Foreword: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates! Since today is a holiday, and since I was also two days late posting last week's chapter because I got caught up with work and forgot, here's the new chapter a day early. The support I've gotten for this project is insane. so this Thanksgiving, I'd like to say I'm grateful for all of you who have been reading and keeping up with this story. Thank you all so much! Enjoy your turkey, ham, stuffing, or whatever your normal Thanksgiving spread is! And for everyone who doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving for whatever reasons, I love y'all, too!
"There is nothing more to say," said the reanimated Itachi, turning to face his brother as the light began to engulf him. Kabuto had been defeated, the Edo Tensei had been forcibly released, and Itachi had used his remaining Sharingan to impart the whole, unvarnished truth about the Uchiha Massacre to Sasuke. Soon he would be called back to the world of the Straw Hats, and see his friends' smiling faces again. He hoped. But before that, he needed to say one last thing to his little brother.
"I have told you the whole truth. I won't have to ever again," he continued, slowly stepping toward Sasuke. "I have always lied to you, and asked for your forgiveness while keeping you at a distance, because I wanted to keep you out of this. But now, I think that perhaps you could have changed father, and mother. If I had come to you from the start, looked straight into your eyes and told you the truth, then I wouldn't have to stand before you as a failure, telling you all of this. But, I want to impart this much truth to you." He reached out with his right hand, grabbing the back of Sasuke's head and pulling him in, touching his forehead to his own.
"You don't ever have to forgive me, and whatever you do from here on out, remember this. No matter what, I will love you always."
With those final words imparted to Sasuke, Itachi's reanimated body fell apart, reduced to ash, and his soul departed from this world.
Itachi slowly opened his eyes. His vision filled with the image of a dimly lit wooden ceiling, and his senses registered the gentle sway of a ship being rocked by the waves. He took a moment to lie there and reflect on what had occurred back in his home world.
Not only was he able to undo the Edo Tensei, but by some miracle did so while also finally getting to tell his little brother everything. More than anything, it had been a relief to see that Sasuke was alive and healthy, even if his philosophy had been warped by Madara, who he suspected wasn't actually Madara, but he had no way of ever confirming one way or the other now. Itachi sighed. It felt like a huge weight had been removed, a weight he didn't realize he'd been carrying. He smiled, feeling tears well up in his eyes.
"I have no more regrets," he said to no one in particular, his voice cracking slightly. "I did everything I could, and now the rest is up to Naruto and Sasuke."
Sitting up slowly, he looked around to see the familiar sight of the men's quarters on board the Thousand Sunny. He really had made it back. The question was, how long did it take for him to do so? He looked down at his hands. He still had his flesh and blood, which was a relief. He can't have been gone for too long, then. He pushed the blanket off of him and slid down the side of the bunk bed. His feet hit the floor with a dull thud. Seemed like he still had all his faculties and coordination, meaning he wasn't even gone long enough for his body to start breaking down. Even so, something felt off, like his body wasn't fully awake yet. He looked at the other beds. No one else was there.
Topside, he still found no signs of his crewmates. What he did find was a large gate out in the water trapping the Sunny inside it, with enormous chains that stretched upwards, connecting to the largest mast he'd ever seen. The mast supported a similarly proportioned black sail bearing a skull with purple bat wings and what appeared to be wisps of smoke on either side. Itachi recognized it as the jolly roger of Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
"So we're in Thriller Bark, then? Then I'd guess that the one who stole Brook's shadow was Moria himself. And if I know my captain, he's probably fighting Moria right now."
A loud crashing sound emanated from the central island that the mast originated from, followed by a cloud of dust rising from the tree line.
"Well, at least he makes it easy for me to find him," said Itachi, leaping from the deck of the ship and running across the water towards the source of the disturbance.
Nightmare Luffy had just beaten down Oars and sent him crashing into a nearby tower that was built on the side of the mast. The Rolling Pirates celebrated, emboldened by Luffy's apparent victory. Their cheers soon died, however, when Oars got back up, ready to continue the fight. Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Robin, and Brook rallied for one more push against Oars and Moria. Robin used her powers to sprout arms from the side of the tower, and Brook used them as footholds to get Luffy up to the top. Nami used her Rain Tempo to douse Oars, allowing Franky and Usopp to blast him with a freezing wind cannon, freezing his legs, Sanji used a giant chain and Zoro used his Three Thousand Worlds technique to perfectly straighten the behemoth's back. Brook threw Luffy down at Oars at full force, and Luffy used Gear 3 to launch one final attack, shattering Oars's back and finishing the fight.
The sun was nearly up, but Moria wasn't done yet. He burst forth from the stomach of Oars, using his Shadow's Asgard to absorb all the remaining shadows in the area, deforming into an enormous, grotesquely inflated version of himself. This was the end. All he had to do was run the clock. Soon the sun would be up, and everyone around him would be dead.
Then, a new face arrived on the scene. Itachi Uchiha appeared in front of Luffy, brandishing his sword.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, captain. I'm back now, and I'm ready to fight."
"Itachi!" exclaimed Luffy.
"What's the situation, captain?"
"That guy Moria has all our shadows! If we don't get them back before the sun comes up then we're all gonna die, but the only way to do that is for him to order them to!"
"I see. Leave the rest to me, everyone. I've apparently missed too much of the action as it is."
"No, wait, Itachi!" yelled Chopper. "You've been dead for almost a full day, who knows what effects coming back to life has had on your body! We can handle this, so just rest until I can check on you, okay?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," replied Itachi firmly. "If I sat back while my crewmates suffered and bled in battle, I'd be a pretty pathetic pirate indeed."
Moria cackled maniacally, looking down at Itachi. "What are you going to do against the power of a thousand shadows! Unless I specifically order them to, there's no way to return them to their original owners! I'm their master now, and there's nothing you can do about it!"
Itachi simply stared into his eyes and activated his Sharingan, instantly trapping Moria in a genjutsu. "Let me give you some advice; never look an Uchiha in the eyes. Now, release all of the shadows and return them to their original owners!"
Moria, powerless to resist, did as instructed, letting the shadows spew out of his overinflated body. One by one, all one thousand shadows flew back to their owners.
Itachi looked back at the Straw Hats and the Rolling Pirates. "Does everyone have their shadows back?"
Various words and cheers of confirmation echoed throughout the battlefield.
"Good!" he said, turning his attention back to Moria. "Now, it's over."
The shinobi sprang forward, coating Sasuke in his Armament Haki, and sliced Moria clean across his gut, putting the Warlord down just as the sun poked out over the horizon.
Itachi sheathed his sword and looked back, flashing a smile at his crewmates. "I'm sorry if I worried you all, but I'm okay now."
"You idiot!" blubbered Franky, tears streaming down his face. "I wasn't worried at all, you big dumbass!"
"Don't you ever scare us like that again!" exclaimed Usopp. "I thought you were gonna die!"
"Well, I suppose I kind of did," shrugged Itachi. "My soul left my body for awhile, so I was pretty much dead in this world, I guess."
"Itachi!" screamed Chopper, running towards him. "I need to check on you right away, so don't move!"
"I appreciate the concern, Chopper, but I promise I'm-"
Itachi was cut off by the sight of someone blowing past Chopper and beelining towards him. Robin tackled him to the ground, landing with her head on his chest, visibly and audibly sobbing into his shirt.
"You had me so worried, you damn jerk! Don't you ever do that to me again!"
Itachi looked stunned at first, but simply smiled and placed a gentle hand on the back of her head.
"I'm sorry, Robin," he said, softly. "It'll never happen again, I promise. I'm back for good."
"Ahhh! Robin, why did you do that!" exclaimed Chopper. "We don't know what condition his body is in, you could have hurt him!"
"Relax, Chopper, I'm feeling fine," said Itachi as he sat up, helping Robin get to a sitting position as well.
Then, everyone else tackled him, except for Zoro, who was slowly walking towards him, and Chopper, who was freaking out and chastising the rest of the crew for also tackling him.
"We were so worried!" cried Luffy.
"You moron! What were you thinking, dying on us like that?!" yelled Nami.
"You big, dumb, idiot, what the hell is wrong with you?" cried Franky.
"You were dead, you jerk! How could you just die on us like that?!" exclaimed Usopp.
"I swear, it's nothing but stale bread and rice for you for the next week for pulling a stunt like that!" yelled Sanji.
"When they told me what happened, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack, not that I have a heart anymore!" said Brook.
"Alright, everyone, I get it!" said Itachi, "But I'm back and I'm perfectly fine, so could you please let me up!"
Once the Straw Hats got off of Itachi and he could stand again, he was bombarded with questions.
"Did you go back to your home world?"
"What happened while you were there?"
"Did you get to see your brother again?"
"Did you beat the guy who cast the jutsu?"
Itachi was answering their questions when he felt another presence behind him.
He spun around, and atop the collapsed tower sat another Warlord, "Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma, holding a Transponder Snail up to his face with one hand. In the other rested a Bible. He was receiving orders to kill the Straw Hats and everyone else on Thriller Bark.
Nami warned everyone about his Devil Fruit powers, how he could apparently make someone disappear, and move from place to place in an instant. Sure enough, Kuma seemingly vanished from his position atop the tower, reappearing in an instant behind Itachi. He could track the movement, but only barely. This guy was almost fast enough to overcome the enhanced perception of the Sharingan, and that was bad news. Itachi drew his sword, holding it up to block the incoming attack. Kuma swiped his hand at him, sending him crashing into a concrete wall despite the blow being blocked.
When the dust settled, Itachi was dazed but mostly fine, aside from a small trickle of blood running down his head, but Kuma was already gone, now going after Zoro. The swordsman attempted to fight back but was easily repelled, even having his thirty six caliber Phoenix deflected with one hand. Zoro continued to struggle in vain against Kuma, but was completely outclassed. Kuma compressed a ton of air into a small bomb in his hands, and offered a deal: Everyone else's life would be spared, if they handed over Luffy. When everyone obviously refused, he released the air bomb, which he called Ursus Shock, detonating it. The resulting blast ripped trees from the ground, destroyed buildings, and caused the sea itself to roil, leaving a massive crater in its wake. When the dust cleared, Itachi stood, clad in his Susano'o and holding up the Yata Mirror.
"That was some attack," he said, breathing heavily. "If I didn't have this, then you might have actually killed my friends."
"'Red Eyes' Itachi, formerly of the Whitebeard Pirates," said Kuma calmly. "Now of the Straw Hat Pirates. Bounty: seven hundred and fifty million berries. You have many strange and mysterious powers that aren't well understood by the World Government, but I don't recall ever hearing about anything like this."
"That's because I've never had a need to use it," replied Itachi, deactivating the Susano'o. "In fact, if I hadn't needed to cut some of the power out of that attack to ensure my friends' survival, I still wouldn't have used it. I think I'm more than capable of beating you without it, especially now that I've seen your powers and how they work."
"Is that a fact?" asked Kuma. "Well then, show me what you can do. You should be much stronger than the rest of your crewmates."
"For raising a hand against my captain, and my friends, I will show you the power of my clan!"
Itachi rushed at Kuma, weaving signs and casting the Fireball jutsu. Kuma repelled it easily, but that allowed Itachi to jump into the air and get to eye level with the Warlord, using his Sharingan genjutsu to bring Kuma down. Kuma had already seen Itachi do this to Moria, though, and before the illusion could completely strip him of his senses, used his paw pads on himself, directing its repulsive power at his own face and breaking the genjutsu.
This wildly unexpected action completely shocked Itachi. He could use his Devil Fruit to repel concepts as well? What kind of nonsense was that?
Unfortunately, Itachi's maneuver had left him open, and Kuma's other paw came slamming down on top of him, sending him crashing to the ground at Kuma's feet. Itachi barely had time to coat his body in Armament Haki, softening the blow. It still did quite a bit of damage, though. Kuma followed up with a swift kick, sending Itachi skidding across the ground for a few feet before he caught himself, kicking back up to his feet and using his Phoenix Flower jutsu. Perhaps if he sent enough projectiles at once, Kuma would be unable to repel them all. Unfortunately, Kuma was more than fast enough to do so. Itachi created a Shadow Clone, conjuring a murder of crows to conceal their movements and confuse Kuma as to the identity of the real one. They circled around Kuma, flanking him. One went low, the other high. Kuma attempted to repel the one that jumped up at his face, but Itachi was able to use the swipe to his advantage, dodging the air current and springboarding off of Kuma's outstretched arm. Meanwhile, the other Itachi swept at Kuma's legs, forcing him to jump to avoid it. In that moment, with Kuma hanging in the air, the clone on the ground detonated, sending Kuma flying upwards where the real Itachi was waiting with his sword drawn, and stabbed Kuma right through the chest, slamming him back down into the ground. Itachi took a moment to catch his breath, then crouched down to take back his sword. The instant his hand touched the hilt, Kuma swiped at him with his right arm, forcing Itachi to use Haki to try and cushion the blow. He was still sent flying, and slammed into a pile of rubble.
Itachi was impressed. This was the toughest fight he'd been in, aside from his first scrape with Garp back in his Whitebeard days.
Even with Haki cutting some of the power out of them, Kuma's attacks hit like a train. He felt the impact of each and every one of them rattling his very bones. And unlike Garp, who was easy to read, Kuma seemed to be able to just throw out attacks with no apparent wind-up.
Unfortunately, Itachi was nearing his limit sooner than expected. That last hit had taken too much out of him. It seemed like Chopper was right, and doing something this strenuous right after being "revived" was a bad idea. His body hadn't yet fully acclimated to being alive and conscious again, and he was much lower on chakra than normal. Darkness crept at the corners of his eyes, but he fought it off, barely managing to get back to his feet. Then, Zoro came flying in with his Lion's Song attack, slashing open Kuma's left shoulder and revealing metal and wires rather than flesh and blood.
Kuma opened his mouth and began charging some kind of laser attack, aiming at Zoro. Itachi tried to focus his chakra, but to no avail. The damage he'd taken, all the jutsu and Haki he'd used, his conjuring of the Susano'o, and being not quite recovered from death all compounded, and Itachi passed out from the effort.
And then, Nothing Happened.
By the time Itachi woke up, Kuma was gone, Sanji had dragged Zoro over to their location, and Luffy was apparently feeling better than ever despite the injuries he'd sustained in the battle with Moria. Itachi stood slowly and felt his foot tap something. He looked down and saw his sword lying beside him. Apparently Kuma had been kind enough to pluck it from his chest and return it.
"What a strange man," muttered Itachi to himself. He picked up Sasuke and sheathed it before turning his attention to the rest of the crew. Everyone was a bloody mess aside from Luffy, but Zoro looked especially bad. According to Chopper, he was on the verge of death and needed emergency treatment. Luffy, Usopp, Nami, Sanji, Franky, and someone named Lola offered to head to the Sunny for food and supplies.
Itachi stayed behind at Chopper's insistence. "You fought against Kuma, didn't you?!" he cried. "You weren't this hurt before we all got knocked out so you fought him even though your body wasn't recovered yet! I need to examine you before you do anything else so you're staying right here!"
Chopper directed him to a pallet next to Zoro and performed some routine checks; temperature, pulse, reflexes, etc, and asking various questions.
Itachi had to admit he felt a good bit weaker than normal, which was likely a side effect of being dead for a day.
"It's strange," said Chopper. "Normally your organs would have started to decompose and your muscles should have gone into full rigor mortis hours ago, but you seem mostly fine aside from some fatigue. I checked your body after you left us, and you were definitely dead, but you'd never think it from your appearance or your vitals."
"Perhaps it's another effect of whatever brought me to this world to begin with?" offered Itachi.
"That's the only explanation I can think of," agreed Chopper. "I don't see any other reason that your body would be able to resist the aftereffects of being dead for as long as you were gone."
"In any case," said Robin. "The others have been gone for awhile; they should be back soon. Will you need any help setting up your medical equipment, Chopper?"
"Yeah, I'd appreciate it. The faster I get set up, the faster I can treat Itachi and Zoro."
"Normally I'd offer to help as well," said Itachi, "but I get the sense you don't want me moving from this spot for a time."
"You sense correctly!" said Chopper. "Stay on that bed and don't move without my say-so!"
"Understood, doctor."
Several minutes passed before the others arrived. There was plenty of food for everyone, including the Rolling Pirates. According to Nami, someone had left the food and treasure Moria had stocked up on board the Sunny. Weird. There was no treasure on board when Itachi first woke up, meaning it had to have been placed there after he left to help with Moria.
The other Straw Hats pondered how Zoro was reduced to his current near-death state. Having fought Kuma one-on-one, Itachi was also curious. As injured as Zoro was at the time, Kuma could have killed him easily, so why did he just leave? He didn't even take Luffy, which was the primary thing his superiors had wanted him to do.
Two of the Rolling Pirates apparently witnessed the whole affair and offered to tell them all about it, but Sanji dragged them outside before they could say anything. Itachi looked over to the other Straw Hats and spotted Robin sitting at a table, holding her head up in one hand and a devious look on her face. Itachi raised an eyebrow at her, to which she simply tapped her index finger to her ear twice.
When Sanji reentered with the two pirates, they had suddenly changed their tune and didn't want to divulge anything. Itachi looked back over to Robin, who tapped her pinky finger twice, which was located beneath her eye. Itachi activated his Sharingan, extracting the relevant info from Robin through his genjutsu. He was careful to only extract information in relation to what she had heard the Rolling Pirates tell Sanji, deactivating his Sharingan when he was done. The whole process only took a split second. Itachi smiled at her in an attempt to thank her for trusting him to do that. Robin smiled back.
The information only raised further questions as to Kuma's motive in all this, but that could come later. For now, there was feasting and revelry to partake in. Chopper issued Itachi a clean bill of health, and that meant he could join the festivities. Eventually, Brook began playing a familiar song.
"Bink's Sake," said Robin, "how nostalgic! I haven't heard this song since I was a little girl."
"Funny enough, it actually brings back memories for me, too," replied Itachi, taking a seat across from her and setting a large plate of food on the table. "We used to play it a lot back on Whitebeard's ship. I hope Ace and the others are doing okay."
"Ace? You mean Luffy's brother?" asked Usopp from behind him. "Oh yeah, you used to be on Whitebeard's crew! I almost forgot!"
"Yeah. You said you ran into him back in Alabasta, right? I never got to ask what he was doing there."
"He said he was looking for someone," replied Usopp. "But now that I think about it, he was pretty mad when he talked about it, so maybe hunting would be a better word for it."
"Hunting someone? That's concerning," replied Itachi. "Did he tell you who?"
"Yeah, someone who goes by Blackbeard, if I remember right?"
"Blackbeard? I've heard the name in passing recently as an up and comer, but I can't say I know him."
"Same here," said Robin. "But if one of Whitebeard's commanders is out hunting him, then he must have done something to invoke your old captain's rage."
"Pops was pretty lenient on most people," explained Itachi. "The only reason he'd have someone like Ace actively hunting down Blackbeard is for bringing harm to one of his crew. He doesn't care much what happens to him personally, but he sees everyone on his crew as his own children, and anyone who messes with them is essentially signing their own death warrant."
"Pops?" asked Usopp.
"Oh, that was what most of the crew called him. Old habits and all that. Although since I'm now a Straw Hat I suppose I shouldn't call him that anymore."
While this conversation was happening, Luffy was talking to Brook, with the latter asking if the offer to join the crew still stood. Luffy obviously said yes, prompting the rest of the crew to react with utter shock, with the exception of Robin, who just laughed about it. She commented on how lively the crew was now, and Nami lamented that they always seemed to attract the noisy types. The Rolling Pirates offered a toast, even though they had no clue what was really going on.
The merriment continued into the morning. At one point, Itachi pulled Sanji aside to get filled in on what all had happened while he was gone, as well as the full context of Brook's situation.
Over the next two days, Franky and Usopp designed and built a headstone to honor Brook's former crew, Zoro woke up and laid Yubashiri to rest, and Lola gave Nami a Vivre Card that pointed to her mom. Luffy then remembered that Ace had given him one as well and pulled it out to see that it was singed at the edges. Lola explained that on top of telling the holder the direction in which the card's person could be found, it also reflected their life force, and that Ace's card burning like that meant he was in danger. This obviously grabbed Itachi's attention as well.
Eventually, the Rolling Pirates opened the gates and the Straw Hats cast off, leaving Thriller Bark behind.