Towering Memories and Treasured Dreams

by RoseDragonWitch

Sequel to 'Warm Memories' story. Already, a few weeks had passed since their adventure on the 'ghost island'. Still, they continue forward, preparing themselves for any challenge that awaits them. But it seems that their memories aren't willing to let them go just yet. A distant tower... a mysterious force that haunts the seas... will their trust with each other be strong enough?

21. Floor 20: Whispering Shadows

Floor 20: Whispering Shadows

But just then, Cindry's body jerked forward. As if half of her was trying to resist, but the rest of the body was forced to give into the order.

"I…will kill… both of them," she said mechanically.

"There we go, that's the Cindry I know and love," Hogback said, "Good to have you back. Try to buy me some time, ok? I'm getting the hell outta here."

"It's a shame," memory Robin said sighed piteously as she looked at Cindry, "For a moment, I actually thought a miracle had happened."

She then caused a dozen arms or so to sprout from all over Cindry's body and bound her tightly so that she couldn't move. Unlike with Zoro's zombie, she had no chance of breaking herself free. Seeing his last bodyguard being restraint, Hogback freaked out and tried to make a last, desperate attempt to run for it. But memory Chopper wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

"You get back here!" he screamed as he gave chase.

"Are you kidding?" Hogback barked back, "Do you think I'm crazy?"

"Seriously, why does anyone think that ever works?" Sanji couldn't help but ask. "That natural thing to do is run when someone tells you to 'get back here', isn't it?"

"Maybe people should start yelling 'keep running!' or something?" Brook offered.

"We can try, but I think that it would only seem like we're encouraging them," Nami sighed at the thought.

"Man, all that Moria and his crew knew how to do was run," Luffy frowned as he remembered how much running he had to do that night.

"You know what? You're right, captain," present-day Chopper nodded sadly. That whole crew seemed to be made up of people who either ran away, or hid as they fought.

That was neither here nor there though, for all around them the entire mansion was starting to shake, cracks appearing and tiny pieces of debris was starting to crumble from the ceiling.

Usopp gulped nervously as he said with a shake in his voice, "There's only one person I can think of who could do this?"

"Ah oh, it sounds like Oars has finally returned!" Hogback gasped as stared around wildly.

"Yeah, not so proud of your creations now are you?" present-day Chopper yelled angrily as his past self grabbed hold of the mad doctor from behind. Hogback shrieked and flailed about as he tried to pull himself free.

"You stupid pirate deer!" Hogback yelled as he struggled, "Why are you siding with a corpse instead of a genius? Let me go! You're not even human to begin with, so what do you even care you monster?"

"If he's a monster, then what do you call yourself?" Nami demanded angrily.

"The captain of our crew is just fine with monsters like me! And Moss Heads and perverts, and cyborgs too! And all of us get along just fine! And unlike you our captain doesn't need to turn them into zombie slaves to get them to listen to him!"

"Moss Head? Not you too, Chopper!" Zoro barked at their Chopper, who shrugged. He was caught up in the moment… besides, he was a monster too… in his own way anyway.

"I don't care!" Hogback yelled. "Let me go!"

Present-day Chopper sighed. Even after all of this, he still didn't get it, did he?

Memory Chopper suddenly called out, "Robin! Help me out!"

"You've got it," memory Robin said with a smile as she held her hands up again. "Pierna FLEUR!"

Right beneath memory Chopper's own feet, another pair of legs grew, lifting him off the ground. When Hogback realized this and looked down, he began to shriek at what was happening.

"Talk about giving you a leg up," present-day Usopp said with a laugh, earning groans from the rest of the crew at the poor joke.

That was when a tower of legs sprouted one after another as they carried Chopper upwards until he was close to the ceiling, and Hogback realized what was about to happen.

"Chopper? Are you going to…?" Nami gasped as she saw what he was doing. "You're not seriously going to…?"

"I was going to," present-day Chopper admitted, unable to hide the fury in his voice.

"Even if you were angry, even if he deserved it, it's very unbecoming of a doctor," Brook reminded him quickly. "I don't want you to do something that you may regret."

"I know that, but… I wanted… I wanted to make him pay for all that he did," present-day Chopper shot back.

"But we don't want to see you become a killer like this," Zoro reminded him quietly. "Injure him? Sure. Push him to the brink of death? That's fine. But if you're going to kill, you're going to have to live with that. Believe me, once you cross that line, you can't go back."

Chopper looked up at him with a frown, but he didn't answer as he looked on. He knew that they were saying this because they were worried about him, and he appreciated it. But how could he live with himself if he had just let him go without some kind of punishment for all the people he devastated? As far as he knew, Hogback was killed when Oars stepped in through the hall. At least they didn't need to worry about him or his zombies anymore.

"T-T-Time out, Dr. Chopper!" Hogback begged as they were hanging off the floor, "Let's be reasonable! Try to consider the consequences here for a moment! If you splatter my genius brains all over the floor right now, you'll be doing a disservice to the medical community!"

"Oh, I think that it would be a service not to have to deal with you and your 'genius' anymore," present-day Chopper snapped as his past self yelled, "I don't care! That genius brain of yours is even more rotten than your zombies!"

"I thought you were a man of reason, Dr. Chopper!" Hogback begged as he began hitting his arm. "Can't we work this out?"

"Well, you did give him chance after chance to show some remorse for what he did," Nami reasoned but was still frowning at what she was seeing. This almost didn't seem like Chopper.

But before memory Chopper was able to swing Hogback down into the ground, the cracks in the ceiling grew even larger and started to cave in. Memory Chopper looked up, now being held upside down as Oars came bursting through. Memory Robin gasped, her spell vanishing as Cindry was set free and her legs disappearing from under Chopper and Hogback.

Oars's head went slamming itself right through the wall, causing screams of panic all around at the sight of him.

"Damn, guess that Moria was finally able to get control of him at this point," Usopp yelled out as there were shrieks of surprise and terror at the size of the giant zombie stampeding through the mansion.

"It's Luffy's zombie!" memory Chopper screamed out as he and Hogback fell. Cindry and memory Robin were struggling to remain upright as the floor began to break apart from under them.

"Well, you sure don't see that coming," Nami cried out. "You two had to get out of there before he stepped on you!"

"The floor's gonna collapse!" memory Robin called anxiously, "Chopper! Over here!"

Memory Chopper was forced to let go of Hogback as he shifted back to his walk point. He then kicked off from Hogback, who fell to the floor below them along with Cindry. The present-day Straw Hats watched as both managed to make it to the floor in one piece, but Hogback became trapped underneath a large slab of stone.

"That could have gone better," present-day Chopper muttered.

"But it could have been a lot worse, Chopper-san," Brook reminded him. Truthfully, he was glad that Oars went bursting through here when he did. He didn't want to see their sweet, innocent doctor have to kill anyone like that. Even if Hogback deserved it, their doctor didn't deserve to have death on his conscience. It was, after all, unbecoming a doctor.

"That was a close one," memory Chopper gasped as he landed beside memory Robin with a sigh of relief. But Robin didn't answer him as she kept her eyes on Cindry and Hogback, as if making sure that they weren't getting back up. They both looked over the edge as Oars march inwards, not even realizing that Hogback and Cindry were in his path.

"He's gonna step on them if he doesn't look down," Zoro pointed out what they were all thinking.

"Guess he's just too big," Franky reasoned. "I mean, we're just fleas to him. We can't expect him to notice us little people."

"That giant… is Luffy?" memory Robin asked as Chopper walked over to the edge to see where the others are.

"No! That's not me!" Luffy yelled before adding in an undertone, "But he really is cool though."

"No he's not!" Nami snapped at him as memory Chopper looked down at the floor below them to see Hogback still struggling to pull himself out of the rubble.

"Too… heavy," Hogback gasped out, "Dammit."

But then Cindry got back to her feet and he gasped in relief at the sight of it.

"Cindry, hurry up and get over here and move this rock," Hogback ordered before he looked up and despite the smile that seemed permanently etched on his face, he was looking panic-stricken as Oars slowly approached them.

Cindry didn't move as she glanced over at him.

"What's wrong with her?" Brook asked in concern. Surely Cindry would be doing what she was told?

"I'm not sure," present-day Robin answered as she watched on with great interest. To this day, she was not sure of what happened with Cindry. Was it truly possible that Cindry, the real Cindry, helped them defeat Hogback?

That shouldn't be possible, but…?

"This isn't funny anymore, Cindry," Hogback went on, sounding more urgent as she just looked at him with those blank eyes, "I really need your help right now. Oars is gonna crush me like a giant cockroach! I can't die! I'm far too smart to die! I HAVE SO MUCH LEFT TO GIVE!"

Still she didn't move.

"To smart to die? Then how'd he get down there to begin with?" Franky asked with a roll of his eyes. "Damn… what's the deal with the bad guys having such big egos?"

"Question for the ages," Nami sighed as she thought of all the enemies they fought up to until this moment and just how they seemed to think that they were above them all. Hell, Eneru even thought that he was god for crying out loud!

"I'm your master dammit! Why are you just standing there?" Hogback was now close to yelling at her, "Hurry!"

Still she stayed where she was, her body shaking.

"I can't move… my body won't move," she answered back.

"What…?" Brook gasped at the sight. It looked like she was torn between wanting to answer the command, but a stronger part of her was doing everything it could to ignore him. "It happened again?"

"I really can't say how it's possible," present-day Robin confessed as the others watched with their mouths open at the sight of it. "After all, Cindry died over ten years ago. Her soul had long since left that body behind, and yet…?"

"And yet it's like she was still helping us," present-day Chopper nodded slowly. "It wasn't much, but she was fighting against him. I guess it could be possible that the shadow that was used to make her body move was rebelling after all this time, I suppose though?"

"That does seem the most likely, but I can't help but feel that Cindry wanted to see that guy stopped as bad as we did," Sanji nodded.

"SAY WHAT?! ENOUGH ALREADY!" Hogback yelled at her, losing his cool completely as Oars kept coming ever closer. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE! THE ONLY WILL A ZOMBIE HAS IS THE WILL TO FOLLOW ORDERS! SO HURRY UP AND SAVE ME! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A CORPSE WITH A PRETTY FACE! DON'T PRETEND YOU'RE HUMAN!"

"Is it bad that she seems more human than he does right now?" Luffy asked slowly, as if he was afraid of saying something that would make Chopper upset.

"No, not at all," present-day Chopper reassured him with a smile.

Just then, Cindry slowly turned on the spot, able to regain enough movement to look up at the memory versions of Chopper and Robin up on the floor above her. For a moment she did nothing, but then, to their amazement, she smiled up at them.

Chopper and Robin both gasped at the sight of it, which they didn't blame them for. At that moment, they could see her, the real Cindry as she was in life. A smile that was so full of life and light that they couldn't see the ghastly, cold skin or the scars on her face. They saw Cindry silently thanking them, reassuring them that it's going to be ok.

They were staring so much at her that they barely paid any attention to Hogback who was putting up more of a fuss than ever.

"HEY! I'M DYING HERE CINDRY! OARS IS GONNA STOMP ME!" Hogback then looked up at Oars, who was right above him, and unknowingly about to put his foot down. "OARS LOOK DOWN HERE! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE STEPPING DAMNIT! IT'S ME YOU DOPE! YOU'D STILL BE DEAD IN A BLOCK OF ICE IF IT WASN'T FOR ME AND MY GENUIS!"

Oars stepped down and the memory darkened not long after that.

"Wow…" Franky said as he moved his sunglasses down onto his eyes, tears falling silently as he cried for Cindry. "That poor girl… even in death she couldn't really rest, could she?"

The memory reappeared in a surprising way in that they were back in the church with memory Sanji and Nami. The two of them were still in that church after Sanji took care of Absalom, and memory Sanji had just picked up Nami, who was still in the wedding dress and out cold.

"Oh, man we're back watching the lame cook again? One's bad enough, who needs two?" Zoro sighed in irritation.

"Watch it!" present-day Sanji snapped as the shaking continued even here. His past self was struggling to hold Nami while the shaking continued around him and more cracks and debris continuing to break apart.

"What the hell?!" memory Sanji called as he tried to remain upright. "What's with this shaking?"

That was when the roof above him started cracking apart, getting his attention as he stared up with his eyes wide.

"CRAP! WHAT NOW?!" he cried out in panic.

"Don't tell me," Franky said, plugging up his ears as he knew just what was coming. And he was right. Oars's foot went crashing through the ceiling.

"Ok, so I'm starting to get a sense of where we all are," Robin called over the noise. "This had to have been happening after he stepped on Hogback and Cindry!"

"Lucky me!" present-day Sanji yelled as his past self was staring up with horror.

"IS THAT THING… LUFFY'S ZOMBIE?!" he hollered, taking a few steps back before looking down at memory Nami and said, "Ah, Nami? Now would be a good time to wake up."

"Seriously, what was with me?" present-day Nami demanded over the noise. "How could I sleep through all that? Just what did they do? Drug me?"

"I'm starting to think so," Chopper called. "That must be a powerful sedative! But I don't think that it will last for much longer! After all, Absalom wanted you alive, right? Anything stronger than that could have accidently killed you."

"Well, I guess that's one good thing," present-day Nami hissed. But seriously, if this guy needed to drug a girl to get her to marry him, he has some seriously twisted ideas to what 'love' is.

Memory Sanji couldn't wake her up and he gritted his teeth as he muttered, "There's nothing I can do. Guess I'm just gonna have to run for it."

"I should have left sooner," the present-day Sanji sighed in regret. If he had then he never would have given that invisible jerk another chance to steal Nami. But no sooner did he think that did the Nami in the memory disappear from his arms, causing gasps of shock from some of the crew.

"Huh? Nami! Did you just turn invisible too?" Luffy asked with his eyes wide.

"Hey, I can disappear when I want to thanks to my mirages," present-day Nami retorted, "But I was out cold! I don't know anything that happens here!"

"Then that means…?" Usopp gasped as he began searching all over.

"Ah… hey Nami?" memory Sanji questioned. "Nami? She just… disappeared?"

"Oh, pull your head out of your ass, idiot," Zoro said with a roll of his eye. "It's obvious what happened!"

"Shut up! I wasn't expecting it!" he shot back angrily, "I'd like to see you do better against that stitched-up freak!"

"Ha! I'd have gladly taken him out and show you up!" Zoro snapped back.

As they argued, they could start to hear Absalom growling on the wind again as Sanji slowly turned around to face the open door with anger back in his face. "It's you again?"

Absalom growled again, but this time there were also grunts of pain, and they knew that the guy had been beaten badly. How he was even still standing was a mystery, but it seemed that the only thing that kept the 'Graveyard King' going was his dirty thoughts.

"It looks like the tables have turned," Absalom's voice growled as he coughed, probably hacking up blood… or maybe a hairball in his case.

"Bastard! So you're still alive, huh?" memory Sanji yelled, "If you wanna finish this, then stop hiding and bring it on!"

"Come on, if he wouldn't come out and face you when he thought that you were a weakling, I doubt that he's gonna come out and get another ass-kicking," Usopp pointed out.

"Doesn't mean I can't try and threaten him," present-day Sanji retorted. "A real man would have come out and face me over the honor of a lady! He's just running and hiding like a coward! I swear if I ever see him again on the Grand Line, I'm gonna flatten him like a pancake!"

"Pancake…?" Luffy repeated with his mouth drooling at the thought.

"I told you! You can't eat now!" present-day Sanji yelled at him.

But Oars had fully stepped inside the church at this point as Absalom laughed and declared, "Well, well… that trouble-making giant is finally under our control. In other words, you're screwed! Think I'll be taking my bride for good this time!"

"OH, YOU WAIT UNTIL I WAKE UP AND GIVE YOU WHAT YOU DESERVE!" present-day Nami yelled out in fury.

"Like hell you will!" memory Sanji roared out, "Give Nami back! Where the hell are you hiding her?!"

"Ah, are you lonely?" Absalom asked as Oars was preparing to step down on him, not even seeing Sanji there, "Then why don't you play with Oars here?"

"SANJI! BEHIND YOU!" Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp all screamed at the sight. Memory Sanji finally turned around just as Oars's foot came down and the memory went black.

"How could you not notice that?" Zoro demanded. "I mean, I know you always keep half your face covered, as you should… but seriously! How can your sight be that bad?!"

"I had more important things to worry about!" Sanji yelled back. "That bastard took Nami!"

"Like you could do anything after getting stepped on!" Zoro retorted with a roll of his eye. "And you should have kicked that bastard harder! If you had then he wouldn't have gotten up!"

"So that's what happened," present-day Nami nodded in understanding. "I was wondering about that. I mean, you saved me, but when I finally woke up, I was still at the altar. This explains it all."

"I'm so sorry, Nami-swan," Sanji whimpered as he fell to his knees in front of her. "I tried… I really did try! But I was just…?"

"Don't worry about it," Nami sighed before smiling. "You risked your life to save me. Don't worry. I finally woke up and finished that guy off with some help from Lola. The important thing is that I'm still single! So you did your job! No worries!"

"Oh, Nami…" Sanji gasped as he stared at her lovingly. "You're so beautiful when you're forgiving!"

"For once… I have to agree with that," Usopp whispered to some of the other boys. "At least compared to when she's 'collecting' from us anyway."

"Yeah, I hear ya," Franky nodded. "She's downright scarier than any zombie when she's like that.

The memory of the collapsing building disappeared until it was replaced to sometime earlier when memory Luffy was confronting Moria. He had thrown out an attack at Moria, before a shadowy hand burst out of the floor and blocked Luffy's fist.

"A shadow?!" memory Luffy gasped as he landed.

"Right, you had your hands full with that shadow ability," Sanji said as he thought back to the last time they saw this battle.

"Stupid shadow abilities," present-day Luffy frowned as he watched. "Having his shadow fighting for him."

"Technically, you were still fighting Moria," Robin pointed out as a dark Moria-shaped figure followed the ghostly hand until it looked like Moria had taken a bath in ink.

"Try to beat him!" real Moria taunted, "My clone Doppelman!"

"I really, really didn't like that," present-day Luffy glared at the shadow. "Why couldn't he have the guts to fight me?!"

"Hey, you got a bargain," Sanji said with a shrug. "Who knew? You got two fat leeks for the price of one."

"There was a time when I was filled with confidence in myself and ambition," Moria explained when he saw how taken aback by the shadow creature memory Luffy was, "But I started to understand the importance of competent underlings."

"And how is a crew of rotting zombies considered to be competent?" Nami couldn't help but ask as memory Luffy was yelling at Shadow Moria to move out of his way.

Naturally the shadow didn't move, it just seemed to smirk sarcastically at Luffy. "I don't even need to lift a finger," Moria went on, "Because I will become the Pirate King by using the strength of others!"

Robin frowned a little as she looked at him, thinking that she might have understood. For years she had always tried to remember that the crews she would join weren't really her friends. Instead, they were just… protection for her. She didn't wish to get any closer to them in fear of them betraying her. Mayhap it was the same for Moria. He didn't wish to get close to his crew and felt it was simply safer to deal with underlings?

"Pal, if you think you can become the king by just sitting on your ass and no moving, then you sure aren't going to get anywhere," Franky pointed out as memory Luffy had to dodge an attack from the shadow.

"I told you!" memory Luffy yelled defiantly, "I'll be King of the Pirates!"

Moria only laughed as he told him that his zombie said that too, but soon his shadow will forget all his memories and become one of his obedient zombies. No matter how strong your will is, all zombies are forced to obey him.

"Yeah, and if Moria can control even someone with a strong will like you, Luffy…?" Chopper began nervously.

"Yes, that was what made him dangerous," Brook nodded. "He just needed to be strong enough to be able to steal shadows and that is when he will have his 'victims' fighting his battles for him."

"You think that he would have been weak and lazy after all this time," Usopp sighed, wondering why they could never fight against weak pirates for a change.

"He may have been," Zoro said with a shrug. "He never technically fought us. He had his zombies fighting for him and when he was against Luffy here, he had his own shadow do all the work while he ran around. Even when he faced off against us with Oars, he was controlling that giant zombie, remember? And even at the end, he was using the stolen shadows of a thousand people absorbed into his body to try and fight with Luffy. So he may have really let himself go in all the years he had of stealing shadows."

"Huh, you know what? You're right," Franky said as he thought that over. "Damn. I feel kinda embarrassed now that he was able to push us so hard that night.

They watched the battle going on with memory Luffy and Moria. He was doing his best, but Moria continued to block each of Luffy's punches and kicks with his shadow, either in its giant full-size Moria form, or taking the form of tiny little bats that bit and scratched at him. At one point, memory Luffy went running around the room to try and throw the shadow bats off him before running alongside the wall and almost disappeared from their view as he fell through the massive gap in the hole that Oars went broken through when he woke up later.

Luffy was able to get rid of the bats though before he went rocketing back to Moria, who hadn't moved in all that time. It looked as if he was watching a mildly interest puppet show with how calmly he was taking this.

"Aren't you noisy?" Moria asked, sounding a little impressed at how Luffy dealt with that.

"Shut up!" memory Luffy barked back, already out of breath. He looked ready to fight again until the shadow bats came flying back at him in the form of a dark cloud. This went on until Luffy was covered in blood from the countless cuts from the bites and scratches.

"Come on, Luffy! We know you can do better than that!" Usopp said to their Luffy.

"Hey! I was trying! I didn't know how to get rid of that stupid shadow thing though!" present-day Luffy yelled back angrily as Moria was laughing at memory Luffy's growing frustration. With every bat he managed to throw off him, another two would bite down on him until he finally threw them all off at once. But as the bats went flying in all direction, splattering like goop where they landed, they slowly began to grow and rejoin together until Moria's Doppelman reformed itself and was smiling down at Luffy evilly.

"Robin? Tell me, what's the best way to fight against a shadow like that?" Nami asked Robin anxiously.

"Hard to say," she answered back calmly as drops of blood dripped from memory Luffy, leaving tiny splatters on the floor. Memory Luffy tried… and tried. But each time his fists were blocked until he was growing so annoyed that he looked ready to start tearing the entire freezer apart.

"No matter how lazy he may appear to be, you need to remember not to underestimate your enemy," Zoro said to their Luffy, who was frowning at how 'uncool' he was looking here. "Course, that also works out for us," he added. "But still, be careful, alright?"

"I know," present-day Luffy sighed. "I just wish… I could punch Moria again. Just once. I barely got the chance to do that here."

"Maybe you'll get your chance," Zoro offered as Moria only yawned as his shadow was now swaying tauntingly at memory Luffy. "Old enemies seem to have a habit of coming back to haunt us. Maybe we'll see this loser again. If he hadn't learned to improve by then though, I think that you could take him out easy."

"I hope so," present-day Luffy grunted, actually wishing that he had a chance to meet him again just so that he could break his face.

At long last, memory Luffy had enough and jumped over the ledge, taking Moria by surprise. But as Moria looked over the railing, already guessing that memory Luffy was trying to escape, they saw Luffy there, kicking up at the floor beneath Moria and sent him flying. Moria went flying upwards and crashed into the ceiling before falling back to the floor, pieces of ceiling actually falling down on top of him afterwards.

"Nice! Insult to injury!" Franky roared with laughter. "You really did kick his ass after all! I forgot that you did that!"

"Yeah, too bad that trick won't work again," Sanji pointed out. After all, once a fighter had seen an attack, they usually could figure out a way to avoid it in the future. Luffy took Moria by surprise this time, but it was going to take more than one surprise trick to win this night. Good thing that they were well known for surprising people.

That last attack was finally enough to get Moria's full attention. They could see a muscle going in his head when he pulled himself out of the rubble and was actually looking ticked off. The Straw Hats were all laughing and cheering, wanting to see him get his due. Moria, however, was looking dangerous as an evil grin appeared on his face again. He made only one threat… that he was going to make Luffy pay for that.

Memory Luffy paid no attention to him as he swung from the chain, trying to use the same attack from before, but Moria was able to deflect it when he sent his Doppleman after him.

"Well, no one can say that you didn't try," Robin pointed out as the Doppleman wrapped itself around memory Luffy like a thick, black snake. The battle went on viciously, but the problem was that Moria barely had to fight, while memory Luffy was already getting tired. There was no end to this, unless he figured out a way to deal with Moria's double, then there would be no chance for him to be able to get to the former Warlord for his long over-due ass kicking. Moria soon sat back down and watched as his shadow did all the work.

Memory Luffy tried to attack it again, this time with a Bazooka. However, it blocked that and a Gum Gum whip… which the shadow grabbed hold of his leg and bounced around like a yo-yo. Jumping up to the shadow's hand, memory Luffy actually tried to bite it, but he just pulled out a small piece of it like it was jelly before it fell back and rejoined in the hand like nothing had happened.

"Just asking, what did a shadow taste like?" Usopp couldn't help but ask their Luffy in curiosity. "I mean, it's not usually something that you give any thought to, but…?"

"It didn't taste like anything," present-day Luffy said as he frowned, trying to think back to that day. He had just been so angry that he thought that he might be able to eat the shadow if that was what it took to beat him. He didn't like it… it was like biting down on something wriggly before it slipped between his teeth. Nasty feeling, but no taste.

At long last, Moria laughed and taunted him by asking, "What's wrong? I thought that you said that you were gonna kick my ass?"

"Get off your high horse and actually fight your own battles and he will!" Franky yelled back.

"Yeah, you jerk!" Chopper yelled angrily. "I'll take you on now if you don't stop it!"

"You really want to fight against a Warlord, Chopper?" Robin asked him cheerfully before Chopper realized what he said and went slightly blue in the face at the thought.

"Hey, I hear ya, Chopper," Nami said with a frown. She was also getting sick of Moria and how he was just playing around with Luffy. She couldn't help but feel like she was looking at Arlong again. He rarely felt the need to fight his own battles… except when it came to tormenting and bullying her, of course. But Arlong was much the same way. He would sit there in his chair while he sent his stupid, violent-loving crewmates to go and destroy something or bring him back treasure while he relaxed.

And how she longed to be able break his face whenever he laughed when she was forced to return to his side.

Just seeing Moria was enough to get her blood boiling.

In anger, memory Luffy jumped up to his feet again as he yelled, "I'm going to! Just shut up and wait!"

"I see," Moria said, though he sounded like he highly doubted it. "Don't mind me but… if you don't hurry up, he'll come back."

"Him?" memory Luffy asked, sounding lost, "Who are you talking about? Who's him?"

Again Moria laughed. "You of course," he answered as if he should've guessed from the start.

"Huh?" Usopp asked before he remembered their 'big problem' and sighed at the thought. "Oars is on his way back here, isn't he?"

"I'm guessing that it's close to the time that his memories are gone and that he will start to obey, Moria," Robin nodded grimly. "If he's not heading back here right now."

"Just what we didn't need," Nami said as she shook her head, though a part of her was wondering just what kind of zombie did these freaks have set up for her if they got her shadow? She shuddered at the very thought of some stitched-up, rotting creature that would sound just like her. That was really scary.

Memory Luffy was looking confused to Moria's words, but when he came to realize that Oars was on his way, he tried to fight against the Doppelman once more, but it just seemed like no matter how hard he punched, the fight could go on forever.

"You know, I wonder, would Haki work on a shadow?" Sanji couldn't help but ask. "I mean, I know that it works for fighting against Logias, but this shadow isn't a Logia ability? It's a shadow?"

"Huh, that would be interesting to find out," Robin said in mild interest. "Personally, though, I doubt it. Because you can't really hurt a shadow, just a life-size puppet. If you want to take it out then you must go for the puppet master."

"But you have to get around the puppet to get to him!" Chopper pointed out.

"Yes, it is quite a conundrum, isn't it?" she asked lightly. Moria continued to mock memory Luffy, who was now yelling at him to stop acting all high and mighty. Just get to fighting him in person already.

"Seriously, this fight is just getting boring," Franky couldn't help but say, "I mean, there's only so often you can keep using the same attacks before it makes you want to pull your hair out."

As he said that, he pressed down on his nose to create a set of long pigtails just out of sheer boredom. But Moria looked like he could care less with what they were thinking of him. He just rolled over so that his feet stuck over the railing and he was able to look Luffy full in the face and repeated that he was going to become the Pirate King by using the strength of others, and now thanks to him, that day was closer than ever.

Memory Luffy declared that he would get everyone's shadows back no matter how many times it took for him to beat him. But no sooner did he say that than the Doppelman belly flopped right on top of memory Luffy, causing Moria to laugh.

"Cheater," present-day Luffy muttered when the Doppelman moved to see that his memory self was missing. Memory Luffy had rocketed up and was past to try and get to Moria… only for the Doppelman to reach up and grab his leg and stopping him dead in his tracks.

"I don't really care what happens to you," Moria admitted casually, "But your future doesn't look to… bright."

"Oh, boy… he's terrible with jokes," Zoro said as he slapped himself in the face.

"I don't know, I thought it was a little clever," Robin couldn't help but disagree. Zoro looked at her with his eyebrows raised. This woman worried him sometimes.

But there was no time to tell her this, for at that moment, the sounds of giant footsteps approach them and they all felt as though something in their stomachs sank at the thought their captain's new zombie. As soon as he heard them though, a new excitement filled up Moria as he got up and began looking outside the giant hole, almost bounding around with eagerness as his newest puppet was finally coming home.

"He's here…" Moria said excitedly as he laughed. After several more seconds, a massive pair of bandaged hands suddenly appeared on either side of the massive hole in the side of the building and the face slowly pulled itself up so that they could get a good look at it.

"Just how did they get something that big here?" Sanji couldn't help but ask. He had to admit that he wasn't as impressed with it as he should have been. But this guy was probably about the same size of Surume, and look how easily that they were able to deal with him? If only they had all been this strong when they first came to Thriller Bark. They would have dealt with Moria and everything here so much easier.

"So, how did it feel meeting your other half, Luffy?" Usopp couldn't help but ask him as sweat beaded on his forehead. Unlike Sanji, he was still freaked out at the size of Oars here and wanted to go and hide under a rock or something. They were like the size of fleas to this guy… and just one swat of his hand would have been enough to take them all out!

Even memory Luffy was staring up at that thing in shock as the present-day one said, "I knew that you guys said that he was a giant, but I was thinking of something a little smaller than that!"

"Yes, I'm guessing that he was a very special type of giant," Robin nodded in agreement. "Thankfully, there doesn't appear to be many types of giants like him in the world." Well, she knew that there had to be at least one other… Oars Jr.

She knew that he had been part of the Whitebeard Pirates, but she knew next to nothing else about him. Yet, if he was there at Marineford trying to save Ace, then he might have been very different from his ancestor. But as for the rest of these types of giants, she could never be sure if there was some kind of place like Elbaf where they came from.

"Thank god for that," Usopp sighed in relief. "Don't get me wrong, I have enormous respect for giants! It's been my dream to go to Elbaf and meet the warriors there ever since Little Garden, but if we had to meet more giants that big? I don't know if I could handle it."

Moria laughed as he turned to Oars and yelled at him that he had been waiting for him to come back and demanded to know who his master was.

The giant zombie looked down at him. "My master's name… is Master Moria."

"What?!" memory Luffy demanded in outrage.

"Yeah, no way that thing was me!" present-day Luffy snapped back. There was no way that he was ever going to call anyone his master! Especially not Moria!

"I have to admit that his power is truly a frightening thing," Brook nodded softly at the thought of even a shadow with such a strong will like Luffy's could eventually be brought under control.

"Still, the only reason he was so dangerous was because he had so many zombies," Zoro reminded him as he folded his arms and watched on. "And let's not forget that Hogback loser. He wouldn't even have zombies if it wasn't for him. If you ask me, his Shadow Shadow fruit powers are pretty lame."

"And what does that say about you since you had your shadow stolen?" Nami asked as Zoro glared at her.

Memory Luffy was shouting up at him that he shouldn't have to take orders from a jerk like Moria but Oars looked down at him with confusion as if he had never seen him before—which was difficult to say if he had or not. But Oars then asked, "Who are you with the Straw Hat?"

Brook sighed at the sight, remembering the pain he felt when he first confronted Ryuma after he had his shadow stolen. He knew that man held his shadow, but when they met, he asked him the same thing. He had honestly forgotten everything, who he was and their important promise to return to Laboon.

Hearing his own shadow ask him who he was felt like a knife to his heart. Not that he had a heart anymore since he was just a skeleton, but the pain was enough to make him feel like he was about to be sick. Good thing that he didn't have a stomach anymore, but that wasn't the point. The point he was trying to make was that it felt like a piece of him had ripped away and now that piece no longer knew who he was.

That was more painful than dying to him.

Moria laughed as he ordered Oars to look at his arm, to where there were eight wanted posters stitched there. Moria had made sure that Oars would know right away who their enemies were and ordered that he was to go round them up. He wanted to see just the kind of power that he had now with the corpse of a powerful giant and the shadow of a man with a 300 million beri bounty. Oars agreed and then he looked down at Luffy and said with an air of surprise that he found him so quickly,

"Oh… I found Straw Hat!" he said.

"Should I be worried that a zombie seems to follow orders better than you do?" Nami couldn't help but ask their Luffy, who laughed at that.

"Nope!" he said, though once her words sunk in he tilted his head and asked, "Huh?"

"Never mind," Nami said as she petted present-day Luffy's head like a dog. "Forget I said anything."

Memory Luffy was now in serious trouble. Even he would have a hard time dealing with this thing. He glared over at Moria, and they knew that he was thinking that if he could just take him out then he could finish off the zombie as well. But Moria just bid memory Luffy a fond farewell… and then went running for it.

That got memory Luffy's attention as he let out a roar of anger and tried to follow after him… at least until Oars finally struck at him. Despite memory Luffy crying out at him to stop, the memory faded slightly when Oars tried to head butt him. Like Luffy did black out for a moment, but he snapped out of it rather quickly and he was able to avoid most of the damage and they were able to run right after him as he chased Moria down the hallway that they used to get here, with Luffy yelling at him to stop running.

When the memory reappeared, they were back in the middle of the forest, but no sooner did they

They went running after the memory Luffy, who was still chasing after the Moria—though it looked like it was the real one—at the moment. They went running after him as Moria was growing increasingly more annoying with each passing moment that he taunted memory Luffy, who kept yelling at him to come back.

"I don't know why anyone does that," Usopp panted as he ran after them. "I mean, does that ever work? Does anyone actually believe that they'll turn around and stop just because you yell at them to do so?"

They others thought about that as they ran.

"Nope," Nami said with a frown, "I know I'd never do it."

"I would if it were you telling me to stop, Nami!" Sanji swooned.

"I know I'd run even faster if it was her," Zoro couldn't help but mutter darkly. If Nami told him to stop running, no way he'd ever stop.

Meanwhile, memory Luffy tried to fight Moria again by throwing out a few punches, but Moria's Doppelman appeared once more to block him. It was difficult to tell where anything was with the fog, darkness, and crumbling mansion all around them. At first it looked like Moria had been backed into a corner even as he continued taunting Luffy that his crew was probably flattened by Oars by now.

Neither Luffy believed that though as the memory one was declaring that his crew wasn't weak and they weren't going to die that easily. Something that the present-day Luffy proudly agreed with.

"Ah, stop it," Robin chuckled. "You're making us blush."

"Speak for yourself," Usopp declared, though there was some pink in his cheeks and Chopper was happily spinning once again.

"Yeah, well we almost were," Franky pointed out. "And that was just with Oars. We were all almost obliterated by Kuma. Seriously, where did he even come from?"

"Just be glad that he left," Nami said, not noticing how some of the crew had frOarsen up at her words. Though none of them said anything, Sanji, Robin, and Brook were all cautiously glancing at Zoro, who hadn't dared to move so much as a muscle. There was just a stony look in his eyes as he glared forward.

They all knew that if none of the crew was safe from their memories being shone, then they would undoubtedly witness the scene where Zoro made his stand against Kuma to protect his crew. They knew that there was nothing that he was dreading more than seeing that moment. And they also knew that he did not put his life on the line that day just for them all to thank him. He did what he had to do to protect the crew. And if they witnessed what kind of a 'deal' he had to make to make sure that they all left alive…?

"We must do something," Brook whispered to Robin quietly who silently nodded. They had to think of a way to protect Zoro's secret. If Luffy ever found out…?

He didn't even want to think of it. But as they were silently trying to come up with some kind of excuse or way out of here, the others were watching how Moria created the shadow bats a second time and attacked memory Luffy before he slipped away casually. Now growing angry, memory Luffy knocked the bats away and went chasing after Moria with a frustrated roar.

"Seriously, I almost rather he be kicking your ass in a fight right now then playing with you like this," Franky couldn't help but point out. Seriously, that may be less embarrassing than running around like an idiot.

"I hear ya," present-day Luffy frowned. "It was so stupid running around like that! Why didn't he turn around and fight already?"

"That's obvious. It was because he didn't see you as a threat," Sanji reminded him as he continued running with them. "He was just playing around with us because he was an overconfident bastard. Didn't realize he was screwed until his giant lost."

That certainly seemed to be the case as they continued chasing after him and memory Luffy all over the island. Everything from the collapsing manor to the forests and graveyard outside he kept running, using his Doppelman to taunt Luffy whenever he could.

They knew that all he was doing was buying time, for he knew that if he could keep this up until morning, then the sun would finish them off for him. At one point, the zombie Hildon flew down from the sky and flew alongside Moria as he tried to tell him that Oars was destroying everything. Moria just told him to get lost as he continued laughing like how a child would in the middle of having a fun game and was being told to go and clean his room.

Memory Luffy went running right past the bat-man zombie as he kept roaring at Moria to stop running. At one point rubble began falling from the sky, most likely do to the battle happening with themselves and Oars, and Luffy was forced to dodge it as the rock hit the trees. He made it out without a scratch, but he lost sight of Moria.

"Careful, Luffy," Usopp said firmly, knowing the kind of trouble that can happen to someone if they lose sight of their enemy who was trying to run away. But memory Luffy finally had enough. He started destroying everything around him as he screamed for Moria to come out. They followed him as he stretched his arms upwards and went flying up into the sky to try and find him. When he spotted Moria's shape through the trees, he went following after it… only to discover that it was just Moria's stupid Doppelman tricking him.

"Damn, it was his stupid shadow again," present-day Luffy snapped.

"For someone who claimed to be so strong, he was making it very difficult to prove it," Zoro pointed out. "I'm guessing that he must have switched with his shadow at some point and went back to fight all of us with Oars, huh?"

"Would seem to be the case," Robin agreed. "He just wanted to keep you busy long enough that you would be too far away to help us right away. But it was only going to be a matter of time before he realized that he couldn't afford to ignore us any longer and decided to deal with us personally."

"So that was his shadow the whole time?" present-day Luffy demanded.

"I think it more likely that you were chasing the real Moria before," Robin pointed out. "But he used his chance to escape when he realized that you had fallen behind for that moment."

"That jerk," present-day Luffy growled angrily. He remembered just how pissed off that he was getting the more that this guy ran away from him. The more that he ran, the more he wanted to hit him… if nothing else, to break a leg or two to stop him from running.

"You mean… I'VE BEEN CHASING HIS SHADOW THIS WHOLE TIME?! DAMNIT! HE TRICKED ME!" memory Luffy yelled out before he growled, glaring around furiously all around him, "Damn. When did he switch with his shadow?"

"Just head back to the mansion," Chopper said at once. "You'll find him there!"

But as memory Luffy glared at Moria's shadow, the Doppelman seemed to melt away, and began to escape as it went flying into the air. Memory Luffy tried to take it out, but it was like fighting jelly for his fists went right through it before it escaped. Memory Luffy was far from done though as he seemed to finally, fully grasp the situation that he and the others were in. He may have been a little cocky when he first went running off to confront Moria, but now he realized that they were under a time limit. He had to get his and everyone else's shadows back before the sun rose or else.

Memory Luffy began to run off in the same direction that the Doppelman went flying off, reasoning that wherever the shadow was going, Moria was sure to be there too. But he didn't get far because someone stuck their leg out from behind a tree and tripped him. Memory Luffy didn't noticed until he ended up tasting dirt.

"Those two again," Zoro said, recognizing the two pirates. "They look familiar. Didn't we see them earlier in the memories?"

"Yeah, those two squirrel zombies that were carrying our—coffin—through Perona's garden," Usopp said, his voice going much higher at the word 'coffin'. "After we were knocked out and were going to be taken to Moria before they dropped us and woke us up?"

"Oh, right," Franky said as he thought back. "Good thing for you though. Otherwise you would have lost your shadows too."

Memory Luffy began yelling at them as a crowd of people—not zombies—came out of the shadows of the trees. The others tried to calm him down, telling him that they believe that he was going to be the one who would save them and that they had been looking for him.

"Help?" Brook began before the image of what they did to Luffy came back and he shrieked at the memory.

"Boy, this isn't gonna be fun to watch again," Usopp whispered, feeling sick with fear at the thought of Luffy being that big again.

The Risky Brothers introduced themselves as part of the Rolling Pirates before their captain Lola stepped out to meet him. Nami was happy to see Lola again, even if she did feel a bit of disapproval for her having the idea to force all those shadows into Luffy.

And just like last time, the first thing she said to memory Luffy was a proposal of marriage, which he bluntly refuses.

"Rejection!" the Risky Brothers called out, "That's the 4444th rejection!"

"Damn," Franky whistled out. "I still can't get over that. What'll she do if someone actually says yes? I mean, I admire how she's going out and keeps trying even after so many rejections, but you think she'd at least get to know someone before asking to marry them."

"I wonder if she found herself a man after two years?" Nami couldn't help but wonder.

"Somehow, I doubt it," Franky couldn't help but speak up.

"I think she'd just be happy if he was a living, breathing male," Usopp muttered as he thought that over. "She's not exactly picky, is she?"

Lola began to explain to memory Luffy that they were all victims who had their shadows stolen by Moria and wished to see him defeated. They were already aware that the ones who served Moria had already been defeated and the mansion was mostly destroyed at this point. All they had to do was take out Oars and Moria, then their shadows would return. But right now, Moria was inside the giant's stomach.

Memory Luffy freaked out at first, furious at the thought that his zombie had done the fighting for him and took care of Moria for him. At least until the Rolling Pirates explained that Moria was in some kind of room in Oars's stomach. If they wanted to beat Moria, they needed to take out Oars first. At first, memory Luffy tried to head off again when they told him that the rest of the memory Straw Hats were fighting in the courtyard… at least until Lola tripped him up.

That was when they told him they had a way to help him beat Moria. She had the Risky Brothers run in with a shadow before other members of the crew grabbed memory Luffy from behind and held him as they began to force the shadow into his body.

"Right, I forgot about that," Sanji winced as memory Luffy began hollering in pain, asking what they were doing to him.

"They forced all those shadows into you," Chopper sniffled, not liking this at all. Who knows what kind of damage that having those shadows in your body can do? Even for Luffy, that looked like it hurt a lot, and they didn't even explain what was going to happen to him afterwards.

Lola just told him to hold still until the shadow went fully inside his body and memory Luffy fell over and laid on the ground.

"You ok, Luffy?" Chopper gulped as he looked at the memory Luffy.

"Yeah, it's fine," present-day Luffy answered as he put a hand to his chest where that shadow had been forced into his body. Without him realizing it, his hand traced over the X-shaped scar on his chest. Only Zoro noticed this, but did not betray any emotion, nor did he say a word at the movement. He merely turned his head back to the scene in front of him, though his expression was now stony.

"I like Lola," Nami sighed as she shook her head. "Especially after she came to save me like that. But, you think that she would have given you a choice in the matter."

She understood that Lola was just trying to help, and that she wanted to make sure that Luffy didn't lose against Moria, but she didn't like this tactic. At least explain what's going to happen before going off and doing it.

When memory Luffy finally opened his eyes, which now held dark shadows around them and slowly sat up with a dazed expression.

"Just wondering," Usopp said slowly. "Even if that's not your real shadow, would having a shadow, even if it's someone else's in you be enough to keep you from being destroyed by the sun?"

The others blinked at the question and looked at each other. Would that have worked?

"I don't think that it matters since that you can't hold onto those shadows for long, right?" Nami asked as she struggled to remember the rules of these shadows. Lola, however, was now asking memory Luffy if he knew how to use a sword, which memory Luffy honestly confessed that he didn't know how to use one at all.

His voice was hoarse and sounded very different thought they weren't sure what it was. But the others looked thrilled at the thought and ordered one of her crewmates to bring in a sword for him.

"You know, it might not be a bad idea for you to learn to use a weapon," Brook offered to their Luffy. "I know that you use your fists in battle Luffy-san, but maybe just some basic understanding, just in case?"

"I like using my fists," present-day Luffy answered as if it was obvious. "Besides, I think I'll leave the swords to Zoro."

"You might hurt yourself anyway," Usopp said as he flung his arm around Luffy's shoulder and shook his hand at him. Really, would you trust this guy with something long and sharp? Not the bests idea.

But at that moment someone tossed a katana into the air and the moment that memory Luffy saw it, his eyes glinted and he stretched out his arm to grab it… and then hacked down a nearby tree into neat boards to boot.

Since the others knew what happened and had seen this before, they didn't react nearly as strongly as the first time. But it was still a shock to see Luffy able to use a blade so effortlessly when it was so different from his usual character.

"I'm sorry," Nami said as she shook her head with a laugh. "That just looks so wrong when you watch it."

"I do get why you like swords so much, Zoro!" present-day Luffy laughed at the sight of himself holding the sword. He stretched up with his hands behind his head as he watched. "That was actually kinda fun to chop something up like that."

"It's an art form, it's not supposed to be fun," Zoro countered, though he had to admit that Luffy did have a point. Cutting things up never failed to send a thrill down his spine.

Memory Luffy re-sheathed the blade before realizing what he just did and began freaking out, not understanding what was going on. Lola then chuckled as she approached, calmly informing him how the shadow that was put into him belonged to a great swordsman. By putting the shadows of others into his body, he could use their strength and talents against Moria. They were prepared to power him up as much as it takes if his will could handle it.

"You really gave us a fright there," Nami told their Luffy. "We knew you all that time, and you never were able to use a sword before. But there you were, almost as good as Zoro. It was freaky."

"I don't know, I still think that it would be awesome to fight you like that," Zoro countered. "That is, if you think your fists are enough to stand up to me."

"Just watch," present-day Luffy grinned back. "I'll take you out."

Robin giggled at the sight of their friendly rivalry and she couldn't help but state, "How nice to see you getting long so well."

Memory Luffy was looking around and realized that there were more than a handful of shadows scattered around the ground. They informed him that they've been collecting shadows over the years as they looked for their own. But that if they put the shadow into him, it wasn't going to stay longer than ten minutes or so. But judging from the sky, they had about twenty minutes left before sunrise, so they had to take care of things fast. Suddenly, they grabbed hold of memory Luffy and began to force as many shadows as they could into his body.

"Luffy? Did it hurt?" Usopp gulped, trying not to listen to Luffy's screams of pain. He had enough of that with the Impel Down and Marineford memories and never wanted to hear them again.

"I didn't like it," present-day Luffy stated with a frown. That was all he said about the matter, but the meaning was very clear. It hurt… a lot. And it only got worse as they watched how memory Luffy was held down and one hundred shadows were forced into his body even as he thrashed about, screaming for them to let go of him.

But, without a doubt, the worst part was watching how he changed. His body grew larger and his skin grew colder and colder until it was a dark shade of blue. None of the other Straw Hats watching liked what was happening one bit and more than a few of them wanted to go rushing in and put a stop to it.

"Remind me to have a few words with Lola about this when we next see her," Nami said as the Rolling Pirates kept gathering more and more shadows, not even realizing what was going on. But when they ran out of shadows, they realized that Luffy didn't look the same as he did before.

Luffy had grown several times bigger than before—around Moria's size perhaps—and his skin had turned to completely blue… while his face had dark eyes and a serious expression that barely resembled their captain.

"This guy…" Lola whispered in shock, "Just how strong is his will that he's…? It's incredible! I've never seen anything like it!"

"How did you not pass out?" Nami asked their Luffy. It didn't matter how many times she was going to see this. She didn't like it one bit. This didn't look like Luffy. Not their Luffy. The fun, carefree, rubber-brained idiot that they all chose to follow as their captain.

"Wow," present-day Luffy said as he got a good look at himself. "That's me? I look so cool!"

"More like, so scary!" Usopp and Brook all cried out in fear at the sight of Luffy's new body.

"I'm just glad that you weren't going to look like that forever," Sanji sighed in relief. He could only imagine what it would have been like sailing around with him like this. His appetite alone must have gotten a lot more monstrous!

Memory Luffy was panting for air, already showing the strains of what it was like to have all those shadows inside him as the Rolling Pirates recoiled.

"Oi!" one of the Risky Brothers cried out, "Are you ok? Do you still feel like yourself, Straw Hat Luffy?"

"Good thing that you were on our side," Franky said as he shook his head. "Damn, I'd hate to imagine if we were stuck dealing with you along with Oars and Moria. We would've been screwed even before Kuma showed up.

At the mention of Kuma, Zoro felt sweat beginning to pick up on his forehead again. Damn, they didn't have much time left. They were quickly approaching the final battle on Thriller Bark. He had to figure out something… he knew that at least three others knew about his deal with the Warlord, but he rather put down his sword forever than ever let Luffy know what he did.

"Yeah," memory Luffy said darkly, "I'm still me. I'm overflowing with power! I wanna fight Moria so much! I can't wait any longer!"

"What was that like?" Chopper asked him with wide eyes, not realizing how uncomfortable that Zoro had become all of a sudden. "Going around so powered-up like that?"

"It was wild," present-day Luffy said as he thought back. It was a lot like using his Second Gear, only it didn't hurt nearly as bad as it used to. It was a lot more like how his new Second Gear was like… in fact, it was a lot like that new technique that he had been working so hard to perfect in the last two years.

He wondered when he would get a chance to be able to use that new Gear of his? His fourth?

But before he could say anything about that, the Rolling Pirates brought over a massive sword that required at least ten of them to carry it in. But it was the perfect size for memory Luffy's new body.

"Huh? Where did they get that sword?" present-day Luffy asked curiously.

"That's what I wondered last time," Robin couldn't help but point out. "Strange that they would have that ready to go."

"Maybe they had giants visit the island before and one of them left their sword behind?" Brook offered reasonably.

"Lousy swordsmen then," Zoro couldn't help but commit. Really, what kind of swordsman would forget his swords behind?

The Rolling Pirates only stared at memory Luffy, who took the sword and strapped it to his back. But his breathing was becoming ragged. Just standing there like this seemed to take a lot out of him. Who knew how long he could handle it.

"This feeling to fight…" memory Luffy said quietly, "I can't hold it!"

And at that moment he reared his head back and let out a battle cry that was so great that it shook the ground around them.

"That should do it!" Lola yelled out, "Go and give Moria a real nightmare! One that he won't ever forget! You're our only hope now! 'Nightmare Luffy'!"

"Nightmare?" present-day Luffy said as he thought that over before his eyes shone brightly and he cried out, "AWESOME!"

"How is that awesome?!" Usopp barked at their Luffy when the memory faded around them. "You were terrifying! I almost wet myself when I saw what they did to you!"

"Well, I mean it's not like I liked it," Luffy informed them. "It didn't feel… right. Like… there was somebody else trying to take control of my body."

"Really? Sounds freaky," Franky muttered. "Strange though, if all these shadows are around, why haven't they gone back to their owners without zombies?"

"I'm guessing that Moria must have ordered them not to," Robin said. "I guess something happened to the zombies of these shadows. Maybe the bodies they were in simply rotted away, or Moria felt that these shadows were just too weak to be any use to him. I suppose that the shadow was allowed outside, but weren't allowed to leave. It would seem that nothing short of defeating the zombie and breaking whatever spell it was that bound the shadow to this place will enable the shadow to return."

"That seems to be the case," Brook agreed. "After all, the zombies that I defeated usually couldn't wait to leave and go back to their rightful owners. And Zoro-san returned my shadow once Ryuma was defeated."

"Hell of a power boost though," Luffy said. "Afterwards I had so much energy that I just had to start fighting someone!"

"I guess we should just be glad that you were on our side then," Robin said with a smile. She was still unhappy with what the Rolling Pirates did to their captain, but she could understand why they did it. And Luffy obviously held no ill feelings towards them, so she supposed there was no point in worrying about it anymore.

"You do realize just how bad your body was after that fight, don't you?" Chopper snarled at their Luffy again. "You had me worried sick!"

"Yeah, I can't figure it out either," Luffy said as he frowned as he tried to remember. "I remember kicking Moria's ass before the sun started to make me disappear… but I think that I blacked out after my shadow came back. But when I woke up…?"

"I still think that there was something going on there," Usopp frowned as half the crew looked to Luffy. Only the ones who knew what truly happened were avoiding looking at Zoro at all costs—whose eyes were now shadowed over as he started to sweat again.

That moment was coming soon wasn't it? And he still did not know how to come up with some kind of excuse. Was there any kind of excuse that he could use? He doubted that Usopp's trick of causing them to look the other way will work for long.

"It's just been baffling me for a while now," Chopper said as he thought it over. "After all, Luffy… your body was a mess. But then Kuma appeared and attacked us. Which I still don't get why he did that but…?"

"Maybe he thought we all died in the blast and didn't bother to check?" Nami suggested but that seemed unlikely to her. Maybe Kuma only gave them a blast strong enough to knock them out and just left? He showed them mercy before back at Sabaody, didn't he? Maybe he was letting them off easy that time?

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain why Luffy was in such good shape afterwards!" Chopper pointed out, "I mean, the first time that he fought a Warlord, he almost bled to death and was out cold for three days!"

"I think that we should just count ourselves lucky that things worked out so well, right?" Brook asked, trying to laugh it off but it came out slightly nervous. Something that Usopp, unfortunately, noticed.

"What's with you, Brook?" Usopp asked him curiously. "Do you have a theory to what happened?"

"What? Me? No! Why even ask that?! My head's just empty inside! You know that!" Brook said quickly.

"That's not true, Brook," Chopper began before Brook interrupted cheerfully.

"You know, that may be true, Chopper-san," Brook said as he grabbed hold of his hair and pulled gently to lift the top of this skull up. "I believe I may have some things stored away in here somewhere."

"WOULD YOU NOT DO THAT?!" Sanji barked at him as Chopper and Luffy both stared at him with starlit eyes at how cool that was.

The darkness faded around them until they were back in the room of the tower, which led Luffy to leading the way with Chopper and Usopp right behind them, leaving Franky laughing at Nami, who was now scolding them into being more careful. The rest of the crew followed behind more slowly as they muttered to each other.

"What are we going to do?" Brook whispered to Sanji in worry. "That moment is coming up, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and Luffy still doesn't know what's coming," Sanji nodded, his eyes drifting over to glance back at Zoro, who was trailing behind them all. "God, I don't know what I would say to him if he finds out. That's going to be awkward."

"I'm a little surprise they haven't figured it out for themselves already," Robin said slowly. "After all, Luffy had all but recovered but Zoro was in even worse shape than ever before."

"They didn't have time to ask questions because we were trying to stop Moss Head from bleeding to death," Sanji reminded her. "Besides, he was out for a few days anyway so they couldn't ask him any questions. But by the time that he finally did wake up, everyone was so excited over Brook joining and us leaving the place that it sort of just got pushed to the back of their minds."

"That easily?" Brook asked in surprise.

"They did ask him a few questions when he did wake up, but he insisted that nothing happened," Sanji reminded him. "And since he was on the mend, the others decided that they'll take that excuse just this once. It's one thing for Nami-san and the others to find out. But Luffy…?"

"If Luffy finds out, I can only imagine how devastated he'll be," Brook said, biting nervously down on his boney hands like fingernails. "For him to learn that, not only Zoro-san, but you as well Sanji-san, were prepared to die for him…?"

Sanji smacked his forehead at that as he hissed, "Damn, they'll be seeing that moment too?"

"You think that maybe we tell the others, except Luffy, about what happened and then have them help us try and explain it to Luffy?" Robin asked quietly.

"I don't know, I mean its bad enough that the three of us know," Sanji grunted. "But I suppose if worst comes to shove, Zoro could accept the others learning about it. But I think he made it clear that he never wanted Luffy to ever find out what he had done."

"But why?" Brook asked, though he already suspected the answer.

"He didn't go and risk his life like that on one of his crazy whims," Sanji said knowingly. "He did it because… because, believe it or not, there is a heart in that otherwise empty cavity in his chest. And he does care about the crew. He did what he felt was the only choice he had to try and protect everyone. And he knew how Luffy would react if he learned that the reason he was courting with death that time was because he took all of his pain." Sanji gazed up to the darkness in front of him, barely noticing how cold the tower was anymore and just how deep the dark seemed to grow the further up they all went.

After a while he spoke again, "Those two… those two have been in this together since they first met. So it really doesn't surprise me that they're willing to die for the other."

"Sanji-san…?" Brook whispered, actually feeling tears welling up in his eye sockets as they all looked behind them to where Zoro was still falling behind.

Zoro finally noticed that they were looking back at them and looked up darkly as he asked, "What?"

"Nothing," the three of them said as they looked forward again.

"The point is that I think that idiot would rather eat his swords than ever have Luffy learn what happened," Sanji said firmly. "When I ran into him after I woke up that day and saw all that blood everywhere…? All he said was that nothing happened. So I made a vow to seal that memory away inside me and pretend that to. So long as everyone was alive and safe, that was all that mattered."

"I like to think that they will be understanding of it since it has been two years," Robin pointed out, but she frowned slightly, already guessing just how the others would react. He could see Franky, Usopp, and Chopper all breaking down in tears at how cool Zoro was and the depth of his sacrifice for the crew. And Nami would be both shocked and angry that Zoro was risking his life for them like this and would most likely have some very colorful words to share what she really thought.

And Luffy…?

Oh, just the thought of his expression was enough to break her heart.

"How about this?" Brook asked, "I can play them a lullaby to knock the others out before the memory takes? It will put them to sleep and they can sleep right through this?"

"How do you intend to explain it when they wake up?" Sanji hissed back. "Besides, that melody doesn't seem to work on everyone."

"But it works on Luffy-san?" Brook reminded him as they thought of all the times that Luffy had drifted off to sleep whenever he heard it.

"Good point," Sanji frowned. "But there are times that he's able to fight it off. I think that his Haki might be somewhat responsible for that since he's gotten stronger. Hard to say, but now's not the time to wonder that. But that's a place for us to start from."

"How about we just insist that the memory was lying that one time?" Robin suggested. "Though I doubt that they will fall for that. It seems to me that the only way that we can get out of this is to find an exit, however that seems as unlikely to work."

"Right," Sanji nodded as they heard voices from the others up ahead and knew that they were almost at the next floor. "We still have time before seeing the memory with Kuma, but not a lot of it. Everyone start thinking of some kind of excuse or trick that we can use. We don't' want to hurt the others, especially Nami-san, so try to go as least painful as possible. We'll go for Brook's plan if we can't think of another. If worst comes to shove we'll just knock Luffy out before the memory comes up and make up some excuse when he wakes up."

"But then Nami-san and the others…?" Brook reminded him slowly.

"Then knock the others out too if you have to," Sanji snapped, "Except for Nami! She's too cute to be handled so roughly, but we have to really start thinking now of some kind of escape plan here."

Brook was about to ask another question but Robin held up her finger to silence him as Nami stuck her head out from the next landing that led to the next door.

"There you are," she said in relief. "We were starting to think that something may have happened to you guys!"

"Sorry about that, Nami," Robin smiled. "I guess that we're all starting to get tired or something, that's all."

"I'm hungry," Luffy whined from inside the room as they stepped in to join the rest of the crew.

"I told you, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner that we can find something to eat," Sanji said with a roll of his eyes, though silently hoping that Luffy's hunger would prove an accept to them for once by being single-minded enough to find some way out of here.

Zoro was the last to join them, having been dragging his feet and seemed to take an unusually long time to get up the stairs and through the door. Luffy complained about Zoro being slow, and Sanji couldn't help but suggest that maybe Moss Head got lost on his way going up the stairs, which resulted in him being yelled at with death threats. But he knew the reason, Zoro was also trying to figure out some way out of this mess that they dug themselves into.

But hell… when they made this choice, it had been over two years ago! And it's not like they ever expected to be revisiting old memories like this, right?

They stepped into the room as the door shut behind them again and the memory soon appeared. This caught them off guard, for they were back on the rooftop with Zoro, Brook and Franky. It looked like they had just finished things up with Ryuma, and memory Zoro was holding up his new black sword as the memory versions of Brook and Franky were looking around from the broken rooftop at the source of whatever was causing the shaking.

"I remember this," present-day Zoro said suddenly. "This was right before our showdown with Oars, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, that's right," present-day Franky nodded in agreement. "In fact, we should be seeing the big guy coming out any second!"

"Hey, that felt like an earthquake, what just happened?" memory Franky asked, sounding nervous as he looked about.

"I… haven't a clue," memory Brook answered as they looked down at the crumbling mansion. "Whatever it was, it made my hair stand on end. Ah, but I'm a skeleton so I don't have… ah, wait a moment… ah, that's right I do have hair," he said fondly as he petted his afro.

"It's one of the only few things you have going for you," Usopp reminded him darkly. "How could you forget how important it was to you?"

"I suppose it was just the excitement of what was going on around me," present-day Brook suggested as he patted his own afro tenderly. "That, and I was still so overcome with joy at the thought of my shadow returning to me that it slipped my mind! Yohohoho!"

"YOU FIGHT SO HARD TO PROTECT YOUR AFRO THEN YOU FORGET YOU HAD IT!?" memory Franky yelled at him. "MAYBE I SHOULD GIVE YOU A POMPADOUR LIKE MINE! WOULD THAT HELP YOU REMEMBER?"

"No! Please, Franky-san! Not my afro! It's my treasure!" present-day Brook gasped at the thought.

"Then stop acting like you forgot all about it!" present-day Franky yelled back. "There's a time and a place for your jokes, and now wasn't the time for them!"

"No, no thank you," memory Brook said quickly to the memory Franky's offer. But memory Franky continued with his threats after that as memory Zoro was looking down at the ground while the shaking started up again, getting everyone's attention.

"What is that?" memory Franky asked at once, immediately forgetting that he was pissed off with Brook.

"No idea," memory Brook answered again, "But whatever it is, it's giving me goosebumps. Or it would but…?"

"Now, Brook," Robin informed him as memory Franky had enough and gave him a few hits to the head and left him a swollen mess on the ground, "You do know that you deserved that, right?"

"Yes, Robin-san," present-day Brook sighed. "Just thinking about the pain that cost me, it makes my skin crawl. Ah, not that I… ah…"

He stopped dead when he saw the present-day Franky holding up a fist threateningly.

"Never mind," he finished meekly.

Just then, Oars went punching his way through the building, taking everyone buy surprised once again, causing screams of terror from the memory versions of Franky and Brook.

"OH MAN!" memory Franky hollered, "IT'S SOME KIND OF GIANT MONSTER!"

"SO… MASSIVE!" memory Brook screamed so much that he would surely get that thing's attention.

"Why is this crew so loud?" Nami moaned out

"At least they're lively," Robin offered with a smile.

"That's… that's a zombie!" memory Franky gasped. "Oh, crap! That must be Luffy's zombie!"

That was when something near Oars's feet caught his attention and he seemed to forget all about Brook, who was still screaming his head off.

"Hey! Look down there! Somebody else just came outta the building and it looks like Chef Curley brows!" memory Franky yelled as he pointed to the ground.

"Chef Curley-brows?!" present-day Sanji barked furiously.

"It suits you, Curley-brows," present-day Zoro reasoned.

"Oh yeah?" Sanji retorted, "At least I'm not a Moss-Headed swordsman who can't tell his left from his right!"

"Hey! Look at that!" present-day Brook called as he pointed at the small figure that was moving below them. It was enough to get their attention and stop the fighting when they saw that it was memory Sanji, who pulled himself out of the rubble, coughing up blood the whole way.

But he didn't seem interested in his injuries as he punched the rock underneath him as he spat out, "Damnit, I failed her!"

He pulled himself upright, still coughing up blood the whole way. While getting stepped on by Oars wasn't enough to kill him, it certainly did damage to slow him down.

"What the hell is he doing?" memory Zoro demanded irritated from next to them, "He's gonna get stomped on!"

"Thanks Moss-Head, I never knew you cared about me that much," present-day Sanji said to him with a grin.

"I just didn't want to be the one to answer to Luffy why you were stupid enough to get yourself killed," he shot back. Truthfully, he did feel a little bit of worry for the cook that day, not that he would ever admit to it. He rather blind himself in his other eye than ever tell him that.

Rather than risk it, he went and jumped down to the bridge right below them, yelling up that he just spotted some familiar faces there. The others were surprised and followed to see that he was right. The memory versions of Robin and Chopper, who had just escaped when Oars went marching in through the manor, were running up the bridge through Perona's Garden when they spotted memory Usopp there, looking at Oars through a pair of binoculars.

"I hate to tell you this, pal," present-day Sanji pointed out, "But I don't think that you need binoculars to see him."

"That wasn't what I was looking at!" the present-day Usopp retorted as memory Chopper cried out to his past self in relief to see him safe.

"Hey! Chopper! Robin! We're in trouble here! Big trouble!" he cried out as he pointed. "The Luffy-Zombie has our faces!"

"Wait?" Luffy asked as he looked to Oars and back at Usopp again. Strange, Usopp didn't look anything like Oars?

"No, wait!" memory Usopp said as he tried to correct himself. "I mean, on his arm! He has our wanted posters! What do we do now?! Oh, man this is no joke! He's gonna hunt us down!"

"SHOW YOURSELVES! COME OUT STRAW HATS! YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME!" Oars yelled, getting angry as he couldn't find them.

"COME ON CAPTAIN! YOU'RE NOT GONNA TEAR APART YOUR OWN CREW!" memory Usopp begged as he cried out in fear.

But at his cry, the three up on the tower heard him and they heard memory Zoro suddenly shouting down at them, "HEY! USOPP! IS THAT YOU DOWN THERE?"

"Did you just hear that?" memory Usopp said as he looked around. "What the…? Someone just yelled my name!"

"Yep! The crew's almost all here!" present-day Franky chuckled. "All we needed were Luffy and Nami and we'd have the whole set!"

That was when memory Usopp looked to the top of the manor and cried out, "ZORO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!"

"FRANKY'S WITH HIM! AND LOOK! BROOK'S WITH THEM TOO!" memory Chopper cried out when he saw them there. "THEY'RE ALL SAFE!"

"For now," memory Robin said with morbid. "It looks like they managed to save the skeleton in time at least. Nami on the other hand, I'm still pretty worried about."

Memory Sanji jumped from rock to rock until he was directly beneath Oars and barked up at him to get his attention, "Hey! You're standing in my damn way! What are you doing interfering? What's gotten into you, Luffy?"

"That's not me!" Luffy yelled. "I'd never go after you guys like that!"

"You have more than once," Zoro pointed out as he remembered when he attacked him at Whiskey Peak what felt like a lifetime ago.

"Not without reason," Luffy answered back.

"What?" Zoro yelled, sounding like he was about to yell at him, but Oars started speaking again.

"Luffy?" Oars asked stupidity, and soon he started speaking to himself. "I think I'm supposed to crush that guy? He's my enemy. My name's Oars. Hello there."

"You know? I wasn't sure at first, but he really does have your shadow in him, Luffy," present-day Usopp said as he thought it over. "That sounds like something you would say."

"Man, and you say I'm rude," Luffy retorted.

"You are rude," present-day Sanji grunted, "That was just the truth."

Meanwhile, memory Sanji just put his bent cigarette into his mouth before lighting it. "Really?" he asked. "What's with the introductions? Idiot. He just says whatever he wants, huh? Definitely takes after Luffy."

"This is bad! This is really bad! Sanji's in trouble!" memory Chopper cried out from next to them, clearly thinking that Sanji was out of his league.

"This is unexpected," memory Robin added, "I was under the impression that all they wanted from us were our shadows. But he looks more prime for violence."

"I guess they already got the cream of the crop with Luffy's shadow," memory Usopp suggested.

"What are we? Chopped liver? We're the ones who do all the real work around here," Nami countered.

"Still," present-day Robin pointed out, "It looks like Oars was also ordered to go after Luffy. If he kills him then they're out of a zombie."

"Well, Moria doesn't strike me as someone who thinks too much," present-day Zoro offered. Besides, if they had their bounties so high, he probably figured that if they got killed then they weren't worth having anyway.

Memory Chopper, who looked like he was about to freak out, "Scary! It's scary! No way we can fight that thing!"

Memory Robin held up her hands and said, "Well, we can't just stand back and watch as Sanji gets slaughtered."

Present-day Sanji gasped. "You… Robin? You mean… you were worried about me?!"

"Shut up and keep watching," Nami sighed, having heard enough of love-sick idiots for one day.

But memory Usopp held up his hand to stop her from doing something when he had an idea. "Whoa! Hold it! Listen, we're just all gonna get ourselves killed if we all try to get involved. Sanji can handle this guy on his own. And don't worry. He's got a better chance than any of us getting out of here alive."

"What? How is his situation any differently than ours?" Nami asked their Usopp, thinking that she must have heard wrong. Sure Sanji was strong, but at this point in their adventures, Sanji wasn't strong enough to take down Oars on his own. She wasn't the only one for Robin didn't look like she understood his line of thinking either.

"How? His face is on a wanted poster to, right?" memory Robin. "I don't see how his situation is any better than the one we're in here."

"That's exactly where you're wrong," memory Usopp said as he shook a finger at her and grinned. "You're not thinking clearly here, Robin. You've seen his wanted poster haven't you? There's no way he'll realize that's Sanji!"

"Oh, you got to be kidding me, why bring that up?" present-day Sanji sighed. What was the point in having a wanted poster if you weren't even recognized by the world? It was some bullshit in his opinion.

"That's true!" memory Chopper cried out in realization. "Sanji's wanted poster doesn't look anything like him!"

"You've got a point," memory Robin agreed slowly as she thought that over. "I'd forgotten about that."

"I wish I could…" present-day Sanji sighed miserably.

"I think you said something about wanting to send in a picture of yourself to the government so that they could work it out?" present-day Usopp asked their Sanji as he tried to think back to the first time they saw Luffy's memories and they had a conversation like that.

"Right! I forgot about that!" Sanji said suddenly as he looked up. "Damn, I've been so busy I forgot about that! I need to get my picture taken as soon as I get back to the ship!"

Oars looked from Sanji down on the ground to the poster on his arm.

"You look just the same as your wanted poster," he said, causing the memory versions Usopp and Chopper to scream in shock.

"You got to admit that he's got a good point," present-day Zoro said as Sanji sighed grimly at that. "I mean, it's practically a mirror."

"SHUT UP! THAT THING DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE ME!" present-day Sanji yelled as his past self was looking more horrified at that than at any of the zombies on the island.

"THAT DRAWING LOOKS NOTHING LIKE ME!" he roared out in fury.

"What do you mean?" Oars asked confused. "It's so good?"

"ARE YOUR EYES ROTTING, IDIOT!?" memory Sanji demanded as the present-day one ran his hand through his hair in exasperation. Really? How could Luffy think that disgusting excuse for a drawing and he look anything similar, but couldn't tell that Usopp was Sniper King? It boggled his mind.

"But you admit you're part of the pirate crew, huh?" Oars asked.

Nami could see where this was going and gasped, "Don't answer…?"

Too late.

"YEAH! WHAT OF IT?!" memory Sanji yelled back in outrage.

"Right," present-day Zoro said slowly, "You realize that you were pretty much screwed at that point?"

"Shut up! I don't regret saying it!" he yelled back.

"Then you're dead," Oars said, and memory Sanji's fury left as he realized that by admitting that he may have signed his own death warrant.

"Oh crap… oh crap…" memory Usopp choked as Chopper began crying. But memory Sanji stood his ground as he challenged Oars, telling him to bring it on.

Nami smacked herself in the face as she demanded, "Are you an idiot? No, don't answer that, are you trying to get yourself killed is a better question!"

"Well, to be fair, he already decided that I had to die at that point," present-day Sanji reasoned as Oars began to throw at a series of punches right at him, forcing Sanji to jump around and avoid it.

"STAY STILL AND LET ME SQUASH YOU!" Oars bellowed out.

"Like that's gonna make me stand still?" present-day Sanji replied as he puffed out some smoke.

They couldn't do anything but watch as Oars tried again and again to hit him. At one point he did manage to corner him and Sanji was pounded into the earth. But Oars stopped, Sanji walked out on his own two feet. He was bleeding alright, but didn't seem to be badly injured.

"You punk," memory Sanji snarled, "You almost broke my damn cigarette." He stopped as he warned, "Alright you got your shot in! Now it's my turn!"

"WOW! THAT'S BADASS, SANJI!" present-day Usopp cried out in awe as Luffy and Chopper had sparkling eyes.

"GO FOR IT, SANJI!" the two of them cheered as their past selves were sighing in relief that he wasn't as flattened.

"I'm not finished yet you twerp," Oars threaten as he cracked his knuckles. He then threw his arm back as far as he could and started, "GUM GUMMMMMMMM."

That drew concerned and shocked cries from all over.

"THAT'S LUFFY'S MOVE!"

"CRAP! CAN HE STRETCH?!"

Oars threw his punch and shattered the earth beneath him. While it didn't stretch, that was hardly the point, the fact was that he was powerfully dangerous without the ability to stretch out his arms.

"ALRIGHT! SO HE DIDN'T STRECH, BUT DOES IT REALLY MATTER?!" memory Chopper demanded.

"I'm going to say no," present-day Franky said firmly. "Not that he needed it to begin with. He's huge! It's not like he has to reach very far to pick up whatever he wants, does he?"

"WITH THAT STRENGTH AND AS LONG AS HIS REACH IS, IT'S BASICALLY THE SAME THING!" memory Usopp added.

As for memory Sanji, he was now forced to jump around again to avoid the falling debris.

"Alright, I gotta admit," present-day Sanji said to Luffy, "Your zombie is kinda a badass."

"You think?" Luffy asked eagerly.

"Enough," Nami hissed, wishing that she could knock some sense into their heads.

Memory Sanji went charging in right at him, leaping around once more as he avoiding his fists. He then brought his foot jump to kick him in the head, which Oars countered with his own head-butt. The present-day Sanji watched with a grimace, remembering how it almost broke his leg when he kicked him.

His past self was forced to jump again to avoid Oars when he started punching at him again. But then Oars stomped down hard, causing the ground to shake and caused memory Sanji to lose his balance. Oars then finally hit him and sent him flying to the mansion and he went crashing right into it. The Straw Hats were shocked to see someone that size move so quickly and were calling out in worry to Sanji.

But he seemed to be out cold as he fell, causing Oars to race over and catch him like a doll in his hands.

"No more fancy footwork for you, pipsqueak!" Oars yelled as he held up memory Sanji upside down. He only looked at him with interest for a moment before he held him up, above his head, and they all knew right away what he was planning.

"NO! STOP IT!" cried out memory Zoro of all people, who actually sounded like he was close to panicking here.

"Again, I just didn't want to deal with your worthless corpse," the present-day Zoro hissed to Sanji before he could say anything about that.

"SANJI LOOK OUT!" memory Chopper screamed.

"ALRIGHT PIRATE!" yelled Oars. "SQUISHING TIME!"

They watched in horror as he was about to ram Sanji straight into the earth, but at the last possible second…?

"FIREBIRD STAR!"

Out of nowhere, a familiar flaming attack came flying out from the direction of the bridge. It stuck at Oars's head from behind.

"Where'd that come from?" present-day Sanji blinked in surprise.

"I'm more surprised that it didn't work," Nami said, "You think with all that hair, he'd go up in a bonfire?"

But Sanji was looking up to the bridge to see memory Usopp standing there, having been the one who fired the attack. It didn't do much to Oars, but it was enough to get his attention and stop himself from killing Sanji.

"Hot…" Oars growled, more in irritation than in pain as he slowly turned to face Usopp, who was shaking from head to foot.

"I'm-I'm sorry!" he called shakily.

"Wow, you did that for me?" present-day Sanji asked in surprise, wishing that he could remember that but was sure that he was out of it at that point.

"I, yeah… I mean, I wasn't thinking, I just sort of… did it," present-day Usopp said as he watched on. "I forgot about that. I just knew I had to try something, and this was all I could do."

But now he now had Oars full attention, who threw memory Sanji away like a rag doll, memory causing Chopper to cry out in fear. Oars ignored them for the moment as he checked his arm again, as if he were checking the time.

"Tall woman with black hair…" Oars grunted, recognizing them, "And that's the little fuzzy thing?"

"Little fuzzy thing?" present-day Chopper demanded hotly.

"You have to admit that you are cute and fuzzy, Chopper-san," present-day Brook offered with a chuckle.

"Shut up! Don't make fun of me!" present-day Chopper shot back, though he was blushing red at that.

As for Oars, he laughed a little as he shook his head, getting rid of the rest of the fire before he began heading over to them.

"AH! HE'S COMING!" memory Usopp and Chopper screamed in panic.

"This is bad! Franky, we gotta do something! Draw him this way!" memory Zoro's yelled from the top of the tower. Even from this distance, they could hear his voice and saw how he flicked his swords out, ready to charge.

"I'm on it!" memory Franky said as he held up his arm, preparing to fire. "I think this'll get his attention!"

It certainly did, forcing Oars to change direction and aim a kick at what was left of the tower that they were on. Memory Franky jumped off with Brook, the skeleton screaming the whole way. Memory Zoro, however, leapt onto Oars's leg and began running, barking orders at Franky and Brook to get down to the lower levels as he went flying up to Oars's face, his muscles pumping up the whole way.

He succeeded in taking out one of his enlarged fangs—but failed to do any serious damage to him in time. Oars countered but kicking him straight upwards, actually becoming level with the top of the mast.

"Owww! That had to hurt, I'm amazed that it didn't kill you right away!" present-day Usopp winced at the sight. "Though even for you, if that kick didn't kill you, the landing would when you came down!"

"Give me some credit," present-day Zoro retorted. "I'm not that weak."

"It's not a question of weak! I meant that there are limits to humans! Though I confess that you barely count in that category," present-day Usopp yelled at him, though he had to wonder just what exactly was Zoro to get such a big beating but still get up to fight like that.

Oars was waiting for him to come back down, but memory Franky who managed to make it to another rooftop with Brook stood back up.

"TAKE THIS, YOU MONSTER!" he cried as his left arm opened to reveal the cannon and fired. But Oars dodged it again by doing a nimble backflip and landed lightly on his feet.

"I always thought that you would be a good dancer with how light you are on your feet, Luffy," present-day Robin teased their captain.

"Huh? What do you mean, Robin?" Luffy asked curiously. He danced whenever they had parties, didn't he? She just smiled fondly at him as he tilted his head in confusion. Robin was strange sometimes.

"HE DODGED IT AGAIN?" memory Franky cried out in shock, lifting up his sunglasses so that he could get a better look. "HOW CAN HE BE THAT AGILE?"

Oars then went over to another pointed tower and with his strength, he went and tore the pointed top half off.

"What's he doing now?!" memory Brook cried out in fear as Oars jumped.

The two of them then screamed even louder when they saw him aiming right at them and threw the pointed rooftop like a javelin. They managed to avoid getting hit with it head on, but they fell hard to the ground with rocks falling from all over. The memory versions of Chopper and Usopp were crying out for them before Chopper looked up and saw memory Zoro falling back down again.

He then pointed upwards and shouted out loudly, "ZORO'S FALLING TOWARDS US!"

"OH CRAP! HE'LL DIE IF HE HITS THE GROUND!" memory Usopp shrieked at the sight, but unable to do anything to help.

"Guess I owe you for this one Robin, huh?" the present-day Zoro asked as the looked at her and she smiled back.

"After everything that happened that night, I honestly don't have a clue who owes who, anymore," she reminded him. "But your welcome."

The others didn't know what to make of that, at least until memory Robin caused a hundred or so arms to sprout out underneath Zoro, catching him safely as they formed together to create a net. Though injured and spitting up blood, he avoiding a killing blow. But Oars was right there above him, taking them all by surprise and memory Chopper shrieked out louder than ever.

At last, memory Usopp had enough as he caught the giant's attention by holding up his slingshot and declared, "You might be huge! But you're still a zombie!"

He then fired the salt right into Oars's mouth, who instinctively swallowed it with a loud gulp.

"Taste good?" memory Usopp asked smugly. But as the seconds ticked by, they were all realizing that nothing was happening. Oars just stood there for a moment as he seemed to be wondering what it was that he just ate. Once memory Usopp finally noticed he turned a sickly shade of green as he croaked, "It… it wasn't enough? He's too big!"

"I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that a little bit of salt won't work," present-day Nami gulped down. "It won't work on something like that. I don't think anything less than forcing him to swallow ocean water will be enough."

"It was a nice try anyway," present-day Sanji reassured him. "Thanks for trying, Usopp. If nothing else, it saved me from getting slammed into the concrete."

"You still did though!" present-day Chopper pointed out as he looked down anxiously to memory Sanji, who was stilly lying there out cold.

His memory self suddenly grew to his Heavy Point, willing to at least try and go down fighting.

"NOW HEAVY GONG!" he cried out as he rammed his fist right at him. But Oars slammed the broken building down on top of them and the memory blacked in and out as the roaring was loud enough to deafen them. Most of the crew had to cover their ears as they suddenly went falling down from the bridge to the ground below them to where the others all here.

Some of the crew had to curl up into balls as they fell, trying to instinctively protect themselves from the fall, despite knowing that they were all safe. Yet, the noise was easily enough to make them forget where they were, that this had already happened and that it was a desperate fight for survival.

Eventually though, the noise died down and the Straw Hats—who were safely on the ground—were all cautiously looking around, mildly surprised that there wasn't a scratch on any of them. But still, some of them, such a Zoro and Franky had to remind themselves to put their weapons away, despite feeling that they were ready to fight.

They all laid in a bleeding mess on the ground—the memory still showing through, but it was so dim and the voices so muted from the ringing that they knew that whoever was still conscious that it wasn't going to last much longer. It seemed that these were Usopp's memories for he was near them and seemed to be the one who was fighting to stay awake.

"Luffy… you jerk…" memory Usopp croaked and the memory darkened even more.

"I don't know you, my names not Luffy," said Oars in his slow voice. "I'm Master Moria's servant. The name is Oars."

"No, you're not!" Luffy yelled out in outrage, wanting to beat up Oars a second time for saying that. He was no one servant!

Oars, seemingly thinking that he had taken them all out, looked down at his arm to where the crew's wanted posters were all stitched onto. He began counting them out, and adding up the pirates on the ground.

"Don't know who those two are, but whatever," he said when he looked down at the memory versions of Brook and Usopp. There's that Straw Hat guy, orange hair lady, and awesome super hero."

"Hey, that's right! He still thinks that Sniper King's part of the crew!" present-day Chopper cried out. "And this was before Brook joined us! So he wasn't after you two!"

"Yeah, I suppose," present-day Brook nodded. "But that didn't stop him from giving us a beating anyway, Chopper-san."

"Oh… right," he said as Oars scratched his head.

"That's five down and three to go. Wonder where they're hiding?" Oars said as he began to march off, looking for Luffy, Nami, and Sniper King—leaving the rest of the Straw Hats in that courtyard. The memory blacked completely at that point.

"What happened to you all?" Nami asked them in concern. "Were you all ok?"

"It wasn't fun, if that's what you're asking," Robin reassured her. "But don't worry. We were all hit hard, but we got back up once we managed to catch a quick cat nap."

"What's going on now?" Chopper gasped fretfully.

"Yeah, it was starting to get good!" Luffy said, "I wanna see you guys go and kick Oars's ass!"

"What fight were you watching?" Sanji demanded, "We got our asses kicked!"

"Yeah, at first! But you guys got him in the end, didn't you?" Luffy asked eagerly. "I wanna see that part when you get back up!"

"Quiet," Franky said as he looked around, "I think I hear voices?"

They all fell silent as they listened, and they realized that he was right. They heard what sounded to be whispering, before they steadily grew louder and louder until they could hear a wheezy voice say, "You may now kiss the bride."

"Oh, no!" Nami gasped, guessing at once what was happening. And she felt her skin crawl when she heard another voice speaking up, "Finally! I've been waiting long enough."

"NO! DON'T TELL ME IT'S…?" Sanji yelled out, also recognizing that smug voice. The memory slowly started to become clear and the first thing they saw was a pair of furry lips coming in at them. There were screams of shock and horror at the sight of it from the rest of the crew as the memory cleared more until they saw what was happening. The memory was from Nami, and she had finally woken up—and not a moment too soon. She was being held up by another zombie at the altar, with Absalom leaning in about to try and kiss her.

Memory Nami was now fully awake and her eyes were wide with horror as she began to shriek and thrash about. She began screaming, her head leaning as far back as she could make it to try and avoid his lips as she screamed for him to let her go.

Absalom looked annoyed as he cracked open an eyelid to see her as he growled, "Dammit, so she finally woke up, huh? Well, that won't stop me!"

"That gave me nightmares for weeks after that!" present-day Nami cried out in outrage. "Imagine waking up with that thing's face the first thing you see? God, I need to take a shower once we get back to the Sunny."

"He didn't do anything else to you, did he?" Robin asked her in concern.

"Not that I'm aware of, no," she answered back as Absalom leaned further in to try and kiss her as she was doing everything she could to avoid him. "I don't remember anything that happened. I mean, I didn't even know that he and Sanji were fighting each other. But at least I finally get what happened."

"If he had, then you can bet I sure as hell would've murdered him!" Sanji vowed, actually hoping to meet with that invisible freak again someday… just so that he could deal out proper punishment.

"Come on, my dear," Absalom said through puckered up lips, "We already went through the boring stuff! Just let me kiss you so we can be husband and wife!"

"Am I the only one here who feels kinda bad for him for wanting to marry, Nami?" Usopp couldn't help but whisper to some of the other men.

"Poor guy has no idea what he's in for," Zoro said as he shook his head piteously. "She is going to eat him alive."

"I SAID NO! THOSE AREN'T EVEN HUMAN LIPS!" memory Nami screamed as she kept leaning back more and more until she was bent almost double over. "AND I'M A PIRATE! I'M INTO ADVENTURE AND TREASURE! NOT ROMANCE!"

"Really? You really do like adventure, Nami?" Luffy asked brightly. "I thought that you thought it was scary!"

"If you're involved, then of course I'm gonna be scared," the present-day Nami said sarcastically. "You're the one who's always insisting that we go the hard way."

"I'm the Graveyard King! You'll be the Graveyard Queen!" Absalom reasoned. "Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

"Yeah, you're stupid title doesn't mean anything to me," the present-day Nami retorted sourly. Seriously, she had standards too! She wasn't going to marry him even if he was king of the world!

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!" memory Nami demanded. But before this could go any further, the ceiling began cracking apart and it broke. For a split second, everyone thought for sure that it was Oars again, but it turned out that it was something just as scary.

"NAMIZOOOOOOUUUUUUU!" Lola shrieked as she came breaking through the ceiling, spinning about and her swords were cutting anything that was unfortunate enough to be in her way. It was enough to knock Nami away from Absalom and the zombie that held her in place as screams rang out.

"Lo…?" memory Nami gasped.

"LOLA! NO!" Absalom shrieked in terror.

"Where'd she come from?!" Usopp yelled out with wide eyes.

"Well, I guess she would come if it's her man's wedding," Franky offered with a shrug. "Too bad for him."

"And Nami! She's gonna think that she's stealing him!" Brook pointed out anxiously.

"No worries," present-day Nami smiled warmly at the sight of Lola. "She's one of a kind, Lola. I hope we get to see her again!"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Nami?" Chopper asked as Lola stood between Absalom and Nami as she glared at him with her blades held up threateningly.

"Namizou…" Lola growled as she turned to glare down at her, fire burning in her eyes before spreading through her whole body.

"You… ah… sure she's on our side?" Franky gulped, "She's looking pretty scary here, Nami!"

"Don't worry," she replied again knowingly. Looking at it now, she knew that it looked serious, but it seemed that Lola was one hell of an actress.

"How dare you do this to me, you traitor? You said Master Absalom and I would make a beautiful couple!" Lola demanded.

"I take it back," present-day Nami sighed, "You're way too good for him, girl. You can do so much better."

"And I turn around for 5 minutes and you're marrying him?" Lola went on furiously.

"Not by choice!" present-day Nami couldn't help but say as Lola finished, "You said you were my friend! But all you wanted was my man! I should have known better than to trust a thief like you!"

"Hold on a second Lola!" memory Nami tried to explain. "You got this whole thing wrong! I mean, for one, I was knocked out this whole time, I don't have a clue what…?" that was when she noticed what she was wearing. "Huh? Is this a wedding dress? Why am I wearing this? It's pretty though."

She said the wrong thing.

"Oh? It's pretty is it? Well how wonderful for you!" Lola screamed as she charged in swinging her swords, forcing Nami to scoot back along the floor as quickly as she could.

"THIS IS ALL JUST A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING!" memory Nami screamed as she tried to move back.

"WHAT? SHE'S TRYING TO KILL YOU!?" Luffy yelled in shock.

"SHE'S GONNA CHOP YOU UP INTO LITTLE PIECES, NAMI!" Chopper cried out in terror.

"Yes, she should be going after Absalom who was cheating on her," Robin reasoned. "At the least it would give you time to run for it."

That was when she blinked and noticed something along the same time that Zoro did.

"Before when she went after you in the graveyard she knew how to use those swords," he said as he watched almost the wild slashes made. "But here, she's not even bothering to use them properly. What's going on?"

"Huh?" Luffy asked, "You mean she's not attacking her for real?"

Present-day Nami smiled as she gave them the thumps up. "No real friend would stand by and let you get married to a jerk like that Absalom guy! She was here to help the whole time!"

"Wow! Really?" Luffy, Usopp and Chopper all asked eagerly.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Absalom yelled. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST BURY YOUR ROTTING CARCUS IN A HOLE SOMEWHERE, SO I CAN GET MARRIED ALREADY!"

Lola stopped going after Nami as she spun around to glare at him as she barked, "You wanna get married then marry me!"

"I WOULD RATHER DIE!" he yelled back, causing steam to puff out of her snout.

"I don't know what his deal is," Franky said as he folded his arms. "I mean, he wants to get married, and Nami sure as hell doesn't want to marry him, but we have a lady who's raring to go. What's the problem?"

"So people are just so picky," Brook shrugged. "Guess that there's just something about you, Nami-san that he likes."

"Good thing for me that I'm even more picky than he is," present-day Nami said with a roll of her eyes. "If I'm ever getting married, I'm going to go for someone who's the complete opposite of him."

"Huh? Really?" Sanji asked, his eyes shining at the thought. "There's hope then!"

"My poor little Ab ignorant of the terrifying truth," Lola said, almost piteously cruel. Her words took him by surprises and he was demanding to know what she was talking about. Lola's eyes flashed as she pointed at memory Nami behind her and said, "This so-called woman's real name is Namizou. And she's really… a MAN!"

"What?" Brook asked in confusion. "Oh, that's right! I almost forgot that was what you told her!"

"How could anyone ever believe that?" Sanji muttered, having spent enough time with Okama's to last for several lifetimes. No way that his sweet, beautiful Nami could ever pass off as one of those ugly as sin creatures.

Still, the look on Absalom's face was priceless, it was almost worth going through all that happened that night just to see it.

"WWWWWWHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT?" he screamed. "NO! THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!"

"I see! If you just stick to that story, then you can get out of there without having to count yourself as married!" Usopp said excitedly. "What a lucky break!"

"I wish," present-day Nami sighed as she shook her head. "I mean, it worked at first, so it did buy us some time. But I guess we should be glad that this guy has got the brain the size of a marble."

"So how's that? Still wanna get married Ab?" Lola demanded nastily, "You into guys now?"

"And to think…" Absalom said, looking completely aghast at this new information. "If she hadn't burst in, I would have married a man! I was just a few seconds away from kissing him right on the lips!"

"Don't remind me!" present-day Nami hollered, shivering at the thought and feeling an urge to wash herself again. "I knew that he was dumb, but I didn't think that he would believe something like that so easily. Too bad it didn't work for long. Remember, he saw me in the bath so once his marble-sized brain starts working again, he's gonna realize that she's lying."

And judging from the lectures look on Absalom's face, she could guess what he was thinking of. The sight of it was enough to cause Sanji to burst into flames of fury, actually charging forward and tried to kick him, only for his foot to go right through him once more.

"DAMN THESE STUPID MEMORIES!" he shouted out, "JUST ONE KICK! PLEASE, LET ME KICK THIS IDIOT ONE TIME! I WANNA BREAK HIS FACE!"

As Absalom blushed and drooled, Lola turned her attention back to memory Nami, who had gotten to her feet and was quickly blacking away.

"GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE YOU FILTHY TRAITOR!" she screamed as she went after her with the swords again.

"I KEEP TELLING YOU IT'S NOT MY FAULT!" memory Nami yelled, trying to protect her front as she backed away even faster.

"NO CUTTING UP MY BRIDE, LOLA!" Absalom roared when he came back down to reality. But Lola ignored him as she continued going at her.

The Straw Hats were starting to feel real concern for Nami here, since it looked like Lola was really trying to kill her.

"I SAID GET OUTTA HERE!" Lola yelled hysterically as Zoro frowned at the sight. She was just flailing the swords about now, and he could tell that she was purposely missing Nami. So while it looked dangerous, she really wasn't planning on trying to hurt her.

Memory Nami seemed to notice this as well as she kept moving backwards, confusion on her face now more than fear.

That was when Lola started whispering to her, so quietly that Absalom couldn't hope to hear her, "Namizou," she whispered, winking her eye and getting Nami's attention.

Memory Nami blinked at that and whispered back in shock, "What?"

"Run for it," Lola told her. "While you still can. I'll hold him off, but I don't know how long I can last. I came here to save you… my friend."

"OW!" Franky gasped at the sight, holding onto his chest. "Oh, that is so sweet! Even with a rotting zombie, there is friendship! The sight is just… too much!"

"I'm also touched," Brook gasped as he dabbed his eye socket with is feathered boa. "Oh, Lola-san! I wish that I could be your friend too!"

Memory Nami seemed to agree with him on that much.

"Lola…" memory Nami gasped, her eyes wide with shock before Lola spun around and went charging at Absalom with her lips puckered up.

"Damn! That's scarier than Oars!" Zoro gulped at the sight. No wonder the guy ran from her?

"Come here, Master Ab!" she called, and Absalom was filled with horror the closer she got. "That's right, sweetheart! If you're looking for a kiss then pucker up! Cause Lola's got a big wet one right here for ya!"

He stepped back, looking like he was about to have a heart attack, meanwhile memory Nami stared on, shaking, before she turned and began to run for the door—knowing that she had to at least and try to do what Lola told her. However, the sight of her fleeing to the door seemed to infuriate Absalom.

"Dammit! My bride's getting away!" he yelled.

"Get it through that thick skull of yours!" present-day Nami began, "I'm not your… oh, whatever! He can't hear me anyway!"

"Your bride's right here, baby!" Lola declared as she continued charging right at him.

"Nice try," Absalom said as he held up his hand and they all knew what was coming. "But you can't convince me my bride's a man. Move! Or suffer!"

But he didn't give her the choice for he fired at her. The blast was enough to knock Lola backwards, causing her to drop her swords and go flying. Memory Nami turned around just as the attack and watched with horror as Lola was sent flying back and crashing through the wall.

"LOLA!" she screamed in terror, almost knocked her feet from the shockwave and debris falling everywhere.

"Was she ok?!" Chopper gasped, not having the faintest idea how to help treat a zombie.

"Don't worry about her," Franky said firmly, thought there was some worry in his voice as well. "She's a tough cookie. She won't be going down that easily. Besides, she's a zombie. It's not like she can die that easily!"

"Also, I doubt that attack did nearly as much damage as Absalom seems to think," Robin added as she looked over at him. She seemed to be right, for it looked like that attack had taken a bit out of Absalom, who was still exhausted from his battle with Sanji. He was panting hard as if he had run miles as he wheezed out, "You're nothing but a lowly zombie. How dare you make me waste so much strength disposing of you?"

Luffy's eyes narrowed angrily and he was suddenly wishing that he could punch this guy. Any friend of his crew was a friend to him! And after seeing how far Lola went to try and help Nami, there was no way in hell that he wanted to stand there and watch her get treated like that.

Lola just laid there, her eyes rolled back and out cold, but it was enough to enrage memory Nami. She had stepped forward, determined to avenge her friend, and she had her weapon at hand.

"No one messes with my friends and gets away with it!" present-day Nami vowed as she held up her fists. "I'm the only one who's allowed to beat them up!"

"Ok, I was feeling all warm and fuzzy at those words until that past part," Usopp snapped at her.

"Where were you hiding that, Nami?!" Luffy asked as he pointed to her Clima-Tact. "I thought that they took it or something?"

"Let's just say I kept it hidden on me without them noticing," she smiled. "I mean, it's not that it looks dangerous, does it?"

"But where did you…?" Usopp began before blinking and shaking his head. "No, never mind! I rather not know and risk getting beaten up for saying something I shouldn't."

"Ah, that's a good girl," Absalom purred approvingly when he turned around to see her standing there. "Finally wised up and stopped running did you?" She didn't answer as she glared at him with a furious look they all knew too well as he said, "You can't hide and you can't escape! Because no matter where you go, I'll hunt you down! And I can assure you'll never see me coming!"

"Now thunder Charge!" she cried as the tip of her staff began to glow yellow with electricity and she snarled, "How dare you? You can't do that to Lola!"

"He really should start running," Usopp whimpered at the furious look in memory Nami's face. Hell, even the present-day Nami was looking angry at the sight of her friend lying there like that.

The last part of the staff suddenly fell away before she was able to swing it about on a cable and it built up a charge. With a blazing new determination in her eyes she went charging at him, swinging her staff about as she ran.

"Yes my dear," Absalom said, either too dumb or naïve to believe that he was in any danger. "Come flying into your husband's arms!"

"I guess you gave him a harder beating than we first thought, Sanji," Usopp offered, unable to believe that a man could be so brave that he would be standing there, waiting for Nami to finish him off. "His brain turned to mush!"

"I would think so," Robin nodded as the Clima-Tact built up to a full charge and memory Nami was right in front of him.

"Swing… ARRRMMMMM!" she cried and swinging her weapon around at his chest. As soon as it collided with him, the blow was enough that it lit up the entire room. Lightning went through his entire body, his hair stood on end as he was being fried and shrieked with pain. Suddenly he fell over backwards and landed with a crash on the floor and moved no more.

"Well that was… lame," Luffy frowned at the sight. He was expecting something bigger than him just standing there and letting himself getting hit.

"Yeah, a bit anti-climatic," Zoro nodded. "Well, I guess we can safely assume that this marriage between you two wouldn't have worked out, Nami?"

"Oh, I think that's a safe guess," she sighed as her past self was taken aback by how easy he went down. She clearly couldn't believe that she won so easily, and cautiously slowly approached him and poked him with the end of her staff, but he wasn't getting up anytime soon.

"And I felt so proud of myself, thinking I took him down on my own," the present-day Nami sighed at the sight. "I guess I should thank you though, Sanji. For weakening him enough for me."

"If only I had finished him off before," Sanji could only reply regretfully, still feeling like he let her down.

"Don't worry," she replied honestly as her memory self was now poking Absalom in the face, but still he didn't move. "If you had, then I never would have become such good friends with Lola! No need to feel bad."

"I don't get it," memory Nami said, "It hardly seemed to hurt him at all the last time I did that? Well, whatever, right? I win! YEAH!" She grinned proudly as she added, "I guess I must have hit his weak spot or something?"

"Not a word," the present-day Nami said to them all warningly as they opened their mouths. Just then, Lola came too, now coughing and gasping for breath. That was enough to get Nami's attention and went running over to check on her in concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked anxiously, "Hang in there!"

Lola struggled to breathe as memory Nami thanked her over and over again. She didn't know what she would have done if she hadn't shown up when she did.

"You don't have to thank me, Namizou," she said as she chuckled through her gasps. "We're friends, right?"

"I felt so lousy when she said that," present-day Nami confessed as she shook her head. "I know that we said we were friends, but I didn't think she'd ever go so far to help me?"

"She is something else," Brook nodded in awe. "To think that a zombie would have such a strong since of self that she could openly defy her master's orders like that? I know that Cindry-san was able to do that, but even then that was only preventing herself from moving. And I know that Sanji-san's zombie also defied his orders, but that was because he was still new. Lola-san's shadow had been in that zombie for a few years now, hasn't she?"

"I guess she's someone who follows her heart and doesn't take orders from anyone," present-day Nami said proudly.

Memory Nami, however, had lowered her head in guilt at Lola's words as she said sincerely, "I owe you an apology, Lola. When I first saw you, I was scared and I told you a lie. It's just that, I thought that if I said I was a man, you'd leave me alone."

"True, but don't worry about it," Robin reassured her kindly. "It wasn't anything harmful. And it wasn't like you were really trying to steal Absalom away from her."

"Yeah, but I said that we were friends when I didn't really mean it at the time," present-day Nami confessed grimly. "I was willing to say just about anything if it meant getting away from her."

"Still, you made up for that in the end by standing up for her, Nami-san," Brook answered happily. "And you were friends by the end of all this! No need to worry!"

"Yeah, especially since Lola doesn't look angry," Usopp added as Lola chuckled, not looking the least bit surprised to hear the confession.

"You big silly," she said, "It was pretty obvious."

At that, memory Nami smiled back as she laughed, "I guess so."

That was when Lola realized something and her eyes widen as she sat right up and stared around her. She did this so quickly that she took them all by surprise as she hollered, "WAIT JUST A SECOND! MASTER ABSALOM IS COMPLETELY HELPLESS RIGHT NOW!"

"Wait! She's right!" Sanji said and they all looked to where the stitched-up animal man was lying with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Lola then found new strength as she jumped up, running towards him.

"I'M GONNA MAKE YOU MINE, BABY!" she threated before jumping up into the air… and crashing right down on him. Well, if he wasn't out before, he sure was now.

Memory Nami just watched on with a bright smile as the memory faded, disappearing completely when Lola pulled out a marriage certificate and pressed down Absalom's fingerprint on it.

"Will you sign it as our witnessed?!" Lola asked eagerly.

"With pleasure!" memory Nami beamed as she sighed her name with a flourish.

"I love weddings!" Brook cried out happily.

"I have to admit, I've never been happier to see a pair get married," present-day Nami laughed out as the memory faded completely and they were in the dark again. "I only wish that I could have seen the look on his face when he woke up to see that he was married!"

The memory soon returned and when it did, they were back in the courtyard, and Oars was now looking underneath the rubble trying to find the Straw Hats. He was acting much like how a child would, looking under rocks trying to find bugs to play with. It wasn't until that moment that they looked at his childish antics to realize that Luffy's shadow really was in that thing.

"Under here?" Oars asked as he looked underneath a large slab of the broken manor wall. "Hello, Straw Hats?"

He then goes and tosses the boulder over his head before he leans over the building to look in the windows as if it were a dollhouse, as he called, "Anybody in there? Straw Hat maybe? Orange-hair lady? Hero guy?"

"He's still looking for you and me," present-day Nami said with a nod. "And…?"

"And Sniper King too, apparently," present-day Usopp nodded quickly. "Shame he's never gonna find him. Sniper King knows how to avoid getting caught."

"Apparently he also knows how to hide when there's no need for it," Zoro added to him quietly and Usopp did his best to ignore him as he forced a laugh.

"I hope that he made it off the island alright," Chopper said with a frown. "I'd hate it if Sniper King got hurt trying to help us again."

"I just wish he could have stayed long enough to say goodbye," Luffy said as he folded his arms. "I really wanna thank him for all his help back at Enies Lobby."

"Hey! Look!" present-day Usopp said as he pointed to some moving stones a little bit away from them, getting their attention and making them forget all about Sniper King at the moment. That was when they saw the memory versions of Robin and the Straw Hat men, apart from Luffy, pulling themselves out of the rubble.

"There we go!" present-day Franky laughed as his past self heaved a heavy rock from off the top of him. "We get pummeled by a giant zombie and we still get up to fight! We're just badass that way!"

"Crap… this guy's gonna be one pain in the ass," memory Franky growled angrily as memory Brook also pulled himself free. However, he was now so beat up that he couldn't even get up to walk at his point.

"He's not just strong, he's fast as well for a guy his size," memory Zoro added as he also got up from where he was lying, his hands still holding onto his swords as he walked by, leading the others behind him.

"Yeah, he's got your speed and agility, captain," present-day Zoro reminded Luffy. "So we can just blame you for whatever happens next."

"Right! No, wait, NO!" Luffy yelled out in horror.

"What was his name again?" memory Sanji asked.

"Oh, ah…?" memory Chopper said but he couldn't recall the name that was given to this massive zombie.

Memory Zoro thought it over and offered, "I think it was Roast?"

"Roast? Seriously, I thought that Luffy was the one here who thought with his stomach," present-day Sanji said in annoyance.

"Oh, like you could remember his name?" present-day Zoro snarled back.

"No, not even close," memory Usopp said with a frown, "I think it had an 'S' at the end of it, didn't it?"

"Fours?" memory Sanji suggested as memory Zoro tied on his bandana.

"At least my guess was closer!" present-day Sanji added to their Zoro, who responded with the death glare again.

"No," memory Usopp said unconvincingly, "I think you're close but…?"

"It's Oars," memory Robin reminded him calmly as she brushed some dirt from her clothes as she walked with them.

"That's it!" they all said as they recognized the name.

"Wow, you think that you'd all remember the name of something like that," present-day Nami couldn't help but ask as she looked up at Oars. He was going to be one nightmare that they would all like to forget.

"It was just a puppet though who had Luffy's shadow in him, I don't' think that he counts," present-day Zoro shrugged. "Oh well, nothing we can do about it now."

Memory Brook was having a hard time moving as he struggled to get up to his feet. After several failed attempts, he simply fell to his knees and said, somewhat shamefully, "I'm sorry. But my injuries are quite terrible…?"

"Right, you took quite a beating from Ryuma," present-day Sanji said as he remembered the fight before. "No worries about it. You came back in the end, didn't you? How'd you recover so quickly, anyway?"

"Yohohoho, I have a feeling you'll see soon enough," present-day Brook said happily. "Milk… it does a body good. Especially for him since he was nothing but a skeleton. Yet still, it only makes sense that he would recover quickly since he had no blood to spill or flesh that needed time to heal. One of a few perks of being made of nothing but bones.

"Its fine, we understand!" memory Franky brushed off. "You can still move around though, right?"

"Yes?" memory Brook said as he finally limped to his feet, forced to lean on his sword just to get up even partway.

"Then move yourself outta the way," memory Franky said.

"Of course," he croaked out as he stumbled and limped out of the courtyard, heading to—of all places—the mostly destroyed manor.

"Where were you going, Brook?" Luffy asked their Brook in worry.

"The kitchen," he answered back as he watched his past self grab hold of the wall to steady himself for a moment before he forced himself inside. "I still wanted to help. And I knew that if I could just find some salt, then I could be doing my part in helping to fight Oars. Not that it did much good, though, now that I think of it?"

"Hey, don't worry about it," present-day Franky said with a wave of his hand. "It's cool."

"Hey Oars!" memory Zoro suddenly yelled, getting the giant zombie's attention as he looked up. "If that's really Luffy's shadow you got inside you, then I probably shouldn't have to tell you this… but you should never underestimate the strength of your own crew!"

"Hell ya!" present-day Usopp grinned at the sight of seeing them all there, ready to face off against the giant zombie. They were the crew of the future King of the Pirates after all! There's no way they were going to lose even if this guy had Luffy's shadow! This substitute was nothing to the real thing!

(And that's the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for the long wait, but I'm moving next month, so I've been busy looking for a job and packing. Don't worry. The next chapter will be having Kuma showing up, so the big question now is… are the Straw Hats gonna let Luffy see it? Or do you think that something else is gonna happen? Only I know the answer to that! I will be putting the chapter up before I move though, so please keep an eye out for it!)