3 - Clash! Captain Slayer's Pirates vs Straw Hat Pirates!
As the ship approached shore, tension built up with their every shot. It was only a warning of their arrival, and a sign that they will do a lot worse if they manage to go through us.
"Get ready, Dan… Just one more threat to deal with." I whispered to myself.
At last, the ship landed. It was many times greater than the one of those four. It took a few moments for anyone to hop off. A single person led the way for a small troop to step on the sand. They appeared to be the 'foot soldiers' (if you can call them that, they're pirates) since they wore simple attire, some of them wearing bandannas on their heads. Every single one carried a weapon… and the urge to invade. Units hopped off and then later, they landed by the dozens. The captain then walked to the front of the ship.
"This island will be ours! Atta~~~ck!" The leader sent the order from there, pointing his sword forward.
Under his command, the men rushed forward through the beach!
"You all! Get ready! They're coming right to us!" The swordsman quickly prepared a fighting stance, unsheathing his three swords, and holding one of them in his mouth.
I wonder how he can swing it around…
Nevermind! If it can help me deal with them, the better!
"Ok!"
"Nami! Go hide somewhere!" The swordsman called.
"No need to say twice!" She promptly ran away from the soon-to-be center of the battle.
Meanwhile, Luffy cracked his neck and grinned defiantly. "Alright! Let's get'em!"
"What about the longnose?" I asked.
"Usopp?"
"Get'em guys! I'll back you up from here!" He shouted from behind the rocks.
"No, I'd rather have you here on the front line-"
"Let's go already!" Impatiently, Luffy whined.
Yeah, enough talking. Let's get to the action!
The swordsman, Luffy and I rushed to face the underlings. Gripping my pencil tightly, I focused my thoughts on a spear.
"Enpitsu Yari!" Swiftly, the pencil glowed before it transformed.
"Wow!" Luffy got stars on his eyes again…
"Stop admiring!" I snapped him back to earth.
"It's always time to admire the shiny!" He replied.
"I'll get the ones in this side. Luffy, get the ones in your side! Boy, get those in the middle! Got it?" The swordsman proposed.
"Yeah!"
"Scatter!" I called.
Here starts our clash with the mooks, armed with various weapons, from swords to hammers. I first sprinted past a group of them and turned around to have a quick analysis of my surroundings.
"Ok. Many against me… too many to count…" I skidded to a halt and faced them. "Not many enough to beat me! Let's get this party started!"
I launched myself to the attack. In my sprint, I unleashed a string of slashes here and there, stopping to block the sword strikes of some of them. I spotted a few of them at the corner of my eye, taking the opening to attack from behind right before I spun my leg backwards and kicked them. The weakest of the bunch fell on the ground, but a few of them got back up and faced me again.
"I have to end this now…" I muttered to myself. "Mom says every once in a while… the feather is mightier than the sword!" I decided to turn my lance back into a pencil. "I'm all out of feathers, but a pencil will do!"
雷"Thunder!" I pulled out another sheet I stored in my pocket, wrote on it and then raised it to the air.
"Hey guys! Look up!"
They started to look around in confusion. The symbol written in the sheet began to glow before crackling noises coursed through the air. A bigger noise crackled before scattered blue discharges fired out of random spots in the clean air.
Cries of "What?" coursed through the bunch as lightning bolts struck the sand, completely at random. Then, for some fortunate reason, those bolts hit their intended target, knocking the entire group out.
"Yay! Victory!" I said, raising an arm with a V-sign. Only to almost be fried by a couple of stray lightning bolts. The scare was enough to make me jump backwards, though.
"Whoops… that was close… That still needs some work…" I said.
"Aaagh! Get away from me!" Huh?
I quickly turned around to notice a few of them already past me, trying to hurt the long-nosed guy and Nami.
"Damn, I got distracted! Luffy-san! The longnose and Nami-san are in danger!" I called.
He turned around, briefly looked at the scene and begun to sprint, punching the air…
"Gomu Gomu no…"
He punched the air faster and faster before his arms began to stretch waa~~~ay longer than any normal person possibly can and…
"…CANNON!" He brought them back like a cannonball, punching the bandits all at once and sending them several yards away.
"Wow, how did you…? Did-did… did your arms just stretch?!" I asked, shocked.
Luffy merely smiled. "Yeah! I'mma rubber man!" He confirmed, briefly stretching his cheek.
There's only one explanation for that.
DEVIL'S FRUIT! The mysterious fruits that grant absurd powers to anyone who eats a bite… but takes away the user's ability to swim.
"Watch out!"
No time to rest. A small chunk of the group Luffy was fighting took advantage of our little distraction to lunge at us again.
"Eek!"
"Hissatsu: Namari Boshi!" (Finishing Move: Lead Star)
Before the group could hit us, a rain of pinballs hit them first, knocking them to the ground.
"I said I'd back you up, didn't I?"
I turned and saw the longnosed guy holding a green slingshot and thumbs-upping us.
"Longnose? You did it? Wow… that's awesome! Thanks!" I cheered.
"The name's Usopp!" he replied.
"Ah, alright! Thanks, Usopp-san!" I stumbled, but corrected myself.
Immediate danger resolved, Luffy and I went to help the swordsman, who still had some enemies to defeat.
"There's no end for them…" he muttered while crouching to block a batch of attacks. He brought the swords in his hands over his back as a bunch of mooks swung their cutlasses at him.
"Want some help?" I said as I arrived to the scene, bringing Luffy with me.
"Nah… no big deal. Just stay there and watch!" He replied as he managed to push back the attacking swords and get back to an upright position.
While we watched the scene, he initiated a sword move stance, crossing the swords in his hands and joining them in a hexagonal cross with the one in his mouth.
"Oni… Giri!" (Demon Slash)
I only saw him crouch before he vanished. It was so fast I only saw a blur, catching him back after it was finished. Not long after, we heard a crowd screaming, blood spurting here and there and all the attackers falling down. The swordsman resheathed his blades and the situation finally calmed down.
For now, anyway.
"Wow, how can you move that fast? That was awesome! Who are you?" I caught myself cheering just like Luffy.
"Three-Sword Style user. Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro." He said.
"Roronoa Zoro… Can I call you Zoro-san?" I asked.
"Call me whatever you want. I don't really mind." He replied.
"Wait a second… Pirate Hunter? Why's that name?" I asked again.
"It's a long story, don't bother to ask now. I'll tell you when you come to our ship… because this mess's not over yet." He said.
I simply sighed. "Ok, then."
Long Nose Usopp and Nami came out of the rocks when suddenly…
"What?!" / "Ouch!" / "Hey!"
Weird black whips emerged from the sand and immobilized the three of us.
"Caught like flies. Now you will not escape me." I heard someone say back at the ship. The voice was low, but strong enough to make itself be heard down here.
Hold on, that can only mean one thing…
The boss. The captain finally appeared. He was dressed like a stereotypical pirate. He wore a flashy blue hat, a long wavy navy-blue coat, sported a fluffy-looking moustache and a sword on his back. Unfortunately, no parrot and no eyepatch, so let's say the image's incomplete.
"Who'd think I'd ever have to use my Muchi Muchi no Mi to deal with pesky idiots like you…" He raised his voice. "Well, too bad for you all. Because once I let'em loose, no one survives. I'm Captain Slayer… and this is the last time you will ever see me."
The grip tightened even harder, but I knew I couldn't let go of my pencil no matter what!
"Another… Devil's Fruit… user…" I heard Zoro mutter while he tried to break free.
He still held one of his swords in his hand, but his grip slowly loosened. When he finally let go of it, the sword appeared to cut one of the whips, leaving his hand free. Before it could fall to the ground, Zoro grabbed the sword back and cut the rest of his whips in an instant, but Luffy and I were still stuck.
"I'll get you out!" I heard Zoro say, but he was interrupted by the sound of a slingshot firing.
The shot hit the captain's head, made him lose his focus and fall to the ground. The whips vanished and we were freed.
"Thanks again, Longno… I mean, Usopp-san!" I said.
He gave me a quick glare but did a thumbs-up nonetheless.
As soon as the so-called Captain Slayer stood back up again, he called his top three fighters to battle us.
"Wow, you bugs managed to knock out my men and drag me out of my ship? Phew, that rarely happens, but I'll give you a fighting chance. My three immediates will be more than a match for you all." Strangely, his mannerisms counteracted his attire.
"Houou! Dekkao! Matsuri! Come down here now!" The captain shouted.
"Right!" Three voices replied in unison.
Hopping off and landing in a cool-looking pose, his three wise men came down. The first was a burly man who carried an axe. The second's normal in height, normally dressed but he came down doing some karate stances. And the last one had a decorated spear, with a different model of blade from mine.
"Dekkao!" The big guy shouted.
"Houou!" The karate guy did the same.
"Matsuri!" The spear guy finished.
"And… Captain Jack Slayer." The captain joined them. "We'll crush you and raid this island!" They shouted together. Wait…
Hold on, Slayer is actually his surname?! I thought it was a nickname of sorts or…
Nevermind.
"NOT EVEN IN YOUR DREAMS ARE YOU GOING TO RAID THIS ISLAND! UGLY MOUSTACHE!" I shouted, angrily pointing my finger at them.
"What?! Don't insult my moustache!" The captain broke out of his shell and snapped. "Grrr, enough! That's it, I'm out of patience now! Stay put there and let me steamroll you lot into oblivion!"
Without another word, the four of them charged.
"Hold on. Four against three?! Not fair!" I thought to myself.
"Listen, kid. In the world of piracy, words such as 'unfair' have no meaning at all!"
A small tidbit of advice knocked at my mind right then.
"Fairness be damned then!" I said.
Luffy headed to fight the captain. Zoro got the axe guy. I was left with the karate guy and the spear guy. Oh, great. Two at once… I'm going to need some help if I want to get out of this alive!
"Enpitsu Yari!" I shouted and watched as my pencil converted to a spear again.
"Doesn't matter who you are or where you come from… Bring. It. On!" I then waved it over my head before striking a pose.
"My pleasure!" The spear guy rushed to me, quickly swinging his weapon around.
I blocked his spear with mine and thus rang the 'signal' for us to start our battle of spears. We "tested" our strengths for a moment before backing down. I would soon be in trouble as the karate guy, Houou, launched himself in a surprise attack. He was promptly hit by another lead star.
"Usopp-san!" I thought. "How come he always lands a hit?"
Oh yeah! It's four against four! Usopp's our support!
Houou stood back up with a grunt and turned his eyes to Usopp, who immediately fled the scene with an enemy chasing him around.
Unfortunately, that distracted me enough for Matsuri to rush in again and try to land a slash. I blocked, but the shock pushed me backwards. I stumbled and retreated a few steps, trying not to lose my footing. When I recovered my balance, I charged him with a quick succession of forward thrusts, but he had no struggle at all to block or evade all of them. On the final slash, his block was so strong that it was an attack of its own, almost disarming me altogether.
"Damn!" I grunted.
"That's all you've got? You have much to learn in the spear arts!" He said.
"Aw… come on… That's just my warm-up. Here I come!"
I attacked again, jumping for a slash…
…but I spin-kicked him in the face instead. That sent him flying backwards to the ground.
"You should've paid attention to my feet! Who's the weak one now?" I said, pointing at him.
He's certainly tougher than a simple minion. I'll need more than just a kick to knock him out. He stood back up again and split his spear into two daggers. With them, he launched a quick flurry of stabs to the air I had a hell of a time to evade.
"Why do you care so much about this puny island? You obviously don't have the strength to defend it." Matsuri had the nerve to talk as he tried to shove a blade into my guts.
"What do you know? I have people who care for me and that's the strength I need!" I said. "Instead of you who chose the path of piracy and darkness!"
I tried to block his attacks but some of them ended up hitting me, ripping my clothes and leaving wounds. I retreated a few steps and put a hand on my waist, enduring the pain and seeing my clothing slowly gaining a blood-red tint.
"Enough of this shit!"
針"Needles!" I wrote the character in a small sheet and shouted the word, summoning a rain of needles toward him.
He jumped to evade, but didn't do it in time to evade all of them. For some reason I can't figure out, he completely froze in place.
"No… needles! Needles in my legs! Anything but that! No~~!" He shouted in fear, gawking at the needles stuck in his legs.
Lucky!
I put my pencil back in my pocket and let my fists do the talking.
"Just so you know…" I said as I started my sprint. "This puny island… IS MY HOME!"
I hit him with a succession of quick punches, finishing with a stronger fist to the face. When it was finished, it left him in the ground with no power to stand up again.
"Rain of Fists!" I called after the attack.
"Don't say it… later…" He called before fainting.
"Uh… whatever!" My finishing pose.
Fight over, I sat down to take a few deep breaths and recover from the fatigue. Moments later, I watched Usopp defeating the karate guy with sheer aiming power while Zoro took out the big one with his swift and precise slashes, breaking his axe. Luffy still battled the captain. Nami watched it all as well, still hiding behind the rocks.
"Aren't you going to help Luffy?" She asked.
"Oh, yeah! There's still one man to take down." I then stood back up and cracked my joints.
Usopp, Zoro and I went to see the conclusion of the fight between Luffy and Captain Jack.
"You damn brats!" He groused, grinding his teeth.
Looks like Luffy took a few hits already, judging by the whip marks all over his body. He kept swerving Slayer's whip swings as they cracked with each impact.
"Hold on, whips don't crack in the sand, do they?" I asked.
"Hell if I know…" The swordsman replied.
"Shouldn't you two be helping Luffy right now?!" Nami shouted to him.
"He'll be fine, let him deal with it." Again, the swordsman retorted. Hold on, his name's Zoro, isn't it?
Back to the fight…
"Eek! Get those weird whips away from me!" He tried his best to avoid them.
After much evading and swerving, one whip encircled his hand. Instead of screaming, Luffy withstood the pain and grinned. Slayer froze for a second as he noticed Luffy taking the advantage to pull the captain close and land a punch right in his gut, strong enough to send him flying. Thrown in the sand, Slayer laid there for a few seconds.
"Ow… that hurt… you insect!" He cursed standing back up again, but stumbling to keep upright.
Luffy swung his arms backwards and stretched them before he ran to the flailing captain. The finishing move is about to strike! "Gomu Gomu no…"
"No… no! NO!" Slayer's legs betrayed him at the final time… he stood there until…
"…BAZOOKA!" Luffy's arms shot forward and he hit the captain with a single, violent strike of his palms. It was so strong it sent Slayer flying all the way back to his ship!
"Haha! Game over, Captain Jackass!" Luffy celebrated.
"What now?" Seeing that the battle's pretty much over, Nami finally could come out of her hideout. "When they wake up, they'll attack again! What are we going to do?" She said, worried.
"I have an idea. Leave it to me."
I drew a small and simple fan on a sheet, put it in the ground and watched it materialize. Taking a glimpse at Nami's befuddled look, I wasn't done yet.
"Now…"
大 "Grow!"
I wrote the symbol on the fan and channeled my energy to it.
"Wow!" Luffy was amazed as he watched it grow many times in size.
"Look, I won't let you escape before you tell me how the hell that works." Nami, surprised.
"I'll be glad to. Later." I said. "For now, just go with 'It's magic.'"
風 "Wind!"
I wrote it in the back of the fan and swung it. At first it failed to fire, but after a while, an intense gust of wind rushed by and blew the ship off shore, sending it back to the endless sea. Thing is, the gust hit back and blew me away to the bushes.
"Are you alright?!" I heard them shout.
"Ouch… damn… that needs some work too…" I grumbled, scratching my head as I scrambled to get back up. "I'm fine, guys! Uh, mostly!" I screamed.
"Don't come here again, you bastards!" What? Is someone else here?
It turns out there is, because after the fight was over, a small group of people, who apparently watched it all, came out of the trees when the invaders left. What I didn't expect was to find out Mom and little Kenny amongst them.
"Hey, you two! What are you doing here?!" I said as they rushed to me.
"Don't play dumb now, son." She punched my shoulder. "Your little brother and I saw it all from up there. You were fantastic!"
"Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Super cool!" Kenny jumped around.
"Aw… don't make such a fuss. I did what I had to do." I said, slightly embarrassed. "Thank those guys instead, they helped me a lot."
"Think nothing of it." Luffy said. "That's what we do for our comrades!"
"Yeah, thank yo-Hey! I didn't accept it yet!" I replied.
"Yet? So you're going to accept it eventually!" Oh crud. "Alright! We're going to wait here until you come with us."
"No, I… no, I'm not going! I said I wouldn't be going with you!" I insisted, albeit on the verge of giving up.
The briefly-disrupted peace returned to our island. Night was soon to come.
"Alright, alright, you'll have time to decide." Nami groused. "The sun is setting already, it's useless to set sail today. Daiki-san… can we… possibly spend the night at your home?"
"Eh? Hmmm, I don't know… It's pretty tough to host four people… Mom?" I answered, tossing the question to her.
"Huh? Come on, we can't let them sleep under the moon, can we? The house's big enough for four guests. But, I'm going to need your help, son." She said.
"Alright. We'll get hammocks and food ready for you guys." I said.
"So, these four are your friends, eh? They seem to be nice." As the group talked amongst themselves, Mom pulled me aside and checked them out from a distance.
"Umm… I wouldn't call them friends yet, but you're quite right." I said. "They're not as bad as I thought." I then turned to the girl: "Well, Nami-san, there's your answer. We'll host you in my house for the night."
"Wahoo! I'm super hungry! Do you have meat?" Luffy cheered.
"Lots of meat!" I smiled. "Let's go have dinner, then?"
"Yeah!" He said.
The group accepted our invitation and we all walked back home. The onlooking crowd dispersed as well, but there was still one person left calling me.
"You could've called, you know." Mr. Higgins walked out of the bushes towards me.
"There was no need, Higgins-san." I replied. "I got plenty of help actually."
"I know, I saw you out there. That should teach you not to shoulder all problems by yourself."
"I know… I just can't afford to see our people getting involved in this."
"Daiki-kun…" He sighed. "You still have much to learn about your powers. It's a shame your dad was gone before he told you all about it, but I guess it's better for you to find out on your own."
"You're saying I should go with them?"
"That's up to you to decide." He punched me lightly in the chest. "Don't worry about us if you want to go. Our island is safe. You're not the only one willing to fight if needed to. Everyone can do it. Even your mother."
"Huh… thanks for the words, Higgins-san."
As I turned to walk back home, he left a final bit of advice.
"Watch your back, kid. There are many ways the world wants you dead."
Yup, he definitely wants me to go…
As much as I didn't want to admit, I felt genuine happiness. I felt I could trust those four. It's not decided yet, but their presence lit the fire of piracy in me again. I just wanted to lead a normal life but something at the back of my mind still pushed me to follow my father's footsteps.
In the end, that's what I really want to do.
…
We got back home. There, Mom and I prepared a great feast for the seven of us after she treated our wounds. The house is quiet all the time, but tonight it was noisy.
"Look! More meat!" Luffy, who I would find out to be a big eater, stretched his arms every once in a while to steal the food in our plates.
"Hey, that's mine!" I pouted.
"Pirate-niichan! Did your arm stretch just now?!" Kenny stared wide-eyed at the straw hat boy.
"Yup!" He confirmed. "Because…"
He then stretched his cheek. "…I'm a rubberman! I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi so, stretching like that is piece of cake to me!"
"Awesome!" It was Kenny's turn to shine his eyes with excitement.
We stuffed ourselves full and rested in the living room. After the dinner was done, Luffy repeated his proposal.
"So, weird name Daiki, are you gonna be our comrade, or not?" He said, smiling.
W… weird name?
Oops, almost forgot about that. His question made me pause to think, despite my being without time to do so. Mom and Kenny kept staring at me, eager for an answer.
"Wha… wh-why are you all looking at me that way?" I said, feeling a blush coming. "Ok, I'll go! I'm going. B-but I'm not doing that for you people's sake, okay? I have my plans."
"So tsundere…!"
"What?"
I surely heard Mom whisper something, but she just whistled, looking away from me.
"Alright…" I sighed, recomposing myself. "If you want a writer, here he is!"
Looks like I was the only one not overly happy with my decision… at least on the outside. Inside, I could feel the joy flourishing. Memories of Dad flashed through my mind again.
The day he departed…
The day he came back…
The stories he told me…
…and the day he died.
I'm about to head on a one-way trip towards the unknown!
"Ok, guys! And Daiki-san. Tomorrow we're outta here!" Nami called.
"Why did you single me out?" I said.
"Wow, I'm sleepy…" Usopp yawned. "Let's go to bed already…"
Mom brought three more hammocks to the guys and brought Nami in to share her bed. Kenny and I went to our room. Well, after the ruckus that was our dinner I lost the last bits of sleep I had. The wounds still hurt a bit, but the bandages took care of it, so it's nothing to complain about.
"Big bro, are you going with them?" Kenny asked, probably imagining my absence.
"Yeah." I answered. "Don't worry, little bro, I will be back. I don't know when, but I'll be back for sure."
Kenny just nodded, not saying a word.
"I guess dreaming to be King of Pirates isn't so far off after all…" I chuckled lightly.
"Aww… I just got a big bro and now he's leaving?" He pouted.
"Yeah, that sure sucks…" I agreed. "But don't worry. Mom will take care of you just like she took care of me. Let's go to the land of dreams then?"
"Ok. Good night, big bro!" Kenny said before he closed his eyes.
"Good night, little bro." I said before I did the same.
We went to sleep in what would be the last night before the great day.
The day I sail off to my first ever great adventure.
The day I become a pirate!
Now that Dan and the Straw Hat Pirates have come to terms with each other, the group's gained one more member! Finally, our hero will have the chance to go on the adventure of his lifetime! But he still has one last request before the departure. Chapter 4 waits for you! Don't miss it!
