"What type of spider is this?" Canary asked curiously, idly carrying Sanji's unconscious body with a set of arms attached to her back.

"A spider monkey," Raven said like it were obvious. She was using her Devil Fruit to hold Zoro despite really not wanting

"Don't speak like that's obvious. You know exactly how a spider monkey looks!" she retorted, turning towards her with a scowl.

Franky perked up at the voices and gazed at the clones with a happy look.

"Oh! Nico Robins!" He greeted, webbed up from the spiders abilities.

"Raven you fucking idiot," Raven sneered at the cyborg.

"Canary," Canary corrected, gazing at the scene with a small smile.

Franky laughed nervously. Right, he forgot that Robin's clones were basically individual people.

"A little help here? I'm a bit trapped," he asked.

Raven rolled her eyes. "My job was to retrieve these two idiots. I don't feel like helping you."

Franky sweatdropped. The angry Robin was as scary as always.

Canary held her head and summoned a flurry of arms that grabbed the zombie. "Try burning yourself out. We don't have anything to get you out," she instructed.

Franky nodded as Raven dashed away from the spider zombie's silk.

"How are we going to eliminate this thing?" Raven asked, watching it valiantly struggle in the arms grip. She narrowed her eyes and added to the amount of arms, making hers stab into the spider.

Raven was the clone least adverse to using Shigan. She actually enjoyed using it and found that it was very effective.

Good thing Robin already had the strength necessary (thanks to Rosan and his hellish training) to understand the basics of the move fairly easily.

Now she just needed to learn to make it ranged. Shouldn't be difficult, those notes from that girl were useful.

But their skillset didn't seem fantastic against zombies. Even after poking holes in the thing, it was still moving about with no discomfort.

How annoying.

"If I may?"

Raven and Canary both paused, watching as a figure speedily approached the restrained zombie.

Tararan, the spider monkey hybrid, could only watch in horror as a familiar skeleton sped to his location with salt in his hands.

To make matters worse, the hands picked up on it and forced his mouth open.

"Wait! Hold on don't do this—" Tararan panicked.

Brook deposited the salt in his mouth.

"Salt is their weakness," he informed the three, watching as the shadow flew out of the zombies mouth. "If you have some, just feed them it and their shadow will disappear."

Canary nodded with a surprised expression. "That's good to know..."

Raven grumbled. "I could have taken it out eventually."

Brook, hearing the same voice come from different positions with different tones, turned towards both of Robin's clones and felt his jaw drop.

"A-A-A sister?!" He gaped, gazing at the two Robins.

He had no idea that his friend had a sister! They looked exactly alike too!

"Does this mean I can ask one of you to see your panties?!"

A hand formed on his back, and brutally slapped him down to the floor without any hesitation.

"Not a chance in hell. Only one person has that honor," Raven sneered.

Canary sighed. "Don't say that out loud, idiot. I agree but you know how the main body gets."

Raven shrugged. "Prude."

"She's literally us."

Franky held his head at the two gearing to argue once more. "Robin sent you two here?" he interrupted.

Canary turned away from Raven, smile on her face as she nodded easily. "That's right! I just got new orders so we're all meeting back at the ship."

The cyborg nodded curiously at that and began following the two.

"What do you think you're doing Skeleton? Let's go!" Raven scowled, turning her head to regard the confused Brook.

"Oh there's no need, I still have business I must attend—"

"Let's. Go. Don't make me upset," Raven warned.

"You're always upset. It makes you a liability," Canary said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh that's it. I'm so sick of you!"

"That makes two of us!"

"They're ridiculous," Franky thought incredulously, grabbing Zoro and Sanji's unconscious bodies and slinging them over his shoulder.

Brook merely sweat a little and hesitantly followed after the crew, a bit afraid for his life if he refused.

----------------------------------------

Mod let out a startled gasp, as she felt the bird watching Moria and co, get summarily destroyed by the Warlord...

"Mod-chan? What's the matter?" Nami asked in concern.

The woman bit her lip nervously and looked at all the curious eyes.

Besides Her, Nami and Robin. There was Chopper and Usopp, the three unconscious monster trio along with Franky and Brook.

Raven and Canary had encountered both Franky and Brook while fighting a giant spider and had been in the process of bringing them, along with Sanji and Zoro, back to the ship before she intercepted them.

Without much preamble, she engulfed them all in wind (much to Brook's protesting) and soared over to the Thousand Sunny.

Now Mod was using her abilities to spy on the pirates…

Well, up until Moria destroyed it.

"Things have gotten a bit complicated," Mod explained to the group with furrowed brows, back in her own body.

"While I appreciate the hospitality, I was against being kidnapped, young lady. I have my own personal matters to attend to," Brook said to the beautiful woman.

"No, me grabbing you was the best case scenario. We need to regroup and rethink and having as much allies is likely pivotal," the Devil Fruit muttered.

Brook looked confused at that.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked the disturbed woman.

"Before I explain the scenario, I'd like some things cleared up…"

Mod turned to Brook with a serious expression.

"Moria steals shadows and puts them in zombies, correct?" She asked the skeleton.

Brook blinked and nodded. "Yes… he stole my zombie and put it inside of a famed warrior by the name of Ryuma. He scours lands and digs up bodies, then he places shadows inside of them and they inherit that person's abilities."

"The legendary swordsman?" Robin asked in surprise. Moria managed to get a body like that?

"We encountered that zombie!" Usopp exclaimed. "So that's why he was so familiar! We thought it was you, Brook!"

Mod frowned. "That just answered my next question… the shadows personality takes over the Zombie in the revival."

Everyone looked shocked by that.

"Wait! That dog!" Nami exclaimed. "The one that was protecting me because I was a woman! That was Sanji's shadow!"

Chopper and Usopp's eyes bugged at that. It made so much sense!

"And that swordsman with 3 blades must have been Zoro," Franky said grimly.

The purple haired woman let out a sigh of relief. "Well that means we know where all 5 shadows are then."

Everyone blinked.

"Five…?" They muttered. They had only mentioned 3?

Mod nodded. "The reason I'm a little concerned is because well…. Moria placed Luffy's shadow in an ancient giant by the name of Oars."

…

"A giant?" Nami asked weakly, knees shaking.

"Oars?" Robin muttered in shock. "The Continent Puller?"

Usopp balked. Continent Puller? What type of intimidating title was that? That was way too cool to belong to someone weak...

Mod nodded seriously. "Yes. He has Luffy's shadow and has inherited his personality and fighting style."

A wave of trepidation went through them at the terrible revelation that a giant was walking around with their incredibly capable captain's shadow.

"What about Rosan's shadow?" Robin asked curiously, not truly worried about getting it back considering Rosan's abilities weren't very easy to replicate. "What zombie is it in?"

Mod bit her lip. "Well that's the problem… Rosan's shadow isn't in a zombie…"

They glanced in confusion at that and Mod chose to stop sugarcoating it.

"Rosan's shadow… Moria absorbed it and used himself as the host for it," she explained slowly, looking worried at that.

"...What?!" They hissed in horror.

The Warlord had absorbed Rosan's shadow for himself?! There was a Warlord walking around with his and Rosan's strength?!

Oh... Oh no.

"If it was just inside of a Zombie… I'd destroy and get it back but this changes things drastically… to make matters worse, it appears Rosan's personality has actually begun dominating Moria's own," she explained.

Robin's features turned concerned at that. "Based on our short meeting with Moria… Rosan dominating his personality is actually a good thing for him. This is bad for us," she muttered.

Mod nodded, equally concerned. "Rosan is a genius. It didn't take him long at all to begin innovating with our Devil Fruit… Moria's experience combined with Rosan's ingenuity."

Mod firmly believed that if given someone else's fruit (barring Luffy), Rosan would use it better. The redhead was a true genius and the fact that Moria had his shadow…

He might begin utilizing the Kage Kage no Mi in ways he never thought of before.

If Moria's personality had dominated, Mod was confident that she could eventually defeat him but now? Things were far more difficult.

Not to mention Oars and all the other zombies… and the remaining humans too.

"We need to wake everyone up. We must focus all our attention on defeating the zombies with our shadows," Mod explained, gazing at the bodies of Luffy, Zoro and Sanji.

She also needed to wake up Rosan…

"Do you guys have any idea how we should wake them up?" Mod asked, tapping them experimentally with a weak dose of her lightning and getting no reaction out of the trio.

"I know what to do, Mod-chan!" Usopp puffed up confidently.

The sniper took a deep breath. "LOOK, THERE'S A BEAUTIFUL FEMALE SWORD MASTER CARRYING LOTS OF MEAT!" he shouted.

"There's no way that'll work," Mod thought in disbelief.

"Beautiful female?!"

"Meat?!"

"Sword master?!"

"It worked?!" She balked in confusion.

Surely it wasn't that… Was it really that easy?!

One moment.

"R-Rosan! Please help! A pervert is lewdly grabbing Robin's butt and I'm up next!" Mod exclaimed in a panic.

Robin sweatdropped deeply as an unfocused wave of rage and pressure emitted from Mod's body without prompting, flooring everyone there with stunned eyes.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! Who the fuck is touching you?!" Rosan roared violently, eyes snapping open from his slumber.

"WHO'S TRYING TO TOUCH AUNTIE AND MOTHER INAPPROPRIATELY?! I'LL RIP THEM TO SHREDS!"

"I'm fine Rosan… the rage you emitted disintegrated them on the spot," Robin said, staring at the sheepish Mod with a deadpan stare.

"That's not enough. Bring them back. No one can grab your ass but me," he snarled.

"Rosan, please stop saying such unhinged things, no matter how true they are," Robin requested with a sigh.

Why was he like this? Though, Robin was rather flattered that Rosan saw her in the same vein as Luffy with meat, Zoro with swords and Sanji with girls.

As strange as that sounded… Should she really be happy about that?

Perhaps that just spoke to the other three's irregularities.

----------------------------------------

Rosan pursed his lips as he digested the information.

"Moria has my shadow?" He asked in curiosity, given back control by Mod.

How unlucky that Moria made the best possible move with his shadow. Nobody would ever be able to fully utilize his shadow but the lazy man gaining Rosan's personality…

"Yes… what should we do?" Mod asked curiously.

Brook had been given the shock of his life, seeing the beautiful Mod transform back into Rosan.

That beautiful young lady... was Rosan? Rosan was that beautiful young lady?

How did that work? Were they different people? It seemed like it, considering the young lady was a kind and motherly person... while Rosan was a smug and belligerent person.

Perhaps an extreme form of dual personality...

Rosan simply shrugged, closing his eyes and giving control back to Mod.

"?!" Mod tilted her head in confusion as she took control of his body.

"The real question is, what should you do. Didn't I tell you? You're in control for this mission so finish it up."

"You… want me to fight Moria then?" Mod asked in surprise, unable to explain how that made her feel.

"Get used to it. We'll be fighting together once I free you from my body. And I don't recommend fighting Moria alone. You might need some help."

Mod blinked, before flushing slightly and nodding hesitantly.

"Alright," she said. "Let's discuss strategy."

"Mod-chan? You're staying out?" Nami asked in surprise and delight.

She nodded slowly. "Rosan wants me to finish this mission… so I'm going to do that."

The Straw Hats looked surprised by that but nodded easily, pleased to have her out.

"You guys probably know by now… but Rosan and I act differently and therefore, we operate differently," Mod explained, eyes glowing seriously.

"Rosan is a show off at heart that makes a show of his operations. He will complete his mission, and he will have fun doing it. I am a bit more pragmatic. My philosophy, is slowly choking them of any chance of victory," she continued.

"Scary!"

"Usopp, your observation's range is giant… can you detect where the ghost girl is?" Mod asked suddenly.

Usopp blinked in shock, a little surprised to be so included in a Rosan/Mod plan, before nodding.

"I can feel her," he nodded.

Mod smiled. "Good. Outside of raw power, she is their most useful member. I want you to capture and neutralize her. I will help you."

Usopp nodded, a beaming grin on his face at her trust in him.

"Brook, you cannot defeat your shadow I assume? Likely because Ryuma is the host of the zombie?" She asked the skeleton.

Brook looked ashamed and nodded. "I've trained… but I'm still too weak. His body and sword are both superior."

She pursed her lips at that. "What do you fight for, Brook? What are your motives? I'd like to understand you before including you in my plans."

The skeleton looked rather surprised by that. "I... need my shadow back so that I may sail in the sun again. You see, a very long time ago.. my crew and I left behind a friend and we promised him that we'd visit again, before tragedy struck us."

Brook pointed to his afro. "I'm the only survivor left and I hope he's able to recognize me even though I'm like this... it's been so long."

Mod paused at that. Hadn't Brook be in here for 50 something years?

Wait a minute... 50 years?

"Brook, I'm sorry if this may be a bit personal... but the person waiting for you... are they a whale by any chance?" Mod asked curiously.

Every Straw Hat (barring Franky and Chopper), felt their eyes widen to epic proportions as they heard that sentence come out of their mouths.

Brook himself felt his jaw open at that question and gazed at Mod like she were some type of wizard. "Why... yes. My friend is named Laboon... we had to leave him behind because he was too young to traverse the Grand Line."

"WHAT?!" The Straw Hats roared.

This was who Laboon was waiting for?! That whale all the way back at Twin Cape.

"It's been so long... we promised him that we'd come back as soon as possible and yet 50 years have passed and he hasn't seen anyone," Brook sighed wistfully. "I wonder if he's still waiting. I wonder if he hates us."

Mod felt her eyes soften at that.

"We ran into Laboon! Back when we first entered the Grand Line!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

Brook froze at that.

"That reckless whale... to think he was right to wait," Zoro said with a small grin.

"He's been waiting this whole time for you all," Nami said with a small smile, overcome with emotion at seeing the stunned look in Brook's eyes.

Sanji shook his head with a grin. "Guess he was right to wait all those years."

Usopp wiped the tears from his eyes. "To think that this whole time, he wasn't waiting for nothing!"

Mod smiled gently. "You made a promise to Laboon and even after all this time you intend to keep it... Laboon must have known how good your crew was, because he never doubted you all for a second. We made that same promise to him too you know?"

"...Truly?" Brook asked quietly, emotion beginning to overwhelm him. "Laboon is still... he's still waiting for us?"

"He was killing himself doing it so we made a promise that we'd come back to visit him too after our journey so that he'd stop!" Luffy laughed ecstatically. "This is great! Laboon can see the both of us again!"

See the both of us again...

Brook felt tears falling from his eyes at the revelation.

So even after all this time, Laboon never once doubted them. He was so desperate to see them again, that he had begun crashing his head against the Red Line to make it back to the 4 seas...

To still have so much faith in them...

"...I'm so glad! Truly, I'm so happy!" Brook sobbed in relief, tears falling freely as everyone gazed at him.

They allowed the skeleton to cry and Mod couldn't stop the small tears from forming in her eyes, pulling Robin into a hug to hide her face.

Robin smiled softly, just returning the hug.

Rosan smiled softly at that. Mod was such a sap.

Mod nodded strongly. "We will return your shadow to you at all costs and in return, I just need you to purify as many zombies as possible. I will supply you with all the salt you'll need so please help us!"

Brook wiped his eyes and nodded. "I will help to my best ability... but I do have a request."

She tilted her head. "Yes, what is it?"

"After this is done, I'd like to officially join the crew."

...

"WHAT?!" The Straw Hats roared in shock, stunned that he was bringing it up.

Luffy laughed happily. "Of course! Sail with me on my ship! After I become Pirate King, I'll bring you back to Laboon!"

Brook bowed at that. "Yes, captain. I'll give my all to support you!"

"Welcome to the crew Brook. You'll love it," Mod said with a pleased smile, moved by the skeleton and his goals.

Everyone else faux sighed, smiles on their face at hearing that. They were just playing it up mostly... having Brook in the crew was already long accepted by them and they welcomed it now.

Mod turned towards Zoro with a look of determination. "Zoro, Ryuma was a legendary samurai. His skills were unparalleled and it likely reflects somewhat in his body… but he's only using Brook's shadow so he should be far weaker than the actual Ryuma. Please fight and defeat him. I've pinpointed his location already."

"She's so effective?!"

Did Rosan always have this information on deck and just never share it with them? He was such an asshole! Seriously, would it kill him to tell them some things?!

"Sure, I'll deal with him. If he's a samurai, he might have a sword worth taking," Zoro nodded easily.

Mod smiled, before a hoof shook her and she gazed at the determined Chopper.

"Mod-chan, I want Hogback!" Chopper requested with a furious glare.

The purple haired woman pursed her lips, closing her eyes.

She had the birds flying high to remain out of sight so it was difficult to pinpoint exactly where he was…

Oh?

"Alright, Chopper you can fight him… Do be careful… Sanji could you go with him? I may supply more backup if all goes well," Mod informed him.

Everyone tilted their head in confusion. "If what goes well?" they asked.

Mod smiled and pointed over the ship, allowing a bird to land on her finger and prompting everyone to look over the rails.

A group of humans were looking at the ship with wide eyes.

In the front, a large pink haired lady gazed at them with confusion in her gaze and Mod waved at her.

"Hello! Considering you followed my bird, I would assume you aren't apart of Moria's crew?" She asked politely, floating down to regard the humans.

The pink haired woman blinked in befuddlement. "N-No… we've gotten our shadows taken by Moria… we've been hiding in the dark to avoid losing them but some of us have been getting them back... do you have anything to do with that?"

"Then that means we're friends," Mod smiled at the group. "To answer your question, yes. I took out a large amount of Zombies because we're also at odds with Moria. Considering only some of you have gotten your shadows back, I assume none of you are strong enough to do so?"

Everyone of them shook their head in defeat.

"Going against him and his crew... along with all those zombies. It's impossible," Lola admitted. "We've just been jumping any zombie we can and freeing shadows in hopes that they may have ours."

Mod nodded sympathetically.

"If you ally yourselves with us, you have the greatest chance of getting your shadows back. Fortunately for you, Thriller Bark will fall before the night is over and I'd love if you could join and help speed things up!" Mod offered, staring into the sky for a moment.

"I'm Mod, a pleasure to meet you all," she greeted, smiling warmly and offering her hand.

"...I'm Lola," the pink haired woman returned, accepting the hand of the polite but assertive woman. "We'd love to help… but how can we be so sure that you can stop Moria? He's recently activated the zombie of a giant… and it looks unbeatable."

Mod tilted her head and held out a hand to the sky, before shooting a massive purple laser upwards.

Hildon, who had been spying on them, had no time to react as it crashed into him and brought him to the floor.

"W-Wait! This isn't what it looks like!" He panicked, gazing into the cold eyes of Mod.

Before the zombie could even move, Mod deftly poured salt in its mouth, instantly purifying it.

"You do not have to be sure of anything. Just offer your assistance to me," Mod smiled gently. "Surely it's better than just wasting away here? Become my chess pieces and I will guide you all to victory."

The group of Moria's victims stared at Mod with wide eyes, before nodding hastily at the suddenly terrifying woman.

"W-We'll help!" Lola said with wide eyes, thinking back to that massive laser.

Scary...

"Alright! I will supply everyone with as much salt as possible and have you work on purging as many zombies as possible! Please follow Chopper and Sanji."

Mod turned towards the blonde. "Sanji, I want you to defeat both you and Zoro's shadow. They are with Hogback," she explained.

Sanji saluted at that. "Anything for you Mod-chan!" he grinned

"Mod-chan sure is effective," Nami muttered in awe, watching her operate with wide eyes.

She was similar to Rosan but the way they operated was very different.

While Rosan opted to do everything by himself if possible, hardly engaging in the idea of teamwork with anyone barring Robin… Mod seemed to use every possible piece she was given to their max effectiveness.

It was impressive seeing the two, who were so in sync, operate completely differently. Rosan was a self operating machine, while Mod was a chess master.

"What about the rest of us?" Nami suddenly asked in curiosity.

What was Mod's most effective way of utilizing Nami? Was she to offer Usopp support?

Mod smiled apologetically towards her and that sent blaring signals through Nami's head.

W-What was with that look? Why was Mod-chan looking at her like that?

"I truly am sorry about this Nami… but depending on how things go, you and Franky, will have to play distraction for the time being."

Nami went cold. "Distraction on who exactly…?"

Mod smoothly hid behind Robin before saying, "Oars."

…

…

"BRING BACK ROSAN RIGHT NOW!" Nami roared in disbelief. "R-ROSAN WOULDN'T MAKE ME FIGHT OARS! H-HE'D FIGHT HIM BY HIMSELF! BRING HIM BACK!" she screeched, lunging at the suddenly demonic Mod with a look of fury.

Robin effortlessly caught Nami with an exasperated look and stopped her from assaulting Mod-chan.

Mod had wide eyes, as Rosan cackled in amusement.

"Don't worry Nami! Luffy will be with you all too! You just have to offer him support and once everyone finishes their job, they will assist you!" Mod reassured.

Hearing that their captain would be helping, put Nami in a bit more ease… but she didn't want to fight a giant!

"What about you, Mod-chan?" Robin asked in concern. "Are you going to fight Moria alone? Will you be alright?"

Mod smiled in reassurance. "I can hold Moria long enough for you guys to deal with your missions and Oars. Once you all finish, please gang up on Oars and when he is dealt with, come to me!"

They gazed at the woman before nodding.

"Only because you asked," Nami said miserably.

D-Did she really have to fight a giant with Luffy's capabilities?

Robin furrowed her brows. "Mod-chan, you haven't said what I'll be doing. There is a reason for that, yes?"

Mod smiled slightly. "Why yes there is."

----------------------------------------

"Hogback."

The Doctor perked up at that, glancing back too see a furious Chopper and a calm Sanji.

"Ah! Dr. Chopper!" Hogback greeted with a pleased smile. "What brings you here?"

Chopper glared furiously at the so called doctor.

"Stop that! You don't get to act friendly with me you fraud of a doctor!" Chopper growled.

Hogback laughed in some disappointment. He thought a doctor who was an animal would see things differently but alas, Chopper was just the same as the rest who wanted to remain in their fields with no hopes of expanding.

"You're just another boring doctor like every other one that I've grown to despise! Perhaps your shadow will give birth to a new and more interesting person."

With a snap of his fingers, three zombies appeared.

Sanji and Chopper tensed up, as Cindry, a penguin with a dog's face and a zombie wielding three swords showed up.

Chopper and Sanji immediately locked onto the zombie wielding three cutlasses and the doctor was glad that Mod sent the chef with him.

If he had to fight all of them alone, he'd be toast! A zombie of Zoro and Sanji sounded so strong!

Sanji's eyes lit up in excitement and without any hesitation in his body, he blurred forward.

Jigoro, the swordsman with Zoro's shadow, didn't have a single moment to react, as a foot connected to his face, sending him flying into a wall at tremendous speeds.

Hogback's eyes bugged out of his head at Sanji's ridiculous speed. He hadn't even seen the chef move!

Wasn't this one of the Straw Hats without a bounty?! He was this strong?! Why didn't he have a bounty?! If they knew he was so exceptional, his shadow would have gone in something besides the Penguin Dog!

"Hey Chopper… since this is the shadow of that shitty swordsman… I can beat him as much as I want, right?" Sanji asked calmly.

Chopper began sweating at the demonic fire in Sanji's eyes.

"Y-Yes?" The doctor said in an unsure manner.

The chef nodded calmly. "Alright. Since it's that bastard swordsman's zombie, he's probably the strongest one here. I'll keep him occupied," Sanji decided.

"Sanji's really scary right now!" Chopper thought in disbelief. "I don't know if I can fight them 3 on 1… can you take another one?" The reindeer asked meekly.

Sanji nodded thoughtfully, before vanishing from his spot in a burst of speed.

Hogback went white as the chef appeared directly in front of him, leg poised to crush his skull but right before the attack could connect, Cindry jumped in the way of the attack.

Two things happened. Sanji quickly diverted his leg to avoid connecting with the woman, while the penguin leapt at Sanji with murder in his eyes.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO HIT A LADY IN FRONT OF ME!" The penguin roared.

The penguin's leg connected with Sanji's and the two clashed for a moment, before the chef effortlessly overpowered him and launched him away.

"Crap, I almost hit a lady!" Sanji cursed, leaping away from Cindry's plates.

"Um… Sanji, I know where your shadow is but you might not like what I'm going to say," Chopper spoke up suddenly.

Sanji glanced back at the doctor with a raised brow. "Mod-chan said she already knew who my zombie was. Who is it?" He asked curiously.

He did not like the look on Chopper's face.

"I think… it's in that penguin," Chopper said slowly, pointing a hoof at said penguin.

"…"

Sanji turned towards the penguin that he had kicked towards Zoro's zombie with a blank expression.

"He got really angry when you almost hit the girl… and he hit you with his leg… or flipper," the doctor explained.

"That's not enough to assume this penguin is me," Sanji retorted calmly, refusing that possibility.

"He was protecting Nami and refused to lay a hand on her," Chopper added.

"A coincidence," Sanji said calmly.

"Stupid penguin can't even hold him for a second," Jigoro, Zoro's zombie, muttered.

"What was that shitty swordsman?" Inuppe, Sanji's shadow, snarled.

"…" Sanji gazed calmly at the zombies arguing with each other. "This doesn't prove anything."

Chopper sweatdropped deeply.

"You're in denial? Don't be such a dumbass. If that isn't you, I'll compliment that stupid idiot with my smile," a voice called out, making them both freeze.

Sanji and Chopper turned in shock, and felt their happiness grow at seeing Robin standing behind them…

With a scowl set firmly on her face.

Ah this was Raven. The really scary version of Robin.

"I'm here to offer assistance on orders of the boss woman," Raven grunted, summoning a plethora of arms on Cindry. "Chopper, you can deal with the ugly little penguin dog," she instructed gently.

Despite being utterly terrifying to everyone she spoke to, Raven had a soft spot for Chopper (and especially Ram). So despite being very annoyed that she was tasked with being away from Mod and Rosan, this wasn't terrible.

"Raven!" Chopper cheered happily! "Alright! I'll do my best, I've been training really hard so I'll win and then I'll make Hogback pay!"

Raven nodded approvingly. "That's what I like to hear. I'll be occupied dealing with this zombie girl, so you two win your battles."

"Of course Raven-chan!" Sanji swooned, launching himself at Jigoro with renewed vigor and immediately putting the swordsman on the backfoot.

Jigoro, despite having someone as formidable as Zoro's shadow inside of him, stood absolutely no chance against Sanji, who fought the real, stronger, version daily.

The swordsman wasn't taking actual damage from Sanji, but he was completely unable to hit the chef that was weaving between his attacks with startling ease.

Sanji grinned smugly, taking a great joy in crushing anything related to Zoro, all while practicing his Observation Haki in the process.

The blonde chef had been practicing it with such fervor, he was making leaps and bounds with it.

Needless to say, Jigoro only served as a punching bag that Sanji used as a replacement for Zoro himself.

Sanji could have ended the match instantly. He already had a bag of salt and was far faster than everyone in this room… but he was enjoying himself.

So he continued to use Jigoro as a punching bag, waiting for everyone else to finish their matches to wrap up his own.

While Sanji was having a very fun time, the same could not be said for Chopper.

After all, he was locked in combat with a zombie that had Sanji's shadow inside of it and the reindeer wouldn't dream of being able to defeat the chef in a serious battle.

The reindeer hastily transformed into Heavy Point to block a devastating kick to the forearm that sent him flying back.

"So strong!" Chopper thought in disbelief as he glanced at his bruised arm.

He was given no respite, as the penguin blurred forward to deliver another kick to his head.

The reindeer squealed in horror and shrunk into his default form, dodging the kick and leaping out of the way.

"Tch," Inuppe scoffed. "This body isn't right… nothing works the way I want it to," the zombie scowled.

"That's probably the only reason I haven't been decimated yet!" Chopper thought in horror.

Was he really supposed to fight Sanji?! How was Chopper going to do that?!

"Are you satisfied being this weak?" Raven asked suddenly, weaving a dish as she gazed at Chopper with a frown.

Chopper jumped at that and turned towards her with wide eyes.

"How long do you plan on playing the weak card?" She asked with a frown. "No matter how much you improve, you will never actually be strong, as long as you think you're weak."

She continuously weaved the dishes thrown at her with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms in the process.

A flurry of arms grabbed Cindry's arms and shoved them upward, making the plates fall to the floor. The zombie struggled but more arms formed and forced the woman's hands behind her head.

The angry clone of Robin, crossed her arms and summoned a mass amount of arms that completely restrained the struggling Cindry, before she approached the woman and placed salt in her mouth.

She made it look so easy… and she was just a clone of the actual Robin… That fight had required almost no effort from her...

"C-CINDRY!" Hogback shouted in horror, watching how easily she had been dispatched. He gazed at the prone zombie with wide eyes.

The doctor took a step back, only for a plethora of arms to immediately restrain him.

He went white in horror and gazed at the terrifying woman, fear etching his features as the grip on him tightened.

To drive her point across, a finger from the conjured arms began poking him and it actually began slightly piercing him.

W-Who was this woman?!

"You aren't weak, Chopper. Stop pretending like you are or else I'm going to sick Rosan on you," Raven reprimanded with a scowl on her face.

Chopper whitened, before nodded to himself.

She… was right. Chopper had been training nonstop with Maro and she'd be disappointed in him if he kept acting like he wasn't bearing any fruits from that.

Because he was. Chopper… Chopper was strong too!

"Alright! I'll win!" The reindeer exclaimed with resolve in his eyes.

Raven's scowl lessened and the brunette snorted. "Good. You better win. I'll be holding this doctor tight just for you."

Hogback let out a squeak of terror as Chopper glared at him, before pulling out a Rumble Ball.

Neither he and Maro had mastered assimilating Seimei Kikan with their Devil Fruits, but they were making great progress with the technique.

Chopper hadn't stopped relying on the Rumble Balls just yet… but he did discover something.

Something new.

"Rumble."

The reindeer bit into it with determination in his gaze and wasted no time transforming.

If he was going to use the Rumble Ball, he was going to maximize the effects that the 3 minutes gave him.

Rosan's notes on Seimei Kikan (Chopper wondered how he got them!) were so precise that the Zoan duo made wonderful progress on them. It was to the point where when consuming Rumble Balls, they could utilize the technique to a very effective degree.

Chopper had discovered a new form in the process.

After seeing Maro's Rumble Ball forms, Chopper realized something himself.

Maro was a machine streamlined for combat and it reflected in her transformations…

The forms she took reflected what her advantage was, much like him...

But he didn't have a form perfectly streamlined for combat.

Maro had forms that enhanced all her features of a Dokkaebi, much like his own… but Maro also had a form that she referred to as balanced. It didn't have any major advantage of her other forms, but her skillset became far more difficult to go against, because she didn't have a weakness.

Chopper didn't have a balanced form like that. All of Chopper's forms took one of his aspects and pushed it to the extreme.

That fact had given him whiplash. He didn't have a form that perfectly balanced out all his traits.

A form that made him perfectly geared for combat in a balanced way… and he already had the means to achieve it.

"Combat Point."

Raven and Sanji paused, as Chopper began transforming into a state that they didn't recognize at all.

His horns elongated tremendously, his body grew into human form (looking similar in bulk to his Jump Point) as some of his fur receded, his legs remained in reindeer form, while he gained slimmer arms than Arm Point, equipped with black hooves that looked like fingers.

Chopper glared in determination at the zombie of Sanji in his all new form.

With the help of Seimei Kikan, Chopper could use the properties of the Rumble Ball to give himself a combination of all his forms… to a degree.

His horns were not as large as Horn Point, his strength was not as high as Arm Point, he couldn't jump as high as Jump Point and he didn't quite have the defensive features of Guard Point …

But it was still stronger than all of his other forms because it used a little bit of everything and that was so valuable.

Meeting a Zoan like Maro… one who was a genuine monster and showed no fear of it, one who wanted to master that uncontrollable monster… Chopper wanted to be like that.

So Chopper would make his Devil Fruit sister proud by becoming equally as monstrous as her.

The reindeer crouched lowly, reindeer face glaring at Inuppe, before he rocketed forward.

Chopper's Jump Point increased his jump power… but he never realized he could use it to make himself way faster as well. It was just one of those things that slipped your mind.

Case in point, the reindeer who had been slower than the zombie penguin, rammed his sharp horns into Inuppe with speeds faster than he could react to.

Like a bull, Chopper heaved the zombie up by the horns, before tensing his legs and leaping after him.

Inuppe could do nothing, as two arms appeared over him and sent him crashing to the floor at tremendous speeds, keratin hooves carving into him with brutal force.

As Inuppe crashed to the floor, those incredibly dangerous horns crashed into him from above, embedding him firmly to the ground. If he had been human, he would have suffered severe injuries.

Before the Penguin could even struggle, a bag of salt was forced into his mouth and he was instantly deactivated.

Raven whistled, impressed by the outstanding display from the reindeer.

This new form of his was incredible. It combined traits from almost all his transformations to create a formidable combatant.

A form perfectly streamlined for combat... Actually, he looked like a smaller version of that Monster Point of his.

"Not bad at all, Chopper," Raven praised, watching the shadow fly towards the gaping Sanji's form.

Chopper huffed, before transforming back into his Brain Point and snapping back to reality.

"Success," he muttered to himself with a fascinated gleam in his eyes.

The Rumble Ball combined with his little grasping of Seimei Kikan, was already full of incredible potential.

Chopper now had a set goal in mind. Increase his physical strength, master his transformations and perfect Seimei Kikan!

He couldn't forget his medical skills too!

Was this what it meant to be a monster? Being excited to become stronger? Is this why his crew was so strong?

Not only did they become strong to protect the ones they loved… it was fulfilling to have the strength to save everyone.

Chopper could do it both ways. He could use his medical knowledge and his strength to save people!

Raven watched the revelation with a proud gaze and idly relayed all the information to Robin.

Looks like they had gotten another member hooked on training. Babe would be very pleased that they managed to convert another one.

Sanji blinked as his shadow returned to him and he gazed at Chopper just a little warily.

"Hey Chopper… we're cool right?" He asked slowly.

The reindeer blinked. "Of course we are Sanji! Why wouldn't we be?"

Sanji pointed at the body of the penguin that was holding his shadow. "That beat down looked personal."

Chopper blushed in embarrassment. "You're really strong, Sanji… so I didn't wanna give you any chance to recover and I only had 3 minutes…"

Maybe he had been a little harsh…

Sanji idly dodged the flying slash sent his way and turned back to Jigoro. "Beating an imitation of the shitty marimo is fun… but it's not more satisfying than doing it to the real thing," he sighed.

With that, the chef blurred forward and dipped salt into the zombies mouth.

Hogback's mouth opened in horror, at how… at how effortlessly they had been dispatched.

Doctor Chopper had only been worth 50 Beri! How was he able to beat the shadow of the blonde who he just watched trash the zombie of Roronoa Zoro!

The fourth highest bounty in the Straw Hats! This chef didn't even have one?!

What was this absurdity? This shouldn't have been possible… just how powerful were the Straw Hats?!

"Chopper," Raven called. "You said you wanted this guy here, right?" She asked with a cruel gleam.

Chopper lit up at that reminder, and gazed furiously at the suddenly terrified fraud of a doctor.

Hogback squeaked in terror.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

----------------------------------------

Moria listened to the plans of the Straw Hats, with a contemplative expression.

Around him, the room he was in was a tattered and destroyed mess.

The Warlord had been trying to vent off his anger but nothing worked and he ended up with a destroyed room in the process.

"They're rather overwhelming, aren't they?"

He glanced coldly at the source, not at all surprised to see that purple haired woman.

She was gazing at the scythe in his hands with pinched brows before focusing on the giant shadow man.

"Your emotions I mean," Mod inquired politely, a knowing smile on her face. "They're out of control and you find difficulties with them, don't you?"

Moria turned to fully face the woman, noting the Devil Child was silently next to her as well.

Nico Robin had a happy smile on her face as she regarded the interaction between the two, content to not say a word.

"They are," Moria said truthfully, hiding his scowl to the best of his abilities. "Which is why you should know being here with me, after killing my crewmate, is a terrible idea."

Mod and Robin both leapt out of the way, as a shadowy wave of energy nearly crashed into them.

The purple haired woman grabbed Robin's arms and they flew out of the room.

Moria dipped into his own shadow and immediately pursued.

The Warlord leapt out of his shadow, scythe in hand as he lunged for the purple haired woman.

Mod raised a wall to block the attack and easily floated away, before firing an experimental purple beam at the man.

Before Moria could contemplate dodging it, arms sprouted over his body and held him in place.

The man looked utterly unbothered by the attack and Robin raised a brow at the fact.

They soon found out why.

Moria vanished, replaced by his intangible shadow and the man appeared directly behind Robin, shadowy scythe poised to gore her through.

At the same time, the shadow that looked disturbingly like Rosan, held out a hand and began firing dark orbs at them.

Robin long anticipated the attack and was already on the move, summoning a large amount of hands that pushed her and Moria away simultaneously.

Mod saw the dark orbs flying towards them and retaliated by opening her hand and shooting a gigantic wave of purple energy to consume them.

The wave crashed into Moria's shadow in the process and Mod pursed her lips at seeing it take no damage whatsoever.

"That's going to be a problem," she thought with a frown.

She turned towards Moria and fired another wave at him, only for her frown to deepen at seeing him switch spots with his shadow again.

Then, Moria transformed his shadowy scythe into gloves of his own and slammed them into the ground.

Mod immediately grabbed Robin and flew high into the air to avoid the shadowy spikes protruding on the floor, only to let out a gasp of surprise as the shadow once more made its presence known.

"Ah!" the Devil Fruit shouted in surprise, as a barrage of shadowy orbs crashed into her back. She winced a bit and the slight injuries instantly vanished.

She soared away from the shadow and vowed to keep an eye on it.

"Are you alright?" Robin asked quietly.

"...I'm rusty," she admitted with a sheepish smile. "I haven't fought someone outside of our family in such a long time and it's such a formidable foe as well!"

"It's fine. That's why I'm here to support you," the Devil Child assured confidently.

The duo were given almost no time to relax, as Moria's shadow lunged at them, hand in the shape of a longsword.

Mod grit her teeth in annoyance and transformed Ram into a one handed blade as well, clashing with the shadow sword.

She was forced to dance with the shadow that was shaped like her son, clashing continuously with it.

Only perfectly understanding Rosan's style of fighting allowed her to anticipate his rapid switch of weapons.

At once, the both of them transformed their blades into gloves. Mod fired a purple blast of energy that collided with the blasts of shadow, causing a small explosion to ensue.

She leapt back, summoning a ball above her head that began spinning rapidly.

"Discern," she muttered.

The purple orb began spinning, firing out bolts of energy that sought out both Moria and his shadow.

The shadow allowed the attack to pepper it, immune to all of it, as it raised its own hand into the air.

Mod watched in annoyance, as it summoned its own orb that began spinning, before shadowy bolts began seeking both her and Robin out.

She grabbed the Devil Child and began soaring into the air once more, barrel rolling to avoid the beams chasing them.

As she flew, the woman gained slits in her eyes, as her teeth sharpened dramatically.

The woman opened her mouth and let loose a hellish amount of purple fire from her mouth.

"Annihilation!" she growled.

In combination with her constant flight, the fiery and condensed attack began to shower the entire battlefield, leaving very little room, if any, to run..

Moria grunted, annoyed at the attack, before dipping into the shadows, appearing at a spot that was free from that destructive attack.

But that wasn't all. The spot he chose was one that was at the same height as where Mod was flying because her attack was covering the entirety of the ground beneath him.

The shadow he was utilizing, morphed back into a scythe and he gripped it to his waist.

"Absolution!" Moria announced, swinging that scythe with tremendous physical force.

Mod's eyes widened at that. He really had taken a lot from Rosan!

After swinging, a gigantic wave of pure black energy shot out of the weapon and careened towards Mod and Robin with dreadful speed.

She immediately transformed Ram into gloves and focused, before summoning a barrier that surrounded them completely.

As the attack washed over them, Mod grit her teeth at the strength behind it but the barrier held strong.

Robin honed in on Moria and summoned arms to restrain him, forced to cancel the technique in advance as the shadows around him surged to stab at her arms.

That gave Mod enough time to transform Ram into a pistol that she began firing at Moria.

The shadow man immediately vanished and had his shadow take his place once more, avoiding the explosive bullets with ease.

This was... very annoying. Mod furrowed her brows and gazed at the Warlord, never releasing Robin from her hold.

"Where is the Red Devil?" Moria asked, gazing at his opponents with an unimpressed gaze.

"I see no reason as to why I'd answer that," Mod retorted, flying away from the shadowy tendrils lunging at her.

"Your plan of stalling me isn't going to work. I already know everything you've planned," Moria added with a cocky grin.

His satisfaction rose, as Mod's eyes widened.

"You heard?!" Mod asked in disbelief.

"Kishishishi!" Moria laughed, conjuring the shadowy scythe again. "I never realized how productive I can be. Lazy this, lazy that...its easier being lazy… but it's far more effective being active. This... this is fun!"

Moria's shadow partner in crime began morphing and changing, much to Robin and Mod's shock, growing in size and losing its human shape.

"The shadow of the Red Devil has given me a newfound motivation that I haven't had for a long time… now tell me where he is because I'm never letting him go," Moria demanded.

The shadow dragon, massive and unearthly, reared back its head and roared to the heavens. It looked utterly unnatural, like someone had ripped out Ragnarok's shadow and given it life.

"RAOOOGHHH!" The creature howled.

"Goodness, his ability to manipulate shadows is allowing him to actually utilize our Devil Fruit to a certain degree," Mod thought, gazing at the looming beast.

Is this partially how Rosan would have utilized the fruit? Mod knew he would have been a monster with any ability... but this was incredible.

It was a shame the Moria half was slowing him down. If Rosan had fully dominated Moria, this fight would be far more difficult.

"You clearly haven't inherited all from Rosan," Mod said idly, eyes glowing as a victorious gleam entered her eyes.

Moria raised a brow, confused by her sudden switch in mood.

"Thank you for confirming to me that you were in fact listening in. I had my hunches but unlike what Rosan would do, you decided to generously share information with me," Mod smiled.

"Robin? Status update?"

Robin gazed at the terrified Perona, who was sleeping in her bed, with a charming smile, making sure the woman understood that if she tried anything, the Devil Child would break every one of her bones. "I've found the most troublesome one. You can retrieve them."

Mod smiled at that.

She knew that Moria had been listening in. She had an inkling, but Mod knew for sure after shooting down the zombie.

So she mixed in some lies when discussing her plans.

Mod was not the one to risk such plans by speaking them aloud. She was the cautious one because Rosan was the one who went out guns blazing even despite the fact his plans were genius.

She refused to underestimate someone who seemed to be dominated by Rosan's personality…

And Mod knew exactly how to deal with Rosan in the most effective way.

It was cruel… but it's not like Moria was actually Rosan, so she had no qualms against it.

What was Mod's cruel plan? Well, she thought of it once she saw how dominated by Rosan, Moria seemed to be…

Rosan's greatest current weakness, was something that not many would be able to ever handle.

And that was his complete lack of controls over his emotions, something Moria himself seemed to have gained…

And Moria and Rosan both had another weakness they shared... and Moria practically stacked that weakness atop each other by absorbing Rosan's shadow.

Both of them hated losing the people they cared about.

Moria with Rosan's shadow, was an unknown quantity and Mod wasn't sure just how strong he was, but it should be very strong.

So she'd cripple and dwindle his numbers down to nothing.

This was her real plan. She had just been stalling Moria to make him believe everything was as she said but that was far from it.

Moria had likely told Perona that Usopp was coming after her and she prepared for Usopp… but Usopp had already done his part.

Because Robin had already found and apprehended Perona's real body. The Robin next to her, was actually Canary!

This was merely a game of chess to Mod and she had never lost to anyone in her family to chess, not even Robin or Rosan!

"Scary, Mod-chan. Maybe you aren't as violently cruel as me, but you sure are psychologically crueler."

"No I'm not. Stop lying, Rosan. Don't you remember what you did to Miss Valentine?"

"Made her useful to Maro."

"By torturing her!"

"As much as I'd love to hear you both continue arguing. You had plans for this ghost woman right?" Robin asked curiously.

Ah yes. That was right. The girl named Perona, had a very useful ability.

Mod thought Maro may enjoy it very much.

Moria watched in shock, as Mod smiled gently and vanished from view.

"Remember Moria, you attacked us first so whatever happens now, is your own fault. I tried to handle things in a peaceful manner, but you only escalated it further. This is your fault," she mentioned right before the two disappeared.

The Warlord blinked at what she was saying, before his eyes frantically began searching for her location, realizing that she wasn't here to fight him.

With barely a thought, Moria had the shadow dragon fly off to Hogback's location, before he himself went straight to Perona.

Oars would be fine. Those two were in immediate danger.

As Moria headed to Perona's location, his dragon relayed to him that Hogback had been completely defeated and there was no one in the room.

What? But how?

Was this just to distract him? Were they going for Oars instead? The Zombie wasn't very intelligent so that purple haired woman would be troublesome for it…

No, he'd just have the shadow dragon assist Oars and then he'd verify Perona's status… and afterwards, he'd rip that purple haired woman out of wherever she was hiding by ganging up on everyone fighting Oars…

Well, that was the plan… until Moria saw a note lying on Perona's bed, where the girl's sleeping body normally lay.

"You're just a step too slow, Moria. I've never once lost in chess," it read.

Moria read the note and gazed at the spot where Perona was at, unable to fully process what was happening but coming to the worst case scenario.

"This is your fault."

Absalom was his most loyal mate. Moria had known him for years and would attack even Kaido once more to get him back. The death of Absalom had filled him with fury he had never felt and the only thing more infuriating, was that he couldn't kill the one who had done so because his shadow was just so useful.

But Perona was different. Perona was his daughter in all but blood…

And she was gone. At the hands of that mysterious woman. That woman...

She was... dead… and gone… Moria would never see Perona again.

Perona was dead.

"This is your fault."

The Warlord threw his head back and screeched in pure unfiltered rage. Shadows began rushing out of his body, consuming the entirety of Perona's room.

But the shadow's did not stop there, they continued to stretch out, consuming Perona's entire garden as Moria fully lost control of himself.

"AGHHHH!" The Warlord shrieked furiously as the shadows around him began twisting and turning.

The shadows fully converged on his body and when they settled, he was gone.

----------------------------------------

Usopp's part of Mod's plan was simple. He was tasked with "battling Perona" and getting rid of their most troublesome member…

Or that's what Mod-chan wanted them to think.

Usopp's actual task, was to make Perona think he was the only one targeting her, but in reality, he was just here to gather her zombies and guide them away for the real star.

Usopp could do that. He was becoming a very good actor with and without his mask.

And act he did. It helped that Perona's negative ghosts had no effect on him, much to the shock of the floating girl overseeing all of this.

Currently, he had probably gathered just about all of Perona's Wild Zombies and was fearfully sprinting away from all of them…

Right into the waiting arms of Brook.

"Yohohoho!" The skeleton laughed as he began dashing through the zombies, placing salt in all their mouths at incredible speeds. "Most excellent, Usopp! You are quite fast yourself!"

"T-Thanks! I thought I was gonna die," he wheezed, catching his breath.

Perona's eyes bugged out of her skull, at seeing her wild zombies be dispatched of and she gazed at the ones responsible for it with a glare of rage.

"Getting rid of all my cute zombies?! Do you know how long it took me to get them all?! You'll pay for that!" Perona announced, summoning ghosts and launching them at the duo.

"Dodge them! They're gonna explode!" Usopp shouted, observation flaring as he leapt to the left, while Brook leapt to the right.

Perona's eye twitched in aggravation. How did he know that?!

Usopp held his slingshot and fired a pellet at her.

The ghost girl grinned menacingly and allowed it to sail through her body.

Much to her delight, Usopp's eyes bugged in horror.

"B-But how? Are you... are you actually a g-g-ghost?!" the sniper stammered in fear.

Perona laughed haughtily. "But of course! How are you ever going to touch me I wonder! I'm invincible but I can still hurt you!"

What followed next, was a game of cat and mouse, Perona as the cat, while Usopp and Brook turned into the mouse.

As she chased the two with all her ghosts (much to her displeasure, all of them were missing), she became more and more secure in her safety because they were getting farther and farther away.

They tried to hit her but they failed all their endeavors and it was only a matter time before they got tired.

Yes, it was only a matter of time before they—

"Hey! Are you sure you should be here attacking us?" Usopp shouted victoriously, eyes gleaming as his observation flared once more and he stopped running, dodging yet another exploding ghost.

During training, Usopp learned that his Observation's range was exceptionally big, to the point where its range naturally surpassed the rest of the members in his crew (allegedly Rosan's natural range was gargantuan but he couldn't use it).

That's how he was able to detect Perona all the way at the Sunny… and that's why he knew that this Perona wasn't actually Perona.

He couldn't feel this one at all. But he could feel the one further down, hiding by herself…

Well, she wasn't alone anymore.

Perona's eye twitched at them. "And why wouldn't I want to be here? I have the advantage even with you taking my zombies out!"

Usopp grinned. "How can you defend your real body like this?"

Perona went cold…

"W-What did you just say?!" she stammered nervously.

"Your real body, the one thats really far from us! Isn't that your weakness?" Usopp asked with a proud grin.

The woman began to have a terrible feeling at the sudden confidence in his voice. Why did he know that? If he knew about her real body... why was he running so far from it —

Realization hit Perona at the last second.

It was a trap. Someone was going after her real body.

Right as the thought hit her, Perona felt her spirit get forcefully dragged to her body with a yelp of horror, before jolting up in her real body, terror etched onto her features.

Or at least, she attempted to jolt up.

"So you are the other person who spied on us in the bath…"

Perona turned ashen, as she was forced to look into the calm gaze of one Nico Robin.

"You're the one who spied on my boyfriend's naked body, right after your crewmate assaulted me," Robin said serenely.

The hands clutching her body, idly began tightening around Perona and the woman began to stammer in fear.

Let it be known, that while it was not as obvious, Robin was very possessive of Rosan herself.

"W-Wait, it wasn't intentional!" Perona stuttered in terror. "Please don't kill me! I don't wanna die like Absalom did! Please please please! I'm not as dumb as he is! Please believe me, I don't wanna die!" she sobbed.

Robin perked a brow and tugged her pendent idly. "I don't quite have an interest in killing you just yet. For now, I just need you to disappear… then we can discuss your perverse behavior at a later time."

Perona went pale. "D-D-Disappear?" She stammered in horror.

"Yes, that's right. Not to worry. We won't kill you," a new voice said.

Mod glanced down at the girl with a kind smile. "If you're hungry, feel free to eat but do not try to find a way to escape and don't explore areas much. We'll talk after this is over."

With that, the purple haired woman tapped Perona and made her vanish into the Pocket Dimension.

"Right then. That leaves only Moria and Oars," Mod muttered, writing a note down and leaving it on bed. "Let's go assist with Oars before Moria makes it to this room."

Robin nodded. "You are scarily efficient, Mod-chan. You and Rosan have the same level of planning skills but yet, it feels like you use them differently. Similar you may be, but you two are still different people."

Mod brightened at that. "I never thought I'd be anything more than Rosan's Devil Fruit... to know that I've grown this much is nothing short of amazing."

Rosan laughed shortly. "We excel at different parts of planning. Mod-chan is rigid in her execution and thorough so her plans have high chances of not backfiring and being done quickly. I plan on the fly and she's pragmatic… so I'm going to tell you that you made a mistake Mod-chan."

Mod furrowed her brows in confusion. "I made a mistake? What?" She asked in concern.

"You'll find out in due time… I won't tell you because this is your mission and you want to grow, right? It'll be a learning experience."

Mod bit her lip but nodded slowly, shooting a helpless glance at Robin and getting the slightly confused woman to shrug as well.

"Well, alright. I'll prepare," she muttered. The woman wrapped an arm around Robin's legs and hoisted her up bridal carry before they began soaring to the location of Oars.

Mod sighed as she tried to think of where she could have messed up and came up with nothing.

Lately, it felt like she had been the one seeking guidance from Rosan, rather than the other way around.

When did her little boy grow up so much? Maybe her appearance being stuck at 18, was not for show…

Maybe Mod needed to grow up a bit too. Rosan wasn't completely free from his problems, but he was making amazing progress.

She should try to progress too.

----------------------------------------

One part of the plan that Mod set, that hadn't been a lie, was having Zoro fight Ryuma.

Well, she had been intending to alter it a little, but Zoro himself had told her to let him handle this fight alone.

After all, he was in need of a new sword because of the cracked mess in his sheath and that sword in Ryuma's hand was quite nice.

The two clashed with their blades and Zoro took the chance to appreciate his opponent.

Despite having Brook's shadow, Ryuma's build was not as lithe and lanky as the skeleton.

His build was very similar to Zoro's own actually. Suspiciously so.

If Ryuma had Zoro's shadow instead of Brooks, along with two other decent swords. Well, Zoro might have actually lost this battle.

What Zoro was beginning to realize though, was that he was struggling quite a bit with opponents that specialized in speed.

Even the crap cook gave him trouble with that obnoxious speed of his.

While he and Ryuma had very similar builds, Brook's fighting style seemed to revolve around utilizing speedy attacks that were hard to react to…

So Zoro chose to do something stupid.

It didn't matter how formidable Ryuma was with Brook's shadow… Zoro was stronger than him and even with two swords, he'd be able to comfortably end this.

Rosan had made him quite proficient in one and two sword style after all. In their spars, the redhead would often steal his blades and put them out of reach, making Zoro fight with either one or two of his blades.

It was frustrating but it swiftly allowed him to heavily adapt his style on the fly and improve his weaker styles.

Which was why he'd be able to comfortably handle Ryuma in a battle…

But Zoro wanted more than just his sword.

Zoro wanted to hone his shoddy Observation Haki and this was the perfect opponent to do it against.

"Three-Pace Hum: Notch Slash."

The swordsman of the Straw Hats, deftly leapt to the side of the attack.

"Not fast enough. Luffy and Robin can anticipate the attack long before it comes out," he grunted in dissatisfaction.

While they had been exchanging furious blows, Zoro had suddenly gained a type of… perception, that made Ryuma's attacks easier to see.

It didn't take him very long to realize that his Observation had finally bloomed and Zoro was trying to fully benefit from it.

"Yohohoho! Are you content with just dodging, swordsman?" Ryuma asked curiously, continuing to strike at Zoro and frowning at having his attacks fail.

Zoro scoffed with a smirk. "Just wait your turn. I'll deal with you once I get the hang of this —"

The swordsman froze, as he suddenly saw his shadow fly into his body and he gazed down at it in interest.

Oh his shadow was back. That must have meant they dealt with his zombie over at… that doctors…

Wait a minute… why did he suddenly want to murder that swirly browed idiot?

The same swirly browed idiot… that probably fought his goddamn zombie.

Zoro sheathed one of his blades and scowled, measuring Wado Ichimonji at Ryuma.

"Let's wrap this up. I don't need that love cook to know he finished something faster than me," he grunted.

"I see," Ryuma said aloud. "Very well. This will be quick."

"You read my mind," Zoro grinned violently.

"Aubade Coup Droit!" The zombie shouted, thrusting his blade forward and conjuring a shotgun blast of air.

"Bird Dance!" Zoro grunted, shooting a crescent moon projectile that collided with the attack at great speeds.

Ryuma wasted no time, dashing towards Zoro with his sword poised.

"Prelude: Au Fer," he called out.

Zoro coated his blade in armament and collided with the attack, narrowing his eyes as Ryuma kept repeatedly thrusting against his weapon.

"He's trying to break my sword?" Zoro thought with a scowl, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

Not happening.

He overpowered the swordsman, admiring how well kept Ryuma's blade seemed to be, and they began a furious dance.

Zoro parried a stabbing slash and retaliated with a wide sweep that Ryuma was forced to take.

Unfortunately he was a zombie so Zoro's attack did not do much actual damage.

But that didn't deter him. It just made him realize he needed a more effective way to finish this battle.

It was time to wrap this up.

The Pirate Hunter diverted one of the quick slashes, making Ryuma overstep slightly, before gripping his left hand with his right.

"Flying Dragon Blaze!"

The swordsman leapt into the air and came crashing down against Ryuma, cutting effortlessly into the samurai, setting the man ablaze.

"!" Ryuma's gaze widened at the swift and decisive blow, before settling into respect for his opponent.

"You wield incredible power, swordsman," Ryuma praised, sheathing Shusui and throwing it to Zoro. "Shusui will be pleased to be wielded by you."

Zoro grinned and grasped it. "Perfect. This is a sword that can live up to my expectations," he announced.

"That, I do not doubt," Ryuma said as his final words, before Brook's shadow departed from his body and flew towards the skeleton.

Zoro snorted. "Alright, now I gotta go to the giant and help them out with it."

The swordsman nodded to himself and headed in the completely wrong direction.

"Wrong way," Crow said gently, turning the swordsman around and forcing him to walk towards where the very visible giant was.

She had been tasked with the simple job of ensuring Zoro didn't get lost. A simple and easy job that Crow was very happy to have because Zoro was not as stress inducing as her sisters.

"Oh, I knew that," Zoro muttered, turning on a dime and walking over to where Oars was swinging at what was likely his crewmates.

Now that he had three swords again, the swordsman felt complete and he knew for certain, that Shusui could handle his stronger techniques.

The swordsman grinned violently as he gazed at the massive figure of Oars.

----------------------------------------

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"

Luffy dodged a wild swing from Oars and he ran up the giant's fist, cocking his fist back to deliver a punch of his own.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy shouted in return, connecting solidly with Oars face… to no effect at all.

Oars glared down at the rubber boy running up his fist, before a massive burst of fire crashed against his face.

"Wildfire!" Nami shouted from her safe spot. She was supporting Luffy and Franky to the best of her ability, while Oars rampaged against them.

Franky opened up his mouth and joined the fray, shooting out his own fire that joined Nami's in washing over the giant.

But it barely seemed to affect the giant. It just annoyed him.

Was he immune to fire? Was that something Moria added to him?

Oars huffed and swung at Luffy with speed that belied his size...

To no effect. Luffy was even faster than the giant and effortlessly dodged the giants swing by leaping atop his head.

"Gomu Gomu no Battle Axe!" Luffy announced, slinging his foot high into the air and slamming it directly atop Oars skull.

Oars grunted at that, and reached for his head to grab at the rubber boy, only to audibly growl in annoyance as Luffy flew away with Geppo.

"He's annoying!" Luffy and Oars said at the same time, glaring at each other.

"Yeah he is," Nami muttered, summoning a gust of wind to push back the charging giant to no effect. "Nothing is working on him! He doesn't take damage!" she complained.

"He's super resilient," Franky grunted, shooting bullets at the giant and watching as it merely bounced off.

"We just gotta keep hitting him!" Luffy said stubbornly, coating his fists in armament.

Not waiting for a response, the rubber boy dashed off again.

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy roared, armament fists crashing over and over again into the giant.

Much to their delight, it was actually making progress!

As the giant stumbled back, a flurry of arms formed at his feet.

At the same time more arms covered his eyes and a blazing kick slammed into his face.

Then, a flurry of exploding pellets collided with his face, enhanced by the sharp blades of wing that cut off one of his horns.

"You guys are all here!" Nami grinned happily.

The entirety of the Straw Hats, sans Mod and the real Robin, gazed down at Oars with mixed reactions.

"We have to fight that thing?" Usopp and Chopper squeaked, gazing at the intimidating giant.

Oars growled in annoyance.

Way too many people were trying to stop him from getting his meat.

"Move!" Usopp said frantically.

"Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" Oars roared, launching both his arms at the group of Zoro, Crow, Usopp and Brook.

The 4 utilized their max speed to make distance because Oar's fist covered an incredible amount of range.

Even at their speeds, they just barely got out and just the winds were enough to hurt them slightly.

But Oars wasn't done.

He turned towards the group of Sanji, Chopper and Raven and headbutted them with dreadful speeds.

Sanji was quicker, he grabbed the two and blurred away, grunting at getting hit by some debris from that violent headbutt.

Finally, Oars launched his foot into the air and everyone's eyes widened in horror.

"Gomu Gomu no Battle Axe!"

What followed next, could be compared to an earthquake.

All of them were flung aside as Oars crashed his foot into the ground with a thunderous boom.

The ground shook, debris flew and dust scattered as Oars attack struck.

As the dust settled and the Straw Hats gathered themselves, the unrelenting Oars moved again.

"You're the most annoying one," Oars growled, lunging forward towards Nami at dreadful speeds that belied his size.

Nami shrieked in horror, eyes wide as Oars cocked his fist back to punch her to death…

Only for a purple blur to grab her.

"NAMI!" they all shouted in relief.

"Goodness Nami, are you alright?" Mod asked in concern, holding the navigator bridal carry. The Devil Fruit swiftly ascended away from Oars punch and gazed with narrowed eyes at the giant.

Such speed for its size... she couldn't mess around with this one.

"M-Mod-chan, my hero!" Nami sobbed, clutching the woman like her life depended on it. "I'm so happy, I could kiss you!" she exclaimed.

"Please do it on the cheek if you must… I'm not good with physical affection and Rosan may kill you if its my lips," Mod replied, eyes glowing in preparation.

The navigator beamed and did just that, planting a thankful smooch on the motherly woman's cheek and making her flush slightly.

"You have soft cheeks!" she complimented.

That only served to deepen her embarrassment. "...Thank you Nami. I appreciate that," she mumbled.

"I'll make sure to torment her more than normal for that later. Kissing my mother right in front of me? The audacity," Rosan rumbled in annoyance.

"Auntie is such a flirt when she's out! First Mother, now Nami?! Are you subtly trying to branch out into the dating scene?! We won't let you!"

Mod flushed red and ignored them, gently placing Nami down as she regarded the giant.

"Let's wrap this up quickly," Mod muttered. "If you can contribute, follow my lead. Don't get close to him!"

That was all she said before Mod went on a rampage.

The woman opened her mouth and shouted, "Annihilation," before firing a gigantic torrent of flames.

Nami was quick on the uptake, whirling Clima around and shooting out a massive gust of wind to combine with the fires.

The elements combined and turned into a fiery hurricane of death that crashed directly into Oars.

Usopp, Franky and Zoro all joined the fray, using pellets, a flamethrower and blades of wind respectively.

It all crashed into Oars without any hesitation and Mod narrowed her eyes.

She palmed the ground and concentrated hard.

"Modification," she said.

It answered to her will immediately.

Everyone watched with slack jaws, as the ground around Oars surged upwards, reaching heights similar to the massive giant and sandwiching him between two rocks, completely trapping the flaming giant.

Mod flew over to him at incredible speeds, pulling out the tiny bag of salt in her dress and expanding it to its actual size.

Without any hesitation, she slammed the gross amounts of salt into Oars mouth, immediately purifying him and sending Luffy's shadow back to his body.

"What the hell…" They all said, looking at Mod-chan in disbelief as the body of Oars fell summarily.

"I wished to finish that as fast as possible. Something like Oars could be dangerous to our wellbeing if kept alive for too long, so I ended it quickly," she explained easily.

She wouldn't risk Oars pulling out other dangerous moves from Luffy's arsenal that could damage the whole area.

Not to mention Luffy's ingenuity.

Mod clapped happily. "Alright, we've dealt with all but one. Moria is the last opponent, we received everyone but Rosan's shadow and it should almost be day time. I don't know what happened but we're sailing out of the Florian Triangle so when day hits, I'll die!"

Everyone balked at that, gazing at the woman in shock.

That's right, Rosan still didn't have his shadow back!

"Let's not waste anymore time and retrieve it then," Robin said in displeasure, frowning at the idea that Rosan and Mod could die.

She was not going to let that happen at all. Neither of them were going to die on her watch or she'd lose it.

Moria was completely alone now. It would be him, against the entirety of the Straw Hats. Even with Rosan's shadow, it would be a herculean task for hi —

At once, every Straw Hat froze, as the area around them got darker, shadow's seeming to grow from all directions as they seeped into whatever they could get their hands on.

Then, a massive shadow dragon appeared in their line of sight, far bigger than the one Mod had seen for the first time…

And finally, from the shadows itself, Moria himself appeared… and he looked utterly soulless.

He glanced at the Straw Hats dispassionately, before locking onto Mod herself… and that soulless look was replaced by something primal.

Rage.

Moria let out a hateful roar as he .

"NONE OF YOU ARE ESCAPING ME! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" The man howled furiously, zeroing in on the purple haired woman.

Then, the shadows struck.

Mod now saw what Rosan meant by she messed up. She thought by isolating Moria, the man would eventually succumb to their onslaught. He wouldn't be able to handle all of their might and he'd run out of gas in due time...

Well, that was before she realized he awakened his Devil Fruit!

"ALL OF YOU, BE CAREFUL!" Mod shouted, grunting as she summoned a heavy gust of wind to lift all the Straw Hats. "His Devil Fruit is awakened! You must be wary of all shadows!"

The Dragon let out a furious roar, before rearing its head back and forming a black ball of energy.

Then it glanced back at the crew and unleashed.

Mod grit her teeth and opened her mouth, fangs sharpening as she countered the shadowy Annihilation with her own version.

The blazing fire collided with the shadowy imitation and an explosion ensued that rocked the whole area.

Mod exploded in purple electricity, as Moria crawled out of the shadows behind her with a familiar scythe in hand, poised to run her through with it.

Seeing that his sneak attack failed, the man swiftly swapped places with the Dragon to avoid injury, who snarled down at Mod and smacked her with its tail.

"!" Mod grunted as she was launched away from her spot, the impact of the attack being shielded mostly by her raid dress.

Draconic wings burst from her back and the woman scowled in contemplation as the shadow dragon rushed her again.

They flew through the sky, firing constant attacks at each other, as the Straw Hats focused their assault on the rampaging Moria…

To very little success.

When he was close to getting hit, the shadowy landscape would either protect him, or he'd dip into the shadows, surging back out to deliver an injury on one of the weaker members.

Chopper, Nami and Usopp had already been dealt with by the out of control Warlord and Moria was especially keen on not taking hits from the other members.

Brook lunged forward with intents to stab the Warlord, dashing incredibly quickly across the field...

Only for a shadowy fist to smash directly into him.

Part of his skull cracked at the impact, before gravity reminded him it existed and sent him flying.

Franky shouted in surprise and jumped in the way of the flying musician, catching him just in time to see the Dragon snarling down at him.

It opened its mouth and lobbed a pitch black orb that he leapt away from... only for it to explode the moment it touched the ground.

Franky hadn't made enough headway and let out a startled yell as he was caught in the explosion, sending both the cyborg and Brook flying.

Mod grit her teeth as she shot a wave of electricity in hopes of keeping the dragon at bay. "Sanji! Take all the unconscious members and go! Please get them to safety!"

Sanji saluted, just as much worry on his features as he already held Nami's unconscious body. He began dashing across the field, grabbing at his crew, all while admirably avoiding as many shadows as he could.

He got tagged a few times but it wasn't enough to take him out of the battle yet and soon, he gathered them all up.

"Where are you going?!"

Moria surged out of the shadows directly in front of Sanji with that shadow scythe, intent on impaling the burdened chef in order to keep them all here.

A flash of green appeared in front of Sanji, as Zoro parried the attack with all three of his blades.

Moria snarled as Zoro held him back somewhat, giving Sanji enough time to break away from them and dash off.

Much to his relief, Crow appeared to lessen his baggage and they escorted the unconscious members out.

He attempted to target the chef, but a flurry of arms covered his eyes and hampered him long enough for a fist to crash into his face.

"Don't touch them!" Luffy snarled angrily.

Moria scowled in aggravation and swapped with his dragon, who was distracting Mod, once more.

The dragon roared and cocked both its fists back, before smashing them into the ground.

A rush of shadows burst from the ground, like an eruption from a volcano attempting to engulf Zoro and Luffy in the attack.

Luffy and Zoro's eyes both widened in horror, as the massive range of the attack gave them little room to dodge.

"Oof!" they grunted, getting sent in different directions from the eruption.

Zoro caught himself just in time to leap to the left to avoid the dragon lunging at him, allowing it to fly harmlessly past...

Or so he thought.

A familiar sound, that of a pop, went off and Zoro had no time to react to the Moria behind him.

The Warlord had a sadistic gleam in his eyes as he placed a palm on Zoro's back.

A concussive blast of shadows erupted from the man's hand and the swordsman teetered, as it connected directly with him.

"Zoro!" Luffy shouted in horror, catching the falling swordsman.

"In such a short time, he managed to take so many of us out!" Mod thought in shock, glaring in frustration as the dragon kept her busy any chance it got.

This was insanity!

She grit her teeth as the dragon made its presence known once more to her and began charging an attack in its maw that it began condensing.

This thing dared to think it could use her attacks better than she could?!

The Devil Fruit opened her mouth, a snarl leaving her mouth as the effects of Ragnarok began to seep deeper into her.

"Raze!" she snarled, shooting the super heated laser from her mouth at the same time as the shadow dragon.

Both the lasers were aimed expertly at their opponent, which unfortunately meant that they once more met in the middle and caused another boom to take place.

Mod snarled furiously and sparks began flying off her.

"Gear Second!"

"Boost x2!"

At once, both Luffy and Mod rocketed straight for Moria with determination in their gaze.

Moria made to dip into his shadows, before arms began holding him in place just long enough for the two to reach his position.

He had no choice but to swap with his dragon, lest his bones get turned into dust by the combined might of both Luffy and Mod.

As he swapped with his partner, a thunderbolt crashed from the sky directly into his body.

Mod was like a shark in the water the moment Moria seized up.

"EMP: Storm!"

The sky roared and screeched, as bolt after bolt of purple lightning began crashing onto the field.

Moria grunted and launched himself to the ground, before utilizing the surrounding shadows to act as cover.

He grit his teeth as the furious bolts of lightning still somewhat pierced the makeshift shield.

A steaming figure closed the gap between them, fist cocked back and launching it forward.

Moria swiftly raised a shadow from the ground, transforming it into a shield that blocked the punch from Luffy.

Then the shield transformed into the shadowy tendrils that lashed out and grabbed the the rubber boy.

Luffy grunted as one grabbed him and he attempted to get it off, failing as even more shadows lunged for him.

Moria had blood in his eyes and lunged forward, intent to place a palm on the rubber boys chest to blast him away.

Instead, the ground erupted beneath him and uppercutted him in the face.

Blood gushed from Moria's nose but he ignored it, swapping places as a purple blue attempted to cut him in half with that sparking scythe.

Mod gave him no respite. Thunder continued to roar and she transformed Ram into dual pistols that she aimed at both Moria and the Dragon.

Without any hesitation, she began rapid firing the pistols, all while avoiding the shadows grasping for her.

Jump, roll, flight... Mod utilized all forms of evasion and miraculously, continued firing at the man.

"A lady in a dress should not look so cool doing this!" Ram gushed. Auntie looked like such a badass!

Mod said nothing, intent on riddling Moria with holes.

The Warlord had not been prone while this was taking place. Staying still for a prolonged period time, meant loss because the battlefield was in utter chaos.

He was currently atop the shadow dragon, as it soared and weathered the bullets from Mod, while trying to avoid the constant lightning strikes.

Robin watched from her cover (given to her by Mod), as utter mayhem

Mod's eyes narrowed as she saw the dragon absorb the pistols bullets and decided to try something more effective.

She took flight, as a sniper replaced the dual pistols and she aimed directly for Moria's head, looking through the lens with a calm gaze.

Lightning arced off her body as she fueled the gun with electricity and the woman fired.

A thunderous boom echoed throughout the field, as the shell fired.

Moria only had a moment to force the shadow of his dragons back to form into a shield in order to block the shot but much to his surprise, it began piercing the shadow.

He only had a moment to move his head, eyes going wide as the bullet brushed against his cheek and caused a burst of blood to spurt.

Mod held the sniper in both hands, still floating as she glared at him.

Did she ever mention that she was a better shot than Rosan was? Mod quite enjoyed using guns.

Moria grasped his bleeding cheek and sneered. The dragon never stopped moving and it began its onslaught anew, focusing all of its attention on Mod and making the woman temporarily abandon the notion of shooting Moria.

As the dragon renewed its onslaught, Mod transformed her sniper into gloves and began firing as many orbs as possible at the dragon, in hopes of distracting it.

Moria leapt of the dragon and Mod's eyes darted over to him immediately.

Dozens of bolts flew towards him, as he fell, but his trusty dragon flew in the way of the entire salvo, firing a ball of shadows at Mod in the process.

Mod growled at that and flexed her wings, soaring towards the ground.

The moment Moria hit the ground, Luffy made his presence known once more and immediately closed the distance.

He was completely ignoring the bolts of lightning, even when they crashed into him and just focused his onslaught on Moria.

At the same time a flurry of arms began harassing him in all manners, hindering the Warlord enough for Luffy to press his advantage.

Moria snarled as a punch connected to his face at ridiculous speeds.

As his anger mounted, the shadows began writhing in tandem.

Robin had to abandon her spot as the shadows began piercing through her shelter.

Almost immediately, Moria appeared in front of her, murder in his eyes.

She attempted to dodge but the arrival of Moria had caused her to stop long enough for them to wrap around her legs, halting her.

Before Moria could take her out the fight, Mod appeared directly behind him, murder in her eyes.

At the same time, the ground pushed her well out of the way of him, by shoving her into the sky.

The lightning mysteriously stopped too...

"Get your hands off my daughter!" she snarled, sparking with electricity.

"EMP: Burst!"

Moria howled in agony, as the dome of electricity captured him before he could swap places with his dragon.

Mod huffed as the shadow man collapsed, before she was forced to defend herself against that pesky dragon.

The dragon roared its fury to the world and charged up a truly enormous ball of energy, that made Mod's eyes narrow in worry.

She held a hand above her head and a ball of her own began forming.

"Persecution!" she yelled, launching it right into the shadow ball of the furious dragon.

Much like all their other collisions, these two caused yet another explosion to ensue and Mod gazed up with furrowed brows.

This wasn't adding up... why was the dragon still so active—

"Shadow Burst!"

A dome of shadows suddenly appeared, covering the entirety of the battlefield.

"Ah!" Mod shouted in pain as she was directly caught in it. The explosion of shadows slammed into her with concussive force and she was launched away, tumbling on the ground from the power behind it.

"Mod-chan?! Robin?! Are you two okay?" Rosan asked in concern.

Mod whined at that, bruises blooming all over her body that healed up as quickly as it formed.

"I'm okay. I can do this!" she said immediately, a challenging look in her eyes as she shakily stood up.

"My body hurts, but I'm fine," Robin grunted, pulling herself up and envying both Rosan and Mod for having such incredible healing factors.

She hurt. This battle was intense in a way that she had never experienced.

Rosan pursed his lips and frowned, before nodding his head.

Moria huffed, sweat and blood dripping down his features as he stood up, shadows roiling off him as he gazed at his three final opponents.

Luffy, Mod and Robin all panted as the Warlord occasionally twitched from the effects of getting shocked.

One of his arms was locked to his side, unable to move from the electricity coursing through his veins.

"He can't handle his own output," Rosan remarked idly, watching the man's display with an interested eye. "His years of wasting away have bit him. His own laziness has put his body out of shape."

"Not to mention, he's being completely overwhelmed by Rosan's traits," Robin panted out, running through the best course of action to close out this fight.

Mod's mouth opened at that.

That's right! Moria was shooting far above a level he couldn't reach anymore! Perhaps if it was before the man had lost his drive, all the Straw Hats would have died… but at this rate, he'd run out of gas all on his own…

Quite frankly, he no longer had the physical specs to keep up with what he was flinging, but he couldn't see that because he was being dominated by Rosan's personality...

And Rosan did have the specs to do that so it was biting him in the ass...

Moria was very swiftly running out of endurance and running out of endurance against someone like Mod, was fatal.

Time to show why her family thought she was so frustrating to battle.

Moria grunted in annoyance as the ground beneath him came to life, lunging at him with a single purpose.

He dipped into the shadows once more and the moment he popped out, he was forced to deal with an onslaught of purple orbs flying towards him.

The Shadow dragon roared at that and charged Mod, who remained on the ground and began dancing around its charges, all while focusing on neutralizing Moria.

As Moria dealt with the onslaught of orbs, the ground made its presence known again and wrapped around him.

The Warlord scowled furiously, only to let out a yell of pain as bolts of purple electricity crashed into him.

Let it be known, that Rosan unlocking more elements, actually benefited Mod more then it had him. It helped fuel her toxic fighting style even more.

"I cannot wait until you find a way to unlock Ice," Mod said with a pleased smile, weaving between the shadows that were lunging for her.

"Anything for you my spoiled Queen of a mother," Rosan bowed. "Believe it or not, I've got a lead so I just have to peer deeper into it."

"You are such a genius. How do you even have a lead?" Mod thought in disbelief, holding out a hand and firing two orbs of purple orbs with condensed flames inside them.

"Seekers," she intoned launching them forward.

Moria howled furiously, exploding in shadowy energy, before he vanished from his spot and appeared behind Mod.

He tried to cut into her with the scythe, but a wall blocked his attack and the seekers made themselves known once more.

The shadow man swapped with his dragon, eyes going wide as the orb melted the head of the creature, before it formed back into place.

Almost as if recognizing that it would do no damage to the dragon, it careened towards Moria again.

Moria began panting as he was forced to dodge the orbs over and over again, fatigue catching up to him quickly.

"Damn it. If I hadn't lost my ambition these past few years! If I had just trained! I've lost my Haki, lost my stamina… Damn it, Kaido! Damn it Straw Hats!"

Damn it all!

Luffy rocketed forward with a look of finality in his eyes, forcing Moria on the defensive immediately.

Much to his dread, the orbs flew right over to the dragon's position, a clear warning of what would happen if he swapped positions with it.

So he was forced to engage with Straw Hat Luffy in close combat with one good arm.

Moria may have inherited Rosan's skills and talent by absorbing his shadow, but physically, he and the redhead were not the same.

Rosan had the speed necessary to match Luffy's own ridiculous speed.

Moria did not.

Luffy was very quickly gaining the upper hand on their furious exchange and to make matters worse, stray arms were forming that hampered him every step of the way.

Neither Robin nor Luffy cared about the shadows attacking them, hellbent on inflicting as much damage onto him as possible.

Robin was exhausted and hurt but so long as Rosan's life was in danger, she'd do everything in her power to save him.

She needed to be stronger. She wanted to be strong.

"Quinientos Fleur!"

The Warlord stopped in shock, as a single giant hand formed behind him.

Without any hesitation, that giant hand smashed into him with no hesitation.

Moria spat out blood as he was crushed to the floor but he couldn't even catch his breath, as that damned steaming figure appeared above him.

Luffy launched his foot into the air without any hesitation.

"Gomu Gomu no Jet Battle Axe!"

The Warlord gagged, bones creaking in agony as the foot smashed into him with brutal force.

The Dragon roared in fury and attempted to help its master, only to seize up as a giant bag of salt appeared over it.

Mod growled, eyes still set into slits. "Submit to my will, lesser dragon."

With that, she dumped it atop the creature and it recoiled with a shriek of agony.

As it writhed about, it flew back to Moria's body and she gazed at the man with the eyes of a hunter.

Mod smiled and in a tone of finality, she said, "Rebuke."

She placed a flat palm against Moria's chest, still sparking with electricity.

Rebuke was a variation of Rejection or Retribution, that utilized electricity! This was their way of fully restraining someone so this version didn't utilize the deadly Reject Dial.

That didn't make it any less effective.

Moria seized up, before a chain of purple electricity surged through his massive body.

The Warlord screeched and perhaps years ago, he'd have been able to withstand these attacks. After all, he had been a pirate with enough strength to challenge Kaido. He had been a man of great renown...

He had been Gecko Moria!

But that was years ago and he was no longer the same Gecko Moria as before.

Moria let out a raspy gasp and fell back, shuddering as he fell unconscious.

"That's game," Mod smiled tiredly, canceling the electricity and gazing at the unconscious body with a curious eye.

Gecko Moria… a man who could have been formidable… who should have been, but allowed his ambition to vanish in favor of laziness.

And it finally bit him.

Ambition… was a dangerous thing to lose.

"I guess… it's a good thing I got mine back," Rosan muttered, taking control of his body once more and stretching idly.

Despite being unconscious, Rosan's shadow had not returned to him, so he took out a plethora of salt and forced it into Moria's mouth.

He reached the desired effects immediately and Rosan let out a sigh as his shadow slammed into him without further prompting.

What a weird day. Never thought he'd lose his shadow.

"Well done Mod-chan," he praised with a proud smile. "You did fantastic out there. You have nothing to be insecure about."

Mod blushed red and smiled, staring a hole into the floor. "I just wanted to see if I still had it… I'm glad to know I can still pull my weight."

"Of course you can! You're our kickass Auntie!" Ram gushed, hugging her happily.

Mod burned red at their praise and grinned at them.

"I'm tired," Luffy sighed, glancing at his injuries with a deep frown.

The entire crew was rather beat up from the ordeal. Oars and Moria alone had managed to inflict the majority of damage onto them and it was a testament to how strong the two strongest in their crew was.

Rosan and Luffy… monsters those two.

"Alright, let's steal all his treasure and get outta here," Rosan grunted, grabbing Robin and inspecting her injuries.

Robin sighed in exasperation and leaned into his touch. She had been doing completely fine up until Moria made his presence known but leave it to Rosan to be overly protective.

But still, it was really —

A massive shockwave erupted, connecting to three Straw Hats there .

"!"

Neither Luffy, Robin nor Rosan were spared from the sudden attack and the three let out pained noises, as the attack slammed into them with crushing force.

Rosan held onto Robin for dear life and righted himself, eyes shutting a bit at the devastating strength behind that attack.

"What the fuck was that?" He rasped in disbelief, glancing down in concern at feeling Robin clutching him tightly.

The Devil Child huffed in pain and glanced warily up at him, eyes tired but alert.

"I… I'm not sure. Who was responsible for that?"

Then the three heard footsteps and warily glanced.

Even Rosan took pause at the sight before him and he shut his eyes as a rare feeling of dread welled inside of him.

Tall and enormous, looking to be the same height as Moria, the man (if you could call him that) before them, was walking around with a bible in hand.

He glanced at them, eyes covered by clear-mirrored lenses and Rosan took a deep breath at the black jacket with a crosshair on it.

Most of his crew were unconscious. Luffy was picking himself up, same as Zoro and Sanji was the most well off. At sensing the end of the battle, he had come back as quickly as possible. There was no need to protect his unconscious members anymore so he needed to take stock of the situation.

"Who... is this?" Sanji asked warily, clenching his cigarette and assessing the injuries of the most active crew members.

Rosan sighed. "Bartholomew Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea," he said.

Ah damn. They were all pretty beat up, against one of the most mysterious Warlords in the system.

Bartholomew Kuma, the Tyrant.

"Black Leg Sanji. Monkey D. Luffy. Portgas D. Rosan. Nico Robin," Kuma greeted politely.

He made no note of acknowledging Moria's body, just gazing neutrally at the group.

Bad didn't even begin to describe their current situation.

Bartholomew Kuma was an unknown quantity but there was nothing good from him being here, after they just beat his ally in battle.

"Can I grab everyone and run in time?" Rosan thought to Robin.

Robin raised a brow in shock, not believing Rosan offered the chance to escape first.

"Yes, that's the best chance."

Rosan nodded imperceptibly. "Bartholomew Kuma… do you have business with us?" He asked, having his bird go to where Sanji kept them..

"Wake them up. Make them group up so I can do it in one fell swoop," Rosan ordered.

"I do," Kuma said calmly. "I was sent by the World Government to inform Moria of various things, including the threat of the Straw Hats… but it seems you've already made your statement."

Rosan scowled. "He attacked us first… but I doubt that matters to you."

Kuma was as robotic as Rosan used to be, face not revealing a single thing. "Contrary to belief, I have no interest in capturing the Straw Hats. "

The redhead snorted. "You probably still have something you want, right? No one who meets me ever just leaves me alone," he pointed out with a scowl.

"Rosan!" Robin hissed at him.

"I'm just making conversation to distract him! Am I wrong anyways?!" He retorted, raising a brow.

"…" Kuma said nothing. It was impossible for even Rosan to tell what he was thinking.

"Portgas D. Rosan, I have heard of your escapades but as mentioned, I was not sent here on explicit orders to capture the Straw Hats," Kuma told him politely, not a single inflection in his voice.

That was another thing. Kuma kept referring to him by his actual name, Portgas D. Rosan.

No one called him that. The higher ups of the World Government should know but why did Kuma know?

Rosan gazed at Kuma like he were some type of puzzle. "What do you want?" He asked warily.

Kuma held his gaze and Rosan felt a strange discomfort in the situation.

Rosan could read everyone with his eyes. Even the slightest of inflections, would be caught my him.

There were more unnerving things about his eyes then just their appearance. He could see everything a person hoped to hide.

But Bartholomew Kuma was almost a complete anomaly. Rosan could barely glean anything from him and that was an idea that was almost foreign to him.

It wasn't often that someone remained a mystery to Rosan... it was rather unnerving.

Was this how people felt looking at him?

Who was Bartholomew Kuma?

Kuma said nothing for a moment, almost looking as if he didn't register Rosan's words.

"There are things that I'd like to test. A test of loyalty. Succeed and I will let you leave this island without catching a single one," he said truthfully.

Rosan raised a brow. "A test of loyalty? In Luffy?" He asked incredulously.

That was stupid. If it was a test to see how loyal everyone was to Luffy, they'd all pass with flying colors. Everyone in the crew had unshakeable loyalty in their captain —

"No. In you."

Rosan went cold.

Faster than he could even blink, Kuma appeared in front of him.

He was in one spot before, then in front of him with the only sound being a pop.

Rosan shoved the stunned Robin away with wide eyes, right before Kuma grabbed him with his gloved hand.

The redhead grunted as he was clasped with startling ease.

The scout of the Straw Hats opened his mouth and immediately began bathing the man in flames, intent on melting him for daring to leave such an opening…

To no effect. Rosan's eyes went wide in confusion at seeing Kuma not even let out a noise of discomfort.

It was as if his flames, Rosan's flames, had no effect on him.

Fine, he'd just up the power.

"You have a turbulent past, Portgas D. Rosan," Kuma said idly.

The giant Warlord began removing his glove, revealing the paws on his palm. "A past that you don't want anyone to know of, but has caused you a great amount of suffering."

What was Kuma talking about? How did he know this stuff?

"How does he...?" Mod asked in concern.

Rosan's eyes were terribly confused, panic seeping into him as Kuma seemed to see through him in a way that only the people he had shared the most intimate of moments with, saw.

Who did he think he was?! How dare he pretend like he knew Rosan so intimately?!

"Rosan!" Robin shouted in concern, summoning arms to try and restrain Kuma.

Her eyes narrowed in confusion at not feeling human skin underneath him and when she tried to contort any part of his body, the Warlord merely glanced over.

What… What was he…? Was Kuma even human? Able to resist Rosan's fire... having such tough skin...

"That is unwise, Nico Robin. I have no interest in engaging in combat with you all. I've stated this already but if you insist, I will capture all of you," Kuma intoned emotionlessly.

"Robin stop!" Rosan said, struggling in Kuma's unyielding grasp. "Don't! Go get everyone else!"

"But Rosan!" She shouted in return, not willing to back down for a second.

"Just get them!" Rosan snarled, eyes transforming into slits as his teeth bared.

Robin nodded hesitantly and went to go retrieve the Straw Hats, glancing back at Rosan in visible concern and increasing her speed.

"If you begin transforming, you won't be here to protect your crew. It will take you a long time to come back and by then, it will already be too late," Kuma said disarmingly.

Rosan froze as those words washed over them.

"A truth."

"Are you just here to kill me then?" He asked quietly, canceling Ragnarok's transformation and gazing at Kuma with heated eyes.

Kuma didn't even flinch at the glare. Rosan was beginning to think that the man had no emotions, exactly like he used to be.

"Nothing like that," the Warlord said truthfully. "Your crew is weak," he said idly.

Rosan stiffened.

"While it's true I have no interest in destroying the Straw Hats. My orders were to eliminate all of you in the event of Moria's defeat… but you alone, will suffice."

"Portgas D. Rosan… the Red Devil. Among the Straw Hats, you, along with Straw Hat Luffy, are quite the topic of discussion. I'm sure if I turn you or Straw Hat in, they will be satisfied."

"…" the redhead said nothing as he digested that. "I'll fight you with all I have."

"You will not win as you are now."

"A truth."

Kuma fully believed in his capabilities of defeating Rosan.

"…" Rosan huffed. "I'll still fight you with all I have. You won't lay a hand on them."

The redhead vanished from Kuma's grasp, appearing slightly in front of the staggering Luffy.

"R-Rosan? Are we gonna fight that guy?!" Luffy asked in concern, getting ready.

"...No," Rosan denied. "I'm going to fight him. Alone," he grunted.

His crew was badly injured from the fight earlier. That shockwave earlier, nearly took out both Luffy and Robin, not to mention they were also drained from the fight with Moria...

That meant he was in the best position to fight Bartholomew Kuma.

Luffy shook his head in refusal. "But that guy's strong and we're all tired! I'm not letting you fight him alone!" the captain declared.

"…" Rosan huffed quietly. "Kuma, fight me. One on one. It's me you want right? All these words you're saying boil down to one thing... and that's me."

It was also Luffy but Rosan was trying to distract the man from his little brother.

Kuma stared silently at him. "Are you implying that I should only attempt to capture you?" the Warlord said quietly.

The redhead chanced a glance at Luffy, at his little brother and sighed. "Every terrible misdeed that the Straw Hats have done… in actuality it's been one person, me. They are good people. I'm the one who's bad," he said quietly.

Luffy's eyes bugged in disbelief. "WHAT?! NO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, ROSAN?!" He roared in fury, stepping up to his brother without any hesitation and grabbing his shirt.

"…" Rosan stared at his furious brother and shut his eyes. "You guys aren't the one who destroyed Enies Lobby. I was. You guys didn't massacre the Marines in Alabasta. I did. Kuma is here because my actions have caught up to me… so I'm going to fight with all I have to remain free, but I don't need you all to incriminate yourselves either," he told his brother gently.

"I don't care about any of that! You're apart of my crew!" Luffy denied with a scowl. "Anything you did, is because I approved it as your captain! If its your fault, then its my fault too!"

"And that's why the crew still needs you," Rosan thought fondly. "I've got dibs Luffy. This is my fight."

Luffy's eyes widened in disbelief. "You... What are you doing, Rosan?!" the rubber boy asked.

"You think I'll let you get captured?! If they take you away, I'll get you back! You aren't leaving me!" Luffy barked in genuine anger. "This isn't what you want to do, Rosan! You hate being alone! You don't wanna leave us! Stop acting like this!"

Ram transformed into a set of gauntlets as Rosan stared off at Kuma. "It's not something I want to do, it's something I have to do. I'm the second in command. It's my job to step up when you aren't able to," he said calmly.

"I'll win this fight, don't worry Luffy," he reassured.

Luffy furrowed his brow. "Fine but if you lose... I won't let them take you. I'll get you back no matter what."

Kuma said nothing for a moment, gauging the words of the Red Devil. "Owning up to your own actions… how admirable, Portgas D. Rosan."

The Warlord appeared directly in front of Rosan, staring down at the fearless redhead.

"I refuse," the Warlord said suddenly.

Rosan stiffened.

"I have no interest in fighting any of you at this moment," Kuma informed him. "There's something else I'm here for, then I will let you all go freely."

The redhead raised a brow in confusion. "What… is that?" He asked slowly.

"A test, in loyalty."

Rosan's brows furrowed again, before his eyes widened and a raspy groan left him, as a paw print embedded itself onto his chest.

The redhead collapsed onto a knee in shock, before he began to push himself up once more, eyes blazing in fury, as sparks began dancing off his skin.

Another shockwave forced him to the floor and Rosan snarled in fury.

He launched himself up and slammed a fist against Kuma's face, discharging electricity at the same time.

Before his fist connected, Kuma held up a hand and redirected his fist, completely changing the course.

Rosan only had a moment to compute the strange attack, before he was immediately captured in a paw.

"ROSAN!" Luffy shouted in a panic, rushing up to the redhead with a look of concern.

Rosan's eyes narrowed in confusion and he began thrashing in his prison.

"He has the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi…" Mod muttered in concern.

Oh if only she hadn't made Rosan use up his energy while in control.

"It's fine. This isn't nearly enough to neutralize me," Rosan scowled.

"So you've finally all arrived," Kuma said, regarding the approaching Straw Hats with a blank expression.

The Straw Hats gazed at Kuma in shock, before gazing at the trapped Rosan that froze at their arrival.

Robin was gazing at him with narrowed eyes before saying, "Kuma… Rosan has not done all those acts alone. I was a very willing participant as well. So if you plan on capturing him, I will be fighting you too."

Ah so she heard that… damn.

"I wasn't trying to sacrifice myself," Rosan said through their connection.

"I know. You planned on fighting him with all you had… but you also tried to shoulder all the blame onto yourself. We are a couple, Rosan. We're in this together!" She said firmly.

"We're in a terrible situation. Kuma can… he can defeat us all so I was at the very least, hoping to take his attention off of you all," Rosan muttered, getting ready to activate his Save Point to get out of this compressed air.

"Straw Hats, how much do you truly know about Portgas D. Rosan? Do you trust him? Do you think he trusts you?" Kuma asked them suddenly.

Rosan froze completely, a cold feeling coursing through his veins that transformed into a blizzard, as Kuma began pushing something out of his body.

The redhead let out a strangled rasp, as an orange paw, slowly but surely pushed out of him. He stared at it with wild confused eyes.

"ROSAN?!" The Straw Hats shouted in shock, watching as the giant orb floated out of him.

What… was that? What was this paw?

"Portgas D. Rosan is a naturally secretive person," Kuma began conversationally. "A man who holds his past close to his chest. Even to you all, he hasn't revealed all of it."

Rosan's eyes widened in horror and the Straw Hats saw a rare look of fear cross his features.

"This bubble houses all a majority of his memories and emotions," Kuma informed them, looking utterly unfazed as Rosan vanished from his prison.

The redhead launched himself at Kuma with a frenzied look in his gaze. Their scout looked more akin to a feral animal, as he immediately closed the distance.

No sooner did he close the distance, did Kuma idly tap the redhead with his palm.

The Straw Hats froze, as a shockwave boomed through the air… and it took them awhile to realize it was Rosan's body flying past them at speeds they could barely see.

The redhead crashed into a stone pillar at ridiculous speeds, going directly through it with a strangled gasp of fury as he continued flying.

"What is he?!" They all thought, gazing at the Warlord with nervous eyes.

"What do you want?" Robin asked, visibly concerned at what this bubble entailed.

Rosan's memories… his emotions?

"In order to grow as a crew, it's imperative that the shadow captain of the Straw Hats, is trusted fully by his crew and vice versa. A crew who has even one member lacking trust, is one destined to fail."

Kuma gazed at them all. "His sins, troubles, fears… all of it is in this bubble. In order to save the Red Devil, you must find the root problem of his concerns. In order to find the root problems of his concerns, you must understand his concerns."

It was quickly dawning on the Straw Hats, what Kuma wanted from them and they all gained uneasy expressions.

"Touch this bubble. Learn of the Red Devil. If you are able to accept Portgas D. Rosan after everything you've seen, if you still have the resolve to save him after what you experience… then you are free."

"And if we don't?" Zoro asked seriously.

"Then I will capture him."

The Straw Hats went straight at that.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!"

Rosan had a look of true fear on his face as he rushed them. "Don't touch it. Don't… You can't touch that bubble!" He panicked, eyes wide.

"Don't touch that bubble. I… I'll deal with him just… just don't touch that bubble," Rosan begged.

His memories… his emotions. No… no no no. Don't touch it. No one should touch that.

No one could handle his memories. No one could live the hell that he had been forced to live... to experience it in full... no this couldn't happen.

He didn't want them to know everything. He didn't want them to know just how afraid of revealing his past he was. He didn't want them to hate him. He could handle everyone's hate… but not theirs.

"This is not for you to decide, Portgas D. Rosan," Kuma said idly.

Rosan looked like a rabid animal, gaze locking onto Kuma. "Don't make them touch that bubble, Kuma!" He roared, launching himself at the Warlord.

Kuma vanished from his spot, avoiding the red energy blasts with ease.

Rosan roared in pure rage, going utterly feral as he rushed the man with reckless abandon.

"Rosan please! You're not thinking straight!" Mod panicked, overwhelmed by his rush of emotions and the events currently taking place.

"You'd allow yourself to get taken, before allowing them to touch that bubble?" Kuma asked, redirecting another bout of flames from the redhead.

"Is your past that important to you? Just what have you gone through, Portgas D. Rosan?" The Warlord asked curiously.

Just what have you gone through?

Robin's eyes narrowed in distraught at how desperate Rosan was currently acting. He was… so afraid.

She knew Rosan's past like the back of her hands. She was aware of why he was reluctant to show it… but never had he shown such fear at the idea.

Rosan was… Rosan was afraid of the Straw Hats opinion changing of him… He didn't want his ugly past to be revealed to them. He didn't want them to look at him the way everyone else did.

"All of you," Robin said quietly, walking up to the bubble. "We should touch the bubble. If this is all it takes to get out of this situation, the decision is easy, isn't it?"

Luffy nodded without any hesitation, marching up to the bubble with determination.

"Rosan thinks we'll change our minds about him… that's why he's afraid," Luffy said to his crew.

Zoro sighed in disbelief before walking up to the bubble. "That's why he's so afraid? Him and Robin can be so stupid sometimes if things like this matter. Stop overthinking."

Sanji glared at Zoro as he took place next to him. "Robin's not as stupid as that shitty redhead if he thinks this is enough to scare us off him."

Nami nodded in agreement as she gazed at the bubble with a hint of nervousness. "I already call him big bro. I dunno why he thought I'd stop if I learned more about him."

"Yeah!" Chopper said in determination. "I'm already gonna be a monster! This is nothing!"

"Rosan already scares me! He can't scare me more!" Usopp declared, nervously glancing at the bubble despite his bravado but not faltering for a second.

"Red seemed really afraid… his past must be rough," Franky pondered, before feeling his resolve settle. "That doesn't matter! He's our bro!"

Brook looked at the Straw Hats in awe. "Even if he doesn't want you to do so, you still choose to do it without hesitation? Why? What makes you ignore his wishes?" He asked in surprise.

Robin was the one to answer. "Rosan fears what we'll think so we're going to show him that it's all unwarranted. I've already seen it all… but I'll see it a million times until he understands, there's nothing to be worried about."

"Yeah! He's our scout!" Luffy beamed. "Now get in here Brook, he said all the Straw Hats!"

Brook froze at that, before nodding hesitantly and approaching the bubble.

Rosan let out a furious howl at seeing every single one of his attacks be negated by Kuma. Whatever he did was either redirected or teleported away from.

Not to mention, the man's body was ridiculously tough. The hits Rosan landed, were weathered dreadfully well and the redhead was just about to finally start busting out the more lethal attacks.

"Oh, it seems like they've made their decision," Kuma suddenly said.

Rosan felt his whole world stop at that.

Hesitantly, the redhead turned back just in time to see every single person in his crew, dive into the memory bubble.

"No…" Rosan said in dread, watching the bubble vanish at once. "No no no no. You can't… You shouldn't… my memories… my emotions… you can't," he whispered.

This wasn't. They weren't supposed to… Rosan wasn't ready for them to see it all.

"YOU CAN'T!" Rosan screeched, eyes going wide in terror. "STOP! DON'T! WHY DO YOU WANT TO SEE MY HELL?! I TOLD YOU IDIOTS NOT TO TOUCH IT! WHY DID YOU TOUCH IT?!" he howled.

No no no! Why weren't they listening? What didn't they understand?! Why?! Why did they want to hate him?! Why did they want to look at him like he looked at himself?! W-Why?!

At once, every Straw Hat's eyes glazed over and they collapsed.

"Why?" Rosan asked numbly, not even noticing that he was shaking. He didn't even notice Kuma walking away from the scene. "Why do you want them to see my hell? Why do you want them to live in the hell that I've lived in."

"I've already stated the reason multiple times," Kuma said calmly, unphased by Rosan's mental breakdown. "A test. Of loyalty. You've proven your loyalty to them but you refuse to let them prove their loyalty to you. I'm merely giving them the opportunity to do so."

"Why are you doing this?" Rosan whispered. "What did I do to you? Why do you know me? Why... why won't any of you ever just leave me alone?"

"...An interesting choice of questions. Perhaps after this encounter, some of your answers will be found. May we meet again, Portgas D. Rosan," Kuma said.

With that, the Warlord vanished and Rosan was left staring at his unconscious crewmates.

The redhead began shuddering as he slowly approached them.

His memories… his emotions…

They would see it. Even Robin, who had seen his memories, hadn't actually felt the emotions he himself had been feeling.

They would feel all of it. His despair, his rage, his helplessness, his hatred, his self hatred…

His complete apathy.

All of it. They'd see the people he killed, they'd see the horrific ways they died… they'd see Rosan getting tortured... they'd see Rosan witness his mother's death, they'd see Rosan witness Meiko's death…

They'd even see the things Rosan never intended to tell them about.

"Rosan… It's okay," Mod said quietly, watching as the redhead began shuddering even more.

"Father please... it'll be okay," Ram sniffed, tears appearing at seeing the distraught in his eyes.

But Rosan did not hear them.

All of it… even the things sacred to himself.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rosan opened his mouth and let out a scream of frustration that reverberated through all of Thriller Bark.