This chapter is finished! And I'm late again~! Very sorry. This chapter has been a bit of a bitch to write, but it's nice and fat. And I'm planning some fast updates, but check my notes at the end of the chapter for info regarding that~

Also, been loling at Planking Zoro pictures. Why did I know that would become a meme…? Anyways…


Chapter Twelve: The Turning of a Dynasty

The situation was one of the stupidest he'd been landed in and he couldn't even facepalm. So Ichigo did the next best thing and resorted to simply letting loose a short, brief exhale as Usopp blabbered a series of both ludicrous and slightly plausible suggestions as to how he could free himself from the problematic handcuffs.

"Why not try one of those kido things?" the sharpshooter suggested, "Have it blow up, like you always do. It might break the cuffs!"

"What are you implying?" Ichigo responded dejectedly, "I don't always make them explode!"

"Whenever you show us, you do. That's why Luffy's impersonation of you was so accurate!"

The urge to facepalm grew so strong, there was no way a simple stifled sigh would suffice. Instead, Ichigo opted to facewall. However, upon making contact with the stone wall, Ichigo found it wasn't quite as stable as he'd originally thought. The wall wasn't actually made of stone, but rather plaster that had been given the texture of stone. As such, instead of experiencing the satisfying 'thunk' a true stone wall would have offered him, Ichigo endured a rather unsatisfactory smash-and-tumble through what could have appeared to be an egg shell-like surface.

"Uhhh, great," he groaned, awkwardly getting to his feet without the aid of his hands.

Standing up, he saw that they were no longer alone. A set of guards sat opposite the recently destroyed wall, their game of dice lying forgotten as both looked on in wide-eyed wonder at the spectacle that had just beheld them.

"Uhh…hi," Ichigo said, attempting to wave but realising he couldn't do that either, "I was just looking for the bathroom."

"We were in the bathroom already, idiot," Usopp hissed over to him.

"There they are!" one of the guards exclaimed loudly enough to alert his colleagues, "We've found the intruders!"

Cursing, Ichigo drew himself back into the room.

"What do we do now?" he questioned Usopp as the sound of many pairs of feet rumbled from somewhere nearby.

"What did you do that for?" Usopp complained, "Now they know where we are."

"It's not like I knew the wall was plaster," Ichigo retaliated as the two quickly scurried through the demolished wall and raced up the hallway, away from the sound of the multitude of feet. "If anything, it's your fault for dropping the key in the first place."


Luffy prepared his stance and surveyed Gao Chao carefully, the remainder of the food on the table lying forgotten.

The puppet master raised an eyebrow and surveyed the Straw Hat captain in return.

"You'll 'kick my ass'?" he questioned, "Is that so?"

"Damn straight," Luffy replied, waiting to see if his opponent would go ahead and make the first move.

Instead, Gao Chao only stood there, smug relaxation reflected in his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Straw Hat," he said, "But fighting me isn't going to do anything. As soon as you set foot onto Xiang Pio's turf, your fate, your crew's fate, Ichigo Kurosaki's fate was sealed."

"Not if I can help it," Luffy said, choosing to strike first.

In a fluid movement, he fired a clenched fist at the Emperor's adviser. However, Gao Chao nimbly evaded the strike, allowing Luffy's fist to penetrate the wall behind him.

Gao Chao tutted mockingly, "Did you not listen to a word I said, Straw Hat? It's. Useless."

"But didn't you listen to a word I said?" Luffy said in return, "I'll. Kick. Your. Ass."

Gao Chao's eyes narrowed as Luffy reeled his rubbery arm back in and prepared to strike again.

"You know," he said to the pirate, "If you pay too much attention to trying to attack me, you won't notice what's going on out there…"

"Hmm?" Luffy turned his eyes to a nearby window, from where he could see crowds of people flocking into the palace grounds for the closing ceremony display.

"There's a lot of people," he remarked.

"Of course there is. And in about ten minutes," Gao Chao glanced over to an elaborate clock on the wall by the door, "Shoot! Make that five minutes…only five minutes until the ceremony starts! Drat! You've been distracting me. How foolish of me, to fall for this witty stalling-trap of yours!"

"Ehh," said Luffy as he subconsciously let his finger explore the insides of his nose, "I think you were the one who was doing all the talking. You're a bit of an idiot, hahaha!"

"Curse you Straw Hat, I'm going to be late! What will the civilians think of me if I don't show up for this? My reputation will be in tatters!"

"Uhh…"

Without any warning, Gao Chao advanced on Luffy faster than anticipated. Luffy stealthily managed to evade the brunt of the blow, but was caught off guard when the adviser's two forefingers struck him at the base of the neck.

"Now if you'll excuse me, Straw Hat," Gao Chao said as he quickly straightened up "I have a closing ceremony to attend."

With a sudden gust, Gao Chao disappeared and Luffy was left sitting in the room alone, dumbly rubbing where Gao Chao had hit him.

"He really is an idiot," Luffy decided, "Hmmm? But where'd he go…?"


The wind whipped at Nami's lengthy tangerine hair and sea spray fizzed upwards from either side of the rocketing waver. Her features contorted into a scowl as she rounded the island's coast and the festive city came into view. Surely it wouldn't be much longer until the closing ceremony…she had to work fast.

Eyeing the port as it came nearer, she took note of the narrow channel veering off into the port of the palace.

I'll start there…she thought to herself.

Steering the waver into the channel, she pressed her foot down on the throttle in order to gain the extra speed she needed. Once she reached one of the docks, she parked the waver and jumped off, running towards one of the entrances to the palace. Vague drums sounded from not all that far off, signalling the commencement of the closing ceremony.

"Damnit…" she muttered, "Maybe I'll just head over to the ceremony grounds…with any luck, those three idiots will be over there as well…"

A sound from above alerted her to another presence close by. She looked up in time to see none other than her captain crashing out of one of the palace windows.

"Luffy?" she questioned.

Said pirate captain landed on the ground with a bounce, before springing to his feet and looking up to examine the height he'd fallen.

"Well that's one way to get out of that palace," he chuckled to himself cheerfully, before turning serious, "Now where did that Gao Chao guy get to, I wasn't done with him. He said something about the closing ceremony…"

Luffy looked around, as though trying to work out where the closing ceremony might be, although the festive sounds nearby were making it pretty obvious.

"Luffy," Nami said, clearing her throat.

Her captain wheeled around.

"Eh? You're here, Nami?"

"Yes," she said, "And we've got to get to the closing ceremony."

"Yosh! That puppet guy isn't gonna get away with this!"

"Keep in mind to watch out for Quilam and Shaomin as well," Nami said, "They're two of his incarnations."

Luffy nodded and they began running in the direction of the festive music.

"By the way, where did your guard robes go?" Nami questioned him, eyeing his normal attire.

"Oh, they got in the way when I was trying to fight that right hand guy," explained Luffy, "I left them up in the room with the food. The afro is there too…"

Nami groaned, "You were supposed to hold on to that for me! Do you have no idea how much the silk in that would have been worth?"

"Nope!" Luffy said with a laugh.

"You owe me for this!" Nami snapped as she ran after him.


Zoro's grip on his katanas tightened as he fought back Shaomin. Despite the man's wiry appearance, he could pack enough of an attack for Zoro to not take him lightly, particularly when Quilam would halt his exchange with Sanji to become absorbed in Shaomin for a moment, or visa-versa. Zoro found it annoying.

The other four accomplices had been defeated without much of an issue and were currently tied up by the Sunny.

"We have to join with the others," Chopper noted from the ship.

"We'll stay here," Zoro called over to him between strikes from Shaomin, "You take Sunny, get to the closing ceremony and help the others stop the assassination."

"Alright," Chopper said with a nod.

However, it seemed that the onslaught of opponents was not quite finished. A series of thumps announced the arrival of none other than the Kanga boat as it appeared from over the hilltops and began bounding fiercely toward them.

"The boat wants to fight us," Sanji noted, dodging a heavy strike from Quilam.

"Should I blast it away?" Franky questioned, readying his Weapons-Left.

"No, I'll take care of it," Chopper said, jumping down from the ship and landing in Horn-Point, "I might be able to talk to him…the rest of you should take Sunny and go and help Luffy and the others!"


Ichigo and Usopp continued to argue as they wound their way through the palace and toward the exit.

"At least I didn't handcuff us together," the sharpshooter pointed out.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Come on, not even you're that stupid."

Usopp laughed nervously in response, "Of course not!"

Ichigo decided to think nothing of it. "Any other great ideas?" he questioned.

"Well…" Usopp thought out loud as they continued running, "Earlier on, I took a look at the gun those Sea Nymphs left."

"And?"

"Well there's a certain mechanism behind it…you see, there's a dial inside it."

Ichigo nodded and briefly recalled the sniper telling him all about dials during one of his first mornings on the Thousand Sunny.

"It's a strange sort of dial," Usopp continued, "I think it might be some sort of transportation dial. It has a partner that's underwater somewhere and is somehow able to transfer sea water to the dial in the gun, even if it's nowhere near water itself. This means that unless the partner dial is taken out of the water, the one in the gun will have an endless supply of water to shoot."

"Right," said Ichigo, "And you can use this water-dial-gun to get these handcuffs off?"

"I could," Usopp said.

"You could have used that sooner!" Ichigo snapped.

"I left it on the ship though."

"What was the point of telling me, then?"

"There they are!"

Usopp and Ichigo skidded to a halt as a cluster of guards jogged their way.

"The exit!" Ichigo noted, indicating to an open door to their right, which lead out into the closing ceremony grounds.

They hurriedly exited the palace and found themselves swamped in the crowds of the closing ceremony.

"Get down, Ichigo. They'll see us!" Usopp said, tugging the Substitute Shinigami further into the crowd.

It was easy to get lost in the sea of people; it was the biggest crowd either of them had seen yet. The vast majority of Xiang Pio's citizens must have been there, creating an effective backdrop to hide against. Ichigo and Usopp wandered further into the crowd, when they ran into another pair whom seemed to be using the mass of people as a means for disguise.

"Usopp! Moon Guy!" Luffy waved over to them. "I wondered where you'd gotten to."

"You're the one who ran off in the first place," Usopp pointed out as the four of them joined in a small circle.

"So what's the situation?" Ichigo asked.

"It's Gao Chao," Nami explained, "He's been manipulating people this whole time. He was the reason the plague happened in the first place, and he uses the Puppet-Puppet fruit. Shaomin and Quilam are part of him, and he plans to frame us for assassination."

"What?" Ichigo and Usopp demanded.

"We have to stop him," Ichigo said.

"That's why we're here!" Nami said.

She was about to explain further, when she was silenced by the boom of the Den-Den Mushi system as it roared to life.

"Welcome," a voice at the other end of the receiver bade the crowd, "To the closing ceremony of Xiang Pio's Festival of Three Eves!"


Evening was descending. And the closing ceremony was beginning.

A large crowd of people, which must have consisted of virtually everyone on the island had closed in on the closing ceremony grounds. The voice of the announcer continued to carry out to the gathered crowd as Nami side glanced Ichigo.

"By the way…" she said, eyeing the way his arms were restrained, "Why are you hand-cuffed, Ichigo?"

"Ask Usopp," he said flatly.

"Hmm? Why me?" the sniper questioned.

Ichigo and Usopp proceeded to squabbled over the issue of the handcuffs, whilst Luffy simply laughed at them.

"Why am I not surprised you two got yourselves into that sort of trouble?" Nami said, massaging her temples.

"Nami, tell your brother to stop being an idiot!" Usopp ordered.

"How about I tell you both to stop being idiots?" Nami suggested, bashing them over the head.

"Ouch," Ichigo commented, the problematic cuffs on his wrists rendering him unable to rub the place she'd struck.

"Oooh, it's starting!" Luffy noted, as the Emperor made an appearance on the large stage-like ceremony stand.

Seeing him in person, the Emperor was surprisingly young, probably only a few years older than the four of them. He was dressed in rich robes of scarlet and sapphire, and carried himself with pride. As he stepped forth, an air of undisputed respect radiated from the audience. It was apparent that this man perhaps held more reverence than the highly esteemed Gao Chao.

"The assassination!" Nami suddenly panicked, "It could happen at any moment."

"But how do we know when?" Ichigo questioned, looking around at the crowd for any possible hints.

"Luffy?"

The young pirate seemed to be staring vacantly out at the scene before him, paying no heed to the festive sounds and sights he normally would. After a moment, he spoke.

"A gunshot from an advantage point…" he muttered so silently the other three almost didn't hear him.

Then, without warning, their captain was in the air. A fraction of a second later, an explosive shot rang out throughout the closing ceremony grounds, and the skin below Luffy's chest was stretched as a bullet tried to pass through it. The bullet continued at almost the same speed it would have otherwise, before swiftly slowing down and being repelled off into the air. The unanticipated gunshot set the crowd into a scene of disarray, and palace guards, seemingly having forgotten Ichigo and Usopp, set about trying to keep order.

He turned to face none other than Quilam, who approached him with an air of both confusion and frustration.

"Puppet guy!" Luffy recalled him from the day before, "You're part of him, aren't you?"

Quilam followed Luffy's gaze to the seemingly absent-minded adviser situated beside the Emperor, before turning back with a frown.

"I thought I'd disabled you!" he hissed quietly.

Luffy tilted his head to the side. "Oh. Is that what you tried to do?"

"Of course it's what I tried to do, you idiot!" Quilam snapped in response. "How else could I stop you from intervening?"

"Put more food on the table," Luffy suggested, "I finished it, so I came down here."

"That was a full feast!"

"Anyway," Luffy continued, "It's going to take more than that to take me out."

"Well then," Quilam smiled darkly, "Let's see about that…"

With his gaze focussed fully on the puppet master, Luffy almost didn't notice the movement of the crowd around him, until a woman grabbed at his shirt.

"Huh? What are you doing?"

The civilians advanced on them like living puppets, their eyes unblinking and glazed over, with spider web-like threads manipulating the joints in their bodies.

"Creepy!" Nami shrieked, batting a man away with her Climatact.

"You'll find that my Puppet-Puppet abilities are not limited to solely the incarnations of myself I create," Quilam said, "But so long as there are living souls within reach, they can become my string-puppets and succumb to my manipulation at a whim."

To demonstrate his point, Quilam lifted his hands to display a series of strings which stranded out and captured the crowd around him.

"I can extend my range of power by simply doing this," a beam of light shot forth from his palm, mesmerising even more of the crowd.

"Look away!" Nami said, as she and the others shielded their eyes from the hypnosis.

"Are you curious?" Quilam questioned once his beam-like strategy was finished, "Allow me to demonstrate."

He raised a single arm and spoke, his voice reaching all within the closing ceremony's grounds. "The Mighty Gao Chao!"

Nami looked around and noticed as every fist not belonging to her comrades was raised in turn.

"The Mighty Gao Chao!" the crowd rumbled.

"This is bad. What should we do, Luffy?" Usopp questioned.

He met no response.

"Luffy?" Usopp looked over at his captain, only to see Luffy's brown eyes wide and glassy as his right arm was raised into the air by a fine thread.

"The Mighty Chow Cow!" the zombie-like Luffy relayed.

"Now that's just ridiculous," Ichigo commented dryly.

"Oi! Snap out of it!" Usopp said, whacking his friend over the head with Black Kabuto.

At once, Luffy broke free of the mind control.

"Hm. That was weird," he said to himself.

"Look away when he does things like that!" Nami snapped at him.

"But Nami," Luffy reasoned, "He was shooting a beam!"

Nami rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath, before turning back to face the ceremony stand.

"Gao Chao's gone!" she noticed.

"He's up in that tower over there," Luffy said with a frown.

"How can you tell?" Ichigo asked.

"I know these things," Luffy replied with a grin, placing a hand on his hat to shield his eyes.

Ichigo was about to ask further, when the captain extended his arms up to the tower and proceeded to rocket himself up.

Usopp and Nami focussed on the crowd as they began to close in further.

"If we cut the threads, they return to their true selves," Usopp observed, firing a few pieces of shrapnel over the heads of the citizens.

Ichigo watched as the two of them fought back the enclosing crowd, and looked up to the tower Luffy had rocketed himself into.

"I need to help…"

He closed his eyes, focussing fully on containing his reiatsu to a single pressure point. Clenching his fists, he focused all tension to his restrained wrists, straining to force open the barrier that suppressed him. And then he found it. That one spark of reiatsu-like energy he'd been searching for. In a fluid movement, he wrenched the cuffs binding his wrists apart, the metal snapping as though it were no more than a toothpick. He flexed his wrists, the remains of the cuffs clattering to the ground. He was back in business.


The final threads of the puppified citizens were cut down just as the Sunny made its approach in the harbour

"Franky! Robin! Brook!" Usopp waved over at the familiar ship and the three figures on it.

"The other three are bust taking care of parts of that Gao Chao guy back at the cove," Franky relayed to them as he inspected Sunny's newest installation.

"Franky, is now really the time to be toying with that Den-Den Mushi system?" Nami questioned apprehensively.

Franky grinned and gave her the thumbs up, "You never know when it might come in handy."

"We've thought of a plan," Robin said.

A few moments later, the poster of Gao Chao Ichigo had won at the shooting range the previous day was plastered strategically on the wall.

"Is that clear with everyone?" Franky questioned.

The gathered Straw Hats and Ichigo gave a nod.

"I'll be off then," Ichigo said with a nod, leaping off the ship.

"You should give that to Luffy-san now," Brook noted to Usopp.

Usopp nodded.

He sighted Luffy, who stood in the partial debris of the upper tower, in which it seemed he and Gao Chao had begun to fight. Signalling his friend's attention, he proceeded to shoot up a small device, which Luffy easily caught. After a moment's pause. Luffy grinned and gave him a thumbs of, before running off to continue his exchange with Gao Chao.


Hailong bounded into the square and towards the ceremony grounds.

"Well what do you know," Chopper smiled, "He was very easy to talk to."

"It's a ship," Sanji said flatly.

"And a kangaroo," Zoro added.

"I know that, you shitty Marimo, but fundamentally it's a ship!"

"We're nearly there!" Chopper interrupted their bickering as the closing ceremony grounds and port came into view, "There's Sunny!"

Hailong slowed to a halt, allowing the three pirates to disembark, before bending to the ground and feasting on some top-quality grass whilst Zoro, Sanji and Chopper made for the ship.

"Robin-chwaaaan!" Sanji twirled when he sighted her up on deck.

"You're back," she noted.

"What happened with those two you were fighting?" Brook asked.

"The two of him suddenly disappeared," Sanji explained, looking up toward the tower where Luffy and Gao Chao engaged in combat, "Probably to rejoin with the original body."


Luffy dodged the swipe Gao Chao aimed at his head and shot forth a fist the adviser only narrowly escaped. It wasn't his opponent's strength that was an issue, but rather the speed.

"I don't think you realise what I've put into this, Straw Hat," Gao Chao said as they continued their exchange, "Planning the plague from the start, and then all those years of acting as an adviser…and now the final-"

"Speak up," Luffy said.

"What?" Gao Chao questioned.

"I can't hear you very well."

"Are you mocking me?" he asked, enraged, "Or maybe you're just dense? Very well then. This was my plan from the start. I inflicted the plague on this island just so I could take heroic credit for ridding the island of it when a time came that suited me best. I took advantage and sheltered them from the knowledge of the Age of Pirates, luring any of said pirates, such as yourselves away to take your bounties. And I'll give you this much credit: You lot have been the most difficult to properly capture so far! Not only was I able to have the Emperor successfully assassinated, but when I tried, rather than being able to frame you for it, you went in and rescued the guy! Is that good enough for you? Did you catch all of that?"

Luffy grinned.

"Yup," he said cheerfully, before reaching into his shirt and withdrawing a certain device, "And I think they all did too!"

A look of sheer alarm crossed Gao Chao's face.

"Is that…a Den-Den Mushi?"

"It's from my ship," Luffy replied, "I've got a really good shipwright, you know. He knew how to connect this Den-Den Mushi and our ship's new Den-Den Mushi system with the ones that are being used for the closing ceremony."

Already, the angry and confused shouts of the un-puppified civilians could be heard as they echoed up to the tower.

"All my years of work…" Gao Chao fumed, "You'll pay for this, Straw Hat."

With a flash of light, Gao Chao's body divided into three forms.

"The three of you, hey?" Luffy questioned, cracking his knuckles.

He threw another punch, nearly making contact before Gao Chao seemingly disappeared altogether. He was then caught off guard by an attack from behind.

"Kanga-Boat Ossan?" Luffy stammered, having narrowly avoided the knife-swipe that had been aimed at his back.

"Indeed," the form of Shaomin confirmed.

"The closer together we are, the stronger we are," Gao Chao said, now at his left.

"It's three against one," Quilam added.

"Actually," Ichigo said, as he stepped through the window and into the tower, "It's slightly more even than that."

"Moon Guy!" Luffy beamed.

"Don't let your guard down, Straw Hat," Gao Chao cautioned, "As a puppeteer, I have many tricks up my sleeve."

Within an instant, a sleek dart shot forth from the puppeteer's clothing, catching Luffy by surprise. Quickly, he moved from its immediate path, the sharp tip nearly grazing his body, before catching on the fabric of his shirt and pinning him to the stone wall.

"Huh?" Luffy looked down at the metal dart now restraining him by the shirt and stared at it blankly. "That was a surprise." I couldn't see it coming with my Haki…

"I told you to not let your guard down," Shaomin said, "And don't try to predict my moves. You may find that I can make myself immune to that kind of Haki. Unfortunately during the Emperor's meant-to-be assassination, I was careless. "

Without thinking, Luffy grabbed hold of the dart, wrenching it from his clothing. However as soon as his skin came into contact with the metal, his insides lurched and he began feeling rapidly queasy, as though a force within the dart was sapping him of his energy. Quickly, he let go and let it clatter to the stone floor.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ichigo asked, noticing Luffy's sudden decline in energy.

"Sea Stone," Luffy muttered distastefully, regaining his stance and letting the lost energy rush back to him, "How it works is a mystery, but it's dangerous for fruit users."

"What were you carrying that for then?" Ichigo turned, questioning Gao Chao, "It's dangerous for you as well."

"Never know when you might need it," the man responded with a shrug.

"I've had enough messing around with you," Luffy said.

He took on a new formation, positioning his legs far apart and bending so that his fist met the cold stone floor. His heart began racing with the sensation of bottled up energy, and the familiar feel of the heat pumping through his body as blood carried a wave of adrenaline.

"Gear Second."


Smoker watched the sequence of events unfold before his eyes. The majority of the crowd had undergone a puppet-like control earlier, courtesy of that had turned out to be that adviser guy's devil fruit ability. Himself and Tashigi had not fallen victim to the hypnosis themselves, but had had to give Charlie and Merlin a good whack in order to get the two idiots thinking straight again. As of now, he and his squad were attempting to keep order in the now restless crowd. Amongst his attempts, he glanced up at the tower Luffy and Gao Chao were in, only to see the orange-haired teen from before seemingly gliding through the air on his way up.

"That's Ichigo…" Smoker realised, "He's that Nami's brother they've been talking about…"

"Gyaaaa! Smoker-san had been talking to Nami's brother like a friend!" Charlie hollered.

"He'll be demoted!" added Merlin.

Tashigi rolled her eyes. "He's not going to be demoted, you dim-wits."

"I wonder what fruit ability that is…" Smoker observed, as Ichigo leapt into the tower, having run through the air as though an invisible path had been leading to his destination. "That's not Geppou he's using."

"What should we do, Smoker-san?" Charlie questioned him.

"For now, we watch," Smoker responded.


Ichigo watched the blur of Luffy as the pirate captain attacked Gao Chao at the speed of a paced shunpo.

What kind of technique is that? he wondered as he noted how Luffy's body seemed to simmer, That's amazing…

His focus quickly transferred to the two other incarnations whom were advancing on him. Withdrawing the dark katana, he decided to make the first move. Activating his shunpo, he easily matched them in speed and mobility, yet could never quite manage to land a blow as he could have with Zangetsu. So it was time, he decided, for his new approach to such combat.

Here goes nothing…thought Ichigo as he held the dark blade out before him. He reached deep within his mind, where he found a steadily fluctuating supply of reiatsu. Thinking back to the simple hado he'd witnessed Rukia and several other Shinigami perform several times before, Ichigo readied his stance and opened his mouth to utter the familiar words.

"Hado number four!" he said as he readied the blade for another strike, "Byakurai!"

As he tore the katana down through the air, a surge of energy rippled outwards, channelling into an immense streak of pale blue lightning.

"W-what?" Quilam stuttered, clearly not prepared as the lightning energy smote him where he stood, Shaomin experiencing the same thing. Both bodies disappeared, having retreated to their master body.

Ichigo stepped back, not letting his guard down. He watched as Luffy continued his speedy onslaught against the ever-quickening Gao Chao.

The rubber boy skidded to a stand-still, fists ready to strike.

"Gomu Gomu no…" Ichigo noted Gao Chao brace for the attack, "Jet Bazooka!"

Luffy bombardened the puppet master with what appeared to be a countless number of sizzling fists. However, Gao Chao managed to counteract, moving to dodge as many fists he could, which was only about half of them. Even so, the half that landed only seemed semi-effective.

Strange…Ichigo thought to himself, observing the form of Gao Chao He's suddenly gotten stronger…he's got to be about three times as strong as he was when we first began fighting…

His features proceeded to contort into a scowl, more so than usual when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Wait…those other two…

"I've figured out your weakness," Ichigo said with a smile.

This seemed to distract Gao Chao from his exchange with Luffy, bringing his attention to the Substitute Shinigami.

"Huh?"

"As a single being, your total strength is only ever at one level, right?" Ichigo questioned.

Gao Chao glared at him.

"That means that the more there are of you, the weaker each individual is."

In a flash of light, the three forms dispersed once more.

"Just try to get us though," they said.

"Alright then," Ichigo said, before continuing to the final leg of the plan, "Bakudo Number Four – Hainawa!"

A crawling rope of light erupted from the katana's blade, momentarily blinding any onlookers with its lightning-like vividness. It rapidly tangled itself around a surprised Gao Chao, binding his arms to his sides and rendering him unable to move.

Ichigo felt himself smirking as he bought the katana up and rested it over his shoulder, pleased that the kido had worked.

"That was awesome!" Luffy exclaimed in awe.

Before Shaomin or Quilam could make any sort of response, Sanji and Zoro arrived on the scene. Both incarnations were too distracted by the sudden predicament of their leader to notice their presence until it was too late, thus both were taken by surprise as when they were pinned down by a sword and tripped to the ground respectively.

"'Don't let your guard down'," Zoro quoted to them.

"And try not to underestimate us and just run off," Sanji added.

"Now you can't jerk around and switch with those other incarnations, can you?" Ichigo asked.

"Time to finish you off," Luffy said, despite Gao Chao's protests. "Gear Third."

Ichigo's eyes widened in amazement as Luffy bit down on his thumb, and proceeded to seemingly inflate his hand to an increasingly enormous proportion.

"I don't care if you say bad things about me. I'm a pirate. It's not like the way outsiders see me is going to change any," he said, before looking up and observing Gao Chao through a set of menacing eyes, "But if you threaten my Nakama, you have another thing coming."

"Oh come on," Gao Chao reasoned frantically, his spazzing eyes ricocheting between Luffy, Sanji and Zoro, before suddenly landing in Ichigo, "Fine then, forget the bounties of you and your crew! If you could just give me Kurosaki…"

But no mere words could hold Luffy back from what he'd come to do.

"Get your own Moon Guy!"

With a triumphant haul, Luffy's massive fist came crushing into the phoney adviser, sending him flying. In turn, the two suppressed incarnations groaned and disappeared back into the form of their now defeated master.

It was a victory.

"Now, that wasn't so hard once we could stop him from moving," Luffy said as the ground they stood on began crumbling.

"I think you may have overdone it though," Sanji admitted, eyeing the wreck f some of the tower's critical support beams, "Both of you."

"This tower's gonna collapse," Zoro noted as he re-sheathed his swords.

"Yosh!" said Luffy, "Time to go."

And with little effort, the four of them leapt, glided and rubber-rocketed their way out of the crumbling tower and to the safe ground below.

Touching down on the ground, Ichigo turned to watch as the top of the tower they had recently been in took on a similar appearance to the top of a sand castle when not enough sand has been placed in the foundations to support it. Noting Luffy beside him, he gave a small smile.

"Hey," he reached out and ruffled at the unkempt hair of the smaller boy, "Nice work."

Luffy grinned up at him. "You too, Moon Guy."


The uproar in the ceremony grounds was nearly deafening. The G-5 had resigned themselves to trying to keep the crowds at bay, but it was for little to no effect. It took a direct address from the Emperor himself for the crowd to begin to collect themselves.

"Citizens," he said, his voice holding dignity and reassurance, "Calm yourselves. I had been growing suspicious of Gao Chao's actions over the past few weeks. I was first tipped off by the leader of a rebel group a few years back, and at first didn't believe a word of it. However, what he said stayed with me, and more and more often I'd start noticing suspicious elements about my adviser's actions."

The emperor's soothing voice seemed to calm the crowd somewhat, yet still there was an air of tight discomfort.

"But firstly, I need to thank the group—pirates, were they?—for bringing an end to Gao Chao's plans and for saving me from the fate I was almost blind to. For that I am truly grateful."

A murmur rose from the crowd as people exchanged words with one another.

"We can deal with all this mess later," the Emperor, "Maybe in a few months we can bring down the wall, and slowly come to terms with the outside world of today. I know that the information of the world beyond the island would be known by a few of Gao Chao's contesters. I urge you to not be afraid to come forward and make suggestions where you see fit. You will not be persecuted. After all, a new dynasty has come to Xiang Pio. One of change, of new beginnings. A time when Xiang Pio can open itself up to the world and prosper to it's true potential. This is a time for celebration!"

"Soul King!" one of the crowd members cried, "Where's the Soul King?"

One by one, other citizens began demanding the presence of the acclaimed musical skeleton.

"Ah," Brook noted, "It seems as though my services are required."

From seemingly out of nowhere, he grabbed his signature electric guitar and donned his kingly hat. He then leapt up onto the ceremony platform, sparking the delight of many a citizen, and lighting up the faces of those still fretting over the recent incident with Gao Chao.

"Even though they were shielded from the outside world, my music still found a way to reach them," the skeleton noted as he began strumming away at one of his most popular tunes, "And now I can use it to help them welcome in this new era."

As Brook continued to play, the music reached the ears of the people and they gradually began loosening up.

"It's a party!" Luffy cried joyously as he burst forth from the rubble.

"Brook's pretty good," Ichigo admitted as he got to is feet beside the captain.

The next half hour was spent enjoying Brook's music, admiring the fireworks, going for joy rides on Hailong and of course filling the stomach with a large variety of festive food.

"And the log has set," Nami announced with a smile as the crew finally congregated once again.

Luffy grinned and looked on at the fireworks and partying.

"But maybe we should stay the rest of the night," he said, "We can leave tomorrow morning."

However amongst all the celebrations, there was someone still on the job.

"Straw Hat!" Smoker called from beside a food stall, "Don't go thinking that this victory has made you any less a wanted man!"

"Gyaaahh! It's Smokey!" Luffy realised, "On second thought, let's leave now!"

Ichigo and the Straw Hats hurriedly loaded themselves onto the Thousand Sunny. With no need for preparations, the ship left the docks and rapidly began sailing from the port and out in the direction of the next island.

"What do we do about the wall?" asked Ichigo, pointing to the ominous pale barrier that lay before them.

"I could cut it down," Zoro suggested.

"Don't! The rubble will go everywhere!" Nami snapped at him.

"I can handle this," Franky said with a grin.

He proceeded to pull a leaver by the ship's steering wheel, triggering a sharp inhale of air in an area below the ship's deck.

"Coup de Burst!"

"Huh? What?"

Clearly not ready for the sudden acceleration of the ship through the air, Ichigo lost his footing and found himself tumbling through the air and forcing himself to skid to a halt.

"Crap…I forgot it could do that," he said, watching as the ship continued to glide on ahead. "Oi, wait up!"


"After them," Smoker ordered his crew as the Thousand Sunny began to hurriedly sail out of Xiang Pio.

"Roger that!" Charlie and Merlin saluted as they and the rest of the G-5 crew hastily boarded their ship.

In no time, the sails were unfurled, the anchor was lifted, and the Marine Battle ship sailed at full speed after the ship of the infamous pirates. However, it seemed that the Straw Hats had been anticipating the G-5's inevitable perusal. The squad of marines looked on as the large pipe at the Sunny's rear began to vacuum a supply of air from the atmosphere around it, until it looked as though it were about to burst. And burst it did. Smoker watched as the ship became airborne and began hurtling through the sky, easily clearing the large wall that had helped dictate Xiang Pio's exclusion over the past many years.

However, it seemed that the orange-haired teen had not been ready for the blast, and had gone flying off the ship, plunging towards the water below. And then the inevitable occurred, when the captain of the ship followed the demonstration, seemingly in effort to rescue his unlucky new crew member. As such, even after Ichigo regained his footing in the sky—an ability Smoker still couldn't quite fully comprehend—and began running through the air after the ship, Luffy plummeted into the ocean below.

Smoker turned to Charlie and Merlin.

"And that," he said matter-or-factly, "Is why he is called Idiot One."

"Ahhh," the two young marines nodded, "We see…"

Smoker squinted his eyes and observed the patterns the ripples cast over the water, only to suppress the urge to facepalm when Ichigo dove in after the idiot captain.

So now they have another idiot…he thought to himself.

"They can't swim," he said out loud, "We'll need someone to go and fish them out. Who volunteers?"

"Uh…Smoker-san," Merlin said.

"What is it?"

"Nami's brother mustn't be a fruit-user…"

Smoker looked back over in time to see Ichigo pulling both himself and Luffy up out of the water, and quickly jumping through the air, over the wall and after the soaring ship. He narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Just what is he?"


Zoro stepped back and made way as Ichigo and Luffy touched back down on deck. At once, the two began to argue over Luffy's hasty actions.

"Look Luffy, I know you mean well, but you can't just try to save me or anyone else when they fall into the water. You know you can't swim, idiot."

"It's the thought that counts," Luffy pouted.

"It's the fact that you can't swim that counts," Zoro contributed, "You'd be more helpful if you just stayed put in those sorts of circumstances."

As Luffy and Ichigo parted ways to respectively bother Sanji and bum around, Zoro turned to Robin, who seemed to have something to say.

"There was something I found unusual about Gao Chao," she said.

"Did it have something to do with the whole split-up-into-different-incarnations thing?" Zoro questioned her.

"Partially," Robin replied, "He said he could make up to three extra bodies, didn't he?"

Zoro nodded. "That's right."

"That would mean that all up there could be more, yet we only ever saw three. Not to mention the fact that after he was defeated, none of the incarnations could be found anywhere. It was as though they'd disappeared entirely off the island."

"What do you mean by that?" Zoro questioned her.

"What I mean," Robin answered, "Is that I don't think Gao Chao or either of the other two incarnations were the original body…"


Shearwater hefted a sigh as slowly, but surely Potoro lost hand of his supposedly great scheme. He frowned as the other man came to report the recent exploits.

"So," Shearwater raised a dark eyebrow at his second in command, "It didn't work out?"

Potoro inclined his head. "Indeed, Master Shearwater. It seems my puppet abilities failed us this time around…"

"Pity," Shearwater commented, "I'd heard one of your incarnations had been something of a well-respected man over there for some time."

"Well we have that Straw Hat Luffy to thank for that no longer being true. Besides, those incarnations are hard to control over such a long distance."

"If you say so," Shearwater responded.

"At any rate," Potoro continued, "Whether I was successful or not, those Straw Hats are still bringing Kurosaki Ichigo closer to the glade of The Ocean's Icy Breath, closer to Adlivun."

"In that case, I should hope that any future attempts to stall them further in their journey are as unsuccessful as yours," Shearwater said.

Potoro stalled his response.

"Besides" Shearwater said with a grin, "The next glade may not be so kind to them…"

Next Time: With the festival in Xiang Pio finished and the Straw Hats and Ichigo sailing for the third glade, just what have Kon and Grimmjow been up to? The complete thrills and spills of the Arrancar and the Mod Soul's remarkable adventure so far will be revealed when the two come into contact with a certain notorious pirate who really pisses Grimmjow off…


That's the end of the Xiang Pio arc! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed. Next arc will be better, we're just getting started and this arc was still slightly introductory-ish. Real action is coming. Please review your thoughtage on this chapter/arc :) And yes, Potoro is a power hungry, manipulative bastard when he's able to let his incarnations run wild and free on a far off island…

I know everyone wants to get back to the Straw Hats and what they're up to, but the next chapter will focus on Kon and Grimmjow. I hope to be able to get that chapter up in a week, and then chapter 14 will be out the following week after that, and maybe 15 the following week. So it will be like a chapter four weeks in a row :D

Also, thankyou whoever followed me on Tumblr! I'm not sure who you are, but I like the things you reblog xD And now it is 4 in the morning. I am going to bed.

Please leave a review and I will be back sooner than usual~