Another chapter, another drive forward, but I'm very excited for you all to read this one. I've laid the groundwork for a lot of problems in the future with this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here's to you all: Alex P, Andrew Bohl, Animephilosopher1, Ankhseram123, Anna Khuu, Ant Franklin, Badmr7, Christopher Mitchell, Clark Kent, Claude Walker, Cordell Sanders, Cory Johnston, Darko129, Dave Gh, David, David Bowling, David Reynolds, Emi Stafford, Eric Bandel, Eugene Malone Jr., EvilJelly, Fenrir ragnarok, FlakeTrain, Garvin Lee Nelson-Mathlin, GLADIUS315, GODA98, Illiasse Naji, Inucbus, Jacob McCarthy, JEP1010, Jkat, John Mekjian, Jonathan Moh, Joseph Baty, Joseph Morrison, Joseph Vargas, Joshua Groves, Kcx1, Kevin Calderon, Korakas, Kyo Anamoto, Lamont Hale, Marielle Orff, Markoos, Matthew Burley, McBanjo, Mcgin28, Milagros Peres Davila, Milla, Neridian, Rafael Cardenas, Ranger Ellis, Richard Barkley, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, Sasha, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, Tom Peissig, Ty Chaos, and ViewtifulSoul!

Chapter 40:

Monsters of Man

"I hate that guy," Amy grumbled as a pair of children carefully replaced her severed arm. That in itself was not a sentence she had expected to use before, but the severance and reconstruction of human bodies was probably par for the course when facing down the Warlord Trafalgar Law. She hadn't thought about what it meant when the Marines admitted the Surgeon of Death earned his title by delivering them the hearts of 100 pirates, but she now considered that the act might not be as gruesome as previously believed.

"The hip bone's connected to the… leg bone!" a pair of girls sang as they tried to put Chopper together, the reindeer doctor trying to correct their mistakes before they made them. Unfortunately, his medical training caused him to use terminology the children could not follow. "And the leg bone's connected to the… knee bone!"

"The knees are made of cartilage!" Chopper corrected. "They aren't bones. Also, that's my right femur! It doesn't go on the left! And flip it over! Don't connect it at the radius!"

"Yohoho!" Brook chuckled, the skeleton laying out on the snow as the children around him picked up his piled-up pieces with squinted eyes. "I seems I've become a puzzle. I had not foreseen this happening, but I'm thankful I have you all to help. I doubt my eyes would be so discerning. Ah, not that I have eyes. Yohoho!"

Amy reached up, now possessing both of her hands once more, and straightened her head upon her neck. She felt it lock into its proper place, undoing whatever Law's powers had done, even while the kids carried her legs close enough for her to reach them. The blonde sent a glare toward the marines, several of the men leering at said appendages. (The fact they were not attached to her at the time did confuse Amy a bit, but that was mostly swallowed in the disgust.) She swiftly replaced her missing limbs. At the least, their leering would not be so weird now.

"M-Maker," the soft voice of their ship whimpered. Amy looked over, the Thousand Sunny's various pieces resting heavy on the shoreline. Several of the children and even a few marines had tried to put her Klabautermann back together to no avail. The manifestation of her spirit was a reflection of her vessel and putting her ship back together would be a Herculean task for the whole crew, much less even possible for the limited number still beside her. At least, Amy suspected that since she wasn't a shipwright. Spectral tears leaked from where Sunny's eyes would be, the same happening from the eyes of her decapitated figurehead. "E-Everyone. I d-don't like this. I-It's cold and I don't f-feel right."

Amy felt her heard squeeze at the whimper, the blonde walking over on unsteady feet. Older-sibling instincts running full throttle, Amy fell to her knees beside the piece of railing on which Sunny had gathered her dismembered manifestations. Her blank, red-tinted head rolled slightly in an attempt to look up, Amy gathering her head into her arms to hold Sunny close.

"Shh," she whispered, running her hand over the back of Sunny's head even as the Wood Fairy continued to sniffle. Amy noted that she could barely feel the softness of hair and chalked it up to Sunny's growing humanization. "It's ok, Sunny. We're here. We're going to put you back together. Can you move anything?"

"I…" the fairy sniffed. "I can move my ropes. A-And my cannons. But… it doesn't feel right. Everything's the wrong way."

"Super job, guys!" Franky called, now having control over one of his arms again. He lifted it, testing the motion and the mechanisms within. Pulling it back, he threw his arm forward with a Strong Right, grabbing onto his other arm where trio of marines were struggling to lift it. His chain tightened, dragging his other arm to where it was meant to be. It didn't matter that his chest was still disconnected from the rest of his abdomen, but when your body was mostly made of metal, putting it back together could be slow going without monster-level strength. "I'll take it from here. Just make sure my legs are all together right, yeah?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Robot!" a trio of boys saluted, the three of them having appointed themselves Franky's apprentices. None of the pirates had any illusions this would last beyond their stint on the island, but Amy was sure the memory would last their whole lives through. The trio scurried away, finding any pieces that had metal as part of them.

"I-Is Maker ok?" Sunny asked.

"We're all fine," Amy insisted. "That Warlord chopped us up with his Devil Fruit power, but we're getting put back together. There won't be any lasting damage to us or you. I promise."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Amy rocked the Klabautermann's head, softly humming a tune from her and Grace's childhoods in the West Blue. She maintained this calming practice until the other Straw Hats were returned to their normal shapes. Franky stepped up beside her, whistling at Sunny's state.

"Man," the Cyborg commented. "That guy sure did a super number on you, didn't he, Sunny?"

"Not helping, Franky," Amy hissed, her arms tightening around Sunny's manifested head.

"Nah, it's ok," Franky insisted, offering both ship and human a smile and a thumb's up. "Sunny, I put you together before you were alive and I can put you together again now. You know how super good I am, Sunny. You have all the skills I have. Trust me when I say you'll be fine."

"You promise, Maker?"

"No promise about it, Sunny. That's a super Franky guarantee." He looked up, surveying the near-flotsam Law had turned the Thousand Sunny into. His smile fell into a frown of concentration as he worked out what needed to connect to what and how he was going to make it happen. "Alright. This would be easier with any of the monsters were here..."

"I c-can move my ropes," Sunny offered.

"In that case, we can make this work," Franky grinned. He turned, making eye contact with the G-5 marines. "Hey navy guys! Which of you all are shipwrights?"

"That would be us," a quintet of men answered, their leader wearing a bucket stamped with their branch on his head. They eyed Franky warily. "Why?"

"You all better pay attention and do what I say, and maybe you'll learn something. I'm gonna teach you all how to put a ship back together!"

Barely had the door finished closing before it gave a kerthunk.

"Did that just…?" Tashigi muttered.

"Yeah," Sanji nodded. "We just got locked in."

"Oh, oh!" Ace said, one little arm waving. "I know what we say when this happens! Old Man Garp taught me!"

"Huh?" Nami blinked. "What are you—?"

"Shit!"

"As much as I don' wanna agree t' that, I think the Young Master's right," Gin muttered, shying away a little at the frozen, tense smile on Nami's face. Ace seemed pleased with himself, his smile much more genuine despite the situation the group now found themselves in. The room was lit, but only barely, whatever dim bulbs existed above only giving the pirates (and the marines and Kaku) enough light to see each other in close range. The walls were cold to the touch, made of dense metal painted a dreary grey.

"I'm more worried about these monsters y'all mentioned," Kaku commented. "The government outlawed experimental animal bio-weaponization when they couldn't be trained unilaterally. Too many losses, you know. We actually had to wipe out a rogue lab of scientific zealots trying to mutate humans using Fishman and Sea King samples years ago. Nasty stuff."

"That means whoever is here is committing these atrocious acts," Tashigi hissed. "What's their goal?"

"The furtherance of science for science's sake?" Sanji suggested with a frown.

A roar, muffled but not nearly as much as the last one, echoed through the hallway from the darkness beyond. Now closer, however, Nami and the others wondered about the strange vibrato the sound carried, sounding almost like it was meant to be laughter of some sort. Gin felt along the wall, finding a switch. He flipped it, finding his prayers answered as the lights turned on, illuminating the floor. Nothing stood directly ahead save more hallway leading to a corner.

"Let's hope there are more stairs somewhere on this floor," Nami said, bundling Ace close as she set off down the hallway. It would do her no good to show Ace her fear. Caution, however, was a different matter, the navigator glancing around the corner before following through.

The corner led only to a door, sized for someone especially tall but still within the bounds of basic human anatomy. This door had the same wheel handle as the last, but what concerned Nami was the word printed over its archway. The letters for MANIAS were written in dark red paint, the script somehow more ominous than it had been over the Biscuit Room.

"Well?" Smoker prompted. "What are you waiting for? It's either this way or the rusted-out stairs."

"Then why don't you go first, Smoker?" Nami demanded. "I won't be the first one attacked by whatever's in there."

"Fine. I'd like to be done with this sooner rather than later." The smoke-man stepped forward, forcing the door open as its hinges protested.

The door opened into a much wider area, boxes sized to fit things equal to or bigger than elephants scattered around the edges. Each was shrouded in darkness, and closed to the world from any light, their walls solid stone lined with metal along the edges. A string of powerful lights turned on as they entered, temporarily blinding the group until their eyes could adjust.

With the light now illuminating the room, the pirates and allies noted that they were on the lower of two levels, the next one up more like a balcony that ran the length of the perimeter. On the far side of the room was a doorway that was much larger than the one they had just entered through, built in such a way as to rise when activated. The center of this room was lower than the edges, the pirates standing at the top of a dozen or so stairs that also ran around the area. At the bottom was a circular, damaged floor with the giant boxes.

Each box they could see, five in total and all of them sitting a half-level under them, was labeled with a number and what looked like a name. The furthest from the door and the only one facing them had NO.13-OCEAN in white lettering.

"This looks like an arena," Sanji commented, breathing out a puff of smoke. "Check out the floor; it's got gashes and cracks in it. And there's glass around that upper level."

Tashigi ran down the stairs, stopping at the first set of cuts in the concrete. She knelt, studying them.

"These weren't made by a sword," she said, running a gloved hand over the edges. "These are claw marks, but not from anything I can identify."

"I can agree with that statement," Kin'emon nodded. "Whatever beast created these markings must be of a gargantuan size."

"Maybe they're in the boxes?" Ace suggested, pointing. "That one say ocean."

Tashigi moved, studying the others. "NO.42-GRASSLAND," she read.

"NO.52-DESERT," Gin muttered as he and the others joined her on the lower level, the lightning-man running a hand over another such box. He frowned.

"NO.37-INSECT," Smoker read aloud from another. "It's not just biomes, whatever it is."

"I can't even try to pronounce this," Sanji said, gesturing to the last box which read NO.24-MYRMECOPHAGOUS. "I know science has some weird words, but that one doesn't even look real. Is it an animal or something?"

"But what are these?" Nami wondered, extending her back-up Clima-Tact to be ready at the drop of a hat.

"They're big boxes, Mommy," Ace supplied, very helpfully.

"I know that, sweetheart. I want to know what they're used for."

"Boxes hold things, Mommy."

"Whatever they are, they are inset with Sea Prism Stone," Smoker announced. "I can feel it start trying to drain my energy when I get close."

"He's right," Gin agreed. "It's not enough t' cut our powers off, but enough t' weaken us, so it ain't pure."

"That must mean whatever is in these has Devil Fruit powers," Sanji commented.

"I have never heard of this stone," Kin'emon admitted. "Is this common in the outside world? Do you mean to say this material is impervious to magic and sorcery?"

"It ain't common and it ain't magic," Gin replied. "Folks like me, Smoker, an' several o' th' ones we're lookin' for have powers, each of 'em different. Prolly you too, come t' think of it what with your leaf-t'-clothes trick. We can't swim 'cause o' that. Ain't nobody sure why, but th' water weakens us and this kind o' stone has th' same properties."

"Most of it is in the hands of the World Government," Smoker offered. "Estimated reports believe around 90 percent is in the hands of the government and its allies including the kingdoms and the Marines, with every reported Sea Prism Stone mine in their control. It is difficult to be approved for allowance for fear pirates could get ahold of it."

"Isn't your weapon topped with it?" Sanji remembered.

"It is, and you would not know the hoops I needed to jump through to get even that much."

"The memory of all that paperwork still gives me a headache," Tashigi grumbled.

The box she was closest to, the one labeled GRASSLAND, shook, a horrifying, trumpeting "BREEEHEHEHEH!" coming from within. Tashigi backed away, drawing Shigure out of habit. Gin, Sanji, and Kaku all dropped into ready stances.

Sounds came from within the other boxes as if in response, all of them mixing into a horrible cacophony of noise.

"Dear oh dear," a feminine voice chuckled, dragging attention upward. Behind the glass of the upper level stood a woman, petite in stature with most of her green dress and small frame covered in a long lab coat. Her hands were held up before her torso, the sleeves reaching past her hands. She was pretty, all things considered, with shorter, wavy, periwinkle hair and square-rimmed glasses accentuating her yellow, slitted eyes. Her hair was held back out of her face by a black Alice band with small devil horns sticking upward, feathers of various yellows and greens interspersed in the light purple-blue, one lock of her hair free to frame the right side of her face with its own feather. Her neck had a scar running downward diagonally from the neckline, clearly the result of a near-death experience. She reached up, both of her hands adjusting her glasses in lieu of her fingers not showing. "It seems some lab rats have wandered into my facility. What dreadful manners. Does our dear Master know you're here?"

"Oh, evil scientisty!" Ace cheered. "Cool!"

"Identify yourself!" Smoker ordered, pulling out his jutte to point it at the woman. "What is this place?"

"She's beautiful, whoever she is!" Sanji swooned.

"But you have not identified yourselves," the woman teased. "Ah, but I can see two of you are marines. Simply dreadful to see you here. Dreadful, I say. Your deaths will make it more difficult for us to skate by on this island. It would be dreadful to see all my research here go to waste."

"That voice," Kaku muttered, his eyes narrowing. "I know that voice."

"Oh?" the woman blinked. "Have we…" She trailed off, leaning against the glass. Her eyes widened, her breath quickening "Well, I'll be. Is that a member of CP9? Whatever are you here for? Dreadful to see you again, by the way. Simply dreadful."

"Kaku, you know this woman?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, I do," the ex-agent answered, flexing his fingers. "You're supposed to be dead, Doctor Velo. Kalifa killed you herself."

"That makes two of us who have cheated death without the public knowing, although I must say I did a better job of it," the woman laughed. One of her sleeves ran over her scar. "Not that there wasn't a serious attempt, mind you. I would have died such a dreadful death if my savior had not found his way to the lab after you lot escaped. He brought me to my captain and the greatest scientific treasure trove I could have ever hoped for, so I suppose I must thank you for your most dreadful actions."

"Kaku, who th' Hell is she?" Gin demanded.

"Doctor Velori Velo of the now-defunct Lovecraft Institute of Medicine and Research," the long-nosed blond replied. "She and the rest of her team violated international law with their experiments relating to humans, mutation, and the weaponization thereof."

"So a few patients had some dreadful reactions to some experimental medicines and lost their minds," the woman waved off, the end of her sleeve flapping. "It was all to be for the greater good! Culling overpopulation, eliminating diseases, killing pirates. Then one patient happens to be the daughter of a Vice-Admiral and the whole organization turns on you! Dreadful series of circumstances, that. Simply—"

"You're insane!" Tashigi gasped.

"No, no, marine!" Dr. Velo replied, the outline of the woman pointing upward appearing under one of her sleeves. "I'm genius! I don't blame you for the confusion, though. It is a fine line. Dreadfully blurry in some cases. I mean, Vegapunk alters humans with robotics and dabbles in cloning and he gets a pass, but I mess with a person's cells and I'm the monster? Ridiculous! I make the monsters!"

"You—?" Nami cut herself off, her eyes glancing to the boxes around them. "Then these things…?"

"My favorite babies," she cooed with a clap and a head tilt. "Captain allowed me to keep them, even here so far away. And when we get unwanted guests or simply dreadful lackies, I get to have some fun! Why don't I introduce you to them?" She strode to a control panel and pressed several buttons. The boxes hissed, the faces with the writing on each one slowly pushing outward a couple inches before they started to rise. The beasts within, whatever they were, screeched and clawed at the inside. The group below backed up into a circle, covering each other's backs. "I do hope you can give my babies a good workout. They haven't been able to cut loose in so long~!"

The box labeled OCEAN was the first to open, a popping hiss coming from within. A crab's arm sized to something one might find in the depths of the Grand Line thunked against the opening, the creature within wiggling into the light.

It stood ten feet tall, its lower half nothing but writhing tentacles. One arm was that of a crab, but the other was twice that size though similarly shaped if longer in length, their purple-blue sheen at odds with the tentacles' red. The torso was a turtle's shell, a sickly green in color, and two stingray tails lashed the air behind it. The most hideous part was the face, however, the mouth and nose replaced with a beak lined with jagged teeth. The face above that was mostly human, bright blue eyes wide under a crown like an octopus' bulbous head. A tag hung from one ear, noting it 13.

"POOOO-POP-POP-POP-POP!" it blubbered, smashing its claws into the floor.

"Big monster!" Ace cheered from Nami's arms.

"Aren't they just darling?" Dr. Velo cooed. The monster jerked at the sound of her voice, freezing in place. "I call them Manias. It's a play off their original dreadful name. Ah, but you all wouldn't know anything about that."

"What have you done‽" Nami gasped, recoiling from the twisted creation. The rest of the boxes finished opening as she did, the allied group studying their newest foes with trepidation.

From the box labeled GRASSLAND came a creature out of Kaku's nightmares. The upper part of the face was human —that of a woman with red hair— and was framed by a mane of five elephant ears but the face fell into the trunk of an elephant lined with the horns of a rhinoceros and capped with the mouth of a hippopotamus. The neck and body were that of a long, long giraffe supported by the legs of lions, zebras, cheetahs, rhinos, okapi, and hippos. It slithered its way out of the box like a centipede, its ear tag reading 42. "BREEEHEHEHEH!"

From the box labeled INSECT came what used to be another woman. The head and chest were humanoid, but the skin was a sallow white like glue, 13 eyes lining around the face and mandibles. It was the smallest so far, standing at only eight feet, with eight limbs —four arms and four legs— up and down its thorax. Its abdomen —the last segment— split into two, the upper with a scorpion's tail rising over the head and the lower with a hornet's stinger. Butterfly wings patterned black on orange fluttered, holding it in the air. It made a sound like "KEEEKEKEKEKEK!", swinging ear tag reading 37.

From the box labeled DESERT came the head of the creature first. Its head, too, was mostly human, a thick, blue tongue hanging from the lips of what had been a tan man. The neck was a snake's body lined with diamond shapes connecting to the body of a camel with three humps. It was supported by five legs like that of a roadrunner, the one in the middle twice as strong as each of the others. It was also part scorpion, two such claws rising from its rear. Where the arms would be were two bird's wings. Standing at nine feet, its ear tag read 52, the man laughing hysterically. "YEAAAHAHAHAHA!"

The final box was the one labeled MYRMECOPHAGOUS, its tongues slithering outward. There were three of them, each long and thin, leading back to what had been a man with a bulbous nose and a mohawk. This mohawk continued its way down the body's back, said body lined with brown scales leading to a wide, flat tail. The thing's legs were strong and thick, lined with hair from below the knee, and its arms were each topped with two sharp claws. The tongues dripped saliva, the floor sizzling with every drop. At 13 feet, its tag read 24.

"What horrible creatures," Kin'emon commented, balancing himself on one hand as the other drew one of his blades. "They are nothing like anything I have ever seen."

"Look at my babies," Dr. Velo said, every beast freezing at her words. She spread her arms, a wide smile on her face. "OCEAN, GRASSLAND, DESERT, INSECT, and MYRMECOPHAGOUS. Such dreadfully-cute Manias, it's still hard to believe I turned them from failed gambles into proper weapons, but even I'm surprised by my dreadful genius at times. I would explain the process so you could also revel in my brilliance, but I suspect the science would go over your heads. But my Manias understand. They're quite… Hm?" She paused, one covered hand rising to rest by her ear. "Yes, Master. This is Velo… Yes, there's a group here… A child? Well, yes, but not one I recognize. Does it matter? … Ace, you say? Dreadful choice of name for a little one nowadays if you ask me… Of course, Master. As you wish."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kaku muttered.

"Dreadfully sorry, all," Dr. Velo apologized, another button press lowering the glass directly in front of her. "New orders from the Master, I'm afraid."

"White Hunter!" Smoker yelled, his legs turning into smoke as he shot upward, jutte aimed for the scientist's throat. "In the name of Justice, your experiments end here, Velo!"

"GRASSLAND! Up!"

The so-named beast surged upward, its trunk and four of its legs covering themselves with the black sheen of Armament Haki. Smoker crashed into it, stopping him cold before the trunk smacked him back down to the floor. He crashed into the concrete, a dribble of blood leaking from the side of his lips.

"Commodore!" Tashigi cried.

"These things've got Haki‽" Gin gasped.

"That is not good," Sanji agreed.

"All they sent was a single Commodore and his possie?" Velo questioned, hopping onto the console, her sleeve shifting to reveal a three-fingered, clawed hand covered in green-and-orange scales. "Perhaps your disappearances will not be such dreadful trouble to cover up after all." She reached forward, her hand separating at the wrist to shoot forward on a chain.

"Evil cyborg scientisty!" Ace realized only a moment before the claws clamped around torso. "Ah, Mommy!"

"Ace!" His small body slipped from Nami's hold as the claw retracted, pulling the toddler into the doctor's hold on the upper level. "Give my baby back, you bitch!"

"Such dreadful language should not be used around a child!" Velo chastised, her claw holding the struggling Ace tightly. "What would others think if they heard him say something similar?"

"Evil cyborg scientisty's a meanie!" Ace yelled, little fists swinging through the air. "Damn meanie bitch! Lemme go!"

"Oh dear, he's already learned a dreadful vocabulary," Velo sighed, showing no strain holding Ace in place. "You needn't worry about that remaining a problem, however. Master says we'll raise him into the best scientist to ever live as his apprentice. Why, I'd hazard to predict he'll be a dreadful plague on the World Government under our care, so it's not like the future will change that much."

"Give him back!" Nami repeated, her Clima-Tact turning into a blue blur in her hands. "Thunderbolt—!"

"Ah, ah!" Velo denied, holding Ace before her. Nami's eyes widened, redirecting the bolt of lightning she'd sent forward up into the ceiling where it dispersed harmlessly. "That's what I thought. Playing with electricity like that is dreadfully dangerous."

"You won't get away with this!" Nami yelled, Velo backing up toward a metal door. "Just wait until Luffy hears about this! You better hope he finds you before I do! He'd knock you out faster!"

"Mommy, help!"

"Master has already dealt with him," Velo said. "And you won't make it out of this room alive. Farewell, pirates and marines. And Kaku, do die a dreadfully-painful death for me, will you? Tata!" She stepped out the door, only to pop her head back in a second later. "Ah, I almost forgot. Manias, play!"

"Ugh," Coby moaned, his stiff joins protesting as he tried to move while a thin layer of frost popped and cracked. Chains rattled as he did so, stopping his arms halfway to his face. His eyes widened, his willpower alone keeping him from breaking into tears at certain reminders. "W-What happened? Where am I?"

"We succumbed to an ambush and have been imprisoned," the voice of the crew's archeologist answered, Coby turning his head to see her. She was only a blur in his vision, a sign that he was being held in part by Sea Prism Stone. "The Master, the crocotaur, and the winged woman together managed to overpower us through some means."

"We didn't even do anything to them," Usopp grumbled from Robin's other side. "I hate being on the other side of a sneak attack."

"Where are Captain Luffy and Merry?" Coby asked.

"Merry is enclosed within a cylinder a stone's throw away from us," Robin replied, prompting a banging from several yards away. "Whomever holds command of this place is taking great care to not allow our escape, with knowledge or ingenuity enough to neutralize even Merry's Klabautermann abilities. As for our dear captain, I cannot say. He was not here when Long-Nose and I awoke."

"Of course." Coby rolled his eyes, checking his inventory. Hoshokusha and Emono were no longer sheathed along his back —something he sadly suspected would be the case— but it appeared the dragon's egg they had taken from the slain lizard was still strapped to his chest with the extra coat he'd taken when given the chance. "Well, I'm weaponless and powerless. You all got any ideas?"

"Wait for Luffy to come back?" Usopp suggested. Coby could not see him but offered a flat look in his general direction. "Thought I'd give it a try," the blob that was the sniper shrugged.

"They know our faces from our wanted posters, and I suspect they are aware of which of us have Devil Fruit powers," Robin commented. "That being said, they are not clairvoyant." Coby could not tell what she was doing with his cruddy vision.

"You can pick locks with hair pins?" Usopp questioned, Coby sending his a silent 'thank you' for clarifying Robin's actions.

"But of course," the woman replied. "I have been evading the World Government since the age of eight. I have had to, as they say, pick up a few street tricks to survive. Nami and Grace are not the only accomplished thieves on the crew."

"Fair enough," Usopp replied as the clank of Robin's chains hitting the floor echoed around the metal room. "Why didn't you do that before?"

"I needed to regain some energy and wait for Coby to awaken."

"Sorry for holding you back," Coby muttered, his ears telling him Robin was repeating her feat for Usopp. Soon, his own chains fell to the floor, the Sniper all but Shaving toward the cylinder that apparently contained his surrogate niece/daughter. Robin made her way to Coby, kneeling before him as her hand took hold of his wrist. He felt the cuffs shift, coming off shortly thereafter. The Zoan breathed out a sigh of relief, his eyes shifting as his now-usual eyesight returned.

"Merry‽" Usopp called, Coby seeing the sniper had his face pressed against the side of the cylinder. "Merry, are you ok‽"

The spirit of their first ship responded with a bang from inside. Robin strode over, her arms crossed as she searched the container for structural weaknesses with her powers.

"The top of this structure possesses an inset cylinder of metal," the woman said. "Presumably, this is a catch for the magnet hanging from the ceiling. The rest of this cylinder is a sturdy rock, but it is not Sea Prism Stone."

"I'll crush it, then," Coby offered, growing into his Dino Mode and pawing at the ground. Robin and Usopp vacated the area between the Zoan and the cylinder. "Look out, Merry! Here I come!"

Before Coby could start, however, the upper edge of the cylinder facing them cracked. The three pirates paused. Within, Coby could feel Merry's spirit as she readied another Tempest Kick. One after another lashed the inside of the cylinder, each slowly weakening the integrity until, with a hard crack, a brick-sized piece of the rock fell away.

"Finally!" Merry yelled from inside, the Klabautermann throwing her Heart out the opening. Her clothes soon followed suit, pooling into a pile on the ground. Coby's eyes widened at the implication. "I'm coming out!"

Robin crossed her arms, covering Coby and Usopp's eyes with bloomed arms. Their vision was not obstructed for long before Merry had rematerialized and redressed, straightening the dress she'd borrowed from Robin under the coat she got upon entering the building.

"Damn, that thing was tough," the fairy commented, stretching. "You don't know how long I've been hammering at that thing's insides."

"Er, long enough, I guess?" Coby suggested.

Merry shrugged. "Close enough. Where are we?"

"Somewhere within the compound," Robin answered. "None of us were awake for our transport, so we cannot be sure how far or how long the journey here was. What do you each recall?"

"The crocotaur and the bird-woman held us back as that gas thing knocked us out," Usopp grumbled.

"The Master took a serious interest in Ace," Merry offered.

"And the bird-woman had some form of cold powers," Coby added. "That's how she knocked Captain Luffy and me out."

"Well, we now possess information we did not have previously," Robin nodded. "Coby, can you locate our companions with your Haki?"

"Give me a moment." The Zoan closed his eyes, focusing, as the world dimmed and the lights of the various lives and souls of the surrounding area appeared in his mind's eye. "There's a group including Nami, Sanji, and Gin somewhere on the second floor surrounded by… I don't know what those things are. They feel twisted. We're on the third floor and on the other side of this floor are the Master and the harpy. There are workers scattered around the lab, too, and I can just barely feel Captain Luffy way below us." Coby's eyebrows furrowed. "Someone I don't recognize has Ace and is moving quickly toward the Master."

"It sounds like we have several timed tasks to look into and/or deal with soon," the eldest of the group commented. "The captain can handle himself, so that leaves the group being attacked and the kidnapped Ace. Preferences?"

"Merry and I will go after Ace!" Usopp offered.

"But Uncle Usopp!" the fairy protested. "Big monsters!"

"I need to be the coolest uncle!" the sniper argued quickly. "Ahem... And I can't track them on the move by myself. I'm sure Coby and Robin will save you a monster to fight."

"What even is this crew?" Coby muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm impartial. Do whatever you want."

"Very well," the archeologist smiled. "That was rather simple. Next order of business, how do we escape this cell when, unlike Merry's previous confinement, those of us with powers cannot affect the exit?"

The group turned their attention on the door, a great circle of dark metal Robin confirmed was, in fact, laced with Sea Prism Stone. They blinked.

"So…" Merry began. "Who wants to learn Tempest Kick? I imagine this'll give us a lot of practice."

"Momo, wait a second," Luffy ordered, stopping the pink not-an-eel in his tracks.

"My name is Momonosuke!" the Zoan protested. Luffy ignored him, the pirate working his way to a pile of metal and rubbish ahead of them. Momonosuke followed slowly, trying to see what had caused the man's countenance to change.

"I don't like that" the rubber-man said, kneeling at the base of the pile. He reached forward, picking up a weapon Momonosuke had not seen before but could identify the use of. It had a large gold-encased weight on one end, the metal etched with golden designs leading back to what the Zoan guessed was a handle.

"You recognize that creation?" Momonosuke asked.

"Yeah," Luffy nodded. "This belongs to Gin. It's one of a pair, but if Gin's weapons are down here, I figure several of my friends' tools are. I should find them."

Before Momonosuke could ask another question, Luffy threw his arm upward, easily reaching the peak of the trash pile. He cast his discerning eyes downward, looking for anything he might recognize.

"Can you tell me what you're looking for?" Momonosuke called up to him. "Perhaps I can assist you!"

"Hmm," the pirate hummed. He pointed at something on the other side of the pile. "Umbrella." His hand shifted, pointing at something further away. "Slingshot… There's the other tonfa… And that's—!"

Luffy jumped, landing somewhere on the other side where Momonosuke could not see him. The pink creature scurried around the pile, quickly finding the man holding what looking like a length of blue pipe. Luffy's head was on a swivel, looking for something.

"Ah, Mr. Luffy? What's wrong?"

"This is Nami's," the pirate answered. "If they touch her, I'll beat them all within an inch of their lives."

His tone sent a shiver down Momonosuke's back, that flash of negative emotion making the Zoan consider that maybe Luffy could live up to what he thought a pirate was. Perhaps it would be best to stay on this man's good side.

"W-Why don't we collect their weapons?" he suggested. "I'm certain they would like them back."

"…Yeah," Luffy agreed after a moment's pause. Something flashed in the corner of his vision, Luffy turning quickly only to see it had disappeared behind another pile. He dropped into a ready stance, Gin's tonfa held in one hand and one third of Nami's Perfect Clima-Tact in the other. "Momo, stay behind me."

"My name is Momonosuke," the Zoan protested with less vigor than before, complying with the demand. The pair eyed the direction warily.

"Poot! Momonosuke‽"

Luffy countenance shifted instantly, a laugh bubbling from his throat. "It's the legs!"

"Wha—?" The creature blinked as a pair of legs without anything above the pelvis jumped onto a piece of metal ahead of them. "K— Father?"

"Poot! Is that Momonosuke I sense? Thank the spirits!"

"Father, what happened to you‽" Momonosuke rushed forward, running around the disembodied legs. "Your top half is missing! What sorcery is this‽"

"It's because of a Devil Fruit, obviously!" Luffy laughed. "You didn't know about them before. Are you stupid, Momo?"

"I am not stupid!" the Zoan yelled. "And my name is Momonosuke!"

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Anyway, let's get my crew's weapons and find a way out of here. I'm thinking going up is our best bet."

"In what location are we, Momonosuke?" the legs commented. "Poot! We seem surrounded by steep walls. I could only accomplish a half-dozen steps upwardbefore falling."

"Momo, your dad's legs are stupid."

"Hey!" the horned creature protested.

"Well, we've got a scavenger hunt to do first. Then we'll find a way out. Sound good?"

With no better plan of his own, Momonosuke agreed, dragging the samurai's along.

End of chapter 40

What lasting impression with her division have on Sunny as she grows? Who is Dr. Velo and where has she come from? What dreadful process does she have for creating the Manias and why? How long will it take Luffy and his new companions to escape the trash chute? Tell me what you think and:

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-SwordOfTheGods