Running.
That was all that could be done. run until she died or escaped.
Vivi heard Carue breathing hard beneath her; he was running faster than she had ever seen him before.
She dared not look back to see if he was following her.
He had taken out Mr. Eight and Mr. Nine easily. To Vivi it appeared as if he had not even done anything. Mr. eight simply exploded when he fired his guns and Mr. 9 had followed shortly after when the ground beneath his feet had exploded.
Vivi would honour their sacrifice, she would escape. She only wished that her younger brother was here, admittedly her adopted brother but they were close all the same. Her younger brother would have been able to protect her from Mr. Five she was sure, no one was stronger in all of Arabasta.
She turned a corner and was jolted back to reality at the sight of Mr. Five standing upon a massive white bird blocking her path.
"Come on princess you're making this harder than it really has to be, if you don't come quietly I'll just blow the entire island to pieces." Mr. five said as a white object of some sort seemed to come out of his palms. Vivi didn't wait to find out what the thing was for before she turned Carue about and sped off down the road once more.
She made it most of the way down the road when the sound of furiously flapping wings reached her ears. Looking to the source she was horrified to find a white bird with four wings was speedily gaining on her, it was almost right next to her by this point. Thinking quickly Vivi turned down the first alley way that she could. The bird attempted to do the same only to crash into the building; the resulting explosion completely leveled the building. Vivi was only lucky to have gotten through the ally before it had gone off.
Vivi looked ahead and saw the narrow pass that she would have to go through in order to get to her ship she pulled Carue to a stop however when a large and muscled figure stepped into her path.
"Ms. Monday!" Vivi said in shock. Vivi thought she had died but apparently Ms. Monday was tougher than even Vivi had given her credit for.
"Go." Ms. Monday said. "Once you get passed here you can get on the ship. I'll hold him off."
"But-" Vivi began with concern in her voice.
"What are you waiting for?! If he catches you Mr. Eight's and Mr. Nine's sacrifice will have been in vane" Ms. Monday said taking a step forward.
Vivi took her advice and made her way towards the pass. She turned around at the sound of flapping wings this time they sounded much louder, from a creature much larger than the last one. Her assumption was correct as Mr. five came into view riding on the back of his white bird. He was flying fairly low to the ground.
Ms. Monday hurled the log she had up at Mr. Five, Vivi was hopeful for a moment as it looked like Ms. Monday might have actually taken Mr. Five off guard.
It was only for a moment though as the bird he rode atop almost lazily drifted to the side of the projectile. Mr. Five himself didn't even look at Ms. Monday as he threw a spherical white object over his shoulder as he passed overhead.
The object didn't even land before exploding leaving nothing but smoking ruin behind.
"Well princess this has been boring." Mr. Five said opening his other hand revealing a small white figurine, a sleek bird with four wings, with a puff of smoke it was suddenly the size of an eagle. "Let's just wrap this up. You should appreciate dying in such an artistic way…" The bird launched itself from his hand and made its way toward her at incredible speed.
"Because true art is…" the bird was almost upon her.
"AN EXPLOSION!"
Vivi didn't know what happened, first it seemed that she would die, the bird shaped missile taking her out in a ball fire. But it never hit, instead it had destroyed everything in a line to either side of her including her only hope of escape. A figure stood between her and Mr. Five. Vivi recognized him immediately.
"Mr. Bushido!" Vivi remembered how easily the man had cut down every one in the town, the power and ruthlessness he had displayed. "You… So persistent at a time like this!" Vivi took out one of her weaponized jewels and spun it towards his head.
The swordsman severed the cord with a nonchalant flick of his sword before bringing the tip of his katana near her throat. "Don't jump to conclusions." He said as he removed the blade. "I came here to save you."
Vivi stared at the man in disbelief. The man who not even an hour ago had seemingly dedicated himself to the task of killing everyone. "Save me?"
"Hm? Didn't you just cut everyone in this town up?" Mr. five asked from atop his bird as it landed in the middle of the road. "You must not be able to make up your mind if you turn around to help your enemy so suddenly."
"That cloak…" The swordsman murmured just loud enough for Vivi to hear. "I'm not doing it because I want to." The swordsman said loudly so Mr. Five could hear. "I owe someone a debt. That is all."
"Oh? Did the princess save your life or something? Hm? Repaying the honour? Hm?" Mr. Five asked.
"No. my crew mate is making me do this…" the swordsman said, he looked really embarrassed for some reason. "…I owe her some money…"
Mr. Five started laughing. "Seriously?"
"She's a witch." The swordsman said. He seemed to get angry as Mr. Five's laughter got louder at his declaration. "Anyway! Stop laughing you mad bomber!"
"Mad bomber?" Mr. Five asked his laughter stopping completely. "I will have you know that there is nothing more beautiful than that moment of sublimation! It truly is a piece of art. True are is an explosion!"
"You even sound like a mad bomber." The swordsman said. "They just look like explosions to me."
Mr. Hive was silent for a moment before he slowly placed his hands into the pouches at his hips. He started to speak, he sounded angry "Is. That. So. Well than, I'll just have to make you experience it." he removed his hands from the pounces. "When this is over you'll see. True art…" Mr. Five threw what looked like a swarm of small white balls at the swordsman. "IS AN EXPLOSION!"
The swordsman drew all three of his swords and adjusted his stance. "Santoryu Tatsu Maki!" He brought his blades around in a circle creating a powerful twister that sent the small explosives into the sky where they exploded harmlessly. Or somewhat harmlessly anyway.
The wind and heat from their two attacks sent Carue and Vivi tumbling painfully across the ground. Vivi looked up to see Mr. Five and the swordsman in the midst of a standoff.
"Not bad, swordsman." Mr. Five said placing his hands into his pockets once more.
"Not good enough. Mad bomber." The swordsman shot back.
Before either could make a move a voice, a very angry voice cut through the moment, drawing everyone's attention to the end of the road. "ZOOOROOOO! I FOUND YOU!"
The Happy go lucky boy that they had thought was the captain before facing the swordsman, now named Zoro, stood at the end of the road. The stomach the boy had sported shortly before was gone, his Coat buttoned up, the way it was worn reminded Vivi of the way Mr. Five wore his cloak. The massive and heavy Gunbai the boy carried on his back was now held in his hand surprising Vivi greatly with the ease he held it, with a single hand at that. The straw hat sat atop the boy's head the way it had in the picture on the wanted poster. Unlike on the wanted poster the boy was not smiling, he looked angry, he looked scary. And the biggest difference between the picture of the boy and the monster that stood before her now…
…she could see his eyes.
Red, the color of blood, of hate and rage. Eyes that did not belong on the cheerful boy that had enjoyed their party, these eyes belonged to a monster. They were eyes that could only belong to the devil.
Vivi could hardly breath, she didn't realize how desperately her need for air was until she had succeeded in averting her gaze and taking a deep gulping breath of air. They might have been wrong about Zoro. After seeing Monkey D. Luffy in person, Zoro could not possibly be the captain. They had been wrong.
"ZORO, YOU BASTARD!" Luffy yelled. "YOU WON"T GET AWAY WITH THIS. I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!"
"WHAT?!" Zoro yelled back in confusion. "What are you talking about!?"
"I ASKED ONE OF THE GUYS IN TOWN. YOU CUT THEM UP. AFTER THAY THREW US A PARTY. UNGRATEFULL BASTARD!" Luffy yelled back
"Oy. This guy for real?" Mr. Five asked in bewilderment.
"True I did do that…" Zoro admitted scratching his cheek sheepishly. "But I had a good reason. They were bounty hunters, Luffy. They were going to capture us."
"LIAR! ENEMIES DON"T GIVE YOU FOOD!" Luffy yelled.
"Is he a complete idiot?" Vivi asked in disbelief. She was starting to find it hard to believe he was the captain again.
"Luffy look at it this way. How do you catch fish?" Zoro attempted to reason with his irate crewmate/possibly captain.
"I don't want to hear it!" Luffy yelled suddenly disappearing from view like Zoro had done before, Mr. Five was knocked over by something and Luffy appeared in front of Zoro his War fan sliced through the air before impacting the ground hard enough to send spider web cracks out across the road. Zoro had been fortunate enough to dodge.
"Luffy Listen to me!" Zoro said. Luffy didn't answer with words as he brought his fan around sending a powerful gust of wind that blew Zoro away down the road. He landed on top of Mr. Five who was picking himself up off the ground, the impact carried both of them through a building at the far end of the street. Mr. Five seemed to be getting angrier as their confrontation continued. Zoro immerged from the wreckage first
"Luffy." Zoro started once more. "You put food on a hook right? When you fish."
"Yeah. What of it?" Luffy asked seemingly holding himself back from charging Zoro
"You are the fish." Zoro said. "They were the fishermen. Get it?"
Luffy stood still for a time as if thinking it thought. "I don't believe you." Luffy said simply before disappearing again. Zoro had only just enough time to duck under a swing that would have taken his head off. Zoro grunted as he drew his three swords once more.
"Fine since you won't listen to reason…" Luffy and Zoro charged one another seemingly ready to clash when a sudden explosion destroyed the space between the two and sent the both of them flying to opposite ends of the road.
"You…" Mr. Five said his eyes shadowed and an incredibly angry and menacing look on his face. "You don't Appreciate my art do you?"
"This again?" Zoro said just loud enough for Vivi to hear
"I don't CARE!" Luffy yelled. "Stay out of this!"
Mr. five Grew angrier at Luffy's declaration. "Unacceptable! I'll show you! ART IS AN EXPLOSION!" He yelled throwing fist sized birds at the two pirates. Both reacted by disabling the birds. Zoro cutting his to pieces and Luffy swatting it away with his fan. The damaged missiles exploded behind the two as they charged Mr. Five
Mr. Five didn't make any move to avoid the oncoming attacks, simply standing there and moving as if to quickly grab more white stuff from his pouches.
"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Both Luffy and Zoro said cutting Mr. Five into three pieces. Vivi was amazed at the two of them, taking out such a strong member of Baroque Works so easily.
He surprise did not last long.
Mr. Five's corpse turned white. It showed for only a split second before the area was shaken by a massive explosion. Smoke obscured the area and Vivi coughed as the ash laden air was even blown towards her.
It took a short minute for the dust to settle to reveal a smoking crater where the street used to be, the buildings all around were little more than piles of rubble and charred sticks. Vivi gasped at the sight. The two that had been fighting had been right in the middle of it; there was no way they had survived.
Vivi looked up and say Mr. Five standing atop his white bird smirking at the destruction. "Not bad…" Mr. Five said. "Protecting yourselves from the blast like that."
Two piles of rubble were pushed to the side as Luffy and Zoro stepped into view. Their clothes were slightly singed and they had blood dripping from their mouths, the shockwave must have wreaked havoc on their insides. "Oy Luffy…" Zoro began. "Let's take care of this guy, we'll finish this later."
Luffy gave Zoro a glare before nodding. "Right. I'll kick your ass later."
The two of them looked up towards the sky at Mr. Five. "How about this?" Mr. Five said as he opened both his hands and let two amorphous globs of white clay fall from his… Mouths? Vivi shuddered at the sight, they were creepy. The globs landed on the ground below, long strings of White material kept them linked to Mr. Five's hand/mouths. They stood up revealing them to be vaguely humanoid in shape and moving erratically. "These shall be your opponents."
"Don't take us lightly!" Zoro yelled running forward und cutting both figures in half. Zoro seemed proud of the accomplishment. Until he saw that where once there had been two there were now four. Luffy Rushed forward cutting the group in half again with a single sweep of his, quite frankly, oversized war fan. Vivi watched as the thread of white matter split and reattached itself to the severed pieces. Four became eight. Zoro and Luffy continued on the defensive as the white figures leapt and multiplied around them.
Seeing that cutting them was getting them nowhere, Luffy and Zoro both unleashed powerful wind attacks. "MIGHTY GALE!" "TATSU MAKI!"
The combined techniques created a tornado strong enough to lift the rubble from the ground and send it all into the sky; it carried the white figures off as well.
Vivi watched as Mr. five swerved to avoid the flying debris.
Luffy and Zoro did much the same as the debris and white figures came back down to earth. New explosions wracked the town wherever the figures landed, reducing more of the town into an empty lot. Zoro and Luffy had to continue to jump out of the figures' way as they seemed to continue honing in on them even while falling.
Even when the rain of explosions stopped, Luffy and Zoro got no reprieve. Fast moving birds flew at the two of them Forcing Them to jump away and avoid the explosions. Viv could already see what was happening. Mr. Five was separating them, that last combined attack was powerful and Mr. Five evidently didn't want to have to deal with it again.
Zoro cut a bird in half and leapt away from the resulting explosion, Landing safely atop a small mound of rubble. Apparently he was not so safe. The rubble beneath him exploded engulfing him in smoke and flames.
"ZORO!" Luffy yelled worried.
A cough was heard from the smoke as Zoro staggered out now with his clothes in tatters and blood practically flowing like a fountain from several serious wounds across his body. "Idiot, what are you getting so worried for? We are supposed to be fighting aren't we?" Zoro said standing up straighter on shaky legs.
"Of course!" Luffy yelled back. "Only I am allowed to kick your ass." Luffy said, it didn't sound like an excuse, Vivi was sure that it was the actual reason.
"Oy Luffy. Doesn't that cloak look familiar?" Zoro asked nodding towards Mr. Five.
-o0O0o-
(2 weeks earlier outside the newly destroyed Arlong park)
"Come on everyone we can't just celebrate all by ourselves let's get the news to the rest of the island."
Everyone cheered and turned to leave but stopped dead in their tracks at the figure that stood in the road. "Arlong park is a wreck, people are celebrating… this is a nice atmosphere isn't It?" the figure said. It was a fishman, a shark fishman like Arlong with gill like markings on his face though he didn't have the nose. He wore a black cloak with red clouds and carried a massive sword.
"Damn fishman what are you doing here?" One of the villagers asked taking a wary step away from the man.
"Me?" the fishman asked in a voice that sounded slightly patronizing. 'I'm here for Arlong. You wouldn't happen to know where he is would you? Though I suppose he was defeated."
"What did you want with him." Nami said getting into a fighting stance, she didn't recognize this fishman at all.
"I came for his head. Though it looks like I am too late." The fishman said earning shocked looks from the villagers. "With the bounty uncollectable I suppose I will have to find some way of getting compensation." The fishman grinned.
"Kisame. Stop terrorizing them." Another figure came into view, wearing the same get up as the other stranger, now named Kisame, though he was human. "I apologize for my partner's behavior, he can be difficult at times."
"Mah… Itachi-san, it isn't nice to speak ill of others." The fishman responded
"Hrm." Itachi said before turning to Luffy. "You were at the sea restaurant… the one with the Sharingan."
"There's that word again." Luffy said. "I don't know what that is."
Itachi looked at Luffy for a time before smiling slightly. "Kisame, we have failed our mission, what say we join these people for a celebration?"
Kisame smiled which put a few people on edge. "I have not had any sake in a long time, It would be good to dip into a bottle or two."
The townspeople were ready to say no but Luffy just smiled broadly. "Alright! Let's Party!"
Luffy and his crew easily fell back into their cheerful attitude putting the villagers at ease. The mood built itself back up to its celebratory atmosphere and the villagers ran off down the road cheering.
-o0O0o-
(back to the present)
"Yeah. It looks like Itachi's" Luffy nodded, it was a wonder he had not noticed before. they had no more time to discuss the revelation as yet more of the homing birds came at them.
The birds swiftly made their way towards their targets. Luffy and Zoro both leaped out of the way of the explosions. Zoro landed safely this time; Luffy however was caught in an explosion. He got out of it in better shape than Zoro did though as he had apparently partially protected himself by using his gunbai as a shield. The smoke had blocked his vision long enough however for one of the guided explosives to detonate right next to him enveloping Luffy in a cloud of smoke
"Hm. That is what you get for disregarding my art!" Mr. Five said sending more explosives down upon Zoro. Zoro cut the two birds down before moving to land on an empty patch of earth, no rubble anywhere near him. Vivi now understood, when the debris Luffy and Zoro had kicked up had fallen back to earth Mr. Five had hidden his explosives among it to be buried, making the mines that were tearing the two pirates apart.
The smoke that marked Luffy's place on the field was suddenly blown away to reveal the boy himself standing with his Gunbai extended outward, having just used it to clear the smoke. His coat was looking ragged and he looked much the same as Zoro, with blood flowing from wounds that covered his body.
"ZORO!" Luffy yelled bringing his Gunbai back and grabbing it with both hands. Vivi was ready to face palm, that idiot was going to start fighting again? Zoro charged toward Luffy. She was surprised when instead of attacking each other as she had originally though Zoro jumped onto Luffy's weapon allowing the boy to throw him into the sky towards Mr. Five.
Zoro twirled the swords in his hand and seemed to bring the one in his mouth back in preparation to cut. "Santoryu Ogi! Sanzen Sekai!" Zoro cried as he came upon Mr. Five.
Mr. Five managed to swerve to the side just in time, only getting one of his bird's wings and a good portion if its head taken off. Mr. Five had his hands in his pouches in preparation to make another figure.
He never saw Luffy coming.
"METEOR IMPACT!" Luffy brought the Gunbai down in a downward swing that sent Mr. Five crashing to the ground. A massive cloud of dust was kicked up from the impact.
Luffy and Zoro landed on a nearby building. "Now that that is over…" Zoro said turning towards Luffy
"Right." Luffy said turning to face Zoro.
"C2 DRAGON!" Vivi heard Mr. Five call the dust was swept away as a massive white dragon took flight, Mr. Five himself looked only slightly better than the two pirates, blood trickled from his head and his cloak was looking ragged and dirty. he reached other and yanked on his arm sharply, a loud pop was heard. Mr. Five growled.
The dragon's mouth opened releasing a swarm of small VERY fast moving projectiles.
Luffy and Zoro jumped away but found that not only were they fast but they followed after them. Luffy and Zoro cut down any that got too close causing them to explode and destroy more of the surroundings. Mr. Five didn't leave it at that though as his dragon opened its mouth once more and released another swarm after them.
The two pirates continued to evade the projectiles until they found themselves in the rubble piles. It was unfortunate.
They had been corralled right into the mine field.
The ground beneath their feet exploded Catching the two of them in the explosion. The homing missiles all converged on the spot creating an explosion that continued to be fed with more projectiles for several seconds. When the dust cleared Both Luffy and Zoro were left kneeling on the ground Luffy had His Gunbai over both their heads, it had apparently protected them from some of the blasts but they hardly looked like they could continue fighting.
Viv's heart dropped. They had been doing so well, she had almost thought they would win. They had been her only hope at escape and now…
Now there was nowhere to run.
"DEIDARA SENPAI!" A very loud and very… childlike voice yelled. Everyone looked over to see a figure in an identical cloak to Mr. Five's. He wore an orange spiraled mask over his face with a single eye hole. "OH! The C2 Dragon! You pulled out the big guns huh senpai."
"Tobi!" The now named Deidara said in surprise at the sight of the new arrival. Vivi looked at Mr. Five in fear, Secrecy was the policy of everyone in Baroque works, and Deidara would no doubt level the entire Town to make sure no one knew his name. "What are you doing here?"
"I have a message from Leader!" the masked and childish Tobi said excitedly. Vivi didn't recognize him but he had a message from Mr. Zero, it couldn't be good.
"Hm? From Leader? Is this about not showing up at the meeting?" Deidara asked.
"No no. Deidara senpai you're not in trouble. You have to keep your cover after all." Cover? Vivi wondered what the hell this Tobi was going on about. "You'll never believe it!" Tobi said excitedly. "Itachi Senpai Found the Sharingan!"
"The Sharingan? Seriously?" Deidara asked in disbelief. Vivi could understand why, they were the legendary in the grand line. The Mythical Eyes of Madara. The eyes that… the eyes… eyes. Both Vivi and Deidara evidently had the same thought as their heads snapped towards the two pirates. Luffy in particular.
Tobi looked towards where they were and freaked out. "Deidara senpai you almost destroyed them! What are we supposed to do if you blow them up!?"
"I didn't know!" Deidara said angrily. "Well they aren't destroyed so we can just kill him we could still retrieve the eyes."
"About that Senpai…" Tobi said. "Leader says we aren't supposed to kill him."
"Why not?" Deidara asked. "They made fun of my art."
"Those exploding pop art pieces?" Tobi asked tilting his head to the side.
"It's not pop." Deidara said giving Tobi a look.
Toby raised his hands defensively. "Mah mah, Calm down Senpai, you can't kill him because we need the Sharingan and he is going to Raftel."
"He wants to become pirate king?" Deidara asked in disbelief.
"Yup!" Tobi said happily. "So our plans are advancing. Leader sent me to tell you that your undercover mission is over!"
"It is?" Deidara said. Vivi looked at Deidara in astonishment, He was a spy. Then why had he been trying to kill her? was he trying to keep his cover? And what was Akatsuki?
Luffy staggered to his feet, getting Tobi's attention. "Ah! Don't move! You're really hurt! Hello I'm Tobi! Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Luffy. I'm going to be Pirate king." Luffy said with conviction before stumbling and leaning on his Gunbai heavily.
"Whoa! Really!? That's so COOL!" Tobi raved jumping around in a very animated fashion. "I'm really sorry about my Senpai attacking you! He can get touchy about his crafts."
"Tobi…" Deidara said. "What did you just call my art?"
"Umm… Craft? Tobi said uncertainly. An explosion occurred just where toby was standing, luckily it didn't catch Luffy or Zoro in the blast. The smoke cleared to reveal nothing.
"See. What did I tell yah? Touchy." Tobi said from directly behind Luffy
"Oh. So it was a misunderstanding?" Luffy asked Tobi nodded furiously. "Ok." Luffy said easily. Vivi's jaw dropped, he had forgiven them for nearly killing him THAT easily? "Now then…" Luffy turned around lifting his Gunbai shakily with two hands.
"Let's settle this." Zoro said drawing his blades once more. Vivi felt like she could cry at the two men's stubbornness.
"Hey hey. You two? Why are you fighting?" Tobi asked.
"I cut down everyone in town because they had deceived us." Zoro said
"Zoro is lying." Luffy answered
"I see." Tobi said. "Deidara Senpai. Your thoughts?"
Deidara huffed and turned away from the exuberant man. "The straw hat kid doesn't know the town was run by bounty hunters."
"It was?" Both Luffy and Toby asked at once.
"Hm. Yeah." Deidara said simply.
"Oh. Ok." Luffy said again accepting the explanation easily once again.
"SERIOUSLY!" Zoro yelled angrily. "That's what I told you from the start!"
"Really? I didn't pay attention." Luffy said picking his nose.
"IDIOT!"
Deidara turned towards Vivi drawing her attention away from the bickering pirates. "Hm. You survived all that fighting hm? You can stop cowering I don't have any reason to hurt you."
"So you were a spy." Vivi said.
"Yup. We weren't interested at all in whatever crocodile wanted, it was what another member of the organization was looking for that we were interested in."
"What was that?" Vivi asked edging away from the blond bomber while eyeing him warily.
"That a secret. Even if the mission is being aborted."
"So you weren't going to help me at all?" Vivi accused more than asked
"Of course not." Deidara said. "I may not have a bounty but I AM a terrorist bomber. Why would I do anything to keep something from blowing up? It would be spitting in the face of my art."
Vivi decided that this man was despicable, his art and all.
"OH! So she's a princess huh!?" The voice of Luffy called from behind Deidara. "I always wanted to meet one!"
"ME TOO!" Toby said with an equal amount of excitement as the two of them ran up to Viv until they were barely an inch away from her face
"I'm Luffy! Nice to meet you!"
"And I'm Tobi!"
"Uuu…uhm… Vivi… nice to meet you." Vivi introduced herself nervously. These two very eccentric men were invading her personal space and she was starting to feel uncomfortable. Thankfully the other two present decided to step in. grabbing their respective goofballs by their collars and pulling them away.
"Luffy. You're making her feel uncomfortable." Zoro said
"Come on Tobi. No reason to stick around. Let's get out of here I want to collect Sasori and abandon this boring ass mission." Deidara said.
Vivi froze at the name that came out of Deidara's mouth. Sasori was Chiyo's grandchild, the grand child of Vivi's Nanny and her father's most trusted advisor. He had gone missing ages ago along with her own grandfather, it had happened before she was born but Chiyo spoke of him often. It couldn't be the same person.
Luffy noticed her shock. "Vivi? What is it?"
Vivi snapped out of her shock and looked to Luffy still being held back by Zoro. "Nothing… Nothing at all."
"Oh? Ok." Luffy said shrugging.
The sound of flapping Wings reached Vivi's ears and she looked up to see Deidara flying away on one of his birds.
Tobi waved wildly from the back of the bird. "Good bye Luffy! It was great meeting you!"
"BYE! Say Hi to Itachi for me!" Luffy yelled after his new friend.
Vivi stared in bewilderment at the destruction around her, much of the town was reduced to rubble. She blinked and looked to the two pirates. The fighting had come to a very abrupt and strange end Vivi thought.
-o0O0o-
Luffy swayed on his feet. He checked himself over, his coat was in tatters, torn and singed around the edges, it was a good thing he had a few extra from their brief stop on Gunkan island. His hat was thankfully fine. He could feel pain in every limb and his head was pounding.
He looked over towards Zoro
"Ow… Zoro…" Luffy said as his vision started to go hazy
"Yeah?" Zoro asked, Luffy could see that he wasn't in much better shape.
"Sorry about attacking you." Luffy said.
"Idiot… You didn't know better." Zoro said stumbling as he tried to walk towards a small pile of rubble Taking a seat and leaning against it.
"Still should have listened to you." Luffy said
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPEED HERE!?" a familiar and welcome voice shouted.
Luffy and Zoro both looked up to see their orange haired comrade at the edge of the demolished area, eyes wide with shock.
"A fight." Luffy said simply.
"A fight? With who?" Nami asked
"Zoro." Luffy said immediately and getting a punch to the head for the trouble.
"You idiots! You fought each other? Look at this place! Look at yourselves!" Nami yelled. She seemed worried though.
"Calm down Nami." Zoro interrupted. "We didn't do this. Some guy named Deidara did."
"Deidara? He did this on his own? At least you won, right?" Nami said looking around for the broken and bloody body of her two strongest Nakama.
"We didn't" Luffy said smiling despite the shocked and fearful look on his Navigator's face. "He kicked our asses."
"Then… The princess?" Nami asked in worry. "OH! NO! She was going to give us one billion belly! Now she's gone!" Nami crouched down on the ground playing with the dust and ashes with a dark and gloomy cloud hanging over her head.
"Nami." Zoro said snapping Nami out of her depressive funk. "Deidara was with Akatsuki. He left without harming the princess." Nami brightened.
"Yup!" Luffy said smiling brightly. "Vivi's fine!" Luffy swayed dangerously at the end of his reassurance his vision was almost completely black by this time and the throbbing pain in his head had worsened he was only just barely registering what was going on around him what little he heard from this point on was not much more than muffled sounds. He was able to make out a vague mass of orange and green in his quickly diminishing field of view.
"mmuufuy aaaaaa muu muraih?"
"Muuffy…"
Luffy couldn't tell who was speaking so decided to make his predicament known to everyone in case they were all asking.
"Ah Sorry Guys. I can't stay conscious any longer." Luffy smiled, there was a slight slur to his words but he didn't notice. "I'm taking a nap."
And with that said Luffy fell face first onto the ground.
-END-
so yet another lightly edited chapter, this is one of the one's I really liked so I didn't mess with it too much I just threw in a segment from the east blue arc in hear to cover s small bit of the time skip.
as for what the akatsuki want I am not going to list anything specific but i will say what it isn't. there are no demon type devil fruits so they won't be hunting down jinchuriki. their end goal involves the the ancient weapons but not directly. their purpose for going into deep cover in a number of groups is simply to keep tabs on all of the major players as well as steal information and assets and in some circumstances assassinate them if they are deemed a threat. they are very interested in the Ponaphemus though.