At an unknown location...
Nami gradually opened her eyes, the light on the ceiling being a bit too bright for someone waking up from getting decked in the left cheek. She moved her hand on to her cheek where that blonde girl had hit her, only to realize that her 2 hands were cuffed together at the wrist by cuffs apparently made of ice, which were in turn connected to the bed she was on via chains of ice.
She looked around, and realized that she was in some sort of cell with metal bars and a bright light on the ceiling, and that she was lying on a rather comfy bed. Honestly, she'd been in worse cells, but at the moment she was focused on getting out of there. Unfortunately, there were no keyholes in the ice cuffs for her to pick, and even her superhuman strength failed to break the chains.
"Look who finally woke up", a female voice said, and Nami turned her head to see that a beautiful green-haired woman in a golden bikini and fur coat was sitting on a chair on the other side of the cell at a small table, enjoying a delicious-looking ice cream sundae. Nami recognized her as the woman from the video who'd made the diamonds grow exponentially in size (before Nami had gotten a nosebleed from the sight of so much money).
"You must be Brandish", Nami said in a defiant and somewhat accusatory tone that indicated that she knew at least something about who they truly were. "You're the one who can change the size of things like diamonds." "So you know about my magic, huh?", the green-haired woman said while giving Nami a terrifying glare that made all of Nami's spunk momentarily vanish as her face went pale. Nami couldn't sense auras, and even she could feel the sheer power emanating off of this person without her even doing anything. This must have been what people felt when Luffy unleashed his Conqueror's Haki. Who was this woman?
Brandish then gave a bored sigh and said "Well that's a pain" and went back to her tasty sundae. Nami breathed a sigh of relief. "But anyways", Brandish continued, making Nami tense again, "we've been watching you and your criminal buddies on the news as well. Not to mention, one of your friends has apparently been snooping on one of our people, which has made her and her boyfriend freaked out, so that's more of a hassle for me."
She said all of this with a tone full of boredom and disinterest, as if a potential conflict between their 2 groups was more of a bother to her than a serious situation. She then ate some more of her ice cream, smiling a bit at the good taste (Nami thought that for someone who had a terrifying power level, her smile was kind of adorable) before looking back at Nami. "By the way, who are you?"
"What?"
"I mean who are you really?"
"I'm Doctor Mikam, from the former company Cherry Blossom Medical."
"I meant who you really are."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't feel too bad, you're a really good liar. I've just been around spies and liars long enough to tell when someone's trying to bullshit me." "Okay then, but who are you? Is your last name 'μ' some sort of code?" "I don't know what you're talking about, that's just my last name." "You're kidding." "No, why?"
There was a brief silence before Nami decided to drop the subject by saying, "Nothing, it's a perfectly fine name". If this woman could make anything grow in size, she could probably kill Nami with a snap of her fingers by making her organs explode, so it was best to not aggravate her.
"You know, ginger, you don't look cute, what with that risque outfit and all."
"Excuse me?", the outraged navigator said, "You're literally wearing a bikini under that coat! You're no better than I am!" "The difference is that unlike me, you're not cute at all."
She then put her hand in her left coat pocket and pulled out a head piece with fake cat ears and a collar with a little bell. "So I think you should put these cat ears and collar on. Nami was flabbergasted, before getting angry and yelling "ABSOLUTELY NOT!".
Brandish sighed and said "very well", before snapping her fingers. Nothing seemed different, until Nami looked down and realized that she was now flat as a board. She let out a small scream, before angrily turning to Brandish and yelling at her: "TURN THEM BACK TO THE WAY THEY WERE RIGHT NOW!"
"Sure, just put these cat ears and collar on." Realizing that she couldn't win this one, Nami sighed and said "fine". Brandish then got up from her chair, shrank 2 of the cell bars so that she could simply walk through the gap, and went over to Nami. The helpless and somewhat humiliated pirate didn't struggle as Brandish put the headpiece on her, with the end parts going behind her ears (Brandish then made it slightly smaller and tighter so that Nami couldn't just shake it off later). She then made the collar grow to the diameter of a frisbee, lowered it beneath Nami's head, and shrank it so it perfectly fit on her neck without being too tight or loose. After doing so, she then snapped her fingers, and Nami's bosom went back to its normal size. Nami briefly thought to herself that this woman could make a fortune doing 'plastic' surgery.
"Oh wow, I can't believe it!", Brandish said with a hand over her mouth. "You're adorable!" Nami growled and said "Why you-" before stopping herself by thinking about all the ways this woman could make her suffer with her powers if she really wanted to. This was one of the most humiliating things she'd even gone through, but she knew from experience that it could be much worse. She took a deep breath as she thought to herself: Just take the compliment, Nami.
Brandish walked out of the cell (growing the 2 shrunken bars back to their normal size after she was out of it), went back to her table, and resumed eating the sundae. When there was only one scoop left, she snapped her fingers again, and the scoop grew until it filled up the entire bowl. She then smiled and went back to eating, leaving an angry Nami to sulk and glare at her.
After a few minutes, Nami had calmed down enough to try asking Brandish a question without overstepping any boundaries. "How did you get this ridiculous power? And how come you haven't used it to, I don't know, rule the world or something."
Brandish, without even looking at her, said: "First off, where I come from, magic is commonplace. One in every ten people have it, it's just that only a few people have extremely powerful magic like me. Second, ruling the world? Why would I waste my time with a hassle like that? Just being a general was too much work for me. Third, if you want to talk about ridiculous, how can you try to ask serious questions with those cat ears on?"
Nami's jaw dropped in exasperation at the last part. You're the one who put them on me!, she thought to herself. However, the fact that this woman was apparently a general alarmed and somewhat scared Nami. Was this group some sort of magic-wielding army? She then realized that she needed to tread even more lightly then before, since encounters with the marines had taught her that general were prone to being drunk on their own power and treating their helpless victims as playthings.
She then remembered how the files Robin gave her mentioned that this woman was for some reason the only person in the group that didn't have a strange tattoo on some part of her body. Maybe if she asked her about that (in a way that didn't seem threatening at all), it could give her some more information about this group.
"Wait a sec. All of your friends have some strange tattoo on their body, and you don't."
"So?"
"Why is that?"
Brandish sighed, before putting down her spoon and ice cream and then turning her chair to face Nami.
"First off, friends? Making a lot of assumptions right now. Second, everyone else here is part of a guild back home called 'Fairy Tail', and I'm from an entirely different continent and serve the Alvarez Empire. Up until a bit before we were sent here, I was actually enemies with this group, particularly one Lucy Heartfilia."
"I'm sorry, what?" "You know that blonde-haired chick who knocked you out? I tried killing her...at least once, maybe twice or thrice, though I wasn't really trying on the last one...whatever. The point is I was her enemy."
"Why'd you try killing her? And why are you even with this group if they were your enemies? Are they desperate or stupid if they trust you?"
"Probably a bit of both.", she said before giving out a heavy sigh, one that Nami sensed contained some sort guilt and pain. "But anyways, I was officially sent to take care of her and her pals because our kingdom was invading their home, so they tried to infiltrate us. It failed, of course, but points for trying. However, after encountering Lucy, something about her bothered me, so I snuck into her home and waited for her in her bath. When she got back, I said that she had to stay in the bath with me until I found out why she perplexed me, or I'd shrink the village into dust."
Nami had to resist snickering as she thought to herself Oh, if only Sanji were here to hear this.
"Then after a while, I recognized who she was. The daughter of my mother's former boss and friend. The thing was, I had always believed that it was her mother that had murdered my mother."
Nami's internal snickering stopped, and she gave Brandish a look of shock and pity as Brandish went on.
"I then attacked her. I knew even then that there was no justice in what I was trying to do, but to me there was no other way to avenge her. Then her friend showed up before I could take her out, but I got some hay fever from the pollen in the air, letting them knock me out. Not exactly my finest moment. When I was in their prison, a former minion of mine tried to kill me, but my 2 captors saved me just in time. When they gave me a second chance, I said that I wanted to speak to Lucy alone, and she naively trusted me when no one didn't. She...had faith in me."
At this point, tears were starting to well in her eyes, but she took a deep breath before continuing.
"I told her what I thought had happened between our mothers, and I then tried to kill her again. I didn't feel any joy in it, but I felt that if I did this, my mother would be at peace. Looking back now, I think she'd have been horrified to see me try to kill her friend's daughter like that. Luckily for her, an old friend of ours intervened in time. She'd been like a mother to each of us at different times in our lives, so I trusted her when she said that she wanted to set the story straight."
"So what really happened?"
"She used her magic to show us what really happened. As it turns out, Lucy's mother, Layla, needed certain magical items to perform a magical ritual, but she was missing one due to it being in my mother's possession, and she had just moved with me to another continent, making it impossible to reach her in time. So Lucy's mother used her own magic to perform the ritual. It worked, but the magic needed to do so caused her to begin dying. She was as forgiving as her daughter, and forgave my mother even while she was on death's door. So I guess if you think about it, it was my mother who killed hers."
She let out a sad chuckle, tears welling in her eyes again.
"And one of the servants thought so too, apparently. When my mama was leaving, the servant stabbed her from behind, blaming her for Layla's death. My mama thought so too, but begged him to spare me. He did, and I was all alone until a man named August took me in. He was a good man, but I miss my mama everyday."
As she finished, tears were starting to slide down her face, and Nami (who knew exactly how it felt to lose a mother at a young age) was on the verge as well.
"And yet, even though I had tried to unjustly murder her, Lucy forgave me again and again and again."
She then wiped off her tears and recollected herself before finishing the story.
"When the war was over, Lucy offered me a spot in her guild, but it seemed like too much of a bother to me. However, we both found out that our old mother-figure, the same one who'd shown me the truth behind my mother's death, was somewhere that could only be accessed through a certain key that was in another continent. But, before we could try to find her, some random portal sent me, her, and a bunch of her annoying friends to this dimension. Annoying or not, they're my best bet for getting home.
Besides, after all I tried to do to Lucy and all the things she's forgiven...well, she has more of a life waiting for her at home than I do, so this is a way of me settling the score. You know, so this way I don't have this big piece of emotional leverage hanging over my head for the rest of my life."
Even as she claimed that she was only doing it to pay off a debt, Nami could sense the guilt in her voice. She knew what it was like to be in that situation, especially after she'd backstabbed the Straw Hats after first meeting to try and save her village. Even though she'd never admit it, she still partially felt as though she still owed Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Zoro debts that no amount of money could pay, which is why she'd follow them to the end of the world and back.
She knew how Brandish must have felt, to have her mother wrongly taken from her and to be left in an unforgiving world that couldn't care less about whether they lived or not. She also knew how it felt to feel nothing but hatred for those related to her mother's death, as even after the Straw Hats rescuing her she felt nothing but loathing towards the Fishmen who used to work for Arlong. She desired to make them suffer like she did, just like how Brandish wished to continue the cycle of death by killing Lucy. It took Hatchan nearly dying for his friend as well as learning about the horrors that Fishman went through for her to truly forgive those involved in Arlong's torment of her.
She was relieved to hear that Brandish had apparently been raised by a good man and spared the life she'd lived through. She wouldn't wish her childhood on her worst enemy (well, asides from maybe the Celestial Dragons). As she thought back to her own childhood, she couldn't stop the tears from rolling down her face.
As Brandish wiped the tears off her own face, she saw that Nami was tearing up. She couldn't tell if this was genuine or just an attempt to trick her, but part of her then considered that most of the common criminals she'd met usually also had rotten childhoods. Hell, her mother's death had led to her serving an emperor who'd wanted to massacre an entire country (and perhaps more than just one). She decided to give this chick the benefit of the doubt.
She snapped her fingers, and the tears on Nami's face shrank until they couldn't even be seen by the human eye. Nami looked at Brandish in surprise, although she just picked up her bowl of ice cream and said in the same bored tone from before:
"Well, the sob story's over now. This whole thing has made me depressed, so I'm going somewhere else. I think they said they'll bring you some food in a few hours. See ya."
Before she left, Nami suddenly cried out: "Wait!"
Brandish looked back at her. "I think your mom would be proud of you, Brandish. I really do."
Brandish looked at her, before smiling and shaking her head. "Thanks for the heads-up, ghost whisperer."
She said it in a slightly sarcastic tone, but Nami could tell that she appreciated it. She then walked off, and Nami decided to just lie there and think about what had happened, as well as reflect on the current situation.
Suddenly, a guy with red hair and a scarf entered the room, with the blonde girl from before entering behind him with a tray of food. Nami looked at them, causing them to look back at her, and there was a brief silence before the red-haired guy broke the silence.
"What's with those cat ears you got on?"
(At the Justice League Headquarters)
The Justice League had been fully assembled as soon as possible as an emergency was announced, and now all of them were grimly looking at the large screen showing evil sorcerers as well as magical monsters thought of as sheer myth rampaging across the globe. Even as Earth's heroic sorcerers took them on and defeated them, more monsters appeared mere days afterward. It was only due to sheer luck that there were just a few casualties (as well as rescue efforts done by numerous wealthy individuals who Batman and Zatanna agreed were probably magic-users).
The strangest thing was that, according to Zatanna, these monster had been sealed away with powerful magic and had also gotten heavy power dampening spells to reduce them to a fraction of their power, yet both of those seem to have been removed by a user of some type of magic which even Zatanna couldn't identify.
"For now, all of these monsters have been killed or banished and sealed again, but there's no telling what other creatures might emerge next.", Batman said in his typical serious and grim tone. "We need to find out who has been releasing these monsters and take them down."
Wonder Woman put forth her opinion with a tone of anger, not just at the situation but for her own people's mistake. "I'd bet that its Aresia's doing. She did escape with a few other women from Joker's captivity, and if anyone knows magic it's her."
"No, she wouldn't jeopardize the lives of so many women like this.", Batman replied. "She might not care if they hate her for her actions, but she wouldn't put them in harm's way." Wonder Woman thought it over, before withdrawing her suggestion.
"The Straw Hats would never do this, that much I know", Superman firmly said. "I've met their captain, and even though he's recruited crooks he would never harm innocents for any reason." Batman gave him one of his signature glares, but when Superman didn't back down Batman decided to back off. He didn't fully trust the Straw Hats, but even he knew that they would never cause catastrophe on a global scale. Besides, Zatanna had analyzed their powers, and none of them possessed any magic whatsoever (not even the Soul King...somehow).
Batman then continued with his analysis of the situation: "However, I believe that this might involve a number of famous individuals who have all risen to fame and fortune suspiciously fast over the last 2 years. He clicked a remote, and the screen then showed the faces of celebrities like the famous author and business owner known as Lucy Heartfilia, famous fashion designer Erza Scarlet, scientist Levy McGarden, swimsuit model Mirajane Strauss, and steel-factory owner Gajeel Redfox."
Flash couldn't help but whistle when he saw how attractive the ladies on the screen were, causing Green Lantern and Hawkgirl to roll their eyes.
"You think that these people were involved in the attacks?", Hawkgirl asked. "I mean, I always had a hunch that you were into conspiracy theories, but this is a bit much."
Batman, ignoring the teasing within her remark, responded with "I highly doubt that they are the perpetrators.
"But you said-"
"That they were involved, not that they were the perpetrators", Batman said, not wanting to look at Superman since he knew that Superman would know that he felt somewhat guilty about the whole 'Cherry Blossom' incident going awry due to bad communication.
"All of these attacks have footage showing them using their magic abilities when no one is looking in order to save civilians and/or stop the attackers, and none of them even bothered to show their true selves to the people to make themselves look like superheroes. In fact, Zatanna was lucky to even get the magic recordings of them that she did."
And with another press of a button, the screen showed a recording of the recent monster attack in Singapore, where a massive serpent-like creature with electric powers (which was known as a 'Leviathan') had created a massive storm before attacking the city-state. The military valiantly fought it off and bought the fleeing civilians a few valuable hours, but the serpentine creature eventually got tired of playing around with them and used lightning to wipe out the entire active military force.
The recording then showed the woman known as Erza Scarlet guiding people to safety before rushing behind a building and somehow changing from a white t-shirt and jeans into a light-blue armor with gold trimmings and a cloth covering her legs, with a spear manifesting next to her. They didn't know it, but its name was the Lightning Empress Armor.
After her transformation was complete, she bent her legs, then jumped straight at the monster just as it was about to blast on the city, going at speeds far above the speed of sound (and appearing as though she were flying even though this armor was actually unable to use flight). The beast sensed her massive power level, and it instinctively turned its head to fire the massive blast of magic lightning at her instead of the crowded city. However, the red-haired fighter went right through the blast of electricity without any sign of slowing down or taking damage, courtesy of her armor's resistance to electricity.
She flew right through the beam, into the creature's mouth, and out the back of the neck, cleanly cutting the spine and disconnecting it from the brain (which should have killed it, given its serpentine anatomy). However, the creatures wound crackled with green electricity and began healing itself as it turned to face its new opponent, now more angry than hurt. The military and civilians were too terrified to notice her, and decided to just take advantage of the monster's pause to continue their evacuation.
Of course, one guy tried recording what was going on while sitting on the top of a skyscraper, but a random lightning bolt hit the unlucky fellow and knocked him out cold (while also destroying his camera). Fortunately, a helicopter saw him get hit and decided to take him in case he was still alive, which ended up saving his life.
Erza then changed armors again in mid-air, this time wearing a revealing blue garb. She then dodged an incoming bite from the Leviathan and glided onto its head. When it tried to remove her by whipping its head about (and even diving underwater), she managed to hang onto its left horn, and the monster was unable to remove her despite its best efforts. When she sensed that it was slightly exhausted, she used all of her strength and leaned to the left, steering the serpent into the cliff like a cowgirl wrangling the world's deadliest bull. She then made it drag its own face across the cliffside, and once that was done she jumped into the air, with the Leviathan angrily turning its head towards her while charging up another energy blast.
"The Seven Stars will judge you more harshly than I ever could, you electric abomination!", Erza said as she placed both hands on top of each other, with the top hand having only the index and middle fingers spread out. Seven Magic seals were then summoned in front of her and connected together to make what appeared to be a constellation. The clouds in the sky parted to show the darkness of the light being lit by the same seven seals that Erza had created, just before beams of pure light rained down from those seals and onto the Leviathan. It tried to protect itself via a shield of magic, but the beams were too strong and too numerous, and the shield soon shattered as the Leviathan was helpless against the barrage of light.
There was a brief but blindingly bright explosion of light, making Erza, fleeing Singaporeans, and the Justice League all cover their eyes. When the light disappeared, there was nothing left of the monster except its horn, and Erza looked a bit worn out but otherwise perfectly fine. Realizing that the threat was dead, Erza smiled, turned into the attire she had worn before the battle had begun, and was about to go to an inconspicuous location to protect her identity when she suddenly heard the cries of some civilians trapped inside a crumbling building. As she ran to rescue them, the video came to a close.
There was a brief silence in the room, until Hawkgirl broke it by saying, "At least now we know where she gets her taste in clothing design from", causing a few chuckles until Diana's glare made them shut up.
"This is serious, Shayera. We need to find out who these magicians are and see if they can be befriended or not."
She then sighed, before continuing with:
"But, I will admit that this video shows that they are probably our allies for the time being. Not to mention, Zatanna found out that when Aresia spread her virus across the globe, all of these people did nothing but try and save as many people as possible while in secret. There are at least 500 planes who reported a mysterious force carrying their plane to safety after the pilots got infected, and Superman here says that he didn't rescue any of them. A lot of people wouldn't be a live now if it weren't for these people. If any of you encounter one of these sorcerers, report back to us and we will try to open negotiations with them. We can't afford to aggravate another group of super humans for now."
And with that, the meeting came to a close as all the members left, with Batman deliberately leaving before Superman or Diana could talk to him while Flash was talking about how amazing Erza looked in that revealing blue garb, with Green Lantern rolling his eyes in response.
Little did they know that the real enemy was moving her next piece in this cosmic chess game far away across the globe.
Abandoned Factory, Unknown location
Aresia and the girls who'd escaped with her were all resting within an abandoned factory they'd found. All of them were exhausted after fleeing the Injustice League and hiding from both the Straw Hats and Justice League (both of whom would likely murder Aresia for her actions, since at this point even the Straw Hats were probably just done with her). The other girls continued to follow Aresia despite the dangers she brought out of a mixture of desperation, gratitude, and even a bit of mutual hatred of men (she was starting to wear off on them).
They'd robbed some food and mattresses from a local Walmart after it had closed, making sure that no one saw them since while it was easy to kill them, dead bodies brought unwanted attention.
As they were resting, Aresia was mentally formulating her next virus when someone knocked on the door and said "Hello? Is Aresia home? I was told that you were in this area.". All of the women immediately stopped whatever they were doing and sprung out of their mattress-beds, powers at the ready. Aresia quietly walked to the door with one arm holding a dagger behind her back, and as she opened it with the other hand and prepared to swing the knife at the intruder...
Only to see that the visitor wasn't a superhero, supervillain, or even a Straw Hat, but a young woman with green eyes and silver hair that was curled at the ends. She was wearing a blouse, and was noticably shorter than even Aresia. Aresia initially thought she was kind of adorable, but she saw that this girl's eyes hid something unknown behind them that gave Aresia chills.
"I-I'm Aresia, child", the former Amazon eventually said, creeped out by this girl to no end. How did she even find them, and how did she sneak up to the front door without them detecting it with their powers or superhuman senses? "Who sent you here?"
"Oh you know, none of your business", the girl said in a tone that was part snarky and humorous but also carried a hidden message that if Aresia asked this again, she'd regret it dearly. "May I come in?"
Aresia, who hadn't been this terrified since that 'Nico Robin' woman had calmly declared that she'd burn the world down to save her friends, let this girl in. Besides, she thought to herself in an attempt to rationalize the situation and calm her nerves, if she wanted me dead or captured she'd have done so already.
The girl walked inside and looked around, before noticing that there was a tea kettle on a small stove that the women had found in the factory, and they'd just finished letting the tea brew. She walked over, took the kettle with one hand and a teacup from her dress pocket with the other, and poured some of the tea into the tea cup. She then took a small plate out of her other dress pocket, and sat on the counter as she drank from the tea cup.
When she was done, she simply said "Hm, not bad" and then put the cup down on the plate, set them both on the counter, and hopped off the counter before looking at the women staring at her.
"Who are you?", Star Sapphire asked with some irritation in her voice.
"It doesn't matter who I am", the girl calmly replied. "What matters is my plan. But if you must know, my name is Faris."
"Okay," Giganta said in a confused voice, "well then what is your plan?"
Faris didn't answer, but instead turned back to Aresia. "Tell me, is it true that your man-made infection involves the usage of magic?"
"How did you- never mind, what of it?"
"What if I told you that I can greatly magnify the magical power of your little man-killing disease and give you the magic power hidden within your former comrade Diana? You know, for a little bit of poetic justice?" Aresia's fists tightened as she recalled how Diana had the nerve to work alongside those male swine, and imagined the catharsis she'd get from wrapping her own lasso around her throat for treason, before snapping out of it and turning back to Faris, who apparently didn't mind waiting for her to snap out of her little fantasy.
"Alright, then. Suppose you could do all that. What's in it for you?"
"You know, you really should stop asking about things that aren't your business", the mysterious girl said. "You and your friends just need to do whatever it is you want to do but with my assistance. Do that, and Earth will soon be free of man's plight." Aresia thought it over, momentarily looking over to Tsukiri, who gave her a look that betrayed some fear and suspicion of this gift-bearing stranger. Not that Aresia blamed her. However, this girl seemed to genuinely be on their side, and could likely be turned over to Aresia's cause with some time, given her young age.
"What if we say no then? What if we decided to take you out now before you cause us any more trouble", Star Sapphire asked defiantly, trying to call this girl's bluff. She wasn't going let this magician who got lucky while tracking them bully her into submission. Faris chuckled a bit, before calmly looking at her and saying: "It's adorable that you think that your weak little ring could accomplish anything of note against me. The one thing you would accomplish, however, is getting on my bad side, which is a place no one wants to be."
The calmness of her threat sent chills down the woman's back, and she wisely shut her mouth to avoid irritating this girl any further.
Aresia, now even more intimidated than before, looked back to her and gave the only answer she could: "I accept your offer, Faris. But on one condition."
Faris looked at her with a blank look that hid irritation at this woman's stubbornness.
"No more monsters will be released against innocent women. They just keep getting hurt in the crossfire. Until we find a way to round up all the men for the monsters to dispose of safely, I want you to stop releasing them." Faris thought it over, then sighed and said "Very well. Just do your job and I won't be forced to release any more of them." And with that, the misandrist who was once an Amazon found herself a frightening new ally.
The real chaos was about to begin.