~Third~

Kamie, Pappagu and Shakky waved off the Strawhats and Rayleigh as they went their separate ways for the next three days, well hopefully, Nicole hoped this dread was just a passing thing it wasn't anything to worry about, that this power she sensed belonged to someone with the power to match an admiral, yeah they had absolutely nothing to worry about, probably.

~skip~

"The best place is to hide is in the amusement park"Luffy said "You're so full of it"Nami said "You just wanna screw around and have fun"Usopp said before a familiar face blocked their path, Nicole was most surprised, she should of heard them approach but nothing, who or whatever this guy was didn't have any semblance of a soul.

"Who is this guy?"Luffy asked "Well he looks like Bartholomew Kuma one of the seven warlords but i'm not hearing his soul's voice, i'm not hearing any soul at all"Nicole said "And that means?" Nami trailed off "Whatever this thing is it's mechanical"Nicole said.

~skip~

The Kuma clone revealed a tube in his hand and began charging a beam in it "Luffy dodge!" Nicole called and he did "What the heck was that?"Luffy asked "That was"Chopper trailed off "A beam!"him and Luffy said, Nicole sweatdropped.

"Why was thing thing modeled after Kuma?"Robin wondered "Who knows who cares, it's our enemy now"Zoro said "Hey i remember him now he's the guy that showed up at Thriller Bark i never fought, so this thing just looks like him?"Luffy asked.

"That's right, things got pretty dicey when he stared shooting shock waves with his paw, we made barely made it out alive, this thing could be even worse"Usopp said "Whoever or whatever this thing is it's probably here to capture us"Chopper said turning to his heavy point.

"Then we better stop yapping and start fighting"Franky said launching his coup de vaunt at the Kuma clone knocking it back, Luffy went right into second gear "Alright we know he's strong so let's go all out from the start"he said and the others got ready to fight too, Nicole gave Zoro a glance of concern as she drew her swords, he gave her a quick smile for reassurance drawing his swords.

The Strawhats attacked the Kuma clone but they were having a hard time just getting close enough because of the deadly beams Kuma clone was shooting at them, as another volley died down Nicole sprinted out dodging the beams and managing to cut into the mechanic thing exposing the complex machinery keeping it running but it still stood back up.

The monster trio rushed in unleashing all they had on the Kuma clone blowing it back, they panted, watching and waiting to see if the Kuma clone got back up, Nicole doubted she had cut deep enough to do any real damage, she hoped the boys had finished it off.

"Yes way to go they took him down"Nami said "Those four are just too awesome"Chopper said "We should still be careful"Robin said "Is he down for good?"Luffy asked "Doubtful"Nicole said "Well he's plenty strong as is and what's worse the real one might be after us as well"Sanji said.

~skip~

The Kuma clone was back up and attacking the Strawhats again, Zoro and Sanji tried fighting it back their attacks barely affected the Kuma clone which started charging a mouth laser at Zoro who couldn't move due to still being injured from Thriller Bark, Nicole rushed in and tackled him out of the way just as the laser fired.

"Nice work Nicole!"Luffy said running over "Hey Zoro what's the matter with you? How are you already hurt so bad we just started"he said, Nicole bit her lip to stop herself from blurting out anything "Look just forget about him for now Luffy, we're all screwed if we can't beat this thing" Sanji said "Yeah, right"Luffy said.

"Stubborn idiot stay down!"Nicole yelled at Zoro as he tried getting up, Kuma clone attacked again and the Strawhats jumped back dodging the beam, Nicole knew she could just cut straight through this thing and she had no problems about using her final ace in the hole now that they were at the end of the first half, however she was too concerned about Zoro and wanted to keep a close eye on him.

Zoro went forward "Where do you think you're going?"Nicole asked stepping in front of him but not taking her eyes off of the Kuma clone, Zoro just walked past her going to attack Kuma Clone which was charging a beam again, Chopper ran in and attacked the Kuma clone barely pushing it back.

Kuma clone caught Chopper and stared charging it's beam again when Franky ran in and manage to divert Kuma clones hand releasing Chopper, Franky attacked Kuma clone with a flurry of ora's (it's true, in the dubbed Franky clearly says ora or maybe i'm hearing things, either way it's staying in) but it didn't even flinch and punched Franky back.

Robin used her powers to catch Franky, Brook attacked from above but it hardly had an affect, Usopp shot at Kuma clone and they ran away, Kuma clone went down "Whoa, i didn't think explosives would work that well"Usopp said "You sank one of them into his mouth, must have shorted out something inside of him, his body maybe hard as steel but his skin still bleeds, he's just like me, he's got a normal old body that's been modified and stuffed full of weapons" Franky said as Kuma clone got up again.

"Not quite, if he had been human to begin with i'd hear a soul like with you, this thing is entirely mechanic, but in that case what's the point of making it have a human outer shell?"Nicole wondered as Nami was running over to them, Kuma clone took aim but just as the beam would fire Robin used her powers to force Kuma clones mouth shut.

Nami followed up with thunder bolt lance striking straight through Kuma "So did it work or not?"Brook asked, Kuma clone started randomly firing everywhere and the Strawhats ducked for cover "I guess that means no"Nicole muttered, if anything it seemed to overload the system and now Kuma clone was going on a rampage.

Sanji knocked Kuma clone over to Zoro who sliced him up further from the cut Nicole made earlier, Luffy came in from above with Third Gear and attacked Kuma clone finally shutting the damned thing down, Nicole didn't feel the least bit relieved though running over to Zoro.

"You damn fool"Nicole simply said putting her forehead on his kinda gently headbutting him "I thought you'd do more"Zoro said catching his breath "You're hurt enough as it is"Nicole said gently headbutting him again.

"That do it is he done?"Franky asked "Seems like it about time"Usopp said "Geez he looks fine creepy"Nami said "If he's fine then we are screwed i'm too tired to move anymore"Usopp said "You know maybe we should have run instead of fighting"Chopper said.

 "No it's best to take them on as they come one at a time, we're being chased we can't get cornered"Robin said "True, do you have any idea what that thing was Nicole?"Zoro asked as she continued to gently headbutt him.

"Not really, what i do know is that something like that could only have been engineered by doctor Vegapunk"Nicole said "We need to get some rest, i was up for a fight but that guy was way too much for me, i'm exhausted"Luffy said "A brake would be nice but we gotta find a place to hide first, if they find us now there's no way we can fight them off"Sanji said.

"Yeah i know but let's just sit here for a few minutes"Luffy said, Nicole jumped up "As much as i'd love to agree we don't have time to sit around"she said looking up in the trees, she had been too distracted with Kuma clone to notice them coming over.

"You guys got some real nerve look what you've done"a voice said, the others jumped up and looked over to where Nicole was looking, some guy jumped down creating a dust cloud "Who are you?"Luffy asked.

"I'm disgusted you're an utter disgrace PX-4 the navy's not made of money just building one of you Pacifista's cost as much as an entire warship, seriously you know how this is going to look in my report to that lousy Vegapunk"the dust cleared revealing a very round guy with a battle axe and another Kuma clone.

'Pacifista? I thought they were still in development, something must have happened for the navy to make Vegapunk rush any finishing touches, or perhaps the prototypes were deemed good enough for a field run? Either way i better focus up' Nicole mused in her thoughts laying a hand on one of her swords.

"Alright axe boy just who the hell are ya?"Franky asked "I got an identity outside of my axe you know and there's no point in asking questions, i have no reason to answer you, i'm the most well guarded and tight lipped man alive, no one can penetrate my defences"round guy said.

"Oh come on you could at least tell us your name"Usopp said "Did you hear a single thing i just told you? My lips are sealed, trust me there's not one person more secretive then me, Sentomaru"he said.

"Gotcha so you're Sentomaru"Usopp said "Uh to be clear i wanted you to know that that's why i told you and not because you wanted to know okay? PX-1 let's get started"Sentomaru said as the Pacifista made an explosion around them knocking back the Strawhats.

"This guy shoots beams from his hands too, starting to think they've got a whole army of these things, what is this crap?"Sanji asked "I'm more concerned with staying alive the mystery can wait, we're too worn down, there's just no way we can make it through another fight and we haven't even met the admiral"Zoro said.

"Yeah, we can't win, let's run but not all together we need to split up"Luffy said "Sound good to me, run!"Usopp and Chopper said running away "We're the toughest we'll each lead our own group"Luffy said referring to himself, Zoro, Sanji and Nicole.

"Right, are you gonna be okay on your own?"Sanji asked turning to Nicole "I'll be fine, it's this idiot i'm worried about"Nicole said gesturing at Zoro "Hey shut up!"Zoro yelled at her "Actually you stick with Zoro Nicole, i'm not sure why but he's hurt"Luffy said "Aye aye captain"Nicole smiled a bit.

The Strawhats split making a run for it, Sanji went with Nami and Franky, Zoro and Nicole went with Usopp and Brook and Luffy went with Chopper and Robin "Hey guys meet back on the Sunny in three days!"Luffy called.

Usopp made a smoke screen "Now's our chance run for it"he said running on ahead, the Pacifista took out the bridge and went after Sanji's group, Sentomaru went after Luffy group but Zoro's group got the short end of the stick, in front of them to block their path appeared admiral Kizaru.