P.E.R.C.Y. J.A.C.K.S.O.N.

Carina could remember the last time she felt truly happy: it was traveling the East Blue with Nami. Being a thief was a lonely profession that lead to trust issues; she and Nami were living proof of that. But for awhile, it was nice to have someone to look after, to protect. Carina would give anything to go back to the moment when she fucked it all up and Nami disappeared from her life, seemingly forever. Maybe if that day had ended differently, they wouldn't be in the mess they were in now.

"He's too strong," Carina whispered in horror, falling to her knees as Tesoro sent Luffy flying. Luffy hit the ground hard and didn't get up again.

"What's the matter, Carina? You don't look happy," Tesoro cackled, "Let's put a smile on your face!"

Carina watched numbly as a giant, gold foot plummeted towards her. She knew she needed to move, but she just couldn't.

"Carina!"

Carina looked up. Nami and Leo stood above her, holding back Tesoro's foot from squashing them all into a fine paste.

"Nami…" she murmured, "How?"

"What's going on down there?" demanded Tesoro, "Why can't I crush you?"

"Move!" Nami yelled at Carina, "We can't hold him forever!"

An unseen force yanked Carina backward.

"They're ok, Carina," Piper comforted her friend, "We've got this under control."

Carina could see that. For while watching Nami hold back several tons of pure gold with nothing but her bare hands and Leo's help, Carina finally realized that Nami didn't need protecting.

"Damn, Nami," she chuckled whistfully, "You really have grown up."

Piper pressed an RPG into her hands, "They're gonna need a weak spot," she said firmly, hauling an identical weapon over her shoulder, "Let's go find it."

As the two, former Tesoro-employees ran off to find a vantage point, Leo grew hot.

"Nami, I don't want to torch you," he warned.

"But-," Nami tried to protest.

"Go! I can hold him for a second!"

Nami didn't need telling twice; she was already flinging herself towards where Chopper was tending to Luffy's wounds.

"Hey! Why is it so hot?" Tesoro demanded, "Ow!"

The colossus staggered back, allowing Tesoro full view of the burning beacon that was Leo Valdez.

"1,064 degrees Celsius," Leo shouted up at Tesoro, "That's how hot I need to be to torch you, gold man!"

He took a deep breath and belched a jet of white-hot flames at Tesoro. The madman roared in outrage as the colossus' left chest pectoral began to melt.

"Gah!" shouted Tesoro, "Insolent fool! A nobody like you doesn't get to damage my beautiful body!"

Gon Fuoco di Dio!
For a demigod, Leo was pretty fast. For someone who'd been living on the four seas for less than two months, the son of Hephaestus was nowhere near fast enough to keep up with a Devil Fruit User like Tesoro. So when Tesoro shot a beam of light out of the colossus' left eye, it hit Leo face on. The fire user went flying ten, twenty, thirty feet before hitting a brick wall and falling unconscious.

BANG! BANG!
RPGs sailed toward Tesoro, but with the impact they had on the colossus, they may as well have been mosquito bites. Tesoro swatted wildly, hoping to squash Carina and Piper, but the two had hidden themselves too well.

"Enough of this!" Tesoro hollered and, before she could protest, he bent over and snatched Nami out of the air.

"Lemme go!" Nami shouted, squirming in pain as Tesoro squeezed her like a stress ball.

"Tesoro," Luffy growled, staggering to his feet with the help of Chopper, "You let her go!"

"Luffy, you can't!" Chopper hissed, "You're too injured to take him head on!"

"Laugh it up, Strawhats!" Tesoro cackled hysterically, "I'm still on top! This is what happens when you take on a God! Come on, laugh!"

"But you aren't funny."

Tesoro didn't even have time to scream in terror as the water from the lake rose into the air. It swirled around the colossus in a spiral, stopping only at shoulder level to form an axe and chop off the arm holding Nami prisoner.

"Aaah!" Nami screamed as she fell to the ground, only for an unseen entity to grab her and pull her onto a nearby roof.

"I've got you."

"It's about time you got here," Nami huffed.

"Blame Sleeping Beauty over there," said Annabeth, "He's still not totally all there, but at least he's awake."

Percy Jackson stood on shaky legs in front of Luffy, Chopper and Carina, looking as white, purple and red as a ghost that lost a boxing match, but finally, he was awake.

"I'm not really sure what's going on," Percy said loudly, "But Annabeth says I gotta kick your ass, sooo later, gold dude!"

The Strawhats cheered as a wall of sea water wrapped itself around the colossus like a blanket. Tesoro howled in outrage at his gold creation freezing and dimming with him still inside it.

"Finish him off, Percy!" Usopp cheered.

Percy hated to disappoint, but it was at that moment when he collapsed to the ground, breathing hard.

"Don't worry guys; I got this," he panted, struggling to at least prop himself up on his elbows, "I just…gimme a second…"

A steaming hand squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"You did good, Percy," said Luffy, "Now, it's my turn."

"Get away from me!" Tesoro shrieked in terror. Luffy, of course, didn't listen. His rubber body swelled like a muscular balloon as his arms darkened with armament haki.

Fourth Gear, Luffy growled. Then, he sprung at Tesoro with impossible speed.

Kong Gun!
The colossus shattered instantly, but Tesoro wasn't done yet.

"NO!"

The arena exploded with gold. Everyone was caught instantly in the sinking pit of treasures. Everyone, except for Luffy.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING? YOU'RE MY PROPERTY!"

"Percy, do something!" Annabeth shouted, struggling to keep her head from sinking below the gold.

Percy roared with exertion and a wall of water rose over the side of the ship and raced towards them. But for every inch of gold that Percy destroyed, another fifty rose up to cover everything in its path. It was no use; even Percy could see that Tesoro had weakened him too much.

"YOU SEE?" Tesoro laughed hysterically, "NOT EVEN SEA WATER CAN DEFEAT ME! GOLD RULES OVER EVERYTHING!"

"SCREW YOUR GOLD!" Luffy roared, "IT DOESN'T RULE OVER ME!"

Kong Gun!

Gon l'ira di Dio!

Luffy's fists and Tesoro's gold met in a clash of power so explosive, it sent columns of gold streaming into space in all directions.

"CUZ I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE FREAKING PIRATES!"

With this final battle cry, Luffy sent Tesoro hurtling through the sky. The others watched until his body disappeared within the line of Navy ships.

"It's over!" Piper laughed in delight, "It's finally over!"

Cheers erupted throughout the ship.

"Zoro," Luffy gasped, catching sight of his bruised and battered boyfriend, "You're ok!"

Luffy flung himself into Zoro's arms and didn't notice the slight flinch on Zoro's face.

Piper did though. She wanted to say something, but a countdown flashing to life on the jumbotron above them redirected her attention.

"Uh, not to sound like a broken record," said Percy, leaning heavily on Annabeth to help him stay standing, "But what's going on?"

"It's not over!" Carina shouted in a panic, "Tesoro's a sore loser; he's gonna sink the ship!"

"WHAT?" everyone shrieked.

"Let's get out of here, then!" shouted Sanji, scooping Leo into his arms, "Where's the Sunny?"

The trapped Strawhats and former Gran Tesoro prisoners sprinted towards the docks, only for a wall of rubble to block their way.

"We're trapped!" the little boy from the tavern wailed.

A small boom proved this statement wrong. Franky caused a small explosion from within his General Franky suit that he'd rushed off to collect without anyone noticing.

"Come on!" he shouted, "Let's get out of here!"

"I'm not coming."

"Don't be stupid, Carina!" Nami said tearfully, "What are you doing?"

"I know how to steer the ship," said Carina, turning around and strolling away, "If I can steer it away from the other ships, at least I can save some lives."

"Then I should come with you," said Piper, "We're more likely to survive if we're together."

Carina turned suddenly and embraced Piper and Nami in a fierce hug.

"Jason's still out there, Piper," Carina said firmly, "He's waiting for you to find him; I just know it."

Piper gulped, "I know," she whispered, choking down her tears.

"And Nami, I'm glad you let me be a Strawhat, just for a little bit," said Carina, "So I could see that you don't need me to protect you anymore. So let me protect you anyway, just one more time?"
Before either of them could protest anymore, Carina pushed them into Franky's waiting, robot arms, "Take care of them, Franky."

Franky nodded, "It was good to know you, Carina. Thanks for everything."

The Strawhats gathered at the prow of the Sunny, watching in anticipation as the countdown continued to tick.

"So she's sacrificing herself?" said Usopp.

Nami looked ahead, stony-faced. Her grip on Piper's hand was so strong it turned her knuckles white.

3…2…1

Everyone flinched, but instead of an explosion, fireworks blossomed in the sky in brilliant shades of green, pink, blue and purple.

"What just happened?" Chopper wondered aloud.

"Is it a delayed explosion?" Brook theorized.

Nami and Piper shared a look.

"Why am I not surprised?" Piper huffed.

Usopp fished out a spyglass. Carina stood at the prow of the Gran Tesoro, triumphantly waving a white flag in the air. Usopp focused further to see "The Phantom Thief Strikes Again!" in bold, black letters on the flag.

"She double crossed us!" Usopp shouted in outrage.

"So she tricked us?" said Luffy, "That's cool!"

"She certainly pulled one over on us," said Robin, "There is no vault but there is a lot of treasure on that ship. And we're over here looking like fools."

Robin glanced up at Franky's unique jawline and his warm, brown eyes. Wrapping Franky's giant, metal arm around herself, Robin decided she didn't care what they looked like.

"I don't care!" Luffy declared, voicing Robin's thoughts aloud. He wrapped his rubbery limbs round and round Zoro's torso, latching himself to his boyfriend like a backpack. Once again, Piper's eyes narrowed at the look of discomfort on Zoro's face, "She helped us get Zoro and Percy back; she can have whatever she wants!"

A cannonball whizzing over their heads and a spray of water to their left caused the Strawhats to scatter.

"Ah! We forgot about the Navy!" Brook shrieked.

"Ok, let's get out of here!" Luffy declared sunnily.

"Hey!" everyone (except Franky, who'd already scampered off to launch the Sunny to safety) paused at the exclamation from Percy. The son of Poseidon was slumped against the railing, glowering up at them.

"Now that we're running away," he said irritatedly, "Can someone PLEASE explain to me what's going on?"

As everyone laughed at Percy and helped him and the other injured crew members to the infirmary, Nami fished a piece of paper out of her pocket.

"Hey, what's this?" she wondered, unfolding the paper.

Shine bright and stay happy, Nami –Hellcat

Nami smiled to herself, watching Carina's purple head getting smaller and smaller as the Sunny flew away from their golden nightmare.

"You too, Carina."