In the blink of an eye, strife consumed the Thousand Sunny.

At the bow, Zorro stood trapped in a white shell. The dark little girl eyed the Red Harpy and the latter charged. Weather rods assembled into a staff for a brutal strike.

Caesar noticed that little girl's eyes glowed a bright neon green.

Robin raised her arms. Her focus was on the girl.

"Cein Flu-" It was like watching a dolphin erupt from the ocean's surface.

From the shadows at Robin's feet, burst forth a limber man, daggers flashing. Before the scholar could react, he was upon her. In one smooth strike, the pommel of one of the daggers connected with her temple. A critical strike.

The light of consciousness faded from Robin's eyes. She began to fall bonelessly to the deck but her assailant caught her by the arm, softening her impact.

Now that he wasn't a blur of motion, Caesar saw that the man was fair skinned, short black locks gathered into a ponytail and dressed in close fitting clothes with loose a mantel.

This man's eyes also glowed an unnatural shade of green.

Black Leg exploded in a fury and descended on the dagger wielding man.

Violent kicks rained down and the lithe stranger proved nimble but pressed. He managed to dodge each of the cook's strikes but wasn't able to return any attacks successfully.

A woman climbed over the railing at the bow, joining the little girl.

She was massive.

Easily eight feet tall. Shoulders as broad as two rum kegs put together. Muscles bulged with each movement, making the clothes she wore look too small.

Like a rolling boulder, the massive woman advanced slowly, her glowing green eyes vigilant.

Another figure vaulted over the port side and landed with a feline grace on the balls of her feet. Her clothing was simple. Loose white breeches and tunic, secured with an intricately knotted black belt. Fists were raised, one extended, ready to strike and another at the level of her eye, ready to block. Caesar noticed a patch of black haki flowing up and down her skin, never staying in one place.

The fighter's glowing green eyes swept the battlefield, seeking a target.

On the starboard, a creature with two riders got over the railing and onto the deck. The beast's body was similar in build to a greyhound. Long limbs covered in hard compact muscles all connected to a narrow barrel chest. The beast's feet each ended in a paw with three long webbed digits, each tipped with sharp claws. A lean neck ended in a snarling head similar to a wolf's head. It lacked fur and ears and had scales instead. The fangs were eternally barred since it had no lips. Red lidless membrane covered eyes flashed, ready to maul the next fool that came too close.

In the saddle sat a man wielding a revolver in one hand and a lasso in the other. He wore a rancher's hat and a red bandana covered the lower half of his face. Leaving only glowing green eyes exposed.

Behind the rawhide, a cloaked figure clumsily clung to the other man's waist. A green light gleamed from the depths of the hood.

The mountain of a woman intercepted Nami's strike at the little girl with her forearm. Massive fists came hurtling down at the Harpy and she desperately scrambled out of the way. Steadily losing ground and the little girl and giant advanced.

This was one of the few times he had ever seen Zorro this animated. His face was the picture of frustration and aggravation, bright red and snarling. He strained at the white shell with all his might, but made no progress.

Caesar's mind spun, processing, a logical plan came to mind.

He dove onto the deck, chains smacking the wood, and crawled towards a small mound of crates in a corner of the deck by the galley. Pleased with the Straw Hats for the first time in a long time, glad that they had brought all these boxes up for inventory review.

Safe behind the cargo, Caesar resumed watching the fight. As if he'd help the Straw Hats. Pah.

The rawhide was keeping Brooke pinned with a volley of bullets, the Dead Man seeming to spastically run about the deck.

The cloaked figure practically fell off the beast when trying to dismount. Then scrambled towards the bow, trying to skirt around the fighting.

Straw Hat saw the hooded figure retreating and wound up for a punch. Just as the punch was about to let loose, the rancher urged his mount to lunge. The rubber boy abandoned his attack was was busy dodging a flurry of claws and teeth.

There was a thud on the deck as Franky, Chopper and the marksman landed near the fallen Robin. The two covering the deer as he checked the fallen woman.

Without warning, the fighter suddenly appeared before the marksman. Lunging forward, grabbing his head and slamming it against the galley wall. The black patch flowed down her arm and two ferocious haki hardened punches hit the compromised the skull.

Blood poured down the side of the sniper's face as he slid down the wall, lying in a brutalized unmoving heap.

The warrior leapt away, and closed in on Chopper. Franky intercepted, a massive metal fist forcing a dodge, as he placed himself between Chopper and the dangerous woman.

The Red Harpy's cries for assistance filled the air. Caesar looked over in time to see the enemy duo work in tandem. The little girl threw her hands forward, tossing globs of glue. The Bitchess jumped to dodge but blundered into a massive backhand.

Caesar giggled quietly as he watched the Red Harpy fly.

The force of the blow sent her soaring all the way down the length of the ship. Caesar heard the collision of her body on the wall next to him. Down the wall and on the decking she lay crumpled, unmoving.

Caesar debated moving two feet to check on her, but then decided against it. It wasn't worth risking his hiding spot with movement. She would be just as alive or dead when someone checked on her after the fight… there wasn't anything he could do for her now anyway.

The tables turned on the rancher as Straw Hat began to ignore the claws and fangs in favor of launching attacks. Blows managed to get through and the creature bellowed in pain and the rider swore.

With an ease that came with years of practice, a dark lasso spun up above the rancher's head. The lizard dog was struggling, trying to keep clawing at the rubber boy while guarding injured limbs.

"GUM-GUM!" Straw Hat shouted as his fist stretched out behind him and the rawhide's glowing green eyes narrowed. Lasso spinning even faster.

"PISTOL!" The rope flew forward, crossing paths with the incoming fist.

Both found their mark.

The rancher was sent tumbling out of his saddle. Recovery was successful and he managed to roll into a crouch, both rope and revolver in hand. His hat lost and laying on the deck.

Straw Hat stood, fist still raised, looking at the dark rope that entwined his chest. Shock and surprise plain as day in those large eyes as he sagged with a sudden exhaustion.

The two struggled, the rancher trying to reel Straw Hat in and the latter attempting to escape. Brooke dashed forward, trying to save his Captain.

Green eyes flared in unison.

Like magic, the fighter instantly abandoned her fight with the Cyborg, sprinting forward and caught Brooke. One hand on his ribs and the other on the sword arm. She heaved, and a loud crack filled the air.

The Dead Man fell away, standing stunned, looking at his shoulder. The missing arm was lying discarded on the deck. The fighter lunged again, hands outstretched to grab.

The big woman manifested by the rancher, grabbing Straw Hat and lifting him off the ground. Her strength proving greater. The rubber boy was growling and fighting all the way, legs flailing in the air, failing to stretch and attack.

The rawhide moved forward and Straw Hat was hog-tied in moments. Ending up on the deck floor, wiggling and thrashing about in vain.

Franky wore a dark look and surveyed the battle and the shouted to Chopper.

"Little-bro! Cover me! I'm gonna put a super end to this!" The metal mountain entered a wide stance.

The transformation began. Legs splitting in half and folding into metal base. Shoulder orbs rotated and glowing energy grids emerged. Red sight lasers beamed out from the shades, a red dot appearing martial artist's torso as she chased a fleeing Brooke. Arms came together and melded into a massive cannon. Energy gathered in the gun, and the crates near Caesar began to rattle as waves of power practically billowed off the Cyborg.

Chopper got up from Robin's side, bandages carefully wrapped around her head. Three yellow candies were swallowed at once.

Thousand Sunny bobbed dangerously as she sunk a good fifteen feet into the water as Chopper rapidly swelled in size.

A roar that made bones vibrate tore through the air and a massive palm came down to smash the rawhide, the one who had tied up the Captain of the Straw Hats.

Green eyes flared.

The cowboy ignored his impending doom and raised his revolver at Brooke, taking a steady aim.

A shot was fired, closely followed by a massive slam.

The big woman's body violently trembled and she strained against Chopper's hand, holding it back, and Brooke lay on the deck, one of his lower legs blown off at the knee. Crippled, crawling on the deck towards the lost leg.

The hooded figure got to the lost leg first and collected it. He held it over the ship's side and Brooke froze, knowing he'd never get the limb back if it fell into the ocean.

The little girl was at the furred behemoth's feet. Glue gushing out of her hands, splattering onto enormous feet.

Franky's gun grew brighter.

Black Leg's attacks were connecting now, the shadow man was panting and bloodied, desperately weaving to soften the impact of bone crushing kicks.

Green eyes flashed.

Suddenly, the nimble man sunk into the shadows and the fighter appeared to take his place, Black Leg blocking a black fist.

The cook struggled to dodge and block every blow from the powerhouse, yet, he never made any counter attacks. The fighter frowned.

"You are strong, why do you not fight me seriously?" She asked, punctuated with kicks and punches.

"You are a woman, I will never harm a woman." Black Leg responded smoothly despite his ruffled hair and wrinkled suit.

Her attacks doubled in speed and ferocity.

"I no mere woman." The cook was losing ground and taking hits.

"I am a warrior. You…" The calm but icy voice trailed off. Dropping to her hands, executing a sweeping kick and Black Leg leapt to dodge.

"... I will destroy for this dishonor. Soru! Tekkai! Chikara!" Her muscles swelled, skin hardened and more patches of flowing haki appeared.

The attacks that came next, Caesar couldn't even follow with his eyes but saw the cook crumpling and blood splattering on the deck.

The big woman and little girl were hard pressed. Blood and bruises covered the large woman and she now focused on dodging Chopper's attacks rather than blocking. The little girl darted about, tossing globs of glue at Chopper's feet to no effect. The area being covered being far too small to affect Chopper.

The assailants' eyes stopped glowing green and the hooded figure by the bow raised a hand, wrapped in a soft green light.

Franky's cannon was reaching full charge, but only Caesar was close enough to see the lasers in his eyes flicker between red and green.

The metal man's head twitched, as if struck with a thrown stone. Face contorting in outrage and then going slack.

"… ssh 160.244.233::8088… rsa key…" The hollow voice of the Cyborg droned quietly.

"ps aux | grep -i main_app | awk {'print $2'} | xargs kill -9"

The deck was consumed with light as the energy blast went off.

Caesar rubbed his eyes, blinking and trying to rid the light glare. Blinded, but slowly regaining sight.

The thud of a body hitting the deck had him on alert.

Chopper lay on the deck in his normal form, a large smoking burn wound on his back.

The little deer wasn't getting up.

Black Leg looked on in utter horror, cigarette falling, hand outstretched.

In this moment of shock, the final blow came.

Haki flowed and the martial artist's leg became black as night. She spun, and a devastating ax drop kick collided.

The cook fell and Franky stood as still as a statue.

Straw Hat's angry shouts filled the air as he struggled with the dark rope that bound him. Furiously writhing on the deck in vain.

"Captain, we don't have much time. Maelstrom is gonna roll in soon and the Joss brothers are onto us." A strong yet melodious voice spoke and Caesar was shocked to see it was the huge woman speaking.

Now that she was closer, he could see she had blue eyes and long blond hair in a braid. She wasn't a beauty like the Harpy, but comely. Simple clothing, but made of heavy material. Massive sandals, brown breeches and a blue tunic.

The rancher nodded and surveyed the scene while nursing his shoulder with a frown.

"Barda, TyLee. Round 'em up into a pile. Ashley, glue any wounds you find shut and then trap 'em." There was a pause as the stone still cyborg was observed.

"You got this one under control? Can you make him help with the round up?" There was a slow nod from the hooded figure and Franky lurched forward.

Each step, halting and unnatural as bits of code dribbled out in a flat voice, eyes glowing green.

The fighter slung Robin over her shoulder and dragged Black Leg by the ankle to the center of the ship.

Ashely, the cowboy had called her, was pouring glue over the massive burn wound on Chopper's back.

With huge strides, the big woman made her way to collect Brooke and the shadow man spoke up.

"Le skeleton has powers to leave his body. Put sea stone on him Barda. Else, he'll strike us when our pants are le down." He said with a voice as smooth as silk and yet with undertones of friendly mirth, but, beneath all that, something Caesar could spot anywhere, the cold sharp steel of a survivor.

Big Barda nodded and grabbed the battered skeleton with one hand.

"Oh! My dear lady! Would you mind giving back my arm and leg? I need those. Also…" Brooke twisted and somehow managed to shoot a charming smile while hanging upside-down.

"May I look at your panties?" Barda came to a full stop and looked down with a pause.

"... Maybe later." Blood ran out the nose and over a stunned face as he was hauled over to the rubber boy and bound with extra lasso.

All the while, Straw Hat was still shouting and railing at the Invaders.

"Umbra, good work keeping blondie off our backs. How you hold'in up? Think you can make the jump?" The shadow man nodded and slowly flexed. Testing the extent of his injuries.

Caesar crouched behind the crates, frozen in shock.

The Straw Hats lay defeated.

The fighter, TyLee, dropped Black Leg with a thud beside Chopper. Robin was set gently onto the deck with care.

Franky lumbered back, an irate Zorro statue in his hands.

Umbra picked up and dragged Usopp forward by the underarms.

Soon, all but one of the Straw Hats were encased with glue or bound by the black lasso. The rubber Captain still shouting bloody murder. Nami lay bonelessly near him, blood trickling from her head onto the deck.

"Alright then, let's go. Umbra, get us outa here." The rawhide commanded as he gestured his lizard dog to his side and mounted.

The little girl ran forward with the rancher's missing hat in hand, jumping up and down, calling out to be picked up by the cowboy.

"We are missing some pirates Captain." TyLee stated, eyes flitting over the captured bodies.

"TyLee is le right. We are missing le loud beauty and le creepy bastard." The cowboy leaned down and scooped up Ashley and placed her in front of him. Hat was returned to him.

"We got enough bounty here to cover us for the next few months and then some. Let's not get greedy and get smoked by the storm, the Joss brothers or somebody else again. Focus on turning 'em over. We can't afford to lose another score, especially with how long this one took to set up, 'cause somebody couldn't throw a wrench in an engine right. Jump us Umbra." The shadow man held up his hands in defense.

"Oui! You not see how many le buttons and lights on that thing! I like to see you try!" As they bickered, the shadows at Umbra's feet swelled and spread along the deck.

Then, as if they all stood in water, the strangers and the captured Straw Hat's sank into the shadows.

Gone, with only the wreckage of the fight to prove it happened.

Caesar's mind spun. A wicked plan formed.

Now, now was the time.

He leaned over and looked for the Red Harpy's pulse.

Caesar found it, weak and fluttering, but good enough. Chains rattled as he stood and picked up the feather light woman.

Glee bubbled up as he made his way towards the medbay. Small giggles at first, quickly growing out of control. Steps swaying as he was soon wracked with manic laughter, Red Harpy's blood staining his lab coat at the shoulder.

Clouds darkened and gales began to blow in as the foretold storm approached. Waves swelled, causing the Sunny to bob aimlessly. Sails over filled with wind, canvas rattling, threatening to rip. Ropes snapped as they became taught. The ship's wheel clattered as it spun out of control.

Malice stood tall in Caesar, a malevolent smile on a lovely face as she held massive hounds, snarling with toxic fangs and baying for blood in one hand. In the other, a withered olive branch.

One way, or another, Caesar would get what was his.

Author's Notes:

General - So, I did call up the marines asking if they had any antagonists available but they were too busy being inflexible and boring. Other pirates in the area, well, they're rather similar and there's alot of them lying around already. However, Bounty Hunters, that doesn't show up all that often, if ever, in Oda's world. You'd think that with bounties that high all over the place there would be bounty hunters behind every bush. A dangerous profession but the people who would take it up are bound to have interesting or dire reasons to do so.

The Show Must Go On - Worry not, I write for this tale every weekday on the train. I get about three to four paragraphs done on my commute each day. What takes the longest is the proof reading part, it's hard to do on a smartphone. It is strange, this story is just burning a hole in my head, clawing it's way onto the page. That has never happened before. A mix of inspiration and support from all of you. You comments are making my style change and improve and fan the flames of creativity like nothing else. I actually just finished sitting down and rereading the previous chapters. chapter one is so different from these recent chapters.

Hell's Bells - By the by, did you guys know that Oda said that horns can occur naturally for humans? One of you taught me that! For the sake of this story, Caesar's horns are a side effect of his devil fruit. In Oda's story they might be natural though. Also, this site does not allow for IP addresses to be saved in text body. Wow. I wonder what the use case for that feature is.