Chapter LVIII: Another Storm

On the Outskirts of Zenku

Jewelry Bonney lay exhausted and defeated. Her arms were chained behind her to prevent the use of her Devil Fruit. She was breathing heavily from both lack of breath and her injuries.

It was infuriating. This man—this monster—who had hurt Ace so badly, who had committed the greatest sin imaginable on a pirate ship, on Whitebeard's ship no less, only to run away with his tail between his legs…

Had crushed her. Like a bug. Swatted her away, like a fly. Did she mention it was infuriating?

And now she was chained to a tree. Her crew lay bloody, bruised, and unconscious beside her, all because she was too weak. Blackbeard and his crew were living it up as if their short confrontation hadn't even happened, but who knew what would happen to her crew now that they'd been captured, and holy shit how could she have been so stupid?

This man had murdered a Whitebeard Commander in cold blood, and she'd charged at him in a fit of rage, letting her emotions rule her. Of course her crew was going to back her up, and of course they were going to pay the consequences for her actions. Stupid!

"Don't look so down, Jewelry Bonney! You weren't even close to being ready for this stage yet, but I'll admit you've got spunk!" Blackbeard mocked, getting too close to her face for comfort. "Hey, why don't you join us, instead of going to Impel Down? You're too weak to be a part of my crew, but you could still my woman if you want!"

Bonney saw red.

"Fuck you!" she shouted, wanting nothing more than to wipe that disgusting leer off of his face. Too bad she couldn't move. "As if I'd ever be some concubine to a piece of shit like you! I'll never forgive you for what you did!"

Although Blackbeard feigned disappointment in her refusal, he quickly recovered and looked at her curiously. "What I did? Come to think of it, you were yelling about that earlier. Thing is, I don't think we've ever met before." He grinned maliciously. "Though granted, I've left quite the destructive path in my wake. Could it be that you know someone from Drum? Or Banaro? Or even the New World, perhaps?"

Jewelry gritted her teeth and kept her silence, knowing better than to answer that question.

"Well, not that it matters. Soon you and your crew will never see the light of day again, assuming you insist on turning down my offer." He grabbed her by the forehead and forced her eyes to meet his. "Of course, I don't really care about them, you know. I could just let them go…"

The ultimatum chilled her to the bone. Before she could even consider the gruesome choice laid out before her, a voice spoke out into the night, low and dangerous.

"Get your filthy hands off her, Teach."

As one, Blackbeard and his crew turned towards the figure standing behind them. Bonney couldn't see him from her position, but she recognized his voice. Her breath caught in her throat.

Portgas D. Ace stood with a menacing scowl in his face, a small, simmering Vivre Card clutched between his fingers.

"This isn't possible…" Chopper said with wide eyes, in denying the evidence the three of them were faced with in fear of what they implied.

"That girl...she was alive!" Nami exclaimed, beseechingly.

They were staring down at an unassuming newspaper article. One about a young actress who had died in a stage accident ten years ago.

The same girl who had just played host to them in a haunted mansion...where they had just been chased around by zombies.

"But...was she?" Usopp asked, voicing the question that was on the tips of all their tongues.

His only answer was an eerily familiar chant that echoed off the walls of the empty mansion.

"Yohohoho…"

"Hey...is that…?" Nami's question went unfinished as the ethereal song echoed again, seemingly coming from every direction.

"Yohohoho…"

Usopp's eyes widened fearfully. "It's—it's getting closer!"

"Yohohoho…"

Chopper sucked in a sharp breath. "You guys...that voice…"

"Yohohoho..." As the sound echoed one more time, Chopper shifted into Heavy Point. "There's two of them!"

Without any further warning, a clash of steel sounded behind the three, who all turned in shock to find Brook standing behind them, holding back the blade of an as of yet unidentified zombie from reaching them.

"Brook!" Nami shouted.

"Straw Hat Pirates, please flee this place. This is the zombie who currently possesses my shadow," Brook stated seriously. "I would settle my affairs with him."

Not needing to be told twice, the trio turned and fled the mansion, leaving the two undead to continue their dance of blades.

"Yohoho...interfering again, Hummer Brook?" Ryuuma asked mid parry. "You should know how this will end."

On the other side of the island, a different horde of zombies had been deployed to deal with the intruders. These zombies were faster, stronger, and nastier in general. They were the General Zombies of Thriller Bark.

And they were having some major trouble.

"Keep it coming, you shitty corpses! I'll burn you all to the ground!"

"This week's me is feeling SUPER! All this exorcising is good exercise!"

"Franky. Please refrain from using that pun ever again."

The moment Sanji, Franky, and Robin had set foot on the island, they had quickly been accosted by armies of the living dead. Naturally, their immediate reaction was to start beating them down mercilessly. Ghost ships may have been scary, but once the ghosts were attacking you, they were just enemies whose asses needed some kicking, right?

Well, at any rate, it turned out that beings which had survived death didn't go down easily. Go figure. As many times as they were beaten down, they got right back up. It had gotten very tiresome.

At least, until Sanji had kicked one of the General Zombies into the ocean, and Robin had caught sight of its shadow flying out of the water. Remembering what Brook had told them about his shadow being stolen, she had quickly put two and two together.

Which led to Operation Exorcise the Zombie Hordes Via Widespread Drowning coming into effect.

"Sanji, how is Sunny doing?" Robin took the time to ask.

The chef briefly closed his eyes, before opening them again. "She's giving them the slip for the moment. Luckily, everyone's primary focus is us right now." Suddenly, he froze as his haki warned him of danger.

He quickly leapt behind Robin and Franky, and a barrage of kicks later, a horde of creepy looking spider-rats were lying on the ground motionless.

"The hell? What are those things?" Franky asked as he knocked another zombie into ocean with a Strong Right.

"They almost got the drop on us," Robin noted. "Perhaps they were planning on murdering us and animating our lifeless bodies using stolen shadows?"

"Robin, that was overly morbid!" Franky protested. "Get your mind out of the grave!"

"How unusual," came a voice from beyond the fog. "You were able to see my Spider Mice coming. That shouldn't be possible."

Slowly, a giant cross between a monkey and a spider came crawling out from the fog. "But this is as far as you'll go, I'm afraid. Thriller Bark's Three Enigma's are starting to make their move."

"Look alive, guys. We've got some pretty strong auras incoming," Sanji warned, although he didn't seem that worried. Suddenly though, his face darkened. "Though one of them seems familiar."

Two more figures came out of the fog, one floating in the air, surrounded by ghosts, and dressed in pink from head to toe, and the other taking heavy steps on the ground, looking quite familiar.

Sanji stared at the second figure with murderous intent.

"Oh dear. It's our friend from the Sunny," Robin noted mildly.

"Yeah...he's mine," Sanji replied.

Robin caught sight of the look on his face and raised an eyebrow. "Have you met that lion-man before, Sanji?" she asked, finding it highly unlikely.

"I haven't. But still, he has some things to answer for."

Robin looked amused as well as curious, but didn't pry. "I see. Have fun then."

"Don't act so nonchalant, Straw Hat pirates," the floating girl spoke. "You may have fared well against Absalom's useless soldiers, but you won't have such a fun time against me."

Suddenly, the ghosts surrounding her all charged. Not knowing what they were, they were slightly caught off guard, but Sanji and Robin were still able to dodge. Franky, on the other hand, opted to try shooting them, which didn't go well for him. The floated harmlessly through the projectiles, and then through his body, which immediately sank to the ground.

"Hey, Franky! You alright?" Sanji shouted. "Get up! You're not even injured!"

But Franky remained in his fetal position on the ground. "I'm so un-super this week," he said quietly. "My life has no meaning. I'm so useless. I wish I could just be reborn as a flea."

Sanji looked on, baffled at the sight. "What the shit!?"

Robin looked equally unnerved, though without the outburst.

"You idiots!" Perona laughed. "You can't fight my Negative Hollows! You'll just be left questioning the values of your pathetic lives!" The ghosts charged forth once more, and Sanji kept dodging, aware of the danger now.

Robin, though, was not as fast, and eventually got hit.

"Dammit! Robin-chan!" Sanji shouted in worry. But Robin simply stood there, her face blank and unresponsive. Perona blinked at the sight, wondering why she wasn't sinking to her knees. Sanji just stared, wondering what would happen to Robin at this rate.

Finally, the archaeologist spoke. "So, your power is to make people doubt themselves? How useless. Your use of the Horo Horo no Mi is quite lacking, isn't it? Perhaps you should die and let the fruit pass on to someone who could actually use it."

Silence. Complete and utter silence. The Straw Hats, General Zombies, and Enigmas alike all stared at Robin like she was something from another world. A stifled sob finally broke the quiet of the night.

Perona was kneeling on the ground, tears trailing down her face, as her ghosts mimicked the motion. "That...that was so mean...and unnecessary! Just why!? Dammit, I just wanna die!"

Franky was the first to speak, having recovered from his fit of negativity. "What...was that?"

"Robin-chan…" Sanji spoke in awe. "Did you just project the negativity back to her?"

Robin blinked as if waking up from a trance. She looked slightly puzzled herself. "Well...I'm already quite negative. Perhaps my negativity won out over the Hollows?"

"That's fucking ridiculous!" Perona shouted, having recovered herself. "There's no way a human being could be more negative than my Hollows! No one could live their lives with that much emotional load! You'd be dead by now!"

Robin tilted her head to the side. "The only thing ridiculous here...is your fashion sense. What are you, five?"

This put Perona right back in her fetal position, and Absalom growled. "Pull yourself together, Perona! This is pathetic!"

Sanji looked at Robin worriedly. "Robin, are you…?"

"There seem to have been some lingering effects. I'm sure it will pass."

"Anyway...we should split up," Franky said, still looking unsettled by what they have just seen. "We won't be able to fight properly if we have to keep dodging those ghosts."

"You're right," Sanji agreed. "I'll take the shitty lion. Robin-chan, you should probably handle the ghost girl."

"Great, that leaves me with Spider-monkey," Franky said, looking disappointed. "Oh well."

The three nodded at each other, and Robin ran after Perona, who screamed and started flying away. Sanji went straight for Absalom, landing a kick to his face that sent him hurtling back into the fog. Franky smirked at Tararan and gestured for him to bring it on. The spider-monkey growled and charged.

Back at the mansion, Hogback was fretting over recent events.

"Oh Cindry, what are we to do? Moria-sama will not be happy that I let those three get away."

"...Plates should disappear from this world."

"That has nothing at all to do with what I said."

"Hogback-sama!" The two turned to see a lower ranked Soldier Zombie scrambling into the mansion. "Hogback-sama, I have a report to make!"

"Well, don't just stand there. Get on with it."

The zombie gulped. Yes, sir. The bulk of the island's Soldier and General Zombies have been either defeated or purified."

It took a moment for that to sink in. When it did, Hogback's eyes widened.

"You've got to be kidding me! Those zombies together number at two hundred strong, and the General Zombies are the toughest ones we have! Who could have defeated all of them?"

"Many were defeated on the outskirts of Thriller Bark, by three of the Straw Hat pirates."

"I heard, but Perona and Absalom were sent to intercept. There's no way they could have—"

"But the bulk of them," the Soldier Zombie continued, shivering, were defeated by one man!"

Hogback froze, not even caring that he had been interrupted. "...What? Who?"

The zombie shivered again. "Roronoa Zoro. I was the only survivor."

Zoro stood over the countless corpses of the General and Soldier Zombies alike. Not a single one had been purified using sea water, or even salt. Rather, every single one had faced death by the swordsman's blades, forcefully expelling the shadows within.

Zoro walked past the last of the downed undead, and smirked at the sight of the mansion he had just stumbled upon.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," he said quietly. "I can sense Brook's aura in there. As well as another one of note." His eyes narrowed, realizing that the two were already fighting. And Brook was losing. Wordessly, he lifted one sword and brought it down.

The mansion split in two.

Hogback and Cindry fell over onto the ground as the room split apart around them. Hogback screamed in fright, while Cindry simply looked on, emotionless.

"It's...it's him!" the Soldier Zombie trembled.

Zoro walked calmly passed the fallen doors of the mansion, and towards the three spectators.

"Y-You! What are you waiting for! Get him!" Hogback shouted at the last Soldier Zombie. Althoug he was scared stiff, he was compelled to obey a member of the Three Enigmas, per Moria's orders. With a shout, the zombie charged forward.

And was casually cut down. His body fell to the ground, and his head rolled away, causing Hogback to let out a shrill scream as the shadow within was ejected.

But Zoro simply walked passed the terrified Enigma, not paying the slightest bit of attention to his presence.

"I know that caught your attention," he said, speaking to an unseen presence.

Ryuuma walked out from behind the rubble, carrying Brook's defeated form over his shoulder. Zoro's face darkened at the sight of the fallen skeleton. As Ryuuma through him onto the ground unceremoniously, his hands tightened around his swords.

"You're going to regret that," Zoro stated ominously.

"Roronoa Zoro, is it?" Ryuuma said. "You're right, I was about to finish off this fool, but that feat of swordsmanship caught my interest for the time being. I assume you're looking for a duel then, since you came here."

"Zoro-san…" Brook mumbled from the floor. The only reason he was still conscious was because he technically couldn't lose blood, having none to begin with. But he had still taken considerable damage during the fight.

"I was," Zoro replied, answering Ryuuma's question. "But now...I'm must plain pissed off. Prepare yourself."

A few seconds passed by as the two measured each other up, and then, by an unspoken agreement, the First Mate and swordsman of the Straw Hat pirates and the last and strongest General Zombie of Thriller Bark dashed toward each other, as Brook watched on in amazement.

Limbs were in flight as rubber and shadow collided in an ungodly exchange of fistly barrages. Both combatants refused to give ground as their attacks met in the middle, born from mastery of their respective abilities, and incited in a clash of ideals.

"Gomu Gomu no...Elephant Gun!"

Moria mirrored Luffy's attack perfectly, just like those before it, as his fist expanded similarly to the rubber man's.

"What an interesting moveset," Moria cackled. "You've taken your Devil Fruit powers far for such a low tier Paramecia. But I suppose it should be expected from this generation's Dark Horse."

"As much as you mock me for it, I can tell it infuriates you," Luffy said dodging and parrying another mass of limbs as he spoke. "Just the thought of us rookies chasing our dreams with our whole lives ahead of us…it makes you sick, doesn't it?"

Moria's face darkened. "Quite perceptive, aren't you? Yes, you hit the nail on the head. Seeing all you clueless ingrates flocking to the New World, completely ignorant of why we call this current sea Paradise! It almost makes me want to let you go so just so you can witness the horrors for yourself!" A sinister grin formed on his face. "Almost. As much as I would like to read about your gruesome deaths in the newspaper, I have a much better use for your skills."

"I'm glad to know you care," Luffy scoffed. "But you shouldn't worry about us rookies. Especially not my generation."

"Oh? Having delusions of grandeur are you? Do you really think this current generation of pirates is any better than the rest?"

"It's the opposite, actually," Luffy said with a smirk. "You could say we're the Worst."

Moria's smile vanished. "You seem to be speaking in riddles. Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"Not yet. But it will. One day, you're going to fear the rookies that you so casually dismissed. But as for me…" His face darkened, and Moria felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine.

"You shouldn't think of me as a rookie at all. I didn't get that shadow for free."

"You…" Moria trailed off as he felt his grip on his newfound power slip just the tiniest bit. "Who are you?"

"I am he whose will shall bring forth another storm," Luffy recited. "And this peace you enjoy, Warlord?"

He looked up, and Moria's eyes widened in fear.

"It's just the calm before it."