A/N Right, I can easily foresee people taking issue with this chapter and some changes from events in canon, however, I think this crossover would be fundamentally flawed if the actions of the characters introduced to the world didn't end up changing anything, that, and I don't want to just repeat canon events. I'll explain it briefly at the end of the chapter, but smart readers may have already noticed some small things from the last chapter or two which will affect the outcome in a big way.
Avatar:TLA is the property of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda.
xXx
Toph's charred body hit the ground face-first with a dull thud, matched to a chorus of shouts and screams from behind her.
Nami just watched, stunned by the abruptness of it all and clasping both hands to her mouth. The girl who had struck the winning blow against an elite member of Baroque works, who had defeated every challenger she had faced today, lay face-down in the dirt, savagely beaten within a single move.
Katara stood for a few moments, heart pumping hard in her chest, 'Toph... ' Enel stood laughing before her, she unconsciously lowered her hands to her water-skins, both empty, expended from her fight in the clouds above. She needed more water… Focusing her eyes upward, she noted her source, and then sparing one last glance to the fallen body of her best friend, nothing else able to permeate her thoughts as she was consumed by rage, she charged, one thought coursing through her mind. 'Enel… YOU BASTARD! I am going to rip you apart!'
Zoro had immediately drawn all three of his blades and charged too, a ferocious battle cry on his lips, his attacks were frenzied, not quite carrying his usual precision. Although it was doubtful it that had any effect whatsoever.
Enel was dodging for the sake of it with an amused, calm expression on his face. Even when he didn't dodge, the blades just passed through him. He was taunting the swordsman. Even when Gan Fall, slightly late to the draw, had joined in, it didn't change anything. Enel was untouchable.
Robin stared down at the body of her fallen comrade, unable to tear her eyes away. she had been overtaken by a somewhat unfamiliar feeling, or at least a feeling which she wouldn't have expected to be experiencing for this reason. She had seen friends, allies, comrades, whatever the word, she had seen them fall before. She had seen entire groups of associates of hers fall, times beyond counting since that horrific day on O'Hara. So why was seeing Toph fall so different to that? The girl who had spoken with her like a friend as opposed to an ally of convenience, accepted her instantly, even spoke up on her behalf on occasion, a girl who, despite her intentions, she had grown to care for. Remembering these things, replaying them in her head, Robin let herself go, bringing both hands to her chest.
"Ochenta Fleur!"
If Enel actually had any need to dodge his attackers it would have just become impossible, as eighty slender arms sprouted from walls, pieces of debris and the ground spreading across the battlefield, all of them attempting to snatch at him, ensnare him, swipe at him and hurt him in any manner that they could.
Laughing confidently Enel took a moment to focus his Mantra-based perceptions upon everyone else in the clearing.
The green-haired swordsman ahead of him, rushing in with both swords swinging low, aiming for his waist. Enel had to admit, the swordsman was incredibly skilled. But skill was an indeterminate factor against his Goro Goro no Mi. any simple physical attack would just harmlessly sail through him if he so desired it.
The Archaeologist stood on the edge of the battlefield, repeatedly clenching her hands, the limbs she had sprouted across the area swinging and clutching at him in tandem with her actions. 'Unexpected, I had her pegged as the more 'non-combatant' sort.'
Gan Fall had since mounted his bird, and was now aiming the unpredictable nature of an aerial attack to their chances. 'Foolish old man, can he not see the futility of such a gamble?'
Wiper stood off to one side, for now he wasn't taking part in the action, 'How petty. He's so resentful towards the Blue-sea dwellers that he won't even help them defeat a common enemy?' next to the tribesman were the immobile forms of the Straw-Hat's Fire-wielder and the odd Tanuki creature.
The orange-haired navigator girl was kneeling down nearby, checking for a pulse on his latest victim, he watched with interest as she switched tact, a look of horror upon her face as she brought her hands away from the girl's neck, and instead started applying bouts of pressure to her chest. 'CPR? Such a primitive method… I was sure that these 'Straw-Hats' had better medicinal practitioners… Wait…' Enel finally realized his oversight. 'The Water-Wielder!'
He scanned his eyes around; his Mantra was overtaxed from the overwhelmingly violent intentions of the several people around him, all aiming for his life. Mantra worked by reading the intent of potential attackers, the more violent the intent, the easier to read the attack became, but having multiple instances of that? It was like trying to discern individual sentences from several people screaming different things at you.
Finally his eyes settled upon the girl he was searching for, running up a tall pyramid structure. 'She's retreating? Wait… no…' he finally grasped her intentions, at the top of the pyramid the cloud layer was still very much intact, being just off the centre which he had hammered through with his aerial bombardment earlier, spreading all the way to edge of the valley, and several metres thick, overall it was an astonishing mass of water, 'Water which she can utilize!' he realized with a start. 'She was arming herself!'
With that thought in his mind, Enel charged towards the girl, his previous attackers In hot pursuit, but unable to keep up with his speed. At this rate, he would surely reach the girl, before she reached her target.
Enel thought back to his last encounter with the girl, she had nearly used the conductivity of her element to work against his. If she had enough water she would literally have his electricity under control, his only course of action would be to abandon his lightning form and restore his tangibility, which would leave him wide open to the attacks launched by the other crew members. 'I cannot let her reach that cloud!' he began to stretch out a hand, charging it with electricity as he entered into a decent attacking range. Only to be stopped short as a blazing torrent of blue flames hit the ground in front of him, stopping him short and temporarily preventing him from attacking.
Enel stared towards his attacker, standing on another building, the sights of their cannon still being trained upon him. "I had thought better of Shandorian pride Wiper… would you really allow these blue-sea dwellers to claim your victory for you?" Enel taunted.
"As long as you die Enel… I don't care who has to help me do it!" Wiper yelled as he fired again. Enel darted into the air to avoid it, Fire cannons were not able to harm him, but it would knock him away at the very least, even in lightning form he was not immovable, just immune to conventional harm. While airborne, Enel generated a static field around his body to allow him to temporarily float.
"You'll need to try harder than that!" Enel taunted Wiper again before his eyes suddenly widened, a flash of someone else's intent flying through the back of his mind, 'The girl!' He turned just in time to see a raging pillar of water, rushing through the air towards him. His eyes just caught the one responsible, stood atop the pyramid, her teeth gritted upon a face showing typical signs of exertion and fire In her eyes as her arms weaved through laboured motions, he darted left, seemingly out of its flight path only for the column to split along its length. Half of it following him, the other half following its original course. He had no alternatives as the mass slammed into him, enveloping his body and surrounding him.
Holding his breath, Enel took in his surroundings. The water had reformed to its full mass, encasing him in a massive sphere that was at least 20 metres in diameter. 'I can't take lightning form or she'll capitalize on it. and I can't swim out, she can certainly move the water faster than I can swim.' While he was considering his options, he vaguely took in a shape standing on top of a building above him, a figure blurred by the water between them, a typical human silhouette, but with three odd appendages jutting from the lower section of the head, and from both hands… 'The Swordsman!'
Zoro let a savage grin fall onto his face as he leapt from the building upon which he stood, aiming for Enel's body, the 'God' being suspended in the midst of a floating orb of water. In one quick movement Zoro fell, twisting his body and placing his swords beneath his body's weight, the blade-edges facing down.
With Zuko's weight and momentum, the water wouldn't slow him significantly before he landed his attack. in addition to the strength of his swing, this attack would be unblockable, not even Luffy would be able to muster the strength to stop it, which left Enel with one option.
One second Zoro had been falling, an instant away from a collision with Enel, the water doing little to slow him down, the next, he had passed straight through Enel's body, temporarily being blinded as his surroundings turned to pale blue light, a moment later he broke through the base of the orb, landing in a heap upon the floor of the ruins. He looked up to see an encouraging sight, Enel's body was breaking up, carried away by currents of water that segmented him into three parts; one comprising his head, neck, right shoulder, and right arm, another comprising the majority of his torso and his left arm, and a final one comprising his legs, all in their lightning forms, separated and spaced throughout the water orb and slowly being surrounded by gradually forming ice. The look of genuine alarm upon Enel's face was wonderful to see, as every time he attempted to zap through the spheres of ice, a thin membrane of swirling water, just inside the forming spheres would direct his lightning away from its target.
'These kids just continue to blow me away...' Zoro found the thought entering his mind and welcomed it. while all three had incredible talent, it took more than that to impress him, Toph had proved herself to Zoro with her fiery determination, Zuko had done so with his humility and bravery, Now Katara had officially gained his utmost respect for the sheer complexity of the strategy she had performed and the tenacity with which she had carried it out. "Nicely done Katara!" he vocally showed his support. 'I can't even imagine what a whole world inhabited by these benders would be like, it must be pretty damn exciting… maybe I might visit there, and see what I can learn.''
'My arms feel like they weigh a hundred pounds….' Katara dropped to one knee, still steadily making the arm motions necessary for her trap. Her eyes had taken on a dark, slightly vacant look, and she could feel something nasty rising from the pit of her stomach to her throat as well as a small amount of liquid running from her right nostril, blood…
All of these were typical signs of overtaxing her bending, but she couldn't stop now. Enel was nearly trapped, just a few more moves, she would probably lose consciousness 'at the very least' If she completed her trap but for now it seemed that she was the only one even able to attack Enel, let-alone beat him, shakily she returned to her feet. Attempting to trap Enel while diverting away his attempts to counter-attack was easily the most tiring thing she had ever done. She continued to sluggishly move through practiced motions before finally she had fully encased the three Enel-Pieces, ignoring the shocked look on his face she continued to manipulate the water just inside the ice spheres she had formed, if he was in direct contact with ice he would just blast through it, she needed something to conduct his attacks away and prevent him from escaping the ice. Now she just needed to hold this strategy for long enough that oxygen deprivation would do the work for her. 'God or not, you still need to breathe.' Just a few more moments, she could see the signs on his face, he was struggling at last, she just needed to keep that Ice solid, keep the 'God' trapped till he suffocated.
"KATARA!"
Katara's eyes immediately darted to the source of that voice, Nami's voice, sounding more panicked and afraid than she had ever heard it sound.
"Katara! Toph's not breathing! I can't…!" Nami stopped short, a panicked sob breaking down her speech, she couldn't process the words in her head or on her tongue, after Toph's pulse had started dropping to a dangerously low rate she had immediately attempted to help her, using her very limited medical knowledge. Mouth-to-mouth, CPR, everything, but Toph's vitals just continued to fade, and just now, they had faded entirely…
Katara looked Nami in her terrified eyes for what felt like an eternity, before her gaze moved onto the fallen figure beneath her. Toph, unmoving, and apparently not breathing. Before finally her gaze settled on Enel, his head, separated from the majority of his body, a panicked expression on his face as he held on to the last vestiges of his breath. At this rate he could still last another minute or two…
Katara felt tears run to her eyes. She had never been in a situation even close to this, 'If I let go of Enel, he might kill everyone! If I don't…' Her eyes took in every detail of Toph's form. Eyes closed, no rise and fall to her chest barring that which was caused by Nami's hands, still desperately attempting to coax some life out of her.
Desperately running through her choices, Katara realized with a start, she already knew what she needed to do… as her mind flashed back to an event over a year prior, to a plateau overlooking a discoloured lake, and the small besieged town sat upon it.
xXx
"So what was I supposed to do?"
"You were supposed to LEAVE. We can help these people by taking out the firelord! And we can't do that, unless we get to him in time!"
"…No…I will NEVER turn my back on people who need me!"
xXx
That exchange with her brother felt like a different lifetime, a different world, but amidst the passing of time, and the all too different location she now found herself in, her outlook had not changed. If she was forced to sacrifice anyone, let alone one of her closest friends for the sake of some greater good, she would never be able to forgive herself.
"I'm coming Toph." She dropped her arms, ebbing away some of the water from the massive sphere surrounding Enel, forming it as ice running up the steps of the pyramid she stood on, then she leapt, skidding unsteadily down the slide she had formed and breaking into an equally unsteady run when she hit the bottom.
As she made a beeline for her fallen friend, she could faintly hear a sequence of increasingly unsettling sounds behind her; first, the sound of water impacting in droves against the stone paved ground, having lost the manipulation which was allowing it to defy gravity, the sound of Ice shattering amidst a crack of thunder, a faint electric hum from three different directions, then one. followed by a pattern of deep, desperate breathing, offset finally by an ominous, confident laugh. As Katara knelt down, mind set on resuscitating Toph, one thing was certain… Enel was free, and she did not have the energy left to trap him again, her body was protesting vehemently against her already. As she used her medical last resort.
Katara had made a lot of progress medically since the end of the war, admittedly nowhere close to the progress she had made in terms of combat forms, but one of her early discoveries was that her healing abilities and the forbidden art of bloodbending were intrinsically linked. Her healing manipulated the water in the body to greatly accelerate the growth rate of new cells, by that discovery she had learned that, if used correctly, bloodbending was extremely valuable for healing internal injuries. She had even developed her skills to the point where she could partially bloodbend without the full moon, albeit on an absurdly small scale, her bloodbending was diminished to the point where it was useless in combat as at most she could bend a finger or toe out of place at a time. But restarting someone's heart by careful and small-scale manipulations? That was actually possible for her, it would just take time. She set to work, Nami watching over her shoulder as she moved her fingers through scaled down mirrors of her waterbending stances.
Zoro watched Katara leave her position with a mixture of gratification and understanding, knowing that he would have done the exact same thing in that position, despite his disappointment that their best chance at defeating Enel was now gone. He looked over towards Robin, her usual poker face giving way to a look that contained both worry, for Toph's still uncertain fate, and relief, that her fate was in the best possible hands. His gaze then shifted to Enel, who, despite still being in the process of recovering from his ordeal, was laughing uproariously, now, Zoro was not the smartest of the crew by a long measure, but he knew some things. One of them being that if a man who was clearly utterly insane started laughing maniacally, bad things were sure to follow.
"You idiot!" A hoarse growl could then be heard, emanating louder than Enel's laughter, it was coming from Wiper, and he was walking threateningly towards the occupied Katara. "You could have ended it then and there you sentimental fool!" as Wiper raised an arm to strike the girl, he suddenly felt it being pulled, twisted and moved behind him. Along with the shooting pain in his arm, the warrior also recognized the feel of cold steel against his neck.
"You may be willing to step over the corpses of your friends to achieve victory…" Robin's cold and clear voice admonished, as she held Wiper's arm behind his back with three spawned copies of her own.
"But we will never do that…" Zoro finished for her. He had moved in a flash, and was now stood side by side with Wiper, his right arm raised holding his Sandai Kitetsu against Wiper's jugular.
"Very admirable indeed…" All heads turned with horror at that proclamation, as Enel walked slowly forward, on the surface his expression looked strangely amused. "Foolish, but still admirable. Judging by your obvious fatigue I cannot imagine you being capable of performing such a feat again?" Enel directed the question at Katara as all heads turned towards her.
Nami looked on with concern as she recognized Enel's point, Katara looked utterly exhausted, eyes half-lidded and breathing hard even after she had stopped attacking, even healing Toph seemed to be taking the absolute brunt of her stamina now.
'Okay so let's sum it up…' Nami decided to take stock of their chances. 'Toph, Chopper and Zuko are unconscious, Sanji and Usopp are unconscious and two miles away, Katara looks like she's about to collapse, and Zoro, Gan Fall and that Wiper guy can't even touch him let-alone kill him… we're screwed.'
"I will take your lack of defiant protest as a confirmation." Enel concluded with a sneer. "This is what happens when the duty of war falls to those who are not willing to do what must be done. You've lost your only chance at victory… well done." Enel's taunts appeared to be hitting a nerve as Katara turned her head down in shame.
'Did I make the wrong choice?' that voice of doubt spoke again in Katara's mind. 'Did I just make our survival impossible?' it was an entirely likely scenario, one she had given thought to before she took action. Did they actually have any other way of defeating Enel? as she continued to attack herself, a hand landed on her shoulder wreathed in a gauntlet.
"Do not allow this villain to decry your actions young lady." Katara felt her gaze turn upward as Gan Fall knelt down in front of her, a kindly smile adorning his face. "It was a very brave choice you just made, and only a truly evil individual would think any less of you for it." The Knight stood, and began to walk toward Enel. Leaving Katara feeling at least marginally reassured, listening intently as Gan Fall continued to speak. "In the end this works out for the best, I have something I would like to know, and I would not be able to acquire this information from a corpse…" the contrast between the pleasant expression the knight had worn previously, and the one upon his face now as he addressed his predecessor as 'God' was truly frightening.
"Ask away, Gan Fall." Enel responded with an attitude of total apathy, noting that Enel's steed had shown more situational awareness than its rider, and was now peeking out from the cover of a building.
"Where are my soldiers!?" Gan Fall demanded viciously. Raising the tip of his lance to Enel's head, much to the godly figure's amusement.
"Ah, you are concerned for the safety of your old militia guard." Enel replied in a condescending tone. "it was a host of 650 soldiers was it not?" the dark leer on Enel's face made everyone immediately wary.
"I don't care for the statistics Enel! Tell me where they are!" Gan Fall was not so easily wound up by Enel's approach.
"Well…" Enel started casually. "it all started with my plan." When Gan Fall didn't react much beyond a raised eyebrow, Enel continued "You see, ever since I arrived here I have been cultivating the means for my departure. This island in the sky… it's an unnatural occurrence, you see, one that shouldn't exist… " The emphasis on the final word set Gan Fall on edge as he gripped his lance tighter. "My intention is to leave this place behind, and when this island is reduced to nothing, I will do so."
"You plan to destroy Skypiea in its entirety?!" Gan Fall roared.
"Yes! I will depart this land leaving behind only a storm as I journey to endless vearth!"
His prophetic statement was met with stunned silence, Katara could only think of Ozai, that when his power and godly status had finally reached boiling point he only saw fit to destroy everything before him.
"Endless Vearth?" It was Robin who asked the question after a long period of shock.
"Yes, and I will make this offer now, I wish to take five companions with me!" reactions to that statement entered somewhere between confusion and disbelief. "You will be spared from sharing the same fate as this island. However given that there are six of you left standing, you will need to kill the spare, decide amongst yourselves if you wish. " Enel barely seemed to register Gan Fall's rage, knowing that even when angry, the sky knight was no threat to him.
There was a brief, horrible moment of silence where everyone conscious contemplated the offer.
Katara knew that she wouldn't be able to attack Enel with anything like what she had just conjured again, she took in the prone forms of Chopper, Zuko and Toph and spared a brief glance towards Zoro, who looked more nervous than she had ever seen him be, upon being faced with an enemy he couldn't cut. It was then that her eyes settled on Wiper, certainly not a friend to them, and she knew that together they could defeat him without too much trouble… Then they would all be able to survive… it was at that moment, an image of a small girl in tribal clothes flew through her mind, killing the line of thought in its tracks.
However briefly the two had known each other, Aisa and Katara had connected, they were kindred spirits, Aisa being caught in a situation of unfathomable similarity to the one Katara had been in just two years ago. Could she kill one of Aisa's last remaining people? She thought of her own father, of the three, horrible years that she and Sokka had remained behind, hoping beyond hope that their father would survive and return to them, it was then that she decided, she certainly wouldn't kill any member of the Straw Hats, and she would not kill Wiper either.
Nami looked terrified, fighting in general was something she would aim to evade, but Enel was seemingly stronger than all of their greatest fighters! Robin only needed one glance downward towards the unconscious girl who had been her companion for the day to find her answer waiting. Wiper didn't even need that, his goal stood before him, was within touching distance, when he spoke he was surprised to find he wasn't alone, his voice rose as one amongst a chorus.
"We're not killing anyone but you Enel!"
Enel barely reacted to this revelation, his eyes only taking in the two who didn't challenge him, the two voices that hadn't joined the challenge, the waterbender, whose focus lay elsewhere, and the orange-haired girl, who, to his estimation was the only outright coward on the Straw Hat crew, but also the only one with any sense.
"Enel!" the voice of Gan Fall drew Enel's sight back to the old man who stood nearest to him. "You didn't answer my question, Where are my soldiers?"
"Ah, my apologies, dear Sky Knight." Enel replied jovially, much to Gan Fall's aggravation. "You see, when I told them my plan, they became rather incensed, understandable I suppose, what with their families living on Skypiea…"
"What did you do?!"
"I 'suppressed' their little insurrection." The cold sneer on Enel's face left no doubt as to what he meant.
Gan Fall was shocked into silence, his face a canvass of conflicting emotions. "You… you killed them…all?"
"I didn't particularly desire their collective demise, believe it or not. But they left me no other option. " despite his words, not even one inflection in Enel's voice contained even the barest shade of regret. "Perhaps it is better that they died quickly, as opposed to waiting for their imminent and certain doom afterwards? Or perhaps would it have been kinder to kill them with their families back on Angel Island?" the disgust aimed at Gan Fall for the trivial manner in which he spoke of these atrocities was universal.
"You monster!" Gan Fall snapped, reservations abandoned as the lunged forward.
The Former and current god both seemed to move in slow motion, as Enel casually sidestepped a quick thrust from the Sky knight, while putting his hands out in front of him, one downturned and above the other, both index fingers extended towards each other, nearly meeting.
"10 million…" A small orb of blue light about the size of a coin appeared at the midpoint between Enel's fingers, "20 million…" Enel started to move his fingers further away from each other, the light following his hands as the orb grew and dense webs of static electricity started to leap from it, "30 million…" Enel's hand extended again and the orb grew once more, now reaching over a foot in diameter, the flashing arcs of light being accentuated by a sharp crackling sound. as a mad grin appeared once more on Enel's face. He and Gan Fall locked eyes for just a moment…
"30 MILLION VOLT VARI!" Enel thrust both hands forward, aiming at the Sky Knight, who was still off balance from his lunge. The impact, Gan Fall's scream of pain, the sound of his armoured body hitting ground hard, all were compressed into a mere second, and just like that. They were down to five.
"Gan Fall!" the loudest cries came from Nami and Katara, while Enel merely laughed off his violent actions.
The most aggressive reaction came from an unexpected source… As Pierre flew from cover before gliding over towards Enel, madness clear in the bird's eyes after seeing its master go down.
The bird never reached Enel. A sharp blow to the head stopped it short as Wiper stood over it, fist raised.
"What are you doing?" Nami demanded of the warrior.
"Better to knock the beast unconscious then let it fight Enel…" the Tribal warrior summarized bluntly.
Nami stifled herself before she could protest again, quickly recognizing that the man had a point.
Enel seemed rather amused at the exchange. "Now, that's all we needed, you five are free to travel with me to the expanses of endless Vearth." he said casually. "Come, we set out immediately."
Enel began to walk casually away, expecting the five remaining fighters to follow him without question. He was soon hammered back out of this state of mind.
Katara watched in shock, which turned to disgust as, while Zoro, Nami and even Wiper had stayed still, Robin had begun to move forward. 'She's abandoning us? Why am I not surprised?' she was about to lend voice to her thoughts when a noise from beneath her shocked the words right out of her. a cough, followed by a sharp intake of breath, from a determinately young source.
Katara's face lit up as her actions were finally lent an outcome, tears borne of relief flooding her eyes. "Of course you wouldn't die that easily, you're… so…damn… stubborn!" While she was still unconscious, Toph Beifong was breathing once again, shallow and warped, but breath was drawn regardless. Katara switched focus at that point, moving the tattered sleeve of Toph's tattered shirt aside at the shoulder, to begin healing the searing wound at its source.
Enel turned and gaped in awe. "It appears I am out of practice. I am usually far more prolific in regards to killing those who I wish to kill." While he tried to retain his apathetic tone, surprise was eroding that attitude quickly.
"Looks like we're back up to six…" Zoro taunted. "But I wouldn't worry too much, we weren't planning on leaving anyway." It was at that point the swordsman remembered. 'Zuko and Chopper… they aren't dead… this guy, he's too over-reliant on that "mantra" of his, he can't tell the difference between unconsciousness and death!'
"Neither was he." Robin pointed out. Causing Enel to turn towards her with a question on his lips, a question she answered pre-emptively. "You were going to look for the Grand Belfry before you departed Skypiea, weren't you?"
"I'm assuming that would be your reason for looking like you were going to follow me but a moment ago?" when Robin didn't answer, a dark smile spread on Enel's face. "You probably had some form of trick in mind? Didn't you? Well… there's nothing I hate more than a cold and calculating woman…" Enel raised his hand, electricity pooling at the tip of his extended fingertip.
"Robin!" Nami was the only one to shout out any form of warning, a warning which proved futile…
A flash of blue light which was becoming all too familiar, a scream of agony, and Robin fell…
xXx
"Why are you stopping?! We need to get out of here!"
Luffy paid little mind to the small girl on his back, as he paused to consider the ominous feeling that had just flashed through his mind, a feeling which had stopped him in his tracks as he and Aisa made a very slow headway, marching towards the head of the giant creature that had swallowed them both.
After a few moments he finally responded "You're right! We need to go faster!" he then set off, sprinting at full pace, which considering it was Luffy was quite fast indeed, leaving Aisa to struggle to hang onto his shoulders.
This guy was definitely not normal, if his astonishing sprint speed wasn't enough to share that fact, then the odd occurrence in which he had shielded Aisa from the lightning coursing through the giant snake's body at no cost to his own health had certainly clued her in.
xXx
"Usopp. We're heading back into that forest…"
"Wha…? But-" Usopp could barely manage a response to Sanji's proposition. The two had woken up nearly simultaneously, to find Nami and Gan Fall were no longer present, Nami's waver and the Crow were also gone, but strangely a new waver was tethered to the ship.
"We'll use that; the Merry should be safe here for now." Sanji continued, coldly indifferent to Usopp's terrified retorts.
xXx
Ever since that winter, over a year and half ago, when Katara had become an instant close companion to a boy who seemed to contain all the answers to all the problems that plagued their world, she had been fighting, she had fought fire nation soldiers, adept firebenders, Dai Li agents, on numerous occasions she had fought Zuko, and she had fought and defeated Azula, who was at the very least the second strongest firebender in existence at the time they had fought. But none of that even remotely compared to this, the scales of power in this world tipped so much higher, Miss Halloween, the woman who had nearly killed Katara and Toph, two bending masters, by herself albeit with surprise and strategy rather than power, was a complete and utter small fry when compared to the man standing before her. Enel, The man who had just used his own untenable abilities to match her now-twice-performed feat, of undoing clinical 'death'.
In one of the most dramatic reversals she had ever seen, Enel had solidified and simply allowed a weakened water whip from her to hit him head on, his physicality allowing him to tank the weakened blow before he backhanded her away, and then set on Zoro. All previous signs of casual indifference were gone, the 'god' was no longer in a playing mood…
Zoro had fallen hard to the ground after Enel had quickly turned the swordsman's own attacks against him, using the pirate's steel as a method to deliver an intolerable barrage of electricity into his opponent's body.
But, just when Katara had been set to intervene again, hope was instead kindled from an unlikely source. Wiper had planned ahead, his jet-dial skates it turned out, were made of Seastone. Seastone which, on contact with Enel's body, deactivated his devil-fruit powers, leaving him vulnerable to the Shandorian's second ace-in-the-hole, a reject dial. As Katara remembered from Gan Fall's brief explanation, these were lethal to both parties involved in their use, receiver, and sender.
Wiper remained alive after use through sheer willpower and constitution, Enel had not managed this, but just as Katara knelt down beside Robin, begrudgingly checking her vitals, the group found another surprise waiting for them.
Enel, using his own lightning as a defibrillator, began to restart his own heart…
"Not a bad effort Warrior of Shandora." Enel offered shakily with a mocking tone of false empathy as he slowly rose to his feet.
"I…don't…require your sympathies… you bastard!" Wiper's voice had been reduced to a low gasp, the effects of using the reject dial were immediately obvious, a thin trickle of blood was already escaping from the side of his mouth, and he looked immediately unsteady on his feet.
"Fair enough, I see you are a practical sort, you prefer actions to words, do you not? Well, this should be enough of an action to suffice." Enel raised both hands in front of him, his fingers spread. "30 million Volt Hino!" with these words on his lips Enel's hands began to glow once again, before a great shimmering mass of sparking light, this time in the shape of a hawk, flew towards Wiper, hitting the injured warrior full-on before he could even raise a finger to defend himself. With another fighter fell, the Straw Hats odds of survival lowered once more.
When Wiper had been hit, both of his skates were knocked off, one of the seastone constructs landed near Nami and the several downed crew members, two of which, unbeknownst to her, were stirring.
The other skate landed further down the stone road. Something which Enel took careful note of as Zoro charged forward.
"Got…to get… that seastone!" if Zoro's narration didn't give him away, his movements definitely did, as he sprinted towards the device that he hoped would signal his salvation.
However he was soon forced to shift his weight to avoid a quick swing from Enel's golden staff, before the weapon came at him again, this time being blocked by a crossguard of swords. Enough strength lay behind the second swing to send the Straw Hats' swordsman skidding backwards. A grimace finding its way onto his face as Enel made a point of stepping to the side, putting his body between Zoro and the skate he was aiming to utilize.
"You don't legitimately believe I would just let you bypass me?" The 'God' asked plaintively.
Zoro didn't answer, instead he moved to charge again.
Katara could only watch in horror as the same scenario began to set itself out, she had verified that Robin was indeed alive, but with their only capable fighter about to be taken out, all hope would surely be lost. In her weakened state, the best she would be able to do is distract Enel while Nami escaped, but to what end? She would never make it off the island, Katara could feel tears forming at the sides of her eyes, whether borne of fear or sadness, she had no clue.
"Zoro! Don't! He's too powerful!" Nami screamed out a desperate warning, before her eyes barely registered a blur of motion from her left, surprised, she looked back to where her injured friends had been lying, to find one of them was missing.
"30 million volt Kiten!" Enel's voice rung cold and clear as, similar to before, lightning began to pool around his outstretched hand, however this time when it burst forth, it took a quadripedal form, like a large tiger, A tiger which quickly bounded towards Zoro.
Zoro closed his eyes in spite of himself upon being faced with the blaze of onrushing death, but it never came… at least a second had passed, which was far too long for an attack that should have been moving at the speed of light, out of sheer curiosity, Zoro opened his eyes, what he saw stunned him.
An arm extended upwards as smoke emanated from its index finger. Another arm held in close proximity to the torso, folded in what looked like one stage of a set of martial arts motions. Zoro's eyes barely registered the rapidly dissipating light above him, directly above that extended arm. He fully registered the stunned expression on Nami's face, the look of pure relief and more belated surprise on Katara's face and the comically astonished look on Enel's face. Before turning his head back towards the apparent source of these reactions…
"So I'm assuming you're Enel?" he spoke in the same subdued but youthful voice that they had all grown accustomed to. "If manipulating lightning is all it takes to become a 'god'. Then it looks like this Firelord is set for a promotion!"
Lowering his still smoking hand, Zuko took a stance, knees out wide, one hand pointed forward, the other folded to his chest, readying himself to re-direct more lightning at a moment's notice.
"Nice of you to join us at last." Zoro stated, grinning. Despite the harsh nature of the words, his tone held genuine respect for the impressive feat he had just witnessed and gratitude for what that feat had spared him from.
"Yeah, we're really gonna need every bit of help we can get…" the worry in Katara's tone overpowered the vague sense of relief as she stepped forward too, she may not be able to trap Enel like she had before, but she felt she could at least give him something to dodge.
This battle was far from over.
xXx
Even in the semi-sentient state of her slowly waking mind, Robin had little trouble in her efforts to take stock of her surroundings, her companions and by extension, their chances of victory.
Chopper and Toph were still down for the count, Luffy was nowhere to be seen. Wiper seemed to be returning to consciousness, but he definitely wouldn't be able to fight again, he was crippled, the effects of the reject dial and from the voltage of the attack which he had received, which was far higher than the one which had struck Robin or Toph.
'Wait…' that last assessment suddenly stirred something in the archaeologist's mind. 'If Wiper is conscious, and I'm conscious then surely…' as subtly as she could manage, she crossed her arms, calling once more upon her devil fruit powers keeping them at their absolute minimum due to her fatigue.
While Nami stood transfixed, giving Zuko a rather admiring gaze. She didn't notice the arm sprouting from the ground behind her that patted Toph on the shoulder.
Robin was trying to make the attempt to verify her hypothesis as subtly as possible, Enel's 'mantra' didn't seem to be able to cope with processing the amount of aggressive 'voices' being directed at him, but his eyes were certainly working. It was by this logic, that when a small lump of rock rose from the ground in front of her, then instantly disappeared of its own accord, she was forced to supress a gasp of surprise. 'She's conscious… not just conscious but still able to Earthbend… then why isn't she standing up?' Robin briefly considered the possibilities, was she scared? Given how she had been hit earlier it was definitely understandable, particularly for a child. But no… that didn't sound in accordance with the girl's personality…
Was she too tired or injured to fight? That may have been it. while Enel's attack on Toph had not been as vicious as his attacks against Wiper or his attempted attack on Zoro, it had still, through some measure of bad luck, stopped Toph's heart in its tracks… albeit briefly. 'No… that's not it either. That response was instantaneous, and she can still bend earth… what else could it be?'
'Wait… I know why…' Robin thought back to Jaya, while Luffy had been dealing with Bellamy, Katara and Toph had passed some time by sparring. They were putting practically no effort into it, but it had led to a more detailed description of bending after Nami and Usopp expressed some curiosity.
xXx
"Firebending is the purest expression of offensive combat." Zuko had been the one to explain the elements, perhaps seeing it as a way of breaking ground with the pirates. "…to attack with every fibre of your being, you do not form shields or defensive walls out of flame at least. it is positive Jing, attacking mentality incarnate." Robin noted the pride, but also a slight hint of shame that was emanating through his voice.
"Airbending is the purest expression of defensive or evasive combat, you do not attack until it's absolutely necessary, and you don't attack directly. Airbenders prefer to evade combat rather than fight back. They follow the philosophy of negative Jing." There was a slight tint of amusement to Zuko's voice now, and it had nothing to do with the frustration Katara was showing in the middle of the sparring match as Toph continued to outmanoeuvre her while keeping up a casually dismissive attitude.
"Waterbending is a balance between the two, shifting from offensive to defensive like the flow of a tide, Waterbending combat is entirely based on fluidity and adaptability, it's probably the most versatile element in terms of usability. Generally, Earthbending falls into this same category, but leans slightly more towards offensive or positive Jing, whereas water leans slightly more towards defensive or negative jing."
"And the exceptions?" it was Robin who asked. At first everyone but Zuko seemed confused as to what she was talking about, so she elaborated. "You used the word 'generally' when referring to Earthbenders. What is the exception to the general rule?"
Zuko seemed caught off guard for a moment, but then he smiled. "The exception would be the benders who have totally mastered earthbending." He then looked out toward the field where the two girls were still sparring signalling for the others to do the same, Katara trying increasingly complex methods of attack, while making liberal use of ice-ramps and surprising agility to stay off the ground.
Toph continued to move with an air of indifference, raising the ground in rotary motions to bat away balls of ice and the occasional whip of water. She was unable to counter-attack due to her inability to 'see' the waterbender through her cleverly devised ice roads.
"Earthbending masters took the concept of balance between negative and positive jing and found a balance that transcends both." Zuko explained, happy that he had a clear diagram for his speech playing out in front of him. "Earthbending masters are the patrons of Neutral Jing…"
As she focused on creating a handful of ice spheres In her palm Katara slightly lost her balance as she skidded down an ice ramp, before she could adjust her heading she was already away from her icy refuge. Landing slightly awkwardly then moving into a roll as she hit the soil.
For Toph, the sequence of a foot landing slightly off-centre followed by an entire body hitting the ground in a tangle of limbs may as well have been a fireworks display, and before she could even look up. Katara was trapped inside a cage made of pillars of rock.
"…the art of waiting and listening for the right opportunity." The straw hats broke out in polite applause as Katara conceded defeat and the two girls gave a customary bow to each other, as a mark of respect.
xXx
"Don't push yourself too far…" Zuko simply nodded in reply to the statement from Katara. "Your body is still pretty damaged, even if you don't feel the pain too much." Knowing that the waterbender felt it was important to remind him of this and that she wouldn't be doing so without good cause, Zuko decided to pay heed to her advice.
"Just stay around his flanks, leave the bulk of the fighting to me…" Zoro added before amending his statement. "I'll hold him back when he's in his physical state. He's too strong for you in close combat, I can beat that but If he changes his body to lightning I'm going to need you guys to either hit him, or lure him out of that state."
"Right!" Zuko and Katara spoke in unison. Zuko drew one of his swords into his right hand while pointing the other forward, index finger extended. Zoro tightened his grip on both his other swords as he placed his Wado Ichimonji between his teeth. Katara popped the corks on both of her waterskins, before dropping into a stance. Then… silence…
Enel didn't move, nor did he smile, grimace, or show any emotion of any kind. The tension in the air was palpable. A full 30 seconds had gone by, without a single sound from any of the four fighters remaining.
Katara tried to keep her eyes locked with Enel's, looking for any break in his concentration, it was a complete standoff. No-one choosing to make the first move… then… she saw it, the side of Enel's lip, upturned into a smile….
"Move!" Katara barely registered Enel's blink-and-you'll-miss-it movement before she was pushed out of the path of a bolt of lightning. She retained her footing and retaliated, Zoro moving back away from her side as she sent a jet of water towards Enel, An attack too fast for him to dodge, and of a nature which meant that turning to lightning would be more of a hindrance than a help to him. Enel raised both arms crossed in front of him, standing firm against the onslaught, but unable to see the next attack coming until the last instant, two simultaneous diagonal slashes from Zoro.
"Got you now you bastard!" Enel just registered the dark grin on the swordsman's face as the swords passed through him, a flash of light announcing the change in the very matter that made up Enel's body. Enel allowed a smile to fall onto his own face now, as the onslaught of rushing water had ended just before the sword slashes had come in, their timing had been off, they had accomplished nothing… he had retained physical form to avoid the water's effect, and now he could take lightning form without any worries to avoid the sword attack.
It was then that Enel noticed it, the grin had not fallen from Zoro's face despite the futility of his attack, as his swords passed harmlessly through swirling light, before Enel could process the reason for this, he felt a pull from behind, like something was drawing him in, his body felt like it was draining away, then… his eyes saw only darkness, then light, then the wall of a ruin that he was suddenly speeding towards at an incomprehensible speed…
The wall exploded in a cloud of dust as Enel's electric form smashed into it, the sound of impact was deafening. Pulling himself free of the rubble with as much dignity as he could manage, he looked back towards the older swordsman, his face bearing an expression of utter confusion as he finally processed what he was looking at. And began to come to a conclusion as to what had just happened.
Zuko stood, back arched, two smoking fingers still extended towards Enel, his back turned to where the God had been just a few moments prior. 'He can control my body like he can control fire? No… he needs to be in close proximity.'
Before Enel could even blink, Zuko dropped back behind Zoro, with Katara joining him. Leaving Zoro at the head of a triangular formation. 'He is prepared to take the brunt of any physical attack,' Enel thought as his eyes scanned the older swordsman, then he looked towards the two younger fighters, '…and they are there to overlap and counter any lightning attacks… that will be hard to get around… I need to draw one of those two away somehow… but what method will suffice?' it was then, that his eyes took in the only other pirate who remained on her feet, the navigator with the orange hair… 'That waterbending girl is a healer? Then I shall give her something to heal.'
Zoro noticed the spark of malice in Enel's eyes first, then the flourish with which the god armed himself with his golden staff.
The trio watched in confusion as Enel began to run lightning through his staff, the metal appeared to warp and shift under his hand. "You three are presenting quite the challenge, I must admit. Your strategy is impressive…" when none of the three reacted, Enel continued. "… but no strategy is impervious, I wonder if your friend there has the same level of defensive coordination?" he finished, eyeing Nami, who gasped in fear. The reactions from the trio still in the fight were similar. With one motion, Enel javelin-tossed the staff, now reshaped like a spear, at the Straw Hat Navigator.
"Nami!" Four warnings yelled out in tandem, Robin joining the fray.
The girl in question was paralysed with fear, unable to will her body to move as she saw the improvised weapon flying at her.
Katara watched in horror as her friend made no attempt to dodge the incoming attack. She shouted out again, quickly stepping away from Zoro and Zuko, as she attempted to raise a wall of ice from a distance. 'I'll never make it in time!'
"Nami!"
Enel's satisfied sneer quickly turned once more to surprise, as just as the spear had been about to hit the girl, a loud crash resonated through the area, and almost instantaneously a cloud of dust rose, obscuring the girl, the spear, and the surrounding area from view.
Nami could feel her heart pounding in her chest, as she stared intently at the only thing in her vicinity which she could see with any clarity, the razor sharp object which had stopped short, centimetres away from her face, her fear quickly turned to confusion as she examined the spear, which was floating solidly in mid-air of its own accord. Then, even more surprisingly, it span around in mid-air, leaving the blunt end facing her, before rocketing back the way it came.
Enel was too stunned to even dodge as his own spear flew back at him out of the ever-increasing mass of dust. The weapon passed harmlessly through him before hitting the wall behind him.
"What…" Zoro started.
"Just…" Zuko continued the same thread of thought.
"Happened?" Enel finished the sentence.
It was then that Enel caught a blur of motion from in front of him, a small object seemingly sliding away rapidly along the ground towards the dust cloud, one of the blades from Wiper's broken waver skates. He was still too confused to attempt to figure out this latest development.
In fact, there were only two people in the area who weren't in a complete and utter stupor. Robin had known what was coming after her brief analysis earlier. And Katara had seen this exact manoeuvre performed multiple times. A smoke screen, a technique which left everyone in the vicinity of its use completely blind, except for its user… she let a smile fall onto her face, tempered slightly by concern and small touch of bemusement. 'Of course… not even lightning can keep you out of a good fight, can it?'
The first warning Enel got towards imminent danger was when the ground beside him cracked, the second was when a familiar small girl leapt out of that crack, the third and final was when a seastone immersed fist slammed into the side of his face… sending him flying into the rubble which he had just picked himself out of.
As the dust settled both on Nami's side of the clearing and around the building which now had several Enel-shaped holes in it, Toph walked back towards the others, raising her uncovered arm briefly to pull Enel's staff towards her and into her hand. Zoro, Zuko, Katara and Nami just watched her with bemused expressions on their faces.
"Hey you, Tribe guy!" Wiper stirred slightly upon perceiving that he was being addressed.
"What?" He answered shortly, while he was in no condition to fight he still didn't exactly harbour positive sentiments towards the blue-sea dwellers.
"You got any more of this seastone stuff?" the girl, neither looking at him nor addressing the manner of his reply, gestured towards her arm, which was immersed up to the elbow in a thin layer of seastone,
"It's not exactly a commonly found thing up here." The tribal warrior replied simply.
While he hadn't concretely answered the question, the implication was enough, as Toph nodded, then began to shift the Seastone off of her arm, forming it into similar shapes to how it began, two flat, arched shapes, which she then melded onto the end of the staff, forming somewhat of an improvised halberd.
Zuko and Zoro had finally gotten over their shock, both of them lauding Toph for landing a good hit, one of the only good hits anyone had managed on Enel all day, Katara however took in something else, a thin sheen of sweat upon Toph's forehead, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she seemed to be trying to catch her breath, and her slightly unbalanced feet as she seemed to be leaning on her new improvised weapon as she walked. 'She's still hurt, pretty badly… probably damage to her nervous system…' she eventually voiced her concern, Toph's reply didn't really assuage her fears at all.
"I'm fine Sugar Queen, in fact, I'm better than fine, I just invented ANOTHER form of bending, Seastonebending." She titled her new skill along with a dramatic flourish of her hands. Katara opted not to point out that Seastone was probably just another variety of earthen ore.
"That could come in handy, We've already found two of these Logia guys, and if Luffy's brother was any indication there's way more out there." Zoro pointed out before a noise emanating from the rubble caused all four fighters to turn, a very conscious, and very angry Enel stepped out once more, his pupils contracted, eyes bloodshot, a mad grin stretched across his face.
"50 MILLION VOLT KITEN!"
Another tiger-shaped mass of lightning bounded forward, this one larger than the last. Reacting quickly Toph slammed the both the hilt of her improvised halberd and her right foot hard into the ground. A wide wall of earth sprung up between the remaining pirates and the onrushing lightning. The lightning hit hard, drilling into the wall while also diverting around the sides of it. While everyone else huddled inward away from the redirected lightning, Zuko stuck out a hand to his side, as he began to clamber to the top of the wall, pulling more of the lightning in as he climbed, then planting his feet on top of the barrier he pulled in and fired the entirety of the attack back at its source. The bolt hit the ground at Enel's feet, kicking up a cloud of dust and spraying the man with debris.
"Zuko! Jump!" Toph yelled, and when she felt Zuko's feet leave the top of the barrier in instant compliance she delivered a hefty kick to the wall, uprooting and sending it flying at Enel. After another second, Zuko landed deftly besides the others.
"Nice defence." Zuko complimented.
"Nice counter-attack." Toph replied.
"Didn't do much to him though, he'd have just turned to lightning to avoid it." Zoro pointed out.
"Then that's the first thing we should do… make it so he can't do that sparky crap anymore…" Toph said while gesturing to the head of her weapon.
"Let's just make it quick." Katara added finally. "I don't think we're exactly gonna win a battle of attrition here." Everyone nodded in affirmation.
"You aren't going to win a battle of any kind!" Enel roared, "I am going to end this! Here and now!" With that he leapt upward, pulling a dial seemingly from nowhere which he used to create a small cloud ball which he then rode into the air. Then, Pointing a finger upwards he began to fire bolt after bolt of lightning into the reforming cloud layer above.
"He's charging the atmosphere," Robin pointed out, shakily getting to her feet "He's planning something big…"
"I can't see him now." Toph growled. "You guys need to get him back down to the ground, and then I'll trap him."
Zuko started scanning the area, noting that Enel was hovering well above the rooftops, and out of his reach, "Katara can you bring him lower?"
"No, he's out of my range,"
"But he isn't out of mine." All heads turned towards the interjecting voice, surprised expressions on all of them as Nami stepped forward shakily, quickly assembling her clima-tact, before spinning it rapidly in her hands, a close-to-invisible rush of air emitting from both ends. To everyone's surprise Enel immediately began to lose altitude.
Knowing that she was going to receive the question anyway, Nami answered pre-emptively. "I'm heating the air down here, hot air rises and cold air falls, if the air below him is warmer than the air he's riding, he should lose altitude." The navigator stated this with grim satisfaction.
"Zuko! Katara! Let's go!" on Zoro's command, the three charged, Zoro bounding straight into the rooftops with a single leap, Katara using an ice slide to shift herself upwards, and Zuko clambering along a set of fallen rock to get to a lower rooftop.
Never stopping to catch his breath or plan ahead, Zoro leapt at Enel, swinging all three of his swords, Enel, seeing this, turned to lightning, as the attacks passed harmlessly through him, he switched back just in time to tank a water whip from Katara, the force of the small quantity of water barely fazing him, Zuko waited. knowing that unlike Zoro, he NEEDED Enel to be in his lightning form before he got close, due to Enel's physical strength he would be countered easily if he was caught in mid-air by a physical blow.
"Their timing is off this time!" Nami noted with worry, as Enel casually avoided attack after attack, turning to his lightning form to avoid Zoro, then his physical form to avoid Katara.
"Nueve Fleur!" thinking quickly and timing it carefully, Robin shot out a chain of hands, connected to her real one, just as Enel had switched to physical form after avoiding another attack from Zoro, he found the hand at the end of the chain latched onto his ankle, and pulling hard, trying to drag him toward the ground, instinctively he turned to lightning, delivering a shock along the chain of hands, and not registering as his body was partially enveloped by water, water which began to shift itself around.
Panic immediately began to set into the God's mind. 'I can't retake physical form!' she had used his lightning against him again, separating it, keeping it from being one mass, meaning that he couldn't take retake his true physical form until he was in one piece again, he eyed the girl manipulating the water again, revelling in the fact that she seemed to be labouring hard, almost on the verge of collapse. 'She'll fall unconscious soon enough, and I'll be out of this trap…' he had failed to register one thing though.
"Now!" Zuko leapt and stuck his right hand outward, stretching into the water. Immediately finding what he was looking for, that invigorating pull of energy which he had first encountered at the behest of his hostile father. "Got him!" with a grunt of effort, he pulled Enel's lightning form inward, then shifted both arms towards his stomach, keeping his eyes locked on his target. Toph, her halberd hefted over her shoulder like a baseball bat, preparing to swing.
"Let's end this!" The battlecry went up long and loud, unanimous, Wiper, Toph, Robin, Katara and Zoro yelling in varying degrees of strength, Zuko joining in despite his exertions.
Twisting in mid-air, and avoiding his heart through the routine of the motions which his uncle had drilled into him, Zuko fired, Toph swung, the arc of the head of her halberd moving diagonally downward.
Enel couldn't process anything after he felt that pulling feeling again, the feeling of being corralled into darkness then out the other side. Light… then pain… as the blunt blade of a seastone Halberd slammed into his chest, which in turn slammed into the paved stone below.
Toph moved quickly after the swing, she knew she had hit him, and hit him hard into the ground, amidst the dust that was kicked up though, she could still 'see' clearly, quick as lightning she bent portions of Seastone away from her halberd, five cuffs of Seastone, she slammed them onto Enel's body, pinning him down to the ground by his wrists, ankles and neck in turn. Even if he somehow remained conscious after that hit, he was now powerless, and successfully apprehended.
Zuko hit the ground with a thud, before rolling slowly onto his knees, then pushing himself onto his feet, breathing hard. He was soon joined by Zoro, who aided Katara in descending from the building she had been standing on.
As the dust cleared, their eyes took in the scene, Enel, thrashing weakly against his new restraints, Toph standing above him, looking shaky on her feet.
"It's over…" Nami summarized, still in shock, before finally, it registered, "IT'S OVER! WE WON!" she cheered. She was surprised to find herself alone In her cheers before she looked around, scanning the battlefield just in time to see Toph, Katara, Zuko, Zoro and Robin, all simultaneously clocking out, falling and hitting the deck face-first.
"Oh…"
xXx
A/N So yeah… that was a pretty different climax for Skypiea huh? Three benders to equalize the odds against Enel, and no Luffy, because, thanks to Katara, neither Pierre nor Nami's waver were swallowed by Nola (the snake.) so he had no way of getting out of Pierre's stomach in time, having to make his way out on foot.
Right. Sorry that this chapter took so long to write, but, I had some issues with my laptop throughout February, (broken charger, needed to order a new one.) and as you can see. It's a long chapter. And it's one big action scene, which was a BITCH to plan out and structure, I still think some sections feel a bit rushed. But you'll get some reactions and aftermath in the next chapter, which shouldn't take nearly as long as this one.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Leave reviews please. The next two or three chapters shouldn't take anywhere near as long as the last two.