Chapter 19:

"Um, Arya, you should do something," Nami suggested while taking a step back. "Like, now!" Her, Sanji, and the younger girl were staring out over a mass of a few thousand Bolton bannermen scattered around the central plaza of Winterfell.

The men had all shown up to help take down Stannis's army, but then Ramsey Snow, or Bolton as they now called him, said he would take the army on himself. Some men were watching from up on the walls at first, but they ran down when they heard about what was happening inside. Rumors of the Starks were spreading, and the men were uneasy without a leader. They were about to get one.

"Stark Bannermen!" Arya shouted and ran out in the open from where she was hiding with the older pirates. Nami and Sanji were nervous, but ran out behind her for protection, hers not theirs. Everyone in the square turned her direction at the sound of that risky shout, only to see a young girl standing before them in front of a door with two brightly dressed individuals with strange yellow and orange hair. "My name is Arya Stark! We're here with Lord Brandon Stark, the true Warden of the North!"

Anyone who was around when Robb was king remembered the young cripple boy who took charge of Winterfell in his stead and looked around for him. "Right now he is fighting our enemies, the Boltons! Your enemies!" She was riling a bunch of them up, but there were Bolton bannermen in the mass too, and when one man yelled out in agreement, he was gutted by a man a few down from him. Arya sprinted into the crowd as fast as she could and Sanji was staying behind her to protect the girl. She made it right to the man who screamed in agreement and stabbed his murderer in the chest, going through him and out the other side.

"Throw down your banners!" She roared and ripped her sword from his chest. She noticed Sanji kicking several men, trying to get her, away but couldn't thank him now while she was shouting. "Pick up the direwolf! And fight for your true king!"

"The King of the North!" Someone yelled and banners started getting chucked to the floor all over the square. Anyone loyal to the Boltons became obvious by who was fighting with their banners still with them and it quickly became a massacre. "The King of the North!" chants rallied the troops and were so loud from the thousands fighting in the square that hundreds more in the town heard the calls and turned on their leaders, killing the Boltons they were fighting with.

"Wow Arya-chhh-" Sanji faded off and corrected himself, "Arya, that was amazing!" He was spinning around on his feet as he praised her, no longer having to protect the girl from anything. The army before them was mainly men in the north, and whether or not they liked the Boltons, they were loyal to their true leaders, the Starks! When the remaining loyal Bolton men ran away, the huge crowd roared and swung their weapons above their heads.

Arya tapped on Sanji's arm and the man watched her motion reluctantly towards his shoulders. He was so happy he did a full three sixty before putting her on top of him. "Now!" she yelled, getting everyone's attention. Nami looked up at the girl with such a proud look on her face, believing in her new friend. "Take back Winterfell! There is no place for the Boltons to hide!"

"Listen to Lady Stark you swine!" A large lord shouted at his men. He lifted up his arms and swung them out in directions, shouting out orders. "Take back the city!" He yelled and then turned to his Lady, "I never lost faith you would someday return. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell, which is why I brought him with me." The large man talking to Arya motioned with his head to the left where a man in full armor stood.

The man was shorter than most, but as he reached up his hands, and removed his helmet, they saw he wasn't a man at all. "Ri-" the word got caught in Arya's throat, unable to make it out while her youngest brother was standing right in front of her.

Sanji put the girl down and she sprinted the short distance from her to the young boy in the armor. He was taller than her, and the smile on his face was unmistakable. "Arya?" he asked with a huge grin, "Is that really you?"

"Every Stark is in Winterfell," the girl realized out loud and Rickon's face lit up.

Greatjon Umber looked down at her, "Is Lord Brandon really here?"

"Yes," Nami told the large man in front of her and the lord looked up at the beauty behind Arya. "Bran is riding his direwolf into the heart of the enemy troops." With Zoro guarding him the whole time, she added on to herself.

"Bran," Rickon whispered and smiled off towards the other side of the castle. Arya still couldn't believe her youngest brother was here too, Now we just need to find Sansa, both Starks thought at almost the same time. The youngest was still unable to wait to see his older brother again, who he traveled with for so long before having to leave. "I'm coming," he whispered and stuck two fingers in his mouth, whistling high-pitched and loud.

"Another?!" Nami shouted in exasperation and Sanji started laughing.

Shaggydog seemed to come out of nowhere as the direwolf leapt over a ledge and landed in the square of depleting men. Most were heading off around Winterfell to head the resistance and take down the Bolton banners hanging everywhere. This let the huge direwolf drop in front of the group and snarl its way towards Rickon who grabbed it by the fur and tossed himself on top of its back.

The young boy wearing full armor was no older than thirteen, but when he looked back down at the pirates and put his helmet on, he could've been anyone on the battlefield he looked so mature. "Thank you for your help," the boy stated with a small nod to the people before him. "We'll take it from here!" He'd been told by Lord Umber to wait until the right moment, for years he'd been told to wait, and now they were finally giving him his chance. Roose Bolton where are you?! You killed my mom!

Luffy

"Right about now, my son should be decimating Stannis's army out in front of the castle." Roose taunted Luffy as he struck another body off of a hook and made the pirate mad. "He'll return, and this little resistance you started will come to an abrupt halt by his power."

"Power?" Luffy asked, wondering how the guy he was planning on going after could be powerful considering the level most others were at on this island.

Roose kept himself calm as he circled his foe. He was talking to the boy and confusing the pirate inside the cold, dark room he kept completely to himself. "From the fruits," he said, assuming the pirate had no idea what he was talking about and would get angered again by the taunt. "He can control fire."

Luffy stopped spinning his head around and the rubber pirate blinked a few times while staring straight forward. Roose seemed to notice the sudden lack of movement and sprinted in from behind the rubber man, swinging his sword down at him. The pirate didn't see the sword coming, or feel footsteps approach, but his mind started screaming at him to watch out and he could see a blue aura in his mind of someone swinging their sword down over him. He could hear him coming.

The boy in the straw hat dropped down to his hands and shot his legs up with his feet pressed together. He didn't even shout 'spear,' he just nailed the man in the chest and plowed his opponent into the hard ceiling, and then through to the other side. The broken ceiling made rocks and debris fall all over the cold room full of flayed bodies that Roose worked so hard at collecting, but right now the unconscious man falling with the debris wasn't saying a word against it.

Luffy jumped out of the hole and started marching down the hallway he came out in, walking right past an unmoving Roose and past dozens of men who were too scared to move when the pirate with a furious look on his face made their blood run cold. He had to be lying! the pirate turned a corner and grabbed his head, "Those fruits... controls fire" no! He spun around and smashed his foot through the nearest wall, breaking the thing down completely in a rage.

Ace can't be... he wouldn't... he said that he'd never... the pirate clutched at his hair under his hat and started sprinting for the nearest wall. He crossed his arms and ran into it full speed, smashing out of the stone building and flying out in the air over Winterfell. There's only one way to find out, his eyes narrowed and he looked at the walls of the city where he knew he had to go to check, Does Ramsey Bolton have the Flare Flare Fruit? Ace's, Flare Flare Fruit?!

Sansa

"Sansa," Theon Greyjoy whispered. The two of them were staring down at the battlefield that had become of the square down below. "Do you hear them?" The man who had been a slave for years looked at the younger girl next to him. He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her to face him, "They're calling your name!"

Shouts of Stark were echoing around the square below and Sansa watched as men tore each other apart for her sake. The madness was unsettling considering everyone was supposedly on the same side up until twenty minutes ago. They were all wearing similar clothes and armor, but somehow they knew who was fighting for whom, and the battle was intense.

"Sansa!" a voice yelled. This time it wasn't a generic battlecry from the men below the outer wall they were standing on, but instead a voice looking for a reply.

The eighteen year old girl looked into Theon's eyes and thought back to the first shout they heard. They were up on the walls, Theon had just killed Miranda, and the only things waiting for them were torture and death. Both of them were on the edge of the wall looking out over the landscape, readying themselves to jump. She had done it. She took the step off the wall, but Theon grabbed her hand and pulled her back before she could fall, and he told her to listen. They heard screams to take back Winterfell for the Starks and the sounds of battle, and they knew they had another chance.

"Go," he urged her and Theon even managed a small smile as he nudged her in the other direction. "I've done too many things," his eyes turned dark and he stuttered, "th-there's no place for me here anymore." He let go of her but Sansa grabbed his hand tight.

"You will stay with me," she stated in a stern tone. He had just given up his life to save her from Miranda, and was ready to die with her, she wasn't going to leave him here. "Now let's go," she said with no room for argument and started jogging across the wall to the nearest tower with stairs on it.

Theon didn't know what to do, so he just listened and let himself get dragged for a few seconds, before seeing someone in the doorway to the tower that made him yank hard on Sansa's arm and hold her still. She saw the person too and let Theon pull her back behind himself. "Uther," Theon whispered, trying to mask his fear.

"Oh, Reek," the tall man with a scruffy blonde beard and long blonde hair stated as he stepped out of the tower. "You found her, good for you. I was searching everywhere for Ramsey's..." Uther stopped talking as he saw the way Reek was standing in front of the girl defensively. "Hmm, Ramsey will be upset."

"U-Uther," Theon repeated, trying to think of something to say. "I was just returning the lady to her quarters, shouldn't you be down there fighting?" The young Greyjoy looked way too suspicious for this to work, but the blonde man did look over the inside ledge of the wall.

Uther slowly started walking towards Reek and Sansa who each took a step back, scared of Ramsey's number two man. Theon was scared because of all the tortures Ramsey did to him with Uther by his side, and Sansa was terrified because she recalled the night Ramsey invited his advisor into their bedroom. "Now now," the man said and cracked his head both ways as he took a step forward, "don't be so afraid. Here," he unbuckled his belt with his sheath on it and held it up with his eyebrows raised. "I'll let you have the first strike."

The two in front of him stopped moving back and stared with wide eyes as Uther didn't draw his sword, but instead tossed it forward where it clanked on the ground and bounced right over to Theon's feet. Theon quickly snatched it up and hesitated where he stood as Uther stepped towards him again. "Go Theon, you have the sword!" Sansa exclaimed. The fear they instilled deep inside Reek was rising and he was shaking in terror as he stared at the man in front of him.

Sansa's words seemed to shake him a little though and Theon drew the sword and held it above him. It had been a long time since he practiced with a sword, but he trained since birth, it wasn't something he could forget. The man started bringing the sword down as Uther took another step towards him, but the blonde man stepped to the left and held his arms out in front of him.

"Sorry Reek," Uther sneered as his arms turned brown and the other man dropped his sword in absolute terror. Sansa screamed at the top of her lungs as both of Uther's arms turned into wood and his fingers twisted into long roots. "I lied," he said and cackled as the root-like fingers extended and wrapped themselves around Theon's torso.

Theon struggled against them as the roots wrapped around him and squeezed his arms to his body. The long appendages twisted between his legs and pulled tight, which would have hurt a lot more if he still had anything between his legs. Thanks to Ramsey, he didn't. Theon tried to scream, but the roots wrapped around the front of his mouth between his lips and tightened so his head felt like it was going to explode.

"AHHHHH!" Sansa screamed at the top of her lungs. She was so afraid she couldn't even move. Her eyes focused on the sword next to Theon's writhing feet, but she couldn't get her legs to move herself over there to grab it and attack the man hurting Theon. "Someone! Help!"

The crying girl heard a huge blast to her right and she lifted her head up a little. The tightening roots seemed to stop for a second where they were wrapped around Theon; one had just gotten around his neck and he was gasping for air. Uther lost focus at the sound of the explosion and he turned his head with a smirk as he saw flames coming out of the building inside the walls. "This will put down the rebellion quickly," he chuckled as he thought about how much faster Ramsey learned how to use his new power than Hunder, Lyrro, or even he did.

Sansa looked to the building that exploded outwards and tried to focus on the figure standing in the hole in the wall. She had tears streaking down her face, and she heard a mighty roar from the hole over there that caused her to jump a little in shock. The flames seemed to shoot out of the hole in the building and right towards where they were standing. "THERE'S A LADY..." the voice screamed and Uther's smile dropped as he didn't recognize it.

Everyone in the square down below looked up and tried to follow the streak as it shot across the air. Sanji kicked down hard on the floor of the building he was in, but he wasn't going to make the leap to the wall where a crying girl was standing in front of a man with Devil Fruit powers who was strangling another man. He couldn't care less about the choking man, but the girl was in trouble and he was falling out of the air before he reached her. Without thinking, he kicked down as hard as he could again, and again, and again. His legs moved faster than anyone could see, and then he just lifted back up in the air, his right foot all the way up to his knee on fire.

Uther stared in shock at the man who just kicked off of the air, and at the man's enraged facial expression pointed directly at him. "IN NEED!" Sanji finished his sentence from before and twisted his body as he neared the wooden man who was trying to unwrap his hands from around Theon, but not moving fast enough. He wasn't used to his powers, and he didn't think someone would come flying at him this fast. "Diable," Sanji roared with a flaming foot readied, "JAMBE!" he smashed his flaming-hot foot, as hard as he could, into the bearded blonde man who tried lifting his now unwrapped arms for protection.

The kick was so powerful that the wood chipped, and the man behind it felt the foot plow against his chest as he was thrown backwards and through the stone of the outer wall. Uther soared through the air for several seconds before even starting his descent, where he slammed into the ground and dug a trench through the snow.

Sanji's leg lost its red coating and the man landed on the wall. He turned and had something cool to say to the girl, but she was on her knees holding up the head of the curly haired man who was gasping for air having just been released from the stranglehold on him. He stared at her and his eyes opened wide as he took in her features. Yes, she was beautiful, but there was something else about her entirely that amazed him.

The blonde man looked at the girl with dark red hair and questioned, "Are you, Sansa Stark?" She stared at the powerful person nervously, but the strong man smiled with joy and twirled on his feet. "It's an honor to meet you My Lady! Oh, I can't believe I'm the one who found you! Arya is going to give me a big hug!" The blonde man was bubbling excitedly to himself, but both Theon and Sansa stood up fast and Sanji stumbled back in surprise at their sudden enthusiasm.

The two of them were sitting in fear a second before, but as soon as Sanji said Arya's name, they were on their feet and staring him straight in the eyes. "A-Arya is alive?" The man asked Sanji, not believing his ears.

"Take me to her," Sansa ordered, not caring how ridiculous it sounded. She had to be sure, "Now!"

Though Sansa spoke in her most threatening tone, Sani still smiled huge and jumped for joy. "Of course I will!"

A/N Hey everyone! So Sansa finally arrives in the story, along with the unexpected Rickon! At least I hope you weren't expecting him to be there, tried to make it a surprise. Ramsey's right hand man gets a cool Devil Fruit, but Sanji's kick was too strong for him to handle and he was thrown from the wall like a ragdoll. Also, Roose takes a bone-crushing spear from Luffy who doesn't know what to think after hearing Roose mention Ace's Devil Fruit power. There were a lot of reviews about that, so I'll start off here about it and continue in the review responses. Ace is dead. I've made it pretty clear that the Straw Hats are stuck on this island, not going to make it back in time for the war, or in time for anything in that case. It's been well over a month since they left Water 7, and since the next thing they were heading for was Sabaody, (with a small break at Thriller Bark) the war is already over and Ace's fruit has reappeared in Ramsey's hands. Thanks for reading and all the reviews!

doesthiscountasausername

You remember dragon twister right? Or tats-sue-maki zoros tornado move

Yeah, that would have been a cool one for when Zoro entered that house, just to blow it apart. I'll try to use that soon, maybe the next time I show Zoro taking on a lot of enemies!

doesthiscountasausername

I don't know what to think of your story...does this mean ace is already dead? Or since its a different place all together does that mean the fruit is a double? And if its option one, luffy doesn't train for two years? Ill be pretty upset if luffy gets no haki. Cause hes a badass with it.

Ace is definitely dead. He probably died a lot sooner in the war without Luffy or Crocodile there to stop his executions. He won't be training for two years, but that doesn't mean he won't be getting Haki, just not in the same way. This story will not be similar to canon in almost any way except for some of the moves the characters learn later on, like how Sanji developed his Sky Walk in this chapter! Thanks for the reviews!

Ruci

WTF?! Flare Flare Fruit? Ramsay? You better have some serious explanation about this...

YUP! Ramsey's gonna be a total badass with this fruit, but not the badass where everyone's like 'whoaaaa,' more like one that we're like 'nooooo' XD

VeilSlide

I kind of have a problem with Ramsay having the Flare Flare Fruit. This implies that the Ace has been killed at Marineford and the fruit would have been reborn near there. This is the point when Doflamingo would have taken it, so it is unlikely that a merchant would have this particular fruit. I know this was meant to enrage Luffy, but it contradicts the rules of devil fruits.

Alright, this is gonna be a long one. First: the fruit reappearing near where the user died. I've seen that recurring theme in a lot of fanfics, and I believe it was mentioned somewhere in the anime, but not much is known about Devil Fruits, "nearby" could mean anywhere within a thousand miles or something. The OP world is big, much bigger if a continent like Westeros exists on it. Also, if that explanation isn't good enough, they were last at Water 7, which is right next to Enies Lobby, in that small triangle of Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and MARINEFORD. So I'm guessing this island is closer than many others to where Ace died, meaning it would have a high chance of being reborn somewhere here. As for Doflamingo: we have no idea when he found the fruit, only that he got it prior to the Dressrosa arc... in two years. Between then and now, someone else could have had it, or, because this is straying a lot from canon and Luffy not being there is having effects all over the world, perhaps he never gets it and it stays on Westeros which shouldn't even be in the first place. For the merchant just having it: random luck. I don't know when Devil Fruits got an exact set of rules, especially because it's stated that not much is really known about them many times, but I don't think the Flare Flare Fruit appearing here really breaks any of those rules.

beta-reader

Is arya and her brothers are gonna learn about the strawhats past...causd i have a suggestion, and it involve the villian in one of your fic.
Strawhats stuck in memories...:3

Holy guacamole, the second I read this review my mind started turning its gears. I wouldn't incorporate the villain exactly, but maybe her Devil Fruit I'll take and toss on one of the bad guys in this, have him mess with Robin or Nami and have Arya/Jon/Bran watch! Thanks, sounds like a great idea! Also, if I completely misinterpreted this review, tell me what you were thinking as well!

Mazzax

Actually, I think defeating Ramsey would be ridiculously easy. All they have to do is cover him with snow, because then he'll be "put out" whenever he tries to turn into fire.

Once you mentioned that I started thinking about it and the different ways they could beat him. I was at first thinking about Haki and the possibility for that awakening, but having a huge snowball fight to beat him would also be cool XD! I think he would be able to burn right through the snow, but then it would melt into a huge puddle and... if I do this I don't want to spoil any more so I'll stop now haha. Thanks for the review!

Someone

Why did Ramsey had aces devil fruit did ace die already what the heck!

Yeah ;(, Ace is dead. Ramsey got it because... plot? Idk, thought it was time for Luffy to learn the truth of what happened after he got to Westeros. Didn't want to make him run around forever without knowing his brother was dead! Haha, ha, haaa...

Guest

So I'd assume that this is the point at which Luffy unlocks his Haki, otherwise the only other solution is to lure Ramsay into still water, that's actually a good idea, lure him into the moat of winterfell, he doesn't know the weakness of devil fruits, they could kill him like a normal man when he's in water.

I was thinking about both options, but I don't think they'll be able to trick Ramsey into water easily. He tortured that merchant for a good while, and if the man already knew it would give them untold powers, what if he knew their weakness too?

GR

Wait a minute, Bolton got a Logia, and it í Mera Mera WT

I assume you meant to put an 'F' at the end of that sentence lol. This is the point where the straw hats will start to realize the journey isn't going to be as easy as it looked. Most of their opponents are easy to defeat, but with men with Devil Fruits emerging, this land is about to get tossed into turmoil!

.73

Awesome chapter!

Thank you very much! Again I hope you all enjoyed reading and thanks for the reviews! 'Till next time!