Chapter 11: The solution, to our PROBLEM!
Silence. The whole laboratory was quiet; just enough to have the echo of a single droplet be loudest noise in the room. The Doctor worked through his tasks, deciphering the mysteries kept behind the power of the Nano-formers. His face was plastered with rugged determination over whatever he's looking for. Robin walked gradually around the room, arms folded and chin raised up high, inspecting the variety of gadgetry and machinery that resided in the lab. She turned her gaze back to the doctor, hunched back and hard at work. He started to jot a few things down with an old looking fountain pen. She paced herself back to the Doctor's side, swiping the notes he was making. He was a tad bit annoyed.
"Organic relocation?" Robin read aloud. "What does that even mean?"
"Glad you asked. In my searches, I have noted a few things that I've found interesting." The doctor answered. "For instance, there's a program in the Gene-splicers that allows them to transfer themselves to organic matter after the user has deceased. It's sort of a way to preserve the DNA of the alien it has. Though I can't really understand why it chooses fruit as its carrier. It's possible that it's due to a simplicity of edible matter. Never underestimate edible matter, wait disregard that, food matter as a simple organic being in the grand scheme of things isn't the reason for it, forget that idea."
"Well… I suppose that does explain how devil fruit powers are passed on throughout time," Robin added, "But one thing I don't understand, is why you're actually helping Baltazar?"
"All in good time Miss. Nico, all in good time." The Doctor tapped the tip of his nose with a small smirk lighting his face. "For now, we just have to find out all we can with these gene-splicers. Knowledge is power; that's something we both agree on, right?"
Robin nodded in agreement. "So what else have you found out?"
"Well you know how a Gene-splicers re-writes a person's DNA to make it complementary to its design?" The Doctor presented her a query, "Apparently, when you-"
The imminent sounds of chaos ensuing outside grabbed their attention without a beat. Constant yelling and crashes intrigued them, causing the Doctor to stand up in a strange type of awe; there was clearly only one conclusion as to what was making that mess.
"Looks like our friends found their way out of containment." The Doctor anticipated, almost smiling with glee. "I need to work faster then."
"Wait what?" Robin uttered in confusion.
"I still need to unlock a few things about these Gene-splicers." The time-lord answered. "If I can do that, then the plan will be finished."
"What plan?" Robin asked forcefully. "What is it that you hope to achieve from this?"
"Ah don't worry. You don't need to know it right now. I find it better when my friends see it when I do it at that moment. Always gotta keep them on their toes. Makes things more exciting." The Doctor gave her a reassuring smile. She returned one, seemingly being comforted by his excitement by this. The Doctor swiftly hunched back to his work with the Nano-formers, leaving Robin to her own devices.
"Sounds like it's getting closer." Robin faced the entrance. There were lighting quakes, shaking the small gadgets laid next to the time-lord. He tried to ignore it, but it became harder to work with the racket. Soon enough, the shouts of familiar voices became apparent to Robin, standing in front the front of the doors. It was close enough to hear light muffles.
"Everyone, this door looks important, let's try this door." A Scottish voice sounded commanding to whoever it was talking to.
"Let's hurry it up. We can't hold back these Haemovores much longer. We've had too many close calls with my sword." A second voice demanded, followed by a series of laboured grunts.
" … The glasses aren't working." The voice stated plainly.
"What?" A nasally voice screeched. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT WORKING?!"
"I mean it's not working." The Scottish voice retorted.
"Well fix it then. We don't have much time." Another feminine voice bellowed her opinion, which was drowned out by the noise of electric shocks mixed in with screams in pain.
"I'm trying to, but there does seem anything wrong with this blasted-." A small crack was audible through the door. "Oops."
"Oops?"
"I might've accidentally broke it."
"WHAT?!" An angered shouted echoed in the middle of the room. The Doctor rushed to Robin's side, pulling out his sonic screwdriver, buzzing the door open to see his ginger-haired in front of the door, being sided with Zoro with all swords unsheathed and Ussop and Nami defending their friend. "What're you doing out there? Come on."
The Doctor motioned them all to get in, and one by one they quickly entered in, finally allowing the time-lord to seal the door shut. Nami jumped and hugged Robin tightly, He approached Amy, arms outstretched and a wide warming smile on his face. They grabbed hold of each other in their arms, nary a word was shared, which was then broken by the Doctor pulling back and searching Amy's pockets. Confusion was the only thing plaguing the minds of the straw-hat crew wondering what he's doing. He pulled out the remains of a snapped-in-two sunglasses; a face of disappointment fell upon him, falling to his knees.
"How... Why?" The time-lord's voice winced in sadness, as he held it cupped in his hands.
"It was an accident," Amy's excuse did not ease the Doctor's remorse, "It wasn't even cool to begin with. You can make a new one."
"Oi! This was a lovely pair for me, but you're right, I'll make an even better one." The Doctor put the remains in his pocket. "Now, back to business, where are Rory and the others?"
"They separated to help Luffy and Chopper." Zoro answered.
"Right, okay then. All you lot should go off and help him, I need to stay here." The Doctor swerved back to his work station, leaving the others bewildered.
"Wait what? Doctor, we came back to rescue you, and you want to stay?" Amy quizzed confusingly.
"Amy, this area here is where I can end all of this," The Doctor approached his companion with a hunched head, "Baltazar, and the rest of the Haemovores, have the power to ravish this planet and every precious thing here. We don't even know the full extent of their plan or their power. I'm not sure what their plan is, and that, so far, is frightening. Amelia please, just let me do what I need."
"… You really are afraid of this, aren't you?" Amy pondered.
"More than they should be." The Doctor pointed with his head to the straw-hats, who're watching them bicker from the side lines. "You hear that, you lot?"
"Hey, whatever you need to sort this mess out." Usopp reassured the time-lord's worries. The crew smiled and smirked in accordance with the Doctor's willingness to continue, thumbs up high in agreement.
"Now, let's get started, eh?" The Doctor returned the smile, walking back to his workplace. "You lot, I suggest you do what you do best."
"And what exactly would that be?" Zoro asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" He turned back to face them one last time. Zoro let out a small chuckle, pleased to hear about his recommendation. The group ran up towards the door, and opened to reveal the hunched Haemovores, trying to break in. Zoro placed his sword into his mouth, and began to attack, with Robin, Nami, Usopp and Amy following soot. "Oh, and Amy?"
The ginger-haired girl pulled herself back to the doorway. The Doctor through her his sonic screwdriver, who barely caught it with both hands.
"Make sure you send the TARDIS my way, okay?" Amy understood and sent a thumbs up as a signal. He saw her make her way with the others, and looked down in contemplation. A few Haemovores came about the doorway, and looked in to see the time-lord, who looked back at them. "… Well who're you looking at? I'm just doing my work, they're the ones causing you problems, chase them."
They continued on with the chase, and the Doctor returned to his work once more.
Meanwhile…
Luffy was slammed into the wall, held on high with by one of the Haemovore. The captain struggled to fight back; the essence of their sea-life origins weakened his movements. His grip loosened and his arm gradually softened. Luffy's strength was not enough to get rid of him. The captain took another hard blow to the face from the other Haemovore. His own powers couldn't cancel out the power from the punch. A small drop of blood left from his nose, and left him in a little daze. With one last breath of energy, an idea popped into his head. He hoped this worked. Luffy bit his wrist.
In a pain-filled rage, it released him from its grip. Luffy strayed away from the two, panting from stress, the bitten one holding onto his gnawed wrist. Luffy looked upwards to the Gum-Gum haemovores. His smile revealed to be blackened with a metallic tint, by his Haki.
"You may have stolen my powers," Luffy positioned himself in a fighting stance, "But you don't have my skills."
The Gum-Gum Haemovores both rushed him head on. The shins of Luffy blackened, and raised it high enough to their torso. With a swift kick to their side, he sent them flying to the wall, enough to break through it. The Haemovores picked themselves up, with the other Haemovores in the room watching them. They motioned the rest to help them with a violent roar, and so all ran into the hole in the wall. The Captain raised his two fist once more, in the storm of approaching Haemovores, rumbling the floor at his feet.
GUMO-GUMO NO GAATTLLLLIINNNGGG…
A frenzy of punches was unleashed, punching anything coming near, rendering them unconscious. All of them defeated. Luffy himself ran towards the two in the wall, clenching his fist tightly. Pulling his arm back, the Haemovore ran towards him too. In a fit of power, Luffy's punch launched it upwards, but lest to his knowledge, a stretched out fist grabbed him by surprise, pulling him towards another wall.
His face was left slammed on the wall, flinging itself along with it. The Haemovore stuck up on the ceiling fell down, face flat. The others picked themselves up tiringly. The Gum-Gum Haemovore was bent forward, catching his breath. Out of nowhere, it was punched back to the ground.
He panted in strain of his body, finding the fight surprisingly more difficult than anticipated.
"Hehehe, these guys put up a bigger fight than I expected." The captain said with a wide smile on his face. He went to feel his hat, but in midst of confusion and fight, he noticed it was missing. "My hat? Where'd it go?"
Crumpling of the straw-hat echoed in the room, catching Luffy's attention to see it in the claws of the Gum-Gum Haemovore. It gazed at the hat, and back at the captain, seeing his cheerful tone shifting into rage. It was dead silent. Nary a flinch between them. It was a stare down between the two; firm and strong, but with rage filling each other's minds. The Haemovore understood what his hat meant to him, as could anyone. And that was his pressure point. Slowly, it clenched the hat tighter. Luffy's eye furrowed at its attempt to anger him. And it was working.
"Don't you dare touch that!" Luffy demanded with a flare of anger in his voice. That only gave it more initiative to continue crushing it with his hands. A small series of sounds that almost resembled laughter rang out in the room. It was enjoying taunting the captain.
Without second thought, he ran in fury towards the Gum-Gum Haemovore as he growled at it, once more raising his fist as hard as it can be. It played right into its claws. It bounced away from him with his powers, dodging his attack, bouncing back against the wall, and opened its hand, clawing the captain at his chest, ripping his shirt apart. He let out a pain-filled scream which was silenced with him being kicked into the ground.
With final action, it gave one last flurry of punches. Over and over, letting all his might into those stream of punches, not letting a single untouched area damaged by his power. Left beaten and bruised, it walked away from the captain, who breathed hoarsely. The Haemovore walked around the fallen captain, letting out a croak which almost formed words.
"You… cannot… win…" It spoke. The crumpled hat was released from its grasp, gently falling to his back. Slowly, it walked towards its partner by the hole in the wall. With each passing step, it noticed the slower it got, until it halted. Looking down, it saw a pale hand grab hold to its shins. It tried to shake it off, but the grip was too tight.
"No… I won't." A croaky voice from behind the Haemovore. Sounds of steam rang out, and the shins got warmer from his touch. Luffy slowly picked himself up from the ground. His head hung downward, hiding his eyes from the Haemovore. He crouched down to the ground, reaching the crumpled hat to the front of him, and fitted on his head. In a flash, he disappeared from it vision. It took a blow to its side. Another from the opposite side. All around the Haemovore, it was hit from top to bottom by a blow from Luffy, not even being able to see. It seemed to last forever. At the last second, the storm of punches calmed, until no more.
Luffy stood in front of the Haemovore, standing for as long as it could. It fell to its knees, and face flat finally. There was nothing left for him. The entire area, filled with fallen followers of Baltazar.
"You were a tough fight, I'll admit that." Luffy stated plainly. "But never, touch, my hat."
And with that, the captain of the straw-hats set off for his friends.