A/N: Lots of conversations ahead. Take a break… Or keep reading, your choice.
*******
'This is kinda like Dressrosa…but without any stakes or strong opponents,' Luffy sighed as he watched Zoro, Nami, Silk, Borodo and Akisu slip out from the back of the building. Once Bear King's announcement had ended, they had all gone back inside Chrissy and Lestrade's shop before the citizens attacked, and they quickly tried to make another plan but they didn't have any time.
Luffy just said, "Just get to the castle and fight your way inside. I'll stay back and keep the citizens here" and they all agreed not having a better plan or any time to come up with one. Chrissy and Lestrade stayed back with him as they weren't being chased and he took on the role of escorting them to the castle. Makino too stayed back with him and Lizz hadn't even bothered to say anything before she had run off searching for Ann as soon as the announcement ended.
He would usually have been the first to storm any place, but he had no interest in fighting any of the weaklings there, so he took on the role of escorting the scientists to the castle.
"Okay, give me a few minutes. I'll distract everyone," Luffy said before walking out of the building. Makino and the two scientists watched as Luffy excitedly announced his presence and started running away while the people chased after him.
"…Why does he seem excited to be chased?" Lestrade asked.
"…He's just like that," Makino said not knowing whether to be amused or embarrassed.
They could hear him laughing and attracting everyone's attention while people's shouts of 'he's here!' could also be heard, but just ten minutes later, all sounds abruptly stopped. They couldn't see what was happening as Luffy was far away and a couple of minutes later, Luffy came jogging up to them, without even one person tailing him.
"Okay, let's go," he said pointing at the castle.
"What did you do?"
"Just put them to sleep, don't worry about it" Luffy waved it off as he picked her up and started making his way towards the castle while Chrissy and Lestrade followed him. No one bothered them anymore and a couple of people they did run into just pointed at Luffy and screamed "Monster!" before running away.
The three stared at Luffy questioningly while he chuckled, "No one's hurt, don't worry. I didn't even touch anyone." And he really hadn't. All he did was run a bit away from Makino and the others, attracted attention and gathered a lot of people around him, and then unleashed his Conqueror's. He still couldn't control the direction of the Haki blast and thus, it just spread in a circle around him. More than 200 people went down instantly and those outside the blast range saw a lone man standing in the middle of hundreds of unconscious people and ran away scared.
The closer they got to the castle, the more people from other areas of the island got in their way and Luffy took care of them while escorting the two scientists and Makino.
"Why are so many citizens wanting to capture us?" Luffy asked, "They don't actually want that bear guy to be the ruler right?"
"No no, it's not that," Chrissy sighed as she explained, "There are mainly two types of people living on this island. The normal civilians which consist of the people that were living here before Bear King took over and also kidnapped civilians like those from Silk's town"
"The other type," Lestrade picked up, "are the pirates. Many pirates do attack Bear King, and when he defeats them, he either kills them or lets them live to work for him. The second type will obviously do anything so that they can move up the ladder"
"That explains it," Luffy nodded as he noticed most of the people attacking him looked like pirates. He didn't care much as he continued dispatching anyone in their way and just as they reached the castle, they saw a small war happening between two groups just outside the castle compound. One group was led by Silk and the other was led by a long-moustached pirate Luffy recognized as Gally.
Behind Silk were a bunch of civilians who were holding all sorts of weapons, but they looked totally inexperienced in handling them, while behind Gally were his pirate crew brandishing swords with maniacal smiles on their faces. They seemed to be at a stalemate as Gally was holding a middle-aged man hostage while Silk glared at him.
"Our fight got interrupted last time," Gally drawled with an evil grin as he held the blade against the man, "But I would've won then too. You don't have any of your fancy weapons now, so just surrender or your precious mayor gets it! AHAHAHA!"
'Boring…' Luffy sighed as he understood the situation. Silk ran into her townspeople and also Gally. After hearing Bear King's announcement, Gally had decided to capture Silk and had taken her mayor hostage. He also saw that her bag of weapons was on the ground a bit away from her.
He saw Silk's distressed face as she began to lower her weapon in surrender, which was currently a sword attached to her arm, and went into action. He used Soru to get next to Gally, and before Gally could even process that someone was standing in front of him, he grabbed and shattered the sword that was at the mayor's neck, grabbed the major and used Soru to get next to Silk. And before she could process what was happening, he grabbed the bag of weapons from where it was lying and dropped it at her feet.
'I feel like The Flash…' Luffy grinned as it seemed like only his brief afterimages could be seen by everyone else.
Silk was the first to recover from the unbelievable phenomenon as she started looking around until she spotted Luffy right next to her and nodded gratefully at him with a smile, who just waved back. She then grinned excitedly as she saw her weapons and picked up a crossbow.
"Heehee, I believe someone wanted to see me and my weapons in action," she grinned as she slotted the crossbow into her metal arm and aimed it at Gally while picking up an arrow, "A show then!"
Gally finally came out of his stupor and yelled "What…who was that just now?!" but it was too late for him as Silk let loose an arrow at him. Luffy expected it to just hit him thinking it was a normal arrow, but what he wasn't expecting was the arrow suddenly catching on fire in midair halfway before reaching him, and thus, a flaming arrow landed right at his feet before it exploded in his face.
"Whoa! That's so cool!"
"Hehe like it? I call it the Norse Funeral," Silk said as she proudly produced another similar arrow.
"Ah because that's how Vikings honoured their dead huh?" Luffy grinned as he took the arrow from her and inspected it.
"Oh god, you understood it! Yes, exactly! It's hollow and filled with a sludge mixture of alcohol and gunpowder. The tip is covered with a light coating of an incendiary substance and when the arrow is released, the friction causes it to catch on fire, which in turn lights up the inside of the arrow. And thus, leads to an explosion!"
"Smart" Makino nodded impressed by it.
"How did you get the weight and balance right?" Chrissy asked as she observed the arrow too, "The hollowness will throw off the accuracy right?"
"Yeah, it took me a while to get the weight and balance right, but I managed it in the end. Cool huh?"
"Yeah, it's very cool! You got more?"
"Ah sorry, that's the only special kind of arrow I have for now," Silk said as she switched the crossbow with a flail.
While Silk and Luffy were talking, the Gally pirates were in complete disarray as Gally himself had fallen unconscious after having an explosion go up in his face. And when they saw Silk switching to a flail and swinging it around, they got even more terrified.
"Well, thanks for the assist, Luffy. The others went on ahead, so you can go chase after them. I'll take care of things here"
"Shishi okay then!"
"I'll stay here too," Makino stopped him before he could start, "We'll go with the original plan of evacuating everyone. Or at least move them to places where they can evacuate"
"You sure?"
"Yeah, go on" Makino smiled ruffling his hair. Luffy accepted and made his way towards the castle entrance along with Chrissy and Lestrade. He jumped onto the compound wall while carrying them both and observed Silk, Makino and the others for a few seconds.
Silk was leading the charge against the pirates by swinging her flail around and taking out pirate after pirate. She was really strong, especially with her metallic arm and skillful enough to wield multiple weapons. Makino also picked up a crossbow from among her weapons and asked Silk for permission before she started using it too. Makino seemed surprised by the recoil after she released an arrow and Silk laughed before teaching her how to use it while also battling the pirates and also leading the rest of her townspeople. He didn't know it then, but something massive had just been set in motion.
———
"Luffy!" A voice yelled his name as soon as he and the two scientists entered the interior of the castle and he turned to see Borodo and Akisu running towards him. They looked pretty beat up and were being chased by a man he recognized as Skunk One from his poster. He was actually flying, or more like he was propelling himself by expelling gas from the jetpack-like suit he was wearing. It was expelling a yellow gas that was propelling him and the exhaust was positioned right at his butt, giving the obvious impression that he was farting.
The thief brothers stopped when they came next to him, panting hard, while Skunk One stopped too, facing Luffy and the others. "Oh? Now, who's th-"
"Hey, I have to ask," Luffy interrupted, "That seems like a jetpack, but why is the exhaust on your ass? You know what that seems like right?"
"…what?" he muttered dumbly, more surprised at his bluntness rather than the question.
"W-we've asked him the same thing," Chrissy piped up hesitantly, "He had us look over his designs and we suggested two downward facing exhausts on his back, but he was adamant about the… placing of the exhaust"
"B-but his Devil gas is a formidable weapon! It's a paralyzing agent that will act instantaneously!" Lestrade informed not wanting him to take him lightly.
"It also smells" Akisu added plugging his nose.
"Unbelievable…" Luffy sighed before he saw Borodo gesturing something to him secretly. Luffy understood, nodded and turned to the two scientists, "Let's just go"
He started walking away and the two followed hesitantly when Skunk finally lost it and roared in anger, "How dare you make fun of me?!"
He propelled himself right at Luffy, but he didn't get far as Borodo jumped on him when he got close to the ground and pinned him down. Borodo had gestured to Luffy that he wanted Skunk close to the ground and thus, Luffy had made it happen.
"Akisu, now!"
"Yes!" Akisu yelled as he ran towards them while bringing out a stick of dynamite from inside his jacket.
"Hey, let me go!" Skunk struggled under Borodo as he used all his strength to keep him pinned down. Skunk managed to get free from under him only after two seconds but it was too late by then. Akisu had already lit the stick of dynamite and stuck it right into the exhaust before diving out of the way.
"Sh-" Skunk couldn't even curse before it exploded inside his jetpack-suit and he was sent blasting up and away, his suit burst open.
"Yeah!" Akisu yelled throwing his hands up, "I'm a brave man of the seas!"
"You did it, Akisu!" Borodo cheered happily lifting him up before he turned to Luffy and gave him a thumbs up, "Thanks for the assist!"
———
"Have some sense of danger, idiot!" Borodo exasperatedly yelled at Luffy when he just plowed through all the booby traps laid in the castle. Poisoned arrows and darts, pits of spikes, falling ceiling blocks, and a myriad of other traps were all laid along their way and instead of avoiding them, Luffy just ran ahead activating everything while laughing. The two scientists and the thief brothers, who had tagged along as they made their way up the castle, watched him with a mix of apprehension and also relief that he was on their side.
"Shishishi don't worry, this way is faster!" Luffy laughed as he activated another trap and dozens of poisoned arrows got launched at him.
"They're poison too!" Chrissy yelled worriedly watching Luffy tank all the arrows.
"Eh don't worry. I'm immune to most poisons," Luffy waved it off as he continued up the castle.
"…I'm not even gonna ask," Lestrade sighed as he and the rest followed him.
The next person they ran into was Zoro and he seemed to be in a bit of trouble. Looked like he had activated a trap where the ceiling, basically a huge block, fell on him and he was holding it up with both arms while his legs trembled under the weight, but that wasn't the main problem. The problem was a man who looked like he couldn't decide whether to dress up as Dracula or a Joker and so, settled with a cross between the two. It was Pin Joker, the Swordsman of the Trump Siblings.
"I admire you, Roronoa Zoro," Pin Joker drawled as he stood in front of Zoro "You bested me the last time we faced…"
"You!… Who are you?" Zoro asked genuinely not remembering who he was.
"Y-You don't remember me?! You were the one who gave me this scar!" he yelled as he pointed to a scar that ran diagonally across his face.
"Uh sorry, I don't etch weaklings into my mind"
"You wretched knave! You might have bested me before but I'm more than 'steady' for you now!"
"You mean 'ready'"
"Arrgh!" Pin Joker blushed in embarrassment at his slip of tongue before pulling a few feathers out of a sort of scarf he was wearing, but the feathers turned out to be needles. "These are laced with Skunk's paralyzing poison! The ceiling will crush you when you become paralyzed!" he laughed before launching them at Zoro.
And that's when Luffy intervened, standing in front of Zoro as he shielded him from the needles.
"Luffy!" Zoro smiled, "Took you long enough"
Luffy smiled as he held up his hands to hold the block and pushed up to release some pressure off of Zoro. "I'll hold the ceiling, you go finish the fight"
"Gladly!" Zoro smirked bringing his hands down and after seeing Luffy manage to hold it up by himself, he turned to Pin Joker with a pissed-off expression.
"I-I don't know who you are," Pin yelled at Luffy, "But you just got hit by paralyzing poison! You'll become numb soon and the ceiling will crush you!"
Zoro looked at Luffy worriedly but Luffy just said, "Don't worry, I'm immune to most poisons"
"…Of course you are," Zoro shook his head not giving it much thought before he pulled all three of his swords out. Luffy became excited as he finally got to see his three-sword style in action as Zoro lunged at Pin Joker.
The fight wasn't anything special as Pin Joker used a rapier to use thrust attacks which Zoro ducked under before slashing at him. Pin was agile though as he managed to dodge Zoro's strike and started using dirty tricks like throwing a stick of dynamite at him.
"I thought you said you were a swordsman? Stop using petty tricks!" Zoro growled as he jumped away from the dynamite and managed to get out of range of the explosion.
"Ahahaha! Everything's 'rare' in a fight!"
"You mean 'fair'" Zoro said as he slashed at him and the two continued exchanging blows.
Luffy's face which had an excited expression had morphed into a neutral one as the fight progressed. If he was being completely honest, watching Zoro fight was a little underwhelming. He had seen Zoro do things like cut meteors, cut down mountain-sized enemies like Pica, so seeing him at his current level where he couldn't even cut steel and was actually taking time to defeat someone as weak as Pin, was a little underwhelming. He knew it wasn't fair to Zoro and wanted to beat himself up for thinking that way, but he couldn't control his thoughts from wandering and comparing Zoro to his future self. This was another aspect of having future knowledge that he hated.
"OniGiri!" Zoro used his final attack which brought Luffy out of his thoughts and he shook those thoughts away and concentrated on the present. Pin Joker fell with a slash across his chest, while Zoro panted hard removing Wado from his mouth before promptly keeling over.
"Yes! Another sibling is down!" Akisu yelled throwing his arms up and excitedly running under the ceiling that Luffy was holding up, along with Borodo and the two scientists. "That was so cool!"
Zoro had still been hit with the paralyzing needles during the fight and even then, had managed to move and fight, which was truly very impressive. 'Stop comparing him to his future self, asshole!' Luffy chided himself as he got out of the crushing ceiling trap after the others had passed it and went to support Zoro up.
"I'll leave the rest to you, Luffy" Zoro said before he fell limp in his hands.
"Sure!"
———
"This is it," Chrissy said as they all stood in front of a room after having climbed up a few more floors. "Okay, the Island Key is in here. We'll need a few minutes to disable the bomb. Bear King's throne is just above us, so if you can hold him off for long enough, we'll disable the bomb mechanism and fire a flare into the sky once we're done"
"We'll protect them," Borodo said with Akisu nodding with determination and thus, Luffy and Zoro moved on to the next floor while the four remained there.
"Where's Nami?" Luffy asked as he carried Zoro up in a princess carry.
"…Let me down first and I'll tell you…" Zoro grumbled feeling embarrassed at his current state. It had started off with Luffy supporting him as they ran up the stairs, but the poison spread more and he soon became unable to move. Lestrade said that the paralysis would end in a few minutes, but since they didn't have time, Luffy had just picked him up in a princess carry, and Zoro had been embarrassed ever since then.
"Shishi don't feel so embarrassed, Zoro. We don't have a choice here"
Zoro sighed deeply accepting the situation before answering his earlier question, "Not sure. Us two and Lizz were going up, but the two suddenly disappeared. They probably got lost somewhere"
"Oh, you mean you got lost somewhere" Luffy chuckled.
"No! They got lost!"
"Sure they did"
"I'm telling you! I was going straight! They're the ones who got lost!"
"Shishishi su-"
Their banter stopped when they started hearing loud yelling from further ahead.
"-stop controlling me!"
"I'm not! See what happened here?! You left the island once and we got embroiled in this whole thing! You got kidnapped by pirates -TWICE! And almost got forced into marriage!"
They recognized the two voices as Ann's and Lizz's and silently walked towards the voices. When they were just near the entrance of the room from where the voices were coming, they slowly put just their heads in to peek into the room and saw a rather confusing sight. Ann and Lizz were having a loud argument in the middle of the room, while Bear King was sitting on his throne watching the two with a grin on his face. Balloon was just a bit behind Ann but he was crouching low as if trying to make himself seem smaller and go unnoticed by the two arguing sisters.
"I've left the island so many times already, not just once!" Ann continued.
"WHAT?! You've left the island?! I thought you only went to neighbouring towns! You lied to me?!"
"Of course, I lied! With a controlling bitch of a sister like y-"
"Family drama," Luffy and Zoro both whispered in unison before facing each other and nodding, both coming to the same decision. 'Let's not get in between them'
Luffy slowly backed away while still hearing the shouting match and after moving far enough, stood awkwardly not knowing what to do as the bickering continued.
"Well, at least they're buying time I guess?" Zoro said awkwardly, "I don't know why but the bear guy seemed to be enjoying…" he trailed off as Ann let out a very loud and long string of expletives, "…that."
"Yeah… I guess we let them continue," Luffy nodded while looking around and found stairs leading further up. "Let's go up and see what's there"
"Anything's better than standing here and hearing them… but first, let me down, I can feel my legs now"
"Aww, you sure? Do-"
"Let me down. Now." Zoro growled lowly and Luffy chuckled as he complied.
The two then made their way up and much to their surprise, they found themselves walking into the backside of the Diamond Clock. The room was filled with all the intricate gear mechanisms that run the clock, and when they walked closer to the Clock face, they could see the whole island through it.
"The island's beautiful huh?" they heard a voice say and turned to see Nami. There was a small opening on the clock face that opened up into a parapet and she was sitting on it with her legs dangling.
"Nami!" / "So this is where you got lost…"
She had a really melancholic look on her face as she stared out into the island though and the two went next to her wondering what her deal was now. They felt the fast winds brush past their faces as they stepped onto the parapet too and looked at the huge clock face from the outside. They spotted eight shining gems embedded along its circumference, two in each direction, and understood why it was valuable.
"So this is the famous Diamond Clock huh," Zoro said as he watched the shimmering gems, "You aren't stealing it?"
Nami gave a deep sigh as she stared off into the distance looking very thoughtful. "No. As I said, I'm a pirate thief. I only steal from pirates… this belongs to the people here, so I don't want to st-"
"The clock's too big," Luffy interrupted her.
"Yeah, and the gems seem to be built into it," Zoro added before both gave her a deadpan look and said in unison, "You physically can't steal it"
Nami blinked for a second alternating her gaze between the two before she started comically crying, "Goddammit! Yes! Yes, you're right! Those precious precious gems are right in front of me! And I can't steal them! Waah!"
The two men chuckled seeing her reaction and sat with her looking out into the island while she composed herself.
"Ooh looks like Makino and Silk have the situation under control." He could see them leading a lot of people behind them as they fought off any small remaining groups of pirates. A pirate he recognized as Spiel seemed to be one of the last ones who was fighting against the civilians, and Silk skillfully took him out by using a swinging axe attached to her arm by a long chain. 'Silk is so awesome!'
"Looks like they're done down there… are any enemies left now?" Zoro asked.
"Hmm the bear guy is there and oh, I haven't seen Honey yet"
"She's right there," Nami said pointing to one corner of the room and they saw a naked blonde woman lying face down on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Nami twirled her staff and with a grin said, "I took her out"
—Flashback—
"Agghh! I can't remove these gems!" Nami cursed as she saw that the gems were built into the Clock itself and there was no way of extracting them without destroying the entire clock. And she didn't have the strength to do that.
She was wondering if she could blow it up with dynamite when she was suddenly assaulted from behind. A pink fluid substance wrapped around her body and also her mouth so that she couldn't scream and Honey's upper body formed in front of Nami, while she struggled to get out of the sludge.
"Kyahahaha! Struggle all you want! You're not that crazy cloning bitc-"
She was interrupted when Nami swung her shock staff at her and Honey only laughed smugly with amusement. "You do realize I can't be hurt by physical attacks right? What are you going do with a baton?! Kyahahahaha!"
'This is gonna hurt a bit,' Nami flinched slightly as her arms were also being encased with the fluid, but she could still rotate her wrist. So, she rotated the staff so that it would touch her own body and sighed deeply before turning the dial up. Honey screamed in surprise while Nami grit her teeth through the pain as both got electrocuted but she had kept the intensity low enough that Honey would get cautious of her and release her while she didn't feel much pain. And as expected, Honey instantly unwrapped herself from Nami, feeling wary of her.
"What the h-"
She couldn't get a chance to finish the sentence as Nami instantly thrust the staff forward, stabbing it right into her fluid body before turning the dial way up. Honey got really electrocuted this time and promptly lost consciousness, resulting in Nami's victory.
—End of Flashback—
"Whoa, you can proudly say you defeated a Logia user in a one-on-one fight, Nami"
"Heehee if this is how Logia fruit users are, then they are a piece of cake!"
"Heh" Luffy chuckled recalling the literal freezing of the sea, lightspeed movement and lasers, lightning raining down from the sky, magma fists impaling someone…
"So all that's left is the bear guy," Zoro concluded before asking, "What's his deal anyway?"
"Oh don't get me started on that psychotic bastard," Nami sighed, "He thinks that the two sisters are fighting over him"
"Wait what?"
"Yeah, Ann was trying to be the decoy who would buy time by distracting the bastard. She got here way before all of us, probably using Balloon's swapping…Anyway, when we saw her here, Lizz and Ann started arguing… long story short, they decided to fake argue in front of the bastard long enough to distract him and he thought they were fighting over who gets to marry him." She sighed shaking her head in disbelief, "…And as you can hear, the 'fake' argument got very real very soon. I was hiding the whole time observing them but I soon got bored and came up here to see the scenery"
"To steal the Diamond Clock," Luffy corrected and got a smack on the head.
They sat silently, enjoying the cool breeze and watching things settle down below as Makino and Silk calmed the people down and led them to the evacuation zones in a fast but efficient manner.
"…Well, this is anticlimactic," Luffy said after a few seconds of silence.
"Sure is… Are the sisters still fighting?"
All three leaned back inside and they could still hear faint yelling.
"Who the hell are you anymore?!" Ann yelled, "You were once so bold and passionate about your dream! And now? You're just a scared little girl! And you force me to be like you too!"
"How dare you?! You know I'm doing this to keep you safe! I promised Dad that I'll never let you get hurt!"
"You're not keeping me safe! You've basically imprisoned me by not letting me go anywhere! And Dad never wanted this kind of life for you! You've given up on everything and just exist day to day! I don't want to live like this anymore!"
All three nodded and put their heads back out to continue to watch the beautiful scenery. They had to stall until the scientists disabled the bomb and since the sisters were doing it already, they just had to wait now.
"Silk is great right? I'm gonna ask her to join the crew"
"Silk huh? Yeah, she will be a good addition," Zoro nodded approvingly having noticed her fighting prowess and knowing she was good.
"She's good with her hands too… her metal arm looks amazing"
"So Nami will be known as Non-metal arm Silk then?" Luffy asked looking completely serious, "Or is Gullible Ann better?"
"The fuck I will!" Nami snapped choking him, "If there is such a thing as dominant doppelgängers, then I'm the main one!"
Before she could murder Luffy, fortunately, a green flare lit up the sky.
"Okay, that's the signal that they're done with disabling the bomb"
"So who's going to go break up the fight between the sisters?"
"Hmm…I actually don't hear anything now…"
"…Yeah, you're right. Guess they stopped?"
"Hopefully"
The three silently made their way down the stairs and still not hearing anything, peeked into the throne room to see what was happening. The two sisters were still inside, but they were facing away from each other, seemingly giving each other the silent treatment, while Bear King was still sitting on his throne just watching the two with a grin on his face.
"…what now?" Zoro whispered.
"Guess we announce ourselves," Luffy said as he walked in but not even a step in, another voice yelled his name.
"LUFFY!" Bomby suddenly phased out of Lizz crying his name as she ran at him. Luffy wanted to dodge but when he saw her face, she looked like she was on the verge of crying and seemed like she really needed a hug. Probably the fight with Ann became a bit too intense. So he just spread his arms wide and caught her, while she glomped him wrapping her arms and legs around him as buried her face in his shoulder.
"Please tell me that the scientists disabled the bomb" Lizz pleaded.
"Yeah, they did"
Lizz's face lit up as she cracked her fingers, "About damn time." She then turned to face Bear King, who was looking at the newcomers with confusion, at least until his eyes fell on Nami.
"You!" he yelled pointing at Nami, "Become my brid-"
Lizz gave him an uppercut right under his chin so hard that he went flying up and half his body got lodged into the ceiling. "Time to let out some steam," Lizz growled as she jumped and hung off his legs before yanking him out and slamming him back to the ground.
"Ahahaha! You can't hurt me!" Bear King laughed unaffected by the sudden attack, "I ate the Kachi-Kachi no mi and my body can become as hard as steel!"
"Even better!" Lizz grinned maniacally, "I can use you as a punching bag!"
And then the beatdown began. And it was brutal.
"Damn… guess she was really frustrated with the fight with you huh?" Nami said as Ann came up to them.
Ann just scoffed, "I hate her…"
Bomby whimpered, still latched onto Luffy, and he internally sighed as he wrapped his arms around her and started patting her head consolingly.
"It's okay, Bomby. You know I don't hate you specifically…" Ann said feeling sad for her.
Bomby nodded, slightly separating from Luffy before looking up at Ann but froze when she saw Nami right next to her. "You really do kinda look alike"
"Yeah… I can't deny that"
"Any chance that you are actual sisters?" Zoro asked curiously.
Nami's eyes widened with surprise, not even having had the thought until then. 'Bellemere did find me as a baby orphan…Could it be?' she began wondering but her thoughts stopped when Bomby firmly denied it. "No, that's not possible. Lizz delivered Ann herself and our mother died after giving birth to her. And she didn't have any other pregnancies"
"Half-sisters?" Luffy suggested.
"Hmm, I doubt it. We inherited our looks solely from our mother. Our biological dad didn't look anything like us, so most probably we share a great-grandmother or something. We could be distant cousins"
"Eh that's fine. I don't care much for blood family anyway," Nami said waving it off.
Bomby nodded while still staring at her, "Still, since you look like Ann… If we fuck each other, would it be considered inces-"
"THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?!" Nami and Ann both smacked her head shutting her up while sporting identical bright red blushes.
"KAHAHAHAHA!" / "HAHAHAHAHA!" Bomby, Luffy and Zoro all fell to the floor from laughing too hard.
Meanwhile, Lizz continued the brutal onslaught on Bear King. He tried to fight back, but Lizz's attacks were just too fast and hard, and within no time, he was a blubbering mess on the ground, unable to move any part of his body except for his hand that was repeatedly pushing the button on a detonator, which of course didn't work. The others also stopped joking around when the fight looked to be almost done.
Lizz panted hard standing above him as she finally stopped beating him up when he lost consciousness. She sighed deeply letting her frustrations go before looking at Ann, who just scoffed at her and went out of the room without saying a word, while the rest stood awkwardly around. A couple of minutes later, Borodo, Akisu, Chrissy and Lestrade entered the room cautiously and cheered when they saw Bear King's battered state. Soon, the news of their newfound freedom spread throughout the small island and the celebrations began.
——o——
"So you were here," Luffy said as he airwalked to the top of the Diamond Clock where Lizz was sitting all alone in a brooding mood.
"Bomby won't let go of you huh?" Lizz chuckled when she saw Bomby still wrapped around Luffy.
"Yeah, she's been glomping me the whole time during the party," Luffy said as he landed and sat down next to her. "You won't come down? People ate partying hard you know"
"It's okay. Not in a party mood," she said in a melancholic tone before smacking Bomby on the head, "Let him go, Bomby. Stop pretending to be sad so that you can hug him and disturbing him with your crazy behaviour"
"Actually, I would have been okay if she was her usual crazy self. But she's been really calm the whole time…"
"First, what's wrong with you? You should be bothered if she was crazy, not the other way around!" Liza sighed, "And secondly, really, Bomby?
Bomby calmly nodded still burying her head in Luffy's neck before softly saying, "Feels like dad"
"Really?!" Lizz said surprised. "Show me"
Bomby reluctantly let go of Luffy and phased inside Lizzy.
"Wow… you're right…"
"So you can share memories once your clone goes back inside you huh?" Luffy concluded with a hand on his chin.
"Y-yeah…" Lizz stuttered before looking at Luffy apologetically, "Sorry…but do you mind…?" Another Lizz phased out of her, but this one was much different. She was a really young Lizz, maybe around eight years old, wearing a simple blue frock dress with her hair tied up in twin tails. Luffy recalled the aged-down Nami from the Z movie as this Lizz looked just like her, except with blue hair instead of orange.
She was really cute and was holding her arms up while looking up at him with puppy-dog eyes asking for a hug. Luffy smiled as he lifted her up and wrapped his arms around her while she buried her head in his chest.
"Thanks" Lizz smiled gratefully.
"Let me guess, Youngy? Or Childy?" Luffy asked with a grin as he softly patted the child's head.
"Oh no no, this spoiled brat wants to be different from everyone else. She wants to be called Ellie"
"Ellie huh?"
"Yeah. It was Elizabeth at first. Since it still had 'liz' in it, she changed it to Ellie. She's really really spoiled"
"I'm not even gonna react to that right now," Ellie said as she leaned into the hug.
"She spoils the fantastic naming sense you have huh?"
"What can you do?" Lizz smirked ruffling Ellie's hair. "Kids get what they want."
"Hey! Stop it!" Ellie snapped swatting Lizz's hand away before putting it around Luffy again.
"That's my spot you're intruding upon!" Bomby phased out looking at Ellie with a peeved expression, while the little girl just stuck a tongue out at her, and before Bomby could do anything, Lizz pushed her back inside.
"Shishishi things must be chaotic up in your head huh? So many personalities bickering with each other"
"Kahaha yeah sometimes they drive me crazy. And sorry for this, it really feels nice to hug you…"
"Yeah, I know. It's a thing apparently. I'm really good at giving hugs"
She chuckled before pulling out a picture and showing it to him, "That's our dad. He gave great hugs like you too"
Luffy studied the man in the picture and was surprised to find that he had blue-coloured skin, a face like that of a beluga whale, four arms instead of two… He was a Fishman and most importantly of all, he had a Sun tattoo on his chest.
"Adopted" Lizz stated the obvious.
"So he's a Sun Pirate huh?"
Lizz perked up with surprise before saying "…You are from the Grand Line, aren't you?"
"So are you," Luffy grinned, which she matched before the two exchanged stories.
"I was born in Paradise. Spent a few years there with my mom until Ann was born when she died. We were poor, so I didn't have any other choice but to jump on a ship with a baby Ann hoping we would end up in a better place. Ended up in a much more messed up place unfortunately… but that's where we found our dad," she said touching his picture. She then gave a deep sigh, reminiscing something before continuing, "Well, stuff happened, we lost him, and I ended up bringing Ann to East Blue"
"I see. Well, I am from East Blue. Just ended up in the Grand Line unintentionally and spent a few months there"
"Unintentionally?"
"Slavers"
"Ah, I see. The cuffs make sense now. You were forced into them huh?"
"Yep"
"And Doflamingo?" she asked cautiously.
"What about him?"
"You knew Trebol, so wondering if you have any connections to him"
"None really. You knew Trebol too"
"No connections either…"
She was obviously lying and Luffy didn't want to pry, so let it go. The two sat in silence for a while before Luffy spoke up again, "How do you choose to stay in a place like East Blue after experiencing the Grand Line? I've been here just a few weeks and I'm dying to go back… and it's not like you're someone weak who ran away from there either, are you?"
Lizz sighed, "It's a long story, but basically I saw the true monsters of this world and my dream got crushed… Ann is the only thing I have left now…"
Luffy just hummed not commenting anything and silence descended once again. Ellie was the one to break it this time when she slightly separated from him and looked up at him before asking, "Aren't you gonna ask why I exist?"
"What?"
"People always ask me why I was created when they see me…"
"Ah, you mean like that… Well, I didn't get the whole story, but judging by what I heard from your fight with Ann and what you told me just now, I think I can guess"
"Oh really?" Lizz smiled, "Let's hear it then"
"You gave up on your dream," Luffy said to Lizz who physically flinched while Ellie smiled wide, "And Ellie here is your childish self who was a dreamer. You made her so that there is at least one version of you that's still a dreamer"
"You're right!" Ellie cheered throwing her hands up.
Luffy chuckled as he continued, "Kicky is just for fighting prowess-"
Kicky phased out with a peeved look, "Hey! I take offence to that…" before sighing and adding, "But yeah, you're right…" and phased back in.
Luffy continued with a chuckle, "And Bomby? I'm not completely sure, but I'm assuming you were once trapped in a situation or facing an enemy where every instinct of yours was telling you to run or submit, every logical scenario you could think of led to worse outcomes… and so you needed a version of you that was unhinged and made illogical or reckless decisions… Intrusive thoughts can be something like wanting to jump off a cliff, and also something like wanting to fight or blow up your tormentor when every logical or reasonable scenario would lead to your defeat or worse outcomes…"
"…wow, not bad. That's actually quite close"
"Shishishi I think I'll make a great detective"
"Okay Mr Detective," Lizz chuckled before giving a self-deprecating laugh and desperately asked, "Tell me… what do I do with Ann?"
In complete contrast to her desperate tone, Luffy nonchalantly answered while scratching his head, "Hmm I don't know? I'll just say that I would have hated to have you as my sister"
"…what?"
"Yeah. Sounds like you police Ann a lot, don't let her go out and all…blegh, if you were my sister, I would have run away the first chance I got"
"…You don't mince words huh?" Lizz sighed as she rubbed her face.
"Shishi nope"
"Right…"
Luffy then focused on Ellie, "So tell me, what is your dream?"
Ellie smiled wide as she put one hand on her waist and another on her chest and declared loudly, "I'll become the Pirate King!"
Luffy stared dumbly for a couple of seconds before his shoulders drooped and he hung his head low, "Godfuckingdammit…" He had planned to ask her to join his crew after learning what her dream was, but that just went right out the window.
"Wha?! What's with that reaction?!"
"Your dream will never come true," Luffy said with a sigh.
"What?!" Ellie muttered looking betrayed, "I thought you were differ-"
"Because I'm the one who will become the Pirate King!"
Ellie froze for a second before breaking out into a huge goofy grin as she stomped her little foot, "No! I'm the one who will become the Pirate King!"
"Heh, you can't even teach the top shelf of anything," Luffy teased standing up and insulting her height as she came just above his knees.
"Don't make fun of my height!" Ellie snapped kicking his shin.
"Shishi I think I'll call you Shorty"
"Don't you dare!" she snapped as she started winding her arms up and hanged at him while Luffy held her head stopping her at an arms length as he continued to tease her.
Lizz sweat-dropped watching a grown man arguing with a child. "You do realize you're fighting an eight-year-old right?"
Without missing a beat, Luffy turned to face her and while staring right into her eyes said, "Well, the grown-up is too big of a coward, so I have no choice but to argue with the eight-year-old"
Lizz, Ellie, Kicky and Bomby who phased out after hearing him, all stared at him in shock.
"…You don't hold back at all huh?"
Luffy just grinned as he grabbed Ellie, "I'll kidnap her for a bit. Nami will freak out when she sees her!" and without waiting for a response, stood at the edge to jump off. Just before he did though, he turned to face Lizz again and added, "I wish I could take Ellie's words seriously and see you as a rival," before turning his back to her and jumped off.
"Wait for me!" Bomby yelled as she jumped off too leaving Lizz and Kicky alone.
"…I've never seen someone insult another with a genuine smile before," Kicky said sitting down next to Lizz as they watched Luffy catch Bomby midair before he continued to fall down in a controlled manner.
"Yeah," another Lizz phased out and sat next to her, this one looking very similar to the original Lizz except she had white hair and her arms were a bit buffer with bandages wrapped around her fists. "It sure was a slap in the face…"
"I'm surprised you didn't go on a rampage," Kicky said looking at the new white-haired Lizz.
"I may be Angry, but even I can't get angry when he had no ill intent behind his words… He was just disappointed with us"
"Yeah…" Lizz sighed as she stared off into the sky. "And that look of disappointment stung way more than it should have…"
"Well, he is someone with the same dream as us, but unlike us, he's chasing it and even put himself through hell wearing sea stone cuffs like that. We once had resolve like that…"
"He insinuated that the world didn't crush our dream, but that we gave up on our dream…" Lizz said contemplatively, "I never thought of it that way… but he's right…"
"Yeah… yeah, I agree…" Kicky said hanging her head down. "We gave up…"
The Lizz's sat in silence for a few seconds before Kicky spoke up again, "Ann isn't gonna stop, you know… She'll go look for revenge on Doflamingo sooner or later. And she has no idea just how utterly outclassed she is… She still thinks she can defeat him with a surprise attack…"
"Hmm"
"Listen, Lizzy," Angry said seriously, "We tried to keep Ann away from stuff like this, but she's grown up now. She has goals of her own and she has the resolve to chase them or die. Unless we physically lock her up, she will go to the Grand Line. She will go after Doflamingo. And she will die…"
Kicky nodded slowly, "This last fight was really bad and it is the last straw… I don't think she'll even go anywhere with us now unless it's to the Grand Line"
Lizz nodded slowly. "So we finally stop hiding?"
"It will be tough but this is what I've wanted for a long time," Kicky nodded with an excited smile on her face.
"What about the rest of you?" Lizz asked the other personalities that resided within herself. She talked for a while with them, arguing and thinking about what to do before coming to a decision.
"So we go. Train Ann so that she can protect herself, maybe get her a devil fruit, make her see just how crazy the world really is and knock some sense into her…"
Angry looked at Lizz with disappointment and Lizz sighed deeply before composing herself. "Okay okay…scrap all that. We go the Grand Line to take revenge by burying Doflamigo… and chase our dream!"
"And?" Kicky said.
Lizz grit her teeth but finally relented, "And take Ann along with me and train her any way she wants"
"Okay great!" Angry cheered, along with the rest of the Lizz's. "But first, right here, right now?" Angry glared at the party going on down below, "I want to punch Luffy in the face for insulting us!"
———
Zoro, Nami, Makino, Silk, Ann and Balloon were around each other chatting as the party raged into the night when Luffy, with Bomby on his back, came running up to them while holding something in his hands that was covered up with a cloth.
"Nami! Nami! You won't believe what just happened!"
"Slow dow-"
"Your daughter from the future time-travelled to now!" he said as he removed the cloth revealing Ellie to everyone with a flourish, while the little girl raised both her arms up towards Nami and cheered "Mommy!"
A number of honest-to-god spit-takes occurred at the same time as everyone who knew them spit out drinks or choked on their food at the sudden shock and stared at Ellie in bewilderment, then looked up at Nami, before looking back at Ellie again.
"M-My d-d-d-daughter?" Nami stuttered breaking the silence first as she gawked at the little girl who looked just like her younger self and was brightly smiling up at her. Luffy was waiting to see how she would react but Bomby spoiled it as she started howling with laughter falling off of his back. Ellie couldn't hold back anymore as she too started to giggle into her hands, ruining everything.
"Dammit, Shorty! Couldn't hold back for a few more seconds?"
"Don't call me Shorty!"
"Pffthahahaha!" Ann started laughing pointing at Ellie, "The name fits you perfectly, Shorty!"
"Right? Right?" Luffy laughed and Ann joined forces with him as they started making fun of Ellie… but Luffy soon felt a murderous aura directed at him.
"Luffy…" Nami growled his name lowly and he instantly stiffened up. He turned to see her coming at him with a balled-up fist, his eyes playing tricks on him as he could see the image of a demon behind her. He instantly lifted Ellie up and held her in front of him as he yelled "Cuteness attack!"
Ellie just blinked a couple of times tilting her head to one side as she hung in Luffy's arms… then shook her tiny little head from side to side, her twin tails swinging behind her… then rubbed her eyes with her tiny little hands… and that was enough for everyone's hearts to melt, including Nami's as she completely calmed down.
"Kya! She's so cute!" Makino, Nami and Silk lunged at her at the same time, but Makino got to her first and snatched her away from Luffy's hands. A middle-aged man who Luffy recognized as Silk's mayor also ran up to Ellie and eyed her with adoration. "She looks just like how Silk was as a kid!"
"Oh c'mon! I didn't look this cute, did I?" Silk asked as she pulled on Ellie's cheeks.
"Yeah, I'm sure I wasn't this cute either!" Nami said pulling her cheeks too.
"Another of Lizz's clones?" Zoro asked handing Luffy a drink while many of Silk's townspeople took turns fawning over Ellie.
"Yeah, her name is Shorty"
"You big dummy!" Ellie yelled with puffed-up cheeks, "My name is Ellie!"
'So cute!' was the only thing that ran through everyone's mind and Ellie became the centre of attention as people came and pulled on her cheeks, patted her head or fed her something sweet to see her cute reactions. And Ellie actually seemed to enjoy the attention and liked it when people treated her as a cute little child.
'Probably starved for such attention when she was a child herself, so likes t-' Luffy punched himself in the face berating himself. 'Stop analyzing her!'
Lizz was a psychiatrist's wet dream as all her psychological issues could be seen much more clearly in her clones and given his years of study of human psychology from Leo's memories, he couldn't help but take an uncharacteristic interest in learning about her past. But he didn't like it as he was seeing her as a case study, so berated and stopped himself.
The party raged on and some time later, Luffy saw Silk, Chrissy and Lestrade standing together and discussing something animatedly. He wanted Silk to join his crew, so walked up to them and heard them talking about the island structure and mechanisms that make it work. He stood watching her for a while, waiting for them to finish talking as they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"I've never seen something so ingenuous!" Silk exclaimed, "The idea of gears and mechanisms that go into the working of a clock being responsible for this island to stay on top like this…" She shivered with excitement, "Magnificent!"
"Haha thanks," the scientists blushed hearing the praise.
"We could have done so much more," Lestrade said with a sigh, "If it weren't for Bear King, we would have improved upon this and been a worldwide attraction by now"
"Instead we had to build weapons for that bastard…"
"It's fine now, isn't it?" Silk said with a smile, "Now that the island's safe, you can resume your research into whatever you want. You can make this island into an amazing place!"
"Yes!" both scientists nodded with excitement.
Luffy was about to intervene then but noticed that Silk's town's mayor was standing next to him watching Silk with a mixture of happiness and sadness.
"Sup, old man. Creeping on Silk, I see" Luffy said with a grin and the mayor physically flinched and turned to him getting flustered.
"N-no! I wasn't creepi-"
Luffy laughed as he patted his back, "Relax, I was just joking"
"Ah mayor," Silk said noticing them, "and Luffy!"
Luffy got close to the mayor's ear and whispered "She said my name with much more happiness, old man"
The mayor gaped at him for just a second before his face reddened with anger and he snapped, "Don't tease your elders, brat!"
"Shishishishi"
"What's going on?" Silk asked amused and curious.
"Ehh don't worry about that. I wanted to ask you something"
"Hmm?"
"Join my crew!"
"…Wh-what?" Silk spluttered out a laugh. "You want me to become a pirate?"
"Yes!" The whole conversation where he revealed that he was a pirate had already taken place earlier in the night, with Ann readily accepting it and Silk taking a much longer time to come to terms with the existence of good pirates, but she did in the end.
"Why?" Silk asked confused at the invitation.
"I like you. I want you"
Silk's face blushed as she got flustered, the mayor's jaw hung wide open, and at the same time, Makino came up to his side and pulled on his ear while Nami came up to his other side and smacked him on the head. "Stop saying such misleading things, idiot!"
"Luffy, you know how that sounds!" Makino chided him like a mother.
"Shishi okay okay," Luffy chuckled before looking back at Silk, "I like you as in I think you're very cool. I want you as in I want you to join my crew"
"Oh," Silk fanned her blushing face with her hand to compose herself and once she did, shook her head in denial, "Sorry, but no. I can't go with you out to sea. I want to stay here"
Luffy's shoulders drooped down already expecting it. She considered the townspeople who raised her as her treasure, so he was doubtful whether she would leave them. "You don't want to leave your treasure huh?"
"Yes," Silk nodded eyeing the mayor.
"I think you should go" Unexpectedly, the mayor spoke up against her decision.
"What are you saying, old man?" Silk asked narrowing her eyes at him.
"I said you should go. You shouldn't waste your life away just looking after us. You looked so happy while talking with those scientists… You can become a brilliant inventor yourself if you just left the stupid town behind. You should go out into the world and learn new things instead of just wasting your life in a boring old town like ours…"
"Shut up! I'm not leaving!"
Luffy tuned them out when it looked like another fight was about to break out. He could see that Silk really had no desire to ever go out to sea and she valued her townspeople more than anything else, so he gave up.
He was about to go somewhere else to explore the island when he suddenly picked up a strong hostile intent headed right for him. He grinned recognizing who it was and instantly scaled up a building so that he could be easily spotted by the other person.
He saw Lizz coming at him and when they locked eyes, Luffy grinned as he started running away from the crowd while Lizz chased him. Once he got far enough, he stopped, cracked his knuckles, wound his arm up and threw a punch, just as Lizz threw Angry at him and their fists collided creating a massive shockwave.
Luffy grinned as he studied the new white-haired Lizz, who seemed to be extremely angry at him as her veins were bulging on her forehead.
"Who are you?"
"The name's Angry," she said as she threw another punch, which Luffy matched creating another shockwave.
"Angry? Why not Wrath? That's so much cooler!" Another fist collision.
"Doesn't fit with the naming sense" Another fist collision.
"Ragey?" / "Don't like it!" Another harder fist collision.
"Furiousy?" / "Nope!" Another harder fist collision.
"Hmm, Maddy?"
Angry actually stopped and blinked in surprise.
"You know like Mad, Maddy"
"Yeah yeah, I got that… Just surprised how I never thought of that… Maddy is great. I'll be Maddy from now on!"
"Shishi great!" Another harder fist collision. "Are we done testing each other?"
"Well, this is the only thing we can do here, you know," Another fist collision, "If the two of us fought here seriously, we'll end up destroying the island"
"True. So will I get to fight you somewhere else someday?"
Lizz came up and jumped where Maddy was, phasing into her before she threw a punch which Luffy matched and their fists connected, only this time, it created a much bigger shockwave.
"Yeah… Let's fight seriously when we meet on the Grand Line!" Lizz declared and felt a rush of excitement when she saw Luffy's eyes gain a shine he didn't have before while looking at her.
Nothing else needed to be said as they both brought their fists down. Luffy understood that she was going to be chasing her dream after all and cheered internally while looking at her with excited eyes. 'I think I just created a new future Supernova!'
"What are you staring at?" Lizz asked as she discreetly put her hands behind her back and massaged her aching fists. 'Damn, the idiot's much stronger than he lets on…and he was still holding back'
"Shishi I know your fists are hurting, no need to hide it"
Lizz blushed in embarrassment as she tried to defend herself, "I'm just rusty that's all! I'll show you my real strength the next time we meet!"
"Looking forward to it," Luffy said sincerely causing her to blush more.
"Let's go back to the party!" she hastily changed the topic, "I need to let Bomby and Ellie know"
"Ooh, so you can't just telepathically talk to your clones?" Luffy asked as they walked back.
"No no, need them to phase into me for memory exchange"
"Hmm and I've seen you all wear different clothes, and Bomby can also phase into you while still wearing a bag… So technically, Bomby could just carry whatever she wants and phase into you, and it'll serve as an unlimited storage space, won't it?"
"Yeah, already thought of it, but it won't work. I feel the weight of whatever my clones carry while phasing into me, so it can't be more than what I can carry. Usually, I feel like I'm wearing a few layers of clothes on me"
"Ah okay…"
"What's your ability by the way?"
"Don't tell Nami and Zoro, I'm playing a guessing game with them," Luffy said as he stretched his lips unnaturally wide, "I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi. I'm a rubber-man!"
"…"
"…"
"…How lame"
"Wha?! Take that back!"
"You stretch? Wow, how amazing," Lizz drawled sarcastically. "I thought it would something dangerous since you suppress it, but that's it?"
"Hey! Stop making fun of it! It's the best power in the whole world!"
"Sure it is. Oh no, I see a man who can stretch coming at me. Whatever will I do?"
"Hey!"
Maddy and Kicky both phased out laughing at him as they piled on the insults and they all kept arguing until they reached the party where Ellie was still the centre of attention and Bomby was biting someone, probably following some intrusive thought. Ann was also there talking animatedly with Nami and Zoro.
Lizz first went up to Bomby and phased her in and out of herself, exchanging memories, and Bomby dropped her jaw becoming very excited. She went to Ellie next while Luffy walked up to Nami, Zoro and Ann.
"Ah Luffy," Nami waved when she spotted him, "Ann here wants to say something"
"Luffy!" Ann looked at him with expectation and excitement, not even acknowledging Lizz, "I just heard that your dream is to become the Pirate King?!"
"Yep!"
"So you'll be going to the Grand Line soon right?!"
"Yep"
"Then let me join your crew! I know you haven't seen me fight, but I usually tag team with Balloon. I'll show you once Balloon's wing heals"
"Gwaahh!"
Luffy became excited and was about to nod, but Bomby and Maddy both pounced on him suddenly and pinned him down while clamping his mouth shut.
"Mmmph!" Luffy deflated knowing what was about to happen.
"Sorry Luffy," Bomby said apologetically, "As much as I love you, I won't let you have Ann!"
'We just met today…' Luffy whined internally.
"LIZZ!" Ann's angry scream tore through the party silencing everyone, "FUCKING STOP! I WON'T LISTEN TO YOU ANYMORE!"
"Wait wait!" Lizz hastily placated her seeing that she was furious beyond anything she was ever before.
"I'm going with him and that's final!" Ann stated and started walking away stomping her feet furiously.
"Ann wait!" Lizz pleaded but when she didn't even acknowledge her, she yelled, "I'm heading to the Grand Line too!"
Ann froze midstep and snapped her neck back at Lizz, "What?"
"I said I'm heading to the Grand Line too… So, come with me"
"Are you being serious right now?!"
"Yeah"
"Ellie?"
"It's true!" Ellie proudly nodded.
"Wh-what brought this on?"
While the sisters were talking seriously, Luffy was more concentrated on Maddy who was on top of him. Her white hair was falling on his face and he wondered why she would have white hair, unlike the other clones. 'Hmm, she's Lizz's angry side personified. She's probably always under immense stress and fell victim to Marie Antoinette syndrome?'
He nodded to himself sagely thinking he was most probably right before realizing he was analyzing her again and sighed stopping himself. He came out of his thoughts when he felt the pressure lifting off of him and saw that Lizz and all her clones were hugging Ann while she cried happily. He stayed on the ground feeling sad that another potential crewmate was taken away from him when Nami and Zoro crouched down next to him after noticing his dissatisfied expression.
"Wow, rejected twice in one day huh?" Nami said with an amused smile as she patted his head consolingly.
"No, I think he wanted Lizz to join too," Zoro added with a smirk, "So three failures in one day"
"…Jerks" Luffy pouted while the two laughed at him.
———
"What's going on?" Luffy asked when he woke up the next morning to find Silk, Ann and Lizz all staring at him. He had slept in a random bedroom he had found in the castle the previous night, and now, all three girls were gathered around his bed looking at him suspiciously, especially Lizz who seemed to be on guard.
"You said you knew Ann and Silk," Lizz started getting straight to the point, "I thought Ann wasn't telling me she knew you because of our fight, but she really has no idea who you were until yesterday"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered someone like you if we had met," Ann added.
"You also knew me?" Silk asked, "Last night too, you knew what I consider to be my treasure even before I said anything and you even brought my arm. How do you know me?"
Luffy sat up straight already expecting this and told them the answer he had prepared, which actually wasn't too far from the truth.
"Best way I can explain it to you is that I saw Ann and Silk in a dream once…"
"Huh?" all three blinked in surprise.
"On two separate occasions, I saw Ann and Silk in trouble with Spiel and Gally respectively… I didn't even know if they were real or not. When I saw the two pirates' names in the papers a few days ago, I started thinking, 'Hey, if the pirates I saw are real, then maybe Silk and Ann are real too?' And so, I came to Flint to check the place out and even I was surprised when I found traces of both of you"
"…"
"You're actually being serious aren't you?" Ann asked bewildered.
"If he was lying, who would spout such absurd nonsense?" Silk said equally bewildered.
"So you saw all this in your dream already?" Lizz asked.
"No no, I didn't see this…It was years ago, so I only vaguely remember it. In Ann's case, I think I ran into her when she was captured on Gally's ship. We both ended up locked in a cell where we talked and she told me how Balloon was her treasure… Hmm then stuff happens, and Ann saves me from drowning…at the same time, Gally goes flying off into the air on his flying broomstick along with Balloon. Ann starts crying, and so, I fly up to Gally, defeat him and rescue Balloon… Hmm, that's it I guess. Ann thanks me and flies away at the end…"
"Well, I was captured and locked up in a cell on Gally's ship," Ann said surprised.
"And me?" Silk asked.
"Hmm I come to your town on Spiel's pirate ship and so, you attack me. When you learn I'm not Spiel, you give me food at your restaurant and tell me how the townspeople are your treasure because they raised you without any ill will… not sure why that would be relevant though"
"I was abandoned in the town as a baby by the very same pirates who ransacked the place. Even though I'm the child of such pirates, they still raised me with love and care…"
"Ah that makes sense… anyway, Spiel then shows up and steals all the money and gold from your town and sails away… I end up falling into the sea again and you save me. After that, I go to Spiel's ship, destroy it and get all your town's treasure back. The end"
"So the central theme is a girl telling you about her treasure, someone stealing that treasure, the girl saving you, and then you saving their treasure?" Lizz asked wondering if there was any pattern to it.
"Eh don't read too much into it," Luffy shrugged. "The dreams had concepts like black magic and Balloon's blood was said to have some magical properties… it doesn't make much sense"
The three sighed not knowing how to react to such a revelation and took time to process it.
"And me?" Lizz asked.
"You never showed up… Ann and Silk never met in my dream either. This whole deal with Trump Pirates didn't happen in my dream"
"Hmm, strange dreams huh? It's almost like skewed visions," Lizz said with a glint in her eyes.
"It's so romantic!" Ann piped up with excitement. "A man sees his soulmate in his dream and comes to save her!"
"You need to lay off on the romance novels a bit," Lizz said with a sweat-drop.
"Shut up!"
The two started bickering, like actual sisters this time, and Luffy smiled internally.
"If you didn't come," Silk spoke up in a serious tone, "We both would have died last night"
"What?" Lizz froze.
"We made a pact," Ann answered, "The bear guy was going to hold the wedding last night, so we decided that we both would fight him if you didn't show up regardless of whether he threatened to destroy the island or not"
"I would have been no match without my arm against Bear King and the other siblings" Silk continued.
"And I wouldn't have reached here so fast without you," Lizz mumbled in shock, "I never would have taken Balloon without making a ruckus with the Marines… Never would have given a second thought to Borodo, and without him, it would have taken much longer for me to find this island… I wouldn't have been able to arrive here yesterday…"
The three realized that whatever dream Luffy had had saved all their lives.
"You're my Guardian Angel," Silk suddenly said causing Luffy to do a double take.
"No no," Luffy hastily denied it thinking that the conversation was going in a very weird direction, "It's a regular thing with me. Showing up at the right time in any place"
"No, I think she's right," Ann chimed in. "Why else would you get a dream- no, a vision about us? If this isn't a sign from the universe, I don't know what is"
"Guys, please stop. You are reading way too much into this…"
They didn't stop however and turned him into their own personal guardian angel, while he wondered how he would get rid of that misunderstanding.
"Uhh Luffy," Lizz suddenly said with a strained face, "I think you should run"
"Huh? Why?"
"Well, you saved Ann, so I thought I should reward you… You're a man, so you know… sex crossed my mind…"
"Ah," Luffy nodded understanding where she was going, "And Bomby caught onto that thou-"
"LuuuFFFY!" Bomby's face phased out and he disappeared the next instant.
———
"You're leaving already?!" Chrissy said surprised when Luffy and group were getting on the elevator.
"Yeah, no reason to stay here anymore"
"It's been fun," Nami smiled, "This island is gorgeous. Hope you make it an even better place now that you're all free after seven long years of tyranny…"
Luffy discreetly eyed Nami and noticed the slightly wistful look she had. She was probably thinking about Cocoyashi, as her island definitely had some similarities to Clockwork Island too. 'Just a bit more, Nami and you'll be free like these people too…'
"Hey Luffy," Ann said coming up to him along with Balloon, "We didn't get to spend much time, but thank you so much! Not only for being my guardian angel but also for having a hand in changing Lizz's mind"
She hugged him tightly and Balloon wrapped his winds around them too, and Luffy accepted that he was their guardian angel, not seeing much of a problem with it. She moved on to Nami and the others next when Silk's mayor came up to him.
"Luffy," he said pointing at Silk, "Take her with you"
"You're still on about this, you stupid old man?!" Silk snapped, "Just shut up! I'm not leaving you all!"
Silk and the mayor still seemed to be arguing over the same issue and Luffy sighed.
"You're really not gonna just demand her to join?" Zoro asked a bit shocked.
"No. Believe me, I want to kidnap her and take her along but…" he sighed, "She doesn't have even the slightest interest in going out to sea…"
"That's right!" Silk nodded at Luffy's words and turned to the mayor again angrily "Apparently, he knows me better than you do!"
"But you want to learn more and innovate more things! Don't deny that!"
"Well, I do. But I can do that by staying in our town too!"
Luffy sighed growing tired of their bickering and offhandedly made a comment, "Maybe you can just shift here"
"What?"
"You did say your town got attacked a lot, didn't you? So, you all can just move here to Clockwork Island. That way, Silk can join the scientists and do research here, while you all can be safe too"
Silk and the mayor both stopped their bickering. "…Huh"
"Yes, that would be great!" Lestrade interjected, "Now that the pirates are gone, our population will reduce a lot. So, we'll welcome your entire town to stay!"
"Yes, I would like to get your opinions on more things too," Chrissy added addressing Silk, "You really have a bright and innovative mind!"
While Silk and the mayor were seriously considering it, the scientist couple suddenly turned to him and hugged him with tears in their eyes. "Thank you so much… for not only giving us our freedom but also giving our son back!"
"I did what now?" Luffy asked confused.
They wiped their tears away as they let him go and pointed at Akisu, "He's our son!"
"Huh really?"
"Apparently," Akisu nodded with a blush as his mother caressed his head.
"Yes, that's why I wanted the tyranny of the Trump Siblings to end," Borodo said with a smile, "I knew his parents were somewhere on the island and wanted to reunite him with them"
"Ah okay," Luffy nodded wondering if this was a major plot point in the movie but shrugged accepting it, saying goodbye and moving on. Zoro and the others were saying goodbye to Ellie who had come out, so he grinned and went to tease her.
"Hey Shorty, you better have grown the next time I see you!"
"I'm not Shorty!" Ellie stomped her foot puffing her cheeks out and again, everyone who saw her thought she was really cute. She jumped on him and pretended to beat his chest but was actually getting one last hug in and Luffy, realizing it, squeezed her tight in a bear hug.
"See you on the Grand Line, kiddo"
"Hmph! I don't want to see your face ever again!"
Luffy ruffled her hair before passing her off to Nami and Makino, who squeezed the life out of her too. He then stood in front of Lizz who looked challengingly at him. "We'll leave this island in a couple of days and immediately head to the Grand Line. See you there…" She held a hand out and Luffy grinned taking it and they shook. Her other clones popped out too, except Bomby, who wasn't allowed to come out completely. Just her head was sticking out of Lizz's neck like a second head, which looked a bit freaky.
"Goodbye Luffy, I'll think of you every day!" Bomby cried and he just patted her head saying goodbye.
"You know, we didn't determine who the dominant doppelgänger is in the end," Lizz said as they all stood ready to leave.
"I am!" Nami, Silk and Ann snapped in unison, before glaring at one another.
"Alright, that's it!" Ann spoke up first, "We're deciding this before you leave!"
"It's easy," Silk smirked, "I'm the strongest physically, so I'm the dominant one!"
"Hell no!" Ann snapped, "We should decide by who's the cutest! So it's obviously me!"
"No, we should decide by who's the smartest. That's obviously me!" Nami snapped, "And even if we went by who the cutest one is, I win that too!"
"Like hell you are! I'm the smartest one here!" Silk snapped.
"And I'm the cutest one here!" Ann snapped.
"No, I am!" Nami snapped.
"Oh please, says the girl who believed her daughter time-travelled from the future!" Silk smirked.
"Yeah, you're so gullible!" Ann laughed.
"That's when Luffy is involved! Don't include that!" Nami snapped.
The two, however, kept laughing at her making her snap more. "Alright, that's it!" Nami brought her shock staff out, "A fight it is then! Winner is the dominant one!"
"Fine by me!" Silk smirked as the retractable blade in her arm popped out.
"That's not fair! You two have weapons and I fight with Balloon usually, who is injured right now!"
"Everything is fair in the Great Dopplegänger Wars!" Silk christened the name of the battle between them.
"Don't just name it!" the other two snapped.
The others who were watching the fight with amusement had a different name for the fight between them - The Snapping Wars.
Ellie suddenly interrupted the three by jumping in between the three and proudly declaring, "I'm the cutest here!"
"Don't butt in!" All three snapped at her making her flinch. Poor Ellie's eyes teared up and soon, huge teardrops started rolling down her face before she started wailing "Waaahhh! You meanies!" and ran back inside Lizz.
The three doppelgängers looked at her pitifully for a second, but they soon went back to glaring at one another. And that was the last straw as people finally stepped in to stop them.
"Okay, that's enough," Luffy grabbed Nami and hauled her over his shoulder like a sack before going to the elevator, Lizz grabbed Ann and pulled her back, and the mayor held Silk back.
"Stop!" all three snapped, "We're not done yet!"
"Yes, you are," Luffy chuckled as he pushed the close button on the elevator while Nami started to bash his head in trying to wriggle free, "Bye guys!"
Nami caught the other two's eyes and they all nodded and yelled at the same time, "This isn't over yet!" before the elevator doors closed.
Silk and Ann glared at each other for a second before Silk said, "Doesn't feel right to continue the war without all participants present"
"Agreed. Truce until we all reconvene then?"
"Truce." Silk nodded before both smiled becoming normal again.
"Your arm is so cool! I heard you can switch weapons on it?"
"Yep!"
"Show me!"
"Sure, follow me"
The two chatted away happily while the rest watched them with a sweat-drop while Lizz tried to console the crying Ellie. From then on, if only two of the three participants of the Snapping Wars met, things would be pleasant and amicable, but if all three were present in the same space, things would get ugly.