One Piece – Halfway Broken

Summary: There's probably a saying in here somewhere about frying pans and fires...

Chapter 81: Crossing the Belt

It was the morning after their joint ‘encounter’ with Robin that they finally reached their ‘destination.’ In so much as they had anything like an exact one, at least. They had surfaced a good day of sailing short of the Calm Belt for, frankly, good reasons. Despite what many ‘landlubbers’ thought when they pictured things like climate zones, the Grand Line, and the Calm Belt, those phenomena weren’t quite as starkly defined as maps and charts would have you believe.

Even Climate Zones around islands on the Grand Line, which were the closest to static on that list, could shift and vary more than a bit from the pressure applied to them by outside factors. They didn’t do so nearly as much as they should, if pure physics were all that was at work. Something would had first clued Luffy into the idea that they probably weren’t entirely natural. But those zones did shift, and the Grand Line and Calm Belts both did as well.

Not enough to truly matter, mind you. There was never a time when the Grand Line or Calm Belts shifted enough to open a gap someone could safely cross, for example. Relevant to their current situation, however, was the fact that both the Line and the Belts expanded and contracted at times. That meant that it wasn’t all that safe to approach the edge, doubly so since there was nothing actually preventing the massive seakings that nested in the Belts from making expeditions into the Grand Line. Even the Discovery didn’t really want to tangle with one of those if not absolutely necessary, which is why they’d surfaced when they had.

Thankfully, both Nami’s weather sense and Luffy’s own weaker version proved perfectly capable of detecting the Calm Belt quite a fair way out from where that odd phenomenon actually began.

As a result of this, they ultimately kept the Discovery well away from the edge of the Calm Belt. They’d taken another half day to find a small speck of an island, too small for a magnetic field or climate zone to form, that would serve as a good marker for the ship to keep a good half-day from the Calm Belt’s current edge. The Discovery would remain there, while Nami, Luffy, and Vivi set off to cross the Calm Belt. Nami, in her full Pegasus Form with Vivi riding, and Luffy in a recently created Griffon form that he’d designed to keep up with Nami’s large and fast Pegasus Form.

Either of them likely could have carried Vivi, but Nami’s stamina for flight in her Pegasus Form was unreal, based on their testing. They’d evaluated her ability to carry a passenger while getting a baseline for her various forms back on Asuka Island and found her not even slightly tired after over twelve hours of flight. Luffy’s Griffon form was a bit more of an unknown, having not been thoroughly tested yet. By not bringing anyone else along, if worse came to worse and it proved less suitable for long-distance flight than he’d thought, he could easily shift to a small bird and simply tag along on Nami. Given that Vivi could easily provide an Air Door once they found an island in the East Blue to land on, taking anyone else was determined to be an unnecessary complication.

The trio set off around noon, and had hit the Calm Belt in under an hour, their transformed forms far faster than even the Discovery could move. Yet, it was only two hours into crossing the Belt that they both spotted something that made Luffy temporarily transform into a smaller form to join the two girls. Nami had spotted the same thing at nearly the same time as Luffy and banked to watch the much-higher-altitude form of multiple islands floating together in the sky.

“Are those islands?”

Nami’s voice was a bit distorted in the full Pegasus form, but still understandable. One of the illogical factors of Devil Fruits that Luffy tried not to think too hard or too often about. His own voice was completely normal when he replied, despite having the form of a small bird at the moment, but that he knew was entirely due to the sound-manipulation abilities of his Fruit. He’d always been able to feel that aspect at work while talking in animal form.

“That’s certainly what it looks like from here. I’d say there was a sky island nearby…but I don’t see any Island Cloud? Something else is odd, too…are they…moving?”

Nami banked again, looking at the scene from another angle, then nodded.

“They are. Slowly though. Still, they shouldn’t, given that there isn’t any wind here…and Island Cloud isn’t easy to move even with a strong wind. I also don’t see any evidence of the White Sea here, which there should be at least some of, if those were true Sky Islands.”

Luffy hummed, something about the moving islands scratching at the back of his brain. Digging into his memories, he just barely summoned up a reference. Not because the reference was unclear, but because his past-life-self hadn’t ever seen any of the One Piece movies. Something about Merveille being an artificial archipelago of floating islands? His blood ran cold at that thought. He really didn’t know that much about Shiki the Golden Lion, but what he did know wasn’t good.

It was hard to say just where Shiki fell on the power spectrum, particularly after twenty years of silence. Much like Whitebeard, it was unlikely he was still in his prime, but he’d been a serious power before being captured by the Marines. A contemporary somewhere in the same general strength as Whitebeard and Roger, and eventually captured only by Sengoku and Garp working together. That was before you considered that he was the only man to have ever escaped Impel Down. Apparently by cutting off his own legs to do so. What that meant for his overall strength Luffy didn’t know, but wasn’t overly eager to find out.

Sadly, he didn’t known jack about the plot of the Film the man had been in, nor if the plot would be the same even if he’d known it. Unfortunately, despite looking like they were only moving at maybe a few knots, those islands were heading straight for the East Blue. Which meant that Luffy didn’t think his desire to avoid Shiki entirely was going to be tenable. A pirate that strong, moving to the weakest sea? Gritting his beak wasn’t nearly as satisfying as doing the same with teeth, but he did in nevertheless before speaking.

“That has got to be Merveille, and I don’t think we can afford to ignore it. A pirate as powerful as Shiki the Golden Lion moving to the East Blue right after the Marines take it on the chin? There can’t be a lot of reasons for that.”

He felt Nami’s Pegasus form tense at that comment, as she doubtlessly drew parallels to Arlong and his declared desire to take over the East Blue. Only this was worse, much worse. With the state the Marines were in at the moment, Shiki might actually be able to take over the East Blue. Which, given that the whole reason they were making this little trip was in an attempt to give their home islands some protection, meant there wasn’t really a choice about investigating this.

“Nami, take us up. Way up. Even birds and other creatures of the sky don’t often think to look above them. We’ll come in from up high and land on that small island at the outer edge, the one that’s above most of the others. Vivi can open an Air Door there and get Robin and Nojiko to pop through. If we can deploy their little drone trick, we might be able to get a better idea what we’re dealing with here…”

Nami’s Pegasus form nodded, and her wingbeats picked up strength, sending them soaring upwards in a spiral to get above the floating islands. Not to steal a quote from entirely the wrong franchise, but Luffy had a bad feeling about this…

… … …

It had only taken around twenty minutes to take the approach Luffy outlined. Nami had gone one better on his initial plan, aiming their angle of approach such that it would be nearly impossible to spot them landing on the small island from the largest and most likely to be populated. Of course, almost the moment they’d landed, things had gotten weird as they were attacked by a giant, mutant, praying mantis.

A praying mantis that had, in turn, been attacked by a ridiculously long-armed and oversized bear. A scene that had only turned more chaotic as a giant gator that looked like someone had forced it to swallow a couch attacked them while the other two monsters were brawling. Not wanting to risk Haki use so close to someone that might be able to detect it, Luffy had gone to knock the creature out…only to be shocked by just how tough it was, getting back up after he’d launched it a dozen yards with a punch. He’d ended up resorting to his sword, rather than continuing to escalate with stronger blows…and ended up having to kill both the couch-gator and the bear-thing. The latter when it finished with the praying mantis and attacked them in some sort of rage.

All three mutated animals being dead had finally gained them a measure of peace, though they were each disturbingly certain that it was only because they’d landed on one of the smallest and hardest to reach island. Even a quick look through a spyglass down at the larger islands had shown hundreds of the monstrous creatures near-constantly fighting it out. Shaking his head as they pulled back, Luffy finally commented.

“Just what the fuck kind of screwy place is this? I mean, we knew that MIQ stuff we ran into on Wind’s Home was some sort of reject from Merville, so I suppose the animal theme fits, but this is kind of nuts. Even by most Grand Line standards, honestly.”

Nami and Vivi nodded, though it was Vivi who spoke, pushing on to more practical matters.

“Should I retrieve everyone else, Captain? “

Luffy shook his head.

“Not everyone. Open an Air Door and we’ll get Robin and Nojiko through first. No need to risk attracting too much attention yet, and the three of you can use your drone trick to scout the islands a bit, before we decide who else to bring.”

He hesitated a moment, then added.

“Kuina too. We’ll want Yamato and Zoro later, I imagine, but their Haki isn’t very tightly controlled.”

Both girls nodded at that. Powerful, Yamato certainly was. Subtle? That she was very much not. They’d been lucky no one with Observation Haki had been around the Human Auction House back at the archipelago. Zoro’s wasn’t quite as blatant, but Luffy was pretty sure he was on the verge of awakening Conqueror’s Haki of his own. Which made him stand out to decent Observation senses. Which would almost certainly be a liability for the moment. Shiki, at least, was highly likely to have at least one form of Haki. Possibly all three forms, in the worst case.

The girls both seemed to follow his logic, nodding along, and soon Nami was headed through an Air Door back to the ship. It had to be her, since Vivi would need a lot more time to memorize a location here that she could have opened a return Door too, and Luffy needed to stay and cover Vivi against the dangerous logical wildlife. Vivi and Nami could probably have handled any such that popped up, but there was no point taking chances. Doubly so when sending Nami was a perfectly serviceable option to retrieve the people they needed anyway.

Thankfully, it must not have been too difficult to find and brief the people they needed, as Nami took barely ten minutes to return. With her were, as expected, her sister, Robin, and Kuina. Surplus to them was Kaya, who Luffy gave an inquisitive look towards when she came through. Kaya, perhaps the best at reading people among the entire crew, smiled and answered the unasked question.

“I’m the best of us at suppressing my Haki, so I’m no additional risk, and I want to see the remains of these animals. It’s possible a variant of MIQ is at work here, after all.”

Ah. Yeah, that made sense. In more than one way, actually.

“Right. Kuina, stick with Kaya while she does that. I’ll cover our scout team as they take a look over the island.”

His First Mate was quick to acknowledge his order, with her and Kaya immediately moving off to where the bodies of the mutated animals Luffy had killed were laying. Luffy turned to the rest of the group even as Vivi let her Air Door fall.

“Right. You know what I’m after. Work together to scatter some of your drones around the islands. Stay high for now, until we get at least some lay of the land and can pick and choose where to risk sending them or Kaya more directly. We might need to grab Perona too, if it turns out we need something harder to spot than a drone. She’s currently our weakest member, though, so I’d prefer not to bring her if we don’t have to, and Kaya would be a better option for stealth in most ways.”

That got nods. The comment about Perona wasn’t meant to be mean, just the truth. She was extremely good with her Devil Fruit, but hadn’t done a lot of physical training until she joined the crew. A classic case of someone who’d relied heavily on their Fruit for everything combat related. She’d been working at least somewhat diligently to fix that, but had a long way to go before she could really look after herself in a straight fight.

Moving toward the edge of the island again, Vivi didn’t hesitate to get down on her hands and knees to minimize her profile as she looked over the edge with a spyglass. She was the only one that needed to actually see what she was doing, quickly using line of sight to open a series of Air Doors over another pair of islands. Not the central island yet, but two of the larger ones between them and it. Luffy approved. The central island just screamed that it was the most important. But that also meant that it would be the most heavily watched, assuming that was true.

Nojiko and Robin were quick to follow through on Vivi’s efforts. Vivi had gotten much better with her Fruit since they did this at Jaya, and all three of them had worked occasionally to refine the combined technique. Hence why Vivi could open several small Doors at once, and why the Crystal that Nojiko used to create a controllable ‘drone’ had been refined. It now looked like a fist sized three-dimensional diamond, with Robin quickly adding an eye and ear to each of its facets.

Luffy, resisting the urge to use his Observation Haki, possessed himself of all the patience he could manage as the drones went through the Air Doors and began to scan each island. The islands Vivi had chosen were large enough that she had to shift the Doors a bit to keep Nojiko in line of sight of the drones, even as Nojiko and Robin concentrated hard on their own efforts. Eventually, as they dispeled the first round of drones, Robin spoke up.

“Not a lot to note on those two islands, other than the fact that there are a lot of very odd creatures basically constantly fighting each other. Both have entire ecosystems and there are signs of people having been there, but I didn’t see much in the way of manmade anything.”

Luffy nods at that, grimacing.

“Try the largest island other than the central.”

All three women nodded and Vivi created a new set of Air Doors, through which the others send a new set of drones. This time, the wait was actually shorter, Robin almost immediately perking up and directing Nojiko to carefully lower one drone so she could spread her eyes and ears to the ground.

“There’s a village on this one. The jungle is cut back and a ring of a specific sort of large tree is planted all around the village. Hold on…I’ve got a few eyes and ears up high in the village now. Curious, almost everyone is very old or extremely young. They also have some sort of feather mutation on their arms, something like the Skypieans’ wings, perhaps?”

Luffy frowned.

“That implies at least that island might have been a Sky Island from the start, but there’s no Island Cloud.”

Kaya and Kuina had returned just in time to hear Robin, and Kaya was quick to offer some input.

“Not necessarily, Captain. There’s a similar sort of drug to MIQ in the animals. Different, more refined, but with a lot of the same mutation factors along with some sort of rage enhancer. Given that MIQ likely came from Merville as well, those people could easily be results of a failed version they tried to use on humans. The original MIQ before the Battered Coin’s psychos worked on it, maybe.”

That…was an excellent point. Though there was at least one problem.

“It’s unlikely it would have failed only on those of a certain age. Recruits from an actual success maybe? Robin, any chance we can sneak into that village and talk to someone?”

Robin immediately shook her head.

“Not without some risk. Kaya, maybe, with her stealth tricks. Assuming those would work on surveillance snails. There’s at least a dozen of those, big ones, moving about the village.”

Luffy pursed his lips at that. Very annoying. Though it did hint as something.

“That might mean the villagers aren’t exactly willing participants in whatever is going on here. No hints from them talking to each other?”

Robin shrugged and shook her head.

“No. Things are rarely that convenient, Luffy. They have no reason to talk about things they all likely know. Doubly so out in the open and under the eyes of that surveillance.”

Luffy tsked at that. Sadly, he didn’t have the advantage of Pure Plot Device going for him here. Thinking for a long few moments, he eventually sighed.

“Even if they would talk, it’s unlikely they know anything overly useful. It’s probably not worth risking getting caught. We’ll have to check the mai-“

Robin stiffened and cut him off.

“Luffy! There’s a little girl running from monsters, up in that frozen zone!”

He didn’t even need to give the order, his crew knowing him well. Vivi instantly snapped a door open to that zone and Luffy was through it almost before he fully registered everything Robin had said. Risking just a tiny bit of Observation, he zeroed in on the girl and animals immediately and was off in a flash. He arrived just in the nick of time, knocking a dinosaur-like creature with antlers away from making a meal out of a little girl. Not bothering to finish it off, he instead scooped the stunned child up and darted back toward the Air Door. He was back through it, the Air Door snapping closed, before the monster could recover.

The girl was visibly stunned, and Kaya swept in to take her from Luffy without hesitation, checking her over. There was a flower in her arms that she was clutching like it was the most important thing in the world, and Kaya was careful to avoid harming it. The girl stirred a bit, looking between them all a little worriedly, but Kaya’s generally-kind aura (at least when she wasn't cackling like a mad scientist) seemed to break through.

“U-um…thank you for saving me! My name is Xiao!”

The little girl scrambled to her feet, protectively keeping the plant held to her chest, and bowed a little to Luffy. Not entirely familiar with dealing with kids, Luffy gave her his best bright smile.

“You’re welcome! Though it was Vivi and Robin who helped spot you in trouble!”

Luffy waved to the two, and the child was quick to thank them as well. Vivi, clearly having a better idea how to handle this, smoothly sat down in front of the girl, bringing her roughly down to Xiao’s level.

“We’re glad we could help, Xiao. But why were you out away from the village? At least, I assume that’s where you’re from? We haven’t been here very long and don’t really know much about the island.”

Apparently, something about that statement bothered the girl, as she flinched and looked worried, despite Vivi’s voice having been gentle and kind.

“Y-you’re not with the pirates Shiki brought, a-are you?”

The best answer there was obvious from the girl’s reaction, and Vivi went with it smoothly.

“No. We were on our way to visit the East Blue, where some of our crew came from originally, and saw the islands. We decided to check them out and see if they were going to be dangerous.”

Xiao looked reassured…but then worried for an entirely different reason.

“You…you should go, then. Shiki says he’s going to destroy islands in the East Blue until the World Government surrenders it to him!”

Well, fuck. That was exactly the confirmation that they didn’t want, even if they’d all been quietly afraid of something like that. Luffy squatted down to put himself on the same level as Vivi.

“Do you know how he intends to do that? Many of us have friends in the East Blue, and will stop him if we can.”

Xiao shook her head…then nodded.

“U-um, not exactly? It has something to do with the animals and the drug his people keep shooting them with! As well as all the pirate crews that he collected recently…”

Well, that certainly didn’t sound good, even if the details are lacking. Humming, Luffy focused on the plant she was holding. Idly getting an idea, he tossed it out without much thought, mind mostly elsewhere.

“That plant seems important to you. Do you want more of them?”

Xiao’s response was instant, strong, and almost desperate, surprising Luffy back into focusing on her.

“YES!”

When the little girl saw all of them focusing on her after the strong outburst, she shrank a little. Then she rallied and said it again with more context.

“Yes! The IQ plant is the only cure for Daft Green Poison! But Shiki took all of the IQ plants for himself…”

Kaya, clearly interested, spoke up.

“IQ plant? Does that have anything to do with MIQ? And what is Daft Green?”

Xiao cringed, hard, at the mention of MIQ.

“MIQ was what he infected the village with, trying to make stronger warriors! It didn’t work, so he focused on the animals instead with a new drug. Daft Green is the trees we plant around the village. The animals hate the smell. Even as angry as they are after he used the new drug on them, they won’t come close to it. But it’s poisonous to humans if you inhale too much of it. IQ is the only cure…but…but you need more than just one plant…”

Xiao, clutching desperately to her lone flower, started fighting back tears. Luffy wasn’t going to have that.

“Well, we can fix that, at least. We have a…friend, who can make any plant grow in large numbers. Why don’t we have her make some more IQ plants for you, before you go back to your village, hmm? That way you can help the people that need it.”

The child looked shocked for a moment.

“You…you can do that?”

Luffy grinned hugely and gave her a cheesy thumbs up.

“Yep! Come on, I can introduce you! Vivi, an Air Door to the Discovery please! I’ll be sending Brook and Sanji back to help keep a lookout. So keep scouting the islands. Robin, get an idea of the routes for those surveillance mushi in particular. I think we might want to have a little talk with the locals when we return Xiao with her gifts. Try to get a distant look at the main island, too, but be careful about that. We don’t want to alert Shiki just yet…”

Everyone acknowledged his orders, even as Vivi opened an Air Door back to the ship for him. Time to see what Dis could do about growing a few flowers. With something to offer, the locals might just be willing to tell them whatever they knew without reporting them. They might not like Shiki and might have told them anyway. But coming baring gifts is always the better choice when possible…

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

A/N 1: Shiki! Mwhwhahah, no I didn't mention him several times for no reason. I actually took the time to watch the Strong World film, something which I hadn't before (Honestly, it's actually pretty solid). As near as I can tell, the movie is set pretty close to the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, which made this a good place to include it. Technically, I moved it on the timeline a bit, but I figure that's easy to justify via Butterfly Effect. After all, Shiki has contact with the Grand Line for recruitment, which means he should have been aware in this version of the upcoming confrontation between Whitebeard and the Marines. Something that was MUCH more heavily public in this AU. Given he's legendary for planning, I see no reason he WOULDN'T wait and take advantage of the best possible time to launch his own attempt at world conquest...

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, in fact, currently roughly another 15,000 words of One Piece - Halfway Broken in Early Access (Chapters 82-85). Also, of course, you also get access to my other Early Access chapters for my other stories. There is typically around 75k+ 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!