Chapter Summary:

The Strawhats are in Wano, and things are happening.

Author's Note:

I apologize for not posting for a while. I am not satisfied with this chapter, and I am still unhappy with it. Instead of continuing to drag it out, I decided to post this chapter and move on to the next chapter.

Chapter Ten will be the final chapter and then the epilogue. I promise those will not take nine or ten months to come out.

Chapter Nine

The Nika entered Wano's airspace without incident two days after leaving Whole Cake Island, and it was decided the crew would take a few days to rest and stock up before they joined the Heart Pirates and the others. The crew made port in the small cove near where they had set sail from the day of the Raid in their past.

Sanji had filled his freezers with fish and fresh citrus they found. Nami was taking time to update her maps while Chopper, with Caesar and Reiju's assistance, was making medicines and antidotes to counter any of the poisons and viruses the Headliner Queen could devise.

The trio was also working on a cure for the S.M.I.L.E. fruit.

Vegapunk was the only person to clone a Devil Fruit successfully; Caesar's S.M.I.L.E.s were terrible facsimiles with a 50/50 chance of giving a person power or nothing but a curse to always laugh with a grotesque smile on their face. Caeser was confident that he could reduce the severity of the toxin's effect on the frontal lobe, but those affected would never be able to swim. The crew was happy to hear that as they all could recall the tragedy of laughter and inability to cry had been worse parts of the fruit.

Caeser had been working on a cure since leaving Punk Hazard with the Straw Hats. It was part of his agreement with the pirates and the Revolutionaries, who agreed to help go into hiding as soon as the Straw Hats left Wano.

But for now, they would rest and enjoy a few peaceful days on the beach and Sanji's delicious barbeque. Chopper and Caesar had been making medicines and antidotes to counter any poisons or viruses the Headliner Queen could devise.

As with everything they had done, the crew realized that hard decisions needed to be made and certain events couldn't be altered for specific reasons. Luffy had to go to Udon prison, and Zoro needed to return Shisui to Wano to claim Enma. Nami and Robin had to befriend Shinobu and Franky, the carpenters.

Luffy looked out to the horizon as he bobbed along in his floaty and wondered about the wormhole that had sent them back in time, and he wondered if he had missed something.

While he hated to overthink anything that wasn't about meat or training, Luffy knew he had to think about what they faced in Wano. They had years to plan this strike; they knew all the key players and where to do the most damage. But was it enough to ensure that Momo could change? Would they get their allies? Did they need them?

So much was different from the last time, but it was still the same. Beneath his hat, Luffy was frowning. His head was beginning to hurt from all the thinking he was doing. He drew in a deep breath, let his stress sink away, and focused on the smells of the barbecue Sanji was making and the sounds of his crew having fun on the beach. Robin, Franky, Nami, and Chopper played volleyball with Brook as the referee. Koby and Usopp were swimming laps while Perona lounged in her shaded floating lounger. Zoro was napping on his floating lounge chair. He had a string tied to his right wrist connected to Luffy in case his captain slipped into the water. Reiju and Caesar were resting on the beach. Reiju had never experienced a day where she just relaxed without care.

Luffy was happy for her, he was happy for all of them, and more than that, Luffy was excited.

It had been four years since his adventure started, and now he was back at the last place in his relived past. Once they defeated Kaidou, they would be back on the hunt for the One Piece.

He couldn't wait. He wondered where they would go next.

Dangerous

This was a shit show from the start, but if anything, Sabo was adaptable.

He found Kuma. The man was more machine than human, but Sabo found him all the same, along with another reason to hate the Gorosei.

"Over here," Jewelry Bonney said quietly, waving Sabo after her. She ducked around another pillar before leaping up toward the rafters.

Sabo was quick on her heels. In his mind, he was swearing up a blue streak. He managed to save King Cobra Nefatari of Alabasta by going to the Princess and warning her of the world's true ruler.

Vivi had no reason to trust him, but she was still a Straw Hat and trusted her Captain to keep her and her country safe. Vivi convinced her father to leave without confronting the Gorosei.

Sabo hadn't cared about what happened to the young princess before, but now that Sabo knew what the royal family of Alabasta meant to his brothers, he chose to help them and Luffy's other friends.

Sabo and Bonney had found Kuma; he was guarding the Mariejois' food supply. Bonney ran to her father and tried to remove his shackles while Sabo set fire to the warehouse. The rising smoke set off the alarms, signaling that Morely, Karasu, and the others needed to start their attacks and rescue the freed slaves. Sabo had hoped that Alabasta royals would leave, but to Sabo's horror, Cobra had been determined to get his answers about Queen Lili of Alabasta from the Void Century.

Sabo did not know what the man had thought to accomplish other than getting killed, but Sabo didn't care. Cobra needed to survive.

Cobra was meant more to the world than as a D himself.

Nefatari D. Cobra would live to see the revolution, or Sabo would kill the man himself, by damn it.

Sabo passed off his intel to Lindbergh, his cat mink associate, who would get the intel to Dragon while Sabo went to join his family.

Two days later, Sabo crash-landed in Wano; more specifically, Sabo landed on Ace, who was sparing with Zoro. Sabo's family was in Amigasa Village and had acquired a new little sister. Sabo was swamped by Luffy after Ace shoved him off and onto the ground with a curse. Sabo laughed off Ace's discontent as he grabbed Luffy into a headlock.

Luffy giggled in delight at the rough play while Sabo greeted Robin, who had come out of the house Franky had renovated for their large party to check on the commotion.

Franky had created a water filtration system so there was clean water for bathing, cooking, and drinking. Sabo was glad to get in a shower before sitting down to get up to speed with the happenings in Wano.

The night was warm; the sound of cicadas filled the air. Sabo was clean, fed, and surrounded by his younger siblings, who elected to use him as a pillow while he explained what had gone down at the Reverie and how he convinced Kuma to send him to his brothers. He shifted Otama in his arms and settled against a wall beside Ace to listen to the crew finalize their attack plans.

Dangerous

The Straw Hats decided to take a different approach to take on Kaidou.

Since Ace had infiltrated the Shogun's circle, Robin, Brook, and Koby went to Onigashima. The crew had decided to infiltrate Kaidou's stronghold later, but after meeting Yamato and learning what his father had been doing for the last two years, the crew realized they were not the only ones to have traveled back in time.

It was concerning that the Governor-General of the Beast Pirates had returned with them, but it only meant that they had to be more innovative and daring than Kaidou expected. It was apparent that the old bastard hadn't trusted anyone with his secret, and the Straw Hats would exploit the hell out of the mistake.

It was all relatively simple. Theirs would be a three-pronged attack, including infiltration, sabotage, and assassination. Cesear and Reiju had created a neurotoxin that Robin's team carried to the Onigashima to dump into the water supply. It wouldn't take out the lead performers or the Topi Robi, but everyone else was bound to fall victim to the poison.

Perona decided she would be responsible for dealing with Kanjuro.

Perona had intercepted all of Kanjuro's messages to the Orochi, and all other spies had been eliminated, so there was no worry of anything being overheard or heard everything. They were dragging him by the nose while Luffy and Zoro worked to recruit Momo's army and arm them.

Luffy went to Udon Prison with Sabo and Chopper. First, they had to pick up Momo and Kiku from the ruins of Kozuki Castle. Otama returned to Flower Capital with Ace. It had been decided to limit her role in the war significantly. However, Momonosuke needed to be at the forefront. He was the rightful shogun; thus, the prisoners needed to see him and remember Oden and their vow to take back their land from Orochi and Kaidou.

While Luffy went off to raid the prison camps, Zoro, Brook, and Yamato journeyed to Ringo. With things being different now, Zoro did not know how he would acquire Enma.

"I have never been so far from my father's castle," Yamato said as he and Zoro crossed the Oihagi Bridge. "I had never left Onigashima until last year when my father sent me to the Flower Capital for one of the Shogun's celebrations."

"Is there where you and Ace reconnected, Yamato-san?" Brook asked politely from his position at the rear.

Yamato turned to face him and shook his head, "I found Ace, or rather, Ace found me after I escaped my father's castle." A frown graced the young ogre's lips as he turned towards the direction they had just traveled from, "Someone is coming."

Zoro grunted in acknowledgment as he had already drawn two swords. He noticed that others had drawn their weapons and had fallen into battle stances. And just in time, Zoro easily deflected a flying slashing attack that barely missed the woman and young girl who had fallen in the snow.

"Don't tell me…" Zoro muttered. Then, over the horizon, a man in a purple kimono with a long tail of blond hair came charging at the woman and child.

"Komurasaki-san!" Yamato cried out as he rushed to aid the downed woman.

Zoro and Brook charged the ghost when a booming voice yelled, "Have at Thee!"

Zoro dodged the attack at his back and heard the sound of steel on steel.

"Zoro-san, go!" Brook said tersely as he parried another attack aimed at Zoro's back, "I will hold off the guardian; you focus on our guest."

Zoro was surprised to see that he was right as he got closer. "You are Killer of the Kid Pirates," Zoro demanded as he slapped away another attack before he launched his own attack.

"Roronoa," Killer growled as he raised his dual scythes at Zoro.

"Mugiwara!" Eustass Kid growled as he glared at the dark-haired boy standing over him.

"Jaggy," Luffy said in disbelief as he stared at the emaciated pirate chained to a wall. Supposedly, the amazons of Amazon Lily and the Navy had destroyed the Kid Pirates. The amazons had destroyed other crews of note since the Boa Sisters' deaths, and they were still terrorizing the seas at the World Government's command.

The question now was why or how the Kid Pirates survived.

Taking over Udon prison went over without a hitch, and Luffy had settled in for a long snack. At the same time, Momonosuke was reunited with one of his retainers, leaving Sabo to get the story out of Kid's survival while Chopper tended to the other pirate's injuries.

Kid had both arms but was missing his right leg and right eye. He had lost to them in the battle with the Amazons, Kid told them. His ship had sunk, taking out his crew except for his first mate, Killer. Killer had saved his captain, yet the Amazons immediately captured them. He and Killer were the only two who survived the attack, only to be captured by the same Amazon who sold them to the Beast Pirates.

Kaidou took one look at Kid and ordered that he be executed, but Orochi had interfered, and in a bold move, he spirited Kid away right from under Kaidou's nose. And just like last time, Orochi was holding Kid hostage in exchange for Killer serving as his personal bodyguard and assassin.

"You must have the devil's luck," Sabo declared as they sat down to the meal the former prisoners had prepared in the prison kitchen. Luffy was seated with Momo and his retainers, one of the famed Akazaya Kunin Otoko, Kappa no Kawamatsu, the former yakuza leaders, Boss Hana no Hyogoro, Bosses Yugao no O-Cho of Ringo, Yabure-gasa Tsunagoro of Hakumai, Chinmoji no Omasa of Udon, and Janome no Yatappe of Kibi. Earlier, while Chopper was working with on Eustass Kid, Luffy had told the yakuza leaders and Momo about how he and his crew had traveled back to the past four years ago.

Surprisingly, they all took the information rather well, in Sabo's opinion, but then Momonosuke and four of his retainers had traveled forward in time; it seemed plausible that Luffy's fruit could do whatever it wanted.

Or that was what Dragon had hypothesized when Luffy explained his fruit's awakening and what he had been thinking about in the final moments of his battle with Kaidou. Luffy said he wasn't thinking about anything important except defeating Kaidou.

Sabo looked over at his little brother and shook his head with a smile. It didn't matter anymore; Sabo dropped beside his little brother and handed him one of the bowls of rice he had been carrying.

Luffy smiled at him before returning to his meal, thus leaving Sabo to pick up on the planning and discussion with the yakuza and the retainer. He pulled out the white den-den mushi and dialed up Robin and the others to check-in.

Dangerous

The shipyard was a mess, but Franky had time on his hands and a good set of workers to help him out. He had enough building supplies and materials thanks to them stocking up on Whole Cake and the lumber they milled from the local forests. Reiju and Cesar were able to remove the toxins in the timber, and Franky was able to treat it.

Franky assured his captain and the Samurai that the ships would be ready to sail in time for the Raid.

Sanji and Reiju were in Okobore-cho, the leftover town, with Shimotsuki Yasuie, the former daimyo of Hakumai and supporter of the Kozuki family. The siblings had administered Cesar's cure to him.

The trio were on their way to Kuri to meet with Kin'emon and the others. Sanji had the most troubling news.

Kaidou was in the Bakura-cho.

Kaidou was still searching for his heir. He had brought the Tobiroppo with him, and amongst them was Rear Admiral and spy X Drake.

Nami had theorized that if Kaidou had traveled back in time with them, he would have been unaware of what occurred in the castle from the moment he went up to the rooftop.

Kaidou had appeared briefly when he thought he had killed Luffy, but Luffy's awaking drew Kaidou back into the battle before he knew who turned on him or the status of his top commanders.

Nami was in the Flower Capital with Perona and Shinobu. They were laying the false trail that Orochi assumed was intel from Kanjuro.

Kin'emon personally had taken care of that traitor when presented with evidence of the other's betrayal. It was Nami's idea to continue the rouse of Kanjuro being alive for Orochi. At the same time, the team was signaling the samurai and coordinating locations and communications.

Queen was in town; he was staying at Orochi's palace, and he, too, was searching for Yamato, Nami reported.

Brook reported that Yamato was tending to Kozuki Hiyori and Toko. Zoro returned Shishu and secured Enma, and the other swords the Guardian had been collecting. Oh, they had acquired a Killer as a pet. Yo ho ho!

Robin and Koby were sailing away from Onigashima. They had infiltrated Kaidou's place and planted charges for the areas that would hold most of the Beast Pirates during the feast.

Things were moving fast, Luffy noted. He was ready to get this over with so he could return to his adventure. Sabin bopped him on the head for his impatience. Then he reminded Luffy that he could go all-out against Kaidou without worry.

With a delighted laugh, Luffy bounded over to Momo. Swinging the child upon his shoulders, Luffy, in his usual carefree manner, gave every former prisoner hope and dreams of liberation.