(Location: Enies Lobby)
(Luke Strauss POV)
After setting off from Water-7, Luke followed the Eternal Pose Jack had given him to Enies Lobby. Rather than take the Sea Train, Luke was zipping through the sky like a lightning bolt, more to get there faster, but also because he didn't want to cause the Sea Train any problems. CP-9 was his primary target, but Luke wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get rid of the Marines. Ever since they had taken his family away from him, Luke had a rage-fueled fire burning inside of his chest, and no matter what he did he couldn't satiate it, however the thought of ending the lives of every Marine in his path did something else. It allowed him to direct that rage so it could be useful.
It wasn't long after setting off before he could see the light from Enies Lobby shining down on the island, which was an anomaly. The Island was also known as "The Never Night Island" for the simple fact that it never got dark here, which surprisingly wasn't the weirdest thing about the place. The island basically floated over a pit into the abyss, only a small piece of land connecting it on both sides to the rest of the world. No one knew how far the pit went down or what resided there, but considering the ocean had been pouring into it for as long as anyone could remember and still never filled up, led people to believe that it went to the very depths of hell.
Upon seeing the anomaly that was Enies Lobby, Luke couldn't help the dark thought that appeared in his mind. 'I could just send them to hell by destroying the island.' It was a dark thought, and though he did like the thought of it, it wasn't good enough. For all he knew, they wouldn't die down there if he somehow caused the island to fall, and that would just not do. He had to be certain of their deaths, and for that, he had to see it with his own eyes.
Instead of landing at the gates to the island, Luke appeared on the Tower of Justice, which is the place where Jack told him he would find the bigshots. Also, for some reason he was supposed to not kill the two giants who guarded the gate. In fact, Jack had asked him to deliver a message to them, however Luke couldn't for the life of himself figure out how Jack knew the idiot giants had been tricked into guarding the island for the last fifty years for nothing.
'Whatever. If he wants to keep his powers a secret then who am I to judge.' Luke thought, simply brushing off Jack's knowledge as something similar to ordinary. 'If Jack could even be called ordinary.' Luke grumbled internally before turning his attention back to the matter at hand.
"SPANDAM! CP-9! GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!" Luke roared so loudly that his voice carried to nearly every part of the island. With his Haki spread out around him, Luke was able to see and hear every soul on the island, and right now he could hear a man freaking out in the room below him. Based on his appearance, Luke guessed that this was Spandam, a greasy conniving wretch who should have been pumped up his mother's ass so she could shit him out right where he belonged with the rest of the world's filth.
Keeping his Haki trained on Spandam, Luke saw him and three other individuals in suits make their way out onto the balcony below him. Having reviewed their files quite extensively before coming here, Luke knew that these people were the remaining members of CP-9, the same individuals he had set out to find. Once they were outside, Luke struck, unleashing three pillars of lightning atop the three members of CP-9, erasing them from existence in an instant.
When the light show finally ended, nothing remained of CP-9, not even ash. "W-Who are you?" Spandam asked in a whimper after he fell on his ass, looking at Luke as if he were a complete monster. "As of this moment, I am your judge, jury, and executioner. This will not be quick, and it will be more painful than you could ever imagine." Luke answered coldly as he appeared beside Spandam.
Not giving the sniveling swine a chance to squeal, Luke grabbed him up by the throat before he threw him towards the top of the courthouse. Spandam landed hard, smashing his face into the roof of the building with a loud crunch, signaling to the fact that more of his face had probably been broken from the fall. Following him, Luke landed on the courthouse roof, only his landing was far more graceful.
Once there, Luke turned his attention back to the Tower of Justice before he began to gather his power, and after what seemed like a blink, a pillar of lightning completely enveloped the tower and caused the entire island of Enies Lobby to shake. The residents of the island could see the lightning, so the cause of the island's shaking was known to everyone, however none of them knew the origin of the lightning. If they had, they would have fled from the island as quickly as they could, for once Luke's gaze found them, there would be no chance of escape.
Only after the Tower of Justice was no more did Luke stop unleashing his power, and seeing nothing where the tower once stood seemed to please him to no end. "W-What have you done?! The tower!" Spandam cried from behind him, which in turn caused Luke to look away from where the tower had once been and look back at the waste of flesh. "Corpses shouldn't speak." Luke said flatly, then he began to slowly walk towards the man who looked completely terrified.
"Stop! If you come any closer, I'll push this button!" Spandam shouted desperately as he held up a small golden Transponder Snail. "And I should care, why?" Luke asked, if only to satiate his curiosity. "You fool! If I press this button, it will invoke a Buster Call onto Enies Lobby! There will be no escape for you!" Spandam shouted, revealing what he thought to be a terrifying deterrent, however if he knew just who was in front of him, he never would have opened his mouth. Rather than be scared of the idea of the impending Buster Call, Luke smiled a smile so wide, if his lips curled upwards anymore, his smile would no longer be attached to his face.
"Is that right?" Luke said, then faster than Spandam could blink, he swung his sword and removed the arm holding the golden Transponder Snail, but he caught the little Transponder Snail before it hit the ground. It was only when he saw Luke holding the Transponder Snail that Spandam looked down and saw that his arm was no longer attached to his body, which in turn caused him to let out a cry of agony.
Ignoring the man's screaming, Luke looked closely at the little golden Transponder Snail for all of three seconds before he pressed the button on top of it. He couldn't see or hear it, but elsewhere on the crescent-shaped island of Marineford, alarms were blaring as marines moved to board ten battleships.
'I wonder how long it's going to take them to get here?' Luke wondered absently before he focused his attention back onto what was going on around him. Spandam was still crying, and down below he could see thousands of Marines gathering at the base of the courthouse, no doubt they were coming to investigate the pillar of light that had destroyed the Tower of Justice. 'Oh well, I guess I'll deal with these people before the Buster Call arrives to the party.' Luke thought to himself, then as calmly as could be, he stepped towards Spandam who immediately began to scurry away from him. "No! No! Plea-! UGH!" Spandam's pleas were cut-off as a hand covered in lightning clamped firmly around his throat and fried his vocal cords.
Still holding the blubbering mess off of the ground, Luke moved over to the edge of the building so the marines down below could see them, then without uttering a word he began to methodically dismember Spandam, starting first with his remaining arm, then his legs, then because he just wanted the man to die, Luke threw what was left of him into the air over the marines down below, then pulled his sword. Moving so fast that those down below didn't even register his movements, Luke cut Spandam into thousands of little pieces, and soon a spray of blood, guts, and flesh fell down atop the watching marines like rain. Barely had they registered what was actually falling on them when those among them began to let out cries of agony as they too were sliced apart.
Luke moved through the island as if he were a plague, making sure he killed each and every person he happened to come across. As for his victims, no one ever saw him, they were simply alive one second and dead the next.
Normally there would have been at least ten-thousand marines on Enies Lobby at any given moment, however since the bounties on Marines had been released to the world, more and more marines had left, and given how Enies Lobby didn't actually need that many Marines, only five-thousand had been on the island. Still, Luke had massacred them down to the last, until there was only him and two stupid giants who were both blubbering after Luke had kicked their asses.
Already he had told them about how their bosses were still fighting in a legendary duel, then he went on to mock them for a good minute about how they were stupid, and that if all giants were as stupid as they were, their race wouldn't be around for too much longer. Done with that, Luke told them they had better find a way off the island since the Buster Call was on its way, and seeing as how the Gates of Justice were just now opening, it had finally arrived.
Having cleared all of Enies Lobby, Luke turned his focus on to the new approaching force. With a wolfish grin, he blitzed towards the last battleship to come through the gate. He figured if he started from the rear of the fleet then there would be less of a chance of any of them escaping, something he would not allow.
Two battleships were erased in seemingly a blink of an eye, followed by three more ships being completely severed in two lengthwise. Ignoring the remaining five, Luke stood atop the sinking wreckage that was once a ship and began to pop the Marines swimming for their lives in the head with his pistol, all the while singing a morbid little tune. "One little, two little, three little Fishies, four little, five little, six little Fishies, seven little, eight little, nine little Fishies, and there's still five-thousand to go!"
He was taking his time dealing with the floundering and struggling Marines when suddenly the water surrounding the wreckage and the remaining five battleships was completely encased in ice. Looking in the direction where the ice had originated, Luke saw a tall man he recognized from a newspaper. "Aokiji." Luke whispered to himself as he locked eyes with an Admiral of the Marines.
The two stared at each other for almost ten seconds before they both suddenly disappeared from where they were standing, only to reappear in midair above the ships, with Luke's sword pressed against a shield of ice that was coated in Haki. "That won't save you from me!" Luke growled angrily, then blitzed rapidly around the sky as lightning rained down all around him. Aokiji looked around frantically for any sign of him, however Luke moved too fast for even the Admiral to keep up with him.
A burning pain in his side was the first thing Aokiji felt as Luke's sword sliced his hip open, but thankfully it didn't sever him in half. Being quick, he covered the wound with ice so as to stop the bleeding, but also to keep his organs from falling out. Turning as quickly as he could, Aokiji moved his shield to block another strike from Luke, however Luke blitzed around him again, shooting him with a pistol.
Aokiji must have expected this, because he turned just as Luke fired the pistol and held out his hand to act as some sort of shield, but what happened was not what he expected. He had hoped to freeze the bullet in place, however it had been far stronger than he had imagined and punctured through his ice and into his hand. Given how the bullet ignored his Devil Fruit ability, he surmised that it was made from Sea Prism Stone.
Aokiji very quickly realized that he was not in a good position, given how he had already been severely cut on his side, and now his left hand was practically useless, and the fight had only just begun. "Just who in the hell are you?" Aokiji asked. "Corpses shouldn't be allowed to speak." Luke said simply, then disappeared from view once more, however just when he was about to slash at Aokiji's legs, a blinding light struck him in the shoulder, actually piercing straight through him and causing him to drop his Kitetsu sword, which fell down into the ocean.
Narrowing his eyes at where the light had come from, Luke saw a tall man wearing a yellow suit standing atop the Gate of Justice. "Kizaru… what impeccable timing." Aokiji said cooly upon seeing his friend and comrade, then focused his attention back onto Luke. "Two against one. This hardly seems fair." Luke said calmly as he looked between the two Admirals. "There are actually a lot more than two of us!" A Vice-Admiral shouted at him from the battleship down below them. "Plebeians don't count!" Luke shouted towards the man, followed quickly by a bolt of lightning that punctured straight through the Vice-Admiral's head, ending his life in an instant.
"My, my, how scary. Just who is this guy, Kuzan?" Kizaru asked in mild surprise after appearing beside Aokiji. "Don't know, but he's freakishly fast. Near your level of fast." Aokiji said, then winced as he began to form a block of ice around his mangled hand. "That is frightening." Kizaru said, then his hands began glowing before thousands of beams of light shot towards Luke. Remaining still, Luke let the beams of light pass right through him, revealing to the two Admirals that he was a Logia user just like them.
"This isn't good. He's got the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Its destructive capabilities are on a whole other level than mine." Kizaru said, for the first time in a long time, sounding a little serious. "Not only that, but his gun has Sea Stone bullets. Don't let him shoot you." Aokiji informed Kizaru.
Seeing that the odds were not in his favor, and given how he was injured, Luke decided he had had enough fun for one day. As much as he wanted to try and fight the two Admirals, doing so while injured would not end well for him, especially against Kizaru. Had it been Aokiji and Akainu he still might have pressed his luck, but Kizaru was a whole other matter. Jack considered Kizaru to be the biggest threat between the three Admirals, and if Jack was wary of someone, then Luke would be a fool to not do the same. Besides, if he died now, he wouldn't get to enjoy killing the World Nobles, and he at least wanted to do that before he died.
"I'll be seeing you again, Kizaru. And next time it'll be completely different." Luke said, then shot off into the sky in the opposite direction as the Gates of Justice. "Not so fast." Kizaru said, appearing beside Luke off in the distance, however Luke was ready for it, and parried Kizaru's kick with his remaining sword. His shoulder wound made it difficult to use both hands, but he was able to draw his pistol with the wounded hand. Kizaru was wary of the gun and kept his distance, so taking the opportunity, Luke shot off again in the same direction as before, and again Kizaru followed.
They played their game of tag for a little over an hour, with Luke managing to slightly wound Kizaru and Kizaru managing to shoot a few more holes through Luke's chest. The fight might have lasted longer, however Luke was able to lose Kizaru as soon as he entered a dense fog that seemed to go on for miles on end. Thanks to the wide range of his Haki he was able to find an old abandoned ship that seemed to be floating endlessly in the fog, and since Kizaru clearly couldn't find him, he decided to retreat back to Marineford.
"Son of a bitch, that sucked." Luke groaned in pain after sitting down on some stairs leading to the upper deck of the ship. "My goodness, that looks painful." A smooth voice sounded nearby. Startled, Luke shot painfully to his feet and looked towards the origin of the voice, however to his surprise, he saw what appeared to be a skeleton with an afro. 'I must be losing my mind.' He thought as he was unable to sense any life around him. Just as he was about to go back to trying to stop his bleeding, the voice sounded once more. "I might be all bone, but I could still lend you a hand." Turning slowly, Luke looked pointedly at the skeleton, and it was only then he saw it lift the top hat from atop its head and give him a small nod as if in greeting.
Feeling as if he was losing it, Luke sat down and closed his eyes. If he thought a skeleton was talking, then he must have lost a lot more blood than he thought.
*****
"So you've been trapped in this fog for a few years… that sucks man." Luke said to the skeleton who he had learned was named Brook. Apparently he was a pirate who ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, only by the time his soul found his body after dying the first time, his body had decomposed, leaving only his skeleton remaining. Brook had patched Luke up as best he could, but Luke was still quite injured and couldn't travel too well on his own, hence why he remained on the ship.
He and Brook had talked for a few hours now, and he had learned that Brook's shadow was stolen by some guy that he wouldn't name. Knowing as much as he did, Luke surmised that the one who stole Brook's shadow was none other than the Warlord, Gecko Moria, the guy who just so happened to have eaten the Shadow-Shadow Fruit. Jack didn't have anything nice to say about Moria when he talked about him, and had actually described him as being rather pathetic.
Even his power wasn't all that great, for the simple fact that it required his victims to remain alive in order to use them correctly, however he did have a few ideas on how to use the power even better. Jack said that if Moria was smart, he would have joined the Marines and worked in Impel Down, because if he did, then there would be no chance of his victims dying from the sunlight, and he could make sure they remained alive. There was also the fact that there were some insanely powerful people in Impel Down, and since the shadows retained the strength of the person they were stolen from, he could have been ridiculously overpowered. As it was, Moria's setup was rather stupid, and Luke figured it would be rather easy to dispose of him.
"You wouldn't happen to have a Transponder Snail by any chance, would you?" Luke asked Brook, who shook his head sadly in the negative. "Shame. I guess I'll have to hold off on calling for help for a while." Luke said simply. He wasn't in any particular rush to get back to Jack, but it would have been nice to have him come and help get him patched up. "You know, if you need help finding Moria, I can help you." Luke said suddenly, his words causing Brook to begin freaking out.
"How do you know his name?" Brook asked worriedly. "I know about every Emperor, their commanders, the Marine Admirals, Vice-Admirals, and every Warlord. I know their powers, their strengths and their weaknesses, and only one person among them steals people's shadows. Moria is actually the weakest of the Warlords, and my guild intends to get rid of him." Luke explained, getting a nod of understanding from Brook.
Luke had already told Brook all about The Order, the Sentinels, and the Adventurers Association, and the skeleton actually seemed rather intrigued about the whole thing, so he knew all about how Luke wanted to get rid of the World Government, the Marines, and their allies, hence the need for the Warlords to disappear.
"I see. Well, if you think you can help, I would greatly appreciate your assistance." Brook told him. Spreading out his Haki, it took less than a minute before Luke was able to find the floating island-ship that was Thriller Bark, and after helping Brook change the ship's course by fusing the rudder-chain back together with his power, they headed in the direction of the gates shaped like giant teeth.
It took no time at all before the two of them found themselves inside the makeshift moat, and shortly thereafter they were walking through a cemetery filled with zombies. Luke merely hobbled along behind Brook as he was still feeling rather sore, though he was by no means unable to fight. There was the odd time he would unleash a burst of lightning from his fingertips that would blast the zombies into tiny pieces, and whether or not the shadows couldn't be split into that many pieces or that his lightning severed the connection, one blast was all it took to set the shadows free.
They cleared the graveyard rather quickly, and Luke made a point to clear most of the dark forest. He had intended to leave most of the trees, however after finding out that most of them were also zombie-tree hybrids, he didn't hesitate to clear them. It was actually while doing this that he found a number of people who had had their shadows stolen by Moria, and after finding out how powerful he truly was, many of them had begged him to help them get their shadows back. Luke wasn't sure if the people were deserving of getting their shadows, however since they were neither Marines or anyone affiliated with Marines, he didn't really see the harm in it. If they were bad pirates then he would just kill them at a later date.
Leaving the people, Luke and Brook carried on towards the mansion where they ran into a doctor guy and mutilated blonde woman. Luke thought the zombie woman was rather attractive, but her being dead was a major turnoff. Being that he didn't think the woman wanted her body used as some freak's maid, Luke simply got rid of it's shadow, then killed the doctor guy that looked like a fat vampire.
Moving on, Brook took care of most of the zombies, however upon entering a large room, Luke swung his sword in a seemingly random direction, and the next second an invisible person was revealed to have been hiding there, only now he was very visible as his arms and legs disappeared from his body. "That was incredible. How did you know he was there?" Brook asked in surprise. "I can feel the life force of most people thanks to my power, and being invisible doesn't hide that from me. The only exception to this is actually you. I don't know if it's because you already died, but I can't sense you with my power." Luke answered, causing the skeleton to simply nod his head before he continued onward.
As for the former invisible guy, Luke grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged the torso along with him. He'd kill him later, but for now he would wait to see if he could get a hold of Jack. Already he had deprived the man of a Devil Fruit, and if he could, he wouldn't do so again. At least if it wouldn't cost him anything, and dragging a torso around wasn't that strenuous.
*****
Before long, almost every zombie on the island was gone, and the only life forces that Luke could detect were from the residents hiding in the forest, the torso in his grasp, and a woman and a few zombie animals up near the top of the mansion, and finally Gecko Moria himself. With his help, Brook had been able to kill the samurai zombie who had his shadow, on top of which, Luke got a new sword to replace the one that fell in the ocean. The samurai actually seemed rather insistent that he take it, something that Luke wasn't going to argue with.
"So, do you want to kill Moria or the remaining zombies up there?" Luke asked Brook, who seemed rather put off at the idea of having to deal with Moria. "I'll leave that to you. Meanwhile I'll handle what's left of the zombies." Brook told him, then moved to go and deal with the girl and zombies in question.
Walking into Moria's main chambers, Luke didn't hesitate to raise his gun and fire a whole magazine of bullets right into Moria's ass. The man cried out in agony, however Luke didn't seem to care. Moving rather slowly, he stepped towards Moria and shot both of his legs or whatever he called them. Given how the guy didn't even have knees, Luke wondered if it was simply because Moria was so fat or if the guy was born this way and that was why he didn't have knees. Either way, he would no longer be capable of walking.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Moria cried out, however Luke ignored him and stabbed his sword through Moria's right hand and pinned it to the floor. Ever so slowly, he moved around the pear-shaped man and did the same thing to the other hand. Finally, to stop him from screaming, Luke grabbed him by the top of his head and filled his brain with so much electricity that he fell unconscious.
With that done, Luke began looking around the room until finally he found what he was looking for. Near Moria's bed, Luke found a Transponder Snail that he used to call Jack. "Hello." Jack's familiar voice sounded through the Transponder Snail after he called him. "Hey, Jack. I need some help. I got a few holes in me, and using Moonwalk is kind of out of the question right now. I'm on Thriller Bark." Luke said, and at once the expression of the Transponder Snail turned serious. "I'll be there soon." Jack said, then the line disconnected.
With help now on the way, Luke lay down on Moria's bed, completely ignoring the torso that was still wailing, as well as Moria's unconscious form. He didn't know how long he slept for, but it clearly wasn't too long as Jack had yet to arrive. Looking up at what had awoken him, he was surprised to see a pink-haired goth chick standing near a giant pile of money where he had left Moria's corpse with a blank look on her face. "I thought Brook killed you?" Luke asked tiredly as he sat himself up and looked at her with his full attention. It took only a second after seeing the pile of money before he realized that Moria had somehow died in the time he had been sleeping, which was a little annoying, but it wasn't the end of the world.
"Where's Master Moria?" She asked him with a cold look on her face. "See that pile of money? That's all that's left of him. That guy who could turn invisible is also dead, since I can't feel any life coming from him." Luke said simply. He truly hadn't intended for either of them to die until Jack got here, but it seemed he had gone a little overboard and the two had died of blood loss. Evidently the girl knew about Jack's bounties and had also pieced together the fact that the pile of money meant the corpse had been swapped with it because she didn't try to argue with him, which was good. He still hurt too much for something that stupid.
"Where's Brook, Pinky?" Luke asked the woman. "If you're referring to the skeleton, then he's crying on top of the mansion in my garden. He should be so lucky that the master treasures his shadow, otherwise I would have killed him." Pinky said angrily. "Correction. Your master DID treasure his shadow, but seeing as how the lump is dead, and his corpse is gone, he won't be stealing anyone's shadow ever again. Now, be a good little emo girl and kill yourself. That's what you people like to do, right?" Luke said, his words only further angering pinky.
"You son-of-a-bitch! I'll kill you!" Pinky shouted as she moved to attack him. At the same time, weird ghosts came out of her body and they began chanting "Neg-a-tive! Neg-a-tive!" Luke tried to attack them, but no matter what he did his attacks didn't seem to phase them.
Unsure as to what would happen if the ghosts touched him, Luke did his best to keep out of their reach, choosing instead to go for pinky herself. He knew that if the Devil Fruit user in question was killed, their powers would cease to exist as well, hence the fact that the ghosts would disappear as well. Blitzing around the room, Luke appeared behind Pinky and was about to punch her when suddenly a ghost appeared from her back and went through his body.
Instantly he felt a cold feeling well up from within him, and the darkest thoughts appeared at the forefront of his mind. However instead of making him depressed like it should have, Luke merely got angry as all of his failures appeared in his mind one after the other. "You bitch!" He roared, unleashing a wave of Haki that made the ghosts disappear and sent the pink-haired woman flying into the wall.
Moving over towards her, Luke stared down at her tear-filled eyes as she stared back at him. "Go on then. Do it. I have nothing anymore." She said sadly. Looking at her and hearing her, Luke was a little taken aback. 'She's just like me.' He realized. Kneeling down before her, Luke took her hand in his and pulled her to her feet.
"You're not allowed to die until I say so. You're-" He began, but was interrupted when she slapped him upside the face. "You can't tell me when I can or can't die! I'll die right this second if I want to!" She shouted at him. "That's not-" He said, then stopped when he processed her words and realized he had nothing to say to that. "It's a good thing you're hot, otherwise I don't think you'd last very long in this world." Luke told her simply. "Yeah?! Well you don't look so bad yourself!" She shouted at him.
The two of them simply stared into each other's eyes for all of ten seconds before they moved as one, their lips meeting as they began to remove the other's clothes while moving slowly towards Moria's bed.
*****
(General POV)
Jack arrived on Thriller Bark with Radek beside him about an hour after Luke had called him, and as soon as they landed, Radek opened a gate to Water-7 so Smoker and the others could come through, then another gate followed so Haedrig and more than a hundred Sentinels could come as well. Jack had already informed them all that Luke was injured and that this was the territory of a Warlord that was teaming with zombies, so now they were going to clear it all.
They swept over the island in smooth coordinated movements, finding only a few shriveled and emaciated individuals who were celebrating the fact that they now had their shadows returned to them. Getting to the mansion, Jack was surprised when he found the wandering skeleton that he instantly recognized as Brook, and after being informed that he and Luke had come here to kill Moria, and that he had been paralyzed by a ghost lady, they all moved to where Moria's chambers were located.
Nearing the place, Jack could sense Luke with his Haki, as well as the only other person in the room, and given what they were doing, he sure as hell hoped it wasn't Moria. "He's fine, but we're going to give him some time." Jack told the others, who were confused as to why they weren't moving to give Luke aid.
Said confusion was answered when Tina began to smell the air around them, then began to smile like she knew it all. Still smiling she began to move her hips back and forth while making rather lewd sounds that left nothing to the imagination. "That's it! Clear out the rest of the island! And for the love of god, stop that!" Haedrig said, ordering the young woman to stop what she was doing.
"If he's doing what I think he's doing, I don't know why we came so fast." Smoker said in annoyance. "Me either. On the plus side, I'm glad he's finally getting some." Jack said, hoping that this might actually calm down the murdering lunatic. He doubted it, but a guy could dream.