Chapter Text
The behemoth was dead.
He'd only been there for what could only be a matter of minutes, but he was already dead. Strauss couldn't quite believe it. Someone that strong? Ended so quickly?
She stifled a gulp.
Once again, how the fuck was she supposed to get out of this alive?
Fighting paused in the moment of Oars Jr's passing. How could it not, when the impact of his body hitting the ice was enough to send shockwaves through the feet of everyone present. But combat resumed soon enough, and practically doubled in ferocity. Down below, Whitebeard used one mighty fist to shatter a Navy giant's battle axe into harmless splinters before grasping the officer's head and crushing the skull just as effortlessly.
Sengoku shifted his weight on the platform in front of her as murmurs of a vice admiral's easy defeat rippled through the crowd.
Strauss arched a brow in bemused disappointment. Wasn't Garp also a vice admiral? That guy seemed so pathetic compared to him. No knowledge of any sort of strategy other than simply attacking with brute power…
Ironically, it gave her a teensy bit of hope.
Yeah. She would survive this. All she needed to do was keep her cool and use her head. That would at the very least give her a fighting chance amongst all these other muscle bodies.
"CLIMB OARS' BODY AND ADVANCE!"
Whitebeard was no fool. That much was certain. She could tell why Ace had chosen to follow him, however long ago that was. Maybe if she hadn't already signed her allegiance away to Law for the time being, she would've asked Ace to put in a good word for her.
Speaking of Ace… She risked a glance in his direction.
Shellshocked.
That was the only word to really describe him. Compared to how damn cocky he'd been when they were travelling together…it was like she was looking at a different person. The only thing powering that man now was deep and unfathomable despair held back by the faintest slivers of hope. Hope that Ace himself probably didn't even realise he even had. Strauss knew that feeling, but it had been built up by months and years of disappointment and sacrifice.
Ace had been slammed with it over the span of a few hours.
Hang in there. Please!
She couldn't even verbalise it, but hoped he could still feel that there was someone out there rooting for him.
"Tsuru."
Her ears pricked up. Fleet Admiral Sengoku couldn't have spoken louder than a sigh, but given her hiding spot she could hear the numbness in his voice.
"Let's put the plan into action."
Strauss' throat went dry.
…what plan?
.
"Sanji!"
Even though everyone else down on the Sunny was screaming his name, all he could hear was her. It was almost embarrassing how much stronger he felt just to hear her voice even as he strained against Doflamingo's leg. He wanted to look at her. To ask if she was okay, if having eaten a devil fruit had fundamentally changed anything within her. But he couldn't not while they were all still in danger.
"Huh," Doflamingo crooned, firelight glinting off his shades as he looked down at Sanji, "Here comes quite a tough one."
Sanji glared up at the asshole, willing the flames on his leg to glow even brighter to burn that damn smirk off that asshole's face. Damn that bastard was strong… They were both straining to see who would give. But…
Biting down on his cigarette, he glared up to the unaffected sneer looming down.
He was probably fucked.
"You're the Black Leg of the Straw Hats, aren't you?" The bastard cocked his head, "Interesting. Are you acquainted with Law's Silver Foot? Or is the name just a coincidence."
Sanji's brow furrowed. "Diable Jambe…"
"Since I must say that I think I prefer the way Valentino does things." The smirk widened. "Brute power is entertaining, but I much enjoy her… finesse."
Flames reignited over his legs as he pushed away, hanging in freefall for a fraction of a second. "Premiere Hachis Hash!" Sanji shot forwards, a flaming arrow aiming right for Doflamingo's chest.
Only for the large man to effortlessly twist out of the way, cackling all the while.
A curled eyebrow twitched.
Yeah. Definitely fucked.
Doflamingo twitched his fingers. "Pentachromatic Strings."
"N-" Sanji's eyes widened as parallel gashes opened up across his torso from thin air. "NGH!"
He could vaguely hear people screaming down on the Sunny as he fell, no longer having the energy to remain airborne. That damn snigger remained though. Taunting through his skull as he saw his own reflection in those sunglasses as they began to turn towards the Sunny.
"Save your friends if you can."
Sanji grimaced… dammit ! He'd thought that he would at least be able to hold him off for a little longer!
The air grew colder.
No.
NO!
He pushed himself off the air.
There was no way he was going to go down this easily. Not when there were still people to protect.
"Diable Jambe…
And besides-
"...Poele a Frire…"
-he wasn't about to sit back and look pathetic in front of a bunch of ladies!
"...SPECTRE!"
A rain of fiery kicks rained down on Doflamingo's retreating form. He winced, wrapping himself up in that obnoxious pink feathery coat of his. But it was making an impact. Sanji could see the smirk falter on his face.
"That's a powerful attack." Doflamingo muttered. "Seems like you and Valentino have some things in common after all."
Bite it back. These were just empty taunts. Trying to make him lose control and do something stupid. He wouldn't give in. He'd keep on push-
His body froze.
It wasn't as if he had run out of energy. No, if anything he had an overabundance of it. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't physically move his body in the slightest.
"Fuck…"
"Fuck!" Strauss grimaced down on Sunny's deck. This was bad… very very bad… Sanji was fighting for his life up there and she couldn't do anything! What even was the point of her eating a devil fruit if she couldn't protect anyone? Well… yes it was her first time using the fruit but come on ! She should at least have a better handle on it by now. She'd seen Monet use her abilities so many times. It was just… ngh !
Her knuckles whitened as her grip tensed on the railing.
"Uh, Strauss?"
Oh. Right. "Sorry." She willed the snowflakes to return to her body. With everything going on, she really didn't have the focus to stop parts of herself from drifting up into the air. She really wished all of her could do that. Monet could, but only because Law had replaced her arms with wings early on during their time there. The only time Strauss had owned wings was when Law once ran an experiment to see if he could successfully wire working wings into a human's central nervous system (it didn't work, although that could have partially been because the wings had been far too small for her according to Law). She did not have them anymore.
Although…
She looked at her hand. At the way the skin seemed to ripple as she forced the space back and forth.
What was stopping her from making them herself?
Logia fruits were supposed to be powerful. Even before meeting Caesar, she'd watched Smoker manipulate his body for his own means back when she'd travelled with him. Not to mention the number of times Ace enlarged his hand to unleash his notorious 'Fire Fist'.
She could definitely give it a try.
Strauss closed her eyes, imagining the way Monet's wings flexed and bent. Picturing how muscles and sinew attached themselves to honeycomb-like bone. Her body became powdery, lighter than air as she spread her mass away and out… reforming her arms. Causing them to bend further back than they were used to. Coating them in pearly white feathers. Feathers which… she remembered. Maybe. It was too vague to accurately pinpoint.
Dancers in white. Feathery bodices. A woman under a spotlight dancing to a haunting oboe solo.
Unconsciously, something elongated on top of Strauss' head.
Doflamingo's arm was reaching back, fingers flexing as if to grab something invisible. And that was when she saw it. Thin fibres, glinting momentarily in the sun as they were tugged.
She pushed off from the Thousand Sunny in a blizzard fueled updraft.
Many shouts and cries followed her as she soared, each flap becoming more and more confident as she figured out the specifics in her anatomy. Law's irregular experiments had prepared her for this. She could do this. She could do this!
Doflamingo turned to her, the feathers of his coat ruffling from the slight gusts of wind from her wings, "Oho? So the other traitor has finally decided to show her face. Although-" The smirk got wiped from his face- "I didn't expect this reunion to be so… cold."
"What do you think you're doing?!" Sanji strained on his invisible bonds, a trickle of blood running from a cut under his eye. "Just run! Get back on the Sunny and use the Coup de Burst to get out of here!"
Strauss ducked her head, "Now you know there's no way I'm going to do that." Her wings snapped inwards and she dove right as something sliced through the air above her head.
Something solid. Hmmm…
"You shouldn't have that fruit." Doflamingo crooned, although it had taken a far more sinister note, "It's not yours, and never was. So I recommend-" He slashed again, and Strauss had to swerve to the side as whatever invisible weapon he was using only barely missed her- "that you either give up and join me, or die so I can take it back !"
She didn't rise to the bait, her focus fully trained on Doflamingo's posture. It didn't matter if she couldn't physically see whatever the hell he was using to lash out like that. As long as she paid attention to the way his body moved, her observation haki would do the rest. In any case…
A hint of movement on the island next to her caught her attention. She let out a sigh of relief. At least she shouldn't have to do this for much longer.
Sanji was still trapped by… something. Strung up as if he was trapped in a web. Which she, uh, didn't really know how to solve. It was honestly taking much more than she'd thought it would to just stay airborne. Which made sense. She'd had this Devil Fruit for what? An hour or so? The fact that she'd gotten this far already while trying to understand her body literally splitting apart from itself every few seconds was an outright miracle. Still, there were things she could do.
Such as covering small surface areas with a thin layer of armament haki.
Her wings stretched out wide, flurries of snowflakes racing out around her. Words came to mind, manifesting from the sheer focus of trying to control herself.
"Steel Storm."
Where exactly the snowflakes went, she had no idea, but they spread. Strauss scrunched her brow, focusing on particular paths she wanted the wind to carry her razor sharp crystals. She couldn't cut Sanji. She wouldn't let herself. But she had to cut… whatever the hell was keeping him suspended.
There were things in the air other than her. She could feel them. Every now and then a snowflake sliced through something solid with a twang, and Sanji's invisible restraints slackened.
"HAAAAH!"
With a final slice he broke free, quickly kicking against the air to stop himself from plummeting downwards.
"Thanks," he muttered begrudgingly.
"You'd do the same for me. Now anyways…" Strauss made to rummage through the pouch on her side, momentarily forgetting that she'd traded her arms for wings and wobbling out of the sky. "Eep!"
Maybe next time, when she figured out how to properly generate and control snow, she'd make wings separate from her arms. As it was, the sheer panic of falling had made one of her wings morph back into a regular arm now flailing through the air.
"Gotcha!"
A strong arm had wrapped itself around her waist, tight enough that she had to remember to become solid at the last minute as she thudded into Sanji's embrace. She let out a chilling breath, "Now it's my turn to say thanks."
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he chuckled, although Strauss could sense that wasn't entirely a joke.
"Fufufu! Fantastic." Doflamingo's arm raised back in a similar pose to what he'd been about to do to Sanji a few minutes ago.
"Get back to the Sunny already," Sanji hissed in her ear, "I can hold him off for a little while longer so you guys can get-"
"No need." Her de-winged hand shot inside the pouch she'd been aiming for before, "We're all getting out of here right now."
She produced two pebble and tossed one over the ocean… sailing towards Green Bit.
Only for that stone to be replaced by two people.
"ROOM!"
Within the blink of an eye, Doflamingo and the fiery whip trailing from his hand had blipped out of existence, only to reappear where Law and Caesar had just been.
"Sorry, Strauss-ya. I made a mistake." Law muttered in her ear as he reached out to grab the back of Sanji's shirt. "Let's get on the ship."
"Already on it." Strauss raised her arm back and threw the second pebble towards the Sunny.
The Room snapped shut as Strauss's back hit the grassy deck with a splat, parts of her no longer under any form of control as a wall of tension left her body.
"N… Ngh!"
"Sanji!" She whipped upright, scrabbling to where he was groaning a little ways from her. "Are you alright?!"
"Why the hell did you come after me?!" Sanji tried to push himself to his feet, only to immediately wince again and raise a hand to his shoulder. "You should've… You should've just…"
Strauss rolled her eyes. "Hold still." Her hands were still halfway between snow and flesh, so she reached out to gently apply weight to Sanji's wound. "You can complain when we're out of here."
He gasped, momentarily flinching at the touch. "You're… cold."
"Hah," chuckled Strauss. "Funny how becoming a snow woman does that to you."
Sanji finally met her eyes then, his expression becoming a confused mix of pride and regret. "So you ate it then."
Her lips curled into a tired smile, "I didn't really have much choice."
"Oi Strauss-ya, Black Leg-ya, when you're quite done-"
Strauss's body practically disintegrated from sudden shock.
"-we really need to keep things moving." Law droned leaning against a wall. He looked like he'd been put through the wringer himself. Outside of the usual layer of stress and overthinking Law usually experienced when working with the Straw Hats, a pattern of cuts and bruises littered his entire body. Nothing too deep, Strauss noticed with relief, but the fact he'd been hurt at all for what he'd supposed was a simple handover mission…
It was telling.
Law turned to Sanji, "How's the plan to destroy the factory going?"
"We found out where it is," he winced, "but Franky said it's gonna be harder than we thought."
Momonosuke latched himself to Sanji's leg, "How's my father?! And Kanjuro?! San-goro, how are they doing?!"
Everyone on the Sunny paused. No one willing to speak up, yet everyone simultaneously desperate for answers.
Sanji faltered, his brow resisting the urge to pull into a grimace. "Momonosuke…" Despite his damaged shoulder he reached down to pat the young samurai on the head, "The samurai is heading to the factory. He'll be alright once everything is over."
Strauss focused on pushing her cool hands onto his wound. There was nothing she could say to make this moment better for anyone involved.
"So…" Law winced, turning an object over in his hands as he emerged out onto the deck, "We need more time."
It was a heart, beating at cool and even pace. A heart that… Strauss could swear that she recognised it from somewhere. But how? She hadn't seen that many hearts before in her life; who's to say that they didn't all at least look somewhat alike.
Caesar's eyes practically bulged from his head, "Hey! You! Is that my heart?! Were you keeping it in the cabin?!"
Impassively Law turned to face him, "This is mine. I had your heart with me." Reaching for his chest, he produced a similarly beating heart-cube. This one much more frantic and panicked than Law's own.
Strauss felt her expression turn stoney.
Of course he'd done it that way… It wasn't as if she was someone he trusted or anything…
His own heart safely stowed, Law indelicately tossed Caesar's onto the ground. Caesar yelped, scrabbling for the cube, "It was in your chest the whole time!? To think I fell for the same trick twice !"
At this Law finally locked eyes with Strauss. She removed her hand from Sanji, wincing a little as he hissed from the cold withdrawal, and went to stand next to her Captain.
"You still have Bepo's vivre card right?"
A sinking feeling solidified in her gut, "You want us to retreat."
"Go to Zou with Caesar," he said simply. "Since the deal's gone south, it makes sense to get Doflamingo's goal off this island."
Her brow furrowed, "And leave you here?"
"Now hang on a moment," Nami butted in, "you can't seriously expect us to set sail without our Captain. We're the Straw Ha-!
BOOM!
Waves crashed against the sides of the Sunny as a shockwave rumbled through the air. Strauss felt her knee disintegrate and was almost sent sprawling to the deck if it wasn't for Law's well placed grip on her arm.
"Thanks." She grunted, focusing her energy back into creating a limb stable enough for her to stand on until she found her face being yanked up close enough for Law to whisper into her ear.
"I'm trusting you with Caesar. While I desperately hope that none of the Straw Hats are naive enough to show him leniency, I can at least be confident that you'll make sure he doesn't step out of line."
Taking a step back, she paused to observe his expression. There was definitely a manic-ness in there that she hadn't seen before. Something more intense than his usual stress fueled existence. It only made her fists clench that much more… but…
"Fine." Sighing, she ran a hand down her face. "But you'd better make sure you trust Straw Hat throughout all of this. I don't want to have to comfort Bepo if you don't come back."
He snorted, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips "Now that's a terrifying thought. Guess I'm going to have to make sure that doesn't happen."
Strauss was about to confirm that it wasn't meant to be a joke, when a shadow swept up over her. She looked up, and paled.
This was like seeing Oars Jr for the first time again, as a deep looming shadow completely dwarfed the Sunny. There was that same sense of being miniscule and insignificant. Of being completely and utterly powerless.
What else was she supposed to feel when an unsubmerged Marine warship was floating through the air towards her?
The Straw Hats, or rather the less confident ones, promptly started freaking out.
"That Marine ship is flying towards us?!"
"How is that possible?!"
Strauss watched her captain grimace. Evidently he knew what (most likely who, given their luck with devil fruit users) was causing this. And it wasn't anything good.
"AAAAH!" Brook's screech echoed behind her, "Doflamingo is coming from over there."
"And the Marine ship is getting closer over here," sobbed Chopper.
"Noooooooo!"
Now that the warship was closer, she could make out tiny dots scurrying around on deck. Not only was this thing defying gravity, but it was manned . One by one the guns on the warship swivelled down, aiming themselves directly towards the Sunny. Strauss readied herself to fight, but hesitated the longer she watched Law's face.
He was panicking. And, despite what people may think watching him interact with Straw Hat Luffy, Law wasn't a panicker. Sure he was fueled by a potent mix of anxiety and caffeine, but panic wasn't something either of them were used to. If something went wrong, be it one of his plans or an experiment that didn't quite go in the direction he'd hoped, Trafalgar Law could take control of it again in an instant. That was the captain she was used to.
Looking at him right now, she knew that this was a fight they couldn't win.
"You can wait here if you want," he said with stern resolution, removing Kikoku from his shoulder and holding the sheath horizontally in front of him, "but don't let them take Caesar."
Strauss' body blinked out of existence to reform next to Caesar's restrained body. Monet had always been good at creating her Snow Huts with densely packed snow, but Strauss couldn't quite figure out how to do that without removing herself from the battle.
A trickle of something horribly warm against her snowy skin dripped from her nose. She rubbed the blood away before someone could notice.
Caesar immediately began yelling at her, but Strauss let his whiny voice echo into the background as she turned towards Nami, "We need to leave . Now . We'll be no good to either of our captains if we end up-"
BOOM!
She winced as salty spray erupted from the missed shot all over the Sunny. The moment a few drops touched her skin there was a sense of wrongness . Of something that seemed to sap her of her strength, only for herself to return to full strength as the spray dried. This was… she shook it away, steeling herself to continue, "We'll be no good to anyone if we end up dead here!"
Nami's lips pursed, "But…"
"Up there!" Chopper pointed a hoof upwards. "Something's falling from the sky!"
Strauss could feel the heat already, even as the sky darkened around the fiery balls of rock. She grimaced, and braced herself in front of Caesar. Despite the way her heart was already lurching in her throat. She'd been through many near death situations before. She would've hoped that she'd be used to them by now.
"M-Meteorites?!"
Nope. Fear still gripped her like a vice.
"ROOM!
Strauss let out an audible gasp of relief to see Law's blue dome stretch out over the waves.
"Mr Traguy!" Nami's hand shot straight up in the air. "We 'Spiral Hats' are gonna leave right now !"
"AGREED!"
He rolled his eyes, "Just go then!"
"Hey, Law."
Strauss glanced up to see Sanji glaring at Law across the deck, standing up fully straight despite the numerous wounds littering his body.
"I realise we have to carry Caesar as far as possible," he said. "It's clear we have to leave here now. But I thought Dressrosa was just a waypoint." His brow furrowed. "Our main purpose was killing Kaido of the Four Emperors, wasn't it?" Was it a trick of the light or did his eyes flicker towards her? "Aren't you getting too hung up on Doflamingo? You're the one dragging us all into this mess."
In all honesty, Strauss had forgotten the goal was Kaido. Law had been so focused on Doflamingo from the very beginning that the long term goal was just that. Long term.
Law's expression was positively wrathful. Enough so that beads of sweat were dripping down his face. Although that could be because it was getting warm…
Too warm…
"Law!" She yelled, clutching her sides as her entire body began to droop and hiss as it began evaporating away, "The… the meteorites?!"
He whirled towards her with wild eyes, gesturing vaguely towards the meteors with two fingers, "Takt!"
They swerved, crashing straight into the sides of the floating warship with a blaze of heat and fury
Strauss sagged, manifesting all her willpower into keeping her body from thudding to the deck. This was… She was exhausted . There was no way she could keep on going like this for much longer.
Meteors now gone, the clouds high above drifted away leaving a clear blue sky in their wake. It was… so bright. Impossibly vibrant. Almost like it didn't belong in a situation where they were fighting for their lives.
She snapped herself out of it. There was something she could do to help. She straightened, eyes momentarily flicking to the second restrained figure on the deck.
Thank god she'd had the foresight to gag her. Everyone almost seemed to have forgotten she existed.
The Sunny lurched to the side as Nami spun the wheel frantically. "Everybody ready?!" She yelled over her shoulder.
"I'm ready!" yelped Chopper from somewhere within the bowels of the ship.
"Ready Nami-san!"
Sunny listed at a dramatic angle as Nami expertly swerved the ship in a U turn. Strauss let herself skid against the sharp angle, grabbing hold of Giolla's body and hoisting it up.
"C'mon now…" She murmured, more to herself than anyone else, as she noticed that somehow Giolla hadn't regained consciousness despite the insane panic erupting around her. Strauss's hand flaked away into near freezing particles, "We can't have you sleeping on us." She placed her palm across the older woman's face. Somewhere behind her Brook was yelling.
Doflamingo was getting closer.
Strauss winced, willing every inch of cold to seep into her skin.
She had to hurry up.
"mmmmMMMM!" Giolla's screech as she awoke was thankfully muffled into Strauss's palm. A palm that was already beginning to hiss again.
"Excess Whip String!"
Strauss had to brace herself as the Sunny yet again rocked a far too dramatic angle.
Blazing hot trails twisted together to make something far more deadly and shot forwards from Doflamingo's palm to latch onto Law's blade. Law hissed. His arms already strained against the impact. He skidded forwards, feet leaving gouges in the grassy deck. "Nami-ya!" He yelled above the sizzling. "Listen. You have to sail where there are no clouds!"
"What?" Nami called from the wheel, "Why?!"
Law seemed moments away from an exasperated sigh, "Doflamingo is a String-String Fruit eater! He moves through the air by attaching strings to clouds. If there aren't any clouds, he can't follow you!"
Strings? That would make sense with what Strauss had felt with her snowflakes. And it explained how she'd untied Sanji. But to think Law hadn't told her…
Her lips tightened.
With an almighty roar, Law slashed away the fiery strings and sent Doflamingo reeling. "Just go!" He barked. "Now!"
"Get ready for Coup de Burst!" Chopper's voice echoed from below deck.
"Law!" Strauss thrust Giolla forwards. The other woman shrieked.
"Thanks!" He grabbed her, immediately raising Kikoku under her neck menacingly as he turned back to Doflamingo. "Oi, asshole! Look!"
"Y-You too…" Giolla wheezed, "What do you think you're doing?!"
Doflamingo immediately paused mid attack. The smirk was long gone, replaced by something far more horrific. It was enough to make her shudder.
"Strauss-ya?"
She paused, eyes only briefly flicking back towards her Captain.
Law gave the subtlest of nods. "Tell the others I'll catch up with them soon."
"Hmph." Despite herself, she smiled. "You'd better."
Sunny's belly roared, the entire stern of the ship dipping momentarily downwards.
Producing her pouch of Shamble Stones, affectionately named by Bepo when she'd first suggested collecting pebbles for Law to zip between using Shambles, she produced a smooth stone shaped by time and waves into a disk. Perfect for cutting through the air. She raised her arm back, "Where to?"
"The bridge. Splitting his focus would be best for all of us."
Her gaze trailed to the structure in the distance, "Got it." She raised her arm back, feeling the way additional flakes of snow added themselves to her musculature, making her stronger…
"GO!" Nami cried, both hands firmly on the wheel.
… and threw .
The Thousand Sunny shot forward mere seconds after the rock soared from her fingertips. Her body couldn't keep up with the sudden change of momentum, almost sending her sprawling to the deck if it hadn't been for someone's arm wrapping under her shoulder.
"I've got you," Sanji muttered, easily helping her to her feet once the Sunny was fully airborne. "Well-" he chuckled wearily, running a hand through his somewhat still immaculate fringe- "That was… intense." For a long moment he seemed to study her, hands placed on her shoulders and squinting up at her face, "You're not hurt are you? And don't try to hide anything from me. I'll know ."
Yeah. He would, wouldn't he. Strauss sighed, her body practically sagging over in his grip.
"I'm… alright I guess. Just tired."
On the deck behind her the pebble that had taken Law's place, the pebble that only a few moments ago had been soaring over the ocean towards the bridge between Green Bit and Dressrosa, tumbled off Sunny's deck and down into the ocean far below.
"...very tired."