ONE PIECE

Two Worlds, One Family

A young woman struggling to find her place in the world wakes up to find a bunch of cats in her room...cats that turn out to be the characters from her favourite TV show, One Piece! Bound to each other, whether they like it or not, and trying to figure out a way to find a certain somebody's lost Nakama and get everyone back to their home, what follows is bound to be chaos, friendship, tears, romance - and, adventure! (Kind of a re-write of Straw Cat Pirates).

Author's Notes:

If you haven't already, then I suggest revisiting some earlier chapters, as some got minor changes and bits added in...well, it has been seven years...

Yeah, sorry about that...

~Parental Warning~

The following chapter contains:

. Adult themes

. Sexual references

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The Beginning Of The End

"I changed my mind." Emma said suddenly, coming to a complete stop. "I don't wanna do this anymore."

"Okay, then, let's go." Ace responded calmly, and the two of them turned to go.

"Oh no, we are not going to go through this again!" Nami threw her hands up, before she placed them on her hips and turned to glare at Emma and Ace. "This is the third day that they are expecting us to go in there...all of us, mind..." Her eyes narrowed, as Usopp looked like he was about to say something. "Emma, you need to have courage! You have taken on everyone from Marines to police officers to that angry chef in Dunsborough, mouthed off to the likes of Doflamingo and Akainu because you could, and walked away from an encounter with Blackbeard almost completely physically unscathed!" She pointed towards the tall glass building before them. "And, right now, everybody in there is waiting to hear all about that!"

Emma stared at her, blinking a few times.

The others just watched her, waiting for her reaction, except for Luffy, because he had suddenly discovered a small snack food stand that conveniently happened to be nearby and happened to be selling different kinds of jerky.

As Vivi went over to monitor Luffy with his spending money, Emma said to Nami (who would have been the one to monitor Luffy in any normal circumstances): "Yeah, you know what, Nami? You are absolutely right." Nami began to smile, but that quickly changed when Emma held up her hand. "Dakara...ja ne."

"Ja ne." Usopp and Chopper copied Emma's words and actions, as the three of them turned to go.

They turned around to come face-to-face with none other than Georgia Brown.

"Georgia!" Emma gasped.

"Georgia!" Usopp and Chopper also gasped.

"Georgia-Chwan!" Sanji exclaimed, as he tried not to notice the unfamiliar man standing nearby with a few familiar people (including Carmilla-Chan and Penelope-Chan!); he just knew that this was Georgia's boyfriend, Reagan.

Georgia raised an eyebrow, and looked about to say something to Emma, when she happened to glance down and see a skeleton cat staring up at her.

"It is very good to see you again after so long, Georgia-San," Brook said politely (oh, right, like seven days was 'so long' but, whatever). "And, on that note, may I see..."

"NO!" Georgia, Emma, and Nami all yelled in unison.

Sanji nearly smirked at the look on Reagan's face. Clearly, he had a lot to learn about all of this.

Georgia then focused her gaze on Emma. "Look, I couldn't help but overhear you before, and let me tell you this: I have had to get up early for the past two days when it's the holidays, only to be told that 'no, sorry, they're a no-show, come back tomorrow' and YOU of all people should appreciate just how upset I am feeling!"

Emma cringed. "I...had to get up early, too..." She said awkwardly.

"Do you really wanna do it for a fourth day, then?" Georgia asked her, and watched as Emma's shoulders sagged. "Didn't think so. Remember what I told you before? Ignoring your problems won't make them go away - you have to take charge." She eyed Ace, who had fallen asleep standing up beside Emma. "Then again..."

Nami facepalmed, as Georgia's friends and family approached cautiously, and Emma's parents and sister arrived from where they'd parked the car.

Robin smiled at Georgia. "How have you been, Georgia-San?" She asked.

Georgia looked at Robin's knowing eyes. "I've been better, I've been worse." The red-head shrugged. "I didn't realise that this wouldn't be over for us when we came back here..." She held up her hand, as Emma opened her mouth. "Don't. Apologise."

Emma nodded silently, and noticed that Reagan seemed to be looking at her. She glanced back at him, wishing that Ace hadn't fallen asleep but, thankfully, Law was on her other side and spoke up.

"No doubt you all want to get on with your lives," he said calmly, placing a hand on Emma's shoulder. "And, the only way to do that is to go in there...together." He added, and Emma understood.

"Yeah...no more running away..." She sighed. "Might as well face it together, since that's what we did half the time back there, anyway..." She added, glancing first at Georgia, and then at Carmilla and her fellow police-officers.

They all nodded, as Reagan continued to stare at Emma, that is until Georgia elbowed him.

"We talked about this..." She reminded him.

He looked startled, and rubbed his elbow. "Oh, r-right...sorry..."

Georgia rolled her eyes. "Stop apologising!" She snapped.

"Sorry."

Emma was only partially listening to the conversation, and even less of her was aware that her parents and Garp were now talking to some people in official uniforms, and barely even registered when somebody - possibly Zoro - said her name and then went on to inform her that some little kids seemed about to kidnap Carue...

She was thinking back to last Wednesday, to when she'd opened the door only to be greeted by the police...

One Week Ago...

SLAM!

"What was that?" Chopper had wondered.

"I believe that Emma-San just slammed the front door due to the presence of the police." Robin had stated calmly.

"Oh..." Was the reply that everyone had given, followed by: "WHAT?!"

There had then been a few moments of chaos where, in a strange twist of events, it had been the likes of Zoro and Sanji (the seasoned outlaws) trying to convince Emma (the rookie outlaw) to open the door for the police (who were being remarkably patient and hadn't broken down the door or even threatened to at that stage, possibly because they'd been briefed on this situation beforehand).

Vivi had then walked over to the door, gently prised Emma's hands and ribbons off of the doorknob, and opened the door to calmly say: "Hello, officers..." And then: "CARUE?!"

The giant yellow duck wearing a chullo had appeared from behind the two police officers and launched himself at Vivi (jumping over Emma who had sunk to the ground once the door had been opened), and everyone began wondering how Carue had gotten there - even Chopper's translation of Carue's language didn't make much sense because Carue was describing something about robot boxes.

Meanwhile, Robin was just calmly checking the mail even though it wasn't her mail and even though she was still standing in the kitchen (the miracle of her powers) from where she still stood as she handed Sarah a letter from the ATO.

Franky had chosen that moment to mention something about how Brook was being chased by Ranger and then said situation occurred right before their very eyes, and the two police officers had just stood there in the midst of 'dazed black-clad lady with a snail wristwatch/blue-haired cyborg/giant duck and blue-haired crying woman/extra limbs/skeleton cat/savage dog', waiting.

Yup, they had definitely been briefed on this...

Now, thinking back, Emma wondered how they could have managed to stay so calm during all of that, and began to think that she might've been overreacting a bit about this whole press conference thing - which had been the reason that the police had shown up there in the first place (darn Carmilla and the others for snitching!).

However...

Law was right. It was better to just get it over and done with.

This world probably deserved to know. The fan-girls...well, Emma decided that she could deal with them, if she had to.

She had the mark of the Whitebeard Pirates on her back after all, and, hadn't she said to Ace about how everyone with that mark was brave? Well, it was time for her to stop putting this off any longer.

"Guys, let's go in and..." She began, but, she was cut off by Nami.

"No way!"

"I thought you wanted to do this press conference thing, Nami!" It was Emma's turn to throw her hands up in the air.

"No, no, no, not you..." Nami groaned, and pointed at Luffy, who had come back.

He and Vivi seemed to have achieved two things; one was that they'd rescued Carue from those kids, and two was that they'd bought out the entire supply of jerky from that snack shop. Multiple bags and packages were currently being carried by both Luffy and Carue, and everybody stared at them (except for Reagan, who was watching Emma again, much to Law's annoyance).

"This stuff is go-od!" Luffy was happily chomping away at the meat jerky.

"Vivi..." Nami complained.

"I...tried to stop him..." Vivi shifted nervously under Nami's gaze, just as Ace woke up and spotted the snacks.

His face lit up, and he immediately went over there. Luffy began explaining the different types of jerky that he'd bought.

"There's beef jerky, buffalo jerky, lamb jerky..."

"After what my daughters have told me, I'm amazed that young lad can eat the way he does." Timothy Brown spoke up.

"Dad, after all the other stuff that I mentioned, how can you be amazed?" Georgia and Carmilla asked at the exact same time.

"Oh...right..." Timothy remembered hearing about the kids running from government officers and giant sea monsters, and glanced across at his wife who was remembering also...

And, sure enough, Jacqueline was glaring at Emma. Her feelings towards this young woman who had (in Jacqueline's opinion) gotten Georgia and Carmilla involved in such danger could NOT have been any worse right now, that much was for certain.

With two sets of eyes on her - Jacqueline's angry ones and Reagan's unreadable ones - Emma wished that Ace was standing next to her (asleep or not), but, he was too enthralled with Luffy's explanations right then.

"Moose jerky, chicken jerky, crocodile jerky, although Vivi wouldn't let me get any duck jerky..."

"Carue is carrying these things for you, Luffy-San!"

"He doesn't have to eat it!"

Nami rolled her eyes, wondering why nobody here seemed to be able to control their significant other.

Robin gave Nami a knowing smile, and then they both watched with some interest as Georgia caught sight of Reagan staring at Emma again, and this time the blue-eyed red-head had had enough; she stomped down on her boyfriend's foot, hard.

"OWCH!" Reagan complained. "Georgie, why are you wearing STEEL-CAPS?!"

"Because!" Georgia replied crossly. She then proceeded to drag Reagan away. The two of them stood some ways away from everybody else, with Georgia whisper-yelling at Reagan and him looking meek. He also yelped when he realised that there seemed to be an ear on the side of Georgia's handbag; it disappeared before he could get a proper look at it.

"Wimp." Sanji and Zoro muttered in unison.

Law had to agree with them but, right now, he was mainly preoccupied with how uncomfortable Georgia's Mother was making Emma.

Lee seemed to have picked up on it, too, honing in on the situation with her good old Mother's Radar.

"Come on, they want us to go inside, now." She said, mainly to her youngest daughter, glaring briefly at Jacqueline as Georgia and Reagan came back.

They all nodded, and then everybody glanced over at Luffy, Ace, Vivi, and Carue.

"Rabbit jerky, kangaroo jerky, wild turkey jerky, and I dunno what this one here is..."

Ace accepted the sample of jerky that Luffy handed to him, and chewed thoughtfully. "Ah, my favourite! Venison!" He exclaimed, and Chopper looked horrified.

"So, did you find out...?" Nami trailed off with her question to Robin, as Emma came into the room (trailed by about three people fixing her hair and makeup).

Emma sighed, correctly interpreting what she'd just walked in upon. She glanced helplessly at Vivi, who also had an impromptu entourage but she also seemed used to it.

"Please, leave us." The blue-haired teenager said with quiet authority.

The hair and makeup assistants exchanged a glance, and then nodded and left.

Yup, no doubt. They'd ALL been briefed.

It seems like the whole world already knows, so, why are we here today? Emma wondered.

From the look on Vivi's face, she was wondering the same thing.

"So, my question...?" Nami continued, looking over at Robin who nodded.

"He's been wondering how Georgia-San got involved in this sort of thing." Robin said, finally revealing what she knew about Reagan's strange behaviour towards Emma that morning - she'd overheard enough to be able to figure some of it out for herself. "He is also blaming Emma-San..."

"Oh, thanks." Emma said sarcastically, sitting down on the windowsill. Just like Jacqueline...

"But," Robin went on, calmly ignoring Emma's statement. "I believe that it is mainly because he, as Georgia-San's boyfriend, is still trying to figure all of these events out in his own mind."

"That makes sense." Vivi said, nodding. "I mean, considering everything, he's handling it remarkably well...they all are..." She added, referring to the family members of Carmilla and her fellow police officers.

"Except for Georgia's Mum..." Emma murmured quietly, but, the other three women heard her.

They exchanged glances, watching the way that Emma fiddled with her compass before realising that that might not be the best idea right now and so she took to cleaning a nonexistent smudge off of her Baby DenDen Mushi's shell.

"Su-Chan..." They heard her mutter, a faraway look in her hazel eyes. She began to bite at her nails as well.

Nami and Robin looked at each other again, as Vivi approached Emma.

They hadn't really had a chance to talk amongst themselves recently - Emma seemed to have been avoiding everybody except for Ace and Law since they'd gotten back here, but, there was something going on, they knew that much. Now wasn't the time to be approaching THAT subject, however. They had more pressing matters to attend to.

Like getting Emma to actually go through with this press conference, like half of her country seemed to want her to. Perhaps she was choosing to shun out the world (by staying close to Ace and Law) because she couldn't go on the internet or even to the SHOPS anymore - she kept on getting harassed by complete strangers, which she didn't seem to know how to deal with (and, then, the death threats from psycho fan girls had started, much to her horror).

Her Allies all understood this, but, none of them really knew how to help her. It wasn't like this sort of thing had ever happened before.

But, what HAD happened before, to ALL of them, were moments of similar stress and uncertainty. Somehow, they'd gotten through it and, in the case of the Straw Hats, they'd gotten through it together.

Nami and Robin hadn't actually realised what Vivi was doing...until she approached both of them, too, and before they could react, the former Princess had drawn a black 'X' on both of their left arms with texta - it was identical to the one that she had just drawn on Emma's left arm.

As Nami and Robin glanced down at their arms, and Vivi hesitated, Emma seemed to recover and took the texta off of Vivi so that she could draw a matching 'X' on Vivi's left arm as well.

Vivi blinked, and then smiled.

Nami began to smile, as well. Of courseEmma would have recalled the fact that Vivi was left-handed, a fact that was hard to forget because she seemed somewhat ambidextrous like Emma was. Emma, who knew everything about them...and, therefore, she would know the meaning of this mark, as well.

Robin, meanwhile, was looking at the mark, for a moment slightly unsure as to what the significance of it was, but then she recalled having seen a picture from the anime of when the Straw Hats had left Vivi in Arabasta and they'd had those marks on their arms.

"A symbol of trust." Nami informed Robin, figuring out what was on the archeologist's mind. "Seen and unseen." She quoted the song that Twister had taught to Emma, as she glanced over at a tray of hair scrunchies on a nearby bench and then selected one which she put on her left wrist behind the Log Pose and her bracelet from Nojiko - these three things hid the 'X' mark perfectly.

"It ties us together. We used them to help unite us at a time when we weren't sure who we could trust." Vivi added somewhat cryptically, nodding, as she pulled the sleeve of her long-sleeved blouse down over the mark. "We couldn't say what we needed to when we parted ways before, but, these marks spoke volumes..." I am seriously considering getting a tattoo of this mark...I wonder if I would have considered that before all of this...? I feel like I've grown up a lot because of these amazing people...ALL of them...the Gods were right, we DO need each other... The thought made her smile. I'm glad that I decided all those months ago to trust in Luffy's decisions...She thought about Robin starting out as an enemy but then become one of her closest Allies. Her smile grew.

"I see." Robin nodded, putting her jacket back on - it hid her 'X' mark, as well. For Vivi-San to have drawn this mark on my arm...I feel that she has truely forgiven me, and that we are all, perhaps, truely Allies...From the way that Vivi was smiling, Robin felt certain that this was true.

Emma swallowed, before taking a deep breath and covering up the 'X' mark with her Baby DenDen Mushi wristwatch and a well-placed red ribbon which she used her powers to tie up into a small bow.

"Come on," she said, just as there was a knock at the door. "Let's go and face the music..." Vivi nodded encouragingly to her. "Together..."

An hour later, the Straw Hat Pirates, Emma, Ace, Law, Carue, Garp, Georgia, Reagan (for some reason), and Carmilla and her three fellow police officers were sitting up on a stage in one of the largest rooms that most of them had ever seen. A long table was set up before them, and each had a number of microphones set up on them, as well as water jugs and glasses.

The lighting from the multiple floor-to-ceiling windows in the huge room didn't seem to be adequate enough for this event - bright and somewhat hot lights shown down at them from nearly every angle. Those water jugs weren't going to be nearly enough.

"They did a good job at keeping all of these people away from us for this past week." Nami remarked to Robin. They were sitting side-by-side, staring out into a sea of faces and flashing camera bulbs. "But, now..."

A few people away from Nami, Emma spoke up. "I feel like I'm in a fishbowl...all these people staring at us..."

Down the other end of the table, Georgia heard her and nodded, although now that they were actually in the building and on the stage, she didn't mind that Emma was getting a bit more riled up. Emma couldn't go anywhere now, even with the anticipation starting to build for them.

Penelope felt it, too. "With their eyes..."

"PIERCING..." Both girls squeaked.

Georgia rolled her eyes, and then rested her chin on her knuckles. When she withdrew her hand, some of her lipgloss had come off - a nearby makeup artist rushed in immediately armed with a tube of lipgloss, fixing up Georgia's look before rushing back into the shadows when somebody said that there was ten seconds to go before they were on air.

As in, live, and about to be broadcasted across the whole country of Australia and God knows where, and subtitled into about seven other languages including Japanese.

The whole world may have deserved to know what was going on, but, it was suddenly becoming a reality of just what that might entail.

"I wish I could do that..." Usopo muttered, eyeing the makeup artist who had been able to leave the stage.

Chopper was holding a glass of water in both his cloven hooves - they trembled and so did the water.

Nearby, Emma tensed up visibly - her Allies all saw it - and only Ace on her left and Law on her right kept her from jumping up in a flurry of feathers and taking off into the skies.

She was glancing across at a man to her right, sitting with a group of foreign people. He was Japanese, and a translator - he'd been introduced to them all as Watanabe Hideaki about half an hour ago along with all of his fellow translators, the Defence Minister, and even the freaking PrimeMinister Of Australia.

There was only one thing on Emma's mind, however, and it was that she'd asked Hideaki just one thing, very plainly, and that was if he personally knew Eiichiro Oda.

He had nodded once, and stated that he did.

As the seconds ticked down, Emma's breath hitched in her throat.

This was it. She was about to tell the whole world and Eiichiro Oda that she had completely derailed the whole story of One Piece.

That's what you're worried about?! She could almost hear somebody, possibly Sumi, saying in the back of her mind.

Emma's hands were shaking, and she happened to glance down at them, her eyes drawn to the ring on her right hand and the ring on her left hand. She saw the ID bracelet from her sister (who was sitting off the stage and to the right, with their parents and Ben).

She saw the red ribbon tied up in a bow there, and was aware of the black 'X' mark beneath the ribbons. She happened to glance up quickly, then, and saw that Nami and Robin were exchanging a glance - Nami looked slightly nervous and Robin appeared to be attempting to calm her down (via telepathy?).

And Vivi, sitting two people down from Emma (next to Luffy who was next to Ace), also happened to be staring at her left wrist, her right hand gripping Luffy's left wrist. Carue has his head resting just on Vivi's left shoulder, and the former Princess was biting at her lip the way that she did when she was nervous, like she was going to be speaking up in front of all these people.

Why? Vivi hated public speaking as much as Emma did - she'd done so much for them all already, she didn't have to help Emma out with this!

Vivi glanced up and caught Emma's eye. The look on her face read: Of course I will. It was almost as if she could read Emma's thoughts.

Emma froze slightly, recalling the way that Vivi had delivered her incredible speech back in Goa, and then she glanced back down at her wrist as the news reporter began to speak.

The Baby DenDen Mushi - Su-Chan - glanced sleepily up at her, before going back to sleep, and Emma recalled what Sumi has once suggested to her. It seemed like a lifetime ago, when she'd sung to win her and some of her friends a free dinner - just picture the whole crowd naked.

Emma's head shot up when her name was mentioned, and she hoped that her face betrayed none of what she was thinking.

She had hardly heard what the question was and, vaguely aware of the fact that the whole world was watching, she drew in a breath. She glanced down briefly and saw, not the compass, but, the necklace, Grace's Heart. The red ruby glittered and, when she glanced back up at Ace, he was nodding.

Emma nodded, too. She understood the question.

"So, it all started when I went shopping after a half-day at TAFE..."

The while entire press conference was in no way, shape, or form EASY. It had never been going to be, but, what made it easier for Emma was her Allies.

They were all absolutely brilliant, starting from Ace's reassurance at the beginning when Emma had had NO idea what was being asked of her (since she'd spaced out, as usual).

And, after that, they'd only gotten better.

Certain things were hard for Emma to talk about. Certain things she couldn't talk about, and she'd made sure to inform the others that they HAD to be careful with how much truth they were omitting, since there were psychologists out there in the crowd not to mention Emma's parents and the internet-watchers and the whole entire One Piece fan base.

They had all agreed on what NOT to tell anybody. The four biggest things were the finer details of Emma's run-in with Doflamingo, what had happened when she'd had amnesia, her past, and also that Emma was Whitebeard's daughter. She was by no means ashamed of either of these two things. It was just that one was an issue that she wasn't ready to face with her parents from this world yet, one was quite personal (it was one thing, her Allies knowing about her past, but...), one she wasn't ready to face within herself, and the other (the Doflamingo one) was an issue that she wanted to forget. A press conference was NOT the way that she wanted to approach all of those topics.

Law and Ace, like Emma, were also not going to mention the gravity of their battle with Infinity - they didn't need to discuss it, the three of them were so in tune that they just KNEW...not that Law and Ace were exactly happy about being in tune with each other, though...

They, of course, did not mind being in tune with Emma.

And, like THAT fact, everything else, of course, was fair game.

There was no way that the people watching weren't aware of the connection between the thirteen Pirates involved in this press conference, as Emma's Allies filled in the gaps whenever she found herself faltering.

When Emma got to the part about interrupting the war at Marineford and snapping the spines of fifty Marine soldiers, she began to sink down into her seat. It didn't matter what the circumstances had been, she was sure that somebody out there was going to be upset with her (possibly war veterans and/or quadriplegics). As Law and Ace kind of pulled her back up (or else, she would have disappeared underneath the long table and possibly made her escape that way), Garp calmly stated that Emma had reacted to the situation as anybody in her position would have and added that she had saved the Whitebeard crew and Luffy from a horrible fate.

THIS of course started off a new angle to the story, as Emma gave her Grandpa-for-all-intents-and-purposes a grateful smile and Law explained how he and the two brothers had been transformed into cats and how he'd instructed Emma how to stitch up Luffy's wounds right there on the kitchen bench.

"But, why cats?!" Somebody in the crowd suddenly yelled.

"No idea." Emma, Luffy, Law, Ace, Garp, Zoro, Nami, Chopper, Usopp, Sanji, Franky, Robin, Brook, and Vivi all said at exactly the same time.

Everybody was silent for a moment, before somebody else called out something about 'Straw Hat Wearing Cat Girl', and Luffy took that as his cue to continue because he'd been there and all, although his comment about Georgia being 'some weird rival' caused the girl in question to cough angrily.

Georgia, however, soon found herself having to explain her actions, as did Carmilla and her fellow police officers. Emma began to hear a few murmurs of understanding, as the story went along.

She stopped worrying about how her actions towards the police would be perceived, as Carmilla calmly gave her side of the story like she was filing some police report or something - she was right to the point, and showed no opinions.

Except...

"And, how would you describe this Little Death?" Somebody wanted to know.

"Scary beyond all belief." Carmilla said flatly, which caused Emma to actually chuckle - that's how she'd just described Faith.

Emma explained about what had happened during the battle in Dunsborough, with Carmilla and her fellow police officers filling in the gaps. Emma downplayed a little bit of what had occurred in her dreams-that-turned-out-to-be-real, and about what she'd been thinking when she first saw that everyone had been turned back into humans...when she got to the part about losing to Coby, however, she heard laughter from a few people out there in the audience, and groaned.

Law patted her hand reassuringly, and glared briefly into the crowd. The laughter stopped abruptly, to be replaced by murmuring. Law sat back, smirking.

They told about going to places like Cocoyashi Village and Syrup Village, and about Emma's cousin having gotten another magical necklace which they needed after Georgia had stolen Grace's Heart.

From her place near Emma's parents and sister, Ashlee swallowed but calmly smiled as the cameras focused briefly on her before moving back to the others.

"Where is that necklace, now?" Somebody wanted to know.

Vivi briefly pulled down the neck of her top, to reveal the sapphire blue flower. It glittered in the lights, and people murmured some more.

They told about having to find each other again, and how the gods had told them that they were not only Nakama but also Allies in this fight against a strange and powerful force known as Infinity.

"I thought that you didn't believe in gods?" Somebody said, pointing at either Zoro or Nami - nobody was sure because the swordsman was sitting next to the navigator.

"And, yet, here we are." Usopp muttered, although he said it into the microphone by mistake and it echoed.

We are...we are...we are...

"I love that song." Emma whispered this to Ace, who grinned.

"What was that about a song?" The news presenter asked, and Emma cringed.

"There's a song that was taught to us by the God Of Change." Robin said, quietly but calmly, despite a thousand eyes seemingly turning towards her.

"Nico-Ya is right," Law nodded, and everybody immediately focused in on him. Somehow, The Surgeon Of Death just seemed to be able to draw people in or maybe it was what he said next. "Allies united, under friendship's fire..." Emma found herself joining in and (not to be outdone by Law) Ace did too, as did Vivi, and then surprisingly Luffy - some of his Nakama were surprised that he remembered the whole thing. It didn't matter, though - a few of them were mining some of the words, as well.

"Bring light to evil's vain desire,

Alone you fail, but you will be aligned,

Under the rule of a Princess you have yet to find,

When you find her, you will know,

The light that guides you, she will show,

A power needed, for the thirteen,

To save the worlds, seen and unseen,

Then venture forth into the lair,

Of monster from an ancient nightmare,

Stand together in the darkness' face,

Stand united under Grace."

Okay, internet, make of THAT what you will... Emma thought, unawares that the strength of the words that had just been spoken had almost reverberated across the large room; she was too keyed up about the next bit to worry about what had just occurred.

Garp had picked up on the strength of the verse, however, and was looking intently at his granddaughter.

"So, we had to find the Princess," Emma said, somewhat calmly, after she had downplayed pretty much everything that the gods had shown her Allies about her past. "And, we were sure that it was...that it was Arabasta's Princess. B-because she'd travelled with Luffy and the others before, which fit that criteria, plus we'd been hearing that she was no longer in Arabasta...because, umm..." Emma cast a helpless look at Vivi, and mouthed: I'M SORRY. Completely forgetting about the lip-readers that were (probably) out there.

Vivi gave her a reassuring nod, and said, in a far stronger voice than Emma could have ever hoped to achieve in this sort of situation: "The gods of Faith and Destiny came to visit me, one night even as I wondered what my...what my Nakama were doing...I could sense it, I could hear them even, as they," she looked across at Robin, Brook, and Franky, "Had as well, although perhaps not as clearly." She faltered, slightly. Robin, Brook, Franky...all three of them heard Emma and the others singing Binks' Sake at that time...but...I... Her face betrayed none of what she was feeling, but, in an instant, all of her Nakama picked up on it.

Carue nuzzled against Vivi's shoulder again, as Emma spoke up again.

"V-Vivi-Chama," she said, and watched people begin to murmur at the revelation of the suffix. "Had an unenviable job." She has never said this before...these were things that had been unspoken, but, in actual fact, they SHOULD have been said, Emma realised. "We had arrived on Dawn Island, because we knew that that's where Vivi-Chama would be," Nobody missed the look that she exchanged with Law. "The World Government was aware of us being there..."

"They knew." Georgia said, unexpectedly. Emma looked over at her. She was holding Reagan's hand, but, she seemed calm. "I had been intending to betray these guys...for my sister's sake. The World Government were going to kill her and her friends." She added, and a few people gasped. Carmilla and Penelope exchanged a glance. Georgia, meanwhile, was focused on Luffy, who was staring at her. "Yes, I was going to betray you guys over to your psychotic World Government..." Only Robin and Emma were unaffected by the revelation of this. Georgia, it seemed, had been weighing up whether or not to finally admit to it, probably for awhile now. "However," Georgia went on, in a steady voice. "I'm glad that I didn't - I was talked out of it by Miss. Mary-Sue over here,"

"Georgia!" Emma found herself half-yelling.

"And Robin. Like I said, I'm glad. I never wanted you dead. Even before you helped me. You're the good guys." Georgia sighed. "So, thanks. I never said it but whatever." They all understood - she wasn't doing this in front of everybody for recognition...she had another reason for everything that she was saying. "And, whatever you tell them next can't be any worse than what I've just told them..." And, there it was.

"Oh my God..." Emma muttered, burying her face in her hands.

"Georgia-Chan..." Sanji nodded, about to light a cigarette but a stage-hand stopped him.

"Luffy?" Georgia glanced again at the straw hat-wearing captain, who nodded, but it was Emma who continued. She was still speaking into her hands, until a different stage hand prompted her to speak into the microphone.

"The World Government's good at manipulating people." Emma said. She then proceeded to tell them how they had managed to free Carmilla and the others and get Sumi to see her Mother - and, there was no mistaking the venom in her voice when she said the woman's name...it made at least half of the room flinch - before the World Government has unleashed the flood and they'd run to the Great Gates...when she reached the situation on the beach, however, Emma fell silent.

That terrible night...when her whole world seemed to have been shattered...

And, it was Vivi who picked up from there. After all, she had been right there, almost next to Emma at the time. More than anybody else, she knew what Emma had gone through. After all, she'd been chosen as a Decoy Princess not only because she herself was a Princess, but because...Vivi realised, with a start...she had always been meant to be there, beside Emma. Despite the fact that Trafalgar Law was Emma's First Knight and Portgas D. Ace was Emma's lover, Vivi was supposed to guide Emma as well. She hadn't just been chosen as an Ally because of her connection to Luffy (although, certainly, that was a BIG part of it). Almost in her mind, Vivi heard a voice say: 'Perhaps it is for the best. After all, who better to guide them to the light, than one who knows what being a Princess is all about?' She saw the ancient sea captain speaker, still alive, and the one to whom he had been speaking - with her blonde hair and teal eyes, no longer alive as she had been taken so violently from them. Vivi had just heard that, though, there was no doubt about it. It was like a message from the past.

Calmly, and with no wavering in her voice, Vivi told of that night on the beach of Dawn Island, when Akainu had killed Sumi and Emma had awakened as Hikari No Hime.

She tried not to go into too horrific detail; it was bad enough, her words, and everybody listening could almost see it for themselves.

Everyone was quiet for a moment after that, and Emma happened to glance across at her parents.

They looked absolutely horrified, and her sister had a hand over her mouth. Even Ben looked shocked.

Next to them, Krystal and Mayling has gone pale. It had so nearly been their Emma...

Emma swallowed, and then jumped when she was addressed.

"So, as this 'Princess Of Light' and...?" The news reporter looked at her, and then they both looked at Law, who took that as his cue to speak up.

However, Ace cut him off.

"Our Princess and we, her Allies," the Whitebeard Pirate said was it, despite Law's glare upon him. "Will just go to that other world, do what we have to do, and then all's well that ends well."

"It sounds so easy when he says it like that..." Chopper muttered.

"It will be that easy." Luffy said, firmly. He was grinning. "It's gonna be fun and, besides, we've got each other!"

A few of the others nodded, as people watching began to murmur again.

"And, so, you're Monkey D. Luffy, is that correct?" The news reporter asked him.

He nodded. "Yosh! And, I'm gonna be..."

"King Of The Pirates!" A number of people in the audience suddenly finished for him, and he looked surprised before grinning again.

"Shishishishi..."

"You weren't kidding when you said there were fans out there." Ace said quietly to Emma.

"Did you doubt me?" She smiled slightly.

He smiled back at her. "Do I even need to answer that?"

They held hands and looked only at each other for a moment.

The news reporter was talking again. "Yes, they will answer any questions that you might have!" He was telling a large group of reporters.

"Emma," one reporter called out. "Are you romantically or intimately involved with one of those men there?!"

"Except that one!" Emma fairly yelped, as Ace's eyes widened, and Law literally facepalmed.

"All three of them just answered that question anyway." Franky remarked.

"Hmm? Or, did they just invite a number of new ones?" Robin mused.

Over to the side, Mayling casually turned to Krystal, and said: "See? They got to ask the question."

Krystal just rolled her eyes.

Another reporter had a different train of thought. "Emma, does this mean that you've joined the Straw Hat's Crew? Or, are you still deciding?"

Luffy started to answer, but Emma cut him off by leaning across Ace (not that he minded) and covering the teenager's mouth with her hand.

It was Zoro who answered, however. "She's decided," he said unexpectedly, and a few of his fellow crew members turned to him in shock. "But, so far, the only one she's told is Mihawk. The rest of us will just have to wait." He shrugged.

Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Franky gaped.

Emma could feel that both Ace and Luffy had gone very still, and could sense Law's eyes piercing into her.

"Is this some form of revenge, sword-boy?" Emma called down the table to Zoro.

"All's fair in love and war, ribbon-girl." He replied, smirking slightly when she sighed in frustration.

Leaning back (mainly because Luffy had probably been about to bite her if she didn't let go of him), Emma got another question.

"So, do you have a weird power now, too?"

Emma bristled slightly at her power being called 'weird'; her Allies all saw that. So, to save the situation Ace, Law, Robin, and Luffy gave - very small, very restrained - demonstrations of their own powers, before Emma showed off her ribbons and even transformed one of her Allies into a cat at an audience member's request.

"All's fair in love and war, right, mossball?" Sanji calmly remarked, as Zoro the cat glared up at him.

Emma transformed Zoro back quickly, then, feeling tired all of a sudden but also...unnerved...

"So," another person spoke up. Emma noticed that she was very short - she could barely be seen through the crowd - and there was something about her voice that instantly set Emma on edge. "Can I please ask a question?" She stepped out through the crowd.

Emma nearly stopped breathing. Law and Ace, on either side of her, were instantly on edge.

Georgia, too, had frozen, and so did Carmilla who had suddenly dug her nails into her younger sister's arm.

"How scary beyond all belief do you think I can get?"

In her black robes, and with her pink hair and blood-red eyes, Little Death stood out from the crowd. How she'd managed to get in dressed like that, and carrying her scythe, no one would ever know.

"Little Death..." Emma said, in an odd-sounding voice, one that was way too calm for the situation.

People began gasping, and backing away, giving the Underworld deity a wide berth.

As one, Emma and her Allies all stood up. Ace had Emma's hand firmly in his own, and Law has somehow placed himself in front of her without anybody realising.

Luffy's eyes were trained on the young Goddess, who simply shook her head.

"I'm not here to fight," she didn't sound too happy about the fact, though, as if she'd wanted to fight them which, they suddenly all realised, she probably had. "I came to give you a message." She added, looking directly at Emma now, before inclining her head up to the conveniently open skylight above them. "For your ears only." She added, and then sighed in frustration when Emma's Allies started to protest. "Look, you'll still be able to see her...your preciousPrincess..." She added, and everybody present heard the bitterness in her words. A strange dark glow had started to form around her and, as they watched, black and reddish-pink bat wings appeared from her back.

A few people gasped. Like this, she really did like like a god of death.

Nami must've thought so, too, because she hurried over and grabbed Emma's hand. "Emma, you can't go up there!" She hissed.

"Nami-San's right, there's no telling what could happen..." Sanji agreed.

"Not when it comes to that little monstrosity." Zoro added quietly. His hand rested just over the hilt of the white sword at his hip.

"It's too dangerous." Ace added, glaring across at Little Death. His hand was very warm around Emma's, in a comforting way, but fire danced dangerously in his eyes. "Just look at that dark aura..." He added.

"Sh-she's different from before..." Penelope spoke up, in a quiet voice. She was remaining calm, given the situation, as were Robert and Jacob.

For once, Carmilla seemed to be the one who wasn't handling the situation well. Neither was Georgia. Both of the sisters were shaking. Reagan looked at them both, worriedly.

Emma was just about to agree that perhaps it was too dangerous, when Little Death spoke up again.

"Remember that picture that's in Captain Whitebeard's room?" She said, a little bit casually, but Emma and Ace immediately tensed. "The lady in the photograph...don't you wanna know more about her?" She smiled in quite a cold way at the look that crossed Emma's now pale face. "And, don't you wanna know how I know about it? Like, who told me...?" She switched her gaze to Ace, who felt his heart clench.

She didn't have to tell him. He just knew.

There was a very tense silence following this statement. Those not in the know where confused. Those who did know, however, were all staring at Emma, watching her and knowing what she was about to say.

Vivi was shaking her head in disbelief, as were Robin, Sanji, and Usopp.

It was so unfair of Little Death to play the Mother Card like that.

Emma looked at Ace (like Luffy, he was currently trying to glare holes into Little Death), and then at Nami who dropped her wrist but her chocolate-coloured eyes were full of worry.

Emma nodded wordlessly to her, and stepped forwards, as Ace was reluctantly forced to let go of her hand.

But, as the white wings appeared on Emma's back (people in the crowd began to gasp, more in awe now, and Little Death looked annoyed), she felt Law take ahold of her other hand.

Little Death rolled her eyes. "Seriously, he's..."

"He's my First Knight." Emma said firmly, putting the infliction on the wrong word but still managing to get her point across. A small amount of light flowed from her compass, and some people watching gasped, watching as the clothes of the Princess and the Knight changed. "He comes too." She added, in her melodic voice. "Ribon-Ribon No Teleport..."

"We'll meet you up there." Law added, his hand wrapped firmly and protectively around Emma's, but speaking somewhat coldly to the pink-haired Little Death who nodded sullenly.

"Whatever," she shrugged. "It won't matter soon, anyway..." She added quietly, and some of them like Robin and Garp heard her. She raised her voice, catching the expression on Ace's face as he watched Emma and Law disappear. "Bet you're jealous, son of Pirate King! You probably should have just died at Marineford like you were supposed to!"

"Hey!" Emma's voice called from up on the rooftop. "You leave my Ace-Chan alone, Little Death! Come on, we haven't got an eternity here!"

"Eternity?" Little Death echoed, and then shook her head and flew up through the open skylight. "An ironic choice of phrasing, Emma..."

Everybody else watched her go, and then turned wordlessly towards the stage where Luffy and Ace were staring up at the skylight, and then the rest of their Allies did as well. It really was quite high up - they couldn't see their Princess anymore!

They all spoke in unison.

"Emiko..."

"Emmy..."

"Em..."

"Emma-San..."

"Emma-Nee-Chan..."

"Emma-Chan..."

"Emma...oh, and the one beside her..."

Lee suddenly seemed to spring to life just then. She had been looking at something on Sarah's phone a moment ago, and now she jumped up and said: "There's a way up onto the roof!" The Straw Hat Pirates, Ace, Garp, and Georgia all turned to her in shock. She locked gazes with each of them swiftly, before looking straight at Ace. "Let's go!" There was something very Emma-like in Lee's look and voice just then, especially in the glare she gave to nearby security personnel, as if just daring them to try and stop her.

It wasn't enough to make some of them - like Ace, Luffy, and Garp - forgive her entirely, and they all had their own reasons for not wanting to. But, they remembered, this was Emma's Mother, and just a couple of months ago she had lost her youngest daughter - now, she'd just gotten her back and it looked like she might lose her again...they all saw that, if she could help it, then, that wasn't going to happen!

Luffy jumped into action, in a tone of voice that his crew mates and brother were used to, but one which sent the watching crowd into excitement. For those who watched the anime and/or read the manga, it was incredible to see their favourite protagonist come to life like this all of a sudden. For others, it was a wonder how such a strange-looking/acting individual could suddenly take charge and in a way that seemed to inspire everyone.

Luffy began giving short, sharp, and sensible orders.

"Robin, keep an eye and ear on things up there!"

The blue-eyed beauty nodded somewhat serenely.

"Franky, Usopp, Chopper, Brook, and George,"

"Don't. Call. Me. George!" With Little Death gone, Georgia was back to normal, her face now red rather than pale.

Luffy ignored this. "Stay here and answer everyone's questions that you can!"

Franky, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook nodded.

"He means us too, right?" Penelope whispered to Jacob, who just shrugged, as Reagan held Georgia's hand.

"Ojichan, Zoro, Sanji, you're on crowd control!" Something in Luffy's voice made the watching crowd gulp, like he just knewthat they were all gonna try to follow him.

Garp sighed at being ordered around like this by his grandson, but, a part of him was also proud beyond belief at Luffy's level of authority over the situation all of a sudden.

"The rest of us will go to where Emmy and Law are!" Luffy finished up as he sort of indicated to himself, Nami, Lee, and Vivi, the latter who suddenly swiftly jumped into action herself and somehow got both herself and Lee atop of Carue. The former Princess urged Lee to hold on tight to the Spot-Billed Duck as she took up the reins.

Luffy grabbed Nami's wrist. "Come on!" He said, kind of wishing that they had a second Spot-Billed Duck since he knew how fast those things could run.

And, with Ace, they set off under Lee's directions.

Robin had patiently sat back down again, her eyes closed and she hadn't heard anything going on around her since Georgia had told Luffy not to call her 'George' - her eyes and ears were already focused on the conversations that were going on above.

A few security personnel seemed to want to stop the two men, three women, and one duck who had taken off through a side door; Garp went to talk to them, as Sanji and Zoro calmly worked to keep a few pushy onlookers at bay.

"Maybe you should've stayed as a cat, mossball."

"Shut up, ero cook!"

Krystal, Mayling, Bruce, Sarah, and Ben all just stared up at the skylight, wishing that they could be up there, too.

Meanwhile Georgia, Carmilla, Penelope, Jacob, Robert, Franky, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook all exchanged a glance, before they turned back to the crowd; they all cringed, because the crowd turned to them at the exact same moment.

There was a moment of somewhat awkward silence, which was broken only by Garp loudly saying: "Because she is my granddaughter!" His arms were firmly crossed, and he was in full-on military mode crossed with Grandpa mode. It was a sight to behold.

Then...

"Wait, did Vice-Admiral Garp adopt Emma, too?!"

"Does that mean that she's not with Ace?!"

"What about that surgeon guy, why did he get to go?!"

"What does him being her First Knight mean?!"

"What kind of threat does that other girl pose?!"

"Was that little girl the same one who tricked you into stealing the necklace, George?!"

"Oh, for God's sake!"

Another reporter chose that moment to shove a microphone towards Jacqueline Brown.

"Jacqueline, do you harbour any resentment towards Emma for what happened to your daughters?!"

"Don't answer that, Mum!"

"Jacqueline, how did you feel when it was your daughters who were in danger?!"

Jacqueline crosses her own arms. "How do you think I felt?!" She snapped. Her eyes were also trained on the skylight, though.

Absolutely devastated. At least eight hundred Mums and Dads watching and listening thought in perfect unison.

"Have these events messed up the storyline as written by Eiichiro Oda?!" Somebody else wanted to know.

"Probably!" A random person shouted.

Only Watanabe Hideaki seemed calm during all of this, standing where he had been ever since somebody had ushered the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister out of the room. Next to him, the French translator was shaking her head in disbelief and muttering: "Oh, mon dieu!".

Hideaki just shook his head, smiling slightly. If only Eiichiro Oda were here in person although, knowing him, he was probably half drawing his manga and half watching the broadcast right at this very moment in time, and probably getting thoroughly inspired by it all...

"Okay, Little Death," Emma faced the nine hundred year old god child, from where they both were about fifty feet above the building's rooftop. Below her, Law kept his gaze firmly on Little Death, and Emma couldn't read the expression in his eyes but knew that it must be intense. The twilight bathed Perth City in a deep orange glow, and a cold wind seemed to blow softly about them. "You got me up here, now what?"

"Why's it you?" Little Death demanded to know. Her voice was as soft as Emma's and, Emma noticed, had a similar melodic ring about it which was marred a bit by the coldness in her tone. "All my life, all I've everheard is things about the Princess Of Light - and then it's you, of all people, Emma!" She pointed somewhat accusingly at a slightly confused Emma. "Mummy always said, when I asked her why the Chosen Ones are so special, and I quote: 'Because they are united under one Grace - under the Grace of their Princess. She is more gentle than the rolling waves, yet more powerful than a tempest...she is more beautiful than starlight, and will forge the alliance of her Allies under one light.' Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?! Well?! Do you?!"

Emma was continuing to gaze somewhat calmly at her in a way that, for some reason, reminded Little Death of her own Mother. And, at last, she said: "Do you?"

"Don't treat me like some child!" Little Death yelled, and Emma's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. Little Death sounded exactly like a child right then. "You don't have a right to, you're even lying to your own Allies! You haven't told them that they all have to die!"

In the room far below them, Robin felt her blood run cold.

"Is it because you're scared?!" Little Death mocked Emma. "That, because they became friends with you, now they all have to die? Isn't that what you're asking yourself? Why should anybody be my friend?" Whether she was referring to Emma or to herself was unclear at that point.

Emma sighed. "Little Death..." She began.

"Or, are you just gonna blame me, like everybody else did?!" Little Death suddenly yelled.

Below, Law tensed. He was prepared to go up there, if he had to. He was prepared to lay down his life for Emma, that much was for certain. "Do you regret what you did?" He asked quietly, but, they both heard him and they both answered.

"NO!"

The two females stared at each other in shock, before Emma gritted her teeth. She wasn't shouting, her voice was as soft and melodic as ever, and yet...it carried with it power and authority. "Now, you listen here! I am going to stop Infinity from destroying everything, I will find a way for my Allies to achieve their dreams no matter what, and I'm not going to let you become an Ungod as well, Little Death!" She added, which was the last thing that the goddess of the Underworld had expected the Princess Of Light to say to her. But, she and Law and Robin all heard it - the sincerity in her voice. She said it and she meant it.

Emma-San... Robin thought, her heart beating in her chest so hard that she could almost hear it.

That familiar feeling welled up inside of Law just then, as he stared up at his Princess and heard every word that she had just said like she was standing next to him.

Little Death just stared at Emma too, before she said, in a completely different voice than she had used in awhile: "M-maybe..." She bit her lip in a very Vivi-like way all of a sudden, and Emma was suddenly struck by just how much of a lost little girl Little Death resembled.

She blinked, as some of the darkness seemed to vanish from around Little Death's wings then. "L-Little Death...?" Emma dared to move a tiny bit forwards, but then stopped when she heard Law's sharp intake of breath from the rooftop, and instead moved back several paces.

At once, the darkness intensified around Little Death, making her wings how larger, and Little Death lowered her head before looking up, her eyes flat and cold.

"You have twenty-four of this world's hours before it's gone." Little Death's voice was now as cold and flat as her eyes. It was enough, along with her words, to make Emma gasp. "If you think that you can do what you say you can, then, my Master awaits you at the castle. But," she went on, and Emma froze - something in Little Death's tone suddenly scared her even more. "Somebody else wishes to meet with you, first."

"Wh-who...?" Emma stammered.

Little Death held up her scythe (Law tensed), and what looked like a photograph appeared in front of her. With a flick of her scythe, she sent the picture over to Emma, who caught it with shaking hands.

"I think we needed a God Of Darkness, don't you?" Little Death's words made Law freeze in horror, although not as much as Emma's reaction.

"NO!" She screamed, her voice sounding beyond horrified now. "No, we didn't need a...not him!" She was shaking now; Law could see it from where he was. "Is that when you...why would you...?! Oh my God, oh my God!" She looked up, and the paper fell from her hands, as Little Death was suddenly right in front of her.

"Or, maybe I should just kill you now?" Little Death suggested, and saw the look of realisation and horror that crossed Emma's face.

Emma, meanwhile, saw something else - behind her own scared and pale reflection in Little Death's red eyes, she saw another person, like a lost child who was scared of the dark and so closed their eyes to make it all go away. And, she thought that she saw, beyond that, a little girl with pink hair smiling and singing songs...while riding with her on the back of a whale shark?

She saw all of this, even as Little Death leaned forwards to kill her and Law started to activate his Devil Fruit powers but, just then, something long and rubbery grabbed Emma around the middle.

Luffy had arrived, and his Devil Fruit allowed him to grab Emma and drag her back down to them, just as a figure in a black cloak and wielding a scythe appeared between them and Little Death.

"What are you doing, Little Death?!" Twister hissed, as the wind blew back the hood of his cloak to at last reveal his face - Twister was almost ghostly pale, with black hair and black painted lips. Bandages covered his right eye but his left eye, which was black as pitch, was trained on Little Death.

Little Death glared at him. "I knew that you'd do this, Twister!" She cried shrilly, but her voice was still as cold as ever. "Just because she's the Princess!" She added, pointing at Emma, who appeared to have fainted in Ace's arms. "Even back then, when you used to help me sneak out to World 192853746, it was really just so that you could keep an eye on her! Everyone alwayschooses her, even Mummy and Daddy! They probably love her better than me!"

Lee, who had one of Emma's hands in her own, felt her breath hitch in her throat.

"That's not true, Little Death-ya." Law said suddenly, turning his gaze away from Emma to gaze up at the goddess. "Your Mother told us - she's been worried about you." He recalled the words of the beautiful Goddess Of Death.

"I don't believe you!" Little Death of course responded.

"I believe him, and I have no idea who your Mother even is," Lee said unexpectedly. "A Mother never stops loving her child." Truth rang in her words. "They may fight...a Mother may do things that she'll never stop regretting, but..."

Ace glanced at her briefly.

Nami and Vivi swallowed. Luffy had gone over to pick up the piece of paper that Emma had dropped.

Little Death saw this and cried: "Hey! That's not for you to see!"

Just then, Twister moved with astonishing speed, swinging down his scythe to create a portal right behind Little Death.

A figure reach out, also with amazing speed, but they saw or they thought that they saw a figure with very long blonde hair, as she grabbed Little Death from behind and yanked her into the portal before the other god could protest or even react.

Twister turned back, and looked down at them, watching wordlessly as Luffy stared at the photograph.

"Hey, Twister," Luffy said suddenly. His tone was unreadable. "Who's that person standing behind Blackbeard in this picture?"

Law cursed silently, now understanding why Emma has reacted the way that she did to the meaning behind the photo.

Robin froze, recalling her encounter with the Blackbeard Crew. And now Blackbeard himself was a God Of Darkness?!

Twister waved his scythe slightly, and the picture flew out of Luffy's hands and up towards Twister. He caught it, and stared down at it, at the once mortal man named Marshall D. Teach who was now on his way to becoming a demi-god and at the person standing behind him - a short figure with flowing hair like waves and the deepest brown eyes that had ever been; those eyes which held all of the light and darkness in existence. She was the most beautiful - and the most terrifying - creature in all of everything, with a burden unparalleled by anything else.

She upheld existence.

"That..." He said quietly, but they all heard him as he began to disappear through the portal. "Issss the Goddessssssss Of Infinity." It seemed like everything around them stopped when he said that. "I can give you until ssssunrisssse in three dayssss time - tonight, tomorrow, the day after that...until ssssix the morning after that." He added, as he vanished and so too did the portal, leaving behind what appeared to be the beginnings of a fissure in the sky. "Usssse them wissssely..." I am ssssorry, Princcccessss...He added silently. For what you are to facccce...

Author's Notes:

Guys, there's no easy way to say it, I...I lost all of my readers!

Luffy: We...what?! Our Nakama are all gone?! Noooo!