Ichigo clicked his teeth in annoyance for the thousandth time that morning, he knew it was morning because the sun could be seen starting to show its rays over the horizon of the sea. The five had tried to come up with a strategy for fending off the incoming pirate crew that they would have to stand against over the course of the night. Ichigo had no knowledge on anyone else's skills but his own, Luffy's idea was to hit them, really, really hard… Zoro's was to just cut as many as he could while Nami offered to steal everything after the fighting was done and Usopp… Ichigo had to hang his head, Usopp was just getting back from the village with a cart carrying several barrels of oil. He was going to cover the slope that led down to the beach in oil in an attempt to stop the pirates advance. Ichigo had tried to voice his concerns on the matter however after Luffy saw how 'cool' it was, yeah there was no stopping that train wreck.

"Alright, Luffy give me a hand with these." Usopp ushered the pirate Captain over, getting the help of Zoro amidst it all, the three beginning to pour oil all over the slope from the barrels. Ichigo watched from where he was sitting, the oil covered area was a decent size, from cliff face to cliff face anyone would have a hard time getting up it but it was only a matter of time before they figured out a way.

It was only a temporary solution to the problem.

While Usopp may have had some kind of skill, he wasn't about to really injure people with that slingshot of his, or the pirates were just going to brush it off like it was nothing. If he had a pistol, at least he'd put some out of commission. Zoro and Luffy would either have to wait for the pirates to get past the oil or be on the other side of it, so there was that as well. Nami had a bo staff but he wasn't sure if she was ready to use it or not. By the way she was talking it was like she wasn't planning too.

Pulling his substitute badge from his pocket, he didn't think he'd have to use it the day after he got here but he was going to have to use his Fullbring in this fight, or at least some of it's power. They were just humans after all, if he could just use his newly regained powers to get the advantage over them he had the strength to do the rest on his own.

The only thing then was that he would have to try and explain his abilities to the four around him, something he didn't really feel like they honestly deserved to know. Sure they had saved him, pulled him from the water and brought him here but he honestly didn't know if he could trust them plus saving his life didn't entitle them to his life story. After all, he had trusted Xcution blindly and look how that turned out. Shaking his head from the thoughts of what was still fresh in his mind he focused on the badge in his hand.

"Have to focus on today." He reminded himself quietly.

"Yep, I'm a genius." Usopp congratulated himself with a grin. "There's no way they'll be able to make it up this slope now." He continued proudly. "They'll be too busy slipping and sliding like a bunch of idiots and we show up and beat the crap out of them!" He laughed.

"Let's just hope none of us slip down there." Nami added placing her hands on her hips taking a look at the oil now covering the slope. "It'll be like going through a meat grinder." Usopp paled at the thought.

"Usopp, I've got to hand it to you, you're pretty good at fighting dirty." Luffy stated looking up from where he was sitting on the ground tapping the oil with his sandal.

"Of course I am, there's no one who can best me with a slingshot or fighting dirty!" He announced placing his hands on his hips, Ichigo honestly didn't know if that was something to be proud of but Usopp seemed to think that it was.

"It's almost day break, they'll be coming." Zoro announced as a change in wind crossed over them rustling the trees overhead. Ichigo rose to his feet, substitute badge in hand causing Nami to tilt her head unsure of why he was holding the wooden object.

"A good luck charm?" Nami questioned.

"Something like that." Ichigo told her as they continued to wait for the incoming pirates… and wait… and wait… and wait. Ichigo's eyebrow twitched, there wasn't a single ship in sight upon the water's horizon and it was way past the time that the pirates were suppose to arrive from what he had been told about the meeting between Klahadore and the other pirate. If he stayed up all night trying to figure out a strategy with these idiots for no reason, let's just say he was kicking someone's ass today.

"Where are they!?" Luffy was the first to announce his displeasure. "The sun's totally up now, what's the deal?"

"Maybe they overslept or something." Zoro suggested, probably something that he would do, Ichigo mused to himself..

"No." Usopp began. "They'll definitely show up, and there will be a lot of them." He continued in a serious tone. Raising his hand to the bridge of his nose Ichigo let out a soft sigh, he didn't want to snap at them because he was tired but it was getting harder and harder not too. That's before he felt it, the sudden surge of killing intent from across the island a ways. His eyes widened as he realised their mistake, they had no idea what shore the pirates were landing on, Usopp had been so sure that this was the one because this was where the meeting between Klahadore and the other pirate took place! Sensing out he felt a large presences of souls up the Northern shore. The pirates. Ichigo wasn't the only one who noticed the new presence either, surprisingly Nami was capable of hearing the sudden onslaught of war cries from down the shore line.

"Yeah, I definitely hear them, it's coming from the North." Nami confirmed, turning to the others.

"No… no, it can't be." Usopp's face drained of all colour as realisation of his mistake hit the liar. "There's a shore just like this to the North, they went..."

"We're at the wrong shore!?" Luffy shouted in frustration as he gripped Usopp by the shoulders shaking him roughly. "That's not good!"

"Well this is where they had their secret meeting so I just assumed okay!" Usopp shouted in return.

"Calm down." Ichigo's voice broke through the growing chaos that was erupting from Nami spouting about how her treasure was going to get stolen, Luffy shouting that they needed to stop the pirates before they got to the village and Usopp crying about how he had been wrong. The three along with the quiet Zoro turned to Ichigo in surprise at his sudden change to a serious attitude. "Usopp, other than the North Shore are their other places that the pirates could land and attack from?" He had tried to get this information prior when they had been planning their move to defend the village during the night but Usopp had been so sure that this was the place that they would land that he had let the issue slide. "I should have pushed for it."

"O-Of course, there are plenty of shores but the North Shore is similar to this one in terrain, all we would need to do is stop them at the slope. We have to head directly North from here, you can make it there in three minutes at a full sprint." Ichigo nodded as he turned to the others. "You guys head to the North Shore."

"What are you going to do?" Nami questioned.

"To be safe, I'm going to check the other shores across the island. I'll meet you at the North Shore after I've looked, if we're not sure that the pirates haven't split up, we may be facing only one side of the crew while the others is already attacking the village while we're preoccupied."

"Ichigo's right." Nami explained. "Just, how are you going to check the island in time?" She questioned only getting a smirk from Ichigo in return before he disappeared surprising the four as he only left a flicker of green light where his feet had been on the sand before he had disappeared.

"SO COOL!" Luffy shouted with stars in his eyes before Zoro hit him across the head.

"Let's go." Zoro told his Captain getting a nod from Luffy who sprinted away.

"Right! I'll be there in twenty seconds! Head straight North, head straight North!" They could hear him chanting as he ran, disappearing into the distance.

"Dammit! My brilliant oil strategy was all for nothing!" Usopp groaned gripping his head. "All that wasted effort!" He continued to shout as he turned and ran up the slope after Luffy.

"My Precious treasure." Nami groaned. "I won't let them have it!" She yelled.

"Hey." Zoro began. "What're you doing, let's get going." He added getting a nod from Nami as Zoro turned only for the navigators face to pale as she felt her feet slip in the oil, having subconsciously taking a step back into the oil when she had witnessed Ichigo completely vanish in front of her eyes, something she couldn't explain. Now, instinct kicked in and Nami reached out for anything to grab a hold of to keep herself from falling, which unfortunately for Zoro was the scabbard of one of his three swords. "Gah! Let go! What are you doing!" Zoro roared as he was pulled down into the Oil with her.

"I'm falling!"

"Just let go you moron!" Zoro shouted as he slipped further into the oil, Nami's grip on his sword not lessening in the slightest as they both slipped further down the slope. Seeing an opportunity Nami grinned to herself.

"Perfect!" She shouted, using her agile frame for her benefit she quickly pulled herself up Zoro's frame before using him as a springboard to launch herself out of the oil, only pushing Zoro further down the oil in response. "Thanks Zoro, see you there!" Nami shouted with a slight bit of humour to her voice as she ran up the slope. "That oil won't be a problem for you right!?" She called over her shoulder as Zoro ended up on the other side of the oil trap.

"That girls going to pay!" Zoro shouted in anger as he tried to run up the oil spill only for it to end in failure.


The trees flashed by in a flurry of green as he sped across the island with the use of bringer light, childish as it may have been he had enjoyed the reactions of Luffy and the others when he had disappeared right before their eyes in a burst of speed. If he had gathered anything from Luffy's personality so far, then there was no way that the straw hat Captain was going to take no for an answer, meaning, Ichigo was bound to join his crew.

Honestly, Ichigo didn't see anything wrong with joining them, they seemed odd sure, but it was a point of focus for him something he desperately needed right now after all that had happened. He'd have to let Luffy know when the fight with the pirates was over. Coming to a stop at another empty shore, a cliff overlooking the ocean, a quick survey of the shoreline and the water with nothing in sight he disappeared once more completely astonishing an early morning fisherman who dropped his rod in surprise.

"It's looking to be like they're only at the North shore that Usopp spoke of." Ichigo mused to himself as he continued to speed across the island with bringer light, he just hoped that the four would be able to hold out until he got there, they after all were facing a possibly large force of pirates. They wouldn't be going up against them if they couldn't fight, but Ichigo still had no idea of what they were capable of. Quickly searching for any large life signatures, he found none, the largest being in the direction of the North shore meaning that the pirates hadn't split up.

Quickly pivoting on the spot he shot off towards the North shore, there was no point wasting time searching the other shores now. Increasing his speed, his grip on his substitute badge causing his knuckles to turn white, he knew he'd be entering a battlefield when he got there, as he got closer he could hear the familiar sounds of battle.

Appearing at the top of the slop he had to stop to asses just what he was seeing before him. All of the pirates were scattered at the bottom of the slope most seemingly defeated, the large cat like figurehead of the massive ship now docked in the bay was completely removed from the ship itself and lay before the ship. The scattered pirates clearly bewildered at what had caused it to become unlatched from the ship.

From where he was standing he could make out Luffy beneath the figurehead… sleeping, of all damn things. Ichigo could see Nami and an injured Usopp off to the side, on the cliff overlooking the slope. Zoro was currently the only one amidst a fight, two of his swords looked to have been stolen from him while he was fighting two pirates dressed like cats that were using their claws as weapons, the swordsman seemed to be struggling slightly with just a single weapon unable to go on the offensive while the two pirates attacked him without pause.

"This isn't good, they've got him on the defensive!" Nami announced as Usopp lined up his slingshot to take a shot, in the hopes to aide Zoro in his fight. Ichigo spotting Zoro looking over his shoulder every now and again to observe the two Ichigo realised what Zoro was thinking having been in the same position when fighting Grimmjow in Las Noches, he was protecting the two. Using his Fullbring once more he appeared beside Usopp clutching the bands of his slingshot in his hand making it impossible to fire off a shot, shocking both Nami and Usopp at his sudden appearance.

"What are you doing!" Usopp shouted up at Ichigo. "There is no way Zoro can gain any ground if he's too busy blocking their attacks!"

"Idiot, Zoro's holding off those two so that they don't come after you, what do you think firing on them is going to do? In your state do you really think you can deal with either of them?" He questioned not having taken his eyes off of Zoro or the other two pirates.

"Ichigo, got a weapon on you!?" Zoro shouted up from where he was still defending off the two cat like pirates having seen his arrival when he appeared beside Nami and Usopp. "Because I could use a hand!" Ichigo smirked as he grabbed his badge gaining Nami's attention before both Nami and Usopp recoiled as a medium-sized, black, machete-like blade, with a silver edge shot out one end as a round hilt with a simple white cloth-wrapping, and flat base shot out the other. The badge itself had become the guard, with a new black cross marking on it.

"Take the fat one! The skinny one's mine!" He shouted as Ichigo used his Fullbring to appear beside Zoro taking the fat cat like one's attacks with the edge of his blade before kicking out, slamming his leg into the fat one's gut sending him skidding back across the slope to the cliff face.

"Buchi!" Sham shouted out before Zoro blocked his path between Ichigo and Buchi.

"You're going to regret taking those swords from me." Zoro growled as he went on the offensive, slashing left and right as Sham dodged nimbly out of every slash of Zoro's sword. Buchi on the other hand stumbled slightly holding his gut where Ichigo's foot connected as he glared at the sword wielding teen unaware he was completely out matched in this fight.

"That kick..." Buchi started. "Really hurt!" He roared dashing towards Ichigo with his claws beginning swiping in all directions, Ichigo having witnessed much faster displays of speed in his previous experience had no trouble in following their movements, easily ducking and swerving out of the way of each clawed hand. There wasn't an instance where the claws even came close to cutting him, spotting an opening he rose his blade up stopping the left clawed hand as he used his left hand to stop Buchi's right claw delivering a boot to Buchi's gut, exactly where Ichigo's kick had connected prior. Buchi skidded back once more coughing up a small mouthful of blood as he fell to one knee.

"Nice one." Nami's voice reached Ichigo surprising him as she dashed right behind him, seeing her heading straight for Zoro's swords.

"Cat-astrophe!" Buchi called out forcing Ichigo to turn back to Buchi only to see the spot where he had been prior empty, hearing him from above Ichigo stepped back out of the way instinctively as Buchi hit the ground with tremendous force, his foot cracking the stone below him. However now Ichigo had the perfect opening. Buchi caught sight of the glimmer of steel as his eyes widened only for Ichigo's blade to slice down from shoulder to hip, a spray of blood erupting from the wound as Buchi fell to his knees.

"Gah!" Ichigo's eyes turned to where the cry had come from as it didn't come from Buchi, he turned only to catch site of Nami falling to the ground as Jango sliced her shoulder.

"What would you need swords for?" Jango commented only to look up, catching sight of someone at the top of the slope, dressed in black before Ichigo appeared before him in an instant a deep scowl on his face before Ichigo spun, his foot connected with the side of Jango's face, with a burst of bringer light behind his leg enforcing the kick with more power. Jango was sent crashing into the cliff face with a small eruption of dust and rock as he made impact. Ichigo crouched down beside Nami who was clutching her shoulder, trying to hold back the tears threatening to fall.

"Nami, are you okay?" Ichigo questioned softly, getting a nod from the orange haired girl as she bit her lip enough to make it bleed.

"The night has long since passed." A voice called over the slope causing Ichigo to glance over his shoulder to see a man in black standing at the top of the slope. "So, why does it seem like you've made no progress?" He continued as the pirates were paralyzed in fear at the mere presence of this man.

"C-Captain Kuro." One of the pirates managed to get out.

"He'll kill us all! We're all dead!" Another shouted in fear.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!" Kuro roared from where he was standing, aggravation clearly taking over at his plan being screwed over. Ichigo glanced over to where Jango was currently pulling himself out of cliff face where Ichigo had kicked him blood running down his chin from his mouth, bruising already starting to cover his face his pink hearted glasses cracked and broken but still on his face.

"Uhh… I-I can… I can explain... all of this." Jango muttered as he stumbled slightly, his balance thrown off from the kick he had received. Ichigo frowned slightly, the fear he felt from Kuro was overwhelming everyone to the point that nothing else mattered, even Buchi and Sham were trembling in fear because of his presence. Deciding that this was a good a time as any Ichigo turned back to Nami.

"Can you stand?" He questioned softly gaining Nami's attention as she turned to face him before giving him a gentle nod in response to his question. "Go wake Luffy up." Her eyes widened before she gave him a smile and she nodded, pushing herself up to her feet she quickly dashed off down the slope. "Zoro! Head's up!" Grabbing the two sword scabbards Ichigo spun on his heels throwing them surprising the green haired swordsman.

"Don't throw someone's swords!" Zoro shouted before a grin came to his face as the swords came down, in an instant he snatched one with his left hand the other with his teeth. Ichigo had to smirk, he had wondered how Zoro would fight with three swords, who would have thought he'd use his teeth to do so. It was certainly something new for him, that was for sure.

"Damn Brats!" Jango roared spinning on the spot using the chakram on his string to sling it towards Nami at great speed only for it to be stopped as Ichigo reached out with his blade, sliding it through the centre of the ring without effort stopping it in the air as it went to pass him. Jango's jaw dropped as he saw his chakram spinning on the blade of Ichigo's before Ichigo swung his sword sending the chakram flying back at Jango hitting him square in the shoulder cutting deep as the hypnotist was sent off his feet crying out in pain as blood gushed from the freshly made wound.

"CAPTAIN!" The cries of the pirates could be heard before Ichigo cast a glare over them, shutting them up.

"Nice one." Zoro smirked as he held his swords up. "I'm getting tired of all these pointless dramatics, we're in the middle of a fight." He stated as he turned to face Buchi and Sham who were standing behind him still petrified at Kuro's presence who was growing more and more agitated at what was happening around him. Buchi and Sham now releasing that they were about to be attacked readied themselves and charged towards Zoro. "Tiger!" Zoro placed the swords in his hands over the blade in his mouth mouth and swung forth with a forward descending slash at great speed. To everyone but Ichigo present it was too fast to see but Ichigo was able to witness the slashes that completely incapacitated Buchi and Sham. "Hunt!"

"It would seem that you've saved me some time, just less trash to clean up after I've dealt with all of you." Kuro stated pushing his glasses up with the palm of his hand. "While I offer my thanks, it changes nothing." He continued as he reached into his bag producing a set of gloves with five blades on each which he pulled over his hands. "You'll all still di-!"

"GOOD MORNING!" Luffy's shout erupted causing Kuro to falter at the large yell from the base of the slope. "Huh? Why's that bad butler guy there?" He questioned seeing Kuro atop the slope before Nami grit her teeth falling to her knees as she clutched her shoulder. "Nami!? Gah you're hurt! What's going on!? Why was I asleep!?" He shouted frantically.

"About time you moron." Nami breathed out as she fell to the ground still clutching her shoulder. "I'll leave the rest... to you." She breathed out.

"Right." Luffy nodded taking on a serious attitude as he started walking up the slope.

"For the treasure." Nami muttered causing Ichigo, Luffy and Zoro to sweat drop.