Beginning:

The base camp was full of life. Morale seemed to be at an all time high with the arrival of several ranking officers bent on ending the war once and for all. Of course they intend to do so with a Marine victory. It was ironic because Leila was on her way to investigate something that was the very opposite of 'life'. Because of the general mood of the base camp, the reports were dismissed as just rumors. But the Vice Admiral had a sharp nose for the weird and unusual and her gut was telling her there was more to this than just mad ravings of soldiers who had seen a little too much death in this war and gotten themselves drunk.

She arrived at the tent where the sick and wounded were being treated and headed straight for the room where the scouts from the other night were resting after frantically coming home and reporting that the dead were walking around in the southern coast. Preposterous right? But these men weren't amateurs. They were experienced soldiers who risked their lives everyday to ensure that crucial information on the state of things around the island were being relayed to the proper channels so that those directing the war could make use of them. Perhaps the directors had grown complacent with the arrival of reinforcements and found the new information too ridiculous to even consider.

She sat down and introduced herself to the men who still looked pretty shaken despite it having already been a day since they arrived back at the base. There was this hollow look in their eyes suggesting that they themselves didn't want to believe what they saw but Leila managed to convince them anyway to share their story one more time. It was a very intriguing tale.

While watching the southern coast, they spotted 'Marines' in the distance even though the scouting team was supposed to be the only Marines in the area. That's how they realized something was amiss. They were then surprised that the same 'Marines' were shuffling about with other 'men' who were almost certainly part of the Revolutionary forces. They moved in closer to try and figure out what was going on but as they drew near, one of them let out an audible gasp dropping his binoculars. He recognized one of the 'Marines' as an acquaintance who had unfortunately died early on in the war. His death was confirmed but the body was never recovered. The other scouts began to recognize the other faces too. These were people who were not supposed to be alive. Fearing they were ghosts or something of that sort they ran back to camp.

Leila thanked them for the story and headed out of the tent. People who should be dead walking about. Tales like that weren't unheard of. In fact she was quite certain that a member of the Shichibukai had a capability to bring corpses to life. But that man wasn't part of this war. Well, neither was she in all honesty. But it was worth investigating herself what this was all about. No one else seemed to be interested anyway. With that in mind, she prepared to depart from the camp to go pay the southern coast a visit.

The Dragon decided that for now, he wanted to be lighter. And took off his Clan's distinguished armor. For now, he would be wearing just wearing sort of robes.  These clothes, of course, had his clan's insignia on the back. Yiruzen was a proud man. He liked to show where he came from. And never stray from doing so in even the most minimal situations. It was just who he and the people within the clan was. They were proud of where they were born and proud of who they came from.

At the moment Yiruzen was sitting down while a surplus amount of Cipher Pol Agents resided in his room. It was spacey for there was enough space for them to stand around and "guard" him. Even if Yiruzen could defend himself, it was kind of customary for him to have all of these people around him. Being a Celestial Dragon had its perks and disadvantages. He would shove a piece of pumpkin pie into his mouth. Quite delicious it was.

A few of his agents would be enjoying themselves to some pie in the back as well. The Vice Admiral did a stunning job with this pie. It came out swimmingly. Probably one of the best pumpkin pies he's ever had...and trust me he's had many. But for now, Yiruzen would save the rest of it, maybe around a quarter left. Yiruzen was in the corner of a room. Maybe 50 feet from wall too wall? Was this room reserved for higher ranking Marine officers?

Yiruzen would rub his chin, Just sitting here and doing nothing would be poison to the body. And Yiruzen had to work off all the pie he ate, it would be best to keep up a good physical appearance, not only for life extension reason but also combat reason. You don't want to go into battle feeling ill. That's a recipe for death. Yiruzen was then alerted to the spotting of the Vice Admiral from outside through the window.

Yiruzen would jump up. "Well let's go meet her shall we? It's not like we have anything better to do here." And so, around 20 Cipher Pol agents would accompany him, to meet Leila. He didn't want to overwhelm her too much, she might be doing her job right now. He made the rest of the agents stay back and secure his room. Yiruzen doesn't like a disturbed room. Soon they would be face to face with The Vice Admiral, "Wonderful Day for another battle huh?" 

Just as she was preparing to set off, a familiar face managed to catch her attention. This man was Yiruzen Miyamoto, a Celestial Dragon, and probably the weirdest one she had ever met. She had the pleasure of working with the guy just a while ago when he investigated some rumors from some kids about some giant pumpkin monster in a pumpkin patch a little ways off from the base. The rumors were true and they fought the darn thing, resulting in them winning and coming home with a supply of pumpkin that pretty much fed the entire base and still had some to spare. She had never cooked so much pie in one day in her entire life, but it was an interesting experience and the pie turned out great. She wouldn't mind going on another adventure if not for the fact that she was on a mission right now. It was an informal one that likely won't get her recognized especially if it turned out to be just wild goose chase, but an important contribution to war effort nonetheless.

"Good day to you too. Actually I was just on my way to what could possibly be another battle so that's  quite a coincidence that you should mention it. I see you're still enjoying that pie. It turned out nice didn't it?"

She briefly touched the side of her lip as she spoke, indicating to the World Noble that he still had some evidence of his snacking left on his face. Unfortunately she didn't have a towel or handkerchief to lend him this time around.

"There's trouble brewing in the southern coast. Or rather it could be trouble. This time I'm the one chasing rumors. I think my sources are more reliable though. Something about the dead walking again. I apologize but I don't have time to be just standing around as I'd like to get back by tonight. If you're interested in coming to see for yourself, I'll explain on the way there."

If this man could be intrigued by stories of a giant pumpkin, then dead people walking seemed like something right up his alley so she wouldn't be surprised if he did tag along. If so she would recount the story that the scouts shared with her about seeing people they know to be dead shuffling about near the southern coast. And that it wasn't just dead Marines but dead Revolutionaries as well. It seemed in death they finally managed to work together and coexist. Death was literally the great equalizer in this case. That was an amusing and ironic thought. They would arrive at the southern coast not too soon after and begin their survey.

Yiruzen was surprised that he could make such a careless mistake. Quickly wiping his mouth with a bit of blush on his face the Dragon would recompose himself. "Well what are we waiting for?" The Dragon has a sense of excitement in his eyes. He wondered what could be on this island other than giant pumpkins. It was quite weird in an of itself. For such a phenomenon to occur, and it wasn't the first time. The children said they had seen the beast before. So this wasn't the first time that thing has been seen. Were there other things on this island?

It was indeed around the Halloween times. Wheres ghouls and ghost come out of the darkness to interact with the living. But that was mostly stories that his mother told him when he was younger. So that he would listen and go to sleep like a good little boy. Speaking of his Mother. He wondered if she saw things like the pumpkin before. It wouldn't strike him as suspicious. Yiruzen wouldn't be too surprised if the dead was even walking. Well actually yeah he would. But he wouldn't be as surprised as he was at a walking, attacking, large pumpkin.

Yiruzen would take a single step and remembered two things. One was the fact that he didn't have his armor on, and the second was the fact that he didn't know which direction the southern border was. He didn't have a general knowledge of where north, south, east and west was. He wasn't the navigating type. He was mainly the fighting type. Which he was quite good at.

But, just in case he would send one of his agents to go get his armor. He wouldn't put it on just yet, but he would have it on standby is he decided that it would be worth putting on. Or if he thought if he was in enough danger for him to have to put it on. It was a quick put on anyways. It wouldn't be 10 seconds and he would have the armor on. They way it was designed it was meant for a quick equip in close encounters.

Also if the situation desired it, Yiruzen might have to use his Devil Fruit abilities. He had a few tricks up his sleeve, but for the most part, he was still figuring it out. If Leila starting moving, so would Yiruzen and he would be all ears for what she had to say.

They arrived at the designated area without much trouble. The southern coast of the island was one of the war-free zones in Abfall at the moment. There was an old abandoned city nearby where vagabonds, wanderers, and scavengers made their makeshift homes. As far as Marine or Revolutionary forces were concerned, neither side was particularly making any moves on this location. This was because the 'locals' were troublesome in their own way. And neither the Marines nor Revolutionaries felt it was worth the risk to set up a camp there only for their supplies and equipment to mysteriously 'disappear' under their noses. It was best not to give the local scavengers any temptations. Still that didn't mean they were just going to leave the area unwatched, hence the few scouts occasionally patrolling there. The Revolutionaries were probably doing the same.

The scouts mentioned that they spotted the walking dead near the entrance to the abandoned city. She wondered if that meant they were acting like lookouts. If so, then did that also mean the city was already under their control? The dead or whatever they were, it was hard to think they would trump the scavengers of Abfall so easily. After all only the most relentless and tenacious folks would choose to keep living here. Or perhaps the locals didn't want to try fighting them in the first place. As they neared the abandoned city, their questions would soon be answered.

Leila motioned for the party to stop as she was the first to get a visual of their targets. There they were as described in the report. Right in front of the city, walking around in circles as though they were in a trance, the 'dead' finally made their appearance. Before setting out on the mission, she obtained the names of the 'dead' that the scouts spotted and double-checked them with the records back at base to be sure the men in question truly passed away. None of their bodies were recovered, but multiple eye witness accounts of them falling in battle were on the reports. There were also reports of people from the Revolutionary side scrounging the battlefield of spoils, presumably including Marine bodies and equipment. The nerve of them. They were probably desperate for any information they could grab to turn the war in their favor. But you'd think they'd have the common decency to leave the dead alone out of respect. In any case she was able to confirm that the walking 'dead' are in fact the Marines marked as killed in action in the reports. How unfortunate that they ended up like this.

"Those look like the 'zombies' we're looking for. I'm a bit torn at how to approach this matter though. The reports say they were killed in the war, but on the slightest chance they actually survived and are now under someone's control... I don't really want to engage guns blazing."

"On the other hand, we don't really have any idea what exactly was done to them and they could be 'stronger' than expected. I wouldn't want to endanger anyone here by approaching them too 'lightly' either. What do you think?"

Truth be told there WERE Revolutionaries among the group of the 'dead' walking around. Leila could have tried aiming for one of them. But she wasn't sure how the rest of the group would react if one of them got 'killed' suddenly. That and she still hadn't given up on the angle that they weren't acting according to their own senses. If only there was some way to confirm their nature without risking her group or harming 'them' outright. Leila's group was currently positioned about 100 meters from the entrance to the city where the 'dead' were. There were 10 of them all in all and it didn't look like they were aware of Leila's group just yet.

The dead walks amongst the living? Such a far-fetched idea isn't the first of the kind. It's probably one of the millions of its kind. There have been many rumors of The Walking Dead that Yiruzen has heard. Is he a believer though? He hasn't seen them per say. But when what he has experienced thus far on the island, it wouldn't be impossible, to say the least.

So of course with news like this, the Dragon wanted to see for himself what was going on. Of course, he would have his guards surrounding him. Not by his own volition, but of duty that they must uphold. Yiruzen got that, so he wouldn't object at first but if he deemed that to be more annoying than of the helping sort he would order them to stand down.

Yiruzen followed Leila at a close distance until he signaled him to stop. He would then peer out into the distance of the abandoned city. It gave off this grim aura. Like the place had a feeling of dread within it. Well equipped with what seemed to be dazed soldiers out in front...albeit with fatal injuries. One of them even had a hold on his head big enough for Yiruzen to actually spot from his location.

Listening to what Leila said, Yiruzen nodded his head. And went back to his Agents to discuss something. The subject that he was discussing with them was whether or not he should use his abilities. Thye knew of it, they didn't understand it too much but they knew some of the things that the Dragon could do. One of his handy abilities was of that which was great with reconnaissance.

What he wanted to transform into was what he was stuck on. Of course, he was going to transform into some sort of bird. But which kind? He didn't know much of the animals that resided on the island, so he didn't want to pick something that seemed out of place. And that's when it hit him. He was going to transform into a Crow. It fit the grim scene and atmosphere. And with the already surrounding Crows, he would be able to blend in quite well. Of course, he wouldn't be able to speak, as a talking Crow would be quite suspicious.

So he would return to Leila and in a matter of seconds, he would shrink and transform into a Crow. Flapping in the air he would speak to her.

"Quite the nifty ability huh? I quite enjoy doing this sometimes. But what I'm trying to say here, is that I'm going to go do some reconning. While you could go down and handle the zombies. You seem quite capable enough. But if I see that you need assistance don't be surpirsed by a Crow turning into a man.

Passive Used:

Leila waited while Yiruzen had a short discussion about something with his agents. This action actually puzzled her for a moment. Why was a Celestial Dragon consulting with his agents about deciding on something? Most of the time, they would just go ahead and insist on what they want or what they think without considering much how others felt. She could understand consulting with people they considered their equals, but it was incredibly odd consulting with someone below them. She decided to just chalk this up to one of the man's many peculiarities as a World Noble. He just keeps doing these surprising things. In the end though, what he discussed with his men wasn't quite the answer the Vice Admiral was hoping for.

He started with a small demonstration of his powers, transforming into a crow. Before she could ask why, he explained that he was going to do some recon while she took care of the zombies. It was hardly an answer to her question of how to deal with the zombies assuming they weren't actually zombies. It was hard to say if he misunderstood her query or if he simply wanted Leila to take care of them. Standing there talking wouldn't get them anywhere though so she decided not to press the issue further. She was not a fan of killing unnecessarily but if these guys were really zombies, then technically they're dead already. She never thought she'd see the day when she would 'kill' based on a technicality.

She nodded at the Celestial Dragon and proceeded to openly walk towards the group of zombies. Since she was going to 'take care' of them anyway, she might as well get as much information about them at possible. One such crucial detail was how they sensed others and how good this sense was. She managed to make it to the 50 meter mark and the zombies still didn't 'see' her despite moving in full view in the middle of the old road. Perhaps they had bad eyesight? She continued to walk until the 20 meter mark and found that they still didn't really react to her. This entire time she had been walking really silently. It was a skill she learned from her days exploring jungles and avoiding dangerous predators. When she hypothesized that they had terrible vision, the next thing she tested was their hearing and sense of smell. The fact that they still didn't respond made her wonder if it was really through sound then that they sensed things.

Still at the 20 meter mark, she stomped her foot on the ground really hard. The zombies that were shuffling about aimlessly just moments ago immediately looked up in her direction. Looks like that worked. Moaning and groaning, they began to run towards her. It was like a scene out of a horror movie. She quickly picked up a few rocks on the ground and then backed away as the zombies drew closer. Now that she had their attention, the next thing she wanted to test was how far they would chase her. If they were really stationed out there as guards or lookouts, then they should return to their posts after a while. But even after stepping back a hundred meters, staying just within their 'hearing' range, the zombies still continued to pursue. Interesting. Perhaps they weren't 'guards' after all and simply released out there to attack whoever came across them.

As Leila distracted the zombies, Yiruzen made his way over to a small secured building and blended in with the rest of the crows. He looked down into the city and saw that for the most part, it was baren. There was a few thing that stuck out like carts, that held parts. Maybe there were merchants stationed here. This was Yiruzen's first time in the city. So he had no information regarding it and it's "residents".

For now, though he would stay put and fly to a  closer spot, a spot that wouldn't put him in much danger and it wouldn't seem like he was out of place there. The city was quiet, or it attempted to look that way. Its quietness was overwhelming. Deafening maybe. Is it ironic right? Staying there for much longer would start to be annoying. He wondered something though. Was this city ever bustling at once point? Well, of course, that answer would have to be yes, it's a city so there would have had to be plenty of people in the area.

But what happened here? Where did all those people go? Those 10 probably wasn't even the brunt of the amount of bodies that resided here. Yiruzen flew back to blend in with the Crows. They would look at him, but then bo back to doing their crow things. Like looking suspicious and ominous. What he could tell from his Recon is that there I definitely something weird going on in the city.

He started to fly back over to Leila, transforming back in mid-air behind Lelia he would begin to tell her what he saw. "It's depressing and quiet over there. The place seems to have this sort of aura about it though. Like it had a dark being resident it in, or something contributed to us seeing the dead walking among us. But if they were really already deceased then I would suggest taking their movement. Like either destroying the brain or taking out the legs. But I don't think that even that would be able to stop them. So maybe snapping their spines would be a better choice?"

This was all for Leila to decide what to do with the dead coming right for them. Was she going to do any of the things that he spoke of or was she going to do something he didn't even think of? For all, he knew Leila could have experienced.

Yiruzen didn't take too long scouting out the location. From the way he spoke when he came back, the ten zombies chasing after her were the only ones in the immediate area. That made his suggestion of trying out different things more doable. At this stage, if they were going to encounter more zombies later, it was best to thoroughly research how to stop them in their tracks or put them down for good. She honestly felt bad for the Marines who had to meet this fate, but she would use their sacrifice to help put an end to whatever was out here turning them into zombies in the first place.

Aiming for the zombie closest to her, she flicked two rocks at its legs, taking them out from the force of the impact. The zombie collapsed on the ground but was still groaning and moaning. It then started to crawl forward with its still functioning arms and didn't seem like it particularly cared about its legs being destroyed. Being forced to crawl slowly with just its arms definitely slowed it down, but it was obvious enough it wasn't enough to completely stop them.

For the next zombie, Leila decided to go for the classic example of blowing up the head. Or at least she would have, if not for the fact that the dead guy was already missing a quarter of his head. He probably died from a cannon ball blasting that part of. The top left portion of his head was missing, including his left eye. Grey matter was slightly spilling and poking out of what remained of his cranium. This guy was definitely deceased and beyond saving. His state though made her think twice about destroying the head as weakness. Perhaps you needed to be thorough about destroying it? Deciding on that, she flicked the next rock at the remaining right side of the zombie's head, blasting a hole through that part. At this point, the zombie slumped on its knees and collapsed on the ground staying motionless. Looks like that did it. The head was a weakness but only after inflicting a certain level of damage.

The observations while dealing with the zombie with the partially destroyed head made her curious though what would happen if the head was taken off without necessarily destroying it. The next zombie was a more complete specimen. This time, Leila aimed for the neck with the goal of completely beheading it. She picked a slightly bigger rock to use and threw it square at the center of where the throat would be, making the head fall clean off. The zombie's body took a few steps forward before finally collapsing on the ground and remaining motionless. Meanwhile the head that was removed had its mouth and jaw moving. She figured if not for that fact that she destroyed its throat, the zombie head might still be moaning and groaning. That confirmed the zombie factor was in the head and destroying it really was the most surefire way to kill them for good. She aimed a second rock right in the middle of the fallen head to finally put it out of its misery.

For the rest of the zombies, she proceeded to just outright destroy their heads with the rocks she picked up. They went down quickly enough. They didn't have time to waste here if the problem was really bigger than it seemed.

"I feel bad for them, but seeing them up close like this, there was probably no way to save them anyway. At the very least they helped me figure out how to best take down their kind in the future. And that is a very near future."

She spoke addressing the Celestial Dragon after she was through.

"I don't know if your ability to change and fly is something you can use anytime at will, but you should save it and have it ready for when things get too dangerous. I expect it to be so after entering the city. The source of all this is in there somewhere."

After she finished talking, she turned round and headed for the city. Though she warned Yiruzen of the possible danger, Leila herself was a tiny bit anxious. The zombies weren't much of a threat so far, but something more 'thrilling' might be coming for them when they venture deeper in.

[Exit]

Looking on how Leila took down the dead men walking really made Yiruzen think. First off, breaking the legs, won't do a damn thing, other than slow them down. Next, you need sufficient head damage to actually put down these things. "Hmmmm... Yiruzen rubbed his chin. He wondered what sort of devil fruit could have the ability to bring back the dead. It could be quite problematic with how things are currently on the island. With the sides like Marines and Revolutionaries. And with the emergence of a Dragon, Yiruzen, this person wouldn't be making things easier for anyone.

Well depending on what side he was, which was likely he wasn't on any side. Worse case scenario, of course, was that he wasn't a fan of Marines. Which was probably the case, due to the fact that he used marines body to enact zombification. So this guy was willing to use anything he got his hands on. Was he once a scavenger living on this island and managed to get his hands on a Devil Fruit?Also, this could also be some sort of other ability that had nothing to do with a devil fruit. It was just the most plausible thing to assume that this was a product of it. See that things like giant living pumpkins exist, it wouldn't be farfetched to assume that things like witches also exist.

But on this one island? That would be far too much of a coincidence. Next thing you know there will be headless horsemen roaming around causing trouble. Which wouldn't be good for this war. In other words, it would be good for the marines to locate most of the anomalies on this island and take care of it. Yiruzen doesn't know whether or not staying on this island would be good for him. With all the weird things happening it would be best that the Dragon relocate and come back when he feels that the marines have a better grasp of the island and he could feel much safer.

Don't get him wrong, he felt quite safe with Leila, it was just what happens if a full force of revolutionaries ambush them? Could the two take them all out? Yiruzen head that there was a quite formidable revolutionary on the island. Yiruzen would shake his head and notice something. For the first time in ages, his hair started to itch. He guessed it was time for a change.