Battle of Minion Island (Finale)

Thud!

Rex falls to the ground as he turns the body around, his tears pouring out in rivers.

"Gem!" Rex shouts out, hugging his crewmates burnt body. "No, I need to do first aid. I need some bandages, where are the bandages!"

Rex searches through his pockets like a mad man, finding guns, knives, bullets, but no bandages nor any other first aid supplies.

"Hahahaha… Head on a, cough, swivel, eh c-captain?" Gem croaks out, mocking Rex for not having seen the attack coming sooner.

"Don't talk Gem. I'm going to get you out of this. All I need is…" Rex runs through his brain. "LAW! He should be somewhere on the island. As long as I can find him, he can make you well again."

"Th-that, cough, brat. Even if y-you, cough, gave him all the, cough, D-devil fruits in the w-world, cough! I still wou-wouldn't trust him to ope-operate on m-me. My body is a, cough, t-temple, you know?"

Rex laughs, recalling Gem trying to drink gasoline a few days ago to make his explosions stronger. What kind of cruddy temple floods itself with gasoline? But that memory only seems to make him sadder.

"Well, I'll find something else. Bonney! Maybe her fruit can…"

"Hey c-captain. I s-said the, cough, words. D-did y-you, cough, he-hear them?"

"Yes, I did Gem."

"I to-told you th-they, cough, sounded stupid."

"I'll never make you say them again."

"I'm s-sorry captain."

"What for?"

"I m-might ha-have to, cough, b-break the rule."

"Come on, you can't do that. That rule is ironclad."

"Hey c-captain. Is it t-true what you, cough, said?"

"What?"

"About the st-stars."

"Yes Gem its true, every word of it."

"G-good. It's a sh-shame th-that we c-can't, cough, see any stars right n-now."

Rex shakes his head. "Can't you see the sun. It's just one big, close up star."

Gem then looks up at the sun and smiles.

"It's beautiful."

Then, Gem falls silent, his body stopping in its relentless twitching.

"Gem!?" Rex roars, shaking his crewman's body. "GEM! GEM, wake up!"

There is no response.

Rex starts CPR for a moment, recalling what he learned in first aid back on earth. '30 compressions, two breaths. Wait for an AE…'

Rex almost smacks his head, running an Electro current through his fingers.

Rex shocks Gem's body once. There is no response.

Rex shocks Gem's body again. There is no response.

Rex shocks Gem's body one last time. There is no response.

Rex then collapses over top of Gem, wishing he could trade it all for Gem to be back.

"Your first loss, eh kid?" Devon grunts, picking herself back up. "Guess what, that's what you get! You're a pirate, now man up!"

Devon then whips out towards Rex, wanting to strike him when he was down.

Crack!

The whip snaps towards Rex as he catches it with his head down. After so much fighting, he didn't even need to look to block an attack by such a fatigued target.

"Nobody dies. Such a simple rule." Rex mutters. "AAAAHHHH!!!"

Then, a massive wave of energy is emitted from Rex's body washing across the entire island. Dozens of low-level marines and pirates alike fall unconscious under the energies influence. Even the high-level fighters are affected, barring the King Pirates, who use this opportunity to fend off their opponents.

Rex had awoken Conqueror's Haki. On any other day, this would make him ecstatic. He would hold a massive feast and the crew would party for days. Now, it just reminded him of what it had cost him.

Rex punches out at Devon's face, sending her injured body flying before running at the Donquixote pirates. He wanted to make Doflamingo hurt.

The Donquixote pirates widen their eyes seeing Rex barreling towards them. They scan the field, seeing none of Cadres are left, so they all flee, barring Lao G who rushes to meet Rex head on, ignoring Kid entirely.

Rex punches out with a Hasshoken left fist, only to use his sleeve double punch to trick Lao G, slamming him with a right hook that sends him flying. There is a sickening crunch as Lao G's jaw is pulverized.

Rex doesn't even care that using such a move could expose his fruit to the world and keeps moving.

He keeps moving, rushing at Gladius who was trying to flee. Gladius turns around to fire a Punc Bullet at Rex but as it flies through the air, it is absorbed into a connected pocket that opens up in Rex's shoulder and shoots out his back.

Rex punches out at the young cadre's face, but his attack is blocked by a black, hardened rod as Vergo enters Rex's vision.

Rex scowls at the marine, roaring out in anger as he sends a barrage of punches at him. With the eyes of all the marines on him, Vergo knows he can't reveal his strength, and is forced to take Rex's punches, forming several bruises on his body.

Eventually, Strawberry emerges, seeing Rex's rampage and running towards him.

Killer's fist clenches as he can easily put together what has happened, but seeing the chaos of the battlefield, the logical part of his brain forces him to stay rational. Then, he leaps in front of Rex trying to grapple him before he does something stupid like running to Doflamingo and his four commanders.

"We have to go." Killer says, dragging the captain along with him as he rushes off to the burning forest. "The marines will likely send reinforcements, if we don't leave now, we'll be arrested, or worse."

"No, I have to kill him!" Rex protests, trying to wriggle free of Killer's grasp and go after Doflamingo.

It takes all three of the King pirates to hold him down, Killer dragging them back to the hidey hole.

Several marine captains chase after them, not wanting the King Pirates to escape but there is no use as Kid throws them flying.

Rex keeps trying to struggle out, but his crew drag him into the tunnel, Kid collapsing it behind them. Then, he is dragged over to Swallow Island, kicking and screaming.

The battle almost immediately ended after that, with the Foxy, Devon and eventually Donquixote pirates all fleeing the battlefield in that order.

Doflamingo, Pica and Diamante are eventually able to push Tsuru back, at great cost to themselves, fleeing at top speed, dragging their cadres before them. They attempted to rescue Trebol, but Rear Admiral Strawberry had already recovered, capturing him in sea stone handcuffs.

Doflamingo wanted to attempt the rescue anyway, but with Tsuru on his back, he decided to retreat, not wanting to lose all his family members at once. Still, he had vowed vengeance on Vesta Rex and the King pirates for their actions.

Outside of those impacts, both the Foxy and Devon pirates had lost and scrambled up their crew. In the chaos, Bentham and Galdino had wound up on the opposite ships with Bentham landing on Foxy's ship and Galdino on Devon's.

The Foxy pirates had fled in terror, escaping the moment that Doflamingo dropped the Bird Cage. In his panic, Foxy didn't even realize that Machvise's Devil fruit had reincarnated in his ship's hold, to invested in fleeing to realize the fortune that had dropped in his lap. Devon experienced comparable luck, gaining the Sui Sui no Mi upon Senor Pink's death.

With those fruits, the two pirates knew that their losses hadn't been for naught, getting away rather even to how they had started.

Hina had returned to the marines, aiding in the capture of dozens of pirates, including Trebol. Feeling an immense guilt for what crimes she had committed while with the Devon pirates, Hina applied to go to the Grand Line immediately, expecting that Devon would soon go there.

Rosinante had been recovered by the Marines, alive, but unconscious. Vergo had almost managed to get him killed, but at the last moment, Tsuru had appeared. What's more was a young boy named Trafalgar Law, appeared claiming Rosinante fed him the Ope Ope no Mi.

On Swallow Island, Hawkins, who had been patrolling the island, had caught Senor Pink, who Doflamingo had sent to secretly steal the 'Ope Ope no Mi'. Pink had Baby 5, Buffalo and another person with him and wound up giving his life so the three could escape with the 'Ope Ope no Mi'.

In the end, Hawkins had decided not to chase them as 'the fates' decided against it. Surely enough, Rex and the other officers had emerged moments later, and they had made a strategic retreat before the arrival of the Donquixote pirates.

Doflamingo then learnt of the death of Senor Pink at the hands of a member of the King Pirates and was enraged to the point of ripping Sparrow Island to bits. Eventually, the 'Ope Ope no Mi' and the new crewman, one Diez Drake, managed to satiate him.

Drake had been 'rescued' by Senor Pink when he had infiltrated the Diez lair to steal the 'Ope Ope no Mi'. Pink knew from the Donquixote pirates' intelligence that at the ripe age of 17, Drake was the strongest member of the Diez pirates, so he had brought him back for Doflamingo.

As for the marines, they chalked this up to an absolute win. While Strawberry and a couple low-level marines had been injured with about a dozen deaths, in return, the rewards were astronomical.

For one, the Marines captured Trebol, and dozens other pirates with bounties above five million. Machvise was dead with Doflamingo and his two officers severely injured.

But the biggest prize of all was that the marines had gotten the Ope Ope no Mi. Law had twisted the story a bit, making it seem like Rex had used Rosinante for his devil fruit power, threatening him with Law's life to steal the Ope Ope no Mi. Then, Rosinante had fed it to Law to prevent Rex from getting it.

While Sengoku sensed there was something wrong with the story, it was a good story. With that published, the World Government had no other move than to step back, opting to raise both Rex and Doflamingo's bounties in response.

In fact, the only bad news for the marines in all this mess was the rise of Rex. With his Conqueror's haki, now it would be exponentially more difficult to deal with Rex. Some high-level marines even believed Rex was that elusive son Roger had left behind in the South Blue.

As for Rex…

(Three Days After the Battle of Minion Island)

Sunstone Island (Formerly Unamed), North Blue

"We are gathered here today, to mourn the death of a crewmate. A peer. A friend." Killer says, his voice cracking.

As opposed to the brash and arrogant Kid, the cold Killer and the food-crazed Bonney, Gem was a much more relatable officer to the crew. As such, there was widespread sobbing at his funeral.

"Gem was many things. From the cannons that protect our ship to the bullets that protect our life, Gem gave a piece of himself to reinforce all of those things." Kid says. "Willingly or not."

This gets a chuckle from the crew as they recall how Gem would blanche every time Kid came to collect 'blood donations' for the greater good.

Then, all eyes turn to Rex. As opposed to the emotional wreck he had been a few days earlier, now he was just cold and unblinking.

"Gem, you were, something else. A diamond in the rough a light in the dark. Though, I suppose you had to be. Moonlight drowns all but the brightest stars." Rex says, looking down at the grave. "Enjoy the sun on this island, named for you, my friend. When I rip Doflamingo limb from limb, I'll burn his body to ash right here."

Then Rex walks away from the funeral site, moving off into the distance. Behind him, his senior officers follow.

"What now captain?"

"Now, Killer… Now, we have a little vacation of sorts. I was a fool to think we were ready for the Grand Line." Rex says bitterly. "Instead, we'll take some time off, to train and get stronger."

"How much 'time off' are we talking about? Are you disbanding the crew!?" Kid asked.

"Nothing like that, Kid. Just… half a year, maybe a bit more where we walk our separate ways. No one moves alone, I'll go with Robin. The rest of you pair off and find somewhere to train… get stronger."

"Robin?" Bonney questioned with a frown. "Is that the girl you picked up from the Foxy pirates? Why are you going with her?"

"There are things I need to do that only she can help me with."

Rex then walks off to a small ship he had already prepared. He didn't want any of the crew to go off and try to change his mind.

However, when Rex makes it to the ship, he sees a lounging blonde figure relaxing inside of it next to a tied up Robin.

"Get out of the ship, Rose."

"Nope. I'm going with you. Gem saved me too. If he hadn't pushed back that marine… Vergo, I'm afraid I wouldn't have made it. If you're going out to avenge him, I'm coming with you."

Rex closed his eyes, rubbing his brow irately. What he was going to do next was dangerous and would undoubtedly bring great risk to whoever he did it with. Rex knew that he could handle the risk, and he didn't give a dog fart about Robin as she was part of the reason Rex was in this situation. But Rose…

"You stay in the boat." Rex says simply, knowing nothing else would placate her.

Rose purses her lips, but nods begrudgingly.

"So, where are we headed off to?"

"The North Pole."

"Why?"

"Because."

Rex then stared out into the blue sea, a vengeance building up inside his heart. Originally, Rex had planned to be a nice pirate. A peaceful adventurer, seeking out treasure and mysteries.

Where had that gotten him?

Rex regretted all the mercy. He should have killed Pica, Trebol and Diamante when he had been given the chance, consequences be damned.

No more. Now, Rex would do whatever it took. He would use the full force of his canon knowledge to crush Doflamingo between his fingers like an ant.

Doflamingo was a schemer, but Rex already knew his schemes far ahead of time. And with that, there was no place where Doflamingo could hide from him.

Meanwhile, on the tombstone behind him, one phrase stands.

<i>"True Art is the Result of Great Sacrifice."-GEM</i>