Lost & Found
Four weeks. It had been an entire month since the three pirates had been trapped on that small sub. But finally, finally, they arrived close to where the shard was. The sub pulled up into a cavern. The walls were a sparkling blue from tiny little aquatic creatures crawling around on it. Other sea plants were also clinging to the walls. It looked as almost like someone had created this place on purpose.
"This place is incredible," Topaz said.
"It is," Robin agreed.
"It's like another world down here," Penguin said. "I can't believe there's another island down here. I thought we were going to have to be under the water all the time."
"We might still have to be," Topaz said. "There could be other caverns like this in this place."
"The only way to know for sure is to go out and explore," Robin said.
"Might as well," Penguin said. "It didn't look like there were any other paths big enough that would lead us to the shard." With a click, he was freed from his chair. He moved over to the ladder, climbed up, and with a few clicks and clangs, the hatch was open. He climb out and jumped down to the ground. Soon the women and monkey had joined him. "Let's go."
The four headed off towards another opening. When they passed through it they found what they were expecting. Trees, shrubs, flowers, and everything else that was found on other islands, were found here. Penguin looked up at the sky. Somehow there was light down here despite there being no signs of the sun anywhere. "How is this possible?"
"I don't have a clue," Topaz said as she was having the same thoughts as he was.
"There has to be a light source around here somewhere," Robin said. "Otherwise these plants wouldn't be thriving."
Topaz hummed.
"What is it, Topaz?" Penguin asked.
"I can't sense any animals down here, but I am sensing some kind of aquatic life," Topaz said, narrowing her eyebrows. "I think they're watching us."
"Maybe it's the natives," Robin offered.
"Possibly," Topaz said. "They could be scared of new comers. Just be on your guard."
The other two pirates nodded. They scanned their eyes over their surroundings, eyeing all the possible hiding spots someone or something could hid behind. Then they saw it. Something crawled out of the bushes. The pirates halted, the monkey stood still. They couldn't believe what they saw. It was a fish like creature, but not like the ones they were use to seeing. This one was green all over with darker green spots peppering its skin. It's toes and fingers were webbed, a fin ran over it's head and down to its tailbone, its eyes were a light green with a vertical black slit, and it's lips were full like a fish. It also wasn't wearing any clothes, but there were also no distinguishable body parts that would suggest whether it was male or female. Though it was wearing some kind of golden jewelry that looks like it attacked to its wrist with claws.
"What is that thing?" Penguin asked.
"I don't know," Topaz said.
Robin nodded in agreement.
The thing seemed to be as curious as they were about it. Since it didn't run from them they figured it wasn't going to harm them, but they stood ready just incase. Then more of them started moving out of the bushes until there was about fifty of them surrounding them, all wearing the same piece of jewelry as the first one.
"Maybe we shouldn't have left the sub," Penguin said.
"I don't think they're going to hurt us," Topaz said. "I think they're…I think they're curious about us."
"Curious?" Robin mumbled. She watched cautiously as the creatures started moving closer to them. Soon the creatures were close enough to poke them. And they did until they were sure that the pirates wouldn't hurt them. One sniffed up Robin's arm until it got to her neck. It then pulled back and gave her a head tilt.
"Okay, that's nice," Penguin said as two sniffed him. He jumped and pushed them away when their hands reached between his legs. "Oh okay! That's enough of that! Neo would not approve!"
"I wonder if those two are female," Topaz said with a chuckled. She placed her hand on one of the creature's head. "We should look a little farther for it."
"Might as well," Penguin said. "It doesn't appear these creatures can speak our language."
"Topaz, can you talk to them?" Robin asked.
"Hello," Topaz said. "Can you tell me what you are? Oh? Is that so? They said they're the ones who live here. And they've been living here their entire lives. They're basically this world's mermaids."
"Well, at least we can talk about the shard around them without breaking the rules. They can't understand a thing we say in English," Penguin said. He looked down at the monkey. "Show me the map."
The monkey did as requested.
"Looks like it's not far from here," Penguin said. He then led the way with the creatures following after them. After ten minutes of walking, they came to a round hole in the ground. It led them to the sea again. He looked at the map and frowned. The shard was down there but the tunnel was way too small for the sub and the distance was too far for any of them to swim to it and not drown. He sat down on the ground. "Great. Now what?"
"Too bad we can't tell these creature about what we're doing here," Topaz said, her hand still on one creature's head. "They could get it in no time. Maybe we can rig up some type of breathing device?"
"That could be a possibility," Robin said. "But we have no idea exactly how far the shard is down there. The rocks could also be sharp and cut a hole in the tubing we use if we could find anything that is."
"This sucks," Penguin said. He picked up a rock and tossed it into the water. "We're this close and now we're stuck."
"Hm?" Topaz looked at the one she was petting when it spoke to her. "Oh, we need to get something of ours that is down in the water but we can't breathe underwater. What? Are you serious?"
"What is it?" Penguin asked.
"They said there's a way for us to breathe underwater," Topaz said.
"How is that possible?" Robin asked.
"Apparently they have a device that can help us," Topaz said. "They said that others like us have used them before."
"Seriously?" Penguin asked.
"Should we do it then?" Robin asked. "It seems a bit too easy and convenient."
"Well, Pendulum said that he would give us what we need," Penguin said. "So this has to be part of it, right?"
The pirates went quiet. Despite this golden opportunity right in their faces, none of them immediately jumped on it.
"We should just do it," Topaz said, not sounding all that sure. "We don't have any other choice."
"Then we should accept their offer as long as there aren't any risks involved," Robin said.
"I guess so," Penguin said. "Go ahead, Topaz. Tell them we accept."
Topaz nodded slowly. "All right. We accept. What do we need to do?"
The creatures held out three jewelry pieces like they were wearing. The pirates took them, but for Robin.
"We just attach them to our wrists," Topaz said. "They said it might hurt for a while, but we should be able to swim."
"Sorry," Robin said when the creature pushed the thing towards her. "I can't go in the sea."
"She can't go in the sea," Topaz said. "If she does, she'll drown even with this device on. It's a long story."
The creature pulled away from Robin. For a split second it didn't looked very pleased with Robin declining the jewelry.
"How long will this take?" Penguin said placing the thing on his wrist. He flinched when the prongs on it pierced his skin. "Ouch. I didn't know it was going to burrow into us like that."
Topaz flinched too, blood dripping down their skin. "I hope this works. A few minutes, I think. I'm not sure of the word they actually used."
"Then we just wait," Penguin said.
A few minutes later, pain shot through their arms. It spread over their bodies. Their skin started changing colors. Robin's eyes widened at the transformation. She said, "Are you two all right?"
"We're…we're fine," Topaz said.
Robin narrowed her eyebrows. She didn't have a good feeling about this. With no other choice, she stood there watching as her friends changed into the same creatures as the ones who give them the jewelry, only their clothes remained. She felt a little better about not accepting it. If they needed help, she could get some, she hoped.
"Yeah, we're fine," Penguin said. The pain seemed to be fading.
"They said we can go in now," Topaz said. "Will you be all right here?"
"I will." Robin nodded.
"If we find the shard we'll bring it back up," Topaz said. "But for now we're just going to look around."
Robin nodded again. She watched as her two friends jumped into the small opening. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the pleased looks on the creatures' faces. Her bad feeling grew. She hoped that her friends would find the shard immediately and come back so they could leave.
…
The cool water rushed over their skin as they dove in. It was a strange sense of freedom like they never felt before. The water was dark. But they had perfect vision. Their webbed fingers make swimming through the water strikingly easy. They were surrounded by several tunnels and had no idea which one was the one they need. So they swam down one, eyes scanning all over the darkness. They saw nothing and turned down a tunnel. Without realizing it, they started swimming around more playfully instead of looking for the shard.
…
Robin sat for several hours waiting for her friends to return. She hoped they didn't get lost down there. Glancing over at the creatures that were still watching her. She had no clue why they didn't go in the water. Surely being fish creatures they need to get wet occasionally. Still they remained, always watching her. Then splashes brought her attention back to the hole. Penguin and Topaz had returned. She sighed, relieved. "I'm so glad you're all right. You were down there for so long."
"Sorry," Topaz said. "There were a lot of tunnels down there."
"And we got distracted by swimming," Penguin said. "It's amazing. You should really join us."
Robin kneaded her eyebrows. Something about that was completely wrong. He knew she shouldn't go in the water. But before she could say anything, the creatures gathered around Topaz and Penguin.
"Thanks. It was great," Topaz said, as they were led away. "It was so much fun. We'll have to swim together. Hey, Robin! They're going to feed us now! Come on!"
Robin watched them go before standing up and following them with the monkey by her side. They were lead into a lagoon where they were fed different types of fishes and other things that they couldn't place. Penguin and Topaz dug right in to it all like they didn't care about the unidentifiable items. Robin stuck to fish. She remained quiet, feeling like an outsider again in this moment.
…
Law yawned and ran a hand through his wild hair as he left the bathroom. Wondering back over to the bed, he smiled when he saw his love sleeping peacefully. At some point since he left the bed she had shifted and pushed the covers down to her hips, exposing her flesh to him. He couldn't help but eye the hickeys he had left all over her body from their recent intimacy. A smirk formed over his lips. He crawled back under the covers. Pressing his lips to her shoulder before pulling the blanket up over her cool skin. He then slipped his hand over her side and cradled their child. With a content sigh, he laid down and closed his eyes.
Neo curled into herself. A confusing dream of Penguin changing somehow filtered into her mind. She whimpered. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up with a gasp. "Penguin!"
"Neo?" Law said up, placing his hand on her back.
"Something's wrong with Penguin," Neo said. "He's…they're all in trouble. Topaz and Robin. They're together. Something's happening to them."
"Okay." Law pressed his lips to her temple. "They'll be okay. They're strong."
"I know, but I'm worried," Neo said. "I want them back."
"They'll be here soon," Law said, kissing her neck. "Just breath."
Neo took in a deep breath and released it.
"Good girl." Law licked her ear then gently pressed her back down to the bed, trailing his lips over her neck and up to her lips. He murmured against them. "Let me distract you."
"Again?" Neo asked.
"You really don't want to?" Law smirked at her.
Neo wrapped her arm around his neck. "I never said that." She pulled him to her lips.
…
Over the next two weeks that they had been here in this strange underground place, Robin watched as her two friends become more and more distant from her. She tired to talk to them about the shard in the first few days, they told her to relax. Then, suddenly, they showed signs of not knowing what she was talking about at all. And that's where they were again. She said, "What's wrong with you two?"
Topaz and Penguin looked at her, tilting their heads like they didn't understand what she was saying. They turned from her and started to head off from her, ready to go swimming again with their new friends. She continued, "Penguin! Topaz! What about Neo!"
They stopped and looked back at her. She got to them, at least a bit. Neo was the key. "Think about your sister. She's waiting for us. We have to get the shard and get back to her." Her eyes dropped to the jewelry on their wrists. It had to be those that caused this. It didn't happen to her because she never put one on. It had to be those. "It's those bracelets! They changed you! These creatures are not our friends! Our real friends are waiting for us!"
The creatures made some strange grumbling noises before walking up to Robin and grabbing her. She tried to cross her arms over her chest, but they pinned them down. They started to pull her away from her friends. Her heart thumped wildly. She had no idea where they could possibly take her. "Penguin! Think about Neo! She's scared and waiting for us! We have to get back to her!"
One of the creatures said something to Penguin in their native tongue. He turned and dove into the water. Topaz remained on the edge of the water, clearly unsure of what to do as Robin kept getting drugged away.
"You won't take them away from us," an unfamiliar voice said.
Robin looked around, wondering who had said that.
"We need them," the voice said again.
Robin's eyes widened when she saw who was speaking. It was one of the creatures. "Who…how?"
"I was once one of you," it said. "Well, maybe not exactly like you. I lived in the Time Stream. I came here once. I met these creatures. They gave me this wonderful ability to swim." It gestured to its body. "Its amazing really. To help them like this."
"Help them?" Robin asked. "What do you mean?"
"Their kind is dying out," it said. "I was chosen to help them." It moved over to a bush. Pushing it back, it revealed a nest of eggs. "You and yours will help as well."
Robin twitched when one of the creatures walked towards her with the jewelry in its hand.
"You will help us flourish once more," it said.
Robin gritted her teeth. If they put that thing on her then she would lose her memories as well. They would be trapped down here. What would happen then? Would Pendulum save them? He was the only one who knew where they were. But they didn't have the shard yet.
The creature stepped closer.
She counted the creatures. She wondered if she could defeat them all herself. They showed no signs of any type of power. But they could have just been hiding that. Should she try and break free and fight? She had to. She had to try. Suddenly a loud splash caused them all to turn their heads back to the water hole. Penguin had returned with the shard in his hand. "Penguin!"
Penguin ripped the jewelry off his arm, turning back to normal. Topaz followed.
The monkey grabbed the shard.
"What happened?" Topaz asked when the scene around them changed to a smaller dome with only two buildings on it. She looked down at her hands. "We're back to normal."
"I feel dizzy," Penguin said, sitting down. "Sorry, Robin. We didn't mean to…"
"It's all right," Robin said, rubbing her sore arms. "It wasn't your fault. We all were trick. They seemed so benevolent."
"And to think all they wanted to do was rebuild their population," Topaz said. She shivered. "And to think they could actually turn people into one of them."
"Thanks to you we got out of there," Penguin said, looking at Robin.
"I think Neo saved us," Robin said. "My own words weren't reaching you. But her name did."
"Speaking of which," Topaz said, grinning. "She's here."
The door to the house busted open. Neo flew out to them, immediately grabbing Penguin in her arms. "You're here! I was so worried about you!" She engulfed them in her solar crystal without even asking. "What happened?! I know something happened to you!"
"Easy, Neo." Penguin rubbed her back. "We're fine. Things did get a little weird, but we're okay."
Neo pulled back and examined his face. She brushed her thumbs over his cheeks. "You're okay."
Penguin nodded.
When the Topaz and Robin moved close enough, she pulled them into their hug as everyone came outside to greet the new arrivals.
"This is great!" Luffy exclaimed. "Now all that's left is Franky and Zoro!"
…
"I can't believe I have to fight again," Franky said as their small group made their way through the bustling city.
"It's suppose to be some kind of technicality in your match earlier today," Ky said.
"But what's the point of having a rematch?" Zoro said. "We all got our share of food for today."
"I know," Cressida said. "It doesn't make any sense."
"Has there been another incident like this?" Franky asked.
"No," Ky said. "I've checked the database multiple times. There's been no record of a rematch in the history of the matches."
"Well, there is always the chance of a first," Zoro said. They finally reached the fighting center and entered into it. Surprisingly, they were greeted with silence rather than the typical crowd screaming and jeering at the fighters.
"There's another first," Cressida said.
"Let me guess," Franky said. "No crowds or other matches going on are also a first?"
"You got it," Cressida said.
Zoro pushed one of his swords up. "You feel that?"
"I sure do, bro," Franky said.
"Feel what?" Ky asked.
"We walked right into an ambush," Zoro said.
"Very good," Rumble's voice said from the shadows. His shoes tapped along the catwalk until a spot light turned on, highlighting his black suit and him.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Cressida demanded.
"I think you would know by now," Rumble said. "Or at least be smart enough to figure it out."
"What are you…" Cressida's voice trailed off. A shocked gasped passed over her lips. "No…"
"That's right, little girl," Rumble said. "I know what you've been up to."
"But…how?" Cressida asked. "We were so careful."
"Or so you believed," Rumble said. "You weren't as careful as you like to think. I sent a cyborg to your house under cover as someone wanting to escape from this city. You stupidly informed him of your plans, which I had been suspecting for a while. And after I got his information all I had to do was lure you here."
Zoro cursed, pulling out his swords. "And like idiots we fell right into it."
"Well, looks like we're going to have to fight our way out of here," Franky said when several of Rumble's men walked out of the shadows.
"Oh, you'll be fighting all right," Rumble said. He snapped his figures. Two gorilla men came out and grabbed Cressida.
"Cress!" Ky reached for her, but a cyborg cracked him on the back, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Ky!" Cressida shouted before one of the gorilla men clamped his hand over her mouth and pulled her into the shadows.
"Hey! Give her back!" Franky demanded.
"Sorry. No can do. She's mind now," Rumble said. "Don't worry. I'll take very good care of her." He turned and walked off. "Kill them."
The cyborgs lunged at them.
Zoro and Franky held back their punches as they started exchanging blows with the cyborgs. Franky said, "This is just great. What do we do now? It's not their fault they have to fight."
"I know," Zoro said. "But if we don't do something we're going to be in some serious trouble."
"Not to mention Cress," Ky said, standing up.
"You okay, bro?" Franky asked.
"I'll be fine," Ky said. "Cress is the one we need to worry about. We have to get out of here and go after her."
"Don't worry," Zoro said, slicing down a cyborg. "These guys aren't so bad. We can easily take them by releasing our full power."
"What are you talking about?" Ky looked around. "Rumble practically has the entire city coming after us."
Zoro and Franky smiled.
"Oh, don't worry," Franky said.
"We've fought a lot more than this," Zoro said. He placed his third sword in his mouth, ready to take them all down. "You ready?"
"Yeah." Franky nodded. "Radical Beam!"
"Kalasutra! Great Dragon Twister!"
"Huh?" Ky blinked in disbelief as all the cyborgs and animal henchmen of Rumble went flying through the air. "It's not…how did…you can't…"
"Let's go!" Franky grabbed their stunned friend and headed for the door.
"Snap out of it!" Zoro said once they had reached outside. "We have to get Cressida back! And you have to lead us to Rumble's place, unless he took her somewhere else."
"Uh, no," Ky said, coming down from his shock. "He'll take her to his place. There's nowhere else for him to go. It's the only place that well guarded. But how did you all do that? You didn't show that kind of skills in the fights."
"Yeah, well, we have our reasons for keeping our skills hidden," Zoro said. He glanced at the monkey now clinging to Franky's shoulder.
"Tell us where to go," Franky said.
"Take a right here," Ky said. "Then just go straight through the city. Once the buildings thinned out, you'll see his mansion. You can't miss it. It's upon a hill over looking the city."
"Why am I not surprised?" Franky asked.
"It's just another way that Rumble keeps an eye on things," Ky said. "You can put me down."
"Right." Franky sat him down. "Can you fight?"
"I can," Ky said, now running. "I might not be as good as you two but I can hold my own."
"And we're here to back you up," Zoro said.
"What about when we get there?" Franky asked. "It sounds like his place is really huge. How are we going to find Cressida?"
"I have downloaded a blueprint to the mansion," Ky said. "I did it just incase something like this happened. Once we get her back we need to get back home. It's a little earlier than we planned, but we have to activate it anyway and set the cyborgs free."
"You sure about that, bro?" Franky asked. "Is the thing finished?"
"No," Ky said. "But it's close. We'll have to rush through the last of it, but we don't have a choice. Rumble knows what we're plan-Oh crap!"
"What?" Franky asked.
"If Rumble knows what we're planning then some of his minions are heading back to our place to destroy it!" Ky said. "We can't let that happen!"
"I'll go back to the house," Franky said.
"You sure?" Zoro asked.
"I should be able to defend it just fine," Franky said. "You and Ky get Cressida and meet me back there. And try not to take too long. I don't know how long I can hold them off, depending on how many are actually there."
"Right." Zoro nodded. "We'll see you there."
Franky nodded back then turned to his right and disappeared down another sidewalk.
"Will he really be all right by himself?" Ky asked.
"He'll be fine," Zoro said. "Let's just focus on getting Cressida and getting back to your place."
"And we need to rally the cyborgs," Ky said. "We'll have to start to try and convince them that we can free them. And hope they believe us."
"Here comes some more!" Zoro said.
"Right! Remember to try and tell them our plan!" Ky said. He ran a bit away from Zoro and started fighting. He kicked, punched, and dodged their attempts of taking him out. "Listen to me! We're going to free you as cyborg slaves!"
"You can't!" one said.
"We'll always be slave!" another one said.
"No you won't!" Ky said. "Cress and I have been developing away to free us all! But we have to unite and take down Rumble together!"
"It's impossible!"
"It's not impossible if you stop being such cowards and fight for your freedom!" Zoro said, slicing off weapons from some cyborgs arms.
"We still need a little time but we can free you, my brothers and sisters!" Ky said. "We will no longer have to do jobs out of force! We will be able to choose our jobs!"
"Lies! We'll all be killed!"
"We can be killed right now for any reason!" Ky snapped back. "Rumble already holds our lives in the palm of his hands! Any minute now he can kill us just because he wants to! But he's not! He's not because he has Cress and is going to do who knows what to her! He's distracted! We can take him down! Just let us pass by! Let us get her back and then you all will be freed!"
The cyborgs slowed down their attacks.
"What are you morons doing?!" a gorilla man demanded. "Fight or die!"
"No," a cyborg said. "I'm tired of this." He turned to the gorilla. "I won't fight like this anymore."
"What?!" the gorilla asked.
"I will fight with Ky and Cressida!" The cyborg charged forward and engaged in battle with two gorillas. Other cyborgs exchanged looks before changing sides.
Zoro smiled. "At least we got some of them on our side."
"Let's just hope it's enough," Ky said before leading Zoro through the fights and closer towards Rumble's mansion.
…
Franky dashed down the sidewalks, knocking anyone and everyone out of his way that was trying to stop him from getting back to Ky and Cressida's house. He chuckled. "This reminds me of Dressrosa. I just hope we can get out of this with less scrapes than that fight."
He barreled through a gathering crowd of cyborgs intent on stopping him. "Get out of my way!"
Citizens dodged out of his way and the fight, clearing himself a better path to run faster. Soon their temporary house came into his view. No one appeared to be watching it from the outside, but he figured there would be some on the inside. So when he got there, he didn't stop. He went right in. And as he though, there was five gorilla guys smashing away at the equipment. Catching them off guard from his surprise entrance, he used that to knock them all out.
…
Cressida watched in horror as multiple people descended down on her friends before her vision blurred and she blacked out. The stiffness of her wheelchair was replaced by something soft when she finally started to wake up again. Opening her eyes she found herself staring up at a maroon canopy. Her heart took a painful beat when she remembered what happened. She tried to move only to find that her wrists had been chained and she was bound to the bed.
Her gut twisted into knots when she finally noticed the smell of the room. It held the same cheep smell of the cologne Rumble wore. She was in his room. And that wasn't anything good. Her brain wanted to show her what he had planned for her. With desperation she tried to ignore it. But she knew. She knew what he wanted to do to her, other than kill her. The pounding in her head made her miss the opening and closing of the door.
"I see you're finally awake," Rumble said. He moved away from the door and walked over to the bed. Glaring down at her with eyes filled with lust and hatred. "You have been a royal pain, you know?"
"Says the one who's forcing people to be slaves only because they're different," Cressida hissed at him.
"They are not normal. They deserve to be treated as slaves." Rumble chuckled as he crawled onto the bed. He placed his hands on each side of her head, hovering over her body with malicious intent. He ran one hand down her side and over her bosoms. "I've tried to kill you so many times. Yet, I never managed to succeed in that. Have you ever wondered why?"
"You're just a lousy shot," Cressida snapped.
"I did fine with your parents." Rumble smirked, earned a hate filled glare from the girl underneath him. Sitting down on his legs, he used his other hand to roam over her body as well. "You're such a feisty little thing. I really like that in a woman. And you'll be so submissive thanks to the injuries you have gotten."
"I might not be able to walk, but I can still fight you," Cressida replied. "I'm not as submissive as you think. You won't get away with this."
"Oh? And who do you think is going to save you?" Rumble leaned down and kissed her neck.
Cressida felt her skin crawling from his touch. "You know exactly who."
Rumble laughed. "That machine? You think that it can save you? I have it under my control just like the rest of them."
Cressida smirked at him. "You think so? If you have him under your control then why haven't you stopped him already? You can easily do that with a push of a button."
Rumble sat up and frowned at her.
"You don't do it because you know you can't," Cressida said. "You know that I came up with a way to block that. And I've put it into Franky as well."
Rumble forced the frown away. He murmured to her while he trailed kisses along her neck, over her cheek until he was mere centimeters away from her lips. "That doesn't matter. I have an entire city under my command. He won't reach this place. He'll die before he does."
"Neve-" Cressida was cut off by his lips pressing against her. She gagged. Desperately, she tried to shove him off of her. She didn't want this. Ky was the one she wanted to kiss her. But she couldn't stop him. Her legs were useless. And her arms were bound to the bed. She was at Rumble's mercy and his roaming hands that was working her clothes off of her. Tears leaked through her tightly closed eyes. She tried to imagine she was somewhere else, anywhere else, besides here. Next thing she knew, the pressure of Rumble's body was off hers. She opened her eyes to see Ky flying over her as he tackled Rumble off the bed.
"You stay away from her!" Ky hissed. Once his feet hit the ground, he forced Rumble into the wall then preceded to punch the man in the face, blood flying everywhere.
Zoro ran over to Cressida, easily cutting the chains that held her down. "Get dressed."
"R-right." Cressida forced her eyes off the beating and pulled her clothes back on her body. Once dressed, her eyes went back to the fight.
Rumble, transforming into his gorilla body, forced Ky away from him then threw a punch in Ky's face.
Ky's head snapped back. He recovered in time to dodge another punch from Rumble. Ducking down he swung his leg towards Rumble's legs, knocking the man down.
Zoro blinked at the two fighting. "This could go on forever. We should just grab him and go."
"Leave them be," Cressida said, brushing her lips off in an attempt to get the feeling of Rumble kissing her out of her mind. "Rumble deserves this. He deserves to die."
"Zoro, take her and go!" Ky ordered, blocking a punch with his wrist.
"What?! No! I'm not leaving you!" Cressida shouted back. "We're in this together if you stay then I stay!"
"You should take her advice, machine." Rumble chuckled darkly while he pulled out a gun from underneath this shirt. "I'll win this. I have an entire city! An entire army at my command!" He started to pull the trigger. A sudden blast went off, knocking them all off balance. Sirens and alarms shrilled in response. "What?!"
"Sorry to inform you of this, but your rule is over," Zoro said. "We managed to convince some of your slaves to join us. They're currently in the process of destroying this place completely. Besides that," He rushed forward and sliced Rumble's gun in half, "Ky isn't pulling any weapons on you. Fight like a man. Finish this fight that you started."
Rumble scoffed, tossing the remains of the gun to the floor. "He's no man! He's a machine! But fine! I don't need a gun to kill a machine!"
"Well, this machine knows right from wrong," Ky said before punching Rumble in the face. He kept on punching him, blocking Rumble's attempts to hit back, and even catching a few hits from the man himself. Blood dripped down his busted lip and chin, but he still fought. "I know it's not right to force someone into being a cyborg just because you find it funny. I know it's not right to force those people into being slaves. I know it's not right to try and kill someone who hasn't done anything to you. And I know you are now defeated. We have won, Rumble. You're losing your slaves today."
Ky gave Rumble one more punch. It knocked the man out cold. Ky stumbled back, huffing and puffing before rushing over to Cressida. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine." Cressida clung to his neck. "You two are such idiots coming here like that."
"We weren't going to let him keep you," Ky said.
"But our plans and house." Cressida pulled back from him.
"Franky's already over there defending the place. We need to get going now," Zoro said when he heard thundering footsteps coming towards the room.
"Right." Ky nodded, picking Cressida up.
Zoro then cut a hole in the wall and took Cressida from Ky after putting up his swords. He waited for Ky to jump out of the hole and transform into his flying self before he jumped out with Cressida. Flying over the city, he couldn't help but look down. A rebellion had flared up. He had no idea if they cyborgs were actually going to win. But with Cressida and Ky freeing them from Rumble's control, they at least had a chance. Before long, they arrived at the house and dashed inside where they found Franky patching up the damaged the others had done to it.
"Hey! You all made it! Super!" Franky said with a smile.
"How bad are the damages?" Zoro asked while Ky pulled out and set Cressida in her spare chair. "Ky might have defeated Rumble for now, but his army is still in tact. Most are probably going to stay in the city to try and stop the rebellion, but they'll come after us as soon as they realize Ky and Cressida have escaped."
"I've managed to fix what I can," Franky reported. "With the three of us working together now it shouldn't take too much longer to fix what's left."
"Great," Cressida said, she took over the keyboard controls while Franky and Ky connected wires, placed panels in the right places and other stuff.
"They're coming!" Ky said when his censors started beeping.
"Zoro! You've got to buy us some time!" Franky shouted.
"Right! Just hurry!" Zoro shouted back over his shoulder. "I don't know for how long I'll be able to hold off an entire army!"
Zoro ran back outside and slashed down as many enemies as he could while the others worked as fast as they could to get the tower up and running. After several more intense moments of rushed work and fighting, the beacon began to hum.
…
Cressida smiled upon hearing her masterpiece humming like a kitten. "That's it! The shard is now all we need! Ky!"
"It would be my pleasure." Ky popped opened his chest and pulled out the shard. He slid it into place. The shard began to glow.
"One last thing and we're done." Cressida pulled a small square disk out of her pocket.
"What's that?" Franky asked. "I've never seen it before."
"A highly secret piece of the puzzle. It's the only thing that we have never mentioned to anyone just in case something like this happened," Cressida said as she laid the disk into it correct place. Franky blinded in confusion when he noticed that the shard was pulling some kind of power out of the disk. He didn't have time to ask what was going on as the house began to open and change its shape into a satellite disk. The house lit up as the wave from the beacon began to flow through the air. Cressida's eyes lit up. "It's working! The chips are malfunctioning all over the city! We did it! We're free from Rumble!"
"Attention, citizens of the Dome of Cyborgs, my fellow Cyborgs, you are no longer slaves to Rumble," Ky spoke when he lifted up a microphone. "Cressida and I have destroyed the chips controlling you! You are now free! Rumble has been defeated! Take down the rest of his army! Take them all, my brothers and sisters! Freedom is now ours! Take it! Take our rightful places in this dome!"
"And that's it?" Franky asked.
"Yes." Cressida nodded as she started outside.
Once outside, Franky noticed that Rumble's army had turned on each other. They were divided between those who served Rumble loyally and those who wanted freedom. It was only natural that some would stick with Rumble, whether out of loyalty or fear, either way the cyborg slaves were moving towards their freedom.
"I'm glad that's over," Zoro said, putting up his swords. "Now we can get the heck out of here."
"We can't thank you enough," Ky said as he put his arm around Cressida's shoulders. They all headed back inside.
"But there's something I don't understand," Franky said. He paused when he saw the console that the shard was in was sizzling and smoking. "Is it supposed to do that?"
"Yes," Cressida said as Ky removed the shard from the console. "We never told you this because we couldn't risk it, but this shard uses power from other things. This little disk actually held what we needed to put the control chips out of power, but I could never make one big enough to cover this entire area to make sure all of the control chips got destroyed. It took several tests with this shard to figure out how it actually worked and that's it's almost completely indestructible. But we did it. We're all finally free of Rumble. Now that his slaves have been taken away he can no longer control us. People will now revolt against him."
"Hold on a second," Franky said. "If that thing can pull power from another source, doesn't that mean it can pull power from any source?"
"What are you talking about?" Zoro asked.
"For an example," Franky said then swallowed before continuing, "let's say there's this girl, who's magical, can this shard pull her magic from her and be used by someone else's will?"
"Uh…" Cressida tapped her chin in thought. "Well, I don't know anything about magic, but theoretically, yes. I suppose that could happen as long as the person who's using the shard has the right equipment or conduit for the magic to flow through. Why?"
Franky looked over at Zoro. The swordsman stared at his cyborg companion for a few seconds before he finally realized what Franky was getting at. Zoro said, "Neo was the target after all."
"Kailen did warn us about other magic users in the world," Franky replied. He looked down at the monkey. The monkey slipped through the bodies and grabbed the shard. Both Zoro and Franky charged at the monkey. "Hey! Don't you da-"
They only got a couple steps before the current world they were in disappeared.
"-re!"
Franky and Zoro blinked. They were no longer on the Dome of Cyborg Slaves but instead a smaller one with a few gardens, trees, a strange looking tower, and an even stranger looking clock shaped house.
"Hey! Franky! Zoro! You made it!" Luffy waved to them from the open doors of the house. "Hey, everyone! Zoro and Franky have arrived!"
"Luffy?" Zoro asked. "What happened? Where are we?"
"Really?" Usopp asked as everyone came running out of the house to meet the last of their friends to arrive.
"Franky! Zoro!" Neo's eyes lit up at seeing her friends.
"Crap! No! Get Neo out of here!" Zoro said.
"Do it now!" Franky added.
"Huh?" Nami asked. "Why? What's t-"
"Law!" Neo's scream when her hand was ripped from Law as she flew backwards. Looking down at her body, she found that same blob that had attacked them on the beach was wrapped around her body again. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw it was pulling her towards shattered pieces of a broken mirror. To all of their surprise, the shards started growing and merging together.
"What the heck?!" Usopp shrieked.
"Those are the shards we picked up?!" Nami gasped. "How are they get so big?!"
"Crap! We're too late!" Zoro said.
"What's going on?!" Luffy asked.
"Never mind that! Just help Neo!" Penguin said, rushing forwards.
"Neo!" Law shouted, unsheathing his sword he lead the frontal assault.
Neo summoned her crystals in a desperate attempt to get free. But nothing she did would help her. The blob then pushed her against the mirror. Her skin shivered from the coolness of the shard. It released her, leaving her attached to the mirror. A shocked gasped left her lips when she entered into the mirror. Refocusing her mind, she attacked the mirror from the inside just as Law reached it and sliced it from the outside. Nothing happened. Their attacks didn't even scratch the thing. She pounded on the mirror, tears streaking down her cheeks. "Law! Get me out of here!"
"Room! Shambles!" Law twisted his hand, but nothing happened. "Shambles! Shambles!" Still nothing. "Crap!"
Luffy jumped into the air, using his Armament Haki, he punched the mirror repeatedly. He gasped when he wasn't even able to put a crack in it. "What the heck is that thing made of?! I didn't even crack it!"
"Crap! Crap! Crap! Cressida said this thing was next to indestructible!" Franky said.
"Who's Cressida?" Chopper asked.
"A girl we met. She preformed tests on the piece of shard she had. It uses power, and possibly magic, from other sources and magnifies it. Pendulum didn't keep Neo here by accident. He was after her all along," Franky quickly summoned up. "It was for her protection so she would be able to do…whatever this is."
"But why?" Shachi asked. "What does he want with her?"
"Law! Please! Get me out of here!" Neo cried as she continued pounded on it with her fists.
"I will! Just hold on!" Law placed his free hand on the mirror. She placed her hands over his on her side. Before anything else could be said or done the mirror lifted into the air and flew over to the other building in the dome. All their eyes followed but their bodies remained in place. "Neo!"
"Law!" Neo panic when the two pinchers began to move towards the mirror. They pinched the mirror, holding it in place.
The building started to glow yellow.
"What's happening?!" Sanji asked as they all bolted for the tower at the same time.
The glow started at the bottom of the building, moving upwards until it had Neo's wrists and ankles bound, making her body into an x. She screamed out in pain when the glow engulfed her entire body. Her crystals formed, but not from her.
"Neo!" Law's knees buckled underneath he pain that spread to him through their bond. "What's…happening?!"
"I…don't know!" Neo replied. "It's forcing me to use my crystals!"
"What'd she say, Captain?!" Bepo asked.
"That thing…it's forcing her to use her crystals," Law replied.
"Curse that man!" Elian hissed.
"What is he up to?" Velocity asked. "What's the point of all this?"
Celeste shivered and dove into Sanji's shirt. "Too scary! Pretty Princess hurting!"
Pendulum's laughter rang throughout the dome. The pirates stopped in their tracks when the man appeared between them and Neo. Velocity and Elian dove for cover to hide from the man.
"Stop this!" Nami shouted. "She's pregnant!"
"Is there a point to that?" Pendulum asked nonchalantly. "I already knew that before I brought you all here. It didn't matter one bit to me."
Law gripped his sword and charged in blindly, rage coursing through his veins, with the others following close behind. "Give her back to me at once!"
Pendulum waved his hand, freezing all of the pirates in place. He chuckled. "Sorry, pirates, but you won't be able to stop one who can control time at will."
Pendulum turned and flew up to the top of the tower. Standing on top of it, he held out his hands and shouted to the top of the dome. "I've done it! Do you see me, Empress Futura? After all of these centuries I finally win! And there's nothing you can do to stop me now!"
…
Elian and Velocity exchanged looks. With a two second, silent conversation, they nodded. Flying out from behind a tree, their bodies grew to a human's size. They ran over to the pirates, spreading their glow over the pirates, freeing them from being frozen in time. The pirates' bodies all relaxed as they started to over come the strange sensation of being frozen in time.
"What just happened?" Nami asked.
"I feel so strange," Robin reported.
"That was a very strange sensation," Brook said.
"Captain, what happened?" Bepo asked while rubbing his head.
"Anyone else have the desire to fiddle with clocks?" Usopp asked.
"We don't have time to explain what happened," Elian said.
"Ack!" Usopp shouted and fell back onto his butt. "What the heck?! How are you so tall now?!"
"We don't have time to explain that either!" Velocity shouted. "But we are on your side!"
"Well, isn't this a surprise. Time Guardians Velocity and Elian," Pendulum said, looking down on them. "I'm a bit surprised to see you here. I was wondering why you always hid when I came to visit the little princess here. It makes sense now. Futura must have sent you here to keep an eye on this tower I built. But it's too late. No matter what precautions your ruler has put in place, they won't work. I already have the girl in place. My plan is already in the works and it can't be stopped."
"You will be stopped! I'm going to kill you!" Law demanded. He started to head towards Pendulum again, but Elian jumped in front of him, earning a death filled glare from the captain. "Get out of my way or die with him!"
"No! Just listen to me! You can't go after him alone! He just froze you and your people in time!" Elian said. "You need our help!"
"I told you to get out of m-"
"Captain!" Penguin suddenly shouted.
When Law turned back to his subordinate his eyes widened. Penguin, Usopp, and Nami's feet were slowly disappearing.
"What's happening to them?!" Luffy demanded.
"Crap! That's what he's doing?!" Velocity cursed.
"What is he doing?" Nami shouted. "I don't want to disappear!"
"Crap! He's altering the time line!" Velocity replied. "If we don't stop him quickly we all could disappear forever!"
"What?!" Chopper and Usopp screamed. "I don't want to disappear forever! I want to live!"
"And he needs Neo to do that?" Robin asked.
"Unfortunately, that's not all he's doing." Velocity nodded. She held up her hand. A small glowing ball appeared in it. It showed them what she was talking about. The world, the pirates' world was changing. The ground was shifting, ocean waves were crashing all over the place, and people were disappearing. Everything was changing, even on the time domes. Neo's crystals were, somehow, physically changing the world. They were causing storms and reshaping the world itself. "Pendulum has always been known as sadistic and full of himself, but who knew this was his plan."
"What's going on?!" Zoro demanded. "Spill it already! We don't have time for crap like this!"
"Our sister is in trouble!" Shachi said.
"Pendulum is using Neo to reshape the world and the time line into his image since she has all the crystals that control the elements. That's why some of your friends are disappearing. He's changing the timeline," Elian said. He looked right into Law's eyes. "I know you want to save her, but you can't do that when he can freeze you in place and time."
"I have to save her! I won't abandon her to him!" Law shouted.
"You don't have to tell me that! I know how much you care about her! I can see it in her eyes! I saw it every time she cried for you! We will help you! We're the only ones who can!" Elian said as his sister joined his side. "We might not be as strong as Pendulum but we can keep you unfrozen! But you have to trust us!"
"He's right," Velocity said. "We know we haven't known you all for very long, but we are the only ones who can help you."
Law gritted his teeth. He knew they weren't his enemies. They were really trying to help him. He forced himself to calm down. They were right. These two were the only ones who could help them. "Fine."
"So what do we do?" Shachi asked. "How do we stop this?"
"We only have two options here. One is to kill Pendulum and the other is to take down the tower," Elian said. "Either one will do."
"Our best chance would be to spilt into groups and go after them at the same time," Velocity added.
"Sorry, but I won't give you the chance to stop me," Pendulum said with a snap of his fingers. Several of the monkeys that had been following them around appeared around the pirates, surrounding them. Then without warning, some of them grew to the size of gorillas while four of them grew to be almost the size of the house leaving around a hundred regular size ones.
"What the heck?!" Usopp shouted. His eyes wondered up the tallest monkeys' bodies.
"Well, that's unexpected," Brook mumbled, pulling out his sword.
"Divide up into three teams!" Velocity ordered. "One team needs to fight these monkeys, the second team tries to destroy the tower while the third team deals with Pendulum! Hurry up! We don't have much time!"
"Since there's only two of us, there can only be two of you who can attack Pendulum. We won't be able to keep up with more than that," Elian added.
"Luffy and Tra are the two strongest we have," Franky said.
"Yes! You ready?" Luffy punched his hand into his fist before looking at Law. Law nodded. "Then lets get her back! The rest of you, help the Heart Pirates take down that tower and the monkeys!"
"You got it, Captain!" The Straw Hats nodded.
"And we better get it down fast or we're going to be short some crewmates," Franky said, noticing more of Penguin, Usopp and Nami's bodies fading away. "At this rate we're all gonna disappear."
"Don't worry about us!" Penguin said. "Just stop Pendulum!"
"Yeah. Let's get this over with," Zoro said before placing his sword in his mouth. "I'm ready to get back to the Sunny."
"Zoro, Sanji and Franky," Robin said while she formed several hands and smacked down some of the smaller monkeys, though the attack didn't do any damage to them. "You three should be strong enough to take the tower. The rest of us will handle the monkeys."
"Sounds good to me," Sanji said, standing ready with his hands in his pockets.
"Cutie going to fight?" Celeste poked her head out of his pocket.
"Yeah." Sanji tapped her head with his finger. "You just stay in there. Every thing will be fine."
"Okay." Celeste ducked back down.
"Help them," Law ordered his crew. They nodded in obedience. While Bepo and Shachi started attacking the monkeys upon command, Penguin paused to look at his captain. "I promised her I wouldn't let you do anything stupid. This fight is mine. I will get her back. Help the others."
"Aye aye, Captain." Penguin nodded before turning to help the others.
"All right then," Nami twirled her staff. "I really don't feel like disappearing from the world. So let's put an end to this. Now."
The 'Destroy The Monkeys' team pulled out their respective weapons and began to attack their adversaries while the 'Tower Team' headed for the tower, knocking over as many monkeys as they could in the process. Law and Luffy followed Elian and Velocity.
"Very well then," Pendulum spoke casually. He flew off the mirror and landed in front of the team pursuing him. "But this is futile. I've already seen the future. I win."
"You only see what you want to see!" Elian spat back. "You know that the future has many possibilities and is never set in stone until it has happened!"
"No." Pendulum shook his head. "I have seen the future and it is very clear that I will win this battle."
"You took my love from me. You put her and our child in danger. The only thing in your future is death," Law hissed with venom as he tightened his hold on the hilt of his sword. "Straw Hat…"
"Don't worry. I get it," Luffy cracked his knuckles. "I'll only help take him down. What happens after that…I'll leave up to you."