Big thanks to the support I've been getting for this story. It means so much to me that others enjoy my writing. And thank you for being patient with me about my posting schedule. I'm getting ready to move across the country which is super stressful.

So here is Damien's side of the rescue. Unfortunately, he doesn't get the chance to show off all his skills, but his focus needs to be on Nightwing, who sadly needs all the help he can get.

WARNING: Torture! Nightwing had a tough time at the hands of the marines. I didn't describe the torture but its not pretty, so I needed to warn you.

Chapter 8- Mission: Rescue Grayson

On the deck of the marine ship, Damien and the Retrieval Team slipped away in the opposite direction of the distraction team. They planned to wait until Luffy and the others started fighting before slipping below deck to find Dick Grayson. As they hunkered down behind a stack of cannon balls, Robin used her ability to scout the way down, looking for some sign. She was getting increasingly frustrated when the first sounds of battle started.

"That's Luffy," Sanji said, lighting a smoke, when there was a loud crash.

A "shing" sound followed by breaking glass made Robin smile. "And that is our swordsman," she added.

"Let's go," Sanji ordered, leading the way through a door that Robin said led to the interior of the ship. "Let's make our way down."
Damien chafed at having to stay with the pirates, but every time he started to slip away to start his own search, Nico Robin would lay an understanding hand on his shoulder or Chopper would give him pleading, watering eyes. He huffed in annoyance. He had studied the blueprints the women had in the Sunny's library and he knew that he would be faster and quieter without the three pirates, especially when they needed to keep ducking into closets to hide from waves of marines joining the fight. Finally he stopped, forcing the others to stop with him. Sanji puffed on his cancer stick and looked down on the frustrated 10 year old with.

"What's wrong, short stuff?" the cook started to ask, but they were interrupted by the sound of more marines running their way and they were forced to hide again.

"This isn't working," Damien hissed as they ducked into a laundry room. "We can't keep sneaking like this. It's taking too long."

Sanji nodded, his swirly eyebrow twitching in frustration. "Then what do you recommend, eggplant?" he replied.

"If I may," Robin said, stepping forward with marine uniforms draped over her arms. "Maybe these will be of use?"

They quickly changed into the uniforms, though Sanji had to step outside while Robin changed before he expired from a nosebleed. Chopper was in his human form, which looked more like a gorilla, but apparently people come in all sizes in the marines, because Robin found a set that was only a little too tight. She found a women's officer's uniform and took the lead, the other acting has her bodyguards/subordinates. They could move freely through ships corridors now. No one even gave them a second glance since the rumor was that it was the dreaded Straw-hat Pirates attacking on deck.

Finally, the party reached the brig. It was in the lowest habitable level of the ship. The stench of mildew and waste filled the cool air, making Damien gag and Chopper cover his nose. Two men guarded the entrance and they stopped Robin when she tried to pass by them.

"No one goes in here," said the bigger man. With his blond hair that fell over one eye, he looked a little like Sanji, but that was where the similarities ended. He was bordering on fat with tiny sleepy eyes that blinked suspiciously at Robin. His hand strayed to the hilt at his hip.

"We're securing the prisoner, captain's orders," Robin answered calmly. She looked down her nose at the man, an impressive feat considering he was a full foot taller than her.

"We're under orders, too," the smaller man said. The black haired marine was much shorter and thinner than his partner and his sharp black eyes studied Chopper and Damien, neither of whom looked like normal recruits. Damien looked like the 10 year old he was and Chopper looked like a gorilla with a huge ruff around his neck, and he still had the blue nose. The marine crossed his arms. "No one is to enter the brig until we reach the base."

Robin tipped her head to the side, fixing the smaller man with a look of derision. "And why would that be?" she asked.

"The prisoner is to be left alone except for visits from the captain until then," the blond marine snapped, his hand now gripping his sword. "Everyone knows that."

Sanji stepped forward, his hands up in a peaceful gesture. He had a cap pulled down over his forehead to hide his distinctive eyebrow. "What about feeding him?" he asked carefully.

Damien glared at the cook in surprise. What the hell does that matter, he thought. He stepped forward to demand his brother's release when Chopper put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Patience," the reindeer-man whispered.

The marines watched their exchange before the smaller man answering Sanji with a sneer, "He's hasn't eaten since he was arrested. Honestly, I'll be surprised if he survives to see his execution."
Damien couldn't take it anymore, he sprang at the marine ready to kill him but Chopper caught him and held him back. "Execution!" he screamed as he struggled against his friend's strong arms. "I'll show you an execution. Yours!"

The marines stepped back from the boy's ferocity. "I think we need to get the captain," the blond said, stepping back. He drew his sword and held it threateningly toward the pirates. "You just stay here," he ordered. "Jas, you send word."

Robin smiled at the men, her expression enough to keep both marines rooted in place. "Gentlemen," she purred, taking a step forward. Behind her, Sanji tapped the toe of his shoe on the deck, his face murderous. Chopper held Damien back from slicing the men into itty bitty pieces. He was lucky that the young Wayne liked him, or he would have been injured too. The archeologist didn't pay any attention to the drama behind her, her focus on the men before her. "I don't think you need to do that. I'm sure you won't mind giving us just a few minutes with the prisoner."
The men backed up, a little frightened by the apparently unarmed woman. They shook their heads. They both had their weapons out now but Robin still strode forward. "I don't like people pointing weapons at me," she said and crossed her arms. "Sies Fluer!" Arms sprouted from the marines and knocked the weapons out of their hands. "Twist!" Robin whispered and the arms gripped the men and twisted them around until their backs popped and they fell to the ground unconscious. She turned to give her companions a much nicer smile and held out her natural arm, "Shall we?" she asked.

Damien stilled in Chopper's arms. "She's a little scary," he admitted to his new friend in a whisper that he hoped couldn't reach the woman.

Chopper nodded as he put the boy down and followed Robin through the door. Sanji snorted in agreement and purposefully stepped hard on the men as he followed the other two went through the door into the brig. Damien stepped on them too, but he was more precise in his revenge, stepping on the men's knee caps, dislocating them with a gross pop. Sanji heard it as he held the door open and they shared a vicious grin with each other.

Inside the brig was worse than the corridor outside. "Nightwing!" Damien called, quickly passing by the pirates to rush into the darkness.

A soft, pained voice came out of the darkness. "Robin?"

"Dick!" Damien cried and ran to the heavy wooden door where the sound came from. It was locked and Damien's hands were surprisingly shaking, making it impossible to pick the lock. He cursed in three different languages as he fought with the thin blade he was trying to use to pick the lock.

"Don't curse," Nightwing murmured, his voice getting quieter with every word. "Alfred doesn't like it."

"Hang in there, Greyson," Damien shouted. He banged on the heavy door with his fists. He reached for an explosive charge in desperation but before he could place it, Sanji finally caught up.

"Stand back," the cook ordered. He delivered a powerful kick to the door and it splintered before him.

Damien ran in to find Greyson chained to the wall; his arms secured above his head and his legs in shackles that were secured to the deck. His hair hung around his face like that girl from the movie Damien wasn't supposed to watch about a video tape. The curtain of hair swayed as Nightwing tried to lift his head to look at his rescuers. Amazingly, despite the shredded state of his blue and black uniform, he still had his mask on.

Damien seemed to teleport to his brother's side, carefully feeling the shackles to see if he could get them off. Chopper poked his nose in; now in his smaller brain-point form, with his borrowed uniform trailing behind him and carrying a lantern that Robin had found. He had it dimmed to protect Greyson's eyes, but it didn't hide the state the man was in. The doctor recoiled for a minute before his professionalism kicked in. He started checking his patient for broken bones or complications that would prevent them from moving him.

Nightwing considered the reindeer for a minute. "Great," he sighed, "I'm hallucinating now."

Damien couldn't help it, he giggled. It only lasted a second but from him it might as well have been hysterics. "Sorry, Nightwing," he corrected gravely. "Chopper's as real as I am."

His older brother chuckled, stopping when his ribs twinged painfully. "What does that say about you, baby-bat?"

"It means we're getting you out of here," Damien promised. "Just give me a minute." He started to dig in his belt, but a hand sprouting out of his shoulder stopped him. The hand held out a set of rusty keys. Damien took them and the hand disappeared in a shower of flower petals. "Thanks, Robin," he said as he carefully unlocked the manacles around Nightwing's wrists.

Nightwing groaned as his brother helped him lower his arms. "Scarecrow," he muttered. "It must be fear-toxin."

"Nope," Damien said, moving to the leg shackles. "Just pirates."

A big jolt through the ship made Robin and Chopper scurry to keep Nightwing from banging against something. Sanji poked his head in the door. "We better hurry," he said. "Who knows how long the meatheads can restrain themselves."

"He's in bad shape," Chopper declared, stepping back. "But he's safe to move, though I don't like the look of his ankle, so he can't walk."

"I'll carry him," Sanji said, stepping forward.

"No," Robin said, laying a delicate hand on the cook's shoulder, making him almost melt. "Chopper should carry his patient. The rest of us will clear the way for him."

Pushing down the elation from the touch, Sanji nodded in agreement. Chopper changed back into his larger form and gently picked up the injured hero. Nightwing's eyes got big for a minute before he gave up and passed out.

"I think I scared him," Chopper apologized, his eyes watering. "I'm so sorry."

"He'll get over it," Damien waved it off. "Let's just get out of here."

The group left the dreary brig and started making their way back to the deck. The halls were surprisingly empty as they hurried though, probably because everyone was fighting the men on deck or hiding until it was over. It wasn't until they were nearly at the top that they heard commotion coming towards them. A quick conference (a.k.a. Robin gave orders) they decided to avoid risking a fight and ducked through the nearest door. It turned out to be the captain's personal quarters and office. Damien went to a stack of weapons by the bed; grabbing Nightwing's eskrima sticks and belt triumphantly. Robin meandered to the desk out of curiosity while Sanji guarded the door.

"I see," she murmured softly.

"What is it Robin?" Chopper asked over his shoulder. He laid Nightwing down on the bed and started ripping the sheet and pillow cases apart to get some bandages on the worst of his patient's injuries since a couple had started bleeding sluggishly from being moved. "Damien, help me please? Thank you, just hold that there," he asked the young hero. Damien didn't argue as he applied pressure to a nasty looking cut on Nightwing's thigh.

Robin picked up a wanted poster from the desk, it showed a close-up of Nightwing's face. He looked pissed, his masked eyes flashing. Then she picked up a picture that was the original for the wanted poster. It showed Nightwing held on his knees by four heavy set marines while another two held rifles pointed at the prisoner. "I wondered how the captain arranged the execution so fast," she explained. "It appears that he manufactured a wanted poster and bounty after he had Nightwing arrested."

"Nothing we can do about it now," Sanji pointed out, puffing angrily on his smoke. "Oi, Chopper, you done? The coast is clear again. It sounded like the marines were running from whatever is happening on deck, so this is our chance."

"Ready," Chopper said, picking up Nightwing, who was now wrapped up like a mummy.

They slipped back into the hall and up on deck. They saw Red Hood locked in battle with the captain at the far end of the battleship. No one seemed to notice the little group slipping away until Robin was in the process of lowering Nightwing in a net of interlocking arms. Damien was below with Ussop ready to catch the unconscious hero while Chopper and Sanji watched Robin's back. It was a good thing they were because after one marine looked over to see the party at the rail, a wave of frustrated marines turned away from the other battle to engage the newcomers.

Chopper shifted to karate point, which looked ridiculously like a cylinder but was rather effective. Sanji flung himself at the enemy who dared threaten his precious Robin-chan. Together, they held off the marines until Nightwing was safely inside the Sharksub.

"Shitty bastards," Sanji cursed. "Oi, Chopper, go with the others back to the Sunny. I'll stay with the Distraction Team."

Chopper hesitated for only a moment before agreeing. His priority needed to be caring for his patient. He shifted to leaping point and jumped down to the sub where Robin and Ussop were waiting. Ussop sent a couple firestars at the marines along the rail before they all climbed inside the sub and he could pilot the vessel beneath the waves. The sniper let out a deep sigh of relief as they pulled away from the battleship, glad to be out of its intimidating shadow. Not that he was scared of course, he was just happy they were successful with the rescue mission.

A big jolt shook the ship as cannon balls started to rain down in the water around them. "Hold on!" Usopp shouted, trying to get the sub to dive faster. Then the bombardment stopped. Ussop blessed his lucky stars and pushed the little sub to its limits to get back to the Thousand Sunny before the marines started shooting again.

The ones in the sub couldn't see, but Sanji was flying above them and diverting the cannonballs until the sub was out of sight. The fog was starting to burn off and from his vantage point he could see Red Hood's fight with the marine captain. When the cannons stopped, the cook took a second to appreciate the fight below.

The hero had discarded his heavy leather jacket and one of his holsters was empty, but he still looked intimidating with the blood red bat on his chest and the smooth red helmet covering his face. He didn't appear fatigued at all as he flung himself at the Marine captain with a sword in each hand. Red Hood moved like a battering ram or an acrobat depending on his opponent's moves. Sanji was impressed by the young man's flexibility and skill. It was obvious that he had been taught by some very impressive teachers.

The Marine was not in as good a shape as the younger man. His face was bright red with exertion and sweat stained his uniform as he tried to keep his enemy at bay. It was obvious to the hovering chef that the captain had let himself get soft since he gained enough power to hold his position, typical of a bully. The bastard's most dangerous feature was that weird sword which seemed to turn whatever it touched to ash. The crash that the rescue team had felt earlier, apparently, came from the stupid Marine cutting down his own mast. The massive wooden beam lay across the splintered deck, crushing the main cannons in their protective dome, which was good for the Straw-hats. Adding that to the destroyed wheel-house meant that they wouldn't need to worry about pursuit. Sanji smiled around his cigarette as sent himself flying toward his captain and the shitty-swordsman, who were idly beating Marines off as they watched the fight. He couldn't see their musician, but the skeleton's laughter rang clearly over the sounds of the fighting, so Sanji wasn't worried about him.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Jason Todd felt his muscles burn as he flung himself out of the range of the Marine Captain's sword for the umpteenth time. Beyond the boiling pit of anger in his breast from what this man did to his brother, Jason acknowledged distaste for his opponent based mostly in frustration and disgust. The man was a typical bully, strong enough to beat on the weak but obviously relying on his gullible or foolish underlings to deal with anyone of real strength. That was the source of the disgust. The man had no skill and if it wasn't for the strange abilities of his sword, Red Hood would have taken him down ages ago. But that blasted sword was hard to work around, it was worse than Azrael's flaming sword or the poison blades of the League of Assassins. He heard Zoro comment that the blade must have eaten a devil fruit, which was so bizarre that Hood didn't even know what to make of it. How could an inanimate object eat anything, let alone produce that gave magic powers? This place was too crazy.

Hood snarled at the Marine as he swung at the man's stomach with more rage than finesse, so it wasn't a surprise that his attack was blocked. The glowing sword struck Hood's two blades, turning them away, and in that split second, started to turn the metal to metallic ash. He had already lost his jacket, one pistol, and three other swords to this trick. Hood howled in annoyance as he sprung back and flung the now damaged blades at the other man so he had a chance to run and grab a discarded blade from the deck. The marine chased after him, trying to pin him against a wall. The former-Robin used his momentum to launch himself off the wall, executing a flawless twisting flip that sent him over the head of the advancing captain. Hood landed and scored a deep slice across the back of the Marine, cutting his cloak in half and staining the rest in blood. It wasn't the first strike he had landed in this fight but it was the most damaging and Jason grinned behind his helmet.

"That's the best you got, you worthless sack of bull's bullocks?" Hood taunted as the man spun around.

Captain Joudan wasn't looking very good. He was past red, almost purple, and panting with exertion and his uniform was stained with blood, but his eyes burned with fury. He couldn't back down now; if he surrendered he would lose the respect of his men, of the Marines, of the Fleet Admiral that he admired so much. But it was obvious he was on his last legs as he stood still, seizing up Red Hood. He opened his mouth to deliver another bitter diatribe about absolute justice, but he was interrupted.

"Hoody!" Luffy shouted, flinging himself between the two combatants, completely ignoring the marine officer. "They got your brother out, and Sanji says he doesn't look good so we need to go." He stretched to grab Hood's arm to try and pull him away.

Red Hood shook off the rubber man. "Not until I finish this filth," he snarled.

Luffy turned to look at the marine. "Eh, he's not worth it anymore," he dismissed the man as he picked his nose.

Hood gaped at the pirate, completely confused. "Are you insane?" he shouted. "You said he was mine."

Brook appeared behind him and laid a bony hand on his shoulder. "Relax my friend; this man is all but finished already. Yo ho ho, look at him. He's barely on his feet, brought down by an unknown with no devil-fruit powers." Brook looked pointedly around at the rest of the marines, who had stopped attacking to stare at their Captain. "He has lost his power in the eyes of his men."

Hood shook with repressed rage, but he knew that the skeleton had a point. He was still debating with himself, when Zoro and Sanji strolled up.

"I wonder if all these Marines know that the only reason we're here is because their captain faked a wanted poster of an innocent man. A man he tortured, starved, and set up for execution with no regard to justice," the cook mused loudly. "I mean, if the fool hadn't arrested Nightwing, we would have never tracked them down and wrecked their ship, leaving them to drift, helpless on the Grand Line. Sad, really." He causally dropped some pictures behind him, showing exactly how the wanted poster was made.

One of the higher ranked marines picked up the papers, his face darkening before passing them on. The marines started murmuring to each other. As the muttering got louder and the pirates started to steer the hero toward the rail so they could leave, Captain Joudan roared with rage and charged at them, swing his sword in glowing, angry red patterns.

Hood pushed Luffy out of the way and parried the attack, sending the empowered sword into the deck, tip first. Hood lashed out with a kick, sending the man reeling back, abandoning his sword at Hood's feet. As soon as Joudan's hand released the hilt, the sword's powers stopped and the deck stopped turning to ash. Hood picked up the sword. He could feel the power, but honestly, he didn't care. He had learned early on that powers could be more of a crutch than an advantage. He flung the blade and it flew over the side and hit the water with a hiss that could be heard across the now silent deck.

"Now he's powerless," Hood said and deliberately turned his back on his defeated opponent. It wasn't the kind of defeat that he personally preferred, which left his enemies broken or dead, or the kind that Batman preferred which left the villain in jail, but it felt pretty good.

Luffy cheered and wrapped his friends in a huge group hug before pulling them back, away from the rail. Jason flailed around, not sure what was happening, but based on the resigned and slightly panicked looks on the pirates' faces, he figured he wasn't going to like it.

"Gum-gum rocket!" Luffy yelled out and launched them all across the water into the thinning remains of the fog.

Jason was not embarrassed to admit he screamed as he felt himself fly through the air, held by a rubber teenager, surrounded by insane pirates, and heading at unsafe speeds to a ship that he couldn't see over an ocean apparently filled with monsters if he believed Ussop. His life had officially hit a level of crazy that he had never imagined, which says something for a guy who had been beaten to death by a homicidal clown. His musings were cut abruptly short when the party slammed hard into the deck of the Sunny. The impact drove the breath from his body and he lay on the grass for a moment, gasping like a fish while Zoro and Sanji berated their captain while Brook stood back and made "skull jokes."

Nami came over and held out her hand to the puffing hero to help him to his feet. "Welcome back," she said with a smile. "Chopper has your brother in the infirmary with your little brother. We'll take care of getting away from the marines, so you can go check on him." She smiled at him and shooed him way with a wave of her hand before turning her attention to her crewmates. "All right, you idiots," she shouted, knocking Luffy over the head as she walked past, "unfurl the sails. I want to catch the wind before it dies. Move it!"

Hood shook his head as he left the pirates to the navigator's tender mercies and went to find out Nightwing's condition, and maybe change out of his uniform, which smelled to high heaven.