It was generally understood that among the ranks of the Shichibukai each one of them possessed the power to rule over entire countries if they so wished. The Government was willing to accept such exceptions to their rule for a number of reasons. The first was that such warlords tended to be fiendishly territorial, occupying niches in the outlaw ecosystem that other pirates would normally fill. Second was that they were stable, known quantities. Third was that by allowing a warlord to 'put down roots,' as it were, the government gained leverage against those warlords that would normally have been impossible against more nomadic crews.
Others, such as Dracule Mihawk, had managed to fight and claw their way into the furthest depths of power, becoming something closer to a legend than a human. One such as he was best to avoid antagonizing, and if he was happy to be left alone in exchange for the occasional request then all the better.
Sometime it was just better to accept a bit of lawlessness if it kept the other pirates in line, and most government officials considered the Shichibukai system to be a plus in every way, so long as you ignored the citizens that were beaten and exploited in the process. This was not, in the minds of many officials, considered to be a great sacrifice when compared to the benefits the system offered.
The reanimated corpse of former Shichibukai Gecko Moria was now showing everyone on Sabaody Archipelago just how poorly things could go when the system failed.
Moria's silent corpse moved at high speed and without tiring across the island, refusing to be stopped by such unimportant things as sword and bullet wounds, leaving walking corpses in his wake. He alone had turned a large part of the island into a warzone, and with Perona and Danzou's assistance delaying Marine response to his rampage he became seemingly unstoppable. Zombies had now spread to multiple groves, sometimes acquiring other bodies to bring back to their master. Nearly a dozen groves were now reporting at least some trouble with roaming undead.
At the same time, a man who appeared to be Fire-Fist Ace was running amok on Grove 79, prompting desperate calls for aid to Government forces up in Mariejois. There was also some sort of slaughter being perpetrated by Pirate-Hunter Roronoa Zoro on Grove 1 at the slave market, and the Kid Pirates had apparently touched off a panic in the shipping yards, though the how and why of it was still unknown.
Complicating matters further was that all this had begun right after a division of Marines had been sent off to deal with a reported gathering of high-bounty pirates, and several sturdy Marine officers had already been found dead as they tried to regain control of the situation. In short, nowhere seemed to be safe, and the Marines had gone from feeling in complete control of the situation to being hopelessly overwhelmed in the space of a single hour.
But calls for aid and organization were going out. Help was just a hop, skip, and a jump away.
-Grove 37-
Only moments ago the proprietors of the dingy meeting area that had just hosted the aborted Rookie Summit cursed the remaining pirates straight out the door, up the stairs, and back onto land before rushing back inside to inject some unknown compound into the veins of the mighty sloth that carried the establishment. The sloth's roar was like a doppler effect but in reverse, the almost sub-sonic rumble rampaging up in pitch as the animal's metabolism increased, and soon the normally slothful creature was rapidly high-tailing it away from the fight. This, it seemed, was the establishment's final trump card in the game of staying one step ahead of the law. It swung away through the root system, disappearing towards the center of the island.
Up above, there was an area relative safety as the assembled Rookie captains proceeded to utterly obliterate the Marine squads that had attacked them, which gave the remaining Straw-Hats (plus Trafalgar Law) the freedom to discuss their plans.
Zoro had long since left to fight his doppelganger, and Luffy was rapidly running out of Marines to stomp, at which point he would be going after Ace. Sasuke thought the only proper choice was to seek information from Rayleigh.
The groups formed quickly. Robin and Law would go with Sasuke to meet with Rayleigh. Naruto and Hinata decided to find and assist Zoro. Sanji reluctantly agreed to pursue Luffy. Sakura, however, found herself in an odd position as she listened to the others.
"Hmm… Given the layout of the island, Grove 6 isn't actually all that far from Grove 42," mused Robin. "We won't lose too much time if we head to Rayleigh's straight away and then proceed to the ship afterwards..."
"You're coming with us, then?" asked Sasuke.
Robin nodded. "If something truly important is happening on this island, Sir Rayleigh is the only one who can illuminate it. I doubt he will be as reluctant to speak of Akatsuki's goals this time. We should go there as quickly as we can."
"Great. Sakura?" he asked, wasting no time.
Sakura opened her mouth to agree, and then paused, eyes closed, as she considered. She'd done her best to stay with Sasuke ever since they'd met up again, and her first instinct was to continue doing just that, but… really, she needed to be somewhere else, didn't she? She opened her eyes a second later.
"I'm going after Luffy," she said. "Stay safe, alright?"
Then, much to Sasuke's surprise, she turned to the disappearing figure of Sanji and ran after him.
Sakura knew this was the right decision. It was always so tempting to cling onto something you were losing with all of your might, fighting, biting, and crying to make the world give in. That, however, was a child's attitude, and she knew she could be better than that. Right now she didn't need to be with her friend; right now she needed to find out just who this Luffy really was when things came down to the wire. Who was the man that Sasuke was putting so much trust in?
She actually wasn't at all certain that Sasuke would change his mind based on her opinion of the man, but this way at least she would know. That had to be important, right?
She quickly caught up to Sanji, who was irrationally pleased by her presence, and the two of them continued on their quest.
The groups were set. Three groups of three.
-Grove 1-
-Auction House Group-
Naruto might have had a slightly more difficult time catching up with Zoro were it not for Hinata's help. A ninja's speed was almost unmatchable when it came to long-distance running, but Zoro had been advancing almost perpendicularly to his destination, hopelessly lost even though the number of each grove was painted in tremendous characters on the side of each mangrove tree. When they finally found him he was quick to deny he needed their help, and Naruto was just as quick to ignore him. For several moments Naruto also seriously considered asking Hinata to lie about their destination, directing the swordsman to the ship as they pretended to head for the impostor. The green-haired bone-head would never figure it out until it was too late, and it would mean the group would be much more unified.
He couldn't do it. Whoever this fake-Zoro was, they were definitely connected to Akatsuki, which means they had information. Naruto was feeling more powerful than ever, and with this team they should be able to make even one of Akatsuki pause. If going to the Auction House might lead him further on the path to Tobi then that was something he'd gladly do.
So, instead of retreating they headed onwards with Hinata directing them around likely trouble-spots before trouble could find them.
"I see him," said Hinata, as they were passing through Grove 3. "There's someone who looks just like you sitting in the largest building on Grove 1. He seems to have killed quite a lot of people, but it looks like he's just waiting for something now."
"Can you tell if he's Akatsuki or not?" asked Naruto.
Hinata nodded quite certainly, then paused, frowning slightly. "Umm… well… whoever it is, he's definitely a ninja. Chakra systems like ours look completely different from people out here. And… he's also definitely powerful."
"Yeah?"
She turned to look at Naruto, even though she didn't need to. "He has a lot of chakra. Maybe even as much as you, Naruto."
The three of them continued running in silence for a second.
"Wait, what?" asked Naruto. "But that's, like, my thing. This guy doesn't have a demon inside him like I do, does he?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so… but… well…"
She paused.
"Yeah?" asked Naruto again.
"He might not be human," she admitted. "Even when someone transforms, their chakra system stays pretty much the same, and his doesn't feel like a human's… It's more like what I saw in Hachi, back at the ship."
"A merman, huh?" said Zoro. "That makes this guy on the bounty poster, right? 'Slicing Rain' Kisame?"
"You know him?" asked Naruto.
Zoro gave him a look. "I was a bounty hunter for several years. I pay attention to this stuff."
"Oh, right," said Hinata, pulling out a small handbook from a pouch and rifling through it. "When Sakura told Kakashi she might be following after Akatsuki, he slipped her his copy of the bingo book. And I, well… I made a copy of what I thought we'd need," She paused uncomfortably at the technically unapproved admission before reaching the correct page. "Oh, here he is… Kisame. Missing-nin from Hidden Mist… Former member of Mist's Seven Ninja Swordsmen… Uses a legendary greatsword that looks like layers of shark scales… Naruto, this man is an S-Rank ninja- the kind of fighter our teachers would hesitate to go after. I think this is beyond us."
Naruto didn't get a chance to respond before Zoro chuckled.
"That doesn't mean a damn thing to me…" he growled, entirely truthfully, "Whether that fish-bastard knows it or not, he called me out. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't even try to fight him. Especially as a swordsman… So, tell me more about that sword of his."
"It… it says that Samehada doesn't use a cutting edge, instead shaving and tearing at its opponents. It's a living greatsword that devours the chakra of its opponents simply by clashing with them."
"Oh yeah?" asked Zoro, sounding interested for once. "Doesn't actually make him sound like much of a swordsman, though. You'd want a lot of weird techniques for something like that. Is that what he's using right now?"
As the group continued running onward, Hinata blinked and refocused her sight. A moment passed, then another.
"You okay, Hinata?" asked Naruto.
"Umm… yes. But… I don't see the sword anywhere. It's not on his person and none of the bodies around him were killed that way. He's carrying two normal katana."
"Thought so," said Zoro. "If he tried using something like that while looking like me it'd look all wrong, and these guys wanna pin the blame on someone else."
Naruto laughed. "Hey, good instincts, I guess. Kinda weird that he left his best weapon totally behind when everything's about to go to shit, though. I'd have hidden it somewhere nearby if it were me, you know?"
"Yeah…" muttered Zoro. "Weird…"
The impostor was waiting for them on the lit stage of the Auction House, bodies strung down from the ceiling as if they were just another set of merchandise on display. Blood spattered across the bright-yellow floor, and the fake Zoro looked quite at home amidst the carnage. He looked up at them, grinning, as they entered the multi-tiered seating area.
"Well, you sure took your time," said the impostor, spreading an arm wide to indicate the death and destruction above the stage. "I'd apologize for the damage this might do to your image, but now that I can see your eyes… I think you can take it."
"My image…?" said Zoro, slowly drawing his first sword. "Oh… that old thing… I've found it works itself out without needing my help. This? This is only gonna end up helping me, you fish-bastard."
Kisame's grin persisted. "Oh? So you do know who I am. Well then, I'll give this one to you for free and ask the question you want me to. I can see in your eyes that you're a killer. If you wanted a reputation for needless slaughter then there's nothing stopping you. These animals were nothing but trash, anyway. So why would you say this helps your image?"
A second sword came out as Zoro's grin seemed to split the air. "People only remember the victors. Whoever dies here… the only thing anyone's gonna remember is that Roronoa Zoro won."
The impostor began to chuckle. It started off low and measured, but gradually worked itself into a full-blown belly-laugh that had Naruto and Hinata looking uncomfortably in Zoro's direction.
"Dude... so... how long were you thinking that one up?" asked Naruto.
"There aren't any other Akatsuki members here," interrupted Hinata. "I'm pretty sure of it now."
"Good," said Zoro, ignoring Naruto's question. "Stay back, you two. This guy's mine."
"Whoa-ho-ho, no way, pal," said Naruto, cracking his knuckles. "I'm a gang-beatdown specialist. Fighting just one-on-one hasn't ever been my style, and I'm not changing that for you."
Hinata touched his shoulder. "Naruto, there are a lot of unpleasant-looking people coming this way. They look like natives, and a lot of them have guns."
As a look of uncertainty crossed the young man's face, Zoro kept his eyes glued to his laughing duplicate at the center of the room.
"See?" said Zoro. "You've got a lot of ass-kicking to do out there anyway. Give me this one."
"Wait a minute," interrupted the impostor, his laughter receding into the shadow of a grin as he stood up from the stage. "You're assuming I'm going to let any of you leave this room alive. I'm a greedy man, you see, and I might or might not feel like fighting all of you."
"Might or might not, huh?" asked Zoro, walking slowly through the seating area down towards the auction stage. "You wanna elaborate on that?"
The impostor disappeared, crossing the distance with a mighty leap. He stuck from above with both swords. Zoro blocked, and the explosion of noise that followed was one part ringing steel and two parts collapsing masonry as the ground sunk beneath the force of the blow. Zoro grit his teeth as his defence wavered, his arms shaking from the massive impact.
Kisame just smirked. "Well, that's fine," he said. "You'll do for now."
Naruto and Hinata stood back, and the young blond cursed as they backed away. "Alright, alright. Let's go," he said, carefully moving towards the exit. "That idiot swordsman gets a bit indiscriminate when he's fighting for real. I don't wanna get caught in another tornado, you know?"
"Another one?" asked Hinata.
"I'll tell you later."
Together they stepped outside, leaving Zoro to an uncertain fate as they prepared to do battle with the entire criminal underworld of Sabaody Archipelago.
-Grove 29-
-Ace Group-
"Luffy!" shouted Sanji, starting helplessly up at the completely vertical mangrove tree. "Luffy, I swear, I will kick you so hard I'll make you feel it! Luffy!"
It was useless. He and Sakura had been chasing Luffy for several groves now as he headed straight to wherever his brother had last been sighted. Then, all of a sudden, Luffy had pulled out the scrap of paper that responded to Ace's location and then zipped right up the nearest mangrove, disappearing into the canopy without a word. Eventually Sakura had got impatient and told Sanji to wait at ground level while she went after Luffy.
Now he was all alone. Even the lady had left him behind.
Sanji cursed. This was, as always, all Luffy's fault.
"That stupid son of a…" he began, staring up into the canopy that the pink-haired ninja had just strolled up into. "-is he even up there anymore?"
The tree had nothing to say to him.
There was only one option, and it was something he'd been itching to try for the last several weeks. The one thing that had been completely impossible for him to practice while Sasuke and Zoro had been around to laugh at him. Taking a deep breath, Sanji placed one foot on the trunk of the tree and focused.
Ever since the time he had practiced with that paper, he had been able to feel some sort of energy moving around inside of him when he concentrated, and that feeling had only intensified since he had begun practicing with fire. If the ninjas could do this, then so could he. And if he could do it then it would be one more thing to cross off the list. He pushed the energy out from the soles of his feet, and the tree bark immediately crunched into splintered fragments underneath his sole.
Sanji winced. Okay, well, it was a start.
Another minute passed as he varied the strength of his attempts, and he found that while it was very easy for him to cling to the tree so fiercely that he couldn't take a single step, it was much harder for him to release that grip on one foot without releasing the other. Eventually, after numerous slips, trips, and embarrassing falls he finally felt he had it. He stuck one foot onto the tree, then the other, and then he started his slow ascent.
It was exhilarating! He was walking straight up the side of a tree! Step by step he climbed higher and higher. This could have been a cliffside, or a building, or…
Man, come to think of it, he would've given up a finger or two to have this ability as a kid. Spying on second-story windows would've been so much easier. Well, hey, maybe it wasn't too late to try after all? He grinned lasciviously. Now if only he could find that Devil Fruit that granted invisibility...
Boy, standing sideways on the side of a tree like this was a hell of a core workout, wasn't it?
He pushed onward. His anger and lust burned together inside him, leaving only the ashes of determination as they consumed themselves to fuel his ascent.
Still too far from the top. He was still only reaching as high as the lowest branches. Maybe he should have started practicing on a tree that wasn't the size of a small island. He looked down and the height was dizzying.
"Sanji," said Luffy.
Sanji screamed in surprise and his feet let go of the tree trunk. His last sight was of Luffy stretched down from one of the higher branches, looking at him with no small confusion.
Sanji desperately ran down the tree trunk, trying unsuccessfully to grip on and slow himself down. Perhaps he even succeeded a bit. He still hit the ground like a falling anvil, kicking up a storm of dirt and wood splinters as he cratered on impact.
A minute later, he was wincing and rubbing down his legs as Luffy and Sakura landed next to him.
"Sanji, what were you doing on that tree?" asked Luffy.
"Pretty good attempt at chakra control, I thought," said Sakura, looking at him appraisingly.
"Goddammit, what the hell were you doing up there?" responded Sanji, completely ignoring the question. "Weren't we going after your dumb brother?"
"Apparently not," said Sakura, cryptically. "Why don't you show him?"
Luffy seemed to be moving more slowly than usual. If you squinted your eyes and really stretched your imagination you could almost believe he was thinking hard about something, but Sanji knew that thati was impossible. Either way, a moment passed before Luffy held out his hand. Inside it was a tiny scrap of paper that was being tugged upwards, jumping into the air every second and then fluttering back to his hand like a wounded bird. It was also burning, already reduced in size from what it had once been.
"What… what does that mean?" asked Sanji.
"Dunno," said Luffy.
Sakura frowned. "If we take it at face value… then it means that Ace is above us and that the guy we're chasing isn't the real thing. I don't know how accurate these little pieces of paper are, though."
"Weren't you just up there? It kept pointing up even at the top of the trees?" Sanji asked, frowning. "Well damn, I dunno. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Is the burning thing supposed to mean he's in trouble?"
"Yeah," said Luffy, closing his fist and stuffing the scrap of paper into a pocket.
"We don't actually know that," admitted Sakura, "-but it's hard to imagine it being good if it's tied to his chakra signature somehow."
"Well, then what are we doing about it?" asked Sanji, straightening up and readying to move. "We don't have a way to get up any further than the tree-tops."
"The fake Ace knows where he is," stated Luffy. "We need to find Grove 79."
"Just like that?" asked Sakura, watching Luffy carefully.
"Just like that."
She furrowed her brow and looked towards Sanji, who shrugged.
"Captain's orders," he said, "Maybe if we take out this fake burning bastard then we can stop the island from getting torched along the way, huh?"
Sakura seemed willing to go along with that, and Luffy had already starting moving. They followed after him once more until he stopped in the middle of an open area, looking left and right. That was the only warning they got before a whistling noise from above sent Sanji and Sakura into a blind dive. A storm of harpoons rained from behind, and though Sakura darted out of the worst of it the weapon-storm seemed to be centered straight at Sanji's position, leaving him nowhere to dodge. He barely managed to avoid being impaled, but one of the spears caught him on the shoulder, cutting into his skin.
Wincing, he dashed into cover behind a nearby tree root and looked up as a swarm of fish-like creatures burst from behind the nearest mangrove, led by a man with bloodshot eyes and a horrifying mask who rode on some sort of a flying bison. The great multi-tipped mechanical weapon at his shoulder seemed to indicate he was the source of the sudden harpoon barrage.
"HAHAH! HAAAH-HAHAHAHA!" screamed the masked man at the top of his lungs. "I DID IT! YOU'RE DEAD NOW, BLACK-LEG!"
Sanji prodded his arm as something seemed strange to him. The wound didn't seem to be all that painful, but an odd cloying smell filled the air, causing Sanji to glance around at the weapons. From each one of the spears impacted into the ground, a smoking violet miasma was wafting menacingly into the air, and Sakura darted to his side in an instant.
"Hold still," she commanded, grabbing his wounded arm and holding it in place as her other hand passed over the exposed injury, glowing with a viridian aura as it did so. Suddenly the pain came to him in a stabbing wave and Sanji winced. The man above just kept laughing.
"Ah, shit, is this poison?" asked Sanji. "It didn't hurt until you started doing that."
"No, and that's not a good sign," Sakura stated as blood began flowing from the wound at a faster-than-normal rate. "Look, I've got no time to analyze this so I'm just isolating the arm and removing the contaminated blood before it can reach the rest of the body. Luffy, keep them off us! I need some time here!"
"It's no use!" exclaimed the flying man. Though he was wearing a full-faced metal mask, the sneer was quite audible in his voice. "Time's the one thing you don't have! That's Black Messenger Scorpion poison, and one cut'll kill you in three minutes!"
"Three minutes… no problem…" muttered Sakura, focusing hard on the task.
"Hey!" growled Luffy, stepping forward to face the aerial attack squad, "You got a problem with me, you take it up with me! No one messes with my crew and gets away with it!"
"A problem… with you…?!" growled the masked man. "No… not with you…"
His hand speared downward, pointing unerringly to the place where Sanji and Sakura now sheltered.
"YOU…! My problem's wi'd you! My name's Duval, and you were da one dat ruined my life!"
The three besieged Straw-Hats looked uncertainly back and forth for a moment, and Sanji's face went blank. Above, the circling fish riders were muttering worriedly about their boss's sudden acquisition of an accent.
"W-what? Me?" asked Sanji. "...Do I even know you?"
"No, dere's no way you'd know me, you sunnovabitch! But I know you, and you ruined my life!"
Sakura didn't sound very impressed with her patient as she continued the process of extracting poison from his arm, staining his sleeve quite thoroughly crimson in the process.
"Oh, so this is a grudge, then, huh?" she asked. "So what did you do to him?"
"I… I don't know…!" he protested.
"Come on, you must have some idea of who this is."
"No! I… I mean sure there were… probably several hundred people who wanted me dead after I beat their asses at the restaurant, but…" Sanji turned his gaze distant in recollection, counting carefully on his fingers. "Geez, who were the top ten or so…?"
Sakura snorted. "Great. You reap what you sow, then. Hold on, you're going to be fine in a minute and then it'll be your job to fix this mess."
This exchange only made Duval more angry.
"Nuh-uh…" intoned the flying madman, rumbling with anger. "'Dis ain't from some damn restaurant, you bastard… You and I ain't never met before."
"What?" asked Luffy, staring up at the circling bison as it flew circles around him. "Sanji, how'd you ruin his life without even meeting him, huh?"
"Y-you think I know something like that?!" asked Sanji. "Give it up, man! You've got the wrong guy or something!"
Several of the man's flying henchmen winced visibly, and a bark of laughter echoed throughout the area. Duval's laughter was explosive and tinged with no small amount of madness.
"W-wrong guy?! WRONG GUY?!"
He charged down at them, spurring the flying bison on to its maximum speed with a roar of descending rage, but Luffy was ready for it. He leapt straight up into the air, grabbing on to both of the bison's horns and staring it in the eyes. Just as Duval was about to stab downwards, the bison freaked out, halting in midair and bucking wildly, desperate to get the rubber-man off of his face. When this failed to do anything other than make Duval struggle to hold on, the bison headed straight for the ground to scrape the hanger-on off.
"Stop it!" ordered Luffy, still staring the creature down.
For just a moment, everyone's eyes flickered over to Luffy, though they wouldn't have been able to say why. The bison did stop, though, pulling wildly backwards in fear and tumbling over itself in mid-air, sending both Luffy and Duval falling to the ground.
The other flying fish riders yelled in shock, and the first one to charge in after their boss spurred the others to action. Leaping to his feet, Luffy turned around for just long enough to see Sakura slapping Sanji on the back and pushing him towards the fight, then he glared up at the swarm of henchmen and launched himself up into the air on a storm of screaming fists.
Duval didn't care. When he pulled himself up from the ground he had eyes only for the cook in front of him.
"Alright 'den," he said, his eyes gravely serious even as fish rained from the sky in the background. "Just you an' me, huh? Yeah… Yeah, 'dat's how it should be…"
Sanji glared at him. "You freaky bison bastard, what the hell's your problem?! I've got a lot of high-grade scum who want my head, but I'm not about to accept a damn reservation from someone I can't even identify. Either tell me clearly what I supposedly did to you, or take off that damn mask!"
"Oh… Oh… I'll do better'n 'dat… I'll do both…"
Slowly, Duval reached up for his head and the straps holding the mask were undone, one by one. Perhaps in his mind this seemed to be quite the dramatic moment, but it was rather ruined by the sound of fish and thugs hitting the ground all across the grove as Luffy went on a rampage. Once again, Duval didn't seem to care.
"Look! Look at whad'ya friggin done ta me!"
The mask was removed.
A laugh escaped Sakura's lips as if it had been held there against its will. Sanji's face went blank before slowly twisting into a wild disbelief as Duval continued his tale of vengeance.
"I been waitin' so long! I swore 'ta send you 'ta hell, but I couldn' even find ya! I mean, how could I? Your fuggin' bounty poster don't even look anything like ya!"
"No! No! I don't believe it!" cackled Sakura, collapsing to the ground as her laughter ran away with her, hands going to her sides. "What are the odds?!"
Ignoring her, Duval continued his desperate rant, sobbing his way through the words mangled by his thick accent.
"Dey'd come afta me with guns and swords, and dey'd say, 'We found ya, 'Black Leg' Sanji! Yer comin' wi'd us!'"
"I… I…" started Sanji, mouth opening and closing uselessly.
"Oh man! He looks just like your bounty poster!" laughed Sakura.
Having wiped the skies clean of thugs, Luffy returned and began glaring at the man with deep suspicion. "It's an exact copy of Sanji?! Akatsuki made a fake cook, too?!"
"No… No, this… this can't be true," said Sanji, walking forward with one arm outstretched. "I don't even look anything like this guy… Right?"
Duval's thick and wiry blond hair only slightly obscured an astonishingly ugly face that was crying with rage, tears dripping from flat, dead eyes that were topped by a curly set of eyebrows, and snot pouring from a misshapen nose. His fat, fishy lips failed to hide the teeth he was grinding together. He roared his pain across at them.
"AND I'D TELLEM, 'I AIN'T HIM! I DON'T EBEN KNOW'IM! I AIN'T EBEN A PIRATE! WHAT'D I DO TA DESERBE 'DIS, HUH?! GIMME BACK MY LIFE ALREADY!"
Sanji's foot impacted the man's face.
Sakura was so shocked that she immediately twitched into combat position. The cook had moved faster than she could follow, covering the ground before she'd been able to react. When his foot came away from the man's face it was smoking from some unknown heat. Duval seemed even more surprised than she had been, stumbling backwards in shock and pain, but then Sanji was upon him again. He struck out again and again, a rapid staccato of kicks impacting all across the man's upper body. The cook called out the names of his attacks almost as fast as he could make them, using each impact to propel him into the air for another brutal strike, and the impacts were even louder than Luffy's wild rampage had been.
Sakura watched in horror. Duval was being killed right before her eyes. A fierce series of blows to the man's head like this was beyond the abilities of even her master to cure, and she wondered how she had so thoroughly misjudged Sanji. He truly hadn't seemed like a killer, but now it was too late to stop him. The cook landed back on the ground a moment later, both feet slightly smoking. He pulled out a cigarette from his bloodstained suit pocket, and it lit itself as he raised it to his lips.
"There," said Sanji, walking calmly away from the still-standing corpse. "Reconstructive surgery du pied, free of charge. Never let me see that ugly mug ever again."
But the man wasn't dead. Duval stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed, but he seemed completely as healthy as normal, except for one thing. The man standing there now was not the same one that had been there a moment earlier. The very bone structure of his face had been completely reworked, giving him an elegant, angular jaw, refined lips, and a sharp, handsome nose. Even his hair had suffered the punishment, somehow straightening and reshaping itself after the barrage of hot-footed attacks.
"No," breathed Sakura, mouth hanging open as she stared at the completely transformed face of their ambusher. "No... No. No! No! NO! No, I don't believe it! It doesn't work that way! You can't just… You can't… That doesn't…!"
She screamed in long-repressed frustration. "Goddammit, I hate this place! Everything's absolutely crazy! Let's just get out of here already and no one talk about this ever again!"
She turned on her heel and stomped away, kicking up splinters as she went, and Luffy and Sanji were quick to rush after her.
Meanwhile, one of Duval's limping goons brought him a mirror and he stared into it, his newly-defined eyes wide in shock as he probed the tender flesh and bone with his hands. Slowly, tears began to leak and drip down his face, though for an entirely different reason than before.
"Wait, don't go!" he called. "You've… you've done so much for me…! I… I'm so… so very, very…" Duval paused, looking uncertain, and his men tried out words such as 'angry,' or 'grateful,' or 'happy' before he found something that truly expressed his emotions. "I'm so very 'Handsome' for what you've done for me!"
Yes, that was definitely the right word for what he was feeling.
-Grove 14-
-Rayleigh Group-
The group of Law, Robin, and Sasuke had covered a lot of ground since they had stolen a pair of bubble-speeders, and they'd used that time as best they could. Sasuke shared every scrap of intelligence he could, especially regarding Orochimaru. Luckily, Orochimaru had been a former Konoha ninja, and one of the treasure troves Sakura had brought from Konoha was Kakashi's copy of the bingo book, but even still there wasn't as much information to share as Law would have liked. Sasuke's explanations of the various pros and cons of cloning techniques and some of the methods he might have used to hide in the stones were nonetheless very helpful.
He'd also confirmed Law's worst fears; this snake-man was a world-class fighter who was far above other powerful bounties on the island, and he had an apparent obsession with immortality.
"And this guy wants you dead for some reason?" asked Sasuke.
"Yeah. I think he thinks he can make me help him with the power of my Devil Fruit," said Law. "It has some... unusual functions."
"That's not good," said Sasuke, understating the matter severely as he shook his head. "There are entire fields of techniques designed for illusions and mental manipulation, and I bet he has delved deeply into as many of them as he can manage. Intelligence indicated he had numerous cult-like devotees."
"...Is there any good news?"
"Well, depends on your definition. Anything that will make you work for him willingly is probably something that'll take awhile to accomplish. Total and instantaneous mind-control is… well, not impossible, but even he shouldn't be able to duplicate that."
"And yet there's Moria," inserted Robin, returning her attention to the conversation as she cancelled the many eyes and ears she had been spreading throughout the nearby groves. Though she could normally multitask well enough to work with her power and still carry on a conversation, allowing Sasuke to be her chauffeur gave her more freedom to focus. "There's no doubt in my mind that he won't survive his stay on this island, but I'm hearing that he and his subordinate are showing constant and unceasing regeneration as well as a death-like pallor that would befit a corpse. This wouldn't be a ninja ability, would it?"
Sasuke blinked several times in confusion at the words of the woman gripping his waist from behind. "Oh, you were listening, then. Well… honestly I've never heard of such a thing until… wait… according to the bingo book, Orochimaru had a technique that could create mindless, undying copies of dead people from a sample of their flesh or blood. This could be something like that, but…"
"A copy?" asked Law. "Would a copy be able to use the original's Devil Fruit?"
"I don't know."
"More to the point, how certain are you that that book told the truth about the technique?" asked Robin.
Sasuke shook his head. "The bingo book is designed for our highest-ranking fighters so that they know the capabilities of rogue criminals. It would be worse than useless if it wasn't accurate."
"A technique that truly raised the dead would be the kind of thing wars were started over…" mused Robin. "Even if I were making such a book, I would obscure the details of such an art, perhaps by making it seem less useful than it actually was."
"Fair enough…" said Sasuke, sounding uncertain. "So this brings us back to my original problem. There are only six Akatsuki members, and right now we know of at least three of them who are out there on the island, possibly also including Orochimaru if he's the one raising these dead. There's still news of even more chaos being raised out there, so there are probably more of them working this mess…"
"So if this is a distraction," continued Law, "-then what's the payoff? They've got overwhelming force for anything on the island, so why split up when they could just take whatever it is they're looking for?"
Sasuke nodded, thinking carefully. The problem was, there just wasn't enough information to figure this out. Robin interrupted his thoughts with a question.
"If… all one needed to create a working copy of a dead person was a bit of blood, then that would mean that it would be possible to revive historical figures as well, correct? From an old knife, bloodstained jacket, or a musket ball?"
"Well, yeah," said Sasuke. "As long as you had some dried blood, it might work out. People don't normally keep that stuff around though for just anyone though." He grinned, tossing a glance back her way. "Why? Looking to do some first-hand historical interviews?"
"Well, it's true that I can't deny the appeal…" she said, still focused on her thoughts, "-but it's just that on Water-7 there was a…"
Robin paused. Sasuke kept an eye on her, but she never finished her statement.
"UP!" shouted Law. Sasuke whipped his head back around, hauling up on the speeder's controls to dodge whatever it was coming his way even before he saw it. A scythed blade on a long length of wire was arcing through the air on their left side, being pulled upwards almost as fast as they were ascending. The scythe struck the speeder underneath, slicing straight through the resin bubble that kept them afloat and narrowly missing Robin and Sasuke's feet. For a moment it seemed as though the bubble might survive even being cut in half, but then it collapsed, sending the both of them into free-fall.
Reacting instantly, Robin sprouted long chains of arms from the nearby tree branches, grabbing the both of them and swinging them down into a graceful landing well away from their ambusher. Sasuke dropped off early, landing lightly on his feet and spinning to see their opponent.
Tall, lean, and muscular, the man wore a black shirt with white polka-dots, tasseled blue jeans, and a full-faced white-and-blue mask from which a wild mane of knee-length blond hair emerged. Small blades of every sort seemed to protrude from every spare pocket and sleeve, including several that seemed to have been sewn in specially to carry them, and that wasn't even including the two curved scythes at his hip or the tremendous weapon he was even now bringing back into a spinning orbit over his head.
Law was by their side moments later, bringing his remaining speeder to a screeching halt.
"That's 'Massacre Soldier' Killer," he said, glaring at the rogue warrior. "Captain Eustass Kid's second-in-command."
"No," said both Sasuke and Robin at the same time. There was a momentary pause before Robin continued alone. "No, that's probably not one of Kid's subordinates at all. I feel pretty confident in saying that's Hidan, one of the members of Akatsuki. He's even using his personal weapon, which means as disguises go this one's pretty thin."
"Well it's fucking great that I don't have to spell it out for you!" shouted Hidan, his voice muffled by the mask he was wearing. "Really not used to the whole 'blame my massacres on someone else' deal, and it's really been grating on my nerves! But hey, this guy loves scythes anyway so I figured, 'what the hell,' right?"
"Shit," cursed Law. "Of all the times to run into trouble. What's this guy like? What are we dealing with?"
As Robin tried to explain the man's strengths and weaknesses as succinctly as possible, Sasuke engaged his Sharingan and began scanning. Something was off right away. The glow of the man's chakra was strongly muted, or perhaps it was just that he'd expected to see a much stronger presence than there actually was. Hidan wasn't lit up like a high-ranking jounin, and if Sasuke didn't know any better he would have automatically doubted the man's presence in Akatsuki. It was far stronger than any standard clone should be, but unfortunately he'd never seen the man before, so it was impossible to say if this was his normal power level or not.
"Be careful…" muttered Sasuke. "His chakra signature is weaker than I'd expect. This might be a decoy, or perhaps he split his chakra into multiple shadow-clones. It's hard to say. I don't see anyone else nearby, but just watch your backs."
Thankfully, Law didn't ask him any time-wasting questions about how Sasuke had known that, simply giving him an odd look and then nodding in acknowledgement. It was always nice to work with professionals.
Hidan watched them finish their conversation from a distance and then snorted.
"Well, alright, you guys and girls finished chatting? I want to get this done before trouble interrupts, so let's get this show on the road already."
He moved, leaping into a sprint even as he maintained his wire's spinning tension. As the fake-Killer ran across the ground it quickly became clear that he was faster than any of the rest of them, rapidly closing the distance as his war-scythe skimmed towards them. Robin reacted immediately, summoning a line of hands across the wire that gripped each other firmly, attempting to pull the wire up and away from the group. Something in Hidan's body language gave him away and she dismissed her summoned limbs as quickly as she had summoned them. An instant later the wire twisted, edges like razorblades erupting from the metal sheathing all along its length.
"Oh, no you don't!" shouted Hidan. "I'm ready for you this time, arm-bitch!"
Sasuke moved into place so fast he appeared to flicker, red eyes tracking the weapon as he slid underneath the oncoming blade and kicked it up into the air. It passed narrowly over their heads, and then Hidan was among them. Law extended a hand.
[ROOM]
The transparent dome of Law's power extended from his body, but Hidan shifted backwards smoothly, riding the pull of his blade's momentum back away from them as he kicked off the ground and dodged out of the room's area of control. He landed far back, somersaulting away until the room stopped expanding, at which point he pulled his scythe blade in, caught it with one hand, and sat cross-legged on the ground with his chin resting on one hand.
The three defenders watched him warily, something that Hidan seemed to find amusing.
"Heh... hey, feel free to sit in there trying all your weird powers and shit. I've got all the time in the world, but it looks like you need to get somewhere in a hurry." He yawned, the noise resonating inside his mask. "So yeah, have some fucking fun with that."
The three defenders shared a glance. Sasuke looked to Robin.
"You can't get him locked down?" he asked.
"No… he's adorned his clothing with blades, which is something I think a non-regenerator would find a bit dangerous. I can't find a good spot to grab him that wouldn't let him wound me." She chuckled. "It's funny. Once, I was his natural enemy, but he seems to have turned that weakness around entirely. Ninjas can be quite frightening."
"I can get him in my room, but I need a moment to set it up when he's in range," said Law. "Once that happens, he's mine. Regeneration won't do a thing against my attacks."
"Don't be too confident," said Robin. "His power far exceeds the bounty he was given. We've seen enough from Akatsuki to be sure that they can always turn this around. Receiving even a single cut could be deadly against this man."
"I think it's the best plan we've got, though," said Sasuke, stretching his legs to warm up. "I stand the best chance of dodging the opening attacks, so I'll go in first and give Law time to set up. But I actually think it's rather convenient that he dodged before taking a single hit, so the clone thing is still a possibility. Robin, keep some eyes out for whatever trick he has planned."
She smiled. "Will do."
"Also, if we manage to disable him then I think that we should disengage and continue onward to Grove 6."
Law nodded. "Good to see some sensible people here. There's no point in getting stuck in a fight with a regenerator."
"Alright then," said Sasuke. "I'm going in."
"Wait!" interrupted Robin.
Sasuke had only just started to move when Robin's warning made him look around, ready for anything. A man with a shock of vibrant red hair and murder in his eyes jumped down from one of the lower branches of the great tree. However, he wasn't heading for them. The man fell from behind Hidan, his right arm wrapped in a house-sized and fist-shaped conglomeration of jagged metal and scrap. Hidan sensed his approach just in time, leaping away the moment before the junk-fist slammed into the ground where Hidan had just been standing. It tore ragged crevices in the wood of the tree as the newcomer yelled in anger, sweeping the fist towards Hidan as random pieces of scrap flew in all directions.
Hidan made a noise that seemed halfway between amused laughter and angry shouting, turning to face his new assailant.
"Oh, hell, I thought for sure I'd given you shitheads the slip back there," he said. "You guys are way too persistent for your own good!"
"No! No, you don't get to run away from us again," growled the extravagantly-dressed man. "You wanted a piece of the Kid Pirates, and I'm gonna give you exactly what you wanted, asshole!"
More people began swarming over the nearby roots, coming in from the same direction Kid had arrived from. It seemed the Kid Pirates were all present, including a much less dangerously-dressed man who must be the real Killer.
Sasuke grinned to see reinforcements. "Well, it should be quick work to put this guy down now," he said, running straight for the boundary of Law's room to join in the fight.
"HEY, COPY-CAT!" growled Captain Kid, eyes still focused on the Akatsuki member. "Stay the hell out of this, alright?! You wanna hide in that doctor's shitty bubble then go right ahead, but this fight is ours!"
"Hell, it's your funerals," said Hidan, letting out some wire and resuming the process of spinning up his scythe.
Sasuke scowled, but Law just shook his head.
"Don't get involved," said Law. "Trust me. You can't work with this guy. We need to get going."
"And just trust that they'll take out this guy on their own?" asked Sasuke, eyebrow raised. "This is the best chance we'll have to cut down their numbers."
Law smirked, walking back to the single remaining speeder and throwing a leg over. "Well, I never said we can't give them a little bit of info before we leave. Also, sorry Robin, but you're going to have to ride with me this time. The ninja's lost his bike."
Having said this, he pitched his voice louder to be heard by the brawling fighters in the distance.
"Hey Kid! This guy can regenerate wounds, and you can't let him drink your blood! If he does, he's got some crazy masochistic ritual thing going on that lets him share any wound you give him!"
"Yeah, we already know all that, asswipes!" growled Kid, reforming an arm that had been cleaved in two and reaching out with a magnetic grip to claim all of Hidan's un-tethered weapons. "Get the hell outta here before we hurt you ourselves!"
That, as it seemed, was that. Robin tossed Sasuke an amused look and hopped up behind Law on the speeder, leaving Sasuke to make his way to Rayleigh's by foot.
"Well, not that it matters that much to me," he mused to himself, tossing one last glance back to the violent battleground in the distance, "-the speeder was only slowing me down anyway…"
-Grove 1-
-Auction House Group-
"What's wrong?" asked Zoro, his eyes tracking his opponent's blades.
Kisame said nothing. They had been fighting for a while now, but eventually the bloodlust had seemed to drain out of the impostor. Strikes lashed out, countered, deflected, and parried. The disguised merman's power was overwhelming, but gone was the murderous frenzy Zoro had seen at the start of the fight.
"You're not taking this seriously," growled Zoro.
"I'm not?" asked Kisame, exposing a shark-toothed grin that looked distinctly odd on Zoro's face.
Zoro's eye twitched, his teeth grinding into the hilt of the Wado Ichimonji. "You're not."
For a moment, the pace of the fight seemed to intensify as Zoro drove his opponent across the stage and back to the wall. A strong strike from Kisame sent him sliding backwards, and then everything returned to normal.
"God damn you," cursed Zoro. "Fight me for real!"
"I think I am fighting you for real," grinned Kisame, exploiting a gap in the fight to lash out with a foot. Zoro barely blocked the strike with his forearm, but the merman flexed and Zoro was sent up into the air, landing several feet away, barely ready for Kisame's advance.
"Don't you dare play games with me!"yelled Zoro, blocking the attacks and retaliating. "Stop holding back!"
"And just what am I holding back?"
Zoro was livid. "You goddamn well know what's going on here. I've seen Naruto and Sasuke fight and they talk about Akatsuki like you're a bunch of unbeatable monsters. I'm not seeing any of it!"
Zoro drove forward suddenly, each attack hitting far harder than before. "Where's your strength?!" he yelled, knocking the merman off-balance.
"Where's your sword?!" he yelled, breaking the merman's guard with a double-bladed spinning strike.
"Where are your damn ninja tricks?!" he roared, stabbing forward at the man's unprotected chest.
The change between a man pushed to the brink of defeat and a man completely in control of the situation was nigh-instantaneous- barely an eye-blink. One moment Kisame was stumbling backwards, and the next Zoro's sword had been struck aside. The merman struck back, and Zoro barely blocked the attack with his third blade. Kisame just smiled his shark-toothed grin, and then combat resumed again, still at the same pace as before.
"Who knows?" said the merman. "Maybe I lost them?"
"You son of a bitch! Fight me! I need this! It's been weeks since I grasped enlightenment in my hands! When I fought CP9 I reached a new tier of power! I need to find that place once more! Stop holding back!"
He pushed, slashing and spinning with increasing speed. The tip of one sword slipped inside Kisame's defenses and scored a shallow mark across his chest.
"There it is," said Kisame, still calm and still smiling as he fought off the successive strikes. "I've seen that desperation before, especially in swordsmen. I've felt it myself. It's my greatest regret from joining Akatsuki. Too many fights ended before their climax. Too many opponents murdered by expedience rather than by my blade. Too many retreats before backup arrives…"
Zoro got too close and the merman slid in, smashing out with an elbow that struck him in the solar plexus, driving the air from his lungs. Breathless and dazed, Zoro still managed to kick off the ground, soaring up into the air as he deflected the follow-up attacks that would have eviscerated him. He landed unsteadily, gasping for a gulp of air as he fixed Kisame with a vicious look. The impostor was still smiling.
"Let's just say I know how you feel and leave it at that," he said.
"Then… why…" began Zoro. "Why are you just playing around here?!"
"Because there's no reason for me to take this seriously," said Kisame, the smile dropping from his face. He dashed forward, smashing into Zoro's defense and driving him backwards. "I came out here expecting a challenge. A new world with new opponents to force me to improve, but instead all I've found is an endless series of these damn Devil Fruits!"
Zoro suddenly found himself pressed sorely as he struggled to defend himself from his doppelganger's overpowering strikes, and the disguised merman continued to rant. "Every one of them has either been completely worthless or an overpowered force of nature. There's no thrill to be had fighting a storm, a glacier, or a volcano! The back and forth pleasure of a real fight! The only thing I've learned out here is that I'll never find peace on the battlefield! You can't give it to me either, Roronoa Zoro. You're far too weak."
The sounds of steel on steel rang through the room, and a spatter of blood joined the puddles from the bodies overhead as a blade scored Zoro's side. The air around the two of them was finally coming alive with power.
"Weak?!" exclaimed Zoro, bloodlust replacing his earlier frustration. "There's only one person who's called me that and lived, and you're not even close to him…!"
Kisame laughed and darted inwards, only to stop dead and back off. The energy around Zoro was changing, and the merman watched with eager eyes.
"Yes, weak," said the man wearing his image. "Of course you are. What does someone like you know of the weight of duty? Of loyalty to a mission? I've read about you. You've been nothing but a bounty-hunter. A low-life thug! Killing as you wished- picking and choosing your battles."
"Duty?! Loyalty?! You know nothing about me!" said Zoro. "The dreams I've fought for! What I've done since we entered the Grand Line to become the greatest-"
Kisame stuck with bone-jarring force, interrupting the man mid-sentence.
"Oh, as just a lowly pirate?" he sneered, finally starting to sound angry. "A self-improving swordsman pursuing greatness?! How carefree! I slaughtered men, women, and children all for the sake of my duty and a mission that was destined to never end! Until you've lived under that weight, how can you dare to pursue greatness! I've borne the weight of that duty ever since childhood, and finally I will be rewarded with the truest of treasures! A duty I can choose for myself!"
A wave of wind washed out from Zoro's body, the pressure audibly resonating throughout the room. He attacked again with a force incomparable to his previous strikes, and this time one of Kisame's swords shattered. Zoro's blade continued onward through the storm of steel shards, cutting into the merman's skin, but the impostor seemed to pay it little heed, regrouping without delay to fend off further attacks as his shirt soaked with blood.
"Weight?!" shoutedZoro. "You're talking about weight?! You know nothing of the weight I carry!"
Zoro's attacks were coming faster and faster now, every fourth hit seeming to bypass the merman's single-bladed guard and splash blood onto the stage. Kisame showed no fear, and no anger, continuing to laugh as if this was just a game.
"You think your duty is equal to mine? Then why are you so weak, Roronoa Zoro?!"
"STOP LAUGHING!" screamed Zoro, his strikes biting deeper and deeper. "I'm killing you! I'm killing you right now!"
The laughter continued even when Kisame slid backwards across the stage. Zoro gathered his power and all three swords, spinning them in front of himself as his eyes saw only the cackling man he was dedicated to killing. Piercing the impostor with his gaze, Zoro shot forward and time froze against its will.
[SANZEN SEKAI]
[THREE THOUSAND WORLDS]
The air itself parted for his advance. There was no attempt to block. The blades cut straight through his target, and Kisame's bloody form was trisected by a single strike that ended his laughter in an instant.
Time resumed.
A moment later, Zoro stood over the gore, panting from exertion before shaking the blood off his swords.
"Shit!" he cursed, face contorted in frustration as he clenched the hilt of a blade until it seemed he might draw blood. "Not enough…"
It was barely a moment before Naruto stuck his head back in the door, though it was impossible to say if he was a clone or not. He looked down at the devastation with wide eyes.
"Whoa. Nice job, I guess. Sorry, but I didn't really expect you to just win, you know? Uh, Hinata says there's something nasty coming this way and we should get outta here. You didn't happen to get the plan outta this guy did you?"
"No," said Zoro, scowling up at the younger man as if daring him to disagree.
Naruto sighed. "Son of a bitch… Wait, that isn't him down there, is it?"
"What are you talking about."
"The guy. You know, the Fish-Man. I thought he was disguised as you…?"
Zoro frowned, turning to face the gruesome body. "He did look like me, yeah. What? Is something…!"
His breath escaped him. He looked down at the bloody corpse that stared back up at him with unblinking eyes, still very much dead. It no longer looked like Zoro, but it didn't look like a Fish-Man either. The unfamiliar middle-aged man had a completely bald head with several unfamiliar symbols tattooed on it, and Zoro had never seen him before.
"What… the… hell…?" asked Zoro, deeply confused. "What the hell is going on here?!"