Ch. 23- Counter Hazard!

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard, Aika, Kumi, and Jupiter © Me

Romeo © Gakuto1991

Around the New World, the brokers are watching in disbelief at the events going on around Punk Hazard. Shinokuni was killing any person in its path, and Caesar had set Law, Luffy, Robin, Franky, Smoker, and Tashigi out to be the gas's next victim. The fact they had been captured made it all the more shocking.

Somewhere in the New World, two pirates are watching the scene, as well.

"Key, Kidd…look at this."

"So, it's true…Straw Hat really is on the move again! And after two years, I thought he was dead!"

It is revealed to be Eustass "Captain" Kidd and his First Mate, Killer.

Kidd had now grown slightly longer hair that appeared to be slicked back. His attire hadn't changed much except for two dark belts he was wearing, not to mention the fact that his left arm is now completely mechanical, implying he might've lost it during the two years. His body is also covered in various scars: one going over his left eye, another going down the left side of his face to his neck, one his left pectoral, another on his abdominals, and two on his right arm.

Killer didn't seem to change much, either. It looked like his hair had gotten a little longer and he now had a beard. He is still wearing his signature mask and had his signature metal cuffs which he used to handle his weapon. He also had a shirt that had a Jolly Roger of his mask and two blades.

Lying on the floor is a white wolf-looking dog with a tuft of red fur sticking out of his head, a pair of goggles like Kidd's, a spiky iron collar around his neck, and two scars over his left eye, just like Kidd.

He is Romeo, a new recruit to the Kidd Pirates.

(A/N: This is Gakuto1991's OC.)

"Damn that Trafalgar Law," Kidd said. "At first, I thought he was crazy, stooping to the level of a World Government lapdog, but sure enough, he's got some scheme up his sleeve."

Killer and Romeo remained silent.

"It's a waste of time watching," Kidd said. "I know you're not the type to deal on the black market, Killer. Anyway, it's time for us to get ready. Are they here, yet?"

"Yeah, I already sent them inside," Killer replied as he and Romeo followed Kid down a hallway. "Gotta say, I'm surprised they came."

Romeo just let out a bored yawn.

"Remember, Kid, keep it cool," Killer advised.

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" Kidd said. "Now shut up!"

As Kidd, Killer, and Romeo entered the room…they found two pirates from their generation: "Scratchmen" Apoo and Basil "Magician" Hawkins, sitting at a table…with bloody and battered bodies all around them.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!" Kidd questioned, angrily.

"Sorry, Captain!" cried one of Kidd's men. "We couldn't stop them!"

It looked Apoo hadn't changed much. The only difference is that now, he seemed to be wearing a pilot's helmet on his head.

"Apapapapapa!" Apoo laughed. "Yo! If it isn't Captain Kidd! Here's a familiar face! You're even more ugly than I remember you!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, SCRATCHMEN!" shouted Kidd, and Romeo barked furiously. "IS THIS HOW YOU ACT IN ANOTHER MAN'S HIDEOUT, YOU JACKASS?!"

"Hey, I'm just making sure you don't have any snipers in here!" Apoo said. "Better safe than sorry! Apapapa! When your enemy invites you into his home, you better be ready for an ambush!"

All the while, Hawkins, who is now wearing a black formal suit with a puffy white collar, is looking at his tarot cards.

"You see that, Killer?!" Kidd questioned. "This is EXACTLY why I said NOT TO INVITE THE MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Kidd, settle down!" Killer said. "He's a powerful ally! He can-"

"FUCK THAT!" Kidd shouted. "I'M GONNA TEAR HIS SORRY CARCASS APART, RIGHT NOW!"

Romeo barked viciously in agreement.

"Aha! I knew it!" Apoo exclaimed. "Bring it on, homeboy!"

"Well," Hawkins said, "I can see now that is a complete waste of my time. I will be going, now."

"Wait! Hawkins!" Killer called as Hawkins started to leave. "Don't be so hasty!" He then looked over at Apoo and Kidd, who are getting ready to fight. "Knock it off you two! Seriously! Our 3 crews are together…to discuss an alliance! So can't we all just sit and talk like civilized men?!"

Upon hearing this, all 3 Supernovas stood in their places before glancing at one another in surprise.

XXX

Meanwhile, back on Punk Hazard…

"A counterattack?!" Luffy repeated.

"Yeah," Law answered. "It's time for us to clean up this mess!"

Down below, the G-5 Marines are starting to panic as Shinokuni drew closer and closer.

"Aww, crap! The gas is covering the entire island!"

"We're all gonna die out here!"

"I didn't even get to tell that lady at that bar I met one day how I feel about her!"

"Hey," Law said. "Is there anyone in here who can burn things? If not, no big deal."

"If you want fire, Franky's your go-to guy!" Luffy said. "He can shoot lasers, too! Hey! That gives me an idea! Franky, shoot a laser and blasts these chains off!"

"I can't do my Radical Beam if my arms are bound like this!" Franky said. "The only thing I can really do is shoot a Coup de Boo outta my ass!"

(A/N: Gross.)

"Can you burn that battleship, down and to the right?" Law asked.

"Easy peasy!" Franky answered before he took in a deep breath. "Franky…FIREBALL!"

FWOOSH! BOOM! Franky shot a huge fireball out of his mouth, which hit the battleship down below and caused G-5 to scatter!

"AAAAAAAH! RUN!"

"THE SHIP'S ON FIRE!"

"YEAH! AND SO'S MY ASS! SOMEONE PUT IT OUT!"

XXX

Back in the lab, Caesar and Monet are watching everything.

"Hmm?" Caesar hummed, inquisitively. "What utter nonsense is this?! Is that Pacifista freak getting desperate or something?! Shulolololo! Once the experiment is over, I'll find a good use for your body!"

XXX

Back outside, the smoke from the burning battleship began to rise up to the cage, causing everyone to cough.

"Oh, great!" Franky said. "Thanks a lot, Trafalgar! Now the smoke's coming up here!"

"You're the one who burned it," Law said.

"Yeah! Because you said so!" Franky shouted.

Luffy was just laughing and coughing at the same time.

"You guys are weird!" he said before he gasped. "Wait! I just remembered! What about Aika?!"

"Be patient!" Law said…before he sat off, causing his bonds to fall off. "There we are."

"What in the world?" Robin questioned.

"Now Caesar can't see us," Law said, taking off the chains.

"What?!" Tashigi questiong.

"We've got a little bit of time before they realize what's going," Law said.

"What the…?!" Luffy muttered. "But…but how?! How did you get those sea stone shackles off of you?!"

"Because they weren't sea stone," Law replied as his sword appeared out of thin air. "They were just plain old shackles from the start. Those are easy to remove with my Devil Fruit powers. Do you many months I've been here?"

SLA-SLA-SLASH! He cut off Robin's, Franky's, and Luffy's shackles next.

"I made sure to place normal chains all around the lab so I could switch them at anytime, just in case something like this happened," Law explained. "That way, if I was taken prisoner for some reason, I'd be able to avoid the sea stone."

"WHOO-HOO!" Luffy cheered. "FREE AT LAST~!"

Law quickly covered his mouth and shushed him.

"Don't shout so loud, idiot!" he whispered.

"Sorry," Luffy said, his voice muffled by Law's hand.

"Now then," Law said as he looked at Smoker and Tashigi and made a twisting motion with his hand, "what should we do with you two?"

Smoker and Tashigi both gasped at this.

"You know too much as it is," Law said. "Your fate rests entirely on my whim."

"You already know damn well what you're going to do, so quit wasting our-"

The Vice-Admiral and the Captain gasped as they realized…they were back in their own bodies…and as they realized it, Tashigi gasped upon noticing that her shirt is completely unbuttoned…revealing her bosom for everyone to see.

"KYAAAAAA!" Tashigi screamed while Law looked away and cleared his throat.

"Hey, Traffy?" Luffy asked. "Why's your face red?"

"Sh-shut up!" Law shouted.

"Listen to you, Tashigi," Smoker said. "Shrieking like a woman-"

"J-just undo the chains!" Tashigi begged. "I'll do anything you say! Please!"

"Shut your mouth, Tashigi!" Smoker ordered. "Are you going to beg for your life to a dirty pirate scumbag?!"

"We SHOULD BE begging for our lives, if that's what it takes!" Tashigi argued. "If we die here, then every single one of our men will die! And Vice Ad…I mean, Vergo will cover it all up! Even the children…"

Luffy gasped upon hearing the word "children".

"That's right!" he said. "Traffy! How are we gonna get outta here and rescue Aika?! If we don't find her soon, she'll-"

"Get a grip on yourself!" Law barked. "For the last time, I said I got this!"

Down below, the G-5 men are clamoring.

"I can't see the cage through all this smoke!"

"Is Tashigi okay up there?!"

"Too smoky for ya, Smokey?!"

"But he is Smokey!"

"Oh, yeah."

"Anyway," Law began, "it seems the woman has more sense than you, White Chase. Listen…I'm not obligated to help you, but if you get out alive and ruin Vergo's reputation, then that suits my ends. Just forget everything you heard about me and Joker, got it? And it's not a request. It's a demand! You give me that, and I give you your lives? What do you say?"

Smoker sneered at Law while Tashigi just stared in concern as she buttoned up her shirt.

"Hey, Traffy!"

Law looked back and saw that Luffy and Robin had already made it outside the cage!

"How do we get in the lab?!" Luffy asked. "I gotta hurry and find Aika!"

"HEY!" Law shouted. "How did he get out of the cage?!"

"He busted through the chain links," said Franky. "Now that he's not stuck in those sea stone shackles, he ripped right through it like paper."

"Dammit, not this bullshit, again!" Law cursed.

"Hey, buddy," Franky said. "If you're not too busy being pissed, I'd like to get back to the Sunny, if you please."

Smoker looked back and saw Tashigi giving him a glare and a pouted look.

"What's that face for, Tashigi?" Smoker asked.

"Humph!" Tashigi scoffed as she looked away.

"You know, I'm not one to talk," Law said, "but I think you need to learn to respect women a little bit more."

"What are you talking about?" Smoker asked.

XXX

Not too far away, Blizzard and Jupiter are still running away from Shinokuni.

"Run faster!" Blizzard shouted. "We're almost there!"

"That's easy for you to say!" Jupiter shouted. "You're not as old as I am!"

Soon, the two canines managed to make it inside the facility. However, Shinokuni was not too far behind.

"Hurry and close the door!" Jupiter shouted. "CLOSE IT!"

"I'm trying, dammit!" Blizzard argued as he tried to slide the door shut. "The door's frozen on the slider!"

"Oh, for crap's sake!" Jupiter cried before both he and Blizzard pulled on the door, and miraculously, they managed to pull it from the ice and slide it shut, and just in time!

"Oh, dear god, that was close…!" Blizzard said as he and Jupiter tried to catch their breath. As they did, the latter looked up and saw that he and Blizzard had ended up in a tunnel of some sort.

"Hey now," Jupiter whispered as he took a look around. "Law and I did a thorough search of this place, but we never found this tunnel."

"Where's it go?" Blizzard asked.

"Only way to find out," Jupiter replied before he began to walk through the tunnel with the younger dog following him.

XXX

Back outside, Zoro and his group are still running away from Shinokuni themselves, but it looked like they weren't going to last much longer!

"Even with this odd manner of running, the smoke is still catching up to us!" Kin'emon shouted.

"We gotta hurry…and catch that dragon…and fly away!" Zoro panted.

"Ugh…unh…!" Sanji wheezed. "I…I can't…keep up…not gonna…make it!"

"No! Hang in there, Mister Sanji!" Brook cried.

"Can't…do it…!" Sanji panted as he placed a hand on Nami's chest. "Nami's…lungs…can't take any more…! My…my chest is…"

Unwittingly…Sanji had groped Nami's left breast, and in doing so, he suddenly rush of adrenaline!

"WHOOOOOOOAAAAAAA!" he roared before he dashed ahead of the 3 swordsman and grabbed the dragon, quick as a flash! "I GOT IT~!"

GRRAAAWWRR! The little dragon growled in surprise and anger.

"WHAT KIND OF RIDICULOUS SOURCE OF POWER IS THAT?!" Zoro questioned in comical anger.

XXX

Not too far away, it is revealed that Nami, Usopp, and Kumi are now riding on the back of Brownbeard to escape Shinokuni as well.

"Jeez! I don't like the look of that color!" Usopp said. "It must be incredibly toxic, huh, Nami?! Nami?"

Usopp looked and saw Nami, who seemed to be growling with the utmost fury.

"Uhh…Nami?" Usopp asked, nervously. "You okay?"

"Somewhere…somewhere out there," Nami hissed, "I know…that Sanji is groping my chest!"

Usopp and Kumi gulped nervously at this and wisely decided to leave the navigator alone.

"Sorry for making you carry us while you're in bad shape, Brownbeard!" Usopp said.

YIP! YAP! Kumi barked in agreement.

"It's…no problem!" Brownbeard said between breaths. "You people are like dwarves to me! At any rate…I must rescue my men!"

At that moment, Nami realized the real matter at hand and snapped out of her anger.

"Not to mention the kids!" she added. "I hope they haven't taken that candy, yet!"

'And let's not forget Aika!' Kumi thought. 'Good lord, I can only pray that we'll get to her in time!'

Just then, the Akita pup looked down and saw some familiar figures running away from the gas. She barked, gaining Nami and Usopp's attention.

"What is it, Kumi?" Nami asked before she looked down and gasped. "Look! Someone else is being chased by the gas, too!"

"Is that…a dragon?!"

XXX

Meanwhile, at the lab's front entrance, a large, clear dome had appeared on one of the tower, and several mysterious figures seemed to vanish into thin air within it. Not long after, the door to the lab began to open, much to G-5's surprise.

"Hey! The door is opening!"

"I dunno why, but I won't ask! I'm just glad it is!"

"Thank the stars! Now we can get it inside and the gas won't kill us all!"

"Quickly, everyone! Get inside!"

With that, G-5 began to charge into the lab, much to the shock of Caesar's minions!

"We've got an emergency!" cried one of the satyrs. "The shutters are rolling up and G-5…is rolling in!"

"What?!" questioned another satyr. "Who flipped the switch?!"

"Intruders! Up there!" shouted a black-haired satyr.

It is revealed to be…Luffy, Law, Robin, Smoker, and Tashigi, who are sitting atop a pile of defeated guards.

"WHAT THE?!" the half-man creatures questioned in shock.

"L-LAW?! STRAW HAT! SMOKER!"

"But I thought that the Master locked them up!"

In Luffy's arms, it is revealed that Aika is alive and well, having been rescued from the gas chamber by Luffy at the last second.

"Hmm-hmm," Robin chuckled to herself.

"At least now, our men can get inside," Tashigi said.

"Now, what to do about my heart," Law muttered.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed. "This is getting exciting!"

"To think I've stooped to working with you, of all people," Smoker growled.

Aika just blinked innocently as she sat in Luffy's lap.

"Luffy!"

"Hey, Law!"

The two Supernovas looked down to see Blizzard and Jupiter appearing from a hallway.

"See?" Jupiter asked. "I told you that tunnel led somewhere, Igloo!"

"Oh, put a sock in it, Blot!" Blizzard barked.

"Blizzard!" Luffy exclaimed. "You're here!"

"About time, Jupiter!" Law shouted. "Did you find an escape route?!"

"Sure did," Jupiter answered. "Just let me know when we should use it!"

XXX

Back outside, Brownbeard had just arrived there with Nami and Usopp. Not just that, but the little dragon that is carrying Zoro, Sanji, Brook, and Kin'emon is following after him, when suddenly, CHOMP! The beast bit Brownbeard's crocodile tail!

"YOWCH!" Brownbeard yelped. "That dragon just bit me!"

"Oh, no!" Nami cried. "The shutter is closing!"

"Dammit, dammit, dammit! Not now!" Usopp cursed. "We're not gonna make it! The gas is gonna kill us before we get inside!"

"Open the door!" Nami shouted. "Let us in!"

'AIKA~!' Kumi yelled in thought before she let out a desperate howl.

"Hey, Kin'emon!" Zoro called. "Can you cut through steel?!"

"That should prove to be no challenge at all!" Kin'emon answered.

"Perfect!" Zoro said. "Keep running, Brown-Croc! We're going in!"

KA-CHINK! Zoro then brandished Shuusui while Kin'emon drew his swords, as well, and together, they cut through the door with an almighty SLICE!

"YES! WE'RE IN!" Usopp cheered.

"WHOO-HOO!" Nami yelled.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" G-5 screamed. "THEY SLICED THE DOOR DOWN! NOW THE GAS IS GONNA GET INSIDE!"

"AAAAH!" Nami screamed.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Usopp shouted.

"Hey! Don't blame us!" Zoro spat. "How did you expect for us to get inside?!"

Aika looked down and gasped in joy upon seeing Kumi.

"Kumi!" she called. "Kumi, I'm up here!"

"Aika! You're okay!" Kumi called with tears forming in her eyes.

"Yeah! Luffy saved me!" Aika answered. "Shishishishi!"

"Shishishishishi!" Luffy laughed before he looked down. "Hey! Sounds like a party, down there! We all together?!"

"Yep!" the Straw Hats answered.

"Great!" Luffy said as he punched a fist into his palm and cracked his knuckles. "Then it's time to raise some hell!"

TO BE CONTINUED…

Hope you liked your little surprise, Gakuto, if you're reading this! You're the best, pal!

Review, please!