hate. And the red color of soul was almost blinding to Lilia. All of them were. "You… standing there, laughing… after killing my boy… all of our children and wives… I'll-"

"Yawn," he sighed in a bored expression. "Honestly, do you, any of you really have the right to be angry when it was all of your greed that caused this? If all of you were here instead of out abusing a poor mother and her kid, then maybe you could have saved some people. But now, all of you will die."

"Why you," Oben snarled, wanting to run up to the psycho and smash his face in. But he couldn't. This man was strong. If he charged in recklessly, then he'd only die pathetically.

"Besides, I didn't do this all by myself. Sure 90 percent of all this was me, but the other ten percent…"

"Igor," a gruff voice called out. From the distance two men came casually through the thieves settlement, despite all of the blood and corpses littering the ground. With a look, Lilia could tell they weren't ordinary. One man was short but stocky and had a strong build and a crew cut. He wore a black suit, sunglasses, and had a sword strapped to his waist he looked like a certain type of mobster.

The other man was an enormously fat man with tan skin and black hair tied back into a ponytail. Unlike his two friends, his attire was very casual. He wore a sleeveless blue T-shirt, and white shorts. There was blood on his mouth…

"Don't go running off so quickly," the mobster ordered. "I'm not going to force myself to keep up with your overly agile ass."

"Language!" Lilia warned.

"Hm?" The mobster eyed the woman who dared to say such a thing and, despite his sunglasses, you could tell his eyes widened. He quickly recomposed himself and sighed. "Why are you here, She Demon?"

"Just cause, I suppose," Lilia replied coolly.

"Why are you with these bandits?"

"Take a guess."

"I'm afraid that it might be true. My guess, I mean."

"Well, regardless of what is true or not, it at least looks like the feared demon of the Navy has joined forces with the thieves who tried to kidnap her little boy," Igor said, his twisted smile never leaving his face. "But that aside, everyone, these two gents are the other ten percent I talking about before. The one who looks like a mobster is Steven, our de facto leader, and the fatty who looks like more blob than man is Jimmenda. We make up a small, but successful hitman team. We don't go by any official title, but, for now, call us the Steven Group. For as long as you remain breathing, that is…"

"Why are you explaining things to them, you fool?" Steven wondered dryly. "If you have time to chat, kill them and finish this job."

"Ah, you're never any fun, boss man."

"These bastards… chatting casually right in front us," Clarissa growled furiously. This was more frustrating then when they were Lilia's captives. "I'm going to end this."

"Don't… don't be reckless, boss," Johnsy advised with a shaky voice. You could hear the fear in his voice. He must have seen and gone through hell before they got here. "They're monsters. All of them. It's true that that claw freak did the most damage, but those other are unreal as well. The fat one actually ate people… even kids."

"...Sick," she muttered, disgusted. She did her darndest to keep her anger from exploding. "Hey, why did you people attack us?"

"I'd think it was obvious considering I just said we were hitmen, boss-chan," Igor answered, keeping his sadistic expression. "Speaking of which, you guys sure took your time. Were you taking care of the stragglers?"

Chills went down the spines of each and every one of the bandits.

"Yeah, we did," Steven answered coldly.

"Impossible!" Johnsy snapped, his voice booming louder than an explosion. "How could you?! How could you people-you monsters-have found them!?"

"In transit, you could say," Steven said, unsympathetic. "Don't worry, we were as quick as possible. Most of them barely suffered."

Heartbroken, Johnsy let his already limp body fall flat on his face. Tears fell down his face like rain from a cloud. His sobs unnerved his comrades. He was a veteran from the time of the previous chief of the tribe. A highly valued one at that. He was admired by the younger tribesmen and respected by the other vets. Seeing him reduced to a sniveling mess pushed the others down an even darker pit of despair. However, it also fueled their already intense hatred. They wanted to attack, forgetting the value of their own lives. They wanted to tear these devil incarnates limb from limb, even if they had to be killed in the process.

The bandits boss agreed. Horrifyingly so.

"Die." Clarissa whispered. In a swift motion, she snatched the gun out of one of her subordinates hands, utilizing the expert skill of an experienced pickpocket. She shot bullets straight for the boss of the hitmen-Team Steven. She was the boss of the Greentail Bandits and he was the one leading the men who killed countless members of her beloved tribe. Taking his life was the best way for her to avenge the fallen. Her rage kept her from thinking about how Igor could just deflect the bullets. "Die! Die! Die! Diiiieee!"

"Quite the hot headed woman, wouldn't you agree? Jimmenda?" Igor smirked slyly.

In a burst of speed that shouldn't have been possible for him, Jimmenda step into the path of the bullets to defend Steven with his body. The bullets bounced off of his fatty flesh. "...That stung."

"Wha…?" Clarissa gasped in shock, unable to process what she had just witnessed. "The bullets bounced of his fat…?"

'That fat isn't normal," Lilia surmised. Most likely, it was a product of an unusual technique or power. A Devil Fruit, perhaps?

"These guys are freaks," Sylven growled, gripping his spear. "Boss, give us the order. We'll take revenge for everyone!"

"I…" Clarissa,s head was spinning. She couldn't think clearly… she was scared.

"Oh, dear," Igor sighed tiredly. "It seems we've prolonged this too much, Steven. Guess we should finish this, huh?"

"I'd agree, usually, but…" Steven glanced at Lilia, who was still holding Luffy, who glared at the hitmen angrily. He looked like he wanted to kill them. The woman had a similar look of disgust, but no fear or anxiety. That put Steven on edge. "With the She-Demon apparently siding with these thieves, it would be wiser to escape from here and take care of the rest later."

"Mom, I don't like these guys," Luffy whispered.

"Neither do I," Lilia said. "But it isn't our problem. They made their own mess."

"But mom-"

"Luffy-kun, are these kidnappers really the kind of people you want to help? What they were going to do to you was no different from what these men did here."

"I…?" Luffy wasn't sure. It's true that the bandits weren't good like his mom, but he also couldn't help but feel sorry for them when he saw how cruel the hitmen were. They lost their moms and family too.

"But, boss, if the She Demon is trashy enough to side with these two bit thieves, then maybe…" Igor tiptoed to his leaders side like a crazy ballerina. He was over a head taller than Steven, but Lilia could see the danger potential in the stocky man's aura. It wasn't to be taken lightly. "The rumors are wrong. Maybe she isn't as dangerous as they say. You always put too much stock in rumors. Sure she has an unusual Devil Fruit, but that doesn't make her invincible."

"Rumors exist for a reason," Steven argued. "Dismissing reputations often get people killed."

"But if I prove that it's a load of bull, then can we finish the job?"

"If you can."

"Yippee!" Igor yelped for joy like an excited little kid. He charged forward. His speed was unbelievable for ordinary men. The bandits could barely process Igor zipping past them to get to Lilia, who was unafraid despite the murderous psycho running towards her like a mad dog.

'How troublesome…' Lilia groaned internally, her eyes turning red. Attacking a mother with a child in her arms was playing dirty. She was about to do something, but then Diron somehow intercepted the speedy claw man and blocked him with his spiky club. Surprised, Lilia raised her head up at the large man, who had his back to her. "You saved me? Us?"

"You probably didn't need me to, but consider it returning the favor," Diron grunted as he held back Igor. Whether he was talking about letting them come here or for keeping them from getting bludgeoned by their own projectiles before, he didn't say. "This is our problem. We can't be helped by anyone or let anybody else get involved. This is the Greentail Bandits problem. Right, Ane-San? We won't be on the losing end forever."

"Diron…" Clarissa whispered as she saw him protect Lilia from Igor with wide eyes. She cursed herself. How could she let herself be intimidated by mere hitmen? She was a disgrace. "He's right."

"Boss!" Sylven said expectantly.

"Ane-san!" Oben said in the same tone.

"Sylven, Oben," Clarissa shouted. "You guys and Diron are our best shot at getting revenge. Take them down! We'll support you however we can! Right, guys!?"

"Yeah!" The bandits cheered, raising their weapons up.

"You can count on us!" Sylven and Oben roared as they ran like mad to face Steven and Jimmenda. Sylven thrusted his spear powerfully at Steven and Oben punched Jimmenda's gut with his iron knuckle clad fists. In response, Steven swiftly unsheathed his sword to block Sylven's thrust, but Jimmenda did nothing, but let himself get punched.

"It seems like letting you all get your words in was an act of hubris," Steven said casually as he held off Sylven's first strike with the flat side of his blade. "It's clear to me that you're quite a few levels beyond your fallen comrades."

"Shut up, you bastard!" Sylven growled, pushing his spear against his adversaries sword, but the man wouldn't allow himself to be overwhelmed easily. "Don't you dare talk about them, murderer!"

"My apologies. I suppose I too would be frustrated if I was in your position. After all, if you and your strong friends were here before, then maybe less of your tribesmen would be dead. Who knows."

"You monster!" Sylven howled as he started a second assault at a rapid pace. "You'll regret saying that!"

"Gross…" Oben groaned, pulling out his fist from the fat mans nearly endless belly. It was a weird feeling to be engulfed in all that fatty flesh and Jimmenda's whole body was more than big enough to engulf his whole body. Not a pleasant thought. "That flesh can't just be fat, can it?"

"But it is," Jimmenba said, his expression neutral. "Granted It isn't ordinary fat."

"Yeah, Yeah," he said dismissively. "I'm sure you're going to say something condescending, but before you do, would you wipe your freaking mouth?!"

"Oh? I didn't realize I had anything on it," Jimmenba said, licking all of the blood off of his face and wiping it with his arm. This only disgusted and enraged Oben even more. "Thank you for informing me."

"You guys are unbelievable," Oben whispered, his body trembling with anger. "You… you actually ate people! Human beings! What sort of sicko are you?!"

"Ah, I can see why you'd be upset," he said, unphased. "But I don't do it for pleasure. It is to power my ability."

"Your what?!"

"My Devil Fruit power. You see, I ate the Fat-Fat Fruit, so I became a fat man. I can increase and decrease my fat content at will, thus increasing my defense. However, there's a limit to how big I can get, but there are ways to increase that limit. Eating fatty foods, as obvious it sounds."

"What the hell does that have to do with eating people?!"

"Well, for whatever reason, the fat of animals and other mundane fat just doesn't stick for some reason. My power burns up quite a bit of fat, which is good for my health but not my power however. I can store the fat, but only for a limited time. If I don't use it within a certain time period, it will just disappear. As I said before, regular fat just doesn't stick. Even the greasiest of meat will be gone within a week. Then one day, I discovered that human fat does stick considerably longer. Much longer. Months, sometimes even a year. It is quite convenient."

"...Just to increase your defense, you'd eat people? Eat my tribesmen?" Oben was angry before, but now he couldn't even think of the words to describe the hatred he was feeling now. He squeezed his fists so hard that blood was coming out of his palms. "You're crazy."

"Am I really? I'm a hitman, you know? I'm constantly putting my life on the line doing what I do. So I consider it my responsibility to do whatever it takes to increase my chances of survival, even if it's only a little. It may not be pretty, but the way I see it, be it eaten or getting shot, the ones we target will die. At least, their corpses will be put to use."

"I've heard enough," Oben hissed, punching him again and again at intense speed. The bandits couldn't help but be disgusted by the sound the fat man's body made with each blow. "No matter how much fat you have, I'll reduce you to a bloody mess!"

"...oof," Jimmenba grunted. He seemed to be feeling the punches, but not too much damage was actually being dealt. The thick fat was doing its job as armor. "Ah, you have potent punching power. The iron knuckles help, but your strength is above average. You're quite angry, huh?"

"SHUT UP!" Oben boomed, increasing the pace of his punches and giving in to his rage. The way the fat moved in response to the punches was like looking at a cross of jelly and dough. It was flexible but wasn't fragile like jelly, nor was it inflexible like good dough, but it was just as firm. It was a disgusting sight.

"But do you really have a right to be angry, thief? Do any of you? All of you are criminals as were the women who happily supported you and the children who yearned to be like you. You all abuse others and steal from the hardworking. The feelings of frustration you lot are enduring is the same thing your victims feel everyday. You can cry and weep all you want, but in the end you are just receiving your due punishment."

"I said shut uuuuppp!" Oben howled inhumanely, not slowing down one bit.

'They're letting them get in their heads,' Lilia thought to herself, feeling frustrated. She didn't know why it bothered her so much, but it did. Perhaps it was because of the teacher within her? She was the eldest daughter of a dojo family. If all went how it should've, she'd be teaching students at her hometown and making them into this generation's greatest warriors. But she made her own choices and became a marine. It honestly wasn't that much different from being a teacher half the time. She taught those under how to get stronger (sometimes she thought that she should have just become the master like her father had wanted, but you know). She always found bad fighting her pet peeve, at least when her allies were concerned… hold on. 'Do I consider them my allies? No… that can't be it. It's just how dumb those boys are acting. Falling for such cheap and obvious taunts. It's irksome. I mean, they're stronger than I thought, but their hot heads are holding them back.'

For example, from what she saw of Sylven's spear play, he was quite skilled and strong, but all of that was lost in his heat. No matter how strong or skilled, he won't his mark without a clear head. As for Oben, he had the same problem. He had powerful punches, but they weren't effective against his opponents fatty armor. He was just wasting his energy. He needed to think things through.

As for Diron and his opponent.

"Wow, you've got good reflexes for a big guy," Igor cackled as he tried to cut Diron. However, no matter how swift he was, the bigger man could always move his large spiky club to block it. He was proving to have good reflexes. But… "So Jimmenba. How do you fatsos move so well?"

"As quick as you are, my eyes have witnessed such speed before," Diron said as he attempted to send Igor flying, however, the slender silver haired man proved to hold great strength in his smaller body. No matter how hard Diron swung, he just couldn't push him back. Add in his impressive flexibility, and the clawed man was a force to be reckoned with. "I won't be overwhelmed by it."

Diron did a horizontal swing and Igor slid back to avoid it, creating some distance between the two of them. He raised his bladed claws to his face and smiled tauntingly at Diron. "By any chance, the person with speed like mine… he wouldn't happen to be the Navy Captain Jagador, would he?"

Diron's eyes widened in shock. Not just him, but Lilia too. They both knew that name. "How do you know that name?!"

Igor was pleased by Diron's shocked face and chuckled creepily. "It isn't that hard to figure out, is it? We're hit men, and being in the know is a necessity. Besides, Jagador is quite the famous guy these days. At least here in the South Blue, that is. A Navy captain from the Grand Line coming to our sea certainly draws some buzz underground. He had a strong start, too. First thing he did was wipe wipe out the Oragara Pirates. You know about that, don't you, Captain Oragara Diron?"

SMASH!

Enraged, Diron smashed his weapon straight down at Igor, but he leaped upward to avoid the hit, causing Diron's club to destroy the ground it hit. Igor gracefully landed on Diron's club.

"So you and your friends know everything about me, do you?" Diron said through gritted teeth, glaring fiercely at him. Igor only giggled.

"Obviously. Like I said, being in the know is part of our job. You've got quite the interesting history, Diron-san. You're the third captain of a multigenerational pirate crew that passes down the mantle of captain from father to son. You're crew had been once been operating in the West Blue, but since then you migrated here to the South Blue. That must've been tough. The impressively strong captain, you, overwhelmed all resistance. None of the Navy units could overcome you… that was until Jagador, that is."

"Yah!" Fed up with adversary's unceasing words Diron raised his weapon up with all his strength to make Igor lose his balance, but the latter leaped of in response and easily landed on his feet. Diron swung at him angrily, but he flipped back to avoid it. "I'll smash your mouth! I'll send your head flying!"

"It must've been awful, humiliating even," Igor continued as he avoided Diron's assault. "One day you and your crew were on top of the world. Untouchable by all. But you were unlucky. You just had to meet him, the hot shot from the Grand Line, huh? You were the only one to escape, right? The rest were either killed or arrested. Woah!"

He narrowly avoided the diagonal swing that broke the ground it hit. And the next and the next and the ones that came after. His acrobatic ability prevented Diron from making contact. He needed to calm down if he wanted to win.

Igor continued his callous monologue despite Diron's intense rage boring through him. If anything, he seemed to enjoy it. "Sometime after that, you somehow ended up here on Greentail Island and joined these thieves. Going from the feared pirate captain of a crew that lasted generations to lowly thief of a tribe that is about to completely die out. I actually pity you a bit. If only you and your crew never bumped into Jagador that day."

"Shut your foul mouth, you bastard!" Diron shouted louder than ever before, frightening Luffy, most of the other bandits, the birds and animals near the surroundings, but not Igor. No, he got a kick from making Diron fall lower and lower. The claw man was like a bully mocking a child for having lost his family. Diron swung his club with frightening force directly at Igor, but instead of trying to dodge, like he had been for most of their fight, he blocked it with his right claws, which generated a small shock wave that shook the ground slightly.

Looking him right in the eye, Igor was unphased by Diron's pure hatred for him. It actually seemed like he enjoyed being hated. "To be honest, you were the one were wary of most. That's why Steven took advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to get the She-Demon to take you all out. I guess it didn't work, nor was it necessary. Tired already?"

Diron was huffing and puffing and sweat covered his face. His rage filled, thoughtless flurry of swings and screaming was taking a toll on his stamina. He was moving slower than before, while Igor had energy to spare. If nothing was done, he would die by Igor's claws.

There was also another reason for Diron's less than stellar fighting right now. It was due to a certain injury he received from a certain blow to the gut from a certain strong woman that should've kept him down for several hours, but he forced himself up to go help his friends. That injury was certainly impeding him now.

'I kind of feel bad,' Lilia thought as she observed from a distance. Only a little, of course. He challenged her. He had to own up to that. Plus, he helped try to kidnap Luffy, who had been remaining silent for awhile now. Was all this too much for him? Of course it was. He was a little boy. 'Still, I'm surprised to hear that Jagador-kun is in the South Blue. I haven't heard from him in a long time. Granted, he is my enemy, technically. Hmm… I don't like that that psycho is using his name to provoke the big guy. Should I step in now?"

Things were not looking good for the Greentail Bandits. Sylven was struggling against Steven, who was still looking fresh despite having to parry and block the former's unceasing assault. It was quite clear that he was highly skilled and had yet to show his full potential. Oben wasn't making any headway with Jimmenba either. The man just kept punching like mad, but the fat mans body kept absorbing most of the force. Factor in the fact that all three combatants were lost in their rage and it was truly looking bleak for the thieves.

"This is bad, Ane-san," Peter told Clarissa, as if it wasn't obvious. He wasn't much of a fighter like the three dueling it out right now, but he was smart enough to know an uphill battle when he saw one. "I… think they might lose."

Clarissa clicked her tongue in frustration. She still believed in the guys, but the realist in her knew that Peter was right. She gripped her reloaded gun. Jimmenba was basically bulletproof and Igor was too agile to land a shot against. As for Steven…

"Are you finished yet?" Steven asked Sylven dully after parrying another thrust.

Sylven was panting hard and gasping for breath. He wasn't sure how long he had been fighting with him, but, as much as he hated to admit it, he was good. Very good. No matter how he attacked or how much strength he put into his strikes, the mobster looking man just blocked him like it was nothing. It was frustrating. He knew, in the back of his head, that he should calm down, but looking at the cold and unfeeling face that slaughtered his tribesmen, even the children, he just couldn't regain his composure.

That's why, with the little bit of reason he could muster, he decided to use his best attack.

"Take this! Spear Gatling!" Sylven used his greatest move. He stomped forward and thrusted his spear forward in an abnormal way. His single spear became 10-No, 20-No, 100! Sylven moved his arms in a way that made it seem like he had thrusted a hundred spearheads. Surely, any man would be disoriented in the face of such a super human attack and would be helpless to change their fate as a mutilated corpse filled with holes.

But Steven had proven throughout this fight, with his refined swordplay and quick footed footwork, that he was not just 'any man'."

He didn't allow the illusion of a hundred spears coming to impale him throw him. Even if it looked like a hundred spears were there, he knew there was only one. He could not trace the path of his attack with his eyes, but he had a hunch on its general target. He thrusted his sword forward and parried Sylven's attack, much to the latter's shock.

"D-Darn!" Sylven cursed himself for letting himself be blocked again after using his most effective attack.

"He saw through it?!" One of the bandits exclaimed, shocked. "But that moves impossible to track!"

"He should be filled with holes," Clarissa hissed. "Are his fricking eyes that good?"

"Not at all, Leader-san," Steven said conversationally, which aggravated them all. "Your man is good. Very good. I'm surprised a bandit like him, holed up in this forest, can be so strong. However, he's too hot headed. He made it very clear that he wanted to pierce my face. I made a gamble before that he'd aim straight for my face when he made his last assault and, obviously, I won. You're very skilled, bandit, but you're too simple."

"Why you…!" Sylven snarled beastly as he was going to attack again, but Steven struck quicker, forcing Sylven to defend. This was the first time he actually tried to attack, Sylven realized. Up till now, he had just been defending against his anger driven assault. His body shook against the force of Steven's blow. 'Such power!'

"Now that I'm sure that you have nothing else to show me," Sylven whispered, pushing his blade against the spearhead. Their faces were only inches apart. So close that Sylven could the silhouette of his opponents eye from behind his shades. "I'll be going on the offensive now."

Meanwhile, Oben was so focused on his foe, that he barely processed what was happening with Sylven's battle, despite being only a couple side steps away from him. He was frustrated. He couldn't break through Jimmenba's fatty defense. He realized too late that punching like mad wasn't helping him make headway. If anything, it only tired him out.

'How do knock this fatso down?' He wondered furiously as he panted like a thirsty dog. Jimmenba claimed that his blows were injuring him, but it wasn't enough. He needed more power, but he was too much of a realist to hope that he'd suddenly gain the strength necessary to overpower his defense. 'Things aren't looking good. It kinda sounds like Sylven isn't doing too good either.'

"If you're finally done hitting me," Jimmenba said, raising his huge, meaty right arm. "I believe it's time for me to also move on the offensive."

SMASH!

With the swiftness of a machine he swung his arm diagonally downward with terrifying power. Oben striped back to avoid it, causing Jimmenba to hit the ground, which exploded on contact, leaving a hand shaped crater, terrifying some of the bandits.

"What incredible force…" Oben said hoarsely as he shielded himself from the dust blowing in his face. Undoubtedly, if he let himself get hit by one or two of those powerful arms, he probably wouldn't be able to get up again. Then he'd become food for the cannibal. Then the rest of his tribesmen would be his victims.

He'd be darned if he let that happen.

But how can he overcome his defenses?

Jimmenba threw his arm down again straight at Oben, who stepped back to avoid it. The former struck again and the latter avoided it once more. Again and again, Oben stepped back to avoid his opponents powerful smashes as he was being pushed back. He kept his guard up as he observed his foe.

Jimmenba's face was as impassive as it had been since he and Steven first appeared in front of the bandits. He didn't seem to take any pleasure or joy in what he was doing. It was as if he was a standard wage earner going through the motions of his daily routine.

This just enraged Oben more.

But he knew that he had to at least try to be calm. If he lost himself in a frenzy against such a powerful foe, he'd die and everyone else would be eaten by the freak. The fact that he realized this spoke to the fact that he at least had a better head on his shoulder than his spear wielding peer.

But still… he wanted to hurt him. To make him feel the pain he instilled into all of his tribesmen. He wanted to smack his cold face so hard, he'd be unrecognizable.

...hold on? His face?

Instantly, a plan formed in his head. Honestly, he felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier. His lips curling into a sly grin, Oben charged forward, earning yells from his friends about how reckless he was being for trying to fight the massive fighter head on. He ignored them.

Jimmenba, too, was suspicious of his mad charge, but still attacked like he had been doing. Oben didn't miss a beat. He sidestepped away from the path of his strike then quickly launched his foot off of Jimmenba's meaty arm and leaped upward to his shoulder and then launched himself off of that too and was now midair and only centimeters away from Jimmenba's face, which was considerably less fatty than therest of his obese body.

Oben realized that his fat opponent didn't have nearly as much meat on his face as the rest of his body. He probably couldn't add any fat there. Made sense. Even the fattest people he had ever met didn't have blobby faces. Certainly, it would lack the annoying defense the rest of his body had.

It was his weakness.

Oben was going to exploit that weakness. He was going to end his foe in a single blow that would shatter his skull.

"Iron Hammer Fist!" He declared the name of his punch that deserved a title. He swung his knuckle clad fist with all his might.

It was a good plan. Oben was right to think that his foe's face lacked the same defense as the rest of his body had. If he could land this blow, perhaps he would stay down for the count.

Except Jimmenba saw it coming.

For the first time since he had appeared before the bandits, the large hitman's lips curled upward into a mocking grin that almost screamed, 'got ya'. "Pwah!"

He spat straight at Oben.

However, Oben wouldn't let it stop him. While he certainly didn't relish being covered in the obese fighters saliva, he'd rather die than let something that inane keep him from smashing the brains out of the cannibal that ate his tribesmen. If it was just saliva, he wouldn't stop.

Except it wasn't just spit.

"Gyah!" Oben was just in the forehead by something hard, which caused him to break his form mid air and also cause a bit of blood to bloom out. Jimmenba knocked him out of the air with a sumo style thrust, sending crashing down to the earth. Hard.

"PT!" His friends screamed.

"Stay back!" He snapped, quickly getting back on his feet. He was sore but his bones weren't broken. Probably a mixture of his own toughness and the fact that Jimmenba couldn't put his entire weight behind his thrust. "He's too strong for you guys!"

"Heheheheh…!" Jimmenba, who had been stoic up till now, was now snickering like a teenage girl. "I was hoping you would aim for my weakness, you know? Just to do that, so I could see your face when you realized what I spit at you. Well, do you know what it is?"

'It's still stuck in my head…' Oben complained in his head. Despite the pain, he yanked out what was stuck in his forehead, which made a disgusting sound. Despite himself, Oben gasped at what was in his hand. It was half bloodied and half white. His hands trembled in a newly renewed furry. "T-This is…!"

"You guessed it, huh?"

"W-What is it…?" One of the bandits asked.

"...YOU BASTARD!" Oben roared charging at the fat Devil Fruit eater with renewed rage. With insane speed, he sent a flurry of punches far more powerful than any before that were so loud, they sounded like sticks on drums. It's his assault had to have been hurting him, but the oafish cannibal only smiled madly. It was as if he enjoyed seeing Oben like this. "Just how much are you monsters going to keep mocking our dead brethren?!"

"HAHAHA! What's wrong with it, huh?!" Jimmenba guffawed, enduring Oben's mad assault like a champ. "You're crooks! Nobody but you will care how you're treated!"

"Shut up!" Oben sent another fist flying at him, but Jimmenba intercepted him with a strong kick that sent him flying back and and fall to the ground. Oben quickly forced himself up, despite the pain he was in. "Damn… why is he so strong?"

"Let us help, you idiot!" Clarissa ordered.

"No!" Oben snapped. Even if Jimmenba has a weakness, he wasn't going to let them take advantage of it easily. He had him focusing on him, so he didn't attack the boss and the others, but that may change if they get involved. Besides… "I will take him out myself." He growled like a beast with only furosity in his head.

"PT…?" Clarissa said, unable to understand why Oben was so furious. To this extent, she meant. When Jimmenba spat at him, he was thrown over the edge. He snapped. She didn't get it. That was disgusting, sure, but the man she grew up with wasn't so immature as to let that anger him… unless it wasn't just spit? "Don't tell me… when he spat at you…?!"

"It was a piece of bone, right?" Peter said, his expression stone face. Oben, and the rest of the bandits, looked at him, shocked. "It isn't hard to figure out. If he eats people… he'll get bones stuck in his teeth."

"So he spat our guys' bones at PT?!" One of the bandits exclaimed.

"That's insane!" Another gasped.

"And, yet, I did it," Jimmenba sneered. "Be disgusted all you want, but it's basic battle theory to be resourceful. At least the guys I eat bones don't just go to waste, right? They help me fight. They have more use in death, than when they-"

SHOOT

Clarissa shot her gun straight at Jimmenba, who casually rolled his head to the side, causing the bullet to completely miss his head. The bullet landed harmlessly in the wall of a nearby hut.

"Ane-San!" Oben shouted, but she continued firing bullets at him, but when he raised his fat arms to shield his face, the hot pieces of lead bounced of harmlessly against his gelatinous flesh.

"Why… Why won't you just die?!" She scream, tears leaking from her eyes. "Why won't any of you just die?!"

"Seems like the little girl leader has met her wits end," Steven said indifferently, a defeated Sylven at his feet. "It's time we ended this. Jimmenba, how about as a courtesy for their tenacity you show our enemies your actual form?"

"Actual form?" Oben muttered before remembering that Jimmenba's current look was a result of his devil fruit. That means they hadn't seen what he looked like without its effects.

"Hm…?" Jimmenba hummed, thinking about it, unconsciously looking at himself downward. His opponent had bruised him quite a bit. He must have been quite the strong fellow. "I want to test my own fists against his…"

"What? Is he saying that he's going to turn off his devil fruit?" A confused bandit wondered aloud. "But why? Isn't that fat supposed to be an ultimate defense?"

"This may be bad…" Oben whispered. "All of you, get away from here."

"You're insane!" Clarissa snapped. "By yourself with these monsters? You'll die! We're not leaving you here!"

"There isn't-"

"Fat Retraction!" Jimmmenba roared loudly, causing the birds in the trees to fly away from the camp. Jimmenba's whole body began to shrink, his gelatinous flesh began to move back into his arms, and his mountainous physique shrunk to become a smaller, but still tall and imposing man in a white sleeveless shirt and huge muscles. With all of the fat gone, he looked more normal, even handsome, but also more frightening. Like a manly enforcer with a black ponytail and sharp eyes.

The sight made Oben grin like a madman. Stepping forward, he said, "You idiot! With out that fat, you lost the one thing that gave you an- OOF!" Jimmenba swiftly, instantly cleared the distance between them and punched Oben square in the face, knocking him backwards.

"PT!" They cried in distress. Jimmenba was now only a hairsbreath away from them. Immediately, they drew their weapons to face one of the men responsible for massacering their tribesmen and families. "Murderer!"

In the face of guns, crossbows, knives, and other deadly weapons wielded by en who wanted to kill him, the now muscular hitmen sighed dully. "The reason I need to use y ability is not to deal with you trash. As you've witnessed today, there are many strong and powerful men on the sea. So strong, I must use tricks such as the Fat-Fat Fruit to get an edge on them. I do not need it against playground bullies. Surely you must sense the overwhelming difference between us?"

"Stop talking, you bastard!" Clarissa shouted, attempting to stab Jimmenba with the knife in her hand, but he caught her by the wrist. She attempted to break free, but his grip was too tight. "Let go!"

"We are also not afraid of little girls who have fallen into desperation," he added coldly, looking into her eyes with a chilling contempt. The bandits were going to go and try to help her, but Oben, who had a bloody nose beat them to it.

"Let go of her!" He demanded.

"As you wish," he said casually, tossing Clarissa into the arms of Peter, bruised wristed, while also dodging Oben's punch. "She'll die soon enough any way. Be it before or after you makes no difference to me That aside, I hope you'll entertain me well. I did turn into my true form just for you, you know?"

"That was a mistake," Oben growled, swing a punch at Jimmenba, but he side stepped to avoid contact and delivered a swift punch to Oben's face. He tried to return the favor, but his footwork was just too good. He moved to well for him to land a decent punch. "He's so quick!"

"You fight a bit like a boxer," Jimmenba noted, easily avoiding Oben's fists. "Iron knuckles aide, you have good power. If you had choses a life as a dedicated boxer, instead of a second rate thief, then you'd surely have a happier life."

"Stop talking!" Oben roared before he was hit in the forehead which caused blood to bloom from where he was hit.

"It's a shame, you know? You and I could have been some of the best boxers in the world, yet fate had other plan. You were born into a bandit tribe and I… well, you can imagine, right?" He grabbed Oben by his neck and flung him over his shoulder a few feet away from him like a judo expert.

"You just grabbed me," he said hoarsely, unable to get up. He was at his limit. "What sort of boxer does grappling?"

"The kind who lost the chance to become a true boxer," Jimmenba said bitterly, standing over him. "I will eat you now."

"No!" The bandits screamed, firing bullets at will, straight for Jimmenba.

"Fatify!" He whispered, the fat of his body instantly growing, not to the point he was as big as he was before, but still big enough to bear hug a full grown man. The bullets bounced right off of him, again. "You guys will all die, that is a fact. If you want it to before this guy, I'll happily oblige you."

"Damn it…" They cursed themselves, the hitmen, and the world it self as they fell to their knees in complete defeat. In complete resignation of their fates. At that moment, the Greentail Bandits felt completely helpless. They gave up. As was natural at the sight of their strongest being beaten like children right before their eyes, not to to mention the fact that all of their families and loved ones and been brutally murdered by these hitmen, the Steven Group. With all of that, with everything that was taken from them, with everything that is about to be taken from them, each of the andits sunk to the darkest depth of despair. Even Clarissa, gave in to that dark emotion. They had lost everything.

And in the depth of that darkness, no one noticed that Johnsy, who was broken boned, was missing from the group of bandits.

"Well, I guess this it for these guys,' Lilia thought as she emptily stared at the final stages of this battle. The only one still fighting was Diron, but he was clearly going to lose as well. Even if he pulled off a miracle, there was no way he'd be able to defeat Steven and Jimmenba by himself. Everyone here would die. Not her, of course. Or Luffy. As strong as the hitmen were, Lilia was confident she'd be able to take them down easily enough. They were probably only Paradise level at most. As someone who could inspire fear in others even in the New World, she could easily deal with their ilk while protecting Luffy if it came to it.

And that should be fine for her, but…

"Hehehe It looks like my guys have pretty much beat your two little friends, Diron-san~!" Igor laughed gleefully as he continued to leap around happily, like a psych, easily avoiding Diron's club. "Why not just give up?"

"Quiet!" Diron boomed. Although he knew the situation. Although he knew his fellow bandits had already given up or were defeated. Although he knew he could not defeat Igor as he was now. He couldn't give up! He was a pirate before a bandit, and pirates didn't quit! Quitting for a pirate meant drowning. And Diron did not want to to drown!

When he lost his crew to Jagador...

When he was left injured in the sea…

When he was found washed up on the shore of Greentail island by the boss and her boys two years ago… The thing that kept him going was the desire to live!

"Even if I'm about to die, I don't quit!"

"...You're pretty cool, huh?" Igor whispered, almost sympathetically. He delivered his final blow; he moved like an electric spinning saw and thrust his whole body at Diron, who tried to defend himself with his weapon, but he had reached his limit and his legs gave out. He fell flat on his back and his black spiked club flew into the air.

Diron had lost.

The Greentail Bandit Tribe were officially defeated.

'It's over,' Lilia concluded, almost sadly. She would let these Hitmen do with the bandits as they pleased, then interrogate the former on how they discovered her and Luffy's arrival. Was that cruel? Probably. However, Lilia could not let herself feel sympathetic towards people who would kidnap Luffy. Their would likely be more of their kind in the future. She need to show the whole the consequence of targeting her and her boy. It was cruel, definitely, but they brought it upon themselves. You don't try to kidnap a girl's son.

Except… once upon a time, she would have gladly stepped in at this point and stopped the bloodshed. But that was before she was a fugitive mother with a five year old she needed to protect. Back when she had strong and reliable comrades to cover for her. Now she was a lone parent that the rest of the world wanted dead. She didn't have time to act on her morals…. Was that okay?

"Please… help us." A hoarse voiced pleaded to her, snapping Lilia out of her thoughts. She looked down to see Johnsy at her feet. Judging by the dirt he was covered in, he must have crawled past everyone while the fighting was going on. All while being severely injured and half of his bones were broken. "Please, I beg of you. Save this tribe from further tragedy."

"...You're Johnsy, right? It maybe irrelevant at this point, but you should not be moving right now."

Not that it mattered. You see, Lilia has a gift. It was something she has had ever since she was a little girl. The gift to see the colors of people's souls. The colors told her what kind of people they were. Whether they were good or evil, happy or sad, truthful or deceitful, and in some cases, whether they would die or not. In those cases, it was more mental, than physical (such as illnesses). Meaning that the person in question truly believed that they would die to the core of their being. In Johnsy's case, his colors were definitely of those who believed that they weren't long for this world. As were the other bandits. They all lost almost all of their hope.

"I don't matter. Their lives do. Please, save us! I will give you my life if you want it!"

"And you think I can help you?"

"I know you can help us. You have the power!"

"You were the ones who attacked us, diverting your man power to let them attack you. I am not responsible for your mess."

"Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!" He kept repeating it, over and over like a broken record. Lilia was almost amazed that he had the strength to keep it up. "I'll do anything you want. I'll be your slave! I'll kill myself! I'll do anything! Just save them!"

Despite his desperate, earnest plea, Lilia was still unsure. Not even she was sure why that was. She was confident that she could defeat those three, so she wasn't afraid that she'd die and leave Luffy alone. At this point, she certainly prefered the bandits to the hitmen, but something was holding her back. What was it? Did she hate the bandits so much that she wanted to see them slaughtered? No, that wasn't it. Was she so indifferent that their deaths wouldn't affect her? No, that wasn't it, either. It wa more like…

Oh, Lilia realized. She needed a push. A reason. It was contradictory to the actions that she always made prior to becoming a fugitive, but that was it. She needed a reason to save them aside from a half-dead man begging her to. It was odd and borderline in humane, but that was it. A reason to fight for the bandits that tried to sell her only son was what she needed to take action. But what could convince her to act?

"Mom," Luffy, who had been silent since the fighting began, said. Without waiting for her to respond, he turned himself self around in her arms, climbed up to her ear, and whispered something. Lilia eyes widened at what Luffy had said. The next moment, her lips curled into a thin, sly smile. Seeing this, Johnsy became confused. What did the kid say?

"That's interesting," she said, her eyes glowing red.

---

It was over. That was what all of the bandits agreed collectively.

Steven slowly raised his sword over his head as he stood above Sylven's body. He was going to kill him.

Everyone was dead or going to die soon enough. Even if they, the other able bodied bandits, fought, they would only lose to these monsters.

Jimmenba raised Oben by his throat and opened his mouth wide. He was going to eat him.

Running was also pointless. Igor, swift as he was, would easily catch and kill them before they could get anywhere.

The clawed man leaped into the air and spun like an electric human top with blades and dove downward, vertically. He would slaughter Diron.

They gave up. They, the infamous Greentail Bandit Tribe with a century of history, gave up. They lost their pride…

"She Demon," They all said hoarsely. And without pride, they had nothing left to lose. They would ask the woman they had made enemies of and who made fools of them for help. For the fallen. "Please, stop them!"

"Well, since you asked," her voice said instantly. In that moment, three black tentacles of miasma spread throughout the makeshift battlefield at lightning speed. They moved in the directions of the three bandits and three hit men. One came over Sylven, protecting him from Steven's blade, causing the latter to be unable to pierce it. The same happened to Oben and Jimmenba, where the latter had bitten into the pitch black substance. It didn't have a taste and it wasn't hard, but it wasn't soft either. It was hard to describe. The third black tentacle slithered over Diron's body blocked Igor's execution of Diron. Each of the Hitmen leaped away from from the black miasma tentacles instinctively. The tentacles formed hands at the tail end and grabbed Sylven, Oben, and Diron, taking them over to where Johnsy was laying and away from their would be killers. "I'll help out."

She walked past the bandits casually, ignoring their stupefied stares. They likely didn't think that she'd actually help them. She had Luffy caged in a a black dome made from her power, to protect him from any dirty tricks (naturally, it had breathing holes). He complained, but Lilia ignored that as well. She stopped, as she stood in a roughly equal distance from the hitmen.

"You really will?!" Clarissa exclaimed happily. The other bandits also exclaimed cheers.

"So long as you keep in mind, this is my fight now."

"What?" Clarissa was confused.

"If you keep that in mind, I will take them down."

"I don't understand, but fine," Clarissa conceded. If the ones who murdered her people could be punished, then she didn't care about anything else.

"Tch!" Steven clicked his tongue in frustration. "So you're actually going fight now, She-Demon? After we've almost finished our job. That isn't fair, you know? You were just watching before."

"What can I say? I'm a whimsical woman." She merely shrugged. "But, honestly, I'm just trying to do what's right. You know, the right choice?"

"Darn," he sighed. "Let's escape, guys. Our job is basically done."

"And what does that mean?"

"That's none of your-"

"Hold on, Steven!" Igor shouted loudly. He ran from behind the bandits and leapt over the entire crowd of people like he could fly. He dove down and charged towards Lilia madly. "You said that if I could beat her, then we wouldn't have to run. So let me chop her to pieces!"

You know, Lilia had more than one nickname to her name. The She-Demon was the most well known, but there were others as well, such as The Navy Queen or The Black Femme Fatale. But one that linked directly to her capabilities was… the Iron Woman. She got it on account of the fact that be it bullets or cannon balls, they all failed to even break her skin.

SNAP!

Igor swiftly dashed to her, swung all ten of his claws at her, and when they connected with her body… they all snapped, much to Igor's, Steven's, Jimmenba's, and the bandits' shock. The only one who's eyes weren't popping out of their sockets and their jaws dropping to the ground, was Lilia who looked coldly at Igor, who was still a few inches above the ground, and smacked the center of his face with the side of her hand, knocking out his teeth and shattering his glasses and sending him flying into a hut a few meters away. Lilia silently apologized to the corpses that were probably in that hut.

"Thinking back, he was questioning how dangerous I was before," Lilia said casually, smiling cooly, despite the agape faces she was getting for one shoting the monstrously strong mad man that defeated Diron, the bandits best fighter. She looked straight at Steven, who glared at her darkly. "Since he's out of commission for the time being, can you tell me what you think, Steven-kun?"

---

That's the end for now.

What do you think? Was it good or bad? How do you like the characters so far? Who's your favorite to this point? How do you like the action scenes? Now I think anyone who has tried to write fight scenes knows how tricky that can be, but I think I did well this tim.

Now, let me give you some perspective on the fighting strengths of the characters. Sylven and Oben could fight evenly with The Monster Trio one on one at the earliest point of the canon story and Diron could probably overpower them half the time. The hitmen could certainly beat them at their East Blue level, but all six of them would fall easily to them by the time they reached Sabaody Archipelago.

As for Lilia, she's super strong even in the New World, so nuff said there. If she seems overpowered that's because she is and she's earned it. There's a lot to her backstory you've yet to see.

Next chapter will likely conclude this Greentail Island arc. So be there and witness (read) what will happen.

Read and Review.