Red Dog

Doflamingo flew over Punk Hazard towards Caesar's facility. He spotted the G5 marines that Vergo had informed him about getting ready to depart on one of his tankers. He would silence them after reuniting his subordinates' heads with their bodies.

With Monet's guidance he reached a room labeled as leg storage and forced his way inside through the fused shut door.

"So that's why you couldn't extract your own body, Vergo. I'd be amused if I weren't so infuriated." Doflamingo commented.

Vergo and Monet's bodies were submerged in a tank of water and tangled up together in such a way that if Vergo used force to escape he would hurt Monet, but were also placed in a rather provocative pose to maximize their humiliation.

He shattered the tank, allowing the water to flow out. Once it had finished, Monet was able to transform into snow and release both herself and Vergo from their bindings.

"Now let's go kill Smoker and the rest of those idiots, then Vergo can go back to his position as head of the G5 with no worries." Doflamingo said.

""Yes, young master!"" Vergo and Monet answered energetically, grateful for the opportunity to reduce the fallout of their failure.

The three of them landed on the deck of the tanker, terrifying the G5 marines and the children of various sizes. Smoker and Tashigi stepped forward with the intent of either negotiating or at least not going down without a fight.

"There's no use in talking, Smoker-kun. You know too much." Vergo cut him off before he could speak.

Smoker grit his teeth. This wasn't how he expected to go out, but at the least he'd try to take down this traitor with him.

*TOOOOOOT!*

A low, piercing whistle was heard from the distant horizon. Everyone who turned to look saw a massive plume of steam pouring out of a black object on the water.

The black object approached them at high speed until they could make out what exactly it was. It was a ship made of metal and without any sails, only a large chimney from which the steam was produced. The flag that flapped in the wind above the ship was black and held what looked like a cross between the marine flag and a pirate skull.

Doflamingo grabbed Vergo and Monet then lifted into the air by his strings. Between the fact that the steam ship was moving faster than even the sea trains and the flag it flew, he knew exactly who was aboard that ship and knew he couldn't afford to fight with them right now.

Even Smoker, who was clearly relieved that Doflamingo was leaving, looked anxious at the sight of the quickly approaching vessel.

Doflamingo was but a tiny pink speck in the distant sky when the steel ship came to a stop alongside the tanker. A large boiler at the back of the ship where the captain's quarters would often be located opened up releasing a torrent of hot air.

Admiral Sakazuki of the Neo Marines stepped out, still glowing with superheat rock, a permanent scowl etched into his face. "Vice Admiral Smoker, tell me what happened here. Where did the cheap-shot bitch run off to?"

Smoker felt a headache coming on. "I really shouldn't be telling you anything, Sakazuki."

The G5 marines were on the verge of pissing themselves at the snark in Smoker's tone towards THE Akainu, even if the man was a traitor.

"You'll tell me everything I want to know. I know you aren't afraid of being punished by headquarters, especially since Aokiji is too soft to give you anything more than a slap on the wrist, but you SHOULD be afraid of what I'll do if you don't." Akainu said in a calm tone that didn't disguise the rage boiling beneath the surface.

Smoker resisted the urge to click his tongue. Akainu had always been extreme, but he'd gone completely off his rocker ever since he left the marines. He thought it better not to antagonize the man any further and answered him. "Vergo is a spy for Doflamingo. Has been from the very beginning of his career. The Straw Hats made some sort of alliance with Trafalgar Law to bring down Doflamingo. That's all I know."

The steel beneath Akainu's feet started to glow red hot and the air started to get intolerably hot, though Akainu's neo marines stood at attention without flinching at all. "I ought to let them tear each other apart, but I suppose the people of Dressrosa would needlessly suffer in the conflict. Go report to your Fleet Admiral that the Neo Marines will handle this matter."

His words left no room for complaint and he marched over to the boiler to blow off some steam. An almost explosive burst of boiling steam shot out from the top and the steel ship started to move away at a speed that few ships could ever hope to match.

"Vice Admiral Vergo is a spy for Doflamingo?! I thought he was a fake?!" A G5 marine finally spoke up.

"That can't be true! Big bro Vergo is the best of us!" Another rejected the truth.

"We only let you believe that because it would have needlessly upset you in the middle of the mission." Smoker said.

The G5 marines all turned to Tashigi for confirmation, which irked Smoker. She nodded her head solemnly and they entered a state of depression at the thought that their idol had tried to kill them and had been a traitor all along.

"Get over yourselves already! We've got to get these kids back home!" Smoker shouted at them.

"... Vice Admiral Smoker is right, guys! The real Vergo might be a jerk, but the Vergo in our hearts and the lessons he taught us aren't gone!" A G5 marine declared.

"""YEAH!!!""" They cried out in unison, tears streaming down their determined faces.

"Idiots…" Smoker muttered, but didn't admonish them.

…

Aboard the Thousand Sunny.

"Alright, give it a try Nami. Try not to sink us to a watery grave." Cherry said, handing Nami her improved Clima-Tact.

Nami felt the staff hum with energy in her hands, as if it was eager to serve her needs. Wasting no time, Nami swung the staff and triggered it to release a heat ball. The ball of superheated gas flew through the air and left a stream of ignited plasma behind it before landing in the water. The sea water evaporated instantly on contact, creating a small explosion from the force of the now gaseous water's rapid expansion.

Nami started to sweat, partly due to the heat and partly because the staff in her hands might become a weapon of mass destruction with her expertise in weather phenomenon.

Shaking off her hesitation, she tested the other two functions, the cold ball and electric ball. The cold ball liquified the water vapor in the air as it passed through the air and created a small iceberg where it landed in the water. The electric ball was almost as strong as her lightning tempo technique was.

"Make a cyclone!" Luffy cheered.

"NO!" Nami shouted back at him.

Law thanked his lucky stars that not all of the Straw Hats were unreasonable idiots.

"Make sure to practice with it while you can. You'll need to be able to control the potency instinctively if you want to use those fancy tricks of yours properly." Cherry explained.

Cherry turned around and glared, "Usopp! Who told you to stop! Or would you rather we do endurance training to toughen you up?!"

Usopp paled and resumed a rather awkward posture that Cherry had put him in that burned his muscles like hellfire. Still, thinking that he'd be fighting against the emperors single handedly with his crew of 30,000 warriors soon, he was very motivated to become strong enough to meet the challenge.

"I've never heard of such strange exercises, Cherry. Are you sure they are effective?" Jinbe asked reasonably.

"Well, normally this sort of exercise would cripple you," Cherry said, causing Usopp to gawk at her in horror. "But my special after exercise care will prevent any sort of permanent damage like that, making this a very effective training regimen. This is one I came up with keeping Usopp's specific fighting style in mind. That being wielding a powerful slingshot, and running away like a coward."

"Hey!" Usopp shouted. "It might be true, but it still hurts!"

"What about fishman karate? Do you have insights into exercises to increase the potency of my martial art?" Jinbe asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"I'd need to whip up something extra-personalized for you, with fishmen having such varied body types and all. If you've got the discipline, I reckon I can have you making tsunamis in a few years." Cherry spoke nonchalantly.

Jinbe couldn't tell if she was pulling his leg or not.