Here's is the latest update, right on time. Thank you all for reviews, hits, and favorites. Because of your support my last three chapters got by far the most visits this week. I am humbled and I'm glad you are all enjoying the story, but please remember to couple these hits with reviews. They help me make a better story.

With that said, onward to the story.


Chapter 12: Battle Plan


Chopper moaned in pain as he slowly opened his eyes. His head felt like someone was sitting on him and each pulse from his veins sent wave after wave of agony. He attempted to clear his vision as a face came into his view. He knew from the smell of flowers and old books that it was Robin.

"Robin..." Chopper slurred.

Robin gently stroked his forehead, easing some of his discomfort. "Try not to move too much. You have a slight concussion. We're currently backed on the Sunny. Everyone is safe and cared for."

Chopper sighed in relief as he closed his eyes for a moment. The day's events quickly came back to him and he hastily reopened his eyes. "What about Luffy? Is he alright?"

Robin couldn't meet the young doctor's eyes as she took a deep breath. "We were unable to retrieve him. He is still under Zizu's influence."

"No..." Chopper whispered. How could this have happened?

"We will get him back, Chopper," Robin said in a voice that left no room for argument or doubt.

Just a couple of mouths ago, she would not had cared what happened to a pirate crew. Ever since she started to run from the World Government, pirates were nothing more than convenience bodyguards to her. She hated the World Government for taking away her home and life, but pirates were rarely any better. Stories like what had happened to Nami were all too common on the Grand Line and she had been part of crews that had wiped out entire villages just because they could.

When she met the Strawhats, she knew they were different; for no other reason then their captain being a carrier of the Will of D. She still thought, however, that they were an overall selfish bunch that would eventually turn on her the moment the iron hand of the government came down on them. For someone who prided herself on being a good reader of people, she was very wrong about this crew.

Not only did they not turn on her, they actually saved her life hundreds of times over. This crew and their captain had given her back her life and a reason to live. Even through she still desired to know the true history of the world, it wasn't the only thing she had to lived for anymore. This was her family and she would make Zizu pay for turning the greatest of them against them.

"What...what do we do now?" Chopper asked softly, breaking Robin from her thoughts.

"We were going to discuss that as soon as you woke up," Robin said. "Are you well enough to walk?"

Chopper gave a small nod. He still felt sick to his stomach, but he wanted to be there when they discussed how they were going to rescue their captain. His own personally needs could wait.

Robin saw right through Chopper's ruse, but chose to say nothing as she picked up the small reindeer. It was a short trip into the kitchen where the rest of the crew had gathered. The gallery was unnaturally quiet and there was still plenty of food on the table. Obviously, no one had much of an appetite.

"Chopper, are you feeling better?" Nami asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, but I have a slight headache," Chopper answered with a slight smile.

"Are you up to eating anything?" Sanji asked from his place at the table.

Chopper paused for a moment before answering. "Just a little."

Sanji nodded as he went to get the plate he specially made for Chopper. As someone who had have more than their fair share of concussions in the past, mostly thanks to Zeff's training from hell, he knew nothing too heavy would stay down.

No one said anything for a moment as Chopper slowly ate his food.

"Our options are limited," Ivy finally said, breaking the silence. "Zizu is preparing for a big operation against the World Government. I don't know the details, but that's why he's stationed himself so close to Redline."

"He's willing to attack the government heads on?" Franky asked in disbelief. Even though Zizu was a jackass, he had balls. In his book, anyone who screws with the World government couldn't be all that evil.

"The marines are preparing for something really big," Ivy said slowly. "There are many rumors, but all the most powerful marines from across the world are coming together at the marine headquarters."

Robin nodded her head in understanding. "It would be the most ideal time to launch an attack when the eyes of the government are looking elsewhere." But she wondered, what could be so important that the government would gather their entire marine's force?

"Who cares about any of that," Zoro growled impatiently. "Our main priority is getting our captain back. I don't give a damn about what Zizu's motives are."

"The reason why I brought this up is because the current situation can be use to our advantage," Ivy stated in mild annoyance from Zoro's behavior. "Zizu obviously has a lot at stake with his plan and I doubt he would bring together his strongest fighters again just to deal with us."

"So, we should have an easier time sneaking in," Nami said.

"In theory," Ivy said.

"Then what?" Usopp asked. "We still have Luffy to deal with."

"Strawhat is only a distraction. If we're to end this once and for all, we have to find Zizu and destroy his right eye," Ivy stated. "With that eye destroyed, Zizu's power should shatter."

"In other words, if we confront Luffy, we should ignore him or try to fight pass him," Sanji said.

"Easier said than done," Franky said as he tapped his figures. "For the most part, Strawhat was going easy on us today. I doubt he would make that mistake again."

Ivy looked at the cyborg in surprise. "You call what he did going easy?" She may have missed the fight, but she saw the bruises and wounds Strawhat left on his crewmates. Not to mention the chase through the forest.

"When Luffy gets really serious he's close to unstoppable," Zoro said in a soft voice.

"Why don't we try to lure him towards some water," Chopper suggested.

Franky shook his head. "Already done that, bro. I doubt Strawhat would fall for such that trick again."

"Well, it is Luffy," Usopp said. "I mean, he's fairly easy to trick."

"Even so, I doubt Zizu would allow Luffy to be tricked like that again," Robin said. "I suspect that Zizu will be keeping a close eye on Luffy to assure he completes his mission if we return."

"Looks like we may have no choice but to fight pass him," Nami said with a slight sigh.

"When the times comes, I shall handle Luffy-san," Brook said, causing everyone to turn towards him.

Sanji snorted as he took a puff of his cigarette. "No offense, Brook, but I doubt you could hold Luffy for five minutes. If anyone is going to handle that shitty captain, it will be me."

"No, I can do it you guys," Usopp spoke up. His voice had none of his usual cowardliness. "I actually fought Luffy directly before and I know how to distract him."

"This is completely different and you know that." Sanji said sternly as he turned towards the sniper. His face was firm with both worry and anger. "Despite whatever Luffy said before that fight, he didn't fight you seriously or with the intention of killing you. Now, he won't show any regards towards your life. You also don't have the advantage of planning ahead of time."

Usopp paled slightly but returned the cook's stare. "But..."

"Luffy is my responsibility, I will take care of him," Zoro said in a cold voice, interrupting Usopp.

"Shithead, need I remind you about your condition," Sanji said more harshly than he meant to, but he had to get it through Zoro's thick skull that he was in no shape to fight Luffy. In the shape he was currently in, Brook would had stood a better chance.

"I don't think it's realistic to believe that any of us can fight Luffy individually," Robin said calmly. "The end result would undoubtedly be death given that Luffy will try to kill us and we don't have that same desire."

"But it will just be to hold him off," Nami said.

"Still won't work," Robin stated. "Our best chance is to gang up on Luffy and defeat him quickly if we are unfortunate enough to run into him."

"Dammit, how hell did Strawhat fall under Zizu's spell, anyway!?" Franky exclaimed angrily as he slammed his fist into the table, nearly breaking it in half. "He was never out of our sights for long. At most, he was gone for no more than two or three hours yesterday."

Ivy looked away for a moment. "From what Zizu said, it was an accident."

"Accident?" Zoro nearly growled.

"I doubt Zizu would lie about this, but he said he only wanted to erase Strawhat's memories of finding the island. But his mind broke easily and he was able to seize control of his thoughts in just moments," Ivy explained. "I honestly have never met or heard anything about a person who had absolutely no defense to a mental invasion, so I don't know how truthful Zizu is being. He could have been purposely exaggerating."

Nami frowned as she rubbed her forehead. "Zizu wasn't exaggerating. Luffy is easily hypnotized." It would be almost funny if things weren't so serious at the moment.

Usopp nodded his head in agreement as he remembered the fight against Jango and the Color Traps from Little Garden.

Ivy titled her head. "Is he really that bad?"

"Luffy is very innocent as well as him being a moron," Zoro answered bitterly. "Despite all of Luffy's strength, he would have been absolutely helpless against Zizu's powers."

Zoro was beginning to feel sick as he remembered how he didn't even want to go after Luffy after he ran off the Sunny. He had to be blackmailed by Nami for him to barely make a half-ass attempt to find his captain. Even after everything that had happened at Thriller Bark, when he had taken his captain's suffering, he still foolishly assumed that Luffy could take care of himself and he didn't need a babysitter.

How could he have been so stupid? If he had went after Luffy, he would had been by his captain's side when he encountered Zizu. He could have snapped his captain out of his trance and beat the ever loving shit out of that Zizu bastard. He had failed his captain and his crew.

Sanji glanced at the desolated swordsman. He could feel the guilt radiating off of Zoro and he couldn't bear to look at his rival. No one blamed him for any of this, but the shitty swordsman always took responsibility when something happened to the crew when Luffy was gone. It wasn't like any of them could have predicted that this would happen.

"Maybe Luffy-san can break the spell himself if we encourage him," Brook suggested, trying to bring Zoro out of his slump. "Even if he has a weak mental defense, he still has a powerful will."

"As I told you yesterday, I only know of one person who broke free of Zizu's spell and given how fast he had broken your captain, I highly doubt Strawhat can put up much of a resistance," Ivy said. "If will alone could defeat Zizu, he would had never obtain most of his slaves, including my father."

"Well, how did that one person do it?" Chopper asked, his headache was feeling much better after eating.

Ivy bit her lips in thought. "From what he could tell me, he was only able break free after he had stabbed his pregnant wife through the stomach." Everyone in the room grasped at the information. "He said her last words to him were, 'no matter what happens, I forgive you'. Somehow, that was enough for him to shattered Zizu's influence. Although the damage have been done and he now lives his life in seclusion unable to overcome what had happened."

Robin put his hand to her mouth as if to hide her emotions. "So, emotional stress can shatter the control."

"From what I've personally witness, it was a fluke at best," Ivy answered bitterly. "No one else was able to broke free after they were forced to murder their love ones in cold blood."

"Maybe it wasn't the action itself, but the words," Robin said mostly to herself. "Maybe the words had a deeper meaning to him that allowed him to wake up."

"Does it really matter?" Sanji asked as he let out several puffs of smoke. "We can end it all by defeating Zizu. Luffy himself isn't our main concern."

Ivy sighed and nodded. "You make it sound so easy."

"Well, that is the only sure way we know of to save Luffy," Nami stated. "As you said, we can't depend on Luffy snapping himself out of it."

"I guess the only real question that is left is how are we going to approach Zizu's base," Ivy said as she looked at each of Strawhats. "Although Zizu can no longer spy on us, he still has access to your captain's memories. He will have an idea what to expect from all of you."

Nami leaned back into her chair. "Zizu maybe expecting us to make a direct attack since that is the strategic we usually use."

"Actually, we usually end up taken the direct approach because of Luffy," Usopp corrected.

"That is true. Maybe he will assume that we will not be as bold without our captain," Robin stated.

"Maybe, but just walking through the front door will be very dangerous," Ivy said. "We could split into two groups to infiltrate the base. One group could take the front and while the other team takes the back. Ivy paused for a moment. "Splitting up, however, had proven to be disastrous today."

"But Zizu won't know how we're divided this time," Chopper said. He was starting to feel much better.

"Maybe so, but he sees what his slaves see," Ivy said. "Once anyone of his servants spots us, it would be a simple task for him to summon one of his strongest fighters to counter us just like he did today."

"Then, we should stay together," Brook said as he remembered their fight against Oars. "We're, after all, stronger when we work as a team."

Robin nodded. "That seems to be our best option. We, however, still need to decide where we should enter."

Zoro put his head down for a moment. "We will enter from the side. They may expect us to be bold as usual, but they would also suspect that we would sneak in through the back or divide our numbers. They will cover all their bases on those ends, so their sides maybe unprotected."

"That's a pretty good plan, moss head," Sanji said before he began to look at Zoro suspiciously. "Did you somehow get possess too?"

"Shut up, you pervert!" Zoro yelled.

"For now, let's get some rest," Nami said. "We will be no good if we are dead tire."

"I shouldn't sleep since I still have a concussion," Chopper said. His speak was still slurred. "But I should be well enough now to properly treat everyone's wounds."

"Chopper, you should not push yourself," Robin said worriedly

"No, I'm fine now," Chopper assured. "I would never treat anyone if I wasn't in my right mind."

"I'm certain you'll take good care of everyone," Nami told Chopper with a small.

"You jerk!" Chopper exclaimed with a smile while he clapped his hooves. "Your words don't make you happy!"

Ivy raised an eyebrow as she looked at the rest of the crew.

"You'll get use to it," Usopp said with a laugh. It was good to have something normal happened for a change. It felt like a lifetime since anyone had really laughed.


Luffy returned to the base some time before sunset. He was greeted with slight nods from his 'comrades', but no one bothered to talk to him. It was all fine by him since his mind was still reeling from earlier. Although, he could no longer remembered what had upset him so much. Then again, there was a lot of things he couldn't remember.

"It is about time you've returned," Thomas said as he met Luffy at the door of the main compound.

"Where is everyone?" Luffy asked.

"They're in the infirmary," Thomas answered. "Your crew did a fine job ruffling up everyone. This is the first time I have ever seen anyone injure Caisco." He then began to chuckle. "Aiming for his eyes, why didn't I think of that."

Luffy felt a sense of pride swell in his chest before a hot pain shoot through his head and buried that feeling. They were his enemy. He shouldn't feel proud of his former crew hurting his teammates. It was still funny, however.

"I'll go and check on them," Luffy said as he began to walk down the hall.

"Strawhat, do you even know where the infirmary is?" Thomas asked impatiently. Luffy stopped for a moment when he realized he had no clue where anything was around here. Thomas gave a loud sigh. "Follow me."

They walked down several hallways filled with twists and turns until they reached a large room with several beds. There were several people inside; including people Luffy recalled fighting yesterday. For some reason he couldn't remembered why he had even fought them. They were all on the same side, right?

"Is everyone okay?" Luffy asked as he walked over towards Sahara and Timber who were on the far side of the room.

Sahara's entire left hand was covered in bandages and Luffy could tell that she was in a lot of pain, despite her best effects to hide it. Timber was also covered in bandages and had ointment on him to treat his burns. He was also shaking slightly.

"Damn that woman and her lightning," Timber growled as he attempted to stop himself from shaking.

"Master warned you about that," Luffy said casually.

"We were all careless," Sahara said in shame. "I didn't think that half-dead swordsman could move so fast."

"One doesn't get as high of a bounty as him by being a weakling," Thomas said as he sat on one of the nearby beds.

Sahara glared at Thomas. "I would have finished them all if you that brat, Ivy, had not interfered. You were supposed to handle her."

Thomas closed his eyes for a moment. "There were some….unforeseen problems."

"Like you showing mercy towards your daughter," Sahara stated.

Thomas glared coldly at Sahara. "You should have been able to finish the Pirate Hunter's group before Ivy even arrived."

Sahara could say nothing to counter that argument.

"The fact is, our performances today were a disgrace to our master," Thomas said in shame.

Luffy slammed his fists together. "I'll kill them all next time for sure. I'll make them pay for disgracing us." He felt a slight coldness in his stomach, but he chose to ignore it.

"Killing ones' crew isn't that easy," Timber said before he gave a slight smirk. "I should know."

Luffy looked towards the Zoan user. "When did you kill your crew?" The question left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Timber paused in thought. "I would have to say it was two or so years ago. I don't remember the details too much anymore. In fact, most of my life before I started working for Zizu is a blur."

"Really?" Luffy asked in awe. So, he wasn't the only one.

"I remember wanting to be a pirate so I can fight any time I wanted and do as I please," Timber said as he reflected on is former life. His eyes seemed to become clear for a moment. "I...I wasn't too close to my crew. I respected their strength, but our relationship didn't get any deeper than that. But...I think I was sad when I murdered all of them...I can't remember. I can't even remember any of their faces anymore."

"My experience is somewhat similar," Sahara said in a far off voice. "I had an unit I trusted with my life and friends. However, most of the time I spent with them is nothing more than shadows now. I still, however, remember clearly the night that I slaughter all of them. I remembered the look of betrayal, fear, and hatred in their eyes before I ended each of their lives."

Luffy could feel his heart freeze. He recalled how his own crew had looked at him after he had punched Brook. Nami grasping for air and looking at him with those pleading eyes also unnerved him. Their stares from his crew cut him deeply, but he was forced to bury those feelings. He was given a mission and he was determined to carry it out.

Luffy glanced at Thomas who had his head down and eyes close. He didn't say it, but Luffy knew that the older man was thinking about his daughter and maybe the people he had killed in his village.

"Our former lives mean nothing," a deep voice said.

Luffy turned to see a tall man with dark blond hair and green eyes staring down at them. It took him a moment to realize it was Caisco without his armor. The man looked younger than he expected. He couldn't have been any more than forty.

"When our master called us to his service we left our old lives behind and devoted ourselves completely to him," Caisco said in an emotionless voice. "Our dreams, desires, and hope lie only to serving him and achieving his goals."

His dreams? He did have a dream before coming him right? Yet, he couldn't remember what it was. It was like something was blocking his memory of his deeper desire. Now that he thought of it, why did he wear the strawhat on his head? Something inside him told him that it was important, but he couldn't remember why.

The gaps in his memories scared him for a moment before he felt a voice that wasn't his own assured him that everything was fine. He didn't need his memories because he had his master and he would find happiness in his service. He was Zizu's tool and that was all he needed to know.

"You're right," Luffy said to Caisco. "Our old lives mean nothing. We are all here to serve our master and will do so to the very end."

Thomas nodded in agreement as he opened his eyes. "Well said."


Once again, if Luffy's thoughts seem kind of confusion and hard to follow, it's meant to be that way. I also hope you don't mind me given more detail about my OCs. I wanted to make sure they don't come across as cardboard characters, but I don't want them to take over the story either. With that said their back stories will become somewhat important later.

As for Regezu, one of my favorite reviewers, you are correct about Yorki being the original captain of the Rumble Pirates. However, once he got sick and had to leave the ship with half his crew, Brook became the new captain. So the deaths of his remaining crew fall on his shoulders.

Anyway, until next time.