Nexus HWR 8.1 The Third Moon?

Bam! Snap! Krillin pulled back his right fist again and he yelled, "Tell me what you know!"

"I keep telling you, I don't know!" Dalgrefxi yelled back at him.

Krillin gripped the guy tighter by the collar of his black cloak and them slammed him down into the floor. "Oof," Dalgrefxi coughed and wheezed as he lay face-down on the ground. "What's wrong with you dude?" the guy with green skin on his hands and face muttered. He got up on his knees and lifted his gaze to Krillin who ignored the way he looked and focused on the teen's clothing and attitude instead. "I don't, know, anything!"

"Think harder!" Krillin shouted. He pulled back a fist and the man below him flinched in fear. "If you didn't want this happening, you should have attacked someone else. Now tell me where I can find Android 18!" Krillin brought his fist forward but the teen's eyes just popped open wide.

"Wait!"

Krillin's fist stopped an inch in front of the teen's face and the force of the wind knocked all the teenager's dark green hair back. Dalgrefxi gulped at the fist in front of his eyes that he felt would have broken his nose if it had hit. "Well?" Krillin growled.

"Y-You said, Android 18?" the green man asked.

Krillin snarled and snapped, "Yes. Now what is it?" He was getting impatient and every second he had to stare at this imposter's face he got angrier. "Normally I wouldn't like beating up a friend," Krillin growled at the teen below him. "However, you may have his face, but you are not Beast Boy." Krillin reached down and he grabbed the young Nobody by the front of his black cloak. "Tell me what I want to know, now."

"Androids!" Dalgrefxi exclaimed as Krillin seemed on the tipping point. "I have heard about androids, and um, you know, how they go by numbers. I don't really know the specific numbers!" He yelled as Krillin's other fist clenched in front of him. The teen shouted, "I haven't heard of an Eighteen. Seriously! I only know their leader, a High Lord who stays out of everybody else's business."

Krillin's eyes narrowed at the teen in front of him. "Who?"

Dalgrefxi gulped and whispered, "Seventeen. Android Seventeen."

"Roxas, you know Lugia is faster than your Latios! Stop running already!" Sora pulled up on the other boy's side as they flew across the night sky. His much larger Legendary bird Pokemon turned its head in and looked at Latios, speaking telepathically to it while its master yelled over to Latios's rider.

"I'm not running!" Roxas yelled to his left where Sora was sitting on the back of a huge Pokemon. "I am just going back to where I belong. You have to stop following me, now Sora!" Roxas tightened his grip on his Latios's back and pulled up, making Sora and Lugia stop as well. The dirty-blond haired boy in a black cloak stood up on his Latios's back, his hood still up, shadowing his face even though it was dark anyway. "Just, get out of here."

"I can't!" Sora yelled back at him. "I'm sorry I didn't know you were not inside me anymore," Sora apologized, holding his hands out in front of him. He shook them a few times and smiled, "But this is great! I always thought it wasn't fair that you didn't get to be your own person. Nobodies deserved to be whole-"

"But we're not!" Roxas snapped at the person he originated from. Sora lowered his arms a little and leaned back, but Roxas was mad now and continued angrily, "That's why you need to leave Sora! If you come with me, they'll try to make us whole again."

Sora watched as Roxas turned around on his Legendary Pokemon's back. He stayed silent for a few seconds, then called over the space between their Pokemon, "I understand. You think they're going to put you back inside of me? In that case..."

"That's not it Sora," Roxas replied. Sora's Nobody turned around and lowered his hood while he did, to look Sora straight in the eyes. "They won't put me inside you. Here, Nobodies are in charge. The others, the ones who found their originals, they stole their hearts."

"What?!" Sora exclaimed, reeling back in confusion.

"I need to get back, Saix will come looking for me if I take much longer..."

"Roxas wait," Sora called over to the boy. "You have your own body," the teenager wearing black and red clothes and yellow boots took a step closer to the edge of his Lugia. He lifted up off the side and floated across the air, stepping back down lightly on Latios's back. The smooth, smaller Pokemon felt the new feet on its back and wriggled a little, but calmed down as Lugia spoke to it mentally and assured his Master's good intentions.

"This is great," Sora continued, staring right into his Nobody's blue eyes that matched his own exactly. "I've always wanted you to be free."

"I didn't care!" Roxas snapped at his original self. "Remember that time we all met each other? She said that we could be together again, and I said, 'Anytime Sora and Kairi are together.'" He shook his head at Sora while he spoke, "And in the last two years, how long have you and Kairi been with each other?"

Sora lost his smile that he was trying to cheer Roxas up with. "The entire time," Sora responded.

"See?!" Roxas exclaimed, lifting up his hands exasperatedly. "If we had just stayed inside you and Kairi, then we would have been together the whole time too."

"But you still wouldn't have been-"

"What? Real?" Roxas asked angrily. "For us, it was as real as this is now. Because we were together. Stop saying, how great this is!" The boy swung his arm across his body and yelled, "It's not!"

"So, the girl who they have..." Sora began with a frown. "It's Naminé isn't it?" His Nobody did not reply, instead turning to face forward the direction his Latios was looking. They were hovering a few hundred feet off the ground, staying in place, and Roxas realized he could not try and fly away anymore now that Sora was standing on his Latios's back. He turned to yell at Sora, but when he turned, Sora was only two feet in front of him. Roxas's eyes widened, and Sora lifted up his right hand and placed it on his Nobody's left shoulder, "Let's go save her."

Roxas stared into Sora's blue eyes, so full of hope, so determined to help him. "It's impossible Sora," he said, shaking his head. "Saix commands the Dread Fort. If I don't do what he says, he'll tell Xemnas."

"Xemnas is here too?!" Sora said in surprise.

"Yeah," Roxas replied sadly. "and he's the one who has Naminé. If we try fighting, I couldn't get to Xemnas fast enough to stop him from hurting her."

"We could-"

"Sora! You think I haven't thought about it?" Roxas asked angrily, pushing Sora's arm off him. "I spent so much time trying to figure out a way to save her, but I've come to accept it! They won't hurt her as long as I do whatever Saix says." He narrowed his eyes at his Somebody, "That means, if he sees you, and tells me to capture you," the boy's voice became dark and his dirty blond hair shadowed his eyes, "then I'll have to capture you."

The original of the two of them stayed quiet for a little and stared at Roxas's dark expression in front of him. The sky was clear of clouds and there was enough light from the moons and stars that he could see his Nobody pretty well. "Roxas, have you ever thought about saving her, with friends?" Sora's Nobody snapped his head up, and Sora continued, "Sometimes, you can't do it on your own. You can't be two places at once," he brought his arm back up, but brought both of them this time and grabbed each of Roxas's shoulders tightly. Sora shook the other boy back and forth as he continued, "But you don't need to be! You and I aren't the same person, we never were! Now, we have different bodies to prove it." Sora looked into Roxas's eyes, "You are not my Nobody anymore. You're Roxas. You're my friend. And together, we are going to save Naminé."

Roxas's eyes turned huge. The resolve he had to threaten Sora as he did only a few seconds before vanished. Sora could see it too and he clapped his hands down on Roxas's shoulders once more before backflipping off of Latios onto his Lugia's back. "So Roxas," Sora called to his Nobody who he just deemed as his friend. "I bet you already have a good plan that just needed a helping hand to follow through with. Let me hear it."

Roxas continued to stare over at Sora for five more seconds with just a blank look on his face. Finally he sighed, "Alright, I do have a plan."

"Knew it," Sora interrupted with a smug look. He leaned back while putting his hands behind his head and smirking over at his friend.

Roxas sighed and muttered, "Well duh, I am you after all."

"No," Sora corrected, "you, are you."

His Nobody could not help but smile at the sound of that. Roxas continued as if he weren't interrupted, "The plan can be altered so that two people can do it, since I had originally planned on doing it myself, back when I was still trying... Anyway, I'll go into more details tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sora asked in confusion.

"Yeah," Roxas answered. "I told you, Saix is going to be looking for me soon. He's a lot more powerful now that he's absorbed Isa, his Somebody. If I don't get back, he'll find me, and find you. So," Roxas frowned and looked back ahead of him to the Northeast. "I need to return to the Dread Fort. I suggest you head the same way, only put your Pokemon away. If something as powerful as your Lugia gets close to the city, teams will come after you, they may have orders to take your Pokemon depending on who sends them out."

"What should I do when I reach the city?" Sora asked.

"Don't go inside," Roxas replied. "There's a forest just to the west of the city. Hide near the edge of it and I'll meet you there tomorrow night. Then I'll go over the plan."

Latios started moving forward as Roxas sat back into a riding position. As he flew away, he heard Sora shout after him, "I'll be there!"

"There they go," Killua muttered. The white haired kid put his hands behind his head and leaned back on the wall of the bar. He looked out over the heads of his comrades in front of him, down past the edge of the giant green boar's back, and out at the group of seven people walking straight southeast away from them. Mama Hawk walked in almost a straight line north, though it did have a set destination and was heading east as well.

The two groups got farther and farther from each other, and the ones moving south glanced back every so often to see how far the giant green boar was away from them. Those standing on the edge of the boar wanted to watch their friends as long as they could, but Killua turned away when they were still in sight. It's their own fault if they get killed. We're the larger group, which means they're the ones splitting from us, not the other way around.

The boy shoved his hands in his pockets and walked towards the door of the bar. He entered and the bar's workers looked his way. Meliodas turned to him from behind the bar, while Hawk and Gowther looked over from where they were cleaning tables. Ban lifted his head a little in the kitchen where he was making food, and Elaine peeked around the doorway to look into the main room at the first one back inside since the large group on their bar's back went outside to say their goodbyes. She was not surprised to see that it was the one of the group from the night before who would not enter in the group's pact to come to each other's aide No Matter What.

Killua walked in and right up to a table. He pulled a chair around and sat down on it, slumped with his arms hanging over the sides of the back. "Yo," Killua began, as Meliodas walked around the bar and towards him.

"Killua, right?" Meliodas asked, and sat down across the table from him. Kil nodded his head and looked the older man in the eyes. The two of them sat there for a minute without either of them saying anything. "Huh," Meliodas finally muttered, and he leaned back in his own seat.

"What?" Killua asked.

Meliodas hummed and he shook his head once. "It's nothing. For some reason, I thought you would be different from those guys out there," Meliodas grinned and chuckled to himself. "But it looks like you're the same as the rest of 'em." Kil's eyes widened and then his expression darkened for a moment.

He quickly realized who it was sitting in front of him and he shook off the dark look from his face. Killua humphed and shrugged like he had no idea what Meliodas was talking about. The older man smirked at the quick reaction as Killua switched from casual to dark, and back to smug within a single second. It was fast, but not too fast for him not to notice. Killua saw Meliodas smirk and to keep himself from sweating he spoke up, "So you talk pretty big, for someone so small." His statement surprised Meliodas, as well as the other three in the room who looked over at the two of them. Weiss was sitting down at a table not far from them with a map down on the table in front of her, but she looked up at the kid who spoke to her Captain like that. Sure, she tried fighting him all the time, and Killua saw her try to the night before, so she wondered why he would try to provoke him like that.

"You're not so big yourself," Meliodas finally replied to the boy, regaining that smirk on his face that Killua now had as he tried taking control of the conversation.

Kil kept smirking though and he leaned forward. "True," the kid admitted. "Alright then, answer me this, big shot." Killua put a hand down on the table and looked into Meliodas's green eyes. "Since I've gotten to this continent, I've heard more stories than I can count. I don't know why, but all these things sound so common to people here, yet people from Awul have never even heard of them." Killua lowered his smirk a little and asked, "Tell me something I have never heard before. You must know a few things right? What's something you think I don't know?"

Meliodas looked intensely at the boy for a few seconds before leaning back in his chair. Huh, he's just curious. Guess I could answer a question or two. It'll be a while before we reach the Dread Fort anyway. "What do you want to know?" Meliodas asked.

"Anything," Killua replied. The boy sighed and held out a palm in front of him, "Ever since I've gotten here, people keep mentioning these God wars, or the Cataclysm, and even Goku who I never knew was such a big shot around here."

"Hmm," Meliodas hummed. The blond-haired bartender scratched his chin for a second before snapping his fingers in front of him. "I've got it!" The other three in the room looked over and wondered what Meliodas was thinking of. Meliodas leaned in and he questioned with a huge grin on his face, "Do you know, what happened to the third moon?"

Killua's face took on a look of confusion, as did Hawk's and Weiss's. Gowther put down his wet cloth though and looked over towards Meliodas, "Captain, what do you know of it?"

"Ah! Gowther, you remember?" Meliodas questioned. The other three looked over and watched as the man with purple hair nodded back at the Captain.

Meliodas laughed and Killua finally asked, "What are you talking about? There are only two moons on this world."

The older man shook his head and wagged a finger at the boy in front of him. Weiss stood up and Hawk spun around, "Wait!" The pink pig exclaimed, "There was really another moon?!"

Their Captain nodded and he put his hands down on the table in front of him. "I know the first few days were confusing for most of us. No one knew what was happening, and paying attention to the sky was probably not any of our top priorities." Meliodas grinned and spoke softer, "But I remember. Those first few days, when two of the moons were full, there was another moon up in the sky. It was not as big, or noticeable, and after a few days it was gone. I am sure that anyone else who saw it assumed that they had imagined it and went on with their lives, but I was there when they fought the moon."

"Who are 'they?'" Killua asked.

Meliodas looked up at the ceiling like he was thinking on something far in the past. "Team Dai Gurren." Meliodas could see it in his mind. He watched as the moon fell, and a giant hole ripped in the purple barrier in the atmosphere. He saw the giant red robot flying up at it and the voices that screamed inside it and echoed out around the lands. "Simon the Digger. I do not know the details myself, but the moon fell through the barrier and almost collided with the world. It may not have destroyed Nexus, but it would have wiped out all life on the surface." Weiss gasped and Hawk got covered in sweat from head to hooves.

Killua shook his head as this was all too unbelievable. "You don't know the details?" Killua questioned. "So you never actually saw-"

"I did," Meliodas countered, stopping Killua in his tracks. "From a distance, I saw them merge. It was only later on that I heard their names and discovered what they had done. The moon would have killed us all if it were not for them."

Kil leaned back in his seat and he let out a deep breath. He had a single bead of sweat rolling down the left side of his face that he tried to laugh off. Well, he definitely told me something I did not know before. Was there a third moon? I don't remember. At the time, I had too much on my plate.

"As for why everyone thinks of Son Goku as such a 'big shot,' I could start off the stories about him by mentioning the same event I just told you about." Killua's eyebrows lifted up and Meliodas chuckled as he got up from his seat. "Simon wasn't the only one who showed up to stop the moon," he remarked as he turned and walked back for his bar. Killua opened his mouth to call something out to him, but the door opened up behind him before he could.

Kil glanced back and watched as Rin stepped into the room, followed by Usopp, Robin, and Franky. The three boys were talking to each other and Robin spotted the map in front of Weiss and started to walk over. Killua closed his mouth and sat silently at the seat he was in, thinking on what Meliodas told him and wondering how he could even use that information. Simon. At least I got a name. I should have asked Meliodas whether or not this Simon the Digger is still around.

Outside the bar, a few of the others took longer to come inside than their friends. Sanji had tears streaming down his face, but he finally wiped his eyes and turned back for the bar. Kairi-chan, Juvia-swan, we will meet again! He held a fist up in the air as he bowed his head and walked towards the bar looking depressed. As he opened up the door though, his depressed look faded at the sight of Weiss and then Elaine whose face he spotted in the door to the kitchen.

Nami, Luffy, and Riku stood at the edge of the hill the longest. Luffy and Riku looked southeast long after they lost sight of their friends walking away. Luffy's fists curled at his sides and he finally turned away with a huff. I'm sorry Juvia, but you should have followed me. Luffy looked the other direction with a look of pure determination, Zoro. We're getting closer. I know you are near. I'm going to find you!

Riku kept staring south and faces flashed through his mind. Dash, the little speedster raced through his head, laughing and smiling and punching out fists he boasted to be stronger than bullets. Ben, he saw the young brown-haired boy holding up his left wrist and slamming down on his watch, transforming into an alien in a flash of green light and shouting out, 'Hero time!' Riku's mouth dropped into a lower frown, Kairi, he thought. He saw the redhead, only a child, hiding behind her father's legs like she was afraid of this new place she was in. He could perfectly see Sora running straight up to the man's legs, and peeking around them to ask the girl so many questions about where she came from and what that world was like. The young girl in his mind transformed into her eighteen year old self, and Riku clenched his fists at his sides as well. Ben, Dash, take care of her.

Riku and Luffy both started walking back to the bar, but they stopped and looked back at the edge where Nami stood with her hands held together in front of her chest. She was not looking to the southeast like they were before, but directly south, and she looked more worried than any of them. "Nami?" Luffy questioned.

She started, and slowly she turned her head back to look at the males behind her. She looked sad, not just because Juvia, one of her closest friends had left, but for something even deeper than that. Nami sniffled and she whispered in a hoarse voice, "Where is Timmy?" Neither of the others said anything, and Nami looked back south. "Wanda," Nami said, sounding choked up. "Wanda told me to look after him, but, but I-"

"Nami," Luffy said seriously. She looked back at him and he put his hat on top of his head before snapping his head up and looking in her eyes. "Trust in Timmy. He's strong. We'll see him again," Luffy grinned and finished, "no matter what."

Nami's eyes went wide, and she wiped them as she nodded a couple of times. "You're right," she said, her voice sounding back to its confident self which made Luffy and Riku both smile at her. "He may be twelve," she began, "but he is the strongest twelve year old in the world."

"And considering the people we know," Riku added. He chuckled a few times thinking about Dash, and Mandy, and even Ben who he still could not believe was already in his teens. "That's a pretty impressive feat," Riku finished, and Nami smiled some more at the silver haired teen. The three of them finally turned back and headed into the bar with the others. When they got inside the bar was pretty quiet with a few of the crew sitting at one table talking, Robin and Weiss discussing a map, and Killua sitting across from Meliodas though their conversation had ended.

Once Meliodas saw the last three come back into the bar, he got out of his seat and clapped his hands together in front of him. "Alright," he called out. "We're heading for the Dread Fort, but there's a town between here and there we're going to stop at tonight for some business. Nami, Robin," he announced. The two women on the Straw Hat crew looked over at Meliodas and their eyes opened wide as he held up a couple of pink shirts and short black skirts in his hands. "You'll be working as waitresses tonight when the bar opens," the short man said.

Sanji got a nosebleed and he stuck a thumbs up in Meliodas' direction. "Great idea!" He shouted.

Nami punched him on top of the head and then glared over at the short perverted man. "I don't think so, I'm-"

"Nami," Luffy began, looking right at the woman standing not far from him. "He is letting us travel with them," the captain said with a shrug of his shoulders. "What's so bad about being a waitress?" He asked.

Nami spun in surprise to her captain, then back to the outfit the short man was holding up, then back at Luffy angrily. "It is okay Nami," a cute quiet voice spoke up from the kitchen. She looked over as did everyone else and watched as Elaine came floating out of there finally, wearing the waitress uniform that Meliodas was holding up at the moment. Elaine smiled and said softly, "It is to attract more customers."

"I get that," Nami said with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

An arm popped out of Meliodas's right wrist and the short man looked at it in surprise. The hand grabbed one of the sets of uniforms and tossed it across the room. He followed its path and watched as Robin lifted her hand and caught the uniform she tossed to herself. Nami looked at her friend in surprise while Robin examined the uniform, then Robin turned to her younger comrade and said, "Could be worse."

Nami dropped her bottom lip, before sighing and conceding to Meliodas's terms. Sanji jumped out of his seat in joy, but then Meliodas turned to the man he heard was the chef and asked if he could help out later on as well. "Oi Captain," Ban growled from behind the counter. They all looked over and saw the man with spiky white hair above his head was now wearing a white apron over his clothes. "What do you think you're doing opening up my kitchen?"

"Sanji's the best cook in the world," Luffy bragged loudly. "You should let him cook."

Meliodas chuckled and he shrugged over at Ban. "You heard him. The best cook in the world, how can I pass up a business opportunity like that?"

Mama Hawk walked across miles of terrain on their way north. Many of the new additions to Meliodas' group traveling over Aebrith spent their time outside the bar, looking around the landscape they were traveling over from above for once. They looked over the tops of trees in nearby forests, but they could not look too far in any direction. Gowther came outside at one point and explained that the closer to the Cataclysm they get, the more hilly the landscape becomes. The crew members heard this and wondered why it was, looking around and seeing sections of land that just seemed to rise up suddenly and others that dipped down.

They started to reach these hilly areas and Mama Hawk climbed up a large hill before heading back down the other side. While they were at the top of that hill, the largest one for miles around, Rin pointed a hand out into the northern distance, and a little to the east. Over a few other hills they were looking at, the crew spotted a drop-off in the land. After that drop-off there was a giant gap in the landscape that stretched farther than they could see, but before they could examine it closer, they started descending the hill back into a valley.

"What was that?" Nami asked, turning to the purple haired man who was reading a book outside the bar on a chair near the front door.

Gowther lowered his book and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he faced Nami. "That was the Cataclysm. We will be heading across it after stopping at the Dread Fort."

"The north of the Cataclysm is in fact much larger than the south," Weiss said as she stepped outside. Nami and Sanji turned back to the girl with a long white ponytail as she walked out of the bar. "The Cataclysm is right around the Equator, but the southern part of the continent does not go all the way to the pole, whereas the north does."

"That's so informative of you Weiss-chan!" Sanji exclaimed.

"Though she is wrong," Gowther said while lifting his book back up.

Weiss got a tick mark on her head and she snapped her gaze down to the glasses-wearing figure. "What?" She snapped at him.

"There is a continent above Aebrith, separated by a channel. It is part of the Cooperative so many do not make the distinction. However, it would be like calling Lagann Island a part of Southern Aebrith," Gowther explained casually, though every second he spoke Weiss just looked more annoyed at him.

Nami saw Weiss opening her mouth to argue with the man further, but she spotted something out of the corner of her eye and turned left instead. Out near the head of the giant green boar they were standing on, Luffy pointed his hand forward and started excitedly talking to Usopp. She saw why too, as behind a hill they were marching around, she spotted a village. Most of the houses were small, looking almost like huts with their wooden rooves, doors, and cramped living spaces. Almost none of the buildings were two stories tall, though the ones that were were made of stone.

"Ah, Terrorvale," Gowther said and he got up to his feet. Nami glanced at the man in surprise that he knew the name of a small village like this, but she realized they must have been there before if they knew it was here in the first place.

The suns were on their descent in the western sky when the group were finally reaching the town. They looked off the front of the giant boar and saw several villagers coming out to meet them. Many of the people in the town looked like normal humans, but there were some who had very strange, blocky appearances. Their arms, torsos, and legs were all rectangular, and their heads were cubes. Their clothes did not look like normal clothing either, more like they were part of their skins as they lay flat against their block-like bodies.

The strange people greeting them outside the town were not even the strangest thing they noticed as they approached. "Whoa, what are those things?" Usopp said as he spotted a few beings taller than the normal people in town. They stood on two legs and had two arms and a head, but the beings looked towards them with serious, threatening gazes. They were gray and their bodies were thick, standing twelve feet tall each and four feet wide at the shoulders. "Iron golems," a voice said behind the sharpshooter. He turned as did Luffy and saw Ban grinning down at the monsters, "They're guardians of the town. Look," he pointed to the left side of the village and a few of the others looked over as well to see some of the blocky people doing something weird.

Three people put down cubes of iron that looked much too heavy for them to carry. Each of the people had on different types of armor, one wearing leather, another iron, and another had on a diamond chestplate covering his torso, making Nami's eyes light up gold. Her eyes returned to normal though and widened huge as did her friends as the man in the diamond chestplate put a pumpkin with a face carved into it on top of the 'T' that the villagers made out of iron, and they animated another iron golem out of nowhere.

"What the-" Franky muttered and scratched the side of his metal head. "That's some odd construction," he said, wondering if he could do something like that.

"Minecraftians," Meliodas explained as he walked up to the front of the boar as well. "They've got some strange control over physics. Don't let it surprise you too much," he added. The short man with a green hilt over his shoulder looked down at the giant head of the boar he was standing on. "Yo! We're stopping here tonight," he called out. The boar made a loud noise in understanding, then dropped down into the ground and turned into a hill like many of the other green hills around the landscape. If the people around were not watching, they would not even be able to tell that the hill was not natural.

Meliodas started walking down his hill as soon as it was down in the ground and he announced his bar's arrival to the locals. Luffy was looking around in amazement at all the new things near him. "This place sure is amazing," he said, looking closer at one of the iron golems that wandered their way, then turned suddenly and just walked the other way. The sun was going down, and Luffy started noticing that the area was still quite lit up. He looked back over at the houses and spotted torches all over them, and around the grassy area surrounding the town there were many others as well.

"How do those flames stay lit?" Sanji muttered as he realized there were several dozen torches all over the area.

"Like the Captain said," Gowther said from behind the pirate chef. "Minecraftians have power over physics. A torch one of them places will never go out on its own."

"Huh," Sanji muttered, wondering why that was.

"Sure is useful," Weiss said. The teenage girl in a white combat skirt looked out into the distance over the hills to where the suns were going down. "Very soon, night will fall."

"And this continent is already a lot less safe than Awul," Riku mentioned as he walked up to the group at the front of the bar. They glanced back at the teen with long spiky silver hair who darted his eyes left and right. "I can feel them coming. Creatures that thrive in the dark."

Weiss stared at this man cautiously. She thought about how Elaine tried to pull something evil out of him the day before, and how the teenager was against it. Be careful around him, she warned herself.

Luffy ran off to go explore the town, and his comrades walked up to some of the residents who were eyeing them carefully. Luffy threw his arms up and rocketed himself on top of a building. He started running around the tops of buildings, jumping on each one and looking out to every side of the town. During the nights they traveled with the big group, usually one of them would keep watch and take on any enemies that got too close to the group, or wake up someone stronger than themself if the monsters were too strong. They spent the whole day riding on a boar's back though, so unlike most days where Luffy already had a full helping of battling monsters, today he was still eager to battle some more. Wonder if night monsters are really much different from the ones we fight during the day?

He kept looking around but the suns were setting too slow and he was getting bored. People started heading into their homes, and someone yelled up at him to get off their roof so he complied. The pirate started walking back through the town towards the bar that torches had been placed around. The door was wide open with Nami in the doorway trying hard to keep a friendly smile on her face as she waved people towards the bar, wearing the uniform that although she was annoyed she had to wear it, she had to admit looked really good on her.

Another girl came walking out of the bar a little after Nami got there, and Nami saw the deep frown on the younger girl's face who was also wearing the uniform. "Didn't think he'd be able to make you wear one of these," Nami admitted, referring to the girl's short captain.

Weiss ground her teeth and she muttered, "He said I can stop once I beat him." Nami sweatdropped as that did not seem like it was going to happen anytime soon. Weiss saw her unenthusiastic reaction and snapped, "I'm getting close! Next time," she clenched her fists at her sides. "I'll take him down for sure. Once I do, I'll finally be ready…" Weiss faded off and Nami started looking at the girl closer. She thought she figured out why Weiss was always fighting the Captain, as the girl did so again earlier that day, but now Nami had a feeling there was a deeper reason behind it.

Nami spotted Luffy walking towards the bar and she looked over at her captain. She opened her mouth to call something at him, but Luffy froze mid-step towards them. Weiss and Nami looked at the pirate captain in confusion as he spun his head left all of a sudden. Luffy's eyes gazed over all of the torches around him, out towards the bottom of a nearby hill where he felt a presence with his Haki out of nowhere. It was closer than the edge of his Haki sensing normally started notifying him of presences, so he wondered how it got so close so suddenly. He looked closely at the form at the base of the hill, its tall, black body. It was much taller than the pirate himself, facing away from him at the hill where it was walking towards.

The thin monster walking on two skinny legs came to a stop as it neared the hill. Luffy felt a bead of sweat on the side of his face, and his eyes opened wide as the tall figure suddenly spun around and glared a half a mile away straight at him. Its eyes were square and glowing purple, and as it faced him, the monster opened up its mouth and screeched in a horrifying voice.

Weiss's eyes opened up in recognition and she reached for her sword as she heard the yell. She saw Luffy staring in shock across the field and she yelled, "Stop looking at it!"

Luffy heard her but he did not look away, mainly because the creature he was looking at was no longer standing in the same spot. He snapped his head left and saw the creature appear half the distance it just was away from him, then his Observational Haki went off the charts and he leapt backwards. It was just in time too, as the monster teleported right in front of him and started swinging its arms down at the pirate. Luffy landed on the ground and skid back, but the creature chased after him making long strides with its legs and screeching the entire time.

Nami dropped her bottom lip and stared at the beast in terror. Luffy lifted his fist to slam into the approaching beast, but Weiss shouted, "Stop! The Enderman won't get hit like that!"

"Gum Gum, Pistol!" Luffy ignored her and swung a rubber fist at his enemy, his arm stretching out and his fist colliding with the front of the Enderman. He almost smirked, but right when his fist touched the monster, it disappeared from in front of him. Out of the left corner of his eye he spotted it appear within a foot of him, and the teleporting monster swung its arms down and bashed Luffy backwards. It knocked him back and kept swinging over and over until an iron golem came out on Luffy's left and slammed a fist into the Enderman.

The monster turned from Luffy to one of the town's guardians. The golem tried swinging down again, but the Enderman was faster and started swinging its arms faster and faster, knocking back the golem several yards with each hit. The Enderman finished off the stone golem in seconds and then turned to Luffy right as the pirate slammed a fist covered in Haki into the monster. The creature teleported away again, but this time as it did, Weiss shot forward with a white magic circle beneath her feet sending her gliding across the ground. She tried slashing at the monster, but right as he sword touched it, it teleported behind her and slammed her in the back.

"Who looked at an Enderman?" Meliodas asked as he stepped out of the bar, having heard the screeches from inside. Ban and another figure came outside as well, but Nami did not recognize the Minecraftian who came out the door in a blue shirt. Meliodas and Ban pulled out their weapons and charged forward as the Enderman turned back towards Luffy.

Meliodas slashed his sword in an uppercut and out from his broken blade came a slash so powerful that the ground split apart a half mile long until a hill in the distance broke into pieces. The Enderman he tried slashing vanished as he brought up his sword though, appearing behind him with both arms lifted up above his head. Ban had his silver nunchucks out and he started smashing back and forth fast to hit the tall black creature in front of him. The Enderman got hit once and turned towards Ban, so that on the second time it got hit it did not get knocked back but instead vanished and appeared behind the immortal with spiky white hair.

The beast slammed its arms down on Ban's back, but the man it hit just turned his head slowly and glared back with red eyes at the monster. Right as he was about to go all out against the annoying teleporting monster, someone called out, "I can handle this." They looked over and saw the Minecraftian walking over, suddenly holding a bucket of water in his right hand. The Enderman went on the attack as the man in a blue shirt dumped the water out on the ground, and those who just met these strange people went wide-eyed at the sight of a large cube of water appearing on the floor and continuously pouring water in every direction around it. There were hundreds of gallons of water pouring out from the spot the water was put down and it constantly flooded out before stopping several yards away.

The water spread far enough to touch the bottom of the Enderman's feet though, and the creature screamed at the touch, vanishing and appearing fifty feet away like it was terrified of water. It started charging forward again, but as Luffy yelled out and pulled back a fist to attack it with, the man who put down the water pulled out something new. He lifted up a small black orb that he chucked forward right next to the sprinting Enderman. The pearl hit the ground and the Minecraftian appeared on the side of the Enderman with his diamond sword already swinging down.

The Enderman fell to the ground and died, leaving behind another enderpearl like the one the Minecraftian just threw. Luffy's fist snapped back to his body and he looked over at the strange blocky figure in surprise at the man's strength. Meliodas started clapping his hands and he whistled in amazement. "That was very impressive," the bartender called over to the man. The guy turned back and his sword vanished from his hand as he did. He smiled and Meliodas motioned towards the Boar's Hat with his head, "Let's go get drinks. I'll buy you a round for that nice save."

"I could have handled it," Luffy said, denying that he needed any saving. The figure with a cube-shaped head nodded once at Luffy and then turned back and nodded at Meliodas in response to his offer for drinks.

Things calmed down after the Enderman attack, and because of the torches all around the town, very few monsters were spawning close to the bar. The bar got packed only an hour or so after parking at the town; it seemed like the entire town had gathered inside. The boisterous building was so crowded that Nami had to swerve in between people dancing and drinking, on occasion bumping into chairs getting pulled out and getting beer splashed on her from the drunker customers.

The navigator was getting increasingly angrier as the night went on and her new waitress uniform was covering in alcoholic beverages. At one point she decided she needed a break and walked over to the counter to sit on an empty stool. The stool was only empty because the man sitting on it a minute ago had passed out and his friend had to drag him out of the bar. She sat down and Meliodas turned from where he was pouring more drinks behind the bar. "Just need a short break," she mumbled at the man before he could scold her for sitting down on the job.

Meliodas chuckled and finished filling up his drinks. He walked around the bar and stood next to Nami for a second as she spun on her stool and looked around the packed bar. She noticed something as she was looking around the bar, and she turned back to the man next to her. "Where is everyone?" She wondered, as Robin, Elaine, and Weiss were walking or floating around the floor in front of her as waitresses, but none of the guys were in her eyesight. She knew Sanji was behind her in the kitchen, but the other guys should have been sitting at one of the tables in here drinking with everyone else. They were until a little while ago, but the table they used to be at had different people at it now.

"Who knows?" Meliodas questioned. With a knowing smile he walked across the bar to bring his patrons their drinks. He handed the mugs to them while casting a glance at the wall of his bar and smirking at a flash he saw out the window.

Outside the bar, and a mile away from the Boar's Hat, Luffy slammed a giant white fist down on three Grimm charging at him. His fist flattened the creatures to the ground and when he lifted it back up, the monsters disintegrated into black dust. The pirate landed and sprinted to his right, "Gum Gum Stamp!" he yelled. Luffy put his foot behind him then kicked it forward and slammed four skeletal creatures holding bows backwards with his leg. They exploded and left bones behind along with some arrows and their bows.

Not far from the pirate captain, Ban slammed his right fist into an Ursai's claw as the Grimm bear tried swinging at him. His hand smashed straight through the dark bear's and hit it in the face, breaking through that as well and turning the monster into dust. He spotted a few black creatures appearing on his right side and looked over at the monsters rising out of the ground. Ban's eyes widened and his grip on his silver nunchucks tightened. He glared at the five creatures that were about his height, only because of the squiggly antennae sticking out the tops of their heads. They had beady white eyes and rose out from dark circles that formed on the ground below them. Heartless, Ban thought as he narrowed his eyebrows.

Ban took a step towards the monsters, but came to a stop as he saw a figure even closer to them. The man with spiky white hair went wide-eyed at the sight of the younger man whose spiky silver hair was much longer and fell behind his back. He had his right hand lifted in front of him and his eyes were closed as he focused. His hand covered in darkness and the five creatures that formed glanced back at him. "Let me take control if you wish to fight with the Heartless." No, I need to be able to control the darkness on my own. I can't rely on you every time Ansem. Riku's eyes snapped open and he glared at the five creatures intensely with his green eyes.

The Neo-Shadows stared back into Riku's eyes, then turned away from him and looked over at two monsters with white masks over their faces and spiky bones sticking out of their arms and legs. The beast was on all fours, a Grimm known as a Beowolf, and their red eyes glared over at Riku. The monsters started charging, but as they were passing by the Heartless, the Shadows turned to them and dove. Two Heartless hit the first one and brought it to the ground, making the second one skid to a stop and look at the other Heartless confusedly. It growled at them, but the three Heartless charged it and attacked. The Grimm swiped at one of them, but all three piled on top of it and surrounded it entirely.

When the Heartless backed away from their prey, the Grimm were gone. The scrawny dark creatures stood there bouncing from one foot to the other, not knowing what to do now that their goal was completed. Riku lifted up his Keyblade as he spotted monsters coming out of the sky towards him. Bigger ones came over the top of a hill nearby and his Heartless charged towards them while he leapt up for the bird above. Ban turned away from the Heartless, though he did steal a glance up at the teen rising into the sky. How does he control the Heartless? The only ones I know who can do that, are those full of darkness. He thought back to what Elaine tried to do to him the day before and his red eyes narrowed more at the teen.

He looked back forward though and saw the rubber pirate charging at some monsters coming over a hill. A younger boy with spiky white hair jogged by him and up to Luffy while a robot far on his left opened up his left arm and fired a cannon at a cluster of monsters. Killua and Franky ran up on either side of Luffy and started attacking monsters with him, while farther to their right, the squad of Heartless battled against some creepy one-eyed monsters with tentacles sticking off their round bodies that rolled up the hill. The Heartless again took down the enemies with little difficulty, but Ban saw something after the other monsters were gone that made him glance behind him. All five of the Heartless exploded one after the other in balls of fire, and Ban's eyes were sharp enough that even in the dark he could see where the tiny explosives that hit them came from.

Ban looked back and saw a long-nosed man at the edge of the torch line near town lowering his slingshot. Usopp had an enraged expression on his face, and when the explosions faded and he saw a few of the Heartless still standing, he lifted back up his slingshot and fired more explosives at them. A dark-haired figure sprinted past Ban on his right side, and the taller man turned and saw a teenager lifted up a sword still in its sheath, only to slam it down on the last remaining Heartless after Usopp blew up the others. The looks on both Usopp and Rin's faces were ones Ban had seen before, and he looked up to see if the other teen had seen them as well.

Riku floated in the sky after defeating the giant monstrous bird that was swooping towards them a minute ago. He looked down at Rin who put his sword back behind his back after smashing through the Heartless, then turned his gaze back towards the bar where he saw Usopp lowering his slingshot. The sniper glared hard at the spot the dark creatures just vanished, and his eyes lifted up a second later at the teen flying high above them. He and Riku made eye contact for a second, before Usopp turned away and rose his slingshot again, firing Pop Greens this time over near Luffy to help him and the others out. Riku saw the angry look on Usopp's face and he decided not to form any more Heartless, instead just lifting up his Keyblade and diving down to join the others in their fight against a thirty foot tall monster. I need practice with the darkness, but, Usopp and Rin… "They will not forgive you so easily." Forgive me? It's you who they hate.

Ansem was silent for a second, and then he whispered in Riku's head, "Is it really?"

Riku stopped attacking the monster in front of him. He dropped down to the floor and glared at the beast with a pissed off look on his face. "Yeah, it is," Riku said aloud. He saw the monster bringing a claw down for Rin, and he shot forward faster than usual, appearing above the younger teenager and clashing his Keyblade with the bottom of the monster's claw. "Now Rin!" He yelled out.

"Got it!" The half-demon shouted. Okumura leapt up in the air and he unsheathed his sword. He focused solely on the monster in front of him and slashed his flaming blue sword down at it, resisting the urge to shout out his signature move, but doing so in his head anyway. Satan Slash! "Demon Slash!" A slash of blue fire rained down on the monster right as Luffy slammed a fist into its stomach, knocking it backwards and on fire. The beast lit up the area all around it and the group fighting monsters on top of a hill looked around to see they drew the attention of every monster in a mile radius with that attack. While most of them just grinned, Ban was staring in utter shock at Okumura Rin while blue flames surrounded the teen.

"Hm, that worked well," Killua muttered. He darted his eyes all around him and saw hundreds of monsters on the ground and in the sky turning towards them. The various creatures did not know they were there until the flames lit them up, and Killua glanced down at the bracelet on his wrist. This Power Blocker really does wonders. If I ever need to escape, they would never find me.

"Time for the second wave," Franky said, cracking his giant metal knuckles in front of him.

"How many of them do you think there are?" Rin questioned.

"Not enough," Luffy said as he cracked his knuckles like his shipwright.

"You guys ready?" Riku asked. The others all nodded and they started running forward as a group. "Let's take them down!"

A/N Thanks for reading! Hope everyone enjoyed! This chapter we see Krillin finally get a clue as to where Android 18 could be, from Dalgrefxi the Nobody of Garfield Logan, otherwise known as Beast Boy. Android 17 is a High Lord, Roxas and Sora team up to take on the Organization, and there was a third moon on Nexus at one point! Minecraftians, Endermen, and iron golems showing up this chapter, as well as some more Grimm, Aragami, Heartless, lots of monsters to fight constantly on this continent! Both Sora and Luffy's group are heading for the Dread Fort... XD Time for review responses... or, response* Haha it is two updates within 5 hours, so I'm happy to have even one! (Figured I'd make up for not posting yesterday, since this is the one meant for today anyway)

joebob323

Woohoo! I love this chapter, and I hope to see some more Goku flashbacks in the future! Now that you mention it, we really don't know much, huh...

Glad you liked the chapter! Now with the story about the third moon, and Meliodas mentioning Goku being there, maybe another early flashback will be coming soon where our Super Saiyan makes an appearance? XD Thanks for the review!