Kaito watched warily as the nut job Celestial Dragon seemed to miraculously calm down, even giggling slightly maniacally. The island beast was not making a move to attack Kaito as of yet, and neither were the agents, they were all not even looking at him, their stiff postures focused solely on Saint Jartal.

These monsters in human skin… These… Dragons. Was there anything more foul in this world? Could even the likes of Blackbeard compare? Kaito thought, preparing himself for quick action when it would become necessary. This man could not be allowed to leave here alive. No matter what happened to them, he would kill Saint Jartal. That is a promise.

"What's so funny?" He asked quietly, flexing his fingers, it would be a difficult fight. Taking on these many agents, even if they were rusty as hell and weakened by their long subservient lifestyle. And fighting quite literally in the belly of the beast wouldn't make things easier. That's fine.

He had a lot of anger to work out right now. A challenge sounded just fine!

Jartal smiled slowly, with more than a touch of insanity. "Oh, I forgot to mention, didn't I? That sometimes… We dip people alive into the blood of the creature." He shrugged, shoulders shaking and twitching weirdly after, "Sometimes I'd get bored and just try new things, it's very corrupting, and deadly. Drives them insane eventually. And dead. Very dead." Jartal put a hand to his head, laughing quietly to himself, before it rose slowly into a crescendo, the man's eyes wide and maniacal as he just howled with laughter. "Where do you think your friends are? You lowlife worm?"

Kaito froze, as dread filled his entire being. He just stared at the fat noble. "You didn't…" He managed to grit out, hatred flowing out of him so intensely it was almost like a cloak of shadow flared up behind him, looming over them all as Kaito glared at the soon to be dead monster. And he'd get to the creature after that too! No one touched his crew!

As far as he was concerned, Whitebeard was the sanest man in One Piece. You touch his family, he'll destroy everything you have and are - to protect them. Kaito intended to live up to that. And this fat toad… If any of them died…

Kaito didn't even know them that well yet… But they were his! His crew. His Nakama! He'd paint the seas in dragon blood!

The oppressive air around Kaito grew fiercer, some agents stumbling back as Kaito's intent took literal life before them - promising to render them apart.

The loony noble clapped his hands excitedly, not appearing to take any notice of the absolutely deadly intent facing him. "Oh do bring them out, let's have a reunion shall we?" He looked at no one in particular, face twitching, "Reunions are SO much fun!" He clapped his hands again at a rapid pace, bouncing in place.

Kaito twitched as part of the fleshy wall simply parted to his left, his muscles tensing as he watched the agents for any movements. In case this was all just a ruse to make him drop his guard.

Out of the hole came Saber, Cloud and Edge. All still holding their weapons, but their eyes blank and unseeing. Some black ooze gunk attached to their heads and bodies. Pulsing with the heartbeat of the creature. Their skin was so pale that for a minute he almost thought they were actually dead.

It felt like his heart stopped for a moment there, as he watched them, looking for any sign of life. The creature's heartbeat loud in his ear, Ba-dum, Ba-dum.

Wordlessly and silently they turned towards Kaito and raised their weapons. It was twitchy and jerky. Like they were fighting it. A small flame of hope flared to life in Kaito's chest.

There could still be a chance.

Saint Jartal cackled appreciatively as he peered at Kaito's enraged face, "Oh it's always such a treat watching people kill their friends and family to survive. Almost makes me feel like I'm back in Mariejois again." He flicked a hand magnanimously, "Do entertain me, boy, you'll live a little longer."

"I really hope you're actually immortal…" Kaito swore, eyes almost glowing, he was holding in so much anger, it felt like his veins were burning. He was running that hot, "Because I don't want you to die too quickly!" He shouted viciously, as he exploded forward towards the World Noble, a wall of tentacles and several agents blocking his path.

＊＊＊

With Wire, Tears, Dice and Pie.

"How's Pie?" Wire shouted with frustration, slicing through an outstretched soggy arm, kicking the body away, he was drenched in sweat, but thankfully not yet blood. These things were slow as fuck, but plentiful. He didn't want to think on how many fucking bodies there were, because then he'd have to think of where they came from. He resolutely cut the head off the corpse of a child attacking him, feeling bile coming, even knowing she was already dead, children… These. Absolute. Fuckers!

Let Davy Jones fuck em with a mast for doing this to kids! He thought, feeling a mixture of deep weary sadness and burning rage at the sight of the already defeated corpses of children.

Only positive thing was that the corpses attacking them were so rotted through, they didn't splatter any blood on them - it seemed only that octopus freak bled that weird black gunk.

Wire would already have nightmares, he didn't need to add blood splatter to the horror of chopping up dead kids.

"I can't get all this shit off him, I think he's waking up, though!" Came the shouted reply from Dice.

About fucking time, gonna tell that lughead no more pies if he's gonna sleep on the damn job like that! Wire thought, a measure of relief easing his shoulders at hearing the big idiot was waking up.

"Good, we could use him." Tears grunted from Wires back, slicing through another iteration of the octopus man. The thing falling apart into goo once the head was dealt with. Tears shuddered, kicking out with a leg and breaking the leg of the corpse trying to flank them - marginally inconveniencing it. "This is just not what I expected when going out to sea!" He grunted. Finishing off the corpse by cutting its head off - the sure fire way to finish them it seemed.

"Fucking octopus are fish ain't they?" Wire grunted, slicing through a myriad of limbs reaching for him by interconnecting several razor sharp wires in front of him, using the sturdy leather armbands on his arms to hold it together. "And they're thinning, we almost got this. Fucking finally."

"Stop die! I no Die! You Die!" Another corpse turned into the speech impediment octopus - to Wire and Tears frustration.

"When we run out of corpses, maybe that thing will finally go away!" Tears growled viciously, sending a dagger into its head, the screeching mercifully stopped, for now. "At least it's completely useless at fighting."

"They all are, if there weren't so fucking many of them this would be easy." Wire complained sourly.

A sudden yelp and thud alerted them to something going on behind them. They shared a glance, they were secure enough from the corpses, with only a few left, and they turned to look. Both cursed simultaneously as they spotted Dice gingerly getting up from where he'd been tossed.

"What the fuck?" Wire groaned. "This better be fucking fixable!"

"I know." Dice said tiredly. Dusting off his clothes. "You know… This is the shit that happens when you gotta say something's not difficult enough, Wire."

"At least I didn't say it was motherfucking quiet!" Wire protested, already grimacing at the prospect of what was in front of them.

"That's… Going to be more difficult to fight." Tears said softly. A pained look on his face.

They all watched Pie roar to the sky, eyes blank, the black gunk pulsing around his head. It was beyond obvious that Pie wasn't the one running things anymore.

"Dice, Tears. You gotta delay him, pin him down." Wire said grimly, eyeing the few remaining corpses and the once again furious and retarded octopus man screeching his nonsense at them. "I'll deal with this trash and then come help."

"What if it's… Permanent." Dice quietly asked what they all feared.

"It's fucking not." Wire bit out, a vein pulsing on his head visibly, as rage all but poured out of his every breath.

"Wire…" Tears said, trying to lay a hand on his shoulder, only to have the hand slapped away. Wire glaring at him.

"I say it's fucking not. So it's not! Got it!"

He felt a rage he hadn't felt in years,

"He's one of us!"

Flashback

"Wire!"

Wire turned around irritably, scratching at his latest addition, his wire tattoos finally starting to spread out properly over his body like he'd envisioned it when he took the name. "What the fuck do you want?" He spat out, seeing one of his crew making his way through the crowd at the busy port. He was fairly new, and had decided on tear drops of all things for a tattoo. Fucking weirdo.

That's what they get for taking in someone like him. Fucking merchant boy trying to slum it up, tch!

"Dice said you'd want to see it." The boy, who'd taken the name Tears, panted out, as he arrived by Wire's side. Pushing sailors out of the way. Wincing as he held his side gingerly. Someone hadn't taken kindly to being pushed, it appeared.

No one ever cared about smacking a kid around. Fuckers.

That's why you don't fucking run through a massive crowd of sailors coming on land for shore leave, Wire thought uncharitably, but held his tongue. For a second. "What are you fucking doing running around like a jackass for!" Wire grumbled at the fool, quickly checking his side over while the dumbass grinned stupidly at him. "Hmpfh, you're fine, fucking crybaby."

He'd make sure the kid got checked over just in case anyway. Not cuz he cared or anything. Just a waste to have him have a broken rib or something. Kids were too dumb to realize that shit.

"Dice said you would want to see what's going on by the port!" Tears said, looking pathetically proud to have achieved a task.

"Tch. What part of the port?" Wire groaned, running a hand across his shortly cropped hair, so not in the mood to traverse the mass of humanity. They never paid particular attention to teenagers - unless it was to give them a whack. Or worse.

Wire had spent a lot of time lately teaching people that 'worse' got retaliation now. It was slowly working. Too slowly.

Adults were fucking dumb.

"Over by Genson's turf." Tears said, falling into step next to Wire as he began to push people away, the two of them heading in the opposite direction of the throng of sailors coming ashore. The tattoos finally gave Wire more of a dangerous look, and he hardly got any bruises at all this time.

"Why the fuck is Dice anywhere near Genson's turf? The bosses don't like it, not after what he did to the last couple kids…" Wire asked, scowling fiercely.

If he had his say, Genson and his ilk would be fish food, and they'd expand their own turf as a lucky bonus. Bosses had an agreement though, and as long as Genson didn't touch (their) kids, they left him alone.

It pissed Wire the fuck off. He'd happily stab some fucker in the face any day. But kids, he didn't give a fuck if they were civvies or not. They were untouchable.

Except of course no one else fucking agreed obviously, or this whole gang of lost and beaten brats wouldn't exist.

Lost and beaten were the well adjusted lucky ones…

Fucking world was shit, and it only gave you shit, it was up to people like Wire to dig through the shit and find something worth living for. Or so he liked to think. He needed some reason to not give up and just murder every damn adult around who didn't give a fuck!

The bosses were growing fat on deals with Gerson, cuz the prick controlled a third of the underground trade in the port. So they wanted to maintain the fucking status quo. Cuz it made them money.

Like dead kids was a fucking thing to get used to. Like a notation on a spreadsheet. Weighing the dead kids against profit - and the kids always lost.

And fuck, Wire was just a dumb kid for suggesting they take over his share, then they'd still make their god damn money - he fucking hated adults. They were all shit.

"Dice better have a good reason for this fucking crap, Tears…" He warned, teeth grinding together as they neared the more run down part of the port. Where the ships who were less official could get a dock without too many questions.

All to Gerson's fucking benefit. The fat fuck. Even the marines looked the other way - growing fat off his bribes.

Tears grimaced slightly at that, "He didn't seem happy." He hedged. The smile slipped off his face when Wire sent him a dubious look. "Like really not happy."

"Yeah, well he's about to be fucking really unhappy when I get a hold of him…" Wire muttered.

Within another few minutes they'd made it to the scrap yard in Gerson's turf, stopping right before it, not crossing over. Wire stomped over to the metal sheeting that marked the boundary, Dice standing right next to it, looking apprehensive as Wire came closer.

"Before you rant at me, just look over into the yard, Wire!" The youth begged him. Looking queasy.

Wire chewed his lip angrily, "We're still gonna fucking talk about what you were doing here after!" He warned gruffly. Swiftly leaning around the metal sheeting to look into the scrap yard. Looking for what got Dice desperate enough to send the newbie for him.

It didn't take long to see what had made him call him over. In the middle of the yard was a giant of a kid, chained by both legs to poles lodged into the ground. The kid had cuts and bruises all over and had an absolutely dead look. Wire recognized it easily, he'd seen it too many times. A kid that just had given up completely. He felt the rage build up inside him.

Gerson's men were bringing him steel that he was banging flat with his fucking bare hands. They were using a kid as a fucking chained up and beaten slave - to save them an hour with tools!

"Dice… Take Tears and gather up those I told you about," He grabbed the kids collar before he could run off, looking him straight in the eye, seriously, "Only those, get it?" Last thing they needed was someone running off to the bosses and stopping this shit getting sorted because of money - of all worthless fucking things.

"Aye, Wire." Dice said solemnly. Grabbing Tears the moment Wire let go, rushing off to gather up the few that Wire could absolutely trust when it came to kids.

Mostly only those around his age he'd gathered up the last couple years, but there were a few old timers who weren't absolute shit, like Saber, that might give a hand. And keep it fucking quiet.

Seeing the men go back inside to grab more steel, Wire climbed over the divide, strolling up to the chained up kid. "Yo, my name's Wire, I'm gonna get you out of here, alright, kid?" He said casually but to the point, never being one seeing the point in talking around things.

Also people freaked the fuck out if he tried small talk, so he stopped doing it. It just got fucking annoying to deal with.

The giant ass kid just looked up at him dumbly, blinking slowly. Not replying. Just staring at him like he couldn't understand what was in front of him.

Like god damn, fuck all adults, Wire thought angrily.

Wire crouched down, examining the chains, scowling as he realized the skin around the kids' ankles were purple. "Anything you like more than anything? Something you want more than anything when you get out of here, kid?" He asked, trying to sound nice, but his voice wasn't really meant for it. He scowled down at the detestable chains. Where was fucking Apple when he needed her? She'd be like an ant to this guy - hardly threatening.

Also she was pretty good at talking to people. Better than he was.

The kid stared down at him, eyes no longer so blank, but still terribly uncomprehending of the situation, or at being talked to like a human. Eventually he quietly muttered out one word. A soft wistfulness to it, "Pie…"

Wire attempted a smile, "Pie, alright then, we're gonna get you the biggest juiciest Pie there is, you can bet on it." His rage was further stoked, the flames fed, as the kid gave him a shy smile, disbelief and such naked hope on his face…

At least it meant the kid hadn't fully given up yet… Those kids usually never made it, even after being saved. This was good. Fucking excellent actually.

"What the fuck! You're that troublesome brat again! You were told to stay outta here kid." One of the men had returned. And he wasn't happy. Drawing a short sword and waving it around menacingly.

Wire cracked his knuckles, "Alright friendly giant, I need you to close your eyes, alright." So used to obeying, the kid did so immediately.

Wire turned towards the approaching man. Part of him needed the gang to get here ASAP! To back him up and dismantle this whole operation.

The other part. Wondered if when they got here… Would he even have left them anything to do anyway? He was burning hot. He pulled a dagger and a coil of razor sharp wire out of his pouch. He grinned sharply at the approaching man, spotting two more following. "Name's Wire, you rancid feet sucking swine!" He shouted as he rushed the first man. "And you ain't gonna live to regret this!"

3 hours later, Wire would be sitting alone in the middle of a roaring party. Swathed in bandages. Holding his face in his hands, trying to not laugh where people could see. Because really?

The damn brat had proudly named himself Pie. To raucous cheers from the others. Apple was already sketching out his first damn tattoo.

These brats.

Honestly he hated all of them.

He wrapped the bandages around his jaw tighter to hide the grin. Hated them, really.

Flashback end.

"There isn't any other choice. We ain't fucking giving up on him, ya hear me you fuckers!? Wire shouted out hoarsely. " 'Til the end! We ain't ever given up, we ain't gonna fucking start!"

" 'Til the end, mate." Dice said grimly, cracking his knuckles.

" 'Til the end!" Tears cheered with a proud grin, wiping mud and grime off his face.

"Now, Pie. This is going to hurt us… A lot more than you…" Dice said with a sigh, moving in to constrain the out of control giant of a man, Tears following in on his flank.

They'd never given up on each other before. They weren't going to start now.

＊＊＊

With Archer, Duel, Venom and Needles.

Archer would readily admit he was a bit of a berserker at times, when his blood got flowing he'd toss himself straight into the midst of the action without hesitation.

Yet if anything, for the first time in his life, he was fighting while feeling completely and utterly cold. He couldn't get his blood pumping fighting this abomination. There was no joy in the meeting of fists to be had, no satisfaction in the art of combat. Of outwitting or out powering his foe.

The others had immediately been tied down by corpses falling out of the walls, splits seamlessly opening up to spit them out, before closing again. Those rotten and sodden monstrosities were easily dispatched to someone like him - the problem lay in their vast numbers and continuous advance, although another problem was in Venom and Needles being disadvantaged slightly. They were not the kind of fighters to put them down permanently as easily as he and Duel could. Poison and thrown weapons were not ideal for fighting corpses.

They were doing their best, and with Duel blowing up anything that got near them, they were at least holding steady. Even if they were not making much progress. Duel had to hold back to not risk hitting Archer - as he went all over the caverns in his hand to hand battle with the abomination.

Archer couldn't assist them and end things. Because of this thing, this corpse, with not only an octopus head, but a gaping bestial maw growing out of its chest as well, just wouldn't stay down. Neither did it seem to be disadvantaged by any damage it received.

Duel's best grenades had slightly scorched it. But that had been it for damages, you'd think a corpse would be more flammable! Archer had punched the living hell out of it, it wasn't a good fighter, more like a wild animal, but one with massive strength and stamina. And yet he'd not been able to put it down.

It was time to utilize a bit more power. And a more focused and precise strike. End it in one move.

Archer sank into a stance, lowering his center of gravity, cocking his right arm back, feeling the moisture of the air inside the undersea cavern, twisting the water particles just so, to smooth his way as he launched a strike as the abomination drew close again. Fortunately for Archer, it was heading straight towards him with no concept of strategy or ability to fear.

His punch seemed to blur across the space, the air whistling as if a wind cannon went off inside the tightly confined caverns. The abomination's head was blown clear off and disintegrated, the abomination's arms latching onto Archer in some last ditch attempt to reach him.

"Hah! Finally got you!" Archer cheered, it had been a frustrating ten minutes of pounding on this thing while his crew members fought a horde of undead on their own. Every blow was absorbed. Until now. The corpse no longer tried to attack him, just hung there. He'd won.

Archer turned to Duel, uncaring off the cold and clammy grip the headless corpse still had on him, getting rid of the head killed the things, he'd noticed from the others fights "Duel, fall back with the others, I'll clear this horde up in a heartbeat!"

"Watch!" Duel screamed hoarsely. Already lifting a pistol to fire past him, Archer, cursing his own mistake, turned back to the corpse holding him, just in time for the maw on its chest to vomit a flood of black ooze all over him.

He shouldn't have let his guard down..

"What…Is…" Archer began, before it felt like he was drowning, the words failing him. He was sinking, he tried to reach for the surface, but he felt weak, he couldn't breathe, he was going under, deep into the darkness, the light faded….

Yoruichi… Was the last sigh let out, before there were no more thoughts.

Duel wanted to scream with frustration as she saw Archer turn their way, eyes blank, the black ooze covering his body pulsing in time with the veins on the fleshy walls of the cavern. "Fool!" She spat out, not really meaning it, but with a lack of anything better to say about their situation.

She suddenly wished Wire was here to properly curse about their situation. Their best fighter suddenly being taken over by the enemy by all accounts seemed a good time for cursing.

"This… Isn't a good situation." Needles said nervously. And, Duel thought somewhat uncharitably, needlessly obvious.

Venom side eyed him, "Can your little bottles help him?" She asked quickly, remembering the offer the man had made in case any of them started losing it in this cavern.

A remedy to get their mind back straight, one not healthy for them, but a use in emergency kind of back up plan. This seemed like an emergency.

Needles narrowed his eyes, hands nervously reaching for said bottles. "I don't know… But what other options do we have?"

"Time? Delivery?" Duel asked quickly, before bashing the skull of one of the undead in with the butt end of her pistol. Kicking the corpse towards the approaching group of undead, bowling them all over. It wouldn't stop them, but any delay helped right now.

Needles chuckled darkly, "Oh it will work quickly… But how we're going to get it into him is another matter!"

Venom slid him a couple throwing knives immediately, "Coat them, I'll get it into his bloodstream." She said shortly. Stealing a grenade off Duels belts and bouncing it off the ceiling over Archer's head - to impact the corpses approaching from that direction, and blowing them into a mess of limbs. "The sooner the better…" She said clippedly, as Needles stared at the carnage nervously.

Duel suddenly gave Venom the rest of her grenades, stepping in front of them, cracking her knuckles, a resigned but determined look on her face. Venom and Needless looked past her and gulped, it seemed Archer was over the fugue of being taken over, and was going to attack.

"Hurry." Duel ordered grimly. Raising her fists in front of her face.

＊＊＊

"C'mon, C'mon!" Apple grunted quietly, tongue sticking out of her mouth as she concentrated. She'd managed to get a large chip of bone out of the one she'd been so generously gifted, by the freaky number three. And she was currently trying to pick the lock to her cage with it.

She really regretted all those days reading manga and drawing instead of attending lock picking lessons. She'd have to actually suck it up and apologize to Wire.

She shuddered suddenly. Hands still holding steady as they worked, no, on second thought, telling Wire anything was off the table. She'd just have to practice. In private. Where Wire will never ever hear about it.

She'll cut an hour out of her drawing time to practice… Alright, thirty minutes…

Ten minutes a day should do it right?

She'd seen many things in her life so far, including apparently now a tentacle monster… Which was going to make her dreams a bit strange, going forward. But a smug Wire she would not allow! Not at her expense anyway.

A sudden click heralded her victory and she slowly pushed the door of the cage open, wincing at the noise it made. She got out carefully, letting out a whimper as she could finally stretch out, her legs and feet on pins and needles as blood rushed back.

She eyed the area around her warily. One hand drawing a plain dagger, she hadn't bothered to arm up for a supposed tourist visit, so it was all she had that had made it through her impromptu underwater trip. It had been too big for the lock - so she was ultimately lucky she'd been given the bone. And that she'd brought her dagger, so she could get a chip small enough out.

She found no sign of Mister three, or of any tentacles. So she slowly started making her way out of the cavern, dagger held warily in front of her. Like so many of their crew, she was definitely better at long range then close up, although she was handy with daggers for when she needed to.

As they'd all grown up as child criminals - getting in close was usually to their detriment. Under Wires tutelage they'd developed better sniping skills. Whether by knives or guns. Funny really. Since Wire actually preferred to get in close and bloody.

At least she didn't have to suffer through being rescued like some helpless little damsel in distress. Apple was a strong independent woman dammit! She bit her lip as she peered around the corner towards the next passage. Although now that she wasn't officially locked up anymore… It would be kind of nice if someone could come to help… Just to keep her company.

You know, to make the absolute silence and freaky ambiance more companionable.

She turned abruptly, slicing out with the dagger, heart beating impossibly fast. She was sure she'd heard someone just behind her - or something. She nervously tucked some hair behind her ear, grasping the dagger with white knuckles. Moving slowly down the passage. Ears twitching, listening for any sound.

She found nothing, and she allowed herself a small breath, before continuing on. One careful step at a time.

Behind her, hidden by a sudden partition in the flesh wall. A corpse that had survived longer than most ever had under the influence of the island, shook in silent laughter.

As the girl turned a corner, heading towards the wrong area by picking the passageway to the right. He/it shook in rage, "Wrong way! Three will find the way, oh the way will be clear!"

The painted skull leered at the back of the girl as he/it popped out of the wall and peeked around the corner.

"To the heart!"

Apple never noticed, even as cautious as she was, when the passage ahead of her slowly rearranged itself to lead her around and back towards the left side.

To the heart.

＊＊＊

With Yoruichi.

"We're winning!" Yoruichi roared, stomping on the skull of one of the undead, crushing it, the flailing body stopping all motion as soon as the head was crushed. "Don't stop, keep it up! The end is near!" She kept shouting, swiftly moving to tear the head off one of the octopus abominations that was haranguing a group of her flagging crew mates. It was tiring work, their footing slippery from the slime and viscera of the corpses they kept crushing.

"Behind you!" Came a shout, and a short sword of all things, flashed over her shoulder, coming to a stop with a squelch in the face of a corpse. Sticking out of the left eye. Yoruichi immediately pivoted, grasping the sword with one claw and ripping it through the head of the corpse, killing it.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Thanks!" She shouted back, taking the opportunity to throw the sword with enough force - another corpse was nailed to the main mast, hopelessly struggling, its soft soggy skin not having enough purchase to rip the weapon out with as much force as it had pierced the things head to the mast. Swords weren't normally throwing weapons - but if someone could throw it to help her out, why not replicate it, seemed successful enough. Also saved her claws from getting more muck on them.

She'd need all the baths after this. Ugh, the smell was never going to leave her fur.

"That was kickass!" Blackjack shouted excitedly. And Yoruichi turned around immediately with a snarl. Because what the fuck was he doing up here!

"Get back down to the brig you little brat!" She roared. A corpse tried to catch her by her long hair - present even in Zoan form, she gave it a disdainful look, grasping its skull between both claws, her powerful Zoan muscles making easy work of it - as she crushed the skull like a grape. The refuse falling to the deck, as she turned her attention once again to the annoying kid disobeying her order. "Blackjack! If you don't get down there right now!" She growled. It was a growl. She refused to say, hissed.

"Okay, okay, I was helping, you know!" The kid had the audaciousness to pout. Yoruichi wanted to cuddle up to him just as much as she wanted to jump over there and pick him up by the scruff of his neck and shake him until he stopped being stupid.

"Yoruichi behind you!" Blackjack suddenly screamed, reaching into his jacket for weapons as a shadow loomed over her.

Yoruichi moved swiftly to avoid whatever Blackjack had seen, throwing herself through the air, trying to reorient herself to see her attacker. Only to see the shadow move towards Blackjack.

Steel flashed through the sky as several knives sank into flesh. It was useless. Like mosquito bites. Blackjack cried out in fear and anger as the tentacle descended, more knives flashing through the air, unerringly on target, but failing to stop it.

Yoruichi arrived in a flash, muscles straining as she held back the slimy flesh, stopping it from swatting Blackjack like a fly. "Get back downstairs! Now!" She managed to get out through gritted teeth. Blackjack scampering down the stairs, white faced.

Yoruichi groaned as the tentacle pushed, the strain incredible, rarely had she ever found anything she could not hold against - Zoan muscles were not something to scoff at. But she was slowly losing this fight. Her feet cracked the floorboards of the deck slightly as she was pushed further down. She looked around her, breath coming in heavy gasps. The crew was winning. The horde had almost thinned out completely. There were no more apparent reinforcements.

It was up to her. She needed to stop this beast from crushing their ship. She roared in defiance, claws sinking into octopus flesh. She pushed back with all that she had. And slowly. Marginally. The tentacle was raised up.

Yoruichi glared up at it, golden eyes fierce, "I will NOT bend!" She shouted at it. She could hear more than she saw - weapons from the crew being thrown and fired into the tentacle. They were backing her up. She felt renewed energy, pushing with all her might, the tentacle lifting slightly more again.

Suddenly it lifted off completely, Yoruichi quickly detaching her claws, leaving her completely off balance, stumbling, as the heavy weight disappeared off her completely.

Which is why she didn't get away in time as another, smaller tentacle, came over the railing to wrap around her waist. And pulled her over and into the sea, before she could put up much of a fight.

The panicked cries of the crew, the last thing she heard before the effects of the sea on a Zoan user rendered her unconscious.

＊＊＊

Four stood at the center of it all. Hands behind his back, eyes closed. As he listened to his master. Not the fat monster that had once turned him into this as a way to try and make him suffer - no not that one.

His god.

The god that had granted him immortality, and the wisdom to see the folly in petty human concerns. In such ridiculous notions as love and family, peace and freedom.

His god was true. There was only hunger. And a world to devour. That was the primal basis of nature. Hunger. Survival. Only his god truly understood life and death. That's why only he could grant immortality.

Some of the humans had entered near the entrance to the heart from under the water. They hadn't understood. They'd shied away from the truth, became jumbled - ran away. Had refused to accept it. To let the god into their being. Like he had.

It's why he had retained more of a sense of self. To better serve. His utter acceptance of his god and master.

Two had been a failed experiment. Three had some uses - but alas failed as well… But he. He, number four. He had succeeded. His god had made him anew. And had given him eternal life. One barely counted - even if that noble still lived - he was hardly a success. Using his control to succeed.

The other numbers after them had been faulty by design - and had eventually died out. Either due to their own idiocy or to the people that sometimes fought back when they were in the trap. Number Four did not need any more of their kind. His god had him, and he had his god.

The noble had the means still to control his god unfortunately, the only way he'd been able to survive the process to become immortal - by making his god do it. That was unacceptable. Four could not defeat him and his guards, however. He did not become reborn with any new skills - the agents were beyond him.

He had a good feeling about these pirates though… And as soon as that noble fell… They would be the first sacrifices to allow their god to procreate. To spread across the seas. With Four as their loyal steward.

His smile stretched his thin skin as a black skinned unconscious woman was brought through the water and unceremoniously dumped onto the altar. Pretty he supposed, if one still cared about the superficial. Fitting however for her role. His god deserved the best.

He moved to restrain her. They still had one more sacrifice needed after all. And these ones had proved to have some strength to them.

They'd soon have their second sacrifice arriving.

After all, you needed two to make a baby. Even an eldritch beast that had grown into a God - knew those particulars.

Pity that Three also had a female, it would make the process so much more painful. For them.

Four could handle it though.

Yes. Everything was going according to the plan.

He tilted his head, smile widening as he listened to his God again.

The wall in front of him thick with mucus and slime, a beating sound thrumming from behind it, part of an impossible sized heart pressed up against the wall.

At the heart. They would be born anew.

And the seas would finally see the light.

Eat or be eaten.

Nature as dictated by God!

＊＊＊

Duel and co.

"Not. Cool." Duel grumbled, working her jaw gingerly. Somehow she hadn't lost a tooth there - or broken her jaw. She'd managed to roll with the punch enough to avoid it, thankfully.

Somehow. Because Archer punched like a sea king on steroids. The only thing keeping Duel alive was that he'd lost all sense of strategy or martial arts ability - and was now just rushing her head on to beat on her. Whatever controlled him now was nothing more than a wild beast.

Duel ducked under another strike, dealing her own blow to the man's rib cage. Hissing as she pulled back, shaking her hand slightly. The man was just impossibly thick, even though he didn't look like a complete muscle head - his muscles were so hard and well trained it was like punching steel. She scowled. Even as a light dusting of pink ran across her cheeks. Any other time she'd have a grand time running her hands across that kind of muscle…

She shook her head. Focus, Duel! She scolded herself, barely missing getting her clock cleaned, sliding down onto her knees and rolling left, avoiding a stomp that shook the cavern and would have no doubt killed her if it landed. Or at the very least pulverized bone.

She tried a kick to the man's knee, but only succeeded in hurting her foot, while bizarro Archer simply tanked the hit. She got back on her feet after another roll away from his retaliation. Annoyed. She was a decent hand to hand fighter. Had fought in the cage matches often enough. But Archer was just built too tough - she mostly handled weapons. She hadn't trained her hands and feet to punch through steel.

She rolled her shoulders and put her fists up again, determinedly, she'd have to train a bit more. Maybe Archer would be willing… She thought briefly, before tossing the thought away, she needed to stop being distracted like that. She didn't need to act like Kaito.

She made a face, punching away one of Archer's strikes. Wincing at the pain in her fist. Definitely a broken knuckle now. Well, thinking of it like that sure poured cold water over those thoughts…

"Time?" She barked out, dripping in sweat, and with muscles protesting in pain at all the effort she'd forced into them - to avoid Archer getting a clean hit and ending the fight.

"Doing this at the same time as fighting zombies isn't easy, Duel!" Venom snarled, knocking a corpse down and proceeding to bash its head in repeatedly with the end of one of her daggers. Until the skull was completely crushed. "Needles? Could really use some good news!" She snapped, eying the remaining undead with trepidation.

"Think. This. Easy!" Duel snarled back, just barely avoiding a strike that tore a hole in the fleshy wall. Grimacing as slimy fluids gushed all over her, coating her, thankfully not that black gooey stuff, that's all they needed now, for her to be controlled too. "Disgusting." She groaned, the fight wasn't going well. The fact she couldn't punch Archer in the face without risking getting the black crap on herself was limiting her substantially as well. He was built too tough, she needed to rattle his brain to have any chance - but she couldn't risk punching him in the face and getting taken over herself.

"I got it!" Needles cried out quickly, handing a couple knives to Venom, while holding one of his own, "Now quick, before they rush us again!" He said nervously, before seeming to calm as he lifted the throwing knife, getting into the zone. Eyes zeroing in on Archer and Duels fight.

Luckily for the group, Archer literally seemed mindless. Simply fighting on, which stopped him from running over and crushing the weaker fighters while they made ready. Duel knew what she'd need to do. The best way to end this. She'd need to get Archer to stand still for one moment. Mindless as he was, he still had the ability of a beast to avoid danger, and dodge. They couldn't afford to try a second chance at this. It needed to work the first time.

"I. STOP. YOU. THROW!" She managed to force out loudly, even as she felt a searing pain in her throat. She let out a small cough with a grimace. Straining her vocal chords on-top of everything was perhaps not a wise choice, but they only had this one chance - she had to make sure they understood it loud and clear.

"Duel…" Venom grimaced. Before nodding, Needles looked sick next to her. "Do it."

Duel braced herself, they couldn't risk the horde tying down Needles and Venom again. This needed to happen now. She allowed a blow to come through, without her usual acrobatic dodging. Duel planted her feet hard in the ground. Screaming internally as Archer's fist practically buried itself in her stomach, spitting out blood and bile as she bent almost in two from the force. Forcing herself to remain conscious.

She could feel and hear, more than she could see - the thunks, as throwing knives coated in the drugs Needles carried - sunk into Archer's shoulders. Hopefully also disabling his arms in case the drug didn't work.

Please let it work! Duel prayed, not able to get away from a finishing blow, limply hanging around Archer's fist.

Venom and Needless were smart enough to not immediately rush in and check on her, or if it worked - Duel was pleased at their forethought, not so much with the pain she was currently in.

The fact she wasn't currently dead - made her feel it must have worked.

Duel gingerly unbent herself, fighting the urge to vomit. She had never been hit that hard in her life - her throat being cut had been more pleasant. Needles ran up and helped her stand straight. Her stomach was flaring with pain and it felt like she had internal bleeding, but she ignored it as best as she could, "Work?" She asked shortly, her vision slightly blurry.

"He appears unconscious, which by the way shouldn't be the effect of the drug, from what you said Needles..." Venom said, eyeing the small amount of undead that were making their way over. "He's still covered in that gunk, and we have incoming, so guess we'll have to deal." She said tiredly, the stocky woman looking worn down.

Fighting the hordes of undead wasn't really something they did on a daily basis.

Duel grunted, ripping her clothes off her body with one strong move, to Venom's shocked gasp and Needles strangled one, as the man turned around, beet red. "Duel!" He complained, determinedly facing away, even ignoring the incoming zombies.

Men were silly, Duel decided. They ogled all the time, then in situations like this, it was suddenly inappropriate.

There were literal undead coming. What a silly time to be concerned about some breasts.

"Still. Panties." Duel shrugged unconcerned, which did wonderful things to her upper body, although only Venom noticed. Duel tossed the clothes to Venom who was staring at her, unimpressed and exasperated with the manner in which she'd solved their problem. "Clean." She ordered. Directing her to remove all that black goo from Archer. Prevent another resurgence, they had no idea how long that drug would work.

Duel picked up her discarded weapons and faced the undead. Barely dressed as she was, the giant purple bruise already appearing on her stomach stood out vividly. Duel showed her teeth in a vicious leer. "Explosions!" She almost cooed, as she ran her hand over her ammo. Picking out what she needed. She could finally just blow things up, with no one around to stop her.

The undead didn't stand a chance.

＊＊＊

Kaito ducked under a finger gun from an agent, viciously swiping back with a bitchslap no jutsu which twisted the scrawny man's head and broke his neck. He had to immediately moonwalk into the air, hopping around the area to avoid several tentacles slamming into the area, crushing the already dead agent into paste.

He wasn't idle in the air however. Firing several tempest kicks, scattering the remaining agents as the blades of wind and energy slammed into the beast cutting thick grooves into the flesh, severing several tentacles on the way.

Utilizing a mix of shave and moonwalk to dash between the thick undulating forest of tentacles that kept trying to snag him, he appeared behind an agent thrown off balance by dodging his tempest kicks and the damage to the fleshy ground - his finger came away red and with brain matter coating it, the agent falling down dead with a hole in his head from Kaito's finger gun.

Kaito paid for it however, as the tentacles caught up with him, slamming him into the wall with brutal force, making his bones shake, more tentacles came out of the wall to ensnare him, but Kaito roared in anger, swiping through the tentacle holding him with a quick tempest kick, before spinning in the air, sending tempest kicks in every direction around him, severing the tentacles coming for him.

The beast seemed to hardly be affected - more tentacles appearing in place of those lost. Kaito gritted his teeth, eyes finding Saint Jartal, the coward sat and watched the battle, comfortably surrounded by Kaito's three crewmen - a protection Kaito couldn't breach easily without risking damage to them.

At least not if he went with full frontal assault. His favorite.

Only two agents remained, Kaito's wild tempest kicks had not only cut through tentacles, but some of the few agents left - they had really let themselves go, spending all this time serving their monster of a master. It felt like cutting down puppets more than anything. They felt… fake. Like the emotions and intelligence they'd displayed was a facade. All that was left of who they once were. Perhaps they weren't even human anymore. Kaito remembered when they first arrived on the island. The one named Four. How inhuman he'd seemed. Perhaps these agents were of a similar nature now?

Either way it didn't matter. They needed to die. And for all the talk Jartal had about immortality - they seemed to die just fine.

Either he was lying. Or something was going on that he was unaware of.

He could feel the strain of using shave and moonwalk so much - rarely did he use it for anything but training. His fight with Archer had been quick and had not seen this much usage. He'd start to flag if he didn't end this soon. "Jartal! I'm coming for you!" He roared, several puffs in the air the only sign of his passage as he moved so quickly in the air - only the puffs of displaced air of his moonwalk appeared to anyone's sight.

Jartal just guffawed, tentacles coming to form an impenetrable shield around him, except for where Kaito's three crew mates stood. "You'll have to kill your friends then, I'd like to see that, actually, amuse me, boy!" He shouted, leaning back against his throne.

Kaito arrived right in front of the throne, glaring up at the Saint, the swords of his crew mates falling unerringly to strike at him, but Kaito was already gone.

Jartal looked around, confused, as Saber, Cloud and Edge simply stood back in formation. Reforming their living shield. "Where did he go?" He mumbled.

Kaito had utilized the apparent attack towards Jartal - getting the tentacles focused in one place. And cleared the rest of the board. The other agents fell to the ground dead, holes in their heads. "I've taken all of your servants, fat one!" He mocked. He flicked his fingers, cleaning them of brain matter, "Who's going to wipe your ass now? Or are you the kind who likes tentacles there?"

Saint Jartal screamed in rage, "You'll pay for that! I can always get new toys, you stupid pirate!" He waved at the three controlled pirates, "What are you waiting for! Go get him! Useless cretins!" He spat out, kicking the unresponsive Saber in the head.

As one, the three pirates started moving towards Kaito, who grinned maliciously.

The beast obviously wasn't as dumb as its master - it immediately put every tentacle in play in-between Kaito and Jartal. Kaito ripped through them flying forward in a superman pose - his outstretched fist covered in shiny black. Kaito's will burning with determination. Achieving the best armament Haki of his life - his fist simply disintegrated the tentacles in his way, his feet working furiously at shaving forward at speed.

Until he blew through the last protection, and planted his black fist through the sternum of Saint Jartal, glaring up at him as the fat man spat out black blood inside his Celestial Dragon suit. "You shouldn't have touched my crew…" Kaito said darkly.

"I-I'm I-Im-Immortal!" Jartal spat out with blood stained teeth. His face, a mixture of pain and condescension.

Kaito grinned savagely, his fist taking hold of the man's insides, "Yes… You've said. And it appears you can't control your creature right now, what's the matter? Something on your mind?" He taunted, as he twisted the man's insides.

Indeed the tentacles had all stopped once the man was perforated. Even his three crewmen had simply collapsed. It seemed the beast wasn't even paying attention anymore.

The large building size eye at the far end seemed unfocused.

Kaito shrugged, easier for him, he had faith in the rest of his crew, they could handle anything. He had a noble to interrogate.

He smiled, "So let's have a chat, hmm?" He said quietly, "I'm not really one for torture, so I'll make it quick."

It wasn't quick.

Although immortality was obviously overrated. By the fifth time Jartal got his heart torn out he stopped regenerating it.

Half assed immortality.

The information however… Kaito quickly cleaned the black gunk off his crew, he'd have to leave them for a moment. Unfortunate.

But he was needed elsewhere. Right fucking now!

This beast was going to be the death of his people otherwise.

＊＊＊

Yoruichi came to with a start, gasping for air, believing herself to be under water. Her limbs jerked and she came to awareness more clearly. She was chained down. She wasn't under water. She was in a cavern… With an altar, and the creepy guy from when they arrived. Oh, this can't be good…

"Awake? Good. The process would be boring otherwise." Four said slowly. A thin finger trailing the wall, Yoruichi couldn't move her head much, but she noticed with trepidation that the wall seemed to beat, like a heart. Was this whole island… The tentacles… Was she inside this creature!?

"What process?" Yoruichi decided to ask, to probe for some answers. She tested the strength of the chains and shackles. If she transformed she should be able to break them, but she barely had energy to talk right now. She needed some time. So keep the freak talking it is…

Four smiled, forcing a shudder down Yoruichi's spine, it stretched the freaks skin too much, it was incredibly unpleasant to watch.

"The process…" Four said quietly, laying a hand flat against the beating wall. Appearing to be listening. He hummed softly after a few moments. Looking pleased. Before he turned towards Yoruichi, "This island… This God made flesh… It needs to procreate, spread across the seas…" Four spoke slowly, taking time with each word.

Yoruichi blanched, unconsciously she tried the restraints again as she took in the word procreate! "You can't seriously mean what I think you mean!?" She hissed out, golden eyes flaring in anger. And deep down, fear.

Four smiled, walking forward and condescendingly patting a disgusted Yoruichi on the head, his paper thin skin crinkling like parchment at the action. "Your sacrifice will be remembered." He crooned softly.

"Oh, well at least I'll be remembered." Yoruichi drawled sarcastically. Eyes looking around the cavern, trying to spot anything important. Weak or not, if anyone came near her to procreate, she'd transform and rip their everything off!

"Yoruichi!?" Came a voice from the entrance to the cavern, Apple arriving, holding a dagger, staring incredulously at the situation.

"Apple!" Yoruichi cried out, happy to see her alive, "Get me out of here!" She cried out, wriggling in her restraints.

"Why is she not restrained, Three?" Four called out mildly, sounding slightly put out.

Apple jumped in fright as an arm suddenly appeared across her torso, pulling her into a bony chest, constricting her arms. "Lemme go, you freak!" She yelled out, trying to bend and bite the arm that held her, but got nothing but bone.

"Master needed girl, Three got girl. Three solved everything!" Three cackled out, rubbing his chin on top of Apple's hair.

Four shook his head, then sighed, "Well, all's well that ends well. "He gestured towards the other altar, "Bring the girl, restrain her. It is time for our God to procreate and repopulate the seas!"

Apple froze in the grip of Three, staring numbly at Yoruichi, "Did he say procreate!?" She shrieked. She started kicking out with her legs, "I knew it! Hentai! Hentai! Let go of me!"

Four stepped towards her gripping her face, silencing her, "It is an honor." He said sternly, before releasing her face.

Apple coughed, "If it's such an honor then bend over and do it yourself!" She spat out.

Four chuckled raspily, "Oh, if only I could." He said dreamily.

"Ew." Apple said flatly. Side eyeing Yoruichi who made a face that Apple construed to mean keep distracting them, so she kept talking, hoping Yoruichi actually had a plan. "How are you even alive, you and this asshole Three? You look like you've been left out in the desert for a few months?"

Three giggled, "R~ude!" He sang, pushing Apple into the altar, holding her down as Four locked her right arm into the shackles.

"The blood of our God keeps us alive, no matter what state we are in, eventually all beings will join us." Four said kindly, patting Apple on the cheek, making her gag. The stench and the feeling of the skin was horrendous.

"So you can't die at all?" Apple asked probingly.

Four sighed, shackling her other arm, "I know what you are doing, girl. It won't matter. But there are ways, of course." He leered down at her, "You don't need to know."

With a roar Yoruichi transformed, and with bulging muscles tore through her shackles. Apple cheered, even as Three held her legs down, "Go girl, show them the business, procreate my ass!"

Four smiled, "Powerful. You'll make strong children." He said approvingly.

"You're going to die, how quickly depends on how fast you release my friend." Yoruichi hissed, flexing her claws.

"Yes… This form might actually be preferable, you're right." Four said, not paying any attention to Yoruichi. Seemingly talking to thin air.

Yoruichi took that inattention as her chance, and jumped forward to rip his head off, Apple cheering her on while kicking at Three who seemed not at all bothered by the hubbub.

Before Yoruichi could get her claws around Four's head, she was wrapped in tentacles, leaving her hanging in the air, face to face with Four. "Fuck!" She swore, struggling in the hold, but not able to gain an inch of purchase.

"Bit crude. But yes." Four said with a terrifying grin. "Three, get her fully strapped in, then we can begin."

"Me first, leave Apple alone!" Yoruichi demanded suddenly. Apple crying out in protest. "Shut up, Apple!" She stared at Four, meeting his eyes, "Me first!" She hissed. No way she was going to let Apple suffer through this, someone would come. They'd save them, and if not in time for her. They'd save Apple.

"Oh, I'm afraid there's enough around…" Several tentacles lowered from the ceiling." There really isn't any need to wait for the first and second, my dear." He shook his head, "Both of you are needed after all. Together."

Four stopped suddenly, putting both hands to his head, groaning. "Master… What?" The cavern shook, a loud roar echoed across the space, sounding as if from far away.

Three suddenly fell to the ground kicking and frothing, "Head pain, pain head! Stop!" He shrieked.

Suddenly the whole island seemed to shake, the tentacles holding Yoruichi falling off, twitching in apparent seizures.

Four moaned in agony. "I don't understand!" Three went even further, bashing his skull against the ground until he fell limp.

Yoruichi wasted no time in removing Four's head. Shaking slightly, as she realized how close that had been, moving on unsteady legs to a crying Apple, ripping the restraints off. The shorter girl desperately hugged her, soaking her fur in tears. That had been close. "We're okay, Apple, we're okay!" She said in a shaky voice.

"On the bright side, unlike the rest of everyone, we both had a dip in the water and are perfectly clean of gunk!" Yoruichi said, trying to cheer Apple up, and herself, as she still felt pretty off balanced.

The wall in front of them exploded, a veritable flood of viscera and foul liquids washing over them both, covering them from head to toe.

"This is your fault." Apple muttered into Yoruichi's stomach. Yoruichi was staring at an absolutely grime-covered Kaito - that had just punched through the heart wall. "What the…?"

Kaito looked around, spotting the dead Three and Four. "Oh good, you already took care of them, although once I punched through the brain of this bad boy," He patted what was left of the wall, "They were doomed to begin with, immortality not that useful if it's tied to someone that can die."

"You punched your way through this island's brain? That's so you." Apple removed her face from Yoruichi's belly, breathing in a sigh of relief, "Is it over?"

Kaito wiped the slime off his face with a grimace, "Well the brain, and the kidney and what I think was it's liver, before I got through the heart and got here… But yes, I think it's over."

"Do you know? If the other's?" Yoruichi asked, breathing slowly, and trying desperately to not vomit from the smells surrounding her and unfortunately plastering her, right now. Damn enhanced senses.

Kaito grimaced, "According to my unwilling source, several of the crew were infected with this creature's blood, only killing it would save them so…" He shrugged, as in, so I did.

Yoruichi paused in what she was going to say next, "Then good. Excuse me." And she bent over, vomiting loudly.

"My shoes! Come on!" Apple cried out, before pausing, "Actually it smells better than this funk anyway, carry on."

"Your cheerfulness astounds me." Kaito said to Apple, dryly, cleaning gunk out of his ears. It fell to the ground with a wet plop. The cavern rumbling ominously. "Right. We should probably leave…"

"Island is dying right? Probably a good idea." Apple agreed. Patting Yoruichi on her back as she weakly grinned at them, wiping her mouth. Then going green as she realized her entire arm was covered in gunk and she'd just put it on her lips.

"URK!"

"Right… You uh, help Yoruichi get out of here, I have to go swim back through all this shit to get the boys." Kaito said, wincing as Yoruichi hurled again.

Apple huffed as Kaito left the same way he'd come, pulling Yoruichi's hair back, "Men, they can wade through shit, but a girl getting sick has them panicked. Bunch of pussies."

"Right?" Yoruichi grinned weakly. Trying to catch her breath.

"Cute though." Apple mused.

"Apple shut the fuck up!" Yoruichi groaned.

Apple just grinned cheekily.

＊＊＊

They were all finally back on the ship, the affected crew members all laying on the deck, all cleaned up, but still unconscious. Needles - as their somewhat medic - had confirmed they were all recovering.

The island was still breaking apart slowly, but the process wasn't violent enough to necessitate sailing too far away, so they'd prioritized making sure everyone was okay first. Besides, there was something satisfying in watching an enemy disintegrating slowly before you.

Everyone had returned to the ship once the island had started crumbling, all of them having unconscious members to care for that necessitated the safety of the ship. Carrying Pie, had done more damage to Wire and co, then any of the undead did.

Apple had gotten an insane hugging spree as the returning crew found her alive and well. Well… After she had washed up. No one was that happy to see her.

Their poisoned crew members all lay on mats on the deck being attended to by crew members, all watching for any change. The mood of the crew was good, but tensions rose slightly for every ten minutes they weren't waking up.

The information Kaito had extracted from Saint Jartal had indicated that the poison would disappear if the beast died - as would its effects. And it appeared it had. All their crew affected by it fell into a more relaxed sleep as soon as it died - instead of the fitful unconsciousness they'd been in before that. If the beast still lived - they'd all never recover. Or so the information he'd extracted claimed.

If there would be any mental effects for such a short time under - they had no way of knowing.

They were all just waiting now, for anyone to wake up. The crew chatted quietly together, while cleaning up the gunk and nastiness that was all over the deck.

Needles and some volunteers that knew basic first aid were taking care of whatever other minor injuries had happened during the attack. Which mostly consisted of Wire, Dice and Tears. They'd all taken quite a beating subduing Pie. They were more purple than anything else at the moment. And another beating having to carry the huge man back to the ship.

"Oy, one of them is waking up!" A crew member shouted, and the crew all gathered together quickly near the sleeping victims. Kaito and Yoruichi appeared in front of everyone in a blur of movement.

Archer blinked wearily, sitting up and looking around, seemingly confused about where he was, "I remember…" He said slowly, as Yoruichi sank to her knees next to him and hugged him, her face sinking into his neck as she let out a breath of relief.

There were cheers from the crew, and plenty of relief. Needles received plenty of pats on the back, no matter how he protested he had nothing to do with the recovery.

Archer looked around suspiciously, "Is my memory screwed up or was Duel naked?" He asked, a small goofy smile appearing on his face.

Kaito perked up immediately, looking around, as if Duel would show up nude at that moment. Spotting Duel in the crowd, he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. She sniffed, unimpressed, crossing her arms under her bust. "Had. Panties." She said unconcerned with their reaction. "Not. Naked."

The entire crew reared back in shock, Wire slapping his face audibly, cursing, "Fucking damn it, Duel! Keep your clothes on!"

Kaito's head moved between the two, smirk growing, was her clothes disappearing a regular occurrence?

"No." She said unbothered, glowering at Wire. The rest of the crew glancing at each other, all starting to look like they could barely hold back laughter.

"Captain's approval!" Kaito roared suddenly, one arm in the air, fist held high, "We're pirates! No one can tell her to keep her top on! Live free, let them taste the sea air!" He was suddenly silenced as Dice and Tears grabbed his face and mouth and started pulling on it.

"Don't say shit like that, Captain!" Dice growled. Pulling his cheek one way and the other, Tears grabbing his lips, "Yeah, drop the subject. Captain!" Tears threatened, holding them together in a tight grip.

"That's my fucking boys," Wire said, a dark look on his face, "Rip his fucking lips off."

"Men are just so damn dumb." Apple said with a fond sigh, trotting over to Duel, patting her on the arm, "Do whatever you want Duel. I'm just glad you're okay."

Duel smiled and patted the smaller woman on the cheek in thanks. She gave one last glance at the commotion Kaito was making, before slipping back through the crowd, no doubt to return to her workshop and see what damage the fighting might have done to it. Now that they knew for sure the crew would wake, she'd apparently had her fill.

"So I did remember some of that right…" Archer mumbled. Receiving a light slap on the shoulder from Yoruichi. "What?" He said looking confused. Yoruichi never had a problem with him and women - if anything she was an amazing wingman, or was it wingwoman?

Yoruichi rolled her eyes, mirth dancing in them, making them shine, "Trust you to be overtaken by some zombie sludge and the only thing you remember is a girl's tits." She scoffed, but the grin on her face showed she was only teasing him.

Archer chuckled weakly, feeling worn out from whatever happened. "To be fair, they were quite spectacular."

"They've started a fight." Yoruichi said with a sigh, changing the subject, a fond smile on her lips as Kaito wrestled with Dice and Tears. "Where do they even find the energy?" They had just literally fought off a zombie invasion.

"It's a guy thing." Archer said seriously, "Can't tell you woman, it's in the code."

"Oh my god, how hard did you get hit by Duel? You're getting ridiculous too!" Yoruichi leaned back against his side, laughing freely.

"It's a guy thing." Archer repeated, lips twitching. Knocking his head against Yoruichi's lightly.

Eventually the fighting and laughing tapered off and crew members wandered off to take stock and check on whatever they felt was important.

Kaito came up to Yoruichi and Apple who were hanging out near the main mast, just taking in the air and having an easygoing conversation.

"Yes, Captain?" Yoruichi said with a raised eyebrow when Kaito stopped in front of them, looking serious.

"Do I need to go? This looks like a Captain and first mate conversation." Apple asked cheerfully, leaning back against the mast.

"Yoruichi," Kaito said seriously, looking her in the eyes, then turning to Apple, equally serious. "Apple."

The two women exchanged a glance, "Yes?" Apple asked, drawing the word out.

Kaito put an arm on each of their shoulders, "I just want you to know... If either of you feel like taking your top off like Duel, to distract an enemy in a fight, or just for fun." He grinned cheesily at them, giving them both thumbs up, "You have your Captain's approval!"

BAM!

"The floor tastes funny!" Kaito groaned, two bumps on his head. Both women having given him a hard knock, impressive in Apples case as she'd had to jump pretty high to manage. "So is that a no?" He pushed.

He soon saw so many pretty stars.

＊＊＊

"Oh hey, Buggy you're alive." Yoruichi said casually, poking her head in his cell. Chuckling at the absolutely bloodshot and insane look on the clown's face.

"I wouldn't have let anything happen to him, Yoruichi." Blackjack pouted. Flipping a playing card between his fingers nervously, suddenly making it disappear, before it would reappear again.

Yoruichi had a pretty trained eye, and even to her it was done with such speed she barely caught the blur of movement. The kid must have been practicing for years to get that good. Impressive.

Yoruichi looked around the cell and the absolute carnage of playing cards everywhere, including on Buggy, and in his clothes, and his hair. The queen of spades was even nestled In-between Buggy's front teeth. "Got bored, huh?" She ruffled the brats' hair teasingly. Trying to keep it light. Knowing the kid had probably been pretty scared when she'd been taken off the ship.

"Just practicing." Blackjack said proudly, a card materializing in his hand from nowhere before being sent flying, Buggy yelping as it hit him straight between the eyes.

"Stop doing that, you flashy moron!" Buggy screeched.

"Make me, big nose!" Blackjack taunted, sticking his tongue out. The clown practically frothed at the mouth at that, but wisely kept the bile on the down low with Yoruichi there to retaliate.

She sent him a smug grin, flipping her hair casually. Before returning her attention to Blackjack. It felt good to be feared a bit. Even if it was from a two bit clown. "Are you doing okay?"

"Me? I'm not the one dragged off by a tentacle!" Blackjack scowled suddenly, "I'm the one who should be asking you how you're doing!" He sent another playing card off, hitting the clown straight on the nose. "Honk!" He called out, smirking, but it was weak, brittle.

Yoruichi grabbed him by the shoulder and drew him in, ignoring his squawking protest, "You disobeyed orders, came up to fight. But you did it for a good reason, because you cared. And it all turned out okay, so don't feel bad, okay?"

"It's not that easy." Blackjack mumbled into her belly softly.

Yoruichi ruffled his hair, pushing him away slightly so she could look down into his eyes. "You did okay kid, and I'm okay, so order from the first mate, alright? Don't take it to heart. Everything worked out." She poked him on the nose, "Next time just follow orders though."

"Sure!" The brat grinned at her cheekily in a way that told her to keep an eye out, because he was definitely going to be trouble.

"How sweet. It's flashily making me gag." Buggy muttered.

Yoruichi glanced at him, before completely discarding him, not even bothering to answer. Blackjack grinned cheekily at the furious clown.

"You're pretty good with those cards. Ever thought of finding a way to weaponize them?" Yoruichi asked curiously. To make a playing card fly as straight and fast and accurately as a throwing knife, was no small feat.

"You can do that?" Blackjack asked with wide eyes. Practically vibrating on the spot.

Yoruichi pinched his cheeks, he was just too cute! "We'll find a way, just keep practicing, you never know with these seas."

Blackjack rubbed his cheeks slowly, "I'm not a baby you know…" He grumbled.

"Sooooo cute!" Yoruichi countered, ruffling his hair again, laughing as he squeaked in protest.

It was good to be back to normal.

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