O.N.E. P.I.E.C.E.
"So to summarize," said Robin, "You are a demigod son of Hephaestus. You died during the Giants War and brought yourself back to life with something called the Physician's Cure. You returned to the legendary island Ogygia to rescue your girlfriend, the immortal, Calypso, and after months of travel, decided to come and find your friends while Calypso familiarized herself with the modern world."
Leo Valdez ripped off a bite of dragon meat and chewed thoughtfully, "That's pretty much it. My dad helped me get here."
"Can you tell us anything about this island?" asked Usopp.
"Or why you're fireproof?" Luffy added, still in awe.
Leo grinned and stuck his palm out. A small ball of fire bloomed on his hand before floating off into the burning air.
"It's a Hephaestus thing," he said proudly.
"So…not a devil fruit," said Zoro.
Leo wrinkled his nose, "Unless it's a deviled egg, I'm not eating anything with the word 'devil' in front of it; that sounds nasty."
"YOU'RE SO COOL!" Luffy hollered.
"Boy, Percy really nailed his description of you," said Leo, "Is he around here somewhere?"
"The others are still on the ship," said Robin, "We went ahead to scout the island."
Leo gestured around him, "Well, this is pretty much it. Fire, fire and more fire. Oh! And the centaurs and the other half of the island is a frozen wasteland."
"Centaurs?" asked Zoro.
"Frozen wasteland?" asked Usopp.
"That would explain the distress call," Robin mused, "The caller said it was cold; they must be on the frozen side."
"Let's go check it out!" Luffy said eagerly, "Leo, you're coming, right?"
Leo shrugged, "Eh, why not? I've done nothing but fight and stare into space for the past two months anyway."
"Fight?" Zoro perked up, "You were fighting the dragon?"
Leo scowled, "No, I tamed the dragon, then you idiots killed him. If that dragon had been Festus, you'd all be cooked by now."
"Who is Festus?" asked Robin.
"My metal dragon," said Leo, "He's with my girlfriend."
"Like an automaton?" asked Robin, curious.
Leo opened his mouth to answer, but Usopp cut them off.
"What do you mean the others got captured?" Usopp demanded, "Where are you?"
"What the Hades is that thing?" said Leo, "It's gross."
Ignoring him, the others listened intently to the Transponder Snail.
"Yohohoho! We don't know! It is very cold though," said Brook.
"Brook, let me handle this," said Percy.
Leo's eyes widened, "Percy!"
Percy didn't hear him, so he kept talking, "Some guys that…oh my gods! I know what they remind me of now!"
Everyone did a face plant.
"Percy, you were saying?" Robin prompted.
"Yeah, so these guys that look just like the 2319 guys from Monsters Inc. hit us with some kind of sleeping gas. I escaped into the ocean until the gas cleared up and by the time I got back on the ship, everyone except Brook was gone. The ship's somewhere cold now; we can't see the burning sea anymore."
"Alright, both of you stay put," ordered Zoro, "We're on our way from the burning side. We'll group up and look for Nami and the others together."
"Copy that," said Percy, "Hey-BROOK, where are you going? Didn't you hear Zoro?"
"Yohohoho! Let's make snowmen!"
"What the Hades is that thing?"
"Yohohoho! Let's follow it!"
Usopp hung up the Transponder Snail with a sigh, "Idiots."
"I'd imagine the kidnappers overlooked Brook because they assumed he was dead," said Robin, "I wonder if they're experimenting on Franky…"
"Stop DOING that!" Usopp hollered.
Leo laughed, "Wow, you guys are just like what Percy described."
"Percy talks about us?" asked Zoro.
Leo's manic eyes took on a melancholy hue, "All the time. I didn't really believe him at first; who would? But some of the stuff he can do made zero sense, even for a demigod. We spent eight months assuming he was with the Roman demigods; finding out he was with you guys for most of that was a little jarring."
"This has something to do with the Giant War," Robin assumed, "That's what brought Percy here the first time?"
Leo's grubby hands dove into a tool belt around his waist and pulled out a pile of gears and bolts. He fiddled with them as they walked.
"Yeah," he said after a moment of silence, "The goddess Hera sent him here to get stronger for the war."
"Percy's super strong now!" Luffy promised Leo, "Just you wait and see!"
"Yeah, but at what cost?" Leo muttered under his breath, putting the finishing touches on what looked like a mini-helicopter. He spun the propeller once and the toy sputtered off into the blaze, never to be seen again.
Luffy opened his mouth to say something about how much Leo would like Franky, only for Usopp to cut him off with a screech.
"Eeek! It's a monster!"
Leo cursed loudly in Ancient Greek and broke into a sprint.
"Come on!" he urged the others.
"What is it?" Zoro demanded, "I'll fight it."
"There's no time for that!" Leo snapped, "Where the chicken lady is, the fake-centaurs are sure to follow. We gotta go find Percy and your friends."
"Lead the way," said Luffy.
P.E.R.C.Y. J.A.C.K.S.O.N.
Franky woke up in a cold metal room to some blonde chick shoving a boney sword in his face.
"Why isn't Percy with you?" she demanded.
Franky politely pushed the tip of the sword away from his face and scrambled into a seated position, "Woah there, missy, I think you skipped a few steps."
The girl threw her hands in the air in frustration, "We've been over this already with Nami and the other two. You are Franky, you are part of my boyfriend's crew, where. is. he?"
"Annabeth!" Nami put a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Franky doesn't know either. Half of our crew isn't here right now; Percy's probably with at least one of them."
As the fog crept from Franky's mind, his surroundings came into sharper focus. Nami and the blonde chick were still in front of him, arguing in a language that Franky didn't recognize. Chopper sat huddled in a corner, looking morose. Sanji was busy attacking the large, steel door in a vain attempt to bust it open.
"Hey…" said Franky, "I recognize that shirt…"
The blonde chick rolled her eyes, "Of course you do; Percy has the same shirt."
Finally, Franky put two and two together.
"You must be Annabeth!" he said eagerly, "We were looking for you!"
Annabeth rose a dark blonde eyebrow skeptically, "Really?"
"We were going to," Nami waved her off, "But we found you anyway, so what's the difference? Now we just gotta find Piper and the others. They must be somewhere on the island, right?"
Annabeth begun to pace frantically, "I've scouted every inch of the frozen side of this island; the others aren't here. We all got separated on the journey over."
"Bu! Did you finish before you got caught?"
Annabeth didn't seem too concerned about the severed head talking to her, "I was looking for a way to the burning side when you found me."
"WHO THE HADES ARE YOU?" Nami shrieked, running up and kicking the severed head like a football.
"None of your business, bu!" sneered the head.
"His name's Kin'emon," said Annabeth, "Don't mind him; he's just mad that some guy cut him up."
"Bu! Annabeth, that was not your information to give, bu!" huffed the head.
"You attacked me first," Annabeth reprimanded the head, "I can tell anyone anything I want about you."
"I have so many questions," Nami said faintly.
"Bu! I will tell the story, bu," said Kin'emon.
"Leave me alone!" Annabeth shrieked as she parried another strike from the samurai.
"You know where my son is!" the samurai roared, "Tell me, or I will cut you!"
"I'd like to see you try," snarled Annabeth, slashing at the man with her drakon-bone sword.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
Annabeth backed up so as to keep both her attacker and the new guy in her line of sight, "Depends. Are you here to fight me too?"
The new guy smirked, "And why would I want to fight my sister?"
Annabeth dropped her sword, "You mean…?"
Kin'emon, capitalizing on Annabeth's moment of weakness, pounced.
"Room," said the new guy.
A bubble appeared around them as the new guy made a few quick slashes.
"Shambles."
Annabeth watched in fascination as pieces of Kin'emon flew in opposite directions, leaving only the pieces of his head behind.
"What kind of a power is that?" she asked curiously, "And who are you? What are you doing on Punk Hazard?"
Annabeth's questions were met with a long sword to her throat.
"Sister," hummed the stranger, "Play along for now."
"That power sounds familiar," said Nami, "Where have we seen this before?"
Chopper tugged on her pant leg, "Trafalgar Law! He's one of the Supernovas!"
"And a Warlord now too," added Sanji, "You don't want to know what he did to get that title."
Annabeth frowned, "He's definitely a demigod; I can tell that much. Whether or not he's a son of Athena remains to be seen."
"We need to get out of here," Nami decided, "and go and look for the others."
"Good luck with that," Annabeth scoffed, "We've been in here for ages; there's no way out."
"That door hasn't met me yet, Annabeth-sis," Franky promised, "Everyone stand back."
Nami gently pulled Annabeth away from the door as Franky's hand began to glow.
Radical Beam!
"Robots…"Annabeth said faintly, "Not automatons. Gotta remember that."
"Are you coming or not?" Sanji snapped at the head.
"Bu! I hate pirates," snapped Kin'emon.
The two proceeded to have a vicious staring contest.
"We came here on a distress call," said Sanji, "From one of your victims, samurai."
"Eeeh!" said Chopper, "This is the samurai?"
"Well, yeah," said Annabeth.
Sanji picked up Kin'emon by the hair, "This top knot is a traditional style worn by the samurai of Wano."
Annabeth rose an eyebrow, "I thought Wano was cut off from the rest of the world. Why do you know that, Sanji?"
Sanji flinched, looking very uncomfortable. Instantly, Annabeth's guard was up. She knew these were Percy's friends and that he trusted them implicitly, but Sanji was definitely hiding something; Annabeth just had to find out how harmful that something was.
"That doesn't matter right now!" Nami urged the others, "We have to run!"
The loud pops and bangs of gunfire from the end of the corridor came to aid Nami's argument.
"Franky!" said Sanji.
"I got it!" said Franky, moving to run at the back of the group.
"Forget we were ever here!" Nami shouted at the shooters. Foggy looks came over all the assailants faces as they wandered in the opposite direction down the hallway.
"You're getting good at that," said Annabeth, impressed.
"NAMI-SWAN!" Sanji noodled, "YOU'RE SO HOT AND POWERFUL!"
Annabeth wacked him over the head with her drakon-bone sword, "Quiet! The enemy could have ears everywhere."
"What now?" Chopper asked the group.
Nami turned to Annabeth, "Well? What is it you usually say? Athena always has a plan?"
Annabeth sighed, "For now, that plan only involves finding Percy and the rest of your friends."
Franky pointed at a large steel door ajar at the other end of the hall, "That way's a good bet, seeing as the enemy went the other way."
Annabeth broke into a jog, "Let's go."
"You're coming with us," Sanji decided, yanking Kin'emon into his arms.
"Put me down, bu!"
The last thing that the Strawhats expected to find in this frozen wasteland was a daycare.
But there they were, smack dab in the middle of it.
"Who are you?" asked the biggest child, a dark-haired girl with large, terrified brown eyes.
Sanji couldn't bear to see children so scared, so he tried for a smile, "H-hello there…kids."
"They're so big," Nami gasped.
"Where are we, and what's with all the rugrats?" Franky said gruffly.
"Maybe it's the island's daycare, or something?" Nami suggested feebly.
"I don't think so," said Annabeth, her stormy grey eyes studying the children intently, "I've been scouting this laboratory for almost two months; the owner does all kinds of experiments with candy. These kids must be the test subjects."
"You mean…"started Chopper, "These kids are being experimented on?"
"You must be the ones who were frozen," the dark-haired girl reasoned, "I'm glad you are better!"
"Doggy!" one of the smaller children cooed happily, reaching out to pet Chopper.
"COOL ROBOT!" the boys and a couple of the girls cheered, crowding around Franky.
"I'm a reindeer!" Chopper tried to holler.
"Who was frozen?" Nami tried to ask. None of the children were listening to her; they were far too busy playing with the Strawhats. Franky ate up the attention easily, dancing around and showing the children his extra hands and hairdos. Chopper wriggled like a worm, but the green-haired girl that was easily twice Franky's size held Chopper fast, snuggling into his soft, brown fur.
"They're not listening," Annabeth sweatdropped.
"ENOUGH!" shouted Kin'emon from his position at Sanji's feet.
The children collectively took a step back.
"It's a severed head," one of them whispered.
"I AM LOOKING FOR A CHILD NAMED MOMONOSUKE!" Kin'emon continued, "HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN MY BOY?"
"Not this again," Annabeth sighed, "Kin'emon, knock it off; you're scaring the kids."
Too late, the kids fled in tears.
"We have to get out of here," Chopper said urgently as Nami, Annabeth and Sanji berated Kin'emon, "The enemy is coming back."
Annabeth concentrated. Sure enough, the faint sound of frantic footsteps was growing louder and louder.
"Let's go," said Franky, scooping up Chopper and putting him on his red, bulbous shoulder.
"Please, can you tell us anything about this facility?" Sanji asked the children as they ran.
"YOU MUST AID ME IN MY SEARCH FOR MOMONOSUKE!" Kin'emon roared.
Nami smacked the head across the cheek, "Stop already!" she shouted.
"I am disgraced as a samurai," Kin'emon sobbed, "All because a woman hit me."
"WHAT?" Nami shrieked, outraged.
"THEN WHY DID YOU ATTACK ME?" roared Annabeth, equally outraged.
"You looked like you knew where Momonosuke was!" Kin'emon snapped.
"PLEASE!" shrieked the giant dark-haired girl, "PLEASE, HELP US!"
"Please, miss!"
"If you came from outside the island, you must have a ship, right?"
"We're not sick anymore, we promise!"
"Help us get out of here!"
"I wanna see my mommy!"
Nami froze in her tracks.
"Come on, Nami," Annabeth shouted, "We have to go!"
"Don't stop!" shouted Sanji.
"I'm sorry but we have to go," Nami said reluctantly, breaking into a run.
"PLEASE TAKE US WITH YOU!" shrieked the blonde giant boy.
Franky burst into tears, "Man, this sucks!"
"We should take them with us," suggested kind-hearted Chopper.
"PROMISE YOU'LL COME BACK LATER AND RESCUE US!" sobbed the dark-haired girl.
This, at last, got Nami to stop again.
"I KNOW THE TRUTH!" she continued, "THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE ON THIS ISLAND! NO PEOPLE OR CITIES BECAUSE NOBODY CAME TO HELP US! I WANNA GO HOME AND SEE MY MOMMY AND DADDY AGAIN!"
Nami's fists were balled tightly enough to draw blood.
"YOU CAN LEAVE NOW, BUT YOU HAVE TO COME BACK LATER AND SAVE US!"
"Get moving, Nami!" Sanji shouted over the sounds of the children crying.
Finally, Nami turned back, looking determined, "That's it. We're not leaving them."
"We don't even know if they're ok," said Sanji, "This could be a hospital for all we know. You don't have to save everyone."
"I know that," Nami said tremulously, "But I cannot turn my back on these children; not when we're their only hope!"
Sanji sighed, "Well in that case…"
Sanji flipped into the air, his leg ablaze.
Diable Jambe, Colière Strike!
"Nice one, Sanji!" Nami cheered.
"What the lady wants," said Sanji, landing and taking a puff of his cigarette, "The lady gets. Especially when she's being so sweet to kids."
"What is with you people and needing to name all your attacks," Annabeth grumbled, "It's impractical and lets your opponent know what you're doing before you do it."
Nami elbowed her in the ribs, "Ow!"
"Just watch," Nami insisted, never taking her eyes off Sanji.
"Impressive," Kin'emon admitted, "That fellow is very strong."
Kung Fu Point!
Chopper leapt into action as well, taking on three enemies at once.
Annabeth pulled out her drakon-bone sword, "Well, Nami? You coming? I won't be the only one left on the sidelines with these creepy children."
Nami sighed, clutching her Climatact, "Percy wasn't lying when he said you were terrible with kids."
Sanji slid in front of them before the girls could get any action.
"Alright, listen up, ankle-biters!" announced Sanji, "Follow the beautiful orange-haired goddess, the radiant blonde-beauty and the Kung-Fu raccoon!"
Sanji tried (and failed miserably, in Annabeth's opinion) at a suave hair-flip, "I'm gonna take out these guys."
The children cheered while Nami had to hold Annabeth back from charging at Sanji.
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO YOU MYSOGYNISTIC PERVERT!"
"Let's go!" Nami pulled Annabeth after her, "The sooner we get out of here, the sooner you can find Percy!"
"Fine!" Annabeth snapped, "But I'm only leaving to find my BOYFRIEND. You got that, Sanji?"
"Whatever you say, demigoddess," Sanji crooned.
"Super!" Franky unleashed his turret gun on the enemy, "If you find Robin, let her know I'm ok, yeah?"
Nami smiled, "Of course!"
With that, she, Chopper and Annabeth charged down the corridor, a horde of mismatched-looking children following close behind.