Disclaimer: One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. Many of the characters in this story are property of me. Do not use this story or its characters without my permission. Thank you.


The dinghy full of pirates knocked gently against the side of the warship. Rez and his impromptu crew had at least a five-story climb ahead of them. The sheer inversion of the slope and the smooth wood pannaleing wasn't a promising prospect. The pirates all stood silently as they comnemplated their plan of attack.

"You first, man" one said. Soon after, an argument broke out across the waves with all the pirates in their little ships. Rez just sat and brooded while everyone was yelling and looked up. After too much noise, he pulled out his gunblades and started to climb up, piercing holes as he stabbed his way upward. The pirates watched him and caught on, each trying to make a foothold by stabbing into the warship's hull.

"What's this ship made of?" one pirate yelled after his sword bent from hacking futilely. Even bullets from guns couldn't fully penetrate the hull. Everyone looked up with renewed impression at the young man who was effortlessly scaling the ship up to the top.

Rez reached the deck first, and flipped over the rail onto the wooden floor. There were bodies everywhere, holes in the wood, cut marks; it seemed that Rez's group was far too late to help at this point.

"Yo!" a voice called out from the front of the ship. Rez darted his head and saw the spectral image of his acquaintance Zan perched casually on the steering wheel and smoking a cigarette. "You're late!" Rez snarled at first, then turned it to a challenging smirk.

"Yeah?" Rez retorted, "Well at least I'm here! Where were you all this time!?" Zan smiled and pointed down. Rez didn't bother to respond by looking and started pacing up to the upper deck to join Zan. "Everyone else is down below" Rez explained as he sat down.

"Who's everyone else?" Zan asked. Rez mimicked Zan's pointing and Zan hopped over to the side of the deck. Several small boats full of awestruck and aggravated looking pirates were bobbing peacefully away from the warship. Then Zan remembered. "Oh yeah, we're gonna die!"

"WHAT!?" Rez shouted.

"The ship's floating out to sea and I can't stop it" Zan calmly explained. "Why do you think I'm having a smoke instead of doing something else?"

"…You like to smoke?" Rez answered. "Besides, you're probably just to weak to steer a ship this size." Rez walked over and tried turning the steering wheel. Nothing but loose play. It didn't even seem to do anything at the moment, so he hopped back down to the deck and started opening and shutting doors. Zan rushed over and leaned over the rail.

"What're you looking for?" Zan shouted.

"A whip staff to steer with!" Rez answered. "A ship this big should have an emergency steering mechanism for emergencies or for sneak attacks, you know?" Zan hopped down to the deck and started running about as well. The ship rocked violently as it ran into the rocks and crashed against the swelling waves.

"We better do something quick!" Zan shouted over the noise with his feet partially phased into the floor. "I can't swim!"

"WHAT KIND OF PIRATE CAN'T…" Rez yelled. He stopped because he not only found the whip staff, but also because he saw Zan's feet, or lack thereof.


Within the boundaries of the great rocky maze, Musashi and Kojiro were locked in a losing battle with a mysterious man from an unmarked ship. His graying-black hair flowed in lazy streaks through the air in a warrior's ponytail. Scars were spotted all over his finely cut body. His eyes shone brilliantly with a murderous intent beyond belief. Musashi and Kojiro were facing a trained and true killer, with a shovel.

The man shambled robotically down the maze path, ignoring the men in his way. Those men, however, weren't ignoring him and prepared again for his furious advance.

"Oi, Musashi?" Kojiro said breathlessly.

"Hmm?" Musashi replied.

"What's our plan here?" Kojiro asked as he backed away. "We ain't exactly dealing with a normal hunter…or pirate it seems."

"Indeed" Musashi huffed. "This is a level of power the likes of which I have not seen in quite some time."

"Not since Mihawk…" Kojiro added. Both samurai stopped and readied their defenses. In a flash, the man blasted forward, ripping the air thunderously with shovel pointed forward. Musashi was able to stop the metal just short of his face and dashed back quickly. Kojiro used the opportunity to swing his massive sword at the man. He stopped it with one finger and pushed it down to the ground with a thud. Kojiro was stunned for a moment, then retreated as the man continued to walk.

"Could this man be…?" Musashi mused quietly. Before his thoughts could conclude themselves, the walking man disappeared again. Musashi and Kojiro both defended wincing against a huge rush of air that traveled down the rocky corridor. They both cautiously opened their eyes and looked around. The man had blasted straight past them and was now rounding the corner to a dead end.

Kojiro and Musashi looked at each other for a moment. Kojiro was confused, Musashi stern, and they both dashed off together. No sooner had they rounded the corner then a huge blast of rubble and dust knocked them back. The last visage of the man vanished in the rushing smoke from the rock wall with his glowing, steel-blue eyes.

Musashi shouted and swung both his swords at once, clearing the air around him and Kojiro. Kojiro shouted likewise and thrusted his sword straight upward. The dust and smoke in the air shot up through the air and hung over them both like a cloud. Both men started panting and looked on at the loose gravel that was once an elaborate looking wall of solid, huge stones.

"That was him, wasn't it?" Kojiro asked. Musashi cupped his chin and stroked at his beard lightly in thought.

"It could have been" Musashi answered. The rampant path of wonton destruction was a characteristic of that man. "Doubtlessly" Musashi declared as he sheathed his swords. "We should follow after him." Kojiro nodded and they dashed off and warily over the gravel mound.

"You think he'll kill us?" Kojiro joked as they wadded through the tiny rocks.

"We'd be dead if he really wanted to," Musashi pointed out. "He is, well was one of the Yonkou."


Sasuke and Kaede clashed harshly with the robed figure. Both their blades were swung at the same time, and the person blocked their attacks with a return of metal under his cloth. Both parties dashed back, with the ghostly figure to charge again first at Kaede. She readied her knives and blocked a hard swing of connecting metal and was sent skidding backwards on the ground.

"Ninja Art!" Sasuke shouted out. He held his sword in his mouth by the blade and made his ninja sign, cupping a fist with the index and middle fingers of his hand extended. "Ninja Blitz!" In a huge billow of smoke, ten identical Sasuke's stood side by side, all pulling up their respective masks. The figure stopped short and looked over at the group.

The Sasuke clones mobilized and shouted their battle cries. 'Move out!' 'Falcon Dive!' 'Eagle Cutter!' 'Mantis Rush!' With marvelous speed, the Sasukes rushed and overwhelmed the mysterious figure, pushing it far back. Although it was able to defend every stroke with a likewise motion of the arm, Sasuke still held the advantage.

"Right," Kaede said to herself. She stowed her knives from her fingers into the holsters around her shins and reached up into her hair. She pulled out two hands full of foot-long needles and her hair went flowing fluidly. "I'll follow suite, I suppose." She said with a grin. She crouched down and jumped up high in the air with her arms crossed and ready to throw.

The Sasuke clones quickly circled around the figure and deployed their ninja ropes. In no time at all, their target was immobilized and exposed to Kaede's attack from above. With the ropes anchored into the ground and nearby buildings, the multiple Sasukes exploded into smoke and only one was standing again a good distance away.

"Now, Kaede!" Sasuke shouted. Kaede kicked in the air and started spinning quickly as the cloaked figure struggled below.

"Cicada Storm!" she shouted as she let her needles fly. All at once, they contacted the cloaks and pinned them down to the floor. No bodily substance within the cloak was seen as Kaede fell gracefully back to her feet on the wooden ground. Sasuke looked equally confused and glanced over at Kaede.

"Well," Sasuke started, rubbing his neck, "you hit it." Kaede looked over and smiled briefly. Then she saw the same figure, behind Sasuke with flashing claws and a maniacal smirk. Her face turned to that of angry horror, which Sasuke noticed and tried to pivot around quickly. The claws came down hard and scraped Sasuke's leg as he jumped away. Then the figure jumped up with an explosive gust and continued through the air to the top of a ship's mast.

"Captain!" Kaede called as she rushed over to the wounded Sasuke. He stopped her short and lowered to his knee. With a fiery hatred, he glared up to the man atop the mast, as did Kaede. "…not him again" she seethed.

"It seems so" Sasuke growled. He shakily stood back up and faced the figure in the mist above. "That is the man who drove us all out of the New World…the man who killed Captain Shoga! That scoundrels bastard who has taken so much from us all!" Kaede could see her captain's anger like she had never seen before, and she looked up in awe.

A giant set of wings and gleaming claws for fingers adorned the man at the top of the mast. Sasuke stepped forward in time to see the golden beak across the man's hybrid face before his wings started to beat the wind under him.

"AGUILA!!" Sasuke's scream echoed through the damp air and across the city streets. Rising above the noise was the sound of thunder and the cackling laughter of the retreating man as he flew away. The Shichibukai from the New World…


"Alright!" Bard exclaimed with glee. "All lined up." He had just finished projecting his trajectory for his newest plan of attack against the warship: use 'Soru' to build speed and ram into it, thus knocking it over. In Bard's eyes, it was utterly foolproof! The main defiance of the basic laws of physics, such as running on water, were slight details that he chose to ignore.

"O-kay…" Bard said as he stretched his legs. "I can only do this so many times." He placed himself in sprinting position, with his right leg forward and his left fist on the ground. The streets were just dry enough that the puddles wouldn't detour him too far off from his target, but his main problem was farther down. The one variable that he had wasn't calculated into his mind yet: the shipyard. Regardless of what flaws there were, Bard was ready to try.

"Soru: Hellrush!" In a blazing flash, he was off and kicking down the street. In but a second he would hit the docks, then the water, then hopefully the warship itself.