Devil's Luck Pirates

-Let's get this over with. Duros, Ragnar, break that thing open. – William demands as he stands beside Atom.

Duros and Ragnar go over the stone chest and get their weapons ready to break it open. Verona is a bit further back, keeping his eye on Atom.

Meanwhile, Pearl stands paralyzed in the same place as the others open the chest that will seal her fate. The only thing running through her mind is what will happen if there is no gold inside that small, stone chest. Will they really let her be taken? Duros seemed against the idea. But Pearl knows that, at the end of the day, Duros would choose his Captain rather than a random girl he met a week ago.

After a couple of hits, the stone chest seems to be close to open. One more hit and it's done.

Ragnar and Duros swing their weapons at full force busting open the stone chest. They stand back so William can take a look at what's inside.

Inside the chest is a small and weird-looking fruit. A brown, pear-shaped fruit with swirls patterns all over it.

William takes a deep breath. For a moment he expected to find diamonds and stashes of Bellies inside so he could resolve this situation peacefully.

-So, what's inside?... – Atom asks.

-What we've been looking for. – William responds seriously as he turns back to Atom and points his flintlock at him. Verona does the same with his rifle.

Atom calmly blows out some smoke and looks at William.

-I thought we had a deal. – He says.

-You know what they say. Never make a deal with a pirate. – William readies his gun.

Atom smiles.

–That's why I don't.

Pearl's shoulder explodes covering her in flames as she screams in pain.

-PEARL!! – Duros exclaims as he runs towards her.

-Relax. I need her alive. – Atom states while looking directly at William.

The smoke clears around Pearl revealing what's underneath. Her shoulders are covered in scales and her head is adorned with two big horns.

Pearl writhes in pain of having her flesh incinerated. Until something starts to happen to her body.

Her body starts to grow, tearing her clothes apart allowing them to see her be covered by scales. A pair of wings suddenly sprout out of her back. Her face starts to adopt a more monstrous expression. Her teeth become pointy and her eyes lose all semblance of humanity to them. And her screams sound less like a terrified girl, and more like a raging monster.

Everyone just looks at the now giant, pink dragon in front of them. Her roar makes the entire cave shake as if it was about to collapse on top of them.

Atom seems very surprised by Pearl's transformation. Her wanted poster didn't say anything about her being capable of turning into a giant dragon.

Pearl looks down at the group. Incapable of distinguishing friend from foe, she lifts her giant claw and smashes it into everyone close to the chest.

William quickly grabs the Devil Fruit from the chest and manages to dodge out of the way thanks to his agility. Atom, Ragnar, and Duros manage to duck out of the way just in time. Her claw smashes the ground beneath it.

Atom takes this opportunity and runs towards the exit. Noticing the bastard trying to get away, William and Verona shoot at him managing to land a shot on his right elbow and another one on his back. But he still seems to be going strong. He's a lot tougher than they expected.

Pearl looks down at William, Ragnar, and Duros. She opens her mouth while fire starts to build up in her throat. A second later, a giant wall of flame engulfs all three of them.

Verona can only watch as his friends are incinerated. Reminding him of his greatest fear, fire.

However, not all of them got caught up in this inferno. William managed to get out of it having only his left arm burned up. His clothes now singed and half burnt.

Pearl continues to thrash about destroying what was left of the houses in the village with her tail and throwing fire bolts all over the place.

-Verona! Come help with Ragnar and Duros! I think they're still alive! – William screams looking back at them as the flames start to clear out.

Verona however, stands paralyzed in place. Sweat dripping down his face as he watches the whole town be covered in flames.

-VERONA! COME HELP ME!

William's plea for help manages to break him free of his fear for a moment. Verona looks at his friends, unconscious on the floor and covered in burns. He rushes toward them and drags Duros away from Pearl while William does the same with Ragnar.

-We need to calm her down. – William says.

-You think she will listen to us?! – Verona asks in a panic.

-If she keeps going she'll destroy the cavern and we'll all be buried here.

Verona knows they running away means leaving behind Duros and Ragnar. But he prefers to die fighting a dragon than leaving his friends behind.

After leaving Duros and Ragnar in a safe place, they go towards Pearl to try to calm her down.

-Pearl! I have no idea if you can hear me, but you have to calm down! Everything will be ok!

Pearl looks down at William and Verona standing there. She sees the fear on Verona's face and how badly burnt William's arm is.

Atom has now reached the pond at the entrance.

-Yall are fucked, man! How could you go around with that fucking monster in your crew! – He screams in panic as he climbs up the rope.

When Pearl hears Atom's voice, her rage appears to build up again. She roars with all her might making the whole cave tremble again.

She swipes at William and Verona. The former manages to dodge out of the way. But Verona isn't so fast on his feet and is sent flying across the center square. Smashing through a wooden wall into a house.

-VERONA!! – William screams as he stands up. Clutching his burnt arm.

Verona slowly stands back up. Half a dozen bones broken and coughing out blood through his mask. He's in severe pain but knows that Pearl is also suffering. He stumbles out of the house as Pearl roars while looking at him.

Verona takes out his goggles and looks at her deep in the eyes. He can see her eyes start to soften a bit. She only needs a little push.

-Pearl… Cough… Please stop this… You're not a monster…

After those words, he collapses to the floor unconscious.

Pearl stands back for a moment. She looks around the cave and sees all the destruction she caused. Her gaze wanders through the place seeing Duros and Ragnar unconscious and covered in burns until her eyes end up on William. He can barely stand.

-Please stop… – He says while crying in desperation as he holds his arm. Pearl never saw William in this state before. In fact, none of his crewmates have. He was always the calm and collected but sometimes dumb Captain.

This desperation seems to be the last push she needed to come back to normal. Her body starts to get smaller and smaller. Her draconic features morphing into more human ones until she's completely human again. Well, almost. Her claws and horns are still there like before.

Atom is long gone, but that's the last of Williams concerns as he drops to the floor breathing a giant sigh of relief.