Last chapter to post for the week! 3 more after this one!

Thanks to coolmon16 for the Fav and Follow!

Chapter 166 (or 4) – Taking Back the Crew

Maria's POV

I started circling the clearing slowly, not taking my gaze off Airam as she started to do the same. She had her usual knowing sneer on her face, but it didn't seem to be as haughty as it had been when I'd last seen her.

Then again, last time I'd seen her I'd been in the company of a group of pirates that she'd thought were dead, so that probably had done something.

I kept my thoughts of the Purple Pirates away from the Marineford Massacre and focused instead on the person moving in time with my steps in front of me.

"I was wondering if you'd ever show up in the New World," Airam said casually. "It's a beautiful place, isn't it? Full of chaos and powers beyond the comprehension of most humans who—"

"Airam, this isn't you."

Airam blinked at me, then chuckled. Not a full-blown "Zihihihihi!" laugh like I'd been expecting. "Not me? What makes you say that? Clearly, you don't remember enough to be able to say that you—"

"Actually, Myra, I think you'll find that I've remembered more in the last two years than I did in the few months that I was with the Straw Hats before Marineford."

Airam stopped. I did, too, but only to keep her in my line of sight. Her expression had gone blank as soon as I'd said the other name.

"Name not recognized," Airam said in a monotone. She shook her head and refocused, smirking. "You claim you've remembered everything?"

"Considering that I took your World Jumping abilities from you and used it to fuel the Continuum Shift, yes," I replied flatly.

Airam stiffened. Her smirk, which had already been wavering, went flat. "So you do remember." The crazed grin came back in full force. "Which means you can have the full knowledge that I destroyed you tonight! The MindTech may not work on you, but the masters—"

"Aren't going to be able to do anything because of the Continuum Shift," I replied.

"Are you so sure? You simply reset the universe – you didn't do anything else! You haven't completely stopped them from doing something like this again! Who's to say they aren't planning on taking over this dimension and starting all over?!"

"You."

Airam's grin faltered. "What?"

I wasn't thinking when I was just plowing through these answers, I can tell you that much. Because of what Vegapunk had done with Zoro minutes ago those particular memories of that particular time were still fresh on my mind, and I wasn't intending to just let them haunt the back of my mind.

"I took your World Jumping abilities," I said, repeating what I'd said before. "The Multiverse knew you were abusing them and knew what to do about it as a result. The Dark Arms need someone who can mess with time and space the way a World Jumper only can, and they're not gunning after me because I threw them off before, and they're not gunning after you because I made you useless to them."

I was only goading her at this point.

And guess what? It worked.

Change in POV

Chopper whimpered as he came to, covered in burns and held tightly in a hug of mechanical arms. "Th-that was scary!" He buried his face in Franky's bare chest, wailing.

"It was definitely unnerving," Franky agreed. He looked over at Hiken. "How'd you know about those things, anyway? I haven't seen or heard of tech like this before."

"It's something that I've run into before," Hiken replied. He scanned the dark forest clearing they were standing in. "But I didn't have to face its creators head-on like Flare-Up did."

"Flare-Up?"

"Ah – Maria. She's better known as Flare-Up out there." Hiken motioned at the sky vaguely. "Although, that Fire Storm nickname might fit her a little bit better. She went after the guys who made that stuff and destroyed my world along with a bunch of others, so she knows her way around these things really well."

"Maria told us only recently that she was…wasn't from our world." Chopper sniffled, getting his act together. "S-so, there can be people from out there who look like people we know, too?"

"Yup. An infinite number – or so I've been told." Hiken shrugged sheepishly as Chopper stared at him with wide eyes. "This is the first time I've run into you guys again after leaving home."

"Wow…"

"So, how're they doing?" Franky asked. "Our other selves, I mean."

Hiken's expression became more grim. He turned to look away from the two of them while they looked at him with a concerned expression.

"I…I haven't seen them since the World Collision. I don't know if they got out before everything went to hell or not." Hiken sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I know one of them definitely didn't, though."

The tone in his voice caused Franky's eyes to widen sharply.

"Why do you—"

An explosion went off somewhere else on the island; the dark night was suddenly lit up with something the color of orange and purple flames.

Hiken turned sharply, facing another part of the island as purple and orange flames climbed higher and higher, above the trees and blotting out the stars momentarily with the strength of their light.

"Looks like Flare-Up's found Airam," Hiken commented. "Let's find the others before she tried to use them against her as hostages!"

"Right!" Franky rose to his feet, still holding onto Chopper with one metal hand. "Lead the way, bro! We've got crewmates to find!"

"I'll help, too!" Chopper added. He hopped out of Franky's hand and shifted to Heavy Point, appearing more human but not quite having that appearance. "We've got to find the others, before it's too late!"

"Zoro's working with us, so we still have the rest of your crew to rescue," Hiken said.

"That's six more people at least!" Franky pointed out. "And super powerful ones, too!"

"Then we'd better move before Airam uses them!" Hiken started running back into the trees, Franky and Chopper following after him. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to see this world end again!"

Franky and Chopper exchanged looks at Hiken's exclamation. Franky raised an eyebrow, but Chopper looked worried.

"Again?" Chopper asked.

Hiken didn't answer. And that only seemed to make Chopper even more worried.

"Franky, I think I know what happened to our other selves," Chopper said worriedly.

"Yeah," Franky muttered. "Let's make sure that it doesn't happen again, huh? I don't think Captain would like it too much."

Chopper looked at Franky with a concerned expression, then nodded and looked back at Hiken ahead of them with a more determined look. "Right!"

Hiken ignored the two of them as they talked behind him as he continued to move forward. His mind was going elsewhere – back to memories that he'd left behind some time ago, when he'd left his own world far behind.

He could still see that straw hat lying in the center of what used to be Marineford, without its owner nearby to pick it up and leap into the fray to beat back whatever stood in his way. Blood flecks sat on the red ribbon, almost unseen.

Almost.

Change in POV

Zoro pried the black box off the back of Sanji's neck with a flick of the tip of a blade, cutting the device in two in the process.

Sanji groaned and pushed himself up from where he'd collapsed on the ground, rubbing the back of his neck. "What the hell was that?"

"Welcome back to the land of the sane," Zoro said dryly. "As sane as you're gonna get anyway."

Sanji looked at him sharply, eyes narrowing. "What was that?" He blinked when he saw the look on Zoro's face: brow furrowed, eye narrow.

He wasn't looking for their usual rival-fight. Zoro was looking for something else.

Sanji pushed himself up to his feet, still rubbing at the back of his neck like something had been there that hadn't felt right seconds ago. "What's going on?"

"Some moron's pulling a mind control trick with tech," Zoro replied. "Maria knows what it is and is going after some evil twin double of her who's trying to use them for something. Not sure what."

"She's facing her double alone?" Sanji frowned. "You should've stayed with her and—"

An explosion of purple and orange flames shot up from another part of the forest-covered island, blending together in some horrid color combination that lit the rest of the island in an eerie glow.

"I think she's got it handled." Zoro turned his gaze away from the column of flames as it faded. "We've got to find the others and knock them loose of whatever it is that we got stuck with when we were stupidly lured out here."

Sanji frowned. "Any idea where that music was coming from? It…almost felt like it was calling to my very soul for some reason."

Zoro snorted. "If Usopp was here, he'd probably say sirens."

Sanji snorted in agreement. "Hell yeah he would. I wouldn't be surprised if he says that as soon as we get him loose." He looked around. "So, we've got to rescue the others then, right? I'll take care of Nami-san and Robin-chan. You can handle the rest." He started to run out of the clearing.

Zoro moved in front of him. "Wait. There's something else."

Sanji stopped shot and pulled back, eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "Make it quick, moss head, we don't have time."

"We're getting help from another double. Not of one of us – someone else Luffy knows."

"Okay, how do you know he's a double?"

"Because he's supposed to be dead."

Sanji blinked. "Someone Luffy knows who's supposed to be dead? It's not his mom, is it? His grandma?"

Zoro raised a hand, looking ready to smack Sanji upside the head, then lowered it as he gritted his teeth. "It's Ace, you idiot."

Sanji blinked in surprise. "Ace…? But how'd he get here if he's supposed to be—"

"We'll have to ask him that when we're done here. Maria, too – they have a lot to answer for."

Sanji didn't look like he wanted to get Maria stuck in a question-and-answer session, but Zoro was – furiously – right. There were a lot of holes in her story about being able to travel to different worlds that they hadn't had a chance to fill in yet, and whatever it was, they were going to have to get those answers soon.

"So this Other-Not-Ace is running around helping us, too?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah. He said to call him Hiken."

" 'Fire Fist'? So he has that ability, too."

"Yeah, and Luffy's scar."

Sanji's eyes widened. "He – how?!"

"Obviously, something different happened to him." Zoro looked over at Sanji grimly. "And I don't think it takes a genius to figure out what it is that did happen."

Sanji didn't look like he liked the implications of that. "Luffy's not gonna like that."

"We don't know how Luffy's going to react to this. He was there, not the rest of us. We're going to have to play this by ear once Maria's taken care of that double of hers and we've gotten everyone else back to normal."

There came the sound of something snapping nearby, and a small, dark something rocketed down into the grass in front of them. Zoro and Sanji split in two different directions as a giant venus fly trap grew up from the ground suddenly, snarling like it was hungry.

Zoro flicked his sword at it, the slight movement cutting the plant's head off. "Looks like we've got out next crewmate."

"Yup." Sanji pulled out a cigarette and lit it, tapping a foot against the ground. "All right, Usopp, where are you hiding?"