.: Alright. This is it. The climax of the arc. We will be taking a break from the main storyline after this chapter so I can put together an Oda-esque backstory that will go into more detail about the Wendigo's origin. I watched Oden's backstory and was basically convinced it would do this story justice to insert one myself. I will do my best to capture how Oda ties everything together that the Straw Hats have encountered in the anime, but I do admit I'm nervous about it. I have this nagging feeling that I'll draw it out too long and it'll kill my momentum for when things return to the main storyline. At the same time, I think it needs to be done or else this would not feel like One Piece. Wish me luck, and I'll try to update with something soon. :.

The Girl with A Half-Soul

Chapter 42:

Dances With Wolves

His breath was labored as he pranced deftly through the forest. The warriors assisting him were left behind, but he did not need them right now. Once he caught the faintest whiff that was familiar, Chopper was hurrying. Oakley's call for help was one that he responded to promptly. Then he heard the gunshots in the air and knew he had to find everybody.

He broke through the tangle of the forest to find a small clearing. Sam lifted his head from Aurilee to see. "I heard Oakley's call," Chopper told them as he approached. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Sam confirmed, holding the sides of her arms to check if she had calmed down yet. "Just had a scare is all."

Aurilee glanced at the reindeer, seeing him sniff for blood. She was unsure if he could pick up on her elevated heartbeat. "Oakley's hurt," she shared. "You need to find her."

Despite her keeping it together, he could tell he just missed something. Depending on how she slept tonight, they might need to process memories again. "Okay. Is it bad?"

She pointed in the direction he needed to go. "Yeah. Please hurry." Without saying another word, he galloped away in the direction. Now that they were alone again, Aurilee decided to direct her attention to her rescuer. "How did you know I needed help?"

"Thank them," he emphasized, brushing a hand over her belly. "They give you a very unique presence. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have known which one was you."

Finding that out relieved her. The doom she had felt was lightening. As much as she knew she had to be more careful in the future, it was nice to know a guardian angel was nearby. "What about the others?"

"The big group that's close has got to be Billy and Luffy, as well as my father and Garrett. I can sense Ware leading the horses to the canyon still. Three are making their way up from the bottom. As for the two who aren't moving, I can only assume that's Oakley and someone else with her. Then, of course, Chopper is moving by himself."

That accounted for everyone. It honestly impressed her since it covered such a wide range. "You're just as good as your father," she complimented.

"Not as good, but he makes me practice every day."

"Wait. What about Sanji?" It made no sense to her that he would stay with Ware when Oakley was shot down. And he told her that Nami was still with her, so he was somewhere else.

Sam suddenly dropped his demeanor at the question. He clearly remembered pushing him off his bison to get here without distractions. Confessing to that heat of the moment decision made him antsy because it was not a good look and he kind of felt bad after the fact. After scratching the side of his head with shame, he went ahead and eased her worries. "He's alone, too. He was with me for a few minutes, but we got separated."

The vagueness had her wonder if he was being completely truthful, but it was not important right now. "As long as he's okay…"

"We can go find him if you want to."

"No. We don't have to. I'd rather check on anyone who's hurt."

"Then let's meet up with my father and see Oakley."

"I'll follow you." She turned back to Amella to return to the saddle. Once they were ready, they both left the dead body behind to regroup with their leaders.


Irritation did not begin to explain how Sanji was feeling right now. One second, they were going to help together, the next he was on his ass. It was a hit to his ego to go down so fast. Probably what made it sizzle in his head the most was how Sam did not hesitate to do it. It was almost like he intended to do it all along. And what sucked the most was that it would be hard for someone to believe it because the Lun'aecho warrior had more dignity than that. That was what he presented, at least.

Even when he ran, he knew the battle would conclude before he got there. There was no point in trying to get there now. His next best option was to find Oakley. Her fall looked bad. If she managed to survive the bullet, it did not look like a hard landing was going to do her any favors. "Oakley!" he called out with concern. "It's Sanji! Please say something! Anything!"

After a few minutes of doing that, he finally got a reply. "Sanji!"

Although he recognized the voice, he did not associate it with the cowgirl. "Nami?"

"We're over here!" the navigator replied, waving her arms above her head.

He immediately noticed off the beaten path and diverted his direction towards her. His crewmate was on her knees next to Oakley, who lay motionless on her side. The first thing he thought was that they were too late. It horrified him. He joined Nami on the ground. "Is she…?"

"She's alive, but she needs a doctor," Nami told him.

"Then let's do some fist aid until Chopper gets here." He gently rolled her onto her back and saw where she was shot. The locations were risky if left to bleed out, but they were not fatal. They opened her jacket to reveal the bloodstained undershirt and applied pressure to slow the bleeding. Nami pulled off her hat to free the bobby pins from her hair. She could dig out the bullets with them.

"I thought the others were with you," Sanji said to Nami to try alleviating the stress in the air.

"I don't know where Rip, Usopp, and Jen are, but Robin and Aurilee went ahead without me," she explained, trying to be gentle and meticulous with her makeshift tweezers. "Did you split off from your group by yourself?"

"No. Sam and I were together, but he kicked me off the bison and left me."

She paused her novice surgical skills for a moment. "Why?"

"I don't know. He was gone fast, though."

The only justification she could think of was that Sam sensed something Sanji could not. As for kicking off the big muscular bison that could easily support both their weight, she did not understand the reasoning behind that.

The sound of something running through the brush got them both looking up. Chopper appeared and immediately transformed so he had hands to work with. "What happened?" he questioned as he pulled off his backpack and opened it.

"She got shot. Still alive," Nami answered as she and Sanji scootched back to give him room.

Upon the first look, Chopper was optimistic about her chances. "Good. You guys applied pressure to her wounds." He then quickly picked up where Nami left off and removed the lodged bullets. It was obvious that she fell far enough that it caused all her other injuries. The trees were not exactly things to soften her landing. She probably was caught on branches and rolled only to fall more until she hit the ground. Somewhere along the way, she got knocked unconscious. What mattered to him most was that she was breathing, and her heartbeat was normal.

They helped him when it was needed. Her wounds were bandaged, and a suspected fractured wrist was immobilized. When finished, he wafted something around her nose for her to inhale and be roused awake. Seeing her face scrunch in reaction and her eyes open were very good signs.

"Don't move yet," Chopper instructed. "I need to make sure you don't have underlying injuries."

"Did it…Did it work?" she asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"I tried leading one of the devil fruit users to Butler…so he could capture him."

"I don't know. None of us have met up with Butler or the others to find out for sure."

Hearing that put her on edge. Either Butler took advantage of the Mist Mist Fruit user's exposed state, or their struggle was overcome by his return. Thinking about that unknown fate got her wanting to see him again even more. It was not often they were apart like this. Ever since she beat him in a shooting competition many years ago, they had practically been inseparable.

If this was truly how their love story would end, she wanted to remember everything that led up to it. Before he was a cowboy, Butler traveled with a show throughout Lone Star Island and Appalachia. Every stop had him offering himself up for competitions since he had a knack for shooting targets. Not many people wanted to take him up on it. One day, however, she did. The unruly teenager she was kept her powers a secret. Of course, she would beat him. It was impossible for her to miss a shot!

Despite her age and gender, Butler still treated her as an equal. Instead of him getting embarrassed or trying to save his image, he managed to humble her. She may have had a devil fruit that could be used as her winning ticket, but he had pure talent. The only target he missed was the last one. She had to admit that she sighed with relief at that moment. The idea of someone fruitless potentially outmatching her had her breaking a sweat. But it was the closest competition he had ever had. She pushed him harder than he ever had been before. She was the first person to ever beat him. Because of that, he accepted his defeat graciously.

To be frank, not only had she shot through the last target, but she had also shot through his heart. He was just as silent back then as he was now. Still, he managed to convey his determination to marry her. How? It was written on paper. Aside from shooting, he also liked dabbling in poetry. Poetry for her was especially enjoyable for him. But the one piece that got her opening up to him was the one that called her an angel in the skies. Until that moment, she had been keeping her secret to herself. How could she not reveal her powers after he described her in a way that suited her?

Oakley was unsure about her feelings back then, but she was still nervous about his reaction. She unveiled that she cheated in the competition that made him fall in love. If he had found the deception distasteful, she would not have blamed him for withdrawing his advances. But to her surprise, he was just more enthralled by the fact his stanza had become reality. It turned out he had been keeping a secret from her, too. When she landed, he pressed his fingers together to fuse them and stretch out liquified glass. The reason why he kept the powers out of sight was because people freaked out when they saw it. Not Oakley. She was shocked to find out he was a devil fruit user like her. Her joyful giggle was forever ingrained in his mind.

Without much thought behind it, he manipulated his fingers more until a ring was formed and hardened. He gently placed it in her palm. Either she could accept it or not. He did not care that things were moving fast between them. He just wanted her to know how serious he was about her.

Curiosity got the best of her in that moment. Not only did she keep the ring, but she slipped it on her finger. She did not care that it was not made of gold or silver, or that it lacked a precious stone. He had quite literally given a fragment of himself to her to keep. She still wore it. Nobody really noticed it, but she did not care. Even now, as her hand tried flexing to see if her wrist really was fractured, she felt it. She wondered if her husband's death would cause it to break. As it currently was, there was nothing wrong with it.

The mystery was destined to continue. Butler was alive and well. When he arrived, all he saw was Oakley on the ground. She was alert and already tended to. He felt like he could breathe again and fell to his knees next to her. Arms wrapped around her to pull her up into his chest. When she felt the side of his face nuzzle deep into her frizz along with the comforting squeeze in the embrace, she knew it was him. There was no doubt about it.

"Careful," Chopper warned, not wanting to impede their reunion but also recognizing the strength behind the hug. "If you squeeze her too hard, it could worsen her bleeding."

Sanji clenched his jaw in jealousy. He wanted to hug a girl that tight, too. It looked so nice. But when he tried sneaking a single arm behind Nami, she almost instantly slapped him away.

After Butler, Luffy stumbled into the area. He tripped over something while coming down the decline and just started rolling until he faceplanted next to Nami. His legs almost continued over his head without his torso wanting to follow, but there was not enough momentum, so they flopped back down. A little groan quickly stopped when he realized it was her. "Oh, hey Nami," he greeted with a dumb smile.

"What an entrance," she commented sarcastically. "Did you win?"

"Yeah! Butler got the mist guy and then the old guys took care of the rest. It was like a whole army invaded the mountain!"

"I take it that means Tonto and Garrett made it," Sanji inferred.

"Just in time, too. Zoro had this goo guy coming out of his body and Feather Gramps grabbed him out of nowhere to pull him out!"

"Uh, is Zoro okay?" Nami questioned with a mixture of skepticism and concern.

"Yeah. He's fine. Billy said they'd help more and then come down."

I'm surprised you got here without them, she wanted to reply verbally. But her comment was explained when three more people appeared. Sam had brought Robin and Aurilee. "How's Oakley?" Robin asked, seeing the doctor was present.

"Stable, but injured," Chopper summarized. "She should make a full recovery."

Knowing that gave them comfort. The worst was behind them. Aurilee decided to check up on the one who had been unaccounted for for a few minutes. "You're okay, right, Sanji?" she whispered.

"Hm?" he hummed in response. His calm disposition switched to his doting one. "Oh, I'm perfectly fine, Aurilee Baby. And you look better off than I do."

She smiled, mentally pleading for him to never change. "I almost wasn't. Sam got to me just in time."

When she said that, his expression dropped.

"I don't think I'd be here if it weren't for him."

"Oh yeah?" He overlooked her head toward the native while he returned the gaze. Suddenly, it made sense why he did what he did. A part of him was still annoyed about it, but he was also relieved to know she escaped the incident unharmed. If he got all bent out of shape about being pushed off the bison, it would just be for his selfish ego. Aurilee would comprehend that their separation was anything but unanimous. Maybe if things had gone awry, he would have taken that route and ripped into Sam. Doing that under these circumstances was pointless.

It still did not change the fact that pushing him off was unnecessary, but if it resulted in him being less of a distraction and he saved Aurilee in time, then bygones were bygones. Although…he also wondered if their shared attraction for Aurilee played a role in it. Almost like he wanted to purposely do it alone to help win her over. "That's good," he said anyway.

It felt like a zing of tense electricity sparked between their shared eye contact. Aurilee sensed it with confusion and looked between them for a second, but she was interrupted by Usopp's calls for Chopper. He, Rip, and Jen all joined them, clearing up the obscurity of their whereabouts. They may have missed the fight, but Jen's bloodied face proved they had a whole different predicament to deal with. Other than that, everything was resolved. The remaining stretch to their destination was underway.


Night fell in the mountains. The Straw Hat Pirates and Wild Westerners were a single gathering again. They found themselves intermingled with a faction of Lun'aecho people that lived near the edge of the abrupt transition from deciduous forest to desert. They monitored it without crossing over. It was assumed they did not cross due to the unfavorable living conditions, but, in reality, it was because they thought it was dangerous.

The river from the forest poured into the desert, slicing into rock to create a canyon. Centuries of the land forming caused some parts of the river to dry up, leaving behind caves and crevices with smoothed walls that resembled the ocean tide lapping against a beach shore. There was one such cave that held the information the Straw Hats were looking for.

When the moon graced them with its presence from behind a moving cloud, it was time to head out. But it was not going to be a simple walk. Some of the natives swore that evil spirits resided in the canyon. For many generations, sightings have been recounted. The Wendigo was no exception. The cover of dusk seemed to give it the perfect environment to appear. It did not help that people had gone missing in the past. They said the Wendigo had been responsible for it all. Some were legitimately worried about the visitors entering. They urged the injured to stay behind, but they had come all this way. They refused to miss out.

Torches were lit to lead the charge. To ward off the spirits, horns and low-howling whistles sounded off. Everyone's brains reacted to the unsettling sounds, sending shivers down their spinal cords. The suspense of what was to come manifested with the beat of drums. It was like they were going into battle.

The canyon reflected orange from the torches and had shadows cast on the walls. Usopp held Chopper as they tried hiding their fear of actually seeing an evil spirit. The only thing they had confidence about was that the Wendigo was not here. Aurilee's island was far away. Unless it was confirmed by her that the Wendigo was not her father, they would trust her intuition.

Luffy glanced next to him as Aurilee matched his stride. This was possibly the most important moment of her life. Everything could change for the better. He could only imagine what she was feeling inside. Still, he was excited for her.

Little did he know that she felt like morning sickness was getting to her. The fear of more disappointment nauseated her. When they came to a stop, she felt a tightness in her chest. Her babies protested her stress by kicking her organs. An involuntary burp escaped her esophagus, but luckily her mouth was closed to mask it. Tonto turned to them all, raising his torch above his head. The drums silenced all at once. "This canyon is where the Wendigo spawned," he narrated. "It raided our mountains, killed our people, and disappeared without a trace. Nobody has seen it since, but many believe it will rampage again if disturbed." Hearing that gave them all the understanding that nothing was to be touched and they should not make loud noises. He then placed his hand on top of Aurilee's cranium. "I hope this is the truth you seek, Child."

The touch was comforting to her. She closed her eyes and took a beath to try calming her anxiety. When he let go, they made their way inside a cave.

The ground was weathered with debris. Above them was natural ceiling with boulders also blocking out the sky. Everyone had to duck or step over obstacles to enter deeper. It eventually opened up to, causing every movement and sound to echo. Tonto was already shining the flames against a wall to reveal archaic drawings by the time everybody filed in. Robin was next to him to get a closer look. Since the cavern they were in protected against weather and sunlight, the drawings were well preserved. Their original black color only faded a single shade. "Amazing," the archaeologist complimented. "I can follow the story it tells without trouble."

"Don't you know the story, Rip?" Usopp asked him. He did say he encountered a real-life Wendigo and got help from the Lun'aecho.

"I don't, actually," he responded. This was the first time he had set foot in this particular place.

"Our people have resided in these mountains for hundreds of years," Tonto started, revealing the correct drawings that described his words. There was a depiction of the mountains and warriors. "Back when outsiders were trying to colonize our land, our people only welcomed a select few. They arrived not wanting to take from our ancestors. According to them, they were not human."

The torch revealed a cluster of drawings depicting mammals that walked on two legs like humans. A cat, a deer, a monkey, a rat, a llama, a bear, a fox, a hyena, a boar, a baboon, and more. All kinds of accurate details and colors that made it easy to identify what they were looking at. While the others looked confused about how many Zoan devil fruit users could gather in one place like that, Aurilee focused on one that immediately caught her attention. A wolf with white fur.

"These beings became allies and drove back the outsiders. The moon gave them power unlike anything they had ever seen."

A battle scene under a full moon was shown to clash between natives and outsiders, but the animal people attacked from the sky. Everything about them had turned white. The blue flecks around them were also odd.

"It was not long after that they left our land, except for one. The Wolf Woman."

The drawings depicted the human-like white wolf walking among the Lun'aecho people. Aurilee did not want to draw in breath anymore. She was already getting confirmation that this was the origin of her mystifying bloodline of shapeshifting.

"The Wolf Woman was accepted as a Lun'aecho warrior and eventually started a family. Every pregnancy she had resulted in twins: one human and one wolf. But the wolf children lacked the human capabilities of their mother; they could not speak and walked on four legs."

There it was. The torch showed the Wolf Woman facing a male warrior – the father of her children – and beneath them were multiple pairs of twins. The humans took after their father and the wolves took after their mother. It was exactly like Paititi and Skah…Tayen and Rikea…Aurilee and Luna. The first half-souls to exist.

By now, the Straw Hats were connecting the details to things Aurilee had talked about in the past. They watched her hands cover her mouth to contain her excitement. Seeing her light up bounced off them. Luffy slapped her back right when Nami hugged her shoulder and Sanji gave her head pats.

"But the firstborn twins were overcome by a demonic spirit while they were in the canyon. A creature far more apex and vicious than their mother emerged and destroyed nearly everything and everyone before vanishing. It caused hysteria inside the land, and the Wolf Woman was exiled with her family in fear of the Wendigo returning to possess more of her children."

The torch showed a werewolf with exactly the same features as her father had. A large wolf man that towered over the average person with long dark hair and oversized muscles. Yes, the Wendigo was her father. There was no denying it. She reached into the front pocket of her overalls to pull out and unfold a piece of paper. When she approached the wall and did a side-by-side comparison of what the Lun'aecho depicted versus her, it was nearly identical. Rip was right the whole time. "It's him," she declared.