Author's Note - The condition still stands. At least one review besides megaME or i hold the next chapter indefinitely. I know at least one or two of you have a few moments to ask a question, make a prediction, make a request, make a complaint. Something! I still hope to have the story finished before the weekend is over, but whether it is all posted in that time is up to you all.
Disclaimer : I do not own One Piece or any of the other fandoms from which names, places, abilities, or references are taken! Imaginary points to anyone who catches said references throughout the story and PM's them to me. Dunno if you'll get anything real, but i give sneak peaks and deleted scenes to my repeated reviewers, so it isn't unthinkable.
Chapter 23 - Declaring War at the Summit
Cora awoke with a feeling of terror gripping her. She sat up in a dark stone room. When she looked around, her terror only grew. Sitting around her, watching her silently, were six more of herself. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shaking slightly. Even at her worst, she had never seen more than her reflection.
The other versions of the musician seemed to regard her as the insane individual she was. One stood up and walked closer, causing Cora to flinch away, closing her eyes and burying her face in the hopes of blocking out her surroundings. She nearly screamed when she felt one of their hands on her shoulder.
"Why are you freaking out, other me?" The one touching her shoulder asked calmly, with a mild amount of curiosity and maybe a hint of concern
"I'm crazy! I can see more of myself! I'm talking to another me and I am not even thinking what you're saying!" Cora scooted to the corner of the room as fast as she could, staring apprehensively at the group of identical women.
"So what? None of us are going anywhere, least of all you. Look. We're locked up. Might as well keep ourselves company." Another woman said. Cora shook her head frantically. What had happened? How did she get here?
"The Takai people captured you. Us. Welcome to your new home! You know... Until they kill you in some horrifyingly violent and traumatizing way." The one who had touched her shoulder said cheerfully.
"I have to get out of here..." Cora reached for her thigh to find her strap empty of knives. All five were gone. She checked the special strap she had hidden high on her shoulder. Her emergency knife was missing as well.
"Don't worry, women rarely last more than a week here. Although, that week is far worse than what the guys go through." The Cora nearest the door said. Now thoroughly sickened by her fate, she collapsed to the floor, rolling under the bed and crying silently.
"Well... Soul is very handsome... He might not get off so easily. Huh. I made a pun. 'get off'." One of the Cora's seemed surprised by her unintentional joke, although none of her counterparts laughed.
"Soul's here?!" Cora banged her head against the bottom of the bed as she tried to sit up and demand answers, and the sudden pain cleared her mind slightly. She remembered the ambush. She and Rachel had been dragged off while the others were fighting, and Soul had come after them only to be struck over the head with a heavy bat.
"He's a few floors down. Only women are kept on this floor. It's like a supermarket, actually. Sex slave on aisle three. Torture dummy on aisle four." Cora number three said. Or was it number two? Cora pulled on her hair a bit, remembering why it had been so short before.
"Did anyone escape?" She wasn't sure why she was asking herself. If she didn't know, then other versions of her shouldn't either, although they seemed to know more than her so far... Maybe she was still too panicked to think clearly.
"How should we know?" Cora number 5 asked, glaring at the original.
"I don't know... I don't know anything! I'm scared! You're all me! Can't you be a little more supportive?!" Cora almost shouted at them. One came and slid under the bed, looking at her sideways and smiling slightly.
"It'll be okay. Just... Pretend you haven't woke up yet. That might buy you some time. They may even let your guard down, then you could attack them. Or they could just kill you and use your body... I'm not sure these people care about little details like a pulse..." The duplicate's words were less than comforting.
"You ought to consider a contingency plan... If you can't escape and you can't stall... A quick death might be the best choice." One of her doppelgangers suggested. She thought about it. Without her knives, she couldn't cut her wrists... Could she beat her head against the stone hard enough? No... Her own instincts would save her against her will... She had a belt, though...
Rachel groaned as she sat up. She'd been beaten badly. She checked her hip first, growling in frustration when she found both her swords missing. Of course they would not leave her armed. They could not possibly be so foolish if they were feared so deeply. Then she noticed two men in the room with her, and she began to panic.
"Calm down, Rachel, we're on your side." The first man, dark from head to toe, with black clothes and black hair, and no distinguishable color in his eyes, addressed her. She forced herself to calm her breathing.
"Who are you?" She asked, checking herself over, accounting for every inch of her body to determine what damage or violation she may have suffered while unconscious. She was relieved to find herself in one piece.
"We're no one you need to fear. We've never hurt you before, and we don't plan to start now." The second man responded. This one was dressed in shades of gray, with sparks of red showing occasionally. His eyes seemed to flicker between red and slate as she watched. They both rippled with power, but neither made any move to touch her.
"I don't know you..." She shivered. Did she? She had been beaten badly... Maybe she did, and had forgotten due to the trauma... Where they members of the crew? Villagers they had met? No... She didn't think so.
"That's insulting." The first man said, leaning against the wall. "After all we've done for you, you don't recognize us." His companion glared at him, but did not say anything.
"I... Who are you?" Rachel asked. She knew she should be trying to escape, but without her swords, and without knowing even where she was, there was no way that would happen.
"We're..." The second man began, but the first cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Apparently my little brother would prefer you figure it out."
"How am I supposed to do that? Do I get a hint?" She asked, taking a look around the room now that she was sure the two were not intent on harming her.
"You already have plenty of hints. But sure, we're the youngest of four brothers. But definitely the strongest." The first man, the younger, she now knew, said to her.
"Youngest of four, but strongest. You've helped me before, and I should know who you are... Have you ever told me your names?" Rachel focused on the older brother, who seemed more inclined to answer kindly.
"No, that would have been hard to manage before, but you knew them anyway. We're pretty well known. Well, our father was." The second man said, leaning back to match his brother. It was easy to tell they were brothers. Almost twins, if it weren't for the eyes. And their attitudes were completely different.
"Did I know your father?"
"Unlikely, since he is long dead." The first brother answered again. He was beginning to enjoy the guessing game.
"Famous father, long dead... You are what I imagined Zoro's children to be like... Did you know him?"
"Not personally, but our oldest brother did. They were as close as we are to you." The elder of the two said. Rachel was more confused than ever. "Oh come now... We see each other every day, all day and night. Think a little more... Abstractly."
"The only people I see that much are the crew. Mostly Roger and Musei, and you are not them, are you?"
"No, but we know them pretty well, too. We know Roger a bit more than we'd like, no thanks to you." The youngest said, glaring at her.
"What?!" Rachel blushed, immediately catching the meaning behind the man's words. "You've seen us... together?"
"Every bloody time, woman." The first man growled, banging his head back against the wall in anguish. "Would it be so hard to slide us under the bed or throw a blanket over us or something?!"
"You're... Reidai Kitetsu... And you! You're Shodai Kitetsu! You're my swords!" Rachel shouted, pointing at them both. The younger clapped slowly, while the older looked genuinely pleased. "How... How is this possible?"
"One of the men who captured you had an ability. It turned us into people based on your mind, but we had enough spirit of our own to take a course of our own from the images of what you had imagined Zoro's children to be. Cora is not in such good shape. Her knives all took the same form as her, and if she stays sane until help arrives, it will be a miracle." Shodai said calmly.
"What about the others?" Rachel asked.
"Soul was the only other one captured. Another point that might drive Cora insane, his scythe became a woman. A rather gorgeous one, I might add." Reidai grinned as he looked at the ceiling. "And here we are, stuck with you."
"Is this because I didn't immediately recognize my swords when I met them? Jeez, no need to be rude, I'm sorry!" Rachel glared at the cursed blade, and Shodai laughed. "Stop laughing and help me get out of here!"
"Well, you can't really cut through the lock with us like this, so what would you like us to do?" Reidai asked. He stood up and looked at the door, then slumped back against the wall. "I'm out of ideas."
"Don't be a pest, Rei." Shodai stood up and examined the door closely, then turned to Rachel. "If we break it down, they will hear us and send guards. We're lucky they haven't sent one after Cora already, with her screaming."
"She's screaming?" Rachel became quiet for a moment, and she could faintly hear terrified sobs coming from down the hall. "We have to do something... We can't let them just do as they please with her! Or me, for that matter..." She sat between her swords and ran her fingers through her hair.
"Have faith in your friends. In all the time I have traveled with you, I have never known them to let you down. The guards will be too busy dealing with them to do anything to you or Cora, and we'll protect you to the death if they try." Shodai said. Reidai nodded his agreement.
"Thank you... So... We wait?"
"Yeah. We wait." Reidai sounded sympathetic as he looked up at her with dark eyes.
"Do you have a plan, Shinigami?" Soul asked. It was an arrogant name, the woman had claimed, but he reluctantly admitted that it suited her. His scythe had explained his situation calmly, and he had accepted it as simply one more of the bizarre things he had encountered in their incredible world.
"Of course not. I can't cut things like this. How do human's stand this?" The woman held up her hands, glaring at them as if their lack of an edge offended her. He was mildly surprised by what his subconscious had made of his scythe, but he had to admit, it suited her. Cold and elegant. Beautiful, but deadly. A partner, not a servant.
"We get by. Mostly by working with swords and scythes and such. What's it like, anyway? Being a weapon?" Soul asks.
"It depends on the weapon, and the person wielding it. I must admit, I enjoy being your partner. Some men are unable to accept that they can not always lead." Shinigami smirked and sat next to the Reaper. "Cora is below us. She's losing her grip. We need to do something quickly."
"I still have a sword stored with me. It wasn't in my hands, so they couldn't change it. It's not my prefered weapon, but it could get us out of here." Soul said quietly. The woman nodded reluctantly. "Don't tell me you're jealous!"
"I'm your partner, and that thing is nothing but a tool. Just degrading that it could help and I can not." Shinigami admitted. Soul took her hand and grinned.
"You are my partner, and that tool is going to help both of us until I have you back in my hands, the way you belong. Then we'll dance again." Soul stood and pulled the sword from the air around him, one haki coated strike cleaving through the pin if the door and allowing it to fall open. The woman caught it and let it down gently, keeping it from alerting the guards.
"I will hold you to that dance." The woman smiled at him. Together they began to make their way up the hall, passing empty cells as well as occupied. As much as he wanted to start freeing everyone, he knew he did not have time at the moment. "We'll come back for them after Ace has won."
They found the stairs at the far end, and as they reached the lower level, they could hear frantic crying. It was Cora's voice. Soul started to rush forward, but the woman caught his arm and pulled him behind the corner. Three guards were heading toward Cora's cell from the other end of the hall.
"Strike when they are distracted." Shinigami whispered to him. He nodded.
The guards stopped in front of Cora's cell, grinning happily.
"She's awake!" One of them reached for his keys, but his companions stopped him.
"We've still gotta get the others. Boss said so. Then we can have some fun. Besides, there were those twins who were both actual people, not fakes like these." The second guard said. The one with the keys nodded and lowered his hand, settling for leering through the bars at the seven identical women, particularly the one curled in on herself, sobbing.
"We'll be back for you later, little girl. Don't go crying yourself out before then!" The man laughed and he and his companions turned away, walking back up the hall. Soul was behind them in an instant. Not one had a chance to call out before he had slaughtered them. Two lost their heads completely, the third only had his spine severed.
Soul walked back to Cora's cell and waited for her to notice him. He saw her pulling on her hair, with her knees pulled to her chest. She looked like she had when they first met. Her belt was around her neck, as if she had tried to strangle herself, but was unable to find a successful way of doing so.
"Cora, I'm waiting to rescue you, you need to pull yourself together please." Soul felt bad about his lack of sympathy, but he would comfort her later, when they were free of this place. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
"You're not real..." Cora saw the beautiful woman next to him and glared angrily at him. "You're a hallucination, and your here with another woman to mock me... I can't even kill myself right!"
"I am real, and if you had killed yourself, I would not be able to save you, now get up!" Soul said firmly. She crawled out from under the bed and stood up, walking slowly to the door and reaching through the bars. He took her hand. "The woman is my scythe. Those copies of you are your knives. One of the men here has an ability that did it. You're not crazy." He kissed the back of her hand, and she fell forward against the bars, smiling and panting in relief.
"Soul... I thought I had lost it... I talked to myself a lot, but this was an all new level of crazy..." Cora stepped back and allowed Soul to open the door with the key he had stolen. When her knives tried to follow, Soul made them stop.
"If you stay here, and we hide the bodies of the guards, it will buy us some time. We still need to get Rachel out. Shinigami says she is down the hall." Soul and the woman dragged the three bodies into the cell, stuffing them under the bed and having on of the knives lay in front of them, pretending to be Cora. "I doubt anyone will notice there are only six instead of seven. We'll come back for them later."
"Alright. Let's go get Rachel and find the others." Cora straightened up, wiping her eyes and taking a few calming breaths. She wasn't crazy. She had not lost all grip on reality. Soul was back.
"Dragon! I was worried you weren't going to come back!" Nami hugged her father-in-law tightly and grinned up at the taller man happily. She had long since accepted him as a part of her life, and would miss him greatly if he left.
"I was... busy. But I'm home now. My father is as well. He's bought a new home in the town." Dragon said. Nami raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you hated him." The orange haired woman said curiously. Dragon sighed and gave her a half smile that reminded her of Luffy.
"I did, but we talked things out. We decided family was more important than our battles. Nami... We need to go inside. There is something I need to tell you..." Dragon looked away from her.
When he told her what was going to happen, she wanted to call Usopp and get the Thousand Sunny ready to go and find him, but the retired revolutionary stopped her. He had not seen her so distraught since Luffy's funeral.
Dragon spent the evening with her, making sure she didn't do anything unreasonable. Mostly she just curled up on the sofa and cried. At one point she went to her room and took out the box of items she had kept from her time as a pirate.
Her climatact was inside, divided into sections. There were two golden crowns, that Zoro and Robin had placed on her and Luffy's heads at their make shift coronation as the Pirate King and his queen. There was one of her first maps. She found what she wanted and held it carefully in her hands. A small locket in the shape of a diamond. Inside it had a picture of Luffy kissing her cheek as he was trying to reach around her to get the orange in her far hand. Usopp had taken the picture on their way back from Raftel.
"He has become a great man. You will get to see him before he goes to Loguetown. He would have told you himself then, but I wanted you to be able to smile for him when you saw him last." Dragon rubbed her back as she stared at the picture.
"Garp the Fist. The Revolutionary Dragon. Straw Hat Luffy. What will he be remembered as?" Nami sniffed then looked up at the man beside her sadly. She had cried all she could.
"He will be remembered as a pirate and a free man, just as he would want." Dragon said. He smiled as she finally flipped the locket closed and set it back in the box.
"What about his crew? Olivia and Kuina... They aren't going to follow their father, are they?" Nami asked.
"No. I don't think so. The one I am worried about is his first mate. The one called Soul." Dragon looked at the ceiling and sighed. "I will hope that Ace has a plan for his crew's safety. He has grown into a brilliant leader. You should be proud of him."
"I am. Franky told me about Soul... Luffy spared his father at Raftel. He never mentioned the man again, and I never thought to ask him why. I had grown so used to following him that I had no reason to doubt or question his decisions." Nami leaned back on the sofa, wiping the last of the tears from her eyes and cheeks. "Have you told Robin yet?"
"No. I thought you should be the first to know." Dragon stood. "I'll tell her, if you don't think you can."
"I can... But come with me." Nami stood up as well.
"Of course."
The Five Elder Stars of the World Government were in a panic. They had pulled their entire force back to Mariejois to defend themselves, but they knew things were not looking favorable. One one side, in Paradise, Red Haired Shanks and Marco the Phoenix held the ocean with their ships. On the New World side, Sabo the Revolutionary and his men waited. Even as the marines gathered, so did storm clouds.
"Strange, being back here on the other side." Coby said quietly to Helmeppo. The former marines stood on the decks of one of the revolutionaries' ships, looking at the center of the world. Koala had taken Coby's place aboard the Legacy Storm at the last minute to allow the former marine to join the battle.
"You're still on the side of justice." Smoker had appeared behind them, Tashigi at his side, as always. At 42 years old, the woman had decided she would remain his companion for as long as he would allow her. She had succeeded in ending his smoking addiction, although he had been less than pleased.
"I suppose you're right." Coby smiled at the man and adjusted his coat slightly. It was hard to get used to the fact that they were equals now. In fact, it could be argued he was Smoker's superiors, but such things had never held much weight with the logia user, and he preferred to get along with the man. He had many years of experience to share.
Inside the city, five men were shouting into Den Den Mushi for the armies of the marines to fortify the palace and defend their leaders. Ceartais, Masayoshi, Dikaiosyni, Zhengyi, and Cadaaladda had ruled the world for more than fifty years. They had seen the rise of three Pirate Kings, and the fall of two. They were desperately hoping they would live to see the fall of a third.
They each represented one of the world's seas. Ceartais of North Blue, Masayoshi of East Blue, Dikaiosyni of West Blue, Zhengyi of South Blue, and Cadaaladda of the Grand Line. They had overseen the conquest of several nations, the deaths of countless pirates, and promotion of powerful men in the ranks of the marines. They believed themselves untouchable.
"We must flee!" Zhengyi shouted. His beard and mustache falling nearly to his waist. The tall, white haired man was desperately shoveling his belongings into a bag.
"To where? Fishman Island will never accept our presence, they are allied with the Whitebeard Pirates!" Masayoshi growled. He had known that it would come back to haunt them when Jimbe had left the ranks of the Warlords. He rubbed his bald head, nervous sweat running down his forehead across his birthmark.
"We can board one of the marine ships and try to break through with numbers. We still outnumber the pirates and revolutionaries ten to one!" Dikaiosyni said. He was the oldest, but one of the strongest, even at his age. His glasses had been lost in the panic, but he could see well enough to escape.
"And then what? Where will we go if our government falls? We should stay and maintain order among the marines!" Ceartais demanded. The youngest, and most battle ready of the five had still yet to lose his blonde hair to old age.
"We will die for sure if we stay here. There is no justice in that! We have only one place where we could be safe. The Ancient Kingdom has never been found. We can kill the crew of the ship that takes us to ensure it remains hidden." Cadaaladda said calmly. His cane was clutched in his hands as he paced the room.
"They have timed their attack well... If they see a ship leaving the battle, they will assume we are fleeing and take special care to eliminate us. We have no hope of escaping. With our strongest soldiers gone, we have little hope at all. Draw back all but the bare minimum of our soldiers from Paradise. Those who remain will be sacrificed so that our forces in the New World will have a chance of punching through the revolutionaries. We will lose the city, but we may yet keep our lives if we do not cling to a victory we can not achieve." Zhengyi suggested. His companions nodded their agreement. It was a sound plan. Their forces may be able to take on one of the forces surrounding them.
"Vegapunk has not left us any lines of defense?" Ceartais was still unwilling to surrender.
"The second generation Pacifistas were never perfected before his death, and his artificial devil's fruit shortened the user's life to a matter of months. The poison gas would never be able to reach far enough to destroy them all." Dikaiosyni informed his younger companion.
"Activate the Pacifistas anyway, and do not tell the soldiers that the devil's fruit are defective. The revolutionaries and the pirates know the state of our military and will not be expecting a defense of that strength, even with its flaws. We would stand a chance of victory by surprising them!" The blonde man said eagerly. His companions took a moment to consider.
"We may fight or flee... We are likely to die either way, but if we fight, we have a chance of victory. If we flee, we fail without doubt. I support Ceartais. His plan is sound." Masayoshi stated. He would rather win than lose any day.
"Put it to a vote! Fight or flee? Those in favor of fighting!" Ceartais asked. He, Masayoshi, and Dikaiosyni all raised their hands. The two remaining men sat in resignation. Ceartais had control now. It was his plan.
"Well, Phoenix, are you going to use it?" Shanks asked, standing shoulder to shoulder with Marco. The blonde man looked at the box in his hands with mixed emotions.
"I don't know... I have no time to master it, and I don't know if I am worthy." Marco opened the box to reveal Ace's gift to him. The Gura Gura no Mi, reborn in the depths of Raftel. "Pops would probably smack me across the Grand Line for thinking that, but still... This was the devil's fruit of the strongest man in the world. The man who took me in and gave me a family. What have I done to live up to that?"
"You kept his family together. You carried on his promise to help the Pirate King. You have protected the territories he protected in his time. Luffy chose to give you the Mera Mera no Mi, and Ace has chosen to give you this. If you could trust Luffy's judgment, trusting Ace should be a simple task." Shanks grinned. "That boy has become something that surpasses all his predecessors. He inherited strength, but he has learned wisdom."
"Yes... You're right. The time's about here. Haruta! Vista! Is everyone ready?" Marco called over his shoulder. The small girl appeared at his side, nudging him gently to let him know she was there.
"All set, Captain. Red Hair?" Haruta looked up at the other pirate. He looked to his ship where Lucky gave him a thumbs up.
"Ready. Now we wait." Shanks crossed his arms and looked up into the sky. He hoped the young pirates sent their signal soon.
Olivia and Kuina jumped between rapidly, never staying in one spot long enough to be attacked. With the unnatural reflexes of their enemies, this left them little time to attack as well. Callan had taken to the sky, and Roger and Musei were fighting back to back against a seemingly endless horde of men. Where had they all come from?
Underground. Callan was pointing to a number of buildings, out of which men kept coming. A staircase just within the door made it all clear. They had expanded underground. There was an untold number of the men below them. Steel was firing away, taking out anyone who looked like a leader, or more dangerous than the others. He only had so many bullets, and he was trying to conserve what he had for where it would count the most.
Ace was holding his own, but barely. What advantage his haki gave him was almost canceled by the stream of ability users that kept coming to him, trying to overwhelm him. A new commotion drew their attention to one of the buildings where three familiar faces and three strange ones appeared. Soul, followed by Cora and Rachel, as well as another woman and two strange men were fighting their way through the crowd with fists and feet.
Through an unspoken agreement, the ten pirates fought their way toward the statue at the center of the city. It was a terrifying monument, solid stone, with twists of steel around it. A tall thin man, nearly a skeleton, with a panther-like creature sitting between it's feet. The third brother. Around it, there were three concentric rings only feet apart, and then a fourth several yards from the center. As soon as the pirates crossed the farthest ring, their attackers pulled back.
Taking a moment to gather their wits, the group took stock of each other. No one seemed to be badly hurt, although Cora looked shaken, and Callan was nearly stumbling from exhaustion. With the men of the city standing inches away from the ring all the way around, they turned their attention to the statue.
"We made it..." Ace took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Kuina, Olivia, Callan. Send the signal, then get somewhere safe." The three did not argue. They wanted to fight by his side, but they knew they would be a hindrance to their nakama. Soul pulled something out of the air and tossed it to the winged man just before the trio vanished.
At the edge of the Red Line, Callan flew far out over the ocean before hitting the apex of the dial on the device in his hands and dropped it. The thing began spinning, and then a wheel of flames spread out from it as it fell. The winged man flew back and collapsed next to the doctor as a war was signaled miles below.
Only three chapters left... Wow.
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