r/whowouldwin • u/RobstahTheLobstah ​ • Mar 04 '21

Event Character Scramble Season 14 Round 1B: Thriller Night!

Round 1B is over! To vote, please fill out this form with your picks!

Voting will close at 7pm PDT on Saturday, March 27. Remember, if you're competing and don't vote, you'll be disqualified!

The Character Scramble is a writing prompt tournament originally started by /u/mrcelophane where people compete to write the best story they can. At the beginning, everyone submits characters that meet the guidelines, then those characters are randomized and distributed evenly. From then on, every couple of weeks there's a new writing prompt for everyone to follow. At the end of the round, everyone votes for who they think should advance, until we have our winner at the end. The winner at the end of the tournament gets to choose the theme, tier, and rules of the next scramble, along with a nice custom flair as their reward. The current theme is based on the anime One Piece, and to fit the tier, submissions must be near-even in power level with 616 Luke Cage.

Without further ado, let’s set sail!

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Brackets - This round is for matches 9-16 ONLY. Matches 1-8 are in Round 1A and Matches 17-27 will be in Round 1C.

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Round 1B: Thriller Night

The Grand Line is mysterious and full of terrors. Those who dare set sail upon these waters must be ready to face the hostile unknown. However, even the hardiest of seafarers tremble when faced with the dark nature of the Florian Triangle. Ships sail into the thick fog that plagues the area, and are never seen again. Those that make it through speak of their tales in hushed tones; journeys that bring the greatest fears of humanity to life. A nightmarish sea that rattles pirate, marine, and any other poor soul to the core.

This is where your characters find themselves in their journey. The fog makes everything around here a little hard to see, but honestly, it’s not so bad. Maybe all the rumours just compounded into a boogeyman of a sea, and the real danger was nothing more than fear itself. Florian Triangle? More like Bore-ian triangle, am I right?

Nope, never mind. One of your crew just got their shadow stolen. This stuff is definitely real.

Through some mysterious force of the Florian Triangle (or whatever you deem fit), it’s as if the soul has been stripped from the character’s body. They may find themselves feeling sick, maybe weaker, but now is not the time for rest. You have to get that thing back, and soon. The cover of night only lasts so long, and those without a Shadow who find themselves touched by daylight will soon be dead.

The shadow has been taken away to a landmass called Thriller Bark, a gigantic island that floats aimlessly around the Florian Triangle like an abandoned ship. The grey earth and decaying wood that adorn this country/island is accompanied by something else that is near death: Zombies. The dead walk again on the land of Thriller Bark, fuelled by shadows of unfortunate fools. One shambling corpse amidst this sea of bodies contains the specific soul you need, and you’re gonna have to beat it out of them.

And along the way, you just may find another unfortunate soul who found themselves stranded in this strange sea...

Normal Rules

Sanji’s Cooking, Chopper’s Doctoring: Look at all these obscure characters in the scramble! Give a brief summary of your characters in your post. Be sure to mention things like powers, personality, weaknesses, just stuff that the average reader should know before reading.

I’m Gonna be King of The Pirates!: Scramble is the story of your team winning. Even if the odds of you winning are 1 in 100, explain those odds in the analysis and then show us that 1 miracle run.

A Good Pirate Never Takes Another Person’s Property: Characters are assumed to be at the same power level at which they started the tournament at all times. To clarify, this means you would not be able to loot Captain America of his shield if you beat him in a previous round, or otherwise gain a competitive advantage based on anything that happened in a previous round. This is to aid your opponent in research of your character. This rule doesn’t apply to changes to your characters that occur in your own overarching narrative.

Due Date: Round 1B is due on Monday, March 22, at 7pm PST. At that time, the thread will be locked and the voting form will go up.

Round Rules

Your Soul is Mine: One of your character’s shadows (soul, spirit, whatever word you prefer) has been stolen (whether by the enemy team, some zombies, an NPC, or just some ole’ Grand Line Magic), and it’s your job to get it back. How are you gonna do that? Well, beat the crap out of the zombie it got stuck in! It’s in there somewhere… You just gotta find it. And better do it before dawn, too, or else the shadow-less is gonna do a whole lot worse than sparkle in the sunlight they’ll die, they will be vaporized and die.

Your Own Monster Trio: Woah, who’s that? Your third team member? Cool! How does this come about? That’s where you come in. Are they an unfortunate soul who also had their shadow taken? Are they a benevolent force abandoned in these mysterious waters? Maybe they’re the one behind the entire Florian Triangle. Whatever the case, it’s time for character number three.

You Gonna Finish That?: If your devil fruit was not consumed in some way already, you must have it consumed in this prompt. Let’s see those powers!

Post Limit: For this round, you have a post limit of 6 posts or 60k characters.

Flavour Rules

Zombie See, Zombie Do: When a zombie is imbued with someone’s shadow, that zombie gains the physical mannerisms and abilities of that person. That means that the zombie you’re seeking will be acting and fighting like whoever’s shadow got stolen. Who knows, there might be some interesting shadows among these zombies…

Travel Guide: Thriller Bark is an island that got made into a ship, but then it went into the Florian Triangle, and now it’s an island that got turned into a ghost ship. Yikes. This island (and the whole Florian Triangle itself) is full of dark mysteries and ghoulish nightmares; in other words, this is the horror-themed one. If you need more info, you can always check Big News Morgans’ Big News Brochures.

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u/InverseFlash Mar 22 '21 edited Mar 22 '21

Chapter 1: The Devil's Playground

Banagher woke up on the deck of the First Responder with a start. Something was off, something was off, what was it?

Oh, right. He was stranded.

Banagher crawled to his knees, choosing to ignore a suspicious stain on his shirt that smelled like yesterday's breakfast. The last thing he remembered, that Fire Force boy had somehow propelled the boat into the Grand Line and defeated Lieutenant Smoker. He was clearly a pirate.

Banagher was fascinated. This was his chance to finally meet the other side of the war, and see what made them tick. He relished the prospect. Oop--relish.

As Banagher heaved his guts over the gunwale, Shinra also woke up.

The deck was much less comfy than his hammock, but he'd have to make do. With any luck, he could make Arthur scrub this part, and leave a few surprises for him. Shinra chuckled.

Arthur is in jail.

He sat straight up. Luckily, there was a full moon tonight, so Shinra could see the carnage left as souvenirs from his battle with Lieutenant Smoker. The splintered deck, the missing mainmast, the general carnage that occurred when he fought someone powerful. He would've liked to ask Smoker some questions about Sho and the rest of the 8th, but those questions would have to wait. “I’m coming, Sho,” he said quietly.

He looked over and saw the boy he had… liberated… sitting on the deck. Contrary to what Shinra had expected, the boy was not sobbing hysterically and/or cowering in fear. His bright eyes gazed at the starry night sky, filled with wonder and awe. Time to burst the kid’s bubble.

“Yo,” he called. “Sorry for kidnapping you.”

The kid looked over at him. Shinra was struck by how simple the boy seemed, then had to remind himself that he was from a different hemisphere. News of how his mother died had never reached this side of the world. Shinra was grateful. Nobody had really seen him as a normal boy ever since then, or if they had, the relief was quickly swamped in a sea of negativity. The way the kid looked at him, with adoration, not a trace of hate, was a nice break in pace.

The boy waved back. “Are you a real pirate?” he asked. Shinra’s heart sank. This kid is some pirate groupie! He needed to change the kid’s mind, fast.

“No I am not a pirate! I’m a hero! I’m Saves-your-life-Man, Shinra Kusakabe!” Shinra struck a pose he thought would be cool, but his bare foot slipped on a patch of wet wood and he flopped over. The devilish smile he carried so often appeared, but out of exasperation rather than humor.

“Oh? Shinra Kusakabe? Nice to meet you, Shinra,” said the boy, offering him a hand up. “My name is Banagher. Banagher D. Links.” Shinra took Banagher’s hand, and almost pulled Banagher down with him. “Wow, you’re strong,” the boy said.

“Thanks,” said Shinra. “Banagher, why did you think I was a pirate?” This is my sole chance to rework my image, he thought. I need to take advantage while I can, which means no rumors of piracy!

Banagher kicked his foot around on the deck. “Oh, sorry, I just assumed you were. Lieutenant Smoker talked about you in the same way he talked about pirates.” That caused Shinra some alarm.

“You mean, Smoker was planning to catch us from the start?”

“Yes,” Banagher replied, “But he hated that order. After the White Clad came through our town, orders came from up top to execute those who survived. Smoker wouldn’t hear any of it. It seemed too fishy to him, at least that’s what he told me. The same order was issued about your crew--”

“--Company,” Shinra interrupted.

“Company,” Banagher amended. “But I think his hand was forced then. I assume Lieutenant Smoker will take good care of your friends, as best as he can. Or at least, he won’t kill them without due process.”

It was of little comfort to Shinra, but he supposed it would make do. For now, the First Responder was in dire need of repairs. While Shinra had carried out most of the grunt work on the journey over, he had zero experience in shipbuilding. “Best to leave this to the professionals,” he mumbled. Banagher cocked his head.

“We’re going to find a shipbuilder somewhere,” Shinra said. “I want the First Responder fixed up for when I return to Loguetown with the rest of Tokyo’s Fire Force. When they get word that my crew’s been captured, they’ll come help.” Banagher nodded in agreement, but cleared his throat.

“Where is my Mobile Suit?”

Shinra stared blankly back.

“You did something to my Mobile Suit, back at the Marine fort.”

“...”

“You can’t possibly tell me you don’t remember! The thing was bigger than the fortress!”

“A… mobile… suit?”

Banagher sighed. “You lost it. You lost it!” He looked like he wanted to do something, but stopped himself. “I guess that’s fine. Can’t end the war if I have my Mobile Suit, right?” He walked away, and Shinra heard his voice crack. Is he going to cry?

Shinra’s mind clicked, but he put on a feign of having known what it was the entire time. “Oh, you mean the big robot?” he asked smugly.

Banagher was at his feet in a second. “You know where it is! Where’s the Unicorn?”

“The Unicorn?” Shinra scoffed. “You named your big robot the Unicorn?”

“It’s the animal of my family crest I’ll have you know!” Banagher shouted. “It’s perfectly dignified!”

“Why are you getting so defensive then?”

Banagher had no comeback.

Shinra laughed. “Okay, okay. But yeah, I know where it is. It’s in Adolla. I must have taken it there by accident.” He saw Banagher open his mouth and instinctively knew the question that Banagher planned to ask. “Adolla is uh… well, it’s basically Hell. That Devil Fruit I ate gave me the ability to travel to it at will, but only for a minute at a time, with a recharge time of ten minutes. You wanna see?” He held out a hand that Banagher tentatively grabbed.

The wind rustled over the empty deck of the First Responder. The only remnant of the two adolescent boys’ existence was a pair of footprints burned into the cedar deck.

Gotta stop him gotta stop him gotta stop him...

Shirai Kuroko huffed as she ran through the boroughs of Loguetown. Cipher Pol wouldn’t be happy if she failed to catch this guy, she had to represent the Judgement branch with everything she had. Anti-Skill and Cipher Pol taking the lead in almost all of the Marines’ duties left her office, Judgement, looking bad in comparison. So when the message snail had alerted the office that there was a highly dangerous criminal running around, Kuroko quietly slipped out while the Anti-Skill boys suited up. Those punks would bow before her. Maybe someone else would bow before her as well…

Supposedly her target had taken out the seven Shichibukai with ease, but Kuroko personally thought that to be a load of hogwash. No way that one man could do all that. She’d interacted with one of them, Dracule Mihawk, once before, and that was an experience she would rather forget. She doubted an army could take him out, let alone a single man. But intel had gotten word that this guy killed his own Fire Force company. Kuroko had witnessed the crime scene before the Marines arrived to clean it up, and had a lot of trouble keeping her knees from knocking into each other. This man was… terrifying.

All the better to show off when she brought in the Lord Ruler.

Intel said he’d last been seen flying over East Blue. That was risky for a Devil Fruit user, and Kuroko intended to take full advantage of that. Sure, her Port-Port Fruit put her at an equal risk, but she could just teleport away. There was no way she’d face any danger from the murky waters below her. Worst came to worst, she could dunk the Lord Ruler and paralyze him.

She kept jumping through the sky. The crescent moon overhead made it a little hard to see around her, but that just meant the same would apply to the Lord Ruler. What a pretentious name, she thought. She wasn’t terribly worried about her teleporting being affected, there was still a decent amount of moonlight, and no clouds in the sky. Had she been here on any other kind of business, the sea would’ve made a perfect postcard. The waves cresting and crashing, the wind flowing around her, it was a serenity one couldn’t get while riding a boat.

Something crossed the horizon, blotting out distant stars. There was her target, the man with a hundred-million berry bounty. Maybe she could finally attract Misaka’s attention with that kind of money. With all those coins, who knows what Misaka would do, eh heh geh heh heh… She cleared her mind. It was game time. Misaka would still be there when she got back to Judgement HQ. She opened her mouth and issued the words her training had taught her…

1

u/InverseFlash Mar 22 '21

“Stop right there!”

The Lord Ruler was only a little surprised that someone had come after him. He had slaughtered an entire fire station after all. But it was inconsequential. The cogs in the machine were turning far too rapidly for anyone to hinder him. Accordingly, he paid the young girl no mind, and continued on his path.

“Hey! Hey! I said stop!” The offending voice didn’t reach the Lord Ruler’s ears. He had stored his hearing like he did in the 7th, and Kuroko looked at him with incredulity. “You’re ignoring an officer of Judgement! Don’t make me do something you’ll regret!” When the Lord Ruler once again ignored her, she grabbed two darts from her leg holster. Made of slick steel, these darts were practically lethal after Kuroko launched them with extreme accuracy.

She flung them with precision that was well beyond her years, which is twelve, for any of you sickos out there. The Lord Ruler didn't bother dodging, or even using Allomancy. One aimed at the left leg, one aimed at the shoulder. Each dart hit their target, causing Kuroko to pump her fist and the Lord Ruler to not react at all.

She teleported right in front of the Lord Ruler, presumably to capture him from a watery grave, like a valkyrie. He briefly glanced at her, then flared Steel and Pushed her away. Still they brought metal along when fighting him? A foolish mistake, one he would not ignore. Kuroko catapulted toward the ocean’s surface before she teleported a safe distance away from the Lord Ruler.

The Lord Ruler continued onwards as if nothing had happened.

“What are you…” Kuroko asked, then trailed off. The Lord Ruler burned brass, and a psychological cloud of Soothing spread around him like a plague. Kuroko instantly slumped. All her will to fight was gone. The young girl plummeted from the sky.

Shinra Kusakabe opened his eyes in the familiar world of Adolla. The oppressive gray sky bore down on him like a hydraulic press. “Home sweet home,” he said sarcastically. He looked over and saw Banagher shaking in pain.

The boy convulsed on the ground, clawing at his throat. Matters were only made worse by the nearby-black flames that licked and lapped Banagher’s body. Shinra, as a Third-Generation, had fire resistance, but Banagher possessed no such ability. Shinra hurriedly scooped up Banagher and looked around. Was there something wrong with the air here? Why did Banagher keep grabbing his neck?

“Suit…”

There wasn’t any time to argue. Shinra took the hint and flew over to the massive robot. It was still lying on its side from when Shinra had liberated from Smoker’s impound. The thought of impounding the gargantuan machine made him snicker before he remembered what was going on.

Shinra’s new birds-eye-view gave him a look at the Mobile Suit that he hadn’t been able to get last time thanks to a bad head injury. The Unicorn was at least the size of a cathedral. In fact, if Shinra had to guess, it rivaled Amaterasu, the holy power plant that fueled the Tokyo Empire. It took his breath away, to say the least.

Speaking of lost breath, Banagher pointed toward the chestplate of the Mobile Suit. Shinra touched down. A hatch opened up, revealing a tiny passageway that made Banagher roll out of Shinra’s arms. A direct shot. Banagher fell into the hole with a thud, and the passage sealed off from the outside.

Almost immediately, a whirring noise started. Gears shifted, shifts geared, and the Mobile Suit came to life. Shinra lit his feet and took to the skies as the Unicorn sat up. The Unicorn had emerald eyes, and a long, metal horn divulged out of its forehead. When the Suit stood up, it was an even more impressive sight. Shinra doubted that he was taller than its finger. He noticed two sword hilts on the undersides of its forearms, and multiple guns. This was a machine bred for warfare.

Shinra moved close to the head and peered through the green lens. Inside was a spacious control room. A control chair, occupied by Banagher, stood in the center of the room. He looked much healthier now, and Shinra felt relieved. He needed all the help he could get to storm Loguetown. “You good?” he called. Banagher gave a thumbs up in response.

“Well, this is Adolla,” Shinra said, waving at the wasteland before them. “Say, what kinds of tech does that thing have?”

Banagher started saying something, but the soundproof glass rendered any information Banagher said useless. Shinra fruitlessly strained his ears, before finally pointing to his ears and mouthing the words 'I can't hear you.'

There was a moment of awkward silence as the two boys, acquaintances at best, looked around Adolla. Shinra started whistling, no small feat when your teeth are triangular. Thankfully, this hell wouldn't be necessary much longer. “Time’s almost up. Let’s get back to the real world,” he said. The clock in Shinra’s mind ticked down as the minute limit set by the Devil Fruit edged closer. Ten, nine, eight… “Don’t worry, I’ll bring the Suit too.” Banagher nodded his assent. Three, two, one, zero.

They were still in Adolla.

Luckily for Shirai Kuroko, she had been a couple thousand feet up before her mental faculties escaped her. So she watched the beautiful starry sky through whipping strands of hair as gravity tightened its grip on another victim. Kuroko’s thoughts drifted away. Four thousand feet. Everything was so sad. The Earth Federation sucked, and her job wasn’t much fun either. She didn’t mind the child labor much, it was fun catching bad guys, but it was grueling and painful. Three thousand feet. She thought about Misaka, and how much she would miss her after she died. Misaka, Misaka, Misaka… just thinking about her big sister, the Railgun of Tokiwadai, made her heart speed up. Two thousand feet.

MISAKA.

Kuroko had to see her again. She had to. She couldn’t let some stupid depression field take her down. She wouldn’t sink to the bottom of the Grand Line like some despicable pirate. “I’m gonna see her,” Kuroko flubbed out. “I’m gonna see sissy!”

At seven hundred feet, Kuroko regained control of her mental faculties.

Banagher wondered what was taking so long. “Hey, what’s up, Shinra?” he asked. “Aren’t we supposed to be back on the First Responder by now?” From the looks of it, Shinra couldn’t hear his question. Banagher smacked his head. “He doesn’t have a radio. Dummy.” Where was the loudspeaker button on this thing?

While Shinra hovered outside the head of his Mobile Suit, Banagher considered what their strategy was for when he made it back to the Grand Line. First off, he needed to get his hands on a pilot suit for this thing. The Mobile Suit could only be unlocked with his biometric signature, so that wasn’t a problem, but if he was going to keep the Suit in Adolla for ease of access, and to conserve fuel, it would be best if he could get a piloting suit. They had their own oxygen tanks, as well as a cushioning system and pressurization controls.

The Mobile Suit idea coined by his father was originally intended for deep-sea exploration, until the World Government commandeered his plans, opting for giants to engage in warfare with Devil-Fruit wielding pirates. The Vist family patriarch had grudgingly added the weapons, but the piloting suit had remained a deep-sea diving suit. Banagher sighed. Father, your name was tarnished by a legacy of war. Don’t worry, though, I’ll put a stop to it! I’m gonna end this bloodshed!

“Oh, are you? I’m sorry, but I just can’t allow that,” a voice from behind said.

“That’s not Shinra-” Banagher got out before a knife pierced his chest. He coughed as the pain and internal bleeding spread through his body. “Wh-who are you…” Remarkably, though, he felt his wound closing, somehow. He wasn’t going to let his mysterious attacker know that though.

Banagher fell from his piloting seat and twisted so he could get a good look at who had driven a knife into him. It was himself, but he looked different. His skin was black, crisped by flames that burned underneath. Instead of eyes, he had gaping sockets that burned with rioting flames. The evil Banagher’s face had no expression, but Banagher could feel the heat of hatred emanating from him. He had started sweating without even realizing it.

“Huh?” he gasped.

“Listen to yourself. ’Huh?’ I’m so glad I got the chance to kill you. Though, you’re taking a pretty long time to die.” The evil Banagher shoved a shadowy boot into the dagger’s hilt. “Kick the bucket, why doncha, you little shit? I’ve got a cataclysm to start.”

Banagher folded his hand into a fist. He struggled to move off the floor, to even enter a push-up position, but the adrenaline in his system wasn’t enough. Something crashed into the Mobile Suit, and Banagher blacked out.

1

u/InverseFlash Mar 22 '21

The Lord Ruler’s path had continued unhindered. He was continuously Pushing and Pulling at sunken ships far below the water’s surface, which allowed him to seemingly fly to the untrained observer. Boats that hadn’t been touched in hundreds of years creaked and groaned, their anchors shifting as the Lord Ruler Pushed himself onwards.

Shirai Kuroko appeared once again in front of him. Now that was a surprise. She was no Allomancer, he could feel that much. So she must be counteracting his Soothing with some other method.

Kuroko was imagining Misaka in lingerie.

It was only a trivial matter. Her face was red with effort, no doubt from the intense mental strain of resisting his soothing and nothing else. But she was in his way. The Lord Ruler reached out with his tin-increased senses. She had the Steel he had previously used to push her, but that was useless if she could just teleport away before hitting the water.

Kuroko found herself pulled towards the Lord Ruler by her Judgement armband. The emblem was held in place by an iron safety pin that squirmed around, ripping the thread. “You’ve got some kind of magnetism!” the Lord Ruler heard her say. Kuroko quickly tore the armband off, leaving the Lord Ruler nothing to pull her with.

He hovered in place momentarily, considering if she was worth a real fight. Then his eyes bulged. A real fight? Am I really considering that? He clenched his hands.

Kuroko kept teleporting every second, trying to stay aloft. It was obviously taking everything she had to keep in the fight, though the Lord Ruler felt no respect towards her. “You are destined to fall, as it is my destiny to save this desperate planet. To disobey the cosmos and attempt to hinder me is a capital sin.” Kuroko continued bouncing around, and the Lord Ruler’s anger continued mounting. “Stop moving!”

He Pushed with only a fraction of power, and Kuroko once again fell towards the ocean. When she teleported again, the Lord Ruler burned a bit of atium. A hundred-and-three-thousand Kurokos filled his vision, each at different positions that she could take next. The Lord Ruler seethed. She had only compounded the annoyance. It had almost become a problem. He stopped burning atium, coincidentally at the exact wrong time. The thousands of Kurokos collapsed into one, who had her hand placed lightly on his chest.

“Guh, goodbye, Ruler!” she shouted through heaving breaths. The Lord Ruler looked down at his chest, now tainted with this girl’s worthless DNA, and he tapped weight from his brass bracelets. His face contorted with rage as he Pulled from the very floor of the Grand Line. Shipwrecks and treasure chests sprang from silt beds with newfound buoyancy. But the next thing he knew, he was fifty meters underwater and sinking fast.

Kuroko looked down at the spot where she had sent her target. Sure, the bounty had said dead or alive, but granted what Kuroko had just seen, there was no way in hell that he could be captured, let alone fought with. She shuddered thinking what the Lord Ruler could do to the Anti-Skill squad, or Sissy.

“That was too close,” she said to herself. The entire skirmish had only taken around two minutes, but her body felt like it had been hours since she had first sighted the dark-clad stranger. She started teleporting back to Loguetown. “Maybe Sissy is still awake, eh heh geh heh… I could use something to relax…”

The night was still beautiful, and truth be told, Kuroko thanked the many stars that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. If she hadn’t been at the top of her game, she would be joining the Lord Ruler ten thousand leagues under the sea. The Anti-Skill boys wouldn’t get their celebration, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. Thankfully, that was all over. Maybe Mikoto would be open for a moonlight picnic? Or perhaps a walk in the park. Or of course, some hanky panky in the dormitory. Just the thought made her blush furiously, and giggle uncontrollably. It would be the perfect way to end the day.

Shinra watched in awe as a shark, one even bigger than the Mobile Suit, suddenly leapt from underground and bit the robot across the stomach. The Mobile Suit spasmed and metal screamed as millennia-old teeth ground into it. The shark was clearly no ordinary shark, Shinra could tell. Well, duh, idiot.

It was made of an ethereal gas, or perhaps that was just smoke rising from within the beast and leaving through pores and gills on its black hide. It put off an incredible heat that even Shinra had to respect. Long scars running along the beast’s dark body emitted plumes of smoke, and its eyes burned with a flame of dark orange. A gargantuan fin the size of a space shuttle towered over Shinra, and he squeaked out a slight yip. The entire thing looked like something out of an acid-induced nightmare. Had Joker somehow slipped him some hallucinogens?

The shark-and-robot combo meal took off into the distance. This entire situation was stupid. First he couldn’t escape Adolla, now some kind of giant, evil, flaming shark was stealing his partner and his one shot at rescuing the 8th! Shinra blasted after the shark.

Maybe it’s some kind of plot by the Evangelist? But what would the White-Clad want with the Mobile Suit, and why didn’t they take it before? It was practically free! His thoughts were in turmoil trying to figure out what their plan entailed. But in the meantime, well, he wasn’t Shinra the detective, he was Shinra the firefighter, and it was his job to fight fire with fire.

“Rapid!” he yelled, forming the ok-symbol with his hands. The escaping shark seemed to notice this, and submerged itself in the bones and flames of Adolla. Banagher’s Mobile Suit also sank, but only partially. Its head still poked over the surface, scratching against the ground and tossing up sparks with an orchestra of scraping metal. Shinra’s enhanced speed from the Rapid allowed him to keep pace with the shark, until he saw something that took his breath away.

Are those…

Infernals. Hundreds and hundreds of Infernals, some shambling, some charging on all fours, some leaping dozens of feet in one stride. The shark, and by extension Banagher and the Unicorn, were charging straight for the horde. Shinra increased his altitude to the apex of the shark’s fin. The Infernals below groaned and screamed as they reached fruitlessly upward. Their magmatic skin boiled over with orange glows and harsh heat. Shinra’s lips chapped just by being above the mob.

He looked down at them with only pity in his eyes. These people must not have been allowed the release of their souls from their bodies. That was the duty of the Special Fire Force operatives such as himself. But to think there were this many! What could possibly have happened? Those poor people, driven to madness. The agony of being trapped in an Infernal’s body was more than most could bear. To see such a volume of Infernals, once lively men and women that had been reduced to rabid wolves by endless pain, cracked something in Shinra: his sense of pride as a Fire Soldier.

He glanced at Banagher, who was still being dragged away. He couldn’t see into the cockpit exactly, but if looks were anything to go by, then Banagher would be fine for a bit while he dealt with this affront to his personal duty. The duty to make peoples’ lives better, the lives of anyone I meet!

He stopped his advance, and the shark--no, to call it a shark was not grandiose enough. The way it seemed to spew fire, its enormity, it was the exact opposite of every shark he knew. Perhaps this was the result of Giovanni’s animal testings with Infernal bugs. This was an unnatural calamity. A Nega-shark.

The Nega-shark continued barreling through the Infernals, and Shinra noticed a floating island in the distance. It defied physics, clearly, and Shinra once again wondered what the true nature of Adolla was. Sure, it was basically hell, but there had to be an explanation for it all. How did the Nega-shark come to be?

Speaking of, the shark was now clear of the Infernals. The fin sank into the ground, and what little of Banagher’s Mobile Suit Shinra could see followed suit. Then with an earth-shaking motion, the shark cleared the ground in a jump and whisked up to the island. The Mobile Suit looked more like a chew toy from this distance.

No more time to waste. As if there was any to begin with.

“The flame is the soul’s breath.”

The Infernals piled underneath him, and many were trampled just to provide steps for those behind them. The Infernal mound grew into a pyre, reaching high into Adolla’s skies. Shinra was a perfect piece of bait to get them all into one place. Perfect. They themselves would be their own funeral pyre. Shinra couldn’t have asked for better discipline from a military unit.

“The black smoke is the soul’s release.”

Their cries grew louder as the pillar grew taller. Shinra felt foreign sources of heat start to warm his feet. Do they understand what I’m here to do? Do they want so badly for release that they’re willing to be crushed just for the chance of hope?

“Ashes thou wert and art.”

He meshed his two hands into a pyramid form. His thumbs pointed upwards, and the whole gesture was similar to an arrowhead. At least that was how Shinra saw it. An arrowhead pointing towards the heavens, to guide those he granted peace.

“Latom.”

Shinra dove toward the ever-growing pillar of Infernals. They raved and roared as he approached. As he neared, he twisted his body to a parallel position to that of the ground. He stuck one leg straight up to propel himself downwards, and the other was locked in place as an extension of his body. He jackknifed downwards. To the Infernals, whose last visions were of cleansing flame, the only thing they could see him as was a harbinger of peace. An angel.

1

u/InverseFlash Mar 22 '21

Banagher woke up in a haze. It was similar to the way he had woken up on the deck of the First Responder, actually, save for the knife in his ribcage. “Huh-huh-whuh?” he mumbled.

“Oh, you’re awake,” said his shadow. “Just in time. Now open the hatch.”

Banagher looked up at the HUD on the pilot’s chair. There was a man who looked like a ninja endlessly slashing the entrance hatch. Curiously though, Banagher couldn’t hear the man’s scratches on the Unicorn’s hull. My hearing is probably still returning. He wasn’t worried though. The meteoric metal the Unicorn was made from was harder than any other metal on Earth. A toothpick like what the ninja was carrying wouldn’t do much more than chip the paint.

“No,” he replied, and got a kick to the jaw in response. “You do it.”

“Aha, I would, you know. I’d love nothing more than to open that barrier so my Master can slice you to ribbons. But you got extraordinary luck, Banagher Vist. The Unicorn doesn’t respond to my DNA. It’s reversed.” He took the dagger out of Banagher’s side and wiped it on his shadowy arm. “Of course, that won’t stop us. You’ll come around, won’t ya?”

Banagher snorted. “I’m not letting you take the Unicorn!”

“But it’s MY Mobile Suit. I’m the shadow of Banagher Vist, the negative of everything you are. I serve my Master, Ryu Hayabusa, with everything I got! And I’m not going to let your shitstained trousers sit on my throne! I’m gonna end this war alright--by eradicating both sides, and the whole world with it!”

Banagher shook his head. “You’re mad.”

“I’m a visionary,” Nega-Banagher said. “You’re not willing to go the extra mile? I’ll go all the miles. I’ll run marathons with this baby. Even the One Piece won’t be able to stop me!” Banagher reached over to his side. The knife wound had remarkably healed somehow. He didn’t care how really, but it was nice to know. Now he could take down his shadow without anything holding him back.

On the HUD, Banagher saw Shinra catapult into the ninja, Ryu Hayabusa presumably. The ninja was forced off the display, and Nega noticed as well. “Seems your guardian has arrived,” he mused. “He’s no match for Ryu Hayabusa though. The Archfiend Slayer!”

Banagher chuckled. “I’ve known Shinra Kusakabe for about five minutes and I guarantee your ninja is going down.” He was bluffing, but there was no need for Nega to know that. Maybe it would give him an edge.

Bingo. Nega’s attention shifted, and Banagher struck. He slid his leg out and kicked Nega in the ankle, crumpling the boy like a Jenga tower. On the way down, Nega used his momentum and drove a haymaker into Banagher’s thigh. Both boys groaned for a second, then regained their footing while sloppily throwing jabs at one another.

“What are you even wanting with my Mobile Suit? Didn’t you steal two others?” Banagher cried. Nega used his Infernal skin to his advantage and pressed Banagher up to the front of the cockpit. His burning skin seared into Banagher’s, and Banagher screamed.

“We needed your DNA to access the Unicorn. Well, our DNA.”

“Shut the hell up! I’m not like you!” Banagher shouted, punching his doppleganger. Strobing alarms flashed in the cockpit and Banagher saw a large flashing shark symbol. Nega-Banagher laughed.

“You don’t really think you’re that different, do you!” Nega shouted, kicking Banagher’s gut. “You postulate and preach about stopping war, but what do you do? Take a look out your window!” The shark rammed into the cockpit at full force, and the Suit tipped backwards like a felled redwood. Banagher briefly experienced zero gravity. “Welcome to hell, idiot. You’re just another dog of the military! If you gave up the Unicorn, maybe then you’d have a shot of getting rid of me!”

Banagher grimaced, and the Unicorn hit the ground. A large red box showed up on the screen, issuing a warning. Thanks, I didn’t notice. “You think you’re me?” Banagher asked, coughing out some blood. The impact had probably busted a rib. “You think you’re my doppelganger?” Nega smiled.

“You’re no me. I’m the only me!”

“‘I’m me’, he says,” said Nega-Banagher. “You talk of how you are your own person, you’re not a vessel. And yet here you are, still fighting! Fighting the war your fathers and fathers’ fathers carried on for a thousand years! Breaking the cycle would only spell doom for the future! So by all means, give up!”

Banagher stared at his doppleganger. “...what the hell are you saying?”

Nega-Banagher simply laughed. “You’d like to know, wouldn’t you! Too bad! You’re going to die here, and I’m taking the Unicorn with me! The One Piece will be ours!” And with that, Nega vanished from the cockpit, and Banagher saw him mount the Nega-shark. Banagher scrambled to the pilot’s chair.

“Like hell you are!” he shouted.

Shinra warily circled around Ryu. The man made no moves, but Shinra had a bad feeling about this. Aside from the man’s ability to somehow survive within Adolla, Shinra didn’t like the man’s sword. Flashbacks from his battle with Sho raced through his mind, and how at the end, he’d ended up skewered on his brother’s blade.

This time will be different.

Ryu was standing with his sword drawn in a position ready to skewer Shinra. His eyes were closed, and despite the roaring black flames around him, there were no beads of sweat on his face. This is a man completely in tune with his surroundings, Shinra thought. I’ll have to throw him off somehow.

Shinra tried to ignite his feet, but nothing came out. His ignition ability? An extinguishing move? If he extinguishes my flames, I’m toast to that sword. No, the flames were there, they were just… invisible?

Shinra ducked down as a sword whished over his head. Had Arthur been in his place, the boy’s ponytail would have been made a casualty. Shinra landed in a crab walk position, then kicked out at Ryu, who had closed the gap between the two. Shinra’s foot passed through Ryu’s ankle as though it were a heat shimmer. Illusions? Can he control the heat shimmer around objects? What I wouldn’t give to have Licht around!

Shinra felt his burncoat start to warm. At first, it was just something he attributed to the environment, but as the heat exponentially increased, he knew this had to be something else. He quickly cast the burncoat aside, and it exploded before touching the bone-covered ground. Now all Shinra had was his orange jumpsuit, which seemed to flicker with a flame of its own in the light of Adolla.

Ryu nodded from his position. “You can ignore my ability? We shall see how long you can persist.” Then, he vanished. There wasn’t a smoke bomb or anything, the man was simply gone. Shinra compiled the things he knew about Ryu’s power: Invisible flames, invisible ninjas, and direction of heat. Could he manipulate air currents?

Then eight Ryu popped out of the ground. Each one did a somersault. Shinra cast aside his idea; no air current could make seven copies of oneself. Survival would have to be his focus for now. He formed the “OK” sign with his hands. No way Ryu Hayabusa could match him in speed.

“Rapid!” he shouted, and took off. Shinra blasted right through three Ryu, dissolving their illusions, then a slash on the back of his calf made him falter. He skidded through the flaming bones, but he was on his feet after a bit.

He can match my Rapid too! What can’t this guy do? I can’t activate my Adolla Burst, I might leave Banagher stranded in here… what is his ability?

Ryu Hayabusa was a tricky opponent, but if the man’s Ignition Ability could be deciphered, Shinra was confident he could find a working strategy to take the man down.

“You are already in hell, Shinra Kusakabe. You may be powerful, but now that we have the Unicorn, the path to ascension is clear. The One Piece will soon be within our grasp! And not even you are fast enough to stop us, stop me!”

Fast.

There was no way Hayabusa didn’t know his true top speed. The man was too confident. However, this wasn’t an issue of stopping time, as Sho could. Ryu must have some other way of matching light speed. There was only one method that Shinra could think of, and the more thought he gave it, the more his hypothesis cemented in his mind. The exploding burncoat, the invisible flames, the multiple copies of himself. Ryu Hayabusa could--

Ryu swung his sword around in an impressive motion, derailing Shinra’s train of thought and perhaps hijacking it into his own mind. “Yes, I manipulate wavelengths." Atoms generate heat, sending out radiation waves. Ryu threw out an unexpected punch. He manipulates atoms, generating heat and manipulating wavelengths of all seven types of radiation! Shinra backflipped to dodge the punch, gaining a light cut on his calf for the trouble. Radio, micro, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray and gamma waves! I guess listening to Licht really did pay off! "Tell me, Shinra Kusakabe, how do you plan to beat someone who is light itself?” As if to emphasize, he did three backflips, and a spin-kick.

“Easy!” Shinra cried. “I’ll kick your ass!”

Ryu sighed. “Your strength is not insignificant, but your words betray your appearance.”

“What?” Shinra asked.

“You are a fool,” Ryu replied. He did a kickflip. “Yet you show great tolerance for radiation. I have pumped gamma waves at you this entire skirmish, and you seem unimpeded. Your mind is a steel trap as well, and I cannot affect it with madness. You are an intriguing opponent, I concede.”

“Shut up already!”

Shinra advanced, but a sphere of darkness enveloped him. He must’ve removed the light from my surroundings. I’ll just listen. Then he realized how stupid that sounded. You idiot! He’s a ninja!

Sure enough, Ryu’s sword pierced the sphere of darkness and jabbed his side. A small trickle of blood spurted out, and Shinra blasted into the sky. He’s a ninja, but he’s not a flying ninja!

The sword poked him in the rear.

He’s a flying ninja.

Shit.

He’d just have to do his best to dodge until something came to his mind.

1

u/InverseFlash Mar 22 '21

Kuroko’s eyes drooped. It was very tiring, all this teleporting, and her bones were still rattled from the Lord Ruler’s attacks. It almost felt like the man’s strange depression field had returned. “I never found out what his Devil Fruit was, but I think that’s for the best. That monster should stay in the past,” she said to herself.

A shadow cast over her, and Kuroko’s tired mind upped a level of alertness. Hey, that’s strange. I thought there weren’t any clouds in the sky. Don’t tell me he had a partner… Kuroko took a deep gulp of air, then sighed. It would help to clear her mind before a fight. Bracing herself, she looked at where the moon should have been.

A tsunami of cannonballs, anchors, hitches, treasure chests, cannons, and other metal objects blotted out the stars. Kuroko gulped, almost swallowing her own tongue. Oh my…

It was already too late. No light remained in the area. The Lord Ruler had swallowed the moon with his menagerie of metal, and Kuroko fell. Just before she hit the water, her back hit something. An old sheet of steel pulled her out from the water, but Kuroko had no doubt the water would be a much better end than whatever her target had planned for her. She feebly tried to move off the metal, though it was far too late.

As she reached the top of the heap of metal, the moon once again came into view. Kuroko’s hopes soared, she had a chance of self-preservation, no matter how small. Then, in a flash, Kuroko’s hope was crushed, replaced by unbounded despair. His emotional manipulation! Her mind was already slogging though, like it was trapped in quicksand. She could escape, but what was the point. Her end was here. The Lord Ruler was here.

He didn’t bother walking to her. Instead, he Pulled the steel behind her. Kuroko’s dull eyes met his enraged ones. I’m dead meat.

“You are already dead,” the Lord Ruler stated. It was no longer up for debate, nor was it ever. “Your fate was locked when I decided you were worth killing. Consider yourself lucky my Inquisitor is not here, and I can grant you quick death. You have no information worth torturing for, girl.”

“But, but!” Kuroko sniveled. “You were underwater! Why the hell didn’t you die? Just what are you? What are you, Lord Ruler?” A shadow passed over the moon, and if Kuroko had possessed any strength left in her body, she would have looked to the heavens. But the Lord Ruler had claimed that in addition to her life. All she could do was hang her head low and sigh. Sissy, I guess this is goodbye.

The Sea Train, twenty-six cars of wrought steel and screaming passengers smashed into Kuroko, instantly killing her. She and the two hundred tons of locomotive plunged into the Grand Line. The Lord Ruler gazed at his handiwork with the indifference only a mass-murdering despot could have.

He Pulled on something within the last train car, and a safe came crashing out. It was a trivial matter to rip it open and gather the precious atium geodes that were stored within. He slipped them into his pocket and pushed himself onward, into the night.

Shinra was thoroughly annoyed by Ryu Hayabusa. Standing in Adolla gave him a healing factor to begin with, but the man’s constant darting attacks that pierced his skin endlessly were getting on his nerves. What can I do? He wished Licht were here. He always knew how to surpass even the wildest Ignition Abilities.

No point thinking about what could be. Come on Shinra! Think of what you can do!

Ryu used wavelengths to disguise himself, teleport, and all manner of insane powers that Shinra didn’t have enough time to worry about. The ninja seemed nigh-impossible to defeat now.

For his part, Ryu did a spinning-kick. “Pathetic boy.” Shinra caught the kick with one hand, but when Ryu attacked with an overhead slash, Shinra was forced to release the offending foot. The sword bit into a skull that lay on the ground, and Shinra twirled like a ballerina. A rocket-powered ballerina of imminent death.

Ryu backed away from the spinning wheel of death. I have a shot now! Shinra thought. Now that Ryu was out of melee range, he finally had some time to think. Clearly none of Shinra’s flames were going to hurt him, as long as there was light for him to manipulate, and since Shinra’s flames continuously emitted light, that was troublesome. Moving faster than lightspeed didn’t seem to help either, and his Devil Fruit didn’t work for some reason. Wait…

He plumbed the depths of his knowledge on his Fruit. The “Planar-Planar Fruit,” he had assumed the only power was simply free teleportation into Adolla. Now that he looked closer though, he could clearly see he was mistaken.

It was time to bust out the secret ability he had yet to show off from the Devil Fruit. Maybe that would give him an added edge. It seemed like Ryu had already planned a counter for everything else anyway, wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.

“Fearscape Shift!”

Shinra materialized beside Ryu and kicked him. Shinra’s mind expanded, and for a brief second, he could read Ryu’s thoughts. They were strangely quiet, not that he minded. Now he could say what he needed to without having to worry about yelling over some overcomplicated plans. Hey, he said, and Ryu’s narrowed eyes narrowed even more. You’re going down.

Doubtful.

Shinra continued Shifting, and Ryu kept taking hits. “You can’t see me when I truly teleport can you? Even if I’m moving faster than light, I’m still moving there! But you can’t tell now!”

Ryu only looked thrilled. “Prepare!” he barked. Shinra teleported again, but Ryu caught his kick this time. Using his free arm, he uppercut Shinra in the stomach. Shinra flew upwards, the air lacking from his lungs, and Ryu jumped up from below. Shinra felt something break. The ninja grabbed him by the waist and they corkscrewed toward the ground. Shinra landed headfirst, and his eyes bulged.

“Muh… muh…” he flubbed out. Had he been in complete control of his mental faculties, he might have noticed that his brain was swelling. Of course, the regen that came with his Devil Fruit was patching it up, but it wasn’t instant.

“What pathetic last words,” Ryu said, then drove his sword into Shinra’s chest. Shinra coughed. Ryu walked away without looking back. It was definitely the coolest thing he could have done. But it wasn’t the smartest.

“The flame is the soul’s breath. The black smoke is the soul’s release.”

Ryu whirled around. Shinra had moved his hands over his chest into an arrow-shape. The ninja’s eves widened in shock--and fear.

“Ashes thou wert and art.”

“NO!” Ryu bellowed, and drew a bow from behind himself. It was more like it had formed from thin air, really, confirming Shinra’s half-conscious theory.

The man was more at home in Adolla than even Shinra was, despite not owning an Adolla Burst. The Fearscape Shift had triggered a mental connection, an Adolla Link to Ryu, but in the brief look Shinra got of Ryu’s mind, there was definitely nothing relating his Devil Fruit to Adolla, at least not in the way Shinra’s could. So how else could Ryu have entered Adolla and grown so proficient within its boundaries?

It was quite simple, really. He was already dead, in the real world at least. A quick prayer would dispel his lingering oni from Adolla just like the Infernals from before.

“Latom.”

Ryu’s arrow vaporized in midair, inches away from decapitating Shinra. Ryu didn’t give in though. He charged forward with a knife even as his form evaporated. He never made it though.

The sword in Shinra’s chest turned to smoke, and Shinra heaved out a sigh as his chest wound sealed shut. “You were pretty tough. But no match for a hero like me.”

1

u/InverseFlash Mar 22 '21

Banagher activated the Unicorn’s plasma blade. A sword of white-hot light sprang from the hilt, casting a brilliant shine on his opponent. The Nega-shark seemingly flinched and turned aside from the white heat. Banagher saw Nega flip him off from the shark’s dorsal fin. “I won’t let you hurt anyone else!”

But he’s you, isn’t he? You’re still hurting others, Banagher, aren’t you? His thoughts bounced around in his head with reckless abandon. What if he really was dooming the world with his mission? What if his shadowy doppelganger was right? Stop thinking like that! There’s no doubt in my mind what I’m doing is right!

The Unicorn jumped up and landed on the Nega-shark with a thundering boom, to which the beast replied with a roar and sank into the ground. The shark fin circled around the Unicorn and Banagher, who was furiously trying to think of an angle to victory. He thought back to the time his dad had taken him fishing once. After a few hours of fruitless efforts, Banagher had brought up an idea that his father had laughed at, calling it ‘hardly in the spirit.’

What if I just shoot it?

Banagher drew a gatling gun from the Unicorn’s backside. Maybe, just maybe, giving the Unicorns guns was fine. But only this once!

He unleashed a torrent of gunfire on the Nega-shark, lasers whizzing past and through it, and the shark roared again. The once-menacing shark was turned into target practice for the Unicorn. Strips of the shark’s flesh flew like fireworks before being further razed by Banagher’s lasers. Banagher gritted his teeth and shifted the Unicorn’s left leg back to further stabilize from the recoil. The shark’s body split in two down the middle, and smoke splurged out, obscuring the battlefield. Still, Banagher kept firing.

“The shark is long dead,” said Nega-Banagher’s voice from behind. Banagher jumped out of the seat. Nega was standing there, but he didn’t seem to be wanting a fight at all. His fiery eyes had reduced to a smoldering glow, and there was no sign of any weapon. Still, Banagher put up his hands warily.

“No need for that. Ryu Hayabusa is passed on. His madness isn’t affecting me anymore. There’s not much time before you leave now though, so I’ll be quick. Your friend’s minute has started.

“There’s a secret function to the Unicorn. Ryu was… we were obscuring it with his Devil Fruit. It leads to what our father called LaPlace’s Box, but it’s more commonly known as the One Piece. However, if what I learned from Ryu is true, you won’t be able to reach it by yourself. You need Shinra Kusakabe.” Nega-Banagher gestured to the HUD, where a slight static sound was emanating from. “I wish you luck. And I’m sorry I didn’t have more time. I doubt we’ll meet again, they’ll silence me for telling you this much.” Before Banagher could say anything else, Nega-Banagher vanished.

“Woah…”

Shinra tapped on the glass. “Hey! Everything alright in there?” He was flying outside the cockpit. Banagher waved a greeting to him. “We’ve got thirty seconds left! I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of Adolla to last me a while!” Banagher nodded. He still hadn’t found the loudspeaker function.

I’ll do that now, he thought, and relaxed in the pilot’s seat. An alarm flashed up as soon as he sat down though. Proximity. Oh come on! He looked up, but Shinra was no longer there. He must have seen the threat. Banagher zoomed in on the target. The area was still heavily obscured by the Nega-shark’s smoke, but he could make out… no way…

The man who had triggered the proximity alarm was none other than Smoker.

“Did you die?” Shinra asked the specter in front of him.

Smoker made an attempt to clap Shinra over the ears. “Of course I did! Idiot,” he muttered. “I’m not here to talk smack, I’m here to talk business, boy, you best listen up. Not sure how much time I have left.” Shinra sighed, but lent his ear.

“The Lord Ruler is coming for you, boy.” Just hearing the name sent a shiver down Shinra’s spine. His pointy teeth chattered, though he didn’t know why. “He was the captain of the 7th, but if I could hazard a guess, he’s been stripped of that title. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but he will be coming for you. Or your brother,” Smoker amended.

“Sho?”

“That’s the one,” Smoker affirmed. “Right before he killed me, he asked me for the two of you’s whereabouts. He’s got… he’s got something. Some kind of ability to manipulate emotions. We both seemed to know that torture wouldn’t work with my Devil Fruit being what it is. So he made me tell him what I knew, and then… I…” he said, then broke into a fit of coughing. Shinra could hear poorly-disguised sobs in between the hacking. Whatever Smoker had done, he clearly wasn’t in a state to talk about it. Shinra knew he had to get him to focus on the present.

“This guy knows where my brother is? You have to tell me. You have to! I can’t let Sho face this Lord Ruler guy alone! Where is Sho?” Shinra was practically babbling, but he couldn’t help it. He needed this information, and Smoker was the only man in any world who could give him such information.

Smoker nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. I’ll tell you, on one condition, pirate scum,” he said. His face was hard. “You catch the Lord Ruler and you give that bastard what he’s due. My men… my… my city…”

A terrible thought struck Shinra. “Those Infernals back there. Were they…” He didn’t want to finish the sentence. Smoker nodded.

“They were Loguetown. The Marines. The Fire Soldiers. The little girl who spilled ice cream on my pants. They were… massacred.” Smoker shuddered with emotion. Shinra’s brain had at last grasped the horrors he was destined to go against. He fell over backwards, stunned. The brain damage hadn’t fully healed yet and he was still woozy. Faces flashed through Shinra’s mind. He didn’t know any names, but he had only seen them the day prior. Old, young, happy, sad, blonde, brunette, bearded, clean-shaven. All gone in the span of a night.

“That’s why we have to stop him. We have to find the One Piece, and put an end to this war.”

Banagher’s voice echoed from his Mobile Suit. Looks like he found the communication function, Shinra thought. But he agreed with his comrade. Stopping the conflict seemed like a surefire way to get back the 8th and his brother. He’d stop the Lord Ruler. Who knew, maybe he could even find some way to defeat the Evangelist? Plus, I’ll be able to rub it in Arthur’s face.

“Hell yeah, Banagher! You ready?” They had only a few seconds left. The Mobile Suit nodded, and Shinra flew up and into its hand. He turned back towards Smoker, the man’s smoky silhouette already blending into Adolla’s background of drab grays and blacks. “Oh hey, Smokey!”

Smoker looked up. Shinra saluted, and the Mobile Suit did the same. Smoker let out a tired grin. “Don’t make me arrest you.” Shinra’s shark-like grin met Smoker’s, and the two heroes returned to the world of the living.