AN: Sorry for not updating in a while, it's just that, Drum Kingdom hasn't been the best for me, and I have like, 10 projects I needed to complete for school, and then my mom says that I have to get 90% and above, if I want to keep all my privileges, and I agreed, so my schedule was slightly hectic, and then there's the lack of sleep... Either way, this chapter will be a little angsty, no physical meeting with Corruption yet, in fact, this arc will be the last time you'll be seeing her until after Alabasta! I just want to get that out of the way, and now, please, enjoy

Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece, but I own this plot.

"Say what now?" Katrina blinked.

I blinked in return, "'What now'"

Katrina scowled, "I didn't mean literally, you fool,"

"I know," I said simply.

For a moment, all was silent until, "You saw that, didn't you?" Katrina questioned quietly.

"I saw a lot of things just now, you've got to be more specific," I muttered.

Katrina's scowl deepened almost into a grimace, "You know what I mean, the black miasma rising from Dalton's eyes!" she gestured grandly, "That looked… weird…"

"It looked like Corruption," I grumbled, furrowing my brows together.

"What was that?" Katrina questioned, looking at me through the corner of her eyes.

"Nothing," I lied absently, Corruption…

I raised an eyebrow and hummed in confusion, before turning around and searching in the crowds for Dalton. There you are.

I lugged myself through the snow in his direction, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" he looked over his shoulder, down at me with a distinctly different look in his eyes. I took notice of that, and proceeded to interrogate him.

"Have you been doubting yourself recently?" I questioned.

"Huh? Why do you want to know?" his face adopted a confused look.

"…Thinking about something,"

All was silent for a while, and then he spoke, "Ja, I was doubting myself. I didn't know I was doubting myself until I realized that I have so many people that believe in me, and that now I know, I will never let them down,"

I slapped a deadpan expression on my face, "That was so sweet,".

"Did you get what you came for?" he asked me, not unkindly, which was a stark difference from what he normally acted towards me.

"Yes, actually," I blinked, before narrowing my eyes, "More than enough,"

All of a sudden, a screaming man ran towards us. I was about to discard him as an extra, until I realized he was screaming guy.

"Dalton!" he sounded so desperate. Unfortunately, Dalton wasn't paying attention. Well, I was happy to oblige. I'm still a little salty from when he was Corrupted.

"Hey Dalton?"

"Yeah?"

I pulled back my fist and landed a solid hit on his cheek. He stumbled backwards a bit and groaned. I snickered at the exasperated glare he sent me, and pointed a thumb in the direction of screaming guy who wasn't exactly screaming anymore, and instead gaping in what seemed to be abject horror.

As soon as Dalton turned his head, he ran towards screaming guy and cradled the just-barely alive man in his ridiculously huge arms.

"Are you okay? What happened!" A crowd began gathering around him, "What happened?"

"Dalton," the man whispered, "Wapol… Wapol… HE'S HERE!" he screamed before his head lolled back and his body went limp.

Dalton's eyes darkened and he closed the still open and fearful eyes of the man in his arms before standing up.

"Shivani! Mota! Let's go!" he turned around and shouted before running off in some random direction.

'Why do you get to be called by your first name?' Katrina grumbled through our link.

I didn't even grace her with a reply, and instead ran off at top speed, ignoring the creaking of my bones and burning of my muscles.

If my hunch is right, and most of the time it is, our fight with Wapol just got a whole lot harder. We need to stop him now at the metaphorical bottleneck before he makes it to the Drum Rockies. Why it's going to be harder?

He's a bad king; Corruption's going to be helping him.

~\_o_/~

Luffy woke up with a start in the middle of an unfamiliar room, his face sweaty, and heart beating hard.

"What was that?" he asked no one in particular. He thought about it for a moment before frowning, "DAMN IT! WHY IS THINKING SO HARD?!" He stared at the sky and gritted his teeth.

His attention was stolen when he heard a clatter and a yelp, along with the clopping of… soft hooves?

Luffy whipped his head around and stared at the tiny raccoon-dog that was hiding the wrong way. For a moment, he tried to contemplate what was going on, before his stomach grumbled, and he threw all caution out the metaphorical window.

"COME HERE MEAT!" he launched himself out of his bed and began chasing the raccoon-dog across the room.

"Luffy?" Sanji groaned, resting a palm on his forehead, "At least let me cook it, you idiot of a captain!" he growled before launching himself out of his bed and joining Luffy in the raccoon-dog chase.

"Sautee, then mince, after that soak," he muttered to himself as he chased the crew's future doctor. Not that they knew it, though.

"Luffy? Sanji?" a feminine, tired voice spoke from behind a door.

As if a switch had been flipped, the two immediately screeched to a halt and directed themselves to their Navigator.

"Nami! You're okay!" Luffy cheered.

"Shut up, captain!" Sanji grumbled, mock-kicking his captain's head.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Nami smiled happily, "That's thanks to the little man you were chasing," Nami's face slowly darkened throughout the sentence, until she looked positively demonic.

Sanji gasped scandalously and shook his head just as vigorously, "No we weren't! We will no longer chase him, Nami-swan!"

Luffy nodded in response.

"Huh? You're not… chasing me anymore?" A tiny, shy voice squeaked from behind the door.

Luffy turned his head 180 degrees to stare at Chopper, and sure enough, the child froze. After a few moments, on cue, Luffy's stomach grumbled, and Luffy collapsed, groaning.

"Are you… okay?" Chopper creeped up to the rubber man and carefully touched his shoulder, before recoiling as if he burned himself.

"Huh?" he stared in wonderment, before stretching out a hoof to poke him again, and recoiling just as fast.

He giggled in happiness, and his eyes were lit alight in fascination, "Whoa…"

"Hungry…" Luffy grumbled, ignoring the assault on his rubber skin, or not even feeling it at all.

~\_o_/~

I continued running as fast as I could without spasming on the ground, so much so, that the world around me blurred into a beautiful blend of light blue and white, with maybe a touch of chocolate brown.

After about, say, 20 seconds of running, I heard some ugly laughing up ahead of me, getting dangerously close by the millisecond. For a moment there, I completely forgot that I was in One Piece, and got a flashback to my days in the gang.

Naturally, my knee-jerk reaction was to punch whoever was laughing in the solar plexus. Yeah… I need to fix my habitual reactions… Wapol was not very happy, and with how fat he was, I don't even think my punch did any damage to begin with.

"What does this little brat think she's doing?" Kuromarimo said from beside Wapol, who had a silent, almost contemplative look on his face.

Damn, I thought, That's terrifying, but… what is he even thinking about… I frowned.

All of a sudden, Wapol grinned psychotically, and I felt my blood run cold.

"Ultimate power, eh…?" he paused for a moment, probably for extra effect, "Yes," he grinned triumphantly, and a dark, suffocating aura washed over us.

"You know what would be extremely good?" Katrina voiced in next to me, "If Zoro could show his face right about now,"

A dark purple and black miasma settled on top of Wapol and he laughed a distorted laugh that sounded not unlike, but not quite like Corruption's grating tone.

"What power…" Wapol grinned murderously, "I feel like I can do anything!" he roared and ran at us. Every step he took, the Island shook, and I detachedly wondered if Luffy could feel it from the top of the Drum Rockies.

~\_o_/~

Within five minutes, Chopper and Luffy were chatting as if they had been friends for all their life instead of only noticing each other 3 hours ago.

"…and then Makino was like…"

"Heehee!"

""Ahhhh…"" Luffy and Chopper sighed.

Sanji had given up on following his captain's conversation, and instead decided to admire his beautiful Nami-swan and fawn over her like a cat on nip.

For a moment, all was silent, until Sanji spoke up, "I've got a bad feeling, captain," he lit a cigarette and chewed absentmindedly.

Luffy grimaced, but before he could reply, the mountain shook violently from side to side, and snowy dust fell from the ceiling.

Somehow, through all the noise, clatter and destruction, Sanji could somehow hear Shivani's pained scream from at least 20 miles away. He proceeded to combust and melt the castle around him, before jumping outside.

Luffy tried to grab him, but then again, rubber melts. His hand recoiled as if it had been singed, and in a way, it was. Thankfully, an old crone managed to get there in time and render him useless before he could do anything, thankfully.

Although, she did break his back… Nami wasn't very sure whether or not she was helping them, or had a serious grudge against them…

~\_o_/~

I shrieked in pain as I leapt backwards, clutching my bleeding shoulder. That… that… numbskull! He bit me!

I stifled a cry, as I saw him clamp his metal jaw together and grin. "My devil fruit is so much more powerful…" he trailed off, "This time I can eat that damn Mugiwara Captain! And then, his Devil Fruit, will be mine," his voice overlapped with Corruption's a little at the end and gained a malicious tint.

I winced and backtracked for a moment, Devil Fruit…? Oh, my Oda… my eyes widened and I gasped. Dammit, you attracted his attention, you fool! What do you think you're doing?! A voice that held an aura of power spoke in my head.

I couldn't question it, because almost immediately, Wapol flashed in front of me. Morbidly, I sneaked a glance at his two commanders to see their reaction to Wapol's newfound speed. Their faces were priceless.

Why aren't I scared? I closed my eyes, I'm going to die, aren't I? I thought despondently.

'No, you're not,' my eyes snapped open and I became distinctly aware of Wapol's opening mouth ready to bite my head off—

The twanging of string as an arrow was released, and the blood the landed on my face as Wapol fell over howling in pain was numb to me. All I could feel was the blood pounding in my ears and the relief that surged through my veins.

I slowly turned my head, ignoring the twanging of Chess's bow and Kuromarimo's yell, to see Katrina panting and sweating, while trying and failing to hold a Crossbow that probably weighed more than her.

After a few silent moments, she collapsed on the ground. She was panting too much to give a verbal reply, but that didn't apply to us.

Why?

'What happened to your dream? I know that I want to see my dream come true, but what about yours? Have you already given up? What happened to that 'conviction' you spoke of?' I don't see any, was left unsaid, but the message was clear.

Shame flooded my being as I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. In the end, I couldn't say anything to retaliate against her, because I knew that everything she said, was true.

I closed my eyes and turned around, unsheathing one of my daggers. I sped over to where Chess was, and stared condescendingly, "Nah, ah, ah~ Chess~" Grinning like a loon, I sneaked my dagger below his hand, and slit the string on the bow, while the arrow was still notched.

The second Chess noticed what I was doing, it was too late to stop me. He was still pulling the bow back as strong as he could, and with no resistance to pull it back by, he ended up punching himself in the face with an arrow due to recoil.

He knocked himself out, too.

Damn, that was hilarious.

I grabbed the bow and tossed it to Katrina, "Here! Re-string it, you're a good shot!"

Katrina just stared at me like a doofus, until she got hit in the head with Chess's bow.

"Frickin' jerk…" she muttered, untying the string from the crossbow, and trying to string it to the bow.

"How the hell do these things work?" she yelped in frustration.

I ignored her and turned my attention to Kuromarimo, who was brandishing his pom-pom fists like a weapon and grinning victoriously.

"You may have taken out Chess—" he started, wincing not-so-subtly from the way Chess decked himself in the face, due to my ingenious plan, "But you won't take out me! Now that you've gotten distracted, Wapol was able to make it to the Drum Rockies! Now that Mugiwara is done for!" I noticed his tone got slightly more pensive near the end.

My spine went ramrod straight and my eyes blew open wide, Wapol… away…

"Oh no…" I staggered back, before putting on a mask instinctually, and switching my dagger grip to an underhand. I sprinted forward and covered my face with one arm, leaving a small slot open for my eyes, while moving, and slashed upwards across Kuromarimo's chest.

I closed my eyes, and brandished my other dagger, before promptly plunging the blade into his throat, and moving my fist in a downward motion. I could feel the blood splatter on me, and mix with my sweat.

I turned my back, ignoring the gasps of everyone around me, and my own urge to look behind and burst into tears over the fact that oh my god, I just killed a man—

I took a shuddering breath.

'Shivani…' Katrina sent an apprehensive thought into my mind.

Can it. I'm not in the mood, I snapped back, not bothering to even spare her a glance. I was torn. Should I put on a mask of steely resolve to soothe their apprehension? Or do I not put on a mask at all? What will Luffy think?

Will he abandon me?

I exhaled, not even noticing the way my tears blended into the blood that dripped into my mouth making a salty-coppery taste on my tongue.

…Did he truly deserve to die? the voice spoke in my head. What once held an aura of authority and power, now held only apprehension and a touch of… fear?

Oh, great. So, I'm afraid of myself, now.

I breathed out a chuckle, before it turned into full on peals of laughter. I could feel the citizens' eyes on me with fear. I could feel Dalton's stare of apprehension, and Katrina's of concern, I could feel the soldiers' hesitation—

My laughter gained a hysterical tinge, and I just couldn't stop. STOP! NO! YOU'RE ONLY MAKING IT WORSE! The voice boomed in my head.

I wiped a tear from my eye, and smiled, a now bloody smile, from the blood running down my face. I didn't know if it was my own, Wapol's, or even… Kuromarimo—

I choked on a breath, and whispered hoarsely, "I'm a monster,"

One woman stepped up from the crowd, and hesitantly reached out a hand to me, stopping just shy of, oh, I don't know… 7 feet?

"Is something wrong, honey?" she couldn't keep the tremble out of her voice.

"I'm a monster, aren't I?" I questioned, this time, a little louder, and a bit more desperate.

"I'm a monster! A demon!" I clutched at my hair, thanking my common sense to close my eyes before I did the deed.

I barely registered Katrina's angry emotions, before I felt a stinging slap on my face.

"Wha—?" I trailed off, losing my words when I saw Arsonist's absolutely livid expression.

"Shut up," her voice may have been quiet, but it very well could have been said through a loudspeaker. All the chatter around us immediately hushed.

"Let your guilt eat you up after we make it out of this alive. Let your guilt eat you up after we get to see Nami one more time, alive and well. Let your guilt eat you up after, okay?" her hand was trembling and bruised, "After," she stated resolutely, pulling back her hand and clutching the wrist.

Although she tried to hide it from me, I could see the haunted look in her eyes. It hit me, that even if I was able to close my eyes, she wasn't. What did I do?

Against my better judgement, I probed her mind, searched her memories, and found—oh.

Oh my god.

I carefully etched a poker-face onto my features, and stopped probing her mind. I will no longer search her memories. Nor will I kill unless I absolutely must. I swear on it.

I swear on it.

~\_o_/~

Luffy perked his head up and scowled.

"What's making you make that face, brat?" the now-named Doctor Kureha questioned.

"Wapol's… here…" he said slowly, almost unsure of the words coming out of his mouth.

Kureha looked down at him from the side of her eye, "And how do you know that, brat?"

Luffy looked down, "Ever since Corruption got in my head, a part of me just…" he paused, blankly staring ahead.

"Opened?" Kureha supplied helpfully.

"Yeah… opened… It's like I can feel when Corruption is coming back… It's weird," Luffy stated resolutely, nodding her head and smiling.

Kureha grimaced and wrung her hands together, but before she could say anything, Chopper spoke up for her.

"What does Wapol have to do with Corruption?"

Luffy didn't know what to feel at that, and ended up having a blank expression on his face, "Gut feeling,"

Kureha muttered, "Gut feeling?" she turned around and picked up a stray axe from who-knows-where and hefted it onto her shoulder, "Then, we best get going,"

"Wait! Doctorine! We're going to go on a gut feeling?" Chopper cried confusedly.

Kureha stayed silent, as Sanji spoke in her stead, "Our captain's… gut feeling," he grinned, "Is the best thing to go by on the big blue sea,"

"Ja. Especially if it's a D's gut feeling on this sea," Kureha finished.

Nami's face scrunched up in confusion, "What does the D in Luffy's name have anything to do with this?"

Kureha looked oddly at Nami for a moment before grinning much like a witch, "You'll see,"

She spun on her heel and walked to the door before pausing, "CHOPPER!" she called out.

Upon hearing his name, Chopper perked up and put on a childish-serious face, "Yes, Doctorine?"

"Come on, you'll be fighting Chess and Kuromarimo," she said.

Chopper's nose twitched, just barely, and he nodded. He shifted into his full reindeer form, and went with Doctorine. Luffy got up and smiled, "Well then…" his grin became impossibly wide, and he almost joined the two, when he felt a tug on his arm.

It was Nami.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Luffy questioned.

Nami's eyes were shadowed and she opened her mouth, "Don't go with them,"

Luffy's face went blank, "Why?"

Nami looked Luffy in the eye without flinching and proceeded to tell Chopper's life story.

Luffy remained silent through the entire thing, and once she reached the end, the tension in the room was so high, you could cut it with a knife. Sanji was trying to open up his collar in an attempt to get some air, and he was breathing heavily.

"Okay," he said simply, before plopping down on the floor, sitting cross-legged.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Nami questioned, completely baffled.

"This is his fight. It's personal. I won't interfere unless it's absolutely necessary," Luffy graciously elaborated.

Sanji gaped for a moment before plopping down with him. For a few seconds, all was silent until a snort broke it. On cue, Nami and Luffy's heads turned to Sanji with questioning looks on their faces.

"Kuromarimo… Black moss head *snort*" Sanji doubled over in laughter into an awkward position, while sitting cross-legged on the floor.

~\_o_/~

I ran at top speed towards the Drum Rockies, ignoring my legs, which had recently begun to leak blood. My body isn't ready for this Devil Fruit, and even if I can accommodate it at the bare minimum… I need to get stronger, I gritted my teeth, and slowed down.

We reached the Drum Rockies.

Halfway up the mountain there was a black dot with white wings erupting from its back. Wapol… I sent a glare in his direction. This bonehead just moved up 5 places on my Death List. There's one man I will be happy to kill.

'How the hell did said bonehead get wings to begin with?' Arsonist's dumbfounded voice rang out in my head.

He ate a seagull, was my half-hearted sarcastic reply.

'That… actually might be true,' Katrina pondered.

I grimaced and looked up as far as I could see, which really, wasn't very far. I couldn't even see the top of the Drum Rockies! How did Luffy even climb this thing?! With his bare fingers, too…

That guy was a monster. Figuratively, but still, monster.

Katrina, too, looked up the Drum Rockies, and immediately fell to her knees, doing a mixture of panting and sobbing, "How… HOW THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO GET UP THERE?! I severely underestimated how big the Drum Rockies were…" She comically looked up while her face was drenched in tears.

"Careful there," I teased, "Might not want to cry, the tears will freeze on your face,"

Katrina immediately clammed up and wiped the half-frozen tears off her face with her sleeve.

"Ha, ha, yeah, laugh all you want, Shivani, but that doesn't change our situation. How in all of Oda are we getting up there?" Katrina deadpanned, voice still a bit nasally from when she was crying.

I grunted, "We use the lift,"

She looked at me quizzically, "What lift?"

I smiled and jutted my thumb a little ways from the direction where we were facing, "That lift,"

This time, Katrina looked more annoyed that quizzical, "The hell do you mean, 'that lift' WHAT LIFT?!"

I turned around to see what she was talking about, and I saw that where the lift was supposed to be, there was nothing but a line. One that didn't have frost settling over it, but was instead squeaky clean. Someone had used it recently.

At this revelation, I curled up and died a little inside.

"How are we going to get up there now, genius?" Arsonist sarcastically asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

For a moment there, I felt the breath leave my body, "I dunno,"

OMAKE:

Usopp and Vivi, just so happened upon Zoro half frozen just after an avalanche, and ended up slapping him awake. After a few, very confusing greetings, they proceeded to try and find the witch doctor.

Unfortunately, they were letting Zoro lead. This is never a good thing, as they would come to know in the near future, but either way, they got terribly lost, and found themselves inside a lift that was heading up to who-knows where.

I wonder what's in store, Zoro hummed.

~\_o_/~

"Why do I feel like I want to kill someone," Shivani gritted her teeth, and clenched the hilt of her dagger.

"It's probably nothing," Katrina assured, keeping a hand on her (Chess's) bow at all times, should she find the need to apprehend her… frenemy.