Chapter 91
"Well!? Where the hell is he!?" Cyclone yelled.
Cyclone looked to the left, right, and up at the ceiling quickly, trying to figure out where Nagashima went.
"Your excellency, I promise! He went through the ceiling! These fools don't know what they're talking about!" Collector yelled.
"We saw him go through the kitchen! There are a group of us and one of you!" A soldier argued.
Cyclone looked down at Who's-Who.
"I'm sure... he went out the auditorium doors!" Who's-Who said.
Cyclone clenched his teeth and breathed in and out until he cooled off. Everything around him became black and there was complete silence.
"Three parties. Who's-Who, Collector, the group of soldiers..." Cyclone said softly as he cooled off even more and became extremely focused.
"Each have confirmed they saw Nagashima leave after his attack, but they all saw him take a different route. Think... what can this fruit do? The cosmo cosmo's main ability is transportation through space portals... entering a portal takes you to a place I call, "The realm of infinite possibility," a realm of portals to different universes that co-exist with this "base universe."
Cyclone took a deep breath and breathed out slowly.
"Jumping back and forth between these worlds can be extremely beneficial in combat, jumping out of this world into another to get a better position, then re-emerging all in an instant... but... that's before the fruit is awakened." Cyclone said, slowly opening his eyes. Everything was still silent and dark around him.
"Once the fruit is awakened, the user can merge these worlds, instead of just being able to jump in between them... also... if the user wishes, witnesses can be affected by this merge... aligning the universes so finely, you can't even tell you're dancing between dimensions. I've never seen this ability used like this..." Cyclone said softly.
"Nagashima merged three separate universes, one in which only the Collector watched him leave, another where Who's-Who saw him leave, and another where the soldiers saw him leave... I'm impressed." Cyclone said with a smirk.
The black void Cyclone retreated to in his mind slowly faded away. The noises of the alarms and Collector arguing with the soldiers could be heard.
"I've figured it out." Cyclone said.
Collector turned around and the soldiers were surprised.
"We knew you would Cyclone-sama! Which way did he go?" The soldier asked.
"That depends on what he came here for, do you know?" Cyclone asked.
"The word is he is here to take Nico Robin!" A soldier said.
Cyclone looked up towards the ceiling.
"Then he took the ceiling." Cyclone said, putting his fingers to his head.
"Collector, get Who's-Who patched up, soldiers cut the alarms and get back to loading up those ships, this will be over soon." Cyclone said.
"Yes sir!" The soldiers yelled, running out of the room.
"How in the world... did you figure out what that trickery was?" Who's-Who asked as Collector picked him up.
Cyclone didn't look at Who's-Who.
"Lucky guess." Cyclone said as he vanished away.
DEATH HQ (Top Floor)
Nagashima crept through the halls of the top floor. There weren't any rooms up there, just long empty hallways lit by candles and the DEATH banner lined the walls.
"This place gives me the creeps! These guys killed how many people? 100,000? These guys are nuts!" Nagashima said.
Nagashima continued walking through the dimly lit hallways. Nagashima stopped to look at one of the banners.
"What even is this symbol? Lucci had something like this when he attacked Okua with those black flames..." Nagashima continued staring at the banner until he heard footsteps.
"Shit!" Nagashima said, jumping into a portal in the wall.
Robin slowly walked the halls. Robin held one of her arms in her hand and her head was low. A lot was on her mind.
"What am I supposed to do?" Robin asked herself out loud.
Nagashima had hearts in his eyes.
"What a babe! DEATH has got some pretty members! Wait a minute..." Nagashima said, taking out Robin's bounty poster Kraken gave him.
"Shit! This is her! She must have already escaped captivity. All I need to do is tell her I'm here to help her and jump in the portal back to Kraken's ship, easy!
A portal opened up next to Robin who quickly got ready to defend herself.
"Who's there!?" Robin yelled.
Nagashima slowly came from the portal.
"Hey! Robin! Look I know you don't know me, but I'm a friend of your friends! I'm here to help get you out of here!" Nagashima said.
Robin looked him up and down and noticed the bounty poster.
"You're here to turn me in!" Robin said, holding up her arms.
"No! What? Listen...! Even if I wanted to the Straw Hats destroyed MarieJois there is no government to collect from! Now-"
"They did what..." Robin asked softly.
"They straw hat shinobi killed those old bats! Now come on! Your friends are waiting, I promise you! I swear I would not be here for any other reason!" Nagashima said.
Robin thought about it.
"I mean... you're right, it is suicide to come here all for a bounty..." Robin said.
"See! Exactly!" Nagashima said happily, "Now let's go! I didn't almost die for nothing!" Nagashima said, opening a portal to Kraken's ship.
Robin could see her friends sleeping through the portal.
"My friends..." Robin said softly with a smile.
"They're right there Robin just like I said! Kraken sent me here with my abilities to get you before we met some other old dude that's supposed to be telling us how to beat Psycho and Cyclone!" Nagashima explained.
Robin was shocked.
"Someone... who knows how to beat him?..." Robin said, thinking back to Psycho's fights in the battle against the marines, "Someone can beat those monsters?"
"Apparently so, now let's go!" Nagashima said.
"Interesting..." A voice said.
Nagashima's jaw dropped and Robin was filled with shock to see Psycho standing in front of them.
"The cosmo cosmo fruit correct? I haven't seen the abilities of that fruit for a long time." Psycho said.
Nagashima rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeahhhh... I'm pretty good with it! So uh... you don't wanna fight me!" Nagashima said nervously.
Psycho looked down.
"You're right. I don't." Psycho said.
Nagashima and Robin both made shocked faces.
"You're here for Robin? Go ahead." Psycho said softly.
"You're kidding?" Nagashima asked.
"No. I know she misses her friends. She's been through a lot." Psycho said.
Nagashima gulped.
"Well I'm not going to argue with you at all! Come on Robin." Nagashima said, walking to the portal.
Robin looked at Nagashima and then back at Psycho, who just stared, then turned and walked off slowly.
Robin thought about this library again, Psycho's real story, and his relationship with her mom that made him do all this. Robin needed to know more.
"No!..." Robin said.
Nagashima couldn't believe what he just heard.
"Are you crazy!? What did they do to you!?" Nagashima asked.
"Nothing!... This is my decision... I'll be okay! I promise! Tell them... Dad's been good to me..." Robin said.
Nagashima's jaw dropped to the floor and he was frozen with shock. Psycho stopped in his tracks without turning around.
"D-D-D-D-D-D." Nagashima couldn't get the words out.
Robin walked over to Nagashima and slowly pushed him in the portal.
"I'm sorry everyone... I'll learn a lot!" Robin said with a smile as Nagashima went through the portal and it closed behind him.
Psycho continued staring for a moment, then grabbed his head. Robin turned and her eyes widened to see tear droplets on the ground.
Before Robin could say anything, Psycho walked away.
Around the corner, Cyclone watched everything play out. Cyclone walked away from the corner and put his fingers to his head, vanishing.
ON THE SEA
The Coated Pirate's new ship, created by Branch's abilities, sailed gracefully through the night on the cool dark blue sea. Frank and Renji rest in their cabins. Branch tended to Rationingu.
"You've taken a lot of damage friend. A missing leg and that rat almost broke your back in half. Thank goodness for your armament coating. Just relax, you'll be fine." Branch said.
Seiya rest in the crow's nest. Seiya's arm still shone with a golden flame over taking his entire arm. Seiya's missing eye was also replaced by this golden aura, giving him a new shining golden eye.
"What is this... I've never eaten a devil fruit... so what is this?" Seiya asked.
Yugami walked into Branch's office. Branch looked back.
"Mr. Yugami, it's a pleasure to see you, but you should be resting." Branch said.
Yugami sighed.
"I just wanted to make sure you all were okay. We took a lot of damage in the fight with the Big Mom pirates, trolls, and marines." Yugami said.
Branch chuckled.
"You mean these scratches? What do you take us for, a bunch of rookies?" Branch asked rhetorically, "These wounds are nothing. We'll be back and stronger come tomorrow."
Yugami smiled.
"That's awesome. Well, goodnight Mr. Branch." Yugami said.
"Goodnight to you, Yugami. We'll dock at an island near here in the morning. We won't be able to travel the open sea, the captain is our navigator." Branch said.
Yugami nodded.
Yugami walked out of the room and held up his arm. A black transponder snail rest on his wrist, Yugami pulled a mobile transponder snail out his pocket.
"Did you hear that, sirs?" Yugami asked.
On another island, not far from the crater in the sea that used to be the island of trolls, The Man with the Black Mask, Yamashiro, and a few marines sat around a fire with a black transponder snail in front of them, a marine held a mouthpiece toward The Man.
"Heard everything loud and clear, Yugami!" The Man said.
"Surely I've got enough information to avoid my death sentence now?" Yugami said.
"What? Oh heavens no! You still have a job to do! Activate that real power of yours and assassinate Frank G right now! You'll be taking out their navigator and we can ambush the Coated Pirates as they'll be sitting ducks!" The Man said.
"I might as well go back to Impel Down and wait to die! That's a death sentence trying to assassinate Frank!" Yugami yelled.
"Yugami, my boy, did you forget? Frank used all he had trying to destroy our fleet! He'll be out until the morning for sure! And say he does wake up, you've already got the jump on him with your blood powers! Plus, if Frank kills ya, it'll be instant! You go back to Impel Down I'll make sure you're tortured good before you hang!" The Man explained.
Yugami breathed in and out.
"You-You're right." Yugami said.
"Of course I am! I'll be awaiting your call." The man said.
"Yes, sir!" Yugami said.
Yugami crept slowly to Frank's room and transformed into a rat-human hybrid with two blood cleavers.
"I find it hilarious how they call Yamashiro the rat and I have an actual rat rat fruit! A rare mythical zoan that gives me the shape of a rat god of blood or something I don't know, I stole it from the government that's why they sentenced me to death, to get this fruit after I died." Yugami said, slowly creeping into Frank's room. Yugami froze in fear to see Frank staring directly at him and smiling.
Yugami raised his hands to attack but realized Frank was sleeping with his eyes open.
"He's just sleeping with his eyes open..." Yugami said softly, raising one of the blood cleavers.
"It was a pleasure seeing you fight up close Frank, but you have to die now, so I can live!" Yugami said, raising his cleaver and bringing it down on Frank.
SPLAT!
Blood flew all over the room.
THUD!
Yugami's head hit the floor and leaked blood all over the room. Yugami's body fell over next to his head and shook from the nerves still being active in his body. Frank was now sitting up in bed, blood all over his face. A white orb with kings haki lightning flashing around it, rested over Frank's fist. Frank had punched Yugami's head clean off. Frank looked down at Yugami's wrist and saw the black transponder snail. Frank picked it up.
Static sounded and The Man picked up the black transponder snail.
"Did he do it, sir?" Yamashiro asked.
The snail kept making static until Frank's voice could be heard.
"YOU WANT US SO BADLY!? COME TO THE NINJA WORLD! FEE HEE HA HA! YAMASHIRO! YOU'RE DEAD YOU RAT!" Frank screamed, stepping on the transponder snail, disconnecting them.
The Man looked down with anger and threw the transponder snail. The man reached up and grabbed his obsidian mask and ripped it off. The man had long silky black hair and appeared to be in his late twenties. Two lavender eyes with no pupils rest on his young face.
CAPTAIN KATSUZUKI. REAL NAME: KOTA HYUGA
"Sir, we can't chase Frank to the shinobi world, we're barred from going there unless we have permission from the highest authority!" A marine noted.
"Have you been under a rock fool!? The five elders have died, there are no rules! Besides, Frank isn't just some criminal, this is personal! Set a course for the ninja world!" Kota yelled.