Chapter eight – of practical application
With Zoro
All combatants used the cue of Harry's 'LET THE FIGHT BEGIN' as a signal to start moving.
Zoro decided that his biggest problem was Mr 9 and so set about taking out the thirty or so bounty hunters that had followed him so that their fight would go un-interrupted.
While dodging out of the way of several well aimed swings from Mr 9's steal bats Zoro charged into a group of a dozen bounty hunters and with several well placed cuts dispatched them before they could even react, spinning quickly he turned and blocked a strike from one of Mr 9's bats, while Mr 9 had one of Zoro's swords occupied he tried to press his advantage and swing his other bat at Zoro's partially exposed stomach, this too went blocked Zoro's blade and he was forced to jump back to avoid getting hit by Zoro's third blade the 'Wado Ichimonji' sword that was held in his mouth. Once Zoro had got Mr 9 to back off he managed to quickly ran through a dozen hunters with a well placed 'Ushi Bari' attack, and followed up with a single sworded 'San-Juu-Roku Pondo Hou' which caused a large crescent wave of energy to crash into the remaining hunters which finally left him free to fight Mr 9 uninterrupted. Mr 9, upon seeing the strength that Zoro possessed tried to turn and run down an adjacent alley way only to find Zoro already there casually leaning against the wall aiming a glare at him. Realising that there was no other way out of the situation but to fight he decided to try and end the fight quickly with his strongest combo so with a cry of 'Hiko Batto' the tip of one of his steal bats was fired and with the steal chain that it was attached too wrapped around Zoro's left arm and held it in place. This technique was shortly continued by the follow up technique of 'Gattsu Batto' in which Mr 9 put all his power into his legs that he could muster and with a powerful forward leap he pushed himself forward at high speed while at the same time pulling on the bat that had wrapped around Zoro's arm pulling them towards each other. And as Mr 9 stuck down with all his strength Zoro raised up his new Yubashiri blade with his right arm and blocked the attack, adding more strength to his swing he managed to force the bat back much to Mr 9's surprise before continuing the swing and calling out 'Bassuru koto kogeki' which unleashed a small burst of energy which didn't actually cut Mr 9 but caused a large rib crushing bruise to instantly appear in the shape of a slashing wound going from Mr 9's left shoulder blade straight down to his pelvis. The strength of the attack sending Mr 9 flying back into a group of crates and causing loose consciousness, making him drop his bats, this allowed Zoro to detach the chained bat from his arm and allowed him to watch the end of Tonks' fight. So with a parting 'is that all you had? And here I thought I picked the strongest of you three' walked up the road in which he had come down to get a better view of the fight that was still going on.With Tonks
'I would ask you to give up, but I've been dying to try out these powers in a proper fight, so you will just have to bear loosing' Tonks stated with a smirk, annoying all of the hunters that had surround her.
'There's one of you and thirty of us! We've all been doing this for years and you haven't even got a bounty! There's no way we could loose!' one of the nameless hunters boldly stated causing everyone to give a rather vocal agreement.
'So I have to get a bounty otherwise people wont take me seriously huh?' Tonks thought to herself
'Well why don't I show you just how wrong that assumption is!' and with no further warning she ran towards the one who had spoken just a second ago, pulling out her wand as she went and by applying her powers to it turned it into a metre and a half long staff which she lunged forward with a stabbing strike and upon contact pushed a small amount of magic into the wand come staff adding a minor 'Depulso' charm to the tip in order to send the hunter flying backwards several metres only for his flight to end prematurely as he crashed through a front door and vanished into the house.
Turning back around she couldn't help but smirk, where as before they had her surrounded on all sides, with just one move she had managed to break their entire formation and they were now all in front of her, this was very limiting for the bazooka troop that was now located at the back, as between him and his target of Tonks were four of his fellow hunters standing in the way blocking his shot.
'Damn, she took out Baru-san with one hit!' another nameless hunter yelled out, unintentionally weakening the resolve of his comrades. Tonks, just as Mad-eye had taught her to, immediately capitalized on the enemies slightly distracted state and with a stomp of her foot and a call of 'Mokuhojoheki' a wall, exactly two metres tall by two metres wide shot up from the ground, as soon as it was fully formed, three dozen half foot spikes shot out of the front, causing it to become rather intimidating and reminding the hunters of the traps you might find in a long lost tomb, and just like those old traps this one moved as well, a fact the hunters quickly were informed of as unseen to them Tonks then gave a sideways kick to the back of the wood structure and send it flying towards the hunters with impressive speed.
Although some (including Ms Wednesday and Carue) had managed to avoid getting hit, over a dozen others hadn't been so lucky and found themselves pinned to the wall ten metres behind where they had been. Upon realizing that Tonks was much stronger than she had believed Ms Wednesday stood up on Carue's back and after getting Tonks to face her began her 'Miwaku no Memaai Dance' where the circular patterns on her dress coupled with her odd rhythmic movement caused a wave of nausea in Tonks which bought her down onto one knee as she fought to keep down her lunch.
After she had suppressed her reflex and realised than the hunters had failed to make use of her weakened state she decided to turn the tables, slamming her hand down onto the floor she incanted 'Kiniko : Psilocybe cubensis' causing a dozen mushrooms to shoot out of the ground and grow to about a foot tall each with matching girth, making them several times bigger than a naturally growing mushroom would be.
As the Baroque works hunters all looked around in confusion at the sudden addition to the road Tonks followed up with the second half of her mushroom based techniques and with a stylish flare of her hand she called out 'Houshi' causing all of the mushrooms to suddenly burst open and release a plume of purple spores about a metre in each direction.
When the plumes had settled down, all of the hunters where shown to be stumbling around in a dizzying fashion, several of them already had lost their lunch and it looked like the rest weren't far behind as the spores caused an hallucinogenic effect in them, messing up their senses causing general ill feeling within their bodies.
Not wanting to make the same mistake as they did, she instantly followed this introspection with a 'Dai Shibaru Hashira' attack which within seconds had all of the nameless hunters caught and after several seconds of pressure around their necks had them unconscious, sparing Ms Wednesday with the intention of questioning her.
A course of action she was forced to abandon because as Carue had managed to get a small amount of wits about him, managed to decide that fleeing would be the best option, but was stopped before he had reached five metres (with Ms Wednesday still on his back) because with a call of 'Tsumazuki ne' a small root quickly formed and had successfully caught Carue's foot causing him to fall face first into the ground knocking him out instantly.
Unfortunately for Ms Wednesday though, the sudden action caused her to fly off of Carue's back and with great speed was propelled into a stack of crates, the impact of which finally allowed her to black out.
Hearing a small whistle of appreciation she turned to see a relatively unharmed Zoro slowly walking towards her 'That mushroom technique was quite impressive' he grudgingly admitted, much preferring a straight up sword fight over those sorts of techniques 'what was that?'
'That Zoro-kun' Tonks began in reply 'was a mushroom called a 'Gold Cap'…. With my own twist on it of course…. Hmmm I believe the easiest way for you to understand it would be to call it a really potent magic mushroom' she finished with a smirk.
'Magic mushrooms? You got them stoned? Zoro replied with a short bark of laughter 'that's one way to gain an advantage I guess'
They were suddenly snapped out of their conversation as a fairly burned out looking Igaram landed at their feet courtesy of Harry who was now walking towards them with a small smirk on his face.
With Harry
Sparing a glance down the road, he saw Zoro instantly charge into several hunters, quickly taking them out, and to his other side saw Tonks rushing in with a staff she had just formed from her wand. He was bought of his musings with a cry of;
'This will teach you to ignore me!' 'Igarappa' causing Harry to hastily dodge to the side cursing under his breath at letting him self become distracted. Because of Harry's dodge the shotgun blast that had been aimed at him, hit several hunters behind him.
'Sorry' began Harry, turning back to face Igaram 'that was rude of me… but now you have my attention, know that you have just sealed your fate'
Before he got a response he threw has hand out and incanted 'Kaji Yari' causing a lance of fire to burst forth, hitting one hunter in the chest and managing to throw him backwards into three more hunters that were standing behind him 'damn, I only managed to take out four in one attack, I guess Zoro has me beat on opening attacks' Harry thought to himself.
Dragged out of his musings by three sword wielding bounty hunters leaping towards him, swinging his hand in a side ways arc he called out 'Hi No Muchi'as a thick whip of fire shot out the top of his closed fist striking the three sword wielding hunters clean in their chests, instantly setting their torso's on fire and sending them flying back several metres into a wall.
Pumping more fire into the whip, to both increase its length, width and to make sure it didn't fade, he span round slashing out with the whip while sending a burst of fire from his legs accelerating the turn enabling the follow up technique of 'Muchi Tatsumaki' and after letting himself spin round several times, he sent a second burst out to counter his rotation brining him to a stop facing a shocked looking Igaram straight on.
Sparing a quick glance to each side he saw that he had taken out the remaining bounty hunters with that one attack. And that he had caused Igaram to drop his deadly saxophone, leaving him, or as Harry thought, un-armed.
'w-what are y-you' Igaram managed to stutter out bring Harry's attention completely back to him.
'Me? Why I'm the light of hell of course' he finished with a sinister smile.
'WELL THEN! LET ME SEND YOU BACK TO HELL THEN' yelled Igaram, and to Harry's momentary surprise pulled on the loops of his necktie which caused six large barrels to poke out of his over sized hair curls and with a cry of 'Igarappappa' sent a wide barrage of bullets at Harry giving Harry no choice but to raise his hand and call out 'Hi no Tate' causing a large shield of intense fire to burst from his hand to melt the bullets (that he hadn't been able to dodge because of the wide nature of the attack) before they reached his body.
Manipulating the fire shield, he sent all the flame to his right hand and held it aloft over his head, the flames quickly swirled together forming a large ball of fire in it.
'This will finish it' stated Harry confidently 'Hono-o Tama' he called out as he threw the now foot and a half wide fireball at Igaram's chest, who was unable to dodge such a fast attack with less than 10 metres between them.
The attack struck his chest with perfect accuracy and sent him flying twenty metres down the road towards Tonks and Zoro who he saw had already won their fights.
As they all came together and walked off congratulating each other for their fights (Tonks giving Harry a quick kiss, much to Zoro's chagrin) Igaram struggled to his to get up 'I cannot die in a place like this, I still have my duties to perform'
Just as he was pulling himself off his knees he was interrupted by two voices that he knew only too well.
'What a shame, all of you being defeated by only three rookies' stated a male voice that was dripping with over confidence.
'But I guess that's the difference between you and us isn't it Mr 8' the female voice chipped in.
This stopped the three straw hats just as they where entering an alley way on their way back to the bar as they stopped to listen in to the conversation now taking place. Turning back they saw the new speakers and quickly took in their appearances. The man was about 2 metres tall, with medium length oddly shaped hair that looked halfway to being a messy afro, he had black glasses and a long done up trench coat that hid the rest of his apparel. The woman was around 5 and a half foot tall and was carrying an green and blue umbrella that cast a shadow over her form, she had shoulder length blonde hair that was covered by an odd looking yellow hat, her sleeveless dress came down to mid thigh and had a pattern of lemon slices on it, finishing the look off were her lemon slice earrings.
'You came here just to laugh at us?…. Mr 5' Igaram weakly inquired.
'That's just a bonus; we came here to fulfil our duties' the newly named Mr 5 stated dismissively.
'Ha-ha… thank you' a newly awakened Mr 9 started, after somehow managing to pull himself up despite having several broken ribs 'with your abilities you can defeat those three'
'Hmmm… you think that we came here to help you? Don't make me laugh' started Ms Valentine 'we are only here because the boss told us to be he told us "Someone knows my secret, and I don't know what that person knows", you know how this company works, no one should know about each others past or identity'
'The person who has found out the bosses identity cannot be allowed to live' Mr 5 said picking up where Ms Valentine left off 'When we investigated we found out that there is someone from one country that has infiltrated Baroque works' Catching a look of shock upon Ms Wednesday's face.
'They finally know the truth' thought Igaram in despair 'is it all going to come crashing down here?.... NO! I won't let anyone touch her, I will lay down my life as the leader of the Royal guard of Arabasta!'
Springing up surprisingly quickly for someone in his condition he gave a sharp tug on his neck tie and fired of a round of 'Igarappappa' which seemed to hit Mr 5 head on causing a massive explosion. As he turned and yelled at Ms Wednesday to try and run he caught a shadow being cast down upon her.
'Like I would let you' the shadow called down, identifying herself as Ms Valentine, floating down she kicked Ms Wednesday on the top of her head, smashing the metal hair piece keeping her hair in a ponytail and letting it fall down free. Swinging out her arm in an attempt at hitting Ms Valentine, Vivi swiped nothing but air as Ms Valentine gracefully floated backwards towards the completely unharmed Mr 5 who had just stepped out of the fire caused by Igaram's attack.
'The betrayers are Igaram – the leader of the royal guard or Arabasta' started Mr 5 'and the missing princess 'Nefertari Vivi' he finished while holding up a picture of the newly revealed Vivi with her hair down, showing the intention behind Ms Valentines otherwise harmless attack. 'OH! Ms Wednesday is a princess' Mr 9 cried out in excitement while he bowed down in front of her. 'DON'T DO SOMETHING SO STUPID MR 9!' ordered Vivi but before the argument could progress any further, they were interrupted by Mr 5 who for some disgusting reason was now picking his nose. 'The boss ordered us to kill you! And that's exactly what we're going to do!' and as he pulled his finger from his nose (booger and all) and aimed his flick towards Vivi he called out 'hanakuusou' flicking the offending booger towards her at great speed. Just metres away from hitting her Mr 9 leapt in the way and with a final 'Bye Bye Baby' took the attack for her, killing him instantly. As Vivi in her near comatose state was carried away by a newly awakened Carue, were followed closely by Mr 5 and Ms Valentine. Igaram was holding onto Zoro's leg and pleading for them to protect the princess as he was too weak to go up against such enemies like Mr 5 and Ms Valentine, and would reward them greatly for their efforts if they agreed. Just as Zoro was going to flat out reject his proposal, Nami finally made her presence known from on top of the nearest roof. 'That's very interesting! Lets say 1 billion beli and you have yourself a deal.' --------- Whew, another chapter done and 25,000 words so far. I don't have any thing in particular to say after this chapter except; review and make suggestions. Until next time. Bye Bye Baby!TRANSLATIONS
Ushi Bari – Bull Horns
San-Juu-Roku Pondo Hou – Phoenix of the 36 Earthly Desires
Hiko Batto – Flying Bat
Gattsu Batto – Guts Bat
Bassuru koto kogeki – Punishment StrikeDepulso – Banishing charm
Mokuhojoheki – Wood spike wall
Miwaku no Memaai Dance – Captivating Dizziness dance
Kiniko : Psilocybe cubensis – Mushroom : Gold cap
Houshi – Spore
Dai Shibaru Hashira – Great binding pillars
Tsumazuki ne – Tripping root
Kaji Yari – Flame Lance
Hi No Muchi – Whip of Fire
Muchi Tatsumaki – Whip Tornado
Hi no Tate – Shield of fire
Hono-o Tama – Flame Sphere
Hanakuusou – Nose Fancy Cannon
