I should not have indulged last night. It means this chapter is coming out a little late, but here it is. We get to learn more about Smoker's feeling and plans while Coby and the others deal with their ambush! I hope you all are ready for learning and lizards, which sounds like a bad discount Dungeons and Dragons parody.

Anyway, thank you to my Patrons: Andrew Bohl, Animephilosopher1, Ankhseram123, Ant Franklin, Badmr7, Cam Bliss, Christopher Mitchell, Clark Kent, Claude Walker, Cordell Sanders, Cory Johnston, Darko129, David, David Bowling, David Reynolds, Emi Stafford, Eric Bandel, Eugene Malone Jr., EvilJelly, Fenrir ragnarok, FlakeTrain, Garvin Lee Nelson-Mathlin, GLADIUS315, GODA98, Illiasse Naji, Immagenius, Inucbus, Jacob McCarthy, JEP1010, Jkat, John Mekjian, Jonathan Moh, Joseph Baty, Joseph Cheung, Joseph Morrison, Joseph Vargas, Joshua Groves, Kcx1, Kevin Calderon, Korakas, Kyo Anamoto, Lamont Hale, MAEGHT Maxime, Marielle Orff, Matt Walther, Matthew Burley, McBanjo, Mcgin28, Milagros Peres Davila, Milla, Neridian, Rafael Cardenas, ReactedLyric, Richard Barkley, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, Sasha, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, Tom Peissig, and ViewtifulSoul!

Chapter 53:

Daggers and Lizards

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right," Smoker said, though the tone of his voice was much more accusatory than confused. Smoke billowed from the ends of his cigars as he stared down the diminutive pirate doctor. "Did you say your plan to help the children is to give them more of the drug that drove them mad‽"

"When you say it like that, it sounds like a bad thing," Chopper admitted, a slew of something like muffin tins filled with a purple liquid arrayed behind him on his portable table. "Look, without Grace and her chem powers, we don't have much other option. Imidogen Hydrocarbide is already difficult to produce; any replacement or counter-depressant is purely theoretical at this stage. Or, at least, anyone who's discovered a counter hasn't published. It would take a mind like Dr. Vegapunk or powers like Grace's to get us anywhere in such a short time, neither of which we have."

"We can wait until they return having undone the body-swap. We'd have the Magpie's powers then."

"But we can't," the reindeer rebuffed, pointing a hoof at the children. "Those kids are suffering from NHC10 withdrawal now, not to mention the smoke inhalation you caused. That withdrawal has been known to drive grown adults to madness and worse because of the hunger pangs. Sating those with said drug isn't the best option, no, but it's the only one we have available. Even with Grace's powers, we wouldn't know which theories to start with and what any side-effects would be!"

"There has to be something else, Monster Doctor."

"I wouldn't have prepared this if there was anything else! You can ask your men. Billy, Grace, and I tried everything we could with what we had on the shore. Nothing worked."

Smoker turned, glaring his silent question at the marines. They responded equally quietly, giving him a slew of affirmative motions, such as nods and thumbs-ups.

"Choppy's not a liar!" Ace insisted, standing and still cradling the egg. "Uncle Uso lies a lot, but Choppy doesn't! Except that one time!"

"One time?" Smoker questioned.

"One time?" Chopper echoed. "When have I lied to you, Ace?"

"That time with the cotton candy!" Ace answered. "You said we ate it all, but then I saw you eating more after I left!"

"That—! Your mother told me to!" Chopper denied. "Nami said you'd eaten enough candy!"

"Mommy‽" the boy gasped, rounding on the navigator with betrayal in his eyes.

"It was for your own good, Ace," the woman defended, still sitting with Luffy's arm around her shoulders. "Any more candy and you would have ruined your dinner."

"Nu-uh! Nothing can ruin Uncle Pervy Cook's food! 'Specially not candy! And Daddy gets to eat all he wants whenever! How come?"

"Because your father's made of rubber and needs all that energy to fight the bad guys," Nami deflected. "You'll get to eat more when you're bigger and stronger and older. Isn't that right, Luffy?"

"Hm?" the pirate captain blinked, coming out of his daydream about what the Snipe would taste like once Sanji cooked it. Nami raised an eyebrow, giving him a look. "Oh! Oh, yeah! That's right! Yep! Whatever Nami said!"

"By Jove, he's cracked the code," Amy muttered with a roll of her eyes.

Smoker blew out a hard breath, one gloved hand pinching the bridge of his nose. This conversation had quickly derailed to another topic altogether. Quietly, he was thankful Straw Hat never joined the Marines like his grandfather had wanted him to. Sure, the world could have done without all the destruction his little band of pirates caused, but Smoker would not have been able to deal with this brand of chaos from a fellow marine. He could barely stand it now and he'd only been on the island with the Straw Hats for a few hours at most. Plus, if even half of the things Tri-Horn mentioned on the execution platform two years ago were true, there were several threats only the Straw Hats had been in the right place to stop.

"Can we get back to the topic, please?" he demanded, shutting down the pirates' argument about why some birds didn't know how to fly. How had they even gotten onto that topic? "Why is your plan to keep drugging the children?"

"Better the devil you know," Chopper offered. "These kids have lived with the lab's residents drugging them every day for the last few weeks at least. By all odds, another dose isn't going to render any unknown side-effects at this point. I imagine both they and us would agree one more dose before we can get them proper help is a better alternative than continued withdrawal and increased aggression."

"I…" a weak voice said, dragging attention to the giant girl who was docile enough to avoid Usopp's Sargasso. "I don't want it. The mean doctors were giving it to us for bad reasons."

"There," Smoker said. "It's a bad idea."

"Mocha!" Ace called, getting up and hurrying over to the girl in question. Bucktoof raised his head, following Ace with his eyes. "You ok, Mocha?"

"N-No," she whispered. "It hurts. Everything hurts. My head, my tummy, my chest."

"But Choppy has stuff for you!" the toddler said. "He'll heal you right up!"

"But… it's the bad stuff," the gigantified child sniffed, her hands still pressed against her stomach. Her lower lip trembled. "It's because of that that me and Sind and the others are big."

"No, Mocha. It's ok," Nami insisted. She stood, walking over to Ace to pull him up into her arms. "It will make you feel better."

"It's what made us hurt, though. We just want to go back to normal."

"We can't make you normal right now," the navigator whispered, setting a hand on Mocha's arm. "Not while we're in this place. The best we can do is take the pain away for now. But we will find a way to undo what Caesar and his lackies did to you."

"You… You promise?"

"I promise."

Mollified by the woman's words, Mocha lowered herself until she was lying on her side. Ace squirmed out of his mother's arms and stepped forward, putting his hands on Mocha's cheek, the highest point he could reach for the poor girl. One of her hands came up, a single finger bigger than Ace's whole body. Ace gave it a one-armed hug to try to lift her spirits without crushing the egg.

"Choppy's gonna help," he promised. "Choppy's the bestest doctor in the world."

"You can't make promises like that," Smoker stated, drawing a gasp from Mocha. Nami rounded on him, her glare smoldering.

"Excuse me?" she demanded. "We have done more for these children than you have!"

"You cannot promise that your little crew can reverse the effects of the NHC10," the marine shot back. "You have no way of doing it."

"Chopper and Grace could figure it out with enough time."

"And how long might that be?" Smoker questioned. "A few days? A week? Maybe a month? Are you going to keep giving them hits of that stuff to keep their cravings down the whole time? Maybe put them in cages and straightjackets to keep them from hurting each other?"

"Then what's your big idea, Mr. Big Bad Marine?" Nami hissed, hands on her hips. "If you hand them over to the Government, they're just as likely to put them down or brainwash them into child soldiers to cover up their own failures."

"We—"

"I mean, she's got a point," Kaku spoke up, interrupting the man. "Kidnapped child soldier talking here."

"If you must know, I wouldn't take them to the Government," Smoker said, earning surprised blinks from the pirates. "I have contacts, ones that stretch out beyond the mad dog heading our organization right now. I can patch a line through to Dr. Vegapunk and get at least a start on their rehabilitation."

"You can get in contact with Vegapunk‽" Franky gasped. "That's super! I'd love to meet him!"

"And how do we know Vegapunk would help these kids?" Merry questioned. "It seems like Caesar was one of his former colleagues. Can't say that's a good track record of acquaintances so far."

"Other former colleagues of Dr. Vegapunk include the other scientists of MADS, those including Queen of Kaido's Beast Pirates, Judge Vinsmoke of Germa 66, an unknown female member, and association with the underworld broker Du Feld," Kaku offered. "Not exactly a shining history there."

"Vegapunk was brought into the Government's fold for his genius after leading MADS, not for his ability to judge someone's character," Smoker defended. "'Scientists for peace' he said they were. He might have a… questionable list of former friends, but he truly believes in science for peace, even if flowers that grow from gunpowder is a bit out there if you ask me. Still, he's the greatest mind in the world. If anyone can give us what we need in time to help these kids avoid more pain, it's him. That's why I said you can't make those promises, Cat Burglar. We can."

"You can?"

"Yes, we can," Smoker repeated. "I don't mean the Marines or the Government, and I don't mean G-5. There are several unofficial, internal groups within the Marines, two of which I am part of. In this case, I would be working as a member of DAGGER."

"DAGGER? What is that supposed to be?"

"Division Against Gruesome Governance, Enforcement, and Rule," the Logia explained. "We of DAGGER were gathered by Sengoku himself after Sakazuki's ascension to the position of Fleet Admiral. In case you weren't aware, his choice of successor was Kuzan, formal Admiral Aokiji. When the mad dog gained the backing of the World Government's higher ups and drove Kuzan out, Sengoku felt there was a high chance the Marines had of falling even lower unless there was a conceded effort from within to prevent such. This was exacerbated by the revelations of corruptions in the East Blue, primarily revealed by you all between Morgan and Nezumi. If Captains as small-time as them can be abusing people without the knowledge of their superiors, then obviously oversight has not been doing their jobs.

"That is where we come in. We have enough contacts between us within DAGGER to get help outside with enough discretion to avoid unwanted eyes. In conjunction with that, we can use any number of tactics to reveal this rot and find ways to deal with it, assuming we can find enough evidence for Sengoku."

"And you think these friends of yours can get you in contact with Vegapunk?"

"I know they can," Smoker confirmed. He grinned. "After all, a few of my friends in DAGGER have his number."

The pirates blinked.

"I don't know how to respond to that," Amy said, voicing the collective thoughts of those around. "Wait, didn't you say you were thinking about going rogue because the Marines might not be salvageable?"

"I don't have to explain everything I know to you," Smoker replied. "Regardless, I will fight to make the Marines a respectable organization, one so proud and right that future hopefuls like Tri-Horn don't have to turn to piracy to chase the Justice they feel is right. Only when that dream is shattered and there is a bounty on my head will I fully write off the Marines, no matter the daydreams I have of leaving."

"You know what, Smokey?" Luffy grinned. "I really like you! When you've got a bounty, you can join my crew!"

"No way!" Tune denied from the group of lesser marines, the woman stepping out from the fold. "If Smokey gets labeled a pirate, we're all leaving the Marines and joining his crew! We'll be the Smokey Pirates!"

"That's the best name you could come up with?" Merry asked, but the smirk on her face gave her away. "Well, I guess it's not the worst name."

"I think it's better than the Straw Hat Pirates," one of the marine shipwrights heckled.

"Hey!" Nami yelled, her arms crossing as she turned her glare on the group. "That straw hat is Luffy's treasure, just like Smoker is yours. Back off."

"Aww, thanks, Nami," Luffy cooed, extending his rubbery arm to pull her close to him to hug her and kiss her cheek. "I mean, I don't really care if they think the name is stupid or not. All I care about is you and the others sailing by my side."

Nami grinned, nuzzling her cheek into his. "I wouldn't sail with anyone else, Luffy."

"Choppy!" Ace whined. "Mommy and Daddy are flirting again!"

"Yup," the little doctor agreed, sniffing the air. "Smells like pheromones and Sanji's jealousy."

"I am not…" Sanji began. "Ok, I'm very jealous, but I'm happy as long as Nami-swan is happy."

"So?" Amy smirked. "Are you going to give Ace a little brother or sister now?"

"Amy!" a number of pirates chastised, the blonde in question absolutely unrepentant. Kin'emon and Momonosuke watched the whole thing like spectators of tennis, silent and trying to keep up with all this new information, their limited knowledge of the wider world, and where said information fit into everything. Brook and Usopp said nothing, simply enjoying the show.

"What? How?" the boy asked. "Oh, can I get both? I want both!"

"We'll see," Nami supplied, noncommittally. She certainly didn't want to have any further discussion about such topics with her not-quite-two-year-old child no matter how much further in development he was compared to other kids his age. And, while the idea of having more kids with Luffy was not objectionable in any way, Ace himself had not been planned. Trying to raise another child without the calm of somewhere like Weatheria —a child sure to be as rambunctious as Ace was in all likelihood— would be all but impossible with the chaos of the New world and their adventures.

"Ok!" Ace agreed easily. "Ne, Choppy! Are the druggy candies done yet?"

"Hm?" the reindeer blinked. "Oh!" He turned, checking the muffin-tin-like molds he'd been using. He reached forward, using a scalpel to pull one of the purple shapes from its slot. It was about the size of a Rumble ball but more of an egg shape with one flat side. "We're in luck. Because of the cold, the NHC10 has solidified without issue. And if my calculations from what Billy and Grace were able to gather were correct, these should be less than the average dosages for the kids but enough to ease their withdrawal to manageable levels. And," —He sniffed it— "they'll probably taste like grape."

"Grape?" Usopp questioned. "Really?"

"What? Flavoring doesn't affect the molecular structure. It tastes like sawdust otherwise."

"I will not ask how you know that," Smoker grunted, his eyes half-lidded. "You realize if you give that drug to those children, it will technically count against you as coercion and intoxication of minors, right?"

"You know these are extenuating circumstances," Chopper replied, making his way to Mocha. Carefully, he balanced the 'candy' on the end of her finger, the girl studying it. It looked so small.

"Will this really help, Dr, Chopper?" she whispered.

"I will ease the pain, Mocha. Don't you trust me?"

Rather than answer vocally, the black-haired child tipped her head back and swallowed the item. It was so small compared to her large body that she didn't even taste it, the experience even less than taking a pill. She coughed after a moment, a tiny puff of purple smoke coming from between her lips.

"It…" she blinked, pushing herself to her feet. "The pain's all gone!"

"There," Luffy grinned. "Chopper's helped the kids. Now we just have to wait for Zoro and the others come back and we can go kick Caesar in his stupid…" He paused, correctly interpreting the look his wife was giving him. "…face. His stupid face."

Coby cut himself off, diving forward to tackle Z-Grace off her feet. She gasped, turning to yell at him only for her eyes to widen as the air where her head had been was pierced by a giant scorpion tail. It kept going on a course for Tashigi only for Gin to jump in the way, his Logia constitution taking the blow and giving the creature in question a nasty shock for its trouble. The pirates and marine jumped back, their eyes going to the monster that had attacked them.

"This thing hasn't gotten any cuter since the first time I saw it," Tashigi frowned, the group studying the lizard clinging to the wall. Its tail —lightly singed but clearly still in working order— waved over its spiked carapace, its bloodied fangs bared at those it viewed as prey.

"That," G-Billy said, "is a big fucking lizard."

"Thank you, Billy," Gin muttered. "We noticed."

"Smoker and I saw that thing earlier," Tashigi hissed, pulling Shigure from its sheath slowly to not provoke a sudden attack. "Right before we ran into the Ghost Ship and the Devil Child."

"Ah, so it was within the vicinity in that moment?" Robin questioned, slowly positioning her arms to call upon her Devil Fruit powers.

"Yeah, it was," the marine confirmed. "It was carrying a dead body in its mouth and hissed at us."

"We've got this thing outnumbered," Gin noted, pulling out his tonfa. "Question is, what's its gimmick? What tricks does this think have hidden?"

"What makes you think it's got a gimmick?" Z-Grace questioned, falling into one of the basic hand-to-hand combat stances Coby had taught her long ago. The look of Zoro's body choosing to fight without using the two swords still sheathed at his hip was certainly strange. In all odds, however, she and Billy would be useless in this fight without their real bodies.

"Call it a mental hunch," Gin answered, his crewmates translating that to mean it was something Rum was saying. "Somethin' 'bout this thing is… unstable. It's unnervin'."

"SHHAAAAA!" the creature hissed, lunging off the wall. Z-Grace and G-Billy dove away as its fangs bit down on the air, its legs absorbing the force of the impact with no sound or visible ruffling. A creature of such weight should have shaken the hallway or cracked the tile floor, but there was none of that.

"Pterodactyl Swarm!" Coby yelled, launching several flying cuts at the monster. In response to the coming attack, the lizard pulled its head, limbs, and tail into the spiked carapace that enclosed its torso, the attacks breaking against the uneven spines and thick plating.

The scorpion tail lashed outward toward the pink-haired Zoan. Coby sidestepped, his crossed swords parrying the venomous appendage. Tashigi swung Shigure in an upward slash, expecting to sever the offending limb, but her eyes widened as her blade met the tail with a harsh CLANG, stopping dead.

"The hell?" she demanded, having to jump back with Coby as the tail retracted and the rest of the lizard appeared again, hissing. "That's no normal armor."

"One would expect not," Robin agreed.

"Normal or not, it prob'ly ain't shock proof," Gin commented, flashing forward with lightning sparking from his tonfa over the creature. "Take this! Olympus' Judgement!"

His weapons landed, a thunderous BOOM echoing from the strike along with the electric discharge. The creature screeched through the noise, its body quivering. It bucked, getting up on its back legs to slam Gin between its body and the wall, exposing the shell-like pattern on its underside.

"Kamaitachi!" Tashigi called, Shigure swinging through the air. A dozen small lines cut into the lizard's plating, its neck bending unnaturally so it could look at her. It hissed, bringing its front down quickly in an attempt to crush the marine underfoot.

Tashigi would have none of that, jumping away before the creature could injure her. It hissed again before kicking off the wall, Gin barely avoiding the back feet, as it lunged for Tashigi. Its neck stretched, jaws snapping at the first one to properly injure its hide.

"It stretches‽" Coby yelled, charging in. His form changed, the pirate growing into his Armor Mode to interpose himself between the creature and the marine. The razor teeth missed him by an inch, the young man wrapping his arms around the jaw to keep it from going after him and firmly closed. As one would expect, the lizard fought for freedom, its neck twisting this way and that in at attempt to make Coby let go, but the roset refused, his shoes scraping against the tile. "Get it now!"

"Coby, let go!" Robin warned. The swordsman did, jumping away as the scorpion tail lashed the air near his head. He spat a curse, bringing up Emono to bat the stinger away as the head retreated to its normal position.

"SHAAAA!" the creature hissed. It charged forward, Coby now close enough to see that its legs —much like the neck— stretched with each step to maximize its movement. Coby cursed, diving out of the way as it barreled past. He managed to snag the base of the tail, letting the creature's momentum drag it forward too quickly for it to react as the Zoan's grip found the point where the stinger met the rest of the tail.

"Let's see how you like this!" the young man yelled, wrenching back. The lizard screeched as Coby's muscles bulged under his armor plating, pure strength alone lifting the beast from the floor and swinging it over his head, intending to stab its back spines into the flooring to leave it defenseless.

The creature was smarter than to allow that, twisting itself around to absorb the impact with its legs. The scorpion tail gave a horrid SNAP at the sudden move, falling limp. The lizard hissed in pain, ripping the tail free from Coby's hold.

Before their very eyes, the tail straightened, popped back into place, and curled back up to its resting position.

"Son of a Jabra," Coby growled. "I'm starting to not like this thing,"

"Tell us something we don't know," Tashigi muttered. "So, it can stretch its neck and legs, has thick armor and razor-sharp teeth, can heal, and has that tail. Can this thing get any worse?"

"Don't say that!"

The creature hissed, its eyes narrowing.

"I don't like the sound of that," G-Billy muttered as the head of the beast disappeared into the shell.

"You can understand it?" the woman demanded.

"Of course I can!" the bird trapped in the artist's body replied. "That's the same dialect I grew up with!"

"Then what the hell did it say, Billy‽" Coby questioned, tired of beating around the bush.

"It said something about needing more weapons," G-Billy answered. The creature's head re-emerged, the dead body of one of the lab's satyr caretakers in its mouth free of his hazmat suit. Before the others could react, it threw the body into the air and snapped it up, swallowing it whole.

"I don't see how that's supposed to count as more weapons," Z-Grace commented.

"Somethin's goin' on inside it!" Gin warned.

The lizard shook, its head twitching side to side while keeping its golden eyes on the pirates and marine around it. As they watched, off-white horns started to grow out of the ridges of the head, right above the eyes. They curled like those of a ram —or like Merry's— for several revolutions, points sticking outward as they reached the circles' centers. It swung its new horns, scraping one against the floor nearby to test them. The one that hit dug into the tile, leaving a line of shattered ceramic in its wake.

"You just had to fucking say something, Tashigi!" Coby growled, blaming her for this turn of events. "You never ask if things can get worse! Gin? Robin? Either of you got an idea of what this thing's deal is?"

"Limited information points to genetic assimilation," Robin suggested. "It seems able to take genetic material from its prey and recreate certain key aspects of their biology. In this case, it assimilated the horns of the individual it just consumed."

"You don't think it could do that to a Devil Fruit, do you?" Z-Grace asked.

"That would be an interesting question to have answered, Grace."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to test it," Coby said. "You think it has other bodies in that shell just waiting to be food?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Tashigi muttered, fighting down the instinct to vomit at the thought. "You speak this thing's dialect, Thunderbird?"

Gin rushed the creature from the side, sliding under the stabbing tail and sending sparking electricity over its underside, burning a black line across it. The lizard roared in pain, turning its attention on the Logia who bought time for his companions to trade information and scheme.

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"Does that mean you know the origins of this creature?"

"Depending on your definition, Female-Marine-Second," G-Billy replied. "Technically, Evil-Scientist-Woman created all the creatures we've seen here on the island, but the dialect from this one suggests generational evolution from a plant called IQ."

"There's IQ here?" Z-Grace questioned, intimately familiar with the plant after helping Coby care for some of them and assist in the creation of the IQ gummies he'd needed before their separation. She and Chopper had also been in the IQ greenhouse on Meriville when Usopp had finished her Chem-Chem Fruit's previous user (and promptly thrown up in a bag of fertilizer). The knowledge that Velo had been using the properties of the plant was not a surprise after seeing some of the creatures she'd engineered.

"We suspected as much," Coby agreed, Robin nodding along. "Some of the little beasties that tried to slow us down looked like some of the animals from Shiki's islands."

"I did inform Usopp to be more wary of Velo's creations," Robin said. "I noted that scientific experimentation begets more dangerous results at a timelier rate than natural selection. The idea that IQ evolution affects the dialogue of the user, however, lends interesting evidence to the belief that IQ effects brain function as well as biology."

"We already knew it made most creatures more violent," Billy reminded her. "Something Evil-Scientist-Woman seems to have ramped up to eleven."

"I do hope the lizard has not acquired prey of the classification Squamata."

"Godadammit, Robin!" Coby hissed, remembering her comments about squamates from their time exploring the Burning Lands. "Don't sound hopeful about that! We don't need a dangerous, self-evolving lizard that can clone itself!"

Robin only giggled, as much as her quiet chuckling could be called such. Her mirth, however, was cut off as Gin grunted, materializing beside the group in a bolt of lightning and a crack of thunder. The lizard glared at them, its lips and teeth blackened with burned char from where it had gotten the Logia in its mouth before he decided he'd bought enough time and lightning-traveled away.

"Have we got a plan yet?" he asked.

"Right now, I think we just need to overpower it," Coby replied. "We just need to keep it from—" On cue, the lizard's head ducked into its carapace. "Shit! Light it up! Pterodactyl Swarm!"

"Hah!" Tashigi yelled, flinging her own, larger flying cut following Coby's many smaller ones.

"3,000 Volt Lightnin' Shot!" Gin shouted, launching a ball of lightning from between his tonfa.

Z-Grace instinctually tried to summon her chemical attacks, but was forced to swallow a curse of her own when she remembered that her powers were currently outside of her reach. Robin and G-Billy as well were left unable to do anything lest they open themselves to greater danger they could not counter within the lizard's reach.

These distance attacks had been aiming for the hole the lizard's head had retreated into, and they were on track to get there. Said lizard, understandably not wanting to experience what was coming its way, turned, letting the flying cuts and ball of lightning impact its side. They still left marks —a dozen slashes and a charred spot of black— but the chitin of its armor took the brunt of the force

The head popped back out, another body in its teeth. This one, however, was not a sentient resident of the lab but another of Velo's creations.

It was a bird, or more accurately a conglomeration of birds. The deceased avian had two heads, one that of a flamingo with a wide, flat beak and the other with the head of a pelican attached to a slender neck. The body itself was a very light pink, its feathers stained with the deep crimson of its own life fluid. The wings and feet hung limp.

Similar to the last time, the lizard threw the body up and swallowed it whole.

"Ah shit," Coby swore. "Billy, looks like this thing has a taste for bird."

"Yeah, and people!" the human-possessing bird shot back.

"It's evolving again!" Tashigi warned.

The lizard shook, its body seeming to widen. Its head shifted to its right and, out of the darkness of its shell, slowly emerged a second head similar to the first. This head, however, had a wide, flat beak lined with jagged teeth in a way beaks absolutely should not be. That was on top of the horrifying image of a lizard with a beak.

"We need to find a way to flip it!" Coby ordered.

"Cientos Fleur: Giganto Mano!" Robin tried, a hand of many hands rising out of the ground below the creature. It shot upward, but the lizard's legs stretched to accommodate the upward force, the head with the beak looking underneath. The beak opened, Robin quickly dismissing her bloomed arms before harm could come to them and be transferred to her. "My apologies, Coby. It is too flexible for me alone."

"We're lucky none of us have taken a direct hit," the roset replied. "That thing can hit hard and take damage. We aren't going to get anywhere like this."

"We need to outmaneuver it!" Tashigi called. "Devil Child, pin its tail down! Lightning Demon, take the left side! Tri-Horn, the right! Get up close and push it up! I'll take the middle!"

"I hate takin' orders from a marine," the Logia grumbled, lightning-traveling to the left. Coby shrunk into his Human Mode and Shaved right. He grew into his Drill Mode upon landing, falling into a runner's stance. He was still missing one of his horns, not having had enough time to grow it back, but Coby was certain he was still dangerous.

"Ready!"

"Ready!" Gin called from the other side.

"Devil Child, now!"

"Cuarenta Fleur: Hold!" Robin yelled, arms blooming from the floor and wall behind for creature. They reached out, grabbing hold of and wrapping around its tail to pull it flush with the building's interior structure, allowing it no room to move.

"SHAAAA!" the lizard cried.

"Astrope's Arc!"

"Drill Mode Five-Point Style: Mesozoic Meteor!"

The Lizard split its focus, one head going to either side as Gin and Coby initiated their attacks. Gin's horizontal swing stopped as the creature caught the weight of his tonfa with its mouth, suffering more than a couple broken teeth, but the electricity that shot through the lizard's insides proved that its interior was not as tough as its exterior.

Coby's spinning drive aimed for the beaked head's neck, said head turning to aim said beak to intercept. The beak's teeth sawed against Coby's horns, bringing his charge to a stop. Hoshokusha and Emono continued on their path, one stabbing into one of the creature's eyes while the other barely missed its neck.

Working together, Coby and Gin each got one hand under their assigned head to where the shell was. Planting their feet and trusting the tail to Robin, they grit their teeth and lifted. The creature tried to give a dual screech but, filled as its mouths were, the cry was muffled. Tashigi charged in as it raised its front legs, Shigure primed.

"Die, foul beast!"

She drove her weapon into the lizard's chest before dragging it down, opening a line in its less-defended underbelly. It thrashed, the pirates and marine retreating to watch its last, weakening death throws.

Slowly, glaring at them down an eye and with its blood pooling below, the lizard gave one final hiss and died.

The hallway fell silent.

"I do not want to go through that again!" Coby declared, sheathing his swords. "I mean, damn. If I had a Beri for every time I was attacked by a two-headed lizard…"

"You've been attacked by a two-headed lizard before?" Z-Grace blinked, fighting the urge to go fret over her beloved swordsman. It would just be weird for her to do so in Zoro's body.

"I mean, once," Coby answered. "Back on Sabaody. Now that I think about that, two Beris isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?"

"Can't be weirder than the gorillas that are apparently in love with my sister," Z-Grace shrugged, earning confused looks from her crewmates and Tashigi. "She refuses to elaborate."

"There are gorillas in love with Amy?" Gin questioned, oddly defensive.

"I don't want to know," Tashigi sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"Wah wa-wah wah wah?" a voice questioned, the group turning to see B-Zoro and Law standing at the other side of the hallway, the duck speaking through the handle of Wado Ichimonji. Law just looked tired, a burned fringe nearly smoldering on the lower part of his black coat.

"Finally!" Z-Grace yelled. "We've got a bone to pick with you, Law!"

"Yes, well," the Warlord responded, "I would like to discuss a few things with you, too. Namely, how in the world have the Pirate Hunter and I trekked through the Burning Lands to get back here without ever leaving the lab?"

"Wha—?" Tashigi blinked.

"I told you," Coby sighed. "Zoro-sensei's sense of direction is that bad. Let's just get everyone in their normal bodies again. We've got a situation to deal with."

End of Chapter 53

I hope you enjoyed it! Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods