"I haven't earned the right to face that blade yet."

Something like pride flashed across Hawkeye's face before it vanished. "I know. I cannot spare you a second time."

"I have no intention of dying here. For the sake of my captain, I will win."

Roronoa set Wado Ichimonji between his teeth and drew his other blades. Hawkeye's gaze flickered over them and said, "I hope you don't think those new swords will change anything."

"I would face you with our shitty cook's butter knives if I had to. The world's greatest swordsman can't rely only on the strength of his blade."

"Well said." Then Hawkeye slashed, and though he struck a deep gash into the land, Roronoa Zoro charged around the blow without any fear in his eyes.


"I hope you have made peace with yourself, Sanji of the Straw Hats." Bartholomew solemnly inclined his head and raised both hands. "I have strict orders not to allow you to escape."

Sanji tsked and stretched his legs. "Like hell I'm going down when the captain's counting on me. Bring it."

A paw-shaped energy field stamped itself into the ground where Sanji had stood. The cook leapt, twirling in the air, and drove his foot squarely into Bartolomew's nose. The unyielding metal of his face didn't give an inch.

"It saddens me to see that you are too weak for this. My apologies, Sanji."

"Screw you ass-"

A fist rammed deep into his gut stopped the insult short.


"Your brother told me about you."

Luffy's look of intense concentration slipped. "You know Ace?"

Jinbei nodded. "Fought him, before Whitebeard did. We swapped stories once Whitebeard cracked out the sake."

Luffy scratched his head. "If you're friends with Ace, then why are you helping the Marines?"

"I fight to protect my people, and so they may one day see the sun with their own eyes."

"And I fight for my crew, so they can be free and chase after their dreams and eat all the meat they want."

"I am sorry about this, but I cannot stand down. The best I can do is to kill you, and spare you whatever fate the Marines have planned for you."

Luffy squeezed both legs like air compressors. His skin turned pink from the blood swelling through him, and steam wisped from his body. "Gear second."

Jinbei widened his stance and braced his arms. "Fishman Karate: water bullet!"

Rubbery fist met the blast of water with a thunderous splash, and the two pirates charged through the falling mist.


Fighting against Doflamingo's strings proved harder than anything Izuku had ever come up against before. The thin strings moved slowly through the air, but they were nearly invisible unless the light caught them correctly, and the cuts along Izuku's arms and legs were testament enough to their keen edges.

Izuku set his back to the setting sun, and even then, the strings shone in different hues that made them hard to pick out. The blue strings assaulted him from the air, only showing themselves against the backdrop of a malnourished cloud, while the yellow and orange strings slithered along the ground, blending in with the warmly colored sand and stones. The flashier red, purple, and green threads made effective distractions from the more subtle colors, often baiting him into the path of a hidden attack.

Izuku had a few close calls, but once he shed the bulky rags, his body floated along the sand. Each Soru felt like a dance of lightning along the sands, and the few times he had to Geppo out of a trap, each hop carried him farther and faster than normal.

Once the thinner strings proved ineffective, Doflamingo changed tactics. The strings bundled together into a thick whip that snapped through the air, striking like a python and biting gouges out of the rock. As fast as Izuku blitzed around the field with Soru, the whips were always a blink of an eye behind him. The chase across the battlefield sounded like echoes of thunder rumbling in a storm.

For all that Izuku felt tempted to tap into the power churning in him, he held it back. His eyes drifted towards his fellow pirates, fighting their own pitched battles, and to the rebels making a desperate stand against the better armed, better trained Marines. He could cut loose. He could maybe stop the Marines and the Warlords on his own. Stopping himself, however, was something Izuku wasn't certain he could manage. The roar of cannonfire and the sound of tents crumpling into torn sheets and splintered timber dredged up memories of Whiskey Peaks, and the bodies littered across the field made Izuku wonder if any of those were his fault.

A tiny whisper of warning tickled his mind. Izuku leaned aside and felt his very electrons freeze as the coiled string carved a nick out of his electrified ear. The Haki tip would have speared through his eyeball if he hadn't moved.

Doflamingo tsked smugly and shook his head. "Getting distracted, little pirate? Come on. I heard from Croccy-boy about what you did to his little numbers. A whole island, smashed to rubble by a single boy. Thrilling stuff! Makes me wish I was there to enjoy the show."

Izuku tried to smother his unease, but some of it must have shown on his face. Doflamingo raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Oh? Are you, perhaps, afraid of your power?"

Izuku didn't answer, but his silence was all the answer Doflamingo needed. The Warlord began with a tittering giggle. His mirth ballooned out, transforming into a skin-crawling, hair-raising maniacal laugh that made the nearby Marines eye him warily.

"All that power, and you're not using it because you're too afraid to hurt anybody? That is absolutely hilarious! My, I haven't laughed that hard since I made that one king kill his own people." Doflamingo wiped an imaginary tear out of his eye, then struck with a flurry of strings. Izuku ducked aside, and kept running as Doflamingo redoubled his assault.

"Morons like you," Doflamingo seethed as carved the ground into neat slices, "Get to die horrible, screaming deaths for my amusement. Do you want to know why? It's because the people who control the world, who decide the rules, who say what justice is, they're the ones that have power and aren't afraid to use it to ruthlessly crush anyone else who would say otherwise."

Anger flashed through Izuku. Sparks leapt from him as he shouted, "You're wrong!"

Doflamingo guffawed with laughter. "You're a pirate! I thought you'd know better. Or do you really think the Marines are the bastion of justice they pretend to be?"

Izuku shook his head. "I come from a place where everything works differently. The government there was made by the people, for the people, to protect everyone from villains like you."

"Oh really?" Doflamingo asked. "Sounds like I ought to pay them a visit. It might make a nice vacation."

"The Heroes would stop you."

"If they do, it only proves my point. Might makes right. That's the only rule in the world that matters."

Doflamingo flung out both hands, and an enormous web billowed out towards Izuku. The strands reached around and over him, cutting off escape with Soru or Geppo, and he knew from experience that no amount of Tekkai would save him from those razor-sharp strings. He glanced around, and saw the furrows from Doflamingo's previous attacks. The web didn't carve up the ground.

As the web crept closer, tightening its grip, Izuku kicked at the dirt. The makeshift Rankyaku cut into the rock, but he could hardly fit his whole body inside.

Or could he?

The thought flickered through him. He felt his body quiver as the electrons comprising it floated free, bound only by the nebulous idea of Izuku's self. A whisper of intent squeezed the charge into a dense point, which Izuku shoved deep into the cleft of the rock.

Despite being a clump of electrons simmering like soup inside the ground, he could see the thin strands pass over him, meeting together like the twin halves of an iron maiden and squeezing until only a tight, tangled knot remained.

Izuku let out a sigh of relief, but his respite proved short-lived. A whip smacked into the crevice, shattering stone and knocking the wind out of Izuku's gut. Dry-heaving and crawling out of the crater Doflamingo made, Izuku rolled aside, wincing as a strand sliced into his arm.

Without any thought, Izuku flung out his good arm. An arc of thunder leapt towards the Warlord like a spear. With a lazy flick of his fingers, Doflamingo shattered the bolt into a hundred glimmering sparks.

"Come on, is that all you got? I heard you shattered buildings with those!"

Izuku looked around the carnage and realized he had no way to win without using his powers. If he ever tried to get close, Doflamingo could simply wreathe himself in a web of strings and let Izuku cut himself to death trying to punch him. He needed a ranged option, and though he could do a Rankyaku, the slices were too slow and predictable to ever catch the Warlord.

Izuku sent lightning in a continuous ripple. Doflamingo scattered the first volley, but as the lightning kept coming, Doflamingo impaled strings into the ground, letting his web act as a lightning rod. Izuku switched back to single bolts, threading them past the web, but after Doflamingo swatted a few, the Warlord answered with a volley of string darts. Izuku impulsively threw up a fountain of sparks, zapping the strings out of the air.

Doflamingo mimed a yawn. "You're going to put me to sleep at this rate. Is this really all you could do? I suppose I wouldn't put it past that Croccy boy to over-exaggerate. Marines aren't exactly going to roll out the red carpet for a couple of backwater pirates who stumbled into the Grand Line by accident, after all."

Izuku gritted his teeth, but he had no idea what else he could do. He only had this power for a few weeks, and he never even used it. He had no thunderclouds overhead to direct a lightning strike, and he could hardly experiment with his Devil Fruit in the middle of a warzone.

Risking a glance away, Izuku checked on the battle. Luffy went toe to toe against Jinbei, throwing Haki-coated punches with blinding speed while the fishman parried them with the even, sure-footed moves of a martial arts master. Zoro had cuts all over his body, and his blood trickled to the thirsty ground, but he held his three swords at the ready, waiting silently for Mihawk's next move.

Izuku looked for Sanji, and couldn't find him. He saw Bartholowmew, stalking among the ranks of rebels like a golem, impassively striking down men even as they broke spears and swords on his chest. Izuku felt his stomach sink. He had only known the surly cook for a few weeks, but the thought of him gone made him feel numb inside.

A purple shimmer caught his attention. Izuku threw himself aside, leaping like lightning across the field, as a chromatic string cleaved the air where he had stood. Doflamingo twirled his fingers, making a web dance around him, and said, "Really now, looking away from me again? I'm feeling a bit under-appreciated here." His grin turned cruel and feral as he made two whips at once. "Maybe I ought to step it up a bit."

Izuku Soru'd away from the first whip, right into the path of the second. He braced, and went flying. He hauled himself up, rubbing at his bruised shoulder, and leapt as the whip came again. Each time he dodged, he found himself facing another whip, or a snare of wires waiting for him. Harried at every turn, Izuku leapt blindly, no longer having the time to plan out his steps. The world disappeared into a hazy blur of color, punctuated by a sliver of clarity, a snapshot of certain death hurtling towards him. Gasping for air, Izuku flung both arms and hurled lightning at the Warlord. The bolts got flung aside, but Doflamingo's next attack was a second slower.

The delay barely gave Izuku time to breathe, but having adjusted to lightning-fast flashes of thought, a second to get his bearings felt like an eternity. His eyes swept along the terrain, picking out spots where Doflamingo had yet to set his traps. He scanned the web, finding holes he could thread bolts through, and hatched a plan. Attacks from a single direction would get swatted easily, but if he moved quickly enough, he could strike from multiple angles at once.

When the whip came next, Izuku took the attack head-on, bracing with crossed arms. Doflamingo hesitated for a second, and the second whip that was heading to Izuku's right stopped short and swung back around.

Izuku spat a crackle of lightning, blindingly bright, then blitzed aside. In his clenched fists grew slender spears of electricity, spindly and incandescent. His first throw seemed slow to his eyes, more like a spear than lightning itself. For the second bolt, aimed at Doflamingo's back, Izuku put more power into the throw. The third he hurled with all his might at Doflamingo's side.

The trio of throws, completed within a tenth of a second, collided in the middle with an explosion of static mist. Izuku relaxed for a moment, certain the attack had brought down the Warlord.

Six whips sprang from the mist. Izuku yelped and threaded his body around the attacks, and a glancing blow to his chest brought him to his knees. A flurry of strings parted the static cloud. A few charred feathers from Doflamingo's coat, but otherwise, Doflamingo looked no worse for wear.

"You caught me off guard with that one."

Izuku swallowed nervously. Any sign of mirth had vanished from Doflamingo's voice, and the numb fury that replaced it was somehow scarier. "That last bolt of yours damaged my coat. It's only fair if I damage something of yours, wouldn't you say?"

Doflamingo cast his gaze around the battlefield. Against his better judgment, Izuku followed his gaze. Luffy threw a punch with an oversized, Haki-coated fist, while Roronoa and Mihawk traded Rankyaku slashes. Kuma held a paw-shaped barrier in front of him, deflecting the Dial fire from a giant scrap-metal mech.

Izuku blinked. That was indeed a mech. It turned to the side, giving Izuku a view of the pilot's cockpit. Mei's hair hung limp with sweat and oil grease, and her reticle eyes twitched in tiny, rapid movements that Izuku knew meant she was analyzing every detail around her. She pulled a lever, and the mech swung its Iron Cloud sword at Kuma's legs.

"Let's see…" Doflamingo pointed into the carnage, and said, "Eenie, meenie, minie…"

Izuku's heart stopped as Doflamingo's finger lazily trailed over towards Mei. A volley of glittering strings spun towards her, and giant whips coiled, ready to strike.

"Mo."

Izuku burst forward, far faster than a mere Soru. As fast as he traveled, the realization that he messed up hit him even faster. With his body glowing from the plasma trailing around him, Izuku saw the tightly knit web stretched before Doflamingo's body. He could fit a finger through without getting it sliced off, but he'd turn his arm into cubes fit for a sausage platter if he didn't back off.

But if he did back away, Doflamingo would kill Mei.

Resolving to punch through, no matter what it cost him, Izuku jabbed his arm forward like a spear, fingers outstretched in a vain hope of threading through an opening.

His fingers met the wire's edge. Izuku felt a hint of pressure from his fingertips, then the wire snapped with the discordant twang of a broken piano string. The web fell limply as Izuku's arm continued straight for Doflamingo's chest. The Warlord turned, tried to move and raised more strings around him, but Izuku flew with lightning's speed. His fingers pressed against Doflamingo's chest, then pushed through like his skin was made of rotted cloth.

Izuku tried to stop himself, but his own momentum pushed his arm all the way through to his elbow. His hand burst out of Doflamingo's back, spraying blood into the desert air. Around his forearm, Izuku could feel Doflamingo's heart beating in his chest. Bile rose in the back of Izuku's throat, and he had to hold back a surge of vomit.

Izuku wrenched his arm out and backed away. He took deep gulps of air, and the background noise of gunshots and screams faded to a static buzz. Izuku, recognizing the oncoming panic attack, counted out his breaths until the world came back into focus.

Even with a gaping hole in his chest, Doflamingo remained standing, breathing in and out with a pained, rasping noise. As Izuku watched, the edges of the wound frayed apart, unwinding into tiny flesh-colored strings. The strings knit themselves together, pulling the wound shut. Izuku gulped, realizing that the Warlord had hardly lost any blood. A glimpse into the hole showed veins stitched shut and string wound around his heart, squeezing and forcing it to beat.

"If I had known you had Haki," Doflamingo snarled, "I wouldn't have gone easy on you. You're a dead man next time I see your stupid face."

With his chest still knitting itself together, Doflamingo shouted over the din of warfare, "Oi, Garp. I'm leaving."

Garp stepped away from the fighting for a moment to glance angrily over at Doflamingo. Seeing the wound knitting itself together, Garp's face took on a pinched expression. "Fine. I'll take care of the brat."

Doflamingo's laugh left flecks of blood on his lips. "Don't kill him. I want that pleasure for myself."

Pulled off the island like a marionette by strings on his arms and back, Doflamingo leapt into the clouds. With Garp approaching, Izuku ran, but the Vice Admiral outsped him. A punch slammed into Izuku's back, and he hurtled back into the rebel camp like a cannonball.

In the wreckage of Koza's tent, he woozily stood up and saw Vivi fighting alongside the rebels. Vice Admiral Hina strode towards her, binding groups of rebels in iron with idle flicks of her arms.

"Royalty in collaboration with Roger's crew is unacceptable," Hina told Vivi. "The only way Alabasta can atone for its crimes is with your execution."

Guilt and fear flashed across Vivi's face. She looked at the ranks of Marines, stamping over the bodies of her fallen countrymen, and all fight left her. "I understand. Let the rebels go. I am the one that brought the Straw Hats here, they only went along with it because I made them."

Koza gave her a horrified look. "Vivi, no!"

Izuku tried to reach her, but Garp clamped a Haki-clad hand onto his shoulder. "Don't. This is the only way Hina can spare them."

Izuku tried shocking him. Garp grunted and slammed Izuku to the ground. Struggling under his iron grip, Izuku could only watch as Vivi walked alone to her own execution. For all the power he had, he still couldn't save someone right in front of him.

As Hina struck at Vivi, a brown blur plummeted from the sky. Pell's wings unfurled, and his talons struck Hina with an audible smack. The Vice Admiral flew back, catching herself in the ranks of her men.

"Pell!" Vivi shouted, aghast. "What have you done!"

"I have followed my king's orders."

A deafening roar came from behind the Marines. Alabasta's royal army charged forward, spears lowered, into the undefended back flank of the Marine lines. White-clad soldiers fell screaming, and the Captains among them fell before Chaka's sword and Devil Fruit-augmented strength. Leading the charge, sword raised high and slashing through Marine recruits, King Cobra Nefertari shone like fire in the waning glow of sunlight.

"No, father! What are you doing? Stop!"

Pell shook his head. "He chose to save his people, and the army marched with him. He asked Chaka and I to see you all to Nanohara. There's enough boats there to evacuate the city and the rebels."

"But what about Father? What about the army?"

"Princess. We will all die if we remain. I would stay, had his Highness not begged me to look after you."

Koza put a gentle hand on Vivi's arm. "Please. We need to go."

With tears streaming down her eyes, Vivi turned away from the battle. Koza shouted orders, and with practiced speed, the haggard rebels stripped their tents and loaded their supplies onto wagons. The few rebels still fighting made an organized retreat, keeping the Marines boxed in while they escaped.

Robin's mouth sprouted on a crate next to Izuku. "We need to regroup at the Merry. Mei and Luffy are grabbing the others. Get moving."

As Izuku headed west, back towards the river, he risked a glance back at the fighting armies. Without the Straw Hats distracting them, the remaining Warlords wreaked havoc among Alabasta's lines. Soldiers went flying as a battered, scorched Kuma waded through them, and each of Hawkeye's slashes cut down swathes of men like wheat stalks. Cobra clashed with Jinbei, and while the Warlord sported bruises from his fight with Luffy, he disarmed the king with a flick of his hand and punched hard enough to crumple his chest.

Izuku grimaced. He felt tempted to head back and save whoever he could, but a group of Marines, led by Smoker, were in hot pursuit of the other Straw Hats. Mei's mech churned sand as it barreled towards him, with Usopp and Luffy clinging for dear life on its arms. She held Zoro and Sanji, both unconscious and cocooned in bandages in the mech's oversized hands, with Chopper between them holding them steady.

"Nain got the Merry ready to sail," Robin said as she ran up next to Izuku. "We need to sail fast before they set up a blockade." As an afterthought, she added, "Or worse."

Izuku decided that he didn't want to know what worse entailed after the day they had and ran faster. Mei's mech nearly made the Merry tip over, but no one suggested leaving it behind after watching it hold back a Warlord.

As the Merry took off downstream, Smoker paused at the river's bank. He watched them with a scowl, biting down hard enough on his cigar to break it in half, but he followed them no further. Izuku flared his electricity, silently warning him to stay back.

"What do we do now?" Nami asked quietly.

No one had an answer for her. Igaram and Vivi had stayed behind with the rebels, and any thought of claiming a reward had fled at the sight of the day's battle.

Nanohana drifted into view. Ships fled its docks, and crowds gathered to board each vessel. As they watched, Marine vessels circled the sea like sharks, closing off the ships' escape.

Luffy, with half his face swollen, glared at the Marines and said, "Sail me closer. I'm going to punch them."

"Luffy, we can't! They'll tear us to shreds!"

Izuku formed a bolt in his hands. His arms felt heavy, and exhaustion weared at him, but he took aim at a distant ship and threw. The bolt fizzled out before it hit the Marine vessel.

As Izuku stared glumly at the ship, an even larger thunderbolt fell from the heavens. The ship buckled in two, and scorched Marines flew in all directions.

"Whoa!" Usopp shouted. "I didn't know you could do that!"

"That wasn't me."

Black specks grew on the horizon. The Marine vessels scrambled, but one by one, they fell to lightning or cannonballs. The ships from Nanohara gravitated towards their saviors.

"You survived. Good."

Everyone whirled towards the tattooed stranger on their ship. Vivi and Igaram stood behind them, looking nervously at their escort. Luffy sprouted a grin and shouted, "Hi dad!"

Usopp choked on his own tongue. "You're Dragon!"

Dragon raised an eyebrow. "I am. Good work helping a kingdom escape the World Government's chains. If you ever want to join the Revolutionaries, you'll be welcomed with open arms."

Luffy stuck out his tongue. "Boring. I wanna be a pirate."

Dragon chuckled and said, "I expected nothing less. Anyways, I came because the princess requested a final farewell before you part ways."

Vivi shuffled nervously before them. "I have to apologize. I promised you a reward for your assistance, but I have nothing to give you."

Luffy waved her off. "It's okay. Your country got ruined anyways."

Nami swatted Luffy's head and tried to debate interest payments. Dragon huffed and said, "I have no qualms compensating you myself. It's the least I could do, for, well, leaving you with Pops." The pile of Beri left on the deck greatly mollified Nami.

The goodbyes felt subdued with the backdrop of Nanohara burning, but Izuku wished the best for Vivi, Nain, and the others as they left with Dragon. Robin looked conflicted for a moment, giving Dragon and his ships a long look before shaking her head and heading below deck.

Licking their wounds, the Straw Hats set sail towards the next point on their Log Pose.


A/N: Tears of the Kingdom did slow my writing a bit, but I still got 1.75 chapters done these past two weeks, which is .75 more than I used to manage. All hail the magic M&Ms!

Gotta say, it feels weird looking at a chapter I'm about to post and wondering when I wrote it. Two weeks ago? A month ago? I have no idea. Probably a good idea, given it leaves me with a distanced perspective that might pick out mistakes I would otherwise have missed, or I might have new ideas to bring to the table.

Thoughts on how the Doflamingo fight played out would be super appreciated. I'm not super well-versed in One Piece lore, but I think I did the Warlords justice.