Huge Revolution
XXIV: The Phantom Knights of Shadow Veil
"Was it really necessary to leave their heads there?" Yusei questioned Law once the Sunny was out of Marine reach. "It doesn't seem like you, Law-san."
"What do you mean?" Law asked in the middle of waiting for Doflamingo's presence before a DenDen Mushi.
"I thought you might be the type to throw their bodies into the sea before leaving their heads there," Yusei clarified. "You did say that they were enemies."
"Unfortunately, I must agree with Yusei," Robin commented from her seat.
"Ssshhh! He's here," Law shushed as a crash resounded through the receiver of his DenDen Mushi. Neither of them missed that he avoided the question. "Well, this is surprising... the boss himself makes an appearance."
"Law..." their DenDen Mushi took on a vaguely avian look. "It's been a long time. It's a shame that you're not here."
"If you're looking for Caesar, he's with me," Law dragged the scientist over.
"J- Joker! Help me!" Caesar pleaded, almost crying.
"Where are Baby 5 and Buffalo's bodies?" Doflamingo chose to demand.
"Come now," Law drawled, seemingly at ease. "Don't ask about such frivolous things. Let's negotiate."
A beat of silence, before growing laughter. "Fufufufu... oi, Law, come to your senses. A brat like you shouldn't imitate what grown-ups do. Where are you now? Don't make me mad. That Shooting Star has already done plenty."
Law gave Yusei a stare, but turned back to the business at hand. "Make you angry? Right now, your most important business partner is one of the Four Emperors. The great pirate, Kaido of a Hundred Beasts. I'd imagine that it's you who shouldn't make him angry. What would happen if he finds out you can't produce SMILE anymore? Since he's not the negotiating type, there will probably be a fierce battle. He will destroy you."
"Young Master, you're turning blue..." another voice cut in.
"Enough with the jokes, Law," Doflamingo stated. "What do you want in exchange for Caesar? Hurry up and name your price!"
Law took a deep breath. "...resign from the Royal Shichibukai."
"I can't believe this, dasuyan!" the same voice, probably Buffalo, complained.
"Then he can no longer stay at Dressrosa!" Baby 5 added her piece.
"Well... just throw away everything you've built over the past ten years, and become a simple pirate again," Law commented. "But of course, if you do that, the Admirals of Marine HQ will hunt you down!" A dramatic pause that a certain demon emperor would have loved. "The limit is tomorrow morning. If your resignation from the Shichibukai is in the paper, I will call you. If I don't see it, the negotiation is off."
"... Roci put you up to this, didn't he?"
Silence as Law just blinked, startled. "I suppose, yes."
Then he hung up. "Yusei-ya... what did you do?"
"I'm not aware as to what you're referring to, Law-san," Yusei replied, confused at the suddenly hostile expression. Law was glancing between the laughing D brothers and then back to Yusei, as if truly confused. Then he turned away. Yet, a schism must have appeared between them now, as if the Surgeon of Death was re-evaluating his choices... or considering something. Some odd occurrence, some coincidence of fate must have been played at hand.
"It's like we're going down a slope!" Luffy commented as the Sunny turned out of the blue. "What's with these waters?"
"It's a Sea Slope," Law replied testily. "There are plenty of them."
"Hmm," Luffy bounced from his perch to Ace's back, prompting a whine: "Luffy, you're heavy! Get off!"
"But Ace~..." Luffy perched happily after a brief struggle. "Nami! Where are we going again?"
"Somewhere called Dressrosa," Nami replied, back in her own body as Sanji curled up in depression by a corner of the deck. "Trafal-guy said that we'll arrive there not by following the Log, but by a roundabout way."
"D- Dressrosa?!" Kin'emon demanded.
"You know it?" Luffy jumped off of Ace, the older D scowling at the younger.
"That is the island that we... er, that I wish to go!" Kin'emon replied. "Do you people also have business there?"
"Yeah, probably," Luffy turned to Law.
"You have no idea what's going on, do you?" Law asked him.
"Nope!" Luffy grinned as Law hung his head, and then turned to Yusei. "Say... Just now you were talking on the DenDen Mushi. Who were you talking to?"
"...Doflamingo."
"Doflamingo?!" Usopp threw up his hands, nearly hitting Chopper who was treating Caesar's wounds – not very tenderly. "The Shichibukai?! I heard that he's the most troublesome one!"
"The plan is already in motion." Law drawled in answer. He was already close to developing an eye-tic, although he would insist that the blepharospasm was treatable. Probably. As soon as he got off the ship.
"What plan?" Zoro asked.
"Oh yeah," Luffy laughed. "Tell us the plan! Everybody, gather round!"
They took it better than expected. That is, only a few shouted to the heavens:
"WE'RE IN AN ALLIANCE TO BRING DOWN ONE OF THE FOUR EMPERORS?!"
"Sounds good." Zoro, obviously.
"Nothing good about it!" Usopp shouted, before taking a deep breath. "Okay, everybody just calm down. Luffy, tell them about the alliance."
"OK!" Luffy slapped Law's back. "We and Trafal-guy's pirate group formed an alliance! Let's be nice to each other!"
"One member is opposed to this motion!" Usopp raised his hands.
"What's the point of opposing?" Brook questioned, to be answered with awkward swallowing.
"Luffy's mind is already set, isn't it?" Sanji sighed, handing Robin a cup of tea before whispering to Law: "I'm warning you now. You idea of an 'alliance' and Luffy's version are probably a bit different. So be careful."
" _ ;..."
Ace just started laughing at Law's pitiful expression again.
"So that's why Luffy kept going on about 'kidnapping' which is so out of character for him," Sanji continued, "Because if you were about to tell me to cook up this weird sheep that you've caught, even I might have taken issue."
"I'm sure none of us are currently practising humanitarians, Sanji-san," Yusei answered quietly.
"Shurororo... Don't think you're going to get away with what you've done," Caesar mocked. "You'll have some real big players after you now, fools! You'll come to understand how stupid you've been, and you'll die! Die-Ehh!"
"Oi, Sanji!" Chopper bellowed as Caesar collapsed from a foot to the face. "I'm still treating him! Wait till I finish."
"When you're done, huh..."
"So, we kidnapped Caesar for this purpose?" Aki asked.
"On Punk Hazard, I asked all of you to kidnap Caesar," Law continued, "and I destroyed the equipment used to produce a chemical called SAD."
"The big pirate crews in the New World have their own territory," Ace understood, possibly due to his post in the Whitebeard Pirates, which was still uncertain. "They command them with countless underlings, like a giant crime syndicate. Usually, even if just a single pirate crew were to rise up against them, they wouldn't even get an audience with the Captain."
"Exactly what Fire Fist-ya said," Law nodded. "Since it's still an underground community, they have to do business secretly to avoid the Navy. The trusted and most powerful dealer amongst them is Doflamingo. His alias is 'Joker'. And currently, Joker's biggest client is Kaido of a Hundred Beasts."
"K- Kaido?!" Kin'emon stuttered.
"Hmm?" Zoro turned his head back. "What's wrong?"
"Come to think of it, where have I seen you before...?" Ace pondered, steam literally rising from his scalp in thinking.
"No, it's nothing...!" Kin'emon showed both palms, ignoring that Momonosuke had suddenly turned into a dragon beside him. "Wait! What's this dragon?! Is this Momonosuke?!"
"We're after the head of the Emperor, Kaido," Law explained. "The key to doing that is to reduce the strength of his forces. Recently, Kaido has put in for a large purchase of Fruits. It's a Zoan-type, man-made Devil Fruit – SMILE."
"So that was what these research notes are for," Yusei produced a whole booklet.
"When did you steal that?!" Caesar yelled at him as Usopp shouted, having hit his thumb while straightening.
"There looks like there's some risks in employing them, since it's man-made," Yusei continued. "Still, there's theoretically no upper limit to the number of Devil Fruit eaters that can be employed."
"Don't say it so casually!" Nami retorted.
"At present, Kaido should have over five hundred ability users in his crew," Law continued, leading to Luffy and Ace sharing sparkly expressions.
"All in favour of quitting?!" Usopp, Nami and Chopper raised hands.
"Be quiet," Zoro admonished.
"That number won't be increasing anymore," Law explained, staring meaningfully towards a blushing Caesar.
"Shu- Shurororo..."
"Oh, you're the one who made the source of those Devil Fruits?" Chopper asked him.
"Don't praise him!" Usopp yelled.
"It looks like an application of the 'lineage factors' that Vegapunk discovered," Yusei read through the notes.
"So Vegapunk is the amazing one..." Chopper walked off.
"Shut up!" Caesar yelled. "Let's see you guys try to make it, idiots that you are! The one who wrote those equations back then might be able to, but the rest of you, ha!"
"Yusei?" Luffy asked, turning to the injured handyman.
"I can understand the basis behind it," Yusei frowned. "But my expertise lies in physics and engineering, not biochemistry. It's actually quite impressive, this application of a theory into reality, just that its application is morally wrong."
"Joker is finished, either way," Law stated. "Now, we just have to move on to the next step of our plan. Somewhere in Dressrosa is the factory where they produce SMILEs."
"So we should go and destroy it, yeah?" Franky asked.
"That's right," Law agreed. "But our enemy is a business mastermind, so don't get careless. I'm sure he'll retaliate."
"Dressrosa... and that's where you want to go too, Kin?" Luffy asked.
"Indeed I do!" Kin'emon drew his sword. "A comrade of mine is captured there!"
The continued explanation was halted as the sky darkened suddenly, hail started falling from the sky, and the Straw Hats were forced to make emergency preparations.
"An emergency belt?" Yusei offered to Law and Caesar. "A lot of us keep forgetting them, but we don't often have guests onboard."
"Thank you very much!" Caesar accepted one, along with Momonosuke and Kin'emon. Law refused. The sinking feeling Law got in his stomach clenched further as the ship itself suddenly blasted off of the water and flew out of the danger zone of giant hail.
"YAHOO!" Ace bellowed in laughter, clutching at the rigging. "This ship is awesome!"
"Isn't it!" Franky bellowed in agreement, as the Sunny shot out of danger and to the next great adventure.
The next great adventure started when Kin'emon started attacking Zoro for the named sword Shuusui. And other things. That was really the calm before the storm, anyway...
Cold and heat clashed in the dead of night. Yellow, orange, red, blue, green and purple gathered to clashed against a shield of pure sapphire; conjured by its master, the six lights continued a battering assault against that pure light manipulated by its mistress. The two combatants clashed, and then fell towards the vast ocean illuminated by a full moon.
Leathery golden wings billowed behind the man wearing a full-face Venetian mask as he regarded the female, whose face bore only a domino mask, a silver stole rippling in the evening winds. The folds of her wide-skirted purple taupe gown with detached sleeves must hold more accoutrements than her mask. It was the complete opposite of the man's simple black three-piece and fanciful black-and-green feathered mask. They were hardly dance partners tonight, though; the armed matching bronze and slate-grey fanned DuelDisks hanging on each of their forearms was a testament of that.
"What are you trying, Draco~?" the girl sang, uncaring of his wounds. "This foolishness must end~!"
"Yes... it must end... Maille," the man answered, drawing a card from his DuelDisk. "You and I have taken on new masks for this chosen tale. For this farce to end, before anyone else must die, I must kill him."
"You can't~" Maille insisted, still indulgent as a mother would an unruly child. "Draco, we cannot escape the hand that fate dealt us. You of all people must understand that~"
"The fault lies not in our stars, but in ourselves," Draco insisted fiercely. "You and I have to take on new names, new selves. The gods of this world care for nothing, only for our emotions and pain. We are ephemerals to them, so why do we serve the eternal?! I'm tired of it. Aren't you? Don't use that voice. It doesn't suit you."
"... and I wanted to suit the character," Maille teased. "Don't I look like Harime?"
"She has blonde hair, not black. As much as I look like a Draco," he pointed out, running a hand through sun-bleached hair, "exactly which Draco?"
"Who knows," she shrugged. "Our names are false anyway."
"It suits you," he observed. "You're going to stop me?"
"I must," she replied. "You and I are the same type. Why do you defy this purpose?"
"If I explain my reasons, would you let me?" he asked.
"I have been ordered. I cannot give up."
"I understand," his DuelDisk snapped out. "I will settle this with you."
"Duel!" both called.
Maille: LP 8000
Draco: LP 8000
"I'll have the first turn," Maille simpered, even as the winds buffeted her skirts in the night's darkness. "Because of that, I cannot draw at the start. I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands [1400/1000]."
The spirits with many hands floated into being next to its mistress, barely fazed by falling at less than terminal velocity.
"A Ritual Deck?" Draco enquired. "Your Queen must be laughing in her mind if she granted you such a card."
"Then the effect of Manju should be apparent," Maille pointed out. "I add the Ritual Spell, Nekroz Kaleidomirror, from my deck into my hand. I shall activate Nekroz Kaleidomirror, using as tribute the level four Herald of the Arc Light in my Extra Deck."
"What!" Draco snapped.
"The effect of Kaleidomirror allows me to summon any number of Ritual Monsters from my hand, provided that I sacrifice a monster from my Extra Deck with the same level as the total levels of the Ritual Monsters to be summoned," Maille explained. "Herald of the Fabled sleeping within the cold of death, awaken to imbue with your spirit this robe of the gods. Charge! The Nekroz Armour of Unicore!"
Cloak fanning out in the wind, spear raised, the blond magician raised his staff. A single horn sparkled atop his helmet as he floated alongside Maille [2300/1400].
"So this is the robes that can summon the deities of the old ages," Draco breathed. "The power to imbue clothes with this power, which earned you that title of Grand Couturière!"
"When Herald of the Arc Light is sent to the Graveyard, I can search a Ritual Spell or a Ritual Monster from my deck to add to my hand. I choose the Warrior-type Ritual Monster, The Nekroz Armour of Brionac," Maille continued. "Then, I discard Brionac by its own effect to add the Ritual Monster, The Nekroz Armour of Gungnir, from my deck to my hand. With that, I set a card and end my turn."
"Two monsters... you should have tributed Manju if you were going to Ritual Summon right away," Draco remarked, still floating serenely along. "It can't be helped. I draw, and I activate Foolish Burial to send Chiwen, Light of the Yang Zing from my deck to my graveyard. Then, I summon Suanni, Fire of the Yang Zing [1900/0]!"
"Wonderful," Maille breathed as the fiery dragon floated next to Draco. "These Wyrms are the reason for your name, n'est-ce pas?"
"Something like that," Draco inclined his head. "Battle. Suanni, destroy Manju!"
Maille: LP 8000 → LP 7500
Draco: LP 8000
"I end my turn," Draco announced amidst the wreckage of the destroyed monster.
"Too bad. It is my turn, and I draw!" Maille teased as Draco landed to ride on his dragon. "I activate the Spell, Preparation of Rites, to add to my hand from my deck a level seven or lower Ritual Monster, such as another copy of Brionac. Furthermore, Preparation of Rites allows me to retrieve from my graveyard the Nekroz Kaleidomirror. I discard Brionac by its own effect to retrieve from my deck the Ritual Monster, The Nekroz Armour of Trishula."
"Brionac, Gungnir, Trishula... those three?" Draco commented.
"I activate the Nekroz Kaleidomirror once more!" Maille called. "Using the Schritt, Caster of the Nekroz in my hand as the entire tribute, I Ritual Summon! Dragon of the Ice Barrier sleeping within the chill of death, awaken to imbue with your spirit this robe of the gods! Awaken, The Nekroz Armour of Trishula!"
Wings spread wide, the warrior that appeared upon the field hovered, holding his sword with absolute authority. Plate and chain-mail armour of silver-white covered his body, almost like the very scales of the dragon itself had been worn upon him [2700/2000].
"This Trishula shares the same effect as the original!" Maille boasted. "So, that dragon in your graveyard, your only defence monster, and a random card in your hand is banished. Tricoteuse Defarge!"
"Frightening," Draco mumbled as his card and two dragons crystallised over. "At this time, I activate the effect of Effect Veiler from my hand to negate The Nekroz Armour of Trishula!"
"Is that all~?" Maille commented lightly as Effect Veiler looped a veil around the Trishula warrior, but still allowing him flight. "Effect Veiler negates Trishula this time."
"You still have two large monsters on your field..." Draco admitted, albeit reluctantly.
"Trap card, Aquamirror Cycle," Maille simpered, holding down her skirt from a particularly strong gale. "I shuffle Trishula back into my deck, and then I retrieve both copies of Brionac sleeping in my graveyard =)."
"Two copies- so that's your aim!" Draco snarled in realisation.
"I discard one Brionac to retrieve the Ritual Monster, The Nekroz Armour of Clausolas," Maille smirked. "Then, I discard both Brionac and Clausolas to retrieve from my deck Trishula and one Ritual Spell; the Nekroz Exomirror. I activate the Nekroz Exomirror, using the Schritt in my graveyard as the entire tribute!"
"What?!" Draco yelped as a particularly cold wind swept at him.
"Precisely," Maille agreed. "Nekroz Exomirror allows me to banish Nekroz monsters from my graveyard to fulfil the sacrifice, and Schritt can be used as an entire tribute for a Nekroz Ritual Monster. Therefore... Dragon of the Ice Barrier sleeping within the chill of death, awaken to imbue with your spirit this robe of the gods! Awaken, The Nekroz Armour of Trishula!"
A cold breeze swept at Draco, and with it the corpse of his fiery dragon, the Effect Veiler in the graveyard, and another card in his hand. The arrival of the icy warrior once more did not improve his prospects [2700/2000].
"Let's try this again~" Maille smirked. "Tricoteuse Defarge!"
Draco winced as his monster disappeared, along with one in his graveyard and another card in his hand.
"Trishula, direct attack with Three Needle Bindoff!" Maille demanded. "Unicore, direct attack with Chiengora!"
Draco curled in on himself, willing the icy blasts as they lashed out at him, ice crystals scratching at his skin as they flew by.
Draco: LP 8000 → LP 3000
Maille: LP 7500
"With that, I declare turn end," Maille chuckled.
"It's my turn," Draco drew. "I draw! I summon Jiaotu, Darkness of the Yang Zing [0/2000]. I then send two Yang Zing cards from my hand to special summon from my deck two monsters, one with zero attack power and the other with zero defence power. But, these monsters will be banished at the end phase. Appear; Bixi, Water of the Yang Zing [0/2000], and, Suanni, Fire of the Yang Zing [1900/0]!"
"Is that all?" Maille commented, barely glancing at the purple, blue and red dragons. "I discard Maxx "C" from my hand to draw one card each time a monster is special summoned to the field this turn. That's one card."
"...fine," Draco replied. "For I tune the level two Bixi and level four Suanni to level two Jiaotu! Blessed stars of the dragon's children, gather here and now with power to burst into hypernova! Synchro summon! Fly: Baxia, Brightness of the Yang Zing!"
The great yellow dragon uncoiled itself sinuously from its appearance from the Synchro rings, giving a quiet roar that reverberated across the falling field [2300/2600 → 2800/3100].
"Two cards," Maille simply drew.
"Suanni powers up the Synchro monster that uses him as Synchro material by five hundred points in both attack and defence power," Draco commented. "And Bixi protects the Synchro monster that uses him from trap effects. Furthermore, Baxia has an effect that allows me to target cards equal to the number of original Attributes of the Wyrm-type monsters used to summon him and shuffle them into the deck. Base Building!"
"Too bad," Maille smirked as the gold light faded. "Unicore's Basting effect won't let you!"
"What?"
"Unicore negates the effects of all monsters that were special summoned from the Extra Deck," Maille explained. "So, your monster is nothing more than a beat-stick at present."
"Then, I'll just have to destroy your monster!" Draco snarled. "Battle! Baxia, destroy Unicore!"
"I discard Gungnir by his own effect. This turn, Unicore cannot be destroyed!" Maille did so almost lazily, raising her arms to block the worst of the dragon fire.
Maille: LP 7500 → LP 7000
Draco: LP 3000
"Dammit... I'll set one card and end my turn," Draco declared.
"My turn. I draw~" Maille declared. "I activate the Spell, Pot of Dichotomy. I shuffle Herald of the Arc Light, Brionac and Gungnir into my deck to draw two cards, however, I cannot battle. I shall set a card and end my turn."
"I draw!" Draco rebutted.
"Trap card, Grisaille Prison," Maille defended at once. "If I control a Ritual, Fusion or Tribute Summoned monster, all Synchro and Exceed monsters cannot attack, their effects are negated, and neither player can Synchro or Exceed Summon until the end of my opponent's next turn."
"You run an anti-Extra Deck strategy, don't you?" Draco commented.
"Amuse me, Draco," Maille's eyes glittered even in the darkness, matched only by the silver needles in her chignon. "The guillotine is falling upon you."
"I activate the Spell card, Yang Zing Path, shuffling the three Yang Zing monsters in my graveyard into my deck to draw two cards," Draco declared, glancing at his cards. "I summon Bi'an, Earth of the Yang Zing [1600/0]. Battle! Bi'an, attack Unicore!"
"I discard The Nekroz Armour of Decisive Armour to allow Unicore to gain one thousand attack and defence power until the end of this turn," Maille declared. [2300/1400 → 3300/2400]
"You sadist!" Maille just laughed at the accusation.
Draco: LP 3000 → LP 1600
Maille: LP 7000
Draco gritted his teeth against the assault. "But, I chain the Continuous Trap, Yang Zing Creation!" Draco called. "On top of the effect of Bi'an, that special summons a Yang Zing monster in defence mode such as Pulao, Wind of the Yang Zing [0/1800], I can special summon Chiwen, Light of the Yang Zing [0/0] in defence mode!"
"Wind and Light now?" Maille barely paid the dragons a glance.
"I end my turn with a set card," Draco gritted his teeth, watching as Unicore returned to normal [3300/2400 → 2300/1400].
"I draw!" Maille glanced at her three cards. "I activate Nekroz Kaleidomirror, using Herald of the Arc Light from my Extra Deck to summon another Unicore from my hand!"
"And I activate the Trap, Torrential Tribute!" Draco laughed as the gales increased in speed, buffeting at both of them as six monsters on the field were destroyed. "Chiwen and Pulao, your sacrifices were not in vain, for here comes Bixi [0/2000] and Jiaotu [0/2000] in defence mode!"
"My monsters..." Maille glared at him. "Your Baxia has survived. Because of the Bixi you used to summon him renders him immune to all trap effects..."
"And, Yang Zing Creation activates to special summon Suanni [1900/0], and I place him in attack mode," Draco smirked.
Maille released a long breath, still smiling. "Herald of the Arc Light still triggers, so I can retrieve The Nekroz Armour of Brionac to add to my hand. When I control no monsters, I can banish Nekroz Kaleidomirror and one Nekroz monster such as Trishula, to retrieve another Nekroz Ritual Spell, such as Nekroz Illusion. Since I still have no monsters, I banish Exomirror and Clausolas to retrieve another Exomirror from my deck. I activate Nekroz Illusion, using the Dance Princess of the Nekroz in my hand as tribute to summon the Unicore in my Graveyard!"
"Is that even possible?!" Draco snapped. "What kind of cards are those?"
"The cards that can Ritual Summon from nearly anywhere," Maille commented. "Herald of the Fabled, sleeping within the cold of death. Awaken to imbue with your spirit this robe of the gods. Revive! The Nekroz Armour of Unicore!"
Cloak fanning out in the wind, spear raised, the blond magician raised his staff once more [2300/1400].
"Using the effect of Dance Princess, I retrieve the banished Schritt to my hand," Maille announced, smirking. "And, I activate Nekroz Exomirror! Offering the Schritt in my hand as the tribute, I ritual summon! Dragon of the Ice Barrier cold within the sleep of death, I invoke you to imbue this robe of the gods with your power! Shine, The Nekroz Armour of Brionac!"
The winged warrior this time bore a short sword, but his heterochromatic eyes glittered [2300/1400].
"Brionac can, once per turn, target up to two monsters special summoned from the Extra Deck, and shuffle them back," Maille declared proudly. "Your Synchro Monster counts! Brionac, Seam Ripper!"
"My Baxia!" Draco panicked as the large dragon disappeared.
"Schritt allows me to retrieve another Warrior-type Nekroz Ritual Monster when tributed by a card effect," Maille commented. "Of course, I will retrieve another Brionac, which I use to retrieve another Decisive Armour. I shall send Decisive Armour to the grave to power up Brionac this turn [2300/1400 → 3300/2400]. Now, Brionac, attack Suanni with Herringbone!"
Draco: LP 1600 → LP 200
Maille: LP 7000
"Appear, Bi'an [1600/0]! Defend me!" Draco called as the orange dragon flared, and the ground seemed ever closer.
"Unicore, destroy Jiaotu," Maille ordered as the Spellcaster charged.
"I'll just special summon Chiwen!" Draco snapped as the bright yellow dragon appeared. "And another Jiaotu by Yang Zing Creation!"
"I set a card and end my turn," Maille sneered, spinning around as a wind buffeted at her body as Brionac shimmered [3300/2400 → 2300/1400]. The jungle seemed like a very short fall now.
"That will be your last turn!" Draco boasted, drawing.
"Yes..." the trap lifted. "Trap card, Diamond Dust. Right now there are three Water-Attribute Monsters on the field. Diamond Dust destroys all of them, and inflicts damage to you equal to five hundred points per monster. That is fifteen hundred damage. Enough to kill you."
"Maille...!" Draco hollered as a blizzard erupted, about to swallow him whole. "Were we born for this reason?! To kill each other?!"
"...Yes." Maille smiled bitterly. "Please be careful~! Before you die, that is~"
Cold blizzards erupted around Draco, and before Maille truly disappeared, perhaps, a hint of blue could be seen in her eye, a hint amongst the silvery accents of her and the blizzard her monsters were enveloped in before the winds ripped him apart.
"...Oops," Maille commented as she floated serenely on the wind, supported by her stole and holding onto her cards. "He blew away."
Overhead, the Thousand Sunny sailed past, unaware of the falling comet about to crash unto them...
Yes, that was a Kill La Kill reference. Yes, the new Nekroz archetype is practically begging for it.
If One Piece was historically located in the real world, it'd probably be located around the real Golden Age of Piracy (1650s-1730s). One Piece is fascinating to me because it tackles what could probably be the world in the midst of a sort of Columbian exchange. From a certain point of view, One Piece could probably be a pretty accurate reflection of pre-Enlightenment international relations and geopolitics.
To be continued... Please review!