AN: Alright here it is. It took me some time to get this together. I'm still struggling with finding a new schedule. Things at work have been consistently crazy. It should be getting better soon though... hopefully lol. But anyway, this is the beginning of a new arc. Excited. :) Here we go!

Burn The Witch

The Demon Busters were floating through the waters of the Grand Line, searching for their next target. The problem was: Jin's equipment wasn't functioning properly.

"So, there's no signal?" Halcen asked.

"Well, there is, it's just so staticky that I can't get any accurate or precise readings."

"What's the problem? We never had this kind of issue before!"

"Most likely being in the Grand Line is messing with it. Each island has their own magnetic field. We're getting a lot of interference. Just trying to trace the Devil Fruits is nearly impossible in this hostile environment."

"And you didn't account for that?"

"You mean when I first made the thing? No. I didn't plan on us going to the Grand Line so I didn't think I'd have to put in any extra precautions for it. It's not like it's some super obvious issue. How could I have foreseen any of this?"

"Well how do we fix it?" Halcen asked, trying to focus on solutions.

"Honestly, I have no idea. It's not like it's an easy issue to fix. It's not like the navigation issue that we just fix with a log pose. It's unique, intricate. I might have to rebuild the whole system. And I have no idea how long it will take to come up with a solution."

"So what do you want us to do in the meantime? Just sail around the Grand Line aimlessly? You know how fucking dangerous that is? If we don't have a destination, we can't be out on these waters. It's a death sentence!"

"Then you make the call! That's your job, isn't it, Director?"

"Don't talk back to me like that," Halcen growled.

"Why not? Don't like being treated the way you treat others? Not fun is it?"

"Both of you calm down!" Grey interrupted.

Halcen looked back at Grey and then at the rest of the crew. He could feel their tension. He needed to make a call, and fast. If they were going to be out here for long, trouble was sure to turn its ugly head. Fuck. "Okay…" He began breathing. Then he turned back to Jin. "Is there any useable data? Like any signal we can grab, no matter how small? We need something just to get us pointed in a direction."

Jin took a moment to let his rage subside. He looked back at the Demon Radar and began tinkering. "Yeah… it's… that way," he said pointing to toward their southwest. "Somewhere down there, there's a signal. But there's no way to get exact location. It's just one big massive area."

"Okay, good enough. We'll start with that." Halcen went to Morkine. "We have a heading. Just keep us safe."

They began sailing towards their new destination. Sitting idly on these waters while trying to figure your shit out wasn't smart. They needed to find land and plan from there. Hopefully, on this particular piece of land, they would find a Devil Fruit. None of them had much hope this was going to pan out, but they had no choice other than to accept it.

Halcen sat atop in the crow's nest while waiting for them to make their way through the seas. He began snacking on a bag of gummi candies. He was stressed out about the situation and needed the sugar to calm down. The whole thing was a big clusterfuck that he had no idea how to handle. If Jin's equipment didn't work in the Grand Line, then what were they going to do to find the Devil Fruits? The screwed up signals did not make him confident that this venture would last out here. And Jin had no idea how to fix it. This did not bode well for them.

"Island!" Morkine called.

Halcen jerked himself upright and started looking around the horizon. There indeed was an island in their path, quite a nice sized one at that. It was large enough to fit a whole city. As they drew closer he could not make out many details because much of the island was covered in mist. Under the blanket of mist was definitely a large number of trees, but he could see no further than that. It seemed rather ominous.

He climbed back down to the deck and kept his eyes locked on the island. "What is this place?" he asked aloud to nobody in particular.

"I don't know," Jin said. "I've never been out of the East Blue. I don't know anything about these islands. I thought this was your guys' territory. You two have been through the Grand Line before," he said, motioning his hand at Halcen and Grey.

"I've seen a great many islands in my time," Grey said. "I can't be sure of each individual island anymore. A lot of them over the years have sort of blended together."

Halcen shook his head. "I mean, sure, we visited some islands while on Whitebeard's crew, but not all of them." And ya know, I was too drunk to remember a lot of them. "Morkine, do you know anything?"

"No, Director. I've never seen such a place."

"Grey, you got anything? I can't sense anything with my Haki. What about you?"

"It's very… hazy. There's something there, but I can't make out what it is."

"So nobody's got any idea what this place is. We don't even know if it's inhabited then. Hmm…" He looked around as they continued getting closer. "We might as well take a look. Can you find us a place to dock?"

"I'll find somewhere."

They turned to the eastern side of the island and Morkine found a place where they could anchor in shallow water.

"This will do."

They took the row boats ashore and all came onto the island.

Jin wanted to stay behind to continue working on the Demon Radar. He was frustrated and wanted to work on the problem. But Halcen told him to come along anyway. They needed every able body in this mysterious place. And the Demon Radar's even faint signal might still be of use. And because of all this, Halcen risked leaving the Black Tail alone.

Fein and Shira began sniffing around. They picked up a few trace scents and started leading the rest of the crew into the wooded area.

Turns out, the island was one massive swamp. They began traversing over soggy ground. The air was heavy with humidity, which made it difficult to take deeper breaths and made them begin to sweat. It wasn't even especially hot, but there was still tons of moisture in the air, hence the mist. It was hard to navigate through it, but Fein and Shira's noses did their job.

"Still nothing?" Halcen asked Grey.

"It's getting stronger, but it's still very hazy. I think there's something wrong with this island. I haven't encountered anything like this in a long time.

They passed by dozens of plants they were unfamiliar with, and a few they were. Cypress trees, some willows here and there. A dozen different kinds of trees and shrubs. The ground wasn't even solid grass, but there were dozens of rocks and boulders coated in mold and mildew. The place felt slimy, even at its sight. But they passed by dozens of bright pink flowers that clung to the ground and over the tops of the still-water pools. They came upon a small lake with a hundred lily pads and pink lotuses on top of them.

"Well, I'll be damned," Bo said. "Now that's a gorgeous sight."

"This swamp island definitely has its own unique beauty," Halcen said.

Croak!

They all turned to see a frog… the same height as Halcen. It was huge and green and covered in slime. Its giant body was surprising and imposing.

"Holy fuck, what is that?!" Halcen said, startled.

Jory grabbed the handle of his sword. "I'll take it down," he said lowly.

"Hold on," Grey said, dismissing the boy.

And then suddenly the frog jumped over them with its giant legs and high into the air, then splashed down into the lake they had just been observing.

"It was just going to the lake," Grey said.

Jory sighed in relief. "That was terrifying."

"If you think that's bad, wait till you see the giant snakes," Fein said.

"G-giant snakes?"

"Well yeah. I mean, it stands to reason in any island's food chain there's going to be predators. Snakes are one of the primary swamp-living predators that would go after frogs. And it's gonna need to be a pretty big snake for it to go after these guys. Now that I think about it, there should be some giant alligators here too," he said seemingly excited.

"And that's good news?" Bo asked.

"Well yeah. It's not every day you get to see a whole ecosystem of giant animals. This is an incredibly rare find."

"Or it's just a fluke and it's just the giant frogs," Halcen said, hopefully.

"Doubtful, but I suppose it's possible."

"Let's just move on."

They continued through the wonderful, dangerous swampland. But now, everyone was on their toes after having seen the frog. And Jory most of all was scared that giant snakes would show up.

Soon enough, Grey said, "I'm beginning to feel something. Something… chaotic. There's some kind of commotion going on nearby. I don't know what. We should pick up the pace."

They followed Grey's advice and began walking quicker.

And just a few minutes after that, Fein stopped dead in his tracks. Then he began to sniff the air.

Shira began to whine.

"Do you smell that?"

Halcen sniffed. "No, I don't smell anything."

"It's smoke. Let's go!" Fein began running off through the brush and woods.

Shira was right on his side.

"Oh-kay…" Halcen didn't give himself time to think. "You heard him." And then he took off after them.

The crew continued running through the brush until they all began to smell smoke.

"What the hell is going on?" Halcen said.

"I don't know, but it doesn't seem good."

They broke through the tree line and ended up on the edge of a town.

"Oh shit," Halcen said. "Where are we?"

"Toward the center of the island," Grey said. "I guess this is where the people live."

Halcen looked around the area and saw a madhouse scene. There were dozens of buildings set up along dirt roads. This seemed to be a legitimate town full of houses and stores, but it was hidden from the world. But the most eye-catching thing was in the center of the town square was a big billow of smoke.

"THERE!" Halcen shouted, pointing. And then he took off through the town towards it.

"Why are we always running towards the danger?" Jory asked.

"I've just learned to accept it," Kazuki said.

Halcen rushed up to a large crown of people all gathered around something. There were at least two hundred people there. The majority of these people had dark brown skin and black hair, but they were all varying heights, shapes, and ages. They had their backs turned to the coming crew and were all riled up and angry about something. They were shouting profanities and shaking their fists.

"Burn her!"

"Kill that bitch!"

"Down with the demon!"

Halcen was unsure of what was going on, so he pushed himself through the crowd, none of them really paying him any mind.

The rest of the crew followed suit, politely pushing their way through to the front of the angry mob.

Halcen finally saw what was going on.

There was a massive bonfire sitting on the side of a podium set up on wood stilts. The podium was out of the danger of being caught on fire, but only just. The flames danced skyward as it burned through the wood pile it had been built on. There was an old woman being dragged across the podium toward the side where the fire was sitting. She was bound in rope. She had dark brown skin, long graying dreadlocks, a bulbous nose, thick lips, and deep green eyes. She was also quite short and had a little bit of fat as old woman who has let herself go in her old age would.

"This is her!" a tall, bulky man shouted, with his arms on the woman. He had her on the edge of the ledge.

"I didn't do anything!" she cried out, her voice hoarse. "I'm just trying to help!"

The crowd went about, continuing their clamor for her death.

"Please listen to me!"

Halcen looked around, trying to piece together what was going on. All he knew in the moment was this old woman's life was in danger. He tried to ignore it, to just stand back and watch. But something felt wrong, so gravely wrong. He couldn't place what was plaguing him, but he knew something was wrong with what was happening here.

"Halcen," Grey said, pleading. He too felt the seriousness of the situation.

"Now, you will answer for your crimes!" the man shouted, and he pushed the elderly woman over the edge.

"No!" she cried out as she fell.

A flash of black cut through the fire as the woman was meant to land.

The flames consumed Halcen. He walked out of the fire, carrying the woman in his arms safely over flames.

She breathed heavily. "Who… who are you?"

Halcen stared out into the crowd. He set the woman down and let her stand on her own two feet, then he pulled his knife from its sheath and began cutting the ropes off the woman. He stood up tall and faced the crowd. "Is this your justice?!"

"Who the hell are you?!" people asked.

"I am Avarik Halcen! And I ask what this woman has done to deserve such a fate?!"

"Ava-what?! Never heard of you!"

"You will."

"She's plagued this island with her demonic powers! People are dying because of her!"

"That's not true!" the woman shouted behind Halcen. "I was trying to treat them!

"LIAR!"

"DEMON!"

"WITCH!"

"What evidence do you have to support this?!" Halcen asked. "Did you actually prove she was guilty?"

"What business is it of yours?!" the man from above said as he dropped down to the ground safely away from the still burning fire. He was quite tall and very muscular. He took a step toward Halcen.

Grey flashed in front of him and stood before the man. He was almost as tall as Grey. "That's far enough," Grey said, holding up a hand.

"What we do on our island in our business. Not yours. We decide who is or is not guilty here. And you're interfering." This man seemed to be the leader of their town. He spoke with authority.

"My business is whatever I make my business," Halcen said. "When I see a defenseless woman being pushed around, I guess I get a little angry. So yeah, I decided to jump in."

"Defenseless? That is only what she would have you believe. She is evil. She must be purged. Now, get out of the way," the man said. "Let us finish this so we can rid our island of her vile infestation."

The rest of the crowd began to draw in on Halcen. They were anxious and irritated, irrational and ready to blow. They were going to kill this woman even if they had to pry her from Halcen and do it with their bare hands.

That was when the rest of the Demon Busters crew stepped in. They drew a line between the crowd of people and Halcen. All seven of them stood there in a spread-out line, arms folded in front of them, trying to look as menacing as they could.

"You might be able to get through us," Kazuki said, "but we'll take down more of you than you of us." He sounded very threatening.

They bought it and began to hold still.

"Fine," the man by the bonfire said. "We'll let her go… for now. But I'm going to watch you like a hawk. And if I see anything I don't like… I will come down on you with all my might." He sounded quite imposing himself.

Halcen didn't want to test this man's abilities, but he knew it might come to that.

The people there all lingered for a moment with their disapproving looks and hateful stares. They didn't want to be stopped from murdering this old woman. Clearly, their bloodlust would not be let up that easily. But they didn't want to fight for it, they wanted to watch from a safe distance while murdering others, like cowards. So they began to disperse, by the tall man's lead.

"Don't you eyeball me like that, old man," Fein said. "I will knock you the fuck out."

The old man got scared and started to waddle off.

The rest of the group huddled back together, except Halcen and the old woman who kept where they were, talking.

"They're all so angry," Morkine said.

"They're scared," Grey said. "Clearly something is happening here on this island and they don't know what to do about it."

"Doesn't make killing an innocent woman okay," Jory said.

"Okay, but how do we know she's innocent?" Bo asked. "We don't know anything. Halcen just rushed in to stop it. She could very well be the one to blame for whatever shit it is that's going on."

"Hmm… I didn't think about that," Jory admitted.

"I don't think that's the case," Grey said, looking over the woman from where he stood. "She doesn't seem like a bad person."

"So your Observation Haki lets you read minds?" Kazuki asked, curious.

"Not exactly. But I can usually feel the good from the bad. And I don't sense anything wrong with her. But this island is messing with my senses, so even I can't be sure."

Halcen stood with the old woman until everyone else had cleared out. He walked her over to the rest of the group. "Are you okay?"

"I am now. Thank you. But I have to ask, who are you people?"

"I'm Avarik Halcen. This is my crew, the Demon Busters. We're Devil Fruit hunters. We were passing through this island looking for Devil Fruits when we heard the commotion."

"Oh, wow. So… why did you help me?" the woman asked. "You don't know anything about me."

"I don't know. I just… felt the need to intervene. But you're right, I don't know anything about you. Let's remedy that. Who are you and why were these people trying to kill you?"

"My name is Kunu Malthory, but call me Mal. I'm a doctor here; have been almost my whole life. I was born and raised here. But there's a mysterious plague spreading that I don't know where it came from or how to fight. And they think I caused it."

"Why would they think that?"

She hesitated before answering, considering the options. She decided to tell the truth. "Because I have the power of the Sick Sick fruit."

"The what?"

"The Sick Sick fruit. It gives me the ability to inflict any illness on anyone I touch."

"Oh, shit," Jory said, pulling away from her. "Stay away from me."

"What's wrong with you?" Halcen asked.

"She could give us the Coronavirus."

Halcen looked at Jory dumbfounded.

Mal began to chuckle.

"You're not serious?" Halcen said, trying to hold in anger.

"Of course I am. I don't want to die," Jory almost shouted.

"And you think getting the Coronavirus is going to do that?" Halcen asked.

"It's one of the deadliest diseases in the world."

"Actually," Mal said, "the Coronavirus is the scientific term for the common cold. But the disease you're thinking of is some mutated version of it, which is also less dangerous than the flu."

"That's not true at all," Jory.

"Yeah, no, Jory has a point," Bo said. "It's incredibly dangerous."

"Says who?" Halcen asked.

"The World Government and the papers."

"You really think they're always telling the truth? You think they're upstanding and care about you? You think they're a pillar of light?"

"Well not always, sure, but this time, definitely."

"And why do you think that? Why this time?"

"Scientists," Kazuki said, sounding smug.

"What scientists?" Jin asked. "The ones in the news, right? As a scientist, let me tell you, those people get paid to say what the government wants them to. And they do it for the money and the spotlight. They sold themselves. It's not real science."

"It's a bunch of bullshit," Fein added.

"And they got you wrapped up in it just like they want you to be," Halcen said. "Scared and dependent on them to take care of it."

"I don't believe you," Jory said.

"Oh my God," Mal said, then she leaned forward really quickly and tapped Jory. "There."

"What did you just do to me?!"

"I gave you the Coronavirus."

"What?! Why would you do that?! I'm going to die!" Jory started hyperventilating and staring pacing back and forth. "Oh my god, I can't taste anything. I'm dizzy. I need to lay down." He laid down on the ground and panicked. "I feel so hot. I'm burning up, I don't want to die." Then he closed his eyes… "Wait…" he said sitting up and looked at his hands for a moment. "I feel fine. You tricked me!" he said pointing at the doctor.

"No. I gave it to you. But in the vast majority of cases, the symptoms are so mild that people don't even know that they have it. It's not a dangerous disease unless you don't take care of yourself. But you're a strong young man with a healthy immune system. You're going to be fine."

Jory sighed in relief. "Well damn, I feel like a fool."

"It's okay," Halcen said. "What's important is that you learned something."

Kazuki's face twitched in annoyance at having been proven wrong.

Jory looked down in shame.

Bo let it reflect. "So… it's all lies?"

"Pretty much every word, yeah."

"Son of a bitch."

"Anyway," Mal said. She looked at Morkine and said "What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"Excuse me?"

"What are you talking about?" Grey asked. "He's fine."

"No, he most certainly is not." She walked up to Morkine and started playing with his left arm. "Alright, come with me. All of you. I'll take a look at my house. At least we'll be able to do this outside the eyes of the other residents.

Mal led the others away from the time square and all the way to her own wooden house out in the sticks. "Nobody likes living too closely to me, because they're scared of me," she said. "I got my powers when I was just a child and there were a few instances. That's why I went into medicine, to try to counter my abilities as the need arose."

"That's messed up," Fein said.

"You're telling me." She opened her door and they all followed her inside.

"Alright, kid, come with me," she said to Morkine. "And the rest of you make yourselves at home."

Morkine followed the doctor through the house to her office. There was a counter and cabinets covered in doctor stuff. There were a couple chairs in the middle of the room. "Take off your shirt and sit down."

He looked uncomfortable and hesitated.

"I'm not going to bite, just do it."

Morkine slowly peeled his shirt off revealing his bony torso.

"Wow, you really need to put on a few pounds. What do you eat?"

"Not much," he said, sitting down.

"Same with your speaking too, huh?"

He just grumbled.

"Well okay, let's take a look at this," she said. She walked over to the counter and put on some rubber gloves, then headed back around to his back. "Oh wow."

There was a gash on his back near his left shoulder that was swollen and yellow.

She walked to the table and grabbed a pair of black gloves and put them on. "They're clean," she told Morkine. She came back to Morkine's back and began pushing lightly around the area, trying to judge the severity. "You were shot?"

"Yes."

"How long ago?"

"A few weeks."

"Did nobody take care of it?"

"Grey stitched it up," Morkine said.

"Well, it's definitely infected. Doesn't it hurt?"

"Sometimes."

"And you didn't say anything?"

"I did not want to be a bother."

Mal looked at Morkine with disbelief, then she shook her head. "I'll be right back." She walked away from Morkine and headed out the door of her office to the group of Devil Fruit hunters sitting in her house. "You two, come here," she said pointing at Halcen and Grey.

They looked at her, unsure of what was going on, but got up and followed her back through the house anyway.

"What's going on?" Halcen asked when he got into the office. He looked at Morkine, not wearing a shirt. "Is he okay?"

"No, he most certainly is not," she said.

"What's the problem?"

"Well take a look," she pointed at Morkine's back.

Morkine began feeling self-conscious.

They both walked around his back and took a look at the gory knot on his shoulder.

"Ew," Halcen said.

"Yeah, ew." Then she looked up at Grey. "Do you have anything to say?"

Halcen looked at Grey, "Yeah, didn't you take care of his wound?"

"I did!"

"Clearly not well enough," she said, sounding angry. "Didn't you use antibiotics or anything?"

"I… did the best with what I had…" Grey said, trying to reason his way out of it.

"And you're supposed to be their doctor?" she asked.

"Yes," he said, barely a whisper.

"Boy, do I feel bad for your crew," she said to Halcen. "Now I'm going to have to reopen it, clean him up properly, use some real antibiotics, and then close it back up again. If you kids are gonna be going looking for trouble, you need to take better care of yourselves."

"So, why don't you join my crew?" Halcen said.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, clearly we need a real doctor. We can't rely on Grey for serious injuries such as this. You seem to know your stuff. You would make a good addition."

"I can't leave my island, dear. I have too much to take care of here. I still have to find out what's poisoning the people here and cure the plague going around."

"Even after they tried to kill you?! You don't owe these people anything."

"Maybe I don't owe them, no. But I'm a doctor. I can't very well just leave them to suffer without trying to help. You wouldn't understand."

"Okay, how about this? We help you here, save your island, and then you come with us? Win-win, right?"

Mal gave it a thought. "And what exactly qualifies you to help me?" she asked. "I don't know anything about you people other than you claim to be Devil Fruit Hunters, as you put it. What kind of contributions can you offer me to helping my island?"

"Well," Halcen said. "For one, we've been to plenty of other islands and fixed a few pretty intense situations. We took down a wannabe Bear God that was ruling one island in tyranny. We're powerful. We took on a horde of Marines and fought off Captains, Commodores, and an Admiral. And we have more than one intelligent person on our crew. Jin is great with technology, Fein is great with biology, and I myself am pretty good with tactics. We have resources and an ample supply of bodies to help with whatever you need."

"And you're all willing to stay here and help me find out what's killing people?"

"We done similar things before," Halcen said. "Why not?"

"Hmmm… fine, deal."