Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, 7 Deadly Sins, Despicable Me, Rosario x Vampire, Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, RWBY, Blue Exorcist, DBZ, DC Comics, Pokemon, or any of the other shows, movies, comics, or games that you might recognize proper nouns from in this story.

Nexus HWR 19 Smoke and Mirrors:

"Look out behind you," Sabo teleported behind Ace and kicked his right leg into the head of a Chimera Ant with features of a falcon that was diving at his brother.

Ace turned his head sideways and lifted his eyebrows at the sight of Sabo floating there in midair on top of a puffy white cloud. Sabo had two fingers on each hand stuck up in the air and his hands clasped together in front of his chest. "What was that?" Ace wondered while pulling his right arm back farther. Fire surrounded his fist and turned his entire arm to flames. "FIRE FIST!" Ace punched forward and incinerated the landscape in front of him with the screams of Ants caught in the fire echoing out around them.

"Could we just run away, like, for once?" Mizore wondered at the two brothers who each smirked back towards the Snow Woman sitting on a chair of ice that started melting below her despite how she only made it a couple of minutes ago. She reformed the chair back to its original position after Ace's flames simmered a bit and the temperature around her dropped back to negative twenty so her breath hovered in the air as steam in front of her face.

"It's the Body Flicker Technique," Sabo responded to Ace after they flashed Mizore a smirk that just had her rolling her eyes at them. "This powerful ninja I met a while ago, Jiraiya, told me my chakra is abnormally large. I'm just naturally gifted, you know?" Sabo bragged.

"Yeah yeah, I heard the same thing when some magicians gauged my 'magic power.' Don't get too cocky now," Ace said with a smirk back at his brother. "By the way, I just took out another thirty-eight of these guys. Pretty sure that puts me far in the lead."

"I'll have to catch up then," Sabo retorted. He grabbed the metal pipe off the back of his black jacket and brought the long end up to his lips. Ace looked at him in surprise as Sabo mainly just used the pipe to bash enemies with like they used to as kids. Sabo made a few hand signs though before blowing into the pipe and forcing out a thick cloud of white smoke. "Smoke Clones!" Sabo called out. Seven other Sabos appeared around him and all made a circle around the ice throne that Mizore watched interestedly from. Those Sabos all leapt off the ground and shot in ninja-like blurs towards Chimera Ants quickly realizing how outmatched they were against this group.

"More chakra? You're getting repetitive," Ace commented while flying up over two of the Sabos with his lower body in the shape of a fiery tornado. His fists turned black with Haki and he shot himself down with an explosion of flames towards the fastest of his enemies. The cobra-like creature had dodged his Fire Fist a minute ago and was charging up some energy attack that Ace was going to prevent by hitting the ant first.

"Chakra mixed with Nen!" Sabo countered back. He laughed as one of the Ants figured that out a second later when one of the Smoke Clones' fists glowed with a white aura around it that cracked her shell and made the female turtle-like Ant scream out in pain. Ace looked towards the Sabo who called that out in surprise then darted a look around at the other smoke creations that were more impressive than he thought. "I had this teacher named Morel who helped me make the ability. He didn't get what I was doing mixing my jutsu with it. Knocked his socks off!"

Sabo laughed and did a backflip without looking back at the speeding poison dart flying at the back of his neck. He did not need to look at it to see it approaching with his Observational Haki, and he maneuvered easily to avoid getting hit by it. "We're on a bit of a tight schedule, Ace. Mind if your older brother wins this competition and takes them all out at once?"

"Hahh, as much as I want to argue," Ace started back. "Older?" Stop saying that! Don't let him know it's getting to you or he'll say it even more. Ace pretended not to be bothered even though Sabo kept dangling the fact that he had two more years of aging back on their world over Ace's head to claim seniority. "You're right," Ace got more focused on what he had started to say and the reason why he and Sabo were in a rush. "Need us to get out of range?" Ace wondered.

"Oh yeah," Sabo laughed and replied. The cockiness in his tone and the smirk on his face unnerved the sixty or so Chimera Ants still in the vicinity who eased backwards at the look on the blond-haired man's face. Sabo brought the metal pipe back up to his lips but called out before he touched it, "Get moving!"

"Grab hold," Ace flew towards Mizore and reached down to the Yuki-Onna who lifted a hand and grabbed on without changing her expression. She yawned but still looked back towards Sabo in some interest wondering what he was about to do to apparently take out all the enemies at once.

Sabo's clones started vibrating in the different parts of the dark black field of grass they were standing on. The landscape looked desolate because of the dark color of the vegetation on the eastern outskirts of the Land of the Chimeras where they were fighting. The Sabos scattered amongst the ranks of Chimera Ants shook when Sabo started blowing into his pipe and making even thinner smoke that was hard to see push out of his pipe. The thinner it got, the faster it spread around, looking less like smoke and more like some translucent, almost transparent, gas. The gas was clear when it stretched thin enough but still made the air vibrate while spreading farther and farther. The Smoke Clones broke apart too and scattered quickly out in all directions, and some of the Ants realized that Sabo had been setting up this move in the first place by creating them and sending them out around the battlefield.

Some Ants charged at him. Others tried to flee. All of them found it very hard to move after a few seconds though as the thin gas in the air was not the same as oxygen. The air they usually breathed was changing its makeup, and Ace and Mizore stared back in awe as all the Ants started choking only seconds after Sabo put his lips to the pipe. It would have been possible for some of the Chimera Ants to escape had Sabo not already spread his Smoke Clones out to the farther areas of the battleground in preparation for the move. He was a smart fighter and set it up so not one could escape from him once he activated his Hatsu ability.

"I think your older brother just won the competition," Mizore remarked. Ace did not even get annoyed at her though, and Mizore lifted the right corner of her lips up as she could see what she said did not even bother him despite her efforts.

"That was so cool," Ace whispered back while looking towards Sabo with a huge grin at what he just pulled off.

Sabo flipped around his pipe after lowering it from his lips. He glanced around the battlefield at all the asphyxiated Ants and nodded his head in accomplishment. He glanced towards Ace and then called out towards them with his hands cupped to his mouth, "Air should be fine now! You can come back!"

"Let's get going then!" Ace shouted back at him while starting his jog back over the field of black grass. "We've got the Ren Empire, and I still don't think we've left the Land of the Chimeras!"

"Well if someone hadn't crashed our ship on the first day," Mizore called at Ace's back.

"Hahaha," Sabo was far off but could tell what Mizore just commented at his brother. He stopped laughing after a second though while the pair jogging towards him started bickering about the incident of their crashed ship. I told Ace it was fine, but I really wish he hadn't done that. Not that it was entirely his fault with the Aragami on us. Still, I wish this continent wasn't so wide. Or that it was at least a bit more populated so we could've gotten another ship to head to Rakushou in. We don't have time to be taking long detours.

FD + 801

A Port on the West Coast of Silvior

"Do you really have to go?" Agnes asked while batting her best puppy-dog eyes up at the blond man who laughed and knelt down to her and her older sister at her side. Sabo pushed down on the young girls' heads and messed with Agnes' hair while just pushing Edith's beanie over her eyes and making the middle child complain at him for it. "I don't want you to," Agnes whispered while Sabo stood back up.

"I'll be back," Sabo told them. "Some day." He looked back left at the men to the side of the three girls in front of him. He gave Margo a wink while looking past the oldest of the three sisters in front of him, and she winked back at the man who had given her a special mission to take care of the other two while he was gone. "I'm ready," Sabo told the two men who nodded back at him.

Gru put a hand down on Margo's right shoulder closer to him. She was stood up straight and looked serious like she was ready for this, but the foster father still put his hand there for comfort for a second before patting the front of her shoulder to nudge her back. "Now now, girls, you said goodbye. Let us have a moment with Sabo."

"Hmm, I want to say goodbye last," Edith muttered.

"Come on," Margo stepped in front of the younger two girls and motioned with waves of her arms for them to move back with her.

"Hey! Wait, hey-"

"I can do it. Oi- You don't have to push!"

As soon as the girls had walked away a safe distance, Sabo's expression got more serious while he re-faced Gru and the shorter man next to him. "Thank you, Sabo," Felonius Gru said with a grateful nod at the young man.

Sabo nodded back to show he understood what Gru was thanking him for. He had kept it light-hearted in front of the girls who did not know his true reason for leaving the continent. The short older scientist in a lab coat opened his mouth to mention something to Sabo but got interrupted first. "Sabo! Let's get going already! I'm going to leave without you!"

A loud female voice bellowed down to the docks. Sabo laughed and glanced back behind him to the huge ship he would be taking to Aebrith. The giantess on the deck in an orange singlet yelled down at him and Sabo just held up a hand with one finger up. "One minute, Diane. Okay?"

"Rrg, fine! Just hurry it up!" The giant with huge brown pigtails shouted back down. She turned her head and looked off to the west over the Open Ocean. In a softer voice Diane whispered, "Captain, I'm going to find you."

Sabo looked back to the mad scientists in front of him. Doctor Nefario shook his head at Sabo's choice of company but then started while looking seriously back into Sabo's eyes, "You must warn whoever you can about the nuclear radiation signals." Sabo nodded in an intense way back at Nefario who shook his head again but in worry for Sabo this time. "I fear that it's very likely someone is planning something more nefarious than I can possibly imagine."

Sabo knew the conversation was serious but he still had to force down a smirk at the thought of the doctor's name and the ironic sentence he just worded. Neither Gru nor Nefario seemed to notice the wordplay so Sabo kept from acting childish even if he wanted to laugh about it. He instead cleared his throat and just nodded seriously back to the older men. "I've heard more and more about Aebrith lately. A few of my friends from my world are there, so can't well let them get caught up in that scheme," Sabo assured them. He turned and looked back at the ship behind him. "I'll miss this place for sure, but I think I've seen all Silvior's got by now just like Diane up there. It's time we head on our way."

"Those girls have really taken a liking to you," Gru said. The broad-shouldered scientist and foster father crossed his arms over his chest. "So don't make them sad now by going and getting yourself killed."

"Hah," Sabo scoffed. "I'm heading to Aebrith to save it from nuclear armageddon. But I'm also going to shake the place up when I get there. Don't worry. The next news you hear about me won't be my death." Sabo smirked and started walking towards his ship. "It'll be my rise." Sabo looked off to his left and rose a hand that he waved at the girls he had already said goodbye to many times. They all started waving back at him though and shouting their goodbyes again, and Gru and Nefario rose their hands as well to wave off their good friend.

"Finally! I'm starting the ship up!"

Sabo threw his arms out to the sides to balance as the whole ship shook from Diane putting down her war hammer and running towards the stern. He had to hold onto the railing of the ramp up to the ship's deck, and Sabo laughed and shook his head at the excited giant girl's ship-shaking movements. This is gonna be a rough journey.

Present

Sabo flew over the field and landed next to Ace and Mizore who slowed for a second before curving their run and picking up even more speed as Sabo pointed the way and started running ahead of them. "Try to keep your Power Blocker on this time, Ace?" Sabo suggested with a callout. "Don't want any stronger Hunters tracking us after that fight."

"My arm was itchy. I still don't like these things," Ace remarked back with a shrug, though he did have his PB-4 back on. "Hey Sabo… what number PB is yours anyway?" Ace asked.

Sabo smirked and looked sideways back towards his brother on his back left who gazed suspiciously at him. "PB-4," Sabo told Ace who hummed and shrugged his shoulders in a way that told Sabo that they had the same kind.

Ace hesitated for a second as he did not expect anything different. He opened his mouth then closed it, but Sabo saw him do so and gave him a curious look still gazing over his own shoulder at why Ace would hold something back from him. Ace shook his head around suggesting Sabo was wrong in assuming it was like that. "I'm just wondering," Ace started to his brother while they picked up speed a little more. The freckle-faced pirate glanced at Mizore but she started sliding her feet under her with ice coming out the soles of her shoes on each step that allowed her to keep up with the fast men. Ace continued once he saw she could handle this speed too, "Who taught you how to use your ki?"

"'Ki?' What's that?" Sabo called out while facing back forward and putting an arm up in front of his eyes to block some wind as they kept running eastwards.

"You've been flying, right?" Ace wondered at his brother who had done so a second ago just to get himself closer to them. Sabo was running again, and Ace called out, "You're just running to save your energy, yeah? Because flying wears it down? That's what I've heard at least."

"Well that is right," Sabo called back without turning this time. "But it's just another jutsu I'm using. Energy? Ki? I've got no idea about any of that. The Flight Technique is something old man Ohnoki taught me. He's this short old ninja I trained with for a little while in the early days right after coming to Nexus." Sabo grinned and glanced back towards his brother again while adding, "He had this granddaughter who was really strong, and cute. We got along real well," Sabo said and Ace smirked back and laughed with his brother who laughed too then kicked off the ground and ninja-jumped forward again to keep up a fast pace.

Mizore shook her head at the suggestive language of the blond man. "You should be careful saying stuff like that in front of that girl we met, Koala," Mizore commented towards Sabo while sliding forward a bit faster on her ice to show the other two they could speed up even more if they'd like.

Sabo turned towards Mizore in confusion though. Mizore rolled her eyes at the oblivious male. She didn't even try hiding it. Of course you didn't realize. Idiots never do.

"Koala's just my friend," Sabo said with a shake of his head back at Mizore. He looked back forward then added with a tilt of his head to one side, "Maybe my closest friend."

"Sure," Mizore replied. Bet you'd make her cry if you said that in front of her.

The Distortion World

Blake Belladonna ducked her head and then spun around and looked up at the giant monster flying overhead. The black-winged beast of a Pokemon with golden ridges on the sides of its dark gray body flew past and ignored the two humans walking on a twisting bridge through the dark realm it resided in. "Keep up, my dear," Saburota Todo commented without looking back at the black-haired girl with pointed ears. Blake quickly sped-walked back up to Todo's right side while still slightly behind him. "If you get lost in the Distortion World, you may never be found again."

Blake nodded her head seriously at the warning. She glanced around in the dark dimension mirroring their own that she and Todo walked briskly through over a curved archway that seemed to turn upside-down just ahead of them. Blake had to hold down her last meal as they kept walking straight forwards while somehow also turning upside-down without the gravity seeming to change at all. She glanced behind her and just shook her head at the path that they had been going in a straight line on but looked like a twisted rod behind her that swerved off into a floating city. The city was full of giant buildings that she could not see the tops of or bottoms to as they vanished into the darkness high above and below their current platform.

"Just up ahead we will reach our destination," Todo told his companion. "Your initiation being complete, you would have met him sooner or later anyway. Many do not get to see him at all, let alone so soon after their entry into the Umbrella Corporation."

"I am honored to receive this post," Blake replied. "Thank you, director, for granting me this position."

"Don't thank me yet," Todo ominously warned the girl who got an even more serious look on her face as they continued deeper into the dark labyrinth of the Distortion World. They moved through a maze of stone arches and curving black and purple pathways.

Blake steadied her heart as they neared a clearing she could see up ahead. In the middle of the clearing there was an elevated section, and in the center of that section was a giant stone throne that stretched up high in the air before it curved at its rounded top. There were four dark cloaked figures standing on the elevated section and one shorter than the rest who sat on the throne itself. They were all facing the path leading to them that Blake walked with purpose down and without letting any fear show on her face.

It was easy to push aside the fear though. Her expression remained intense but focused and loyal, despite her true thoughts. Sun. Mom and Dad. Blake kept her hands from curling into fists despite the rage that bubbled inside her. I will get vengeance for the Faunus. The Umbrella Corp. will pay.

Todo stepped up in front of Blake who kept a respectful aura about herself while staying behind the "director" who maintained the same tone of respect to his own approach towards the throne. Todo stopped for a second, but a booming voice roared down from the short figure on the throne. "You may approach!"

Despite how loud it was, Blake noted that it was higher-pitched than she thought it would be, not that she would ever comment about that. She stared up towards the right arm of the throne though and a staff of gold that was resting up against it that her eyes shook at the sight of. At the top of the scepter was a small ornament that appeared like a golden bird of prey. The Staff of Horus! So it is here? If I had that… Todo walked up the path in the clearing until he was just below the elevated area where he lowered to a knee and Blake did the same behind him.

The short figure stood up on his throne and stepped forward to the edge of it that he stared down off of. "Tell me! Who is it that kneels before ME?! Garlic Junior! The ruler of the Distortion World! Master of the Light! And the leader of the Umbrella Corporation! AHHAHAHAA!"

Blake kept her head bowed for a few more seconds. You're the leader only because Lucifer and his demons can't be figureheads while technically members of the Cooperative. She rose her head with a more respectful look than the insulting thoughts she was having.

Todo rose back to his feet in front of Blake and lifted his bowed head. His eyes flared with orange light and the man smirked his sharpened teeth up towards his leader. "It is I, your humble servant. Here to bring you news of the world above, and a request from Lord Lucifer."

"Lucifer?" Garlic Jr wondered, his pointy ears twitching and a more serious look appearing on his face. "What is it? Speak, Todo!"

"The next stage has begun," Saburota Todo replied. "Satan has chosen his next vessel with the Ant King out of the question. It is time to prepare for his arrival to Nexus, and the destruction of all surface-kind has built!"

Blake's eyes trembled while growing huge and darting to her left at the back of Todo's head. WHAT?!

A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter as we catch up on what Ace and Sabo are up to, hear some more of Sabo's strengths and about his background on Nexus... And we see Blake! The Sabo scene was just something I had written for a while and wanted to flesh out his character a bit more. I'd also mentioned that Diane only recently got to Aebrith after searching all of Silvior, and when I realized that I had them leaving Silvior around the same time it only made sense to have them know each other! XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed those scenes, as well as Blake's at the end. Now we've seen all 4 RWBY main girls (Yang is in Weiss's flashback when they faced Maleficent and Yang fell to the darkness, in case you need a reminder!). Blake's in the Distortion World with the leader of the Umbrella Corporation! Garlic Junior! Hahaha wonder if anyone saw that coming? I seriously doubt it lol. Definitely a lot of different groups planning total annihilation of the world though, be it the demons or whoever's got a secret plan resulting in nuclear radiation popping up all over Aebrith, something is coming... and we'll get to it all! I hope you enjoyed the short chapter, and tell me what you think or any predictions you have in a review below!

bowser3000000 chapter 128 . Jan 15

Is there a magical girl in Nexus? Like Nanoha, The Pretty Cure or The Sailor Scouts?

I won't say it isn't possible. But to be honest, I've never watched any of those shows. It'd definitely be hard for me to add in characters from media I haven't seen myself or know enough about to feel that I properly represent them. I'd say 95%+ of all characters in Nexus are ones who I know a good deal about rather than ones I just plucked out of the internet because they fit into a role. Like, it'd make sense for a bunch of magical girls to be in the Magic Kingdom I've referred to before, but since I haven't watched those shows it's just harder for me to come up with a good place to put them. Anyway, that's all I've got for you. Not a magical girl show guy myself, so can't say for sure that they'll ever show up in here. Sorry. Thanks for reviewing though!

Guest chapter 128 . Jan 15

I great chapter, And i am wonder more about this third war of the gods, was it it mortal vs god?

So the Wars of the Gods are 3 wars I've referred to a bunch of times in here that I'm pretty sure I've given an explanation about (albeit vaguely), but those wars are called 'Wars of the Gods' like we would refer to 'World Wars' in our world. They were given those titles because of how far-reaching and massive the wars were, not because it was mortals vs Gods. There'll definitely be more talk about those wars in later chapters and some other flashbacks back to them for sure, but I can't remember off the top of my head what I've already said about them in chapters posted already, and what I'm just thinking of from scenes in the future that I've yet to post and don't want to spoil, so I'm just going to leave it vague in this response too! XD Thanks for the review, and glad you liked the chapter!

Espada-001 chapter 128 . Jan 16

Hello again and thanks for another great chapter! I actually ended up watching Wakfu while you were working on your My Hero series, and it really does have some strong characters. As for Ruby's eyes I figured they had a lot going for them against vampires since they tend to have a distinct weakness to holy objects and sunlight. And while her eyes don't emit sunlight it does seem to be a fragment of the brother of lights divine light which seems like it's just as likely to burn a vampire alive or turn them to stone like the grimm. As for Natsu using god slayer magic, it honestly shouldn't be to hard for him to adapt to it since he is able to use the artificial lightning dragon slayer magic he absorbed from Laxus. It was something I always wished the main series would have brought back. Although we do see that he is able to resist and later become immune to the time god magic being used against him in the war arc so that could have some relation. For Franky I'm pretty sure if he were to hear that Numbah 3 is having issues with her cybernetics he'd be willing to take a look at it. Well until next time I wish you a good day. :)

Glad you watched Wakfu! Loved that show and Yugo as a character as well as the others. Percedal and Evangeline were on the battlefield with Morgiana when Rhodar attacked the Briggs' fortress at the end of the Battle of Metropolis, in case you didn't remember seeing them there! Cool ideas about Ruby and Natsu, though won't spoil if any of it will come into play... but as for Franky and Numbuh 3? I actually really liked that idea. Didn't think of it initially but yeah, if Franky noticed 3 having some problems with her new prosthetic I'm sure he'll help her out with it. Might even add it to the next chapter they're in. Nice idea! XD Thanks for the review, and hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing, faving and following this story after so long! As always: 'Til next time!