We are rapidly moving toward the end of Punk Hazard Arc, There are only a few chapters left before we sail for Dressrosa! And speaking of starting new things, who else is excited for the new One Piece Live Action? I was iffy about it first, but then I heard Oda was running the ship and that latest trailer dropped and I'm now so ready for the end of the month! Anyway, y'all are here for this early release because I'll be out of town this weekend for the regular upload schedule, so good morning from a 4AM wake-up; you get a new chapter.

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Now, on to the Chapter!

Chapter 50:

Dangerous Zoology

Amy smacked into the top of the crab's exoskeleton like a meteor, the sound of the impact echoing through the snow, The crab's legs drove into the earth, bending at their joints until the undercarriage hit the frozen ground. She smirked to herself, ready to take credit for first blood of the fight, but her smile fell as the creature tilted. The pirate's eyes widened as first one side's legs pulled itself free before the others. Despite Amy maintaining her increased mass, the crab rose to its full height and hissed a renewed challenge, its voice compounded by the second.

"Wa-wah," Billy-Zoro smirked through his sword. "Wa-wah wahwah."

"We can't understand you!" Amy reminded him again. The crab shook, trying to dislodge the pirate riding atop its carapace, but Amy held fast. Apparently deciding that trying to shake her off that way was an exercise in futility, the eel head whipped upward and smacked itself against the top of its own, hard body. Amy stared into its eye. "You wanna go, ugly?"

It seemed to smile, a chill unrelated to the snow going down Amy's spine before sparks started to dance across the eel's body-neck.

"Oh fu—"

Her world turned a blinding white.

Amy screamed as the crab-monster-thing's eel body released a blast of electricity, its omnidirectional attack catching Amy before she had a chance to move. Her muscles seized, throwing her smoking form backward off the beast's carapace.

"Baker-Sis!" Franky yelled, shoving marines aside as he ran toward the mutant that had just attacked his crewmate. He was not alone as Billy-Zoro shot forward with all the speed of a member of Alabasta's Super Sonic Duck Squadron. He spread his borrowed wings, interposing himself between the literally-smoking blonde and the cold earth.

"Marines!" Tune ordered. "We have a Code 52571! You're orders are to assist the pirates in taking down these monsters before they can reach the kids!"

The other members of G-5 glanced at each other. Technically, no one here actually had the authority to order around any of the rest; neither Smoker nor Tashigi had left anyone in charge. Despite the giant monsters, they hesitated.

Tune sighed and pointed at the crabs, the other hand hiding her face. She wasn't embarrassed because what she was about to say, but because she knew it would work on them because it would work on her.

"G-5, smash."

"Let's go wild!" the marines cheered, drawing their weapons and charging across the snow. The crab-eels roared, skittering sideways toward them. To be fair to the marines, they showed no fear charging the monsters that could eat any of them in a single bite.

Franky, however, outpaced all of them, firing his right hand toward the first creature with a Strong Right. Its eel head whipped around, its mouth opening to snap up the cyborg's fist the same way a fish eats a fishing lure. Franky smirked, digging his heels into the snow and retracting the chain until it pulled taught. He felt his mechanical fingers wrap around one of the beast's sturdy teeth.

"I've got this one super hooked!" the pirate called. "Go get—!"

The creature wrenched its head upward, Franky gasping as his feet carved through the snow. He grit his teeth and reeled again, leaning back so far his back nearly touched the ground. Franky quickly lost this tug-of-war, the crab-eel's greater height and dexterity allowing it to lash the chain and drag the metal man into the air.

"Bro!" a number of the marines yelled, diving for the man's legs. Two managed to reach him —one for each leg— and another two managed to get their arms around their comrades' waists. The eel-crab didn't care, whipping its head to the side to drag them all off their feet.

"Wah!" B-Zoro quacked, Amy —in her now soot-stained clothing— on his back as he charged toward the first crab. He jumped, flapping his wings to get over the second's massive claw that cratered the ground where he'd been heading.

"Take care of Ugly Number Two over there!" Amy told him, her Haki swirling up her scarred arms and over her umbrella. "I have a couple pounds of flesh to take from this one!"

B-Zoro accepted that, harrumphing as she jumped from his back. The swordsduck turned, running alongside the extended claw toward the weakest joint. Spinning, the duck brought Wado down, air and black mist rippling around the blade.

The creature jerked its arm back, the sword scraping over the chitin carapace. B-Zoro kicked off before the flat of the blade could get caught. The swordsduck growled, throwing a pair of flying slashes toward the creature's face. The eel head and neck retreated into the shell, the sharpened wind cutting an X into the side of the chitin. The duck's eyes narrowed as, before his very eyes, the gashes filled and repaired.

Despite the sword-filled beak, B-Zoro smirked.

"Don't worry, Duck Hunter!" the marines called as they came to stand beside the body-swapped pirate, using the nickname they'd decided for him. "We're the marines of G-5, the loudest, rowdiest, and toughest of the bunch! That thing isn't getting anywhere near the kids or our ships!"

Billy-Zoro rolled his eyes at the pronouncement. A shadow fell over the group, the duck swinging the sword in his beak upward before the humans could react. Claw met blade in a rush of air that blew away all the snow at their feet. Undaunted by their newest near-death experience, the marine grunts jumped, climbing onto the crab-like body as the pressure eased.

"Wah!" B-Zoro yelled. "Wah wahwah wah?"

"Can't understand you, Duck Hunter!"

The pirate dragged a wing down his borrowed face. He silently cursed their intervention before running toward the legs and underbelly of Crab #2.

Meanwhile, Crab #1 was suffering its own assault. Its head and body seemed to act independently from each other, the former swinging Franky and his buddies around while the latter tried to keep the others around it from attacking. This attempt, however, was little more than an annoyance to Amy as she shot through the air.

"Time to crack this crab like an egg!" the chocolatier called, flipping forward as she folded her umbrella and reinforced it with both her Kilo powers and her Haki. She increased her mass and fell, swinging her umbrella down on one of the legs of the crab body. "Obsidian Mallet!"

Her weapon smashed into the joint, cracking the exoskeleton and bending the limb the wrong way. The eel-crab screeched, releasing Franky's arm in the process, causing the cyborg and the marines holding on to him to go flying off into the snow. The eel head whipped around to stare at the blonde, the body extending its broken leg until it was straight. With a sickening POP, the joint realigned and the chitin began to heal.

"I hope you don't think that will be enough to scare me," Amy sneered, hitting the ground with enough force to crater it. She had the crab-eel's attention now, the creature swinging one of its claws down toward her. She lifted her Haki-coated umbrella, tanking the hit with relative ease.

"You aren't alone!" Tune yelled, swinging her hammer downward. The chitin around the claw creaked as it was pinned between the weapons. A moment later, it cracked down the middle. Like cracking a boiled egg, Amy dropped her umbrella and reached into the split. She planted her feet and pulled.

With a yell, a tensing of her Devil-Fruit-augmented muscles, and several further cracks of the shell, the blonde pirate ripped away half of the crab-eel's claw carapace through sheer strength. The point of the pincer exoskeleton stabbed into the earth as Amy dug her fingers into the soft underflesh that had been hidden beneath.

The eel head screamed something in a pitch nearly too high to hear, its neck shooting downward toward Tune. She spun, interposing her hammer between herself and the expanded mouth, but it still scooped her off the ground even if it couldn't swallow her.

"This bastard needs a breath mint!" she yelled, doing everything she could to not lose her hammer to the crab-eel's gullet. It sparked. "No, no, no—!"

"Franky Radical Beam!" A pillar of light smashed into the crab-eel's neck, the monster cutting off its electrical attack in favor of screaming in pain. Tune barely kept her grip on her hammer as the thing's foul breath threatened to blow her away. The eel head spun, its eyes focusing on the lone cyborg. "Yeah, that's right! Super look at me, you pot-boiled bastard!"

"A Beeeeaaammmm!" marines yelled.

The creature raised its claws —one of them dragging Amy along for the ride— in preparation to crush the pirate shipwright. Franky only grinned, running forward into the crab's guard.

"Don't forget about me, you overgrown sushi!" Amy shouted, peeling away more and more of the crab-eel's outer margin before it could grow back. She was nearly to the carpus —the crab's wrist— and she was determined to rid this monster of one of its main weapons. The carpus was the smallest point of the crab's arm, nearly thin enough for Amy to get her arms around, but she didn't need to strain that far.

Reeling back one of her Haki-covered arms, Amy drove it into the center of the carpus. The soft flesh parted around her hand as she buried her arm up to the elbow. With a cry of exertion, the blonde chocolatier ripped half the carpus away.

The crab-eel screamed.

"I don't know what you're doing," Tune yelled from the beast's mouth, "but he doesn't like it!"

"He's gonna like this even less!" Amy replied, wrapping her arms around the remaining part of the wrist. She squeezed, giving the worst —and only— hug of the crab-eel's life until the muscle fibers could not take the strain and tore. The claw came off and fell to the icy ground.

SCREEEE! Tune and her hammer launched from the mouth as the creature reeled in pain, skittering away as best it could. Marines screamed, barely avoiding the legs they had been trying to grapple up to that point. Amy hit the ground and reclaimed her umbrella, a satisfied smirk on her face.

"If only we had a lot of butter," the Weightless Woman grinned.

"I think that's a little more impressive," Tune muttered, pointing toward the other crab as B-Zoro landed, three of Crab #2's legs severed at their bases. Unable to support half its weight, the crab toppled, throwing up a huge wave of snow with its own scream.

"Damn, Duck Hunter!" the marines chorused, stars in their eyes. "That was so cool!"

"Showoff," Amy muttered, rolling her eyes. "I ripped off a claw with my bare hands. I don't need a sword."

"He doesn't super have hands at the moment," Franky pointed out.

"Shut up, you bag of bolts!"

"Uhh," one of Franky's marine buddies muttered. "Does anyone else see that?"

"See what?"

He pointed his sword toward the carpus Amy had severed, the tan-white flesh there wiggling. The crab-eel started to shrink, its mass shifting and changing as it grew a new claw from rest of its body. The other creature mirrored this, new legs growing from the bases of the old.

"That's just not fair," Amy whined. "Alright, let's go for the head, then!"


The fried husk split down the middle, the pirates, samurai, and Bucktoof watching in awed disgust as a new pair of wings rose out of the remains. Again, the wings' lattices filled with blood and dried instantly, but the buzz they made sounded different than before. Where before it had been the standard hum like that of a million insects, now it sounded closer to one standing beside an electrified fence. As if to punctuate that point, a jolt of electricity jumped between the wings. The massive cicada shucked off the rest of its old exoskeleton and lowered its stance, a little bit bigger than before.

Sanji made a noise that no letters could put into word.

"It grew back!" Ace observed aloud. "Cool!"

"Oh, this thing rapidly evolves," Nami sighed. "Isn't that just perfect?"

The bug shot forward.

The pirates dove either way, the cicada's serrated raptorial legs slicing through the air as the buzz of its wings made the pirates' bones shake from the vibrations. Nami jumped back with Ace in her arms, staying as far from the fight as she could.

"Gaoh!" Bucktoof growled, planting its legs while guarding the area between the bug and the mother/son pair.

"I know not what the creature says," Kin'emon commented as he drew one of his swords, "but I will assume that we are in agreement against this gargantuan insect."

"It's not going to let us just pass," Nami muttered. "Let's make quick work of this and keep moving."

"Tempest Kick: White Tiger!" Kaku yelled, flipping forward to launch two slashes toward the insect. It turned toward his voice, serrated limbs cutting through the attack. The cicada opened its mandibles, a ball of electricity gathering in its mouth.

"That's my attack!" Gin shouted, flashing forward to insert his arm into the ball of lightning without fear. He drew the bug's attack into himself, his edges turning fuzzy as the new influx messed with his Logia constitution. His electric wings spread behind him, the black sheen of his Armament covering the electric yellow. His hands grabbed the mandibles, his fingers and palms similarly covered in Haki to keep the bug from cutting through his lightning body. "Give it Hell!"

"Hell Memories!" Sanji called. "Flambe Shot!"

"Tempest Kick: Standing Execution!"

"Foxfire Style: Flaming Flash!"

"Gaoh!"

The four other fighters fell on their foe. Fire, slashes, flaming slashes, and teeth and claws cut through the bug's exoskeleton with varying levels of success. Particularly, Kaku's kick and Kin'emon's cut severed the creature from either side, the latter charring its insides along its path. There was a horrific squelching noise as the head of the insect separated, its thorax spasming. The pirates jumped away, letting the life drain from the creature.

"That did it, right?" Sanji asked with a hitch in his voice.

"Oh gross!" Ace said, his voice suggesting more intrigue than disgust. His little hand pointed toward the head and thorax that continued to wobble. Both nearly exploded, two cicadas the same size emerging from the severed pieces. They were smaller than the one before by about half but bore all the same adaptations. Their wings sparked, buzzing to life as they took to the air.

"Now there's two of 'em‽" Gin demanded. "Come on!"

"Wait for it…" Kaku muttered. As if on cue, the bugs belched fire. "There it is."

"Fire now, too‽" Sanji yelled.

"Tempest Kick—" Kaku began.

"No!" Nami warned, causing the ex-agent's kick to go awry. The cicadas buzzed, shifting in the air as they studied the creatures below them. "We cut it in half and that made it multiply! It's adapting to whatever we used to kill the last one!"

"Then how're we s'posed to kill it?"

"I don't know yet," the young mother admitted. "If we keep cutting it up, though, then there's a good chance it will just makes smaller and smaller bugs until it's a swarm."

"We must increase the temperature," Kin'emon suggested. "These—" One of the bugs divebombed him, forcing the half-man to cut through the fire breath with his sword. Using the smokescreen its attack caused, the creature landed on his shoulder and jabbed its proboscis into his skin. The samurai barely had time to flinch before the cicada mutant sent a surge of electricity through his legless body.

Meanwhile, the other dove for Kaku, its raptorial legs swinging down. Kaku raised his swords, catching the serrated growths before they could reach his skin. From that, he estimated that these newest bugs were a little bigger than his base form. With that realization, he grew into his Man-Beast form for the extra height and muscle it provided.

"Nose Pistol!" He launched his head forward, nailing the creature in one of its unblinking eyes. It screeched and pulled back, the man lashing forward with one of his swords without thinking, bisecting the creature down the middle. The two pieces writhed, prompting Kaku to jump backward.

As had happened previously, the halves each spawned a new cicada half as big as the one Kaku had cut in half. These, however, had a new adaptation in the form of a sharp horn growing from between its eyes.

"Ah… Oops?"

"How're we s'posed ta kill these things iffin they just come back stronger?" Gin questioned, smacking the one on Kin'emon off his shoulder with a giant flyswatter made of Haki-coated lightning. It spun away, bouncing off the floor. Bucktoof pounced, his chipped tooth scraping against the bug's exoskeleton as his claws tore the wings to shreds. The mammalian mutant yelped as the insect shocked him, forcing Bucktoof back with a gout of flame.

"I think…" the samurai began with a flinch, "that we must reduce them to such a state that there are no remains for their progeny to emerge from."

"Great," the monk muttered. "Even in times o' crisis, he talks like Robin."

"We just gotta make the buggies go poof!" Ace said with a clap. "The old buggy parts are like eggs, right? So just make sure there aren't eggs."

"Isn't my boy so smart?" Nami cooed, squeezing the toddler in her arms.

"That's great and all," Kaku said, blocking a horn charge from one of the newest spawns while its twin went to chase after Sanji. "But aren't these things, ya know, immune to fire and lightnin' now‽"

"They've gotta have a limit!" Gin called over Sanji's terrified screaming. He grinned. "Iffin these things scare Sanji so much, let's just wait 'til he overheats an' burns 'em all up."

"That sounds like sommin Uncle Pervy Cook would do!" Ace laughed.

"Get away, get away get awaaayy!" Sanji cried, launching himself into the air with Sky Walk. The horned cicada followed him, launching fire and lightning from its mouth. "I'll take you out here and now, you bug from Hell! Diable Jambe: Concassé!"

The chef's falling leg smashed into the top of the insect that had been chasing him, fire engulfing the both of them. The bug in question let out a sound like a boiling kettle, the heat of Sanji's kick overpowering its heat resistance until the whole thing shriveled and caught fire. It gave a final "EEEEEE" before crumpling to ash, leaving only the empty husk behind. No new mutant emerged.

"That was a pretty light show, Black Leg!" Kaku hollered, his swords holding his own horned cicada at bay. "Care to do it again?"

"Deal with the bug yourself, Square Nose!"

"Sanji~!" Nami called. "Get rid of the other bugs, please."

"Yes, Nami-swaaan~!"


"According to Trafalgar Law, Velo is a member of the Beast Pirates under the Emperor Kaido," Smoker replied, his head swiveling to follow the movements of the Snipe that he could feel in his smoke.

"Kaido‽" the lizard —Momonosuke, if Smoker remembered correctly— echoed. "Then creatures like this may be running wild throughout Wano!"

"Wano is outside our jurisdiction," Tashigi muttered, gritting her teeth. "Velo cannot get away with this, but if she reaches that country's shores..."

"We'll get her eventually," Smoker said. "We have to get ourselves out of this, first. And that means mounting this bird's head on the wall in my office."

"You can have the head, Smokey," Luffy said, licking his lips, "but my crew gets the meat!"

"I don't think it has much..." Coby trailed off, shaking his head. "You know what? Nevermind. Let's just hunt this Snipe before it hunts us."

The group turned, backing up so that pirates and marines alike formed a circle to cover each other's backs. Coby found himself with Commodore Smoker on one side and Robin on the other. The group's emotions varied in Coby's Observation, the most prevalent including Smoker and Tashigi's serious focus and Luffy's overwhelming hunger. Usopp and Momonosuke's worry undercut the focus and hunger alongside Merry's excitement, but Coby was surprised to feel Robin's silent mirth.

"Robin," the roset muttered, his slitted eyes scanning the commodore's smoke haze carefully. "Why do you seem happy for some reason? We're being hunted."

"Ah, apologies, Coby," she replied. "I suppose, seeing as my default lot in life has been as the constant target of an international manhunt, our current situation does not ruffle my feathers, so to speak."

"Did you say that just because we're being attacked by a bird?"

"You have no proof of that," she grinned. Coby stiffened. "Is something the matter?"

"I can't feel it anymore," Coby muttered. "It must have figured out we could sense it and is now masking its presence somehow."

"I shall find it," Robin assured him. "Cien Fluer: Grasping Field!"

A ring of hands sprouted from the floor around the group, a new, larger ring rising after the first found nothing. This chain expanded as Robin searched for the Snipe. Her eyes widened after a moment.

"What's wrong?" Tashigi questioned from her other side.

"I could not find the creature," the archeologist replied.

"It is climbing and jumping off the walls," Smoker grunted. "I can feel it in my haze. It's being patient; waiting for a moment to strike."

"W-W-W-Where is it?" Usopp questioned on Smoker's other side. "A-Actually, just say when it's right in front of me." Swallowing some courage for the sake of his crewmates, Usopp pulled back on Kabuto's pouch, readying to release its payload against their surreptitious foe.

"Maybe the Snipe has Observation Haki…" Luffy muttered, the rusty gears of his brain trying to come up with a plan. Against all odds, a somewhat-clever plan came to him. He grinned. "He can't know where I'll hit if I don't know where I'll hit! Gum-Gum Gatling!"

"Captain?" Merry blinked. A matching grin grew on her face as an indignant squawk came from somewhere within Luffy's flurry of blows.

"It's coming this way!" Smoker announced. "Now, Long-Nose!"

"Green Star: Red Hot Fire Pepper!" The seed the sniper fired hit the floor three feet away from him, sprouting into four plants spiraling around each other following the original direction. From these plants grew red peppers that were literally on fire —as the name suggested would be the case— lighting the darkness through the smokey haze. From their light could the group see the shadow of the Snipe as it fled Luffy's attack. Its rush caused a slight breeze, but this was all it took for one of the peppers to explode violently. That one set off a chain, filling the area with fire and heat.

"Did you get 'em, Uncle Usopp?" Merry asked.

"I hope so," the man muttered. Another squawk was all the warning they had before the Snipe charged, leaping toward Usopp. The pirate cried out as the bird's talons latched onto his shoulders, drawing blood as the bird's weight drove the teen to the floor. Its feathers were so dark that the pirates and marines could see no change, but there was a slight hint of char in the air and a splash of soot along its muted-yellow beak. Usopp screamed, snapping his head to the side and just missing the Snipe's beak which punctured a hole in the floor. "Help, dammit!"

"Merry Hammers!"

"Pandora's Box!"

The Snipe jumped straight upward, leaving only air to take Merry and Coby's attacks. The bird spread its black wings, unleashing a swarm of pointed feathers down on them. Coby and Merry instantly shifted from offense to defense, each projectile hard as steel but light as a feather, as literal as the turn of phrase was.

"I'll get it!" Luffy yelled. "Gum-Gum Rifle!"

The Snipe cut off its attack and interposed its legs, trying to catch the pirate captain's fist in its talons. This only worked somewhat. It did manage to catch his fist, preventing the punch from connecting with anything truly important, but the spin Luffy's Rifle attack possessed caused the bird to spin so as well, spiraling away. It managed to hold on until the end, however, as Luffy's arm started to retract.

"Iaido," Tashigi muttered, settling on the pirate's outstretched arm, one hand hovering by Shigure's handle. "Song of Severance."

She lashed out with her blade, the Snipe crying out in pain as it instinctually released Luffy's hand. It vanished into the darkness, leaving behind one wing leaking red blood.

"Damn," the woman hissed, dropping to the floor as Luffy's arm retracted fully. "I missed."

"That was really cool, Copycat!" Merry grinned, ignoring Tashigi's demand to not be called by such a nickname. "I don't know if Zoro would be impressed, but I sure am!"

"W-Why would I c-care about the approval of th-that no-good pirate‽" the marine stuttered, her hands coming up to cover her cheeks.

"Why indeed?" Robin chuckled, raising a hand to hide the way she licked her lips.

"Don't be gross, Robin!" the Klabautermann chastised.

"Twas simply a question," the woman waved off in that same tone of voice. "I'm certain I do not know what you are trying to imply, Merry. What horrid thoughts have the others' influence tainted you with?"

"Oh, don't get me started on the urges I can trace back to your influence, Robin."

"Urges‽" Usopp demanded. "Robin, if you—"

"I think we have bigger issues than Robin's habits right now!" Coby interrupted. He crossed his swords, Hoshokusha and Emono absorbing a kick from the Snipe out of seemingly nowhere. It didn't stay still for long, Smoker's smoke trying to condense to hold it in place but coming in just a second too late.

"That thing tried to take my head off," Usopp growled. "Give me a straight shot and I'll return the favor."

"This bird moves too quickly for us to pin it down," Smoker grunted. "What do you think you can do as a long-range fighter, Long-Nose?"

"You underestimate me," Usopp replied, biting down a wince as he moved his injured shoulders. "I've already helped kill two dragons today. Compared to them, this bird is nothing. After all, I'm going to be the best Godadammed sniper in the world!"

"You'll have to beat your dad for that title!" Luffy laughed. "Although, I don't think Yasopp would mind losing that title to you all that much."

"Yasopp?" Smoker questioned. "As in 'Chaser' Yasopp, one of 'Red-Haired' Shanks' top men?"

"Yeah, that's him!" both Luffy and Usopp responded in tandem.

"Bigger issues!" Coby reminded them again. Merry moved, crushing part of the tile. The Snipe gave a sort of growling squawk and stabbed her shoulder with its beak. She reached for it, trying to hold it in place, but it vanished too quickly once more. "Alright, it's pulling off too many hit and run attacks. We need to draw it in and pin it down."

"How?" Tashigi asked. "It's not like we're trying to catch a raccoon or something."

"Buuuut, it might be that simple," Merry grinned as her shoulder healed. "This thing is hunting, which means it's either smart enough to enjoy the sport or it's hungry. Considering it lost a wing already and is still coming after us, I'm thinking it's the latter. If we give it some easy bait, we can direct its path. I'd offer myself since I can heal, but I think I just showed it I'll fight back."

"Bait that won't fight?" Luffy echoed, looking down at the lizard around his neck. "Like a big, long, pink, annoying, worm-like eel?"

"I am not an eel nor a worm!" Momonosuke cried.

"Not Momo," Merry said, ignoring the small dragon's indignant cry. "The legs."

"Ah, clever," Robin nodded.

"That works for me," Luffy shrugged.

"He'll probably be fine," Tashigi reasoned.

"He?" Coby blinked.

"You've met him?" Momonosuke asked.

"The samurai Kin'emon?" Smoker confirmed, receiving an enthusiastic nod from the pink Zoan. "His upper half is with Straw Hat's lover and her group. I don't know where they are right now, but I know his head has been reunited with his torso."

"Well, we best conclude this conflict before ruminating on this day's previous occurrences," Robin suggested. A chain of arms lowered from the ceiling, the hand on the bottom grabbing one of the legs' knees before pulling it upward until they dangled over the group.

"Poot!" the legs protested. "Unhand me!"

"Everyone, backs to the wall!" Merry called. The group did so without complaint, each pirate or marine backing up as far as they could and still see the orange-clothed bait. All fell silent.

Coby barely dared to breathe, his form slowly shifting into his Slasher Mode. His needle-like horn was still missing, its exposed end still painful against the air which was why he'd been avoiding transforming for the battle. Considering he had Hoshokusha and Emono in his hands once more, he was no longer defenseless without his powers, after all.

"Poot! What is this?" Kin'emon's legs demanded, swinging from side to side. "What humiliation is thou subjecting me to? I refuse to be mocked in this manner!"

Coby felt Usopp move in his Observation. Bamboo grew from the floor below the legs, even before the shadow that was the one-winged Snipe leapt for the legs. In the air and moving so fast, the avian did not have the reaction time to abort its attack. Usopp's Bamboo Javelin stabbed upward, piercing its torso. It flailed, trying to get away, only for the motions to wiggle it further onto the plant.

"That's what I thought!" Usopp called. "Not so fast now, huh?"

"SQUAWK!" It's struggles slowed as the group closed in, but there was nowhere for the creature to flee to. It gave up the ghost a minute later, falling limp. The haze in the air condensed, returning into Smoker's body.

"Man, I'm hungry," Luffy grinned, salivating at the thought of his next meal. "Let's find Sanji and get him to cook this Snipe for us! I wanna see if they're just as tasty as my brothers always said they were."

"How'd you do that, Usopp?" Coby asked.

"I'm just that good," the sniper grinned, rubbing his nose. "You see, when I set my sights on something—"

"I told him," the Commodore said, cutting off the pirate's boasting. "I could feel it moving toward the bait through my haze."

"We all made a pretty good team, yeah?" Merry laughed. "Ne, Smokey and Copycat, do you two want to join our crew?"

"Merry!" Luffy admonished. "I'm the captain and only I get to ask people if they want to join our crew!" He turned to the marines. "Do you two want to join our crew?"

"Not a chance," the man muttered, his hand stopping Tashigi from drawing her sword against the pirate for the question. "Can we just return to our ships, reconvene, and formulate our ultimate attack plan?"

"Fine," Luffy sighed. "Coby, lead the way."

"Yes, Captain."


"Smiley!" Caesar called, not having to try hard to feign excitement. He truly did like Smiley more than most of his minions. "Oh Smiley! I have a snack for you! Come! Follow me!"

Smiley made a noise Caesar chose to accept as assent, the man floating backward toward the massive piece of 'candy' in the boat. The behemoth plodded after him, waddling along through whatever buildings stood in its way. Smiley's focus shifted from Caesar to the so-called candy as soon as it was in sight, the being's waddle becoming more of a gallop. Swiftly and without needing to be ordered to, it snapped up the offering and hummed.

"Good boy!" Caesar praised even as Smiley's hum became more of a whine, its body starting to foam and bubble. "Good boy! Oh Smiley, I'm so proud of you! Change form and spread now! Cover the island like you once did and destroy my enemies! Shilololo! Shiiiilolololo!"

Smiley screamed, its body practically boiling as it started to fall apart. Caesar's laugh echoed underneath the roar as the poor bundle of semi-solid gas started to fall apart. The scientist floated backward away from the collapsing creature, his smile as wide as ever. He turned away as Smiley's glowing eyes went dim before losing their light completely.

Ignoring the purple smog that began to spread behind him, Caesar focused on the sleigh of fruit. As he knew would happen, one of the fruits began to morph and change, the apple on top turning from a bright red to a darker purple, swirls growing across its surface.

Caesar launched downward before the Devil Fruit had time to finish transforming, the man scooping it into his hand. He held the Salamander Zoan Fruit: Model Axolotl with no reverence to what its former user had done for him but instead for what he knew to be the worth of Devil Fruits in both the open and black markets. If need be, he could easily sell it to fund his next laboratory through either outright selling it or bribing the peoples of whichever island he found himself on.

He frowned, looking into the distance. He could just see where the intruders' ships were, a couple of Velo's creations attacking the individuals there. He didn't really need to kill every person on the island; he just needed to leave them stranded with the H2S.

A devilish, evil plan came to him, a sick smile twisting over his face. He turned and drifted back over the lake. Already the gas was permeating the water, dead fish and sharks rising to the surface. Upon reaching air, that which was exposed solidified into rock, rolling the sea creatures in question over until their whole bodies —or most of them, anyway— were petrified. Upon that time, the stone bodies would sink into the depths, never to be seen again.

He reached the shore of the Burning Lands and extended his hand out toward the purple smog that had, at one time, been his loyal Smiley. He pulled, drawing the gas into himself. More and more and more, making Caesar grow taller. His white coat turned purple, his very breath breathing the deadly smog into the air only for it to coalesce back into his gaseous body.

"Enjoy your last moments," Caesar muttered, floating his way toward the opposite shore now as a giant specter of petrifying death. "It's time I gather examples of Shinokuni's effects for my future buyers. Shiiilololololo!"

End of Chapter 50


And that's the chapter! To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this one. Most everyone got to show off between this chapter and the last one, but I've never been that confident in my fight scenes. Not when they're anything beyond a one-vs-one, anyway, and I wanted the creatures to be significantly powerful to at least last a while against multiple opponents, even if most of the Straw Hats could beat one alone if they needed to. It was already established that they were a delay tactic, though. Next chapter we get the reunion we've all been waiting for, so:

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods