Arc 9 – Little Garden

Chapter 21 – Little wolf on a big adventure

There were hundreds of places they could have used. Maybe even thousands. Pretty much any military base could have worked. No. They had to add salt to the injury.

Felan narrowed his eyes, he was hidden in the branches of one of the largest trees in the forest. He was completely hidden by leaves, more importantly, he was hidden by darkness. How could Galina do this? All of this? "Why?" he mumbled into his chin, uncle loved her and she betrayed him, everyone and now she was keeping Perun like a trophy in the rainforest uncle was born in.

Her and Acharon even went the extra mile to have the base built exactly where uncle's house used to be.

"Little Wolf, do you hear me?" a voice spoke through the helmet on Felan's head.

"Will you quit it with codenames already? It's dad's old gear, there's no way they'd think it's still working," Felan complained, his eyes fixed on the stone fortress.

"Come on, it's more fun like that," of course that's the reasoning behind codenames. "It sounds badass."

Felan rolled his eyes. "There's nothing badass about 'little wolf', Wolzard. Is Blagel ready?" he asked.

It took a few moments, but Wolzard eventually did reply. "Yeah. He's a bit uneasy, but I feel like he understands," Wolzard spoke with a rare hint of seriousness in his voice.

Felan saw a devil approaching the fortress, he was carrying a letter and Felan couldn't suppress a smirk. "I think it worked. Acharon is back in Nawia so this should lure Galina and the staff outside."

"Will you ever stop calling her like that? She-"

"She what? Abandoned me? Betrayed uncle? Turned her back on dad? That's not a mother, that's just an enemy," Felan replied firmly, there was no doubt in his heart. He knew who his family was and Galina wasn't a part of it. She chose not to be.

"Alright, Verge 2.0, focus," Wolzard sighed, accepting defeat for a bit longer, though Felan knew it wouldn't be the last time he tried to talk about Galina.

Ten people left the fortress, so four guards, three staff members, two scientists and Galina. "They are leaving. Galina is with them."

"You'd think they'd be more thorough with messages like these. I mean we just told them to come back to Nawia for an urgent meeting," Wolzard commented, he sounded dumbfounded by the results of Felan's plan.

"I keep explaining to you; Leonidas family shares the signature black darkness. Aside from Galina and Acharon the only Leonidas left is uncle and he is in the Human World. Neither of them knows I can use darkness," Felan explained and slowly climbed down the tree, just in case someone decided to come back.

"Be careful, once they realize things could get rough," Wolzard warned him.

"As soon as we get back to Neo-Volos they won't be able to touch us. You just keep watch," Felan dismissed Wolzard's worries, no matter what he couldn't let doubt cloud his judgment here.

"Verge 2.0, in all ways possible," Wolzard sighed and Felan had to smirk, it sounded like his partner in crime was getting tired.

"I'm proud to be like uncle," uncle was always there when he needed him. He and grandma raised him, trained him, they gave him family when there was no one else to do it. And now, after half a year of planning, he could repay that. He gripped the handle of one of the Xiphoi, short swords, uncle made for him.

"You know, Vergil would be livid if he knew what you were doing," Wolzard commented, chuckling slightly at the thought.

Felan just smiled, he approached the building from the left side. There was a small dent in the wall he could use. Luckily he was still a child so he wouldn't need a big hole to go through. "Are you keeping watch?"

"I can see you, damn, it's so dark, but I can see you," Wolzard assured him.

"I'm going in," Felan began gathering electricity, it was darker than his uncle's. From what he heard it was the same color as his father's. He placed his palm against the wall and began charging electricity through the dent, it would be strong enough to break through the wall. He'd need to be careful, if he disrupted Perun with too much electricity it wouldn't end well for him. Which was also the reason why the building wasn't protected in any way.

Dent grew larger until it became just wide enough for him to squeeze through. Felan found himself in a pitch dark room, not that it was a problem, he could see in the dark. Now, from what he managed to figure out with Wolzard he would find Perun's sheathe in the highest tower, overlooking the forest. Once he got the sheathe, the blade would start reacting and break through whatever they were keeping It in. Then he'd just have to go all the way to the bottom of the tower, take Perun and run for it until he reached Blagel.

"I'm inside. Is everything fine?" he asked as he began running through the corridors, the damn thing was like a miniature maze, but luckily he could feel Perun. It felt like uncle, not that it surprised him, it was uncle's soul after all.

"So far so good. Remember, it's second stairs to the right, and then just keep going up," Wolzard reminded him.

"Got it," it still bugged him, how Wolzard managed to follow Galina. Well, maybe she regretted it. He passed the first stairs and then went left until he came across the second stairs. They were steep, especially for a kid that turned twelve not even a month ago. He still ran up to the top and right there with moonlight shining over it he saw the red and black sheathe. Perun's sheathe. Felan took a deep breath. "It's here," he panted slightly, but he was way too happy to notice any fatigue.

The sheathe was kept in the air by several chains, yet setting it free would be easy. He unsheathed one Xiphos, the blade was red and black, a Demon Forged made from uncle's wings, the patterns on the blade were the exact replica of patterns on Perun's blade. That was the one he needed to make this work. He pressed the tip of the blade against Perun's sheathe; it would recognize and react to uncle's Demon Forged.

"Felan, what's happening? Did it work?" Wolzard sounded impatient, probably wishing he was right there with him as well.

The sheathe remained still for a few moments. "Nothing yet, I'm not sure what else to do," he admitted and touched the sheathe. "Come on, Perun, please," as if his touch and voice stirred the Devil Arm back to life the entire building began shaking. Felan's eyes widened as he felt familiar, warm electricity traveling from his fingertips to the rest of his body. The chains snapped and the sheathe floated into his hands.

"Thank you," he muttered, hugging the sheathe, it knew him, he was sure of that. Now, all that was left was the blade. "I got it," he said, informing Wolzard of his progress.

"Run! Forget the blade, just get out of there!" Wolzard suddenly yelled. "It's Galina! She's back!"

Felan's eyes widened as he heard Wolzard transforming and leaping from the tree. An unmistakable sound of wind slashing through the air sent chills down his spine. But he couldn't run without the blade. Not when this would be their only chance. He ran down as fast as he could, he even used lightning to speed up as much as he could.

She was there, he could feel her presence in the building. She knew where he was heading. "Uncle Vergil," he shut his eyes for a moment, fighting back the fear. Just a bit more and he'd get the blade, then he'd, he didn't know what he'd do. Fight his way out? He was no match for Galina. He burst through the doors, and there it was, the shashka he saw countless times, Perun. The blade and the sheathe reunited, but it was too late to run, she was behind him.

"Felan," her voice, it was soft, comforting, for a moment he felt safe. But it was an illusion, she left him, she left everyone.

He looked back and saw Wolzard, the small golden wolf was unconscious and there was blood on his fur. "Let Wolzard go," he demanded, his yellow eyes narrow as he glared at the woman. "Mother," he spat as if the word was poison to him.

For a moment she even dared to look hurt as she looked away. "Why would you do something this reckless?" Galina asked, she wasn't looking at him. She just stood there.

"I'm telling you to let him go!" he yelled, electricity surging around him and for the first time, he saw the shock on her face.

"Grom…" she whispered, losing her balance for a moment and leaning her back against the wall just so she could stay on her feet. She even dropped Wolzard and the small blaid-demon groaned.

Felan quickly tied Perun to his back and unsheathed his Xiphoi, the other one was deep blue with hints of light purple here and there, it was the Demon Forged his father made for him. He and uncle made the pair of Xiphoi for him, one from uncle's wings, the other from father's horns. Felan wasn't going down without a fight, no matter what.

Galina remained shell-shocked, her gaze fixed on Felan's weapons. "You're going to fight me?" she asked, almost as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

"If that's what it takes," he replied, waiting for her to make a move.

Galina bit her lower lip and blasted a large hole through the wall. Felan's eyes widened, if she attacked with even half that strength he'd be dead. He waited for the attack, yet all she did was grab Wolzard. "Put your weapons away and catch him," she said, she wasn't looking at him, she just looked outside.

Felan reluctantly put his weapons away and when she noticed he did it she just tossed Wolzard into his arms. "Blagel is too recognizable, keep that in mind next time you go on a suicide mission," she said, her voice as cold as ice as she left the room. Felan fell down, unable to stay on his feet any longer. Galina let him go, with Perun. He heard the sound of hoofs stepping on the floor and looked to the side. Blagel, somehow knew it needed to come and pick them up. The demonic horse with flaming blue eyes gently nudged him with his head.

Slowly, though he was still a bit unsteady, Felan climbed up onto Blagel's back. He didn't feel like he did it, in fact, it felt like he was allowed to do it.

~the Human World, approximately 20 hours earlier~

Vergil had it all under control, Nami was sure of it. Sure, he just decided to take Crocodile's partner as a hostage; the very partner that disarmed Zoro and threw Sanji over the railing effortlessly. But he definitely had a plan, there was no doubt about it.

"I'd like you to contact Crocodile," ah, that made perfect sense. Yeah, it was a good plan.

Contact the warlord whose goal was to take over a country? Of course, they could do that, no big deal. "No way!" Nami slammed her fist into Vergil's head with as much strength as she could muster. "Are you an idiot? Why would we do that?!" she demanded feeling like she was just about to burst into flames from frustration.

And of course, Miss All-Sunday, or Sunday Girl as Vergil decided to call her, chose that moment to once again chuckle in that annoying fufufu way. Oh, she'd give her 'fufufu', she'd wipe that confident, pretentious smile off her face. "I'll deal with you later!" she turned around, pointing at the older woman.

"Oh?" yet the woman just raised an eyebrow, as if she was the one in control here.

"She'll rob you of all you have and then demand money for troubles she had to go through while she was stealing," Vergil chimed in.

"That's about right," Zoro agreed, suddenly way more relaxed.

"You bastards! How dare you talk about Nami-san like that?!" Sanji-kun yelled at them and Nami could feel a migraine coming fast.

"Can someone tell me what's going on here?!" Usopp pleaded for any kind of explanation.

Luffy pointed toward Miss All-Sunday. "She's a bad guy," as if that explained everything.

"I already know that!" Usopp wailed.

Vergil turned his attention away from Nami and back to Miss All-Sunday. "As you can see, you aren't really a hostage. You can leave," he even made the electricity disappear. He was actually letting her go.

"What was the point then?!" Nami and Vivi yelled at him.

Vergil dared to just shrug. "I mean; we can't really hold her here. Keeping her in a lightning cage would be unnecessarily cruel and I can't really watch over her 24/7, and you guys don't want to contact Crocodile," even as he said that his eyes were fixed on Miss All-Sunday.

Nami facepalmed, feeling like everything Vergil said and did over the last couple of minutes was just a waste of time.

"You aren't done talking, are you, Black Thunder-san?" Miss All-Sunday inquired, in a way she was encouraging him to keep going.

Vergil actually smiled at that. Almost as if he knew something none of them did. "Say, correct me if I'm wrong, but it was Sunday, wasn't it? Bright red sky, not a single cloud in sight, it was really hot as well. I'm sure it was Sunday because I didn't have any practice sessions."

Nami raised an eyebrow at that and looked back at the woman. She seemed puzzled until a look of recognition briefly appeared on her face.

"How about we sit down and talk about this?" Vergil offered as he climbed up and stopped by the kitchen doors. "I'm sure we could come to an agreement."

Nami couldn't believe it, it was almost as if Vergil was offering an alliance to the enemy.

"I refuse," surprisingly, it wasn't Miss All-Sunday that said it, it was Luffy. "She killed chikuwa old guy."

"I can't believe he's a voice of reason here," Usopp couldn't help but point out. "Come on, Vergil, she's an enemy."

"I will not work with her either," Vivi declared, it looked like she wasn't going to budge when it came to that.

"I don't believe Black Thunder-san said anything about working together," Miss All-Sunday pointed out, the confident smile was back on her face. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

Vergil smirked, just as confident as she was. "I'm giving you a way out. Sail with us for a bit, perhaps until we reach that next island and then decide what to do. I'm sure you're looking for something in Alabasta; stay neutral and you could probably get it."

"Fufufu," her hat was covering her eyes, but Nami could see the hint of a smirk on her face. "Does your crew know what kind of man they are sailing with?"

"The past doesn't matter, Vergil is Vergil," Luffy said, he was glaring at Miss All-Sunday.

Nami, however, couldn't help but question the meaning behind those words. Vergil was acting completely different right now. She couldn't read him, his every word sounded like it had a double meaning, a code Nami couldn't crack. It worried her, after all, up until that point she was fairly certain she understood the white-haired devil. Now, she wasn't so sure.

"Old habits die hard," Vergil admitted and offered Miss All-Sunder his hand. "How about it then? Will you consider staying out of this conflict?"

"Fufufu, perhaps I will," she accepted his hand. "And should I decide to break my part of the deal?"

Vergil chuckled. "That depends. Some rules should be broken," the smirk on his face told the woman something Nami couldn't put her finger on.

It didn't matter how she looked at it, she lacked something crucial, something Vergil and this woman knew and it kept her from seeing the entire picture.

Vergil turned his attention to Luffy. "Are you fine with this, Luffy?"

Luffy looked Vergil in the eyes, his gaze was piercing, intense and Nami could bet all her money some would even find it uncomfortable. That same gaze shifted to Miss All-Sunday, but she didn't react, she just looked him in the eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine with this," it sounded like Luffy, easy-going, relaxed, but it looked like he saw something no one else did right before he accepted the situation.

~X~

Vergil knew it more or less from the moment he saw her. She wasn't an enemy they should fight if they could avoid it. Power wasn't much of a problem, but she was too intelligent, too resourceful to take lightly. Bounties from the Human World rarely found their way to Thanatos, the two worlds generally did some trades and some devils went on to live in the Human World. So when sixteen years ago marines came looking for a child, not only in Thanatos, but in Volos in particular, it was a big deal.

'She sunk six ships four years ago, we assure you it's best if she's captured,' marine that was in charge of the small army he brought tried to reason with Zarja back then.

'Good thing we don't have to worry about ships," yet Zarja didn't care.

That was the gist of what went down. Even back then Vergil knew the girl in question was hiding in Volos. He never saw her, only her wanted poster, but he heard about it from Grom. Now that girl was here, he saw she realized he knew who she was, 'Devil Child' Nico Robin. Quite frankly, he wouldn't mind if she was an ally, even if she did kill that man, after all, he wasn't like Luffy, he never took such an immediate liking to someone. On the other hand, he understood how Vivi would feel, but when it came down to it if he needed to protect something he cared about he'd team up with Acharon, let alone someone else.

As Nami finished explained the situation to Usopp and Sanji he couldn't help but notice how amused Robin looked. 'Great, we don't have all the details we need,' he realized and felt the urge to just shoot lightning up to the sky. Not to mention they were followed by some turtle. So, she could escape if she so desired, she could from the moment he canceled Zone of Protection.

"Let me guess, there's something we aren't aware of," Vergil said, sounding just a bit tired.

Robin just looked him in the eyes, the unreadable look in her eyes kind of unsettled him. He had no idea what she was thinking. He knew what she knew, she knew everything, the trouble was he had no idea what the knowledge she had was.

"Perhaps," she replied, immediately setting Vivi off.

"What else?! What else are you people planning?!" the blue-haired girl was young, and it was showing.

Robin casually walked down the stairs. "Is there a chair I could use? Perhaps a book as well if you wish for me to stay here," she requested.

"Right away, madam," Sanji, of course, floored by her undeniable beauty twirled to the kitchen to get a chair for her.

"Weren't you pointing a gun at her not even fifteen minutes ago?" Usopp sweatdropped at the complete flip in attitude Sanji had when a female was involved, even if she was an enemy.

"It was empty and I'm certain Miss All-Sunday will see what's the right thing to do here," he offered her a chair. "Would you like a cup of coffee or perhaps some tea?"

"He's not going to poison you; he'd rather die than tamper with food," Vergil assured her, though she still declined. "Say, Nami, mind if I get one of the books from your room?"

"Do what you want, I'm just about done with trying to reason with you about this," Nami dismissed him.

Vergil frowned, he could see something was bothering her and he was sure it had something to do with this little plan he had. Still, he couldn't deal with that right now. He went to Nami's room and searched for something he could give to Robin. Eventually, he settled on a random novel and went back outside. As he handed the book to Robin he grinned a bit. "Hope you don't mind novels."

"Not at all," she replied and leaned back into the chair as she began reading.

"So? What now? We just relax with an enemy on our ship?" Zoro question as Vergil began climbing up to the crow's nest.

"Exactly! Take a page from Luffy's book!" he motioned at their captain, Luffy was already sitting on Merry's figurehead and demanding breakfast.

~X~

Nami couldn't sleep, all day there was slight tension on the ship. Vergil of all people let an enemy join them and she was right there, still on Merry even after almost an entire day. It was way past midnight if Nami had to guess it was probably around two in the morning. She could see Vivi was also awake, but she didn't know what to say. They agreed to take her to Alabasta and now their first mate just brought an enemy along, an enemy that killed someone Vivi cared about. Nami couldn't imagine how she would have felt if he decided to bring Arlong along.

Luffy didn't do anything to stop it. For the first time, Nami had to wonder if Vergil was plain and simple taking the crew over from the shadows. Luffy trusted him so much she doubted the rubber man would even second guess the decisions of his first mate. Vergil knew Luffy didn't like her, Luffy even said he didn't want to work with her. Yet she was still there.

Usopp was afraid, probably sleeping with one eye open. He wouldn't be strong enough to deal with Miss All-Sunday, for crying out loud she easily rendered Zoro and Sanji-kun useless.

Sanji-kun was Sanji-kun, as usual, but even he was careful, making sure the woman wasn't a threat. Nami knew he didn't exactly like the situation they were in either.

As for Zoro, she could see him trying to figure Vergil's actions out. He was the most careful one of them all, keeping track of Miss All-Sunday's every move. And while Vergil didn't see it, she definitely did see the frown on his face as Vergil climbed up to the crow's nest.

Sighing, Nami threw her blanket off and went outside. The first thing she saw was Vergil sitting on the railing, just looking at the sea below him.

"Can't sleep?" he heard her and she walked over to him.

"Could you explain this? All of this?" she wanted some answer as she leaned against the mast. While she loved being close to him this time she consciously put a distance between them.

Vergil sighed, his shoulders were slumped, his head hanging low, he was even slightly hunched forward. "I've been through more battles than I can count, I've faced enemies relying on strength, speed, raw power, but of all the enemies I've faced the worst were the intelligent ones. They have plans, they get in your head, they are always at least a step ahead of you and they never underestimate you."

Nami looked to the side, thinking back to that pretentious smile on Miss All-Sunday's face. "I wouldn't say she isn't underestimating us."

Vergil shook his head. "You're wrong. She is confident, calm, composed and she followed our every move, not a single one of us could move without her noticing. She is pushing all the right buttons to get people worked up, and it's working well on Vivi."

"Why make her stay then? Think about how Vivi feels; that woman killed Igaram-san and now Vivi needs to sail with her," she needed him to see what he was doing to Vivi, how he was hurting her right now.

"Tough luck; if she can't tolerate people she hates she isn't fit to rule," Nami hated how easily he dismissed the problem.

"That's her enemy. Don't tell me you'd make me team up with Arlong one day and just tell me to 'suck it up'?" she needed an answer to that, she needed to know if he'd ask that of her one day.

"Those are completely different scenarios. Nami, I feel sorry for Vivi, I'd like to help her and she seems like a good person, but I don't care about her. You can't expect me to look at you and her as equals," he replied, sounding a bit frustrated that she'd think he'd go that far.

But that was exactly the problem. Right now Vergil was acting as if he cared about Miss All-Sunday about as much as he cared about Vivi and one was the enemy while the other was an ally, a friend. "Think about others then. Usopp is frightened of her, everyone is on edge because she's here. All of this just for a small chance for a worthless result, sorry Vergil, but it's not worth it. You are going against what Luffy wants, he said he doesn't want to work with her, but you kept going."

He didn't respond, he just sat there; his back was still turned to her and she couldn't see his face.

"We're humans, Vergil, not devils. We don't follow the same logic as you do," she whispered, though she knew he heard her. The way he flinched proved it to her and just for a moment, she felt as if she crossed some line.

"You're right, we don't follow the same logic. And so, let me ask you, why are there so many contradictions?" his question took her by surprise.

Indeed, she warned them, she didn't attack them, but she killed Igaram-san. "She is amused by us. It's a game to her," that was the only explanation she could think of.

"We have at least a week without taking log pose into consideration until we get to Alabasta. There's no way she could have gotten here just as we were leaving if she wasn't already there. Why send his partner after Vivi? He couldn't have assumed she'd team up with pirates. If he truly did send her, why didn't she kill Vivi, that was the order, right?" he paused for a moment as he glanced up at the sky, it was clear tonight. "That's not how someone completely loyal acts."

Nami thought it over. "You heard her, didn't you? Where we're heading next is so dangerous she was sure we wouldn't make it out of there alive," Nami reminded him.

"And yet she accepted to tag along. She didn't attack even when I kept her from leaving. I know I could be wrong, I know she might just be waiting for a right opportunity, but if there's a small chance that she could turn into an ally or just stay out of this battle, I'll take it," it was his logic and he wasn't going to change his mind.

Nami sighed and closed her eyes. "Vergil, I get it, but still, there had to be a different way," she said, but he didn't answer, all she heard was a sound of a body falling into the water. Her eyes widened as she realized Vergil fell down. "Vergil!" she yelled, but he wasn't surfacing. Without missing a beat, she jumped into the water and saw him.

He was sinking. Fast.

Nami dove after him and she quickly reached him, but as she tried pulling him she realized he was too heavy for her to pull up to the surface. If it was anyone else, even Zoro or Sanji, she could do it, but Vergil was just bigger. She didn't have time to go back to the ship, she couldn't call for help. She tried to slap him, to get him to wake up, but it didn't work.

On her right, a weapon appeared out of nowhere, some sheathed sword. Vergil gripped it, but that was all he did, he didn't regain consciousness and he kept sinking lower.

~X~

Luffy was sleeping soundly, he was well fed and he loved the way sea lulled him to sleep. Usopp's frightened scream immediately woke him up, after all, there was a bad guy with them. What he saw puzzled Luffy. It was an arm up to the elbow and it was pointing outside. He had no idea what it was and neither did Zoro, Sanji, or Usopp.

"Up?" Zoro questioned.

The trapdoor suddenly opened but no one opened it and another, the same arm appeared in petals pointing towards the railing.

"Hey, where's Vergil?" Sanji noticed.

A realization suddenly hit Luffy as he stretched his arms and jumped outside to find another hand pointing to the sea. "Vergil!" he yelled and stepped on the railing to jump in.

"W-Wait! Luffy!" Usopp held him back and Zoro and Sanji jumped into the water, not knowing what to expect.

After what felt like an eternity they, along with Nami and unconscious Vergil emerged. "He's breathing! He's just unconscious!" Zoro yelled.

"Luffy, pull Nami-san out, then get us out!" Sanji ordered and Luffy stretched his hand out to Nami.

Nami looked like she was shaken up but incredibly happy to see them as Luffy pulled her back up and Usopp helped her steady herself.

"Alright, grab on!" he stretched his arms out for Zoro and Sanji. And just like that, they were all back on board. "Vergil, hey, wake up, come on," he tried to get his first mate to wake up, but he remained unconscious.

"What happened?" Vivi ran out, she heard the commotion and looked around for signs of an enemy.

"Vergil lost consciousness and fell down. He was sitting on the railing," Nami explained as she paced around, waiting for Vergil to wake up. "How did you even wake up?"

Usopp shook from head to toe. "S-S-Severed hands began popping up all over the place! One slapped me awake!" he was beyond terrified now that everyone was back to safety.

"A Devil Fruit?" Nami took a guess.

"So that's how she did all that," Zoro grumbled and looked up to the kitchen doors where Miss All-Sunday stood. "That's your ability right?"

"Yes," she simply replied and another hand appeared, the same as three before, right on top of her shoulder.

Usopp screamed.

"You knocked him off, didn't you?" Vivi accused her.

Luffy, who was kneeling next to Vergil stood up and grinned at Miss All-Sunday. "Thanks, you really helped us out!" he knew she saved Vergil and she didn't have to. "Vergil would have drowned if you weren't here!"

She smiled, not the mysterious smile, but just a simple small smile. "It would be a shame if he died like that," she said.

"Shishishi! Right!" Luffy completely agreed, it would be bad if Vergil died, he didn't want any of his Nakama to die. "Hey, join my crew!"

Her eyes widened for a moment while the rest of his crew and Vivi, with the exception of still unconscious Vergil, yelled his name.

"Luffy, she's an enemy!" Usopp was yelling, but Luffy didn't really see it.

"She saved Vergil, she's a good guy," he was certain of it, an enemy would let his first mate drown. "And she has cool power," he added, it made perfect sense to him.

Nami sighed. "She did, but she's still Crocodile's partner," well that was true.

Zoro just facepalmed while Sanji looked incredibly happy somehow.

Vergil suddenly coughed a couple of times and Luffy's attention was immediately on him. "Hey, Vergil, you okay?"

Vergil's eyes opened and he nodded. "What just happened?" and then he looked down to his left, his eyes fixed on what he was holding. "Perun," he breathed out, his eyes wide and no longer yellow.

They were red.

And that's the first chapter of Little Garden. We're not too far from Chopper so that's definitely welcome motivation. I'm also very eager to hear what you all think about this chapter. It's a mostly new side of Vergil I didn't get to show up until this point. There was really no one that could bring it out of him until Robin showed up.

One major question though. Do you feel like Robin is OOC? In all my writing I actually only got to write like one scene with her, all the way back when I first wrote this story, so I'm kind of worried about that.

Answers on reviews:

Guest – Thank you.

Drago pirate – Thanks, as for Warriors of Volos, well, that would be a spoiler.

Shitabrick – Thanks, I appreciate it. As for Electro's theme, I mean, I'm fine with that, it's cool.

SubZPhantomX – Hey, how's it going? It's good to see you again. I'm glad you liked the chapters, you're right, there really wasn't much I could change.

KP360 – You know, your review kind of made me reconsider something I had in mind for this arc, but revealing what it was would be a spoiler at this point. But yeah, that's pretty much the reason I decided to add Robin here.

V: And she was really eager to write the scene where Robin as an enemy actually saves me.

That too.