On the shore of Seisabetsu Island, the black and orange boat had been anchored so that Morte, Akira and Vraspos could step on dry land. "Aah, nothing beats stepping on stable ground after days in a dinghy." Morte yawned, as he stretched his limbs, now fully ridden of bandages, showing some scars that remained from his fight with Zugai on Atsumari Island.

"You really shouldn't be moving around like that, Morte." Akira said in a concerned tone, as he looked at their surroundings; the most noteworthy part of the island was a huge medieval-looking castle with only six windows visible at the very top of it. "You sure he lives here, Morte?"

Morte responded with a chuckle, before pressing his right index and middle fingers against the bridge of his nose. "When was the last time I've been wrong about anything, Akira?" he said as he gave his partner a cocky glare.

"Well, there was that one time where you assumed that a pirate crew would easily fall underneath us after poisoning half of their crew, only to have that plan slam you straight in the face." Vraspos shot in bluntly, as he smirked arrogantly when he saw Morte frown and Akira hold in a giggle.

"Tha-that didn't count." Morte said quickly, waving his hand at Vraspos. "That's what I'm going to prove when we re-encounter those Cross Skull Pirates. The hell with Steel Scythe's payment, I just want to crush that pirate underneath my blade."

Just as he said this, the three heard the sound of laughter surrounding them, which sounded like female laughter. "My, my, Aven, looks like we've found ourselves some men to play with!" someone said, as the bounty hunters spun around to see two girls standing before them. The one who spoke to them had long red hair kept in a ponytail, which reached down to her waist. She was wearing a pink, sleeveless shirt and a pair of blue shorts that just reached two inches above her knees. She also wore sandals, and a sword was hanging on her back.

"S-sure, whatever you say, Haze…" the second girl said, as she was actually hiding behind the first one. Her hair was brown with orange tips, and she was just two inches shorter than Haze. She wore an orange tank top and black pants along with matching shoes, and a silver bracelet was wrapped around her left wrist. She was also wearing a triangular backpack on her back. "But… what if they talk to me?" she whispered nervously, which only caused the bounty hunters to blink in confusion.

"Right…" Morte said, before clearing his throat. "Listen, kids, we have business here, and we have no time for your games, so if you would kindly-" he began, when Aven suddenly turned stiff, before trying to conceal herself more behind Haze. "Look, no offense, but you're wasting precious time. Go play with someone else, you hear?"

"Now vy vould ve do dat?" another female voice suddenly said, as someone came from behind Haze and Aven, looking at Morte sternly. She was a few inches smaller than Aven, and like Haze, her hair reached down to her waist, though hers was light blue. She was wearing a white lab coat, which was covering a green tank top with a pink floral design, which failed to cover her stomach, where a scar was visible. She also wore a black miniskirt underneath the coat, and her shoes were red and high-heeled. She held a pink purse in her left hand, and tied around her head was a pink bandana with a white X on it. "You just arrived ere, so it vould be rude of us not to velcome you properly." she added, a Russian accent clearly detectable in her voice.

"Miss Veronica is right." yet another female voice said, as a huge, stitched doll lumbered past Aven and Haze, standing besides them. The doll was reminiscent of a voodoo doll, with long black hair adorning its head, whilst wearing a full body, black dress, with white, feathery wings protruding from its back. Its left eye was a red button, whilst a simple cross mark constituted its right one. Its hands were also peculiar; the left was like a normal hand, but the right was three-clawed, and more demonic in form. On the doll's shoulder, however, sat a girl about half the doll's size, who was wearing the exact same outfit as the doll, having the same hairstyle, but her eyes were blue, cold and unfeeling. "To leave so soon would make Leona sad. And Leona hates being sad."

Akira couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated, but Morte and Vraspos merely looked at the four girls and the doll, before Morte suddenly scoffed. "No matter how many of you there are, we simply do not have time for your little tea-parties. Now scram, or we'll make you scram." he said, just as Haze began laughing.

"C'mon, don't be such a killjoy, man!" she said, which seemed to only agitate Morte more and more. "Besides…" she began, just as she, Aven, Veronica and Leona pointed simultaneously at them. "Lord Dokusai would be honored to meet you, Morte del Astuto, also known as Manigordo."

As she said this, both Akira and Vraspos reeled back, whilst Morte merely crossed his arms. "Well, I'd like to meet Dokusai myself, but…" Then, he suddenly broke into laughter. "We won't need your escort. So unless you have an army parked around the corner, then I suggest you take a hike!"

As he said this, all four of the girls smirked. Then, before anyone could make any kind of move, the entire area was surrounded by various women, each and every one of them aiming a weapon at the three bounty hunters. "And I'd suggest that unless you have an army packed in that boat, you come with us peacefully, Manigordo." Haze said, as she lifted her left arm into the air. "Hail Lord Dokusai!"

Just then, all of the women proceeded to do as Haze did, lifting their left arms into the air, and at the same time worshipping Dokusai. What made it all the creepier was that the women slowly began advancing towards the bounty hunters, all whilst chanting the same three words over and over again. "Hmph… if that's the way it's going to be…" Morte began, just as he turned into his human/ocelot hybrid, before grabbing his kris. "Let's go."

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Piracy: The New Generation

The Man They Call Dokusai part 1

Journey to Seisabetsu Island!

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As the paper exploded, sending Omega and Zugai flying away from the clock tower, a series of explosions suddenly struck the entirety of the tower's inner structure, almost like someone had set a series of time-based explosives all over the clock tower. Regardless, the entire tower exploded, as everything within it that wasn't incinerated (such as the remains of Wana) was crushed as the tower collapsed in on itself, sinking into a pile of rubble where it once stood proudly.

However, the explosion miraculously sent the still-open safe flying a distance over the town, sending Beri coins and money bills floating down on the awestruck citizens. Soon, the safe landed on a slope, with the opening facing down towards a deeper part of town, when the coins and bills that didn't fall out from its aerial trek began tumbling down the slope, which once more confused the citizens, though not for long, as the massive amounts of money, coupled with the destruction of the tower, marked the end of Wana's tyrannical rule over Ketsuwoo Island.

The explosion was viewable all over the island, though it didn't spread further than the square the tower was located in, which had long since been deserted. Even the pirates waiting by the Howling Moon saw the explosion, wondering just what could have caused it.

"Huuuuge!" Craigmirra said in awe, as she held onto the railing, watching the smoke erupting upwards from the explosion. "Did someone light a fire?"

"I doubt anyone could light a fire that immense." Viggs said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms. "To me, that looks more like an explosion."

"Hey, you guys don't suppose…" Chris began, scratching her head. "You don't suppose Zugai went a little overboard in teaching that major a lesson?"

"Anything less would surprise me." Nampu said bluntly, placing his chin in the palm of his left hand. "But he's sure taking his time this time around." he added, before casually looking to the sky, when his eyes widened. "Uh oh…"

"What's wrong?" Krystal asked, just as she looked up where Nampu was looking. Squinting, she could make out a single trail of smoke shooting out of the larger ball of smoke, headed towards the Howling Moon. "Wait…" she muttered, as she could hear something grow progressively louder and louder. "That sound… it couldn't be…?"

"LOOK OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUTTT!!!" the voice yelled, just as everyone aboard the ship, either out of panic or out of knowing better, suddenly cleared away from the railing, as the smoke trail headed towards them turned out to be Zugai and Omega, as Omega's propulsion out of the tower due to the exploding paper had lead to the cyborg crashing into Zugai, which had sent both of them flying right towards the ship, before crashing right into Zugai's workshop.

"Holy- Was that Zugai just now?" Ryozo and KC exclaimed at the exact same moment, as everyone present quickly scurried back on the ship to see how much damage had been caused. As it turned out, a good chunk of the wall barring passage into the workshop had been blown asunder, as a white-grayish smokescreen billowed out of the hole, when suddenly, Omega emerged from the hole.

"That went better than expected." Omega sighed, before he suddenly pulled out something that had embedded itself into his back; namely Honehakaisha, which had been propelled out of the tower along with Omega. Just then, a wail of fear emerged from the hole, surprising everyone there. "Hm?" the cyborg hummed, as he looked behind him to see if Zugai really was ok.

"Nobody move!" they could hear Zugai say, just as a chunk of bone-made woodwork was thrown out the hole, before Zugai emerged from the hole, relatively unscathed. "The wall's still in one piece! If someone could spare some heat, we can weld it back into place." he said, as he inspected the broken wall thoroughly to make sure that it wasn't broken in any way. As he did this, the Cross Skull Pirates couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of seeing their captain freak out like that over a wall.

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"And just HOW did this happen?" After KC and Viggs volunteered to weld the wall back to where it belonged, Ryozo had insisted on checking on Zugai's injuries, and whilst Zugai himself wasn't too badly injured, his skeleton showed otherwise, with his arms being cracked in various places due to Wana's last-resort plan. Right now, he, Ryozo, Omega, Maria and Craigmirra were in the infirmary, with Ryozo inspecing the cracked skeletal arms, which Zugai had to remove from his body for Ryozo to even check on them.

"A pair of walls tried crushing me back in that tower." Zugai replied bluntly, as he looked up at the cyborg, who made no effort in hiding his exposed exo-skeleton. "If it hadn't been for Omega here, I'd probably be a whole lot flatter." he added, the delivery of the line making Craigmirra giggle.

"B-but putting that aside…" Maria stuttered, as she too looked up at Omega. "Doesn't that… hurt?" she asked, as Omega merely shook his head in response.

"Being a machine, I am incapable of feeling various emotions, such as pain, anger, sorrow…" Omega finally said, as he ran his hand down the part of his face which had been burnt off back in the clock tower. "The loss of living tissue is not a major concern. Cells built into my skin are designed to repair flesh wounds such as this when I recharge my energies." As he said this, he tapped his finger against his own scalp. "I do so by absorbing solar energy via this dome, so come morning, I'll look like any ordinary human being." After saying this, he bowed quickly, before exiting the infirmary.

"So what're we going to do now?" Craigmirra asked, as she looked up at Zugai. "Now that the stuck-up leader guy is gone, we're pretty much done here, right?" Before Zugai could reply to this, Ryozo cleared his throat.

"I'm not too clear on the details, but according to Chris, you went after the bad major of this island to his clock tower." Ryozo began, as he began shaking his head. "Then, the tower explodes. Did you happen to have something to do with that, captain?" he added, before looking at Zugai with a smirk that simply said 'Come on, admit it'.

Zugai shrugged as best as he could without his arms connected to his body, before he looked out the door, which Omega had left open when he exited the infirmary. "Actually, I only got to pound the major senseless before Omega forced us to stop. After he showed me where a safe containing vast amounts of money, we threw it outside, I jumped out the same window we threw the safe through, and then the clock tower exploded. I'm guessing that Wana's buried underneath the remains of the tower." he said, before closing his eyes. True, what he said wasn't necessarily the truth, but it was not a complete lie either. Besides, the crew would probably find it somewhat morbid of him to tear Wana's skeleton out of his body, regardless of his reasoning for doing so.

Ryozo sighed, before nodding. "Well, I'll just have to take your word for it. But regardless, you'll have to stay in bed until we get to Seisabetsu, Zugai." he said, just as he grabbed Zugai's skeleton arms, which produced a confused look from Zugai and a piercing one from Craigmirra. "Not that you're in any ill condition, but I'll have to fix up your arms before you can use them. If only one was broken, I'd have no doubts about you fixing them on your own, but as doctor on this ship, I won't have my captain break himself in trying to fix something."

After hearing Ryozo say this, Zugai nodded with a smirk. "Well, if it's what the doctor recommended…" he said, when the door to the infirmary suddenly opened, revealing Viggs standing there. "Oh, hi! How's the wall coming along?" he asked, as Viggs merely smiled in return.

"We've just finished it. Your friend KC certainly has a great power on his side. It's more refined than my Suji Suji no Mi." Viggs began, before shaking his head. "Moreover, your Log is pointing towards Seisabetsu, isn't it?" he asked, as Zugai gave a little nod.

"That's right, and that's the place we're headed right now." Zugai replied, just as he got a somewhat thoughtful look on his face. "By the way, how long will it take for us to reach that place, anyway?"

Viggs got a concerned look on his face, before turning away. "It will take three days with this ship, but I doubt that it can even get halfway there before the Log will readjust itself according to Ketsuwoo's magnetic field. However, if you use the bridge, you can cut the travel time by two days." Then, he began heading out the door, before looking back at Zugai. "Maybe you all should come see how to get on the bridge."

As Viggs left, Zugai, Craigmirra and Maria looked over at Ryozo, who looked dumbfounded back at them, before realizing why they were staring at him. "Oh, of all the- fine, I suppose Zugai can see that part before going to bed." he said in defeat, before helping Zugai get on his feet, just as Craigmirra gave a little cheer and Maria let a giggle escape her lips.

Soon, the four were headed for the main deck, where Omega, Viggs and the rest of the crew already were waiting, with Jin carefully maneuvering the ship towards the bridge. Zugai also happened to notice that the sails had been hoisted, for reasons unknown. "So how is this going to help us get Moon on the bridge?" Jin asked, looking towards Viggs, who had his arms crossed.

"Just wait and see. Once you get underneath it, everything moves like smooth machinery." he said, before he suddenly ran towards the railing, leaping off the ship before landing back on shore, to the surprise of the pirates. "Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you, Cross Skull Pirates."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Shin asked in a confused tone. "Aren't you gonna come with us?"

As she said this, however, Viggs merely chuckled. "No, I don't think I'm cut out for a pirate's life. Besides, the people of Ketsuwoo are going to need someone to govern the town in place of Wana, lest the island be overrun by other tyrants." he said, as he turned back to the ship. "What about you, Omega? Would you help me fix the damage Wana did to this place?"

Omega stood silent for a while, before shaking his head. "Not at the moment. I might come back to help you later, but I feel that I should keep an eye out for these pirates, what with the state Seisabetsu's been in lately."

"I see." Viggs said, before laughing. "You may not look like it, but you sure got a soft spot for people, Omega! Take care of 'em for me too, will ya?" he called, as he put his hands on his hips. Before the curious pirates could question either the cyborg or Viggs, however, once Howling Moon got directly underneath the bridge, it suddenly came to a complete halt, and not even Jin's powers could make the ship budge.

"Okay, what the hell's going on?" Nampu asked with a small hint of worry in his voice, when suddenly, they felt the ship shake. "Turbulence?" he exclaimed, just as he threw a glance upwards, when he saw that there was a large hole, about the same size as Howling Moon, opening up in the bridge. "What the-"

Before anyone could say another thing, a massive tube suddenly emerged from underneath them, surrounding them as it connected itself to the hole in the bridge. "Now is probably a good time to explain just how these bridges work." Omega said, as he sat down on the deck. "Without going into much detail, they work in the same manner as garden hoses."

As the cyborg said this, suddenly, the Cross Skull Pirates saw that their ship was slowly elevating itself from the water surface. "You mean that it's used to carry water from one place to another?" Chris asked, as Omega merely nodded.

"Not only water, but also ships of varying sizes." he responded, as the ship began elevating itself faster. "The tube functions as some sort of vacuum; it sucks water from the ocean floor into the tube, letting it flow out on the bridge top. If a ship is sitting on top of the water being sucked up by the tube, it'll be launched in the direction where the bridge is going at a high speed, cutting traveling times by a large margin."

As he was talking, soon, the ivory ship had been elevated through the hole, before slowly being rotated so that the figurehead was pointing towards Seisabetsu Island; the way the bridge was going. When it had been elevated to that point, the hole sealed itself, but the cover of the hole had several smaller holes in it, which let the water keep flowing both in front and behind the ship. However, behind the ship, the water was being gathered inside a hose connected to a machine lying parallel with the bridge's surface, where some sort of timer was ticking down from five.

Upon seeing the machine, Craigmirra suddenly gaped in excitement, before turning to face Omega. "So does that mean…?" Three…

Omega nodded before Craigmirra could even finish the question. "Yes…" Two… "In essence, the bridges of Ketsuwoo Island…" One… "The bridges are flat, high-speed waterslides."

Suddenly, the water in the machine was launched out of it with an enormous amount of pressure, sending it passing underneath Moon at speeds not viewable by the naked, human eye. This, in turn, led to the ship being pulled away from where it stood dormant, sending it zooming away from Ketsuwoo, leaving Viggs to wave them goodbye.

"So that's why the sails were hoisted!" Zugai said, as he struggled not to be thrown off his feet, since he was still lacking anything that would keep his arms solid. "If we had them lowered, they would've been ripped to shreds from the wind pressure!"

"Precisely." Omega replied, as he finally stood up, the speed of the ship not affecting him in any way, despite the pirates trying to stand firm. "We should move slower the closer to Seisabetsu we get, so there's no reason to worry about being thrown off the ship due to high speeds."

"Well, that may be fine and all…" Nampu suddenly spoke up, as he looked at Omega with a raised eyebrow. "But just what is such a threat that you feel the need to accompany us?"

As Nampu asked this, all of the pirates turned to face the cyborg, who looked at them for a moment, before sighing. "Rumor has it that a cruel man known as Dokusai has his home on that island." he began, crossing his arms once more. "Unlike Wana, however, the man is fatal both up-close and from a distance. I would advise all of you to remain on the ship until the Log readjusts itself." After he had finished his explanation, he saw that most of the crew seemed worried; only Zugai, KC, Chris and Ryozo remained undaunted.

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Later that night, as Omega had predicted, the ship's speed had dropped, but though it no longer retained the speed it had started with, it was still going reasonably fast. It was Krystal's turn to keep watch this night, but Omega had insisted on helping her keep watch, as he explained that moonlight, while still not as potent as sunlight, still helped him recharge his cells.

Right now, Zugai was lying fast asleep in the infirmary, snoring silently to himself, when the sound of a door lightly creaking open could be heard through the room. However, Zugai didn't seem to hear this, as he kept on snoring. The one who had opened the door, however, seemed to have counted on that, as said figure slowly tip-toed its way to Zugai, reaching a hand out to gently tap his shoulder.

As it did so, however, Zugai suddenly sprung up from his lying-position, before looking over at just who it was who had tapped him, who turned out to be Chris, surprisingly enough not wearing her hat, leaving her red hair exposed. "Chris… what are you doing out of your bed during this hour?" he asked dumbfounded, as the redheaded thief turned on a single light.

"Zugai, I've just been wondering… did you just stop at beating that major guy up?" she asked with a serious look on her face, and Zugai, after contemplating on how to answer that question, shrugged.

"Well, I did stop there…" he began, as he looked up into the white roof. "…but the guy got me in the arm with a Seastone throwing dagger, and I retaliated by… ripping out his entire skeleton." he murmured, but loud enough for Chris to hear it, as she opened her mouth in what seemed to be shock.

"You did WHAT?" she exclaimed, as Zugai was expecting some kind of reprimand, when suddenly, Chris burst into laughter. "Holy shit, you actually- Damn, I mean… that's just awesome!" she said in between laughs, which made Zugai chuckle as well.

"Ah, speaking of…" Zugai began, as he motioned towards his jacket, which was hanging on a chair. "I got the dagger as a bonus, and I figured since you seem to like knives and whatnot…" He didn't have to say another word, as Chris was now actively rummaging through Zugai's jacket, trying to locate the dagger. "H-hey, be careful with it; I like it the way it is, and if it gets more ripped up, Shin'll stitch up all the holes…"

Meanwhile, outside, Krystal was keeping watch by the figurehead, whilst Omega was sitting in the crows nest, reading through a book with his eyes functioning as a light. Just as he was about to flip a page, he heard someone step into the crows nest, and turning around, he saw Craigmirra. "Hiya, cyborgie! What'cha reading?" she asked, as she tried looking over his shoulder to see what he read, when he shut the book close, to her dismay.

"I am reading through a collection of stories that have been told throughout the ages, and also on how some of them could be interpreted as mass-produced propaganda or retellings of the naked truth." he responded, noticing Craigmirra's confused look. "In short, it's a book on how fairy tales may or may not be true, or plausible at least."

"Really?" Craigmirra quipped, as she sat herself closer to the cyborg. "Could you name one of the stories that were written about in that book?"

Omega nodded, before opening the book on the page he had begun flipping to. "This story, for example; the tale of Montblanc Norland, also known as Norland the Liar." he began, skimming through the text quicker than Craigmirra did. "Whilst the tale suggest that the king was a noble lord and Norland was nothing but a liar, recent studies have pointed out that Norland's theory of the so-called 'City of Gold' having been submerged was not too far off."

Craigmirra nodded, when suddenly, she grabbed her forehead in pain for the briefest of moments, before letting go. "I see… so, Omega, was it?" she said, before turning to look the cyborg directly in the eyes. "Is there any way for you to, I don't know, do some kind of emergency shut-down, in case people try to dig information out of you?"

Omega looked curiously at the girl, who seemed relatively harmless enough, before shrugging. "I stay shut down for eight hours when it is activated, so I can perform the action that humans call 'sleeping', even though my systems aren't in need of sleep." he said, before lightly tapping the side of his neck. "There is a hidden switch underneath my skin located by my neck. If pressed, I go into a resting mode, and only by remaining dormant for eight hours or receiving a strong impact to the head, I can reactivate my systems. But tell me; why would you want to-"

Suddenly, Craigmirra suddenly pushed her fingers against the area Omega had pointed out, when his head suddenly fell limp, as if he had fallen asleep. "Oh, no reason." Craigmirra said, though as it turned out, her eyes had gone from being bright blue to being blank and emotionless, though she still retained a creepy smile. "No reason at all…" she said again, before she slowly began descending from the crows nest, heading to the girl's resting room, where Chris had entered moments earlier, not having seen Craigmirra's action.

However, in the shades of the ship, a small figure had seen this act, before it sighed to itself. "He is quick when it comes to women, that Dokusai…" the figure whispered, as he began melting both literally and metaphorically into the shadows. "Let's just hope that nothing ill comes of this…"

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A/N: GAAAAAARGHH, so sorry for the lack of updates; I've had the mother of all writers blocks crushing my fingers for so long, but now that we're at the stage I've been dying to write, I'll see if updates can't become a little more frequent. Anyways, remember to read and review, and I'll see you for the next one!

YolkaEd