One Piece – Halfway Broken

Summary: Woohoo, the best plans come from memes, right? Er...right?

Warning! Chapters 63-66 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!

Chapter 66: Firing Magic Missile at the Darkness

Hina stared out at the miasma still attempting to press in on the Discovery. She wasn't particularly concerned about it, or even with the idea of having to confront the possessed Marines that the crew who'd headed inland had reported. She and the rest of those still aboard ship had, in response to that very report, shifted the Discovery farther out from the island. Still in sight, of course, but far enough out that those possessed Marines would need to be coherent enough to launch a longboat out to them. She doubted, from the descriptions, that they had that amount of intelligence remaining. Even if they did, it was something that the man or woman on watch would easily see coming, even with the miasma cutting visibility somewhat.

No, she wasn't overly concerned about whatever curse was on this island. Given what she'd already seen Kaya do, she suspected the crew would be fine. Which was a large part of why she'd decided to stay aboard ship. She…needed to think. She'd really just been reacting, since Alabasta. Leaving the Marines, joining a pirate crew of all things, even if they didn't really deserve that label. It was one hell of a major shift from what she'd always thought her life would be like. Which made the fact it didn't feel wrong at all disconcerting.

Honestly, she'd been trying pretty hard not to think about that fact.

It had been surprisingly easy.

Which was, of course, part of her current problem. The camaraderie she'd found about the Discovery was a heady thing. She fit with the Strawhats in a way she couldn't really claim to have ever experienced before. Her friendship with Clay was the closest comparison, and that idiot was almost as much of a renegade as her new crew were. Hell, she could even claim to have done more actual good in the short time she'd been with the crew than she could remember achieving for years with the Marines.

Oh, she'd taken down a fair few pirate crews of the type that needed to be taken down. She hadn't earned her moniker and reputation for no reason. Yet, in the short time she'd been working with the Strawhats, she'd helped them save Alabasta, then arguably saved two more entire islands with Skypiea and Wind's Home. There was even every chance, given the miasma, that they'd do the same here as well. The fact that they'd done it all mostly because it was the right thing to do, rather than any thought of politics or reward only emphasized how unlike the Marines her new crew was. In a lot of ways, the Strawhats represented what Hina had once dreamed the Marines were, when she was a child not yet wise to how the world worked. Closer to roving Heroes out on an adventure than they were pirates, or even bounty hunters.

Which is why she was currently finding herself so torn.

She shouldn't be. Intellectually, she knew that the Marines had never really been loyal to her. Not beyond the personal loyalty of the unit she'd created, a unit now dead and gone almost to a man and woman. Yet, as the certainty of conflict with the Marines grew, now that they were back on the Blue Sea and had killed yet another Warlord? It was hard. So very hard to face the idea she might have to fight those who she'd have once called comrades. Perhaps even some whom she'd trained, trained with, or who she'd genuinely respected as superior officers.

At least the ones on this particular island were possessed by something. Sadly, that wouldn't be true in the future. As Hina took another drag of her cigarette, she did her best to comes to terms with something her gut was telling her would soon come to pass…

… … …

Luffy had never expected to make a serious plan for defeating an enemy based even partially off an early internet meme from his previous life. Which didn't mean the idea didn't secretly amuse him, or that he thought it wouldn't work. As mid-afternoon approached, he and his crew completed the preparations that they had spent the previous evening and the entirety of the morning on. The intense preparations of the night and morning had mostly had to do with the first stage of the plan, the one intended to lure the wielder of Shichiseiken into a trap. The separate-but-related preparations that they had just finished, surrounded by one of the densest patches of the dark miasma hovering over the island, had taken the time after a robust noon meal until now.

He, Maya, and Kaya had been the ones doing the bulk of the work. Though the rest of their group had helped as much as they could, clearing debris, leveling ground, and generally providing grunt muscle power as needed. Yamato, in particular, had also helped by donating yet more spiritual energy. They had quickly discovered the night previously that, while her reserves were seemingly only modest, they recovered almost instantly if she ate or drink a fair bit to 'refuel.'

Luffy was extremely curious about that, as it happened. He could think of at least two entirely different plausible explanations. One, the simpler in some ways, was the unknown nature of whatever a 'Nika' fruit was. Mythical Zoans were never weak, yet Yamato's seemed entirely underpowered on the surface. So her unexpected ability to near-instantly refuel her spiritual energy on food or alcohol being something to do with her Spirit Fruit was one entirely plausible explanation.

The other, which Luffy was keeping to himself, was some extremely vague memories of Japanese 'Oni' from his original life. Not vague in the sense that he didn't remember them. So much as vague in the sense that they'd been sourced from anime instead of folklore and mythology. Aside from Oni being spirits of a sort in the first place, he distinctly remembered some versions of them being empowered by alcohol. He'd noted quietly how ale and liquor seemed to restore Yamato's spiritual energy faster than food, while having only a very minimal effect on her. She could get drunk, but even Nami would be feeling it faster, from what he'd seen when he curiously provided Yamato entire kegs of The Good Stuff that he'd had stashed away in his inventory from various islands.

Of course, it could have just been the fact that alcohol was pretty calorie heavy in most cases and processed quickly. Lots of carbs, delivered fast. Still, he made a note of it, and then proceeded to abuse the fact Yamato seemed able to produce stupid amounts of spiritual energy over relatively short periods of time. Energy she cheerfully donated to the cause. It was something they'd discovered in the first phase of their efforts, and made use of now in the final preparations to help better empower the second phase as well.

Finally, all the preparations were done…and concealed. A vast array, created with the special spirit-infused inks and paints Kaya had developed, covering the entire clearing and then covered over by a false ground. Nojiko had been called away from the ship to grow the fake ground out of crystal, then the entire group had worked to cover it over with dirt, leaves, and other debris they'd initially removed. The result was that the small dip in the island where they'd chosen to make their little trap was leveled out a fair bit, but that leveling had been at least somewhat concealed, with their sealing array hidden under a concealing layer of dirt and crystal.

Given that the clearing in question was a solid 30 meters across, it hadn't been a small undertaking. But the nature of the trap they'd made meant that they needed room to fight. Now that it was ready, of course, they also needed to engage in the ancient meme that have given Luffy the idea for this.

Making sure his crew, now including Nojiko in addition to those that had initially come ashore, were in their own positions, he nodded to Kaya, Maya and Kuina. They, along with himself, were holding what looked like honest-to-God wizard staffs. Horribly gaudy looking ones with dozens of crystals and Jotunfrost that were acting as spiritual energy reserves. Doing his dead level best not to inappropriately snicker, Luffy gave the order.

"Alright ladies. Fire Magic Missiles at the darkness!"

Despite still being confused why Luffy insisted on calling what they'd created 'Magic Missiles,' the trio of women raised their staffs alongside him, aiming them like rifles. All four of them pointed into the miasma around them and trickled energy into one bundle of Jotunfrost and crystal at a time. The energy wasn't a flood, not wanting to exhaust themselves before the fight. Instead, they were merely triggering the release of the far greater amounts of energy they'd stored the night previously and this morning. The purpose of the gaudy staffs showed as each time they trickled more energy into a new cluster of crystal and Jotunfrost, a burning white-blue light shot out in the four cardinal directions.

Those head-sized balls of light didn't travel very far.

But then, they weren't meant to.

When Luffy had told them to fire at 'the darkness,' he'd meant it literally. The balls of weaponized purification energy were targeted directly at the Dark Miasma hovering around them. To those with the senses to feel it, the miasma burned, recoiling as vicious chunks were torn out of it by the purifying bolts. Since they'd deliberately set up in an area with a particularly high concentration of miasma, there was plenty of it to keep shooting at, and more and more of it burned off with each volley of purifying missiles from their improvised weapons.

There was no way it was a viable method of purifying the entire island, of course.

But that wasn't the point.

No, the point was that the miasma was directly connected to Shichiseiken. Meaning they were, essentially, repeatedly stabbing it in the eyes with a bright light. Not a serious threat to it, no. But very, very annoying and somewhat painful. They could all feel it, even those not spiritually attuned, when the sword decided NO, fuck you, I'm gonna stab you until you stop. The spike of bloodlust from a good quarter of the way around the island was noticeable, as was the speed with which it began to move.

"It's coming! Yamato, from the east, be ready!"

They kept firing, making sure Shichiseiken wouldn't break off, even as a cheerfully grinning Yamato positioned herself at the far east side of the clearing. Everyone else shifted away from that side, spreading out with the intent to either intercept any reinforcements, or else help keep the sword's wielder pinned over the array once everything started. Given the sword was possessing a Vice-Admiral, even if one that Hina had explained was brand new to that rank when she'd been in Alabasta, it wasn't a shock that they barely had two minutes of time between the spike of bloodlust and T Bone's arrival.

"Brace!"

Luffy's warning was mostly unneeded, given that the majority of those present had enough Observation Haki to have felt the man coming. But Maya and Robin did not, and the latter quickly grabbed the former and pulled her away in a pre-planned maneuver, taking shelter behind a thick bunker of dense crystal made for them by Nojiko. Kaya darted away in a slightly different direction, fading into her unique Inverse-Observation bubble that let her vanish from even Luffy's senses.

All of that was important, but incidental to the immediate clash.

The true eye-popping attention grabber was Yamato perfectly launching herself to intercept the possessed Vice-Admiral with a Haki-blackened first. The shockwave of that fist connecting with Shichiseiken and stopping it cold was immense, enough to blow Usopp out of the tree he'd been posted up in. It was also, however, the equivalent of a starting gun, as all of the other higher-level fighters present began to move almost in synch. Air blades from Zoro and Kuina, Kuina's glowing at the edge with spiritual energy, slashed into the space where T Bone had been forced to a momentarily stop, only for a pulse of putrid green fire to burst from the blade and devour both attacks.

T Bone himself was blank-eyed, but his skill was still in full presence as he redirected Yamato's fist, one of his own hands leaving the hilt of Shichiseiken to catch her follow-up blow with his own Haki-blackened palm. He faded backward, Shichiseiken tilting down to carve a trench in the ground that created sparks, the sparks flaring to life as green colored flame projectiles that hammered into Yamato. Or would have, if she hadn't easily gone airborne, spinning heel over head and using her Devil Fruit to extend a leg in a whip-fast enlarged stomp that the Vice-Admiral barely got out from under.

Before he could gain any distance, Kuina and Luffy had flashed into placed directly behind him with Soru, forcing him to push off forward to avoid Wado Ichimonji and the claws of Luffy's Stormtiger form. He got away cleanly from the latter, but Wado Ichimonji had more reach, and Kuina drew first blood of the fight in the form of a thin red line across T Bone's back. He grunted, barely reacting as his instinctive use of Armament was partially bypassed by Kuina's own more skillful use of the same. Were the Vice-Admiral in control of his own actions, that one telling detail might have caused him to break off. He was badly out numbered and at least one of his opponents could hurt him despite his Haki.

But T Bone wasn't the one in charge anymore, and Shichiseiken was an inhuman being of bloodlust, rage, and hate. It did not understand concepts like retreat, only attack, and even as its current host landed in the middle of the false clearing, it did exactly that. A wave of the sword and the air cracked in a manner not dissimilar to what the Gura Gura no Mi could cause, though the shockwaves produced were nowhere near the level Whitebeard could manage if he was serious. Even so, they came as a nasty omni-directional surprise that everyone around the clearing was forced to counter in their own ways.

Yamato barely grunted, skin-hardening in full-body Haki as she dove through the shockwave, while Luffy did the same but blunted the attack against him with a swipe of spiritual-energy infused claws too. Kuina cut the pressure wave, with Zoro managing the same from where he was securing the other side of the clearing. Nojiko was thankfully able to shield Usopp, Robin, and Maya by thickening the half dome of crystal they were sheltering behind. Of Kaya, the only sign was a distortion in the pressure wave where it parted around her invisible form like so much water. That girl was starting to get scary, even to Luffy.

Despite it being Yamato and Luffy who were pressing the attack, it was Kaya who acted next.

While she'd needed a moment to redirect the pressure wave around herself, she'd already otherwise reached the position needed to start their true trap. Now, she stomped down on the lone sigil that they hadn't buried, pouring spiritual energy into the massive, heavily modified purification array that they'd laid under the clearing. That array was the result of brainstorming by Maya, Kaya, Luffy, and even Kuina. The result was a work of art that was far more than just the brute force sealing array that had originally been used to contain Shichiseiken.

Maya had wanted to merely reseal the blade…

Luffy had argued that doing so would just kick the problem down to another generation again and had presented another plan.

A plan that came into effect now as Shichiseiken howled in surprised fury as a piece of its bloodlust was stolen from it. A chunk of dark miasma ripped away from their surroundings, pulled to the bloodlust like a lodestone, and formed into a shadowy human form with its own copy of Shichiseiken. The newly formed being launched itself at the nearest target, Zoro in this case, and showed itself immediately to be skilled with the blade. Zoro was put on the back foot, but only for a moment, as he grinned fiercely and launched into the fight with a will, his own blades flickering with bits of spiritual energy as he attempted to duplicate Kuina's successes in that area.

Shichiseiken had been so distracted by the theft that T Bone ate a hammer blow from Yamato, though it recovered with a snarl on both the man's face and in the choking bloodlust in the air. It parried Kuina, then stuttered and ate a raking claw from Luffy that was only partially blocked by T Bone's armament. Another piece of bloodlust was ripped away, another shadowy from merged with it. Though this time, it ate a spiritually empowered and lightning-infused crystal bullet from Usopp that caused it to shatter immediately.

The curse weakened. Somewhere on the island, the miasma thinned.

Shichiseiken raged, using another shockwave to force its enemies away.

It wouldn't help it. For this was their plan all along. The trap carefully crafted for the cursed sword.

Shichiseiken's curse had been formed of all the rage and bloodlust of a war-torn island. So they would rip away that bloodlust a piece at a time, infuse it into the spiritual energy of the miasma…and kill it. With every shadow creature they destroyed, the power of the curse waned. But one was almost nothing. Even when Zoro succeeded in killing the first a moment later, the curse had loss less than half a percent of its power, and two more chunks of bloodlust were ripped away and formed into more shadowy monsters.

It was going to be a slog, and they all knew it. But they would beat down the bloodlust of the curse until there was nothing left, or they would die trying. They were committed now, and Shichiseiken's own nature wouldn't let it retreat. The only real question to Luffy was if T Bone's body could keep up. Something that he got a grim answer to an instant later as he realized the deep lacerations he'd given the man with his claws were already gone…

Very well. They could do this all day. Time to find out if Shichiseiken could say the same…

… … …

Brook found working with Pagaya oddly calming. Interesting, too. Dials were fascinating, particularly the numerous types that he could see had some use in music or theater. Ideas for the use of which the crew's Dial engineer was cheerfully willing to discuss. Indeed, Pagaya was quite enthusiastic about the idea, as apparently using Dials for art had once been a big thing in Skypiea, before Enel. The idea of using them that way again intrigued the man, even if it wasn't either of their main focuses at the moment.

Still, that mutual interest wasn't quite why he found Pagaya calming. That was something altogether harder to define.

Perhaps it was because Brook still felt like the other man was an elder, to be respected and listened to for his wisdom, despite the fact that Brook himself was technically older. Brook had only been thirty-eight at the time of his first death, and he couldn't really claim to have been a mature thirty-eight. He also hadn't exactly had a lot of chances to grow since his death. It had mostly just been…listless passing of time, really. Despite being nothing but bones now, he honestly felt as if he was decades younger than the Skypiean man.

Pagaya might only be fifty-two, but he'd lived a full life. He'd lived, loved, brought new life into the world and raised that daughter to be, from all accounts, an amazing young woman. All while also dealing with all the trials and tribulations of living under this Enel fellow's thumb. Brook didn't think he could or would have handled the man's life half so well as the man himself had.

He also still didn't know how he'd found himself hearing the man's life story at all. Brook needed little sleep, a function of his not-quite-human-anymore body that he'd hated for a long time, as it meant he couldn't even sleep the time in the mists away. So it had happened that, just a day after they'd escaped the storm summoned by the Discovery, he'd first found Pagaya working late in his workshop. The man had been working on the frame of a new crystal armor he was building to help him with his work, and he'd been glad for someone to talk to while he did the 'boring bits' that didn't involve Dials.

Somehow, over the last week, that had turned into the story of Pagaya's life. A story that left Brook with a deep respect for the man and a lot to think about. Mostly, just what he was going to do once he met Laboon again. A part of him, a very tired part, wanted to just stay with the last member of his original crew. They could play music together and greet those who came to the Grand Line via the Twin Capes. It had a certain appeal for Brook.

Yet…

Yet, Pagaya's own journey was one that struck a chord with him. Not the guilt that had driven the man to set sail in an attempt somehow repent of things that haunted him. But something similar, in a way. The idea of a man setting out to make peace with who he was, and what he had done…or failed to do. There were things that haunted Brook. Of course there were. He'd been the Captain of the Rumbar Pirates when they died, and had possessed plenty of time to question if he'd made the right choices.

Yorki, Brook's original Captain who had formed the Rumbar Pirates, had been even odder for a pirate than most of the Strawhat crew were. The man had, after all, put together a crew of nothing but those who loved music, with the explicitly stated goal that he wanted to make children smile. Brook, as the last living (sort of) member of their crew…was he not now the last one left to do just that? To make people smile with music, in honor of the Rumbar Pirates? Luffy had a lot to say, to anyone who cared to listen, about Dreams. Brook thought that he might just have one of his own, even if he wasn't truly quite sure of the form it should take.

He wanted to meet Laboon again, certainly. He needed to tell him what had happened to the rest of the crew, as well as play for him their last song. Yet, after that? Brook still loved music, and he still wanted to make people smile with it. He just wasn't quite sure how to go about that. Perhaps, if he decided to give the Grand Line one more go, this group of unusual souls he'd found himself among could help him find the way. Though that still left questions about just what to do about Laboon.

Shaking his head, Brook brooded a little while there was no one to see. He could and would be cheerful for others. But for himself, at least, he needed to sort his head out now that he had actual choices he could make…

… … …

The clearing had long since become more like a devastated plain. Nojiko had needed to repair the crystal protecting the siphoning/purification array often enough during the fighting that she was slumped now against a mound of vaguely chair-shaped crystal, looking thoroughly put through the wringer. Nor was she the only one. Kaya was slumped half-asleep against a bandaged and bruised Usopp, Kuina was leaning heavily on Zoro who, himself, looked like he might struggle to lift more than one of his three blades. Robin and Maya had outright retreated at one point, and were only now returning with food for the others.

Of the entire group that had confronted Shichiseiken and T Bone, only Yamato and Luffy were truly on their feet. Yamato was looking winded, but pleased at the legitimately tough fight and ready to go another round. Luffy…had Shichiseiken in his grip and was in a staring contest with the blade as it slowly shifted from pitch black with putrid green flame writing to white with intermixed silver and gold flames. He'd reverted from his hybrid form, but looked mostly untouched. Fighting almost entirely in his Zoan hybrid form had added to both his durability and healing, not to mention his endurance, and he looked almost as unaffected as Yamato.

T Bone was, fortunately or unfortunately, dead.

It hadn't been a bloody death of the sword, but a slow withering death as Shichiseiken started running low on power and drained its host dry to keep the curse going just a little bit longer. Not exactly a noble death for a swordsman that had earned himself a proper title. It was, however, a somewhat karmatically appropriate one. Unseal a cursed weapon in pursuit of power, don't be shocked when it leads to your death as the curse sucks you dry, no?

With a last, audible snap, followed by a howl that was more felt than heard, the curse on Shichiseiken finally broke entirely. What was now unmistakably the original Seven Star Sword, glowing radiantly with flames of silver and gold, shined brilliantly in Luffy's hand as he slumped. Yamato was there in an instant, gently propping him up as he nearly collapsed from the sudden lack of drain. Still, he smiled, straightened, and contemplated his first possible proper act of piracy. Hopefully, he could convince the locals that keeping this thing here for the Marines to find out about was too dangerous.

But…

One way or another, he wasn't leaving Asuka Island without the Meito-grade blade in his hand. One that he could now feel was outright bonded to him. Besides, the WG already declared them pirates. A little harmless theft that would protect people anyway wouldn't be so bad, right?

... ... ... ... ... ...

AN 1: That's it for the action portion of Asuka Island. Part of the reason I even squeezed this arc in is I wanted a place to give the crew some training and interaction time before the big events of the Archipelago and Marineford War kick off. Hence, the relatively quick resolution to the problems here. The next set of chapters mostly still takes place on Asuka, but includes another training montage, some romance/lemon time, and a few other bits of clean up that need doing before big events go off.

A/N 2: Once per release, I remind people that...I have a Page! Nothing I write, fanfiction wise, is ever permanently paywalled. That said, I do have Early Access chapters. There is currently roughly another 14,000 words of One Piece - Halfway Broken in Early Access (Chapters 67-69). Also, of course, you also get access to my other Early Access chapters for my other stories. There is typically around 45-65k words of various works in early access at any one time. I always appreciate any support, since it helps me free up more writing time...but most of all I hope you just enjoy the stories!