"I WANT TO LIVE!"

The Barraki all paused as they heard Robin's sentiment from the courtroom. "Ugh, someone cry me a river," Pridak groaned.

"Forget that garbage! Look! The bridge is going down!" Ehlek pointed at the bridge. "Time for defense!"

The team of former villains quickly gathered around the drawbridge. The time was perfect too, because they could spot Marines setting up artillery, and when they fired, the Barraki were ready.

Kalmah leapt up and spun, grabbing one of the mortar shells and throwing it back to its source. Meanwhile, Pridak angled his foot and impaled the other shell on his weirdly long heel. "Monsoon!" The white Barraki slashed, sending a blade of watery razor wind at the other mortar, destroying it.

Thanks to their efforts, the drawbridge was able to completely lower without issue.

"And now we wait," Pridak stated contently. They didn't even have to wait long as the Rocket Man came barreling into the building before making its way across the bridge. As it crossed over, Pridak and his colleagues saw their captain leaping onto the train from above along with Franky.

Mantax would've tilted his head if his build allowed it. "Why would they leap onto the train?" he wondered aloud. "The bridge was already down."

"I don't know and I don't care," Pridak said, shaking his foot. "Let's just get to the ocean. But first-" He looked around while pointing to the shell still impaled on his heel, "Someone, help me get this thing off!"

"Why would you drag us onto the train!?" Nami yelled, shaking Luffy by the collar. "The bridge was already down!"

"It seemed like more fun," Luffy smiled, unbothered by the shaking.

"You know, it's times like this I think you're less a pirate and more of an adrenaline junkie," I groaned as I got to my feet.

"I don't know what that means, but thanks!" Figures he'd take that as a compliment.

Franky looked around the area we were in, "So, what's the plan next?"

My response was to point, with everyone following my finger until they spotted the big, green guy, Fukuro, clinging to a corner of the wall.

The CP9 agent was stunned, "What? How did you know I was here!?"

"A better question is: where's Robin and how do we unlock her handcuffs?" I called out to him. "And, if you don't mind, keep it short?"

"Chapapapa," Fukuro laughed. "Here's how it works: Nico Robin is wearing Sea Prism Stone handcuffs. The key to those cuffs is being carried by one of us CP9 agents, so you'll have to fight us for them." As he went through his explanation, Fukuro began using his Moonwalk to bounce all over the area. "And don't go thinking you can just find Robin and rescue her without the key, because that won't work." Having had his fun bouncing around, he landed nearby and began twirling around in some stupid dance. "Sea Prism Stone is as hard as diamond, so without the key, she'll be stuck with them forever."

I turned to face the crew, "And now you're all caught up. Well, I'm gonna go find an agent to fight. You guys do whatever. I know it'll all work out!" With that, I sped away.

"And he's off, ladies and gentlemen," Sanji deadpanned. Hearing something zoom away from them, he and the rest of the crew turned around to see Luffy running up a random set of stairs. "Scratch that. They're off."

"Luffy! Where do you think you're going!?" Nami shouted after him.

"Declan said 'do whatever,' so I'm doing whatever!" Luffy answered before he ran out of earshot.

The saurian woman growled, making Usopp and Chopper back away slightly in fear. "Great, so what exactly do we do now?"

Suddenly, red blasts of some kind energy rained down on the group, forcing them to scatter.

Zoro didn't get far as a red and silver streak swooped in and rammed into him, bashing him through ceilings until they were several floors up. The swordsman groaned as he got to his feet. When the dust settled, his eyes widened as he saw who it was.

"Guess it's you and me, buddy!" Falco said, his tone way too happy for an impending battle.

"Looks like it," Zoro responded, drawing two of his swords, "What was that trick you pulled just now?"

Falco grinned viciously, "You're gonna find out." The copy of Declan tensed up as his transformation began. His skin turned gray and scaly, his face morphed into something resembling a dragon with a beaked mouth, and he grew new appendages: a tail, and two wings that looked a bit like clawed hands. Lastly, his eyes turned blue with red, slit pupils.

"What are you, a dragon-hawk or something?" Zoro asked rhetorically. He gave a grin of his own and put his third sword in his mouth.

Air began sucking into some small vents on Falco's chest, "I'm a Valstrax."

Zoro shrugged, "Either way, never thought I'd get the chance to slay a real dragon."

"You think you can!?" Falco taunted, "Here I come, bitch!" The dragon man blasted bright red energy out of one of his wings and shot toward Zoro in the blink of an eye while thrusting his wing forward. "Comet Spear!"

Crossing his swords, Zoro narrowly blocked the spike-like end of the wing. "That's an interesting trick." He forced the attacking wing away to block a swipe from the agent's other wing. "Wait, how-"

"Yeah, my wings are rotatable," Falco bragged. He shifted his wings so the clawed ends faced Zoro, "And that lets me do this!" Six holes in his wings glowed before blasts of energy shot out. When the green-haired swordsman leapt over the blasts, Falco shifted his wings around and jetted right at him, tackling him through the wall and flying them around in the sky. He did some loop de loops before crashing Zoro into the roof.

Zoro regained his bearings just in time to see Falco rearing an arm back, ready to rip his throat out. Thinking fast, he flipped his Yubashiri into a reverse grip and slammed the hilt into his enemy's cheek, knocking him off him.

"Hehehe," the anthro dragon chuckled maniacally. "You sure you don't wanna run? Not much chance of backup up here."

"If you were really Declan, you'd know that I don't run," Zoro shot back. He slashed with all three of his blades, "108 Caliber Phoenix!"

In response, Falco flipped his wings back into "shooting position" and fired another barrage of energy, "Comet Blitz!"

The two attacks collided in an explosion of red and blue.

"Uh, dude? Do you actually know where you're going?" Fencer asked, looking uncertain.

I shrugged as I opened door after door, "No, but hey, that makes it more fun." That fun ended when I ran into that other me, the one that wasn't Falco. I skidded to a stop, "You."

"Yes, me," he repeated. "Name's Gavin, by the way."

Wisps of flame started spewing from Fencer's tail and the markings on her eyes, "So, I guess we're fighting you?"

Gavin shook his head, "Nah. Falco and I thought it might be fun to fight someone other than the original us. I'm just here to point you to another agent."

Fencer and I relaxed a bit as the other me pointed to the floor above at a certain door. I hopped onto the railing but turned back to Gavin, "Here's some company for you." In a flash, I summoned Skeleton Buddy and leapt up to the next floor and walked to the door Gavin had pointed out.

Once I opened it, I stopped cold. I recognized this grassy field. Looks like I'd found my agent.

Fencer hopped off my shoulder, all tensed up for a fight. She quickly relaxed, though, when she realized- "He's asleep?"

"Yep," I nodded.

"But…he knew we were coming," my fire ferret pointed out, "Why would he take a nap now?"

"Now that's something I couldn't tell you."

Fencer looked back and forth between me and the sleeping agent, "So, what, we just sneak up and steal his key?"

"Nah, I doubt we'd get away with that," I shook my head. "I mean, how would we get past that?"

Following my finger, Fencer got a dull look on her face, "...Why does this guy keep a rooster in here?"

"Chirp!"

"And it chirps!?"

"Not sure about that either," I sighed as the agent began to stir. "Wakey, wakey, Jabra."

Jabra stood up and rolled his shoulder, "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, it's me," I clenched my fists and took a fighting stance, "Ready to get it on?"

That made Jabra cringe, "I was until you said it like that."

Not bothering to continue our little chat, I dashed forward, throwing a one-two punch, followed by a roundhouse kick.

Jabra parried my punches with a grin and let the kick hit him in the side, taking it with that stupid Iron Body of his. The mustachioed agent used the chance to hit me in the face with a punch of his own. He quickly retracted his arm just in time to avoid a leaping slash from Fencer.

"Hahaha! This is off to a fun start," Jabra smiled as he undid his tie. "Let's kick it up a notch." His body morphed and grew and in no time at all, he'd transformed into a giant wolf man.

Fencer was unimpressed, "So you're a wolf? Good for you, dude." She reared her head back and breathed out a blast of fire from her mouth. Her eyes widened when the Wolf-Man blurred out of sight, reappearing behind us, swinging his clawed hands downward. Fencer simply leapt back while I raised my crossed arms to block the strike. But even though I blocked it, the impact still made the ground crack under my feet.

"You actually blocked my Wolf Fang Stance?" Jabra commented, impressed, "Well, I-" He stopped himself as the ceiling began cracking before it finally gave out.

I wasn't surprised to see Kaku fall through in his giraffe form. What did surprise me was who fell through with him.

Sanji groaned as he got to his feet. He took a quick survey of the room he was now in before noticing me and my partner. "Oh, so this is where you guys ran off to."

"Yeah," I nodded. "And now we're fighting a giant wolf guy."

Seeing Kaku was busy yelling at Jabra over the latter laughing at his giraffe form, Fencer asked, "You wanna help us out with the wolf? The giraffe guy doesn't seem like he'll be a problem."

Unfortunately for us, that got Kaku's attention, "Not a problem? Oh, I'm afraid you're very wrong about that." He chuckled upon seeing my friends raise their eyebrows. "Behold, my man-beast form."

He began his transformation anew, and soon enough, he assumed that stupid, squarish bipedal form I loved so much.

Sanji lit himself a new cigarette, "Well, congratulations. You actually did it."

"Did what?" Kaku asked.

"You managed to look stupider than Zoro," the chef answered.

That was the last straw, and Jabra and Fencer burst out laughing.

Kaku glared at the two of them, "Oh, shut up! Giraffes are cool!"

"'Cool?'" Fencer repeated. "How can you be cool when you're a square!?"

"Pfft!" I covered my mouth. That one was kinda funny.

"That was perfect!" Jabra agreed. He and my fire ferret then laughed even harder.

Growling, the Giraffe-Man got down on one hand and began spinning in place.

I perked up, instantly recognizing what he was about to do. Running forward, I leapt at the hilarious square giraffe, my fist chambered for a punch. Unfortunately for me, I'd forgotten about Jabra in my panic, allowing him to smack me away from his teammate.

On the bright side, this allowed my own teammate to swoop in and intercept Kaku. "Gigot!" Sanji's kick met Kaku's, stopping the impending Tempest Kick before it could finish.

"Smart move but take this!" Kaku hopped off the ground and swung his neck, slamming his head into Sanji and knocking him into the wall.

Knowing Sanji wouldn't go down from just one hit, I kept my focus on Jabra. With our height difference, I went in low and tried to punch him in the knee, only for the Wolf-Man to bring his fist down on my head, literally beating me to the punch

"Hehe," Jabra grinned. He sensed an attack incoming and shrank back down to his human form, allowing a stream of fire to soar over his head. "Shave!" While I got to my feet, he zipped over to Fencer and tried stomping on her. When she leapt back to dodge, he followed and thrust his finger at her. "Finger Pistol!"

Fencer caught the agent's finger between the blades of her tail, but he grabbed her before she could do anything else and threw her at me.

In the second it took me to catch her, Jabra turned back into his hybrid form and was on us in an instant. "Heavy Wolf Paw!" His punch hit us both so hard, we smashed through the wall and landed in the hallway or whatever you call this kind of interior.

"You okay?" I asked as I peeled myself away from the railing.

"I'll live," my partner groaned.

Jabra followed us through the whole we'd made. "I must say, I'm a little disappointed," he taunted. "You made it all the way to the tower but you can't even put up a fight? How does that work?" I took a fighting stance while Fencer's tail and markings caught fire. "Well, at least you've got some spirit."

As Nami ran, she heard crashing. She looked to the upper levels and saw Declan and Skeleton Buddy locked in combat with a wolf man and one of Declan's evil clones. She continued running until she jerked to a stop. Taking a few steps back to a certain door, she sniffed the air with a raised eyebrow. She opened the door and found a fancy, but seemingly unoccupied room.

"Well, if there's nobody here, I guess I'll just-" Nami turned around to exit, only for a CP9 agent to reveal themselves and close the door. "Oh, crap," the navigator whimpered.

Kalifa grinned as she circled around the younger woman, chuckling, "The Straw Hats outnumber our group but all they thought to send after me was their pet? That's a laugh."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING 'PET!?'" Nami roared. She took another look around before sniffing the air again, "And why do I smell suds in here!?"

That made Kalifa's grin fade, "You could smell that from outside? I'll admit, that's impressive. As for what it is? I'll keep that a surprise."

"Then I'd better take you out now!" The upper third of Nami's Clima-Tact detached but stayed connected to the main section via chain. She ran and swung her weapon, which had begun sparking.

"Paper Art." Kalifa gracefully maneuvered around each and every swing. She soon crouched down and swept Nami's feet out from under her. "All too easy," she commented, standing over the navigator. She thrust her index finger downward.

Nami screamed for a second, but that scream immediately gave way to a confident grin as she used her tail to catch Kalifa by the wrist. She jabbed Kalifa in the gut with her Clima-Tact before swinging the sparking end at the agent, forcing her to give ground. "Still think I'm a pet?" the dino girl asked rhetorically.

"No. You're just a fool," Kalifa grinned back. "Feel anything unusual?"

Frowning, Nami gripped her Clima-Tact firmly, or rather, she tried to, as her right hand kept slipping. Raising her hand, she saw, to her shock, that it had been smoothed and rounded out to the point that it had no friction, preventing her from grabbing anything with it. "What-how-when?"

Kalifa chuckled to herself and strolled toward Nami, "Falco told me to keep my powers a secret from you." As Nami backed away, the blond agent went on, "And Gavin told me it would be best to deprive you of your weapon."

"My weapon?" Nami repeated. Her eyes widened as she went over their exchange in her head. "You grabbed my hand when I knocked you back," she surmised.

"Good, you figured out a piece of the puzzle," Kalifa complimented. She began slowly circling around Nami, holding a hand behind her back.

"I did, but you didn't," Nami shot back, "In case you didn't know, I don't need two hands to use my Clima-Tact. So I can still do this." She pointed upward, directing Kalifa's attention to the large thundercloud floating above her. The navigator smiled as her enemy's eyes widened. "Thunderbolt Tempo!"

Peering through the smoke, Nami got a shock of her own when she saw a giant soap bar standing where Kalifa had been. The bar dissolved in a cloud of bubbles to reveal Kalifa standing there, unharmed. Nami's mind raced as she put the pieces together. 'Soap, bubbles, the smell of suds,' she looked at her right hand, 'Smooth.' Then it finally hit her. "Did you eat some kind of Bubble-Bubble Fruit?"

"N-No-I-You," Kalifa sputtered before growling, "Alright, fine, you figured me out. That means no more need for discretion."

Before Nami could joke about her getting defensive, Kalifa began generating vast amounts of bubbles and shaping them into a new form, vaguely resembling a sheep. "Bubble Master: Soap Sheep!"

"Am I supposed to be scared!?" Nami yelled, annoyed that her opponent would waste time with a dumb display.

Kalifa answered by firing off pieces of her bubble construct.

Nami attempted to dodge but there were too many blasts and took hits to her shoulder and stomach. Rather than feeling pain, the dinosaur woman felt all her strength leave her as she fell to the floor, limp.

Taking advantage, Kalifa dashed over and kicked Nami in the gut with one foot while stepping on her Clima-Tact with other, making her let it go as she was knocked back. "And now to finish things," the blond agent grinned. To ensure there was no repeat of their first exchange, she lashed out with another kick, "Tempest Kick."

Despite visibly panicking for a second, Nami got ahold of herself and swiped her left hand at the razor wind, countering it with her claws. Seeing Kalifa was stunned by what just happened, Nami pushed herself to her feet. As she did, she recalled her chat with Declan on the Sunny.

"You actually want me to teach you martial arts?"

"It'd be nice to mix brawn with my brains when I fight."

"Hate to break it to you but, those tips your teammates gave you?" the navigator took a fighting stance, "They're just a little bit out of date."

Chopper ran through the halls in his Walk Point, thinking about where to go. "Okay, Zoro got swept up to the roof, Nami and Sanji went into different rooms-" Hearing some rumbling, he looked around to see Declan, Fencer, and SB engaged with CP9 on different levels. "That's happening. And I'm not sure where Usopp is right now." He stopped as he passed an opening in the floor, "Well, I guess that's as good a place to start as anywhere."

The opening led the young reindeer through a large corridor. He skidded to a stop when he saw someone waiting for him.

"Yoyoi!"

Chopper switched to his Heavy Point as he skidded to a stop in front of the kabukiman he'd seen among the CP9 agents. Drawing his Dragonrang, he asked, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to just give me your key?"

"Alas," the agent said while posing dramatically. "I cannot simply give my key away to anyone who asks, especially not some loooowly pirate," he finished. "Speaking of which, I, Kumadori, shall be sending you to your grave today!"

Chopper nodded and made the first move, throwing his Dragonrang. He had expected Kumadori to simply block the attack with his staff, so he was shocked when the agent's long, pink hair moved on its own and caught his boomerang. "...WHAAAAAAT!?" More tendrils of hair came at him before he could react and ensnared him.

With another "Yoyoi," Kumadori began swinging around faster and faster until he was a blur.

Resisting the urge to vomit, Chopper managed to pop a Rumble Ball in his mouth. The timing was perfect because just as he swallowed the ball, Kumadori threw him straight upward. He shifted into Guard Point as he smashed through floor after floor, his dense fur protecting him from the worst of the damage.

He quickly lost momentum and crashed against another ceiling. Switching back to Heavy Point, he landed on his feet and took a quick look around and saw: 1. A giant hole in the wall. 2. Sanji. And 3…A big, square Giraffe-Man?

"Chopper? What are you doing here?" Sanji asked, surprised at his crewmate's sudden entrance.

"I'm dealing with-" Before Chopper could fully answer, a tendril of pink hair shot out from the hole he'd burst out from and wrapped around his waist, reeling him back in.

Sanji moved, intending to attack the hair and maybe free his friend, but a blade of razor wind cut him off.

"It's impolite to ignore people," Kaku snarked as he launched another blade.

With Sanji preoccupied, Chopper found himself pulled back down and face to face with Kumadori again. The agent swung Chopper's stolen Dragonrang, intending to finish him with his own weapon for irony. Chopper brought his hands together and caught the boomerang between his palms. "This is mine!" With a quick yank, he took back his custom boomerang. Just in time too, as he used it to parry strikes from Kumadori's staff.

Knowing he wouldn't last long being held up like he was, Chopper switched to his Guard Point, the sudden expansion of fur forcing away the hair that bound him. After that, he switched to Walk Point to retreat and gain some distance.

Naturally, Kumadori didn't just stand around and let him run. "How dare you run! Only a coward would retreat so soon!"

Chopper ignored him. As he got near the hallway exit, he saw someone fly by. He got through the exit, and just as Kumadori followed him, a living skeleton lunged in from the side and hit him in the face with a punch. "Declan!" he yelled in relief.

The skeleton looked like he was about to yell in response, but instead, he took a deep breath and spoke calmly. "Chopper? Notice anything I'm missing?"

Looking his friend over, Chopper realized Fencer wasn't with him, indicating that- "You're Skeleton Buddy?"

"Thank you!"

A fireball flew in between the two, making them yelp and jump back.

"I think it's time I got serious," Gavin said, a vicious smile on his face. His face shifted and he grew large all over his body, making him look like an armored dinosaur. But even more striking than that was his tail, which looked more like a blade than a limb.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Skeleton Buddy slumped forward. "You're a Glavenus?"

"Sure am." Gavin glanced over at Kumadori. The two of them nodded at each other before lunging at the Straw Hats one after another. Gavin attacked with a slash from his tail, and when the pirates dodged that, Kumadori went next.

"Finger Pistol Q!" the long-haired agent thrust his staff like it was a rapier

SB twisted to the side to dodge the strike and aimed his hands at his enemies, firing his fingertips at them. Kumadori used Iron Body while Gavin just let the bones bounce off his scales. "Figures," the skeleton grumbled. He perked up when Chopper, in his Brain Point, sat on his shoulders using his Scope. "What are you doing?"

As his crewmate dodged more attacks, Chopper explained, "My Rumble Ball will only last another minute at the most. I doubt I can beat either one of these guys in that time, but I can at least find their weaknesses. Just do your best to hold out."

Kumadori shaped his hair into a bunch of fists with their pointer fingers extended. Meanwhile, Gavin put his tail blade in his mouth before yanking it out, the friction from his teeth heating the blade until it was red hot. All that made SB comment, "That's gonna be tough."

You know, I remember that CP9 agents are trained from a young age. Jabra was giving me a reminder of that by fucking owning me in our fight. Strikes, blocks, parries, everything I did, he did a little better. Even worse, because we were leaping around at high speed, Fencer was having trouble aiming at the Wolf-Man with fire attacks.

Jabra moonwalked into just the right spot so that Fencer and I were in alignment and- "Lupus Fall!"

Unable to dodge in mid-air, I took the wolf-shaped Tempest Kicks head-on. Fencer slashed away the ones aimed at her, but that left her unprepared for when I fell on her.

Jabra followed up by lunging at us with his fingers extended, "Ten Finger Pistol!"

Fencer and I split apart to dodge him, then charged back in the second he hit the ground. Unfortunately, he outplayed us by sticking a foot out and quickly spinning around, launching a ring-shaped Tempest Kick that hit both of us, flooring us once again.

"Tempest Kick 360" Jabra declared. He then put a hand to his chin and joked, "Now, who to finish off first. Oh, wait, I know!" He walked towards me, a savage grin on his face, "All dogs love bones."

Taking a glance past Jabra, I observed how Fencer was doing, and the answer was: not too good. That Tempest Kick had left her with a nasty cut on her stomach. 'Okay, no more fooling around,' I thought to myself. I was gonna finish things with this next move. Just as Jabra brought his clawed hand down, I somersaulted backwards before dashing forward, punching him right below the belt.

"Iron Balls."

Those two words killed whatever relief I felt as Jabra grabbed me by the head and lifted me up. "Your balls aren't muscles! How does that even work!?" I yelled as I struggled to get free.

"Trade secret!" The Wolf-Man smashed me into the ground head-first. He then turned around and hit me in the chest with an Iron Body punch, sending me flying into Fencer, who'd just started getting up. "Hahahaha! Tempest Kick Lone Wolf!"

"Hey, I remember that move from the show," I commented. Then I remembered it was aimed at me, "Oh, shit." Picking Fencer up for safekeeping, I punched the bouncing stream of wind away, only for Jabra to get the drop on me again, dropkick that is.

"Iron Body Kenpo: Devil Wolf!" Jabra didn't even look annoyed when I jumped up to avoid the kick. "Nice try, sucker! Moonwalk!" Rebounding instantly, he thrust both his hands forward, "Wolf Repel!"

This time, I was sent flying all the way into the wall, where I promptly flopped onto the ground. "Yep, I just broke something," I rasped, feeling something crack in my upper back.

"I'm not feeling so hot either, dude," Fencer groaned. "But I've got an idea."

"Really? What?" I asked as I got to my feet.

Fencer leapt onto the back of my jacket and crawled onto my head, "We're gonna fuse."

"...What?"

My fire ferret grinned and nodded, "Yeah, dude! It's something I read in my Dragon Ball manga. We can fuse and kick this guy's ass."

"That involved a dance," I pointed out.

"Yeah but I don't have any fingers," Fencer defended. "Plus, we're running out of options. That wolf guy's gonna be on us pretty soon."

I briefly returned my focus to Jabra. He must've figured he had the fight won at this point, so he was approaching us at a leisurely pace.

"Fu-sion ha!" Fencer shouted. Unfortunately, nothing happened, much to her disappointment.

"Fencer, I hate to break it to you, but fusion isn't possible," I told her bluntly.

Fencer wasn't having any of it, though. "We're in the Grand Line! Devil Fruits exist! Hell, you're a living skeleton! You don't get to tell me what's possible! Now, fu-sion ha!"

Okay, she had me there. A part of me wanted to just hop down to a lower level and seek out a crewmate to help, but, fittingly for a wolf, Jabra could potentially catch me if I tried to run. With how close he was getting, I sighed and decided to humor Fencer. I raised my hand like a Yu-Gi-Oh! character playing a card, "Polymerization!"

Next thing I knew, I was at the center of a swirling, dual-colored flash of light. "Whoa, I didn't think that'd-" I paused. Something was wrong with my voice. Mainly the fact that it wasn't my voice at all. It was Fencer's voice coming from my mouth. Moreover, my face was stretching out further than usual, just like Fencer's snout. I reached to touch it and saw that my hand was different too.

I looked down at the rest of my body. "Fencer?" I asked calmly. "WHY THE HELL AM I A GIRL!?"