Chapter 25: Interlude (The Night King)

Early next morning, the Cutty Sark was peacefully bobbing up and down to the gentle waves. Off the Island of Asphodel, the whole crew was going to have a whole day of shopping and resupplying. But before that, there were some calls to make…

"Puru, puru, puru, puru. Gacha!"

"Hey…what's up?" an extremely drowsy-sounding Portgas D. Ace answered.

"Um…it's Jinbe," the Fishman answered.

"Oh!" that certainly woke the Pirate up. "Jinbe! How've you been?"

"I am, surprisingly, alive and well," Jinbe chuckled.

"Surprisingly?" Itachi's monotone joined the conversation.

"Oh yeah, it was a close one! Too close for even me," Kisame admitted.

"I didn't think such a thing was possible," Itachi ribbed at his old partner, earning a chuckle.

"Trust me," Halibel mused. "If you'd been there, you'd know."

"Although…I'm surprised you haven't heard," Jinbe added.

"Why?" Ace wondered.

"CAW! Splat! EEK!"

"What was that?" Halibel felt obliged to ask.

On the other end, Ace looked out the window.

"Oh…looks like a seagull ran into a falling piece of paper, and hit our mast. Poor Weiss is trying to wake it up," the Pirate nonchalantly said.

The three listeners had no idea how to respond to that.

"Here," a third man's voice entered, the sound of paper handed off crackled over the Den-Den line. And they left just as quick.

"Oh…that's what Jinbe meant," Itachi deadpanned.

"Wow…you weren't kidding when you said Kisame looked like a Fishman," Ace muttered.

"I swear I'll gut the next person who makes that mistake," Kisame grumbled under his breath.

"Anyway," Halibel got them back on track. "That paper has somehow spread all over the world."

"Oh," Itachi mused. "At this rate, you just might be the most famous Ninja in this world. How does it feel to be more well-known than any Kage?"

"Like a million ryō," Kisame replied in just as dry a tone.

"Slightly off topic though, at least I know what you look like, Ms. Halibel," Itachi added.

"Uh-huh!" Ace heartily agreed. "You really hit the jackpot with these two, Jinbe!"

"To be fair," Halibel decided to ignore that. "They only have a picture of my transformation. I usually look like a human."

"Hmm…to push both you and Kisame to transform…this Cipactli must've been powerful," Itachi sounded concerned.

"Make no mistake," Halibel interjected. "Cipactli's power was restrained by taking the body of another…and that was the only reason we won."

"Wow…what really happened there?" Ace was on the edge of his seat.

"Well…" And the trio began regaling their long-distance friends on what happened at Tamatoa's Horde.

For the most part, the other line listened intently. Still, even Itachi couldn't stay quiet when a certain detail was dropped.

"Ms. Halibel, you seriously beat both Hidan and Kakuzu? All by yourself?"

"Hell yeah she did!" Kisame laughed. "The whole island was just gone after she was through with them!"

"To face those two alone…and have the strength to still stand against Cipactli, I'm impressed," Itachi couldn't help but compliment her.

"It wouldn't have been possible without Hanataro," Halibel sounded like she was downplaying it, and that may or may not have been a blush forming on her cheeks thanks to all the Ninjas praising her.

"Anyway," Jinbe continued. "It was right after those two were beat that Cipactli assumed direct control of his crocodile minion."

"Duly noted," Itachi muttered. "We'll be sure to kill any of his animals quickly, if we run into them."

"Honestly though, we've seen more Samebitos than animals," Ace recalled. "But I don't think our last fight had anything to do with these 'Gods of the Sea'."

"Oh?" Jinbe raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we ran into some trouble on our own," Itachi recalled.

OoOoOoO

"RRRAAAHHHH!" The mighty roar of the Undead Dragon bellowed throughout the island as it flew. Then, it dived at Itachi and Ace. The two stood firm. Now that Davos had gotten Shoto and Weiss out of there, there was nothing holding them back.

"Fire Fist!" Ace launched his signature move, eager to see what his foe could do.

In response, the dragon sent a stream of blue fire, with an ear-splitting 'FWOOM!'

As the fire attacks canceled each other out, Itachi had leaped into the air.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

A massive crow appeared in a poof of smoke. "Itachi…been a long time," came a gruff voice.

"Indeed, Kuraikaze. We must combine our power with this foe. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Wind Style: Great Breach!"

The two Jutsu combined as they hurdled to the target. But the Night King was no simple target. With a mere gesture of his hand, the wind and snow had intensified to the point that the Jutsu dissipated.

"He commands the cold itself, how problematic," Itachi mused.

Ace materialized behind them. "I can get closer to him, you two need to keep that Dragon off my back."

"Very well," Itachi nodded. "But if fire doesn't work, my Genjutsu might be our best bet."

"Will keep that in mind," Ace returned the gesture.

"RAH!" The dragon unleashed another stream of blue fire, forcing its opponents to split.

Naturally, the undead creature directed its attention to the bigger prey, and flew after it, into the clouds above.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Itachi expertly tossed a dozen flaming shuriken, aiming at the eyes, nostrils, and mouth.

Before it could connect though, the Night King raised both hands. At that, a circle of wind, snow and ice included, whirled around the Dragon. It instantly put out Itachi's Jutsu.

Ace, even though half his flame body dissipated, managed to get through.

"Saint Elmo's Fire!" Two lances of fire shot forward.

Without a single wasted movement, the Night King spun his spear of ice a single time. The fire petered out when it made contact.

"Damn it!" Ace pushed his Observation as the spear came forward. The fire of his Logia body actually began to shrink, the cold was so intense. So, Ace instead fully reverted to human form, knowing that he'd only have so much fire to use this close to the Night King.

He blackened his fist, yelling as he threw it forward.

The Night King caught it. It was only a combination of Ace's incredible will and an internalization of his Flame-Flame Fruit that prevented the whole limb from freezing and shattering. It was still great enough to make even Ace feel the chill. The humanoid abomination slowly turned its head to the Pirate, and smirked.

At that moment, the Dragon bucked, pausing its pursuit of Itachi and Kuraikaze. Ace was forced to become intangible, narrowly avoiding the spikes and icicles on its back. Once under the Dragon, Ace boosted the fire at his feet, flying back to Itachi.

"All right, how do your illusions work?"

"For the strong ones, I must make eye contact. Still, I'll use a weak one to see if it'll even work. I'll have to get closer though."

"Well…I'll pressure him again. That should give you an opening," Ace suggested.

"He'll be expecting that," Itachi pointed out.

"Expecting me…not you," Ace corrected.

"Hmm…Kuraikaze, be ready to ascend at a moment's notice," Itachi ordered.

"Understood," the summon replied.

In the interim, the Night King raised both its arms.

With that, the entire hoard of undead wights that hadn't been burned beyond function rose again.

"Time's up," Ace growled.

"I agree," Itachi closed his eyes. When opened, the Sharingan revealed itself. "Let's go!"

As the undead surged back towards the Shireen, Kuraikaze body-tackled the Dragon. This managed to keep it from joining the other revenants.

Enraged, the Dragon roared and spewed flames straight into the sky.

"Together! Fire Gun!" Ace flew around, his fingers shooting baseball-sized fireballs.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!" Kuraikaze shot his Jutsu at Ace's attack, enhancing each 'bullet'.

The Night King intensified the cold behind him, completely smothering half the fireballs. The tip of his spear slashed through the others, instantly putting them out at contact.

Ace smirked, quickly following up. "Cross Fire!"

The Night King's gaze stayed on the coming fire, just as planned. By the time it dissipated, Itachi was already in the fire's place (having flown behind it). Eyes locked, and a Genjutsu was placed.

The Night King saw a murder of crows circle around him, regardless of the wind and cold. It narrowed its eyes, being reminded too much of the Three-Eyed Raven.

The cold spread out, both in the illusion and out. Somehow, the Night King's influence began to take over the illusion. Each crow started to freeze over. Then, it met Itachi's gaze.

To put it simply, Itachi blinked, the Night King did not. The human mind, no matter how hardened, just couldn't compare to over ten thousand years of focused malice and hatred. The Night King's mind was no longer human. And besides, this wasn't the first time it had dealt with invasions to the mind.

Itachi flew back on Kuraikaze. "Well…that's new," was all that the Uchiha managed to say. Granted, there was a good chance that Tsukuyomi would work, but Itachi didn't want to chance it. He had no interest in spending so much Chakra on a 'maybe'.

Ace, on the other hand, didn't have any apprehensions about saving energy. As his "Fire Fist Barrage!" would indicate. This time, the Pirate was aiming at the Dragon. The revenant's softer underbelly was beginning to give way. A rotted ribcage peeked through the falling scales.

"RRAAHH!"

Ace was able to completely evade the blue fire stream, thanks to Observation Haki.

Nevertheless, this gave enough time for the Night King to strike. He pulled his spear back like a professional javelin. And then he shot it forward with all his strength.

Ace parted his body, everything below his head becoming fire. While it took longer than usual to reform, Ace still hadn't been damaged. The Pirate's eyes widened as he came to a realization. He wasn't the target.

The spear was falling at terminal velocity right at The Shireen. Ace had no time to help, due to the very angry Dragon focusing on him.

"BOOM!"

Thankfully, Kuraikaze had flown down, and Itachi conjured the Susanōō ribcage. The spear had been stopped and shattered. Nevertheless, the directly hit ribs began to crack, and the rest were frosting over.

'Why'd he aim for the ship?' Itachi couldn't help but wonder.

By now, the other three humans had all gotten onboard. Shoto and Weiss were pushing themselves to form an Ice Wall between the Shireen and the undead-infested coast. Davos was at the wheel, steering the ship away.

'Wait…Davos!' Itachi realized. He swooped down on Kuraikaze. "Davos, this creature is from your world. How was it beaten?" In hindsight, Itachi was kicking himself for not asking earlier.

The feeling was mutual, since Davos was this close to banging his head on the wheel. He drew his blade. "Valyrian Steel! He was made with a Valyrian blade through the heart, and only then can he be unmade!" He tossed it to Itachi, who deftly caught it.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu! POOF!" Another Itachi dropped to the Crow's Nest, watching as the undead struggled with the Ice Wall.

While Itachi was over there, Ace decided to go with a more precise attack that he was sure would get past.

"Heat Haze!"

This time, the stream managed to reach the Night King. Since Ace was constantly pumping his will into that fire, this was the first time that the monster had ever felt heat.

But that wasn't the end of it. Ace had shot forward. Then, in an odd mix of Haki and Devil Fruit, his entire forearm exploded, shooting a blackened fist as fast as he could. The Night King raised an arm in defense, and was significantly pushed back. Even better, the all-black armor began to crack.

That wiped the smirk off the Night King's face. Ace was noticeably pleased with that development.

"Heh…I think I'll call that…Black Fire Fist."

"Wind Style: Divine Wind!" Kuraikaze blasted.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!" Itachi strengthened his Summon's wind with the Jutsu he subtly copied from Kakuzu long ago.

The combined wind forced the Dragon to abruptly stop. Combined with Ace's earlier assault, the Night King was sent falling off his mount.

"Ace! Form your biggest attack! Let's finish the Dragon!" Itachi yelled as he closed his right eye.

"Right! Great Flame Commandment!" Ace landed on Kuraikaze, letting his legs turn back to normal as he concentrated on creating a building-sized sun.

Then, blood dripped from Itachi's closed eye. "Amaterasu!" It shot open.

Ace's ultimate attack grew even larger, and was surrounded by black flames.

"Hehehe…I like it!" Ace laughed, feeling the power in the palm of his hand. "Now…Black Flame Emperor!"

"WHOOSH!"

"RRRAAAHHH!"

The Dragon roared in agony. The black flame quickly did its work on the rotted flesh. The thin leather wings were the first to go.

"CRASH!"

On the ground, the Dragon could do nothing but writhe as Ace's Amaterasu consumed it. Even the nearby Night King was impotent, the deed was done so fast. He clearly didn't appreciate that, if the two new ice spears and the exceedingly angry glare were any indication.

"WHISH!" Itachi sent the Amaterasu at their foe, creating a constricting circle of black fire.

The Night King simply walked forward, and the Amaterasu dissipated beneath his feet.

"Impossible," the Ninja couldn't help but think.

That moment was all the Night King needed to quickly throw a spear, impaling Kuraikaze.

"AAHH! Sorry, Itachi!"

"It's all right, you've done more than enough."

"POOF!"

With that, Itachi landed besides Ace. The Valyrian Sword poked out from the sleeve of Itachi's Akatsuki cloak.

"Seems that fire won't be an option," Itachi mused, still in a bit of shock at someone just walking past one of his signature moves.

"Well…maybe it still is," Ace pointed to the Night King's legs. The armor there had actually started chipping off, with the rest blackened to the point of falling apart.

"Hmm…your Haki was able to damage his armor as well, yes?" Itachi turned to his crewmate.

"Yeah…but…" Ace didn't finish, on account of his Observation Haki ringing his alarm bells. "The ship!"

At that moment, the Night King had thrown a spear right past the duo. Instead, he utterly obliterated the wall standing between the Shireen and the Undead Wights. But the spear didn't stop there. Oh no, the Night King had also thrown it specifically at Davos. For all of its stoic façade, it was utterly enraged at the mere idea of the weak Humans of Westeros who managed to outlive it…and Davos was the first such familiar human it ran across.

"NO!" Davos was quickly pushed aside.

"SKRNKT!"

Itachi had been skewered, completely freezing over before there was a 'POOF!' inside the ice.

"Oh! Thought it was the original for a second." Weiss noted in shock, her heart rate returning to normal.

"Guess we'll have to switch to the offensive," Shoto's left side was starting to warm up again, allowing flames to form.

"Steady," Davos cautioned, his backup cutlass slick from the blood of those few Wights that had reached the ship, as he'd been given 'cleanup' duty.

Despite his brave words, Davos nervously noted that there was nothing between the dead and the living.

That is, until Ace and Itachi jumped back over the water. Flames keeping him aloft, Ace glared at the remaining corpses. Then…

Something seemed to burst from within the Pirate. Davos was driven to his knees. Weiss and Shoto were frozen in place. Itachi simply raised an eyebrow.

But that was nothing compared to the reaction of the undead. Every single one of them was knocked out. Even the Night King moved an arm over his head, as if to steady himself. With his entire hoard taken out in a mere instant (on top of his strongest creation burnt to a crisp), he came to a decision. He would personally deal with the Pirate and Ninja. Raising the Dead, despite how easy it was for him, would be a wasted effort here. Mind made up, the Night King replaced the spear thrown at Davos, and stalked his way forward. His gaze didn't waver in the least.

Itachi smirked. "Well…seems his eyes are solely on you and me."

"All the better," Ace had a similar satisfied look.

"Can you two provide us cover?" Itachi asked the two newcomers.

"Absolutely!" Weiss confidently replied.

"Yeah," Shoto agreed in his usual brisk manner.

"Okay, the second after he sees that I have this," Itachi gestured to the Valyrian Sword, " block his vision. And Davos, I recommend putting some distance away from the island."

"Right!"

Then, Ace blasted forward with his fire. Itachi managed to keep pace as he ran.

Once they were a fair distance, Itachi deliberately raised the Blade.

The Night King's eyes widened, and he took a step back. Itachi made eye contact.

"That's it!"

As one, Weiss and Shoto moved. The Schnee summoned her Glyphs. Most of them created ice spikes, in tandem with the Todoroki's right side summoning a wall of ice behind. Quickly, Shoto put his left side into overdrive, rapidly superheating the ice.

"Flashfreeze Heatwave!" The rapid injection of hot air into cool air caused an accelerated expansion of steam.

"RAH!" With a roar of effort, Weiss used her last Glyph to summon her Arma Gigas, a near-10 foot knightly figure, with an ethereal broadsword to match.

"Here!" Shoto precisely wreathed the broadsword in flames.

"Thanks!" Weiss sent it leaping past the steam cloud.

On the other side, the Arma Gigas came hurtling at the Night King. Forced to act fast, he brought both spears to block, which put out the flames. Satisfied, his smirk returned as he sliced the creation into thirds.

"Gah!" Weiss gasped as she felt that, falling to a knee. "Hope that bought enough time."

From the steam, Itachi and Ace emerged, splitting and then flanking their foe.

The Night King saw the flash of Valyrian Steel, and focused on Itachi. He then began to run, for the first time ever since his turning. That was how much he feared them.

He blasted the entire blizzard at the Ninja, successfully managing to slow Itachi down. Then, the spear drove forward.

"CAW! CAW! CAW!"

The Night King's smirk instantly turned to a look of horror, as Itachi split into a conspiracy of ravens. Worst, the closest raven stared at him dead-on, with all 3 of its eyes.

Just the mere thought of its oldest enemy returned to life again sent the Night King into a mad rage. Magic came pouring out of him, shattering the illusion. See, when the Night King had first seen the Valyrian Sword, he'd been unbalanced enough for Itachi to place a subtle Genjutsu on him.

The Night King quickly turned around. Where there used to be Ace, now stood Itachi, Valyrian Sword in hand. And he had been running full speed at him.

"SKRNKT!"

The Ice Spear pierced the Ninja in the torso. His previous look of utter rage began to subside, the Night King assured that he'd dealt with the one who made a fool of him.

"Hehehe," the Ninja gave a very 'Un-Itachi-like' laugh. "Better make sure Aokiji doesn't figure out I copied him."

"POOF!" The Transformation Technique dissipated, revealing Portgas D. Ace. The Night King stared, stunned at the perfect little hole in his opponent, with the fire barely perceptible around the supposed wound. Then, he came to the horrible realization that Ace didn't have the Valyrian Blade. Instead, he was preparing a pointblank attack.

"Black Fire Fist!"

The propelled Haki-covered fist smashed past the Night King's armor, even getting past the deathly cold skin and exposing his heart. Incidentally, the undead monarch's free spear was knocked clear across the island.

But the Night King wasn't dead yet. Summoning up all his power, he blasted the Pirate all the way past the Shireen with every gust of wind and ice possible.

From beneath him, there came a rumbling.

"BOOM!"

And Itachi Uchiha came bursting up from the ground.

Desperate, the Night King swung the Ice Spear with all his might, trying to buy time for the ice to cover him up again.

"CRA-KOOM!" The swing was stopped by the appearance of the Susanoo's ribcage.

Itachi could feel his defense cracking and freezing over, but he paid it no mind. He reared his arm back. Fun fact, while the Susanoo can stop virtually anything from entering, it does absolutely nothing to stop something exiting. A fact that Itachi took full advantage of.

The Valyrian Steel Sword was thrown between the ethereal ribs. Right before the Night King could restore his frozen skin, a look of horror dawned on him.

Then, his heart was pierced. The Night King shattered, and was no more.

As the blizzard stopped, the clouds began to lighten.

Itachi reached down, and picked up the Valyrian Blade, examining it with his Sharingan. "Hmm…there's something very subtle here. How intriguing. Better not let Kisame find out, or he'd have a field day."

Satisfied, Itachi hopped back to the ship. At the same time, fire had swirled around the mast, before reforming into Ace.

The other three were staring in utter shock. What had stood before them was nothing less than a world-ending evil…and those two had made it look easy.

"Suddenly, I'm feeling very inadequate," Shoto couldn't help but say.

"You and me both," Weiss agreed.

Their reaction was nothing on Davos. Ever since he was little, he'd heard of the unspeakable horror that lived Beyond-The-Wall. He'd seen the army of the dead at its full strength, pushing aside everything that he and his allies could throw at it. And now, it was gone, just like that.

He was simply muttering to himself, something along the lines of "just like that".

"Davos, you still with us?" Itachi asked as he placed the Valyrian Sword back in his hand.

The old sailor barely noticed.

Ace walked up. "Hey, you in there?"

Davos shook his head, coming back to reality. "Yeah, yeah."

"That was amazing," Weiss looked at the Pirate and Ninja. Shoto nodded in agreement.

"Well…I'm going to be using the snail for a while," Davos said.

"Why?" Itachi asked the obvious question.

"Because I'm going to call everyone I can from Westeros…and let them know that our greatest foe was taken out like it was nothing…so they can stay the hell away from Ninjas and Grand-Line Pirates. Then, I'm going to take our strongest brew, and go to my room."

With that, Davos walked in and shut the door behind him.

"I think we broke him," Ace muttered.

That broke the dam, and everyone on deck began laughing.

OoOoOoO

"HAHAHA! Oh, that's gold!" Kisame chortled, savoring his imagination of the look on Davos's face.

"Kisame, be nice," Halibel chided.

"Anyway, sounds like quite the foe," Jinbe brought things back on track. "So what happened after?"

"Some rest and recovery," Itachi put it simply. "Oh, and we've got two more crewmates. There's Weiss Schnee from Remnant, and Shoto Todoroki from the Quirk World."

"Ah! We've got a Quirk User too," Jinbe realized. "TSU!" he raised his voice. "Ace and Itachi found someone from your world!"

The frog-girl hopped on in, literally. "This is Tsu, who is this?"

"Tsu, it's good to hear from you, you might remember me as 'Half-N-Half'," a monotone voice joked.

"Kero-kero-kero," Tsu laughed. "Nice to see you again, Shoto. Oh, I've got Momo's number, if you want it."

"Yes, Please!"

"Wow, that's the most emotion I've seen from this kid," Ace chuckled.

"I've also got Ochako and Satou's number, if you want those too," a sly grin graced Tsu's normally stoic face.

"Umm…yeah, of course," the snail blushed in Shoto's stead.

"Anyway," Halibel interrupted the reunion. "We'll be heading to the island of Khemenu soon, try and meet us there."

"What's there?" Itachi asked.

"The Library of Thoth, an Egyptian Deity of Knowledge. We're hoping he can tell us what we need to free Nami," Jinbe explained.

"Wait, Nami? What happened to Luffy's Navigator?" Ace asked, sounding very concerned.

"Well…"

OoOoOoO

Back on the island, the Night King's final ice spear lay untouched. The weather had just begun to return to normal. That is, until the sun set.

"Caw! Caw! Caw!"

Ravens began to circle, doing so in a highly unnatural synchronization. They swirled in a tornado of feathers. From the epicenter, a woman materialized. Her wild, black hair billowed in the wind, with the feathers in it swaying to and fro. A black cape coalesced from the falling feathers. Red leather armor glistened in the moonlight, complimenting a fearsome spear strapped to her back. From the splattering of war paint, intense red eyes gazed at the weapon.

The Morrigan chuckled as she picked up the Night King's last remnant of power, recalling the fight she'd witnessed.

"My, my…such interesting young men," she licked her lips. "Itachi Uchiha, Portgas D. Ace…I'll be watching you. But there is something else I must do first."

With a wave of her hand, she conjured an image of her newest subordinate.

"Ares," she called. "The time is coming for you to prove yourself to me."

A tall man with a harsh-looking helm formed an ethereal image. He was wielding a short-sword, and aegis shield (with the image of a vulture). His voice reverberated as he replied.

"What do you want?" the Greek God growled to his fellow War Deity.

"Now, now…no need for such a harsh response," The Morrigan teased. "Anyway, the time has come for you to make your move. With Cipactli and Tiamat occupied, I feel this is the perfect opportunity to bolster our own forces."

"Is that so?" Ares crossed his arms.

"Yes…the Egyptian Deities have insulted us long enough. Their neutrality is nothing but a farce!" The Morrigan proclaimed. As the Celtic War Goddess, the mere concept of neutrality was a detestable thing. At least on that, she and Ares agreed.

"Take a small army, and assault the Library of Thoth," The Morrigan ordered.

"Why there, specifically?" Ares asked.

"Thoth has buried some of the greatest threats to his world beneath his keep…I'd like to meet them," The Morrigan said nonchalantly.

"Very well," Ares gave a customary bow of the head. "I will inform you when we're ready to move." The projection vanished.

"It seems I'll have to wait to have my fun with you two boys," The Morrigan laughed. "Still, that'll be a day worth remembering."

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Morrigan's laugh echoed across the night. She holstered the Night King's spear, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Omake: Road to Fishman?

Jinbe woke up, and immediately felt that something was off.

'Maybe eating something will do the trick,' he walked off to the kitchen.

"SANJI-SWAN!"

Jinbe's jaw dropped at the sight of Mirajane absolutely fawning over her fellow cook. The stranger part was that Sanji was simply giving her a cute smile. "Aww, you really are sweet, Mira. Come on, let's make sure the guys have enough for seconds."

The Fishman slowly backed away. "Okay, that was weird. I'll talk to Hanataro about it."

He went below, but his sanity was under constant assault. For one, Sasori was dancing. And Franky was very irritated at that.

"Could you hurry up with that farce? I hate to be kept waiting," the cyborg grumbled.

"Oh come on! How can you hate such a SUPER routine?" Sasori nearly whined.

"Very easily," Franky deadpanned.

Deciding to do his best to ignore that, Jinbe sat down. "Hey Hanataro…could you do a quick once-over?"

"Yeah, yeah," Hanataro answered in an uncharacteristically irritated way. "The hell did you do this time?"

"I'm…not sure," the Fishman shook his head.

Apacci walked up. "Umm…Hanataro…maybe you should go a little easy today?" she asked in a quietly meek way.

"Screw you! I know what I'm doing!" Hanataro sniped back.

In the corner, Usopp began to speak up. "Hey Apacci, would you mind…showing me your panties?"

"THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" Hanataro shrieked as he whacked the sniper.

"I…uh…just remembered that I left my…thing…on deck. I gotta go!" Jinbe hurried up the stairs, leaving the others in the dust.

"What the hell is going on?" Jinbe frantically thought.

In a second, the Fishman had made it up to the deck.

"And then…I led my army of 8000 to victory!" Brook declared in an incredibly boisterous voice.

Juvia just gave the skeleton a blank stare. "Wow…that sounds like a lie," she deadpanned in a croaky voice.

Tsuyu completely ignored the duo, in her own little world. She was looking at a picture of Class 1-A. "Oh my darling! I will see you again soon!"

And Jinbe was instantly wishing he hadn't. Because the image of Tsuyu using her very long tongue to kiss a picture wasn't going to leave his brain for a long time.

"Would you PLEASE be quiet!" Grimmjow shouted from the wheel. "I'm trying to navigate here!"

"Aww…lighten up, little kitten," a sword-wielding Nami grinned from the ledge. Her orange hair was cut short, with a more punk-like look.

"CRASH!"

And Hanataro had kicked the door down, using Usopp to do it.

"Oh good! A chance to tear someone apart!" Nami drew her sword.

The rest of the crew was running up, and it looked like all hell was about to break loose.

"That's enough," a calm, composed voice commanded.

"Finally, some sanity," Jinbe began to thought.

Turns out, Kisame was the one who'd spoken. Oddly enough, his Akatsuki cloak was zipped all the way up, covering everything up to his nose.

"Hanataro, please behave yourself." Kisame quietly ordered with just a hint of disinterest.

Okay, Jinbe was officially weirded out!

"Wait a minute…if Kisame's acting like this…don't tell me!" Jinbe would really rather not…but the universe decided it wasn't done tormenting him.

At that moment, the head of a Sea King floated to the surface. And its killer hopped to the deck.

Halibel rested her bloody Tiburon on the ledge (she was in Resurreción by the way). Her grin was the stuff of nightmares. "Aww…I wanted to play with it some more. It's been so long since I've ripped something apart."

Kisame rolled his eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by the Hollow Queen.

"Come on, Kisame. You gonna give me that one-on-one anytime soon? I've just been aching to go all out with you," Halibel got very close to the Ninja, her hand moving towards his zipper.

"Not today," Kisame shot the offer down, guiding her hand away from his collar.

Halibel gave a playful pout. "One day Kisame," she smiled in a way meant to be flirtatious…but it came off as terrifying. It might have to do with her having shark teeth…for some ungodly reason or other.

'Don't look over here. Don't look over here. Don't look over here!' Jinbe desperately prayed.

"Hey, Jinbe!" Halibel started stomping over.

"Damn it!"

"Say…you've been awful quiet," Halibel put a hand to her chin. "Are you suffering from G.F.W.?"

"Umm…what?"

"Great Fight Withdrawal," Halibel said, wholly convinced that this was an actual thing.

"No…that's not…"

"You clearly are," Halibel raised Tiburon. "And I've got the cure!"

"Oh, Hell No!" Jinbe jumped into the sea. "THAT'S IT! I'M DONE! I'm opting out! I QUIT!"

A bloodthirsty Halibel was so disturbing to him, that he was trying suicide by drowning. And let me tell you, a Fishman has to be VERY determined to go out that way!

"AAHHHH!"

Suddenly, Jinbe screamed as he woke up, shooting off his bed.

"Oh! Thank God!" the Fishman rubbed his eyes. "From now on…no more Sake with Pufferfish."

In the other rooms, the rest of the crew were coming to the same conclusion…what with a drunk Samehada hanging off of a slowly spinning ceiling fan…Halibel's to be exact.

A.N. Alrighty, I did not expect to go THIS LONG without touching on Itachi and Ace. My apologies to their fans! Still, I hoped that this was a good first combo fight, and that the Night King was an appropriate first challenge. Feel free to let me know anything I could improve on with our 'elder fire brothers'. And now, Weiss Schnee and Shoto Todoroki have joined their crew. Hehehe…might as well rename this team 'Family Issues: The Crew!'

And yes, The Morrigan is making a move now…her forces, under the command of Ares, are on a collision course with the Cutty Sark. I felt that the time was coming for them to be on the wrong side of a legitimate God. Don't just think that the other villains will do nothing while Cipactli is in the spotlight.

So yeah, keep an eye out for me releasing a 'Databook' as a separate story. That's coming soon…probably before my next SoSC chapter.

As for that Omake…I don't know what the hell I was thinking…ah well.

Til Next Time…Have Fun! Stay Safe!