I do not own Bleach nor One Piece. I am not going to say anything witty to that effect about what would be if I did for either or preferably both... because I'm greedy like that! With that said, this story is for entertainment purposes only and I hope you I hope you enjoy this whilst I brood.

A Reaper amongst Straw Hats

Chapter 3: When a conspiracy is revealed...

Water Seven, Night

It only took an hour at best for them, Ichigo and what remained of the Straw Hat crew, to reconnoiter on the rooftop of a seemingly miscellaneous building. As it stood there were now three members missing: Robin, the woman accused of Iceburg's attempted assassination, Usopp who had left the crew the night beforehand and Sanji who was out trying to find Robin after he and Chopper had encountered her by chance...

According to Chopper, a child-sized anthropomorphic reindeer who walked on two legs, wore a pink top hat bearing a small white X and spoke thanks to the power of the Human-Human fruit, it was at Sanji's behest he come back to tell them in detail of their encounter and of the message Robin left behind, a confession and a warning for the Straw Hats of an oncoming event that would overshadow their current predicament with the entire island. Sadly there was only one scenario which could top an attempted assassination— a successful one on the very man who survived it to begin with, the mayor of the city, the president of Galley-La and overall leader of the entire island. though despite the fact that just about every worker of Galley-La at the very least on alert and all likelihood guarding the main office that was both Iceburg's place of work and home, given the current circumstances between her framed crewmates and Aqua Laguna there was no other opportunity as golden as this to get away with murder regardless of her unspoken reasoning for doing so. In the end there was only two solutions to this predicament: Allow the event to occur and simply run for it or stop her, capture her to get the truth straight from the horse's mouth.

Needless to say the latter was the favored option for everyone involved though the reasoning may differ slightly between the Straw Hats and Ichigo. Still, to put to rest the quiet demons plaguing the crew of pirates and to save a life, they split into two groups: Located within the one and only great tree offering a perfect view of the front door the main office, guarded from one corner to the next by a fairly unorganized army of dock workers armed with saws and other such tools of their trade for weapons instead of more conventional weaponry, sans the occasionally spotted gunslinger, was Luffy, Zoro and Chopper in the event that, ludicrous as it was, Robin decided to go through the front door; with luck they would not only stop her but catch her and whatever accomplice she had as well. Near the rear of the building and perched on a rooftop with the best view of Iceburg's room that was available was Ichigo and Nami, dressed now in more casual attire, the second line of defense should Luffy and the others either fail or were bypassed completely; without a doubt Robin or even her cohorts would unwittingly reveal themselves to the pair unless Kalifa drew the curtains to the windows in the room to a close beforehand.

"Damn it!" And she did. Thankfully she left the light on but ultimately that didn't alleviate the problem at hand.

"What do you suggest now?" Nami whispered as Ichigo's scowl deepened.

"The only thing I can think of is sneak into his room at this point," he grumbled. "That or hope someone is dumb enough to blow up a wall or something."

She wearily sighed at his side as she looked about the office without the benefit of a pair of binoculars to remind herself that the front door wasn't the only guarded point throughout the property: The backdoor, the roof, a patrol for each side plus guards, and within the building, as suggested from the uncovered windows were guards and patrols as well. The place was made into a virtual fortress through relatively coordinated manpower alone— no matter how good they were, no one was getting in or out without being spotted in the least. "Isn't there another way? Like peeking through a secret door or something?"

Ichigo shook his head. "If there is one then I don't know about it."

"Ugh..."she groaned. "So we're pretty much stuck here or going to have to fight through dock workers."

"Yep..."

KA-BOOM!

"Huh?!"

Not only did they turn their sights to the direction of the explosion, at the front door no less, so did every guard on duty above and the duo's roost. Immediately orders were being shouted by the respective, impromptu commanders of each group, keeping order and ensuring there was at least a token force left behind to guard their posts as the others left to inspect the disturbance and shore up the defenses there. In almost no time flat did a cloaked figured wearing a hat seemingly jump onto the roof, get surrounded by the guards there the moment the figure was spotted and began to fight them in short order with what appeared to be a whip.

"I don't know about you but I don't think standing around here is going to do us any good now." Ichigo drawn his badge out from its holster and was immediately encased by the wrappings from the pulsating item which formed his armor-like fullbring appearance.

"Jeez..." Nami huffed. "I guess it can't be helped." She paused and looked towards the front door despite the unwitting cover the building provided. "Knowing Luffy he'll be here soon, with luck we can use him as a distraction."

Ichigo didn't answer as he eyed the figure on the roof essentially overpowered the guards on duty there only to jump back down towards the ground below much to the teenager's confusion, despite seeing the figure jumping solely to dodge a blow from a craftsman's saw blade. However in less than a moment he held back a surprised, sharp intake of air as he slapped Nami's shoulder who in turn turned to him with a confused glare only to follow his line of sight to see what had surprised him: The figure, for all intents and purposes, was leaping through the air as if he was springing from one platform to another.

"A devil fruit power?!"

Ichigo scowled. "I can't tell from here, but we can't be careless in any case." He switched back to the roof proper and spied on the other guards moving in to see what was going on or better yet reinforce their bloodied comrades. Soon his gaze came to intently focus on a rooftop access that was abandoned altogether. "Climb on."

"Eh?"

Nami turned to him to suddenly find him kneeling down, the flat part of his sword resting on his leg as he looped his arms behind himself as a makeshift seat. Looking at her, he jerked his head in the direction of the unguarded access. "I can get there a lot faster if you climb on."

"Oh! Sorry!" Immediately she got behind him and hopped on. Before she even said she was ready she forced herself not to scream in surprise when the orange haired teen burst forth in a sudden burst of speed forward in a leap so powerful it seemed as if they would not only crash into the office wall but smash through it in one go. And though vaguely familiar with it given her and Luffy's rescue from Galley-La earlier, she couldn't help but be surprised when Ichigo, like the figure, leapt through the air as if bouncing from one step to another to reach the roof and again make a sudden dash onto the roof of the larger building. Thanks to Ichigo and his freakish speed they were through the door of the stairwell before she could take a moment to register they had even neared it; despite his speed Ichigo still found the time to not only open the door without crashing into it, slip through it and close it with such care that only one watching it all would've noticed the door had moved in the first place.

"J-just how fast are you?" Nami asked in a startled gasp, not even realizing she was holding in her breath in the first place as she slipped off him and promptly collapsed from weak-kneed shock.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I really didn't want someone to spot us and give chase." He turned to her and offered a hand. "Ready?"

"Ready," she said managed to say as she shakily stood up with his help.

"I'll take the lead then."

Without ado they carefully tread down the walled staircase out of concern for alerting a nearby guard that had yet to join the fight. After suffering a short flight of stairs, a turn and the flight after which they came to a stop to allow Ichigo to peek past the corner to see if the coast was clear. Seeing none they quietly snuck past the corner and made their way down the hallway, presumably towards Iceburg's room if Ichigo's memory served him correctly. It was only when they neared another corner did they come to an abrupt stop when a loud, guttural battle cry roared from down the hidden hallway, causing them to hug the wall and again causing Ichigo to peer past the corner to see what was going on in time to see Tilestone in mid swing against a man equaling his own height only wearing a white and yellow checkered cloak, a head encompassing white, smiling bear-like mask... near the man were the bloodied and defeated forms of Kaku and Lucci. As Tilestone attacked, the other man simply held his left hand out in a fist as if it was enough to simply block Tilstone's weapon, a giant hammer despite the weapon's mass and the latent momentum behind it. Sadly, much more so in Ichigo's experienced eyes, the masked man's confidence was well deserved. The metal hammer crumpled under the power of its own impact and was effectively decapitated as it bounced away, leaving Tilestone with nothing but a metal rod to swing in the air as he completed his attack with his being none the wiser till it was almost over. Already Ichigo whiped himself around the corner in a dash, disappearing in a burst of pure speed in a race to the two as a flabbergasted Tilestone was grabbed at by the masked man, his fist cocked back and sailing towards him in a strike.

Of the two, Ichigo's blow landed first, sending the masked man away down the hall with a surprised grunt of pain whereas Tilestone unwittingly followed him a short distance thanks to the other man's hold and eventual, reluctant release.

"It's The Guard!"

"Didn't he turn traitor or something?"

Risking a glance to the adjacent hallway right before the doorway which he essentially stood next to with a line of chairs between him and it, as well as the defeated foremen strewn between him and the door, Ichigo noticed a pair of dockworkers caught between wanting to flee and charge headfirst into a fight they could not win. Ignoring them, his attention turned to the masked man as he picked himself off the floor with restrained agitation, a state not as greatly shared by his foreman counterpart who looked at him in stark confusion.

"ICHIGO?" he yelled, a trait which he seemingly could never reign in throughout the time Ichigo known him.

Rather than respond Ichigo focused all his attention on the robed man at the other end of the hall who took the time to brush off some dirt and debris caught on his robe as he seemingly glared back.

"Go make sure Iceburg's okay," he finally rumbled without budging an inch in an absoulute refusal to let the other man somehow get the jump on him as he seemingly considered his options in return. After a moment's deliberation the man assented through a otherwise ignored nod followed by a quick scrambled to the double doors that was the threshold of Iceburg's room.

It wasn't long for the masked man to make a move. Even in plain sight the man managed to vanish in his own burst of speed, causing Ichigo to tense and scowl far more severely than before as he whirled himself around in anticipation of the classic attack from behind, as well as keep a eye, however brief, On Tilestone as he struggled against the door much to his latent curiosity. As for Nami, a part of her head was cautiously peeking out from the corner as she warily eyed Tilestone and to an extent Ichigo. Yet rather than leave himself open he returned his attention to the hallway and gritted his teeth as he waited for the attack to come, all the while he wracked his brain for alternative routes around himself if that was indeed the case.

It was too late however to notice the strange sounds of a pair of doors opening at once, from the tiled floor no less as two apparent hand-sized trap doors opened up as two hands lurched up, grabbed the rogue 'foreman' by his ankles and effectively yanked his legs through each hole, stopping at his knees and leaving the surprised teen to struggle to scrambled himself out of the trapdoors. As he struggled another trap door opened in front of him, however odd it was though considering that it seemed as if the concrete and tile moved seamlessly without any hint of a break for the sake of a hinge at the utter least. Regardless, the masked man reappeared a decent distance away, armed with a pistol and primed at the scowling whose sword was alight with his spiritual energy in response. Of the two the gun went off first a split second before Ichigo swung the unnamed attack at the man, and rather than see if the bullet landed on its mark the man ducked beneath the cover of the floor, closing the door behind him as the bullet was vaporized and the counterattack itself 'harmlessly' passed overhead. It wasn't long however for the man to renew his assault however. Rather than shoot his feet he instead grabbed at them like he had before and like before he used his strength to tear him through the floor, lobbing him through the air towards the ground, through an open trap door awaiting him and crashed him into a room on the first floor of the building complex without enough force to create a crater upon impact. Though winded he managed to get back onto his feet and all but jumped for the trap door as it closed above him, muffling a persistant ticking sound that drawn his eye to a classic alarm clock just about to strike midnight on its face.

Sitting just behind it and several others surrounding the room, all of which about to turn to twelve at night whilst attached by wiring to sticks upon sticks of dynamite and barrels of undoubtedly explosive material...

In half a moment a half charged getsuga tensho he pierced through the wall and shot out of the room and beyond just before each hand of the bombs' timers struck midnight. As expected the bombs went off in perfectly timed unison, destroying all that it could as well was belch forth from the very hole Ichigo fled from and abandoned as he leapt from 'platform' to 'platform' to reach the highest floor and smash his way through a window soon afterward. Even then he didn't stop to rest in favor of returning to Iceburg's room. Corners and what few people there were, both standing and defeated, were nothing but blurs to him as he zipped past them, likewise a blur to them at best if he was spotted at all. It wasn't long before he found himself in the very hallway he was kidnapped from, made all the easier to identify thanks to the light getsuga tensho ruining the wall now behind him and the gaping hole he was torn through. What made it disturbing however was that now Tilestone was amongst the bodies of the defeated, likely knocked out by the bear masked man, and the doorway into Iceburg's room had been, for the lack of a better word, destroyed. As he had done so before he used his greatly enhanced speed to virtually teleport himself to the doorway, his sword at the ready as he scanned the current occupants of Iceburg's room.

The Straw Hats were there in full force considering who they had available beforehand: Directly before him were Zoro, Nami, and Chopper seemingly as tense as they were reservedly at awe. To the side at the precipice of a door-sized hole in the wall was Luffy with Paulie right behind him, bloodied and worse for wear as well as seemingly out of breath. And intersecting them all in the very middle of the room were five individuals, four of whom were wearing differently colored cloaks while the only uncloaked one wore a black business suit with a white tie and black top hat. On his shoulder was a white bird... a pigeon...

None of them were wearing masks, the man in the checkered cloak was with them... but most damning of all was the fact that he knew them save for two: A woman with black hair wearing a green cloak with yellow filigree and tassels along on the edge of her cloak and the checker cloaked beard black haired man who styled his hair to resemble a pair of bull's horns atop his head... Lucci, Kaku, and Kalifa were standing in the middle of the room with a bleeding Iceburg not too far away on the floor trying to use his remaining strength to witness what was happening.

As much as he wanted to he didn't dare to look back to see the Lucci and Kaku behind him... Hesitance was the surest path to catastrophe at this point as Lucci critically eyed him.

"I guess it was too much to hope that trap to at least scorch you."

All eyes at the utter least turned to glance at him in mild surprise at best before giving Lucci and the other apparent traitors of Galley-La aside from himself. As for Ichigo, his one response was to grimly scowl at them as they held his machete at the ready.

"HEY! Answer my question damn it!" Paulie roared as he pointed an accusing finger at Lucci, his teeth gritted with enough strength to threaten each other. The man he pointed at himself only deigned to glance at him in return before turning to him, all the while a cautionary glance was spent on the Straw Hats and fullbringer to his side.

"Paulie, to tell you the truth, we're government intelligence agents," he answered rather simply without the slightest hint of a change to his otherwise stern, yet bored face. "Well, you'd forgive us if we apologized, right?" He paused slightly as Paulie's face contorted a little more. "We were fellow shipwrights who worked together building ships every day. If you can't believe me becuase this was too sudden, shall I step on Iceburg's face or something?"

A hitched growl escaped Paulie as his fist clenched even tighter. "Stop messing around!" he growled. "That's enough... After all, the bull-masked man's voice I heard earlier is the same voice as yours!" He tilted his head forth enough to have a shadow cast over his eyes as he brought his trembling fist up. "Damn it, you bastard!" He brought his head up to shoot them his rage induced glare. "You can talk just fine! How dare you mock us!"

Without warning he dashed forward, utterly ignoring Iceburg's cry for him to stop as he brought his right arm to his left side as if to throw something. "Pipe Hitch Knives!" With expert precision he lobed a line of rope with double bladed knives tied into it at Lucci who vanished in a blur, prompting Ichigo to do the same in return as the older man appeared, vanished and reappeared around every curve of the curving rope back to its source. Of the two, Ichigo was far faster, intercepting Lucci before he was even two feet from Paulie. Though he didn't look surprised in the slightest he was however startled enough to defensively raise a fist screaming at him as a sword likewise did the same.

"Iron Body!" SNAP! CLANG! CLUTCH!

Spiritual metal bit into plain metal of a pair of large chisels, courtesy of Kaku who appeared out of thin air who held them under visible strain and gritted teeth as the machete threatened to cleave straight through the makeshift knives. As is stood now the sword itself only had less than a quarter inch from slicing the chisels complete were it not for the strange thorn laden whip wielded by Kalifa who, like Kaku, was straining as she tried to yank Ichigo's arm back from mid swing, her weapon of choice at best pircking the armor of his fullbring rather than piercing it. As for Lucci he retrieved his own hand after catching Ichigo's fist with a snarl on his lips as he continue to clench and unclench it to better inspect the damage done to it.

"Take this!" From the side Paulie let loose another line like before as he abandoned the spent one. Once again Lucci disappeared yet without his cover Ichigo had room to act: His sword was jerked free with next to no resistance between the improvised weapon and the now slacked whip, and with its etheral blue coating it lashed out in Kalifa's direction as Ichigo snapped a kick behind himself at Kakku. As opposed to dodging it Kakku brought his shin up and blocked the kick whereas Kalifa dodged her own attack, allowing the wall behind her to take the blow while she realizes too late that the whip and been cut and severed. Now free, Ichigo vanished in a burst of speed, reappeared at Iceburg's side and collected him before disappearing once again only to materialize behind the Straw Hats at the ruined door.

"Whoa! That was awesome!" Chopper cried with stars in his eyes. Off to the side Luffy was in an identical state of grinning awe.

"Can't you guys focus?" Ichigo deadpanned as he set Iceburg down as gently as possible. His attention however drew itself to the true traitors of Galley-La as they suddenly huddled near a now opened window.

"Wait! Robin!"

In response Lucci, while favoring his right hand, held out in the open palm of his left hand a baby snail transponder with a button atop the back of its shell. "Were this any other encounter I doubt we'd take such precaution, but it seems we had little choice considering our trap didn't work as we had hoped it would have." Nonchalantly he brought his thumb to the button and let it hover over it. "Kalifa?"

She took out a pocket watch, opened it and red its face before answering his otherwise unspoken question. "We have two minutes, Lucci."

"Two minutes," he reiterated. "I know this is sudden, but this building is to be set aflame in two minutes." Despite the numerous shocked gasps he continued, "Fire is an effective tool to destroy various types of evidence. With that said, however, we've decided to take a special precaution considering what we do know of Ichigo Kurosaki."

"This switch is directly linked to each of the various igniters stationed throughout the building as well as a few incendiary bombs for assurance. Between those unconscious outside the door as well as the few craftsmen still guarding their posts, who knows what the number of casualties will be."

"You bastards!" Paulie snarled. Even Ichigo couldn't help but snarl a little as he gritted his teeth.

"Huh... a plan to take on the only one who can easily match them, how unfortunate," Zoro rumbled as he drawn two of his swords.

"Ichigo, Paulie, go," Iceburg ordered loudly enough for the both of them to hear.

"What?!" The blond foreman snapped his head toward Iceburg as if he had lost every ounce of his senses whereas Ichigo merely glance at him in stoic concern and curiosity.

"Ichigo can carry out the wounded," Iceburg explained. "As for you, Paulie, since everyone thinks Ichigo is a turn coat thanks to what happened this morning then it would be better if you went out to warn them."

Both hands clenched and at last the other knife riddled rope was let go despite having long lost its potency. "Fine," he grumbled reluctantly as he drawn a length of rope out from his sleeve and snapped it taut in a defensive fashion between his hands. "Just make sure sure he gets out of here safely, Ichigo!"

"Right." With a grunt on Iceburg's part, Ichigo sheathed his sword, leaned down and hoisted Tilestone rather effortlessly onto his shoulder as best he could, all the while eying Lucci and his associates for any sudden movements. At best he only glared at Ichigo in return with the slight, almost invisible narrowing of his eyes calculating and weighing the odds and risks of their options, the ghost of a scowl borne from it and twitch so slight that it bordered on imagination at work, yet he remained still as the green robed woman was silently ushered to the window.

By the time the Straw Hats took notice of the woman in movement, he, along with his two passengers, was gone.

XVX

Galley-La Main Office, Front door

KA-BOOM!

Thanks to Zoro only a few of the craftsmen that guarded the front door were able to stand, let alone regain consciousness in a timely manner to begin with. Regardless, no one expected the front door, which miraculously survived the siege thus far, to suddenly explode in a shower of wood shards from the inside of all places.

Already the battered guards that could were rushing towards the door to investigate and hopefully intercept the perpetrator, in their rush they almost missed the orange haired teenager in the white armor setting down not only the president and mayor of their company and town respectively but one of their foremen as well. Before anyone could say or do anything to confirm it wasn't an illusion of some sort, Ichigo had set the two down and vanished into thin air, leaving the dockworkers to scramble to their employer in a fit of panic to ensure he was unharmed. Not even halfway in their journey did Ichigo reappear again, this time with two new bodies of their coworkers who he sets onto the ground before flickering out of existence once more. Before long a pattern began to emerge concerning Ichigo and the wounded craftsmen most likely hauled from inside the building.

"Mister Iceburg!"

The aforementioned man grimly turned his head to see a disheveled dockworker come to a running stop near him.

"Are you alright, sir?"

He nodded only to turn his attention to another man in a similar state of distress.

"Boss! Boss! What's going on?! I thought Ichigo joined the Straw Hats or something!"

He only shook his head. "He didn't," Iceburg answered him. "Nor are the Straw Hats responsible for this." He turned his gaze back to the open door of the office building, his scowl firmly entrenched.

"Grab the hoses and make sure they're connected to the pumps," he suddenly ordered much to their confusion. "According to the real intruders there are several explosives meant to start a fire that are about to go off."

"EH?!"

"Right away, sir!"

"GET THE HOSES!"

"FIRE! FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE INSIDE!"

Though in a sense it grew deeper, ultimately his scowl remained the same as he checked to the side to see Ichigo's progression while his attention was elsewhere. The horde of unconscious bodies was already made considerable and yet Ichigo was only adding more and more to it. Coming out of the door it was already evident that Paulie was doing his part as well as fire began to lick at the edges and corners of both the door and the building itself.

Once more Ichigo appeared from out of nowhere to deposit two more bodies, one of which belonging to the Straw Hat Pirates.