This was…

Ace tried to swallow, but his throat remained dry and coarse no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't stop looking at the… at the… He couldn't even verbalise the scene he was witnessing. Where his family, the people who had taken him in and made him laugh and cry and just generally find a new purpose for living again… were dying for him. Or were willing to.

He could hardly watch as the cannon balls rained down towards where the small army of pirates stormed ahead. Nor when Dracule Mihawk entered the fray, cutting so many of his crew and allies into bleeding husks on the ice. Especially when Kizaru began directing beams of light into Marco, or when…

Akainu.

The heat of those balls of magma made him shudder even from where he was. He'd heard of the Magu Magu no Mi… or Magma Magma fruit, he didn't really know what was the correct term for it. Gramps had told him about how strong the fruit was compared to Ace's, and honestly Ace had thought he was being overly dramatic about it in an effort to stop Ace's stupid hijinks at the time.

Boy had Ace been wrong.

There was no way he could produce flames that hot. Not without that weird awakening that people kept talking about and he'd never had the patience to work his way though. Why hadn't he tried to become stronger dammit… If he was stronger, he would've beaten Teach's ass and chucked the corpse into the stomach of the largest sea king he could find.

He wouldn't be sitting here watching the people he cared about face oncoming death.

There were a few small miracles though. He had to remind himself of that at least. The biggest of which was that Luffy wasn't here, and hopefully wouldn't be until this was all over. The idea of his little brother out in the middle of that battlefield sickened him to his stomach. He was stronger now, sure, but not his little brother. He didn't want to lose another one.

The second was… she wasn't here.

It was stupid to even consider, Ace realised as he forced the ongoing battle to zone out before his eyes in an effort to try and ignore the nightmare, since there was no way she would've been. Their paths had crossed for the slightest of moments. She had probably moved on with her life in her journey to catch up to that cook, so much so that any thought of their time together would have left her head. Which, honestly, should've been how he handled it as well.

And yet…

The two guards either side of him were mostly encompassed in shade. So much so that he could see neither of their faces. And yes. It was stupid. He knew that. But some deluded part of him who just really wanted to see her again kept thinking that one or the other of them would be her. Even though it couldn't be.

After all the fuss she'd pulled when they both infiltrated that lower level Marine base, there was no way she'd walk into Marineford of her own free will.

She had just been the last person he'd spoken to who had respected his opinion. That was all. And because he'd been left alone since then… those interactions had been all he'd held onto. It also didn't help that he hadn't eaten well or drank much in days? Weeks? He had no idea. So…

Ace closed his eyes. Letting the battle cries and explosions and screams of pain rush over him. Trying to just… he didn't know. Come back to himself. To this?!

His wrists strained against the sea prism chains. The metal digging into his already chafed skin.

Just someone, anyone… Even if it was his hallucinatory Strauss or whatever… Get him out of these damn things!

Then he would rage and rage until there was nothing left of him to burn.


.


"Y…" Sanji's jaw clenched as he forced the initial wave of surprise deep out of sight. "You're not coming with us?"

Letting out a long sigh, Strauss pointedly did not look at him, still staring out at the growing outline of Dressrosa against the horizon. "No. I'll be staying on the Thousand Sunny for this one."

"Buh… I mean… well." He scratched at the back of his head. "I mean… Why?! Since, uh, I mostly figured you would be going where… um…"

They both glanced to where Law was currently being harassed by Luffy for some reason or another.

Strauss's lips pursed into a tight line, "That would… be a reasonable assumption. But at present I am too much of a liability to be able to be much use for anything other than security detail."

A liability?! Sanji whirled back to Law. Had that asshole called her that?! Since if he had…?

"Sanji."

The way she said his name drew him up short. It was so soft. Tender even. But still with the same level of edge that made Strauss… Strauss. It just… He didn't know why it made him so focused in on her in that moment.

She grimaced, thankfully oblivious to his internal confusion. "He is right. I am a liability right now."

Although that brought him right back to the conversation. "What?! You are definitely not that weak! And if he has tried to convince you of that then-"

"It's not my strength that's the problem." She met his gaze with a smile that made her annoyance obvious. "I've got a target on my back. Not one as big as Law, sure, but Joker will be after me all the same. Both because of my connections and because of this thing." Her hand tapped the satchel that he knew carried that devil fruit.

Just thinking about it brought back memories of earlier on. When they were both in the galley and her hand was in his and they… they almost…

He resisted the urge to look at her lips again. It was dumb. Pointless even. And honestly, a little rude. Especially since she still seemed so unaffected.

Even though he'd really wanted to go around Dressrosa with her. By themselves.

He swallowed the lump in his throat.

Although come to think of it maybe it was a bad idea to be alone with her when other people couldn't see! H-He might just do something stupid again. Which he thought he wouldn't, he wouldn't debase Strauss like that but… well.

He'd wanted to walk with Strauss so they could talk about it. Maybe see how she felt about it, or if she felt… negatively about it… he could maybe try and go back to how they were? Since he didn't want to lose that. He really didn't. Even though he also was curious about how things would have ended if Luffy hadn't barged in that day.

So many things he wanted. And many of them not necessarily on the same side.

"Hey." Her voice was quiet, which made it deafening in that strange way it always did. Since he couldn't help but focus in on her whispers until they drowned out. "I… I'm sorry I can't go out. I would've… y'know..." Her fingers drummed against her bicep, "Liked to talk? About… earlier? Since… I think we need to talk."

She could probably hear his heart jackhammering away, couldn't she? No, that wasn't a question. She definitely could.

Sanji blinked as he realised she was waiting for an answer, "I… no I get it. I get it. We'll just have to… talk later I guess. Unless you want to… well…" He gestured vaguely towards the crowd of people preparing for whatever battle was to come around them on deck. "It's not very private here. And people will wonder if we… vanish."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. But still." She looked at him briefly, then back out towards Dressrosa. "Things really have changed, haven't they."

Lighting a cigarette, Sanji placed it in his mouth and released a line of smoke to drift out over the waves. "It'd be weird if they hadn't. But even then-" he took a step over to her. Less of a step even. So that he was mere millimetres from brushing against her shoulder- "maybe this is a change for the better."

"Yeah." After a moment's hesitation she closed the distance, lightly pressing her warmth against his. "Maybe you're right."

Everything tuned out around them. All the background laughter and antics and general chaos. It was just them. Leaning against that railing. Staring out at the rapidly approaching Dressrosa coastline.

"Have fun out there for me will you? Make me the local dish or something."

He paused for a moment. Semi-debating if he should ask if he should stay ashore… even though he knew that he was probably going to be needed on land if this really was going to be as chaotic as it sounded it would be.

"Did you even need to ask? Course I will. You looking for anything in particular?"

"Hm. Surprise me."

The corners of his lips curled into a sly smile, which he hid as he took another drag of his cigarette. "As you wish."


Kneeling on the grass, Chopper gripped the ceramic tea cup between his hooves and raised it to his lips. He gulped eagerly, quickly finishing the drink. "Aaaaah…"

"No!" Momonosuke shot to his feet. "You shouldn't drink it all up!"

"What?"

Momonosuke grimaced, brandishing a finger towards him. "Listen! A poison tester's job is to try the food for a shogun just a little to see if there isn't any poison in it! Understood?!"

Beaming, Chopper raised an arm in gleeful salute, "Yes, sir!"

"Do it again!" Momonosuke turned towards her. "More tea, Strau-sue!"

Strauss forced herself to keep smiling as she took the tall tea cup from Chopper and bowed, "Right away, sir."

"Ah." Brook called, leaning at a 45 degree angle in the corner. "Can I have some too please!"

"And me, if that's alright," smiled Nami apologetically as she petted Momonosuke's head on her lap. "It does smell really nice."

"Yes!" Momonosuke declared. "Tea for everyone!"

Chopper's ears perked up, "Even me?!"

"No! You're the poison tester! You can't drink it."

"O… Oh… Then no tea for me! I'm testing it!"

Strauss's smile remained impassive, "Of course. Three green teas coming right up."

The moment she set foot in the galley and was out of sight, her customer service face dropped into a scowl. Playing pretend had never been her forte. And even then, 'playing shogun' with that kid was just getting ridiculous. Granted, he was just a child… and if he really did come from Wano there must be something quite traumatic in his past to stop him from going back there as fast as possible, but pretending to be servants for him? Poison testing? She'd even been given a different name… Just like Chopper, Nami, and Brook…

She refilled the kettle again, setting it on the stove with a mental note to take it off before it properly boiled as she reached for the green tea canister that Sanji had stowed next to the other black teas. He'd always preferred black leaf teas to green.

Maybe Nami was taking this a little too far. But judging by what had happened in Punk Hazard, it was obvious that she had a soft spot for children. Which was probably why she was turning a blind eye to how obnoxiously pervy that child was. Maybe. Although, she could see why they were keeping him occupied. Kin'emon was off trying to find that ally of his in Dressrosa, so it was reasonable that he would be lonely. And playing along like this made him less likely to throw temper tantrums and mess up Law's plan.

Besides- she spooned some tea leaves into the freshly washed cup- she liked being useful to someone. Having a purpose gave her some direction… rather than allowing herself to loll about and feel bad about herself for being able to go out into Dressrosa with Sanji…

The lid got replaced on the tea jar with a firm snap.

Yes. Fine. She wanted to go and hang out with Sanji. So what? They needed to talk about what happened earlier… in this very room. Almost right where she was standing, come to think of it.

Without thinking, her hand reached up to touch her lips.

The kettle squealed brightly as the water boiled.

NOPE!

She moved her hand away, lifting the kettle off the heat with more haste than she really should have. She shouldn't think about it. No. She needed to focus. There was far more to be done. Law's plan had to work. She needed to be ready in case he wanted her to do something. She was needed now to… to… to… Tea! Yes that was it! Tea!

Opening the lid of the kettle, she grimaced as a cloud of hot steam vanished into the ventilation. Too hot. She'd have to add some cold water, or she would burn the tea leaves. The tap whirred on, the sound of running water filling the silence left from the lack of boiling water.

Hang on.

Strauss's lips pursed.

It shouldn't be this silent. Not when Nami, Brook, Chopper, and Momonosuke were just outside the door.

Without a moment's hesitation (other than twisting the tap closed) she sprinted out of the galley, stopping in her tracks as she saw the group huddled in a small clump staring at a door. "What happened?"

In one action, many flailing hands and hooves pushed her in front of the group so that she was closest to the door.

"T-Th-There's a noise!" Chopper squeaked around her ankles.

Her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember which room that door led to, "In the boys dormitory?"

"Yes!" hissed Nami. "Someone's here! On board! So you go and check it out, Strauss."

Momonosuke nodded fiercely. "Yes! Go and check it out Strau-sue!"

A loud crash filled the air, as if something had been knocked over from within. Then came the voice. Low and the wrong sort of husky. "I don't like it…"

Strauss exchanged a glance with the rest of the group, "How long ago did this happen?"

"Ever since I started playing a tune of mine." Brook set his guitar gently on the deck so that nothing could happen to it. "They very rudely said they didn't like it, as they did just now!"

"I thought there were only the five of us on the ship." Nami gulped. "That is… that's right, isn't it?"

"That's how it should be..." Narrowing her eyes, Strauss took a step towards the door.

"I don't like it…" The voice droned again. "Honestly… Ugh, I don't like it!"

The four people behind her shrieked.

"There's someone in there!

"W-W-Who is it!?"

"I-I'm scared!"

"Hold me O-Nami!"

Strauss almost spun on her heel to demand that they calm down a little, when a loud but low thump echoed through her feet. Coming from that same door.

"What the hell?!"

More shockwaves. Forceful enough to be noticeable through her shoes.

"Strauss!"

"Yes! Strau-sue!"

"Alright I'll look." She muttered, hopefully quiet enough for the intruder to not have noticed.

"I-I will be right behind you," squeaked Brook. Which… she severely doubted, judging by the tears somehow streaming from his empty eye sockets. But she didn't really care. The intruder needed to be caught one way or another. And she was probably going to be the one to do it.

Strauss stalked forwards, rolling the pads of her feet as she stepped so that they made no sound against the grassy deck, until she was flat against the wall. Next to the door. There was no use looking through the porthole on the door itself. Frosted glass. One hand reached out for the handle, while her other gingerly unzipped the pouch at her side.

If worst came to worst… It was worth having on hand.

She pressed down the handle.

The sight she saw when the door swung open was… to call it indescribable was a disservice. Since it was describable. It just hurt her eyes to try and focus on it.

Three dimensions were morphing into two… Everything. Every structure that had been solid was getting flatter and flatter… until it was static. And bright. It hadn't fully solidified yet, it was still… wobbling. As if it hadn't quite made up its mind as to what shape or colour it wanted to be.

And the colours? U-Urk… Most of the flat colours shone garishly, like a child had painted them the brightest and most vibrant shades they could without letting a single surface share their neighbour's hue. But the still morphing areas?

Black. And lumpy. Like partially solidified ink.

"Wha… What is this?!" Nami screeched, making Strauss wince. Although at this point, the intruder had to be aware of them, despite her own attempts to maintain the element of surprise.

Now everyone was crowding around the door, to the extent that Strauss found that she'd been pushed back against the wall in panic. "What's going on here?!" Chopper's eyes bulged.

Momonosuke shuddered, "It's so creepy!"

"Franky will be so pissed if he sees this," gaped Brook as he stopped through as if to enter the doorway.

He never made it.

A figure stepped out of the shadows with a huff, a mound of curves and ankle ruffles. She formed something around her head. A two but three dimensional cloud that changed colours the longer Strauss looked at it. The figure raised her arm back.

"RUN!"

Strauss pushed back away from the wall as the others dashed towards the safety of the open lawn. And it was just as well they did. Hot on their heels was the brightest and gaudiest explosion Strauss had ever seen in her life. In its wake…

Her jaw dropped.

"Th-" Momonosuke clutched tighter to Nami's leg. "The door got deformed too!"

Yeah… The door had changed shape. It was still solid, Strauss could see the angles and shadows on it, but it was now swirled. And… violently purple and yellow.

"Is she a devil fruit eater?!" cried Chopper.

"She must be," Strauss slid her foot back, hand fully inside her pouch and clutched onto her own devil fruit at that moment. "This couldn't be anything else."

"But which fruit?!"

"The 'Bad Taste' fruit perhaps?" Brook muttered, laughing somewhat limply.

Strauss whacked his bony arm (from her own experience, never a good idea to insult the devil fruit user) and glanced towards the others. "Stay sharp."

The twisted handle clicked down. Silencing the panic. Then, with a creak as it got used to its new hinges, the curved door opened.

"Oh dear, oh dear!" The strange woman, sporting frizzy half red and half blonde hair while somehow resembling an upside down teardrop as her skin tight purple and orange dress frilled out around her ankles. She surveyed the four people before her, eyes narrowing through the tinted lenses of her spiked glasses, "I don't like people who have no artistic sense!"

Yes, the four people, Chopper realised as he whipped his head around.

Because Strauss had already vanished.

Something within her had urged her to stay out of the sight of this woman, at least for the beginning. As if her head had realised how close they still were to Dressrosa, even if they were sailing a little ways out over the ocean, and had connected that to the reasons Law had given her for staying out of the way.

"It would be ridiculous to run the risk of having you be ambushed and used as bargaining material." He had said. "And besides-" Those cold eyes had narrowed in, trained directly at the pouch on her hip- "you have something that would be incredibly problematic to be let into his possession."

The pouch which still had her hand firmly inside and gripped around the devil fruit. Perhaps this wasn't someone from the Family. But it was unlikely, and she didn't want to take that risk.

"Wh…" Nami was still stunned, gulping back some of the shock. "Who are you?"

"BE QUIET!"

A pause.

Strauss tensed, prepared to jump out of her dark corner at any moment this woman chose to strike.

Then, the woman posed, "Did you just call me a mermaid?"

"NO!"

A bead of sweat dripped down Strauss's forehead. What was it with Doflamingo and weirdos?

The sky darkened as two figures, clearly Doflamingo operatives, leapt from the early morning fog that had been drifting over the ocean to land on either side of this woman. "Woah woah woah!" The first one sniggered. "Who do you think you're talking to?!"

"This is Lady Giolla of the Donquixote Family." The other sniggered.

"Th…" Chopper's jaw dropped lower. "The Donquixote Family!?"

Strauss's eyes narrowed. So much for the ship being a good place to lay low.

"Oh boy oh boy!" Giolla cackled, swaying from side to side with a flexibility that was surprising for her form. "My soul is swinging! Ohohoho! I see an image! My mind is going to erupt!"

Nami hid Momonosuke behind her as another strangely fluctuating colourful cloud erupted from Giolla's forehead. Strauss remained where she was despite her impulses screaming for her to could be bad, but dashing in unprepared could potentially be worse.

Two heavily ringed hands latched onto the cloud. "It's going to explode," Giolla gasped. "An image of liberty and beauty!" And she bowled it like an expert into the group of four.

Who, in her defence, didn't so much as try to dodge.

Strauss watched as Nami, Chopper, Brook, and Momonosuke changed. They shifted, in dimensions and in shapes and in colours… until… Indescribable. It was hard for her to put it fully into words.

They looked at each other, screaming in horror and shock as familiar faces had been pinched and reformed into almost recognition. Cubes and curves and peaches.

Until a loud gurgling choke filled the air.

And they turned.

One of the Donquixote men had frozen in place. Gasping for air open mouthed as a pool of blood bubbled down his chin.

Over the black twinged hand that had reached out from behind to piece his windpipe.

The other swivelled, as if to protest, only for the underside of his jaw to be slammed up with a perfectly outstretched leg. He soared through the air for a moment before he fell, chin knocking against the deck with enough force and at a severe enough angle to make the outcome obvious.

They were dead within seconds.

Strauss withdrew her hand, shaking the goon's blood from her haki coated fingers. Perhaps that had been a bit overkill. But then again, it was better to remove them from the equation before they could cause any real damage. And when better than when Giolla's focus was shifted.

The woman turned to her now, leering grin just pinching a little bit tighter as she saw the blood seeping into the vibrant grass. "Ah, you must be Miss Valentino! A most un-aesthetically pleasing face, I must say." A new colourful cloud appeared from her forehead. "I can't wait to see the Young Master's face when I present him with the art of a traitor!"

"Strauss!" Chopper called out, his perfectly angular mouth moving like some sort of puppet. "Stop her from firing those cloud things around the ship!"

"Yes! Otherwise Franky-san will be quite upset," agreed Brook as his hands still clapped around his perfectly horrified face.

Strauss simply grimaced, vanishing into another flurry step as Giolla raised her arm yet again to throw the cloud. "Oh come on! You really think she's here for us specifically?!"

"H-Huh?"

She reappeared directly behind Giolla's back to slam a haki coated finger into the back of her neck. "She could have very easily kidnapped us while we weren't even aware of her being here. But instead she already started with the ship. Why do you think that is!"

"They don't want us to get away…" Nami flipped her climatact in front of wobbly body. "This is so all of us don't have any escape routes."

"Ohohohohoho! That would be correct-!" Strauss was forced to duck backwards as Giolla swiped right where her head had once been, the fluctuating colour cloud still in her grasp- "But you don't need to worry about that for long!"

"Can you keep her focus Strauss-san?!"

She could try. "Yeah. Do what you've got to do!" Her leg slid back in preparation, haki glistening on the edge of her fingertips.

But in all honesty… something within her was already beginning to feel apprehensive. Not that she would lose, she wouldn't do something as unproductive as losing, but like something big was coming. Bigger than Punk Hazard and… more scarily… bigger than Law's entire plan with Dressrosa.

Something was coming. It was on the horizon, but it was coming.

And Strauss had been struck by the feeling that whatever it was… it would swallow her whole.


A/N

Hi. I live (kinda). It's been a little rough over here, if I'm going to be honest. Especially since we got to this chapter which, again, has about 2k cut from it. It's getting to be a staple at this point but whoooooo I wish I could just find the right direction from the beginning without cutting it! It's getting annoying! For those who have told me 'this is all amazing, how could you cut anything from it', first of all thank you for such a high compliment I am very honoured, and second... the only reason the chapters flow the way they do is because I cut out the parts where it stagnates. As much as I love character stuff, I also love it when the plot catches up and actually... progresses.

Since I HAVE BEEN PLANNING THIS SECTION FOR ABOUT A YEAR SO FAR AND YAAAAAY WE'RE ACTUALLY GETTING TO IT!

Like c'mon gang. You really didn't think I'd make this easy for everyone, right.

Really.

Now as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I do need to sleep. Since while I'm writing fic, there is a dissertation that I really should go finish... haaaaaaaah. Wish me luck gang! It's harder when I have to write in actual coherent sentences.

Thank you so much for reading, and I really really hope that you're having a good day wherever you are in the world. You are awesome, and I hope you get some nice self care done today. You've earned it!

See you in the next update!