Toothless was still stuck in the abandoned mansion with Perona, who had hidden in his swords somewhere. He had spent the past few days trying to find them, and Perona made it harder by hitting him with her negative ghosts every now and then. It was hard enough considering that the mansion was built like a maze; it even had secret passageways to add to the confusion.

Fortunately, after several days of this, Perona finally became bored.

"What am I even doing?" she said. "This is a waste of time. 'Hide his swords. It'll be fun,' I thought. 'Use your Negative Hollow to make him depressed; that will be hilarious.' Only after two days of this, and it has become incredibly dull and he still hasn't found them. It's incredible; Toothless has made me depressed."

"You know you could make it a lot more exciting if you tell me where my swords are," said Toothless as he walked back into the living room.

"If I do that, you'll be out of here now, be all alone," she said.

"And how will that make things any differently are now?" Toothless questioned.

"Good point," she sighed, defeated. She then sat down on the couch. "Just climb the stairs behind me and follow the hallway until you reach the door."

"And this won't take me on a wild goose chase like some sort of scavenger hunt?" Toothless questioned.

"That would be fun, but no."

Toothless eventually managed to find his swords, but he was still rather suspicious of Perona, who had followed him.

"So I can just take them?" Toothless asked.

"Yeah, in all honestly, I have become bored of your antics. It was fun at first, but now it's downright boring. Besides, it's not like you're any threat to me. This ghost form is no more different than any of my other ghosts. You would have to attack my real body to do any harm, and you finding it would be zero. Plus, you're not cute enough to be one of my servants."

Toothless then strapped his swords to his back.

"Don't think I'm doing this out of kindness. This place is nice and all, but I want to go back to Breakneck Bog."

"You there had to be a catch," Toothless sighed. "Of course, you do realise that if you want to get off this island, you're going to have to follow me in your real body."

Perona floated there in silence for a few minutes and then looked to the ground crestfallen. "I completely forgot about that."

"Fortunately for you, the man of my word, and I repay my debts."

Just a few moments later, they began wandering through the thick forest, though Perona was struggling to keep up.

"This is exhausting," Perona moaned.

"That's because you don't get too much exercise sleeping around all day," Toothless pointed out.

"You're not making the situation any better!"

"You're the one that wanted me to guide you."

"Don't remind me."

Then, they heard what sounded like a tree falling.

"What was that?" Perona asked.

Her eyes then beamed hopefully. 'Maybe that Kuma guy brought someone else here, too. I had better go and check.'

Her body suddenly went limp, and her ghost emerged from it and flew up towards the treetops.

"Hey, where you going?" Toothless asked.

"I'm getting out of here because I just found out I don't need your useless hide after all," she said.

She then stuck her tongue out at him and then probably took off.

"I wonder who it is," she said excitedly. "I just hope that it is someone a little cuter this time."

She could see the dust around the clearing and headed straight towards it but was utterly surprised to see Toothless was already there.

"Hello," he said.

She instantly screamed and collapsed to the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Why won't I be here? The ocean is this way, isn't it?" he said.

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Besides, you kindly left yourself behind," he added, gesturing to her real body.

Perona instantly looked down at the ground again. "I forgot about that."

They began to investigate the clearing, which turned out to be a ruin of ancient buildings that had been completely demolished. It looked like there was some sort of big battle here very long ago. They also found the source of the noise, which turned out to be a tree falling.

Toothless looked at it and frowned. 'Looks like someone did that recently.'

'Ugh, what a letdown,' said Perona. 'It was just a tree falling. Guess it's back to my original plan, and I was really looking forward to dumping him.'

"You know I do cherish these abandoned battlefields," she said. "Delightfully morose. Maybe that tree was the work of tortured souls trapped in their place of death."

"I have a different theory in that one," said Toothless.

Perona stared at him as he began to survey the ruins and then walked off again.

"Hey, don't go!" she yelled and chased after him. "Wait!"

Eventually, they reached the end of the ruins, where a giant wooden crucifix stood. Upon closer inspection, Toothless noticed that someone had carved the crucifix out of a tree as its roots were still intact.

"What the heck is this?" said Toothless.

"It looks like a grave," Perona blinked. "The question is, who made it?"

"Whoever they are, they've got some skill," Toothless acknowledged. "It was carved straight out of that tree."

"I don't know if this is good creepy or bad creepy."

Toothless then sensed something behind them, something incredibly fast.

'There it is again,' he said as he reached for his sword. 'I knew someone was here.'

He looked around, but it was hard to see through the thick mist, and Perona noticed that he was looking rather anxious. Then, something shot out of the bushes with incredible speed and grabbed the sword.

Toothless moved, but whoever was attacking managed to graze him. "They're fast."

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw an axe flying his way and quickly jumped out of it. Then something jumped straight at him while he was in midair, but he soon realised there was more than one. He quickly drew his sword and began deflecting their attacks, but there was so powerful and fast that it was hard to keep up, and they managed to land a few blows.

Then, one of them appeared directly behind him, and he quickly blocked the enemy's sight, but the momentum of the attack was enough to send him flying towards the ground. Fortunately, he was able to land on his feet and swung a slash attack at the shadow, but they were able to block it flawlessly.

"Damnit, they're strong too," said Toothless.

"Look out!" Perona pointed.

Toothless turned his head and saw a shadow grasping a sword out of the ground, and behind it were several others, every one of them armed with a weapon of some sort.

"What are those things?" Toothless asked.

One of them then produced a monstrous roar, indicating that they certainly weren't human, and Toothless knew that this was going to be a tough fight.

Skull meanwhile found himself in a rather unusual predicament. Apparently, he had landed on an island that was home to a cult who apparently believed that he was the devil himself. He had spent the night in the building he had landed in.

"What to do?" he sighed. "I could try convincing these islanders that I am certainly not a devil, but I doubt they would believe me. I just hope they don't expect me to do something untoward. I just hope that I can reunite with my friends before something like that happens."

He then stepped out of the house, which was the same house where the cultists had tried to summon him. This was the first time that he had stepped outside, and when he did, he found that the entire place had been devastated.

"My goodness, this island is certainly an unfortunate state, though, isn't it," he said as he observed the damage. "Why do I get the feeling that this was the reason why they were trying to summon the devil. From what I gather, it sound as if I had just landed in the middle of their ceremony. Talk about being in the right place at the right time or the wrong place at the wrong time, in my case."

"Oh good, you're awake," said a voice.

He looked up and saw the cultists approaching him.

"We were just about to bring you an offering of breakfast, as I'm sure you must be quite famished after your journey to the realm of humans," said the cultist leader.

"That's considerate of you," said Skull, though he was concerned about what kind of offering they had in mind.

A young woman then handed him a basket.

"Oh, it's the least we can do," the cultist leader assured.

"Oh, that's awfully nice of you, but you still haven't given me your name."

"My apologies; I am the leader of this humble country. You may call me Beker," he said, bowing.

"Well, Beker, I shall relish this gift of yours," said Skull, bowing back.

They soon returned to the house, and Skull was relieved to discover that it was just normal food; for a moment, he thought he would be offered brains or something. However, he noticed that the cultists' stomachs were rumbling.

"That food was supposed to last us all week."

"Shh, be patient for now."

Skull looked at them. "The food was delicious, but tell me what is up with your island. It looks like you are in some sort of war zone."

"That's exactly the problem," said Beker. "For you see, our dear country is being overrun by the cruel and vicious members of the Long-Arm Tribe. Not only do they take our money, our food, and our belongings, but they also strike down and enslave our sons and daughters. As you can see, it has left us devastated. We scarcely have the clothes on our backs."

"You mean to say that the food you gave me…"

"I'm ashamed to say it is all we had," Beker nodded. "We felt as if we should make some sort of offering."

"Oh no," said Skull, now feeling rather terrible.

"There was nothing we could do to escape our terrible fate except freight every god and goddess we could name and many who were long forgotten. And when that failed us, we called upon the powers of the witches and sorcerers in the hope that they could curse our enemies to death. And then, in the end, we turn to the blackest magic of all and call you. So desperate was our flight we would summon the lord of all evil into our midst."

Beker then grasped Skull and looked at him pleadingly. "Lord Satan, we could take no more. Our people are doomed without your aid. Face the Long-Arm Tribe and deal them a bloody blow; we beg of you."

"We beg of you!" the cultists pleaded, lowering their heads.

"You think I can?" said Skull.

"Yes, preferably curse them to death, although at this point, just about anything will do."

"Please, my lord!"

Skull now understood the situation but was unsure how to help.

However, before he could say a single word, they suddenly heard screaming outside.

"It's the Long-Arm Tribe!"

"Oh no," Beker gasped.

Outside were several men with extremely long arms that struck down the cultists with their weapons. One of them then grabbed the woman that Skull met earlier, who apparently appeared to be the only woman on the island.

"Help me!" she pleaded.

Skull made his way outside and witnessed the attack firsthand. The cultists were now yelling at the ruffians, feeling rather confident now that Skull was with them.

"You're in trouble this time! You hear me!"

"Put her down now!"

"We're not going to warn you again!"

The ruffians did look frightened in the slightest.

"Let my daughter go!"

"We've had enough of this! We will give you a taste of hell!"

Skull then noticed that they were backing away, leaving him out in front.

"Where is this 'we' you mentioned?" Skull asked.

The ruffians had grabbed the young woman and were now running away.

"Don't let them take me away!" she pleaded.

"They really are kidnapping her, ain't they?" said Skull.

The cultists nodded.

"Unless you curse them," said Beker.

"Yes, now is the time."

They all nodded in agreement.

"Never mind that shouldn't we be chasing after them?" Skull yelled.

"Lord Satan!" the young woman cried as they disappeared into the forest.

"We're too late," said Skull. He then looked at the cultists, puzzled. 'Why did they do anything? She's their friend, their family. Is the situation really so hopeless that they can't even fight back?'

"Did you hear a Satan?" Beker asked.

Skull gave them a confused look.

"We were cheering superhard; you can save us now, dark lord."

"Give it your best," said the cultists.

Skull groaned. "I see what got them in this situation now. They're lazy."

He then took a deep breath and looked towards the forest. 'However, that young lady is still a victim, and I can't allow her to suffer such a cruel fate.'

He then turned back to the cultists. "I will save her. At the very least, I owe you for the food."

The cultists immediately cheered.

Skull returned to the house and began writing down some musical notes while the cultists cheered him on.

'You must forgive me, Hiccup… everyone,' he said. 'Right now, I'm busy being Satan, so I'm afraid our reunion will have to wait. I owe everyone here a debt of gratitude, but I am confident that I shall resolve this quickly, and I hope you stay safe until then.'

Meanwhile, Hiccup and the others were still sailing through the Tub Current.

Jinbe was at the helm and looked up at Hiccup. 'It's been almost an hour since we've left Impel Down, and the winds are strong. It's all that we haven't reached Navy headquarters yet.'

"Don't think you can't hurry this up a bit, do you?" Viggo asked. "At this rate, there won't be any carnage left for me by the time we get there."

"Calm yourself," sed Jinbe through gritted teeth.

"The Navy had better not kill Stoick because that is my job."

Jinbe clenched his fist. "You still insist on that?"

"If you wish to continue to moan about it, I could kill you first."

The two of them looked as if they were about to come to blows and launched themselves at one another.

"Stop!" Hiccup yelled.

The two of them then stopped when they were inches away from one another and looked up at Hiccup.

"If the two of you come to blows now, none of us will be able to get to Navy HQ," said Hiccup. "We can settle this dispute once we're there, assuming the two of you can wait?"

"Very well, I can be patient," said Viggo.

"Until we get to Marineford, then," Jinbe agreed.

Hiccup then looked out towards the sea. "We're coming, Ace. It's not over yet."

Ace was currently in a prison cell in Marineford, and the execution that was guarding his cell looked at his watch. There were just about three hours remaining until the execution.