Justice

by Black' Victor Cachat

Dealing with villains is all part of being a superhero, the Justice League knows this. So how do they handle the new supervillain gang that can't decide whether they're good or evil? And said gang, the Straw Hat Pirates, are just desperate to get home to fulfil their dreams, whatever it takes. And they have no problems with fighting more believers in 'Justice' along the way

26. Tabula Rasa

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY AWARE 'S ALERTS ARE NOT WORKING RIGHT. DO CONSIDER READING THIS ON AO3.

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I do not own either One Piece or Justice League Unlimited.

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Beta read by the wonderful rose7anne101 and MasterQwertster. Make sure to check out their own stories! Also thanks to other readers who have given incredible help, like Kolomte'49, lincoln time, mellra, scl04, King of Fans, Anycents, Crossovernaru, TheWhiteTitan, coalface, Creation Teller, Bellduke, Bkaa19, and VixenRose1996. I know several of you will see your contributions here, even if they will be a surprise ;-)

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Guest Review answers :-D

SargentEpsilon

Oh, the Straw Hats will be absolutely furious with Highfather, with more on their relevant attitudes in this chapter. Because you are 100% right about Wano. As for the rest of New Genesis, well, it depends on how much they try to defend their king.

Yes, Superman will have to come to terms with some things, and the dangers are not over yet.

Here is the latest chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait! Looking forward to hearing your newest thoughts! :-D

Thank you for your review and support! :-D

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Door to Nowhere

Been rotating through my other stories, but planning to take a little break from that to focus on "Justice" more for a bit.

And even then Highfather brought in the Straw Hats for non-Darkseid related reasons.

Oh, you are absolutely right with the issues of bringing in Gear 5. At least not until there are opponents who can actually fight back against it. I like the cartoon idea though! :-D

I agree that the DCAU has the best version of Amazo, although a bit of a low bar since the others tend to be just mindless killing machines. :-P As for what he does, wait and see ;-)

With "Hereafter," I do not feel like Luffy is really a funeral guy, especially given how relatively little he has met Superman. Especially as they are meant to be grim and solemn affairs. Oof, in fact, I think he would likely treat the matter like Oden did when we first actually saw him, and eating a meal on Superman's coffin would provoke violence.

For the serial killers, I struggled a lot with the decision to include them, but really keeping the non-DCAU characters as minor as possible, and even then just to avoid having nameless mooks running around.

LOL pretty much for Ace!

Here is the latest chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait! Looking forward to hearing your newest thoughts! :-D

Thank you for your review and support! :-D

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Evil Reviewer

I did consider making it a coincidence for the SHP ending up here, but Highfather's involvement will have some lasting repercussions. And yes, heavy foreshadowing ;-)

. . . I am going to be honest: that is the most convincing argument in favour of remaining on FF I have seen thus far.

Unfortunately, my dear sweet 'archnemesis' (rose7anne101 is laughing at you by the way), it is not about you, but the sensation we are standing upon a rotten building while the rats flee, with a suspicious smell like smoke wafting up from below. Case in point, a month without functioning Alerts, while during that time I also had to deal with my Favourites paging only half the time some days, having to manually search for my reviews like a savage, and some evenings unable to bring up more two different Browsing pages. Even now FF links only seem to work a third of the time.

That said, I confess I would miss your commentary. Your words have grown on me . . . and to my surprise more than just some fungus even! O.O While I will leave it to you to judge my tags, you are able to leave guest comments if you leave them an email, and you can just make a disposable gmail account you never log onto again probably.

But if it makes you feel better, you can tell yourself you won while I stroll away whistling (this part is a lie, to my profound shame I cannot whistle) to greener pastures. For now though, out of a sense of nostalgia and pity for you I shall continue posting here.

For now.

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Bot the titan

I will leave that to the omake writers. Glad you are enjoying this story overall though! :-D

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Hoplit

I honestly almost feel sympathy for what I am putting the Justice League through! They need therapy. Unfortunately, non-villainous therapists are in tragically short supply.

More characters will indeed be joining the Justice League this chapter, and more to come. Hopefully this will also satisfy your desire for more Usopp, Volcana, and Maureen scenes! ;-D

For the matters of AO3 and FF, more details above, but for now I will be posting her still.

Here is the latest chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait! Looking forward to hearing your newest thoughts! :-D

Thank you for your review and support! :-D

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Jonas

Glad to know the reveal worked out so well! :-D

Probably for the best indeed using AO3. Will still respond to you here though out of courtesy ;-)

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Banana Boat

Where was that from about Gaia being much larger than Earth?

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Jimmy

Been rotating through my other stories, but planning to take a little break from that to focus on "Justice" more for a bit.

Here is the latest chapter, and I hope it was worth the wait! Looking forward to hearing your newest thoughts! :-D

Thank you for your review and support! :-D

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Justice

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Chapter 26: Tabula Rasa

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Previously:

The Justice League successfully survived and defeated Darkseid and Brainiac, but tensions and concerns have lingered over the various battles they have fought as of late.

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This chapter is an AU of a DCAU episode by the same name. And speaking of the name, "tabula rasa" is a Latin phrase often translated as "blank slate" in English.

Other content is borrowed from Society of Shadows, and recommended viewing for readers.

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I am now only posting Omakes on AO3. Not only because of the issues with FF, but also because if the authors give me their penname, they can edit their own chapters, and respond to comments more readily.

I have been working on contacting everyone who has sent me an omake before, but in some cases it looks like your names have changed. Please message me if you submitted an Omake and have not heard back.

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Metropolis

Flying over the docks as he worked to escape, Lex Luthor turned to fire a succession of green energy blasts from the palms of his exo-suit.

Somehow, despite all his precautions, the League had sniffed him out and were after him like a pack of rabid dogs who just refused to let it go. Fortunately it was only the one so far, so he might be able to handle it before she called in even more.

Hawkgirl swerved around them, and closed in to repeatedly swing her mace at him. "Hah! Hah! Hah!" she shouted with every strike.

Blocking each one with his forearms, Luthor saw his opening and shot her, making her cry out in pain and crash down to the waterfront below.

While largely unhurt, pain and having the wind knocked out of her made it hard to move. Teeth barred in defiance she pushed herself up on her elbows while he took a moment to smugly smirk before delivering the killing blow.

In a blur of blue and red Superman stood firm between his teammate and the green beam. Where once the kryptonite-based weapon had left him screaming in anguish, being drained by exposure, this time the Man of Steel stood his ground.

Steady in his resolve, while Luthor's face spasmed with hate as he maintained his attack.

It hurt the hero. There was no question. Yet it was a strain Superman could endure as he slowly stepped forward while Luthor could only snarl at him, until the hero shot out a palm to repel the attack and send the egomaniac flying into a wooden crate.

Rubbing her aching head, and seeing Superman glancing back to see how she was, Hawkgirl grumbled, "I don't need any help!"

"You're welcome," said Superman a bit cheekily.

With an angry cry Luthor flung the scraps aside, and took to the air firing another continuous beam. Blocking them with his arms, Superman flew after his nemesis while unleashing his own heat vision to burn into the breastplate of Luthor's armour. The pain made the Human audibly groan, unable to do anything as the alien pushed straight through to clobber him.

The protrusions of armour along the sides of Luthor's face, and the Kryptonite still slowing his enemy down just enough, meant that it did not instantly end the fight. Metal rang from Superman's blows, and Luthor concentrated the kryptonite energy to his fists to give punches of his own, followed by a direct blast to Superman's eyes, sending him back at last.

However the Kryptonian was not alone.

Even as Luthor continued to concentrate his fire on whom he perceived as the greatest threat, Hawkgirl swooped up and spun around to fling her mace crackling with its own power. "Heeyaah!" she cried, and the impact tore off the armour over Luthor's right shoulder. Grasping it, he turned to flee once more.

A glance however confirmed the heroes were grimly in pursuit, so he charged up another attack and fired upon a nearby cruise liner. Blowing a hole in the side just under the waterline, it immediately began to sink. Screams from the passengers were audible even from the air.

Stopping for a precious second in shock and to assess the situation, Superman yelled, "Come on!" as he rushed down to help.

Hawkgirl started after the retreating Luthor, only to hesitate as she was torn between saving the people, or letting the threat run loose to cause more death and mayhem.

Superman called after her, "He can wait!" which decided that, as she flew down to help as well while calling an update for the other heroes searching for Luthor.

!JUSTICE!

LexCorp Headquarters

"Then fire them!" declared Mercy Graves, CEO of LexCorp, as she strode towards her office. Her hair was longer now, and her business suit was expensive and immaculate. "In fact, get rid of the whole division." She paused to listen, and said, "I don't care what Luthor would've done. I'm in charge now, and if you can't accept that, I'll—"

Her phone dropped from her nerveless fingers as she opened the door to find her ex-boss in broken, sparking armour, drenched in sweat, and slumped over her desk. "Mercy," he gasped, raising a hand towards her.

She could only stare at him in disbelief, arms crossed defensively before herself.

Desperately, he pulled himself to his feet, and tried to walk towards her. "Help me," he managed before collapsing to the ground.

"Ah, Mercy~, Mercy~, Mercy~," crooned a psychotic voice in her ear. Speaking words which would haunt her nightmares. "He didn't give it to you to keep, he gave it to you because when he comes back, he's expecting you to return it to him."

Mercy hated Harley Quinn. Loathed her. Whereas Luthor's attitude towards Superman had always been a petty thing born of jealousy, hers was born from that fear and sense of violation. But what made her loathe Harley most of all was how right the clown turned pirate might be.

Her hand dived into her breast pocket, and yanked out her personal firearm.

Heavy footsteps thundered behind her as her security team rushed in, alerted by the silent alarm she had installed the day after being taken prisoner in this very room by Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy for therapy.

"What's—no!" groaned Luthor, betrayal flashing in his eyes.

"Call the cops. Call Superman," said Mercy harshly. She grimaced, "That clown's never going to let me hear the end of this. 'Course, we can always arrest her and the plant witch too."

She could see his eyes flit over the resolved men and women pointing guns at him before focusing on her. "I'm—I'm—"

"Sick? Dying?" she said mockingly. "You couldn't do it somewhere else?"

"After all I've done for you . . ."

"Ma'am," broke in her head bodyguard, touching his earpiece. "The Justice League is on their way."

"Excellent."

"No!" raged Luthor, sweeping up his hands to fire a green burst to send half her team flying. The others opened fire, rounds pinging harmlessly over his armour. He lurched at her with the last of the life in his armour, and Mercy's wild shot hit him in the face.

Blood spewed everywhere, and he collapsed at last.

Panting, she stared down at him, finger trembling on the trigger. Registering how he was still breathing.

He'll never stop trying to take back my company.

Light illuminated the room, and she saw Green Lantern float into the room through the open balcony door.

Mercy reluctantly lowered her gun, and turned to check on how her guards were doing. Something Lex would never have done.

As satisfying as ending him herself might have been, he was ruined for good now.

Ruined, and would have a scar to always remind him of how his dog bit back.

!JUSTICE!

A few days later

"Urgh!" scowled Nami. "Why'm I here again?"

"Because you were getting super stir-crazy back at the base?" grinned Franky cheekily, driving the Optimus Prime truck to their destination.

She made a few mumbled growls, yet she could not really bring herself to deny it. Tensions had been rising amongst the group, even Luffy climbing up the walls with a need to do something more than watch TV, and she had lost interest in throwing herself into training like the rest. So when Franky had said he wanted to check up on somebody, she had declared he would cause a ruckus without someone to keep an eye on him, and generously accepted his unspoken request for her to come along as well.

One of the scientists Cheetah had discreetly put them in contact with, was an ex-LexCorp scientist by the name of Professor Arthur Ivo. Very brilliant, and disgruntled about being fired for no good reason (at least according to the man himself), he had been open to offers from one 'Tom Puffman' to exchange funds in return for rare materials and a sharing of advanced scientific knowledge. Only the man had recently stopped answering back, and Franky had voiced his suspicions that the man had been on the verge of a major breakthrough. So he had figured they should check it out.

Robin had wondered aloud if the man had created a world ending monstrosity which had consumed him . . . and thus elected to stay behind because Ace did not want her to go.

It was very sweet and adorable, even if it did make Nami worry anew about what they would be getting into when they returned to Wano. In many ways, Ace reminded her of Tama, who she had heard about from Luffy, Zoro, and Chopper: a potentially very useful power, but still a young girl wanting to get involved in a war against beasts in Human skin.

Still, Nami was hardly one to begrudge someone's choice to sail away free upon the seas, and the Straw Hats would do all they could so their newest member would survive and thrive.

Putting such thoughts out of mind, Nami took the time to appreciate the scenery. It was evident why the locals called this place Mountain View.

Finally they pulled up at a large, fancy house. Hmm, Ivo had more money to spare than you would expect from someone so eager to work with Franky via letter.

Releasing a yawn and stretching, Cheetah hauled herself out of the back trailer. "We here?" she said sleepily, scratching her fur with her claws.

"Seems so," said Nami, waving her Clima-Tact to make them all invisible from prying eyes.

"Nice place," complimented Franky.

"Eh," said Cheetah warily, head on a swivel. "If a genius scientist, especially one associated with Luthor, retreats to someplace isolated, then it means they're working on something particularly mad." Her voice was laden with the certainty of personal experience. "Seems like only S.T.A.R. Labs manages to not hire the crazies."

There had been some considerations to raid that place, only to eventually dismiss them given their extensive security and connections to Superman. Plus there were a lot of different and weird rumours about the place.

As for Ivo, it was early evening, but no lights were on. Hmm. Reaching out with her burgeoning Observation Haki, Nami frowned as she sensed nobody inside.

A glance at Franky and she saw how his brow was furrowed as he focused on the walls, and knew he was using his x-ray and thermal vision. "Some weird stuff," he said, "but doesn't look like anybody's home."

"Well, let's look inside." A quick check of the door confirmed it was locked, which meant it only took Nami a few seconds to open.

The moment they did though, Cheetah tensed. Taking a deep breath through her nose, she grimaced, and declared, "Something's dead in here."

Just in case, Nami kept her Clima-Tact in hand as she followed Cheetah, while Franky edged his way inside as well. The doorways and ceiling were unusually wide and tall, allowing the cyborg freedom of movement.

Unerringly Cheetah led them to a lab set up in what looked more like a living room, and there on a bed was a still figure with a blanket laid over them. Releasing a sorrowful sigh, Franky raised it just enough to confirm it was indeed Professor Ivo. "Sorry, man," he said. "Bummer you had to die alone, but we'll bury you or something." Laying it back down, he scratched the back of his head, "Completely missed that. I'm gonna have to figure out how to use these new eyes better."

He turned around and leapt right off his feet in shock.

Whirling around, Nami found herself facing straight into a wall of dark-grey metal which had not been there a second ago.

"Whaaa!" she cried, jabbing forward with her Clima-Tact and the new taser function. Sparks crackled to no effect while she jumped back and found herself staring up at a masculine figure, who looked more like a statue aside from the blank face, showing only glowing red eyes over black shading. It was tall for a person from Earth, with the top of Nami's head barely reaching his chest. Nothing in comparison to the likes of Jinbe, Brook, or the present Franky though.

"Ooh," said Cheetah in understanding, claws still outstretched. "So that's what Ivo was doing: building an android. But I thought he specialised in nanomachines?"

"Yes," said the figure with a voice which was somehow both male and robotic. Staring at Cheetah, his red eyes flared white for a second, and then their face shifted into an imitation of her own feline features.

"Oh," said Cheetah in a dead voice. "Of course. Why not."

It (he?) shifted its head to look at Nami, and she barked, "Hey! Cut it off!"

Freezing, he just looked at her for a moment, and then went, "Why? It's my function?"

The way he sounded so tragically confused made Nami bite off her initial retort. Instead she said, "Did Professor Ivo create you?"
"Yes. When will Professor come back?"

"Er," said Franky, stepping forward, "he's not. We're sorry."

"He has too!"

Oh dear.

Now feeling a whole lot more sympathetic, Nami lowered and shrank her Clima-Tact, stuffing it back between her breasts. "We're sorry," she said. "Uhm, what do we call you? And, is it he? It? They?"

Learning that Luffy had been saved by the King/Queen of the Okama had led Nami to brush up on gender identity over their two year separation. She did not really get it, but it seemed polite enough to know. Especially if it bought her time to think.

"I'm called Amazo. And, he?" Right, something, or someone unfamiliar with death probably would not get the significance of gender.

What? Nami was family with a skeleton, a cyborg, a reindeer, a ship (and had held a funeral for another), and a whole ragtag band of other idiots and Robin. Oh, and Ace. With the weirdest of all being Luffy, which she liked to think numbed you to any other kinds of unpredictability. If she could swear herself to that rubberbrain without dumping him in the ocean, she could accept a talking robot as a person.

"My name is Nami."

"Franky," he said, while lowering his arms.

"Cheetah." She glanced back at the covered corpse of Ivo, and took another sniff. "Smells like it was cancer," she said softly.

"You're working on a cure for that with Chopper, right?" asked Franky.

"Would it bring him back?" said Amazo eagerly.

"I—no, Amazo, it won't. What Chopper and I are working on is to help keep people from, going away."

"Who is Chopper?"

"A friend of ours."

"Oh."

That tone. That complicated mixture of emotions from someone who would look like a mannequin if not for the surprisingly subtle changes around his eyes, all heralding someone who was lost, and with nowhere to go . . .

Alone.

No!

No!

Nooooooo!

Against her best wishes, Nami glanced at Franky and at the sight of the expression he was throwing at her, buried her face in her hands with a groan.

"Are you alright?" asked Amazo with concern.

Because that was what the Straw Hats had all been when they had first met, weren't they? A collection of lost souls trying to find their place in this world. Their purpose.

Their Dreams.

What was one more stray?

For a short time at least.

Accepting the inevitable, Nami dropped her arms, and stared at Amazo. "Do you want to come with us?"

He tilted his head in thought, and nodded.

She knew it was not her imagination that he was looking at her with wonder.

!JUSTICE!

In practice, it took a little more work.

For starters, they were not leaving a dead body lying around.

With their bare, metal hands, Franky and Amazo had dug the grave. "This way you can return to him at a later date," coached Franky. "It may seem strange to you, and you may never actually return here, but at least you'll have the opportunity to come back and say a few words to him."

"I do with my mom's grave," admitted Nami. Her nakama shot her a knowing look, having asked her about her family before. Cheetah looked curious, yet did not press the matter; although likely in most part because of the whole context of the current situation.

"I see," said Amazo. "So there's a part of him still remaining in his body?"

"Some people believe that, others don't," said Franky diplomatically. "I'd suggest reading up on religion and afterlives in your own time to get a background first. What matters to the living though is that those they've lost are remembered; your memories of Ivo are what he has left behind to you. If a person's remembered, they're not really gone, are they?"

"I guess?" said Amazo, still sounding unsure, yet wanting it to be true.

"It's true," said Nami with absolute conviction. "It may not seem like it at times, but that's more because of how much you miss them. And that's perfectly fine. All that matters is they're not forgotten."

The android bowed his head in consideration, and then gave a surprisingly Human nod of understanding.

Using the tools he kept in his speedo —and that would never stop being disgusting for Nami— and some wood from old furniture in the basement, Franky quickly constructed a very tasteful casket to place the professor in, and then lowered it into the grave itself. Amazo asked to be the one to actually bury him, which they agreed with, providing him with a consoling pat on the shoulder.

While he did that, Nami and the others turned their attention to emptying out the place itself.

Now, technically Amazo could be considered the hereditary owner, but honestly he was not using any of it, and any of these expensive machines could help their nakama return home, so fair game. Also, Amazo never protested.

After some investigating, Nami found the deed to the property, and other important documents. A little forging, a couple calls, and Amazo would inherit his . . . dad's house, and thus be free to visit that grave.

Assessing the rate of ongoing looting, *ahem*, decluttering of the house, she concluded they were taking too long. Removing her Clima-Tact, she said, "Zeus."

Her sentient cloud popped out. "Nami!"

"We need some help carrying stuff out to the truck."

"On it!"

"Curious," said Amazo, coming over. "I can't scan you. What are you?"

"I'm a Homie!" puffed up Zeus proudly. "Mama made me from a cloud and her very own soul!"

"Nami is your mama?" said Amazo, tilting his head quizzically.

"No, no! Big Mom! Nami just, uh—"

"Gave him new and fantastic opportunities!" she crooned as she pulled the quivering cloud up close. And then tossed him a bit of lightning as a treat.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"I see. So you're an artificial creation as well."

"Huh? Oh. Nope," frowned Zeus. "Not getting into that. People asking me and the others existential questions got old ages ago! All that matters is that I work for Nami. So get busy loading me up." From there he proceeded to completely ignore whatever Amazo asked unless it was related to how much the steadily growing cloud could carry.

Another delay they should have anticipated popped up as they arrived at the truck, and Amazo immediately clocked it as a transforming robot. "But it's not intelligent like me," he said with disappointment.

"Yeah, I'm not so confident in my ability to program that sort of thing in," lamented Franky. "Plus, I'm not sure I'm ready to be a dad."

Nami shuddered at the notion of transforming robots all with Franky's personality.

As for the final hurdle, while they were putting in the final load and relocking up the place, it struck Nami that they were about to have a multi-hour drive with an incessantly curious android. One whose questions she was not sure how she could answer, or if she even should. Telling it to be quiet would likely be taken as hurtful as well.

"Say, Amazo," boomed Franky. "How's about on the drive you tell us all about Professor Ivo."

Bless you, Franky.

"Really?" said Amazo with a touch of cautious excitement.

"Of course!"

!JUSTICE!

After far too many delays, the Justice League was finally getting their joint training off the ground.

As he stared at the fake town set up in a desert in the middle of nowhere, Green Lantern felt a sense of deep satisfaction at finally pulling this off. Now with Luthor safely back in prison, and J'onn located after he had had a bad reaction to opening himself to an entire city's worth of minds at once, they were all together. Time for some proper teamwork, and ironing out any weaknesses!

Plus, they had some new members to get a hang of.

Orion, the New God of Apokolips. Personally, Green Lantern was a little wary of bringing the 'god' in. Yes, Superman vouched for the guy, except there was a definite sense that the man was looking for a new conflict to fight in, now that the one he had spent all his life preparing for was effectively over. Also, he admitted up front he had anger issues.

The other two had been more surprising. Awkwardly, Orion had introduced the man in a red and yellow full-body covering outfit and green cape as Scott Free, or Mister Miracle. An escape artist who quickly proved his credentials to the group when he dared them to keep him confined. So Flash had wrapped him up in a cocoon of rope in three seconds flat. It had taken Scott six to wiggle out, at which point hotshot had grabbed some popcorn to watch their new member casually escape from any restraints Batman put on him. Or the bubble prison Green Lantern had put him in.

Still no idea how he had pulled that one off, but it was certainly impressive.

The third and final member was the tall and aptly named Big Barda, who was also Mister Miracle's wife. Possessing super-strength and durability, and an alien club, she had apparently served in Darkseid's elite Furies before defecting some time ago. Their explanation for joining had been even more vague, citing a desire to help Orion and get off of New Genesis. Despite this, they both had Orion and Highfather's endorsement. As impressive a resume as that was though, nothing about Big Barda made the ex-marine think she understood the value of teamwork. So he kept an extra eye on her.

Spread out before him was the artificial small town, with pop up 'villains' and 'civilians' for target practice. Meanwhile, drones leant by the army served as active threats.

Small teams went at it, with himself, Superman, Hawkgirl, Shining Knight, Martian Manhunter, and the newcomers observing. Down in the streets themselves, currently it was Batman, Wonder Woman, and Flash having a go at it, as the bipedal robots converged on all sides, firing their wrist-guns set to a mild and safe burn.

Flash ducked and weaved around, throwing improvised wooden projectiles fast enough to shear through metal.

Wonder Woman held off a whole squad of them, bracelets blurring before her as she blocked the equivalent of multiple machine guns at once.

Batman swooped in and blew up every robot on the field in a matter of split-seconds.

"Hey, that was my bad guy!" complained Flash.

"Happy?" said Batman a touch acidly as Green Lantern came down beside him with a glare. "Call me when it's important."

"Batman, wait," said Superman, moving to step between him and the Batwing. "A little more teamwork wouldn't hurt any of us."

"This is a waste of my time." As the Man of Steel opened his mouth, Batman muttered, "And you're one to talk."

Not a trace of venom was in the Dark Knight's tone, yet the underlying intensity to his words made Superman step aside all the same.

"He speaks the truth," snapped Orion angrily before anyone else could say anything. Storming over, he scowled down at Green Lantern through his helmet. "There's no challenge in this! I was promised worthy foes!"

Unimpressed, Green Lantern said, "This from the guy who shot two civilian targets?"

Interceding, Wonder Woman said, "Man's World, and the battles you fight here are different than those you're used to. This is to help you save people better, and for us to get to know each other so as to fight side-by-side. It may be irritating for you, but it's necessary. As for the battles to come," her eyes narrowed, "you can be sure they'll be upon us before you know it."

The Dog of War sobered at her words, especially at the unspoken reminder of the scars Superman had shown him.

"Besides," smirked Green Lantern, "this is only stage one of practice."

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

Zoro scowled worse than usual as he pumped his weights.

The witch had scampered off with Franky without letting the rest of them know until it was too late, leaving them to return to their training or go stir crazy. If he and his nakama could not risk exploring, then they had to do something else to burn off their frustration, and this was productive.

The Land of Wano and its people called, after all. Even if it was only to avenge Momonosuke, Kin'emon, and the rest.

He hoped Hiyori and Tama were somewhere safe.

A succession of grunts drew Zoro out of his thoughts, and he saw the teen calling himself Ten now struggling through another rep with his own weights. His keepers had told Ten that he was stronger than even Superman, feeding his ego, and then he had discovered a succession of people who outclassed him. Cocky idiot was throwing himself into exercising now with no sense of self-restraint. Lessons Zoro had learnt the hard way as a kid after overstraining himself a few times. So he said nothing so as to help Ten discover those things on his own.

Speaking of . . .

King and Queen were working on their teamwork together, with her flying them around metal plates while he shot at targets. Which was good, because their 'Headmaster' seemed to have actually worked to discourage cooperation amongst them before, likely afraid of them rising up against him.

As for Jack, he was experimenting with new ideas for his own powers based upon what Luffy could do with his own rubbery body.

Although he's capable of things a Gum-Gum Fruit user can't do.

"Do it faster!" berated Luffy, not even looking away from the massive slab of solid steel he was mangling with his fists. He was getting faster and stronger at it, yet still struggling with attaining that new haki technique he had been in the midst of learning before they had all been punted here.

To hit something without touching it.

Sounded useful, even if Zoro had no interest in it himself.

"I'm trying!" griped Jack, attempting his own version of Gum-Gum Pistol again at a target. While the recoil strengthened his hits, the speed at which he drew back was pathetically slow; Luffy had been faster than that all the way when they first met.

Clayface had shapeshifted back into his original self, and was experimenting with different weapons using his 'real' body.

Meanwhile, Grundy was doing air-boxing, while throwing in leaping around as if fighting those flying aliens the idiot cook and the rest got to fight earlier.

Bored, Zoro turned his attention back to the main attraction.

Ace was making a series of palm strikes with weights on her arms while hanging upside down. It was great for stamina and strength building, while resting after having run laps in her 'Gothic' steel toe, running boots while carrying weights on her back. Tomorrow would be a more relaxing day though, only doing further lock picking practice with Nami, and illusions with Brook. Now though it is time for the sort of intense physical conditioning to help her survive the New World.

For moral support, Robin was doing the same alongside her. Even if in addition the archeologist's cloned limbs were elsewhere lifting weights, doing leg curls, etcetera.

One of the bitter benefits of this world was access to all sorts of exercise equipment they could not fit aboard Sunny.

9,997. 9,998. 9,999. 10,000.

Have completed his first set, Zoro placed down weights which were nearly as big as he was, and went to get some water, laced with 'electo-bites' or whatever the stupid chef had put in. Seemed strange, but he guessed it made sense that zapping some electricity into water would help provide you with more energy.

Taking a deep drink, the liquid reminded him to go see how Maureen was doing in the more advanced class.

"Move your right foot slightly away from you," lectured Jinbe, arms crossed before him. "Bend your left knee more. Too much. Yes, like that."

"Right, Boss," gasped out Maureen, making another series of palm strikes.

Grimacing, Volcana blocked them on her forearm before dropping down for a leg sweep.

"Eep!" went Maureen, barely managing to leap back, and her stance was terrible as she scampered back. It visibly took her a moment to remember to fix her posture, and another to remake Jinbe's earlier corrections.

"Good," complimented the First Son of the Sea.

"Hmmph," grunted Zoro in agreement. It was actually pretty terrible, except only a particularly vile piece of scum would mock a young beginner's genuine hard work.

"Ha, ha, ha," went Volcana, trying to catch her breath.

"You've gotten soft," said Zoro with a touch of scorn.

"Shut. Up," she managed, blinking away sweat as she tried to glare at him.

And people think I wear my bandana to look cool.

Okay, it did make him look cool, except that was still secondary.

"Stupid. Weights." She was wearing them on her arms and legs, and a heavy jacket as well to make the fight more even.

"Not the weights. You've just gotten too dependent on your powers rather than remembering your training," Zoro said, very unimpressed. "Keep that up, and it'll only get you killed." Even if her hand-to-hand combat training had come from a government program that she absolutely hated the memory of, that was no excuse to forget so much of it.

The look she managed to give him failed to set him on fire.

"Uhm, we could stop?" offered Maureen.

"Combat is the best way to grow," Jinbe lectured. "Especially if we want to see if you can use Fishman Karate through your snow or ice."

Or failing that, still know how to properly hit someone.

"Right!" said Maureen, her enthusiasm back. She dashed towards a startled Volcana and slipped under her guard for a palm strike to her big sister's stomach.

"Gah!" spat Volcana. She jerked her knee up, checking it just in time to only hit Maureen in the shoulder, throwing her back.

Zoro resisted the urge to grab Maureen, and caught Jinbe doing the same. As the younger teen hit the ground, she broke her fall as she had been taught. It took her a moment to regain her breath before pulling herself up. The way she side-eyed the pirates made it clear she wanted to use her ice to prop herself up.

He raised an eyebrow, and she scowled before sticking her tongue out at him.

Feeling better now, she raced forward for another few hits, with Volcana blocking each strike.. Right. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Right. Right. Le—grapple! Using her right arm, Maureen broke her pattern to arm-lock her opponent.

Or attempted to.

It was almost cute in how she had tried that feint, while telegraphing it so obviously.

This time Volcan's leg sweep brought Maureen down.

Rolling with it, Maureen came back up and charged again, only her energy was now near-spent. Volcana broke right through her guard to punch Maureen's chest and set her down flat. On a positive note, it was another perfect fall. Granted, she was lying there panting, but that did not diminish her progress.

"Nicely done," said Zoro, passing Maureen his own water bottle.

Instead, she froze a cocoon of ice over herself. An audible groan of relief seeping through it.

Smirking in amusement, Zoro passed it instead to Volcana, who chugged it back. "Wait," she paused. "Was this—did you—?"

Any further questions were cut off as a commotion grew from by the door, and Zoro looked back in surprise at the sight of a newcomer with Nami and Franky as they entered the underground training area.

One invisible to his Observation Haki.

A robot? wondered Zoro. It moved like an actual person though, nothing like Franky's Optimus Prime clone.

"Where's Harley and Ivy?" asked Nami curiously.

"Apparently one of Harley's friends made a breakthrough, and she wanted to go congratulate her," said Chopper cheerily.

"You mean 'patients'," deadpanned Usopp, sarcasm ringing in the last word as he put aside the new gear he had been practising with.

Curious, Zoro made his way over, with Volcana following suit, using the distraction as an excuse to shed her weights. Jinbe stayed with the still-recovering Maureen.

From the side, a pair of long arms stretched out a dozen metres to grasp the ground and slingshotted a cheering rubber-man forward to bounce up in front of the newcomers. "Hey, Nami! Franky! Who's your new friend!? Waaaaaaaaaaaait."

The grey figure's eyes flashed white, and then back to red. Like solid-liquid or something, his face shifted to look like Luffy, albeit still without a mouth, and then returned to normal, head tilted in a way which along with the widening eyes somehow conveyed surprise. "How odd. I am Amazo. He/him," he said. Craning his head, he peered closely at Luffy.

"Hah!? A roboooooooot!? Are you a robot!? You sound like a robot! See Nami!? Robots are awesome! Franky, we need more robots! Ah! And my name's Monkey D. Luffy, the future King of the Pirates!"

"Ugh!" groaned Nami in pain, slapping a palm to her forehead, while Franky laughed. "Why me?" Taking a breath, she turned her attention back onto their resident chatterbox. "Captain, Amazo was alone, with Ivo dead, so we brought him here. That okay?"

"Oh, sure," said Luffy, enthusiasm dimming. "Sorry about that. Uhm, you okay?" He tilted his head to the side to an unnatural degree, which Amazo visibly tried and failed to copy, having been staring intently at the pirate the entire time.

"No, I am not," admitted Amazo. "You are very confusing. I can copy your strength, which seems very impressive, but for some reason I can't do so for how you alter your body. How are you blocking me?"

"Huh?"

"Wait," said Nami, eyes narrowing. "What you said earlier with Zeus, and when you saw Cheetah, you copy more than their faces by looking at them?" she exclaimed in growing disbelief and anger. "We spent hours of you telling us about Ivo and you never mentioned that!?"

"Yes," said Amazo, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He turned to Volcana, and his eyes changed again, his features taking on her face, and then raised a hand cupping a ball of flames. "See?"

Everyone started yelling and chattering, but they were only faint murmurs against the war drum of Zoro's pulse. "Can you do swords?" he demanded, cutting through the noise even as he pulled on his bandana while closing the lid over his cybernetic eye.

Amazo had been looking back and forth at the others —eyes still red— before focusing on him. He hesitated, glancing at the others briefly before going, "Yes?"

Seeing what Zoro was doing, Nami immediately went, "Zoro! No!"

"Do me next!"

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

Sandai Kitetsu settled warmly into Zoro's grip, screaming with an eagerness echoed by its wielder.

Wado Ichimonji fit smoothly between his teeth.

Finally, Shusui whispered as it left its scabbard. He was particularly sensitive to this one after it had been stolen from him in Wano. Truthfully, he had no idea how it had reappeared with him when they had ended up here, and nor did he care. But it was never leaving his side. Never again.

"Better make it quick."

"Are you even listening to me!?" groaned Nami, but without her usual bite.

Eyes flashed white and swords formed and grew out of Amazo's hands, less in his grip, and more of a literal extension of himself. A third sword coming out of his head over his 'mouth.'

Muscles flexing with eagerness, a green aura flowed out of Zoro, and he charged.

Best start out small.

"Oni Giri!"

Three fake swords came together to block the attack, and Zoro was distantly aware of the explosion of wind blowing everyone else away.

Screaming with fury, Nami pulled out her Clima-Tact to grab Zeus to cushion herself. Usopp was the same as he grabbed for his Pop Greens.

Franky and Luffy laughed as they bounced back, with the latter snagging a flailing and flying Volcana.

Jinbe and Robin snickered while shielding Maureen and Ace. The Deckhands fared poorer than them, yet managed not to be roughed up.

Barring his teeth even further around Wado Ichimonji as he felt himself strain with effort, Zoro exclaimed, "Good!"

Breaking off, he proceeded to unleash a flurry of attacks against his taller opponent, who matched him peerlessly. Sparks flew, and the ground trembled as their feet danced.

Still nothing from my Observation Haki, probably because he's not 'alive.' Good! All the more of a challenge!

Jumping away, Zoro said, "Bird Dance!" as he made two slashes at nothing, and crescents of compressed air raced towards Amazo—

Which impacted upon his new sparring partner's own.

"By the way," said Zoro. "You never answered. Are you a robot?"

A beat of silence, and Amazo said, "Interesting. I had to readjust my programming to speak when there's something where my mouth should be. And I prefer android."

"Glad to know what to call you," grinned Zoro as he charged back in.

This time Amazo fared even better, having adjusted to fighting someone smaller than him. There was no shortness of breath for him to worry about though, so he asked, "Why do you give names to your attacks? And say them as you use them? Wouldn't that give warning to whomever you're fighting?"

"It's a mark of pride!" said Zoro incredulously. "A way of identifying yourself with something so intrinsically yours!"

You did not just question the notion of naming your attacks! It was just not done! Just like how everybody who was somebody back home did so without even needing to be told! Honestly, it was almost embarrassing for Zoro to have to lecture this rookie about something so fundamental.

"Ah," said Amazo a little hesitantly, clearly still confused, if not wanting to offend. "My apologies."

"Don't sweat it," grunted Zoro. A little more calmly, he added, "And it's a good way to keep track of your moves."

"I see."

Spinning around Amazo's blades, Zoro kicked off the ground for some space, and spun even more even as he swung. "Three-Sword Style: Black Rope Dragon Twister!"

A tornado of cutting wind erupted from Zoro, nearly swallowing up Amazo before he unleashed his own. Rushed as it was, his remained incomplete and smaller in size, yet despite that Zoro could tell it would have equaled his own if there had been time.

His instincts screamed as Amazo came down in a crater to Zoro's right and then rocketed towards Zoro while coated in a purple aura of his own. "Three-Sword Style: Oni Giri!" roared the android.

Bringing both arms down, Zoro chose to play offence in turn. "Ultra Tiger Hunt!" he cried, an image of a pouncing tiger surrounding him briefly, his two blades clashing with Amazo's three. Briefly their blades locked together before Zoro spun on his heel to come about with Wado Ichimonji cutting at Amazo's shoulder.

The imitation Shusui blocked the strike, yet the pirate could tell how impulsive that was; a save that surprised the android himself.

"That was Purgatory Oni Giri!" chastised Zoro.

"What's the difference?" protested Amazo.

Pressing his advantage, Zoro finished his turn and struck hard with Sandai Kitetsu, blade entirely black.

A black blade met it in turn, as Amazo channelled his own Armament Haki.

"Interesting!" said Zoro, intrigued despite himself. "No one else from here can use haki! But you can't do Devil Fruits?"

It had been such a disappointment when he later realised his advice to Shining Knight was useless to the hero.

"I don't understand why not," admitted Amazo, skipping back under Zoro's relentless hammering blows.

It almost reminded Zoro of his fight against Ryuma's corpse. Brook's shadow had been ill-suited for that samurai's build and weapon. Amazo certainly had all of Zoro's strength, yet given how he could alter his body to create those swords, maybe a more flexible style would be better than Zoro's strength-based one?

Flames erupted around Amazo as he tried something else. The sudden heat made Zoro skip back in shock, only to berate himself for that failure. "360 Pound Phoenix!" he snapped, firing the attack with a single sword. It would be curious to see if Amazo could do more than simply copy.

Dodging, Amazo proved himself as all three pseudo blades were brought horizontal to the shoulder, and called out, "1,080 Pound Phoenix!"

Squinting his one eye, Zoro looked for a flaw in the three air compressed projectiles spiralling towards him —his attack— and felt mostly pride when he saw none.

Grunting, he swung all three blades and with some effort broke through to deflect the flying slashes to cleave up the training ground. All safely away from the others of course.

Amazo appeared right in Zoro's face.

Snapping back, Zoro bent right under the swings. Another horizontal slice, and not what Zoro would have gone for. Bull Demon Bold Hooves better suited the situation.

So if he hasn't seen me use it or something similar, he can't use moves like that?

Kicking off with one heel, Zoro rolled in the air to swing with Shusui and Wado Ichimonji at Amazo, who casually parried. With the force of the recoil however, Zoro knocked himself the other way and landed on his feet.

"Oh!" said Amazo in surprise.

Crouching down, Zoro sprang at Amazo headfirst, corkscrewing straight at him. "Leopard Spinning Balls!"

Instead of dodging or directly defending himself, Amazo unleashed a blaze of fire, forcing Zoro to check himself to cleave it in twain. Clever.

For a novice still one step behind.

"Gah!" cried out Amazo as he stumbled, a crescent blade having slipped under the fire to cut his leg.

"Ultra Tiger Hunt!" roared Zoro, coming down like a thunderbolt, cratering the ground beneath Amazo, who only barely managed to bring up his three swords in time. Flames erupted around the android, only for Zoro to ignore them as their auras clashed against one another for supremacy.

Riding his momentum, Zoro flipped off to come back against Amazo, driving him up the crater now. The high ground worked against Amazo as he was already looming over Zoro, and now reduced to just a series of downwards slashes while trying to guard his feet.

Throughout this, Zoro relished in the collision of haki against haki, feeling his become increasingly refined with each moment they connected.

It was not some cheap copy of his own either, as he could feel Amazo's own will driving it; rising to the challenge.

Except . . .

"Tch, you're not really enjoying this, are you?" grunted Zoro.

"No?" said Amazo quizzically. "I'm doing this because you want to."

Zoro nearly recoiled back in revulsion at that. The feeling of compulsion by Amazo rankled him in a slimy way.

A laser beam erupted from Amazo's left eye just like Zoro's cybernetic one, only a simple tilt of his head dodged it without even really thinking about it. The inexperience was starting to show more and more, as that was not enough to throw off someone else using Observation Haki.

Clearing the top of the rip, Amazo leapt back and then up. Flipping in the air, he slammed his blades towards the ceiling, and used that recoil to shoot down at Zoro while revolving like a bladed disk.

That was too sloppy compared to a proper Clear Lance. Far too much effort, and he nearly got the angle wrong. Still, it shows how he's learning quickly.

Reading his movements, Zoro adjusted his stance, brought up the two swords in his hands just so to block, but then twisted his neck so Wado Ichimonji cut straight through the unprepared sword sticking out of Amazo's head.

"Ah!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Zoro threw Amazo to the side to hit the ground.

He did not handle it even as gracefully as Maureen did.

Our skills . . . but not our experience, huh?

Quickly Amazo rolled up, distracted looking for the lost piece of himself, which had melted into grey goo.

Channelling his power, Zoro raised and then crossed his arms before himself. "Three-Sword Style—"

He flew over the ground before kicking off higher, and seemed to hover there, arms outstretched as if they had always been like that.

"—Purgatory Oni Giri!"

The ground beneath him erupted, blocks of earth shooting up all around them, while flying slashes burning with haki streaked towards Amazo.

Red eyes widened in horror, and he dodged two then four—

Amazo's new and unnamed sensed screamed warning after warning at him, but even his computerised brain could not keep up with it all. Distraction and disorientation further weakening his perception. His fear making his Haki stutter.

Using his own Clear Lance for propulsion, Zoro crashed into one of the chunks of debris all around him even as they flew around, and leapt off, breaking it beneath his feet.

Professor Ivo's masterpiece cleaved three more rocks with increasing desperation—

Pin-balling from piece to piece of soaring rubble, Zoro closed in.

Wildly Amazo tried to track Zoro, guard wide open—

Spinning, Zoro closed in.

Time seemed to freeze as Zoro was eye to eye with Amazo, swords in the android's arms knocked aside, and Sandai Kitetsu, Shusui, and Wado Ichimonji crossed together to embrace him.

An explosion of haki and will, and the largest crater yet formed beneath Amazo's body as he slammed into it, risking setting off earthquake alerts from the sheer impact.

Such was the might of the Swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates; the Pirate Hunter.

The dust was settling when Zoro landed amidst it, and dispersed the remainder with a swing.

Dazed, Amazo's hands had returned to normal, and were stroking his chest. There was not a single mark.

"I should've been cut in two," Amazo said, a complicated mix of emotions lurking in his simple words.

"Hmph. A swordsman only cuts what they want to cut. And that'd've been four pieces," said Zoro, sheathing his blades, and offering a hand for his new friend to stand.

"I see," said Amazo, accepting the gesture, with Zoro easily helping him up.

"Heh, maybe you should base your own moves around that."

"Pardon?"

"See. You see people, and use that against them, so something with 'see' in it?" Okay, now Zoro was feeling awkward.

"I will consider it," said Amazo.

Then an unpleasantly familiar pain made Zoro's head snap forward, while a banshee screeched in his ear.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" raged Nami. She was covered in dirt from everything that had been thrown up, and her hair a mess from the wind. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO THIS PLACE! COULDN'T YOU HAVE GIVEN US MORE WARNING!?"

"Shi shi shi," chortled Luffy as he ambled up. "Don't worry about it! Besides," and now his gaze sharpened, "Zoro needed a proper fight if he was going to get stronger. Sure we've been training, but that's nothing without anybody to really go all out against. It's not like we're going to beat each other bloody."

"Speak for yourself! I call Mosshead!" called Sanji from the background.

She bashed Luffy over the head as well, leaving him cringing as he nursed his noggin. "That's no excuse for such a mess! Gah! I should've done more to stop you!"

"What are you even!?" demanded a pale-faced Volcana. "You—how—the both of you!?"

"What? That?" shrugged Zoro, before giving a devious grin. "Just a nice warm-up."

"Warm-up!?"

"With a guy like him on your side," said Jack hesitantly, "do you even need us?"

"'Course we do," said Zoro, now irritated at that weak attitude and sheer blindness. "Not like Amazo's a fighter."

"Not a fighter!?"

"Nah, he's right," said Usopp, peering at Amazo. Cheetah was a half-step behind him, hairs on her back all sticking up. "Trust me, I recognise when someone doesn't really want to fight."

"But a fearsome ability," said Robin, Ace walking alongside her. "With a little practice, you could become an undying nightmare to whomever you faced; stealing their faces and power for your own."

"Ehheh!" shuddered Volcana.

"Another unalive one!" said Brook cheerily. "Soon we'll have enough to start our own club!"

"Kinda weird also, just copying a power without training for it," added Luffy, scratching his head before putting on a big sulk. "I mean, Sanji got his cool new suit as a new tool, but doing it for everything?"

That was unfortunately a good point. It reminded Zoro of those drugs those stupid Fishman wannabes had taken so much of.

"Oi! I suffered to get that!" growled Sanji.

"But that is what I was designed for!" protested Amazo. "It's what I am supposed to do!"

The very air grew hard and stifling as all the adult Straw Hats levelled the android with highly unimpressed looks.

"Tch," sneered Zoro.

"Don't let others define who you are!" snapped Luffy angrily.

"Why?" questioned Amazo. "Professor Ivo created me to do this."

"That may be true," said Robin. "But a parent has no right to dictate how their children live their lives. That is too harsh after already bringing them into a cruel world." Before the others could protest her interpretation of the world, arms sprouted from her body, "Although I am curious: can you duplicate my Devil Fruit?"

Once more Amazo's scanners activated, and quizzically he shook his head. "No, I cannot."

Pointedly he did not focus on anyone else.

So far.

"Hmm, even without our own powers, you would indeed be a formidable ally in defeating Kaidou," acknowledged Brook, resting his hands on his cane. "Except again, it would have to be your choice. Given your performance against Zoro though, just having comparable strength might not be what you want."

"As painful and truly annoying as it is," sighed Usopp, "it's the sweat and tears you put into something that makes the results so much more worth it."

Clanging his arms together over his head, Franky yelled, "YOW! That's right!"

"It's the journey that matters most," proclaimed Luffy with absolute conviction. "That's all the fun of what you're working towards."

Cheetah, Volcana, Clayface, the Royal Flush Squad, and Grundy wanted to protest against this, but their words caught in their throat at the absolute certainty surrounding their leaders.

"Except," Zoro felt the need to add, "you listening to us or not is a choice in itself."

"At least give it a try," said Franky, resting a large hand on the android's shoulder. "You can always change your mind later."

In response, Amazo dropped his chin to ponder this. .

"Wait," piped up Ace. "Does that mean he's going to be a Straw Hat too?"

"Naah," waved Luffy dismissively. "He's not as cool as you."

Stars shone in her eyes as she looked at him with adoration.

Despite processing that exchange, Amazo gave no reaction as he considered their words for over a minute, with the Straw Hats becoming increasingly restless. Right before Luffy combusted, perhaps literally given him biting his lip and squirming about as if in physical pain from trying to keep still and quiet, the android straightened and regarded them. ". . . Very well. I've disabled my scanning protocols until further notice. It was also fascinating to learn how to alter my programming."

"That's what being a person's all about!" cackled Franky, slapping him over the shoulder.

"Plus, stopping to study things might help you learn how to copy Devil Fruits!" chirped up Chopper. "I'd be really interested to see what you learn from looking at us like that! In fact, is there a way for me to look at what you're scanning later?"

"Certainly," said Amazo. "And it would indeed be nice to learn how to do so."

"Hooray!" yelled Luffy, pumping both fists into the air. "Let's party for our new friend, and what's he's done!"

"He doesn't know what a program is," whispered Nami to Amazo.

!JUSTICE!

Stryker's Island Penitentiary

His face wrapped in bandages, Lex Luthor glared out his barred window.

This had been a defeat for sure. A serious setback.

But he would not let it stop him. He would learn from this. In fact, the scar Mercy had inflicted upon him would serve as a reminder of the necessity of keeping greater control over his tools.

One day, in the not so distant future, he would drag this world towards his vision for it whether Humanity liked it or not. A beautiful place, where a man could shape his destiny through conviction and will.

Without those blessed by chance with godly powers mucking things up for everyone else.

Of course, he would still have his revenge for this indignity. For the time this would cost him.

Against Superman.

Against Mercy.

And yes, against Harley and the Straw Hats given that little tidbit Mercy had dropped.

Maybe Joker wasn't being completely insane after all. Certainly enough for me to reconsider his offer.

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

In short order, Amazo found himself settling into his new home. He got a tour and his own room to stay in, stating that he might feel a need for privacy at some point.

The first step however, to him at least, was asking more about the people here.

Finding the man in question was easy enough, sprawled out over a couch and asleep.

"Can I help you?" said one of the other occupants of the room; Nico Robin, with Ace sitting beside her, both holding open books in their hands.

"I wish to understand his purpose. He is your leader, and going to be king, and that means he is the wisest, yes?" Glancing away, Amazo muttered aloud, "Even if he doesn't understand computer programming."

Robin hummed, her eyes narrowed with intrigue. "Luffy is aware of his strengths and weaknesses, and so recruits people who do what he cannot. It is one of the reasons he's such a good Captain."

Looking at the clock on the wall, she came to a decision. "Go to the kitchen and ask Sanji for a piece of meat. Tell him it's a snack for Luffy, and I sent you."

"Alright."

"You have to say 'thank you'," piped up Ace.

"Thank you," said Amazo promptly.

"Manners aren't always necessary, but they do demonstrate respect," Robin elaborated. "They can also be used to hide when you don't actually feel respect."

"But I do," he protested.

"I know," she smiled. "It's just something else to keep in mind."

Puzzled yet accepting, Amazo made his way to the kitchen.

"What do you want?" grouched the chef. "Wait, can you even eat?"

"No. Robin sent me. She told me to get some meat for Luffy."

"Huh? Well sure, anything for Robin~chan! Why Luffy though?"

"He's asleep, so I guess to offer him after waking him up?"

"Hah!" went Sanji with a half laugh. "More like to wake him up! Give me a minute."

He bustled about the kitchen, with Amazo looking about in curiosity.

"Hey, if you can imitate that lousy swordsman's pathetic moves, can you do the same with a sense of smell?"

In answer, Amazo grew a nose. Unsure of what exactly to do with it, he touched it experimentally, and then started receiving signals of some sort from it. "How fascinating," he said. "I believe so?"

"Hmm. Come back some other time and we can experiment, okay? I can teach you if you want to put in the effort." As he said that, Sanji passed Amazo a drumstick larger than his grey, upper arm. "Here you go."

"Thank you!" said Amazo, taking a few sniffs while trying to decipher them.

"Don't worry about it. You're welcome."

Returning to the room, Robin indicated to wave the meat before Luffy's face.

"Gwormp!" went Luffy, head snapping up to swallow the offering which was about the same width as his head, slurping the bone right out of Amazo's startled hand. "Ahh! Oh, hey Amazo! What's up?"

"What is your purpose?" he said without preamble.

"Huh?"

"What is your reason for being?"

"This again!? Ugh!"

"Maybe it would help if you told him what you think's most important in life," suggested Robin. Ace was pretending to read her book still, while she kept side-eying what was going on.

"Being free of course! Following your Dreams! Having Nakama!"

"I don't understand. I have definitions of those words, except I don't understand the significance. Especially about being free."

"Because you're overcomplicating things!" whined Luffy in exasperation, slumping against the couch. "And you didn't bring enough meat either. That was barely a snack!"

While that was hardly a satisfactory answer, Amazo had a hunch he was not going to get much more out of Luffy. So he tried a different approach. "What about dreams then?"

"Eh? It's what you want to do with your life! What you want to accomplish!"

"You mean goals?"

"Only if it's a goal that helps define you," said Robin.

"But what if you fail?" said Ace softly, unable to stop herself. "What if you don't manage it?"

"Then what matters is that you tried," said Luffy with absolute authority. The slight shifting in his eyes shocking Amazo at the profound difference. How could a person change so drastically? "If I die without becoming King of the Pirates, I'll die happy so long as I did my best, and lived my life for it."

He shrugged, his rubbery shoulders rubbing awkwardly against the arm of the couch. "It's okay if you don't have one yet, so long as you're thinking about it. As for nakama, being alone is the worst thing imaginable."

"No one was meant to be alone in this world," agreed Robin softly.

"Yes," Amazo agreed absolute conviction. "This I definitely understand."

"Glad to know that helps," said Luffy cheerfully. Without another word, he closed his eyes, and a moment later was snoring again.

Surprised, Amazo blinked a few times, and turned to Robin, who giggled into her hand a little bit. "My apologies, I'm not laughing at you. It's just that's very much Luffy." Her expression softened, "If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask."

"I, thank you. I will. For now though, I shall continue to observe."

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Warehouse

Nami was enjoying reading War and Peace for some light relaxation when it all suddenly started coming apart.

It was her in the dining room, with Zoro across the table tending to his swords.

As for Luffy, well, he was going around with a bag of some sort of mechanical collars he had made Franky cook up. Kept crushing them between his hands and looking frustrated about it. She could sense enough haki to know it was related to his training, yet did not ask as it would distract her from her novel. She could tune him out sitting beside Zoro, scowling and snapping metal again and again.

At that point, Amazo stepped into the room, and by this point the android's presence was not even surprising.

Another collar snapped, sending pieces of it flying about—

Luffy caught Amazo's fist in the palm of his hand. Nami caught the latter's eyes widening just before being kicked headfirst into a wall.

"What was that for?" asked Luffy. Quietly. Dangerously. Dark eyes like flints ready to light off an inferno.

Zoro's thumb flicked up Sandai Kitetseu as he scowled but did not otherwise move.

"You were making a mess!" protested Amazo. "So I had to make you stop."

Oh, went Nami, feeling utterly mortified. Oh dear—

"And then you told me I should do whatever I want to do!"

In a snap she was feeling a lot less guilty.

. . . I'll have to castrate Luffy before he has children, concluded Nami then and there. Make it look like an accident. As for me . . . If I do end up wanting a kid, I'll read some parenting books.

"That's not what I meant!" cried out Luffy, sounding equally appalled. "I said be free! I didn't say to hurt others!"

"But I—"

"Wait," interrupted Nami, feeling drained. "Let me . . . think about this." Pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache coming on, she came to an uncomfortable decision. Because as much as she would like to take a 'do as I say, not as I do' approach, she knew ultimately it would only make things worse. "Alright. First thing's first.

"Zoro. Sword," she said, holding out an expectant hand.

Without hesitation he offered it to her.

Instantly a whisper of violence crooned in her ear.

She gave the cursed blade the sort of glare she gave Zeus —the former weapon of an Emperor— and it knew its place and shut up.

Coming around the table, she came up behind Luffy and swung the blade at his neck.

He ducked.

Faster, she made a few more wild slashes at her Captain which were probably doing more harm to Zoro than anything.

Finally she stabbed him, and this time Luffy let her, the blade digging into his lightly haki-reinforced body without any harm.

"You see?" she sighed. "They let me hit them. Because that's the sort of relationship we have."

"We trust the witch's judgement," said Zoro, snatching back his bloodthirsty baby, while her eyelid twitched. "If she's hitting us, it's because she's trying to warn us about something she's concerned about, even if we might disagree. And she does it, because she feels safe around us to do so."

"Oh. So that's what I did wrong?"

"Hmm, not quite," said Robin, coming to join them. One had to wonder if she was watching the entire time. She also looked slightly guilty. "Apologies, Amazo, but it seems I didn't take Luffy's words into account enough."

Which means she got too caught up in whatever mess he was stirring up to realise she should intervene sooner, knew the navigator with a touch of sorrow. Things've been too quiet around here.

Also, Luffy's attitude is weirdly infectious.

Truthfully, deep down in a place she would rather face torture than say aloud, Nami knew that her Captain, the future King of the Pirates, was not stupid.

However, he was very, very simple.

Anything overly complicating things he knew to be fundamental facts were dismissed, and he had no interest in taking the time to further explain things he knew on an instinctive and emotional level.

None of which could be easy for someone like Amazo.

Thankfully, Luffy seemed to realise the need for some patience here, and had given it a little more thought. "Being free doesn't mean you can go around hurting others," he sternly repeated. "Otherwise that makes them feel less free."

"Hmm, what an interesting coincidence," hummed Robin, one arm crossed over her belly, while her chin was in the palm of her other hand. "There was one bit while I was with the Revolutionary Army which stuck with me. That we all have the right to be free, and that includes from oppression. From fear."

"My dad said that?" asked Luffy quizzically.

"No, it was someone else. Ceter Pullen I believe his name was."

"Hmm, well that sounds alright. Other people," he waved a hand dismissively, "get caught up in other stuff. What's right or not. Who should do what. Who can do what. 'Cept it doesn't matter, and only causes people to be upset unless they're all free."

". . . How do you know this?" asked Amazo, now with a touch of defiance. "And how do I get it right?"

"If the people are happy, and have full bellies without having to share, you're on the right track," said Luffy. "It's not something you learn by asking, but by living."

There was a pause, and Amazo glanced down for a moment before raising his head with new determination. "I don't fully understand, but I'll continue to do my best until I see it."

Oh no, he's learning catch-phrases, despaired Nami. Only he sounded too proud of himself for her to say anything.

"Good," grinned Luffy, snapping right back to his regular old self. Bending down, he picked up more of those collars, and ambled away.

"You're not mad?" asked Amazo hesitantly.

"Huh? Nah!" beamed back the pirate. "It was just a mistake! Don't sweat it! Ooh, but you can go get some more meat from Sanji as an apology!"

!JUSTICE!

Justice League Boot Camp

Taking a deep breath, Diana put herself through a series of cooldown stretches, glad to have removed the weights.

Truthfully, they only provided a little more of a workout for her, as anything more would be too bulky. They were a work in progress though, and she was confident the others would come up with something better.

Satisfied, she settled down on a convenient rock to rest, and snagged her bottle of water.

Justin joined her, removing his helmet and the hood for his mail, hair drenched with sweat as he also hydrated.

In the distance, they could see a giant green construct battling it out against Superman, destroying rock formations beneath ginormous fists.

"Hah!" snorted Big Barda dismissively. "You call that a workout? Back in the Furies, a three-way spar like that is something we'd expect from children, and kill them for that weakness all the same!"

Irritation sparked within Diana, refreshing her energy. However, she knew when she was being baited, so instead all she said was, "So back on Apokolips you'd deliberately lower your numbers, and leave only people able to kill those weaker than them?"

Big Barda held her glare for another moment before smirking. "Yes, pretty much. Although it wasn't until New Genesis that I truly appreciated how foolish it is."

She took off her own helmet, enjoying the faint breeze. Setting it down, she said, "I'll be back for the next match. For now I'm just going to go see how Scott's fairing." With that she strode off.

Once she was certain they were out of earshot, Diana said, "Well, she's an interesting one."

"We all are," smirked Justin, and she did the same in acknowledgement of his point. More seriously though, he added, "Her strength is appreciated however."

"Agreed," said Diana grimly. "Our recent battles have been tougher than we imagined. So we've got to rise to the occasion."

He looked at her quizzically until something seemed to come together for him. "You're not concerned about losing to Parasite or the other Robin, are you?"

"I, no. Not exactly."

"Trust me, Diana," he said warmly. "You have nothing to fear. You'll always come back stronger than ever."

"Thank you," she said. "I did have some concerns before, slight ones, but this training is helping. Knowing we're improving. Being away from Themyscira, I'd gotten too used to fighting people who were weaker than I, and didn't take the time to learn new ways of fighting. Sparring with the likes of Superman, Orion, and the others will be good for me." Her smile sharpened dangerously as she felt the fire of determination light up within her. "And before you know it, I'll be taking them down too."

"Good," he said appreciatively. "That's what matters."

"I'm glad you approached me about this by the way."

"Oh, that was Batman actually. Or rather his suggestion, even if he wanted me to think it was mine."

"What," she said flatly, irritation returned, if in a different shape. Oh for—! He's trying to push people away again!

"I—" began Justin, only for her to shake her head.

"Don't worry about it. I'll have a word with him."

Diana had left a version of Batman behind to die before. She was not going to let it happen again; one way or another.

"Very well," said Justin, clearly curious while not pushing the matter.

Sitting up, Diana rolled her shoulders and went to grab her weights anew. She had some fresh frustration to work off.

Moreover, she knew deep down there remained a great gap between her and the stronger Straw Hats.

Who knew what they were up to right now?

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

"—perfect package packed a pair of pretty pecs~!

"Usopp, he comes, He sees, he conquers~!" warbled 'God' Usopp as he scrubbed himself in the shower, taking advantage of the thick walls keeping anyone from hearing.

"Honey, the crowds were going bonkers~!

"He showed the moxie brains, and spunk~!"

One change in the life of the Straw Hats was how they were washing more on Earth at the insistence of the Deckhands.

"From zero to hero a major hunk~!

"Zero to hero and who'da thunk~!?"

Yes. That had been the point where they had drawn the line in the sand.

"Who put the glad in gladiator? Usopp~!

"Whose daring deeds are great theatre? Usopp~!

Not all the robberies, bad influences on Maureen, bringing in other crooks of varying psychosis, Luffy's Luffyness, picking fights with the Justice League, and other wackiness. No, apparently not washing often enough was just too villainous for them to handle.

"Isn't he bold~!?

"Nobody braver, isn't he sweet our favourite flavour~!"

So instead of every three days, Usopp was lathering up in thick shampoo on a daily basis. On the plus side, they had multiple showers available, so no fighting over that. Plus, while they mourned the loss of the gentle, soothing rocking of the bathwater by the motion of Sunny sailing (and Franky had refused on principle to make a gadget to do so), the infinite hot water was certainly appreciated. No more cold showers because someone took too long in there!

"What are you singing?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" screamed Usopp at the top of his lungs. Spinning around, he found himself face-to-chest with Amazo, staring at him in surprise at the reaction. "What are you doing here!?" he screeched, covering his privates. Granted, by this point it was inevitable that every Straw Hat had seen each other naked at some point, except no one, not even Sanji acknowledged it. A near-stranger was something else entirely though!

"What have I done wrong?" asked Amazo.

"I don't have any clothes on!"

"Neither do I?"

"That's not the same! And in fact, you shouldn't be going around naked either! 'Cept I have . . . things to cover!"

Contemplatively Amazo looked down at his own body.

"No! Don't go growing sticks and berries!"

"Pardon? I was planning on making—"

!JUSTICE!

Metropolis

Despite the Justice League's intense current training regime, some of them had regular patrols to maintain. However, while his return to Metropolis had been pre-scheduled, Superman discovered himself with an unexpected ulterior motive.

Fortune was with him today, as he spotted Lois at a factory while skulking past security guards who were clearly hunting for her. The world slowed itself as he accelerated, and appeared before her, "Want a lift?"

"You know I can get away from these amateurs," the lavender clad reporter said, arching an eyebrow, "right?"

"I do," he said sincerely. "I just figured I'd save you an hour."

"Well," she grinned, "how could I refuse?"

In short order they found themselves flying through the air. "Anything I should know about?"

"Just your garden variety corruption with ties to some sleazebag politicians. No killer robots or anything.
"Roger." Knowing she would want to get this in as fast as possible, and how he was intending to eat up her time, he brought them down atop the Daily Planet.

"Thanks," she said with a peck on his cheek. She paused and studied him, her expression growing serious. "Something wrong?"

"I . . . have some things I was hoping to talk about. A lot's happened."

"Hmm." She leaned back against the ledge and crossed her arms. Despite this, her expression was non-judgemental, and not her professional reporter face either. "We talking 'my childhood monkey growing gigantic' serious, or 'Darkseid controlling you' serious?"

"Darkseid's dead," said Superman. "Probably."

Saying it aloud . . . brought him no relief. No satisfaction. A part of him wished it did, even if the greater part knew it was probably better he did not. Of course, he also wondered how much of that was simply the knowledge he had not seen the body with his own two eyes.

Lois' eyes bulged open, and he was not done yet, and he rolled up his sleeve to show his scar. "I've got another one just like it, both from an alternate future where those Straw Hat Pirates went mad from grief."

". . . Start from the beginning."

!JUSTICE!

Grimacing, Lois held a palm to her forehead as she internalised everything Superman had just told her.

He was standing beside her, and there was a chink in his usual unbreakable sense of confidence. An awkwardness to how he was standing, waiting for her opinion on what he had told her. Unfortunately, as much as she wants to reassure him, she knew that was not the right answer here.

Granted, she understood why he came to her. The whole bit about that alternate future reminded her painfully about that alternate dimension where she died and Superman became a dictator.

Nightmares about that world were less frequent these days.

Moreover, she suspected nobody else appreciated his history with Darkseid like she did.

Instead of starting with those topics like Superman was expecting though, she said, "You owe Batman an apology."

"I, what?" he said, all confused in a way she rarely saw.

Huffing a breath, she frowned in the direction of Gotham. While she had been unable to tolerate Bruce's secrets, she still cared about him. "Imagine how things must seem from his perspective. You needed help, but sent him to get it from Orion. Even I know that was guaranteed to escalate things, and it did."

"Orion saved us!" he protested.

Turning to give him a level, non-judgemental look, even if this hurt her inside, she bluntly said, "And how do you think it looked from his perspective?"

It took a few seconds for him to get what she was leading at, and he recoiled at the very notion. "I wouldn't have! I didn't—you don't think . . ." If not for the look in his eyes, she would have immediately spoken up. Instead though, she waited, and now he looked at her full of guilt. "Did I?"

"I know you didn't really mean to," she said softly, coming over to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder, "except I also know how much you hate, hated, Darkseid. How that would have affected you. Nonetheless, that scumbag's not worth damaging your friendship. Although," as there had been a little gap she had been curious about, "you said Batman tried to stop you while you were fighting. What exactly happened?"

Another pause of self-reflection, and this time he flinched right out of her grip. "I—I—!" Silence fell as he rubbed his face. "I messed up."

Lois dared not ask. She knew if she did, he would tell her, and that she would not like the answer. Thankfully, "I know you can make up for it," she said. "Start with an apology.

"As for Darkseid, well, you know I've never asked you about your no-killing rule."

It was no secret between them her dad was an army general; knowing he had killed people was part of her life. To boot, if Darkseid had been at her mercy, she would have shot out his brains without a shred of remorse.

Before Superman could answer though, she held up a hand. "And it's none of my business, even if I can make a few guesses."

Because there was a difference between a police officer or soldier, and a hero. A superhero. One who was working to inspire people; including showing how violence was not always the answer. Sure, that seemed hypocritical with the amount of punching typically involved, but when you could punch someone with the speed of a bullet and weight of a freight train, it was definitely the peacefuller approach. As well as showing everyone someone taking the effort to walk the harder road, to preserve all life.

How many people, if granted the same power, would not abuse it? Or try to 'help' while leaving a trail of people they served as judge, jury, and executioner over?

It was what made Superman so reassuring to everyone. What made the Justice League so reassuring to everyone. They set the standard for what being a hero was about, and at the top of the list of being a hero—in Lois Lane's not-so-humble opinion— was not 'stopping the bad guys,' but 'saving people.'

Because at the end of the day, that was simply who Superman, Bruce, and the others were. Except at the end of the day they were also only Human; or close enough. And people were complicated and flawed, and that was not a bad thing. It just meant that they had to work to patch things up.

"What matters though is that you breaking away from not killing is something a good friend would be concerned about. If you learnt Batman was going to murder the Joker, what would you do?"

Grimacing, he looked away, which was answer enough.

The solution was obvious though, even if apologies were not something Lois had much real experience at. She could admit she struggled, sometimes, with expressing her feelings. Or confessing she was in the wrong.

Releasing a groan, she said, "It physically pains me to say this, but I should go grab Clark."

"Him, why?" said Superman in confusion. Which was fair. While Clark had gotten a lot of headlines about the hero, whenever Lois had seen them together, their interactions had always seemed slightly stilted. Maybe because they were so different? Well, except of course for how they both went about helping people, with the difference being Clark did it through his journalism. Revealing the problems in society so people could fix things themselves.

Of course Lois would cheerfully eat her own fingers and eyeballs before admitting that aloud to Smallville.

"Because he'd say something utterly corny and utterly on the mark," she admitted.

He blinked at her in disbelief for a few seconds. Huffing, she said, "It's not that surprising I'd admit I don't have the answer, and he might." Their little rivalry was hardly that serious. Right?

Then Superman beamed at her. "Thanks Lois, I'll do that! Any idea where he might be?"

"Dunno," she said, grimacing as she remembered what Clark was up to. "He said something to Perry about taking some time to check in with some of his contacts." She did the same to ensure her sources stayed loyal, and not missing out on any opportunities to pick up more tips for her. Something she took extra seriously after the disaster with Eddie Lytener, or Luminus as he went by these days, trying to kill her.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." Superman embraced her in those strong, warm arms of his. "Thank you, Lois. Truly. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Just don't tell Clark I sent you, or I'll deny ever even hearing of you," she warned, returning the hug.

As he flew off, she called after him, "And tell Batman I think he's an idiot if he doesn't make sure everyone can work together!"

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

Having considered things further, Amazo decided to use his Observation Haki to visit the Deckhands while none of the Straw Hats were around.

While he did not think the native members of the whole group had been avoiding him per say, they had definitely been not getting involved in any of his discussions with their bosses. Prudently, he wanted to know why. Also to get their insight into Luffy and the rest. This was further complicated by the fact he recognised it was best to do so when Maureen was either elsewhere, or asleep and uninvolved, as he calculated Volcana was emerging as the unofficial spokesperson of the little group.

Entering the Deckhands' common room, he found Volcana sitting at a table and writing something into a notepad. The moment she saw him, she snapped it shut.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Private," she said tersely. "Don't look."

"Alright."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying that because you understand why it's important not to pry into private stuff?"

"No," he admitted. "Or, at least I think I'm coming to understand?"

This made her groan, and slump her head into her arms. Patiently he waited, and after fifty-seven seconds she raised gaze back up to him with tired eyes. "Don't get me wrong," she said. "I'm glad they aren't treating you like the ultimate weapon they can lead around for some traces of affection. It's just that dealing with teaching you how to be a person is more drama than I want to deal with."

"So you don't have issue with me copying your powers?" For emphasis he held up a larger fireball than the one he had demonstrated days ago.

"A bit," she admitted irritably, frowning at the flame, and making a bigger one of her own. By this point Amazo knew enough to not make his match hers even if he could. "And," emotions flashed across her face which Amazo did not feel qualified yet to fully interpret, "since I feel brutal honesty is the way to go here, a part of me is also conflicted about not using you as a weapon."

"I—what?" and he felt appalled. Something stiffening up within him angrily at the casual, callous suggestion of using him as a thing.

Oh.

Oh.

Was this related to being free?

"C'mon! You could take on the entire Justice League if you wanted to! Then tear down the whole government! Alone! Only," she slumped back down in her seat, "I don't need Harley and her quack degree to tell me that's just me wanting to feel strong and safe for both Maureen and I. Especially given my own past."

Amazo did not know what Volcana's own past was, but he was starting to get an idea.

"And honestly I know that the boss and crew don't need you to do that either. Or at least I'm pretty sure they don't. Especially after that little display of Zoro's and yours."

"Tell me about it," huffed Cheetah, and Amazo flinched in surprise as he had been too absorbed in Volcana to notice her joining them. "We knew they were stronger than us, but none of their spars have been like that before! It was insane!"

"We never actually saw them fight for real," added Clayface, shuffling in himself. "Nice outfit by the way."

"Thank you," said Amazo, looking down to appreciate it once more. In the end, while he had been convinced to not grow additional bodily anatomy at this juncture, clothing had seemed appropriate. The issue of his own abnormal size had been resolved by Jinbe lending him a kimono for his own massive frame.

Usopp had also made him watch a film named Scream for better context of why 'peeping in showers' was a bad idea.

Turning his attention back onto the others, he addressed a more serious issue. "Are you afraid of Luffy and the others?"

"Ehhhh . . ." said Cheetah, waving her hand around unhelpfully in a way he did not understand.

"We recognise their power," clarified Clayface, "and are wary of it in the same way you, or rather we, would be wary of a storm. They wouldn't hurt us."

Briefly Amazo considered saying a line like, "Well I'm not alive anyways," only to drop it. While he appreciated Brook and Grundy trying to recruit him into the 'Dead Puns Club,' he did not feel like it. Although the skeleton had been admittedly carefully polite about it.

"Blackbeard," said Volcana flatly, and Clayface gave a full-body flinch.

Amazo looked at the man in concern as he shivered, and said, "I don't understand."

"We don't either, but they reacted badly to hearing about him. Really badly. They asked after a bunch of other names too."

"Doesn't make sense either that they'd know about him if they're from another world," threw in Cheetah. "Could be some coincidence, except it's one that really freaked them out."

"You haven't asked?" said Amazo, befuddled at the notion they would not seek answers over anything. Especially something so interesting.

"As much as their 'you didn't ask' attitude can be infuriating at times," said Volcana a touch acerbically, "in this case we don't want to poke the bear. Besides, it does seem pretty private." She paused in thought, pulled out her notebook to jot something down with her pen, and then added, "Personally, I bet whoever's calling themselves Blackbeard back home is the one who gave Luffy that scar. The big one."

"We know he's lost someone," offered Cheetah. "Possibly he did it."

"Or maybe Blackbeard is the person he lost!" said Clayface with renewed enthusiasm, his sense of theatrical drama brushing aside his past trauma. "A dear companion, or mayhaps," his tone purred suggestively, "something more, turned bitter foe!"

"Grundy no think Clayface should say that to Luffy," said the zombie as he stomped in, giving his fellow villain a look which clearly communicated that if the actor did so, he was dumber than Grundy.

"Bah! Of course not!"

"What's this about?" asked Ten, as the rest of the Deckhands available in the base threaded in. Currently he was wearing a tank top that had "T-Shirt" written on it.

"Just giving Amazo the whole rundown on the bosses," said Clayface, suddenly acting more serious. To the android's perception, it seemed their youngest members stiffened to attention at his new behaviour.

"Right, gotcha. Well, peace out, sack time for us," said an admittedly exhausted-looking Jack, sliding through the now slightly crowded room.

"Don't mind him, he's just jealous of Luffy," teased Queen. King looked like he wanted to say something himself before cutting it off.

"He's no older than me and he's still that powerful!?" cried out Jack in frustration. "How's he even do that?"

"They're the same age as you?" asked Amazo in curiosity, surprise making everyone else pause to stare at him.

"Ugh," groaned Volcana, rubbing her forehead. "Tomorrow, remind us to teach you about ages. But yes, most of the Straw Hats are younger than us. Certainly their strongest ones, and no I don't get it."

"Not that we really know how strong they are," pointed out Cheetah.

"True."

"Plus," and now Cheetah crossed her arms in irritation, "most of them are uneducated. Well, maybe not Robin, but the worst is Chopper."

"We know, you've told—"

"She's been really irritable about this," whispered Clayface to Amazo. "Keeps bringing it up."

"Any university would be begging him to study with them and get a doctorate! Or three! Begging! No matter how much he looks like a monster!"

"Chopper's no monster!" protested Queen, with the rest of the Royal Flush Squad, including Jack stretching his neck out of their bedrooms, glaring in support.

"That's what he called himself," said Cheetah flatly, glaring down at the floor. "A monster for the sake of others."

A heavy silence fell, so Amazo raised a fist and made a coughing sound into it similar to what he had seen others do before. "I feel I am missing something."

"They don't come from a good or safe place," said Volcana bluntly, also crossing her arms. "And the way they treat Ace makes me feel like they haven't had good childhoods or lives either. Least not before they met each other. It's why they trust each other so much."

"At least not safe for the likes of us," said Clayface, with Grundy nodding solemnly. "And yet they still want to return there! Insist even! They are doing everything possible to return there!"

"Scary place," added Grundy.

"We're so much stronger than we were before," said Cheetah, voice rising with greater vexation, "but you can tell they still think we're weak compared to what's waiting for 'em on that deathworld! Waiting, while they try to find out how to charge right back into it!"

"Well after that display from Zoro, I can appreciate it more," drawled King, throwing a meaningful glance at Ten. His muscular squadmate and ex-cellmate clenched his fists, yet did not rise to the bait. "D'you think even Superman could manage that?"

No one answered, unsure of how they felt about either possible answer.

"You don't understand them either," realised Amazo in shock. "I came here to help learn how to, except you don't. And yet you still follow them?"

Again they fell silent, only this time it was a lot more awkward, before Grundy of all (undead) people summed it up best:

"Don't have to. They're Grundy's friends. Friends of Grundy's friends. All what matters."

"Figuring them out makes no sense," sighed Volcana in reluctant agreement, "They're scary and yet kind. They act heroic while disdaining heroes and helping criminals. Powerful, but taking the nonviolent ways out. And yet, despite it all, we're along for the ride."

"There's something captivating," said Clayface whimsically, "about following those who live their lives with no cares for the concerns of others, even as they live by their own code. Even if it's one you don't fully comprehend, so long as it's one you can still trust."

"They don't let the world dictate their actions," said Cheetah, and now her crossed arms were just short of hugging herself. "Instead they strive to bend the world to their whims, or ignore it completely."

"They saved us from hell," said King, "and they want to wade right into something worse. We're grateful to them, always, but they're also completely crazy."

"We're not following them home," added Ten, glaring at the adult Deckhands, expecting them to take offence to that.

"Fair enough," said Volcana, standing up and signalling the conversation was over. "I can't say how many of the rest of us will join them," she said with an air of vagueness. "For now though, we'll go with the flow."

Looking Amazo square in the eyes, she ended it with, "Whatever choice you make, just don't forget the trust they've shown you. And appreciate that they're not like anyone else in this world; because not everyone else will accept you like they do."

!JUSTICE!

Classified Location

It's been a while since I found myself underestimating the severity of a problem, Amanda Waller reflected, bitterness and self-recrimination making her gut quench painfully. Or actually being almost naively optimistic.

She had known that the Straw Hats were powerhouses. There were also indications that they had compromised her internal security at high levels.

However, deep down on an emotional level she had never truly imagined that the Justice League was concerned about losing to these self-professed pirates!

The information they had passed on about that alternate future was chilling in the extreme. Never mind that one of the Straw Hats could scar Superman, of far greater importance was that they could take on the entire planet and be winning!

A future ruled by ultra-militant, technocratic fascists at that!

While the heroes had given assurances they had plans to address this threat, it fell to Waller and her people to explore alternatives.

Imagine though if it was the US government which brought them in. Dead or alive.

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

"Hey guys!" called Maureen as loud as she could. "The League's got new members!"

Intrigued, the pirates and supervillains migrated over to the big-screen.

Sure enough, there was a press conference happening, with the caption announcing three new heroes joining the group.

"Huh!" said Franky, munching on a snack. "Another pervert! Super!"

"Say's his name's Orion," said Ace. "So we stay away from him?"

"Don't hold back against him," answered Robin instead, eyes narrowed. "He's an alien like the ones who ambushed us before, and maybe the other two as well."

"They're escalating," said Usopp in concern, scratching his chin. "You think it's because of us?"

"Hmm, while it's possible," mused Brook, "I think it's unlikely. While our ability to defeat some of them and escape may be concerning, it's not like we've ever really hurt any of them seriously. Or killed anyone they know. Perhaps it's just them recognizing the scope of what they've taken upon their shoulders?"

"Personally I don't get why they just keep jailing us. Not like it seems to work," said Cheetah. "I mean, look at, uh . . ."

"Harley and Ivy?" said Volcana heavily, if with a touch of reproach.

"You said it, not me!"

Clayface shifted to look like Harley and stuck her tongue out at the biologist. "That's discrimination!"

To their surprise, the Straw Hat who spoke up Jinbe. "I've walked down a similar path in my youth," he rumbled. "Filled with an urge to unleash death and destruction upon those who would harm others. Who would diminish others. I killed . . . too many of them." These words shook the non-Straw Hats, hearing the old regret in his tone, while his eyes held dark memories. Releasing a sigh, he shook his head, "Fortunately I listened to others, even if I didn't understand them at the time. Death was not the answer. I can't say it's the same here for these heroes, but it wasn't for us."

"You pretty much were heroes to everybody, Boss," grinned Franky. "At least for the Fishmen."

"Yes," grinned Jinbe, "and now they've a new hero in a straw hat."

"I'm not a hero!" said Luffy angrily. "I love heroes but . . . I don't wanna be one! Do you know what heroes are?"

"Oh no, not this again," groaned Nami, facepalming while Robin giggled. Chopper and Sanji released long sighs.

"Say there is a chunk of meat. Pirates will have a banquet and eat it. But heroes will share it with other people. I want all the meat!"

At this point Ace just muted the broadcast as nobody was paying attention to it anyway.

"Okay," said Maureen a touch slyly, visibly choosing to not comment on the 'meat' fixation there. "How about this then: if you saw someone dying on the side of the road, would you help them?"

"Of course I would, Mauri!" he protested. "But that doesn't make me a hero!"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm doing it to help them only! Not to fix everything!"

"Huh," said Amazo, and the others had a sense he did understand it on some level. Even if the Deckhands were just confused. In fairness, so were some of the Straw Hats, if in a more resigned and accepting way.

"Despite this, you still have similar intentions," said Amazo. "Why are they our enemies?"

"Because they fight for Justice," sneered Sanji, which the pirates sagely nodded at.

"And that's a bad thing?" he asked in confusion.

"It's used to, well, justify too much," said Franky. "Go and do something awful, and then say it was Justice, 'cause the people you beat up were bad. 'Cept it's how the guy doing the beating defines 'bad,' y'know?"

Cupping his chin in his palm like he had seen Robin do, Amazo said, "You mean like Luffy saying right and wrong don't matter? Because it's a matter of perspective?"

"Precisely," said Robin, amused at him imitating her.

"So they've actually done stuff that's bad?" asked Ace, worried if the Justice League were involved in the experiments done to her.

"Superman locked Big Sis up on an island!" growled Maureen. It was adorable. The tendrils of frost across the couch less so.

"We've worked together with them before," admitted Nami, "but only against mutual threats."

"Some of them are okay as individuals, I guess," said Luffy. "Sharing another meal with Flash might be nice if he's learnt his lesson about being a thief." Several members gave him judgemental looks for forgetting what pirates did. "And Superman gave me some at the mall, which was cool. Only they don't realise the League as a whole isn't going to end well. Not only are the rest being stingy, those two haven't given out any more since then!"

"You knocked Flash out and left Superman lying about unconscious," deadpanned Usopp.

"Meat is truly that important?" clarified Amazo as food was brought up again. It made him wonder about the taste of meat, and wish he had a proper mouth and the programming for taste buds to see what all the fuss was about. "Hmm, Sanji, I would like to still continue that conversation about cooking."

"Count on it."

"But," continued Amazo, "you mean it's less what they've done, at least for some of them, and more what you're afraid they'll do?"

"Yeah! They'll all become a bunch of hippocrickets!"

"Hippocrickets?" asked Amazo, so dismayed his internal dictionary lacked this word he missed the pained or bemused expressions the adults all sported. "What's that mean?"

"Uhm, right, well, it's like when you're saying you're being all quiet to make soothing noises, when really you're stomping about making big noises."

"He means 'hypocrites'," said Jinbe helpfully.

As Amazo pondered that, Ten spoke up, "It's also a matter of who writes the laws. Not too long ago, guys with my skin tone didn't have the rights we deserved. And even now they locked me up 'cause I'm different. Stronger." Everyone else heard him cut himself off before he could say, "Better," so he was learning. Certainly living amongst the Straw Hats who saw themselves as equal to any other person was making a difference. "Who's to say they wouldn't go along with it if the government told them to throw me back in a cage?"

"Maybe they've already been told to," said King, shoulders tensing.

"That's true," agreed Franky as a sign of support. "Plus, those perverts are supposed to arrest us for being criminals."

"Good luck," sneered Grundy at that in derisive amusement, which the others shared.

"They did offer you a pardon," piped up Maureen, having been there for it.

With a snort, Zoro shook his head. "That was before we attacked one of the government's top-secret facilities. No way they're letting that go," he grinned. Seeing Ace and the Royal Flush Squad squirm, he scowled. "Hey! None of that. We knew what we were getting into. It was a fine birthday present."

"Hmm, that's a fair point though," put in Jinbe. "Do you think the League would work for the World Government? Because that at least has not been my impression."

"Fair," acknowledged Robin. "Currently they're more self-righteous than sanctimonious, without a massacre to their name."

The Deckhands were giving the pirates leery looks at this, suddenly understanding much more about their employers' attitudes.

"But you think it's a matter of time," said Amazo sceptically.

"World's too complicated and messy for any one group to clean up," said Franky, crossing his metal arms.

"Maybe they're trying their best," allowed Nami, "but you people have a saying about power corrupting."

"We don't intend to stick around to find out," said Luffy firmly, finding all this talking to be getting boring.

Meanwhile the Deckhands were exchanging further glances as this new perspective threw their own assumptions off. They had been assuming that accompanying the Straw Hats back home would mean leaving behind this peaceful planet, except would it remain that way?

Would the heroes end up going down a darker path to being dictators?

These thoughts were interrupted as Amazo tapped his chin. "I see. I wonder though . . ." As he paused, something subtle settled into his body language, drawing even Luffy's attention. "Your issues with heroes, especially the heroes of this world, are you sure it isn't all because you're upset no heroes came to save you growing up?"

Every Straw Hat gave him a very calm, very blank face, not saying a word, and yet every adult Deckhand went stiff. Sweat broke out across their foreheads as they mentally screamed at the android to shut up.

"From what I understand," continued Amazo, trying to keep his tone as inoffensive as possible, "you all come from harsh backgrounds in a harsh world. Full of tragedy. While here is a world of peace where there are heroes to swoop in and save the day. Even worse, you feel guilty for being able to benefit from the peace while those you care for back home are suffering. To say nothing of the temptation to stay and live out your lives here."

Blowing out a cloud of smoke, Sanji said, "You were off on that last part. We can't have our Dreams here. As for the rest—"

"Shi shi shi shi!" laughed Luffy, snapping the attention. "That was pretty smart!"

"Huh-wuh!" gaped the Deckhands at the lack of offence.

"Really?" said Amazo with surprise and pride.

"Yeah. It's true, the reason people love heroes is because that's what they do! And instead we had to save ourselves. Except saving people isn't the same as Justice!"

"And this world's too weak to enjoy," scoffed Zoro. "A better world is one with peace and the means to test yourself. Because how else can you guarantee it'll last? Nothing worth having comes from the easy way, or doesn't need protecting."

"You're definitely getting better though!" praised Robin. "Well done!"

"You looked right into our hearts!" bawled Franky, tears in his eyes. "Pulling out our love of heroes!"

"There are heroes we appreciate," chirped up Chopper. "Like Sniper King! He's a real hero working to make the world a better place!"

"Yeah!" cheered Luffy. "If he was here, he would be showing the League how to do it right!"

Usopp did his best to press deeper into the cushion so as to sink into the couch to escape the unimpressed looks Zoro, Sanji, Robin, Nami, and Franky were giving him.

"So whatever you do," said Luffy, becoming serious once more, "don't forget that as cool as Superman and the rest are, they still aren't giving out enough meat to other people. Especially those who aren't cheering them on. And that includes Flash and Superman, which means they aren't selfless enough to be real heroes."

"Ah . . . alright," managed Amazo.

Clearly he needed to make working in the kitchen a greater priority so he could understand this phenomenon.

Meanwhile, Ace and Maureen's starry-eyed looks were accompanied by the supervillains appearing completely dead inside.

!JUSTICE!

Wayne Manor

To begin with, Clark had made a point of calling ahead asking if he could drop over. Alfred assured him he was welcomed, and they set a time.

Unsurprisingly, Bruce had not been waiting for him.

"He's downstairs, Master Clark," said Alfred apologetically.

"Yes, I understand," said Clark. "May I?"

"By all means."

So Clark made his way down to the Batcave by himself.

"What do you want?" said Bruce a touch irritably, cowl off, yet staring at a casefile. At a glance, something to do with trying again to find a pattern in the Straw Hat's robberies.

"I had a talk with Lois," he said, adjusting his glasses, "and she set my head on straight."

"Did she now?" was the flat reply.

"She also told Superman to go talk to Clark Kent for advice."

The sheer absurdity of that made Bruce actually turn around, and Clark was confident he was repressing an amused smirk. "Really."

"Which was the right thing to say." Clark set down a box of still-warm apple pie. "Because I realised I hadn't been acting like Ma and Pa raised me to be." Sucking in a deep breath, he said, "Thank you for coming back for me when I went after Darkseid. And making sure I made it off out there alive. I . . . was too angry with him to be thinking straight, and I treated you poorly." A bitter scowl twisted his features, "And in hindsight I realised I may have sent you to go get Orion knowing how it would've set off a conflict with Darkseid without actually really thinking about it. Without knowing what I was doing. Both you and Diana deserve better than that. No matter how much I might hate him, that's no excuse."

A heavy silence lingered, and a small smile escaped Bruce. "Apology accepted. Lois really is a remarkable woman."

Clark chuckled with humour and relief. "Don't I know it! Oh, and she had a few words for you about not appreciating teamwork."

"I bet," said Bruce lightly, much more at ease than any of the other members of the League would believe possible given his Batman persona. He grabbed a napkin and a slice of pie, and offered it to Clark before grabbing his own. "Alright, we can go back together."

Eyes sharpening, the weight of Bruce's personality rose despite his lack of mask. "If we're going to take it seriously, especially against what you described Roronoa Zoro being like, we'll start by teaching you how to punch."

"I can punch," said Clark, more bewildered than offended.

"Punch properly. With an actual stance. Tim had better form than you in his first week."

Surprised and touched, he warmly said, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

Ace's eyes snapped open, yet she refused to let her body flinch an inch.

Carefully she assessed her situation.

Robin had an arm draped over her, and from what little she could see it appeared Nami was laying on her other side while facing away. Searching her memory, she was pretty sure Cheetah was not being used as a cuddle-toy tonight. Which made sense as she was using her own rooms more often lately.

Slowly. Carefully. Ace gently levered Robin's limb off of her.

Concentrating, a spare pillow flew over and underneath where she had been to hopefully not wake up the older pirate.

And even if Robin was only pretending to sleep, she was respecting that Ace wanted to be left alone right now.

Padding across the floor, she made her way through the empty corridors to the kitchen which tended to stay warm, was brightly lit, and, well, people would find her if—

The thoughts and feelings of her nightmare slipped her grasp and hit her like a truck. Gasping, Ace grabbed the countertop before she fell, other hand clutching her chest.

A titanic arm swept under her, and she froze before looking up to see Amazo's concerned face.

"It's really cool how Ivo made you able to show so many emotions," she blurted out.

"Thank you?" he said, clearly not expecting that. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I'm fine!"

He reared back, yet did not let her go, and she hated and thanked him for that in the same heartbeat. Her pounding heartbeat.

"Sorry," she said, squeezing her eyes shut. "It's just . . . memories."

"You mean a nightmare?"

"I dreamt . . ." she shut up.

"Memories often come the worst at night," said Robin, suddenly beside Ace. However, her attention was on Amazo, giving the girl a sense of space. "A comparison would be being forced to relive your father's death on a loop without being able to stop."

"Ah. I see, unfortunately."

"Sorry," said Ace, scrunching her face as she stared at her feet.

"I spent years being hunted. I learnt long ago how to sleep lightly and get by on very little of it. There's no harm done."

A few seconds of silence passed, and she had a distinct impression that Robin was trying to convey something to the android.

"I could make you a snack?" offered Amazo. "I've been practising."

"Sure," managed Ace. "Can't hurt. Please."

Briskly he worked up a simple, small fruit salad at super-speed, and placed it before her while Robin rubbed her back. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Do you want to get Brook?" inquired Robin non-judgmentally.

"Yessum," managed Ace. Brook was good for nightmares.

Once, when she had been in a particularly foul mood, ashamed of being woken up by night terrors, she had yelled at him, demanding to know what he could possibly know about being tormented by those sorts of things.

Brook had told her. Everything.

Not unkindly, not to make a point, nor to make her feel guilty. Only calmly with some light humour as if talking about the weather. All of which served to make it all the more nauseating.

Ace had definitely not slept a wink afterwards, too haunted by the truth and imagining fifty years of waking horror and fever dreams. Except . . . the next time she had her own nightmares, it had not been so bad because she knew she was not alone.

"Were you studying in the kitchen?" asked Robin.

"No, I noticed Ace leaving her bedroom when I came to watch you."

". . . You watch us in our sleep?"

"You have clothes on. And it's educational."

"How!?" blurted Ace, too shocked to be mad.

"It'd be easier to show you."

She glanced at her bowl, and saw she still had half of it left, and resigned herself to being patient. Her face was flushed now though.

"Your comment about Professor Ivo, is death really so horrible?"

"Well, that depends," said Robin, and while there was nothing out of place in her voice, Ace knew she would be bringing back up the peeping-tom matter later. "For some, it is a matter of sorrow. Others, a relief. It's the only real certainty in our lives at least."

"Do you believe in an afterlife?"

"I believe in a place of eternal torment," allowed Robin, "and wish to believe in an alternative. It's how one's judged I have concerns about. However, for all that I'm an archeologist striving to learn the secrets of people's pasts, for myself I choose to concern myself more with the living."

"Brook said the dead leave behind only bones."

"Hmm," she hummed noncommittally. "You however are another story; so long as you repair yourself, can you die?"

"I . . . don't know. Should I want to be able to die?"

Picking up her bowl, Ace took it to the sink to wash it, trying to ignore them.

At least it never got so bad I wanted to die.

"I don't know how to answer that," said Robin. "I know for one thing, before I met Luffy I was suicidal; I wanted to die."

The bowl slipped out of her fingers.

"Ace?"

"Too soapy," she lied, somehow managing to keep her voice even.

"Alright," said Robin, and Ace could not tell if that brief pause was her imagination or not.

"What happened?" asked Amazo with naked curiosity. "Oh! I'm sorry, was that—?"

"It's alright," cut in Robin. "I met Luffy, and it all changed. My point is, though, if I'd died beforehand, I'd never have met him and the others. So while maybe death is something to welcome and accept, at the same time never give up on fighting for your life.

"Live. Live no matter the cost, so long as you can be with your nakama once more. You never know what the future might hold." She looked off to the side to softly say, "I never imagined meeting Luffy and the others . . ."

"I will remember that," promised Amazo.

Placing the bowl in the dishrack, and making sure her eyes were still dry, Ace turned around to face them. "I'm ready for bed now."

!JUSTICE!

"Okay, I see what you mean," Ace reluctantly admitted.

"Fu fu fu fu," giggled Robin into her hand.

The male Straw Hats were all sprawled out haphazardly.

"Sanji, gimme food," mumbled Luffy.

"You just ate," muttered Sanji.

"Shut . . . Up . . ." snored Zoro.

Franky was plopped down on an air mattress deployed from his body.

Somehow Usopp had fallen out of his hammock onto Jinbe's stomach, face down, butt in the air, and rising with every breath the massive figure took.

"Food," grumbled Luffy.

"Sleep," puttered Chopper. "Keep you healthy."

Phantom limbs carried Brook out of the room and followed them down the hall to Ace's room. Upon reaching the door they propped him up vertical, jolting him awake as another hand covered his mouth.
"MMMPPPHHFFFFF! MMMMFF—mmmrf." Robin released his face, and he said lightly, "Ah, Ace, you want a lullaby?"

"Yes, please. Binks' Brew."

"Certainly!" He reached out a skeletal hand, and his guitar was passed right into it.

Going inside, Ace went and laid back down on her bed, the real Robin still there, keeping it warm, still seemingly asleep. Crawling under the covers, Ace found herself deftly tucked in, and snuggled down while the familiar, comforting tune soothed her worries away and let sleep take her.

Tomorrow would be another adventure!

Outside, Amazo and Robin's clone stood a little ways away so as to not distract Brook from his art.

". . . So I should never go uninvited into a lady's room again unless I want to discover if I can die, right?"

"Smart boy."

!JUSTICE!

"Oh man, I needed this," sighed John with relief, sinking further back into the couch, Ring deactivated and leaving him in his civies.

"Beer?"

"Nah, no thanks, Mace." Opening his eyes, he grinned up at his old friend, Rex Mason, "I appreciate it, but it's not that type of night. Thanks for letting me crash here though."

"You and the League doing something big?" said the multi-coloured, bald figure, barely resembling the man he had once been.

"Something like that," he said vaguely, knowing as an ex-marine himself, Mace would understand discretion. "Also a series of really harrowing bad guys to deal with. Hence the breather."

"Well, you're always welcome," promised Sapphire Stagg, curled up against her fiancé's side despite his inhuman appearance.

"The League are great people," said John, a touch defensively, "but a little much now and then." He really enjoyed hanging out with Flash, or even just relaxing with the rest, but some time with others every few months could not hurt, right?

"Everyone needs their space," acknowledged Mace. "Especially since your club's getting bigger lately." He smirked, "I bet those two new big ones would've given me quite a headache."

Mace's illegal and non-consensual exposure to a mutagen compound had permanently altered him from a normal man into this. Calming him down from his vengeful rampage against Sapphire's father for doing this to him, followed by the subsequent counter-rampage by Mr. Stagg, and Mace's seemingly fatal heroic sacrifice to stop him, had been one of the Justice League's more memorable fights.

Snorting, John admitted, "Yeah, consider yourself lucky."

"Are you going to be trying to recruit Rex too?" asks Sapphire far too innocently for John to believe she has not rehearsed this in her head. There was also the memory of her words where she claimed deep down Mace wanted to serve again. To save others like John was doing.

Except there remained the indisputable fact that his friend was still adjusting to his new body. No matter how handy his presence would be. A friend who was also surprised by her words while trying to remain perfectly relaxed.

"You know where to find me," John said as casually as possible. "I'll even be a reference for you."

Both of them look to the man in question, Sapphire craning her head back as Mace studied his hands before him. "Not right now," he answered shortly.

"Understood," said John, not pushing it any further.

"Besides," and now Rex sported a grin which was ringing alarm bells in the back of his head, "I doubt you'd want any distractions."

"Distractions?" repeated John, utterly confused.

"Well, between you and Hawkgirl."

"Hawkgirl?" and really John is feeling embarrassed at how much he was echoing Rex here. "What about her?"

"You keep on talking about her whenever we meet up."

"She's a valued teammate," huffed John. "A good friend. And I don't talk about her more than the others."

Mace just raised an eye-ridge while Sapphire giggled. Confused and irritated for some strange reason, John quickly changed the subject. "So, Sapphire, I hear you're a bigshot CEO now."

"Yes," she said, eyes sparkling knowingly, even if shadows of grief also lurked there. "I was named the sole inheritor—"

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

"So Amazo, how's cooking going for you?"

"It's proving fascinating," said Amazo, wearing a chef's toque, and the apron over his kimono reading 'Kiss The Cook.' "I've been learning about the circle of life and death, the perpetual flow of energy, and why oregano lovers should be boiled alive and used for fish bait."

Zoro resolved to buy himself some oregano at the earliest opportunity. Not to use to alter the flavouring obviously, as that would be crossing a line, but to leave out as a taunt. Meanwhile Usopp was wondering if Sanji had an unspoken traumatic event with the seasoning, and the real cause of his whole feud with Zoro was because his green hair reminded the chef of it..

"How pleasant," praised Robin.

"And your food's coming along nicely," said Nami.

They were all seated around the massive table, with Amazo's dishes clearly marked for people to try out. It was a chaotic arrangement, although the Deckhands tended to sit away from Luffy and his relentless assaults. If they were not careful, he would pillage and raid their plates clean before they even got a morsel!

"Practice makes perfect," said Sanji, shovelling down some of Amazo's chicken curry. "And you're putting the effort in."

"Why thank you," said Amazo, sitting roughly in the middle of the table, across from the empty chair always reserved for someone named 'Vivi.'

At the advice of the Deckhands he had never asked who that was, as the general assumption was that she was dead.

Regardless, while he could not eat, it was pleasant to spend time with them.

"I have to ask though, where do you get this food?" For emphasis, he picked up a roasted chicken leg.

A chicken leg the size of his whole torso . . .

He did not resist as Luffy reflexively snatched it out of his grasp.

"It seems unusually big."

Everyone paused at that and exchanged looks.

"Oh!" went Luffy. "We never told you about the farm?"

"No you didn't."

"Yeah, it's where we get most of our food from," said Chopper. "I don't really like the place, but it's still pretty cool!"

"My, it's been a while since we dropped by," said Brook thoughtfully. "How about a visit?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" cheered Luffy in excitement at something to break the monotony. Everyone else voiced agreement in turn.

"Not all of us!" snapped Nami. "Or else you're guaranteed to cause a ruckus!"

Immediately she was speared with deadpan looks from the rest. After a moment she got it, and waved a dismissive hand. "Fine, fine, I'll stay here. Franky too."

"Ah well. Best I get back to work anyways. And before anyone asks, yes, I got Amazo to give what I've got done on the portal a look, and he's got nothing to add."

"Alright, Amazo," said Sanji, "after we're done eating I'll teach you how to make bento boxes for the ride."

!JUSTICE!

Fortress of Solitude

"Thanks for joining me," said Superman.

"It's an honour," said Wonder Woman, "but why just us?"

"I'll invite the others over later, but I don't want to interrupt their practising when we're nearly finished. And I didn't want to wait," admitted Superman ruefully.

"You thought of something to help you improve," Batman deduced. "And Wonder Woman's from a warrior culture, and has less to catch-up on than the New Gods."

"Close enough," admitted Superman as they followed him. There seemed to be a little tension between the other two, even if it had apparently been eased by Bruce rejoining the others. "Except more about how Diana's familiar with, well, a warrior's gear." There was a clear touch of misgivings over the use of 'warrior' there, yet no offence was taken.

"Oh?" she said with interest, resting one hand on her hip.

"Just after we were discussing again about a red sunlight room for me to train in, I overheard Sir Justin discussing looking into ways to hit harder, and it clicked in my head about an incident years ago. Diana, do you remember much about Luminus and how he started out as a criminal?"

Before she could answer, Batman's eyes narrowed. "You left something out of the police report."
"Was I that obvious?" asked Superman, bringing over a large box.

"Only in where you're leading this. Something with hardlight technology?"

"No. For some reason he was never able to reproduce this." With little ceremony, Superman produced a pile of broken technology of some sort. "This used to be a harness he used to emit red sunlight, which let him fight me on equal terms."

"So we can use it for training?" asked Wonder Woman. "No," her gaze sharpened, "you wanted something for yourself. You want to remake this to produce yellow sunlight?"
"As a last resort," said Superman, even as he knew Bruce was filing away his own plans to copy Luminus' work. "We can still do the red solar room to keep improving my skills by sparring with you guys. But given the sorts of escalating threats we've been facing, I'm hoping that if I had access to more yellow sunlight, and concentrated, theoretically it could give me a power boost."

"The original was too fragile," declared Wonder Woman authoritatively, holding up the broken pieces for emphasis. "We can put it under some armour though."

"That might frighten people," protested Superman.

"Last resort," repeated Batman, glaring down at the device. "Including lead lining to protect against kryptonite. Protection against magic maybe too. I know some people to ask."

"Hopefully I'll never need it," said Superman regretfully, "except . . ." Words failed him as he trailed off, hoping this would not be the start of him running down a slippery slope.

"To prepare for the worst," said Batman harshly.

Resting a hand on both their shoulders, Wonder Woman fondly said, "While hoping for the best."

!JUSTICE!

Straw Hat Base

"Hey! Where is everybody!?" yelled Harley.

"Never mind that, what happened to you!?" cried out Queen, her own call drawing out the rest of the Deckhands.

The clown turned pirate and Poison Ivy were covered in singe marks, their outfits cut up, and each sported multiple bandages.

"Eh," shrugged Harley carelessly. "Mercy's security's improved. I'm so proud of her. I think I'll wait a while though before giving her another follow-up appointment."

"You didn't answer the question," noted Poison Ivy, grimacing in pain.

"Oh, right, we got a newbie, and the bosses were getting pretty stir-crazy again, so they brought him to the farm. Rest are down in the basement again."

"Neat! Who's the newbie?"

A quick summary later.

"I HAD THE CHANCE TO PSYCHOANALYSE A ROBOT AND NOBODY SO MUCH AS CALLED ME TO LET ME KNOW!?"

"We thought they had called you!"

"NEVER ASSUME WHAT THAT PACK OF CRAZIES WILL DO!"

!JUSTICE!

It was a very long ride for everyone crammed into the back of Optimus Prime's trailer.

"Yeah, it's inconvenient," acknowledged Usopp. "Plus a pain in transporting it all to us, especially with a 'no questions asked' fee for the delivery folk involved. Major drain on our budget, but better than the early days when we had to run around making large purchases for Luffy and hope nobody noticed a pattern."

"And it'll let us fulfil a promise," said Luffy with a calmness which unnerved Amazo.

In turn, the rest of the Straw Hats barring a confused Ace exchanged complicated looks.

An awkward silence hung, until they finally arrived at their destination hours later.

Stepping out, Amazo was surprised to find themselves in yet another warehouse. "This is it?" he asked curiously.

"Not as fun if you're in the trailer," said Luffy, ags inscrutable as ever for Amazo. Before he could ask for elaboration however, the ground beneath them began to lower, and he realised they were on a disguised freight elevator. Glancing up, ceiling doors closed above them without leaving a seam, while large lights were spread out around it.

"Given the heroes are after us, we figured it best to keep these two places separate," said Usopp.

Going to the edge of the platform, Amazo realised they were in another underground facility, and stretching out for at least a kilometre in every direction was an artificial farm. Even the walls and ceiling were painted with eerie precision to resemble the sky with light similar to the sun.

Everything was all very strangely placed though, and it took even his sensors a few seconds to realise the trick was how disproportionate everything was. For example, the fruit and vegetable trees were oversized far beyond anything natural.

As they touched down, two people were waiting for them.

Clearly in charge was an older man, about the same age as Professor Ivo had been. Thin grey hair to his neck, and a gaunt face. Tan shirt with a black jacket, pants, and hat. "Well howdy there," he said. "Glad to have you visit our humble abode. Do please make yourself comfortable. Call me Farmer Brown."

"And I'm Emmylou Brown. Nice to meet you," said the tall, muscular woman beside him. Freckles framed her beaming grin, and her hair was long and blonde, her beauty clashing with the rough jean-shorts and torn white shirt she wore. Although he assumed that her midriff being exposed made her more attractive to others. Given how much younger she was, Amazo made the automatic assumption they were a father-daughter duo.

"Oh Emmylou~!" sang out Sanji, tap dancing forward. "You've no idea how happy I am to see you!"

"Don't make me break out the ol' shotgun, you hooligan," warned Farmer Brown, gripping his jacket a little tighter.

"Don'tcha worry, daddy," she assured him. "I can handle lil'old Sanji. You bring me a treat? I put up some cider inside."

"Truly you're one of the most divine things of this world!" gushed Sanji, following her inside with a basket of goodies.

"Is Sanji truly courting her?" said Amazo in surprise.

"Sanji would court any woman with a pulse," deadpanned Usopp.

"Such a womaniser has no place around my Pumpkin," groused Farmer Brown before dismissing it. "Anywho, you're the new one my finest customers are hiring?"

"Yes," said Amazo, even if he was struggling a little to understand the man's thick accent.

"Well, a strapping fella like you seems handy to keep around, that's for sure. Why don'tcha take a looksee?"

"Yeah!" grinned Luffy, already swinging off.

"C'mon, I'll show you around," said Usopp.

"Me as well," said Brook. "It's been a while for me."

Intrigued, Amazo took a moment to further study how massive all the plants were. Towering over even him and Brook. "Your and Poison Ivy's work?"

"Y'know it!" boasted Usopp. "Going to save a lot of people's lives. Still, it's not too flashy. The real fun stuff's over here!" He took off at a jog that was easily 50kmph, with the other two easily following behind.

Soon enough, they came across a sturdy, fenced-in enclosure for chickens. Perfectly normal looking ones. Well, aside from being ginormous chickens.

Easily a head taller than Usopp, and running around screeching after a laughing Luffy. Yes, it was patently obvious where they were getting all that food from now.

"How do they manage them?" asked Amazo. "Are there more people here?"

"No, just the two of them," said Brook. "Impressive, is it not? You see, Farmer Brown invented some technology to help him, and Emmylou has superhuman strength for this world thanks to some of her father's beef steroids."

"Why don't the others have them?" wondered Amazo.

Giving a shrug, Usopp said, "He wants it special for her, and won't share it."

"Hmm." Amazo reached out with his Observation Haki to get a better sense of the area. "Why are there only chickens here?"

"Daddy's got a whole study on it," answered Emmylou, coming up to join them, "but basically if you're going to mass produce livestock, chicken might be less tasty than cattle, but they're better for the environment. Even then, Usopp and Ivy had to develop some new plants to properly break down their fertiliser. We ship her little babies back as well; something about the heavy metals chickens leave behind making them stronger."

"Clever. What do they eat?"

"We feed the chickens a mix of corn and soybeans, which we also grow here."

"Is that nutritious enough for them?"

"Chopper and Sanji have been tinkering away at possible meal plans down the line. Chopper does care about them, but he doesn't like to talk to food he's gonna eat later. As for Sanji, well bless his heart, he wants the highest quality of the meat and eggs they produce. A whole chain of you are what you eat. And because he cares about how they feel too."

Cocking his head in confusion, Amazo struggled to understand that. "I do not understand. Why so much concern for those you're only going to kill later?"

Swinging his cane, Brook gave a little chuckle. "Well, first of all remember, part of it is professionalism on Sanji's part. He says that food animals which die happy provide slightly superior flavour, and no one's going to challenge him on that. Well, aside from Zoro, yo ho ho!"

Amazo nodded sagely in agreement while Emmylou and Usopp snickered.

"Moreover," continued Brook, "as this lovely lady said, Sanji has a big heart. He never wants to see anybody suffer, especially when it comes to food, and neither do any of the rest of us. Does that help?"

"Yes, thank you. Although . . ." he stroked his chin in thought. Something was missing. Trying to understand what it was, while still brushing his face, Amazo craned his neck around to try and get a fresh view of the whole operation.

Beside him, the others waited patiently. While Amazo still struggled to understand Human behaviour, particularly these Humans, it was further proof for him that there was more to them than could be uncovered through a single encounter; even with his powerful scanners. This method was slower, yet helped him understand more of the 'journey' he was taking with each step.

In fact . . . By something more than familiar calculations, he knew he was on the verge of something here. So he kept asking questions.

"You said how you feed all the animals, but don't they and the plants require water?"

"Huh? Oh, good question," said Emmylou. "We're actually pretty lucky you lot met that little snowflake. You see, Maureen's ice is pure 100% water. She drops by and leaves a huge chunk of it for us to melt and use without tipping anybody off. Runoff goes into the sewer system right into the ocean."

"I'll top them up before we go," added Brook, "even if I can't make as much as little Mauri."

"Oh, that reminds me. We've also got a load more of rice you may as well take on back," said Emmylou. "You folks gonna eat it or brew it?"

"Brew?" asked Amazo.

"Ahhh," said Usopp, releasing a half-chuckle. "See, the thing is, Zoro can drink a lot of alcohol. It's like Luffy with meat. Nami can drink her body-weight of it in a single sitting too."

Amazo did some quick math, and found himself half-regretting not scanning her before she had interrupted him. Especially if she kept so skinny despite that.

"So we get super-sized rice here and brew it into sake. Not the best stuff, but it's good enough for them. Sanji's been moaning about how we should've got a distillery ages ago to keep down the cost of Zoro's drinking."

"What about Nami?"

"Keeps trying to convince them to grow grapes too so he can make her the finest wines."

"No sissy wine is coming from this here farm!" Emmylou declared sternly.

"Hey, Amazo! Whatcha think?" broke in Luffy, bounding over the fence to join them. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Once more Amazo's internal processors tried to grapple with the recordings it had taken of Luffy's powers, his 'Devil Fruit,' and fell short. There were simply too many concepts he failed to understand.

For now.

"It is indeed, cool," acknowledged Amazo. "An ambitious process to keep you all fed."

However, as he looked around, he continued to know he was missing something. One thing that he had come to understand about the Straw Hats, especially Luffy, was how deceptively simple they were. There was always something else to it.

Or rather, those unfamiliar with Luffy would unintentionally add 'complications' which kept them from seeing what the Captain of the Straw Hats considered 'simple.'

"What's the real reason?" Amazo asked as he stared out at the farm.

"Huh?" asked Luffy quizzically.

"There's other ways you could've done this. Other ways to get food that did not require such massive amounts of resources and finances. Nor to make it so complete." Now he turned to regard Luffy with his full attention. "So again, what is the real reason you're doing all this?" A pause. "Please."

A glare engulfed the man's features, yet it was not directed at the android. Indeed, for all that he was staring at the crops, it was clear he was seeing something beyond them.

"I made a promise to a friend," he said, "that every day she would be able to eat her fill. And before I could do that, before we could save her home, we ended up here." Hard, and icy, Luffy went on, "We will get back, and we will save them, and with all this we can feed all of Wano. This and our new nakama, above all, are what we're taking back with us."

Emmylou took a quick step back, clearly uncomfortable with getting involved in that. Still, he caught a glimpse of vindication and pride in her eyes. Clearly she and her father appreciated what their work was to be used for.

This was a distant recognition for Amazo though, as he realised the extent to which the Straw Hats were taking advantage of their involuntary exile here. As well as Luffy's stubborn refusal to bow to the whims of the world.

Instead, as Cheetah had told or warned him, Luffy would bend the world around his own will.

No matter what the odds were against whomever his friends in Wano faced, this rubbery-teen refused to count them out until he saw them for himself. And he was bringing them a precious gift.

A decision clicked together in his mind.

Rash. Impulsive.

Befitting his mentors.

Nonetheless, he stopped to reflect upon it, examined it from different angles to properly understand it for himself.

Satisfied, he turned to Emmylou. "I don't suppose you have room for another farmhand?"

"Say what now?" she said in surprise. "I thought you were just a city-slicker here for a look-see?"

"I was born in the mountains," he said with a touch of humour. "And I can carry my own weight."

"Why?" asked Luffy in confusion.

"Because," said Amazo simply, staring down at the tiny figure who continued to tower over him, "this is important to you. So I want to protect it. Not simply because it's your meat, but to protect your promise to a precious friend.

"Moreover," he reached out to stroke a stalk of some plant he did not recognise, yet intended to soon know intimately, "I remain curious about the matter of life and death. Spending some time amongst life which is to die to feed life seems the natural next step."

"You want to understand nature?" said Usopp sceptically.

"Yes," said Amazo simply, before turning back to them. "Do I really need to explain myself further?"

"Shi shi shi shi!" burst out Luffy loudly. "No you don't! You're learning!"

"Wellllll," drew out the farmhand. "I guess I wouldn't mind another hand around here. Of course, we'll have to run it past Daddy first."

"Of course."

"We'll figure out your pay. Plus we'll give you some good old country wisdom to go along with that!"

"I'll appreciate it," said Amazo a touch earnestly.

"Make sure you come visit still!" insisted Luffy. "And we'll visit you!"

"Count on it," promised Amazo, before giving a casual shrug. "And I don't know how long I'll be doing this either." His gaze sweeping the artificial horizon, he said, "I'll just be here until I'm ready for the next step in my journey. When I'm closer to knowing what my Dream will be."

"Looking forward to it!" beamed the man who would be King of the Pirates, and his greatest mentor.

Looking down at the rich kimono he was wearing, Amazo added, "Although first I'll need some overalls."

!JUSTICE!

Later

"YOU DID WHAT WITH MY SPARRING PARTNER!?" raged Zoro. "GET HIM BACK HERE!"

!JUSTICE!

Author Notes:

First off, the decision for Amazo to not be able to copy Devil Fruits was one I went back and forth on a lot. Ultimately I made my final decision while writing this chapter, concluding that for future plot plans it would be best he could not do so for now. We will see if that changes down the road ;-)

In the case of Zeus though, Amazo has not yet evolved to the point he could properly work out he was facing a soul fragment bound to a cloud.

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The rest of the Justice League's training basically follows the events of Society of Shadows, albeit some more intense stuff involved given their evolving needs.

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Next Chapter: 'Maid of Honour'

(An adaption of the Justice League episode by the same name, which may be helpful to watch beforehand.)

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Please Review, and I will get back to you!

Mostly.

The sheer size of my responses for Guest Reviews means I need to start making some exceptions. I will not answer if you are asking when the next update will be, since honestly my answer tends to be, 'I do not know.' Also, for those asking for more One Piece characters, I say, 'Definitely not anytime soon. Maybe later though.' Or 'who would win' questions, since answering those basically counts as giving Spoilers. For those asking about the Justice Lords, I will simply say they are a popular arc request. While Haki is indeed similar in concept to the Will used by Green Lantern Rings, they are still different enough, on different 'frequencies' of willpower if you stretch the analogy, that they do not effect each other in any special way. The Straw Hats cannot use any form of magic, nor teach haki to others. No non-DCAU characters from the DC-verse will be here, except for one spoiler character. Or for any concerns about another Omake chapter coming out so soon. Also no more responding to ones that are just "guest" without a penname, as frankly they cannot be kept track of anyways.