And so, we have finally reached Punk Hazard. We're only one chapter into it, but I think I've already set up so much that will change how this arc will play out. Are you excited? I am! This one goes to my Patrons who got this chapter five months past: Alex P, Andrew Bohl, Animephilosopher1, Ankhseram123, Anna Khuu, Ant Franklin, Badmr7, Cam Bliss, Christopher Mitchell, Clark Kent, Claude Walker, Cordell Sanders, Cory Johnston, Dave Gh, David Bowling, David Reynolds, Emi Stafford, Eric Bandel, Eugene Malone Jr., EvilJelly, Fenrir ragnarok, Garvin Lee Nelson-Mathlin, GODA98, Illiasse Naji, Inucbus, Jacob McCarthy, JEP1010, John Mekjian, Jonathan Moh, Jordanitos, Joseph Baty, Joseph Morrison, Joseph Vargas, Joshua Groves, Julien digot, Kcx1, Kevin Calderon, Korakas, Kyo Anamoto, Lamont Hale, Marielle Orff, Markoos, Matthew Burley, McBanjo, Mcgin28, Milagros Peres Davila, Milla, Rafael Cardenas, Ranger Ellis, Richard Barkley, Riley Bolerjack, Ryuu, Sasha, TheWolfThatExist, Thomas Sanders, Tom Peissig, ToonTownTourist, Ty Chaos, and ViewtifulSoul.
Chapter 33:
Distress Call, Welcome to Punk Hazard
Despite the rain, the ocean was on fire. Literally.
That was the first thing the Straw Hats noticed as they approached the next island they'd found in the New World. The raging flames bathed the surroundings in a horrible, red glow and the temperature steadily rose as they got closer, an erupting volcano not only diving this fact home, but also reminding some of them of their less-than-stellar fight at Secon Island against the Neo-Marines. Every member of the crew, no matter their experience with the New World, stared in awe.
"The whole island's on fire!" Luffy laughed. "That's so cool!"
"Cool, cool!" Ace echoed from his father's shoulder, Luffy keeping his head tilted so the water that ran over his hat wouldn't fall on Ace even though his son was dressed in a red raincoat. "Wait, not cool!"
"You don't think so, Ace?"
"Not cool!" the son of the captain and navigator insisted, pointing at the flames. "Fire's hot, so it's not cool!"
"Well, you can't fault his logic," Sanji chuckled, leaning against one of Sunny's walls.
"Oh, Ace~" Nami sung, the young mother dressed in a bikini top under a sheer cover-up. She didn't seem bothered by the rain as it dripped off her wide-brimmed sunhat. "What's it called when something produces heat?"
"Hot?" Luffy suggested.
"Ex-o-therm-nail!" the toddler answered. "And making cold is en-do-therm-nail, 'cause it goes in!"
"Exothermal and endothermal, that's right!" Nami cheered, stepping over to nuzzle her cheek against Ace's. "You're so smart, Ace. I'll make a navigational prodigy out of you yet."
"Do not forget he is also my student," Robin said. "I'll mold him into one of the foremost archeologists to ever sail the seas."
"Under my guidance, he'll have the cooking knowhow to woo every woman in the world," Sanji piped up.
"Excuse you," Zoro growled. "He's becoming a swordsman, not some rinky-dink cook."
"The Hell did you just say to me, Mosshead?"
"I just said Ace will follow in my footsteps, not yours, pervy Swirly Brow. Do I need to say it slower so your tiny brain can follow?" The two crashed their foreheads together, growling.
"Under my tutelage, Ace will learn every instrument he can touch," Brook put in, ignoring the duo.
"I'm teaching him, too," Franky said. "I'll make him a super little grease monkey after my own mechanical, cola-powered heart."
"You can leave anything long-range to me!" Usopp offered, jabbing a thumb into his chest. "They won't be able to touch him if he nails them at a distance first."
"I've got dibs on the chemistry and art lessons!" Grace smiled, dressed in her own rainbow raincoat.
"I guess I'll help with swordsmanship and ethics," Coby muttered, his outfit a pair of suspenders over a blue button-up visible under a clear poncho. Grace had finagled him into a salmon bowtie, citing complementary color theory. "Mostly the latter, I bet. Why learn from me when the one who taught me is still here?"
"He's already learning medicine!" Chopper said.
"I'll teach 'im…" Gin began, only to trail off. He was dressed in his brown robes once more, the rain turning into steam as it sizzled upon contact with his electric body. "I don't know what I'll teach 'im, but I'll teach 'im somethin'."
"Franky could cover it, but I wanna teach him carpentry and ship repair," Merry offered in her default white raincoat. "Who better to learn that from than a classically-trained Wood Fairy?"
"Sanji can teach him cooking, but I'll make sure he actually knows what women want in a man," Amy grinned. She was dressed in a long sundress with images of roses and ladybugs working their way from the bottom hem on a yellow background. Her parasol had been replaced with a sturdy umbrella that kept the rain at bay. "He'll thank me when he's older and knows what it means to be a lady-killer. After all, a prince needs to know how to play the game."
"Hey!" Luffy yelled, bringing the cross conversations of his crew to a stop. "He's my kid, so I have to teach him a lot, ok? I'm first in line!"
"Luffy, calm down," Nami sighed, patting his cheek. "Ace will learn a lot from you, but you can't teach him anything that involves thinking. Remember the last time you tried to think really hard? You almost overheated."
"But I have to teach him something," the young father insisted. "He'll think I'm stupid otherwise."
Collectively, the crew blinked, refusing to say anything.
"Guys?" Luffy questioned.
"Also, Zoro," Nami said, turning so Luffy couldn't look her in the eye. "You will not be training Ace until he's older. You started your training at five, or something, so you have to wait until Ace is that old. Until then, you can let Coby take care of it."
"But—" Zoro tried to complain while Sanji mocked him. The verdet rounded on the blond, swords and shoes flashing through the air.
"So about the burning island," Usopp began, only for a wail to come from inside the dining room. Considering the whole crew was on the deck, this was odd enough to catch their attention. Coby was the first to react, shoving the door open and making his way to the transponder snail that was crying and waving its arms. Water dripped from the crew onto the floor as they gathered inside.
"What's wrong with him, Coby?" Luffy questioned. "Is he sick? Hungry? Tummy ache?"
"This is a distress signal," the roset answered, his hand hovering over the microphone. "Someone nearby is in enough trouble for them to call for help from anyone around."
"It's likely a trick," Robin offered. "More than half of all distress signals are traps set by the Navy to lure in gullible or opportunistic pirates. I opt we should leave it be."
"We can't!" Coby argued. "Sure, over half of them are traps, but the rest aren't! We can't just ignore someone in need!"
"Correction, you can't ignore someone in need," Sanji pointed out. "We are infamous pirates known for leaving destruction in our wake."
"And you're willing to feed anyone who's hungry, even if you have to fight them afterward," the Zoan rebuffed. "I'm not the only altruistic one here."
"…Touché," the blond admitted.
"It's fine," Luffy said. "If it's a trap, we'll fight our way out. And if it's a real distress call, then we'll have made new friends."
"What a positive outlook," Brook chuckled. "It gives me an idea for a new song. Friend or foe, who's to know, until the future comes~!"
Coby answered the snail.
"Help us!" a man yelled over the call, the snail's eyes leaking tears that almost seemed to crystalize as they fell. "Help us, please! He's cutting us down one after another and nothing's stopping him!"
"Where are you?" Coby questioned. "Who's attacking you?"
"The samurai won't stop!" the man cried, but the crew couldn't tell if he was responding to the questions or not. "It's like the cold doesn't affect him! We need Boss! He's killed half of us already!"
"Where are you?" Coby repeated more firmly. "What island?"
"We're on… We're on the island of Punk Hazard! Help us, please! No! No, wait! Wait!" The snail coughed blood and let out a final gasp before going back to sleep, ending the call. The pirates stared at it, slowly comprehending what that meant. Luffy, conscious of the youngest of their number, bundled Ace against his chest in a gentle, yet firm, hug in case he understood the morbid end of the call.
"Well, I guess that finishes that." Usopp nodded sagely. "He doesn't need saving anymore, so we can leave."
"Did he say samurai?" Amy questioned, earning nods from her crewmates.
"D'you know what that is?" Gin asked. "I've never of it b'fore."
"It's a special type of warrior from a closed-off island," the blonde answered. "See, I spent the last two years in the territory of one of the Emperors and I heard her complaining about the others on a regular basis. One of them, the 'Beast King' Kaido, is based in the country of Wano where the samurai are from."
"Rayleigh-sensei mentioned Wano once or twice," Coby commented. "Not much other than it's a land that produces insanely-strong warriors. Warriors so strong that not even the World Government wants to put forward the effort to open the island."
"So there's a strong samurai from a closed-off island," Zoro summarized. "But why is he here killing the inhabitants?"
"Does he have to be here?" Franky asked. "I mean, we can't exactly super track the call."
"No, they're nearby," Merry put in. "Distress calls have a very short range. That samurai has to be on the island."
"We've got another problem, though," Nami said, holding up the device on her wrist. "That island isn't registering to any of the needles on the Log Pose. For all intents and purposes, it doesn't exist."
"Clearly it does," Grace rebuffed with a wave of her hand. "We can feel the heat from here."
"But the guy on the call said the cold wasn't slowing the samurai down," Sanji pointed out. "Something isn't sitting right."
"We've got a mystery on our hands," Luffy said with a widening grin. "Sanji, make me a pirate lunch. I wanna go on the island!"
"Me too! Me too!" Ace cheered, only for Nami to take him from Luffy's arms.
"Oh no you don't," she scolded. "You can go on that island after your father and some of the others have checked it out and taken care of anything dangerous. Until then, you'll be on the ship with the rest of us."
"But Mommy—"
"No buts, Ace."
The boy deflated, pouting. "Yes, Mommy…"
"Much as I would like to continue our lessons in Poneglyphic," Robin began, "I would like to be on the scouting team. The archeological clues thereupon could provide helpful information and I happen to be the only one of our number in possession of said expertise required."
"I'm going, too," Zoro put in. "If there's a powerful swordsman running around, I'm not passing up a chance to fight him."
"I wanna go, too!" Merry called.
"You can't go," Usopp insisted. "That island is on fire!"
"I'll be fine, Uncle Usopp. My Heart's made of Adam Wood, so it won't burn unless I fall in the fire or something."
"If you're going to an island that could burn you away in moments, then I'm going to make sure you come back."
"I'm not a little girl, Uncle Usopp. I can handle myself."
"Mommy, I wanna go!" Ace wined.
"I said no," Nami answered, Ace setting his mouth in a defiant frown.
"But Merry gets to go 'cause her dad's going? No fair! Daddy's going, so I should get to, too!"
"Usopp isn't Merry's dad, no matter how much he wants to be," Nami told him, Usopp quite literally biting his tongue at the accusation. "On top of that, only a small group is going on the island. The rest of us will stay here on the Sunny. If they find something super interesting, then we'll join them. If they don't, then it's a boring island, and you don't want to go on boring islands, do you?"
"No…" the toddler sighed.
"Oh, I know," Grace clapped. "How about you and me go do some coloring, Ace?"
"You and I," Robin idly corrected. Grace ignored her.
"We can make pretty pictures of all the cool stuff we hope the others find on the island!"
As small children were prone to do, Ace's mood shifted instantly. "Ok!"
"Billy, go with them, please," the navigator requested, the bird saluting. Nami allowed the artist to take Ace's hand and lead the boy and bird deeper into the ship, presumably into the lounge where she'd claimed a corner for all her supplies and where she hung all her paintings. That crisis averted, Nami released a breath she didn't realize she was holding as the door closed. "Alright, so who's going on the island?"
"Luffy, Zoro, Merry, Usopp, Myself, and Coby," Robin answered.
"Why's Pinky going?" Amy blinked.
"Of course Coby would accompany us. He is the sole member of our crew with a powerful savior complex. We could not deny him a chance to rescue those in need."
"Uh, thanks?" the roset blinked. "I mean, I was planning on going, so I guess this saves us some time, but are we forgetting that the ocean is on fire? How are we supposed to get there?"
"You can leave that to me," Nami grinned. She blinked, waving a hand through the air. "Ah, the rain stopped. That makes things easier."
"Sunny!" Merry called. "Start setting up the Ladybug for us!"
The ship rumbled an affirmative, Merry and the rest of the scouting group making their way into the bowels of the ship. Franky followed them, deciding he needed to check all the Ladybug's systems before they set out. Sanji stepped over to the kitchen to work on the meals that had been requested while the rest of the crew (and Kaku) stepped back onto the deck, the heat from the flames hitting them like a wall. The temperature had risen with the end of the rain shower. Nami pulled out her Clima-Tact, pressing a few buttons on it to make sure everything was properly calibrated.
"Well?" Chopper began. "How are you going to get them through the fire?"
"Through the fire?" Nami questioned. "No way, there's too much heat for that. It'll be easier to get them over the fire. The rain stopped, so that makes things a little easier."
"How are you going to manage that?" Brook asked.
"Watch and learn, everyone, and I'll show you why I'm the best navigator in the world. Milky Road!" She swung her weapon forward, a mass of white cloud coming from its end. The cloud spread as it went, widening until it was ten feet wide when it reached the water. It skimmed over the surface for several feet before rising, arcing over the raging flames until it disappeared over the other side.
"Woah!" the others blinked, a number of them politely clapping.
"Are you sure that reaches the island?" Amy asked.
"No idea," Nami shrugged. "If it doesn't, Luffy can figure something out. He always does."
"I guess that's fair."
The ship rumbled beneath them, the Soldier Dock System opening. The Ladybug exited, packed with the expedition team, as Luffy's call of amazement at the Milky Road reached those on deck. A sense of pride welled in Nami's chest at his wonder. The Ladybug turned, angling onto the path of clouds.
"We're off!" Luffy called, several of the crew noting that Coby was driving from the passenger seat since their captain was fully turned around, waving his hands. "We'll call later, ok?"
"Have fun!" Nami called back with a wave. That seemed to be enough for the group, their smaller boat cresting the Milky Road. The Sunny disappeared beyond the flames, Luffy sitting in his seat and automatically pulling out the lunch Sanji had made.
"What, already?" Usopp questioned only to see that Robin, Zoro, and Merry had all done the same thing. "Seriously?"
"I'm hungry," Luffy said by way of explanation.
"You're always hungry!"
"This mollusk is excellent," Robin commented. "Oh dear, it seems Sanji overstuffed my lunch but undercut your portion, Zoro. He must have been distracted. Allow me to correct his mistake."
"What are you doing?" the verdet demanded, the woman using her chopsticks to place parts of her own meal in the empty sections of the swordsman's. Her words were neither incorrect nor a lie, for Sanji had filled her box more than her companions' other than Merry, who only had a large salad.
"Would you rather I feed them to you myself?" the archeologist questioned, touching her lips with the ends of her eating utensils.
"Take the hint, Sensei," Coby hissed, but no such thing occurred. Zoro turned away, his jaw set.
"Are you blushing?" Merry grinned.
"That's the fire," Zoro waved off. "It's hot." As if to accent his words, a drop of sweat rolled down his forehead.
"We're almost there," Usopp announced. "Looks like the waters next to the coast aren't burning, so that's good."
"I still can't get over the idea of burning water," Merry commented. "I mean, it would be one thing if there was a layer of something floating on the water, but nope. The water is literally on fire."
"Must be the result of a Devil Fruit," Coby said.
"What sort of Devil Fruit could do this?" Usopp questioned.
"No idea, but I can't think of any other explanation. Wha… Hey! Captain, that's my lunch!" Luffy didn't respond, his mouth stuffed with what had been in Coby's box. The Zoan sighed, passing Luffy the rest of his meal. "I wasn't hungry anyway."
"Thanks, Coby!"
Shaking his head, Coby directed the Ladybug to the shoreline where they found a portion of land only slightly molten. Beaching the boat, Luffy and Zoro pulled it further ashore so it wouldn't float away while the rest of the group approached a massive gate.
"This is it," Robin said, studying the slightly-melted sign baring the name Punk Hazard. Two triangular signs were attached to the gate on either side, one holding the logo of the Marines and the other the sign of the World Government.
"Well, we came this far only to get blocked off," Usopp shrugged quickly. "That's too bad. Let's head back to the ship and leave this place behind us."
"We can't leave until we've dealt with that samurai," Coby insisted.
"Come on," Usopp argued. "This place has the Marines' logo, so those guys that called must work for them! That call was a trap!"
"Who cares?" Zoro grinned, Merry matching his look tooth-for-tooth as she punched her palm. "This place is too interesting to just leave after getting here."
"Yeah!" Luffy agreed. "I gotta bring Ace a souvenir since he didn't get to come!"
"Have you forgotten there's a gate blocking our path‽"
"What gate?"
Usopp turned to see that Zoro had already cut a triangle out of the base of the chain-link, the man's student studying it.
"What's got your attention, Shrimp?" the verdet asked.
"Not a shrimp anymore," Coby responded automatically. "Anyway, this metal was on the verge of melting on its own, so the knife through hot butter analogy is only too accurate. Six out of ten."
"That deserves at least an eight!" Zoro argued. "Hot or not, that's some thick metal. And it was made by the World Government."
"Doesn't matter who made it."
"I'd rank that feat at a seven," Robin offered. "It was very quiet."
"Why are you all like this?" Usopp bemoaned, quickly chasing after them into the burning hellscape. "Hey, wait! Don't just leave me behind!"
"Jeeze, it's hot," Coby panted, following Luffy, Zoro, and Robin's example in stripping off his outer layers. Coby left his suspenders hanging by his legs, draping his shirt over his shoulder. Robin, luckily enough, was wearing a simple floral-patterned shirt and a pair of shorts under her dress. "That's better."
"If we're all doing it…" Merry said, unbuttoning her raincoat.
"Are you wearing anything under that?" Usopp demanded.
"What does that matter?"
"Because you're a girl!"
"Actually, I'm a ship."
"In the shape of a girl!"
"Ugh, fine," the Klabautermann grunted. "Robin? Do you mind if I borrow your dress? I'm sure it's cooler than my raincoat."
"Of course, Merry," the archeologist responded, offering the girl her discarded clothing. Merry took it and stepped behind a piece of rubble, exiting with the green dress on a moment later. "My, it looks wonderful on you."
"My boots are gonna melt," she whined. "I should've worn sandals."
"No point crying about it now," Zoro grunted, his lone eyes studying their burning surroundings. "Besides, aren't your boots a part of you or something?"
"That's not the point, Mosshead!"
"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. The group came to an overlook, the land below them covered in destroyed buildings. "Woah! What happened here?"
"Give me a moment, captain," Robin said, studying the wreckage from afar. "I believe this used to be a research facility."
"Research? Like looking for something you found and then lost again?"
"Really?" Coby blinked.
"Nah, I'm joking," Luffy laughed. "Though I do think it's silly that we call trying to find new things no one knows re-search."
"Oh, Goda," Merry swore. "Captain Luffy made a play on words. Fatherhood's made him smarter."
"We're doomed," Zoro agreed.
"We were doomed to begin with," Usopp cried.
"Yeah, but that doom just spread to the rest of the world," Coby added.
"Our impending demises aside, I believe my initial theory was correct," Robin grinned. "There are no civilian structures among the ruins. Therefore, this was strictly a Marine outpost. Whatever happened here, however, was devastating enough for them to abandon the island. They must have swept the incident under the rug since word of it never got out."
"Cool, but what now?" Coby asked.
"Now we explore and look for clues!" Luffy ordered, hopping over the cliff's edge and sliding down. Merry, Zoro, and Robin followed without hesitation. Usopp glanced over the edge, shaking. Coby sighed, growing into his Armor Mode. He grabbed Usopp and curled in on himself, rolling forward until he bounced down the cliff.
"Hey!" Luffy yelled as Coby and Usopp reached the bottom. "Say something if you're not dead yet!"
"Samurai!" Merry all but echoed. "We've got a swordsman that wants to fight you! Come out, come out wherever you are!"
Coby, back in his Human Mode, felt his fingers twitch as the heat bugged him, the straps of his swords' sheathes rubbing across his bare skin, and he lamented not carrying his swords at his waist like his teacher did.
"This is still a terrible idea!" Usopp muttered, his words lightly obstructed. Zoro glanced back at him. "Don't yell for the killer! He'll find us!"
"You're eating your lunch now?" the older swordsman asked.
"This is stress eating!" the sniper growled, prompting a giggle from Robin and a laugh from Merry.
"Woah, check that out!" Luffy called, pointing up at a burning structure that looked like a giant skull as if from a monster like Oars. Wind whistled through the eyeholes in great bursts, fanning the flames to grow before letting them recede again. "That thing is massive! Ace would love it!"
"Captain, I don't think your son would be able to handle the heat," Merry pointed out. She paused. "Does anyone else hear that?"
"Hear what?" Coby blinked. A crash crashed behind them, the crew spinning around to see what had caused it. Their eyes landed on a massive, red creature, a giant tongue licking its razor teeth and wings extended to either side. Black ridges ran down its back like a trail of shark fins, their dark color contrasting with its red scales, and a tail lashed the air behind it. Two white horns extended from the top of its head and its tongue lulled out of the side of its mouth. It raised said head and roared before turning its red eyes on them.
"A dragon‽" Usopp cried.
"Those are real‽" Luffy gasped. "Awesome!"
"That's got to be something else!" Zoro denied. "Real dragons are just fairytales!"
"Look at it," Robin stated. "What else could it be? It looks exactly like the legends say!"
"I wanna fight it!" Merry grinned. "Besides, it's not the first dragon we've seen. Coby's a dragon!"
"I…" The Zoan among them blinked. "I mean, with my Fruit, technically?"
"It's gonna breathe fire!" Luffy warned the group splitting in half as a pillar of flame launched from the dragon's mouth. "Woooo!" the captain cheered, the fire exploding when it impacted rubble.
Coby rolled as he hit the ground, Merry and Robin at his sides. The dragon turned away from them, biting at what they presumed to be one of their companions that had gone left rather than right.
"You got your wish, Merry," Coby growled, drawing Hoshokusha and Emono. "Got a plan to go with it?"
"Yeah," the Klabautermann nodded. "Hit it 'til it stops."
"Really?" Robin questioned. "All my intellect and you propose that?"
"Simple plans rarely fail and have a lot of wiggle room," Merry said by way of explaination.
"That's not a plan," Coby argued as the monster started to turn their direction. "That's barely an idea and closer to a concept!"
"It's the framework; we just need to fill in the middle a little as we go. It's a Luffy plan."
"We need to not get eaten!" the Zoan snapped, scooping Robin into his arms and jumping backward as the dragon's snout carved a divot into the old pavement where he'd been standing. Merry ran in from the side, smashing her horns into the dragon's eye. It recoiled, bellowing into the sky with a cry of pain and rage. Dropping Robin off, Coby rushed forward while its neck was exposed, shifting into his Slasher Mode as he did so. He jumped into a spin.
"Needle Twister!"
His swords, elbow growths, and barbed tail cut long, shallow lines into the dragon's throat, resulting in something one might find after trying to cuddle with an angry cat. The dragon whipped its head around, smacking its side into Coby. He went flying, smashing into and through an old wall.
"Coby!" Merry yelled
"Guys, I heard it talk!" Luffy yelled from the other side.
"You're suggesting this creature is sentient and intelligent?" Robin questioned as vines grew around the base of the dragon's wings. It growled, flexing and ripping apart the plants with brute force, much to Usopp's distress.
"If you say so," Zoro shrugged. "It's trying to kill us either way!"
"Second Gear!" Luffy said, a smirk growing as his skin turned pink and glossy. He vanished, reappearing above the dragon's head. "Gum-Gum Jet Bullet!"
His fist came down on the dragon's snout, driving it into the ground below. The massive lizard screwed its eyes shut with pain but was not finished, whipping its tail around. Like Coby before, Luffy went flying, the captain crashing into a building that started to fall in on itself.
"Luffy's not here, so this guy is mine now!" Zoro grinned, charging forward with all three swords drawn. The dragon raised one clawed leg, trying to stomp on the green-haired swordsman, but Zoro hopped backward, just avoiding it. Pushing off the ground, he rolled up the creature's arm, carving deep lines into its scales. "Raven's Talons!"
The beast roared in pain, snapping at the swordsman. Zoro moved, his swords catching the dragon's teeth before they could turn him into a snack. His lone eye widened, a glow building at the back of the monster's throat.
"Oh shit!"
"Cross Sail Typhoon!" Multiple X-shaped Tempest Kicks smashed into the side of the dragon's face, the beast's reactive roaring releasing Zoro just before the fire blew through the air. "You better watch out, Zoro! You're welcome!"
"I didn't need it!" the verdet growled. Merry only smirked, using Moonwalk to make her way back to the ground.
"Poot!" a voice yelled, emanating from the dragon. "Who goes there? I can sense your auras!"
"Now I'm hearing the lizard!" Merry called.
"Stupid dragon!" Luffy yelled, swinging something large and off-white at the monster's head. It spat a mix of fire and saliva at the hit, its head swinging to the side. The beast stumbled back, trying to regain its bearings, as Luffy landed, a ball of bone hitting the ground beside him.
"Godadammit, Luffy!" Coby shouted, the ball unrolling to reveal that the captain had been swinging him around in his Armor Mode by the tail. "I'm not a freakin' maul!"
"Course not!" Luffy laughed. "That's a big building you go shopping at! Are you stupid?"
"You can't say that!" Coby, Zoro, Usopp, and Merry yelled.
The dragon roared once more, its wings flapping. Far faster than anything of its size had the right to, the creature took to the air.
"It's flying now‽" Usopp screeched.
"Clearly, its wings are not just for show," Robin commented.
"Poot!" the voice said again. "Are you all also allies of the Six Warlords?"
"You aren't making any sense!" Luffy yelled. The dragon only stared at him, fire building in its mouth. The pirates scattered as a ball of flame crashed where they'd been standing, exploding with far more force than they'd expected it too. Robin let out a scream as a piece of shrapnel lodged in her leg from the blast.
"Intelligent or not, we need to take this thing down, now!" Coby growled as Zoro picked Robin up and carried her to Usopp. "Any ideas?"
"What goes up must come down!" Merry offered.
"But how‽" Usopp demanded, the sniper digging thought his bag for bandages to make a simple tourniquet that would do for the moment.
"If it needs wings to fly…" Luffy began, grabbing Coby by the tail again.
"Captain!" the roset yelped.
"Then we'll cut them off!" Zoro finished, ignoring his student's plight. "Usopp, give us a plant to get us up there! I'm sure you've got one!"
"Yeah, yeah!" the sniper groaned, reaching for something he was far more familiar with. "Get yourselves killed; it's none of my business! Green Star: Trampolia!"
A giant plant with a center like a bubble sprouted from the ground, proving that the flora of the Boin Isles could sprout anywhere. They could not, however, survive everywhere, the heat already causing the leaves of the Trampolia to brown on the edges. The green of the plant was a stark contrast to the red and brown of the rest of the surroundings, dragging the dragon's eye to it instantly. Fire licked at its teeth.
"Hurry it up!" Merry advised. "Looks like the lizard doesn't like Uncle Usopp's contribution!"
Luffy and Zoro took a running start, both jumping onto and bouncing off of the Trampolia. Coby was dragged along for the ride, screaming profanities all the while, as the dragon's fire surged below them. It scorched a black spot onto Coby's plated back as it just missed him, the pillar of fire engulfing the Trampolia.
"I'm gonna hurl!" the Zoan cried, Luffy spinning him in a vertical circle.
"Gum-Gum Bone Club!" the rubber-man laughed, smashing Coby into the dragon's skull. Eyes, both those of the dragon and the Dragon-Dragon Zoan, bugged out at the impact. It forced the creature's head downward, its back arching to maintain its balance. Merry assisted with this, launching herself upward with both Shave and Moonwalk to drill her horns into the beast's softer stomach.
"One Sword Style," Zoro growled. "Death Lion's Song!"
In one slice, both of the dragon's wings separated. It blinked, not noticing Merry remove herself from below it. The wing stumps flapped but that was all they could do. The giant lizard whimpered and fell.
The ground shook as the now-wingless dragon hit the earth, molten rock bubbling from the cracks that spiraled out from its bulk. It whimpered in pain, its eyes opening to glare, only for them to widen in worry once more.
"Cientos Feur: Hold" Robin said, her upper body still undamaged even as Usopp dropped medicinal seeds on the ground for them to sprout simple, natural medicines. Hands bloomed across the dragon's body, primarily to hold the monster's mouth shut and its front legs to the ground.
"Shrimp!" Zoro yelled from one side.
"Ready!" Coby answered from the other, both swordsmen on either side of the beast's neck. "64—"
"640—"
"—Caliber Phoenix!"
Their flying slashes met a bit off-center, Zoro's moving faster than Coby's but the younger swordman's being no less sharp with his new, higher-grade swords. Despite being unable to see each other, teacher and student slid their swords back into their sheaths, their simultaneous clicks coinciding with the head of the dragon separating from the rest of its body.
Luffy laughed, clapping his hands at the display.
"That was so much fun!" he cheered. "Oh, I know! I'm hungry, so let's take some time eat this guy! I bet dragon meat's delicious."
"Well," Coby began. "We've had dinosaur meat, and dinosaur Zoans are classified as Dragon Fruits, so I think it'll taste like a dinosaur. It's too bad Sanji isn't here to cook for us, though."
"Who needs the pervy chef?" Zoro questioned, hacking a cut of dragon meat from the body before placing it on a nearby piece of flat rubble. The meat sizzled against the hot surface. "We've got meat and we've got heat. That's really all you need."
"I… Well technically, but…" Merry scrounged for words, what knowledge she had from Sanji's influence trying to comprehend the insult to the profession that Zoro had just suggested. She eventually decided to leave it alone, seeing as she didn't have the tools to properly cook it to restaurant standards nor did she eat meat anyway. "Forget it."
"Coby," Usopp hissed, grabbing the Zoan's arm. He pointed to where Zoro, with his minimalist survival experience, was hacking massive chunks out of the creature's side. "Do you see that?"
"See what?" Coby craned his neck, trying to follow the sniper's finger. Something flickered in the firelight. Ignoring where Luffy was bugging Zoro about how long it took to cook meat by lava heat, Coby edged toward the thing. "What is…? Oh."
"Oh?" Usopp echoed. "What 'oh?' I don't like 'oh.'"
Coby pulled out a water bottle, the young man unscrewing the top and finding himself disconcerted by the puff of steam the rose once it opened. Even so, he pulled something from the dragon's corpse and dribbled much-too-warm water over it. The water turned pink as it flowed over the item, each drop sizzling against the ground after it fell.
He stepped out of the shadow of the beast, a somewhat-green orb the size of a bowling ball in his hand. The ground around his feet was littered with shards of similar color and a boiling, viscous liquid of deep yellow. It sphere in his hand, however, was soft to the touch with a little give.
"Guys?"
"Hm?" Luffy looked up, the first hunk of meat halfway in his mouth despite the way his red fingers were all but smoking as he held it. He ripped the meat in half with his teeth, quickly chewing with a crunch. He frowned. "Zoro, you left the scales on!"
"That's just extra crunch!" the verdet argued. "Don't be a baby!"
"Even I know scales are like fur and you don't eat them! At least fur burns away! Are you stupid?"
"Shut up, Luffy!"
"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed, dodging the part of his meat that was covered in hard scales. "Whatcha got there, Coby?"
"I, uh…" The young swordsman blinked. "I think it's an egg."
Nami sipped on her tangerine smoothie, staring at the sky above the island. She'd tied her hair back in a ponytail, all the better to pull it away from her neck and keep it from sticking to her skin. Though the atmospheric sciences of what could cause such strange cloud cover did register somewhere in her mind, the majority of it was on thoughts of her reckless husband on the island.
"Ahh," Chopper sighed happily on the railing beside her, a three-scoop ice cream cone in hand. "Thanks, Sanji! A cold snack is just what I needed with all this heat!"
"Ah, brain freeze!" Brook gasped from the bench. "Or… should I call it a soul freeze?"
"Could you get me another cola, Cook-bro?" Franky asked from his chair, Sunny's tiny Klabautermann sitting on his shoulder kicking her legs. She had a small cup with a lid and a straw, the young fairy poking her face with the end of it as she tried to get the aim right. It was almost funny that she could destroy whole ships and pilot giant robots in the midst of war, but she was having trouble drinking a drink through a straw. To be fair, she'd never really used her mouth before and it was a rather thick milkshake.
"Get it yourself, Metalbrain!" Sanji yelled. "And the rest of you! You're lucky Nami-swan and Amy-dearest offered you their leftovers!"
"?" Sunny pointed to herself.
"Not you, Sunny. You're perfect just the way you are."
"Oh Sanji~!" Amy called from her beach chair, her dress set aside in favor of a yellow bikini she'd had on underneath. She shook her glass, ice clinking inside it. "More lemonade, please~!"
"Right away, Amy-dearest!" The love tornado took the glass, disappearing into the kitchen.
Gin let out a hard breath, the man lying in the rigging a few feet up with his rubber-lined headband within arm's reach. He was still dressed in his robe, the heat not bothering him due to his Logia constitution. He closed his eyes.
'Did you see that, Gin-kun?' Rum whispered in his mind. 'The blonde you pine for doesn't care for you. She flirts with others, oblivious of your affections. And not just anyone else, but with the one crewmate you feel the most connection to. Your best friend, for a common term. And he reciprocates! You do not need any of them, Gin-kun. Give me control.'
Shaking the thoughts away with the ease of far too much practice, Gin rolled onto his side. He grabbed his headband, putting on to cut off his powers and silence the other voice in his head. His mind quiet, he took in the expressions of what crewmates were on deck.
His eyes went to their tagalong, Kaku silent as he leaned against a wall staring at the clouds. He was quiet for the most part, Gin wondering what thoughts ran around in that head of his. Kaku had not made any attempt to get close to anyone outside of Coby and Merry. With both on the island, the ex-assassin had no one on board he considered a friend.
Nami hummed a silent thought, Gin's eyes instantly locking on her.
"Somethin' th' matter, Donna?" he asked. "Worried 'bout Don Luffy?"
"Hm?" Nami blinked, turning her eyes on him. "Luffy? Nah, I'm not that worried. He's got Coby and Robin with him; those two should be enough to keep the group from doing anything too stupid. I'm more worried about what might find them."
"Ya think there's somethin' weird on th' island?"
"Isn't there always?" She gave a small laugh. "I don't know how much you learned about weather while you were in Berka, but cloud formations are affected by the temperature of the air below them, which results in different types of precipitation. That said, the clouds on the other side of the island look wrong, but I can't identify them from here because of the distance and the haze from all the fire. It almost looks like the nimbostratus you'd find in a Polar Vortex, but that can't be right. Whatever it is, the island's got some weird stuff that's causing it."
"I'm sure they've got anything covered," Chopper offered. "They've got Luffy, Zoro, Merry, and Coby. And if anything gets past them, Usopp can handle it. He's been on so many adventures against strong stuff even before he joined the crew!"
"That…" Gin trailed off. "Nope, not my can o' worms t' open."
"Woah!" Nami gasped, a pillar of fire rising into the air from the island. "What was that?"
"Whatever it is, I betcha Don Luffy's involved," Gin chuckled.
Chopper sniffed the air, confusion crossing his face. That confusion morphed into panic as a wave of dizziness washed over him. He fell forward, his ice cream splattering across the deck.
"Chopper!" Nami gasped, her own wave of dizziness making her grab the railing as her other hand rose to her head. The rest of the crew were not standing but similarly affected as the haze in the air shifted in color, turning more of an orange-green. Even Sunny was impacted, her sprite falling against Franky's head with a sleep bubble reminiscent of Luffy when he naps on the deck while her milkshake fell into Franky's lap. She faded into something like mist, dematerializing.
It was not just Sunny, whatever was in the air also affecting Brook. "I feel lightheaded… Am I dying again?"
"Not… good," Franky breathed, passing out.
"Shit," Nami muttered, Gin falling out of the rigging to land on the deck. She reached for her Clima-Tact, but it was too late, her heavy eyes closing to blink only to remain closed as she, too, succumbed to the sleeping gas. Her last conscious thought was of her son. "A… Ace…"
She hit the grass with a quiet wump, breathing softly. All was still for a moment, the pirates falling into deeper levels of sleep. The door to the kitchen opened, Sanji stepping outside with a tray in each hand.
"Amy-dearest, I have your freshly-squeezed lemonade~!" he sang. "And I've made you a crepe are sweet as you are to your undeserving husband, Nami-swan~!" He paused, opening his one visible eye to see that no one was awake. "Hm? Why's everyone asleep? When did it get so foggy?"
His vision blurred, the trays falling from his hands to clatter against the deck. He fell to one knee, his mind racing as he tried to comprehend what was happening and fight off the effect. It was ultimately a fruitless battle, the chef falling to the floor as the darkness of sleep claimed him, too.
With all the known threats neutralized, a host of beings stepped onto the deck. They were each dressed in a yellow, plastic suit with no breaks, each having one large window where the face would be and a dark gray pack strapped to their backs. Each had a red hose connecting their face to the pack on their back. The one in the lead took in the scene, counting.
"Five humans," he said, marking something on a clipboard. "One cyborg. One… raccoon-dog? I'll mark it down as mammalian animal pet. And a skeleton. They probably fished that out of the water, so leave it. Tie up the rest of them."
"Sir!" the rest of the figures responded, quickly and efficiently wrapping the sleeping pirates in rope. The one that seemed to be in charge turned, staring at the burning island.
"Five test subjects and a couple rare creatures," he mused. "The master will be pleased with this haul." He turned back to the group under his command. "Keep the sleeping gas constant. We don't know if these pirates are the kind to make a Klabautermann, but we won't take any chances. You two, search the ship for any more pirates."
"Sir!"
Within the ship, Grace raised her head from her painting, the young woman waving a hand through the air. She frowned, her eyes narrowing. Ace seemed to pick up on this, the boy looking up from his tracing of the most basic art concepts, the child having wanted "to draw as good" as his artistic surrogate aunt and having accepted the resulting assignment.
"Auntie Grace?" the boy asked, Billy cocking his head at Ace's side. "Is somin happening?"
Grace was silent, pressing a single finger into her lips. She stood slowly, keeping quiet as she prowled toward the door. Her narrow eyes picked out the orange-green gas creeping in through the cracks in the doorway. Again, she waved a hand through it.
"Sleeping gas," she hissed. "Fast-acting and with a medium lasting time, but one I've never encountered. We're being boarded and they've got some clever backing."
"Sleep gas?"
"Shh," Grace insisted. "We need to be quiet, Ace. Sunny?"
She waited, but there was no response.
"Auntie G—?"
"Shh. Watch your Auntie Grace work. We'll learn more later." Her warning given, she gathered the gas that had made it into the room into a ball, releasing it into an orbit around her where it could hang harmlessly. With that taken care of, she formed chains of argon and opened the doors to the lounge. Paint rose at her beck and call, forming detailed forms in the air that perfectly mimicked the walls of Sunny's hallways. Such pictures formed in an absurdly-short amount of time, she pushed, the paint settling on the doors so finely that they no longer looked like doors. She closed them quietly, the openings now, for all intents and purposes, perfectly camouflaged. Crystals of Argon grew to clog the openings that remained in the cracks, locking the gas out.
Now cut off from the rest of the ship and, hopefully, hidden from whomever had arrived uninvited, Grace bundled Ace into her arms and sat in a corner that would act as an initial blind spot for anyone that walked in. Billy joined them, wrapping his tail around the two humans.
"Easy, Ace," she whispered, keeping her voice even as she released serotonin into her mind to calm her raging thoughts and worries. Now would be a terrible time for emotions to threaten her plans. "It's ok. Auntie Grace will keep you safe."
"What about Mommy and Daddy and the others?" the boy questioned, his words just as quiet as hers.
"They'll be fine," Grace insisted. "Whatever this is, it's just starting, but I promise we'll come out of this like we did Fishman Island and against the Neo-Marines, ok? Just trust me."
And so, they listened, waiting for any information and a chance to turn the tables.
They'd soon get a chilling welcome to the other side of the island of Punk Hazard.
End of Chapter 33
Read and Review!
-SwordOfTheGods