-Lieutenant Tesla, Water 7, 8 months before Gol D Roger's Execution and 2 years before Ohara's Buster Call-
Tesla breathed in the wonderous smell of civilization as she and her fiance made their way into the marketplace for some well needed shoreleave. Admittedly the fountain city was very beautiful but Tesla was primarily focused on getting to a treasury and converting her wage into gold.
"C'mon hun, your gold can wait.-" Shu started. "-Why are your converting your wage again? I was too focused on your adorable nose twitching."
Tesla's right ear turned towards the Red Line Feel-Hearing something like Anticipation-Bloodlust-Fear directed towards Tesla's direction and something else close by. Tesla's left ear bent down and flipped itself over to better hear Shu/filter out the ambient noise of the Marketplace.
"Well gold is a great conductor and in my Bounty Hunting days I figured out how to transform it when I become Lightning. So I really only needed a ship for Live Bounties, and food." Tesla said while ignoring the various advertisements.
Shu spun around a posse of workers and made a little squeak when Tesla picked him up. "I knew gold was valuable because Nobles said so but conductor? What can gold conduct? Ships? Manpower?"
"Lightning and Electro of course, Electro being the Minks special 'thing'. The sheer numbers of Humanity being absolutely everywhere is simply insane! (and your special 'thing') Seriously, leave some jobs for us non-Humans will you?" Tesla tickled Shu's neck with her left ear. "But I digress, my Noble Lineage spent a good chunk of time researching gold and its conductive properties. An excellent way to kickstart a Mink's Electro training."
Shu raised an eyebrow at Tesla's bridal carrying of him and the 'riff raff' and/or 'plebeians' around them. Or ...Shu really should reread those books and get more 'Noble Insults', maybe pick up some more by Nobles if they wrote Military advice. "I wonder if there are any books written by World Nobles for Inferior Lifeform consumption."
"You certainly don't act like any Nobles I read about." Shu looked away in remembrance. "No wait there were some like you but even amongst their friends they were standoffish. At least they were before they got their 'comeuppance' in the form of brutal murdering."
"Well that's because you haven't read historical documentaries on the Neferiti (Or was it Nefanti?)." Tesla shrugged and blew a raspberry. "It's been years since I had to pronounce other Nobility names. Seriously, why couldn't all nobles have names as easy to pronounce as Volcano or Ashlands? Anyhow they are the ruling family of Alabasta and the sole Founding Family of the World Government not to Ascend to their Rightful Place of World Nobility."
"But anyways where was I? Oh yes gold and me, basically I've built an underground vault and every few months or so I fly over and transform myself (and whatever gold I am carrying) dive headfirst into the ground and conduct myself down the golden pole. Thus I can fund my lifeplan, the joys of having a treasury that only you can access. That said, I haven't met any of the Ashlands relatives (if they had any) to see if they want their land back."
"Okay sure it's nice you have a more secure bank to deposit in, but how do you transform the gold in the first place?" Shu asked.
Tesla flicked Shu's nose. "A, If your question made it stop working, I'm going to make you regret it. I don't know how, but I will. B, this-" Tesla held up a sleeve clad arm and transformed it into lighting and back without the cloth being destroyed. "-I used whatever causes Devil Fruits to not destroy clothes and through a hideous amount of mental gymnastics I applied that to gold. Admittedly for a week and a half afterwards everything tastes and feels like gold."
Tesla's right ear recoiled as the anticipation redoubled on itself as it converted into Determination. And then the world tilted as the upwards tower-fountain half of Water 7 was cut off the base.
People often think what would have happened if Big Mom and Kaido hadn't kicked in Water 7 and Enies Lobby over 20 years ago. I think the world would be a much more chaotic place, the Marines for one wouldn't have such a need to be everywhere. Corruption would have festered like yeast in a bakery, pirates would swarm the Grand Line after Gold Roger's Execution. But with the Grand Line the largest War Zone ever Recorded, well not even Wanderlust or Bloodlust or Lootlust could motivate enough people to form a Pirate Crew, ...well most of the time.
Sure the downside of weeding out the chaff results in crews not composed of one or two leaders who bully conscripts into action. But ones formed out of true friendships and bonds that only Paradise and the New World could break. Thus the only crews that actually set sail are those whose members are equally talented. But just a bit of Tough Love sorts those out. But I do know that if the War hadn't kicked off or hadn't been predicted by the Powers That Be, I never would have met the love of my life. And in this war torn world of ours, finding happiness (and possibly even contentment) is the True Treasure of the Seas that even Gold Roger himself never could find.
-Captain of Serenity Shu.
AN:I'm trying to say that pirates have (mostly) abandoned the mook horde and have adopted the Strawhat method of crew. Might use this Quote as my summary. Also for clarification Big Mom didn't slice through the water level buildings to cut off the cone, she sliced off the cone half way up its height.
-Admiral Kinusa, 5 years before canon-
Kinusa awoke before sunrise hoping to get her monthly report over and done with. Thankfully she had placed the needed paperwork in her office the night before and there were no surprises from the paperwork. She would have said that she had a surprise free morning but then someone knocked on the door, when she should have been the only one awake in Enies Lobby. Excluding the night watch/shift of course, but those folk were in other parts and had no reason to be near her office.
Because it wouldn't be the Grand Line before Sunrise, the presence Kinusa felt on the other side of the door had a gaping hole in their presence. Actually opening the door revealed a Marine ...without a Shadow. In slight disbelief Kinusa channeled some lightning between her fingers and rotated her hand around the Marine to make sure their Shadow hadn't fallen into a patch of darkness. Kinusa's face twitched when she couldn't manifest a Shadow for the poor Marine.
"How long?" Kinusa asked while rubbing her snout.
"A Year." The Marine replied.
Kinusa groaned before closing her eyes and extended thin lines of Lighting as Magnetic Whiskers orientated herself towards the Florian Triangle. "WELL, that's just swell and apparently bad news also serves as a nice substitute for caffeine. If I'm not back in an hour, tell Captain Shu of the Serenity about Moria's betrayal and the probable fact that Moira either retained his Haki or has Seastone."
The Shadowless Marine nodded before Kinusa vanished in a flash of Gold as thunder softly rumbled.
With an all-awakening crack-boom Kinusa manifested in Thriller Bark's crows nest frowning as she concentrated her Observation Haki on the undead below her.
The glorious feeling of wind whipping through your hair, The often harsh sun melting away into soft soothing sunlight, the smell of freshly caught and cooked fish. Those were but a few pleasures on the sea, that didn't inconvenience anyone. Unlike those black flagged demons who didn't even try to manage their PR. Sure there were some areas where even the Golden Flagged Adventurers weren't allowed to sail in, but 'common' sense dictates that any reasonable individual would avoid those areas on their own. But alas even with the Golden Rabbit backing them, even Adventurers were still slaves to the Log Pose.
And like many other professions, Adventurers too fell to the Sailing Island in the Still Fog known as Thriller Bark.
Easy as a heartbeat, a 200 Million Volt Bari manifested between Kinusa's hands. Four fifths of Moria's zombie army were either Civilian, Adventurers, or Marines. The high-pitch whine of the held lightning bolt drew attention to Kinusa as the lightning bolt writhed in an invisible cage. A zombie in a bat costume flew next to Kinusa and opened its mouth, before it could utter any words it was speared through the chest with a Haki Infused lighting bolt that boiled away the Shadow-Corpse bond in an instant.
The now re-dead corpse fell to the ground as Kinusa phased through the floor and into the Mast Mansion. As Kinusa flew through the mansion towards Perona's room (or atleast where Kinusa thought her room was), the lightning bolt that Kinusa unleashed earlier unraveled into the Kinusagi.
Perona flew her Soul-Self up to intercept Kinusa who ignored her introduction monologue. Perona irrately threw her Negative Hollows at Kinusa but all they did was make a soft tik sound as they bounced off of Kinusa's fur/clothes.
"Wait what?" Perona thought in response. "How did she block my Hollows? Is that what that H-stuff (that isn't porn) does?" Perona saw Kinusa throwing a retaliatory punch. "If she can block my unblockable attacks then that means-"
Perona bent her Soul-Self backwards dodging/limboing under Kinusa's punch. Kinusa withdrew her fist and started clapping, "You are the first person to actually use their brains (in Paradise) so far this year."
Perona fled through the walls and rolled her eyes when Kinusa followed her without destroying the walls. "Right Logia, so that means she can hit me while I can't hit her. I'm beginning to understand why people yelled in rage when fighting me. Master knew about the H-stuff so that means Master has it." Perona pinned her hopes on that fact and flew towards Moira's bedroom.
Perona spotted her master stumbling out of his bedroom and cried for help. Moira blinked before his eyes bulged out when he spotted Kinusa phasing through the wall.
"My Hollows don't work! I think her H-stuff blocks them! And she can hit me!" Perona weeped after diving behind her master.
Kinusa stepped onto the floor and gazed at the still processing Moira. Perona continued babbling while Kinusa felt an odd sense of 'Don't notice me.' repeatedly whispered in her ear. Hm, Moira and Perona were right in front of her. Hogback was a noncombatant and thus shouldn't be able to evade her senses. Her Kinusagi were dealing with Moira's army in general, so it's not a standard crewmen. The wooden floor creaked below human hearing, but the keyword was human. Thus Kinusa's left ear curled itself up before springing out and punting the invisible juggernaut into dreamland.
"You know, you might have been able to sneak up on me if you hid your bloodlust and softened your falls. Humans are not the only ones sailing." Those were the last words Absalom heard before blissful sleep took him.
Lightning arced from Kinusa swatted away the tiny implosive hollows that Perona unleashed at Moira's command. Moira's shadow lunged forward in the shape of a spear but was caught in Kinusa's hand for its efforts. In reply the shadow dissolved and reformed mid-punch to Kinusa's face. Kinusa dodged, Shaving behind Moira and Persona before kicking them. Perona on a trajectory to reunite with her body, and Moira to his courtyard outside.
Kinusa followed Perona and grabbed Perona's soul-self by the throat, hand clad with invisible Armament Haki. Perona jerked as her soul self impacted/reunited with her body but was zapped into slumber before she could attempt anything. Kinusa pulled rope from her jacket and hogtied Perona, ignoring the giant teddy bear with a mask's attacks. Kinusa calmly walked out of the mansion via the intended way and when Kinusa reached the courtyard, Moira finally sat up spotting Kinusa.
"Wait! You can't take Perona away, we'll never get new Shadows!" Moria pleaded with Kinusa while clutching her legs.
Kinusa had laid the hogtied Perona over her shoulder and glanced down at Moria. "Oh really? I've left one fifth of your Zombie Army, which from what I remember of your debates are tireless soldiers, Your Invisible juggernaut, your main doctor, yourself, and Thriller Bark itself intact." Kinusa shook her head. "If you need surveillance, may I suggest a Visual Snail Network like everyone else? Also Thriller Bark is a giant ship roaming The Florian Triangle. I'm pretty certain you can get more Shadows, but if you still absolutely and desperately need them in a year, then I'm sure I can jury rig something with Impel Down/life-sentenced inmates."
A large red flare soared from the horizon, Kinusa vanished while the remaining crew of Thriller Bark was distracted. If Kinusa had stayed behind then she would have seen the humourous sight of a Skeleton with an Afro.
Zombies. Tireless Soldiers fueled by the Shadows ripped from people. Maybe I should have gotten on Moria's ass more to stay in shape and help him out of his funk. Then maybe roughly a thousand or more souls wouldn't have spent years huddling away in the darkness. Hopefully most of you had support networks worth your friendship, but all I can do is apologize for not catching Moria sooner. There will be Marine Escort ships following Thriller Bark with full Compliments to ensure Moria's compliance with my guidelines.
-a scrapped draft of Kinusa's apology/Moria's Aftermath.
AN: I was going to have Tesla see flashbacks/Observation Insights on how 4 people (Adventurer, Marine, Pirate, and Civilian) were captured by Thriller Bark but I think that's causing burnout, so you are only getting Adventurer's capture lead into. Sorry. I was deeply confused on why OP fanfics (other than This Bites) took months to update, and then I started my own. Turns out the side effect of writing for a setting that's older than I am is vast interconnected stuff I need to ponder/burnout on.
-New World. Big Mom Convoy. What Would have Been Arlong Arc and is just sailing for the Strawhats. Hokosaki Focus.-
Rear Admiral Hokosaki pushed into the sea current, hoping that it was a relatively normal one. The ships sailed above her without a care in the world, just how Hokosaki liked it. Fortunately for the Big Mom Pirates, they had Fishmen lookouts and so for the first time in a while Hokosaki faced a group of fishmen in their natural environment. Before Hokosaki could react or even spot them, One of the five fishmen launched herself through the water and embedded her fist in Hokosaki's stomach. Causing the giantess to hunch over and around the fist.
Hokosaki then grabbed the fishwoman and propelled them to the surface pushing a ship out of the way in the process. Only for one of the other Fishmen to punch her back underwater as two others pulled at her ankles. Hokosaki kicked hard enough to dislodge her grapplers and send a Tempest Kick at the encroaching final two fishmen. Of course this propelled her further down into the depths but at least she wasn't surrounded by fishfolk any more.
The fishwoman who punched Hokosaki under the surface grimaced and did a fancy hand motion to push the Convoy out of Hokosaki's range.
"Oh, I can handle a few Convoys on my own. You take care of your brother." Hokosaki sarcastically thought to herself. "Their Fishfolk should still be healing after that latest beating."
Muscle fibers (more like Steel Suspension Bridge Cables than anything like human muscles) twitched as a Spear was hurled forwards and caught in an overly large parody of a Pistol Shrimp Punch. A bubble of boiling water at Fishwoman A who wisely bolted out of the path. Hokosaki Shaved into the Fishwoman's escape path and grabbed her with both hands before pulling with all her might. That was Hokosaki's plan until her elbows were inverted and her breath was punched out of her body.
Fishwoman A thanked her comrades that she wasn't pulled in twain and wiggled out of Hokosaki's hands. Hokosaki twitched as her body registered the pain and kicked at her spear, thankfully triggering the Impact Dials built in. The sudden surge of kinetic energy pushed 3 out of the 5 fishfolk beyond their combat range. Which wasn't what Hokosaki needed so she improvised and did a shoddily made Tempest Tongue finally taking Fishwoman A out of the fight.
Hokosaki bent her leg around the sinking spear and held it in the 'bowl'/back of her knee with Hokosaki's heel touching her hip. The final fishfolk rushed over the Fishwoman A and held the near disemboweling shoulder to hip slash waiting for the Fish Folk regeneration to kick in, ignoring Hokosaki Shaving back to the surface. Breaching the surface like a whale, Hokosaki bent over using Paper Arts and grabbed her spear before standing on it like a surfboard. As Hokosaki waited for gravity to realize she wasn't defying it anymore, Hokosaki closed her eyes and focused her Observation Haki on the distant convoy.
The fleet (from what Hokosaki could tell) had primarily fabrics. Which was a strange thing to assign Fishfolk guards to, unless Big Mom had somehow become a Moth Zoan and lost her Soul fruit. So either the Emperors were going to use said fabrics as armor liners/underlayers and sails or there was a Fabric Fabric Fruit of all things. Probably not a Logia because the User would be generating the fabrics and not need the materials shipped in. Unfortunately Hokosaki's Observation range wasn't large enough to sense let alone identify any nearby island to triangulate the convoy's path. But knowing the patrol route she encountered this convoy on and one of the materials ferried by said convoy should be enough for the Cipher Pols to do their thing.
Hokosaki tapped a button before her spear impacted the water, turning the spear buoyant. Another button press activated modified Jet Dials, said modifications allowing them to actually propel Hokosaki through New World Currents.
The crisp fresh air tingled Hokosaki's lungs as she rode her surfboard spear back to her base. "Maybe I should travel on the surface more often, it's nice." Hokosaki thought aloud.
And then burning hail began its onslaught from the sky.
Pro Tip: Don't fight Fishfolk in the water. Even if you are a Giantess.
-Rear Admiral Hokosaki.
AN: I don't think i've been portraying the humanoid kraken vibe thing I wanted for Hokosaki. So maybe I should write her segments from her victim's perspective. ...that and read up on some kraken/sea monster literature. Also Fish Folk v anyone not another Fish Folk in water? Yeah they all get hard countered, the only reason why said Fish Folk aren't ruling the world is The Void Century. *cough, staring at canon* Why the hell is Jinbei (as a warlord) the only Marine Fish Folk? Even with just canon feats that's some valube fucking assets you're passing up WG! *cough*
Yes I know Hail is ice falling from the sky and therefore the fire should melt the hail but a, New World. B, if I must asspull a science answer than: Frozen Methane is a thing right? Still iffy on there being scale bandages, i might be overcomplicating this. I could just write the fish folk moonwalking away to the convoy. Edit: Fish folk heal in water right? ...maybe I should rewatch Arlong Park/Fish Man Island.