Chapter 10

Friends have always given Luffy the strength he needed to get through any fight.

They were his greatest strength, his fuel behind everything.

Even the fuel to accomplish his life long dream. To be the King of the Pirates.

However they were also his greatest weakness.

The one thing that could hurt him the most... and now he knew it.

Luffy had just lost a friend.

The said pirate Luffy closed his eyes, the pain was unbareable. It was almost ten times worse than when Sarah was kidnapped by that hunter. If only he'd interviened or dove in and sheltered her from the flames, or beat up the hunters... or arrived at the room sooner... or... or...

'Or what?' he thought miserably, 'You couldn't have done anything because Mark was in the way.'

This was all because of Mark in the first place. If Mark was never there then Sarah would still be alive... and everything would be ok. They would be swimming at that pool at the festival or enjoying the sea and the stars. Perhaps she'd even be with him and his crew...

His Nakama. For all he knew Mark had killed them too.

And his Nakama were all he had. Mark had stolen everything from him.

'It's all Mark's fault...' he thought darkly, 'I'll kill him... just like he killed me.'

"MARK!" A voice echoed off the empty grey walls. Luffy's eyes flew open, 'It can't be... Gage even said nobody could survive an explosion like that... but...'

"What was that?" asked Sissy in a low squeeky voice. Luffy's eyes traveled to all of them.

"I don't know." answered Anna.

"Then lets go find out, shall we?" offered Gage.

"Yeah, there's just one problem with that." responded Mike. "Luffy."

All eyes turned to Luffy at that second and everyone got a suprise. Luffy was cracking his knuckles.

"Luffy?" asked Kaden.

"Lets go." he said, emphasizing the word 'go.' Everyone suddenly became very nervous, Luffy had a dark look in his eyes... like he couldn't hear anyone at all. Like nobody was even there.

"All he can think of right now... is killing Mark." muttered Gage.

"Does that look mean he's ready to fight?" asked Kaden who was the only one close enough to Gage to be able to hear him. Gage nodded and silently, they all ran down the warehouse's dark grey/ black hallways, following the noise.

ooooooooooo

Sarah didn't bother with any smartass remarks. She didn't bother to explain why she was alive, or who the people were behind her. She didn't bother with the bull shit introductions either, she just attacked.

"Cutting right to the point, are we?" Mark taunted, "Fine, lets begin."

Mark turned into a shadow and Sarah flew right through him. While she flipped and regained her footing, Mark did something she didn't quite expect. He split himself into two.

"No matter how many of you there are, Mark, I won't let you win!" she cried as she attacked yet again. Mark smirked and laughed in a dark low voice. The two of him split up. Sarah came to an abrupt hault in the center of the room and looked from the one standing to the left of her to the one flying up into the air. She desided to finish off the flying one first. The flying one suddenly dove at her, claws extended. Right as Sarah was about to attack, the one to the left of her attacked as well, claws extended. Sarah watched in horror as the second one flew at her, she couldn't fight them both! She braced herself for the impact and was shocked when Zoro dove and tackled the second one. Sarah smiled with appreciation and turned her attention back to the air born one.

It was a good thing she did too. Just as she turned, the thing was upon her. She dove to the side as it hit the ground next to her. "Awww, what's the matter? Tired already?" Mark taunted.

"Yes..." she said between clenched teeth, "I am tired..."

Mark closed his eyes and laughed. That was all Sarah needed as she kicked him right off his feet and sent him skidding across the ground. "I'm tired of seeing your face!"

Mark growled. "Fine, if that's how it is. I regret having to hurt you but if that's the only way to show you where your place is then so be it!" And he ran at her...

Only to be hit with his other self. Laughing erupted and everyone's eyes turned to Zoro. "You are a dumbass. You split yourself into two halfs and you forget about one!" he laughed. Sarah smiled and suddenly fell to one knee as everything spun for a moment. She grabbed her head as sweat rolled down her face. "What was that..?" she asked as she slowly stood up.

"You've lost too much blood." explained Sanji as he walked over and stood infront of her. "I don't know who this crap-moron is, but nobody hurts a lady. Especially a pretty one."

Sarah smiled. "Flattery will get you nowhere." she chuckled weakly. Sanji grinned.

"This is all very touching, but I have a bitch to make mine." growled Mark as he formed back into one. He turned into a shadow and raced across the floor at Sarah and Sanji.

Sanji growled and went to attack, but Sarah stopped him. "He's a shadow..." she said, and suddenly grinned. "That's it! He's a shadow..."

"What are you gonna do?" asked Sanji, "You don't have alot of strength."

"You're right I don't." she agreed, "But I have enough for this..."

Sarah flew up into the air and held up her hand. A small fireball formed but that wasn't enough. She concentrated and slowly, it began to grow bigger.

Zoro stared, dumbfounded. He was confused, she couldn't hit him because you can't hit shadows... but as the fireball began to get bigger, he noticed that he had a shadow. He held out his arm, his shadow did the same thing... and he smirked. "Brilliant."

Zoro quickly ran at Mark, Kuina's sword in hand. Just as Mark was about to attack, Zoro's shadow sword cut into Mark's shadow form. There was a scream and Mark reappeared, bleeding pretty badly from a huge gash in his shoulder. "How in the hell..?"

Sanji grinned, "Soccer anyone?" he asked as he walked toward Mark. Mark went to run but found that he was surrounded. If he tried to turn into a shadow, he'd just be hit by their shadows. If only he could take away their shadows...

Mark looked up at Sarah... and the source of light. And suddenly, he had a pretty good idea...

Nami attacked first knocking Mark to the floor with her staff, and Usopp took aim. That's when Mark struck. He grabbed Usopp and pushed him so he fired at Nami. She screamed and dove to the side and standing right there was Mark, as if he had anticipated her move. He kicked Nami in the face so she flew backwards quite a distance. Sanji attacked next but Mark froze him in mid attack and threw him. Zoro and Mark glared eachother down and finally, Zoro attacked. Mark grabbed Kuina's sword by the hilt, jumped up and to the side of Zoro, spun, and kicked him in the back. Zoro flew into the floor and Mark now had a weapon. Before anyone of them could recover, Mark threw the sword at Sarah and it dug into her side.