AN: Just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving! I know it's in two days, but I won't be actually posting on that day. I should should hopefully have the next chapter out before Christmas, but in case I don't, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

On All Sides

Halcen, Kazuki, Jin, Shira, and Mal stood before a second, smaller, World Government base on Wickthorne Island. It was at the far western edge of the Forbidden Swamp, a huge haunted piece of the island that the islanders dared not venture into. Halcen had witnessed firsthand these spirits and understood why the natives avoided it. They were intense and terrifying. And that was why the World Government had used it as the place to implant their massive underground base; to avoid notice. They had successfully bred at least two devastating biological weapons down there, to Halcen's knowledge. One was the Orvast Plague, the main reason they had tracked down the facility in the first place, as it was raving the village. The islanders were dying left and right and their doctor was trying to save them by founding the source and fixing it in whatever way she could.

They found out that there was a cure to be delivered to all the World Government employees so they could do their bidding on the island after the plague had done its work. The World Government black ops operator Regulo Armani was in possession of said cure. He had taken it after their skirmish and had fled across the island to this new facility. They had tracked him all the way here and were there to kill him and take the cure for the island.

"Alright," Halcen said. "Let's get inside. Jin."

The front of the building had a security device on the front door.

Jin walked up to the door and began fiddling with it. Soon, they heard the door click.

"That was quick," Halcen said.

"This is the third time I've dealt with their system. Now I know how it works and how to easily cut through."

"Cool."

Jin was learning quickly. That was his charm. He was good with technology.

Halcen walked up to the door and pushed it in. It was a heavy metal security door. But it amounted to nothing. Halcen thought that was funny. All that money and technology continued to fall against their meager little crew.

Inside was a large room coated in blue light. It emanated from computers all over the walls. There was a table in the center covered in papers and folders.

Halcen and the others went around investigating the room. It was a strategic hideout. This was where all the updates from the other facility were being sent to so they could sort through them and plan their next moves.

"Where is everyone?" Mal asked.

"They're probably gone," Jin said. "The other facility completed their job. So why would these people still be here? They probably went home to clear out the place for the cleansing."

"'Cleansing?'" Mal asked. "Such a cold word."

"Well, in their eyes, that's what they were doing."

"It's horrific," Kazuki stated.

"So, where's Armani, then?" Halcen asked.

"He's gotta be in the building somewhere," Jin said.

Halcen looked around. "I don't see any doors."

He looked to Shira.

She huffed and then started sniffing around. She began clawing at the wall in the corner of the room.

"A secret door?" Halcen asked.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Jin said.

"How do we get it open?"

Jin walked around to one of the computers on the wall. "It's probably an electronic lock, like the rest of them. I'll just pop it open… and…"

The wall opened up. A giant slab rose upward into the ceiling and left a hole.

"There we go," Jin said.

"You make this stuff look easy," Halcen said.

"Well, I do what I can."

"Let's go." Halcen stepped through the door.

Shira stepped in next and started sniffing the new room.

The next room was only slightly luminated by natural light. The morning's rays had reached through windows on the top of the building. It looked like another large warehouse. Inside was racks and racks and rows of metal shelves all over the floors. This was another supply depot for the scientific facility. This was where all their excessive things were stored. There was, on the far back wall, a huge vehicle the likes of which Halcen had never seen. It had large heavy-duty wheels on all four corners, huge steel doors on the sides that seemed to be incredibly thick. It was intimidating to look at, but it was awe inspiring.

"What the hell is this?" Halcen asked.

"It's a militarized transport vehicle," Jin answered. "One of the World Government's newer secret inventions. It's made to give extra strength to land units when their battleships can't help. It's probably loaded with firepower."

"Then why's it here?" Mal asked, terrified.

"Probably as another means of destroying the island in case the Orvast Plague doesn't work. They'd drive this into the village and start massacring."

"How would we stop it?" Mal asked.

"You wouldn't. If this drove in, it'd be game over."

"Why though?" Halcen asked. "Why all these plans upon plans just for this one island? Why is Wickthorne Island so important?"

"I can't tell you," Jin said. "But someone high up has a terrible plan. Too complex for us to figure out here and now."

"You're right. We need to focus on what we can do right now. And that's defeating Armani. He's gotta be here somewhere."

"And here I am indeed." A voice echoed inside the warehouse. "But can you really defeat me, I wonder?"

"We took you down once!" Halcen shouted at the echo.

"That was when I was unaware of your presence. Now you've shown your hand. I have the upper hand here. You might as well just give up and let me kill you."

"If you were really sure of yourself, you'd show yourself, instead of hiding like a coward!' Halcen said, goading the man.

"Fine, if that's how you want to play." Regulo Armani appeared on top of a metal rack on the wall. He stood over them, holding a glass vial over the room. "Looking for something?"

Halcen started at the sight of the cure. That was what they were there to get. And he was not going to let this man get away them and kill this island. These people needed that vial.

"Don't play around Armani!"

"Oh, please. I wouldn't destroy this. It's much too valuable. I just wanted to watch your faces." Then Armani said, "Okay, now I need to kill you all and be on my way. Who wants to die first?"

Grey and Jory ran with full speed after the sludge creature into the depths of the swamp. They had finally found it after chasing it from the inside the World Government facility. This beast was a creation of evil and unfounded power. Its disgusting form was unparalleled though, due to that it was a liquid that could solidify at any point that it desired. Blades, bullets, and fists did nothing against this bastard. But they would find a weakness, or die trying.

Grey rushed toward the creature, and threw a right fist right into its side.

Its body absorbed Grey's fist. His whole arm went deep inside.

The creature squealed. Its noises were as disgusting as the rest of it.

Grey had gained its attention though and had ceased its trajectory towards the village in the south.

He began yanking on his arm until it finally came out, spraying green sludge on the ground. Grey's stomach twisted at it. He had been around for a very long time, traveled the world over, fought a great many enemies, but this was by far the grossest one he had ever encountered. His body shivered in disgust.

Jory ran in too, his blade outward. His only chance, he knew, was to be lucky. Grey's overwhelming strength had still done nothing to the beast, but Jory had no choice but to give it his all as well. This was going to get crazy. He ran the length of the creature and dug his sword into its side. It went in like butter but the whole run, as he went through, it immediately resealed its own skin with no scars or damage. He got out the other side and looked at the beast with dismay. He knew this was going to happen. It was the exact same thing he had tried before and it hadn't worked then either, but he had nothing else. He was at a loss. They both were.

"It didn't work," Grey said, vexed.

"Nope."

The beast launched two tendrils outside of its body that slammed both of the men off their feet and into the ground. It turned into a jet stream and began spraying them with terrible force, pinning them down. Sludge flecks flew all over the area.

The two grunted in pain as the creature continued without letting up.

Jory tried to cut through the tendril, but his blade did nothing.

Grey managed to wriggle his body just enough to roll to the side and get back up on his feet. He rubbed his chest. It was sore. But he didn't have time to rest. He jumped down into a slide to pull Jory out of his own entrapment. They were both free for now.

The creature was not satisfied. It began screeching.

Then it began spewing out fat chunks of itself onto the ground. Five individual pieces in all. They then began to sizzle and form and they took the shape of humanoids.

"Oh, what the hell is this?" Jory said.

"A foul mimicry!" Grey said. "We will not be threatened by such simple tricks."

The creatures were still dark green sludge, but they were much more agile now and capable of actual combat.

Grey was wrong. Jory was scared.

The beasts came at them. Five on two.

The first one swung down his arms in an axe like motion. Jory put his sword up to block it. The thing was stopped but then it liquified and reformed around the other side of Jory's sword. It came down and struck Jory in the face.

Jory whined in pain.

The second one went for Grey's legs. It latched itself to him, trying to maintain a solid substance to hold the main in place. Grey struggled to get free and he began stamping on the thing until it turned liquid again.

The third creature came at Grey from behind. It clung to his back and tried to control the tall man's body. It wrapped its arms around his neck and squeezed its legs around his waist. It squeezed tighter and tighter. Then its hand became a blade. It tried to shove it into Grey's neck.

Grey struggled against the creature. Its body was solid for the moment, so he was able to push against it and resist. They were locked in a battle of strength. Grey finally managed to move the beast's arm away from his neck, but it was slippery. It snuck its arm through his grasp and stabbed his chest.

"GRRAAWW!" Grey shouted in pain.

The thing tried to go deeper, but Grey was ready now. He was in a heightened state. He grabbed its arm, yanking the whole creature off his back over his head and slammed it into the ground. He stomped on it until it turned into liquid goo again.

He looked at his wound, bleeding. It was throbbing. "Oh, that's gonna get infected."

"Grey, are you okay?!" Jory shouted, alarmed. If even Grey was getting hurt, this did not bode well at all for himself.

"I'm fine! Focus, boy!"

Jory was still locked in combat with the first goo beast. He slashed through it again and again with his blade, but the only thing that it did was hold it back.

That's when then fourth and fifth beasts attacked.

One went for Jory. It came at him from behind. It swung its arm across at Jory's leg. Jory saw it coming just in time. He jumped up, missing the attack. Then he pulled his sword and swung down into the beast's head. It was solidified in the moment, so it actually caught damage. It was slow and difficult, but Jory pushed his sword all the way down through the center of the beast. It fell apart in two pieces. But as soon as it hit the ground, it reliquefied and formed back together.

"There's no way to stop them!" Jory shouted.

"Yes, there is," Grey said, enraged.

The fifth beast came at Grey, trying to finish him off. He leapt into the air, arms flying.

Grey charged forward, not even letting the thing hit the ground. He smashed into the beast's stomach with a huge haymaker loaded in black Haki.

The beast was flung across the swamp air into a tree nearby where it sat for a moment until it began to bubble up and disintegrated. They'd actually beat one of them.

Grey was getting serious now.

Bo and Fein were following the snake beast as it continued to rampage. They were tasked with taking it down. How, they had no idea.

It slammed through the murky water and over the slippery mossy ground. Its agitation grew worse and worse as the experiment took hold more and more. Its body was covered in black sludge. It was being completely taken over. Its eerie mind was going and replaced with nothing but rage and an unquenchable thirst to destroy and spread its evil.

"How can we possibly defeat this thing?" Bo asked, feeling like their task was going to be an impossible one. Still, he ran behind it all the same as Fein pondered.

Fein was unsure. He did not have all the tools he felt necessary to take this thing down. The best of which would be a huge fucking plasma cannon, but he was fresh out of those for the moment. "First things first, we need to get its attention."

"That, I can do!" Bo shouted. He stopped running and pulled out his pistol. He took a moment to aim it toward the serpent.

BANG!

The bullet shot forward and hit the snake it the fleshy part behind the jowls with great accuracy. But as it hit, it was instantly repelled off the scales. The pistol shot wasn't strong enough to do any damage.

Bo cursed to himself. "It can't be." He'd encountered strong opponents before but nothing like this. The only other creature to ever repel his bullet was Avarik Halcen, his now master and commander. He had finally seen someone so powerful and worthy, that following him made sense. But here was this creature, this viper, this beast, that had the same power. Its scales were to the degree of Armament Haki. "Did you see that?" Bo asked.

"I… did… unfortunately," Fein said, stunned. Of all the things he'd expected about a giant snake, bullet-proof scales was not one of them. He would need to correct his assumptions.

Unfortunately for them, their plan had worked. The snake had been annoyed by their pathetic attempt at harming it, and turned to face them, ceasing its assault on the swamp. It slowly slithered its way towards the men.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Bo asked.

"I… have no idea."

"Fuck my life."