Guardian of the sword

Chapter 7: Gomu Gomu No Mo!

It had been a full week since the incident on the Going Merry occurred. With Lucia's memories still blank, the crew had to watch over the girl and make sure that she didn't get into trouble. Which wasn't too much of a problem because the shy girl, though she didn't recognize the crew members, was very polite and obedient to them. Even more so than when she did have her memories…

"Nami-swan~,Lucia-swan, breakfast is ready~!" cried out a love-struck Sanji as he went to serve the two girl's on the Going Merry

"Sanji! GIMME MEAT!" complained Luffy when he heard the cook announce that breakfast was ready.

"QUIET, RUBBER BRAIN! I'LL FEED YOU WHEN I FEED YOU!" yelled back Sanji before he gave the girl's their meals

"Thank you, Sanji. It's good as always" said Nami as she took a bite out of her food

"Arigatou, Nami-swan~!" replied Sanji to the compliment. However, when his eye turned to Lucia, he saw that she was in a dense state. She barely touched her food and her gaze wasn't directed at anything in particular. "She's trying to gain her memories again…" thought Sanji as he realized what was wrong with the girl. This wasn't the first time that Sanji had seen her like this. Ever since the day she lost her memories, he would continually find her in that state. Sometimes she would leave the room she shared with Nami and go towards the deck whenever she had a 'strange dream'. Sanji felt bad for the girl but Nami had told him that they had to let her memories come on their own.

"Would you like something else to eat, Lucia-san?" asked Sanji in a more serious tone

"Huh? Oh, no, no. This is fine!" answered the girl, worried that she had offended the other in some way

"All right then. But if you don't feel like eating, you don't have to." Sanji answerd before putting a hand to the girl's forehead. "I think it's best that you should lie down and rest. You're burning up, and I know you haven't been sleeping enough lately…"

"O-Okay then…" Lucia answered before agreeing with the Cook and heading for her room.

"I-I'm sorry for wasting the food…"

"Don't think much about it!" answered Sanji as he pointed at the captain that was currently eating Lucia's untouched food. "With a captain like him, nothing goes to waste here!"

Giggling at the glutton captain, Lucia finally made her way to the bedroom. Nonetheless, as the cook disciplined the captain for taking food when he wasn't told to and prepared the meals for the other males, Nami couldn't help but notice something different about Sanji. It was Sanji's nature to be worried about a woman in distress, that much was true. But this concern he had for Lucia was a bit…different. Even the way he would care for her was almost intimate. However, she couldn't interrogate the cook at the moment. He seemed like he had a lot going on in his mind. "I'll have to talk to him about it later…"Nami thought as she looked over the horizon. "For now, I need to focus on looking for an island to land on. We haven't seen one in a while and we're going to need to restock on inventory soon…"

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"So you still couldn't find a way to make that thing work?" asked Zoro, who was currently in the boy's cabin room with the Kitesu Guardian.

"No, not a thing…" replied the Spirit, her eyes never leaving the necklace currently in her hands.

"I've tried all I could, but nothing worked…" Hikari said as her hand unconsciously touched the necklace's red ruby. "I even tried doing some researching in the library in Nami's room…when she wasn't around, of course" assured the Spirit when Zoro gave her questioning look.

Hikari had hoped that when she defeated Lucia, that the sea fruit powers of the hyper-active captain would return. However, a day after, Luffy had noticed that he couldn't use his powers when he tried sling shooting himself into the crow's nest. Zoro was able to get away with explaining things to the confused captain because right when he was about to do it, Nami and Usopp knocked the sense out of Luffy before he could break anything on the ship. Also, there hadn't been much reason for Luffy to try to use his powers because they hadn't docked yet. But Zoro was still worried that Luffy would catch on soon. So that's why the whole week Hikari had been doing what she could to find out how to return the raven-haired boy's powers back.

"I'll keep doing what I can…However; I think our best chances of finding out how to return Senchou's powers is on the next island we land on"

"Right, but what should I do if Luffy gets too curious about not being able to use his powers?" asked the worried swordsman. Though his captain was an idiot, Zoro didn't feel all too well lying to Luffy. Sensing the man's discomfort, the Spirit moved her gaze from the necklace to the swordsman. A sudden wave of guilt washed over her as she did so. After all, the reason why he was in this position in the first place was because of her irresponsibility. If anything were to happen to the captain it would be her fault. Because of her, he can't even defend himself!

"Hey, it's not like it's your fault…" Zoro said when he saw the girl's gloomy face.

"But—"

"If anything, it's my fault. I'm Luffy's nakama and his First Mate. I should have been more alert and been there to protect him" answered Zoro

"Don't say that. It's not something anyone could have predicted, really." Replied the Spirit

"Still, because of you, Luffy's still safe and alive. If Lucia had been anyone else, he would have been dead a long time ago. So thanks, for being there" Zoro said, giving the girl a light smile, making the Spirit feel a little less guilty. It was then that he heard a sound outside. It sounded like…cannon shots…

"What was that?" asked the Guardian when she heard the sound too

"I'm not sure, let's go check it out" answered Zoro as he got up and made his way up to the door. Nodding her head, Hikari agreed as she returned to her place inside the Kitetsu Sword.

"Usopp, are you testing the cannons again?" asked Zoro once he made it towards the deck.

"Um…no, I haven't gotten a chance to yet…" answered the Sharp Shooter

"I was actually thinking about doing that later when-Zoro, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost!" asked Usopp when Zoro's face became real shocked.

If the cannon shoots weren't coming from Usopp, then where were…

Just then, a massive blow hit the left side of the Going Merry, which caused everyone on the ship to either fall or slide on the deck.

"What was that?!" asked the Navigator, using the crow's nest as support.

"Is everybody okay?" asked Sanji as he came out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, we're fine" answered Nami before turning to the Sharp Shooter "Usopp, go check to see if the ship got hit"

"I'll go check on Lucia" said Sanji

"Yeah, go and see if she's okay!" Nami agreed as the cook ran in the direction of the girl's cabin room.

"Lucia! You okay!" yelled Sanji in concern as he tried looking for the girl. She was nowhere near sight!

"Lucia?!" asked Sanji as he searched the room.

"Lucia, where are you?"

"R-Right here…" replied a quiet voice. Recognizing the voice, Sanji walked towards the small figure hiding behind the bed. It was definetly Lucia, only she was completely covered by the blanket she was using to sleep in. Her whole frame was shaking and trembling every now and then.

"Lucia, are you okay?" asked Sanji as he placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder

"Y-Yeah, I'm f-fine…" Lucia replied from behind the covers.

"Come with me, it's not safe for you to be in here alone" Sanji said as he helped the girl stand up. She was still afraid as she tried leaving the room with Sanji. Every once in awhile, she would hear a noise and clutch the man's arm. Sanji found the action cute but did his best to calm the girl down as he led her towards the deck.

On seeing the girl, Nami ran up to Lucia "Lucia, daijoubu? Did you get hurt?"

"Mm-mmh" answered the girl as she shook her head no.

"Phew…that's good to hear" Nami said. Just then, the Sharp Shooter was coming their way.

"Did you see anything, Usopp?"

"There doesn't seem to be any damage on the ship…" Usopp said as he made his way back to the others

"If the ship wasn't damaged, then whatever it was that our enemies shot at us must have landed in the water, a few feet from our ship" Nami replied as she guessed the possible reason for the attack's effect.

"But who could be responsible for all these attacks?" asked Usopp

"Well, we are pirates. It shouldn't be much of a surprise if we get attacked" answered Zoro

Suddenly, the crew noticed that a huge ship was heading their way. It was about 3 times taller than Merry and its ship was colored in a black-licorice color. It had three sails. One of them had the Jolly Roger of a skull and a bold X.

"That's a big ship…" muttered Sanji as the ship came into view

"That ship alone can tear down the Going Merry!" cried out Usopp

"I hope I didn't scare you all too much" replied a deep voice. Turning towards the direction of the voice, the straw hat pirates saw that it was a man that seemed to be in command of the ship that had been attacking them. He had a long, braded beard. His hair was dark-grey and he wore black jacket with a white dress shirt. He wore tan, steel toed boots and a captain's hat that seemed to have the same Jolly Roger as that of the ship.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Domovio. King of the South Blue!" answered the man smugly. "You seem to have quite the interesting ship, I'll take it."

"Oh no you won't, this is my ship!" yelled Luffy at the grey-bearded captain.

"So bold for a young lad, why don't you try fighting me for it?" Domovio said in a challenging voice.

"Bring it on!"

"Luffy be careful!" Zoro cried out. But it was too late. Another cannon was shot. This time, it landed on the deck, a feet from the poor Navigator and the raven-haired girl. Sanji was able to get Lucia before she could hit the water, but Nami wasn't so fortunate.

"You ok?" asked Sanji worriedly

"I-I'm fine" answered Lucia once she was able to calm the beating of her bounding heart.

"Wait, Where's Nami-san?"

"Huh? Oh, no" Sanji said as he realized that the Navigator wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Nami-san!" the cook cried out as he tried searching for the Navigator. He was about to jump in to look for her when all of a sudden, something came out of the water. It was Zoro! And with him was Nami!

"Nami-san! Are you ok?!" asked Lucia

"Yeah, we're alright!" answered Nami as she allowed Zoro to lead them back to the ship.

"I've never been so glad to see the plant-head in all my life!" replied Sanji, relieved to see Nami safe and sound as well. Even if her hero was the Marimo…

"That's so weird…"

"What do you mean, Usopp?" asked Lucia

"Well, the cannon hit us directly, but all it did was send you and Nami flying." Usopp said to the confused girl.

"Yeah, you're right…" Sanji agreed when he began noticing the pattern too. It was just then, as Zoro tried swimming back to the ship with Nami, another deadly cannon was shot. The wave of the cannon was so strong that it pulled the swordsman and the Navigator twelve feet away from the ship. Not only that, but something seemed to have fallen off Zoro when the cannon hit the water. On further inspection, Luffy noticed that that something was glowing. It was one of Zoro's swords! Without thinking, Luffy dove in the water.

"Luffy, wait!" cried out the three shipmates at their captain.

"Stupid Rubber-brain!" yelled Sanji before he went after the boy. Luffy, however, was too preoccupied trying to retrieve the sword to notice what he had done. He grabbed the sword and began to swim back up. When he reached the surface, he saw that Sanji was in the water too.

"Sanji, what are you doing in the water?"

"YOU IDIOT! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT YOU…can't…swim?…" Sanji said as he noticed that the captain was actually swimming! But how? He did eat the sea fruit that made him a rubber boy in the first place. How was he able to swim now?

"Luffy, your swimming"

"Yeah?"

"Luffy, YOUR SWIMMING"

Finally understanding what the cook meant, Luffy began to panick.

"Wah! How am I swimming?" asked the perplexed captain

"I don't know, but let's head back to the ship" said Sanji, to which the raven-haired boy nodded his head in agreement.

"Right!" Luffy said as he and Sanji swam back towards the ship.

When they made it towards Merry, a rope ladder fell in front of them.

"Climb up you guys!" Usopp cried as he and Lucia grabbed on either side of the ladder from the deck.

"Usopp, what's the jerk up to now?" asked Sanji as he and Luffy climbed the ladder.

"Nothing yet, but who knows for sure what he's planning on doing" answered Usopp

Making it on the deck, the straw hats turned their attention back to the source of their problems.

"You're gonna pay! Jerk!" yelled Luffy

"If you try anything to hurt Lucia-san or Nami-san again, I'm gonna kick the lights out of you, ya old fart!" Sanji threatened the grinning Domovio

"Now, now fellas. Let's not get too hasty…" answered Domovio "After all, I don't want you to get hurt"

"Yeah, like you can do anything to us!" Usopp said as he stood behind Luffy "I'll have you know that my friend here has quite a high bounty on his head, 30 million beli!"

"You wuss" Sanji replied at the scardy cat Usopp who continued to make threats to the man behind the straw hat captain

"Really, now? That's rather interesting…" Domovoi said

"Yeah, and not only that, but Luffy here has eaten one of the sea fruits! He's a rubber man and boy can he knock you out faster than you can say 'Gol Roger'!"

"How about I take you up on that bet?" asked Domovio

"Huh?" replied a confused Usopp. Suddenly, the same crazy man who had been annoying them up until now had jumped from his giant ship to that of the straw hat crews'.

"What the heck?" said Usopp

"Show off" muttered Sanji

"Ah, this is quite the ship!" Domovio said as he observed it "Yes, it shall go well with my collection…"

"If you so much as take a step further, I'll knock you down where you stand!" yelled Luffy angrily

"I don't think you're in any position to be demanding me…" answered Domovio before snapping his fingers. And just like that, 40 to 50 hundred men appeared out the huge ship. They let down several long ropes as they came down on the Merry.

"If we don't take these guys down right now, they're gonna sink the ship!"Sanji informed the three crew mates

"Right!" Luffy said as he charged at Domovio's crew.

"Gomu Gomu no~"Luffy said as he prepared his attack

"Yeah Luffy, let them have it!" cheered Usopp. However, Luffy didn't do anything.

"Luffy! Attack them already!"

"I would!" said Luffy "But for some odd reason, I can't!"

"WHAT?!"

Overhearing the pirate's discussion, the men began to chuckle evilly.

"That's too bad now, isn't it boys?" asked Domovio, smirking evilly towards the pirates

"He may not be able to attack, but I sure as heck can!" yelled Sanji as he furiously began attacking about 30 hundred of the men that came down on the ship. Causing each one to fall into the water with twenty to thirty scars. (Sanji is sooo not in a good mood…:D)

"Yeah, go get them Sanji!"said Usopp

"Nice job, Sanji-sama!"cheered Lucia

"Thank you, Lucia-swan~!" Sanji said as he paused in midfight. However, just as he did, a dark figure came behind him.

"Sanji-sama, look out!" Lucia cried out as she tried warning the cook. Turning around, Sanji was prepared to defend himself. That is, until he realized that he couldn't move!

"Wh-What the-?!" Sanji yelled as he tried to free himself from the mysterious spell.

"Can't move huh?" said Domovio as he loomed over the cook "That's because of my sea fruit power, the Numu Numu no Mi Fruit. It allows me to nullify the powers of both people and other sea fruit powers. It also gives me the ability to counter against people with weapons, making their swords or guns useless against me!"

"That's just great!" Sanji yelled in his head. With no choice but to stand there like a sitting duck, Domovio knocked Sanji down. The blonde couldn't defend himself from the attack so he immediately fell unconscious. The last thing he heard was the soul-tearing scream of Lucia calling out his name.

Cliff hanger! :P Stay tuned to find out what happens next!