"I missed all that?" Usopp asked as Nami finished explaining to him. "I feel like such an idiot," he mumbled feeling guilty that he ignited the fuse that got the town destroyed.
"Baka, it wasn't your fault," Nami said and bonked him on the back of the head with her fist. She still remembered the look he gave her after he looked into that powerful man's eyes. The amount of fear he had when looking at her made her feel guilty which was the main reason she waited for him to get better next to his bed and to explain it all to him first. "They came after Brook. Apparently Blackbeard was involved."
"I know," Usopp mumbled as if it was a bad dream, "I don't want to be reminded that I passed out and slept through his abduction."
"I know how you feel, all I could do was grab you and run to..."
"That's not it," Usopp replied with his head bowed from the bed he was sitting up on. She didn't understand why he was so down and then he explained it, "When Robin was taken, I was the only member of the crew not trying to stop the CP9 agents from taking her. In Water 7, I was too busy trying to save a ship when I already knew," he felt teary-eyed at the thought of her, "that Merry wasn't going to make it. But I wasted my time breaking from the crew instead of trying to help Robin..."
Nami slapped him across the face, "This isn't like that time, and even then, Sogeking was there to help us when it counted right?" He perked up at the sound of that and smirked, rubbing the tip of his nose. "Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and let's go save our skeleton!" She stood up and held out a hand that Usopp happily grabbed.
The two of them walked out on the deck where most of the crew was already. They were debating what to do about the enemy and Zoro was taking a nap on deck.
His exact words were, 'I'll wait for everyone to be here, then we'll make a plan.' Usopp and Nami were now on the grassy deck, but one more member was missing. The sniper realized this and interrupted Sani and Franky's argument about how to search for Brook, "Where's Robin?"
Luffy was sitting cross-legged near the swing set and called over, "She said she'd figure out what we're up against." It was surprising for everyone to see Luffy so level-headed, especially in a situation like this where he'd usually just charge forward without any pause.
The crew stayed quiet for a few more seconds before Luffy stood up and started walking back and forth on the deck. I'm gonna kick that Lucy guy's ass. No, I'm gonna kick the cloudy girl... but their captain was the guy with Brook! He always knew who he was supposed to fight when enemies showed themselves, but he couldn't figure out what was going on.
Sanji seemed to understand what the captain was going through. He wanted to fight the man who blocked his kick, but even though he wasn't using all his strength in that attack, he knew the enemy wasn't either.
He looked over at the sleeping swordsman who had burn marks on his face and was still wearing his singed clothes. "First off," Sanji started, "we need to discuss what the enemies are capable of. What abilities did you all see?"
Chopper jumped up, ready to get something planned to go and save Brook. "There was a man who could turn into a lion like Sunny!" The small reindeer didn't look too damaged as he had been in Guard Point during the worst of the enemy's attacks.
Franky added in a pissed off voice, "There was a bear," he stated. "A big brown bear."
"Along with those two, there was the beautiful angel..." Sanji started and Chopper jumped up and hit him on the head.
"Angel's don't have voices like that." The ones who were there all recalled the screech and even Sanji winced thinking about it. "She could break glass and our eardrums with her voice."
Luffy was fuming and ready to go already but he added in, "She could knock me back with her voice too."
Nami then took a deep breath and started, "When Robin and I got back to the ship, there were some people here, we didn't see much of their powers, but one of them was able to make Brook fall asleep."
Usopp was staring at the captain with a nervous look. Don't run off like usual Luffy, please. He knew there was nothing he could say that would calm down the angry captain, but he hadn't seen him like this, ever.
The captain got angry sometimes, but the crew had never seen him stay angry for a long amount of time like this. Luffy kept thinking about the villagers in the street and the man flying away with his nakama.
"That's it!" Luffy shouted with clenched fists and he turned to the side of the ship.
"Luffy hold on a few more minutes," Nami pleaded.
"Every second we're here, Brook is getting farther away!" Luffy shouted back at her.
Sanji jumped up and got in Luffy's face, "Don't yell at Nami-chan! She's right," he tried to calm down the rubber man, "That girl told us to leave the island. That means that whatever's going to happen, it's happening here." His words got through and Luffy relaxed a little, unclenching his fists.
"Luffy," they all jumped up at the voice and ran to the side of the ship to see Robin jump up and over them. She landed on the lawn behind them and turned, the only one of them with a smile on her face. Her smile was contagious and Sanji started grinning madly in love with her.
"Robin!" Nami called and ran over to the woman. "What did you learn? Do you know who they are?"
The black haired pirate smiled and nodded making the crew's spirits raise. "I have an eye and an ear on the back of the large man who was on the ship earlier." Only Nami knew who she was talking about and shivered at the thought. That enemy was eight feet tall and bald, he looked terrifying with his broad shoulders and huge body. "They're on the other side of the island now waiting on their ship."
"What are they waiting for?" Zoro asked, sitting up for the first time since the archaeologist returned.
"Blackbeard is supposed to be coming here," Usopp told him. Usually Zoro would be excited to have another powerful enemy to face, but one of their nakama were on the line right now. "Taking Brook has something to do with wanting to make their captain immortal."
"Just because he's a living skeleton doesn't mean their captain can become one!" Nami shouted. She was exasperated from all of this and just wanted to get off the island already
"That's not true," Robin started and some of the members were confused at what she was talking about. "Do any of you remember what happened towards the end of the War two years ago?"
Sanji took a puff of his cigarette and became completely serious, "That bastard Blackbeard stole Whitebeard's Devil Fruit power."
The others were shocked and a few of them did remember hearing about that. "Exactly," she added, "Apparently they've been going around the New World looking for powerful Devil Fruit users to take their powers."
"How does he do it?" Chopper asked. He recalled Jinbe telling them about Blackbeard back on Fishman Island, but there was a party going on and he forgot about it.
"No one knows," Robin replied but she still had a small grin on her face. She reached behind her and pulled off a drawstring bag she had on her back. "But I got a good look at their faces and since I know where they are and can put an eye back there whenever I want. I went to the militia HQ which wasn't too badly damaged and found these matching their faces."
The crew saw the posters she was pulling out of her bag and became intrigued. Luffy was the only one ignoring the posters and he just stared at the other side of the island.
A damaged town and a dense forest separated the Straw Hats from their enemies and it reminded him of his home island in Goa.
Meanwhile the others were sorting through the wanted posters in front of them. "Wow, they all have bounties higher than Franky!" Chopper exclaimed until he pushed another poster away and his eyes burned in anger.
Usopp started to chuckle as he saw the bounty of a cute girl with pink hair, "55 Beris?" He asked the reindeer who rose his little arms above his head and yelled in anger. When he saw she only had a two digit number, he thought maybe his wasn't the lowest bounty ever, but she was still worth five more than him.
When all the papers were laid out in front of them, the crew looked down at the names of their enemies. Even Luffy walked over to check it out although it didn't matter to him how high their bounties were. He was getting back their friend, and no one was going to stop him.
The main reason he walked over was to get another look at his enemies. He had to choose which one to go after. Robin stated the name of the crew, "Cato Pirates," named after the bounty photo of the captain.
"Dellero Cato," Sanji took a good look at the captain. He'd been out of it from the drink and the previous attacks he had taken so he never got a great look at the man. The others had their visions blocked partially by clouds so they barely saw him either in the light of the flames last night.
His skin was tanner than most of theirs, and he had hair similar to Luffy's but a little shorter. He was just as thin as the Straw Hats' captain, with a slight muscle tone on his shoulders that could be seen in the bounty photo. His facial scars were there but the burn mark on his forehead wasn't meaning that was recent. The other crew members were looking around and the doctor was staring at one poster with more terror than the others.
"The D-D-Devil Lucifer," Chopper whispered in fear, remembering the man on the poster's red hand around his throat. He shivered and Usopp felt unnerved from the sight of the man. The sniper didn't remember much of the previous night, but he did remember the man's eyes.
In the poster picture, his long black hair was pulled behind his head. He was wearing a pair of black sunglasses and had grinned evilly at whoever took the picture.
"That guy gives me the chills," Nami stated and the others nodded. Zoro stayed silent although he was intrigued by the man's bounty.
"You said he wasn't the captain?" Zoro questioned and Robin nodded. "Surprising considering his bounty is the highest among the photos." The crew looked around at all the other high numbers again and then saw the swordsman was right.
"370 million," Franky said with a tilt of his head, "still lower than Luffy."
"Why are we still here?!" The captain shouted and then looked to Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp who were standing near each other. "Are you guys ready?"
Sanji took out a new cigarette and lit it while putting his hands in his pockets. Zoro put his hands on his swords and smirked. Usopp looked at the other two in panic and started, "Wait! We should have a plan before..."
"Let's GOOO!" Luffy jumped off the side of the ship and landed on the dock. The green haired swordsman landed right next to him and they started running off.
"Sanji! Chase after them," Nami demanded and he moaned about wanting to stay with her and Robin. "If you let those two go alone, they'll never make it to the other side of the island."
Everyone knew how easy it was for the other two to get lost, especially Zoro. Sanji growled at their stupidity and need to be babysat at all times, but he agreed and jumped off the ship, using his Sky Walk and bouncing through the air to follow the others.
"Fwew," Nami wiped some sweat from her brow. "Usopp was right, we should come up with a plan to save Brook. Then we'll head after them," the others all nodded.
Robin stared at them with a straight face and then asked calmly, "Do you think it was a good idea sending all three of the boys?"
The other members who were starting to make a plan looked up at her and then each other. Usopp, Nami, and Chopper all realized at the same time that the Monster Trio were gone. "AHHH! Screw the plan! After them!"
"I can SUP-ER protect you," Franky assured while striking a pose. They were left alone without the strongest members of the crew and the three members with the lowest bounties looked at each other with nervous expressions.
"No you can't," Robin stated, "if they attack the ship while the others are gone we'll probably be impaled," Usopp's eyes popped out of his head, "burned alive," Nami's face turned purple, "or eaten." Chopper shrieked.
The three of them were off the side of the ship and sprinting down the street with dust clouds trailing behind them as soon as Robin's sentence was over. "Yow! You were just trying to scare them there!" Franky shouted at her and she grinned.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but we should go after them before they realize it's just the three of them now." Robin chuckled and hopped off the ledge. Franky scratched the top of his head where the bear man hit him yesterday, and then leapt down next to her and they jogged down the street too.
"We never did come up with a plan," Franky stated.
"Yes, but that makes it more fun," Robin laughed and Franky cheered, telling her that he liked that attitude. Neither of them were able to fully understand what it was like to get a crew member taken from them since both were captured back on Eneis Lobby. Now that they were experiencing it though, it seemed like just another adventure, even if it was personal now.
The two of them hurried forward to catch up to the three that went sprinting towards the woods. They got to the edge of town and started jogging through the forest, but the trees began to thin out in front of them after about a minute.
As they were about to reach a clearing on the other side of the trees, the one in front of them trembled and started to fall to the left. Where the trunk cracked, they saw someone's head tilted back leaning against it.
"Sanji!" Robin called out and sweat started coming down Franky's face. They weren't even at the enemy's ship yet, but one of their strongest crewmates was getting his ass handed to him.
They ran out of the trees and saw Chopper and Usopp standing in front of Nami. The three looked like they only got there a few seconds before as they all had stunned looks on their faces.
It wasn't that the forest opened up into a clearing, but that all the trees in that area had been uprooted and were thrown near the edges of the circle. There were still huge holes all over the ground where the roots had been stuck. Instead of grass and dirt in and around these holes however, there were rocks.
Gray stones, some larger than others, covered the entire clearing and the latecomer Straw Hats watched as Zoro and Luffy both jumped backwards. Right as they did, two stone pillars shot out of the ground towards their chests. Another one started forming beneath them and was big enough for them both to fit on it.
The swordsman removed one sword and Luffy pulled back a fist, both attacking the pillar coming towards them. It exploded into pieces after getting cut and punched.
"Luffy!" Franky shouted and started running forward. The two strongest fighters on the Straw Hats turned a little to see all their nakama had arrived.
They all looked back to the other side of the clearing where three people were standing. Nami pointed at the tall woman with short purple hair between the other two, "She's the one who put Brook to sleep! Those two were with her on the ship."
The large man next to the woman smirked at Nami with eyes that sent shivers down her spine. Luffy and Zoro watched where he was looking as he slammed his hands into the ground, "Nami move!" Zoro shouted at her and Luffy was extending his arms towards her already.
"What?" She whispered in fear and then turned her head down as the floor beneath her shook. The dirt under her feet exploded out as a large stalagmite burst out at her. The tip of the spike glinted as it moved closer.
"NAMI-SWANNN!" Sanji was on his feet and reached Nami just as the spike was about to hit her in the stomach. He tackled her out of the way but they still heard the loud splurch of the rock going through flesh.
The orange haired woman on the ground grabbed her left shoulder where Sanji knocked into her. He was moving so fast that there was no way a bruise could be avoided. "I'm sorry Nami-san," Sanji muttered in a low voice. She started to turn her head around and her vision passed over the horrified looks of Luffy and Zoro. "I can't believe, I hurt a woman. That's," he coughed once, "despicable."
She finished turning around and her eyes went wide. "SANJI!" Luffy screamed.
The man was standing straight up in the spot that Nami was a second ago. There was a large rock spike embedded through the right side of his stomach and the point could be seen covered in blood coming out the chef's back.
"Sanji you idiot!" Nami shouted and then got up fast. The stone spike through him sank back into the ground as the crew members all started running over to him. He didn't fall and just staggered before spreading his legs and getting back in a fighting stance.
"Why aren't you dead?" The large bald man in front of the other two asked.
Luffy and Zoro hadn't run back with the others and they started walking ahead towards the three enemies. The people in front of them started to sweat and each took a step back instinctively. The captain stuck out his right arm and his wrist curled up before popping back out and his skin became red, steaming hot. His first crew member stood next to him and slowly unsheathed his third sword and put it between his teeth as he walked forward.
The man on the other side of the purple haired woman turned to the other two, "We should head back before..." with the words still coming out of his mouth, a fist hit the short pudgy man in the face and he was thrown backwards leaving a trail of broken trees behind the enemies.
Luffy's fist snapped back in and he didn't break his stride as the two of them kept walking forward. "Boxer!" The woman shouted at the large man who nodded and shoved his arms back in the ground. Their enemies were looking scarier by the second and the large man started to shake as his arms started to turn gray and bumpy.
The ground underneath all the Straw Hats began shaking as well and all the dirt and holes around them started to disappear. The small rocks were falling to the sides too as something big was coming.
Luffy and Zoro weren't going to wait for whatever they were planning and both attacked.
"Twin Jet Pistols!"
"108 Pound Cannon!"
Luffy's fists slammed into the man at rocket speeds and his friend's slash cut into the woman next to him. They were direct hits and Sanji was about to yell at Zoro for attacking a woman, but the words got caught in his throat.
The man who Luffy hit barely flinched as the fists not only hit him, but cracked his now entire rocky body. Two large holes appeared on either side of his chest, but rocks started to reform inside the holes even remaking the orange shirt he had on over his torso.
Zoro's opponent did the same thing as his slashes cut right through her red kimono and then her skin. The cuts went through and hit the trees behind her, slicing through part of the forest near where their comrade was lying. She seemed afraid, but the places where she was cut started to heal just as quick as the man next to her. Pink petals started reforming her skin and her dress before she looked just as fine as before.
"They're Logia users?!" Usopp shouted in terror.
"Looks like we'll just have to use Haki then," Zoro stated and got ready to attack again. Luffy's fists turned black and the two of them reared back for another assault.
"Now!" The woman in the kimono shouted. The man next to her roared as he pushed harder into the ground and suddenly the floor stopped shaking. Instead, all the Straw Hats felt themselves getting lifted in the air as the ground beneath them turned into one giant rock pillar.
The top of the pillar was flat, but as it got higher it started to curve back towards the town. They could barely move as they were getting lifted so fast and then the rock stopped short. Every one of them was jolted off of the pillar since they were all still moving fast even if the ground stopped.
"AHHHHHHHH!" They were over a hundred feet in the air and getting thrown over the trees. The rock had lifted so fast that no one was prepared for it to stop and hadn't grabbed on to anything.
Zoro muttered a curse to himself for not grabbing on and turned to see Usopp and Nami hugging and screaming as they started to arc out of the sky and down towards the forest below. He turned towards them and soared over before grabbing them both and spinning around so they were above him and his back was facing the ground.
Blood was falling from both sides of Sanji's torso, but he was still conscious and looked to catch Nami as she fell. He saw Zoro catch her and mumbled, "Shitty swordsman.. Robin!" He turned going to try and catch the woman who was falling, but he saw Robin hovering there with large wings behind her.
She was holding Franky's heavy body in her arms and Chopper clung onto the back of her head in fear of falling off.
Luffy knew his friends could take care of each other and as soon as he was thrown from the rock, he threw his arm back ahead of him and tried to grab the giant rock pillar. It was over thirty feet wide but before his hand could grab the side, it shot back down into the ground and the pirate captain just fell like the rest of his crew.
Sanji tried using his Sky Walk to slow his fall, but he was dizzy and wound up kicking in the wrong direction, increasing the speed he was falling at.
The rubber man was angry that he missed the rock and was getting tossed so far from the enemy. When he saw Sanji shooting towards the ground with a trail of blood behind him though, he panicked and grabbed two trees down below. He rocketed himself even faster than Sanji was moving since he was still in Second Gear and called out, "Gum Gum Balloon!"
A second before Sanji slammed head first into the ground, he hit the expanding form of Luffy and bounced off to the side, still hitting hard, but much lighter than the damage he would have received.
Sanji coughed up some blood and got to his knees before using a tree to lift himself up. "Thanks Luffy," he looked a little to the right and saw Nami and Usopp standing up, seemingly unhurt.
"Zoro!" Usopp shouted.
"He put us on top of him to lighten the fall," Nami whispered as she looked at the hole in the ground.
"What are you two moaning about," the green haired swordsman got out of the hole and wiped some dirt off of his clothes.
The other two slapped him with the backs of their hands. "Oi! Get more hurt when you sacrifice yourself."
"Like a fall that high would leave a scratch," he stated with an evil glint in his eye. "I'm getting more excited by the minute. Two Logias fighting together, should be a good challenge."
Robin was lowering to the ground and seemed to be straining herself after flying for so long while holding a heavy burden. "You have extended the amount of time you can fly for Nico Robin," the cyborg in her arms said. "Back at Thriller Bark you could only hold your wings for five seconds. I'm impressed."
"Thank you Franky, you can land on your feet from this height correct?" Without waiting for an answer she dropped the heavy robot and he did land on his feet.
Despite landing fine, he still shouted up, "Give more of a warning!"
She finally landed and tapped on Chopper's hat, "We're back on the ground." The reindeer lifted his head a little and then sighed a breath of relief before dropping off and running over to Sanji who was still leaning on a tree.
"Sanji," he started in a worried tone.
"Just stop the bleeding, we need to keep going." Sanji lifted his shirt to show the wound to the doctor.
"But..." Chopper started.
"He's right," Zoro said, for once agreeing with the chef. "We don't know when Blackbeard will arrive for Brook, but we should get him back before then. Fighting the Yonkou's crew might be unavoidable, but our skeleton shouldn't be on the line."
"Blackbeard, cloudy girl, or Cato-guy, I'll take them all on!" Luffy shouted and started running back through the woods.
"Wait," Nami started chasing after him so he wouldn't get lost.
"We should follow them," Robin stated. "I've been listening in on their ship; Blackbeard will be here sometime tomorrow afternoon."
"You're so smart eavesdropping on them like that Robin-chan." Sanji told her with hearts in his eyes. He turned to the rest of them, "Get going then! We don't know how long it will take to get our musician back!"
Chopper was working hard to suture Sanji's wound. He wanted to work longer on permanently sealing it, but all he could do was wipe some special fast-healing cream he made on either side of the hole and stop the bleeding.
The chef winced in searing pain that shot through him when the cream was rubbed on his wound. Zoro started running off and Franky and Usopp looked at each other.
"Franky, you stay here with them in case they're attacked while Chopper's working on Sanji," Robin told him and then started running after Zoro. Usopp turned and followed the woman who was following Zoro to make sure he didn't get lost.
After two seconds of the three crew members going through the trees, Chopper, Franky, and Sanji all heard Usopp shout, "Straight, STRAIGHT! How did you get turned around already?!" The three of them sweat-dropped as Zoro shouted that he was taking a shortcut.
"Hurry up Chopper," Sanji muttered while Franky pressed a finger on his nose.
He held it there for three seconds until it popped out in a large blue mohawk. "Don't worry, Su-per me is here to protect you!" He struck his signature pose and looked off into the forest. They were in a dangerous situation, but he was keeping their morale high.
"Luffy," Nami shouted up to him and he slowed a little so that she could run next to him. "Where are you going?"
"To kick someone's ass!" He responded.
"Ehh?" The orange haired woman questioned in an annoyed tone, "Don't you think saving Brook is the more important thing right now?"
"Once we beat all the enemies, we won't need to save him anymore." He replied as they kept running and Nami's aggravated frown vanished. "After we kick their butts, we can get Brook back."
"That's what you think," the two of them heard a ridiculously shrill voice shout at them from a nearby tree. They looked over and saw a grown woman with long blood red hair. "Oo-ahahah!" She screamed and a circular blast of air expanded from her lips and slammed into the captain and navigator.
Both were thrown backwards into a tree. "I don't have time to fight you!" Luffy shouted.
Nami was thinking about what her captain said and nodded, closing her eyes. "Go on ahead Luffy," the other two looked at her as she rose her new and improved Clima-Tact with one hand. "I'll take care of her."
He looked at the determined look in Nami's eyes and nodded. "I'm counting on you," he said and then continued to run.
"Don't think I'll let you get away, Aaa..." The woman stopped screaming when she turned the direction Luffy was running. A huge black cloud floated in front of her and she tilted her head, "Ami? Why are you here?"
"Thunder Lance!" Nami shouted from the other side of the woman. She started to turn, right as a bolt of lightning shot out of the cloud and met the top of Nami's weapon. The enemy was between the two of them and the bolt went right through her back.
The cloud dissipated and Nami flipped her weapon in her hand and held it diagonally across her back. "Don't think you can take me so lightly that you can attack my captain and I won't do anything. Not paying attention will cost you your life," the burnt black woman dropped off the tree branch and slammed into the ground.
Nami was about to start running after her captain when she had a bad feeling and dove behind a tree. "AAHH!" The high voice screamed and the tree split in half above her and the top part was thrown into the next one, knocking it down too.
She stood up and turned around to see the woman staring at her frizzy messed up hair. "Don't think a weak attack like that could finish me off, Cat Burglar Nami. Your sixteen million beri bounty is a fourth of my sixty four million. You can't hope to defeat me."
"That bounty hasn't been updated in two years," Nami warned with a grin, "I'm much stronger now," she broke apart her weapon and started spinning two of the pieces. Blue and red balls started flying out of it and lifting up in the air, "Let's see how much I'm really worth!"
Sc
"Whoa!" Usopp shouted. He, Zoro, and Robin stopped to look off to the left where the forest lit up in a burst of light.
"Looks like Nami had found an opponent," Robin stated.
"Should we go help her?" Usopp asked.
"She was with Luffy, if it was someone she couldn't handle, he wouldn't have left her alone." Zoro assured, "Now let's go," he started running.
"That's the way we just came from," Usopp said in a monotone voice. Zoro turned around pretending like nothing happened and started running, letting Robin lead the way by just a tiny bit.
The three of them kept running for a few minutes until Robin stopped short. "What? What's wrong?" Usopp asked.
Zoro could sense the enemies' strong presences. Some were stronger than others, but the strongest one he felt from back on the Sunny wasn't there.
"We're here," the archaeologist stated. She stepped to the side and looked between two trees and past a few more to the bay on the other side. Land extended out on either side of the island with the middle opening up a large bay.
The other two looked out and saw crew members on the deck of the ship and a few on a piece of land stretching out to the ocean. "Before we go," Zoro started with his eye closed, "one thing." He paused and looked down at the large galleon-ship down the hill a little and waiting in the bay. "Don't attack their ship, or fight on it."
"Huh?" Usopp asked and Robin seemed confused too.
"While I dislike these people for attacking us and abducting our crew member, I do have honor. They took Brook without leaving a single scratch on the Sunny." Both of the others opened their eyes wide, realizing he was right. "They could have burned our ship to the ground while we were in town, but they left it alone. That may have just been because they wanted us to be able to run away, but still, don't repay them by wrecking their ship. Understood?"
The other two nodded and looked angrier than ever. How could the enemy treat the citizen's lives like nothing and then still respect their fellow pirates' ship? Their sense of honor was twisted and they needed to get Brook back. "Other than that," Robin started.
"No mercy," Usopp finished.
Sc
After the Straw Hats were sent flying, the rock man's skin went back to normal and he shook off his arms.
The woman next to him tilted her head, "Guess that's your limit. Don't lift it so high next time."
"Then the drop wouldn't kill them," the guy stated before walking back towards a cluster of toppled trees. "They're gone Ignus," the man called over to the motionless figure lying there.
The shorter pudgier man got up on his feet fast. "Darn, right when I was about to show off my amazing abilities." He snapped his fingers and shook his head in frustration.
"Sure you were," the purple haired woman said, sarcasm lacing her voice.
"Hey! Not all of us are monsters who can take a hit like that and not get hurt." The man lifted an arm and rubbed the red mark on his face. "He almost broke my nose with one punch."
His nose looked like a snout and he snorted angrily at the other two who ignored him and started walking back towards through the forest. His hands and feet were fatter than the other parts of his body and his arms and legs were oddly disproportionate. The hair on his skin stood on edge and he frowned before chasing after them.
"Don't get all prickly," the woman called behind her, "save that for when they come back." The large man next to her tilted his head and she chuckled, "You really thought you could kill them by throwing them up in the air? Hahaha," she frowned, "you need some more brains with your brawn Boxer."
He growled, "And you need to watch your tongue Xali." The man's fists turned into stone and his snarl matched the woman's smirk.
"Bring it big man," she retorted. The woman held up both hands near her hips pointed out at the man. They turned pink and then broke apart into dozens of pink petals in the shapes of fists. The knuckles on the pink hands stuck out and were sharp points.
Ignus saw this about to happen and stepped between them, "Break this up and let's get back to the ship." He didn't see that before he started speaking, both of them punched forward and his face was now in the middle. They pressed in on his cheeks with incredible force before realizing what they were doing and pulled back. His spiky hair pushed out in every direction and a noise that could only be described as a yelp escape his lips.
"Haha, I think I felt your fist on the other side of his face," Xali laughed.
"Same," Boxer responded. They each reverted back to normal and started walking away, leaving their light green haired comrade to stand exactly where he was with two fist marks embedded in his cheeks.
A/N Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. I'm taking a break from all my One Piece Fanfics as I'm starting up a crossover of One Piece and Kingdom Hearts. It's going to be called Broken Log Pose, so if you want to check it out be my guest. Hope you enjoyed the latest installment and although I'm taking a break, I already have the next two chapters done so those will still be posted in a timely manner.
Ralman23
Oh, no Brook! Great story.
Great to see you reading another one of my fanfics and I hope you liked the newest addition!
OGAFazer89AC
The story is interesting so far.
Having the Straw Hats already tired from the previous fight and from the party is a good excuse for such a terrible defeat, but let's hope they'll win the next one.
The enemies are interesting and fitting in One Piece world, kudos for that.
The Straw Hats were all pretty in character, if you feel like adding some romance, try to keep them like that.
Drunk Straw Hats = Straw Hats not fighting at full capacity. Next time we get to see the type of damage these guys can really inflict when they're up for it! For the romance, I love scenes like when Zoro or Sanji sacrificed themselves this chapter, and it can always sprout into some form of romance later on, but for now they'll all be focused on Brook and their battles.
Guest chapter 1 . Apr 15
This is actually incredible. I have read several of your stories, and so far, none have been a disappointment. They've all been absolutely incredible works. You portray the characters so perfectly, and it truly makes for an enjoyable read.
I hope to see an update soon.
Your praise made my day and someone asked me why I was smiling so wide after opening my emails on my phone in the middle of class. Thank you very much and I hope one day later was soon enough for you ;P! 'Till next time!