Songs
Ryokugyu's Identity: Invasion (Bleach OST), Treachery (Bleach OST)
My past (Bleach OST)
Combat Animus: Animus Black (AC Rogue Soundtrack)
Templar Meeting: On the Precipice of Defeat (Bleach OST)
"Time to talk. What is Akainu like? And who really is Ryokugyu?" Sanji asked. Everyone was sitting down looking at Luffy and myself.
"Akainu's a former admiral that was just promoted to Fleet Admiral. He was the most ruthless of the three of them, and he's the one who killed Ace and gave Luffy his scar. As for Ryokugyu...he's the boss."
"The boss of what?" asked Chopper.
"Everything. The Navy, the Admirals, for all we know, maybe even the Commander-in-Chief Kong and the Gorosei."
"So he leads the Navy, and he's the Templar Grandmaster. And he's the strongest man in the world. We already knew that." Zoro responded.
"That's not what I meant." They all looked confused. I looked at them with a dark face.
"He's the one responsible for all of your hardships. He's the one who organized all of our major conflicts."
"W-What do you mean?" asked Usopp, becoming slightly scared.
"Shells Town. He's the one who stationed Lieutenant Morgan there and gave the order to execute Zoro. Orange Town. He's the one who manipulated events so that Buggy's crew would take it over." Zoro and Nami's eyes began widening.
"A-Aaron-" began Nami.
"Syrup Village." I cut her off. "He's the one who hired Kuro to kill Kaya and steal her property." Usopp gritted his teeth in anger. "The Baratie. He's the one who sent Hawkeye after Zoro. He's the one who commanded Krieg to destroy the restaurant." Sanji and Zoro once again became angry.
"Arlong Park." Nami backed away in fear. "He's the one who knew about Bellemere's resignation and Nami's Cartography genius. He's the one who informed Arlong of her and told him to subjugate the village under his rule." Tears began to form in Nami's eyes.
"Drum Island. He's the one who made Wapol in charge of it and began a reign of terror. He's the one responsible for Hiriluk's death." Chopper became angry.
"Alabasta." I said maliciously. Everyone was beginning to understand just how dangerous this man was. "He's the one who came up with the revolution. He's the one who placed Crocodile in charge in order to measure his ability and invite him to join the Templars. Skypiea. He's the one who offered Eneru his devil fruit and had him rule with an iron fist. Water 7 and Enies Lobby." Robin and Franky gasped. "He's the one who told Lucci, Kaku, and the rest to take down Iceberg and Franky and execute Robin. Thriller Bark." Brook stood back. "He's the one who gave Moriah his devil fruit and told him to capture shadows. He's the one who provided him his zombie army and inducted him into the Order. He's the one who ordered Kuma to attack us. Sabaody Archipelago. He's the one who sent Kizaru after us when Luffy punched that Celestial Dragon. And now this: He's the one who provided the New Fishman Pirates with their power drugs." Everyone was silent, until Luffy spoke up.
"Aaron, it's time that you tell us about your past. All of it." I looked at him.
"No. Not yet. You aren't ready for it."
"What the hell do you mean by that?" asked Sanji.
"We just got back together. I wouldn't want to ruin the fun with any mental breakdowns now, would I?" I asked with a malevolent tone. They all looked at me differently than usual: they looked afraid.
"Are you ready to see the very depths of hell that this world has to offer? Murder, Betrayal, Insanity? Not yet, Luffy. I'll only say this once more: You're not ready." I walked towards the training room.
"I want you all to see something that I brought along." They followed me into the room. I walked over to the Combat Animus.
"When did you put that in here?" asked Zoro and Franky.
"Back on Sabaody. It's called a Combat Animus. You can use it to train and fight virtually."
"Really?" asked Franky.
"Really Really. I have loads of opponents programmed into here, including ourselves. Pirates, Marines, and Revolutionaries alike. They're all rated on a scale from 1 to 5, 5 being the hardest, according to their real life skills. When you get hooked up into the machine, you enter a comatose state and are transported into a virtual world where you fight your opponent as if it were real."
"COOL!" Luffy yelled.
"Hold it!" Nami grabbed his arm before he could press any buttons. "What's the catch?" she asked me.
"Any wounds or battle damage that you acquire in there will transmit to out here. If you become critically injured, or are on the verge of death, then the simulation will stop, and you'll wake up out here again, but you'll still be in that state. So don't bite off more than you can chew. That means no one out of your league, Luffy." I looked at him intently.
"That goes for all of you. Know your limits." I started up the program and the overhead screen became visible to everyone. An automated voice began to speak to me.
"Welcome to the Combat Animus Training Protocol. Please select an affiliation to proceed." There were three options on the screen: Pirates, Revolutionaries, and Marines. I selected Pirates.
"You have selected Pirates. Please choose a group difficulty." There were four categories now printed on the screen: Normals, Supernovas, Warlords, and Emperors & Legends. I pressed the last one.
"You have selected Emperors & Legends. Please choose an opponent."
"Are you really going to fight someone this powerful?" asked Zoro.
"No. I'm just showing you how the machine works." I scrolled through to show 7 different opponents.
"Please select an opponent from the following choices: Charlotte Linlin, aka Big Mom. Kaido of the Beasts. Edward Newgate, aka Whitebeard. Marshall D. Teach, aka Blackbeard. Red Haired Shanks. Dark King Silvers Rayleigh. Gol D. Roger." I pushed Shanks.
"You have selected Red Haired Shanks. Difficulty 5 out of 5. Will you proceed?" I hit no and shut the machine off.
"See how it works?" They all nodded.
"Let me fight Shanks!" yelled Luffy. Nami beat him into the ground.
"Didn't you just hear what he said?! Know your limits, Luffy!"
"She's right. You're not ready to take on Shanks yet. He's still stronger than myself, and his haki is twice as strong as yours when he's in a good mood. Come on." We dragged Luffy out of the training room and continued on with our normal day.
X
"I walked out of the training room after a combat animus session. No one was around. I looked over at the island we were docked at. It was snowing, and cold. I saw something in the distance: a volcano? It took about two and a half seconds before I realized where we were.
"Luffy you idiot!" I went back into my room and changed into Ezio's robes from his time in Constantinople. They were the thickest and best suited for the cold. I ventured off the ship to go see where they all were. I felt a powerful presence from on the island. It was faintly familiar, but definitely not one of the Straw Hats.
"Hm…" I activated my Eagle Sense and found an entrance of some sort not too far from me. I entered into the factory, and the first thing I saw was Nami and some of the Straw Hats running with a bunch of giant kids. They flew by me, so I didn't bother to ask what was going on. I was after other information. I followed my eagle sense to a room that looked like a small laboratory. There were three people in it. The first was a woman who looked like a harpy. The second was Trafalgar Law, the warlord. I knew about him already, as he had shown prior interest in joining the Brotherhood. The last one was someone who I didn't recognize. Law called him Caesar Clown. Law left the room to go calm the riot that the rest of my crew was causing. This gave me the perfect opportunity to find out what he was doing here, and why the island was still in operation, especially after the chemical bomb disaster and the Admirals' battle. Caesar then picked up a snail phone that was ringing.
"Hello?"
"Caesar."
"Joker! How are you doing?" My expression turned into one of anger.
'Doffy. Caesar works for him?'
"I wanted to check on your progress with SAD and SMILE."
"Things are going well. We're producing more and more Zoan's by the hour. As soon as they've been tested safe, we'll send them right over to you for your business."
"Excellent. Keep up the good work. You know that Kaido doesn't like to be kept waiting."
'He's doing business with Kaido? I know Law hates Doffy. He must have some ulterior motive for being here. Interesting.' I smiled.
"I've sent Baby 5 and Buffalo over to you to pick up some of them so that I can examine them personally."
"Understood! I'll see them in a bit then!" I left and went back outside, as I sensed that everyone had escaped. I teleported over to them, and saw Chopper sitting at a table, analyzing something. Everyone else was talking. Law was with them. I walked over.
"Oi, Luffy."
"Huh? Oh! Aaron! You're here!"
"Yeah. Law."
"Hello again, Aaron-ya."
"I have a question to ask you, Law. What are you doing here? You're obviously not allied with Caesar if Doflamingo's involved."
"Perceptive as always. I came here for information, and I have a plan."
"What is it?"
"Caesar is manufacturing man-made devil fruits under Doflamingo's orders. He ships them over to Dressrosa when they are ready. From there, Doflamingo trades with his clients. His most important business partner right now is Kaido, King of the Beasts."
"The Emperor."
"Right. Straw Hat-ya and I decided to form an alliance to stop the production of these fruits. We were going to defeat Caesar and capture him, then head over to Dressrosa and destroy the SMILE factory underground there. With production stopped, Kaido will go after Doflamingo and fight him. He's not the negotiating type."
"No, he's not...the Donquixote Family would be slaughtered."
"Right. Luffy and I are going to stay allied together until we manage to take down Kaido."
"That's a suicide mission. You'll get slaughtered too."
"I know, but...we'll manage it somehow."
"Hmph. Alright. Not the emperor I'd like to start with, but whatever. Now let's go get Caesar."
"Right." Luffy started walking in with me.
"A suicide mission?" Nami asked Law. He ignored her and kept walking. I looked back at her.
"He's the strongest pirate alive. We don't stand a chance." I kept walking.
"Then why are we doing it?!" she yelled angrily.
"Because we have to." Luffy said. And on we walked.
X
"So we're going on to Dressrosa now?" I asked. Law had just blackmailed Doflamingo. He along with Momonosuke and Kin'emon were traveling with us.
"Yes."
"Have you ever been there?" asked Luffy.
"No, I haven't." Law answered.
"I have." I responded.
"What's it like?" Law asked.
"Hmm...It's kind of hard to describe."
"Is it nice?" Nami asked.
"Yes and no."
"What does that mean?"
"It's a spanish-themed city that's supposed to be very peaceful. There's lot of culture there, and it's also famous for making people fall in love." Sanji started swirling around. Everyone else didn't really care. Robin chuckled, and Luffy and Nami gave off a faint blush, remembering their conversation at Fishman Island.
"But on the other hand, that country has a horrific, dark past. Plus it's ruled by Doffy, so you know that that can't end well." I shrugged. We continued the conversation in the dining hall.
"We've heard that the rest of my friends are waiting on an island called Zou, so that's where I was going to head after Dressrosa." Kin'emon mentioned. I sat up.
"What a coincidence. I was also going to head there myself after this. The rest of my crew is already there." There was a moment of silence before I spoke up.
"Why do you want to go there? Finally take us up on our offer?"
"Yes, I was hoping to. Especially after taking down Doflamingo."
"Excellent. We could use another Master Assassin."
"I'm lost. Weren't we talking about Zou?" Zoro asked.
"Zou's the headquarters of the Assassin Brotherhood. Did you guys even know the name of the island that I fought Ryokugyu on?"
"Really?!" asked Chopper.
"Really. When we arrive there, all of the Master Assassins are to greet us. They arranged the appointment already."
"How many is that?" asked Sanji.
"Hancock, Jinbe, myself, Rayleigh, Shanks, Dragon, and one other who's a surprise."
"Huh? Dad will be there?" asked Luffy.
"In the flesh."
"H-Hold on a minute! Why would we go somewhere so dangerous that Dragon himself is living on the island?!" screamed Nami.
"Nami? Would you rather be hunted down by the Templars, or be hunted down by the Templars knowing that one of the most powerful men in the world is protecting you? He knows Luffy's coming, he's not going to act hostile towards any of us."
"...Okay."
"I want to know more about Kaido!" Luffy cheered. Everyone's face turned blue.
"Fine. You want to know more about him?"
"Yeah. What's he like."
"Actually, he's a pretty cool guy. But he's crazy."
"Crazy how?" asked Franky slowly.
"Crazier than a drunk Zoro, rich Nami, or hungry Luffy." They all laughed slightly.
"The man has 500 devil fruit users in his army, and that's just a start."
"W-W-WHAT?! Who doesn't want to do this?! I don't!" Usopp yelled. Nami and Chopper agreed with him.
"He's been caught and tortured 18 times, and people have attempted to execute him 40 times. He's escaped every single incident unscathed because the weapons were not strong enough to kill him and shattered. Because of this, he has a hobby of attempting suicide."
"W-What?! WHY?!" Nami screamed.
"Because he's taken an interest into what can kill him. I've witnessed him dive off of a 10,000 foot cliff and plummet into the ground, only to come out without a scratch. He even seemed disappointed that it didn't work. Like I told you, the man's insane, and frankly Law, if you want to fight someone as powerful as that, I'd wait until we land at Zou and gain our allies. We'll have two warlords, an Emperor, the Vice-Captain of the Pirate King, and Dragon helping us out. Plus, the last Master Assassin has strength almost equal to that of an Admiral."
"A-An Admiral? Who is it?" Sanji asked.
"Can't tell you. It would ruin Luffy's surprise. Got it, Robin? Not a word."
"Understood." She giggled and continued reading.
"Y-You know too?!" Luffy whined.
"Yes. He's an elite member of the Revolutionary Army, that's all I can say. And you know him very well." Luffy thought for a moment.
"Is it Aaron?" I bashed his head into the ground, my face angry.
"YOU IDIOT! YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT I'M ONE OF THEM!"
"Luffy, just leave it at that! You'll meet him soon enough. He's scheduled to be in Dressrosa anyway." I growled.
X
"You're back."
"Yes. Mission accomplished. I have it now."
"Excellent. Come with me." They walked through the corridor into the Fleet Admiral's room.
"Saka."
"Hm?"
"He's back with the Devil Fruit." Ryokugyu looked over in the corner of the room to see Arlong relaxing on the couch. His outfit was different than before. He still wore his hat, but wore a long black trench coat and black shorts now. His back had a sturdy leather sheath strapped to it, for placing his Kiribachi in. It was currently next to him on the couch. Around his neck was a long gold chain that reached down to his chest. The end of the chain sported a gold and black templar cross.
"Call Doffy. We need to talk to him."
"Alright." Sakazuki turned on the large monitor behind him and called Doflamingo through a snail phone. A few moments later, the Warlord appeared on the monitor.
"Hahaha...Grand Master. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I imagine by now that you know about what happened at Punk Hazard." A few veins appeared on Mingo's forehead.
"Unfortunately. I'm not worried, though. I have a plan. Law asked for me to resign from the Warlords in order to get Caesar back. I just contacted CP0. Tomorrow, they'll print it in the newspaper as a false report, then tell everyone afterwards. I'll get Caesar back."
"You'll have to take him back by force. As soon as Law finds out, he's not going to keep his word, since you didn't keep yours."
"Trust me. I intend to take it by force."
"Alright then. The Straw Hat crew is heading there with Law and Caesar in tow now. Even I don't know what's going to happen. I want you to adapt to the situations that they create. After Dressrosa, they're probably going to head to Zou, since it's right on the way. Law wants to become a member of the Brotherhood." Doflamingo started laughing.
"We need to show Aaron, Luffy, and Law that we've made our move already. So here's what's going to happen: Arlong."
"What?"
"I'm going to raise your bounty to 500 million. After all, you can use haki now and have the Wave Wave Fruit. After the bounty raise, we're going to induct you as a Warlord. After all, Law will no longer be accepted as one after what he's going to pull at Dressrosa." Arlong grinned.
"We already have Crocodile on our side. If Doffy loses, then we're going to reinstate him as Warlord. Otherwise, we'll leave him as is. While Dressrosa is going on, I'm going to send out Mihawk to recruit two more members for us: Eustass Kid and Basil Hawkins. Hawkins has already shown interest in us, and I'm sure Kid would be fine with it too."
"Understood." Mihawk responded.
"There's just one more thing." Doflamingo said.
"What?"
"Aaron Hawthorne. Sorry to say, but after what he pulled at Zou fighting you, I'm not sure that I'll be strong enough to defeat him."
"I know that already. That's why I've already taken precautions. When I attacked him during that battle, I injected him with a certain liquid. He couldn't have felt it because the pain from the attack would have already taken over his senses. This liquid is something that I had Caesar develop. It does two things at once: first of all, it speeds up the insanity of Sage's Madness. By the time he gets to Dressrosa, he'll probably already be heavily under its influence and betray his friends in favor of the Order. Secondly, and more importantly, it creates a clone of myself that will reside in his subconscious with his real, uninfluenced personality. If, by whatever reason or chance, he breaks free of the Madness' control, the clone of myself will appear out of his subconscious and begin to fight him in the outside world."
"Is the clone as strong as you?" asked Akainu.
"No, it only has about half of my power. But it will suffice. It's still able to use both devil fruits and both Admiral Transformations."
"I see."
"So are we clear on this Doffy?"
"Yes. I'm gonna have a hell of a time." He chuckled to himself and hung up, making the monitor turn off.
"...Fujitora." Ryokugyu called the Purple Admiral in.
"You called?"
"I did. I trust that you heard everything?"
"Yes."
"Good. I want you to take a Vice-Admiral of your choosing and a full battleship of marines with you to Dressrosa. First of all, I don't trust Doffy. He's psychotic and crazy, and if he ends up using the Birdcage, then we're finished with him. I want you to keep an eye on him, if you can. Secondly, your target will be arriving there shortly as well. The Master Assassin Sabo. If you feel like it, you can fight him to test out his abilities against your own. Either way, watch Doflamingo. And don't worry about Aaron. If things go south with him, my clone will take care of it. Understood?"
"Of course, Grandmaster." Fujitora left the room.
X
"Alright, everyone. Here we are." Law stated. We sailed up to Dressrosa's cliffside. I walked out of my room wearing Ezio's clothes from Rome (Brotherhood). The hood was pulled over my face already, and my Sage's Madness was already activated. As Law was going over the plan, I jumped down from the ship and continued walking towards the city.
"H-Hey! Aaron-ya! Where are you going?! You need to know the plan!"
"Don't worry about me, Law. I'll be just fine." I said with a malicious tone. I kept walking into the city, and grinned psychotically.
End.
Wooo! I've officially become psychotic by this point. Yes, so Arlong has the Wave Wave Fruit, the logia for water. Minor detail, but I've decided that each Templar Cross will be a different color for each member that reflects their signature color. Kuma doesn't actually wear a cross, so I don't have to worry about him. Doflamingo doesn't either. Mihawk's is his knife necklace, so it's purely gold. Crocodile's will be Gold and gray tourmaline. Kid's will be Gold and citrine. Hawkins will have gold and white topaz. Arlong's is gold with onyx. Fujitora's is gold with amethyst. Kizaru's will be gold with yellow diamond. Akainu's is Gold with Ruby, and Ryokugyu's is gold with emerald. Like I said, minor detail, but it brings out the uniqueness in each one of their personalities and skillsets.