DISCLAIMER: EIICHIRO ODA OWNS ONE PIECE, I OWN THIS STORY.

"Hey Chopper," I said slowly, "Think you can give me one of your rumble balls?"

Chopper froze, "Why, though?"

I gave a weak smile, "I just want to test something out,"

Chopper frowned, "No,"

My attempts to get up screeched to a halt, "I'm sorry, what?"

Chopper fearlessly looked me in the eye, "I said no. I know what you're thinking of doing, and I'm telling you no. I don't know how my rumble balls will react to a human body, and for all I know, I could kill you!" he fell silent, "I'm a doctor," he said quietly, I don't kill, was left unsaid.

"Then," I began, "You can clear your conscience by telling yourself that it was me who chose to die instead," I smiled at his baffled expression, "Now give me a rumble ball,"

Chopper quickly wiped off his baffled expression and steeled it into a glare, which would've been pretty good had he not been a fuzzy furball of cuteness.

"No," he said.

I stood silent for a moment, before getting up on shaky legs and taking out the rumble ball I pickpocketed from him. Halfway through the conversation, I put on a mask. The mask of a thief. The mask of a liar.

I hated that mask.

"What? How did you?" Chopper gasped, as I showed off my handiwork.

"Well," I muttered, holding the little pill close to my mouth, "Let's get ready to rumble,". I popped it into my mouth, and chewed for a scant second, before my body exploded in power.

I got up, and stretched my muscles, feeling a few bones pop and crack with my movements, I gave a bloody smile, but said nothing.

I walked over to Wapol, and stared him in the eyes for a few seconds, or at least, that's what it felt like for me. Everything around me… was in slow motion. It was almost like time stopped in my wake.

3 minutes.

Time to make the best of it.

I lifted my right leg, pivoted on my left, and delivered a kick to his stomach. Speed is weight, I quoted, I'm going at near-light speed, what weight will there be?

No effect on Wapol. Other than the brief, slow widening of his eyes, there was nothing. I put my leg down, and thought for a moment.

Knees, the voice in my head murmured, Go for the knees.

Not willing to question it, This is the Grand Line, after all, I looked at Wapol's knees, smiled, and proceeded to kick his kneecaps at full speed. After three kicks on each of the kneecaps, I heard a few belated cracks, and Wapol's knees buckled.

I smiled, and dodged out of the way of his falling form, but I didn't pay attention enough. His coat-tails clipped my left eye. Not enough to make me go blind, but enough to draw blood, and mess up that eye for the rest of the fight. Meaning that my depth perception was shot.

I grimaced, but then the voice in my head decided to speak up, I'll be your eyes, just trust me.

What other choice do I have?

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for whatever was to come, and I saw…

Oh. I was not expecting that.

I saw myself. From a bird's eye view, but I still had control of myself. It was strange. I tried to change my perspective, and moved the view to my bleeding left eye.

Once I got used to the feeling of seeing without my eyes, I lunged towards Wapol, unsheathing my daggers, and attacking his legs with a vengeance.

I aimed with deadly accuracy, thanks to my new 'eye'. I sliced tendons, I stuck my daggers into his kneecaps, I lost all general sense of style and poise, as I was taken over by some animalistic rage.

So, this is what Chopper felt when he turned into Monster Point… Was all I had time to think about before my three minutes were up and I blacked out.

~\_o_/~

Katrina POV: (Ha, weren't expecting this, now, were you?)

I was panicking. I could feel Shivani's presence strong in my mind, before it muted. Then it flickered on. And then it flickered off. I was scared. At one point, when it stabilized, it suddenly delved into Chaos, because, really, that would be the only way to describe what the connection became.

All the mental barriers were broken. I could feel her pain, I could hear her thoughts, and I could see her situation firsthand. It wasn't pretty.

I doubled over in pain, and clawed at my arms. What should I do?

"—ma!" I heard a small voice behind me.

Without thinking, I turned around to tell whoever was behind me to shut up, but my words died in my throat when I saw…

A baby dragon.

Staring at me. A baby dragon. Staring at me. Somehow, I know this is Shivani's fault. "Hi?" I said cautiously. I must seriously be going insane.

The dragon stared at me unblinking for a while, before it opened its maw and began crying, "MAMAAAAAAA!" it shrieked, and I'm 100% sure that its voice distorted.

Yep, definitely Shivani's fault, I grimaced.

"Hey, hey," I soothed, "Calm down, deep breaths, in, in, in—out, out, out," I exhaled, making hand gestures to accentuate my words. I can't believe I'm telling a baby dragon which probably shouldn't exist how to take breaths, I hid a grimace.

Once the dragon calmed down, it looked up to me, with wide purple eyes, and murmured softly, "Mama?"

I shook my head, "No, not your mama,"

The dragon began panicking again, and I spotted a small hole in the middle of its forehead. Wonder what that is, I mused.

All of a sudden, it stopped, and began twitching, then the hole on its forehead began oozing out black miasma.

"Mama…" It growled, before spreading its wings, and taking to the sky, much like a baby bird, which is code for 'actually flew for a few seconds before crashed face first into the Drum Rocky,'. Although, wouldn't it be snout-first, because, you know, dragon? I mused.

"Hey! Dragon!" the little heathen didn't turn his head to me, how dare they!

I took two arrows from the case thingy strapped to my back, quiver, my connection to Shivani helpfully supplied, and I dug the tips into the rock of the mountain and began climbing up the slope Flynn-Rider-style.

How did I not think of that earlier?

After a few moments of watching the dragon fumble in the air, it righted itself and began arching upwards at a steady speed. I, too, climbed up as well. Now, listen. I, by all means, am weak. Raw strength and battle instincts? That's Shivani. I am more of a… quiet tactician, if you will.

I will break your spirit verbally, and then conduct my actual revenge. It's best served cold, after all.

Back to the point. Now, considering the fact that I have basically -1 muscle mass, I cannot climb up the mountain, even if I have Luffy's willpower. I'm just too weak. And I've never done rock climbing in my life, but that's besides the point.

I frowned; I've only got one shot at this. I then braced myself, and jumped.

In hindsight, I probably should've put a lot more thought into the plan, and I use the word 'plan' very loosely. I hung onto the oblivious, baby dragon's tail, by my metaphorical 'skin of the teeth'.

His progress slowed exponentially, but he kept on climbing up. While I was hanging onto him, I decided to indulge myself in a few thoughts, I wonder who his mama is. He wasn't here during the original Drum Island Arc, so it's got to be some outside influence from me and Shivani. But we don't know any dragons…

Then I remembered the little dinosaur that Shivani was all smitten for, (no matter how much she would try to deny it).

My eyes widened, "Holy Medusa's Hair!" I blurted out, "Invictus?" I peered at the dragon, who seemed to have shifted a little at the mention of his name, but continued ignoring me.

"Invictus?" I asked again, this time a little surer of myself.

The dragon continued ignoring me, but I could see its wings speed up, and the tailfins (how did I not notice that before?!) stretch wider.

Then, all of a sudden, Invictus stopped flying, but before I could scream, he turned himself parallel to the ground, so his wings and tailfins caught the updraft coming from the ground.

"Clever guy," I blurted out thoughtlessly, before we both rocketed upwards to the top of Drum Rockies, riding the current of air. Over the scream of the air against my ears, I could just barely hear Invictus chirping in what seemed to be happiness.

This be like Toothless 2.0, but better, I thought, before wincing, I'm turning into Shivani. NOOOOOO!

Once we reached the top, I had to do a double take, because, well, snow should not be that red. I let go of Invictus' tail, and ran towards the Castle. Once I reached there, I could not stifle my gasp. There was so much blood.

Shivani was unconscious and on the ground, bleeding from a headwound.

Chopper was fussing over her, crying, and bawling out incoherent sentences.

Zoro was fighting back-to-back with Luffy against Wapol, whose legs were mangled beyond repair.

Usopp was sniping from afar, but that wouldn't last for very long. I could tell. Usopp grew up on a pretty warm island, from what I know, so his tolerance to cold was down the drain. It wouldn't be long until he gets frostbite, and won't be able to move anymore.

Without thinking, I ran towards Shivani's prone form, "Hey, hey, wake up, Shivani!" that was probably pretty stupid to say. I pride myself on my intelligence. I should know that if a person's worst enemy asks them to wake up from a comatose state, they probably will stay in a coma anyways.

Nevertheless, I couldn't take it, "Now's not the time to be staying down out of pure spite for me!" I paused, "At least give me a sign," I begged, "Just one will do," I murmured.

~\_o_/~

Shivani POV:

Where am I? I wondered as I floated around my empty headspace, I don't think that this is what being unconscious should be like.

"Norzira, we need to bind off Corruption now. Just until after the events of Alabasta pass by," I heard my mother's voice say, and I stopped floating.

Then, I heard Norzira's bitter, spiteful voice, "With what power? Unless you forgot, I gave you half of my power, and you squandered it! Now there is nothing we can do,".

"Unless…" all of a sudden, a bunch of images zoomed in front of me, and I could see Norzira and my mother talking, "Unless what?" my mother asked apprehensively.

"Unless you give up all the power, I gave you, and return it to me once more, then I will be strong enough to bind the fragments of her soul inside the multiverse,"

My mother lost all color in her face, "Why?" she questioned quietly.

Norzira chuckled gratingly, and for a moment, I could see the sister resemblance between her and Corruption, "Because that's my power, Srinidhi, and you are hogging it. Now," her eyes took on a melancholy look, "I'm weak,"

I took a look at my mom, and she looked extremely irritated, "Like hell. You're the goddess of the Multiverse, aren't you supposed to have absolute power over all of your Worlds?"

Norzira snapped a caustic glare towards her, "Time seems to have made you stupid instead of wise, Srinidhi," I could barely catch my mom's split-second wince, "I am unable to interfere directly in my worlds, otherwise the balance will tilt, and that particular world will gain the power to traverse the multiverse. That cannot happen unless I command it. The most I can do is indirectly interfere, or be reborn into a world, but only as a human, not as a God. I'm omnipotent, but I'm not that omnipotent,"

"That doesn't make any sense, though! You create the worlds, you destroy them, you decide their freaking fates! What do you mean you can't interfere with them!" Srinidhi argued.

"I CAN'T INTERFERE WITH THEM BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE YOU!" and for a moment, all was silent.

"I am the Goddess of the Multiverse," she began, "I am the multiverse," she paused, "If the entire multiverse enters and resides in one world, what do you think will happen?" silence permeated the air once more.

"That's why I needed you," she said quietly, "I trusted you enough to give you half of my power, enough to manipulate time, and enough to enter the Void, and just enough to enter and interfere in Worlds for me," I could see tears well up in Norzira's eyes,

"We could've been so much more,"

And for the first time ever, I saw my mother was silent.

Then, I was shocked back into reality.

~\_o_/~

"Urgh…" I clutched my head.

I peeled open my eyes and looked around wherever I was. I seemed to be in the Drum Castle. I stroked my fingers down the side of my head and felt rough, coarse bandages.

"Huh," I said aloud to no one in particular, "Guess I'm alive,"

All of a sudden, I was tackled by a black and gray blur.

"GAH!" I fell backwards onto the bed. After I caught my breath, and was sure that whoever (or whatever) was sitting on my chest was not going to kill me, I slowly reached a hand towards the scaly thing that was on me.

Scaly…?

"Invictus?" I rasped.

The scaly mass shifted around a little, before a small head around the size of my fist showed itself. He looked… different, for lack of a better way to put it. He had horns. And his eyes were glowing purple. And there was a hole in his skull, which I probably should be worried about, but he seems fine, so I guess not.

"Mama!" he chirped, and I smiled as my world stopped.

Did he… just talk? I wondered, before shaking my head, Just blaming it on Grand Line weirdness.

"Okay, mind filling me in on what happened, kiddo?" So, this is what it feels like to talk to a baby.

All of a sudden, Invictus took on a guilty expression, and a really stupid thought entered my head, Was he stealing cookies?

All of a sudden, a bunch of memories hit me like a truck. My mental barriers must not have been up, so my connection with Katrina must have been opened up to its full potential. I don't like it. It really hurts.

On the plus side, at least now I know what happened to Wapol.

…

Once Katrina entered the battleground, everything stopped. Wapol watched her with cold, analyzing eyes as to what she was doing, Luffy stared at her blankly, and Zoro stared at her questioningly.

"Just one sign will do," she begged.

It seemed that Invictus was joining her. He was huddling under her arm, much like what Simba did with Mufasa just as Mufasa died.

"MAMA!" he howled.

Chopper tried to ignore the tears in his eyes, but he couldn't take it, "There's no use," he whispered brokenly, "She's dead,".

All of a sudden, Luffy burst up, "Like hell she's dead! She will live!" and when he said it like that, those around him had no choice but to believe him.

All except for Wapol, "Really? Her heart isn't beating. She seems pretty dead to me," he laughed gratingly.

For a moment, Luffy faltered, but then his conviction rose up again, "No!" he denied, "She will live!".

By hook, or by crook, Katrina said silently.

Invictus seemed to understand what they were saying, and bawled his heart out. Then he went berserk. He attacked Wapol, fighting tooth, and claw out of sheer rage. Every time he was kicked down, he would get back up, until he was sick of it. He was sick of everything.

The hunger in his stomach began eating at him from the inside, and it took over his mind. He opened his maw wide, and sucked away something from Wapol.

Soon, Wapol decreased in size, and his form started becoming older, and wrinklier, but before Invictus could finish the deed, Luffy blasted the tyrant king away with a well-aimed 'Bazooka'.

With no one else to aim his rage and hunger at, he attacked Luffy instead. Luffy screamed in pain, and clutched his head, and the ocean seemed to share in his pain as well, if you count how a Tsunami was coming for them at full speeds.

Then, Zoro stepped forward, he stepped in the line of fire, and Invictus froze. Zoro kept on resolutely moving forward, before he gently took Invictus' head in his hands, and turned it towards Shivani's prone body.

"You took his life force. Why don't you give it back?" was all he said, before he went to calm his captain down, and by extension, stop this island from sinking.

Invictus hobbled over towards Shivani, most likely still trying to get used to his four legs, and looked at her blood-covered face.

"Mama," he crooned softly, before opening his maw again, and blasting her with whatever life force he 'acquired' from Wapol.

After he was done, and his stomach was gurgling again in hunger, a few tense moments passed. The imminent danger of Drum Island sinking was gone, and Luffy was looking towards Shivani with bated breath, looking no older than normal.

Then, she took a breath, and Katrina cheered,

"She's alive!" she sobbed, "She's ali-i-ve,"

…

So that's what happened. My face flattened into a default, deadpan expression.

"Why are you guilty?" I accused, watching as Invictus shrunk from my gaze, "You shouldn't be guilty, you did what you had to do," unlike me, I thought back to when I killed Kuromarimo for no reason other than the fact that I was wasting time.

Invictus had a better reason. Multiple, actually, and he didn't try to kill until he actually had to. I need some inspiration from this kid.

My words, although blunt, seemed to do their job, and Invictus' face brightened, and he chirped happily, before frowning, and then chirping again. And again.

Do dinosaurs chirp? I thought as I stared at him experimenting with his new vocal cords, I guess not.

After a few seconds, I heard pounding footsteps coming from outside the room, and before I could even turn my head, to greet the newcomer, he launched themselves towards me.

"SHIVANI!" Luffy bawled loudly, "YOU DIED!" I was about to scold him before I remembered. Ah, that's right, he has PTSD from Sabo's 'death'. Should I tell him that Sabo's alive? I looked at Luffy's dogpiling on my form, Later.

"Well, I guess I'm not dead now, I suppose," I offered quietly.

"You did die," a childish voice told me quietly, "You died, and I could do nothing to help. You died because you ate one of my Rumble Balls," Chopper sniffled, "I really am a monster," he laughed sadly.

I stared at him for a moment, "Okay," I said slowly, "I did die," I conceded, "But now I'm alive, and that's all Invictus," I paused for a moment, taking in the sadness radiating off of him, "The only reason I'm intact is because of you," I stared at him sincerely, watching the happy tears well up in his eyes, "I think you did more than enough,".

"SHUT UP, YOU HALF BAKED, MOLDY BOOGER!" I startled for a moment, before remembering,

"Right. Sure, tsundere," I laughed at his vehement denials.

"So, Doctor Chopper," I teased, if only to see him squirm under the attention, "Am I eligible to stand?"

Chopper tried not to show the stupid smile on his face, but he nodded, nevertheless, "Yeah, but no strenuous activity whatsoever for a while! Just because Invictus gave you half of Wapol's life force, does not mean that all of yours is back," I nodded, and patted his head, before sending a soft smile at him.

Apparently, Invictus didn't like that, so he bopped his wing against me, and rested his head in my lap while throwing an expectant gaze at me.

"Aw… Invictus, are you jealous?"

Invictus just huffed, and scooted onto me even more. Conceding, I stroked his scales, and chatted with Luffy.

"…where do you think we should go next, 'Ani?" I paused stroking Invictus' scales, and looked at him.

"I say Alabasta. We need to get this Revolution, and beating up Crocodile, over with fast. Every moment we wait, another person dies," I said quietly, and for a few moments, all was silent, Luffy, no doubt mulling what I said over in his brain.

"Hey, Luffy?" I said suddenly.

"Yeah?" He lay on my bed and looked at the ceiling.

"…Just know that…" I sucked in a breath, "I will serve you for as long as I live. If you want to burn the world, I will be the first to stand by your side. If you want me to kill an entire island, I'll do so, and if you want me to die, I'll do it with pride," I said quietly, still stroking Invictus' scales.

Luffy snorted, "What do you take me for? All I want to be is the Pirate King!"

I smiled, "Then I'll help you get there, no matter what!".

Luffy smiled back at me, and laughed, "Don't forget about your own dream in the process," he joked.

"I won't," I promised.

~\_o_/~

Time skip—

I was laughing maniacally as I rode on the sleigh that Chopper was pulling down the Drum Mountain as Kureha threw sharp weapon after sharp weapon after us, screaming profanities. Invictus was flying next to us, chirping incessantly. He really seemed to like that sound.

Once we hit the ground, all of us ran at top speed (no devil fruit interference, Chopper and Katrina would kill me) towards the ship.

Just as we left Drum, a beautiful, Sakura-shaped and colored cloud exploded above the island. I smiled at the sight of it. Looking around, I found Chopper, and walked towards him.

"I suppose that he succeeded in his work, didn't he?" I said lowly. There was no need for me to clarify who 'he' was.

"Yes," Chopper stated, "He did,".

I smiled. Things seemed to be looking up.

AN: Tell me if this chapter was a little bit rushed. I wanted to end the Drum Island Arc in this chapter, tell me if I did a good job! I told you all I would pay attention to this story! ;)

~~Oracle Norzi