The Final Piece

Written for Aoihand's Multiverse Challenge.

The war was over. By all rights Whitebeard's defeat should have heralded a new age of peace.

But that had been over two years ago, and the sad thing was: It hadn't. Instead, the world seemed to have descended deeper into chaos.

"Change is never easy," the figure who sat at the head of the world government's conference table said. "But it is inevitable."

"That's what you said last time." Another ruler, whose broad, armor-lined shoulders matched his flat nose, countered the statement. "If things have changed, they have only changed for the worse. The pirates are only getting more and more out of hand."

"The problem is—" interrupted another, even more authoritative voice, "—the marines fumbled. When Whitebeard was killed, they neglected to make sure no one rose up in his stead. We should have crushed the dream then and there, but instead the pirates now have an icon for their new age and are undeterred." He spat out the word "icon" in disgust.

"An icon?" Another king, his dark skin indicative of his native desert island, frowned as he repeated the word. "You mean Blackbeard?"

There was a dramatic silence before the answer came.

"Blackbeard? No. Many of the pirates despise the man as much as they fear him. The ones that are the true threat are the crew who have inspired the new generation of pirates."

"And who might they be?" asked a young woman with sky-blue hair, who looked almost too young to be in the conference of world rulers.

A murmur ran around the table. The rumours that all the rulers had become aware of were being repeated in hushed whispers. Everyone knew the name that was on everyone else's lips, but everyone seemed to dread acknowledging it. Finally, the voice of the chairperson gave it form.

"The ones we refer to are..."

"...that small crew..."

"Those Eleven..."

"...Eleven..."

The chairperson cleared his throat. "Yes we ARE referring to them."

He swallowed hard.

"The Supernova Eleven."

Aaaand it's here! I know you've all been waiting, I bet you didn't think I'd start it this soon! But I figure 10t/10/10 was an auspicious day to launch it. (Happy X Drake Day BTW)

Yeah, so I did say I was going to wait until Oda delivered more information on the Supernovas. And oh boy, did he!

I did also say I wanted to finish "Though a Bird Can't Fly, That Doesn't Mean It Never Will" before I started a new fic as well. Those of you who are following that fic, worry not, it's still going to be my top priority. But since I've pretty much planned most of it up to the end already, I kind of know how long THAT will take to complete. So I figured I might as well just write what I want when the mood takes me rather that lose the magic of the moments when ideas for THIS fic occur to me. And that is pretty much every time the Supernovas show up in the manga (One glimpse of any of them, and I suddenly feel this overwhelming urge to work on this fic, inasmuch as I love Kuina and Zoro).

Thanks to everyone for their fantastic reviews and encouragement on "In Five Pieces", I certainly never anticipated that when I first decided to respond to Aoihand's prompt challenge, I'd end up with something like this little set of drabbles. I'm continually amazed by the response I got for what was supposed to be a writing exercise for me. If you'd told me one day it'd end up being translated into another language (See my profile page for link to Readr's Indonesian translation) I'd have gone: "You're kidding me, right?"

I do hope expanding it to a full-length fic won't kill the concept. But I guess there's only one way to find out.

So without further blathering, I present the expansion of "In Five Pieces" which after tossing around several titles, I have finally decided to simply name as: "The Supernova Eleven".

The link should be listed in my profile page. Enjoy!