Hey guys! Forzarismo here with an all new chapter for The Rubbery Vengeance. Now Imma be honest, this was supposed to have gotten out by the end of July, but hey, better late than never am I right? Anywho, I have some things important things that I have to discuss you all, my fellow readers, as it pertains to this very story. Anywho, let me let you enjoy before-hand, and like always, here are the stats!:

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Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure at one point in this website that somebody did claim that they owned One Piece, and most likely got their story taken down because of it. On a side-note, do you think Oda reads some of our fanfiction and that is why he is so against it?


Chapter 23: The Hawk-Eyed Swordsmen

"Do I believe in destiny? No, I do not. We all are given multiple paths throughout our lifetime, and depending on our choice, will cement who we are and what we will become."

-Gastun D. Arasval


Present Time…

Luffy couldn't believe his eyes.

Even with being right in front of him he still can't believe what he is seeing.

His musician Brook.

Even after talking to him and introducing his crew to him and everything, a small portion in his mind told him that this but a mere illusion, just his mind playing tricks on him as a way to stave off reality.

But the skeleton that was his crew's musician in the past life standing before his very eyes says otherwise.

Brook.

Brook.

Brook!

One might think that Luffy would get used to seeing his once-dead friends again alive and well, but the thing is, Luffy would always mentally prepare himself before meeting them once more for the first time again and it helps that he know where they are in the first place.

He had no time to prepare this.

He had been expecting to find Brook much, much, MUCH later on at Thriller Bark, not here right on Reverse Mountain enjoying himself with Laboon and Crocus!

So with all this in mind, one might find it much more understandable that Luffy is not in control of his emotions as he usually is.

"Ah! Welcome to the Grand Line! I hope you all are prepared for the arduous journey ahead of you! Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself! Where are my manners?" He can hear Brook say in a jovial tone as he then introduces himself with one of his trademark jokes. "My name is Brook! If you want a different tune, just give me a sax-a-bone!"

Quickly de-atomizing the tears from his eyes, Luffy jumps off the Merry and lands on the rocky surface of the Twin Capes, walking up to Brook as he tries to form a sentence without giving away any of the emotions he is truly feeling at the moment. "Y-Yes! Hi! My name is Luffy! And this is my crew, the Strawhat Pirates!" Luffy introduces his crew, as he walks up the towering musician with a genuine smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, we have someone with some manners for a change. It's been years since I've met someone like that." Brook reminisces, thinking of the time he met Roger, Rayleigh and everyone else all those decades ago. "So I take it you have come here to the Grand Line to find the One Piece?"

"Yep! And I am going to find it with my friends by my side!" Luffy declares proudly, with his crew members standing up straighter at their captain's proclamation since, despite his unnatural strength, their captain believes that they will reach up to be strong enough to walk side-by-side with him.

"I see… and I take it that everybody here is ready to face the dangers and possibly lose their life all for the sake of their dreams?" Brook continues on.

"They won't die while I'm in charge! I'll make sure of that!" Luffy fiercely replies.

"Yohohohoho! Well said! You have heart I'll give you that!" Brook compliments as he looks towards the ocean, seeing a couple of large familiar silhouettes in the distance. "Ah! It looks like my family is back from hunting!"

The crew turn their attention to the pod of whales heading towards their direction, surprised to see how truly big they are when up close.

"Everyone! Let me introduce you to my family!" Brook points to Laboon "You all have met Laboon!" he says as he motions towards Laboon, who chirps happily as if introducing himself. "The blue one leading the pack is his companion Cerulean!" he continues on as they see the blue Island Whale coming ever so closer. "The two on her left is Apex and Echo, her two serious older brothers. The two on her right is Buckshot and Fracture. Buckshot is the one with the star-shaped scar in the middle of his head while Fracture has an upside-down y-shaped scar running from his blowhole to the front of his upper lip."

They then notice two grey whales, one slightly darker than the other, butting heads as they angrily whistle at one another. "Those two are Salt and Pepper. Despite being twins, they are always fighting with one another to see who is the superior one." Brooks mentions before letting out a good-natured chuckle at their constant bickering. Even after twenty-five years or so, they have yet to decide who is the stronger of the two.

Suddenly as a massive burst of water rose out of the ocean, the crew sees the largest whale they have ever seen, to the point that he completely dwarfs all of the other whales in his surroundings to the point that it's like comparing a raft to a galleon. Perched on top of his head is a smaller than average island whale who seems to be enjoying himself, basking in the sun's light.

"Ah… Mybo. Always making a grand entrance whenever he shows up." Brook shakes his head as everyone around him, including Luffy, look on with awe at the sheer size of the scarred albino whale who had a much smaller black whale resting on top of him. "The one on top of him is Junior, the youngest of them all. He's quite the happy-go-lucky one is I do say so myself!"

As the pod gets ever so closer, they notice that there is a small boat in between Junior's mouth, with two people nearby.

"Hm? Looks like those whalers tried their luck again…" Brook sighs as those around him look at him for an explanation. "There's an island two days away from here that send a different group here every couple of months to try to kill one of my family for food. Thankfully for the past three years or so, they have been completely unsuccessful in their attempts." Brook continues on to explain.

Once the whales reach the coast, greeting Laboon before turning their attention to the tall skeleton figure in front of them, everyone got a good look at the two whalers as they looked absolutely horrified, and even more so when they got a good look at both Brook and Luffy.

'Vivi…' Luffy thinks as he gets a good look at a dear friend who almost had her life ruined by both Crocodile and the World Government. He is glad that in his first life, that she actually had some emergency to attend to, therefore not being there when his crew and allies got wiped from the face of the planet overnight. Seeing her once more brings out a small smile on his face, stepping ever so closer to get a better look at her.

Vivi on the other hand, has a much different thought process of what is going on.

'Holy shit holy shit HOLY SHIT! I can't believe that out of all the people I had to infuriate, it'd be these people! No wonder everyone who got sent to the whaling job came back a stuttering, weeping mess!' Vivi mentally screams to herself as begins to think of what to write down on her will.

Mr. 9 is pretty much thinking the same thing as Vivi but is much more vocal about it "OH MY GOD! 'UNBOUND KING' BROOK AND 'STRAW HAT' LUFFY! DON'T KILL US WE DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING WE SWEAR!". He screams out, petrified to see two big name pirates right in front of him, and he is at their mercy.

"You know… after so many failed attempts, I would think that you and your village would eventually stop trying and look somewhere else." Brook says, his arms crossed as he stares at the two, unnerving them with his chilling stare.

"W-Well, everyone who came back wouldn't even dare speak of what happened, so how are we supposed to know that one of the strongest of the Roger Pirates is staying here of all places!" exclaims Mr. 9, making the entire Straw Hat crew look at Brook with disproportionately widened eyes.

"Wait what!?" The Strawhats question, bewildered at the knowledge that this musician in front of them was part of Roger's crew.

"You mean you all don't know!? Look at his bounty!" Mr. 9 states as he pulls out a book of bounties before turning the page to where one can see an image of Brook with his blade Soul Solid emitting a chilling aura around the blade as he cuts down what appears to be a Zoan Devil Fruit user.

Wanted

Dead or Alive

'Unbound King' Brook

770,000,000 Beris

Luffy himself could only gape at the sheer size of a bounty that his musician has. Not even in his previous timeline did he ever achieve such a high bounty and this one eclipses his own by a good amount. 'What happened for you to have reached that level of infamy Brook?' Luffy wonders to himself as he notices that his crew are also looking at the bounty and then towards Brook as if trying to process that the tall skeleton in front of them is truly that dangerous.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! You mean to tell that this guy right here used to be a part of the Roger Pirates!?" Usopp says in complete awe to see someone who used to be part of the legendary Pirate King's crew.

"Not just me. While I was just the head musician for the group, Crocus here was Roger's personal doctor while Laboon and his family were our ship's guardians." Brook further informs the group, making Vivi and Mr. 9 pale at the fact that they were trying to take down a member of Roger's crew for their village to eat.

"So ALL of you were once part of Roger's crew!?" Nami screeches out, stupefied to see that they have only just begun their adventure on the Grand Line and they have just apparently met People who were part of the First Pirate King's crew! Not only that, but the skeleton has an insanely high bounty while the old man with the flower headdress was Gold Roger's personal doctor!

"Shishishishishi! I've decided! Brook join my crew!" Luffy exclaims.

"Wait Luffy! You just can't make decisions like that! Especially with one of his statu-" Nojiko state before being interrupted by Brook.

"I accept." was all that Brook said.

Many of the crew members stood agape at the sheer fact that not only did Luffy offer a man whose bounty is nearly double his own to be a part of his crew, but the man even accepted without missing a beat!

"Yeah! I finally have my own musician! And so soon too!" Luffy whoops with extreme amounts of joy to the point that he grabs the skeleton into a bear hug, nearly crushing his bones.

"H-Hey! Not so tight! Yohohohohoho!" Brook gasps out, though finds the straw hat wearing man known as Luffy to be quite endearing and someone who is like Roger in a lot of ways.

"Me too! I wanna join too!"

This new voice makes both Brook and Luffy pause as they look at the source of the voice. Laboon Jr.

"Can I join too please!? I wanna go on an adventure as well! It gets so boring around here so I wanna change things up a bit!" Junior says, hoping Brook will say yes.

"I'm fine with it if you and the others are fine with it." Luffy says, with brook's eye sockets widening in surprise.

"You can understand them?" Brook asks.

"Yeah, but only because I have the Voice of All Things." Luffy explains.

Brook lets out a hum. Yes, that would make sense, since he could only understand what they are saying to him because he has been with them for decades and therefore their bond is strong enough for them to understand one another easily and with no effort whatsoever.

"What about you guys? Would it be fine to take junior with us?" Luffy asks the pod of Island Whales.

"I'm fine with it. Brook is going along with you all so there should be no problem." Laboon says.

"If my mate is fine with it then so am I, just have him be careful." Cerulean chirps out.

"Our sister has a good sense of trust." "So we expect you to bring him back to us in one piece." Apex and Echo state.

"Make sure he doesn't badly scarred up!" "If he does, you're gonna have to answer to us!" Buckshot and Fracture remark, blowing water out of their blowholes to prove their point.

"As long as you're together through thick and thin, then you all should be fine!" Salt and Pepper exclaim at the same time, putting their constant bickering aside for the time being.

At this point, everyone is looking at Mybo expectantly, wondering what he has to say. He merely lets out a deep grunt. "It's his choice. Do what you will." Mybo lets out.

"Well then, welcome to the crew Junior!" Luffy states, with Junior beaming with happiness.

"What about you guys? Do you want to join us as well?" Brook asks, wondering if all the whales want to join once more and bring back the deadly Whale Squadron that is quite famous and has a massive reputation.

The whales look at each other as if having some sort of telekinetic chat amongst one another before Laboon decides to speak up. "As fun as that would seem, I think we're gonna have to pass. We all need to keep old Crocus company after all and I have had my taste of adventure that could last me a long time. Also, if we do decide to go, The Marines will pick up rather quickly that there is a new pirate crew that has all of us with them, and Mybo here is a dead giveaway. It would be much more dangerous for their crew if we were to join." Laboon explains, making Brook nod at his oldest friend's assessment.

"Think of it this way, Junior doesn't have a bounty like the rest of us, so he should be fine." Mybo chimes in, making Brook take what they say in consideration.

After all, having an albino whale with a billion beri bounty come along with them would make the Marines send everything they have against them.

"Okay then, if that is your decision, I will respect it." Brook says, giving the whales a slight bow, to which they return the gesture.

The entire crew at this point, are elated to get two new crew members. For Zoro and Kuina, having a swordsman, once from Roger's crew no less, is a big honor, and with his help, they can improve their swordsmanship at a much faster pace. The women in the crew also couldn't help but gush at the innate cuteness that Junior has, and currently, they are petting him and giving him affection, to which he is enjoying greatly.

Luffy himself looks up at the sky, his face not visible to anybody, and a few tears begin to leak from his face. 'My crew… My new journey is only beginning, and my crew is coming back to me. One by one. Thank you.' Luffy says in his mind, temporarily losing control of his emotions, before wiping away his tears and joining his now larger crew in their conversations.


A Day Later…

"Somebody wake Zoro up and have him help Usopp with the Sails! This storm hasn't been letting up for the past hour!" Nami roars out as she has everyone on deck to help out on making sure the Going Merry can handle the massive storm in front of them. A storm that while not as bad as the one they faced while heading into Riryoku Island, is still strong enough to make the Great Flood of the Old Testament seem tame.

While Nojiko went to go wake Zoro up, everyone else helps out in every possible way they can to make sure the ship doesn't sink.

After a couple of minutes or so, the crew notices a fleet of ships in the distance, with Usopp in particular taking notice of the jolly roger on the sails of the ships.

"Hey guys! There is an armada of pirate ships up ahead of us! Their symbol looks like a skull with an hourglass on each side!" Usopp informs his crewmates as he continues to peer through his telescope from the crow's nest, looking at the armada with interest as they seem to be coming towards them rather than forward. 'Are they headed towards one of the blues perhaps?' Usopp wonders to himself, before suddenly seeing one of the ships capsize out of nowhere.

It's as if the ship got sliced cleanly in half.

'Well, that explains all of the other ships in the vicinity that are capsized.' Usopp thinks to himself as he keeps peering into his telescope, where he can see some blurs here and there disappearing and reappearing around their general area.

"Looks like the Krieg Pirates bit off more than they could chew. Seems like they messed with someone they shouldn't." Kuina states, making many of the crew to stop what they are doing and look on at the armada slowly being destroyed one by one in quick succession.

It is quite surreal to many of them who haven't been in Grand Line or have never seen such a feat ever happen in their lives. And as more and more of the ships are destroyed, the more intense the fight between the two seems to become.

"I see young Mihawk hasn't lost his edge since I've last seen him. Though I do wonder who it is he is facing? He must be quite the fighter to be able to match Mihawk at that speed for that long, not mention his prowess with the blade." Brook loudly muses, making both Zoro and Kuina look at him with wide eyes at the mention of the World's Greatest Swordsman.

"You know him!?" They both exclaim, putting their eyes back at the fight that is happening too fast for everyone sans Luffy, Marguerite, and Brook to properly see what is going on and who is facing the hawk-eyed swordsman.

"Of course I do. He was Shanks' rival since a little over two decades ago. They have been equals and while there may have been a victory here and there for each of them, it's almost always a stalemate. I do wonder what these guys did to him to have him hunt them down." Brook ponders on as the Going Merry and the dwindling Armada get ever so closer to each other, and that's when Luffy, Usopp, and Kaya finally take notice as to who is Mihawk's opponent.

'Aras-guy/Arasval-Sensei.' They think to themselves as the two swordsmen land on two different ships, each of them being picked up by two adjacent symmetrical waves ready to clash one another as they begin to rise ever so higher.

And once Mihawk and Arasval feel the waves reach their highest, they jump at each other, both their blades poised to strike one another as they meet at the pinnacle of their jump.

That single haki-infused strike is all that it took for there to be physical changes in the world around them.

The shockwave in itself blasted away all the clouds in their vicinity in a dome-like fashion, with the raging waters being blasted into a calm state through the sheer force of their combined haki.

And just like that, in only a couple of seconds, the storm around them was calmed by the sheer amount of will that these two men possessed.

Zoro could only look in awe at the sheer amount of power shown to him by these two swordsmen. He knew he had a long journey ahead of him to attain his dream, but he never realized how big of a gap there truly is between him and The World's Greatest Swordsman.

And since they're in the air at a standstill for a few seconds, it is more than enough for the rest of the crew to get a good look at Mihawk and his opponent.

Kuina's eyes widen with recognition, remembering the photo she saw in Kaya's family mansion with her, Usopp, and their teachers along with the vision she and Zoro saw when they were on the remains of the Riryoku Kingdom. Those hawk-like eyes of his along with the blue hair is enough for her to put two and two together, making her eyes narrow in anger at the sight of blue haired swordsman after realizing that her fellow crewmates' teacher is a mass murderer. "It's him." She mutters out, grabbing Zoro's attention as he looks at her with a look to explain what she means. "Those children… all of those innocent families… He's one of those responsible for their deaths on Riryoku Island!" She roars out, pointing an accusatory finger at the blue-haired man.

"LIES! Arasval-Sensei is a kind man! He never harms anybody unless it's justified in his eyes!" Kaya immediately defends her teacher, completely appalled at seeing one of her own crewmates accuse him of something that is so out of character for him. Even more so considering that she has nothing but good memories of the man. In all the time under his wing, he has never let true harm ever fall before her or Usopp, not to mention he would always cook for them, is the most approachable of the three teachers they've had, and is someone who she has seen do whatever it takes to ensure that harm doesn't come close to those he cares about.

"Well you don't know what we saw! I have Zoro as my witness! He saw those visions as well when we were on that island!" Kuina snarls as many of the crew now turn their attention to Zoro, to see whether or not what Kuina is saying is true.

Zoro could only sigh, not wanting to lie, but knowing what he is going to say will escalate the tension between his best friend and the crew's doctor even further. "She's right. We both saw a glimpse of what happened on the island. This particular one showing a much younger version of him along with a bunch of other kids wearing the same uniform as they round up a bunch of kids along with pregnant women before he himself did the deed and killed all of them off with a beam of light." Zoro says, not wanting to remember that particular memory. As ruthless as he is, it genuinely unnerves him that someone at that age is capable of doing such atrocious acts.

Before Kaya and Kuina can start bickering again, their attention is drawn back to fight between the two hawk-eyed swordsmen, as a massive glowing chain made of light launches itself out of Arasval's palm, going after one particular ship, The Dreadnaught Sabre, as it was trying to escape the rampage between Mihawk and Arasval. In only the span of a split second, the single chain had wrapped itself many times over the ship, and once the tip of the chain stabbed itself in the ship's keel…

Arasval tugged.

The Dreadnaught Sabre, picked up and off the now calm sea and hundreds of feet in the air, is now being flung around like a lasso, with Arasval swinging the ship round and round, uncaring whether or not the people aboard the makeshift weapon are thrown off or not, throwing it directly at Mihawk.

Mihawk merely slices the nuisance in half, causing the ship to be redirected towards the remaining two ships of the once grand Krieg Armada before launching himself directly into Arasval, his blade Yoru piercing through his opponent's gut and then flinging him off of his blade and into one of the capsized remnants of the Krieg Armada.

"Looks like we have a winner." Brook says, watching as Mihawk lands gracefully on one of the capsized ships, though a quick glance told him it wasn't an easy fight for the World's Greatest swordsman considering the scuffles and cuts around his body. Even so, his attention is still towards Arasval. Arasval himself gets up from the wreckage, pulling out a piece of a broken blade that got lodged into his neck when he fell with no effort before the wound let out a soft whitish glow and closed itself. Arasval then puts his blade away into its scabbard, looking at Mihawk with a tired, but thankful smile as he walks towards the World's Greatest Swordsman with no animosity whatsoever despite being stabbed by him not even moments ago.

"Thanks for the fight Mihawk. I really appreciate your help in helping me blow off some steam." Arasval states, putting a hand out there for Mihawk to shake, to which Mihawk complies and gives him a firm handshake.

"After what you told me, it looked like you needed it to get you back to normal." Mihawk replies before he and Arasval turn their attention to the Going Merry now only a hundred or so meters away from them. "Friends of yours?" Mihawk continues on.

"I guess you can say that." Arasval replies, seeing the many looks of Luffy's crewmates before landing on Kaya and Usopp. "Hey, you two! It's been quite a while now hasn't it?" He waves to Kaya and Usopp, who jump off of the ship and onto one of the floating debris around them.

Arasval soon finds himself being hugged by his pupil, who no doubt is happy to see him again after so long. Usopp comes soon after, giving the much taller man something akin to a 'homie' handshake.

"Sensei! It's so good to see you again! You haven't contacted us in five years! What gives? And why do you look so tired and have bags under your eyes? Even after a battle like that, you shouldn't be dealing with any fatigue." Kaya asks her teacher, who lets out a chuckle, rubbing his head sheepishly at the fact that she is right and they haven't contacted each other in that time.

"Ok in that order: A couple jobs here, a couple jobs there. An adventure once in a while. As to why I look so tired, it's just I have a lot in my mind at the moment. So how about you guys? Anything interesting happened so far? And why is that young lady on your ship glaring at me as if I disrespected her mother?" Arasval inquires, wondering why someone he has never met before would be rather angry with him.

Usopp gets a bit antsy at his final question, but answers regardless. "Well, our adventures have been good for the most part. We went to this one dead island where reality is basically non-existent, Luffy caused a massive scene in Loguetown, our cook almost got killed by a guy who can shapeshift into many different kinds of animals, and two of Roger's former crewmates joined our crew!" Usopp explains, making Arasval look at him owlishly before turning his attention to the elephant in the room, or in this case the tall ass skeleton along with the smaller than average black whale behind the Going Merry.

"You mean them?" He asks, pointing his finger at them to which Usopp gives a nod of confirmation.

"Oh! One question sensei. You two look a lot alike. You wouldn't happen to be brothers would you?" Usopp asks since, in his eyes, Arasval just looks like a younger Mihawk without the facial hair, blue hair, and only a couple inches taller.

Arasval and Mihawk look at each other, with Arasval giving Mihawk a shrug and Mihawk returning the unspoken message with a sigh. "Yeah, sure. Let's go with that."

Satisfied, Usopp lets Kaya finish question their teacher. "As to why Kuina is mad at you, when we were on Riryoku Island," Arasval's eyes slightly widen, but goes unnoticed by Kaya. "She said that she and Zoro saw a glimpse of the past of what happened on there, saying you all rounded up a bunch of children and pregnant women before killing them all yourself." Kaya states, not noticing that Arasval is becoming slightly uncomfortable at her statement, though everyone else is taking notice. "But that can't be true right? Me and Usopp know you wouldn't do such a thing. I mean sure I can understand Wayne-sensei doing something like that because well… it's him. I can also understand Neos-sensei since he is always so serious whenever he did his missions, but considering your devil fruit power and everything, I just can't see you ever doing such a horrible thing. Right sensei?" Kaya says, explaining why her crewmate is currently glaring at her teacher. She then looks at him, expecting him to laugh off the accusation thrown at him and try to make peace with Kuina.

Only to see Arasval with an unreadable expression on his face, not wanting to meet Kuina directly in the eye.

"Uh, Sensei? Why don't you deny the accusation?" Kaya questions her teacher once more, hoping that Kuina's accusation isn't true.

"Kaya… I did what I had to do to survive." Arasval sighs out, still not meeting Kaya's eyes.

"And what did killing innocents have anything to do with surviving huh!? What gave you the right to choose whether they get to live or not you bastard!" Kuina exclaims, getting off the ship and landing on a floating mast, walking towards the New World veteran bounty hunter with seething rage.

"What I did to them was a mercy on my part. If it were somebody else that did the job instead of me, it would've been much, much worse for them. You said it yourself, you only saw glimpses of what happened. You don't know the whole picture." Arasval said, his eyes narrowing at Kuina's approaching figure.

Meanwhile, two figures begin to get out of the rubble of what remains of the Dreadnaught Sabre. Gin is the first to get out of the rubble, looking absolutely terrified. When his captain told him they were going to conquer the Grand Line and become the next pirate king, Gin absolutely believed him, as the second strongest among the crew as well as seeing Don Krieg's tactics, ferocity, and strength, in his eyes, there was nothing that could stop them.

Until they went into the Grand Line.

When they went through Reverse Mountain, for some damn reason Krieg thought it would be a swell idea to provoke the Gatekeepers of the Grand Line.

After they all got defeated, they took their entire supply of MH5 Gas as recompense while their whales created strong waves to send them going.

Even with all of his loyalty, Krieg lost quite a bit of respect from Gin.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

Oh no, the worst part is what happened two hours ago.

Two men who appear to be brothers were near their vicinity when, again, Krieg decided it would be a wonderful try to kill these two for merely crossing his path.

And that is when Gin lost all form of respect to his captain.

He could remember it. The first time he saw their soul-piercing hawk eyes. Those things are nothing but a signal that their life is coming to an end, just as it did for every single one of his crewmates. They made it seem like a game for God's sakes. And that's what terrifies him the most.

Deep down he knew, they weren't even trying when it came to ending their lives.

However, when they suddenly decided to turn against each other for the hell of it is when Gin realized how big the world truly is and how big f a gap there was between him and them.

He doesn't even think they are humans! Their speed and strength and especially their skills are too unnatural to even be considered human. The one with the black hair has unparalleled sword skills that he had the one with blue hair on the defensive for the most part. Even so, the blue one scared him even more than the other one. He kept taking hits that would be fatal to a regular human being from the other hawk-eyed swordsman, yet every single time he would get up and shrug off each and every attack as if it did no damage to him whatsoever.

And then there's that chain of his. A chain capable of picking up a galleon class ship with no difficulty as well as using the chain to swing the ship around like some kind of yo-yo.

Truly the world is full of monsters.

The second one to get out of the wreckage alive is none other than Krieg himself. The man is more numb from shock than anything at this time, not even believing that such an unfortunate tragedy befell both him and his crew. They've only been on this ocean for a week and already his dreams have been crushed like an annoying fly near delicious food. These damn bastards had the gall to cross him like this!? Don't they know who he is!? He's Krieg! One of the most powerful pirate crews in the East Blue and quite possibly the whole world!

He will make them regret the day they decided to cross him! Don Krieg!

"How dare you…! You all will pay for your transgressions against me…!" Don Krieg hoarsely roars, his entire left side of his body bleeding heavily at all of the damage he received when he and the Dreadnaught Sabre were flung down into the ocean.

He is aptly ignored at the moment, as tensions rise between Arasval and Kuina, the bounty hunter staring her down with his arms crossed and Kuina all but trying to maintain her cool against the man and not lose it.

Krieg at this point loses what's left of his non-existent patience and roars out at them, making many of them sans Arasval and Kuina who keep staring down one another. "HEY! I AM TALKING TO YOU! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM!? I'M DON KRIEG! THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME THE FUTURE PIRATE KING!" Krieg bellows out, frothing from the side of his mouth as his veins bulge out from his face out of sheer anger.

Gin looks at his idiotic captain, wondering if all of this has caused him to lose his sanity. 'Captain! What the hell is wrong with you!? You have seen what they are capable of! What makes you think they will listen to you just because you demand them to!?' Gin mentally exclaims.

"This gnat is annoying." Mihawk comments, nettled at the audacity that this loudmouth has.

"Will this guy just shut up! Doesn't he know about reading the mood here!?" Marguerite irritatingly vexes, already ready to put an arrow in this man's neck.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU-URK!" Krieg suddenly finds himself being held in the air by Arasval, who is gripping his face painfully tight.

"Shut up you little pissheathen. Your mere presence disgusts me. All of that sin in you, it needs to be purged." Arasval says, his hand giving off a soft glow before bursting into white flames.

The intense flames begin pouring into Krieg's body like water, not giving him a moment to even scream as his armored chest plate begins to glow red from the heat. And just as the flame incinerates his insides and begins to liquify the armor on his body, his eyes are burned away and the sockets let out a torrent of flames along with his ears.

In just a few seconds, Arasval incinerates Krieg's body, not even leaving ashes in his wake. Seemingly done with today, an exasperated Arasval picks up an injured Gin and throws him rather hard towards Kuina, who barely manages to catch him. "If you want me to give you a damn apology for what I did in the past, well there you go! I'm too tired to deal with this shit now." and with that, not bothering to give a proper goodbye, a pair of bright white wings sprout from Arasval's back and in a flash of bright light, he is gone, and with none of the people in the area able to find him.

Luffy could feel the incoming headache with what is happening. "Robin, I hope you're having a better day than I am." Luffy mutters to himself.


With Robin…

A cloaked Robin looks on through the busy streets of Rainbase as she heads back into the casino Rain Dinners, Crocodile's Base.

She's been working under this man for the past four years, and it's no longer mainly because Luffy asked her too.

No, something else is at stake here.

Something far more valuable to her than this hot arid kingdom, the island it's on, and the ancient weapon Crocodile is looking for.

It's her fault for being in this position. Had she not done what she had done, had she not tried to keep it a surprise, and had Crocodile not found her in her one day of weakness, their 'partnership' would've been of equals with mutual respect for one another.

Instead, she is being blackmailed to do his bidding.

Because of this, she really has no say in the matter of what he wants her to do. Thankfully, he thinks himself above sexual pleasures, so he has never forced her to anything of the sort, but the things she was made to do under his command utterly disgusted her, though she showed no emotion whenever she did it.

Assassinations of people associated with the Royal Family, sabotage on both the Rebel Army and the Royal Army, Information gathering, giving false information that further prolonged the war between both sides…

Anything within those lines she did, and she did them extraordinarily well.

And in her hands, is the deciphered message that tells the very location of the very ancient weapon Crocodile has so ever desired.

It may have taken a bit longer than she had anticipated, but with the power to put eyes anywhere and everywhere around your vicinity and even beyond, it was only a matter of time before she found the Poneglyph and all the secrets it entails.

Secrets Crocodile is willing to sacrifice anything to get ahold of.

She ignores the stares she receives from some of the men around her, no doubt admiring her beauty from a distance, but not choosing to act on their carnal desires because she is the right-hand man to the so-called "Savior of Alabasta".

'If only they knew.' She thinks to herself as she heads into the casino, being greeted by four members of the Billions who are currently in their guises as greeters for the Rain Dinners. She ignores them, holding the briefcase in her hand tightly as she heads towards a backdoor that leads to a series of staircases before eventually reaching the meeting room, there in which sat Crocodile, waiting for her expectantly.

"Welcome back Ms. All Sunday. I believe the Mission is a success." He states, looking at the suitcase in her hands with well-hidden glee.

Robin ignores this and says nothing, walking up to the man and setting the briefcase down on the table for him to see.

Crocodile opens up the briefcase, seeing the document in it before taking it out to read it. Robin can see his eyes widen ever so slightly as he keeps reading down every single passage that she had written on those pages, no doubt planning even more things for this group to do once he finishes reading.

After a couple or so minutes, Crocodile puts down the papers, a satisfied predatory grin on his face as he looks towards Robin. "As always, you exceed my expectations Ms. All Sunday." Crocodile says, with a cross-armed Robin maintaining her stony expression.

"I held my end of the deal. Now it's time to uphold yours." Robin speaks, her eyes slightly narrowing as her hands clench her cloak-covered arms.

"Ah yes, not to worry. I am a man of my word." Crocodile assures as he takes out a set of keys from one of his pockets and presses a button under the table, causing a hidden door within one of the walls of the room to open, revealing…

"Mommy!"

…a white-haired four-year-old girl running towards Robin joyfully as she jumps into her arms giving her the strongest hug her little body can muster.

"Hello Olivia. Have you been having fun since I last left?" Robin asks her daughter in a motherly tone, rubbing the top of her head as Olivia gives an excited nod in return.

"Yes! Me and Auntie Bon went to a carnival and had lots of fun!" Olivia exclaimed happily as gives Robin a thumbs up, the golden bracelets around her wrist clinking as her arms made motion, reminding Robin exactly why she did every order she was told to do above and beyond.

Her daughter's life.

Crocodile throws the keys to the bracelets to Robin, who fervently puts them in the bracelets, taking them off much to her daughter's confusion, since she has always had them on for as long as she can remember. After doing so, Crocodile stands up from his chair and walks towards Robin, who also stands up from her crouching position, wary of what Crocodile might do next.

Crocodile merely puts his hand out, much to Robin's surprise before he begins talking. "As much as I would like for you to continue working for us, a deal is a deal, and I am a man of my word. You may leave Baroque Works."

Hesitantly, Robin takes Crocodile's hand and gives a firm handshake before picking up Olivia and leaving the meeting room to go get their belongings. 'Finally, after so long, We're finally free!' Robin thinks to herself as a single tear leaves her eye.

"Are you okay mommy?" Olivia asks, wondering why her mom has that look on her face.

"Yes. Yes I am Olivia. Never been happier." Robin replies, giving Olivia her backpack filled with her belongings while Robin takes the rest in her own backpack.

As they leave, Crocodile has a small smile on his face. "It's quite sad to see you leave Nico Robin…" Crocodile mutters the moment he sees her leave the casino through his security feed. "It's such a shame that you know too much." Crocodile pulls out a remote with a button it, having the camera feed focus on Nico Robin's daughter in particular.

Without a care in the world, he presses the button down.

While this is all happening, a cloaked Robin is walking down the streets with her very own daughter for the first time ever. She's never had the opportunity considering those bracelets would explode and kill her daughter if she was a certain distance away from Crocodile. Now though, her daughter is free from his clutches and therefore She can do all the things she has ever wanted to do with her daughter since the day she was born.

All of a sudden, she hears a loud click coming from Olivia's person before a slight consistent beep is heard.

Her eyes widen as she immediately deduces what is on her only daughter, she takes off her daughter's cloak and her backpack to see if the bomb is on any of that. Upon closer inspection, she is hearing the beep from the necklace around Olivia's neck. Acting as fast as she can, she rips off the necklace from her daughter and throws it in the air. Unfortunately, the small, but powerful bomb hidden in the necklace explodes only a couple of meters away from Robin's position.

In the span of milliseconds, as Robin is trying to protect Olivia as best as she can from the explosion, the instinct to survive clicked in somewhere in Olivia's head, and thus she thrusts her arm out towards the explosion as she subconsciously desires for nothing to harm her mother.

Then, as if rewriting reality itself, the explosion suddenly poofed itself from existence.

Robin just laid there, trying her utmost best to comprehend what had just happened. Looking at her daughter and her outstretched arm and then looking back to where the explosion happened, she put two and two together and realized something.

Her daughter ate a devil fruit.

Which one it is she doesn't know, but at this moment, she doesn't have the luxury to find out seeing as she and her daughter were almost assassinated by her former boss. Getting up as fast as she can, she grabs her daughter hastily, grabbing their belongings using her flower-flower fruit powers as she runs as fast as she can before using her devil fruit powers to grow a set of wings for massively improved speed and mobility.

Back with Crocodile, he can only look on at what happened in shock.

That did not just happen.

It shouldn't have happened!

And yet it did.

They should've died in that explosion!

And yet they didn't.

The explosion should've engulfed not only them but a couple of blocks as well!

But it didn't.

No, he will not have his plans undermine just because of a failed assassination, even if he has to do the deed himself.

With barely restrained fury, he goes to the den-den inside his office and sets his call to every single Officer Agent and Billions on Alabasta at the moment. "Priority Orders, Ms. All Sunday has betrayed us. I want her eliminated as soon as possible. Anyone and everyone assisting her are to be eliminated as well." Crocodile growls out, turning the wooden chair beside his desk into dust, absorbing the moisture out of it from sheer anger alone before sprinting out of the meeting room to try and catch up to his former partner.

"Understood." is the collective response received back from the den-den mushi.

In the Spider's Cafe, Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger look at each other, not saying a word before immediately heading towards the direction of Rainbase, hopefully getting in contact with the traitorous woman as they head over there so as to not waste time trying to find her.

Following up with them is the impatient Ms. Merry Christmas and her slow partner Mr. 4.

"Hurry the hell up Mr. 4! This is no time to be slow! The entire organization is at risk!" Ms. Merry Christmas exclaims as she tugs Mr. 4 by his scarf.

"Ooooookaaaaaay~." is Mr 4's rather slow reply, coming thirty seconds later after Ms. Merry Christmas yells at him.

In the coast of Nanohana, inside a rather flamboyant ship, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei looks on at the den-den mushi with a conflicted look on his face. While Mr. 0's orders are absolute no matter what, He has come to know Ms. All Sunday and her daughter Olivia personally, to the point that she even considers him the only one that she can truly trust with her daughter.

"Your orders sir?" one of Mr. 2's henchmen asks, curious to know what their captain will do and ask of them.

"They are our friends, they must have a reason for betraying Baroque Works. We will try to find them and get the whole picture." Mr. 2 states resolutely as he then commands his men to sail around the port towns of Alabasta, in hopes that in case Ms. All Sunday does make it to one of the port towns, they'll be the ones to find her and one of the more unsavory members.

With Mr. 3 and Ms. Goldenweek, they were currently enjoying themselves in the outskirts of Rainbase at a hotel when they received the message.

"It appears that our Second-in-Command has turned traitor." Miss Goldenweek says, getting her paints ready and putting them in her backpack.

"So it would seem my partner, And while no doubt that Ms. All Sunday A.K.A Nico Robin is indeed someone who shouldn't be trifled with, considering that she will prioritize her daughter's safety over her own, we can use that to our advantage to obtain victory over her." Mr. 3 explains as he walks into the hotel towards his room to get the necessities to travel across the scorching deserts of Alabasta, not really realizing how close Ms. All Sunday really is.

In the ancient ruined city of Ermalu, there is Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine who were originally going to depart towards Cactus Island to deal with a traitor in their ranks, but considering their new orders, this one seems to be of higher priority.

"Y-your orders Mr. 5?" Ms. Valentine asks nervously towards her new partner, not wanting to get his ire.

This Mr. 5 is different from Ms. Valentine's last partner, with this one murdering the first Mr. 5 so fast that she didn't even see him do so. To make matters worse, this one also took Mr. 5's devil fruit and appears to have a greater mastery of it than the old Mr. 5 himself. Add all of these and the fact that she has seen his true strength in action, she will do whatever he asks if it means that she will continue living.

"Orders are orders. You stay here in case she somehow escapes my grasp. I will search for her." her partner states emotionlessly, disappearing and leaving a strong shockwave in his wake.

Back with Robin, even with all of her training, Crocodile is in his zone, being a sand logia in a desert means that she is in a severe disadvantage and she must use everything she has in order to escape.

"Desert Spada!" Crocodile roars out, sending a massive blade of sand towards Robin's direction, with her dodging just in time for it to pass by her and not do any form of harm to her or her daughter.

In retaliation, Robin takes out her copy of Luffy's pistol and shoots four rounds of kairoseki bullets towards the desert logia.

Unfortunately, though his mastered use of his devil fruit, he dodges the bullets while making it seem like they have no effect when they hit him.

"Sables: Pesado!" Crocodile yells out as he hurls all of the sand in the vicinity before creating a huge dense sandstorm to rip her and her stupid daughter to shreds.

Olivia, never before seeing this side of Crocodile in all of her four years of life, along with the fact that the man is trying to kill her mom, makes the girl cry in fear of her mother's life. "Don't hurt mommy!" she cries out, as she tightens her hold of Robin before they suddenly blink out of existence, fortunately right before the massive sandstorm hits them.

Noticing their presences disappear faster than a blink of an eye, Crocodile stops his sandstorm, not believing what just happened.

First the explosion, now this!

It's as if destiny wants him to fail.

He lets out a livid roar of primal fury at the fact that not only did he not kill Robin, but that she and her daughter have devil fruits that would no doubt be useful if he were to have them and give them to those truly loyal to him.

'Grrrr… looks like I'll need a change of plans. I need to round up all of my officers and members and end this farce of a civil war.' Crocodile thinks to himself as he begins to head back towards the casino Rain Dinners. 'Once that is over, we're headed to Water 7 to get those blueprints!'

With Robin, the first thing she notices is the sudden change of temperature turning from intense heat to unbearably cold, and it doesn't help either considering that both she and her daughter are dressed for the hot desert climate of Alabasta, not the freezing cold climate of wherever they are. Looks like her daughter took them to a random island that is far enough that Crocodile won't be finding them anytime soon.

Speaking of her daughter, she looks incredibly exhausted, no doubt with everything that has happened today affecting her quite a lot. "Don't worry, Mommy will keep you safe." Robin whispers to Olivia, as she holds onto her tightly so as to keep her as warm as possible.

"Okay, mommy…" Olivia tiredly replies, trying her best to stay awake for her mom so as to keep her company.

Using her flower-flower fruit powers, she uses her powers to fly at short intervals so as to not tire herself out, but also so that she doesn't catch any frostbite. Eventually, after enough hours of searching, an exhausted Robin finds a cabin with smoke coming out of its chimney and a warm lighting coming out of its windows.

'Shelter… Finally… I don't think I can keep going any longer.' Robin thinks to herself as she lands on the front porch of the cabin, not bothering to knock on the door and instead opening it so as to give her rather cold and unconscious daughter the warmth that she so desperately needs. As she heads inside of the cabin, she finally collapses from exhaustion, though through her parental instincts, keeps her daughter from hitting the floor herself and uses her body to cushion her fall.

Judging by the sound of footsteps getting ever so closer, it looks like she made enough noise to get the owner's attention.

"What in the bloody blazes is going o- Chopper get over here right now!" a young lady with a rather hoarse sounding voice exclaims in alarm before she notices a tiny bipedal reindeer coming out of one of the rooms. 'How cute…' she thinks to herself as she gets a good look at the hat wearing, blue-nosed bipedal reindeer.

"Please… Help my daughter first…" Robin pleads as she reaches out to the young woman, who now that she has a better look, has a really wrinkly face.

"Ah shut your trap lady, no need to worry about your baby girl. What you need to worry about is yourself!" the lady chastises angrily as she picks up Robin from the floor. "Just by carrying you, I can tell that your body is roughly 88 degrees Fahrenheit! How you are alive is a miracle in itself! I need to see what else you put your body through before I even give you permission to worry about someone else!"

"Thank you… May I ask who you are?" Robin asks politely, so as to know the name of the person who will either save her or put her and her daughter in danger.

As the old woman lays her down on a bed, the woman responds. "Name's Kureha, now will you shut up and rest!"


In The Going Merry's Storage Room…

"Wow! So even then he was a part of your crew!" a child-like voice says, swinging her legs around as she looks at the other child in front of her with awe.

"Yeah! He was a really funny guy too! I really love it when he sings and plays his violin. It always brought a sense of calmness whenever anybody in the crew heard it." The other child says as he uses his arms to express the emotions he is feeling at the moment. "But even so, I never thought he would be a part of your crew! He must've gotten so strong, especially with Laboon and his new family by his side." He reminisces, remembering the slight encounter the crew had with Laboon the first time.

"Well enough chit-chat! Going Merry? What was the question you wanted to ask of me?" the girl asks, her gold hair flowing out of her red raincoat as she cutely tilts her head at the boy.

"Oh yeah! I was gonna ask you what your name is since you never told me!" The Klabautermann known as Going Merry replies before asking the girl for hers.

The girl lets out a rather well-known grin.

"I'm Oro! Oro Jackson!"


Okay guys, that's a wrap!

What will be in store for our favorite Pirate Crew? Will Gin actually join the crew after everything he has seen?

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this story and make sure to favorite, follow, and review! Reading your reviews always warms my heart to see that many of you genuinely enjoy reading this story, I just wish that my newer readers would actually give it a chance.

Which brings me to what I want to discuss.

Let's be honest here, the first couple of chapters aren't... exactly best. During my high school years, I was pretty Edgy-McEdgelord with the story, and I have seen enough reviews and PM's for me to realize that I need to fix this problem.

So against my better judgment, I have decided to put this story in a bit of a hiatus for the time being.

Now don't get me wrong, I love you guys for supporting me and despite my rather increasing length of time to post each and every chapter, I try my best to give you guys my content. And while I may be no Cross-Brain by any stretch of the matter, I do see that the quality of my work has increased exponentially, and I want that to show in my earliest chapters. Which is why I am doing this Hiatus. I appreciate your time and I hope you all understand.

Don't blame me, blame the system.

Sincerely,

Forzarismo

August 23, 2018


Hey guys, this isn't Forzarismo here, but his brother, he's currently with his Bank Job so has asked of me to post his chapter for him, which is funny considering this is one of the few things he would never trust me with.

and he's right.

he should've never trusted me with this.

and since i now have access to both his word documents along with his story, i have decided to play a little prank on him.

usually whenever i see him write, he tends to write bits and pieces of future chapters whenever he has writer's block, just so that way future chapters don't take as long.

So what i'm gonna do is post a sneek peek of something that is gonna happen in Alabasta, since he has stated that there isn't any genuine danger for the crew at the moment, so he kind of wants to change that.

and since he won't be at home until 6 in the afternoon, this will probably give him a shocker and once enough damage has been done, he won't even delete the sneek peek.

now obviously this is a spoiler, so if you don't wanna be spoiled, turn back now.

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Well you guys had your chance. enjoy.

Also, hint on who the guy is: dynamite with a laser beam, guaranteed to blow your mind, anytime!


Sneak Peek: Nojiko's Forgotten Alabastan Requiem

Nojiko didn't know what to make of the situation.

She just saw one of the officers of Baroque Works murder his own partner with an explosion.

Granted, she may have been on the enemy's side, but for someone to kill another who is on their side for no apparent reason, it made her feel sick and sorry for the blond woman to have such a horrible partner like that.

The Tsumegeri Guards Barrel and Hyota charge at the man with the intent to end his life considering he is an officer of the organization that is causing all of this mayhem to their beloved kingdom.

It wasn't so much of a fight than it was a slaughter.

The man punched through their weapons, shattering them with a practiced ease that she has never before seen on anyone sans Luffy himself.

Even then, with their weapons destroyed as if they were nothing, they each take out a small bottle, preparing themselves to drink the legendary and deadly hero water.

Only to find their heads removed from their body before they can even open the bottles and drink their contents.

Acting quickly she pulls out her revolver and shoots in quick succession at the man's vitals.

This surprise attack would've worked in her favor, had the man not dodged all of the bullets as if it were a daily occurrence to him.

Now with his attention towards her, he spits out a glob of spit at her gun at sound-breaking speeds.

When the glob of spit hit the gun, said weapon burst into many tiny pieces as it suddenly exploded out of her hand and it went everywhere, raising up the sand and creating a smokescreen between the two.

Taking her knife out as quickly as possible, Nojiko uses her Observation Haki to find the tall blonde man and thrusts her blade towards his heart.

And soon finds that the man not only stops her attack but shatters the blade in his grip while stopping it.

Knowing when she needs to cut her losses, she throws down one of Usopp's Tobasco Smokescreen Bombs and begins to dash out of the alleyway, thinking of what to do next to evade the Baroque Works Agent.

'Alright, that should buy me enough time to set up some traps to prolong his pursuit until I can find someone strong enough to take him down.' Nojiko thinks to herself as she begins to reach the end of the alleyway towards the more open streets of Alubarna.

Suddenly Nojiko feels a strong jolt go throughout her body, causing her body to freeze. Her eyes widen when a whole new sensation fills her as she is unwillingly brought back in the dark alleyway.

Pain.

Intense pain.

Even so, she couldn't even let out a scream as she is now being held in the air by the blonde psychopath in front of her, his strong and firm hand tightening the hold around her neck ever so slightly, her eyes widening as she looks around to see any type of opening for her to take advantage of.

Wait…

Was… Was that her kidney in his hands that he is holding?

As she looks at her organ in his bloody hand, her attention soon turns to a broken mirror not too far from her and could see the massive gaping hole left on her lower left torso area, where she can see the desert on the other side.

Immediately acting and ignoring the pain as best as she can, she pulls out her remaining two revolvers from their holsters before unloading all of her rounds on him in the span of seconds.

Only for them to have no effect.

He didn't even flinch from the attack, only looking at her with a raised brow as if to say 'Did you really think that would actually work?'

'He didn't even use Haki!? What kind of monster is he!?' Nojiko thinks to herself in fear as she now has no other viable option to escape.

She is at his mercy.

He knew this from the beginning and she is just realizing this too.

And she is terrified beyond belief.

"You know… I just noticed this." The man says, dropping the kidney without a care in the world. "But you have some beautiful hands." He continues on as he takes both revolvers away from her before crushing them in his palm as if they were nothing but dried leaves. With his open palm, he begins to lightly caress Nojiko's hands, with Nojiko too afraid to do anything. "Not even close to the most beautiful I have seen, but it would a shame on my person to not take notice of them."

If the situation were any different, Nojiko would've found herself a bit insulted at the fact that her beauty is being put into question while also feeling a bit creeped out at him pointing out his hands specifically.

Not her face.

Not her curvaceous body.

But her hands of all things.

Even so, because the situation is completely and utterly against her favor, she did what any normal sane human being would do to save their skin.

Plead and beg.

"Please… I'll do anything you want… Just let me live…" She begins, only for his eyes to narrow immediately and saying the one word she hoped not to hear come out of him.

"No."

At that, his grip on her throat begins to tighten slowly but surely, making her eyes widen with tears now streaming down her face.

"No-!" She suddenly coughs out blood as she can feel the oxygen being cut off from her. She starts wildly swing her arms at the man, using every bit of her strength to claw her way out of his grip. "Please-! Have mercy-!" she barely wheezes out, making him only clench his hand even more as her face now begins to purple and her eyes begin to roll up against her will.

Even so, her clawing did not let up.

She claws and claws and claws.

And yet the monster would not let go.

"I have killed far too many people for that to ever work." He merely says, his face emotionless as he strangles the life out of Nojiko, unmoved of the struggle she putting up.

Eventually, her struggle begins to slow down before her she loses control of her body completely. Her heart and throat are on fire. Her lungs feel like they are being rubbed raw with sandpaper, and her head feels so tight that she wants to rip it open to alleviate her pain. And because her body has been deprived of oxygen for too long, she doesn't even have the strength to even move her lips anymore.

'Nami…' Nojiko thinks to herself as she begins to lose consciousness, her final waking moment's being on her sister, and how she wants to draw a map of the entire world. The light in her eyes begins to fade, as a mixture of snot, blood, and saliva flow from her face and nose and dribble down her neck, staining the shirt and tunic on her limp body in the process.

The last thing she hears as her world turns black is a loud, sickening crack that echoes throughout the alley…