Arrival

As we drifted slowly through the fog, there were more and more marine shipwrecks, and I pondered how many they had lost to get through the maze of rock spires and spikes.

'Did they even make it to the island?' I tried to keep my mind off it, but as more time passed, Luffy and I were the only ones left at the helm. Leaning against the rail, I sighed, "Hey Luffy did you know your brother Sabo is alive?"

Luffy's head shot up, "Sabo, how do you know about him?" I smirked, "He's the number two in the Revolutionary Army serving directly under your dad. After the boat incident, he forgot about everything. Dragon was afraid of revealing anything as it might have broken him. Luckily I was able to fix it with my powers."

Luffy was silent for a moment as a tear worked its way down his cheek, "Sabo's alive?" I nodded, "Alive and well, so is your brother, Ace. He's my best friend. It just seems like yesterday that he challenged me to a duel."

I remembered the memory fondly. I had changed so much, though, at some point, I had fallen off. My entire focus shifted. I had spent how many years in Shalria's clutches fighting every day of my life.

'Enough is enough.' Holding up my hand, I started to vacuum up the surrounding fog. I barely felt any strain from the action, and I realized how much I had been holding back. As more and more smog was funneled out of the air, the sea opened, revealing everything that had been hidden before.

When the sky was clear, the sunlight descended, reflecting off of the now clear waters. I exhaled a plume of mist and looked up to see the final island Laugh Tale sitting on the horizon more than five miles away.

"Luffy, go get everyone, telling them to brace for impact. We're going to pick up the pace." Luffy quickly rushed below deck and hurried to relay the news. Stretching out my hand, I created a bone plow that covered Akuma's entire front.

Suddenly Akuma's sails unfurled, catching the wind and accelerating it forward. With no concern for any obstacles in my way, I directed Akuma to sail straight ahead, feeling the rock hit and break against my bone shield.

I felt as if I had shed a hundred pounds of weight, finally using the raw power granted to me that had been waiting to be used. Skipping across the water, it wasn't long before I broke through the ring of rock spikes reaching the stretch of open water surrounding the final island.

Now that I was closer, I could see that the island had been warped, I could spot signs of trees cut down by axes, and a large fortress stood on a mountain at the top of the island.

Hearing a multitude of footsteps behind me, I turned around to see Luffy and his friends all staring at me with mouths agape.

"Come on, let's go, stay behind me, and do as I say." The pirates nodded, and I created a portal that put us on the beach of Laugh Tale. Looking up at the fortress, I sighed, "I'm going to stir the ant's nest to see what they have to throw against us. I don't see any ships, so there can't be that many. Though that never ends up being the case."

Pointing my hand at the castle, I fired a chunk of magma into the air that disappeared for a brief minute before descending and crashing onto the fortress.

After waiting for a moment, I didn't notice any response, "Somethings off you all stay here. I'm going to check it out."

Flying up to the mountain, I descended through the hole I made, and I looked around at the majestic building stained in blood guts with bodies thrown everywhere like loose toys.

Curling my nose at the familiar smell, I walked down the hall before coming to a stop in front of a majestic door destroyed, with one half lying on the ground and the other leaning on a wall.

Stepping through, I smiled when I saw the large oak table with five figures all seated at it, their chairs costing enough in raw materials to make a whole fishing island swim in debt for five generations.

Walking over, I looked at how they died and saw their veins were blackened and their skin was weathered, "Poison, and they only died a few days ago."

Touching the floor, I melted straight through it, sinking into the ground for a few feet before dropping into an underground lab. Stepping around the various high-tech equipment, I tried to make sense of the tesla coils before I stopped as I spotted a slumped-over figure wearing a lab coat and a pair of rubber gloves.

Moving closer, I lifted up the man's chin and found he had died of the same way, "Dr. Vega, why was he here? And more importantly, what was he doing?"

Pushing aside his body, I brushed off the terminal and messed around with the buttons before the screen lit up.

The first thing that popped up was a report titled three months ago a few days after Evos was taken. And as I read line after line I felt a wave of bile clog my throat as my fist tightened and my heart accelerated.