New Year

(Seven Months Later)

Unknown Island, West Blue

"P-please. Sh-show mercy!" A man pleads, dragging his burnt body across the ground.

Rex looks at the man apathetically through the holes of his Jacket D. Hoodie mask, sitting back on the regal chair the man had once thought, drinking his wine.

"Mercy? Jakekeket!" Rex laughed. "Where was the mercy for the hundreds you enslaved? The thousands you robbed, the dozens you killed and raped for your pleasure? Where was the mercy then?"

The man trembles, shaking his head. "That was Joker! He forced us to do all those things, he's a terrifying man! He has branches all across the four blues and he threatened us! There was nowhere to turn to!"

"What a miserable life you must be living!" Rex says exaggeratedly. "You had female slaves tugging upon your coat, piles of Berries in your pocket and a nice full stomach. How awful! Are you okay?"

The man's face twists up, not realizing the extent of surveillance Rex had conducted on him. He tries to jump up and run away, only for an arm to grow out of his back and snap his neck.

Then, from the shadows, Robin and Rose emerged.

"Well, well captain. It looks like you've accomplished your mission. Now, what comes next?" Robin says playfully.

Robin had eventually warmed up to Rex over the six months they were hunting Joker's underworld brokers together. While she didn't trust him, not by a long shot, she could at least work with him.

Unlike Gem and Bonney, who Rex let out on a long leash, Robin was carefully controlled by Rex. Rose was with Robin at all times, her endoskeleton protecting against neck snaps. She was just too valuable an asset to Rex.

Other than that, Rex didn't ever force Robin to do anything. She had willingly agreed to help Rex in his attack on Joker's slave trading and arms selling business, wanting to piss off the World Government who Joker supplied. She had also willingly joined the King pirates, feeling that Rex was a decent protection mechanism against the Marines.

As such, Robin and Rex fell into a relationship of mutual extortion, Rex using Robin for her fruit, and maybe later for her knowledge while Robin used Rex for protection.

"Now… It's time to go back to the North Blue." Rex says, after pondering for some time. His half year timeline was more than up, and he needed to return to his crew.

"Oh, so I finally get to 'meet the crew' so to speak. That sounds… intriguing. By the way you talk about them I feel like we're family already." Robin smiles.

Rex shakes his head. Robin was good, very good at getting people to like her. He figured she had to be, given that she was constantly on the run, trying to find shelter from the World Government.

"However, there's one more thing I need to do to stick it to Doflamingo."

"What's left?" Rose asks. "You've basically ruined his life. You exposed his marine spy and his underworld connections, you stole his Devil Fruit killed two of his cadres, got the other one captured, destroyed his underworld revenue. I don't think there is anything left that we can do from here."

Rex grins, recalling the past few months.

Shortly after the Battle of Minion Island, Rex exposed Vergo to Sengoku, telling him Vergo was the one to attack Rosinante and Strawberry. After corroborating the story with a few marines, Sengoku agreed, but needed more proof.

Fortunately, Law had come in clutch, being able to save Rosinante with his devil fruit allowing Rosinante to testify that Rex was being honest. With that, Vergo barely escaped the marines by the skin of his teeth, fleeing to Doflamingo.

After that, Rex had 'convinced' Giolla to testify to Doflamingo's ties to the underworld broker 'Joker'. While Rex didn't reveal that they were the same person, feeling that there would be too much disbelief on that, he revealed that Joker was very close to the Donquixote pirates.

That in turn ramped up Doflamingo's bounty and got Cipher Pol and the Underworld interested in him. With Joker's wealth in Devil fruits, many suspected that he had a method of stealing Devil fruits, something that intrigued Cipher Pol.

With all the heat on him and the loss of his underworld revenue, Doflamingo couldn't form a foothold in Paradise and was forced to hole away where the marines couldn't find him.

In short, Rex had destroyed Doflamingo's life.

In his eyes, killing Doflamingo right away would be much too merciful. Instead, he had planned a death of a thousand cuts, such that Doflamingo would be begging for death at the end of it.

"No, there's still one more thing to do. I want to publicly reveal that Doflamingo is the son of a World Noble." Rex says, grinning sadistically.

Rex had wanted to do this weeks ago, but waited until all of Doflamingo's underground organizations were down. If he had done it sooner, Doflamingo would have discredited it with his connections but now…

Rex grinned. No self-respecting pirate would ever do business with a World Noble or their spawn. There was simply a great rivalry between the two. Most civilians became pirates because of the World Government, pirate captains would be enslaved by World Nobles and just the thought of their smug supremacy boiled the blood of most pirates.

"Captain…" Rose said, knowing that if he did this Doflamingo would be completely destroyed. "Are you sure we can handle his rage?"

Rex smiles. If Rose had asked this question two months ago, he would probably be hesitant, but now, there was no doubt in his mind. While Rex still couldn't beat Doflamingo, he was confident he wouldn't get wiped out by him like last time.

Ever since the battle, Rex had improved on the Observation Haki he had inadvertently awakened. With that, Rex felt that he would be able to defend against Doflamingo's most dangerous 'parasite' attack, if he had even learnt it yet.

Sanji had fallen victim to it despite his Haki, but that was against a much more experienced Doflamingo who had fought in the New World for years. Since Tsuru could defend against it, Haki had to be effective against it.

As for offense, Rex had a brand new trick specially designed to mess with Doflamingo.

"Let's go!" Rex says, leaping onto his small boat. "Donkey Kong, Curious George Gorilla Grodd and Bubbles, mush!"

The four Blugori steeds for Rex's small ship all swim forward pulling them along with it.

Rex had acquired them during his trip to the north pole where he had trained his Conqueror's haki for a month. That was Rex's primary purpose in going to the desolate location. It gave him a good, isolated venue to vent out all his rage, and now, he was stronger for it.

Rex still couldn't activate the so-called King's qualification at will, needing to get in the right mindset first, but other than that, his experiments had seen sizeable success. He could already dominate several animals giving him more options for his 'Zoan transformations' in case he wanted a second alter-ego.

"Rose, bring out the good wine, we're meeting back up tonight!"

Karate Island, South Blue

Bonney sat in a meditative position, taking in a deep breath.

"Hair fist!" Bonney shouts, forming a fist with her hair and punching it outwards. "Hair blade! Hair propeller! Hair whip! Hair net! Hair armor! Cat claws!"

Bonney goes through dozens of techniques in practice until her stomach completely deflates.

"Bonney-chan, I am very impressed by your newfound dedication!" Chef master Pinguis Ramsey said, nodding his head proudly.

"Again!" Bonney said wanting to do it one more time. However, a ringing for her bag makes her pause.

Bonney picks up the Den Den Mushi. "I see." She says, nodding a few times before hanging up.

"I'll have to leave you now Master Pinguis."

"Eh, Bonney-chan?" Pinguis asked, going to miss his ravenous student. "Will you come back?"

Bonney shakes her head. It wasn't likely she would be able to return within a few years. After all, until Rex had established a foothold in the Grand Line, she would likely never be able to return to the four blues.

"I understand. I will miss you, Bonney-chan."

Bonney then bows to Pinguis, before departing from the dojo to collect her companion.

Bonney had returned to Karate Island to refine her martial art, knowing that she couldn't keep relying on her one technique to tide her over. Bonney had vastly expanded her repertoire to include defensive, evasive and utility techniques.

Still, Bonney couldn't say she was the one who had learned the most from her stay here. Walking over to her companion's dojo, Bonney stands outside and watches.

Flash!

A streak of green zips around the dojo, quickly followed by several streaks of white. This dojo was the 'Flash Step' dojo Rex had seen earlier and their main practice was in speed.

As for the green streak…

"Sugar, come on it's time to go!" Bonney cried, causing the green streak to stop and immediately turn around rushing to the door.

Sugar's pursuers are not so precise, all of them slamming into the wall.

"Shushususu! Better luck next time!" Sugar laughs as the men twice her size all glare at her with hatred. But by the time they've gotten up, she's already gone.

"So, where are we going Bon-Bon?" Sugar asks playfully, wondering why Bonney had pulled her out of school.

"We-hey! I told you stop calling me Bon-Bon!" Bonney roars, bonking Sugar on the head with a hair fist. "We're going to the North Blue. The Captain called us back to hit the Grand Line!"

"The Grand Line!" Sugar parrots, her eyes widening. While she had never been, she knew that the Grand Line was filled with interesting things. While she might look mature, Sugar was still a Kid at heart and was deeply curious about the mysterious sea area.

"When do we leave?"

"At midnight. I just have to do one last thing." Bonney says, looking back to Karate Island with a resolved look.

"Ok Bon-Bon!"

"Why you little…" Bonney rushes after Sugar who quickly dashes away with her new martial art, starting a chase all across Karate Island.

Then, late at night, a mysterious pink-haired figure walked the streets of Karate Island. The figure went to four martial arts schools, the Trembling Fist school, the Punch of Pain gym, the Blind Sword dojo and finally the Twisting Body kitchen. At each location a flash of pink light was observed, before the pink figure disappeared.

Then, Bonney and Sugar disappeared from Karate Island.

However, back on Karate island, the lives of four individuals had been drastically changed.

Sensei Spice moved to take the gravel out, having scrapped a boulder earlier that day. As he carries the bucket filled with gravel, Spice frowns as he seems to get multiple strange looks as he walks down the street.

When Spice tries to reenter the dojo, someone stops him.

"My young, rugged friend, you don't want to go to such a decrepit old dojo. There's only a single old man in there." A big burly man says with a grin. "With muscles like those, you should join my heavenly golden body school!"

"No, he should join my flash god school!"

"The finger spear dojo!"

"Kick blade school!"

Spice frowns as he sees the six dojo owners fighting over him, didn't they realize that he was that 'old man' they were talking about. And why were they so short that they were at his eye lev…

The old man's eyes widen.

"You, boy, do you have a mirror!?" Spice asks the burly man.

The burly man frowns at the address but nods, retrieving a mirror from his pocket.

Spice looks into the mirror and widens his eyes, seeing a young, 20-year-old man staring back at him. This revelation brings tears to his eyes.

"Eh, my friend…" One of the men says, wondering if Spice was having a mental breakdown.

Spice only looks up at the six dojo owners with a sadistic grin. For years they had mocked his dojo for only having a single old man watching over it. They had dissuaded talented students from joining him and had mocked him.

Spice cracks his knuckles. He was going to enjoy some payback.

Minutes later, Spice walks back into his dojo with a smile on his face.

"LAO TZU IS BACK!" Spice roars into the sky.

Similar experiences had occurred to Masters Pinguis, Granny Fran, Kid's master, and Sensei Moshi, Killer's sensei. Miraculously, their youth had been returned to them and they weren't going to let it go to waste.

"Let's go to sea!" They all agreed.

Bonney had no idea of the impact that her final gift would carry.

Island of Rare Animals, East Blue

Screech!

A young girl screams out in terror as she leaps out of the way of a massive animal's scratch.

"Sensei, help me!" The girl pleads, blocking the next slash with a sword strike but still being sent flying.

"You're doing great, Kuina-chan!" Killer says, lying back on a lawn chair munching an apple. "This is good stuff Gaimon."

"Damned, stinky old fart of a sensei!" Kuina curses under her breath, using the vilest words in her vocabulary. She cursed herself for leaving Shimotsuki village to train under him. Cursed her father for not believing in her. Cursed Zoro for… being a broccoli head.

The bear-tiger scratched at Kuina once more, the girl raising up her two swords to block it.

Clang!

Kuina is sent flying again by the bear-tiger's ferocious strength.

"I foresee that this girl will be immobilized by this animal within the next two blows. You should have chosen a more suitable opponent for her." Hawkins says, lounging down next to Gaimon and Killer.

"Well I foresee that you're wrong. I also foresee that I never should have brough you with me you emo scarecrow." Killer snaps, getting irritated by Hawkins's constant need to predict everything.

"You can't foresee something that has already…"

Killer draws his sword looking at Hawkins menacingly causing the straw man to sigh.

"Do whatever you want." Hawkins says, too weary to fight Killer again. "The girl will still lose."

Killer just turns to look at Kuina, feeling that there was something about her.

When he had met her in Shimotsuki village, Killer had immediately been attracted to the girl's skill.

Hawkins and Killer had gone to the East Blue mainly because they were looking Sixis Island on Rex's orders. While they didn't wind up finding the island, they still had their adventures, culling numerous Sea Kings and fighting many battles.

Eventually, the duo found themselves at Shimotsuki Village, as Killer had heard that there was a Dojo master there who was reputed to be a mighty swordsman.

As opposed to the brash, loud green-haired boy she had been fighting, Killer had been much more interested in Kuina. Eventually, Killer had requested her father to take her on as a student, to which her father asked Killer to fight him for.

After a single exchange. Koushirou had agreed, saying that if Kuina was ever hurt, he would hunt down Killer and cut his head off. Killer knew, deep in his heart, that Koushirou probably meant it too.

Killer had spent a few more weeks in Shimotsuki village, learning from Koushirou's experience while Kuina made arrangements to leave.

Then, Killer had gone out to challenge swordsmen in the East Blue, winning himself two swords, one grade sword named Shigure and another skillful grade sword known as the Yamaoroshi. With them, he gave his former swords to his apprentice and moved on to training her in combat.

Kuina stares down the bear-tiger, frowning as she looks for a weak point. While her blade couldn't cut down its hide, maybe there was something else she could do.

Then, the two charge at each other, Kuina holding out her duel swords. The bear-tiger leaps up to attack her head and Kuina moves sliding under the beast's body.

As the weight of the massive creature causes it to fall, Kuina sticks out her swords pointing into its abdomen.

Shink!

The blades pierce into the abdomen, landing a successful blow. A light glows in Kuina's eyes as she grins broadly.

"Ha, take that emo-san!" Kuina yells. "I took out this bear-tiger all by my, oww!"

While Kuina gloats, the weight of the bear-tiger collapses on her, immobilizing her beneath it.

"Mmm mmphh mmph mm mmh-mmh mmm! (I still beat it emo-san, hah!)" Kuina mumbles still gloating.

Killer sighs, shaking his head at the work he had ahead of him. He walks over to help Kuina as Hawkins gets a call on his Den Den Mushi.

"We've got to go now." Hawkins says, walking up to Killer. "The captain called us all back."

"He did?" Killer asks in shock. He recalled the captain's goal.

While Killer had already seen some of it coming true with Doflamingo being ousted as related to Joker and forced into hiding, he couldn't imagine that Rex had already dismantled his entire criminal empire.

If he had, Killer had to wonder, just how strong was his captain now?

"Let's go." Killer says simply, ecstatic to meet up with the crew again.

Kuina nods, hoping to meet the female officers Killer had told her about like Bonney and Rose. Maybe if she asked them nicely, they would beat up emo-san for her.

Rubeck Island, North Blue

"Welcome one and all, to the finals of the annual North Blue ROYAL RUMBLE!!!" A booming voiced announcer shouted out. "As always I am Dikk Smoll, here to give you all the rundown of these epic, earth-shattering matches!!"

The crowd cheers out fanatically as they sit in eager anticipation of the battles to come.

"In this fight, four competitors enter, but only one will walk out… alive!" Smoll roars into his speakerphone, the crowd screaming out in ecstasy.

"Now, coming in from the North gate, we've got a fourth-time player of the Royal Rumble who made it to the semis before clocking out last year. Weighing in at 112 pounds and standing just over 2 meters tall, we have the beautiful, MONARCH Macy!"

A statuesque woman in her mid-20s then walks onto the stage, smiling and waving at the crowd like she was a fashion icon. Of course, underneath that smile was a vicious, heartless killer.

"Oooh! Looks like we're in for a treat because coming in from the SOUTH Gate is our reigning champion, who just so happens to be the person who eliminated Monarch Macy last year. Weighing in a 557 pounds and standing 4 meters and 55 centimeters tall, we have the ferocious, GORILA Garchong!!"

Garchong stomps into the arena, each step causing a mini quake rumbling through the arena. He stares at Macy, salivating as he gazes her gorgeous figure.

"Now, our contestants from the East and West, coming in together are newcomers from the King Pirates! First Mate, Eustass "Cyborg" Kid, standing at 1 meter and 95 centimeters and 200 pounds! Then, we have new, but equally fierce member of the King Pirates, "Icewoman" Monet, standing in at 2 meters tall and 108 pounds!"

Kid and Monet enter through their respective gates, giving each other a glance before sending out their fists at each other.

"Rock."

"Paper."

"Scissors."

"Shoot!"

The two launch out their attacks, the fate of the battle resting on this outcome. Kid's fist opens up to form paper while Monet's hand only releases two fingers, forming scissors. Monet had won!!!

"Come on!" Kid groans, before turning to face Macy. He and Monet had an arrangement that whoever lost their rock-paper-scissors match had to take on the weaker opponent.

Macy and Garchong scowl, seeing that their opponents clearly looked down on them.

"Ready, set, go!"

With that, the fighting starts with Kid and Monet dashing towards their respective opponents.

Kid falls into his boxing stance, going in for a punch at Macy's face. Macy scoffs in disgust, seeing Kid go for a lady's face so callously, but dodges, sending a kick to Kid's chest.

Kid grabs Macy's kicking leg, before using it to swing her into a wall. Macy seems to slow in midair as butterfly wings sprout from her back.

"OHHH! Only seconds into the fight and Kid has already pushed Macy to using her devil fruit, the famous monarch butterfly Zoan!!" Smoll commentates. "It should be noted that so far, for the entirety of this tournament, Kid has not once been pushed to use his devil fruit. One wonders if Macy will be able to pressure the fierce warrior to this degree!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ring, Monet exhibits her unique, four-blade fighting style, using her hands and her feet to wield blades. Her feet blades are housed in a special, robotic shoe Kid had designed for her, allowing her almost as much dexterity as she had with her hands.

Using the Yuki Yuki no Mi to lighten her body, Monet dances delicately in the air, landing a barrage of small cuts on Garchong's body. Each of Garchong's massive swings is far too slow to hit her gracefully moving body.

It was significant to note that, in order to test themselves, Kid and Monet barely used their Devil Fruit abilities, with Monet only using her fruit to be lighter on her feet.

"It looks like Monet is going for a death of a thousand papercuts, using quantity of wounds to overcome quality! Will the two veterans lose to their younger, novice counterparts!?"

Macy and Garchong scowl at the commentary, wanting desperately to prove Smoll wrong but Kid and Monet were just too hard to beat.

However, moments after, Kid get's a call from his mobile Den Den Mushi.

"Kid, it's Rose, where are you?"

Kid dives under a poisonous exhale from the Butterfly Zoan user, as Macy decides to push the opening.

"Can I call you back later?" Kid whined, not wanting to look like he was on the defensive.

"Kid. It's time."

Macy flies towards Kid at top speed just as he hears this, but Kid doesn't even look at her. A wide grin spreads on Kid's face.

Then, just as Macy makes it to Kid, a massive metallic fist meets her face, sending her flying into the wall, unconscious.

"Monet, hurry up and go all out! It's time!"

Monet ears perk up she hears this, licking her lips in excitement.

"Yukikiki! It seems I can't dilly-dally anymore. Sorry big boy, I've got some old friends to see! SNOWMAN!"

Then, Monet condenses an immense amount of snow, whipping it around her body before sending it flying at Garchong.

Garchong grins, not seeing what snow could possible do to his reinforced body that swords could barely damage.

However, the snow soon starts piling up, restricting Garchong's movements. His eyes widen, as he tries to escape but he is too late.

Eventually, all that is left of Garchong is a large, three ball snowman. Kid looks at the snowman and shakes his head, ripping some metal off to give it a carrot-shaped nose and a mouth. Monet takes care to design a fashionable snow jacket for the snowman before the two look at each other and nod.

Then, they leave the arena, not bothering to claim the meager prize money.

Sunstone Island, North Blue

"Can you see us, Gem?" Rex says, looking over at the sun, setting on the ocean. "We're heading over to the Grand Line. Soon, I'll make that bastard pay!"

Unknown Island, Grand Line

"Young master, our last underground broker in the west blue… has fallen." Gladius says nervously, terrified of his young master's reaction.

Next to Gladius, stand the remains of the Donquixote pirates. Lao G, who is wearing a breathing apparatus, Buffalo, who had lost his left eye to Hawkins, Diamante, who had several burns on his body and Vergo with a massive scar on his chest from his escape. Other than Pica and Baby 5, all of the crew were either dead, injured or in jail.

Drake had still refused to crack under Doflamingo's influence and the new members Doflamingo had hastily assembled were too weak to be of use to him. This was truly the lowest point Doflamingo had ever touched in his life.

"Fuffuffuffufu! Fuffuffuffufu! Fuffuffuffufu!" Doflamingo laughs maniacally at this revelation truly elated. "That means he's coming."

Baby 5 looks at her young master perplexedly. "Who is coming?"

"The man who did this to our Donquixote family. The man who crushed us so brutally. The man who stole our Ope Ope no Mi, ousted Vergo, killed Machvise, Pink, Marseille and Giolla, beat Trebol, and crushed us. Vesta Rex is coming. And I'm going to kill him! Yes I am! I'm going to kill him good! Fuffuffuffufu! Fuffuffuffufu! Fuffuffuffufu!"