Nexus: Heroes Will Rise

by tmb1112

Universal borders have been erased and beings from thousands of universes now live on the same world: Nexus. In the first Saga of Nexus, Awul was saved, but the mysteries of Nexus remain. Now our heroes sail across the sea to Aebrith to search for lost loved ones and save the world. MCs from DBZ, KH, Soul Eater, FT, Blue Exorcist, Bleach, 7DS, OP, Ben 10, SAO, HxH, and many more!

29. Nexus HWR 6-0 Shinigami

A/N Alright, so this editing took me nearly 3 hours. Chrome shut down on me while I was editing this 20 thousand plus word chapter, almost at the end of it. I really didn't want to edit it all again, as it took me more than an hour the first time. I already made the list at the bottom, and arrrgghhhh! Ahh, *sighs* okay, so I hope you enjoy the start of Chapter 6, where stuff happens... this Author's Note was definitely better the first time around. :P

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters.

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Nexus HWR 6.0 Shinigami:

"Are you sure we should leave so soon?" Kairi asked as she looked back into the city of Dressrosa. They were standing at the gate about to walk out into the outlying area around the big city, but she wondered if they were leaving too soon after causing so much damage.

Sora put an arm on her right shoulder from where he stood on her left side and pulled her close to him. "They will all be fine. That Kyros guy really seemed strong, I'm sure he'll be able to rebuild this city good as new."

"Hmm," Kairi hummed, then smiled wide, "Okay! Then let's go!"

Their large group was all gathered, and they looked around at each other excitedly. "Alright, are you guys ready?" Gray asked, stepping up next to Luffy in the front of the group. The pirate looked at the ice mage walking up to him, and he stepped a little closer to the gate so he was still in front. Gray ignored the childish act and called out, "This is going to be all of your first times in the real wild for a long time. Just remember we need to stick together. Some of these monsters-"

"Let's go already!" Luffy yelled, throwing his hands up in the air and stepping out of the gate. He jogged from the street they were all on leading further into the city, onto some green grass, then kept running ahead towards the ledge up ahead that kind of looked like a cliff. The pirate's straw hat flapped in the wind behind him from the string he had which kept it tied around his neck.

"Can't let Luffy be the only one rushing into this headfirst!" Natsu shouted, while his friend Gray was yelling at Luffy to come back.

"Natsu!" Gray yelled, but his pink haired friend ignored him to run out of the city anyway.

"I'm coming too!" Goku exclaimed, jumping up in the air with a wide smile on his face. The man in the body of his ten year old self ran forward out of the gate of the city with a happy look that lifted everyone's spirits.

Timmy looked at the kid who was around his size and he started running forward as well. The boy in the pink hat ran up to Goku's side and the two of them ran out of the city.

"Haha," Nami chuckled as she walked after them. Her friend Robin looked in at her and Nami whispered, "Sometimes I forget how strong those two really are."

"It is easy to forget that Goku-san is actually an adult too," Robin admitted as she watched the youngest member of their group who was actually around her age run out of the city limits.

Gray frowned as he watched the two of them leave. "I just hope the PB-6's are enough to hide their massive powers from our enemies," he mumbled, looking at the devices he had attached to their wrists.

Everyone was following behind the two small boys, but as soon as they stepped out of the city and onto the grass, they froze. Natsu and Luffy were up ahead of them standing at the edge of the cliff and looking out into the wilderness beyond, but the two youngest stopped running up to them.

"Hey, Timmy," Nami started, slowing down as she got up behind him. "Is something wrong?"

The boy in a pink hat turned his head to the right while Goku turned his to the left. Goku spoke first with an interested look on his face, "Wow, those powers seem so familiar feeling. They feel like Vegeta and Gohan's, even the boys... maybe that means there are Saiyans over there!" Goku lifted off the ground and flew away really fast.

"Wait!" Gray shouted, reaching a hand out towards the child flying away from them. He facepalmed as soon as the man was out of sight, which was only a few seconds after he flew away. "Damn," the ice mage muttered.

"Juvia is sure Goku-san will be back," the Rain woman behind Gray assured, pulling her boyfriend in for a hug. The blue haired female wizard looked out into the distance where Goku flew as well though. Juvia whispered, "Juvia hopes he does."

"Timmy?" Nami asked again, reaching a hand down towards the little kid's shoulder.

"It's a fairy," he whispered. The boy with brown hair kept under his pink hat floated up in the air a little. "I know it. That feeling," he whispered, getting higher as he did. The twelve year old looked down at his friends. "I am sorry, but I am on a mission as well. Rocket told me that if I found any fairies here on Aebrith I had to let them know where I hid Fairy World."

"Timmy wait!" Gray yelled up at the boy, holding his hands up. "You can't leave us here."

"I won't, for long," the boy assured. "I'll be back soon!" He turned and started flying away, "I promise!"

Nami stared after Timmy as he flew away, and she brought up her hands in front of her chest. She held her hands together and pressed them in front of her heart, "Be careful Timmy," she whispered, sounding afraid for the boy.

Sanji saw how nervous Nami was and glared off in the direction Timmy flew. You better not die and make sweet Nami-san cry you shitty brat. The blond haired chef ran to Nami's side and tried cheering her up with some compliments.

"Well, those two were Super quick to get out of here," Franky commented and started laughing as he walked ahead towards Natsu and Luffy who were still both just standing on the edge of the cliff.

The others were not far behind the cyborg, and they all walked up towards the edge. Over the edge they could not see much for a while, until the forests started right before a large mountain range in the distance. They were walking east, away from the coast, into the expanse of Aebrith. A continent as big as a world, a place many of them had never imagined going to, it truly was massive. The closer they got to the edge of the cliff, the more of the landscape they could see expanding out to those mountains far in the distance, and the smaller the smiles on their faces became.

"Ummm," Nami whispered as her steps started getting smaller and smaller. By the time she reached the edge of the cliff, she was tiptoeing forward. The cliff dropped about a hundred yards, and then the tar pits started. For about a mile to the east and west, before the landscape started evening off in elevation on its own, the tar pits made up the base of the cliff. There were solid segments of ground, looking almost like dirt paths in between the bubbling pools of black tar. After the tar pits ended a few miles out to the east, there was a giant hole in the ground, the inside of it black and empty as if it went down forever. There were some smaller craters around it, along with large animal carcasses remaining of only bone inside those craters. Around that hole there was no vegetation, but a little to the north of it, on the left side of where they were looking, was a forest that started up out of nowhere and went for dozens of miles before the start of the mountain range. That forest wrapped around the eastern edge of the hole, directly in front of where they were looking, and almost wrapped around the right side as well if it weren't for the massive canyon that spread to the south. There were large rock pillars and natural bridges connecting different highly elevated areas, but they did not look stable, almost like walking on them would make them crumble and fall down into the bottom of the canyon.

All over the place, were monsters. In the tar pits, flying around above the giant bottomless hole, in the sky at low elevations, and some higher up which were much bigger and hidden by the clouds, only getting revealed every once in a while. A few winged creatures came flying up fast out from between two rock bridges in the deep canyon, almost like they were running from something, but as they came above ground level, a huge mouth full of sharp teeth flew up and bit down on one of them, knocking both rock bridges on either side of it over.

The fifteen foot purple bird that escaped turned back and opened its mouth, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth of its own. It fired a blast of blue light that slammed into the bottom of the larger creature's jaw, and it opened its mouth up in pain. The first bird that got chomped down on was released from its mouth, and it screeched out a horrible noise that some of the people watching from the cliff could hear. A few seconds after it screeched, all over the canyon, more purple birds came flying up between the cracks. However, the giant carnivorous creature that chomped down first was already falling back into the canyon, and the birds all swooped down, leaving the sight of the pirates, magicians, and others watching from the cliff's edge.

"Th-Th-This is crazy," Dash whispered, staring over the edge with his jaw dropped.

"What? Are you afraid?" Ben asked the little kid next to him who was stammering like mad.

The blond boy spun to his older friend and crossed his arms, "N-No way!" Dash yelled, trying not to stutter but not managing.

Nami's face was blue and the blond haired chef next to her lit up a cigarette to sooth his nerves. Luffy's jaw was dropped a few inches just like Natsu's right next to him, but he finally closed his mouth and brought it into a smile, "Shishishishi, this place sure looks tough," he said.

"Wow," Riku muttered, taking a good look at the landscape before them. "Really is amazing huh?"

Sora was looking carefully at some of the creatures down below, and a group of three suddenly sprang up between two tar pits. They were little dark four-legged creatures with two heads each, and squiggly antennae on their heads, along with glowing white eyes. "Hey look, it's the Heartless!"

"What?!" Usopp shouted in fear, following where Sora's finger was pointing and looking all the way down to the tar pits. "N-N-No way! I thought you guys finished off the Heartless!"

"As long as there is darkness in people's hearts..." Riku began, making a few of them turn his way. "The Heartless will exist," he finished. "It's a good thing I can control them though, maybe we won't have to fight them."

"Unless someone else is already controlling them," Kairi offered, looking down closely at the Shadows. The Heartless looked right back up at her, and she smiled, "You know, they're actually pretty cute."

"What part of those things do you find cute?" Nami asked skeptically.

Nico Robin chuckled at the red haired girl's statement, "I agree Kairi-san, they are quite cute."

Nami looked back and forth between her two girl friends and then looked over to Juvia, "You're with me right Juvia?"

"Huh?" the blue haired water mage mumbled. Her eyes were not focused on the three black creatures down below, but were looking up a little and into the distance above the mountain range. "Sorry, Juvia was not, paying attention," she whispered, still not really paying attention as her eyes were transfixed on a form in the distance.

Everyone looked where she was looking as well and most of their jaws dropped. Flying above the distant mountain range was a creature that was half-shrouded by the clouds. It had dipped down in the last few moments while they were watching the Heartless closer to them, but now it was on its way back up. "It's as big as the mountains," Franky whispered, the cyborg's metal face getting covered in sweat.

Even the white haired assassin kid who usually never got surprised was just staring at the enormous flying beast in the distance as it lifted back into the clouds. It had four legs that were kicking around and looked like the beast was doing the doggy-paddle through the air. It was working as it lifted back up above the clouds and out of their sight. Killua let out a deep breath that he barely noticed he had held in, and then started panting heavily. Gon, I wonder if you could have survived in a place like this.

Rin Okumura was shivering nervously and the black cat sitting on his right shoulder curled up into a little ball. Unlike most of the others, he could see the giant demon head sticking out of the middle of the hole east of the tar pits. It had purple tentacles sticking out of the hole around its head, each one flailing around in the air. Other smaller demons were all over the place and gave off a different vibe than most of the creatures, meaning he could tell the difference between actual demons and the horrible creatures that just looked like them.

"Everyone listen up," Gray Fullbuster said loudly. The group standing at the edge of the cliff turned around and saw the black haired young adult standing there with his arms crossed, his shirt off revealing his muscular torso and arms. Why he took his shirt off was a mystery, but it did show he was getting serious to the people who knew him well. "I did not think I would need to go over this too seriously, because we had Goku and Timmy with us, but we just lost our two tanks."

"Tanks?" Usopp asked confusedly.

"The ones I was expecting to do the most damage. They were going to draw the strongest enemies' attacks while the rest of us would have to only fight very powerful monsters, but ones we could handle. Now, we have to be careful. Our PB-2 and PB-4 power blockers will keep us hidden energy-wise from the monsters, so if we try to be stealthy, we may be able to sneak past many of the worst foes." The ice wizard looked out over the landscape past his friends, and he pointed to the south. "The canyon path is safest, so we should head south after the tar pits. This is in our favor anyway as I have a decent sense of where we are now in relation to my base; we should be heading southeast," he pointed ahead of them and to the southern direction where the canyon was. It led all the way towards the mountain range, and then maybe even further as two of the mountains in the distance seemed spread pretty far apart, as if something cut between them.

"I don't know, I say we go that way," Luffy pointed his arm straight ahead.

Nami snarled and her teeth turned razor sharp, "Baka!" she slammed a fist down on her captain's head. "That leads us right through that two hundred meter wide hole in the planet!"

"Maybe it would be a good idea to listen to someone who's actually been here before Captain," Sanji said over to the rubber pirate who was getting off the ground with a large red bump on his head.

Luffy mumbled some incoherent words and then turned away but finally nodded his head when Nami's shadow loomed over his body.

Rin was looking out at the large forest to the north, and then back to the south where a lot of flying creatures with sharp teeth were circling the canyon. "How is that safer than the nice forest?" the teen asked skeptically, looking back to Gray with questioning eyes.

"Less chance of being poisoned," Gray muttered. "I got some medicine from the city, but a lot of the stores were destroyed in the fight against Doflamingo. Some of the best antidotes were missing, so we'll have to wait to get them from the next town." He looked over towards the forest grimly, "Some of the strongest people I've ever known were killed by a poisonous rose bite."

"'Poisonous rose bite?' The roses around here bite people?!" Nami shouted in panic. The long nosed sharpshooter on her right side thought back on an island he spent two years, covered in living plants that he had to learn to survive around. Usopp smiled, one of the only ones to do so while looking over at that forest.

"Some of them do," Gray responded. "Anyway, the canyon is probably the safest route we could take. Even if we do fall down into it, none of us are weak and we can probably handle all the monsters around here if we work together on the strong ones."

Luffy was frowning more and more every second. "I could take the strong ones," the pirate stated, punching his fist into his open hand.

"I doubt it," Gray replied, making the pirate angrier that he was being doubted.

"Luffy, I know you're strong and all," Killua started telling the rubber pirate next to him. The guy with a straw hat looked down at the white haired assassin kid, and Killua continued, "But have you really learned nothing since coming to this world? Some monsters we just can't fight. If you get us into a fight we can't handle, you're going to get us all killed," the kid was not playing around. Everyone looked over at the short teenage boy who was looking Luffy straight in the eyes, "You don't want to be responsible for your crew's deaths right?" Luffy's eyes went wide and Killua already knew the answer to his rhetorical question. He continued, "And I certainly don't want to die, so if you want to run off and fight the strongest monsters, ones we would try to avoid otherwise, then go do it without me."

Luffy frowned and stared the kid straight in the eyes, before looking up and around at his crew members, his actual Straw Hat Crew members, who were all waiting for his answer. "I know there are monsters I can't beat," Luffy admitted, making some of the people there surprised as they did not expect that from him. "But we're not scaredy cats either. We better not avoid every fight!" he crossed his arms defiantly and the others smiled at him.

"Of course we'll be getting in fights," Natsu said, slamming his fists together. "You have met the people here right?" he joked, his fists bursting into flames.

Killua smiled up at the pirate, "Good, I really don't want you to leave. Just needed to make sure," the kid looked out over the landscape again.

"Yosh!" Luffy shouted, sticking his arms up. "Let's go check out that hole!"

Half the people there sweatdropped, and Kirito muttered, "Did you not just hear what Gray said?"

"Yeah," Luffy replied, looking over to the dark teen who was staring back at him like he was an idiot. "Then we can go to the canyon, after we check out the hole thing!"

"Uhh, we should stay away from that hole," Rin stated, making a few of them look over towards the teenager with a sword strapped to his back. The teen looked pretty nervous right now, and he explained, "None of you can see it but there's a giant demon inside the hole."

"WHAT?!" Nami and Usopp shouted at the same time.

Luffy snapped his head back around and stared over at the hole in silence, searching out the monster that their comrade could see. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait Luffy, you don't see it?" Natsu asked the pirate on his left side. Luffy turned in towards Natsu with a confused look, and Natsu started grinning more and more. "Oh well that's embarrassing huh? The mighty pirate captain Straw Hat Luffy can't even see monsters?"

"That's because there's no monster there!" Luffy shouted back at the Dragon Slayer.

"Yeah there is, you're just too dumb to see it," Natsu said and started cracking up as he pointed a hand out towards the beast. "It's right there! Come on, you really can't see it?"

Natsu was annoying some other people too who also couldn't see it, and they were all trying to look closer at whatever it was. Ben turned to his best friend Riku and saw the taller boy with long silver hair staring out there intensely. "You see what they are talking about?" Ben asked, and Riku nodded his head. Ben looked next to Riku at the engaged teens next to him. Sora and Kairi were both staring at the hole with similar gazes as Riku.

"It's true Luffy," Gray started from behind the main group looking out. "Who here can see that demon?" the ice mage asked.

Rin lifted up his hand, and then Gray was surprised to see Riku, Kairi, and Sora all raise their hands too. Natsu lifted up his hand next, and Gray nodded as he was expecting that after what happened in Metropolis. The man looked around at the rest of the group, but none of the pirates could see the monster, nor could Kirito, Juvia, Dash, Ben, or Killua. "I wonder if Timmy and Goku could see it?" Gray muttered under his breath.

"Why can't some of us see the demon?" Killua asked the only one of their group who had actually been here before.

Gray looked down at the boy with white spiky hair. He closed his eyes and then said in a calm, but somewhat sad voice, "There are only two reasons you would be able to see them. One way is that you have spent enough time around demons, shinigamis, and other creatures of the sorts that they have become visible to you."

He quieted down a little and Nami asked softly, "And the other way?"

Gray sighed, and then muttered, "Or you had to have died before. Everyone knows the dead can come back to life on this world, or at least dead people from their own worlds managed to return to life here. All of those revived people are able to see certain monsters: demons, yokai, hollows, arrancar. Other than that demon out there, who else can see those three tall black forms near the base of that mountain directly to our east.

Everyone looked off the cliff and straight ahead all the way past the forest to the mountains, and again the same five people raised their hands besides Gray. "Those three creatures could probably take on our group, especially with Luffy unable to see them yet."

"Yet?" Luffy caught him say, turning and looking at the wizard with a tilted head.

"Yeah," Gray replied, nodding his head, "sooner or later you will be able to see them. You'll even be able to fight them too." Gray frowned and scratched the light shading of black stubble on his chin. "However," he muttered, "it may take longer than it did with me."

"And why's that?" Killua asked with interest.

Gray looked out over the landscape, "Well, I was always around a shinigami. Our close proximity brought up my spiritual energy." He was losing some of his listeners as they had no idea what he was talking about, but he was speaking quieter anyway, as if to himself. "We were good friends. For a pretty long time..."

FD + 23

"Keep up Gray!" Zoro yelled behind him as the ice wizard was falling behind again.

"We will leave you behind," Zabuza growled loudly as he kicked off the ground again, ninja jumping forward at incredible speeds. Zoro was running on his left side and the pirate was starting to take longer strides to try and match their ninja comrade's. Zabuza turned his head a little and looked on with slight surprise as Zoro was continually getting faster ever day. The rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist turned his head a little more and glared back at Gray, "We are not stopping for you if-"

The man with black spiky hair and a white mask covering the bottom of his face stopped on his next landing. He was turned around with wide eyes, and Zoro stopped as well seeing the nervous look on his traveling companion's face. "Shit!" Zabuza yelled, seeing Gray running towards them, with no clue that there was a large green monster chasing him as fast as he was running, only a few yards behind him. The monster was running on all four legs, and it had a large white mask on the front of it with a creepily smiling mouth and long nose sticking off. "Another invisible one to you two!" Zabuza yelled, drawing his sword and pointing it straight at Gray.

Gray Fullbuster's eyes went wide as he heard Zabuza shout back towards him. The man was pointing his sword directly towards him which meant... I can feel the footsteps behind me, the wizard suddenly noticed, feeling them so close yet having no other senses telling him there was anything there.

Zabuza kicked off the ground and flew right past Gray towards the creature, slamming his sword down on its head. The force of his blow slammed the Hollow down into the ground, making a large impact mark on the dirt floor they were running across. There were huge chunks of broken mountains around them, and what looked like giant sheets of purple metal from some sort of ship. They had been traveling across some kind of crater for three days now, and they had almost reached the other side of it, already on an incline to get back up to surface level.

Gray stopped running as he got closer to Zoro and the two of them looked back as Zabuza got thrown backwards, needing to stick his sword down in the ground to slow himself down, and dragging up the floor with him. He brought up his wide sword and blocked, holding off the creature who tried headbutting him, then he slammed the sword back out, knocking his enemy away. Zabuza put his hands together and did a half dozen hand-signs quickly, and then the air all around him started to fill with mist. The mist spread out and covered more and more of the area they were in.

A few seconds after the mist started, Zabuza flew out of it and in between Zoro and Gray. He landed on the ground and kicked off again in the direction they were going before. "I can't cut its mask this time, too low on chakra to make a chakra blade."

"Shit," Zoro muttered, looking back towards the mist which was shifting around as if some sort of creature were inside it. "Let's go Gray," the green haired pirate said, sliding the swords he was in the middle of taking out back into their sheaths, and then turning to the black haired young man who was supposedly next to him. Zoro turned to the spot Gray was in, but the boy was already gone. He snapped his head around and saw Gray long gone, chasing after Zabuza as fast as he could.

"Don't have to tell me!" Gray yelled back over his shoulder. The wizard saw the mist directly behind Zoro disperse and the Fairy Tail mage came to a stop. "Zoro jump!" he yelled, punching his right fist into his open left palm at that same time. The three of them had been traveling on this crazy continent for less than a month together, but Zoro instantly reacted and leapt up in the air, his Observational Haki not even working to warn him of the invisible monster's imminent attack. He looked down as he soared up in the air and saw the ground where he was just standing get pressed down a little, as if some large monster was standing where he was.

Then, the floor beneath where Zoro was got covered in ice, and the ice made whatever was there slip. He could tell because three claw marks started etching into the ice as the creature attempted to slow itself down. Zoro landed back on the ground next to the ice trail and instantly shot up towards Gray. "Damn it," he snarled under his breath. He started running on Gray's side and the two of them kept going after Zabuza together, not even knowing if their enemy was still on their tail. "I'm still far too weak," the swordsman growled, hating this constant running away.

"What?" Gray asked the guy next to him. "You are one of the strongest people I know," he assured Zoro, who occasionally looked like a demon himself when he was fighting.

"I don't want to be one of the strongest," Zoro replied as he continued to run. "I want to be the strongest." He ground his teeth together, And I would do anything in order to get that strong.

Zoro was still deep in thought when they finally reached the edge of the crater they had been inside for days, only to see Zabuza flying back over their heads and down into the crater. "What the Hell?" Gray shouted, looking back at Zabuza falling away from them, and then forward towards a destroyed forest where the felled trees were flying back up in the air now. A giant hole had ripped straight through the floor underneath the fallen trees, and an enormous worm over a hundred feet in diameter was soaring up into the air. The front of the worm was just an opening, a huge circular mouth full of spinning teeth that were strong enough that it had been cutting through the ground.

"It's just one thing after another here," Gray said, putting his hands on his knees and panting hard as he was exhausted from all this running. Out the corner of his eyes he saw Zoro walked towards the forest and the worm which was going sideways, not towards them. "Hey Zoro, hold on-"

"I can see this one," Zoro stated, drawing all three of his swords. "That means I can fight it."

"You could die!" Gray yelled at him. "If we can just avoid it than why don't we?!"

"I could die," Zoro responded, "but so could it. Let's see what's sharper, its teeth or my swords?" The green haired pirate shot up in the air like a rocket, twisting his body and his swords and swinging them towards his giant enemy. A flying slash shot out from his weapons and cut a hole right through the worm, but it wasn't dead yet and it turned its head towards him, bringing all of its spinning teeth towards the swordsman who blocked with his three swords. He had to clench hard on the hilt in his mouth, blocking the teeth with all his might.

He's already exhausted, Gray thought as he watched the swordsman get sent flying down into the ground in the middle of the destroyed forest. The worm slammed part of its long body down on him, and the felled trees and Gray all lifted off the ground a little before slamming back down. Gray hit one knee and lifted his head a little, panting heavily and searching the area in front of him, "Zoro?" he whispered hoarsely, wondering if his comrade had been killed.

"Black Rope Dragon TWISTER!" Zoro yelled, his voice echoing around the landscape. All the trees in front of Gray started getting lifted up in the air, along with the huge worm on top of them. The ground itself was tearing up a little as a tornado formed above Zoro's bruised form. The tornado got wider and was full of slashes, cutting the trees and the giant worm to pieces.

Gray heard panting on his left side and turned to see Zabuza stumble back over the edge of the several dozen mile wide crater, before collapsing onto his back and staring up at the three suns beating down on them. He also saw pieces of trees and the works getting torn apart and the ninja chuckled, "Bastard," he turned his head a little and looked towards the green haired swordsman who had a green bandanna tied around his head. "All this power, and you still aren't satisfied. You're the real monster," Zabuza closed his eyes and passed out on the dirt as he finished talking.

Gray stared at Zabuza for a few seconds, then sighed and collapsed down onto his butt. "Guess we're camping here for the night," he muttered. "Hopefully that worm got rid of most of the other monsters around here, that way we could get a good night's sleep for once."

"I'll take first guard," a low voice said near him, and Gray opened his half-closed eyes to see Zoro walking back towards them. The swordsman was looking around for other monsters, and looked the least tired of them, so Gray just nodded his head and fell to his back. Zoro looked down at his two comrades, covered in dirt, with ripped-up clothing splashed with dried blood from previous injuries. He looked at himself next and saw he looked just as bad as they did, Damn it. Luffy, everyone, you better still be alive out there.

FD + 41

"Ah heh ah eh ah..."

"Pant quieter," Zabuza snapped at the ice wizard on his left side.

Gray tried closing his mouth, but opened it back up a second later and stuck back out his tongue, panting louder than before. "I, can't," he rasped out. All around them was smoke, rising up from the lava on either side of their path. "Too, thirsty. Too, hot."

"Complaining about it won't fill you with water," Zoro grumbled from behind them, though his voice sounded farther away towards the end of the sentence.

Gray and Zabuza both stopped walking and turned their heads in towards each other, then kept turning and saw the green haired man walking the opposite direction. "We could, just let him go," Zabuza muttered, getting fed up with the swordsman's unbelievably horrible sense of direction.

"Zoro," Gray called back, making the swordsman stop and look back towards the slightly younger man. "Please," Gray rasped out, "stop turning around. We, are literally, walking in a straight line."

Zoro would have made a snide remark, or gotten embarrassed, but that was all extra work and he was too exhausted for it. He just turned back around and walked towards them again, while the other two turned forward and kept walking.

They had no idea when the last time they found water was. They did not know if it was day or night because the lava illuminated the area, and smoke blocked out the sky, making all time seem the same. They just kept walking down the winding path because to turn around now would mean going back across everything they had already crossed, and they knew they would die of thirst before making it. All they were hoping was that it would end soon, but there was no end in sight. For hours more they traveled, and Gray tripped and fell to his hands and knees when everything became too dizzy for him to see straight any longer. The youngest of them felt how hot the ground was on his knees and hands, but he could not get back up and stop himself from getting burned. He gasped out, "This, might, be, it."

"Giving up, already?" Zabuza muttered, taking another step but turning his head a little to see the boy on his hands and knees. "Pathetic," the ninja muttered, and just took another step. "I'm not, wasting, this life," he mumbled.

"What, type of, life, is this, anyway?" Gray asked. He imagined he should be crying, but he had so little liquids stored in him at the moment that his eyes could not even water up. His mouth was so dry it felt like his tongue was shriveling up, and it reached all the way back into his throat too, drying him out.

Zoro walked up on Gray's side and took another step, following after Zabuza who kept moving. He looked down at the ice mage, and then forward at the ninja who kept going, and then back down at Gray again. He opened up his mouth to speak to the mage, but Gray's elbows bent down and he fell down completely. The lava on their left and right sides kept bubbling so hot that they were getting burned just being near it, Zoro did not want to feel how hot the actual ground they were on was, but Gray was not even reacting to the hot ground pressing against his body.

It's all over for him, the swordsman thought. He looked up after Zabuza, and could only see the man's back now as he kept going into the smoke. I won't die here. I made a promise. He looked down at the younger man, but if he were to pick him up, he knew it would only quicken his own death, which at this point almost seemed inevitable. Fuck! Zoro started walking forward again, trying hard not to look behind at the man he was leaving behind.

Luffy. I know you're looking for me. You will keep looking for me even if I died here right now. You would keep looking for me forever. I know you disappeared when we fell into the water. I know you are here somewhere. He narrowed his gaze and pressed on into the smoke, keeping himself from looking back, even after he knew he would no longer be able to see Gray's collapsed form.

Kuina you won't accept it if I die here. I need to be strongest. We promised. He fell down to his right knee as his foot misstepped in a small hole in the path of black rock. He staggered back up on his feet and kept walking forward, and as he kept walking he started to notice the smoke getting thinner. He could actually see Zabuza's back again after not too long. Zoro turned to his left and right and saw the lava starting to thin out. It went from two sides of lava as far as he could see into the smoke, to scattered lava pools with black paths between them, and when the smoke cleared more he could finally see walls on either end of this burning hellscape.

Zoro walked faster, panting with every extra step and he caught up to Zabuza before long. Neither man acknowledged the other, but they kept walking faster and faster, and they reached a ten foot wall at the end of this horrible area, with a slanted area on it that led up above. The two of them would have just made the ten foot hop if they were at their normal strength, but they were so exhausted now that it took almost all they had to march up the last couple of feet.

The two of them reached the top of the path, and their dry eyes widened into saucers at the sight in front of them. All the smoke cleared at once and all they could do was stare in awe at a green field stretching over ten miles long in front of them, until it hit a circle of medium-sized mountains that wrapped around the grassy field, all the way in front of them, to their left and right sides, until they finally stopped right at the edge of the long hot area.

It was so unbelievable the two of them actually had to do a double-take. They thought maybe it was a hallucination and rubbed their eyes, but the field was still there every time. Zoro looked back and saw the smoke shrouding the path they came in on and the lava fields that led for unknown dozens of miles behind them. He looked back forward and saw Zabuza walking ahead, stumbling towards a large lake that they could see only a few hundred meters in front of them. There were scattered trees around the grassy area, and a small forested area near the mountains on the right side. Birds were flying around and monsters that looked semi-docile grazing around the grass. And there were people.

There were people chasing around the creatures in the area. There were people on the backs of the flying ones up in the air. There were people on the mountains sparring with each other using creatures, or using their fists or weapons. Right in the center of the enclosed area surrounded by mountains, there was a large building in the process of being built, and there were a lot of small huts scattered around. There was a hole in the side of a mountain on the left side, with wooden planks looking like they were supporting the tunnel, and there were some guys walking in there holding shovels and pickaxes.

Zoro turned back and saw Zabuza stop walking towards the lake. The ninja looked back towards him, and motioned towards the lake with his head. Zoro did not know what the man was thinking, but it seemed like Zabuza thought he had blanked completely after seeing this place, forgetting about how thirsty he was. Zoro did not forget. The green haired man stared ahead and saw a lake that looked so close, despite being over a thousand feet away from him. Then he turned around.

Zabuza was exhausted. He needed water badly, his legs were about to collapse from beneath him, but he still took a step back towards Zoro. "What are you doing?" he called out, panting heavily after he shouted it, since he managed to say it all in one breath. "This is real! There's water!" he pointed back towards the lake with an arm that looked red as his skin had just burned that color being surrounded by lava for the last few days.

"Gray," Zoro mumbled, barely loud enough for Zabuza to hear him. The green haired swordsman stumbled back down the ten foot hill and he tripped, tumbling back into the smoke. His whole body screamed at him for going back into the scalding area, but when Zoro found himself laying on the ground at the edge of the lava pools, he found out how hot the ground was. And if the ground was this hot out here, he could only imagine how hot it was on the narrow path between lava seas back on the path.

He picked himself up and ground his teeth together, stomping down on the ground and pushing himself forward. I should have picked him up. He is still alive back here. It's not far. I won't give up. I shouldn't have left him. The green haired pirate charged back down the path, ignoring everything around him as his legs started moving faster, getting him into a run for the first time all day. His legs ached from the constant walking, his eyes wanted to shut as they had not been able to sleep on the path, his eyes were so dry that blinking did not even do anything to help, and just hurt them now.

Zoro ran back down the path, and he came across Gray in two minutes. He had no idea how slow he was walking before, but it had been around thirty minutes since he left his comrade here. He reached down and grabbed Gray by the back of his shirt, picking the wizard off the ground. "Shit Gray," he muttered, staring at the third-degree burns covering the right side of the younger man's face, along with most of his nose, his right ear. The ground had burned through his clothes too. His knees were bloody as his skin had been burnt through, his forearms completely torn up, his chest and stomach looked pretty bad too. The pirate could feel his presence though. He was alive. "Let's go Gray," Zoro muttered, turning and running even faster than before.

Gray had no idea what was happening, but he slowly opened back up his eyes as he bounced over and over on Zoro's back. Everything was blurry, but he could see Zoro's green hair, and smoke all around them. He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was too dry, no words could come out. It's over already. Fire everywhere. I thought you left. You should have left.

"There's water Gray," Zoro shouted as he ran. "Water, and people who will patch you up. You hear me? Don't you die!" Zoro charged forward, but the younger man on his back did smile at his words.

Thanks Zoro. But, you and I both know there's no such thing as water. All there is is fire. Lava. Hot. Smoke. Death. But, water would be nice. Gray's eyes fluttered shut, finally at peace, and then opened again as he no longer felt Zoro bouncing around. He felt himself get lowered to the ground, but he could not see much, everything was way too blurry.

"I can't believe you actually got him," Zabuza muttered as he scooped more water into his own mouth.

Zoro bent down at the side of the water and finally shoved his head in the water, unable to think of anything else for a few seconds. He opened his mouth underwater and just chugged as much water as possible. When he came back out, he cupped his hands and got some water. Then, he poured the water into Gray's mouth, and the ice mage snapped up at the feeling of water on his lips.

"Aaa- ack-" he tried making noises but everything was too scratchy with his dry throat. His eyes widened more and more at the sight of water in front of him though, and he crawled forward and dropped into the water. Immediately his whole body screamed out in pain, his burns searing in agony from the sudden feeling of being rushed with water. He opened his mouth to scream, and water filled his throat and lungs.

"What an idiot," Zabuza muttered as Gray started drowning in ten-inch deep water.

"Hey you guys!" someone shouted behind them. Zabuza looked around while Zoro pulled out a drowning Gray from the water. There were people running towards them. Some of the people looked scared of them, but most just looked concerned.

"You're injured!"

"Did you come out of the lava fields?!"

"Wow how did you make it through there?!"

"Let's get him to Nurse Joy!"

"Quickly!"

Gray lay on the ground listening to all of this, but he managed to get his eyes open a little and looked at the green haired man who had punched him in the chest a few times and made him cough up all the water. "Thanks, Zoro," he mumbled, before passing out for good, and for the next four days.

FD + 94

Zoro jumped up on top of the summit of the mountain he was climbing. The swordsman stood in the middle of the snowstorm, looking down off the top of the mountain into the valley below. Despite the falling snow, he could faintly see the town taking up the middle of the valley, buy he couldn't see the mountains on the other side. He could faintly see the smoke on the western edge of the town where there were no mountains, and a thought crossed his mind, Wonder if it's this cold in there? Probably not.

The swordsman started walking down the other side of the snow-covered slope towards the town below. Snow's really picking up, he thought, feeling a gust of wind that falling snow flying sideways into his unclothed torso. His cold weather training was going well, but even he could not help but feel chilly in this blizzard. "Should probably ask Bo Peep for a wool coat," he muttered, crossing his arms and picking up his pace a little.

The green haired pirate made it back down the mountain and crossed a field that was covering with an inch more of snow every few minutes. "Damn, guess I'll need to do some shoveling tomorrow. Strength training," he muttered to make it sound less like a chore. He shivered from another gust of wind and frowned deeply, "And I'll do it without my shirt on again," he growled at his body for shivering and showing weakness.

As Zoro was nearing the town in the valley's center, two large floodlights turned on on top of the southern gate where he was approaching from. He continued heading towards the town and lifted up his right arm to block out the light as he approached.

"Whoa! That guy isn't wearing a shirt out in this storm?" someone shouted from up on the wall.

"Ha, look at his hair," the other one replied.

They looked closer and Zoro lowered his arm, letting them see his face. The man with a scar over his left eye nodded up at the southern gate guards, and they opened up the gate for him. The town had a wooden fence made up of a bunch of spikes that encircled the entire town. The gate on the south side opened up inwards into the town, and Zoro walked through to the other side, becoming mildly surprised as he did. "Huh," he mumbled, stepping out of the six inches of snow and onto the dirt street ahead of him. He looked around at the streetlights on either side of the path that were illuminating the street, and he could still see snowflakes falling down, but as soon as they touched the floor, they melted. The lights, the heated floor, even the buildings on either side of him made Zoro pretty surprised, and he was still taking it all in when he was approached.

"Look who's back," a voice said on Zoro's right side. He turned his head and saw the front door to the two story building on his right opened up. Brock was wearing a brown jacket made of wool with a fur hood. The teenager smiled at Zoro, "You should go check on your buddy Gray. A new person came to town last week, and she has some great healing abilities."

Zoro nodded at the tall dark-skinned teenager and then kept walking down the road. "And put on a coat," Brock called after the muscular pirate.

"Yeah yeah," Zoro waved off the younger man. Healing abilities? That could be useful for training without breaks. Hmm, he emphasized "person…" The swordsman with three swords at his sides walked down the road with snow falling on him, heading towards a house he built with the two comrades he arrived in the town with.

The muscular man stepped inside the house and took a deep breath in, then released it calmly. It was nice breathing in some warm air and not sucking in a bunch of snow for a change. "Zabuza that you?" Gray asked, stepping out of the next room down into the hallway leading to the doorway. "Zoro!" he shouted in surprise.

The pirate swordsman nodded his head at the younger man. He looked around, but his Observational Haki did not notify him of any other energies in the house. Made sense why Gray thought it was Zabuza then when the door opened up, "Where did he head off to?" Zoro muttered as he walked forward.

"Zabuza?! He keeps going off to go look for his girlfriend or something, but what about you? You've been gone for almost two weeks!" Gray shook his head, "I didn't think you were ever coming back here."

"Just had to get some training in," Zoro replied.

As he said it, Gray looked up and down his shirtless torso. "Whoa, you've got some new scars," the ice mage said in surprise. None of them were bandaged, and Gray smiled, "You have to meet this little person I met. She has a Devil Fruit that can heal your wounds if you want."

"Little person?" Zoro asked. He was walking towards the kitchen to try and find some alcohol, but he turned to look at Gray closer. "Huh, your burn marks are gone," the swordsman observed. He looked the wizard up and down, "That's some pretty impressive work."

"Yep," Gray flexed his arms and grinned at the pirate in front of him. "I'm good as new. We should get going one of these days."

"How about tomorrow?" Zoro asked as he opened up the fridge, pulling out a huge bottle of sake that pretty much had his name on it. He lifted up the bottle and popped the cork on top, before taking a big chug of the bottle marked in the center with an 'X'. "Assuming the misty bastard is back by then," Zoro continued.

Gray was surprised at first by the suggestion of heading out tomorrow, but he smiled once Zoro mentioned waiting for Zabuza. "You know," Gray started up, "there's another swordsman in the village now. He beat the Sword of the Morning guy, you know, Ser Arthur Dayne?" he tried jogging Zoro's memory but the swordsman just shrugged and took another gulp. Gray continued, "He was the guy who used two swords."

"Oh," Zoro said, nodding at the memory of that guy trying to challenge him. "Seemed pretty skillful, but he was weak," Zoro stated.

"Everyone's weak compared to you," Gray replied with a little chuckle. "Speaking of which, put on a shirt. You're making normal guys envious," the pirate in front of him was so muscular that it was hard not to want to have a body like that.

"Speak for yourself," Zoro told the younger man, who looked down and noticed he was in the middle of taking his shirt off. Gray's face turned red and he released the hem of his shirt, hating that damn habit of his. "Anyway, what's this new swordsman's name?" the pirate asked, taking a seat on a stool on one side of the kitchen counter.

Gray walked over and sat on the other side of the counter. Zoro pulled out two sake cups and placed them on the table, lifting his eyebrows at Gray. Gray lifted up a hand to wave him off, but then sighed and nodded his head. "Might as well celebrate if we're gonna be heading out tomorrow." Zoro poured him a cup and then himself one, and they each chugged their tiny cups of sake.

The mage scrunched up his face and smiled as he shook his head. "Damn that's some strong stuff. Oh," he seemed to remember something and put the cup back down. "The new swordsman, his name is Yamamoto Takeshi. He's a pretty cool guy, a few years younger than us, looking around for his friends Tsuna, Gokudera, a few others." Gray grinned as Zoro poured him another drink. "Saw him use his sword, bet he could give you a run for your money."

Zoro rose his eyebrows, and lowered the cup from his mouth, "Seriously?" he asked, wondering if there was more to this teenager than Gray was letting on.

"I don't know," Gray said and shrugged. "He had skill though. When he challenged the Sword of Morning, he moved fast, controlled water, even cut up Ser Dayne's armor. Solid steel plating."

"Cutting steel isn't too impressive," Zoro muttered, but he did lower the bottle of sake too. "Though he sounds like someone I'm willing to check out before we leave," he smirked at the wizard across the counter from him. "Urp," he burped loudly and then stood up. "So if the stupid ninja isn't back by tomorrow, I'll go see what that Takeshi kid can do."

"You hitting the sack?" Gray asked as the man started walking away already.

Zoro yawned loudly and looked back, "Yeah." Traveled all day through a snow storm. Fought a minotaur. Fell into an underground cavern, where it was still snowing. Damn cave collapsed after I killed those green gorillas. Plus I almost got turned into a plant again. That would have sucked without that kid there to help me out. He didn't say any of this to Gray, just turned and walked off towards a room with a bed in it. After ten plus days of sleeping outside, having to keep on guard even in his sleep, he was happy to finally get a good night's sleep for once. Resting once in a while is good for the body.

"We set up plumbing," Gray called out as his friend walked away. "Try out the shower. You could use it."

Zoro frowned as he walked into his room, yawning and stretching his arms up over his head. He got a good whiff of himself as he lifted his arms, and then scrunched up his face. "Alright, good point," he muttered, turning and heading off for the bathroom, "you stripper wizard."

sc

Later That Night

"Ack-ak-ak-ak zzzzzz, ack-ak-ak-ak zzzzzz," Zoro snored loudly lying out on his mattress, his super comfy mattress. He was deep in sleep. Nothing could disturb him. Even the fact that his house no longer had a roof was not bothering him enough to make him get up. His room was filling with cold air, and it got colder as the wall on the left side ripped to pieces.

Outside the house, people were running back and forth down the streets in a panic. "What's going on?!"

"My house!"

"Jenny!"

"Get them out of there!"

Zoro mumbled something incoherent in his sleep and rolled over on his bed. "Damn it Luffy," he rolled on his back and held his hands up in the air, moving them as if they were squeezing someone's neck. "That was the last of our food you rubber idiot," he snapped up in bed with a pissed off look on his face, still holding up his hands in a strangling position. "Huh, oh yeah," he mumbled, lying back down and closing his eyes.

He lay there with his eyes closed for a second, and then his eyes snapped wide open as the wall behind his headboard fell backwards. He jumped up on his bed and looked around, seeing half of his room's walls ripped off, the ceiling gone, and outside of the building people running around in a panic. "What the Hell is going on here?"

"They're attacking from everywhere!" someone shouted near the wall behind Zoro's bed that just broke down. He turned to see Brock tossing up two pokeballs. Out from the red and white balls shot two large red lights, creating a hundred foot tall snake made of large rocks and a fat purple bat in the air flapping around large purple wings. "Onix, Goldbat, I choose you!"

"The walls have broken!" someone shouted, making Zoro turn to see five people running down the street from the other direction. All of a sudden they flew up in the air, going in every direction and screaming as if something had just hit them. The street they were running on broke apart too in a large crater, but whatever hit it was invisible.

"No," Zoro growled as he saw a large building down the path start falling. The people in the town were running around in a panic, but no one was fighting back and now he knew why. "Damn that Zabuza," he muttered. The pirate got off his bed and threw on some clothes fast, "Bastard would be able to see them," the green haired man looked either direction after stepping outside, and he still saw nothing. "I need to see," he growled, looking closer to either side, looking for slight movements of rubble, or buildings shaking. The man suddenly became calm and closed his eyes, then drowned out all noise from around him.

I can't use my eyes. Or my ears. I can't feel it using Haki. If I can't find it with any way I know how. He snapped his eyes back open, Then I will have to learn how to fight it by the end of this fight. He swung both arms out to his sides, drawing swords as he did from his waist. As he drew them, flying slashes flew off of his blades and crashed down the road. On the left, he saw his slash collide with something, but whatever it was did not really get affected by his attack too badly, as he saw some rubble even closer to him move a few seconds later. "Alright, I'll just have to fight you without-"

Zoro's chest filled with pain, and then the rest of his body too. "Ahhh!" he yelled, his whole body searing in pain as he felt like he was being burned alive. His clothes started tearing, and he lifted off the ground, flying backwards. He opened his eyes a little through the pain, and he could faintly see a glowing red light around him, but it faded a second later, along with most of the pain. The green haired swordsman clenched his teeth and flipped himself in midair, slamming his swords down into the ground and stopping his momentum, even if he did tear up half the road doing it.

Zoro landed down on his knees, and he was panting pretty hard even from just one hit. "What, the Hell, was that?" he grumbled. He lifted his head and looked down the road the direction he just came from. As he looked up, his panting caught in his throat, and he froze in shock for a few seconds.

Standing down the road, just past his house, were five, super tall, black monsters. They were wider than the street at their bases, and their bodies rose all the way up towards the sky. Their heads were just underneath the dark clouds that were covering the landscape in snow, and on each of their heads was a white mask making the same blank facial expression. Zoro opened his eyes wide at the sight of the white masks, remembering the first time they found out about the invisible enemies, when only Zabuza was able to fight the monster that he said, 'looked like a demon wearing a white mask.'

So I can see them now, Zoro thought, grinning madly as he did and drawing his third sword to put in his mouth. As he did this, all five of the Menos Grande Hollows opened up their mouths, forming large red lights in their throats. All at once they fired around the town, and Zoro was finally able to see the attacks for what they were. That's what hit me? he thought, suddenly realizing why it hurt so much as one of their red beams incinerated a house.

He saw one of the beams coming for him, and he crossed his swords in front of him to block it. His blades held off the beam, and then with an incredible push he sliced his blades through the front of it, hoping to disperse the attack away. His plan backfired for as soon as he cut the red attack, it exploded all around him and seemed even stronger than the last one. This time it actually tore at his skin a little, ripping him open on his arms and legs, and even making a gash on his upper back that aggravated him more than anything.

"This, is getting, ridiculous," he snarled, finally jumping backwards out of the explosion. When he looked forward though, all five of the Menos were now looking his way. The tall black monsters with large holes in their chests had seen this human survive twice now after being hit by their Cero, but that was when they fired at him individually. Zoro looked ahead at the monsters and saw them all charging those red beam attacks again, I can't take all those hits, he realized, frowning deeply at the thought of weakness, but standing his ground and crossing his arms. I will not run though. A scar on the back is- his mind blanked as the impossible happened.

As he awaited the giant Hollows to attack him, one of them ripped in half vertically. More exactly, it was cut in half. The ones around it started turning in with their mouths still glowing red, but the figure who cut the first one was hovering in midair in front of where it was just standing. Zoro stared at this mystery figure in awe and watched as the man turned and started cutting up the rest of the Menos Grande. Two of them fired Ceros at point blank towards him, but he moved faster than Zoro could see and then reappeared above the collision of the two blasts.

The flying man brought his sword down and cut one of the remaining two monsters in its mask, making the whole beast disintegrate. He turned to the last one, and when he slashed downwards, not just the mask, but the entire Menos's body split in half vertically.

After the person split the monster, it, just like all the others, disintegrated into thin air leaving no body behind. Zoro stared up at this figure hovering in the sky, standing as if there were a solid platform beneath his feet. "Hey you," the pirate yelled up, making the man turn his head a little. Zoro hesitated before continuing, as when the man turned around Zoro came face to face with a white mask that looked like the skull of a horned beast. He could tell the mask was not really attached to the man though because of how different he was from the rest of those masked creatures, and because of the light skin behind the eye-holes in his mask. "Who are you?" Zoro called up to the man.

The shinigami in the air was wearing a black kimono with a white sash around his waist, and a brown fur coat draped over his shoulders and over his back. The person looked away from the strange muscular human down below and glanced to his left and right. When he turned to the right, he spotted a dozen Hollows dropping out of the air, and he kicked off the sky towards them, moving like a blur to the man down below who tried following his movements.

"Zoro!" a voice shouted on the swordsman's left. He did not turn to his comrade Gray who ran up to him and started babbling nonsense. "No one has seen what's attacking us! We need to leave!"

"Someone already killed them," Zoro stated calmly, looking off to the right where outside of the town limits the man in the white mask was jumping around in the air cutting those huge monsters apart. A few more appeared suddenly, only these looked more human, with muscles and humanoid figures. They attacked the guy along with the rest of the monsters, and were actually getting hits on him, but it was like every time the shinigami swung his sword, he killed five enemies. He's strong, Zoro started jogging off in that direction, running past all the buildings around him where people were helping each other out of the rubble.

Gray started running after Zoro, but he heard someone call his name on his left side. He looked over and saw Brock standing beneath his Onix, using his large Pokemon to help him move debris. "Gray, pull them out when we get the roof off them."

"Help!"

"We're trapped!"

Gray heard the young voices coming from beneath the collapsed roof and he ran over towards the falling building. "Hold on!" the ice mage shouted, starting to pull away some rubble too. He glanced over his shoulder while helping out, staring in the direction Zoro just ran off too. Where are you going?

The green haired pirate left the limits of the town, having to jump over a section of the wall still standing on the east side of town. He leapt over the wall and stared ahead at the large field where Pokemon and animals were running frantically away from the horde of Hollows. The monsters which were previously invisible to him were all appearing in the same place which was not a good sign.

The person in the white horned-mask was fighting as hard as he could. Zoro saw the man swinging his sword back and forth, defending from Hollows and those stronger masked creatures all at the same time. He saw one of them sneaking up behind him, one with a broken mask that indicated he was stronger than the others. The Arrancar brought forward its claws, and then its hands were sliced off and the creature screamed.

The man wearing a horned mask turned around and saw the enemy who almost got him screaming out without any hands. He spun and slashed its mask, splitting it in half and killing the creature. He turned back and blocked two more attacks, then pushed off to send his enemies flying backwards. As he did however, a hole in space ripped open in front of him, a giant hole with only black behind it. "Why do they keep coming?" he wondered aloud, staring at the army of Menos Grande walking through the hole. The figure looking ahead's eyes widened at the sight of a dark-skinned man walking forward in the air from inside the black portal out behind the Menos army.

"Get away from here!" the man shouted, turning his head and looking down at the muscular swordsman who was trying to help him, and actually succeeding a little. "Get everyone in that town and leave here at once!"

Zoro was about to yell at the man to shut up and not tell him what to do, when his own eyes started to grow larger. The guy with the horned mask was in the middle of turning around, but was far too slow as a bald black man in a white kimono appeared behind him. The black man had a row of white boney spikes going down his head like a mohawk, and a necklace of sharp white bones looking like teeth around the bottom of his neck.

The man with the mask turned towards his powerful opponent, and came face to face with him. He wanted to raise his sword, but his opponent was so fast it seemed like a single movement from him and his enemy would take advantage, cutting him in half. The dark-skinned person stood on the air only two feet away from the man who had been fighting all of these monsters. "I remember you," the darker man stated. "You were the annoying shinigami who lived in the Forest of Menos." The dark enemy controlling the dozen plus Menos behind him continued calmly, "I am the Seventh Espada, Zommari Rureaux. What is your name?"

The shinigami in front of him swung his sword furiously in a swipe across the front of his body. As his sword was inches away from the Espada, the dark-skinned figure vanished. More-precisely, he appeared behind his opponent, while leaving an after-image behind that was cut through. Zommari slammed an elbow into the back of the shinigami's head, sending the man flying out of the air and into the ground below.

After watching this shinigami destroy dozens of powerful monsters, seeing him get tossed like a ragdoll made Zoro's skin cover in sweat. The fear was intense, and he snarled furiously that he was unable to even see this person move. Weak, he thought, staring up at the man who was lowering down towards the ground.

He lowered right past Zoro, but did not even glance the human's way. "You shinigamis," he started, talking directly to the figure in the white mask who was getting back up, though his mask was cracked now, revealing half of his white face underneath. The Espada continued, "You preach how Hollows are evil and proceed to kill them under that basis, but what gives you the right to do so?" The black man landed on the ground and walked towards his enemy who had red hair now revealed from under his mask. "I will ask you one last time. What is your name?" Zommari asked his opponent.

"Kanou," the man growled back at him, "Ashido Kanou." The red haired man glanced behind Zommari at the muscular human behind him, a pissed off look in his eyes as he had told the man to do something. Zoro was not going to run away though, even after seeing the man's eye movements.

The Espada in front of Ashido saw the flicker of his eyes as well though, and he turned his head back to look at the human behind him. He frowned and turned back to Ashido, "You shinigami care so deeply for pathetic humans. They are nothing but meat for us Espada, eating their souls is perfectly alright. Yet you kill Hollows in order to protect them," the man sounded annoyed, and had no idea he was actually sounding hypocritical at the moment. "Well, how about you try to protect them now," Zommari continued.

Zoro's eyes went wide and he knew exactly what the man meant. Fortunately for him, being able to see the enemy also meant he gained his other senses, like being able to hear him speak, as well as feel him approaching with his Observational Haki. Zoro turned before he saw or heard anything, already swinging all three of his swords to the right. The Espada stopped before charging into the blades, his golden eyes opening wide at the aspect of a human predicting his movements, yet he became even more surprised as despite the blades passing in front of him by over five feet, he still got slashed and thrown backwards.

Zommari Rureaux skid back across the ground, his feet picking up dust clouds as he shot backwards. He finally stopped after a few seconds and was panting heavily, not because of pain as the slashes had only cut through his clothing and nothing else, but because of absolute shock. "A human?" his eyes turned into a mad rage for a second, before he calmed himself instantly. "I must have misread the situation. Of course that is not a human. You," he called over to the green haired man looking his way. "What are you?"

Zoro put a sword back in his teeth, his Wado Ichimonji, and he glared ahead at his enemy, his right eye glowing red as he did. He started running forward, but the red haired figure leapt in front of him, raising his sword up in between Zoro and the Seventh Espada. "Get out of my way," Zoro growled.

The man turned towards Zoro a little, staring directly into the swordsman's eye. "Stand back," Ashido stated, then turned towards his enemy again.

The Espada had started smirking when Zoro began charging at him, but now he lowered his smile back into a calm, almost bored expression. Ashido looked over at the dark skinned man and looked into his yellow eyes, "It has been a long time," Ashido stated, his voice deadly serious, "since I had to release my Zanpakuto."

Zommari continued to stare at Ashido without a worried look. "Ashido Kanou. You were in Hueco Mondo for hundreds of years killing Hollows. I will not underestimate you, as perhaps you could be at the level of a Captain. Even a Captain would not be able to defeat me though." He rose up his sword but something strange was happening to Ashido's weapon at the same time.

"Shikai," Ashido said. Ashido's sword started to glow and a second later the red haired shinigami was holding another identical sword in his left hand. The swords were longer now and thicker towards the big curve at the ends. Zoro planned to attack Zommari before Ashido had a chance to, annoyed that they were ignoring him. As soon as he took a step however, Ashido disappeared from in front of him. At the same time Ashido vanished, Zommari did as well.

Zoro's eye darted left and right trying to find the two of them. Chh cling dink!He heard the clash of sword on sword coming from every direction yet he could not follow their movements in the least. Finally they appeared in front of him, Ashido pressing forward with both swords while Zommari struggled to hold him back with one. The Espada slashed out and knocked Ashido back, but he was the one who had to jump back next and start panting.

"Even among the Espada, I have the fastest Sonido of all arrancar in Hueco Mundo- Gemelos Sonido!" Zommari boasted and he stopped his panting. "I recognize that you have a considerable amount of strength, but have you noticed something?" The arrancar questioned.

Zoro looked at the red haired man to see if he knew what the other guy was talking about, but he did not like the way his ally was heavily panting. I couldn't even see them, and it looks like this Ashido guy could barely keep up.

Zommari continued, "That's right, I have not released my Zanpakuto yet. Let me demonstrate it to you." The black man who looked a little like a witch doctor with his bone necklace and earrings lifted up his weapon and held it horizontally in front of him. He let go of the weapon and it continued to float sideways while he brought his palms together in front of his chest. As his palms pressed together, his head started turning clockwise, until his head was completely sideways. His yellow eye widened and a black pupil appeared in the middle that widened to cover the entire thing. "Suppress, Brujeria!" Zommari announced. His blade still floating before him creaked and then twisted, losing its long form to snap into into a curling shape, then snapped again, and again until it was in the shape of a square. Out from the blade came a thick gray ooze that started seeping everywhere and surrounding Zommari's entire body to make him surrounded in a thick sphere of the stuff.

"1080 POUND CANNON!"

Ashido started to turn and the ooze covering Zommari seeped down for a second so that an eye became visible behind the goo. That eye opened up huge at the sight of a slash produced by Zoro swinging three of his swords down as hard as he could straight at him. The ground between Zoro and Zommari split apart in a massive fissure and the slash slammed into his enemy in under a second. Zommari let out a roar as the attack hit him and knocked the sphere of ooze and the man inside it backwards. The slash kept going while Zommari himself fell down, blood splashing from his strange-looking body. His bottom half had become round and pink, while his upper torso was white all the way up to his head that now had a single yellow eye sideways on it. The rest of his strange body was covered in yellow eyes over every foot of his body. There was skin between the eyes, but he must have had around a hundred of them. Several of those eyes were still shut and others on the front of his body were clenched as a slash went right over them and the skin on either side.

Zoro took a deep breath after finishing his slash and then he glared ahead at the creepy Espada and looked straight into his main eye. Zommari had gotten back up so that his round pink bottom section was flat on the ground. When he released his sword, his Resurreccion, he lost his sword as it was holding back the power that allowed his body to transform. He was panting and he had blood dripping down the left corner of his mouth, and he did not look happy in the slightest. "Human, you- you-" He was shaking with rage and he roared again, wind shooting off of his body and pushing the other two back.

"I have not given you the credit you deserve," Ashido began without turning back to Zoro. "You can help me defeat-"

"Amor!" Zommari shouted. The Espada started laughing as neither of the other two realized what had happened and he was already past Ashido and right in front of Zoro. Zoro blocked with his Shuusui, but Zommari slammed his fist into that blade without losing his grin. Zoro became confused as the man had gotten the drop on him and did not have to hit his sword when he could have slammed his fist into Zoro's body. He became even more confused as his own right arm turned black as night.

"What did you do to me?" Zoro asked as he glared at the man in front of him. He tried slashing with his swords, but only the one in his mouth and in his left hand moved. He looked down at his right hand in confusion, while Ashido charged at Zommari when the Espada's back was to him. Ashido swung forward and it looked like he cut right through Zommari, but the image of the Espada just faded after Ashido's swords cut through him.

"You may be faster after releasing your Shikai," Zommari remarked, seeming like he regained some of his composure. Ashido turned around and saw Zommari staring at him with his hands once again pressed together in front of his body in a calm way like he was praying. "But you can not catch up to the Gemelos Sonido. It is fast enough that I can produce clones of myself." As he said it, he started moving to the left and right at supersonic speeds and there were suddenly two clones on either side of him. All the clones spoke at the same time, "Now face the power of my Resurreccion's special ability, Amor."

Sloosshh

The sound of a sword cutting through flesh made Ashido snap his head around, and made Zoro look down in total shock. He stared at his own right hand, holding his Shuusui by the hilt, only the rest of the blade was backwards, stabbing himself right in the stomach and out his back. Zommari spoke while Zoro coughed and blood splattered out of his mouth. "You did not notice, but one of the eyes on my body closed when I used my ability. It stole the sovereignty of your right arm, in essence, making it mine to control."

Zoro dropped down to his left knee, and he coughed up some more blood. He lifted up his left arm and turned his sword around. Ashido thought for a second that his other arm had been captured as well, while Zommari started seething in anger at what Zoro was doing. Zoro turned his blade and he slashed at his right arm, not cutting through it completely, but cutting the tendons on his shoulder and making his arm go limp at his side, losing its grip on the sword in his stomach. Zoro staggered back up onto his left foot while reaching in with his left hand and grabbing the sword hilt in his stomach, but as he grabbed it he heard Zommari shout, "Amor!"

Zoro's left arm stopped moving, and in the same moment he slashed with the sword still in his mouth. Sandai Kitetsu dropped from his left hand as his other arm got its tendons slashed. After cutting it he immediately snapped his head up and sent a flying slash at his opponent. The slash flew at Zommari but the man simply dodged to the right. Ashido was not going to let Zoro get hurt anymore though, and he charged at Zommari at the same time. The two of them started fighting while Zoro staggered around on his feet, barely able to keep himself focused. His vision was getting blurry and he darted his eyes from his left arm to his right, watching as blood poured down from up at his deeply-gashed shoulders all the way to his fingertips and poured out like faucets on the ground. His arms did not even feel like the worst of it, and he lowered his eyes back down to Shuusui that he had still not managed to get out of his stomach.

"Shit," he muttered through the sword clenched in his teeth. All his had left was Wado Ichimonji, but he couldn't move with this sword sticking out of his chest.

"Hey! Hey you!" someone shouted behind him.

Zoro slowly turned around and the boy running towards him opened his eyes wide in surprise upon seeing him. "Whoa!" The teen with spiky black hair exclaimed. He ran up to Zoro and looked down at the man's stomach, "What happened? Are you-" The teen seemed to notice something and he looked behind Zoro to see patches of snow flying up in the air every few seconds. "Are there other fighters here?" Yamamoto Takeshi asked and he reached down to his side where there was a sword resting.

"Oi," Zoro grumbled at the boy who was surprised that Zoro could speak after losing so much blood. Just the fact that he was standing was amazing in itself, but what Zoro asked next made Takeshi's jaw drop. "You heard me, now do it," Zoro commanded. The boy looked into Zoro's eye and Zoro looked as serious as could be. The kid's panicked look faded and he looked much more serious as he reached both hands to Zoro's stomach and clenched them around the hilt sticking out of him. "Just do it fast, don't make me wait-"

Swoosh! In one pull Takeshi removed the blade, and Zoro instantly dropped down to his knees, blood splashing out of the deep wound that cut completely through him. "Are you alright?" Takeshi asked, leaning down and helping Zoro back up to his feet.

Zoro nodded his head once and turned back around. He started marching towards the battle going on behind him while Takeshi stared at him like he was insane. Suddenly Takeshi spotted something and he darted his eyes to the left side of the snowy field, to see a large chunk of ground lifting up in the air, and then splitting apart several times. "What the Hell is-" A large force of something slammed into the teen and he went flying backwards. "Ahh!"

Zoro darted his eyes back and watched the teen roll away in the snow. When he looked back forwards he took a step and then collapsed down on his right knee. "What the Hell?" He muttered. His eyes were very blurry and he could not see a thing, just a blur of white below him that was starting to get darker. The darkness wasn't him closing his eyes, it was the snow losing its white color as it turned gradually more red. He tried to reach his hands up to rub his eyes, but he forgot his arms were under the control of Zommari, and even if they weren't, he cut his own tendons to stop them from working.

In front of him, Ashido and Zommari became visible again. Ashido was limping, he had lost one leg to Zommari's strange technique. More of Zommari's eyes were closed now. The creepy Espada was covered in them though, and he was not running out any time soon. Ashido's left arm went limp and one of his swords dropped, but he reached down with his right arm and lifted up the sword again. "What will you do with two swords in one hand?" Zommari scoffed at his opponent. "If you have not released your Bankai already, then I doubt you even have one. In that case, it is time for you to die."

Ashido looked back and saw a man on his knees behind him. The green haired man was looking at him through glossy eyes while the ground below him was getting red and that red circle was expanding every second. Ashido looked ahead again and Zommari was grinning at him, "Did you just realize how futile your battle truly is?"

Another of Zommari's eyes closed and Ashido's other leg turned black. The Espada started making the shinigami walk towards him, and Ashido saw only way to stop himself from walking straight into his enemy's blade. He slashed down and cut threw his legs so far that they could not support his weight and he collapsed to the ground. He held two swords on one hand while the rest of his limbs were bleeding out and under the control of his enemy. "Pointless," Zommari said, the eye on his head narrowing and looking angry at Ashido's seemingly foolish efforts to delay his death. The Espada grinned after a second though, and he said, "Now that you can no longer follow me though, I will let you survive for the extra time you have bought yourself. In that time, you will have to witness the destruction of those disgusting humans you love so much."

A horde of Hollows dropped out of the air on both sides of Zommari and they all rushed the same direction. Ashido turned his head while lying on his back on the snow and all he could whisper was, "No," as he watched them raid the town still full of people wondering what had happened to them. The carnage restarted in the area, and Zommari rushed ahead of Ashido at a slow enough speed that the shinigami could follow his movements into the town where he began carving the place up.

Inside the town, Gray had just helped two children out from under a building, but he and Brock and Brock's Pokemon only managed to get the rubble off with the help of someone else who arrived when they started pushing. The man with a white mask covering the bottom of his face stood back up fully when Gray got the two kids out, and Gray turned to him while Brock recalled his Pokemon and started excitedly rushing the kids to their hospital where he would get to see Nurse Joy.

"Zabuza, I'm glad you're back," Gray said, his face covered in sweat and looking like he was panicking. "We're in bad shape. I think-" Gray stopped and looked to Zabuza's side where a beautiful girl stepped forward and looked at him. Gray spun back to Zabuza and said, "You found your girlfriend?" Zabuza's forehead got a tick mark on it and he growled at Gray.

"I'm a boy," Haku said calmly, in a feminine voice.

"Oh," Gray said, suddenly feeling very weird for some reason. "Well anyway, we need help! There are invisible monsters-"

Zabuza's head was turning while Gray spoke, and from the sight of how wide the ninja's eyes went, Gray's heart fell. He spun around and yelled, "Are they here?"

"There's dozens of them," Haku whispered, while reaching down and pulling ninja needles out of a pouch on his side.

"You can see them too?" Gray questioned, thankful for that as this guy who looked cute also seemed pretty strong by his unafraid expression.

"Let's go Haku," Zabuza said as screams started echoing out from a different part of town.

The two ninjas took off, and Gray called out, "Find Zoro! He went that way!" Neither of the ninjas turned back to him, and Gray grimaced as he started seeing houses blowing to pieces in the distance but had no vision of what was doing it. What am I supposed to do?

Zoro's out here? What is that idiot doing if he can't even see these things? Zabuza slashed down with his thick sword coated in chakra, and he sliced straight through the mask of a giant Hollow that just started turning to him. All of the others in the area spun his way, and they charged together at the Demon of the Hidden Mist. Zabuza spun towards two coming at him from his right side and he made close to a dozen hand signs. "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" He yelled, and up above his head formed a ten meter tall swirling funnel of water that slammed down in front of him and knocked the Hollows off the ground, while also ripping through a few still-standing houses.

The vortex spun out of the town, tearing some of the outer wall off as it did. Zommari Rureaux turned his head to the left and watched as two of his monsters got torn apart inside it. He turned back towards the city and watched as more of his Hollows were getting destroyed. Humans, he thought, his face twisting into a ferocious snarl. The Espada who had already released his Zanpakuto, whose body was fat and pink at the bottom and white on his upper torso, who had a large bloody gash on the front of his body courtesy of Roronoa Zoro, shot forward with a Gemelos Sonido so he appeared in front of Zabuza instantly.

Zabuza started turning but he was far too slow to stop the sword that slashed across his body and sent him flying back a hundred feet and into a building that's wall exploded and the dozens of people hiding inside screamed. They had found somewhere safe to hide, but now the building was coming down on top of them and their screams filled the air. Zommari looked smug that he disposed of that human easily, but he froze as his vision of that destroyed house in the distance became obstructed. There was suddenly a mirror in front of him, a mirror that did not show his own reflection, but the body of a teenage boy with long black hair who wore a blue kimono. Zommari did a three-sixty degree turn and looked above and below where he was standing in the air, because he was shocked to see large rectangular mirrors with that same boy inside them appearing on every side of him.

"What is this magic?" He growled angrily.

"Hidden Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors," Haku said. "You are fast enough to catch Zabuza off guard. However, in here, I can move from mirror to mirror faster than you can possibly move. At this moment, you see me in over fifty mirrors, but I am not in multiple places at once." Zommari's eyes, all fifty-something of them remaining on his fat body, opened huge at the sound of that and they darted around trying to catch the movement of the boy between his mirrors. Haku's Kekkei Genkai was impressive though, and Zommari frowned as he truly could not perceive a difference in each mirror.

In that case, the Espada thought. He sped forward and slashed at a mirror, but the mirror fixed itself impossibly fast so that he could not escape from his cage. He spun and smacked a hand through the air to knock the ninja needles down before they got him, but then he felt some others stab him in the back as Haku appeared in the mirror that just fixed itself behind him. He shot towards the middle of the mirror cage, then spun and roared, "Amor!" at the mirror where he knew Haku was. That mirror turned pitch black, and Haku froze for a second on the opposite side of the mirrors, leaving the rest of them empty as he stared wide-eyed at a mirror that he could no longer freely move into.

Zommari grinned as he turned his head and glared into Haku's eyes with all of his, but then Haku spoke and his smug look vanished. "I see one of your eyes closed when you used that ability of yours. Sooner or later, you will exhaust-"

"Amor!"

That mirror Haku spoke from turned black, but Haku suddenly appeared on every mirror and continued talking. "And when you run out of eyes, you will die for hurting Zabuza."

Outside of the cage of mirrors that strangely kept turning darker and darker, the town was still in chaos as Hollows commanded by Zommari continued their rampage. Gray lay back against a wall with a little person on his left shoulder, holding up her hands and creating a warm glow in front of them. The tiny blonde-haired woman asked innocently, "Are you okay?"

"Thanks, Mansherry," Gray muttered, his eyes opening back up and looking down at his chest that was all burned and scratched up a second ago. He turned to his shoulder that had almost been ripped through completely that would have taken his arm with it, but there was not even a scar to where it was just healed. He made eye contact with the tiny woman and said, "You really are amazing."

"Please, get everyone out of here," the tiny person begged Gray in a scared tone. "I am afraid that the town is lost. We must-"

Both Gray and Mansherry roared out in pain and the rubble around them exploded. Half of the town suddenly burst into flames, and Zabuza got up from his lying-down position to look around with huge eyes at the red glow surrounding him. The entire town was falling apart, there were monsters everywhere, and then he heard a scream up above him. The scream was so familiar, so horrifying, that his heartbeat stopped for a second. His head snapped up, and Zabuza watched with giant eyes as dozens of black mirrors shattered at the same time, and a young boy with pitch black arms and legs fell from the air with blood raining down after his body.

Haku fell with closing eyes, but while his eyelids were still open his eyes locked with Zabuza's down on the ground halfway across the town. The boy's mouth curved up the slightest amount at the corners, and he whispered, "Don't, waste it…" as he finished speaking, he let out a last breath, his eyelids closed, and Zabuza froze as he knew, somehow he knew.

Zabuza Momochi watched as Haku dropped, hit a pile of rubble that he recognized as his old house, and then vanished from his sight as more rubble collapsed on top of him. Zommari hovered in the air above that house, glaring down with the single eye on his head, panting, and his teeth grinding in fury as there were less than ten remaining open eyes on his body. Humans, humans, humans! Why can they cause me damage?! This is-

"RROOOAARR!" Zommari spun around and all of his eyes snapped open huge at the sight of the demonic flaring aura that suddenly flared up down near a man who he sent flying only a few minutes ago. Zabuza's white mask shredded off his face and all his teeth behind it were sharpened like a monster. His aura rose thirty times taller than his own body, an aura that looked like the face of a giant horned demon, and Zabuza shot towards Zommari like a missile while roaring inside it.

Gray had just staggered up to his feet, and he was looking around for the little fairy who healed him a minute ago. When he heard the roar, he snapped his head up to look in the sky and he dropped his jaw as all he could see was Zabuza slashing his sword in a frenzied fury over and over into an empty space in midair. Zabuza roared in an animalistic voice and Gray shivered, then grimaced as he realized what could make Zabuza do something like that. The young mage covered in his own blood staggered towards Zabuza, his vision blurry on the edges, dead bodies littered on his sides on top of and sticking out of rubble from the town he had made his home.

"Rooarrr!" A teenager on the outside of town heard these roars and turned to look back there, spotting a demonic man getting slammed out of the sky, only to shoot right back up again angrier than ever. Yamamoto Takeshi stared at the burning town and then turned around to face the man on his knees whose arms were soaked in his own blood and who knelt in an ever-growing circle of red in the snow.

The teenager with a sword gripped in his left hand stumbled towards Zoro, but fell to one knee as well once he got next to the man whose head was bowed to the floor. "I need to get you some help," Takeshi told him. Zoro made not motion that he heard the boy, and the younger man reached out and shook Zoro by a bloody shoulder to try and get him to move, try and get him to give a sign that he was still alive.

Bu-dum bu-dum buhh-dum… buhhh-dumm… Zoro could hear his heartbeat in his head. He heard it slowing down, and although his eyes were open, he could not find it in him to look up at the teenage boy asking him if he was okay. Takeshi's voice was a low hum in his head, and he thought, So this is the kid, Gray mentioned? Good, kid… Shit, he was trying to distract himself, but his heartbeat just got louder in his mind and he could not ignore it. This can't be the end. Luffy, Kuina… Gray. I have things I still need to do.

Zoro's body trembled, then shook more and more until his head was violently vibrating. Takeshi leaned back, while Zoro's neck lifted up with the most effort Zoro had ever put into anything in his life. He rose his gaze to the kid who looked into Zoro's glossy eyes and knew the swordsman did not have much time left. Zoro's vision was blurry, but when he looked at the teenager in front of him, his eyes darted to the kid's right side and Takeshi spun around thinking there was someone right behind him. The teenager did not see anyone, but there was someone there, kneeling on the snow right behind him, looking down at Zoro through eyes full of blood.

Ashido could hold his reverted Zanpakuto only in one arm, as the other was pitch black. He dragged himself towards Zoro on his knees and thighs, as his legs were gone, their sovereignty lost to Zommari. Ashido crawled right up on Takeshi's side who got up and stumbled back as he saw drag marks appear in the snow. "What's going on?" Takeshi exclaimed. Both of the others ignored him, staring straight into each other's eyes instead.

Although Zoro was looking into Ashido Kanou's eyes, he noticed the front of Ashido's chest was ripped open, and blood was coming down as fast there as it was from under the cloaked man's red hair into his eyes. "You can still move," Ashido said, his voice hoarse, deep, only a mutter that sounded so quiet. "You prove your strength once more, but even more so, you prove your will to live." Zoro continued to stare into the man's eyes, hearing his own heartbeat in his mind continue to slow. Ashido pulled himself up in front of Zoro, and he blinked his eyes slowly shut then back open. "We will, both die here," Ashido said, his voice full of regret, anger, and he continued, "And when we die, everyone here will be killed by Zommari and his Hollows."

Zoro's teeth bared and he was furious as he knew this to be true as well. He thought about everyone he knew in that town, faces of friends appeared in his mind, but no matter how hard he willed it, he could not break free from Zommari's hold. "There is," Ashido continued again, even quieter as trails of blood came out of the corners of his mouth and dripped down to his chin then off onto the floor. "A way," he finished, and Zoro's hazy eyes became a little more clear as they widened. "To save them," Ashido whispered, raising up his sword and putting the blade of it right in front of Zoro's chest. The human swordsman did not flinch as he felt the blade touch his chest, right in front of his heart that was beating so slowly now that he knew he would not make it another minute. "If I do this though, you will no longer, be human," Ashido whispered.

Zoro's teeth unclenched, his shaking stopped, and his eyes became fully clear as he stared forward with determination. His mouth opened up, and he said clearly, "Do it."

He did not hesitate, and Ashido nodded his head. I could keep half of my strength for myself, but I will die in minutes anyway. Therefore, I will break all the rules. I give you everything I have. Ashido pushed forward with his sword, and a bright white light surrounded Zoro's chest and then his entire body, and all of Ashido's too. Yamamoto Takeshi stumbled back farther as Zoro erupted in light. Inside that light, Zoro heard the man speak to him, "You are no longer a human. Your human body has perished, but you will not leave this world. Take my place, as a shinigami, a Death God. Protect people from Hollows and arrancar and Espada like Zommari. Defeat the demons they cannot see. You are given a second chance… don't waste it…" Ashido's voice faded and the white light faded from around Zoro as well.

Takeshi was covering his eyes with an arm, but as the light faded he lowered the arm from his face. His eyes opened wide and he frowned deeply, tssking under his breath and grinding his teeth in anger. Lying on the ground in front of him was the green haired swordsman, a white hilted sword next to his head, his other blades on the floor near him, the puddle of blood beneath him wider than ever. His body did not move. Takeshi stepped forward, leaned down, and touched two fingers to the side of Zoro's neck.

There was no pulse.

Roronoa Zoro, was dead.

A half mile away, Zabuza lay on the ground on his back. He was taking staggered breaths, both his arms were pitch black, and his head was sideways with his gaze on a boy lying halfway out of some rubble not far from him. "Haku," he whispered, his voice agonized. "I finally found you again, so why?" His sharp teeth clenched in anger, and above him Zommari smirked again. His rage at everything that was happening wrong faded, and he dropped down to the ground in between Zabuza and the boy with long hair who he was trying to look at in his final moments.

"He will not be your final sight," Zommari said in a sadistic voice. "Humans like you do not deserve that mercy." Zommari's round pink body moved forward and he rose up a hand, "DIE!" He yelled, and brought it down at Zabuza who stared right at approaching death, accepting it without even trying to dodge.

CHING! Zabuza was so far gone that he barely even registered that he was still alive at first. He had spent three months with one objective, and now, right after accomplishing his goal, Haku was dead. He could not care less about the figure in a black kimono standing in front of him. That was, until he heard the voice of the man before him, "Get up." Zabuza's head started turning and he looked up at the back of the cloaked figure's head to see green hair. The man standing there with a single silver katana raised, a katana with an all black hilt, a new katana he had never seen before, turned his head and glared down at Zabuza with two eyes. There was no longer a scar down half his face, he glared straight into Zabuza's eyes and said, "This is not the end."

"You?" Zommari questioned, pushing down hard against Zoro's blade. The katana in Zoro's right hand did not even shake though as he pushed down against it. "How are you moving?!" The Espada yelled.

Zoro's head slowly turned back to Zommari, and Zoro slashed forward with his blade. Zommari used a Gemelos Sonido and appeared behind Zoro, and he smirked as he swiped through the figure in front of him who did not even start turning yet he was so slow. I've got you! Whatever happened, you are still no match for my speed! Zommari's attack went straight through Zoro's body, making both Zommari and Zabuza go wide-eyed as the image of him only started fading after Zommari slashed it. Sloosh! Blood splashed out of Zommari's mouth, and out the front of his chest where a silver blade just shot through.

Zommari gasped and Zabuza's eyes could not get any bigger as he noticed Zoro was suddenly behind Zommari. Zoro pulled right hard and cut from the center of Zommari's pink body that he pierced out the side so forcefully that the top part of his body ripped upwards, tearing even more than he slashed. The Espada screamed in rage and pain and he spun, raising an arm to swipe at Zoro. His arm kept raising though much higher than he originally planned, and Zommari's bloodshot eyes all over his body bugged out as his arm was flying up in the air and Zoro's sword appeared in an upwards motion above his shoulder.

"You," Zommari gasped out. He fell backwards and used his one arm to push himself away from the green-haired monster in front of him. "You're a shinigami! How?!"

Zoro's eyes lowered to his sword, a sword which felt so strange as he could sense a presence coming from inside of it. He shifted his gaze back to Zommari, and he spotted an unmoving figure behind him who Zabuza was gazing back at again. Zoro's teeth clenched and around his body formed a white aura. "Noo!" Zommari yelled, but Zoro was suddenly standing right in front of him with his sword lifted up high. Zoro slashed it down while the Espada screamed, and he slashed straight through the monster's face vertically, splitting Zommari's eye and head straight in half.

"Zabuza!" Gray shouted. The ice mage was running over, wiping some blood from his eyes as he knew that was his ninja comrade he saw over there. "Are you alright?" He ran right up to the ninja's side, but Zabuza was just staring over at Haku's body and not moving. The black coloring on his arms faded away and Gray's eyes opened wide. "Did you do it? Are they gone?"

Zoro looked away from his enemy who fell to the floor motionless and stared at Gray who stood less than a yard away from him but paid him no mind. He turned and spotted several Hollows remaining around the town, then vanished to go take care of them. I'm faster, he thought as he appeared in front of one in a second. He slashed normally, and witnessed a mountain a mile away from the edge of their town get a large slash in the side of it. I'm stronger. He looked down at his hands, and he clenched one harder around the hilt of his weapon while clenching the other into a tight fist.

"Over here!" A voice Zoro recognized called out, and he turned to see Brock trying to push a large pile of rubble off a woman whose lower body was trapped beneath it. Brock gave one really hard shove, and suddenly all the rocks flew off the woman. His Pokemon behind him who were about to help out gawked at their trainer, as did the woman on the ground, and Brock himself. The young man stared at his hands in shock wondering if he really just did that with his own strength, while the invisible shinigami near him turned and shot after one of the lingering Hollows.

Gray Fullbuster wandered around the devastated town, seeing bodies of people he knew all over the place. Zoro, he thought. He knew where Zabuza was, and there was nothing he could do for the ninja, but he wanted to find Zoro. He wanted to find out what happened to him. Gray staggered to the outskirts of town, right as a teenager was reaching the fallen barricade on the outside. "Takeshi," Gray said and a small smile of relief came to his face. "You're alright, that's-"

Takeshi was not smiling back at him, and the teenager who had talked to Gray a lot the last few days about a friend of his who had not returned for a while turned his head and looked out into the snow. Gray's smile faded fast from his face and he stumbled forward, bumping into Takeshi who did not even mind as he just grimaced at Gray. Gray moved past Takeshi, then started running, sprinting towards the limp form he saw out there in a dark section of the ground. He quickly realized that area was not dark because there was no snow, but because all of the snow there was soaked with red. "Zoro, Zoro Zoro!" Gray reached his friend and started shouting down at him, at his face that lay mostly in the snow with only his scarred-eye and some bloody skin showing on the side it was tilted more to.

"What happened?" Gray whispered, shaking his head as his eyes started to get watery. He spun around feeling Takeshi standing there and he yelled, "What happened?!"

"He…" Takeshi faded off, not knowing how to explain it. "He was fighting, there were other people here, invisible people." The teenage swordsman looked past Gray at the man on the floor, "Then, before he died, a white light surrounded his body."

"A white light?" Gray asked, more confused and angry than ever. "What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Gray."

"I don't know!" Takeshi yelled back at him. "I'm sorry," he lowered his voice again. "At the end, it looked like he was looking at someone, but I couldn't see who. He said, 'Do it,' and then the light appeared. I don't know what he was talking about, but it obviously didn't work."

Gray turned back around, not understanding this teen at all. "What- why?" Gray glared down at Zoro's body, and he whispered in a pained voice, "Weren't you going to be the strongest?"

"Gray."

"You were going to find your crew, and-" something grabbed Gray by the shoulder and the mage's eyes opened huge. The grip on his shoulder was strong, and it spun him to the left forcefully. Takeshi's eyes opened wide as well as Gray was suddenly spun around. Gray stared straight ahead of him into a snowy field, but he could still feel a grip on his shoulder. "What is, happening?" He gasped out, so confused. He blinked his eyes a few times, then rubbed his wet eyes and shivered in the cold and from something else. "What is-" he lowered his arm and his bottom lip dropped. He stared in shock at the figure with an arm reaching out and grabbing him by the shoulder. "Wh-What?" He muttered, shaking his head a few times and blinking hard to get the image out of his head.

The grip on his shoulder vanished and Gray snapped open his eyes again in panic that Zoro would be gone. He was not though, the pirate was just lowering his arm down to his side where a sword hilt Gray did not recognize rested. Zoro had both his eyes, he wore a black kimono down to his ankles and a pair of sandals on his bare feet, and he did not look injured one bit. Gray slowly turned and he looked down at the body behind him, then back up at the man who followed his gaze to the body and continued looking at it. Zoro stepped over and he reached down, grabbing the Wado Ichimonji off the ground. As soon as he did, he felt the presence in the sword on his side flare up, and he snapped his gaze down to it confusedly, not yet understanding his Zanpakuto's feelings.

"Zoro?"

The shinigami's attention turned back to Gray who continued to stare at him in utter shock. Takeshi stood behind Gray with a confused expression, wondering if Gray was seeing things, or if there was a good reason for that sword suddenly lifting up. Zoro turned to Gray, and the sword he was holding fell through his hand, making him snap his gaze down to it as it fell on the floor. What am I? That Ashido, he called me a shinigami, a Death God. He left his sword lying in the snow for now and faced Gray once more, looking into his comrade's eyes. "Yeah, it's me," Zoro responded.

"How? You're, dead," Gray said, his eyes darting back to his comrade's dead body for a second.

"Looks like it," Zoro replied. He scratched the back of his head, then continued, "But I'm still here. Nothing's changed."

"Nothing's… changed?" Gray repeated, wondering if he just heard correctly. "But, but, you're dead."

"Is Zoro really there?" Takeshi questioned Gray. The ice mage nodded his head dumbly and Takeshi stepped up to his side. The teenager bowed his head and whispered, "I'm sorry. I wish I could have done something to save your life."

"Don't worry about it," Zoro said.

"I did not know how…"

Zoro sweatdropped as the kid kept talking like he did not hear him, which Zoro quickly realized was because the teen really could not hear him. "Oi Gray, tell him to stop," Zoro told his still-shocked comrade.

Gray elbowed to his side and Takeshi stopped with an oof. "He says to stop," Gray whispered as Takeshi looked at him confused.

"Oh," Takeshi mumbled, then looked back ahead, a little to Zoro's left as he did not know where the shinigami was standing.

"What do we, do now?" Gray questioned, not prying his eyes off Zoro, but wondering aloud as he had no idea where they went from there.

Zoro looked behind Gray back towards their town, and he said, "Get Zabuza and leave." He did not use a nickname for the other swordsman, which did not surprise Gray considering the state Zabuza was in at the moment. Zoro glanced to his side at the teenager there who could not see him. "Tell him to come with us," Zoro added.

"Huh?" Gray asked, wondering if he heard correctly. Takeshi looked at Gray confusedly, and Gray turned to him after nodding, and he said, "Zoro wants you to come with us."

"With you guys?" Takeshi asked. "Well, I'm looking for my friends. I guess there's no point staying here if they aren't here-" Takeshi smiled at an open space only a few feet away from Zoro who sighed as it was going to be troublesome if most people could not see him. "Alright, you guys are really strong. If I'm going to find Tsuna and everyone, I'm sure I'll have a better chance traveling with you."

"Good," Zoro said. "Now tell him to pick up my swords. We're going."

"We can't go yet," Gray argued with Zoro… or Zoro's ghost body, the concept of which was still freaking him out. "We need to go help out the town first, and then," Gray looked past Zoro and he whispered, "We have to bury you."

Zoro sweatdropped and looked behind him at his own body lying on the floor. Bury me? There's no point. My physical form may be gone, but I am still here. I will continue to get stronger. As it is now, I am still nowhere near strong enough to reach my goal. To be the strongest. To make my name reach the heavens.

Present

"You were friends with a Death God?" Nami asked the ice mage on her side.

"Where did you meet a shinigami?" Natsu muttered at him. "Was he anything like that guy we fought in Metropolis?"

Gray looked at Natsu and then at the pirates, a few of whom were looking at him waiting for him to elaborate. They've never asked me much about him. Why is that? Maybe I should tell them, his mouth opened, then he sighed and turned back to the east. "He was kind of like that guy," Gray said, answering Natsu while staying vague for some reason he himself did not understand. "In that even together, I don't think you and I could take him on. This world has so many people like that," he started muttering while staring out into the distance. Faces appeared in front of him: Timmy's, Goku's, Zoro's, and then one that made him shiver and want to get it out of his mind. He shook his head and his lips curled back up, "I'm sure we'll meet up with him sometime soon.

---

A/N Hey everyone! Thanks for reading! Got a little frustrated since I started editing before 5, then like 20 minutes after 6 my computer suddenly shut down and erased all my editing. Sooo, if there are some typos in the beginning it's because I did not want to reread the first 15 thousand words after just reading them twice before I finished up the chapter and the first time I edited. Alright! So, a lot of stuff happened this time! Goku and Timmy exit Dressrosa and immediately fly off as they feel presences that interested them, while the rest of the crew looks out over the massive dangerous landscape of Aebrith and discover that getting to Gray's friends is not going to be as easy as some of them may have thought. Then, we get a bunch of flashbacks with Gray back during his early time on Aebrith. We have not seen before what Gray was up to for two years between when Kuma sent him flying and the day he teleported back to Awul, so this is just the first of many flashbacks Gray will have over the course of this story... HAKU! Lots of sad stuff this chapter, and then there's Zoro... I doubt anyone saw that coming, if you did, then you are amazing! XD Let me know what you think of this new development. Zoro has become a shinigami, but unlike Ichigo, as Rukia planned on staying alive after turning him into one, Ashido gave up the remainder of his life to Zoro, and his strength has skyrocketed, and that was still two years ago. Predictions, comments, questions, leave me a review below with feedback for the chapter and the story! Well, quick list, then review responses:

One Piece: Mansherry, Zoro, Doflamingo, Kyros, Dressrosa, Luffy, Kuina, Nami, Robin, Franky, Sanji, Usopp

Kingdom Hearts: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ansem, Heartless

Fairy Tail: Gray, Natsu, Juvia

Hunter x Hunter: Gon, Killua

Blue Exorcist: Rin, Kuro

Ben 10: Ben

The Incredibles: Dash

SAO: Kirito

DBZ: Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Goten, Trunks, Saiyans

Fairly Oddparents: Timmy, fairies

Game of Thrones: Ser Arthur Dayne

Pokemon: Brock, Goldbat, Onix, Nurse Joy

Hitman Reborn: Yamamoto Takeshi, Tsuna, Gokudera

Bleach: Ichigo, Ashido, Zommari, shinigami, Hollow, arrancar, Menos Grande

Naruto: Zabuza, Haku

Guest

Sorry i haven't reviewed when i checked to see if this had been updated i had last read ch 21 so i wanted to catch up. So here we go. I like that i recognized a lot of the characters

I don't watch many anamaies (i know i spelled that wrong) so I'm glad that they are ones i know. I liked how you added Rin. I was honestly thought it would be Weiss because of Winter being in the story or ruby because ever since the organization 13 showed up I've wanted to see a ruby vs. Marluxia battle. I've been meaning to ask were are all the Sith haracters from? I recognized bane but no one else. (Besides the emporer) but i candesc

Sorry accidentally pressed the post button. I was wandering if i could give a few ideas for characters ( although with all these new ones i may not) i can't describe how cool this is other than saying best fanfiction ever keep up the good work sorry this was so long and put in two

Thanks for the great review and praise! I'm glad you really like this story, and you can always suggest more characters for me to put in there, if I have seen the show I might really want to add them, or if not I may watch it if I'm interested. Anime (that's how you spell it) like RWBY are awesome, and to tell you the truth I forgot about adding Ren into that Around the World chapter, because to tell you the truth, one of the 4 main RWBY girls is going to appear in this very soon... XD Hope you enjoyed!

joebob323 chapter 28 . Apr 13

Oh god... this rate of chapters will actually kill me. I think I'm going to flunk the test on Tuesday, all cause of these distractions...Why do you have to do this to me? I mean, I'm not complaining, but at this rate, I'm actually never going to get around to studying. I never read/watched Blue Exorcists, so I don't know, but is Beelzebub another demon king? Isn't he also supposed to be a high ranking Demon? I've read stories where he is the Devil, so can you explain who the hell he actually is?

Haha, gave you a little weekend break as I took off for Easter. Anyway, now you're going to be screwed for tomorrow's test with this 20k+ chapter to read! XD Thanks for the review! Blue Exorcist is a great anime, even better manga, (my favorite). Beelzebub is the name of one of the Demon Kings in Blue Exorcist, but I'm sure there is other lore where he is the true Satan. The Satan who is a High Lord on Nexus is the one from Blue Exorcist though, so that Beelzebub is the one I have mentioned (as he also called Yukio "brother"). Hope that explains it!

Darugus chapter 28 . Apr 14

Nice chapter
I've been wondering are you gonna you gear four tank man or any other ability that luffy developed over the time skip that he may show later

I've only seen Luffy use Tank Man against Cracker, but I'll probably wait until I see it during the Cake Island arc that's going on right now, or until he has an opponent that it may be good against. Thanks for the review!

Espada-001 chapter 28 . Apr 14

Sent you a PM 'cause the review was super long, but thanks again for the review!

asdf chapter 23 . Apr 14

In your other story, Z in Dressrosa, some mad shit was about to go down on Dressrosa.

I wonder if this is how Vegeta and Doflamingo's fight would've gone down.

Nah, the Saiyans of Nexus are lightyears ahead of the Saiyans as they used to be in the Z world

Thanks for the reviews! Sorry I've been taking a while for Z in Dressrosa, but the characters I have going to that island consist of a lot that have yet to be introduced in One Piece's manga, but I feel like will be not long from now. I'm trying to wait to see more of Kaido's crew to continue with that story. As for how the Vegeta Doflamingo fight would have went, and the Saiyans of Nexus, I can't say that the ones on Nexus really are that much stronger than Z in Dressrosa, since that timeline is after Majin Buu and even Battle of Gods, whereas for the Saiyans on Nexus it's only been 4+ years since Cell. Thanks again to everyone who read/faved/followed/reviewed! 'Till next time!