In the G5 Marine base, Tashigi gets a call.
She quickly raises her Transponder Snail. "Yes? This is Captain Tashigi."
"And this is Inspector Shepherd, future member of the CP-5. I heard you are familiar with the outsider, and so must ask you a question. Where did he go since he left you?" Shepherd asks.
"I... wait, I recall something, but need to remember it..." Tashigi frantically tries to remember.
Until she remembers an argument Pan had with Smoker. But her heart doesn't want to tell what she really wants to say.
"Uh... I heard he is in..."
"Why so stressed?" Shepherd asks. "I know you used to be friends, but he betrayed you, I heard he injured you in a duel!"
"Yes, that's true. My memory is just fuzzy, and I am afraid I might confuse you by accident."
Smoker catches the talk. "What's wrong?"
"It's Shepherd. He wants the outsider's location."
Smoker smiles. "He is going to my old base, in Loguetown of East Blue. Where I met Straw Hat for the first time. Just like me, he knows everyone there is beneath his skills, so he is causing terror uninhibited!"
"I expected that from such a coward!" Shepherd says. "After I catch him, I will become a hero!"
And the line ends.
Tashigi turns to Smoker. "Of course. Not "we", "I". To be honest? I did contemplate to tell him what you told him, because I know how much he wanted to go to... you remember, but aren't you afraid he will rat us out to Akainu? You know Shepherd is a snitch!"
"I know, and he most likely is under Spandam's orders. We will just say Pan lied to us, Tashigi. After all, he was always a traitor infiltrating our ranks... wasn't he?" Smoker tells her.
Tashigi nods, smirking.
~0~
Pan, Gin and their friends are relaxing as their new ship is being finished.
One of the pirates is killing time with Pan's new invention, as Pan has discovered that if you put a touch screen on a Transponder Snail, it can run Doom perfectly. At the same time, four pirates are playing cards, and a brunette woman is winning. She taunts the men playing against her. "Either it's true women bring you bad luck, or I play cards with the grace of a butterfly!"
"I hope it's worth it, I spent two thirds of my money on this. Fortunately the berries aren't a strong current compared to the cash I got from my world, but still," Pan complains about the new ship.
"Remind me, why must we go to Wano now?" Roy asks.
"Because Straw Hat Luffy is attacking Kaido. If we don't go for it as fast as we can, we may never have another chance at revenge," Pan explains. "And I suppose some of you would love to help Luffy."
"Luffy helped me carve my own path, without that abusive blowhard, Krieg! if not for Luffy, I would never become the infamous Starved Hound or gotten my Logia!" Gin exclaims. "Even if I don't rush for you, Pan, I will do anything for Luffy. I promised him I would meet him in the New World!"
"By being close to Luffy more than once, I have gained some fame I never thought I would!" Pandaman adds.
"Luffy and Jimbei helped me see Arlong was wrong about humans! Plus the former punched a Celestial Dragon to save Hatchan, so he has nothing but respect from me!" Roy puts his two cents in.
"Alright team. Let's do this. For revenge, freedom and the Straw Hats."
~0~
Four hours later, Jack the Drought and Who's Who get a call.
Jack takes it. "Oh, it's you, one of the Compsognathi. Have you found the outsider already?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Some of us are dead, and the rest are all unable to fight. The outsider was too much for us. He freed the slaves and killed Raptor.
Apparently, his world has magic like ours!" the corporal reports.
"And the outsider beat Raptor with this magic?" Jack asks.
"Actually, a combination of it, help from the slaves and Haki," the Compsognathus reports. "Or so I think, that's what I saw him using. I did not see how the fight ended, I just don't see our leader either. I think he has been thrown overboard."
"I hope so," Jack says, barely containing his anger. "Because if he ran from a fight against one person, while having at least a hundred Gifters and his personal guard with him, I will find him and personally throw him overboard. And trust me, I know what happens to us Fruit users who sink to the bottom of the sea. Except you can't save a human so easily."
"Should I get him, Jack?" Who's Who asks. "I heard some things about him... namely, he is on the run from the son of that disgusting, ungrateful, rat bastard that's Spandine! I would sooner kill the outsider than give Spandine any satisfaction!"
Jack turns to him. "You seem very... agitated about that person. I heard Spandine was once in Cipher Pol. Do you know him?"
"I heard that man ruined a lot of lives, Jack. Once he burned an entire island to the ground because some people disagreed with the Government. And to think I consider you a war criminal, Jack..." Who's Who suddenly realizes he went too far.
And Jack floors him with a punch in the face. "Me, a war criminal? I hope you don't see me as a coward as well. I am saying this because someone else had compared me to Arlong, the greatest embarrassment to us Fishmen!"
Who's Who remembers he is not talking to Spandine anymore. "Uh, you are not a coward, but some people say you are vengeful..."
"Anyone who says that behind my back is going to face consequences!" Jack declares.
In another corner of Wano, in one of the desolate areas Kaido has industrialized, a Gate of Souls opens.
And a giant, armored humanoid crocodile comes from it. He is green, is wielding a spear and wears armor out of heavy steel.
Behind him are several Gaki, as well as a few Trolls.
"I knew the cult was useless," the crocodile says as the portal closes behind him. "But we can wait. For now, we are doing sabotage until both the Alliance and the Yonko are too weak, then we shall crush them all at once."
"General Hardscale!" a Troll shouts "Can we at least eat some of them?"
"Sure, but not their most important fighters. If you want to eat a Straw Hat or a Tobi Roppo, wait until the end of Wano. Until then, the slaves and their masters will suffice!" Hardscale orders.
And shortly after, he and his monsters get to one of Kaido's weapon factories.
"This will be our new base," Hardscale announces. "Kill everyone inside."
~0~
The ship of Pan and his friends is ready.
It's large, has one row of cannons on each side, two masts and the head of a wild hound.
"Pan, you like hounds?" Gin asks.
"I am more of a cat person, really," Pan replies. "I did this because of the first mate, known as Starved Hound!"
"Awww, thank you! Krieg never did this for me!" Gin tells him.
"Well, being a step up from Krieg isn't so hard!" Pan boasts.
"So, Captain, what's the name?" Gin asks.
"Let's be the Raging Thunder Pirates... we shall fall in the heads of the wicked and bring justice!" Pan proudy declares.
Unforgivable Mask coughs. "You sound like Akainu, you know that?"
Pan snorts. "That fanatical psycho doesn't practice what he preaches. We will."
And before they leave, Pan smashes a bottle for good luck.
~0~
The first of Kaido's factories has fallen in two minutes.
Hardscale beat down anyone who could fight back with orange tornadoes and his spear, while the Trolls and Gaki have eaten everyone inside.
However, one hour later, the Trolls and Gaki are hungry again.
Hardscale looks at them. "You ate at least three people each an hour ago, and you are feeling HUNGRY? Are you serious? I admire the ferocity of the Gaki, and the strength of you, Trolls, but can't you hold your hunger in check for more than an hour? You are pathetic!"
Shortly after, some Trolls and Gaki, defying their superior's orders, go to the Flower Capital to satisfy their hunger.
~0~
The Raging Thunder Pirates have been travelling for more than two hours, and nothing eventful has happened.
Pan is talking to Pandaman and Unforgivable Mask. "Remind me, how did you two get enslaved?"
Mask speaks first. "I was hunting this fool down. He is owing money to my employer, Tomato Gang, and I will make him pay his debt. You know the story. Once, during the chase, we stumbled into Raptor and his Compsognathi. Because we were busy fighting each other, they quickly surrounded and subdued us.
But that changes nothing. The only reason I don't force him to pay his debt right now, is that we need to take revenge on the Beasts Pirates first, and that we both acknowledge you as a leader since you beat Raptor. Once the crew is disbanded, he and I will be enemies like before."
"What he said," Pandaman admits. "I wonder, how did you get a bounty like Raptor's?"
Pan blushes. "Oh, trust me, I deserve a much lower bounty," he admits. "And that's because the major crime that started my route to piracy was not mine. I was framed by one of the biggest slimeballs in the World Government.
Think of the worst human being imaginable, then multiply it by ten."
Roy interrupts. "I once met a Celestial Dragon."
Pan sighs. "Ok, you divide by ten."
"That sounds pretty awful."
"So... how do you know so much about our world?" Pandaman asks.
"Well, I have seen some history about it in mine. It's mostly from Straw Hat's point of view, but with a few exceptions. As for you, well, you appear everywhere," Pan explains.
"Oh, that's why you were framed," Pandaman replies. "Have you seen Pandawoman, by the way?"
"I would advice you to not go to her," Pan tells him calmly. "She is in the Amazon Lily Island, and we are not welcome there because Amazons hate nearly all men. Plus, we will have to deal with Marines if we go there."
"I propose you ask her out for a date outside her house," Unforgivable Mask proposes.
The result is the two getting ready to throw hands again until Pan equips his baseball bat.
Gin comes forward and asks Pan something. "In case I would like a mutiny, I wonder, how could you beat me?"
Pan's hands spark with electricity. "I heard mercury is a veeeeeeery good conductor of electricity.
But anyway, I hope you are just asking out of curiosity."
"I am asking because, while you are better than Krieg, I don't know how good you really are," Gin asks. "I mean, you literally keep two crewmates together by force."
"We shall see, Gin."
~0~
Nami and Usopp are outside the Flower Capital, and they see the wasteland Kaido has caused.
Some of the Beast Pirates are forcing children to work in the mines so they can find more metal for ships and cannons.
The children seem to be happy, as all of them are laughing while they keep mining. But their smiles are too big and constant.
And Usopp barely holds Nami from charging at the slavers and beating them all to death with her bare hands. "They are too many and we have no Haki!"
"Remind me what Haki is, Usopp," Nami growls.
"Willpower?" Usopp asks.
"Exactly. Seeing this atrocity happening to children is enough for me to develop Armament just to stop it," Nami explains, seething.
"I have a plan..." Usopp says quickly.
"And why should I care?" Nami asks him.
"Because it delivers you safely dealing the final blow."
That makes Nami pause. "What's the plan?"
A bit later, a supersonic sound is heard, which attracts all the Gifters guarding the facility, leaving the children alone with the Pleasures and the Waiters. The sound brings them to a lone tree, which is very tall and pointy. As they stay there, curious, Zeus appears right above the tree and sends a mighty thunderbolt, frying the tree and knocking out all the Gifters at once.
Usopp turns to Nami. "I told ya, it was a good plan, though it cost me two Pop Greens."
"Honestly, this time I couldn't care less about the costs," Nami replies. "But what about the weaker enemies?"
"Well, now we blast them from afar easily," Usopp responds and proceeds to snipe the rest of the guards with his Take Jave Rin and some Firebird Stars. Those who dodge the shots get struck by regular thunderbolts.
Some of them escape in panic, only to bump into the Trolls and the Gaki, who catch them off-guard and make short work of them.
However, Usopp uses his Observation Haki and senses the monsters coming. "We have more hostiles, Nami, and they look quite strong!"
Nami winks at him. "Thanks for warning me. Now it's my time to make a plan!"
In another side of Wano, King is informed of Raptor's defeat and hears of the attacks on the factories.
"I don't have time for this. Jaki, show them the might of the Numbers," King orders calmly.
Jaki, a massive, obese beast with pink skin, blue hair, purple horns and sharp fangs, wielding a mace and wearing only a white loincloth, bows down to King.
And as he leaves, a Pleasure asks King a question. "King-sama, why didn't you go there yourself? You could easily defeat them!"
King simply punches the Pleasure in the gut. "Becuase that's most likely what they want. We have the Worst Generation and the Big Mom Pirates to worry about, and such minor raids can be a distraction. Why do you think we have the Numbers apart from sieges and brute force in general?"
Nami is standing alone, ready to beat up the Trolls and Gaki. However, a Troll simply bashes her with its club once, then snatches her up by the waist and attempts to eat her head.
Suddenly, Nami vanishes and, as the troll looks at the log in its hand, giant carnivorous plants attack the Gaki, devouring some of them. At the same time, roots trap the Trolls and Gaki and force them to try to rip them off. As explosives pick the Gaki off one by one, two Trolls get struck down by Zeus and a third thunderbolt burns five Gaki at once.
Hiding behind a bush Usopp made with Pop Greens, the sniper smiles at Nami. "That Mirage Tempo was a brilliant idea, they took the bait hook, line and sinker!"
"Well, you know me. Several monsters and thugs make me their top priority, so why not exploit that?" Nami asks him as she prepares yet another thunderbolt.
However, one of the Trolls proves to be too strong, and it frees itself from Usopp's trap. Smelling the bush, it rushes exactly where the pirates are hiding.
Usopp responds with a desperate Firebird Star to the face and Nami finishes the Troll off with Thunderlance Tempo.
Since the final enemy is down, the children have already escaped.
Nami breathes a sigh of relief before she hears heavy footsteps.
And suddenly, the earth shakes beneath their feet as a pink giant, the size of Oars, walks besides them, towards the ruined factory.
Aware they have no chance of winning, not after they had to fend off two enemy waves using some of their best techniques, Usopp and Nami run away, with the latter using a Mirage Tempo in the opposite direction to catch the giant's eye.
It works, as the Number walks up to the mirage Nami and with a two-handed swing of its club leaves a massive crater. Nami has also made an illusionary red puddle after she heard the club sound, aware that would be left of her if the Number actually landed a direct hit on her.
This way, both Straw Hats escape unscathed.
~0~
The Raging Thunder Pirates finally reach an island to get supplies. The island is known as the Mystoria Island.
When they reach the nearby town, the pirates are met with terrified locals.
One of the guards stops them. "What do you want?"
"Just supplies," Pan replies. "Some food and drinks, please. I have enough berries for my crew."
Another guard comes up with a paper. "Don't give him anything! He is a pirate, and has a huge bounty as well!"
And thus, he shows the first guard the bounty poster with the three hundred million berries.
Pan shakes his head. "Yeah, I think you are looking for someone else."
"You look very close to the poster..." a guard says.
"Except I look nothing like the criminal. In fact, I killed the criminal on my own," Pan points out, technically telling the truth.
"Honestly, I don't know if you are telling the truth," one of the guards says. "But there is a way to judge if you are trustworthy or not!"
"And that is?" Pan asks.
A bit later, Pan and the rest of his crew are led to an ancient crypt by the guards.
"For you to be able to kill a criminal worth 300 million berries, you must be able to fight very well. For you to not actually be the criminal, you can help the island with our plight!
This crypt is known as the Crypt of Knowledge. It's plagued by a curse. Marines and pirates have tried to enter it, but nobody got out alive. Often monsters come out of the crypt, usually cursed crabs, and they attack our town. We can hold them off, but never without casualties!
Can you please help us?"
Pan nods. "I am not just doing this for my innocence, people's lives are at stake."
"What will we gain from all of this?" Pandaman asks.
"If you fight and win, your captain will be proven innocent because no mass murderer of innocent Marines will help an island, and you will also have as many supplies as you want for free!" one of the guards answers.
"Let's prove our captain innocent then!" Pandaman declares, his stomach rumbling.
And so, the pirates enter the crypt.
They gather around in the first room.
"Ok, we will light a campfire here..." Gin proposes.
"No! It will make us too easy to spot!" Roy protests.
"Yes. This will attract the monsters here as we get deeper in the crypt," Gin answers.
"But what if they get out of the crypt? We will only make things worse!" Roy questions the first mate.
Pan calculates all the options. "Hmmm... I didn't think about what Roy said. Of course, the perfect solution would be to seal the gate, but good luck getting out later."
"Uh, Pan... " Gin interrupts him "can you make a barrier with your outsider magic?"
That allows Pan to regain his confidence. "In my world... I am a Master of Lightning."
And he does create a wall of electricity that covers the entrance. "This seals it."
"Very well, team," Gin tells the others. "Let's go!"
As they light the fire and get in, the pirates are under attack by several small blue crabs and skeletal pirates. Unlike the skeletons Haman summoned, these ones are far more wet and rotten.
They also carry either rusted cutlasses or muskets.
Despite their numbers, the enemies are too weak, and soon they get cut down.
As a large horde of zombies, carnivorous sticky bugs and spiders is attracted to the decoy campfire, the crew gets deeper into the crypt, doing what anyone who invades crypts would do: opening chests, smashing barrels and checking on the remains of the previous wannabe cursebreakers.
Some pirates are found hanged from the walls, while a few Tomb Guardians, tall skeletons wielding large, two-handed axes are guarding a trophy room with axed Marine caps.
The guardians, seeing the intruders, silently turn at them and march.
However, Gin makes a large puddle of mercury, damaging their bony feet and making them slip, as the pirates quickly open fire and weaken them. With one thunderbolt at the puddle, Pan electrocutes all of them and takes them out.
"Ok, now how do we pass from the mercury?" Pan asks.
"Hold on a second," Gin tells him. Then he turns into a blob of mercury and absorbs the puddle. "Ok, we are all free to go, mateys!"
Very soon, they reach a locked door, which even Haki can't break, and a small vent.
Gin turns to the others. "Leave this to me, I am going to the vent."
After he gets inside as mercury, he traverses to another side of the crypt, where he is attacked by several blue crabs. He draws a double-barrel pistol and fires at them, quickly clearing them out, then draws his sword and fights off some undead Fishmen.
One of the undead Fishmen is an axe fish, which gives him many advantages. He is proficient with an one-handed axe, has good eyesight in the dark and can turn invisible.
Sneakily, he attacks Gin while he is cutting down two ordinary Fishman zombies. While Gin senses something with his Haki, he still is too slow to react and the axe strikes. Had it not been for his Logia body, Gin would have been wounded by the axe.
Quickly, he turns, senses the location of the elite zombie with his Observation Haki and with a slash infused with Armament Haki he cuts him down.
However, he gets to a door made of iron. His mercury fails to melt the door, so he thinks of a new strategy. He uses his twin tonfa with Armament Haki and starts battering the door. Soon he makes a minor gap and slips through it.
And thus, he encounters a large, green, two-headed ogre, which is guarding a key and wields twin clubs.
"Who are you? A Devil Fruit user?" Gin asks.
"I... Manglemaw... bad!" the beast replies with a deep voice and attacks with its clubs.
Gin raises his sword to block, but the barrage is too strong.
So, shortly after, the sword is broken and a club strikes through his Logia body. The club gets damaged and Gin sees his chance. With a large stream of mercury he weakens the ogre and draws his twin tonfas.
After several Haki-infused strikes, he uses some mercury under Manglemaw's legs and makes him slip. Quickly, he fires several Mercury Arrows from everywhere, but one of the enemy's clubs turns black.
So, Gin turns liquid and slithers between the legs of Manglemaw before getting behind him and attacking with his Will of Hermes. That finally takes the monster down for the count and allows Gin to take the key.
As Gin is returning, the others are ambushed by several skeletal pirates. Pan draws his gatling gun and turns several of them into bones, while Pandaman and Unforgivable Mask throw large rocks at them.
Some skeletons get too close, so Roy, as well as a woman with blue hair named Vanessa, take them down with his spear and her daggers respectively.
"Come at me, yer scurvy piles o'bones!" Vanessa taunts. "I have the grace of a butterfly!"
Pan guns down five more skeletons, but a musketeer dodges one of his shots and fires at Pandaman, drawing blood. That enrages Unforgivable Mask, who throws a boulder and crushes the skeleton.
"That was MY job!"
When Pan guns down the last two skeletons, Gin returns with the key and unlocks the door.
So, they reach a few more barrels, guarded by a massive crab, which is immune to bullets. Roy throws his spear to no effect. The crab retaliates with a powerful claw swipe, which the pirates barely dodge.
Quickly, Pandaman grabs the crab and flips it over with a Giant Panda Deathlock, allowing Pan to jump and land the finishing blow by stabbing its belly with the Sword of Truth.
Then Pandaman notices a barrel shaking and smashes it, revealing a pirate, who is white, thin, wears green clothes and has a purple bandana. He is known as "Barrel Rider" Bruno, and he has a bounty of twenty million berries, because once he stole an entire barrel of rum from Moria and wasn't spotted until it was too late, plus, once, in a fit of rage for losing his then favorite barrel to some zombies, he forcefully fed them all salt.
"W-who are you? Don't hurt me!" Bruno begs the other pirates.
"Who are you?" Pan asks.
After they introduce themselves, Pan offers him his hand. "Join my crew, Bruno. And we will clear the crypt! You might even get part of the treasure!
And once we are done, you will not have to hide anymore!"
"But what if we bump into Gecko Moria?" Bruno asks.
"Oh, you didn't hear? You probably lived in a barrel inside a crypt for years, Bruno," Pan tells him. "He lost his status, his zombies and his crew. He is no longer a threat."
Bruno breathes a sigh of relief. "I was so worried. So... those monsters of the crypt aren't working for him?"
Pan shakes his head. "I don't think so. Those cursed monsters are definitely protecting something though."
"What can be so important for them to protect?" Gin asks.
Shortly after, a sword ambushes them. Pan barely parries it with his Sword of Truth. As he repels it, it dents and Pan sees its features. It's a cyan sword, which has a dark red tip and a single, bright orange eye, as well as a black hilt.
The sword attacks him viciously, a few more times, but Pan parries all the strikes. At the same time, Gin uses his Observation Haki and tries to sense the invisible user, while wondering why the fool left the sword visible.
To his shock, he senses nothing!
The one-eyed sword keeps denting with each clash, until Pan, who should have thought about it a little better, counterattacks with a thrust. To his surprise, his sword just passes through thin air, doing absolutely nothing. Before he can process what happened, the sword thrusts back and stabs him in the chest.
The blade penetrates him fully and makes him fall on his knees.
But Pan notices the dents and realizes what Bruno is about to say.
"This is a Sword Phantom, it's wielded by nobody! This is an evil blade that devours souls! Its body is just an illusion, the blade has free will on its own!"
Pan doesn't need to hear anything else. Quickly, he lands a Free Will Slash straight to the sword and smashes it to pieces, making it wail before it vanishes.
"Fortunately, they look quite breakable..." he comments.
Shortly after, the team passes from dark corridors, filled with skulls, bones and dropped weapons, as well as the occasional berries.
As Vanessa opens a wooden chest and reveals a beautiful emerald, a second Sword Phantom attacks her.
"Shoot the sword!" Bruno yells as several ordinary pirates draw their flintlock pistols and fire at the sword as one person. The sword moves around, making twirls of a skilled swordsman, but some bullets still hit it. While it splits a pirate's head open and severely wounds another one, the others still manage to smash it to pieces with their bullets.
A third sword comes at them, and this time its edge is dark blue. It moves faster than the other swords, and Pan decides to not allow anyone else to die. He gets back to back with his crewmates and fires his gatling gun while yelling, striking the sword over twenty times and smashing it to bits.
"The ones with blue edge are faster, but more fragile! Be wary of that tradeoff!" Pan advices his men, as Pandaman carries the injured crewmate to safety and two more pirates bury their fallen comrade.
Suddenly, the crew finds a long corridor with creepy, humanoid statues out of stone.
At the end of the corridor, there is a bright yellow wraith. It looks humanoid and is wearing a suit of golden armor.
"How did you get past my Sword Phantoms?
Listen, there is nothing here for you but death and destruction. Leave, or you will end up like them!"
"No," Pan replies. "You terrorized Mystoria for too long, and your secrets might help take down the Government!"
"And how do I know you are not greedy or Cipher Pol? I just want this island to be left alone, and stay away from the greasy hands of the Celestial Dragons! And I will not trust intruders so easily!" The wraith wails very loudly, awakening all the statues.
"Show them the exit," the wraith commands and teleports away.
The statues come to life and march towards the pirates.
"Don't let them get out of the corridor!" Pan orders. "FIRE!"
Gin sends a massive stream of mercury and melts the front row of the statues, while Pan sends a Lightning Spear through two of them and with his gatling gun shatters a few more, as Roy dashes at one of them and attacks with his Fifty Tile True Punch, crushing it in a single blow.
Vanessa dodges a thrown spear and rushes at three statues, slicing them to pieces with her daggers. Then she backflips and avoids a spear of another statue.
Pandaman stops carrying the injured pirate and grabs a spear coming at him, then stabs a statue in the face. He throws the spear through a second statue and suplexes a third one, while Unforgivable Mask shoves a statue down and with an aerial elbow crushes its head before uppercutting a second one. Bruno just hides in a barrel.
Finally, Gin has enough, and as a barrage of spears is thrown at everyone, he melts them all with his Mercury Arrows. Then he sends a mighty stream in front of himself and melts every single statue left.
Once the statues are down, the team reaches a crossroad, which leads to four different corridors.
"Where is the wraith?" Pandaman asks.
"I don't know. Let's split up, gang!" Pan proposes.
And so, they split in four teams. Pan's, Gin's, Pandaman's and Unforgivable Mask's. Mask insisted on being with Pandaman, but Pan told him that if any "accidents" happened to the debtor, Mask would have to deal with Pan himself.
And as they split up, they take some elites with them. Vanessa goes with Mask, while Roy goes with Gin. Bruno goes with Pan, while the most pirates go with Pandaman.
The first wave every single team encounters is the same for confusion. It's a horde of carnivorous crabs and vipers. Every single team gets rid of them easily.
~0~
Outside the crypt, some guards are talking.
"So, what do we do? At least four of them have bounties! Should we inform the Government?"
"Of course not! The curse is plaguing us for a long time, and if they win, we will all be safe!"
"Honestly, if I had any proper authority, I would decrease their bounties in case of their success," a private says.
"Me too. They might be pirates, but I didn't say we should send them to the crypt so they can be killed. I am genuinely rooting for them to break the curse."
"The thing is, if they do die, at least we will be far more safe."
"Either way, the island will benefit no matter what."
~0~
Inside the crypt, Gin's group passes from a room full of statues like those the wraith had awakened. The statues are harmless and so Gin, Roy and the two pirates escorting them pass them with no problems.
But as they get a little far, Gin's Observation Haki warns him of something behind them. He turns and sees all the statues moving.
"You bastards!" Gin shouts as he turns around and fires Mercury Arrows to melt the incoming javelins. Roy spits a ball of water that damages a statue, while the two escorts shoot two more down.
After the front row is defeated, Gin uses a new ability, the Mighty Mercury Mine.
"It will take five seconds to plant it!" Gin tells the others. "Protect me until then!"
That translates to shooting down two spears that come at him. One gets through, but fortunately no Haki is on it, so it is harmless.
"And now RUN!" Gin orders as a statue triggers the mine. The mine sends sharpnel of mercury everywhere, while also making an explosion of the very, very toxic liquid.
No statue survives.
Once the statues are down, the pirates advance deeper in th hideout, repelling the vampire bats coming at them.
However, a couple of skeletons holding burning bottles of rum come at them, and they set the entire corridor ablaze. Roy shoves the others aside gently.
"Mercury doesn't burn, but makes explosions! Leave this to me! Fishman Karate! Water Arrow!" An arrow made of water extinquishes the flames, allowing Roy and the others to fight off the skeletons.
Pandaman and his forces face a few undead Fishmen, whom they quickly take out. One of those Fishmen is a overweight tuna, and he is wielding brass knuckles.
"Bamboo Leaves Panda Drop!" Pandaman takes the Fishman out in a single attack.
However, as they keep going, they encounter a treasure chest. One of the pirates decides to open it and loot it. However, it opens by itself and shows some very vicious teeth, which it uses to bite the pirate's right arm clean off.
Pandaman rushes at the mimic and grabs it from behind, then turns it to splinters with a suplex.
"Nobody messes with my crewmates! Well, except maybe Mask, but nobody will hurt anyone else!" he declares.
As he leads his pirates deeper inside, he finally gets to a large, bright room. However, the happiness of the pirates becomes horror as they find out they are in a small fortress.
"Uh oh. Looks like we found the right way in!" a pirate declares as she barely dodges a bullet.
She quickly retaliates by firing her gun and grazing one of the skeletons who were holding rifles.
A cannon fires at the intruders, and two of them panic. But Pandaman doesn't. He rushes at the cannonball, grabs it and, after spinning twice for momentum, he sends it straight at the cannon, blowing it up and saving everyone.
"Skadoosh."
Pan and Bruno are advacing on their own.
A few ghosts attack them.
"Bruno, close your eyes!" Pan orders, which Bruno does. The outsider uses his Flash Burst and completely eliminates the ghosts. "Well, I see someone dislikes the light!"
As they two make a few steps forward, Pan suddenly turns back, glaring at Bruno's direction, and fires a bullet infused with Armament Haki. The bullet barely misses Bruno, and suddenly a screech is heard as an axefish Fishman drops dead to the ground.
"Oops, I missed!" Pan comments while making an innocent expression.
Bruno's jaw drops. "Why didn't you tell me an enemy was behind me? You scared me!"
"Because I didn't want them to know I am aware of them," Pan replies as if nothing happened.
Later, the two keep advancing until two Sword Phantoms come at them, stabbing the ground menacingly before their very eyes.
One of them has a blue tip, the other a red one.
As Bruno runs away into the corner of the room, Pan draws the Sword of Truth and fires a Sunlight Beam, but the two swords dodge.
Then they attack at the blond man, but he parries their strikes as fast as he can, his Observation helping him sense their attacks and react at the right time.
However, while his defense is unbreakable, it's still just defense.
Pan doesn't counter, both because he knows that if he attacks the one sword the other will hit him and because he sees them denting with each parry.
Bruno's POV
Oh no. If Pan can't attack them, he might eventually lose, and if he loses, I am done for! I must help him!
At least they don't surround him, and there are some stones here... I need to fight them. It's the only way I can survive!
H-hold still!
I throw the first stone, but miss. The second one does hit the red one, distracting it.
I feel like I did something stupid. Get away! Get away!
Third Person POV
Bruno throws the third stone, but the sword cuts it in half. Then it charges at him and nearly cuts his head off with a swing he barely ducks.
Pan, seeing this, quickly parries the blue one, and as the blue sword thrusts itself close to Pan's face to protect the red one, Pan stabs it through its only eye, smashing it to pieces instantly.
Bruno hits the remaining one with a second stone, but is cornered and forced on the floor. The sword would have cut him down if not for Pan drawing his gatling gun and shooting the sword several times from behind until it shatters.
With the swords taken out, the two advance in a massive room that contains barrels, as well as several cursed statues, including a large one that wields both a spear and a shield. It has glowing blue eyes and its stone is harder than the one the ordinary statues have.
It points its spear at the two and the rest of the statues charge.
Bruno immediately jumps inside a barrel again, while Pan blows up half of the statues with a grenade.
Then he attacks the big one with his sword, but it blocks three strikes. The statue's shield dents and Pan prepares a two-handed strike, but an ordinary statue lands a jab on his ribs, allowing the stronger statue to slash him. At the same time, another statue smashes the barrel Bruno is hiding in.
Bruno glares at it, making it flinch. "Did you just destroy my barrel?"
The pirate, enraged, wrestles the spear out of its hands, then seizes it and stabs the statue in the face. The other statues charge at him, only to be destroyed by the spear.
At the same time, Pan breaks the shield of the large statue with the Sword of Truth, but it advances again.
Only for Bruno to turn his spear black and pierce the enemy in the back of the head, allowing Pan to finish it off with a hard stab.
Unforgivable Mask and Vanessa are fighting statues.
Mask suplexes one of the statues, smashing it to pieces. Vanessa dodges a spear swing by jumping on a wall, then leaps at three statues and cuts them all to pieces.
More statues charge at her, but she rolls between them and with a quick spin and some circular slashes she takes them all down.
A big stone statue with a shield and an axe advances at them, ready to cut them apart, but Vanessa attacks with a flurry of slashes. The statue raises its shield and blocks all the attacks easily.
However, Mask gets behind it and suplexes it, allowing Vanessa to stab its face as it recovers.
"That was quite easy!" she comments as she stabs the statue a second time to be sure.
~0~
Kaido and Big Mom are still fighting. The King of the Beasts, in his dragon form, whips the giant woman with his tail and unleashes a mighty Blast Breath.
However, a combination of Armament Haki in her defense and her fat allows her to be unharmed, with the blazing breath only burning some of the fat in her belly. "Enough!" she roars. "I played around too much!" She tries to take his soul. "Once I am done, I will add your first mate to my crew! That will help me achieve my utopia. A world where all races live in harmony."
King loses his cool for a second and tries to attack Big Mom, only for Kaido to send a gust of wind to push him away as a warning. Kaido never wants an easy victory, the opposite in fact, and King understands and respects his captain's suicidal honor. So, he puts his anger aside.
He quickly calms down once he sees Kaido being entirely unaffected by Big Mom's fruit. "WORORORORORORORO! The only thing I am afraid of is a long, inglorious life! Not you, not any other Emperor! Not even death itself, especially if it's in a great fight!"
Big Mom, enraged, coats her sword with Advanced Conqueror's Haki. "You brutish drunk! You should be afraid of me!" She slashes Kaido's dragon form, drawing blood and making him turn back to his humanoid form.
Kaido glares at her for a moment. Then he looks at the wound and laughs. "WORORORORORORORORO! Thank you for being able to injure me! This is getting far more fun now!"
As the titans keep clashing, Sanji faces five samurai working for Kurozumi Orochi.
"Sangoro! You are under arrest for illegally giving free food to the people! Do you know how much work it takes to make that food?"
Sanji scoffs. "I cooked all of it on my own, and it's to feed the needy... especially those poor innocent women that were starving!"
"They deserve it," one of the samurai says. "This entire country deserves it. They persecuted the Kurozumi clan for the sins of one person!"
Sanji flicks his cigarette on one of the thugs. ""By that logic, you and your master are persecuting a whole country for the actions of a few insane fanatics.
But even then, nobody deserves to starve to death, not even your master. But that goes doubly so for innocent women. In short, I will keep feeding the people, even if Kaido himself goes after me!"
The samurai glare at him and equip their wakizashi. "Then we will punish you! Get him!" the one in the middle orders and the others nod before they all charge.
"HELL'S MEMORIES!"
Sanji turns into a wheel of flames and lands a whirlwind flying kick on everyone, taking all five of them out with only one attack.
"I work hard for two years to surpass my rival, who is a real master swordsman. Comapred to him, you five aren't even a snack," Sanji taunts and then keeps cooking for the poor people of Wano as if nothing happened.
~0~
At the same time, all groups come close to the end!
Gin's group is fighting a group of Tomb Archers guarding a massive green crystal. The Archers wound Roy and the two escorts, so Gin decides to get serious. Out of his rage, he makes a massive fence around them which is out of mercury, and he closes it gradually, crushing all the experienced skeletal archers.
A Sword Phantom comes from the sky and nearly stabs him, but he sends his strongest stream of mercury on it, then infuses his Tonfas with Haki and viciously strikes it ten times until it breaks.
However, he falls on his knees because of all the effort he put.
Pandaman's group is turning the tables. As Pandaman is suplexing the statues and deflecting cannon fire, the rest of the pirates climb the fortress and take down two of the cannon users, thus taking control of the cannons.
Catching the foes off-guard, the pirates fire the cannons at the rest of the fortress and devastate it, taking down most of the skeletons there.
A pirate sees a green crystal in the end.
He touches it and is back in the crossroad with the four paths.
Pan and Bruno get blocked by yet another couple of Sword Phantoms.
"Bruno! If we lose now, they will destroy all the barrels in the cave!" Pan shouts as he strikes both swords with lightning. "And you will have nowhere to hide!"
"Is that so?" Bruno replies. Enraged, he picks up a fallen sword and attacks one of the Sword Phantoms, which parries the mighty blow and retaliates with its own. Bruno blocks, but his sword dents.
As Bruno fights the one Sword Phantom to a standstill, Pan duels the second one. The two fail to penetrate each other's defenses and end up clashing. However, the Sword Phantom has no weight behind it, since it has no wielder, and so Pan repels it very easily. Seeing an opening, he infuses his sword with Armament Haki and with a two-handed, heavy Free Will Slash destroys the sword.
At the same time, the other Sword Phantom lands a jab on Bruno's shoulder, then slashes his torso and knocks him down.
Pan doesn't want to make Bruno feel useless, so he shouts some words of encouragement. "If you can take on this sword, we will buy the best barrel for you! Come on! Show this sword you are not a weak coward, and show me you are worth being in my crew!"
The soul-eating sword raises, ready to decapitate Bruno. But the Barrel Rider parries at the last second. His damaged sword would have broken... if it hadn't turned black, which damages the Sword Phantom instead.
Pan shoots the one-eyed sword, making it turn on him, but that allows Bruno to attack from behind, his sword still black, and break the blade apart.
"Am I... good enough now?" Bruno asks.
Pan nods.
As the two advance, they find a green crystal, similar to the end of the other crypts.
Mask and Vanessa reach the end of the crypt, where they take on some Tomb Archers. While they are slightly wounded by the arrows, they still fight back. Unforgivable Mask catches an arrow with his bare hand, while Vanessa cuts another one in half with her daggers, then they approach the Tomb Archers and defeat them quickly.
Alas, they find no green crystal in the end, instead they find a yellow wraith. A familiar wraith.
"My treasures are not for pirates to plunder, not for the Government to know!" the wraith tells them. "Go away, or I will make you wish you were never born!"
Unforgivable Mask has a question. "We killers all have a motive. I hunt and kill runaway debtors for a small fee. My captain was framed by the Government and wants revenge. Who are you, and what is your motive?"
"Ah, framed by the Government? Of course... the Celestial Dragons and their thugs always ruin people's lives. I was once a high-ranking official of Lulusia... my name is Chancellor Marton.
And I was honest, people loved me. But the Government didn't.
The reason why is that I tried to pass a law which said that the Celestial Dragons should be subject to the laws of the country, just like everyone else, and not take slaves.
The King wasn't amused. He was loyal to those filthy, pathetic Nobles! But even if he wasn't, that awful Roswald ordered my execution for defying him and the rest of the World Nobles."
"Nice story, but how did you end up here and make a crypt?" Vanessa asks.
"I didn't get executed. I escaped, and came to Mystoria. I carried with me a lot of valuable stuff, which I want away from filthy pirates and slimy Celestial Dragons... and you will never get them as long as I stay the guardian!"
Unforgivable Mask has heard enough and attacks with a barrage of rapid jabs. However, they pass harmlessly through the wraith. "I am a wraith, you fool! I am intangible! However you..."
Marton punches Mask very hard in the gut, making blood come out of the mouth. "... are not!"
Enraged, Vanessa attacks viciously with her twin daggers. She unleashes a flurry of slashes so fast few people can see them and with such ferocity she would have cut down a dozen of Pleasures in a second.
Unfortunately for her, the wraith lets the attacks harmlessly pass through his spectral body and throws three vicious punches. Vanessa dodges the first two, but the third one lands and knocks her down.
Unforgivable Mask jumps as high as he can and smashes part of the ceiling, making a tiny ray of light shine through. Then he jumps again. However, Chancellor Marton teleports close to him, grabs him and throws him through a wall.
Vanessa jumps from behind and performs a double slash, only for the chancellor to scoff as the slash harmlessly pass through. "You can't beat me! Leave, leave for the safety of the world and yourselves!"
As he backhands her, she looks him straight in the eyes. "That's what you call protection? Beating us up and unleashing a curse that has the townspeople fearing for their lives?"
"I don't want them dead, I want them to leave Mystoria. The curse is supposed to scare them, not massacre them! That's why I only send mediocre monsters and keep those terrible Sword Phantoms in!" Marton replies as he fires a beam of light at Unforgivable Mask before he can fully recover. "I can't allow you to get those treasures. If the Government finds out what I am hiding, they will Buster Call this island!"
"And if you keep hiding those secrets, the Government will not be threatened at all! You don't share them with anyone, Chancellor! You let them rot, harmless to the World Government, which allows the Celestial Dragons to roam free!" Vanessa shouts. "And you terrorize civilians as well in the name of protection.
We will take those treasures, and will not let a misguided ghost..." her daggers turn black unconsciously "... torment an island that did nothing wrong!" She jumps as far as she can, yelling a ferocious battlecry, and performs her strongest move.
"Two dagger style... Butter Cutter!"
Due to her unconscious Haki, she strikes the wraith hard and makes spectral mass fly, as the chancellor howls in pain.
"That caught me off-guard!" Marton shouts. "But I am aware of the ruthless pirates and Marines in the New World, and I have trained to fight even against those who use Haki!"
Vanessa attacks him again, full of the willpower to save the island and uncover its dark secrets. But the yellow wraith teleports behind her and strikes her with a magical wave that slows her down significantly.
Then he punches her hard in the back, cracking her bones and knocking her down. As she struggles to get up, Unforgivable Mask lands a hard dash punch through the chancellor.
While surprised for a second, Marton recovers quickly upon realizing he took no damage.
Unfortunately, most of Mask's willpower comes when he is chasing debtors, so his Haki didn't awaken. Smirking, Marton strikes him with a speed-decreasing wave too.
"Martial arts rely on speed. Unfortunately, I have a spell to counter that." Marton turns and punches Unforgivable Mask viciously several times.
Once both Mask and Vanessa are barely in any shape to fight, Marton chuckles. "You are neither the first or the last pirates and Marines that came here...
Even with Haki, you are beneath my skills and experience."
Suddenly, a Sunlight Beam strikes the chancellor hard and sends him crashing through a wall.
And Pan appears, his sword glowing. "Leave my crew alone, you horrible ghost!"
"Holy shit!" Vanessa shouts as she sees the beam.
"Holy weapon, dear," Pan tells her.
Marton struggles to get up, seething.
"Does it matter if you have a holy weapon? It's little more than trash if you don't know how to use it!"
And so, he attacks with his near-transparent wave that slows people down.
Pan senses it with his Observation Haki and avoids it, then slashes the chancellor five times with his powerful sword.
However, the wraith teleports away and prepares a beam of light. Gin interrupts it by grazing him with Will of Hermes.
"No! I can't let you break the curse! I can't let you doom the island!" Marton roars and summons all the cursed statues left, as well as the zombies distracted by the campfire, who are just enough to distract Gin, Pandaman and the rest of the crew.
However, Pan has charged his sword with bright yellow, holy energy, just as the chancellor was summoning. And with Heavenblade, his fearsome charged attack, he strikes the wraith hard.
Marton barely recovers and fires a beam of light, but Pan raises his Shield of Hope and fires a beam from its mouth. The beams clash for two seconds, but Marton's is quickly overpowered and he is pierced.
Pan quickly raises his sword to the heavens and sends a Strike of Truth for the final blow.
But the guardian is not a fool. He uses yet another magical wave, slowing down Pan and the projectile, which he avoids.
Quickly, he teleports behind him and punches him hard in the back of the neck. Pan slowly turns, and as he does he gets two gut punches and an uppercut.
Pan slowly swings his sword, only for Marton to dodge and disarm him with a karate chop to the arm. Then he tries to lift the sword.
Alas, it's in vain, as only Pan can do so. He fires a beam from his shield to the distracted former noble, grazing him because the beam is slow enough for him to barely react.
Marton charges at the pirate, only to be struck and stunned by a Flash Burst. As it hits everywhere, the wraith can't avoid it.
And at the same time, the spell wears off. So, Pan rolls towards his sword and grabs it, then waits for the chancellor to rush at him and charges a magical spin attack.
Marton is bluffing, and he teleports just as he is about to throw a punch so he can do so from behind. But Pan expected that and has fully charged his spin. He quickly spins around just as the wraith attacks, striking him hard and knocking him down.
Before the guardian can recover, the outsider is on him and stabs him in the face, making him disintegrate.
"You... you and your crew are worthy... just make sure the Government doesn't get you, and don't use the treasure for greed!" And thus, Marton's soul is purified.
A trapdoor opens at the same time, and everyone gets down. It has a pool with magical hot spring water, which fully heals everyone, even those who can't walk or are amputated. Roy is astounded as he sees his left arm grow back.
And so, everyone shares the loot. Pan gets a scripture, which talks not just about Ohara, but about some atrocities the Celestial Dragons have done, and about Marton's attempts to oppose those scum. He also gets some gold.
Gin, Pandaman and Mask get some money, and the ordinary pirates do the same. Gin also gets a duck foot gun.
Roy gets a new technique, which allows him to create and throw boiling water, Bruno gets a golden barrel and a flintlock pistol, while Vanessa finds a Fruit. She eats it after making sure nobody spots her with it, and suddenly grows butterfly wings!
The wings are blue, with black spots, and she suddenly starts floating.
"Vanessa?" Unforgivable Mask asks. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing is wrong!" Vanessa replies.
Gin smirks. "Looks like someone ate a Fruit... and it fits you. While we were beating up the zombies, Mask said something about you having the grace of a butterfly."
Vanessa blushes. "Awww!"
~0~
Shepherd is in Alabasta. Where he and his Marines bump into a hunter with beard and sunglasses named Scorpion.
"I have heard of you, Scorpion. You were once a renowned bounty hunter, who caught a few dangerous criminals. Among them you got Benap, the cutthroat desert bandit, and his thirty million Berries, Manuel Rover, who was a petty pirate who kidnapped children, and was worth twenty million Berries, Double Barrel Luther, twenty five million Berries, and your best catch, Rumbar Hood, a treacherous pirate who was worth fifty eight million. Unfortunately for you, you wanted a challenge, you wanted to look strong in front of your children, and even Hood was easily beaten by you. So, you went for Portgas D. Ace, but never stood a chance against him."
Scorpion nods. "Still, the fight against Ace was the best fight of my life! I miss Ace... I thought my honor was suicidal, but his... I heard everything. What Akainu did was quite cheap. Insulting the man that gave Ace the love he craved for all of his life... "
Shepherd snorts. "Ace was a fool, and a spawn of Roger. He had it coming.
Anyway, I would like your assistance to find someone very important. His name is Pan, and he is known as the Outsider. My boss, in the name of the World Government, is looking for him everywhere."
Scorpion shakes his head. "I am sorry, but I have to politely decline the offer. Ace taught me some humility, and my children already see me as strong for fighting against someone at his level. I have accomplished all my goals. Who are you, anyway, since you have the audacity to mock the death of the greatest adversary I ever faced?"
"My name is Inspector Shepherd of the Marines, and I am not asking you to join us! I am telling!"
He draws his Eagle Launcher and rushes at a nearby Banana Gator, a massive alligator so fearsome it preys on Sea Kings, shooting the ferocious predator in the head and knocking it out in a single hit.
"See the might of the Eagle Launcher? The next target will be YOU if you don't come with us," Shepherd says.
"Wow, impressive weapon. Too bad it's the user that counts above all else," Scorpion replies and catches the Inspector in his net.
"Should we help him?"
"No, remember his efforts to outshine Jonathan?"
"True, he will blow us up if we help him."
Shepherd fires his Eagle Launcher and obliterates the net, but his right arm is shot by Scorpion's acidic gun, weakening enough for him to shoot the ground next to himself and be blown back.
"Ugh... you won, Scorpion. Don't worry, I will recruit better hunters, and they will improve their names, not you!" Shepherd spits.
"I don't care, I just want to raise my sons!" Scorpion tells him as the inspector leaves with the Marines.
~0~
Pan and his crew are hailed as heroes for breaking the curse.
"Long live the cursebreakers!"
"Do you want a statue?"
"We will have a large feast in your honor!"
Pan shakes his head, ignoring some protests. "We can't do that. We are going to Wano, a great war will happen and we want to help bring down Kaido!"
That makes one of the city guards tremble in fear. "You will join a war against KAIDO? You led your crew to break the curse and you are planning to kill yourself? You don't have to do that!"
Pan shakes his head. "If Kaido wins this war, he will be worse than the curse! He will turn the Grand Line and all the seas into a world of violence! But now, a lot of people are going to stand up to him. This is our only chance to beat Kaido!"
Bruno hides in his golden barrel. "Does this idiot ever ask us?"
"So, I would request a lot of supplies, please," Pan bows to the guards out of respect.
~0~
Several hours have passed since the curse broke.
The duel between Big Mom and Kaido is over. It has ended in a draw... a draw that's good news for their crews and terrible for everyone else!
For Big Mom and Kaido have formed an alliance, ready to take over the world!
And their mighty crews are ready to help each other.
Currently, Black Maria is taking Smoothie for a tour in her brothel.
She points at several men webbed up, hanging by the ceiling. "These are my pets! I have personally broken their will and spirit, and they are literally unable to live without me. Whom do you love, pets?"
"We only love Black Maria-sama!" all the pets reply in unison, as one person.
Smoothie looks at the pets sternly for a moment. Then she turns at Black Maria with a sadistic smirk.
"That's cute. You know, with this collection, you might become a real sadist one day!"
Snack is sparring with Jack and throws a punch at him, but the Calamity blocks it and gives him a hard headbutt.
"Now you see why you are an ex-commander!" Jack taunts.
Enraged, Snack charges with his katana, infusing it with Armament, and draws blood from Jack. "Take that back!"
That makes Jack enter his hybrid form. "So, are you trying to kill me?"
A Haki-infused punch in the face gives him the response he needs.
"Very well then. Don't worry, I think you are worthy of your former position. GLACIAL STREAM!"
And Jack fires a powerful stream of snow from his trunk, freezing Snack solid. "You are very good, but I am Jack the Drought."
Elsewhere, Flampe has a question for the SMILE user Batman.
"Is it okay if I use civilians as target practice?"
Batman chuckles. "Kaido won't mind if they are useless to him, and Orochi actively encourages it, he wants revenge on the entire country for persecuting his family. Go ahead, and if you do well, we shall see a professional doing so." He prepares his bow.
~0~
Shepherd has reached Loguetown and asks the nearby Marines if they have seen the outsider. However, to his surprise, nobody has done so.
"Impossible! I heard he was here by honest Marines... I will inform the boss now."
In Spandam's office, the CP-0 agent and interrogator has just finished cleaning... something from the mirror nearby, when the Transponder Snail rings. As he rushes to grab it, he accidentally spills coffee on himself.
"HOT HOT HOT HOT! It burns!" He takes the snail and asks who it is.
"It's me, Shepherd. I went to the direction some loyal Marines told me. I am in Loguetown, where I got reports the outsider was, but nobody knows anything. Do you suspect they might all be lying?"
Spandam grits his teeth. "Some loyal Marines told you, huh? Tell me, Shepherd... which Marines were they?"
"Uh, boss... it was Smoker and Tashigi! The Marines the outsider betrayed! They want revenge on the outsider, and so wanted to help me, but nobody else remembers him! Did he hide very well?" Shepherd asks.
"Oh, you absolute fucking idiot..." Spandam facepalms. "Smoker and Tashigi are actively sabotaging our beautiful Government's image, and they don't agree with our ideals. They are no different from Jonathan, I don't know where the outsider is, but he is in the New World. Turn back to the New World, and don't disappoint me further. Let me be clear, Shepherd. If I could make the dangerously competent Lucci a fugitive for a short while, what can I do to someone I actually can handle?" And he closes the line in anger.
Then he gets another call. "Oh, today I can't catch a break. Hello?"
"I am Mountain of the CP-7, and I heard someone finally broke the curse in Mystoria. Should I investigate and see if the crypts were hiding something?"
"And you feel like you want permission for that? Of course you should, Mountain! I just hope the cursebreakers didn't take everything from there!" Spandam orders. "And ask who the cursebreakers are!"
The line closes.
"Why must everyone be too stupid or too dangerous?" Spandam asks himself.
~0~
The cursebreakers are travelling to Wano with their treasures, and Pan is reading the script.
"The Celestial Dragons are not true gods. They are actually so weak they cannot feed themselves."
Roy nods. "So, nothing important is shown. Everyone knows that. I also heard the CP-0 literally scoops their butts."
"Yeah, it's also written here. I wonder why people become pirates..." Pan keeps reading. After reading Marton's backstory about how he tried to free Lulusia and about the Buster Call in Ohara, Pan stumbles into something new.
"Pluton. Pluton is real, and is very close to where we will be," his face darkens.
"What's the problem, Captain?" Gin asks.
"Pluton is in Wano... now we should be twice as careful. That slimeball that framed me? It was his idea to bring the ancient ship to the Government's control. If he ever finds it, this world is doomed. If he gets my secrets about other worlds too? Everything is doomed."
"Is he strong? Can't we just beat him up?" Gin asks again.
"No, he is weak and not so bright. But his cruelty knows no bounds, and he has influence. In the small chance he wins and actually gains power, we are all in big trouble," Pan tells him.
The ship finally reaches the shores of Wano, where they try to not get spotted.
After a small sea battle where a Sea King attacked, only for Vanessa to use her wings, fly around it while landing cuts, and allow Gin to deal the final blow with the duck foot, they camp somewhere no Beasts Pirate is.
Gin tells the others about him spyring on the pirates. "I am a Logia. They will think I am just mercury."
"What if they ask where you came from?" Vanessa protests. "I am going to spy on them from the air."
"From the air? You will be too easy to spot!" Gin protests.
"Just as easy to escape," Vanessa counters.
"I say we send Pandaman, he is the most expendable," Unforgivable Mask proposes.
"Why shouldn't we send Bruno?" Roy asks. "He is the best at hiding in barrels."
"Was that an insult or a compliment?" Bruno asks.
"Yes."
"Bruno! His presence is not as strong as mine, that will work!" Gin says.
And soon, everyone except Bruno votes for him.
"Fine. But please don't get me killed!" Bruno tells them.
Later, he spies on two Chess Soldiers working for Big Mom. Both are pawns.
"So, good news, the Beasts Pirates aren't coming for us anymore!"
"With Big Mom and Kaido in an alliance, nobody can stop us!"
Bruno tries not to tremble and make his barrel shake.
Even if he flips out, that will still end up in someone spotting their bodies and himself.
Suddenly, one of the officers, Charlotte Mobile, comes. "Soldiers! We will board the waterfall for the Fire Festival! Now that Smoothie and Snack are here, we shall all go together!"
The moment the three leave, Bruno goes back to the others, panting. "The Big Mom Pirates are here too, and they are on Kaido's side! Even the Worst Generation can't defeat two Yonko crews at once!"
Pan nods. "Listen. We don't have to throw hands with Big Mom or Kaido. We just have to make absolutely sure the Big Mom Pirates contribute as little as possible to the war so Luffy and his friends can win. If we lose, the raid is lost, and Kaido is not going to stop at Wano. His war will engulf the entire world! Plus, I doubt we can beat him on our own. Not even with our skills."
As the Raging Thunder Pirates prepare for the festival, they infiltrate the enemy to gain some additional information. Pandaman has mingled with the Gifters and attends their party, Roy spies on the ships underwater, and Vanessa sabotages an ambush of Orochi's troops, saving the lives of Kin'emon and a few Minks.
The Fire Festival begins, and so does the raid. Marco the Phoenix had stopped the climb of the Big Mom Pirates and focuses on Kaido's forces, and Pan is aware there will be a third attempt if he does nothing.
In the Queen Mama ship, Flampe is showing something to Smoothie.
"Big Sis! Big Sis! The outsider has gotten a bigger bounty! 350 million Berries!"
Smoothie shakes her head. "He is still no threat to me or you or my family in general. Sure, he has beaten Raptor, but Raptor was only a Headliner of Kaido. He didn't beat a Sweet Commander yet... plus all that 'outsider' talk is silly. There are no other worlds outside of ours."
"Are you sure, Big Sis? I am so sure there are! And I want to learn so much about those worlds!" Flampe jumps for joy around her tall sister, clasping her hands and begging her. "What if we expand Mama's territory outside of the Grand Line?"
A wide grin spreads across Smoothie's face. "That would be interesting. But we can get him once we crush Straw Hat, Kid and Law, as well as all of their foolish allies.
I still have a score to settle with the Cat Burglar, Nami. She had the audacity to use part of Mama's soul... I am going to squeeze her dry. Each breast of hers would be able to keep my thirst at bay for a week.
Then I will deal with Vinsmoke too, he turned a happy day for Pudding into a disaster for our whole family! And above all else, by helping Mama triumph, I will make sure she is proud of me!"
Outside of the flagship, the Raging Thunder Pirates have taken positions.
"Are you sure this will work?" Bruno asks.
"For the last fucking time, yes," Unforgivable Mask replies.
"Let's sink those bastards!" Pan orders and fires a rocket at the flagship, making it shake.
A barrage of cannonball Homies are shot as retaliation, but Gin unleashes a mighty stream of mercury that melts all of them.
A second barrage comes, but Pandaman and Unforgivable Mask grab those close to the edges and send them back, while the rest dodge the ones in the center.
But Charlotte Amande has other plans. She senses the reflected cannonballs, dashes faster than the human eye can see and cuts the projectiles to pieces with her sword, with such grace and speed there is nothing left of them.
Then she lights a cigarette and bows.
"Intruders. I will enjoy cutting you down, slowly."
A Chess King rings the alarm. "We are under attack! It's an unknown group of pirates!"
"Their audacity!" Smoothie responds. "Very well, hold them off. I doubt it's something you can't handle. I shall deal with the alliance in Onigashima, and so will other elites like Snack! The rest of you, kill'em all."
Outside, Pan uses a Thunderstorm and takes down sixty Big Mom Pirates simultaneously.
However, he ends up under attack by Amande, who lands a jab on his shoulder with her Shirauo.
He parries the next blow and punches her in the face, then their swords clash.
"I should warn you, stranger... never mess with a Big Mom Pirate. Because if I cut your skull from one cheek to the other, do you know what you will have? Nothing but destruction," Amande tells Pan calmly as she starts overpowering him. Her neck extends and she prepares to bite him.
Pan uses his Haki and pushes her back, then sends her away with a thunderbolt. "You talk too much!"
Then he turns to his crew. "They are not at full strength! This is our only chance. Let's make it count!"
The crew replies as one person. "MAKE IT COUNT!"