I HAVE RETURNED! ...AGAIN!

So, I think everyone knows the drill by now so I'm just going to apologize for not updating for so long and leave it at that. Real life's a bitch! XD ...Oh, I got a part-time job, so I guess that's new. I'll try to update more frequently, though. Despite what it may seem like, I swear I am not losing interest in this fic. It's just kinda hard to find time these days. :/

Oh god, I haven't updated my other fic in three years... o.O Christ, do I need to start working on that again...

But, back to this fic! According to the poll and reviews, the vast majority of you want Lambo to have some kind of weapon. I know I said I was gonna put a poll for it, but I'm leaning towards giving him a spear. Ever since playing Tales of Berseria, I've thought spears are badass! If you don't know, there's a character called Eleanor in that game who uses a spear. Just look up some combo videos of her and watch her go! I may still put up a poll in the future, I'll see how this news goes with you guys first. No promises though!

knolden: Well, he's not doing anything game changing yet, but I wouldn't say he's mostly just sitting back passively and observing. Being in his point of view, there will be a lots of observations on his part, but he is taking part in the conversations, battles, etc. Like with Buggy. And, with One Piece still being ongoing, I am deathly afraid of making too big a change that causes massive plot holes later on. XD

Hazel tree09: Hey, thanks for telling me about those linebreakers! :D

Kingrii: Sorry these chapters are taking so long. DX Nami will be nice to baby Lambo, but probably not as nice as to Momo-chan since adult Lambo is literally on her crew and it'd probably be kind of weird for her. Lambo's the second mate/Lightning Guardian right now, but I like the idea of him being the strategist. He is, at the moment, and probably into the future, the most sane person here. XD ...Not that that's saying much with the Strawhats.

Priestess of shadows: I'm actually planning on having Lambo confront the Vongola, or at least some of them, during Lougetown. So, I guess you can all look forward to that! As for the point where the strawhats will be stronger... I dunno yet, really. XD My only contact with Danganronpa at this moment was watching a walkthrough of the first game on youtube. I'll watch walkthroughs of the other Danganronpa games on youtube too eventually, and also Corpse Party. Visual novels are the kind of games I'd rather watch online than play myself. XD

: I'm gonna assume you're also the guest who keeps asking about Haki, since all those reviews came in the same day and are all asking about the same thing. Haki is a ways off though, and although I do have some ideas, I don't feel comfortable answering a question about something so far in the future. Especially since things might change before that point. Nothing is completely set in stone yet. Sorry!

XXX

From Mafioso to Pirate

Chapter 17: Black Cat Pirates

XXX

"Are you sure this is the right way?!" Zoro called as they ran through the empty town, all the residents still being asleep in their beds.

"I think so!" Lambo shouted back. Inwardly, he grimaced. He remembered, vaugely, that back when he was a child in school they taught about compasses and how to tell which way you were going if you didn't have one. Unfortunately, his child self spent his school life completely disregarding the teachers and playing instead. And, after maturing a bit, just daydreaming during classes.

He was really starting to regret that now.

Well, he saw a glimpse of the other slope during his exploration a day ago, so he was sure that this was the right way.

Mostly sure.

...Moderately sure.

He really wished he had a compass. And maybe he needed to stop giving Zoro shit for his sense of direction when he didn't even know which way north was.

"Hey, isn't that Luffy?"

"Huh?"

He looked back at Zoro to see him looking to their right. The first thing his mind processed was a dust cloud. Then he realized that said dust cloud was being caused by their captain running towards them.

Both Lambo and Zoro stopped and waited for him to reach them, expecting him to stop as well. But the other boy just ran past them, not even looking where he was going.

Lambo rolled his eyes and called for him. "Luffy! Stop!"

The strawhat-wearing boy screeched to a halt, and turned to look at them. Hurrying over, he shouted, "Which ways' north?!"

"Luffy, have you been lost this whole time?" Lambo asked.

"Because Usopp never told me which way north was!" Luffy shouted in defense.

'...Damn, all three of us have no sense of direction. Thank God we have Nami.' "Fine, just follow us," Lambo said as he continued running, Luffy and Zoro following behind him.

"You know which way north is?!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

"More or less," Lambo said, before mumbling under his breath, "Hopefully..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

'Oh, thank God. I was right,' Lambo thought as they arrived at what could only be the north slope. "There it is."

"About time," Zoro grumbled as they approached.

It was then that they noticed a particular sound filling the area in front of them. Lambo recognized it as the sound of battle cries and of rapid footsteps that indicated running. The noise was getting louder, which meant that the source was getting closer.

The source of the noise finally revealed themselves to be a large group of pirates, stampeding towards them, obviously just starting to make their way to the village. Curiously, they all seemed to be wearing black hats that had what looked like cat ears sticking out of the top.

'Okay,' Lambo thought to himself. 'Not the strangest thing I've seen up till now.'

Zoro scoffed and grabbed the handle of one of his swords. "Just some lackeys."

Luffy cracked his knuckles as he frowned at the group of cat-eared pirates. "Alright. Let's take care of 'em."

Lambo let his Lightning Flames alight in his hands. "Let's handle this before their captain gets here."

The pirates halted in front of them and stared at them in confusion. "What, more of you?"

"So I take it Usopp and Nami already got here," Zoro stated.

"Looks like it," Lambo confirmed. "We just have to get past these guys."

"Good. I'm still pissed off at Nami. This'll help me work off some anger."

"Me too!" Luffy said.

Lambo looked back and forth between the two before sighing. "Yare, yare..."

"What the?" Usopp said as he watched the pirates that had run past him moments ago be sent flying back, flopping onto the ground as they lost consciousness. Some of them seemed to be convulsing with emerald-green electricity sparking around their bodies. "What the hell?"

"About time you guys got here!" Nami shouted, waving as their three crewmates came into view. "What took you so long?"

Zoro glared daggars at her, gritting his teeth angrily. "You know what!"

"Usopp, you bastard!" Luffy shouted. "You never told me which way north was!"

"H-Huh?! You're the one who ran off! Besides, it's not my fault if you're directionally challenged!" The long-nosed boy shouted back.

Luffy frowned. "Well, I kinda did that on a whim..."

Lambo frowned at him. Usopp was battered and bruised and there was a patch of blood around the back of his head. It looks like he had put up quite a fight. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm okay," Nami answered.

"And you?"

"Uh, yeah, more or less," Usopp said. He looked at the unconscious pirates and then back at them. "Just how strong are you guys?!"

"So, was that all of them?"

"I think so," Nami said, looking back at all the pirates struggling to get up after the attack.

Jango grimaced and looked at the sky. "Tch. It's getting later... Hey, don't tell me you're going to let a bunch of kids beat you! Captain Kuro is a very impatient man! You know what'll happen, right?!" He shouted at his crew.

At that, the pirates all went rigid before struggling to get back up, most only managing to get up to their knees.

Jango took out his hypnotism ring and held it out in front of them. "We don't have time to fool around here! If they're strong, we'll just have to be stronger!" He started to sway the ring back and forth. "Now, look into this ring! When I say 'one, two, Jango,' you'll all become stronger! All your injuries will heal!"

"What's he doing?" Luffy asked with a confused frown.

"It's hypnosis," Nami answered.

Lambo frowned. "There's no way that'll work. Putting people to sleep is one thing. But making them physically stronger has gotta be impossible."

"Hm?" Luffy just grunted, looking at the ring.

"You'll become much, much stronger! One! Two!" He lowered his head, covering his eyes with his hat. "JANGO!"

At first, there was nothing. Then, all at once, the crew of pirates let out a deafening roar, all getting up and shrugging off their wounds as if they were nothing.

Nami winced and covered her ears. "What the?!"

"What's going on?" Zoro asked, narrowing his eyes.

Lambo frowned. Maybe Jango could make them think they were stronger or that they weren't wounded, but there's no way he could actually make it happen.

...Right?

As if to answer his question, one of the pirates slammed his fist into the side of the slope. Cracks formed in the slope, running upwards before a gigantic chunk fell off and crashed into the land below. The group of pirates cheered as it did, unmindful of the ground shaking beneath their feet from the impact.

"What the hell?!" Zoro exclaimed in astonishment. "What power!"

"It actually worked?!" Lambo asked, gaping.

"They're really hypnotized!" Nami said.

"No way..." Usopp mumbled, looking at the newly recovered pirates in horror. "And there's so many of them, too!"

"So this is what they call mind over matter..." Lambo muttered, taking a step back. "This is really bad."

"Alright, you lot, go! Leave no one alive!" Jango shouted. His crew let out a cheer before turning and stampeding towards the smaller group.

Zoro cursed. He looked at Usopp and Nami. "Hey, you two! Get out of the way! Let me, Luffy, and Lambo handle this!"

The two glanced at him before Nami nodded and ran past him, Usopp scrambling after her. "Good luck!" She called.

"You two ready?" Zoro asked, unsheathing his blades.

Lambo steeled himself and took a step forward, bringing his Lightning Flames to life. "Ready."

"Luffy?"

"..."

"...Luffy?"

"..."

They both turned to look at their captain, who's hat shadowed his eyes, his teeth gritted firmly.

Lambo's eyes widened, remembering the cliff incident. "Oh, don't tell me..."

Luffy lifted his head, and Lambo saw that his pupils weren't there anymore, his eyes having rolled back. He was completely hypnotized. "GRAAAAH!" The boy shouted, punching his arms in the air.

"You got yourself hypnotized too?!" Zoro exclaimed in disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me," Lambo said as Luffy ran past them and towards the charging pirates, screaming all the way.

"That idiot!" Nami said in disbelief while Usopp just watched in awe.

"GOMU GOMU NO...!" Luffy shouted, stretching his arms back before lunging them forward into a flurry of punches. "MACHINE GUN!"

Everyone watched as Luffy's punches sent the pirates flying back, or into the air, crashing into the ground below. His already massive strength improved further by the hypnosis, it looked like they were nothing more than flies for him to swat away.

"Hey, uh, maybe this is a good thing?" Usopp said, watching as Luffy mowed them down.

Nami nodded. "Maybe..."

"B-But, he won't come after us right?" Usopp added fearfully.

"Of course not," Nami scoffed. She then paused and looked at Luffy warily. "Well...hopefully not."

"H-Hopefully?!"

"Damn, Captain Kuro made a big miscalculation," Jango muttered to himself, grimacing as he watched his men be defeated with ease. "These aren't ordinary brats!"

"Sh-Shit! Everyone run!" Someone shouted. The pirates all quickly followed the order as Luffy raced after them.

And then ran right past them.

Jango's eyes widened as Luffy came closer. He put his arms up to shield himself and stepped back, expecting the boy to start throwing punches at him.

Luffy ran past him as well.

"What the? What the hell is he doing?" Zoro asked.

Lambo shook his head. "I have no idea."

Luffy ran straight up to the boat and wrapped his arms around the neck of the figurehead, which Lambo only now realized was in the shape of a cat head. His arms now tightly around it, he started to pull. Wood splintered and tore as the figurehead was forcefully removed from the ship.

All the pirates, including Luffy's own crew, watched on incredulously. If Lambo didn't know any better, it seemed that even the figurehead was shocked by what the boy was doing.

Nami was the first to break out of her stupor and punched a fist in the air. "Alright! Go, Luffy!"

'If he destroyes their ship, they can't go for backup... Could it be that Luffy is actually thinking?" Lambo thought to himself.

Now holding the figurehead, Luffy turned and glared at the pirates, who stepped back in fear.

"N-No way! He wants to wack us with that?!" One of them shouted.

'...Or maybe not,' Lambo answered himself, facepalming. 'He's fighting on pure instincts now...'

"H-Hurry and do something, Captain!" One of the pirates shouted as he ran.

Jango looked around in fear. "M-Me?!"

"Hypnotize him, for the love of God!"

"O-Oh, right!" Jango shouted, pulling out his ring and putting it in front of him. "When I say 'one, two, jango,' you'll fall deep asleep! One! Two! JANGO!"

The affect was almost immediate. Luffy's angered expression was replaced with a tired one as his eyelids fell and his body followed after. Unfortunately for Jango, this also caused the figurehead to fall from his hands directly onto most of the pirates, scattering them around in random directions. Luffy's snores filled the resulting silence.

"Seriously, that idiot..." Zoro mumbled in frustration.

"Well...at least he got rid of most of them," Lambo offered. "That's something."

"Uh, shouldn't you be a little more concerned?" Usopp asked.

"About what? Luffy? He's fine," Zoro answered. "Worry more about yourself."

"He fell off a cliff and came out completely fine," Lambo added. "This is nothing to him."

"I-I see..."

Jango gave a fearful grimace as he looked around at his fallen comrades. "D-Dammit! If Captain Kuro sees this... We'll all be killed!"

"Hey, Buchi! Look what happened out here!"

"Huh? What happened?"

Everyone blinked as two new voices came in the direction of the ship.

Jango swivled around, a smirk taking the place of his panicked expression. "Of course! We still have our trump card! Come out, Nyaban Brothers!"

"Nyaban Brothers?" Zoro asked.

Lambo frowned. "I don't like the sound of that."

As if on cue, two figures jumped from the ship, flipping in midair before landing in front of Jango. "You called, Captain Jango?"

"You called?"

Lambo felt his eye twitch. "What the hell...?"

If he thought the rest of the Black Cat Pirates were strange looking, then these two were on a completely different level. Not even Moji could compare.

The first was a scrawny man with bright green hair that was swept to one side with curls on the end. He wore a shorts and a baggy shirt that made him look like a hunchback, although he supposed he couldn't be sure that it was the shirt doing that. He had a pink bowtie on his neck, black cat ears on his head, and black gloves with what looked like razor-sharp cat claws on the fingertips.

The second was almost the complete opposite. He was an overweight man no shirt. Instead he wore striped red and black pants with a yellow sash tied around them, and what looked like a sleeping blanket around his shoulders like the cape of a king. Like the other, though, he wore a pair of black cat ears on his head and cat-clawed purple gloves. One of his eyes was surrounded by a patch of black, which Lambo supposed was probably from make up or the like.

"They're really taking their cat motif to the extreme, aren't they...?" Lambo mumbled to himself. He then frowned. "It's so bad that I'm actually starting to talk like Ryohei..."

The green-haired man stood and did a strange, cat-like pose. "Sham and...!"

The overweight man stood and did his own. "Buchi!"

"Together, we're the Nyaban Brothers!" They finished together.

'These pirates just keep getting weirder and weirder...' Lambo thought to himself. 'Makes me wonder what we're going to see next...'

"Buchi! Sham!" Jango said. "We have a slight problem. We need to get past this slope, but as you can see..." He turned and pointed at Zoro and Lambo. "These people are standing in our way. Take care of them."

Buchi and Sham turned to look at them. Their eyes widened in fear and they took a step back. "N-No way!" Sham shouted. "They looks scary! Especially that green one! Right, Buchi?!"

"Y-Yeah! It's impossible!"

Zoro frowned in puzzlement. "Huh? What's wrong with those two? And they call themselves pirates?"

"Besides, isn't it your responsibility as captain?" Sham continued. "We're just responsible for looking after the ship!"

"Yeah, we don't battle!" Buchi agreed.

"Shami, Buchi, just do it," Jango said.

Sham's eyes widened. "Huh?! B-But-!"

Jango glared at them. "NOW!"

They both flinched. "F-Fine, I'm going..." Sham said. He then turned and ran towards them, yelling a pathetic battle cry and flailing his arms in the air.

Nami frowned. "What the hell? How does he expect to fight like that?"

"Maybe this'll be easy after all...?" Lambo asked, although he was frowning deeply. "But he must have called them his trump card for a reason... Something's not right."

"Hey, you! Be prepared, 'cause I'm gonna rip you apart with these claws!" Sham shouted, still doing his pathetic run.

Lambo turned to Zoro. "So, uh, what do we do?"

Zoro grimaced. "Honestly, I'd feel kind of bad beating that poor bastard up... Hey, you! If you don't stop right now, I'll kill you!"

"You'd feel bad beating him up, so you threaten to kill him...?" Lambo mumbled, giving the swordsman a half-lidded look. He was, of course, ignored. He turned back to the cat man running towards them.

Suddenly, there was a change in the air. The man's face lost it's pathetic facade and transformed into a sharp grin. "I'd like to see you try."

Both boys' eyes widened as he lunged forward with all the grace and agility of a cat. "Wha-"

"I think I'll go after you first!"

Lambo's eyes widened when Sham turned his gaze on him. The cat-man lunged forward, claws glinting in the sunlight as they aimed for his throat.

CLANG

Lambo backpeddled as metal struck metal. Zoro grunted as he blocked the would be blow with his swords. "This guy...!"

"Z-Zoro...!"

Sham's grin broadened. "And I was acting so well too..." He then jumped back, landing a little ways away from them.

Lambo's eyes widened in disbelief when he saw what was now strapped to the cat-man's back. "Zoro! Your swords!"

Zoro's eyes widened as well. "When did he...?!"

Lambo gritted his teeth. 'I didn't even see him take them, and I was right there! This must have been his plan the entire time...'

"I may be tiny, but you'd better not take Sham of the Nyaban Brothers lightly~!"

In the background, Jango and Buchi watched on. "There it is," the hyptonist commented.

Buchi nodded. "Cat Snatch."

"You bastard...! Give those katanas back!" Zoro snarled at Sham.

Sham smirked. "Huh? Why? You already have one. These two will just get in your way, right?" With that, he took both swords off his back and tossed them behind himself. They clattered to the ground a far distance away from the three of them. "There! Now I feel much lighter~!"

"DON'T THROW THEM LIKE THAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Zoro shouted in rage, dashing towards him.

Lambo's eyes widened as Zoro's remaining sword cut through the side of Sham's torso. The swordsman wasted no time in running towards his swords. It was only too late that he realized there was no blood.

"ZORO, BEHIND YOU!"

"Huh?!"

Zoro turned around just in time to see Sham leaping towards him. The cat-like man landed on his back and grabbed his arms from behind. "It'll take more than that!" He shouted as he pinned Zoro to the ground. His baggy clothes were cut, but his body was fine. Obviously, he wore those for a reason.

'Dammit! Stop standing here and staring!' Lambo thought to himself. 'Zoro needs his swords!' Forcing his body into motion, Lambo ran forward.

Sham frowned at him as he ran past. "Almost forgot about you. Buchi!"

"Gotcha, Sham! Watch this!" Buchi shouted, running forward before leaping. Lambo couldn't help but watch in awe as the overweight man launched himself into the air easily.

"What kind of monsters are these?!"

Buchi smirked down at him. Lambo stopped running towards the swords and scrambled back as he came crashing down onto where he was standing moments before. When the dust and debris cleared, he saw that a crater had been formed.

'D-Damn, that could have been me...'

Buchi glared at him, then turned to Sham. "Hey, Sham, hold him down for me next time!"

Sham glared back. "I'm a little busy with this one!"

Under him, Zoro gritted his teeth and forced himself up. Sham's eyes widened, and he quickly jumped away before the swordsman could slash at him.

"He's stronger than I thought," the green-haired cat-man said as he landed next to Buchi.

"Hey, you okay?" Zoro asked Lambo, not taking his eyes off the two men.

"Y-Yeah..."

Zoro looked back at the newly formed crater and grimaced. "Be careful. If that hits you, all your bones will be shattered to pieces."

Lambo's eyes widened. "G-Good to know."

"Let's try this again!" Sham said, stretching his claws.

"Let's!" Buchi agreed.

Zoro got ready, holding his sword out in front of him. "I'm not used to fighting with one sword, but I guess I've got no choice. If you want, you can go hide with Nami and Usopp, Lambo."

Lambo shook his head, holding onto his resolve as firmly as he could. 'I need to get ahold of myself. If I'm going to become the strongest Mafioso, I need to stop hiding behind others and fight for myself. Otherwise, I won't get anywhere...' "I'm fighting too."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"...Alright then. They're fast, so be careful."

"Right."

"Hmm, we usually fight together," Sham said. "But with two opponents, I guess we have no choice, do we Buchi?"

Buchi nodded. "No choice."

"Alright, then! I'll go after the swordsman, you go after the cow guy!"

"Right!"

And with no other warning, they sprang.

Lambo's eyes widened as they came towards them. 'Zoro wasn't kidding! Shit, I need to get away from him!' Thinking purely on instinct, he sent an electric charge to his leg. Emerald green flames shot out from beneath him, throwing him backwards just in time for Buchi's claws to miss his face. 'Holy crap, I had idea I could do that!'

Next to him, Zoro blocked Sham's attack with his swords, parrying them with blinding speed.

Buchi paused for a moment, looking at the flames in confusion. He then shook his head and refocused on his attacks. Getting down on all fours, he then sprang forward, claws gleaming.

Lambo grimaced. "Dammit!" He put his hands up and let the lightning flames engulf them. However, it was a split second too slow.

He let out a gasp of pain as the claws cut through the flesh of his arm, before the lightning flames finally fully activated and sent the man flying back, body crackling with electricity.

Zoro glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. "Oi! You okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Worry about your own fight!" Lambo said through gritted teeth, looking down at his arm. It hurt like hell, but it didn't seem too bad. He'd keep his arm, if nothing else.

Sham, finally realizing something happened, glanced back to see Buchi stand up shakily, some wisps of electricity still sparkling here and there. "What the...?"

Zoro turned his attention back to him. "Your opponent is over here!" He shouted, stabbing forward.

Shami glared, but refocused on him, turning away from Buchi.

Buchi shook the electricity off, staggering. "I don't know what kind of trick you did, but it'll take more than that to stop me!"

Lambo grimaced. He didn't have that much real fighting practice with his flames. As a result, they were still pretty weak. Enough to take out some weak muggers and lackeys in one shot, but when it came to someone who could actually fight him... If it were anybody else, they could have taken these guys out with one short burst, but with him...

'Get ahold of yourself! This is why you're on this journey in the first place, right?!'

"Wh-What the hell was that?!" Usopp said, staring down in awe. "It was like he...shot electricity at them or something!"

Nami nodded. "I don't really understand it either. It's just something he can do."

"Well that's a half-assed way of explaining it..."

"I don't know what I don't know, alright? More importantly, we need to do something. They're too fast!"

Usopp frowned and nodded. Reaching into his bag, he took out his slingshot and a rather large pachinko, aiming downards. "Alright, I'll cover them!"

Nami's eyes widened. "H-Hey, wait a min-"

But it was too late, Usopp had sent the Pachinko flying...

Only to hit Zoro instead.

Zoro gasped in pain, giving Sham an opening. The cat man raked his claws across the man's chest. The swordsman was sent backwards, but quickly landed back on his feet.

Nami gave Usopp a wide-eyed glare. "What the hell are you doing?! Attacking your own allies?!"

"Th-That's not what happened!" Usopp shouted, looking just as shocked as her. "He...moved in front of it!"

"What?!"

Lambo's eyes widened at what had just happened. "Zoro, are you- Guh!" He got cut off when Buchi came at him again, a bit slower this time because of the aftereffects of the electricity running through his body. Lambo managed to dodge the blow and call up more lightning flames. Buchi had learned his lesson at this point, however, and jumped back, avoiding them.

"I'm fine! Focus on yourself!" Zoro shouted at him, blocking more blows from Sham. "And you two, stay the hell out of this!" He added, sending a quick glare at Nami and Usopp. "Do you want to die or something?!"

Usopp gulped as the fighting continued.

"Maybe...we're the ones who were saved here," Nami spoke up. "If you'd attacked them, they may have come for us."

"S-Seriously?"

Buchi shook off the remaining static and glared at him, injured but still able to put up a fight. "You're some kind of monster, you know that?"

Lambo glared back at him. "Better a monster than a freaky cat-guy."

"That's rich, coming from a freaky cow-guy!"

Lambo blinked. "...Walked right into that one."

Growing serious again, he looked down at his injured arm. It was still bleeding heavily. He didn't really know how much blood a human could lose before they passed out entirely.

'Well, if Zoro can do it... Then again, I'm not entirely sure he's actually human.'

And then a streak of orange ran past, breaking him out of his thoughts. His eyes widened when he saw that it was Nami running past them. "What the?!" He looked back up the cliff. "Usopp, what the hell?!"

Usopp looked down at him with wide eyes. "Sh-She said she's going to get Zoro's swords!"

Buchi, hearing the words, turned towards the running girl. "I'd better kill that girl then!"

Lambo scowled. "Oh no, you don't!" He shouted, running forward while taking out his horns and putting them on with his uninjured hand. "Electrico Cornatta!"

"Oof!" Buchi gasped as Lambo tackled him to the ground, getting another jolt of electricity.

The cow-clad boy landed on the man's back and tried his best to pin him there. "Hurry, Nami!"

Nami glanced back and nodded. "Right!" Reaching the swords, she bent down to get them.

Usopp's eyes widened in terror. "NAMI, LOOK OUT!"

"Huh?" Nami looked up in confusion to see Jango standing over her. And before she could do anything else, he brought the ring he used for his hypnosis down, slicing it through her shoulder.

"N-NAMI!" Usopp shouted in panic.

"Nami!" Lambo shouted at the same time, wanting to run over but being too busy with Buchi to do so. 'Dammit! I didn't think that guy could actually fight! We took him too lightly...just like these damn cat guys!'

Nami fell to the ground, gasping in pain and clutching her shoulder.

Jango glanced back at her before turning back around and...

His face immediately went pale. Mouth opening in a silent scream of panic, he took a step away from whatever had caught his attention.

Buchi, recovering slighty, shoved Lambo off. Lambo let out an 'oof' as he fall backwards onto the ground.

'Dammit... I need an actual weapon soon. Fighting with my bare hands isn't exactly working too well...'

He quickly got back up and glared at Buchi, only to be confused when he saw that the cat-man was staring at something behind him, body shivering in fear.

'What the?' He turned to get a look at what he was staring at. As he did, he caught a glimpse of Sham, who was staring ahead with the same expression of fear. Zoro also turned around in confusion. 'What is...'

As soon as he saw it, however, he understood. Standing at the entrance of the slope, looking like he was ready to murder someone, was Kurahadol himself.

"C-Captain Kuro..." Buchi stuttered.

"W-We're all gonna get killed...!" Someone else shouted.

Kurahadol slowly reached up and adjusted his glasses. "It's been daylight for some time now... And I see the village is still in one piece. Why didn't everything go according to plan, Jango?"

Jango took a step back. "C-Captain. I, uh... Well... You see..."

But Kurahadol cut him off, glaring furiously. "What the hell is going on?!"

TO BE CONTINUED

XXX

Learning how to tell which direction without a compass seems to me like something they'd teach in One Piece World Schools, what with it being mostly made up of islands. Anyone else? Or is it just me? But, seriously, though. They need their goddamn navigator. XD

And Lambo finally got to fight someone on his own for once! (Although, the battle hasn't technically ended yet.) Good for him! If only Luffy was awake to see him now. *wipes tear*