Straw Hat Among Fairies

Ch. 11 Infiltrating the Tower!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. One Piece belongs to Eichiro Oda and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. The only things I own are original characters and this story. Both mangas and their characters belong to their respective owners listed above.

Author's Notes: Hey, everyone long time no see! It's been a few weeks since the last chapter but I got this chapter done in a couple of weeks! A new personal best considering my track record with the last few chapters.

This chapter may be shorter than the last one but I can definitely assure you this will be just as action packed as the last one with more to come considering this chapter's ending…

Before we get to it, let me just respond to all the reviews I got since the last chapter in the order they were posted.

Ricc850: I don't know what you mean by comment on but either way I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter my friend!

Zaralann: Thanks!

OBSERVER01: Yep. Wonder how it'll affect Laxus' attitude down the line... Yep poor Ultear lol :D. I wouldn't say those mermaids 'ended up in Earthland' rather it's that they were born and raised there. Their ancestors, however, are quite suspect...

JensenDaniels32: Who said I wasn't going to? Although not right now though...

Quincyee1011: You definitely have a point about the potential of inspiration could receive from any future enemies he's going to face. I'll definitely need to keep this in mind for the future...

R-King 93: I'm glad you enjoyed it! He might... Maybe...

DJ Rodriguez: I'm glad to hear you say that! Peilis is a tough contender but he definitely has limits to his own abilities. If Laxus was at the level of strength he had when he faced off against Hades in the Tenrou arc, this fight would've gone in Laxus' favor. Although that isn't to say Peilis' abilities are going to stagnate... As for the mermaid's surprise over Luffy's Haki instead of his rubber abilities is due to them writing off his rubber powers as just another type of magic they haven't seen before. They're going to be more surprise over the fact a kid just took out an entire group of armed men by just sitting there instead of his abilities to stretch his body. And don't worry I will!

Mugiwara NO Luffy: I'm glad you enjoyed it! It will probably depend on when Laxus will recover due to the fight he's had. Probably will be a while before he can go back into action. I'm glad you enjoyed their little scene there! It just kind of came to me on the fly there! Don't worry I will! :)

Te. Nellis: I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'll definitely keep up the hard work so enjoy the latest chapter!

Michael Dorsey: Hhm... It's going to be a slight mixture of both once we reach the canon arcs. I plan to mix the fights ups in some arcs where it can be allowed. I won't say how since I want to keep all of you on your toes. About the Haki thing, I would have to say... No. Despite some of them being easily over a hundred years old, Haki is still an incredibly rare lost art within Earthland that rarely awakens within the populace unlike the One Piece world (the New World at least). If anything, Hades and Marde Geer probably have encountered people that can utilize Haki throughout their long lives but such encounters were so far apart that I doubt they would fit the puzzle pieces together and realize they're connected. Zero is just an omnicidal maniac so I doubt he would even care about Haki unless it can cause mass destruction. Peilis would be a fan of DBZ abridged if he had a stable internet connection and wasn't being worked 24-7 by Ivan most of the time. About the exceed thing... I have my own plans for Luffy to have a flying companion. And guess what? He's an actual canon character Luffy's met before coming to Earthland! About the devil fruit thing, I don't want to say anything since its massive spoilers for the future but there's only about two... 'creatures' that actually know about Devil Fruits and that's only because each being individually fought against the same user who had eaten such an overpowered fruit that all those two mighty beings know about the concept is that one of these fruits can give someone the power to 'D****** *** ****d!' And that's all I'm saying on the matter... for now... Edolas is a little tricky but if there were any counterparts, they'll be not what you would've expected. Considering how much of the shit that happens in the series was caused by his actions, there's no doubt they will meet face to face.

MakubeDaKiddX: I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter and the previous one that much! Thank you so much for your kind words! I've been planning the Laxus vs. Peilis fight ever since chapter 7 and I've been wanting to write it for such a long time that I put in the extra effort to show off just how powerful both fighters really are while they faced off against each other. In fact, a lot of the inspiration for some of Peilis' attacks such as his Antumbra Sandstorm came to my while I was watching Part 2 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (now one of my favorite Mangas of all time). It was fun to write such a incredible fight with Laxus as the focus since I've always seen him to be a more strategic fighter than someone like Natsu since he has incredible power at his command and he knows how to use it cleverly when pure power isn't enough. And finally, I'm glad you enjoyed the scene with Luffy and Ultear close to the end of the last chapter. It came to me in a spur of the moment since I realized that watching Ultear's Time Arc at work would bring up some rather... painful memories for Luffy. Thank you for the compliment, I rather dislike narutoxcrossover harems for the same reason too. I've already gotten a beta reader in PageofMind, who's been a major help to me in writing the last chapter. Also finally, I would say I've done enough thinking and I have decided to add another girl to the harem. I'll add two or more girls to the harem but I'm open to suggestions on who these girls could be.

NeoZero13: I'm glad you enjoyed it and yes, Luffy is definitely going to learn magic in the future. It's going to be a type of S-Whoa! Almost ruined the surprise there! Don't want to give you guys any kind of spoilers there now would I?

Griffon: You're definitely going to get you wish soon enough!

Dp11: Thanks!

Chrome Cheetah: Great! Here's the new chapter!

Ranger Station Charlie: I don't just like your theory... I absolutely love it! The idea behind it is genius and it works so well with the history I got planned that it's pretty much canon now! I'm so glad you enjoy the story so much that you would take the time to speculate this! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Serpentguy: Thanks man glad to hear you liked the chapter despite its faults. Yeah looking back on it, I can see why Peilis could come off as a stock character named bad guy. I'll probably have to fix that by his next appearance and not make that same mistake with any other future debuts. I've can also see why he can appear so overpowered him have too many skills. I'll have to fix that soon enough (chuckles evilly)...
Also, I can see your point about how I'm introducing too many OCs at once to the point the story may appear jumbled. I'm going to prevent that in the future...
I can understand why you feel that way about the mermaid girl's appearance in this chapter. Their appearance may seem pointless but they serve as foreshadowing to the history between both worlds that'll be revealed in the future and the existence of another race that secretly live in Earthland. You should know them since their genes have incredibly strong memories...
Despite the flaws with the chapter that you pointed out, I'm glad that you managed to enjoy the chapter despite them. Your review is definitely going to help with the rest of this arc and the story!

Shady21639: I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far! While there isn't much I can do for those two (right now at least...), I hope you will enjoy this chapter just as much!

Kakashiliones01: Glad to hear you think that!

Love Glutton: Yep. Glad you like the story despite its flaws. I can assure you it will get better later on.

RevolverVincentRaikov: He'll probably deal with them the same way he deals with anyone who's ever attacked him and his friends... By beating the utter crap out of them! Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one just as much!

A Certain Unfortunate Guy: Great to hear that!

Guest: Ok?

Serenity de la Luna: Yeah. It really doesn't end well for him…

FanfictionersID: Well I tried to make this one shorter than the last one but I still got over 20,000 words without meaning to… Hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!

This chapter was checked over and corrected by PageofMind.

So without further ado, on with the story!


Thirty minutes after Luffy's arrival, inside the Tower of Heaven...

In a dark room deep inside the Tower of Heaven, lights flashed sporadically followed by the pained screams of a single child.

In the center of the room was a blue haired child chained to a single pillar across from large jagged crystal. A purple magical seal hung over the boy, which sporadically shined at random intervals, severely electrocuting the child every time the seal lit up. Three cultists observed the situation as it unfolded, two of them, a fat man and skinny man, were smiling at the boy's scream while the third one crossed his arms.

"This boy sure is strong willed." The skinny cultist observed, chuckling darkly to himself as he watched the torture unfold before him.

"I wonder how long it'll take before he breaks." The fat cultist replied, grinning sadistically to himself as the kid panted heavily before screaming in agony as he was shocked again. "Being a hero to that little girl and his friends surely isn't worth going through all this?" He asked sarcastically, hoping that the kid wouldn't relent so they could continue the torture.

The third cultist just exhaled in annoyance at the two's inane chatter, his eyes were focused on the blue haired boy that was screaming in pain. This cultist was a giant of man with an incredibly muscular body that towered over his two fellow cultists, the tallest one only reaching his waist in height. On his back were two double-edged battle-axes resting in a large holder slung across his shoulder.

Before he could order the two cultists to focus on their job, another cultist suddenly burst into the chamber and immediately collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion as his whole body was covered in various injuries.

"Let me guess. You idiots haven't taken care of the revolt yet have you?" The large cultist asked, knowing exactly what the answer was going to be from the state of the soldier's attire. When he saw the soldier nod affirmatively, he wanted slap his forehead in annoyance at what was happening. "Okay did you find out who is the ringleader of this little revolution?" He asked exasperatedly.

"Y-Yes sir." The cultist choked as he lifted himself from the ground, not wanting to get on the bad side of his superior. "It's that red haired girl that you tortured earlier! She's the one who riled up the slaves into taking up arms and now she's leading them against us!" He reported causing the other two cultists in the room to turn their heads towards him as the boy's torture stopped abruptly, allowing the boy a chance to breathe.

"Erza..." The boy muttered silently under his breath, going completely unnoticed by the cultists in the room as Skinny and Fatty began to beat on the cultist lying on the floor.

"Don't lie you idiot!" Skinny shouted as kicked the down cultist and stepped on the man's face. "There's no way a little girl like her could actually lead this revolt after what we did to her!"

"Yeah!" Fatty agreed as he kicked the downed man in his stomach. "Giller here oversaw that girl's torture himself and even tore out her right eye for good measure!" Fatty explained as he pointed towards the massive cultist before spitting on the downed man.

"You were the one..." The boy rasped out causing Giller, Fatty and Skinny to turn their collective heads towards him. The boy soon raised his head showing off a strange red tattoo above and below his right eye. However, his eyes, instead of showing pain or fear after the near endless torture he had gone through for the past few days, were full of murderous rage as he glared at the largest cultist in the chamber. "You were the one that took Erza's eye!" He roared in pure fury as he lunged forward trying to get at the man responsible for maiming his friend only to be stopped by the shackles that kept him tied to the pillar in the middle of the room.

Not long after his outburst, the boy was shocked by over a hundred volts of electricity causing him to scream out in agony at the sudden pain.

Giller burst into laughter as he watched the boy scream in agony before falling onto his knees as the electrocution stopped. His laughter died down as he walked up the boy before bending down and grabbing him by his chin.

"What happened to all that bravado you were showing a moment ago, brat?" The massive cultist asked sadistically as he forced the blue haired boy to look him directly where his eyes would be behind his mask. An evil grin appeared on his face when lifted the boy into the air as high as the boy's shackles would allow him. Faster than Fatty and Skinny could follow, Giller punched the boy in his gut, his oversized fist easily covered the boy's body. The blow knocked the air out of the boy's body and caused him to cough up blood as he fell onto the ground.

"I may have missed your attempt to rescue that girl a few days ago but I won't let that happen a second time as she won't be able to take a step inside this room once I'm done with her." He stated darkly as walked towards the hallway while the boy tried to catch his breath only to be electrocuted for his troubles.

"Keep an eye on this kid and make sure he doesn't do anything. I'm going out to deal with the revolt's leader." Giller ordered Skinny and Fatty who only nodded dumbly in reply as the massive cultist walked out. What both cultists were unaware of was the pair of brown eyes that were watching the exchange going from behind the crystal in the room.

Ultear frowned as she watched the massive cultist walk down the hallway away from the disciplinary chamber. The moment he was out of sight Ultear did a mental sigh of relief, glad to have him out of the room along with his overwhelming presence.

"Finally he's gone." Ultear thought, relieved that she only has to deal with the two idiots overseeing the boy's torture. After surviving Luffy's stunt that got them into the tower, Ultear had slipped away while the rubber boy was distracted. Spending the last half hour sneaking through the tower and avoiding armed groups of cultists rushing off to deal with an apparent slave revolt, Ultear found herself in the tower's disciplinary chamber.

"Okay judging by what those masked freaks were talking about earlier, a slave revolt has been going for the past few days. A revolt led by a little girl of all people." Ultear thought in bewilderment at the situation she found herself in. "This girl could become a problem if she succeeds... I'll just have to make sure her revolution becomes a flop!" She mentally declared, unwilling to fail in her mission after all the shit she had been put through getting here today. "Now how I do go about crushing the hopes of a girl that's probably younger than me and is willing to stand up against her tormentors after suffering God knows what in this room..." She pondered.

This continued for several minutes but every time she came close to an idea on how to stop the revolution, the boy's sudden screams of agony caused her train of thought to come to a screeching halt.

"Goddamn it!" Ultear mentally raged as she lost her train of thought again, due to the blue haired boy's nonstop screaming. "Would they just kill this kid already! He's driving me up the wall with his screaming! His voice should've given out already from how much he's been screaming!" She thought as she peered out of her hiding spot to glare at the heaving boy, trying as hard as she could to set the boy aflame with nothing but a thought as his torture resumed. "Don't these idiots realize that they're better off just killing him? He knows the leader so it stands to reason he's the reason why she's...leading...the revolution..." Ultear mentally chastised the incompetence she was witnessing before coming to a sudden realization.

"He's the reason..." Ultear mentally repeated as she stared at the boy while he was being electrocuted. "He's the reason why that girl is doing all this. He's her rock! Her support!" Ultear mentally declared as a wicked grin appeared on her face. "And with no support..." She thought wickedly at the plan forming in her head as a shadowy ghost-like apparition appeared around her. "That girl will crumble like any other fool in her situation." She thought malevolently as she prepared to put her cruel plan into action the moment those two idiots left the room.

Before she could even start, a single thought managed to push itself into the forefront of her mind.

"Wait what happened to Luffy?" Ultear wondered, surprised at how the rubber boy managed to worm himself into her thoughts and at the fact she was actually thinking about him at this crucial moment. "Eh. Knowing him, he's probably fine and just beating up these masked freaks everywhere he goes. He probably hasn't even his found his friend's brother yet." She thought as she slipped the ghost-like apparition passed the cultists towards the boy as she waited to put her plan into action.


Meanwhile elsewhere in the tower, with Luffy...

"ACHOO!" Luffy sneezed suddenly as he punched a cultist over the edge of the rails lining the pathway he was on. Ignoring the screams of the cultist he unwittingly sent plunging to his death, Luffy continued to run down the pathway as the sounds of battle began to get clearer and louder.

"Hey Simon! Where are you?" Luffy shouted as he ran down the stone pathway of the tower, trying to find any sign of Kagura's brother. "Man where could he be?" Luffy whined, having made no progress on finding the boy after spending the last half hour just running up and down the pathways of the unfinished tower.

"Wait do I even know what he looks like?" Luffy realized as he tilted his head in question, trying to imagine what the boy looked like using Kagura's face as a base. "Aaagh! All this thinking is making me sick! I wish Ultear was here to help me figure out where he is in this tower!" He whined as his forehead was turning a bright red from the all mental power he was exerting in his search, mentally reminding himself that he needed to find his new friend after finding Kagura's brother so they could leave.

Suddenly a dim, cracked light bulb went off over his head as he slammed his fist into hand, a new idea sprung into his mind.

"Oh I can just find someone down below that knows where Simon is in this place." Luffy said with glee as he ran down the spiraling stone pathway, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. After several minutes of running, Luffy spotted some of cultists investigating the spot he landed with Ultear when he first arrived. One of them managed to spot Luffy from the corner of his eyes and quickly alerted his comrades of the approaching rubber boy.

"Man I don't have time for these idiots." Luffy muttered as the cultists charged at him brandishing swords and magic staffs. "Gomu Gomu no Muchi!" Luffy shouted as he stretched his leg forward and knocked aside the entire group over the railing of the pathway. Luffy continued forward without missing a beat, passing by empty cells as he ran towards the lower levels. Using his Haki as he descended, Luffy tried to extend his range only to find that there were two 'voices' hiding somewhere just a few levels beneath him.

"Maybe those guys know where I can find Simon in this place." Luffy said to himself as he grabbed a hold of the railing and jumped off it. Luffy's arm stretched as he let gravity pull him down. Once he reached the level he heard the 'voices' on, Luffy stopped his descent as he swung himself forward and let go of the railing. He managed to land on his feet onto the railing, and after a few seconds of trying to not fall back, managing to maintain his balance.

"Alright so where are those guys I heard down here?" Luffy asked himself as he looked around at the cells that lined the walls of the pathway. A sudden gasp coming from one of the cells in front of him caught Luffy's attention and made him turn his head towards the cell to his left. He caught sight of a white haired girl with purple eyes hiding behind the bars of her cell with a black haired boy lying down not too far behind her. "Oh hey do you guys know-"

"Shhh!" The girl interrupted Luffy as she placed her pointer finger before her mouth before frantically looking back at the sleeping boy behind her.

"Hey why are you-"

"Shhh! Do you not know what 'shhh!' means?" The girl interrupted again before turning her head to check on the sleeping boy that was facing away from her. Seeing that the boy wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, she wiped off the sweat that was pooling on her head. She soon turned around only to find Luffy standing right in front of her. She jumped and almost screamed only to cover her mouth at the last minute as she sweated profusely. She quickly glanced at the boy behind who only fidgeted slightly but didn't show that he was disturbed by her actions. Luffy tried to look over the white haired girl to see why she was so scared of waking the sleeping boy behind her.

"Hey what's wrong?" Luffy asked in a low voice, genuinely curious why was she so unwilling to wake up the boy sleeping on the ground.

"Just shut up and move out of here." The white haired girl whispered harshly as she turned Luffy around and pushed him out of the cell. Luffy tried to argue back at her about how she was manhandling him only to stop when he noticed a trail of dry blood leading towards the boy. The sleeping boy soon turned over onto his other side allowing Luffy to see that he had a very feminine appearance as he apparently wore plum-colored lipstick and dark eyeliner. What caught Luffy's attention the most was the fact that dry blood stained the rags he wore and his face was caked in blood. The boy was currently clinging onto a bloodied axe as he slept, the blood dripping off its bladed edge showed that it has been used recently.

Luffy only blinked as the girl pushed him out of the cell and several feet down the stone pathway.

"Okay why are we moving away from that guy, weird girl?" Luffy asked as he raised an eyebrow at her strange behavior concerning the sleeping boy they were moving farther away from.

"First things first my name is Sorano. Not weird girl." The white haired girl, now named Sorano, corrected Luffy in a low voice as she put more distance between them and boy in the cell. "Second, Macbeth over there has been trying to sleep since this revolt began a few days ago and all the constant fighting has kept him from doing that." She explained, this time with a higher volume after checking to see if they were out of Macbeth's hearing range.

"I still don't see the problem." Luffy stated simply.

"Did I forget to mention that he snapped a day ago and began killing anyone that disturbs him from his sleep? Why do think he's covered in blood and sleeps with an axe that I have no idea how he got his hands on?" Sorano asked.

"Wait that Mac guy kills people just because they wake him up? Isn't that a bit unjustified?" Luffy questioned, sweat dropping at the sleeping boy's reason for murder. "Wait if he kills anyone that wakes him up then why are you staying near him?" Luffy questioned Sorano, causing the shorter girl to stop in her tracks as she stopped pushing the rubber boy.

"It's not like I have a choice..." Sorano muttered. "This is the only place I could find that was safe enough for me to hide out until the revolt ended. Since most of the workers are fighting down below, those masked jerks don't come up here often and those that do end up a bloody mess due to messing with Macbeth over there." Sorano explained as she pointed towards the cell that she left Macbeth slumbering in as Luffy listened as best he could without his mind drifting off.

"Okay now that we are done talking about me and my reasons for hiding, answer me this. Who the hell are you and where did you come from?" Sorano asked harshly as she looked over Luffy's state of attire, noticing he wasn't wearing rags like any of the other slaves she has met since her arrival at this godforsaken tower.

"Oh I'm Luffy." Luffy replied with a friendly wave. "Well if you're asking about where I'm from I can't really say since no one would believe me but I came in here by flying from the ship I found myself in with my friend Ultear while those masked jerks were firing at us." He answered honestly, as he pointed up towards the level he crash-landed at. Sorano stared blankly at the rubber boy after hearing his story.

"...I don't believe you." Sorano answered skeptically, not buying Luffy's answer for a minute.

"Eh it's your choice whether you believe me or not." Luffy shrugged off her refusal to believe his tale, thinking that there were some things more important to attend to. "But can you tell me if you've seen a guy named Simon around here? I came here to this island looking for him for a friend who can't do it on her own." Luffy asked.

"Oh really?" Sorano asked skeptically as she crossed her arms deciding to play along with the boy's apparent story. "And why can't this friend of yours do it herself?" She asked trying to see if this boy was the real deal instead of a liar like all the people she's met here who only look out for themselves.

"She's in the hospital." Luffy answered honestly causing Sorano to raise an eyebrow in question. "I met her like a day ago when she tried to steal my money while I was with my friends so I beat her up." He explained as Sorano gave him a blank look at how he apparently became friends with someone who tried to steal from him. "She told me about how her brother sacrificed himself to save her from being kidnapped by those masked jerks a while ago and she's been trying to find him ever since." Luffy then proceeded to explain how he ended up at the tower from his fight in the woods to slingshotting himself into the tower.

"Why would you go so far for her?" Sorano asked harshly not understanding what was going through the rubber boy's head.

"Because I know what it feels like to have my older brother taken from me and not having the power to save him." Luffy answered simply, his serious tone catching the skeptical girl off by surprise. "Now can you tell me if you know where Simon is so I can bring him back to her?" Luffy asked again.

Sorano's eyes softened slightly when she heard his reason beginning to understand why he was going so far for someone he just met. She didn't know why she was feeling this way but the image of a young white haired girl crying her eyes out came to the forefront of Sorano's mind.

"Look I don't know anyone named Simon here. I've been too busy trying to stay out of the fighting to ask names..." She answered honestly causing Luffy to sigh at not getting any closer to his goal. "But I think there's someone who may know him down at the base of the tower." She said causing Luffy to turn his full attention back on her.

"Really! Who?" He asked excitedly.

"I haven't met her but apparently the person leading this revolt down below is a little girl who may know who you're talking about since I've heard she only confides to kids that are around her age." She explained as she pointed downwards. "Maybe one of those kids is the boy you're looking for."

"Really? Then I've got to go find this girl!" Luffy exclaimed as he turned towards the railing lining the pathways and jumped onto it. "Thanks for the help Soprano!" He said happily with a wave before jumping off the railing.

"My names Sorano you idiot!" The girl yelled angrily as she ran to the railing and watched as Luffy fall down to the bottom. Once Luffy was out of sight, Sorano turned around and sat down with her back against the railing, content just sitting there until the end of the revolution.


Elsewhere, with Luffy...

Luffy was grinning like a fool as he fell through the open airspace in the tower, air pushing against his body as gravity pulled him down.

"Oh man this brings back old memories!" Luffy shouted over the sound of air rushing past his ears, grinning wildly as he remembered all the times he fell from great heights from his time in Skypeia to his adventures in Merveille. "How tall is this tower?" Luffy questioned as he looked down and saw nothing but darkness after three minutes of falling. "Wait do I even know what the girl I'm looking for looks like?" Luffy realized as he grasped his chin and tilted his head, pondering what the revolution's leader would look like. What he didn't realize was that the sounds of battle were getting louder each second he was falling. When he did realize it, Luffy quickly looked down and saw the ground quickly approaching.

"Oh shit!" Luffy shouted as the ground quickly came into view, he could now see small groups of people wearing rags fighting against a large group of cultists and their weird worm-dog things. "Gomu Gomu no-" Luffy tried to inflate himself only to crash down into the ground at high speeds, the impact threw up a dust cloud that stopped the battle as both groups turned towards the impact site.

"What the hell just happened?" One slave asked aloud as he gripped his shovel, unwilling to let his guard drop. The other slaves around him just shrugged their shoulders not knowing what to make of what had just happened either.

The cultists were the same unsure of what to make of what happened either. After just deciding to write it off as some sap who decided to commit suicide by jumping off from a higher level in the tower, the cultists were about to resume fighting when one of their worm dog things began to bark wildly at the dust cloud. The creature's handler tried to get it back under control only for the worm canine thing to just rush off into the dust cloud, dragging its handler with it. They watched the dust cloud as they heard a struggle occur as they saw a silhouette of the work dog attacking something in the cloud before it suddenly yelped as it was sent flying out of the cloud and landed on the ground in front of them unconscious, a fist imprinted on top of its head.

The cloud finally cleared up enough for everyone present to see Luffy climbing out of the hole he made with one arm while holding a beaten cultist by his head with his other hand. "Did I just punch a worm with teeth?" Luffy asked no one in particular as he dusted himself off. Luffy then noticed that were lots of people around him, all staring at the strange kid who just climbed out of a hole he made by jumping off from an incredible height. Luffy just puffed his cheeks, as he looked at all the weirdoes that were staring at him.

"Yo I'm Luffy." Luffy greeted casually as he raised a hand in salute, the slaves present just sweat dropped as they weren't expecting a casual greeting from someone who survived a massive fall like that. "Do any of you guys know where I can find a kid named Simon around here?" He asked easily not noticing the cultists behind him were starting to get anxious due to the rubber boy just ignoring them. "If not, do you guys know what your leader looks like so-" Luffy tried to ask only to move his head to the side to dodge a magic shot aimed at him.

"Get that kid!" A cultist wielding a large hammer over his shoulder shouted as his comrades rushed at Luffy with swords and spears brandished.

"Man you guys are rude!" Luffy shouted as he threw the cultist that he was holding in front of him when the others were upon him, using the cultist as human shield to block their swords and spears. When the attacking group realized their mistake and pulled back, Luffy tossed aside his makeshift shield and grabbed a hold of a cultist wielding two swords.

"Hey what are doing?!" The cultist shouted as Luffy jumped onto him and positioned himself on the man's back, wrapping his arms and legs around the man's extremities.

"Gomu Gomu no Ally Robo!" Luffy shouted as he manipulated the cultist's limbs as if they were his own. "Gomu Gomu no Ally Robo Slice!" Luffy shouted as he made the cultist cut down his own comrades with his swords.

"Get this brat off me! He's making me feel weird!" The cultist screamed out to his allies as Luffy made him attack his allies while the slaves just watched in confusion at the strange scene happening before them.

"What are you idiots doing?! Shoot that goddamn kid! I don't care if that soldier dies in the process just shoot him!" Hammer Mask shouted as soldiers took aim in front of him with their staffs.

"Wait! Don't shoot me! Please!" The cultist pleaded as Luffy turned him towards the firing squad. "Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! Don't shoot! DON'T SHOOT!" He repeated rapidly as Luffy retracted his limbs, his voice cracking up into a high pitch as he broke into a mad mantra when he saw his allies' staffs light up. His mantra stopped when a magic blast hit him in the face, blowing of his mask in process. Several more magic blasts soon followed as they all struck him at once resulting in a fiery explosion that consumed the cultist entirely.

While the slaves stared in horror at the brutal execution, the cultists kept their eyes on the burning inferno that consumed their former ally.

"Did...did we get him?" One cultist asked another to his left who just shrugged in response, not noticing a shadow over them.

"Nope!" Luffy shouted as he slammed his feet onto their heads and slammed their heads into the rocky floor, breaking it apart. "Whoa!" Luffy exclaimed as he bent backwards to avoid being stabbed by a spear. He grinned as he grabbed a hold of it by the pole and to its wielder's shock began to twist his lower half until his body looked like a twisted knot before shoving his feet into the ground. "Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy shouted as his body began to unwind as cultists and worm dogs were closing in on him. "Pinwheel!" He finished as he started spinning around at a high rate as he used the spear and its wielder to clobber any cultists or worm dogs that got too close.

"Who is this kid?" One slave asked in shock as he watched cultists and their attack dogs be sent flying across the area.

"Who cares!" Another slave exclaimed as the rest of the slaves cheered the boy on. "As long as he's doing that to these freaks instead of us, I don't care who he is. He is alright by my book!" He finished as he watched a cultist be flung into one of the rock walls of the cavern.

As the spinning ended, Luffy flung the spear's owner into two of his comrades and tossed the spear in the same spin, spearing a giant flying worm beast in its chest as it was flying towards him. As the flying beast crashed to the ground, Luffy's body snapped back to normal as if it wasn't twisted up. Although he had a new problem to deal with as his feet were stuck in the rocky ground.

"Damn it! Why does this always happen whenever I use that move?" Luffy complained as he tried to pull his legs out to avail, not noticing the menacing shadow above him.

"Kid look out!" One of the slaves shouted from the sidelines as Hammer Mask snuck up behind Luffy with his large hammer raised over his shoulder.

"Die you freak!" Hammer Mask shouted as he swung his hammer towards Luffy's head. Luffy's eyes were shadowed over by his hat as he casually raised his right arm to block the blow.

"Buso Koka." Luffy stated calmly as his right arm was instantly coated in Haki turning it completely black. The hammer struck his hardened arm and, to the slaves' shock, the hammer's head was bent inward upon impact. Hammer Mask's eyes popped out from underneath his mask as he saw the damage done to his weapon, not noticing Luffy bending downwards as steam poured out of him.

"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy started he jumped backwards, freeing his legs from the ground as he put the bottom of his feet together. "Jet Lance!" He shouted as he delivered a lightning fast kick straight to Hammer Mask's abdomen, sending the large man flying across the area until he crashed into the rock wall.

All the slaves present had their jaws hanging to the floor at what they witnessed as Luffy landed on his feet.

"Man these guys are really becoming a pain in my ass." Luffy said in an annoyed tone as he dusted off his hands. "Oh yeah almost forgot!" He exclaimed as he turned towards the slack-jawed slaves. "Hey do you guys know anyone named Simon around here? He's like a little kid and ugh..." Luffy asked only to stop when he realized he still didn't know what the boy looked like. Remembering what Sorano told him earlier, Luffy hit his palm. "Oh right can you guys tell me what your leader looks like so I can go ask her? It's really important."

This snapped them out of the slack jawed long enough to process Luffy's question.

"Uh why do you need to know?" One slave asked somewhat unsure of the boy's intentions.

"Oh I want to see if she knows where I can Simon so I can bring him back to his sister." Luffy answered honestly, causing all the slaves present to group together to discuss whether they could trust some boy who just fell in out of nowhere and started attacking cultists left and right. Despite some concerns about the boy's allegiances, they decided to at least tell him that as they turned towards him.

"Well she's a redheaded girl missing one her right eye that's not really our leader. She's more like..." One slave started unsure of how to explain the situation.

"Someone who got fed up with those masked freak's bullshit and decided to rise up against them." Another interjected. "We all just went along with it to get the hell out of this hell h-h-hole..." He tried to explain only to go pale and start to stutter as the rest of the slaves began to do the same as they noticed a purple light glowing from behind Luffy. Luffy raised an eyebrow at their strange behavior only to hear some kind of hissing noise coming from behind him.

He turned around to find a decrepit hand pulling a zombie like creature of the ground, which wore a large purple hat, a cultist mask that covered its eyes and apparently lacked a nose of any kind. The zombie creature soon got its other arm free before it roared angrily into Luffy's face. Luffy only blinked once before grabbing the zombie by its shoulders and pushing it back into the ground. The zombie quickly burst back up as it roared in apparent anger at its treatment before lunging at Luffy, who quickly grabbed it by its shoulders before using its forward momentum to smash it headfirst into the rocky ground. Before the zombie could push itself out of the hole it made, Luffy jumped on top of it and stomped it further into the ground.

"Man that zombie really surprised me there. I really didn't expect to find zombies here" Luffy muttered to himself as he jumped off the planted zombie creature, whose legs were the only things left visible above ground. "I wonder why there is a zombie on this island? Is Moria in this world too?" He wondered in slight annoyance. "Man that guy was such a pain in the ass to deal with before. Now it's going to be worse since I'm a kid and he's still probably huge." Luffy complained, obviously not happy at the fact he might run into that fat bastard and his zombies again. However, amidst his complaints, inspiration struck when he realized something important about one of his enemies probably being stuck in this world. "If that leek bastard is here that means he knows a way to get back to the New World! I just need to beat it out of him and then get Simon and Ultear so we can get out of here!" Luffy realized.

"Hey have you guys seen a really big fat guy-" Luffy asked as he turned towards the slaves only to stop when he saw them running off into the distance, their backs were barely visible to him as they ran down the cavern. "Hey wait come back! You still haven't told me where I can find that one eyed girl!" Luffy shouted as he chased after them as he left a dust cloud in his wake, not noticing multiple magic symbols popping up on the ground behind him as several more zombie-like beings began to appear out of them...


Elsewhere in the tower...

A massive battle raged on as large numbers of slaves fought against the numerically inferior, but better armed cultists who were aided by worm dogs and flying eyeless beasts. At the center of the battle was a young, red haired girl fighting with all her might as she parried a sword swing that could've easily decapitated her. She quickly bashed her makeshift shield into her opponent's abdomen knocking a man easily twice her size onto his back. Despite missing her right eye, the girl easily held her own as she immediately dodge a spear thrust and proceeded to slice off the bladed edge with her sword. The cultist stepped back in shock at how the girl broke his weapon before the girl rushed him and kicked him on the stomach.

"Don't waver! We will win our freedom!" The girl shouted to the rest of slaves fighting around her, her words seemed to invigorate her comrades to fight harder against their oppressors. "We must continue forwards and liberate the 8th sector today everyone!" She shouted as she blocked a charging worm dog with her shield before thrusting her sword into the beast's soft underbelly.

"Erza's really going at it, huh Simon?" Wally asked a boy next to him as they both watched Erza pull her sword out from the dying beast and flicked it to side to clean it of any blood that got on it. "We'll probably get to Jellal today at this rate." He mentioned as the boy, Simon, just watched Erza argue with some older slaves about the number of enemies they would face if they attempted what she asked, a luminescent blush was on his face as he kept his eyes on the one eyed girl.

As the cultist began to fall back due to the falling numbers, Simon just pushed Wally aside as he walked towards Erza. "Erza." Simon stated somewhat calmly, his heart began to beat rapidly as his cheeks flushed.

"What is it Simon?" Erza replied, not noticing his flush appearance as her mind was on other things. "Can you please make this quick? We have to advance to the other sectors so we can save Jellal-"

"Do you like Jellal?" Simon interjected, catching Erza off guard as Wally, Milliana, and Sho watched in surprise and shock at Simon's sudden question.

"W-why are you saying that now?!" Erza replied, flustered by the unexpected question from her friend. "Now's not the time for this..."

"Erza..." Simon stated firmly as he tried to build up the courage to say the next few words. "If we don't make it out of here alive... There's something I've always wanted to tell-"

"HEY! WE GOT TROUBLE!" A group of slaves shouted from atop a cliff across the area as Erza and Simon turned their heads in the direction of the group.

"What did they say?" Erza asked confused, inwardly relieved that a distraction came up.

"I...don't know..." Simon replied just as confused as the red head.

Just group were about to shout their warning again they had to move out of the way as Luffy sped past them and ran off the cliff into the air. Erza, Simon, and their friends watched as Luffy fell through the air and crashed into the ground before rushing over to him. A withered old man, named Rob, just watched curiously a few feet from behind them, deciding to see how things would play out.

"Hey are you alright?" Simon asked in a concerned tone as he helped Luffy up, believing that the boy may have broken something in the fall.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Luffy replied nonchalantly as he got up and dusted himself off. "Thanks for the help though." Luffy thanked Simon as he placed his hat atop his head, not noticing the strange looks he was receiving from Wally, Sho, and Milliana.

"Have you seen this guy before?" Wally whispered to Sho, who shook his head in reply.

"Nope. I haven't seen someone with clothes like that around here." The short blonde replied as he pointed towards Luffy's clothing, which stood out against the rags every slave was forced to wear on the island.

"Maybe he's someone that those jerks brought in recently." Milliana suggested trying to add her input into the conversation.

"Hey what are those guys talking about?" Luffy asked Simon as he pointed to the three's not so secretive discussion. Simon just rolled his eyes at his friend's blatant discussion behind the strange boy's back. It was then Luffy noticed Erza as he stared deeply at her causing her to take a step back in shock when she noticed.

"W-What?" Erza asked, a little weirded out by how intently Luffy was staring at her.

"You're..." Luffy started, trying to remember how those slaves he met earlier described what their leader looked like. "...the leader of these guys, right?" He asked carefully not sure if she was the right person.

"Yes..." Erza replied feeling unsure of how to answer this strange kid. She was startled when Luffy jumped back and shouted in joy, causing all of her friend to give the boy strange looks.

"Yes! I finally found someone I was looking for!" Luffy shouted excitedly glad that something was going right for him today. He quickly turned to a bewildered Erza and gently grabbed her by the arms. "Hey do you know a kid named Simon and where I can find him? Please? It's really important I find him." He asked quickly, causing Erza's eye to widen in surprise.

"Hey why do you need to know who Simon is?" Wally asked accusingly, trying to act tough for the others in case this boy turned out to be hostile.

"Oh because I've been looking for him for his sister Kagura who told me he was kidnapped a while ago. So when I woke up on a ship crawling with those masked jerks I decided to go rescue him for her since she's in the hospital." Luffy answered simply to everyone's surprise. Erza's eye widened at the mention of Simon's little sister having regretfully forgotten her in the chaos of the past few days. Simon, on the other hand, was stunned as his eyes were wide as dinner plates at the mention of his little sister Kagura...

Faster than the others could react, Simon rushed towards Luffy and grabbed a hold of him by the ruined remains of his shirt. "Wait you know Kagura? How is she? Is she alright? Where is she?!" Simon asked frantically, shaking Luffy at the same time as Erza tried to stop him.

"Simon stop! He won't be able to answer you if you keep shaking him like that!" Erza shouted, trying to calm her emotional friend down. Despite being shaken violently, Luffy's eyes widened when he heard Erza mention Simon's name.

"Wait you're Simon!" Luffy shouted as he jumped back in surprise and pointed at the boy. He quickly looked him over and bringing up a mental image of Kagura, he couldn't find any obvious resemblance between the two. "You and Kagura don't look alike at all!" He exclaimed.

Before the Simon could yell at him for his reaction, a large explosion went off in the distance. Everyone turned their heads towards the cliff Luffy ran off and saw a large cloud of smoke coming from it as the charred bodies of the slaves that were standing on it fell to the ground.

"What the-" Simon muttered only for Luffy to shove him to ground as a magic blast struck him instead, sending the rubber boy flying back as everyone's eyes widened at the sudden attack. More explosions ranged through the air as multiple magic blasts shot out from the smokescreen, sending slaves flying from the blasts and scattering the rebel army. Erza and her friends were among those still standing by the time the smoke cleared, allowing them to see their attackers.

"What the..?" Erza asked aloud, none of her friends could answer as they all paled at the sight of their attackers while Rob just grimaced. Floating in the air were dozens of zombie like creatures that only wore large purple hats, ragged shorts, and the cultist's mask over their eyes.

"Magic soldiers!" Erza heard one person scream from behind her as the magic soldier's jaws unhinged as magical energy formed in their mouths. Once done charging their attacks, the magic soldiers fired off several magic blasts across the battle field, scattering the slave army as multiple slaves were struck head on or sent flying by the resulting explosions. "Look out those masked freaks are coming back!" Another person shouted as he pointed forwards causing Erza and her friends to turn in the direction that person was pointing at only to see an army of cultists approaching, all of them armed with magic staffs. At the sight of the magic soldiers and the approaching magicians on the ground, multiple slaves chose to run away instead of taking on what they thought to be an impossible foe.

"Hey where are you guys going?!" Erza shouted at the retreating slaves as the magic soldiers and cultists opened fire on the retreating army, injuring more people in the process.

"Erza we need to retreat!" Wally shouted at the girl as he helped Sho, who had been caught in one of the blasts, onto his back. "We can't beat these guys! They're too strong!"

"He's right Er-chan!" Milliana shouted in panic as she tried to help an injured man back onto his feet.

"We can't give up guys we need to save Jellal!" Erza shouted back, refusing to let an army of Magic soldiers and cultists stand in her way to rescue the blue haired boy. Simon, with a serious expression on his face, went up to Erza and slapped the girl in her face, stunning her and everyone around them as explosions went off around them.

"Erza I know how much Jellal means to you. We all know..." Simon started as he grabbed a hold of Erza by her arms, everyone was still too stunned about his earlier actions to notice Luffy was starting to get back up. "But right now we're all no good to him if we're lying dead in a crater in this tower!" He began to shout, raising his voice in the process. "Wally's right in that we need to retreat because if don't we're all going to die here and there's not a damn thing we can do about it Erza!" He shouted pleadingly trying to get the girl to understand.

"Simon..." Erza muttered as he saw her friend break down before her. Before she could reply, however, she caught sight of a magic soldier charging its shot from the corner of her left eye. Noticing that the zombie creature was aiming towards her and Simon, Erza, acting completely on instinct, pushed Simon away and shoved him to the side just as the magic soldier fired its shot.

"ERZA!" Simon and the others shouted as Erza put up her shield in front of herself just moments before the magic blast reached her. No one but Rob noticed that Luffy had disappeared from his spot.

When the magic blast hits its mark, the resulting explosion caused Simon and the others to cover their eyes from the bright light. "ERZA!" Simon shouted in horror as he tried to rush into the smoke where Erza had been standing only to be stopped by Rob who held him back. "What are you doing Rob ji-san?! Erza could be hurt or worse!" Simon screamed at the old man tears were streaming down his face at the thought of Erza having been killed.

"Just watch Simon." Rob said calmly with a smile on his face as he held the distressed boy back. "Not everything is as they seem in this world." He said sagely, already knowing what had happened.

Simon looked back to the smokescreen and as it cleared, to his surprise and joy, Erza was still standing there with her shield raised to defend herself. Erza opened her remaining eye and was surprised to find that she wasn't hit by the magic blast. She then noticed as the smoke cleared away even more that Luffy was standing in front of her protectively as one of his arms was completely black.

"You're alright!" Erza shouted in shock, remembering how Luffy was stuck by a magical blast not too long ago.

"Eh. I've been hit by way worse than that." Luffy replied simply, looking no worse than usual except for the slight burn marks on the right side of his body, as he casually backhanded another magic blast sent towards them, sending it flying back at the magic soldier that fired it and knocking it out of the air. "Wait right here. I need to take care of these zombies and masked jerks." Luffy asked Erza who nodded dumbly as she tried to process what he had just done. "Good. Make sure Simon stays safe!" He shouted as he ran towards the army of magic soldiers and cultists who turned their complete attention towards the rubber boy.

The magic soldiers and cultists fired off a barrage of magic blasts towards the incoming boy, who easily weaved through the barrage with his usage of Kenbunshoku Haki.

"Man these guys are really getting annoying." Luffy muttered he causally dodged magic blast after magic blast, none of the shots came close to actually touching him. Inspiration struck Luffy when he remembered how he redirected a magic blast with his Haki coated arm, a new idea formed inside his head on how to deal with most of his enemies in one go. "That should do the trick! Although I've never done something like that outside of Gear Fourth before..." He muttered as he continued to dodge magical blasts. "It's worth a shot though!" He shouted as he used Soru to disappear from sight. All the cultists watching Luffy were surprised when he disappeared and tried to find him.

"Hey over here!" Luffy shouted some distance away from the rebel army causing all the magic soldiers and cultists to turn their heads towards them. "Come and get me!" Luffy shouted, taunting them by slapping his ass in their direction. His taunt succeeded as both armies rushed towards the rubber boy as they charged up their magic attacks.

"What is that guy doing? Is he trying to get himself killed?" Wally asked aloud, no one knew how to answer his question as they watched what was happening. Erza, in particular, was watching Luffy closely trying to figure out what he was planning.

Seeing he got the cultists' and magic soldiers' attention, decided to put his plan into action. "Buso Koka." Luffy muttered as he coated his entire chest in Haki, turning it a completely, shiny black. "Gomu Gomu no Balloon!" Luffy shouted as he inhaled a large amount of air, which inflated his Haki coated upper body into a more balloon like shape.

"Did that guy just blow himself up like a balloon?" Wally shouted as his, Sho's, and Milliana's eyes popped out of their heads in shock at the absurd sight. Erza and Simon's eyes just widened in shock at the scene while Rob just smiled as he watched. Once they got over their shock at the boy suddenly inflating himself, the magic soldiers and cultists fired off a barrage of magic blasts at Luffy, whose inflated body just made him a bigger target for them. The moment the magic blasts reached Luffy, instead of exploding upon contact with the rubber boy's inflated body like they expected, they were absorbed into his inflated body to their shock. Despite feeling the stress of overusing his Haki to cover his inflated body, Luffy managed to form a crosshair with both of his thumbs and forefingers as he took aim at his stunned enemies.

"Gomu Gomu no Thank You Fire!" Luffy shouted as he accurately rebounded the magic blasts back at their shooters, blasting several magic soldiers out of the air with their own magic blasts. The cultists were forced to flee as their own magic blasts were sent back at them with the same attack, taking out most of them in one fell swoop.

"Who is this guy?" Simon asked in awe as he and the others stared slack jawed at Luffy while Erza stared at the boy in awe, having never seen anything like what he just did before. Luffy just wobbled in place after letting out the excess air in his body. His little stunt put more pressure on his body than he expected.

"Man I really got to work on my Haki when I get back to the guild. That hurt more than it should've." Luffy muttered to himself, planning to train his Haki more once he returns to Magnolia. He quickly had to move to avoid a magic blast from a magic soldier, one of the few that managed to avoid the rebounded magic blasts. "Okay you're really starting to annoy me." Luffy shouted as he threw his arms forwards and grabbed a hold of the magic soldier's legs. "Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy started as he pulled back while the magic soldier began to charge its attack. "Rocket!" Luffy shouted as jumped off the ground and slingshotted himself towards the magic soldier, head-butting its mouth shut just as it was about to fire its blast. With nowhere for the magic blast to escape to, this caused the magic soldier's head to explode as its body was consumed in a fiery explosion. As its burning body fell to the ground, Luffy jumped high into the air as steam came out of one of his arms. "Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy started as he held out one of his arms to aim at the remaining four magic soldiers who were preparing to shoot him out of the air. "Jet Pistol!" He shouted as he punched all four of them in the abdomens faster than anyone present could follow. The sheer force behind the blows sent all four magic soldiers crashing into the ground as they formed craters upon impact.

Luffy casually landed on his feet as he deactivated Gear Second on his arm, ignoring the army of cultists rushing towards him. Despite multiple slaves warning him about the incoming mob, Luffy just took a quick glance at the mob of cultists before unleashing a wave of Haki at them. The moment the Haki wave hit them, all of the cultists collapsed limply onto the ground, all of them were foaming at the mouth as Luffy casually walked towards Erza and her friends.

"W-Who are you?" Erza asked cautiously being the only one of her friends whose jaw wasn't hanging from her mouth.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy." Luffy replied seconds before all the slaves suddenly cheered wildly and circled around the rubber boy over his victory over the cultists and their magic soldiers. "Hey! Hey, put me down!" Luffy yelled over their cheers, not happy about the 'hero' treatment he was receiving. After a minute of cheering and throwing Luffy into the air, the grateful former slaves placed Luffy onto the ground before getting their dropped weapons and tending to their injured.

"Man what is wrong with those guys?" Luffy asked in an annoyed tone as he dusted himself off. He was given no relief as Wally, Milliana, and Sho soon surrounded him as they bombarded him with praise and questions about his powers.

"Guys, guys, guys let's give him some space." Simon quickly intervened, managing to get his friends to back off.

"Thanks Simon." Luffy thanked the boy, glad that he didn't have to deal with a bombardment of questions anymore.

"No problem... Luffy was it?" Simon replied. "You don't mind if ask you some questions about how you know my little sister?" He asked trying to not sound suspicious.

"Uh sure. What do you want to know?" Luffy replied.

As Simon asked questions and Luffy answered them to the best of his abilities, Erza just stared in surprise at how quickly her friends had taken to Luffy after his fight against the cultists. However her mind was somewhere else after seeing his fight, remembering what Rob told her about Magic when she first met him.

"...maybe he could help..." Erza pondered not noticing Rob was walking up to her.

"Erza..." Rob stated snapping Erza out of her thoughts.

"Oh Rob Ji-san I didn't see you there." Erza replied.

"What's troubling you Erza?" Rob asked in a kind, grandfatherly voice knowing that something was troubling the girl.

"Rob Ji-san... Is it wrong to ask someone you just met a big favor? Even if it's to save a life?" She asked timidly subtly glancing at Luffy.

Rob followed her line of sight and smiled when he realized what she meant. "Oh Erza even when you're stuck in situations like this, you still manage to think of others first before yourself." He mentally noted as he chuckled. "You'll never know unless you ask my dear child." He replied, deciding to let her make her own decisions.

Erza thought about Rob's words for a few minutes before coming to a decision. She quickly turned and walked towards Luffy, who was apparently thinking deeply about something.

"Luffy can I ask you something?" Erza asked, managing to get Luffy out of his thoughts.

"Sure I've got time. So what is it uh..." Luffy replied only to realize he didn't know the girl's name. Seeing that Luffy was lost for words, Erza tried to reason why until she realized he didn't know her name.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I forgot tell you my name." Erza apologized, has fully rubbing the back of her head. "My name is Erza Scarlet." She introduced herself as she held her hand out as Luffy took it and shook it. "You've already met my friends Simon, Wally, Sho, and Milliana earlier." She pointed towards the quartet who were currently helping people who were injured by the earlier attack.

"Oh ok. So what did you need Erpa?" Luffy asked as he accidentally butchered the red head's name in the process.

"It's Erza!" Erza shouted in anger at Luffy's idiocy. "Focus Erza, focus..." She thought to calm herself down. "Luffy..." She started before suddenly falling to her knees as she put her head to the ground.

"What are you-"

"Please lend me your strength!" She pleaded to her friends' shock while Luffy watched passively. "I know it's a lot to ask something like this from someone I just met but I don't have any other choice!"

"Erza..." Simon muttered as he helped an injured woman back to her feet.

"My... I-I mean our friend Jellal," She corrected herself, "was taken prisoner by the cultists after he tried to rescue me from the torture they put me through after an escape plan of mine failed and they decided to make an example of me to the others." She explained as Sho looked downwards in shame due to being the real mastermind of the failed escape plan and for letting Erza take the fall due to his own cowardice. "I started this revolution in order to save him and to win our freedom from our captors but now I see that my plan was foolhardy and would've gotten most of us killed or worse if you didn't step in earlier. That's why I am asking-no begging you, Luffy, to lend us your strength so we can save Jellal and finally escape this tower to freedom! So please...help us..." She begged as she was on the verge of tears after her emotional outburst. Luffy's eyes were shadowed over by his hat as he walked towards the prostrating Erza and bent down in front of her as he placed a comforting hand on her head.

Feeling a hand resting on her head, Erza pulled her head up to see Luffy flashing her a smile. "Shishishi... I like you." Luffy said cheerfully as Erza raised an eyebrow wondering why he said something like that. "If you're willing to go this far for one of your friends then I'll definitely help you Erza!" Luffy declared as he grabbed a hold of one of Erza's hands and gripped it firmly. "Let's go save your friend and get out of this place!"

Erza was about to tear up when she heard Luffy's words but stopped herself as she wiped the tears away with her forearm. "Thank you Luffy for agreeing to my selfish request." She thanked Luffy as she bowed to him.

"Oh man with this guy on our side getting to Jellal will be breeze for all of us!" Wally cheered as Sho and Milliana pumped their fists into the air in agreement.

"Yeah!" They both cheered loudly.

"Simon, Wally, Milliana, and Sho..." Erza began as she got up and turned towards her friends. "I have something very important to ask you guys to do." She stated authoritatively, catching all four's attention and making them turn towards the girl.

"What is it Nee-san?" Sho asked, curious to what Erza had in mind for them.

"Yeah what is it Er-chan?" Milliana asked as well.

"I need you guys to go with everyone else and secure a ship at the docks while I go further into the tower with Luffy." Erza ordered authoritatively, her sudden order stunned Wally, Sho, and Milliana into silence.

"W-What do you mean by that Er-chan?" Milliana asked as she was the first to recover from her shock. Wally and Sho followed suit and soon asked similar questions about why they couldn't go with her to save Jellal. While the others bombarded their leader with questions about why they couldn't go with her, Simon was silent as he knew the reason behind why Erza would give such an order. Luffy watched passively from the sidelines as Erza tried to explain to her friends why they couldn't come with her. He was so engrossed in watching Erza talk to her friends that he didn't notice Rob had walked up to him.

"Excuse me..." Rob said politely as he tapped Luffy's shoulder, startling the rubber boy back into reality.

"Whoa! I didn't see you there Grasshopper-ossan!" Luffy shouted as he jumped back in surprise.

"That's quite alright." Rob chuckled at the boy's reaction and his strange nickname for him. "Sorry to startle you but I have something important to ask of you young man if you don't mind." He stated politely with a genuine smile.

"Oh sure Grasshopper-ossan. What do you need?" Luffy asked bluntly, causing Rob to chuckle some more at the boy's direct nature.

"Straight to the point I see. Well I better not waste anymore time then." Rob stated politely. "I need you to take care of Erza for me in case anything happens while we're separated." Rob asked politely, however, he wore a serious expression as spoke.

"Wait what do you mean by that?" Luffy asked, confused by Rob's request.

"I am an old man that has lived a long, long life, Luffy. Throughout the years, I have experienced great joys with my dear comrades, experienced incredible losses, and faced unimaginable horrors that no man should ever face. I had all but lost hope after I first arrived on this accursed island." Rob explained in a serious tone, grimacing as he remembered all the horrors he experienced since he was forced to work on this tower. "I had all but lost hope of seeing my family again. Until one day, I met Erza..." At the mention of the redhead's name, Rob's grimace became a genuine smile. "I have never met a child that could keep up such a genuine smile in such a depressing place such as this. Her smile gave me hope for a better future out of this tower. I would do anything to make sure she is still able to smile like that." He explained as he placed his right hand over his heart while Luffy listened intently to his words.

"My body is not as strong as it used to be when I was a young man so I don't know whether I'll make it off this island alive or not. So I'm asking you to take care of her for me in case I don't make it. Can you promise to look out for her in the stead of an old man such as myself?" He asked sincerely.

"Of course! I'll make sure to keep Erza safe so don't worry about it Grasshopper-ossan! It's a promise!" Luffy replied instantly, remembering a similar promise he made the night before his crew left Cocoyashi Village to that Pinwheel guy Nami liked so much.

"Good. I knew I can always rely on a fellow Fairy." Rob said calmly with a smile as he pulled off Luffy's ruined right sleeve, showing off the red Fairy Tail mark on his right bicep.

"Wait how did you know about the guild mark, Grasshopper-ossan?" Luffy asked, shocked that the old man knew where his guild mark was placed. Rob just chuckled in amusement at the rubber boy's shock.

"I always know a fellow guild mate when I see one." Rob replied as turned around and showed off the black Fairy Tail mark on his back. Before Luffy could even ask him about why he had that mark, Rob had walked away towards Erza and her friends. "Come along children. We need to secure a boat if we are to ever leave this island." Rob called out to Wally, Sho, Milliana, and Simon as he walked with the rest of the adults towards the cavern that lead outside to the docks.

"You guys should go with Rob Ji-san to get the ship. It's going to be a lot safer than where I'm going" Erza suggested to her friends, most of whom were still against letting Erza go off to the inner parts of the tower without them.

"...Alright let's go guys." Simon said breaking the silence, causing Wally, Milliana, and Sho to turn to him in shock.

"What do you mean 'let's go guys'? Aren't you mad she's just sending us all off fetch the ship while she goes get Jellal by herself? Don't you see anything wrong with this picture?" Wally asked angrily while Milliana and Sho nodded in agreement.

"No because I know Erza knows what's she doing and that she is right about us needing to secure a ship while she goes off to get Jellal." Simon rebutted as he looked at Wally from the corner of his eyes. "What would happen if we didn't have a ship ready to leave by the time we get to Jellal? Those cultists would've destroyed the ship long before we got there, leaving us stranded on this island with limited food and water supplies." He pointed out causing Wally, Milliana, and Sho to look to the ground in shame, acknowledging that Simon had a point.

"Well... Just because that's true doesn't mean I have to like it!" Wally shouted angrily. "Hey you! Stretchy Guy!" He shouted as he pointed at Luffy, who had been calmly watching the whole exchange from the sidelines. "You better make sure Erza comes back to us in one piece you hear me? Or else you'll have to deal with me, Mad Dog Wally!" Wally threatened, trying to sound tough in order to hide his concern.

"Yeah! You better make sure Er-chan comes back to us alright!" Milliana shouted trying to sound tough as well.

"Please make sure nothing happens to Nee-san and help her come back safely, alright?" Sho asked meekly not bothering to hide his concern.

"Don't worry I will!" Luffy replied confidently with a large grin on his face. Having gotten their answer, Wally, Milliana, and Sho went off to join Rob with the others while Simon stayed behind.

"...just take care of yourself, Erza." Simon finally said after moments of deliberating. "And Luffy..." Simon began as turned towards the rubber boy, staring Luffy straight in the eye. "Make sure she stays safe." Simon asked, his words carried an edge to them that made it clear he wouldn't forgive the rubber boy if anything happened to the red head. Catching the hidden threat, Erza was about to reprimand Simon when Luffy spoke.

"I could say the same to you." He said calmly. "Don't do anything stupid, Simon. Kagura's waiting for you out there on the mainland." He stated in a serious tone, surprising Erza and Simon with how serious he was. Once he got over his surprise, Simon waved the two off as he ran to catch up with the others, leaving Erza and Luffy alone in the cavern.

"...sorry about how they acted Luffy." Erza apologized on behalf of her friends, trying to break the ice as Luffy turned his attention towards her. "They mean well but ever since I lost my right eye they've gotten a little overprotective of me." She stated as she rubbed the back of her head bashfully.

"That's alright." Luffy waved off her apology, not bothered at all by how her friends acted towards him. "They must really care about you if they're willing to act like that to protect you. That's what friends do after all" He acknowledged, having grown to like them already.

"They really do..." She admitted softly as she went to grab her sword and shield. "Luffy... I want to thank you again for accepting my selfish request." Erza stated as she turned to face Luffy, who just tilted his head in confusion at why she was thanking him. "I know you came here originally to bring Simon back to his little sister so I know this is really asking a lot more than you expected so I-" She was about to say more only for Luffy to place his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it Erza." Luffy replied with a smile. "That's what friends do for each other!" He stated confidently surprising Erza with his words but caused her to smile at them as well.

"I see..." She stated softly, glad to have another friend she could rely on before remembering what she had to do. "We've spent enough time here already. We have go rescue Jellal before we can actually leave this place." She stated firmly as Luffy nodded his head in agreement.

"So... where is Jello anyway?" Luffy asked as he scratched his head in confusion, realizing he didn't have a clue where this 'Jello' guy could be. Erza just face palmed at Luffy butchering Jellal's name before just deciding to let it slide.

"Just follow me. I at least know where they've taken him." Erza stated calmly as she ran in a different direction.

"Alright lead the way Erza!" Luffy shouted as he followed closely behind her.


Later, outside the tower, near the docks...

An hour after they broke off from Luffy and Erza, Simon, Rob and the others managed to make it outside at the base of the tower.

"Finally fresh air!" Wally shouted as he and Sho took a deep breath, both of them glad to finally taste the fresh ocean air.

"It's not over yet." Simon reminded them as he pointed towards the dock. "We have to get past them if we want to get the ship." He explained as they watched the battle occur in front of them. What they saw were small groups of cultists fighting back against their former slaves and workers to make sure they couldn't capture their ship. "You guys wait here. Those who can still fight and I will go join the others in taking the ship." Simon ordered Wally, Sho, and Milliana as he and several others went to go join the battle for the ship. Their unexpected entrance into the battle increased the number of fighters on the slaves' side to increase and this change caused the battle to turn in their favor.

"Keep fighting! We can't let these fools take our ship!" One cultist shouted from his position on the docks to the others who were fighting to keep the rebels from getting close to the ship.

"Sir, their numbers just keep increasing!" One soldier shouted back to his superior. "Soon we'll be overrun by them if we don't do anything! What should we do?!" The soldier pleaded as more and more cultist soldiers fell in combat as the former slaves advanced. The cultist in charge was so stumped on what to do, he didn't notice a large shark fin poking out of the water as it headed straight towards him.

"Just keep fighting you idiot!" The cultist in charge shouted to the soldier, not noticing the shark fin descend into the water as it went under the dock. "If we keep them from the ship for as long as we can then reinforcements will come-" The lead cultist was about to continue when he heard wood break under him. He quickly looked down to see two fingerless gloved hands grab a hold of his ankles and before he could even make a sound, he was pulled through the dock underwater.

"Sir!" The soldier screamed as he bent down and looked into the water for any sign of his superior. After a minute of fruitless searching, the water turned red from blood as the cultist's mask floated to the surface. The soldier was about to go alert his comrades about the new danger only to suddenly be grabbed by the same gloved hands and dragged underwater.

Meanwhile on the shoreline, Simon fought valiantly against any cultist he could find with nothing but a shovel as his weapon. After slamming his shovel into the face of cultist and knocking him out, Simon looked out to his objective, a large ship that could carry every single slave out to sea and as far away from this island as possible. Simon smiled when he saw Rob shepherd his friends and several other children onto the ship as the adults fended off any cultist that got too close to the dock.

"I'm coming Kagura..." Simon thought determinedly as he rushed back into battle against the dwindling cultist forces. "Just wait for me a little longer and I'll come back to you!" He thought as he rushed back into battle.

"Help me!" A terrified voice screamed out, stopping Simon in his tracks as he looked around for who screamed. He looked around for several minutes around shoreline and just as he was about to write it off as his mind playing tricks on him, he heard another cry for help.

"Someone help me!" Another terrified voice cried out, this one was different from the last as it was a slightly deeper pitch than the last voice. Now sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, Simon looked around the battle field and this time found what he was looking for. Further inland on the rocky shore, near a large rock outcropping was a cloaked figure standing menacingly before two kids, a black haired boy with a prominent hooked nose and a maroon haired boy with tanned skin.

Simon watched as the cloaked figure grabbed a hold of the boys by their heads and slammed them together, knocking them out. "Why isn't anyone noticing this guy?" Simon thought as no one noticed the cloaked figure drop both boys to the ground as they were too engrossed in the fight. "What is he doing with them?" He thought as he watched as a green shadowy miasma covered both of the figure's hands as he slammed them down onto the unconscious boys' backs, causing them to convulse violently as the miasma seeped into the bodies. He could only watch as the cloaked figure picked up both boys by their shirts as he brought out a strange bracelet from his left pocket. Simon could only watch in shock as both boys disappeared into the bracelet, three out of its seven lantern-like charms were now glowing.

Before Simon could rush off towards the figure to try to save the two boys he had captured, four cultists out of the dozens fighting on the shore noticed the cloaked figure and charged towards the unknown figure. Simon watched from afar as the cloaked figure swiped his right arm forward and faster than his eyes could follow, three of the four cultists were sent flying back by an unknown attack as they suddenly burst into flames. The fourth cultist wasn't any more fortunate as the cloaked figure suddenly appeared before the soldier and grabbed him by his throat, the figure's right hand was covered by a gauntlet made of stone. As the cultist struggled to escape the death grip around his throat, the cloaked figure lifted the soldier into the air as the stones covering his right hand stated glowing.

Seconds after his hand started to glow, the cloaked figure turned his head allowing Simon to see the figure's face, which had a young, masculine appearance and a mismatched pair of yellow and green eyes. What disturbed Simon the most about the cloaked figure wasn't his incredibly pale complexion, but the fact that he was smiling as he gazed at him with a predatory look, his slitted eyes carried such unmitigated joy as he choked the cultist to death. Noticing that Simon wasn't turning his head away, the cloaked teen raised his index finger before his smiling mouth before bringing it in front of his neck and moved it across in a slitting motion, keeping his joyful smile in place as he made his death threat clear to the boy.

Before Simon could even respond to the gesture, the stones covering the cloaked teen's right hand detonated as they engulfed him and the unfortunate cultist in a large fiery explosion. Simon and everyone else close to the explosion were thrown several feet backwards by the blast, which caused Simon to collide head first against the rocky shore.

As Simon struggled to get up from the rocky shore he was blown across, he caught a glimpse of the cloaked teen, completely unharmed by the explosion he created earlier, climbing up the outer wall of the tower's base. Forced to close his eyes from the pain of his head colliding with the rocky shore, when Simon opened his eyes again the mysterious teen was gone and a large hole in the wall was in his place.

"Who was that guy?" Simon asked groggily as blood dripped down his forehead before everything went dark in his eyes. As he laid unconscious on the shore, Simon couldn't hear his friends shouting as they rushed towards him and called for medical attention.


Meanwhile, deep within the tower...

Luffy and Erza were running through a large, stone passageway as they fought off cultists left and right.

"Man there's no end to these guys!" Luffy shouted as he kicked three cultists into the rock wall with an elongated leg. Erza blocked a sword swing with her makeshift shield before pushing the cultist back and cutting him across the chest with her sword.

"That just means we're getting closer to Jellal." Erza replied as she saw Luffy punch the last remaining cultist in the face with an elongated arm, watching curiously as Luffy's arm retracted back to its normal length and looked as normal as it was before. "I've been wondering this for a while Luffy but how are you stretching your limbs like that?" She asked curiously, as they continued to run.

"It's because I'm a Rubber man." Luffy answered simply as they continued to run through the passageway only to reach the end of it and found themselves looking over a large open cavern. Both looked down and saw that the cavern was the site of a previous battle Erza had led earlier in the morning.

"Rubber man? Does that mean you use Rubber Magic?" Erza asked as she looked around the cliff trying to see if they didn't just run into a dead end. "Hey there's a platform we can use to reach the other side!" She pointed out to a platform that bridged both sides of the cavern and was on a lower level from the cliff the duo had found themselves at.

"I don't use Magic, Erza." Luffy corrected as he went to the cliff edge Erza was at and looked for the platform she mentioned.

"Wait, what do you mean you don't use Magic?" Erza asked in a confused tone, as she pointed Luffy towards the platform. Luffy grinned when he saw the platform and he began swinging his arm around in place before throwing it forward.

"I don't know how to use Magic." Luffy replied simply as he managed to grab a hold of platforms edge. "I'm a rubber man because I ate a Devil Fruit." He explained as he motioned for Erza to grab a hold of him as she complied.

"What's a Devil Fruit-" Erza's question was interrupted when Luffy jumped off the cliff edge "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She screamed as Luffy slingshotted them across the gap and crash landed them onto the platform. Erza panted heavily as she sat up and tried to calm her racing heart while Luffy was just laughing like a fool as he sat, not even fazed by his stunt.

"Stop laughing!" Erza yelled as she hit Luffy on his head, leaving a smoking lump on his head as she held up her smoking fist. "It's not funny!" She yelled, not amused at Luffy laughing after giving her a heart attack with his stunt.

"Sorry sorry." Luffy apologized as he got to his feet and rubbed the bump on his head. "We're here aren't we?" Luffy asked as Erza raised her fist to hit him again before deciding to just take a deep breath and let it go.

"Yes we are-" She was about to say when Luffy suddenly appeared before her with his arms coated in Haki as he knocked aside a magic blast aimed for her head straight into the air. Further down the platform, Erza could see multiple cultists armed with swords and magic staffs as well as several magic soldiers and a large flying worm beast hovering in the air above them. "And we're not alone!" She shouted as she brandished her sword and shield.

"If these guys want a fight, then they've got one alright!" Luffy declared as he cracked his knuckles with a grin on his face as both of them rushed forward to face their enemies head on. As the magic soldiers charged up their attacks, Luffy coated both his arms in Haki as he went in front of Erza. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" He shouted as he unleashed a rapid barrage of powerful punches just as the magic soldiers fired their magic blasts. His fists collided against the incoming magic blasts and managed to send them flying back in sporadic directions. Some of the redirected magic blasts managed to hit a few of the magic soldiers directly on their chests and head, engulfing them in small explosions and knocking them out of the air.

By the time Luffy had retracted his arms back, six cultists were upon him with their swords drawn. Luffy wasn't worried, however, as Erza immediately jumped in front of him and blocked all their swords with her own. "Get down when I say so! Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy shouted as Erza turned her head slightly and saw that Luffy was pulling back one of his legs. She then parried off her opponent's swords and when they were knocked back, she quickly bent down as Luffy swung his leg forward. "Muchi!" He shouted as he stretched his leg and kicked all of the cultists in front of him, knocking all of them off of the platform while avoiding Erza entirely.

Seeing that more cultists and magic soldiers were heading towards the duo, Luffy jumped as he twisted his legs back in midair in preparation for his next move. "Gomu Gomu no UFO!" Luffy shouted as he let his legs go, causing them to spin around horizontally like a discus. Erza watched in amazement as Luffy hovered a few feet off the platform while he lashed out and kicked any cultists or magic soldiers within reach, sending them flying off the structure in the process. One magic soldier that managed to avoid Luffy's spinning kicks moved behind the hovering rubber boy as it began to charge its attack while the boy was distracted. Before the floating zombie creature could fire its blast, Erza jumped towards it and uppercutted it with her sword's hilt, slamming its mouth shut in the process. With no opening for it to escape, the magic blast exploded inside the magic soldier's head and blew it apart as Erza was thrown across the platform from the blast. As Erza managed to get back onto her feet, she witnessed Luffy kick the last cultist off the platform just in time for the flying worm beast to swoop down towards him.

"Luffy look out!" Erza shouted in concern as she watched the flying beast open its large jaws just as Luffy landed on his feet. Hearing Erza's warning, Luffy quickly bent backwards as he avoided the eyeless beast's jaws as it flew over him. He quickly flipped back onto his feet while the large eyeless beast made a U-turn in the air. Seeing that the creature was flying towards him, Luffy stretched both his arms far back.

"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy began as he ran down the platform towards the incoming beast and jumped towards the beast once it was in close range. "Bazooka!" He shouted as he ducked under the beast's snapping jaws and hurled his arms forward, striking the beast's abdomen with both hands. The devastating strike caused the beast to cough up blood as it was sent flying across the cavern until it crashed into a few stalactites and crashed limply onto the ground.

"Whoa..." Erza muttered in awe as she walked up to Luffy who managed to land on his feet. "So that's what a Devil Fruitallows you to do... It's almost like Magic..." The redhead observed as she pick up a short sword dropped by a cultist earlier. The sword was still in its sheath, which had a strap that allowed it to be carried on its wielder's back.

"I already told you Erza. Devil Fruitsare not magic... I think..." Luffy replied, slightly unsure about whether his powers could be classified as Magic while Erza slung her new weapon over her shoulder. The sword's short size suited her while making an excellent backup weapon for the girl.

"Alright then Luffy. Could you at least tell me what Devil Fruits are?" Erza asked as the duo began to run down the platform towards the other side, no more enemies were left to distract them from their objective.

"Okay!" Luffy replied as he ran alongside the redhead. "Devil Fruits are like, um, these weird, terrible tasting fruits that I think, um, are usually covered in swirls and come in different colors." He began to explain as best as he could to his curious friend, not having a complete understanding of the concept like some of the people he knew like Robin or... Robin.

"You 'think'?" Erza asked, sounding skeptical of Luffy's explanation.

"Hey! I've only seen two devil fruits before this! The Gomu Gomu no Mi,which was a disgusting, purple fruit that made me a rubber man when I ate it," Luffy then pulled on his right cheeks far beyond human limits for emphasis," and the Mera Mera no Mi that I tried to get which had these weird flame thingies with swirls all over it." He replied as he let his cheek snap back into place. Erza pondered Luffy's words for a bit before she realized what he just said.

"Wait, if you already have the Gomu Gomu no Mi then why did you go after the Mera Mera no Mi? Were you trying to get more powers?" Erza asked innocently, not knowing it wasn't possible for a single living creature to ever have multiple Devil Fruit powers except for one 'atypical' individual. Once Erza finished her question Luffy's expression suddenly changed from cheerful to sullen, his eyes narrowed slightly as a current of painful memories concerning the Mera Mera no Mi's last user rushed to the forefront of his mind. Specifically, the memory of the last user's final moments in Luffy's arms...

"...no." Luffy answered sullenly, his voice lacked any of the cheerfulness Erza had come to expect from the boy she met over an hour ago. "Devil Fruit users can't eat more than one fruit because we'll explode or something weird like that..." He explained, remembering the warning Robin had told him during their voyage to Dressrosa after Traffy's explanations about SMILE Devil Fruits.

"T-Then why were you trying to get the Mera Mera no Mi if you couldn't eat it?" Erza asked out of concern for Luffy's sudden mood change despite being disturbed by the brutal imagery of someone exploding from eating two fruits.

"It tried to get it because that fruit belonged to my big brother, Ace." He answered morosely as he came to a stop while Erza stopped a few feet in front of him, his knuckles whitened from how hard he was clenching his hand.

"Luffy..." Erza said in a concerned tone, feeling an immense amount of guilt for her probing after seeing the pain in Luffy's eyes. Seeing the concerned expression on Erza's face snapped Luffy out of his sullen mood but before he could reassure her that he wasn't mad at her, his Haki suddenly activated and showed him a vision of a flying axe bifurcating Erza from behind.

"GET DOWN!" Luffy yelled as he tackled Erza to the floor as he covered her with his body. Erza was about to yell at him about what he was doing when a spinning axe passed over the duo as the air swooshed from speed the axe was flying at.

"That would've hit me if Luffy didn't..." Erza thought, realizing how easily she would've been killed in the last minute if Luffy hadn't pushed her down. Luffy noticed that they weren't out of danger yet as he quickly grabbed a hold of Erza and jumped back to avoid being crushed by a massive figure falling on top of them, the platform shook heavily from the impact as Luffy tried to maintain his balance on it. Erza quickly looked up as her single eye widened in shock at the appearance of the duo's attacker. "It's him!" Erza thought in shock as she looked up towards the massive cultist's face, memories of the torture the massive cultist put her through surged to the forefront of her mind.

Giller wore a stern expression under his mask as he lifted his arm up to catch his massive axe, which had circled back around in midair like a boomerang.

"So this is what you're so called rebellion has been reduced to, girl." Giller said in an unimpressed tone as he looked over Erza and Luffy, not having suspected she would only come with one other person. "Did everyone just abandon you to escape while you rush in here to save your dear friend?" He asked sarcastically, a sadistic grin grew on his face when he saw Erza glare hatefully at him. "And now you're all alone with only this... child?" He stated uncertainly, noticing that Luffy's clothing was completely different from any of the children they've forced into labor. "But it doesn't matter now since you'll never get past m-OOOooooohhh!" He started only to suddenly squeal in pain. Erza's eye widened when she saw Luffy appear in front of the massive cultist during his monologue and suddenly struck him in the groin.

"Blah, blah, blah, I'm going to kill you, blah, blah, blah... I've heard this speech a million times already!" Luffy complained as the massive cultist fell to his knees while holding his groin to soothe the pain. "Come on! Let's go before this idiot gets back up!" Luffy shouted as he grabbed a hold of Erza's hand and started pulling her forward.

"Right!" Erza replied as she followed Luffy around the cultist

"You little bastard..." Giller muttered as Luffy and Erza were running further across the platform. "Do you really think I'll..." He continued as he grabbed a hold of one of his axes on his back, the weapons steel blade began to glow a rainbow of colors once he pulled it out of its handle. "Let you get away with this humiliation?!" He roared in anger as he swung his axe vertically towards the running duo, sending a rainbow-colored slash towards them that cut up the wooden planks as it moved.

Sensing the incoming attack with his Haki, Luffy quickly moved Erza to the side as the slash passed them and kept on moving forward. "What was that?!" Erza asked in surprise, having never seen the massive cultist use such an attack when he led the attack on her village.

"Huh," Luffy replied, "Didn't expect this guy to be able to use flying slashes." He admitted somewhat surprised by the massive cultist's attack and strength. "Erza." Luffy began as his eyes narrowed while watching the massive cultist get back onto his feet. "Go on ahead and rescue Jello. I'll deal with this guy." Luffy ordered as he charged forward to Erza's shock.

"Wait Luffy!" Erza shouted after Luffy who threw his right arm back and twisted it around when he got close to the massive cultist.

"Gomu Gomu no Rifle!" Luffy shouted as he threw the powerful punch towards the massive cultist. Giller just sneered as he raised one of his massive battle-axe to block the powerful blow with its broad side, the weapon's blade began to glow red moments before Luffy's fist made contact. After several seconds of trying to break through the cultist's guard to no avail, Luffy had to pull his hand back as he felt searing pain shoot through his hand after prolonged contact. "Man that burns!" Luffy shouted as he tried to cool his smoking hand. "How hot is that axe?" He asked, slightly surprised that the weapon burned him.

"Oh it can do more than just burn, boy..." Giller stated menacingly as he appeared before Luffy with one of his axes raised high above his head as the air shimmered around the axe's blades. "Shredding Wave!" Giller shouted as he swung downwards at an angle, causing Luffy to bend over backwards to avoid being hit by the swing as it sent a shimmering slash flying downwards. Luffy watched in surprise as the shimmering wave destroyed everything in its path from the wooden walkways that ran along the side of the platform to the iron beams supporting the entire structure, causing the part of the platform that Erza was standing on to become unsteady as it began to swing from side to side. Before Luffy could even get up to help her, Giller slammed his oversized fist down on the boy's abdomen, sending the rubber boy crashing through the wooden planks to the rocky bottom

"Luffy!" Erza shouted in concern for the rubber boy as she tried to maintain her balance on the unstable platform. "You'll pay for that!" She yelled in anger as she gripped her sword and glared at the massive cultist, who wore a sadistic grin as he turned towards the girl.

"Will I now?" Giller asked sarcastically as he jumped from on his spot and landed several feet away from Erza on the same platform, causing the unstable structure they were on swing more wildly from side to side as the iron supports began to creak loudly from the excess weight. "And what will you do now that you're all alone girl? Cry out for your knight in shining armor to save you again like before?" He asked mockingly as he pulled out his other axe and began to walk calmly towards her, unaffected by the platform's constant swinging. "Facing me with nothing but a cheap sword and a barrel lid for a shield is nothing short of suicide. With my deluxe edition Magic Axes, Iwill make mincemeat out of your body!" He shouted as he charged forward with his battle-axes setting themselves ablaze.

"No I won't." Erza replied quietly as she gripped her sword and shield. "Because I'll be taking you down!" She shouted in defiance as she charged towards the massive man.

"Blazing Wave!" Giller shouted as he swung his axes diagonally sending flaming slashes towards the charging girl. Erza was undeterred by the attack as she jumped over both slashes as they collided against the wooden walkway, setting a large part of the platform behind her on fire. Erza kept on moving forward as Giller tried to pull his arms back, his longer reach with his massive arms prevented him from being able to pull them back fast enough. However, instead of bringing his arms back closer to side body, Giller swung his right axe to the right once Erza was close enough for him to attack her at close range. Seeing the incoming axe blade, Erza raised her sword in an attempt to defend herself.

The moment her sword met Giller's axe, Erza was knocked onto her back with head over the platform's edge as her sword broke into pieces from the power behind the axe's swing. "Oh did I break your little sword?" Giller asked mockingly as Erza's eye widened as she looked over her broken sword, now just a portion of its former length. "You won't have to worry about that for long..." Giller said calmly as he put his right hand axe, flashing Erza a psychotic grin as he raised his left hand into the air as his left hand axe began to glow a rainbow of colors. "Rainbow Splitter!" He shouted as he swung downwards.

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to get up in time to dodge the swing, Erza did the next best thing and rolled herself towards the massive cultist, allowing her to dodge the axe's blade as it sent a rainbow-colored straight down through the platform to the rocky ground. Before Giller could express surprise at her unexpected move, Erza thrust her broken sword into the giant cultist's left arm and moved it up the length of his forearm, cutting through the outer layers of fat and muscle tissue as blood poured out from the wound. Giller screamed in pain as he dropped his left hand axe and grabbed a hold of his left arm with his free hand to stop the bleeding. Erza got up back to her feet as Giller tried to stop the bleeding, normally she would be horrified by her previous action but memories of Giller's and his men's assault on Rosemary Village kept her from feeling too bad for the massive man. Taking advantage of the massive cultist's distracted state, Erza quickly rushed forward and slashed Giller's left leg causing him to fall onto his left knee.

"You damn bitch. Did you really think a blade that short would be able to take me down..." Giller muttered under his breath as Erza backed off to defend herself against any possible attack. "Don't underestimate me!" He shouted as he rushed forward in bust of speed, catching Erza off guard at how fast he could move. Erza tried to quickly move away only to get kneed in the abdomen by Giller's massive leg. She would've been sent flying into from the blow if Giller didn't suddenly elbow her in the back with his left arm, resulting in a powerful pincer attack that caused Erza to cough up a mouthful of blood. As the massive cultist tried to crush her body between his left elbow and knee, in desperation Erza stabbed Giller in his left thigh with her broken blade and twisted it in the wound.

This caused Giller scream out in pain again, allowing Erza to slip out of his pincer attack. The massive cultist tried to smash the redhead with his free hand only for Erza to move out of the way, which caused him to hit his own injured leg as blood spurted out from the blow. Erza tried to get in close to slash at him again only for Giller to backhand her across the platform, causing her to drop her shield as it fell over the platform's edge. Erza landed roughly as she rolled across the wooden planks, she was barely able to push her body back up after all the nonstop fighting she's done today. She managed to get back up onto her feet with some effort when she felt the platform begin to shake.

Quickly looking up, Erza saw that Giller was walking towards her with an expression of pure fury as he bared his teeth at her like a rabid dog. Erza's eye widened when she spotted her broken blade embedded up to the hilt in his right arm. Erza tried to take step back to out some distance between her and the massive cultist only to stop when she felt the hair on the back of her neck begin to burn. She quickly turned her head and her eye widened to see that most of the platform behind her was engulfed in a blazing inferno, the fires from earlier having grown enough to engulf most of the upper structure. With nowhere left to go, Erza turned around to see Giller was just a few feet away from her.

"I've had it..." Giller muttered in cold fury as he pulled the broken blade out his right arm and crushed it in his left hand. "End of the line girl. The only road you can follow now is death's." He stated coldly as he pulled out his other axe, the air around it began shimmering the moment it was in his hands. "You should've accepted that you're never getting out of this tower, girl. After this, I will see to it that you and everyone you care about will be worked to death finishing this tower. But I'm not a heartless monster, so I'll make you a deal." He offered, his calm voice belied the frothing rage hidden behind it. "If you give up now I'll just punish you with that fate. Am I not fair, girl?" He asked as Erza's eye was shadowed over by her hair and the flames behind her.

"...never." Erza muttered quietly, causing Giller to tilt his head.

"What did you say, girl?"

"I said 'never' you bastard! I'll never give up to the likes of you because it'll be no different than spitting in the faces of everyone who followed me into battle against you jerks." Erza shouted as he unsheathed her short sword and pointed it towards the massive cultist." I have someone waiting for me past these flames and others waiting for me out side this tower and I'm not going to keep them waiting any longer!" Erza shouted in defiance. "And my name isn't 'girl'! It's Erza Scarlet! And you're going to move out of my way!" She declared prepared to give her all as he rushed forward as Giller just flashed a psychotic smile.

"So be it." He stated calmly as he prepared to swing his axe and kill the girl. Before he could even swing, the planks underneath him exploded upwards as a steaming foot smashed into Giller's face. Erza stopped herself and watched in shock as the massive cultist was sent into the air before something shot out of the hole under him. Her eye widened even more when she saw Luffy suddenly appear before Giller. Faster than Erza could follow with her single eye, Luffy smashed his Haki coated fist downward into Giller's face, shattering the man's mask as he sent the massive cultist crashing towards the ground.

Luffy calmly landed on the unstable as he deactivated his Haki in his arms, never taking his eyes off the direction he sent the massive cultist flying.

"Luffy!" Erza shouted as she ran towards the rubber boy, glad to see that he was alright. Her shout broke Luffy's concentration and made him turn his head towards her.

"Hey Erza!" Luffy replied cheerfully; glad to see that the redhead was all right. He was about to go to her when he heard loud creaking coming from the part of the platform they were on. He quickly used Soru to appear right next to the redhead and grabbed a hold of her.

"Luffy what are you-" Erza never got to finish her question as Luffy's body began to release steam.

"No time!" Luffy shouted as he jumped off the edge of the platform as it began to teeter to the side, the iron beams began to creak even louder under all the strain its gone through. As Erza screamed at him about what he was doing, Luffy threw one of his hands out and grabbed a hold of one of the more stable iron beams. "Gomu Gomu no Jet Rocket!" He shouted as he slingshotted both himself and Erza into the air at incredible speeds. Erza screamed as they flew over the flames and crashed onto the top of a cliff that was jutting out of the cavern walls. While Erza was panting heavily after their unexpected flight, Luffy just got back onto his feet and looked around the cliff's edge.

"Hey we made it to the other side!" Luffy shouted as he pointed towards the end of the platform that was connected to the cliff's edge, the structure was now completely ablaze as it fell apart. After nearly heaving up her stomach's contents, Erza looked up and was surprised that they did make it across the platform. She then turned her head as she saw a large opening in the cavern wall that lead to another pathway, one she was far too familiar with.

"I'm nearly there Jellal. Just wait for me a little longer…" Erza thought determinedly as he got back onto her feet. "Come on Luffy! We are almost there!" She shouted towards the rubber boy.

"Great now let's go-" Luffy was about to say when his Haki suddenly activated making him take a step back. This turned out to be a wise move as a shimmering slash suddenly burst upwards from the ground, cutting up the cliff side that Luffy was on. Erza stared in shock as the cliff side Luffy was on began to slide down diagonally.

"Luffy!" Erza shouted in shock as she tried to run towards him only for the rubber boy to his hand up towards her.

"Erza stay back! It's not safe!" Luffy yelled towards Erza, making the girl stop just in time for a blue wave of energy erupt from the ground followed by a massive wall of ice lined with hundreds of spikes. The redhead had a wide-eyed expression she looked up to see how high the ice wall climbed, the frozen structure having reached up to the top of the cavern.

"Damn. That guy is pretty tough if he is still able to fight like this." Luffy observed as the cliff edge continued to slide downwards. "Erza, I'm fine! Go on ahead and rescue Jello while I deal with this jerk!" Luffy shouted towards the girl, snapping her out of her shock. She was about to argue against his idea before recognizing he had a point.

"Ok." Erza replied hesistantly, not happy about Luffy's request. "Just come back to me and the others ok? We are not leaving without you!" She shouted back to Luffy, unsure if Luffy heard her. Luffy just grinned as he gave her a thumbs up from behind the ice wall.

"Alright I'll catch up to you guys as soon as I'm done here!" He shouted back, unconcerned about the fact that the cliff edge was sliding off at a faster rate as the iron beams connecting it to the platform were straining to hold it up. Erza hesitated for a few seconds before heading into the opening in the wall and down the pathway. Sensing that she was moving away from the incoming fight, Luffy let out a sigh of relief before his expression turned serious as he went to the cliff's edge. Looking down, Luffy found who he was looking for as he jumped off the cliff's edge.

Down near the base of the cliff, Giller glared hatefully upwards at the descending rubber boy as his axe started to glow blue. "Freezing Wave!" He shouted in cold fury as he swung his axe upwards, a blue cutting wave shot upwards towards Luffy followed by a spiked line of ice.

Seeing the incoming flying slash, Luffy just calmly activated Gear Second in his right leg. "Gomu Gomu no Jet Stamp." He shouted as he kicked off the cliff side, using the power of his kick to push off the wall to dodge the slash. Luffy spun through the air as he avoided several more flying slashes sent towards him.

"Rainbow Splitter! Hold still damn you! Rainbow Splitter!" Giller screamed in between his swings as he tried to hit Luffy in midair to no avail, glaring hatefully at the boy who cost him his right eye as a large shard of his mask was sticking out of his right socket.

"Make me!" Luffy shouted back in defiance, as he landed on his feet, disappearing instantly in a burst of speed before a rainbow-colored slash could hit him. Giller gaped in shock at the rubber boy's sudden disappearance seconds before Luffy appeared in front of him with both arms coated in Haki. Faster than the massive man could react, Luffy socked the man in the gut with his right before following through with his left. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy shouted as he unleashed a flurry of punches onto the cultist, pushing the fifteen-foot tall giant back under his unrelenting barrage. Luffy had to stop his attack and jump back as Giller swung his axe forward, the air shimmered a bright orange around its blade.

"That's it brat! I don't care about how you got here or why you're even here! All I know is that I'm going to tear you apart until you beg for the sweet release of death and then I'm going to do the same to that little red haired witch!" Giller shouted in cold fury as he placed his hand on the broad side of his axe, Luffy's eyes were shadowed over by the rim of his hat. "Mode Change: Size Expansion!" Giller shouted as he swiped his hand over his axe's broad side, causing it to glow brightly as it proceeded to expand in size until it was large enough to dwarf even the massive cultist. Hefting the giant sized weapon up with both arms, Giller began to spin around rapidly as the air shimmered around the massive axe, its color changing from a bright orange to a crimson red. "End of the line you rubber brat!" Giller shouted as he spun, each spin sent shockwaves all around the areas as the cavern walls to the iron beams supporting the platform a few feet away began to break apart under the force of his swings.

Luffy was unfazed by the destruction around him as he glared at the spinning cultist.

"I don't have time for this bullshit…" Luffy muttered coldly to himself as he put his left thumb to his mouth. "Gear Third." He muttered as he blew air into his thumb, inflating the bones in his left arm to massive proportions.

"Hahahaha! Do you really thinking inflating yourself like a balloon will save you from this attack!" Giller shouted as he continued to spin, now resembling a large tornado with a red ring around it. "Let me tell you something brat! This type of Magic Axe not only has the ability to create fire and ice attacks but vibrate molecules until the matter it composes falls apart." He explained viciously as the tornado moved forward as Luffy transferred the air in his left arm through his body to his right. "Even if my axe's blades fail to cut through you, its shredding powers will completely tear you apart!"

"Oh just shut up and bring it on already!" Luffy shouted as he centralized the air in the middle of his right arm and coated it with Haki. "Gomu Gomu no…" He began his finishing move as Giller was upon him.

"Fine then. Prepare to die Brat!" Giller reached his maximum speed as he prepared to use his ultimate attack. "Shredder Typhoon!" Giller yelled as his rotation stopped and he swung his axe with all his might towards Luffy.

"Elephant Gun!" Luffy shouted as he threw his enlarged arm forward, the massive fist easily shattered the shimmering shield and the enlarged axe behind it before moving towards the towering cultist. Giller was unable to do anything as the enlarged fist collided against him. Every bone in his body shattered upon impact. Luffy's fist continued forward unopposed as it collided against the rock wall forming the cliff before moving upward and sending Giller crashing into the rocky ceiling. This action, however, caused that part of the ceiling to break apart and collapse into an avalanche of stone and rock.

"Aw shit!" Luffy shouted in shock as he turned around and ran away to avoid the falling chunks of rock and stone, which caused a massive dust cloud to fill the area. After a few hectic minutes of chaos, the entire cavern was suddenly silent as the avalanche came to an abrupt end. As the dust cloud faded, the entire cliff side and the cave opening on it was buried underneath a massive pile of boulder and chunks of the ceiling. After a few seconds of silence, part of the rubble at the base of the pile began to move before suddenly exploding upward.

Luffy immediately jumped out of the pile as more rocks fell to fill in the opening he made, having been buried by the avalanche earlier.

"Phew! That was way too close for comfort! Good thing I'm a rubber man or I would've been a goner!" Luffy shouted, relieved to be out in the open. He quickly looked over the massive pile of rubble and saw that it covered the entrance to the pathway Erza took earlier. "Looks like I can't go that way…" Luffy muttered having a feeling that any attempt to clear the rubble away would result in more of the ceiling collapsing. Using his Haki to make sure his actions didn't get Erza buried under a pile of rubble, Luffy was relieved to find that the redhead was fine as her 'voice' was currently moving further and further away from him.

"Looks like I'll have to find my own way to get to her." Luffy said calmly, accepting that he needed to find a different path to his friend. Looking around, Luffy saw that the cavern extended further past the cliff, running along the same path Erza took. "Alright I'll just go that way and once I've reached Erza, I'll smash down a wall to regroup with her." He declared before running off further into the cavern.


Meanwhile, outside the disciplinary chamber...

After breaking away from Luffy and several minutes of running, Erza found herself standing just a couple of feet from the entrance to the disciplinary chamber. She calmly walked forward past the unconscious bodies of multiple cultists, all of them having been cut down by the two swords she had picked up along the way. Now the only things standing in her way from rescuing Jellal were Skinny and Fatty, who were now soiling themselves in fear of the girl they had tortured several days prior.

"N-Now now let's take it easy..." Fatty said hesitantly, scared out of his wits by the little girl who was glaring at him with her singular eye.

"Y-Yeah." Skinny said soon after, equally terrified of the girl in front of him. "L-Look we are really sorry about all the stuff we put you through." Skinny said quickly trying to save his own hide while Erza continued forward unmoved by his words. "I-I mean, we were only doing all that stuff because we were ordered to, we had no choice...!" He pleaded pathetically as Erza's eye narrowed even more.

"We're the only ones left from the order. You guys have won already!" Fatty stated.

"Can't we just settle our differences peacefully, huh?" Skinny asked, trying to reach out to Erza's good nature.

"Move." Erza replied in tranquil fury as she rushed forward and slashed Fatty and Skinny across the chests, sending both cultists flying into the air. Erza didn't pay them any attention as they crashed onto the floor unconscious; she was here for one thing only. Looking around the disciplinary chamber, Erza strained her remaining eye to find who she was looking for until she caught sight of the person chained to a single pillar in the room.

"Jellal!" Erza shouted in joy, relieved to find her friend was all right despite whatever horrors he was subjected to in the past few days. As Erza ran towards the chained up boy, Ultear watched the scene from her hiding spot.

"This should be fun to watch..." Ultear thought maliciously with a smile, having everything already prepared for the 'climax'.

"Jellal, it's okay now! It's all over now! We all fought back just like you said!" Erza shouted excitedly as she cut off the chains shackling the boy to the pillar. "We had a lot of trouble along the way... and Sho got his foot hurt badly... And there were plenty of sacrifices..." Erza explained sadly remembering all the losses they had over the past few days as Jellal made no move to show he was listening. "But then someone incredible showed up today and helped us beat them! It's because of him I managed to get to you!" She said, cheering up significantly when she remembered everything Luffy had done for her and her friends today. "His names Luffy and he has these rubber powers that aren't magic which I don't really understand but I don't care because we are free now!" Erza said rapidly as her excitement from winning their freedom kept her from noticing something was off about Jellal.

"Come on. We need to go find Luffy so we can go to the ship Simon and the others stole for us!" Erza said as she helped Jellal up to his feet. "We can leave this island forever!" Erza shouted in excitement for the new life ahead of them.

"E...rza..." Jellal muttered softly as Erza immediately took notice of his words. Before she could ask him what he wanted, Jellal wrapped his arms around Erza to her shock. For several minutes, Jellal and Erza stood like this with Erza having no idea about what to do. Despite wanting to enjoy his embrace for as long as she wanted, Erza knew this was neither the time nor the place for such a moment. Before she could get him to move, Jellal spoke.

"There'll be no more running." He said in an emotionless tone.

"Huh?" Erza sputtered having not expected Jellal to say something like that let alone in such a cold voice. She was about to ask him what he meant by that when Erza noticed that Jellal had tightened his arms around her. "Jel-lal?" She questioned as she tried to get out of his grip.

"True freedom lies right here." Jellal said malevolently with a sinister smile on his face as he let go of Erza and started walking away.

"Jellal…?" Erza muttered, unsure of Jellal's strange behavior. "What're you saying? We've got to get Luffy and join the others so we can run away together!" She shouted not understanding why Jellal was walking from her.

"Erza…" Jellal began not even turning to face the girl as Ultear watched the show from her hiding spot. "Freedom is not a thing that exists in this world." He stated calmly to Erza's shock.

"I came to realize this during my time in this room…" Jellal explained. "What we should truly strive for is no mere fleeting "freedom"." He emphasized that last word as his disgust poured through his voice at that moment.

"I seek true freedom! Zeref's World!" Jellal stated loudly as he turned to face Erza with a psychotic smile, stunning the girl with his announcement.

"I can understand a little how they felt too now. They were trying to revive Zeref into the world." Jellal stated as he walked to the unconscious bodies of Fatty and Skinny, a look of understanding was on his face that only seemed to enhance the psychotic look in his eyes. His look of understanding quickly evolved into an expression of rage and disgust as a dark aura surrounded him. "But they were pitiful believers who could not even feel their master's presence. Right?!" Jellal yelled as his newfound magic activated, lifting both Fatty and Skinny into the air to Erza's shock.

"Jellal… can use magic now?" Erza thought in shock as a few feet away, Ultear milked the redhead's expression for all it was worth and almost regretted not bringing a camera lacrima to record the whole thing.

"I'll be taking this tower." Jellal stated just as Fatty and Skinny regained consciousness to hear his words. "I will complete the R-System and bring about Zeref's resurrection." He declared.

"Wh… What's wrong with you Jellal…?" Erza muttered hesistantly, sweat pouring down her face at how much colder Jellal has become since she last saw him. "I don't understand what you're saying…"

"Useless." Jellal stated psychotically as he snapped Skinny's neck with his magic, shocking Erza speechless at the brutal execution. She watched in horror as Jellal flung Fatty's body all around the chamber, the cultist begging for his life the entire time, before making the fat cultist's body expand and burst into dust. "Heh." Jellal muttered as he pointed his hands at the unconscious cultists lying outside the room before he fired multiple blasts of Dark Magic at them.

"Stop this Jellal!" Erza shouted in horror as Jellal continued to slaughter cultists left and right, laughing psychotically with each kill he made.

"Jellal… Get a hold of yourself… I'm sure this is just because you've been tortured and you're not in your right mind." Erza pleaded, unwilling to see her friend continue on his killing spree.

"There's nothing wrong with me." Jellal countered as he smiled psychotically. "Erza… Let us complete the R-System… No, the Tower of Paradise! Together!" He offered as he put his hand forward. "And then we can resurrect Zeref!"

"Stop talking nonsense, Jellal!" Erza yelled as she knocked Jellal's hand aside. "We're leaving this behind us, forever!" Erza declared unwilling to go along with his insane plan.

"Oooh… I really wish I brought popcorn for this." Ultear thought as she watched Jellal's eyes narrow dangerously as something snapped inside him. Faster than Erza could react, Jellal put his hand forward and blasted Erza with an invisible wave of magic, sending the redhead crashing through the wall of the disciplinary chamber and out into an large open cavern. Erza barely managed to push her body off the ground with her arms, noticing that the area she was in was one of the battlegrounds she fought in early as there were multiple cultists lying all over the place.

"Go ahead." Jellal's voice echoed across the area as Erza barely managed to look up to see him overlooking her from the hole in the wall he made. "If you want to leave so much, then go ahead and leave on your own." Jellal said calmly, staring down at the girl with cold, psychotic eyes.

"On my own?" Erza replied in shock.

"I'll be taking all the others. I need them to me construct the Tower of Paradise." Jellal explained his eyes showed he meant every word.

"They just got it all wrong. Those masked fools never gave us a reason to work." Jellal countered, neither he nor Erza noticed that Ultear was now watching them from the hole in the wall above them. "I'll give them that reason. They will work for the sake of the mighty Mage, Zeref!"

"Jellal..." Erza muttered. "Please... Open your eyes!" She pleaded desperately in order to reach out to the Jellal she knew. Her words fell on death ears as Jellal moved his hands towards her as a purple magical circle appeared in front of him. Erza was soon surrounded by a large amount of red glyphs that swirled around her before it grabbed her, bringing her arms to her chest as she soon found herself unable to move her body. As Erza struggled to break the red glyph's hold on her, said glyphs lifted her in the air and brought her in front of Jellal.

"I don't need you anymore." Jellal stated coldly as he grabbed a hold of Erza's chin and forced the girl to look at him eye to eyes. "But I'm not going to kill you. I appreciate what you've done, eliminating those nuisances for me." He said warmly as he softly caressed Erza's right cheek. "You can leave the island. You go and find your fleeting freedom."

"Je-llal…" Erza struggled to say, the red glyph's hold around her neck made it difficult for her to breathe.

"I doubt I need to tell you that you must never speak of this to anyone." Jellal stated smugly as he gripped Erza harshly. "If the government were to find out about the Tower of Paradise, the plan would no doubt be ruined."

"If we were to be discovered, I would have to destroy the evidence… This tower and everybody working on it." Jellal explained with a malicious grin. "And you must never return to this place. If you are ever sighted in the area, I'll start killing everyone." He threatened his expression unchanging. "Let's see... Who should I kill first if you ever come back?" Jellal pondered.

"Oh I know!" Jellal realized. "Yes I think I'll kill Sho first before the others." He stated smugly.

"Jellal…" Erza muttered, her heartbreaking that how twisted Jellal has become.

"THAT IS YOUR PRECIOUS FREEDOM! LIVE ON, WITH THE LIVES OF YOUR NAKAMA RESTING ON YOUR BACK, ERZA~~~!" Jellal shouted as he cackled crazily, unable to hear the sound of footsteps coming towards him. Before he could even continue, the crazed blue haired boy was suddenly punched in the face by an unseen person. Jellal was sent flying across the area into a wall as the glyphs holding Erza up disappeared instantly. Before the redhead could fall to the ground, she was caught in her unknown savior's arms. Looking up she was stunned by who had come to her rescue.

"Luffy?!" Erza and Ultear both thought in shock, albeit for two completely different reasons. Luffy wore a stern expression on his face as he glared angrily in the direction he sent Jellal flying.

"Erza are you alright?" Luffy asked concernedly, his stern expression became a more caring one as he turned his head to check on the girl. "Did that guy hurt you?" He asked rapidly as he carefully placed Erza back onto her feet, holding her gently to prevent her from collapsing onto the ground. Erza nodded shakily as tears streamed down her face from her left eye, her emotions were a mixture of sadness and relief.

Meanwhile up above them, Ultear gritted her teeth in rage at the events happening before her. "That idiot! He's going to ruin everything I've worked for!" Ultear thought in fury, unaware of a cloaked figure entering the room behind her and walking towards her. "I got to stop him before he does anything else-" She thought only to have a gloved hand slam into her back. Shadowy green miasma began to seep into her back. Ultear immediately fell forward as her body began to convulse from the shadowy green miasma seeping into her. "What the hell… happened to me?!" She thought in shock as her body convulsed and the sclera in her eyes began to change from white to black to white again.

"Now, now, now young lady! You can't just rush in like that!" A cheerful and mysterious voice spoke out, causing Ultear to look up to see the cloaked figure staring down at her with his yellow and green eyes. Before Ultear could do anything to get up, the cloaked figure lifted his foot up and slammed it down on her head keeping the girl from getting up. "Haven't you ever heard of story structure?" He asked quizzically as he pulled his cloak back, revealing his pale skin and short spiky silver hair. "This is the part where bad guy holds the heroine at his mercy and before he can administer the final blow, the hero shows up to knock the villain back in time for the climactic final battle of the story!" He explained enthusiastically, as Ultear glared up at him from under his black boot.

"Although…" He muttered as he turned to look at Luffy and Erza and grabbed his chin with the hand holding his bracelet, five of its seven lantern-like charms were now glowing. "There shouldn't be a hero in this story!" He muttered darkly under his voice as he glared at Luffy, having a feeling that he was familiar to him but he could not place how.

"Wait that was Jello!" Luffy shouted in shock after listening to Erza's story of what happened to her while they were separated. "Then why the hell was he hurting you like this!" Luffy shouted, pure fury filled his voice at how the blue haired boy treated his friend and savior.

"I-I don't know…" Erza answered meekly unsure of what happened to her friend to make him change like this. Before they could talk any more, there was an eruption of darkness from the direction Jellal was sent. Both kids turned to see Jellal walking towards as the wall behind him collapsed, a look of pure fury was on his face as he glared at both Erza and Luffy, mostly towards Luffy.

"Who the fuck are you?!" He shouted in fury, a dark aura covered his entire body!

While Erza took a step back in fear at the dark look in Jellal's eyes, Luffy was undeterred by the glare as he stepped forward protectively in front of the redhead, an expression of pure fury was on his face as he entered a combat stance.

"The guy who's going to kick your ass Jellal!" Luffy shouted back.


To be continued…

Well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter since it will probably be a while before I'll be able to post the next chapter since college is going to start very soon for me and I'll be taking some rather difficult classes this semester. You all probably hate me for the cliffhanger, but hey it'll give you guys something to look forward to! (Ducks to avoid a beer bottle thrown at my head) Yeah I deserved that…

If you've guys haven't check out my profile page yet, I'll just add that the next chapter will the finale of the Tower's Liberation Arc, and I'll have to say that it will affect the rest of the story from here on out. In fact, I could honestly say this arc was the true beginning of the story I've got planned here…

Also wanted to let you guys know that just like I said up above, I've decided to add about two to three more girls (three is the max limit I'm willing to add) to the harem. Maybe just two depending on how well I can make it work… Anyway, I'm open for suggestions to any possible harem candidates. So if you guys have any suggestions, just write down the girls you want to see join the harem along with your reasons why they could join in your reviews or send me a PM if you don't normally leave reviews and I'll look them over. Also, please just don't spam reviews that consist of lists of girls you want to see in the harem because that isn't helpful. So anyway I don't want take away anymore of your time, so I'll just end it right here for now!

Hope to see all of you guys and girls soon!

See Ya! :D