Bambous and Dubois stood at the holes in the walls of the prison as more ogryn jailers arrived, but the ogres didn't move. They just stared in anger. Bambous and Dubois looked back with confusion.
"Why are they just standing there?!" Bambous yelled.
Dubois stared at the Ogres through his sunken in eyes and remembered the curse.
"They-They can't chase us!" Dubois said.
"Huh?! Why not?" Bambous asked.
The ogres continued to stare with bloodlust.
"When I was bitten by a Demonspawn I was cursed... anyone who tries to pursue me will die..." Dubois said.
Bambous gulped.
"I've never heard of anything like that.. good heavens... so one question?" Bambous asked.
Dubois looked at Bambous.
"Y-Yes?" Dubois asked.
"If no one can chase us... then why is that skeleton running right at us?" Bambous asked.
Dubois looked over to see a skeleton in black and gold armor running at them in a goofy, cartoonish manner.
The skeleton's cape fluttered wildly in the wind and its face mask kept falling over its face, he carried a long sword that glowed a golden color in his right hand and a massive round shield he held with a strap around his left hand.
The skeleton continued running towards the two but the weird thing was it didn't look like it wanted to attack them, it looked worried!
The skeleton continued running towards the two and then yelled.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! GO! GO!" The skeleton yelled as it ran past Dubois and Bambous and out into the snowy forest.
Dubois and Bambous looked at each other with confused glances until more skeleton knights began to emerge to chase them, these skeletons didn't look so worried!
"I think it's time to go now!" Bambous yelled, beginning to run until Dubois grabbed him and ran out of the hole in the prison wall.
Dubois ran with Bambous's body in one hand and Burusu rest on his shoulder as Dubois ran out into a snowy forest.
Skeletal soldiers and hell hounds continued to run out of the prison after them. Bambous looked back and his eyes widened.
"These guys are sending the entirety of the undead to capture us!" Bambous yelled.
"They won't! They can't! I won't let them..!" Dubois said.
Dubois ran further through the snowy forest. Bambous looked around until he saw a particular item.
"Hold it Mr. Giant! There's something over there I need to get!" Bambous said.
Dubois was hesitant considering the skeletons were still gaining on them despite being smacked with tree branches that appeared to come out of nowhere, random pitfalls in the snow, and trees that randomly fell over on them.
Dubois decided to let the panda go; whatever Bambous needed could be useful. Bambous fell to the snow and hurried over into the trees and after scrounging around for a second Bambous grabbed a bamboo staff that was longer than his body.
The staff had 6 different corked containers hanging from it. When Bambous held the bamboo staff the bamboo leaves on top began to glow a bright green. Dubois studied the glowing leaves especially, as it reminded him of Val's sword that released a red energy.
"Bambous's life force!" Dubois said to himself, looking at Burusu slung over his shoulder, "What have they done to you? To this island?"
Bambous emerged from the trees.
"Alright I got it! AHHHHHH!" Bambous yelled as the skeletal army drew near.
One of the skeletons screeched and the hell hounds growled as Bambous smiled and cocked the bamboo staff like a baseball bat.
"Grove tender!" Bambous yelled, swinging the staff through the air. Instantanly a giant fist of grass blasted out the snow and wiped out the skeleton soldiers! Dubois was amazed.
"Amazing! It appears to be... a plant or earth life force energy of some sort?" Dubois looked at Burusu again, "Just what could you and your people do when you were alive?" Dubois asked himself in wonder while Bambous celebrated.
Dubois walked up to Bambous.
"That was amazing Bambous!" Dubois said.
"Thank you sir! These guys are pretty tough without my staff." Bambous said.
Bambous and Dubois's moment was cut short as more skeleton knights and hell hounds ran after them.
"These guys want us bad!" Bambous said, clutching his staff and swinging it, a grass fist punching away a few skeletons.
"It's because they-they want Burusu!" Dubois said.
Bambous looked up at Burusu laying over Dubois shoulder.
"Burusu? The guy on your shoulder?" Bambous asked.
Bambous and Dubois looked at the group of skeletons and zombie dogs making a beeline for them.
Dubois looked around at the snow and at his hands as they leaked a cold mist. Dubois looked at Burusu.
"These undead have used your power for evil for all these years... please allow me to use it to end all this! Please give me strength Mr. Burusu..." Dubois said to himself.
Suddenly, Burusu's eyes and mouth shot open and both shined a bright white, Burusu's armor shone white as well. Dubois and Bambous were taken by complete surprise!
"Wh-What the?! I thought he was dead!" Bambous said, shielding his eyes.
Dubois couldn't believe what he was seeing until he felt the power course through his veins, turning his eyes white, his body shining white.
Dubois missing arm even grew back!... But it was shrivled and dark black with long quadruple jointed fingers.
Dubois grit his now demonic teeth as he extended his hands towards the skeletons and dogs.
"Old King Cold..." Dubois said with a demented voice. Bambous was terrified by the momentary personality change!
Insantly every a blast of cold air shot passed the skeleton and hell hound group was frozen... and every tree in the area... and even though Dubois and Bambous were miles away from the prison at this point, it too was frozen.
As well as all the guards and any prisoners unfortunate enough to not have escaped. Any prisoners who had escaped but hadn't gotten far enough away were also frozen. Everything was frozen too fast for anyone to react.
Bambous had covered his eyes and couldn't believe what he saw. It was a frozen wasteland. The skeletons, hell hounds, animals, and trees all looked like ice sculptures coming out of the ground.
Dubois's eyes and body returned to normal, his arm shriveling up and going away, and he fell to one knee. Dubois breathed in and out heavily and sweat profusely with fear and nervousness.
"Mr. Giant... what in the world was that?! And why didn't I freeze?!" Bambous yelled.
Dubois shook his head and continued breathing heavily, his eyes wide, trying to process what just happened.
"I-I don't know..." Dubois said, looking at Burusu, who returned to resting peacefully on Dubois shoulder.
Bambous and Dubois barely had time to process what happened when they heard a noise.
"Amazing... so much power remains inside him... even after 23 years of continuous power draining." The skeleton knight from earlier walked up.
Bambous got ready to fight while Dubois rested.
"HEY HEY I'M NOT HERE TO FIGHT!" The skeleton knight yelled.
"What do you want? Who are you?" Bambous asked.
"Before I died I went by Wilmot "The Great!" Wilmot said holding his arms out as if he was taking in glory.
"Before Jambavan came around I was Joy Boy's top knight and a top ranking knight of the Crimson Order! I was a handsome young knight with the most crimson armor in all the lands! Although... a few things have changed since then.." Wilmot said, looking down at his now green and old armor causing his face mask to drop.
Wilmot then let his sword go to lift his mask causing him to drop the sword.
Bambous and Dubois stared at Wilmot.
"A rather clumsy fellow..." Dubois said.
Bambous rubbed his chin.
"Wait a minute... I've heard of you!" Bambous said.
"Well of course you have panda! Anyone who is anyone has heard of Wilmot "The Fabled." Wilmot said.
Dubois was confused.
"I thought it was Wilmot the Great?" Dubois asked, scratching his head.
"A man named Wilmot, a knight of Joy Boy's Crimson Order, went missing around 10 years ago.. is this you?" Bambous asked, holding out a missing poster. A man with a big ginger beard and slicked ginger hair, looked off to the side valiantly, holding his helmet. The armor was a crimson red in the photo. Wilmot snatched the photo to look at it.
"The rumors that went around said you weren't really a great... you were a coward Who tricked his platoon into fighting the enemy while you ran away..." Bambous said.
Dubois was shocked to hear this.
"That's not true! I was imprisoned in the catacombs to be tested on... they were letting men die so they can use Burusu's power to bring their skeletons back to life to use as soldiers. As you can see, it worked." Wilmot said.
Dubois looked to the side.
"Did he... show you?" Dubois asked.
Wilmot stared for a second.
"Yes, once I was brought back as a skeleton. I used my genius cunning to act like a mindless, loyal, dog and suck in all the information I could. He shows all Undead soldiers the type of power he controls as some kind of fear tactic. It's a shame what they've been doing to that poor man's corpse for the last two decades." Wilmot said, "But hey the "all knowing Vlad" never expected you to just waltz in and snatch his leverage over this island away from him!"
Dubois smiled and looked at Burusu.
"What made you so different from the other skeletal soldiers that took orders without question? I mean, why are you, good hearted? Or even have a conscience?" Bambous asked.
Wilmot shook his head.
"I-I don't know..." Wilmot looked at Burusu, "This power effects us all differently I guess, but I made it my mission to break out, grab Burusu and bring that man to Joy Boy so we can figure out how to get him home!"
Dubois and Bambous smiled.
"We plan on doing the same Mr. Wilmot, will you join us?" Dubois asked.
Wilmot lifted his sword and rest it on his shoulders.
"You got it! You're new here anyway aren't ya? Bambo and I will get ya to Joy Boy's kingdom!" Wilmot said.
"It's Bambous!" Bambous yelled.
The three began to walk out of the forest into a snowy plain.
"So I take it your life force element is control over the earth Bambous?" Dubois asked.
"Yup! I can conjure plants to attack from anywhere!" Bambous said.
"Anywhere? Even in a desert?" Dubois asked.
"That's right! It wouldn't be anything crazy because it's still a desert, but it would help keep me safe. I'm really not much of a fighter you see, I'm more of a doctor!" Bambous said.
"That will definitely be handy for the road ahead..." Dubois asked.
"Ain't you immortal now?! Bambous is the only one who's got to worry about dying here! Guys like us are too awesome to die!" Wilmot yelled before tripping.
"How did you even end up in that prison Bambous?" Dubois asked.
"Well... it's a crazy story actually " Bambous smiled.
"Hm?!" Wilmot grunted.
"What happened?" Dubois asked.
"I was looking at a map trying to figure out where this power could possibly be located. I just couldn't pinpoint who would store a power like this? Joy Boy and his two knightly factions wouldn't have a use for it, the Barbarios wouldn't be able to hide it anywhere a little digging couldn't help!"
"Most Ogryn or Lizard People would probably just destroy the power source out of some random fit of anger... I thought about the Watchers, but figured they cared more about the trees and plants before they went to harboring power sources.
The Dwarves? Maybe... they definitely had their reasons. Then I thought about The Demonspawn and The Undead, they were the newer factions on the island, and I mean they were pretty evil, but I wasn't going to go snooping around their territory for information alone! Heavens no!
So I was at a complete loss!... until a drunk Dwarf was willing to give me information on where Life Force was originating from if I just got him a few rounds of liquor, can you believe it?!" Bambous laughed.
"That guy is definitely dead by now..." Wilmot said.
"He told me the power source was underneath the Ogryn prison in the old catacombs. It made perfect sense!" Bambous said.
"The Dwarves been hiding underground for decades now so it would make sense for the Undead to do business with them when it came to hiding anything on this island." Bambous said.
"And it was obvious the Ogryn prison catacombs was a perfect selection because it directly connects with Dwarve hideouts with an entire Ogryn prison on top! With all that in mind of course I had to go see for myself and get to the bottom of all this!" Dambous explained.
"And then you were captured because a random skinwalker panda was found nosing around Ogryn territory?" Wilmot laughed.
"Well yes! And... no... you see I should have never been captured to begin with! Before I became a skinwalker... I was an ogre myself!" Bambous smiled.
Dubois couldn't believe it. Wilmot wasn't too surprised already knowing much about skinwalkers and how they work.
"I was going to go there the next morning and try to apply for a prison guard position, janitor, anything to get down there, but... all the drinking with the Dwarf fired back on me! While I was blackout drunk somehow I killed a panda! I really don't know how or why but I did... and I woke up a Skinwalker the next morning." Bambous said.
"I knew I wouldn't be able to just waltz in now, so I decided to stakeout the prison, but I couldn't help but pick these particular medicinal herbs I noticed! That's when patrolling guards caught me." Bambous continued.
"So... you turn into any animal you kill on this island?" Dubois said.
"Only if the spirit of that animal attacks you after it dies." Bambous said, "We all feel something when we die, even the smallest insect. If it's for food that's understandable, everything has to eat or be eaten, but killing animals indiscriminately? You're sure to encounter an angry spirit at some point. I don't blame the panda for what I've become. Being unnecessarily killed because of someone else's drunkenness... I would be mad too." Bambous said.
Dubois looked down.
"There's no way to turn back?" Dubois asked.
"Nope! Not even the most advanced technology at Joy Boy's kingdom could figure it out." Wilmot said.
"Advanced technology? What do you mean?" Dubois asked.
"Oh you have to see it! It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen! It makes this entire island look like a zoo full of wild animals in comparison!" Wilmot said.
"Oh my..." Dubois said.
"By the way what happened to Val, that piece of shit?" Wilmot asked.
"I froze him behind a wall of ice." Dubois said.
"HA! Good riddance." Wilmot said, marching happily.
"He claimed Joy Boy watched him die..." Dubois said.
"Fiends like him always lie to look like the good guy! Don't stress it!" Wilmot said.
The three continued walking in the now completely frozen wasteland. Their next destination, Joy Boy's Kingdom.
Dubois Castle (Present Day)
Dubois was looking at Chopper and Brook
through his sunken in eyes. Tears fell softly. Chopper was afraid and Brook was uneasy.
"Is he staring at me?!" Chopper yelled.
"I believe he's staring at us both Chopper-san! Another tragedy is coming!" Brook yelled.
"Bambous... Wilmot...I've missed you both so much. How have you been?" Dubois said to himself as an image of Bambous turning and looking up at him and laughing appeared over Chopper.
An image of Wilmot appeared over Brook and turned to face Dubois, Wilmot's face mask falling over his face. Dubois smiled softly. Chopper jumped up and clung to Sasuke's head.
Dubois cleared his throat and wiped his face.
"I-I'm sorry... it's just... the people you will come to learn about next... are... your past lives... so this is a difficult section of the story to me..." Dubois said softly.
Everyone was shocked and looked at each other.
Flash back
"This is who you've all come back as? These weaklings!?" Cyclone yelled.
"What is he talking about?" Okua asked.
End of Flashback
Okua stared up at Dubois remembering what Cyclone had said earlier.
Kraken stared at Luffy.
"Who did you see when you looked at Luffy?" Kraken asked.
Cyclone breathed heavier.
"Was it Joy Boy?" Kraken asked.
Kraken lowered his head.
"Joyboy... Hagoromo... and a few other characters from my past have all come back to haunt me." Cyclone said.
Everyone thought about the references Cyclone made to their past lives.
"Our... past lives?" Usopp asked.
Dubois nodded.
"The theory of reincarnation has been only that... a theory... but for 900 years I know it is true. Cyclone and Tore know this too." Dubois explained.
"Chopper... is Bambous's reincarnation, and Brook... is Wilmot's... that's why I got a little emotional." Dubois said.
Chopper couldn't believe it. Brook was just as shocked.
"IN MY PAST LIFE I WAS A SKELETON?!" Brook yelled.
"YOU'RE A SKELETON NOW YOU JERK!" Franky yelled.
"WHAAAT?! IN MY PAST LIFE I WAS A PANDA?!" Chopper yelled.
"And technically an ogre before that." Mihawk added.
Chopper became angry.
"SAY THAT AGAIN YOU BASTARD I'LL KILL YOU!" Chopper yelled punching Mihawk's legs with his tiny hooves. Mihawk sighed.
"Shoo. Away from me little deer." Mihawk said.
"I've met every last one of you in your past lives on that island. It still blows my mind that you're all Tore's enemies now... but back then... all of you were great friends of his and powerful allies.. some of you weren't so kind at first though. " Dubois said.
Everyone was silent while Dubois sighed.
"For the last 900 years... I can't help but wonder... if at least one of them had lived then maybe... just maybe Tore wouldn't have done what he did.." Dubois said.
Coast of Wretched Woods
Marine warships docked at the coast of the Wretched Woods once more, but this time it was Holy Knight Ju Peter instead of Dubois. Ju Peter stared at the Wretched Woods.
"I appreciate the information you've given me on life force, Mr. Richart." Ju Peter said, "So the Skinwalkers run these woods?"
Richart nodded.
"Of course, you'll have to be aware of the power of life force before you move through this island, and yes, headed by Nolrog "The Immortal," a pig skinwalker.." Richart said.
"Is he really immortal?" Ju Peter asked.
Richart shook his head.
"We actually don't know...the things he's done and been through should have definitely killed him but he's still here." Richart said.
Ju Peter nodded.
"I guess we'll find out when we see him." Ju Peter said, looking over at a tree in the distance.
Cleopheonix, watching from a tree, sweated with shock.
"H-Has he noticed me?!" Cleopheonix stressed before flapping her wings.
POW! SPLAT!
Cleopheonix was shot in the next with a rifle bullet from a ship in the water.
Cleopheonix fell towards the sandy coast. Richart was shocked under his mask.
"A-A skinwalker! I didn't even notice it was there! Don't tell me...!" Richart said, looking at the back of Ju Peter as he walked towards the fallen skinwalker with his hands behind his back.
"Excellent shot." Ju Peter said.
"YOU'RE LUCKY THE BOSS SAID DON'T KILL YA!" A Marine sniper yelled while other Marines cheered.
The Marines followed Ju Peter to the skinwalker and became uneasy and confused at what they saw.
"A-A hawk human hybrid?! What the hell?!" A Marine yelled. Another Marine threw up.
Ju Peter stared down at Cleopheonix and used his foot to raise her head to talk to him. Cleopheonix made an angry face.
"You're a skinwalker." Ju Peter said, pulling out his notes, "Who do you work for? You weren't watching the coast because you like the view."
Cleopheonix didn't say anything.
WHAM!
Cleopheonix coughed up blood as Ju Peter kicked her in the stomach. Richart ran up and grabbed Ju Peter's arm.
"ENOUGH!" Richart yelled.
Ju Peter continued looking at Cleopheonix.
"Let go of me Mr. Richart." Ju Peter said.
Richart grit his teeth under his mask and slowly let Ju Peter go.
"Upon closer inspection... this appears to be highly wanted criminal Cleopheonix... former Barbario woman turned skinwalker gang member." Richart said.
"Gang member? Does she work for Nolrog?" Ju Peter asked.
"Yes.. she's a member of his crew. Why were you watching us?" Richart asked.
Cleopheonix didn't say anything, she just breathed in and out heavily with blood running down her beak, smiling. Richart grit his teeth again.
"Up to your feet." Ju Peter said, placing a mask over the hawk skinwalker's eyes and cuffing her.
"You're under arrest on behalf of the World Government. Lock her on board." Ju Peter said, beginning to turn towards the woods.
Marines began taking Cleopheonix on board. Richart ran up and grabbed Ju Peter's arm again.
"Now that I will not allow! Cleopheonix is wanted on this island, you have no jurisdiction here!" Richart argued.
Ju Peter stared ahead.
"If you touch me one more time, these warships will blow these woods, you, and your Secret Order to hell." Ju Peter said, snatching his arm away.
"It's time to move. We've wasted too much time here." Ju Peter said.
Richart held his head down as soldiers walked past him.
"Wait!" Richart said.
Ju Peter stopped.
"Speak." Ju Peter said.
"You'll need to know in advance that Nolrog's gang is notorious for ambushing their targets. They come from all angles fast and hard." Richart said.
Ju Peter squinted and looked ahead into the woods and could faintly make out the auras of skinwalkers hiding behind trees, large rocks, in trees, and bushes.
Ju Peter looked down at his hands and clenched them. Ju Peter looked back up towards the forest.
"Let's move." Ju Peter said.
"YES SIR!" The Marines yelled.