As the nine above continued to fight the two emperors, down below, a different kind of operation was going down.

"All right. If all of you Gifters eat these, you'll get a special tonic with every bite. Quick healing and muscle improvement." said a girl with horse ears and lower half as she held a millet dumping.

Headliner

Speed

Horse SMILE user

"Really? Give me. I wanna punch out that jerk." Briscola said as he took one and ate it. "Hmm…not sure its…whoa okay! Now I'm feeling it!"

"Briscola's so lucky." one of them said.

"And I have plenty for all you Gifters." Speed said.

"Really? For us?!" a number of them said.

Running through another hall was a man with gazelle legs and horns as he handed out the dumplings.

"Eat up, Gifters! Eat, Eat, Eat!" he called out.

Gifter

Gazelleman

Gazelle SMILE user

As some of the alliance spread out, some noticed a man on the wall with four legs and a scorpion tail for hair.

"Hey! He's one of the wardens from Udon!" one of the samurai said.

"No worries. I'm on your side. Water under the bridge." he said.

Headliner

Daifugo

Scorpion SMILE user

"Here! Eat This! You too! Now all of you will serve my master!" Daifugo said as he force fed the dumplings to multiple gifters.

Outside of the Skull Dome, multiple demons serving both Zenos Road and Tormal roamed before they heard a roar as they turned to see multiple beasts.

"Hey there. Glad we have your attention." Aura said, standing there with Natyal. "From this point on…you'll be serving our masters."

Natyal held her hand out to the demons as they bowed. "I ask that you all help our allies." she said.

"That takes care of this bunch. Onto the next area." Aura said as they rode off on their beasts.

As this taming of demons went on, it was not going unnoticed as Shez, Sentibug and Verde watched.

"Seems we have some unexpected complications." Sentibug said.

"I got word from my soldiers. Claude has killed Shahid. We've lost the Almyrans and Alliance." Shez said.

"Hmph. A weakling like that one had no place amongst our ranks." Verde scoffed. "The time to fight is now." the goblin paladin said as he saw Aura and Natyal riding along and, with a grin, leaped off the ledge and landed in front of Natyal's beast.

"One of the Four Heavenly Kings." Natyal said.

"Eh…I wouldn't bother. He's a goblin paladin. He's not much." Aura said.

As Natyal's beast charged towards Verde, he smiled before putting his hands out and catching the beast by the head. With a roar, he twisted his arms, snapping its neck before throwing both beast and beastmaster behind his back.

"No!" Natyal said, putting her hands on its head. "No no no." she said before a shadow covered her eyes.

"Hmm…your power is growing, as is your rage." Verde noted, drawing a black as night sword. "That's good. Stop hiding behind your beasts and prove you are strong enough to survive. That is the way of the world!"

Just then a portal opened next to Natyal as a large water beam fired out of it. The paladin blocked the beam with his blade, though the act still pushed him back into a wall, stealing a grunt from him.

Floating out of the portal was a large leviathan sized beast with grey scales, jade colored blunt spines on its neck, back and tail, jade colored crystal-like structures two wing-like structures on its back, two large horns on either side of the head which also resemble wings, and blue and white fur running down its neck, along the arms and on the sides of the tail as it roared.

"Oh gosh, that thing is so cool." Aura said.

Natyal looked up at the paladin with an unbridled anger in her eyes. "You killed one of my friends, now Shantien is going to do the same to YOU!" she screamed.

"Hahaha!" Verde laughed. "Yes, that's it! This is where beasts like us belong! In the fight!" he declared as he charged towards the beastmaster and her summoned partner.

The Shantien roared as it took to the skies and summoned lightning spheres before slamming them down onto where Verde was with its tail, causing a large blast before firing another large water beam. The paladin sliced one of the spheres apart, but the others managed to hit, shocking him. Shaking off the pain, he rolled out of the way of the water beam before looking up at the creature.

"If you think your pet is safe in the air…you are mistaken." Verde said as his sword began to glow purple, the aura growing more pronounced by the second. The goblin then swung his sword upwards, sending a large purple slash out that struck Shantien in the underbelly.

It roared in pain as both Natyal and Aura looked at the paladin.

"Hey…you can't treat that thing like that." Aura said.

"Why not?" Verde asked. "The girl brought it forth to kill me. If it cannot accomplish that, then she simply made the wrong choice."

"Oh don't worry…it won't kill you." Aura said as she got off her own beast. "Go and corral the recruited demons." she ordered her beasts as they ran off.

"And besides…Shantien hasn't even gotten serious yet." Natyal said.

"Hmm…" the paladin said as he struck and hurt Shantien once more. "Quit making it up. This beast….is…weak!"

"Nah…it's just holding back cause it knows how weak you are." Aura said, casually approaching the goblin.

"I was weak once. But those days are behind me." Verde responded. "To kill oneself and be reborn with strength…that is the goal of the weak. And now…I shall extend that same gift onto all of you. You shall be ferried to your next life…starting now!"

The goblin paladin then brought his sword down. As he laughed, he looked in surprise as he saw Aura holding the sword with ease.

"You…kill me? Wow…that's so dang funny." she said before pulling it as the goblin's arm was ripped off.

To his credit, Verde didn't scream. He merely backed away, his eyes filled with a newfound respect. "You are strong indeed." Verde stated.

"Me…nah. Not really. Lord Ainz is much stronger than I am." Aura said.

"I should think so." Verde responded. "Very well. Victory over me is yours. Now, you are free to-"

His statement of acceptance was interrupted when a yo-yo came down, wrapped around him, and yanked him upwards.

"I already carried your corpse back to Gaeabrande once, I'm not doing it again." Sentibug said. "I'm getting you back to Lord Zenos."

"Release me! I lost! I will not-!" Verde stated in rage.

"Oh, shut up." Sentibug said flatly as she pulled the raging goblin away. "Shez, go on ahead. If you win, meet back up with us."

"Unfortunately, you aren't going anywhere, rip off." a voice said as Connor stood there.

"Oh, of all the times…" Sentibug growled. "Shez, change of plans."

"Fine then." Shez said as he spotted Byleth in the building. "Actually…I'll take a rain check. I have my target." he said as he went back towards the castle.

"God, I'm surrounded by honor-driven idiots." Sentibug sighed.

"Like you would know anything about honor. You jumped onto a talking head's ship as soon as your creator was defeated." Connor said.

"And just where else was I supposed to go?" Sentibug asked. "With you heroes? Yeah right. Like I'm going to go with the people who'd see me put back in that keychain."

"You had multiple choices. But instead you let the darkness in your heart fester and take it out on the world like a kid throwing a tantrum." Connor said.

"With that one description, you just described my original self to a T." Sentibug said. "Y'know what? Fine, you wanna fight? I'll give you one. Your last one." Sentibug said, slinging her yo-yo. "After all, what kind of worth do you have in this world? You're nothing but a pretender. Going on saying he killed the biggest assassin in history when he just fell."

"That may have been sheer luck…but…says nothing about my actual skills." Connor said, drawing his guns.

"You're just an ordinary man living in an extraordinary world." Sentibug said as an aura of darkness radiated off her. "You don't deserve to have a second life. So I'm going to take it."

Meanwhile, outside the Skull Dome, Perospero clashed his Lollipop cane against Ace's sword.

"You just don't give up, do you?" Perospero asked, looking behind Ace as Carrot and Wanda were knocked down with heavy wounds, out of Sulong form. "Even when I took out your backup thanks to the moon being gone, you still think you can get revenge?"

"You're not even worth killing, I just want you to feel the pain Carrot felt when we lost Pedro." Ace said. "Besides, I don't think, I know I can put Pedro's soul at peace."

"Perorin! Even after alll that…how stupid are you?" Perospero said, knocking Ace to the ground. "Hmm…it galls me to leave this unattended, I cannot afford to be shown up by the Beast Pirates. Time to show you children how powerful the emperors are." he said as he headed inside.

"Where do you think…you're going?" Ace asked, as he slowly stood up.

"I have no business with you. What did you think would happen when you messed with us? If you didn't want to see your friend die, you should have stayed out of our way." Perospero said.

"I do not give a damn what you think, all I see a bunch of power hungry tyrants that harm innocent people. While I may not be as strong as Jexi and everyone else, I'm strong in my own way." Ace said as he held Dandelga and Drevas in their melee forms.

"You're a stubborn kid… You should've just stayed out of this!" Perospero said.

"Can you say the same for me?" a voice asked as a gust of wind rushed at Perospero.

"What the… Who…" Perospero asked as he soon saw Petra in the air.

"To think a mere candy man would put himself in the same level of power as us." another voice said as Vegeta joined Petra. "How annoying."

"Petra…Vegeta…?" Ace asked.

"Don't forget, Ace… I was almost killed by this creep too. I've got some beef with him as well." Petra said.

"As for me…I have no intention of fighting this clown myself, it's beneath me." Vegeta scoffed. "But…I can admire your desire for payback, so I'm going to give you a chance to take what you want."

The Saiyan Prince held out his hand and formed a ball of light in his palm.

"I haven't used this technique in years, I thought I'd lost all use for it." Vegeta said as he threw the ball up into the air. "Let's see if I still have it down. Burst Open and Mix!"

"Vegeta, what are you doing? How can you be sure you can turn into a Great Ape here?" Petra asked.

"What makes you think that was for me?" Vegeta asked, pointing at Carrot, who was looking up at the artificial moon as lightning surged around her. "It seems the artificial moon works on Minks as well. Now then, Carrot, Ace, Petra…show this fool what it means to cross the Hero Alliance!"

"Counting on it. Hurricane's Cascade!" Petra said as she blew a powerful gust of wind at Perospero that hit him like a storm of arrows.

"Yeah. It's like I told you, Perospero." Ace said as Dandelga and Drevas began glowing. "While everyone else is strong in their own way…I'm strong through the friendships and bonds I formed with them!" he said as he was engulfed in a bright light.

(Cue- Opposed Viewpoint- Scarlet Nexus)

"Grrr…I am tired of dealing with you entitled children. I just want to finish this and get back to mama's side!" Perospero said as candy erupted all around him.

"Oh, we're gonna send you back to her alright." Petra said.

"But it might be in pieces, you long-tongued bastard." Vegeta said.

"I'll see you all made into Candy statues as I lick you clean!" Perospero said, sending a huge candy wave their way.

"Try it, and I'll claw out your tongue." Petra said.

"Funny thing about candy…" Ace said as flaming claw waves sliced through it as it melted. "It can't stand the heat." he added as the light died down revealing Drevas' gauntlets on his hands, except they had sets of three small versions of Dandelga in the form of claws and his greaves now had hidden blades underneath the heels.

"Grrr….you…stupid children…I will not deal with this a moment longer!" Perospero said sending out more candy.

Meanwhile in the Right Brain Tower, the fight between Franky and Sasaki as well as Law and Pedrol continued on.

"Talon Storm!" Law called, striking Pedrol with a combo of punches. "Inferno Punch!" he called, imbuing his right fist with fire and thrusting it forward.

Pedrol deflected the punch by striking with his hammer as he and Law exchanged rapid swings and misses.

"You fight with amazing strength, young man! But I am one of the strongest in the Shadow Knight Order. There's a reason why they refer to me as 'The Raging Warrior'." Pedrol said, casting Berserk on himself.

Law backpedaled, breathing a sigh. "This guy's tougher than I thought. I'm only doing so much damage." he said before dodging an attack from one of the Armored Division. "And these Gifters getting in the way aren't exactly helping me focus!"

"Speak for yourself, kid!" Franky said as General Franky was getting attacked left and right. "General Left!" he said fired at Sasaki before the triceratops rammed into him.

"Franky!" Law called in distress before he barely avoided a fatal swing at his neck via Pedrol's axe.

"Franky!" voices called as Nami and Usopp's group came running to them.

"What the? Nami? Usopp? Tama? The new guys?" Franky said seeing an army of Gifters following them. "Geez! They're being chased by a whole army."

"More of them? Good. Block the way behind you!" Sasaki ordered.

"That's why I'm here…to even the odds!" Tama called out.

To Sasaki's surprise, the pretended panicked ones then pulled down their eyelids and stuck out their tongues as the Gifters behind them attacked the Armored Division.

"What in the world?" Pedrol said in surprise.

"Looks like the odds are shifting our way this time." Law smirked.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Sasaki asked.

"Sasaki! You gotta smash them. They're traitors!" called out Page One and Ulti as they pursued the tamer group.

"It's one of their powers. Isn't that right?" Ulti asked as she jumped up.

"Not doing that again. Lightning alert! Look out for heart paralysis! Thunder Lance Tempo!" Nami said, striking Ulti with lightning. "Not good enough. I'll need stronger lightning."

"Over here people! Special Attack! Millet Dumpling Star!" Usopp said, firing dumpings into the mouths of the Armored Division.

"Help Franosuke and Law!" Tama said.

"You got it, master!" the Armored Division said supporting the two.

"That girl… she turned your entire division against us, Sasaki!" Pedrol said.

"Dammit, stop that, Armored Division!" Sasaki said, distracted.

"Franken Sword! V for Victory Slash!" Franky said, slashing Sasaki.

"And now…time for our fight to draw to a close." Law said as he prepared for his strongest arte.

"You think you can finish me in one shot? I'd like to see you try!" Pedrol said, charging right at Law with lightning surging through both his weapons.

"It's time!" Law said, unleashing a burst of energy before dealing a three hit combo. "Watch me soar! Heavenly Crimson Blossom!" he called, dealing a powerful knee strike as the image of a phoenix appeared over him, as Pedrol was knocked into the air, set ablaze.

"That arte…" Veigue said, showing a hidden smile. "He's certainly a lot like Tytree."

Pedrol cried as he crashed to the ground.

"Did I do enough damage for the shard to manifest…?" Law asked, looking at Pedrol closely, as the dark aura around him vanished and a dark crystal manifested next to him. Law grabbed it and smiled. "Got it. Spade, come in. Pedrol's free for real this time. I got him back to his senses."

"You have my thanks, Law." Spade said.

"Send Alphen and the others my way. I'm with Franky as he's battling Sasaki. I'm gonna help, but I'll need some backup." Law said.

Meanwhile, three familiar figures rushed into view as Mio, Noah, and Sam had chased Ulti and Page One here, Koyomi not far behind them.

"Where'd they go!? They went this way!" Mio exclaimed.

"Huh…" Koyomi said seeing the Gifters fighting other Gifters. "What the heck happened in the last hour?"

"What difference does it make? We have to find those kids." Sam said, scanning the area and seeing Law and Franky with Sasaki. "Mm. Not getting involved there…" Sam said, scanning around for any sign of Ulti and Page One.

"Hey! If you're looking for two dinos chasing a giant dog with Nami, Usopp and a kid in green on it, they went that way!" Law called, pointing in the direction Komachiyo ran off.

"Much obliged!" Noah called in thanks. "Let's go! We have to get them to change, they're just kids after all." Noah said, Sam nodding as they rushed off in that direction.

With Ramona and Sanji, on the 3rd Floor Banquet Hall….

"At last, you two are finally behaving yourselves~." Black Maria said as she had the two of them all caught up in a web. "You did a number to the men and some of the women, but in the end, just the two of you were never going to overcome us."

"We did give our support." Cornelia said.

"Yeah. We had to do a lot of the work." Edira said. "Well, my drones did anyway. Why don't we kill them?"

"Not yet. They are bait." Black Maria said.

"Bait?" Ramona asked.

"Thing is…while we will slaughter your whole alliance…there is one person we need alive…Nico Robin." Black Maria said.

"Of course… The Ponyglyphs." Ramona said.

"That woman is the only one who can read them. She is the only one who can get Kaido to Laugh Tale. So go ahead…the two of you go and beg for her." Black Maria said.

"I'm telling you…underestimate Nico Robin at your own peril." Sanji said.

"Oh…I'm shaking." she said as a woman with an eye sheet on her face approached.

"Miss Black Maria…we've located the Red Scabbards. They are being helped by someone somewhere on the second floor treasury." they said.

"I see…guess I should go finish them off." Black Maria said.

"Wait, don't!" Ramona said.

"And why not?" Black Maria asked. "Ah…that's right…I still need you two to go crying for Nico Robin." she said, slipping on some brass knuckles. "I'll start with…you!" she said as she started punching Sanji in the face. "Hurry up and call for Nico Robin! I've an errand to run after this!"

Despite being punched repeatedly, Sanji didn't relent.

"I see what he's doing!" one of the matrons said. "He'll keep quiet until he dies."

"If he weren't an enemy, I might fall in love." another of them said.

"What an idiot. We can simply capture her if he does die." Cornelia said.

"For a lovesick idiot, he is resilient." Edira said.

"Hey…I've got…one thing to say." Sanji said.

"Yeah…tell her off." Ramona said.

"He'll say something hackney like eat crud." Edira said.

Sanji then took a deep breath and called out at the top of his lungs. "HELP ME! ROBIN!"

"He really went for it!" one of the matrons said.

"Well… Hope you all wrote your wills, because you're very much screwed now." Ramona said.

"Ramona and I are being held prisoner! We're on the third floor in the Banquet Hall!" Sanji said. "I'm sorry! If you don't come here right away, they're going to kill us!"

"What a loud man he is…." Cornelia said.

"So it is you. When I heard you were a court mage or whatever, I could hardly believe it." A voice said as Hapi stood behind her.

"You? When did you get in here?" Cornelia said.

"I came here as soon as I heard Skirt Chaser yelling at the top of his lungs. Good thing I was the closest." Hapi said.

"I think we've heard enough of these fools' prattle. I need to continue disciplining my pets." Black Maria said punching Sanji more until…

"Gigantesco Mano…" a voice said as a large arm slapped Black Maria and sent her sliding. "Spank!"

"Miss Black Maria!" Edira said.

"Did you think I would be easy to capture if you lured me in?" Robin said. "I've worked in a lot of evil organizations. When you start hurting the people I care for…it really brings out the devil in me." she said as Sectonia and Neferu joined her side.

"Those two? But Kronya should have…" Cornelia said.

"Oh, her?" Sectonia asked with a smile without warmth. "We're sorry to say but she won't be coming back."

"What have you done?" Edira asked.

"What else do I do with electric powers? Zap her like the fly she really is." Sectonia said.

"Good one, Queen Bee." Hapi said. "Lemme get you outta those webs, Skirt Chaser, RaRa."

"No worries, miss Hapi. I have it handled." a voice said as Brook jumped down as the web was frozen and shattered.

"That skeleton…he froze all the web traps!" one of the matrons said.

"Huh? Ah! Scary monsters!" Brook said.

"You don't get to say that!" they said.

"Sorry about that, guys… I got a bit careless." Ramona said.

"At least you two are alright." Hapi said.

"Ramona, will you be alright with everyone here?" Sanji asked.

"Yep. Just one healing spell, and I'll be fighting fit again." Ramona said.

"Good. I'm gonna go get to Kin'emon and the samurai." Sanji said as he ran off.

"Sanji…thanks for relying on me." Robin said as Sanji just had hearts in his eyes as he slipped on some ice on the way out.

"You forgot to tell him you accidentally froze the floor, Bones." Hapi said. "What the heck is this thing?" she asked, holding a mouse with a paper mask.

"They're part of Kaido's surveillance unit…the Mary's." Neferu said.

"Black Maria…" a voice sounded out on the comm. "It's Jack. I'm going to finish off those samurai myself. They aren't so weak that the Tobi Roppo can deal with them."

"That's a bit of an insult…but this does free me up." Black Maria said, loosening her kimono as she showed her back tattoo that said 'Women Trouble' in kanji as she grabbed a flaming wheel on a pole as Cornelia and Edira joined her side. "After all this, you will belong to Master Kaido."

"Thanks…but I'd rather die." Robin said.