Descent

by JustAProblem

Scars are a sign of pride and strength. A sign of survival. Naturally, this only applies to the physical scars and not the mental scars. No, mental scars are almost universally agreed to be negative and for good reason. Physical scars merely change how your body looks. Mental scars change how a person thinks. Rosan just wants to enjoy life. He didn't ask for all this.

42. Chapter 42: Thriller Bark

Descent

Chapter 42: Thriller Bark

The thick fog of the Florian Triangle was almost dauntingly oppressive, seeping into the air and giving off a heavy sensation.

It was impossible to tell what the time of day was. That was how heavy the fog that clung to the air was.

Rosan looked at his panicky crew with a perplexed expression. He just got back from visiting Makino and Dadan with Luffy and Robin... and now his crew was doing Straw Hat things... except the main problems of the Straw Hats (him and Luffy) weren't here to cause it.

What a thought. Guess Rosan really wasn't the problem.

He looked at the giant and beaten down ship looming over their own.

It was gigantic and in complete tatters, looking only a little better than Don Krieg's after the attack by Mihawk. The sails had a Jolly Roger on it too.

Certainly fit the ghost ship motif. Had the appearance down to a tee.

But still...

"You're saying there's a ghost on that ship?" He asked his crew incredulously.

"Y-Yes!" Usopp stammered. "We saw it! A moving skeleton!"

Rosan continued to look at him with that perplexed expression, just not able to believe anything coming out of his Sniper's mouth.

"W-Why do you not believe me?!" The sniper whispered in disbelief.

He was telling the truth here! Why was Rosan looking at him like this?!

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I can tell you're not lying… but that might also be your stupidity giving you a false truth."

That was the best way to trick him. If you told a false truth that you actually believed, Rosan wouldn't be able to detect it as a lie.

Hm... that meant at the very least, Usopp did see something and even the rest of the crew looked shocked so maybe there was someone up there.

"Well, whatever… I'll go check it out," Rosan muttered, summoning his draconic wings.

Before she could even begin complaining, he wrapped an arm around Robin, to which she smiled in a pleased manner.

...Before he could even begin complaining, he also wrapped an arm around Luffy, to which he let out a beaming grin.

Brats. Both of them. How were the oldest and youngest in their family this spoiled?

"If we get eaten alive, feel free to set sail," Rosan offered them as he began to float upwards.

"I would at least like it if they recovered our bodies… but I understand if we're eaten alive," Robin replied.

"D-DON'T SAY SUCH SCARY THINGS!" Nami, Chopper and Usopp screeched in terror.

As Rosan ascended to the top of the giant ship, a figure peeked their head from over the railing and he paused.

"Oh, it appears they weren't lying," Mod mused, eyes lit in amusement as she gazed at the figure.

"Would you look at that," he said idly, continuing his flight. "It really is a skeleton."

"How surreal," Robin mused.

"Wow! Look at it!" Luffy awed, eyes glittering.

Rosan tilted his head. "Hey, are you an enemy? If you are, I'm going to burn you alive before you can pull any tricks," he said bluntly to the skeleton.

Despite how lax he was about the whole thing, Rosan was very willing to wrap up their problems through violent means but their guest seemed content to just observe, continuing to hum in a rather pleasant tone.

Maybe it really was a ghost.

The living skeleton shivered at that. "Such a cruel thing to say! You're making my skin crawl… but I'm a skeleton so I don't have any skin! Yohohoho!"

"Never mind, he's a dumbass," Rosan sighed, landing on the ghost ship without any further prompting.

Now that they were on the ship, they could all get a good glimpse of the skeleton and what they saw, was quite surprising.

The skeleton was extremely tall, towering over both Robin and Rosan by nearly 3 feet, with a gentleman's attire consisting of a coat, top hat, trousers.

The most fascinating thing about it though, was the fact that there was an afro of all things on the top of its head.

"Please excuse me for not greeting you earlier. I was surprised to actually see people after so many decades. I am Brook," the skeleton, now dubbed Brook, greeted.

His attire wasn't for show, the skeleton was quite the gentleman by the looks of it, so Rosan ceased the idea of breaking it in half.

"Look, he can talk guys!" Luffy exclaimed with wide eyes. "Hey, do you still poo?"

"What type of question is that? Why would you ask that first?" Mod asked in concern.

"Yes, I do in fact still poo," Brook confirmed.

Mod sweatdropped deeply.

Sometimes she had to wonder how she, the Devil Fruit, ended up being the most normal in her family.

Ram snorted. Auntie? The most normal? Yeah right. The most normal in the family was Uncle Demon.

"You've eaten a Devil Fruit, correct? That's the only explanation I have for why you're a skeleton." Robin asked curiously.

Brook turned towards her and his jaw dropped slightly. "Oh my! What a pretty young lady you are! May I take a look at your panties?"

"...I'm sorry?" Robin asked in confusion.

Take a look at her... what now? Panties?

If she heard him correctly, that was a very unwise thing for him to say.

Before Brook could open his mouth. A sharp tail smashed into him from above and effortlessly floored him, large enough to cover his tall body.

Rosan's slit eyes stared Brook down with a warning glare. "Back off or I'll kill you again, skeleton. I'm the only man alive allowed to see her panties. Any other offenders will suffer greatly before I kill them."

Robin sweatdropped deeply. "Rosan… you say the most unhinged statements on the planet."

Could he not say that outloud? Robin was sure she didn't have much shame, but compared to Rosan she must have an oceans worth.

The redhead snorted at the same time Luffy laughed.

"Yo ho ho ho! Such fierceness! You are quite the feisty lad!" Brook laughed along with them, completely unbothered by the fact that Rosan just smushed him.

"Isn't he even a little bothered that Rosan nearly killed him?!" Mod asked incredulously.

Seriously, just what was wrong with all the people they met?

"Hey I like you!" Luffy announced. "Wanna join my crew?"

Both Robin and Rosan blinked at the rather abrupt question.

Right... Rosan was suddenly reminded of that man... Gaimon. Despite being utterly useless in all aspects, still somehow got an invite into their crew from Luffy.

If Luffy thought you were even a little interesting, he'd ask you to join the crew... and they were currently speaking to a skeleton that was a gentleman.

What a thought. Rosan was finding all of this very funny.

"Luffy maybe you should think about this more?" Robin suggested.

"I'd love to," Brook replied easily.

Rosan blinked even harder at that, before his eyes narrowed.

"What the hell? Someone actually agreed to join you with no hassle? There has to be a catch. I don't believe this is as easy as he's making it out to be," he muttered.

Things were never simple with Luffy. His little brother was a magnet for chaos and always attracted trouble no matter where he went.

"That is literally you, Rosan," Robin pointed out with an incredulous sigh.

How did her boyfriend genuinely not think he was a magnet for trouble?

Did he not realize that he and Luffy were both chaos incarnate? They were cut from the same cloth! Why did he not think he was as bad?

How could he be so justifiably confident... and delusional at the same time?!

"Yo ho ho ho! Well about that…" Brook trailed off.

...

"I wonder why you always open your mouth. I think my life would be so much more peaceful if you just shut up," Mod sighed.

"What's the big idea! When father does this it's awesome! It makes everything more fun!" Ram beamed.

"It is genuinely insane how often you tempt fate," Robin mused.

Rosan shrugged helplessly.

His presence didn't suddenly give this skeleton problems. He had been here for decades.

How the hell did Rosan saying something suddenly conjure a skeleton's problems?

Ridiculous. All of them. They needed to grow up.

---

The news that Brook would be joining their crew, was taken fairly well by his crew.

And by that, he meant it wasn't taken well for even a little.

Somehow, Rosan was the one in trouble for all of this. What the hell did he even do? It's not like he was even the most sensible person that was up there!

Robin and Mod-chan were way more sensible than he was but he was expected to handle this?

He'd almost be offended that they expected so much out of him!

"WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM ROSAN?!" Nami screeched, after flooring the skeleton for asking to see her panties.

What type of sick joke was this? Why was Nami being asked to expose her panties for a goddamn skeleton? Was she dreaming?

Yeah that was it, she had to have been dreaming! There's no way a skeleton who wanted to see her panties was about to join the crew!

"Huh? I hit him in the head with a tail after asking Robin to see her panties. Those are only one person's privilege and it is a privilege I refuse to share," Rosan retorted calmly.

"Would you please stop saying that, Rosan? Announcing it to the whole world is embarrassing," Robin chastised, resisting the urge to hold her head.

"If I don't announce it, others will think they have a chance, like Brook right here. It only makes sense that they are aware who you belong to."

Robin let out a tired sigh. Even after dating, Rosan was still not appeased. He was insatiable and his greed knew no bounds.

"I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE PERVERTED SKELETON AND HIS LOVE OF PANTIES, JACKASS! I'M TALKING ABOUT LUFFY! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP LUFFY?!" Nami roared. At this point she was going to punch Rosan for the hell of it because this had to be willful ignorance on his part!

Rosan shrugged and dragged the resigned Robin over to his side. "I already told the skeleton to back off of Robin and he understood. My problems with him have become nonexistent so long as he gets it."

"I'm a gentleman after all," Brook bowed sincerely. "I would never intrude on a friend's relationship. He merely corrected my ignorance and I'm acting accordingly with the new information."

The redhead pointed at him. "See? He's cool and accepting... unlike some people," he chided, glancing pointedly at his crew.

"F-FRIEND?! SINCE WHEN ARE YOU TWO FRIENDS?!" Usopp shrieked. Next to Nami and Chopper, he had been reacting the worst to this news and had been rapidly shifting from horror at the skeleton, to disbelief at the words coming out of Rosan's mouth.

Rosan sighed like they were all stupid. "Since he joined the crew. We can't treat our crew mate like an enemy. Not cool."

"WHY ARE YOU NOT SEEING THE PROBLEM?! ARE YOU DOING THIS ON PURPOSE?!" Sanji roared.

This was a level of ignorance that had to have been intentional. Everything that came out of Rosan's mouth, managed to avoid the very very obvious main problem of why having a skeleton on the ship was a questionable idea.

"Of all the things to get you guys worried… a living skeleton is the problem? I can transform into a dragon you know. I'm way scarier than he is," Rosan shrugged.

Brook perked up at that. "You can transform into a Dragon? Is that your Devil Fruit?"

Rosan glanced over at him. "Part of it. I don't mind telling you about it, but I'd prefer if you actually joined the crew first," he mentioned.

The Straw Hats eyes widened at that.

Rosan was willing to disclose Modification with Brook already? Was that all?

Huh... he really was changing before their very eyes. They had thought it was a trick of the mind, how open Rosan suddenly was with them but maybe he really was beginning to accept his role in the crew...

"That's very fair. As a show of my trust in you all, I ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi," Brook informed them.

Rosan perked a brow at that.

A revive fruit… what an interesting Devil Fruit... one that allowed you to cheat death once.

If only...

While explaining his Devil Fruit, Brook had begun to tell the Straw Hats about himself and it allowed Rosan to...

Brook had been here for years. His soul had taken so long to find his body, that he had already been a skeleton…

Not only that, he couldn't actually join their crew either because somehow, his shadow got stolen. If he went into the sun, he'd be incinerated.

That got all of Rosan's interest.

"You got your shadow stolen? Was it the Kage Kage no Mi? Did you encounter Gecko Moria?" He asked curiously.

Brook looked rather surprised that Rosan was able to glean that from one simple statement.

The redhead was a lot smarter than he let on...

"Well seeing as you got it right, yes… I have gotten into a bit of an altercation with Gecko Moria…"

Rosan pursed his lips. "And you think you can take him and his crew on alone? Are you stupid? What can you possibly achieve alone?" He asked curiously.

Brook said nothing... glancing away from the piercing eyes of Rosan. It was hard to tell what he was thinking from his bony exterior but the scout just continued gazing at him.

"Who's Gecko Moria?" Sanji asked curiously.

"One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea," Robin replied. "He used to be a notable pirate… but he's been quiet in the former years."

"He's been lazing about in the Florian Triangle?" Rosan pondered. "Another washed up pirate with no motivation," the redhead sighed.

Just like Crocodile... finding some location and getting lazy while the people around you grew stronger.

If he were anything like Rosan's subordinate, then Moria was probably planning some bullshit to get back into the scene and take over the world or something.

"Shishishi alright, we'll kick his ass and get your shadow back!" Luffy decided. "What can you do?"

Nami let out a groan and held her head. She knew how this was about to turn out but still, best to try and at least talk sense into their captain before he readily made this decision without thinking.

"Getting in another fight with a Warlord isn't a great idea. We've been getting into quite a bit of high stakes altercations Luffy so maybe we can relax?" she tried to dissuade their captain.

"Y-Yeah, haven't we had enough…? We ran into so much of them…" Usopp whimpered.

Couldn't they catch a break? First they fought Crocodile, then they fought Enel, then they fought an Admiral along with the World Government...

Seriously?! What was their luck right now... how was it that they didn't get to have a single normal journey yet since entering the Grand Line?! Wasn't this too unlucky?

"Oh how could I forget to mention... I'm a musician," Brook replied.

A wave of horror coursed through just about every Straw Hat at that.

"NOOOOOO!" Most Straw Hats thought in despair

Luffy's eyes turned into giant stars.

"A MUSICIAN REALLY?!"

Brook nodded. "That's right. I'm a musician that was apart of the Rumbar Pirates."

Rosan snorted at the sheer joy in Luffy's eyes. His little brother looked like Christmas came early.

Rumbar Pirates? Rosan never heard of them before.

"You have to join our crew now! We need a musician!" Luffy demanded. "Let us help you!"

"No."

The Straw Hats blinked owlishly at the abrupt and to the point answer from Brook.

"Yo ho ho ho! I do appreciate the hospitality, but I cannot put my friends, who I've just met, in danger. This is something I must deal with alone so you must all focus on exiting the Florian Triangle before encountering Gecko Moria," Brook explained.

"It may be a bit too late for that," Robin retorted, glancing in a direction with a slight amount of concentration.

Brook blinked owlishly. "Why is that?"

"Because I'm very sure they're outside currently."

Everyone blinked in confusion, before a ghost stuck its head through the walls of their ship.

Wait.

What?

Realization hit them all at the same time.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Usopp screeched in horror. The sniper fell back, turning ashen as he gazed at the ghosts with bugged eyes.

"G-G-GHOST?! I THOUGHT THEY WEREN'T REAL?!" Chopper squealed, jumping behind Robin in hopes that she would protect him.

Robin smiled in amusement and pat the reindeer on his head, utterly unphased by the sight of the ghost.

She just gazed at her best friend, noting that he was gazing at the ghost, calculations no doubt running through his mind.

"Huh, they're actually real? Is there a Devil Fruit that can summon ghosts?" Rosan mused in interest.

That was... interesting. Was this ghost scouting currently?

Maybe someone here really was interesting... Here's to hoping they weren't washed up.

The redhead paused in his musings, as the Thousand Sunny began rumbling ominously and they all jolted, heading out of the ship with urgency to see what happened.

The sight before them stunned them greatly.

Despite not having moved their ship since encountering Brook… an island of all things, was currently looming over them on the outside.

It was surrounded by a huge outer wall that went around the landform, with a gate resembling a giant mouth...

Quite the strange island... Rosan's eyes narrowed slightly at the odd turn of events.

"An island? But we haven't moved from our spot," Franky asked in confusion.

"Yes that's right… the island came to us," Brook informed them with a worried expression. "Tell me, did you all happen to encounter a barrel floating in the sea?"

Judging by the sheepish guilt on their crews face... they had done just that.

"I told you guys it was fishy but nooo we still opened it! What type of reasoning is "Rosan and Luffy aren't here, it can't be that bad!" Are you guys dumb?!" Nami barked in fury.

Rosan raised a brow at hearing what had transpired while he was gone.

"You guys saw a random barrel floating in the sea and opened it?" He asked, sounding perplexed. "What goes through you guys head sometimes? How do you guys say I'm the most chaotic in the crew and then do this?"

Apparently, his crew had encountered a barrel in the sea and actually had the foresight and infinite wisdom… to open it of all things.

"We thought it would have sake in it!" Usopp said sheepishly.

"It seemed like a super idea," Franky shrugged helplessly.

Rosan snorted in visible amusement.

Idiots, all of them. They didn't deserve to protest his decisions, they were just as bad!

Turns out, it was a trap (oh, how shocking) that just alerted this island that there were new victims to capture (what a stupid fucking trap that only worked on stupid people).

Oh and the island? It was a ship too. It was an island and a ship.

...Just another day with the Straw Hats.

Rosan sighed in amusement.

Looks like this was going to be quite the fun trip.

"Thank you again for your hospitality, friends! I do hope we meet again and I'll have my shadow this time!" Brook waved farewell at them.

Without waiting for a response, the musician jumped right off the ship and began running on water of all things.

What a fascinating way to counter the Devil Fruit weakness. Being so light that the water didn't register your weight...

"You're thinking of something, aren't you?" Robin asked with an interested look in her eyes.

Rosan nodded. "I have flight to counteract my weakness... but maybe I can find a way to safely modify how much I weigh to run on water."

Modifying how much he weighed... Rosan couldn't change his mass without it being completely detrimental to how he operated. It would throw him out of balance, change how he moved, etc...

But perhaps he could modify his weight. After all, weight was just how affected by gravity you were...

Could Rosan modify how gravity affected his body? After all... Modification inherently changed the space around him but he needed to have a grasp on it...

Beyond the Pocket Dimension, Rosan was completely unable to actually manipulate the area around him. It was too difficult to grasp and if he couldn't touch it, he couldn't modify it...

So he just needed to touch it... how would he be able to touch his surroundings?

Mod listened to his musings with wide interested eyes. After all, Rosan was the one showing her such new ways to use Modification.

He was the one that made her realize that at the end of the day, all Modifications modified the space around them and now he wanted to not modify the space around them... he wanted to modify the space itself...

Such a thing was insanity but if he managed to do that, Rosan would be almost invincible. The ability to manipulate space...

Was that what Vegapunk intended on doing with her Devil Fruit? Did he glean the core mechanic behind Modification even faster than Rosan had? He was a genius after all so one look at how her fruit operated, should surely give him plenty of ideas...

Robin adored looking into Rosan's mind. 20 years of friendship and she was still caught off guard by some of the things he thought of.

Just look! All Brook had done was run on water and it had Rosan's mind running like this! He took that simple act and expanded it into a theory about manipulating the very space around him.

He had a creativity to his genius that amazed her because Robin didn't believe she were even half as creative. Her genius was far more rigid and practical compared to his flexible and imaginative mind.

That's why they worked so well together. They were both geniuses that helped each other see the other side of the spectrum.

"So I guess we're going right?" Rosan asked his crew, mind still running a mile a minute on his new interests.

"Yup!" Luffy beamed without hesitation.

Everyone else sighed, expecting that response out of him.

Well, they may as well not argue and just stay on their guard.

The scout nodded and summoned 3 birds. "Fly around and give me a general idea… if you can, look for Gecko Moria. I want to see what his deal is."

They chirped in acknowledgment and took off.

"Let's go change, Robin," Rosan muttered, walking off to their room.

"I'd like to bathe as well," she mentioned as she quickly fell in line with him.

"Sanji, prepare food!" Luffy shouted happily.

Nami watched the three in horror. "H-How are you guys not even a little concerned?! WE JUST SAW A GHOST!"

"BE MORE AFRAID!" Usopp sobbed at them.

Rosan glanced back with a lazy smirk. "What's there to be afraid of? I'm not afraid of something that's very quickly going to learn to fear me," he retorted.

"I love a good thrill and my books haven't been very exciting lately, maybe this will be more entertaining," Robin replied with a smile.

"Why're they so cool?!" Usopp thought with tears falling down his face.

They really weren't even a little phased at the thought of ghosts! What was wrong with the two most morbid members of their crew?!

Oh that's right... they were morbid and macabre... damn it all.

"Be prepared for anything," the redhead instructed. "If you want to go ahead, feel free. We'll probably split up regardless."

The duo quickly vanished and the Straw Hats sighed in misery.

"Hey, cheer up!" Franky grinned, flashing the cowardly trio a thumbs up. "This is the perfect time for me to show you all my soldier docking system!"

He mostly worked on that before Red, so there weren't much changes there but working with Red had given Franky a helluva lot more ideas for inventions!

Red made good on his words... if Franky continued at this rate with his help, they'd be making super inventions!

Nami sighed in misery. "Yeah, whatever. Let's just get this over with. I'm already ready for a fight and chaos so whatever."

Hopefully, it wouldn't be as disastrous as every other island they landed on.

Who was she kidding?

---

"What are you thinking of doing?" Robin asked curiously, as Rosan lathered her hair expertly.

It always felt so nice being tended to. Rosan was a fantastic servant!

"Not sure," Rosan admitted. "I've been a bit too greedy lately, so I'm thinking of taking it easy. Whoever controls that ghost, is the only one on my radar for now."

The Devil Child hummed a bit in surprise. She wasn't expecting him to show such little interest. Rosan liked interesting Devil Fruits that he could exploit.

"And Moria?"

The redhead pursed his lips, wiping some water from his eyes with a gentle breeze.

"I'm somewhat interested in him too but if he's really been lazing about here, I don't see the point in recruiting him. He's not young and he's probably past the prime of his life. Besides his Devil Fruit, I don't have much interest in him."

Robin nodded, sighing as that breeze brushed against her and began steadily drying whatever wasn't submerged.

"It seems like they've already begun. Nami, Chopper and Usopp headed out earlier and haven't come back. Everyone else left too," Rosan muttered.

"We should head out as well then," she said, standing up to go grab at her towel.

Robin was getting much better at using her observation on instinct, but when she was fully relaxed, it slipped her mind.

That was the only reason someone managed to sneak up on her.

Robin let out a noise of surprise, as she was abruptly grabbed and pinned against the wall. The woman began struggling at the forceful grip and summoned 3 arms to push against whatever was attacking her.

Rosan's eyes snapped open at that and he gazed at the struggling Robin.

What the hell? What was going on?

The redhead watched, puzzled, as Robin summoned a plethora of arms that began pushing at something.

"Somethings here," Robin gasped, beginning to push and gain headway.

Well, that was until that something licked her.

The Devil Child let out a noise of disgust and Rosan's confusion was replaced by overprotective fury.

The scout surged forward, right as the mysterious creature released Robin and he crashed against nothing.

"Robin, are you alright?" He asked in concern, confusion radiating off of him.

What happened to her?

He applied modification to his eyes and began seeking out heat signatures, seeing something slink out of the room of the slightly ajar door.

Rosan's gaze darkened and fangs began jutting out of his mouth.

"Someone was here and they were just holding onto me. They're fleeing right now," Robin said, disgust roiling off her. "They… licked me."

Rosan's expression transformed into something terrifying.

"They… licked you?" He repeated slowly, anger mounting very very swiftly.

They licked her? Licked Robin? Right in front of him?

They did what to her?!

"Who would dare?" Mod snarled, fury painted on her features as a strong rage began building inside of her.

"WHO THE FUCK DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?! I'LL RIP OUT THEIR FUCKING SPINE!" Ram howled in rage.

The three were fully incensed, eyes boiling with a newfound fury that promised someone was going to pay for even looking at her in the wrong way.

Robin allowed Rosan to hold her and the redhead looked at the slight saliva on the side of her cheek with a thunderous expression.

Oh dear.

"Rosan, be calm," Robin tried, a little unsuccessfully as she saw the redhead's eyes swiftly turn black.

Drawing on the virus already? Robin was flattered that he was so upset on her behalf, but the last thing Robin wanted was for him to draw on Pestilence's abilities.

She wouldn't let him draw on Pestilence's powers on her behalf again. She had learned her lesson.

"I'm fine Rosan... it's just me right now. We'll get back at them but for now, just be calm. Please?" Robin asked soothingly.

Those cruel eyes gazed at her and Robin was reminded that while Rosan was no longer emotionless, that didn't change the fact that he was violent and merciless. He was still very much the same monster he saw himself as, but now he enjoyed what he did.

Finally, they softened into concern for her wellbeing and he nodded his head.

"C'mon, I'll clean you again. I'll clean you again," Rosan repeated, trying his best to stifle his anger and failing miserably.

"Deep clean please… I can't believe someone would lick me," she replied, shuddering at the disgusting act.

That disgust only served to make Rosan even more furious and she watched smoke begin pouring out his mouth.

At least it wasn't his lightning... though that might have been a conscious on his part. Probably didn't want to zap her.

Rosan was this close to razing the entire island to the ground because the sheer audacity displayed by whoever just showed up…

Slaughter was too nice of a word for what Rosan was going to do to this person. He was going to rip them to shreds, he was going to mutilate their body until there was nothing left and he was going to make them regret even thinking of Robin's words.

Furious wasn't enough to explain how he was feeling right now and only the painstaking training he had been doing with Robin, and the desire to clean her immediately, was helping him not completely explode.

To intrude on their bath, grasp his naked girlfriend… and then lick her? Not to mention he did all this while she was naked.

"Now I'm really fucking annoyed," Rosan snarled, gently placing Robin in the bath.

Annoyed... right. She was sure that's what he was.

Robin sighed as he began scrubbing her down with a bit of force and she gently put a hand to his arm.

The redhead blinked before shooting her an apologetic stare and applying far less force.

She let out a small sigh of relief as he wiped her free, even using his flames to heat up the water to a divine level.

"So I suppose there's been a change of plans?" Robin mused, never once turning her Observation off as she soaked the feeling.

She felt the third signature on the ship quickly fleeing and frowned in displeasure.

How unfortunate for that person. Rosan would not rest until he got his hands on them so they were as good as dead.

"Yeah. I was going to take it easy, but it looks like peace is no longer an option. Someone will answer to this and if it's all of them, then so be it," Rosan scowled.

"The person who did this probably has the Suke Suke no Mi. That's a good Devil Fruit to experiment Extract Files on, before you brutally torture him," Mod hummed with a cruel gleam in her eyes.

"To even attempt to sexually assault Mother… Let's give them hell," Ram snarled.

"Of all the things, he licked me?" Robin said, recoiling at just the memory and making Rosan's anger spike again.

"Let's go have a chat with Gecko Moria," Rosan said, eyes glowing in fury.

Someone would be answering to this and if Gecko Moria refused to give him the answer he was looking for, then Rosan would take the answers he wanted.

Whether that be from the assailant or Moria himself. Someone would pay.

The Devil Child sighed as his anger continued spiking.

Getting Rosan's emotions under control was a herculean task and Robin hadn't been having a very easy time with it.

To be honest, he was a mess. Every emotion he felt, was heightened far past what should be normal. The only reason it wasn't so utterly disastrous, was because of her and Mod.

They tried their best to regulate him and it was working out somewhat well, so long as it wasn't anger he was feeling...

And sadness. Rosan seemed to be having nightmares again since he regained his emotions and they left him a mess those nights.

When that happened, they would just hold the panicking redhead and assure him things were alright.

Nights like that were eerily reminiscent to their days as children... Robin herself had a bit of a resurgence of nightmares too after the events of Water 7 and Enies Lobby and Rosan was right there for her.

The two would just hold each other as they let their emotions from the nightmare settle. Sometimes Ram would notice and join them in the real world, other times they'd retreat to the mindscape and cuddle with Mod-chan.

They were offering each other as much support as possible and it was working out especially well for the, so emotional, Rosan who desperately needed it.

It was like he had done a complete 180. Gone was the emotionless and detached redhead, place taken by someone that was overflowing with emotion and desired almost constant contact with the people he loved.

He had turned back into the extrovert Robin knew he was and she was thankful for that because now she could go back to being a tried and true introvert while he took the reigns.

It was hard, but Robin loved every moment of it. She loved watching his expressions shift so drastically, loved how he was able to joke and laugh so easily, loved the brightness of his eyes.

Robin would love Rosan no matter what, but it had felt like she had been breathing with minimal air and only now, was she allowed to breathe freely with something fresh.

It may have been difficult trying to get them under control, but Robin enjoyed every second of it because she saw the joy in everyone's eyes and knew her own was reflecting it.

On occasion, she would see Mod-chan staring at Rosan's face in wonder, and the purple haired woman would begin tearing up with a joyful smile.

It was things like that, that made Robin so happy that she was still with her family.

"Rosan, I'm clean again," she said with a fond smile. "Don't you think we should be going now?"

The redhead grunted, scowl not once leaving his face as he gripped her chin and scrubbed her cheek. "In a minute. I need to deep cleanse you."

Robin sighed in amusement, disgust washed away from the same redhead who was washing her face.

"With how strongly you're reacting, I fear that you won't be able to practice extracting his Devil Fruit," she pointed out.

"I might not. I can barely suppress my murderous tendencies right now. I might let another of the crew beat him into submission because if I get my hands on whoever did this to you, they won't be recognizable," he admitted.

Robin was about to speak up, but she noticed a ghost peering at them through a wall.

Rosan saw where her gaze was headed and let loose a violent snarl.

To Robin's slight surprise, the ghost actually squeaked and ran out of the room.

Wow, he hadn't been kidding...

"Talk about bad first impressions… two people spying on you both bathing? Has no one ever taught them manners?"

"A crew full of perverts… we'll have to teach them a thorough lesson, Father."

Robin felt bad for this crew. Rosan was the last person you wanted to give a bad first impression of.

---

Nami, Chopper and Usopp were having an absolutely terrible time.

They had been trying one of Franky's inventions in the soldier system, the Mini-Merry and had been overjoyed to ride their first ship again.

But in their excitement, they didn't realize that they were now the first ones to enter the horror island that they desperately did not want to enter.

Things did not get better. No in fact, it seemed to get actively worse.

While fearfully walking through Thriller Bark, they had encountered a three headed dog that they quickly realized was Cerberus.

At that point, Nami had made it her mission to become an arsonist because she had begun flinging around enough fire to make Rosan proud.

Needless to say, her terrified escapades had managed to arouse actual breathing zombies.

By this point, Nami was already too far gone in her terror and was indiscriminately attacking whatever was in sight.

The rather comical acting corpses had lunged at her, Chopper and Usopp with speed that belied their... undead status.

Things did not get better. With great power comes great responsibility and Nami was showing exactly why that quote existed.

Clima was throwing out every element Nami had in store to a very effective degree and it was showing that her claims were true, she really was becoming one of the most destructive Straw Hats...

The orange haired navigator was living up to her namesake as sorceress due to the utter mayhem she had caused and with how widespread her attacks were... it seemed like only Rosan was able to cover more ground!

"GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY! GET! AWAY!" Nami shrieked, summoning a massive gust of wind that pushed back the zombies that were already running away from her.

"W-WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS CHICK?!" One of the zombies shouted in horror, trying to get away from the girl who thought they were still trying to attack her.

"I DON'T KNOW BUT SHE'S MAD! GET AWAY FROM HER!" another shouted in terror.

"Maybe we should tell her that they don't want her anymore," Chopper mentioned with a sweatdrop, looking at the untold mayhem Nami had caused in her horror.

Chopper had heard that Nami could summon a hurricane now... but you really had to see her abilities in person to believe a claim like that.

He fully believed it now. He had no clue when Nami got this scary but she was throwing out enough things for him to momentarily forget his fear of zombies.

Usopp steadily dragged her away, even whilst she continued throwing out elements, and said, "No no… this is perfectly fine."

Absalom, still invisible, looked at the other beautiful woman with a slight amount of dread.

He had thought this one was weaker then the other girl he had licked… but perhaps he should switch targets once more…

"HELP ME BIG BRO! PLEASE!" Nami wailed, hoping Rosan would show up eventually to save her.

"WE'RE THE ONES WHO NEED IT!" The zombies screeched.

---

After finally settling down in an area void of zombies (not that they were being followed anymore by them), the cowardly trio were tentatively approached by a man by the name of Hildon.

The strange man had fearfully requested they stop destroying the forest, much to Nami's embarrassment and as a show of hospitality, he was currently escorting them to the mansion to meet Dr. Hogback.

Nami had been about to refuse the offer because she didn't trust a damn soul on this island, but Chopper had been so excited once he heard the famous doctors name, that he had practically bulldozed all their attempts to leave.

She blamed Maro and Rosan for steadily helping Chopper with his confidence because she knew they shouldn't have come here.

They had met the Doctor named Hogback and his assistant, Cindy who seemed to hate plates and... Usopp too.

This meeting went normal enough… they had introduced each other, Chopper had fanboyed, they were away from the zombies and they learned a bit more about the place they were in.

But after their conversation with Hogback, was when everything went wrong.

Nami had deigned to take a shower because despite her distrust, she was still filthy and a little spent from the events that had transpired so she just wanted to relax.

She was also very sure that the doctor was an enemy as well. He was just far too shady and if she were as trigger happy as Rosan was (and less filthy), this whole place would have been burned down…

But for now, she'd play up the trust card and remain ignorant, until an opportunity arose.

Well, that was the plan, up until she was grabbed mid shower and forced against the wall of the bathroom.

"!?" Nami attempted to scream in shock, only to find a large palm covering her mouth.

She heard a low growling noise, before a figure leaned in close to her and said, "Turns out you are weaker than the pretty girl on the ship."

The navigator struggled in his grip and went pale as she felt a hot breath brush against her.

She reached out desperately for the Clima resting on the wall next to her and managed to touch it with just her finger.

"C-Clima, help me!" she requested.

"! Master Nami?!" Her weapon called in surprise. "Someone would dare touch you during bath time?!"

Without any hesitation at all, the staff summoned a giant gale that caught the surprised perpetrator off guard.

Nami gasped and let out a shrill scream, as soon as the man's arm was released from her mouth, that alerted Chopper and Usopp outside.

She grabbed Clima and summoned those red sparks, before slamming it on the ground with a murderous gaze, right as the iron clouds elevated her off of it.

"Slimy. Disgusting. Pervert!" Nami snarled, as the entire bath lit up red with her electricity.

Absalom seized up as the electricity coursed through his veins, amplified by the water and steam in the room. The man grit his teeth in surprise and let out a roar of pain.

What in the world?! His skin was incredibly tough but this lightning was able to pierce it?

Who the hell was this woman?! You were telling him she was one of the weaker ones?!

Not good, if he stayed here, he'd be in a lot of trouble...

Thinking quickly, the man launched himself towards the window and broke it open with the force of his leap, landing on the floor.

"Nami, are you alright in there?!" Usopp shouted in concern.

"No! We need to get out of here. There was an invisible guy peeping on me!" Nami barked, rushing to throw on some clothes.

"WHAT?!" Chopper shrieked. "What should we do?!"

"Leave! We need to find the crew!" She ordered, bursting out of the bathroom.

"You mentioned an invisible guy?" Usopp asked in concern.

Nami nodded with a disgusted frown. "He grabbed me and forced me against the wall… but I don't think we have to worry about him for long."

Usopp and Chopper spluttered.

"Why do you say that?! He's an invisible guy! INVISIBLE!" Usopp stressed.

"Yeah, why don't we have to worry about him?" Chopper asked in concern.

Everyone froze as a gigantic red explosion happened outside, shaking the very foundations of the building.

It was like a miniature earthquake hit and they all grabbed something to steady themselves.

Nami pointed outside with a grim smile. "Because he mentioned seeing Robin on the ship. If he did anything to her, that he did to me, he's not going to be alive for very long."

Usopp and Chopper paled.

"You mean… the Robin that was bathing with Rosan?" Usopp asked slowly, steadily going more pale.

"The same Rosan who just destroyed Enies Lobby?" Chopper joined.

"Yep that one exactly… let's get out of here because Rosan is about to cause a lot of mayhem," Nami sighed, clutching Clima tightly.

Another explosion rocked the area and they shuddered.

Rosan must have been really pissed off.

---

Absalom balked in fear, as that giant explosion rocked the surrounding area and a dome of red energy showed up for the entirety of Thriller Bark to see.

W-Was that the Red Devil? Was this how the Straw Hats destroyed Enies Lobby?

Was he already planning on destroying Thriller Bark?!

Moria would have his head if he found out Absalom was the reason that the Red Devil was currently on a rampage… but how could he help himself?

By the time he had gotten on the ship, the entire crew had long departed. He had made sure they couldn't escape but they didn't seem keen on getting out anyways…

Then he heard the bath running.

Natural pervert that he was, his curiosity got the best of him and he went to check it out.

It was then he saw the voluptuous figure of Nico Robin in the flesh, cleaning herself off with a towel.

She was even more beautiful than the bounty posters showed. Absalom's jaw had dropped to the floor laying eyes on her.

There was no chance he'd be able to resist. He was so unable to resist, that he failed to account for the very dangerous presence of the Red Devil, until a primal urge (probably from all the animal parts stitched into him) informed him that his life was in grave danger.

He leapt away right before the Red Devil could grasp him and slunk away at admirable speeds…

Absalom didn't realize how much of a mistake that was but that constant chill hovering around him was far too unsettling.

The Red Devil clearly didn't appreciate someone ogling his woman and the lick probably made things even worse…

He'd have to report to Moria about this. The demon was threatening to sink all of Thriller Bark and at this rate, he would and it would be Absalom's fault...

Absalom felt a small shudder crawl down his spine. It was a small, terrible omen of what was to come for him.

But he ignored it, perhaps foolishly so.

After all, you never mess with the Devil's possessions.

---

Perona's blush at seeing the Red Devil's naked body, vanished at the combination of furious heterochromatic eyes, combined with a snarl that showed off way too many sharp teeth.

"Cute… but also so not cute," she shuddered, horror coursing through her body at what she knew was about to transpire on Thriller Bark.

That intimidating gaze of the infamous Red Devil... He was scary.

After hearing that the Straw Hats had arrived to their abode, she had naturally sent out her negative ghosts to scout them out and get everything set up to steal their shadows.

The Straw Hats had all their recorded members as per usual, except for this one pervert with blue hair and a speedo.

She had been inspecting the ship to look for treasure and was pleased to see that they had quite a bit of giant, pepperoni size gold plates that would fetch quite the hefty price...

And then she saw Absalom's errors and wondered why Moria kept the idiot around sometimes.

The dumb little pervert couldn't keep it in his pants for even a second and he had actually put his hands on the Devil of Ohara, Nico Robin!

What was he thinking?! Oh that's right, he wasn't thinking at all and now there was a homicidal redhead on the loose.

Not only was Nico Robin worth 190 million Beris… her boyfriend (the redhead who was in the bath with her)… was worth 310!

Didn't anyone ever tell Absalom anything about redheads?! They were crazy and would steal your soul with a smile on their faces!

That was only 10 million less than Moria and he thought to assault her in front of him? Was he really that lost in his own perverseness? A crew like this would need Moria's express approval before they thought to attack them and he was unconscious!

Absalom had fled but the damage had been done and those furious eyes told Perona everything she needed to know.

The explosion outside solidified it and Perona could only watch in horror, as a dome of red energy encapsulated an area in Thriller Bark.

W-Was he that pissed? No more words? Just immediately going to the destruction part?

The Red Devil and Straw Hat Luffy were monstrous threats, with enough manpower to destroy a Marine Stronghold… it was only a matter of time before all of Thriller Bark sunk.

Not only that, it seemed like the Red Devil was far more trigger happy than the rest of his crew... barring that orange haired girl.

Perona sighed in aggravation.

She didn't like being put on the backfoot. Especially when it was to someone that should be cute but wasn't.

---

Franky whistled in shock. "Wow, did Red fly ahead of us?"

The area they were traversing looked like it had been through a war.

Scorched grounds, burned to a crisp trees, uprooted trees...

It almost looked like Rosan himself got his hands on it. They were traveling through a battle ground right about now!

Luffy shook his head with a huge grin. "Rosan's behind us with Robin! Nami did this," he corrected.

Sanji's eyes bugged. "Nami-san did this?! When did she get so strong?!"

Zoro shrugged. "She summoned a hurricane at Enies Lobby. She's putting her new abilities to good use. Better than being a shameless coward."

Franky nodded with wide eyes. He didn't expect Nami to be throwing out such power. He was impressed by their navigators abilities.

Honestly, he was impressed with all of them! He saw what they were capable of and it let him know that his crew were super reliable.

"Must have been because of this dog we're on," Franky pointed out on his spot atop Cerberus.

The triple headed dog had been nursing some burns after running away from the terrifying Nami, then it ran into Luffy, Franky, Sanji and Zoro.

The lumps on its head, showed how well that meeting went and now the beaten and defeated dog was carrying them across the charred land.

As they traversed, the group encountered an actual zombie and realized the living corpse was probably the reason Nami had went on a rampage.

"What's an old man with severe injuries doing here?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"THAT'S A ZOMBIE, DUMBASS!" They roared.

The rubber boy blinked.

"Zombies?" He repeated, watching as they began rising from their graves.

"THEY'RE MAKING FUN OF US ZOMBIES!"

"WE'LL SHOW EM!"

"SHOW THEM THE TERROR OF ZOMBIES!"

"THEY AREN'T AS SCARY AS THAT OTHER GIRL!"

The 4 raised a brow as the zombies charged them.

"They wanna fight?" They asked simultaneously.

---

"We're very sorry sirs! We won't do it again sirs!" the zombies chanted at once, bruises that were not naturally apart of them, littering their bodies after the hellish beatdown they suffered.

Luffy frowned at the group. "What are you guys doing here? Were you bugging my friends?"

The zombies blinked, before blanching as they realized who they were talking about.

Sanji's gaze narrowed. "So you were messing with Nami-san?!" He asked in fury.

"M-Messing with her?! YOU THINK WE WERE MESSING WITH HER?!" The zombies balked in horror.

"THAT DEMON WAS THE ONE MESSING WITH US!"

Sanji blinked in confusion.

He was... not expecting that.

"S-SHE WAS ACTING ALL SCARED AND TRICKING US! B-BUT THE WHOLE TIME SHE WAS SETTING US ON FIRE, THROWING LIGHTNING, LIFTING US WITH WIND!"

"I WAS SCARED I WAS GONNA DIE AGAIN!"

"SHE WOULDN'T STOP! JUST SCREAMING LIKE A MANIAC AS SHE BLASTED US!"

Luffy laughed at the terror on the zombies. "Nami's pretty scary huh?"

"Where is she?" Sanji asked.

"We can't tell you that," one zombie said.

"Yeah we're built to not tell secrets."

"Just how we were made."

"So you don't know?" Luffy asked curiously.

"They went past us," a zombie replied immediately.

At once all the zombies nodded, forgetting their code and pointing in a direction.

The rubber boy smiled. "Alright guys, let's go get them!"

With that, they boarded the whimpering Cerberus and had it take off again.

Only 10 minutes after continuing their trek, Cerberus stopped in horror, as a massive explosion took place.

"What?!" Zoro grunted in shock, turning around in disbelief. At the sight of the red blast, his brow raised high.

Franky's jaw dropped as he saw the massive dome of red energy that could only be courtesy of one person.

Luffy perked up and glanced curiously at the energy. "Oh? What happened to Rosan?"

"Is Red trying to drown us all?!" Franky balked.

---

Robin and Rosan, both fully dressed, traversed through Thriller Bark at a leisurely pace.

It was good for his temper going at such a pace. Any faster and his blood might get really active.

They were on one of the wavers that Rosan and Angel had worked on to make it compatible with land. He had done this with quite a bit of the wavers, giving them different functions and giving some others to Franky or Maro for their own uses.

He was pretty sure Angel and Franky were trying to make them aerial as well.

He was proud of her for being so innovative. His little sister had found a renewed passion in her craft and was absorbing as much knowledge as possible to improve herself.

For his uses, he modified the wavers that belonged to him, into various different forms of transportation, land or water.

He and Robin were on a waver that he had modified into a pitch black tiger, since she loved calling him that whenever he purred. It utilized the breath dial to move forward and prowled the grounds like it were an actual tiger.

He decided it was time to expand on what his Modified creations looked like. He was a fan of the birds and flies (ever since the first time he used it all the way back at Baterilla), but he was going to expand upon it more because... he was no longer rooted to his past like before. He could now move forward with the knowledge that he was capable of changing.

So long as his family thought he could, then Rosan would believe that too.

...It felt nice to not hate yourself at every passing moment. Rosan wasn't quite pleased with himself yet, but he had passed the point of despising who he was as a person.

Only time would tell if he could ever appreciate himself like others seemed to. Rosan wanted to see the things in himself that everyone else saw...

Rosan wanted to love himself like everyone else loved him because then he would firmly know that they had always been right and he was wrong.

But that was in the future. For now, baby steps... and trying to sate his deep burning anger.

"Weird place," Rosan muttered, inspecting the skeletons that their tiger walked on, with a tilted head.

The duo were currently conversing through their connection so as to avoid being heard.

"I like it. I'm a fan of thrillers and horror," Robin smiled. She was sat in front of the redhead, so that his hands could wrap around her waist and remind him that she were here.

It wasn't a perfect way to calm his anger down but just staring at her seemed to have an effect in making him stave it off.

...She wouldn't mention how ego boosting that was... but it was ego boosting.

The redhead snorted. "I forgot that you're such a weirdo. It's cute how much of a geek you are."

Her smile vanished, replaced by an annoyed expression. "Geek? That's the word you're using now? Why must you make fun of me for my hobbies?"

The redhead smirked insufferably, eyes flashing with information from his birds that had flown ahead of everyone.

"We've been through this. It's up to me to break your character and the easiest way to do that, is by insulting what you're interested in," he replied smugly.

Robin turned and glared at him, before reaching out and yanking his hair harshly.

Rosan hissed at that and snarled at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought your emotions were hiding your kinks," Robin said mockingly, remembering him using those words when he yanked her hair at Alabasta.

"You are so lucky that I don't wanna brawl with you right now," Rosan snarled, eyes glowing as he simply tightened his grip on her to something almost insufferable.

Robin rolled her eyes with a small sigh. "I know you're mad, Rosan —"

"Mad?" Rosan scowled deeply. "Robin, you were naked in the bath and someone forced you against a wall and licked you. Mad doesn't even begin to describe how I feel and my concern for you is the only thing stopping me from going on a rampage. Moria is lucky our crew wanted to explore, because otherwise I'd have already destroyed as much as I could."

"I wholeheartedly agree. For someone to so boldly sexually assault you… Rosan won't be the only one getting his hands on the perpetrator. We're going to make them suffer," Mod growled darkly.

"Slow and painful. They won't know joy again," Ram snarled in blistering rage.

Robin flushed slightly at the 3. They were all so upset on her behalf and… she loved them for that.

Sure, they were utterly psychotic… but she loved them all the same.

"Anyone who puts their hands on you without your consent, will deal with me," Rosan promised with a dark glare.

His prickly attitude lessened, as Robin placed her free hand around his arm once more.

"Thank you, all of you. But be calm. I'm disgusted that someone saw me naked but until we finally get our hands on them, let's think rationally. We're likely on enemy territory after all," Robin muttered to them all.

Mod took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright, you're right."

"I'll try," Ram grumbled.

"…" Rosan said nothing and Robin noted that his fists were clenched tightly.

"He's barely able to even hold it in," Robin noted. She calmly placed a hand on the clenched fist.

"Just keep trying your best, Rosan. I'm proud that you're attempting," she muttered, slowly unclenching the fist for him.

Rosan was a torrent right now. Unstoppable and unrelenting, with no way to stop it but he was trying his best.

She would do her best to… not quite stop it, but healthily control it.

You couldn't stop a tsunami, you could only do damage control.

He nodded tightly and gripped her smaller hand in his own, squeezing tightly.

The lumbering black tiger moved forth with the two atop it at a steady pace and it gave Robin and Rosan an eyeful of the scenery…

Aka the aftereffects of Nami's mayhem earlier.

"Did Nami do this?" Robin mused, looking rather impressed.

Rosan nodded, looking at the scarred field and the uplifted trees. "She's much better at utilizing all her elements at once in comparison to me."

Nami used her elements in alot of tandem with each other, even combining some of the effects with each other.

She used her mastery of weather to utilize the perfect attacks, in comparison to Rosan launching everything like a madman and boosting his physical capabilities with them as well.

They may have both used the same elements and similar attacks, but Nami's knowledge of weather and the elements, made her truly look like a sorceress in comparison to Rosan looking like a force of nature with how overwhelming his offense was.

Nami's use of the elements were actually quite similar to Mod-chan's. Maybe she would enjoy training with his mother and vice versa.

The Devil Child nodded in agreement. Nami was utilizing Rosan's elements incredibly well and she was proud of the cowardly thief for finding something that could help her so well in combat.

Rosan's eyes snapped to attention as he heard noise ahead and he made the tiger slow down a bit, idly preparing to blast whoever it was depending on what they said or did.

Both he and Robin stepped off the tiger and made their way to the noise, guards up the entire time.

As they made it into the clearing, the duo paused as they encountered the people talking.

The battered and bullied zombies perked up once more and gazed at the approaching duo with fearful expressions.

"More of them?!" One zombie muttered in fear.

"We don't wanna deal with this! None of them are weak!" Another shrieked.

"Yeah we're tired of getting beat up!" Yet another agreed.

The zombies were all in agreement and one stood up.

"H-Hey there, your friends went that way!" The zombie rasped, pointing in a direction.

…

The zombies blinked in confusion.

"Uh… hello?" They called slowly.

Robin, for once, did not have a composed expression on her face.

No, the woman was deathly nervous.

Her eyes were wide and she began sweating nervously, as she gazed at the living corpses.

Were those...? Were those zombies?

She thought back to a time when she was still a kid and felt her nervousness only grow.

Now you're probably wondering just why Robin was suddenly so nervous? Even despite claiming she loved horror and thrills?

It was simple!

Robin wasn't afraid of the zombies. Robin had no fear at all for zombies. She actually didn't fear anything dealing with horror...

No, Robin wasn't afraid of them...

The redhead staring at them like the apocalypse started, Portgas D. Rosan, was terrified of zombies.

Yes, that's right. As a child, Rosan had told her all his fears.

Rosan didn't actually fear much things besides being alone. The child laughed in the face of what was conventionally seen as scary...

But he did have two material fears... large lizards... and zombies.

Apparently, as a child, one of the young adults on Baterilla, had foolishly informed the young redhead about what zombies were and how they liked to feast on human flesh and convert them as his idea of a prank.

Needless to say, Rouge had given that young man a firm tongue lashing that no one had assumed she was capable of giving because Portgas D. Rouge was a sweetheart.

Not that day though... as Rosan bawled against her body, she reminded that young man that she was first and foremost a mother and she was very protective of Rosan...

Despite getting her point across and soothing Rosan, his fear of zombies had still begun from there.

All of that was bad but that didn't quite warrant just why was she this anxious.

Well, the reason she was so nervous currently, was rather simple.

Robin was remembering the time she pranked little Rosan and nearly made him trip into a large lizard. The terrified redhead had transformed a stick into a handcannon of all things and leveled the area slightly.

After that, she did not use Rosan's fears against him while she was in the vicinity. Only when she was far away, would she prank him and even then she was wary because a vengeful Rosan pranking her, was a very creative person.

It was easy to avoid… after all, Rosan was only afraid of particularly large lizards, and the best friends sailed the sea most of the time, and zombies... which weren't real.

W-Well, they weren't supposed to be real.

"Oh please no. You've got to be kidding me," Mod moaned in disbelief, as Ram let out an ear splitting shriek.

"GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" Ram shrieked.

"Rosan," Robin hissed, turning towards him immediately and placing a placating hand on his chest. "It's okay! Close your eyes! Please! I'll guide you away!"

The things she could feel with her observation didn't bode well for any living soul in the vicinity barring them.

Rosan was full of disbelief, horror and terror.

...At least they were dealing with zombies?

Kami, Robin hoped she wasn't collateral this time at least.

When Robin had tripped him into the lizard… Rosan had been 5 years old and full of tiny, albeit adorable, fury.

Rosan was not 5 anymore… and he had absolutely no control over his emotions either.

No… Rosan was a 24 year old torrent who could level an island now.

"U-Um maybe you didn't hear us," one of the zombies muttered.

"You're friends, they're that way! W-We can show you!"

The one who said that took a step forward, missing the astonished glare Robin shot him.

"Don't come any closer! What are you doing?!" She shouted in disbelief.

The zombie paused in confusion. "W-Wha? What's the matter with you two?!"

Robin was about to tell Rosan once more to close his eyes, but it was too late.

Ram seeped into Rosan's gloves so quickly, Robin nearly got whiplash.

Oh dear.

The redhead held a single hand over his head and began pouring a lot energy as he soared higher and higher into the sky with Robin in his grasp.

Much to Robin's shock, the ball of energy he was forming was growing much larger than it needed to be growing.

"Rosan, this is overkill!" Robin informed him. "You don't need to do thi —"

"Persecution!" Rosan hissed, eyes set into pinpricks as he summoned the same attack he used against Garp.

Then, he lobbed the enormous ball down.

This was why Robin was so nervous. Because Rosan's destructive capabilities had evolved drastically with age and with how little he could control his anger, it could lead to very bad things happening.

Garp was not here to stop this attack and its effects were shown very, very quickly.

Robin watched with wide eyes, as the ball crashed into the panicking zombies with a deafening noise.

A dome of red energy formed that grew larger and larger, consuming everything in its path.

By the time it settled, Robin shakily looked at the crater that her boyfriend created, before gazing at the huffing Rosan with wide frantic eyes.

"Mod-chan you fucking liar! You and Mom told me zombies were fake! What is the meaning of this?!" Rosan hissed in disbelief, clutching his chest as his beating heart finally settled down.

"T-They aren't real, Rosan! This is someone's Devil Fruit," Mod stammered in disbelief, holding the terrified Ram with wide eyes. "And please watch your language!"

"Watch my fucking language?!" The redhead snarled in disbelief. "I believed you! For years I believed they were fake! How could you do this to me?!"

Robin sweatdropped deeply. The reason Mod-chan had to reassure little Rosan that zombies weren't real... was because Robin had told them they were.

Mod-chan had not been very happy with her after that but she couldn't help it! Rosan was adorable when he was panicking.

Mod spluttered. "Because they aren't real by normal circumstances, Rosan!"

"LIAR! I KNOW WHAT I SAW!"

"I'M NOT LYING! YOU CAN TELL WHEN I'M LYING!"

"EXPLAIN THE ZOMBIES THEN?! ARE YOU SAYING I DIDN'T JUST SEE THEM?!"

"DEVIL FRUIT. A DEVIL. FRUIT. ROSAN!"

"SO THEY'RE REAL?! WHAT IS YOUR KNOWLEDGE EVEN GOOD FOR IF YOU DON'T KNOW THESE THINGS?!"

"OH I'M SORRY. I WASN'T AWARE A ZOMBIE ZOMBIE FRUIT EXISTED. FORGIVE ME!"

"NO! AREN'T DEVIL FRUITS YOUR SIBLINGS?! YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THEM LIAR!"

"Enough, you two!" Robin interrupted with a deep sigh, still gazing at that crater with wide eyes.

Not a single zombie in the area remained from that attack, very likely obliterated from Rosan's assault but Robin doubted that these were the only zombies on the island.

Was she going to have to deal with homicidal terrified Rosan the entire time?

With his unchained emotions too… Robin let out a miserable sigh.

She sure did have her work cut out for her today.

Rosan gazed at Robin and his wild heartbeat finally settled as he floated to the ground.

"I… have a solution," he muttered eventually. "I don't actually think I'll be able to function on this island in a normal manner and I imagine it'll be destroyed in the long run…"

"So you'll go back to the ship?" Robin muttered. "I'll go with you. I'd rather that then explore this place without you."

Rosan shook his head. "I'll take a backseat for now… I'm already too angry to think straight and now I've got these zombies..."

Mod's eyes widened. "You're saying you want me to take over for this mission?"

"Yeah, have at it," Rosan grunted, as he began carrying Robin bridal style. "Find the source of the zombies and deal with them… and find the invisible person too."

Robin's eyes lit up at that. "I have no disagreements with this… but at least stay connected?" she requested.

The redhead scowled. "I don't wanna look at the zombies… but I'll stay connected for you."

"I don't wanna look at them either," Ram moaned in horror. Why was she afraid of zombies?! She wasn't afraid of lizards!

"Meiko is afraid of zombies too... and all things horror. That's probably why," he answered with a grunt, hair shifting to purple, as red bled into his purple eye.

His figure slimmed down as his features softened and the redhead finished his transformation into his Devil Fruit.

"Fine. I'll do it instead," Mod grumbled, waving her head slightly and allowing the purple to fall free.

"My oh my, Mod-chan… how romantic but should you really be trying to steal me from your son?" Robin asked with mirth in her eyes.

The woman blinked, before a blush appeared on her face as she realized she was holding the taller woman in a bridal carry, with Robin's arms wrapped around her neck.

"Don't tease me. You know I get embarrassed easily," Mod said with a flush, gently placing Robin down before transforming her outfit into her signature black dress.

"Father!" Ram squealed happily, tackling the redhead.

Rosan easily caught her with a pleased smile, always content to see his daughter, and got comfortable. "Have at it, Mod-chan. Keep Robin and yourself safe."

"Try and reign in your anger while you're in there," Robin advised.

Mod nodded in determination. "I'm not nearly as gifted in combat as Rosan but I know enough to keep us both safe!" she exclaimed.

"I've seen what you're capable of doing... I think I'd rather fight Rosan. His fighting is far more honest than yours," Robin said truthfully, thinking to Mod's style of fighting and shaking her head.

The woman pouted. "Punching and attacking is much more inefficient compared to firing attacks at a distance... why would I give my opponents a chance to hit me? B-Besides, it's not like I'm incapable of fighting close combat... but that's only if they close the distance on me!" she exclaimed.

"Look at you, immediately jumping to defense after being called out," Rosan simpered. "How does that fighting style work against me when we spar?"

Mod grit her teeth. "Not... well. I haven't been able to beat you in quite a long time."

"Because I have ways to close the distance! Imagine how people who can't close the distance must feel. Boring, Mod-chan."

Why was he so annoying? What did Mod do to deserve being harassed by her son as a daily occurence?

He said the most unhinged things. He had the craziest possession and she (his mother mind you!) was not exempt from it.

Worst, if she protested, he'd bully her and everyone knew and approved of it!

She was still upset that they banned her from something she had no intention of doing in the first place! It was incredibly unnecessary and she was their mother!

"Do you really want us to lift the ban on you dating that bad? Do you have eyes on someone?" Rosan asked in amusement, a slight threat in his voice that didn't bode well for the imaginary person he was thinking of.

"I do not have a crush on anyone, Rosan! That's why this is all the more ridiculous!" Mod scowled.

"But we're just making sure no one takes advantage of you," Robin said gently, holding the woman reassuringly. "You're very innocent. Sometimes you feel like my little sister and I just want to protect you, you know?" she said soothingly.

That did not soothe Mod.

She gained a tick and glared at Robin. "Young lady, I have raised you since you were just 8 years old! I am literally old enough to be your mother and I am!"

"Mother or Grandmother?" Rosan asked in amusement.

"SHUT UP! I'm tired of this conversation!" Mod barked.

Her three menaces just laughed and dropped it, allowing her to take a deep breath to sate her nerves.

First things first... Mod glanced down in dissatisfaction at her footwear.

She didn't like wearing shoes, much preferring to go barefoot and if she was going to be here for the mission, she may as well make herself comfortable…

Oh but this land just wasn't as clean and comfortable as the mindscape.

Robin watched Mod's dilemma with amusement, content to let the woman reach a solution.

Finally the woman nodded to herself and began floating up with a gentle flap of Ragnarok's wings. She delicately removed Rosan's shoes from her feet and banished them into the dimension.

"I shouldn't show these wings just yet so…" Mod mused, withdrawing the wings and instead using wind to help her stay afloat.

"All of that just to not wear shoes. You're ridiculous, Mod-chan," Rosan sighed, running a hand through his hair.

She puffed out her cheek indignantly. "Can I at least be comfortable without you harassing me?!"

"No."

Robin sighed before they began arguing again. "Using the wind to help you float is rather ingenious, Mod-chan."

"Yeah! Lazy people always find shortcuts to make their lives easier!" Ram beamed.

"Alright! What should we do first?" Mod asked with a strained smile, tickmark forming ever so slowly.

Robin tried to hide her smile and cupped her cheek thoughtfully. "Considering the mayhem Rosan and Nami caused, I believe we should gather everyone again and warn them of the invisible person. We've both struck each other so peace talks are likely out the window."

The Devil Fruit nodded. "I'd still prefer it if we didn't immediately come to violence but okay, one of Rosan's birds has located Gecko Moria and the other located a pink haired girl. I suspect the girl might be the one with the ghost fruit."

Robin's smile vanished. "Girl you say? The one spying on us bathing as well? She saw Rosan naked?" She asked slowly.

Mod blinked, before nodding slowly, a nervous expression on her face at Robin's serene aura.

The Devil Child hummed. "I see. Alright, Luffy and the others are up ahead. Let's find them and then look for the rest."

"Wow Auntie, gonna just let Mother walk while you float around?" Ram asked incredulously.

"She's lazy, expending the effort to lift two people is too much for my aging mother," Rosan sneered.

Robin bit her lip to avoid from laughing.

Rosan and Ram took a great joy in bullying Mod-chan. It was especially prominent when she was not there to retaliate.

"Deep breaths," Mod muttered to herself. "Deep… breaths."

In and out. In… and… out.

The woman delicately captured Robin in a breeze and lifted her daughter, before they both began heading towards their crew.

"She's doing it!" Ram beamed.

"Careful Mod-chan, wouldn't want your back to break."

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP! JUST WAIT UNTIL I'M DONE HERE!" Mod howled, fury painting her features.

"Don't laugh," Robin thought to herself.

"Ouch. Maybe Auntie has anger issues too, Father. She really is like us!"

"I thought there was wisdom in age. I suppose she's just as childish as we are."

Mod shot Robin a deadly glare, as the Devil Child failed to contain her laughter any longer.

Robin cursed those two for breaking her like this. Now she had to hear it from the fed up woman.

---

"Awful news, Master!"

The massive figure blinked slowly, as they awakened from their slumber.

"Nga?! What an awful dream… and now you're telling me there's awful news?" Moria mumbled with a yawn.

"Yes! The Straw Hats Pirates have arrived on Thriller Bark and already, the Red Devil has destroyed a large area along with some zombies!"

That snapped him wide awake and the Warlord shot up.

"The Straw Hat Pirates? The ones who destroyed Enies Lobby?!" Moria asked in surprise.

The Straw Hats… with Straw Hat Luffy, the man worth 350 million and the Red Devil, Rosan, the man worth 310…

Not to mention the other members of the crew… it would be risky but if it worked...

"You say he's already begun destroying Thriller Bark?!" Moria asked in disbelief. "Why is that?! What are his reasons?!"

"Because someone sexually assaulted his woman while she was bathing!"

The Warlord raised a brow high at that and gazed at the furious Perona.

The pink haired girl was glaring harshly at the nervous Absalom, pointing all the blame towards him without any hesitation.

"Absalom here couldn't keep his job to just tying the ships down and made it his mission to piss off the Red Devil by assaulting Nico Robin!" She accused, pointing a finger at the man's lion muzzle.

Moria then turned his gaze towards the pervert, as his minions brought him 4 days worth of food.

"I… was checking to see if anyone was still on the ship so I could prevent them from leaving. Most of their members had already left, but Red Devil and Devil of Ohara were bathing…" Absalom began slowly.

"And this idiot assaulted her without a second thought before fleeing!" Perona ranted with a frustrated expression. "Do you stop to even think?! You didn't see the look on the Red Devil's face but I did! That scary demon's out for blood now and you're his target! I so don't want to be next to you when he eventually finds you because I might get caught in the crossfire!"

The pink haired woman pointed outside. "You heard that explosion right?! You saw that dome, RIGHT?! It was huge! These are the guys who destroyed Enies Lobby and you already infuriated their second most dangerous member! Two of them have bounties close to Moria-sama and you somehow managed to piss off the more trigger happy of the two!"

Moria wolfed down his meal as he listened to them speak but there was a deep frown on his face.

At this rate, if the Red Devil was hellbent on destroying Thriller Bark and Enies Lobby was any indication, they would need to neutralize him quickly.

Not to mention securing a shadow of the Red Devil and Straw Hat Luffy… that just sounded too tempting.

Which would go in Oars? Should it be the Red Devil?

...No, based on what Perona was saying with the dome, his skillset might be incompatible with his most prized creation… but his shadow deserved a good body.

Moria's eyes flashed as an epiphany struck him and he began laughing.

"Kishishishi! I know just what to do!" The shadow man decided.

It wouldn't be easy but if it worked, he'd be unstoppable against this crew.

"Where is the Red Devil currently?" Moria asked curiously, continuing to gorge on his food.

"We don't know."

He blinked.

"You don't know?" He asked slowly.

Perona shook her head in worry. "After the explosion, I sent a ghost to check the area and we saw Nico Robin… but we didn't see the Red Devil. We saw another woman, who we can't identify, floating alongside her."

If the Red Devil was off on his own... that couldn't possibly bare well for them.

Moria frowned at that, before his smile returned. "We'll capture them both and bring in the Red Devil using them then. Their shadows should be incredibly valuable to us!"

Absalom nodded, interested in hearing that there was yet another woman in the Straw Hats. "They should all be heading towards the mansion now."

The shadow man stood up, much to the surprise of Perona and Absalom.

"Moria-sama?" Perona questioned. "Are you actually going to participate?"

"Kishishishi! Of course! Two men worth 300 million apiece… I would be cruel to leave them up to you. Absalom, avoid the Red Devil at all costs if he really wants to kill you and go awaken every zombie on the island."

Absalom saluted and took off to do just that. He was relieved that Moria valued his life enough to make sure he avoided that demon at all costs.

"Perona, keep your ghosts alert and avoid the Red Devil too. I don't need you dying either so make sure he doesn't get his hands on you. Leave him to me," Moria ordered her.

Perona nodded, moved by his thoughtful nature and floated off with a relieved sigh.

Moria pondered the events as he finished off his food.

He was used to having others do things for him, but this was a special case.

Two men worth 300 million… perhaps even he'd struggle against them.

But he didn't need to defeat them right now.

No, he just needed their shadows.

"Kishishishi!" Moria laughed as his plan began to form fully.

---

"Modi!" Luffy cheered, leaping off Cerberus and flying towards the woman with a grin.

Sanji swooned happily and followed suit.

Mod smiled at the two and hugged them both, making hearts appear in the chef's eyes.

"Looking as beautiful as ever, Mod-chan!" Sanji grinned, pleased that she was hugging him.

Mod flushed a bit at that and smiled. "Thank you Sanji. I appreciate it."

Franky, who had been properly told about the woman, formally introduced himself.

"Mod… Rosan's super mother and also a sharer of his body right?" Franky greeted, holding out one of his giant hands.

Mod delicately grabbed it, resisting the urge to recoil at his state of attire.

"It's nice to meet you, Franky. I am Rosan's mother, Devil Fruit and sharer of his body… and because of that, I probably should refrain from hugging you or you'll cease to exist… courtesy of my demonic son," she greeted with a small smile, pointing at his attire.

"Bummer," Franky faux sighed in disappointment.

Red sure was unhinged.

The woman smiled apologetically and nodded in agreement.

"What are you doing out here? Where's Rosan?" Zoro asked curiously, nodding at the woman in respect.

Mod turned towards Zoro and forcefully dragged the embarrassed swordsman into a hug. "Rosan's afraid of zombies so I'll be taking over for the remainder of this trip... or until we deal with the zombie issues," she explained.

Everyone blinked at that, stunned.

"Rosan's… afraid of zombies?" Sanji asked incredulously.

How... that didn't make any sense at all. How was their scout immune to ghosts... but afraid of zombies of all things?

Wasn't that just a little ridiculous?

"Terrified," Robin sighed. "Did you see that explosion? That's because he realized they existed."

They balked, remembering that massive dome well.

"That's why he did that?" Zoro asked in disbelief.

Calling their scout unhinged was a polite way of putting it. That dome was utterly gigantic and his reasoning for using so much energy did not warrant it.

"Shishishi wow, I never knew Rosan was scared of something!" Luffy cackled with joy in his eyes.

"I guess that guy does have fears," Sanji muttered.

Robin shook her head. "Trust me when I say, do not make fun of him. If you have a fear, Rosan will exploit it. If you don't have a fear, he will give you one," she warned.

"Aww look at you warning them, I'm glad you know better," Rosan crooned, absentmindedly rubbing the purring Ram's head as she curled atop him.

The Straw Hats thought about it, before realizing just who their scout was.

Yeah... they just remembered what Rosan did to Nami back at Alabasta. It was in their best interest to not antagonize their scout.

"Let's continue forward. I'm worried for the ones we haven't run into yet," Mod muttered, floating forward to continue their course to the mansion.

Robin frowned. "I didn't want to worry you further… but they've been knocked unconscious by something that I can't feel."

Mother Mod's eyes flashed dangerously at that and the protective woman frowned deeply.

They were already knocked unconscious? That couldn't be good. She needed to get to them immediately.

"Let's make haste then. I'll deal with anything that gets in the way," she assured.

The woman didn't wait for a reply and began floating quickly towards the giant mansion, everyone else picking up their paces too.

As Mod entered the building, she immediately paused at the multiple presences, causing the woman to narrow her eyes.

"Welcome guests!" The multitude of zombies greeted with sinister gleams.

The zombies were all in different shapes, sizes… and bodies! Paintings, rugs, human bodies…

"Kill them all. Now!" Rosan hissed, body lurching in horror as he was forced to look at the decaying skin of some of them.

Whatever else their enemies was about to say, was cut off as Mod apologetically held up a hand.

"I'm sorry," she apologized as the wind began picking up around her. "I'm in a bit of a rush so we'll have to cut the pleasantries short."

The zombies blinked, running through their memories of the bounty posters and coming up blank.

"Who the hell are you?" They asked rudely.

Mod smiled. "Please watch your language when speaking to me."

With that, she struck.

"Cyclone."

As the Straw Hats entered the room, their jaw dropped as they saw a group of zombies being sweeped in by the sight of a violent wind, courtesy of Mod-chan.

"W-WHAT'S HAPPENING TO US?!" The bear rug zombie screeched in horror.

She had one hand held up and was using it to force the army of zombies together, then the woman held up her other hand and conjured odd purple flames.

Finally, she launched the fireball into the tornado she conjured and combined the two.

What followed next, was utter mayhem. The fiery tornado consumed the zombies with no remorse, reducing them into ash as the purple haired woman looked on at her destruction.

Yet Mod made it look impossibly beautiful and neat, using Modification to contain the flaming winds into one area so as to not burn the entire mansion down.

Finally, she canceled the technique and it vanished like it never existed.

Franky's eyes bugged at the technique and he looked at the ruthless, yet kind, woman with shock on his features.

He wasn't expecting that out of her. She was very... no nonsense.

"Mod-chan isn't one for theatrics like Rosan," Robin explained to the stunned crowd, barring Luffy. "She's not a showoff at heart but there's a natural beauty to how she does things. Battles are just something she would rather get over with."

The woman ran a hand through her lustrous purple hair with a small smile, sharp fangs vanishing back into her perfectly straight teeth.

"Rosan and I have opposite fighting styles," she explained, floating forward to inspect the mansion with a contemplative expression. "He loves being up close and hurting people… I'm not quite the same. I would much rather just dispatch of them quickly and efficiently, so I fight at a distance."

Personally, she didn't see how Rosan found it so enjoyable punching someone in the face. Mod derived no pleasure from the sound of bones breaking and since she had so much physical strength, bones would break under her strikes.

"I hate fighting Modi," Luffy complained. "She stops me from moving as soon as the fight starts! She's boring!"

Mod spluttered at that. "B-Boring?! I'm just trying to teach you strategy!"

Zoro sighed in frustration. "I fought her once and never again. She's ruthless and doesn't ever wanna take a hit like Rosan does. I spent the entire match trying to reach her and failed every single time."

Robin nodded sympathetically. "That's her style. Restraint and peppering from a distance. It's far more frustrating to fight than Rosan… because the few times you do hit her, she heals it all back up. With how little you hit her, her regeneration feels far more potent than his."

A ranged distance fighter with almost unlimited regeneration… Rosan really could have been the most annoying person to fight on the planet but opted not to simply because he enjoyed the thrill of battle and punching people in the face.

Mod blushed in embarrassment. This wasn't fair at all! She just had a preferred method of fighting!

"R-Rosan's still stronger than me! I just don't like getting dirty so I act appropriately."

Why did everyone hate the way she fought? They should just fight smarter!

Whenever she fought Rosan, he always found a way to close the distance and once he did that, there was not much she could do against him. They had the exact same physical strength but her son was taller, faster and was incredibly gifted at close combat in a way that confused Mod because everything he could do, she could too...

Mod found it very stressful fighting him. It was like trying to run away from a giant boulder on a downward slope.

Her stress fighting Rosan was likely the same way they found fighting her stressful. He used Modification to get closer and she used it to get further.

"Me treating her like a princess, must have really got to her head," Rosan complained. "Doesn't like walking, fights at a distance, doesn't like getting dirty, completely unaware of how insufferable her fighting style is…"

"One day you need to punch someone in the face, Auntie. It feels really good."

"I'd rather not," she replied with an annoyed smile.

"Pity. You'll never beat the boring allegations like this."

"I wanna call you cool Auntie, but you make it so hard."

Kami, she hated them so much. Since when was she boring?!

Robin hugged her reassuringly. "It's okay Mod-chan… I don't think you're boring."

Mod gratefully returned the hug. "That's why you're my favorite child."

"Lie again."

She dutifully ignored him. "Where are the other three now?" The Devil Fruit asked.

The mansion was rather large. It may take time to completely find them.

Robin pursed her lips and gazed ahead with a confused expression. "They're… underneath us? Being moved to another location it appears. I already speculated but Observation cannot sense zombies."

Mod furrowed her brows. "Beneath us? Underground?" She asked curiously.

The Devil Child nodded. "I suspect there is a secret passage in this building."

The Devil Fruit nodded in return. "Seems as if this castle is a dead end then…"

Mod let out a sigh of aggravation. "...So why have they all run off now?"

While discussing with Robin… Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Franky had taken the liberty to run off to who knows where, leaving just her and her daughter here.

Robin giggled at the look of annoyance on her face. "I can still feel them. Should we get them?"

"I don't understand how Rosan can control Luffy so easily. It's an impossible task," Mod sighed.

When did they even run off? They weren't even talking for long!

"...Let's just go above the mansion. We can verify everyone's location that way," she decided, turning on a dime and floating out of the mansion.

Robin simply smiled and allowed the wind to carry her out…

Only for the both of them to pause at seeing a hoard of zombies outside.

"Oh my," Mod said. "They look stronger than the ones previously encountered."

"Should we escape?" Robin pondered curiously.

Mod was about to agree, until a wave of horror coursed through her body and she shut her eyes at it.

"Run?! Are you crazy?! Kill them all! I don't want even a single stain remaining of these stupid zombie fucks!"

"KILL KILL! I DON'T WANT THEM TO EXIST!"

"Okay! Okay! Please stop emotion blasting me you two! I'm trying to focus here!" Mod whined, ring on her finger transforming to black half gloves that contrasted Rosan's typical full gloves.

Robin sweatdropped at the panicking Rosan and Ram. They were being so ridiculous right now and poor Mod had to deal with it.

The purple haired woman let out a sigh of misery and gazed at the zombies.

Before they could open their mouths Mod summoned an orb of purple energy in the flat of her palm.

Then, she pushed it above her and the orb began spinning while growing larger.

"Discern," Mod said simply.

Purple beams began shooting out of the orb repeatedly, slamming into the stunned zombies with no remorse.

The beams penetrated armor and rotted skin with startling ease and Mod put enough power into the attack that it would be going for quite a while.

But just in case, she tapped the ground with a finger and erected a cage around the zombies, trapping them in there so that none escaped.

"Satisfied?" She asked gently, floating above the castle with Robin so she could properly gauge everything.

"No. They might be alive still."

"Well that's too bad. The zombies are hardly an issue to us! We have more pressing things to worry about," Mod humphed.

"You suck at this. No wonder I'm in control all the time."

"THAT'S BECAUSE THIS IS YOUR BODY!" She scowled.

"You really mustn't let them rile you up so easily, Mod-chan," Robin advised, glancing at the even larger mansion behind the mansion they were already in.

The Devil Fruit blushed. "I-I know… but they know all the right buttons to push!" she whined.

"It's easy. I'm a master at triggering Mod-chan… And Robin too."

"You're the only one," Robin and Mod sighed despondently.

Mod gazed at the landscape with a calculating eye, noticing the bridge that connected both the mansions together.

"Update?" She asked Robin curiously.

Robin pointed a finger in a direction below, where a garden seemed to lie. "Nami, Usopp and Chopper are there. The invisible man is there as well."

She pointed at the bridge. "Franky is right outside of the bridge… Sanji and Zoro have been knocked unconscious… and Luffy is with someone… I believe Gecko Moria."

Mod's eyes widened at that. "What?! So quickly? But how?!" She asked in shock.

Robin frowned. "They might have been caught off guard."

The Devil Fruit bit her lip in contemplation. They currently had 3 birds out right now.

One was on the ship, keeping watch. Another was flying about and mapping out the area for them and the final was watching over Nami, Chopper and Usopp.

They were mostly fine. Nami and Usopp were handling the zombies admirably well with their arsenal and did a fantastic job keeping them at bay.

The more pressing matter, were Sanji and Zoro… Not to mention Luffy…

"Robin can you send your clones to fetch Sanji and Zoro? We're going to Luffy," Mod requested soaring towards where Franky was.

"Right," Robin nodded, summoning Raven and Canary as soon as they landed on the stone bridge.

Canary hugged Mod with a wide smile and snuggled the woman before stepping back and allowing Raven to take her place.

"We'll go get those two and put them in a safe spot. We'll also bring Franky with us too," Canary informed the duo.

"You can rely on me to keep our heads on straight," Raven snorted, walking off and taking lead.

"You? The one who gets angry at every little thing?!" Canary retorted with a raised brow, immediately rushing to meet her head on.

"Better than being a giggly dumbass," Raven retorted with a sneer.

"Say that to my face!"

"You mean our face?!"

Robin sighed at their antics. Hopefully they didn't kill each other before making it to their locations.

"I'll keep Crow with me just in case. I'll tell you where to go."

Mod nodded and they immediately began heading to Luffy's location.

"Be careful," Rosan warned. "If you want me to take control, say the word."

"I'll be fine for now. I won't hesitate to let you take control if things get difficult… but it's been a while since I've done something and… I'm a little insecure after the events of Enies Lobby," Mod admitted, starting straight forward.

Robin couldn't help but flinch. Enies Lobby was behind them… but the wound still felt fresh for her and maybe it was for Mod-chan too.

Rosan put it behind him because he had come to a new revelation and won completely… but Rosan had done it alone, without her or Mod to help him like they usually did…

The redhead reached closure on his own and while the aftereffects were still apparent, he scarcely thought about the stronghold he destroyed.

But Robin and Mod weren't the same.

All Robin could think about was how she made a foolish mistake and nearly cost everything for everyone. How she had foolishly trusted scum to keep their word and could do nothing because control was out of her hands.

Robin single-handedly, nearly killed the entire crew in a way that was far worse than what she had blamed Rosan for doing back with Aokiji.

She was infinitely blessed that her crew was so talented because if even one of them had died, Robin may have never been able to forgive herself.

That wasn't to say that made her feel any better because their injuries... Luffy, Rosan, Zoro and Usopp in particular, looked like they had been so close to death...

And it would have been all her fault for shoving them into that situation.

Bless her boyfriend because he knew she was still suffering from the turmoil of her actions and was trying to help her in anyway he knew how.

Her nightmares were related to that after all and he was doing his best to help her... and she loved him all the more. That's why she had no problem helping him.

As for Mod, she was forced to watch as her two first children got into a fight with each other and nearly both died... and she was unable to do a thing about it.

As overprotective as the Devil Fruit was, it was impossible not to be affected by it.

Mod had to watch Rosan nearly break down, doubt himself, lose his temper and listen to the toxic words of Pestilence.

Those memories were horrific. Everything he had to go through... and the worst was how afraid Rosan had been underneath all that anger.

He was so lost without her or Robin, so he latched onto Pestilence's presence and used them as a distraction so that he didn't lose his mind.

It was awful and she couldn't do a thing about it.

Coupled with the fact that the meeting with Pestilence had been almost completely orchestrated by Rosan alone… Mod was beginning to doubt her usefulness to her son.

Watching over a genius was difficult… they rarely needed it after all and Rosan wasn't done growing.

But Rosan did need it and Mod didn't realize the redhead would always look to her for guidance.

The redhead smiled softly. "Alright Mod-chan, have at it. You don't need to prove anything but I understand."

Mod smiled in determination and headed towards Luffy's direction with haste.

Without any hesitation she modified a hole into the wall and floated through, eyes narrowing immediately at the sight before her.

There, in the room was a caged and unconscious Luffy, a pink haired girl, a stuffed bear with its mouth shut, a rotund man, a strange animalistic human and a massive man that towered over everyone in the room.

"Nami, Usopp and Chopper are inside the bear," Robin supplied helpfully, gauging the appearances with a cool eye.

That animal man… that was the person who had assaulted her.

For now, she'd keep that information to herself. The last thing they needed, was for Rosan to figure this out right at this very moment.

"The bear?" Mod mused, glancing minutely at the stuffed animal that looked quite distressed.

"Oh?" Moria grinned in interest, seeing the two woman floating through the building.

"Gecko Moria," Mod greeted politely.

"Nico Robin… And you are?" The Warlord mused, gazing at the purple haired woman with a hint of confusion.

"That depends on how this conversation ends," she smiled, holding a hand out and shooting a precise laser that parted the cage for the sleeping Luffy. "I'm inclined to believe we're enemies based on everything you've been doing and if that's the case, who I am, won't matter in the long run."

"So cool!" Nami, Chopper and Usopp thought. Was that Mod-chan?! What was she doing here?! Did something happen to Rosan after that explosion?

Moria gazed at the stranger with a relaxed expression.

"Talk? Kishishishi!" The Warlord laughed. "Where is the Red Devil then?! I'd like to talk to him for destroying parts of my ship!"

Mod's gaze never shifted from that mysterious smile.

"I'm sure Rosan will be willing to talk to you as well about one of your crewmates sexually assaulting Robin here as well," she said politely, choosing to play political for now.

Moria's grin never faltered. The Warlord looked totally at ease with the situation, likely due to the fact that he had Luffy caged and unconscious.

"Kishishishi! Is that so?" He asked curiously.

"But of course. We are very protective of our own…" she said firmly, red eyes sharpening a bit.

Moria chuckled, making Mod's eyes narrow a bit further.

"Is something funny about this? Are the words I'm saying funny?" she asked, eyes beginning to glow slightly in warning.

"Not at all! That's a very serious problem," Moria agreed with her, tone still full of amusement. "On behalf of whoever did it, they sincerely apologize!"

Oh so he was playing with her?

Well, she'd make him regret that decision then.

"That won't do. I imagine you're the same with your crew as well? Would you not desire justice if something happened to say... that pink haired girl right there?" Mod asked calmly, pointing a finger at Perona.

Perona shuddered at those kind eyes. Something was a little... unsettling about them and she took a step back in worry.

Were they glowing a bit? Didn't... the Red Devil's eyes glow?

The Warlord nodded easily with a relaxed expression. "Exactly! If something like this happened to my crewmember, I'd be furious... Which is why I can't agree with your request. I know what the Red Devil is capable of and just turning in one of my crew, goes against my values," he explained.

Mod nodded at his response. "Is it one of these men right here? Perhaps the one who began sweating the moment I brought this topic up? Perhaps the one who's eyes suddenly shifted downward? Perhaps the one who's been on high alert since laying eyes on both Robin and I like we're pieces of meat?" she asked in quick succession.

Absalom began sweating as those piercing red orbs gazed directly at him.

"And if it is?" Moria taunted. "Your captain is unconscious and he won't wake up for days… not to mention you don't have a bounty. The Devil of Ohara can only do so much before we utterly overwhelm her!"

"Overwhelm?" Mod asked curiously. "...How curious. You might come to regret not taking me serious."

"...This is the one who touched Robin?" Rosan snarled.

Mod and Robin both hummed in unison.

"I suppose that means peace options are off the table. I really did hope things would have gone smoother but oh well," Mod muttered, purple bleeding into her right eye.

"Speaking as if Rosan isn't here was a mistake, Moria… he's always listening and he will always win when it comes to negotiations," Robin advised.

The Warlord only had a moment to blink, before all hell broke loose.

"Flash."

A thunderclap of lightning resounded throughout the area, blinding all the Thriller Bark pirates so they were completely unable to account for what happened next.

As all of them let out startled noises, Rosan let out a violent snarl, as he temporarily took over and he lunged at Absalom.

The blinded man had no time to react to being tackled to the floor.

"Slimy son of a bitch wants to touch Robin, huh?!" Rosan growled, eyes pulsing madly as he put up a gloved hand. "You thought you could walk in our bath and do whatever the fuck you wanted right?!" he hissed.

The redhead was seething with raw fury, black immediately seeping into his eyes as he gazed at the victim beneath him.

"Fine then. I'm going to touch you."

The plan to capture and torture had completely flown out of his head, in favor of an all consuming rage.

The computer man clenched his gloved fist and fire quickly heated them up to dreadful degrees.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget!" Rosan hissed venomously.

Then he swung once and effortlessly smashed Absalom's muzzle, burning it at the same time with his blistering flames.

Absalom shrieked in agony but Rosan wasn't done there.

The redhead cocked both fists back and began pounding the man's skull into the pavement below.

"M-MORIA-SAMA H-HELP! A-AGHHH HELP ME PLEASE!" He howled as Rosan punched him over and over again, caving his features and burning them at the same time.

"You didn't just touch Robin. You assaulted her while she was naked," Rosan hissed murderously, swinging over and over again with enough force to smash someone's skull.

Absalom wailed in agony, limbs fruitlessly flying in every direction as the demon above him relentlessly smashed his face.

"She's mine and you licked her?! There was never a chance you were making it out of this alive," the demonic redhead snarled, eyes glowing as bright as the sun.

Absalom screeched and tried to apologize but he couldn't because the abuse had smashed all his teeth. Tears fell from his eyes at the agony he was in but Rosan was utterly merciless.

Rosan snarled. "No one has ever punished you for your terrible actions. You've never had to take accountability... Let me be the first to teach you."

Without any hesitation in his body, Rosan placed a palm on the man's disfigured features and said, "Rejection" right atop Absalom's head.

The combined power of the Reject dial and Rosan's energy was far too much for even the reinforced skin of Absalom.

He let out one last wail of horror, before the attack struck true.

Blood gushed from every direction, as Rosan caved his features in completely, before even the man's face couldn't handle it.

Rosan ignored the matter flying everywhere, ensuring none of it touched him, and stood up with a satisfied glint.

"Fuck. I forgot I was supposed to keep him alive and torture him," he grunted, glancing at what was left of Absalom's face with a scowl.

He really needed to get his anger under control, this was ridiculous —

Rosan seized up before his eyes fluttered and he fell unconscious.

"Rosan?!" Robin called in shock, making sure Chopper, Nami and Usopp were accounted for.

Once that flashbang occured, Robin had swiftly dashed over to the threes location and verified that they were safe, before grabbing Luffy out of his prison...

But in the midst of all that, Rosan had been knocked unconscious? How? What happened?

"Kishishishi!" A laughter echoed through the room.

Moria loomed over them, two shadows in his hand, that looked disturbingly similar to both Rosan and Luffy, with a manic grin.

"To think I'd get two 300 million bounties gifted to me! You used a bright light to blind me, but you only gave me the fuel to rip out your shadow, Red Devil!"

The Warlord's plan was a success! With Straw Hat Luffy… he'd put his shadow in Oars and as for the Red Devil…

Well, Moria had a special plan for that. He wasn't sure why he never thought of this but with the Red Devil's prowess…

"Quickly, bring out special zombie #900! Oar — ABSALOM?!" Moria screeched in disbelief, as the light finally vanished.

Laying there, almost certainly dead, was a member of the Mysterious Four himself, Absalom.

Perona shrieked in horror at the state of his body, terror wafting off of her at the fact that Absalom's head had been reduced to… just thinking about it made her want to throw up.

Nevermind... Perona turned her head and wretched, unable to hold back due to the gruesome sight.

This was what she meant... when she said he had a target on his back. Oh she needed to get out of here before the Red Devil decided to kill the second peeping tom that intruded on his bath.

If he figured out she was the one who controlled the ghosts...

Perona wretched again in fear.

Hogback frowned, unbothered by the state of Absalom's body due to being a surgeon.

What a waste. He spent a lot of time modifying Absalom.

Moria gazed shakily at Absalom's deceased corpse, unable to truly believe that he had died in an instant.

Robin was more concerned about the fact that Rosan and Luffy were currently unconscious, with what looked to be their shadows in Moria's limp grasp.

Was he alright? What happened?

"Rosan is unconscious but I'm still here."

Robin sighed in relief at seeing Rosan's eyes snap open, both irises red.

"Mod-chan, are you okay?" She asked in concern.

"...Just a bit disoriented. Let's regroup for now while I try to awaken Rosan," she muttered, pushing herself up.

The Devil Fruit wasted no time grabbing them all with her wind and flew out of the building, making sure to leave a bird behind to assess the next course of action.

The Thriller Pirates, barring Moria, watched in shock as Rosan woke up instantly from getting his shadow extracted.

That wasn't supposed to be possible! H-How were they already awake?!

"They're getting away, M-Moria-sama!" Perona stammered in fear, watching the group swiftly vanish through the hole that strange purple haired woman (where did she go?!) created.

Moria didn't register her words. He just continued staring at Absalom's corpse with a stunned expression, unable to muster up any thoughts.

Hogback looked at the frozen Moria and the panicking Perona, before sighing.

Moria was in shock right now, currently reliving some trauma that he had buried. How he would react when not in that trauma? Hogback wasn't sure…

But it'd likely deviate from his main plan and that just wouldn't do.

"Moria-sama, Zombie #900," he reminded.

Best to take advantage of him in this state before he regained clarity and committed suicide attempting to fight both the Red Devil and Straw Hat Luffy.

A dazed Moria nodded numbly, allowing Hogback to guide him to the location of Oars.

The looming body of the ancient giant, dwarfed everyone there but Moria didn't take the time to admire it this time.

He mindlessly grasped the shadow of Luffy and unceremoniously jammed it into Oars body.

The effects were immediate.

Perona and Hogback couldn't help but watch in awe as Oars began to awaken with a beastly roar.

The giant stood over 60 meters, an intimidating visage of red skin as he glared down at them.

"MEEEAT!" The Zombie demanded, ripping the chains off of him with no effort.

Still, Moria did not react, he gazed at his most prized zombie with a befuddled gaze.

This was supposed to be a moment of celebration. A Special Zombie, holding the shadow of a man worth 350 million…

With this, he could finally become the Pirate King…

But all he could think about was the corpse of Absalom. All that corpse reminded him of, was Kaido eliminating his crew, back when he was a hotheaded powerhouse of a pirate.

Hogback had the watching zombies go fetch Oars some meat and looked at Moria with a contemplative expression.

This shock went deeper than he initially thought. The death of Absalom, was eliciting a deep seated trauma in the man…

"Moria… what did you intend on doing with the Red Devil's shadow? You still have it," Hogback pointed out slowly.

"Huh? Oh… right," Moria muttered, gazing at the struggling shadow of The Red Devil.

What had he been intending to do with the Shadow?

Ah that's right...

Moria had been intending to use the Red Devil's shadow… to put into his own body instead of a Zombies so that he could acquire his abilities.

He only had one Special Zombie and someone with the Red Devil's capabilities… would be ill suited to just put in any random Zombie…

So Moria had decided that instead of using a Zombie… he'd use himself.

Right… that was the plan.

Hogback and Perona watched with wide eyes as Moria, who had been operating on autopilot, summarily stuffed the shadow of Rosan into his own body, using himself as the "Zombie".

The effects were instantaneous.

"!" Moria hunched over and his eyes began bulging.

The shadow that belonged to him, ripped out of his body and they watched as it steadily began to transform into a shape similar to that of Rosan.

Finally, Moria began screaming. Not from pain… No, the Warlord began screaming in raw unadulterated anger.

"That bastard!" Moria snarled furiously, eyes bulging in fury as he recalled the Red Devil that dared to kill his crewmate.

Just like that bastard Kaido… Moria stood straight as he gazed murderously at the direction they vanished in.

"Do you want us to pursue and bring them back with the Zombies?" Perona asked nervously, taking a step back at Moria's ominous presence.

To their utter shock, the Warlord shook his head.

"No, I'll deal with them," he promised, eyes dark with rage he was finding hard to control.

But he would need to for now.

With barely a thought, his Shadow was fully extracted from his body and he sent it off.

Then, he turned towards the curious Oars.

"Oars, we're gonna get into a fight with some troublemakers who want to stop you from eating meat," Moria said bluntly, clenching a fist tightly.

Oars' eyes widened at that. "WHAT?! THEY WANT TO STOP ME FROM EATING MEAT?!" He bellowed furiously.

Moria nodded without hesitation a violent gleam in his eyes. "That's right. Let's stop them completely."

The giant with Luffy's shadow nodded without any hesitation. "Let's kick their asses!"

Hogback looked nervously at Moria.

He wasn't acting normal. Moria was acting nothing like himself. The lazy man taking initiative, was the last thing he'd do and that was cause for concern.

Moria's personality… had it been overruled by the Red Devil?

But how? How powerful were the Red Devil's emotions? How strong was his will, that they'd overrule the original personality of the user of the Kage Kage no Mi.

"Moria-sama… maybe you should get rid of the Red Devil's shadow?" Perona spoke up, hesitation on her features.

She came to the same conclusion as Hogback. Moria didn't act anything like this ever so it could only be because he had absorbed the shadow of the Red Devil.

Moria gazed at Perona, fury still in his gaze and tilted his head slightly, causing her to flinch back in surprise.

"Why would I do that?" He demanded, gazing at his hands with a hungry expression.

"B-Because you aren't acting like yourself...?" Perona said hesitantly, gazing at the maniacal gleam in her captain's eyes. That rage mixed with mania... it was unnerving.

Moria shook his head furiously.

"I haven't felt like this in years! This motivation, this anger… this knowledge! I feel like a whole new person now! You want me to get rid of this?!" Moria ranted.

Despite his urge to kill the Red Devil… keeping Rosan alive was suddenly very vital to him… because Moria felt like how he felt when he were in his prime.

No… even more than that. Moria felt stronger. This wasn't a feeling he had felt even in his prime...

Rosan was a torrent and that torrent was seeping into his very core!

He had never felt so ALIVE!

The knowledge… the abilities… The Red Devil just handed so much information over to him and it was valuable in a way that he'd never be able to explain.

And he'd show him exactly how much he appreciated that.

Without any hesitation, Moria held out a hand and shot a shadowy laser that connected directly with the bird watching them, instantly destroying the creature.

Perona and Hogback watched the practically new man with wide eyes. There was nothing they could properly say so they said nothing.

Was this… was this just a glimpse of what the Red Devil was like? How strong was he… where he could even overpower a Warlord's personality?!

"Gather the rest of the Zombies, Hogback. We need to recuperate and decide our next course with Absalom's... death. Perona, send out your ghosts to scout the entire area. Find both the woman with purple hair and the Red Devil. Make sure you're well hidden," he instructed.

They gazed at the man, stunned at the rapid shift in emotion.

"I gave you an order."

They both squeaked and saluted, dashing off to follow his commands and get ready.

Moria watched them go, before turning his gaze towards the Oars wolfing down the meat brought to him.

Finally, he walked towards the room where Absalom's body resided and gazed at it.

No shadow… the man was well and truly dead...

In an instant. Moria hadn't even heard him dying. By the time he had been aware of it all, Absalom was gone.

Was he screaming for his help? Was he hoping that Moria saved him.

Moria felt a wave of anger crash into him and try as he might, he couldn't stifle it. Shadows began roiling off the man and he snarled in fury.

How could they... how could they kill him?!

"...How curious. You might come to regret not taking me serious."

...Was it his fault? Now that he looked back at the conversation, Moria could see that the woman's words were laced with warning.

But he had been treating the whole situation so laxly... because of his lack of awareness, the woman's danger had been hidden from him...

And she just disappeared too? Was she capable of swapping positions with the Red Devil?

Moria scowled. The Red Devil's Devil Fruit was some type of Mythical Zoan that granted him various abilities...

He would need to experiment more with his abilities. The Straw Hats were a formidable group so he'd need to prepare for war...

The Warlord sneered and located the shadow of an irrelevant Zombie, before violently ripping it out and bringing it to his position.

He grabbed the shadow and glared at it, before forcefully molding it into a shape that he was satisfied with.

It seized up, before submitting to his will and allowing itself to be changed.

Moria let out a grunt of satisfaction as he gazed at the shadowy scythe in his hands.

A scythe… was this perhaps the main weapon of the Red Devil?

---

"What type of spider is this?" Canary asked curiously, idly carrying Sanji's unconscious body with a set of arms attached to her back.

"A spider monkey," Raven said like it were obvious. She was using her Devil Fruit to hold Zoro despite really not wanting

"Don't speak like that's obvious. You know exactly how a spider monkey looks!" she retorted, turning towards her with a scowl.

Franky perked up at the voices and gazed at the clones with a happy look.

"Oh! Nico Robins!" He greeted, webbed up from the spiders abilities.

"Raven you fucking idiot," Raven sneered at the cyborg.

"Canary," Canary corrected, gazing at the scene with a small smile.

Franky laughed nervously. Right, he forgot that Robin's clones were basically individual people.

"A little help here? I'm a bit trapped," he asked.

Raven rolled her eyes. "My job was to retrieve these two idiots. I don't feel like helping you."

Franky sweatdropped. The angry Robin was as scary as always.

Canary held her head and summoned a flurry of arms that grabbed the zombie. "Try burning yourself out. We don't have anything to get you out," she instructed.

Franky nodded as Raven dashed away from the spider zombie's silk.

"How are we going to eliminate this thing?" Raven asked, watching it valiantly struggle in the arms grip. She narrowed her eyes and added to the amount of arms, making hers stab into the spider.

Raven was the clone least adverse to using Shigan. She actually enjoyed using it and found that it was very effective.

Good thing Robin already had the strength necessary (thanks to Rosan and his hellish training) to understand the basics of the move fairly easily.

Now she just needed to learn to make it ranged. Shouldn't be difficult, those notes from that girl were useful.

But their skillset didn't seem fantastic against zombies. Even after poking holes in the thing, it was still moving about with no discomfort.

How annoying.

"If I may?"

Raven and Canary both paused, watching as a figure speedily approached the restrained zombie.

Tararan, the spider monkey hybrid, could only watch in horror as a familiar skeleton sped to his location with salt in his hands.

To make matters worse, the hands picked up on it and forced his mouth open.

"Wait! Hold on don't do this—" Tararan panicked.

Brook deposited the salt in his mouth.

"Salt is their weakness," he informed the three, watching as the shadow flew out of the zombies mouth. "If you have some, just feed them it and their shadow will disappear."

Canary nodded with a surprised expression. "That's good to know..."

Raven grumbled. "I could have taken it out eventually."

Brook, hearing the same voice come from different positions with different tones, turned towards both of Robin's clones and felt his jaw drop.

"A-A-A sister?!" He gaped, gazing at the two Robins.

He had no idea that his friend had a sister! They looked exactly alike too!

"Does this mean I can ask one of you to see your panties?!"

A hand formed on his back, and brutally slapped him down to the floor without any hesitation.

"Not a chance in hell. Only one person has that honor," Raven sneered.

Canary sighed. "Don't say that out loud, idiot. I agree but you know how the main body gets."

Raven shrugged. "Prude."

"She's literally us."

Franky held his head at the two gearing to argue once more. "Robin sent you two here?" he interrupted.

Canary turned away from Raven, smile on her face as she nodded easily. "That's right! I just got new orders so we're all meeting back at the ship."

The cyborg nodded curiously at that and began following the two.

"What do you think you're doing Skeleton? Let's go!" Raven scowled, turning her head to regard the confused Brook.

"Oh there's no need, I still have business I must attend—"

"Let's. Go. Don't make me upset," Raven warned.

"You're always upset. It makes you a liability," Canary said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh that's it. I'm so sick of you!"

"That makes two of us!"

"They're ridiculous," Franky thought incredulously, grabbing Zoro and Sanji's unconscious bodies and slinging them over his shoulder.

Brook merely sweat a little and hesitantly followed after the crew, a bit afraid for his life if he refused.

---

Mod let out a startled gasp, as she felt the bird watching Moria and co, get summarily destroyed by the Warlord...

"Mod-chan? What's the matter?" Nami asked in concern.

The woman bit her lip nervously and looked at all the curious eyes.

Besides Her, Nami and Robin. There was Chopper and Usopp, the three unconscious monster trio along with Franky and Brook.

Raven and Canary had encountered both Franky and Brook while fighting a giant spider and had been in the process of bringing them, along with Sanji and Zoro, back to the ship before she intercepted them.

Without much preamble, she engulfed them all in wind (much to Brook's protesting) and soared over to the Thousand Sunny.

Now Mod was using her abilities to spy on the pirates…

Well, up until Moria destroyed it.

"Things have gotten a bit complicated," Mod explained to the group with furrowed brows, back in her own body.

"While I appreciate the hospitality, I was against being kidnapped, young lady. I have my own personal matters to attend to," Brook said to the beautiful woman.

"No, me grabbing you was the best case scenario. We need to regroup and rethink and having as much allies is likely pivotal," the Devil Fruit muttered.

Brook looked confused at that.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked the disturbed woman.

"Before I explain the scenario, I'd like some things cleared up…"

Mod turned to Brook with a serious expression.

"Moria steals shadows and puts them in zombies, correct?" She asked the skeleton.

Brook blinked and nodded. "Yes… he stole my zombie and put it inside of a famed warrior by the name of Ryuma. He scours lands and digs up bodies, then he places shadows inside of them and they inherit that person's abilities."

"The legendary swordsman?" Robin asked in surprise. Moria managed to get a body like that?

"We encountered that zombie!" Usopp exclaimed. "So that's why he was so familiar! We thought it was you, Brook!"

Mod frowned. "That just answered my next question… the shadows personality takes over the Zombie in the revival."

Everyone looked shocked by that.

"Wait! That dog!" Nami exclaimed. "The one that was protecting me because I was a woman! That was Sanji's shadow!"

Chopper and Usopp's eyes bugged at that. It made so much sense!

"And that swordsman with 3 blades must have been Zoro," Franky said grimly.

The purple haired woman let out a sigh of relief. "Well that means we know where all 5 shadows are then."

Everyone blinked.

"Five…?" They muttered. They had only mentioned 3?

Mod nodded. "The reason I'm a little concerned is because well…. Moria placed Luffy's shadow in an ancient giant by the name of Oars."

…

"A giant?" Nami asked weakly, knees shaking.

"Oars?" Robin muttered in shock. "The Continent Puller?"

Usopp balked. Continent Puller? What type of intimidating title was that? That was way too cool to belong to someone weak...

Mod nodded seriously. "Yes. He has Luffy's shadow and has inherited his personality and fighting style."

A wave of trepidation went through them at the terrible revelation that a giant was walking around with their incredibly capable captain's shadow.

"What about Rosan's shadow?" Robin asked curiously, not truly worried about getting it back considering Rosan's abilities weren't very easy to replicate. "What zombie is it in?"

Mod bit her lip. "Well that's the problem… Rosan's shadow isn't in a zombie…"

They glanced in confusion at that and Mod chose to stop sugarcoating it.

"Rosan's shadow… Moria absorbed it and used himself as the host for it," she explained slowly, looking worried at that.

"...What?!" They hissed in horror.

The Warlord had absorbed Rosan's shadow for himself?! There was a Warlord walking around with his and Rosan's strength?!

Oh... Oh no.

"If it was just inside of a Zombie… I'd destroy and get it back but this changes things drastically… to make matters worse, it appears Rosan's personality has actually begun dominating Moria's own," she explained.

Robin's features turned concerned at that. "Based on our short meeting with Moria… Rosan dominating his personality is actually a good thing for him. This is bad for us," she muttered.

Mod nodded, equally concerned. "Rosan is a genius. It didn't take him long at all to begin innovating with our Devil Fruit… Moria's experience combined with Rosan's ingenuity."

Mod firmly believed that if given someone else's fruit (barring Luffy), Rosan would use it better. The redhead was a true genius and the fact that Moria had his shadow…

He might begin utilizing the Kage Kage no Mi in ways he never thought of before.

If Moria's personality had dominated, Mod was confident that she could eventually defeat him but now? Things were far more difficult.

Not to mention Oars and all the other zombies… and the remaining humans too.

"We need to wake everyone up. We must focus all our attention on defeating the zombies with our shadows," Mod explained, gazing at the bodies of Luffy, Zoro and Sanji.

She also needed to wake up Rosan…

"Do you guys have any idea how we should wake them up?" Mod asked, tapping them experimentally with a weak dose of her lightning and getting no reaction out of the trio.

"I know what to do, Mod-chan!" Usopp puffed up confidently.

The sniper took a deep breath. "LOOK, THERE'S A BEAUTIFUL FEMALE SWORD MASTER CARRYING LOTS OF MEAT!" he shouted.

"There's no way that'll work," Mod thought in disbelief.

"Beautiful female?!"

"Meat?!"

"Sword master?!"

"It worked?!" She balked in confusion.

Surely it wasn't that… Was it really that easy?!

One moment.

"R-Rosan! Please help! A pervert is lewdly grabbing Robin's butt and I'm up next!" Mod exclaimed in a panic.

Robin sweatdropped deeply as an unfocused wave of rage and pressure emitted from Mod's body without prompting, flooring everyone there with stunned eyes.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! Who the fuck is touching you?!" Rosan roared violently, eyes snapping open from his slumber.

"WHO'S TRYING TO TOUCH AUNTIE AND MOTHER INAPPROPRIATELY?! I'LL RIP THEM TO SHREDS!"

"I'm fine Rosan… the rage you emitted disintegrated them on the spot," Robin said, staring at the sheepish Mod with a deadpan stare.

"That's not enough. Bring them back. No one can grab your ass but me," he snarled.

"Rosan, please stop saying such unhinged things, no matter how true they are," Robin requested with a sigh.

Why was he like this? Though, Robin was rather flattered that Rosan saw her in the same vein as Luffy with meat, Zoro with swords and Sanji with girls.

As strange as that sounded… Should she really be happy about that?

Perhaps that just spoke to the other three's irregularities.

---

Rosan pursed his lips as he digested the information.

"Moria has my shadow?" He asked in curiosity, given back control by Mod.

How unlucky that Moria made the best possible move with his shadow. Nobody would ever be able to fully utilize his shadow but the lazy man gaining Rosan's personality…

"Yes… what should we do?" Mod asked curiously.

Brook had been given the shock of his life, seeing the beautiful Mod transform back into Rosan.

That beautiful young lady... was Rosan? Rosan was that beautiful young lady?

How did that work? Were they different people? It seemed like it, considering the young lady was a kind and motherly person... while Rosan was a smug and belligerent person.

Perhaps an extreme form of dual personality...

Rosan simply shrugged, closing his eyes and giving control back to Mod.

"?!" Mod tilted her head in confusion as she took control of his body.

"The real question is, what should you do. Didn't I tell you? You're in control for this mission so finish it up."

"You… want me to fight Moria then?" Mod asked in surprise, unable to explain how that made her feel.

"Get used to it. We'll be fighting together once I free you from my body. And I don't recommend fighting Moria alone. You might need some help."

Mod blinked, before flushing slightly and nodding hesitantly.

"Alright," she said. "Let's discuss strategy."

"Mod-chan? You're staying out?" Nami asked in surprise and delight.

She nodded slowly. "Rosan wants me to finish this mission… so I'm going to do that."

The Straw Hats looked surprised by that but nodded easily, pleased to have her out.

"You guys probably know by now… but Rosan and I act differently and therefore, we operate differently," Mod explained, eyes glowing seriously.

"Rosan is a show off at heart that makes a show of his operations. He will complete his mission, and he will have fun doing it. I am a bit more pragmatic. My philosophy, is slowly choking them of any chance of victory," she continued.

"Scary!"

"Usopp, your observation's range is giant… can you detect where the ghost girl is?" Mod asked suddenly.

Usopp blinked in shock, a little surprised to be so included in a Rosan/Mod plan, before nodding.

"I can feel her," he nodded.

Mod smiled. "Good. Outside of raw power, she is their most useful member. I want you to capture and neutralize her. I will help you."

Usopp nodded, a beaming grin on his face at her trust in him.

"Brook, you cannot defeat your shadow I assume? Likely because Ryuma is the host of the zombie?" She asked the skeleton.

Brook looked ashamed and nodded. "I've trained… but I'm still too weak. His body and sword are both superior."

She pursed her lips at that. "What do you fight for, Brook? What are your motives? I'd like to understand you before including you in my plans."

The skeleton looked rather surprised by that. "I... need my shadow back so that I may sail in the sun again. You see, a very long time ago.. my crew and I left behind a friend and we promised him that we'd visit again, before tragedy struck us."

Brook pointed to his afro. "I'm the only survivor left and I hope he's able to recognize me even though I'm like this... it's been so long."

Mod paused at that. Hadn't Brook be in here for 50 something years?

Wait a minute... 50 years?

"Brook, I'm sorry if this may be a bit personal... but the person waiting for you... are they a whale by any chance?" Mod asked curiously.

Every Straw Hat (barring Franky and Chopper), felt their eyes widen to epic proportions as they heard that sentence come out of their mouths.

Brook himself felt his jaw open at that question and gazed at Mod like she were some type of wizard. "Why... yes. My friend is named Laboon... we had to leave him behind because he was too young to traverse the Grand Line."

"WHAT?!" The Straw Hats roared.

This was who Laboon was waiting for?! That whale all the way back at Twin Cape.

"It's been so long... we promised him that we'd come back as soon as possible and yet 50 years have passed and he hasn't seen anyone," Brook sighed wistfully. "I wonder if he's still waiting. I wonder if he hates us."

Mod felt her eyes soften at that.

"We ran into Laboon! Back when we first entered the Grand Line!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

Brook froze at that.

"That reckless whale... to think he was right to wait," Zoro said with a small grin.

"He's been waiting this whole time for you all," Nami said with a small smile, overcome with emotion at seeing the stunned look in Brook's eyes.

Sanji shook his head with a grin. "Guess he was right to wait all those years."

Usopp wiped the tears from his eyes. "To think that this whole time, he wasn't waiting for nothing!"

Mod smiled gently. "You made a promise to Laboon and even after all this time you intend to keep it... Laboon must have known how good your crew was, because he never doubted you all for a second. We made that same promise to him too you know?"

"...Truly?" Brook asked quietly, emotion beginning to overwhelm him. "Laboon is still... he's still waiting for us?"

"He was killing himself doing it so we made a promise that we'd come back to visit him too after our journey so that he'd stop!" Luffy laughed ecstatically. "This is great! Laboon can see the both of us again!"

See the both of us again...

Brook felt tears falling from his eyes at the revelation.

So even after all this time, Laboon never once doubted them. He was so desperate to see them again, that he had begun crashing his head against the Red Line to make it back to the 4 seas...

To still have so much faith in them...

"...I'm so glad! Truly, I'm so happy!" Brook sobbed in relief, tears falling freely as everyone gazed at him.

They allowed the skeleton to cry and Mod couldn't stop the small tears from forming in her eyes, pulling Robin into a hug to hide her face.

Robin smiled softly, just returning the hug.

Rosan smiled softly at that. Mod was such a sap.

Mod nodded strongly. "We will return your shadow to you at all costs and in return, I just need you to purify as many zombies as possible. I will supply you with all the salt you'll need so please help us!"

Brook wiped his eyes and nodded. "I will help to my best ability... but I do have a request."

She tilted her head. "Yes, what is it?"

"After this is done, I'd like to officially join the crew."

...

"WHAT?!" The Straw Hats roared in shock, stunned that he was bringing it up.

Luffy laughed happily. "Of course! Sail with me on my ship! After I become Pirate King, I'll bring you back to Laboon!"

Brook bowed at that. "Yes, captain. I'll give my all to support you!"

"Welcome to the crew Brook. You'll love it," Mod said with a pleased smile, moved by the skeleton and his goals.

Everyone else faux sighed, smiles on their face at hearing that. They were just playing it up mostly... having Brook in the crew was already long accepted by them and they welcomed it now.

Mod turned towards Zoro with a look of determination. "Zoro, Ryuma was a legendary samurai. His skills were unparalleled and it likely reflects somewhat in his body… but he's only using Brook's shadow so he should be far weaker than the actual Ryuma. Please fight and defeat him. I've pinpointed his location already."

"She's so effective?!"

Did Rosan always have this information on deck and just never share it with them? He was such an asshole! Seriously, would it kill him to tell them some things?!

"Sure, I'll deal with him. If he's a samurai, he might have a sword worth taking," Zoro nodded easily.

Mod smiled, before a hoof shook her and she gazed at the determined Chopper.

"Mod-chan, I want Hogback!" Chopper requested with a furious glare.

The purple haired woman pursed her lips, closing her eyes.

She had the birds flying high to remain out of sight so it was difficult to pinpoint exactly where he was…

Oh?

"Alright, Chopper you can fight him… Do be careful… Sanji could you go with him? I may supply more backup if all goes well," Mod informed him.

Everyone tilted their head in confusion. "If what goes well?" they asked.

Mod smiled and pointed over the ship, allowing a bird to land on her finger and prompting everyone to look over the rails.

A group of humans were looking at the ship with wide eyes.

In the front, a large pink haired lady gazed at them with confusion in her gaze and Mod waved at her.

"Hello! Considering you followed my bird, I would assume you aren't apart of Moria's crew?" She asked politely, floating down to regard the humans.

The pink haired woman blinked in befuddlement. "N-No… we've gotten our shadows taken by Moria… we've been hiding in the dark to avoid losing them but some of us have been getting them back... do you have anything to do with that?"

"Then that means we're friends," Mod smiled at the group. "To answer your question, yes. I took out a large amount of Zombies because we're also at odds with Moria. Considering only some of you have gotten your shadows back, I assume none of you are strong enough to do so?"

Everyone of them shook their head in defeat.

"Going against him and his crew... along with all those zombies. It's impossible," Lola admitted. "We've just been jumping any zombie we can and freeing shadows in hopes that they may have ours."

Mod nodded sympathetically.

"If you ally yourselves with us, you have the greatest chance of getting your shadows back. Fortunately for you, Thriller Bark will fall before the night is over and I'd love if you could join and help speed things up!" Mod offered, staring into the sky for a moment.

"I'm Mod, a pleasure to meet you all," she greeted, smiling warmly and offering her hand.

"...I'm Lola," the pink haired woman returned, accepting the hand of the polite but assertive woman. "We'd love to help… but how can we be so sure that you can stop Moria? He's recently activated the zombie of a giant… and it looks unbeatable."

Mod tilted her head and held out a hand to the sky, before shooting a massive purple laser upwards.

Hildon, who had been spying on them, had no time to react as it crashed into him and brought him to the floor.

"W-Wait! This isn't what it looks like!" He panicked, gazing into the cold eyes of Mod.

Before the zombie could even move, Mod deftly poured salt in its mouth, instantly purifying it.

"You do not have to be sure of anything. Just offer your assistance to me," Mod smiled gently. "Surely it's better than just wasting away here? Become my chess pieces and I will guide you all to victory."

The group of Moria's victims stared at Mod with wide eyes, before nodding hastily at the suddenly terrifying woman.

"W-We'll help!" Lola said with wide eyes, thinking back to that massive laser.

Scary...

"Alright! I will supply everyone with as much salt as possible and have you work on purging as many zombies as possible! Please follow Chopper and Sanji."

Mod turned towards the blonde. "Sanji, I want you to defeat both you and Zoro's shadow. They are with Hogback," she explained.

Sanji saluted at that. "Anything for you Mod-chan!" he grinned

"Mod-chan sure is effective," Nami muttered in awe, watching her operate with wide eyes.

She was similar to Rosan but the way they operated was very different.

While Rosan opted to do everything by himself if possible, hardly engaging in the idea of teamwork with anyone barring Robin… Mod seemed to use every possible piece she was given to their max effectiveness.

It was impressive seeing the two, who were so in sync, operate completely differently. Rosan was a self operating machine, while Mod was a chess master.

"What about the rest of us?" Nami suddenly asked in curiosity.

What was Mod's most effective way of utilizing Nami? Was she to offer Usopp support?

Mod smiled apologetically towards her and that sent blaring signals through Nami's head.

W-What was with that look? Why was Mod-chan looking at her like that?

"I truly am sorry about this Nami… but depending on how things go, you and Franky, will have to play distraction for the time being."

Nami went cold. "Distraction on who exactly…?"

Mod smoothly hid behind Robin before saying, "Oars."

…

…

"BRING BACK ROSAN RIGHT NOW!" Nami roared in disbelief. "R-ROSAN WOULDN'T MAKE ME FIGHT OARS! H-HE'D FIGHT HIM BY HIMSELF! BRING HIM BACK!" she screeched, lunging at the suddenly demonic Mod with a look of fury.

Robin effortlessly caught Nami with an exasperated look and stopped her from assaulting Mod-chan.

Mod had wide eyes, as Rosan cackled in amusement.

"Don't worry Nami! Luffy will be with you all too! You just have to offer him support and once everyone finishes their job, they will assist you!" Mod reassured.

Hearing that their captain would be helping, put Nami in a bit more ease… but she didn't want to fight a giant!

"What about you, Mod-chan?" Robin asked in concern. "Are you going to fight Moria alone? Will you be alright?"

Mod smiled in reassurance. "I can hold Moria long enough for you guys to deal with your missions and Oars. Once you all finish, please gang up on Oars and when he is dealt with, come to me!"

They gazed at the woman before nodding.

"Only because you asked," Nami said miserably.

D-Did she really have to fight a giant with Luffy's capabilities?

Robin furrowed her brows. "Mod-chan, you haven't said what I'll be doing. There is a reason for that, yes?"

Mod smiled slightly. "Why yes there is."

---

"Hogback."

The Doctor perked up at that, glancing back too see a furious Chopper and a calm Sanji.

"Ah! Dr. Chopper!" Hogback greeted with a pleased smile. "What brings you here?"

Chopper glared furiously at the so called doctor.

"Stop that! You don't get to act friendly with me you fraud of a doctor!" Chopper growled.

Hogback laughed in some disappointment. He thought a doctor who was an animal would see things differently but alas, Chopper was just the same as the rest who wanted to remain in their fields with no hopes of expanding.

"You're just another boring doctor like every other one that I've grown to despise! Perhaps your shadow will give birth to a new and more interesting person."

With a snap of his fingers, three zombies appeared.

Sanji and Chopper tensed up, as Cindry, a penguin with a dog's face and a zombie wielding three swords showed up.

Chopper and Sanji immediately locked onto the zombie wielding three cutlasses and the doctor was glad that Mod sent the chef with him.

If he had to fight all of them alone, he'd be toast! A zombie of Zoro and Sanji sounded so strong!

Sanji's eyes lit up in excitement and without any hesitation in his body, he blurred forward.

Jigoro, the swordsman with Zoro's shadow, didn't have a single moment to react, as a foot connected to his face, sending him flying into a wall at tremendous speeds.

Hogback's eyes bugged out of his head at Sanji's ridiculous speed. He hadn't even seen the chef move!

Wasn't this one of the Straw Hats without a bounty?! He was this strong?! Why didn't he have a bounty?! If they knew he was so exceptional, his shadow would have gone in something besides the Penguin Dog!

"Hey Chopper… since this is the shadow of that shitty swordsman… I can beat him as much as I want, right?" Sanji asked calmly.

Chopper began sweating at the demonic fire in Sanji's eyes.

"Y-Yes?" The doctor said in an unsure manner.

The chef nodded calmly. "Alright. Since it's that bastard swordsman's zombie, he's probably the strongest one here. I'll keep him occupied," Sanji decided.

"Sanji's really scary right now!" Chopper thought in disbelief. "I don't know if I can fight them 3 on 1… can you take another one?" The reindeer asked meekly.

Sanji nodded thoughtfully, before vanishing from his spot in a burst of speed.

Hogback went white as the chef appeared directly in front of him, leg poised to crush his skull but right before the attack could connect, Cindry jumped in the way of the attack.

Two things happened. Sanji quickly diverted his leg to avoid connecting with the woman, while the penguin leapt at Sanji with murder in his eyes.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO HIT A LADY IN FRONT OF ME!" The penguin roared.

The penguin's leg connected with Sanji's and the two clashed for a moment, before the chef effortlessly overpowered him and launched him away.

"Crap, I almost hit a lady!" Sanji cursed, leaping away from Cindry's plates.

"Um… Sanji, I know where your shadow is but you might not like what I'm going to say," Chopper spoke up suddenly.

Sanji glanced back at the doctor with a raised brow. "Mod-chan said she already knew who my zombie was. Who is it?" He asked curiously.

He did not like the look on Chopper's face.

"I think… it's in that penguin," Chopper said slowly, pointing a hoof at said penguin.

"…"

Sanji turned towards the penguin that he had kicked towards Zoro's zombie with a blank expression.

"He got really angry when you almost hit the girl… and he hit you with his leg… or flipper," the doctor explained.

"That's not enough to assume this penguin is me," Sanji retorted calmly, refusing that possibility.

"He was protecting Nami and refused to lay a hand on her," Chopper added.

"A coincidence," Sanji said calmly.

"Stupid penguin can't even hold him for a second," Jigoro, Zoro's zombie, muttered.

"What was that shitty swordsman?" Inuppe, Sanji's shadow, snarled.

"…" Sanji gazed calmly at the zombies arguing with each other. "This doesn't prove anything."

Chopper sweatdropped deeply.

"You're in denial? Don't be such a dumbass. If that isn't you, I'll compliment that stupid idiot with my smile," a voice called out, making them both freeze.

Sanji and Chopper turned in shock, and felt their happiness grow at seeing Robin standing behind them…

With a scowl set firmly on her face.

Ah this was Raven. The really scary version of Robin.

"I'm here to offer assistance on orders of the boss woman," Raven grunted, summoning a plethora of arms on Cindry. "Chopper, you can deal with the ugly little penguin dog," she instructed gently.

Despite being utterly terrifying to everyone she spoke to, Raven had a soft spot for Chopper (and especially Ram). So despite being very annoyed that she was tasked with being away from Mod and Rosan, this wasn't terrible.

"Raven!" Chopper cheered happily! "Alright! I'll do my best, I've been training really hard so I'll win and then I'll make Hogback pay!"

Raven nodded approvingly. "That's what I like to hear. I'll be occupied dealing with this zombie girl, so you two win your battles."

"Of course Raven-chan!" Sanji swooned, launching himself at Jigoro with renewed vigor and immediately putting the swordsman on the backfoot.

Jigoro, despite having someone as formidable as Zoro's shadow inside of him, stood absolutely no chance against Sanji, who fought the real, stronger, version daily.

The swordsman wasn't taking actual damage from Sanji, but he was completely unable to hit the chef that was weaving between his attacks with startling ease.

Sanji grinned smugly, taking a great joy in crushing anything related to Zoro, all while practicing his Observation Haki in the process.

The blonde chef had been practicing it with such fervor, he was making leaps and bounds with it.

Needless to say, Jigoro only served as a punching bag that Sanji used as a replacement for Zoro himself.

Sanji could have ended the match instantly. He already had a bag of salt and was far faster than everyone in this room… but he was enjoying himself.

So he continued to use Jigoro as a punching bag, waiting for everyone else to finish their matches to wrap up his own.

While Sanji was having a very fun time, the same could not be said for Chopper.

After all, he was locked in combat with a zombie that had Sanji's shadow inside of it and the reindeer wouldn't dream of being able to defeat the chef in a serious battle.

The reindeer hastily transformed into Heavy Point to block a devastating kick to the forearm that sent him flying back.

"So strong!" Chopper thought in disbelief as he glanced at his bruised arm.

He was given no respite, as the penguin blurred forward to deliver another kick to his head.

The reindeer squealed in horror and shrunk into his default form, dodging the kick and leaping out of the way.

"Tch," Inuppe scoffed. "This body isn't right… nothing works the way I want it to," the zombie scowled.

"That's probably the only reason I haven't been decimated yet!" Chopper thought in horror.

Was he really supposed to fight Sanji?! How was Chopper going to do that?!

"Are you satisfied being this weak?" Raven asked suddenly, weaving a dish as she gazed at Chopper with a frown.

Chopper jumped at that and turned towards her with wide eyes.

"How long do you plan on playing the weak card?" She asked with a frown. "No matter how much you improve, you will never actually be strong, as long as you think you're weak."

She continuously weaved the dishes thrown at her with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms in the process.

A flurry of arms grabbed Cindry's arms and shoved them upward, making the plates fall to the floor. The zombie struggled but more arms formed and forced the woman's hands behind her head.

The angry clone of Robin, crossed her arms and summoned a mass amount of arms that completely restrained the struggling Cindry, before she approached the woman and placed salt in her mouth.

She made it look so easy… and she was just a clone of the actual Robin… That fight had required almost no effort from her...

"C-CINDRY!" Hogback shouted in horror, watching how easily she had been dispatched. He gazed at the prone zombie with wide eyes.

The doctor took a step back, only for a plethora of arms to immediately restrain him.

He went white in horror and gazed at the terrifying woman, fear etching his features as the grip on him tightened.

To drive her point across, a finger from the conjured arms began poking him and it actually began slightly piercing him.

W-Who was this woman?!

"You aren't weak, Chopper. Stop pretending like you are or else I'm going to sick Rosan on you," Raven reprimanded with a scowl on her face.

Chopper whitened, before nodded to himself.

She… was right. Chopper had been training nonstop with Maro and she'd be disappointed in him if he kept acting like he wasn't bearing any fruits from that.

Because he was. Chopper… Chopper was strong too!

"Alright! I'll win!" The reindeer exclaimed with resolve in his eyes.

Raven's scowl lessened and the brunette snorted. "Good. You better win. I'll be holding this doctor tight just for you."

Hogback let out a squeak of terror as Chopper glared at him, before pulling out a Rumble Ball.

Neither he and Maro had mastered assimilating Seimei Kikan with their Devil Fruits, but they were making great progress with the technique.

Chopper hadn't stopped relying on the Rumble Balls just yet… but he did discover something.

Something new.

"Rumble."

The reindeer bit into it with determination in his gaze and wasted no time transforming.

If he was going to use the Rumble Ball, he was going to maximize the effects that the 3 minutes gave him.

Rosan's notes on Seimei Kikan (Chopper wondered how he got them!) were so precise that the Zoan duo made wonderful progress on them. It was to the point where when consuming Rumble Balls, they could utilize the technique to a very effective degree.

Chopper had discovered a new form in the process.

After seeing Maro's Rumble Ball forms, Chopper realized something himself.

Maro was a machine streamlined for combat and it reflected in her transformations…

The forms she took reflected what her advantage was, much like him...

But he didn't have a form perfectly streamlined for combat.

Maro had forms that enhanced all her features of a Dokkaebi, much like his own… but Maro also had a form that she referred to as balanced. It didn't have any major advantage of her other forms, but her skillset became far more difficult to go against, because she didn't have a weakness.

Chopper didn't have a balanced form like that. All of Chopper's forms took one of his aspects and pushed it to the extreme.

That fact had given him whiplash. He didn't have a form that perfectly balanced out all his traits.

A form that made him perfectly geared for combat in a balanced way… and he already had the means to achieve it.

"Combat Point."

Raven and Sanji paused, as Chopper began transforming into a state that they didn't recognize at all.

His horns elongated tremendously, his body grew into human form (looking similar in bulk to his Jump Point) as some of his fur receded, his legs remained in reindeer form, while he gained slimmer arms than Arm Point, equipped with black hooves that looked like fingers.

Chopper glared in determination at the zombie of Sanji in his all new form.

With the help of Seimei Kikan, Chopper could use the properties of the Rumble Ball to give himself a combination of all his forms… to a degree.

His horns were not as large as Horn Point, his strength was not as high as Arm Point, he couldn't jump as high as Jump Point and he didn't quite have the defensive features of Guard Point …

But it was still stronger than all of his other forms because it used a little bit of everything and that was so valuable.

Meeting a Zoan like Maro… one who was a genuine monster and showed no fear of it, one who wanted to master that uncontrollable monster… Chopper wanted to be like that.

So Chopper would make his Devil Fruit sister proud by becoming equally as monstrous as her.

The reindeer crouched lowly, reindeer face glaring at Inuppe, before he rocketed forward.

Chopper's Jump Point increased his jump power… but he never realized he could use it to make himself way faster as well. It was just one of those things that slipped your mind.

Case in point, the reindeer who had been slower than the zombie penguin, rammed his sharp horns into Inuppe with speeds faster than he could react to.

Like a bull, Chopper heaved the zombie up by the horns, before tensing his legs and leaping after him.

Inuppe could do nothing, as two arms appeared over him and sent him crashing to the floor at tremendous speeds, keratin hooves carving into him with brutal force.

As Inuppe crashed to the floor, those incredibly dangerous horns crashed into him from above, embedding him firmly to the ground. If he had been human, he would have suffered severe injuries.

Before the Penguin could even struggle, a bag of salt was forced into his mouth and he was instantly deactivated.

Raven whistled, impressed by the outstanding display from the reindeer.

This new form of his was incredible. It combined traits from almost all his transformations to create a formidable combatant.

A form perfectly streamlined for combat... Actually, he looked like a smaller version of that Monster Point of his.

"Not bad at all, Chopper," Raven praised, watching the shadow fly towards the gaping Sanji's form.

Chopper huffed, before transforming back into his Brain Point and snapping back to reality.

"Success," he muttered to himself with a fascinated gleam in his eyes.

The Rumble Ball combined with his little grasping of Seimei Kikan, was already full of incredible potential.

Chopper now had a set goal in mind. Increase his physical strength, master his transformations and perfect Seimei Kikan!

He couldn't forget his medical skills too!

Was this what it meant to be a monster? Being excited to become stronger? Is this why his crew was so strong?

Not only did they become strong to protect the ones they loved… it was fulfilling to have the strength to save everyone.

Chopper could do it both ways. He could use his medical knowledge and his strength to save people!

Raven watched the revelation with a proud gaze and idly relayed all the information to Robin.

Looks like they had gotten another member hooked on training. Babe would be very pleased that they managed to convert another one.

Sanji blinked as his shadow returned to him and he gazed at Chopper just a little warily.

"Hey Chopper… we're cool right?" He asked slowly.

The reindeer blinked. "Of course we are Sanji! Why wouldn't we be?"

Sanji pointed at the body of the penguin that was holding his shadow. "That beat down looked personal."

Chopper blushed in embarrassment. "You're really strong, Sanji… so I didn't wanna give you any chance to recover and I only had 3 minutes…"

Maybe he had been a little harsh…

Sanji idly dodged the flying slash sent his way and turned back to Jigoro. "Beating an imitation of the shitty marimo is fun… but it's not more satisfying than doing it to the real thing," he sighed.

With that, the chef blurred forward and dipped salt into the zombies mouth.

Hogback's mouth opened in horror, at how… at how effortlessly they had been dispatched.

Doctor Chopper had only been worth 50 Beri! How was he able to beat the shadow of the blonde who he just watched trash the zombie of Roronoa Zoro!

The fourth highest bounty in the Straw Hats! This chef didn't even have one?!

What was this absurdity? This shouldn't have been possible… just how powerful were the Straw Hats?!

"Chopper," Raven called. "You said you wanted this guy here, right?" She asked with a cruel gleam.

Chopper lit up at that reminder, and gazed furiously at the suddenly terrified fraud of a doctor.

Hogback squeaked in terror.

---

Moria listened to the plans of the Straw Hats, with a contemplative expression.

Around him, the room he was in was a tattered and destroyed mess.

The Warlord had been trying to vent off his anger but nothing worked and he ended up with a destroyed room in the process.

"They're rather overwhelming, aren't they?"

He glanced coldly at the source, not at all surprised to see that purple haired woman.

She was gazing at the scythe in his hands with pinched brows before focusing on the giant shadow man.

"Your emotions I mean," Mod inquired politely, a knowing smile on her face. "They're out of control and you find difficulties with them, don't you?"

Moria turned to fully face the woman, noting the Devil Child was silently next to her as well.

Nico Robin had a happy smile on her face as she regarded the interaction between the two, content to not say a word.

"They are," Moria said truthfully, hiding his scowl to the best of his abilities. "Which is why you should know being here with me, after killing my crewmate, is a terrible idea."

Mod and Robin both leapt out of the way, as a shadowy wave of energy nearly crashed into them.

The purple haired woman grabbed Robin's arms and they flew out of the room.

Moria dipped into his own shadow and immediately pursued.

The Warlord leapt out of his shadow, scythe in hand as he lunged for the purple haired woman.

Mod raised a wall to block the attack and easily floated away, before firing an experimental purple beam at the man.

Before Moria could contemplate dodging it, arms sprouted over his body and held him in place.

The man looked utterly unbothered by the attack and Robin raised a brow at the fact.

They soon found out why.

Moria vanished, replaced by his intangible shadow and the man appeared directly behind Robin, shadowy scythe poised to gore her through.

At the same time, the shadow that looked disturbingly like Rosan, held out a hand and began firing dark orbs at them.

Robin long anticipated the attack and was already on the move, summoning a large amount of hands that pushed her and Moria away simultaneously.

Mod saw the dark orbs flying towards them and retaliated by opening her hand and shooting a gigantic wave of purple energy to consume them.

The wave crashed into Moria's shadow in the process and Mod pursed her lips at seeing it take no damage whatsoever.

"That's going to be a problem," she thought with a frown.

She turned towards Moria and fired another wave at him, only for her frown to deepen at seeing him switch spots with his shadow again.

Then, Moria transformed his shadowy scythe into gloves of his own and slammed them into the ground.

Mod immediately grabbed Robin and flew high into the air to avoid the shadowy spikes protruding on the floor, only to let out a gasp of surprise as the shadow once more made its presence known.

"Ah!" the Devil Fruit shouted in surprise, as a barrage of shadowy orbs crashed into her back. She winced a bit and the slight injuries instantly vanished.

She soared away from the shadow and vowed to keep an eye on it.

"Are you alright?" Robin asked quietly.

"...I'm rusty," she admitted with a sheepish smile. "I haven't fought someone outside of our family in such a long time and it's such a formidable foe as well!"

"It's fine. That's why I'm here to support you," the Devil Child assured confidently.

The duo were given almost no time to relax, as Moria's shadow lunged at them, hand in the shape of a longsword.

Mod grit her teeth in annoyance and transformed Ram into a one handed blade as well, clashing with the shadow sword.

She was forced to dance with the shadow that was shaped like her son, clashing continuously with it.

Only perfectly understanding Rosan's style of fighting allowed her to anticipate his rapid switch of weapons.

At once, the both of them transformed their blades into gloves. Mod fired a purple blast of energy that collided with the blasts of shadow, causing a small explosion to ensue.

She leapt back, summoning a ball above her head that began spinning rapidly.

"Discern," she muttered.

The purple orb began spinning, firing out bolts of energy that sought out both Moria and his shadow.

The shadow allowed the attack to pepper it, immune to all of it, as it raised its own hand into the air.

Mod watched in annoyance, as it summoned its own orb that began spinning, before shadowy bolts began seeking both her and Robin out.

She grabbed the Devil Child and began soaring into the air once more, barrel rolling to avoid the beams chasing them.

As she flew, the woman gained slits in her eyes, as her teeth sharpened dramatically.

The woman opened her mouth and let loose a hellish amount of purple fire from her mouth.

"Annihilation!" she growled.

In combination with her constant flight, the fiery and condensed attack began to shower the entire battlefield, leaving very little room, if any, to run..

Moria grunted, annoyed at the attack, before dipping into the shadows, appearing at a spot that was free from that destructive attack.

But that wasn't all. The spot he chose was one that was at the same height as where Mod was flying because her attack was covering the entirety of the ground beneath him.

The shadow he was utilizing, morphed back into a scythe and he gripped it to his waist.

"Absolution!" Moria announced, swinging that scythe with tremendous physical force.

Mod's eyes widened at that. He really had taken a lot from Rosan!

After swinging, a gigantic wave of pure black energy shot out of the weapon and careened towards Mod and Robin with dreadful speed.

She immediately transformed Ram into gloves and focused, before summoning a barrier that surrounded them completely.

As the attack washed over them, Mod grit her teeth at the strength behind it but the barrier held strong.

Robin honed in on Moria and summoned arms to restrain him, forced to cancel the technique in advance as the shadows around him surged to stab at her arms.

That gave Mod enough time to transform Ram into a pistol that she began firing at Moria.

The shadow man immediately vanished and had his shadow take his place once more, avoiding the explosive bullets with ease.

This was... very annoying. Mod furrowed her brows and gazed at the Warlord, never releasing Robin from her hold.

"Where is the Red Devil?" Moria asked, gazing at his opponents with an unimpressed gaze.

"I see no reason as to why I'd answer that," Mod retorted, flying away from the shadowy tendrils lunging at her.

"Your plan of stalling me isn't going to work. I already know everything you've planned," Moria added with a cocky grin.

His satisfaction rose, as Mod's eyes widened.

"You heard?!" Mod asked in disbelief.

"Kishishishi!" Moria laughed, conjuring the shadowy scythe again. "I never realized how productive I can be. Lazy this, lazy that...its easier being lazy… but it's far more effective being active. This... this is fun!"

Moria's shadow partner in crime began morphing and changing, much to Robin and Mod's shock, growing in size and losing its human shape.

"The shadow of the Red Devil has given me a newfound motivation that I haven't had for a long time… now tell me where he is because I'm never letting him go," Moria demanded.

The shadow dragon, massive and unearthly, reared back its head and roared to the heavens. It looked utterly unnatural, like someone had ripped out Ragnarok's shadow and given it life.

"RAOOOGHHH!" The creature howled.

"Goodness, his ability to manipulate shadows is allowing him to actually utilize our Devil Fruit to a certain degree," Mod thought, gazing at the looming beast.

Is this partially how Rosan would have utilized the fruit? Mod knew he would have been a monster with any ability... but this was incredible.

It was a shame the Moria half was slowing him down. If Rosan had fully dominated Moria, this fight would be far more difficult.

"You clearly haven't inherited all from Rosan," Mod said idly, eyes glowing as a victorious gleam entered her eyes.

Moria raised a brow, confused by her sudden switch in mood.

"Thank you for confirming to me that you were in fact listening in. I had my hunches but unlike what Rosan would do, you decided to generously share information with me," Mod smiled.

"Robin? Status update?"

Robin gazed at the terrified Perona, who was sleeping in her bed, with a charming smile, making sure the woman understood that if she tried anything, the Devil Child would break every one of her bones. "I've found the most troublesome one. You can retrieve them."

Mod smiled at that.

She knew that Moria had been listening in. She had an inkling, but Mod knew for sure after shooting down the zombie.

So she mixed in some lies when discussing her plans.

Mod was not the one to risk such plans by speaking them aloud. She was the cautious one because Rosan was the one who went out guns blazing even despite the fact his plans were genius.

She refused to underestimate someone who seemed to be dominated by Rosan's personality…

And Mod knew exactly how to deal with Rosan in the most effective way.

It was cruel… but it's not like Moria was actually Rosan, so she had no qualms against it.

What was Mod's cruel plan? Well, she thought of it once she saw how dominated by Rosan, Moria seemed to be…

Rosan's greatest current weakness, was something that not many would be able to ever handle.

And that was his complete lack of controls over his emotions, something Moria himself seemed to have gained…

And Moria and Rosan both had another weakness they shared... and Moria practically stacked that weakness atop each other by absorbing Rosan's shadow.

Both of them hated losing the people they cared about.

Moria with Rosan's shadow, was an unknown quantity and Mod wasn't sure just how strong he was, but it should be very strong.

So she'd cripple and dwindle his numbers down to nothing.

This was her real plan. She had just been stalling Moria to make him believe everything was as she said but that was far from it.

Moria had likely told Perona that Usopp was coming after her and she prepared for Usopp… but Usopp had already done his part.

Because Robin had already found and apprehended Perona's real body. The Robin next to her, was actually Canary!

This was merely a game of chess to Mod and she had never lost to anyone in her family to chess, not even Robin or Rosan!

"Scary, Mod-chan. Maybe you aren't as violently cruel as me, but you sure are psychologically crueler."

"No I'm not. Stop lying, Rosan. Don't you remember what you did to Miss Valentine?"

"Made her useful to Maro."

"By torturing her!"

"As much as I'd love to hear you both continue arguing. You had plans for this ghost woman right?" Robin asked curiously.

Ah yes. That was right. The girl named Perona, had a very useful ability.

Mod thought Maro may enjoy it very much.

Moria watched in shock, as Mod smiled gently and vanished from view.

"Remember Moria, you attacked us first so whatever happens now, is your own fault. I tried to handle things in a peaceful manner, but you only escalated it further. This is your fault," she mentioned right before the two disappeared.

The Warlord blinked at what she was saying, before his eyes frantically began searching for her location, realizing that she wasn't here to fight him.

With barely a thought, Moria had the shadow dragon fly off to Hogback's location, before he himself went straight to Perona.

Oars would be fine. Those two were in immediate danger.

As Moria headed to Perona's location, his dragon relayed to him that Hogback had been completely defeated and there was no one in the room.

What? But how?

Was this just to distract him? Were they going for Oars instead? The Zombie wasn't very intelligent so that purple haired woman would be troublesome for it…

No, he'd just have the shadow dragon assist Oars and then he'd verify Perona's status… and afterwards, he'd rip that purple haired woman out of wherever she was hiding by ganging up on everyone fighting Oars…

Well, that was the plan… until Moria saw a note lying on Perona's bed, where the girl's sleeping body normally lay.

"You're just a step too slow, Moria. I've never once lost in chess," it read.

Moria read the note and gazed at the spot where Perona was at, unable to fully process what was happening but coming to the worst case scenario.

"This is your fault."

Absalom was his most loyal mate. Moria had known him for years and would attack even Kaido once more to get him back. The death of Absalom had filled him with fury he had never felt and the only thing more infuriating, was that he couldn't kill the one who had done so because his shadow was just so useful.

But Perona was different. Perona was his daughter in all but blood…

And she was gone. At the hands of that mysterious woman. That woman...

She was... dead… and gone… Moria would never see Perona again.

Perona was dead.

"This is your fault."

The Warlord threw his head back and screeched in pure unfiltered rage. Shadows began rushing out of his body, consuming the entirety of Perona's room.

But the shadow's did not stop there, they continued to stretch out, consuming Perona's entire garden as Moria fully lost control of himself.

"AGHHHH!" The Warlord shrieked furiously as the shadows around him began twisting and turning.

The shadows fully converged on his body and when they settled, he was gone.

---

Usopp's part of Mod's plan was simple. He was tasked with "battling Perona" and getting rid of their most troublesome member…

Or that's what Mod-chan wanted them to think.

Usopp's actual task, was to make Perona think he was the only one targeting her, but in reality, he was just here to gather her zombies and guide them away for the real star.

Usopp could do that. He was becoming a very good actor with and without his mask.

And act he did. It helped that Perona's negative ghosts had no effect on him, much to the shock of the floating girl overseeing all of this.

Currently, he had probably gathered just about all of Perona's Wild Zombies and was fearfully sprinting away from all of them…

Right into the waiting arms of Brook.

"Yohohoho!" The skeleton laughed as he began dashing through the zombies, placing salt in all their mouths at incredible speeds. "Most excellent, Usopp! You are quite fast yourself!"

"T-Thanks! I thought I was gonna die," he wheezed, catching his breath.

Perona's eyes bugged out of her skull, at seeing her wild zombies be dispatched of and she gazed at the ones responsible for it with a glare of rage.

"Getting rid of all my cute zombies?! Do you know how long it took me to get them all?! You'll pay for that!" Perona announced, summoning ghosts and launching them at the duo.

"Dodge them! They're gonna explode!" Usopp shouted, observation flaring as he leapt to the left, while Brook leapt to the right.

Perona's eye twitched in aggravation. How did he know that?!

Usopp held his slingshot and fired a pellet at her.

The ghost girl grinned menacingly and allowed it to sail through her body.

Much to her delight, Usopp's eyes bugged in horror.

"B-But how? Are you... are you actually a g-g-ghost?!" the sniper stammered in fear.

Perona laughed haughtily. "But of course! How are you ever going to touch me I wonder! I'm invincible but I can still hurt you!"

What followed next, was a game of cat and mouse, Perona as the cat, while Usopp and Brook turned into the mouse.

As she chased the two with all her ghosts (much to her displeasure, all of them were missing), she became more and more secure in her safety because they were getting farther and farther away.

They tried to hit her but they failed all their endeavors and it was only a matter time before they got tired.

Yes, it was only a matter of time before they—

"Hey! Are you sure you should be here attacking us?" Usopp shouted victoriously, eyes gleaming as his observation flared once more and he stopped running, dodging yet another exploding ghost.

During training, Usopp learned that his Observation's range was exceptionally big, to the point where its range naturally surpassed the rest of the members in his crew (allegedly Rosan's natural range was gargantuan but he couldn't use it).

That's how he was able to detect Perona all the way at the Sunny… and that's why he knew that this Perona wasn't actually Perona.

He couldn't feel this one at all. But he could feel the one further down, hiding by herself…

Well, she wasn't alone anymore.

Perona's eye twitched at them. "And why wouldn't I want to be here? I have the advantage even with you taking my zombies out!"

Usopp grinned. "How can you defend your real body like this?"

Perona went cold…

"W-What did you just say?!" she stammered nervously.

"Your real body, the one thats really far from us! Isn't that your weakness?" Usopp asked with a proud grin.

The woman began to have a terrible feeling at the sudden confidence in his voice. Why did he know that? If he knew about her real body... why was he running so far from it —

Realization hit Perona at the last second.

It was a trap. Someone was going after her real body.

Right as the thought hit her, Perona felt her spirit get forcefully dragged to her body with a yelp of horror, before jolting up in her real body, terror etched onto her features.

Or at least, she attempted to jolt up.

"So you are the other person who spied on us in the bath…"

Perona turned ashen, as she was forced to look into the calm gaze of one Nico Robin.

"You're the one who spied on my boyfriend's naked body, right after your crewmate assaulted me," Robin said serenely.

The hands clutching her body, idly began tightening around Perona and the woman began to stammer in fear.

Let it be known, that while it was not as obvious, Robin was very possessive of Rosan herself.

"W-Wait, it wasn't intentional!" Perona stuttered in terror. "Please don't kill me! I don't wanna die like Absalom did! Please please please! I'm not as dumb as he is! Please believe me, I don't wanna die!" she sobbed.

Robin perked a brow and tugged her pendent idly. "I don't quite have an interest in killing you just yet. For now, I just need you to disappear… then we can discuss your perverse behavior at a later time."

Perona went pale. "D-D-Disappear?" She stammered in horror.

"Yes, that's right. Not to worry. We won't kill you," a new voice said.

Mod glanced down at the girl with a kind smile. "If you're hungry, feel free to eat but do not try to find a way to escape and don't explore areas much. We'll talk after this is over."

With that, the purple haired woman tapped Perona and made her vanish into the Pocket Dimension.

"Right then. That leaves only Moria and Oars," Mod muttered, writing a note down and leaving it on bed. "Let's go assist with Oars before Moria makes it to this room."

Robin nodded. "You are scarily efficient, Mod-chan. You and Rosan have the same level of planning skills but yet, it feels like you use them differently. Similar you may be, but you two are still different people."

Mod brightened at that. "I never thought I'd be anything more than Rosan's Devil Fruit... to know that I've grown this much is nothing short of amazing."

Rosan laughed shortly. "We excel at different parts of planning. Mod-chan is rigid in her execution and thorough so her plans have high chances of not backfiring and being done quickly. I plan on the fly and she's pragmatic… so I'm going to tell you that you made a mistake Mod-chan."

Mod furrowed her brows in confusion. "I made a mistake? What?" She asked in concern.

"You'll find out in due time… I won't tell you because this is your mission and you want to grow, right? It'll be a learning experience."

Mod bit her lip but nodded slowly, shooting a helpless glance at Robin and getting the slightly confused woman to shrug as well.

"Well, alright. I'll prepare," she muttered. The woman wrapped an arm around Robin's legs and hoisted her up bridal carry before they began soaring to the location of Oars.

Mod sighed as she tried to think of where she could have messed up and came up with nothing.

Lately, it felt like she had been the one seeking guidance from Rosan, rather than the other way around.

When did her little boy grow up so much? Maybe her appearance being stuck at 18, was not for show…

Maybe Mod needed to grow up a bit too. Rosan wasn't completely free from his problems, but he was making amazing progress.

She should try to progress too.

---

One part of the plan that Mod set, that hadn't been a lie, was having Zoro fight Ryuma.

Well, she had been intending to alter it a little, but Zoro himself had told her to let him handle this fight alone.

After all, he was in need of a new sword because of the cracked mess in his sheath and that sword in Ryuma's hand was quite nice.

The two clashed with their blades and Zoro took the chance to appreciate his opponent.

Despite having Brook's shadow, Ryuma's build was not as lithe and lanky as the skeleton.

His build was very similar to Zoro's own actually. Suspiciously so.

If Ryuma had Zoro's shadow instead of Brooks, along with two other decent swords. Well, Zoro might have actually lost this battle.

What Zoro was beginning to realize though, was that he was struggling quite a bit with opponents that specialized in speed.

Even the crap cook gave him trouble with that obnoxious speed of his.

While he and Ryuma had very similar builds, Brook's fighting style seemed to revolve around utilizing speedy attacks that were hard to react to…

So Zoro chose to do something stupid.

It didn't matter how formidable Ryuma was with Brook's shadow… Zoro was stronger than him and even with two swords, he'd be able to comfortably end this.

Rosan had made him quite proficient in one and two sword style after all. In their spars, the redhead would often steal his blades and put them out of reach, making Zoro fight with either one or two of his blades.

It was frustrating but it swiftly allowed him to heavily adapt his style on the fly and improve his weaker styles.

Which was why he'd be able to comfortably handle Ryuma in a battle…

But Zoro wanted more than just his sword.

Zoro wanted to hone his shoddy Observation Haki and this was the perfect opponent to do it against.

"Three-Pace Hum: Notch Slash."

The swordsman of the Straw Hats, deftly leapt to the side of the attack.

"Not fast enough. Luffy and Robin can anticipate the attack long before it comes out," he grunted in dissatisfaction.

While they had been exchanging furious blows, Zoro had suddenly gained a type of… perception, that made Ryuma's attacks easier to see.

It didn't take him very long to realize that his Observation had finally bloomed and Zoro was trying to fully benefit from it.

"Yohohoho! Are you content with just dodging, swordsman?" Ryuma asked curiously, continuing to strike at Zoro and frowning at having his attacks fail.

Zoro scoffed with a smirk. "Just wait your turn. I'll deal with you once I get the hang of this —"

The swordsman froze, as he suddenly saw his shadow fly into his body and he gazed down at it in interest.

Oh his shadow was back. That must have meant they dealt with his zombie over at… that doctors…

Wait a minute… why did he suddenly want to murder that swirly browed idiot?

The same swirly browed idiot… that probably fought his goddamn zombie.

Zoro sheathed one of his blades and scowled, measuring Wado Ichimonji at Ryuma.

"Let's wrap this up. I don't need that love cook to know he finished something faster than me," he grunted.

"I see," Ryuma said aloud. "Very well. This will be quick."

"You read my mind," Zoro grinned violently.

"Aubade Coup Droit!" The zombie shouted, thrusting his blade forward and conjuring a shotgun blast of air.

"Bird Dance!" Zoro grunted, shooting a crescent moon projectile that collided with the attack at great speeds.

Ryuma wasted no time, dashing towards Zoro with his sword poised.

"Prelude: Au Fer," he called out.

Zoro coated his blade in armament and collided with the attack, narrowing his eyes as Ryuma kept repeatedly thrusting against his weapon.

"He's trying to break my sword?" Zoro thought with a scowl, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

Not happening.

He overpowered the swordsman, admiring how well kept Ryuma's blade seemed to be, and they began a furious dance.

Zoro parried a stabbing slash and retaliated with a wide sweep that Ryuma was forced to take.

Unfortunately he was a zombie so Zoro's attack did not do much actual damage.

But that didn't deter him. It just made him realize he needed a more effective way to finish this battle.

It was time to wrap this up.

The Pirate Hunter diverted one of the quick slashes, making Ryuma overstep slightly, before gripping his left hand with his right.

"Flying Dragon Blaze!"

The swordsman leapt into the air and came crashing down against Ryuma, cutting effortlessly into the samurai, setting the man ablaze.

"!" Ryuma's gaze widened at the swift and decisive blow, before settling into respect for his opponent.

"You wield incredible power, swordsman," Ryuma praised, sheathing Shusui and throwing it to Zoro. "Shusui will be pleased to be wielded by you."

Zoro grinned and grasped it. "Perfect. This is a sword that can live up to my expectations," he announced.

"That, I do not doubt," Ryuma said as his final words, before Brook's shadow departed from his body and flew towards the skeleton.

Zoro snorted. "Alright, now I gotta go to the giant and help them out with it."

The swordsman nodded to himself and headed in the completely wrong direction.

"Wrong way," Crow said gently, turning the swordsman around and forcing him to walk towards where the very visible giant was.

She had been tasked with the simple job of ensuring Zoro didn't get lost. A simple and easy job that Crow was very happy to have because Zoro was not as stress inducing as her sisters.

"Oh, I knew that," Zoro muttered, turning on a dime and walking over to where Oars was swinging at what was likely his crewmates.

Now that he had three swords again, the swordsman felt complete and he knew for certain, that Shusui could handle his stronger techniques.

The swordsman grinned violently as he gazed at the massive figure of Oars.

---

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

Luffy dodged a wild swing from Oars and he ran up the giant's fist, cocking his fist back to deliver a punch of his own.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy shouted in return, connecting solidly with Oars face… to no effect at all.

Oars glared down at the rubber boy running up his fist, before a massive burst of fire crashed against his face.

"Wildfire!" Nami shouted from her safe spot. She was supporting Luffy and Franky to the best of her ability, while Oars rampaged against them.

Franky opened up his mouth and joined the fray, shooting out his own fire that joined Nami's in washing over the giant.

But it barely seemed to affect the giant. It just annoyed him.

Was he immune to fire? Was that something Moria added to him?

Oars huffed and swung at Luffy with speed that belied his size...

To no effect. Luffy was even faster than the giant and effortlessly dodged the giants swing by leaping atop his head.

"Gomu Gomu no Battle Axe!" Luffy announced, slinging his foot high into the air and slamming it directly atop Oars skull.

Oars grunted at that, and reached for his head to grab at the rubber boy, only to audibly growl in annoyance as Luffy flew away with Geppo.

"He's annoying!" Luffy and Oars said at the same time, glaring at each other.

"Yeah he is," Nami muttered, summoning a gust of wind to push back the charging giant to no effect. "Nothing is working on him! He doesn't take damage!" she complained.

"He's super resilient," Franky grunted, shooting bullets at the giant and watching as it merely bounced off.

"We just gotta keep hitting him!" Luffy said stubbornly, coating his fists in armament.

Not waiting for a response, the rubber boy dashed off again.

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy roared, armament fists crashing over and over again into the giant.

Much to their delight, it was actually making progress!

As the giant stumbled back, a flurry of arms formed at his feet.

At the same time more arms covered his eyes and a blazing kick slammed into his face.

Then, a flurry of exploding pellets collided with his face, enhanced by the sharp blades of wing that cut off one of his horns.

"You guys are all here!" Nami grinned happily.

The entirety of the Straw Hats, sans Mod and the real Robin, gazed down at Oars with mixed reactions.

"We have to fight that thing?" Usopp and Chopper squeaked, gazing at the intimidating giant.

Oars growled in annoyance.

Way too many people were trying to stop him from getting his meat.

"Move!" Usopp said frantically.

"Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" Oars roared, launching both his arms at the group of Zoro, Crow, Usopp and Brook.

The 4 utilized their max speed to make distance because Oar's fist covered an incredible amount of range.

Even at their speeds, they just barely got out and just the winds were enough to hurt them slightly.

But Oars wasn't done.

He turned towards the group of Sanji, Chopper and Raven and headbutted them with dreadful speeds.

Sanji was quicker, he grabbed the two and blurred away, grunting at getting hit by some debris from that violent headbutt.

Finally, Oars launched his foot into the air and everyone's eyes widened in horror.

"Gomu Gomu no Battle Axe!"

What followed next, could be compared to an earthquake.

All of them were flung aside as Oars crashed his foot into the ground with a thunderous boom.

The ground shook, debris flew and dust scattered as Oars attack struck.

As the dust settled and the Straw Hats gathered themselves, the unrelenting Oars moved again.

"You're the most annoying one," Oars growled, lunging forward towards Nami at dreadful speeds that belied his size.

Nami shrieked in horror, eyes wide as Oars cocked his fist back to punch her to death…

Only for a purple blur to grab her.

"NAMI!" they all shouted in relief.

"Goodness Nami, are you alright?" Mod asked in concern, holding the navigator bridal carry. The Devil Fruit swiftly ascended away from Oars punch and gazed with narrowed eyes at the giant.

Such speed for its size... she couldn't mess around with this one.

"M-Mod-chan, my hero!" Nami sobbed, clutching the woman like her life depended on it. "I'm so happy, I could kiss you!" she exclaimed.

"Please do it on the cheek if you must… I'm not good with physical affection and Rosan may kill you if its my lips," Mod replied, eyes glowing in preparation.

The navigator beamed and did just that, planting a thankful smooch on the motherly woman's cheek and making her flush slightly.

"You have soft cheeks!" she complimented.

That only served to deepen her embarrassment. "...Thank you Nami. I appreciate that," she mumbled.

"I'll make sure to torment her more than normal for that later. Kissing my mother right in front of me? The audacity," Rosan rumbled in annoyance.

"Auntie is such a flirt when she's out! First Mother, now Nami?! Are you subtly trying to branch out into the dating scene?! We won't let you!"

Mod flushed red and ignored them, gently placing Nami down as she regarded the giant.

"Let's wrap this up quickly," Mod muttered. "If you can contribute, follow my lead. Don't get close to him!"

That was all she said before Mod went on a rampage.

The woman opened her mouth and shouted, "Annihilation," before firing a gigantic torrent of flames.

Nami was quick on the uptake, whirling Clima around and shooting out a massive gust of wind to combine with the fires.

The elements combined and turned into a fiery hurricane of death that crashed directly into Oars.

Usopp, Franky and Zoro all joined the fray, using pellets, a flamethrower and blades of wind respectively.

It all crashed into Oars without any hesitation and Mod narrowed her eyes.

She palmed the ground and concentrated hard.

"Modification," she said.

It answered to her will immediately.

Everyone watched with slack jaws, as the ground around Oars surged upwards, reaching heights similar to the massive giant and sandwiching him between two rocks, completely trapping the flaming giant.

Mod flew over to him at incredible speeds, pulling out the tiny bag of salt in her dress and expanding it to its actual size.

Without any hesitation, she slammed the gross amounts of salt into Oars mouth, immediately purifying him and sending Luffy's shadow back to his body.

"What the hell…" They all said, looking at Mod-chan in disbelief as the body of Oars fell summarily.

"I wished to finish that as fast as possible. Something like Oars could be dangerous to our wellbeing if kept alive for too long, so I ended it quickly," she explained easily.

She wouldn't risk Oars pulling out other dangerous moves from Luffy's arsenal that could damage the whole area.

Not to mention Luffy's ingenuity.

Mod clapped happily. "Alright, we've dealt with all but one. Moria is the last opponent, we received everyone but Rosan's shadow and it should almost be day time. I don't know what happened but we're sailing out of the Florian Triangle so when day hits, I'll die!"

Everyone balked at that, gazing at the woman in shock.

That's right, Rosan still didn't have his shadow back!

"Let's not waste anymore time and retrieve it then," Robin said in displeasure, frowning at the idea that Rosan and Mod could die.

She was not going to let that happen at all. Neither of them were going to die on her watch or she'd lose it.

Moria was completely alone now. It would be him, against the entirety of the Straw Hats. Even with Rosan's shadow, it would be a herculean task for hi —

At once, every Straw Hat froze, as the area around them got darker, shadow's seeming to grow from all directions as they seeped into whatever they could get their hands on.

Then, a massive shadow dragon appeared in their line of sight, far bigger than the one Mod had seen for the first time…

And finally, from the shadows itself, Moria himself appeared… and he looked utterly soulless.

He glanced at the Straw Hats dispassionately, before locking onto Mod herself… and that soulless look was replaced by something primal.

Rage.

Moria let out a hateful roar as he .

"NONE OF YOU ARE ESCAPING ME! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" The man howled furiously, zeroing in on the purple haired woman.

Then, the shadows struck.

Mod now saw what Rosan meant by she messed up. She thought by isolating Moria, the man would eventually succumb to their onslaught. He wouldn't be able to handle all of their might and he'd run out of gas in due time...

Well, that was before she realized he awakened his Devil Fruit!

"ALL OF YOU, BE CAREFUL!" Mod shouted, grunting as she summoned a heavy gust of wind to lift all the Straw Hats. "His Devil Fruit is awakened! You must be wary of all shadows!"

The Dragon let out a furious roar, before rearing its head back and forming a black ball of energy.

Then it glanced back at the crew and unleashed.

Mod grit her teeth and opened her mouth, fangs sharpening as she countered the shadowy Annihilation with her own version.

The blazing fire collided with the shadowy imitation and an explosion ensued that rocked the whole area.

Mod exploded in purple electricity, as Moria crawled out of the shadows behind her with a familiar scythe in hand, poised to run her through with it.

Seeing that his sneak attack failed, the man swiftly swapped places with the Dragon to avoid injury, who snarled down at Mod and smacked her with its tail.

"!" Mod grunted as she was launched away from her spot, the impact of the attack being shielded mostly by her raid dress.

Draconic wings burst from her back and the woman scowled in contemplation as the shadow dragon rushed her again.

They flew through the sky, firing constant attacks at each other, as the Straw Hats focused their assault on the rampaging Moria…

To very little success.

When he was close to getting hit, the shadowy landscape would either protect him, or he'd dip into the shadows, surging back out to deliver an injury on one of the weaker members.

Chopper, Nami and Usopp had already been dealt with by the out of control Warlord and Moria was especially keen on not taking hits from the other members.

Brook lunged forward with intents to stab the Warlord, dashing incredibly quickly across the field...

Only for a shadowy fist to smash directly into him.

Part of his skull cracked at the impact, before gravity reminded him it existed and sent him flying.

Franky shouted in surprise and jumped in the way of the flying musician, catching him just in time to see the Dragon snarling down at him.

It opened its mouth and lobbed a pitch black orb that he leapt away from... only for it to explode the moment it touched the ground.

Franky hadn't made enough headway and let out a startled yell as he was caught in the explosion, sending both the cyborg and Brook flying.

Mod grit her teeth as she shot a wave of electricity in hopes of keeping the dragon at bay. "Sanji! Take all the unconscious members and go! Please get them to safety!"

Sanji saluted, just as much worry on his features as he already held Nami's unconscious body. He began dashing across the field, grabbing at his crew, all while admirably avoiding as many shadows as he could.

He got tagged a few times but it wasn't enough to take him out of the battle yet and soon, he gathered them all up.

"Where are you going?!"

Moria surged out of the shadows directly in front of Sanji with that shadow scythe, intent on impaling the burdened chef in order to keep them all here.

A flash of green appeared in front of Sanji, as Zoro parried the attack with all three of his blades.

Moria snarled as Zoro held him back somewhat, giving Sanji enough time to break away from them and dash off.

Much to his relief, Crow appeared to lessen his baggage and they escorted the unconscious members out.

He attempted to target the chef, but a flurry of arms covered his eyes and hampered him long enough for a fist to crash into his face.

"Don't touch them!" Luffy snarled angrily.

Moria scowled in aggravation and swapped with his dragon, who was distracting Mod, once more.

The dragon roared and cocked both its fists back, before smashing them into the ground.

A rush of shadows burst from the ground, like an eruption from a volcano attempting to engulf Zoro and Luffy in the attack.

Luffy and Zoro's eyes both widened in horror, as the massive range of the attack gave them little room to dodge.

"Oof!" they grunted, getting sent in different directions from the eruption.

Zoro caught himself just in time to leap to the left to avoid the dragon lunging at him, allowing it to fly harmlessly past...

Or so he thought.

A familiar sound, that of a pop, went off and Zoro had no time to react to the Moria behind him.

The Warlord had a sadistic gleam in his eyes as he placed a palm on Zoro's back.

A concussive blast of shadows erupted from the man's hand and the swordsman teetered, as it connected directly with him.

"Zoro!" Luffy shouted in horror, catching the falling swordsman.

"In such a short time, he managed to take so many of us out!" Mod thought in shock, glaring in frustration as the dragon kept her busy any chance it got.

This was insanity!

She grit her teeth as the dragon made its presence known once more to her and began charging an attack in its maw that it began condensing.

This thing dared to think it could use her attacks better than she could?!

The Devil Fruit opened her mouth, a snarl leaving her mouth as the effects of Ragnarok began to seep deeper into her.

"Raze!" she snarled, shooting the super heated laser from her mouth at the same time as the shadow dragon.

Both the lasers were aimed expertly at their opponent, which unfortunately meant that they once more met in the middle and caused another boom to take place.

Mod snarled furiously and sparks began flying off her.

"Gear Second!"

"Boost x2!"

At once, both Luffy and Mod rocketed straight for Moria with determination in their gaze.

Moria made to dip into his shadows, before arms began holding him in place just long enough for the two to reach his position.

He had no choice but to swap with his dragon, lest his bones get turned into dust by the combined might of both Luffy and Mod.

As he swapped with his partner, a thunderbolt crashed from the sky directly into his body.

Mod was like a shark in the water the moment Moria seized up.

"EMP: Storm!"

The sky roared and screeched, as bolt after bolt of purple lightning began crashing onto the field.

Moria grunted and launched himself to the ground, before utilizing the surrounding shadows to act as cover.

He grit his teeth as the furious bolts of lightning still somewhat pierced the makeshift shield.

A steaming figure closed the gap between them, fist cocked back and launching it forward.

Moria swiftly raised a shadow from the ground, transforming it into a shield that blocked the punch from Luffy.

Then the shield transformed into the shadowy tendrils that lashed out and grabbed the the rubber boy.

Luffy grunted as one grabbed him and he attempted to get it off, failing as even more shadows lunged for him.

Moria had blood in his eyes and lunged forward, intent to place a palm on the rubber boys chest to blast him away.

Instead, the ground erupted beneath him and uppercutted him in the face.

Blood gushed from Moria's nose but he ignored it, swapping places as a purple blue attempted to cut him in half with that sparking scythe.

Mod gave him no respite. Thunder continued to roar and she transformed Ram into dual pistols that she aimed at both Moria and the Dragon.

Without any hesitation, she began rapid firing the pistols, all while avoiding the shadows grasping for her.

Jump, roll, flight... Mod utilized all forms of evasion and miraculously, continued firing at the man.

"A lady in a dress should not look so cool doing this!" Ram gushed. Auntie looked like such a badass!

Mod said nothing, intent on riddling Moria with holes.

The Warlord had not been prone while this was taking place. Staying still for a prolonged period time, meant loss because the battlefield was in utter chaos.

He was currently atop the shadow dragon, as it soared and weathered the bullets from Mod, while trying to avoid the constant lightning strikes.

Robin watched from her cover (given to her by Mod), as utter mayhem

Mod's eyes narrowed as she saw the dragon absorb the pistols bullets and decided to try something more effective.

She took flight, as a sniper replaced the dual pistols and she aimed directly for Moria's head, looking through the lens with a calm gaze.

Lightning arced off her body as she fueled the gun with electricity and the woman fired.

A thunderous boom echoed throughout the field, as the shell fired.

Moria only had a moment to force the shadow of his dragons back to form into a shield in order to block the shot but much to his surprise, it began piercing the shadow.

He only had a moment to move his head, eyes going wide as the bullet brushed against his cheek and caused a burst of blood to spurt.

Mod held the sniper in both hands, still floating as she glared at him.

Did she ever mention that she was a better shot than Rosan was? Mod quite enjoyed using guns.

Moria grasped his bleeding cheek and sneered. The dragon never stopped moving and it began its onslaught anew, focusing all of its attention on Mod and making the woman temporarily abandon the notion of shooting Moria.

As the dragon renewed its onslaught, Mod transformed her sniper into gloves and began firing as many orbs as possible at the dragon, in hopes of distracting it.

Moria leapt of the dragon and Mod's eyes darted over to him immediately.

Dozens of bolts flew towards him, as he fell, but his trusty dragon flew in the way of the entire salvo, firing a ball of shadows at Mod in the process.

Mod growled at that and flexed her wings, soaring towards the ground.

The moment Moria hit the ground, Luffy made his presence known once more and immediately closed the distance.

He was completely ignoring the bolts of lightning, even when they crashed into him and just focused his onslaught on Moria.

At the same time a flurry of arms began harassing him in all manners, hindering the Warlord enough for Luffy to press his advantage.

Moria snarled as a punch connected to his face at ridiculous speeds.

As his anger mounted, the shadows began writhing in tandem.

Robin had to abandon her spot as the shadows began piercing through her shelter.

Almost immediately, Moria appeared in front of her, murder in his eyes.

She attempted to dodge but the arrival of Moria had caused her to stop long enough for them to wrap around her legs, halting her.

Before Moria could take her out the fight, Mod appeared directly behind him, murder in her eyes.

At the same time, the ground pushed her well out of the way of him, by shoving her into the sky.

The lightning mysteriously stopped too...

"Get your hands off my daughter!" she snarled, sparking with electricity.

"EMP: Burst!"

Moria howled in agony, as the dome of electricity captured him before he could swap places with his dragon.

Mod huffed as the shadow man collapsed, before she was forced to defend herself against that pesky dragon.

The dragon roared its fury to the world and charged up a truly enormous ball of energy, that made Mod's eyes narrow in worry.

She held a hand above her head and a ball of her own began forming.

"Persecution!" she yelled, launching it right into the shadow ball of the furious dragon.

Much like all their other collisions, these two caused yet another explosion to ensue and Mod gazed up with furrowed brows.

This wasn't adding up... why was the dragon still so active—

"Shadow Burst!"

A dome of shadows suddenly appeared, covering the entirety of the battlefield.

"Ah!" Mod shouted in pain as she was directly caught in it. The explosion of shadows slammed into her with concussive force and she was launched away, tumbling on the ground from the power behind it.

"Mod-chan?! Robin?! Are you two okay?" Rosan asked in concern.

Mod whined at that, bruises blooming all over her body that healed up as quickly as it formed.

"I'm okay. I can do this!" she said immediately, a challenging look in her eyes as she shakily stood up.

"My body hurts, but I'm fine," Robin grunted, pulling herself up and envying both Rosan and Mod for having such incredible healing factors.

She hurt. This battle was intense in a way that she had never experienced.

Rosan pursed his lips and frowned, before nodding his head.

Moria huffed, sweat and blood dripping down his features as he stood up, shadows roiling off him as he gazed at his three final opponents.

Luffy, Mod and Robin all panted as the Warlord occasionally twitched from the effects of getting shocked.

One of his arms was locked to his side, unable to move from the electricity coursing through his veins.

"He can't handle his own output," Rosan remarked idly, watching the man's display with an interested eye. "His years of wasting away have bit him. His own laziness has put his body out of shape."

"Not to mention, he's being completely overwhelmed by Rosan's traits," Robin panted out, running through the best course of action to close out this fight.

Mod's mouth opened at that.

That's right! Moria was shooting far above a level he couldn't reach anymore! Perhaps if it was before the man had lost his drive, all the Straw Hats would have died… but at this rate, he'd run out of gas all on his own…

Quite frankly, he no longer had the physical specs to keep up with what he was flinging, but he couldn't see that because he was being dominated by Rosan's personality...

And Rosan did have the specs to do that so it was biting him in the ass...

Moria was very swiftly running out of endurance and running out of endurance against someone like Mod, was fatal.

Time to show why her family thought she was so frustrating to battle.

Moria grunted in annoyance as the ground beneath him came to life, lunging at him with a single purpose.

He dipped into the shadows once more and the moment he popped out, he was forced to deal with an onslaught of purple orbs flying towards him.

The Shadow dragon roared at that and charged Mod, who remained on the ground and began dancing around its charges, all while focusing on neutralizing Moria.

As Moria dealt with the onslaught of orbs, the ground made its presence known again and wrapped around him.

The Warlord scowled furiously, only to let out a yell of pain as bolts of purple electricity crashed into him.

Let it be known, that Rosan unlocking more elements, actually benefited Mod more then it had him. It helped fuel her toxic fighting style even more.

"I cannot wait until you find a way to unlock Ice," Mod said with a pleased smile, weaving between the shadows that were lunging for her.

"Anything for you my spoiled Queen of a mother," Rosan bowed. "Believe it or not, I've got a lead so I just have to peer deeper into it."

"You are such a genius. How do you even have a lead?" Mod thought in disbelief, holding out a hand and firing two orbs of purple orbs with condensed flames inside them.

"Seekers," she intoned launching them forward.

Moria howled furiously, exploding in shadowy energy, before he vanished from his spot and appeared behind Mod.

He tried to cut into her with the scythe, but a wall blocked his attack and the seekers made themselves known once more.

The shadow man swapped with his dragon, eyes going wide as the orb melted the head of the creature, before it formed back into place.

Almost as if recognizing that it would do no damage to the dragon, it careened towards Moria again.

Moria began panting as he was forced to dodge the orbs over and over again, fatigue catching up to him quickly.

"Damn it. If I hadn't lost my ambition these past few years! If I had just trained! I've lost my Haki, lost my stamina… Damn it, Kaido! Damn it Straw Hats!"

Damn it all!

Luffy rocketed forward with a look of finality in his eyes, forcing Moria on the defensive immediately.

Much to his dread, the orbs flew right over to the dragon's position, a clear warning of what would happen if he swapped positions with it.

So he was forced to engage with Straw Hat Luffy in close combat with one good arm.

Moria may have inherited Rosan's skills and talent by absorbing his shadow, but physically, he and the redhead were not the same.

Rosan had the speed necessary to match Luffy's own ridiculous speed.

Moria did not.

Luffy was very quickly gaining the upper hand on their furious exchange and to make matters worse, stray arms were forming that hampered him every step of the way.

Neither Robin nor Luffy cared about the shadows attacking them, hellbent on inflicting as much damage onto him as possible.

Robin was exhausted and hurt but so long as Rosan's life was in danger, she'd do everything in her power to save him.

She needed to be stronger. She wanted to be strong.

"Quinientos Fleur!"

The Warlord stopped in shock, as a single giant hand formed behind him.

Without any hesitation, that giant hand smashed into him with no hesitation.

Moria spat out blood as he was crushed to the floor but he couldn't even catch his breath, as that damned steaming figure appeared above him.

Luffy launched his foot into the air without any hesitation.

"Gomu Gomu no Jet Battle Axe!"

The Warlord gagged, bones creaking in agony as the foot smashed into him with brutal force.

The Dragon roared in fury and attempted to help its master, only to seize up as a giant bag of salt appeared over it.

Mod growled, eyes still set into slits. "Submit to my will, lesser dragon."

With that, she dumped it atop the creature and it recoiled with a shriek of agony.

As it writhed about, it flew back to Moria's body and she gazed at the man with the eyes of a hunter.

Mod smiled and in a tone of finality, she said, "Rebuke."

She placed a flat palm against Moria's chest, still sparking with electricity.

Rebuke was a variation of Rejection or Retribution, that utilized electricity! This was their way of fully restraining someone so this version didn't utilize the deadly Reject Dial.

That didn't make it any less effective.

Moria seized up, before a chain of purple electricity surged through his massive body.

The Warlord screeched and perhaps years ago, he'd have been able to withstand these attacks. After all, he had been a pirate with enough strength to challenge Kaido. He had been a man of great renown...

He had been Gecko Moria!

But that was years ago and he was no longer the same Gecko Moria as before.

Moria let out a raspy gasp and fell back, shuddering as he fell unconscious.

"That's game," Mod smiled tiredly, canceling the electricity and gazing at the unconscious body with a curious eye.

Gecko Moria… a man who could have been formidable… who should have been, but allowed his ambition to vanish in favor of laziness.

And it finally bit him.

Ambition… was a dangerous thing to lose.

"I guess… it's a good thing I got mine back," Rosan muttered, taking control of his body once more and stretching idly.

Despite being unconscious, Rosan's shadow had not returned to him, so he took out a plethora of salt and forced it into Moria's mouth.

He reached the desired effects immediately and Rosan let out a sigh as his shadow slammed into him without further prompting.

What a weird day. Never thought he'd lose his shadow.

"Well done Mod-chan," he praised with a proud smile. "You did fantastic out there. You have nothing to be insecure about."

Mod blushed red and smiled, staring a hole into the floor. "I just wanted to see if I still had it… I'm glad to know I can still pull my weight."

"Of course you can! You're our kickass Auntie!" Ram gushed, hugging her happily.

Mod burned red at their praise and grinned at them.

"I'm tired," Luffy sighed, glancing at his injuries with a deep frown.

The entire crew was rather beat up from the ordeal. Oars and Moria alone had managed to inflict the majority of damage onto them and it was a testament to how strong the two strongest in their crew was.

Rosan and Luffy… monsters those two.

"Alright, let's steal all his treasure and get outta here," Rosan grunted, grabbing Robin and inspecting her injuries.

Robin sighed in exasperation and leaned into his touch. She had been doing completely fine up until Moria made his presence known but leave it to Rosan to be overly protective.

But still, it was really —

A massive shockwave erupted, connecting to three Straw Hats there .

"!"

Neither Luffy, Robin nor Rosan were spared from the sudden attack and the three let out pained noises, as the attack slammed into them with crushing force.

Rosan held onto Robin for dear life and righted himself, eyes shutting a bit at the devastating strength behind that attack.

"What the fuck was that?" He rasped in disbelief, glancing down in concern at feeling Robin clutching him tightly.

The Devil Child huffed in pain and glanced warily up at him, eyes tired but alert.

"I… I'm not sure. Who was responsible for that?"

Then the three heard footsteps and warily glanced.

Even Rosan took pause at the sight before him and he shut his eyes as a rare feeling of dread welled inside of him.

Tall and enormous, looking to be the same height as Moria, the man (if you could call him that) before them, was walking around with a bible in hand.

He glanced at them, eyes covered by clear-mirrored lenses and Rosan took a deep breath at the black jacket with a crosshair on it.

Most of his crew were unconscious. Luffy was picking himself up, same as Zoro and Sanji was the most well off. At sensing the end of the battle, he had come back as quickly as possible. There was no need to protect his unconscious members anymore so he needed to take stock of the situation.

"Who... is this?" Sanji asked warily, clenching his cigarette and assessing the injuries of the most active crew members.

Rosan sighed. "Bartholomew Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea," he said.

Ah damn. They were all pretty beat up, against one of the most mysterious Warlords in the system.

Bartholomew Kuma, the Tyrant.

"Black Leg Sanji. Monkey D. Luffy. Portgas D. Rosan. Nico Robin," Kuma greeted politely.

He made no note of acknowledging Moria's body, just gazing neutrally at the group.

Bad didn't even begin to describe their current situation.

Bartholomew Kuma was an unknown quantity but there was nothing good from him being here, after they just beat his ally in battle.

"Can I grab everyone and run in time?" Rosan thought to Robin.

Robin raised a brow in shock, not believing Rosan offered the chance to escape first.

"Yes, that's the best chance."

Rosan nodded imperceptibly. "Bartholomew Kuma… do you have business with us?" He asked, having his bird go to where Sanji kept them..

"Wake them up. Make them group up so I can do it in one fell swoop," Rosan ordered.

"I do," Kuma said calmly. "I was sent by the World Government to inform Moria of various things, including the threat of the Straw Hats… but it seems you've already made your statement."

Rosan scowled. "He attacked us first… but I doubt that matters to you."

Kuma was as robotic as Rosan used to be, face not revealing a single thing. "Contrary to belief, I have no interest in capturing the Straw Hats. "

The redhead snorted. "You probably still have something you want, right? No one who meets me ever just leaves me alone," he pointed out with a scowl.

"Rosan!" Robin hissed at him.

"I'm just making conversation to distract him! Am I wrong anyways?!" He retorted, raising a brow.

"…" Kuma said nothing. It was impossible for even Rosan to tell what he was thinking.

"Portgas D. Rosan, I have heard of your escapades but as mentioned, I was not sent here on explicit orders to capture the Straw Hats," Kuma told him politely, not a single inflection in his voice.

That was another thing. Kuma kept referring to him by his actual name, Portgas D. Rosan.

No one called him that. The higher ups of the World Government should know but why did Kuma know?

Rosan gazed at Kuma like he were some type of puzzle. "What do you want?" He asked warily.

Kuma held his gaze and Rosan felt a strange discomfort in the situation.

Rosan could read everyone with his eyes. Even the slightest of inflections, would be caught my him.

There were more unnerving things about his eyes then just their appearance. He could see everything a person hoped to hide.

But Bartholomew Kuma was almost a complete anomaly. Rosan could barely glean anything from him and that was an idea that was almost foreign to him.

It wasn't often that someone remained a mystery to Rosan... it was rather unnerving.

Was this how people felt looking at him?

Who was Bartholomew Kuma?

Kuma said nothing for a moment, almost looking as if he didn't register Rosan's words.

"There are things that I'd like to test. A test of loyalty. Succeed and I will let you leave this island without catching a single one," he said truthfully.

Rosan raised a brow. "A test of loyalty? In Luffy?" He asked incredulously.

That was stupid. If it was a test to see how loyal everyone was to Luffy, they'd all pass with flying colors. Everyone in the crew had unshakeable loyalty in their captain —

"No. In you."

Rosan went cold.

Faster than he could even blink, Kuma appeared in front of him.

He was in one spot before, then in front of him with the only sound being a pop.

Rosan shoved the stunned Robin away with wide eyes, right before Kuma grabbed him with his gloved hand.

The redhead grunted as he was clasped with startling ease.

The scout of the Straw Hats opened his mouth and immediately began bathing the man in flames, intent on melting him for daring to leave such an opening…

To no effect. Rosan's eyes went wide in confusion at seeing Kuma not even let out a noise of discomfort.

It was as if his flames, Rosan's flames, had no effect on him.

Fine, he'd just up the power.

"You have a turbulent past, Portgas D. Rosan," Kuma said idly.

The giant Warlord began removing his glove, revealing the paws on his palm. "A past that you don't want anyone to know of, but has caused you a great amount of suffering."

What was Kuma talking about? How did he know this stuff?

"How does he...?" Mod asked in concern.

Rosan's eyes were terribly confused, panic seeping into him as Kuma seemed to see through him in a way that only the people he had shared the most intimate of moments with, saw.

Who did he think he was?! How dare he pretend like he knew Rosan so intimately?!

"Rosan!" Robin shouted in concern, summoning arms to try and restrain Kuma.

Her eyes narrowed in confusion at not feeling human skin underneath him and when she tried to contort any part of his body, the Warlord merely glanced over.

What… What was he…? Was Kuma even human? Able to resist Rosan's fire... having such tough skin...

"That is unwise, Nico Robin. I have no interest in engaging in combat with you all. I've stated this already but if you insist, I will capture all of you," Kuma intoned emotionlessly.

"Robin stop!" Rosan said, struggling in Kuma's unyielding grasp. "Don't! Go get everyone else!"

"But Rosan!" She shouted in return, not willing to back down for a second.

"Just get them!" Rosan snarled, eyes transforming into slits as his teeth bared.

Robin nodded hesitantly and went to go retrieve the Straw Hats, glancing back at Rosan in visible concern and increasing her speed.

"If you begin transforming, you won't be here to protect your crew. It will take you a long time to come back and by then, it will already be too late," Kuma said disarmingly.

Rosan froze as those words washed over them.

"A truth."

"Are you just here to kill me then?" He asked quietly, canceling Ragnarok's transformation and gazing at Kuma with heated eyes.

Kuma didn't even flinch at the glare. Rosan was beginning to think that the man had no emotions, exactly like he used to be.

"Nothing like that," the Warlord said truthfully. "Your crew is weak," he said idly.

Rosan stiffened.

"While it's true I have no interest in destroying the Straw Hats. My orders were to eliminate all of you in the event of Moria's defeat… but you alone, will suffice."

"Portgas D. Rosan… the Red Devil. Among the Straw Hats, you, along with Straw Hat Luffy, are quite the topic of discussion. I'm sure if I turn you or Straw Hat in, they will be satisfied."

"…" the redhead said nothing as he digested that. "I'll fight you with all I have."

"You will not win as you are now."

"A truth."

Kuma fully believed in his capabilities of defeating Rosan.

"…" Rosan huffed. "I'll still fight you with all I have. You won't lay a hand on them."

The redhead vanished from Kuma's grasp, appearing slightly in front of the staggering Luffy.

"R-Rosan? Are we gonna fight that guy?!" Luffy asked in concern, getting ready.

"...No," Rosan denied. "I'm going to fight him. Alone," he grunted.

His crew was badly injured from the fight earlier. That shockwave earlier, nearly took out both Luffy and Robin, not to mention they were also drained from the fight with Moria...

That meant he was in the best position to fight Bartholomew Kuma.

Luffy shook his head in refusal. "But that guy's strong and we're all tired! I'm not letting you fight him alone!" the captain declared.

"…" Rosan huffed quietly. "Kuma, fight me. One on one. It's me you want right? All these words you're saying boil down to one thing... and that's me."

It was also Luffy but Rosan was trying to distract the man from his little brother.

Kuma stared silently at him. "Are you implying that I should only attempt to capture you?" the Warlord said quietly.

The redhead chanced a glance at Luffy, at his little brother and sighed. "Every terrible misdeed that the Straw Hats have done… in actuality it's been one person, me. They are good people. I'm the one who's bad," he said quietly.

Luffy's eyes bugged in disbelief. "WHAT?! NO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, ROSAN?!" He roared in fury, stepping up to his brother without any hesitation and grabbing his shirt.

"…" Rosan stared at his furious brother and shut his eyes. "You guys aren't the one who destroyed Enies Lobby. I was. You guys didn't massacre the Marines in Alabasta. I did. Kuma is here because my actions have caught up to me… so I'm going to fight with all I have to remain free, but I don't need you all to incriminate yourselves either," he told his brother gently.

"I don't care about any of that! You're apart of my crew!" Luffy denied with a scowl. "Anything you did, is because I approved it as your captain! If its your fault, then its my fault too!"

"And that's why the crew still needs you," Rosan thought fondly. "I've got dibs Luffy. This is my fight."

Luffy's eyes widened in disbelief. "You... What are you doing, Rosan?!" the rubber boy asked.

"You think I'll let you get captured?! If they take you away, I'll get you back! You aren't leaving me!" Luffy barked in genuine anger. "This isn't what you want to do, Rosan! You hate being alone! You don't wanna leave us! Stop acting like this!"

Ram transformed into a set of gauntlets as Rosan stared off at Kuma. "It's not something I want to do, it's something I have to do. I'm the second in command. It's my job to step up when you aren't able to," he said calmly.

"I'll win this fight, don't worry Luffy," he reassured.

Luffy furrowed his brow. "Fine but if you lose... I won't let them take you. I'll get you back no matter what."

Kuma said nothing for a moment, gauging the words of the Red Devil. "Owning up to your own actions… how admirable, Portgas D. Rosan."

The Warlord appeared directly in front of Rosan, staring down at the fearless redhead.

"I refuse," the Warlord said suddenly.

Rosan stiffened.

"I have no interest in fighting any of you at this moment," Kuma informed him. "There's something else I'm here for, then I will let you all go freely."

The redhead raised a brow in confusion. "What… is that?" He asked slowly.

"A test, in loyalty."

Rosan's brows furrowed again, before his eyes widened and a raspy groan left him, as a paw print embedded itself onto his chest.

The redhead collapsed onto a knee in shock, before he began to push himself up once more, eyes blazing in fury, as sparks began dancing off his skin.

Another shockwave forced him to the floor and Rosan snarled in fury.

He launched himself up and slammed a fist against Kuma's face, discharging electricity at the same time.

Before his fist connected, Kuma held up a hand and redirected his fist, completely changing the course.

Rosan only had a moment to compute the strange attack, before he was immediately captured in a paw.

"ROSAN!" Luffy shouted in a panic, rushing up to the redhead with a look of concern.

Rosan's eyes narrowed in confusion and he began thrashing in his prison.

"He has the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi…" Mod muttered in concern.

Oh if only she hadn't made Rosan use up his energy while in control.

"It's fine. This isn't nearly enough to neutralize me," Rosan scowled.

"So you've finally all arrived," Kuma said, regarding the approaching Straw Hats with a blank expression.

The Straw Hats gazed at Kuma in shock, before gazing at the trapped Rosan that froze at their arrival.

Robin was gazing at him with narrowed eyes before saying, "Kuma… Rosan has not done all those acts alone. I was a very willing participant as well. So if you plan on capturing him, I will be fighting you too."

Ah so she heard that… damn.

"I wasn't trying to sacrifice myself," Rosan said through their connection.

"I know. You planned on fighting him with all you had… but you also tried to shoulder all the blame onto yourself. We are a couple, Rosan. We're in this together!" She said firmly.

"We're in a terrible situation. Kuma can… he can defeat us all so I was at the very least, hoping to take his attention off of you all," Rosan muttered, getting ready to activate his Save Point to get out of this compressed air.

"Straw Hats, how much do you truly know about Portgas D. Rosan? Do you trust him? Do you think he trusts you?" Kuma asked them suddenly.

Rosan froze completely, a cold feeling coursing through his veins that transformed into a blizzard, as Kuma began pushing something out of his body.

The redhead let out a strangled rasp, as an orange paw, slowly but surely pushed out of him. He stared at it with wild confused eyes.

"ROSAN?!" The Straw Hats shouted in shock, watching as the giant orb floated out of him.

What… was that? What was this paw?

"Portgas D. Rosan is a naturally secretive person," Kuma began conversationally. "A man who holds his past close to his chest. Even to you all, he hasn't revealed all of it."

Rosan's eyes widened in horror and the Straw Hats saw a rare look of fear cross his features.

"This bubble houses all a majority of his memories and emotions," Kuma informed them, looking utterly unfazed as Rosan vanished from his prison.

The redhead launched himself at Kuma with a frenzied look in his gaze. The redhead looked more akin to a feral animal as he immediately closed the distance.

No sooner did he close the distance, did Kuma idly tap the redhead with his palm.

The Straw Hats froze, as a shockwave boomed through the air… and it took them awhile to realize it was Rosan's body flying past them at speeds they could barely see.

The redhead crashed into a stone pillar at ridiculous speeds, going directly through it with a strangled gasp of fury as he continued flying.

"What is he?!" They all thought, gazing at the Warlord with nervous eyes.

"What do you want?" Robin asked, visibly concerned at what this bubble entailed.

Rosan's memories… his emotions?

"In order to grow as a crew, it's imperative that the shadow captain of the Straw Hats, is trusted fully by his crew and vice versa. A crew who has even one member lacking trust, is one destined to fail."

Kuma gazed at them all. "His sins, troubles, fears… all of it is in this bubble. In order to save the Red Devil, you must find the root problem of his concerns. In order to find the root problems of his concerns, you must understand his concerns."

It was quickly dawning on the Straw Hats, what Kuma wanted from them and they all gained uneasy expressions.

"Touch this bubble. Learn of the Red Devil. If you are able to accept Portgas D. Rosan after everything you've seen, if you still have the resolve to save him after what you experience… then you are free."

"And if we don't?" Zoro asked seriously.

"Then I will capture him."

The Straw Hats went straight at that.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!"

Rosan had a look of true fear on his face as he rushed them. "Don't touch it. Don't… You can't touch that bubble!" He panicked, eyes wide.

"Don't touch that bubble. I… I''ll deal with him just… just don't touch that bubble," Rosan begged.

His memories… his emotions. No… no no no. Don't touch it. No one should touch that.

No one could handle his memories. No one could live the hell that he had been forced to live... to experience it in full... no this couldn't happen.

He didn't want them to know everything. He didn't want them to know just how afraid of revealing his past he was. He didn't want them to hate him. He could handle everyone's hate… but not theirs.

"This is not for you to decide, Portgas D. Rosan," Kuma said idly.

Rosan looked like a rabid animal, gaze locking onto Kuma. "Don't make them touch that bubble, Kuma!" He roared, launching himself at the Warlord.

Kuma vanished from his spot, avoiding the red energy blasts with ease.

Rosan roared in pure rage, going utterly feral as he rushed the man.

"Rosan please! You're not thinking straight!" Mod panicked, overwhelmed by his rush of emotions and the events currently taking place.

"You'd allow yourself to get taken, before allowing them to touch that bubble?" Kuma asked, redirecting another bout of flames from the redhead.

"Is your past that important to you? Just what have you gone through, Portgas D. Rosan?" The Warlord asked curiously.

Just what have you gone through?

Robin's eyes narrowed in distraught at how desperate Rosan was currently acting. He was… so afraid.

She knew Rosan's past like the back of her hands. She was aware of why he was reluctant to show it… but never had he shown such fear at the idea.

Rosan was… Rosan was afraid of the Straw Hats opinion changing of him… He didn't want his ugly past to be revealed to them. He didn't want them to look at him the way everyone else did.

"All of you," Robin said quietly, walking up to the bubble. "We should touch the bubble. If this is all it takes to get out of this situation, the decision is easy, isn't it?"

Luffy nodded without any hesitation, marching up to the bubble with determination.

"Rosan thinks we'll change our minds about him… that's why he's afraid," Luffy said to his crew.

Zoro sighed in disbelief before walking up to the bubble. "That's why he's so afraid? Him and Robin can be so stupid sometimes if things like this matter. Stop overthinking."

Sanji glared at Zoro as he took place next to him. "Robin's not as stupid as that shitty redhead if he thinks this is enough to scare us off him."

Nami nodded in agreement as she gazed at the bubble with a hint of nervousness. "I already call him big bro. I dunno why he thought I'd stop if I learned more about him."

"Yeah!" Chopper said in determination. "I'm already gonna be a monster! This is nothing!"

"Rosan already scares me! He can't scare me more!" Usopp declared, nervously glancing at the bubble despite his bravado but not faltering for a second.

"Red seemed really afraid… his past must be rough," Franky pondered, before feeling his resolve settle. "That doesn't matter! He's our bro!"

Brook looked at the Straw Hats in awe. "Even if he doesn't want you to do so, you still choose to do it without hesitation? Why? What makes you ignore his wishes?" He asked in surprise.

Robin was the one to answer. "Rosan fears what we'll think so we're going to show him that it's all unwarranted. I've already seen it all… but I'll see it a million times until he understands, there's nothing to be worried about."

"Yeah! He's our scout!" Luffy beamed. "Now get in here Brook, he said all the Straw Hats!"

Brook froze at that, before nodding hesitantly and approaching the bubble.

Rosan let out a furious howl at seeing every single one of his attacks be negated by Kuma. Whatever he did was either redirected or teleported away from.

Not to mention, the man's body was ridiculously tough. The hits Rosan landed, were weathered dreadfully well and the redhead was just about to finally start busting out the more lethal attacks.

"Oh, it seems like they've made their decision," Kuma suddenly said.

Rosan felt his whole world stop at that.

Hesitantly, the redhead turned back just in time to see every single person in his crew, dive into the memory bubble.

"No…" Rosan said in dread, watching the bubble vanish at once. "No no no no. You can't… You shouldn't… my memories… my emotions… you can't," he whispered.

This wasn't. They weren't supposed to… Rosan wasn't ready for them to see it all.

"YOU CAN'T!" Rosan screeched, eyes going wide in terror. "STOP! DON'T! WHY DO YOU WANT TO SEE MY HELL?! I TOLD YOU IDIOTS NOT TO TOUCH IT! WHY DID YOU TOUCH IT?!" he howled.

No no no! Why weren't they listening? What didn't they understand?! Why?! Why did they want to hate him?! Why did they want to look at him like he looked at himself?! W-Why?!

At once, every Straw Hat's eyes glazed over and they collapsed.

"Why?" Rosan asked numbly, not even noticing that he was shaking. He didn't even notice Kuma walking away from the scene. "Why do you want them to see my hell? Why do you want them to live in the hell that I've lived in."

"I've already stated the reason multiple times," Kuma said calmly, unphased by Rosan's mental breakdown. "A test. Of loyalty. You've proven your loyalty to them but you refuse to let them prove their loyalty to you. I'm merely giving them the opportunity to do so."

"Why are you doing this?" Rosan whispered. "What did I do to you? Why do you know me? Why... why won't any of you ever just leave me alone?"

"...An interesting choice of questions, Portgas D. Rosan. Perhaps after this encounter, some of your answers will be found. May we meet again, Portgas D. Rosan," Kuma said.

With that, the Warlord vanished and Rosan was left staring at his unconscious crewmates.

The redhead began shuddering as he slowly approached them.

His memories… his emotions…

They would see it. Even Robin, who had seen his memories, hadn't actually felt the emotions he himself had been feeling.

They would feel all of it. His despair, his rage, his helplessness, his hatred, his self hatred…

His complete apathy.

All of it. They'd see the people he killed, they'd see the horrific ways they died… they'd see Rosan getting tortured... they'd see Rosan witness his mother's death, they'd see Rosan witness Meiko's death…

They'd even see the things Rosan never intended to tell them about.

"Rosan… It's okay," Mod said quietly, watching as the redhead began shuddering even more.

"Father please... it'll be okay," Ram sniffed, tears appearing at seeing the distraught in his eyes.

But Rosan did not hear them.

All of it… even the things sacred to himself.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rosan opened his mouth and let out a scream of frustration that reverberated through all of Thriller Bark.

---

So here we are... so I was going to have this chapter out earlier, but I ran into a grievous error while writing and felt the writing spirit drain out of my body... but I survived and got it out in time!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thriller Bark was a bit difficult to write honestly, but it was fun twisting how the chapter was going to work and I hope you liked what I did with Moria!

Thanks for the support and if you ever want quicker communication with me, you could join my discord server!

See you guys next time!

Here's the code! discord. gg/ BFFtXAXFU7