The Netherworld has known peace for the first time in a while, since the defeat of Super Hero Aurum.
But still, there are many worlds out there to see...and conquer!
Mao, the Overlord of said Netherworld, has set his sights on one of them, thanks to info from the Defender of Earth, Jennifer.
Together with his crew of super humans and skilled demons, they shall challenge the World Government!
Mao: Mua ha ha ha ha ha! A brand new world, ripe for the taking! (Tosses sword into the air as his hand becomes bathed in star energy, dissipating the darkness behind him and revealing the Demon's Hymn Crew. They include Laharl, Etna, Flonne, Adell, Yukimaru, Rozalin, Raspberyl, Almaz and Sapphire, each of them welding their weapon of choice with grins on their faces). What phase of the plan shall we execute today?
A demon who dreams to conquer his first world, and the human who helps him. Today, they shall proceed forward!
It's Experiment Time!
Previously…
With Ace once again among the living, the Three Overlords squared off against the Three Admirals, most prominent of the matchup being between Laharl and Akainu.
Despite the Admiral's control of Magma and Lava, not even his strongest attacks could pierce through the young Overlord. Laharl delivered a savage counterattack that nearly ended the Admiral's life, but it only succeeded in driving Akainu mad. Now he plans to unleash his secret and most powerful attack to take down every pirate with him…as well as the entire island of Marineford.
"It's time to end this…and see to it that Absolute Justice prevails! Ultimate Attack, HELLFIRE APOCALPYSE!"
Chapter 7
Disorient Gambit! The End of Akainu!
"Heh, now your so-called 'Hero of Justice' shows his true colors!" Axel declared to the Audience watching through the Den Den Mushi and Video Cameras. Doflamingo simply watched on, amused. "See? Due to my brief time as a reporter, the Dark Hero knows what his future fans like to see! Does Akainu look like a hero to you, anymore? He plans to wipe the entire island off the face of the earth, just to take down some pirates that are trying to retreat! He doesn't even care that he'll take countless numbers of his own allies with them. If that's what 'Absolute Justice' is all about, then I'd rather be a pirate!"
'Heh Heh. Thanks to me, the entire world is seeing this. They'll see what kind of people the World Government use to enforce justice, and the resulting disgust and outrage shall work in our favor! I'll have to thank you for saving this Surveillance Den Den Mushi, Buggy. Thanks to your efforts, we'll have a much easier time of conquering this world!'
"Tch, that bastard! What the hell does Akainu think he's doing?" Sengoku snarled, glaring up at the Magma Admiral.
"He's making our job that much easier, that's what!" Jennifer said, smirking.
"What are you talking about!"
"I'll let you in on a little secret, Sengoku. You thought that Aokiji had succeeded in disabling the last Den Den Mushi that could send video of this war throughout the world. Sadly, Buggy survived his attack, as did the D.D Mushi! And now, thanks to Axel, the whole world is witnessing Akainu's madness first hand. Hmmm…I wonder what kind of message that'll send about the World Government to the masses."
Sengoku looked nervous beyond belief and downright murderous at the same time. "You…that was your plan all along?"
"Well to be honest, we didn't plan on Akainu going off the deep end like this. But Harley can take care of him at any time. As for you, you're pretty much screwed either way. If you don't stop him, you risk losing this entire island and all of the forces on it. And if you do try to stop him, you'll probably have to kill him. That means that you lose a powerful asset, and that makes you look like you're willing to kill an ally rather than talk them out of doing something like this. Sucks to be you, eh, Sengoku?"
"Damn you…"
"I'll take care of this!" Garp said, tossing a huge cannonball. "This may not stop him, but it'll distract him from using his attack for now!"
With a grunt, the Hero of the Navy launched the cannonball at Akainu, said projectile flying even faster than it would have out of a cannon. The cannonball struck Akainu's body and exploded, smoke surrounding him. When it cleared, the Admiral's body had a huge hole in the middle of it, but it was quickly healed by his Logia power. Akainu himself didn't feel anything other than annoyance as he glared towards Garp.
"Don't try to stop me, Garp! All of these Pirates will drown, even if I have to sink this entire island to do it!" The Admiral snarled.
"Come to your senses, you idiot! If you sink this island, then all of the fighting, all of the sacrifices to protect it will have been for nothing!" Sengoku shouted.
"The loss of the island will indeed be a heavy blow. But we can always rebuild our Main Base on another island! And as for the soldiers…there are always young men and women willing to join the navy. We'll make up for the numbers lost in no time!" Akainu said with conviction.
"Are you kidding?" One of the Navy men shouted, fear in his voice.
"I never kid! But you shall all be remembered as heroes who gave up their lives for the greater good!" Akainu roared, clenching his arms around himself. "Rejoice! For you shall fall before an Admiral's most powerful attack!"
With that said, Akainu turned his arms into Magma, fusing them with his own Magma body. He focused into growing them bigger until they encased his whole body in a Magna Sphere.
"What's he doing?"
"I don't know! I've never seen Akainu use an attack like this before!"
"We need to get out of here before it's too late!"
"And where would we go? Most of the battleships were destroyed during the fighting from before! Even if we could make it to some of them, there wouldn't be enough for all of us to make it off the island!"
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku! What should we do?"
Sengoku was sweating like crazy, never thinking that he would find himself in a situation like this. But to his credit, he made his choice quickly and decisively.
"Anyone not currently engaged in battle, open fire on Akainu! I hate to kill one of our own, but we must take the course of action that will save the most lives!" Sengoku shouted reluctantly.
"Yes, sir!" The Navy men saluted him, readying their weapons.
"Don't bother! I'll take care of him!" A booming voice said, followed by thunderous quakes on the ground. Everybody turned towards the source to see that John Giant was back on his feet, the injuries that Whitebeard had inflicted on him gone. "Akainu! I can understand your need to see justice met, but you are going too far! For the sake of all of these navy men, I can't let you go through with your attack…and if that means that I must kill you, then so be it!"
"John Giant is alive!"
"This is great! He can stop Akainu!"
"Go, John! Stop that fool before it's too late!"
Jennifer watched on as the rest of the men cheered for John's success. 'Heh…how quickly they turn on a comrade…granted, it is Akainu, but still…'
"Here I come, Akainu!" John shouted, before leaping high into the air with his sword poised to strike. Once he was a good distance above the Magma Sphere, he began to dive down towards it. "Goodbye!"
The Giant Vice Admiral swung his sword down towards the Sphere, looking to slice it in half. But instead, the blade was held back by a strong burst of Haki from Akainu, stopping just short of its goal.
"What?" John snarled, gritting his teeth as he tried to force the blade to cut through the Magma.
"…Of all people, I thought that you would have understood the most, John," Akainu's voice came from the Magma Sphere, sounding regretful and sneering at the same time. "I won't let anybody interfere with Absolute Justice. NOT EVEN YOU!" With those words, the Sphere of Magma began to bubble loudly. A tendril of Magma launched out of it and wrapped around the giant's blade.
"What are you doing, Akainu!" John shouted, trying to free his blade from the Magma to no avail. But he had bigger problems to worry about as an additional five tendrils shot out of the sphere. They each wrapped around a limb of his, the fifth one wrapping around his neck in a crushing grip. They held him a few feet away from the sphere.
"AUGGGHHH!" John screamed in pain, the searing heat burning his flesh. The pain in his throat was the worst of it, making it so that he couldn't even keep up the scream for long. He wiggled and thrashed again and again, but nothing he did could free him from Akainu's grasp.
"AKAINU! STOP THIS MADNESS!" Sengoku roared up towards the Insane Admiral, having a sinking feeling about what was going to happen next.
"That fool…he's beyond redemption now," Aokiji said to himself as he dodged another of Adell's strikes.
The bubbling began to intensify even more, the middle of the sphere bulging out slightly...
What happened next horrified all of the Marines watching on.
A head of a hound shaped out of Magma exploded from the center of the Sphere, resembling the attack that gained Akainu his nickname in the first place…only this hound was about half the size of John Giant himself. Before anyone could react, the Hellhound launched forward at amazing speed…and pierced the Giant right through the heart.
Everyone was stunned into silence, until one person shouted, "V...VICE ADMIRAL JOHN GIANT!"
"He…he did it. He actually did it! He attacked one of his comrades!"
John couldn't say anything, as his vocal cords had melted due to the Magma around his throat. He could only turn wide, shocked and bloodshot eyes towards the Magma pierced through his chest, before vomiting a mouthful of blood. But Akainu wasn't done yet.
After a few seconds of excruciating pain, John weakly lifted his eyes back towards the Magma Sphere…only to see another two hound heads made of Magma glaring right back at him, snarling.
He barely had time to blink before they set upon him.
It was over in a matter of seconds. John could feel nothing but pain as they ripped him apart, blood and gore being devoured by the three hound heads, and various pieces of flesh dropping to the ground. Several of the Marines looked sick to their stomach as they watched the slaughter with a kind of morbid fascination…and overwhelming fear.
"We're…we're all going to die," Helmeppo said in a dead tone of voice, falling to his knees with blank eyes. "That monster Akainu is going to devour us all…it's over."
"I…I can't believe it. He did that. He did that to his own comrade…" Koby said, clenching his head. Even though the Vice Admiral hadn't been able to scream, the Petty Officer was able to hear every scream of pain, every plea to God and every dying moment of the Giant in his mind. Tears were running down his cheeks as he clenched his eyes shut, tears of sadness, fear, and anguish.
By the time Akainu was done, there was nothing left of the Giant. He had been consumed completely.
"Feh. I did what I had to do. Anyone who interferes with Absolute Justice must be silenced, even if they were once a comrade," Akainu's voice sneered from the three headed Hellhound in the sky.
"How the hell is this justice?" Smoker shouted at Akainu, muscles trembling with rage and hatred. "How the hell does killing a comrade in such a gruesome matter claim justice?"
"I wouldn't expect a rouge like you to understand, Smoker," Akainu said, treating the word 'rouge' like it was utter trash by his tone. "It doesn't matter, anyway. FIRE FIST ACE!"
Ace felt a shiver go up his spine as he glared up towards the Triple Headed Hellhound.
"I don't know how you were able to return to life, but there will be no returning from this. Before this island sinks, I'll make sure that your body is nothing but dust!" Akainu growled. The middle Hound began to gather heat in its mouth, aiming towards Ace and the people guarding him.
"Ace, get behind me!" Jozu shouted, blocking the young man from sight.
"Jozu, get out of the way! I don't want you to take a hit for me!" Ace said, trying to shove the huge man out of the way. He was still feeling too weak to budge him, though.
"You don't get a choice this time, Ace," Jozu muttered, using his Devil Fruit power to encase himself fully in diamonds, with the exception of the left side of his face.
"Time to die for the second time, Ace! HELL CANNON!" Akainu roared.
The Hellhound launched a huge ball of Magma out of its mouth, the heat nearly unbearable as it zoomed towards Ace's group…
"Did you forget about me, fool?"
Laharl appeared out of nowhere, Axe gleaming in the light. Almost nonchalantly, he sliced the Magma ball in half, causing it to explode harmlessly in the air behind him.
"I gotta say, Akainu, I'm disappointed. I mean, I was expecting something really impressive with a name like 'Hellfire Apocalypse'. But for it to only be a suped up version of one of your other techniques…meh."
"You won't be so smug once my Hellhound devours you whole!" Akainu snarled, before the left hound head rocketed towards Laharl.
The young Overlord launched himself forward as well, matching the hound's speed and slicing off his head as he went past. It didn't stop Akainu for long though, as another head simply grew in its place. Without another word, the hound heads launched rapid Magma balls at the Overlord, Laharl dodging or cutting them in half.
"This is getting dull," Laharl complained, rearing back the arm that held his weapon. "Eat this! Boomerang Axe!"
Embedding his Axe with the heat of his Hellfire, Laharl hurled it towards the Magma beast. The Left Head dodged the attack, but the Axe sliced off the ones not quick enough, sending Magma all over the place. The Axe then, as Laharl said in his attack, began to make its way back towards him, slicing through the unprepared final head.
"Damn," Laharl grunted as he caught his Axe. "One of the heads was able to dodge my attack before it could get sliced off with the others all at once. This Hydra rip-off won't go down until I destroy all of the heads at once. Isn't that right, Akainu?"
All three heads quickly grew back and glared at Laharl. "…I don't know how you managed to figure that out, but you'll be long dead before that happens."
"Yeah, I don't think so." Laharl replied, streaking towards Akainu at full speed again.
"Shave!" Akainu shouted. And with that one word, he vanished into thin air.
"Hmmm," Laharl muttered, stopping instantly. "Where did he go?"
Laharl soon got his answer…in the form of the middle hound head snatching him whole into its maw.
"Blue Hair!" Whitebeard's Pirates said in shock at seeing the powerful kid eaten like that.
"Damn…I thought that he had a chance…" Helmeppo sighed. "Without him, we're done for."
"Wait…I don't think he's done for yet!" Koby said.
"Are you kidding? He got eaten by that monster Akainu! That's about as done as you can get!"
"…But I don't hear any pain coming from that boy's mind."
"What are you talking about?"
"I…don't know how to explain it, but I can hear these…voices in my head. I can hear when they're angry, when they're sad…and when they die, like John Giant did. But I don't hear any signs of death from that kid."
"Well, what do you hear?"
Koby turned to Helmeppo, eyes wide.
"What I hear…is laughing."
"Hey, something's happing with Akainu!" One of the navy men shouted.
The middle head of the Hellhound was bulging out in a grotesque way, everything looking like a balloon ready to be popped. The next second, Laharl did just that, exploding out of the hound's head. Of course, it just regenerated again.
"Didn't I tell you that Magma won't work against me? You have a hard time of listening to people, don't you?"
"Shut up! I know that something is protecting you from my Magma, and I'll keep attacking you until I discover and break through it!" Akainu snarled.
"Too bad you won't get a chance to do that," Laharl replied. "I'm gonna take out all of those heads, and you at the same time!"
"I'd like to see you try. I'll just use Shave to dodge any attack you throw at me," Akainu scoffed.
"Heh. Sadly for you, this attack will be one that you won't be able to dodge!" Laharl sneered, thrusting his arms straight down. Within a few seconds, a hellish aura began to surround the diminutive Overlord. This aura was so powerful that it began to make the ground tremble and shake, knocking a lot of people to the ground.
"What's happening?" Ace shouted as he tried to keep his footing.
"It's one of Laharl's most powerful attacks!" Flonne shouted over the rumbling. "You might want to hit the ice and brace yourselves!"
"HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!" Laharl roared with laughter. "This is the end, Akainu! Your pathetic attacks have bored me long enough!
Akainu sneered at Laharl's declaration. "And just what makes you think…"
The middle hound head cruised straight towards Laharl, maw opened wide. "That I'll let you finish that attack?"
But as the head was about to devour Laharl once again, a sudden strong vibration caused it to explode, Magma falling everywhere. The head reformed, and its eyes swiveled around to cast a hateful glare towards Whitebeard, who was lowering his massive arm with a smirk on his face.
"Whitebeard…" Akainu snarled with unbridled hatred.
"He's not the one you should be worrying about, Magma Man!" Laharl shouted. Akainu focused his attention back unto the Overlord, in time to see him thrust his arms into the air. A wave of power exploded outward from Laharl, pushing Akainu's Hellhound body back.
"What have you done?" Akainu roared, all of the hound head shaking their heads to snap out of their disoriented state.
Laharl gave an evil grin. "Look around, Akainu, and you'll see just what I've done."
Akainu did so after getting his bearings back…and saw himself surrounded by countless balls of Laharl's own hellfire mixed in with Mana.
"How do you like it? This is my second most powerful attack, called the Overlord's Wrath! Countless balls of Mana and Hellfire are surrounding you, Akainu, and there's nowhere left for you to run! This is the end!" Laharl crowed in victory.
Akainu whirled around quickly, trying to see a point where he could use Shave to escape to. But no matter where he looked, all he saw was balls of hellfire.
There was no escape.
And that made Akainu snap.
"This…this can't be happening," Akainu said in a quiet tone.
"Hmm?" Laharl's ears perked up from the tone. "Got something you want to say?"
"There's…there's no way that such a small brat can end up being my death…there's just no way!" The Admiral shouted, his voice sounding more and more deranged as he went on. "I am an Admiral. I am elite. I fight for Justice! I crush evil! SO WHY AM I ABOUT TO DIE? I FOUGHT FOR ALL OF THE RIGHT REASONS! I FOUGHT FOR THE GOOD OF THE WORLD! AND THIS IS HOW FATE DECIDES TO REWARD ME? I WILL NOT EXCEPT THAT-UGGGHHH!"
Akainu was cut off from his rant when Laharl, growing bored, blasted him with one of the orbs of hellfire. "Oh shut up, you bastard. People like you make me sick. You claim that you are fighting for justice, but you are really fighting for your own selfish ideals. Well, guess what? Nobody here buys that after the stunt you pulled with killing John Giant. And you know what else?
Laharl had a cruel grin on his face. "Thanks to Axel, the entire world knows it as well. You just made the task of taking over this world that much easier for us. …So I'm afraid that you've outlived your usefulness, Magma Man.
"Farewell."
Laharl flung his arms back down.
And the balls of Hellfire descended upon him.
The resulting explosion knocked almost everyone off their feet, except for Whitebeard and Jennifer and her crewmates.
Once the smoked dissipated, Akainu was shown to be back to normal…or at least, as normal as a human being could hope to look like. He was covered in burns and soot, his eyes wide and blank and his mouth gaping open as grunts of pain escaped it. He could no longer hold himself in the air, and fell at an alarming rate towards the ice.
The Ice itself had been weakened due to all of the Magma falling onto it during the battle. So when Akainu crashed into it, it gave way and the Admiral plunged into the sea below.
There was nothing but silence as both sides were trying to take in what just happened. Akainu, one of the Admirals of the Navy, one of its most powerful forces…was defeated. He was still somewhat alive though, and could be rescued if someone dived in to save him…but after everything that happened, no one was in a hurry to do so. And thanks to Akainu's Devil Fruit, he couldn't swin…so it was over.
Akainu, one of the Three Admirals…was dead. Or at least, soon would be.
Everyone was so stunned that no one noticed Jennifer speak into the collar of her pirate coat.
"Old Man Geo…yeah, the requirement has been fulfilled. It's time to implement plan 'Disorient Gambit', and nip this in the bud…"
To Be Continued…
And that ends yet another chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, and are looking forward to everyone's reaction to the events that happened in the next chapter. Catch you Next Continue!
