Here we are with another chapter of Coby's Choice! This one gave ma a lot of trouble and I can't really say why, but here we are! Please, let me know what you think and-or what theories you have in the comments below; they really get my motivation up. Anyway, 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, ReactedLyric, Ranger Ellis, Richard Barkley, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, Sasha, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, Tom Peissig, Ty Chaos, and ViewtifulSoul!
Thank you all!
Chapter 41:
Mania in All Forms
Second Floor: Mania Lab
"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!"
Grassland trumpeted a "BREEHEHEHEH!" and swung downward, cracking the concrete where Smoker just managed to avoid the attack. The other Manias screeched, whatever body parts they fought with gaining the black sheen of Armament Haki. The pirates and allies slowly backed into a circle, keeping their eyes on the horrible creatures.
"This is not good," Kaku reiterated. "Considering Velo's history, I'd hazard to guess these things used to be human."
"They ain't anymore," Gin grunted. "Ain't nothin' left o' who they were. What a sad fate."
"Velo cannot be allowed to get away with this," Tashigi growled. "This breaks so many laws—"
"That's what you're worried about right now?" Nami demanded. "That crazy bitch just took my son!"
"And we need to get through these things to get him back," Sanji commented. "Well, there's six and a half of us and five of them. Who wants what? I… cannot take the giraffe or the insect."
"Oh, 'cause you're scared o' bugs," Gin recalled with a small grin.
"Because I refuse to hit women, stupid monk!"
"They aren't women anymore," Kaku commented.
"It may be best for me to take the giraffe… elephant… thing?" Tashigi trailed off.
"Giraffipede," Gin suggested.
"I am not calling it that."
"Fine, I'll take th' creature from th' Black Lagoon. My 'lectricity should be super effective 'gainst water animals."
"I'll take the Myrma-watsit," Sanji said, tapping a steel-toed shoe in the ground. "That thing looks tough, but I bet I could kick through its armor."
"I shall defeat the one called Desert," Smoker said, gripping his jutte.
"That leaves the bug," Nami deduced, eyeing the monstrosity. "Works for me. Kaku, you're fast and you know her. We can handle these monsters, so go chase down Velo and get my son back."
"You got it, boss."
"And what shall I do?" Kin'emon questioned.
"Go with Kaku and—" Nami's response was cut off by the "KEKEKEK" of the insect beast, the creature lunging toward the group. They scattered as dust fell from the thing's wings, coating the ground in a thin layer of orange dust. Kaku, carrying Kin'emon's upper half, Moonwalked to the upper level and started trying to force the door open.
"Be careful, Cat Burglar!" Tashigi warned with a flinch as she faced down the giraffipede, a red mark on her hand as she readjusted her glasses so they rested on top of her head. She might need them to see, but they were nothing but a hinderance in battle. "That dust is toxic, but I don't think it's deadly!"
"Good to know!" Nami replied, her Clima-Tact spinning in her hand as Heat Balls and Cool Balls floated upward. The many eyes of the Insect Mania did not move, its be-mandibled mouth opening wide to reveal a sort of small tube at the top of its throat. It let out a resonating "SCREEEE!" as spider webbing shot from it.
"What‽" Nami gasped, diving away from the webs as they splattered over the ground where she'd been standing. "I thought spiders had a thorax for that! And they aren't insects!"
"KEEEKEKEK!" the Mania laughed, its four arms rubbing over the scales of its wings, covering its humanoid skin in the toxic dust.
"I do not want to deal with you," Nami muttered. "Get ready for my Cyclone Tempo!"
The whirlwind that grew from the navigator's weapon smashed into the monster, the creature screeching as it was blasted back into the wall only to fall on its front. Nami ignored the cries of the other Manias as she approached her opponent carefully.
It shifted, climbing into all eight of its limbs as its head snapped upward to stare at her with most of its eyes. The scorpion tail it had rose above the rest of its body before lashing downward. Nami parried the jab with her Clima-Tact, its venomous stinger missing her shoulder by mere inches. The tail retracted only to lance downward again.
Nami rolled to the side and whipped her Clima-Tact around, wind whirling into a sort of whip she used to lash at the creature. Insect screeched before pushing off the ground, taking to the air again. A great flap of its wings released more dust, Nami swinging her Clima-Tact to change the Cyclone Whip into a Solid Air Dome, blocking the toxic powder.
The dust it could block, but Nami was unprepared for the Mania slamming itself into her barrier, the Solid Air shattering like glass as the temperature drop that held it together destabilized. The compressed air rushed apart, scattering the dust over the beast. Nami covered her mouth with one hand as the other jabbed the Mania in the stomach with her weapon, bits of the dust that coated it falling on her skin like tiny embers.
"I don't like this," she hissed, blasting the creature away again.
On the other side of the room, Gin was saying something similar as he rolled backward, tentacles covered in Armament Haki lashing the ground around him. He spread his hands and his electric wings, his own Haki growing over both as he tried to backhand —or back-wing— any tentacles he could not avoid due to the sheer amount.
"This reminds me o' Don Luffy's gatlin' attack," the monk muttered as his beastly opponent let out another blubbering laugh, pulling itself forward on its many appendages to swing its larger claw down. Being on the heavier side, however, the wind-up gave Gin more than enough time to get out of the way before it landed. Spinning around its attack, Gin formed his finger pistols and blasted the creature with a dozen electric bullets.
'I do not believe this will go your way with your limited arsenal,' a certain alter ego whispered in his head. 'Now if you had access to a certain other power…'
"Piss off, Rum," Gin muttered.
The oceanic amalgamation let out a blubbering "GRAAAW" in response as the shocking pellets met their marks, its human eyes gleaming. Its head lowered, Gin not having the time needed before the much-faster stingray tails lashed forward. He reached up, intercepting them with a hand only for blistering pain to stab his palm despite his Haki.
"Goda dammit!" he hissed as his stung hand grasped the tails, the monk refusing to let go. The creature screamed, trying to pull them back even as Gin planted his feet and flapped his wings, using friction and reverse force to give him time to plan.
Time was not something Ocean wanted to give him, the being quickly giving up their tug of war to leap toward him, claws raised to smash. Gin gripped the tails and raised his hands in a crossblock, sparks flying as his Armament contested that of the former human. The force drove Gin downward, his feet digging into the concrete like a nail into a board.
"Zeus' Flair!" Gin yelled, electricity discharging from his body. Ocean seized up, sparks falling off its body as Gin pulled himself out of the twin holes with a great flap of his wings. Regaining his mobility, he shot forward, punching the creature in the gut as hard as he could. It let out a cry as it flew backward, its tails slipping from Gin's hand before it crashed into the wall.
Ocean shook its head and climbed to its feet, one tentacle wiping away a drop of blood from the side of its beak. If it had a conventional mouth, Gin imagined it would be smirking.
"Nothin' can ever be that easy, can it?" Gin muttered, cracking his knuckles. "Alright, ya lagoon bastard, let's dance."
"This is not what I thought I would be doing today when I woke up this morning," Tashigi grumbled, the woman throwing slashes with her sword. The blades of air bounced off Grassland's Armament, its horned trunk smacking her attacks hither and yon much to Tashigi's ire. It let out a trumpeting "BREEEHEHEHEH" and essentially slithered forward like a wave, its body undulating as its mass moved toward her.
"I'm sorry," she said, moving Shigure so her blade was parallel to the floor as she closed her eyes. Whisps of black smoke started to materialize over the sword as the giraffipede approached. Its steps shook the ground, alerting Tashigi to its proximity.
Her eyes snapped open, Shigure flashing through the air. It caught the creature's trunk between two of the horns, cutting only an inch deep before being stopped by the Mania's own Haki. Tashigi's eyes widened, the female marine slowly looking up until she made eye contact with the face, madness glinting in the thing's eyes. The trunk wrapped around Tashigi's waist and lifted her. "Hey! Let me go!"
The giraffipede did so, throwing the Marine Captain into the wall with a harsh bang. Tashigi released a gasp with a small cough of blood at the impact, her body falling to the hard concrete as the monster that was her opponent trumpeted.
The marine, however, would not have survived in the Grand Line for this long if she was not made of stern stuff, the woman climbing to her feet with a new fire in her eye. Her knuckles whitened as he gripped her sword, renewed determination to win bubbling inside her.
"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I'm sorry this happened to you, that the Marines couldn't stop it, but I won't let you stop me here. I'll put you down and release you from this pain but know that I will avenge you and every other person Velo ruined the lives of."
"BREEEHEHEHEHE!" the Mania laughed. What did it care for the marine's words? For all its mind could comprehend, Tashigi was just another tasty-looking morsal like all the rest it had been allowed to devour, only this one had a sharp tool.
Tashigi charged forward, dodging left as the giraffipede brought four legs and its trunk down in her path. Shigure carved another gash into the side of the creature's elephant feature. It let out a sort of cry and reared back, opening its soft underbelly. The Marine Captain took the chance provided and tried to drive the tip of her weapon into the thing's chest.
Sanji flipped into a handstand, kicking away the sharp claws of the Myrmecophagous Mania, which he idly decided to call Myrm because trying to think such a long name, much less say it, was too difficult a task for the middle of battle. Myrm screeched at him, giving the world's worst razzberry as all three of its toxic tongues shot out.
Sanji pushed, getting himself over the acidic linguas as the monster's saliva melted the floor. His nose crinkled at the smell, the pirate kicking off the air as Myrm swiped at him.
"Épaule Shoot!" the blond yelled, driving his leg into the being's shoulder. It's exoskeleton held firm, the powerful attack pressurizing and blasting air away but doing nothing to the strong scales the creature boasted. A hand shot upward, snagging Sanji's ankle between its claws. "Oh shit!"
The Mania swung Sanji over its head, slamming him face-first into the floor on the other side while indenting the concrete. It did not stop to give Sanji the time he needed to catch his breath, swinging him back over to smack his back into the ground. He spat out a chunk of concrete, only having a moment to breathe before the monster swung him facedown again.
"Stupid mohawk!" the pirate growled. "I'll cook you like any other meat! Diable Jambe!"
Sanji's leg burst into flame, the Mania recoiling from the heat as the fire singed some of its fur. Acidic spittle dripped to the concrete at its feet as Sanji crawled out of the Sanji-shaped hole. The blond pushed himself to his feet, casually pulling a box of cigarettes from his pocket. It was a little crumpled, the man needing to dig a little to find one still in one piece. He fished it out and all but tapped it against his burning leg.
"God might have made food," he said as the end of the cigarette lit, the chef bringing it to his lips, "but the devil created spices. Now let's see what sort of dish I can make out of you."
"AAATATATATA!" Myrm beat its clawed hands against its chest, slapping the ground with its tail.
"Have it your way, then!" Sanji yelled, charging the monster.
Smoker broke himself into several different pieces, the Mania called Desert rushing through him like a bull through a red cape. Its gait was a funny thing, the beast alternating between using four legs and the one incredibly-strong leg in the middle, standing on four or one, nothing in between.
The head swung around on its long neck, a thick, blue tongue waving through the air as its talons dug trenches to slow its momentum. The scorpion claws attached to its back snapped, the black film of Armament growing over the keratin there.
That same film formed over Smoker's jutte, the man's legs dispersing into smoke as he launched himself toward the beast. His weapon crashed against the claws, sparks flying as the two battled for supremacy.
The head came in from Smoker's left, fangs flashing around the blue tongue. The marine released one hand's hold of his weapon, grabbing one fang of the beast tightly enough to stop it in its tracks. The thing's tongue slithered up his arm, leaving a sticky film there.
"You're just a nasty thing, aren't you," Smoker muttered, his arms straining to hold the creature at bay on two fronts. "I don't know what Velo did to you, but—"
Desert blinked, blood shooting from the inner corners of its eyes. The bodily fluids hit an unprepared Smoker in the face, the man recoiling from the surprise attack. The claws pulled at his jutte, Smoker's arm coming off in a puff of smoke so his hand could stay on the weapon. Meanwhile, while Smoker's eyes were still closed and his face covered in blood, Desert covered its own face in haki and smacked him with it, sending most of Smoker's body backward.
"The Hell kind of creature are you?" he muttered, wiping away the blood to leave a red stain on his coat sleeve. He eyed the creature with a scowl, the thing giving him the same treatment as it tried to break his weapon to no avail. "Disgusting. Your number is 52, so that must mean there's at least another 51 of you. I'll take your body back to Marine HQ so they can study you and find out what you are."
"YAAAHAHAHA," the thing laughed, licking its lips. It snapped its teeth at the man.
"Smokescreen!" White smoke exploded from Smoker's body, enveloping Desert. It spun, head twisting around this way, that way, and upside down trying to locate the Marine Commodore.
A fist shot from the obscuration, punching the thing in the side. It let out some sort of "SCRAAW!" noise and shifted its focus to the hand already dispersing into smoke. Another fist punched from the other side, knocking the creature off balance. It screeched again, biting at the area with Armament-coated fangs. More and more fists came from all directions, forming from the smoke to attack from all sides.
Desert jumped, its four primary legs sending it high into the air where its wings flapped downward, holding it aloft while dispersing the smokescreen. Its head mounted on the snake-like neck slithered down, but Smoker was nowhere to be found.
"ATATA?"
"You're not the only one that can fly!" The monster screeched as Smoker's weight fell on its back, wrenching his weapon from its claws' grip and driving the Sea Prism Stone end between two of Desert's humps. The pair hit the floor with a heavy crash, the Mania's head wiping around to stare at him as the claws snapped. Blood shot from its eyes once more, but Smoker was already moving, leaving the diversion to splatter over Desert's back half.
"You might think I'm weak considering my rank," Smoker said, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere around the beast, "but I regularly duel with Vice-Admirals. It is not weakness that has kept me from promotion."
"AAATATATA!" Desert reared back, swiping at Smoker with Haki-coated front talons. The marine beat its attacks away with his jutte, simultaneously having to dodge the being's lunging bites. Judging by the pattern on the neck, this creature was part diamondback, so one bite could be enough to render him unconscious in the best-case scenario.
"It is not often I say this," he muttered, "but now would be a good time for more pirates to show up."
"Mommy!" Ace yelled, his voice bouncing down the metal hallways as he struggled in the mad scientist's grip. "Mommy!"
"Shut up, brat!" Velo ordered with a firm shake. "Your dreadful wailing is getting on my nerves!"
"Let me go, mean evil lady!" Ace's tiny fists beat against Velo's reptilian arm. "I'm not scared of you! My mommy and daddy and aunts and uncles are gonna kick your ass!"
Velo stopped, swinging Ace around to shove his back into a metal wall. It was not forceful enough to leave any lasting mark on the young boy, but it was none too soft and the cold steel nipped at the child's skin despite his coat. Velo leaned in, glaring with her yellow eyes.
"You really must stop with that dreadful language of yours," the woman said, a gravelly growl in the back of her throat. One of her eyes rotated, a red glow coming from within the pupil. "Such is very unprofessional and Master and I insist you avoid such vulgar—"
"Bitch!" Ace interrupted, tugging at his kidnapper's lab coat sleeve. "Bastard! Meanie! Sleezy McGee! Poopiehead!"
"Now that is uncalled for," Velo growled, pulling Ace back an inch before shoving his back against the wall. He gasped, his little hands tugging at her clawed fingers in vain. "You will be silent and you will do as I say, or the consequences of your choices will be rather… dreadful."
"I don't have to listen to you!" Ace denied. "You're just a mean evil scientisty lady who works for the bad guys!"
"Oh. you poor, innocent soul," Velo cooed with a lick of her lips. "You don't get it, do you?"
"Get what?"
Velo smiled, her mouth full of sharpening teeth and that red glint flashing in her eye. "We're all bad guys here. Me, Master, Monet, my Manias, our moronic minions, and all the rest of your little family of pirates. Even the Marines have their fair share of dreadful atrocities to their name despite trying to be the big brother of the whole world. No, child. The only innocent one here in any kind of capacity… is you."
"No way!" Ace yelled. "Mommy and Daddy and my family are the bestest! They aren't bad!"
"Oh, they aren't?" Velo gave a sardonic laugh. "Why don't you tell that to all the people your family have killed over the years?"
"They haven't—"
"But they have," Velo interrupted, pulling away from the wall to spin with her own maniac glee. Psychiatry was always a hobby of hers, and her knowledge of the realm only made torturing the sane so much more fun. Not that she wasn't sane herself, but she had politely dubbed her own mental state as 'selectively unwithheld.' "The Straw Hat Pirates. It's a dreadfully-boring name if you ask me, but your family have found a way to take something as innocuous as a straw hat and make it the sort of thing laymen whisper about with fear. There are some places in the world where no one will even buy a straw hat for fear they will be mistaken as your father! Laymen are so dreadfully stupid, don't you think? And why? What could your pure, innocent family have possibly done to earn such dreadful infamy?"
"Nothing! They—"
"They are murderers, child," Velo hissed with a grin. "It is kill or be killed in this place we call the Grand Line, and your crew have carved a dreadfully-bloody path through it. Maybe not as bloody a path as some other Supernovas, but they have their own body count. Tell me, boy. Have your parents told you about Enies Lobby or Marineford?"
"What's that?" the boy questioned, his fear all but palpable to the older woman. She was turning his own childlike drive for knowledge against him, not that he had any concept of such.
"Those are the names of places your parents destroyed," Velo said, her smile too wide. Ace's struggles slowed to a stop, his wide eyes staring at the woman in shock. "Reduced to rubble and dreadful stains of gore. Hundreds of marines dead or missing in both instances, billions of Beri in property damage, families mourning the losses of fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, and wives all because your dreadful family couldn't hold back their desire to give the World Government a black eye. Do you understand what I'm telling you, child?"
"You're lying!" Ace accused. "My family'd never—"
"But they have," the mad scientist interrupted. She wasn't lying either, for she had read the totally accurate accounts of the Straw Hats' exploits in the papers. "They have since you've been alive. How many of those neo-marines do you think survived your dreadful little pirate war before the real marines got there? How many do you think were dead before then? How many had people back home that will never see them again? I wonder if any died by your own hand…"
Tears leaked from Ace's eyes as he questioned his own thoughts. He had poked a lot of neo-meanies with his Really Sharp Stick after all. "S-Stop…"
"But I suppose that's just the sort your father recruited. Roronoa Zoro was a bounty hunter, and one of the most lethal if the posters are to be believed. The 'Pirate Hunter' they call him, an apt moniker considering how many heads he brought the Marines as just heads before joining Straw Hat. And the 'Electric Demon' is a man who first had a title of 'Man Demon.' He was so dreadfully deadly and ruthless that people refused to believe he could possibly be human!"
"Stop it!" Ace begged.
"And Nico Robin—"
"W-What about Auntie Robin-sensei?"
"She's left a trail of bodies in her wake since she was eight years old." Velo's smirk was toxic, practically dripping venom into Ace's ears. "It started with the destruction of Ohara, her home island wiped off the map all because of her! And every organization she joined afterward fell apart with her as the only survivor. The longest she stayed with any was four years, and your crew is slowly reaching that mark! Why do you think that is, boy?" Ace stayed quiet, sniffling, his cheeks wet. "Your family are just as dreadfully evil as the rest of us, child. Well, maybe amoral is a better word, and it's only a matter of time before you join us in dreadful selfishness."
"I'll never be like you," Ace whimpered.
"Of course not," the scientist said. "You're already worse. Such a dreadful child in the eyes of the world. After all, you have a bounty when I don't. To the world, you're already a little devil waiting to destroy it. Eventually, you'll succumb to the pressure and become exactly that. It's only a matter of time."
Ace made a sound that no letters could explain, his tears flowing freely now. Seeing his spirit broken, Velo held back her own smile as she carried the now-demoralized toddler in her grip, relishing in the faint laughter of her Manias in the distance as she imagined how beneficial Ace would be to her research when she inevitably poached him from the Master of this frozen wasteland.
After all, there was a place far away with more test subjects no one would even miss just waiting for her return.
"Velo!" a voice yelled, ruining the good doctor's moment. She turned, her glowing eye zeroing in on Kaku forcing the door to the Mania Lab open.
"Kaku?" Ace questioned.
"He can't even die correctly," Velo hissed, driving her free hand into a pocket of her lab coat. "Leaving the others behind to die, Kaku? How dreadfully like you!"
"Unhand that child!" Kin'emon shouted, the pair forcing the door open, unmuffling the laughter of the Manias.
"I don't think I will!" Velo pulled a remote from her pocket and pressed a button, lights starting to flash red throughout the hallway. Four separate steel doors slammed shut between her and the ex-agent and samurai. "So dreadfully rude, but that should delay them. Come, child."
Velo fled down the hallway, doors closing behind her, even as Kaku and Kin'emon smashed the first of many.
"I thought you guys were supposed to be the super strongest marines!" Franky yelled, his voice echoing over the now-trampled and crushed snow. "Come on! Our cook could lift that by himself without any hands but you all are struggling as a group?"
"Eh?" the group of marine shipwrights questioned, the burning ember inside them that demanded they prove the pirates wrong reigniting at the metal man's works. They redoubled their efforts, pushing their section of the ship toward the water along the snowy trench they and the children had dug just for such a purpose. "Just you watch, pirate!"
"That's most of Sunny's hull," Amy muttered at the Cyborg's side, the woman standing on Sunny's separated railing so she could still hold the fairy's dismembered manifestation. The marines wheezed in the cold air before them, the men straining to pull Sunny's hull with her ropes or push her along to lighten the burden for those ahead, each couple of inches prompting the kids from the Biscuit Room to run in and brush away the snow that the movement piled up at the bottom rim. "Sanji's crazy strong, but I don't think he's that strong."
"Maybe," Franky shrugged, "but they don't know that. And it's super effective, don't you think?"
"I guess," the blonde shrugged. Sure, she could have helped by lightening the mass of the pieces to make them weigh less, but despite her words, she felt that familiar schadenfreude at watching the marines hard at work and struggling. It was always fun to watch other people sweat and pant, after all. "They're making pretty good time, all things considered."
"That's true," Franky confirmed, looking over the reconstruction process. "I still want to punch that Warlord in his super smug face for what he did, but ordering these marines around is making putting Sunny back together so much easier and it's keeping the kiddos busy."
"Well, when they aren't crying to Chopper about splinters, that is," the woman chuckled. She glanced over at the line of teary-eyed children that had formed before their humanoid doctor, each one of those boys holding one hand in another. "I'm surprised by the effectiveness of Brook's music, though."
"He's had a long time to work on it," Franky nodded, tilting his head to listen to the jaunty tune that drifted through the air. "He's even learned how to essentially hypnotize people with it. Don't ask me how that works, but it's definitely been a super boon."
"Heave ho!" some of kids chanted, the proto-giants and the regular kids working together to pull the masts through the snow, all with 'Franky's apprentices' at the head. "Heave ho! Heave ho!"
"Are you actually going to teach them anything?" Amy wondered.
"Sure," the man replied. "It won't hurt anything and the world could always use a few more super shipwrights trained by a master."
Marines fell to the cold earth, each panting breath a puff of white fog in the air as Sunny's hull reached its destination beside the stern, half a meter separating the two.
"Super good job, guys!" Franky commented, stepping up to the tired men. Amy followed him, carrying Sunny's railing. "Just a little more before we start moving the bow and the figurehead!"
"Uuuuughhh," the marines replied in tandem.
"No one ever said putting ships back together would be easy! Now watch and learn!" He sent a wink to Amy, the blonde rolling her eyes at their little scheme to convince these marines that they were stronger than was the truth. Ropes shot through the rigging of the two parts as Sunny did her part while Franky positioned himself to push the hull into the stern. Amy ran a hand over Sunny's side while everyone was focused on Franky, decreasing the hull's mass. "Franky… Super Push!"
The ropes tightened and the actual flesh muscles on Franky's back bulged as the man and ship in tandem forced her parts back into place with a thunk. Sunny let out an audible sigh of relief when she reconnected, Amy floating upward to replace her railing.
"I'm coming back together!" the Klabautermann cheered, manifesting to show everyone that her legs and stomach were in one piece once more. Her upper torso and head were still separated, however, the fairy holding her head up in her hands.
"This adventure of ours is just not normal," Amy grinned with a shake of her head, the blonde walking to stand alongside the Klabautermann where she sat and proceeded to run her fingers through the fairy's manifesting hair. "Not that I'd have it any other way."
"Oh, finally!" a voice yelled, every person along the shore turning while readying any weapons they had. Something that looked like a two-headed shadow faded into view through the snow, slowly coming into focus until the light revealed it to be Grace and Billy on Zoro's shoulders. "It's about time! I'm freezing my tail off!"
"Wah!"
"Fine, you're freezing my tail off. Details! …Heh, de-tails."
"Wah."
"The Hell happened here?" Zoro questioned, his voice too high as he surveyed the situation with his one good eye. "Who did this to Sunny?"
"Wah!" Billy quacked.
"Grace!" Amy vanished from her place atop the deck, reappearing with a Shave to drag her adoptive sister off the swordsman's shoulder and pull her into a spinning hug. "You don't know how worried I've been! You're covered in burns! What happened?"
"There's been a sort of… mix up," Zoro muttered, rubbing the back of his head in a very un-Zoro-like fashion.
"Uh, what?" the blonde blinked.
"So, who wants to explain?" Zoro questioned.
"Wah!"
"You can't explain, Angry-Moss," Grace said. "You're a Gigafowl."
"Wawah!"
"Do not call me that! I am not an overgrown chicken, Angry-Moss!"
"I guess I have to explain," Zoro muttered as he pressed a hand into his forehead.
"Explain what?" Amy demanded.
"So, uh…" Zoro began. "Did a guy with a white hat and a black coat do this?" He gestured to Sunny's many parts.
"Yeah…?" Amy questioned, now leery about the situation. "Why?"
"Well, we ran into him, too," he said. "He managed to, uh, body swap us?" Zoro gestured to himself. "I'm Grace. Billy's in my body. And that means Zoro's in Billy's body."
Amy blinked. Once.
Twice.
"Kyaaaaaahahahahahaha!" she laughed, falling into the snow to giggle and roll. "Z-Zoro's in a duck! A-A duck! It's too good! I can't breathe! Kyaaaahahahahaha! Oh Goda, what would Sanji say‽ Kyaaahahahaha!"
"I am a Gigafowl!" Grace-Billy interjected with crossed arms. "I'm not just some common pond duck!"
"Waaahhh…" Billy-Zoro muttered with narrowed eyes.
"Big Sister, this is serious!" Zoro-Grace yelled, stomping a foot. The image was so out of character for Zoro that it only managed to reignite Amy's giggles. "Big Sister!"
"At least you're having a good time, Female-Smells-Sweet," Grace-Billy frowned, scanning the area as he was trained to do. "What happened here?"
"Yohoho!" Brook chuckled, approaching the group of his shipmates. "We had a bit of a run-in with the local Warlord. Law, if I remember his name correctly, which seems a touch ironic considering his legal position."
"Law?" Zoro-Grace echoed, raising a hand to rub her chin. "I know I've heard that name before. If they're a Warlord, could you mean Trafalgar Law?"
"He's one of the Supernovas," Amy nodded, coming out of her laughing fit. "Mama wanted to recruit him, but he never came into her territory and then he took 100 pirate hearts to the Marines to get the title of Warlord. That kind of soured her opinion of the guy."
"Mama?" Grace-Billy questioned with a tilt of his head, something that didn't quite look right with human anatomy.
"Sorry, Big Mom," Amy corrected. "Force of habit."
"Great," Zoro-Grace muttered with a roll of their eye. "We need to catch this guy alive or we're gonna be stuck like this. I don't know about you, Sis, but you laughing at Zoro as a duck for the rest of his life is not worth me having to walk around with this thing between my legs forever. And I certainly don't want Coby to see me like this."
Billy-Zoro's face paled behind the feathers while Amy did her best to hold back a laugh at the image.
"Well, I suppose I now have a question I never thought I'd say," Brook commented, turning to Grace-Billy. "Billy, may I see your pan—"
"Not on your unlife!" Zoro-Grace screeched, punching the skeleton.
"Mr. Luffy, I'm not sure about this."
"Have you got a better idea?"
"Well, no…"
"I didn't think so."
"Still, I don't know if punching the wall as you climb is the best idea."
"It's worked before."
"It has‽"
Luffy only chuckled to himself as the pink not-an-eel followed in his path. The pirate captain had all the tools of his crewmates that he'd managed to find strapped to his back, such including Nami's Perfect Clima-Tact, Coby's two swords Hoshokusha and Emono, Amy's parasol, Merry's corundum hammers, Usopp's Kabuto, and Gin's tonfa.
This climb was his third attempt to get out of the trash chute, each of his previous attempts having been better than the last. His trail was marked by serious indents in the metal walls, the pirate having to coat his hands with Armament before punching the wall to create each handhold. A determined smile refused to waver as, with a bang, he created another such hold and pulled himself up a little farther.
"Ki— Father, stop struggling!" Momonosuke ordered, turning his eyes downward to the disembodied legs he was tasked with carrying up their path. "I am afraid I will drop you, again!"
Kin'emon's legs froze, one calf having Momonosuke's long, scaly body wrapped around it in a circle so he could still utilize all four of his limbs. It was all he could do to drag himself upward each time Luffy lengthened their path, only the sweet promise of freedom urging him forward.
"Poot!" the legs farted. "I still do not understand what has happened to you, Momonosuke! By what sorcery is this possible?"
"It's not source code!" Luffy yelled down.
"He means magic!" the Zoan clarified.
"It's not that, either! It's a Devil Fruit!"
"Poot! I cannot hear you despite my questions!"
"I have lived it, but I simply cannot believe it," Momonosuke muttered. "How could a fruit of any sort change an individual's entire physical structure?"
"Because it's a Zoan Fruit!" Luffy replied. "Geeze, I didn't know people can be that stupid."
"I'm not stupid!" Momonosuke shot back.
"It's not that hard to understand, though!" Luffy said. "You eat a Devil Fruit and you get a power but can't swim. And if you eat two, you die. And if you fall in the water, someone needs to save you or you die. That's just how it works, Momo."
"And I'm telling you that doesn't make any sense and my name is Momonosuke!" Momonosuke yelled. A piece of the wall came loose under one of Luffy's hands, the young father gripping harder with the other as he shifted to the side. Momonosuke was more vocal with his worry, his claws scratching at the steel as he just barely managed to stay on the wall. "Please be careful, Mr. Luffy!"
Bang! Luffy punched the wall again. "What?"
"Nevermind…"
"Hey Momo, do you feel that?" Luffy asked, causing the Zoan behind him to hug the wall and try to focus on whatever the rubber-man could be talking about.
"There's… a breeze?" he breathed, air brushing past his face. "So there is an exit up here!"
"Of course there is!" Luffy replied. "If you go in, there's a way to go out, even if it means you have to make one."
"Poot! I feel like an accurate statement was just made," the samaurai's legs begrudgingly farted. Momonosuke's nose crinkled at the response.
"That sounds like something many say my… ah, something father would say."
"Sounds like the rest of your dad's a cool guy, if a bit stupid!" Luffy laughed. "I think we're almost there! We just have to—" Luffy's hand grabbed the newest handhold only for the metal beneath to warp and bend. Luffy's eyes widened as he lost traction, falling backward.
"!" Momonosuke screamed as the falling body of the pirate got bigger, Luffy's bendy scapula meeting Momonosuke's face. The not-an-eel unraveled, Man, half-man, and Zoan all going into freefall for the third time. Momonosuke clawed at the air, whisps of cloud forming under his palms but not enough to even slow his fall. "I blame you, Mr. Luffy!"
"I guess that's fair!" Luffy laughed. All three hit the closest trash heap with a crash, old food and rusted machine parts flying away as they were compressed under the force. "But we got farther that time!"
"And now we have to start over again!" Momonosuke yelled. "Aren't you worried about your crew?"
"Sure I am," Luffy admitted as he got to his feet, "but I know they're all really strong and can handle anything this island throws at them. Come on, Momo—"
"My name is Momonosuke!"
"—one more climb. Then we'll be out of here!"
End of Chapter 41
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-SwordOfTheGods