Neo One Piece
By Nezumimaru
Upman Part 4
Blitz stood in the hidden room, in front of him was a man who was dead at the start of the day, then abducted, and now apparently behind what ever conspiracy was at foot, Mayor Pelgo. Reaching for his pistol, Blitz tried to make sense of all that that has transpired.
"Trying to figure out why I did what I did?" Pelgo asked not moving from his spot. Blitz nodded, and Pelgo continued, "Well, none of it matters, you'll be dead anyway." Pelgo drew his pistol, firing a shot at our one eye hero. But this was easily telegraphed, and Blitz was able to fire a shot himself from Equalizer, hitting Pelgo's shot, the two bullets landing between the to, smashed and unsalvageable. "You are a pretty good shot, pirate." Pelgo scoffed, with venom in his voice. "Too good. Some sort of Devil Fruit, perhaps?"
"Just like everyone else who first meets me." Blitz said, still holding a bead on Pelgo. "I don't have a Devil Fruit power. Just a lot of skill and luck." Blitz then fired a few more shots, more to spook Pelgo than to hit him, but Pelgo took cover anyway, behind some sort of metal slab.
"Hmm, regardless, it seems that I will need more than my gun to kill you." Pelgo jumped up on an even larger metal object than the one he was hiding behind. Bright lights suddenly were brought on, revealing a humongous steel vehicle connected to four spider-like legs, like a crouching spider. Pelgo entered a pod that contained numerous controls, and it lifted up on a snake-like metal neck. A robotic female voice came from the steel monstrosity.
"Control Pod Movement: Online." A pair of gun muzzles appeared from the front of the pod. "Secondary Weapons: Online." Working a series of levers and wheels, Pelgo aimed the front of the pod, and the guns, at Blitz.
"Oh crap." Was all Blitz could say before Pelgo opened fired, letting loose a barrage of bullets. Blitz only had just enough time to dive behind a large slab of steel, crouching while bullets whizzed over him and ricocheted of the slab. Blitz cautiously reached over the slab with Equalizer in hand, firing blindly. As he was firing, a stray bullet grazed his exposed hand.
"Gah!" Blitz hissed, recoiling his hand, almost dropping his pistol. Luckily, the wound was minor, and the pain should pass in a few moments. 'I gotta find an opening, or else I'll end up as Swiss cheese!' He thought, trying to get a look, but was unable to with out getting a face full of lead. And as if the heavens favored him, an opportunity presented itself.
"Secondary Weapons: Overheated." The mechanical female voice said, and the guns stopped firing with smoke billowing from the muzzles.
"WHAT!?" Pelgo yelled, banging the controls, "They never said anything about overheating!" As Pelgo fiddled with some levers, trying to get the guns to work again, Blitz took advantage of the situation and attacked.
"Pistol: Corrosive Shot!" A green bullet shaped glob shot out and struck one of the machine guns. As the glob stuck there, it started to melt the gun muzzle, rendering it ineffective.
"Damn you!" Pelgo cursed, as he continued to pull random levers, "Come on, work dammit! I paid top dollar for you!" As he said this, the smoke from the remaining gun stopped. Seeing that the flashing red bar that had been going stop as well, Pelgo grinned as he pulled another lever and the gun started to fire again.
Blitz was unable to get in another shot, but was able to get to a workbench that was closer to Pelgo and his machine. Rather than go all out like the first time, though, Pelgo was firing in short, controlled bursts, avoiding overheating. This trapped Blitz, with nowhere to run, and unable to get a shot in without being shot.
"Come out of hiding so I can kill you!" shouted Pelgo, aiming his remaining gun at the workbench Blitz hid behind. Going to Plan B, Blitz reached into his equipment pouch, taking out a small item.
"Ya know," Blitz said, as calmly as he could, "If you kill me, you won't have anyone to appreciate what ever scheme you brewed up. I mean, aside from that big guy and who ever else you hired." Pelgo raised an eyebrow, but soon started chuckling.
"Those two idiots? Hah! They were only told what they needed to hear. My plans, my goal is much more then they knew." Pelgo said, standing up in the pod. "All my life, I have seen many monstrosities in the world, freaks and filth walking about in broad day light, free and alive but does the Government to anything about it? NO! They allow these abominations to live among us, blighting this world." Pelgo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger. Blitz used this time to stand up and look at Pelgo, holding the unknown item behind his back.
"They that are represents everything that mankind is not, that are like a plague against humanity. They that wish to subvert us, and corrupt us. They are freaks of nature that should not have the right to live." Pelgo looked at Blitz, eyes filled with hate. "I speak of the Okamas, the homosexuals, the fishmen, the monsters that think that they should have the same rights as us humans. They ones I pretended to befriend, just to be able to kill them all in one place. And most of all," Pelgo's eyes darkened, his body shaking with barely contained rage. "Those accursed Devil Fruit users!"
"They are the greatest freaks of all! They that have fallen to temptation of power from a single fruit. Just as the first humans were that caused them to be banished from paradise. They, like all the other abominations against nature, should die, so that the world may be pure again. A pure human world!!!" Now Pelgo was shouting as loud as he could, firmly believing what he spoke. However, Blitz was less than impressed.
"Geez, loud enough?" Blitz grumbled, pretending to clean his ear with his pinky finger, "I don't think the whole town heard you. Oh! Wait, I think they did." He paused, and revealed the item he had been hiding: A small Den-Den Mushi phone, with the speaker of the hook. A Den-Den Mushi that was all too familiar to Pelgo.
"W-wait, is that…?" Pelgo staggered, not believing what he was seeing.
"That's right!" Blitz answered, "This is the Den-Den Mushi from your office, the one you use to hold announcements over the PA system around town. Your secretary used it to announce your death, and now I've used it to expose you for the hater that you are!"
Within the town, all were stunned, too shocked to move or continue whatever they had been doing. Chris was staggering to her feet, with Card Shark lying on the ground not far from her, when the whole thing was sounded over the PA system.
Zugai was holding Dojang's collar, mere moment's after he had asked for answers from the larger man. He, of all the people in Upman, was the most shocked, and the most hurt.
"Pelgo?" Zugai said, not believing what he had heard, "He was going to kill us all? But, we trusted him. He…he took me in when I was abandoned here, letting me stay until I finished my ship. I trusted him…and he betrayed us all."
"I told thee that thou would not like the truth." Dojang, "But that villain's treachery is deeper than thy knows. He was using me and my companion, for his own evil ends."
"Blimey." Card Shark gasped, from where he and Chris were. "That dirty bloke was never goin' ta pay us. Since we's Devil Fruit users, 'e was goin' ta kill us wit the lot of ya." Groaning with pain, Card Shark look up at Chris, who had gotten to her feet. "Listen, boyo. You may have stopped me from primin' one o' the charges, but there're more, four more. Each are placed at th' edges of town, both to kill and keep th' people trapped 'ere. You gotta go get them before Pelgo decides to blow 'em up. 'Ere's a map showin' the spots." Card Shark reached into his trench coat and pulls out a small map of the town and hand it to Chris. "Remember, cut the red wire. That'll stop those bad boyos for good."
Chris nodded and sped off to disarm the first bomb, leaving Card Shark to collapse again in the middle of the street.
Blitz stood there, holding up the small snail contraption, feeling very proud of him self. Pelgo, on the other hand, was so taken back that his jaw had dropped to the dashboard.
"Now that the townsfolk can see your true colors, it will only be a matter of time before they storm the place looking for you. And rest assured, you won't like it when they do." Blitz smirked defiantly. Pelgo shook with anger and frustration.
"NO!!" Pelgo shouted, banging his fists on the dashboard, accidentally hitting a few buttons. "I wasn't supposed to be this way! I had it all planned perfectly!" Suddenly, a loud whirring sound could be heard from the pod, from the whole machine. The hole in the metal neck stopped leaking steam, life returning to the huge contraption, the pod lifting up once again.
"Control Pod Movement: Reactivated." The machine voice came on again, and two very large cannons emerged from the back of the spider-like body, while the four spider legs started to rise. "Main Body Movement: Online. Primary Weaponry: Online." Pelgo looked over his shoulder at the cannons, then back at Blitz. Now it was Pelgo who was smirking and Blitz who was stunned.
"Aw monkey shit…" Was all Blitz could say before……BOOM!!!!
The mansion was blown asunder, wood and debris flying through the air. Among the rubble was a miraculously alive Blitz, who landed quite painfully on top of a large piece of rubble, thankfully not one that would not cause lasting damage. From the smoking foundation of the mansion, the Pelgo and his…Doomsday Devise, lets call it…emerged, cannons armed and ready to lay waste to the town of Upman.
"Ooooowwwww." Blitz moaned as he got up, trying to rub his sore back. "That hurt. How about we DON'T do that again." From the corner of his eye, Blitz saw Zugai remove some wreckage from on top of him and Dojang, who was still on his back.
"Oi! Bonehead!" Blitz called out, grabbing Zugai's attention. "You still alive over there?"
"Yeah," Zugai nodded, then looking up at the Doomsday Device, which was even bigger than Dojang's Stone Warrior form. "So Pelgo's aiming to murder us, just because we're different?"
"Yup." Blitz answered, putting Equalizer in its holster and drawing Matilda. "And unless you can't fight anymore, it's up to us to stop him." Zugai glanced over at him, and then gripped his labyrs.
"I'm game. So," Zugai examined their new opponent, trying to come up with a battle plan, "how do we stop it, exactly?"
"The old fashion way: Keep hitting it until it can't get back up." Blitz smirked.
"I like the old fashion way." Zugai smirked as well. But before they could do anything else, Pelgo open fired at the two, nearly hitting them and blasting them several feet away. Landing in a heap, Blitzz and Zugai looked at each other, each thinking the same thing.
"We need a different plan." They said simultaneously, before running behind some large rubble. Peering around to look at Pelgo, who was continuing to fire his cannon at various buildings, they tried to formulate a plan of action.
With Chris
About the same time Blitz and Zugai teamed up, Chris reached the first of the four bombs. It was placed behind a garbage can on the west side of town. Crouching down, Chris inspected the bomb. As she did, she realized she had her work cut out for her. Card Shark said to cut the red wire, only…….
"WHY ARE THERE THREE RED WIRES!!!?" Chris yelled, scaring off several birds from the area. Chris sighed out of frustration, bit none the less got to work trying to figure out which wire to cut.
Back with Blitz and Zugai
Blitz then noticed a serious flaw in the design in the construction of the Doomsday Device every time it fired from the cannons.
"Zugai," Blitz said, not taking his eyes off of Pelgo's machine, "I'm going to draw his attention. You try and get onto that thing's back from behind. You'll know what to do from there when it's time." Before Zugai could protest, Blitz ran out from cover, firing a shot at the control pod. It ricocheted off the steel pod with a loud clang. Pelgo noticed, and turned the pod towards Blitz, who fired another shot that grazed Pelgo's cheek, drawing blood. This PO'ed Pelgo to no end.
"Y-you little…!" Pelgo turned the whole machine to face Blitz, firing from both cannons at once. Blitz ran between the two shot, avoiding getting hit. He continued to fire at Pelgo, as Zugai ran around and behind the Doomsday Device. Jumping from a rubble pile to one of the legs, Zugai started to shimmy up the leg, trying not to be flung off as Pelgo moved the machine to get a better aim at Blitz.
As Zugai got to the top, he saw just what Blitz had seen: Every time the cannons where about to fire, the snake-neck would coil back, so that the neck and pod would not be accidentally hit by the cannon fire. Zugai crept next to the neck, waiting for the right time to strike.
A few minutes of dodging and warning shots, and Blitz soon found himself unable to run, rubble and debris blocking every path but the one towards Pelgo's Doomsday Device.
As if in slow motion, the control pod and reared back, signaling that Pelgo was about to fire. Blitz placed Matilda on his back with one hand, it catching on the harness he wore and securing it in place. With his other hand, he detached Dragon's Roar from the harness and resting it on his shoulder, aiming at the body of the Doomsday Device.
Just before the cannons fired, Zugai jumped and grabbed the neck. Using all his might and help from his Hone Hone No Mi, Zugai pulled the neck into the line of fire of the cannon. In almost synchronized motion, the cannon destroyed the neck of the machine, just as Blitz fire from his own cannon.
"Cannon: Ram Shot!" A large bolt of energy fired out, the front of which took the form of a large big-horn ram. It struck, and pierced right through, the body of the machine just as the neck exploded from the machine's own cannon, and Zugai fell from the machine to avoid the resulting blast. Pelgo and his Doomsday Device were defeated.
Blitz attached Dragon's Roar back on his back harness and walked causally over to Zugai, who was attempting to get back up on his feet after landing, hard, on the pile of wreckage beneath him. Blitz reached out a hand for Zugai. Staring at the hand for the few seconds, Zugai took the hand and allowed Blitz to help him up. After he got up, rather than let go of each other's hand, they stood there of a second, then shook their hands.
"Thanks, Blitz." Zugai said, "Though, I want to know, where'd you get the idea to use the PA system to reveal Pelgo's plan?"
"I don't know." Blitz said, scratching the back of his head, "Read it in a manga somewhere."
A roar of cheers erupted from the undestroyed building surrounding the plaza. Turning to the noise, Blitz and Zugai saw most of the townsfolk, who apparently watched the fight from a safe distance. The people rushed forward, encircling the two to give them praise and thanks for saving them.
"Thank you for stopping him," one Okama man said, patting Blitz on the shoulder, "Sorry we tried to catch you. We thought you kill a man who loved us and our idea of acceptance. Guess we were wrong."
"Meh, it alright." Blitz shrugged it off, waving a dismissive hand. "Just so long as me and my first mate are compensated thoroughly." The crowd quieted for a moment, then gave a weak chuckle.
Unseen by the crowd, Pelgo came crawling out from the damaged control pod, his suit cut and dirty. Turning his head, he saw the crowd, congratulating the pirate and the bone freak.
'They think they've won, have they?' Pelgo mused, pulling out a cylinder with a button on it, 'Well they haven't yet! Once I press this button, the charges will go off. At least I might be able to kill a few of these freaks.' Slowly, making sure that no one has seen him yet, Pelgo pressed the button with his thumb…only for nothing to happen. No boom or other loud explosion.
'What the hell?' Pelgo press the button a few more times, trying to get it to work.
"Trying to activate these?" Hearing this, Pelgo looked up, and saw young Chris Hopkins standing over him, four charges slung over her shoulder. "Unfortunately for you, I managed to find them all and disarm them all. Looks like your back up plan flopped just as much as your first plan. Hey, fellas!" Chris called over to the others drawing their attentions. "What do you think we should do with this worthless bag of skin?"
The people of Upman instantly grew angering, simply mobbing the now former Mayor. Zugai himself pull Pelgo to his feet, and off them, by his collar.
"You bastard! Give us one good reason we shouldn't just kill you right here?" Zugai growled, gripping Pelgo's collar tightly, almost wanting to strangle the man on the spot. Pelgo, obviously scared for his life, still stifled a slight chortle.
"If you kill me, you will only prove me right. That you're all monsters." Pelgo hissed. Zugai's eyes narrowed, his grip loosened. Slowly he lowered Pelgo to the ground, the tips of toes just touching the stone pavement. That is when Blitz, who was inspecting the Doomsday Device, decided to speak up.
"Ya know," he began, "The kind of steel on this thing is pretty high grade. Not to mention the weaponry and mechanized voice, the price to get the stuff and people to build it would have to be a good couple thousand, maybe even a million Bellies. Guess now we know where the money for the shipyard went." Anger returned to Zugai's eyes. His re-tightened his grip and lifted Pelgo higher.
"YOU'VE BEEN TAKING MONEY FROM THE SHIPYARD!?" Zugai bellowed, shaking Pelgo violently. "I could have finished my ship by now!" It took several men and fishmen to separate Zugai and Pelgo, if only to keep Zugai from making a very bloody mess.
Blitz laughed at the antics, crouching down to get a better look at the control pod. In his brief search, he found something that he wasn't expecting.
'This is…!' Blitz's eyes narrowed, a hint of anger glinting briefly. Chris appeared over his shoulder, though could not see what Blitz could see.
"What's up?" Chris asked, tossing the dead bombs on top of the pod.
"Nothing, Chris. Nothing at all." Blitz said calmly, standing up and walking away. Chris looked confused, but quickly shrugged it off and followed him. Had she looked in the pod, she would have seen what Blitz saw: A symbol in the shape of a purple bat, with a strange hypnotic eye in the center with alternating red and black rings.
In a remote location on the mountain, a small group of men in coveralls and mouth masks were in a small makeshift encampment. They had been watching the whole battle through binoculars. One man, who used much larger binoculars, put them down and picked up a receiver of a dog-sized Den-Den Mushi.
"Commander," the man said into the receiver, "The test phase is complete. The Blast Crawler has been defeated. All design strengths and flaws have been recorded. We will head to the rendezvous point shortly."
"Guut" said a voice on the other end, with a thick Transylvanian accent, "You vill meet up vith de Fourth Division. Dey are scouting some potential kidnapping victims. Stay vith dem until further notice."
"Yes sir. However," the man paused, unsure of how to proceed, "One of the people responsible for the defeat of the Blast Crawler, he is a pirate who has recently gotten a bounty, a small one, though." A strong scoff could be heard from the other end.
"Eet does not matter. The design iz only preliminary. I vould not be surprised if a handful of fishermen stopped it."
"B-but, sir," the man stuttered, not wanting to get on the other man's bad side, "The boy, he is one we know, here I'll snail-fax you his bounty poster." Grabbing said poster, the man reached over to a smaller Den-Den Mushi and fed it the paper. It's eyes lit up and made some beeping sounds before ejecting the paper. Silence lingered as the mysterious commander received a copy of the poster.
"Sir?" the man asked the commander, a little uncomfortable with the silence.
"I vill alert the master immediately. Do not engage, repeat do not engage. Any confrontation vill not end vell for any of you. Now go to the rendezvous NOW!"
"Yes sir!"
Back in town, a party was made both in thanks for Blitz and Chris for saving their town, and to apologize for their actions against the two. Blitz and Chris gave no effort to refuse the free food. They thoroughly enjoyed the hero's reception in their honor, knowing that it may a long time before they will get another. Though Chris was rather annoyed to learn that most of the people there, Zugai included, figured that she was a girl, and even more annoyed that they thought she was a crossdresser.
Near the end of the small celebration, Zugai asked the two to follow him to the shipyard, not saying what he wanted. As they arrived, he ushered them into the ship house, quite eager to show them what lay within.
And as they entered, they where greeted with a large galleon, bone white with a howling wolf figurehead. The craftsman ship was superb, unmatched with anything Blitz has seen. It was hard to believe that only one man made such an art piece.
"Say hello," Zugai said patting the side of the ship, "to the ship I have been working on my whole life. I've yet to give it a name, but I am sure one will come to me, now that I've finished it." Resting his hand on the hull, Zugai sighed. "I plan on using this ship to try and find the people who left me here, and to find out why. All that the townsfolk said was that they were pirates, heading out to the Grandline. That's my dream." Turing to the two pirates, he said "And you guys helped me finish it. With the bones from Pelgo, I finally finished the figurehead."
"Wait." Chris interrupted, a little grossed out. "You said bones. You mean that…"
"Yep." Zugai said proudly, "With my Devil Fruit power, I've been collecting bones to use in the making of my ship. It's 100% bone." Chris went slack-jawed with disgust, while Blitz was most impressed.
"Made of completely bones, huh?" Blitz muttered, when an idea came to him. "Well this is a fine vessel." He said, placing his hands on his hips. "Tell you what, Zugai. I'll give you an option. Either you can join my crew and let us use this ship…" he smirked, and gave Zugai a mischievous look, "or I can just take it from you. Your choice."
"You are not taking my ship!" Zugai shouted, raising a threatening fist.
"So you'll join?" Blitz asked smugly, reaching out with a hand. Zugai raised an eyebrow, then, verily slowly, took Blitz's hand and shook it. "Welcome aboard, shipwright."
"I should b saying that to you. It's my ship after all." Zugai pointed out, releasing the shake.
"Not any more, it isn't!" Blitz said before turning on his heel. "Alright! We gather supplies from town and head out with the tide!"
"Hey, wait!" Zugai called, but Blitz had left the building already. Slouching lightly, Zugai turned to Chris and said, "What have I gotten myself into?" All she could do is shrug in a nonchalant fashion.
Chapter End.
Took a while longer than I had thought, but at least it was faster than my last update, right?
Anywho, rather weak plot, but what ever. But I liked it. And who are the mysterious people behind the construction of the Blast Crawler? Only time with tell!
Anyway, read and review!
Signed, Nezumimaru
