An introspection to the past. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions


55: The Powers of Flowers and Lightning

"We've finally cornered her, Vice-Admiral Garp!" a young marine had said to the middle-aged commanding officer.

Garp, still young enough to have black in his hair, clenched his teeth and asked, "Where's she holed up in?"

"In the Pumbra City Marine Base sir!" was the marine's response.

Garp was immediately on the move, taking an entire battalion of battle-trained marines with him. "Attacking a marine base? What the hell is the Crescent Moon Hunter thinking?"

Garp stopped himself and his men right outside of the marine base, and gave a final warning to his men. "I don't think I need to tell you why you have to be careful on this one. Need I remind you that this woman—Catarina Devon—has gone down in history as the worst woman pirate alive. Be on your guard!"

The men gave a rousing cheer and with that, Garp kicked the wooden gates to the base in, revealing the courtyard.

The cheering immediately stopped as they saw a sight they would not soon (and probably never) forget. Strewn throughout the courtyard were the bodies of dozens of marine soldiers, all dead. The courtyard ground was literally dyed with blood as all manner of weapons stuck out from the ground and few sounds, save for a few sounds from the barely-alive, were made.

Garp steeled himself against this sight, and finally stepped forward onto the marine base. It was quite easy to tell where Devon was, as she made no attempt to hide her presence. There, sitting upon a pile of dead marine bodies, Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon sat there, her trademark spear in one hand, with an iron net in the other. Her clothes were covered with blood, and she looked down at Garp with a wide grin.

"Murunfufufu, how nice of you to join me," she said. "I guess their screams tipped you off to where I was…"

"Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon," Garp said quietly. "Worst female pirate in known history, yet to be a pirate, I suppose you would have to have a crew, but of course everyone knows you as a lone-killer, traveling from town to town to slaughter anyone you see fit."

"Murunfufu, having a crew would be too troublesome," Devon chuckled. "After a while, they would get on my nerves, and then I'd kill them for being annoying, so it's for the best that I go solo."

"Known as the Crescent Moon Hunter because she always hunts down any stragglers when she attacks," Garp continued, not paying heed to her. "I, Marine Vice-Admiral Garp, under the order of the World Government, place you under arrest. But first I'd like to know, what prompted you to go on such a heedless slaughter of a marine base?"

Devon took a few seconds, but she finally answered, "Well, I just like to shake things up a bit."

Garp flinched.

"Things are so boring when they're monotonous and continuous, don't you agree?" she asked with a smirk. "My sole purpose in life is to shake up all life as we all know it, and what better way to do that than to slaughter entire villages and bases?"

Garp cracked his fists and motioned to his battalion behind him.

"Enough talk!" he roared, before flinging himself towards the Hunter.

— — —

"Such good times…" Devon seemed to whisper to herself. "I did used to have such fun…"

"What?" asked the panting Nami, her hand on the ground to stabilize herself.

Both Robin and Nami seemed to have grossly underestimated Devon's power. They went to rush in as quickly as possible, hoping to end the fight quickly, but Devon turned out to be a bit too much for them, as she effortlessly dodged their attacks and sent them flying back.

"Nothing," Devon quickly replied. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, I assure you."

Robin, who was right besides Nami, said, "We have to be careful. We're both mid-to-long range fighter, while this woman uses a spear and a net to wound her opponent, meaning she's a close-range fighter."

Devon shouldered her spear and said, "Come on, then, if you're not gonna make a move, then I will. Oh, and I'm Catarina Devon by the way, nice to meet you."

"Let's try this!" Robin said, moving her arms towards Devon. "Seis Fleurs!"

Six arms suddenly appeared by Devon, and she seemed to be taken completely by surprise. Before Robin could do anything, however, Devon reacted almost effortlessly, slicing off the three arms closest to her with her spear, sending them falling to the floor, and Robin recoiling in pain.

"Robin!" Nami shrieked, preparing her Perfect Clima-Tact. "Thunder Charge!" A thunder ball appeared at the end of the baton, and she spun it around several times, creating a powerful bolt of electricity. "Swing Arm!"

The electricity flew towards Devon, but she once again effortlessly brought her iron net up to absorb all of the shock before quickly dropping it to the ground so the electricity didn't transfer to her. Nami stood shocked as Devon picked the net up again and leapt towards Nami, appearing right in front of her.

In a desperate attempt to defend herself, Nami swung the Clima-Tact, but Devon simply leapt over here and landed right behind her. Before Nami knew what happened, a wound on her shoulder opened up, sending blood spraying. Nami fell to the ground and gripped her shoulder, but Robin was already back in action again.

"Veinte Fleur!" she shouted, sprouting twenty arms.

Ten appeared on each of Robin's arms, however, as she used them to form a giant fists, which she then threw towards Devon. Thinking fast, Devon brought up her iron net and caught one of her fists into it before slamming it into the ground and putting it out of commission. Using her spear, she then dodged the other fist and cut it in half, causing Robin more pain.

She didn't stop there, however, as she leapt towards Robin again and cut her across her right thigh, causing her to fall to the floor in pain. Devon raised up her spear to finish her off, but she was blocked by Nami's Clima-Tact.

Before Devon could look towards Nami, she noticed there was an electric ball at the end of the baton. A glint appeared in Nami's eye as she said, "Swing Arm!"

She threw her baton up and brought an instant shock of electricity towards Devon, causing her to take a few steps back in recoil. Nami and Robin used this moment to retreat and regroup.

"Shit, she's really strong!" stated a panting Nami. "She's been able to counter everything we've thrown at her."

"She reacts without any kind of effort," Robin added. "It's as if she just acts on instincts to attack us."

Devon recovered at this point, and all she had was slight burns; nothing that could slow her down. Instead, she chuckled and said, "Is that all? I thought it would hurt a lot more."

"Ocho Fleur!" Robin immediately shouted, sprouting eight arms on Devon.

Not giving her any time to react, Robin used all eight arms to upright Devon from her spot and flipped her so she landed on her head with a resounding smash. Robin didn't want to give up, as she shouted, "Cien Fleur! Big Tree!"

One-hundred arms formed together to make a massive tree over Robin. Devon, who was just getting up from the ground, looked up just enough before she saw it crashing down upon her.

"Nami, finish it now!" Robin yelled.

"Right!" Nami said, as she connected her Clima-Tact to make an oblong two-piece shaped staff, which she threw at Devon, who was starting to stand up again.

The two pieces hit her dead-on, and with a powerful burst of air, sent her flying back several feet and landing on the ground with a hard thud. Nami quickly ran to pick up the two pieces, before coming back to Robin to survey the damage.

Much to both women's dismay, however, Devon stood up as if uninjured and cracked her neck, picking up her net and shouldering her spear. "You guys need to work on your attacks more," she said nonchalantly. "Sure, I felt those attacks, but they weren't, you know, powerful."

"It's no use," a defeated Nami proclaimed. "She just takes all our attacks as if they're nothing. To top it all off, she can attack with deadly accuracy and precision. We're doomed if we try and take her head-on."

That's when the idea immediately popped into Robin's head. "I got it!" she proclaimed. "I have a plan Nami, but we can't be fighting here. Are you ready to run for now?"

Nami nodded. "Anything has to be better than this."

With that, both women took off, bolting in the other direction of the surprised Devon. "Hey, wait!" she shouted, as she began to run after them.

She was faster than them, and she would have captured them too, if it were not for the two hands that sprouted in the ground right in front of her and catching her legs, sending her sprawling to the floor at top speed. She recovered quickly, but she looked up to see both Robin and Nami in the distance, still sprinting at full speed.

Devon scowled. "They won't get away with this. I'll make sure to shake up their lives by ending them altogether!"

— — —

Everything was quiet at Myndir Village, and that was how Captain Ralston liked it. He had been getting calls on his den-den mushi of rebels trying to communicate with others, but non had specifically called upon use of him and his fort, which meant things were going well…or at least he hoped.

He had placed surveillance cameras all around the village and was monitoring everything. Obviously all of the citizens of the village were evacuated long ago, and as it stood, the only people in the town now were the rebels.

So, when Ralston got a call on his own personal den-den mushi and found out it was coming from within Myndir Village, he was surprised. He picked it up and one of his scouts said, "Captain, sorry to bother you, but it looks like Nico Robin and someone else are sprinting towards this village."

"Robin again?" asked Ralston with a grimace. "I thought she left."

"So did we sir, but apparently—hey!"

Static reigned on the den-den mushi for a few seconds before Ralston heard Robin's voice on the other end. "Hello? Is this Captain Ralston on the other side? Please respond, we need help urgently!"

Ralston could hear her staggered breath between words and finally said, "Yeah, I'm here. What do you want now Nico Robin?"

"Alright, listen," replied Robin. "We're currently being chased by someone by the name of Catarina Devon, and she's a very powerful foe—too powerful for us to beat on our own anyway. So as it stands, we're going to need your help to stop her."

"My help?" asked Ralston. "What the hell can I—"

"You have several traps set up in the village!" Robin yelled, cutting him off. "Just make use of them before this woman destroys the last bastion of hope for the rebels!"

After a few seconds, Ralston said, "Alright."

He quickly turned towards his surveillance men and turned it all to the front. "Standby with the Ironsides," he said. "Defense number one!"

Catarina Devon saw the village now, and put on an extra burst of speed. She had lost sight of both women, but she was confidence she could find them again. As she approached the outskirts, she saw that the town was completely deserted (at least in her field of vision). This struck her as strange, but she kept moving anyway.

Not a minute later when she was right about to enter the village, she hear a succession of sounds flying towards her. She looked and saw several sharpened metal poles flying towards her. She reacted quickly and used her spear and net in succession to ward off the worst of the damage, but she let one escape her grasp, and it buried itself right into her left leg. She let out a grunt of pain and cursed herself, but she quickly pulled it out, and, after seeing that the flurry of poles were gone, she kept moving forward.

She moved with a bit of a limp now, and blood ran freely from her leg, but Devon pushed it off, mentally saying that she would repay the women three times the pain she felt from that attack.

Robin and Nami were currently hiding in an alley between two buildings, and when they saw Devon limping unwittingly towards them, they went on the den-den mushi.

"That didn't stop her," Robin said. "What's next?"

"I know, I know," was the response. "Don't worry, we already got defense number two in place, and she's walking right into it."

Robin and Nami didn't question, as they had to keep moving.

Devon, meanwhile, was walking down a narrow street with houses on her left and right. She didn't care as she kept pressing onward, mindlessly moving her left and right leg back and forth, in an instinctual motion to move as fast as she—

Immediate pain coursed through her right foot as she felt it fall through the ground and land upon something sharp. Letting out another shriek of pain, Devon looked to see that she stepped over false covering on the ground that hid a rather large pit. At the bottom of the pit were several sharpened stakes, and it appeared as if Devon's foot had gone right through one. She quickly pulled her foot free, and despite the new pain coursing through her, she pressed on, thinking that

(my sole purpose in life is to shake up all life as we all know it)

she would repay her pain quadruple to the women when she came across them again. She moved off of the street into what seemed to be the open courtyard of the village. She looked warily on all sides, checking for any more traps, before moving forward again.

"Defense number three, go!" Ralston demanded to his men over the den-den mushi.

The rebels out in the village nodded as they stood on top of one of the buildings overlooking the courtyard. In front of them stood a massive amount of logs, all kept in one nice place and held together. When they got the order, they knocked down the makeshift wall that was holding them back and the logs came thundering down the roof of the building and onto the street, where it flew towards Devon.

She was able to hear it coming from a mile away, and Devon was ready, leaping into the air to avoid the logs, and this time escaping injuries altogether (albeit she felt pain in her leg and foot when she jumped off).

"She's in the air," Ralston said to Robin and Nami. "Do it now!"

Before Devon could land, the ground beneath her seemed to sink, and what burst through it was a massive fist that appeared to be made completely of arms. Not being able to dodge in midair, Devon took the full force of the hit, and it sent her flying back and crashing into a house, where it collapsed in on itself and landed on top of her.

Both Robin and Nami were able to take advantage of the underground tunnels and position themselves to where they predicted Devon was going (based on Ralston's surveillance, of course). They quickly hopped out of the ground and onto solid earth again, and looked at each other with joy.

"No time to celebrate now," Robin reminded Nami. "Set it up now."

Nami nodded as she collected several Cool Balls on her Clima-Tact, as she threw it into the air and said, "Cloudy Tempo!"

Almost immediately, dark clouds appeared in the night air, and not wasting a second, Nami prepared her Clima-Tact again saying, "Rain Tempo!"

With that, rain began to fall from the clouds, and soon enough, the entire courtyard was getting drenched in rain. Catarina Devon walked slowly out of the destroyed house, her clothes were

(were covered with blood)

covered in dirt and soot, as rage appeared on her face, the rain senselessly battering her, but she didn't care. She would make these women pay for their offenses to her, and shake up the monotony of their lives, and she would start with Nami.

"Here she comes!" Robin said to Nami, preparing herself.

"I need a bit more time!" Nami said.

Devon wouldn't provide them with any more time, however, as she was nearly in front of both Robin and Nami before she threw her net towards Nami, intent on capturing her and her strange staff.

"Cien Fleur, Spider Net!"

Robin sprouted one-hundred arms and interlocked them together to create a spiders net, which she put in front of Devon's iron net, both hitting each other and landing on the ground with a dull thud.

Devon immediately turned to Robin, yelling, "YOU—"

"Ochenta Fleur, Shock!"

Robin sprouted two pairs of large arms made up of her eighty arms that sprouted on Devon's shoulders. Before Devon could finish her sentence, Robin interlocked the hands and brought them crashing down on Devon's head, causing colors to explode in her eyes and sending her staggering back.

Robin hopped back and yelled, "Do it now Nami! Finish it!"

Nami nodded as she yelled, "Dark Cloud Tempo!"

A large dark cloud appeared over both her and Devon, as lightning crackled from it, and a bolt of it flew directly into her Clima-Tact, electrically charging it. The recovering Devon only saw this, but didn't have time to react as Nami sprinted towards her.

"Thunder Lance Tempo!" she yelled.

Nami moved the Clima-Tact close to Devon's body, and the lightning bolt immediately shot out like a lance, sending a massive electric shock running through her body, and since she was drenched in rain from earlier, it made the attack doubly effective.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Devon shouted as she was being shocked.

("things are so boring when they're monotonous and continuous")

She staggered forward, the lightning still coursing through her body, before she finally dropped her spear, and

("I just like to shake things up a bit")

dropped to the floor, out like a burnt-out light.

Both Nami and Robin stood silent for a second, not quite sure of what just happened. Then, the den-den mushi Robin had went off, and she turned it on, revealing Ralston's voice:

"What happened? We can't see anything through the rain! Did you get her?"

"Yeah, we got her," stated Robin. "Now come and get some men to capture her, and make sure she doesn't escape when she wakes up; she's a strong one."

"Roger that."

Robin hung up the den-den mushi as both she and Nami looked at the unconscious Devon.

("sure, I felt those attacks, but they weren't, you know, powerful")

"Betcha felt that one, eh?" Nami asked the unconscious form with a grin.

Robin nodded and decided to add her two cents in as well.

"Better luck next time…Catarina Devon."


Knocked back to shame...

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