Awesome / This Bites!

A One Piece fanfiction story written by a trio of high-class fan-authors. Did you expect anything less?

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Warning: Spoilers Off applies to these pages. Proceed at your own risk.

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East Blue Saga

Joining the Straw Hats

• While Cross is talking to Luffy and the crew about joining his crew, he asks Luffy what his dream is. He knows what it is and is already prepared to accept it, but when he actually hears him say it, he actually feels it resonate so deeply within him that it feels like a universal fact that Luffy will become the Pirate King, and it makes him believe it too. It just goes to show that not even the Self-Insert himself is immune to The Hero's sheer charisma.
• Cross's spiel about his own dream: to see everything the world has to offer.
• And Cross's first impossible feat of the story: getting Luffy to back off from stealing his meal.

Loguetown

• Cross's first meeting with Captain Smoker:
  • It starts with Cross telling Smoker that he wanted to see something he thought was a myth: a decent Marine. Considering the disparity in power between them, this is Bullying a Dragon at its clearest, yet Smoker deigns to hear him out.
  • This then leads into Cross's first "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Smoker, giving clear examples at how the Navy is an unscrupulous, morally corrupt organization that enforces tyranny throughout the world and lets its masters, the World Government, flagrantly flaunt the laws they themselves made.
  • After this, Cross goes into refuting Smoker's claim of no such thing as a good pirate, by the example of Whitebeard benevolently protecting Fishman Island. Smoker cannot give anything other than a rote, textbook answer that doesn't even seem to convince himself.
  • And at the end of it all, despite Cross calling himself a pirate multiple times (albeit one whose crew, as far as he's aware, has not committed any crimes), Smoker decides to give Cross his first weapon: a tactical baton. Why? To prove Cross's first statement wrong about Smoker being a good Marine, for a good Marine would've locked Cross away the instant he called himself a pirate. However, that wasn't quite what Cross said.
    Cross: I don't like what the Navy currently is. And I don't like what they do. But... I respect what it stands for, and I respect you. I never said that good Marines were a myth, sir. There are too many good Marines by half. It's decent ones that are in short supply. There's a difference. A big one.
• Soundbite's new range after he gets his Transponder Snail Rig: a mile.
• When the commotion happens at the execution platform, Zoro and Sanji order Cross back to the ship with Usopp and Nami. Cross refuses, wanting to protect his captain any way he can, which he does by using Soundbite to instigate riots all over the square.
• Cross confronting Bartolomeo in the square, and getting him to watch as Luffy declares his promise to be the Pirate King. And when Luffy actually survives, he and Cross inspire a blubbering Bartolomeo to become a pirate himself and to do it right.
• During Smoker's confrontation with Luffy, Sanji, and Cross as they are escaping Loguetown, he manages to pin Luffy. Cross immediately steps up to threaten to use Soundbite and a stone-vaporizing sonic blast at point-blank range to blow Smoker's head clean off. He's completely bluffing, but Smoker doesn't know that.
  • Also counts as Foreshadowing.
• And like all One Piece Self Inserts that join in East Blue and actually make it past Loguetown, Cross's affirmation of his dream alongside the other Straw Hats is awesome par excellence.
  Cross: I'm going to travel the seas! And I'm going to see everything this cruel, crazy, beautiful world has to offer!

Alabasta Saga

Twin Capes

• From the sheer massiveness of the Red Line to the rushing currents of Reverse Mountain to the exhilarating ride up said currents to the spectacular view they get when they are thrown into the water's zenith above the clouds, Cross firmly holds the belief that as far as the scenery is concerned, The World Is Just Awesome.
  • Cross even thinks he can see Raftel for a fleeting moment.
• Just as awe-inspiring is when Cross gets his first look at Laboon.

Whiskey Peak

• Given Cross's current status of Made of Plasticine, it's impressive to see that, courtesy of Soundbite's hearing and his baton, he comes out of his first real fight in this world (albeit against a bunch of mooks), without suffering a scratch.
  • And after Cross chastises Soundbite for not practicing his powers, the snail gets his act together well enough to lure a bounty hunter into the perfect place for Cross to ambush him.
• Cross delivering a Breaking Speech to Miss Wednesday, to capitalize on the disparity between her two identities. First, he establishes that she's rich, then he breaks down on why she became a bounty hunter in the first place if it's not to earn a living. He touches on doing it for the thrill, doing it for love, then zeroes in on her doing it because she likes the hunt, likes to inflict pain and suffering on others... all things that the pacifistic Nefertari Vivi abhors as a noble. It's enough to successfully break her façade as Miss Wednesday, revealing the Princess that she actually is.
• When Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine show up to kill Igaram and Vivi, Cross demands to know why Soundbite didn't hear them coming or warn him. Soundbite did hear, and he did warn someone: the person in the perfect position to snipe them down without them noticing, Usopp.
• And another moment for our favorite lying sniper: after he'd fainted after hearing who they'd be going up against at the top of Baroque Works, as the Unluckies are flying away after collecting their pictures, Soundbite blasts a foghorn wake-up call in his ears and Cross calls out a sniping order. Usopp proceeds to wake up, load, aim, and snipe the Unluckies down in one smooth shot.
• While Miss All-Sunday is busy choking Cross for leverage, Cross manages to break her thumb to break her grip.

Little Garden

• This island really shows Soundbite's growing practice with his powers:
  • Bluffing Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine with sound effects, breathing, and background noise so well that, even without dino-breath or body heat, he convinces them that there's a gigantic T-Rex behind them.
  • Ventriloquism-tricking Mr. 5 to blast Miss Valentine.
  • And while all of the above is going on, not only keeping the calls to the rest of the Straw Hats open but also blocking their voices!
  • Not as elaborate, but goading a T-Rex (a real one this time!) to attack the Unluckies.
  • And finally, luring said Unluckies right into a cave filled with hungry raptors. Cue Exit, Pursued By A Troodon Pack.
• Sanji saving Cross from the last, un-distracted raptor.
• Cross fulfilling his promise to ride a T-Rex rodeo style.

Drum Island

• Cross tricking Kureha out of the medical bill, his stay in the castle, and the castle larder all in one go.

Alabasta

• Tashigi finally one-upping Zoro in something: figuring out how to cut steel (or at least steel-hard wax) before he does!
• When Smoker and Tashigi are still intent on taking out the Straw Hats before going after Crocodile, an enraged-beyond-all-belief Vivi has some choice words for him, and outright orders Smoker to lay off her friends and go to Alubarna. It leaves everyone in a state of Stunned Silence.
  • More importantly, it was said before that only an order from God would call Smoker off of a pursuit. Well, guess what? The Nefertari family is one of those 20 divine families that created the World Government!
• When faced with Mr. 2 blocking their way, what does Carue do? Take a flying leap over the head of the horse Mr. 2 is riding, slam his talons into Mr. 2 chest, and knock him into the ground at full force!
  Vivi: C-Carue...that-that was amazing!
  Cross: Hell, yeah! A full degree more badass than what you did in the story at this point, and that was full-on military commando badass already!
• Vivi, sick and tired of Mr. 2's bullshit, punches him in the throat for hurting Usopp to steal his face, punches him in the nose for trying to topple her kingdom, and finally, kicks him where it REALLY hurts for his outfit on behalf of women everywhere!
  Chaka, Carue, & Cross: Ooooh...
• Vivi using her knowledge of Baroque Works' playbook to reach and secure the bomb in the clock tower after the Mr. 7 pair got wise to the Royal Army's plans.
• Cross's first major one-on-one (or in this case two-on-two) fight in the story: Cross and Soundbite vs. the Unluckies! Highlights include:
  • The moment the fight starts is an awesome moment in and of itself: with Soundbite in Miss Friday's clutches and the pair flying above the city, Cross climbs to the top of a three-story building, waits for the right moment, and then takes a flying Leap of Faith off the side right at the pair.
    Cross's narration: We got the idea from Avatar. The basic gist of it was that when you were the king of the skies… why would you ever bother to look up?
    Cross's Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: HEY YOU! FURRY JACKASSES! GIVE ME BACK MY GODDAMN SNAIL!
  • Cross blasting away at Miss Friday with a shotgun.
  • Bluffing the vulture with a mug thrown like a grenade.
  • Soundbite making use of the fact that the Unluckies can't trust their ears anymore.
  • Cross throwing Mr. 13 down the bar and then setting him on fire.
  • And lastly, when Miss Friday gets Soundbite in her beak and threatens to crush him, Soundbite unleashes a sonic burst that shatters all the bones in her body! Cross decides to christen it Gastro-Blast.
• Luffy tells off the B.R.O.B. for sending Cross into One Piece:
  Luffy: STAY AWAY FROM MY CREW! (Slams the transceiver mic down hard enough to crack the table and floor)
• Cross's response to Vivi being accused of treason, given a bounty, and forced to leave Alabasta. Using his newly acquired Snail Transceiver, he uses Soundbite to hijack every single Transponder Snail all over the world and deliver the Pirates' side of the World Government's treachery, in a new Buccaneer Broadcaster radio show called the Strawhat Broadcast Station (SBS)!
• Following Cross's first broadcast, King Cobra sends a broadcast of his own to the entirety of Alabasta: that in response to the World Government accusing Vivi of treason, he declares Alabasta, one of the twenty founding nations, independent of the tyrannical empire.
  Cobra: Today, I declare Alabasta's formal secession from the ranks of the nations of the World Government!
  • When giving his reason, he states that making sure there’s a free country for his daughter to return to is worth whatever comes.
• Alongside the broadcast of Davy Jones from Soundbite, the Dugong Pirates reveal their salvaged ships and easily hijack the Marine battleships keeping the Strawhats from escaping.

Sky Island Saga

Jaya

• After the injustice seen in Alabasta, Smoker, Tashigi, and Hina have had their fill of the corruption in the World Government, and they begin a secret organization to reform the system from the bottom-up, with Cross as their informant to finding other Decent Marines to ally with.
• Luffy, who was terrible at swimming even before he ate his Devil Fruit, managing to out-surf Octavio, Shogun of the Great Octopus Shogunate and an expert surfer.
• When Robin tries to wheedle Cross's source of knowledge out of him, he stands up to her threats, but when she tries to use a Honey Trap and seduce the info out of him, Cross agrees if she does something first: Tell the crew the truth about Ohara. The demand is enough to leave Robin in panicked, terrified silence.
• Upon seeing the dead seagulls that are the work of the far-off Van Augur, Cross checks his presence by giving him the finger... and promptly Bullet Dodging the long-range sniper round.
• Cross's words about crew loyalty and the condemnation of Government-sanctioned slavery gaining the attention and admiration of two of the world's heavy-hitters: the Whitebeard Pirates and Kuja Pirates.
• Cross escaping from Mr. 13 and Miss Friday has the following highlights:
  • Managing to shoot at them point blank with a stolen gun (and would have hit if the gun wasn't empty).
  • Pulling out a Gastro-Flash and following it up with a Goomba Stomp.
  • Managing to deter Miss Friday by siccing Van Augur on her.
  • Starting a town-wide brawl (over who's the strongest of the Four Emperors) in order to slow Mr. 13 down.
  • Goading Bellamy into attacking him and then Deadly Dodging him into Mr. 13, occupying those two with each other.
    Cross: Excuse me, is it true that Doflamingo's spring-heeled dickweasel can be found here, or is this the wrong bar?
  • And finally, when Sarquiss takes offense, Soundbite Gastro-Blasts his knife into splinters, and Cross blasts him off his feet with an Impact Dial, without getting blown back himself.
• Usopp, Lassoo, and the male TDWS apprentices dealing with a mob going after the Going Merry, including fishmen.
  • And Boss thoroughly upstaging his students by taking out a mako shark fishman with his new cargo hook weapon.
    Boss: Half-Shell Style. Barracuda Barrage.
• A first look at the Straw Hats and their training progress:
  • What do you get when you cross Sinister Scythe, Epic Flail, and Double Weapon? Vivi's new weapons, the Lion Cutters.
  • Chopper's Cherry Blossom Blast explosive concoction, and his scalpel-throwing skills, taken from his foster mother.
• Soundbite "convincing" the entire forest of homicidal insects and birds to give them the South Birds they need.
• Soundbite and Cross taking down ALL of Bellamy's crew (with a little help from Luffy).
  • And Soundbite's refined Gastro-Blast leaving Bellamy a quivering, blood-coughing mess, without killing him.
• When Cross sees the Blackbeard Pirates' raft, he immediately orders Lassoo to blow it to smithereens. It was a good attempt, except that Van Auger had an awesome moment of his own by being the first to prematurely detonate Lassoo's baseballs before they reached the raft.

Skypiea

• During their first encounter with White Sea predators, only Vivi and Carue panic; Chopper and Nami manage to keep their cool.
• Luffy revealing the result of his training when saving Conis from Enel's lightning: a prototype Gear Second, called Gear 1.5 or Gear 1 1/2.
• Soundbite giving enough audio warning for the crew to evade all of the Milky Road's deathtraps, even while listening to Cross's commentary.
• Satori's only advantages in his Ordeal of Balls are his array of unpredictable tricks and his Mantra/Observation Haki. Unluckily for him, Cross has an answer to both.
  • The trick balls? Soundbite's hearing and Lassoo's sense of smell can easily figure out which balls have to be deflected or avoided.
  • His Mantra? Cross not only completely counters it, he does so while showcasing all of its weaknesses:
    • 1. Unpredictability/Randomness of attack: With Lassoo knowing which balls are safe to shoot at, Cross simply blasts a cluster and then gets the hell out of dodge while the whole place turns into a three-dimensional game of billiards.
    • 2. Keeping composure: The sheer unpredictable barrage of balls renders Satori too panicked to react to anything. And when he catches up, he's too infuriated to use his Mantra, leaving him fully open to Lassoo's Cani-Plaster and Cani-Slick.
    • 3. Physical incapability to dodge/deflect: After his failed attempt at a Last Villain Stand, incapacitated by the tar and unable to dodge, Satori is left gibbering helplessly as Luffy Gum-Gum Home Runs him out of the fight.
• When Ohm ends up engaging Cross's group way ahead of schedule, one of his Iron Clouds leaves a bloody gash on Conis. Within range of Sanji. No prizes for guessing what happens next.
  • Even more amazing: Sanji's so suffused with Unstoppable (Chivalric) Rage that Ohm can't even predict his attacks. And he even uses Sky Walk and Hell Memories to boot!
• But when Ohm gets enough of a breather to finally unleash his brambles of Iron Clouds, the Straw Hats (and the interrupting Shandians) have no choice but to retreat. But with the exit fenced off, their only hope is for Leo to learn to cut steel... which Donny instigates by triggering his student rivalry. Result: one shredded pile of steel and skulls.
  Leo: Two-Sword Style. Vitruvian Vindication.
• Boss using a pack of sky sharks to blow off steam.
• Both Awesome and Funny: Cross scaring the entire camp out of their wits with one scary story.
• Conis revealing her defense training with the White Beret Corps, at a level equivalent to their Captain.
• Even when faced with certain death at the hands of Enel, Cross remains Defiant to the End.
  • His entire "Reason You Suck" Speech, interspersed with moments of Electric Torture:
    Cross: Like I said, I can't deny that you're powerful… But all-powerful? Not even close. Now, let me share something with you: the power that you can find on the Blue Seas.
    That hole that you just punched in the ground? I can name at least five people off the top of my head who could do that in their sleep. I can name three who could match them blow for blow without any powers of their own. And another who can take anything those guys dish out and come back for more. And that's just the top tiers.
    You may be powerful, but you're only anything special up here, in your little cloudy world that's just a puddle compared to the real world down below us. When I compare you to the strongest warriors in the sea—pirate, Marine, or World Government—you're not a god. You're not powerful, you're not impressive, you're not even special. All you are is pathetic. And if you tried going up against the monsters down there, you'd get your sorry gold-plated ass handed to you in ten. Seconds. FLAT. Just like every other hot-headed Logia.
    (zap)
    Eneru: There is never, has never, and will never be anybody like me, you insignificant worm.
    Cross: Pff… Pffhahahahahaaaa…
    Eneru: What's so funny?
    Cross: You think… that you're so special… That you're unique… well, that idea is just so hilarious… especially because you actually think it's true…
    Allow me… to enlighten you.
    Do you think you're the only one… who lords his powers over others? Who reigns with an iron fist… and who strikes down all who speak against him?
    (zap)
    N-no… there are hundreds who do that, every. Single. Day. And they do it better than you… or worse, as it were…
    Do you think that you're the only one… who takes pleasure in the suffering of others? Who throws their head back and laughs at the agonized screams they cause… as if it were all some great joke?
    (zap)
    Like… hell… There are thousands… who torture and cause harm… and who enjoy it… and most… don't even know that they like it…
    Do you think… that you're the only one… who thinks they're invincible? Who thinks so highly of themselves… that they think they're unbeatable… untouchable… so far above everyone else that they're just ants?
    (zap)
    That's… hilarious… but no. There are… more people like that… in the world… than I can count… There are so many… just so many…
    Men like you… you always think you're one-of-a-kind… But that's not true. You're one-of-a-million. Perfectly uniform… So many of you that you're choking the world, one evil act at a time… If you want unique… then you need to look at the other end of the spectrum.
    (zap)
    Grgh! You need to get a new schtick, jackass, because that's starting to just tickle.
    Eneru:And who would you claim to be unique, hm? You?
    Cross: PFHA! As if! No, no, I'm worse than unique… I'm normal. I'm no more unique than you. How's that for a kick—! (gets kicked) AGH!
    I'm as normal as it comes… Inside and out, just your everyday guy. People like me… people who can't stand bullies… people who won't let anyone push them around no matter what… People… who won't let bastards like you get away with shit like this… who won't hold their tongues, over shit like this… even if it means they get the crap kicked out of them… even if it could kill them… There's less of us than you, sure… but I'm not unique. I'm the norm.
    Eneru: Then who? If not you or I, then who do you deem to be unique?
    Cross: There's a little-known saying on the Blue Seas, passed down from generation to generation for centuries: 'D. will bring forth a storm.' The D.s bring change, they bring upheaval and renewal… and above all, they are the enemy of the gods, whether they know it or not. And of the D.s alive in this current generation? I'd have to say that Monkey D. Luffy is the best example there is.
    Eneru: The ignoramus you so foolishly follow? I will grant you that he is unique in one sense, and that his strength is above norm, but that is all.
    Cross: Strong enough to kick your ass… (gets kicked) HURF!
    Heh… keep on hitting me if you want, but there are two things that are going to happen no matter what you do: you're going to fight my captain. And you're going to lose.
    (Eneru kicks Cross away)
    Eneru: Beaten, shocked, and faced directly with my power, and still you defy me. I must admit that you've earned a bit of my respect, if only for your stubbornness; nobody before you has ever shown such nerve. For that, I grant you one final chance. Repent now… or perish.
    (Cross struggles up to him and spits in his face)
    I see. Then you will not repent?
    Cross: Burn in hell.
    Eneru: Very well then.
    (Eneru knocks Cross down)
    Die.
    One million. Five million. Ten million. Twenty million. Fifty million. One Hundred Million.
    One Hundred Million Volt VARI.
  • And it's telling how much his body has developed when he lives through it, albeit thanks to Conis discreetly grabbing him to siphon off some of the voltage.
  • When Eneru attempts to finish him off, Conis saves his life. And then Vivi, in all her fury, stands up to Eneru and essentially orders him to leave. The best part? HE DOES.
  • Cross's defiance also convinces T-Bone to join MI3, declaring how ashamed he was that he claimed to stand for justice, yet a pirate showed more strength and steadfastness of character than him.
• According to Kureha, Chopper has surpassed her as a doctor.
• Cross and Soundbite using the SBS to project the Most Wonderful Sound of the Golden Bell all around the world. This time, Cricket wasn't the only one to learn the truth; Noland's memory was vindicated to the entire world.
• Robin managed to break Eneru's limbs and neck during her and Wiper's fight against him. Unfortunately, Enel's lightning can do more than just restart his heart; it can puppet his nerves and limbs too.
• Cross hanging up on Doflamingo multiple times when he tries to call into the SBS.
• The reveal that Soundbite's Devil Fruit enables him to hear the Voice of All Things.
• Nami's Money Fetish and Greed being Out-Gambitted by both Vivi and Zoro: the former uses her negotiating skills to leave her with only 50% of the gold ^note Vivi requested "double five squared percent"; Nami agreed before she could realize that (2*(5^2))% = (2*25)% = 50%, and the latter Zorro Marks the gold, claiming it for his own before anyone else officially could, and gifts it all to Nami, paying off his debt.
• After the Sky Island saga ends, Conis ends up joining the crew as their gunner.
  • It's revealed shortly afterward that her mother left to sail on a ship 22 years previously. Said ship was the predecessor of the Oro Jackson^note as in the original ship of the previous pirate king, Gol D Roger.
• Nami's expertise with weather leading her to become an Instant Expert with Ohm's Eisen Whip made up of Iron Clouds.

G- 8

• Vice Admiral Jonathan is smart enough to con Akainu of all people into becoming his mentor and use the man's reputation to bolster his own, despite not being completely loyal to Akainu's ideals.
  • Cross Blackmails Jonathan with that knowledge to make sure that he doesn't rat out MI4, though he doubts the necessity of doing so with how decent of a Marine the man is.
• Cross manages to talk Vice Admiral Jonathan into playing a game of winner take all hide-and-seek throughout the entire island, in order for Jonathan to stress-test the base and find all its weak points, in exchange for him not totally annihilating the crew with his Haki. Jonathan would soon come to regret that decision.
  • Especially the sheer amount of chaos during the end-game: gummed-up cannons, tryptophan + laxative-laced food, sabotaged toilet plumbing, sharks in the lockers, a lightning storm in the gatehouse, and a whole heap of other trouble that leaves the normally straight-laced Jonathan at the dregs of his patience.
• The scene where Cross's talking allows Luffy and Sanji to escape from Jonathan's office while the Vice Admiral is left to the tender mercies of his angry wife is as awesome as it is funny.
• Jonathan, due to being friends with Bell-Mere in the past, easily sees through Nami's disguise as her mother figure.
• How Inspector Shepherd is easily beaten. He is quickly restrained and has a sign attached to him that tells everyone the truth about him. The Marines under Jonathan keep him tied up once they realize the accuracy of the sign.
  • Considering Shepherd in the canon arc was being so incompetent he unwittingly kept helping the Straw Hats, this means the Straw Hats had a harder time dealing with just Jonathan. They still did it thanks to Cross and his planning.
• When Cross needs someone in the brig to test the base's security, Vivi kindly lets the Marines take her into custody... but not before she Groin Attacks Lieutenant Commander Drake for insinuating Cross had something to do with Baroque Works.
• Jonathan shows how good a Chessmaster he is by getting creative with the Trust Password, knowing Cross and Soundbite were listening. It was fake from the very beginning, therefore anyone actually using it has to be a Straw Hat.
• How the Straw Hats finally escape from the base in the end: smashing the sluice gates open with Gear 2.5 (prototype Gear Third), and letting the flood carry the Merry out while the pursuing ships are stuck in Navarone's Fangs.
  • And Luffy finishing it off with the following line (while unfortunately stuck in his Chibi form) while Soundbite plays "He's a Pirate" in the background:
    Luffy: Marines of G-8! You will always remember this day as the day you almost caught Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates!
• In fact, the whole arc is a CMOA for Cross: it was his first real test as the crew's tactician, against an equally skilled Chessmaster, and his entire plan worked out with barely a hitch.
• Even more awesome? All of this chaos actually helped Navarone in the long run. Despite all of the above chaos, the Marines of G-8 still came within a hair's breadth of capturing the Straw Hats. HQ might have been planning to shut G-8 down before, but they changed their minds after an accomplishment like that.

Water 7 Saga

Davy Back Fight

• A small bit of awesome is seeing how Cross is now (almost) able to carry Lassoo, showing how all his training is paying off.
• Watching Cross anticipate Foxy's plan to shoot Shelly and goad Luffy into a fight and cut off at the knees is very satisfying indeed.
  • And even though Luffy ends up accepting the Davy Back Fight anyway, it's a moment of The Hero standing up for what he believes in, given that he knows that the Davy Back Fight will end in a Captain's Duel, and he intends to beat the hell out of Foxy for playing dirty and pretending to be a pirate.
• Before the Davy Back Fight, the SBS gets their most interesting and awe-inspiring caller yet: Edward "How-the-heck-is-he-not-a-D." Newgate, a.k.a. Whitebeard.
  • Luffy manages to impress Whitebeard enough that the latter tells Luffy, he awaits him in the New World.
• Cross playing Rules Lawyer when after they lose the first round of the Davy Back Fight, Foxy chooses him to become a member of the crew, intending to get Soundbite and Lassoo in the bargain. Cross declares that Soundbite and Lassoo are his partners, not his pets, and if Foxy wants them, he'll have to choose them instead of getting a three-for-one deal.
  • And Cross being totally nonchalant about his tenure as a Foxy Pirate, fully confident in his crew's capability of getting him back.
• After one of their own is lost to the first round of the Davy Back Fight, Boss simply says that with him, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy as their remaining players, one loss will just make their inevitable victory all the sweeter. And that's not a Man's Romance, it's a goddamn fact.
  • Cue a Loud Gulp from the ENTIRE Foxy Pirate Crew.
• The Straw Hats manage to out-cheat the Foxy pirates, especially during the second round where they beat the hell out of the Groggy Monsters under the cover of a fog Chopper created—oh, sorry, I mean a mysterious pink fog appeared out of nowhere and something attacked the Groggy Monsters while Sanji, Zoro, and Boss went hunting down some steak...raw, like badasses. Soundbite says it all:
  Soundbite: Did you really think we would TAKE THIS SHIT LYING DOWN? THEY WANT TO PLAY DIRTY, that's their problem. BUT WHEN THEY TAKE ONE OF OURS... we fight BLOODY.
• Luffy is such a Determinator during his fight with Foxy that Franky, who's listening in on the broadcast, cheers him on.
  • Hell, Lucci, Jabra, and Crocodile are rooting for him, the former two wanting to fight Luffy themselves, (Lucci even outright saying it'd be the fight of his life), and Crocodile seeing it as vindication that the pirate who beat him wasn't some punk who got lucky. On the other hand, Spandam is terrified of him, because he knows they may come for him sooner or later.
• The entire final 10-count of the Captain's Match, where people all over the world ^Who? 10. Lucci; 9. Jabra; 8. Hachi and the Takoyaki 8 customers; 7. Ryuboshi, Manboshi, and Shirahoshi; 6. Crocodile; 5. Mr. 5 and the Barto Club; 4. The Usopp Pirates and Merry; 3. Garp, Coby, and Helmeppo; 2. Ace, Squard, and Whitey Bay; 1. Dragon join Cross in counting down the Slow-Slow effect wearing off and Foxy being sent flying.
• In Chapter 35, Cross gives an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Aokiji after the latter tries to use Ohara to break Robin, using points like Aokiji being too lazy to find out why the World Government wants to kill an eight-year-old girl, and finishing by saying that Jaguar D. Saul would be disgusted with him. That does succeed in breaking the admiral, but the results are not pleasant for Cross at all.

Water 7

• The SBS has made the Straw Hats so famous that Kokoro asks for their autographs.
• Cross's efforts through the SBS (though he has no idea of it) even manage to get the Boa sisters to spare Marguerite when she partially deduces their secret.
• Jimbei making sure that Fishman Island is fully open to the SBS and Cross's words of tolerance and peace, no matter what Hody Jones and his men have to say on the subject.
  • It's easily overlooked, but the fact that Cross, a human, is speaking about stopping the cycle of hatred between fishmen and humans is awesome in a quiet way. The best thing is that his message does reach the next generation, encouraging them to move beyond their ancestors' grudge, and we can see it with that young fishgirl who plainly says that hating humans 'just because' is stupid. In front of Jimbei, who's moved to tears.
• The Yagara Bulls in "The Union" work together to get Cross to Franky's house as fast as possible while being chased by the Unluckies, including Cross jumping off bridges and waterfalls to get to his next ride.
  • And when the fight makes it all the way to the Franky Family house, both Mr. 13 and Miss Friday end up shooting Franky in the chest. Needless to say, the Cyborg is not pleased when he gets back up.
• Negotiations between the Straw Hats and Franky begin by Franky offering cola to Vivi... and Vivi promptly draining the entire 2L bottle in one gulp. Without belching.
  • But when even Vivi's negotiating skills start to falter in the face of Franky's stubbornness during price-negotiation, fearing the Wrath of Nami, Boss steps up... and negotiates with Franky through a Pec Flexing duel. One Piece awesomeness at its finest, folks.
• A little Offscreen Moment of Awesome, but through MI5's court-martialing of Shepherd, Captain Nezumi's corruption comes to light, thus earning vindication for Nami's mother and Jonathan's comrade-in-arms.
• Cross getting Kaku and Kalifa to break cover by talking, by convincing the present Iceburg and Franky of Robin's motives to never resurrect Pluton, making the blueprints they've protected nothing but a burden to be destroyed, which results in Franky revealing them to do so. And without ever saying a direct word to the agents to boot.
• Nami effortlessly blocks a kick from Kalifa meant for Cross.
  • When Kalifa starts to boast about the power of the Rokushiki, Nami simply zaps her and gives a Bond One-Liner.
• When Robin finally submits to CP9, she makes it deathly clear that if the Straw Hats are pursued after this, they'll never take her in alive - one way or another.

Enies Lobby

Warning: The following is a list of what is considered the greatest Saga so far in One Piece on par with the Summit War. If you are pregnant, experience any form of pain or drowsiness it’s not recommended that you read this folder, as it may or may not produce hallucinations, cause rashes or cause the reader to declare that they want to be "King of Pirates".

Viewer discretion is advised.

• Every second of Chapter 38. But why not have some highlights?
  • Conis starts us off by kicking the train car door off its hinges, gunning down no fewer than twelve government agents before they can react to her presence, crushing another when he tries to get the drop on her, and then shooting down six more. All this before taking down Jerry offscreen.
  • Su gets a minor one by scampering all over Conis to reload her weapons while the agents are recovering, allowing Conis to be ready for more without taking her attention off her enemies.
  • Cross also gets a minor one when he tricks Usopp, in his Sniper King persona, into claiming Usopp ran away... in front of Luffy, who doesn't believe for a second Usopp would abandon them, especially not during a mission to save Robin.
  • Iceburg hands some cash over to Paulie, telling him to give it to Rob Lucci as severance pay. He knows how dangerous Lucci is, but has no hesitation in firing him for his treachery.
  • Boss gets thrown off the Sea Train, but uses his rope-dart to latch onto the train, and pulls himself back on...knocking Nero off into the sea.
  • Just like in canon, Luffy and Zoro opening a tunnel through Aqua Laguna, but this time Cross has a front-row seat.
  • Conis kicks the next train car door off its hinges as forceful as last time, but this time, T-Bone demonstrates his skills with the Clean Cut by cutting the projectile into uniform planks which all land in a neat stack at the back of the car. Franky and Conis are rightfully concerned.
  • The Straw Hats hit a slight snag when their ally, T-Bone, decides that if they're not strong enough to survive Enies Lobby, then he'll stop them before they get there to keep them alive, and demands a trial of strength by way of a sword duel. Before Zoro can fight him, however, Leo steps up, wanting to affirm his worth as a Straw Hat Pirate by going One-on-One with T-Bone...and WINS about as easily as Zoro did!
    Leo: Two-Sword Style. Cross of the Baptist.
    • To say nothing of the whole train car chanting "Go, Leo, Go!", which grows from one person to the whole group.
  • Su, when the attempt to convince Robin to come back fails, swipes Cross's stolen transceiver out from under CP9's noses in the ensuing scuffle.
  • Cross's convoluted plan to turn Kashi and Oimo against the Marines at Enies Lobby.^note Namely, getting Hina's number from Tashigi, Bartolomeo's from Hina, Mr. 3's (which now belongs to Dorry and Broggy) from Miss Valentine, then calling Dorry and Broggy while chatting with Kashi and Oimo, their former subordinates who were told by the Marines that Dorry and Broggy were in Impel Down.
    • The results are predictably awesome: Dorry and Broggy declare the Giant Warrior Pirates allies of the Straw Hats, which in short order leads to the giants smashing the Enies Lobby gates to pieces and then treating the island and troops similarly. Broadcasted Live.
  • Cross's declaration of war on the SBS, letting the whole world know that not even the World Government itself can threaten a Straw Hat Pirate and get away with it.
  Cross: Now, mind you, I'm not going to give an ultimatum. We are... Oh, we are so far past that. This is a statement of pure fact. An... An example, if you will. We're going to take a leaf out of the pages of the big black book of piracy! Only... It's not the edition you were hoping for. We're tearing this straight out of the Four Emperors' personal playbook: you touch one of ours? We fuck you up. This goes beyond a mere rescue mission, this... this is nothing short of a crusade. We are going to pummel the men stationed here. We are going to take back our archaeologist. And besides making the World Government look like the idiots they are in the process? We are going to burn this fucking island TO THE GODDAMN BEDROCK AND CAST IT INTO THE FUCKING ABYSS IT'S HANGING OVER, SENDING IT RIGHT BACK TO WHERE IT FUCKING BELONGS! WHO'S WITH ME!?
• Chapter 39: The Straw Hats attack on Enies Lobby gets basically every future Supernova and ally they have attacking the Marines. Some as part of a pissing match to see who can create the biggest mess for the World Government and some to help the Straw Hats by drawing Marine attention away from them.
  • Cavendish ends up attacking a tribute ship headed for Big Mom... right as she began craving for what he stole. And, for extra kicks, leads her straight to Kaido's territory. Cue rampage that forcibly ties up all the available Warlords sans Moria.
  • Shanks goes on a rampage to tie up all the Marines in the New World.
  • The Barto Club attacks a Celestial Dragon's yacht, then calls the World Government to taunt them, with the express intent of bringing an Admiral down on their heads. The result is Admiral Akainu going after them on the orders of the Five Elder Stars themselves.
    • Credit to the Elders when they can exert Conqueror's Haki through a Transponder Snail.
    • But Bartolomeo gets even more as, even though he's a rookie and he's terrified out of his wits, he doesn't back down. Heck, getting a blast of Conqueror's Haki barely makes him flinch. And this is as a rookie.
  • Capone Bege hits the in-universe equivalent of Fort Knox and steals a full quarter of the Marines' liquid assets.
  • Jewelry Bonney and Trafalgar Law team up to assault a Marine base, and then call Sengoku to taunt him over it.
  • Both X Drake and Basil Hawkins somehow managed to piss off Moria, eliciting a wild goose chase all across the Florian Triangle, and distracting the last available Warlord.
  • Eustass Kid (and Killer) attack Blackarm Island (implied to be where Z from One Piece Film: Z trains his recruits).
  • Scratchman Apoo and the Dugong Pirates attack Task Force Cerberus.
  • And finally, Urouge did something at Kyuka Island that left the assembled Marine officers discussing these incidents shivering.
• Foxy has an extensive information network that allows him to spy directly into the Marine's files, including those about their task forces.
  Apoo: Remind me, what the hell is your bounty again?!
• After Jabra taunts Luffy to get the best fight possible, the rubber man proceeds to utterly Curb Stomp him.
  • Credit to Luffy, as he scares Jabra even more than the one time he saw the Hero of the Marines, Garp the Fist, in a temper. That even scared Lucci, and is the reason why Lucci never disobeys orders and tries to keep the collateral damage low.
• After hearing what happened at Ohara via the SBS broadcast, Tsuru gives Sengoku an epic What the Hell, Hero? rant over letting Akainu/Sakazuki get away with murdering all the civilians on Ohara on the chance of an archaeologist hiding among them. Sengoku fires back with a furious rant about the Necessarily Evil parts that come with his position, which fails to impress or convince Tsuru in the least.
  • When they hear the story of Ohara, every giant in the Marines either mutinies or gets tied up trying to put said mutiny down. Not only are they furious that they've spent twenty years hunting down Jaguar D. Saul's ward (Saul was immensely popular among the giants), but at Marineford, Vice Admiral John Giant was foolish enough to say that Saul deserved to die.
    • And Aokiji is re-tasked with suppressing the mutiny. Given what he did to Saul, Tsuru can very clearly see the Irony^note which unfortunately takes a tragic turn when it's revealed in canon that Aokiji didn't kill him.
• Cross, Nami, Chopper, and Soundbite take on a hundred Marines by themselves. They not only win easily, they turn it into a Mook Horror Show.
• Instead of ordering Usopp to burn the World Government's flag, Luffy gives a slightly different order.
  Luffy: Everyone. Shoot down that flag.
  • ROCK BOTTOM BLAZE OF GLORY!. The Straw Hats (sans Luffy and Vivi) do not destroy the World Government's flag. They vaporize it.
  • Now with fanart that looks straight out of the official manga!
  • And best of all, just hearing about the feat gives Sengoku a heart attack!
  • And, last but most certainly not least, the final push to make Robin scream that she wants to live comes from Soundbite fielding a very special call: Jaguar D. Saul^note Who in recent chapters of the manga was revealed to be alive and not dead. The CrossBrain re-edited the scene shortly after.
• Chapter 40:
  • Boss manages to learn and master the Six Powers, including the Six King Gun, in a matter of minutes, creating his new Full-Shell Style.
    • He discourages Blueno earlier with a nonchalant Badass Boast:
      I spar with the top three members of our crew on a regular basis. Try me.
    • The more Fukuro punches him, the more he unwillingly gets a power reading from Boss... and he can't believe it when Boss's readings are edging on Lucci's (though that's only when he's preparing the Six King Gun.
    • And when Boss wins his bout, he punches the Tower of Justice as a sign of strength, leaving a crack in it that goes halfway up!
  • Soundbite Awakens his Devil Fruit. He's now able to use his powers without using his mouth, and he has access to the official One Piece anime records, the latter of which he had no knowledge about before.
    • And even that pales in comparison to his last strike against Hattori and the Pre-KO One Liners that precedes it. He's the Master Of Sound now.
      Soundbite: A SOUND IS AT ITS LOUDEST...WHEN IT OCCURS IN UTTER SILENCE. [...] In the land of silence, he who has a voice is GOD! GASTRO-CANI-COMBO: BASS CANNON!
  • Sanji traps himself in Blueno's pocket dimension to keep him from using it. Then he goes on to kick Blueno's ass while still inside said dimension, by doing something that Blueno until then thought impossible: influence the real world from inside the door dimension.
  • Carue figures out Shave to dodge an attack by Lucci, that would've otherwise left him and Vivi one head shorter.
  • Using the SBS broadcast, Cross narrates a black book, written by Spandam, on CP9's missions to the entire world.
  • Franky, inspired by Luffy and Foxy's Pummel Duel, upgrades himself mid-invasion with piston-powered fists, and executes a devastating Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs barrage on Monster Chopper.
  • Several moments from Boss's backstory:
    • Every time his own Sifu creates a new, brutal training method, Boss (then called Disciple), accepts it with hardly a wince.
    • A great moment for the TDWS comes when, after Boss decides that he can't teach them well enough and gives up, he wakes up the next morning with the pups sleeping outside his house... and an entire beach-full of KO'd Sandora Catfish.
  • It's somewhat twisted, and likely won't last long, but the fact remains: the Straw Hats managed to get Villain Respect from Doflamingo, who openly states that he doesn't care about the Era of Smiles anymore; he just wants to see the madness that will arise from the Era of the Straw Hats.
• Cross exposing Spandam's true colors after the latter activates the Buster Call, as well as Sengoku telling the bastard he’s going to get everything he has coming to him, as well as directly addressing Cross and telling him he’s coming for him.
• Chapter 41 continues in the jaw-dropping business:
  • Vivi awakens a variation of Conqueror's Haki. She orders and the Marines have no choice but to comply, she even attains Compelling Voice levels when she utterly Curb Stomps Captain Gorilla. With NOTHING BUT HER WILLPOWER.^note After the manga recently announced the Nefertari family are carriers of the Will of D., such a display as she demonstrated is not too far-off of their abilities.
    Vivi: All my life, I've known that I would one day rule. It wasn't just from my father telling me, wasn't from my friends and subjects, it was just... Something I've known, from the deepest part of my heart. Something basic, something natural. A fact, if you will. The sky is blue, water is wet, and I, Nefertari Vivi, was born to rule. And now... Now I can actually use it. I don't know how, but I'm bringing it out, and even if you refuse it with all your heart and soul, I will make you obey the divine right that I held within me since I was born. I am Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta, and you will respect my authority!
  • What provokes Vivi's moment above? Spandam showing actual competence. Namely, he would have just shot one of the greatest threats to the Government dead despite orders to the contrary and risking his own life.
    • This means Vivi's moment is even more awesome, as she saves a person she used to despise and the world's history with her. Vivi's Haki basically saved the world.
  • Credit where it's due for her opponent, Captain Sharinguru manages to successfully No-Sell her Compelling Voice through (slightly misguided) Heroic Willpower.
  Sharinguru: "THE ONLY AUTHORITY I RESPECT IS THAT OF JUSTICE!"
  • Kalifa catches Nami with her Chrome Bubble Cleanse, causing the latter to stop struggling, and Kalifa leaves, confident in victory... until Nami forces herself back from her state, fire a Vortex Tempo that nearly sends Kalifa flying away, and finishing the assassin off with a Nimbus Tempo.
  • Carue running so fast he breaks the sound barrier, and knocks out Funkfreed with one kick. It broke his legs, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.
  • Sanji kicking the crap out of Blueno. WITH TWELVE DIFFERENT MOVES.
  • Zoro pounding Kaku into the ground, breaking through his Iron Body in the process. The cherry on the top? He didn't use his full strength because he wanted to make the fight as long as possible.
    • And he says that Kaku was still the best opponent he had in a long time.
  • Cross making a Dynamic Entry BY LANDING ON SPANDAM'S FACE.
  • Zoro, Sanji and Nami throwing the key to Robin's cuffs right up to Usopp, and the sniper shooting the key right into Cross's open palm to free Robin in one smooth motion.
  • Once Robin gets freed, she instantly defeats the shieldbearers that stopped Usopp's sniping all by herself.
  • Soundbite's answer to Spandam's claim that Robin is a demon, Serenity-style: Robin is the Straw Hat Pirates' demon, so cut her the hell loose.
  • Cross describing exactly what he wants to do to Spandam for hurting his crewmates impresses Saldeath so much that the Impel Down officer laments the impossibility of recruiting him, estimating Cross would rise to executive-grade in a year. Sadi retorts that he grossly miscalculated: Cross would manage it in six months.
    • But the key words are "what he wants to do." Cross has something much better in mind for Spandam... he lets Robin and Franky have their way with him.
• Chapter 42, the conclusion to the arc. And it’s WORTHY.
  • Nami gets a great one at the very beginning of the chapter. With the controls to the Gates of Justice cut off and the Marine fleet nearly on top of them, Nami gets on her Waver, rides across whirlpool-infested waters from the Tower of Justice all the way to the controls, beats up the guards, and activates the controls to slam the Gates right in Sengoku's face. Cross and Soundbite's Jaw Drops are priceless.
    • And then it's immediately followed by Sengoku and Garp layering blows into the gargantuan Gates and actually managing to dent them.
  • Though she doesn't realize it, Nami, using one of her mirages, manages to refract Kizaru clear out of the battle and straight into the Red Line.
  • Bartolomeo manages to No-Sell Boa Hancock's Love-Love Beam because he's too dedicated to Luffy to feel anything towards her.
  • When Luffy is put down for the first time by Lucci, people all over the world, including all 8 of the original Supernova Captains, Boa Hancock, Bartolomeo, Foxy, and Dadan begin cheering for him. But this time, thanks to the SBS call-ins, Luffy hears them all.
  • GOL D. ROGER decides to pull a Jaguar D. Saul and directly addresses Luffy, encouraging him to win his fight against Lucci. THE FREAKING PIRATE KING HIMSELF is rooting for Luffy. Let that sink in.
    • Roger also warns Luffy that if Lucci manages to gain the upper hand, the assassin will come after the Straw Hat Pirates next. Cue Luffy TRASHING his opponent. With a Haki-empowered final blow no less!
  • Cross's exultation of the entire crew as they make their escape from Enies Lobby.
    Cross: For starters, we have me, my talking snail and my ballistic hound!
    The future best swordsman in the world, the ultimate ruler of all snipers and the best chef to ever come out of the North Blue!
    The wicked witch of the weather, the ingenious monster doctor and the one true heir of Alabasta and her royal guard!
    A band of badass dugongs, our angelic gunner and her pet fox and the demonic heir of Ohara!
    The very heir to Roger's throne!
    And finally, to round out our numbers, our most crucial and beloved comrade of all... WE HAVE THE MOST BADASS CARAVEL THE GRAND LINE HAS EVER SEEN!
  • When Tamago hears that the Merry is alive, he mentions that Big Mom might be interested in it. His partner Pekoms responds that he wants no part of that, reasoning that if the Straw Hats were able to attack one the three major bases of the World Government with a mere 60-70 people and come out with everyone alive, he wouldn't put it past them to do the same to Totland, despite Big Mom being one of the Four Emperors themselves. Tamago concedes the point. What truly makes it awesome is that the Straw Hats are considered a threat by the Big Mom Pirates pre-timeskip.
  • Cross and Soundbite throwing the entirety of the Buster Call ships into complete, utter, "shooting-at-each-other" chaos through a giant morass of false instructions.
  • Nami's latest attack, which she uses to fry ten battleships at once.
    Nami: Divine Tempo - Jupiter's Fury.
  • Right when the crew is almost home free, Vice Admiral Momonga and his battleship steps in as their last obstacle. Zoro steps up to the plate... and with an Asura-powered Imperial Lion's Anthem, sends him flying, chips his sword, and cuts the battleship, the sea, and the sky behind him.
    • That said, Momonga survived because he only used Haki at the last moment (and underestimated Zoro at first), and Zoro was trying to cut only the battleship.
  • The Invasion of Enies Lobby is officially dubbed THE DARKEST DAY IN THE WORLD GOVERNMENT'S HISTORY. And the crowner is eight percent of the islands under the WG's control deciding to go Revolutionary and attacking all the Marine bases and outposts they can find. And a further twelve percent in the middle of a revolution and/or coup.
  • A disgruntled World Noble decides to sate his fury by attacking a young woman who dared to listen the SBS. Cue lynch mob. And it’s CATHARTIC. And one of his personal bodyguards? He’s the leader of the mob.
  • Aokiji disagrees with Sengoku when the latter decides to pursue the Straw Hats, and points that invading Water 7 would only reinforce the idea that the World Government are tyrants by destroying a nominally allied island and would make the Straw Hats martyrs. And he lives!
    • Sengoku decides to publish Spandam's punishment in excruciating detail, saying that even Cross will not deny that it’s Justice.
  • Cross manages to Screw Destiny by finding a way for Merry to live and stay with the Straw Hat Pirates: making her eat a Devil Fruit in hopes that it's a Zoan so that she can heal as a living being. The fruit turns out to be the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Child, transforming her into a little girl. In short, it works.
    • Props to Iceburg, Franky, and Galley-La for managing to fix up Merry for a short time. In five minutes. In the middle of the ocean. The Grand Line, no less.

Post-Enies Lobby

• Iceburg's decision to deny the World Government and its affiliates contracts. All of Water 7 will go along with it, and anyone who wants a ship from the best shipwrights in the world (a necessity for the Grand Line) will have to stop associating with the World Government. And no, the World Government can't force them.
• As Merry likes to eat cloth, Sanji has to find a way to make canvas, rope, and pitch into a gourmet meal. He succeeds so well that Cross finds the result appetizing.
• Remember Boss's teacher and idol, Sifu Dugong? Garp regularly spars with him.
• A terrified Luffy still stands up to Garp when the Vice Admiral threatens Merry and Cross. Even if his gramps is the one person he fears more than everything, he won't let him touch his crew.
  Luffy: You can hit me all you want... but I won't forgive anyone who hurts my friends.
• How does Cross get his bounty photo on his own terms? Start the SBS in the middle of the victory party and get "Flaming" Attachan to take the picture at the moment of triumph.
• When Cross sees his first bounty, he and everyone else stare in shock. While Robin assures him he only made the Top 20 of the most wanted people in the world, the only ones she can name with higher bounties are Dragon and the Four Emperors.
  • And for a bit more clarity, she says that Cross's bounty bumped Jack down a spot. Jack "the Drought", one of Kaido's three right-hand-men, a bounty of ฿1 billion, and Cross now has a higher bounty than him.
  • With the reveal of the bounties of the Four Emperors, the Cross-Brain went back and edited in Cross's bounty value. It's 1.5 Billion. Cross in one day earned a bounty that equals Luffy's when he was declared the fifth Emperor in canon.
• Sengoku gets one when Tsuru describes what happened at Marine HQ after Enies Lobby: When Admiral Akainu announces to the Fleet Admiral his intent to personally sail to Water 7 and exterminate the Straw Hats (and likely everyone else on the island due to them cutting ties with the World Government), Sengoku finally shuts him up and explains, in no uncertain terms, that the Admiral's power is the ONLY reason he hasn't been forcibly discharged and tossed into Impel Down to rot, and then tells him that he's been permanently reassigned to the New World (along with Onigumo) to wage war against the Four Emperors, effectively removing him as a potential threat to the crew (pre-Timeskip, anyway).
  • And then Garp shows up to remind Akainu why he should stay the hell away from his grandson.
• After the Straw Hats escape Garp, Vice Admiral Dalmation suggests trying to take/blockade Water 7, only for a massive fleet ranging from ships larger than Marine battleships to rowboats with cannons to sail out of Water 7 and warn them to leave immediately.
  • One of the ships is described as "a tin can on a smoking raft, gleaming in the sunlight and two wide muzzles poking out." In a world of wooden sailing ships, Water 7 has steam-powered ironclads.^note  An Expy of the USS Monitor to be precise.
• Iceburg's plans for the Giant Warrior Pirates' new ship. It’ll be the island of Water 7, converted into a ship. While this would normally be impossible to complete within Iceburg's lifespan, he reveals that with the giants' help, the construction time will be massively reduced.
• Blackbeard demonstrates willpower worthy of any D. He keeps the frozen bodies of Ace, his allies, and the Blackbeard Pirates safe in his Darkness after Aokiji interrupted their fight with an island-wide Ice Age. The nature of the Dark-Dark Fruit made it so that Teach was being frozen inside and out and yet held his composure, forcing Aokiji to connect him to the Five Elder Stars and get his Warlord status by offering Ace. As Teach spells it out after the fact, he’s willing and able to suffer and endure any pain to achieve his dream.

Thriller Bark Saga

Lovely Land

• After remembering it relies upon respect for the wielder, Cross manages to No-Sell Vivi's Compelling Voice by focusing on everything about her he doesn't respect.
• When Don Accino refers to him as a mere duck, Carue slaps the cigar out of his mouth and tells him that he takes his bodyguarding duties very seriously.
• A little cathartic moment when Lil Accino and Buratto Hiruno stand up for themselves and decide to do what they want: not going through with the wedding.
• A moment for Vivi: successfully convincing Don Accino to consider becoming one of Alabasta's Royal Guardians, thus returning the Hot-Hot Fruit's power, the Rage of Alabasta, back to where it belongs.

Thriller Bark

• The Thousand Sunny's weapon upgrade: Leo Fangs, bow-mounted Axe Dials that can chop even a giant iceberg clean in two.
• The Straw Hats fighting the Florian Triangle's wrongness by singing Binks' Brew and partying, which manages to inject life back in the mist and turning it yellow.
  • It's also implied that the song brought the dead pirates' spirits back for one last dance, as many undertakers report having seen them and Cross swears he heard them singing along with his crew.
• Listening to the SBS makes X. Drake furious because no matter how many time he repeats to himself that the Straw Hats are mere pirates, he cannot help but respect them.
• Cross calmly recapitulates all the crazy things the Straw Hats did to help a friend or a crewmate to make Brook understand how much Moria is in for a really bad time.
• Thanks to the SBS, Soundbite revealing the truth about what happened to the Rumbar Pirates and the aforementioned party, Brook ends up officially joining the crew before they even land on Thriller Bark.
• Cross gets to dance the Thriller with actual zombies. Enough said.
• Vivi, Nami, Merry and Carue vs. Absalom: Vivi and Nami manage to trick him into the Sunny's bathroom by using a mirage, then flood the room with water.
  • Props to Absalom, he frees himself and then takes their combined assault as if it was nothing, even managing to No-Sell a Merry Punch to the coconuts, Vivi's Sovereign Will, and a shattered Thunder Dial to the chest. That last one almost finishes him off, but he's ultimately still in fighting shape while the Straw Hats are not, so Sanji has to come and save the day.
• Cross gets invited to dinner by Hogback. He cheerfully agrees, then starts building the doctor up until he gains the opportunity to interview Hogback live... and then he starts winding Hogback up to make him spill his medical malpractices to the entire world.
• As Perona constitutes the biggest threat to the crew - you cannot touch her but she can watch you, hear you and hurt you - Cross cooks a scheme to incapacitate her: sending Brook as a distraction by forcing her to concentrate on the skeleton, then letting her hear Hogback's confession which lures her to the doctor's location, then freaking her out by making her know Chopper is in her bedroom with her vulnerable body. She immediately retreats back into her flesh, just in time for Chopper to sedate her good.
• To prevent the Warlord from taking an active role in the conflict, the TDWS intercept Moria's wake-up call and drug him to keep him in dreamland for the duration.
  • Special mention to Mikey for pulling an Arrow Catch on said wake-up call, millimeters from Moria's snot-bubble, while Tidal Swimming in mid-air.
• The end of the conversation with Hogback has Cross reveal that it's not a coincidence that both the Straw Hats and Brook (Thriller Bark's own boogeyman) arrived at the same time. That, combined with the knowledge that the Straw Hats have taken out all three of Thriller Bark's most powerful fighters proves too much for Hogback and he passes out foaming at the mouth. All without Cross so much as touching him.
• Luffy leading an entire army to storm Thriller Bark.
• A grand moment for Su: going off solo-killing zombies, she ends up encountering the spider-monkey zombie Tararan and his spider-mouse entourage all by her lonesome. She ends up salting all of them.
• As zombie Ryuma was so powerful he kept destroying his surroundings, they weighed him down by stuffing a load of melted lead into his body. When Zoro gives him the opportunity to truly let loose, he drops the weight and manages to cut clean through the whole Florian Triangle's fog, revealing for a brief moment, the night sky.
  • And it says something that the narration for his fight overlays every one of Ryuma's movements with that of a coiling dragon, as if the samurai was both man and mythical beast in one.
  • For his part, Zoro isn't hindered by only having two swords to use this time: Funkfreed asks to become his third blade for the fight!
  • The ending of the fight is a Single-Stroke Battle for the ages: Ryuma's Dragon/Heaven/GOD Slayer against Zoro's Asura: Varuna stance.
  • After being defeated, Ryuma gracefully apologizes to Brook then commits seppuku under the moonlight.
  Ryuma: Hear my last request. When you reach the shores of Wano, and they see your black blade, tell them this! Both times... I, RYUMA OF WANO, LIVED A GOOD LIFE!
• When she sees Oars, a flabbergasted Robin asked if Moria really intended to fight Kaido with it. Cross corrects her in that Moria needed Oars to fight Kaido.
• Point to Lola, when she gets into a Blade Lock with her warthog zombie.
  • The following chapter, Lola stops her zombie cold using Armament Haki.
• Leo versus Long John is a pretty epic battle as Long John shows exactly why he was a feared pirate captain in life, performing feats above and beyond what his zombie showed in canon.
  • At the end of it, Leo finally figures out how to do a ranged sword attack, though pulling it off shatters his blades.
• Mikey versus Hildon and all his backup. Not only does he figure out the secret to Paper Arts mid-fight, but he manages to deflect machine-gun fire using his nunchuks. It ends with Mikey using Hildon as a Body Sled through one of the mansion's walls and slamming the bat-zombie face-first into the floor.
• Gastro-Blast: Stereo Edition. A teeny-bitty snail outright shatters an honest-to-God Titan's whole spine.
• During his fight with Fire Zombie Bill, Donny manages an Iron Body so sturdy that his opponent loses an arm.
• Chopper combines his medical genius with some samples Hogback had lying around to create a Cyborg Zombie T-rex that breathes fire.
• As nightmarish as it is, Moria Awakens his Devil Fruit when he sees the aftermath of the Strawhats' rampage.
• The entire Straw Hat fight with Awakened!Moria is just one awesome moment after another:
  • Soundbite managing to trick a maddened Moria into letting his guard down, before the standing crew UNLOADS on him with everything they have.
  • Soundbite + Funkfreed = Vibroweapon that practically mows down the Draugr horde.
  • When Oars finally makes his appearance, the crew takes advantage of their earlier sabotage to his body, and pull a dodge-heavy Colossus Climb to force the giant to literally smash himself to pieces.
    • Soundbite's Gastro-Nation, which starts by muting the desired area of effect to amplify all other sounds, then using a more refined form of Gastro-Phony to cause nausea, and finally making the skull and brain vibrate in a My Skull Runneth Over-effect. It was strong enough to shatter and melt not only the Draugr horde but also Jotun!Oars as well.
  • Even if you know that Moria is a New World veteran, it’s still shocking, shocking just how much abuse he takes, physically, mentally, and emotionally, yet still keeps raging on to crush the Straw Hats to paste.
  • As it typically goes with Luffy, he makes a nice "The Reason You Suck" Speech against what he has seen Moria do, and he uses it with maximum impact, to the point where it gives Nidhogg!Moria pause.
    Luffy: Pirates sail the seas for a reason! They sail for freedom! They sail for their dreams! I've run into a lot of people who called themselves pirates until now, but they had some kind of reason that kept them going, even if it was something stupid like money or power! You can't eat money, you can't eat power, and they don't help you get friends! BUT YOU! You don't care about any of that! All you want is the throne, and for what!? For revenge?! Because you lost your friends?! You don't even remember them! You're just sailing because of your pain! Because you don't know what else to do! And you're making everyone else hurt too, just because! You're not a pirate! You're not even a person! You're a shadow! A ghost! YOU DIED WITH YOUR CREW!
  • Then Luffy finishes him with essentially the Gear Third version of Gum Gum Storm with an impact so powerful that it cracks open Thriller Bark!
• Let's face it: the start of Chapter 52 is an awesome, if petrifying one for Nami. Thanks to her Eisen Cloud diminishing the damage from Kuma's Ursus Shock, she hears the deal Zoro and Sanji want to make for Luffy and Cross's heads, and decides to knock out Sanji to take his place, knowing his bounty is lesser. She's hardly one of their front-line fighters, she knows how fragile Cross is and how much damage his body has taken, and she still offers herself up with no hesitation. And just like Zoro, she survives - though it's hardly pretty.
• Chapter 52 continues to show how much an Adaptational Badass Lola has become.
  • With Moria defeated and gone, she decides to spite him by turning Thriller Bark, a "hell for sailors", into a "heaven for pirates" named Skelter Bite. Cross is so touched by the declaration he decides to open a spot on the New World Masons for her.
  • Thanks to Cross, everyone (Pre-Time Skip) learns she’s one of Charlotte Linlin's daughters (a secret that she was scared to reveal to anyone for fear of retribution) and eventually learns how big a bitch her mother really was by personally executing one of her defecting siblings.
  • All this comes to a head in the SBS where she personally appears and basically gives the middle finger to her family by telling them she’s in the Florian Triangle - something even the Emperors are wary about - and even dares them to come look for her. All this ends with Big Mom pulling an offscreen scream so loud it breaks the windows on Cacao Island, which is one of the outermost islands in Totland.
  • Returning the shadows Moria stole not only caused people to further question the World Government, knowing they let such a monster run rampant, but also causes numerous Marines to resign due to either them or a comrade losing their shadow to Moria.
• A very impressive one for Soundbite - how else could you manage to talk to a Genius Loci like the Florian Triangle and not only befriend it, but figure out the trick for 180-ing it from an Eldritch Location of fear and death to an Amazing Technicolor World of celebration.
• The Jormungandr division of the New World Masons - formerly CP9 - have been busy under T-Bone's direction: their current mission is to remove the other CP divisions from the equation (though by words or force is not known).
• Apoo has a spectacular idea on matching Cross's Buccaneer Broadcaster radio show - a Buccaneer Broadsheet newspaper called the Free Feather Report, thanks to Coo and 100+ other like-minded News Coos.

Strong World Saga

Little East Blue

• After what happened with Moria, Usopp and Franky have managed to refit and upgrade the Straw Hats and their weapons with sea-prism stone to give them an edge with Devil Fruit users.
• Thanks to Cross's insistence on his Devil Fruit training and Perona's slight advice, Brook has developed a rudimentary form of his Astral Projection before the time skip.
• According to Tashigi, construction on Skelter Bite has accelerated with the help of the Giant Warrior Pirates and Foxy lending manpower and resources. Lola has said with their help, Skelter Bite will be slightly opened to all pirates (in a limited way) in months rather than years.
• In order to get Perona to open up more, Cross and Robin hatch a plan that involves putting her favorite stuffed toy Bearsy in danger, Nami, and the two of them bonding. It works.
• Cross telling the vanguard of the Amigo Pirates to shove off, including half-breaking a tree in half with a punch for emphasis.
• But when the Amigo Pirates show up anyway, Cross shows us how far he's come by taking on the lot single-handedly and winning. Highlights include:
  • His Badass Boast on how lugging around a two-ton dog-cannon for several months has made him a lot stronger than before. And it shows when he pulls a Neck Lift on a guy twice his size.
  • Dueling Corto in hand-to-hand while wielding both Lassoo and Funkfreed.
  • Shrugging off a throwing knife when Largo goes for a backstab.
  • Engaging Largo after beating all his men and his brother, declaring him nothing more than an Armchair Captain, neutralizing his powers with his sea prism stone gauntlets, and finally blasting him away with an Impact Dial.
  • All of Cross's partners get their own moments to shine: Funkfreed blocking bullets in his hybrid form, Lassoo flattening the Mooks with his sheer weight, and Soundbite Gastro-Blasting Corto after the enraged pendejo runs headfirst into him.
• Luffy elaborating to Yoko about his own dream: that although he already knows that the world sees pillaging Morganeer pirates as the real ones and adventurous Peace Mains like him as the fakes, that'll just be the first thing he changes when he becomes Pirate King - stealing the whole concept of 'pirate' and redefining it so that pirates like him will be the real pirates and everyone else will be the fakes.

Strong World

• This original promo◊ for Strong World gets a makeover◊ featuring all the new members. And it is gloriously badass.
• The Zodiac of the Damned Masons announce they will help their Divine counterparts with all their available assets after hearing the attacks on East Blue islands. This takes the Divine Masons and Cross by surprise.
• Even separated, away from the Sunny, and forced to live off the land for a whole week, the Straw Hats are still hammering their way through every beastie that they come across:
  • Cross dealing with a frog-scorpion team-up: lure the two of them onto a clearing of branches up in the canopy, then use Funkfreed to cut the ground out from under them!
  • How Boss deals with a salamander that's Wreathed in Flames: Crash onto it using the pangolin he'd been fighting as a bludgeon!
    Boss: HALF-SHELL STYLE! BELUGA! PILEDRIVER!
  • Luffy, Boss and Cross's Combination Attack to beat the bear Luffy had been brawling with.
  • Su manages to defeat a giant monster squirrel offscreen all by herself, proving the first group's point on the native fauna and flora injected with Indigo's toxins infusing whoever eats any with the same energy and power.
  • Usopp scares off a monster giraffe with nothing but his lies and a Lamp Dial.
    Usopp: Super Mega Ultra Turtle Destruction Wave: Version Omega!
  • Robin tying a gigantic snake into a lasso, and then Franky and Carue using it to hogtie a wild horse that Vivi had been trying to wrangle.
• Nami shows utter defiance towards Shiki and saying it's nothing, having had to suffer Arlong's tyranny throughout her youth. This is after her reply when Shiki offers her a wish if she joins the Golden Lion Pirates.
  Nami: Kill yourself.
• The mere fact that Shiki somehow used the Snail Transceiver to broadcast the Straw Hats's fights in Merveille through Visual Transponder Snails, whereas Cross could only transmit audio broadcasts.
  • Gets even more impressive, because he had to ship out visual projector snails to essentially the whole world so he could be sure everyone was watching, and he pulled it off in under a week.
• Shanks instantly recognizes the current mystery guest on the SBS as Shiki due to observing the Snail's mouth action of holding a cigar and the guest saying he has "an impressive Devil Fruit" and "wields twin swords".
• Conis manages to force her vestigial wings to grow in size and lets her fly a few seconds to save Su and prevent them both from crashing. And then it's revealed afterward that this is a permanent power-up, so now she can fly whenever she wants by making her wings grow and then shrink them down to avoid having them in the way.^note Only marginally undercut, if that, by the implication this is a mutation triggered by the mutagen she's been consuming by eating the flesh of the local monsters.
• Billy uses his electric power to fatally shock a group of aquatic creatures that were heading towards him and Nami, and saves them both.
• Luffy, completely frustrated at yet another monster attack when he'd just found the Sunny, unleashes Conqueror's Haki to completely overwhelm them and stagger the crew members present.
  Cross: Luffy! That feeling, w-whatever you felt just now, the anger, the rage, I-I-I don't know, I don't care, y-you, you need to… you need to remember it. Hold onto it. Th-Th-That feeling. Because what you just did… That was a boot… clean through the door… of the Conqueror's throne room.
• Vivi, realizing Shiki's power as he utterly defeated the Straw Hats in his first real fight against them, finally consumes the Gust-Gust Fruit's aril and becomes the Straw Hats' first Logia.
  Cross: ...So. How did it taste?
  Vivi: Delicious.
• In the face of a combined beast-pirate army intent on wiping their home off the map, no-one, not Zeff and the Baratie, not Genzo and Nojiko, not Gambia and the citizens of Loguetown, is willing to lie down and die; sharpening swords, loading guns, if they're going down to the Golden Lions, then they're going down fighting.
• In an effort to help resist Shiki's invasion, the Kung Fu Dugong fleet crosses the Calm Belt and plants themselves in the middle of East Blue, ready to rush to wherever their needed.
• During Shiki's sake ceremony, Bartolomeo gives a toast to the East Blue and its people, knowing full well said sea is Shiki's Berserk Button, and then smashes his sake saucer at his feet. Right in front of Shiki, all of his commanders, and all of their crews.
  • And, while this is going on, Soundbite takes control of the Visual Transponder Snails' transmission so the entire world can see glimpses of the Straw Hat Pirates getting dressed, armed and ready to bring down Shiki's dream.
• The entrance of the TB!Straw Hat Pirates. Better Than Canon? Well, they certainly matched it at least.
  • No Usopp-Epic Fail this time when it comes to kicking down the door - they blow it up instead.
  • Even CP9 can appreciate the sight of every last Straw Hat coming in dressed to the nines and ready to kick ass.
  • What's Merry's firearm of choice during this whole shindig? A Gatling Cannon.
  • And then when Luffy emerges in straw hat, coat and suit, every last member of the old generation gets a good look at who could only be Gold Roger reincarnate.
    • Big Mom's reaction is especially poignant ^note Keep in mind that Roger had broken into her treasure vault, read her Road Poneglyph and beat her to Raftel - the blast of Conqueror's Haki knocks out everyone in the entire Totland Archipelago (again) save for her Sweet Commanders.
• Vivi's first use of her new powers: she Lets Her Hair Down, then blows the roof off.
• During the actual battle, Zoro along with Cross and his partners face down a grand total of 500 pirates, including 50 of the best captains in Paradise. They absolutely demolish them. Cross, the former Made of Plasticine guy who could barely handle a Mook, easily smacks around his enemies until the entire horde takes a fearful step backward.
  • Double props for his new Combination Attack with Lassoo and Funkfreed: A calibrated Breath Dial that turns Lassoo into a blowtorch, plus a Cool Dial that turns Funkfreed into an ice-sword, and what do you get?
    Cross: Pachy-Cryo. Cani-Pyro. Beast Blitz.
• As Chopper fights Indigo, he not only has already taken a counter to everything the clown throws at him, but lists every single chemical and concoction that's being used and what to do to counteract it.
  • Then, after Indigo dumps a bunch of cyanide on the both of them at the end of the fight, Chopper sets about saving Indigo's life.
• Usopp gets a moment himself when he's taking down enemies while running down a hall. One particular instance was when he did the same stance he did when he scared off a mutated giraffe with a lamp dial. One of the pirates immediately recognized the trick and called Usopp's bluff...only this time, Usopp was using a flame and flavor dial to create a flamethrower. That's right. A trick attack that Usopp came up with evolved into a genuine threat.
  • And then he turns another Fake Special Attack into a genuine threat, when he combines his Usopp Pound with an Impact Dial.
• Apis uses her Fluffy Tamer powers to make a flock of giant birds drop a galleon on a group of enemies then has Lindy attack the survivors.
• Coo retrieves Cross and Soundbite's SBS tranceiver... using a french fry.
• Boss Dugong versus Scarlet. The whole fight, really.
• When Nami joins the fray, she finishes off a giant with a boulder-sized hailstone and then summons a windstorm that obliterates half the main hall.
• Luffy may be using Billy to fight Shiki in the air, but what is his partner Bartolomeo going to use? Lindy, who by the way, is a fully, flight-capable dragon. Yes, this fic just made Bartolomeo a Dragon Rider.
• Bartolomeo proves to be an invaluable ally and partner when he and Luffy face off against Shiki, using Improvised Platforms to maneuver and even disarming Shiki of his swords. He even manages to push his abilities to the limit by creating a barrier large and strong enough to block a mountain Shiki throws at them, but breaks his arms in the process.
  Bartolomeo: Barrier...Barrier...BASTION!
• Just like in Enies Lobby, Roger channels his voice through Soundbite; only this time, it's to taunt Shiki one last time, right before his final defeat.
  Shiki: (right after Luffy's leg is struck by lightning) JI—JIHAHAHAHAAAA! DO YOU SEE, STRAW HAT!? EVEN THE GODS REJECT YOU, THEY SMITE YOU DOWN! THIS IS MY VICTORY! MY STRONG WORLD! ALL MINE TO RULE! ME, AND ME ALONE!
  Roger: (in Shiki's ear) No. Not you. Never you. (Shiki twitches) Don't you remember, Golden Lion Shiki? Remember the last time Luffy fought God?
  Shiki: (eyes widening in realization and horror) No… (Luffy begins his final attack) No—!
  Roger: Yes.
  Shiki: Nononono—!
  Roger: Yes, yes, and forever yes. The gods haven't rejected Luffy, you braggart. They. Reject. You. This is the end.
  Shiki: NOOOOOOO!
  • Cue GIANT THOR AXE, and Luffy's parting warning to Shiki.
  Luffy: SHIKI! STAY AWAY FROM MY CREW! AND STAY AWAY...FROM THE EAST BLUE!
• Perona ascends to the position of Warlord by giving Sengoku an offer in which she will keep the Strong World beasts in line and at her command and give the Marines the captured remnants of the Golden Lion Pirates' subordinate crews.

Summit War Saga

Road to Sabaody Archipelago

• Cross actually manages to talk Zoro into fighting Tashigi seriously.
  Zoro: ...damn it, why did I make the one mistake everyone makes and let you open your mouth?
• When Cross accidentally lets slip the true identity of Queen Otohime's murderer right in front of Jimbei... and realizes he holds the perfect opportunity to bring her justice sooner.
• Koala remembers how Hack was seen in a town he just helped to free three months ago... and how he was greeted in another after the SBS started preaching tolerance. It may be only one town, but it's still one step in a good direction.
• How come Megalo was around Takoyaki 8? Well, a palace guard enjoyed so much their food he talked about it to King Neptune, and the monarch was so impressed by Hachi's cooking he appointed him a royal caterer for the monthly banquet. How's that for social success?

Skelter Bite

• Offscreen Moment of Awesome for Lola. Her mother has already placed a reward for whoever can be able to kill Lola and destroy Skelter Bite. The first crew to try that were defeated soundly, banished from setting foot in Skelter Bite and had their flag taken as a warning for anyone else who would try.
• Luffy standing up for Porche when Sheepshead tries to shoot her by holding his palm in front of her to stop the bullet and once again unleashes Conqueror's Haki at the envoys.
• When the meeting between the 3 Emperor envoys and the Straw Hats turn ugly with Sheepshead's rage, Bartolomeo immediately puts up a barrier that blocks his attack (powered by Armament Haki no less), then Izo knocks him out and accidentally breaks off one of his horns in the process, and finally Lola shows up with two of the Obelisks to persuade the Big Mom & Beast Pirate crew members to leave. They do so immediately.
• Bonny's arrival in Chapter 61 shows the Great Kung Fu Fleet riding an entire division of Millennium Dragons due to ending up at Warship Island in East Blue during Strong World.
• Thanks to Funkfreed telling Law the Awful Truth behind Flevance and Cross quickly dissipating his anger upon learning it, he convinces Law to join him to get back at both the World Government and Doflamingo at the same time. Law replies not by joining Cross as a friend, but rather a partner in his goals. Thus, Law becomes the Tiger in the Zodiac of the Damned Masons.
• Cross gives a Badass Boast to the assembled Supernovas about how currently Luffy is so strong that, combined with his Determinator status, he could outmuscle all of the current physical power-based ones if they picked a fight with him. And they all reluctantly agree with that assessment.
  • Kid, one of the mentioned Supernovas likely to lose in a physical contest against Luffy, gets a moment when he points out that this means that the rest of the Supernovas, who have more esoteric powers that Luffy couldn't counter, would likely beat him in a fight. Something that Cross can't refute.
• Nami semi-successfully pickpockets Bege! (Keep in mind, this is before Bege's canonical Took a Level in Kindness, and the only reason she failed is that he doesn't carry a wallet due to his powers, and her accidentally blurting this out). Bege is not only thoroughly impressed but he actually invites her into his fortress body to challenge her to steal anything else!
  • And at the end of it all, she walks away with one measly spare beri, exactly what Bege claimed was impossible to steal from him... and Bege's respect.
• The Supernova bar brawl is chock full of awesome.
  • Cross starts it by smashing a chair over Killer's face. After Killer tries to retaliate, Cross manages to evade him fairly neatly, armed only with bottles.
  • Funkfreed, X Drake, and Urouge, the heaviest dudes, get locked into a three-way grapple.
  • While evading Killer, Cross ends up landing astride on Drake's saurian Zoan form and can't help but enjoy the moment.
  • Conis destroys a bridge, causing it to rain, to quote Soundbite, "burned men, women, and assholes".
  • Merry and Lassoo join forces to give Merry batting practice with her gun.
  • Luffy starts a fistfight with a sea king.
  • The fact that most of the brawlers are following the ground rules Lola laid down at the start.
• Thanks to Apis's Whisper-Whisper abilities, she has managed to form an armistice-type alliance between Sea Kings and pirates. Cross is thoroughly impressed at this happening.
• What is the Supernovas' plan in beating the Naval Blockade of Saboady? Set up a Dead End Race with the largest fleet of pirate ships sailing out of Skelter Bite!
• When Basil Hawkins crashes the three-way brawl between Cross, Brook and Sir Bearington by unleashing a straw dummy wielding Shichiseiken, Zoro steps up to fight it. His determination increases when the sword mentions his friend Saga. The collateral damage from this fight is so high that Nami is left speechless by the bill Lola gives her.
  • Props to Hawkins himself for managing to retrieve the sword himself and save Saga from further possession.
• The Dead End Race is nothing short on moments of awesome. Highlights include:
  • The start itself. Instead of using a strong current like those of Reverse Mountain which are used to start these Races. The Supernovas instead create their very own Knock Up Stream courtesy of the Great Kung Fu Fleet and use the resulting impact of the water crashing down to create a wave powerful and fast enough to send the ships sailing off the starting line.
  • The mere fact that an entire pirate armada featuring the most powerful crews below the Emperors face off against a combined armada of Marines and mercenary privateers on the high seas in a grand ship-to-ship battle is nothing short of breathtakingly awesome.
  • Koala delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Vice Admiral Strawberry in revenge for him killing Fisher Tiger, making Koala hate her own parents, and making her doubt her right to be free.
  • With the appearance of the abhorrent Vice-Admiral in the blockade completely removing his sense of humour, Cross gets Luffy's permission to unleash the Thousand Sunny's Gaon Cannon. The blast utterly annihilates all the privateer and Marine ships in its wake to give an opening clear to Sabaody, places the Supernovas in various states of emotions, and leaves Smoker, Hina and Komei utterly flabbergasted.
  • The Straw Hats "win" the race by unleashing a Coup de Burst that propels them out of the fight, right past the blockade and into Sabaody and leaves the rest of the Supernovas eating their dust. Cross even gloats about it on the SBS and specifically taunts Sengoku about their escape from Water 7 earlier using this.

Sabaody Revolution

• Before the arc even begins, the CrossBrain first gives the readers a preview of the Grand Finale of the pre-timeskip storyline of This Bites!. Beginning with a selection of lines of earlier chapters, a description of what is without a doubt the greatest upcoming saga of the story is shown, starting with an introduction straight from 2B's opening quote, and followed by both the titles of upcoming events and lines of future dialogue that reflect just how powerful the ending to the first half of this story will be. A piece of fan art depicting the entire story's Straw Hat crew preparing themselves for what is their biggest challenge up to now is shown at the end. However, there is one final surprise. The Stinger to the preview ends with a line of dialogue that is definitely not from the CrossBrain.
  ???: "You didn't really think you'd get away, did you? An execution was promised today, and I can't let you ever recover. Maybe a lethal injection isn't the best way to end this… but what's done is done. Say goodbye…"
  • And what is the last image the preview shows at the end of this mysterious message? A picture of darkness showing nothing but a Slasher Smile.
  • The Cross-Brain's commissioned art for the preview can be found here.
• At the Rip-off Bar, Cross finally reveals what his latest master plan is before the Straw Hats get separated prior to the timeskip: Cripple, if not destroy the slave trade of Sabaody Archipelago. No wonder Koala and Sandersonia were salivating at him back at Skelter Bite.
  • Not only does Shakuyaku wholeheartedly agrees with the idea, but she helps outline the proper outlets and people the Straw Hats should meet to prepare for the plan.
  • While explaining the plan to the other Supernovas, Cross points out that the Marines flat-out cannot interfere. That a bunch of pirates are freeing slaves is bad enough for the World Government's reputation, but if the Marines were seen trying to stop them? Literally the entire world would turn against them.
  • Even more so, the Straw Hats intend to turn piracy itself against all slavers by making pirates everywhere realize how profitable robbing them is, causing even the ones not morally opposed to slavery to start attacking slavers. Luffy, Nami, and Zoro explain that every pirate is going to want their own cut until it becomes a tradition for pirates to attack slavers.
• Libia thoroughly chews out her boss, Governor Prefectus, over all the bullshit she was forced to turn a blind eye on as his accountant and, to add insult to injury, has everyone he had in his pocket (in government positions and the police) arrested and had his governorship revoked due to his corruption and gets taken away by police officers that aren't in his pocket. A Humiliation Conga couldn't have happened to a bigger jerk.
• After whipping a crowd of civilians into a mob, Cross defangs the firing line of Marines trying to stop them by Spotting the Thread: Despite their claims, the Marines absolutely cannot fire on civilians with their reputation in tatters as it is. Cross proves it by grabbing the commander's pistol and firing it at his own temple, proving the guns are unloaded.
• Cross exposes Charloss and the Celestial Dragons and gets away with it.
• Cross' Rousing Speech to rally the people of Sabaody is truly something to behold.
• The Sabaody revolution as a whole is truly awe-inspiring.
• Everything about the "battle" in Grove 77 is non-stop moments of Awesome.
  • The mere fact that Foxy, considered one of the weakest and non-memorable characters in canon, put up a good defense of the Grove as they went up against a combined garrison of Marines and mercenaries.
  • When Cross shows up, he first rouses everyone present with the proper Music for Courage "Do You Hear The People Sing?", then he actually manages to stop the fighting with an offer to parley.
  • During the parley, Cross reveals his ploy he had planned chapters ago with Megalo: Get the Ryugu Kingdom involved with Prince Fukaboshi and the Minister of the Left claiming jurisdiction of Grove 77 itself. How? By using a seldom-used doctrine, which Vivi so smugly rubbed in their faces, and proclaim the land as part of the Kingdom and to be their embassy on the surface!
  • When the Marine commander tries one final plan in having this proclamation null and void due to the "acting government" not abiding this illegal action, in comes the acting-Governor Libia proclaiming Prefectus is no longer in power, and one of the few acts she did while being the acting Governor is to ratify the Kingdom's claims and that the land itself would be ruled by a council of elected officials.
  • The final nail in the coffin? When the Kingdom proposes allowing Marines to maintain a presence of a base in Fishman Island, the commander says the price of upkeep is too high. Cross immediately capitalizes on this and announces, live on the SBS, that it's proof the WG puts a price on the well-being of its people. This leaves the commander completely catatonic and he promptly faints.
• During the revolution, it's mentioned that at least some of the other Supernovas (Bonney, Apoo, and Urouge) and their crews join in singing "Do You Hear The People Sing?" when liberating the slaves.
• After hanging out with Cross and the Straw Hats for a few weeks, Pappug has the beginnings of a plan to create an animal nation.
• Prince Fukaboshi completely No Sells Vivi's Sovereign's Will, citing that compared to the battleship sized Sea Kings he's been staring down for years, her attempt wasn't far from "adorable".
• Luffy's rage at Charloss (for shooting Hachi, for putting Cross through interviewing-hell, for he and his family giving Vivi the original bounty that forced her to leave her country, and for one of his kind causing Sabo to be separated from him for years) boils over to a Tranquil Fury that even terrifies Cross. It makes his finishing punch on the fat noble all the more cathartic.
  • Cross broadcasts the punch all over the world and gives a speech that no one, not even a Celestial Dragon, is immune to consequences.
  • The scene was cathartic and enjoyed by Shakky, Hancock, Gild Tesoro, and Whitebeard.
  • When X Drake tells the other Supernovas that Luffy's action will bring an Admiral down on not just the Straw Hats but the rest of them, Kid of all people gives them one final chance to leave knowing the world will begin to change for his action. And they all choose to stay.
  • Roswald, Charloss's father, steps into Cross's way and points a gun at him. Cross tells him to move. Ultimately, he moves.
• Despite the fact that it was against Admiral Kizaru who easily wiped the floor with the majority of the Straw Hats, the Supernovas fared just slightly better combining their strengths and at least were delivered a Curb-Stomp Cushion at best. They even managed to seriously injure Borsalino to a point where even he got actually angry and declares he was going to kill them all, the Elder Stars be damned. Some highlights include:
  • Kizaru having a brief Oh, Crap! and being forced to dodge a kick from Sanji when he realizes that the latter has sea prism stone lining his shoes. He does the same with Bonney, as he realizes that her powers are a definitive threat to him if she touches him.
  • Bartolomeo succeeding in both briefly containing Kizaru twice with his barriers. He then ups the ante by pulling a Combination Attack with Foxy, (a barrier containing Slow-Slow energy as a freakin' grenade, slowing the Admiral down), and then turns his barrier into a BFS, and slices Kizaru's arm clean off, Haki be damned! And he still has enough in him afterward to tank two sucker punches from the Admiral and restrain him again at the last second...
  • ...Which in turn sets Kizaru up for a three-way combo between Luffy, Law, and Kid, including a Gamma Knife to the heart, multiple swords to the neck, and a sea prism pipe to the temple!
• Rayleigh, even at his age, proved why he was Number Two to Roger by ''singlehandedly'' stopping the aforementioned-irate Kizaru by holding his leg, actually scaring the Admiral in the process, and saying he was willing to let the Admiral leave intact until his declaration of killing everyone got him to get super serious. He tells Borsalino that he won't kill him for many reasons with the last one being he was going to send a message to his superiors. That message? Kizaru himself was that message and Rayleigh flings him away with such force that he landed in the Elder Stars' chamber at Mariejois.
• After the battle, X Drake was furious at the Straw Hats for involving the Supernovas in a fight against an Admiral where they were all outclassed and that reinforcements were on the way, and was prepared to extract his pound of flesh from them. That's when the entire crew gives him a combined Death Glare due to the news of Ace's capture and imminent execution that could only be rivaled by the same one they gave Shiki in Strong World. Drake's response is to turn around and leave to distance himself from the "other pirates", not monsters (which was strangely crossed out and replaced with the former term), as far away as possible.
• Even knowing that the Marines are still are going to declare war on Whitebeard, and him about to be sent off by Kuma, Cross does not stand down. Instead, he informs the rest of the New World Masons of the events that will happen before, during, and after Marineford.
  • After Cross hangs up, the Masons all agree with each other that they are going to pick up the slack for Cross and the Straw Hats while they are gone.
• Rayleigh deciding that the Marines have gone too far for him to keep his anger down, and offers to speak with Cross on broadcast on the SBS and Cross tells him exactly which story he should share: the truth that Gol D. Roger was not captured by the Marines, but that he surrendered to die on his own terms instead of by his illness.
  • Further credit to Cross, who knows exactly what kind of damage this will do to the World Government, and makes it clear from the start that this broadcast is payback against the Elder Stars for wanting to execute Ace.
  Cross: Alright, you ancient astral bastards. You want to play hardball? Let's play fucking hardball.
• Once every member of his crew has been safely sent out by Kuma, Luffy finally has the opportunity to unleash his fury. Even knowing he can't win, he starts the fight by punching the Warlord 18.56 meters into a Sabaody Mangrove and driving him 1.78 meters into the Mangrove, dislocating the Tyrant's jaw.
• Luffy saves the other Supernovas by blasting Kuma into one of the Pacifistas they're fighting, crushing it, and when the second one approaches him whilst he's fighting Kuma he gives it a punch that caves in its chest, leading to the other Supernovas jumping in to finish it off, and the watching Sentomaru believes Luffy didn't actually know it was there. Yes, the other Supernovas had worn down the Pacifistas already and were even slowly winning, which is awesome in and of itself, but bear in mind that in canon, the entire Straw Hat crew struggled to beat even one Pacifista, whereas here, Luffy accidentally crushed TWO.

Amazon Treachery

• Luffy, Marigold, Sandersonia, and Marguerite all struggle to hold back the Snake-Eater, only for the still-recovering Hancock to destroy it with contemptuous ease.

Decks of the World

• Zoro's got an even bigger workout cut out for him than Cross anticipated. See, due to the fact that Mihawk set up Visual Transponder Snails for them to watch, the humandrills have been watching the SBS. Which means that they've naturally begun emulating the fighting styles of the entire Straw Hat crew.
• Sanji has begun his mission to acquire the 99 Attack Cuisine of Kamabakka Kingdom and has already obtained one of the recipes within 48 hours of his arrival.
• Robin demonstrating her growth in skill as she makes short work of the soldiers of Tequila Wolf.
• The circumstances were already known in canon, but even so the description Franky gives of his self-upgrade into a cyborg to the government of Baldimore deserves mention.
  Franky: "I doubt any of those others you mentioned have dealt with something like using scrap metal to turn a dying body into a living weapon... while bleeding out and without any anesthetic for the surgery or the trauma that led up to it."
• Su realizing that the riddle Coo delivered back during the Strong World arc was talking about the Adam Tree, meaning that Kuma dumped her on the front doorstep of her best bet for becoming stronger.
• Merry recovers from her initial terror from landing in Davy Jones's Locker upon learning that graverobbers have been disturbing the sunken ships, and vows that she will protect them from those that will desecrate their tomb.
• When Shiki taunts Ace, Squard, and Whitey Bay of their imprisonment, Jimbei 'commands' him to be silent by threatening to come over and silence him himself. Shiki tries to call his bluff, only for Jimbei to use enough force with a single limb to loosen the chains binding him to the wall, silencing not just the lion but the entire Sixth Hell.
• Ivankov and Betham have deduced that Cross possesses knowledge of the future.

Impel Downfall

• Sandersonia gives Momonga a series of photos that not only show his suspicions about the Snake-Snake woman being part of the Sabaody Revolution, but also evidence of the crimes against humanity done by the World Government and the Marines allied with the slavers. After Momonga reports to his superiors and being told to destroy the evidence by Yamakaji, he goes ballistic and destroys his cabin in anger.
• Sengoku's bracing himself for his final duty as Fleet Admiral (supervising Ace's execution) by guzzling as much alcohol as he can with Kong as his reluctant bartender. The Commander-in-Chief of the World Government attempts to make him reconsider his upcoming resignation by mentioning Rosinante... which earns him a burst of Conqueror's Haki that shuts down his senses for five seconds and puts a nasty hole in the wall.
  Sengoku: {Suddenly Sober} I'm sorry. You were saying something?
• Off-screen moment: Thanks to Cross practically telling the entire world of Impel Down during one of his first SBS broadcasts, Magellan and the rest increased their security and whatever Cross told Luffy and Hancock was mostly rendered moot.
• When being searched and frisked by Hannyabal, Domino and a Marine escort, Hancock was quick enough to use her Love-Love Beam to petrify the Vice-Warden before they could find Luffy, but not the other two. The head jailer was about to sound alarm until the Marine escort stopped her and told Hancock to try again, petrifying her. The escort revealed herself to be Tashigi and says that both she and Smoker are in Impel Down on WG orders.
• Cross uses his knowledge of Buggy's greed to get him to agree to help Luffy by not only mentioning why Luffy was there and both Ace and his relation to the former Pirate King, but Cross also tells him that if he’s successful in helping Luffy, Buggy will not only be free, but also be given the location of Captain Long John Silverteeth's treasure hoard. All this from just a letter Luffy hands over to the clown.
  • Plus he adds a nice little warning as added incentive:
  Don't help him, and not only do you run a higher chance of biting it, but if by some miracle you ever make it out of that prison alive... Well. I already make the World Government's life a living hell on a regular basis.
  Don't give me an excuse to show you what I can do to one clown.
• Every moment of Hancock with Ratchet. First, she bumps him to the floor and walks over him, then gives him a much-deserved Groin Attack after the smarmy engineer attempted to get the Warlord to plead to ask about the BioMEGA Program, and finally she blasts him with Conqueror's Haki once she realized the prototype Ratchet mentioned was the one that nearly destroyed Amazon Lily, laying the engineer out in a mouth-frothing stupor.
• The battle against the insectoid BioMEGA and Luffy gets crashed by Minotaurus. The Cow Zoan makes quick work of the abomination only for it to be still alive. That's when all the Level 2 Beasts swarmed over the incapacitated monster and mauled it to near death. The BioMEGA's flesh-and-metal "heart" was revealed and Minotaurus smashed it to a pulp with one slam of his club, finally ending the creature's threat.
• The mere fact that both the Caribou and World Pirates join forces in order to invade and jailbreak Byrrndi.
• Sebastian, the blind wotan World Pirate, is locked in battle with Level 3's BioMEGA and he finds it tough to defeat. Luffy tosses a Cani-Haze bomb to create a smokescreen that leaves the BioMEGA disoriented but doesn't affect Sebastian, as his blindness isn't hindered by the smoke, and is able to defeat the monstrosity.
  • Later on, while Saldeath, Momonga and Smoker are clearing out a riot in that level, the same BioMEGA reappears but ignores them due to being heavily injured after its fight with Sebastian. The Vice-Admiral decides to finish it off with two attacks, the latter which somehow destroys its flesh-metal organ weak point while unexposed.
• Luffy's fight against Magellan, using the tools that his crew gave him alongside his powers and skills to keep himself mostly poison free.
  • Magellan casually destroys the BioMEGA on Level 4, all while acting as though he'd missed Luffy and hit it by mistake. Then he goes on to survive being knocked into the pool of boiling blood by coating himself in venom and rapidly expelling more to flood the cauldron and keep himself from drowning.
• Byojack getting Galdino to cooperate by warning the ex-bounty hunter that he'll cry out and lure the guards to his location if the latter suggests leaving either Luffy or Byrrndi.
• Magellan shutting down the World Government's command to transfer Ace, willing to defy their power to maintain the protocols that have guided Impel Down for centuries.
  • Later, when learning that Luffy might ally with Ivankov and the other missing prisoners, he gives a rallying speech to all the guards to stand against the biggest prison break in history.
• Sanji's Death's Door Lunchbox; a super-nutritious lunch so packed with essential nutrients that it actually gives Luffy more nutrients than consuming the entirety of the Newkama's stockpiled food would have achieved. In fact, it's so potent Sanji warned Luffy to be absolutely sure he was dying before eating it, as otherwise it would have killed him.
• Crocodile breaks out of his cell in Level 6 and casually takes out the BioMEGA of the floor all before meeting Luffy.
• Right before they leave Level 6, Douglas Bullet unleashes a blast of Conqueror's Haki that knocks most of the denizens of Level 6 unconscious. And according to Magellan and Crocodile, it was the first significant sign of life he had shown over his twenty years of imprisonment.
• The breakout itself.
  • On Level 5, Luffy manages to disable Smoker enough that he doesn't have to blow his cover as a New World Mason by using a rubber-enhanced breath attack to spread Smoker's smoke form far enough apart that he needs several minutes to literally pull himself together, and even then, he's still trying to find portions of himself.
    • After Luffy blows Smoker into pieces, Squard tries to finish him off to keep him from following. Thankfully, Tashigi and Popora stop him in time, with Popora's memory powers stunning him enough to get the commodore to safety.
  • It takes all of eight people to breach the defenses between Levels 4 and 3. Half of them barely got in a punch.
  • Whitey Bay's new Cold Cold powers freeze the gunpowder of all the prison guards stationed on Level 3, rendering them unable to fight back effectively when Crocodile and Ivanokov go to town on them.
  • Sadie offers to let the prisoners pass unharmed if Luffy takes on the Minotaurus Awakened Zoan guard in single combat, hoping to exploit the insane durability that its Awakening provides to win. Instead, Luffy beats it so badly that everybody recognizes that it's actually starting to falter. This is impressive enough, but it gets better: Luffy realizes that this is just wasting time, and blasts it and all the other beasts with Conqueror's Haki.
• The final confrontation with Magellan.
  • First, he invites Luffy to sit down to a meal and talk. Which they do. Then, they fight.
  • Luffy reveals Nami gave him golden gauntlets to penetrate Magellan's venomous armor.
  • Magellan counters with a brand new technique; the Poison Goetia, where he creates manifestations of the distilled animal toxins he's consumed, in the forms of the animals they were taken from, and then eats these venom-slime animals to create the ultimate poison combination attack — it's even noted that this move is incredibly dangerous, because he can barely handle the poisonous meals he eats in normal form, and if he makes the wrong combination as part of this process, it almost certainly will kill him.
  • Then, just as Magellan is about to unleash his ultimate creation, Typhon Genesis... Luffy uses Usopp's rubber band and snaps it into Magellan's eye. This distracts Magellan for just long enough that Luffy can deliver a solid punch to Magellan's solar plexus that, combined with the severe gastro-intestinal distress his Poison Goetia has placed him under, causes Magellan to squander the attack by vomiting it through the floor. No, not onto the floor, through the floor.
  • But even this is noted as not seriously impairing Magellan. Instead, he declares that he could, if he wanted to, kill them all with his Venom Demon. But the risk of being defeated is great enough that, combined with his knowledge that Luffy will be charging off to attack Marineford and the fact that he knows he still has to deal with Blackbeard, he declares that his honor and his pride can permit him to stand down, this once.
  • Before they leave, Luffy admits that he knows that leading a jailbreak from Impel Down actually makes him the bad guy in this instance.
• As much as you hate them, you gotta give Blackbeard and his pirates credit. They're so badass that when Luffy and his allies encounter them breaking down into the Forgotten Hell as they head upwards, they all stand aside, as even Luffy is unwilling to risk a fight with Teach despite his absolute hatred of the man. At the chapter's finale, as Magellan prepares to go and fight the Blackbeard Pirates, Luffy actually stops to warn the warden that Blackbeard is a D in his own right, which makes even Magellan visibly uncomfortable.
  • Relating to that; Cross gave Luffy an order for when he reached the Forbidden Hell. To make sure that Shillew of the Rain was killed before he could join the Blackbeard Pirates. And Luffy doesn't even question it — in fact, he orders Crocodile to do it in order to take him onto the escape team.
  • Relating to that; Crocodile sucks all the moisture out of Shiliew and then chops off his arms and legs... and Shiliew is still alive. Though Crocodile attempts to broadcast certainty that Shillew will die before the Blackbeard Pirates reach the Forgotten Hell, even he admits that he'll be impressed if that doesn't happen.
• Right before the escapees leave Level 6, almost all, (even Crocodile!), freeze in terror when Douglas Bullet simply gets up in his cell and addresses them. Bullet only addresses Luffy offhandedly, (comparing him to Roger), but the shocking part is when he directly acknowledges Buggy of all people, and the latter has enough in him to somewhat counter his remarks!

Decks of the World: Part 2

• Nami completely overhauled Weatheria's budget as a stress reducer.
• Chopper singlehandedly ends the war between the Torino villagers and the birds by beating the villagers into submission. And then he actually manages to get his Hyde-style temper under control by himself.
• Brook nearly makes the Longarm raiders crap their pants. By calmly walking up to them and asking a simple question.
• Merry has learned that the raiders of Davy Jones' Locker amounts to a war camp of fishmen that she can't assault. Her solution? Turn the ship graveyard into a haunted funhouse filled with lethal traps manned by the spirits of the sunken ships with her as the haunting ghost.
• Sanji discusses his "Lunchbox of Death Special" with Juliet, one of the Okama Kenpo masters he's training under. She reveals that he actually got his calculations wrong and also that she can improve it for him, whipping out a rotary evaporator to do so.
• Cross is starting the SBS on Ace's execution. We still don't know for certain exactly where he is or what he's been subjected to, but he's still up to tear the World Government yet another new one.
• The reveal that Cross and the SBS have managed to sow the seeds of rebellion within the staff of Impel Down itself. Let that sink in for a moment.
• The New World Masons got Vice-Admiral Gion, or Momousagi, on their side. In canon, she is one of the candidates to be promoted Admiral during the timeskip, which the rank is for individuals of mass destruction and immense power. In short, the New World Masons have an Admiral-level ally to count on.

Marineford Misery

• Cross over the SBS dares the Marines to justify Ace's execution. When Sengoku blasts him with Conqueror's Haki to shut him up, Cross manages to No-Sell it, declaring he doesn't remotely care.
• When Sengoku reveals the true reason Ace is being executed Cross goes into detail about utterly stupid his declaration really was. Instead of listing any of the actual, legitimate crimes that Ace could be held accountable for, Sengoku just revealed that the World Government is willing to throw away countless lives over a grudge with someone who's been dead for twenty years. He really Did Not Think This Through, did he?
  • Said proclamation causes things to boil over for Impel Down. As Domino says, what the World Government is doing isn't justice but tyranny instead.
• At the end of their private conversation, Whitebeard promises to save Cross a seat on the other side.
• After spending the entire story standing by the necessity of his decisions and justifying his horrific choices, it's a sign of just how much Sengoku has been worn down when Whitebeard demands Ace's return and Sengoku admits he would do so if he could and only isn't because it's out of his hands. He knows damn well there's no winning for the Marines after this one and can't even bring himself to pretend otherwise.
• At the start Sengoku internally admits that as much as he would like to blame Cross for all of the crap that the Marines have had to deal with, he himself is the only one responsible for all of the morally questionable and outright evil orders he's signed off on. After spending the whole story trying to deny any truth in Cross' condemnation, he can't deny the truth any more.
• Crossing over with Crowning Moment of Funny, but the Little Pirates arriving on sea turtles. Specifically, Sea King Sea Turtles. Counts as an Offscreen Moment of Awesome for Little Oars Jr. and his crew, which outside of the captain is made up of normal sized humans, since this means that they have been capturing and taming sea kings in the to pull off such a move.
• After Cross lambasts Garp over staying put on the side of the WG despite being a decent Marine, the Hero retorts and accuses him of whining and doing nothing to stop things. The Voice of Anarchy stops for a second before responding that he has worked harder than anyone else in order to stop this War from happening. When Garp asks what he'll do to stop it, he gives five words filled with deeply-rooted rage.
  "I suggest you look up."
  • Sengoku, Garp, Ace and Isuka do so and see a sight with mixed feelings for all present: A hijacked Marine battleship falling from the sky. Luffy and his Impel Down allies have arrived.
• Halvar attempts a sniper shot on Whitebeard by aiming for Squard (whom he was consoling about the truth of Ace being Roger's son). Classic sniper trick, but it barely hurt the big guy and in hindsight wasn't a very smart move, as Whitebeard demonstrates with a compressed 5.0 earthquake that blows the entire tower Halvar is in out of existence. Halvar, being an Expy of a real-life sniper who survived several very close brushes with death, survives, but it was a close thing.
  Luffy: Geez, how'd that happen?
  Cross: Consequences of making Whitebeard angry. Should have been self-explanatory, but apparently, the whole world needs a refresher.
• After Sengoku and Garp announce Buggy’s connection to the Roger Pirates to the entire world, he quietly snaps and decides to show everyone what it really means to be a Roger Pirate.
  "Fame... Respect... Is that… what you think comes with Roger's name? Do you think I didn't know what would happen if I flashed my captain's name? I knew exactly what would happen, which is exactly why I've never done it. I sailed almost this entire world, from the clouds in the sky to the ocean floor, across the deadliest seas and against opponents the most powerful anyone could imagine. And when it was over, I decided that I didn't want to be a part of it anymore. I reaped the fruits of the strongest sea, and I chose to use them to ensure that I would never have to return to a life of paranoia, where every puff of smoke, every ripple on the water was a reason to keep your guard up, lest it kill you in a new, creative and utterly ludicrous way. I laid low and sandbagged as a small-time pirate for over twenty years – TWENTY. YEARS. – because I earned it, surviving the utter madhouse that was Roger's crew. I just wanted to live the rest of my life in PEACE and SANITY. WAS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK!? …well. Apparently, it was. I never planned on this getting out. I never truly wanted to come back. Back to this sea, to this life, to this insanity again… But since I have no choice anymore… if this is what you really want… THEN SO BE IT! LET'S! GET! FLASHY!
  • And the immediate results?
  A crescent of razor air cleaved through airborne the mass of weapons and pavises. Many were carved to pieces, but the overall sphere remained intact and wheeled to meet the new threat. A threat that, normally, would've sent him scurrying for the hills.
  Hawk-Eye Mihawk. Smiling. Eagerly.
  "Finally," he breathed. "I thought this war would never become interesting."
  "That's nice," Buggy sneered. "Now please die."
  • Even Luffy is unnerved by his change in demeanor and skedaddles towards Ace the moment the two of them clash.
• Jonathan and Tsuru debate during the battlefield just who exactly is more dangerous, Luffy or Cross. Sure, the latter has brought the New World Masons together and instigated more chaos than any other person with just the shirt on his back and a snail that ate a Devil Fruit. But Jonathan points out that Luffy took this unbelievably dangerous character and recruited him; every action Cross has taken and continues to take has been with utmost loyalty to his captain for the purpose of preparing the throne for the future King of the Pirates, after all. Tsuru can't disagree with her fellow mutineer one bit.
• Soundbite reveals that thanks to his Awakened abilities he no longer needs to actually be present in a location to channel his abilities, all he needs is a single connection through a transponder snail. He then proceeds to unleash his powers across the entire battlefield.
• Upon reaching Doflamingo, Luffy hears Cross going through a panic attack given what the Warlord had pulled on him at Sabaody. Luffy's response to Doflamingo gloating over how he broke Cross' will to live? Throw a bottle of Alabastan Dugong Seaweed booze at him that is covered in plastique and crush the detonator. Cue Doflamingo getting a face full of flaming booze, shrapnel, and a lighting ball in the center. While no harm is done to Doflamingo himself, his coat is in tatters, he's on fire, and his glasses are cracked.
  • It's revealed that Billy’s contribution to Luffy were five of his feathers, supercharged with electricity.
• A villanous example, but Doflamingo causing chaos and still operating his various plans through his String-String Fruit even during the war.
• Hancock's Big Damn Heroes moment when Doflamingo goes after Luffy, excusing it as not liking his face. They take out a good chunk of the eastern front of the war during their clash.
  • Even more awesome since canon's reveal that Doflamingo was once a Celestial Dragon, something that Hancock and her sisters hate more than anything else in the world given their backstories. Hancock is getting a chance to fight back against her former oppressors, even if it’s by One Degree of Separation.
• Akainu's canon trick of convincing a Whitebeard loyalist that the man they revere cut a deal with the Marines gets the result of his picked "patsy" laughing in his face. Cross warned all of the pirates of that stunt and the walls that are meant to box them in. Even as Akainu immolates him, he continues to laugh his head off that the Marines never had a chance.
• During the battle Jormungandr shows up to help Luffy and start dismantling all the Pacifista's that have been released on the battlefield. Not only that but it's revealed that they've managed to subvert various other Cipher Pol agents to their side, which includes expies of the Team Fortress 2 crew. They can be seen here.
• Gol D. Roger's spirit uses Soundbite's Awakened Noise-Noise Fruit to make a call to Luffy from the afterlife... all so he can plead with Luffy to save his son, Ace.
  • Roger simply saying three words caused three quarters of the battlefield to freeze, and that's ignoring the fact that the entire world is still watching and listening to the battle.
• Luffy manages to unleash a Gum-Gum Red Hawk, a technique is only possible with Armament Haki and one that Luffy learns during the timeskip, on Garp's face.
  • Doubles as Heartwarming when remembering that the kanji for Red Hawk (hikenjuu) in the manga pays tribute to Ace's Fire Fist (Hiken). Luffy not only protects his brother from Garp, but he's using the technique inspired by Ace to do so.
• Magellan and his subordinates join the Masons, but as part of the Damned instead of Divine. Why is that? Because while Impel Down is affiliated with the World Government, Impel Down at its core is its own separate entity.
• Jango demonstrates that not even New World-hardened warriors are immune to his hypnosis by turning the Devil Dogs—barring some of the Suomi—and Marines against each other.
• Whitebeard taking out Bartholomew Kuma with a single attack, followed up by performing a You Shall Not Pass! to the Vice Admirals, complete with quote, to make some room between the Marines and the rescue team.
  Whitebeard: I. Am. Whitebeard! And you! Shall not! PAAAAAAAASS!!!
• Doflamingo, in a villainous example, uses his String-String Fruit to turn Oars Junior into a puppet.
• And not long afterwards, Whitebeard decides to... register a complaint about this.
  Doflamingo jerked to a halt, tugging intently on his wire in an effort to dislodge it.
  And when he followed the line down in an effort to find the snag, he froze up as his mind processed just who he was attached to, and what the circumstances of said attachment were.
  “…well, then,” Donquixote Doflamingo stated quietly, his voice more subdued than it had been in his entire life. “Mistakes have been made.”
  “YES.” Whitebeard rumbled, and then gave the line a harsh jerk.
  A harsh jerk that rated an 11.0 on the Richter Scale.
  • For reference on that, the strongest earthquake ever recorded on Earth during human history was a 9.5 (the 1960 Valdivia Earthquake). The start of the vibrations from that quake basically wrecked Doflamingo's arm - and it's explicitly noted that if he hadn't detached in time, the rest of said quake would have killed him. Just a quick reminder that even the Warlords (except maybe Mihawk) are a distant second place when compared to the Emperors in terms of power.
  • Not only that, but Whitebeard proceeds to protect another one of his sons by literally throwing Oars Junior miles out of Marineford, both protecting the unconscious giant from being used as target practice and preventing him from being used against them.
• Chapter 81 reveals just where Cross was sent to. The World Nobles' private prison, the Seventh Hell of Darkness, Serpent. Which features a mindbreaking Genius Loci like the Florian Triangle, prisoners that have descended to the mental level of cannibalistic, feral beasts, and very poor to no visibility. And Cross took at least a knife to the belly before he started the Marineford SBS. Cross managed to ruin the World Government's plans, provide backup to the Whitebeards, and make the Government look even worse than it already did while in extreme pain and surrounded on all sides by hostiles.
  • On a small note, his antics managed to make yet another World Government stooge snap spectacularly, Irian in this case.
• Chapter 82. Dear oh dear, where do we start?
  • Last chapter ended on the mother of all cliffhangers, with Akainu moments away from killing Ace, and then a scream from a man with an unbreakable will that had readers worried Luffy failed to save Ace. Then the scene resumes, and it's shown that the screaming man is Akainu... because Dragon just showed up and tore off his hand! With Sabo, Koala and Hack for backup!
    Dragon: You will not touch my sons.
  • Wanna know how you can make Dragon's arrival even more awesome? In their last direct communication, Cross pointed out that Dragon shouldn't, even couldn't interfere to save Ace, since that would risk muddling the message of what the Revolutionaries stand for. Dragon agreed with Cross in that exchange... and yet, here he is. And when Akainu demands to know why he's shown up, even though he's got nothing to do with this?
    Dragon: "I am here because it was my decision. Mine alone... and no one else's."
  • Dragon coming to back up Boa Hancock against the Aegis 0 agents.
  • A fed up Perona calls Doflamingo a Manchild to his face when he complains about getting hurt during the battle, and when he threatens to kill her, tells him to try it. He doesn't.
  • Jinbei and Hack being Back-to-Back Badasses and combining Fishman Karate to take on the BioMEGAS.
  • Byrnndi World and Garp squaring off in one ground-shaking Pummel Duel, followed by a Brawler Lock hard enough for a huge Kung-Fu Sonic Boom.
  • ALL of the Supernovas showing up to Marineford, either to aid Luffy or piss off the Marines.
    • Bartolomeo standing up to all the others, convincing them to go as they all owe it to Roger and Ace by proxy.
  • Kid makes his entrance by twisting the Pacifistas' heads around with his magnetic powers and collecting as much metal possible into a giant middle finger for Sentomaru.
  • X Drake openly declaring he's a spy, ten seconds before officially quitting the Marines for their Disproportionate Retribution against Ace and the crimes of the Government.
  “From this day forth, I resign from the Marines! Utterly, irrevocably! I’ll take justice into my own hands, and enact it under my own initiative! I will never let someone dictate right or wrong to me again!"
  • Law both figuratively, then literally flipping off Doflamingo by blocking his attempted killing of two of the brothers.
  • Bege hijacking a Pacifista's lasers and blowing stuff up.
  • Bonney getting Kuma to leave the battlefield by using her powers to de-age Sentomaru, forcing the latter to flee with him in tow.
  • Sabo and Ace rescuing Hancock's sisters from Aegis-0.
  • Even with one foot and a half in the grave, Whitebeard takes down his former crewmate, Shiki, with one good swing of his bisento. Then he almost chops off Blackbeard's arm off and makes the traitorous bastard piss himself with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech that has elements of his canon Final Speech:
    Whitebeard: Overconfidence... and carelessness... Those are your weaknesses, Teach. And you seem content... to surround yourself... with both. You're not him. The man Roger is waiting for... is definitely not you, Teach! That man is elsewhere, already shouldering the burdens of history, already leaving the World Government in fear!
    Blackbeard: Stop him... stop him! Somebody kill him already!
    Whitebeard: I'm not interested in the treasure... but when it's found... the whole world will be turned upside down. That day is at the door... it is lifting the hatch.
    A dozen flintlock pistols cocked as Whitebeard reached for Teach's head. They did not drown out the words that were heard all along the world.
    Whitebeard: The One Piece... does exist. AND IT WILL NOT! BE CLAIMED! BY YOU!
    • And as ever, not even death can make Whitebeard fall.
  • When the time finally comes for Whitebeard to pass on, it's Buggy that hijacks one of the Snails and gives him his eulogy, pouring out all the respect he has ever had for his Captain's best friend and rival.
    • And judging by the fact both Kaido and Big Mom are going totally bonkers in their respective territories, he's not alone in paying his due to Whitebeard.
  • Right when Blackbeard is about to get Whitebeard's power... the man's corpse is immolated by Ace, leading to Blackbeard going through one HELL of a Villainous Breakdown.
    • Extra points to Ace for figuring out Whitebeard's plan in the blink of an eye. He looks Whitebeard's blood on Luffy's back, and Luffy's mention that Whitebeard already warned him to not let them "get [him] from behind", and instantly realizes that Blackbeard is going to do something to Whitebeard's body to mutilate it and his captain's last plan is to prevent that from happening, which is why he instantly turns to Hawkins for the fastest way of destroying it before Blackbeard can do anything.
  • After seeing 'His Prize' destroyed beyond any hope of salvaging because he got Out-Gambitted, Blackbeard goes into a massive Villainous Breakdown, swearing revenge on Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates, and everything that Whitebeard ever protected. Ace's response?
    "Go ahead and try."
  • Blackbeard's breakdown causes him to try and nuke the entire island with darkness in a rage... which invokes an Enemy Mine between all Pirates, Marines, and Revolutionaries to try and stave off the cataclysm.
    • Then Shanks shows up and easily shuts Blackbeard down, intimidating him and his crew (along with everyone else on the battlefield) into standing down and ending the fighting.
    • How does Shanks stop Blackbeard's island destroying darkness and all of the other attacks everyone is launching at him to counter it? He says one word: "Enough". And a wave of pressure hits everyone on the island and dissipates their attacks.
  • B.R.O.B. reveals that it has been setting Cross up to fail and die from day 1, yet even with the odds literally stacked against him, Cross has been surviving. B.R.O.B. then reveals that Cross has legitimately gained its respect by saving Merry, something that B.R.O.B. says should’ve literally been impossible without the aid of reality-warping powers. The successful rescue of Ace is a similar case, as the deaths of Merry and Ace should essentially be fixed points in the timeline, yet Cross managed to change their fates. In other words, if Cross is going to say that he just got lucky and that he couldn't and can't change things, this Omnipotent Being is here to outright tell him that yes, he can.
    • B.R.O.B. ends its spiel by challenging him to take those shots and screw fate the way his crew does all the time, and that it's getting bored. And with that, Cross finally stands back up.
      Cross: Get back in your seat. I don't see any credits rolling here, do you?
  • Cross, after having been snapped out of his Heroic BSoD, has Soundbite broadcast to the entire hellish island they’re stuck on. He then declares that he’s going to escape the island before the two years are up, no matter what it takes, challenging all the inhabitants of the island to just try and stop him, and urging anybody who wants to escape with him to join up.

Denouement

• Before arriving at Marineford, Koala had a side mission to attend to — namely, sneaking into Vice-Admiral Strawberry's hospital room and finishing him off. She admits in the present that it was very cathartic for her.
• When Tsuru asks Koby if he thinks the Marines who turned coat at Marineford were the more just Marines there, he admits he does. While Helmeppo briefly considers selling out Koby to save himself, he instead draws his kukris, fully prepared to die protecting his friend and his ideals, before Tsuru reveals she’s with the turncoats.
• On a villainous side, Shiliew and other Level Six-recruits are getting ready to leave the Blackbeard Pirates due to the plan failing. World even goes so far as to attempt a direct mutiny. Keyword, attempt. When World confronts Teach to do the deed, he finds his captain sitting under a black tarp, which falls under both of them as Blackbeard grabs him...
  • Blackbeard then lays down his unwavering resolve to become King of The Pirates by any means necessary, no matter how many setbacks he has to endure or who he has to kill. And he underlines this point... by dwarfing Sanjuan Wolf with the More-More Fruit's power and almost drowning the World's Largest Giant with one hand.
• Zoro's set up an extra-special workout routine for himself and gotten payback on Mihawk for attacking Luffy at Marineford, in classic Straw Hat fashion: the World's Greatest Swordsman returns home to find his two-year disciple slouching in one of his chairs, having drank his wine cellar dry, moved everything two inches to the left, and let the humandrills into the castle for good measure.
  Mihawk: Mars Ultor above, Roronoa Zoro, have you lost all sense of self-preservation?!
  Zoro: You say that like I ever had one.
• Ivankov has taken an interest in Sanji's Death's Door Lunchbox, saying that if they can perfect it, it would be worthy of becoming the 100th Attack Cuisine recipe.
• Vivi's mentor during the Time Skip? Sir Crocodile. And her acceptance of his offer of tutelage comes with the promise of a lifetime, almost ensuring that they'll clash one day.
  Vivi: I will kill you. One day, I swear, I will kill you and take back everything you've stolen from us.
  Crocodile: Now, now, is that any way for a good little princess to speak?
  Vivi: Absolutely.
• Su not only located the Children of Inari's village, she easily deduces the kitsune guardians' tests to prove her worthiness of the Devil Fruit containing the power of Inari are unwinnable by default as they are tricksters by nature, and simply decides to steal the Devil Fruit with Conis's help. Even the Children were impressed with Su's tenacity and trickery.
• After convincing Kalifa (who was currently enjoying the victory party at Amazon Lily) to take her to meet the rest of Jormungandr, Marguerite is so adamant in her stance to grow as strong as possible as fast as possible that she asks to become Rob Lucci's apprentice, and when the leopard-man was about to dismiss her, she offered to teach them Haki in return. Lucci outlines the basics of the Training from Hell she's signing up for and then attacks.
  • Even with her throughly beaten by Lucci, she remains steadfast in her course to learn what she has to do to help her fellow Kuja. This is enough to earn Lucci's respect.
• Luffy makes an offer to his fellow Supernovas that if he becomes the Pirate King, he welcomes their challenge and would be a Graceful Loser should any win...until he decides to have a rematch soon after to reclaim the throne.
• As Akainu is making a speech to the Marines and the Devil Dogs, apparently having no competition for becoming the next Fleet Admiral, he is interrupted by Aokiji, who has returned from his soul-searching mission. Kuzan then proclaims his renouncement of Lazy Justice stance and his new creed of "Justice of Atonement" - symbolized by freezing his sleep mask and shattering it - accuses Sakazuki of war crimes, and sets up the duel at Punk Hazard to settle things, this time, with the stakes being death.
• Following the Marineford War and Whitebeard's death, Kaido, feeling that Joy Boy, the challenge he's always wanted, will one day appear before him, does something he hasn't done since his days as a member of the Rocks Pirates to prepare for it: train. The thought of the King of Beasts actually working to become even stronger is equal parts epic and scary, especially as it has major implications for the TB! version of the Wano Country arc^note Keep in mind that Kaido had beaten Luffy three times and it took the Straw Hat captain learning Advanced Armament and Conqueror's Haki, and AWAKENING his Devil Fruit before he could finally win against him.
  • There's also the method Kaido uses to train himself. He has his entire crew come at him, with him being the one who's winning.
• The newspaper image for the epilogue is fully legible at full size with actual articles relevant to the plot. This level of detail alone is minorly awesome in its own right, but the center main article is all about the reveal of the Seventh Hell of Darkness to the world after Cross burned it to cinders. A mere six months after being consigned to the deepest darkest pit on the planet, a place so horrible that it would turn the stomachs of Impel Down’s worst inhabitants, Cross utterly destroyed it. More than that, there are around fifty survivors who owe Cross their lives and freedom.
  • Also noted, instead of breaking apart by a powerful Blackbeard in the "Payback" War in canon, the Ace-led Whitebeard Pirates are all still together and now fight the "Black and White" War against Teach's crew and are more motivated than ever to continue the late Newgate's legacy.
  • Mentioned as well, the Whitebeards now have recruited into their ranks the Phoenix Pirates (a.k.a. the pirate crew used by the Accinos in the Ice Hunter arc) and also a crew that's a shout-out to the Animal Crossing series.

Other

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Specials

Christmas Special (Between Drum Island and Alabasta)

1000th Review Special (Between Alabasta and Jaya)

• Just seeing how strong Cross will eventually become during the time skip, when he can take down a whole shipload of bounty hunters without breaking a sweat.

Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island

• It's a minor one compared to others here, but Buggy reveals that he visited and escaped from Omatsuri Island at some point. That's right, one of the setting's weakest characters actually made it through this hellhole alive. Gotta give him credit for that...up until we later found out that Buggy has been sandbagging and is actually much, much more capable than he lets on. It also makes Lily more of a threat, as it's one of the reasons he sandbagged.
• Credit to Lily Carnation, as vile as it is, for being the only villain who rendered Cross completely helpless. Even Enel couldn't come close.
  • However, Soundbite gets a moment as well, because, even with his partner corrupted, he still helps expose the evil of the island through the SBS.
• Ace preparing to immolate Lily Carnation on his own if Luffy fails. Dragon has a more subdued, but similar plan.
• Law analyzing where Lily's arrows hit Luffy. He knows the situation is not completely hopeless, allowing everyone to regain their courage and cheer Luffy up.
• Just seeing virtually the entire damn world cheer Luffy on as he fights the monstrosity of Baron Omatsuri and Lily Carnation.
• What happens when Garp sees Luffy being impaled on all of Omatsuri's arrows via Soundbite's video transmission? He emits so much rage that even the three Admirals and Sengoku are sweating bullets, and he decides that the greatest Buster Call in history that the Marines are sending to that island isn't overkill enough; not when he can tear the monster apart with his own two hands.
• While not intentional on his part, Luffy ruins the Five Elder Stars' plans to turn the world against him for killing Baron Omatsuri by asking that he be buried with his crew.
• And at the end of it all, Luffy actually gaining the respect of Sengoku, and getting his Grandpa's pride. The two minor crews that helped him get a full pardon instead.

Canon Omakes

• The Battle of Kinpaku Island, a.k.a. Captain T-Bone's Moment of Awesome. Because what else would you call it when you fight a ravenous leopard-Zoan in one-on-one combat, take everything he dishes out and come back for more, for two straight days and nights?! Determinator, thy name is T-Bone.
  T-Bone: I have a duty... to uphold... A good man... will never bow on his word. I... I promised my friends... that I would defeat you, and that... you would enter our group, and that is n-not something... that any simple, physical pain can stop m-me from accomplishing!
  • And it's not that Lucci was suffering from Worf Had the Flu either; even though he just got out of the hospital, he was at the peak of his health when his spar with T-Bone began.
  • To quantify, T-Bone took 20 Six King Guns, 250 Tempest Kicks, 400 Finger Pistols, throughout the course of his two-day spar with Rob Lucci, with no food, no water, and no sleep. And remember that Lucci is a Zoan-user, who are known for their stupidly large stamina reserves and resilience. Through it all, T-Bone neither faltered nor gave up, and kept on rising after every attack and giving back with everything he had until, at the very end, it's Lucci who runs out of juice first.
  • Not that the battle ends with one person just giving up the ghost, no; the Finale is the clash of the strongest attacks the two men can muster with all their flagging strength:
    Lucci: ULTIMATE SIX KING GUN!
    T-Bone: ONE-SWORD STYLE... SILK SONG!
  • And at the end of it all, Lucci finds yet another person he can call a Worthy Opponent.
  • This just becomes impressively more epic when you consider T-Bone's rather dismal showing against Leo just recently; apparently training every second since you got beaten by a dugong does wonders.
    • For extra Fridge Brilliance, this time T-Bone is not standing on train tracks in the middle of the ocean during a storm, where getting knocked off means the end of the fight and his opponent's long gone on the way to more important matters by the time he gets back up.
• Warm Front:
  • Vivi's offer to Don Accino to become one of Alabasta's Royal Guardians has an unexpected side effect: when the Giant Squad, who were tasked with blockading Alabasta, realize they let Accino through without approval, they decide to full-on finish the mutiny they started during Enies Lobby and rejoin the Giant Warrior Pirates rather than get any more flak from their unreasonably suspicious superiors.

The This Bites! Halloween Holiday Not-So-Horrorshow!

• The mere fact that it’s a Crossover (no pun intended) between One Piece fanfic This Bites! and The Nightmare Before Christmas. A refreshing change of pace from past Halloween Specials.
• It's easy to miss, but when Cross mentions B.R.O.B. and his sense of humor, Jack states with a Slasher Smile that under regular circumstances he wouldn't allow that "astral ass" anywhere within a dimensional fold near Halloween Town. That's right: Jack Skellington can apparently keep a Random Omnipotent Being from messing around with his home.
• Soundbite using his new spider-form and his Devil Fruit powers to turn Lock, Shock, and Barrel against Oogie Boogie by being scarier than the villain, and becomes the second individual (after Jack) to instill fear in the King of Creepy Crawlies as he stops the latter's return.