Advancements

~Dabi~

Someone shoved me as they ran, seemingly trying to escape the chaos. Not like that is possible, we are trapped inside this birdcage after all. With everyone hacking and slashing at each other, I dodged someone's axe as a marine chased after them. People were running around aimlessly when the ground shook, a giant mass of rock forming in the distance, which actually turned out to be a person. Go figure.

"So…I'll deal with anyone that tries to oppose our family."

He spoke, which quite frankly took me aback. I didn't expect a baby in a grown man costume, placing a hand over my mouth stifling a laugh. Drawing myself back from the verge of laughter, I heard a loud familiar voice.

'Looks like Luffy is nearby, I should probably let him, Law, and Eraser deal with the troublesome things. I'll just make an appearance when the real battle begins, though….I might as well test out my quirk a bit more, just turning a few people to ash isn't a good way to measure my current capabilities.'

The giant baby drew back his arm, readying a punch as everyone in the vicinity ran away. Sighing, I followed the crowd to escape the worst of his attack. Which turned out to be the best decision, as the whole ground warped with his punch. Letting go of the brick wall I had braced myself against, I made my way towards the assumed main castle battleground.

'Might as well be there and ready.'

. . . .

~Eraser~

I held my breath as we fell, Luffy inflated himself like a balloon and we bounced easily away from danger. Only to be greeted by more danger, unfortunately. The group seemed to know Law, so I could only assume they were part of Doflamingo's "family". Luffy deflated as we stood ready for a fight.

"Straw-hat Luffy!!! Trafalgar Law!! The Pirate Hunter!!! Eraserhead!!" The group surrounding us shouted.

'Somehow I don't think that's a welcoming announcement…' I sighed

"Ooo! Bad guys! Aren't we supposed to be the bad guys?" Twice spoke

"I fell in a bad place!!!" Luffy shouted

"I have the feeling anywhere is a "bad place" now. All the people in this country are our enemies!!! Anyhow, let's run!!" Zoro said as he took off in the wrong direction towards even more bad guys.

"Zoro!! Not there!!" Luffy shouted as he ran in another wrong direction, towards the main bad guys.

"Straw-hat, not here either!!" Law exclaimed

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I grabbed the two children by the back of their shirts and dragged them in the right direction as Law and Twice followed.

"I swear, it's like dealing with Bakugo and Midoriya but scaled to one hundred."

I grumbled, dodging the attacks whilst pulling the other four from danger as well. The enemies were getting ready to shoot when the Navy Admiral appeared. Letting go of Zoro, he took the initiative to attack. They traded a few blows when the ground shook and the buildings molded into a giant figure, everyone stared up at the giant mass when it started speaking.

"So…I'll deal with anyone that tries to oppose our family." Was all he had to say to break Luffy into a laughing fit.

"His voice!!! It's so high!!!!!!" Luffy pointed and laughed as Twice joined him.

I cleared my throat of the bubbling laughter, as the two children continued rolling around on the ground.

"It doesn't suit him at all!!! Ahahahahahaha!" They said in union.

Everyone around stared at them in terror as the large rock and concrete man glared, presumably angry at them for laughing at his voice—which is possibly a very serious condition he is overly conscious about—Eraser minded.

"Luffy!! Don't!!" Zoro said

The towering man reeled back his arm to punch as everyone started running away, including us.

"Luffy!! Would you stop teasing the enem- Bwahah!!" Zoro broke into laughter as well.

"See, you're laughing too!!" Luffy chuckled

"You three….!!" Law grumbled

I grabbed onto the four as the punch impacted, lifting the buildings and ground around us and sending us flying. It thankfully didn't land us anywhere with enemies, instead. We ended up back at the square in front of the colosseum.

"Uuh, we flew quite far away. Where are we?" Luffy spoke first.

"I'm not fine! I'm fine!" Twice voiced

"Shiit, that "rock absorbing human" he got a lot bigger than I thought!!! If we at least knew how to defeat him…" Zoro groaned.

"Straw-Hat!!" A voice suddenly called.

Luffy hummed and tilted his head back to look at the person. "Ah!!! Cabbage!!!" My brows furrowed at the strange nickname.

"Zoro the pirate hunter…!! Eraserhead! And…!!! Trafal—gaaar Laaaaawww!!!" He slashed at the man as the other dodged.

"Waah!! Stoop!!" Luffy shouted

"Give me back my popularity, you "Bad Generation"!!!" Cabbage man huffed.

"What are you doing!? He's my friend now!!" Luffy replied.

"I'm not!!!" Law denied, avoiding the blond haired man's slashes.

"What, do you still hate me!?" Luffy ignored Law.

"No, I have nothing against the Straw-Hat crew anymore. The reason is that your friend "God Usopp"…saved my life. I will never forget his gallant figure…!! Well, I didn't see it."

"Nice to hear a friend being praised." Luffy giggled with a smile.

"Ah right Trafalgar Law, this is your hat, right? It was on the ground in front of the colosseum…I'll put it on your head. Stick it out!!!"

"You just wanna cut it off." Law grumbled.

Cabbage, after a few more attempts at stabbing Law, eventually returned his hat anyway…

"Oh well, I'm busy now…to repay you for the favor…I decided to take Doflamingo's head, huhuhuhu. Just hide somewhere." He flipped his hair back.

'Aoyama and this guy would get along well, that or fight about who's prettier.' I shook my head.

Ignoring their back and forth and instead choosing to look around, I noticed that more people were showing up. The area became crowded in no time at all, everyone fighting over who would be the one to take Doflamingo's head. Then more people appeared to take the bounties, the situation was quickly becoming tiresome.

'Although I'm thankful for the down time from constant fighting and running—

my eyes caught Luffy hopping onto a bull, —nevermind…We're still running…' I sighed woefully, glancing over at the fighting group, shaking my head. I joined Luffy, Zoro, Twice, and Law on the bull.

'I think I'll go on a long vacation when I get back to our universe….'

It didn't take long for the ones fighting to finish and catch up to us, just in time too. Because Peeka's—as the citizens had previously exclaimed—hand was coming dangerously close to crushing us. Only stopped short by our apparent allies, it was a strange spectacle. Everyone who was fighting earlier over who would take Doflamingo's head, are fighting together—indirectly or not—for Luffy.

'If one thing, Dabi is right about this kid, he's got something special. I can't say exactly what it is, whether his unyielding determination and willpower, or his personality. It might even be both, but one thing I do know. This kid is going to accomplish great things, he's proven it before on Punk Hazard.'

'And even before me or Dabi arrived here, he turns enemies into allies, and allies into friends. The kids already got Dabi under his thumb, it's really only a matter of time before others end up the same. And I can't lie, I'm definitely falling for it, as much as I dislike it.'

'This universe has certainly showed and taught me a lot, specifically that Dabi isn't as black and white as I thought. That and being a hero, villain, or pirate, not every hero is good. Not every villain is bad, and most have reasons for becoming villains, although it's not an excuse to kill. It definitely gives view to reason and understanding. Not to forget pirate, even though they don't exist in my universe.'

'Though I don't think Luffy and his crew are the best example in this case, as they are certainly… special . But regardless, we all share similarities. And I've definitely learned a lot from being out at sea with this strange group…This does however bring me to think about what problems I'll have to deal with when I get back to my universe…'

My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden impact on the ground, blinking a few times as I glanced around. It quickly became apparent that we were riding up Peeka's arm, Luffy cheered and urged the bull on. Along with Twice and the two strangers who jumped on at some point of our ascent, Luffy bickered with "Jet" when Peeka's large stone face peered down at us.

Luffy didn't waste a second attacking with his "Grizzly Magnum"!!! It was successful in destroying the stone head, but Zoro pointed out it was just stone. Motioning to the actual body sticking out of the stone not far ahead of us. Peeka climbed out of the stone and lifted his weapon, the two strangers shouted at the bull to stop. Unfortunately we were going too fast and stopping too late, even I was worried for a second.

Until the bull lifted and we successfully avoided the hit, peering under the bull gave view to Luffy, which wasn't much of a surprise.

"He's coming again!!!" The three (Twice, Jet, and the other) unhelpful men cried.

"I'll be moving ahead first!" Luffy shouted to Zoro who jumped off of the bull.

"Yeah!! Leave it to me!!!"

Luffy bickered a bit more with the other two, Twice joining in as we continued our ascent, when Law finally spoke up.

"Oi, Strawhat-ya…I know we've got no choice but to push on for survival…I've made up my mind, the plan I suggested to you guys was a detour to crush Doflamingo!!"

"I, too, wanted to repay him once and for all. I lost previously, but not this time!!! 13 years ago, I had…The most important person taken away from me by Doflamingo….!! His name was "Corazon" an ex-member of the Donquixote family, the top leader ."

"Eh!? He was his comrade!?" Luffy gaped.

"That's right. He was my benefactor…And Doflamingo's….Real brother!!!"

Eyes widened at the information, 'Well, that certainly explains some things. Law definitely seemed more invested in taking down Doflamingo, and he mentioned the "13 years ago" back on the bridge. So Corazon's death was what he's been trying to avenge.'