The New War

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.

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Dusty yawned and stretched as she followed her nakama through Upper Yard's forest, "Man, I slept great last night. That juice and nice fur blankets were awesome...,"

"Kit, those were the actual wolves, not blankets,"

She shrugged, "Either way, they kept me warm...though I think one was trying to make me his mate. I couldn't tell, we were all pretty wasted,"

DJ gawked at her, "Dusty-chan...?" he whimpered.

Dusty waved him off, "Relax, I'm not that stupid, DJ...I made sure it didn't go that way," she assured him before turning to Austin and Devon, "So, how far are we from the city, it feels like we've been wandering around for hours?"

"It should be just ahead," Devon replied, eyes locked on the trees ahead, "Once we get there, we can get some decent food in our bellies and see how everyone else is doing,"

"Yay!" Dusty threw her hands in the air, "Nap time on cloud beds!" she grinned widely, "I love those, they're so damn comfy!"

Kirsty rolled her eyes and smiled, Dusty's so innocent, it's like she's a little girl. Then again, with the way she acts, she kinda is.

They walked until they reached the familiar border of Shandora, but when they got there, it looked as though it were a ghost town. No one was in sight, and it looked empty. Devon looked around, hand on his blades, "I don't like this...,"

The others were put on full alert and they were about to go and search when Austin calmly walked off in a direction, not looking fearful at all.

"Oi, Austin!" Devon called after him, "Get back here!"

Austin turned and pointed in the direction he was heading.

"I think he wants us to follow him..," DJ thought aloud.

"What is it boy, friends? Enemies?" Dusty asked as if Austin were a puppy barking a warning to it's master, "Show us the way, boy, c'mon!"

DJ, Devon, and Kirsty stared at her while Austin flipped her the bird. The four others followed the mute boy around the ruined city buildings of Ancient Shandora until they saw a large group of Skypeians and Shandians gathered a large tent on the other side of the city.

"What's going on?" DJ asked as they drew closer, "There's so many of them, it's like they having a pow-wow or something,"

"I really don't like this," Devon growled, "Something's wrong, I can feel it!".

Before anyone could stop him, he broke off into a run and soon disappeared into the crowd of Sky People. Devon pushed and weaved his way through the crowd until he reached the tent, which was guarded by Braham and Kamakiri.

"Guys, what happened?" he demanded, "What's with the crowd?"

Braham and Kamakiri exchanged glances before opening the tent, letting the swordsman in. Devon ducked under the flaps and what was inside made him stop in his tracks. Wiper was laying on a bed, covered in more bandages than the last time he had seen him. These bandages had fresh bloodstains and Devon noticed that he had severe burns all over his body.

"Shit," Devon slowly made his way to the bed as the others in the tent gave him room, "What the hell happened to Wiper?"

"I don't know,"

Devon turned to see Gan Fall and Aisa nearby. Gan Fall was standing, looking at Wiper intently while Aisa had her head buried in her knees, her whole body shaking. The God of Skypeia nodded to the fallen Shandian warrior, "Aisa and I found him yesterday. Both he and Nola were severely injured," he stroked his beard, "To take down Wiper is one thing, but to give Nola those injuries...," he looked at Devon, "Not important right now. Devon, your doctor friend was with you when you left, is she with you now?"

"Yeah, right outside, I'll go get her," Devon started to leave the tent when he looked back at Wiper. The sight of the warrior laying with those injuries made him both furious and worried. He took a quick glance at Aisa and Gan Fall, then left the tent to retrieve Kirsty.

-----

Captain McKinley and his White Berets were patrolling another part of Upper Yard, skating along the trails made by their Milky Arrows. They were on the trail of some Enforcers they had come across. They put down about half of them, but the remaining servants of Eneru escaped on their own skate dials, jumping from tree to tree, branch to branch, etc.

"Keep on them, White Berets!" McKinley shouted as they surfed on the trails of their arrows, "We must make sure we don't lose them or else it'll take more time to track them down again!"

"Yes sir!" his soldiers shouted.

McKinley grinned to himself, Soon, all trace of Eneru will be gone and we will be able to fully start a new life here. I still remember when that bastard of a God wiped Angel Island out of the sky completely! I'm just glad we were able to evacuate everyone safely.

Something out of the corner of his eye made McKinley turn to see two of the Blue Sea dwellers on the ground a short distance away. One was the boy with the giant axe on his back and the other was the red-haired girl.

They must be hunting as well... McKinley looked ahead, I'd invite their help, but we'd probably use our enemies in doing so...

"Captain!" one of his men shouted, snapping him out of his thoughts, "We're closing in!"

"Good! White Berets, prepare yourselves for battle! Let's clean Upper Yard of all our enemies!"

-----

"Sister, how many are there?"

"A handful, following some our new...friends,"

"Should we intervene?"

"No. I believe that they will have their hands full soon enough,"

"What about the other two?"

"They pose no threat, and they are not making any trouble for us. Leave them be,"

"I was talking about the two the others were speaking of,"

"Again, leave them be for now,"

------

While Kirsty used both her skills and ability on Wiper, Devon, Gan Fall, and some of the other Shandian warriors held a meeting in another tent away from the crowd. Laki and Kamakiri noticed that Devon had Ohm's Iron Cloud sword in his possession and realized that he was the one who took him down. Devon knew they were looking at him and the sword, but he paid them no mind, he was too busy thinking about the most recent attack on one of their own.

Gan Fall was finishing up his report and the Shandians, chief, warriors, and half-blood had been listening very closely. The God of Skypeia folded his arms and gave a serious look, "Whoever did this to both Wiper and Nola must be powerful indeed. Whoever did this is still out there," he turned to look out a makeshift window in the material of the tent, out towards the woods up Upper Yard, "We must be very careful,"

"Agreed," the Shandian Chief nodded, "We cannot risk sending out our people to clear the forest of Eneru's remaining Enforcers until we know more about this attacker," he looked at his warriors, "Hopefully, when everyone else returns to Shandora, we will hold a meeting for everyone in the city. We need to post watches and be on our guard. Unless it is absolutely necessary, we cannot leave the city,"

"That's it then," Laki nodded, holding her rifle close to her, eyes closed, "Aisa's staying in the city...I'm not risking her life out there if there's something that could hurt Nola and Wiper like that!"

"Same for Austin," Devon agreed, "We'll have to keep an eye on them, because if they're anything alike, they'll go against what we say at one point and leave,"

The Chief sighed and looked at Gan Fall, "Do you think we're in immediate danger, here? I mean, they were attacked in Upper Yard, and not anywhere near Shandora?"

Gan Fall slowly shook his head, "I do not know, Chief. All we can do now is keep an eye out for anything suspicious,"

-----

"Damn, we lost them," McKinley looked around the thicket of trees he and his troops had just entered, "I didn't think those bastard goat men wouldn't move that fast, even with those Dial skates,"

"What now, Captain?" one of his soldiers asked.

McKinley looked around and scratched his head, "Damn...alright, here's what we do. We've spent a lot of energy tracking these Enforcers down, so let's take this loss as an opportunity to regain our strength," he sat down on the ground, "Whoever has the food, break it out and make a circle men!"

After passing out some of their rations, McKinley and his men sat in a circle, backs facing each other. This was a tactic that many soldiers used in both sky and Blue Sea areas. The tactic was to stay in a group, looking out in all directions. This provided safety in numbers and that way, no one would be able to sneak up on them.

"So, Captain," one of the soldiers took a bite out of the bread loaf that was being passed around, "What do you think of these Blue Sea dwellers?"

The leader of the White Berets paused in the chewing of his meat rack, "They haven't shown any hostility towards any of us, and they have been helping us on our hunt...,"

"So that means we can really trust them, right?"

"I haven't made up my mind yet," McKinley swallowed his portion, "But unless God Gan Fall declares them threats, we are not to lay a hand on them,"

As the group of Skypeian soldiers finished their meal and clean-up, the ground began to shake. McKinley looked around, a deep scowl on his face, "What was that? A tremor?" he turned to his troops, "Did anyone see Nola on our way here? I swear, that damn python...,"

"Sir, something's coming!" a soldier pointed to a flock of birds that were squawking loudly and flying over them, "Something big!" he yelled as the ground shook again.

McKinley growled and went for his gun as his soldiers looked around, eyes widening with every quake, "Someone talk to me!"

A loud cracking and creaking sound emanated from the woods, making each of the soldiers spin around, aiming their weapons at the direction the noise had come from. The ground began to shake more and more often, accompanied by more and more cracking from within the woods.

When the source of the quakes and cracks came into their line of sight, every single one of the soldiers stared in shock at what they saw.

"OPEN FIRE!" McKinley screamed.

-----

"So, we are all agreed that we must do these things for the sake of our peoples," Gan Fall looked at the people gathered in the tent, "We must be smart and not do anything foolish for the time being,"

Devon nodded, "We got it, old man. I'll pass it on-," he was suddenly cut off when DJ stumbled into the tent, a worried look on his face.

"GUYS!" he pointed outside, "It's Austin and Aisa!"

Immediately, Laki and Devon shot out of the tent, closely followed by the others. They all could hear terrified cries of the children and when they found them, they saw that they were holding their heads as if they were in pain while others stood around, unsure of what to do.

"What's wrong with them?" DJ asked, catching up, "I was just talking to Conis-chan about harps and the next thing I know, they pull a screamfest!"

Devon went to Austin's side while Laki went to Aisa's. As soon as the two of them were in range, both children clung to their bodies tightly, eyes wide with fear.

"Aisa, what's the matter?" Laki cried, trying to get a hold of her hysteric cousin, "What's wrong?!"

Aisa shut her eyes tight, "Laki...I can hear them screaming...they're in such pain!"

"Who is?" Devon took Austin by the shoulders and looked hard into his terrified eyes, "Who's in pain?!"

"The White Berets...!"

-----

Captain McKinley had seen many enemies in his days: Enforcers, outlaws, he even saw the power of Eneru up close more than once in his life. This power, however...it simply terrified him beyond all reason. Most of his men were either on the ground half-charred, or had fled the battle. Now, he was crawling on the ground. Not in the strange way they did their things in the sky, but actually crawling because one of his legs was most likely broken. He tried his best to get away, but everytime he looked over his shoulder, his attacker seemed to be right behind him.

"Enough," the monster placed a giant hand on a nearby tree and began to push, "Die!"

McKinley watched helplessly as the giant tree was broken from it's stump and began to fall down on him. He shut his eyes and covered his head, though he knew it would do no good. When the sound of the falling tree ceased, McKinley opened his eyes to see something amazing.

The axe-wielding man from the Blue Sea had stopped the falling plant and was now holding it with both hands. Axe looked over his shoulder, "I hope ya don't mind getting your ass saved by a Blue Sea dweller, man...Chizuru!"

"I'm on it,"

McKinley felt firm, but gentle hands take his arm and he soon found himself being picked up by the red-haired young woman he had met earlier. Chizuru wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "Keep your weight on the good leg and I'll get you to safety," she whispered, eyes looking up at the thing that had been attacking him, "Captain, you be careful,"

"Don't worry about me," Axe pushed the tree off to the side and as it crashed nearby, he looked up at the thing in front of them.

It was huge, easily half the size of the giant trees of Upper Yard, around a hundred or more feet, easily dwarfing Axe and the others. The giant wore metal leg and arm bracers, a matching breastplate, blood red pants and a matching cape around it's massive shoulders. It had a large, wicked hook where it's right hand would be, and a gigantic sword on it's belt. Despite it's curly blonde hair and matching beard, the giant had a face that would send chills down anyone's spine.

Axe smirked as the others retreated to a safe distance and cracked his knuckles, "Oh...you're a big boy, ain't ya?"

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Kilnorc: Holy (bleep)! What is this?! The White Berets are all but wiped out by this giant, and Axe is lookin' like he's ready for a scrap! Man, what is going on here?!

On the next chapter of Homeland...

Axe: You got a name, big fella?

???: My name is Tyr, remember that well, mortal, for it is the last name you will ever hear!

Axe: Holy shit! How did you do that! There's no way that was a Devil Fruit ability!

Tyr: You're a fool if you think you can defeat me!

Giant of Scorching Flame, Tyr!

Axe: You sonofabitch...that was the biggest mistake you'll ever make! I'll never forgive you!