In a village by the massive lake in the center of Anima, two figures could be seen walking the main road which was made of dirt. Houses were made from logs, and a wall was still under construction. Villagers stopped what they were doing to stare at the new arrivals.

The first was a large wolf-like creature covered in rock and ice. It had a massive gash in its side, but it looked fearsome. It was also being used as a pack mule, carrying various things and pulling a cart behind it.

At the wolf's side was a blindfolded woman with two scythes at her sides. She wore a hooded robe that was tattered in a way that looked purposeful. She stopped before one of the distracted villagers before saying, "Bring a doctor here. Now."

"General Ironwood, this alloy that Franosuke has shown me is… It's nothing short of incredible."

Ironwood and Pietro were on a video call, which were frequent and many to keep Ironwood updated as often as possible when it came to the unknown factor that was Franosuke.

"Did he tell you how to make it?"

"Yes! Though it would not be cheap to produce. Some of the minerals involved are not as common as what we might normally use. That being said, I'd like to request permission to have Penny's new body constructed out of this 'Wapometal'."

Ironwood sighed. "Delaying Penny's reconstruction would put more pressure on the people of Mantle… As useful as this new alloy might be, is it truly worth it?"

"Trust me, you know I want to see my daughter again as soon as possible… But I want her to be safe too. To put things in perspective, a standard Megoliath would struggle to even put a dent in her if she was made of Wapometal."

Ironwood's jaw dropped slightly. "It's that tough?"

"Yes… And as far as the people of Mantle are concerned, Franosuke's repairs of the walls are working spectacularly. He even takes the time to patrol the walls every night, and any new breaches are always in the parts he didn't build. That's not to say they're invincible, but it will certainly buy time."

"...Very well. I'll start shifting the production of several military alloy foundries to produce this new substance… About Franosuke himself, what are your impressions about his capabilities from the time you've spent with him so far?"

"Franosuke is capable of building things incredibly fast, though his specialty is in creating physical things. He's a fast learner when it comes to working with Dust, but anything digital is harder for him to understand at the moment… I feel that if someone like him was by Salem's side, his skill for creation combined with the programming skill of whoever developed the virus at Beacon would result in her already having a mechanical army… One that would be superior to ours."

"And what of his combat prowess?"

"That's harder to say for sure… He himself has claimed to have handily dealt with a herd of Megoliaths and Sabyrs before meeting the Ace Ops… It may seem far fetched, but if half the technology that he's taught me about is integrated into his own body, he could do that and much more."

"His Aura is not even unlocked… For now though, let's keep it that way. And don't let your guard down. Even if it is unlikely that he works for Salem at this point, that does not mean that he can't be an enemy regardless."

Maria and the Mountain Wolf waited outside the village clinic for any news. She didn't have the highest hopes for the doctor's medical skill, but at least it was better than nothing. Usopp's injuries had accumulated for some time without any real medical treatment, and even with Aura and his natural toughness, ignoring that for too long would be silly.

It would be better if he could be treated at Haven, but this is the best I can do for now. At least we're finally done with that damn river, even if we're technically still close by.

Leaning against a wall, she nearly fell asleep until she heard screaming in the distance. "You stay here wolfy, I'll see- er, I'll check out what's happening."

After the rocky wolf nodded, Maria bolted off in the direction of the screaming. The village was not that large, so it only took a moment for her to be able to sense that bandits were attacking the town.

There are thirty or so bandits, but none of them are particularly strong… No, it's more that my standards for strength have increased. One of them might have given me a little trouble almost four years ago. But even so, if there's even one death in this village, the likelihood of a following Grimm attack skyrockets…

There were some town militia engaged with bandits, but Maria shot the bandits they were fighting before they could cause any harm. "Even if you're in the militia, retreat behind me! I'm a Huntress, so I will handle them!"

"A Huntress!"

"Thank the gods she arrived today!"

"Get behind her!"

The bandits did try to slay the retreating civilians, but they were stopped by the orders of a man who appeared to be their chief. He was bald, muscular, and almost eight feet tall with red tribal tattoos all over his body. He wore pants made from furs, but left his upper body exposed. "If this woman is really a Huntress, you runts will need to focus everything you've got on her. So, foolish Huntress, my name is-"

Maria interrupted the man by jumping on his head and using it as a platform to leap towards the other bandits, which she started slaughtering.

"DON'T IGNORE ME YOU COWARD!" The man used his Semblance to turn his skin into stone, and then started chasing after Maria trying to punch her. To his immense frustration however, even as she was killing the other bandits, she'd always manage to weave around his blows.

Blow after blow he'd hit nothing but air. His frustration only grew with time, and several minutes later, he formed a large spiked stone mace out of his hand. Swinging with all of his strength, this final attack was easily blocked by one of her scythes which was shining black on one side. His stone mace-fist cracked, and he screamed out in pain. "You… you bitch! Were you just playing with me!"

"No… if you were more observant, you'd see that your entire tribe is now dead."

Looking around, he realized that he was indeed the only one still standing.

"There were several reasons why I needed to save you for last… none of which you need to know."

A gunshot rang throughout the village. A black bullet shattered through the bandit's Aura, pierced his skull of stone, and even shot through several trees behind the man.

In the dark depths of Remnant's oceans, Arlong wandered in vain. There were no other Fishmen, and his only company were the monsters known as Grimm.

"If it wasn't for that damn Strawhat, I would have never been sent to Impel Down. The guards there talked about mysterious disappearances happening there from time to time, so there must be something about that prison that sent me to this damn world."

He fell to his knees on the seafloor, the realization of being truly alone finally sinking in after many years of searching. "If there truly are no Fishmen in this world…"

The negativity attracted the Grimm like candy, and many powerful deep sea Grimm, including Leviathans and Sea Feilongs came swarming in. Meanwhile Arlong's hands were still cuffed with seastone.

"...then I have no kin."

Arlong woke up with a gasp. His body was wrapped in bandages, and he could tell that he was in seawater right now. That meant that he was either brought to the ocean, or the currents swept him there. Why was I dreaming of that?

"High Leader Arlong is awake!"

I do have kin. At least now I do.

Looking around, Arlong did a quick headcount to make sure that no one died after he was knocked out and then asked, "How long was I out?"

"About a week, sir. We've reached this shore yesterday, but did not see it wise to cross the deeper waters without you being conscious."

"That was the right call… I'm glad that everyone is alive."

"Sir… I'm sorry to report this, but we were unable to finish off the human you fought, nor his companion. If we swim up the river, we might be able to catch up-"

"Forget it."

"But sir, they saw you!"

"Do you really think my existence can remain a secret anymore after what Adam has done? Even if we kill those humans, with even the rank and file of the White Fang knowing of me now, there's no way it could stay a secret forever. While I'd love to kill them anyways, we have larger priorities right now. Getting to Menagerie is…"

That liar said that a Fishman killed Otohime… My gut tells me to just dismiss it as another lie, but if someone like Adam could show up among the Faunus, then there's no reason to think that it couldn't happen among the Fishmen as well. I hate to say it, but that damn human was right in the sense that even though I've come to see the Faunus as my kin, I still unconsciously see Fishmen as superior sometimes… But if a Fishman hated humans so much that they turned Otohime of all people into a martyr, then…

"...Arlong?"

"We need to get to Menagerie, NOW!"

"Yes sir!"

I don't want to believe it, but… Like with Otohime, I've never agreed with the Belladonnas' methods... Even so... Adam, if you so much as dare to lay a finger on them, then I swear I'll kill even you.

As Usopp woke up, the first thing he noticed is that his head felt awful. I… uh, I think I was fighting someone… No, maybe that was a dream. There's no way Arlong of all people is here.

"That wasn't a dream."

Usopp turned his head towards Maria's voice. She was sitting in a chair nearby, cleaning the blood off her scythes. "Was I talking out loud?"

"Yep."

"I see…"

Making sure he was not talking this time, he thought, Arlong is really in this world… and he was even leading the White Fang. Did… did Blake know? Even when we were talking about the White Fang's leadership during our research on them, she never said anything about Arlong… Maybe she didn't know, but she also kept many things regarding the White Fang close to her chest.

"...In that case… um, do you know if my last attack killed him?"

"If he was someone from this world, I'd write him off as dead… but even humans from your world are tough as nails. Fishmen doubly so. And to top all of it off, like you, he saves his Aura for his Semblance, so the likelihood that he bled out is also low. You did knock him unconscious at the very least, but the current carried him out of my Haki's range too fast for me to do anything. As for the other henchmen he had with him, all of them escaped. I saw treating your injuries more important than killing them."

"That's fair… Thank you. I don't really care about his goons, but Arlong being alive will cause problems in the future. I can't just leave this world without taking care of him after all… Dammit! I can't believe someone from my world just came out of the woodwork like that! And he's been here for two entire decades?! What the hell is this bullshit?! This whole world travelling phenomenon can't be that common, and I hadn't even heard anything about it during all my time at Beacon. I don't know how Arlong stayed hidden from the world while leading such a prominent organization, but if he could do it, so could many others… What will happen when someone stronger than me arrives here?"

"If, not when. You are right that this cannot be as common as it appears to be, or else Remnant's history would be vastly different. I don't know what's so different about the times today, but I don't believe this is entirely random."

"Do you think it's someone's Devil Fruit power?"

"Maybe… but I was thinking more along the lines of the divine."

"Divine? Are you saying there are gods in this world?"

"Besides you, 'God' Usopp?"

Usopp looked embarrassed. "If you insist... Yes, I mean besides me."

"Unfortunately, I can't even say for sure if any gods truly exist. I will say though that some of our circumstances seem almost too unlikely… But enough of all that. I do have some good news, at the very least."

"What is it?"

"We can kiss that damn river goodbye."

"HELL YEAH!"

"Now don't rest on your laurels just yet… We're closer to Haven than ever, and so our fight with the forces that destroyed Beacon isn't just some faraway event anymore."

Usopp gulped.

"But don't worry… It's true that you've lost training time, but I'm certain that the near death situations you've dealt with have accelerated your haki proficiency overall… Even against Arlong, I could see you getting better at Observation as you were pushed to the brink. We also know about their abilities for the most part, so there's no reason to delay."

"You're right… Arlong is one thing, but we need to take this one step at a time. I'm ready to go whenever. Though... did something happen while I was out? I could see blood on your weapons when I woke up."

"Hmm? Oh, no, nothing notable happened. I just made sure this new village had a bit of a reputation, that's all. Hopefully it will help get this place on it's feet."

Usopp wasn't sure what she meant, but he shrugged. There were bigger things to worry about right now. Arlong… your time will come, but before that… Cinder must die.