Nami could feel her limbs locking up and refusing to follow the most basic of instructions. Run. Scream. She couldn't do anything but stare, wide-eyed at the hundreds of pounds of explosives set up all around them.
Bellemere and Usopp saw Nami frozen in fear and rushed to her, trying to pull her out of harm's way. "Nami come on! They're not going to stop anytime soon! We need to get out of here!" Usopp pleaded, trying to get Nami to lift her legs and run, something he was so good at.
Bellemere was able to move her, but she still wouldn't actually walk. Finally, she asked, "Nami what's wrong with…" Bellemere stopped midsentence when her question was answered for her. She traced her line of sight and found the same terrible view. Death all around them. "We have to get out of here, now!" Bellemere screamed, dragging her daughter out towards the exit with her.
No one else questioned the decision. The bossy marine woman said jump and they were too busy getting in the air to ask how high. Everyone followed her and Nami towards the stairwell but stopped when they realized something. Luffy wasn't following. "Luffy! Come on! We gotta go!" Usopp yelled, voice quivering from fear.
Luffy wasn't refusing to follow for lack of care. Smoker was not giving him an inch, and he didn't want to get near them and risk them being hurt. They were fighting with their all and stalemated. A downside of being practically invincible he didn't expect, he wasn't the only one. "I can't, dammit! He wants to kill me for some reason!" Luffy screamed, managing to land a couple of good blows and absorb a decent amount of blood in hopes of wearing him down so they could all get out.
"Some reason?!" Smoker screamed as he slammed his Jinte down with all his strength on Luffy's arm, sending him spinning violently to the floor. "You damn animal. Have you already forgotten their lives?!" Smoker was boiling with rage. His men had been powerless against Luffy back in Loguetown. They had been massacred under his watch, his protection. If they didn't die they were left with horrible burns, with ruined lives. Smoker believed Luffy saw this as a casual occurrence, which filled Smoker with rage.
"Gah!" Luffy screamed and he felt his side slam into the concrete and embed into it a good foot. His arm was heavily damaged from that blow, and he felt dizzy from the landing. He pushed himself up and straightened his hat, staring at Smoker as he landed. "What the hell. Did I do." He panted, the wind knocked out of him.
Smoker didn't answer, he didn't see the point anymore. This boy didn't understand, he couldn't. He obviously didn't care about human life. "White Out." With his free hand Smoker cloaked Luffy in a blanket of smoke that quickly harden into a solid form, trapping him there with only his head out. A head he intended to bust like a watermelon.
"Smoker! This place is going blow! We have to clear out the Casino!" Bellemere yelled, trying to get him to convert his attention on protecting innocent lives rather than punishing wicked ones.
"Of who? People, who go to a Casino run by a pirate? Let them fall with this accursed place." Smoker could hold sympathy for no one until his goal was accomplished. He had to eradicate this evil before he could see any good in the world. He was truly broken by the fight with Luffy, ad he could only be fixed this way.
"You. You'd let all those innocent people die?" Luffy asked, trying to fight the pain pulsing through his body from the savagery of the blows. His heart pounding with rage, circulating blood and healing him from within.
"You know nothing of innocence. You slaughtered my men like animals you damn demon!" Smoker hoisted his Jinte high, ready to crack Luffy's skull and get his revenge.
"Demon." Luffy was at his limit. He was being called horrible things by someone who swore to protect the innocent. He had fought many marines, there was no love lost when they crossed paths, but he hated ones who acted this way. Selfish and uncaring. "If I'm a Demon, so be it! Leech!"
Smoker slammed his weapon down, crashing deep down into the concrete and being rewarded with a spray of blood. He felt a moment of peace and clarity before it was savagely ripped away by the plunging of several tendrils throughout his body, causing him to scream violently as his limbs convulsed.
The spray of blood was a countermeasure Luffy threw up as he slinked out from the smoke prison. The dense smoke was incapable of holding in place someone who could shift form, so he slithered right out then launched his counter-attack. Smoker let his guard down by failing to trap him, so this was just the conclusion of a fair fight. The tendrils Luffy let out were acting like oversized leeches, draining smoker of his blood, and thus his ability to fight. "If being a Demon means protecting my friends…"
Smoker was slung into the air, being held entirely by the blood tentacles spurting from Luffy's back like unholy appendages, being drained and speared. "…and saving this country, then fine." With that, Luffy dropped Smoker from the roof of the room down to the ground. "Go warn everyone! I have to save Robin and stop that gator guy!" Luffy yelled to his friends as he rushed towards the exit with them, entrusting them to get everyone out of the casino.
Nami, Usopp, and Alvida rushed out and started running around to the entrance, aware of the time constraint and the need to rush.
Vivi was intent on going with Luffy to rescue her home, but Bellemere had to stop Luffy in his tracks. "Luffy, you can't leave him in there," Bellemere commanded, holding his arm to keep him from running off.
Luffy couldn't believe his ears. His eyes were wide and filled with rage. "He tried to kill me. To kill all of us. For nothing!" He pulled his arm away, intent on leaving this pointless argument to hunt down Crocodile.
"Not for nothing! That was Smoker. That was. That was the captain Tashigi told you about. The one you attacked when you couldn't remember anything." Bellemere was panting by the end of it, she spoke with such passion. She knew what kind of grief losing someone could cause a marine, especially one who's high strung. She may not have the same respect she once had after years of Arlong's rule and the marine's blind eye to the suffering, but she knew good marines could do bad things.
Luffy's eyes normalized upon hearing this. The rage that was bubbling on the surface was being squelched down by the new information, and his normal-self forced its way out and made him rush back in. "Dammit! Why didn't you say so before!"
"I tried you jerk!" Bellemere yelled at him as he rushed back into the casino basement. She felt a headache coming on from his nonsense. After that subsided she grabbed Vivi by the arm and led her farther away from the casino just in case. "What the hell got into him?" She questioned, worried about Luffy's sudden anger.
"I don't know. He was fine until he started fighting him. Do you think it's because he was a mari-" Vivi promptly shut her mouth and put up her hands in defence, not meaning to anger the ex-marine, though she didn't know Bellemere wasn't offended.
"I think you're on to something. Not the marine part though…" Bellemere couldn't help but think about that little observation. He got utterly savage during fights. That could have scary results.
But for now, the scariest results would be from the hundreds of pounds of explosives underneath a crowded casino. Usopp and Nami had played the roles of terrified, loud casino goers yelling that there was a bomb in the building. And then, when the casino staff tried to calm everyone down, Alvida was the one to take it a step further and started starting real, tangible, visible fires that no one could deny the presence of. It was certainly the pirate's way of clearing a building. Though the irony in the fact that they were burning the place down to save the people inside was not lost.
Underneath the Casino, Smoker lied in a pool of his own blood. He tried to shift back into smoke, but it was a non-starter. When it was just a few punctures, he worked around it by filling the holes with solidified smoke to keep his lungs from filling with blood. Smoke was intangible enough to expand when he breathed, so he was able to heal with a combination of time and medical treatment. "I. Failed." He coughed out, vision blurring as he felt the warmth drain from his body.
"To be fair, it was rigged from the start," Luffy said, manipulating the blood back into Smoker's body as he picked him up and put him on his shoulder, rushing as fast as he could without hurting him. "I wasn't going to let you beat me again. Not when Vivi's country is on the line. But I do owe you an apology."
"Put. Me. Down." Smoker said, reaching for his jinte in an effort to immobilize and subdue Luffy, even at the cost of his own life. But after he started, he couldn't move his arms, so he vented more anger. "I won't. Accept. Your apology. For doing this to me."
"It's not for this. It's for back in the East Blue." Luffy said, now needing to focus on restraining his arms in conjunction with getting him blood back before it became unusable. "I still don't remember what happened, but Bellemere told me. You should know that Tashigi isn't dead. She's actually here." Luffy hoped that last bit of information would carry more weight than the apology.
Luckily, it did. Though not in quite the right fashion. "What have you done with her? I swear if you sick monsters tortured her I'll. I'll…" With Luffy's power smoker was able to speak in whole sentences again, but even with all his bubbling rage, he couldn't fight.
"She's fine, you damn hot-head," Bellemere said, taking Smoker off Luffy's shoulder and field bandaging a few wounds. "You two. Go. I can handle Smokey." Bellemere assured, taking his signature weapon from his back for the time being.
"Got it. Come on Vivi!" Luffy yelled, taking her by the arm and rushing off in the direction they came originally, needing to cross over the river again to get back to the city.
"You. Of all people, I would never have expected you to become a pirate." Smoker said, staring up at his former commander.
"Yeah well, I would never have expected to see the marines turn into what they did. Things change Smokey. I owe a lot to Luffy for what he did for us, so if being a pirate is a way to repay him I'll do it." Bellemere responded, tearing off another bit of fabric to tie off a wound.
"You were there. You saw what he did. He's a monster." Smoker couldn't believe she owed anyone like that a damn thing.
"He's a young man, not a monster, and you saw what happened the same as I did. You're just ignoring it. He had no idea what he was doing. Since then he's been keeping your subordinate safe, fed, and has been trying to get her back to you." Bellemere stood up, watching in the distance as the explosives below the casino began to detonate, and the entire thing began to crumble. "I don't know what kind of Justice you're after, Smokey, but just remember this. If you only see black and white, you won't notice all the red on your hands." With that she dropped his jinte on him, the Seastone tip resting on his side and making him too weak to get up and chase after her.
"Dammit!" Zoro screamed in his head as he was pushed back by the onslaught. His bladed body was giving him a wide variety of moves he seemed to be combining with martial arts training to act as a cross between an unarmed fighter and a swordsman. 'If he keeps this up I'm dead.'
"You didn't think I'd let you distract me with your body, did you?" Gin asked, slowly 'revving' his tonfa for another heavy blow.
"No reason to not give every trick a try when you're trying to take down a target." Double Finger taunted, putting her hands on her hips and staring him down. "After all, I have a lot of loose ends to tie here." She pointed out, staring at the people behind Gin, who was now the primary defender since Zoro's fight involved throwing buildings and razor-sharp wind slices that would certainly get them killed.
"Unless one of them is a noose, you're out of luck." Gin commented, then craned his head down just enough to get the glare from the sun out of his eyes. Then he kicked off and launched at the blue-haired woman, tonfa ready for another strike, this time not one overhead into a spikey afro.
Double-finger jumped out of the limited range of Gin's attack, her own speed on par with the demon's from experience as an assassin. Once she got out of his attack range, she countered with a spiked toe kick, nicking the man's leg, tearing out a portion with the puncture. "Hanging isn't the most effective method, or haven't you noticed how we've switched to beheadings and firing squads? Destroy the brain, or fill them with holes." She smiled as she said the latter, turning her fingers to spikes.
Gin's leg may have been torn into, but he had already begun ignoring things like pain. This devilish mindset took double-finger off guard when he was able to so quickly recover and attack again, this time with his tonfa's outstretched and acting as a closing maw.
"Psst. Now's our chance." Galdino whispered to the others, wanting to get them to help with the plan. "If we team up with the first team to take out these pirates, we'll be free from their custody, avoid prison, and prove our worth to the company!"
Valerie was not on board with this plan. She was just high enough to be aware of how expendable they all were to the company, and apparently the only one paying attention. "We're not worth anything to them anymore. If they lose, we're as good as dead." She explained, trying to get it through Galdino's thick skull that he no longer had protection from a shadow company. That he was a target, same as they were. He just couldn't get past being expendable.
"Yes but. If we help. Goldenweek surely you agree with me? Mr. 0 has always appreciated our work." Galdino tried to seek the aid of his partner in this matter.
Gracie wasn't anywhere close to agreeing. She was gripping Valerie's hand now for support. "They'll kill us…" She said somberly, watching the fighting. She didn't have anything to calm her nerves and hadn't painted since they were captured, so she was losing her stoic cover.
Galdino began to shake as he looked at his child partner. He had worked with her for quite some time and had never seen her so shaken, even after her first assignment. "Than what do we do?"
Tashigi had already provided an example of what to do. Seeing Zoro as the one truly struggling, she rushed in to provide aid. He still had her sword on his hip. If she could get it from him, she could be helpful.
"I warned you. No swordsman can beat me." Mr. One taunted stoically, bearing down his bladed fingers onto Zoro's swords, pushing down with ease thanks to the natural movement.
"I'm no ordinary swordsman." Zoro countered, keeping his spirits up as he struggled to deflect the blows. "I've been looking. For something to push me beyond. So, I feel sorry for you." Zoro smirked, feeling a surge of confidence when he noticed the twitch in the assassin's eye. He was getting under his iron skin.
"Your sympathy is with the wrong person, Swordsman." Mr. One commented, keeping his face blank as he changed his strategy. He noted the blue-haired woman that was amongst the members of the hit-list was charging up behind his opponent. Easy target.
Before Zoro could offer his own response, he was forced to turn from the terrifying drill-like attack swinging at his side. It was then that he noticed Tashigi running to join the fray, and his eyes widen. She was unarmed and too inexperienced for this fight.
"Zoro! Give me back my sword! I can help!" She yelled, hoping to make this Devil Fruit user fight on two fronts. Divide and Conquer was the best way to deal with an overwhelming enemy. If it was just one, then you needed to keep the attention split.
"Rule One. Eliminate the weak." Mr. One said to the swordsman before turning and charging the unarmed marine, shifting his arm to a single blade.
Zoro's feet moved before his mind, something he couldn't be happier about in that moment. He saw the defenceless Tashigi and sheathed the bloodthirsty Kitetsu and drew her sword, Meito Shigure. With all his strength he leapt at the back of the charging Iron Man. There was little chance an attack like this would work, but it could get him away. "Crab Seize!" He clamped the three swords on the bald man's neck, and in a moment twisted his entire body, tossing him through a nearby building.
Tashigi was left frozen, panting in fear as she got past the initial shock. Zoro was lying on the ground just a few feet in front of her. A sign of just how close her would be murderer was.
Zoro held up her sword for her, panting and smiling. "Take. That. You bald bastard." He said through the sword still in his mouth, looking over towards the building he tossed the man into.
Mr One climbed from the rubble unharmed but did crack his neck menacingly. "Your tongue is sharper than your swords."
"Luffy. Are you sure they'll be alright? If Crocodile knew we were coming, he must've had backup plans." Vivi reasoned, her concerns split between her friends, father, and country.
"They can handle themselves. Have faith in them. We need to worry about Crocodile. Where would he be going?" Luffy asked, practically carrying the princess as he ran through across the desert an unbelievable speed.
"I can only imagine he's heading to the capitol. But we'll never catch up! He can travel across the desert faster than anyone!" Vivi tried to reason to Luffy that they needed to head back and get a more reliable form of transportation.
"Like hell, I'm letting him get away!" Luffy yelled, going from practically carrying the princess to carrying her as he stopped restraining himself. He was using every trick he had learned through his decade of devil fruit use to ensure he was the fastest he could be.
"You couldn't have thought I didn't have other plans." Crocodile commented as he stepped off the turtle he had waiting to cross the river, then restarted his half-logia travel form to continue the desert crossing.
Robin remained stoic to the statement. She had questioned what he had changed due to the delay in her return. She needed to know what key components had changed since she was last in contact. "Of course not. But I know you can't complete the final stage without me. So, what would you have done if those pirates had taken my life?"
"Tsk. You aren't stupid enough to let a lowly pirate take your life. However, I had to alter plans from your delay. The bombing has been called off. It required timing we didn't have. Mr Two will be ready to take over as either the King or the Rebel leader, whichever side ends up winning our little war. Should we have had to stall for time, we could've been running this country for a good deal of time before anyone found out."
"Did you think I would be gone for that long?" Robin asked, concerned with the lengths to which Crocodile would go to assure he could get the weapon. He had already planned to wipe out the country, but to take control and run it from the shadows? That was long-term even for him.
"As I said, I knew you wouldn't be killed. I'm sure you could have found a way to prove your usefulness. After all, you're good at keeping yourself alive no matter the cost. Right, Nico Robin?" Crocodile's cold, sadistic smile was only made worse by his steely stare and jagged stitching.
Robin kept her eyes off Crocodile as much as she could. His very presence was making her skin crawl. She wanted to snap every bone in his body, but she was frighteningly aware of her inability to fight him if things went against her. Besides, it wasn't the first time someone had suggested such a thing.
Miss Double Finger was doubled over, clenching her stomach and fighting the blood rushing up her throat and into her hand. Her fighting style was best suited for quickly and quietly taking out an unsuspecting opponent. Direct conflict with powerful enemies was for Mr One. She had been expecting this to be one of the former variety, but her bruises internal bleeding offered a different story. "Dammit. You're stronger than you look." She offered some praise, surprised by Gin's strength.
"And you're pretty damn clever." Gin complimented, thinking of the wounds he had sustained through surprise attacks and clever tricks. "But you unfortunately already lost."
Double Finger pulled herself upright, wiping the blood from her mouth and staring him down. "Oh? How do you figure?" She asked with a smile as if she hadn't taken a massive hit to the gut moments before.
"That's simple." Gin holstered his weapons on his back and squatted down. When he arose, he was wielding the trusty double barrel he kept at his ankle. "I brought a gun."
Miss Doublefinger's eyes widened, seeing that as a dirtier trick than any she had pulled. She had no defence against firearms. Her spikes were impressive. They were even hardened enough to resist blows. But her spikes would funnel back down to a perfect opening for a bullet, let alone the many that the gun would fire. "Have you no shame? Needing a gun to win a fight against a woman?"
"I could shoot you in the back and sleep perfectly fine. Just like you could if the tables were turned." Gin said, a smile almost creeping on his face. "Strike when they're weak. Don't think of them as people. There are no restrictions…" Gin could feel the years of experience under Krieg, his teachings, surface up. The straw hats taught him that those rules weren't always to be followed, but there was no getting rid of that completely.
Miss Doublefinger put her hands up, realizing that there was no way to fight now without being shot. "Are you an assassin as well? Picked up by these pirates?" Those procedures he seemed regurgitate from nowhere were eerily similar to the type of things she had picked up over the years. She was still human and wasn't beyond feeling for people. But an enemy or target couldn't expect mercy.
"Worse. I'm a man-demon. Now turn around and start walking. We have to check on my friend." Gin ordered her, knowing he couldn't get close enough to do anything like bind her hands without risking a surprise attack.
While Gin was busy avoiding surprise attacks, Usopp was busy being the victim of one. "Gah-ha! Get me out of here!" Usopp screamed like a maniac as he gripped at the ground around him. He had suddenly sunk a good three feet down into a localized sinkhole, and it scared the hell out of him.
"Hold on you big scaredy cat. We got you." Alvida said, extending a hand to pull him up. When he took it and his hand slipped off, she laughed. "You fell for it!" She screamed, delighted in her own joke.
"Dammit, that isn't funny!" He yelled, not the least bit amused by the woman's cruel joke. He had forgotten at the moment that she was so damn slippery. After that, he turned to Chopper for help.
"Come on. We've gotta get a move on before- Eyahh!" Chopper screamed as he pulled Usopp up, only to see a plume of fire roar up after him. The sudden explosion sent the two flying back, luckily out of harm's way.
The sudden explosion put everyone on their guard. The bombs from earlier were all put under the casino to ensure the World Government wouldn't trace anything back to Crocodile and simultaneously take care of them all. At least that was the main plan, but Crocodile was not one to rely on one option.
"What the hell was that?! It nearly killed me!" Usopp yelled, staring at his singed pants.
"It was another explosion, but where did it come from?" Chopper asked, looking around scared and confused.
"I expect this level of denseness from long nose but come on kid you're a doctor. What enemy do we know that uses explosions?" Alvida asked, drawing her mace and eyeing the surrounding, watching her footing.
"O-oh! Umm…" While chopper was busy remembering the enemy rundown Robin had given them on the ship, he was given a reminder in the form of a fastball headed right for him. This time Usopp returned the favor of saving him by tackling him to the ground, resulting in the ball soaring past then exploding.
"You stupid ba! You missed them!" Miss Merry Christmas, the vertically challenged mole-woman chastised her partner. Seeing it as an embarrassment to miss a target who didn't know they were there.
Her chastising, however, was the bigger mistake, as no one was sure where to look until her shrill voice pierced through the kicked-up sand and gave them a direction to look.
"The Fourth pair…" Alvida muttered, already annoyed by them.
"Hmph. So, you've heard about us already, ba! Then let's get right to the point. You've already lost. Mr Four! Let them have it!" Miss Merry Christmas ordered before digging down to create more tunnels and holes for them to work with.
"Laaaaaaaaassssssssssoooooooooo!" Mr Four called as he sunk into the extra wide sink-hole. Summoning the sickly dog-gun.
"What the hell is that! Chopper! Tell it we're friends or something!" Usopp yelled, frightened by the strange looking animal they had called to aid them in battle.
"What makes you think I can talk to it?! It freaks me out too!" Chopper yelled, trying to get it through Usopp's head that he couldn't just immediately convince animals they were friends.
"Are you two always this damn childish?! We're being attacked!" Alvida yelled, half-ready to attack them herself.
"She's right. Is now the time to argue?" Miss Merry Christmas asked, surfacing to grip onto Usopp's leg and drag him away from the much larger and more threatening Human-Point chopper.
"Gah! I'm sorry! Save the great captain Usopp!" Usopp pleaded, tears filling his goggles.
Alvida leaned against her mace, mouth puffed up in annoyance. "I think I should let you die for that one." She said in a half-serious tone.
"Alvida! Please! Don't joke around like that! Help ME!" Usopp cried out, terrified for his life.
Luffy's eyes were transfixed across the river they were currently crossing atop one of Alabasta's deadliest sea-creatures. A sandorian catfish. After realizing that everyone else would need the ship to properly cross and join them in the capital, Luffy had asked about any other means of transport. All it took was chumming the water with a large amount of human blood, which Luffy provided, they were able to hitch a ride on the creature. Much to its dismay.
"Luffy… Are you sure this is the best way to travel?" Vivi asked, looking down at the pained face of the giant creature.
"No. But we needed something, fast. You said yourself this thing eats people, so this should make it scared to hunt them and get us across at the same time. Win-win."
"I guess so…" Vivi resigned to sit back down and wait for them to cross. "We'll be over any minute now at this rate. Do you think we'll catch up with Crocodile in time?"
"I don't know. But I'm not going to stop until he pays for everything." Luffy said, clenching his fists. The catfish in turned swam even faster, trying to stop the reflexive manipulation put on his body by the boy.
"Thank you, Luffy," Vivi said, smiling up at him, despite the fact that he wasn't looking.
"You don't have to thank me. We're friends. He's hurt you, your country, and Robin. Anyone who hurts my friends like that is going to answer to me." Luffy saw the sandy shore approaching and squatted down. "Hold on to me." He told her, getting ready for a risky move to keep their speed up.
Vivi did as she was instructed, wrapping her arms around Luffy, unsure of the reasoning. That was until she noticed the catfish wasn't slowing down as they got closer to the shore. "Luffy? What are you doing?!" She screamed as the distance grew shorter and shorter.
Luffy smiled but didn't say a word. Moments before they would be crashing into the side the Catfish leaped out of the water towards the land. Whether it was of its own volition or Luffy's manipulation was up for debate, as soon after the blood of the enormous creature was forced from its body and continued on as a pseudo wave, on which Luffy and Vivi road on a solid plate. "Crocodile…" He muttered, eyes on the horizon as he used the anger to carry them on.
"What the hell are you doing?! Get out of here!" Zoro yelled through his sword as he held back the bald assassin with the assistance of Tashigi.
"I'm helping you!" She responded, almost as fiercely as he did. "It's my duty as a marine to arrest criminals, and this man is a danger to more people than you are!"
"Do you see swordsman? Even she recognizes it. You're no match for my strength." Mr One mocked, using his bladed fingers to push them both back with only a relatively light amount of strain.
"No! I mean that you're a merciless monster who will do nothing but slaughter!" Tashigi corrects, putting all her strength into pushing him back.
Zoro couldn't help but smile through the sword just a bit pushing a bit more with his legs. "That's nice and all, but seriously. Get the hell out of here before you get yourself killed." Zoro's voice was getting angrier, and his veins throbbed with intensity.
"I'm not a weakling! I will not be talked down to!" Tashigi pulled her sword back, entrusting Zoro to hold back the man while she made a quick slash at his leg, hoping to incapacitate him.
It was no use, however, as the blow was far from capable of injuring the steel-hard fighter. Taking advantage of the opportunity he swept his leg, nicking both of Zoro's and making him stumble back. "Should've taken his advice. You may have been able to run away by the time I killed him."
Zoro cursed as he rolled back and stood again, both legs slashed at the shin. The cuts were adding up. His clothing had almost completely changed color from the red spilling from his body. "Dammit, Tashigi. Get the hell out of here! I'll be damned if I let you die!" Zoro moved in front of the swordswoman to act as a shield. "You want to get swords out of the hands of evil, right? He's not a swordsman, so get out of here and live to follow that dream."
Tashigi kept her stance, staring at the green haired swordsman putting himself in harm's way for her. She couldn't believe he remembered something she had said while they were both drunk on Sake. Or at very least, while she was drunk. "D-don't die!" She yelled, realizing there was nothing she could do on her own. But if she could get the local marines and bring them here, they could help put a stop to this. It was a risky plan, but it beat certain death.
"Shame. You'll be letting her down." Mr One mocked as he sent Zoro flying back with a strong as steel punch to the gut. With Zoro injured and Tashigi on the retreat, he was capable of breaking through Zoro's defence with ease. "Be sure you watch, swordsman."
Zoro's body soared past Tashigi as she ran away. He hit a towering stone piece of décor meant to keep up the lavish appearance of the town. Before Tashigi could even react to what had happened, the tower crumbled, and debris began to fall. Giant sections of stone obscured her sight from the swordsman, burying and surely crushing him. "Zoro!" She screamed and rushed to try and pull away the rocks to save him.
"I will not fail in my mission. Plus, you've gotten in my way." Mr One called to Tashigi as he calmly approached, sure in his victory over the swordfighters.
"Zoro! Hang on! I'll-" Before Tashigi could finish proclaiming her promise to save him, she saw him walk step up on the rubble, climbing out. She was too dumbfounded by the fact that he wasn't crushed to speak.
Mr One gritted his teeth in anger. "Swordsman! How were you able to dodge that?!" It didn't make sense to him. Zoro was far too injured to properly dodge that much falling debris.
"I didn't," Zoro stated through clenched teeth as he began sheathing his swords. "I stood where they wouldn't fall." With that, he sheathed another sword and took his white-handled Wado in his hands. "I made a promise. That I wouldn't lose until I became the world's greatest swordsman." Zoro could feel the blood dripping from his mouth as he spoke, he couldn't grandstand for too long. "And, I'm responsible for Tashigi's safety. These are the reasons you've lost."
"Lying to yourself will only make your defeat worse. Remember your words as you drown in your own blood, swordsman." Mr. One declared as he stared down Zoro then charged him. "I'm still far beyond you."
Zoro didn't say a word. He simply took a breath and closed his eyes. He had been able to see where the rocks would fall. He felt it. Just as he felt everything around him. When he opened them again Mr One was only feet away, and he could feel him too. He felt exactly how to cut him as if he were any normal person.
This new ability that Zoro had taken Mr One by total surprise. He had swung both his bladed arms to decapitate the swordsman and end it, but he had effortless ducked and swung his sword too quick for him to properly follow with his eyes. He only felt the cut open several steps later. But when he did, he could almost feel his intestines moving towards the opening.
"How. How did you…" Mr One was stunned. Too stunned to feel the pain appropriate for his situation. It was one of the only times he'd bled in years, and it was surreal to see such a wound on himself at this point.
Zoro once more didn't answer. He merely sheathed his sword. He didn't owe the man an answer after that battle. One where he showed him no respect and only swore that he would win.
"What. What next? Diamonds?" Mr One asked, some real emotion in his voice now as he began to sweat. His power had just been checked and overtaken, and he was forced to accept this while on the verge of being disembowelled.
"I'm no jeweller. That would be a waste. I will be fine with cutting steel. So long as no one made of diamond challenges me." Zoro boasted his win and newfound skill over his fallen foe.
Tashigi slowly stepped forward, having dived away from the standoff to avoid getting in the way. She then stared in stunned silence as she witnessed the green haired pirate swordsman do something she hadn't considered possible. Slice through steel. Not only that but he saved her life. Either one of these would be worth admiring, together they were astounding. "Zoro? Are you alright?" She asked as she rushed to his side to try and administer basic first aid on his wounds.
Broken bones, more blood loss than any normal person should handle, internal bleeding and sand in his underwear. "I'm fine."
"If we fight someone like that, we're probably in over our heads." Gin called out as he approached with Miss Double Finger held up at gunpoint. "Though I've got to admit, you're reaching up there on your own. That archaeologist said to avoid fighting that guy, remember?" Gin asked the rhetorical question with a smirk, knowing full well what Zoro would say in response.
"Yeah. And she's not Luffy. I don't have to listen to listen to her. Besides, do you have any idea where the hell he is?" Zoro asked, turning to face him.
"Got an idea." Gin said, nodding his head towards the woman he was walking over. "Turns out even the higher-ups will talk if you offer the right price."
Paula, who finally gave her real name up when a gun was put to her head, spoke up. "It's simple bargaining. My life for enough information for you to run off and get yourselves killed elsewhere. Your captain is undoubtedly going after Mr Zero. Mr Zero has plans in the capital. That's all I'm going to say since I'm still looking to get out of this alive."
"Fantastic. All of this and we have to go the opposite direction." Zoro said, exhausted from his fight and not looking forward to the trip. "Well, we better hurry. No doubt Luffy has already headed that way then. Let's find the others if we can and get moving."
"GOD! DAMMIT! ANNOYING! BASTARDS!" Alvida screamed as she swung at the tunnels, in a game of the most annoying, and deadliest, whack-a-mole ever.
"You're much faster with your club than Mr Four, but you're nowhere near as strong!" Miss Merry Christmas gloated as he popped up and hit some more super-heavy baseball bombs their way.
Alvida swung with all her might, able to knock one of the balls back but falling victim to the other explosions caused by the other two. They weren't terribly damaging, but her slippery body couldn't protect her from explosions.
"Ha! Got you now you, ba!" Miss Merry Christmas called as she dug up and grabbed at Alvida's ankles when she landed, only to have her hands slip right off. "Wha?!" She screamed in shock, unaware of the woman's power.
Alvida, fueled by the anger of having her precious skin marred by an explosion, reached into the sand and pulled the old crone up by the hair. "You dusty old bitch!" She yelled, hoisting the woman up several feet off the ground, all the while she kicked and failed at scratching at Alvida's hand.
"Waaa! How are you so strong?!" The cry of fear rung out as the short old woman was slung around like some bolas. Before she could properly start crying for help she was slung towards her partner in crime like an oversized baseball.
"My beauty gives me strength, you ugly old crone," Alvida said, mainly to herself since Merry Christmas was most certainly out of earshot.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" Mr. Four cried out as his partner in crime hit him square in the face.
Alvida walked towards a stunned Usopp and Chopper, eyes burning with rage. Once she ate that devil fruit she thought that her beauty would be perpetual, and infallible. This was the second time she was met with something that could damage that beauty. First, she had to deal with burns, now explosions. "If either of you mentions these blemishes, I'll crush you." She said as she passed them, throwing her hair up proudly.
"Hmph. The Royal Palace. I'd enjoy using it as my own, but it would be impractical. The kingdom will return to sand, and the castle shall crumble and wither with it." Crocodile stated without an ounce of empathy for what his words meant for the people within that kingdom.
"Do you really plan on keeping this country as your own when you have enough power to challenge the government?" Robin asked, curious as to what his plans were after he got the location of this nefarious weapon.
"Are you suggesting I not? I've done well making this country my own from the shadows. I am without equal. I shall make the world bend to its knee before me, and sit atop my throne hear, where I have no equal."
"CROOOOCOOOOODIIIIILEEEEE" Luffy's scream rung throughout the open-air garden area which Crocodile and Robin had snuck into. Luffy's power had many uses; he could staunch bleeding, 'breathe' without the use of his lungs, circulate blood without his heart, and most importantly right now, since other people and roughly figure out who they were on shape. He had made it a habit to try and memorize his friend's rough shapes, and that included Robin. With the number of people in the vicinity, it helped immensely.
"It would seem I overestimated that government dog. You know what to do, Nico Robin. I'll take care of this brat while you fetch our King." Crocodile said, adjusting his coat for a quick fight. He had hoped to avoid a struggle given the time frame, but there was no avoiding it this time around. He'd just have to make it quick.
Luffy had launched himself up with a powerful jettison of blood in conjunction with his jump, shooting up the high, defensive structure in a single leap. He landed into a squat and then stood, fists clenched and ready to fight. "Where is she?"
The question was simple. Laughably so from Crocodile's position. "You came all this way for that woman? Pathetic lovesick brat." Crocodile said, running his hand over his hook as he stared the raven-haired boy down.
"I came here to kick your ass. Where is Robin?" Luffy was growing impatient. He was boiling over with rage after fighting smoker, at the way he nearly got him, and his friends, killed. But he had time to think, which made him angrier. He now knew how he made him feel, snatching away a friend when you couldn't stop it. The only difference was, Crocodile knew what he was doing. "She's my friend, and you're not going to hurt her."
"You're not just Pathetic, you're stupid. That woman has no friends." Crocodile's face curled into a smile for the first time in quite a while. He enjoyed crushing hopes and dreams of those too stupid or weak to realize them. "She used you to survive and threw you away when she was done. You shouldn't be surprised. You rookie pirates are nothing but trash!" Crocodile broke his calm, relaxed façade with a blast of sand, cutting away the ground and the railing behind Luffy.
Below, Vivi was running along the edge with all her might, praying that Luffy would be able to win against Crocodile. She needed to stop the soldiers of the kingdom and rebel army from confronting each other. She needed to prevent her people from losing their lives. She needed to do so many things that she could not do…
Man! This took a lot longer than expected, and for that, I apologize sincerely. I would like to thank all of you for sticking with me for this long. Thank you for the feedback, the support, and for generally reading. Especially since this is coming in on the fourth month anniversary of the last chapter. There isn't much to address in terms of responses that everyone should be aware of that I haven't stated at some point or can't answer at the moment, so I'll just leave this open. Till next time! (Hopefully sooner than 4 months...)