Chapter 4: The After Effect

It had been a few hours since the submarines had left with Nami, Zoro, Hancock and Robin. Many of the Kuja warriors were injured and unfortunately many were dead as well. Those that were still well enough to move carried the wounded warriors to the make shift hospital which ended up being the banquet area. Brook had lugged the Luffy statue to the banquet hall, not easy seeing how the stone was still using the Gigant Elephant Gun, and tried endlessly to break the rock. How could this happen, Brook thought to himself, there should have been no way for these…. Monsters to have found us. He tried to break the stone with a hammer he had found but had no luck. It was then that he saw Franky and Usopp rushing towards him.

"Oi, Brook how's Luffy doing?" Franky asked running up with Usopp close in tail. Brook could only shake his head and say, "Nothing I've tried has been able to break the stone."

"Let me take a shot at it," Franky insisted. He walked up to the statueized Luffy and began knocking on random parts. When he heard a sound that apparently pleased him, on the extended arm, he punched a hole clean through it much to the terror of Brook and Usopp.

"OI FRANKY YOU BROKE LUFFY!" Usopp yelled in horrified fear. Brook also yelled but before he could say anything Luffy stuck his head out of the broken arm. He then fell out panting and showed signs that he was obviously in pain. "How did you get him out Franky?" Brook had asked. Franky simply smiled and explained, "Metal is always harder than rock, I just needed to find a hollow part where Luffy wasn't in the way. Luffy stood up, and began to sway, obviously he was tired from being confined in the stone for several hours.

"What… what happened?" Luffy asked trying to stay conscious. Brook was about to explain when Luffy passed out. Brook sighed and said, "So much for that outfit, does anyone know where Chopper is?" Franky and Usopp both shook their heads. "We rushed straight from the ship we didn't see him or anyone else." Usopp explained. Franky looked around trying to find other members of his crew and finally asked, "Oi didn't you say Sanji was with you? Where is he?"

"He's back in one of the rooms, one of the Kuja doctors are trying to help him, but they aren't on par with Chopper, we must find him." Brook exclaimed, affirmed by agreements from the conscious members of his crew. They decided they would split up and look for any stragglers. Brook would wait with Luffy and Sanji by the chance that anyone came back, Usopp headed off towards the Thousand Sunny in case anyone headed there and Franky decided to search the forests of the island.

Franky

Franky had searched around the island for around an hour now, he was in constant contact with Brook and Usopp via baby mushi. Luffy had woken up and had gone into a feeding frenzy. Sanji had stirred but he was in too much pain to do anything else. Franky needed to find Chopper and fast if he had any hopes of surviving the night. The sun had begun to rise which helped Franky look at his surroundings. He then came across an area that the enemy had landed ships on. The ships were demolished and unusable; there were also a group of trees that were badly damaged. This must be where someone got into a fight, maybe Chopper? He followed the path of destruction when he heard a faint sound. Franky couldn't be sure but he was positive that someone was crying. "OW is anyone out there?" he called out. The crying stopped for a few seconds and then started up again, followed by someone yelling, "FRANKY!" in a sad tone. Franky instantly recognizing the voice started running towards it and started yelling, "OI CHOPPER WHERE ARE YOU?" Chopper didn't answer but his crying became louder and louder. Until finally Franky found Chopper hanging from the webbing he had been caught in. He was no longer in his Heavy Point, reverting at some time back to his brain point and was sobbing hysterically.

"Oi Chopper what's the matter," Franky asked with concern in his voice. "FRAAAANKYYY," Chopper sobbed, "HE TOOK HER AND I COULDN'T STOP HIM,"

"Chopper what are you talking about? Who took who?"

"ROBIN, HE TOOK ROBIN!"

"OW, WHO TOOK ROBIN?" Franky asked in a panicked tone. Chopper sniffled and looked up at Franky, he could tell that he had been crying for hours. Chopper finally controlled himself for a moment and said, "A man named Edward Blanch, we were fighting and he took Robin, I wasn't able to save her." He began to cry hysterically again, Franky didn't know what to say to calm his little furry friend down. "Chopper listen we need to get you down from there lets go,"

"Just leave me here," Chopper wined, "What kind of Nakama can't protect his friend?" Franky ignored Choppers protests and said, "Don't be ridiculous I'm getting you out of there, Fresh Fire!" Franky blew fire on all the webbing not touching Choppers body, when his body fell to the ground he wouldn't move. He just lied on the ground and sobbed still. Franky picked him up gently, in a means to shake his friend into shape. "Come on Chopper you need to snap out of this we need you." Chopper continued sobbing but looked at Franky with a defeated look. "I couldn't keep him from taking Robin, what kind of friend am I?"

"Oi Chopper, Robin wasn't the only one who got captured." This got Chopper's attention for a moment. "What do you mean?" Chopper sniffed. Franky shook his head but said, "Whoever took Robin also took Zoro, Nami and Hancock. And they beat the hell out of Sanji, he needs your help Chopper!" Chopper stopped crying for a moment and wiped most of the tears out of his eyes. He looked out towards the direction Edward had walked away from him and then turned back to face Franky. "Take me to Sanji."

Banquet Hall

Franky had carried Chopper all the way back to the dining area in a mad rush to try to help Sanji. When they finally made it Chopper seemed to have recomposed himself for the task at hand. He went to Sanji's body, cleaned his wounds, bandaged him and gave him the appropriate pain killers and antibiotics to give him a speedy recovery. Unfortunately it would still be at least a few weeks before he'd be able to move again. "EHHH what do you mean a few weeks?" Luffy demanded stuffing a chunk of meat into his mouth; since he'd awoken he wouldn't stop eating with an angry look on his face. He was looking at Chopper with an anxious look on his face while still stuffing it with meat. When he swallowed he finally said, "We need to go after those guys! They took our Nakama!" As he stuffed another load of meat into his mouth Chopper began looking over Luffy. "Luffy your body is near to the point of exhaustion, there's no way you're in any shape to fight for at least a few days."

"Chopper is right Luffy san," Brook agreed. "You need to regain your strength." Luffy threw down the food in his hands and stared at his remaining crew mates. "Our Nakama have been kidnapped by some group of... of weirdoes and you want to sit around and rest? We need to go and save them NOW." He attempted to get up and was stopped by Brook, Franky and Usopp. "Oi Luffy Choppers right, we just survived a mini war the last day and a half, there's no way we'd be any match for them now." Franky argued

"Not to mention we barely know where they are." Usopp added. Luffy looked up confused and asked, "Didn't you guys set a tracker thingy on them when they escaped?" Franky nodded and said, "Well yeah, but according to it they're already 3 days ahead of us somehow. Even with the Coup de' Burst, we'd never catch up to them before they get to where ever there heading. It's better off if we wait till everyone's in shape and then go –"

"NO," Luffy interrupted angrily, "WE AREN'T WAITING AT ALL, WERE SAVING EVERYONE,"Luffy got up (shakily) and made to pass the group to head off towards the Thousand Sunny. He managed to make it a few steps past the group when he fell to the ground due to his exhaustion. He struggled to get up but was unable to stand again, so instead he began to hoof it on his knees and hands but soon even that became too much for him. The others went to help him until they noticed that Luffy had stopped moving and was crying. He was on his hands and knees, unable to move, and began crying. "I wasn't strong enough," He cried, his tears falling to the ground. "I wasn't ready and that rock guy took my friends, what kind of Captain does that?" He kept crying. And the others just stared at him, Chopper could feel his eyes begin to water, knowing exactly how Luffy felt right now but held it in to try to be strong for his captain. It was then that Sanji began to stir. Everyone turned and went to his side to see how he was doing. Sanji looked up to see that they were all gathered around him. "What happened? Did we win?" The group went ahead and told him what had happened after Golem had defeated him. At hearing that Nami, Robin and Hancock had been kidnapped his entire body seized as he tried to get up. "What the hell are we still doing here then? We have to save the girls and the shitty swordsman." He tried to move but his body was in too much pain to move. "Sanji you have to relax, those spiked rocks hit you in some of your major arteries," Chopper informed. "Any stress on your body is life threatening."

"THE HELL WITH LIFE THREATNING!" Sanji roared, he kept trying to get up but with no avail. He stared at Chopper with a look combined with demand and pain, "Just keep pumping me with your most powerful pain killers and let's go! I'll do anything to save the girls!"

"I'm already doing that!" Chopper argued. "If you hurt yourself at all for the next few weeks you could die! Even a paper cut is dangerous to you right now." Sanji kept struggling to get up against Chopper's wishes but was in too much pain to move from where he was lying. He turned to Franky and Usopp and said, "Oi can't one of you two just build me a suit or something to fight in?"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Usopp yelled at Sanji.

"Ow, I'm not going against the doctor's orders." Franky rebutted. The entire Straw Hat Crew began getting into a giant argument on whether they should follow the enemy immediately or wait for the injured to get well. Sanji and Luffy fought for leaving now, while Chopper, Franky and Usopp pushed for waiting. Brook was just trying to keep the peace between his crew mates, but to no avail. While the group was arguing Elder Nylon walked up behind them and smacked them all on the back of the head with her snake/cane. Hard. "You men nyeed to stop this foolish arguing nyow! You all shyould be ashamed of your selves. Your crew has been captured and all you six can do is sit here arguing!" The Straw Hats looked down in defeat, except for Luffy who said, "But we need to save Hancock and the others from those weir-" He was interrupted by another smack from Nylon's cane. "I don't knyow about your crew," she began, "But Hebihime will be able to survive being captured by those myen. What we need to do now is figure out who it is that attacked us."

"That won't be easy," Chopper said unconsciously. When he realized that everyone was staring at him he cleared his voice and continued. "When I was fighting that Edward guy he told me that his organization was so secret that even the world government doesn't know anything about them."

"Well how are WE going to be able to find out about them?" Usopp asked. The group thought hard for a few moments when suddenly Luffy sprang up. "OH OH I KNOW!" He said excitedly. "The government may not know about them but what about the army my dad runs?" "Huh the Revolutionary Army? But who do we know that's involved with it other than your dad and Kuma?" Franky asked. Sanji seeing where the conversation was going suddenly found the strength to leap at Luffy and grab at his shirt. "Listen to me Luffy, I want to save everyone as much as you do, but please don't call," Sanji takes a gulp and looks at Luffy with an intensity of fear, "HIM," Luffy stared at him confused and said, "Huh? What do you mean him? I meant calling Iva sama.

"BAKA THAT'S WHO I MEANT!" Sanji yelled finally falling over from exhaustion. The last thing he wanted to experience was to encounter anyone from the Kambaka Kingdom ever again. Luffy looked down at Sanji with a frown, "Ehh but Sanji, you just said you'd do anything to save everyone," Sanji just moaned on the ground while tears fell from his eyes. "Please don't call me out on that Luffy." Against Sanji's begging and crying everyone agreed that calling Ivankov was the best chance they had on learning anything about their new enemy. It took a few moments of searching for a working den den mushi but Nylon suggested the one in Hancock's main chamber. They all went to Hancock's chamber (Franky carrying Sanji as gingerly as possible) and were pleased to see that the room wasn't damaged by the attack. Nylon got the mushi out from behind a compartment in the wall and turned to Luffy. "Do you knyow where we can find your friend?" she asked. Luffy nodded and said, "Yeah at the Kambaka Kingdom," Sanji let out another moan from hearing the name again but was ignored do to Nylon typing in the buttons for the den den mushi. The snail rang for a few moments and was then answered by a feminine male voice that was unknown to all except Sanji.

"Helllloooo, this is Caroline of the Kambaka Kingdom, who is this and how can I help you?" Sanji trembled at the sound of the man's voice but Luffy took the receiver from Nylon as soon as he finished speaking. "This is Luffy, I need to talk to Iva. It's an emergency!" There was an audible tsk followed by Caroline saying, "I'm sorry but no may speak to Emporio Ivankov without an appointment may I ask for your na-" Luffy interrupted Caroline by yelling quite loudly into the receiver, "OIIIIII IVA! ARE YOU THERE ITS LUFFY! YOUR FRIEND WONT LET ME TALK TO YOU!" There was a few moments where all they could hear were a rush of footsteps approaching the den den mushi on Caroline's end. It was then followed by Caroline saying, "I'm so sorry Emporio Ivankov this person thinks he can just call and speak with you, I'll hang up n-"

"VYOU IDIOT!" The voice was recognizable as Iva to Luffy and Sanji. "Who are vyou to decide who I can talk to? Do vyou know who this is?"

"I-I just assumed he was a-"

"VYOU ASSUMED? BAKA! Give me that!" It was audibly clear that the mushi's receiver was being handed to Iva. "Straw boy! I'm so glad to hear from vyou, please forgive Caroline he thinks he was helping." Caroline's frantic apologies could be heard on the other end but were being ignored by Iva. Luffy glad that Iva did show up said, "Iva I have a problem, a group of people came and kidnaped my Nakama!"

"What? KIDNAPPED? How?" Luffy went on to tell Iva what happened when the enemy attacked them. He did his best to reclaim everything that happened following the other members of his crew filling in the blanks when he missed something. Iva didn't say anything until Luffy finished his story. He then asked, "Straw boy I'm very sorry to hear about what happened, but what makes vyou think I can help?" Chopper spoke up this time and said, "I fought someone named Edward Blanch. He was a zoan type who could transform into more than one animal after drinking some kind of potion." Iva sounded as if he breathed heavier for a moment when he asked, "Did vyou say Edward Blanch?" As Chopper confirmed the answer Iva yelled, "CAROLINE THE ARCHIVES!" You could hear a mad rush coming from the other side of the snail as Caroline got the archive for Iva. It was a few minutes of just hearing Iva mutter when he finally said, "I found him! Edward Blanch was a former member of the crew that followed the Yonko Kaido. He wasn't very high up the ladder and thought he was entitled to more than he was getting. Eventually he challenged Kaido to a vfight and lost. He was exiled from the crew and forbidden to enter any of Kaido's territories. It says here he found work with an organization that deals with the study of Devil Fruits."

"Does it say anything about where they are or where there located?" Franky asked getting anxious. The sound of flipping pages could be heard followed by Iva saying, "All it has are a bunch of aliases that have failed in the past. But it does say that they have great wealth and are somehow able to manipulate devil powers." The sound of a file being closed could be heard from Iva's end followed by a worried sigh. "Straw boy I'm worried that whatever vyou've been dragged into will put vyou and vyour crew in danger. Whatever they call themselves they've been causing problems to the Yonko and the Revolutionary Army. Your father, Dragon even considers them a threat, Vi wouldn't suggest doing anything rash." Luffy clenched his fists in a silent rage and said, "They took my Nakama, AND they took Hancock. I'll do EVERYTHING in my power to get them back." Luffy stopped speaking for a second and cleared his voice. Chopper who was right next to him could see that he was fighting back tears. No one else noticed but Chopper felt for how his Captain felt. Once he had recomposed himself he asked, " Do you have any idea on where they might be? Any at all?" A reluctant sigh from Iva was heard but eventually he answered, "There's nothing official but there are rumors that this base of operations is somewhere in the middle of Kaido's and Black beard's territory in the middle of the ocean." Luffy turned to Franky and asked, "What's your tracker say?" Franky looked down at his device and said. "They seem to be going that way, but who knows for how long?" Luffy looked as though he was conflicted, deep in thought. Which for Luffy it was normally VERY BAD, but finally Luffy just fell to the ground and began to cry. "I don't know what to do. My friends were taken, the woman I love was taken from me and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not strong enough to fight for them." He broke down into a heave of heavy sobs as he struggled to think of what to do. He then felt a hand on his shoulder; he looked up to see Brook standing behind him, looking determined. "Luffy san I know exactly what you are going to do." He started. "We are going to go and find this base and save everyone, and we'll take down anyone in our way."

"Are you crazy?" Chopper protested. "His body is close to passing out from exhaustion and you want him to fight again?"

"You said he would need a few days to relax and not exert himself, it will definitely take us more than that to find where these ships are going let alone to catch up with them. Not to mention that without Nami it will take longer to navigate to them." The last remark got the crew nodding in agreement about the time it would take to get to the others. Chopper seeing that Brook had a point brought Sanji's condition up again and that it'd take him more than a few days to recover, which was then matched by Iva giving a suggestion. "I can come to the island and inject Sanji kun with some Healing Hormones, It may take a while to get there but he'd be able to meet you there." Not seeing a flaw in the plan (other than Sanji's reluctance to see the Okama) They agreed that, given their situation it was the best chance they'd have. Seeing that he'd have a chance to save his crew after all Luffy wiped away his tears and said, "YOSH, that's the plan then. We're going to go after them, once Sanji's well he can meet back up with us with Iva. We're going to get everyone back, WHOSE WITH ME?"

All but Sanji: "YOOOOOOSH!

Sanji: WHY THE OKAMA?

End of Chapter 4

Author's Note:

Sorry this chapter was a little shorter, next time I'll be sure to make it longer and you're going to get some insight from the enemies' base from the eyes of one of its prisoners. Please continue reading my stories and keep the reviews coming.