Chapter 22 – Flower in a storm

Vergil felt as if the time itself slowed down around him. Perun was in front of him. His Devil Arm, his soul. It was back, sort of, he couldn't make it disappear; he felt that the moment he saw it. It would remain materialized at least until he completely reconnected with it. For now, he'd just keep it at his hip. He wouldn't need a sash r anything like that, Perun would just stay there due to electricity. That hardly mattered though, it was back. Perun was back. He had no idea what happened, how it got here, but that was insignificant as well.

"What's that?" Luffy asked, curiously poking the sheathed weapon.

It was as if Luffy's question brought Vergil back to reality. "My Devil Arm," he spoke up, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Wait, didn't you say it was taken from you?" Sanji inquired.

"I don't really get it either, but you won't hear me complaining," Vergil replied and unsheathed the blade.

Usopp gulped as he saw the blade. "It looks kind of bloodthirsty," he pointed out, sounding a bit frightened of the blade.

Vergil chuckled at that. Indeed, Perun's blade was mostly red, the same red as his eyes. With Perun back, he could in a way feel his eyes going back to the red color instead of the devil yellow.

"Hey, Vergil," Zoro got his attention and subtly motioned towards Nami.

Vergil immediately felt guilt; he got so caught up in Perun suddenly being there that he forgot he nearly drowned. That she was there when he fell, that she jumped after him and couldn't do anything. "How are you doing?" he knew it was a stupid question, but he wasn't sure what else to ask.

Nami looked to the side, refusing to meet his eyes. "I'm fine. It's really good you got your weapon back," she replied, still as distant as she was before he lost consciousness and fell into the water.

Vergil had no idea what to say or do. He could tell she wasn't exactly comfortable, that something was bothering her and he figured it had something to do with his recent actions. "Nami," luckily he was sort of saved by the bell.

"Hey, Vergil, we got new Nakama," Luffy, completely oblivious to the slight tension between his first mate and his navigator interrupted whatever Vergil was about to say with the brightest grin on his face.

Vergil raised an eyebrow at that. "Her?" he pointed at Nico Robin causing Luffy to nod.

"Yeah, she helped save you so she's a good guy!" Luffy declared.

"Luffy, she isn't a good guy," Nami sighed, she was quickly losing her patience when it came to their guest.

"Yeah, she's actually a good girl," Vergil smirked, looking directly at Robin when he said that. The slightly older woman had an amused smile on her face at the white-haired male's choice of words.

Nami, however, had enough and punched him in the head. "You stay quiet!" she proceeded to point her finger at Robin. "I don't know what you're playing at, but don't think this changes anything."

"But Nami, she helped us," Luffy pointed out. "And I want her in my crew!"

"She's an enemy!" Nami shrieked at Luffy.

Zoro facepalmed, understanding the situation they were in. "He already decided," he sighed, there was no way Luffy would just give up now.

Robin chuckled. "No need to worry, navigator-san, I have no intention of joining your crew," she assured Nami, and there was no doubt in Vergil's mind. She meant that; regardless of what he or the others did, she would remain an enemy at least for the foreseeable future.

"Why not? Come on, be my Nakama," Luffy was persistent, so endearingly persistent.

"You're still on Crocodile's side, aren't you?" Vergil asked, pausing for a brief moment. "Nico Robin?"

Immediately her amused smile dropped. She had the suspicion he knew who she was but now he confirmed it.

"Nico Robin?" Vivi repeated, shocked that Vergil suddenly revealed he knew the woman's name.

"Wait, you know her?" Zoro asked, sounding as if he was piecing together something.

Vergil shook his head. "Not personally. Sixteen years ago she came to Volos, a city in the Demon World where I lived. I don't know much, I know she had a bounty back then, nearly as much as Crocodile in fact," he looked Robin in the eyes. "Back then you weren't exactly a pirate. Grom only said one thing, that you are an archeologist; he wouldn't say anything else and I never cared to ask."

Robin narrowed her eyes, any amusement was long gone. She was serious and for a moment Vergil feared she'd attack. "Even if you do know that, it doesn't make a difference."

"It makes all the difference. I don't trust you, but I trust Grom and Zarja. And I find it difficult to believe that a child they were ready to fight the marines for would be willing to destroy an entire country," it was all or nothing. Either he picked the right words, or he ruined one chance he was trying to get.

Robin walked over to the railing. "Banchi," she said and almost immediately a giant turtle emerged from the sea.

"Woah! What a big turtle!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Black Thunder-san, consider this a friendly warning, do not interfere with Baroque Works any further," she jumped down and took a den den mushi. She tossed it into Vergil's hands and looked him in the eyes. "Once you decide to hand the princess over, contact me," she stated.

"That's not gonna happen. We're taking Vivi back to Alabasta and we're gonna kick Crocodile's ass," Luffy declared without a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Luffy-san," Vivi whispered, sounding almost surprised that Luffy was so set on helping her.

Granted, after what Vergil pulled, she actually had the right to doubt them at least a little bit.

With an amused smile, clearly showing she expected that answer from Luffy, Nico Robin left.

~X~

Nico Robin had no desire to join this crew. Going against Crocodile? They would simply fail. Even if she told them the man's weakness she highly doubted they'd even get to him. Even if they did, she was certain there would be only one man on the crew that could put up a fight. Alas, lightning and water never mixed well.

Thanatos had a long history, yet only a handful of rulers, one of which ruled for much, much longer than the rest. Apolion the Immortal Light. The only records known to devil kind that predated Apolion were records of Volos being built. The first time devils united and created a city was 2700 years ago. Roughly 350 years after that Apolion came out of nowhere, armor-clad warrior commanding all but lightning and by his side was his first Rewera Kaiser, Leonidas Vrag.

Apparently, that was how old the Leonidas name was and here she saw a man, said to be a half-devil, carrying that same name, following a human. Not just any human, but a boy, merely 17 years old, from East Blue. Then again, the boy was a D. she couldn't dismiss that. What did the D. mean, she wondered? What was it about those people?

Was that what got Black Thunder to follow him?

Nico Robin had no desire to join this crew. She did, however, find them intriguing. The captain, the first mate, all of them so different; almost as if the crew was randomly thrown together and it just happened to work. Her eyes fell on Black Thunder, she wondered just how much he was involved in the battle of Volos.

~Thanatos, Volos, 16 years ago~

Back then she was still in West Blue, still young, still just a bit hopeful that maybe something would change. She hoped she could find some clues, some answers in Volos, the first city ever to be built in Thanatos. It wasn't easy but she managed to make her way to the other world and what she saw mesmerized her.

Volos was beautiful. The buildings were hundreds of years old, yet through the effort of devil kind, they withstood the harsh nature of the world. The entire city was merged with nature, vines sprouting from the ground and going up the pure white buildings. The main streets were paved with black marble and the archways, all carefully carved from the combination of special materials from Thanatos, lined up all the way to the main square.

Up ahead she saw the largest building in the city. A palace would be the only word that could properly describe it, though it was anything but that. Everything significant, including the greatest library in Thanatos, was in there.

This city was the only place in Thanatos that had never been conquered. Warriors of Volos made sure of that, the army low in numbers but relentless in defense of their home. The lookouts all over the town made sure not a single threat could approach without the entire city being alerted.

"Nico Robin, correct?" she was so amazed by the city she nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of her name.

Quickly she turned to her right and saw a woman, likely in the late forties, wearing a long purple fur coat over a simple black suit. Her hair was black, though it was starting to turn grey here and there. The golden sigil of Volos of her right sleeve, it looked a lot like a capital letter A, flipped upside-down and separated through the middle of the vertical line. "I am Zarja, leader of Warriors of Volos."

Robin nodded, carefully watching for any sign on danger.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Ohara; rest assured, as long as you're here you are under the protection of Volos."

Robin would lie if she said she wasn't cautious, but time passed and Zarja stayed true to her word.

~X~

Still, as it usually happened with Robin she couldn't even properly get used to the safety Volos gave her. Two months after her arrival, shortly after she finally felt like she could just stay there Zarja came to her room. Volos was on the verge of war; the tensions were rising.

"I'll give you money, food, everything you need for some time, but you need to go back to the Human World," Zarja said, she was looking through the window.

Robin shook her head. "I don't want to. Volos had never been conquered before, why do I have to leave?" she didn't want to leave.

Zarja sighed, still not looking at Robin. "I'm sorry. I've given you hope for a new beginning, a new life here. But our army is slowly getting weaker," she paused for a brief moment. "Apolion is gradually weakening us and we don't have enough people to replace soldiers we lost in the past few years."

That was right. It was too good to be true. No matter what she'd always be alone.

"Volos will fall and I don't want to put you through something like that again. You've already seen one home fall; I don't have it in me to allow you to see a place doomed to fall as a new home. It might be in a year, or a decade, but Volos will fall. Please, Robin, forgive me," Zarja requested, finally turning to look at Robin, and Robin's eyes widened slightly as she saw a single tear falling from Zarja's eye.

~Present time~

It took some time, six years to be exact. But the magnificent city, Volos, was conquered and turned into ruins. She never went there again, but she heard the stories of a burning city, crumbling to dust as the Warriors of Volos failed to protect it.

Now, only one combination of facts made Robin reconsider her position. Could the fabled tenacity of a Warrior of Volos and someone carrying a Will of D. bring a miracle and defeat Crocodile? Somehow, she found it hard to dismiss them completely.

~X~

After Robin left their ship the crew had a mostly relaxed journey to their next island. With the exception of escaping from a gigantic dolphin that just happened to jump out near Going Merry, it was quite uneventful.

Everyone was noticeably more comfortable once again. Well, Luffy was a bit disappointed Robin rejected him, but he got used to being rejected the first time so he didn't let that discourage him.

Vergil wasn't exactly affected by Robin's departure; he was more concerned with the way that situation damaged his relationship with others. He could feel Vivi's disapproval, not that he really cared about that. Nami was the one that for some reason affected him. She made it perfectly clear she wasn't happy with what he did.

There would be time to talk it out, right now they were minutes away from their second island, and from the looks of it this island wasn't something they would come across often. There were no sins of civilization, humans, or any other races. It looked like it had never been tampered with, untouched nature unique from anything Vergil ever saw in his life.

The trees, even the grass, everything was way taller than usual; the trees towered over Merry and if that was anything to go by animals would likely be large as well.

"We should be careful; I'm worried about what Miss All-Sunday said about this island," Vivi reminded them to stay cautious.

"Y-Y-You don't think there are monsters here, do you?" Usopp was certainly the most cautious one.

"Beats me, but we gotta stock up on some food pretty soon. I wasn't able to restock at all at the last town," Sanji brought the lack of food to their attention as well. "But man, just look at this place, it's like a land yet to be explored by people. The entire island is a thick jungle."

"So this is Little Garden, I can't say I see anything that would deserve such a cute name like that though," Nami was also looking around as they sailed further down the river. "Just what about this island is little?"

"River? I mean compared to the trees it's more of a creek," Vergil commented, Merry was already a small ship and he doubted a ship three or four times larger could sail here.

"I mean, I can't say you're wrong," Nami muttered and motioned back to the shores. "I've never seen any plants like these, even in my encyclopedia!"

Before anyone could reply they were interrupted by what sounded like a huge bird. It was so loud Vergil had to cover his ears and Nami let out a terrified scream.

"What was that just now?!" Nami exclaimed, looking at the sky.

"Terrified Nami-san is soooo cute! Don't worry, it's just a normal bird. And even this island is nothing but your average jungle," Sanji sounded confident as he reassured Nami things would be fine.

Luffy, on the other hand, managed to catch a glimpse of their mysterious bird. "A lizard…?" he noticed. It certainly looked like a combination of a bird and a lizard, though maybe it was just too far for him to see.

One thing after another kept happening and a loud explosion echoed likely all over the island.

"Does that sound like your average jungle?!" Nami demanded, now even more terrified of the island.

"That sounded like a volcano eruption or something!" Usopp was downright panicking. And it still wasn't the end.

A growl to their left alerted them and they saw a huge tiger just falling over, blood dripping from all over his body.

"This is definitely not normal! Otherwise, why would a tiger, kind of the jungle, collapse covered in its own blood?!" Nami yelled as Vergil jumped from Merry to the tiger's body. "Vergil!" she shrieked, not sure whether to choke him when he gets back on board for risking so much or hug him if he gets back on board in one piece.

Vergil knelt down next to the tiger and took a look at the wounds. "Holes? Laser-like precision to just the right spots?" he muttered as he lightly spread the wounds. "Definitely not a weapon," he concentrated, trying to sense traces of soul attack. It was barely there, but he could sense light soul. "We've got company!" he yelled as he got back up and noticed his crew dropped the anchor.

"Company?!" Usopp screamed. "Baroque Works?!"

Vergil shrugged, he couldn't be certain. "Not sure, but it's definitely a devil," he walked down the shore to get a bit closer to Merry.

"What now? Fighting a devil on such a small ship could be bad for us," Vivi pointed out.

"Maybe they are nice," Luffy said and pointed at Vergil. "Like Vergil."

Vergil, Usopp, and Nami sweatdropped. "That's not exactly the first word that comes to mind," they all replied almost at the exact moment.

Vergil looked at the tiger. Vivi was right, fighting a devil near Merry was too risky. "I'll go and find that devil. If there's going to be a fight, I'd rather take the fight to them."

Nami felt uneasy as she looked at Vergil. "Alone?" she questioned, whatever disagreement they had when it came to Miss All-Sunday it vanished now that he wanted to go and find a devil.

The white-haired male nodded. Luffy would get excited by the new island way too easily and likely alert the devil, Zoro might get lost, Sanji would be useless if it was a girl, making him useful in only 50% chances, he wasn't about to put Nami and Usopp in danger and he didn't really feel like bringing Vivi and Karoo along. "It's better if I go on my own."

"I'm more surprised Luffy isn't tagging along," Usopp glanced at their captain, the rubber man was just grinning at Vergil.

"It's that mystery slow thing?" Luffy asked and Vergil nodded. "Shishishi, have fun!" he joined Vergil once, he wasn't going to do it again if he could explore the island on his own.

Vergil grinned back. "Got it," he replied. "I'll come back as soon as I make sure that this devil is no longer a danger," he assured the crew.

"Be careful," Nami warned him.

Vergil's eyes softened a bit, which was considerably more noticeable now that his eyes were red. "Hey, it's me, I can deal with a devil or two," he turned around, waving back to the crew and entered the jungle.

~X~

It wasn't cold, it hardly ever was. Besides, she was a light devil, as long as the Sun was there for her to see she'd stay warm even in the cold. Still, she remained wrapped in her blanket. Blue fur blanket with small white dots all over it, it was soft, and even after so many years, it smelt like home. It was a much-needed reminder of her family, her parents she wished so hard to reunite with.

Den den mushi rang and she just looked at it; her golden eyes were half-closed but she raised her head. As if it was the last thing she wanted to do she picked up. "What is it?" she asked, barely containing her lack of interest.

"Miss C?" the voice on the other side spoke up.

She nodded, before realizing he couldn't see her. "Right and you are Mr. 3," she wasn't asking, she knew who would be calling her. "You finally arrived?"

"Indeed, now, if you would join-"

"I'm fine where I am. If fighting brings me to you I'll help," she hung up, not wanting to waste any more breath on the conversation. Slowly she let sleep overcome her, the blanket soothed her and she fell asleep.

A dinosaur approached her only for her to subconsciously raise a finger and shoot it with a beam of light strong enough to pierce its jaw. It roared, angered, and in pain, ready to attack the small girl. The dinosaur bit into the blanket only for the teeth to shatter. The blanket began shining, soft blue light wrapped itself around the dinosaur's body, crushing its bones.

~X~

Vergil climbed to the top of the tree, he could no longer see Merry. The plants were strange, to say the least, but he figured it was just another jungle, just as Sanji said.

He heard stomping to his left and turned to see a giant dark brown lizard standing on two legs. "A dinosaur?" his eyes lit up, he heard about them from his mother but he never thought he'd see one. "So cool!" oh Luffy was going to have a blast on this island. It approached him, likely ready to attack him.

Vergil smirked and charged a bit of electricity towards it, just to let it know what not to do. "No! None of that, shame of you!" he pointed at the dinosaur, grinning from ear to ear. "Now, where is that devil," he began looking again, hoping for some visual cue as the dinosaur roared at him. Vergil frowned. "Geez, wash your mouth, preferably entire throat as well," he groaned and unsheathed Perun. He leapt from the tree and in a single swing he cut the top half of the dinosaur's head with barely a few drops of blood.

A Devil Arm with the soul of lightning, regardless of the wound his enemies would have difficulty bleeding out. The electricity often stopped most of the bleeding regardless of the speed of his swing. That was Perun, lightning made tangible.

Still, he couldn't feel any devil nearby. Which left him one option, go deeper into the jungle and hope for the best. Vergil jumped down, as softly as he possibly could and looked at the blood on one of the trees, it was likely from that tiger. It was too fresh to dismiss, although, seeing as this was an island with dinosaurs he doubted devil would be the only cause of injuries here. It was still his best clue, he walked through the grass, searching for the next bloodstain. It didn't take long to find it, though this one wasn't stain made by tiger, or any other animal, passing by and leaving blood by accident.

It was blood splatter, and the wood was also pierced. His eyes widened and he raised Perun just in time to block a beam of light. He narrowed his eyes, surprised he didn't feel an enemy there, and then it made sense. It wasn't a devil; it was a sensor trap.

Vergil ducked under the next beam and deflected the one after that as he quickly advanced towards the source of the beam. It was just an already formed ball of light, just as he reached it, it fired one last beam before vanishing.

The white-haired male frowned, this wasn't an enemy he could let near the crew. He wasn't sure how strong the devil in question was, but the control over their power was undeniable. "Bring it," he spoke up, his grip on Perun strengthening. Vergil closed his eyes, concentrating on creating a sort of a net of invisible electricity. He'd need to detect any traps in time. The light wasn't a slow soul, quite the opposite, average light devil was usually faster than any other devil on the same level.

Feeling a mass of light under a small layer of dirt he threw a lightning ball towards it causing it to explode. Lasers, mines, this entire place was set up to protect a base of some sort. It also meant one more thing, the devil wasn't far.

Five minutes and a few more traps later he reached a clearing and saw her. A female curled up with a blanket acting as a sort of a cocoon. All he could see was a bit of dirty blonde hair and a bit of tan skin. She was sleeping, yet Vergil skidded to the side, barely avoiding a beam of light. "Tricky little brat," he smirked as the girl slowly opened her eyes.

She glanced at him and then shifted around a bit before looking at a paper. "Ah, a pirate that knows Boss' identity," she mumbled sleepily.

Vergil raised an eyebrow at that. "Baroque Works," he realized, though it threw him off a bit. "Where's your partner?"

She stood up, showing just how short she was, she was probably half a head shorter than Nami, making Vergil, who was roughly 190 cm tall, tower over her. "Devils work alone in Baroque Works; at least the ones capable of utilizing their soul," she replied. Her eyes were telling him she wasn't planning on letting him live. "You can call me Miss C, or C; you might as well know who killed you."

Vergil smirked and pointed Perun at her. "Leonidas Vergil, just so you know."

"Weapon against a harmless girl?" she taunted, still standing still underneath the tree.

Vergil chuckled a bit and formed a ball of lightning. He threw it at the girl and the blanket just repelled it back. "Harmless girl with a Demon Forged? Sure."

And just like that, we're one chapter closer to the end of this arc. One thing I struggled with is where to go with Vergil. Originally, I had Robin stay with the crew until they reached Alabasta, but as I thought it through this ended up being a better option. That, unfortunately, gave me a different problem. What about Vergil? This entire arc works by keeping most of the crew stuck, but I can't get Vergil stuck and not because he's my OC and I want him to be badass. He can't survive getting stuck like Luffy and wax would melt because of lightning. Not to mention every enemy on Little Garden is actually weak so there was that issue as well. So an OC it was. I chose to name her Miss M, for Roman number 1000, there will be C for 100 and X for 10

This is a bit of a spoiler, but I'd like to say that there won't be too many OCs for Vergil to fight in the future sagas. Quite frankly if things go the way I plan there will be two more OCs, the ones mentioned here, in Alabasta, then one for CP9 and I think that will be all for the story up until a certain part of the story.

Answers on reviews:

Big thank you to Guest, Sagicknight, nawille99, Guest and Guest.

Drago pirate – Thanks, as for Vergil's outfit, I guess I haven't really paid much attention to it. In most cases he'll wear black boots and tracksuit bottom with a simple T-shirt. In this case, a grey one.

SubZPhantomX – Well, I hope you don't mind Robin not sticking around for too long, now it might look like I'm forcing things back to the way they were in canon, but I do have a plan in mind and Robin was going to be absent from Drum no matter what. The only question was when she would leave. I'll admit it though, I wrote myself into a corner with that "Call Crocodile" thing, so I kind of tried to ditch it.

V: Yeah, she wasn't all that sure where to go with that.

KP360 – Thank you, I really enjoyed reading that review. I agree completely with everything you said and I'm really happy you think Robin wasn't too OOC. The other Straw Hats are one thing, but she is not easy to write, she's such a special character that takes time, even more, when she is in the antagonist role.

V: Gian, your girl is awesome

sacke110 – First things first, thank you very much for so many reviews. And thank you for giving the story a chance even if you feel devils and demons are out of place in One Piece. I actually absolutely have to agree about that. I know it is probably a big reason for some to just drop the story and I appreciate anyone who takes time to read it. So thank you and thank you for all the compliments you've given me. I'm glad you think so. Now, Koby, I feel is underused at this point in the story and I want to change that at least to a certain extent, but just because he isn't trained by Garp from the start it doesn't mean he won't end up under Garp at some point. Finally, Robin, at this point has a bit of a role I need her to play, it will also be important for Vivi in the end so that's as much as I can say at this point.