CHAPTER 20
Hey! Yeah I know, its Saturday, but I will have zero time to post tomorrow so here's an early chapter! Sorry it's a little short, I hate when they are...
So I went to this party that only had a few people that I was fairly acquainted with. We were playing never have I ever and someone said never have I ever watched One piece (I of course, put a finger down), but everyone else was like: "isn't that the show with the rubber guy? What's his name again? Larry?" And I had to hold myself back from ranting. They call themselves anime fans? Please!
Sorry for the rant, please enjoy.
DISCLAIMER One piece belongs to me not
"Are you up for this Ace?" Sabo asks, eying his brother's arm. Ace rips his shirt and ties it around his wound.
"You bet. Just the thought of burning this place makes me excited." He rubs his hands together eagerly.
"Good luck! But don't destroy everything yourself! I want to break some stuff too!" Luffy shouts. They both smack their hands over his mouth and look at the door apprehensively. After no indication had been made that they were heard, they let go if his mouth with a sigh.
Luffy looked at them sheepishly and shrugged. They only rolled their eyes before Sabo grabs Luffy's arm and drags him down the hallway. They immediately veer at the corner and hide behind it. Sabo and Luffy allow their heads to poke out a little bit so they could see the action.
Ace snapped his fingers repeatedly and could only start a few sparks. After a few tries, his whole hand ignited and his already large grin grows.
He smacks his fists together and they both turn into balls of flame. Ace suddenly spins around and slugs at the first wall he sees. His fist breaks through the wall and it bursts into flames. He then ran further down the hallway and threw his fire into a column that spun in a spectacular crackling mass. It hit a lab and it exploded.
At first the brothers were worried, but it was extinguished as Ace stepped out if the blaze, completely unharmed. He looked, in fact, like he was relishing in the heat. He proceeded to dance around the hallway, trying out new techniques to ignite flames while twirling around like a ballerina.
The smoke was building up and Sabo and Luffy had to cover their faces with their shirts.
"Don't over do it!" Sabo said mostly to himself. Suddenly Teach flings the door open with a bang. He covers his face against the smoke and looks side to side in shock.
He pulls out what appeared to be a walkie-talkie and spoke into it urgently. Teach jumps back, startled, when a storage room blows up. He speaks more urgent words into the walkie-talkie then pushes it in his pocket.
Teach walks tentatively towards the explosion and his posture changes into one of rage when he sees Ace throwing his flames like grain for chickens.
He shouts something in audible and runs towards Ace. Ace notices the man approaching and runs head first into the flames. Teach hesitates, then grabs a fire extinguisher off the wall and plunges into the chaos and after Ace.
Seeing that the office is unattended, Sabo taps Luffy's arms and beckons him forward. They quickly dash down the hallway and run into the office.
Luffy immediately shuts the door behind them, blocking the flames from entering. They uncover their faces and take deep breaths of clean air.
"Here's the map!" Sabo exclaims, taking the framed map off the wall. He places it on the desk and tries to determine a route out.
Luffy pulled on the collar on his shirt to separate it from his sweaty body. It was getting really humid in there and smoke was starting to creep in.
A flash of yellow and red caught his eye and he gasps in surprise. He eagerly reaches under the desk and pulls out his straw hat. Happy it was unhurt, he immediately puts it on his head with a satisfied 'hmph'.
Luffy then scrounges around the room for Ace's phone, flipping drawers and throwing things everywhere. Maybe Teach had it on him? Luffy sighed, frustrated but coughed instead. Startled, he looked and saw that thick black smoke was coming through the top and bottom of the door.
Sabo seemingly notices their predicament and swears, pulling his shirt over his nose.
"We need to do something about this smoke, we can't get out if we can't see or burn to death." He says muffled through his shirt. Luffy nods in agreement.
"Yeah but how?" But Sabo is already walking to the door and flings it open. Their eyes widen in shock at the large blaze in front of them. It had spread much further than they thought.
"That idiot! It's too much!" Sabo complains. They get down on the floor and crawl the way they came in. Sabo led Luffy further into the building, looking around for Ace. It was impossible to find an exit now; he had no idea where they were.
'Where is he?' Luffy thinks, eyes watering. He can barely keep his eyes open and he is coughing with every movement. He hears Sabo coughing up ahead and knows he's not feeling too great either.
They finally came to a clearing where the air was a little more breathable and stood up. Sabo looked around, trying to make sense of their location. He felt a tap on his back and turned around to see what had caught Luffy's attention.
His expression turned into a scowl at Teach, who was holding Ace's now non-flammable neck in a tight grip in the air.
"Teach" Luffy spits out, as if he ate something incredibly bitter. Teach looks angry, no, infuriated. Veins are pulsing from his head as he gives them a death glare. Ace is scrabbling with his good hand around his neck, trying to get loose. It's at that moment that the brothers notice the cuff around Ace's wrist. It's the one that they use to keep their powers at bay when they get out of control. They called it Sea Stone.
"You idiot! Do you realize what you've done?! You're burning all my research!" He screeched. Sabo took a challenging step forward.
"Serves you right bastard! You deserve to burn along with it!" He yells back. Teach squeezes Ace's neck tighter and glares even harder.
"Do you think you've outsmarted me?! Hardly! You aren't getting out of this alive! I'll make sure of it!" Teach puts both hands around Ace's neck and proceeds to strangle him.
"Get your hands off him!" Luffy yells, enraged. Suddenly a loud growl is heard and a hairy mass springs past him. It lands right on Teach and bites his arm, tearing at it with claws.
"Sabo!" Luffy exclaims. The wolf continues to maul the large mans arm until he drops Ace with a yelp. Sabo quickly nips Teach for good measure and hurriedly shifts back into his human form. Ace wobbles to one side but Sabo and Luffy are quick to steady him.
The smoke has filled the room at this point and they all start coughing. Luffy glances behind Teach and notices scientists barreling towards them, guns and extinguishers in hand.
"Let's go!" He yells urgently and they run away in the opposite direction of Teach and the scientists, supporting Ace in the middle of them. Sabo desperately tries to navigate the many halls but gets frustrated at the clouds obstructing his view.
The smoke is getting way worse but they don't stop, afraid to get caught by their captors. Ace wheezes and the brothers immediately know he was the worst with his earlier injuries.
Suddenly Luffy stumbles and they all fall into a mass of limbs, their strength failing as they struggle to get up. They all hack at the oppressing heat and smoke.
The brothers somehow manage to push themselves off the ground, but only with tremendous difficulty.
'Cmon legs move!' Luffy thought with frustration. He looked to his brothers and was shocked when he saw that they had fallen in a heap on each other, unconscious.
'We're done for...' Luffy thought as his consciousness was fading. He looks to the side and notices one of the many storage closets. Its door was open and Luffy's eyes were assaulted with vibrant colors.
An idea springs to his mind. It's a crazy one. He might die, probably will. He looked back at his brothers, vulnerable and suffering and summoned his last bit of strength to crawl into the room.
Using the bookshelf as support, he pulls himself on his feet but almost sags down. Compared to the heat above, the floor was but a matchstick flame. He pushed himself along the various stands, scanning the drugs for something of use.
Luffy looks over the labels when one grabs his attention.
"This'll do." He rasps out. He sluggishly grabs at the syringe, knocking others over in the process. Luffy bites off the cap and immediately jabs it in his arm, squirting its contents into his body.
He knew it was dangerous, having two drugs in at once. He learned that the hard way. But if he didn't do it, he'd have to inject it into one of his brothers. Sabo certainly still had his abilities, and Ace...that was unconfirmed. But he didn't want to test it on him, no. Especially since that cuff was on and weakening him. It was now or never.
Luffy could feel the drug working it's way into his system, clashing with the one already invading him. The room seemed to tilt under him and he fell to the ground. He wasn't sure if it was from the smoke or the drug. Probably both.
A searing pain took over every part of him and he screamed in agony, pulling his hair. He lay in a convulsing mass on the ground, thrashing for a few seconds before going still.
With a strange numb feeling, Luffy pushed himself on his knees and crawled head first into the flames that were about to consume his brothers.
Ace was sure he was going to die. He was doubly sure when Sabo collapsed right beside him.
His lungs seemed to cave in on each other as he fought to rasp a single breath. Ace's eyes struggled to stay open and he allowed them to close, now only aware of his shallow breaths.
Ace felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. It was his fault that they were going to die. He had gone overboard with burning the place and completely forgot that his brothers needed to escape. He was such a failure. Ace even got himself caught by Teach of all things that was trouble they didn't need.
He opened his eyes a fraction to glance at the unconscious Sabo. Ace flickered his gaze to his little brother, who was dragging himself into a storage room.
He was finally drifting off and vaguely registered Luffy push something into his arm and a blood-curdling scream.
Thank you reviewers and followers! You make me so happy!
Just found out my Nana has narcolepsy and laughed my ass off.
SEllen23: Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the chapter!
Roxane: Your friend is ten times more important than fanfiction! I hope she gets better! And I will never abandon this fic, I actually am still semi proceeding on the last chapter.
xx-AnimeGirlz-xx: Im glad someone appreciates my cliffhangers lol. Thanks for the compliment and review!
Next time: Luffy used Watergun! It was super effective...
~On the next train station