Crickets chirped loudly and somewhat annoyingly as the moon drifted lazily across the sky. Nick felt himself shiver slightly as the cool night air gently caressed his skin with soft, tender touches. As good as the breeze felt, he could do with it being a bit less nippy.

The man in front of him, one Roronoa Zoro, didn't seem to notice the cold at all, having trained his body to resist the paltry attempts of nature to influence him.

The jacket he wore helped too.

The pair of them were currently heading toward the docks ready and willing to put a stop to the attacks, with or without extreme prejudice. Considering this was the final night before the deadline, it was highly likely they would perform one last hurrah.

Too bad for them, it would never come to pass. Not so long as Nick and Zoro were on the job. However, as powerful as they were, there was one foe who's might they may not be able to overcome.

And that was Zoro's sense of direction.

Seriously, how was it possible for somebody to get lost walking in a straight fucking line? Nick's had to recover the wandering samurai several times now, and one of those times he made it all the way back to the mansion!

And twice to their boat!

So now he walked behind him, forcefully moving him in the right direction, much to Zoro's chagrin. The green haired bastard even had the nerve to blame Nick for them getting lost.

So what should have taken them about ten minutes to accomplish took them nearly a whole goddamn hour. Nick was exhausted before the battle even started. If he got his ass kicked, he was blaming Zoro.

"Finally, we're here," muttered Nick with dead eyes, as he came to stand beside his companion. The gentle crashing of the waves greeted him like an old friend as they stood at the entrance of the shipyards.

"Would have gotten here faster if you didn't keep wandering off," said Zoro. Nick's left eye gained a manic twitch as he slowly and robotically turned to face the swordsman.

"Excuse me? What did you say?" he whispered in anger and disbelief. He wasn't sure which emotion was more prominent, but he was leaning toward the first one.

"You heard me. Who gets lost walking in a straight line?" asked Zoro, voice dripping with sarcasm as he threw Nick's thoughts about him right back in his face. Nick took deep breaths to try and calm himself as Zoro began walking further into the shipyard.

It took him several moments to get his righteous anger under control, but once he did, he followed after the swordsman, knowing that if he didn't, the bastard would just end up lost again.

And they couldn't afford to waste anymore time. So even though Nick wanted nothing more than to strangle the man, he had more important things to worry about. His mind drifted towards the others who were guarding the mansion, or more specifically, Kaya.

The plan Nick came up with was fairly simple, as he figured a complicated one would be too difficult for Luffy to follow. The man practically lived by the motto, "Keep it simple stupid."

Not that Nick had a problem with that, as simplicity had its place. Like Luffy stating all they had to do was beat up the bad guy. A simple solution to a not so simple problem. So why complicate it further? They just needed to hand out a good old fashioned ass whooping like it was candy on Halloween.

And Nick loved Halloween. Of course, that just made him think of Nami in one of those outfits with the "Slutty" tag written on it. Like a nurse, or a cop, or a cat girl. Now that was some candy he could get behind.

Literally.

Back on topic, they split their forces. Nick and Zoro went to the docks to try and catch the ones responsible for the copious amounts of arson, while the others stayed behind and safeguarded Kaya.

If they showed their faces there, then Luffy would punch them in said face until their own mothers wouldn't recognize them. Afterwards, Nami could happily rob their possibly dead bodies.

Win-win for everybody. Well, except for the bad guys, but fuck them.

And Usopp would be there as well. Nick wasn't sure how useful he would be, but at the very least, he could prove to be a decent meat shield. Plus, Nick was sure Kaya felt a bit more at ease with him around, and he wouldn't begrudge the poor girl of that.

However, when Nick told them the plan, some of them took issue with it. And by some of them, he means Luffy. The little bugger threw one hell of a hissy fit..

"Why do I have to stay here!? I want to kick their ass!"

Dear god he could be loud when he wanted. But more to the point, Nick didn't know who this Bear King guy was, but the chances of him being in cahoots with Klahadore was too high to ignore. And while Nick was pretty sure Zoro could handle the butler, he wasn't willing to take that risk, no matter how small it may have been.

Why gamble when he knew Luffy could beat him?

So if that sneaky fuck of a butler decides to make his move before the deadline in the letter, they had their best waiting in the wings to take him out. And if lover boy showed up, Luffy could just kick his ass too.

Nice and simple.

But still, he couldn't help the swell of anxiety that rose from the pit of his stomach. Dealing with Buggy showed him that this is not some carefree shonen world where death is often an off screen consequence.

No, it was very real, with very real stakes involved. Syrup Village was another one of those arcs with a somewhat joke villain. The guy chose a cat motif for his pirate crew for goodness sake! How could you take that guy seriously?

Sure, they said he was supposed to be super smart or whatever, but how smart was it to play dress up with your crew?

Not to mention the Michael Jackson ripoff. Top that sundae off with a long nosed liar who exaggerated things to a ridiculous degree and you had one funny tasting dessert. It should have been a quick, beat the asshole and move on kind of island.

To be fair, it still kind of was, but now there was a new asshole to deal with, one Nick has never heard of. Who knows what he was capable of. If he could use Haki, they were royally screwed.

In a normal story, you don't often have the hero face off against a threat they can't beat, unless they were never meant to beat them in the first place. Oftentimes, that led to some kind of tragedy that spurred them on. Home destroyed, family dead, lover kidnapped; that sort of thing.

But this wasn't a story anymore, and as much as Nick loved a good, tragic backstory, that doesn't mean he wanted to be part of one. Tragedy wasn't nearly as compelling when it involved the people you know.

"Quit worrying about the others. Focus on the here and now," chastised Zoro, not turning back to look at his traveling companion. Nick raised an eyebrow at the man's back, slightly unnerved by how easy he was to read.

"What are you psychic now?" Nick joked, trying to ease the tension he felt. It worked, somewhat, but the feeling refused to leave completely.

"Tsk, I can practically hear your thoughts. Luffy's with them, they'll be fine. So get your head out of the clouds."

"Aw, you do care," swooned Nick, much to the swordsman's chagrin. The scruffy other-worlder snickered a bit at Zoro's mumbled griping. But he did feel a bit better about the whole thing.

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So this is what having real friends is like. Nick could get used to it. Far better than the fair weather assholes he's surrounded himself with up until this point. The kind who only cared about how your friendship benefited them.

And the green haired man was right. There was nothing he could do now but play his own part and worrying excessively over the others, mostly Nami, wouldn't do him any good. Best to just focus on not getting the shit kicked out of him again.

God help him if these guys had a bear with them too. Actually, they were cats weren't they? So does that mean he would have to deal with another lion instead? Or maybe the so-called Bear King had one? Nick sincerely hoped not. One was more than enough, thank you very much.

The two of them continued on their way through the familiar landscape of the shipyard, and Nick only had to steer Zoro in the right direction twice so far. It was somewhat eerie, with the light from the moon blocked by some clouds and with just how fucking quiet it was.

Not to mention the blood trails on the ground. Really added to the whole horror vibe they were going with here.

…Hang on, something about that didn't seem quite right.

The pair stopped in their tracks, and Zoro knelt down to inspect the ground. "Blood," he stated simply, confirming Nick's fears. Looking around, he spotted several more trails just like the one in front of them, all heading in the same direction.

"Shit. Looks like we were too late," said Nick. What he didn't say was whose fault it was. Next time he would tie a piece of rope to the swordsman and drag him down the right path like a dog on a leash.

"Damn it," muttered Zoro as he stood up. The duo then began following the path of the blood, quickly but cautiously as it led them straight to none other than Pett's ship. But as they neared it, the clouds parted, giving way to a radiant burst of moonlight, shining down on the world below.

And what they saw made their blood run cold.

Dangling from the mast like they were sails were several figures, rope tied around their necks, lifeless bodies gently swaying in the evening breeze. Dried blood covered their bodies, with small puddles coalescing beneath them.

And if that wasn't bad enough, they could see Pett himself, crucified against the center mast. They couldn't make out too many details from this distance, but what they could see didn't paint a pretty picture.

"What the fuck…" muttered Nick in disbelief, eyes wide at the sight. Nick knew dealing with pirates was a messy business, considering his own brief experience with them, but seeing if from the outside was a different experience entirely.

"That's one way to get someone's attention. Bastards," growled out Zoro, hand gripping a sword in anger. He would make them pay for this.

"No kidding," whispered Nick, feeling a bit ill from the sight. "We should check to see if they're still alive."

"Right," Zoro agreed, though he doubted anyone was still breathing. And if they were, they probably wished they weren't. "Don't let your guard down."

"Didn't plan on it," Nick said. He doubted he could even if he wanted to. His whole body felt wired, like he drank 1,000 Red Bulls and got actual fucking wings from the damn things. His eyes hyper focused on every movement, no matter how small, and his ears twitched at every sound, no matter how faint.

The pair quickly but cautiously made their way onto the boat, knowing it was likely a trap. How could it not be? But they had little choice but to fall right into it.

Actually, they could run like hell in the other direction, but neither one even considered that option. Both wanted revenge for the barbaric treatment of the dock workers. Violence such as that must be met with equal or greater violence. It was basic math.

Especially Zoro, who recognized two of them as the men he had drinks with when he first got here. His eyes narrowed in fury at the sight of them hanging there. They were good men who didn't deserve this.

The smell of blood and death grew exponentially with every step they took onto the ship. Every instinct telling them to go the other direction, but they ignored it.

Barely audible breathing could be heard as they neared the crucified man. It was labored, desperate, the sound making Nick wince from second hand misery. He was glad the man was still alive, but the sound was awful.

His body was lacerated in several spots, his body looking like it lost a fight with a bobcat, which might not be too far off the mark. The visible parts of his body were swollen and bruised, showing clear signs of torture.

But the worst part was his hands. Arms raised above his head, both hands nailed together to the mast, fingers twitching sporadically. His midsection was tied to the mast by a rope, which was likely the only thing holding him up.

Nick wasn't sure the man was even conscious. It would probably be better if he wasn't, considering his condition. But he was also pretty sure it was a bad thing to be asleep if he had a concussion, and given the lump on his head and the blood dripping from it, that was a pretty good bet.

"Pett. Hey Pett," whispered Nick, trying to get the man's attention. But it was no use, he was clearly too out of it. The only response he got was a fluttering of his closed eyes.

"We need to get him out of here," said Nick, reaching up to rip out the nail. Usually when someone was bleeding as bad as he was it would be better to leave it in, so he didn't bleed to death, but considering it was literally trapping him there, Nick felt he had little choice.

"Hang on," commanded Zoro. Nick looked back at the man, only to see him glaring up at the rest of the victims, swaying in the wind.

"For what?" Nick asked incredulously. He too shifted his gaze towards the other men, the ones who were almost certainly dead. And that's when he noticed something rather concerning.

There was a missing body. In its place was an empty noose, gently swaying back and forth, mocking them.

When they boarded the ship, there were seven bodies put on display. Four on one side of the mast, and three on the other. But now, there were three on both sides. One of them went awol.

Well fuck. Does that mean they were dealing with zombies, because that was not on his to do list for the evening. Or ever, if he was honest.

Hang on… Wasn't there an island with zombies on it or something? Nick was pretty sure he saw an amv like that. You know it's Thriller! Thriller night! If that bootleg copy of Michael's shows up, he was going to lose it.

Zoro gripped the handle on one of his katana, ready to draw it at a moment's notice as he scanned the area for their missing body. Nick doing the same, hoping he didn't hear the sound of something moaning for brains.

What he did hear might have actually been worse. It was the sound of crying. But not just any crying, oh no, that would be too easy. It was the sound of crying coming from the dearly departed. Of a ghost trying to lure in children to be its next meal.

It sounded like that witch from that game. Nick struggled to remember the name. It was just so long ago. Left for… Head? No, that sounded like a porn parody. But it was something like that. Left for… Dead! That was it! Left for Dead.

He remembered playing it with some friends before, you know, the ones who hated stormy weather, and while going through a level, mowing down zombies like it was going out of style, they heard the sound of crying.

Just like now. Only it turned out to be some crazy bitch who murdered them all in a frenzy. Scared the shit out of him. He most certainly did not Rule 34 her in revenge. Nope, not him.

The rest of the internet though… He couldn't speak for those bunch of weirdos.

And that was the sound he heard right now, only slightly more masculine, but it still sent shivers down his spine.

"What the hell is that?" asked Zoro.

"Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it's telling us to leave," said Nick, with sweat dripping down his brow. He did not want to fuck with whatever was making that creep ass noise. Even if it wasn't some kind of zombie, witch demon, it still sounded like something that wanted to tickle him on the inside.

"Don't be such a wuss and help me find the damn thing," muttered Zoro, but Nick wasn't fooled. Not by a long shot. It was clear Zoro was a little freaked out as well. He could only imagine how Usopp would handle this.

He'd probably play dead.

"I'd really rather not," Nick complained, but complied nonetheless. But he did have to wonder just what was going on with this arc that he now had to deal with some kind of ghostly abomination. It wasn't right.

As the two of them walked towards the sound of the voice, the wailing only got louder. Big shocker. They walked up some steps, towards the back of the ship, and wouldn't you know it, that's where it was. Hunched over and creepy as fuck.

It looked like a man. A very tall man, rocking himself back and forth, facing away from them and towards the ocean. Nick could barely make out the green hair of the individual in the dark, but it was there.

Who did he know that had green hair? Besides Zoro that is. He was pretty sure one of Klahadore's minions had green hair, but he wasn't positive.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" asked Zoro, threateningly. The man stopped rocking, but didn't answer the question. He just sat there, as quiet as a mouse in a house full of cats.

"Didn't you hear me? I said, who the hell are you?" Zoro repeated. Nick was starting to get even more nervous, as a cold gust of wind danced along his skin, making him shiver.

"He's coming…" said the figure in front of them, slowly turning towards them.

"Huh? Who's coming?" asked Zoro. It was clear from his tone he was getting sick of whatever game the other man was playing, and was just about to carve him up to save himself the trouble of having to deal with him.

And honestly, Nick would let him. Dude in front of them was giving off some serious serial killer vibes, and he didn't want to be his next victim.

"The bad man…" responded the guy. They could now see his face, which had tear streaks running down it, falling in rivers from red, puffy eyes.

"What bad man? Wait, you don't mean uncle Jim-Bob do you!?" Nick shouted with horror. The two green haired men gave him confused looks that would be the textbook definition of WTF. Nick coughed into his hand and looked away with a blush on his face.

"Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"Listen, I don't have time for this bullshit. Either tell me who you are or I'll carve you like a pumpkin," Zor threatened. Again. Nick was starting to wonder if that was the only way he knew how to communicate.

The man opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes widened in fear and he pointed behind them, "The bad man! He's right there!"

Zoro, sensing danger, quickly drew his sword, doing so right in the nick of time. His sword met something, a loud clang ringing out across the docks.

The battle for Syrup Village had officially begun.