Things are moving along nicely; or they were, until the Digidestined were confronted whilst at half strength, Tai's group already having fallen before the mighty Paper Paper Fruit user Hidan Ryuuga. During the decidedly one sided battle, TK was struck by Hidan; protecting Kari at the cost of a possibly fatal wound. Will Joe's group follow suit or have greater luck against the also monstrous Hitsuji?
Great Blackbeard Search! Arc
From Bad to Worse
New World: Moby Dick
"Sorry, buddy, but how do we know your not an assassin?" spat a member of the crew, looking face to face with Rockstar on the furthest side of the massive whale styled flagship of the Whitebeard Pirates. "Not that one of his subordinates would be able to threaten his life..." he scoffed slightly, still staring down the invader as he stood sternly.
"Listen, I'm just here to deliver a letter to Whitebeard, please let me hand it to him." Rockstar retorted defiantly to the grunt worker that blocked his path.
"Oi, let him pass for now." Came a stern, proud voice from behind the grunt worker.
"But, Marco... what if he -"
"I seriously doubt 'Red Hair' would send his subordinate to carry out such a task as killing Pops. Have faith, although he's old, he can still crush entire militaries on his own." Marco belittled his subordinate, giving a passing gesture to Rockstar to follow him up to the deck, where he found himself faced by the legendary pirate he sought, Edward Newgate sat in his captains chair with entire barrels of booze beside him with his nursing staff. He was hooked up to life equipment; making him appear helpless, yet Rockstar had a feeling if he so much as twitched that he was a dead man.
"Well? What is it, you snot nosed brat?" he barked, looking down at the pirate with distain in his voice and several barrels beside him, full of booze he planned on gorging on as Rockstar presented him the letter tentatively.
Horai Peninsula
Tai's Squad
Forest Path: Eastern area
"TK! Kari!" Sora cried, falling to her knees in disbelief of what had just happened. She stared for a moment at TK's wound, somewhat gawking at the bravery he had just displayed before the group.
"TK!" Patamon screamed, breaking down in tears as he struggled to stand; finally managing to rise and stand with great difficulty; inching his way closer and closer to his now passed out partner. "H-he's bleeding, Tai! Help!" he cried helplessly, his voice shrill and desperate.
"P-Patamon... I can't do a-anything... I'm a useless leader!" he yelled, his voice shaken with discomfort as he admitted his own personal weakness as a leader; Cody, Sora and Matt looking on somewhat surprised whilst Gatomon and Armadillomon stared back at the disgruntled leader with squinted eyes, making it difficult to tell if they felt either pity or shame.
"Patamon... I know it m-must be hard... ugh... but TK's a fighter, he'll pull through..." Gatomon's attempt at consoling her friend sounded shaky and unsure as she pulled herself to her feet and staggered over to her unconscious partner, finding relief at how close she was to dying just a moment ago.
"T-that's right... he's always been a fighter... like Davis..." Armadillomon, however, was badly wounded with a large cut at his left shoulder; collapsing under his own weight with a grunt as Cody ran over with tear brimmed eyes and comforted the injured Digimon.
"A fighter, eh?" the terror inspiring laugh resounded once more, accompanied by Hidan's spaced out footsteps as he shuffled over in his habitually strange way. "Yet he will die... I'll make sure of that now, you goddamn pansies." He was cold in his returning statement, relishing in the helpless children's despair as he etched closer and closer up the path surrounded by dense woodland.
"Am... I gonna... die?" TK thought lightly, the noise inside his head growing lighter and lighter as he fell into a dazed trance; finally starting to pass out from his wound, losing his hearing of the outside world disappearing fast; all of his friends cries for Hidan to leave him be growing fainter.
"P-please don't hurt him!" screamed Sora, her eyes welling with building tears as her face scrunched up nervously.
"Freaking paper bastard!" Matt roared, charging blindly at the enemy that planned on attacking his defenceless little brother. It was to no avail, however, as he was simple back handed by Hidan's clenched fist; the blow was so fast, his captain's coat flapped seconds after his initial move as Matt clutched his cheek, feeling a swelling sensation as he looked back over to the monster before him.
"Kami Shuta." said Hidan, raising his palm face down with his fingers and thumb extended; aiming right for TK as he coldly stared down at him. "Now you die!"
I'm sorry, Kari... you guys! I wasn't strong... enough..." TK's fading thoughts finally began to become fogged; the same phenomena experienced right before sleep is achieved.
"White Fist!" yelled a distant, cold voice as a sudden burst of channelled smoke targeted at the blood splattered figure of Hidan, sending him into a retreating backward step from the thick plume as it surrounded the Destined and rendered their visibility to nothingness as footsteps approached from behind them.
"You're 'Rap Sheet' Hidan, the blood splattering member of the Devil Cult; with a well deserved bounty of 140 million berries, correct?" came a low, shrill voice, almost echoing throughout the thick smoke cloud as if it was the very blanket itself.
"Oh, you've heard of me... Commodore Smoker?" he retorted with a distinct tinge of unease about him.
"And you've heard of me, you flatter me, you sick sadist. Well, 'Rap Sheet', Fire Fist Ace's crew; I will now detain you, prepare for a lot of pain." As his voice bellowed with a cold warning, the smoke began to clear instantaneously into the atmosphere, revealing to the already desperate children another foe; Navy Commodore Smoker as he braced with a strange truncheon type weapon in his right arm, raising the weapon nonchalantly upon his shoulder and gesturing to the entirety of the outlaws to attack him. Naturally, only Hidan complied and initiated the battle between paper and smoke.
Joe's Squad
Forest Clearing: Western area
"L-let me g-go!" squealed Mimi, caught in the vile grasp of Hitsuji's strange, converted fluid arm, as it shaped and hardened perfectly around her neck, allowing him to lift her without any danger of choking her. "I-Izzy, help!" she begun to cry, her tears flowing down to and over the noose; terrified of the sickening face Hitsuji was making as she felt the liquid noose tighten slightly.
Her allies were strewn around the forest clearing's ground, covered in soil and soot from the former site of Laxus's home; they all struggled to stand up once more, Izzy managing to summon the strength at Mimi's whelp, noticing Hitsuji's sickening interest in the feisty, sensual young girl; taking note of her beauty and dyed, streaked hair as his smile widened like a crevice across his tensed, wrinkled features.
"Heavy Metal!" yelled the echoing roar of Laxus, his reopened wounds now seeping with blood as his right fist was transfigured into a brilliantly polished steel version, connecting with an unflinching Hitsuji and sending him flying into a nearby tree as the hardened liquid from his arm had smashed violently, releasing Mimi with a loud gasp as she collapsed into Izzy's embracing arms.
"It... smashed?" Davis asked, covered with dirt stains and soot from Laxus's burnt down house. "What kind of brown liquid hardens and then smashes that easily?"
"Hey, jerk!" sounded the bellowing roar of an agitated Laxus, finally realizing why Hitsuji didn't even flinch at his proposition the year before; he relied on his Logia defences. This gave him an idea to make victory possible after watching him use them even when holding Mimi. "Fight like a man without ya' Logia powers!" he yelled as his foe seeped through the rubble from his crash landing into a tree as his liquid form. As the liquid began to spin violently and shape itself back into human form, Izzy was illuminated with anger and realisation as he stood Mimi up slowly.
"That motion... of course!" he yelled, pointing toward the now reformed enemy as his fellow allies looked at him with desperation. "Clay!"
"Clay?" questioned Veemon, barely able to stand with the hardened liquid engulfing his left leg and making it difficult to move around with its strange and excessive density weighing him down.
"Clay can't harden with another element present, but what was it?" Yolei pondered whilst hiding behind Ken in a rather stereotypical helpless girl situation. She of course was doing this on purpose to appear more down to earth towards Ken.
"Good, I see you figured out what it is... and it was looking like so much fun, you all being clueless, that is." Cackled Hitsuji loudly, mocking his enemies with his voice alone. "But tell me, why should I disuse my gift when all scum like you can do is perish against a chosen one?"
"I've always wondered, what do ya' mean by 'chosen one'. Ya' actually really unimpressive as a warrior, so how are you three 'chosen'?" Laxus's words actually managed to sandbag Hitsuji; his usually crevice wide smile fallen into a darkened expression as he converted his arm into his clay form, bracing to strike the Giant as the other Destined saw a chance to Digivolve during his moment of dissolution; but then they realized something at once that really did hamper their chances of victory.
"What element can actually overpower clay?" with the evolutions present with them; including lightning, fire, two variants of wind and Wormmon, how could they possibly challenge this unconventional monster?
Davis's thoughts were shrouded by mixed emotions such as anger and confusion as he pondered on how this foe could be challenged by the Destined and not just Laxus. "Brute force might work, meaning..." his thoughts suddenly became a logical thread of planning, guaranteeing everyone's escape in case it failed because of the Digimon's flight abilities. "Ken! DNA Digivolve, c'mon!"
"He's actually got a point; can you do it, Minomon?" Ken nervously relayed to his still minute Digimon partner, receiving a curt nod yet an unsure look in his partner's eye. Swiftly pulling out their Digivice's, they channelled a lot a concentration and energy into the small devices, making them flash in combination with the bestowed power of the Sovereign's Digi-core.
"Veemon, Digivolve to... ExVeemon!" as the blue flash faded from his enlarged and reshaped being, it revealed the previously short statured reptilian creature had grown exponentially to at least half of Laxus's gigantic stature; his broad, well toned chest adorned with an X mark and his elongated face resemblant of a typical dinosaurs beak as he had evolved with a pair of faded white wings to enable his new ability to fly.
"Minomon, Digivolve to... Wormmon!" as the dark green flash faded from his small stature, he had changed into a large, green and purple worm creature with a strange insignia emblazoned upon his forehead and his jaws sideways, giving him a distinctive facial appearance coupled with his talon like fingers.
"Wormmon, Digivolve to... Stingmon!" as the dark green flash dissipated from his shape, it showed a large humanoid type Digimon, equal in size to his Champion-level companion. Although more humanoid in basic anatomy, his skin was a hardened, dark green and black spliced armour with a strange face that resembled a beetle mask with large feelers extending down his shoulder blades.
Hitsuji snapped back into reality, looking almost shocked as ExVeemon's giant, illuminated fist closed in on his side with deadly accuracy, threatening to send him flying backwards a few yards at least.
"I... I can't make it!" he thought to himself nervously as his formerly overconfident expression and arrogantly lacklustre battle tactics faded, leaving him looking terrified as the fist connected with his wrinkled, scaly face with incredible force.
A thunderous crash followed, leaving a long trail of dust in Hitsuji's wake and trees either destroyed or hanging on slightly and rocks scattering from the crash site. The Destined and a recovering Hawkmon stared on with amazement as long moments of anticipation had passed; the dust clearing little by little and revealing a large, entombed crater that restrained Hitsuji as Laxus looked on with joy, seeing something rather amazing.
"They... hit him?" asked Hawkmon hesitantly.
"I felt him!" yelled ExVeemon somewhat excitedly, "It felt like it usually does when I punch other Digimon! He wasn't clay!"
"It's cause he was off guard!" bellowed Laxus hysterically; he had just found the tyrant's weakness after one year. "He 'as a low attention span!"
Suddenly, the dreaded liquid clay seeped out of the heavy rocks, swirling and reforming back into its humanoid form, however, this time blood was seen on his now furious and swelled face, staring at ExVeemon with the same look of blankness as an executioner.
"Okay... now it's my turn to get serious." He spat at the allied group as they stared on from the clearing with smug looks.
"Hawkmon, help them out!" Yolei shouted, her now illuminated Digivice ablaze with energy and Hawkmon glowing bright red.
"Hawkmon, Digivolve to... Aquilam-"
"Arcilla Cannon." Blurted Hitsuji as his previous demeanour returned to him, his arm completely converted and quickly shaping into a hollow mass of hardened clay, punching with the arm and firing the projectile with the speed of a cannonball at the immobile Digimon.
Hawkmon jarred as the sphere collided with him, extinguishing the light into small ember like flames as he fell to his knees in pain, Yolei running over to him with a worried face.
"You dirty little... DNA Digivolve, now!" Yolei ordered somewhat faintly, her Digimon now unconscious in her arms.
"Silence, you annoy me, you little bitch." Hitsuji loomed before her with cold words, her gasp attracting the attention of the allies as their previous smugness escaped them.
"W-what?" barked Davis and ExVeemon in unison, "He's still over their as well!" they said, looking back at the enemy they were only just mocking.
"Unless..." upon saying this, Stingmon sped over to the shaken Hitsuji by the destroyed treeline and struck him with a ferocious kick, the victim's body converting into a brown substance that encased and hardened on the bug Digimon's leg. "That's the real one!" he bellowed.
Although they were looking and speaking to a clone, the real body still showed heavy damage from the earlier strike that had bypassed his defences due to his attention span, but this one was not angered, but laughing mockingly in the lavender haired, bespeckled girl kneeling petrified before him, terrified as he showed his returned furious expression once more.
"You shall be the first one to go." He whispered lightly to her, his cold voice overbearing the sounds of her allies' pleas for him to leave her alone. She teared up heavily as he raised his fist and prepared to strike her without using his powers.
"That's enough, Head." echoed a terrifying rasp that exuded bloodlust as the two Champion-levels looked feverishly in the air, both suddenly noticing a large, imposing figure that stood atop the pile of ash that once stood as the Giant's home.
He was a physically imposing man, standing well above 8 feet in height with a large, jet black leather hooded cloak shrouding his physical features but still shown to be well toned at his rather large biceps, his lower body almost curving down to his hips from this muscular build, his legs also rather thin by comparison as the cloak opened slightly and revealed his black boots.
"Kama, I'm just having fun... this better be good." Hitsuji was cold even to this strange newcomer, more agitated by the fact he interfered as he was about to strike and possibly kill a crying Yolei.
He pulled back his hood, revealing a very pronounced face with a heavy scar across his right cheek and ceasing at the bridge of his shapely nose.
"We have Marine guests, they were spotted 30 minutes ago." He uttered with a distasteful nasal quality in his tone, obviously getting on the last nerve of his supposed 'Head'.
"Spiking Strike!" yelled Stingmon, flying toward Hitsuji with his hilt shaped wrist protruding a purple blade aimed at the clay man in the hopes that this new distraction would grant him a blow as it did for his friend.
"Vee Laser!" bellowed ExVeemon as he shot an X shaped laser flying from his chest toward Kama, uncaring of what the consequences might be; he had no idea how powerful Kama was, and was too blinded by adrenaline to remain calm.
As the two attacks approached at high speeds from the air, Stingmon managed to land the blow, however Hitsuji wasn't as callous as before, activating his Logia defence on reflex and letting the beam to slash through, trying to ensare it in clay before Stingmon deactivated the attack, grabbing Yolei and Hawkmon as he returned to the anxious group of kids, Laxus having yielded to the effects of his blood loss, battling the darkness threatening to consume him on one knee.
ExVeemon's attack garnered a positive result, striking Kama full on and destroying the surrounding earth he stood upon. As a large cloud of dust rose over the area, the allies yelled in victory before a strange, mechanical like footstep was heard, followed by the cloaked giant leaping toward the in flight Digimon with great speed, reaching him and kicking him effortlessly at Stingmon; forcing both to devolve due to damage caused by Kama's singular strike.
"H-he's incredibly strong!" shouted Joe, now running over to the Digimon and beginning basic treatment on the two of them.
"How did he...?" Veemon managed to whimper before falling unconscious in Davis's arms, Wormmon following suit with Hawkmon already out of commission in Yolei's still petrified arms.
"Fine, let's get back to Rittorubiggu village. Signal Hidan to return." Hitsuji ordered.
"Don't worry, thanks to that, he'll have to return anyway." Kama exuded smugness and confidence as a small smirk formed on his face, awkwardly compressing on his heavy scar and making him squint slightly.
As the two walked away through the forest, the allies rounded up the injured and begun a head count, to distraught during the 'battle' to notice any of the others, sighing with relief as they had everyone accounted for, including the injured Laxus.
"Are you gonna be alright, big guy?" asked Joe politely toward the profusely bleeding Laxus, who smiled back at him warmly and nodded.
"I'll find medicine on ta' outskirts, some of ta' villagers believe in ma' still and leave food an' medicine." He laughed as he said this, bringing a smile to Mimi's face; she had been concerned at how bad he was bleeding and felt some relief at his announcement.
Yolei, however, was still trembling in Ken's embracing arms. She had never felt so scared in her life in the presence of her friends and she believed she reacted... pathetically. How could she protect her friends if she couldn't move in the face of an enemy? He was furious and still made the choice that she wasn't worth using the Clay Clay Fruit's power on. After calming down slightly, she looked down at her partner, who was still badly injured and asleep.
"Listen; let's use the Vivre Card and return to the ship. We'll need the supplies there after this and if the others are in trouble, they will have gone back. If they haven't, the captain is still there, so that's a positive. Any objections?" Joe was so stern and self-confident now; his appointment as Vice Captain was a major boost in his leadership abilities, combining with his reliability and respect among the group; actually reassuring them after the terrifying ordeal.
"No, Vice Captain!" They yelled warmly, almost forgetting about the terror they had just been experiencing. As for Yolei, she still shook slightly in Ken's arms as she stared at her partner almost apologetically.
"Ya' guys, I'm off to get some medicine, if there's any trouble, I'll help ya' to repay ya'." Said Laxus, vanishing into the treeline with blood droplets following suit. The Destined picked themselves up of the ground and began walking behind Joe as he held out the Vivre Card. In the Destined's arms were an unconscious Wormmon, Veemon and Hawkmon; leaving Yolei walking back in Ken's arms as she shook in silent remorse and deep, clouded thought.
Tai's Squad
Forest Path: Eastern Area
"Not bad, Smoker." Hidan heaved, vehemently tired from the battle against the Marine commodore as shredded pieces of paper engulfed the earth, the Destined cowering slightly behind a tree on the outskirts of the path, unable to move any further due to the battle destroying the surrounding forest and TK being to heavily wounded to carry whilst running.
"Not bad? You're losing!" he yelled back, his jutte placed forward as he pointed at Hidan with its tip. In the battle he had managed to strike the Logia user with the weapon, drawing blood from his foe.
Agitated as he watched Smoker place two cigars in his mouth and light them with his free hand, not even considering Hidan a threat any more. "Forget this, time for my ultimate technique!" he yelled nervously, making Tai and Smoker wonder whether he was bluffing.
"Kami Sukima!" he yelled with obvious focus in his eyes, his veins popping upon his brow to emphasise this.
Suddenly, paper from his feet began to enter the ground, several sheets at a time as Smoker watched, interested to see his ultimate technique. Soon after, the ground began to tremble violently as a large crack began to appear on the earth and it slowly began to separate. Smoker indeed was slightly impressed at the technique's power, but the trembling stopped as he looked over at Hidan, who suddenly started bleeding with large burns encasing his body.
"D-damn... you, K-Kama... why now?" he wheezed, suffering quite a lot of pain as he breathed in heavily, reverting to his paper form and flying with the wind; dispersing so as to lose Smoker.
"Oh well... that was fun." He said as he puffed out a small cloud of smoke, turning with his trademark cruel look at the hidden Destined. "Now surrender, we can care for 'Prideful Knight' if you come peacefully."
"S-should we?" Sora whimpered as she held Kari in her arms.
"It's not like we can do anything else... at least this way TK's cared for... we'll come up with an escape plan once the Digimon recover." Tai whispered, rising out of the bush willingly and facing Smoker with distrust in his eyes. "We'll come if you help him."
"Very well, follow me." Smoker sent chills down their spines, but they had no alternative at the moment, it was Tai's plan or death. So they began following him briskly, carrying the injured and unconscious with them down the now separated path toward Ritorubiggu village, the current location of Smoker's Marine squadron.
Fisherman's Vessel
"Hotorubi, Hidaruma!" barked Ace, releasing bright green spores from his palms that had ignited at his command, defeating several common Marines with the blow.
"Everybody, encircle him and attack as one!" said one of the Marines, as they obeyed and encircled Ace on the shoreline beside the ship.
"Enkai, Hibashira." He sighed, raising a towering inferno at his behest and sending the Marines scattered in different directions, knocking them unconscious as they made their loud crash-landings.
"A-Ace!" came a small, sweet voice from the forest, revealing itself to be Mimi as she called out to her captain with sadness and unease about her.
"Mimi? Where are the others?"
"Here..." Joe whimpered, his stern back carrying the wounded an unconscious Hawkmon while Ken carried his partner under one of his arms, Yolei shaking in another's comfort. Meanwhile, Mimi was hooked beneath one of Izzy's arms awkwardly as they all walked out of the treeline toward the ship.
"...what happened to him?" he asked gingerly, helping Joe to lift him onto the ship's deck, the blue haired adolescent running over to the store room and returning quickly with bandages and a small alcohol bottle.
As Davis, Mimi and Izzy began to explain in brief about the events of the previous few hours, Ace's face became more and more contorted as he seemed unnerved slightly at the three men ruling over the island, calling themselves 'chosen ones'. To this, Ace gave a dreadful grunt as he looked back at the Destined, Hawkmon receiving treatment and Wormmon inside the cabin, lying on the mattress.
"I think I know the guy's your talking about..." he stated, receiving curious glares from the Destined; some still carrying their resting Digimon in their arms as they slept.
"Their is a cult based around Devil Fruits here in the Grand Line. It's called the Devil Cult; an organization based around the belief that those who have obtained a Devil Fruit are a chosen one, destined to find them and lead the cult into a new era. However, I heard a rumour a while ago that three men had disappeared, appearing on several islands since then and making a profit using their Devil Fruit abilities. Any passers by with a Devil Fruit power are approached by them with promises of vast fortunes, at the cost of joining their ranks." He explained, trying to shorten it as much as possible.
"Okay then, what's with them?" said Davis, pointing to several Marines on the beach with his free arm.
"They arrived a while ago. They're after you guy's and me." said Ace.
BBBBBZZZZZ-BBBBBZZZZZ-BBBBBZZZZZ
Looking for the source of the sound, the group looked over towards one of the Marines, Ace walking over and reaching into his pocket; finding a Den Den Mushi, activating it.
"Report, what is your status, squadron 3?"came a cold voice over the reception, Ace immediately realizing who it was; Commodore Smoker.
"Unconscious, sorry, but they tried to attack me and you know how it goes." His smugness was irradiating over the receiver, sending a cringe through Smoker's body as he clenched and laughed shrilly back at Ace.
"Portgas D. Ace, I believe I have several of your comrades with me, so how about a deal?"
"Tai and those guy's..." he thought silently, clenching his free fist and arching his brows. "What do ya' want, you smoky bastard?"
"Come and surrender, or they will be executed outside of Ritorubiggu village. You have 3 hours to comply – bbzzt!"
What will become of the captured Destined if the 3 hour deadline is not met? Where and when will the tyrannical trio strike back at the intruders? And has Yolei finally realized her weakness? Find out next time in Digimon x One Piece: Dimensional Trap!
Please Review!
Well, the first real 'battle' of the story including the Destined didn't go much their way, showing them just how sharp and coherent their teamwork must be! If they had DNA Digivolved as they had planned, they may have stood a chance; but their emotions and adrenaline clouded their better judgement in the midst of battle.