AN: This chapter is a bit of an intermission that looks at what's going on in the rest of the world at the moment.

Thriller Bark

"Kishishishi!"

Gecko Moria's laughter echoed throughout the halls of Thriller Bark, making the zombies and the other inhabitants of the manor tremble. Nothing good ever occurred from their master's laughter, many knew that in the coming days there would be trouble.

Dr. Hogback was standing in Moria's chambers having just presented him with the latest news of the world beyond. It was this paper and the bounty posters that it contained that had prompted the laughter. If Hogback was in anyway nervous it didn't show on his face.

"You were right to bring this to my attention Dr. Hogback, a shadow that can survive in the light, and one that appears to have it's own free will. It must be captured and studied. Once its secrets have been revealed my army of zombies would become unstoppable.

Hogback! Prepare a proper welcoming party I want everything to be perfect when the guest of honor arrives."

"Yes sir I shall have prepared the most terrifying welcoming party that the world has ever seen!"

Once more Gecko Moria's laugh echoed throughout Thriller Bark. It was only once Hogback had left and Moria was alone that he slumped down in his chair. He flipped through the bounty posters until he came across Tii'chia's, for the longest time he stared at it expression unreadable. Snorting he tossed the papers away before getting up to rest his hands upon the sill of a window and survey all that he had created. Trembling hands gripped the wood as he recalled memories of the past long thought buried.

"Maybe.."

The words spoken in absence of anyone else to hear them pulled Moria out of his thoughts and with a quick stride he threw open the doors of his chamber. As he marched out he didn't notice that the breeze caused by his passage sent the bounty posters scattering. An ill wind carried one of the posters down through the halls of the mansion and deep into the bowels of the cellar. It alighted upon a bed filled with stuffed animals where it was grabbed by a pale hand.

Ghost Princess Perona stared down at the image of Shadow Beast Chopper.

"Cute..."

Outside a large black bird perched on the roof of Moria's mansion took to the air. Beady black eyes observed the coming and goings of the zombies. Finally it seemed that the bird had had enough and it took to the air with a powerful beat of its wings. It flew upward until it broke the fog of the Florian Triangle and took a moment to orient itself before flying off towards the New World.

Wano

In the isolated land of Wano news from the outside was rarely known to the common people. Only those at the highest levels knew anything, the Beast Pirates knowing most of all. The members of the Tobiroppo were gathered around a low table, trays of food, and cups shoved to the edges. What held everyone's attention was a bounty poster of a snarling lizardfolk. Perched on the railing of a balcony was a large black bird seemingly forgotten by the occupants of the adjacent room.

"Its just a simple reptile Zoan." Page-One said as he took a sip from his cup. Out of everyone in the room he was the least invested in looking at the bounty poster.

"With that coloration unlikely, it's got to be an ancient."

This statement came from Black Maria, a beautiful woman with long blonde hair worn in the style of a Geisha. She was reclining against a couch, long smoking pipe held delicately between her fingers.

"Could be a legendary Zoan, some kind of salamander."

The next person to comment was Who's-Who with the red mask covering much of his face it was hard to read his expression. However the tone of his voice conveyed the fact that he really didn't care/

"We should get him to join us. He already looks like one of us anyway. Those scales are so pretty as well." Ulti said with a sigh before hugging the poster to her.

"We should talk to Kaidou at least, see what he wants to do about it."

Sasaki grumbled before lifting the bottle clutched in his hand to take a swig. Personally he suspected that the poster showed some kind of dinosaur not that he had bothered to express that opinion to anyone.

"Ulti could you stop cuddling that poster its disturbing." Page-One said and the rest of the group braced themselves for the explosive tirade to follow.

"Yeah, okay." She responded, putting down the poster with a smile. She didn't even seem to notice that the rest of the room was staring at her. That had not been the reaction that any of them had expected. Page-One pinched himself to confirm that he wasn't in fact dreaming.

Seeming to sense that the conversation was going nowhere fast the black bird spread its wings and took to the air. The delivery of the bounty poster completed it saw no reason to stick around any longer. It flew through the smoke and other toxins that filled the sky, oily feathers glistening in the light that struggled to reach the lands below.

The bird circled the island of Wano three times before it departed towards the south. It was only a few minutes after the birds departure that Page-One looked up at where it had been.

"When did we start getting news coos delivered straight to us?"

That question brought the argument to a sudden halt and sent the Tobiroppo searching for the bird. None of those that had been acting as surveillance could recall seeing any such bird either coming or going. The bird was long gone by then and the incident forgotten to focus on more important things.

Garp's fleet

As Tii'chia wondered where Garp happened to be and why he wasn't chasing them, Garp was wondering what he had done to deserve this.

It had all started simply enough he had left Water 7 and was halfway back to Marineford when Sengoku had called and order him to go to Water 7 to arrest the Straw Hat pirates. Garp and bitched and moaned for a bit before finally turning his ships around.

All well and good until the sky had turned black and hundreds of tentacles burst out of the water and began to attack his ships. It was like no Sea King attack that he had ever encountered and from the sheer number of tentacles grappling his ships there must have been over a dozen Sea Kings lurking in the water. All working together a voice in the back of his mind spoke.

Garp ripped a suckered tentacle from the deck of his ship before tearing it from the remainder of the limb. Inky black fluid sprayed from the wounded limb and coated the deck despite the driving rain. Personally Garp couldn't care less if it was ink or blood just that the monster hadn't given up yet.

"Fishmen! There are Fishmen are leaping out of the...ARGH!" The man that was shouting, words suddenly ended with a gurgling scream. Garp whipped his head around to look see dozens of hunchbacked Fishmen swarming onto the deck of his ship each clutching a trident in one hand. But a second look revealed them as no kind of Fishman that he had ever seen before.

Green scales covered them from head to toe and a long, fish-like tail extended behind them. Their arms and legs ended in webbed claws, and their piscine head featured a toothy maw. The creatures didn't look close anything like human which only served to make them more alien.

A feral cry escaped from on of the creature's mouths as it suddenly charged at Garp. Hardening his arms one punch snapped the trident like a twig, the second punch landed between the things eyes. Garp felt the creatures skull shatter beneath his punch and he knew it was dead.

He had started to turn his attention away from the dead creature when it slashed at him with its claws. Acting purely on instinct Garp punched out and sent the creature flying away from him. He looked down at the tears the creature had made in his shirt, three shallow bleeding cuts just visible through the openings

The creature that he had punched twice now smashed into the deck and for a moment it seemed like despite its wounds that it would get back up. It gave one final twitch before it fell still. Garp tore his eyes from the creature as more charged at him.

One punch was more then enough to kill the creatures and now mindful of their dying attacks Garp avoided further injury. As he dispatched another one of the creatures the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He whirled around Hardening his arms as he did so just in time to have a massive anchor slam into them.

He skidded back across the wet planks of the ship as he stared at this newest threat. This new creature was as tall as he was with long gangly arms that clutched an anchor clearly torn from one of the ships. It's skin was some kind of blueish-green the exact shade impossible to determine because of the darkness and the rain. Whatever it was it let out a roar and hefted the anchor before charging him. Idly Garp noted that the creatures mouth was full of yellowish fangs even as he met its charge.

They exchanged a rapid series of blows until Garp got the upper hand. Smashing the anchor out wide he delivered a double-fisted punch right to its chest. The front of the creatures chest disintegrated leaving behind shards of shattered bone and blood.

It didn't fall however but instead lifted the anchor up for another attack. Garp stared at it with a sense of horror as bones, muscle, and flesh began to knit itself back together. Even as Garp deflected or avoided the next series of the creatures attacks the wound that he had caused finished healing like it had never been injured in the first place.

At the stern of the ship Coby and Helmeppo were engaged in a desperate struggle with 4 of the creatures. They had been working with three other marines to repel the tentacles when they were ambushed by the creatures sudden appearance. The first they had know of the attack was a net covering one Marine and watching him collapse to the ground completely still.

The other two marines had followed shortly afterwards, wrapped in their own nets before the creatures swarmed them. It was taking everything that Coby had to not get tangled in the net carried by the last creature. They had been forced to fight back to back Coby unable to get away without exposing Helmeppo to the net.

Lightning briefly lit the sky directly above their heads throwing everything into sharp relief. The roll of thunder that followed it shaking Coby to his very bones. But he saw an opening and took it, fist squelching as it impacted the creature's eye. The creature flailed backwards as the rain which had already been a downpour became torrential.

Visibility dropped so that everything more than a couple of inches in front of ones face was practically invisible. Coby was forced to fight completely on instinct the only reassurance that he was not alone among enemies was Helmeppo's presence at his back. The flashes of lightning revealing snap shots of the chaos of battle across the deck of the ship.

The sounds of battle were drowned out by the constant roil of thunder. If Coby had been able to think about it he might have been grateful that it also covered the screams. Off in the distance a plume of fire erupted into the sky, illuminating the shattered wreckage of one of the navy ships as a massive tentacle squeezed it in half.

As swiftly as the storm and the ambush had appeared it vanished just as swiftly. The survivors of the attack left blinking in the sudden sunlight surrounded by corpses of the creatures. Garp stumbled by his men covered in blood that was not his own, the only wound he had suffered was from when the creatures first appeared. The monster he had beaten to a pulp again and again only to watch it get back up had leapt into the water. As if it had been called by some unheard signal.

Finally he paused besides Coby who was bandaging a long gash on Helmeppo's arm. At the sound of his approach Coby looked upwards his face white.

"They..." The young man swallowed before forcing himself to continue speaking.

"They took everyone caught in a net sir."

As Garp looked around he realized that Coby's words were true. While all of the creatures bodies remained none of the marines that had been nets tossed onto them were visible. Garp stared off into the distance a single thought running through his mind. What the hell was going on.

Marineford

Sengoku set down the transponder snail, brow furrowed with worry. Garp had just called him about the attack by strange Fishmen that had never been seen before. It seemed that there was just one problem after another at the moment to deal with. First there had been the utter disaster at Enies Lobby followed by the discovering that the Golden Transponder Snail in Spandam's possession was missing. Now there was the concentrated attack by an unknown faction of Fishmen against the Marines themselves. As he mulled over this new unexpected information a noise outside his door drew his attention.

He rose slowly, walking towards the door with ears strained for the slightest sound. When whatever the sound was didn't repeat he began to feel slightly concerned. Something was wrong on the otherside of the door, his Observation was screaming at him to be careful. Yanking the doors to his office open he beheld a strange sight.

A voluptuous nude woman was standing in the hallway, casually holding the desiccated body of a Marine another laying at her feet. Skin the color of fresh fallen snow, ruby red lips, raven black hair, small horns that swept up from her brow, wings the color of wine, sinuous spade tipped tail. As she turned fully towards him a smile played across her lips promising endless delights. A step forward and she was reaching out towards him.

Sengoku's golden fist exploded through the wall, launching the temptress through the air until she vanished in a cloud of dark red smoke. It was at that point that alarm bells all across Marineford began to wail. Releasing a very weary sigh Sengoku looked down at entrance to Marineford. He then had to do a double take at what he saw.

Floating over the now frozen waters of the bay hung a pulsing red hole in reality. Wound would perhaps be a better term as blood like droplets seemed to drip from it. As weird as that was it was the misshapen creatures that fought against the marines that drew his gaze the most.

The largest of these monsters was as tall as any giant from Elbaf and seemed to combine the worst aspects of a bear, a mantis, a wolf, and a reptile. Despite the fact that it was frozen up to its knees in ice the monster was still holding it's own against Aokiji. Constantly lashing out with its four arms, or attempting to catch the admiral in its jaws. Tail whipping out whenever he tried to get behind it.

Another monster was engaged in a furious battle with Kizaru. Red skinned, bat like wings, hooves, horns, a whip of fire, and finally a flaming sword all combined to give the impression of a demon. A fitting name for these creatures Sengoku thought as the monsters sword sliced the head from Kizaru's shoulders.

The wound didn't last but it did force Kizaru to pause briefly and study the monster with wide eyed shock. A moment later and he was gone, bolts of light stabbing into the demon from all directions. Seemingly ignoring the wounds the demon roared as it lashed out with its whip.

Akainu seemed to be dealing with the assorted smaller monsters. One a deformed hunchbacked humanoid with two thumbs on each hand. There a horned human skeleton covered in bone-tight slimy leather. A third creature was some cross between a man and a gigantic vulture. Intermixed with these groups of creatures were small bloated forms that moved swifter then their shape seemed to allow.

Waves of lava poured over the groups regardless if there were allies present. The fact that the creatures seemed to ignore some of the damage that the lava should be doing was disturbing. Briefly Sengoku wondered why Akainu seemed to be focusing on the small fry rather then dealing with the more dangerous demon with the flaming sword and whip. Resolving to find out later Sengoku prepared to deal with the current mess before him.

The battle dragged on until finally all that remained of the demons was the red skinned one. Aokiji, Akainu, Kizaru, and Sengoku combining their efforts to take it down. Only for it to explode as it died, fire burning at everyone standing near it at the time. At the same time the wound in reality closed leaving no trace of its existence.

Sengoku approached Akainu after the fight to find the lava man getting tended to by a Marine doctor. Angry red burn scars covered his arms, and chest making Sengoku blink in surprise.

"That damn thing. First it proves completely immune to my lava forcing me to deal with the minions. Minions that prove to be resistant to my powers as well. Then finally when it's killed it explodes and burns me! Me a man that's made out of lava! How the fucking hell does that even work!"

Akainu's rant didn't surprise Sengoku after all he had seen the creature shrugging off the hits from Akainu. Something was going on and he wasn't sure what it could possibly be.

Room of Authority

The tension that filled the room currently occupied by The Elder Stars was palpable. It was so thick that one could have cut it with a knife. None of the five occupations looked happy judging by the frowns on their faces or their clasped hands.

"Not only did the Demon of Ohara escape justice but now we discover that a second person escaped from the Buster Call. Topping that off a Golden Transponder Snail is missing as well."

"One that could very well have more information on the Void Century then any other living creature. It may even be able to read the ponegylphs."

"Even if it can't the fact that both it and the Demon are now on the same crew as a former member of Tom's Workers is troublesome. "

"A group that we need to keep an eye upon. The large concentration of high bounties should draw numerous problems to them."

As the Elders mulled over their thoughts a transponder snail in the corner of the chamber began to ring. The Elder that picked up the snail wore a simple white gi and carried a sheathed sword at his hip.

"Puru puru puru, puru puru, gatcha.

What is it Sengoku?"

"What do you mean attacks?!"

Mariejois

Deep beneath the splendor of the World Nobles lurked a land of misery and horror. A place where few ever saw the light of day and every day could end up being your last. This horrible secret was what lurked behind the beautiful facade that the Nobles presented to the world.

Karn had lived in this hell for 5 long years. Working until he collapsed from exhaustion only to rise the next day to repeat the task, endless days of powering the moving sidewalk above his head. Originally from Dressrosa he had no wife or kid back in the land of his birth which could not be said of some of the other slaves.

One day however when Karn woke up there was something different. He felt better then he had in a long time as if a crushing weight had been lifted from him. He was not the only one that seemed to feel better, many of those that worked besides him seemed better than they had in a long time.

Karn almost let out a ragged cheer when Old Tom staggered into place besides him. Old Tom had been a slave longer then anyone else here, gnarled as an oak tree with a long white beard. Last anyone had seen of the man he had collapsed and the guards had dragged him away to die.

The old man flashed Karn a grin that was missing many of its teeth before getting to work besides him. As the slaves worked an almost inaudible hum seemed to run through them each seeming to listen to a song that promised freedom from their shackles.

Invisible to mortals the singers of the song worked their magic making the slaves jobs easier. That night when Karn went to sleep he dreamed of a lavish feast, and a rose rising from a bloody street.

Unseen by prisoners and guards alike the creators of these dreams smiled. Each was a beautiful fey-looking man or woman with the wings of a butterfly, needing little sleep or rest they spread the seeds of rebellion. A gentle touch to relieve old wounds, whispered words in the ears of those sleeping to grant a feast, powders scattered into the food of the guards to confuse and weaken them.

Unknown New World Island:

A pair of massive black birds spiraled down to a rocky outcropping that stretched out over the sea. Set into the cliffside where they landed was a stone archway leading deep into the rock. The birds hopped so that they were sheltered from the weather by the arch, talons clacking against the stone.

Once safe from the elements their forms rippled for a moment before the birds were replaced by a pair of men dressed in black feathered cloaks. The cloaks were so voluminous that nothing could be seen of those wearing them. An unspoken conversation passed between the two before they headed through the arch and deeper into the cliffside.

As the pair walked flames flared to life in brazers illuminating a hall of stone carved into a magnificent throne room. Wide stone pillars rose up to the vaulted ceiling, each one covered in painted runes that seemed to flicker as the light fell upon them.

Set into the stone at the back on the hall sat a throne of stone, upon this throne a giant sat. He so still that it was impossible to say if he was alive or just a masterfully carved statue. The giant wore the finery of a warrior king still prepared for battle, silver beard carefully separated into three braids that were clasped at the ends with gold rings. One eye was covered by an eyepatch which bore only a single rune upon it.

Leaning against the giant's throne were a pair of weapons, by his right hand a golden spear, his left the head of a hammer missing its haft.

It was only as the two figures kneeled down a respectful distance away that the illusion of lifelessness was broken. The giant opened it's one remaining eye, brilliant blue in color and crackling with lightening. Leaning forward the figure observed the men kneeling before him.

"What news have you brought my ravens?" The giant spoke with a quiet authority that was clearly used to being obeyed.

"The Lizardfolk of Xin has returned to the survivor of Ohara." Spoke one of the figures.

"Forces never before seen have begun to make their presence known to the mortals of this realm." Said the second of the figures

"We spread the knowledge as commanded. The questing ones path will not be easy and many foes stand before them but they shall find allies in the most unlikely of places."

Once more the first figure spoke, the giant responding with a deep hum.

"All is in order for now then. Continue to keep watch my ravens and inform me of any changes."

The giant closed it's one eye and once more became little more then a statue. The cloaked figures departed only returning to the forms of black birds once they were out on the rocky outcropping.

AN: Since I've not mentioned it before I figured since we are at the end of an arc to give you more information about Tii'chia. All of you DnD and Pathfinder lovers delight.

Tii'chia was a 19th level Weaponmaster Fighter, his weapon of choice being the longsword.

Critical Waltz: Each Waltz is based one on of the Critical feats from pathfinder.

Mastery Waltz: Comes from the Critical Mastery feat that let's one use two critical effects instead of one for each crit.

Danse Macabre, Reaper's Rhapsody: Deadly Critical class ability, much less cool then it was presented as.

Step two: just a way to show off iterative attacks

Dragon's Breath (Red): not originally based on something Tii'chia had. Sort of based on dragons various breath weapons. Who knows he may eventually learn variants.

Items

Luck Blade: one precious world altering wish remains

Bottle of shadows: Clearly something is wrong with the bottle of shadows considering that it's only supposed to function for 4 rounds per day.

Beads of force: supposed to be black not blue. I'm unlikely to change the color back.

Naga scale bijindi: I haven't forgotten about this Nami just hasn't had the chance to put it to use yet.

Gloves: Acid is fun and a right pain to have to write around.

Kintsugi: Since combining with the Sword of Greed the sword functions as a +5 Dominant Keen Dispelling Longsword

Ring of foe focus: Sadly it only provides a bonus to AC but flavored to show about a second into the future.

I'll add to the list as more items are revealed. Many however are stat boosting items or things where I haven't figured out how to convert them.

Next chapter begins the Ice Hunter Arc