Chapter 29:Guardians and Dark Dreams

I do not own One Piece! That will always belong to Eiichiro Oda! I only own my OC's.

Riptide wondered when this hell was going to end. He lost track of time not sure how long he had been a "guest" to the scientist who now keep him as a lab rat. His brown eyes shifted to the chain cuffs that were on his wrists. In his present condition he did not have the strength to break them not even if he tried tapping into his Hidden Fury. There was the sound of key and the door to his cell was opened.

"How are you feeling today?" asked a young attractive woman that Riptide was positive his Uncle Sanji would have been swooning over.

Riptide closed his eyes wanting her to leave him alone. Not once she had never been cruel towards him. In truth, she had been genuinely concerned over his well-being and had somehow convinced her father to let Riptide have a single size bed in the cell he was kept in. He felt her fingers stroke his cheek ever so lightly before brushing his bangs from his eyes.

"I'll trim these back some later," she said.

"When will this game of your's end, Alice?"

She looked at the hybrid in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

Riptide open his eyes staring at her hard. "You act all caring but I'm no more than your pet," he said with a small snarl. "Your father told me that is what I am to you. A fucking pet."

Alice was silent as she sat on the stone floor. Her mind drifted to the conversation she had with her father a week ago.

A week earlier…

"Alice, look at these results," Drake Greyware said excitedly. He proudly handed his daughter the notes he kept on Riptide. "I never have seen anything like him. He is a hybrid, but he is surpassing everything that a normal Fishman can handle. He may be the key to finally unlocking the whole evolution to the entire Fishman race."

"Father please," Alice said. "If you keep pushing this one, he may die. He needs rest to regain his strength."

"Alice why are you so concerned over this one?" her father asked with a frown.

"I've never said a word when it came to you doing your experiments on the past Fishmen you had," the woman said. "But this…this doesn't feel right. Trusting this Stryker…it doesn't feel right."

Greyware adjusted his glasses as he frowned as his daughter sudden odd concerned for their latest test subject. "Fine," he said with a wave of his hand. "You may have this one as your pet."

Alice was glad her father let her because she knew the hybrid needed all the medical aid she could offer.

~~End of Flashback~~

"You are no pet," she said. "No matter what my father told you."

Riptide looked at her with curiosity. "Then if I am not that then what am I to you?"

"Hope," Alice said. "Hope for your entire race."

"You know more then you are telling me," he said. "What are you hiding from me?"

"I'm not hiding anything, but I can't keep quiet when it comes to this Stryker," she said.

"Stryker?" Riptide snarled with hate. "What is that bastard doing while I am a damn prisoner?"

"He wants my father to help find the Dark Guardians."

Riptide sat up alarmed. "Dark Guardian?! There are Dark Guardians?"

Alice nodded. "There is a cavern just on the other side of that door," she said pointing to the far side where there was a giant metal door.

Riptide gritted his teeth in anger. Dark Guardians! If Stryker got his hands on those the whole island would be destroyed. He had to get out here and stop this from happening.

"You need to let me go before it's too late," he said.

"Let you go? Oh, I'm afraid that is not possible my dear boy."

Riptide and Alice looked to see Alice's father, Drake Greyware standing in the doorway of the cell. He adjusts his glasses smiling not in a cruel but in a way that chilled the hybrid's very soul. Riptide was not one to be afraid of much but what this man had put him through so far was the scientist's twisted version of his hell.

Drake's smile grew. "Time for you training my good hybrid."

"Training?" Riptide spat toward him. "You mean fucking torture, you heartless bastard."

"Torture?" Drake gave a hurtful look before he chuckled. "What you call torture I call the testing of your abilities. I mean look at you, a fine specimen of a hybrid and yet you look like a normal sawtooth Fishboy."

"No more Father," Alice rose and got between her father and Riptide her arms spread out. "I won't let you hurt him anymore."

"What did you just say to me?" Drake was clearly not pleased as he stepped closer to his daughter. "Did you just tell me no?" Alice stood quietly and without warning, Drake struck her.

"ALICE!" Riptide cried out seeing her strike the stone floor hard and he lunged for Greyware, teeth bared his eyes had a wild look in them.

Drake had kept an electric prod with him, and the man did not hesitate to use against the white hybrid, but the man's own surprise, Riptide keep coming and he increased the voltage. Riptide felt the pain of the shocks but, he refused to let him get away with striking his own daughter. Drake increased the voltage higher than before and finally Riptide dropped. Drake looked at the voltage analog gauge and it was almost at the danger level. The man smiled. What a wonderful idea for test.

~~.~~.~~

Stryker stood at a window that had been placed in the temple watching as his forces began to gather and the tiger shark man grinned. Soon his dream would come true. The sound of footsteps made him turn as a marine captain entered unannounced and his eyes narrowed. "Entering unannounced and without my permission is a very foolish act, my friend," he growled.

Nezumi paled and he started sweating as the tiger shark man's hand dropped to the hilt of his sword. "Err, that is," the marine captain stammered as he was quick to hold some papers. "I brought the information you asked for. You did say you wanted this information the moment- "

"Yes," Stryker said glaring at the rat-faced human. "Now shut up! Hmm, where is...ah! There it is. Well, well isn't this interesting."

"What is?" Nezumi asked.

The tiger shark looked at him with a grin that sent a sudden shiver down his spine. He thought Arlong could scare him, but Stryker truly frightened him "Nezumi", he said as he patted his cheek lightly. "Surely I have told you about my plans?"

"Err, not really."

"Ah well then, my traitorous little friend," Stryker wrapped an arm around Nezumi's shoulders. "Let me tell you then..."

~~.~~.~~

Riptide slowly came to and he slowly lifted his head realizing to his horror that he was in the experiment chamber where Drake did all the tests on him. When it came to all of the tests that Greyware kept the hybrid in chains for every experiment he did on Riptide. Drake had tested Riptide's abilities to the extreme from carrying extremely heavy objects back and forth until he was told to stop to simulating the deepest depths of the darkest deeps of the ocean. Now the scientist had placed a specially designed shock collar along with various size electrode pads on Riptide.

"Are you ready my dear, dear boy?" Drake asked as he did his final check making sure everything was nice and ready for the newest tests.

"What are you going to do?" Riptide asked.

Drake knelt in front of the hybrid double-checking that the chains were very secure before he looked up with a smile. "I have decided to test how well you can hold up to electrotherapy."

"You going to electrocute me?! Are you out of your mind?!" Riptide tried to move but Drake had made sure that he was not going to. Not for this little experiment.

"Boy, everything I do is in the name of science," he said rising and walking toward the door.

"Is that what you called it back on Kinmotsu?"

Drake stopped and looked back at him his expression a mix of surprise and curiosity. "What happened there was a failure due to fools in the World Government. Here I have been able to do what I've only dreamed of."

"And what is that?" Riptide asked him.

"To see if there are differences between Fishmen and those that are hybrids," Drake said before he left the chamber.

Riptide screamed as he felt volts of electricity going into his body. The collar that was around his neck was like those used by the Tenryuubito on their slaves. What slaves went through was considered torture. The voltage that was going through the hybrid's body would have easily killed a human, but for any Fishman or even merfolk it would be considered hell. Drake watched with great interest as he slowly increased the voltage as Riptide's screams were heard from outside the chamber. How Riptide was even surviving all the voltage that was being sent into him was beyond all scientific reason and finally Drake ended the test. The man picked up his notebook writing down the usual things such as date and time. Drake wrote the exact voltage current that Riptide was at before he decided to end the test and with his book in hand he walked to the chamber.

Riptide somehow had slumped forward before he had fallen onto his side. Drake began to fear that the hybrid may be dead as he reached down to touch him. Without warning Riptide's eyes snapped open and the man did a mad scramble away from the snapping jaws of the white sawtooth hybrid, but what happened next was beyond anything Drake could have imagined. Sparks of electricity was sparking from Riptide's shoulders, arms, hands and even from the points of his nose. Like the scientist he was, Drake was jotting down was he was observing as shivers of excitement went through him. Finally, Riptide passed out and the sparks of electricity slowly dwindled.

"This is…this is beyond all reasoning of science," Drake muttered as he straightened his glasses some. "I've done it. I'VE DONE IT!"

~~.~~.~~

Alice slowly came to her head aching from where she struck the floor. She looked to the bed and saw that Riptide was not there and fear seized her heart. No! Her father had taken him to the testing chamber and after getting to her feet slowly, Alice rushed to the lab. She slammed the door open to hear her father's voice, "I'VE DONE IT!"

"Father, what have you done?!" Alice found her father sitting on the floor within the chamber shaking with excitement. Riptide laid on the floor passed out and she saw the shock collar and the electrode pads that were on the hybrid. "Father what have you done to him?" she said as she started toward the hybrid.

Drake was quick to stop her. "Don't touch him," he said. "Fetch me rubber gloves so we are safe."

"Rubber gloves? Father, what have done?"

Drake looked at her smiling in almost an insane way. "I have created the first electric sawtooth shark," he said as he started laughing. "I have made this hybrid part electric eel. He is the first of a new hybrid species of Fishmen."

"You electrocuted him?! Father that is beyond any scientific testing! This is madness!" Alice said. "You've become a mad scientist because of your desire to understand the Fishmen race. Riptide is hybrid and you've tortured him like he no more than a Guinea pig!"

"You know there are sacrifices when it comes to science," Drake said defensively.

Alice pushed past him and knelt to Riptide before she started unhooking the wires from the electrode pads. She looked at her father holding out her hand silently demanding the key for the shock collar and Drake hand it to her. "Help me get him back to his bed," she demanded.

"Alice-,"

"SHUT UP AND HELP ME, DAMN YOU!" The woman screamed at him angrily.

Together they managed to carry Riptide back to the bed that was in his cell where Alice did her own medical check on him and much to her relief and surprise, the hybrid was still among the living. She had no idea how much voltage her father, but it had to a lot from the small burns she found from the shock collar. She hurried back out for the medical bag that was kept hanging just outside the cell door and brought it back inside.

"No more tests," she said getting out burn cream and bandages. "No more father."

Drake looked at his daughter. Surely, she not serious? She knew how important his research was. "How can you say that?" he demanded. "Stryker promised me a worthy-,"

"Shut up!" Alice screamed. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!"

Drake looked at his daughter in actually disbelief. She was cradling that hybrid's head in her lap and…wait! Was she crying? How could this be? What was with this hybrid that she would shed tears over him? She never did that before to the other merfolk and Fishmen/ women he had used in the past for all his tests. What had happened that she suddenly cared about this one?

"What is wrong with you?" Drake asked. "What is so damn special about him that you decide that I am suddenly no longer allowed to continue my studies?"

His daughter looked at him. "You truly don't understand, do you?" she said. "You almost killed him because of that reckless idea of yours. The next time, you might actually kill him, and I refuse to have you do that."

Drake was furious. How dare his daughter tell him what he could and could not do when it came to his research. Before he could speak one of Stryker's guards came and told him that the black tiger shark wanted to see him. "We will finish this the moment I return," he said.

~~.~~.~~

"You wish to see me," Drake said the moment he entered the chamber Stryker was in.

Stryker was sitting in a chair with his feet propped on the table with a goblet of wine in his hand. He looked at the scientist before he gestured to the chair next to him. "Come and sit with me," he said with a smile that sent a chill through Drake. "Would care for some wine, my friend?"

"If you don't mind," Drake said watching Stryker with caution as he took the goblet that was offered to him. "I take you have something on your mind, my wise shark?"

Stryker gave a deep throaty chuckle as he filled Drake's goblet. "Indeed, I do. It has been two and a half weeks since I gave you that damn hybrid for your tests," he said. "I do believe it is time that you turn your attention to my needs."

"Which would be?"

"My dark guardians," Stryker said. "I think I've waited long enough; Drake and I am not a man who likes to be toyed with."

Drake shook his head. "What makes you think I am doing such a thing?"

The Shark man snarled as he hurled his half-filled wine goblet across the room as he rose to his feet. "DO YOU THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME, HUMAN?!" he roared his pupils becoming slits. "I KNOW YOU HAVE NOT ONCE STARTED ON FINDING AND RELEASING MY DARK GUARDIANS!"

"You are asking for me to stop the most important research ever for something that sounds more like a fairytale," Drake said.

"A fairytale?!" Stryker said. "I can assure you that these Dark Guardians are real. That hybrid possesses one of the six Guardian sharks of this island."

Drake shook his head. "Clearly you are out of your mind if you believe such things that are meant to be stories for children," he said finishing his wine. "Now if you excuse me, I have more important things to do."

Stryker moved so fast that he took the scientist by surprise. Seizing Drake by his throat Stryker lifted the man off the floor and held him high in the air and he slowly and painfully tightened his grip on Drake's throat. "You dare to mock me?" he said. "You think I am mad, do you? Well, my dear scientist let me show you the proof that these Guardians are real." With his hand still on Drake's throat, Stryker went to a far wall and slammed the man into the wall. "Look and tell me I am mad. Look and see that the Guardians are no fairytale."

The Black tiger shark had released his hold from the scientist and Drake fell back on his ass blood flowing from his broken nose. Despite that he raised his head to look at the wall that showed great powerful sharks that were different in color; one group white in color while the other was black as a moonless night. What amazed Drake was the very detail of each shark species represented. The saw shark, the thresher, the hammerhead, the leopard shark, the great white and the very ancestor to the great white, the fierce megalodon shark. Each of these nightmarish creatures of the sea were so fine in their detail that it made Drake truly wonder. The sharks were surrounded but what Drake had thought were a representation of currents of water until he saw the telling of a destruction of an island.

"No one knows how the Guardians came to be," Stryker said. "Some ancient tales say they came to be at when Arlong the Black died while other tales say it was, he who has the elders of the shark clan create them."

"Which do you believe?" Drake dared to ask.

"Does it matter?" Stryker said.

Drake glanced at the Fishman and what he saw frightened the man. Stryker had a look of pure madness especially when his eyes fell upon the paintings of the Dark Guardians. He watched as the tiger shark's hand brush over the Dark Guardian that was the thresher shark as his grin became more sinister with each beating of the heart.

"When our ancestors left the shark clan and came here, they brought the Guardians with them," Stryker continued on recalling what he had learned. "Sealed up, but somehow the Dark Guardians were freed and they began their glorious rampage throughout the island and even the East Blue itself, but there was one among the shark clan who was chosen by the pure Guardians and it was this one, who became the first master of the Guardians. With the Guardians at his control, the Dark Guardians were defeated and return to this island to be sealed away. Of course, there were those that saw the power the Dark Guardians had, and it was they who stole them and built this temple for them. It took so long for me to finally find them and you, my dear human is going to help me free them."

"Free them?" Drake looked at the wall again and the story of the destruction that was shown. "They were sealed away for a reason. What purpose would that do if these beings of destruction are freed?!"

Stryker whirled to him, "They will serve my purpose! My dream!"

"You dream?" Drake said in a small voice.

The Fishman nodded as his fierce teeth flashed. "Yes, my dream. A dream where I am the ruler of all I see and all races bow to me as their lord and master. Once the Dark Guardians are free once more my dream will become a reality starting with this pathetic little island."

~~.~~.~~

The island can not fall. You cannot let that happen.

Riptide heard the voice as if they were right by his ear and yet he could not move his body, his own body would not obey. Why can't I move?! I cannot even open my eyes! What is going on?!

He felt slender fingers touching him…wait they were not touching his flesh, but it felt as it went deeper as to his very soul. Soon he felt like he was being freed from a heavy anchor and he looked down. "No! I cannot be! I cannot be dead!"

Riptide saw his own body laying on the floor of his cell with Alice still tending to the burns. Did she not notice that his body felt different? Surely, she felt the change in the warmth of his body from her touch.

Calm yourself, young one. You are far from dead I can assure you of that.

Riptide turned to voice and saw a woman who was beautiful in her own right wearing a traditional kimono with long flowing hair that remind the hybrid of the burning embers of dying fire. Her skin was cream color with eyes that were a deep blue, darker than Destiny's. She gave Riptide a smile that warm and loving.

My you are quite the charmer, aren't you? She said. If I were still among the world of the living, I would easily accept those charming manners of yours.

"Wait, you said I am not dead and yet you are speaking in terms that would mean I am dead," Riptide said. "So, which is it?"

The woman's smile grew. Charming and smart. Now I see what the little one chose you.

"Little one?" Riptide asked. "Saw? You mean Saw, correct?"

Is that what you call her? A very fitting name for her. Interesting though that you call her your daughter though. She is only a Guardian and-,

"Don't call Saw that!" Riptide said. "Calling her that makes her feel so unworthy and it hurts her!"

How do you know what a Guardian does or does not want? How can you make such a bold claim when you only have one of the six Guardians?

"I can guess you were her last master going by the way you speak of Saw," Riptide said. "You sealed her brothers away but not her. Why?"

The dark Saw Guardian is no longer here on this island, the woman said. That one for a strange reason was never found so could not be summoned back.

"Wait? That Dark Guardian is still free, and you are not concerned over this fact?"

I am overly concerned, but this is beyond the duties I was once chosen for. So, it now up to you to find that one and see to the destruction of this Guardian.

"So, if this dark sawtooth had returned, you would sealed up Saw with her brothers?"

Yes, but that did not happen. I had managed to capture and seal the others with my Guardians, but why this one did not come is a mystery.

"Just how did you do this?" Riptide asked. "Alice said the Dark Guardians are sealed behind a giant metal door and that for some reason Stryker wants them."

The woman frowned. He must have found the ancient scrolls that were lock away in the temple and learned of them.

"Just what are the Guardians? How did they come to be?" Riptide asked. "I still do not understand why Saw choice me."

From what I learned was the Guardians came from an island that is lost and forgotten in the Grand Line. This island is home to the shark clans who were led by a black sawtooth Fishman known as Arlong the Black, his ghostly host said.

"Arlong the Black? My father was named after him, but who was he?" Riptide asked.

The woman looked at him. I can show you who he was.

Riptide blinked. He no longer stood in a colorless void but not a blood-soaked shore where dead bodies were literally everywhere, both human and Fishmen alike. The sight horrified him. What was this? The humans he saw so different. They were dressed in a white robe that resembled a spacesuit and some had a cape. The hybrid did take notice that they all wore resin bubbles over their heads. Who were they?

They are the Tenryuubito otherwise known as the World Nobles.

Riptide shivered some recalling what Jimbei had told him. These were people who thought they were above all, made slaves of whoever they wanted be it pirates to even those from Fishman Island and the men could take a woman from her loved ones because they wanted her as a wife. These people to Riptide were the real monsters not those from Fishman Island. The hybrid saw him then and he thought his uncle Tarlong was tall, but Arlong the Black was a half a foot taller than his uncle. He was a powerful black sawshark with arms roped with muscle decorated with Tribal tattoos and his long grey hair was braided with brightly colored beads. Around his neck was a necklace that was made from the teeth of gators and crocodiles. He was loose-fitting tan pants and the gator skinned vest he wore was adorned with beads.

What caught the hybrid's attention was the weapon used by the Shark man. It was a Naginata double blades that were 14" long and the weapon came apart giving Arlong the Black making him a nightmare on the field of battle. Riptide watched all up to the final moments of Arlong the Black's life. Tears flowed down the hybrid's face as the sight of the giant of a sawtooth who gave his life to protect the ones he loved and what he saw next was something beyond cruel. He saw more of the Tenryuubito arrive with soldiers and slaves and they found the deceased Fishman. What he saw had only been spoke of, but Riptide witnessed the disgraceful cruel act those people did the noble sawtooth.

"No!" He screamed rushing at them forgetting that this was a memory. He struck out in anger and pain, his heart aching from the horrific sight. "Leave him alone, you damn bastards! LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

He was alone again in the colorless void since his ghostly companion was nowhere in sight.

'What you doing here, Pup? You are not dead and yet you are in this place. Why?'

Riptide felt the presence of the other more as if this were another part of him and looked behind him to see Arlong the Black. Brown eyes widen at the height of the other sawtooth who made him feel small at the presence of the former shark clan chieftain. Arlong the Black raised an eyebrow to him before he gave the younger a hard rap on the skull and Riptide felt it. "Damn, that hurt!"

'Good. At least I know that tongue of yours works.' Came the reply of the chieftain. 'I asked a question pup and I expected an answer. You are not dead and yet you are here. So, tell me how you got to this place?'

"I…I don't even know where here is and I honestly don't know how I got here," Riptide said. "I wasn't alone either. There was a woman and-,"

'Woman? She wouldn't be wearing a bloody damn Kimono with fiery hair and dark blue eyes with cream-colored skin, would she?' Riptide nodded and the old chieftain gave a frustrated growl. 'M! Get your damn ass back you, you sneaky little bitch!'

For a chieftain, you have s foul mouth as well as manners, said the woman simply referred to as M.

'The boy is not dead, so he does not belong here,' the chieftain said. 'Return him to his body damn it.'

I would, but there is a slight problem.

"I really am dead, aren't I?" Riptide said.

M shook her head. No, you are not. They refuse to let you return.

Riptide looked at her confused as did Arlong the Black. "They? Who are they?"

The Dark Guardians. They are stopping your spirit from returning because they know you are their doom.

"Shit…" Was all Riptide could say.

Somewhere in the East Blue…

The woman watched the small group of pirates with interest as they started to gather. They were a bunch of no-names, but it did not mean she would not have some fun. Standing at 5'5" tall, she a slim attractive figure with pale skin with long silky violet purple hair and sea-green colored eyes. The dress she wore seemed more of a blouse that revealed her chest quite well and a loose sarong that exposed her slender legs and it had a black base with a pattern of white crescent moons and gold-colored stars on it. She also wore a midnight blue veil and wore crimson flats.

"What do you think, Dark?" she asked twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Emerging from her shadow came an onyx black sawtooth shark that was covered with scars that were white and over his left eye was a lightning-shaped scar. The eye was milky white a clear indication that he was blind in the eye. His good eye was red, and it glowed as brightly as a burning wildfire. This was the missing Dark Guardian and he circled the woman in a very protective manner.

'I know what you are thinking my dear Nyx and I am not liking it.'

The woman, Nyx Addams looked at the guardian shark before she lovingly traced a finger over one his many scars. "Oh, my sweet Darkness," she said. "Do not tell me you are jealous?"

Darkness hovered before her before his body shifted and changed shape to that of a short nose sawtooth Fishman. The scars remained the same but now he had short spiked hair that was blackish grey in color and his good eye was still a burning red in color. He stood 6'9.5" tall and wore only cream color knee-length pants and a blood-red slash around his waist. Darkness stared down at the woman who looked at up at him in a seductive manner before she opens the top part of her dress more.

'Stop doing that, Nyx!' he said quickly looking away with a slight blush.

Nyx laughed as she reached up to caress his angular jaw. "I love it when you blush," she said with a giggle.

Darkness ignored her as he turned to focus on the pirates. 'Could you have not found better prey for me?' he asked. Nyx hmphed before she folded her arms over her chest. The Dark Guardian knew he had upset her, and he gave a small sigh. 'I am sorry my dear Nyx. I did not mean to upset you.'

Nyx continued to ignore him. Darkness shook his head at her behavior. There were times she could be so childish. The Dark Guardian quietly took a hold of her hand bring it to his lips planting small delicate kisses into the palm of her hand. He then slowly moved up her arm to the curve of her neck and he nuzzled her cheek. Nyx was smiling as she reached up to run her fingers through his hair.

'Am I forgiven?' he asked.

She turned around to wrap her arms around his neck. "Forgiven my Darkness," she said. "Now let us go have some fun."

'Lets,' Darkness said before he gave her a bloodthirsty grin.

~~.~~.~~

Stryker with Drake along with heavily armed guards herded Jones, the sawtooth group, and the rest of the prisoners down to where Drake had his lab. The group had no sooner entered and were passing the cell where Riptide still was with Alice tending to him. Jones seeing Riptide had broken away from the group rushing to his friend.

"Matey!" the Octopus man said as he rushed into the cell dropping to his knees. "Talk to me mate." He glared out toward Drake and Stryker, "What have you bastards gone to me mate?!"

The guards were quick to keep Bruton and the others in the line only Choro, the sawtooth elder was for some reason allowed to join Jones in the cell. Stryker stood watching for a few moments before he decided to have his guards remove Jones forcefully from the cell.

"Lord, shall we get the old one as well?" asked one of his guards.

"Leave that old fool," Stryker said. "He's too damn old to even dig." Seeing Alice though, the tiger shark grinned. "Get the female and take her straight to my chambers."

"What?!" Drake looked at Stryker. "Leave my daughter alone! She is not part of our agreement!"

~~Meanwhile in the void plane~~

'M, you are saying the Dark Guardians are preventing his return?' The black Sawtooth said.

M nodded. They have become stronger suddenly. They are getting their strength from someone and I can feel them getting stronger with each passing second!

"Stryker!" Riptide said. "It has to be that fucking bastard and I was told that he wanted the Dark Guardians."

M was becoming more concerned since she could feel and see beyond the plane of the void. Something is going to happen, she said. Something terrible is about to happen!

"I have to get back," Riptide said. "I have to get back before that crazy bastard does something! I NEED TO GET BACK!"

It was then the hybrid heard them and his eyes widen. The voices were different from each other as they spoke, but he clearly heard them.

'We can help! Help! Help!'

They heard you! M said as five other shapes started to take form.

What Riptide look upon was beyond all the stories his Uncle Usopp had always told him when he was little, beyond all the tales that were about the Grand Line itself. Saw's brothers, the other five Guardian sharks had made their presence known and Riptide was looking upon each one. Hearing their voices clearly in his head he easily gave each one their name.

The thresher shark who spoke rapidly he called Thrash, Hammer the hammerhead who had a gravelly voice, Kaiju the megalodon who was not only great in size but his voice was deep, Mate the great white who spoke with a weird accent, and finally Growler the leopard shark who sounded like he was growling when he spoke.

'We can help you return, Master,' Hammer said.

"Riptide. Call me by my name not the other," he said to them.

The Guardians twisted and turn around him, M and Arlong the Black their voices almost blending as they were clearly surprised that Riptide told them to call him by his name, not master. They have never been told to do that ever by their past masters.

'Never have we been told that,' Hammer said.

Thrash quickly agreed. 'Never, never, never!'

'This so unheard of,' Growler said. 'We've never done that.'

Riptide had to let loose a shrill whistle to get their attention and his Guardians all looked at him. "How about we have this little discussion later okay guys?" he said. "If I can get out here then let's do that before more innocent lives are lost."

'Of course, mas…Riptide, you said?" Kaiju said and Riptide nodded. "We can return you back to the world of the living.'

"Good," Riptide said. "I have a promise to keep to a certain bastard."

~~.~~.~~

Drake coughed up blood as his body was driven into the floor with such force that it left an impact crater. Alice screamed and Jones, Bruton and the others kept back as Stryker decided that Drake need to be taught a lesson.

"You dare to tell me what to do?" the black tiger shark said with a snarl. "You do what I tell you to do! I DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT YOU LIVE! DO YOU HEAR ME, HUMAN?! YOU ARE NOTHING!"

"You really do love hearing yourself, don't you?"

Stryker froze. It could not be. It just could not be! He looked back to the cell where Riptide was and took a few steps back. Stepping from the cell looking more than ready for a throwdown was the hybrid. "Impossible," Stryker said. "What the hell will it take for you to damn die?!"

~~.~~.~~

Nyx strode boldly into the marine base shocking the marines there. The woman that dared to walk into their base had a bounty of 78,000,000 beli and was known as "Dream Bringer" Nyx. The whole base rushed out armed and had her surrounded. Nyx looked unconcerned that she was surrounded, and barley blinked when the base's captain came out as well.

"You are either stupid or foolish to walk into my base," the man said.

"Maybe I am just lonely," she said sweetly before she stripped herself naked.

The action was enough to shock every marine there and some fainted with nosebleeds. Nyx was still smiling in a sweet seductive way enjoying the reaction she was causing.

'Damn it, Nyx!' Darkness said from her shadow. 'Stop doing that!'

The woman laughed. "Calm my sweet Darkness," she said. "You are going to have your long-awaited hunt."

The captain blinked clearly confused. "Darkness?" he said. "Who is Darkness?"

Nyx's sweet smile was quick to turn devilish. "You are about to find out," she said. "Yume-Yume no Mi: nightmare!"

A black mist exploded forth from Nyx's hands that engulf the whole courtyard and the marines there. The marines looked around before they dropped like flies only their captain was unaffected. Nyx was a Devil Fruit user and had eaten the Yume-Yume (Dream-Dream) no Mi Fruit and could create dreams or nightmares. The Dream mist was a gold mist and created dreams that were good and made the person happy while the nightmare was black, and the person dreamed horrible things.

The marine captain watched in horror as his men started to have blood flow from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. What the hell had happened to them? Laughter caught his attention and he looked to see Nyx who was enjoying the sight of his men dying. Filled with rage he drew his flintlock revolver placing a sea stone bullet into the chamber and took careful aim. "Die you bitch," he said as he fired the revolver.

Nyx screamed in pain as the bullet gaze her arm. At the sound of her scream Darkness emerged from the shadows to see her fall and the Dark Guardian snapped. He shifted from his true form to his Fishman form just as the marine captain stood over his Nyx. The Devil Fruit user looked up as the captain aimed for a headshot. "You shouldn't have done that," she said as she gripped her wound blood flowing through her fingers.

"No, you little bitch," the man said. "You shouldn't have angered me, or you might have lived."

Darkness took him by surprise as his hand grabbed both revolver and the captain's hand. His good eye blazed a fiery red before he crushed both with ease. The marine captain's screams filled the air as he dropped to his knees staring at the crushed bloody pulp that was once his hand.

"You lousy stinking fish," he said before he spat on Darkness. "I'll see you and that fucking bitch hung and then set a fire."

'I AM NOT A FISHMAN!' Darkness said but only Nyx heard him. 'I AM HER GUARDIAN AND YOU HURT MY DREAM!' He placed a hand on either side of the man's head and with a quick violent twist, he snapped the captain's neck. The Dark Guardian tossed the body aside as he went to Nyx, kneeling before the naked woman. 'My dream. Are you badly hurt?' he asked with great concern.

"The bullet only grazed me," Nyx said.

Darkness picked up her dress laying it over her like it was blanket and then he scooped her up, carrying her inside. After a few tense moments, the Dark Guardian found the medical ward and tended to Nyx's wound.

"My Darkness," Nyx cooed as she stroked his hair. "You're so sweet when it comes to me."

Darkness remained silent as he finished tying the bandage off before he turned to the door. 'Please get dressed, Nyx,' he said. 'You know it distracts me.'

"You're no fun Dark!"

Afterward the pair explored the base and they found the captain's office where Nyx giggled like a naughty schoolgirl as she plopped down in the plush chair of the captain. Darkness picked up a stack of wanted posters and was going through them when his body stiffened.

'NYX!' he growled deeply and loudly as nearly crushed the poster in his hands. 'Nyx…it's her…'

"Her?" The woman rose to look at the poster. "I don't believe it! It is that little sneaky bitch!"

The pair were looking at Nami's wanted poster.

Things are really starting to get crazy now. Riptide has gained the other five Guardian sharks having survived Drake's experiments and Stryker has revealed his mad dream of conquest. Now we have the introduction of Nyx and her Dark Guardian, Darkness. What is the connection between Nami and this wild version Gomez and Morticia? So as always Read and Review.