Ch. 10- Of Sacrifice and Loyalty

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard, Ken, Marine K9 Unit © Me

Please note that this, followed by chapters 11 and 12, will be filler chapters involving my OC, Blizzard. If you don't like, then don't read.

Ace sat on his knees on the scaffold, his eyes concealing his hair.

"ACE! YOU CAN SAY WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANNA SAY! I'M GONNA SAVE YOU, EVEN IF IT FREAKING KILLS ME!"

Thump! Ace bowed his head all the way down to the point where his head touched the scaffold.

"Anyone who dares to lay a hand on one of our own has to suffer the consequences!"

"Just sit there and wait for us! We're coming for you, Ace!"

Ace sighed and sat up, again.

"What now, Ace?" asked Garp.

"I don't care what the future holds for me," said Ace. "I accept it. I reach out to the hands that offers me help…and I accept the blade that would execute me. I won't fight it anymore. I'm sorry, everyone…especially you…Luffy."

Garp and Sengoku just stood in silence.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Marines continued to fire their cannons at them, but still, Luffy, Blizzard, Jimbei, and Ivankov continued to fight on.

"Gum Gum BAZOOKA!"

BAM! Luffy struck a Marine officer with a powerful double-fisted punch.

Bullet FANG!

BANG! WHOOSH! Blizzard charged at his enemies at full speed, making the sound of a gunshot as he did, and made a fast bite, causing whoever he hit to fall with gashes in their side.

"Blizzard! Come on!" Luffy called as he continued to run to the plaza.

Hey! Hang on! Wait for me! Blizzard thought as he ran after Luffy. However, his sensitive ears picked up the sound of voices not too far away.

"Archers! Get ready!"

Archers? Blizzard thought before he looked up at a nearby wall and saw a Marine Vice-Admiral standing on it, as well as all these other Marines, armed with bows and arrows.

"Ready!" the Vice-Admiral shouted. "Aim!"

KREEEEK! The archers pulled the arrows back.

At first, Blizzard didn't think they were going to be much a problem. He could easily outrun some arrows, but then, he realized something.

Those archers, he thought. They're not aiming at me…they're aiming at…

Blizzard gasped and looked ahead to see Luffy, still running on without him. He didn't even notice the archers!

"FIRE!" the Vice-Admiral ordered.

WHOOSH! The archers knocked their arrows from their bows…straight at an unknowing Luffy!

LUFFY! Blizzard thought. LOOK OUT!

Without a second thought, Blizzard sped forward, trying to catch up with the Straw Hat captain. WHUP! He jumped into the line of fire, just when Luffy had finally noticed the array of arrows. SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! Six arrows made their mark; their heads have become imbedded…in Blizzard's back.

"No…" Luffy muttered. "NO~!"

FWUMP! Blizzard fell to the ground in a heap.

"BLIZZARD!" Luffy cried before he ran to his dog's aid.

Ivankov looked up at the Marines standing on the wall, about to shoot some more arrows.

"Why vyou!" Ivankov shouted. "Death WINK!"

ZHEEN! BOOM! KRASH! Ivankov's wink blasted the entire wall, causing the Marines to fall.

"Damn Marines," he seethed.

"Blizzard, are you okay?" Luffy asked as he knelt down and held his dog's head in his hands. "Oh, come on, buddy! Hang in there!"

Blizzard whimpered as he weakly blinked his eyes at Luffy, who began to tear up.

Hey, come on, Luffy, Blizzard thought. It's okay. I've been through worse. Remember Cerberus, back on Thriller Bark? If I can take him on, then this should be easy…!

KOFF! Blizzard coughed a bit of blood.

"HELP~!" Luffy cried. "SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP MY DOG~!"

"Hey!"

Luffy turned and saw a man approach him. Judging by his attire, Luffy assumed that he is one of the Whitebeard Pirates. Plus, he had on a white coat, so he must also be a doctor.

"Are you okay?" asked the pirate. "I'm a doctor. I can help."

"Oh, thank god!" Luffy said as he stood up with Blizzard in his arms. "Can you please help my dog?"

"Well, I've had some experience with Pops' dog," said the doctor, "but-"

Before he could say anything else, Luffy had practically Blizzard into his arms.

"Take care of him, please!" he told him. "He's a good dog!" He then looked at Blizzard and gently pet him on the head.

"It's gonna be okay, Blizzard," Luffy said. "You get plenty of rest, okay? I can take it from here. I'll save Ace and I'll come back for you. I promise."

With that, Luffy turned and ran off, and at that moment, Blizzard had a sudden rush of adrenaline.

"Okay, pooch," said the doctor as he prepared to carry Blizzard back to the Moby Dick. "Let's see if we can't get those nasty arrows outta your back. If we don't do something, quick, the arrowheads could cause your bloodstream to get infected, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

All of a sudden, Blizzard to wriggle around in the doctor's arms, struggling to get out of his grasp.

"Whoa, whoa!" the doctor said. "Take it easy, now! You're gonna make those injuries worse!"

THWAK! Blizzard kicked his back paw into the doctor's face, forcing him to let go, and once the wolf-dog hit the ground, he ran off…in the direction that Luffy ran off to.

"Wait!" the doctor called after Blizzard. "Come back here! You're too injured!"

Blizzard was already long gone.

"Why would he do that?" the doctor questioned himself.

Meanwhile, Luffy is still running to Ace's rescue, when suddenly, three Marines jumped out at him, armed with cutlasses.

"Die, Straw Hat!" shouted one of them.

"Dammit!" Luffy cursed. "Gum Gum GATLING!"

BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP-BAP! Luffy unleashed a flurry of punches at the Marines, hitting them before they could attack. However, he didn't notice that another Marine is sneaking up behind him, armed with a katana, until he made a battle cry. Just as Luffy turned to face him.

POW! A white blur appeared and struck the Marine in the face, causing him to fall.

Luffy gasped in shock to see Blizzard, standing beside the unconscious Marine.

"Blizzard?!" Luffy questioned. "W-what are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with that doctor!"

Blizzard just stood there.

"Go back, Blizzard!" Luffy shouted, pointing in the direction from whence he came. "Go back! BACK! Don't you understand?!"

Blizzard still stood in his place, which confused Luffy even more.

"Why won't you listen to me?!" the teen asked Blizzard, who stepped toward, who stepped back. "Blizzard…you…"

Just then, Luffy turned and bolted, and Blizzard followed after him.

"YOU STUPID DOG!" he shouted.

Even after he heard Luffy say that, Blizzard still ran after him. Why?

A simple case of a dog's loyalty to his master.

Blizzard was willing to do anything for Luffy…but letting him go headlong into danger is not one of them. He made that clear too many times to count. Luffy just couldn't see it. To him, Blizzard was putting too much at risk, already. He already had those arrows stuck in his back. What else did he have to lose?

Meanwhile, back on the Moby Dick, Whitebeard watched with that toothy grin still on his face.

"GURARARARA…." he laughed. "Now, there's a dog with some vigor in him." He looked down at Stefan. "He sort of reminds me of you when you were a pup, Stefan."

I have no idea what you're talking about, Edward, Stefan thought with a smirk.

"GURARARARARA~!" Whitebeard laughed, again. "Come on. Quit it with that tough guy look! You know what I mean."

Stefan looked up at Whitebeard.

"Remember?" Whitebeard asked as an image of a limping Stefan came to his mind. "We fought in that huge battle together, for three days straight, and those pirates were gonna try and pull a fast one on me by shooting me while my back was turned, and then you showed up outta nowhere and took a bazooka shot to the side for me. Even after I wanted you to go back to the ship so the doctor could get a look at you, but you stuck by me, anyway, even after I called you a dumb dog."

Stefan seemed to snicker.

"You may think you've forgotten all about that day," Whitebeard started, "but I'll always remember the times when you were willing to sacrifice everything you had…even your own life, for me…just like I would do for you." He then looked out to the battlefield. "And that's exactly what that dog out there is doing for that boy. Even after he got skewered in the back by all those arrows, he's willing to follow his master wherever he goes…just to protect him."

Stefan continued to watch the battlefield, sitting right by Whitebeard.

That pup and I…are nothing alike, he thought to himself.

Back on the battlefield, Blizzard still continued to follow Luffy, who had decided to give up on trying to shake him off and decided to focus on getting to Ace. Still, Luffy was a bit angry at his own dog for not listening to him, but if Luffy were to stop and think that maybe if put himself in Blizzard's shoes (well…paws, in Blizzard's case), then he'd realize that Blizzard was doing the same that Luffy would do: trying to protect him…because he was loyal, too.

Of course, Luffy never really was a "stop-and-think" kind of guy.

Luffy, Blizzard thought as he kept following after Luffy. I'm sorry for disobeying you, but…for god's sake, you should know why I'm doing this! I just…I just can't afford to lose you! Not like how I lost my last master!

PLIP! A small tear formed in Blizzard's eye, but he quickly shook it away.

When I joined you, Luffy, Blizzard thought, I made an oath! I promised myself that I would never let anything happen to you! Even if it means I have to give up my own life, then so be it!

But meanwhile, not too far way, someone else had been watching the two Straw Hats.

It was Ken.

Straw Hat, the Husky/wolf mix thought. And my older brother, too. How nice.

"TROOPS!" Ken barked to his unit, who gathered at his command. "Forget the Whitebeard Pirates, for now! We have bigger fish to fry!"

"Who, sir?" asked a red Viszla.

Ken turned away and grinned.

"'Straw Hat' Luffy," he answered.

The troop gasped in shock, and then glanced at each other, while Ken seemed to chuckle sinisterly.

As Luffy and Blizzard kept running through the battlefield, yet another Marine got in their way. He raised his spiked ball mace with a roar.

WHUP! CHOMP! Blizzard leapt up in bit the Marine in the face.

"AAAAAAAAAAGH!" the Marine cried, dropping his mace. "HELP! GET HIM OFF! GET HIM OFF~!"

GRR~! Blizzard growled as his teeth sank deeper into his face.

Luffy continued to run, but he wasn't too worried about his dog. Even though he had arrows stuck in his back, he proved that he could still hold his own in a fight.

However, as Luffy continued to run, he suddenly heard what sounded vicious growling, followed by the frenzied barks of dogs. Looking back, he saw that it was Ken and the rest of the Marine K9 1st Unit, advancing towards him.

"Oh, jeez!" Luffy cried. "It's Blizzard's crazy brother!"

Ace watched from his place on the execution scaffold.

"RUN, LUFFY!" he shouted. "RUUUUUUUUUN!"

Luffy did just that, but the dogs quickly gave chase after him, barking menacingly at him.

SNAP! SNAP! Shiyu and a Rough Collie snapped at Luffy's heels.

"Dammit all!" Luffy cursed, again. "I don't have time for this! Gum GUUUUUM…WHIP!"

SWISH! Luffy swung his outstretched leg at the dogs. He only managed to hit Crystal, but Ken and the rest managed to dodge.

CHOMP! Shiyu bit down on Luffy's foot.

"AGH!" Luffy cried out in pain.

CHOMP! Ken leapt up and bit down hard on Luffy's shoulder, causing him to yell out in pain, even more.

"LET GO OF ME!" Luffy shouted. "GET OFF ME, YOU DAMN DOGS!"

THUD! Luffy fell to the ground, trying to fight the dogs off, but as he did, he notice Ken circling around behind him.

At last, Ken thought. My moment of glory!

Just when Ken was about to lunge at Luffy and land the finishing blow, BAM! Something crashed into Ken with sharp teeth clamped into his neck, but not too deep.

"Blizzard!" Luffy cried.

Blizzard lifted Ken off the ground, and then threw him into a chunk of rubble. THWAM!

"Commanding Officer Ken!" the dogs cried in their own language.

Ken staggered to his paws, and then turned to look at Blizzard, who shot him a death glare.

"Ken…" Blizzard said to his little brother. "What the HELL do you think you're doing?!"

TO BE CONTINUED…

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