The Devil's Grin - A One Piece Fanfic (Snail-like Updates)

For War We Prepare

Tranquility stared out across the Calm Belt. Storm clouds gathered in the distance as if the world new the change and tribulation that lay ahead of them.

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Current sat on the Government warship watching the marines work the sails and go about their business. Each of them would give her a nervous glance from time to time, mostly because of the respect that Sengoku had shown her when she boarded. And partly, she assumed, because they had all heard rumors of a blonde Goddess of Death traveling the world with her magic cloak. Her cloak serving her tea probably told who she was more than anything.

It was a part of her father's cloak. A gift given to her when she was still young. When she was still innocently following the Current of her life. Things were different now. It felt like the changes were new. Recent. But she new they had always been inside her. She simply needed to see the truth of her father's powers to realize that.

"I wonder if Special Officer Rocky will be ok?" A nearby deck boy whispered to his cleaning partner. "What could have happened to him to make him like that?"

Rocky. Even Current wasn't sure what had happened to him. And she was there to see it.

He had walked in and interrupted her conversation with her dad. Something that shouldn't have been possible to begin with. Then he had tried to attack him and failed. After that Rocky cried and her dad changed into a girl and vanished.

And for some reason Rocky had entered into a coma like state. Garp and Aokiji had to carry him back to their ship while Sengoku went into a argument with her sisters.

He wanted them to join the fight on their side. Of course Tempest refused to fight against Whitebeard. And Tranquility needed to stay on the island to watch their dad. After Garp and Aokiji had taken Rocky out she had noticed a crack on one of the links in the chain. Even Sengoku had agreed she needed to stay and was troubled by the discovery.

Current's choice had shocked everyone.

Tempest had just told her that they were leaving and to follow her. But when she hesitated she asked what was wrong. That was when she announced that she was going with the Marines to Marineford.

Tempest nearly exploded and Sengoku seemed smug.

Of course both of their reactions changed when she said she wasn't going to fight on either side. She was going because of her duty as the current Carrier of Souls. Marineford was going to be the biggest battle in centuries. Many souls would need to be taken to the other side.

And she didn't want Tempest to figure out that she had made a deal with Thatch for his soul. The same kind of deal their dad made with mortals. The type of deal Tempest hated the most.

And so that was why she sat here on a Marine ship watching them go about their day. A part of her wanted to scare them. To tease and trick them. A voice in her mind that had steadily grown louder with time. She now knew it was what made her similar to her dad. Ever since her prank on Mihawk she had begun giving into it more often. It was her selfish side and what had made her make the deal in the first place.

Thunder sounded in the distance as if sensing the turmoil with in her. Her existence no longer flowed like a current. She was changed for better or worse. Perhaps she should come up with a new name for her new style?

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Nami was sitting on the deck and reading the newspaper. Robin sat in a chair beside her enjoying a book and a shaved ice Sanji had made. Normally they would be sunbathing at this time but the fresh bandages made that difficult. Neither wanted to tan weirdly.