LW: 3 Rounds down, 1 to go, as the Colosseum fights are reaching their conclusion, and the Straw Hats start to reconvene.

Rubber King & Mirror Master - New World Chaos: Phantom of the Arena, Princess Rebecca

"And with that we have 3 of our finalists decided, those who have won the honor of having a shot to fight against a member of the Donquiote family. From Block A, Jesus Berges, Block B has Edward D. Saria gracing our prescience, and as of just a moment ago, the mysterious beauty Laki is our Block C representative. The final creeps ever closer, however because of the damage Laki and Chin Jao did to the arena, Block D's match will have to be delayed by about 15 minutes or so, please hold on until then"

"So, you're still alive" Saria grins as Laki meanders down the stairs "Though you also wrecked the place, as usual"

"Hey, that was the geezer's fault, not mine" the rubber girl argues with a huff.

"Yeah, yeah. Also that Cavendish really wants to kill you, but I think I impressed upon him the error of his ways trying to end your life within these walls" she hums with a crooked grin.

"Cabbages? Oh right the puff, yeah he really needs to get a life" Laki groans.

"STRAW HAT!" both pirates turn to the source of the yelling, that being Sai from the previous match "HOLD ON A MINUTE! Gramp's wants to speak to you"

"If it's another death threat I'm not interested, I won fair and square so just get over it or go bug Garp" Laki scowls.

"It's not. You, you undid the shame brought upon me by your Grandfather's mighty fist. I can't express in words how thankful I am, Chinjao the Drill has been reborn!" the spike-headed man bellows, crying again, but this time, tears of joy.

'See, he finally gets why Straw Hat is a gift from the heavens' Bartolomeo thinks with a grin as he watches the Living Legend express his thanks to the gender-bent Straw Hat Luffy.

"Great, now you won't try to kill me anymore!" Laki chirps, getting an amused chuckle from Chinjao and his grandsons.

"Precisely. There is something very important I wish to present to you Straw Hat, though it may be better to wait for another time"

"Explain it to Saria, she's a more logistical person than me, or we can meet up on the Sunny later and talk, it's on the southern shore of Dressrosa," Laki says before wandering off, Saria rolling her eyes before bowing slightly to the old pirate.

"Child of Whitebeard, I expect great things from you, just like your father before you" Chinjao states reverently, a faint blush coating the younger pirate's cheeks as he says that.

"I intend to," She nods, then catching Bartlolomeo's eye wanders over to the Gadfly "So, I noticed you had quite the interest in Straw Hat, enough to try to defend his honor from Cavendish, I wonder why?"

The provocative pirate actually looked bashful for a moment "It's because I know Luffy can become the King. I was there, you know, in Loguetown when it happened. Up on the Scaffolding, where they executed Roger, and bold as brass that scrawny kid proclaimed he could be the Next King, and not only that, the heavens themselves opened up just before he could be killed, destroying the platform and freeing him from that clown's clutches" Bartolomeo gushes.

"Divine providence indeed" Saria muses, a crooked grin crossing her face "So that's why you became a pirate?"

"You betcha, Luffy-sama inspired me to be more than just a two berri gang leader but to dream bigger. I kept up with all the big news, Alabasta, Enies Lobby, Sabaody, Marineford, if the Straw Hats did something crazy I knew about it. You guys are more than pirates, you're making history!"

Saria whistles "Quite the fanboy, and yet you can talk to me like I'm anyone else" she hums.

"Well I fought you before I realized who you were and all, and Bartolomeo doesn't backslide. Luffy on the other hand, well before I knew she looked to be in her little world and I didn't want to interrupt her attempting to psych herself up, and after, I just couldn't do it, I was worried I'd make a fool of myself and look bad in front of my idol" the Barrier man admits, cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"Aw, that's kind of adorable Barty, I can call you that, right?"

"For you Miss Saria, I'll go by any name, but Barty sounds nice, so thanks" her fellow cannibal grins, exposing his wicked fangs.


"Phew, glad that was over" Laki sighs, then yelps as another fighter grabs her arm "What the Hell?"

"Hello again Laki, it's me Rebecca" the female gladiator greets as she drags the older woman behind her "Please come with me"

"Zehahahaha"

Hearing the familiar laughter, Laki stops dead, finding Jesus Berges on a Den Den Mushi just to her left, Rebbeca also stopping when she feels her companion plant herself to the ground.

"I still don't trust Kuzan, he could be talking out his ass this whole time" Berges grouses, then stops seeing the intense look in Laki's eyes "I'll talk later Captain, seems Straw Hat found me" the bulky man grins.

"Oh really now, put him on" Blackbeard chuckles.

"Her, but ok" Berges shrugs, rotating the snail in his hand, which had a moment of confusion cross its features before returning to Blackbeard's signature grin.

"Hello there, Miss Straw Hat Luffy? Seems you have changed these last few years"

"You again. Still pissing blood after Kaos handed you your ass you fat gorilla?" Laki sneers.

"Ow, that almost hurt, might have even worked if you'd been conscious when it happened. But I'm afraid 2nd hand embarrassment isn't enough to wound me Straw Gal" Blackbeard chuckles "Now, I hear you and that lanky bastard of a brother of yours are here at the Colosseum, but I recommend forgetting about the Nagi Nagi no mi, Berges has this one in the bag"

"That's right I do!" Berges laughs, a cocky grin on his face "I'm gonna enjoy making you squeal bitch, see you in the arena We Hahahaha!" the pirate cackles as he wanders off.

"Laki, this way please" Rebecca insists, as the rubber girl was just staring where Berges had been for 2 minutes straight.

"Right, sorry, continue"

"You and that man, you have a history I presume?" Rebecca asks

"You could say that. I don't know much about him, but his Captain…. He's a bastard, nearly cost me my brother, and I want to beat his ass so badly he never even looks at my family again" Laki answers with a deep scowl, haki emanating from her like a fountain… before getting distracted by food.

"Damn it" Rebecca sighs "Laki, will you stop harassing the old woman if I pay for a meal for you?"

"You're treating me to lunch? Aw, thanks Rebecca, but just a heads up, I'm a happily married woman" Laki teased, once she stopped drooling over all the food. Her mood drooped a little seeing Rebecca empty her purse just to feed them, she probably should have just bugged Saria for money to buy her food.

"Thanks for treating me, you didn't need to," Laki says, as she starts to munch through her meal.

"It's ok, I'm just sorry I couldn't get you more" the pink-haired teen chuckles.

"So, where are we?" Laki muses, the place seemed very dank and dreary, not exactly where you'd expect to drag someone for a meal.

"These are the Living Quarters for the Gladiators who fight here" Rebecca answers with an air of melancholy "Though I suppose it's more like a prison" she sighs, removing her helmet.

"Makes sense, I think Robin told me about how Gladiators were slaves or prisoners back in the day or something" Laki hums, trying to recall the memory, and having no luck.

"The guest competitors won't be coming down here, only the regulars, so you should be able to rest in peace for your next match," she says with a soft-spoken tone "You're an incredible fighter, I was very impressed by your last clash. That power is beyond compare"

Laki chuckles, used to people being either surprised or in awe of her physical might, so this was nothing new. Unfortunately, neither was getting jumped, as arms shot out from the bars behind her, pulling her back against the cage and holding her in place.

"Now Rebecca, this is why you brought her here wasn't it?" someone calls from the gloom, the pink-haired gladiator bites her lip, before drawing her sword, and beginning to approach the wriggling pirate. "Do it now, or else you'll never accomplish your mission"

'Fuck this' Laki thinks, if this girl wants to fight she's going to even things up on her side, biting down on the man's arm to free herself Laki slips past each of the gladiator's sword swings, still munching away on the lovely Colosseum food, as there was no reason to let it go to waste. As the fight was boring her, Laki decided to jump at Rebecca, knocking her over, pinning both wrists under her sandals, sitting on the girl's stomach, munching away, and more confused than annoyed if she was being honest. And now Rebecca is crying, just what she needed right now.

"Do your worst, I've accepted my fate" Rebbeca whimpers out once her tears stop falling.

Laki blinks "Wait, you think I'm going to hurt you? But you fed me"

"Yes, to lure you here so I could kill you"

"Yeah you didn't do a very good job there, it barely counted as an attack if I'm being honest, though the initial ambush was at least creative I'll give you that much. Also, you tried attacking ME, not Kaos, if that had happened you and your buddies would probably be talking out of a new hole in your throat" Laki muses, feeling Rebecca's shiver through her plump behind, almost like a massage chair.

"If she can forgive her so easily, Rebecca never stood a chance" one of the men in the gloom murmur.

"Mummies!" Laki cries, her eyes having adjusted enough to see the men in the cage.

"No, you idiot! Your friend was right, except that it's still an ongoing thing. We're prisoners forced to fight as gladiators, including Rebecca" one of the men explained.

"Huh, explains why that one dickhead didn't like you" Laki muses, as she climbs off Rebecca more smoothly than they expected.

"We get thrown out there to amuse the crowd until the day we die, just because we got on the Donquiote Family's bad side" another man grimaces, Laki's eyes widening.

"The King promised us our freedom if we win 1000 matches"

"But no matter how strong you are, nobody can win that many fights to the death in a row"

"10 years ago, before Doflamingo showed up, we had Gladiator matches, but they were a proper sport and tests of skill in combat, not these death matches. For all the light and happy smiles in this kingdom, there's just as much darkness and despair"

"I swear. No matter what it takes, I will win this competition today, I will win that Devil fruit, and I WILL KILL DOFLAMINGO!" Rebecca cries "Listen, the Toy Soldier told me he was going to be leading his forces to attack Doflamingo's fortress today, that means, he'll be letting us all out. I believe he can save this kingdom, but he's going to sacrifice himself to do it. But I will end this madness before he has a chance, I will stop Doflamingo, so he can come home safe to me. I'm sick and tired of always being the one who needs to be protected, I want to stand tall and protect myself, to be strong like he is like Kyros was!"

As tears flow down her face, Rebecca begins to reveal her backstory to Laki, as well as her connection to the Toy Soldier, who Laki realized was the same one they'd run into outside the Colosseum on their way to enter the fight. Rebecca told her about how since her mother died all she'd had was the one-legged soldier, the toy raising her as if she was his daughter, and how she no longer sees him AS a toy, but as her father, as the one person who has always been there for her. Unfortunately, her story was interrupted by the announcement that the arena had been repaired and Block D's fight was about to begin.

"I guess I'll see you in the finals" Rebecca hums with a nod, getting a cheeky grin from the rubber girl, who continued to munch through the lunches she'd been bought.

"That's the right attitude. Good Luck Rebecca" Laki laughs, flashing a thumbs up before returning to eating, to the pinkette's amusement, before she makes the long march to her destiny, and hopefully not her death.

'Oh, now that is interesting. What is it with you Luffy and finding Warrior Princesses?' Saria wonders as she sees Rebecca's full name 'I hope there's a fire in that heart, or she's not going to last long, not with the malice flowing off the crowd outside' she scowls, moving to find a place to watch the fight, maybe they'll get lucky and Rebbeca kills Shiny Cabbage for them.

And here she comes, the most beautiful Gladiator to ever grace the land of Dressrosa, the Phantom Princess, nobody can rile up the crowd quite like her, though I'll admit Bartolomeo came pretty damn close, the mohawked bastard. Rebecca!"

As she entered the arena Rebecca tuned out the jeers and heckling, after today the faceless masses will never darken her doors again, either she succeeds in killing Doflamingo, and leaves this island with her Toy Soldier, or she dies and can be at peace with her mother once more.

"What the fuck! Why are they being such assholes to Rebbeca, she's such a sweet girl?" Laki shouts, her face twisting into an enraged scowl.

"Doesn't matter to them out there, she's tainted by the blood in her veins, her Grandfather is our former King" one of the prisoners explains, which just pisses her off more.

"So she's like us, judged for the sins of the father, not the actions of the child" Laki growls, pausing when she feels the weight of magic even this far from its source. The crowd wasn't just pissing her off, it was pissing Saria…. No, it was pissing KAOS off.

"Nobody wants yo-GRK!"

And now the screaming starts, blood and guts were fine when it was, all the way over there, but someone getting their throat slit in the spectator stands, that was terrifying.

"Go jump in the moat! AHH!"

CREAK!
CRUNCH!
SMASH!

Saria hums as a feral smirk escapes her placid features, wondering if the toys can die, and whether death will come, or madness as a handful of toys are crushed into Rubix-cube-sized balls of metal and plastic

"It doesn't matter what her Grandfather did, Rebecca didn't DO anything" Laki growls, this is just like Chinjao with Garp, only instead of one asshole she could punch it's the entire town, so going about it the way herself or even Ace would react, would get Rebecca a reputation potentially WORSE than her old ma

"I couldn't agree more, you're alright miss" one of the prisoners smiles "Her Grandfather did awful things, but the real menace is unseen by most. Meanwhile, to people like us, Rebecca is our shining star, our beacon of hope"

"She keeps our spirits burning, stops us giving up, knowing she's still here, still fighting, it makes us feel we can't let her down. Besides, she's already a better royal than Doflamingo" another tries to joke, giving a tired smile as they turn to watch Rebecca's match, as well as see if the mysterious deaths would continue.

"THAT'S QUITE ENOUGH!" a voice calls from the entrance to the arena, silencing the crowd, even just momentarily. From the corridor strode Cavendish upon a white horse, looking as elegant as ever, until you looked into his eyes and saw how pissed off he was "You're the rudest crowd I've ever seen, it's downright shameful to berate a woman brave enough to put her life on the line. I don't know what she did to earn your ire, and I frankly don't care, though if any of you want to air your grievances properly, I'm sure the lovely lady's benefactor would be happy to either send her up to you for a one on one match or bring you down here to show her how a real Dressrosian fights!" Cavendish cries, meeting Saria's eyes from her alcove, the woman winks before actually taking his advice.

Room!

Shambles!

"Hey, what the fuck!" Stalwart the Gladiator shouts as he finds himself in the crowd, a faint buzzing in his ears.

"How did I…?" One of the spectators screams, the plain and average man having but a moment of reflection, before one of the gladiators runs him through with a scimitar, cutting the number of enemies down by 1.

"Anyone else want to try?" Cavendish heckles, getting an amused cackle from Bartolomeo as he watches from another alcove "Thank you Ferule, now go and find a safe place, this battlefield is no place for once as fabulous as yourself" he coos, letting the horse trot back into the main area of the Colosseum.

"Ok, maybe Cabbage isn't all bad, he does know how to make an entrance" Laki giggles, then stops "You're still an asshole though"

"Mr. Cavandish, thank you, for defending my honor like that," Rebecca says as she approaches him, the blond giving her a gentle smile.

"It's not just me, I just have the loudest voice, plus I find I hate undue infamy as much as stolen grace, and this crowd of mouth-breathing simpletons needed to be brought down a peg or two. Not that it matters now, we're opponents, I might end up killing you before the day is out, or somehow, you might get lucky and slay me" Cavendish muses, turning away, and preparing to fight.

"And so, with all the Competitors here, we can finally begin with Block D's Battle Royale! 137 fighters make up this Block, and it's up to our fighters to whittle that number down to just one, the lucky finalist who will be facing the other winners soon enough"

DING

Meanwhile - Greenbit

Law was having one hell of a day trying to avoid Doflamingo's attacks, his strings shredding even the massive plants that covered the island, cleaving through them almost like they weren't even there.

"I'm not looking for your life story, but the only people with the kind of power you wield, are the Celestial Dragons! So how the FUCK are you able to do so, so casually and effortlessly?"

"You already have the answer, I just don't know where you're going with the question" Doflamingo shrugs, sending out more strings and turning the plants behind Law into mulch as he dodges. More strings were unleashed, grabbing debris and throwing it at him, but that was just a distraction, the strings between the slices of overgrown vines were the real attack, ensnaring Law and pinning him to the trunk of another plant, at which point Doflamingo produces more strings to ensure the Former Warlord wasn't going anywhere "You can't put this off anymore" Doflamingo taunts as he slowly approaches Law like a Slasher villain.

"What did you mean earlier, about things being complicated?" Law asks since he was currently a captive audience, at least until he could cut his way through the strings.

Doflamingo chuckles "Now's not the time for stories Law, but if you hand over Caesar like you promised, I might sit and chat for a while. And don't forget his heart while you're at it"

"Is Caesar really that important to you, or maybe it's SMILE you're worried about? If so, you might have to kill the Straw Hats too, they have either consumed or stolen your intellectual property after all" Law comments, and while it was meant as a distraction, the silence gives him an opening in the conversation "I'm right aren't I? You're afraid of Kaido if he finds out you can't make the delivery, or worse, that someone else can do it better, cheaper, or even faster" he grins, seeing he was getting under the Warlord's skin.

"Room: Shambles!" he cries as Doflamingo sends a curtain of strings at him, swapping with one of the many chunks of broken plant material littering the area thanks to Doflamingo's wild flailing with his strings.

Unfortunately the 'Heavenly Demon' was more prepared than expected, having several trip wires set up, one of which ensnares Law's leg, allowing Doflamingo to leap and tackle Law to the ground, pinning him as he tightly grips Law by the throat.

Though before he could land the killing blow, his attack was blocked by Fujitora, the blond scowling even though he knows the blind man wouldn't notice "Why did you stop me?"

"I have my orders" the Admiral responds, pinning Law to the ground with enhanced gravity "I'm not here to kill him, my orders were to apprehend him"

Doflaingo scowls before sighing heavily "Fine, he gets to live. But I'm still taking back Caesar's heart" he says before using his strings to steal back the cube containing the gasbag's heart while Law remains prone and immobile.

Dressrosa - Flowerfield

"Hey" Bellows Chief Gancho as the Tontatta army exits the cave

"The Heroes have arrived!" Leo cheers from his mount, soon followed by Ussop, Robin, Valentina, and Victor, all in various levels of curiosity and confusion.

"Hey guys, so this is where you ended up" Franky chuckles.

"Hey mom…. What happened?" Artemis waves, then pauses, seeing Robin's hair was pitch black and moved like water, and her breasts had gotten even larger than they were this morning.

"A Devil fruit affected the clone watching over Medusa, some of the effect transferred over to me" Robin explains with a sigh.

"I didn't think those could get bigger, but given everything else, I shouldn't be surprised" Alvida chuckles.

"Yellow Kabu and Pink Bee Squads, reporting from Greenbit, Sir!" Leo announces, flipping onto the ground and saluting the Toy Soilder.

"Excellent work, now come this way" Soldier salutes in kind, then leads the new group to a wall where he had laid out their plan of attack "Listen closely. This is the chance we've been waiting for, to free ourselves of our chains, topple the tyranical monster controlling it from the shadows and restore the honor of our detroned King Riku!" he begins, getting cheers from the tontatta while the pirates watch and listen closely "As you all know,on that faithful day, Doflamingo stole our happy lives from us, a truly unforgivable crime, and one we will finally make him pay for. We've spent an entire year planning for this moment. Though our foes may be formidable, we shall prevail!"

Elsewhere

"Turn left at this next intersection. For reference, left is the side you don't have your swords on, and have lost an eye on" Wicke points out as she leads Zoro through town towards the Sunny.

"You think I don't know right from left?" Zoro huffs angrily.

"Yep!" the tontatta chirps "Now remember you're going up against one of Doflamingo's executives, Giolla with the power to turn people and things into weird art sculptures. Avoid her rainbow mist and you should be ok, in theory" she warns.

"You're a pretty smart pipsqueak" Zoro muses.

"She works for Doflamingo, I memorized everything I could about the man and his main enforcers, especially his top executives who wrecked their way through Dressrosa's army 10 years ago: Trebol, Diamante, and the big guy, Pica. Those are 3 faces I'll never forget" she declares more seriously than Zoro had seen her so far.

"Wait a minute, 10 years ago, but you look like a kid" he balks.

"No, I'm 27, your fault for not recognizing a mature Tontatta lady" she huffs with a cheeky smirk.

"Hey look it's Sir Zoro. Over Here! Come this way!" the duo pauses as they hear yelling from the nearby street.

"Who's that, he doesn't seem very bright given you're supposed to be being covert?" Wicke asks.

"Dumbland, Dumberland, and Sandland" Zoro answers, noticing Kinemon, Sanji and Vivi all gathered by a nearby building, his fellow straw hats equally pissed off by the Samurai's lack of awareness of what's going on.

A few minutes later

"You're on the way to save Nami?" Sanji repeats, or at least he repeats the only part he cares about "That's why she didn't pick up the snail or the mirror, I can always sense a damsel in distress!"

"You're still an idiot" Vivi sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Black Leg!" Viola whisper-hisses, as she peeks out of an alleyway, instantly drawing Sanji's attention.

"Yes, my dear?"

"I came back to warn you, your vessel has been commandeered by my former colleague Giolla and she's on her way to Greenbit right one with it" Viola informs them.

"Just fucking great" Zoro groans, while Wicke sighs knowing he's going to get lost trying to find Greenbit too now.

Colosseum

Despite the braying crowd, and the fact that as usual the other competitors trying to gang up on her, Rebecca was focused, her goal was in sight, she would not let herself fall at the final hurdle like this, dodging a sword swing she stabs down, tearing through his thigh before spinning around him and causing another gladiator to take him out while trying to hit her blindside. Her agile moves allowing her to dodge another fighter until they were close enough to the edge that when she rolled between their legs she kicked the back of their knee, causing them to fall into the moat with a yelp.

Of course, there are times she doesn't really have to do much herself, the singleminded desire to smite her and earn the crowd's adoration, they have tunnel vision focused entirely on her. Meaning by timing her dodges correctly, some of these meatheads take each other out for her. She'd been told by some of the other prisoners, that she makes it look like it's all a game to her, not exactly doing her any favours with the crowd, but at least it helps the people she cares about get through the fights as they watch her risk her life for the amusement of idiots.

"You can do it, Rebecca, kick their asses!" Laki cheers from the lower levels of the Colosseum, grinning widely as Rebecca bobs, weaves, and slashes her way through her foes.

TBC

LW: And this is where we end it for this week, hope you had fun.