Start Date: June 2, 2024
Windwillow
One Piece: The Yin and Yang of the Straw Hat Pirates
Chapter Two: The Test Begins
Yin - Nico Robin
From the moment she'd met Luna to the moment she woke up was only a fraction of a second. Even so, by the time Robin woke up she was totally out of it. When she opened her eyes the archaeologist took stock of where she was and, when she realized that she had returned there, her eyes widened like dinner plates. She'd returned to Ohara, to the Tree of Knowledge, and the entire island was totally intact. Even the archaeologists of Ohara, Olvia, and Spandine seemed to be in suspended animation.
As she weakly rose to her feet Robin realized that she'd totally lost control of the situation and grit her teeth in a vicious snarl. She stumbled a bit, overwhelmed by the emotions she was feeling, and when she looked back at Spandine, his finger on the button of the Golden Transponder Snail, her anger flared and for a moment she considered snapping him in half. Still, she realized that she hadn't really gone back in time... she was being played with. By the time she realized that she wasn't alone Robin's emotions had shifted from anger to horror.
It was a very short young woman, one that resembled Robin herself except much smaller and far more muscular. She had long green hair cut in the same fashion as Robin's was and wore a slim blue leotard with light green boots and gloves. Strapped to her right hip was a strange weapon resembling a whip, though segmented and colored red and black with a scorpion's tail as its tip.
"I am Dyuas Pita, manifestation of the Wind Trigram," the strange woman said, in a voice almost cooing with affection. "How does it feel to be back home, Robin?" Robin stared spitefully at the witch, not saying a word, and began to chuckle. "I figured you'd react something of the sort. I've come to show you your fate from futures past," she said coolly, almost cruelly, "and who knows? Maybe you'll pick one and stay in it."
"Where are the others...?" Robin growled.
"They're undergoing the same test," Pita said coolly. "A test to determine whether their bond can transcend time and space. Or, to be perfectly honest... we're just playing with 'em."
An enraged Robin lifted her arms to her signature position and shut her eyes tight. Several violet flower petals began to rotate around her upper body as Pita's body began to shake and several copies of Robin's arms wrapped around her tightly and put her in not just a choke hold but also restrained her arms, legs, and back. Robin's eye twitched and in an instant Pita's body was ripped to pieces. The pieces, however, simply fluttered away like paper and, to Robin's horror, they reconstituted themselves as a fully-formed Pita who seemed to have been totally unaffected by Robin's powers.
"W-What in the...?!" choked Robin.
"In the universe you're from, they have strange things called 'Devil Fruits.' For the purposes of our little discussion I've 'eaten' the Page Page Fruit, which allows me to change my entire body into sheets of paper at any time. I could give you the worst paper cut of your life if I wanted to... But I'd rather just talk," snickered Pita. "That more or less means that your powers are worthless against me. Now, we come to the heart of the matter: I've come to test your devotion to your friends, and see if you would like to change your past a bit."
"I'll always have my friends," Robin hissed. "Test me however you like; I won't abandon my family."
"Funny you should use the word 'family,' actually... But we can get back to that," Pita said coolly. "For now, let's show you what you don't want to see. This is where it gets fun."
Pita put her fingers together and sharply rapped them, creating a flash of light that fully encompassed Robin and turned all of her senses white as a drawing board. When she put the pieces back together and opened her eyes Robin saw something that she never thought she'd see again: on a building parallel to her were five very familiar individuals, dressed and armed for battle. One of them, clothed in a cape and a bizarre sun-shaped mask, had a large slingshot stretched back and a huge flaming phoenix had burst from its prongs.
Robin's eyes widened and she realized that she was back in the same position she'd been during the events of Enies Lobby. A quick assessment of her location forced the archaeologist to realize that she was in precisely the same spot as she had been before, though this time she wasn't bound in Sea Prism Stone. By turning to her left Robin was shocked and horrified to find that her nemesis Spandam, the man who had tortured her so, had been replaced by a very smug Pita. When she turned back Robin saw in her captain's eyes the same crazed determination that she'd seen two years earlier, and her blood immediately ran cold. As the World Government's flag burst into flames she watched as Pita smilingly turned towards her friends.
"You're all insane! Do you honestly believe you can challenge the entire world?" Pita asked mockingly, mimicking the words that Spandam had said two years prior. What began as shock quickly shifted to fury, Robin's emotions flaring up and her fingers tightening into a fist as she realized that she was being toyed with. Pita, whoever or whatever she was, had taken her past, crumpled it up, and tossed it in her face like a discarded piece of garbage.
"Yeah?! BRING IT ON!" Luffy roared, his teeth grit and his eyes wide with an insane resolve to face the world itself and more or less tell it to kiss his ass. Just as the words left his mouth Luffy's face immediately froze and time seemed to stop again. Robin's breath began to quicken, she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, and as she swiveled around to face Pita a look of sheer hatred had coated her face.
"Stop this!" shrieked Robin.
Rather than do as Robin asked, Pita snapped her fingers again and she became swallowed in the same void as before. When she opened her eyes this time Robin saw that she had returned to the Bridge of Hesitation, where across the sea she watched as her captain lay flat on his face, defeated and badly wounded, as a hulking leopard-human hybrid stared up at her. Robin remembered her emotions well, the fear and hatred she'd felt towards Lucci, and seeing him again chilled her soul.
Robin watched as one of Luffy's sweat-soaked fingers began to twitch and, slowly and haggardly, he rose to his feet and staggered to stand behind his nemesis. Lucci turned contemptuously and watched as the rubbery captain held out his arms to his side. With a deep breath in Luffy's arms exploded into a flurry of machine gun-like blasts that zoomed towards Lucci, battered him with the force of a cannon, and finally blasted him away through a wall and onto the deck of a nearby battleship. There Lucci remained silent and lifeless, a tiny bit of blood dripping down his face from where he'd lost a tooth to Luffy.
A thin smile curved Robin's mouth, though to her shock there was a loud crack and the scene seemed to rewind as if it were a movie reel that was being run backwards. This time, when the scene unfolded, Luffy remained lifeless on the floor. Robin watched, her blood boiling, as Lucci slowly and menacingly turned his attention towards her. As a sadistic smile etched itself on Lucci's face, Robin desperately reached out to her captain and cried out his name.
"This is your first fate: 'loss, suffering, and misery.' In this alternate history, your friends are killed by the World Government and you're taken into their custody. Over time they slowly and sadistically torture you for every scrap of information you possess on the Poneglyphs," Pita sneered, "to the point where all you want is death. Once they weasel enough out of you, they lop off your head."
As her breath came in ragged spurts and a thin stream of tears dripped down her face, Robin's emotions and heartbeat broke out into overdrive and she nearly began to hyperventilate. Turning to her left and seeing Pita, the archaeologist bit a hole in her lip and lifted her arms, countless limbs locking onto the embodiment of the Wind Trigram and gripping her tight, tight enough that her flesh began to rip.
Completely forgetting that her powers were useless, Robin flicked her fingers and tore Pita's body to shreds, tearing off her limbs and snapping her neck so violently that one of her teeth was ripped out of her face. While Robin's fury continued to build she watched as Pita's shattered body simply fluttered away in a flurry of paper, swirled around her ruined torso, and quietly reformed her full form with no effort whatsoever.
"I'll admit, that one's a tad rough," chuckled Pita. "Alas, we have two left."
Again Pita snapped her fingers and the light overtook Robin. When the brightness faded she found herself back inside a very familiar place, a ruined room ripped open and covered in fire. Across from her was a monstrous form, a massive spider-human hybrid that resembled a muscular young woman. To her side was Brook, and as Robin watched her body began to swell and emerged as a dark-skinned devil that wrapped its limbs around the hybrid, tightened its grip, and finally snapped her back in half as Brook swung his sword and dispatched the three snake-like monsters that surrounded them.
Robin watched in terror as time again rewound, this time shifting back further in time during the battle with Black Maria, where the Tobiroppo had taken Brook in her limbs and held him up in the form of a cross. As Brook screamed out in pain Black Maria brutally ripped him in half and threw his remains to either side of the flaming chamber before menacingly reaching towards Robin with a frightening sneer on her face, and Robin lost control of her body. She slumped to her knees, tears running down her cheeks, as Black Maria's hand slowly approached her.
"That's your second fate: 'loss, suffering, and tragedy.' Once the alliance is crushed the Animal Kingdom Pirates seize you and wring every bit of information they can about the Poneglyphs. After making it to Laugh Tale the two Emperors use the Ancient Weapons to decimate the world and overthrow the World Government before turning on each other and destroying everything except for Sacred Mary Geoise," sneered Pita. "Since that lies so high above the seas on the Red Line, they can't reach it. All that would remain in the world would be the Celestial Dragons and the scraps that Kaido and Big Mom leave behind."
"I'm begging you, please stop!" Robin choked, her voice hoarse and her throat bloody.
Instead Pita snapped her fingers a third time and the white void swallowed them. When the air returned and the ground reformed they were back at Ohara again, where Spandine stood with his finger only a fraction of an inch from the Golden Transponder Snail that would condemn the island and everything on it to a cruel and brutal demise. As the archaeologists looked on in horror Pita manifested and coiled her whip around Spandine's body, then ripped him into shreds. The battleships around the island similarly burst into flames and Robin leaped into her mother's arms.
"And here we come to your third fate: 'Salvation, bliss, and tragedy.' Ohara is saved."
"Why would that be a tragedy...?!" gasped Robin.
"In this alternate future you grow up with your mother Olvia in a loving home, blessed with everything you sought before the attack. You would have your mother, the other archaeologists, and the dream of completing the Rio Poneglyph would remain. After a happy childhood you set off to sea as an archaeologist, but then you're captured and executed by the Navy!" cackled Pita. "Because you never met them, the Straw Hats never form and all of their achievements are nullified! In the end, Kaido and Big Mom still destroy the world and everything ends!"
"You're torturing me, you beast...!" Robin shrieked desperately.
"That I am, and apparently I'm doing a damned good job of it," Pita cackled. "I want you to choose a fourth fate... By turning down Crocodile's offer to join Baroque Works, you continue to delve into the underworld until you become a high ranking subordinate to Big Mom. Then, by using your peerless skill of assassination, you murder Big Mom and seize control of her empire!" Pita sneered. "And then you become the Emperor that old bag never was: Rather than demand tribute, you protect your territories. With your new power you can balance the other Emperors and maintain the order of the Three Great Powers."
It was all too much, too much torture and too much agony. With a final snap of her fingers Pita brought Robin back to the same white void that they'd started at, and as she continued to quake Robin's horror brought her to her knees drenched in sweat and tears. As she struggled with her emotions, fought the terror and struggled against the darkness, Pita quietly put a hand to her hip and smiled at the archaeologist.
"Spend your childhood with your mother or become the Queen of the Underworld... those are your options," sneered Pita. She sighed and folded her arms over her chest with a satisfied smirk. "I can make any of those four futures your new reality. You do, after all, have the right to choose your own fate."
"Return me... to my friends...! Robin hissed. "I want nothing to do with you!"
"Ha ha... I'll agree under one condition: defeat me in battle. Not that you can, with your abilities sealed..." Pita chuckled. Filled with a new determination, Robin rose to her feet, crossed her arms, and slammed a giant arm straight into Pita's face. Though the blow connected, it did nothing in the end as she reformed. "I'd expected that you'd choose a happy life..." she sighed. "Wasn't that always your dream?"
Robin shook her head angrily and a sadistic smile of her own formed on her face. "Even bliss leads to suffering, apparently. If I'd gotten that wish, everything and everyone I hold dear would have never found me. I reject you and your mind games!" Robin roared. "And I do have a way to fight back! Did you do any research about my time with the Revolutionary Army?! I got that means from a friend named Koala!" she sneered.
"Wait... you don't mean-" gasped Pita.
"Fishman Karate is based off of the manipulation of water! Guess what turns paper wet and nullifies Devil Fruit Powers?!" Robin asked smilingly. Pita briefly realized that she was surrounded by a flurry of flower petals, petals that had began to form around her body in the form of a large circle that burst out into a titanic hand that blasted her to shreds with a flush of water and pure energy. "I choose life!" Robin hissed.
With a single, massive palm thrust Pita was obliterated, leaving Robin to slump to her knees briefly before she dug her heel into the ground, and as she did so time began to work as it should have and Spandine's thumb pressed down on the Golden Transponder Snail. Even so, Robin had no regrets; her friends were her real salvation. When she finally realized this truth, Robin's body began to glow and finally shattered into pixels, leaving Ohara to play out in its full tragedy.
Yang - Nami
One minute she was relaxing in the Thousand Sunny's bath, and the next darkness overtook her. When Nami weakly opened her eyes she realized that she was back home, back at Bellemere's house where she'd grown up. Though confused, Nami at first relished the idea of seeing Bellemere and Nojiko again - she hadn't seen them in over two years, since they last crossed paths back at Cocoyashi. It was when she realized that it wasn't Bellemere or Nojiko sitting across from her that she immediately yelped and fell to her back.
There was a strange figure sitting in Bellemere's position, a strange woman whose face Nami had never seen before. Standing at five-foot-two, she was a slender, dark-skinned woman with long brown hair worn much like Nami and with eyes so deep that she could almost feel herself being sucked inside of them. She wore a long white dress with a split down the side of her left hip, with a plunging neckline and a set of rings, bracelets, and necklaces scattered all across her body. In other words, the epitome of a femme fatale.
Nami shrieked and skittered backwards just as the strange woman snapped her fingers. In a flash of light she found herself staring down at a miserable sight, a broken woman whose loved ones had been sentenced to death. The one shred of hope - the one saving grace - was a young man who shoved his Straw Hat on her head, reared back, and yelled out a single word: "OKAY!"
It was a harsh truth, the truth that her friends were willing to bet their lives for her happiness. Nami slowly turned to the left and was shocked when she saw the others, Zoro and Usopp sitting down and Sanji standing with a cigarette in his mouth. By the time that Luffy beckoned them all three warriors had already risen and stood up for the occasion, and with a sudden flash of light they all disappeared and left only Nami and the strange woman standing at the scene.
"My name is Clidna, representation of the Lake Trigram," the woman said with a solemn bow. "You remember that day, right?"
Biting her lip to stifle her fury, Nami grit her teeth and a smile crossed her face. "Of course I haven't forgotten it," she said proudly. "That was the day I found my family." With her pride turning to anger, the navigator lifted her Clima Tact and angrily shouted, "And what is that to you, lady?!"
"Remember, Nami: You always had a family," Clidna said coolly. "Your life with Nojiko and Bellemere was paradise to you... and Arlong stole that from you!" she hissed angrily. "I'm here to give you a chance to change the past and create a new future..." As Nami glared back at her Clidna sighed and put a hand on her hip. "I'm going to show you some things, some of which you'll like and others you won't. It's your decision whether you stay as you are or choose a new path... There are three potential fates and I'm about to demonstrate them all to you..." sighed Clidna. "You might even return to Bellemere and Nojiko. But that comes later..."
With a snap of her fingers Clidna caused the scene to shatter to bits, then as the white void began to fade to color Nami watched as she relived another scene from her past. The shark fishman Arlong, the source of all her pain, stood with his foot on a bandaged Zoro and held a wounded Sanji in his left hand, dangling him high into the air. Nami had just arrived after bandaging her self-inflicted wound and was met by her nemesis, and she was given two choices: Fight and die, or live and lose her friends.
"Forgive me, everyone..." Nami rasped weakly. As a gleam formed in her eyes she tightened her fists and produced her middle finger to Arlong. "We'll fight and die together!" While Arlong looked on in discontent the other Cocoyashi villagers cheered and Nami's two friends prepared for their counter attack. Soon their captain would emerge from his watery prison, face Arlong in mortal combat, and beat the living daylights out of him while also toppling his fortress with one mighty kick.
Suddenly the entire scene froze and began to rewind, ending with Nami making the other choice: To save her villagers and throw away her friends. Nami watched in horror as Arlong systematically murdered Zoro and Sanji before her eyes, and when Luffy rose from the water he met a similar fate. The vile fishman turned his attention to the frightened young girl and clapped a hand on her shoulder, tightened his grip, and proclaimed that she was his friend.
As Nami's breath quickened and her tears flowed she found herself back at Bellemere's house, sitting parallel to a dissatisfied Clidna, who didn't seem to take much pleasure in torturing her as opposed to Pita. Nami quickly reached behind her and snatched up her Clima Tact, pointed it at Clidna, and jabbed the button that sent its tip rocketing straight through Clidna's head. The manifestation's face burst into bits, but then her entire body burst into a flailing stream of playing cards and slowly reconstituted her body.
"You're familiar with Devil Fruits... I 'ate' the Card Card Fruit, which allows me to manipulate cards and games of chance. Because I drew this Ace," she said as she flipped around a playing card, "my body became intangible and your attack was negated. This is your first fate: 'surrender, misery, and self-loathing." By surrendering to Arlong your friends die and you remain as the fishman's property," Clidna said sadly.
"I would never do that to them!" shrieked Nami.
"It was in the back of your head, if you remember. In the years to follow you'd lose Nojiko and Genzo to another failed rebellion, leaving yourself the fate of stewing in your own hatred for the rest of your life," sighed Clidna. "Whether you want to admit it, you did think about it. That makes it a viable possibility."
"I... I would never do that!" Nami rasped.
"I agree. That leads us to possibility number two," Clidna said smilingly. With a snap of her fingers Nami found herself back at Onigashima in the grip of the Tobiroppo Ulti. She'd been given the chance to deny Luffy's dream, but she'd refused. By doing so she put herself in mortal danger, but she did anyway. "Assume you did surrender. That means that the war ends in defeat, everyone dies, and you're forced to become a geisha for Orochi and Kaido. After a long and humiliating year of servitude Kaido and Big Mom conquer the world," she sighed, "and then destroy themselves and everything else. This is the second fate: 'surrender, misery, and tragedy.'"
Another snap of Clidna's fingers changed the scene from Onigashima back to Cocoyashi Village, the day that Bellemere had been murdered by Arlong. Nami was forced to watch as Arlong laid his pistol to her adoptive mother's head and pulled the trigger three times, and the indomitable Bellemere fell to her back with a smile still on her face. While Nami and Nojiko began to sob, Arlong turned towards Nami and gave her a sinister smile that chilled her soul.
Time suddenly rewound and Arlong, his pistol set at Bellemere's forehead, slowly began to pull the trigger again. Nami nearly broke down in tears at watching her mother die twice, but before Bellemere could die Clidna manifested behind Arlong, placed her hands around his head, and suddenly snapped his neck with such force that a piece of his nose splintered off. A tearful Nami and Nojiko leaped into Bellemere's arms, and as the former sailor embraced her daughters the scene froze and Clidna assumed a neutral position.
"Your third fate: 'survival, happiness, and tragedy.' Because Bellemere lived you had a happy childhood and learned cartography from a local mapmaker. Then you set out to sea as a noble Marine and attained the rank of Captain, having taken over the task of mapping the whole of the East Blue... your dream," Clidna said proudly. "However, because you never met Luffy he failed to advance through the Grand Line, and eventually the world ended again because of Kaido and Big Mom. It's a trend, apparently, that they constantly muck up the world."
"That's... a horrible fate...!" Nami gasped, her hands moving to her mouth to stifle her horror.
"So you see, to fulfill your dream a sacrifice is necessary," Clidna said coolly. "A minor hiccup."
"That 'dream' ends with everyone I care about dying!" hissed Nami. "Hell, no!"
"Ah, but it intrigues you, does it not...? You can't keep yourself from thinking about what would have happened if your mother lived," sighed Clidna. Nami bit her lip and tears began to flow down her face, and as she put a hand to her face Clidna smiled and put a hand on her hip. "See? Just give in. Bellemere deserved better, as did you. Remember, Nojiko would have also been happy."
"I'm... going to kick your ass...!" rasped Nami. As she wiped the tears from her face she snatched up her weapon and activated it. Her breathing slowly returned to her as Nami quietly tightened her resolve and raised the Clima Tact in front of her face. Even if she was terrified, and even if she was fascinated by Bellemere's survival, the idea that she would ever sacrifice Luffy and the others filled Nami with more hatred than she thought she'd ever feel. Making fun of her friendship? Bad idea. "You want a fight?! You got it!"
"With my Card Card Fruit your chance of survival is one in twenty-seven, the odds that I draw a Joker. Remember, I have more cards than just Aces... some are even more lethal," sneered Clidna. "The effects vary from good to bad, so you do have a shot. I suggest that you settle down with Bellemere and Nojiko and be done with it."
"And when I refuse?" Nami asked coldly.
"You mean 'if'?" questioned Clidna.
"I said what I said and I meant it. I won't give in to a half-assed bitch like you when you mock my family!" Nami snarled.
"Ah, a shame..." sighed Clidna, who began to shuffle her deck. "The odds are still reasonable..."
"You know what, lady?" chuckled Nami as she fondled her weapon with a wicked smile on her face. "The odds are one in one."
After taking in a deep breath Nami raised the Clima Tact over her shoulder and slashed at Clidna with it, sending a large sheet of water at her that completely doused her and her cards. With the deck wet, there was no way for Clidna to draw a card in her own defense. Nami quickly raised her weapon high over her head, charged the Clima Tact with every spark of lightning that Zeus could offer her, and then slammed it down straight onto Clidna's head. The resulting electric shock wave not only fried Clidna, it vaporized her entirely. As Clidna's final shreds fell to the ground Nami staggered, though she dug her heel into the ground and didn't fall.
"I'll always have Bellemere... I won't surrender my friends to get her shadow back!" Nami rasped, shortly before she broke into pixels and shattered.
Yin - Usopp
What began as a white void changed as Usopp opened his eyes, revealing a younger version of himself tearfully staring at a nearby bed. He quickly realized that he remembered that moment and immediately reached for the source of his pain, his dying mother Banchina. As Usopp reached out desperately to take her hand for the final time Usopp's house shattered and he found himself back inside the void, though with a visitor standing in front of him.
Although short the young woman was built well, not overly muscular but also not particularly slim and weak. Both her eyes and hair were brown, and she wore a white vest with brown slacks and a set of hiking boots. Not only was she sturdy, but she also was packing armaments: on her right hip was a long sword etched with the image of a planet, while on her left arm was a long shield that extended down most of her elbow.
"Who the hell are you?!" Usopp screamed, almost hoarsely.
"Call me Blair, representation of the Earth Trigram," the woman said in a soothing voice. "Would you like to have your mother back?"
"Are you a grim reaper or something?! Sweet God!" shrieked Usopp.
"I'm here to offer you options, dimwit, not steal your immortal soul," growled Blair testily. "I've come to show you three alternative fates, and if you choose to live in one all the better! You might even think it's better than what you have now, floating around the seas on a boat with a bunch of people who think that you're useless," she snickered. "I suggest you pay attention."
Blair put her fingers together and sharply snapped them, which changed the air inside the void to a dank, heavy rainstorm. Usopp opened his eyes and found two people engaged in mortal combat, two people he knew very well, and it (as usual) scared him witless. He'd never forgotten facing Luffy in a one-on-one duel. It had been one of the most excruciating experiences of his life, not just the pain of losing but the weight of throwing away one of his best friends for a dying ship.
As Usopp slumped to his knees, a powerful Dial-based attack having nearly broken his arm, he was horrified to find that his opponent stood above him damaged, but not defeated. Luffy thrust his right arm back, a long stretching of his limb far back, and finally he slammed it straight into Usopp's gut, which dropped Usopp to his face and ended the battle. His friends looked on in horror, but Luffy quietly retrieved his hat and bid his crew mate farewell by bestowing the ship on him.
The scene suddenly changed again to a bright, windy day with Usopp standing high above the lower shore in a crowd of onlookers. Everyone was staring out at the newly-built ship of the Straw Hat Pirates, a group that Usopp had been excluded from because of his desertion. With the ship sailing further and further away, under attack by cannonballs thrown by Luffy's grandfather, Usopp finally fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness, and to his elation Luffy's hand soon dragged him onboard the soon-to-be-christened Thousand Sunny.
Back in the white void Usopp fell to his back and skittered away from the manifestation of the Earth Trigram, nearly beginning to hyperventilate and having long ago lost his shirt to a sea of sweat. As Usopp heaved his breath in and out, the marksman let out a desperate shriek and dropped to his seat. "Please, don't kill me!" Usopp whimpered. "I have 'Don't-get-killed-by-scary-lady-itis!' And you're scary!"
A disgruntled Blair snapped her fingers and the scene rewound to when Usopp asked to be let back on the crew. This time, however, as the Thousand Sunny sailed away Usopp remained silent and tears dripped down his face as his former friends blasted away with a massive cannon of air that rocketed their ship far into the distance. Usopp quickly realized that he'd just allowed his friends to sail away, something that filled him with an uncontrollable amount of dread.
"I didn't do that!" he screeched. "Am I in some sort of mucked up alternate reality nightmare or something?! Oh, God, set me free!"
"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Blair groaned as she whacked a mortally terrified Usopp over the head and dropped him. "Here's where the interesting part comes in..." she said wickedly. When she snapped her fingers Usopp reappeared flanked by the Franky Family, who had knelt on one knee to a very shocked marksman. "In this future you take over control of the Franky Family and form an alliance with the Galley-La Company... but then again, while you enjoy a happy and contented life your friends fail miserably at Thriller Bark and the crew is decimated," chuckled Blair. "All the work you did to rescue Nico Robin goes right out the window."
"T-That's a horrible fate...!" Usopp gasped. "'Cause of me, everyone died?!"
"The ghost girl got 'em," shrugged Blair. "Without Mister Negative to counteract the Hollow Hollow Fruit, what could they realistically do? They're defeated, their shadows are stripped from them, and because they never advanced through the Grand Line all of your achievements are undone!" she chortled. "Fishman Island falls, Dressrosa remains occupied, and Kaido and Big Mom blow up the known world!"
"I... I was the one who saved them all...? Honestly? Me?! Without me, they-" choked Usopp.
"Assume another possibility: Returning to Elbaf with the two giants you rescued from Enies Lobby," Blair said coolly. She snapped her fingers and the scene where he was offered a chance to return to the giants' homeland was offered. "Guess what? You became a member of the Giant Pirates and became a 'brave warrior of the sea!' Then again, you end up as a nuisance and when Ace is executed you consider offing yourself..." she chuckled. "Maybe that one isn't as good as the last one. We still have one more."
"Again?! We're going again?!" shrieked Usopp, grabbing his head in both hands and choking out an expletive.
"Yes... What if your father never left you and your dying mother?" Blair asked coyly.
"Y-You... you... you...!" Usopp gasped.
"Of course, your mother still dies. But you get to grow up with your loving father! And, coincidentally enough, since the Straw Hats never form everything you've gone through goes kaput!" laughed Blair. "Arlong remains Nami's slave, Nico Robin dies at Crocodile's hand, and Straw Hat never makes it out of the East Blue alive!" With a final snap of her fingers Blair brought Usopp back to the duel with Luffy, though all of his crew mates had disappeared from sight. "A proud carpenter... a 'brave' warrior of the sea... a loving home... Would you like any of those fates, as opposed to constantly risking your life fighting ungodly powerful opponents?" she sneered.
Usopp's heart rate and pulse had long ago peaked, and sweat oozed from his every pore. He'd never thought about any of what Blair had offered, even given the chance that his father would be in his life for his entire childhood. To join the Giant Pirates, to assume control of the Franky Family, all of it was so heavy! His fears and apprehensions threatened to overwhelm him, but Usopp's thoughts kept centering on the flag that he'd painted for the crew two years earlier... his crew.
I... can't abandon them... dammit! This is bloody mortifying!
"A-And if I say no?" Usopp squeaked. Blair menacingly lifted her weapons and frightened Usopp stiff, causing him to stumble back and onto his seat in terror. "I-I can't beat that! How am I supposed to beat that?!" he croaked. Despite his panic peaking, however, Usopp staggered to his feet and reached behind him, grabbed onto his slingshot and loaded it up with two pieces of ammunition. "T-The only way I can become a brave warrior of the sea... is if I stay with Luffy...!" gasped Usopp. As his resolve tightened he stretched back his slingshot and narrowed in on the armed woman ahead of him. "And that means more to me than anything!"
As Blair lifted her sword and charged at him Usopp slipped two Pop Greens into his Black Kabuto and stretched back its prongs, prayed for the best, and fired both of them at the swordsman coming at him at breakneck speeds. Blair continued to pick up speed but before she could reach her target a massive lump of seaweed barred her path and held her fast, allowing Usopp's second attack - a wolf-like plant with a large bulb on its nose - to slam into her back, shatter her to bits, and propel Usopp far into the distance.
Slowly, weakly, Usopp dragged himself back to the shore and flopped flat on his face. Through his heavy breathing he only vaguely realized that he'd heard Nami screaming in anguish and raised his head to see Luffy deliver the final blow that ended their duel and broke the crew to pieces. Even so, even as his past self slumped defeated to the ground, Usopp weakly smiled and flashed a thumbs-up before shattering into pixels.
Yang - Sanji
One minute he'd been cooking up lunch, pondering unique ways to woo Nami and Robin. The next thing he knew Sanji was face down inside a blank white void, totally empty and - most importantly - without Nami and Robin. Losing Mosshead was no tragedy, but the others did resonate with him for a brief moment before he stumbled to his feet, withdrew a cigarette, and put the foul stick to his lips. He swiftly cracked open his lighter and put it to the cigarette, inhaled a deep breath, and by the time exhaled he'd already decided on his first words.
"NA-MI! RO-BIN!" Sanji screamed desperately, feeling the smoke churn in his lungs and causing him to choke. "Where are my sweet angels...?!"
Although Sanji mourned the loss of his beloved crew mates and cursed his own weakness for having been separated from them, his senses remained as razor sharp as ever and he could tell that someone was sneaking up behind him. While still holding onto his smoke Sanji pivoted on his heel and hurled his leg at the oncoming assailant. Unfortunately, said assailant easily caught his kick and used its own momentum to force Sanji to the ground. He tucked and rolled, his heart began to burn, and finally his right leg burst out into red-hot flames that licked at his skin like daggers of heat.
"And who the hell are you?!" snarled Sanji. "Give back Nami and Robin!"
His attacker stood behind him calmly, totally unaffected by Sanji's threat - frustratingly so. Bearing wild, fiery red hair the man standing before him wore a red jacket with black boots and gloves as well as a set of slacks and a shirt that both bore the image of a curling wild fire. He was tall, but two inches shorter than Sanji was. The warrior was lanky but muscular, slender but sturdy, and had a thin black revolver at his left hip.
"You've arrived in a totally empty void with someone you just thrashed you, and your first thought is to think about women?" grumbled the assailant. Sanji firmly nodded and the redhead threw up his hands in disgust before raising his left foot and slamming it into the ground. Rather than hearing a thud Sanji felt a thick blade pierce his senses and when the attacker raised his leg there was a totally perfect hole where he'd stomped his foot down.
"Who... what...?!" Sanji croaked.
"I am Rocket, the Trigram of Fire," the redhead said coolly. "I've come to show you your future."
"I already know my future, you asshole!" roared Sanji. "It's with my friends!"
A disgruntled Rocket snapped his fingers and Sanji's world went black. When his senses returned to him the cook took stock of where he was and realized that he was standing onboard the Going Merry with his foot firmly stuck on the side of the ship. He remembered that day well, especially because Zoro's boasting had ignited a fire in him that even his own fiery techniques couldn't match. Seeing Mosshead staring up at him with contempt in his eyes only caused Sanji's to start twitching.
"You can stay there all comfortable while I catch something you could never bag!" Zoro said coolly. "Don't worry yourself too much and I'll bring back some lunch."
"Oh, now we have an argument to settle, you jackass!" Rocket sneered, appearing to Sanji's right suddenly and startling the cook. As Sanji looked on in fury the assailant produced his middle finger and stared down Zoro with all the intensity that Sanji showed. "I'll catch a bigger haul than you ever could!"
"I'm clearly going to win!" snarled Zoro.
"I'll catch the biggest dinosaur on the whole damned island and shove it in your face before I cook it!" spat back Rocket, a wide smile on his face. "There's no way you can beat me, Mosshead!" While Rocket and Zoro began to bicker back and forth Sanji quickly grabbed onto his collar and began to shake him, but when the redhead laid his pistol at his head and clicked it, Sanji quickly backed down. "I've got some special Candy Jackets, so I'd advise that you not move any further."
"What's your angle...?!" hissed Sanji.
"I told you before, I've come to show you your future. Well, alternate futures..." shrugged Rocket. "And who knows? Maybe you'll choose to stick with one. As the representative of the Trigram of Fire, I'll demonstrate the worlds that you could have lived in," he said coolly. "For example... What if you'd never started your petty little feud with Roronoa?"
"It's inevitable!" Sanji snarled.
"Quite to the contrary. Until the incident at Little Garden, you were nothing but cordial to one another," Rocket said coolly, to Sanji's fury. "What if you two became best friends, in fact? You'd be unstoppable."
"I'd rather die!" roared Sanji furiously.
Rocket snapped his fingers and Sanji's awareness turned to the sandy climate of Alabasta during Crocodile's war against Vivi, and as he lifted his eyes to the sky he watched as he and Zoro teamed up to maneuver Vivi to the top of the clock tower. He found, to his horror, that they eagerly called out to each other and bid each other luck, something that Sanji found to be so repulsive that he nearly lost his lunch before time froze.
"That would never happen!" growled Sanji.
"Indeed, it's unlikely. You two are like oil and vinegar. However... if you'd teamed up together against these folks..." Rocket smirked as he snapped his fingers and Sanji returned to the Davy Back Fight. While Zoro and Sanji in the original timeline had argued and struggled against one another, in the reality that Rocket showed him Sanji watched as he and Zoro easily coordinated and crushed the Groggy Monsters within the first minute. "You two would easily make mincemeat out of those jokers..." grinned Rocket. "That is, if you hadn't been quarreling the entire time and leaving yourselves open to attack."
"What kind of mucked up illusion is this?!" Sanji snapped.
Again Rocket snapped his fingers and the scene changed to the Wolf Room of Enies Lobby, where the CP9 agent Jabra was ready to kill Usopp. Before he could do so Sanji appeared and brutally smacked his boot into the wolf-man's face and sent him flying. After a bit of banter between himself and the King of Snipers, Usopp quickly moved to escape and Jabra similarly moved to attack him, and when Sanji struck him he failed. As Zoro began his match with the CP9 member Kaku, Jabra attempted to strike the swordsman but was brutally beaten in the face and tossed through the wall, where Sanji would engage and defeat him.
"I don't remember things happening like that!" Sanji hissed.
"Close enough," Rocket shrugged. He snapped his fingers again and the scene rewound a bit, ending with Sanji and Zoro teaming up against Kaku and Jabra. "If you'd went two-on-two your inexperience with one another would give CP9 the advantage and they would destroy you. In so doing Nico Robin is captured, tortured, and executed. Roronoa, however, gives his life to let you escape..." chuckled Rocket.
"Oh, bite me!" snarled Sanji.
"Then you would escape Enies Lobby and begin life as a vagabond cook, aimlessly wandering the Grand Line in search of the All Blue. That is, until that fat old bag Big Mom seizes you and makes you part of her assassination plot," Rocket chortled. "Without your friends to help save you, you and your family are executed... and Big Mom teams up with Kaido to destroy the world."
"I would never let that happen - not teaming up with Mosshead and certainly not letting Robin suffer!" Sanji spat back.
"And does a third scenario have any appeal?" grinned Rocket. With a snap of his fingers Enies Lobby vanished and a very familiar island took shape. It was a bizarre chunk of rock in the middle of nowhere, where the sea had eroded the island to the point where no one could leave it, fish on it, or in fact survive on it alone.
"Y-You wouldn't..." growled Sanji. "Not that..."
"Were you rescued earlier, Zeff would keep his foot and continue as a pirate. You, meanwhile, would ascend the ranks of the Marines and reach the rank of Executive Chef onboard an important Navy officer's battleship!" Rocket said cruelly. "You'd be fawned over by female officers and enlisted, refine your skills, and eventually become Head Chef of an entire Navy base!" he sneered. "On the down side, Zeff remains a violent pirate and nothing you did ever happens..."
"You... son of a...!" Sanji croaked.
"Nami remains Arlong's slave, Robin dies at Crocodile's hand, and when the Paramount War rolled around both Ace and Straw Hat would lose their heads! But," he reminded Sanji, "you'd be living out your dream: Cooking excellent food while surrounded by beautiful women! A small price to pay, right?" As the white void formed again Sanji angrily crushed out his cigarette and ground to bits with his foot while Rocket simply stared at him confidently. "You've often thought of what would have happened if Zeff hadn't lost his foot, right?"
"Y-You... you...!" hacked Sanji.
"You wouldn't have ever met Nami and Robin, so you wouldn't be affected by their suffering! I'm offering you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to throw away your life as a worldwide criminal and settle down into a paradise of women and booze!" cackled Rocket. "I'd suggest that you take that very carefully into consideration."
"And if I refuse?" Sanji asked coldly. Nearly before Sanji could react Rocket hardened his leg and stabbed it at him, and when the blow connected the cook was rocketed nearly a meter away from his enemy. Though he caught himself and dug his heel into the ground, Sanji realized that the option was being offered with a threat: "Do it or die."
"Then you fight me, fight to keep your past and future. Be warned, however... I've 'eaten' the Pierce Pierce Fruit, which allows my strikes to penetrate anything! And not just your blood and bones, but your thoughts and memories!" Rocket said sadistically. "I'd push out your attachments to the others and make you forget about those fools anyway!"
Sanji wordlessly put a cigarette to his mouth, snapped open his lighter, and put the flame to his cigarette. He slowly stashed the lighter inside his vest, slipped into a ready position, and in a flash of light his leg became coated in white hot flames, fire so great that even the air itself recoiled at its heat. Clearly this was his final answer: He'd go out fighting if he had to make a choice between a happy life and his friends.
With a shrug of his shoulders Rocket drew his sidearm and fired off several shots at Sanji's head, though a single swipe of his demonic leg easily incinerated the bullets. Though he was able to do so without effort, the cook was surprised when Rocket closed the distance between them and stabbed his leg into his belly, cutting a large gash in it that sent him to the ground in agonizing pain. Rocket slowly lifted his pistol, put it to Sanji's forehead, and pulled the trigger.
With his eyes closed Sanji activated his Observation Haki and easily slid out of the way of the bullet, then did a handstand and nearly nailed Rocket. As his nemesis stumbled Sanji kicked off against the ground and thrust his flaming leg into Rocket's chest, and with a single push his demonic Ifrit Jambe blasted the Trigram into shreds of flesh. Sanji quickly fell to one knee but caught himself, and as he stumbled to his feet he took in a deep puff of his cigarette.
"As long as they need me... I'll never cook them a disappointing meal!" Sanji growled, shortly before he shattered to pixels.
Author's Notes
And that makes half of the Straw Hats. I hope you guys enjoyed it... and there'll be more to come in a few days. One more chapter will finish everything off. Also, just a quick note: all the Yin Trigrams are left-handed. I doubt I fleshed that out enough.
Also potentially controversial is the lack of named attacks. This is just a personal preference... I've refrained from my characters yelling out attack names for most of my writing career. If it bothers you, I'm reluctant to tell you that it won't change, so sue me. I'd rather describe attacks than scream out cool-sounding attack names. In the next chapter Franky changes that because he is, of course, Franky.