Helmhammer of Thor Almighty

Chapter 56

Survival Game in Kisho Sea

The crew heard their captain shout. They knew it had to be bad. Tohru leapt onto the deck, already armed, and flung a pair of shuriken out at the wave approaching them. Of course, they hit with no avail. She used her wind boomerang** to whip up a strong gale that flew straight into the wave. Some of the impact was decreased, but it continued to build up as it came towards them.

Evian batted several lightning balls at once. Each bore a hole through the wave. Olvia thrust her hands out and created a huge stacking of thick cumulostratus. Fuyu and Neko watched as their crewmates made their best efforts to try weakening the impending force. "I would use my Meishingon to suck up that entire wave, but then it would go out of control and possibly harm some of us.. god I feel so useless right now."

It came to the point where they could do no more to hold back the incredible force. Tohru dived for the wheel and managed to get the ship to ride the wave up. "We can't flip over.. or we're completely done for!!"

Then, the full wave came crashing down. It hit them from the side coming down, so that they were practically sideways and falling through the air. "Crap!!" Tohru screamed. The wave gave them no mercy, it just washed over the entire ship.

Splooosshh!!! The ship slammed hard into the water at an angle. Fortunately, it hadn't completely turned over yet, so there was still hope.

Unfortunately, the crew had been scattered by the wave. All but Neko, Olvia, and Mike had been submerged. It was particularly bad for Zato himself - being a devil fruit user, he couldn't swim!

The force of the wave was still whirling by underwater, so everyone submerged was tumbling through the water uncontrollably. Back up at the ship, Neko was clinging onto a free ledge, hoping not to fall into the water below. The ship was rocking back and forth. Neko prayed that it would come back straight and not flip over more the other direction.

Olvia had taken to the air as soon as the wave came crashing upon their poor ship. She grabbed the first person she could see, Mike, in the process, and took him to the air. Mike had reduced himself to his smallest form to stay upon Olvia's cloud. "No!! Fuyu, Evian, Tohru, and Zato are all drowning!"

Further up, Izumo was fortunate enough to have escaped the wrath of the wave. His ship had been bumped up into the air, but that was it. They noticed the Alba pirates struggling to get back upon their ship. However, that was definitely not the gist of his problems.

Scope, on the other hand, had taken a big hit. His ship was flooded, and a few of his members had fallen overboard during the crash of the wave. His crew was moaning in misery, trying to recover, when Scope roared out, "Everyone arm yourselves at once! There's still the source of our problem to take care of!"

Alan emerged from the water right by Izumo's ship. Izumo saw him leap into the air and land hard upon his deck. Izumo's main crew he had with him, unlike Scope's, was limited to twenty-one members. "The Drunk Corsair, huh? I didn't think you'd still be alive, Alan."

"It's good that you know me, but I don't know you. Just knowing your name as Kogane Izumo is not knowing you. The reason I don't know you is because all I see in you is a waste that stands in the way. You pirates have no ambition. Your gold digging is just a waste. And me? My so called ambition is to move about. I eliminate weaklings like you."

"I don't understand your reasoning, Sir Alan, but you shouldn't underestimate me," Izumo replied courageously. His crew was definitely very frightened, but their captain's composure kept them going.

"Observe, young captain, as I destroy you!" Alan released energy and propelled forward at rocket speed. There was quite an explosion, and Izumo's crew shrieked in horror as they saw their captain simply disappear into the impact of the attack.

Izumo did not end that quickly. Instead, he stood right where he was. His body had turned to pure gold, and he seemed to be in no harm. "You see, Alan, I ate the Kin Kin no Mi. In other words, I'm a Goldman. I told you not to underestimate me, for I can stand up to your offense."

"And you are assuming that it's over?" Alan replied.

"Of course not! Kin Kin no Shard!" Izumo shouted. Gold shards raced towards Alan, but he dodged them with ease and flickered right behind Izumo's back. "What happens when I shatter your little gold body?"

Alan kicked effortlessly, but the impact was huge as usual. It tore through the deck and over the ledge, giving the ship some damage. Izumo took the hit directly, so his head and chest were shattered off. "Captain Izumo!!" a crew mate cried.

Suddenly, the gold shards and loose pieces flew around uncontrollably. One managed to pierce Alan's arm. They began to materialize back into Izumo himself. However, before he could say anything else, Alan had prepared another attack. This one nailed Izumo's main body and knocked him overboard. The crew mates rushed to the edge only to see their captain drowning below. A few jumped over to help him.

Alan was nowhere near through with Izumo's crew though. Before the majority of the crew could run, Alan flickered right in front of four. He threw his whole body weight in this attack and sent them flying far out into the water. "He's fast!" Izumo's first mate, Tinjen, shouted. "Get Izumo back up!! Don't let him stop us - stay alive!!"

In less than a second, Alan was right above Tinjen, ready to eliminate the first mate. Unlike his captain, Tinjen had no way of defending himself at the last moment...

Then, Alan felt a flurry of stinging projectiles whiz right by him. He looked straight ahead and saw Captain Scope's crew fully armed and firing at him. Scope's ship was coming in fast. "Bullets.. huh? I'll show you the real power of projectiles!"

Alan pointed his fingers out and, similar to the Zato's technique, fired bullets of his own energy out at Scope's ship. Its energy so powerful, the "bullets" appeared as white streaks of light. Scope underestimated their power and told his crew to continue shooting. When the first burst of energy hit one of his crew members, a young boy, there was quite an explosion of energy. Scope turned and saw a hole bored through the boy's chest. It was clear that he had already been killed.

Then the rest came and hit the ship. Nothing seemed to have occurred at first.. but then Scope felt the ship going down. He looked over the side and saw massive holes in the side of the vessel. "WE'RE SINKING!"

"No we won't!" Scope shouted. "Man your posts quickly.. we can still live through this!!" However, Scope failed to notice Alan fire himself like a cannonball from Izumo's ship. The villain erupted through the deck and caused the entire ship to explode on contact.

Izumo was safely restored to his deck. Unfortunately, the first thing he saw was Scope's ship entirely obliterated. Pirates burned within or struggled to dive out into the ocean in time. "Rigu.. no!"

Similarly, the Alba pirates quickly restored their ship to its original position. All seven had made it back on the ship, but they all watched as the other crews in front of them suffered from Alan's power. "Who.. who is that guy?" Tohru whispered with fear.

Alan finally jumped onto the ocean and faced Zato's crew. "Only one left to destroy, I see." Alan tore across the surface of the water and, in a flash, landed upon the Shooting Star. "Zato Alba.. I heard much recent news about you from Akaiso."

"Who the heck are you!?!" Tohru screamed. "What makes you think you can just come here and kill everyone in your sight?!?"

Alan smirked and cracked the bottle of sake in his hand. "The fact that I'm strong and you're weak is what makes me do that, not simply think. You people are the ones who think. I'm the one who judges and finishes things off. People like you have thought me as a madman."

Mike took a good look at the man in front of him and gasped with horror. "You.. you're Alan.. the Drunk Corsair!"

"That is right," Alan moaned. "I see you already fear me. Continue to fear me, and you will die. Perhaps if you overcome the fear, you will live. Since my freedom, I have vanquished over a dozen crews of your sort. Just because you stopped Akaiso.. doesn't mean I won't end you either, Zato Alba."

Zato nervously replied, "How.. how do you know me..?"

"Zato!! This guy is the one who allied with my former captain.. Alan and Captain Warren were both killed years ago by Akaiso!" Mike cried.

"Your former captain? Hehe, I thought I recognized you, Mike," Alan chuckled. "I'm surprised to see you still alive, after Akaiso choked you aboard that ship."

"What do you mean me? I'm surprised to see you alive after Akaiso supposedly killed you and Warren!" Mike shouted. "Why don't you tell me.. what are you doing back here?"

"Wait.. I think I know," said Zato. Everyone turned to him. "You said you're free now, and you've mentioned Akaiso. Were you the captive that was held in one of his rooms.. in his mobile base?"

"That is true. Diz 'freed' me."

"How are you still alive though? Akaiso.. killed.." Mike cried.

"Akaiso froze Warren's bare body in front of her. Warren was the one who died, not me. Then he attempted to bring me to his side. Unfortunately, my fight with Ranpu Yuushitsu limited my strengths. Akaiso easily brought me down in the end." Mike stared horrified.

"Tell me then. If Akaiso was your enemy, and Akaiso is our enemy, why are you against us? Why are you against all pirates? What are you trying to accomplish by destroying everyone?"

Alan chuckled and ripped off one sleeve. The Star Pirates gasped in horror at the sight before them. Alan's arm was severed with numerous wounds, scars, tattoos, scars. They could all see his veins bulging, and they could all see how pale and wrinkled his skin was. "Zato Alba, you have no idea about pain. You don't understand how this world is corrupt.. You don't understand my perspective."

"So you're killing people who don't understand you?" Zato shouted. His hands suddenly shone with energy. Unfortunately, by the time he blinked his eyes, Alan was in the air right by him. Alan gave Zato an effortless kick that sent the captain soaring off the deck and bouncing across the ocean surface.

"ZATO!!" Tohru and Mike screamed.

"Why you..." Fuyu hissed. He drew both his swords and swung them at Alan; however, Alan punched through Fuyu's swords and knocked him back flat on the deck. One of Fuyu's swords had been reduced to merely a single hit. "My weapon.. you destroyed it!?!"

Alan flickered to Fuyu's side and stepped on his head. He crushed Fuyu into the wooden floor and watched the swordsman suffer without anything to protect him. Alan then noticed a twinkling at the corner of his eye. He saw Evian coming at him with a massive lightning weapon. "A ball of lightning seems awfully familiar to me.." he mumbled. Evian anticipated Alan's counter by exploding into a ton of sparks as soon as his opponent attacked him back.

The sparks clung to Alan's face and shocked him. His opponent momentarily paralyzed, Evian slammed his lightning staff down on Alan's head from behind and knocked the corsair out. "Even people like you can be taken down."

Evian charged a massive load of electricity into his staff and raised it up one last time. "Here comes.. the KILLING blow!!" Right then, the electricity dissipated into thin air. Evian was now the stunned one, rendered completely useless and vulnerable. Tohru screamed when Alan spun around and smashed Evian away with a full blown force. Evian soared off the deck as well and drowned in the water under the ship. Alan now turned to face Mike and Tohru, the last two targets in his way. "Tohru, get back! He's merciless!"

"There's no way you'll live against him, Mike!!" Tohru cried.

Mike shook his head and said, "No! I'm the only one with a chance of talking to him!"

Alan roared with laughter and hysterically pointed his finger at Mike. "Talk to me, huh? Mike, you're still so innocent. You make me laugh. Why don't you try it? Oh why don't I just kill you right now? Harharr.."

Mike erupted into his full body form and ripped out his sharp claws. "If you can't even recognize friend from foe, then I have no clue who you are!" Mike lunged forward to unleash his fury.. he did not get far at all.

Alan stopped him halfway across the deck. His palm pressed lightly against Mike's chest. Alan softly whispered to his former comrade, "Kujiku no Basuto!" Mike was done for.

A massive explosion occurred right then, throwing Mike out of Alan's impact zone and back to Tohru's feet. Alan was caught amidst his own destruction wave and practically let it all out on himself. "What just happened??" Tohru shrieked.

"I have no clue..." he moaned. Suddenly, he saw something zip right in front of him. "WATCH OUT TOHRU!" Mike flipped backwards in time to grab Tohru and knock her to the ground. A humongous eruption of flames leveled just a few feet above her and Mike as they ducked on the floor of the deck. "It's that Mr. 2.. he's back!"

True enough, Diz now stood upon the crow's nest of the ship and proudly wielded his sword. "Alan, you're really going overboard. How much sake did you drink this time?"

"I don't even know what I had," Alan mumbled. "Now get out of my sight or I will kill you this time."

"Hehe.. I knew it. You're officially drunk," Diz teased. "Even you would be sane enough not to go on this much of a killing spree. Well.. it's not like you're sane in the first place though. I told you to leave these guys ALONE. But instead you just decided to come here first thing."

Diz felt a sharp presence lurking right behind him. He spun and parried the offense just in time to prevent complete mutilation. In the process, he managed to knock his offender a safe distance away. "So we meet again, huh?"

Fuyu regained his balance right at the tip of the crow's nest and swung back over. "That was a sneaky move there, Mr. Sashimi," Diz complimented. "I didn't expect you to come for me first. Why's this?"

Fuyu took a quick inspection of Diz's face to point out tiny crystals still bound to his skin. He hasn't fully recovered from Mike's release, Fuyu thought. "What makes you think you're welcome to be here? What makes you think that I'm going to accept your support? You think I'd ever side with an enemy?"

"I see how it is," Diz sighed, clasping his sword firmly. "Well, in that case, I'll teach you, Mr. Sashimi, how a true assassin works."

"Not if I assassinate you first Diz!" Alan roared. Within the blink of an eye, Diz was right behind Fuyu. He would have brought his sword straight through Fuyu's skull had Alan not deflected the blow from between the two swordsmen. Fuyu turned his head but was blinded by the shockwaves exploding from Diz and Alan's clash.

Tohru and Mike scrambled around on the deck below in disarray. "What's going on up there?" she cried.

"It's a three way battle.. Alan, Mr. 2, and Fuyu are all intent on killing each other at this point. Tohru.. we're not safe at all in this position.." he said shakily.

"Then what do we do??"

"Alan's in a drunk frenzy right now. Nobody has any chance of stopping him at this point. Where are Olvia and Neko??"

Tohru heard shouting from beside the ship. She scurried to the side of the deck and looked over. Together, Neko and Olvia were lowering a life boat to get out and save Zato. Fortunately, Izumo had already anchored Zato up onto his ship. "Look, those pirates are signaling to us!"

Izumo waved two flaming sticks back and forth, trying to get the Star Pirates to come to his ship. "Why use the boats? Let me just shift our course towards that ship then!" Tohru cried.

Just as she turned towards the wheel, Mike caught notice of Diz and Fuyu together plummeting down to the deck surface. "NO!" he shouted.

They smashed through the deck and landed in the storage area underneath. Fuyu's swords soon dropped in as well while Diz's came last. Diz's massive blade released a load of fire energy upon contact with the bottom. Even worse, Fuyu's swords landed smack into several oil barrels and sliced holes through them. Within seconds, the entire ship was burning. Alan stood steady for a few seconds with blood red eyes. Then, he came down hard.

Izumo kept waving until a mighty explosion took the entire Shooting Star. The poor ship incinerated in the dark hand of Alan the Drunk Corsair. "I'm shocked to have picked you up, Zato D. Alba from that ship. This is so grieving to see your crew perish in this manner." Zato watched silently in horror at Izumo's side.

A second eruption of flames took through the ship, and the cloud of smoke spread even more around the ship. Suddenly, Izumo saw that the Star Pirates were not at all done. The smoke twirled and twirled until it assumed a mighty form - a humongous black cloud ship. Olvia stood at its bow, majestically whirling her arms to control its movements. This ship floated into the air before turning around and facing the rest of the smoke below it. Alan similarly shot out of the mass of smoke like a missile and took to the air. By kicking the air under him, he was able to keep up with her and face her head on. "Oh my.. the Kumo Kumo no Mi actually exists?"

By looks, Olvia seemed possessed. A blue aura swirled around her body and lightened up her face. Even her eyes took on a mystic tone. Every time she swept her hands, the mystic aura floated along. Every one of her movements was gracefully conducted such that it truly impressed her opponent. As she pushed her weight forward, the ship of clouds rapidly sailed towards Alan. He anticipated the force and unleashed two bullets of air. Olvia quickly angled upwards, letting her ship dodge the full force of the impacts. Alan suddenly unsheathed a blade from his robes and flipped it out to three times its normal length. He knew that Olvia would anticipate a direct sword slash, so he tricked her by spinning the weapon so that it acted like a fan. "His proficiency with that sword is incredible!" Olvia thought to herself. "What is he planning..?"

Alan kicked himself further upwards and hurled his weapon straight into the cloud mass. Olvia kept her cool and clasped her hands in an effort to hold the ship together. Her attempts were to no avail though, for Alan's weapon continued spinning as it approached the center of the clouds. Soon enough, Olvia's smoke ship dissipated into tiny black clouds that merely drifted away into the air. Alan roared with laughter and twirled in the air in a crucifying manner. The remainder of the smog below him was dragged into his rotation and soon formed a similar mass, only more devastating. "I applaud you for your artistry with clouds, but your taste in beauty and artistic designs has no worth in battle. Now, witness true power!" The smog above him wrapped and mixed together until it formed a solid ball of thick gaseous material. Olvia released.

Then, she noticed Alan right behind her. "No way.."

Tohru looked up for a second. All she saw was a blade slash through her. Olvia began to plummet. "NO!" she screamed.

Suddenly, the tables were turned. Olvia's body split into two pieces, and both puffed away into clouds. Alan was completely taken back by this, and he finally found himself vulnerable in the middle of the air to an attack from behind and above.

Olvia, wielding a majestic staff of frozen cloud mass, jabbed it into Alan's back right in the middle of the air. A plethora of energy released right then, shooting Alan straight down into the sea. All in a second, the water underneath Tohru, Mike, Neko, Evian, and Fuyu began to solidify. An entire ship emerged from the ocean all at once. Tohru never felt as confused as she was before. All she saw was Olvia descend from the air and grab hold of the steer. The ship's course shifted once again.

"Olvia.. what just happened?"

"No time to talk, let's get moving!" she exclaimed, and the Shooting Star raced towards Izumo's ship.

Meanwhile, Alan finally managed to pull himself up to the surface. He was drifting in the sea, weak once more, as he watched the Star pirates escape from his clutches. "Zato Alba, you have quite an impressive crew..." he chuckled, and he allowed himself to sink into the ocean.