The Ultimate Worst Generation

by stringdog

The Straw Hats have arrived on their final stop before descending to Fish-man Island and onto the New World, the Sabaody Archipelago. However, they're not the only big name rookies present, they are just one of 14 rookie crews present and the other 13 all have big names as well. Mass deep crossover with Fairy Tail, My Hero Academia, Black Clover, Akame ga Kill, and RWBY.

21. Chapter 21: Warlords Enter the Battle

Here is the twenty-first chapter in this story released in accordance with my upload schedule for this story. The War of the Best has kicked off and already Mihawk has made an attempt on Whitebeard but will it succeed? If not, well what about the other Warlords, will they join in now? Time to find out as that is all that I have for the administrative stuff I have for y'all and while there are no questions there is a guest review that needs a response and a notification to make so I will do that now. Do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate.

To KGBeastboy (guest), thank you for your reviews and suggestions, I will address them now though I will first start by clarifying something regarding the One Piece films in general and Z in particular. With the films that fall under this series' timeline, most don't fit as they are classic anime films and so while film characters are fair game, I won't be adapting the films into this series mainly because they don't fit but I may do stand alone stories for them, at least with Stampede given it's nature but I may do Red as well for other reasons. The one exception to this lack of a clear canon spot for the post time skip films is Z as it can roughly fit before Punk Hazard so there will be elements of it worked into this story. I won't be adapting the film itself, other than new marines it just doesn't make sense as I wouldn't really add or change anything to it, but as you suggested before there will be a chapter that is part of the final time skip ones where Z and Najenda meet and discus things prior to Z engaging in his plan as well as a look at Z talking to Ain and Binz about Najenda and possibly the pair joining her crew as the final moment of the time skip arc. I am leaning towards this and if they do then they will be present with the crew throughout which will include the Dressrosa arc as only one full crew of the new 5 won't be present though one of the other 4 will only send a few members to the island for various reasons. As such they can meet FNKI there and learn of Z's last words from them and what he said as it wouldn't be hard to have FNKI be part of Issho's detachment. That way they can relay what Z told Neon and Selkie in his final moments and help give Ain and Binz some final closure. If there is support I may do a small flashback for it but that really would be the only notable change to the Z film so it would be a bit of a detraction otherwise. I hope you can understand, this is a good idea and works with other plans but it would have to be an after the fact thing. Now onto FNKI themselves. Firstly, the marine idea does work really well what with Atlas's nature in RWBY and how they were part of the military in volume 8 so having those tied to Atlas in the marines is basically a given hence why Ironwood is one of the Admirals and Winter and the Ace Ops part of the marines so it just makes sense that FNKI are as well. Your interpretation of Z's actions could be right, he was always a teacher first and showed that he got along with Aokiji during their scenes as well but I'll watch Z one more time before I work with his character to see how it all plays out and think on what his words might be to the non-human and non-giant marines. With FNKI individually, the ideas are certainly good and as seen with the last chapter there's a good bit of support for Devil Fruit based weapons like Cross Tail so adapting weapons like that to match/fit RWBY weapons does work and with Vegapunk there's bound to be an abundance of lose weapons that are 'failures' by his standards lying around. Getting them may be tricky but I'm sure Ironwood can manage it as an Admiral. I agree that Flynt and Neon should be higher ranked than Cody, they will have been around longer and are older so Commodore works for them and it would put them around the same rank as the Ace Ops below Clover. The trumpet is an interesting style, will make his stand out, and his semblance is easy to adapt into a Devil Fruit so all that works fine and I'll keep everything in mind for when he makes his debut. Similarly with Neon, all that looks good with her. I'll have to do some more look into her semblance to see how it can be adapted but as will be revealed in this chapter her having a Paramecia type will work well for her story and why she opted to join the marines despite there being only a few faunus in their ranks. We don't have much on Ivory or Kobalt, they basically appear once that I can remember so yeah they'll basically be lower ranked and have weapons based off Devil Fruits though as Ivory uses a whip I might model it after Rear Admiral Kujaku's Whip-Whip Fruit instead and that be why it failed and Vegapunk only added the ice factor later when he failed with the nunchucks. At least Flint and Neon will be able to use Haki so Kobalt known Armament Haki as well works and would help explain why they're stationed in the new world. Don't worry about the review, that's a glitch that occurs from time to time where the review is present just can't be seen, usually it's fixed within a few days so if the review count goes up it's there regardless of if it's visible yet. Do keep reading and enjoying my work.

Anyway, that is enough for this long pre-chapter note so sit back and enjoy the twenty-first chapter in The Ultimate Worst Generation.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these great franchises.

Chapter 21: Warlords Enter the Battle

The unnatural green air slash that Mihawk had generated with his sword tore across the ice and right at Whitebeard as he stood on the prow of the Moby Dick. As it did ice was churned up as slash carved a deep groove in it that caused Whitebeard Pirates to yell and leap to the side of it to get out of its way. While none were hit, the sheer force of it did send any pirate who was near it flying into the air as yells and screams could be heard. Despite all this, Whitebeard remained unmoving and just smiled as the attack approached him.

It was frankly an unnerving sight for Akame and Tatsumi who like everyone else had stopped to watch the attack close in on the world's strongest pirate. They were well clear of its path but both of them could acknowledge it's power and that neither could match it at their current skill levels. Tatsumi wasn't even sure if full beast mode could handle it without dying, or at least without taking a serious wound from it, though if did survive the attack he could adapt to it. That said, he was in no hurry to test that theory out.

"Why isn't he using that great power of his?" Tatsumi asked as the slash closed in and Whitebeard's men were yelling at him. "That should be able to stop Mihawk's attack."

"I'm not sure." Akame admitted. "It's the obvious thing to do, those quakes could stop even the World's Greatest Swordsman's slash but I think there's more to it. He's…"

Before Akame could finish there was a yell louder than the others and a figure shot across the ice and put himself between the slash and the Moby Dick mere seconds before it would impact the ship. That was an insanely ballsy move but Tatsumi had a gut feeling that the person who'd charged had a way to counter or stop the slash. He'd have to because otherwise he'd be bisected vertically.

This was proven to be the case as the slash slammed into the man with a boom that kicked up a lot of chunks of ice and instantly slowed to a crawl as ice dust filled the area in front of the Moby Dick. It wasn't halted, the force behind it was enough to keep driving it forward, but it was being contained by whoever had intercepted it. Said person yelled his defiance against the slash for a few more seconds before he seemed to find his feet and suddenly threw the slash high into the sky.

It kept moving only now it was swirling around in a vortex formation for a few more seconds before it finally ran out of power and exploded in a ring overhead. As it did the light of day returned to normal as if nothing had happened. All that remained from the attack was the deep furrow it had carved in the ice as everyone stared in shock at the block before their eyes fell to look at the man standing at the end of the furrow.

The man was shrouded in cold ice dust but through it Tatsumi and Akame could see what looked like bright, light purple, crystals covering almost his entire body except the left half of his face, neck, and shoulder. The crystals sparkled liked diamonds and as soon as the pair saw it, it clicked as to who the man was.

"Diamond Jozu, Whitebeard's Third Division Commander." Tatsumi said recalling the information on the commanders that the boss had made them learn on the way to Marineford so that they knew who to aid during the assault. "I was curious about that. Seems like the diamond epithet was literal, he's got a Devil Fruit that can turn his body to diamonds. I wonder? Is that a Paramecia or a solid Logia?"

"It's a Paramecia type, the Twinkle-Twinkle Fruit." Akame said a nugget from her dark past before she saw the true nature of the World Government coming back to her. "Back when I was still a slave assassin we were made to learn the names and if applicable the powers of all of Whitebeard's commanders as they were all valid assassination targets so we had to know how to counter them if possible. He can't move the parts he's transformed into diamonds so he can't control it outside his body but, well, diamonds are some of the hardest materials on the planet so his defense is impressive."

"Clearly, not even a slash from the legendary Dracule Mihawk can cut through it." Tatsumi said as Mihawk and Jozu stared each other down for a moment before Mihawk sheathed his sword on his back showing that he was done attacking. "Well, back to it then."

Akame nodded and at that she turned and whipped her left arm across her body sending out a half dozen blades from it that took several of the still stunned marines in the chest downing them. Though, as the attack, was a sudden surprise one that Akame didn't have time to aim only two were heart shots that killed their targets though all 6 marines were out of the battle.

At the same time members of the Whitebeard Pirates charged forward into the fray as well, the spell of Mihawk's attack and its subsequent block by one of their own commanders broken and with that a big boost in their moral. Instantly the fighting resuming in earnest with Akame, Tatsumi, and the other Night Pirates on the front lines right in the thick of it as they pushed forward to the plaza only now the Warlords were interested and when one stepped up, others would as well when they saw something that interested them or simply decided it was time to join the battle.

---

"Better luck next time, ha." Doflamingo laughed as Mihawk stepped back after his failed attack on Whitebeard. "Not even you can cut through Jozu's power it seems. Those are some tough diamonds."

Mihawk didn't say a word as he just watched the battle resume below him. He's seen his chance and taken it; he'd failed but the battle was still young and he'd do what he'd agreed to do as a Warlord though that was it, anything outside the agreement and he was gone.

"And they call us savages." Sienna said as she sneered down at the battle before them. "Look at how they slaughter each other all for the life of one pirate, and almost all of them are humans. Few fish-men and faunus out there but that's it as far as I can tell. Maybe a mink, I know the Navy has at least one mink officer, but none of that absolves the barbarous nature of all those humans."

Hancock didn't respond; she was just watching the slaughter impassively. It was almost all men, there were a few women present with at least two, a raven haired girl with a katana and a purple haired one with a large pair of scissors for some reason, carving bloody paths while another female Zoan user was beating marines to death with her bare hands, but for the most part it was men. All this did was remind Hancock of how barbaric almost all men were. Only her darling Luffy was an exception to that fact and she hoped he was alright unaware of how close he was to the battle.

"Ha, you're one to talk Grudge Holder." Doflamingo laughed interrupting Hancock's latest thoughts on Luffy's wellbeing to hear what was being said. "I've seen the reports on you, you're as savage as they come. Not that I mind, I like a good bit of blood and you faunus sure know how to spill it. A few of the gladiators back on Dressrosa are faunus, they always put on a good show."

"Of course you do, Heavenly Demon." Sienna spat out as she watched. "You're vile reputation precedes you. I do what I can for my people and if that means spilling blood for the sake of respect then so be it. You like blood for blood's sake."

"Haha, guilty as charged, I do enjoy a good war and we've got us a really fine one right here." Doflamingo said laughing even more. "I'm not the only one who's entertained by all this."

"Yes, the malice here is delicious." Dante said from next to Doflamingo as he bathed in it, "I will have to enter the frenzy soon, once it reaches a good point. Man I love war, really brings out the truest form of humanity. It's intoxicating and arousing at the same time."

"You lot just prove my point." Sienna said the disgust clear in her voice. "Violence for respect is how this fucked up world works, that is why we stoop to your level, but to relish in it like you two are is not what we're about. Why…"

Sienne paused as her keen eyes saw it. She'd not really been focused on the battle in detail, she'd just been glancing over it with her general disgust towards the barbaric nature of humans, but as she'd been speaking she saw the unnatural flash and turned to it. The moment she saw what it was her nostrils flared with anger as a low, feline, growl rose in her throat and a snarl split her face, her hackles raised at the sight.

"Oh, does the kitty smell something good?" Dante asked with a grin looking over at Sienna's sudden change and basking in the malice she was now giving off. "Mhm I can feel your hatred, your righteous anger and the malice that is building it you. Yes, embrace it my dear and remind us what it means to be sentient! You might make yourself worthy of being one of my women one day yet."

"Silence you creepy bastard." Sienna said her voice a low growl as she suddenly bent her knees hands out to her side as her canines flashed in the sun. "I see a thief on the battlefield, a vile human who's dared take what belongs to us faunus! I will make an example of her for this!"

With that Sienna let out a roar that resonated in the chests of the other Warlords, well except Kuma as he was now basically just a machine, and leapt off the wall and towards the ice with enough force to shatter where she'd been standing. It was an unexpected 180 from her but no one really questioned it, they were here to help after all and almost all of them were looking forward to battle for various reasons.

"I guess the tigress saw something that really caught her eye." Doflamingo said licking his lips. "And that reaction, she's out for blood. This just got real interesting. For all her talk she's no better than the rest of us."

"That it did and with that I feel like I've reached the edge that I need." Dante said his grin widening as he drew his cutlass, the marines, and Whitebeard Pirates down below now both giving off so much of it that Dante couldn't get enough just standing here, he had to join in with it. "Time to join the battle and let the malice on both sides permeate my body. I've been looking for this for so long, don't let me down now!"

Before anyone could respond, Dante followed Sienna's lead and leapt off the wall, though with more grace than she'd shown, and into the fray. As he did he got cheers from soldiers at the Warlord with the highest bounty before becoming one joining the fight but he ignored them as he landed in the midst of several Whitebeard Pirates and engaged them, cutting 3 down with his cutlass before they could react.

"Haha, the Devil's Body, Dante the Malicious, has already gone out to fight." Doflamingo said. "No great style to him but with his power he doesn't need it. This is getting really good now."

"I'll say, Dante has the right idea." Rikiya said with one last straitening of his tie and took a step forward as the splotch on his forehead grew larger. "Just standing here has reached its peak for me. We've seen what Whitebeard can do, survived it, and are now we're being attacked by them. I'd say my stress won't increase any more so long as I stand here. Time to really up it with the thrill of a life or death battle. Excuse me gentlemen, lady Hancock, but I must take to the field."

Hancock was a little surprised by the strangeness of Rikiya's words as it was far too polite for the situation. However, it got even more confusing when the splotch on Rikiya's forehead grew into a mask and his eyes turned white before his whole body swelled up, his suit almost bursting at the seams from his sudden powerup, and he leapt off with a near primal roar.

It was a stark contrast to the calm and relaxed demeanor that he displayed up to this point but there was no doubting that his strength had been boosted as the wall cracked from his leap. This was reinforced when he proceeded to punch a Whitebeard Pirate into the ice so hard that it just left a bloody smear there as he landed in the middle of the battle. Whatever he'd done it was a serious powerup that could only cone from a Devil Fruit.

"So that's why he kept rambling on about stress." Doflamingo said a little surprised but grinning at the sight of Rikiya's, or as he would now call himself Re-Destro as his power was fully active, entrance into the battle. "Wondered what that did. These new Warlords are already showing their stuff, haha. I like it. Make your bones out there, great way to assert your new position."

"Kishishishi." Moria laughed. "Yes, keep making me beautiful corpses. A battlefield filled with corpses and shadows, just what I need! Some may need a little stitching up but that's more than worth it with all that I'll be collecting from this battle."

"Aren't you going to join the fun as well Dark Raven?" Doflamingo asked looking at Ivan who'd yet to speak though he was enjoying watching the battle as it played out below the Warlords. "You're the only new Warlord not out there. Come on and show us what you got and have a little fun with the Whitebeard Pirates. Hell, hurt the marines as well, they're fair game too."

"I'm waiting for the right target." Ivan said simply as he looked out over the ice. "I need just the right person to act and then I'll show you what I can do."

"Cryptic but you're always mysterious." Doflamingo said, he'd worked with and against Ivan in the New World for years so he knew that the man was strange but his cruelty and desire for power couldn't be ignored so when he did fight Doflamingo would enjoy watching it. "Go on, join. We all agreed to fight."

Ivan didn't respond to Doflamingo's taunting. He was going to fight but he needed the right person, someone who he could fight that the others couldn't so he could show his power and worth to the World Government and thus, when this was over and he was free of this inconvenience, ensure that they didn't pay him any attention beyond his Warlord duties. After all, he'd only accepted this role after Jose was beaten because of who beat Jose and how they might help him in time so he needed more freedom to achieve that, freedom he'd not get if he was still wanted by the Navy.

As such he'd accepted their offer to become a Warlord, well he'd made sure to submit his name as a candidate through an intermediary just to be safe. He'd even sent his intermediary with few New World pirate crews like the Eisenwald Pirates and the Dark Unicorn Pirates as gifts to the World Government to show his commitment to being a Warlord.

That had been enough to convince the Navy and World Government to name him a Warlord and given him some pocket change as well, which was a nice bonus. It helped that the notorious New World crew to which those lesser crews were subordinate to had also been captured so he didn't rise any ire and even got a few other crews to swear fealty to him as subordinates.

Yes, things were looking good for Ivan and he wasn't about to mess up the sweet gig he now had. He'd been searching for years and now with a certain rookie crew making a name for themselves and their clear ties to his old man, well he had to act now even if it meant allying with the World Government. Alas that did mean that at times like this he would have to honor his contract with them and help the Navy in times of great need so he needed something to do to show his worth so that he could get away with what he was really doing once this was over.

All of this was why he was looking for that target that could give him what he needed to do just that. Thankfully, he found it as he saw the path of bloody corpses in one section of the battlefield and the marines there start to give the pirate creating them a wide berth while ranged experts moved into place so as to avoid close combat with the deadly pirate. Yes, that was his target and with a grin Ivan leapt off the wall. However, the moment he did his body turned into a stream of paper shikigamis that flew over the battlefield towards his target.

"There we go, now we got all four new Warlords out there." Doflamingo said as he cackled his own plan in mind but he wanted his target to get a little closer before he acted. "This will be a really good show for us. Let's go! Feed my hunger for war!"

Hancock just scowled at that as she continued to watch the battlefield. She was here for Luffy and was waiting for him to arrive, until then she'd just watch this barbarism and maybe act if need be though she'd not discriminate with her targets. Right now, though, well there were some interesting battles getting underway and the remaining Warlords all watched as they planned their own attacks in time.

---

"Come on bitches, this the best the Navy's got!" Leone roared as she punched a marine so hard in the chest that his ribs shattered and pulverized his internal organs thus killing him before blasting him back and knocking over a few others in the process. "I'm not even worth 100 million! How do you think you'll do against Whitebeard!"

Leone was fully in the thralls of battle and transformed into her hybrid form, golden fur that was splattered with blood covering her whole body and her tail whipping out behind her as she fully embraced the ferocity of a carnivorous Zoan. It was a heightened sense that only those who'd eaten Zoan fruits like hers could feel when they transformed though Leone knew that this was nothing compared to the ferocity and sheer brutal savagery that came from Tatsumi's transformation.

Then again, that was also the clear difference between the nature of a standard Zoan and that of a Mythical Zoan. Still, Leone didn't care because it wasn't like she didn't have benefits with her Devil Fruit that she wouldn't trade for the world. Right now her body was rippling with the hard, lean, tough, muscles of a lioness and her claws were unsheathed and dripping with blood, and canines glinting as she pummeled any marine who came near her while pushing her way towards the plaza.

As expected they'd all gotten split up the moment that they hit the ice and while Tatsumi and Akame managed to stay together that was in large part because of how much they trained with each other and their similar sword based fighting styles. That and frankly Su, Bulat, and Sheele kinda had to fight alone because of the destruction that they usually left in their wake. Again, it was nothing compared to what Tatsumi could do when he used his power but he was saving that and he and Akame complemented each other in battle so they stuck together.

There were other reasons of course, Leone wasn't blind to them even if she too had a soft spot for Tatsumi, and it was because of that that they worked so well together even if neither was yet willing to admit to the other how they felt. If she'd wanted to, Leone could have stayed with them but she'd decided to split off and make her own way as that gave her more room to maneuver and go full brawler the way she liked. Well, that and she'd seen someone who might be worth fighting.

He wasn't hard to miss on the battlefield, after all he was the only mink on the marines' side and as a lion mink he cut a striking figure with his claws, jaws, and the luscious mane that a male lion had. Add in that like all minks he had electro and between that and his raw strength he was dropping any Whitebeard Pirates that came near him which was a lot better than what most of the marines were currently doing.

The man was Commodore Shishido and while he was on the do not kill list, he was still a damned good fighter so he needed to be taken out of the fight. As such, and in part because of her Devil Fruit being the lion model, Leone was pushing towards him. Thankfully, her last attack and cry had finally gotten his attention.

"Well if it isn't the Beast Woman herself, Leone of the Night Pirates." Shishido growled as he turned at her challenge while tossing the unconscious Whitebeard Pirate who he was holding by the face after hitting him with electro to the side. "So, you lot decided to join this party. Not surprised given your Captain and her war against us. This is going to get annoying once Shirokami realizes it but oh well, at least that will get her to the battlefield. That will change this war in an instant."

"You know as well as anyone why the boss defected." Leone said not answering the point about Esdeath as that was something they full expected while the marines that were nearby began to give them a wide berth, many cheering the mink Commodore who's strength was well known in the marines as he stalked towards Leone. "As a mink you must surely see it."

"I am aware of the many things that are wrong in this world that my fellow minks do not see but I chose to serve and make things better this way rather than become a criminal." Shishido said his bestial side taking over as he got ready to pounce on the assassin who'd slain many of his comrades using a power that made her kin to him in a way that went beyond a mink's standard view on humans as being monkey minks with less hair so therefore the same race. "The giants managed it and Jimbei has done great things as a Warlord, he is the only one of them that I respect, so I can as well. You lot only make things worse. It will be a pleasure to arrest you."

"Come at me then big boy." Leone said with a grin. "I've been itching for a good fight, these meat shields can't do shit against me, and I'm curious as to what's better. A lion mink or the lion Devil Fruit user."

"You'll see!" Shishido roared as he rushed forward hands low and claws out, his mane billowing out behind him. "I'll…"

"Stay out of this mink, this is my fight!"

Shishido had been mid charge when a shadow fell over him and something, well someone, landed right on his shoulders driving him face first into the ice with a boom that kicked up a fair amount of ice dust. It wasn't enough to kill or even knock out the strong mink but it was a shock to see and for a moment Shishido and his attacker were obscured by ice debris. When it cleared Leone blinked at the sight and the marines who'd given Shishido a wide berth for his attack on her now backed up even more though some were cheering at the new arrival.

Leone could see why because standing before her, and in front of Shishido who's face was currently stuck in the ice as he tried to pull it out, was a lithe woman in a slightly elaborate red and black outfit with burnt sienna skin that had tiger stripe tattoos visible on it. That alone was enough for Leone to recognize her but the pair of Bengal tiger ears atop her head that twitch slightly confirmed it. Grudge Holder Khan Sienna, the Captain of the White Fang Pirates and one of the recent additions to the 11 Warlords had entered the battle and deliberately targeted Leone.

"What was that for!" Shishido roared as he finally pulled his face out of the ice, blood running down it but that didn't seem to bother him at all. "This is my fight and we're on the same side!"

"My contract simply states that I must help the World Government when called, it says nothing about being gentle with marines when I do that." Sienna said not looking at Shishido as she glared at Leone though she did note that the mink had been around humans long enough to lose the strange affectation that most minks spoke with. "Now begone, I am a Warlord and I've entered the battle to take down this thieving bitch. You should be honored that I'm focusing my attention on her and ending her bloody rampage as I could have just let her continue had I not realized that she was a thief."

"There are other fights that could use your attention." Shishido pointed out. "Go and deal…"

"You don't get it; you minks never did." Sienna spat. "We tried to work with you but Cat Viper and Dogstorm shot us down because of your naïve perception on humans and faunus. Apparently our views are too radical, our goals too ambitious, and the fact that minks, humans, and faunus are separate species is too preposterous for you lot to understand."

"Don't you dare take Dogstorm's name in vain." Shishido spat back, he was a great admirer of the Ruler of Day, a rarity given that he was a feline mink like Cat Viper, and it was because of Dogstorm and his stories that Shishido had done what few minks had done and left Zou to see the world, which had ultimately led him to the marines. "I know your struggle and desires, it's why I was happy that a faunus became a Warlord because you could be like Jimbei, but we will never accept such a narrow minded view that minks, humans, and faunus are separate species. We are all minks, humans and faunus are just lesser minks due to the lack of hair."

"This is why you don't understand that they are ours by right, you don't see the fact that we're all different races with the humans at the top and everyone else as inferior beings to them." Sienna said still glaring at Leone who was a bit confused by the chat but used the respite to recover some of the stamina she'd used killing all the marines she'd killed up to this point. "We were blessed with a singular trait unlike you minks who are full animal humanoids so I get why you you're so misinformed."

"It is you who is misinformed, in my time in the marines I've helped many see that we are all the same." Shishido spat. "And nothing is yours by right, that bullshit only causes more issues."

"You wouldn't get it, you can't because you're not like us." Sienna said her anger only growing as she spoke. "They are ours by right. It's why I make all those who join my crew swear to fulfill this duty if possible. So when I see a thief who's stolen what is property of the faunus race, well I must kill her to force it back so that we can find it and give it to the right faunus. Go, I've got this."

"Fine, you're too insane to reason with." Shishido snarled once again being reminded about the issues with the Warlord system and realizing that this chick was nothing like Jimbei. "I'll leave this to you then."

With that Shishido growled and turned, running off to the battle. Several marines, likely those under his command, followed him while those remaining to watch the match cheered for Sienna as they now had a Warlord backing them up and she'd be able to stand up to the lion woman who was killing them without mercy. Naturally, Sienna wasn't paying attention to them as she focused all her attention and rage on the thieving human before her.

"What was that about?" Leone asked still confused. "What are you…"

"Silence thief, you have no right to speak to speak to me." Sienna said her rage growing even more which on some level impressed Leone because it was already well past the point of being unbridled. "Of all the thieves out there you are one of the worst. I take your theft, same with Rob Lucci's, personally. How dare people like you deprive the faunus of such a prize that is ours by right!"

"Listen honey, if you want me to understand your insane ravings you're going to have to elaborate." Leone said. "I've stolen a whole lot of shit in my time. Also assaulted and killed a lot of people as well. Then there are acts of vandalism, sabotage, terrorism, arson, really my crimes are too numerous to count or remember so you'll have to jog my memory. What did I steal?"

"What do you think I'm talking about girl!" Sienna cried almost frothing now in a way those who knew her had never seen but the girl before her brought this out as Sienna hadn't expected to encounter this theft. "Your Devil Fruit! That is what you stole from us!"

"My Devil Fruit?" Leone asked cocking her head now completely confused. "I mean yeah I did steal it as a child, I was poor and hungry on the streets of my homeland's capital and I saw it when I broke into some rich bastards house. It was being protected so I figured that it had to be good and given my state at the time it was much better in my stomach than his house so I ate it. It was actually rather disappointing as it was nasty tasting and a little stringy, but hey it got me these sweet powers so I'm not complaining."

"I'm not talking about that kind of theft; you just stole it from another thief." Sienna said as she channeled her anger into a hard focus. "No, this is deeper than something that trivial. All normal Zoan type Devil Fruits are the property of the faunus! If the humans that run this world see us as animals then animals we shall be and we'll show them that by eating the Zoan Devil Fruits and becoming the animals that they fear. That is what you stole from us and as a feline faunus I take exceptional offense at seeing a human wielding the power of a cat model, especially the King of the Cats."

"Oh, ok, I get it now, you're a crazy zealot." Leone said understanding as she set herself and growled. "Well, bitch, I ain't relinquishing this power because you'll have to kill me to do that and even then it will just reenter circulation and my friends will make sure to find it so that someone they trust can eat it and carry on where I left off."

"That's what I'm going to do, bitch." Sienna said grinning. "I'm going to rip your heart out and crush it. Then I'm going to make sure that we find the lion model when it reenters circulation. Don't worry, I got a crewmember who's been dying for it and the power that that particular Zoan can bring is one we desperately need. Only a faunus of the same species or at least general animal family has a right to eat a Zoan fruit."

"Then come get it, we've not tangled with a Warlord yet so this is a good test." Leone said returning Sienna's grin with a feral one of her own. "But I'm the King of the Cats with my Devil Fruit, you said it yourself."

"Oh I know but in the big cat world there is one who is bigger than the king, one who can challenge him or in this case her." Sienna said as her body began to grow and fur burst out of her skin where it was visible. "And it's a requirement on my crew that if you want to join you must swear to eat the Devil Fruit of your trait or something close to it. I'd never ask those who follow me to do something that I wouldn't do so care to guess my Devil Fruit?"

"Shit." Leone spat as Sienna's grin broadened and her body grew so that she was taller than Leone with a similar fur base only hers was orange with black stripes and white fur covered her throat, Leone noted that the tattooed stripes on Sienna's skin perfectly matched right where they were now that she was in her hybrid form. "You ate the Cat-Cat Fruit, model: Bengal Tiger."

"Got it in one." Sienna said her voice deeper and more animalistic as she unsheathed her claws. "So let's see which big cat wins, shall we."

"Bring it bitch." Leone roared, a roar that Sienna matched before the woman launched themselves at each other, claws out and fangs showing in a big cat carnivorous Zoan showdown on the ice.

---

Su swung his specialty wolf fang mace in his hands the blades that protruded from it spinning at a rapid pace as he mowed down the marines that came near him staining the ice red and littering it with bodies and parts as he walked. His path was every bit as gory as Sheele's only his attacks could, and at times were blocked by marines wielding sturdy enough weapons so he would use his fists in those cases and punch them away with his unnatural strength.

His movements were precise, controlled, and efficient as he made his way through the marine resistance towards the plaza. That was his target, he was to reach the plaza and help free the man held on the scaffold there and any marines or Warlords who got in his way were fair game. Well other than the marines on the do not kill list, he was only supposed to wound them, but he'd memorized that list and their pictures so he knew who to avoid as he moved through the marines.

Those were the commands from his owner and so he was going to execute them to their fullest and nothing short of a highly skilled opponent would stop him from completing his task. Well that or anything out of order because Su was extremely OCD and everything had to be perfectly neat and orderly though he could ignore the urge for the moment as he was engaged in combat. That last part was a byproduct of his creation though and something he couldn't control.

It wasn't common knowledge, in fact as far as the World Government was concerned Su was just a member of the Night Pirates, The Speed of Lightning Susanoo as his wanted poster said, a brutally efficient and bloody assassin with the Night Pirates. However, those in the upper echelons knew what he was and thus kept that information suppressed because Su was the first and to date only known artificial human.

Created decades prior, Su was the product of the illegal scientific research institute known as MADS where he was the brainchild of two of the members, the director and genius Dr. Vegapunk and an expert on artificial life and prosthetics who dreamed of creating an artificial human, Dr. Polendina. Other members of the institution helped, notably Dr. Watts, Vinsmoke Judge, Queen, and Dr. Garaki, but it was mainly Vegapunk and Polendina who worked to try and create the first artificial human.

There was a debate as to what the base should be, Vegapunk wished to use a Devil Fruit from a willing subject who'd agreed to let Vegapunk take samples in exchange for some of the inventions that MADS had made, while Polendina wished to go for pure robotics and try to create an android that had was fully autonomous thus becoming a synthetic human. Ultimately they combined their ideas to create a robotic core from which the artificial life generated by a Devil Fruit power grew and formed into a human they named Susanoo.

Alas, while it worked, Su's odd personality, clear combat applications that were the result of the other scientists at MADS that had that had work on Su as many just focused on making weapons, and relative lack of independent thought, as well as a willingness to only listen to someone who he felt connected to, had led to Vegapunk declaring him a failure. As such Su was discarded by Vegapunk though the genius did keep his research going and was now close to perfecting what he'd started with Su.

Polendina, however, wasn't as willing to throw things away just because the result wasn't perfect and wanted to keep working on Su. Alas, Su wouldn't listen to him and as Polendina was more focused on robotics he too gave up on Su. Ultimately Polendina leave MADS to work on his own personal project in that area though no one was aware that he'd done this.

Before he left, however, Polendina had stored Su in a MADS bunker on an uninhabited island in Paradise so that he was out of the way and couldn't harm anyone. That was mainly because part of the issue with Su was that several of the scientists in MADS were just there to make weapons and saw Su as a perfect killing machine that they could replicate and exploit so Polendina wanted to avoid that. At least one of the scientist who worked on Su would take copies of the notes to try and replicate it but like with Polendina's current plans the world didn't know this as that scientist had gone to grown after MADS disbanded.

Unfortunately, Dr. Polendina Pietro's plan to hide Su away so that he could never be used as a weapon failed as 30 years after he hid Su, Najenda would stumble upon that bunker when the Night Pirates were making their way to Sabaody. This was purely by chance as she was meeting up with a contact on that uninhabited island so as to try and recruit Chelsea when Su activated himself as he was drawn to Najenda and she became his owner.

Of course she didn't treat him as a tool or her property but as a living being who was a valued member of the crew and named him quartermaster because of his speed, efficiency and OCD meant that he could keep the ship running practically by himself. The rest of the crew did the same and saw Su as one of them, which he didn't fully understand but he appreciated it and fought even harder for them because he was one of them and slowly coming to realize this.

That was what he was doing now as he mowed down marines and began to force them to give him a wide berth. It didn't help that several had opened fire on him and hit him with bullets but the just passed through him without any blood splattering from the impacts and his body regrew in the holes. It was freaky as hell.

"What is with this guy?" A marine yelled as he fired a portable mortar from his hip at Su timing it to hit as Su swung his mace into the side of another marine and launched him sideways. "Why's he absorbing bullets? This isn't natural!"

"He's got to be a Logia type." Another marine said as the mortar ball hit Su in the side and blew up, the first solid hit on him which was why the mortar had been brought over, and Su staggered slightly from the impact, smoke obscuring him. "If that doesn't take him down then he's got to be."

Su knew the truth but he didn't speak it as he walked out of the smoke a hole in his left side that slowly grew back and returned him to normal with no trace of damage on his clothes from the attack. The marines yelled at that but Su had pushed forward and swung his mace taking the pair out but as he did he opened a path to a man behind the marines who'd seen the whole thing and gave Su a sinister grin that Su didn't see.

That man was the Warlord Zogratis Dante and he'd been getting a bit bored of the battlefield only moments after coming down to it. Yes, the malice on it was nice and he was basking in it but the Whitebeard lackies weren't really a threat to him as he cut them down while marines cheered for him though he cared little for their praise and even occasional hit one of them when he got too close.

What Dante needed was a challenge, something to peak his interest and bring out his own malice to remind him that he was human, and that was when he heard the explosion near him. As soon as Dante heard it he turned to it to see a pirate with a hole in his side and no blood or organs showing holding a wolf fang mace and walking like there was nothing amiss.

Then, as the man walked, it healed in a way that Dante knew all too well and he grinned, anger and hatred filling him and reminding him of the true emotion of humans that separated them from animals. This was unexpected but he wasn't going to pass this up as he turned fully to the man and let a Whitebeard Pirate cut a gash out of his side as he launched off the ice and at the mace wielding pirate.

"Who are you?" Dante asked calling out to Su as he tore through the air at him the cut not bothering him at all. "And how did you acquire that power?"

Su didn't get the questions but he didn't care as he saw the man approach and acted on instinct and training. The man wasn't wearing a marine uniform but black and brown leathers with a long fur cloak and a golden crown so he had to be a Warlord but Su didn't have time to fully scan him so as to identify who he was before the man was on him laughing as he brought his cutlass around in a wild swing at Su's head.

While Su could have just taken the blow and countered as he healed he'd learned that there were other strategies to battle and so he raised his left arm where he wore a sea prism stone bracer under his white coat and deflected the cutlass with it. As he did he used the opening his opponent's wild charge and his subsequent block had given him the chance to thrust his mace forward and slam it into the man's face.

The result was as you'd expect, the man's face, neck, and upper chest exploded in a spray of flesh that brought him up short so that he landed on his feet minus his head and slid over the ice for a few feet. Flesh peppered the area and splattered on the ice and a few nearby marines who were looking in horror at what had happened. After all, this was the Warlord with a 666 million berry bounty before he became a Warlord and it appeared he'd just been one shot by a rookie pirate with a bounty under 100 million.

For his part Su just leapt back a bit as the attacker's feet hit the ice his senses on fire and not relaxing in the slightest as he put some distance between him and the man who it looked like he'd killed. This was for three reasons that were not natural; the man had landed on his feet and wasn't toppling over, he still held his cutlass, and there was no blood or brain matter from the blow at all.

This was confirmed when a deep laugh seemed to come out of nowhere and the flesh on the man's neck bubbled before his body grew back where it had been and healed all damage that he'd taken. He was laughing as he stood there looking at Su while marines gaped at what they'd just witnessed.

"You posses a Logia type Devil Fruit." Su said in his usual emotionless tone as he scanned the man's face and his artificial memory quickly placed him. "King Dante the Malicious, King of the Spade Kingdom and leader of the Dark Triad Pirates. You're known as the Devil's Body and your bounty is 666 million but I take it that it's frozen now that you're a Warlord."

"That would be correct, I see that Vegapunk and his lackies gave you a good memory but then again I shouldn't be surprised given what's going on with old Kuma here." Dante said his laugh dying down and turning into a vicious grin his rage building as he hated to rely on his ugly Devil Fruit. "Things were getting a bit dull with all these grunts so I was thinking of going for the big man himself but seeing you sparked my interest, and ire. Gotta admit, didn't expect this when I agreed to let Vegapunk take a part of me, it was his price when we reached out to him for some weapons a few decades ago so I figured why not. My siblings did the same but you're clearly like me."

"I don't understand." Su said looking at the man before him. "How am I like you?"

"Didn't you just see?" Dante asked. "I regenerated like you do, by organic flesh. It's an ugly power, I admit, and I don't like using it but it's damned useful in battle."

"That was familiar, I'll admit." Su said. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"Everything for I ate the Body-Body Fruit and became a Flesh Man." Dante said still grinning. "It's a Logia type that basically makes me pure flesh, I can modify and change my body as I see fit which means that I'll never age but that's just a small part of what I can do. It's not a normal Logia so Vegapunk wanted to take samples from me to learn more. Didn't think that he'd use them to create you though."

"I see so I'm like Lub's weapon then, that does explain some things." Su said as he set himself. "I was never told what the basis of my organic regeneration was other than that it was a Devil Fruit but now that I know it doesn't change a thing as I have no feelings towards you. I have a mission to complete and I intend to do it."

"I can tell, you're not human so you don't get our sole emotion of malice that separates us from animals and apparently robots or whatever you are." Dante said. "But me, well I'm feeling a lot of malice right now. If I ever see that freaky doctor again I must thank him for instilling this new kind of malice in me, didn't think I'd feel something like this."

"Like what?" Su asked.

"Insulted that he'd dare use my power to create something so inhuman, something incapable of feeling malice, something so detestable." Dante said as his body tensed. "I'm going to enjoy crushing you. Let's see just how close to my power you are."

With that Dante cackled and he rushed Su again only this time it was a more controlled rush, that of a seasoned warrior who knew war well. Su knew that this was part of his mission and there was no way around Dante so he swung his mace around and intercepted the cutlass with a clang as his spinning blades sparked on Dante's now Haki infused one.

This was going to be a drawn out battle given what both men could do. It was going to keep Su busy which made the marines happy but Su was more focused on the battle as he and Dante pushed each other back from their drawn clash and reengaged while everyone gave the two regenerating men a wide berth for their duel.

---

Like the others, Bulat was carving a path through the marines with relative ease. That being said, as a former marine he recognized what was going on right away, this was a classic and simple strategy that the marines often employed against a strong enemy, overwhelm your opponent with numbers.

The marines had more men, easily over 100,000 present if Bulat had to guess, and so could commit more to dogpile on the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies as they would be hard pressed to muster a quarter of that number. Of course Whitebeard had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, one of which was already making his way to the battlefield that he'd tricked the marines into providing for him, but in terms of foot soldiers the marines had the numbers.

Of course these were nothing more than non-commissioned marines with no real hopes of advancing for the most part and under the command of a few notable marines that could fight. Bulat did see a few as he cut down his former comrades.

He quickly noted the now Commodore Smoker easily handle Whitebeard's men thanks to his Logia type Devil Fruit and martial abilities. Then there was the raw power and nature of electro that Commodore Shishido brought to the battle though why there was blood on his face was beyond Bulat. It was also hard to miss the Whitebeard Pirates who were suddenly felled by unnaturally moving bullets that had to be Rear Admiral Snipe's work from wherever he was firing from. Those were just three of several other officers that Bulat had known who were currently fighting and could handle the seasoned Whitebeard Pirates.

Notably, though, there were no Vice Admirals in the mix, the Navy's best group minus the Admirals who other than Aokiji had yet to enter the fray, mainly because they either weren't needed yet or were dealing with the Whitebeard Fleet's attacks on the flanks, so this was purely numbers. It helped the marines Whitebeard's men had to use all they had so his commanders, other than Marco the Phoenix it seemed, were on the battlefield as well. They were using all they had and the Navy could rest up their best soldiers and their giants for later while the expendable grunts took the brunt of the battle.

This was one of the things that Bulat hated about the Navy and the World Government, their complete antipathy towards the lives of average people. Back when he was a soldier Bulat had advanced quickly because of his skill and stood out as a swordsman and spearman to the point that he was commissioned as an officer and earned the right to avoid being used as a meat shield. Better yet, he'd also shown so much skill and promise that he'd been given the right to eat his Devil Fruit.

However, this was all because he'd shown promise as a soldier which many marines didn't. The best advanced, which in a military was how it was supposed to be, while the vast majority didn't.

However, rather than treat the rank and file right, they were basically used as nothing more than cannon fodder for the top brass. After all, when you've got the numbers you can win almost anything by overwhelming your opponent with that many people and if your opponent has Devil Fruit powers or sword skills that come close to Mihawk's, or general top tier combat, or powerful Haki, well you've got the Vice Admirals and Admirals to counter that after you've exhausted your enemy by making him deal with all those grunts.

It would be with the skill combatants, the leaders and powerful warriors, where the battle was decided, Bulat knew it, but they had to get to them to do that. In order to get there, though, it meant reaching the plaza and that meant going through all the expendable meat shields the Navy kept sending at them.

The only good thing Bulat saw in this as he bisected a pair of marines with his spear as they tried to rush him after a volley of rifle fire had bounced off his armor, mere bullets or blades wouldn't harm him when he had his armor active, was that the more you slaughtered while losing less of your inferior numbers the more moral you would lose. He was already seeing that to some extent as he cut his bloody path to the plaza as marines were backing away recognizing his distinctive armor now and whispering about the 100-man slayer who'd betrayed the marines and was now killing them just like he'd killed when he was a marine.

This was the best that the Night Pirates could do at this stage of the battle, well it also distracted everyone from what Chelsea was up to, and so they'd do it to the best of their ability. Most of these were grunts who were complicit in the crimes of their superiors because they blindly followed abhorrent orders in the name of Absolute Justice but plenty were on the do not kill list who were still true marines. Not that Bulat had run into any of them yet, so he wasn't holding back and between their attacks and the Whitebeard Pirates, especially the Division Commanders, they were easily doing so.

Unfortunately, the tide was starting to stall as more seasoned marines stepped up and held back the Whitebeard Pirates and worse still some the Warlords decided to take to the battlefield. Some of the Navy's best weapons, each Warlord was a powerful warrior in his or her own right so when they entered things could turn as only a Division Commander or a highly trained pirate like Bulat could handle them and even Bulat wasn't sure he could handle some of the Warlords at his current skill level. Add in that the Warlords were ruthless and you were basically fighting fire with fire with them.

So far, though, Bulat hadn't faced much resistance but that suddenly changed. He noticed it almost instantly when several marines turned and fled as Bulat walked past the parts of the marines that he'd just bisected and approached them ready to cut them down as well if they got in his way.

It was evident to Bulat that their flight was more than mere fear, there was a reason to it and Bulat's gut told him that it was coming now. He quickly activated his Observation Haki and sensed the incoming thing, he had no clue what it was, right before the large shadow was cast over him and he leapt back with all his strength, his leap augmented by his armor thus adding to it.

He wasn't a moment too soon as a second later something large and powerful landed on the spot he'd been standing on and punched the ice with enough force to crater it though it wasn't deep enough to reach the water below it. The force of the blow caused ice debris to blast into the air and cover the attacker as Bulat landed and slid over the ice a little but he kept on guard, spear in his hands and ready as he came to a stop and a few chunks of ice broke on his armor. This was an enemy who would challenge him so Bulat had to be ready for it.

"Good, you dodged that." A gruff male voice with a strange edge to it said from the cloud of debris. "Your power is as I read, nice and strong so makes me more stressed about the fight to come. A shame to have to kill a power user like yourself but I'll make sure to find it again and give it to someone who truly understands the freedom of using Devil Fruits."

Bulat wasn't sure what to make of the statement. He'd heard of a movement that was solely comprised of Devil Fruit users who believed that free reign with them was the ultimate right in this world but given the nature of the world it seemed a bit redundant. Whatever the case, the man before him believed it and Bulat held firm as he lumbered out of the smoke.

In his time Bulat had seen many strange things, such was the nature of Devil Fruits and the general oddness that was commonplace on the Grand Line, so he wasn't surprised but he had to admit that this wasn't something that he'd seen before. The man before Bulat towered over him at almost double his size and was wider and thicker than the average giant. His skin, what was exposed, was a strange mottled brownish black that wasn't natural and his eyes white as he snarled at Bulat.

All of this was in stark contrast to the clearly expensive black pinstripe suit and green shirt and tie he wore that was now bulging at the seams following his transformation. Even his fancy leather shoes were looking like they'd burst any moment as he stopped before Bulat.

"Now who are you?" Bulat asked looking up at the man. "You're dressed like an officer but that suit is far to fine for the likes of the marines because only an Admiral or a corrupt officer could afford that, and you're not wearing a coat but that could have fallen off. Still, that doesn't seem to fit with you. No, you're a Warlord, one of the new ones this year, right?"

"I'm Re-Destro, Captain of the Destro Pirates and his descendant who will bring his vision to fruition." The man, Yotsubashi Rikiya, aka Re-Destro, said causing Bulat to blink. "I just need some backing from the World Government to do so hence why I became a Warlord when they offered me Kai's spot after his arrest."

"Well there's a blast from the past, the Destro Pirates, been years since I heard of that legacy crew." Bulat noted recalling them from his marine days. "You're the crew that requires its members to eat Devil Fruits, bit odd given the drawback."

"A price worth paying for the freedom that Devil Fruits bring." Re-Destro said. "And this is perfect for mine, all this stress, it just fuels me. That's why I had to leap in and you're just the kinda opponent who can heighten my stress levels."

"Stress to power, I've read of that fruit." Bulat said. "The Stress-Stress Fruit, simple as Devil Fruits come but effective, nonetheless. Well then, come at me and see if it can overwhelm my Armor-Armor Fruit."

"With pleasure." Re-Destro said. "Give me a challenge, I need more stress!"

With that the man roared and rushed Bulat his arm cocking back for a punch. For his part Bulat held his ground as he prepared to do battle with a Warlord while the battle continued to rage on all around them.

---

Sheele was in the zone as she cut through the marines, her Cut-Cut Fruit powers fully active as she sliced through anything that came her way while blocking or twisting out of the way of any bullets that were fired at her from the gathering ranged fighters that were being called in to try and take her down given how futile swords were against her. Part of why she used such a strange weapon as oversized scissors was that they gave her more surface area to work with when blocking, well that and they gave her multiple slicing options.

Extase, as the scissors were called, was a weapon forged by an unknown smith for unknown reasons but was one of the various things that the Night Pirates had looted after Sheele joined the crew shortly after they'd sailed into the North Blue and she'd instantly bonded with them. They fit her power and fighting style perfectly and now she was a master with them, wielding the unusual weapon as well as an above average swordsman.

Naturally, she was still behind Akame, Tatsumi, and Bulat in sword skills, though only Akame could exceed her when it came to using a knife in combat, but with her power and the oddity of her weapon few could resist her. Well, few that were just no name grunts sent out to die for the World Government that is.

Sheele knew that she wasn't very good at most things. She was a complete airhead, a klutz who tended to mess up what she was doing up be it burning the meat while cooking, flooding the decks while cleaning, accidentally washing Mine with laundry, or anything else chore wise, she always caused more problems than she solved when she tried to help. To make matters worse she had a bad habit of forgetting about the pitch of the ship when it was on the open sea and falling off it and having to be rescued by Lubbock or Su due to her inability to swim.

However, there was one thing that Sheele was good at, killing. She was a master at that with no hesitation or remorse when it came to killing those who deserved it and it was this skill and mentality, along with the fact that she was freelance killing corrupt government officials at the time, that had attracted her to the Najenda and the Night Pirates.

She'd accepted the offer and now put her killing skills to good use on the crew while also training new crewmembers like Tatsumi when he joined. Joining also revealed that Sheele had Devil Fruit powers as she was aware of them herself until after she'd been recruited and even then it was only realized when Akame's Supreme Grade katana became the first thing to actually withstand a blade in Sheele's hand when she entered her assassin mode. Outside of that only a blade infused with Armament Haki could withstand her Cut-Cut powers if it wasn't of the highest grade.

When Sheele was asked about how she did what she did she told them that when she focused on killing she was calm and deadly with no trace of her airhead or clumsy nature. This was her assassin mode which corresponded with when her powers were active and she turned anything inorganic in her hands into a razor sharp blade capable of cutting almost anything. Now Sheele could do that without entering the state of mind she called her assassin mode but she refrained from it due to her airhead nature and general clumsiness.

However, this didn't explain everything about the state of mind that Sheele used when entered her assassin mode. To figure it out, Najenda tested her and realized that Sheele was subconsciously using Observation Haki in a way that Najenda had never seen before when she fought.

It was the use of Observation Haki that cleared Sheele's mind and allowed her to think straight when she fought. It was while her Observation Haki was active that Sheele would activate her Devil Fruit without realizing it, why she was able to duel efficiently should she encounter someone who could resist her power, and even why she could block or avoid things like bullets.

However, for whatever reason, Sheele couldn't use Haki any other time. She was trying to learn Armament Haki but so far that wasn't going well though so long as she didn't face a Logia type things would be good. Well, that and a select few Paramecia types who's powers were immune to Haki but none of those Devil Fruit users were currently present.

Thankfully, none of this had happened to Sheele yet in their travels, in fact the only time the crew had encountered a Logia type had been the other week in Sabaody when Akame and Tatsumi dealt with Kizaru, so that issue hadn't come up for her. Regardless, when Sheele rushed into the battle with the others she was her usual deadly self when she was in assassin mode, calmly cutting down all in her path as part of her mission and desire to protect those who needed protection.

This was her role with the crew and Sheele would do her role to the best of her abilities for as long as she could. Well that and also to help comfort Tatsumi a while back when he finally accepted and moved on from the trauma of being the only survivor of the Navy's attack on his home island but these days she barely needed to comfort Tatsumi though she still enjoyed doing so when she could.

Course Right now she was in her primary role for the crew and that meant cutting through to the plaza to help rescue Fire Fist Ace as part of their agreement with Whitebeard and his fleet. It was straightforward and Sheele was fully in the zone as she unleashed herself on the marines, killing more than she could count as she worked her way through them. As with the others, this tactic had the added effect of destabilizing morality and causing the grunts to turn and flee from her.

"Run!" A marine yelled as he turned to flee having just seen Sheele cut through another marine and the sword he was using to try and block her attack. "This chick is insane; nothing can block those scissors!"

The marine got the warning off but she was already behind him when he yelled he wasn't able escape the slash that bisected him from hip to shoulder, his blood spraying out and across the ice as his body fell away in two parts, gore and entrails spilling out onto the blood covered ice. As it did, Sheele was greeted with a strange and unexpected sight.

Before her, coming into view as the body fell away and she walked through the gore it left behind, was a tall man with tan skin, black hair, and an elaborate and well groomed chin curtain beard who was wearing fancy clothes that clearly weren't standard Navy issue. Add in the lack of a marine officer's coat over his shoulders, there was an ornate black and purple cloak there instead, and she was sure that the man wasn't a marine so he had to be a Warlord. Which one Sheele didn't know as she didn't pay attention to who they were unless they were a specific target, which none were though they were fair game.

"My, my, aren't you the strong lady." The man said grinning at her. "Fancy joining my crew, I'll get that 77 million berry bounty of yours wiped and put you and your ruthless skills to proper use."

"You know my bounty?" Sheele asked her voice calm as she came to a stop just outside of Extase's range as they stood there her expression cold and serious.

"I know many things like how you're a Night Pirate known as Sheele the Sheerer because of your uncanny ability to cut anything with those scissors of yours." The man said as Sheele just looked at him Extase at the ready by her side. "But you could be so much more if you were with my crew."

"And that would be?" Sheele asked. "I don't know who you are and frankly I like my crew, I have a place there and I like what I do for them. I'm good at it and for once in my life I'm useful to people."

"I am that Dark Raven Dreyar Ivan, the Captain of the Raven Tail Pirates and a Warlord." Ivan said holding out his right hand which put his arm in Extase's reach. "Join me and I'll…"

Before Ivan could finish Sheele sliced Extase up and to the side in a swift motion that was hard to track with the naked eye and cut Ivan's arm off mid bicep causing it to fall to the ground. Sheele had no desire to abandon her crew, they were her family and accepted her for who she was, and she could sense that this man was evil just like the men she'd first killed way back when she realized what she had a talent for killing. Warlord or not he was in her way and as he was with the Navy she had full authority from the boss to kill him.

"I'll take that as a rejection." Ivan said unfazed as he looked at his missing arm were no blood was coming out of the stump, in fact where Sheele had cut was just a white sheet as if it was paper. "Good, means I can make it look like I'm trying to help by containing you and removing the threat that you pose from the battlefield. Whatever your power is, it's not Haki based or else that would have actually severed my arm so either those scissors are special or you have a Devil Fruit that makes them special. Doesn't matter to me, as you can tell, you won't be able to cut me but I'll be able to cut you."

Sheele blinked as the man, Ivan if he was telling the truth about his name, just grinned and his arm regrew from the stump only it looked like several paper shikigamis, basically paper dolls, that were coming from it until it was formed. As soon as it was he just smirked as Sheele put it all together.

"Logia powers." Sheele said her tone still neutral as her mind was clear but this was the worst possible opponent for her.

"Correct, the Paper-Paper Fruit." Ivan said. "And it will serve me well as I use it to contain you. Let's see who wins; scissors or paper."

At that Ivan's body exploded and suddenly he was countless paper shikigamis that whipped around Sheele in an unnatural ring that quickly formed into a dome of paper dolls so that Sheele was trapped within, her eyes darting as she looked around at the white paper flying all around her. This wasn't good and now she'd have to fight but that was fine with her, Sheele was ready and she set herself as Ivan cackled from within the papers and then attacked.

---

The Admirals, well other than Aokiji, remained where they were sitting watching the battle unfold in the harbor below their positions at the base of the scaffold. It was intense just as they expected.

The marines on the ice were holding their own in places but in other places they were being overwhelmed by the Division Commanders or other strong pirates that no doubt had notable bounties. All the while the cannons were firing but sometimes they seemed to explode indicating a sniper of sorts but with over 40 allied ships and 4 of Whitebeard's personal ships, including his flagship, in the harbor no one could tell where the sniper was shooting from. To add to it all, the 4 newest Warlords had just taken to the battlefield and engaged 4 individual attackers.

It was that final thing that had peaked Esdeath's interest as she watched the battle a broad grin on her face as she waited for the right moment to join in the fun below her. Already Aokiji had acted, it was the right call and his abilities were the best that they had to handle the waves that Whitebeard had created with his seaquake, even Esdeath could acknowledge that given the scope of her own powers, but none of the other Admirals had moved.

Esdeath had expected as much from Guresai and Akainu, both were serious men who only acted when they needed to and besides neither had the right power to act just yet be it due to the power either being passive in nature or so destructive that he was holding off on it so as to save it for the right moment like with Aokiji. Kizaru was a wild card, Esdeath knew that he'd move when he felt like it, so she expected to be the next to move but the sight of the four Warlords engaging in single combat had stayed her right before she was about to get up and take a shot at Whitebeard.

She couldn't say what had stayed her movements but they'd been stayed and Esdeath held off on engaging as she studied the battlefield as she trusted her instincts. However, it wasn't just her instincts that were telling her to wait but a strange, warm, sensation that was slowly forming in her chest, one that she'd only felt twice before. She trusted it and leaned into it but before she could confirm it Kizaru spoke from her right where he was sitting between Guresai and Akainu distracting her and snapping her focus to her fellow Admiral.

"My, my." Kizaru said as he uncrossed his legs and rose to his feet showing that he was about to make his move now. "We've got a frightening bunch of monsters out there with Whitebeard's commanders, don't you three agree? Now none are like the monster I recently encountered on Sabaody in terms of appearance but they've got more power and I'll admit they're putting on a good show for us."

"If that monster is who I think it is, you'd better not have killed him." Esdeath said the threat clear in her voice, the ice literally forming on her chair as she gripped it surprised at her own desire for Tatsumi not to be dead if he encountered Kizaru. "I heard that he was there during that incident and yet none of you told me about it. A Celestial Dragon was attacked, that's an Admiral level offense and I could have gone to sort it out."

"We didn't tell you because Kizaru and Guresai were present when the news came in." Akainu said bluntly. "And because of this reaction, it's unprofessional and borderline treacherous."

"Shut it dog." Esdeath spat back. "Just because you don't know what love is doesn't mean that you can stop prevent others from experiencing it. That was a shot at recapturing my love, I should be allowed to take it."

"I didn't aim for his heart if that's what you're worried about, he needs to pay for his crimes and we can't let his Devil Fruit reenter circulation, but alas he escaped before I could capture him." Kizaru said and at that Esdeath grinned, that meant that Tatsumi had survived a fight with Kizaru thus showing his potential even more and ensuring if they met again then Kizaru would be in for a nasty shock. "However, that's not relevant now as we've got a party to stop. They'll wreck our headquarters if we don't stop them now. I'll take a leaf out of your book Shirokami, kill the head of the pack and the rest will be lost."

"True, taking down the strongest is the way to do it to prove that you're the stronger one for that is the way of nature." Esdeath agreed as Kizaru turned to light with his Glint-Glint powers and shot up into the air as beams of it. "But that's not going to work, Whitebeard's title is there for a reason and a doubt your flashing lights will do much to him. Plus I want my own crack at it though."

"Hold off Shirokami." James said from the other end as Kizaru reformed high in the air over the battlefield his light so bright that it blinded those below it as he became a large cross in the air and for a moment almost all the fighting paused to look at the light. "Your value is too great at the moment. Leave this to Kizaru. I'm sure you'll get a chance to take down Whitebeard in a bit."

"Sure, I could use a good show from him." Esdeath said as Kizaru reformed his back to them. "Let's see, he's going to use his Yasakani Sacred Jewel attack Whitebeard from there where he has a clean shot at the man."

"It is the best from that angle." James said as some of the Whitebeard Pirates panicked at Kizaru's sudden arrival. "However I've noticed something missing, he should've noticed it as well but in his impatience he acted without looking."

Esdeath wasn't as tactically inclined as James was, she was much more about the thrill of battle and showing that she was stronger. In fact one of her few regrets about accepting the promotion to Admiral was the level of politics involved but she was still one of the World Government's most powerful weapons so they gave her a longer reign than the other Admirals to do as she pleased.

After all, she was the top choice when an Admiral needed to be deployed to the field though the last time she'd been too far away from Sabaody to be sent. Well that and the confirmation that a certain Night Pirate was there who the Navy were trying to keep her from lest she embarrass them.

That was still on Esdeath's mind as she watched Kizaru unleash the attack using the move that she'd predicted and a series of light beams shot down from Kizaru and at Whitebeard where he stood on the prow of his ship. However, the light never reached Whitebeard as a figure suddenly flew in and intercepted the light with an explosion of light blue fire that shielding Whitebeard as everyone, well everyone but the one battle that was inside a dome of paper, stared in shock at the bright lights in the air.

It caused a brief pause in the battle as Kizaru tried and failed to get past the barrier before there was an explosion and smoke filled the battlefield around the aerial exchange. This lasted for a few seconds before it cleared to reveal that in between Kizaru and Whitebeard was a man in an open purple shirt showing his bare chest where the modified Whitebeard Jolly Roger of a cross and moustache was tattooed, dark blue pants and a light blue sash around his waist. His arms were wings and blue and yellow fire that didn't look hot burned on parts of his body, the parts that had been hit by Kizaru's attack.

"He didn't check to see if the 1st Division Commander was on the battlefield, which he wasn't." James said in his usual calm tone as the marines watching commented on the sight and the wounds fully healed. "Marco the Phoenix, the wielder of the Bird-Bird Fruit, model: Phoenix. He's a Mythical Zoan user with one of his powers being regeneration. It's pretty close to a Logia and rarer than one. He's on guard duty protecting Whitebeard, Kizaru won't make it past him."

"Fool." Akainu grumbled as Marco turned into his full beast form and flew at Kizaru who countered with more beams of light but his attacks were instantly healed doing nothing to Marco. "He attacked and left his post without thinking."

"And given that he's Whitebeard's right hand man and from the New World with a bounty of over 1.3 billion berries he's more than ready to face a Logia user." James said as Marco reached Kizaru and flipped in the air to launch a downward kick that Kizaru had to block with his arm, the impact making it clear that Marco was using Armament Haki to attack the Admiral. "Fall back Kizaru, your gamble failed."

While he couldn't hear James, Kizaru did just that turning into light as Marco pushed through the kick and flying around and back to Marineford. However, in his haste to retreat Kizaru slammed into one of the tall walls around the base of Marine HQ and the force caused an explosion that cratered the wall and sent debris everywhere. It was so strong that it shook the whole area around it and got some worried chatter from a few officers that were nearby. Kizaru was fine, of course, and quickly shot forward to join said officers while accepting fault for his failed attack.

All of this, and Kizaru's subsequent order to the giant unit to keep an eye on the sky from now on, was lost on Esdeath. She'd not focused on the attack, she knew that it would fail, but instead on the battle and she'd noticed it during the distraction of Marco and Kizaru's clash. Someone had acted and slain three marines with a sword before it was realized and a small area had resumed fighting which had sparked more of the fighting to resume.

The giants would move out soon but right now the battle was raging on and Esdeath's feeling from earlier had returned only now it was stronger. She knew exactly what it was and while she couldn't visually see it, she knew that it was true and with that her smile broadened into something no one expected from the sadistic Admiral, one of genuine love and romantic pleasure.

As it split her face, Esdeath instantly stood up from her seat, her move so quick and clear that everyone around her noticed and any movement by the giants was stalled by the chance of Admiral Shirokami taking to the battlefield. The only one who didn't notice was Sengoku or else he'd have stopped it as he'd been informed of their presence in this battle.

"Sit down Shirokami." Akainu ordered though as they held the same rank it wasn't binding. "Don't leave your post like the other two."

Esdeath, however, wasn't listening to Akainu as she stood there looking out over the battlefield, her coat falling down to pool on the ground as she fought without it. As her coat fell her grin getting wider and much more sinister as she'd have to fight through the Whitebeard Pirates to reach her goal though she had a plan to flush out who she was looking for.

It chilled even Akainu to see it and that wasn't including the frost that was coming off his fellow Admiral's body as she tensed and her right hand went to the hilt of her sword. Esdeath had only two words, spoken with a disturbing mix of lust, love, happiness, and joy that belied her bloodlust that was radiation off her, before she too leapt into the battle.

"He's here!"

I think that's a good little cliffhanger to end on though I'm sure y'all know what's coming next. As you can tell this battle is going to get stretched out a lot more with all the extra characters but don't worry, key events like Jozu's ice throw are still going to happen just when things are right. For now, though, it's time for a nice little reunion and for Esdeath to enter the fray. Don't worry, I'll switch back to the Warlord battles in due time to show how they're going, there is a lot going on in this arc so things will switch between various moments as they come and go. The main thing to really mention is the views of Sienna regarding Zoan type Devil Fruits. That was something I adapted in to fit the whole faunus being seen as animals in RWBY thing and the way the White Fang wore Grimm masks in RWBY so here it's the views of the White Fang that a Zoan type Devil Fruit should only be eaten by a faunus with a corresponding trait and those who 'stole' such a Devil Fruit from them such as Leone's Cat-Cat Fruit, model: Lion must be killed to ensure that that Devil Fruit reentered circulation. This is also why Blake has the Cat-Cat Fruit, model: Panther rather than something to mimic her semblance to fit this story arc because, as Sienna pointed out, she would have had to eat that Devil Fruit to remain a member of the White Fang once it was found. That and I found Blake's semblance a bit too hard to adapt in as a Devil Fruit but I may work it in some other way if I can figure it out. I hope this clears any confusion as to why Blake has the Devil Fruit she does, similarly Sienna's Devil Fruit, and will be something we see going forward with the White Fang and how faunus Devil Fruit users who don't have a Zoan type are treated. Lastly, yes I know that in the Paper-Paper Fruit is a non-canon Logia type Devil Fruit eaten by Simon, the antagonist of the One Piece: Great Hidden Treasure of Nanatsu Islands video game but it was the best Devil Fruit I felt for Ivan's magic given his Shikigami Magic involves paper dolls so I decided to use it and alter it to fit Ivan's powers though I will likely draw more inspiration from the non-canon one as well. This is something I will do for either non-canon or canon Devil Fruits that have reentered circulation if they fit a new character, especially if it's before the time skip as some characters who are non-canon post time skip will be used. This isn't the last time something like this will be seen but it's not going to be a common occurrence. Anyway, that is all that I have for y'all, so I will leave this chapter off here. If you liked this please favorite, follow, leave a review, or let me know in a PM and if there are any questions will posed in reviews and PMs I will try to answer them as best I can. Until next time.

Stringdog