15

"Wait a minute…whale sharks!?" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"There's no way." Glancing down to the harbor, I can clearly see a rubber man causing havoc amongst the Marine's. Alongside him, a sandman, and a terrifying New Kama are whipping up chaos.

Rubbing my eyes, I take a second look. "GOMU GOMU NO~ BAZOOKA!" Luffy's voice screamed out as he flattened a group of Marine's. Yep. There's no mistaking it. Luffy and company made it past the closed Gate of Justice somehow.

A moment later, a surge of water came from the bay, and swept dozens of Marine's off their feat. Summersaulting into the air, the blue fishman landed next to Luffy. He assumed the iconic 'karate' pose, with one arm forward ready for action, and his legs bent slightly at the knees.

"Jinbei! And people said the ability to communicate with fish was a useless ability." I scoffed to myself. I have no idea how the Marine's and the World Government oppress the fishman. Get a squad of those guys, and they'd be the best terrorists on the planet considering the whole world is 90% water! I'm definitely going to have to recruit some fishman to my side in the future.

"Kuh!" At this moment, the pain from my back and chest wound flared up. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, I blacked out for a second. When I woke up, I felt a strong breeze on my face.

"Not good!" I lost control of my shadow wings for a moment, and began to plummet toward the ocean! Just before I hit the water, and sealed my fate, I managed to reassert control of my shadows, and created a surfboard shaped platform to stand on. As I aimlessly drifted on the waves, I began to reevaluate my reasons for being here.

"Huff, huff. I think it's time to go home. I'm not throwing my life away for these guys." I complained to myself. It's time to bug out. I'll just make some excuse to the World Govt. that Whitebeard knocked me to far from the island. No one expects anyone less than an Admiral to contend with one of the Yonko.

"Hmm, but what if Kizaru reports me?" I worried for a moment. Shaking my head, I convinced myself he would be too busy with other things. I highly doubt Kizaru would report me, all things considered. He's much too lazy. And so, what if he does? The World Govt's going to need every Shichibukai they've got after losing so much today. I smirked to myself, satisfied with my decision.

"Indeed, what if Kizaru reports you? I'm saddened to hear that you'd leave us, just like that. Fuffuffuffuffu." A sinister laugh sounded right beside me. Looking around, I finally spotted the origin of such a creepy, spine tingling laugh. A big bright smile full of teeth greeted me.

"Long time no see Moria-chan~. Those mean pirates didn't beat you up too bad, did they?" Standing before me, the hunched over form of Doflamingo was grinning from ear to ear.

All around Doflamingo, a cavalcade of corpses were strung about. Many pirates slew their fellow crew members at the movement of Doflamingo's finger, much to their nakama's horror. Additionally, the corpse of Whitebeard's Third Division Commander Diamond Jozu wreaked havoc, slaying many ordinary pirates.

I sat there, on my surfboard shaped shadow stunned to silence. This was contrary to my plan of escape. In a moment of carelessness, I must've drifted from the bay and landed all the way here on the island of Marineford! I stealthily prepared Doppleman to make a run for it as I sized up Doflamingo.

A quick scan of his appearance, and I let out a sigh of relief. He was sporting bruises all over his body, he had a bit of torn skin on his chest, the clothes he wore were all torn up, and his glasses had a small crack in them. Apparently, Whitebeard's third in command was no slouch. Feeling confident that Doflamingo wouldn't immediately attack me, I decided to play along.

"Ki shi shi shi, likewise, longtime no see. No need to worry about me, these wounds are a trifle to deal with." I wore a mocking smile as I stood up and directed my shadow platform to hover next to him.

Looking around at the various combatants locked in mortal combat, I extended my hand, and a multitude of shadows approached me. When the shadows were in my grasp, I directed a knowing smirk towards Doflamingo. With a snip of my scissors, a dozen Marine's and pirates collapsed to the floor in a pile of dust.

"Thanks for your concern Doffy-kun~" With a grunt, I absorbed the shadows. My size increased by about a foot in each direction, and my wounds rapidly healed. With a burp, I released the shadows I had just absorbed, and reduced my size. Being in a body this massive already wasn't very fun. I wouldn't increase my size anymore than Moria's 'default' appearance if I could help it, thank you very much! Maybe if I work hard enough at exercise, I could have a chin again. Hard work in anime is a trope in anime for a reason after all.

At the sight of my healing, Doflamingo's smirk leveled out into an expressionless line. I'd go so far as to say he was displeased! This priceless reaction of his prompted me to laugh again. "Ki shi shi shi shi! My Devil Fruit is impressive, isn't it?" This kind of rapid healing was going to leave me incredibly sore in the coming days, but damn if it didn't feel good to see Doflamingo's smirk wiped clean from his face.

"Fuffuffuffuffu. How industrious! And you can even fly now! You've had your Devil Fruit for more than thirty years, and now you've finally learned this one little trick. Doctor's must hate you! Maybe you can do the world a favor, and take on Kaido again." Doflamingo mocked me. He put his hands in his pockets as he assumed an air of superiority.

This seems to be both a bait, and a provocation? It didn't matter much to me. Little did he know I wasn't the same Moria that the world was familiar with.

"You'd be surprised, Doflamingo. Flight and healing are the least I can do with my Devil Fruit. I haven't sat idle these last tens of years. I've increased my power tenfold since back then, but I'd be a fool to take on Kaido at the moment. Perhaps I'm waiting for the right opportunity to strike, or the right partner to work with…" I responded with a bluff smile, betraying not a hint of my inner thoughts.

Doflamingo wore a contemplative look upon his face at my declaration. We both know that at our current strength, neither of us is powerful enough to take on a Yonko. I don't know how serious I am with the idea of working together with Doflamingo to take down Kaido. But if there's anyone who I'd want to take as assistance, besides maybe Luffy, Doflamingo would be my number one pick. I'd just have to be prepared to kill him after we get rid of Kaido. After all, he'd assume that I would want to replace Kaido at this point, and move one step closer to becoming the King of all.

Unfortunately for me, I wouldn't dare to take the position of Yonko until my actual strength could match or surpass Kaido's. Becoming a paper tiger Yonko would be extremely unlucky. I don't have the same kind of ability that Buggy has. He became a Shichibukai in the original timeline based on a lie. I need to get stronger first before I even consider assuming the mantle of Yonko. However, if we team up to defeat Kaido…that would set my reputation for years to come, and I might get Doflamingo to owe me a favor. This was an incredibly high risk, high reward situation.

"You? Team up with me? Fuffuffuffuffu! I like you Moria-chan, but I don't think you're at the same level as I am. And even if you were…" At this point Doflamingo smirked, and stared off into the horizon.

"Ki shi shi shi, there's the pride of a Monarch I see. We both want to be Pirate King after all. It's only ordinary for us to come to blows. Just think about it. I currently have no design to become a Yonko." At this statement, Doflamingo snorted.

"What I harbor is a deep hatred, and resentment towards that bastard Kaido." I began to explain my 'reason' for why I wanted to kill Kaido. Doflamingo gave me a skeptical look after I expressed my 'deep hatred.' Time to go for the jugular.

"I know you don't believe me, but that man utterly destroyed my crew! My nakama! My family. I must avenge them! Kaido will die by my hand, or my name isn't Gecko Moria!" I overly dramatized my attachment to Moria's former crew. My voice rose in cadence with each syllable, and my tempo increased with every word spoke. I had Doflamingo's attention now! I kept a neutral face as I explained my story, and kept my face from twitching into a smirk with all I had. Mentioning 'my' dead crew was the perfect excuse that kept on giving. I may not know much about Moria's past, but it seemed as though he was a very simple character in everyone else' eyes.

At this point, Doflamingo had clammed up. Seemingly lost in thought, he turned to me after about ten minutes of deliberation and looked at me with a deep piercing gaze for another five minutes. Finally, he replied in a calm, level tone: "You're crazy." And he began to walk away, focusing on the slaughter going on around us.

"I'm close, very close! To awakening…give me a couple years, and we'll utterly destroy the Beast Pirates!" I interjected. His style of negotiating had me a bit on edge.

"I like crazy!" With a chuckle, Doflamingo kept walking away from me, with his back turned. Limbs danced about as he controlled the cannon fodder pirates and Marine's with ease.

A sigh escaped my lips. He didn't say no. Now all I have to do is awaken my Devil Fruit sometime in the next few years. Easy, right?

Every time I speak with Doflamingo, I feel like a fight could break out at any moment. That he wants my life to dance to his fingers. A shiver unconsciously goes down my back. I want that kind of power. If I took his shadow, could I learn or acquire the third kind of Haki? The supposed Haki that could only be inborn, and not trained. The King's Haki!? Shaking my head at such a fantasy, I decide to focus on my immediate options.

This dialogue with Doflamingo opened up many new opportunities. I decided to lie to him about awakening my Devil Fruit. I had barely even practiced with it, and wasn't entirely sure I could awaken within a couple short years. Hopefully this raised his threat assessment of me. It's my belief that one of the most important things when it comes to exerting power over others is projecting an image. If people believe that you're competent, or have talent, then you've already won half the battle. Religious organizations and the political parties of my past world had taught me that.

Many people believe that a political party is a monolith that can only be bested by another monolithic political party. These people often disagree with some of the policies the party they've chosen to align with make. But the people believe that they have no other options. Making them slaves to a system. A similar concept applies to this world's citizens, and the World Government. I'd be a fool not to capitalize on the power of belief.

My own base on Thriller Bark island believes me unbeatable. The people of the world believe me powerful based on my title of Shichibukai. But the movers and shakers of the world treat Moria as a joke. In an alternate timeline, he's bested by Jinbei in a couple of punches, and Doflamingo easily dispatched him. He's hardly a threat, and considered by many as the weakest Shichibukai. And I can't blame them, Moria relied solely on his zombies.

The Gecko Moria of the past was utter trash. I'm not much better, considering I was just thrown into this situation less than a month ago, but it's pathetic that I've been isekai'd into Moria for less than a month, and am already a more impressive fighter. I defeated a Whitebeard Division Commander, and survived two New World Captains despite my heavy injury's. I talked my way out of certain defeat twice, captured several pirate ship's including a massive Marine warship, and didn't die to Whitebeard despite killing his son right in front of him. Call it fate, luck, or skill, but I think I'm beginning to adapt to this new world I've found myself in.

I didn't want to stay here at Marineford, but my interaction with Doflamingo had reminded me of my goals coming here. After I survive this battle, things are going to be different. Look out East Blue, a new Monarch of the seas is approaching. It'll soon be time to remind the world that Gecko Moria is a threat.

As I was deeply contemplating the last conversation I had right now, and my goals for the future, a shockwave startled me out of my thoughts. A masculine voice tore through the harbor, silencing every single combatant. "One Piece, is real!"

After quickly recovering from my shock I glanced about for the source of the voice. There at the epicenter was a perfect ice sculpture of Whitebeard, surrounded by a ring of Marine's, and being held onto by a battered Aokiji. Without Blackbeard here to stir up trouble, it looks like the job of killing Whitebeard had fallen to the Marine's.

At the site of Whitebeard's corpse, I felt a strong relief. That's one less opponent to worry about, and this should hopefully mark the end of the battle at Marineford. Shanks should be coming to make the peace soon, right? Now would probably be a good time to show the Marines, and more importantly, the World Govt. that I'm alive.

When I was about to swoop over, and make myself known, a mad cackle nearby signaled that something amiss was about to go down. Gazing about, I saw Doflamingo clutching his sides like this was the best comedy he'd ever witnessed in his entire life.

As I edged away from the madman, I saw something that had me drop into a sweat.

"The madman, the absolute madman. He really did it!" Flying over Marineford was Doflamingo's servant Buffalo! My jaw opened in disbelief. Clad in his yellow jacket Buffalo released hundreds of bright, yellow rubber ducks. Moments later, they began to stream off his back. Each and every one of them drifted to the ground as if in slow motion.

A curious pirate went to grab one, and as it made contact with him it made an explosion similar to that of a grenade. "Quack!" Each explosion was followed by a loud piercing 'quack.' Almost a thousand explosions went off in but a moment. "Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!" I erected a barrier all around me, and at least three explosions struck my barrier, and shuffled me about a bit.

"They laugh at me, because I'm different. I laugh at them because they're all the same! Can you see me now father! How about you brother! Smile! Everyone's watching! Fuffuffuffuffu! Fuffuffuffuffu!" Doflamingo acted as if he had absolutely lost it. At the end of his laugh, a large crooked smile made its way onto his face.

This is the man I've chosen to ally with against Kaido!?...He did say he likes crazy. Damnit!

As I dropped the barrier, the state of the island was nothing but utter chaos. Thousands of Marine's and pirate's had succumbed to the attack. Horrifyingly, most of them were in a state of shock from hearing loss, or missing limbs. Quite a few of them had stopped fighting all together in madness.

"Quack! Quack! Make it stop!" A pirate threw up onto the ground, and pounded his head to stop the quacking.

"All I hear are the ducks!" A Marine grasped his head in great mental pain.

"Mommy!" Another Marine curled up into a ball, assuming the fetal position.

I've done some pretty terrible, heinous thing's since I've come to the world of One Piece, but that. That's just sick. I would never see the innocent bathtub toy meant for children the same way ever again.

AN: Probably an Interlude next chapter. In case you missed it, Helmeppo caught a disease known as "Justice." Unfortunately for him, there is no cure. Will maybe do some kingdom building in the East Blue for the next "arc." Theories on how to attain more power are appreciated (political, economic, or combat related).

Thanks for reading/reviewing.