It's Christmas Eve! :D I hope you guys are all having fun with your families!

pizzafan123 - Yup, a certain Bible-carrying Warlord is showing up...and yeah, things are coming quickly! I'm still far ahead of you all though in the chapters I'm writing, though!

CrazyQuilava - Thanks! I like how things are going so far, and I'm glad you like it, too! And Maria's definitely going to have a lot of room to grow in the next few arcs. :) I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what you guys think of it. Merry Christmas to you, too!

Here's the chapter!

Chapter 79 (or 21) - Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Maria's POV

I couldn't believe what had just happened. I blinked, then rubbed my eyes vigorously to make sure that I wasn't falling asleep from exhaustion. Then I looked again.

Zoro laughed as he looked himself over, completely whole and without so much as a burn mark on him from where the sun had touched him. "Phew! Look at that. Guess it wasn't my day to die after all." He flexed one of his arms, grinning widely.

"For a second there, I thought that I was about to go to heaven," Robin agreed, looking very much relieved herself.

"Sounds good to me!" Sanji declared, his lovey-dovey self again as he looked at Robin. "If we can go together, I'd love to go to heaven!"

Usopp was the first of the rest of us to get out of our shocked stupor. "Stop laughing, you jerks! We seriously thought you were dead! You nearly vanished!"

"That was terrifying!" Nami and Chopper agreed, sitting on a pile of rubble and leaning against each other.

"That almost reminded me of the time that I was nearly erased from the timestream," I muttered, recalling what had happened back when I was a Pokemon. I shuddered a bit, then shook my head in order to get the memory out.

"Goodness, that was bad for my heart!" Brook commented. "Not that I have a heart." The skeleton turned around and looked at the sunlight that was streaming through the rubble.

Brook's movements caused the rest of us to turn, as well, and look up at the sky.

I gave a soft hum as I felt the sun warming my skin. It felt like an old friend who had come to push away the nightmares of our dreams. Even though we were still on Thriller Bark, it kind of felt like all our troubles were over.

"It's the morning sun!" roared one of the Risky Brothers as the Rolling Pirates cried out with joy.

"I'm not afraid of the sun anymore!" the other Risky Brother agreed.

"I have my shadow back!" Lola called out.

I looked over at the Rolling Pirates as they started dancing about in the sunlight, cheering happily.

"I can kiss goodbye to life in that dark forest!"

"Hurray! Hurray!"

"It looks like everyone survived," Chopper said with relief from somewhere nearby. I turned and looked over in the reindeer's direction, and saw that everyone had moved over to where Luffy was...lying...on top of a piece of rubble.

Our poor captain was still knocked out? That fight must have taken a lot out of him...

"The sunlight had definitely begun to erase our existence," Robin commented as I moved closer to the rest of the crew. "But our bodies were fully restored when our shadows returned to us in the nick of time."

"It's probably along the same lines of how Moria could alter a body's shape by manipulating its shadow," Sanji remarked.

I blinked when I heard that, then frowned and cocked my head to one side. "Is that why Oars was able to stretch his arm? Because Moria was messing with his shadow?"

"Yup." Nami looked over at me. "That's right - you weren't there for most of that."

I shook my head. "Yeah. I came in when Nightmare Luffy did."

"All I know is that our bodies and shadows have to match," Sanji continued.

"Relax," Zoro spoke up. "This is the only time we're ever gonna have the fun of losing our shadows."

"You call that fun?" I stared at him incredulously. "Seriously? I'm looking at this whole thing like it's a Halloween-infested nightmare. And none of that was really fun."

"You looked like you were having fun beating the crap out of the zombies." The swordsman turned his attention to me with a wide grin.

"Gah!" I wasn't expecting him to say that! But...then again...

"Ah..." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "I kinda did turn purifying the zombies into a game, didn't I?"

Usopp let out a sigh of relief. "Anyway, I'm just glad that's over, and that no one ended up disappearing for good."

Franky let out a sigh from where he was sitting on the ground. "I'm feelin' really wiped out all of a sudden. Is there any cola around here?"

I sighed at the question. "After how much we've torn everything apart...?"

"All of the strange creatures and phenomena we've seen since coming ashore were nothing more than a ruse put on by Moria," Sanji spoke aloud. "Now that he's been defeated, there's nothing left on this island. Just like waking from a nightmare in the morning, everything's vanished. I for one am really glad that it's over."

"You got that right," I muttered, nodding in agreement. "Even the graveyards I've been to in the past weren't this bad...if there had been zombie Pokemon at every single one of them, then I might have developed the same fears of ghosts that Brook has."

I'm considering myself lucky that it was just in the Kanto region that I ran into a vengeful Pokemon spirit. If there had been things like that everywhere else...I don't want to think about it.

I heard flapping wings over our heads, and I glanced up. I smiled when I saw a pair of birds flying past, chirping cheerily.

"Hey. Didn't Luffy shrink back there?"

I looked back down when I heard Zoro's voice, and I looked over at our unconscious captain with a concerned frown. "Well, he's back to normal now..."

"He told me that after he uses the Giant Gear - or Third Gear - his body shrinks for however long he used that gear," Chopper explained. "It's a side-effect."

I stiffened slightly in surprise when I heard that. "If that happens when he uses Third Gear, what happens to his body when he uses Second Gear? That's got to be pretty hard on him, too."

I couldn't help but wonder what happened to Luffy when he turned pink and started to release steam like that. It was almost like he was building up a fire on the inside...but that would have melted his rubbery self, so that couldn't be it.

"Don't you think Luffy's new fighting style is too hard on his body?" Usopp asked in a concerned tone. "I'm worried... If the enemies waiting ahead of us only continue to get stronger, he's gonna keep pushing himself."

Something about Usopp's statement made me think of the attack that I had used earlier in our fight on the island - back when Franky, Robin, Luffy, and I had been fighting the zombies in that carnival room.

White Flare, 100 percent...

Was that an attack I had learned to use that pushed myself? Is that why I had felt so exhausted afterwards?

"We need to pull our own weight better," Usopp muttered, his grip tightening on his staff-like slingshot.

"You're right," Nami agreed.

Chopper and I nodded slightly in agreement - I did it in a more absent motion.

White Flare was a powerful attack, sure, but if I managed to get better control of it...and find more attacks to use instead of it...then I might be able to get up to the others' more powerful levels.

There came the sound of footsteps somewhere near us, and I turned my head with the others when I heard the noise...

"Gah!" I let out a yelp and jumped back in surprise.

"Zombie!" Usopp yelped, scrambling away from the rather tired, old-looking figure with the bandages wrapped around him and a lantern in one hand. "One of them still has its shadow!"

"No, I'm just a severely injured old man," the figure corrected.

"That's too confusing!" Usopp barked back. "Just pass yourself off as a zombie!"

I let out a sigh and shook my head, facepalming.

"Aren't you the old man we met at the graveyard?" Sanji asked.

"Hmm?" I looked up at the old man again, blinking. It took me a moment to recognize him. "Oh, yeah - you're right."

"I can't believe it. I never dreamed that I would see the day that I could walk under the sun again," the old man said in an appreciative tone. "Thank you! How could I ever repay you?"

"Hey! Grandpa Spoil!"

I turned my head when I heard Lola's voice, blinking when I saw that she and the rest of the Rolling Pirates were running towards us.

"Honorary President of the Victim Association!" one of the Risky Brothers called.

The old man - Grandpa Spoil, I guess his name was - turned to look over at the oncoming pirates. "Oh, you guys! So, you pulled through?"

"Gramps, are you all right?" Lola asked as she came to a stop near us. The rest of the Rolling Pirates followed suit, stopping behind their captain.

"Yeah!"

"You know each other?" Usopp asked, looking back and forth between the old man and Lola in confusion.

"Oh!" Lola turned and looked at the rest of us. "Come to think of it, we still haven't thanked you."

"We're grateful from the bottom of our hearts," said the brown-haired Risky Brother. "Sorry for all the trouble we've caused you."

"When we saw all the mayhem you caused, we figured that if you couldn't do it, no one could!" added the masked Risky Brother.

"Thank you," Lola continued. "No one in Thriller Bark's Victim Association..."

Lola and the old man moved to get on their knees, and the rest of them followed suit, much to my surprise.

"...will ever forget the debt we owe you!" Lola finished.

"Thank you very much!" the entire group chorused.

"If there is anything you'd like, please say the word!" the old man added. "There isn't much, but we have some food reserves."

"Better yet, you're welcome to marry me!" Lola declared as she rose to her feet.

"Gah!" I stepped back, gagging.

"We'll pass!" Chopper, Zoro, Sanji, Franky, and Usopp all yelled back at once.

"Five men turned her down all at once!" the Risky Brothers exclaimed. "She's been rejected 4,449 times!"

I looked at the two of them like they were insane. It looked like they were really happy about the rejections for some reason...

"You really don't need to thank us," Zoro commented, rubbing one side of his head.

"Don't say that!" Lola protested.

"Remember what Luffy said, Gramps?"

"I'm especially interested in you!"

"We simply fought to suit our own needs."

"Will you marry me?"

"By Chaos and all the Legendaries of Neo-Mobius," I muttered at Lola's exclamation. I facepalmed again and shook my head.

Zoro ignored Lola's question, just like he had ignored her previous comments involving marriage. "We just saved you while we were at it."

SMACK!

"How could you say that?!" Nami demanded as Zoro went flying from her slap. "They actually want to thank us!"

I flinched as Zoro went rolling into a nearby piece of rubble, and absently rubbed my cheek. "Um, ow, Nami? That looked like it hurt."

"Good." Nami folded her arms across her chest in a huff.

"Yeah! You should listen to her, Bro!" the masked Risky Brother called. "Let us do something for you!"

"We don't care if you saved us on the side or not!" added the brown-haired Risky Brother. "We're grateful that you defeated Moria."

"I know, right?" Nami turned around and looked at the pirates...and I suddenly gained an uneasy feeling.

"Uh, your eyes..." Usopp trailed off uncertainly, as though he wasn't sure whether or not he should mention that it looked like Nami's eyes had turned into Beri symbols.

"I know! Why don't you swipe all of Moria's treasure?" the brown-haired Risky Brother suggested.

"We'll load it onto the ship for you!" the masked Brother added.

Glad they picked up on Nami's greed so quickly...

"Oh, it's already on..." Nami trailed off, and she suddenly gained a look of shock that caused her to pale.

"Huh?" I blinked in confusion for a moment, then frowned at Nami's expression. "What's-"

I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine, and I almost felt like there was something...dangerous nearby.

"Oh, no! I forgot about something important!" Nami covered her mouth with a hand out of shock.

"What is it?' Usopp asked warily.

"I had totally forgotten about him..."

"Him?" I repeated. A second, more powerful chill ran down my spine, and something at the back of my head said that there was something...behind us...

"What's the matter?" Robin asked.

Nami turned to look back at the archeologist. "We've got a problem!"

::I see::

I whirled around and looked up as the rest of the crew did the same. I looked up at the fallen stone tower that had been the base of a mast...and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

::My greatest fears have become an unfortunate reality::

"So it would seem."

There was...a figure sitting on top of the sideways tower...talking to someone on a Snail Phone?

"Who is that?" Usopp asked, confused.

"There he is..." Nami whimpered.

"There who is?" I looked at the orange-haired navigator. I frowned when I saw that it looked like she was having a minor panic attack.

"Everyone, remain calm and hear me out," Nami said carefully. "During our fight with Moria...I kinda forgot to mention this. There is one more person on this island...who is a member of the Seven Warlords!"

What?!

I stared at Nami in shock while the rest of us who were conscious started in surprise.

"Wh-what did you say?" Usopp stuttered. Shock passed across his face, and he looked up at the figure on the tower again. "That's a..."

"A Warlord?!" the rest of us joined in.

"Th-this isn't good!" Usopp yelped.

"What are two of the Seven Warlords doing on the same island?!" Chopper demanded.

::Of course, all of this happens just when we finally chose a successor for Crocodile:: a voice echoed in the air. It sounded kind of metallic - almost like it was coming through a speaker of some kind. ::Losing another Warlord in such a short time is a bad example. Is he still breathing, even if barely?::

"I don't know," responded a soft voice. That one sounded more clear - probably the Warlord who happened to be sitting right on the island.

::If he is still alive, we will wait for his recovery and hope he can maintain his position as one of the Seven Warlords for a while. We can take further measures later. If we lose one Warlord after the next, the title will cease to demand respect. This information must not get out to the public. These damn Straw Hats are such a nuisance::

Information mustn't get to the public...?

Uh oh.

"I recognize him!" Lola realized. "Nearly as large as Moria...that pirate was called the 'Tyrant'. He's Bartholomew Kuma!"

"That's Tyrant Kuma?!" called one of the Risky Brothers. I wasn't about to turn around around and see who was speaking, though.

"You mean the pirate who's cruelty knows no bounds?!" the other Risky Brother added.

::I feel that I've made my orders quite clear on this matter:: the metallic voice said again. ::Do not leave witnesses to testify that Straw Hat defeated Moria::

I think my temperature dropped when I heard that.

::The World Government is assigning you a special mission: Obliterate the Straw Hat crew and everyone else on Thriller Bark. Leave no one alive::

I sucked in a breath sharply. "And after we'd just taken care of Moria and fought all night against his zombies-!"

"Simple enough," the Warlord - Kuma - said in his soft voice.

The Rolling Pirates started muttering amongst themselves, sounding nervous. I couldn't blame them.

I gritted my teeth. This was not going to be fun.

Kuma started moving from where he was sitting. I couldn't see his features too well because I was pretty much looking at the sun, but from what I could tell, he had a massive upper body - and not the kind that came with flabby weight. This looked more like pure muscle.

At the same time, though, something at the back of my mind was sending me repeated alarm bells - almost as though there was something different here, too. I wasn't exactly sure what to make of them, though, except for the fact that something told me that this fight was going to be a lot harder than it seemed.

And it was looking pretty bad already.

"No way!" Usopp was starting to panic. "We can't fight two Warlords in a row!"

"It took everything we had to defeat Moria," Chopper commented worriedly. "We're worn out and done for!"

Zoro got to his feet wordlessly and started moving forward. I didn't really notice until he was starting to unsheathe one of his swords.

"Guys, get back," Zoro said without looking back at us. "I'll take him on."

I stared at the swordsman in shock. "Zoro, what are you - you're just about as tired as the rest of us! Maybe even more so!"

"Be careful," Nami warned. "He uses some kind of power! I saw someone vanish when he touched her with his hand!"

I stiffened when I heard that.

"Th-the people he touches vanish?!" Usopp yelped.

"That's scary!" Chopper agreed.

"And he can teleport," Nami continued.

"Teleport?" I started to feel really uneasy. "That's a Pokemon move...only for those with Psychic capabilities..." I bit my lower lip and looked up at Kuma, who hadn't moved. "Did he eat a Devil Fruit that allowed him to use that technique on himself and others?"

"Sounds like we've got a freak on our hands!" Franky commented.

I swallowed and nodded slightly in agreement.

Up above us, Kuma seemed to shift. I heard the sound of what seemed to be fabric moving.

"Don't let him touch you - it's dangerous!" Nami said, repeating her earlier warning.

I heard the noise of fabric being moved again, and I couldn't help but stiffen up. I saw Kuma move one hand to his side...and I managed to see that his skin was a darkish tan color that was similar to Usopp's.

Then there was a popping noise, and...and Kuma wasn't on top of the toppled mast anymore!

There came a number of yells from the Rolling Pirates behind us, and I turned sharply when I heard them moving and shifting weapons. What I saw caused me to jump back in shock.

"Gah! How did - I didn't even see him move to activate the technique!" I exclaimed in shock, seeing that Kuma was now standing among the Rolling Pirates.

And Kuma was huge. He looked like he could ride Dialga like anyone else would ride a horse!

"When did he get down here?!" one of the Rolling Pirates called out in alarm and fear.

"I see. I'd definitely call that teleporting," Franky said in a dark tone.

"Damn it!" shouted one of the Risky Brothers. "We were only just freed from Moria's curse! There's no way that I'm gonna die here!"

"Right!" the other agreed. "I'll never let someone stand between us and our voyage ever again! Guys, get him!"

Wait - what are they going to -

"Stop it, all of you!" Lola called out. "This guy's way too strong! Back off!"

Her call didn't stop her crew from running towards Kuma, swords raised.

Kuma relaxed one of his hands - the one that wasn't holding a book - then brought it forward into one of the pirates. I flinched back in alarm and shock at the shockwave that followed afterwards.

"Wh-what the..." I stared at the trench in the ground that had been left behind. "That's definitely not a Teleport move...his Devil Fruit has to give him some other type of ability." I gulped. "And I don't think I want to be on the receiving end of that!"

Another popping noise suddenly echoed in the air, and Kuma vanished from sight.

At least, momentarily.

I felt a chill run down my spine as something told me to turn around. I did so, slowly, if only to see what exactly it was that my body was warning me about.

I nearly jumped out of my socks when I saw that Kuma was now directly behind Zoro - and I could actually see him a little more clearly.

White pants with black spots...a strange-looking target on a black jacket of some kind...a white hat with what looked like bear ears and-

Hold on. Kuma was holding a Bible.

What use would a guy like him have for that book?

Zoro actually had something of an uneasy expression as he turned around to look up at Kuma.

"Pirate Hunter Zoro," Kuma said in his soft voice. "Shall I start with you?"

That...that doesn't sound good.

Oh, boy. We've got trouble!

I find it more amazing that Christmas is tomorrow and we're stuck on this Halloween-themed island...oi, vey.

Well, I'll see you next time!