A.N.: After much waiting with baited breath, we have ch 15. I hope you all like it. It was... interesting to write.

Ch. 15

The Silence Breaks

What was that noise? Whatever it was, it was hellishly annoying. There was a very high pitch whine coming from an unknown place, and it was driving Chopper crazy Pulling his pink top hat down over his ears, he scampered unto the galley to find some relief, but even the cacophony of Sanji cooking couldn't mask the annoyance.

"Oi Chopper, are you alright?" Sanji asked, tearing his attention away from the stove for a moment.

"Sanji… That sound is driving me crazy!" The little deer whined unhappily.

"What sound?" Asked Sanji in confusion, straining his ears to catch any nuance of sound. After a moment he shrugged. "I don't hear anything."

"You… you don't?"

"No."

Listening once again, Chopper strove to hear the sound himself. It was gone, leaving him as confused as the cook. Maybe he had just imagined it. "Oh… ok then. Never mind!" Confused, he slid off of the bench he was sitting on, and headed out the door, headed to get his medical bag. Maybe there was something wrong with his ears.

Chuckling to himself, Sanji went back to the meal he was making when a second noise began. It was deep and driving, more felt than heard. No way Sanji couldn't hear it this time.

"Ok… That's got my attention. Now, what the hell is it?"

"Robin! We need to get back there!" Zoro protested as the two raced for their ship.

"Swordsman-san, that man has bested you, me, and for all we know, Captain-san." She explained. "There's nothing that we can do now."

"So, we're running away…" Muttered Zoro in disappointment. He hadn't expected Robin to be a coward.

"Of course not!" She shot back. "We're going to gather the rest of our nakama."

"And then we kick some marine ass!" Zoro interrupted, a bloodthirsty grin creasing his lips. Now this… this was a plan he could really sink his teeth into.

"Exactly."

"What the HELL happened to the ship?" Zoro bellowed. When he and Chopper had left, the ship had been perfectly normal, floating peacefully in the bay, minding it's own business. Now it sat in the mouth of what was unmistakably a giant cannon. The damned thing was at least fifty feet in diameter, and made the Merry Go look absolutely tiny in comparison.

"Oi, Zoro!" Usopp called, poking his head over the lip of the cannon barrel as he greeted his nakama. "How'd you find your way back here anyway?"

"I guided him." Robin answered.

"Oh, that makes sense Rob-" With eyes bulging, Usopp did a double take. "Robin! You're alive! Sanji, Nami, Chopper! Robin's alive!"

"Robin-chan?" Sanji gasped, rushing over.

"Robin!" Echoed Nami as she reached the rail.

"You're alive!" Swept up in exuberance far more than the other three, Chopper flung himself clear from the ship in a diving hug. Looking at the fluffy, sixty-pound projectile that was her nakama, Robin quickly stepped out of the way and Chopper landed on an unsuspecting Zoro.

By the time that the others had descended, Zoro had regained his feet, and was trying his hardest, without success, to remove the small deer from his body. Angrily, he snarled, "Get offa me!"

"Scary… so… scary…" chopper whimpered, water streaming from his eyes as he clung to Zoro's torso like a gigantic brown burr.

"You did it to yourself!"

"Scary…"

While Usopp went to see what he could do to aid Zoro, robin had been plied with delicious food and drink by Sanji. "Oh, Robin-chan!" He gushed, his one visible eye pink and heart-shaped as she quickly and daintily consumed the masterfully made cake and sipped the hazelnut-flavored coffee he had given her. "Nami-san and I were so worried when we found your body…"

"Maybe you were, Sanji-kun." Nami said, pushing past him, her arms filled with Robin's clothing. "I knew all along that it wasn't her."

"But!"

Looking back, she shot him a glare that could make even a vicious pirate captain back down.

"Nami-swan is so cute when she's angry!" the cook cried, a huge grin plastering his face.

Taking the, now empty, plate and saucer from Robin, she thrust them at Sanji, who dutifully accepted them. As Robin slipped off into the woods to change into the clothes that Nami gave her, the other woman stood guard, mainly to keep Sanji away.

"Ano… What happened to you?" She asked curiously.

"It's a long story Navigator-san." Replied Robin as she pulled on the slinky dark blue outfit. "But the short story is that I went exploring, met a man, got captured, and escaped with the help of said man, Captain-san, and Swordsman-san."

"Really?" Nami asked in surprise. The fact that Robin had been captured and escaped didn't surprise her; such things were just a part of life on the Grandline. However, Robin meeting a man, a man she was something other than impartial to, judging from the tone of her voice, was highly unusual.

"Really." Sliding on her long, white and fluffy 'pimp' coat, she set the matching white hat on her head. Leaving the rancid shirt forgotten on the ground, she strode purposefully forward. "Come on, we need to go help Captain-san, and Bard-san."

"Bard-san, huh?"

Ignoring her, Robin led the way back to the others. "Are you all ready to go?"

"Marimo told us everything." Sanji replied, speaking for the group. "Let's go kick that Vice-admiral's ass!"

With a nod, Robin took off into the forest, leading the Mugiwaras on a rescue mission.

Saros was no musician, in fact on more than one occasion when he had had enough to drink, and felt brave enough to try Karaoke, he had been told that he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket that was leak-proof, and self-righting. Even with all those facts staring him squarely in the face he could still pick out at least five different melodies swirling around this room he and the white-haired brat were in. No wonder it was called the resonance chamber. As captivating as all this was, it was still taking too much time, and he wondered how much longer it was going to take.

"Oi, dead man, how much longer is this going to take?" He asked the man pinned beneath him.

Snapping his mouth shut on the bell like tone issuing silkily forth, Kaicen blinked in surprise. With a savage glare at the man crushing his already mangled hands and arms he snapped, anger, and perhaps the beginnings of fear coloring the tone of his vibrant tenor voice. "There are ten songs of awakening. I was half way through number eight." Thinking quickly he added, "Now I have to start all over again…"

It was a blatant and desperate lie, Kaicen knew that, but hoped that Saros wouldn't. "…You're lying." Saros determined, after a short hesitation. Pulling his hand back, he doubled his own weight with the power of the Kilo Kilo no Mi essence, which he had had the foresight to consume just before he landed on Kaicen, and slapped the fool hard enough to draw blood.

"I-"

"More lies!" Another slap rang out as it connected with Kaicen's cheek. "Keep singing!"

With tear-streaked eyes and cheeks, Kaicen resumed the song that would activate the cannon. This was it; he was out of options. He would sing, and then he would die, for he knew that Saros was going to kill him. This was the ultimate act of betrayal to Kaicen. He, not Saros, would be responsible for unleashing such a horror upon the world. This was everything his parents had fought and died to protect and keep secret, and here he was bowing to this monster. He was a monster himself, he wished that he could die right now. Father, Mother… Forgive me! I wasn't able to protect anything…

Finally the marines were free from the not unpleasant, yet extremely time consuming attentions of Hurley. "Come on!" Theron told his first and second mates, A large brutish looking man with an intelligent air about him named Mowry, and a slim woman clad in leather studded with seastone, named Rosalind. "The Vice-admiral's missive said that we would find him in this general direction."

Unblinkingly the Merry Go stared into the jaws of the beast ready to completely devour it. If the sheep's head could have perspired it would have been sweating bullets as it sat staring down the gullet of the Solstin Cannon. Then the low noise thrummed through the entire metallic length of the barrel, and a dim light began to shine in its murky depths.

It was difficult to say who was more surprised, the pirates, or the marines that outnumbered them seven to one as the two groups ran into each other outside of the Aliotto's dwelling.

"Mugiwara!" Some Marine called.

"Marines!" Usopp responded, shrilly.

And just like that, the battle was joined.

Usopp may have been a coward, but he was one helluva sharpshooter. He knew exactly what his role was in a battle, it was to get out of the way and snipe, So that's what he did. A good sniper always had close support, or he died very quickly, so with a yell of, "Chopper, Nami, Come on!" He led the way to a spot well removed from the worst of the fighting, yet the fighting still came to them. The doorway of the Aliotto complex made a perfect location for a Sniper, and the stairway up made it easily defensible.

Zoro, Sanji, and Robin were right in the thick of things, making short work of the cannon-fodder like marines, until they came to the three leaders. Theron wielding a pair of punching daggers rushed Sanji and almost spitted the young cook before he had a chance to dodge. Mowry, twin axes out and ready, faced a better prepared Zoro, and Rosalin merely smiled as she cautiously approached Robin, swinging her flail.

"Oi, Marimo.." Sanji grinned, lighting a cigarette and backing a distance away from Theron, coming to a stop with his back pressed to Zoro's

"What is it, Ero-cook?"

"Bet'cha that bruiser'll not only beat you tender, but bend you over and…"

"You willing to bet a keg of grog on that?" Zoro snapped, cutting the other man off.

"Only if you'll be willing to restock my wine cellar when you loose."

"Fine, but only if you can somehow beat the little wimpy guy you're facing." The swordsman said, spinning to face his part time friend, part time foe.

"You're on!" Smiled Sanji, moving to glare at the grass headed man. "I just know you're gonna loose, Baka!"

"When have I ever, Hentai?"

As the two went on like this for some time, Theron and Mowry simply looked to each other in discomfort, clearly at a loss. Weren't these two pirates supposed to fight them? These bickering children were the reason that so many of their comrades lay unconscious?

"Sanji, Zoro!" Nami called, cupping her hands to her mouth. "Fight each other later!"

"Hai, Nami-swan!" Sanji responded, breaking off the fight, heart in his eye. "Later Swamp-scalp."

"Like hell!" Zoro snapped, grabbing Sanji by the shoulder. "We're going to finish this-"

"Zoro! I'll add fifty percent more interest to your debt if you do!"

"-later…" He sagged, angry and impotent. This was the last straw. Now he was going to kill something, and since the big dark-skinned man with the axes was right in front of him, he was a very tempting target. As he pulled forth his swords The three heavy hitters on each side dove into the fray.

A.N.: Ano... I hope you all liked this chapter. It was suprisingly Kaicen free, but I enjoyed it. I'm curious to know; what do you all think of my O.C. I hope he's not too Mary Sue-ish... I tried to think of how Oda-sama would introduce someone.