Zane: "The first act may have closed, but the show must go on! The last two performances of the Three Rings move to the center stage and the ringmaster himself joins the act! As Luffy and co. advance into enemy territory, new revelations are made as the battles unfold. Anything to add, Gamma?"
GammaTron: "Yes, yes I do." *looks at you, the reader* "Gear Fourth...is badass."
Zane: "Agreed. On with the show!"
Chapter 10: "A Shadow of the Past Descends; The Final Circus Act Begins!"
"How is the Mayor floating?" Luffy asked.
"YOU IDIOT!" Nami barked, "HE'S BEING CHOKED!"
Ash ran over to Boodle and grabbed what was choking him; a floating gloved hand.
"HEY! YOU STAY O…" Boodle began before Pikachu's tail glowed and knocked the man out by whacking the mayor with it.
"YOU IDIOT!" Nami barked.
"He'd just get in the way," Luffy replied, "Smart thinking, Pikachu."
"Pika," the Electric Mouse nodded.
He then looked up at the top of the destroyed tavern and took a deep breath.
"HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY, BIIIIIIIIIIG NOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSE!-!-!-!" Luffy screamed, causing Buggy's crew and Nami to scream.
'HE'S DONE IT NOW!' Buggy's crew and Nami thought, all of them sweating heavily and/or crying.
"FIRE THE BUGGY BALL! KILL THAT BASTARD!" Buggy roared.
A cannon, loaded with the Buggy Ball, was aimed at Luffy, who was laughing.
"YOU IDIOT!" Nami barked, whacking Luffy upside his head, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
"Trust me, Nami," Ash said, "Luffy can't be killed by something like a modified cannonball. He once even sent a Ice Ball at its strongest level right back at the enemy."
"SAY WHAT?!" Nami gasped.
Zoro dragged the two out of the way as the cannon fired.
"Gomu-Gomu no… FUUSEN!" Luffy shouted as he inflated like a balloon.
The Buggy Ball hit his gut and his body stretched back.
"Oh no…" the Buggy Prates, minus Buggy, gulped as they all paled.
The Buggy Ball got sent right back and the tavern was decimated.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Nami demanded, her eyes white and her teeth shark-like.
"I'm a Rubber Man, see?" Luffy asked as he stretched his mouth, freaking Nami a little.
"Please tell me that you two don't have…" Nami began.
"Zoro doesn't," Ash answered as he switched into his Half Form, "But I do. I'm a Gem Dragon Man."
"Gem? As in...money!?" Nami gasped.
'Was that a cash register I just heard?' Ash thought as Pikachu and Monferno wondered how Nami's eyes turned into Beri signs.
"You're chatting around, making a lot of noise, like you're not scared…" a voice said.
The four turned to see that a few of the pirates had used their own comrades as shields, most notably Buggy himself.
"Using their own crew as shields…" Nami gasped.
"These guy have no honor," Ash growled.
"This is the biggest humiliation we ever received under our flag, Captain Buggy," a voice stated behind Ritchie.
"Indeed, Cabaji," a second voice agreed, using two cremates as a shield, "I can't believe that we got hit with our own attack not only once, but twice. Still, what a nice gesture of theirs to help weed out the weaker of our ranks."
"I'm so mad, words fail me…" Buggy stated as the three dropped their 'shields.'
To Buggy's left was Cabaji. He was a tall, slender man with his hairstyle covering the left half of his face, a long jacket with the sleeves ripped off, a light-blue sash, and baggy white pants with a katana on the left side of his sash. To Buggy's right was a teen. He had blue and white hair and a blue jacket with short sleeves that appeared to have been long-sleeved once but also were ripped off. He had cold blue eyes, pale skin, and blue and white pants. He also wore a white shirt under his jacket.
"AH! RITCHIE!" Mohji screamed as he got up, not as unharmed as his comrades, "YOU BASTARD, CABAJI! WHY'D YOU HURT RITCHIE BY USING HIM AS A SHIELD?!"
Ritchie woke up and dashed behind Mohji, shaking like a leaf.
"I was afraid of getting my clothes dirty," Cabaji simply replied.
"That and he hates you and Ritchie," the teen added.
"Circ, are you sure?" Mohji asked.
"Obviously," the teen rolled his eyes, "When I ask him what kind of meal he wants so I can tell the cook, he says that he wants fried lion and fried animal tamer. Personally, I prefer boiled over fried."
Mohji then noticed Ash and Luffy and screamed in fear.
"CAPTAIN, THOSE TWO ATE DEVIL FRUITS!" Mohji screamed, "THEY'RE A RUBBER MAN AND A GEM DRAGON MAN!"
"Gem Dragon?" Circ repeated. "How hard did they hit you in the head, again?"
"IT'S TRUE! THE BOY WITH THE LIGHTNING BOLT SCAR UNDER HIS RIGHT EYE! HE'S THE DRAGON!"
"Mohji…why didn't you tell us this BEFORE?!" Buggy demanded, using his Bara-Bara no Mi to throw Mohji at the crew.
Ash turned into his half-dragon form and slapped Mohji into Ritchie with his tail.
"The fight has begun!" Luffy laughed.
"Little Bro! Stop!" The group turned to face the source of the commotion. Rico and Chou-Chou were running as fast as their little legs could carry them towards the fight, with Franky and Brook not too far behind, "Oi! Dang speedy...!"
"Oh! The muscles in my legs are so sore~! Ah! But I don't have muscles because I'm a skeleton! Yohohohohoho~! SKU~LL JO~KE!"
"CAN IT, SKULL BRO!"
"You two were supposed to take them to the shelter!" Nami barked at the two pirates, her eyes blank and teeth shark-like.
"We were, but when that explosion occurred, they turned around and ran towards here," Brook explained, catching his breath. "I think they wanted to fight Buggy for destroying their homes."
Rico picked up a stick on the ground and held it like a sword while Chou-Chou growled, as the two looked up to stare down Buggy.
"Oh great," the clown sighed, "more kids playing hero. Cabaji, Circ, deal with this." Cabaji drew his sword, but Circ stayed silent as he stared at Rico, gears clicking into place as he smirked widely. When Rico saw him, however, his determined glare melted into a terrified and shocked expression, dropping his stick and taking a step back.
"So, little one," the teen said, "you've survived on your own for longer than I expected. Only a month has gone by and yet, with all the searching I did, it feels like years. Tell me, does this look familiar?" He reached into his jacket and drew a knife, then tossed it into the ground at Rico's feet with extreme precision. The sight of it made the kid's eyes water, as his keen sense of smell recognized the familiar stench of blood.
"Wait, you were the one who-?" Ash questioned the teen, who responded by tossing three more identical knives into the ground in front of the gem dragon's feet, "?!"
"Now, now," the teen chided, wagging his finger, "Those who live in the past miss out on the rewards of the present, and I intend to finish the act that child and I started one month ago." He flicked out another knife, this one flying straight towards Rico, but it was caught in midair by Chou-Chou, the same way Luffy had caught the one Buggy threw at him earlier.
Chou-Chou spat the blade out and growled at the knife-throwing teen, whose smirk only grew at the sight of this.
"Enough fooling around, you two!" Buggy shouted at the pair.
Cabaji charged at Luffy on a wooden unicycle, only for Zoro to block his blade.
"Your fight's with me," Zoro stated.
"Very well then," Cabaji smirked.
Circ laughed before leaping from the roof and flying at Ash. He tackled Ash with knives drawn, but was surprised to find them embedded into his diamond-like exoskeleton. Choosing to abandon his weapons and avoid a close-range fireball from Ash, he jumped a few feet backwards, turning his attention back towards the stunned Rico and drawing another knife.
Suddenly, Ash's clawed fist slammed into the side of his face, sending him back further and pulling his attention back toward his enemy.
"Brook! Franky!" He called out to the pair of pirates, parrying a stab from Circ with his tail blade. "Get Rico and Chou-Chou out of here now! This guy is trying to go after them, so keep them safe while I deal with him!"
"Right!" The two nodded in response, scooping up the kid and pokemon before running off. Circ growled in response and start to charge after them until a last minute dodge from another of Ash's fireballs forced him back and out of range of the two.
"Your fight's with me!" Ash yelled, sweeping at Circ with his tail and forcing him to retreat down an alleyway towards another part of town. Ash roared as he took to the skies and followed after.
"I'm going to go get the treasure and the map," Nami said as she ran off. "Good luck."
"So who are you guys?" Buggy asked.
"We're pirates," Luffy replied.
"Pirates?!" Buggy asked, "You mean, you guys are pirates?!"
"Yeah! Now hand over the Grand Line Map!" Luffy demanded, holding his hand out.
"So that was your goal…That place isn't exactly somewhere nameless pirates like yourself can go as they please," Buggy advised, "So what are you planning to do there? Go have a sightseeing tour?!"
"I'm going to be the Kaizoku no Kingu," Luffy replied.
Buggy's head tilted as he gave a shocked, pain-stricken look on his face.
"DON'T KID AROUND! YOU IDIOTIC FOOL!" Buggy roared, "YOU BECOME A PIRATE KING!? THEN I'M A GOD AMONG PIRATES! THE PERSON WHO'LL GET HIS HAND ON ALL THE TREASURES IN THIS WORLD WILL BE ME! DON'T EVEN DREAM ABOUT IT!"
"Shut up! Skip the lecture and let's start!" Luffy grinned, "You're being too loud, you idiot."
"Monferno!" (That's right!)
"Watch your mouth, Gomu-Gomu!" Buggy growled, pulling out his own set of knives between each of his fingers, "Seeing your straw hat reminds me of a guy I knew long ago. The impudent red-haired guy…!"
"?!" Luffy and Monferno's eyes widened.
Zane: "If you think the shocks and thrills in this act are over, then just wait! Next time tragedies of the past come to light as the battlefield heats up between Ash and Circ, and a newcomer to the crew makes his debut in battle! You may have bought a full seat to this show, but I guarantee you'll only need the edge, next time in UA: Resetting the Sails!"
GammaTron: "Ai-yai-yai. This is a twist that was unexpected. Go, Ash, go! Go! Fight! Win! And sorry for the long wait, everyone."