Hi, guys! I'm back with another chapter!

Thanks to Morietachibana for the Fav and Follow!

chaosrin - Mm. Well, I'm already pretty far into a certain battle over a certain brother, so everything from here on in for a while is pretty much set in stone.

And onto the chapter!

Chapter 108 (or 13) - Throwdown Showdown

Maria's POV

I gave a wide grin and was about to compliment Luffy's shot, but then I noticed the looks of shock that were on the rest of the faces in the auditorium.

Oh, yeah. Luffy punched a Celestial Dragon. And now the Marines were going to come and try to box us around our ears - maybe even try to kill us for doing that.

Well then.

I summoned my staff with a flash of fire as Luffy put his hat on top of his head and cracked his knuckles. Hopefully, my staff would have enough abilities at my disposal to do something about Camie's prison without hurting the mermaid inside.

Plus...

"Sorry, guys," Luffy called. "Now that I've punched this guy, there's gonna be a Navy admiral coming here with a warship."

"I'm just mad I didn't get to cut him down," Zoro replied. "You beat me to it with that punch of yours."

I stared at Zoro in surprise at that. "You would have been overkill, Zoro!"

Nami scrambled down the stairs and ran past Luffy. "Hachi! Hang in there!"

"Nyuu." Hachi sounded pained. "You guys...did something terrible... Do you know how much trouble you're in now?"

"Well, it's Luffy we're talking about, so we couldn't help it," Nami replied.

"If he hadn't done it, I probably would have!" I added.

"Charlos!" exclaimed one of the Celestial Dragons.

"Ah! Big brother Charlos! Not even Father has ever hit him!" the woman next to him added.

"How dare a lesser human like yourself lay a hand on my son?!" The man turned and glared at Luffy.

"Well, now I know who was at fault for the bad parenting," I snarked as the man raised his cane. To my surprise, he actually started shooting from the thing - and like his son, he was a bad mark.

The audience started screaming as the space man continued to shoot, and all of them started scrambling for the door and crowding the entrance. I could see now that they were all wearing clothes that seemed to denote nobility.

I gained a sour smile. Wow. Look at how far the mighty have fallen.

"Our righteous bloodline is descended right from the creators of this world!" the man with the cane roared. "You'll suffer for your dissonance!"

"Do you think we care about that, you bastard?!" Sanji jumped down the stairs and kicked the cane out of the man's hands.

"How dare you attack Saint Roswald?!" What looked like a couple knights started coming down the stairs towards Sanji, but he easily kicked them down.

"Franky! Go help Maria-san rescue Camie!" Sanji ordered.

"You got it! I'll handle it superbly!"

I started twirling my staff around in order to get some momentum while the Will o' Wisps floating around snuffed themselves out. "Right! We'll get her out, Sanji!"

I turned and started getting ready to do an ice attack on the glass to weaken it a little, but then a horde of those pink-wearing guards dashed out from behind the stage carrying pitchforks.

"Stop them!" one of them ordered.

"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" I turned sharply and brought my staff down. "Icy Terrain! Shock Wave!"

The ice-and-lightning combo left some of the guards frozen to the ground as they were attacked by the electricity, causing them to collapse. The ones that managed to avoid the attacks by being behind the first wave of people climbed over their brethren and charged at me and my fellow Straw Hats. Soon, I was fighting back using my staff to defend myself while making the occasional shot with a Fire Sphere at a guard or two in order to catch them off guard.

"You fool, trying to protect a mere fish!" someone yelled.

Luffy responded with a "Gum Gum Whip!"

It didn't take too long before the entire auditorium was full of noise as my fellow pirates called their attacks and sent people flying in all directions. I couldn't help but grin as Zoro set off a Tatsumaki in one corner of the room, sending some of those idiots flying, while Franky fired off a Fresh Fire that sent some of the knights scrambling for something to put the flames out.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!" There was a thundering crash, and I let out a loud laugh.

"Ooooh, those knights are definitely going to feel that in the morning!" I cackled, pushing back on the guard who had just tried to skewer me. "Take this! Fire Spin!" I spun about, knocking back guards and pitchforks alike as a tornado of fire formed right there on stage.

Pingpingpingpingpingping!

"Yay!" Franky looked over and gave a devilish grin as my fire faded, and I just howled with laughter.

"Whoo!" I called back, slamming the butt of my staff into the face of a guard.

"So, you people intend to defy us to the very end?!" Roswald yelled. "Why can't you just accept your fate?!"

"Gum Gum Axe!" Luffy's leg came crashing down on some fleeing knight before he turned and glared at the man. "Camie isn't for sale!"'

Roswald snarled, then turned and glared at a man in a suit. "Call a Navy Admiral and a warship here! Show them what they're up against!"

I snorted, then raised my staff up in the air. "Lightning Shield!" Electricity exploded outward and sent multiple guards flying while any knights that happened to be close got horribly zapped. "Then we'll show you what you're up against!"

We kept right on clobbering anyone and everyone who ended up trying to get close while the audience that had been there for the auction scrambled around the room in order to find an open exit. Surprisingly, they all managed to avoid getting in between us and our opponents.

Opponents which I couldn't see the end of, really.

"There's no end to these guys!" Luffy exclaimed.

"You said it!" Sanji agreed, standing back-to-back with Luffy. "My shoe heel is starting to wear down."

"Duck! 36 Caliber Phoenix!"

I saw a flash of energy, then was forced to dash out of the way as a slash attack was sent flying through three knights and hit the top of Camie's watery prison.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?!" Luffy, Sanji, and I roared at Zoro.

"Calm down. I told you to duck, didn't I?" Zoro responded.

"You did it too fast!" I barked back, shaking my staff at him.

There came the sound of crashing glass, and I turned my head towards the noise and stared in surprise.

"That could have happened to me, you idiot!" I barked, pointing at the now cut-in-half bubble that Camie was in. "But thanks for getting that thing open!"

"Camie!" Hachi yelled from the stairs as the water drained out.

"Hacchin!" Camie's voice came through loud and clear.

"Are you all right? They didn't hurt you, did they?" Hachi continued.

Camie shook her head. "I'm fine! But Hacchin, what about you?!"

"Don't worry! Who do you think I am? I'm the takoyaki merchant, Hachi, you know! Just hold on for a bit longer!"

"Sure! Hacchin, everyone...!"

Right then, there came two explosions of noise from the ceiling above us.

"Another flying fish!" someone yelled as I looked up.

"Ha!" I grinned. "Seems everyone else is arriving! About time!"

"Cien Fleur! Wing!" A large pair of wings suddenly formed mid-air and flew down towards the seats with a certain woman between them.

"I'm off!" A familiar figure in black jumped down from another Flying Fish before it went flying out of the auditorium. A moment later, he landed on the back of one of the seats and lost his balance. "My waist just made a snapping sound."

"Brook!" Chopper threw a canister of milk at the skeleton, and he caught it in one hand and promptly drank it down before he went to town on the nearby guards.

"Clutch!"

Crack!

Robin was doing her work, as well.

"Damn it! Protect the mermaid! She's worth 500 million!"

Oh, yeah. How in the world have I been missing that moron? I started stalking toward Disco, the phoenix on my staff blazing with bright flames.

"These people...I will have the women stuffed and mounted!" Roswald yelled.

Remembering what I had managed to remember backstage, I couldn't help but laugh. "Ha! I'd like to see you try, dummkopf!"

"And the men will be sentenced to slavery without food!"

"Luffy'd raid the fridge anyway if you did!"

WHAM!

"Father!" the woman Celestial Dragon screamed in shock and surprise.

"Huh, that fall didn't hurt as much as I thought it would...Eeeeh!" Usopp scrambled to his feet. "Sorry, old man!"

I let out a laugh. "Nice one, Usopp!" I turned my attention to Disco and waved the fiery head of my staff in his face. "Now, you be a nice little man and you give me the keys to Camie's chains, or else all of your hair is going to get burned off!"

Disco pointed his gun at my face. "How about you back off instead?!"

"Usopp! Brook! Robin!" Luffy sounded relieved.

"Luffy!" Usopp scrambled over. "Where's Camie?"

"She's down here!" I called back, not looking away from Disco. "We need to get those chains off her!"

"If we don't hurry, a warship and an admiral are going to get here!" Nami added.

Usopp squealed in alarm.

"I hate to tell you this, but the Navy's already here, Straw Hat-ya."

I blinked and narrowed my eyes at the unfamiliar voice.

"What's up with you?" Luffy asked. "And what's up with the bear?"

Bear? I would have turned around and looked, but I didn't want Disco to try and blow my head off.

"You picked a bad time to revolt; the Navy's had this hall surrounded since before the auction started," the voice continued. "After all, they've got a base right here on the archipelago. I'm guessing they wanted to catch someone, but I doubt that they were expecting that someone would beat up the Celestial Dragons." There came a laugh. "You've showed me something rather interesting...Straw Hat-ya Pirates."

Disco started backing up slowly, looking nervous. I tried to swipe at him with my staff, but he scrambled back before I could hit his hair - instead, I got his dressy outfit, which sent him falling to the ground as he tried to put the fire out.

"You are Trafalgar Law, right?" Robin asked as I turned to see who it was that had been speaking.

"Law?" I blinked in surprise. "He's one of the eleven bounties that Shakki was talking about!"

"He is?" Luffy turned and looked over at a collection of figures sitting in the auditorium seats. "And the bear, too?"

I saw a white polar bear look away from Luffy.

"And the man standing over there is Eustass 'Captain' Kid." Robin turned her head and looked over at the entrance, where there was another group of people. I followed her gaze and caught sight of a figure with bright red hair stylized as flames.

Brook gasped. "That is the man with a bounty higher than Luffy-san's?!"

"He certainly does look it," I muttered. "I wonder what power he's got..."

A figure stepped onto the stage in my peripheral vision, and I turned out of surprise when I saw the woman Celestial Dragon putting a ladder next to Camie's opened prison and climb up it with a gun. Camie retreated to the bottom of the thing while the gun was aimed at her back.

"Unforgivable!" the Celestial Dragon declared. "Now that it has come to this, I will just kill the mermaid they came to save!"

"Camie!" I exclaimed.

"Ah!" Disco scrambled to his feet, the fire fading. "The 500 million Beri! Please...please wait, Saint Sharlia!"

"Hey! Don't treat Camie like a number!" I slammed my staff against the man's head, sending him crashing to the ground. "She's a person just you and me! Don't think any different!"

"Be quiet, you inferior humans!" Sharlia barked, training the gun on me. She tried to fire off a shot, but I stopped it from hitting me by moving my staff in the bullet's path.

" 'Inferior,' huh? I guess that makes you the top of the food chain?" I narrowed my eyes at the woman. "Ever heard of the saying 'survival of the fittest'? Because from where I'm standing, you don't seem fit for anything!"

"I said, shut up!" Sharlia was absolutely incensed now.

She aimed again at me and started to pull on the trigger...when her eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed onto the stage?

BOOM!

I jumped back when a large hole was suddenly made in the wall at the back of the stage. A figure started coming out of the darkness at the same time that the giant tore an even larger hole in the wall with his bare hands.

I stared in shock and bewilderment when I saw a certain, white-haired old man without any chains walk out of the hole in the wall. "Ray-san...?"

Ray-san looked over at me and smirked before he looked around at the auditorium. "Have a look at that, Giant-kun! The hall is a complete mess. Seems the auction is over. Seeing how I've stolen some money, I guess I'll be returning to the gambling hall."

"What a foul old man you are," replied the shadowed figure of the giant. "You came here just so you could steal money?"

Ray-san shrugged. "I wanted to steal from whoever decided to buy me as well. Well, that's impossible now." He pulled the flask out from under his coat, then paused. "Oh, right, it's empty." He slipped it back under his coat. "First, I've gotta get some more sake. Although, come to think of it...I'm pretty old, so who would want to make a slave out of me?"

Then he burst out laughing.

I scratched my head, frowning. What was with this guy?

Ray-san stopped laughing after a moment. "Oh? Seems like I drew some unwanted attention."

"What's with the giant and the old man?!" someone demanded.

"They're auction items - like that girl with the staff!" a guard explained. "How'd they get out of their cages?!" A panicked yell came a moment later. "Their neck rings are gone! There's no way they could have gotten them off!"

I stuck out my tongue. "Like I was going to let that thing stay on me, dummkopf!" I looked over at Ray-san, frowning. "Although, how did you get yours off, Ray-san? Do you have abilities like mine?"

"R-Rayleigh!" Hachi exclaimed.

I blinked in surprise.

"Rayleigh?" Chopper repeated. "You mean the ship-coater?!"

My surprise increased as my eyes widened. "Wait - you're the guy who's been missing for half a year?!"

"Why, if it isn't Hachi!" Ray-san exclaimed. "It's been a while! What are you doing here?" The smile that was on his face disappeared. "Where did you get that wound?"

Hachi flinched.

"Oh, you don't have to tell me." Ray-san - er, Rayleigh - started stroking his beard thoughtfully, then turned and looked over at Camie before he glanced around at the rest of us, his eyes pausing on the knocked out Celestial Dragons.

"So, this means...I get it." Rayleigh looked back at Hachi. "I've figured out what's happened." He let out a sigh. "You've gotten yourself into quite a mess, huh, Hachi? Were you the ones who saved him? Well, then."

Wooomph.

A blast of something suddenly went through the room. It felt almost like some kind of Psychic attack, because I didn't feel myself get physically or mentally battered. I did feel something push at my mind for a moment before fading out, though. But while it didn't affect me, Law, Kid, or the other Straw Hats, every single one of the guards and knights collapsed with their eyes rolling to the backs of their heads.

I know there's an attack that does something like that...oh, right! Extrasensory! How in the world was Rayleigh able to use that attack?

"This guy..." the red-head muttered.

"No way!" Law said.

Usopp looked around in a panic at our collapsed opponents. "Eh? Wh-what? Wh-what did he just do?!"

"What's with this old man?!" Sanji demanded.

"How did you manage to do that?!" I demanded, looking at Rayleigh in shock.

Rayleigh ignored us and looked up at Luffy. "That straw hat of yours...it really fits a fearless man like yourself. I've wanted to meet you, Monkey D. Luffy!"

Luffy frowned at that, and planted a hand on his hat.

"But first..." Rayleigh turned and looked over at Camie, then started over to the open fishbowl.

I frowned. "What are you going to do?"

"You had your way of removing your collar," Rayleigh replied casually as he passed me, "and I have mine."

"You're going to take it off? How?" I started to move after him a little, but the man made a motion at me that clearly said he didn't want me coming any closer than I already was.

Rayleigh came to a stop in front of Camie, who looked up at him in confusion.

"I'm going to remove the collar now," Rayleigh said carefully. "Is that all right, young girl?"

"Hey, gramps!" Pappagg yelled from where he was near Hachi. "Don't do anything reckless! It's gonna explode!"

"We've already seen what it's like when a slave collar explodes!" Chopper added.

"Chopper!" I pointed at my own neck. "I saw what you saw, and I was stuck back there a few minutes ago with one of those things! Ray-san had one, too, and I don't see hide nor hair of it! We both managed to get our collars off, so I think Camie's gonna be fine!"

Chopper jumped at my response. "Ehhh?! You got yours off, Maria? How?!"

"My other form has got a lot more strength to it than I thought it did." I grinned. "And the cuffs around here apparently are made of impure Sea Stone, so they were weak enough for me to tear them off myself."

Rayleigh clapped a hand on Camie's shoulder. "It's going to be all right. Just don't flinch." He reached up to grab the collar, then paused.

Tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock.

I stiffened. "You'd better hurry, Ray-san! That thing's going to go off any minute!"

Rayleigh didn't say anything. Instead, he waited as the ticking continued to increase in speed, then suddenly grabbed the collar and tore it off with his bare hands.

The collar was tossed and hit the back wall of the stage just as it exploded, sending up a cloud of smoke.

"Whoa!" I raised an arm in order to keep the smoke out of my eyes. Then I quickly looked over at Camie, and let out a sigh of relief when I saw that she was all right.

"What the hell? You nearly scared me shitless, old man!" Franky stepped out of the hole in the stage, spinning a key ring on one finger. "I went to all the trouble to find the key and you don't even need the damn thing."

"Wow, Ray-san," I murmured, amazed. "You're pretty powerful!"

"Camie!" Pappagg wailed out of relief. He scrambled down the stairs and jumped up on stage before hurling himself into Camie's arms. "Camie! Thank goodness!"

"Hmph!" Franky shook the key ring. "So you're telling me that I found these for nothing? They weren't easy to find!"

"Oh, so you found them? That's impressive." Rayleigh smiled, then nodded to Camie. "Please carry this young girl out of here."

"Oh, uh...thank you." Camie smiled up at Rayleigh.

"What the hell is up with this situation?!" Franky demanded. "Who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter at the moment," Rayleigh replied. "There are people who could use those keys, however." He nodded towards what looked like the backstage area. "Those people who had been bought, for example."

Franky frowned at Rayleigh, but then gave a nod and walked around the broken water bowl. "Hey, guys! All your buyers ran away. You should make a run for it now while you still have the chance! Here!" He tossed the keys at them, and the chained men and women instantly rushed for them and started unlocking their chains.

"If that old man was the one who beat all these guys," Usopp said, looking around at our knocked out opponents, "then he must have some sort of magic or sorcery, right? He's got to have some kind of Devil Fruit power!"

"A Devil Fruit?" Franky walked over to Camie and carefully pulled her up out of the bowl before moving her onto his back, the mermaid still holding onto Pappagg. "What is Usopp talking about?"

"Ray-san did something to all the people that were out here," I replied as Rayleigh jumped off the stage and started up the stairs. "It almost felt like a psychic attack of some kind, because all the guards and knights collapsed without any outward sign of injury. And then he managed to tear off Camie's collar without hurting her at all!"

"That was probably something called Haki," Hachi spoke up as Franky and I moved to get off the stage. "I've heard of it, but I've never seen it used before."

"Haki?" I frowned, testing the word out as I started up the stairs. "Weird name..."

Rayleigh looked up at where Law was reclining with a number of others, then glanced over at the people standing ear the entrance. Now that I was a little closer, I could see that Law and the others near him all of them had a strange-looking, circular symbol on their outfits - and Law had matching tattoos on his arms.

"Oh, sorry," Rayleigh commented. "You were just here to watch, right? Judging from how you handled that situation earlier, you aren't exactly pushovers, right?"

"Who'd have thought we'd run into such a big shot," the red-head commented. Was he the guy Robin said was Eustass "Captain" Kid? "That's the Dark King, Silvers Rayleigh, no doubt about it. What's that legendary man doing here?"

"Dark King?" I repeated. "What kind of person gets a title like that?"

"I prefer to be called the old coater, Ray-san, around here," Rayleigh replied, looking up at the red-head. "Please, don't call me by that other name. I'm a retired old man now. I'd like to live peacefully."

"Peacefully? After what you just did a moment ago?" I asked, incredulous.

Rayleigh looked back at me and gave me a smirk, then returned his attention to what was in front of him. He reached where Hachi was lying on the stairs and got down in a kneeling position. "You're not going to die, right, Hachi? I always told you that you shouldn't walk around on this island."

"Nyuu. Sorry." It sounded like Hachi was disappointed in himself.

"Thanks a lot, you guys." Rayleigh looked up at Luffy. "You helped my friend out."

"So, pops, why did you want to meet me?" Luffy asked.

"Let's save that for later." Rayleigh rose to his feet. "First, we've got to get out of here."

::Criminals inside! Release the Roswald family! An admiral will be here shortly! I'd imagine that it would be safer for you to just surrender. You don't know what will happen otherwise, rookies, so don't blame us for what happens!::

"Yeah," I muttered, tightening my grip on my staff.

"So they're not just dragging us into this," Law commented. "They're totally treating us as if we were his accomplices, too."

"I see that Straw Hat Luffy is every bit as crazy as the rumors said," Kid said, smirking. "Not to complain, but I'm not gonna stick around to clash with an admiral."

I hummed in agreement at that. "I haven't personally seen an admiral, but a vice admiral is scary-powerful enough!"

Usopp shuddered. "Garp..."

"I can't use that power from before for a while, so I'm counting on you," Rayleigh said. "It would be really troublesome if the Navy found out who I am."

"I have no intention of getting saved by some old man," Kid declared. "But the longer we stay, the more soldiers will come. I'll be going on ahead." The redhead turned and started for the door. "If you babies can't handle a few Marines, then sit here while I show how a man takes care of things! As an extra favor, I'll save you guys!"

I felt something on my face twitch. "Babies? Just who does he think he is?"

Law rose from his seat, looking irritated. "I don't take orders from anyone, Eustass." He started up towards the entrance himself.

"Hey!" Luffy started running after Kid and Law. "I won't let you hog all the fun!"

I frowned, then grinned, and started after the three of them. "You know, I'd kind of like to see what sort of abilities our competition has."

All three captains turned and glared at me.

"Maria-"

"I'm not gonna fight, Captain," I responded, raising a hand. I let my staff dissipate, as though that was proof enough. "I just want to watch a little."

Kid looked me over. "Hey, you're that Fire Staff kid, right? What are you following this crazy loser for?" He jabbed a thumb at Luffy, who glared at Kid. "You sounded more level-headed than him back there."

"That's my business, not yours," I replied. "And don't even think about trying to force me onto your crew, because I'm pretty sure that you would have all of us coming down on your head." Fire started to lick at my arms, but that soon dwindled down to nothing.

Law inclined his head at that. "Do what you like, Fire Staff-ya. Just don't get in my way." He looked at Kid and Luffy. "The same goes for you, Straw Hat-ya, Eustass-ya."

The both of them bristled at once. "Why you...!"

"Well, I'm going to take out the most of them!" Luffy announced. He promptly started for the door, causing Law and Kid to both gain annoyed expressions.

"Like hell!" Kid started stomping forward.

"Don't tell me what to do, Straw Hat-ya!" Law warned, following after the two of them.

I blinked for a moment, then smirked and snickered. These guys were definitely rivals.

Heh heh heh. Next week is definitely going to be...interesting.

I'll see you guys then!