Hello Everyone! It is I! Forzarismo here with a brand new chapter of The Rubbery Vengeance! Now i know what you all are thinking: It's been over half a year!? Where were you!? Well allow me to answer that! I've been finishing up school and at the same time I was working. Not to mention, church activities take up quite a bit of my time. I also got a bit distracted reading other fanfictions, playing video games and re-reading One Piece.

Also, just a heads up, Regular updates... they're not gonna be a thing. I'm sorry, but with an Apprenticeship lining up for me, along with more adult responsibilities headed my way, I seem to have less and less time to write this story. As I've said before, no, I am NOT abandoning this story, at least not anytime soon hopefully, though if I don't update within a year's time with no notice for you all, assume I died, because that is the most logical conclusion if there isn't any update within a year. At least I can promise that there will be at least ONE chapter a year... man I feel like such a dick and asshole for not being able to provide more for you guys. Really wish I had the writing skills of fellow fanfic writer Couer Al'Aran... Man does he know how to write such great fanfics, and in great quantities as well!

Anywho back on track. Overall this chapter was going to be three times longer, but then some stuff came up and it ended up being something completely different to what I wanted so... I had to delete 40 pages worth of writing overall to get this chapter. Oh woe me!

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Disclaimer: أنا لا أملك قطعة واحدة، على الرغم من أتمنى لواحد من شخصياتي الأصلية يمكن أن تكون جزءا من سي.


Chapter 18: The Fallen Madbound Kingdom

"What the…?" Nojiko breathed out as she saw what looked like a massive wall of black, misty clouds in front of them, with red lightning crackling once every couple of seconds while the clouds touched the sea itself. The entire crew has similar reactions, each one varying in magnitude of surprise, wonder, and curiosity.

Luffy in particular looked very interested at the storm as it reminded him of the bullshit that only happens in the New World. He could even see a clear division in the sea, as the water not under the storm is clear and still, while the water that is under said storm looking sludgy and having massive waves that would only be beaten in size by the New World Sea.

All in all, to Luffy, it would be a normal day in the New World.

To Usopp and Kaya, this looked like a crazier than average day with their teachers.

To the others however, this is the most bizarre thing that they have ever seen in their lives.

"This is a really unusual storm… I've never seen anything like it in my entire life." Nami muttered as she gazed at the storm, calculating in how to get in the storm as safely as possible, knowing that her captain will most likely want to go in there to see what lies in the storm.

As the crew started heading closer to the storm, they noticed a white speck coming closer, with those who are adept in Observation Haki recognizing the speck as a person, a person who, by judging by emotions they felt coming from him, seemed to be completely broken, distraught, and horrified. Many of those who felt the man's emotions wondered what happened to him for him to feel that way.

For Luffy, he immediately knew why the man felt such a way. It is the same feeling he felt the day he reached Raftel, the day realization set in as he lost everyone. 'What happened to him?' Luffy thought to himself as they got closer towards the storm.

As they got closer to the man, they noticed he is on a severely damaged dinghy, shivering like a leaf as he so desperately tried to keep a steady grip on his log pose, which Luffy noticed is spinning erratically.

Suddenly, the man looked at the crew with dilated, bloodshot eyes, slightly startling the unprepared crew as they took a good look at the man. The fat man has a thousand yard stare plastered on his very scratched and bloodied face along with his sumo topknot being disheveled by a fair amount. He looked to be wearing a dirty, bloodied, white kimono with a dirt-caked scarlet sash around it, though there seemed to be a little sprout growing out of his topknot, causing Usopp and Kaya to be slightly alarmed when they both saw it. On his back was a weapon that looked to be a massive double-faced hammer with three magatamas engraved on both faces of the hammer. 'Was' is used here seeing as the weapon looks more like a rusted, dirtied relic that belongs more in a museum than a weapon to be used in combat.

"I…" The man hoarsely whispered out as he shakily lifted his hand up and pointed towards the black storm clouds. "W-wouldn't g-go there if I-I w-were y-you." The man stuttered out, before letting out a rough cough, which caused a glob of blood to some out of his mouth.

Luffy stretched his arm and grabbed the man and brought him onto the Going Merry. After a quick, but hasty use of Atomic Restoration, he brought the man back to his original condition, though Luffy became confused when he realized he didn't use up as much energy as he usually would for atomically restoring a person's body.

The pudgy man, once he realized he seemed to be perfectly normal, began to exclaim in sheer joy. "Oh my God! I'm… I'm… perfectly fine! Hey Gozaru! Rin! Akio! I'm all O… kay…"

Only for it all to leave him as he turned around and gazed at the horrible place he just went in, remembering the horrendous perils he went through in there.

"No… No… my crew… my comrades… why…? WHY!? WHY DID YOU ALL LEAVE ME ALONE!?" The man wailed as he fell on his knees and broke down in tears, sobbing and lamenting the loss of his crew.

"Sir, calm down. Please explain to us what happened over there." Sanji said as he tried to placate the grieving man.

"No… you don't understand! That… that place… No man was ever meant to be in that location! That place… would be the death of you all… should you go there." The man exclaimed with a deathly certainty that sent a chill down the entire crew's spines.

"Explain it from the beginning if you may. That way we all can understand what's going on here." Kuina spoke as she gave the man a comforting pat on the shoulder.

The man became silent for a while, trying control his emotions as best as he could. Once he felt ready, he looked at the entire crew and motioned them to sit down. "Sit down please, this will take a while." The man explained as he took in a deep breath.

"My name is Toyotomi Gowasu, and I am the co-captain of the… now dead Sumo Storm Squadron of the Wano Country." The now named Gowasu began, causing the crew to feel pity for the man, "Me and my co-captain and twin brother Gozaru decided to see if the myth of a particular island and kingdom were true. We asked our Daimyo Kozuki Oden for funds so we can go commence the expedition. Despite it being forbidden to leave Wano, Our Daimyo let us go just this once in order to sate our desire for adventure and to show the country that we should open our borders to anybody. Oh how naive we were at the time. There were legends of this so called place. The 'Kingdom of Balance' it was known as, because it was the equalizer of strength in the East Blue so that said ocean wouldn't be inferior to the others in terms of strength. Legends told of its abundant riches, how people prospered in terms of health and intellect, how no one was homeless nor poor on the island, and how it was ruled by an incredibly benevolent king. It truly sounded like a dreamland come true." Gowasu looked up at the sky with a small smile on his face.

His smile soon turned backed to frown however. "Though as the documented reports state, the World Government kept trying to get the kingdom affiliated with them for centuries, with them refusing each and every time. Soon enough however, they had enough of the kingdom refusing their offers. What happened next is considered one of the most horrifying disasters to ever happen in World Government history. Seventeen years ago, they sent sixteen Buster Call ships at the island, four on each side, in order to show their superiority to the kingdom and as a message to what happens to those that try to defy the will of the World Government."

Gowasu let out a bitter chuckle. "Oh how difficult their fight truly came to be. Despite their army being outnumbered 4 to 1, the country's army was able hold back the attack for several weeks, both sides losing many, but with the World Government losing more so than the natives. Soon enough however, slowly but surely, the kingdom was losing ground, due to multiple reasons of course. From what the reports say on this incident, The Marines sent in Marine Instructor Black Arm Zephyr's son, Admiral Zachariah and Admiral Hisoka, the fifth man in the Marines to gain the epithet Akainu, in order to speed up their victory as well as the demise of the kingdom. Once the Marines were at the castle's doorstep and were prepared to siege it, they were confronted by the king himself, adorned only with Black Armor and a blue shawl. He stood there by himself, with no army behind him while an entire army of Marines stood in front of him. Continuing in the reports, and the reason why we wanted to conduct an expedition to this island was to find the treasured armor the king wore, which has a power that is beyond what almost everyone would think is possible. From what the Marines were able to find out about the armor, it gave the king the ability to somehow steal someone's life-force with each kill and convert it to strength and energy for the user to use. They also learned throughout the fight that hitting him with their own physical body also caused the armor to automatically steal half of their life-force each time they made contact and again convert it to energy. The armor was so powerful apparently, that the kingdom's royalty decided to call it a national treasure and name it after the kingdom and island itself: Riryoku."

The sumo gulped in a massive breath "While the king and the two admirals fought each other, something… unexpected happened. The minuscule amount of marines that were able to escape with their lives reported that a massive behemoth six meters tall enveloped in some kind of gas suddenly appearing and reaping through the ranks of both the Marines and the army of the Riryoku Kingdom. The being was so powerful that even the king in his mighty armor couldn't stall the behemoth for even a couple of minutes before the king met his inevitable demise. Somehow, both admirals were able to escape unscathed, though the amount of marines that survived the event were obviously much, much less. To put it into perspective, there were only two ships that escaped from the doomed island out of the sixteen, and of the Marines, only a measly two-thousand five hundred out of the hundred and sixty thousand marines sent to the island escaped with their lives that day." He finished as he took off his weapon solemnly from his back.

Sanji pulled out a cigarette and began smoking it. "So what does this story have to do with the place in front of us?" Sanji stated more than asked, somehow getting the feeling he knows the answer to it already.
"Because inside that damn fog," Gowasu pointed towards the condensed dark fog. "Are the remnants of Riryoku Kingdom. The place is a mere shell of its former self. There's nothing alive on the island. No animals… no plants… nothing… or at least we first thought. At the time though, this didn't bother us as there was so much to explore and do there. There are so many objects of value in the kingdom that we saw during our first week exploring the island that we acted like children throughout most of our time there. Valuable historical relics, abandoned homes filled with gold and gems, we even saw a poneglyph inside the palace's vault! Though… no matter how hard we searched, we never could find that suit of armor…" The man sighed out as he looked down on the ground sullenly. Tears began welling up in his eyes as he forced down a sob from coming out of his mouth.

"Even though we didn't find what we came for, we did get more than enough valuables to pay back our Daimyo five-fold and still have enough for each and every one of the Sumo Storm Squadron to retire and live a comfortable life. But then… just as we were about to leave the capital of the kingdom… everything went to hell…"

"What happened?" Kaya asked.

Gowasu concentrated for a bit before his eyes widened, slowly looking back at the crew as his eyes suddenly turned completely black and the color of his skin started turning to an unhealthy shade of purple. "Monsters… so big… so fast… they're unkillable… and that fucking flower-!" Was all Gowasu was able to bring out before his body begun shriveling and decomposing at a very fast rate, startling most of the Strawhats as they looked on at the man's body as it started to dry up and turn into something akin to a mummy.

"Luffy… I wasn't going to say anything, but now I strongly suggest that we DON'T go inside that place… even if the amount of treasure in there is strongly tempting me to ignore the danger." Nami suggested worryingly. Whatever happened in there is probably something they should never find out; whenever She and Nojiko went out at sea to steal from pirates or corrupt rich people, they always made sure that they would go with a plan that had the least amount of danger, but this… she isn't even sure if this is worth it.

"The Lily Carnation…" Usopp and Kaya stated grimly in unison, looking at the dead human-shaped plant husk before grabbing it and throwing it overseas, shocking the crew with their actions.

"Hey! Why'd you two do that!?" Marguerite questioned angrily as glared at the long-nosed sniper and their sword-wielding medic.

"If we kept that body here for any longer, its spores would begin coming out and enter our bodies, disrupting and warping our sense of selves." Kaya replied seriously as she brought out masks from seemingly nowhere, giving them to each and every crewmate, each of them looking at the masks they were given with varied reactions.

"What are you talking about? Also, what's a Lily Carnation?" Zoro asked as he looked at his mask oddly.

Usopp, who already put his mask on, responded to his question. "Oh right… you guys probably never heard about this plant, much less seen it. I wish I never did as well to be honest. Kaya, would you like to be the one to explain to them what it is about this plant that makes it so dangerous?" Usopp asked the now masked Kaya, who nodded in agreement.

"The Lily Carnation is an extremely rare and sentient species of plant that comes from an unknown island in the New World, where it is also known as 'The Flower of Death and Rebirth'. What makes these flowers so dangerous is not their physical capabilities, but rather its ability to bring the dead back to life."

That caused most of the entire crew to pause and looked at her with widened eyes. "It can what!?" Kuina exclaimed as the very idea that a plant is capable of doing such a thing mortified her.

"For it to revive someone, it first needs a host." The crew shuddered when they heard it needed a host. "Once it has a host, It can use the memories of the host's dead loved ones and using its vines can essentially revive the person down to the smallest detail, though a revived person will always have a sprout growing out of their head, as we saw that portly fellow had. The revived people have something of a passive ability, in which the little sprout on their heads lets out a constant stream of spores that will slowly distort the affected person's personality and thought process, making Lily's victims easier to be manipulated and consumed." Kaya explained as she adjusted her mask a bit so it would be more comfortable. "Despite being pretty much an original in all but biology, the revived person will always no matter what obey the orders coming from the flower or the host" Kaya explained as the crew seemed a little less hesitant about putting the masks on. While the explanation was going on, Usopp drew a detailed picture of how the plant looks like on a board to show the crew. Many of the crewmembers found themselves dumbfounded at the fact that this incredibly dangerous plant is so small and adorable-looking.

"Don't be deceived by its adorableness. Many have fallen to this carnivorous plant by underestimating its abilities." Usopp explained, remembering the first time he met the demon in plant form.

"Wait a minute though, you said that needs a host before it can be capable of reviving people correct?" Sanji politely asked Kaya.

"Yes, I did say that." Kaya responded, confirming Sanji's question.

"So wouldn't killing the host render its abilities null?" Sanji stated more than ask.

"We thought so as well. But then we come to the next part of this." Kaya said, and whispered something into Usopp's ear. Usopp nodded and erased what he drew on the board, before drawing a massive cylinder-like root with a flat tip that had many smaller roots and vines coming out of it.

"In order to even do these so called 'revivals', it needs nutrition. In order to get that, it has these roots that ensnare its victim before it… digests them." Usopp said in disgust, remembering exactly how that process looks like.

"When it digests a complete live being capable of thoughts and emotions, it is actually able to recreate said person without the need of a host." Kaya finished as she awaited her crew's response.

"How do you two know so much about this?" Luffy asked, wondering how the two of them got a hold of such knowledge about this plant. He himself knew about this plant, after that incident that happened in his first life involving a certain deceased pirate crew. When he and Papa killed Omatsuri and the Lily Carnation on the first timeline, his entire crew didn't remember what had happened that night. While he himself did, he thought it would be best if he didn't tell his crew what had happened that night.

When Luffy aimed his question towards Usopp and Kaya, they both shuddered a bit as memories flooded themselves into their heads.


Flashback Eight Years Ago…

Kaya and Usopp stared in fear at the massive thing protruding out of the deranged man's shoulder, while Arasval, Neos, and Wayne looked at the thing with great interest.

"You know… somehow, this is all your fault Wayne." Neos stated as he looked at the gigantic flower curiously.

"Why do you say that?" Wayne questioned as he popped his shoulders to remove whatever creaks were in them.

"Who's the one that said we should head over to this damn island despite me telling you how much evil I felt that place emitting?" Arasval scowled as he bopped Wayne on the top of his head, before turning his attention back to Omatsuri.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh, you guys really like pinning the blame on me for everything don't you? Anyways, after seeing what this plant can do, I want to test something out. I'll be back in a moment." Wayne stated as reddish-black gas encompassed his fist before shaping itself into a sharp blade. Wayne lifted his hand up and did a slashing motion, opening up a rip in the middle of the air, before he walked into said rip, with it closing as soon as he entered.

"Well now, it looks like your dear doctor has abandoned you all to your death. I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to face myself either." Omatsuri, who is currently standing on top of the massive root, boasted as he notched an arrow onto his bow, aiming it at Kaya.

Neos raised a brow as he noticed to who Omatsuri is aiming at. "I wouldn't aim at her if I were you." Neos warned as he steam burst out of his metal arm.

Omatsuri scoffed at the man a couple hundred meters away from him, writing him off as a lower priority target compared to the captain in front of him. Despite the man not being a pirate, just seeing how he and his crew looked quite happy and overall positive made his skin crawl in disgust and anger. When he got a good look at them, he noticed that the two kids were wearing gas masks, causing a dent in his plan as Lily's spores would not be able to go through the filters in the masks. Not to mention, they began sabotaging his Ordeals unknowingly as they assisted the group of family pirates known as the Tearoom Pirates from passing his ordeals without them losing any trust in one another. Eventually he had enough and revealed his true self, using his crew to attempt to divide both crews and picked them down one by one.
Keyword: Attempt.

His crew members got taken down one-by-one in rapid succession by either the blue haired captain burning them to a crisp, the orange haired effeminate man blowing them into bits through sheer force alone, or the black haired man with baggy eyes causing them to somehow implode on themselves, to which he still has not found out how he is able to do so, with the only thing giving away it's him is the movement's he does with his hands before his beloved crewmates explode to pieces, though they do come back after a certain time has passed.

Getting out of his own thoughts, Omatsuri launched a volley of arrows towards towards the young little girl, who despite looking very afraid, stood her ground. Before his arrows could hit his target, a transparent red shield encased the blonde girl, causing Omatsuri to click his tongue in irritation, turning his attention to the now smug captain of their group, who began wriggling his eyebrows at him. "You still think this a game you brat!?" Omatsuri roared out as he had Lily launch hundreds upon hundreds of arrows at their general area. While this happened, he didn't notice a metal hand being connected through a metal rope come out of the ground behind him, grabbing his coat and pulling him down with tremendous amounts of force and into the ground, forcing his body to go through the pressure of having tons upon tons of rock and gravel fall upon his body the moment he got pulled into ground. After being driven into the ground by force for a couple of seconds, his body was soon pulled out of the ground, only to face Neos who was already thrusted his guandao towards the insane pirate captain. The blade reached its target, opening a large gash on Omatsuri's gut, having his entrails leak out of his body as the hit launched him farther back than his original position.

"Grrk… Lily..." Omatsuri growled out as Lily begun doing its magic on its host, using its roots to bring back all of Omatsuri's organs back in place, along with sealing the wound soon after. Omatsuri got up the moment the wound closed back up, glaring hatefully at the group that is not only successfully repelling each and every single one of his attacks, but humiliating him in the process of doing so. He aimed his bow at them once more, preparing hundreds of arrows using Lily's root's and aiming them once more at The Perditionists.

"Hey Neos..." Arasval said lowly as he walked beside Neos.

"What is it?" Neos asked his captain.

"Take care of the kids for a bit. Wayne is taking a bit too long for my tastes and I want to end this quickly." Arasval stated as a predatory grin appeared on his face.

"Are you sure captain? You know how Wayne gets whenever we ruin his fun." Neos mentioned, making Arasval let out a light chuckle.

"I'll worry about that later. I just want to get this over with. Get the kids and the others out of the way of those arrows. It's been awhile since I've used this technique." Arasval said, making Neos slightly nod in understanding before he herded the group away from the oncoming onslaught.

"What's Arasval-sensei going to do Neos-sensei?" Usopp asked Neos.

Neos had a small smile etched on his face. "It's something that'll happen so fast that you'll likely not even see him move." Neos said, making Usopp and Kaya look on at Arasval with renewed interest. Arasval looked towards Omatsuri with the trademark D. Grin etched on his face, before hunching down slightly, as if preparing to sprint. Suddenly as the arrows were fired, Arasval was now where the Baron used to be, his fist impacting Omatsuri's nose as the insane captain's body reached mach speeds before colliding into the massive root with enough force to cause the massive white root to explode into tens of thousands of pieces. Not only that, but the arrows that got fired were also simultaneously destroyed into thousands upon thousands of tiny little pieces in that exact moment as well. Usopp saw a glimpse of something coming out of Arasval's back. It was only a glimpse, but he swore he saw six small streams of white flames protruding from his back along with a glowing ring floating slightly above his head before said flames flickered out and the light dispersed. Their attention was soon redirected when a reddish-black rip opened up in the air, revealing Wayne walking out with a brutally beaten and unconscious fishman many times his own size holstered over his shoulders before the orange-haired doctor dropped him in front of the his group.

"Did you seriously go to Fishman Island and break him out of the prison just to get him for your so called test?" Neos questioned, looking at the familiar looking fishman in front of him, with Wayne giving him an affirmative nod in return. Usopp and Kaya looked at the fishman in question before realization set in to who exactly the fishman is.

Hody Jones.

"Hey fuckface and Arasval! May I have your attention for a moment?" Wayne asked as he kicked Hody lightly on the head as to stir him awake. Hody woke up in pain before fear paralyzed him as he remembered who exactly took him out of the prison cell he was locked in. "Hey sleeping beauty~! Rise and shine~!" Wayne yelled in a joyful sing-song tone of voice, though to Hody, that just made the situation even more horrifying.

"AAAAAHHHH! G-GET AWAY FROM ME!" Hody screamed as he tried with all his might to run away from Wayne, only to have both his kneecaps crushed by Wayne's weapon. Despite this, Hody desperately attempted to crawl away from his captors before being held onto the ground by Wayne via stabbing the pole part of his weapon through his body, carefully aiming for a spot where no vitals could be hit.

"Now now, be a good fishie and stay where you are, mommy and daddy need to have a little chat involving you." Wayne chided as he turned his attention towards his captain and the man getting his ass kicked by said captain. "Hey Omatsuri, can you revive anybody you have the Lily Carnation eat?" Wayne bluntly asked as Hody immediately connected the dots to what Wayne was saying and began squirming violently as he screamed out the word 'no' over and over again. Wayne looked at the fishman with a face-splitting grin etched on his face. "You do realise that screaming in agony and fear is going to make me anticipate the inevitable more and more right?" Wayne stated as he looked at Hody dead in the eye, causing Hody to freeze up in terror. "Now then, back on the topic. Will you answer my question for me Omatsuri?"

Omatsuri looked at the orange haired man as he contemplated whether or not to answer his question. Not really seeing any harm in doing so, Omatsuri decided to respond to his question. "Yes, yes I can… though I don't see why I should do it to amuse you."

"Oh come on now..." Wayne began. "If we are going to die soon, why not show us some of your abilities before we bite the dust." Wayne stated with a thin hint of sarcasm in his voice, though if Omatsuri heard it or not, he did not show it.

Omatsuri, who not just a couple minutes ago was getting his ass handed to him by Arasval, decided to humor the orange-haired doctor/navigator and had one of Lily's tendrils reach out for Hody, whose eyes widen out of sheer terror and began screaming in horror.

"NO! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING! I'LL CHANGE MY WAYS! PLEASE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Hody pleaded as tears streamed down his face as he was being lifted towards the massive white root. After mere seconds of struggling, Hody soon went silent before being consumed by Lily.

"Give me a couple of minutes, it takes a while to do this." Omatsuri explained, hiding the fact that he is brainstorming how to kill the guys in front of him since a full frontal assault did not even work. On the outside he looked calm, but on the inside, he was panicking like never before. 'What to do… these guys are quite possibly the strongest crew I've ever faced. I'm going to need to go serious if I'm to defeat them.' Omatsuri thought to himself as he had Lily morph some of her roots into Hody Jones slowly as to buy himself time.

"Oh… so that's how they're created." Arasval muttered as he looked on at the scene with interest. They all saw how each and every root weaved in and out of each other as they began forming Hody's body structure, from the bones to the muscles and even the organs, before it all came together and looked like an exact copy of Hody, with the exception that a little sprout coming out of the top of his head.

Hody's eyes were looking at them with a glint of maniacal rage. "I'll have your head you psycho bastard!"

"You leave my piece of shit disgrace of a father out of this!" Wayne proclaimed as he pointed his finger at Hody, who came charging at him full force. Unbeknownst to most of them sans the strongest three of the group and Papa's youngest daughter, many vines and roots started coming out of the ground and began to swarm the entire group when they had their attention on Hody.

Neos reacted immediately, creating water tendrils to grab Papa, his family, and Briefs and get them off to safety. He tried to get Usopp and Kaya as well, but saw that they were already running away from the roots and vines in such a way that Neos found rather humorous despite the situation they are in right now. Wayne and Arasval themselves dodged and weaved around the tendrils and Hody with only a look of amusement shown on their faces to show what their thoughts on Omatsuri's surprise attack was. Instead of finishing Omatsuri and his cohorts off, they decided to mess with him a tad bit longer just for the shits and giggles, occasionally going off to help Usopp or Kaya when it seems that the roots are getting a little too close for comfort.

Eventually, They just seemed to have enough and decided to it was time to end this farce of a battle.

"God damn! This flower sure is persistent!" Arasval mused himself as he kept slicing through each and every root sent at him.

"You fucking got that right. Neos! Why aren't you helping!?" Wayne angrily questioned his teammate as he followed Aras' lead. In response to this, Neos merely aimed his palm at the perpetrator, Baron Omatsuri and the Lily Carnation, and used his Water-Water Fruit powers to make them implode on themselves. Everyone there, the Perditionists, their students, Briefs, and Papa and his family just looked at the man wide-eyed while he returned the look with confusion.

"I helped?" He stated hesitantly with a shrug.

"If you could have done that from the beginning… why didn't you do it sooner!?" Wayne cried out in exasperation as he looked at their shipwright.

Neos in turn had a near-invisible smug smile appear on his face. "You never asked." he responded in return.

"Oh you cheeky dickwaffle. I'll be sure to get you back somehow." Wayne stated before turning his attention the splatter known as Omatsuri and the Lily Carnation. He walked up to mangled mess before taking a vial out of his pocket and started gathering up some samples of Lily's body.

"Is that it? Please say it is so!" Briefs pleaded as he and the Tearoom Pirates looked at Wayne for an answer.

Wayne looked back at them with an affirmative nod. "Yeah, yeah the man is dead. Just taking some samples of this flower for… future medical studies." Wayne said.

Arasval deadpanned. "Wayne you are a doctor, not a scientist. Please remember that. We don't want another incident like last time."

"It's not my fault that the ocean around us got set on fire!" Wayne stated.

"YES IT IS!" Arasval and Neos yelled back.


Back in The Present…

Everybody looked at Usopp and Kaya with varying degrees of awe. Luffy didn't expect the two to have already experienced the grand line and from what he can discern from what they have said in their story, reach the New World as well. This new information left the atomic rubber man with a smile on his face. He has three crew members aside himself that actually have experience of the Grand Line under their metaphorical belts.

The rest looked at the two with a sense of deep respect. These two have been in what is known by all of them as the most dangerous sea ever at such a young age and not only have they survived, but they have experience as to what can happen in that place. Turning their attention to the big storm in front of them, the entire crew contemplated whether or not to go inside the storm to see what truly lays in there. After seeing what had happened recently along with the tale that Usopp and Kaya had told the crew, many of them were reluctant to go inside that place, though they would have no choice if Luffy still wants to go inside there, all for the sake of adventure.

Suddenly, the water inside of the storm in front of them violently opened up and something resembling a purple-colored killer whale appeared.

To say it is massive is a HUGE understatement.

'This whale puts Calm Belt Sea Kings size to shame.' Luffy thought to himself as his eyes stared at the thing resembling a whale. Heck it look like it could rival the size of the monsters living in the Florian Triangle. The whale-like creature had a mainly black body with a glowing purple underside along with glowing purple tribal markings on the black parts of its body. The strangest thing about it though is the fact that it is still in the sky… floating around before it seemed to focus its attention… on them.

Luffy wasn't the only one who noticed it. Hell, you'd have to beyond blind to not feel it somehow gazing upon them despite lacking any sort of eyes from what they can see.

"H-Hey um, g-guys? M-Maybe we s-should do a t-tactical retreat and f-forget this place ever e-existed okay?" Usopp suggested as his legs were trembling to the sight of one of the most massive things he's ever seen in his entire life. Many of the others nodded frantically in agreement, preparing the ship to turn around, taking their eyes off of the monster in front of them.

"Hey! Where did the monster go? It suddenly disappeared." Sanji questioned, causing the crew members who took their eyes off of the monster feel their heart skip a beat. Heavy vibrations coming out of the water behind their ship catche their attention before suddenly becoming even more powerful than before causing many of them to lose their balance and try to hold onto something so as to not fall down onto the ground. Focused too much on trying to maintain balance, they didn't realized that they are already on a massive tidal wave created when the purple orca monster exited out the sea from behind their ship, headed towards the massive storm it came from.

Everybody on the boat was panicking…

"Woo-hoo!"

…Except for Luffy.

"Dammit Luffy, this is not the time to enjoy yourself!" Zoro roared out as he clinged for his dear life on Merry's rail.

"But I haven't this much fun in a long time!" Luffy retorted as he hung on top of the Merry's middle mast looking at the storm they are headed into.


A While Later…

"Sis! Sanji! Unfurl the masts! Zoro! Keep the ship straight and dodge any of the debris headed the ship's way! Kaya and Kuina! Assist Zoro and make sure he is maintaining the same direction! Usopp and Marguerite! Keep redirecting those lightning bolts away from us! And for God's sake Luffy stop laughing your ass off and HELP US!" Nami commanded to crew before screeching out in frustration at the sight of Luffy, their captain, laying on the floor not doing anything beneficial to keeping them alive. She was even more frustrated by the fact the compass wasn't even working in this area, with the magnetic needle spinning around erratically.

"But I am doing something!" Luffy said.

"What are you doing then!?" Nojiko exclaimed.

"Do you notice anything different about the ship?" Luffy asked, causing the entire crew, amidst all the chaos, to pause and get a good look on at ship. In all of their panicking, they didn't notice the obsidian black sheen that the Going Merry had covering it.

"You covered the entire Going Merry in Haki!?" Marguerite stated in amazement before focusing her attention back to some lightning bolts headed their way.

Luffy simply smiled. "Shishishi! Yep! Gotta make sure that the ship doesn't sink y'know!" Luffy laughed out as he kept his hands on Merry's deck.

They kept the Going Merry as steady as they possibly can, before soon enough, they caught glimpse of an island on the horizon.

"I see land!" Kuina yelled out as she and Kaya continue to make sure that Zoro is keeping the ship towards their destination. "Alright Zoro, keep it steady. We only got a couple thousand meters before we head to shore- I said keep it straight!"

"But I am!" Zoro insisted.

"You were turning left!" Kuina exclaimed.

Soon enough, they reached what appeared to be the remains of a port town. The entire setting of where they are really kept them on guard as they all never thought something like this can exist in a calm sea such as the East Blue. Many of the aging, moldy buildings that weren't destroyed were one of the few indicators that there actually was a town here. When they all got down, they noticed many, many dried up blood stains all over the place, not to mention, the skeletons of both civilians and marines being all over the place in rather horrifying positions.

It didn't help that the sky is filled with black clouds that have red thunder rumbling around the clouds

"Oh my God…" Marguerite whispered out, looking at the scene in horror as her bow snake coiled around her protectively.

"The Marines did all this?" An appalled Zoro stated as he took a good look of one particular skeleton caressing a baby-sized skeleton, with multiple swords going through their bones.

"That doesn't seem to be the worst of it…" Sanji said as he pointed towards the remnants of pulverized skeletons in ripped marine uniforms.

"What the hell happened here? It looks like Wayne-sensei threw one of his tantrums." Usopp commented as the situation the island is in looks really similar to whenever his teacher uses one of his most powerful devil fruit abilities.

They continued down the road warily, despite the fact that the crew members most proficient with Observation Haki stated that there isn't a single thing alive around them. This would've calmed them down, had they not gone through the shriveled up plant sumo man fiasco. They walked for hours down the stretch of road, not know whether or not it is still daytime or not considering the clouds above them wouldn't let them catch a glimpse of the sky above them. Out the corner of both of their eyes, Luffy and Usopp saw something that caught their attention.

"Guys look! Over there!" Usopp yelled, pointing his index finger towards a plain far away from them. They all looked over at the direction Usopp was pointing at and saw what looked to be two armies facing against one another on a rather healthy grassy plain. On one side, there were these group of soldiers in armor that seemed to be a hybrid of both the knights and samurai. And on the other side were a group all too familiar to them: Marines.

"Luffy! I thought you said that there wasn't anything else alive here except for… us?" Kaya asked politely as she gazed at the scene in slight horror, never liking seeing people slaughter themselves by the thousands, before the scene suddenly faded away, showing only the withered and dry plain that is left.

"Oy… guys?" Marguerite spoke to the group. "Do you see that in the far distance in front of us?"

"Which one? The thin beam of golden light in the distance or the massive castle behind it or the even more massive behemoth behind that!?" Nami screamed out as they all looked a black giant humanoid with glowing cerulean tribal markings covering its body trotting down the other side of the island miles away from them, if Usopp's estimation is to be believed.

"There better not be any more of these things here or i'll-!" Sanji began before being interrupted by Nojiko, who pointed upwards towards the sky, where a hummingbird-like entity of similar size to the behemoth with orange tribal markings came out of the skies, somehow gliding around despite the fact that its wings look more like hands with extremely long fingers than wings themselves. She along with her sister just turned looked at Sanji with an emotionless stare, causing him to sweat nervously at their peering gazes.

Marguerite let out a sigh before deciding to take the lead. "Come on you guys, let's just keep going and let's try to not catch these monster's attention."

As the continued getting closer to the beam of golden light, they noticed that the next town they were coming into looked bigger than the other ones. Nojiko in particular seemed to feel some sort of nostalgia when she saw the town.

"Hey guys! Look over there! A sign!" Usopp called out as he pointed to a withered sign on the edge on the entrance of the town.

'Welcome to Tōitsu City! Finest Academics in the East Blue!'

'Hmm… why does all this seem so familiar?' Nojiko thought to herself as she looked at the sign with narrowed eyes. Her thoughts were broken by Nami when she clasped on Nojiko's shoulder.

"Sis, is everything alright?" she asked, slightly concerned.

"No… it's nothing, don't mind me I'm fine." Nojiko said with a smile, making Nami sigh in relief.

"Wish I could say the same thing myself…" Nami grumbled out as she looked at the sight of Luffy going inside one of the buildings before coming out dressed in… rusted armor? Her eyes immediately widened, remembering the story the plant-sumo man told before noticing that the armor Luffy is wearing is completely different to the one the described. Once confirming that the armor is not the armor she thought it was, she let out of sigh of relief. She felt her sister's gaze on her, not even turning around Nami asked "What?"

"Nothing~. Please don't mind me my dear sister, just continue worrying about Luffy. Who knows, it might lead you closer to him." Nojiko cooed out, making Nami blush a bit at her implications.

"Do you enjoy embarrassing me?" Nami questioned her sister.

"As an older sibling, yes. Yes I do." Nojiko said with a smile gracing her lips.

Turning their attention back to the city in front of them, the Straw Hats looked around the city, seeing if there is anything there that catches their attention.

"Hey guys they have some great aged whiskey here!" Zoro yelled out from a broken down bar, holding a barrel over his left shoulder while holding a mug filled with said drink in his right hand.

Kuina facepalmed. "I'll make sure he doesn't do anything moronic." she stated before going to help Zoro.

"This workshop is amazing! There's so many high quality tools here!" Usopp exclaimed out of pure joy as the sounds of metal being moved around can be heard from the withered building.

"I'll stay with Usopp, sometimes he gets so into things that he tends to forget what's going on around him." Kaya graced with a smile as she went into the workshop keep Usopp safe.

Leaving them to be, Luffy, still wearing the now renewed armor, decided to continue towards in his own pace…

"Gum-Gum Rocket!" Luffy yelled out as launched himself into the sky, and towards a massive building all the way at the other side of the city.

"That shit bastard… C'mon my dear ladies let's get him!" Sanji stated as he and the rest of the crew, which consists of Nami,Nojiko, and Marguerite, ran towards the building Luffy landed in.


With Luffy…

"*Cough!* *Hack!* *Gasp!* Alright, everything's good! Now… where am I?" Luffy thought out loud to himself as he went around the dimly lighted building. "Seems to be a school of some sort." Luffy mused to himself. After roughly a half hour filled with exploration had passed, he went into one of the rooms. When he got in there, he noticed how rather organized and clean it seems to be compared to the rest of the building, with all the little desks lined up perfectly in rows with the teacher's desk ,formerly belonging to a man named Mr. Weyenna-Totsuka if the label on the desk is anything to go by, being placed at the corner of the classroom, right next to window, where he can see that the golden light isn't even that far away anymore, with it actually being on the school's playground. He noticed that there were two photo frames on the teacher's desk. Curiosity getting the better of him, he grabbed both frames and looked at them.

The first photo showed three men. The one on the left being a stout man with standard black hair and brown eyes, the middle one being a shorter, more effeminate man with silver hair and blue eyes, and the one on the right being a pale, tall, bony man with blond hair and hazel eyes. The three of them were dressed in buttoned-down shirts and dress pants, each of them appearing to be holding mugs filled with coffee if the stains on their shirts is anything to go by.

The second picture showed the same effeminate man leaning towards a taller woman with orange hair, who appears to be holding a newborn baby in her hands, with said baby giggling. The picture overall showed a happy man with a happy family.

'Hmm… This baby looks a lot like-' Luffy's thoughts were cut short when he sensed an attack coming from behind him. Turning around, he grabbed the foot of Sanji, who aimed for his head. "Now what was that for?" Luffy asked his crew's chef.

"For running off on your own dumbass! Are you really that impatient!?" Sanji roared out in frustration at having a captain who acts like a manchild that does what he wants without a single thought.

Before Luffy can answer that, the rest of the gang following Sanji came in.

"Luffy! Are you seriously trying to give all of us a heart attack! Don't you remember where we are!?" Nami exclaimed, having her staff smack Luffy on the top of the head.

Luffy, using Armament Haki to protect his head, ignored what she just did and decided to share what he found. "Hey I can take care of myself you know. I'm super strong! Oh! Before I forget, look at what I found! Doesn't this baby look a lot like you Nami?" Luffy asked as he showed the four the family photo.

"OH MY GOD! NAMI-SWAAAN~! YOU LOOK SO CUTE AND INNOCENT~!" Sanji squealed out as his eyes took into the shape of hearts.

"You know… Luffy's right, the baby does look like you." Marguerite agreed with Luffy's statement, before getting shoved out of the way by Nojiko who looked at the photo with a serious gaze.

"Nojiko…?" Nami whispered out, confused by Nojiko's action, and then suddenly becoming worried when she saw Nojiko's eyes widen and her hands beginning to tremble. "Nojiko, what's wrong!? Tell me please, I'm your sister!" Nami spoke as she clutched her sister's shoulders, only to recoil in shock as tears began to stream out of Nojiko's face.

Nojiko didn't respond to any outside stimuli, only having a look of horror in her eyes as she looked out the window. "No… It can't be… this can't be real… Is this what happened in the end…" Nojiko muttered out with sheer terror audible in her tone of voice. At this point, everyone in the room donned serious expressions, wondering if Nojiko knows of this place. Nojiko suddenly bolted out the door, intent on going towards the bright light in the school's playground.

"Nojiko! Wait up!" "What's wrong Nojiko-chan!?" "Sis, what's wrong!? Tell us please!"

Despite their pleading, Nojiko did not stop. This was too important for her to simply stop. Something in her mind told her that in that golden light, there laid the answer she needed. The moment she got out of the school, she continued on running towards the field, increasing her speed to her utmost maximum in hopes of reaching her answer faster.

It took a while to get accustomed to the golden light, but when she did, she noticed the massive contrast inside of the golden light compared to what was actually happening on the island's premises. While the entire island reeked of death and destruction with its somber black sky and lifeless area, the land inside of of the golden light is filled to the brim with life and tranquility. She felt the ground, and was surprised to feel the softest grass she has ever felt in her life, not to mention the white lily's growing around the grass made the place even more peaceful in her opinion. In the middle of the golden light, there laid a massive rectangular piece of the cleanest marble she has ever seen. Upon closer inspection she noticed there is some engravings etched on the marble.

In Memory Of:

Class 2-E

For Being Such Great Students To My Husband and Caring For Him

Their Teacher, Mr. Wayenna-Totsuka Saika

For Being Such a Wonderful Teacher, Husband and Loving Me Unconditionally

To My Daughter Nami

For Bringing Me Great Joy, However Short It Was

To The Ichiyose Family: Tomoya, Ryou, and Nojiko

For Being Such Great Neighbors and Friends, Helping Me With Whatever You All Can

May You All Find Great Peace On The Next Life

Nojiko felt tears streaming down her face as realization of where she truly is hit her like a freight train. What made it even worse were the pictures under each of the plaques, with each picture showing their respective person(s).

"Nojiko, please tell us what's going on." An incredibly worried Nami pleaded as she walked up towards her sister. Nojiko felt their presences come close to her a while a go, but gave her some space when it seemed to them that she is going through something really difficult.

"Nami, this place is more than it seems." A crying Nojiko whimpered out as she pulled in her sister for a hug. "This place… It's… It's-!" Before she can even finish, a new presence with malicious intent made itself known, making her quiet down suddenly.

Everyone looked towards where they felt the presence coming from, where a

Little red flower with yellow colored patterns and a white cravat appeared.

The expression its face has is not a pleasant one.

"W̥̤̰̳̰̗̯̥̃̄̾͂͂̒͒̓͘͟h̭̭̰̗̰̽̌̀̀̚ȃ̞͔̜̝̤̮̣͔̥̔͛͗ͬ̚t̸̲͉̫̩͙͙͔̬̔ͥ͐̄͟ ̷̧̨̱ͨ̈ͨ͒ͬ̋͒ͥa̵̟̱͆ͪ́͝r̼̘̰͇͙̤ͦ̈̾̈͗̚̚e̤͙͇ͮ̾̊̽̑̂͡ ̶̭̬͕͕̙̲̉̉͘y̢̅͗̓̌ͪͦ̒̀҉̝̼̝͈̰͖o̷̖͓͎̯̜̟̘̘͇̔ͤ̽͑̓ͥ̈̔̐́͜u̘̣͓͇̻̮͕͋͢͞͝ ̧̢͚͛̃ͬ̍ͭ͊̂d̬͚͈̣̩͉̹̭̱̊̕o̦͈̝̼͎̣̍̀̆ͩͩ̈́̄͆ỉ̙̳͇̪͕̭͎̿ͨͨͤ̕͞n̢̛̦̻̮͔̤͂ͤ̈́ͨ́̚g͙̲̭̈́͌̏̆ͤͅ ̨̲̬̖̜͉ͩ͑͊́̂́͑́hͭͦ̂̍̍ͣ͌͆҉̡̩e̘͙̠̟̱̤̊̒͋̓̚r̨͖̮̻̣̠͈ͯ͢͠e̡͚̩̝̘͚͖̥ͩͯͭͧ̀!?̬̀̎ͨ̍̿͋͠"


Dun-Dun-Dun-Duuuuuun! Duuun-Duuun-Duuun-Duuuuuun! What do we have a here!?

Cliffhanger~!

Hanging from a cliiiiiff~!

And that's why they're called cliffhangers~!

I hope you all have enjoyed this long overdue chapter from The Rubbery Vengeance and makes sure to Favorite, Follow, and Review! I really appreciate it and it helps me grow as a writer believe or not so keep it coming! also, if any of you all have questions, you may leave me a PM and I'll try to get to you as sson as I can!

Forzarismo

August 3, 2017