I was wondering how to spell or say the 've' tick that Italy has. Some write it as 'veh', but I write it as 've'. Who's right?

Writing Prussia is fun! Super violent, breaks his own path through the plot… That's why he's so awesome, then. Sometimes, characters write themselves.

Chapter 35 (Tashigi POV)

Now that the magpie that claimed to be the author was gone, we could finally focus on the task at hand. Or at least, that was the idea.

"Vhat is vith de zweihänder and de bazooka, anyvay?" asked Héderváry. He knew him?

"You vould be surprised vhat you learn eein a veapons manufacturing factory," replied the red-eyed boy. "Und zere are plenty of material eein ze castle."

He paused for a moment. "Oh, I almost forgot." He picked up the giant tube thingy, which had stopped smoking by now, aimed it at a random spot, and yelled, "You sought zat you vere safe?!" BOOM! The giant tube shot out something huge, and the spot he was aiming for exploded. "Zat should take care of zem."

"Vhere do you get de ammunition?" Héderváry questioned. "I mean, how vould you find it just lying around?"

"Like I said, I AM AWESOME!" shouted the red-eyed boy.

"Well, right now I just want to know three things," I broke in. "Who are you, what you want, and your relationship with Héderváry is."

He looked at me. "Vell, I cannot say ze first sing I vant, [1]" he said, blowing the first question off entirely. "But after zat, I vant to rule ze vorld, but never having my name mixed up vith zat (he said something that sounded like a curse word, but in another language) Russland. I mean, how vould you mix up Preußen und Россия, anyvay?! (A/N, Russia, Prussia, and Russia again, twice in German and once in Russian) Oh, und I also vant to find Vest, and maybe zat (he used another unrecognizable word) England so zat I can turn to normal. I also vant a Playstation und Final Fantasy, more beer, vurst, a stable economy, a bigger bag of birdseed, a dozen coat hangers, testosterone so I can hit puberty, five meters of rope, two hundred meters of copper wire, my ex-boss Old Fritz back from ze dead, a stable job, und a pony. But I could probably steal vone from Polen…" (A/N Poland)

I sighed. Was this kid crazy? "You didn't answer two of my questions. Who are you, and how do you know-"

"Ve vere rivals vhen ve vere children," said Héderváry.

"Ja," said the red-eyed boy. Those eyes were really creepy… "You used to beat me up… not zat I'm afraid of you now!" He dropped the tube, and with one rapid movement, swung his huge sword with both hands, poised for Héderváry's neck.

Before any of us could react, Héderváry blocked the sword with a large, dark object. "Van becsület?!" (A/N do you have any honor!?) He yelled, and brought the object down on the red-eyed boy's head. Hard. So hard, that I was surprised that he was still standing.

"Ugh…" he groaned. "Did you really haf to hit me zat hard, Ungarm? I feel vorse zan ze time vhen I tried drinking Russland's vodka…"

"You tried to decapitate Héderváry!" yelled Mark. "Who wouldn't hit someone who tries to kill them?!"

"Vhat is your name?" asked the red-eyed boy.

"Ma-" Before Mark could finish his name; Héderváry clapped his hand over his mouth.

"Do not say your name," he whispered. "He hates anyting dat sounds like your name."

"That's pretty irrational, isn't it?" John said aloud.

Héderváry sighed. "Not as irrational as he is."

I leaned down to his height, which was about the size of a six-year old. "What's your name, anyway?"

"I um ze AWESOME Preußen!" roared the red-eyed boy. "But it is probably easier for you un-awesome people to say Prussia; vhich is also technically my name."

"You…" Commodore Smoker was visibly annoyed. Who was this brat, anyway, he seemed to be thinking. Finally, he bit back his annoyance and said levelly, "Look, we came here for two reasons. One, to hunt the pirate Straw Hat Luffy and his crew. Second, to evaluate the Shichibukai Gekko Moriah while at Thriller Bark. What are you doing here?"

"I don't know, because zat (unidentified) England transported me here!" roared Prussia. "Zat…" he muttered a few more curse words that I had no way of even understanding. "He even turned me into a little boy!"

So he's like Héderváry. He was de-aged, too, but to a greater extent. "Do you know who the person Héderváry is looking for?" I asked.

He thought for a moment. "Auztria? I remember seizing und occupying his vital regions…" he sighed. "Gut times… Zat eiz anozer sing zat I vant to do."

His… vital regions? This conversation was taking a more and more disturbing twist. "Why… why would you want anyone's vital regions? And you had them?"

He gave me another arrogant look. "I could tell you, but 'Héderváry' didn't sink you vere awesome enough to know vhy."

The sarcasm when he said Héderváry was so clear that I wondered if Héderváry was hiding anything. "Héderváry has nothing to do with this!" yelled Mark. "Cleaned out the entire fleet in only one day, best cabin boy we've ever had!"

Prussia grinned ever wider. "Cabin… boy?" he sniggered. "Vell, I must tell you," he said, and somehow appeared behind Héderváry. "'Héderváry'," he began, as he grabbed Héderváry's belt, "is actually a-"

WHAM! The dark object that Héderváry had was back in his hands, and he hit Prussia in the head twice as hard as he did earlier. This time, Prussia was lying on the ground, not moving at all. "Will he be okay?" I found myself asking.

"He vill be okay in a few hours," said Héderváry. "I do dis all de time." He rested the object on his shoulder, and I got a clear view of what it was- a frying pan.

"I'm surprised that he's still alive if you keep on doing this," muttered Mark.

"He has a hard head," replied Héderváry nonchalantly. He picked Prussia up and rested him on his shoulder. "Can ve take him along? He must know his vay around."

"Ch," muttered Commodore Smoker good-naturedly. "You've got a heck of a lot of lip, kid, talking to a superior officer like that."

"I'm actually tventy-two, und he is actually about ze same age," said Héderváry. [2]

"Twenty-two?!" I yelled, startled. "You're a year older than I am!"

"Zat is vhat you sink," said Prussia, suddenly aroused from his coma. "Héderváry is actually- Vhat?"

"Y-you survived a hit to the head… with a cast-iron frying pan…" John stuttered.

"It's actually carbon steel," corrected Héderváry. "I upgraded to a stronger vone vhen do old vone dented from overuse. It cooks vell, too."

"Steel… I can't believe it…"

"Do I have to say zis any more; I CAN BECAUSE I AM AWESOME!" Prussia bellowed to the world at large. He was starting to get on my nerves… he's way too arrogant.

Héderváry smacked him. "You idiot!"

Prussia glared at him, and yelled, "Zere is vone persone eein ze vorld who I am afraid ov, und it eeiz not you!"

"Oh? Den who is it?" Héderváry asked.

Prussia sighed in an ashamed sort of way. "Schweden," (A/N Sweden) he admitted.

Héderváry sighed. "Seriously, Poroszország, he's not dat-"

"He is," said Prussia in a final tone of voice.

"Why do you keep on changing your names?" I asked irritably. "One second you said to call you Preu… Preu… something, and then Prussia, and now Héderváry calls you Poros… I can't say it."

"Poroszország, but dat does not matter," said Héderváry. "It is his name in my language. Ungarm is my name in his language."

Ungarn? Héderváry? "That seems pretty far off the mark…" I said. [3]

"My real name…" said Héderváry shyly, "is actually Magyarország."

Real name? "You've been lying about your name this whole time?!"

Héderváry- or rather, Magyarország, shook his head. "Héderváry is as much my name as Ungarn or Magyarország. If it's easier, call me Hungary. But I have been lying to you…"

Smoker walked steadily towards him. "You…" he drew his jutte. "IDIOT!" WHAM! He caught Hungary right in the stomach.

"S-Smoker!" I protested, but he ignored me.

Prussia, however, took a more violent approach. In the blink of an eye, his sword- zweihänder- was in his hands. Less than a millisecond later, Smoker was standing in a guarding position, his jutte cut in half and his chest gushing blood. Eyes wide in shock, he muttered, "H-how…"

"Vhy ze Hölle did you attack Ungarn! No vone can do zat except for me und Vest!" he hollered, taking no notice of Smoker's shock. (A/N Hölle means hell in German)

"How did you hit Commodore Smoker?" I asked for him. "I mean, his body- his body's-"

"Muh-made of smoke…" gabbled John.

"Vait, vhat?!" shouted Prussia. "Your body is made of smoke!? Vhat are you a djinn!?"

Hungary dragged him off to the side and began chatting with him in his language. There was a lot of nodding and shaking of heads, even the act of waving a burning stick once or twice without any actual means of lighting it [4]. Finally, Hungary waved to us and called, "It's okay! I explained everything to him!"

"But you haven't explained anything to us," said Smoker coldly. "Why could he hurt me when I'm a Logia-type user? And you still haven't explained who you are, anyway."

Hungary opened his mouth to explain, but-

SLASH! More blood blossomed from Smoker's chest. "Vhy should Ungarn explain?! You vere ze vone who attacked him!" roared Prussia.

Click. I peered at the ground at Prussia's feet. "Oh no," I said. "I think you just stepped on a switch of some sort."

BOOM. "I think we should panic right now," said Mark.

X (Chopper POV)

Austria's music was wonderful… but how long was this piece, anyway? I opened my mouth to ask France, but he shushed me.

X (Germany POV)

What was happening? I followed Italy and Luffy into the kitchen, but they were nowhere in sight. "ITALY! LUFFY!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Ve… Germany?" Italy replied. I turned to the source of the voice, and he was crouching inside a cupboard. "I… I was so scared!" He jumped out of the cupboard and glomped me.

I pushed him aside. "Vhat happened here?" I asked. "Vhere's Luffy?"

"There's no meat!" cried Luffy, examining every nook and cranny.

I looked around. "But who vould leave only flour?" I asked. "Somevone who eizer did not find a use for it or vanted somevone else to find it for later…"

"OI! Is that spray-paint on the walls?" Luffy pointed to a spot labeled-

"The Awesome mich war hier," I read. "Ze Awesome me was here." I sighed. "Just like you, bruder."

"Ve, Prussia's here?" asked Italy.

"Stands to reason, he's the only one we haven't seen yet," I said. "But vhat scared you so much?"

Instantly, Italy went into hysterics. "V-ve!" he made a dozen body motions in rapid succession, which passed though my translator as, "An invisible man came in and framed the tissue on fire and shined my shoes pink with sparkly rainbow pasta!"

Either Italy was too frantic to speak- or rather, sign- properly, or something was definitely wrong with my internal translator. "Can you repeat zat?"

"Ve~ an invisible man came in! H-he t-touched my… he touched my…"

"Zat eeiz enough," I said. "But… Luffy, vas zat vone of your Devil Fruit users?"

X (Ussop POV)

TWACK! BAM! CRUNCH… I felt like I was in a room with two lions killing one another, knowing that I'd be eaten by the winner… I cowered in the corner, averting my eyes. "Hey, are you awake?" America tapped me on the shoulder. "It's okay! We killed all the zombies! We're heroes!"

I turned around. Russia was standing amidst the corpses… smiling. "Zey did not vant to become one with Mother Russia," he said. "So now zey are dead, da?"

Mother… Russia? "R-Russia?" I scarcely dared to ask. "Are you actually… a g-gi-gir-?"

"No, he's a guy," said America. "He's just crazy."

"Crazy?" repeated Russia, his evil aura shooting up like a rocket.

"You bet!" America lunged. Not again…

I walked over to what remained of the zombies, and gingerly set them on fire. No point in taking any risks… "But wh-why do we have to have ZOMBIES?!"

"Dude! All we need is to set them all on fire and we're home free!" said America optimistically.

"Are you not afraid of fire?" asked Russia serenely. "Your brothers burned down your house, after all."

"Don't you bring Iggy and Mattie into this!" roared America defiantly, but he didn't attack Russia. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. Arthur and Canada… burned his house down? But… why?

X (Chopper POV)

Clink. Austria hit the final key, finishing an incredible but long-winded piece. "Your anger is still Chopin?" asked France.

"I have not finished yet. You have gone too far to insult music," said Austria. Oh no… Another one?

Plink… I had to admit, it was still pretty nice…

X (Spain POV)

"C-come on," I said as another zombie lunged at me. I sliced it in half, and complained, "I should be having my siesta right now…"

"Then give up your shadow!" shouted another horde.

"My… sombra?" I repeated. "Seriously, how can I give up my shadow?"

"GRRRA-" they rushed towards me, but I cut down another ten with one stroke of my axe. I sighed. "You do not know when to give up, do you?"

A dog zombie dashed between me and the other zombies, and shouted, "You guys are coming along slow! Teams five and forty-seven have already taken a prisoner! It's a little kid, but they've made some progress, at least!"

A… kid? "Hey…" I said with a deadly calm voice despite my simmering anger. "That kid… what did he look like, amigo?"

"Hah! You want to know?" mocked the dog. "Well, it's a last mercy for you. It was a little kid, about five years old. Reddish brown hair… had a stupid curl on the side, too."

Curl? Romano! A fire I thought long extinguished blazed into being in my soul. A flame beaten out of me by England, the Netherlands, and America… The furious passionate spirit of the Conquistador that I once embodied bubbled up to the surface, incinerating all restraints built and forced upon me.

"Hey, looks like he's lost the will to live!" chattered a parrot zombie.

"Come on, let's go capture him!"

THUNK. In an instant, the dog zombie was cut into quarters, and the floor beneath it was carved into pieces. Despite the bloody spectacle, I smiled. "You have brought this upon yourselves, mis amigos."

Even the living dead began to shudder before my extreme aura. "Vamos a comenzar la masacre," I said. "In other words… let the massacres begin."

X (Iggy POV)

"Good thing you ducked in time, Japan," I said. "But we're still in a bloody mess right now."

"I aporogize, Alsur-san," said Japan.

"No, it's not your fault," I replied.

"Gyah, who would have thought that the thing that almost hit us from behind actually pressed a switch?" said Franky. "And that that switch would have dropped us down here, onto this platform supported only by a single pillar."

"Well, this is a bloody disaster."

X (Nami POV)

It won't matter if we know? "But how can one secret explain all the gaps?" I asked. "It would explain your lies, why you keep your real names secret, why they change so much, the fact that America has superhuman strength, Yao and Peter's real name… and… well, I can't even remember how much."

Canada looked guilty. "Actually… I lied to you about the rule where I couldn't tell you about the other's names. Yao's name is China. But it's also important for me not to tell you Peter's real name. It's way too close to the secret."

I slapped him. "I thought you wanted to tell us their names but couldn't!"

Canada remained stoic. "I did want to tell you… but I knew I couldn't. I had to make an excuse to-"

Creak… Robin was leaning on an outcropping stone, which slid into the wall. A switch…? The stones slid in and to both sides, forming the entrance to a passageway. I had to admit, it was impressive…

"A tunnel?" said Canada. "Looks like they want us to go in there…"

"It could be a trap," said Robin.

"But what choice do we have, anyway?" I retorted. "Let's go."

We were five steps in the tunnel when-

WHOOSH! Knife blades! They whirled at deafening speed from all directions, creating whistling noises as they shot past. "It's a machine!" shouted Robin. "It's a spring-loaded trap! Nothing can throw knives this rapidly from so many directions!"

"And how does that help us?!" shouted Canada.

"There's a pattern! If we can figure it out-"

"Stay in one place!" I shouted. "It's only a matter of time before it runs out of knives!"

Taking my advice, Canada and Robin stood still for five minutes before the last knife was launched. "Wait…" said Canada, examining a wall. "I recognize these traps…" He jolted, standing straight up. "This is…"

X (Sealand POV)

Zoro and Sanji suddenly stopped brawling and looked at a passageway. China nudged me, and pointed. "I sense something there…" he said, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

"Yeah, I feel it too," said Zoro. "What about you, you stupid chef?"

"You think I can't sense something that obvious?!" shouted Sanji.

I reached for my gun, which was loaded with iron bullets, as always. Jerk-England told me that many monsters were vulnerable to iron but not steel. I actually thought that was rather illogical, since steel is just an alloy that included iron and carbon, but then again, if you mix water and a computer, the computer would probably stop being useful as a computer.

Whoa! Zombies lurched from the hallway, moving slowly and threateningly… which meant that they're easy targets. BAM! BAM! I nailed five in the head with only two bullets. Hey, their heads don't seem to be able to slow down a gunshot!

China and Sanji kicked more in the areas that they thought most vital, like their heads and necks with much splattering of blood and guts. Zoro was neater, cleanly slicing over half in two- until their innards fell out. BAM! I ruptured the spleens of several zombies with only one shot. Not bad for an immature micronation…

"Let's move!" shouted Zoro. "There's no point in staying here! Go through the passageway!"

Without thinking, the rest of us dashed past the zombies, into a corridor, and found-

"Jerk-Arthur?" I said.

"Franky?" said Zoro and Sanji in unison.

"Japan?" said China.

The three of them were standing on some sort of platform raised by a pillar.

That extended five feet from the ground. At the sight of us, Jerk-England blushed. "I- I knew that it was only a few feet to the ground!" he said like the tsundere he was.

"If you knew, why did you not tell us?" asked Japan politely, genuinely confused.

"That was sarcasm, idiot!" shouted Franky.

"Great," I said. "Now, we're together… so, do you think we can find the others?"

X (New figure POV)

Where was I? It was dark, but I could deal. My burning desire lit up the night… or, rather, it was the mountain of corpses that I set ablaze. Soon, I would find him…

TO BE CONTINUED!

[1] The first thing that Prussia wants that he can't tell the Marines- he wants to be reinstated as a full nation again.

[2] Hungary and Prussia's ages- I made them up. Hungary just seems the type to be twenty-two, and Prussia seems to be about the same age as Iggy (physically 23), but is younger than Hungary.

[3] Hungary in other languages, her human name, 'far off the mark'- how did we get 'Hungary' from Magyarország?! I mean, how did they get Ungarn from Magyarország, anyway?

[4] Prussia's torches- you know how witches were burned? It's like that. He thought it was heretic…

The Marines met Prussia, someone hit a switch.

Italy, Germany, and Luffy are in a kitchen with an invisible man (coughcough ABASALOM coughcough).

Romano has been kidnapped.

Spain has gone berserk in his psycho-Conquistador mode.

Nami, Robin, and Canada find a trap. Canada recognizes something.

Iggy, Franky, and Japan meet with China, Zoro, Sanji, and Sealand.

There is a new mysterious figure.

Oh, and Chopper, France, and Austria are still in the music room. Austria is still playing the piano.

Who will meet who next? What did Canada see? And when will Austria stop playing the piano?