A/n: Okay, this is pretty ridiculously long and I am worried most of the readers might get annoyed and give up midway. Mostly because I don't trust myself with holding my grammar consistency for over five thousand words! Do tell me if I should opt for shorter chapters instead.
A few moments ago…
At the Alabastan coast the atmosphere was a lot lighter than it had been before, now that the mighty Straw Hats were here, it seemed like moods of the soldiers present there had uplifted exponentially. Cobra had made the hard choice of not notifying the citizens so soon, opting to let them hide in their houses in fear. He might not have seen many wars in his peaceful reign but he knew enough about history to realize that tides can turn any instant in a war.
Though it might not seem as dire a situation if you were to notice the carefree attitude these Straw Hats were taking on. One does not simply see such sights in war unless Straw Hats are included.
Vivri was talking excitedly with Chopper and Nami, catching up on their latest exploits, laughter radiating from her every expression as if the weight of the world was lifted from her shoulders. It had been years since she met with her best friends, and her happiness felt infectious.
This guy Franky was posing for a reporter who had somehow sneaked into the naval ships for the biggest scoop of his life time.
"SUUUUUPER!" Franky cried off, taking on various body builder poses with his large cyborg body for the sake of camera as the reporter kept a continuous stream of clicks on his camera."I will make you a star Franky-samaaa" he said cajoling Franky more, though that might have been unnecessary from the looks of it as Franky basked in the attention.
"Yes, just like that. Oh I love it." He muttered in excitement, never taking his eyes off Franky, determined to take as many pictures as he can of the only one in the Straw Hats willing to take a photograph.
Chopper was busy talking with Vivri, and was too shy for a photograph.
Nami would rather kill the reporter than let him take her photograph. She didn't want any more of those bounty hunters coming after her, her fan base too was quite the obsessive ones and she didn't want any more stalkers on her trail.
Zoro was sleeping atop Sunny uncaring of the world around him.
Robin stood at the deck smiling and leaning against the railing, though she had that unapproachable vibe that scared the bejesus out of the reporter. Though he wasn't alone to have that feeling. Robin was only comfortable around her crew mates and no one else whatsoever.
Luffy would rather concentrate on eating than pose for photos. One kid was enough to annoy him with his relentless questions, if even the reporter started irritating him, Luffy might punch the reporter. A punch from the Pirate King even if given jokingly might just kill him. The reporter knew from years of experience it wasn't healthy to approach certain people at certain times.
Chronos just stood there at the deck brooding, lost in his own world, seemingly forgotten by the reporter.
Cobra looked on in open curiosity at the whole crew, remembering the amateurs they had been on their first meeting, looking at them right now though…..he still felt they were amateurs he thought morbidly. Somethings never change.
And Sanji….was nowhere around to be seen.
"Hey! Where is Sanji?" Cobra asked worriedly.
Every one of the Straw Hats turned around to look at Cobra for a moment…..and then got back to doing whatever they were busy at.
"CARE FOR YOUR COMRADES EVEN A LITTLE BIT MORONS!" Cobra bellowed crabbily, but no one even took notice.
Turmoil had been the habitat these people were literally bred in. It's where they felt most comfortable.
"..and then suddenly they wanted to be part of our crew, just like that!" Nami continued. Regaling her stories with as much detail as possible. 'And Luffy refused them to their face!" she said laughingly, as Vivri laughed with her.
High up in the air a figure hovered with the help of a jet propeller, holding something heavy in his hands.
"Sayonara, Straw Hats." He said as farewell through his visage from inside the large mechatronic humanoid contraption he was sitting in, as he loaded the Gatling gun.
The boom of heavy duty calibers firing in rapid succession at tremendous velocity was enough for the entire army station at the Alabastan coast to look up in horror. The attack had been directed towards the royal vessel.
'I don't believe in giving chances to my enemies over some misguided sense of pride, completing my mission serves as my priority.' Jr. Punkthought to himself with a grin, cannot believing how easy it had been. After so much hype, all it took were well placed bullets. He was a small young boy of twenty something with a wild set of white hair that looked electrified. He was wearing a lab coat worn by scientists and if standing would only have reached around four feet.
Guns really were the most marvelous creation of mankind, he thought. The entire war settled in an instant. Children, women, the innocent, everything else were just collateral casualties. The wayward grandson of Vegapunk finally showing his worth as the Shichibukai. He might even become eligible to be enrolled in the Navy after this, his past crimes wiped completely off the slate, giving him a new guilt free start. Grandfather might even become proud.
If only it had been that easy.
As the smoke from the gun powder settled a thick foam of cloud was seen enveloping most of the passengers on deck, protecting them from the line of fire.
Franky had the reporter turned upside down hiding behind his back by holding his waist with his hands, in order to protect him with his steel body. "H-hey!" the reporter whimpered from behind, kicking his legs in the air.
Chopper had Vivri protected inside his cocoon of fur, from where she was struggling hard to get out of for some reason.
Zoro was still sleeping, sliding a bit from the turbulence caused by the gunfire yet luckily still untouched by the bullets. Snoring without a care.
Robin had disappeared into a bunch of flower petals as soon as the bullets touched her, another Robin wearing different clothes running onto the deck from inside the Sunny, panting. "Is everyone alright?" she asked worriedly to no one in particular. The clone cannot relay information after disappearing, so she had to come over herself to confirm the safety of everyone.
"We are alright Robin-san, Nami-chan saved us." Chronos said with a sigh, coming out of the foam of clouds. "Tch! That bastard, firing at us without warning like that!" he said looking up with an annoyed expression.
"It's alright Chronos. We are used to enemies stabbing at us from the shadows aren't we? It's the price we pay for being at the top. You are part of the strongest crew in the world. Stop whining." She told him, looking at the sky along with the others at the lone invader.
"Luffy!" Vivri escaped from Chopper as she ran toward Luffy. "I wam awight!" Luffy said, his mouth still stuffed with food.
"Not you, you idiot!" Vivri cried punching him in the face, "Where is my son!"
"Oh yeah!" Luffy said suddenly remembering as he picked up Jr. Luffy from under him covered from head to toe in greasy food coming from Luffy's hands.
"Ehhhh!" the boy groaned in disgust.
"Oh you scared me!" Vivri said sighing in relief as she hugged her son, uncaring of the mess she made out of her own clothes. Then suddenly as the skies of Grand Line, her face morphed from blissful happiness into that of a demon from the depths of hell.
"THAT IS WHY I TOLD YOU NOT SNEAK INTO THE SHIP!" by the time she was done with her son, he was just a blotch on the wooden floor moaning pitifully for mercy.
"Oh yeah!" Franky said striking a cool pose. "That should be my opponent right there!" he said aloud, pointing at the guy floating in the sky, while at the same time pressing his nose to turn his hair into battle mode.
"Cooooool!" Jr. Luffy exclaimed, his voice coming out squeaky through his thoroughly bruised up face.
Up above the sky Jr. Punk grimaced at his failure to deliver. He shouldn't have celebrated so early. Genius or not, he was still pretty young and naïve about the ways of practical world and it irritated him to no end. But he wasn't going to give them even a moment of respite either way. He would exploit any advantage, even if the element of surprise was lost, the element of shock still remained. Therefore, before the Straw Hats could recover from their initial shock, he would make the last move. Jr. Punk decided.
An army of red Pacifistas started accumulating rapidly in the air, forming concentric circles linking their arms with each other with the Mechatronic Humanoid Contraption of Jr. Punk situated at the center.
"Oh shit! At least let me get into General Franky!' Franky cried as he broke into a fumbling run in panic, jumping onto the coast.
"That's what you get for standing there posing like an idiot instead of preparing for the attack!" Nami was nagging behind him.
There was no time at all to initiate merge for General Franky, Franky thought despairingly. Up above, the cluster of Pacifistas were vibrating dangerously, each of their mouths open to reveal the tube that spewed their laser beams.
Down below, Franky was left with no choice but to opt for emergency contingencies.
Jr. Punk at the center of the formation coordinated the frequency of each beam from each Pacifista, as every one of these Kuma lookalikes lifted their head and shot their beam at the center, where the beams started accumulating slowly into an enormous sphere of pulsing energy.
"AAAAWWWESOOOME!" Jr. Luffy mumbled, his swollen eyes shining with awe.
Everyone else just watched dumbfounded at the bright sun formulating in the air, then they watched Franky hoping he might have something up his sleeve to get them out of this predicament.
"Fear not people, Franky got this!" he said with a salute, squatting with his legs wide apart as he positioned both his fists pointed towards the army of Pacifistas. His arm morphed into a laser cannon, his ass dislodged and fell with a heavy thump, firmly securing itself against the ground.
"WHAT KIND OF POSE IS THAT?" Nami and Vivri shouted simultaneously, Vivri trying to shield her son's eyes with her hands, but to no avail as his eyes shone through her hands, his face a drooling mess of boyhood fascination. Although, it was a condition shared by all the other guys present there too.
"PAPA! You too?" Vivri cried with the feeling of betrayal as she watched her elegant Daddy enamored by the mecha sight.
The preparation for the Hyper Beam was complete, Jr. Punk realized with a grin. He wouldn't even give them a chance to collect themselves. Lifting his robotic right arm as it morphed into his own Laser cannon, he shot the ignition blast with delight.
"Hyper Beam!" he cried out, the humongous sphere of beam became suddenly volatile finding direction, leaking laser like a water filled balloon bursting. The massive beam of light illuminated the onlookers as it descended upon them rapidly.
"FRAAAAAAAAAANKY ULTRAAAAAAAAA BEEEEEEEAAAAAAM!" Franky cried out at the last possible moment, his metallic arm going red from intense heat as a crimson light shot through his extended arms with amazing velocity.
The smaller beam connected immediately with the giant yellow beam, halting its approach midway as Franky's beam kept on ascending, piercing the beam slowly until the threshold resistance of the yellow beam was reached.
The Franky beam disintegrated the lower energy of Hyper Beam, piercing through it and into it, regaining its initial velocity as it targeted the stupefied Jr. Punk. It annihilated most of the Pacifistas on the way as it went for Jr. Punk at the center and attacked the mechanical suit in a massive blast.
"Ahoooo! Ain't I cool!" Franky said weakly, his hair lost its style draping on his forehead limp and lifeless. He had depleted most of his cola reserves in that last resort attack. He stood there in his tripod support with his legs spread apart and elongated ass supporting his back. The kickback for that attack was immense, making a crater under Franky with a massive pile of displaced earth behind him. That was the reason he needed ass support.
"That was awesome." Jr. Franky said breathlessly, the entire Alabastan army nodding vigorously in agreement.
"WHAT PART OF THAT IS AWESOME?" Vivri shouted in disbelief as she tried to push Jr. Luffy into the cabin. To her, all it looked like was a huge guy had just produced a mountain of shit from his weird ass.
Jr. Luffy though was petrified with admiration along with the rest of men around, making him harder to move inside the cabin. Vivri had to give up on pushing the boy inside in the end.
"YOU!" Vivri said in frustration, pointing at the giant cyborg. "Stop setting weird examples for children!" she warned him. Behind her Jr. Luffy was trying to imitate Franky, squatting and making noises imagining he was blasting beams. He was farting from behind in the process noisily.
"Yahoo! Just like that! I am the champion of men!" Franky encouraged.
Her face was red with anger. "YOU ASSHOLE!" she cried, punching Franky right in the face.
"Owww" Vivri was left on the verge of tears holding her bruised knuckles with Franky dancing around lazily.
"Useless! I am made of steel, yahoo!" Franky said, grinning from ear to ear as he did his trademark pose.
"Oh yeah? I bet that isn't!" Vivri said kicking him in the crotch as Franky stood in his pose.
All the men around cringed in empathy, everyone squeezing their legs together involuntarily. "Arghhh" Franky moaned as he was left in a fetal position holding his crotch.
"Franky-sama!" Jr. Luffy cried in worry. "I thought you were a champion of men! You do not feel pain! Show momma!" the boy said, cheering for Franky to fight against his evil mother.
"Luffy dear." Cobra said, placing a hand on the young boy's shoulders. "That is the place every man feels pain."He said solemnly, everyone else nodded along grimly, their legs still squeezed together imagining the pain.
"I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT REAL PAIN IS!" Jr. Punk shouted as he landed on the dried up ground before the ships inside his battered mecha suit which had a deep gash on the left side where the beam had hit him. The scattered parts and gears of the suit slowly crawled back to their designated locations inside the armor as if having a life of their own. When every one of his parts were fit in perfectly, he sealed the gash in his suit with a blow torch that sprouted from the right arm of the mecha suit.
Around them, the broken Pacifistas too slowly building themselves up on their own as if by magic.
"Now I am angry! I don't care about the mission anymore. . !" he said pointing at Franky. Everything else would come later. This guy, with his fancy beams defeated years' worth of Punk's research just like that. The envy raging inside Punk was unbearable. He would kill this man, the guy even his grandfather acknowledged.
"Yeaaaaaahhh" Jr. Punk shouted, thrusting his legs as he jumped towards Franky, his eyes only for the cyborg.
"Hey! Wait!" Franky tried calling, but he had no time to talk anymore as he was tackled with a powerful force, Jr. Punk unrelenting in his attack as he kept on punching him, dragging him deep into the Alabastan lands.
"The people!" Nami yelled.
"Don't worry, they are still in the safe house. I knew something like this might happen." Cobra reassured, relieved at his cautious nature for not telling the citizens to come out just because Straw Hats were here.
Behind the attacking Jr. Punk, the army of Pacifistas followed suit, flying rapidly to aid their master. , perfectionist as he was, left no stone unturned in ensuring his victory over Franky.
"Damn it! He was low on his stupid Cola after that attack. There is no way he could even keep up with that Punk guy in that state!" Nami worried.
"I would go and give that stupid Cyborg his Cola." Zoro said, as he swung his left hand in exercise. He had come down on the deck of Sunny unnoticed and was feeling ready for action.
"No you don't!" Chopper shouted at him. "You rest as much as you can, you were training all night! I had told you, you wouldn't be in any condition to fight after your hellish training last night!" as they got a closer look at the swordsman, everyone could see he was still sweating and had dark spots in his eyes from extreme exhaustion.
"AND YOU WERE TRAINING EVEN NOW IN YOUR SLEEP!" Chopper yelled at him. Over time Zorro had developed a special technique that contracted and expanded his muscles even when he was asleep, training his body all over.
"Errr..it's a force of habit." Zorro said carelessly, fingering his ear with his right pinky finger.
"WHOEVER HAS THAT KIND OF HABIT!" Pell and Chaka shouted in exasperation. These guys had gotten crazier than they could have imagined over time.
"Well, don't worry. Chronos gave me an injection just now. I can already feel energized." Zorro told Chopper.
"Chronos gave you an injection? But the only one he could have given you is an Adrenaline-Dopamine compound to temporarily relieve fatigue. That stuff could be dangerous!" Chopper said turning towards Chronos.
"Don't worry! I regulated the dosage, it would be safe for him. It's Zorro-senpai we are talking about." Chronos responded.
"I guess, his high tensile muscles might be able to take the strain if the compound is administered in calculated doses and the ratio of Adrenaline is checked for properly at the time of creating a compound." Chopper thought aloud scratching his chin. "That is brilliant Chronos! That might just work! Are you sure you tested it properly?"
"Of course! I shuffled through some of your books to come up with a strategy for exactly such a scenario. Zorro senpai is easily predictable." Chronos replied smiling bashfully, everyone remembered his prodigal and universal knowledge of random things that had gotten the Straw Hat crew out of many tough spots. He was a jack of all trades, a hidden trump card of the Straw Hat crew.
"Alright then Zorro, but do not over exert! Your muscles could still cramp up if the Dopamine restricts your oxygen intake and lactic acid starts forming inside your body." Chopper warned him.
"Yeah, yeah." Zorro said waving his worry off as he picked up a large metal barrel filled with Cola.
"Wait!"Nami called, as she stood with her arms folded and left foot tapping in annoyance. "How the hell are you going to find Franky?" she asked. Anyone could have found the battling machines in the land from the giant commotion they were causing far away. Well anyone except for Zorro.
"Even I can find such an easy target." Zorro waved her off.
"NO YOU WOULD NOT!" everyone present there shouted simultaneously, fully aware of the legendary handicap this swordsman possessed over directions. He was the Yonkou with little land for his Wano crew owing to the fact that they hardly got around to reaching anywhere at the appointed time. Even there navigator sucked.
Nami sighed, it was hard to stop Zorro once he had decided to jump into the commotion. They were all stubborn idiots. "Alright, see that coastline right there?" she asked him, pointing at trenched up land from where the ocean was supposed to start off before Sanji dried up the land. "Just move along it until you find Franky. Do you understand?" she asked Zorro.
"Of course!" he replied jumping off the ship as he ran along the coast right away, before they started nagging him again.
As Zorro ran off, Nami turned around to look back at the battlefield. A terrible chill ran through the spine of the remaining crew. "Usopp." Nami breathed out in disbelief, looking far away.
Behind her Luffy had forgotten about his food as he flipped off the table to run and stand beside Nami wearing a grim expression on his face. The normally cheerful crew was suddenly enveloped in a devious atmosphere, administering an unusual dread over everyone else present.
Jr. Luffy, normally so reckless and carefree, unconsciously gripped his mother's hand in nervousness.
As Cobra looked at the crew, he realized that this was the true face of Straw Hats. The crew that had conquered the seas of Grand Line.
"I am going.." Luffy started to say with gritted teeth, ready to take off feeling one of his crew mates in trouble when a heart wrenching wail filled the skies.
X-X-X-X
The Straw Hats had a friend. A dear, close friend who was weak and a crybaby when they had left her on their first meeting. But she had grown up to be a strong and independent woman over time, as she confronted her fears and decided to follow her dreams of seeing the world with her own eyes.
She had ran away from her family, to explore the wide world outside on her own. She was strong. She was beautiful. Even though her family was worried sick over her. The Straw Hats were delighted to see her following up on her dreams.
Though the world was a cruel place, and the crew had realized it. That was why when they were at Fishmen Island, they had promised her parents to look for her and take her under their wing to protect her.
They hadn't realized that despite her legendary strength, the world was a crueler place still for the Mermaid Princess. The ancient weapon Poseidon.
X-X-X-X
"Yohohoho" Brook chimed as he readied his bow to strike the chord of his violin. "I think it is time for another attack my friend." He addressed to Laboon who squealed in reply.
With a powerful stroke he signaled the school who once again started surfacing for a high jump into the naval forces before them. It was right around then that he too hard the agonizing wail followed soon by a cacophony of terrifying roars that rocked the insides of every being present in a thousand mile radius.
The school of Whales scattered away in fear, deep into the waters. Laboon started thrashing in nervousness, and he was even the bravest Whale Brook had ever known.
Although he was also the only whale Brook had ever known. Yohohoh..ahem! Not the time for jokes.
X-X-X-X
Back at the coast the whole crew stared wide eyed at the battlefield, their heart hammering in their chest as they realized the implications of what was happening.
Luffy had his mouth partly open in horror, his eyes bloodshot with disbelief. He clenched his fist in anger, losing a bit of control over his Haki. Those around him shivered in fear as even Vivri took a step back out of instinct. Over the course of their joyful reunion, many had forgotten that this was actually the Pirate King in front of them. The most wanted person in the whole wide world.
"Nami-chan, try to do something from the skies! It is our only chance." Chronos shouted at Nami who was stunned into inaction, Chronos had always been the calm one no matter the circumstance and Nami was thankful for that. She hardly knew what she could do now. The plan was going haywire.
"I will set up a perimeter, I can at least try to neutralize them." Nami said, her composure broken, sweating all over with nervousness as she took to the skies atop an artificial cloud that propelled her steadily into the clouds above.
The Sea Kings were terrifying species, immune to the Conqueror's Haki and ten times larger than the Island Whales who themselves were pretty large to boot. But they were still there friends. And none of the crew members wanted to hurt them, but that wasn't the aspect they were worried about.
The Marines had Shirahoshi.
"Its time I went too." Luffy growled, he could talk to those Sea Kings and maybe, just maybe he might even convince them to break out of the spell of Shirahoshii.
But as he took a step forward, blood sprouted from his mouth. Luffy fell to his knees panting heavily as he suddenly felt extreme weakness in his bones.
"LUFFY!" Vivri cried out, as rest of the crew were too stunned to make a move. Too many things happening at once at too fast.
"Chopper! Go!" Luffy commanded, between his relentless coughing as Vivri and Chronos came running to him rubbing his back to soothe his discomfort even a little bit if possible. Chopper was the only hope now as he alone except for Luffy could talk with the Sea Kings.
"But…let me at least look at you!" Chopper protested. Luffy was the pillar. They can get out of any situation as long as Luffy was there. Chopper had always known that. Everything was falling apart.
"Go!" Luffy ordered weakly. Sea Kings going on rampage was tantamount to an apocalypse, if gone unchecked. Hurting their friends wasn't something Luffy ever wanted to do. Chopper was their only hope.
"I can't just leave like that!" Chopper rebelled stubbornly. He just needed some moments to check on Luffy, to know what happened to him. He could have done that while he was talking, but he was paralyzed with indecision.
"I will look after him!" Chronos promised Chopper. "You just go!"
On the battlefield another roar more terrifying than the one before rang about as slowly, titanic figures emerged out of the water.
The Sea Kings were here, their eyes red with blind rage. Mouth frothing with madness.
There were dozens of them.
"Damn it!" Chopper cursed in frustration as he jumped into the air and rocketed towards the Sea Kings using Geppo in his Jump Point transformation.
Luck just wasn't on their side today. Chopper's amazing mind shuffled through every possible symptom Luffy might have exhibited over the recent days that might have been a possible cause from some disease. There were few and far in between. But some of them can be attributed to environmental factors.
While there were a few which could be purely coincidental or might have been signs for a very old disease that was supposed to be extinct.
To think out of all the moments in the world Luffy would show the worst symptoms at such a crucial point of time, lady luck was sure as hell angry with them. Monkey D. Luffy had never been said to be unlucky, until now.
X-X-X-X
Some place away from the deck at a distance from the port of Alabasta, Zoro stood holding the metallic barrel in front of his enemy.
He had indeed lost his way, despite Nami's fierce instructions. And now he faced the enemy Zorro had been hoping to run into over the course of this war.
Yonkou of the South Remmy stood before him grinning from ear to ear maniacally.
Zorro was panting hard from exhaustion and he had a notion he felt his muscles were starting to cramp up a little bit as he put the barrel down to support himself against it. He had overexerted too much with his fast running, he thought to himself. Zorro was more tired than he had realized. The training last night had been especially brutal in his excitement from expectation for oncoming battles the next day.
"At last, I found you, Roronoa Zorro! Kekeke!" Remmy giggled. He had piercings all over his face. A tall and lanky man, he had deathly pale complexion with spiky black and silver hair like that of a senile rockstar, wearing leather biker jacket and pants with metal jewelry on his neck and wrists.
"I *huff* was searching *huff* for you." Zorro greeted with sneer.
"Oh! Got something you need?" Remmy asked in mock surprise. "Perhaps them if I were to guess…kekeke!" Remmy chimed in delight as giant figures standing behind him stepped forward.
It was Oz, revived and healed holding a humongous Claymore on his shoulders grinning wildly showing his feral teeth. Next to him stood a smaller person of ten foot height holding large katanas in both of his hands. He was heavily muscled and had a pitch black complexion holding an enraged expression.
Remmy had always wanted the throne of Zorro, his only rival. He was in a single minded pursuit for the throne of East, believing that if Zorro perished, so would Usopp. He could take down Caroline anytime he wanted after that.
But he knew Zorro was monstrously powerful beyond anything he had seen before. Remmy was strong, but Zorro was nothing like anything he had ever confronted before. In order to defeat him, meticulous preparation was in order as Remmy soon realized after his first defeat.
Heir to the powers of former Shichibukai Moria, Remmy collected after a lot of hard work, shadows of two of the most powerful swordsmen in the world who alone might have been an equal match for Zorro but together would completely destroy him.
The shadows of Hawk Eyes Mihawk, Zorro's master, imbued in the fearsome body of Oz, and the shadow of Rouruni Kenshin, the most powerful swordsman of Wano.
Kenshin had been born with a weak and sickly body but having prodigal skills in swordsmanship using the deadliest sword technique in all of the world. He had been a great rival to Zorro during his crew's adventure in Wano and a person Zorro deeply respected. In his weakened body, Kenshin had even then been on par with the skills of Zorro.
Both knowing that if Kenshin had been stronger, he would have defeated Zorro.
Now in the body of a hulking man who had been born with herculean brute strength, the shadow of Rouruni Kenshin was without a doubt, the most skillful monster alive.
X-X-X-X
Among the clouds above, as Nami approached, preparing for her nullifying attack on the Sea Kings, she was at once surrounded by hundreds of soldiers flying around using Geppo.
"We were hoping to run into you, cat burglar Nami." Rob Lucci, leader of Cipher Pol with his ever present pigeon sitting on his shoulder, greeted her calmly.
X-X-X-X
Back at the Alabastan port, the Royal entourage surrounded Luffy along with the Straw Hat crew.
"I think he has been poisoned!" Terracotta ventured an offhanded guess using the little medicinal knowledge she had.
"Not possible! Who could have poisoned him? Everyone here is trustworthy." Chronos replied with conviction.
Robin grasped at that tiny straw of hope. It was the best possible explanation except for a life threatening diseasethat they could get out of, no matter how outlandish it may seem.
Her prodigal mind shuffling through her photographic memories rapidly, counterchecking every fact she knows about the Royal group present at the deck.
As she checked for who all might have come close to Luffy over the course of his meal as she presumed that it might be the most opportune way of slipping a poison into him.
Terracota, she might be a suspect. Not much is known about her former life except that rest of her life was dedicated to the service of Royal lineage. A sleeper agent?
Kouza, a rebel who is known for his short temperament and gullible nature. Mislead into betraying them? He had been envious of Sanji before. Akainu had used such a tactic before in the marineford war, she knew he wasn't beneath such underhanded methods.
Jr. Luffy? Innocent child, ignorantly led to doing something unthinkable..
They could all be likely candidates as Robin imagined, her clever mind ruffling through every possible scenario.
Out of desperation she even bought her own crew into the suspect list. Only two people were close to Luffy.
Chopper, he was a doctor, an over cautious one, a loyal one. No way could he have poisoned Luffy. Robin knew it for a fact.
And Chronos…..her mind ruffled through all the information about him.
Who the hell was Chronos? Robin asked the question to herself in sudden realization.
He wasn't part of her crew. He wasn't known to the Royal family either. He was…no one she knew, or had ever known. Robin realized with horror.
Another A/n: Okay, this had been a delightfully original experiment. I am a little worried that some of you might be confused or some of you might have found it too obvious a suspense. Do tell me. Though I do feel somewhat of a smartass writing this awesome chapter. It had been my best yet, what do you think?