I'm surprised I haven't gotten any flames yet. Oh well, fingers crossed that the good luck continues.

Johnny and Yosaku were blubbering messes as they hauled Zoro's body onto the deck of the Baratie. "Big Bro!" they wailed, convinced he was dead.

Their certainty was challenged when Zoro opened his eyes and reached up to give them both slaps on the head. "Shut up, idiots! I'm trying to nap. Dying takes a lot out of you."

'Technically, you never died. Grievous as the wound may appear, you would have lived even without our assistance.'

Zoro acknowledged the all-knowing voice in his head. He looked down to poke at the wound, which was plugged up with biomass. "Will this scar?"

'Not unless you want it to. And we know you do. You warrior types are all about mementos of battle.'

Zoro smirked. "If I'm still kicking, it proves that I survived. It's a mark of toughness."

"More like a mark of stupidity," Nami snarked, hauling herself out of the water. She rubbed her jaw. "Is it possible to sprain your teeth? That bite hurt me more than it hurt him."

'Every little bit of biomass in the target's system helps. We thank you for your part in Embracing Mihawk, Nami.'

"Oh, it was nothing," she breathed, even as toe-curling ecstasy surged through her veins. Goo had one hell of a reward system.

The water was filled with halves of bodies. It would have been gruesome if there were any blood. Instead, the top halves were sorting through the mess trying to find their respective bottom halves.

"Quick thinking, giving them all the Chop-Chop Fruit," Sanji remarked, chewing on a toothpick. Thanks to Goo, he could enjoy a constant nicotine high without the need for a cigarette, but the oral fixation remained. He just wasn't comfortable without something in his mouth to fiddle with.

'We predicted Embracing Mihawk could prove to be violent. It was a logical precaution. We should count ourselves lucky he was too disconcerted to use Armament.'

"As if you couldn't stitch them back together even if they'd really been bisected," Usopp said, still trying to get over his nerves over the fact he had shot Dracule Mihawk. The man would be unable to hold it against him once in the Embrace, but it was still giving the sniper chills.

'Well, yes, but it would have taken considerable biomass. Waste not, want not, as you humans say.'

Luffy clambered onto the ship, the unconscious form of Mihawk in his arms. "Whew! This guy's heavy!"

"It's probably his sword, Luffy," Nami explained.

"Oh, yeah!" Luffy held it up, running a hand over the blade almost as long as he was. The biomass that leaked from his palm began to coat the blade, analyzing the metal and determining its strength and composition. "Ne, think I can eat this?"

"Don't you dare!" Zoro screamed. "That's Mihawk's. He keeps it even if Goo can make another for him."

Luffy pouted. "Aw, you're no fun."

'You would only break your teeth even if you tried, Luffy,' Goo spoke up. 'Based on my preliminary findings, this blade is made of diamond. Or at least a crystalline carbon."

"Diamond?!" Nami's eyes turned into Belly signs, a phenomenon as eerie as Sanji's hearts.

"It. Belongs. To. Mihawk," Zoro ground out.

"Right. Sorry. Don't know what came over me," Nami apologized.

"What about our newest nakama? You figure out what makes him so strong?" Luffy asked his first and dearest crewmate.

'I'm still mapping out his anatomy. But from what I can see, his muscular system, while impressive, is nothing near as strong as an Embraced's. There are, however, some strange enzymes lingering in the tissues and some curious growths in the nerves, much like I found in Zeff. Give me an hour and I'll know more.'

"Hmm. Well, he's in the Embrace. That's good enough for me. Time to head out! We need to go to Nami's island and meet the fishy-people."

"Fishmen, Luffy," the redhead corrected. "You heard the captain. Let's set sail."

The five Straw Hats made their way onto the Going Merry, sending mental 'thank you's and 'goodbye's to those still on the Baratie. Not that it was really necessary. Though they would be geographically separated, they were always together in the Embrace. But force of habit held them to give their farewells.

Krieg turned his back on the 'pretender' to his rightful throne, while Gin and Zeff smiled, seeing their dear friends off on their next adventure.

"So what's next for you and your idiot captain?" Zeff questioned the younger.

"We'll scavenge enough wood and biomass from the wreck to make a new ship. Then it's back to the Grand Line, I suppose. Once the Don feels up for it."

Zeff sighed. It was a shame to see good men following an idiot. But he could respect a man's honor and duty. "Of all the customers I ever imagined this restaurant having, I never thought we'd play host to Dracule Mihawk."

Gin eyed the unconscious figure warily. "Do you think Goo can do it? Can he figure out the secret of his strength and give it to us all? Imagine, an army with each individual at that insane level…"

Zeff sighed, feeling a surge of comfort and ease from the thing wrapped around his brain in response to his momentary disease. "Sounds like an army to take over the world."

Despite the mental assurances, or perhaps because of them, Zeff just couldn't decide whether that was a good or a bad thing.

It was actually a very short distance, relatively, from the Baratie to Conomi Island. The Straw Hat crew were halfway there when Mihawk awoke.

It was like a ripple, the effects spreading out from his mind to reach every one of the Embraced. When one had seen the utter insanity of the New World, when one had fought men who lesser people had thought all but gods and made them bleed, when one had reached such a peak that the distance between yourself and a common man seemed the same as that between a man and an ant… it changed you. It gave you a certain perspective. It transformed how you saw the world.

That was what Mihawk gave the Embrace. An openness to any conceivable chaos, the wherewithal to handle reality warping around you, an understanding of the continuum of power.

That, and secrets of swordsmanship that he and he alone had discovered and perfected over the years.

And also one last thing.

'EUREKA! It finally makes sense!'

Luffy perked up. "Oh? You find out how Hawk-guy was so strong?"

'Indeed. I have figured it out. Compounded energy, or perhaps I should say 'Stored Will'. Not to sound esoteric, but the power of his spirit was imbued into his every fiber. There are organelles in each of his cells that actually contain Haki like a battery. Not even Armament, exactly. Just raw, psionic power, passively leaking from every cell. It acts like a multiplier, allowing muscles and bones and nerves to operate under stresses that logically they could not possibly withstand. An effect that was only amplified when consciously using Haki!'

Luffy tilted his head.

'Alright, think of it this way. Say a ship is riding a strong wind, and then shuts its sails. The ship will still coast at a certain speed for a while, even though the ship is not trying to move anymore. Normally, the ship would eventually slow down. Instead, Mihawk's 'ship' never loses speed. Every time his sails open, he speeds up. And even when he closes the sail, he keeps the new, added speed.'

Luffy scratched his temple.

'*Heavy Sigh* Yes, Luffy. We found out how Mihawk was so strong.'

"Oh! Awesome! So, you can make us all that strong, too?"

'Well, that I cannot do. Despite our best efforts, we cannot simply pull Psi energy out of nowhere. What we CAN do is place the same infrastructure in place in all Embraced's systems. Should you regularly practice usage of Haki and physically exert yourselves, your individual reserves should fill up and start to provide the multiplier.'

"Huh. So, just keep training like normal and we'll get as strong as him eventually? That's it?"

'… Pretty much, yes. But you'll get as strong as him much faster than it took him to get that strong. And don't forget, we can continue to infuse biomass into your bodies to improve physical capabilities. Not to mention our constant experiments with false bodies to find superior systems.'

"I get it," Nami said. "It's like interest on a loan. No matter how high the rate is, it still takes nothing but time for it to really add up."

"Eh, whatever. Keep working out and sparring, that's all I'm taking away from this," Zoro grumbled. He picked at his scab of biomass. New tissue growing into a scaffold proved surprisingly itchy.

"Lunch, everyone!" Sanji ordered, bringing out a platter holding five little cubes. "Tailored for your individual biomass needs! With flavors picked out with care by your genius chef!" Sanji shrugged. "I put more into Nami-swan's, of course, but the rest of you bastards should like it too."

"Thanks, I guess," Usopp voiced. He popped his cube into his mouth and chewed. "Delicious! What is this supposed to be?"

"Stuffed mushrooms. I wanted to cure you of your little phobia," Sanji said. He took a kind of smug sadism in Usopp's conflicted look as the knowledge of the flavor conflicted with his long-time aversion to all edible fungi.

"Hmm, Tangerine Chicken. Just like Bellemere made! Thanks, Sanji-kun!" Nami winked. She'd never actually let a pervert like him touch her, but there was nothing wrong with playful teasing.

"Meat!" Luffy cheered after chewing his meal-in-a-bite.

"… This just tastes like water," Zoro chimed in.

"I thought that's all moss needed in order to grow," Sanji replied cheekily.

The next second, they were engaged in a deadly battle of cuts and kicks.

If nothing else, Sanji and Zoro would always get along for a fight.

'Luffy-san!'

The captain perked up. 'Koby?' he called back.

'Goo requested I relay this. There are two Marine ships in the area around Nami-san's island. One is from the 16th Branch, the other from the 77th. According to reports, Commodore Pudding-Pudding himself is on the latter.'

Luffy couldn't help but laugh. "Shishishi! What kind of name is 'Pudding'? Shishishi!"

Nami picked out the details of Luffy's joke from the collective mind of the Embrace. "The 16th is led by Nezumi. He's corrupt to the core. I've seen him come in to take bribes from Arlong. I've never heard of the 77th though."

Usopp held a finger to his chin. "So, we've got Fishmen Pirates on the island, a dirty Marine sneaking around, and some would-be heroes sailing in to save the day," he deduced.

"What does it matter? We're making all of them nakama anyway," Luffy chimed in, digging for gold in his sinuses from his spot on Merry's head.

Usopp and Nami sighed in unison. The sounds of Zoro and Sanji's continued fight echoed around them.

"We're the only sane ones onboard," Usopp realized sadly.

"Now you know how I feel every single day," Nami commiserated. "There's this thing called 'strategy', Luffy. Tactics. You might have heard of it."

"Remember, he tried to Embrace an entire city all on his own," Usopp pointed out.

"… Never mind."

'We have a plan. One that should handle all threats AND lead to a swift Embrace of the island,' Goo spoke up, causing all to pause and listen.

In the end, they had Don Krieg to thank. It was him and his MH-5 bomb that gave Goo this idea. All it took was borrowing a few formulae from Buggy's mind and having Usopp double-check the calculations.

The Straw Hats sailed into an out of the way cove on the island, and immediately went into the forest… where they began to consume trees by the acre. They needed lots and LOTS of biomass to pull this off.

After a couple hours work, they had it. The Bio-Bomb.

From there, it was just a matter of bringing everyone into the blast radius.

Commodore Pudding-Pudding and Captain Nezumi were sure shocked when their ships started moving independently of the wind or waves, as two Straw Hats dragged them from underneath towards the island.

With one last check with Observation to ensure that everyone was in range, Goo set it off.

To an outside observer, it looked as if a massive bank of fog appeared from nowhere to enfold the island.

Everyone, from Marines to Pirates to civilians, could not help but inhale some of the strange mist. Everyone had to breathe, right? Within seconds of administration, all fell into the beginning stages of the Embrace. Not only that, but the flora and fauna of the island were also laced with biomass. The entire island and almost a mile out past the shore was hit by the gas.

The entire island, Embraced in one explosive burst. The mist also sank into the water out at the edges, spreading the Embrace to the local waters.

'It will not work for the larger islands. It simply would not be economical to sacrifice that much biomass. But for small islands like this one, this option should prove to be most effective.'

Nami walked through her mother's beloved tangerine grove, watching and feeling as the plants were strengthened from within to the peak of health by the white mist of airborne biomass. "Fast and bloodless. I approve."

"Well, I don't," grumbled Luffy, helping himself to a kitchen in a random town on the island. "All I had to do was munch trees for a while. At least with the others I got to chase people down."

"You got to see Mihawk and Zoro duel earlier today. That's enough excitement for one day, don't you think?" Usopp countered, admiring the view from the top of Arlong Park.

"Man, these Fishmen look weird," Zoro commented, picking up the limp arm of some kind of humanoid octopus.

Sanji was enjoying an imaginary smoke from the deck of the good commodore's ship. "One of the Seven Warlords, two Marine Branches, a new species, and a whole island. Not a bad haul for one day."

'Indeed. All told, this was a very productive day for the Embrace.' That said, Goo went back to his investigation of the Fishmen genome. 'Such mitochondria!'

The Marines, once awakened, left for their Bases. Their comrades were in need of the gifts and wonders of the Embrace. The left an island in celebration. Between freedom from oppression and integration into a massive network of joyful, compassionate souls, the people of Conomi felt like they'd died and gone to heaven.

The Fishmen were all very sorry for their actions, once Goo had cleaned out all the negativity and emotional blocks from their psyches. The trauma of Fisher Tiger's death and Jinbe's apparent 'betrayal' had hurt them all deeply. Arlong had hid from the pain with anger, and led many of his nakama to follow his example.

It took Arlong personally bowing before Nojiko to get her to truly forgive him, but aside from that the island accepted his remorse as true. They could feel the sincerity of it themselves.

The Fishmen made plans to return to Fishman Island, taking time to Embrace any East Blue islands on their route.

After a night of eating, drinking, and making merry, the Straw Hats set out on their final destination before the Grand Line: Loguetown. The place where the Pirate King had been born and then executed. And the location of the only Logia in the East Blue.

Mihawk, meanwhile, set out on his own journey. There was an old friend he wanted to see… him and his crew.

Luffy still felt guilty about Shanks' arm, after all.

Well, that's what came out of my twisted brain. Let's see what everyone thinks. At this rate, this whole thing might be less than 100k words total. On the other hand, it'd be nice to have a genuine 'completed' in my repertoire. Back to School for some, next week, good luck all.