LW: With Luffy currently out of commission we should probably check in on the others, right?

Rubber King and Mirror Master - New World Chaos : Heartbreak in the Tundra

Just outside the Biscuit Room

"You heard the Captain, let's save those kids before Caesar gets his gassy mitts on them!" One of the G5 bellows as the entire trope rushes out of the room, Sanji keeping pace at the head of the crowd.

"I can't believe Caesar's not the only Logia type on this island, given their rarity" Another muses, referring to Monet's snow fruit.

"It's the New World" Sanji argues "All the super rare and powerful shit is probably in this sea more than anywhere else"

"Still, it's a shame that harpy lady was evil, she seems so sweet and she even blushed when we complimented her" a marine chuckles.

"Actually, now I think about it, why'd you just stand there and watch as she attacked us Black Leg?" the 1st marine asks.

Sanji sighs heavily "I was raised to not fight women, and while I'm trying to work past it, it does still flare up from time to time. Besides, Zoro and Tashigi have this in the bag, I'd just get in the way" he teases "Leave the lovebirds to carve up that turkey breast, we have rugrats to locate, and somehow hold down while Chopper gets them off the drugs!" the cook bellows, surging forward with the marines hot on his heels.

Biscuit Room

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

"Those swords of yours are getting irritating. You're haki isn't strong enough to cut deep and truly wound me, but how can you block and strike me when the other one doesn't even have haki flowing through it?" Monet scowls, her snow bladed wings blocking and parrying Tashigi's dual wielding, but as they clashed, nothing was making sense to the harpy.

"Noticed already, guess you're smarter than you look. Then again, I suppose it makes sense an imitation would recognize the genuine article" Tashigi smirks "I've had plenty of time since Mervielle to look through my family tree. Your Devil fruit may allow you to mimic a Yuki-onna, but against a real one, you don't stand a chance" she bats away a wing with Shigure, then spins Sode No Shirayuki, the resulting Icicle wave skewering Monet who hisses in pain and flaps away, putting distance between herself and the marine.

"Interesting, so close range is out for now. Very Well… Snow Rabbit" she cries, unleashing a wave of little snowballs, Tashigi flickering away using Soru, but the Rabbits…

"Dragon Twister!"

…were taken out by Zoro with a razor whirlwind "Taking your time Shigi, just pull out the big guns so we can get this over with" he smirks, getting a pout from the older woman.

"No, I'm not giving him or you the satisfaction unless I actually need to use that power. I'm holding my own" Tashigi huffs, then bites her lip to hold in a squeak, as Monet comes this close to blindsiding her, talons inches from her face as they're blocked by her crossed swords.

"Doing this well, even holding back. No wonder you're Smoker's number 2. Shame he won't last against Vergo, but I suppose that leaves the position open soon enough" Monet chuckles, her grin returning with a vengeance.

"I wouldn't write him off that quickly. Besides, he's not alone, scum like you and Vergo would need to be a LOT stronger than you are to beat them" Tashigi argues heatedly, Zoro nodding in agreement.

"Shimmer's the other side of crazy, but he's the 1st Mate for a reason. He's strong and smart. Smoker couldn't ask for better back up"

"I highly doubt that, someone who doesn't crumple like a house of cards when armament haki is applied would be preferable" the harpy taunts before unleashing a Snowstorm upon the duo.

Elsewhere

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Ussop screams as he continues to try to outrun the gas, which he and Carue just learned to their mounting horror can in fact 'climb stairs' for lack of a better term. This eventually led to the duo finding an abandoned lab to hide in/continue their search for the handcuffs.

Also elsewhere - Kinemon and Brook.

"Just a little further Sir Skeleton, I hear the laughter of children!" Kinemon bellows before running off, dropping Brook in the process to the soul king's annoyance.

"Hey, we're supposed to be a team here, you can't just leave me here to die like that, even if it's for little kids" Brook whines as his soul rejoins his body, dusting himself off before chasing after the samurai, who was doing a bang up job of scaring the children on account of going too hard too fast in his interrogation techniques "Can you relax for 5 seconds, the kids won't answer your questions if you scream at them and chase them like a crazy person" Brook groans, understanding Kinemon's pain, but also trying to get him to see sense, even for a moment. Him being a talking skeleton probably didn't help matters, with one exception…

"Did you say you were looking for Momonosuke?" a girl asks, the only one to approach them rather than run away screaming.

With the kids

"Moka's not doing too good, we need to stop them somehow" Chopper frets from his position under nami's arm.

"I wonder…" Artemis hums, before literally and metaphorically grasping at strings "Dominari! Halt!" She commands, a good handful of the kids locking up, barely twitching under the sorceress's power "Seems I was able to latch onto a few of them back in the old lab. Quick, give them whatever you've got to help them out of this state!"

"On it" Kaya nods, sloshing over to each of the kids, and giving them a quick jab with the injector "This will all be over soon enough, you'll feel better in no time" she assures them, even if she knows they're too out of it to notice or care.

"I'm coming Moka, we're almost done" Shirahoshi cries, slithering after the kids and making good headway in her regular giant size "Just a little further, you can do it!" she shouts, yelping loudly when Nami jumps on her back to hitch a ride to get in front of the hoard.

"We got this Moka, keep running!" the navigator yells.

"I will. This candy won't hurt anyone else, ever again" Moka nods to herself, her heart pounding in her ears as the other kids continue chasing her.

Garbage Shoot

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Luffy screams as he plummets, before regaining his bearings enough, to stretch out one arm to grab the unconscious Momonosuke by the tail, and the other claw at the rapidly descending wall until he could finally catch some kind of edge or crack "That, was way too close" he groans, reeling in the baby dragon, then wrapping it's serpentine body around him like a scarf, makes carrying him easier that way.

THUMP!

THUMP!

THUMP!

THUMP!

Punching holes in the wall, Luffy made some hand/foot holds, the start of his long trek up the wall, but it was at least easier than how it looked a moment ago, sheer flat sheet metal. Now he just has to keep punching holes in the wall, all the way up "Look out Ceasar, Here I Come!"

Biscuit Room

"Why? Won't. You. Die. Already?" Monet shrieks, as even with the snowstorm hiding her movements and enabling her to flit between the snowflakes, her strikes were getting blocked by the marine girl, not even the loss of Shiguri was slowing her down. Though to the harpy's shock, Tashigi was able to stop one of her attacks, even a kick launched by her skull crusher thighs, by blocking the talon with her hand, lacing her fingers through the digits like it was a hand "WHAT?!"

"The cold can't hurt me, not anymore. You hide behind your ice harpy form, but both are the same to me" Tashigi huffs, but winces as Monet's talons dig into her wrist when the harpy clenches her toes.

"Guess I'll keep that for defence, and use my teeth and claws for offence then" Monet purrs, managing to spread Tashigi's arms to get one unblockable hit in, clamping her beartrap of a jaw on the marine's left shoulder, Sode No Sureyuki slipping from her grip due to the pain. Sure Monet couldn't freeze it off like the other marines, but in this form her teeth were like individual daggers, all slicing through flesh with almost no resistance.

"And now you've pissed me off" A slash across the face separated Monet from her prey, the snow woman feeling a shiver of fear as her cheek split open and began to weep blood "And really, you only have yourself to blame, playing with your food like this, was always going to end badly. But at least I'm going to make it quick" Zoro declares as he navigates his way through the snowstorm.

'Shit, what is this feeling I'm getting from him? This man… is he even a man? A demon perhaps? His aura is darker than some of Master's special forces, but unlike the blond I can't detect any source of the energy well' Monet begins to fret, slowly backing away as Zoro approaches, the blizzard dying down as she was no longer maintaining it.

"One Sword Style: Great Dragon Shock!"

Monet's face remained frozen in shock, as she was split clean down the middle, before the halves fell to the ground and crumbled like a snowman being kicked over.

"And we're done, let's go save those kids" Zoro sighs as he sheathes Shusui, turning to leave he sees the pout on Tashigi's face "What?"

"You didn't use haki. I know you can use Armament." She huffs "We're not keeping her" she deadpans, causing the swordsman to choke.

"What?"

"I mean sure she's kind of cute with some big tits, and the rest of her is certainly unique, but she's also clearly a psychopath and loyal to Doflamingo, so it's not worth the trouble" the yuki argues.

"Honestly, I'd have pointed out the healthy thighs from her bird end, but that would probably summon Perona to slap me for thinking for even a second someone has a better ass than her" Zoro muses as he heads for the doorway

"I mean, it would be some pretty tough competition" Tashigi nods "Spectre was the full package wasn't she?"

"Don't say that like she'd kick you out of bed willingly" Zoro chuckles as he feels the marine lean against him "You did good Shigi"

"Still had to have you bail me out and save my ass" Tashigi huffs.

"Better me than HIM right?"

"Infinitely" she sighs.

Caesar's Monitoring station

"Poor useless Monet seems the Straw Hats will make it to Building R after all, well if Team Nocturne doesn't get to them fir….WHAT THE SHIT!?" Caesar screams.

Corridors within Building D

Twang!

"I thought they said Vampires were supposed to be hard to kill" Victor hums as he notches another arrow

KABOOM!

"Most people don't have easy access to explosives, especially not at the payload of yours" Valentina hums "Plus, from what Vivi told us, they're probably the artificial kind like the ones she fought last year, and are by default weaker than classic ones" she almost teases, her energy blade clashing against the Vampire's jaws. Sure it works better with the Curse Mark's wings, but extending the Chakra scalpels to run down the outside of her forearms, meant her Razor Wings at least could hold their own against melee-based opponents, even potentially those with haki, not that she could test that right now.

"I'd like to see you say that to Commander Zorin, she'd be picking her teeth with your bones in less than 5 minutes" one of the vampires snarled, lunging for the kunoichi, only to take a hammer/mace to the temple.

"Bored of ranged combat already?" Val teases, as Victor twirls his other weapon in his hand.

"No, but any chance to train with Kaiser der Sterne will be taken, especially as like you said, these may technically be vampires, but they're definitely not as strong as the beasts of legend" he replies, standing alongside her "I presume the fact you're not using anything else, that you can't?" he wonders.

"Not while the blades are active, it's a failsafe to stop the user losing digits, especially given this variant uses Sonic Style to increase vibration speed, so it's actually less a razor's edge, and more a mini chainsaw, I think Nagato compared it to something called a Ripper" the blond muses "Though, given we're on a timer, I could drop them and use something big to clear the air?"

Give me a second to prime you" Victor smirks before inhaling sharply

"Burning Ash Cloud" he cries, filling the corridor with Teostra's explosive scales, watching as even if they don't need to breathe, the ash still irritated their throat and lungs enough that they were coughing and wheezing.

"Fire Style: Grand Eruption!" Valentina shouts, before much like the clay before spitting up a deluge of magical fire, for about 5 seconds before the expected reaction occurs…

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Well, that's Punk Hazard's Vampire problem, like 86% solved.

Different corridor, with the kids

"MOKA!" the children scream, just before their path was cut off by a plume of semi solid cloud material.

"Milky Ball! Come on Moka, just a little further" Nami shouts, as some of the kids manage to break free.

"Give us our Candy!" One of the largest kids bellowed, before getting grabbed by their face by someone actually their own size.

"That's enough. You will behave" Shirahoshi growls, the slit-eyed lamia's prescience causing some of the kids to go weak at the knees, though in the process some of the others managed to slip out of the cloud trap.

'That, that's not what Luffy and Kaos can do' Nami frets, feeling the weight and fear, even if not focused upon her 'It's like when she went feral, but more… reined in? Controlled? Stable?' she wonders, just as the others manage to catch up, Robin and Artemis manage to grab a few escapees as they reach the group.

Meanwhile, Moka had made decent headway, though she was reaching the limit of even her enhanced body's endurance, she was still just a kid after all. Reaching the stairs and beginning to descend, she panted with every step, candy still clenched to her chest. "Where do I go, this place is so big, it's like a maze" Moka mutters to herself, starting to get tired, but unwilling to give up as long as her friends were in danger from whatever Caesar did to the candy. It was at this point, having reached her limits, the giant girl got jumped by those who managed to evade the Straw Hats, starting a rabid tug of war between Moka and the kids, all of whom screamed for candy, their strength amped by the withdrawals.

"CANDY!" They bellow

"No! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Moka cries as she holds on for dear life.

"Crap, some of them must have gone down another route, this place is a worse maze than Enies Lobby" Nami curses, having caught up once more to Moka alongside the others, though they were at the top of the stairs, while Moka was closer to the middle.

"This place seems built to destroy any sense of direction" Valentina notes with a grimace, herself and Victor having arrived from a corridor at the bottom of the staircase "What do we do?" she shouts, as more of the giant kids seem to come out of the woodwork.

"We need to get that candy away from the kids, or things will just get worse than they already are" Chopper grimaces, now being held by Kaya who looked equally drained.

'I can't do this, I'm not strong enough' Moka tears up 'I… only have one choice'

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP

Gulp gulp gulp gulp!

"Moka!" Chopper screams as he sees the girl tear open the candy wrapped with her teeth, then proceed to consume the entire stock as fast as her body could process, the straw hats frozen in shock, before things click in the worst of ways, pink mist escaping from Moka's mouth and nose in intermittent spurts, her arms and legs shaking violently, before giving out, the girl falling backward and nearly cracking her skull on the stairs were it not for a mix of Robin's blooms and the speed of Victor and Valentina to catch her/ break her fall "No. No, no, nononononono! Why Moka, why?" he cries, squirming out of Kaya's grip and half tumbling down the stairs himself, the syrup girl melting and flowing down alongside him "Why'd you do that, I told you what was in them? Damn it, this wasn't supposed to happen like that" the reindeer panics as Moka coughs and writhes, even in the trio's grasp, blood starting to leak from her mouth, nose, and eyes "I made a promise damn it, I wouldn't let you die in this hellhole, we would save all of you!".

"Bring her down the stairs, we need her level and stable!" Kaya orders, the 3 being as gentle as they could, given Moka's spasms and shakes.

"She's puking blood"

"Why though? She just ate some candy"

As things set in, a boiling rage toils, veins blacken, and beasts wraith just beneath her skin.

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

Half a second.

Well if you looked at a clock it would have been less than a second, but when the pressure around you increases to the point it feels like you have an elephant on your back, even 1 second can feel like half an hour. She could see it affecting the others too, as blue veins flared across Victor's body, as if she wasn't mistaken Val's curse mark activated instinctively

Nami gasped for breath once the weight left her, then braced when what felt comparable to a Level 4 earthquake rattled them, as all the kids still fighting and arguing, passed out and hit the ground with a thud. Craning her neck to look behind her, Artemis was standing ramrod straight, eyes hidden by shadows, scales spread across her cheeks, and fists clenched hard enough to bleed.

"You couldn't have done that sooner?" the navigator wheezes.

"Before now, we didn't want to risk hurting them, now, I'm too pissed off to give a shit. Besides, it was only a second, it should be enough to reboot their brains and give us some breathing room" the sorceress admits.

"We're here to help, what do we do!" Sanji bellows, as he leaps into view alongside the marines.

"If you missed the haki pulse, then I'm both saddened and a little impressed" Robin sighs, Medusa blinking owlishly at the new arrivals, as her head wings twitch "All the kids are knocked out, so if you could gather them all up, while we treat Moka, that would be for the best" she orders, getting a salute from the marines and a nod from the cook.

"Wait, some of you guys were medics and shit, right?" Sanji asks, getting several nods and raised hands "Then go help Chopper and the others, we can handle carrying these oversized brats down some stairs, that one over there clearly needs the help"

"Thanks, Sanji" Kaya smiled softly, helping Chopper prep something to help Moka, while Valentina used her minimal medical ninjutsu to at least keep the girl stable for the moment.

"We can't do anything here, we need to get her to an examination room" Chopper shakes his head.

"Only good thing about the amount of sick experiments Caesar has done, there are plenty of those around this place, like right down the hall, we passed one on the way here" Valentina informs them, leading to Chopper ordering them to carry Moka to the room, for her best chance of survival.

Somewhere in Building C

BANG!

"What the Hell, did the dumpster just explode?" a Saytr asks "What must have been tossed down there, to get a reaction, all the way up here?" he worries.

What happened was a straw hat wearing rubber boy, with a dragon scarf just jumped out of their dumpster, and he was not in a good mood. Much like his niece, the Captain unleashed a burst of Conquerors' though unlike her, he kept his going until everyone in sight hit the floor, no threat to anyone.

"And now, we try this again. I'm going to beat Caesar so badly, even the bird lady won't be able to save him this time" Luffy growls, making his way to where he presumes the mad scientist to be.

Meanwhile

As the straw hats grappled with various issues throughout the lab, Brownbeard had 1 goal in mind: Find his men, and if possible, beat the ever-loving shit out of Caesar for what he did to them. He made his way to Building R as expected, and with a tired smile noticed the Visual Den den Mushi nestled above the blast door.

"Soldiers of Punk Hazard please listen to me, I know you're somewhere listening in. You need to know you're all being fooled! Caesar Clown is nothing but a liar and a fraud, if you stay with him, you're all going to die. Please, hear me out and I'll tell you the truth about Caesar, you'll understand then why this has to happen" Brownbeard bellows at the snail, praying that his men were listening in right now.

His prayers were answered, at least in part by the trundling of the descending platform, containing Caesar, but also all the remaining goons that were still alive and unpoisoned, besides the few remaining as canon fodder for the Straw Hats and Marines.

Caesar floats over to Brownbeard, his voice the high pitch that seems to come with all his lies "Oh Brownbeard, thank goodness you've returned! I'm so happy to see you've escaped the clutches of that dastardly straw hat. You look terrible though, I'll have you fixed up soon enough, just have a few other issues to deal with"

"Don't touch me!" Brownbeard growls, slapping away the logia, it works, but does no damage as the gasman simply wafts away.

"Oh dear, who pissed in your cornflakes dearie? Shurorororo" Caesar cackles "What's the matter?"

"I want you to let my men go, you sadistic bastard. We were ambushed by the pirates at the centre of the island, but my men weren't killed, they should have returned here by now" Brownbeard shouts.

"Hmm, your men" Caesar muses, knowing they were already dead from Shinokuni "I can't say I've seen them, they're certainly not in the lab or they'd be up there right now" he states, pointing at the cargo lift still above them.

Brownbeard's eyes widen "They're not here? But that means the only other place is out in the gas cloud…" he stops, jaw clenching in anger.

"How tragic, to die in such a horrible, agonising way, it's not right that's for sure" Caesar 'mopes' "All your men dead from Shinokuni, and yet, here you are"

"What did you just say?!" Brownbeard snarls lunging at Caesar who disburses and reforms further away from him "Damn you Caesar!"

"What's wrong?" Caesar asks in mild distress, the crocodile centaur continuing to wildly swing at him "Why are you attacking your Master?" he questions, just as the platform reaches the ground.

"If you think I'm going to trust anything you say after what happened today, you're dead wrong you bastard!" Brownbeard declares, trying and failing to harm the Gasbag.

"He's lost his mind"

"Attacking the Master like that, he must have"

"Listen to me!" Brownbeard shouts, seeing the others had gathered nearby "We've been on this island 2 years, trust me you should all leave. Caesar isn't the man you think he is, he doesn't care about any of us. To him, you're nothing but Guedlepogs…?" he pauses, the fuck did he just say? Is that even a word?

Caesar grins as his minions cheer, to them the gibberish was proof Brownbeard must have hit his head and got a concussion or possibly even brain damage, there's no way he would be attacking the master if he was in his right mind. They didn't need to know he drugged the poor bastard, and if any of them had the brain power to notice, well, he'll just tell them it was a sedative, so he could rest off the head injuries Straw Hat must have given him to have him acting so strange.

The fact Brownbeard dropped to the ground like a sack of spuds certainly would help sell that lie, if he needed it to. Caesar's victory was assured…. Until it wasn't.

"Gum Gum Giant Pistol!"

As a massive Armament haki coated fist slams into the gasman, smashing him into the nearby wall, to the shock and horror of his brainless minions.

"Master!"

"Holy crap, that's Straw Hat Luffy!"

"I'm back bitch, no snow demon to save your ass this time" Luffy scowls as he retracts his arm, letting it smoothly deflate as it snaps back. Meanwhile, Momonosuke was hidden in the relative safety of the doorway's shadow, out of sight of Caesar and his men 'I'm sorry I'm late Brownie' he thinks with a sigh.

"Grr, retreat back to the 2nd floor and prepare the experiment, Straw Hat's friends and the navy will be here soon!" Caesar orders once he'd recovered enough to think things through, his minions nod and scramble back onto the platform, as the Master turns to the Den Den Mushi "Prepare the broadcast for the brokers!"

"Hark, there is the vile Fiend I relayed to you! The one who spoke of harming the children" Momonosuke cries, recognizing Caesar now he was fully awake, as well as having heard the man's voice once again "He is an evil man, of which no doubt can be obtained"

"Yeah, I know. It's why I'm here to kick his ass" Luffy responds evenly, preparing for Round 3 "How many people have you tricked into coming to Punk Hazard?" he asks the gasman "What's your game? What the hell is with this island?"

Caesar blinks in confusion before smirking "Shurororo, it seems you more curious then your reputation would suggestStraw Hat, but you know nothing of this place or those within it, very interesting. Shall I enlighten you?" He asks with an oily tone of voice "Well you see, this island is much like gas or air, it exists but it's invisible" he begins, Luffy too annoyed by this dickhead to be confused by the tangent "Do you get it yet? An unplottable island, impossible to log, not a hint of a magnetic field or prescience, and in the New World of all places! What would be a more perfect base of operations for an underground community? This is the epicentre of Black Science, here I can perform all manner of forbidden experiments, and gather test subjects by any means I deem necessary. I have backers in high places more than happy to look the other way and sweep any evidence of my misdeed under the rug, especially if they too get to benefit from my research, so that the rest of the world remains ignorant and oblivious, Shurorororo. Scream as loud as you want, cry a river of tears, unleash shrieks that awaken the heavens themselves, nobody is coming to save you, not now, not ever. For all that bluster and physicality you don't know a damn thing about this island or its dangers, straw hat. Walk away, don't worry yourself with the goings on of this place. Allying with Law was a heinous miscalculation, his objective was purely to get his hands on SAD, that's why he's here, that's why he has you kidnap me, he knows only I can create it. What's SAD? Do you know Straw Hat? No, you probably weren't even told it existed, but I produce it here on Punk Hazard, then ship it off to Donquiote Doflamingo over on Dressrosa, that's right the strongest, most dangerous of the Warlords. He has a factory that processes the SAD, into Smiles. But you don't know what those are either, don't worry, I'll tell you since you've been such a captive audience. They're a marvel of scientific genius, something that could change our very understanding of the world itself: artificial, Zoan Class Devil fruits! It's well known that those who seek power yearn for those amongst the 3, while Logias are seen as overpowered by most, and Paramecia are…. A mixed bag, Zoans are reliably powerful, no matter the variant consumed. Doflamingo capitalises on this desire, by selling these Smiles, to major players in the New World, his biggest consumer being the Emperor Kaido if I'm not mistaken, at least based on rumours. Doesn't it send a chill down your spine? Shurororo. So are you beginning to understand what you're dealing with now?" he asks, having slowly gotten closer to the stone-faced Luffy as his monologue progressed.

"Just by coming to this island, you've interfered in the affairs of not only Doflamingo but Kaido as well, angering a great many people, powerful people no sane person would want to cross. They'll respond and when they do, it will shake this world to its core. That Chaos is just what Law is after, you're both fools! These people are so out of your league it's not even a joke anymore, you're playing with forces beyond your comprehension, Shurorororo. Capture me if you can but I'm well protected, Doflamingo, the Yonko, tell me, do you truly have the guts to pick a fight with the strongest forces in this world? Shuorororo, I didn't think so Straw Hat, if you want to run, then now's the time. You should get out of my way, while you still have the chance. Shurorororo Shurorororo!" Caesar cackles, assured of his own sense of invincibility, much like many a bubble-headed dimwit, and just like Charlos…. Luffy just doesn't care.

"What you say?" Luffy hisses, before planting an armament haki-infused fist between Caesar's eyes breaking the man's nose and sending him crashing headfirst into Building R's blast doors. "I'm picking a fight, it's what I've been doing my whole life!"

TBC

LW: And now Luffy goes in for Round 3! Does the 'fight' outside the lab count? If not then Round 2 I guess.