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!

58. Nexus HWR 10-0 Battle Royale

A/N Hey guys! This part starts off Chapter 10: Pyraxas with a bang! Hope you all enjoy the long-awaited Battle Royale! And with this 20,000 word chapter, that makes 70,000 words in the last 3 chapters! Probs going to start making shorter ones again though soon... Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own none of the shows, anime, movies, books, comics, or other media where you may recognize characters and settings from this story from. They aren't mine.

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Nexus HWR 10.0 Battle Royale:

The Capital

On the day of a Battle Royale the entire Capital of the Cooperative went all out. The Southern/Business Quarter completely shut down most of the streets near its center where the Colosseum was located. Even the skies above the streets were closed off to hovercars because of all the VIPs who needed the extra airspace. The sky high above the center of the Southern Quarter was full of massive battleships and zeppelins. There was a flying airfield higher and bigger than any ship where smaller planes could land, and there were shuttles from that airfield down to the Colosseum below.

Having only been around for less than two years, the Cooperative did not have much in "cooperative" activities. There were not many sport leagues in the Co-op, and the ones that did exist were mainly intra-regional, as in the league only stretched between member cities of the same High Lord. The Colosseum was thereby a symbol of the Co-op, being one of the only things that connected all of the High Lords together, and the Battle Royale was the symbol of the Colosseum. It was the biggest event the Capital had and only occurred every few months or so, usually marking a major event. The previous Battle Royale around two months earlier coincided with the addition of a new High Lord and the Emperor's completed conquest of the western coast of Southern Aebrith. There had not been an out of the ordinary amount of news recently, so everyone in the Capital was buzzing wondering what was going on.

The crowds outside the Colosseum numbered in the hundreds of thousands. They packed the closed streets that had vendors on the sides selling everything from clothes to weapons to slaves. Auctions for prisoners of war were side by side with gun shows or scientists showing off technology. Guards were everywhere too. The white guard uniform consisting of a jacket, pants, and a hat, adorned the bodies of Chimera Ants, humans, aliens, and demons alike. They kept the King's peace, without concerning themselves on who it was they were addressing. Lords had been known to break the laws in the Capital as they believed they still had some authority there. Although they may have had VIP clearance, no one was above the law in the Capital, and those Lords left the city without their heads.

Outside of the Colosseum, there was a huge clearing of a half mile radius in every direction of the outer walls where no buildings could be built. The Colosseum itself was four miles in circumference, and around it on every side were people pressed so close together that from the sky, the ground was impossible to see. On the west side of the huge circular stone amphitheater, the side closest to the Embassy Quarter, two women walked out of a crowded street into the much more crowded clearing outside the Colosseum. Most people had to push their ways through the crowds in order to get by, but the majority of people who saw these two women coming close gave them a small berth. It was not unusual to see powerful people near the Colosseum, and the idea that they had to follow the laws did give people a sense of security, but they still did not want to upset anyone in a black cloak like the ones these two women were wearing.

The two had their hoods up and the one who was an inch shorter than her comrade muttered in a quiet voice, "Screw this. I did my hair this morning and there's no point if no one sees me." She pulled her hood off and though she knew it would make them less intimidating and make it harder to walk through the crowds, she smirked at the reactions she got from men all around her.

The woman at her side who looked around ten years older reached up and removed her own hood as well. Her hair was jet black, much darker than her comrade's, and it fell straight down her back to nearly her waist. Her hair was bland compared to her comrade's that was mostly up in a bun above her scalp with some other braids falling behind her and to the sides in a beautiful, intricate fashion. She frowned at the sight of the people in front of them looking their way and then turning and continuing conversations with each other or street vendors who set up their stalls in the clearing likely days in advance if they obtained a spot this close to the arena. "I wish you had waited another minute," the darker haired woman began as they continued to walk again.

"Doesn't matter, they'll move out of my way if they know what's good for them," the younger-looking woman shot glares like daggers towards the people in front of her who moved out of the way without her even asking. They moved back into their spots as soon as she was past and the people walking behind her were getting caught up in the crowd. She glanced behind her and darted her glares to the short men following her who she growled at, "Don't fall behind."

All six of them gained nervous expressions and pushed people out of the way to catch up to her. They had bracelets on their ankles with glowing red lights on them, and each of the men only two feet tall had large packs on their backs with all the lighter-haired woman's belongings in them. Many of them were holding bags from that day as well, as their Master saw some things she wanted on the walk to the Colosseum from where they came from at the shuttle station. They were both staying in the Embassy Quarter but their rooms were both over thirty miles away from the Colosseum so they called a shuttle to pick them up from their hotel and bring them as close to the Colosseum as they could before the crowds became too thick. It was still over a four mile walk, but the women preferred that to going straight above the Colosseum and dropping down to wait there until the Battle Royale began.

"We've still got a half an hour until they even start the introductions," the shorter woman began as they got held up for a minute. In front of them marched a double-file line of horses with some pretty fancily-dressed people riding them. They had on beautiful silks and jewels, and there were Capital guards walking on their sides along with the Royal Family's own guards. The younger woman in a black cloak that went from her neck all the way down to her feet and covered all her skin except for her hands and her face, stopped speaking as even she felt nervous as the center of the horse caravan marched by. The red haired figures who mounted those horses had serious expressions and powerful auras around them.

Kouha and Kougyoku sat on horses side by side, and they kept their hands down at their sides on the hilts of their weapons. Both were Lords of the Kou Empire, but even Lords were not safe from danger in the Capital. They felt better today than most times they visited the Capital though, as on one of the two horses behind them was their eldest brother, the High Lord of the Kou Empire, Kouen Ren.

Kouen and Koumei, the second oldest of the Ren siblings, marched side by side and looked around at the crowds as they did. Koumei looked down to his left at two women in black cloaks next to his horse. He nodded at the woman with black hair whom he actually recognized, but he said nothing and turned forward to continue riding through the crowds. After a few seconds Koumei noticed his elder brother and High Lord looking at him out the left corners of his eyes.

Without turning his head, Koumei began, "Bronxi, rank XXV of the Organization. We met at the last Summit of Southern Lords." Kouen looked back straight ahead as his brother talked, and the two continued to gaze around the crowded area where hundreds of thousands of people were gathering. Koumei continued, "She is sharp-tongued and clever, for a Nobody."

Kouen nodded his head and repeated the name in his mind a few times to get it memorized. He liked making the loop around the Colosseum before entering, and was the only High Lord he knew of who did so. The man with long red hair had it all pulled back behind him into a single braid kept together by many white bands. All of the Ren siblings had long hair, beautiful necklaces and jewelry, and were dressed like Royalty, which in the minds of most, they were.

Bronxi watched as the Ren family's caravan finished passing them, then she walked forward through the open path that had yet to be filled back in by people hesitant to walk behind them. Walking in the back of the lines of horses were slaves who had shovels and baskets strapped to their backs, their jobs to pick up any shit the horses might make during the march around the Colosseum. As soon as the final slave had walked by, Bronxi walked across the path and continued towards the massive arena over two hundred meters tall on its outer walls.

Her comrade behind her grumbled and sped up to catch her friend who she walked side by side with again. "Who was that guy?" She asked, and the older woman smirked. "I saw you two make eye contact. You've met."

"We have," Bronxi replied. "But I do not have to tell you, Rank LV." The younger woman's forehead scrunched up angrily but her friend chuckled at the reaction and continued, "I am only kidding Manix. That was Lord Koumei. A master tactician and a genius in terms of politics and economy."

"Hmph," Manix humphed. The previous sarcastic remark her comrade made was still aggravating her, especially since her rank was mentioned. I got created six hours after you, but the Organization fucking doubled in size in that time! Stupid ranks, stupid Bronxi, stupid... Manix focused on an entryway ahead of them that was taller than most around the Colosseum. This was the same entrance that giants would use, though she had not seen any so far today. Because it was the entrance for giants though, and many people were worried about being stepped on in such a crowded place, it was the least packed of the entrances from the experience of the two Nobodies.

The girl with orange hair stopped when she was close to the arena. She turned and glared at the men behind her. "Stay," she ordered. The mens' eyes widened and she kept going, "Watch my bags, and if any of you get the bright idea to run, or lose any of my things," her expression darkened and she snarled, "I will rip you in half."

The cluster of short men with beards all gulped simultaneously. Manix started to turn but she muttered as she did, "Doc." One of the dwarves, the one wearing a pair of spectacles, ran forward and nodded quickly at the woman. "Find me a white horse," she flicked him a card from between two of her fingers and the dwarf gulped and held it carefully. "If you spend too much, I'll feed you to the dogs."

Manix turned and she walked away with Bronxi towards the wide and tall entrance that even with hundreds of people walking into it, still had a lot of room to move around. Bronxi chuckled which made her friend turn towards her before she began, "You are so hard on them. You and I both know you would not do anything to your children."

"Heh, says you," Manix replied starkly. "They aren't even children, they're a bunch of old men."

"But I do recall you shutting down Jixsan with a, 'my adorable little men are all I-'" Bronxi stopped as Manix snapped her a glare with slightly red cheeks.

"How do you know about that? You weren't even there!" Manix snapped.

Bronxi just smirked and continued to walk, leaving her comrade in the dark. Manix grumbled but decided there was no point in wondering how Bronxi obtained her seemingly limitless information. The younger Nobody shook her head clear of her annoyance and tried looking forward to the event at hand. It became easier as while they walked through the dark tunnel, loud music started blasting over speakers. The music was orchestral, only string instruments playing in loud short bursts, followed by a fast trumpet, followed by thousands of drums all playing together. The music was epic and building up to something as it grew louder and louder the farther the women walked down the tunnel. The sound seemed to bounce off the walls in there and everyone heading inside started nodding their heads and growing large smirks across their faces.

"Let's go to the upper level!" Manix yelled at her comrade even though they were right next to each other. She pointed at the stairs that led over the lower tunnel they were already walking down where there was another tunnel above them. There were private elevators on either side of the staircases up to the top level, but neither Manix nor Bronxi were invited to box seats this time.

The older woman nodded and the two headed to the upper level and then down that tunnel further. They could see light at the end of it and the music was extremely loud right at the exit. Then when they stepped through out into the stands, the music stopped being so loud as it was overlapped by the sounds of hundreds of thousands of people cheering and shouting and talking to each other.

Bronxi pointed above them and to the right where she spotted a few open seats near each other. Manix nodded and they started up the stairs on the side of the tunnel, but she looked higher up as they walked. The orange-haired Nobody frowned up towards the box seats above the top rows of the Colosseum's stands, three hundred of them total for the four and a quarter mile circumference of the top of the arena. How did we not get any seats up there? Having to sit with the commoners, Manix's mouth twisted into a disgusted frown as she glared around at the people on either side of the steps. Some of them were not wearing shirts, others had painted their faces, many were part human and part animal or some other creature. She saw aliens with four arms, ones with purple skin, some with spikes and some with bumps, and all of them disgusted her.

Up in the booth directly above the top of the stairs Manix and Bronxi were on, a heavyset man with long curly blond hair was thinking the same thing. "Look at those animals," he remarked while swirling his red wine around in its glass. The two standing behind him on either side said nothing and he continued, "They can not wait to see blood spill. If only it was them down there, I would like to see their faces as the terror of the Battle Royale sets in."

Judge Vinsmoke tilted back his wine and downed another full glass of it. "More wine!" He shouted and held his glass out to his left side. The beautiful girl standing there with a swirl of pink hair above her head picked up a bottle from a small table at her side. Reiju poured her father a glass with steady hands and then placed the bottle back into the bucket full of ice on the table on Judge's left side.

"The tournament has not even begun yet Father," the man on Judge's other side began. He had dark red hair spiking down behind his back and the same swirly eyebrows as his father and sister. Ichiji had a straight expression on his face like his sister and he remarked calmly, "You do not wish to miss the fight."

"Fuck the fight!" Judge exclaimed and he slammed his glass down so hard on the right arm of his chair that the bottom of it cracked under his hand. He did not even notice that he got a shard of glass stuck in his fist as he was so livid. "Your worthless brother Yonji failed his conquest in the south, bringing shame to the family name! My name!"

Ichiji smirked as his father cursed in frustration. "He did report back some interesting news though. It seems our brother Sanji is alive and well. Yonji heard that he's a man around our age too."

Reiju said nothing but the corner of her lip that was farthest from her father and brother curved up. Sanji, I hope you're doing well on this world.

"That Sanji was a pathetic excuse for my son," Judge snarled. "Though it would be great if Niji could find him and bring him back. I could marry him off to make an alliance with the Ren. Maybe that Kougyoku needs a husband."

Ichiji's swirly eyebrow lifted up and he let out a single laugh. "Sanji is hardly worthy of our name, let alone a Princess of the Ren Empire." Judge laughed along with that and Reiju let out a small unenthusiastic chuckle.

Two boxes down from the Vinsmoke's booth there were a lot more people gathered inside. There was a counter right at the front edge of the box, another counter behind it and a little higher up, and a third one behind that. There were a dozen seats behind every counter, and the people and creatures sitting on those seats had computers out in front of them. One person had a cube with a hologram sticking out and another person wore a high-tech pair of glasses and was moving his hand in the air seemingly without purpose as no one else could see the display he had in front of him. No one had any pens or paper there as they all typed on their keyboards, but many in the media booth were writing for newspapers.

"Big News" Morgans, a tall, white-feathered, humanoid bird in a top hat that had a darker feather sticking out of it, sat at the very center of the front row of this media booth. He had on a monocle and a black suit and he was squawking away with other news reporters around him. His newspaper, Aebrith Daily, circulated every corner of the continent including Resistance lands. There were few places his paper did not reach, like the far reaches south, or a few individual alien countries that refused to interact with members of the Cooperative, as few and far between as they were.

A blonde-haired woman on the second row had a laptop in front of her and already started typing her paper. She had on a media tag at the bottom of a green lanyard around her neck. The tag had a picture of her face on it and the letters 'ZTV' above it. The girl looked young, maybe in her mid-late twenties, and she wore a pair of glasses that with her professional black skirt, white shirt, and ponytail made her look like quite the... nerd.

This nerd lowered her glasses though as she looked over her laptop and down across the Colosseum to a dark tunnel on the other side and all the way at the bottom. She used her X-Ray vision and thought, Here they come. Kara Danvers started typing fast as she put down the names of the competitors at the front of the pack of gladiators heading to the arena. As she typed up the news for somewhere the Aebrith Daily did not reach, writing for an entire city she would return to after this event, her lips dipped down into a deep frown that stayed that way while she typed.

At least in a Battle Royale, the winner gets a choice. It's the only good I can see coming from something like this. The Kryptonian who once acted as a superhero under the name of Supergirl shook her head of the negative thoughts she had of all this and focused back on the arena below. She had been describing it in her article when she first spotted the competitors still in the tunnel, and she got back to finishing up its description. The circular floor was completely made of sand this time around, all the way out to the fifty foot tall stone walls encircling the fighting arena. The center of the stage had something interesting on it though, a sort of cornucopia of weapons for the gladiators. As Kara wondered how this battle would be fought, loud clanking noises quieted down the stands and everyone looked in to see what was happening.

All around the outer edges of the arena floor, ten feet out from each side of the exit of the dark entrance tunnel and then wrapping around the entire Colosseum like a ring, a marble platform rose. It came out from beneath the sand and made a meter-high ring around the arena leaving only the end of the tunnel without any marble. The ends of the incomplete ring on either side of the tunnel's exit slanted down into the sand, and when the gladiators came out in two lines, they split off to walk up the ramps and around either side of the ring.

The two standing in the very front of the pack glanced at each other as they exited the dark tunnel. Neither of them liked the other very much, the former pirate with a golden hook hand despised the kid with spiky blue hair and vice versa. Black Star smirked at Crocodile though before turning left and walking up that side of the ring. He held his muscular arms up in the air with his scythes in them and grinned as roars of applause echoed out for miles. The Colosseum was filled to the brim and people who could not get in watched on screens on the outsides of the Colosseum's walls. Everyone in the Co-op's Capital could hear the cheers from the Colosseum and they expected they would be hearing them for the entire day.

Black Star and Crocodile circled the arena and then moved closer to each other as they both closed in on the opposite side of the ring. Other gladiators followed behind them coming out one by one, and while this happened, their faces appeared one by one up on four giant screens above the VIP boxes on the north, south, east, and west sides of the Colosseum. Their wins, losses, stats, and their names were all labeled up there and those who were not privy to the early gambling started throwing down their bets. Many did not even wait for the entire pack to exit the tunnel as as soon as they saw Black Star's record they started betting. The teenager himself was smirking at the picture of him on the screen and the awesome stats he had next to it that garnered so much cheers and applause.

"Black Star! You need to focus!" Tsubaki called out to him through their mental link. Black Star kept waving her around in his hands, but the twin scythes continued in frustration, "This isn't like other battles! You remember the last Battle Royale?" Black Star's smirk faltered but he did not let it fade and continued to shout his own name while he swung Tsubaki around. "Black Star," she began again, her voice softer this time, "you can fool the rest of them, but I can hear your thoughts."

I know, Black Star thought, and as he allowed those thoughts he had in the back of his mind to rise to the surface it became impossible to keep the huge smirk and cocky expression on his face. But we need to win this time. I need to be focused on nothing else until the fight is over. You don't need to remind me what's at stake.

Tsubaki nodded her head in the black mental void she was standing in. Although her Meister would be keeping those thoughts down during the battle, she could not compartmentalize as well. We haven't seen Gon or Mario in two weeks. Soul went missing before that, and we haven't seen Maka again for even longer. Everyone who was left is disappearing one by one! All that's left are us, and...

Black Star turned his head a little as despite Tsubaki not speaking to him, he could read her thoughts about as well as she could read his own. He glanced back towards the tunnel and saw a taller teenager with an orange pompadour stepping outside. His big hair shadowed the top half of his face but his mouth was twisted into such a furious snarl that Black Star could assume what his eyes looked like. Good, at least he's taking the Battle Royale seriously. I thought he wasn't going to even try.

"I would suggest staying out of Kuwabara's path Black Star," Tsubaki urged her Meister. Black Star was going to mentally shout at her so she continued quickly, "I know you could beat him, but he's going to be fighting in rage, looking for vengeance. You don't want to get in the way of that, right?" Normally Tsubaki would suggest trying to calm down Kuwabara and reasoning with him to find another way to fight, but she and Black Star remembered what happened to Kuwabara well. They could only watch from the cell across from him as they tortured that Yukina girl in front of him, and then beat her to death before his very eyes.

I know who Kuwabara's picking if he wins, Black Star thought to his weapon. And I know who I'm picking too, he lifted his head and glared three miles away and straight into the eyes of a mutant standing in his own booth. A woman with long curly orange hair at his side smirked and glanced in at the older man with a metal helmet on his head that covered most of his face save for his eyes, nose, and mouth.

"That boy is looking at you," she said to the Lord at her side. "Would you like to know what he's thinking?" She questioned.

"If you could, Phoenix," Magneto replied to the telepath.

She smirked and said, "Kill kill kill, I will kill you, kill kill, die, bitch get out of my head-" Phoenix stopped and she turned away from Magneto and glared down to the arena and the boy there. Her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched, but Magneto quickly put a hand on her shoulder as Black Star's face scrunched in pain. The kid let out a breath of relief as the sudden choke-hold on his mind was released and he shifted his furious gaze to the mutant woman on Magneto's side.

"Do not be foolish Phoenix," Magneto warned. "We are in the Capital. Do not make such actions lightly." He shifted his gaze to the largest booth of the three hundred around the top of the Colosseum and spotted a monster staring right back at him. He bowed his head respectfully and after a second, Phoenix did the same.

Black Star was snarling up at those mutants before they bowed. I want to kill both of them! The bastard who tortured Maka, and the bitch who captured us! I'll kill all the damn mutants I can get my hands on!

"Not all of them are enemies. Wolverine is a friend-"

But most of them, Black Star thought angrily. Most of them deserve to die. The boy's expression darkened but his smirk did not leave his face and Tsubaki started to feel a little nervous.

The nearly one hundred competitors of the Battle Royale marched two by two out of the dark tunnel leading from their underground cells. There was an odd number of them this time, so in the very back of the line, a single man walked in between the rows. His eyes were closed and the two Chimera Ants walking behind him glanced at each other in confusion. They really thought the man would have opened his eyes by now, as he had had them closed from the moment they went to his cell to get him. He looked like a middle-aged man, though his hair was snow white and he had some wrinkles on his face.

This is the day. Light started filling his mind as his eyelids could not block it all out. His ears filled with sounds of roaring applause and yells. Jiraiya took a deep breath, then stepped fully out of the exit, the final competitor in the Battle Royale. Everyone in the audience turned to this man as he stopped between the two ramps of marble, not stepping up either of them to join his fellow competitors. Lords and High Lords examined him closely, and the cameras zoomed in so that all four big screens showed it.

Black Star stared across the arena, and he heard the former pirate on his left mutter, "What is that man doing?" The boy with blue hair was thinking the same as Crocodile, Jiraiya. I have never seen you fight before, but that ninja who bet on you, he was confident you would win. The kid's mouth twisted into a smirk and his eyebrows narrowed. Show me what you've got old man!

Jiraiya's eyes snapped open. His eyes glowed white for a second while thick red lines wrapped around the skin of his eyelids. Those red lines curved in towards his nose before stopping in single points on the bridge of it, and on the other side they got thicker to cover his cheeks and wrap around the outsides of his face before vanishing beneath his hair. His nose became bumpier and when his eyes stopped glowing, his irises were replaced by horizontal black lines. His white hair extended down his back and wrapped around the sides of his face giving him a scruffy beard that pointed down in several spikes below his chin. Very few in the entire Colosseum were able to see the nature energy flowing through Jiraiya's body, but those who could leaned forward and looked on with intrigue.

In the largest of the boxes around the top of the Colosseum, the Ant King Meruem gazed down at the white haired ninja. What is that power? I have not seen anything like it, since, the image of a man in an orange gi with spiky black hair appeared in the ant's mind. Meruem's lips curled up and the King of the Cooperative got out of his seat. He stepped to the edge of the box, while the four behind him stayed exactly where they were. Neferpitou, Shaiapouf, and Menthuthuyoupi, or Pitou, Pouf, and Youpi, were the King's three Royal Guards and his most loyal servants. They stood behind him in the shadows of the box, guarding him from any possible attempt on his life.

One other figure stood in the box. He stood behind Pitou, much taller than the female Chimera Ant, and without any of the animalistic characteristics the others in the booth had. He stood farthest back, scars and stitches covering his entire muscular body, his expression emotionless. The four in the box stared forward in silence as Meruem lifted up his right hand and the Colosseum went wild.

"And that's the signal from the King folks!" The announcer of the fight shouted. The young woman named Cocco had orange eyes and frizzy orange hair tied up in a pom-pom style on each side of her head. She wore a blue tank top that did not cover her lower stomach, and a pair of green short-shorts that matched her headband. She was standing up at the edge of the arena, right above its walls, looking over her shoulder and towards the huge box above where their ruler stood at the edge. The King lowered his right hand, but a figure in a booth three to Meruem's left stepped forward out of the shadows where several other figures in black cloaks stood.

Manix and Bronxi lifted their gazes to the box across the arena. They stared up at the High Lord at the edge of it whose name Cocco shouted. "High Lord Xemnas if you would!" The man at the edge of the box had silver hair spiking up on either side of his head and right above the center of it, but it also flowed down behind his back all the way past his waist. Xemnas rose up his arms and a bright pink flash illuminated the outer ring of the arena, before creating a translucent pink cylinder that stretched so high into the sky that there were Capital guards flying miles above the arena to make sure visiting ships did not fly into the Colosseum's direct airspace. Right before the match began, the massive airship that smaller ships parked on opened up a hole in the center of it, as it was big enough that even the huge Colosseum would fit on top of it.

Bronxi heard her friend mutter something in annoyance under her breath, and the woman with darker hair elbowed Manix in the side. "Do not complain," Bronxi said. "He will hear you."

"I know," Manix mumbled back. She continued staring up at that box even after Xemnas lowered his arms, and she spotted someone in the back of it that made her forehead scrunch in aggravation. Manix cupped a hand to her mouth and whispered to her right, "But, I don't get why the boss lets someone like Usopp's-"

"Never," Bronxi said, her voice quiet but rushed so she could interrupt her friend. Manix turned and saw a bead of sweat dripping down the left side of Bronxi's face. "Never, make the mistake of thinking that man, is anything like the Usopp you know from your memories." Manix turned back to look towards that box, and sweat formed on her face as she saw one of the hooded figures inside the booth facing her direction. Xoupps, I really hope you didn't hear that.

Inside the Organization's box, Xoupps turned away from the two women he spotted across the arena thanks to their black cloaks that stood out a lot. The seasons were changing, and it was colder than it was at the last Battle Royale, but most people in the audience were still scantily clad in the heat of the sun for today's match. The man with his hood up looked down towards the arena and at the fighters all around it. This is a pointless battle. We should be hunting the ones who took down Saix right now.

"Enjoy the match, Xoupps," a hand clapped him on the left shoulder, while the man who spoke stepped up on his right. Xoupps shrugged the arm off of his neck, and the older man who had his hood down like their High Lord started laughing. The figure wore the same black cloak with silver zippers and chains as every other member of the Organization, though as Rank II, he had more freedom as to his attire and wore a pair of shades that he lifted up as he faced his comrade next to him. Under his sunglasses, he only had one eye, the other covered by a black eyepatch, with a scar going under the patch suggesting why he might be wearing it. "It's always good to see which gladiators might be good additions to the army," Xigbar smirked ear to ear.

The Nobody got no remark from the man next to him so he sighed and turned the other way, looking over a short figure who stood directly at his left side, past Xemnas' back and to a man on their High Lord's other side by a few people. That man also had his hood up like Xoupps, but when Xigbar saw this he smirked twice as wide and called over, "What? Don't want them to see your face Axel?"

Axel stared through the shadow of his hood down to the sand-covered arena below. The pink barrier faded and would only reappear if something slammed into it, which was why Xemnas created it- to protect the audience. Black Star. Kuwabara. Oh man, Kuwabara. What happened?

Kuwabara's pompadour shadowed his face, but his mouth was visible beneath that shadow. His teeth were bared and the competitors on either side of him were inching away like they did not want to be anywhere near him. Many of the gladiators in the competition looked at each other with knowing looks, as there was an unspoken rule among them not to murder each other. Every single gladiator was there against their own will, and though the Battle Royale required there to be a victor, other rules were very vague. There was no giving up, but that was meant as a warning from those in charge, telling the gladiators that they had to fight whether they wanted to or not. When they stopped fighting was up to them, but most gladiators assumed that if they pretended to be defeated while they could still fight, someone would turn on the torture bracelets they had on until they stood. They had heard stories.

A ninja in a box near the eastern side of the Colosseum looked towards the exit tunnel for the gladiators. Lord Rasa had over thirty people around him in the booth, but it was not his own comrades or subordinates he was watching with. Rasa was invited to a booth with many of the other Lords who were betting on the Battle Royale, including some who Lord Rasa had bet against. Rasa was looking down towards Jiraiya who finally stepped to one side and got up on the marble ring around the arena floor, when one of the men he bet against turned his fat pink head around from where he sat and called out, "No taking it back now! Three million dollars when that Black Star brat kicks the old man's ass!"

"You only win if he defeats everyone there, not only Jiraiya," Rasa corrected. He continued quickly while Dodoria opened his mouth to shout something, "Though it will not matter, since Jiraiya will win this Battle Royale."

Dodoria froze with his mouth open, then growled at how confident Rasa looked and he turned back towards the arena floor. The fat alien covered in spikes wore his usual battle armor, but he also had a long red cape on that was draped over the back of his cushioned chair. He looked towards the fighting stage and thought about how confident the kid looked, how savage he was when his friend was paraded through the gladiator cells, and how amazing his stats were when they came up on the big screens a few minutes ago. "Heh heh," another alien, sitting on Dodoria's left side, chuckled. "I do hope you have not bitten off more than you can chew, Dodoria." Zarbon chuckled again, swirling wine in a glass in his left hand, and sitting in a chair similar to Dodoria's only with a green cloak that matched his long braided hair draped over the back of it.

"That kid will win for sure," Dodoria assured the others around him.

Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage on his world, and a Lord of the Cooperative on the new one, lifted up the corners of his lips a very small amount. Do not be so sure about that. I would never wish to face the legendary Jiraiya of the Hidden Leaf, and I would decline a challenge from him if he wins the Royale.

Jiraiya glanced up towards a booth high above where he could see several Lords he recognized from the early betting they were privy to. He glared straight inside it, but not at the sand ninja who placed a bet on him, or the aliens who bet on others around him. His gaze snapped back down though and the Sage Mode markings on his face made him look even more serious, while the countdown to the start of the Battle Royale began. Cocco was shouting the rules, even though all the gladiators already knew what they had to do, even though most people in the audience came knowing what they were going to see.

"…When only one is left standing, the Battle Royale's champion will have been chosen!" Cocco yelled, and thunderous applause rang out through the Colosseum. "Ten seconds remain everyone! Ladies, gentlemen, and whatever that thing behind me is, let's get this Battle Royale underway!" The timer was at three seconds, and everyone in the audience was already chanting, but their voices filled up the entire Capital now as hundreds of thousands yelled the same words.

"THREE! TWO! ONE! HAAAA!" As soon as the screams switched from yelling out numbers, to yelling out just for the heck of it, two dozen warriors shot off the marble ring and towards the cornucopia of weapons in the center of the arena.

Jiraiya did not move from his starting place even as everyone else started fighting. On his right side, he could hear two animal creatures, one with a wand and the other with a shield, talking to each other in hushed voices about a strategy for winning the fight. Neither of them were paying him any mind, but he was not too concerned about them either. After two long years, this is finally it. One final battle. Things could have been different. But this is where my journey ends.

FD + 3

"Run Erza!" Makarov Dreyar shouted. The young woman in a full suit of armor that looked like a dress as it widened at her feet, her Heavenly Priestess armor, spun to the Master of Fairy Tail with huge eyes. Makarov was growing in size, his entire body glowing white just like his pure white eyes. "Get away from that man!"

"Max!" May screamed. The girl who shouted it wore a torn red shirt, with messy brown hair and her red bandanna wrapped around her upper left arm. The boy with her grabbed her by her uninjured arm and he started running, even as tears came flying out of his clenched eyes. "Ash stop!" May yelled, punching her friend on the arm he was dragging her away with. "Max! We need to go back for Max!"

"He's gone!" Ash Ketchum shouted. He turned to the girl and her eyes were huge, but Ash had seen the boy disappear just like everyone else. "We will be too if we don't get out of here!" Ash turned the other way and yelled, "Come on Pikachu!"

"Pika!" The little yellow mouse turned from the massive man in a black jacket and white pants, and from the even larger old man who grew four times the size of the Shichibukai. It looked back over its shoulder and saw the pirate warlord looking to his left at a furry creature backing away on its butt, then turning to the huge man who started punching a fist towards him.

Bartholomew Kuma lifted up his right palm, while saying in a monotone voice, "All who attempt to save a wanted criminal, are guilty as well." Makarov's glowing white fist hit Kuma's hand, and it bounced backwards and hit himself in the gut.

"Master!" Erza yelled as Makarov roared in pain.

"Chopper!" Brook shouted from the treeline, and the tiny reindeer scooting away from Kuma spun his head with wide eyes. "This way! Come-" Brook turned because he saw Chopper looking in horror at something next to him, then the skeleton himself turned and started sprinting away as fast as he could, while three dozen Grimm beasts barreled over the trees near him and started chasing him away.

"Brook!" Chopper yelled, getting up to his feet and reaching an arm after his skeletal friend.

Out of the corner of Chopper's eyes, he saw an arm swinging down at him and his eyes widened in horror while his jaw dropped. "Stay away from him!" Erza Scarlet shouted. The Fairy Tail mage with huge silver wings sticking out of her back shot through the air and a hundred swords flew in around her.

"Then you will be next," Kuma said, turning his gaze her way instead and lifting the arm he was already swinging. Erza slashed the two swords in her hands and all the others shot forwards at the enemy. They all looked inches from connecting, when Kuma vanished from before their very eyes. Makarov was leaning forward and he saw it before the red haired woman did.

He opened his mouth to scream at her, "RUN-" Erza was only half-turned around when the open palm covered in a paw pad slammed into her, and just like the small Pokemon trainer before, she vanished into thin air.

"Stop it!" Chopper yelled, turning back towards Kuma and raising up his fists. He closed his eyes shut tight, and his body transformed into Heavy Point, the first time he was able to get into that form for over a few hours. They were in a giant clearing that stretched for a hundred miles in one direction, and he could not tell if this was better or worse than the forest he had already used up all of his strength surviving inside of for the past couple of days. The tall, muscular form of the reindeer stomped towards Kuma and yelled, "Stop hurting these people!"

"They are only being harmed, because of you," Kuma responded, and Chopper looked horrified by the idea of that.

"What did you do," a deep, menacing voice began. Chopper and Kuma turned, and watched as the giant who punched himself in the stomach before grew larger, and larger, and the white glow around him illuminated everything for a few miles. A man with long white hair leaning against a tree two miles away turned his head to the side at the sight of a brilliant white light. The ground started to shake and the man put down the apple he was eating, stretched his arms up to the sky, and then started running towards where the light was brightest. In the center of that light, Makarov finished roaring and the ground trembled with his voice, "TO MY CHILD?!"

The woman who just vanished looked far too young to be the child of someone so old, but no one thought of that while Makarov charged forwards, creating massive footprints with every step. Kuma's jaw dropped and for a second it looked like he was shocked by Makarov's appearance, until a light started glowing from deep inside his throat, and fired out as a laser beam that collided with Makarov's chest and exploded into a huge dome of blinding light.

"Stop, hurting-" Kuma started to turn, then rose his head slowly as the figure in front of him got larger, and larger, until it towered five times the already large man's height. "THEM!" Monster Chopper roared in a deep voice, swinging down a huge arm that he was going to slam Kuma into the ground with. Kuma dodged and appeared ten feet to Chopper's left side with both of his arms raised, and his legs spread out in a sumo-wrestler-like stance. Kuma started pumping his hands forward, sending shockwaves in the shapes of paw pads flying towards Chopper who was too burly and wide in his Monster form to dodge them at all. "Agh, ah, RAAA!" Chopper yelled in agony.

"Fire Style: Giant Flame Bomb!" Kuma spun his head left, but it was too late to block the giant fireball that slammed into him and knocked him off his feet. Chopper fell to his knees, but he did get a reprieve from the constant barrage the enemy was battering him with. Master Makarov and Chopper both found themselves staggering up to their feet, and the giant fighters turned their heads towards the source of the fireball.

"I don't know what's going on here," Jiraiya began, getting out of his fighting stance and standing straight up. He stretched his burnt arms over his head, then cracked his neck to either side to ready himself. "But this area's been ravaged pretty badly these last few days. Would you fellas mind giving it a rest?" Jiraiya smiled and confidently looked towards the smoke where he sent the bear man flying to, but in his mind he was not as cocky. Haven't seen Naruto in days, since right after we got here. Only recognized two others as ninja from my world. Only got a few hours of sleep in three days, and I am not feeling back up to strength yet.

Makarov and Chopper were thinking along the same lines as they turned back to the silhouette in the smoke as well. "He won't stop," Chopper began, his voice slow and very deep. The doctor of the Straw Hat crew took a step forward and winced in pain from being hit by Kuma so much. "Bartholomew Kuma," Chopper explained, "is not a human anymore." Makarov and Jiraiya nervously stared at the ten foot tall shadow in the settling dust, standing tall and looking unfazed by the attack. "He underwent a lobotomy, and his mind is now under the control of the government from my world. One of his orders is to eliminate pirates, which I am."

The smoke and dust went away leaving Kuma exposed to his three powerful opponents. Jiraiya and Makarov heard that Chopper was a pirate, but their opinions on the matter did not change. Makarov's fury over Erza's disappearance had him on the balls of his feet. The only thing holding him back was the memory of how easily he was stopped twice in a row. Jiraiya thought about the other groups of people nearby he had seen, and how this fight would be drawing the attention of every monster in a fifty mile radius. Chopper shouted at them anyway though, "Get out of here! He's after me, not you!"

"Erza," Makarov snarled, his eyes glowing bright white again.

"She's alive," Chopper said hurriedly. Makarov glanced towards the giant reindeer who turned his way and smiled. "Kuma sends people flying with that smack of his, but-" Makarov's jaw dropped and Chopper froze mid-sentence. Jiraiya came sprinting by the shocked Fairy Tail Master's side, but he was too late to stop the government weapon they were discussing from slapping its hand into Chopper's side. Just like that, the giant furry monster disappeared.

Jiraiya grimaced that the friendly monster got sent flying, but he kept in mind what Chopper said right before he was hit, and continued sprinting straight for Kuma who shifted his gaze towards him now. Jiraiya saw Kuma's head for the first time since the dust settled, and the ninja suddenly realized something was different after that last attack he used. He had no idea what Kuma had been through in the last few days, or that before his fire style jutsu, Kuma's head was already cracking, but he could now see what his attack did, and how badly the inside of Kuma's head was sparking. He did not hesitate despite the appearance of the mechanical interior to Kuma's head, he just continued his sprint and punched hard into Kuma's side, and although his fist felt like it exploded on the steel, he also heard a loud crack inside the robotic man.

Kuma swung an arm down and Jiraiya flipped where he was pressed into the robot's stomach, and kicked his leg into the hand coming at him. "Wait!" Makarov yelled. It was too late. Jiraiya's foot hit the paw pad, and all the force was reflected back at him, sending Jiraiya flying off of the palm, directly into the ground, where he dragged a trench through the earth for a hundred meters. Jiraiya started smashing through trees, when he finally flipped himself out of the ground and slammed back-first into a tree trunk that did not completely shatter when he collided with it.

Jiraiya's vision was foggy. He fell off the tree and tried landing on his feet, but his legs were wobbly and he collapsed to the ground. "Exterminate. Tony Tony Chopper. Exterminate." Jiraiya lifted his gaze and looked out to the clearing past the fallen trees and his trench. He stared at the giant old man and the malfunctioning robot that only seemed to get more menacing thanks to the attacks the ninja landed on him. Even with that pirate gone, this government weapon is still sensing him. Jiraiya watched as the robot dodged an attack to appear right behind Makarov, then opened its mouth and fired a beam that exploded on Makarov's back into a huge sphere of light.

The screams of the old man shook Jiraiya from his state and got him back to his feet. What am I doing with my renewed youth? Jiraiya thought, stumbling forward, then regaining his composure and starting to run full sprint, only a little wobbly on his feet. The dizzy ninja started making hand signs as he ran, I'm younger than when I died, maybe ten years. That's ten years I got back! I'm going to use them and do as much as- The enemy he was sprinting towards vanished, and in Jiraiya's peripheral vision on his left side, a ten foot tall sparking robot appeared. Shi-

Present

Jiraiya opened his eyes and his expression was deadly serious. Naruto, Minato, Nagato, every student I have ever had came to this world, and they all died before me. Ten years was too much to hope for. Jiraiya the Gallant's story should have ended years ago, but since I am here, there is room for one more chapter. The white-haired man turned right and glared through his strange eyes at a female swordsman sprinting towards him.

The woman ran eighty miles per hour, but Jiraiya vanished from in front of her and appeared behind her back. He elbowed backwards with a dark look in his eyes, no hesitation even as he nailed a beautiful woman in the spine strong enough to throw her into one of the outer walls. He never took his eyes off the opponents he saw as soon as his eyes opened. The woman flew away from him one direction, while the legendary ninja dropped to all fours and started running even faster.

"Thunder!"

Kuwabara spun left at the sound of the high-pitched yell, and he glared down at the duck with a blue wizard's hat over its head. He rose up his red sword of energy, his Reiken, but before he could slash it down, a dark cloud formed above him and dropped lightning on top of his head. The teenager grit his teeth to stop from screaming, even as his body filled with electricity and pain. The tall dog companion to the duck waving a wand in its hand charged at Kuwabara, spinning around in circles with his shield out and creating a tornado of wind and sand around him.

"Get him Goofy!" Donald Duck shouted, while nervously taking a step back at the look in Kuwabara's eyes.

Goofy spun straight into the teenage boy and hit him over and over again with his shield. "Sorry, sorry, sorry," Goofy apologized repeatedly every time the man oofed from his attacks.

"RRRAAAHHHH!" Kuwabara roared, bringing his sword down hard towards the dog without caring how many times he got hit doing it. Goofy's eyes opened wide at the sight of the air above his head splitting open like reality itself was being split.

"Goof-" Donald started shouting in panic, before yelping as he himself was wrapped around the body by something. "Yaaaa!" Donald screamed as the whip of white hair around his torso lifted him off the ground.

"Art of the Raging Lion's Mane!" Jiraiya yelled from fifty feet away. The ninja was on his hands and feet, all of which were covered in bumps like the skin of a toad. His long white hair curled above his body and shot out long enough to wrap Donald up. Jiraiya snapped his head left, then right and whipped Donald so fast towards Kuwabara and Goofy that the two did not understand what was happening as a screaming duck collided with them and sent all three tumbling away.

In the center of the arena, Black Star glared to his left as he heard screams coming from the castle that was gradually getting larger. The sand castle rose higher up and stretched from the wall to halfway to the center. Crocodile probably set up traps in there. Guess he remembers what happened last time he came straight at me. This is his element though, might be up against him in the finals.

Black Star looked around the cornucopia where he was surrounded by moaning and defeated opponents. There were some really high-tech weapons out here, so he came out as fast as he could and stopped the weaker competitors from getting any steps up on him. I'm winning this time. He's mine! The boy darted a glare towards one of the upper boxes, where a man in a metal helmet looked straight back into his eyes.

Magneto watched as the boy glaring his way had to snap his gaze back down to dodge bullets that came curving at him around a steel wall covered in weapons he stopped his competitors from ever getting to. Black Star leapt away and created several after-images of himself from moving so fast, but the Gunsmith's eyes locked onto him and he fired rapidly with his seemingly endless supply of pistol ammo. The dark-skinned bald-headed man finally heard clicks in his guns, and he pressed a button on the left sides of them to drop the clips, while at the same time slamming his guns down to his sides where extra magazines were strapped. The mutant Lord smirked as he saw the gladiator boy sprint forward, because the gunman was reloading too fast and had his guns back up before Black Star reached him.

A slave girl standing behind Magneto opened her eyes wide in fear, but Maka quickly restored them to their usual size half because she did not want it to be discovered that she was not entirely broken, and half because her friend managed to dodge the bullets Gunsmith shot at him from only a few feet away. Black Star darted around the bullets that curved to chase after him, and his speed rose higher every second. He sprinted at the Gunsmith and the man pointed a pistol straight at his forehead. Bang Black Star could see the smoke come out of the barrel and the bullet inside pushing through it. He was already slashing Tsubaki down, no longer a pair of dual scythes, but now a thin, sharp katana that he split the bullet, and the barrel of Gunsmith's pistol, straight in half with. The Gunsmith went wide-eyed, losing confidence in that moment as one of his guns split, and he did not have the mental fortitude to recover quick enough.

Black Star sprinted by him and blood splashed out of the assassin's chest. "Did you see that Black Star? That man could curve a bullet!" I know, it was really cool! Black Star sprinted straight past Gunsmith so that he could cut in on a one-on-one fight some other enemies were having, and Tsubaki transformed in a flash of light back into dual scythes so he could take them both out at the same time. Only once they were flying backwards with match-ending injuries, did Black Star risk a look back towards the trained assassin he defeated. Gunsmith was down, but Black Star's gaze never lingered on him, as when the boy looked back, his eyes opened huge at the sight of the tear in the side of the arena's airspace.

Sand was being sucked into the hole, while a dog and duck tried grabbing onto the marble ring on the outside to prevent being dragged into it. Jiraiya was bent down, white needles flying out of his hair as he used his Sage Art: Hair Needle Barrage. The needles were aimed at Kuwabara, but the younger man had cut a hole through space itself and the needles were flying harmlessly into the void. Jiraiya could feel his energy depleting and he had to put a lot more force into pressing his feet into the floor and pulling away from the rip in dimensional space. Damn, if only Fukasaku and Shima were still alive. I had to remaster Sage Mode without their help, and I never managed to get the time limit to what it was. Before it ends though… The markings were already fading from his face and the bumps from his arms and legs, but Jiraiya lifted up his right hand and jumped in the air.

A huge amount of blue energy started forming on his right palm, swirling around as it expanded with a bright white core in the center. Black Star was sprinting towards Kuwabara who he could see was going all out, but the boy spun left with giant eyes at the sight of a ball of chakra much bigger than the swirling rip in the air. Kuwabara could see it from behind the rip in space, and all the other fighters still up on the arena floor looked over in shock at how big it was getting. "MASSIVE RASENGAN!" Jiraiya slammed the ball of energy ten times as wide as his own body down, instead of out towards the rip Kuwabara made with his Reiken.

Everyone thought Kuwabara was the target, so when Jiraiya aimed at the floor, he caught them all off guard. His Rasengan hit the floor, tore straight through most of the sand, and hit a rocky bottom that blasted into pieces and sent debris in every direction. A pair of gladiators working together to take out others were already running away, but a huge chunk of rock flew out of the sand and slammed into one's back, while the other dove for safety only to be taken by the wind and thrown up and out of the arena. At least, he would have flown out of the arena if he did not hit a giant pink barrier that only re-became visible when he collided with it face-first.

"Oooh!" Most of the audience outside that barrier winced and leaned back as the man's face smushed up against the barrier. After feeling bad for a second, they all screamed again as loud as they could in excitement. The entire arena floor was clouded by dust and sand as it continued to fly away from where Jiraiya's spinning ball of chakra hit down, but inside that debris cloud, the fight raged on. Black Star lowered his arms from in front of his eyes, and though he could not open them yet because of all the sand in the air, he rose his arms back into a fighting stance and sensed around.

The blue haired boy slashed to the left, but the person swiping at him in the sandstorm heard that their attack had been sensed, and changed up to parry Black Star's attack instead. He was not going to let the attacker get away with that though, and he sprinted after them through the swirling sand. It took a minute for all the sand to finally settle, but in that minute, most of the remaining fighters on the arena floor were taken down for good. Black Star took down another opponent then looked around, and the young gladiator smirked ear to ear at the sight of all the moaning and bloody contenders around him. Four opponents stood on the other side of the cornucopia from him, but he saw them all give each other looks and then turn back his way with weapons or fists raised. "All at once then?! Bring it on!" He laughed loudly and leapt up in the air, holding Tsubaki high in both hands as he did, "I'm the star of this show! Black Star!"

He landed on top of the cornucopia and glared at his opponents, a deadly look in his eyes. As menacing as he was however, when one of the men saw something behind him, his jaw dropped and he started sweating a lot worse. Black Star even felt a bead of sweat on the side of his face and he darted a look to his side, and then turned his head and looked all the way straight back behind him. His eyes opened wider and he stared at the man who took the brunt of Jiraiya's massive Rasengan, yet had one hand in the sand, dragging himself up just enough that the five other contenders on the floor could see his eyes. The amount of hate in Kuwabara's eyes, directed at people he didn't know, at his own comrade, it was unreal. He started lifting up his other hand to recreate his Reiken, but right when he was about to, all the sand around him curled up, and slammed down on top of him, burying him in it.

CROCODILE! Black Star thought in rage. He was about to sprint towards Kuwabara to save him, but the former pirate still inside his castle of sand stopped before sucking the life out of the teenager. He knows if he kills Kuwabara, I'll murder him. Black Star grunted in satisfaction, feeling Kuwabara's presence fade, but not disappear, and he turned back to his other four opponents. "Be careful Black Star. I have seen each of them take down several competitors on their own." It's okay. I can't lose to small fry like these. The big guns are up next.

Inside Crocodile's sand fortress, the pirate with the Sand Sand Fruit, a Logia type Devil Fruit, stood in a room at the top of his castle. One of his eyes was not on his face, a gaping hole there instead full of sand so it looked like his entire body was made of it. Crocodile's left eye was on the outside of his castle, watching the match out there from inside the safety of his fortress. Six more and I can demand my freedom from this game. Becoming a Lord shouldn't be too hard, but I won't risk it here. I'll try my luck on the outside, after planning, unlike what the idiots here always choose.

Crocodile sighed and he turned to face the open doors leading farther inside his sand fortress. "It seems the traps did nothing to stop you," Crocodile said, deep annoyance present in his voice.

A man stepped out from around the corner and glared into the pirate's eyes. Jiraiya narrowed his own eyes and frowned thinking about how Sage Mode had run out. I can still do this though. I am Jiraiya-sama! He grinned confidently, and called out, "Crocodile! How about you and I-" The sand beneath Jiraiya's feet shot up his legs, and Jiraiya looked shocked as it completely enveloped him from head to toe, leaving only his face exposed.

"If you want to talk, then do it yourself," Crocodile said. His lower body turned into a sand twister and he flew across the room with his right hand outstretched, a hand he slammed into Jiraiya's face and sucked the water out of. It did not take long for the Shadow Clone to explode into a puff of smoke, and Crocodile flew out into the hallway beyond as he awaited the real ninja to approach.

"I'll admit I'm surprised," Jiraiya called out. His voice echoed around the castle and Crocodile glared around, his teeth baring as he did not like the feel of this ninja. He looked down the hall as he spotted Jiraiya come around the corner at the end, but Jiraiya was not smiling any longer. The ninja's expression was dark, and he said in a deeper tone, "I must thank you for providing us with these walls and ceilings though. I wanted to save this for my later fight, but as long as those outside cannot bear witness," he started making hand signs and the left corner of his lip curled up a bit, "I guess I can try it out early."

Outside of the sand castle, above all the rows of bleachers and inside the largest box seats there were, Meruem leaned forward in interest, as suddenly both presences inside the castle of sand completely vanished. Everyone else in the audience was watching Black Star masterfully take on four powerful enemies on his own, but Meruem watched the castle instead. Did they vanish? Did that Jiraiya have a teleportation jutsu and only wait until now to use it? Where have they gone?

The King was not the only one staring at the castle of sand on the arena. "Getting nervous there Lord Rasa?" Dodoria sneered at one of the other Lords in their box. He cackled loudly and pointed a hand down as Black Star got stabbed through by a broadsword, only for it to be an after-image as he moved so fast, and for the real Black Star to appear behind his opponent and slash him across the back.

"Not at all," Rasa replied, continuing to stare at Crocodile's castle as the sand started losing its solid structure. The other Lords in the booth, their companions, and their slaves, all followed Rasa's gaze while many others in the audience began looking over as well. There were still three competitors left in the center of the arena, with explosions going off around them and huge flying slashes shooting away from them all the way to the barrier that kept flashing whenever it got hit. A lot of people were looking away from that crazy fight though, as two very powerful contenders had been missing for a while, and it looked like they were about to see what became of them.

The other three still fighting looked over as well as they felt Jiraiya's presence reappear. All of the fighters remaining had some way to sense people other than ki, so despite the Power Blockers they were wearing, they knew Crocodile was no longer at the strength he was at before, and they knew something else was coming. CHHH The sand castle exploded in every direction, and the audience roared out like crazy at the sight of a twenty meter tall toad appearing on the arena floor. "Gamaken!" Jiraiya yelled from atop the dark red toad's head, standing in a sage position, with an unconscious Crocodile lying at his feet covered head to toe in burns.

That guy took out Crocodile? Black Star thought, his mouth twisting into a bloodthirsty smile. In his distraction, he did not see the woman on his left charge at him again, and only sensed her in the last second. He tried leaning away and blocking, but most of her slash got by him and he roared in pain as he was sent flying. The woman turned her head and nodded at the ten foot tall muscular man near her who nodded back, showing their temporary alliance was still going on while Jiraiya and Gamaken were a big problem to deal with. "I'll get you for that!" A voice screamed, and the woman spun away from Jiraiya towards the boy she just sent flying, he was sprinting back with black lines wrapped around his face and body that made him so much faster the woman could hardly follow him.

He's going to be a problem, Jiraiya thought, while a huge man leapt up towards him and swung a sword down. "Oh crap, Gamaken dodge!" He yelled. Gamaken leapt to the right while raising his left arm and the huge yellow shield on it. The muscular man who slashed down at them was no normal man though, adorned completely in red armor, holding a ten foot long sword that even though it did not connect, ripped a ravine in the ground and tore through the wall behind where Gamaken just was, as well as shattering the shield that got hit by a piece of the flying slash.

Twigo, an apprentice Holy Knight on his own world before he was killed, dropped to the sand and swung his sword after the toad that dodged him. "Get back-" his eyes opened wide as the toad was already coming back his way, and slamming forward the massive two-pronged sasumata, covered in spikes. The center of the sasumata where the prongs split off slammed into Twigo's sword he just slashed, and the weapons pressed against each other, shaking violently while giant gusts of wind picked up sand and discarded bodies around them and made them spin around in the air, flying out to the sides and around in a vortex above them.

Cocco shouted out how crazy the attacks were and the crowd was going nuts. Gamblers placed bets, screaming at each other who they thought would win the clash, trying to find someone to disagree with them before the clash ended. Gamaken's feet were dragging backwards in the sand, but the toad pushed its arms forward harder, while Twigo's sword shook like his arms and his entire body, while veins popped all over him as he tried pressing against this giant monster toad. Before the clash finished however, Jiraiya leapt off of Gamaken's head and sprinted down the shaft of the weapon the toad was holding. Twigo's eyes opened huge, as if he tried moving his sword from its current position to attack Jiraiya, Gamaken's massive weapon would slam into him, and if he didn't- Jiraiya did not use a jutsu, there was too much fighting left to be done to waste chakra where it was not needed. Jiraiya leapt off of the sasumata and stuck a foot out, one he planted on Twigo's face and pushed him back with, just enough that Twigo lost the pressure against Gamaken's weapon, and allowed Jiraiya's huge summons to slam the armored man hard enough that he was sent flying with his armor shattering around him.

Jiraiya was about to laugh and call out to his opponent something witty, but before Twigo slammed into the barrier, a woman came flying out of nowhere and collided with him in midair. Both were unconscious before they hit the ground. Jiraiya turned his head left, as did Gamaken behind him, and they stared at a boy with spiky blue hair standing between where they were on the outside of the arena and the cornucopia in the middle that was a mess after the battle Black Star just had with that other final contender.

"And there we have it folks! The final two contenders of this Battle Royale! What a turn of events! I mean, who didn't see Black Star making it to the finals after almost winning it last time? But for his first time in a Battle Royale, Jiraiya is really kicking some ass out there!" Cocco's announcement got the entire Colosseum echoing out with cheers for Black Star, though there were many yells of Jiraiya's name as well for those people who would lose bets if the fan-favorite won.

Without Sage Mode, I need more help to take down this kid. He doesn't look like he's taken much damage, though it's more than I have at least.

What hand signs are those? Is he summoning more toads? Gotta keep up my speed. I already used Uncanny mode once, time to put on a show for these people! Black Star smirked and called out, "Red Uncanny Sword!"

"Summoning Jutsu!" Jiraiya yelled. Two giant toads each as large as Gamaken appeared on the sand. At the same time, eight more medium sized toads with varying weapons and some with armor on their arms or helmets on their heads appeared in front of the three big ones. There would be more, if not for what the toads told me Naruto did to them. Brainwashing… no, don't think of that now. Focus on the boy.

Black Star held a long katana pointed straight up directly in between his eyes. He held it by the hilt with one hand, and his other hand had two fingers pointed up behind it. Black lines spread down his face from under his hair above his forehead, and two other lines cut in from the sides of his face to his cheeks. The katana that was formerly black turned bright red in color, growing as it started glowing, while the boy himself grit his teeth as his body strained itself. His grit teeth made him look even more mad as his lips curled up and his eyes had a dangerous spark in them.

"Who is that boy, Jiraiya?" Gamabunta questioned. The giant, old, dark-red Chief toad unsheathed the giant katana it had at its side. All of the toads on the arena could see this was a dangerous kid, but at his first movement, they realized they had been underestimating him.

FAST! Jiraiya thought, while leaping backwards off of Gamaken's head.

Six of Jiraiya's smaller toads leapt in the air, right as Black Star appeared in the center of them. They slashed axes, swords, or punched fists covered in steel. The smirking kid called out in his mind, Shadow Star! Tsubaki nodded inside the mental void where she also had black lines on her face and arms. She started controlling her Meister's shadow, while Black Star slashed his glowing red sword in a circle around himself. He moved so fast that the toads were still in the same millisecond of their mid-swipe down when he started slashing as when he finished.

Jiraiya's eyes grew huge as he saw the toads go flying in every direction. He's strong. Jiraiya sent Gamabunta forward, but when the giant toad slashed down, Black Star slashed his Uncanny Sword against the massive katana, and he held it there against Jiraiya's strongest summon's weapon. Too strong, Jiraiya thought. Stronger than I.

"Second Form: Leaf of the Moonlit Night!" A flash of white transformed Tsubaki into a four-pronged giant shuriken. There was a white ring in the center of the black weapon with prongs in the shapes of leaves, and there were white ornate patterns stretching out from the white ring to the edges of the weapon. Black Star leaned back far, then threw his shuriken so fast that the toad it was flying towards barely had time to raise his sasumata, not that Gamaken's weapon could withstand the force of the blade anyway.

"Gamaken!" Gamabunta and Jiraiya shouted at the same time as one of the three giant toads went flying with blood splashing out of a large gash in its stomach.

The toad slammed into the huge pink barrier and cheers echoed through the Colosseum. So many people looked away in fact, that just like Jiraiya, they were all stunned when they looked back and saw Black Star inches in front of the older man, looking into Jiraiya's eyes. "You should send your frogs away, before I wind up killing them all." He slashed, and his sword got stuck in Jiraiya's body that turned into mud as soon as the sword collided.

Black Star snapped his gaze up and saw two more Jiraiyas falling towards him. He tried yanking Tsubaki free, but the mud hardened around his weapon and made it difficult to do so. Instead, he pushed down on the top of his hilt and flung his legs behind his back and over his head to kick both Jiraiyas in their punching fists. The Jiraiyas bounced off the parries though, kicking down their legs at the boy who could not dodge while in midair and got slammed into the ground.

Black Star bounced away, then flipped up and skid backwards on his feet. "Thanks," he said, and swiped Tsubaki out to his left side, "I was having trouble pulling her free."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. Did he get hit on purpose? The force of my kicks was enough to yank the weapon girl free. This boy looks young, but he is an experienced fighter. I could risk it- but then I will not be able to catch him by surprise later. This boy is strong, but I am risking my life today, I cannot let him stop me. "Attack all at once," Jiraiya said, and all the toads around him, even the injured ones, glared down at Black Star intensely.

Black Star frowned that Jiraiya did not send away his summonings, and he glared right back into the master ninja's eyes. Damn it, that chick took more out of me than I thought. I could kick this old man's ass easily if he was on his own. All of the toads leapt towards Black Star, right as the red glow vanished from his weapon. The boy closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. "Black Star, you don't need to go this far! You need to save some strength for the next match if you make it!"

"I am going to do, whatever I can to make it to that next match," Black Star snarled. Then, his left eye lost its normal color and a star formed in the center of it. "Madness, Takeover," he growled, his voice deep, his hands gripping tightly around his katana. An aura surrounded him, white but with a dark veil on the outside of it. His clothes turned black and his muscles bulged, and the corners of his lips stretched out into his cheeks so that he truly looked mad on the arena floor.

"What's this?!" Cocco shouted, leaning back in her seat at the force of wind that slammed into her. Sand swirled around the arena, and it became difficult for the spectators to follow what was going on anymore. Black Star was moving so fast that he left several after-images every step he took. It looked like there were dozen of the kid jumping around the arena, slashing apart the slower toads with his rapidly transforming weapon. Tsubaki was panting inside the mindscape, so was Black Star, but so was the ninja facing Black Star who was being pushed to his very limits.

Three Jiraiyas came falling down with large Rasengans in their hands, but the Black Stars they slammed their attacks down at were just where the kid was half a second before. They missed their attacks, then got slashed in half, each one of the Shadow Clones one by one. As soon as Black Star sliced the third one in half, another Jiraiya came flying up over the explosion of that third clone's Rasengan, with a Double Rasengan of his own pushing forward.

"AHHH!" Black Star screamed, first in agony, then in rage as he leaned forward into the attack and looked Jiraiya in the eyes. The crowd stopped cheering as much as they heard that roar. It was not just directed at Jiraiya. The anger was there, mixed with sadness, and rage, and ferocity. This was a caged beast they were watching. They put it in a cage and made it fight against other caged animals, and now it was baring its teeth and they were afraid. Cocco stopped shouting as the aura around Black Star grew larger. "YOU THINK THAT WILL STOP ME?! I AM BLACK STAR! NOTHING CAN STOP ME!" He slashed down so hard, right through the spinning balls of chakra that were breaking through his skin, right through the Shadow Clone that attacked him, and through the ground below that could not withstand his slash and exploded in every direction.

Manix leaned back in her seat as huge chunks of debris flew her way. None of the debris ever reached her, slamming instead into the barrier her boss created, but it was still nerve-wracking. "What's wrong with that kid?" She mumbled, wiping some sweat off the side of her face. "Ha, haha he's insane!"

I can't keep up with him. He's too fast. Too, mad!

"RAAAAA!" Strands of Black Stars shadow shot off of his sword and impaled toads and Jiraiya clones. The creatures Jiraiya summoned were vanishing one by one, the ninja not wanting to see them die because of this fight. He was running out of chakra fast though, and he knew he had to end this instead of dragging it on against this kid who he had no doubt still had tricks up his sleeves. Black Star. You are a fantastic warrior. I apologize for this.

Black Star snapped Gamabunta's sword in half like a twig, and the largest toad in the arena went flying up in the air in a tornado of wind and sand. The kid was moving even faster now, and Gamabunta's loud roars echoed out around the Colosseum as the kid appeared on all sides of it slashing with his sword. "Go home Chief Toad!" Jiraiya yelled out. Goodbye, Jiraiya, the giant toad thought. Gamabunta vanished in a puff of white smoke. Black Star turned his gaze to the arena below, and though hard to see, Jiraiya stood in the center of it waiting for him.

"Good! Face me! The star of the show!" Black Star dropped from the sky spinning. He was laughing loudly, even as blood splashed out of him from a dozen different wounds, even as his chest screamed at him in agony because of the Double Rasengan that hurt a lot more than he let on. "I can't wait to be let out of here!" Black Star roared. As he dropped from the air, a few dozen Lords and High Lords swore they saw his eyes dart around the boxes at the top of the Colosseum, as if looking at each one of them specifically. "I can't wait until I'm free to get my revenge!" He screamed, scaring some people who were watching him fight for his life for their own enjoyment.

Reiju chuckled as Judge Vinsmoke spilled some of his wine. In a different booth, even someone who bet on the kid like Dodoria, gulped as the kid's eyes lingered on their box longer than most. One figure in that box made eye contact with the kid, and Magneto frowned deeply at the sight of the boy's crazed eyes. If he wins this fight, I will put his sword through his own head.

Black Star snapped his gaze down at Jiraiya and he dropped with a purpose. He brought his sword back and it covered in red again. "Careful Black Star!" I've got this! Black Star slashed down, but the Jiraiya he was slashing at did not dodge.

"You looked away far too often on your descent," Jiraiya said. Black Star slashed through him, and at the same time started swinging around for the man he could see behind him making hand signs. He spun and slashed through him faster than Jiraiya could dodge. Black Star opened his mouth to taunt that he knew it was a clone all along, but the second one he slashed through was a clone as well, and exploded into a puff of smoke as his sword was still pushing through him. Black Star continued his momentum while starting to turn his head again to check behind him for another clone, but Jiraiya was all out of clones, and he was still right in front of Black Star.

The white puff of smoke from Jiraiya's last Shadow Clone dispersed, as Jiraiya came crashing through it with his hands cupped to his mouth. Black Star was already swinging his sword around the other side of his body, when he saw the old man covered in a white veil flying through the smoke of his old Shadow Clone. "SHI-"

"Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame!" Jiraiya yelled, and he put almost every last drop of chakra he could into the most powerful fire attack he knew of. At point blank distance, with Black Star swinging his sword towards him so fast that Jiraiya wondered if he would get it off in time, a mass of flames shot out of Jiraiya's mouth and engulfed Black Star. The fire did not stop at the boy though, it filled up the entire arena on Jiraiya's other side, slamming into the pink barrier and outer walls, and then billowing straight up through the pillar so that through the entire Capital, everyone could see a three hundred meter tall pillar of fire shooting up into the sky.

The fire wrapped around the outer walls and everything inside was covered completely in flames for a few moments. When the fire finally started to recede, many of the spectators leaned back at the sight inside the arena. A moment before the flames left Jiraiya's throat, all of the unconscious and wounded fighters on the floor of the arena became surrounded in pink protective bubbles, but many of them were still screaming as they had thought they were going to be burned alive. Jiraiya was down on his knees, panting so hard that his breaths were coming out as loud wheezing noises. "I, apologize," he said in a very quiet, raspy voice.

Jiraiya lifted his head and looked at the figure in front of him. He could not even find the energy to be shocked, but the right corner of his lip did curl up a bit as he chuckled darkly. "I want to, say I'm, surprised," he began, while pushing down hard with one shaky arm, and staggering up to his feet. He stared down at the shorter fighter, somehow still standing on two feet, though his entire body was shaking. The sword he had clenched in both hands was trembling violently, and Tsubaki was screaming Black Star's name, telling him to keep fighting, just like the boy himself was trying to yell at himself, while his mind was blanking.

Donald Duck lifted up his head from the edge of the arena where he was thrown earlier. He lowered his arms that he had covered his head with to protect himself from the fire, and he stared out in complete shock like any other competitor who could still move. Black Star's clothes were all burnt away, and blood was dripping off him all over the place. "Your overconfidence and arrogance led to this defeat," Jiraiya said, while taking a single, unsteady step towards the boy. Black Star tried stepping backwards, but he could not move his legs. "You were careless," Jiraiya punched forward and slammed his fist into Black Star's gut so hard that it was visible on his back.

"OOOH!" The audience yelled in a collective wince. Blood flew out of Black Star's coughing mouth as he lifted up on Jiraiya's fist.

The white-haired ninja brought Black Star's head right up next to his own, and he whispered something into Black Star's ear, before elbowing him down on the back and slamming him into the ground at a hundred miles per hour, forming a crater in the ground that doubled in diameter after the initial shockwave. Dust and sand rose up as the ground collapsed beneath Black Star, then it slowly settled on the ground all around the arena.

Everything became silent for a few moments. Nothing was happening. Black Star stayed down. And the crowd went wild. The loudest the arena had been the entire day, thunderous applause and bellowing cheers filled the Capital. The news reporters and journalists typed as fast as they could to get down the specifics of the end of the battle. Some of the fight had been moving too fast for them all to catch, but Kara Danvers caught every second of the action and was marking it all down in her story.

Maka Albarn stared at the arena emotionless. She ignored Dodoria's yells and the other Lords' laughs as Rasa demanded his payment. She ignored everyone and stared down at Black Star's body laying still on the sand. Black Star. I wish I could say I'm disappointed, but if you had won, you would have chosen Magneto. If you had killed him, all of our carefully laid plans would have been foiled. Tatsumi, Mine, Lily, only a little longer and it'll be time. Black Star, I'm getting us out of here.

Jiraiya stood alone in the center of the sandy arena. The cornucopia's weapons lay in pieces like the cornucopia itself, and parts of the ground beneath the sand were risen up and broken into chunks all around him. He was taking deep breaths while trying to replenish his chakra as fast as he could. Nature energy alone will not suffice for a long battle. So I only need enough for a single move. One move that will guarantee my victory.

"Jiraiya is the winner of the Battle Royale!" Cocco shouted into the microphone, triggering another round of crazed applause. Jiraiya turned towards the announcer who was up on her feet shouting like everyone else. "Now! As the winner he has a few choices opened up to him that no other slaves have! First, he can go free, right here, right now!" The audience started quieting down, as everyone looked at the ninja to see what he was going to do. Jiraiya's gaze started lifting up and everyone was getting a lot more excited while he looked up at the King's box, where Meruem was staring straight back down at him.

Cocco herself grinned at where he was looking, and she shouted, "A second option however, is that Jiraiya can challenge any member of the Cooperative! If he wins, he takes the place of that Lord, or High Lord, or even the one who made this rule, our King himself!" Cocco exclaimed, and the Ant King gazed down into Jiraiya's eyes, wondering what the ninja was thinking staring straight at him.

"As much as I would like to face the King," Jiraiya began loudly, in a confident, boastful tone, "and as much as I want to leave this city behind me, I have something I need to do first." Jiraiya turned his head to a different booth and a bunch of talkative Lords quieted down as he gazed at them. He thought back to what he told the boy he knocked unconscious only a minute before, "Not to worry." "I do have a challenge in mind! I pick Lord Magneto!"

Maka's eyes opened huge as she realized she may have felt relieved too soon. Magneto also looked semi-surprised, while the rest of the Lords in their booth turned to him wide-eyed. All of the screens around and outside of the Colosseum started showing a camera view of Magneto's face, and the Lord himself looked into the camera for a second before gazing back down at the arena floor. Dodoria and Zarbon stood up and looked at the Lord who had requested their help recently. Magneto walked in front of them and the two brightly-colored aliens glanced at each other with smirks on their faces. Rasa stood near Dodoria but forgot about his monetary payment for the moment as he focused on Magneto instead.

Cocco held her microphone to her mouth and called out, "Lord Magneto! What do you say to the challenge presented by this Battle Royale's champion?!"

I did not expect this man to challenge me. Why myself over the other Lords? Does he think me weakest? Does he know my abilities? Whether or not he does, I cannot deny him this challenge. Dodoria, Zarbon, other allies I have made in preparations for my rebellion against the Fire Lord, they are all here right now. I cannot afford to look weak in front of my future subordinates. Magneto stepped to the ledge, past Phoenix who smirked at the much older mutant as he walked by. As soon as Magneto hit the edge of his booth he floated up in the air over it, sparks of electricity starting to form around him. A purple cape flapped behind him and he crossed his arms over his chest in a menacing way.

"I think we have our answer!" Cocco shouted. The crowd started going nuts and more bets were put down by gamblers all around.

"A Lord at full strength," Manix scoffed, "against that tired old man? This isn't even going to be a fight."

Normally, Bronxi would agree with her friend. As she looked towards the panting old ninja however, she saw the corner of his mouth curve up the smallest amount as Magneto accepted the challenge. What is he planning?

"Jiraiya," Magneto began as he floated to a stop. He stopped while hovering fifty feet over the ground in front of the gladiator. "May I ask why it is you chose myself as your target?"

"That girl you have enslaved," Jiraiya began. "When I looked in her eyes, I realized that you are not a man at all, but a beast." The audience fell silent, and Jiraiya continued louder, "Also, I happen to know your skill set, as I was on a Resistance mission to assassinate you when I was captured." Jiraiya started making hand signs while Magneto's eyes opened huge. The mutant leader rose his arms and steel bars from deep beneath the arena shot out of the ground like giant tendrils, whipping around in the air all around them.

He was sent to kill me?!

"What's this folks?! Jiraiya, the champion of the Battle Royale, has been hunting Magneto all this time?! What a turn of events!" Cocco was leaning so far forward in her seat that her face pressed up against a pink barrier and she did not care. "Magneto rips steel out of the ground, and he's creating a huge amount of electromagnetic energy in front of him. I wouldn't want to be in front of that when it goes off!"

"Summoning Jutsu!" Jiraiya began shouting as he hit his final hand sign.

Magneto smirked and calmed himself down. Whatever toad he summons, I will crush it instantaneously to prove to the other Lords that he was no match for…

"Ninja Art- Toad Mouth Trap!" Jiraiya slammed his hands into the floor, and suddenly the sand was gone. The entire arena floor vanished and was replaced with a dark orange substance.

Magneto spun around and watched as the orange substance made its way up all of the steel bars he had out, and he lost control over them once they were surrounded by the fleshy substance. "What is this?!" Magneto shouted, spinning to Jiraiya angrily as he had no idea what was going on. The mutant fired his sparking ball of energy forward, but ten tendrils of flesh shot out of the ground and up in between Jiraiya and his opponent, intercepting the blow, though all the tendrils were ripped to shreds.

The flesh continued moving up the walls of the arena and up the invisible pink ones after that, while Jiraiya called out to his opponent, "I have summoned the oesophagus of the great stone toad of Mount Myouboku! There is no metal in here for you to use." Magneto snapped his head up, and he tried flying up, but the fleshy wall that suddenly snapped inwards on all sides was too fast. He stopped himself before slamming into the newly-made ceiling of flesh, then looked down and around to see that he was surrounded on all sides.

Luckily for the spectators, one of the tiny flying cameras that were taping the match got stuck inside the summoned oesophagus too, and it pointed at the two fighters to show everyone outside what was going on. Meruem grinned slightly as once again he could not feel presences inside the giant wall of flesh in front of him. Almost as if the fighters themselves were teleported into the toad's stomach. How does a man summon only a single organ? Very impressive.

"You will never escape this place, Magneto," Jiraiya threatened the Lord in front of him. Magneto was thinking hard on what he could do in this predicament. He floated directly in the center of the large fleshy area he was inside of, but he noticed the walls were starting to close in on him. Long pieces of flesh started moving around and shooting towards him, but he zapped them apart with pulses of energy over and over, holding a stalemate of sorts for the moment. I need to do this fast. I am nearing zero chakra, at which point I'll die before ever finishing my mission. "No one has ever seen the inside of this toad and survived!" Jiraiya shouted confidently. Except for Itachi Uchiha, who broke through with his Amaterasu. As long as Magneto does not have a trump card… no, don't wait for him to use it! Go all out!

Jiraiya charged forward. "You foolish man," Magneto called down, then swung his arm and lifted his opponent from a distance. He flicked his wrist and threw Jiraiya across the inside of the fleshy summons. Jiraiya slammed into a wall and coughed up blood, no matter how soft the cushioning was he was just too injured to be tossed like that. Magneto lifted that arm up and pulled Jiraiya out of the indent in the wall, levitating the ninja directly in front of him so he could look in Jiraiya's tired eyes. "At full strength, you would have been no match for me."

"Ha haha," Jiraiya chuckled, then smirked as Magneto's jaw dropped and his eyes turned huge. "It is a summoning. I don't have to control it at all times."

Magneto restricted Jiraiya's movements, but several thick strands of flesh shot up and wrapped around Magneto's legs. They yanked him down and Jiraiya was released from his hold. The ninja started to fall while Magneto was pulled into the floor, then the mutant blasted the ground at his legs to free himself. The ground was off of him for a second, then a dozen other strands of flesh from the wall that had been closing in behind him wrapped around his body. The crowd outside the flesh was going wild, screaming and cheering and laughing their heads off.

"What a fool!"

"Idiot!"

Phoenix leaned in over the ledge and her eyes were wide, while her mouth was curled up in a wicked smile. Maka's jaw was on the floor as she watched the mutant struggle to break free. They could all hear Jiraiya's voice over the speakers, telling Magneto as he got pulled into the walls that he would be slowly digested by the toad, and they heard the mutant's final scream right before a long piece of flesh with a mind of its own curled around his face and went into his mouth, gagging him as it pulled his head into the stomach of the beast.

Two figures came walking into the box from a different one they were at before the match began. "Can you believe it?" A red alien with a long white mane of hair down to his waist asked with a loud laugh.

Zarbon and Dodoria turned and both looked surprised for a moment, before they burst out laughing with the other two aliens who just walked in. Jeice and Burter kept laughing, and then the tall, muscular, blue alien, Burter, mentioned in his high-pitched voice, "It's too bad though. I really wanted to be the one who did him in."

A bunch of the other Lords looked at these four aliens nervously as they laughed about Magneto currently dying. Zarbon laughed heartily, then noticed Lord Rasa gazing at him nervously out the corner of his eyes. He turned and held a hand out to explain, "We had a bet on who would kill Magneto first, but it seems we won't be seeing that happen now."

The four aliens capable of destroying planets showed no fear in repercussions from what they were saying. There were laws and rules against that sort of thing, which was likely why they did not kill Magneto right away and were waiting to find a good time. Maka looked at them with scared eyes, These, these things, they don't have ambition. They don't have ideologies. They're just laid-back monsters working as Lords under the King. One of those monsters she was looking at, turned to her with a smirk. Zarbon took a step towards her and said, "If no one else is claiming this one..."

Magneto's screams echoed over the speakers long after he was no longer visible in the wall on the monitor. In another box ten to the left of the one Maka was in, a ten foot tall person who was made even taller by their huge purple afro, cackled loudly at Magneto's defeat, "WOOHOO! Mmmfufufufu that Magnet-Boy got digested!" Emporio Ivankov bellowed.

Two people stood in the booth with the Queen of the Okamas. One was a man on the okama's left side wearing a pair of purple sunglasses, who had hair that was half white on his right side, and half orange on the other that matched his long orange cloak. Inzauma had a glass of red wine in his hand that he swirled around while watching the screens that showed the inside of the flesh walls before them.

The other person in the booth was a shorter girl on Ivankov's right and farther back near the door. Koala heard a knock and the girl with short light-brown hair only down to her shoulders turned her head. She wore a pink t-shirt and tight black pants that matched her big boots, and wore a dark maroon hat similar in color to the gloves she wore. She reached for the door with one of her gloved hands and cracked it open, so that the nervous-looking person on the other side could whisper into her ear.

Koala's eyes opened wide and she ran away from the door and up to Ivankov's side. "What is it?!" Ivankov shouted as Koala leaned in to whisper something. Ivankov's eyes popped out of his eye sockets, and the huge man with a giant hairy chest, wearing only a purple leotard, jumped out of his seat and spun around with sweat all over his face. "Send him up!" He shouted to the door and the messenger standing there. The person ran off in a hurry, while Ivankov started fluffing his huge purple hair, and wondering aloud, "Why would Dragon be here?"

"Dragon is here?" Inazuma questioned in shock, turning towards the doorway as well and patting down his cloak.

They stared at the closed door for about a minute, until the handle started to turn and the door opened up again. Ivankov stepped forward and exclaimed, "Dragon-" The one who opened the door was not Dragon, but Ivankov's jaw dropped to the floor anyway. "S-S-S-SABO?!"

Koala had tears in her eyes, and the young girl sprinted to the doorway and leapt towards the man in a suit and top hat who just walked into the box. Two others walked in behind him, and the three in the room from the same universe as one of those two went wide-eyed again. Ivankov stared at the shirtless man in an orange hat for a few seconds, then back to Sabo, then back to Ace, then to the third person who walked in with them. Mizore did not say anything while the very, very strange person stared slack-jawed at her.

"I'm looking for Whitebeard," Ace said, and he smirked at one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Army from his world. He stepped into the box and continued, "Figured this is probably a good way for it."

"What do you mean?" Inazuma questioned.

Sabo stepped forward as well and while ignoring the wall of flesh outside of the box, he said, "We're planning a meet up between Dragon and Whitebeard." The two brothers smirked menacingly and dangerously, and Sabo finished, "It's time to turn this world on its head."

"With your resources, I'm sure it can't be too hard to get in touch with the old man, or someone from the crew at least," Ace started. He saw Ivankov open his mouth, so he interrupted before the Okama Queen could, "And, I'm sure Whitebeard will want to meet up, if he knows Dragon has one of his sons."

Before the conversation could continue, Ivankov noticed the people in front of him suddenly looking behind his back, and he turned around to see the giant walls of flesh had vanished completely. In the center of the arena, Jiraiya stood next to a very-much digested Magneto. Others started to realize that what Crocodile was covered in before were not burns from some type of fire attack the ninja used, but acid burns from being partially-digested inside the very same attack.

Jiraiya stood in the center of a badly destroyed arena. Not, dead yet? Strange. That was all, my chakra.

The cheering crowd quieted down as a figure floated down from the booth directly behind the announcer of the matches. Cocco shouted at everyone to shut up, and the King lowered to the floor a few feet in front of Jiraiya. "You have defeated Magneto, and now you are Lord Jiraiya." Meruem looked into Jiraiya's eyes, and the ninja looked right back. Everything fell silent, so silent it was hard to believe there were hundreds of thousands of people gathered in one place. The silence was eerie, until the King broke it, "So predictable."

Squish No one blinked, but still only a very small handful of people in the few hundred thousand were able to see what happened. One second Jiraiya was there with his head on his body, and the next second the King's tail was through it. Those that could see what happened in that instant, saw the thin tip of the King's tail go through the ninja's right eye and out the back of his head, before the thicker part of his tail kept going and splattered the head into a thousand pieces. Jiraiya tried something heroic, something brave, something idiotic, or at least he would have, if the King could not sense what he was thinking long before he would have made the action to do it.

"Never raise a hand against me," Meruem said, his voice calm, commanding, echoing over the audience who remained perfectly still as he spoke. The King smirked and a dark aura surrounded him as his tail curved back up so the tip of it was in front of his face. He had some strange abilities. Meruem's tail hovered in front of his face, and he licked brains off of it while the crowd remained silent, watching the victor of the Battle Royale's body finally collapse to the floor, and the King they all bowed to eat his brains.

The other competitors of the Battle Royale stared inwards from all around the arena, unable to move from their injuries, or from sheer terror at the sight of the man who was able to best all of them, get eaten before their very eyes.

Meruem cleaned off his tail, then looked around the audience, and more closely at the boxes above them all. "My subjects," he said, his mouth still red from blood and chunks of brain still between his teeth. "There will be one final Battle Royale in forty days."

"Final?"

"What the?"

"What's going on?"

Even the Royal Guards up in the King's booth opened their eyes wide at that declaration and they stepped forward to the edge of the box. Meruem looked up towards them, then around at individual High Lords who looked back into his eyes wondering what he was thinking. The King did not elaborate though. He floated up in the air and did not return to his box, but flew out of the Colosseum and towards the Northern Quarter of the Capital, the Command Quarter.

The Colosseum quickly started emptying out, while staff flooded the arena and gathered up the injured competitors to bring them back to their cells or to the infirmary. Up in the Organization's booth, Xigbar turned his head to the Organization's leader who was mulling over the King's final declaration. "Well then, we're gonna be heading back for Pyraxas." The short figure at his side turned towards their leader as well and nodded his head in agreement, though said nothing as the others all looked his way.

Xigbar gave a small sarcastic salute, then a black portal appeared out of the ground behind him. "Haha, would you believe it if I told you that fool Magneto tried getting my help against the Fire Lord? Idiot never would have stood a chance." He stepped backwards, the short figure with him stepped back as well, and the portal closed on the two of them.

Tens of thousands of miles away, another dark portal opened up on top of a giant palace smack in the middle of the capital of the Fire Nation. They were at the tallest point in the entire city, and Xigbar smirked at the enormous city around him. "Might not be as big as the Capital, but I like the feel of this place better, wouldn't you say?" Xigbar asked, and he looked down at the hooded figure next to him. The Organization member rose their hands to their head and grabbed the hood, before slowly removing it and the shadow from over his face.

He looked out into the city through dark eyes, and replied, "I don't know what it's like to 'like the feel' of something. A city is a city. It's a place where people live, work, die. Why should I feel any differently about this one than any other?"

"Couldn't jog anything, huh?" Xigbar wondered aloud. The boy turned to face him confusedly but the one-eyed man put his arms behind his head and started walking away. "Let's go report what we saw to the Fire Lord. You know he doesn't like to be kept waiting." The boy with dark eyes stared at the city for another second, then turned and followed after Xigbar. I am a Nobody. We don't like anything. We don't dislike anything. How could we, without our hearts?

---

A/N Thanks for reading! To start this chapter we get another look at the Capital, and a lot of future enemies of our heroes. The Ren Empire, the Organization, the Germa, mutants... or at least Phoenix XD. Jiraiya gets a small flashback in the beginning, and we also get an explanation for why Kuma was malfunctioning when he attacked Zoro, Zabuza, Gray, Kirito, Kuzan, Batman, Nami, Robin, and the others in the flashback to why Gray was in Aebrith all the way back in early Nexus (probably the first 100,000 words of this story). We also saw a mysterious sewn-up figure behind Pitou, and a short Organization member who will be a big part of this next chapter, wonder if you can guess who these people are? Supergirl makes her first appearance that's not in a flashback (since she was in Nexus 14.0 in that giant war against Darkseid's Legion of Evil). Ace and Sabo make plans to get Dragon and Whitebeard together, more than half of the Ginyu Force are in the Capital, Maka's trading owners, a lot happened this chapter! I hope you liked this chapter and the fights, (though I bet I'll get some crap for having Magneto lose ;P ), but let me know in a review below! I'll put a list at the bottom since there were a lot of new characters this chapter, right after review responses.

Seven Deadly Sins: Twigo

Wanted (movie where assassins can curve bullets (it's really awesome)): Gunsmith

Naruto: Naruto, Jiraiya, Gamabunta, Gamaken, Pain, Nagato, Minato, Rasengan, Rasa, Fukasaku, Shima, Mount Myouboku

One Piece: Judge Vinsmoke, Ichiji, Niji, Reiju, Yonji, Sanji, "Big News" Morgans, Ivankov, Inazuma, Koala, Crocodile, Ace, Sabo, Dragon, Whitebeard, Bartholomew Kuma, Shichibukai, Chopper, Brook

Kingdom Hearts: Donald, Goofy, Xigbar, Xemnas, the Organization, Saix, Axel, and Manix, Jixsan, Bronxi, and Xoupps (OCs, Nobodies of the Straw Hat crew).

Snow White: Doc, the seven dwarves (Manix's slaves)

Magi: Kouen Ren, Koumei, Kougyoku, Kouha

Soul Eater: Black Star, Tsubaki, Soul, Maka Albarn

X-Men: Magneto, Wolverine, mutants, Phoenix

Hunter x Hunter: Meruem, Pitou, Pouf, Youpi, Chimera Ants, Cocco

DBZ: Zarbon, Dodoria, Jeice, Burter

Supergirl: Kara Danvers (Supergirl)

Yu Yu Hakusho: Kuwabara, Yukina

Fairy Tail: Makarov, Erza

Pokemon: Ash, May, Max, Pikachu

Avatar the Last Airbender: Fire Lord Sozin

Darugus chapter 57 . Jul 31

Well juvia's back
Also if only gray knew what the lazerous pit's side effects was especially when Ras is dead
Well it seems that even though the two groups split up they might meet again soon

Yay Juvia! Thanks for the review and the PMs. Everyone's heading for Pyraxas, and now we see there are going to be some Organization members in the Fire Nation's Capital too!

Espada-001 chapter 57 . Jul 31

First off glad to see you finally back. And second I enjoyed both of the updates. I enjoyed the fight between Bane and Gary, and I actually had a slight sense that Kirito was still going to show up and help. (Bane was my favorite Sith Lord) As for the fight between Kirito and Ra I thought it was pretty awesome too. And it was interesting to learn that Ra became capable of fighting against someone on the caliber of a Yonko without prior planning. And I'm glad they managed to bring Juvia back although I'm worried about her upcoming side effects of her resurrection. I thought it was pretty cool to see Nagisa make an appearance and I'm interested to see how strong he's become since arriving on NEXUS. As for what happened to Koro sensei that actually made me feel sad as I really liked his character. However I'm curious as to how Meruem was able to eat him in the first place since he can only be injured by an artificial material and also even if he was killed shouldn't his body have just dissolved? I'm also still hoping to see Caboose make an appearance. And I was supprised to see Hiei make an appearance at the end there and I'm even more that he hasn't gone into a fit of rage after losing his connection to his sister. Well that's about all I have for now so until next time have a good day and I look forward to the next chapter. Actually I'm about to lose access to the internet after tomorrow for 15 days is there any chance you could make 2 posts tomorrow?

Thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed the battles, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well (took me nearly 15 days so I hope you have internet again!). I always liked Bane too as a Sith Lord, which was why he was ranked 3rd of the Siths, and who knows if he'll appear again (cuz ghosts n stuff ;P ). Caboose would be awesome and there are some RvB characters I have plans for later on in the Saga. Anyway, thanks again for reading and all the reviews!

Joebob323 chapter 57 . Jul 31

Well, one question was answered, but still though, was the ring that the league members were fighting over anything special? Also, can't wait for more epic action!

Thanks for the review! The ring that the league members were fighting over is what decides the next Ra's al Ghul. I don't know why, it's just how it worked in Arrow Season 3, that whoever got the ring would become Ra's. Hope you liked this chapter's epic action, and I wonder if I caught any of you guys off guard with Jiraiya taking the spotlight for most of this one (or surprised that he died).

Guest chapter 57 . Aug 13

this is the best fanfic I ever read

Thank you very much! Again, thanks everyone for reading, following, faving, and reviewing to this story! 'Till next time!